Transcript
1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,000
[MUSIC]
2
00:00:29,100 --> 00:00:32,700
Steven Gordon's story isn't your typical tale of redemption.
3
00:00:32,700 --> 00:00:37,000
It's more like watching a roller coaster where the brakes fail halfway through.
4
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,800
Born into a life of bullying, bad health, and even worse temper,
5
00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:45,300
Steven found a surprising home at Disneyland, where he was actually well-liked.
6
00:00:45,300 --> 00:00:48,600
But let's not get too attached to that version of Steven,
7
00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,700
because the good times, they didn't last long.
8
00:00:51,700 --> 00:00:54,400
What followed was a downward spiral so dramatic,
9
00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:56,900
it could be its own Netflix mini-series.
10
00:00:56,900 --> 00:01:02,300
There's kidnapping, ankle monitors, and a sketchy bromance with another X-con.
11
00:01:02,300 --> 00:01:04,200
Oh, and the murders.
12
00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:05,500
Multiple murders.
13
00:01:05,500 --> 00:01:09,900
It all culminates in a courtroom showdown where Steven, against all odds,
14
00:01:09,900 --> 00:01:12,100
chooses to represent himself.
15
00:01:12,100 --> 00:01:17,600
And let's just say his defense strategy isn't inspired by an episode of law and order.
16
00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,300
This is a story of self-destruction, sinister partnerships,
17
00:01:21,300 --> 00:01:25,500
and a justice system that somehow didn't catch on until it was far too late.
18
00:01:25,500 --> 00:01:29,100
Pull your blankets up to your chin because this one is dark.
19
00:01:29,100 --> 00:01:34,300
It's strange, and just when you think it can't get any worse, it absolutely does.
20
00:01:34,300 --> 00:01:38,700
But before we get into the story, if you like your true crime brief and bingeable,
21
00:01:38,700 --> 00:01:40,500
you have found the right podcast.
22
00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:44,700
I give you at least two episodes per week, so hit that follow button now,
23
00:01:44,700 --> 00:01:47,700
and welcome to 10 Minute Murder.
24
00:01:47,700 --> 00:01:58,300
[Music]
25
00:01:58,300 --> 00:02:01,300
It's one thing to represent yourself in court.
26
00:02:01,300 --> 00:02:05,900
It's another to represent yourself in court and treat it like an open mic night,
27
00:02:05,900 --> 00:02:10,500
where the goal is to air every grievance, implicate half your contact list,
28
00:02:10,500 --> 00:02:13,700
and somehow make the jury actively root against you.
29
00:02:13,700 --> 00:02:16,900
Steven Dean Gordon wasn't just an accused murderer.
30
00:02:16,900 --> 00:02:21,300
He was a man on a mission to redefine the phrase "self-destruction."
31
00:02:21,300 --> 00:02:24,700
From the moment he decided to forego a professional defense,
32
00:02:24,700 --> 00:02:27,300
Steven's courtroom strategy was clear.
33
00:02:27,300 --> 00:02:32,500
Skip the denial, ignore the remorse, and aim straight for the chaos.
34
00:02:32,500 --> 00:02:36,100
He didn't try to prove his innocence or dispute the charges.
35
00:02:36,100 --> 00:02:38,100
No, Steven had a different plan.
36
00:02:38,100 --> 00:02:41,700
Drag every probation officer, every law enforcement official,
37
00:02:41,700 --> 00:02:45,700
and possibly the courthouse janitor into the seeking ship of blame.
38
00:02:45,700 --> 00:02:49,100
I stop at yourself when you can take the whole system down with you.
39
00:02:49,100 --> 00:02:52,100
And it wasn't just his lack of defense that raised eyebrows.
40
00:02:52,100 --> 00:02:54,900
Steven treated the courtroom like a warped stage,
41
00:02:54,900 --> 00:02:59,700
dropping subpoenas on probation officers to testify about their supposed negligence
42
00:02:59,700 --> 00:03:02,900
as though they were the ones on trial for his crimes.
