Biggest & Best Sportsbooks in Las Vegas - Gamboool

After I tried to stop this series and start a new series (which failed), I am back in the driver's seat for King's Survivor's final phase, since it would probably have lasted longer if Adobe didn't cancel Flash (thanks for rushing my series, mate!). This season, I tried to do what u/swoldow did before and make a season called Saints Vs Sinners, where 10 people who embody the term "Saint" will face off against the people who embody the term "Sinner", but unfortunately, it seemed like a lot of the people who signed up misunderstood the definition of saints and sinners. For the love of god, someone who is slightly villainous is not a "sinner", and average people are not "saints". Oh well. I guess it's the best I'm gonna get. Here is the cast:
Kahramanca (Saints) Tribe:
Ardet Prifti, 31, Rhythm Guitarist, u/Twig7665
Ardet lived a difficult life. Born in Albania with a family that was associated with the mafia meant that Ardet was never safe, and one day, he came back home to find his whole family had been murdered by the Albanian mafia. He spent years on the street, struggling to survive, before he discovered his musical talent. He played a guitar (which he had to steal), which enabled him to earn money. After a few years of doing that, he moved to the United States, where he did his best to get into the largest music college in that country, and actually succeeded. He met some people that became his bandmates, and soon they were pretty popular in the underground scene. When their fame exploded, Ardet's bandmates grew either egotistical or paranoid, but Ardet saw fame as a way to spread awareness for mental illness. He has now become a strong supporter of mental health charities around the country, and he signed up for Survivor to raise money for one of the charities he supports.
Ava Chrisly, 23, Kindergarten Teacher, u/Gemini_B
Ava was born deaf. After her father died when she was 3, her birthmother struggled to care for her and her 3 siblings. Ava was especially tough since she needed special treatment and one night her birthmother left her on the doorstep of a rich widow with a note explaining how Ava got there. The Widow, not wanting to deal with a deaf child, left her outside where she spent a cold night alone and scared. She came across Marissa, a young girl who ran away from home. Marissa took pity on her and the two banded together.
They spent years together on the street with Ava learning to read lips and Marissa learning sign language. Marissa quickly saw that Ava had a gift with children and encouraged her to find a job with kids. Ava didn’t want Marissa to leave, but then Marissa surprised her by revealing she had a scholarship to a teachers college. Ava went off to the collage and became a kindergarten teacher, but when she returned she learned that Ava had gone to jail for stealing from a rich old woman and using the money to bribe a college administrator. Ava promised she’d help bail Marissa out, and learned about survivor. She’s hoping she can win the million to help free Marissa and get their lives on track.
Chelsea Rutherford, 22, Lifeguard, u/IAmWolfNinja
Chelsea was the heiress to the throne of a foreign country with a corrupt government. The wealth that came with such a status meant nothing to her, since she was utterly disgusted with the actions of her family. Knowing her resentment for their governmental policies, Chelsea's family gradually became verbally abusive towards her. Unable to take any more, she escaped as a teen to pursue her own path. When she arrived in America, Chelsea wanted to do everything she could to erase her dark past and the actions of her family, so she got a job as a lifeguard, where she has saved countless lives. She's occasionally recognized as an heiress, but when it's brought up, she tends to have nervous breakdowns.
Chester "Cap'n" Richardson, 67, Retired Naval Officer, u/swoldow
Some may see him as just the average old man, but Cap’n has seen and done things most people couldn't fathom. Cap’n joined the navy at a ripe young age about 5 years before the Cold War began, and learned everything from afar, slowly working up the ranks. When things got bad in Vietnam, he was given the chance to take charge of a ship during the war, and he immediately said yes. He ran the ship strictly, but he got both respect from everyone, as well as being genuinely liked as a person by his crew. He led them to many naval victories but unfortunately that didn't last, when his ship was shot with a torpedo, which blew the whole thing up and killed everyone on it, except for Cap’n. With the emotional baggage of watching people he has gotten to know kick the bucket, he immediately resigned from the navy after. As a result of the shipwreck, his mindset has changed, as he’s now super overprotective of his family, and still can't let the explosion go after years and years of retirement. He hopes Survivor can help him learn more about himself, and be the thing he needs to live the rest of his life in peace.
Cornelius Von Helton, 52, CEO, u/Gemini_B
Cornelius was raised by a family that had fallen from riches and was in tough times. He never expected to get to go to university but got lucky by getting a scholarship for his creative greeting cards. While at university, he enrolled in a business course and after collage started a greeting card business with some friends. All of his friends quickly gave up on the business, but Cornelius stuck through it. When he made a greeting card that was delivered to Eddie Murphy, the comedian was impressed and hired him to do his greeting cards to his friends, family, and invitations to parties. Quickly other celebrities started to hire his business and many fans wanted to get into the trend. His business rapidly expanded and he soon found himself with a company that covered parties, greeting cards, published books and even dabbled in a touch of Realestate. While in his thirties though, Cornelius was mugged while on a walk in the park and got stabbed. He was quickly rushed to the hospital and while there, he was nursed back to health by his soon to be wife. He claims that she saved his life and proceeded to date her after leaving the hospital. She was reluctant at first, but he quickly charmed her and the two have been married for 15 years now. He has two children, a son aged 10 and a daughter aged 8. He's continued to run his business, but leaves most of the work to his higher-ups as he wants to be able to spend as much time with his family and employees as possible. He views his employees as his family and does his best to remember all their names and make the workspace as nice for them as possible. He's come to survivor because his wife loves the show and wanted to compete, but due to growing health issues can't. She's trained him to win, and he wants to do this and win for her.
Dana Vasquez, 43, Stay At Home Mom, (filler character)
Greg Zimmer, 40, High School Teacher, u/AngolanDesert
Greg is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He is very trusting and kind and will do anything for the people he loves. Since he grew up in Texas, hard work has always been his priority. He knows that if he wants to win this game, he has to work hard at everything he does. Greg decided to be a high school teacher so he could teach his students the importance of hard work. He has been a fan of survivor for a while, so when he saw that applications for survivor were going out, he knew he had to join in. Hopefully, he won’t disappoint his students.
Gwendolyn "Gwen" Wallerby, 52, Baker, u/ghetra
Gwen works at a bakery where she gets to do what she loves every day: make many different kinds of pies. She is a very warm, loving person and has a reputation for helping out whoever needs it, usually by baking for them. Baking takes a lot of patience and strength, and she is stronger than she looks. She naturally has a very loud voice that sometimes irks people, but once they get to know her it quickly becomes endearing. Now that her children are out of the house, she has started reading much more and taking classes on different subjects that interest her. The world is her oyster.
Kirk Smolarek, 62, History Teacher, u/Twig7665
Kirk never had a normal childhood. His mom walked out on his family not long after he was born, and his father was a former Polish soldier with PTSD and a severe drug addiction, leading to Kirk experiencing abuse from him for as long as Kirk can remember. Wanting to escape his miserable life, he smuggled himself on a boat bound for Australia when he was 16. Lo and behold, the ship got caught in a windstorm and ended up sinking, and Kirk and a few other survivors ended up stranded on an island. After spending more than a month there, he was taken back to his homeland after being found there. He ended up being the only survivor of the whole ordeal. He was returned to his deranged father, where the next time his father tried to abuse him, he fought back, causing his father to end up in the hospital. Deemed not guilty because he defended himself, Kirk did not spend time in prison for this. His father on the other hand did spend time there for drug-related charges and child abuse, but was killed by another inmate before he could be released. Kirk then went to college, where he studied history there, and decided to become a history teacher. He then kept that job title for over 40 years now, and despite being in his 60s, he is still an enjoyable presence for his students, as he incorporates unusual teaching methods to make his students interested in what he's teaching. Despite being financially stable, he wants to win the money so he can be well off when he retires in a few years.
Maralyn Sander, 32, Tour Guide, u/Void_Drone
Maralyn gives tours of New York, driving around in her bus, answering questions, watching broadway shows. And she spends most of her money on her family, except for the money she spent on her pink pearl necklace. She enjoys the tours for the most part, but when she's alone she vents about how annoying the tours can be.
Kotu Adam (Sinners) Tribe:
Alexa Station, 20, YouTuber, u/IAmWolfNinja
A 3AM YouTuber who arrived late to the trend, Alexa has a tendency to flex her belongings when no one really cares. She was recently involved in a scandal where she faked her boyfriend's death, causing endless amounts of controversy, and a near arrest. Her sub count is dropping significantly every day, so she joined to help gain her popularity (relevancy) back.
Carter Witworth, 23, College Student, u/JTsidol
Witworth, he was born to a extremely rich family, but his parents didn’t have time for him, but spoiled him rotten, when he got into school, he was known for being a bully, however no one confronted him, and everytime he’d get in trouble or fail a test, his parents would pay his way out, last year, he got a slap in the face, when his parents yet again had to bribe the college board to accept him, they cut off his allowance, he’s playing just for the money, nothing else.
Irvin Eamers, 32, Olympic Sprinter, u/asiansurvivorfan
A born athlete, Irvin loved competing in all sports but wasn’t known to play fair as he was never a team player and would often torment others to win. He started training for the Olympics at the age of 17 and eventually got the opportunity to compete in multiple Olympics where he took home many gold medals. However, they were striped from him when he was caught doping and using steroids to give him an edge in races. After the controversy, Irvin’s current wife left him and he was banned from competing in any future competitions. He came on Survivor for one reason and that is that is the money as he’s currently being sued by the Olympic committee.
Jessica Abrefa, 25, Poker Player, u/Twig7665
Jessica wasn't the most well off growing up, she lived in Alabama, where racism was rampant. As such, she was bullied for her race, until one day, she decided that they will all be wrong about her not being able to do anything because of her skin colour. She publicly humiliated the whole football team at her high school, and that stunt got her expelled in her senior year. She didn't care, and then she decided to run away to Las Vegas, which she did. While there, she started modeling, but found it boring. She then picked up the hobby of gambling, and played her first poker match when she was 21. She proved herself to be a formidable foe by beating one of the top poker players at the time, a dude named Brett Herman. Impressed by her skills, he tried to form a bond with her, but she turned him down due to him being a very paranoid man. Now, Jessica dates and cheats on men almost daily, and is considered one of the top female poker players, despite only playing for a few years. An avid Survivor fan, she wants to be as flirty and manipulative as she is in her real life. The only problem would be meeting another poker player, but she finds it unlikely that she will.
Joey "Wildcard" Caruso, 24, Poker Player, u/wordonthestreet2
Joey did not grow up with the best moral compass as his father notoriously had ties to the mafia. He used the money his father made through illegitimate businesses to gamble throughout his teenage years. When his father learned about his poker abilities and how easy it was for him to manipulate his opponents they began using his poker career as a way to launder mafia money through various casinos. He is known for his excellent poker face and unpredictable style of play which earned him the nickname Wildcard.
Maize Nguyen, 28, Heiress, u/Vicctoryy
From the outside looking in, the Nguyen Family Dynasty of San Francisco looks like a well supported and strong business, but from the inside, things are crumbling apart. The matriarch and patriarch are always at each other's necks over the company, leaving their children to clean up their messes. Maize, being the oldest, has taken it upon herself to lead the company, and she leads with an iron will and even harder iron fist. While she seems like a worthy replacement for her faulty parents, she has never been afraid to leave with force. Anyone at the receiving end of a verbal lashing from Maize is likely to not return to work the next day, or ever again. She is arrogant, rude, demeaning, and yet she gets things done. Saving the company from absolute bankruptcy caused a lot of backlash, but Maize couldn't care less. Success should be accomplished by stepping on the necks of those who aren't ready for the power, and Maize has done that exact thing. Any person in Maize's way has been an obstacle she has to conquer, and with a flip of her finger, that obstacle is no longer a problem. She has never been afraid to crack a few eggs to make an omelette, and unfortunately, those eggs have just been working class people struggling to make minimum wage and put dinner on their table. Too bad for them according to Maize. Maize has come to Survivor to prove that the Nguyen Dynasty is far from over, and their business monopoly will run on for years with Maize at the front of it. She is the iceberg, everyone else is a ship with no idea of what's in their way. Those too bold to step in her way are trampled, quite literally. Maize has no problem with controversy, controversy brings attention, attention brings money, and money brings power.
Molly-Anne Benson, 26, Marketing Assistant, u/ghetra
Molly-Anne is a social butterfly. She loves chatting with people about pretty much anything and loves meeting and getting to know new people. She has a natural charm about her that draws people in, but sometimes people are bothered by how chatty she is. She also loves to gossip and is not above spreading rumors. However, she is rather sensitive and can be set off by just about anything. She frequently will push people's buttons if they offend her and will hold a grudge until the end of time.
Nikki Lopez, 29, Stripper, u/Void_Drone
Randall Martin, 49, Real Estate Agent, u/TDSwaggyBoy
Being a self proclaimed sleazeball, which is a very weird thing to be proud of, Randall's life was never too good. He didn't grow up with a lot of close friends. Sure, people liked him at first, but when they really got to know him they didn't appreciate him nor his antics very much. Randall had to make a name for himself. He quickly found a career in the world of real estate. Not even his co-workers enjoyed his company, but they appreciated his skills. Being a fast and smooth talker really pays off in his industry. And now, Randall wants to put his skills to use in SURVIVOR. How well will that pan out?
Vito Luco, 49, Used Car Salesman, u/swoldow
Vito is the last person you'd want to trust with anything. A true con-artist at heart, he now has a job selling used cars, but his past jobs would make you run away from him in fear. When he was younger, he was a part of a major drug-trafficking operation run by the mafia, and he later got a job selling illegal fireworks, both of which got him to do jail time for a decade. Newly released, he seems to be back to his old ways, as he scams people out of their money daily with his faulty cars. He was born constantly overshadowed by his perfect younger brother, who is a popular politician, while he just swindles from people. As a result, he hates people who play loyally, and wants to prove that evil is the best way to play. He isn't afraid to play hard, as that's what he did all his life, and he'll either win, or go out swinging.
