Transcript
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(upbeat music)
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Let's talk about Daniel Lapland,
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the kid who could have been the poster child
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for red flags we completely ignored.
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Born into a life of neglect, abuse, and bad decisions,
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none of them, his own, at first,
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he grew up to be exactly the kind of person
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your parents warn you about,
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assuming your parents were paying attention.
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From stalking families to literally hiding in their walls,
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Daniel's life read like the world's
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darkest cautionary tale.
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This episode takes you into his early years
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where everything went wrong, no one stepped in,
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and the line between weird and dangerous got obliterated.
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Buckle up because this one is unsettling
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as it is downright bizarre.
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But before we get into that story,
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if you like your true crime, brief, and bingeable,
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you have found the right podcast.
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Hit the follow button now for access
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to at least two episodes per week,
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and welcome to 10 Minute Murder.
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(soft music)
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A loner, a creep, a childhood soaked in neglect,
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and streaked with a steady parade of run-ins with the law.
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Some stories seem almost engineered
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to remind us why certain stereotypes exist,
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and then there are cases like Daniel LaPlanse.
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Cases that make you stop and wonder,
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how did so many red flags go unnoticed,
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and how did no one step in before things
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spiraled into the unimaginable?
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This isn't just a story of a troubled youth,
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it's a cautionary tale of what happens
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when the warning signs are ignored.
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Born in 1970 in the quiet town of towns and Massachusetts,
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Daniel LaPlanse childhood read like a blueprint for tragedy.
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From the start, his life was a series
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of unfortunate events wrapped in neglect.
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Shortly after his birth, his parents divorced,
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leaving Daniel to grow up in a single mother household.
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With his father out of the picture and his mother, Elaine,
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working to make ends meet, Daniel was left to navigate life
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mostly alone.
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That changed when Elaine remarried.
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Suddenly, Daniel had a full house,
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a stepfather, two younger brothers,
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and even his biological father
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circled back into the mix, offering to, air quotes, help,
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with child care.
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On the surface, it seemed like a rags
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to riches family dynamic.
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Plenty of people stepping up to fill the gaps,
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but according to Daniel's later accounts,
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this patchwork family hid something much darker.
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He claimed that his father, stepfather,
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and even his psychiatrist, had subjected him
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to years of physical and sexual abuse.
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While there's no concrete evidence to support these allegations,
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the lack of documentation doesn't necessarily
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disprove them, especially when the alleged abusers
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included someone in a position of trust like a psychiatrist.
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Daniel retreated inward, becoming quiet, introverted.
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Even joining the school's football team,
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a move that might have elevated his social standing,
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but it really didn't help.
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His classmates didn't see him as a teammate,
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as much as they did, an oddity.
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Quote, the guy never really was all that friendly.
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One former classmate later said,
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"He never really liked to go to parties.
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He never really talked much."
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From the outside, Daniel seemed like the typical misfit,
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the kind of kid who floats through school unnoticed,
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but beneath that quiet exterior,
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something far more troubling was brewing.
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Daniel leplands inability to connect with others
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and may have stemmed from deeper challenges,
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diagnosed with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder,
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and other learning disabilities,
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he struggled academically and socially.
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Poor grades compounded his isolation,
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making it even harder for him to fit in with his peers.
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His classmates didn't just ignore him, they singled him out.
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Daniel's awkward demeanor and lack of personal hygiene
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earned him the unkind nickname of, "class creep."
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Making him an easy target for ridicule.
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As his struggles mounted, his family sent him to a psychiatrist,
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hoping to address his behavior.
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But according to Daniel's later claims,
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that step only deepened his trauma.
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He alleged that the very psychiatrist meant to help him
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had instead sexually abused him behind closed doors.
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And as I mentioned, there is no physical evidence
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to support these allegations,
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but Daniel would later argue that any proof
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would have been in the hands of the abuser himself.
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The psychiatrist's official evaluation of Daniel
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painted a bleak picture.
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He was described as hyperactive, unable to sit still,
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and prone to inappropriate behavior
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in structured environments.
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On paper, these findings seem to explain Daniel's struggles,
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but they barely scratched the surface
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of the darkness brewing within him,
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a darkness that no evaluation could have fully captured.
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15-year-old Tina Bowen caught Daniel Lapland's attention
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in a way that would prove tragically significant.
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Tina was a kind and approachable person,
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traits that Daniel fixated on.
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When he asked her to be his girlfriend,
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Tina politely declined.
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At first, Daniel seemed to take the rejection and stride,
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but what followed would shatter any semblance
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of normalcy for the Bowen family.
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On the evening of December 6, 1986,
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a terrified Tina pounded on a neighbor's front door.
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When the neighbor opened it, she found Tina,
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shaken and frantic,
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explaining that her family was being held hostage
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inside their own home.
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They'd arrived home to find the radios
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were blaring in the house.
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Lieutenant Land later recounted,
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all the lights were on, the TVs were on, all of them,
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and blaring with sound.
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Already unsettled, Tina's father, Frank Bowen,
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began methodically searching the house,
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determined to figure out what or who was responsible
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for the chaos.
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Moving room to room, he finally reached a closet
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in the front room.
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When he opened it, he came face to face with the chilling sight.
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Inside was a man dressed in a fur coat.
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His face painted white, with his hair styled
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into spiked tuffs.
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In his hands, he clutched Frank's own hatchet
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and a steel wrench.
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Take the girls to the bedroom, the stranger commanded.
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Frank shielding his daughters from the armed intruder
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managed to get them into a bedroom and shut the door
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before the man could follow.