43
00:03:02,900 --> 00:03:08,900
It was less about proving anything and more about making sure everyone got a slice of the humiliation pie.
44
00:03:08,900 --> 00:03:12,700
When the jury handed him a death sentence, Steven didn't flinch.
45
00:03:12,700 --> 00:03:19,300
He actually thanked him as if the whole proceeding was just a weird team building exercise he'd been hoping to fail.
46
00:03:19,300 --> 00:03:20,500
But let's be real.
47
00:03:20,500 --> 00:03:25,900
The decision to represent himself wasn't about strategy or confidence in his legal skills.
48
00:03:25,900 --> 00:03:32,900
It was about control, a last-ditch effort to have the final word and a life he had already driven off the rails.
49
00:03:32,900 --> 00:03:36,100
Steven didn't want justice. He wanted a stage.
50
00:03:36,100 --> 00:03:39,700
Too bad for him. The jury wasn't buying tickets.
51
00:03:39,700 --> 00:03:41,700
But that's how the story ends up.
52
00:03:41,700 --> 00:03:44,700
Let's rewind now and talk about how we got here.
53
00:03:44,700 --> 00:03:49,100
Steven Dean Gordon's life didn't exactly start on easy mode.
54
00:03:49,100 --> 00:03:53,900
Born in 1969 in Linwood, California and raised in Norfolk,
55
00:03:53,900 --> 00:03:58,300
Young Steven's childhood was a greatest hits compilation of bad luck.
56
00:03:58,300 --> 00:04:01,700
Relentless bullying at school, chronic health issues,
57
00:04:01,700 --> 00:04:04,100
and grades that barely cleared the bar.
58
00:04:04,100 --> 00:04:08,900
And to top it off, his temper made sure he wasn't winning any most popular awards.
59
00:04:08,900 --> 00:04:13,300
If there was a club for kids with chips on their shoulders, Steven would have been the president.
60
00:04:13,300 --> 00:04:18,100
But then, like a plot twist and a feel-good movie, Steven got a job at Disneyland.
61
00:04:18,100 --> 00:04:19,900
The happiest place on Earth.
62
00:04:19,900 --> 00:04:21,700
It seemed like a fresh start.
63
00:04:21,700 --> 00:04:25,100
He fixed restaurant machinery, did odd jobs around the park,
64
00:04:25,100 --> 00:04:29,100
and somehow went from problem-kid to well-liked coworker.
65
00:04:29,100 --> 00:04:33,100
He joined the employee's softball team, became a valued member of the team,
66
00:04:33,100 --> 00:04:34,900
and even snagged a girlfriend.
67
00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:39,900
For brief, fleeting moment, life looked like it might finally give Steven a break.
68
00:04:39,900 --> 00:04:40,900
Spoiler.
69
00:04:40,900 --> 00:04:43,900
But not really because this is a true crime story.
70
00:04:43,900 --> 00:04:44,900
It didn't.
71
00:04:44,900 --> 00:04:47,900
Steven's fairy tale wasn't just short-lived.
72
00:04:47,900 --> 00:04:49,900
It came with a trapdoor straight to disaster,
73
00:04:49,900 --> 00:04:52,900
because while some people get there happily ever after,
74
00:04:52,900 --> 00:04:57,900
Steven's story was less Disney magic and more dark spiral into infamy.
75
00:04:57,900 --> 00:05:03,900
In 1992, Steven Dean Gordon crossed a line that can never be uncrossed.
76
00:05:03,900 --> 00:05:06,900
He sexually abused his own niece.
77
00:05:06,900 --> 00:05:09,900
This act didn't just tarnish his reputation.
78
00:05:09,900 --> 00:05:13,900
It obliterated the fragile stability he'd managed to claw back.
79
00:05:13,900 --> 00:05:19,900
Disneyland, once his sanctuary and source of pride, swiftly showed him the exit door.
80
00:05:19,900 --> 00:05:23,900
Gone were the days of fixing machinery and scoring home runs on the softball team.