Link to Season
Episode 1: The 20 new contestants are welcomed into Turkey, where their first task is to compete in a challenge for reward. The Sinners tribe win this reward due to having more young and fit members than the Saints tribe. As a result, the Saints are already demoralized as they arrive at camp. Cap'n starts to feel good vibes from Ardet and Maralyn, and takes them under his wing to form an alliance. Ava, on the other hand, reveals that she is deaf to Chelsea and Gwen, and the three form another alliance due to being close to one another already. Cap'n sees this and scrambles to find an idol, and does so. Over at the Sinners tribe, Witworth and Jessica see their opportunity to look for an idol, and they find it, giving them more security, while back at camp, Maize and Nikki get into a fight over thinking that the other has an idol, which neither of them do. Vito becomes the moderator of this fight, saying that the three of them plus Irvin and Molly need to stick together in the long run. Randall sees this alliance form and tries to get Alexa, Jessica, Witworth, and Wildcard on board, which they all agree to at first, but then Wildcard sees this as his opportunity to cause conflict within his tribe, so he becomes content with being a swing vote. The Sinners win immunity, and on the Saints tribe it quickly becomes a race to see who can scrape up the swing votes the fastest between Cap'n's alliance and Ava's alliance. Dana becomes the target for Ava's alliance because of her weakness in challenges and her blind loyalty, while Greg is targeted by Ardet and Cap'n due to his shiftiness. They are able to get Kirk and Dana on board to blindside Greg, and they try to talk to Gwen, but she does not flip. Instead, at tribal council, we end up with a 5-5 split, followed by a 4-4 vote split due to no one flipping. Then a rock draw occurs on the first vote of the season. Ardet becomes the victim of the rocks, sending him out of the game despite never receiving a single vote.
Episode 2: After an explosive first vote, Cap'n tries to figure out who flipped on the six and sent Ardet home. No one tells him who did it, so he assumes it was Ardet. Ava tries to flip Maralyn from Cap'n's alliance, but is unsuccessful at doing so. At the Sinners camp, Jessica and Witworth, despite being closely aligned, argue over who gets to keep the idol, and Witworth ends up keeping it in the end. The Saints pull out a surprise victory over the fractured Sinners, and back at camp, Wildcard decides to snake the alliance he was pretending to work with, and joins Vito's alliance. Their first target is none other than Alexa, who saw this game as nothing other than a tool to get more relevancy back, and it particularly irked Vito, who wanted to play against people who played hard. So together, with his alliance and Wildcard, they vote for Alexa. Meanwhile, the four person alliance realizes that Wildcard snaked them, so they vote for him, and Alexa becomes the second person voted off in a 6-4 vote.
Episode 3: After Alexa's vote off, Irvin tries to bond with Vito, wanting to be his right hand man, and they become closer due to both being sleazy people. Wildcard begins to feel like he's in control, and it starts to annoy people on his tribe. At the Saints camp, Cap'n starts to rub people the wrong way because of his cockiness due to having an idol, but no one catches on to him having an idol, which is good news for him, because he plans on holding onto the idol until the merge. The Sinners win immunity for the third time, and they grow cocky because of this. Cap'n and Kirk, being the two oldest men on the tribe, join forces with Dana and Maralyn to take out their biggest threat in the opposing alliance, Greg. However, the other side has majority, and they decide that Dana has been blindly loyal to the other three, and hasn't been pulling her weight in challenges, so she becomes the third person voted out in a 5-4 vote.
Episode 4: After a somewhat boring vote, Greg starts to get paranoid, since he's already gotten 9 votes and it's only episode 4. He then tries to get the minority alliance to pin their votes onto Gwen, but Gwen gets angry at him for doing so, and they have an argument. At Sinners camp, Jessica tries to talk to Irvin, trying to get his alliance to help hers take out Wildcard, and Irvin tells Vito about the plan, and Vito starts to see Wildcard as not being of use anymore. After losing the reward challenge, the Saints come back harder and beat the Sinners at the next challenge. Wildcard lets Vito know that he is going to vote Maize, since he wants to make a big move early on. This becomes the final nail in Wildcard's coffin, as Vito was quite close to Maize. At tribal council, Wildcard becomes the first unanimous boot of the season, going out in a 8-1 vote.
Episode 5: Vito starts to think that Irvin has been playing way too loyally, and he gets into a discussion with him that slowly devolves into a full-blown fight between them, but Vito, realizing that Irvin would make a bad enemy, tries to make it up to him, and it works. The Sinners win both reward and immunity, and they feel elated about it. Cornelius goes to Cap'n and proposes an alliance to him, allowing them to control things from behind the scenes with Maralyn. He also reveals that he has grown a disdain for Greg, and that they need to flip the numbers on him. They get Gwen and Kirk on board, or so they think, but Gwen blabs to Greg and their alliance, leading to Kirk to flip as well. They decide to vote Cornelius out due to him being the biggest gamer on the tribe, and he goes in a 5-3 vote.
Episode 6: The tribes pack up their things, anticipating a swap, but then the host announces that they will be competing for individual immunity on their tribe, and whoever wins will be safe from the double tribal council taking place that night. Maralyn wins for the Saints, and Vito wins for the Sinners. The Sinners also win reward, earning food to enjoy while they watch the other tribe go to tribal council. Witworth, Jessica, and Randall decide it was now or never to get rid of Maize, who had a fight with Randall earlier that day, but Vito, hearing about this, decides that Randall is the biggest sleaze on his tribe, and he needed to go as soon as possible. In his voting confessional, he states there can be only one sleazy guy on the tribe, and that was himself, so Randall had to go, and Randall becomes the sixth person voted out in a 5-3 vote, and he is bitter as all hell about it. At the Saints tribe, Cap'n becomes angry over the fact he cannot vote in the majority, and it makes the majority annoyed with him, so they decide to vote him off. Luckily for Cap'n, he still has an idol, so he and Maralyn vote for the most threatening player in their minds, Chelsea, and Cap'n plays his idol, sending Chelsea out of the game in a 2-0 vote.
Episode 7: After Chelsea's idol out, Cap'n officially became public enemy number one on his tribe, and he tries to find his rehidden idol, but Kirk finds it instead. Maralyn and Greg have a fight due to the food on their tribe running low, and morale being even lower. At the Sinners tribe, Nikki begins to be seen as an easy goat due to her one-sided loyalty to Vito. Morale at the Saints tribe dips even lower when they lose both reward and immunity. Not wanting to lose again,the majority decide to vote off their oldest member, Cap'n, as a last ditch attempt to prevent them from going on a losing streak. Cap'n and Maralyn vote for Greg, and Cap'n becomes the eighth person voted out in a 5-3 vote, missing out on the jury by one placement.
Episode 8: After Cap'n's vote out, there are only five members on the Saints tribe, compared to the Sinners having seven. The Sinners increase their winning streak by two by winning both reward and immunity. At the Sinners camp, Jessica and Witworth have another fight over the idol, with Jessica insisting that she keep it. This causes the rest of the tribe to be alerted to the fact that Jessica and Witworth have an idol, and Witworth becomes a target because of this. At the Saints tribe, the women form a tight three, and Kirk and Greg are forced to band together to survive. At tribal council, the three women stay strong, and Greg is voted out 3-2 and becomes the first member of the jury, leaving only four Saints left in the game.
Episode 9: With his back up against the wall, Kirk knows that he's probably gone next if he didn't have the idol, which ensured his survival until merge. The Saints finally win a challenge, a reward challenge, but lose immunity once again to the inflated egos of the Sinners. Not much else happens this episode, but Kirk tries to get Maralyn to flip and vote out Ava, but she disagrees to do so, and she votes for Gwen instead, making Kirk not trust her, and he decides to vote for her, while also playing his idol. This causes a 1-1-0 tie between Gwen and Maralyn, and Ava, misunderstanding what would happen if she forced a tie, votes for Gwen while Kirk votes for Maralyn, and Ava becomes the second person in King's Survivor history to be eliminated by default, due to there being no other options, and she becomes the second member of the jury
Episode 10: At long last, the tribes merge into the purple Ucurum tribe, meaning balance in Turkish. Left in the game is Witworth, Gwen, Irvin, Jessica, Kirk, Maize, Maralyn, Molly, Nikki, and Vito. At first, it seems like it would be Saint Vs Sinner, but Jessica and Witworth come to the three Saints left in the game, and they convince them to vote with them come tribal council. Vito wins his second immunity challenge of the season, and his target was Witworth for being the strongest male not in his alliance, and also for lying about not having an idol, which he believed was given to Jessica. At tribal council, the lines cause a 5-5 divide between Irvin and Witworth, and on the revote, Maralyn randomly decides to flip to avoid a tie, and Carter Witworth becomes the third member of the jury, and also another person to go out with an idol in their pocket. He is understandably pretty pissed about this ordeal, but wishes his tribe well.
Episode 11: The day after Witworth's blindside, the nine remaining contestants compete in a reward challenge, which the team containing Irvin, Maralyn, and Vito win. At the reward, Irvin and Vito realize how dangerous Maralyn could be after she starts trying to talk game with them. Soon afterwards, Maralyn finds the idol, and Jessica calls out Molly for following Vito almost blindly. Nikki wins the second post merge immunity challenge, and Vito tries to recruit Jessica for the vote, which succeeds. They then choose to target Maralyn, since she was the most threatening out of the three Saints, and the six remaining Sinners pin votes onto her. Unfortunately for them, Maralyn pulls out an idol, and the Saints vote for Irvin, a potential immunity threat, making him the fourth member of the jury in a 3-0 vote.
Episode 12: After Irvin's blindside, only two men are still in the game, compared to the six women. Nikki is able to find an idol, after thinking that she hasn't been playing hard enough, while Molly gets into a fight with Maralyn over the latter pulling out an idol, which she hadn't wanted her to do. Molly wins immunity, and it becomes a battle of the Saints Vs the Sinners, just like the theme of the season. The Saints go after Maize, wanting to weaken Vito further before going after him, but they are unable to swing anyone over and Vito, fueled by vengeance, gets his alliance to vote for Maralyn. In a 5-3 vote, Maralyn becomes the fifth member of the jury. Back at camp, the final seven become annoyed at Nikki's arrogance after being safe from being voted out, so she becomes a target for the two remaining Saints left. Kirk also becomes a target for being a perceived leader for Gwen, causing him to be target numero uno. After Kirk wins immunity, the target shifts from him to Gwen, due to her being perceived as not wanting to play the game, and rather would be along for the ride, which Vito found unpalatable. Kirk and Gwen then try to vote out Molly for her strength in challenges, and in the end, Gwen gets the boot in a 5-2 vote, making her the sixth juror.
Episode 13: With only six people left in the game, the final reward challenge takes place. Maize wins it, and she shares it with Vito, her closest ally, and Jessica, who her and Vito wanted to bring closer. Soon, they realize what a threat she could be, especially because she's a poker player, she becomes the biggest target instead of Kirk. Luckily for her, she wins immunity. Kirk tries to bond with Maize as a way to get Vito to not vote him out, but it backfires, and he becomes the biggest target yet again. At tribal council, he votes for Molly, but everyone else votes for him, making him the seventh juror in a 5-1 vote and completely eliminating the Saints from the game.
Finale: Jessica, Maize, Molly, Nikki, and Vito remain. Five players who had remarkably different playing styles, but all came from the same tribe. They compete in the second-to-last immunity challenge, which Maize wins, and the biggest target becomes Jessica again, who has proven herself to be the only player not following Vito, and only voting with him just to get further in the game. Vito does not feel the same way about keeping Jessica around, so he and his alliance with Nikki, Molly, and Maize vote for her, and Nikki plays her idol in case someone flipped on her, and Jessica becomes the eighth juror in a 4-0 vote. Back at camp, Vito feels incredibly cocky, and he tries to influence a fight, and he does so between Nikki and Maize. He then goes on to win final immunity, and Nikki tanks her own game with her fight with Maize, and everyone votes her out, causing her to become the ninth juror in a 3-1 vote. The final three consists of Maize, Molly, and Vito. Molly gets criticism for her lack of strategy, only using her social game to get far, and her challenge capabilities. Maize is seen as following too closely to Vito, but the jury is willing to vote for her if Vito tanks his jury speech. He does not, and explains his game in great detail, saying he started out forming a five person alliance on the first night, he commenced the Wildcard blindside, the Witworth blindside, the Jessica blindside, etc. He did it all, but the bonds he formed in the game were genuine, and he didn't intend his villainous backstabbing to be taken personal. In the end, he gets all the jury votes, even from two people he never met, Greg and Ava. Maralyn wins the Fan Favorite for standing up to Vito and her idol play.
Winner: Vito Luco, u/swoldow
Fan Favorite: Maralyn Sander, u/Void_Drone
Potential Returnees (yeah, I haven't done this in a while): Vito, Jessica, Kirk, Maralyn, WItworth, Ava, Cap'n, maybe Ardet, if I do a first boot season
Next season, will be the final season before season 35, I won't spoil the theme for 35, but trust me, it won't be a season to miss. Season 34 however, with the release of the new Island Of The Idols sim, it will feature two King's Survivor Idols, who will be revealed with the sign ups. Next season will be King's Survivor Venezuela: Island Of The Idols!

The two people addressed briefly at the beginning of this Email are a Paralegal at the Connecticut law firm of Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder https://www.koskoff.com/
who are suing gun manufacturers as part of their overall lawsuit strategy and doing the same in relation to Sandy Hook and independent journalist Mike Turber, one of the producers of the upcoming documentary Vegas Wrong, along with Ramsey Denison https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1774444/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1 , producer of the award winning documentary What Happened in Vegas https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6615426/?ref_=nm_knf_i2
Hi Lorena,
The following is a very good overview of what I know of what happened in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 - and I venture to say I know way more valid information than 99% plus of the population about this subject.
It was originally sent to Mike Turber months ago. I have added comments where needed, but for the most part it was already very complete and well documented.
Please let me know you received this, there are many links and a few images so not all email systems will treat this as serious correspondence.
Thanks,
Rodney Peterson
​
Hi Mike,
A week before you posted the videos with Eric (Paddock, Stephen Paddock's brother), I posted roughly 120 to 130 posts on Twitter in succession with links to back up everything I say. These are the original writings I culled those posts from.
Eric Paddock interviews for Vegas Wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPEmD5KKvb0
(Long)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diofrf4nwaE&t=9s
(Short)
On his last day on Earth, just hours before committing the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Route 91 Harvest Festival mass shootings in which he killed 59 people, including himself, Stephen Paddock won $860,000 playing video poker. Independent Journalist and Investigator Mike Turber has seen the official records. (while this is true, he LOST even more than that. This gives you an idea of just how fast paced and pressure filled becoming an addicted gambler playing video poker for up to 14 hours a day year-round can be).
There is more about that specifically and about Mike Turber later in this email.
Rodney Peterson
​
You can also find an extended interview with the shooters brother Eric Paddock, who is speaking through Mike Turber on this video, and myself on the You Tube page of Weg Oag, who has posted many videos about the Las Vegas shootings here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zR1rBjtwHI&t=5s
All of that is true. If you read my comments beneath, and there are many of them, you'll see that I've answered all the inconsistencies and reasonable objections anyone brought up.