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Pressing his weight against the door to keep it closed,
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Frank fought to keep his family safe.
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But in the chaos, Tina made a desperate decision.
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Overcome with fear, she'd disobeyed her father's orders,
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leaping out of the bedroom window
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and running to the neighbor's house to call for help.
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It was Tina's quick thinking and courage
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that saved her family that night, setting into motion
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a series of events that would finally bring
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Daniela Plan's actions into the light.
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When the police arrived at the bow and home,
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Frank quickly flagged them down.
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From the bedroom window, he helped
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lower his younger daughter and her friend to safety.
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He then delivered the terrifying news.
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There was a hatchet wielding intruder still in the house.
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The officer swept the home, but the intruder seemed
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to have vanished, where they discovered, instead,
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sent shivers through the investigators.
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It appeared that the stranger hadn't broken into the bow
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and home.
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He'd been living there, hiding within the walls
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and watching the family.
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His eerie unexplained presence blurred the line
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between a burglary and something far more sinister.
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Identifying the intruder proved difficult.
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His bizarre appearance, complete with white face paint,
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spiked hair and his outlandish fur coat,
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obscured any clear sense of his age or features.
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Yet by this time, Daniela Planth
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had earned a reputation around town,
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and it didn't take long for the police to connect the dots.
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Daniela was, of course, arrested,
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and while awaiting trial, his mother Elaine
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made a troubling decision.
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She remorgaged her house to pay his $10,000 bail.
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Upon learning of Daniela's release, the bow and family
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moved out of their home and into a hotel,
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unwilling to risk another encounter.
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Meanwhile, the neighborhood began experiencing
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a wave of burglaries, cash, jewelry,
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and most alarmingly, firearms and ammunition
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were stolen from multiple homes.
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One day, Daniela's stepfather found a gun hidden
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in a laundry basket at home.
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Confronting Daniel, he asked where to come from.
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Daniela claimed he'd bought it.
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A flimsy explanation that somehow wasn't pursued further.
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It was a critical moment, a chance to intervene
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and potentially prevent further harm,
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but no action was taken.
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And nearly a year after Daniela's terrorization
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of the bow and the consequences of that inaction
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became tragically clear.
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In December 1987, Andy Gustafson came home
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expecting the usual joyful chaos of family life.
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Instead, he found horror.
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His wife Priscilla, a beloved nursery school teacher,
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they faced down on their bed.
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She'd been raped and shot multiple times
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at point blank range.
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Adding to the devastation, Priscilla
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had been pregnant with the couple's third child.
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The nightmare didn't end there.
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In separate bathrooms, Andy found his two young children.
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Seven-year-old Abigail and five-year-old William
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had been strangled and drowned.
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Their lives cruelly and violently taken.
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What started as a series of escalated warning signs
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had spiraled into horrific, triple homicide,
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leaving a community to grapple with the devastating consequences
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of missed opportunities to stop Daniela Plant.
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The Gustafson's family home bordered a wooded area
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that Daniela Plant often frequented.
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That same stretch of trees was all that separated their lives
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from his growing darkness.
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Daniel had even been caught stealing from the home before,
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giving the police a clear suspect in the brutal, triple homicide.
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When officers arrived Daniela's home,
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they lacked enough physical evidence
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to arrest him outright.
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They left, planning to return with a stronger case.
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But Daniel had other plans.
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Spotting the police a few days later,
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he fled, setting off a chaotic and desperate escape.
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He ran to a nearby house, stealing a van
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and briefly holding the van owner hostage.
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After a short drive, he was spotted by another officer,
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forcing him to ditch the vehicle and continue on foot.
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His flight ended in a lumber yard where he brandished a gun,
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threatened the owner, and attempted to hide in a dumpster.
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The police caught up with him there,
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bringing an end to his rampage.
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Daniel was tried as an adult for the murders of Priscilla Gustafson
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and her two young children, Abigail and William.
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The court found him guilty,
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sentencing him to three life terms
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with the possibility of parole after 45 years.
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The story of Daniela Plant leaves behind
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more questions than answers.
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How does a person become capable of such horrific acts?
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Were there moments when intervention might have changed
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the course of his life and the lives he destroyed?
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His crimes are sobering reminder
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of the warning signs we often miss
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and the profound responsibility we share to recognize
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and act on those signs before it's too late.
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While justice may have been served,
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the cost was immeasurable,
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leaving a community forever scarred by the violence
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that could have been prevented.
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(upbeat music)
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That is 10 Minute Murder for Today.
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Brief and bingeable true crime.
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I'm Joe, I'm the host,
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and thank you for taking the time to listen.
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If you dig the podcast, but you,
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maybe you're in the mood for something that's not so murdery,
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there's another podcast I've created.
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I hosted as well.
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It's called 10 Minute Mystery,
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and it's on many of the places that you listen to this podcast.
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So check it out, type in 10 Minute Mystery,
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wherever you like to listen to podcasts,
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and let me know what you think about it.
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If you're a brand new listener to this podcast,
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make sure you hit subscribe and let your friends family know
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about 10 Minute Murder.
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Connect with me on social media,
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links from the show notes of this episode,
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or you can go to 10minutemerder.com
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and find the links as well as a blog
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and an updated merchandise store for 10 Minute Murder.
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If you got something on your mind or a story
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that you wanna share with me,
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you can email it to me,
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joe@10minutemerder.com.
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And that's gonna do it.
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That is your episode for today.
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Thank you so much for listening to 10 Minute Murder.