81
00:05:23,900 --> 00:05:28,900
Steven was now banned from seeing his niece and slapped with a 15-month prison sentence.
82
00:05:28,900 --> 00:05:32,900
Upon his release, there was a glimmer of hope that Steven might finally steer his life
83
00:05:32,900 --> 00:05:34,900
in the right direction.
84
00:05:34,900 --> 00:05:39,900
He'd landed a job, he tied the knot, and welcomed a daughter into the world.
85
00:05:39,900 --> 00:05:44,900
It seemed like he was rewriting his own story from troubled youth to family man.
86
00:05:44,900 --> 00:05:47,900
But as Taylor Swift might say, the story continues.
87
00:05:47,900 --> 00:05:53,900
And for Steven, it took a dark twist, a move to a new home brought financial strain,
88
00:05:53,900 --> 00:05:58,900
re-igniting his old temper like a stubborn ember refusing to die out.
89
00:05:58,900 --> 00:06:01,900
Steven became a ticking time bomb of volatility.
90
00:06:01,900 --> 00:06:07,900
His threats ranging from the melodramatic, like hiring a hitman to cash in his life insurance policy,
91
00:06:07,900 --> 00:06:09,900
to the downright terrifying.
92
00:06:09,900 --> 00:06:15,900
His wife, fearing for her safety and that of her young daughter, made the brave decision to flee.
93
00:06:15,900 --> 00:06:21,900
This desperate escape ignited a fierce custody battle, one that Steven ultimately lost.
94
00:06:21,900 --> 00:06:27,900
Instead of seeking help, Steven's spiral into chaos steepened, proving that some stories have no happy endings.
95
00:06:27,900 --> 00:06:33,900
And as the saying goes, when the chips are down, some people just can't find their way back.
96
00:06:33,900 --> 00:06:39,900
Steven had already lost his family, his stability, and arguably his grip on reality.
97
00:06:39,900 --> 00:06:44,900
But instead of taking the L like a grown-up, he decided to double down in the worst possible way.
98
00:06:44,900 --> 00:06:50,900
One sunny post-churched Sunday, Steven kidnapped his ex-wife and their young daughter,
99
00:06:50,900 --> 00:06:53,900
as if this would magically fix his life.
100
00:06:53,900 --> 00:07:01,900
Arms with a stun gun, and an apparent lack of self-awareness, he forced them into his car and drove to a secluded spot in Nevada,
101
00:07:01,900 --> 00:07:04,900
which sounds exactly as terrifying as it is.
102
00:07:04,900 --> 00:07:11,900
Over the course of their captivity, Steven alternated between begging his wife for forgiveness and assaulting her.
103
00:07:11,900 --> 00:07:16,900
If this sounds like a winning strategy to regain someone's trust, it isn't.
104
00:07:16,900 --> 00:07:24,900
But his ex, proving she was far cleverer than Steven in every way, played along, pretending to forgive him.
105
00:07:24,900 --> 00:07:29,900
She even convinced him to let her make a phone call, which she used to contact her parents.
106
00:07:29,900 --> 00:07:35,900
Her parents, not wasting a second, called the police, who swooped in like the heroes of the story they are,
107
00:07:35,900 --> 00:07:38,900
rescuing both his ex-wife and his daughter.
108
00:07:38,900 --> 00:07:43,900
Steven was then sentenced to ten years for this crime, but of course served only eight.
109
00:07:43,900 --> 00:07:49,900
Because apparently eight years is all you need to re-enter society completely rehabilitated.
110
00:07:49,900 --> 00:07:50,900
We're not.
111
00:07:50,900 --> 00:07:57,900
Out of prison and back in the world, Steven soon found someone whose moral compass was just as broken as his own.
112
00:07:57,900 --> 00:07:58,900
Frank Caino.
113
00:07:58,900 --> 00:08:03,900
It was the start of a partnership that would take the phrase "two heads are better than one"
114
00:08:03,900 --> 00:08:05,900
to some of the darkest places imaginable.