All of the interview and all of my writing is first and foremost based on the following. Without this, it's very unlikely I would have remembered meeting Stephen Paddock, let alone what he said with regards to wishing to extract revenge on the casinos through extreme violence.
I did not remember it right away, it took several days after I read the comment below and it was not very clear at first. It took probably right around a week to actually remember everything accurately. Here it is copied and pasted from the Los Angeles Times website at which it was published on October 17, 2017 - two and a half weeks after the shootings where it was posted after an article about Jesus Campos appearing on the Ellen DeGeneres Show:
robert.roberts0361
1 year (s) ago
Quite a while back talked to that guy in an Edmonton casino about how the casinos cheat their patrons. Not a Muslim terrorist thing at all. Same guy Filipino girlfriend. Lived in a hotel in Vegas. Asked him why he came to an out of the way place like Edmonton. He said just to gamble. He mentioned he was a retired accountant. Talked about nothing you can do about the casinos cheating if you tried to sue they would bury you with their lawyers. He said he tried that once. He said he was going to do something about it. He mentioned something about a AR 15. I said I didn't know what that was (at the time) I'm retired military what would that be in military talk? He said M16. When I left I thought that guy is an American so he can't get guns in Canada. Can anyone figure out the dates he was up here. I recall he said he drove in from British Columbia and was on a 2 day stopover from a 19 day cruise when I met him. Maybe 30th September 2016???
Compare that with my conversation with him, which started as just being at the same Blackjack table where he and Marilou Danley were in the Excalibur, staring at me for half an hour or so while I played, Then complimenting me on winning money as he noticed the mathematical progressions of my betting patterns, then his bizarre rant about the casinos cheating, and finally this exchange when talk of cheating became talk of revenge:
"How? How are you going to get revenge on the casinos? They'll have you before you get ten feet on the floor!"
"LOOK ALL AROUND YOU! WHADDAYA SEE?! WINDOWS!"
Couple that with having nearly the same set of mental issues as Paddock. The major difference is I became obsessed with music and movies, not guns and not gambling 14 hours a day. I'm sure there are other differences as well, my contact with him was limited, but in retrospect, there was a ton of common ground. The types of personalities he and I have are not in the slightest bit desirable or advantageous. Especially when every effort is made to deny a problem even exists, as is the case with him. Anyone with these same issues and real introspection abilities would never have carried this out, they would look inside themselves first. He couldn't even blame himself for his own gambling issues, let alone anything else.
How he even thought for a minute he would survive such a heinous act uncaught, unpunished and with impunity is probably pretty good proof he couldn't ever accept the reality of his predicament and mental disabilities. The reality is from what I know of him he didn't attempt to deal with problems in any constructive way and just let the anger keep building, it's toxic. Lots of people with these same issues snap violently and always will. Largely because of the introspection he apparently lacked, I know I would never get away with such an act, even if I wanted to, even on a much smaller scale, no matter how much I tried or wanted to.
I knew immediately that comment was very important, it literally checked many of the boxes of what I instinctively believed, as well as had been originally reported, and urged the writer to contact the FBI. I had no idea when I read it I would have a similar story to tell, to say that was shocking when I began to remember my own encounter with Stephen Paddock is a huge understatement.
You can find it at the comments posted underneath the linked Los Angeles Times article here. To find it click where it says Be the first to comment (I don't know why it's set up like that, but it is) when you do comments will open. Keep clicking until the comment above appears.
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-jesus-campos-20171017-story.html
It's extremely detailed as you can see, plus EVERYTHING FITS. A couple of important points - a retired military person would not have to know what an AR15 is, maybe they didn't have a huge interest in guns. And maybe they knew what it was but didn't know what it was called exactly. And the part about the two day stopover from Vancouver is irrelevant. ALL 19 day cruises to Alaska end with a two day stopover in Vancouver. That means Stephen Paddock had already disembarked, and did not have to go back to the ship at all.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND SOMETHING THE FBI COULD EASILY DO IF THEY WANTED TO GET TO THE TRUTH OF THE MOTIVE
>>>>This would be easy to prove by checking passenger manifests for 19 day Alaska cruises that began in early to mid-September 2016 from the port of Vancouver.
My experience with Stephen Paddock was very similar and is written in detail, particularly at Instagram. Telephone, text or Twitter are the best ways to contact me directly.
I suspect he has aspergers as I do. That explains his obsession with numbers and math. That was why he wanted to talk to me - he saw I was using a mathematical system to win money. No one, before or since, has ever wanted to speak to me about using progressive math to win money, and that’s counting hundreds and hundreds of Casino Blackjack games. Very few people ever even notice it.
Being obsessed with activities and collecting stuff is part of the aspbergers, I believe, another part is the math. He collected guns and gambled 14 hours a day at times. My obsession is not about those things, it’s about collecting music, movies and television series, on every conceivable format at one time or another. But it’s part of the same pattern of aspbegers.
He’s unfriendly, he was annoyed I sat down at the same table he was playing at. He stared at me for a good half hour while we played, hardly saying a word. So he was both annoyed and studying the math I was using to place bets, which I didn’t know until after the game had ended for me, and he started talking about how I using math to win money. He thought that was smart.
He is incapable of blaming himself for his problems. He lacks introspection. Losing money at gambling is not his fault, the casinos are cheating him. That’s what he told me and I disagreed. The casinos don’t need to cheat.
He flies off the handle quickly. Disagreeing with him sent him into more of a rant about the casinos cheating, getting revenge, and finally when I asked how he was going to do that, yelling about shooting out of windows onto the Las Vegas Strip. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and even though he mentioned he lived at Mandalay Bay, which sounded like bullshit and I pretty much didn’t believe him, we were at The Excalibur which I’ve never thought of as a place with large windows, so it sounded even more ridiculous.
All in all, it sounded like a fantasy of revenge that would never happen. Yet, clearly, 15 months before he did it, he already had a clear plan of how to proceed. I believe that over the next 15 months it gelled from an insane idea to a workable plan.
But he still made a ton of mistakes. Otherwise, if he knew what he was doing when he shot at the jet fuel tanks, it could have been way, way worse. Just as an example of how inefficient the entire plan was.
It is extremely frustrating not to get real traction on this part of the story being reported, and it seems to be a deliberate decision possibly made by people in power at various institutions that have an interest in not divulging these details. These include MGM Resorts and other casinos, for certain, which in turn have a large degree of influence over the FBI and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, as well as media outlets, especially the Las Vegas Review Journal which is owned by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
There are new stories being investigated and confirmed that concern other angles of this story that are not being disclosed by MGM Resorts. This includes MGM gifting security guard Jesus Campos with Real Estate in the form of Las Vegas condos to sign an NDA and not talk about the events, including that management knew there was a huge quantity of guns in the room but chose to ignore them because of Stephen Paddock's High Roller Status.
See this article, one of many written by Doug Poppa. It’s important to note his background is in casino security, while my story revolves around my experience with Stephen Paddock, and examines both psychology and a very strong case of explaining the motive as revenge against the casinos, which is what he told me in person.
http://baltimorepostexaminer.com/exclusive-mgm-resorts-international-buys-mandalay-bay-security-officer-jesus-campos-silence-with-all-expenses-paid-trips-condos-in-exchange-for-nda/2018/12/09
Here are a couple of newer posts I’ve written at You Tube with relevant information about what Stephen Paddock told me:
Regarding what Paddock shouted “LOOK ALL AROUND YOU! WHADDAYA SEE?! WINDOWS!!” and Doug Poppa saying he’s never seen windows in the Excalibur, he wasn’t talking about that casino. He was talking about the entire strip. It was pretty obvious.
In fact, when he said it the image that came to mind was that he would shoot out of the windows of a central location, like Aria, not Mandalay Bay and certainly not Excalibur. Although he did tell me he lived at Mandalay Bay, which just added to how nuts I thought he was. People do not live at Mandalay Bay, and yet, he actually was very close to that, but I didn’t believe him.
Naturally, when I remembered all this I felt horribly guilty I never reported it. But now I know thanks to the efforts of Doug Poppa interviewing Luis Castro it wouldn’t have made any difference at all. Mandalay Bay knew about the guns in the room and ignored them. They weren’t about to take my word over his no matter what I told them on July 6, 2016. He was a high roller, I was not. I didn’t know he was a high roller, of course, I just thought he was a disheveled angry nut.
The interview also includes comments by Eric Paddock, who tries to negate my testimony in two ways. First, he claims Stephen Paddock didn’t play table games. Second, he tries to negate my memory of Stephen Paddock with a beard and mustache by saying he’s clean shaven. In both cases in the comments section I link to articles and photos that prove he did play Blackjack - for up to $2500 a hand. Photos of Stephen Paddock with a beard and mustache are easily found searching Google for images.
All reasonable objections and any time I misspoke during the interview are addressed in my comments - there are a lot of them. A lot of people asked questions, but some were redundant and others just will not accept that this tragedy was not a conspiracy, or that it didn’t happen. Of course, it happened. And it wasn’t a conspiracy.
Here is an early article from October 7, 2017 printed in the Las Vegas Sun confirming Stephen Paddock did indeed play Blackjack:
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/oct/07/dealers-lv-gunman-paddock-would-spend-long-hours-p/
Excerpts from that article specifically about Blackjack:
When one blackjack table dealer at the D Las Vegas first saw Stephen Paddock’s picture on television last week, she thought it was Paddock that had been shot — not the other way around.
Upon later finding out Paddock was responsible for the deaths of 58 attendees and the injuries of nearly 500 more at last Sunday’s Route 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas Strip, the dealer said she was surprised that a man she knew to be calm yet reclusive was responsible for the largest mass shooting in modern United States history.
“He wasn’t the nicest guy, but he never came across as threatening,” said the dealer, who asked not to be identified. “Unpleasant in general, but he didn’t go out of his way to be rude or go after other people.” “I never would have thought he was capable of something like this, not him,” she added.
The dealer was one of several to speak with the Sun about Paddock, who owned homes in Mesquite and Reno but spent his retirement years and the final weeks of life frequenting the tables and machines of downtown and Strip casinos.
An avid blackjack player, Paddock also played video poker, interviewed dealers said. His girlfriend, Marilou Danley, enjoyed playing video slots when the two came to the casino together.
Another female dealer at the D Las Vegas, who requested anonymity, said Paddock had been a regular at the casino for “many years,” gambling as many as four days a week and sometimes spending an entire afternoon shift between gaming tables and the upstairs video poker room.
Despite betting up to $2,500 per hand on high-limit blackjack tables, Paddock was a poor tipper at first, she said. But he eventually came around when she gave him a hard time for “being cheap.” “I told him, ‘Steve, it would be nice if you started tipping me,’” she said. “From there on, he always left a fair tip.”
Three other dealers at the D Las Vegas said they last remembered Paddock at the casino on Sept. 26, just five days before he opened fire from his 32nd floor hotel room onto the 22,000 attendees of the country music festival.
SOME OF THE FOLLOWING IS REPEATED. THERE ARE OTHER AS YET NEW TO THIS EMAIL ANGLES OF THE STORY FOLLOWING THE REPEATED BACKGROUND INFORMATION.
Independent Investigator and Journalist Mike Turber has seen official records confirming Stephen Paddock won $860,000 on September 30, 2017, just hours before he committed the Las Vegas shootings. However, that figure doesn’t include losses for the day, which are right around $890,000.
Mike Turber, along with Ramsey Denison, who produced the documentary What Happened In Vegas, have interviewed me extensively on camera and in person. Mike Turber has stated that he observed my body language and other factors as a sort of lie detector test to determine if I was telling the truth without my knowledge which he states in that You Tube video. His conclusion is that either I am telling the truth or I believe I’m telling the truth.
Mike Turber can be contacted here:
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
I believe, based on behavior, both Stephen Paddock and I have similar mental illnesses and Asperger’s syndrome. I believe that’s why he instinctively talked to me and noticed I was using the same type of mathematical formulas he did and was familiar with. (It works too 98% of the time the problem is it doesn’t work 100% of the time and that’s what you need). So was he crazy? Of course he was crazy! So am I. But instead of guns, my obsessions are artistic – movies, music, media production, and the like. There’s nothing I can do about the Asperger’s or High Functioning Autism that’s part of this. Like him I’ve had it all my life. You cannot fake this.
I would never have even remembered meeting Stephen Paddock, let alone what he said to me about wanting revenge against the casinos if I hadn’t come across this post written after an article about Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos appearing on the Ellen show. Everything here fits:
robert.roberts0361
1 year(s) ago
Quite a while back talked to that guy in an Edmonton casino about how the casinos cheat their patrons. Not a Muslim terrorist thing at all. Same guy Filipino girlfriend. Lived in a hotel in Vegas. Asked him why he came to an out of the way place like Edmonton. He said just to gamble. He mentioned he was a retired accountant. Talked about nothing you can do about the casinos cheating if you tried to sue they would bury you with their lawyers. He said he tried that once. He said he was going to do something about it. He mentioned something about a AR 15. I said I didn't know what that was (at the time) I'm retired military what would that be in military talk? He said M16. When I left I thought that guy is an American so he can't get guns in Canada. Can anyone figure out the dates he was up here. I recall he said he drove in from British Columbia and was on a 2 day stopover from a 19 day cruise when I met him. Maybe 30th September 2016???
You can find the original at the comments posted underneath the linked Los Angeles Times article here. To find it click where it says Be the first to comment (I don't know why it's set up like that, but it is) when you do the comments will open. Keep clicking until the comment above appears.
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-jesus-campos-20171017-story.html
It's extremely detailed as you can see, plus EVERYTHING FITS. A couple of important points - a retired military person would not have to know what an AR15 is, maybe they didn't have a huge interest in guns. Or maybe he knew what it was but didn't know what it was called exactly. And the part about the two day stopover from Vancouver is irrelevant. ALL 19 day cruises to Alaska end with a two day stopover in Vancouver. That means Stephen Paddock and Marilou Danley had already disembarked, and did not have to go back to the cruise ship at all.
AND HOW TO PROVE THE EDMONTON STORY IS TRUE:
Any FBI investigator or private investigator could prove if what Stephen Paddock told that commenter is true by checking passenger manifests for 19 day Alaska cruises that began in early to mid-September 2016. Unless Stephen Paddock and Marilou Danley were on that cruise, this person couldn’t have possibly known about it unless he was directly told by Stephen Paddock, as he says.
THE FOLLOWING IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT TO MOTIVE. THIS IS WHAT STEPHEN PADDOCK MEANT WITH REGARDS TO THE CASINOS CHEATING, NOT TRADITIONAL CHEATING. I don’t play Video Poker, so I had no idea what he meant by his talking about the casinos cheating that morning unless he had explained it to me, which he didn’t do.