115
00:08:05,900 --> 00:08:11,900
When Steven Dean Gordon met Frank Caino at an auto-body repair shop in Anaheim,
116
00:08:11,900 --> 00:08:14,900
the two seemed destined to form a connection.
117
00:08:14,900 --> 00:08:19,900
Frank, much younger than Steven, had his own deeply troubling history.
118
00:08:19,900 --> 00:08:25,900
Like Steven, he'd been convicting of molesting a young family member and was slapped with an ankle monitor,
119
00:08:25,900 --> 00:08:28,900
a grim badge of a shared disgrace.
120
00:08:28,900 --> 00:08:34,900
It didn't take long for these two to become fast friends, bonded not by common interests like sports or music,
121
00:08:34,900 --> 00:08:36,900
but by something much darker.
122
00:08:36,900 --> 00:08:42,900
Their co-workers noticed the unusually close bond, and in typical workplace fashion,
123
00:08:42,900 --> 00:08:45,900
speculated about whether their friendship might be romantic.
124
00:08:45,900 --> 00:08:50,900
But whatever Steven and Frank shared wasn't rooted in love or even companionship.
125
00:08:50,900 --> 00:08:52,900
It was something far more sinister.
126
00:08:52,900 --> 00:08:57,900
Before long, their shared depravity began to eclipse any petty workplace gossip.
127
00:08:57,900 --> 00:09:00,900
Their living arrangements were as chaotic as their lives.
128
00:09:00,900 --> 00:09:04,900
Sometimes they crash at Frank's hotel room, paid for by his parents,
129
00:09:04,900 --> 00:09:07,900
and other times they may do with Steven's car.
130
00:09:07,900 --> 00:09:10,900
Despite this less-thin glamorous setup,
131
00:09:10,900 --> 00:09:13,900
their twisted loyalty to each other only grew stronger.
132
00:09:13,900 --> 00:09:17,900
By 2010, they took their first real stab at rebellion,
133
00:09:17,900 --> 00:09:20,900
cutting off their ankle monitors and making a break for freedom.
134
00:09:20,900 --> 00:09:24,900
Of course, these two criminal masterminds didn't make it far.
135
00:09:24,900 --> 00:09:30,900
They were caught quickly and remonetured, a slap on the wrist that did nothing to deter their behavior.
136
00:09:30,900 --> 00:09:36,900
A second attempt to ditch their monitors was more ambitious and slightly more successful.
137
00:09:36,900 --> 00:09:41,900
If you define success as evading capture for two weeks in Las Vegas before being arrested again,
138
00:09:41,900 --> 00:09:44,900
and when the law caught up with them a second time,
139
00:09:44,900 --> 00:09:50,900
both men received short jail sentences, which unsurprisingly did nothing to rehabilitate them.
140
00:09:50,900 --> 00:09:55,900
By the time they were released, Steven and Frank were completely untethered, homeless, jobless,
141
00:09:55,900 --> 00:09:59,900
and nursing an escalated anger at the world around them.
142
00:09:59,900 --> 00:10:05,900
What little they had left in life was a shared sense of entitlements and a readiness to escalate their crimes.
143
00:10:05,900 --> 00:10:08,900
Together, they would become a truly terrifying duo,
144
00:10:08,900 --> 00:10:12,900
turning their shared darkness into acts of unimaginable violence.
145
00:10:12,900 --> 00:10:18,900
It's not every day that co-workers at a recycling center stumble across something so horrifying,
146
00:10:18,900 --> 00:10:21,900
it changes the course of a major investigation.
147
00:10:21,900 --> 00:10:25,900
But that's exactly what happened in March 2014.
148
00:10:25,900 --> 00:10:32,900
The naked body of 21-year-old Gerai Nicole Eastep came tumbling out of a conveyor belt in Anaheim,
149
00:10:32,900 --> 00:10:37,900
and with it, the threads of a much darker tapestry began to unravel.