Here is another recent You Tube post I’ve written which details more about Stephen Paddock and Video Poker with links to yet more relevant information. There are several posts by myself near the bottom of the thread. Just like on my Instagram page, Rodney4K, you can see how the details of the memory of meeting Stephen Paddock was not at that time completely clear and changed as I remembered more and more of what happened.
There are very rare video poker machines known as 9 over 6 Jacks or Better. If played perfectly they give the player 100.8% payout. But that's no guarantee. Someone figured out that in order to have a 90% chance of winning $140,000 you need at least a six million dollar bankroll.
There is a whole thread about this and Paddock in one of Anthony Curtis columns on the Las Vegas Advisor website. Of course, beating the house long term is close to impossible. Even the Sheriffs department admits Paddock had lost a considerable amount of wealth prior to the shootings.
There's also a report that he won $860,000 on the day of the shootings. But that figure doesn't include losses, which are reported to be some $890,000. Mike Turber knows the details of this.
I have several comments in that article. Just like on my Instagram page, if you read them, you'll see how they change more and more as I start to remember meeting Stephen Paddock and what he said about getting revenge on the casinos. It was a very bizarre few days as that memory returned:
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/gambling-with-an-edge/the-shooter-gambler-steven-paddock/
Because that blog is about gambling, many of the posts are about how much Stephen Paddock did gamble, his odds of winning and related subjects. It is this post from the above thread that appears to be the most accurate about the level of Video Poker Stephen Paddock played nearly every day:
What everyone is forgetting is what kind of bankroll is required when playing 9/6 Jacks or Better at $125 a hand. According to Video Poker for Winners if you bet $125 a hand and you get 0.5% slot club return, which I think is generous for a strip club casino in 2015, you need over $6 million bankroll. And that is for a chance of going broke 10% of the time! If the average gambler can make this calculation so can a casino. There’s no way a casino is going to give you free rooms, food, shows, etc and at the same time let you win $5 million over the year!
You can see how complicated it gets. Did he win the $5 million? Sure, probably several times. But at a cost that probably was more in the neighborhood of after 6 million dollars of losses.
Another insightful commenter provided this information about changes in tax law under Donald Trump which would be something that could very much upset Stephen Paddock to the point of taking these drastic actions:
I am surprised nobody has commented on an obvious angle to the Shooter’s profile. He had millions in Royal Fushes each year. At Tax Time those wins were undoubtedly counter balanced by his losses. Anthony Curtis related in the latest issue of LVA that the last 2 books purchased were about Taxes and Gambling Law.
Under the Trump tax plan guess how much will be allowed to be written off as losses?? ZERO!!!!! That deduction dies and so with it will any AP (Advantage Play) play on VP. The Shooter was an accountant, he had to have knowledge of that reality. Anyone who plays VP, at any level above a $1200 Royal, would have to be an idiot to be in action under those conditions.
The winning sum of $5.000,000 has been used in previous posts, Can you imagine having won $5.000.000 and subsequently losing that back plus an additional $500,000? You would not only be stuck the $500,000 but also owe the IRS another $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 in taxes on your non deductible winnings.
How come nobody in the casinos is screaming about this? It will kill destroy $1 and up Slot and VP play.
According to Mike Turber, who says he has seen the records, Stephen Paddock won $860,000 on September 30, 2017, just before the shootings. But, he also very likely lost $890,000 that very same day, according to the full accounting.
This is also very important, in that besides my testimony of what happened when I met Stephen Paddock and when Robert Roberts met Stephen Paddock, here is a CNN article quoting his Caesars Palace host that says that when they switched out the high payoff machines, he stopped coming altogether.
This helps give credence to the motive of being angry at the casinos, wanting revenge, and his belief the casinos were cheating. They don't cheat in the traditional sense - they don't have to, and that's why I disagreed with him and why he became angry. But, in his mind, switching out the higher payoff Video Poker machines for the ones that gave the house a better edge after years and years of playing them-I can see how he would equate that with cheating:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/16/us/las-vegas-shooting-documents/index.html
This is an excerpt from that CNN article:
A man who worked for Caesars Entertainment who had known Paddock for years said Paddock was a regular guest for several years but Caesars took out his favorite video poker machines.
Paddock was a skilled gambler, the casino host said, and he stopped coming once those games were taken out.
The host said Paddock was an odd guy who either came to one of the Caesars properties alone or with his girlfriend, Marilou Danley. Danley was in the Philippines at the time of the shooting, and police said they don't think she was involved. Paddock, who killed himself, acted alone, police have said.
The host said there was one incident years ago in which Paddock yelled at him over late luggage, something the host thought peculiar. When asked to specify why he thought Paddock was odd, the host said: "He was just weird."
I'm also on Instagram where you can find more information. The Instagram account is not active, I can’t respond to it or anything anyone else chooses to write there, or edit or remove comments from others, but there are several posts there that are relevant. The top of the page explains which posts to look for by date that are relevant.
www.Instagram.com/Rodney4K/
I also have a Twitter page, which is active, with brief tweets and through which I can be contacted for communication or chat:
www.twitter.com/Rodney4KBluRay
Rodney Peterson
​
📷

This is an email recently sent to journalists, attorneys and others.
The two people addressed briefly at the beginning of this Email are a Paralegal at the Connecticut law firm of Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder https://www.koskoff.com who are suing gun manufacturers as part of their overall lawsuit strategy and doing the same in relation to Sandy Hook and independent journalist Mike Turber, one of the producers of the upcoming documentary Vegas Wrong, along with Ramsey Denison https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1774444/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1 , producer of the award winning documentary What Happened in Vegas https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6615426/?ref_=nm_knf_i2
Hi Lorena,
The following is a very good overview of what I know of what happened in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 - and I venture to say I know way more valid information than 99% plus of the population about this subject.
It was originally sent to Mike Turber months ago. I have added comments where needed, but for the most part it was already very complete and well documented.
Please let me know you received this, there are many links and a few images so not all email systems will treat this as serious correspondence.
Thanks,
Rodney Peterson
​
Hi Mike,
A week before you posted the videos with Eric (Paddock, Stephen Paddock's brother), I posted roughly 120 to 130 posts on Twitter in succession with links to back up everything I say. These are the original writings I culled those posts from.
Eric Paddock interviews for Vegas Wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPEmD5KKvb0
(Long)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diofrf4nwaE&t=9s
(Short)
On his last day on Earth, just hours before committing the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Route 91 Harvest Festival mass shootings in which he killed 59 people, including himself, Stephen Paddock won $860,000 playing video poker. Independent Journalist and Investigator Mike Turber has seen the official records. (while this is true, he LOST even more than that. This gives you an idea of just how fast paced and pressure filled becoming an addicted gambler playing video poker for up to 14 hours a day year-round can be).
There is more about that specifically and about Mike Turber later in this email.
Rodney Peterson
​
You can also find an extended interview with the shooters brother Eric Paddock, who is speaking through Mike Turber on this video, and myself on the You Tube page of Weg Oag, who has posted many videos about the Las Vegas shootings here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zR1rBjtwHI&t=5s
All of that is true. If you read my comments beneath, and there are many of them, you'll see that I've answered all the inconsistencies and reasonable objections anyone brought up.
All of the interview and all of my writing is first and foremost based on the following. Without this, it's very unlikely I would have remembered meeting Stephen Paddock, let alone what he said with regards to wishing to extract revenge on the casinos through extreme violence.
I did not remember it right away, it took several days after I read the comment below and it was not very clear at first. It took probably right around a week to actually remember everything accurately. Here it is copied and pasted from the Los Angeles Times website at which it was published on October 17, 2017 - two and a half weeks after the shootings where it was posted after an article about Jesus Campos appearing on the Ellen DeGeneres Show:
robert.roberts0361
1 year (s) ago
Quite a while back talked to that guy in an Edmonton casino about how the casinos cheat their patrons. Not a Muslim terrorist thing at all. Same guy Filipino girlfriend. Lived in a hotel in Vegas. Asked him why he came to an out of the way place like Edmonton. He said just to gamble. He mentioned he was a retired accountant. Talked about nothing you can do about the casinos cheating if you tried to sue they would bury you with their lawyers. He said he tried that once. He said he was going to do something about it. He mentioned something about a AR 15. I said I didn't know what that was (at the time) I'm retired military what would that be in military talk? He said M16. When I left I thought that guy is an American so he can't get guns in Canada. Can anyone figure out the dates he was up here. I recall he said he drove in from British Columbia and was on a 2 day stopover from a 19 day cruise when I met him. Maybe 30th September 2016???
Compare that with my conversation with him, which started as just being at the same Blackjack table where he and Marilou Danley were in the Excalibur, staring at me for half an hour or so while I played, then complimenting me on winning money as he noticed the mathematical progressions of my betting patterns, then his bizarre rant about the casinos cheating, and finally this exchange when talk of cheating became talk of revenge:
"How? How are you going to get revenge on the casinos? They'll have you before you get ten feet on the floor!"
"LOOK ALL AROUND YOU! WHADDAYA SEE?! WINDOWS!"
Couple that with having nearly the same set of mental issues as Paddock. The major difference is I became obsessed with music and movies, not guns and not gambling 14 hours a day. I'm sure there are other differences as well, my contact with him was limited, but in retrospect, there was a ton of common ground. The types of personalities he and I have are not in the slightest bit desirable or advantageous. Especially when every effort is made to deny a problem even exists, as is the case with him. Anyone with these same issues and real introspection abilities would never have carried this out, they would look inside themselves first. He couldn't even blame himself for his own gambling issues, let alone anything else.
How he even thought for a minute he would survive such a heinous act uncaught, unpunished and with impunity is probably pretty good proof he couldn't ever accept the reality of his predicament and mental disabilities. The reality is from what I know of him he didn't attempt to deal with problems in any constructive way and just let the anger keep building, it's toxic. Lots of people with these same issues snap violently and always will. Largely because of the introspection he apparently lacked, I know I would never get away with such an act, even if I wanted to, even on a much smaller scale, no matter how much I tried or wanted to.
I knew immediately that comment was very important, it literally checked many of the boxes of what I instinctively believed, as well as had been originally reported, and urged the writer to contact the FBI. I had no idea when I read it I would have a similar story to tell, to say that was shocking when I began to remember my own encounter with Stephen Paddock is a huge understatement.
You can find it at the comments posted underneath the linked Los Angeles Times article here. To find it click where it says Be the first to comment (I don't know why it's set up like that, but it is) when you do comments will open. Keep clicking until the comment above appears.
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-jesus-campos-20171017-story.html
It's extremely detailed as you can see, plus EVERYTHING FITS. A couple of important points - a retired military person would not have to know what an AR15 is, maybe they didn't have a huge interest in guns. And maybe they knew what it was but didn't know what it was called exactly. And the part about the two day stopover from Vancouver is irrelevant. ALL 19 day cruises to Alaska end with a two day stopover in Vancouver. That means Stephen Paddock had already disembarked, and did not have to go back to the ship at all.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND SOMETHING THE FBI COULD EASILY DO IF THEY WANTED TO GET TO THE TRUTH OF THE MOTIVE
>>>>This would be easy to prove by checking passenger manifests for 19 day Alaska cruises that began in early to mid-September 2016 from the port of Vancouver.
My experience with Stephen Paddock was very similar and is written in detail, particularly at Instagram. Telephone, text or Twitter are the best ways to contact me directly.
I suspect he has aspergers as I do. That explains his obsession with numbers and math. That was why he wanted to talk to me - he saw I was using a mathematical system to win money. No one, before or since, has ever wanted to speak to me about using progressive math to win money, and that’s counting hundreds and hundreds of Casino Blackjack games. Very few people ever even notice it.
Being obsessed with activities and collecting stuff is part of the aspbergers, I believe, another part is the math. He collected guns and gambled 14 hours a day at times. My obsession is not about those things, it’s about collecting music, movies and television series, on every conceivable format at one time or another. But it’s part of the same pattern of aspbegers.
He’s unfriendly, he was annoyed I sat down at the same table he was playing at. He stared at me for a good half hour while we played, hardly saying a word. So he was both annoyed and studying the math I was using to place bets, which I didn’t know until after the game had ended for me, and he started talking about how I using math to win money. He thought that was smart.
He is incapable of blaming himself for his problems. He lacks introspection. Losing money at gambling is not his fault, the casinos are cheating him. That’s what he told me and I disagreed. The casinos don’t need to cheat.
He flies off the handle quickly. Disagreeing with him sent him into more of a rant about the casinos cheating, getting revenge, and finally when I asked how he was going to do that, yelling about shooting out of windows onto the Las Vegas Strip. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and even though he mentioned he lived at Mandalay Bay, which sounded like bullshit and I pretty much didn’t believe him, we were at The Excalibur which I’ve never thought of as a place with large windows, so it sounded even more ridiculous.
All in all, it sounded like a fantasy of revenge that would never happen. Yet, clearly, 15 months before he did it, he already had a clear plan of how to proceed. I believe that over the next 15 months it gelled from an insane idea to a workable plan.
But he still made a ton of mistakes. Otherwise, if he knew what he was doing when he shot at the jet fuel tanks, it could have been way, way worse. Just as an example of how inefficient the entire plan was.
It is extremely frustrating not to get real traction on this part of the story being reported, and it seems to be a deliberate decision possibly made by people in power at various institutions that have an interest in not divulging these details. These include MGM Resorts and other casinos, for certain, which in turn have a large degree of influence over the FBI and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, as well as media outlets, especially the Las Vegas Review Journal which is owned by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
There are new stories being investigated and confirmed that concern other angles of this story that are not being disclosed by MGM Resorts. This includes MGM gifting security guard Jesus Campos with Real Estate in the form of Las Vegas condos to sign an NDA and not talk about the events, including that management knew there was a huge quantity of guns in the room but chose to ignore them because of Stephen Paddock's High Roller Status. This is according to his former brother-in-law, Luis Castro, and is partially documented in the article mentioned below.
See this article, one of many written by Doug Poppa. It’s important to note his background is in casino security, while my story revolves around my experience with Stephen Paddock, and examines both psychology and a very strong case of explaining the motive as revenge against the casinos, which is what he told me in person.
http://baltimorepostexaminer.com/exclusive-mgm-resorts-international-buys-mandalay-bay-security-officer-jesus-campos-silence-with-all-expenses-paid-trips-condos-in-exchange-for-nda/2018/12/09
Here are a couple of newer posts I’ve written at You Tube with relevant information about what Stephen Paddock told me:
Regarding what Paddock shouted “LOOK ALL AROUND YOU! WHADDAYA SEE?! WINDOWS!!” and Doug Poppa saying he’s never seen windows in the Excalibur, he wasn’t talking about that casino. He was talking about the entire strip. It was pretty obvious.
In fact, when he said it the image that came to mind was that he would shoot out of the windows of a central location, like Aria, not Mandalay Bay and certainly not Excalibur. Although he did tell me he lived at Mandalay Bay, which just added to how nuts I thought he was. People do not live at Mandalay Bay, and yet, he actually was very close to that, but I didn’t believe him.
Naturally, when I remembered all this I felt horribly guilty I never reported it. But now I know thanks to the efforts of Doug Poppa interviewing Luis Castro it wouldn’t have made any difference at all. Mandalay Bay knew about the guns in the room and ignored them. They weren’t about to take my word over his no matter what I told them on July 6, 2016. He was a high roller, I was not. I didn’t know he was a high roller, of course, I just thought he was a disheveled angry nut.
The interview also includes comments by Eric Paddock, who tries to negate my testimony in two ways. First, he claims Stephen Paddock didn’t play table games. Second, he tries to negate my memory of Stephen Paddock with a beard and mustache by saying he’s clean shaven. In both cases in the comments section I link to articles and photos that prove he did play Blackjack - for up to $2500 a hand. Photos of Stephen Paddock with a beard and mustache are easily found searching Google for images.
All reasonable objections and any time I misspoke during the interview are addressed in my comments - there are a lot of them. A lot of people asked questions, but some were redundant and others just will not accept that this tragedy was not a conspiracy, or that it didn’t happen. Of course, it happened. And it wasn’t a conspiracy.
Here is an early article from October 7, 2017 printed in the Las Vegas Sun confirming Stephen Paddock did indeed play Blackjack:
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/oct/07/dealers-lv-gunman-paddock-would-spend-long-hours-p/
Excerpts from that article specifically about Blackjack:
When one blackjack table dealer at the D Las Vegas first saw Stephen Paddock’s picture on television last week, she thought it was Paddock that had been shot — not the other way around.
Upon later finding out Paddock was responsible for the deaths of 58 attendees and the injuries of nearly 500 more at last Sunday’s Route 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas Strip, the dealer said she was surprised that a man she knew to be calm yet reclusive was responsible for the largest mass shooting in modern United States history.
“He wasn’t the nicest guy, but he never came across as threatening,” said the dealer, who asked not to be identified. “Unpleasant in general, but he didn’t go out of his way to be rude or go after other people.” “I never would have thought he was capable of something like this, not him,” she added.
The dealer was one of several to speak with the Sun about Paddock, who owned homes in Mesquite and Reno but spent his retirement years and the final weeks of life frequenting the tables and machines of downtown and Strip casinos.
An avid blackjack player, Paddock also played video poker, interviewed dealers said. His girlfriend, Marilou Danley, enjoyed playing video slots when the two came to the casino together.
Another female dealer at the D Las Vegas, who requested anonymity, said Paddock had been a regular at the casino for “many years,” gambling as many as four days a week and sometimes spending an entire afternoon shift between gaming tables and the upstairs video poker room.
Despite betting up to $2,500 per hand on high-limit blackjack tables, Paddock was a poor tipper at first, she said. But he eventually came around when she gave him a hard time for “being cheap.” “I told him, ‘Steve, it would be nice if you started tipping me,’” she said. “From there on, he always left a fair tip.”
Three other dealers at the D Las Vegas said they last remembered Paddock at the casino on Sept. 26, just five days before he opened fire from his 32nd floor hotel room onto the 22,000 attendees of the country music festival.
SOME OF THE FOLLOWING IS REPEATED. THERE ARE OTHER AS YET NEW TO THIS EMAIL ANGLES OF THE STORY FOLLOWING THE REPEATED BACKGROUND INFORMATION.
Independent Investigator and Journalist Mike Turber has seen official records confirming Stephen Paddock won $860,000 on September 30, 2017, just hours before he committed the Las Vegas shootings. However, that figure doesn’t include losses for the day, which are right around $890,000.
Mike Turber, along with Ramsey Denison, who produced the documentary What Happened In Vegas, have interviewed me extensively on camera and in person. Mike Turber has stated that he observed my body language and other factors as a sort of lie detector test to determine if I was telling the truth without my knowledge which he states in that You Tube video. His conclusion is that either I am telling the truth or I believe I’m telling the truth.
Mike Turber can be contacted here:
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
I believe, based on behavior, both Stephen Paddock and I have similar mental illnesses and Asperger’s syndrome. I believe that’s why he instinctively talked to me and noticed I was using the same type of mathematical formulas he did and was familiar with. (It works too 98% of the time the problem is it doesn’t work 100% of the time and that’s what you need). So was he crazy? Of course he was crazy! So am I. But instead of guns, my obsessions are artistic – movies, music, media production, and the like. There’s nothing I can do about the Asperger’s or High Functioning Autism that’s part of this. Like him I’ve had it all my life. You cannot fake this.
I would never have even remembered meeting Stephen Paddock, let alone what he said to me about wanting revenge against the casinos if I hadn’t come across this post written after an article about Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos appearing on the Ellen show. Everything here fits:
robert.roberts0361
1 year(s) ago
Quite a while back talked to that guy in an Edmonton casino about how the casinos cheat their patrons. Not a Muslim terrorist thing at all. Same guy Filipino girlfriend. Lived in a hotel in Vegas. Asked him why he came to an out of the way place like Edmonton. He said just to gamble. He mentioned he was a retired accountant. Talked about nothing you can do about the casinos cheating if you tried to sue they would bury you with their lawyers. He said he tried that once. He said he was going to do something about it. He mentioned something about a AR 15. I said I didn't know what that was (at the time) I'm retired military what would that be in military talk? He said M16. When I left I thought that guy is an American so he can't get guns in Canada. Can anyone figure out the dates he was up here. I recall he said he drove in from British Columbia and was on a 2 day stopover from a 19 day cruise when I met him. Maybe 30th September 2016???
You can find the original at the comments posted underneath the linked Los Angeles Times article here. To find it click where it says Be the first to comment (I don't know why it's set up like that, but it is) when you do the comments will open. Keep clicking until the comment above appears.
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-jesus-campos-20171017-story.html
It's extremely detailed as you can see, plus EVERYTHING FITS. A couple of important points - a retired military person would not have to know what an AR15 is, maybe they didn't have a huge interest in guns. Or maybe he knew what it was but didn't know what it was called exactly. And the part about the two day stopover from Vancouver is irrelevant. ALL 19 day cruises to Alaska end with a two day stopover in Vancouver. That means Stephen Paddock and Marilou Danley had already disembarked, and did not have to go back to the cruise ship at all.
AND HOW TO PROVE THE EDMONTON STORY IS TRUE:
Any FBI investigator or private investigator could prove if what Stephen Paddock told that commenter is true by checking passenger manifests for 19 day Alaska cruises that began in early to mid-September 2016. Unless Stephen Paddock and Marilou Danley were on that cruise, this person couldn’t have possibly known about it unless he was directly told by Stephen Paddock, as he says.
THE FOLLOWING IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT TO MOTIVE. THIS IS WHAT STEPHEN PADDOCK MEANT WITH REGARDS TO THE CASINOS CHEATING, NOT TRADITIONAL CHEATING. I don’t play Video Poker, so I had no idea what he meant by his talking about the casinos cheating that morning unless he had explained it to me, which he didn’t do.
Here is another recent You Tube post I’ve written which details more about Stephen Paddock and Video Poker with links to yet more relevant information. There are several posts by myself near the bottom of the thread. Just like on my Instagram page, Rodney4K, you can see how the details of the memory of meeting Stephen Paddock was not at that time completely clear and changed as I remembered more and more of what happened.
There are very rare video poker machines known as 9 over 6 Jacks or Better. If played perfectly they give the player 100.8% payout. But that's no guarantee. Someone figured out that in order to have a 90% chance of winning $140,000 you need at least a six million dollar bankroll.
There is a whole thread about this and Paddock in one of Anthony Curtis columns on the Las Vegas Advisor website. Of course, beating the house long term is close to impossible. Even the Sheriffs department admits Paddock had lost a considerable amount of wealth prior to the shootings.
There's also a report that he won $860,000 on the day of the shootings. But that figure doesn't include losses, which are reported to be some $890,000. Mike Turber knows the details of this.
I have several comments in that article. Just like on my Instagram page, if you read them, you'll see how they change more and more as I start to remember meeting Stephen Paddock and what he said about getting revenge on the casinos. It was a very bizarre few days as that memory returned:
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/gambling-with-an-edge/the-shooter-gambler-steven-paddock/
Because that blog is about gambling, many of the posts are about how much Stephen Paddock did gamble, his odds of winning and related subjects. It is this post from the above thread that appears to be the most accurate about the level of Video Poker Stephen Paddock played nearly every day:
What everyone is forgetting is what kind of bankroll is required when playing 9/6 Jacks or Better at $125 a hand. According to Video Poker for Winners if you bet $125 a hand and you get 0.5% slot club return, which I think is generous for a strip club casino in 2015, you need over $6 million bankroll. And that is for a chance of going broke 10% of the time! If the average gambler can make this calculation so can a casino. There’s no way a casino is going to give you free rooms, food, shows, etc and at the same time let you win $5 million over the year!
You can see how complicated it gets. Did he win the $5 million? Sure, probably several times. But at a cost that probably was more in the neighborhood of after 6 million dollars of losses.
Another insightful commenter provided this information about changes in tax law under Donald Trump which would be something that could very much upset Stephen Paddock to the point of taking these drastic actions:
I am surprised nobody has commented on an obvious angle to the Shooter’s profile. He had millions in Royal Fushes each year. At Tax Time those wins were undoubtedly counter balanced by his losses. Anthony Curtis related in the latest issue of LVA that the last 2 books purchased were about Taxes and Gambling Law.
Under the Trump tax plan guess how much will be allowed to be written off as losses?? ZERO!!!!! That deduction dies and so with it will any AP (Advantage Play) play on VP. The Shooter was an accountant, he had to have knowledge of that reality. Anyone who plays VP, at any level above a $1200 Royal, would have to be an idiot to be in action under those conditions.
The winning sum of $5,000,000 has been used in previous posts, Can you imagine having won $5,000,000 and subsequently losing that back plus an additional $500,000? You would not only be stuck the $500,000 but also owe the IRS another $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 in taxes on your non deductible winnings.
How come nobody in the casinos is screaming about this? It will kill destroy $1 and up Slot and VP play.
According to Mike Turber, who says he has seen the records, Stephen Paddock won $860,000 on September 30, 2017, just before the shootings. But, he also very likely lost $890,000 that very same day, according to the full accounting.
This is also very important, in that besides my testimony of what happened when I met Stephen Paddock and when Robert Roberts met Stephen Paddock, here is a CNN article quoting his Caesars Palace host that says that when they switched out the high payoff machines, he stopped coming altogether.
This helps give credence to the motive of being angry at the casinos, wanting revenge, and his belief the casinos were cheating. They don't cheat in the traditional sense - they don't have to, and that's why I disagreed with him and why he became angry. But, in his mind, switching out the higher payoff Video Poker machines for the ones that gave the house a better edge after years and years of playing them-I can see how he would equate that with cheating:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/16/us/las-vegas-shooting-documents/index.html
This is an excerpt from that CNN article:
A man who worked for Caesars Entertainment who had known Paddock for years said Paddock was a regular guest for several years but Caesars took out his favorite video poker machines.
Paddock was a skilled gambler, the casino host said, and he stopped coming once those games were taken out.
The host said Paddock was an odd guy who either came to one of the Caesars properties alone or with his girlfriend, Marilou Danley. Danley was in the Philippines at the time of the shooting, and police said they don't think she was involved. Paddock, who killed himself, acted alone, police have said.
The host said there was one incident years ago in which Paddock yelled at him over late luggage, something the host thought peculiar. When asked to specify why he thought Paddock was odd, the host said: "He was just weird."
I'm also on Instagram where you can find more information. The Instagram account is not active, I can’t respond to it or anything anyone else chooses to write there, or edit or remove comments from others, but there are several posts there that are relevant. The top of the page explains which posts to look for by date that are relevant.
www.Instagram.com/Rodney4K/
I also have a Twitter page, which is active, with brief tweets and through which I can be contacted for communication or chat:
www.twitter.com/Rodney4KBluRay
Rodney Peterson

Let me preface this with a little Exposition. I have never been to Las Vegas myself, and likely never will be. I am currently in the process of writing a fantasy novel. An urban fantasy novel, magic is real but kept hidden from normal people yada yada yada. The protagonist discovers his own minor magical abilities, including very minor telekinesis, and immediately decides to make money in Vegas. Not a lot of money, just enough to live off of. Yes, he plans to cheat. At roulette. That will come with its own host of problems that we don't need to get into.
Now, I know that the legal gambling age is 21. That's fine, I can work that into the story. But my primary question is this. If somebody makes a big win at a major Casino, something along the lines of $64,000 how would they issue the payout? Cashier check? Corporate check? Bearer Bond? Wire transfer? Would they even entertain the incredibly stupid request for cash?

Second question, what is the maximum amount a person could feasibly win in a casino before the casino starts getting suspicious and cuts them off, or kicks them out?

Final question, because Google is less than helpful on this matter, what is the nicest fanciest restaurant in Las Vegas it is not in any way connected to one of the casinos or the tourism industry? Something really nice that only the locals know about.

Here are the requested courtblogs from WFRV as requested by the one whose username starts with 4 letters and ends with 2 numbers. Reddit character limit forces me to split the blogs in two posts. This is only a partial archive, going back in time 11 years does have it's limitations :). Enjoy.  
Will Steven Avery testify?   That’s a question many people are wondering as the defense continues its case. So far we’ve heard from a bus driver who saw a woman taking photos near the Avery property, but can’t say with any certainty when. Next a propane delivery driver who was on Avery road on Halloween of 2005, who claims to have seen a green SUV driving away from the Avery Salvage yard between 3:30 and 4pm, an hour after the prosecution says Teresa Halbach was murdered. But again, he can’t say if the driver was a man or woman. Plus a man who owns the trailer where Avery lived and the .22 caliber rifle inside the home, thought to be the murder weapon. He says he fired over 3,000 shots over the years on the property, and the defense wants the jury to believe he‘s the possible source of 11 shell casings recovered by investigators.