150
00:10:37,900 --> 00:10:41,900
Gerai, a sex worker who had only been in the area for a few days,
151
00:10:41,900 --> 00:10:47,900
had no idea she was walking into the crosshairs of two of the most disturbed individuals in recent memory.
152
00:10:47,900 --> 00:10:51,900
At first, Gerai's case seemed like a tragically isolated crime,
153
00:10:51,900 --> 00:10:55,900
but as investigators dug deeper, the horrifying truth came to light.
154
00:10:55,900 --> 00:10:58,900
This wasn't a one-off murder.
155
00:10:58,900 --> 00:11:02,900
Data from Stephen and Frank's ankle monitors placed them at multiple crime scenes.
156
00:11:02,900 --> 00:11:06,900
Yes, the same ankle monitors that were supposed to keep tabs on them
157
00:11:06,900 --> 00:11:12,900
ended up being the breadcrumbs that led law enforcement straight to their twisted trail.
158
00:11:12,900 --> 00:11:15,900
It's almost poetic in the worst possible way.
159
00:11:15,900 --> 00:11:20,900
When confronted, Stephen cracked, not only did he confess to killing five women
160
00:11:20,900 --> 00:11:27,900
but also casually offered up details about his and Frank's grotesque hunting expeditions through Anaheim.
161
00:11:27,900 --> 00:11:30,900
This wasn't a spur of the moment crime spree.
162
00:11:30,900 --> 00:11:34,900
It was a calculated operation targeting vulnerable women.
163
00:11:34,900 --> 00:11:41,900
Their victims included 20-year-old Keanu Rae Jackson, 34-year-old Josephine Vargas, 28-year-old Martha Ania,
164
00:11:41,900 --> 00:11:44,900
and ultimately Gerai Eastep.
165
00:11:44,900 --> 00:11:48,900
Each crime bore the unmistakable marks of premeditated violence,
166
00:11:48,900 --> 00:11:54,900
making it painfully clear that these two had long since crossed any point of return.
167
00:11:54,900 --> 00:11:57,900
As if Stephen's confession wasn't damning enough,
168
00:11:57,900 --> 00:12:03,900
DNA evidence tied the pair to the victims and a series of incriminating text messages confirmed
169
00:12:03,900 --> 00:12:05,900
their cold, calculated intent.
170
00:12:05,900 --> 00:12:07,900
They weren't just murderers.
171
00:12:07,900 --> 00:12:13,900
They were predators, deliberately stalking their victims and leaving a trail of devastation behind.
172
00:12:13,900 --> 00:12:19,900
For investigators, it was a chilling revelation. For everyone else, it was a nightmare made real.
173
00:12:19,900 --> 00:12:23,900
And for Stephen and Frank, it was the beginning of the end.
174
00:12:23,900 --> 00:12:28,900
Stephen Dean Gordon's trial wasn't so much a defense as it was a finger pointing circus.
175
00:12:28,900 --> 00:12:33,900
In a baffling move, Stephen represented himself, not to lessen his sentence,
176
00:12:33,900 --> 00:12:37,900
but to blame the probation officers for their supposed negligence.
177
00:12:37,900 --> 00:12:40,900
Because clearly, that was the real issue here.
178
00:12:40,900 --> 00:12:42,900
I say sarcastically.
179
00:12:42,900 --> 00:12:47,900
Unsurprisingly, the jury wasn't buying it. When they handed down a death sentence, Stephen thanked them
180
00:12:47,900 --> 00:12:52,900
and took the opportunity to declare that Frank Kano deserved the same fate.
181
00:12:52,900 --> 00:12:57,900
Frank, ever the pragmatist, took a plea deal, securing life without parole.
182
00:12:57,900 --> 00:13:02,900
While Stephen went down in flames, Frank quietly sidestepped death row,
183
00:13:02,900 --> 00:13:09,900
leaving everyone to wonder if Stephen's courtroom chaos had been less about justice and more about theatrics.
184
00:13:09,900 --> 00:13:14,900
In the end, justice caught up with them, but not before five women lost their lives.
185
00:13:14,900 --> 00:13:17,900
Stephen and Frank will live out their days locked away,
186
00:13:17,900 --> 00:13:25,900
while the memories of their victims remain a haunting testament to a justice system that only acted when it was far too late.
187
00:13:25,900 --> 00:13:35,900
That's your 10-minute murder story for today. Brief and bingeable true crime.
188
00:13:35,900 --> 00:13:39,900
I'm Joe, I'm the host, and thank you for taking the time to listen.
189
00:13:39,900 --> 00:13:46,900
If you're off to binge more episodes, don't let me stop you. If you're a brand new listener, make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening right now.
190
00:13:46,900 --> 00:13:50,900
If you want to email me, my email address is on the website, 10minuteMurder.com.
191
00:13:50,900 --> 00:13:53,900
And here's one of those emails. Hi, Joe.
192
00:13:53,900 --> 00:13:58,900
True crime has always been an interest of mine, so I was thrilled to stumble upon your podcast almost two years ago.
193
00:13:58,900 --> 00:14:04,900
I listen to you everywhere. I'm a drive to work, while cooking dinner, folding laundry on my lunch break, you get the idea.
194
00:14:04,900 --> 00:14:10,900
You're definitely one of my favorite true crime creators, and I eagerly await your new episodes every week.
195
00:14:10,900 --> 00:14:18,900
Lately, I've noticed a surge of true crime podcasts written/nearrated by AI, and I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for keeping it real.
196
00:14:18,900 --> 00:14:24,900
Nothing against AI, I just feel like your podcast is a breath of fresh air and a sea of synthetic voices.
197
00:14:24,900 --> 00:14:28,900
Keep up the great work. All the best, Shelley W. from Georgia.
198
00:14:28,900 --> 00:14:34,900
First of all, Shelley, thank you for taking the time to reach out, and I really appreciate you listening.
199
00:14:34,900 --> 00:14:46,900
And yeah, I completely agree with you. At first, I didn't. At first, I thought, "Well, there are people that probably are a little embarrassed and don't want to talk in a microphone, but they have good research skills, and they have good storytelling skills."
200
00:14:46,900 --> 00:14:54,900
So this might be a cool thing you could do. You could take your research and your storytelling, dump it into, uh, the AI voice box. I don't know what they're called.
201
00:14:54,900 --> 00:15:00,900
But you could dump it into there, and it will spit out your story, and then boom, you've got yourself podcasted.
202
00:15:00,900 --> 00:15:10,900
At first, I assumed that was what was happening until I listened to a handful of them. And this isn't to say all of them, but all of them that I listened to, it's not good.
203
00:15:10,900 --> 00:15:20,900
I think people are plagiarizing and just taking someone else's work, dumping it into an AI voice box thingy, and then trying to make a podcast out of that.
204
00:15:20,900 --> 00:15:28,900
First of all, that's illegal stealing someone's work like that, but also, did you think that podcasting was that easy? Because it's really not.
205
00:15:28,900 --> 00:15:33,900
I know listening to it, you think, "Well, I mean, it's 10 minutes. How much work could he be putting into this?"
206
00:15:33,900 --> 00:15:40,900
And let me tell you, a whole bunch. It takes more money, and it takes more time than you would assume that it takes.
207
00:15:40,900 --> 00:15:45,900
Especially if you want to get it right information-wise, and you want to make it as interesting as you can possibly make it.
208
00:15:45,900 --> 00:15:50,900
Now, if you don't give it down, you can make whatever you want to, and you know, throw it out there, but no one's going to listen to it.
209
00:15:50,900 --> 00:15:54,900
People will catch on that you don't really care, and then they'll stop caring as well.
210
00:15:54,900 --> 00:16:02,900
But yeah, maybe the AI podcasts will eventually get better. I don't have faith in that, but maybe they will. Who knows. I kind of hope not.
211
00:16:02,900 --> 00:16:11,900
Again, thank you, Shelley, for the email, and that's going to do it. That is your episode for today. Thank you so much for listening to 10 Minute Murder.