We would expect to hear from a forensic expert to contradict the bone fragments in the burn pit or the DNA on the bullet pulled from the garage. You would hope for direct evidence of two vengeful law enforcement officers out to get Avery, for the shame they felt about prolonging his time in prison for a wrongful rape conviction. But where’s that one piece of evidence that shows the prosecution has got it all wrong straight from the mouth of the accused? Where’s Steven Avery?
If Avery took the witness stand, he could tell all what happened on Halloween of 2005. He’s really the only one who knows.
If you were facing life behind bars, wouldn’t you want to speak on your own behalf? If I were on the jury, I would want to hear what he has to say. But it obviously would be a huge gamble, and it’s still unclear if the defense is ready to take that chance. Posted by Kris Schuller at Mar 9, 2007 11:09 am     False Imprisonment Charge Thrown Out   The false imprisonment charge Steve Avery faced has been thrown out.
The decision came Monday morning as Judge Patrick Willis ruled on three motions filed by the defense last Friday. The judge ruled there simply wasn’t enough evidence presented during the trial to support the charge. The prosecution had argued that Teresa Halbach had to have been held against her will and forced into the garage, where they say she was murdered by at least two shots to the head from a .22 caliber rifle by Avery. The defense had argued that charge was only added after the other suspect charged in Halbachs murder, but facing a separate trial, Brendan Dassey, confessed back in March of last year of being involved in the murder. He later recanted his confession and faces trial in April.
But the court ruled against dismissing all of the charges as requested by the defense. The court also ruled the DNA evidence found on the bullet inside Avery’s garage would not be suppressed and that the police did nothing wrong during their week long search of the Avery property. So motions to suppress evidence collected from the burn pit and other areas of the Avery Salvage yard can still be considered by the jury.
The judge is now individually talking to jurors to make sure they have been following his order not to watch, read, of listen to media coverage of this case.
This case is quickly winding down. Expect it to go to the jury within the next few days. Posted by Kris Schuller at Mar 12, 2007 9:12 am     Motions To Supress 'Magic Bullet' Denied   False Imprisonment Charge Dropped, Motions to Supress Evidence, “Magic” Bullet: Denied   Steven Avery’s attorneys won one battle today. Judge Willis agreed that the State did not present enough evidence to prove the charge.
Dean Strang and Jerry Buting lost the motions asking to suppress the bullet with Teresa Halbach’s DNA on it, and the motion asking to throw out the evidence in the burn barrel and burn pit, since authorities did not obtain a new search warrant when they searched those areas. Judge Willis said the cops had five days to execute that warrant. Posted by Angenette Levy at Mar 12, 2007 1:19 pm     What About Teresa Halbach?   Everyday, I drive to the Calumet County Courthouse by myself. It’s a nice, pretty drive, and it gives me some “alone” time before and after work. And many times, I drive through Teresa Halbach’s neighborhood to get there.
Calumet County is Halbach Country. This is where the Halbach family lives, and you can feel the pain that still lingers here from her Teresa’s death.
Over the last several weeks, we’ve heard a lot of testimony about Teresa’s bones, her DNA, her Daisy Fuentes jeans and even her teeth. Sprinkled in between all of that was testimony from her mom (which broke my heart), her younger sister Katie, and her brother Mike. They bring you the human face to the person some of us never knew. But other than that, at times it seems Teresa Halbach gets lost among the science lessons about chemicals and vials of blood and the difference between tires with steel belts and those without.
I was sitting upstairs yesterday, while Judge Willis conducted individual voir dire of the jurors. I parked myself outside of Judge Willis’s chambers and talked with Mike Halbach for a few minutes. He’s a real sweetie and he’s getting married this summer, without his sister to stand by him. It really got me thinking. I don’t know how this family does it. They sit through these long days in court, and their lives will never be the same. We could all learn something from the Halbachs... and from Teresa.
There’s a photo of Teresa that I first saw the day Ken Kratz announced that Steven Avery would be charged with her murder. My colleague, Olga Halaburda, attended the news conference, and I went to a prayer service at St. John Sacred Hearth Church in Sherwood. I remember sitting in the church as the Halbachs filed in, sitting in the first pew. Mike wasn’t there, but all of the other siblings were in attendance. The hymn “On Eagle’s Wings” played as the service ended. That song will always remind me of Teresa Halbach.
That day, I was live at 5 and 6 outside of the church, near a candle that had been lit several days before as the community prayed for Teresa’s safe return. Next to the candle sat the cutest photo of a little girl that I think I’ve ever seen. It was Teresa Halbach, clad in a blue dress, sitting inside of a tractor tire. Next to it, sat a Reader’s Digest with The Beatles on the cover (that was Teresa’s favorite band). The magazine was sealed in a Ziploc bag with a post it stating, “May angels be with you on your journey.” Every time that I see that photo, it reminds me why we are here. Not that I’ve ever forgotten, but in between the talk of burn barrels and finger prints and DNA, sometimes you have to put her out of your mind, or at least tuck her in the back. Sometimes, you just have to do that to get through the day, so you can do your job and meet your deadline. But we must remember one thing: If the Halbachs can sit through court and listen to this, then we can, too. We must.
I snapped a picture of this photo using my digital camera at Seven Angels Restaurant here in Chilton. The Halbachs are regular customers there, and the Sabani family owns it. They’re some of the nicest people that I’ve ever met. They make me feel at home every time I go there, and it’s nice to sit there and get a feel for what the community is thinking and feeling. People are very interested in the outcome of this trial, and they love the Halbach family and Teresa. This photo is hanging in the front entrance of the restaurant. You can’t miss it; it’s right above the gum ball machine as you walk in.
But, maybe the next time we hear expert testimony about teeth, and bone fragments and “magic bullets”, this picture will come into our minds. Teresa Halbach is a little girl who grew up to be a photographer, but never lived to comb grey hair. In a way, she’s everyone’s little sister, daughter, niece, granddaughter and friend. Her’s was a life taken too soon, and for what?
I don’t think we’ll ever really know. Posted by Angenette Levy at Mar 13, 2007 10:20 am     The Chilton Hilton   That’s what some of us reporters have affectionately dubbed our media room down here. It’s a big conference room in the basement of the Calumet County Courthouse. The officials here, led by Sheriff Jerry Pagel and County Administrator Bill Craig (if I’m leaving anyone out, I apologize) allowed us to transform it into a newsroom. They’ve been so nice to let us do that, because let me tell you, it beats sitting out in the truck in the middle of winter!
The time has just flown by down here. Sometimes, it seems like hours fly by like minutes. I liken this room to a casino in Las Vegas. There aren’t any windows, no clocks on the walls. You sit all day long and listen to testimony and crank out stories and before you know it, you’re sitting in front of a camera, doing live shots for the 5, and going to a news conference and slamming it together for a 6 o’clock live shot. It’s almost like they keep us fueled by pumping this place full of oxygen and feeding us a constant stream of coffee. It’s like in Vegas when the cocktail servers keep the drinks coming, free of charge, just so you’ll keep gambling!
The other day, I wrote out a check and I asked the cashier for the date, and she said, “it’s March 10.” I nearly fell over. I couldn’t believe it was March. And, there have been more than a few days when I got home around 8:30 p.m. or later, and I couldn’t remember what day it was.
We have a lot of really nice people down here in the Chilton Hilton, and we all get along. It’s a shame that we’re always so busy, and that we don’t get to talk more. We have fun when we get to chat. Mick from TMJ4 sits in front of Kris and I. Peter from FOX 6 in Milwaukee sits behind me; very nice guys. Dan from TMJ radio sits across the way with Tom from The Journal Sentinel. We go out to lunch sometimes and we’ve gone out after work a couple of times. Carrie from the AP sits at the end of my table, but she was gone for a while, which was a bummer. Colleen Henry from WISN sits across the room, and I wish that she was closer to us. She’s really interesting and I’d like to talk to her more.
Then, there are my print pals, like John Lee from the Post-Crescent! He’s my bud! I do a lot of my live shots over at the Gannett table, otherwise known as Andy Nelesen’s “front porch.” I usually leave stuff on his desk, my glasses and make up, and he always returns them. He doesn’t like it when I leave my stuff at his “house” but he puts up with me.
All of the Green Bay TV stations have people here, too. A few of us have been on this case since day one, and it’s like we’re all in it together. We’ve spent a lot of time together, whether it’s in the courtroom, or at news conferences, or in the parking lot at the Manitowoc County Courthouse, which seemed like the entire summer. We have to see it through to the end.
Everyday after court, we flock to the podium together and for the news conferences, which can be a lot of fun! The attorneys and Mike Halbach are always nice to us, and they all have good senses of humor.
I’ll get some pics of our digs posted. Posted by Angenette Levy at Mar 16, 2007 8:33 pm     Jury Is Done For The Night   6:28 p.m. – The jury ordered cold cuts for dinner, and then called it quits for the night.
They’ll start back up again at 8:30 a.m. and we’ll be here! Posted by Angenette Levy at Mar 16, 2007 8:34 pm     Juror Question #2   We learned that the jurors had a question. We're in hurry up in wait mode. So, we all arose from whatever we were doing and got into position. I wouldn’t call it organized chaos, more like just getting ready (this is what we do, so it’s pretty routine). Judge Willis was in chambers with the attorneys for a while, and then around 3:15 p.m., Judge Willis read the question.
The jurors wanted a portion of Sherry Culhane’s testimony read back to them. Culhane is the DNA analyst with the State Crime lab. She worked on Avery’s wrongful conviction case in 1985. She testified at that time that the hairs found on the victim in that case, were Steven Avery’s. DNA testing in 2003 (again conducted by Culhane) on those hairs showed they actually belonged to Gregory Allen. Culhane conducted all of the testing in this case.
The jurors wanted the testimony from Jerry Buting’s cross examination of Culhane read back to them, when she answered questions regarding the DNA testing of the .22 caliber rifle found hanging above Steven’s bed. Prosecutors say Avery used that rifle to murder Teresa Halbach. Roland Johnson, who actually owns the trailer where Avery lived, testified that gun actually belonged to him. Johnson said that he must have fired that gun 3,000 times. He liked to shoot gophers at his “weekend getaway” adjacent to the Salvage Yard.
Ok, so in the testimony, Culhane said that she swabbed several parts of the gun, including the barrel and the trigger. Culhane testified that she found neither Teresa Halbach’s nor Steven Avery’s DNA on the rifle, including the trigger guard.
The jurors returned to their deliberations.
From our count down here, Sherry Culhane was the 33rd prosecution witness to testify. If the jurors are taking this chronologically, then that means they’re just over half way through.
What do you think the question means, if anything? What do you think any of this means, if anything?
Email me and I will post your entries.
Angenette Levy: [email protected] Posted by Angenette Levy at Mar 17, 2007 5:22 pm     Sunday Morning at the Courthouse, Deliberations Resume   Good Sunday Morning everyone! The jury arrived at 11 a.m. and resumed deliberations. They stopped at 5 p.m. last night. I heard that Sheriff Pagel offered to order some hot meals for them, and they declined. They ate the leftover cold cuts from Friday for lunch yesterday.
Some people are speculating that we’ll have a verdict by 1:00 because the Badgers game starts shortly after that. I don’t see that happening.
Anyway, Everyone is here and accounted for. Colleen Henry from WISN brought donuts for everyone. We’ve all brought food in at one point or another, and it’s always something tasty like donuts or cupcakes or something like that! Many of us are listening to music this morning as we work. It’s nice to listen to some music for the first time in a long time!
I was driving here this morning on my usual route and the Lionel Richie song, “Easy Like Sunday Morning” started playing in my head. It stopped when I drove past Sacred Heart Church in Sherwood. Cars were pulling in for church. It was sad to see all of the blue ribbons by the church, even though I’ve seen them many times before.
I want to thank everyone who has emailed me. I really enjoy reading your emails, and as I’ve said before, keep ‘em comin’.
Here are some of you responses regarding Juror Question #2 and other items dealing with the trial.
More later, I promise. Sounds like to me a mistrial or years and years of appeals is in the offing. I would very much like to see what odds Vegas would put on this trial if they even knew about it.
Tim
It scares me. I think they DO find serious doubt in the truth of Sherry Culhane's testimony. I know if I were on the jury, I would doubt her, no questions asked! She ONLY deviated on THIS case in how many years? I find HIGH doubt in that. Like the 'evidence' shows, the cops left her a message stating they wanted her to place Teresa in his house. But, as for other evidence, it just seems fishy. No, I don't actually think the police planted evidence, but I also am not 100% convinced Steven Avery did it! I have watched about 99% of the trial on the live stream. What an exhausting case. I do enjoy reading your journal and wanted to tell you so! Glad you got a cushion for at least some comfort. Hope this trial is over soon, for the sake of the Halbach's and all involved. As I said, I am on the fence and either way the jury decides, I can see how they would be unsure and glad I'm not one of them!!! I DO think he could have done it and may get away with it because 18 years in prison-he wasn't just sitting there...it probably warped him (more) and possibly gave him ways to get away with it! I also can't wait for his nephew, Brendan's, trial to get under way. I wonder how long that will take. In my opinion, I don't care how mentally unfit, nobody (hardly anyone) says they did that sort of thing if they didn't. That also is why I think more than not the Steven did do it.
OH-I also think Judge Willis is AWESOME! He's SO fair, I was surprised by that, to see such a fair judge-yeah, rare, isn't it. No Judge Ito here! (Thank God)
Mary Howard’s Grove, WI
I think the question is favorable to Steven Avery. They are piecing together the obvious things. If he raped her and did whatever in his trailer, there would have to be DNA of her in there somewhere (be it a single hair on the bed or in the carpet). If he shot her in the head from close range, the would be splatter in the barrel, which there wasn't.
I think based on the fact the jury is out this long and that type of question was asked, there are more people in the jury room trying to sway a not guilty verdict then the other way around.
Mark in Charlotte, NC
Quite a defense Avery put up--huh? Let me see, a gopher shooting, absentee dementiated landlord, some wicken lab auditor who could not definiately contradict the lab analysis but was probably paid very well just to put up some smoke, and some other bozos that could NOT factually impeach any of the prosecutions evidence or exhibits. Now, if you were Avery and truely innocent--would you not want to take the stand and try to convince the jurors? I would demand it. So would any innocent person. But he did not want the opportunity.
I thought both sides did a good job in their closing. The defense had little to work with, but created as much smoke as they could. Contrary to what you think, I want the defense to do a good job, in that way there is little chance of winning a new trial on appeal. Ken did a good job also, considering the magnitutude of all the evidence. I just wish he had a lower and stronger voice--sorta sounds like a cross between a whiney Wayne Newton and Michael Jackson at times. Some well placed theatrics should also have been used. Ken is pretty square.
I heard that if Avery gets off, that he is moving in to an apartment with Robert Blake and OJ Simpson, so they can pool their resources searching for the "real killers". I am moving to Canada where they have Smith and Wesson justice. Just kidding.
The Hallbach family is one class act. Sometimes in the heat of the battle, we lose sight of their grief. I tell this to everyone: if that had been my daughter, there would not be an Avery trial, and I would be behind bars charged and awaiting sentencing--because I would admit to everything. Eye for an eye...well, it even goes beyond that.
Mark from the Valley
I also get chuckles out of Mr. Buting. I have said to more than one person,"If I ever get in trouble I want those two guys defending me". Now, I do not ever anticipate that, but I think the defense has done a superb job of making the reasonable doubt a real possibility with the jurors. It has been fascinating for me to listen to both sides while at work through your network, and I am so glad I am not on that jury. I have my beliefs both ways of Mr. Avery but I will keep my thoughts to myself and see what the jury does.
T
Like him? About as much as a 10 foot cobra! The man is condescending, vastly rude and can take any fact and twist it to his version of the truth.
Why is everyone else stupid except him?
Both Mr. Buting and Mr. Strang have played on the sympathy of "poor" Mr. Avery, sent to prison for all those years for something he didn't do. That has no relevance to what was done to Ms. Halbach and to this crime. Does the fact of being sent to prison unjustly exonerate one from brutally murdering an innocent person? And if you have intelligently followed this trial, you will know that Mr. Avery did, without a doubt, commit this crime.
Both Mr. Buting and Mr. Strang just leave a very sour taste in one's mouth. Their smug superiority is very irritating and I feel detracts from their message.
I think if I were a juror, Mr. Kratz's famous powerpoint presentation would be helpful. Verbal and visual reminder of what was presented. I liked his style, he was easier to listen to than the defense. Although at times, I felt maybe a bit too ingratiating. But overall, I think he did an exemplary job of laying out the facts.
Barb S. Green Bay Posted by Angenette Levy at Mar 19, 2007 4:38 pm     When The Verdict Came In   Around 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, everyone down in the Calumet Casino (a.k.a. The Chilton Hilton) started to wonder, “what in the world are we going to do for a story today?” None of us anticipated a verdict, and we were all brainstorming. We thought, “well, maybe they’ll (the jurors) come up with a question.” I wanted to do a story with all of the attorneys, asking them what was the longest they’d ever waited for a verdict. None of them seemed interested, then I approached Sheriff Pagel and he didn’t think he would be allowed to comment due to the gag order.
So, I started to walk upstairs around my best estimate of 4:44 p.m. to fish around for another story. I was on the phone with my producer Michael as I approached the stairwell leading to the lobby and was met by Sheriff Pagel, a line of reporters trailing after him. Colleen was directly behind him and I can’t remember who else was there, but I joined the line of reporters and followed them inside, and told Michael that I would call him back.
I expected Sheriff Pagel to say, “the jury’s done for the day.” Instead, he said, “ok, we have a verdict.” I flipped open my cell phone, got the phone tree going and started to get ready. Everyone dropped what he or she was doing, and picked up phones. Remember, this is what we do. It’s our “hurry up and wait” mode, and when the waiting’s over, we spring into action. It’s an autopilot type thing, and it’s hard to describe, but your heart kind of pounds and you get this tunnel vision, and forget about everything else. You have one focus, and that’s get the story right, and get it on the air as soon as possible. For example, I had been suffering from shooting pain in my back and legs for two days prior to this, and the second Sheriff Pagel made the announcement, all of the pain disappeared.
I was to be stationed outside but I had time to watch the verdict from the media room off of the courtroom. I’ve been on this case since the beginning, so I had to see it up close. There wasn’t room in the courtroom for me, but the media room was just fine with me. John and Dewey from the Post-Crescent were in there, along with Morry from the AP (nice guy, great still photographer) and so was Fred Berry from WOMT.
We’d been waiting for this for nearly 18 months. It was judgement day. The courtroom was packed with Halbach family members. Steven Avery’s mom Dolores arrived, but her husband, Allan, was not present. Dolores’s brother was there, along with Steve’s aunt Ivonne. They’ve been in this spot with Steve before and the last time he went to prison for 18 years.
I was looking around and the attorneys appeared calm, yet tense. Some Calumet cops kept peeking into the media room, I think they were just making sure everything was okay. Then, I saw a couple of faces that I hadn’t seen in weeks, but they were two faces I’d seen many times before: Manitowoc County Sheriff Rob Hermann and Inspector Gregg Schetter, the Manty County Cops. I greeted Sheriff Hermann, who I’d met at a news conference nearly a year and a half ago. He’s a nice guy and I’ve seen him a lot over the last several months. Rob was standing next to me, it was pretty much standing room only in our media room. Morry climbed up on a chair to get a picture or 10 of Steve as they brought him in.
To quote Simon and Garfunkel, the only thing that you could hear was the “sound of silence” and camera clicking.
Everyone in the courtroom sat down, the jury was brought in. I watched as they walked in because I wanted to see whether they would look at Steve. I’ve often heard that jurors delivering a not guilty verdict will look at the defendant. These jurors did not appear to look at Steve as they walked in, but we had no idea of what the verdict would be.
The papers were handed to Judge Willis and he started to read, “We the jury find the defendant Steven A. Avery guilty of first degree intentional homicide.” I stood there frozen, and I didn’t even hear the second count being read, when Judge Willis said the jurors reached a not guilty verdict on the mutilation of a corpse charge. By all appearances, the courtroom was silent.
Judge Willis thanked the jurors for their service. That was my cue to get outside. I marched down the hallway with another reporter, and we walked outside, and got into position in front of our cameras. Chelly Boutott was there and she was trying to get interviews with people leaving the courthouse.
We then went down to the media room and Mike Halbach was speaking. It was very touching. He said that his family would be keeping the Averys in their prayers, since they too have suffered a great loss. What a class act, with all they’ve been through.
Then Dean Strang and Jerome Buting spoke. They were disappointed. They believe in Steven. I’ve never seen two attorneys advocate so strongly for a client. They worked very hard for Steven Avery.They are to be commended. They’re very nice guys.
Then Special Prosecutor Ken Kratz and the Calumet and Manitowoc County cops came down. It’s been a long road for them, and they’ve worked hard to see that justice would be served for Teresa Halbach and her family. They all look tired. It was weird sitting there , watching this Wall O’ Law Enforcement. I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time with these guys over the last 18 months whether it was at court or at news conferences. Cops sometimes get a bad wrap, but I can tell you, these cops the Manitowoc and Calumet guys were thinking of one thing throughout this case, and that was: Teresa Halbach.
What did you think of the verdict? Did you watch? We may post your response.
Posted by Angenette Levy at Mar 20, 2007 8:47 pm     Cross Examination of Dr. Gordon   Ken Kratz accused Dr. Gordon of “cherry picking” by choosing to put things in his report that would favor Brendan Dassey’s assertion that his confession was false, and the result of suggestion by investigators.
Ken Kratz cited a question Dassey was asked. Dassey said that he believed it was true that anyone would lie to keep out of trouble. Gordon said that the testing he used was not suitable to determine whether Dassey could be diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder, or anti-social tendencies. Anti-social personality disorder is defined as:
“A psychiatric diagnosis in the DSM-IV-TR recognizable by the disordered individual's disregard for social rules and norms, impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others.”
Kratz also cited the difference between suggestibility and a truly false confession. He pointed out studies about false confessions.
There are three types of confessions:
1) Voluntary 2) Coerced, compliant – the subject perceives a gain 3) Coerced, internalized – the subject convinces herself or himself that they committed the crime
Kratz: Their studies indicate that most false confessions are the result of very long interrogations, sometimes that last into the days, rather than just an hour.
Gordon: True.
Kratz said Dassey started to make admissions about 60 minutes into his 3 to 4 hour interrogation.
Gordon conceded that Dassey’s low IQ which has been estimated between 73 and 81, his shyness and other personality traits, could make him susceptible to giving a true or false confession.
Gordon reiterated that his testing was designed to show how suggestible Dassey might be, not the truthfulness of his statement. Apr 24, 2007 9:38 pm     The Dane County 15   Let me tell you, Brendan Dassey couldn’t ask for a better jury, in my opinion. These people are a smart, smart bunch. They seem attentive and considerate and open-minded.
11 women and four men sit on the jury. A woman was dismissed last Friday due to illness. I have watched them when I’ve been in the courtroom. A few look a little tired, but otherwise they seem to be holding up well. They listened carefully as Brendan Dassey testified yesterday. They also watched the confession; some took notes while I was in the courtroom. The day after the confession played, it seemed many of them couldn’t even look at Brendan, though. Some of the women just stared at him, skeptically. Some of the men did not look at him.
The jury is staying at a local hotel in Manitowoc. I’ve stopped by the bar there after work a couple of times to meet reporters who are also staying there . The jury always has a great spread set out for them. Last night, I walked by and there was some awesome Strawberry Shortcake on the dessert tray.
They arrive every morning looking fairly chipper. Tomorrow, they should have the case by late afternoon or early evening.
Does anyone want to guess how long they’ll deliberate? Apr 25, 2007 10:30 am     Sexual Assault Charge: Amended   This morning, Special Prosecutor Ken Kratz asked the court to amend the criminal complaint and change the first degree sexual assault charge as a party to a crime to second degree sexual assault as a party to a crime.
Judge Fox granted the motion. Then, Mark Fremgen asked to have that charge dismissed, citing a lack of physical evidence. Fremgen said there is no physical evidence to support the charge. In fact, he said the only evidence to support it is the confession, and according to the law, some evidence must be offered aside from the confession.
Special Prosecutor Norm Gahn said there isn’t a lot of physical evidence because Steven and Brendan burned Teresa’s body. However, he said the discovery of handcuffs and leg irons in Steve’s bedroom, along with Teresa’s DNA on the bullet found in Steve’s garage is sufficient evidence to corroborate the confession. Gahn also noted how the furniture in Avery’s bedroom had been rearranged, which Brendan said in his confession, and Jodi Stachowski, Avery’s girlfriend testified too, which supports the claim that the bedroom was cleaned thoroughly to destroy evidence.
Judge Fox said there’s enough evidence to have the jury consider the charge. Motion to dismiss, denied. Apr 25, 2007 5:10 pm     More of Your Emails Thanks for writing in again, everyone! And, as I’ve said, keep ‘em comin’! I want to know what you’re thinking.
Brendan’s Testimony
Dug that hole a mile deep. That's why I find it quite interesting why a defense attorney would let his client go up on the stand, put a noose around his neck and hang himself. My past experiences were a defendant NEVER makes a good witness. The phone call to his mother seems to me to be the deal sealer.
Tim, De Pere
I think every word he confessed to is true. Steven Avery is the one that should pay dearly for this kid, I think he made a wrong choice but Steven is the real problem. Too bad Wisconsin doesn't have the death penalty.
Marie
How long do you think the jury will deliberate?
I say once the jury gets the instructions, they will be out no more than 4 hours before they return their verdict. I can't help but feel that when Brendan took the stand Monday that he lost all possible hope for any "sympathy" from the jury to possibly convict on a lesser charge.
Tammi, Green Bay
1 hour
Dan
I think the jury will be out about 10 minutes...
Mark
I think the Jury will deliberate and reach a verdict in less than 2 hours. The evidence is clear. The decision should be easy.
MN DePere, WI
Tom Fallon’s Closing Argument
I caught most of it....compelling to say the least ? Is it just me or has Brendan "perked" up a little bit since his testimony Monday ? I sure hope this kid doesn't think that he is going home after all this....breaks my heart for both families.
Tammi
Angenette, Apr 25, 2007 7:28 pm     We’re on Verdict Watch   I’ve received some emails asking about what’s going on out here in Manitowoc County.
We’re all sitting in the parking lot of the courthouse or hanging out in the parking lot. It’s really, really cold out here!
The jury got the case around 4:30 p.m. after some pretty impressive closing arguments from the State and the defense.
The Dane County jury now consists of 13 people – 12 jurors and 1 alternate composed of four men and two women. Two women were relieved of their duties today.
They just got dinner. It’s Italian consisting of pizza and other stuff. It smelled delicious!
It could be a long night, or a short one. We’re in hurry up and wait mode. When we were in Madison for jury selection, the deputies at the Dane County Courthouse said that a jury their deliberated until 6:00 a.m. several weeks ago, and returned a verdict then.
We could be in a for a short wait, or a long night.
I’ll do my best to keep you updated. Apr 25, 2007 7:35 pm     Two Mothers – Polar Opposites   Karen Halbach -- Teresa’s Mom
Everyday for the last 18 months or so, I can imagine that Karen Halbach has awakened to milk her cows and see her two teenage daughters off to school. As she walks toward her barn, does she look across that farm field and see the home that used to be occupied by Teresa? I wonder what it must be like for her, to open her eyes every morning. Is Teresa the first thing that comes to mind? Is she the last thing she thinks about before going to sleep?
I know that my mom always says there’s probably nothing worse that a parent can go through, than to lose his or her child. Losing a child is a totally unnatural experience. Parents aren’t supposed to bury their children; they’re supposed to watch them grow up, have their own children -- or not -- and grow to middle age, and in some instances, old age. But, Karen Halbach was robbed of that by Steven Avery -- and now, Brendan Dassey.
I’ve heard over and over again that the Halbachs have a deep faith that has guided them through the last 18 months. Mike Halbach has often said that he gets his strength from his mother. I don’t know whether it’s faith or life experience or a combination of both, but I know that I don’t understand how this family has kept it together.
Imagine for months, turning on the news and listening to the man you believe to be the murderer of your daughter, granting interviews and suggesting that your daughter might still be alive. Imagine Karen Halbach, listening to Steven Avery talk about how cops might have planted his blood to frame them for her daughter’s murder. To listen to him say, “she was here for 5 minutes, and left” even after his nephew gives a three-hour recorded confession.
I feel for Karen Halbach and the rest of the Halbach family. My younger sister is Teresa’s age, and let me tell you, if that had been my sister, I would have lost it a long time ago. The first time Steven Avery walked into the courtroom smirking my way, I might have lost it. But then in a way he wins. I might be in a straight jacket by now, if something like that happened to my sister. But, then again, you never know how you’ll handle a situation, until you’re in it.
I don’t know whether the phrase “grace under pressure” adequately describes Karen Halbach -- it seems like it’s not good enough. We could all learn a thing or two from Karen Halbach and her family. They’ve got more class in their little finger than some people could ever hope to have.
Barbara Tadych
I met Barb Tadych on the evening of March 1, 2006. It was the night that her son, Brendan Dassey, confessed to helping rape and murder Teresa Halbach and then burn her body.
I stumbled upon Barb and she agreed to talk with me. Standing outside, she looked absolutely stunned. She told me about her baby, Brendan and how her brother threatened him to go through with it. I stood outside in the cold, it was misting a bit, and listened to her as she poured out her heart to me. She told me about how badly she felt for the Halbach family. She didn’t understand how someone could “take an innocent life.”
Barb told me that Brendan had a learning disability and that “he does as he’s told.” I had no idea at this point that Brendan had confessed to the things he did -- I thought that he had confessed to helping burn Teresa’s body, nothing more.
I’ll never forget what it was like to look into her eyes as she realized what her brother had dragged her son into that Halloween day. She said that she was “numb.” She looked into the camera and spoke to her brother and said, “Steven, I know you’re going to be watching this and I hate you for what you did to my son, so you can rot in hell, alright. And I’m gonna get you for it.”
That night, I would learn that Brendan Dassey had confessed to murder and implicated Steven Avery in the crime. I was stunned. I remember thinking, “a 16-year-old kid did this?” Of course it’s possible, but how could a kid do this?
As I’ve said before, only Brendan Dassey can answer the “why” question. And, if he did do it, and if it was simply because he “wanted to see what if felt like”as far as sex goes, then why did Steven Avery bring his young, impressionable nephew into this?
How could he do this not only to Teresa Halbach, but to his sister and his nephew? Only Avery can answer that question and right now he’s saying that he didn’t do it.
I’ve watched Barb over the last 13 months. This has worn on her terribly. She wants her son to come home and the truth of the matter is, he may never see the light of day again once that jury returns with a verdict.
It’s very, very sad. If Brendan Dassey did this then he must be punished, he must be held accountable. But, Barb didn’t do anything and it’s hard to watch a mother who may lose her child -- albeit in a much different way than the Halbachs.
In talking to Barb I can tell that she’s tried to be a good mother and that she loves her children. We all have to play with the hand we’re dealt, and sometimes it just seems like Barb got a really bad hand.
It’s also terribly sad that most of the time Barb comes to court by herself. Brendan’s dad Peter has been here in the mornings, but he has to work in the afternoon. When Steve was on trial, many of the Avery family members showed up for court everyday. It’s sad to see that Brendan’s grandparents, Dolores and Allan, and his uncles choose to stay home for his court appearances. Why all the support for Steve and none for Brendan?
It must be awful to feel like no one’s behind you, or your son. She also trusted her brother with her son, and now look what’s happened, if what Brendan said is true.
P.S. -- Karen Halbach and Barb Tadych share the same birthday.
Angenette Apr 30, 2007 3:34 pm

Like the title says I feel like I need more lady friends in my life. I’m not 100% sure what I’m looking for whether it’s a relationship or a friend but I can tell you it is to be less lonely.
About me I’m a 25 year old Hispanic Male from Las Vegas, Nevada. Born in Los Angeles, California then moved here to Vegas when I was 8 years old. I work overnight as a security guard for a casino (11 pm - 7 am) so my sleep schedule is super weird! I enjoy a huge variety of music and always open to suggestions. I like to write mostly about my feelings because I have a hard time talking about my feelings to people. I love dogs and have two dogs a chihuahua and a Jack Russell terrier mix both of them rescue they both have a pretty interesting story. People describe me as super chill and mellow also as one of the nicest people you’ll meet but that’s for you to decide! I can either be quick to respond or insanely slow to respond I’m sorry! Please don’t get mad ha! I do go through depression but I’ll do my best to keep it to myself and stay positive! I also game on PC and PS4. Anyways that’s about all I can come up with at the moment! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Husband is in the military, we relocated to Las Vegas in the last few months, after living in the mid west. Both our families are in California, which is about a 3.5 hour drive away, everyone's excited we're close to them again. Or maybe they're excited we live in a cool town to visit?
Since we're from California, and vegas has a lot of California transplants, I know a handful of people here that have been friends for years, and the running joke between all of them seems to be how they can't remember their last free weekend without guests. I'm starting to realize this isn't a joke. This is putting me in a really awkward position because everyone seems to think they can use our house as a free inn.
I'll start with my BFF, let's call her Leslie. I love Leslie to pieces, we've been dear friends since we were 10, we were roommates at one point, and I'm far closer to her than i am with any of my sisters. Leslie unfortunately married a man that is such a sack of shit, I could literally go on and on about the many awful things he's done, but in an effort to keep it short: he's been unemployed for their entire 5-year marriage, they've basically hated each other's guts since they tied the knot, he is very condescending to her, constantly belittles and puts her down, berates her in public places, tells her she's too fat for him to sleep with, threatened her with a gun once.... honestly you can't have a conversation with this guy without him trying to pick a fight, he lacks impulse control, and frankly has zero redeeming qualities from what I can see. I can't handle this guy for 10 minutes, I think he's abusive. Leslie's incredibly religious, and will never leave him. Fine, not my life, but after years of encouraging her to do what makes her happy, it seems she's happy being miserable with him, and gets incredibly defensive if I imply that he doesn't treat her well, so I keep my mouth shut. Well they want to visit. Leslie will always be welcome in my home, and I really want to see her, but I do not want her husband anywhere near my home or especially my baby. When I said this (in the nicest way I could), she got very upset and now isn't speaking to me. I'm not sure if advice can even be given on this one, because this is not negotiable, and I will not relent and let this man near my family.
Issue #2: cousins of my husband want to visit. We say ok, they're coming next week, with their 3 kids in tow, and I got an email today saying how the wife is so excited to come because they haven't gone on a date in forever, and husband already bought tickets to a show, and a kid-free night is just what they need! Uhh, is it just me, or does it sound like they're under the impression that I'm baby-sitting? One of her kids is an infant, one is fully in the throes of the terrible twos, and the four-year-old in my opinion has some serious behavioral problems. I don't mind them visiting for a weekend, but I am NOT babysitting these kids. What the heck do I get out of this arrangement? They didn't outright say they expected me to babysit, so should I wait to see how this plays out (with the wild hope that they just have a sitter lined up or something), or immediately say "NO THIS ISNT HAPPENING"?
Issue #3: FIL showing up at our house unannounced, saying a quick hello, then leaving for the casino, and after a night of gambling, stumbling in our house at 3:30 am drunk off his ass. WAKING MY SLEEPING INFANT. Husband flew off the handle, and yelled at his dad a bit. FIL gathers that the unannounced part was the issue, and tells us he's coming for a visit in a couple of weeks, so we're "prepared."
Issue #4: husbands grandparents are pressuring me to host thanksgiving and christmas, because if I don't, "no one else will." I don't want 20 people camping out in my house!
It doesn't even stop there, even people I haven't talked to in years suddenly want to friend me on Facebook, and send me emails like, "ohhhhhhh you're in vegas?? I should come visit!" Friends and family; it's overwhelming.
My husband is generally not confrontational (making the scene with his father a HUGE shock to me), and doesn't want to be rude. He doesn't see family and friends visiting as a bad thing, and likes to be very social. I like to be social too, but he's not the one cooking and cleaning and hosting and apparently babysitting. It's causing some tension between us.
How can I collectively tell the people I love to kindly fuck off, in the nicest way possible? I'm a little overwhelmed right now. I want to have guests sometimes, just not every damn weekend.
tl;dr: new to vegas, friends and family all want to use my house as a free hotel and/or child care center, causing issues in basically every relationship I have, including husband.

When I travel, I often tell lawmakers I’m headed to their home state or district. I often suggest we meet for coffee or breakfast sometime. As a reporter, it’s a helpful contrast to see House members and senators in Washington – and also on their home turf.
It helps me understand them better, get a sense of the issues which are important to them and determine what makes them tick.
TRUMP NEEDS A TRANSFER, MAY HAVE TO ROB PETER TO PAY PAUL
Years ago, I casually mentioned to the staff of then Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., I was traveling to the Congressman’s district to attend a wedding. A few weeks passed and I didn’t give it any more thought. Much to my surprise, Frank himself phoned back the day before I left with suggestions for restaurants and dining. He also gave me a brief tutorial about the culture of his district.
Most lawmakers love to hear when you are coming to their district or state. They know every nook and cranny. They know the people. The attractions. The restaurants. And they love to show off the place they represent in Washington.
I had never been to Las Vegas until a few years ago. In that instance, I didn’t tell any members of the Nevada delegation I was heading to the Silver State. But when I returned, I ran into then Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., in a corridor just off the House floor. I told Berkley I had recently visited Las Vegas.
“Where did you stay?” inquired an interested Berkley.
I subsequently told Berkley I stayed at The Venetian, the legendary hotel and casino known for replicating the canals of Venice, the Palazzo Ducale and the Rialto Bridge.
It’s also operated by business magnate Sheldon Adelson.
“Oh, Chad,” Berkley chided gently with a smile on her face. “You stayed at the only non-union hotel on the Strip.”
Las Vegas is a union town. And Adelson is well-known for bucking the labor movement.
“Well,” continued Berkley. “Did you lose any money?”
I don’t gamble much. But I did hit the numbers a few times on the roulette wheel and had some good runs on slot machines.
“We actually came out ahead,” I told Berkley.
She grimaced a bit. On one hand, Berkley perhaps hoped I had won, and thus enjoyed myself and would come again. On the other hand, perhaps Berkley was concerned that my good fortune was bad for the Vegas economy. It was still struggling at that point after the 2008 financial collapse. Many residents were miffed by some stinging remarks dished out by President Obama.
“You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college,” the former President once said, stirring the ire of locals.
“Well, Chad,” sighed Berkley. “Did you see any shows?”
CAPITOL ATTITUDE
I hesitated to answer for a moment. Yes. I had. But I was worried about Berkley’s response.
“We went to see Jersey Boys,” I told the Congresswoman, “But I’m afraid you’re going to tell me they’re against health care reform.”
Berkley laughed.
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Fast forward to the government shutdown of 2013. It was a Saturday evening and the Senate just wrapped for the day. No end to the shutdown was in sight. I was the last reporter leaving the Capitol. As I came to the first floor elevators near the Senate Carriage Entrance, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., materialized. He too was heading home. Reid had known I had visited Vegas a few times by that point. I asked how he was doing and mentioned I needed a vacation once the government was funded again.
I told Reid of one of my favorite restaurants in Las Vegas: Lotus of Siam. It’s a well-known Thai restaurant located off the Strip. The restaurant is in a different location now. But at the time, Lotus of Siam occupied a spot in a run-down strip mall. The entrance to the restaurant belied the culinary magic inside. The walls were plastered with pictures of Hollywood types and rock stars, all who patronized Lotus of Siam when they visited Las Vegas.
Reid proceeded to tell me Lotus of Siam was one of his favorite restaurants. I asked what dishes he liked there. And with that, the Senate Majority Leader whipped out his phone dialed his wife Landra, asking for the name of a dish the two of them often enjoyed.
“Honey, what is that dish you like so much at Lotus of Siam,” Reid asked his wife. “It’s with pumpkin?”
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Wendy Sherman was one of the most senior figures at the State Department in 2014. Sherman and other officials journeyed to Capitol Hill to lead a Senate-wide briefing in the basement of the Capitol Visitor’s Center on North Korea’s nuclear program.
TV networks positioned a bank of cameras in the Senate subway station in hopes of grabbing a few senators as they came and went from the briefing. I asked another colleague to handle the stakeout and headed to Cups, a coffee shop in the basement of the Russell Senate Office Building. My plan was to grab a cup of coffee and then cut past the subway station stakeout en route to the Capitol Rotunda. That’s where I was scheduled to meet a source.
Just as I walked up to the stakeout, Harry Reid appeared atop a small escalator leading to the subway station and near where senators would receive their briefing. I hadn’t spoken to Reid directly in a while. He waved hello. We met at the top of the escalator. I told Reid that I’d be heading to Las Vegas again in a few weeks during the upcoming Congressional recess.
We spoke for a moment, ear-to-ear. Naturally, all of the cameras at the stakeout focused on the two of us talking, as though we were exchanging important information about Pyongyang.
“Where are you staying,” Reid asked.
HARRY REID CALLS ELIZABETH WARREN A ‘GOOD PERSON,’ BUT REFUSES TO ENDORSE HER FOR PRESIDENT
I told Reid we previously stayed at the Bellagio and Mandalay Bay. But we weren’t sure yet this time.
“Stay at Wynn,” said Reid, without missing a beat.
“Wynn” is a hotel/casino complex on the north end of the Vegas Strip. Casino Mogul Steve Wynn ran the place until being forced out last year due to sexual misconduct allegations. Reid was telling me this years before anything was known publicly about Wynn’s alleged infractions.
Reid, being Reid, was always frank in his assessments of most situations. Even if it came to hotels on the Vegas Strip.
“Steve Wynn is an ass but a friend,” said Reid of Wynn. “But he has the nicest place in Las Vegas.”
I thanked Reid for the suggestion and headed up to the Rotunda. Reid went the other direction, toward the North Korea briefing.
By the time I reached the Rotunda, my email exploded with questions from reporters at the stakeout who spotted the escalator exchange but couldn’t hear what we were saying.
“What did Reid tell you about North Korea?” they all asked.
“Nothing,” I told them.
“Come on, Chad. What did he say?” probed one incredulous colleague.
Finally, one of Reid’s aides reached out, curious what the Majority Leader had said.
Reid’s staffer was just being diligent, wondering if he needed to brace for a juicy report on North Korea.
“He told me to stay at Wynn,” I replied.
No special information about Pyongyang. No intelligence on Senate parliamentary strategy. No information on Reid’s political future.
Just an unsolicited hotel recommendation.
Stay at Wynn.
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Perhaps one of the most interesting manifestations of democracy I’ve ever seen unfolded in Las Vegas during the 2016 presidential caucus in Nevada. Most of the hotels and casinos granted workers an hour or so off the clock to attend a caucus. The lines of caucus goers represented a fascinating cross-section of every type of employment possible in Las Vegas. Those in line were attired in full work regalia – just taking a few moments to make their voices heard: Blackjack dealer. Bartender. Bellhop. Showgirl. Custodian. Limo driver. Chef. Dishwasher. Housekeeper. Security Guard.
All political caucuses and primaries reflect the states or towns in which they’re held. But this was a presidential caucus in Las Vegas. And those participating in a caucus in Las Vegas were going to cut a very different political figure than caucus goers in Iowa, Colorado, Hawaii or Kansas. It was signature Las Vegas.
Source: Fox News Politics
from MAGA First News https://magafirstnews.com/fox-news/politicians-show-their-cards-in-las-vegas/
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