What we lose in the Shadows (A father and daughter True Crime Podcast)
What we lose in the Shadows (A father and daughter True Crime Podcast)
Manipulation and Murder: The troubling case of Dahsia Maldonado
Can you imagine the horror of losing loved ones due to someone's reckless behavior? Brace yourself as we uncover the devastating case of Rebecca Grossman, a wealthy socialite who took the lives of two innocent children while driving under the influence. We'll discuss the trial, her recent conviction, and reflect on the dire need for responsible behavior to prevent such irreversible tragedies.
Next, we journey through the tragic story of Deja Maldondo, who found herself entangled in a nightmare after the death of her husband, Eli Dominguez. Brandon Toseland, a supposed friend, offered solace but soon turned manipulative and abusive, isolating Deja and controlling every aspect of her life. This episode sheds light on the red flags of toxic relationships and the immense difficulties victims face when seeking help. We'll also share personal anecdotes about interactions with law enforcement and the crucial role of a supportive network. The episode culminates with the gut-wrenching revelation of the abuser's role in the death of Deja's child, a stark reminder of the urgent need to recognize and act upon signs of abuse.
https://www.ktnv.com/news/crime/attorney-shares-timeline-leading-up-to-murder-of-a-4-year-old-boy
Contact us at: whatweloseintheshadows@gmail.com
Background music by Michael Shuller Music
Good morning and welcome to what we Lose in the Shadows a father-daughter true crime podcast. My name is Jameson Keys.
Speaker 2:I'm Caroline. Good morning Caroline. How are you? I'm good. How are you?
Speaker 1:I'm very good. It's a bright, sunny day here in the Northeast.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is Very sunny, very hot, very humid.
Speaker 1:It's supposed to be up to 95 tomorrow, which is a little much for me.
Speaker 2:I'll be in the pool. Oh wait, no, actually it's Monday. I have to go to work. Working is the worst.
Speaker 1:Worst, but necessary. Working is the worst, worst, but necessary.
Speaker 2:Definitely necessary, but, oh my gosh, sometimes it's like just one more. One more weekend day would be so nice, you know.
Speaker 1:Right Next week I get to go to San Diego.
Speaker 2:I know that'll be nice, San Diego land of the lesbians?
Speaker 1:I've never been, but I'm trying to go A lot of things but none as good as lesbians, maybe biased. Maybe Did you notice out of speaking of California? Did you notice that Rebecca Grossman trial?
Speaker 2:I didn't.
Speaker 1:Okay, so Rebecca Grossman in 2020, she was a socialite. She was married. She had a couple of children as well. What is a socialite? Socialite?
Speaker 2:So she was married she had a couple of children as well. And what?
Speaker 1:is a socialite socialite. So she was a wealthy her. Her husband was a doctor and she you know around the social circles and you know she was a she was just a rich woman, right basically, I think that's a nice, that's the nicer term for a rich woman. She's just a popular, rich woman but she does things like she, you know, raise money for different causes that's good, I mean.
Speaker 2:If mean, if you have money, you should be raising money, I think.
Speaker 1:I agree, I totally agree. But she was having problems, I guess, in her marriage and she was having an affair with this ex-baseball player and they were having a lunch at, I think, uncle Julio's or someplace like that and they had been drinking quite a bit.
Speaker 2:And so they get the bright idea in the middle of the afternoon to race. Oh my god back home.
Speaker 1:So they're both in their mercedes and they're screaming they're driving, they're driving, oh my god no, yeah. So they're racing down the street trying to get home and, for whatever reason lack of attention, slowed reflexes, because of the alcohol or whatever she plows through an intersection and hits, uh, two small young children, oh my god and kills them. Oh, and the mother and her other two children were watching in horror as this all happened. So, yeah, that is horrible when did this?
Speaker 1:happen recently this happened in 2020, but it takes a while for trials to you know. Oh so she was just convicted. She was just convicted, wow, but she tries. She tried to uh at then at one point during the trial. Blame it on the boyfriend what hey he would? He was guilty of racing too. I'm not sure if he struck one of the children or not.
Speaker 2:But my thing is drinking and driving is never okay. There is a legal limit for driving, and even that is too high. If you have one drink and you wait hours and then you drive, okay For the most part depending on your, your tolerance.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly yeah, it's just. I mean most part, depending on your, your tolerance. Yes, exactly yeah, it's just. I mean I never, ever drink and drive, because I've just I've had friends who have lost family members because of it, and it's just, it's so upsetting and it's so simple not to like. Yeah, ubers cost money, but like ubering, lifting, like the, the ride share apps, like that's why they're there for the most part, is like to decrease that well, that's one reason why they're there. And you know it's, even if you, even if you leave your car and it gets towed, that's still worth way more sure than accidentally hitting. You know what I mean Hitting someone.
Speaker 1:I think there were eight and 11 or something like that. So the trial just ended up last week and she was convicted. She received a sentence between 15 years to life, so a minimum of 15 years, and who knows how much that actually connects out to be yeah, typically they can get like down to like seven, which is sad.
Speaker 2:Still, it's still sad.
Speaker 1:And then the mother of um, the mother of the children, was at the trial the whole time. And then she, she had a press conference, I think one friday, and she said she feels really kind of she's happy that the woman was, you know, brought to trial and convicted, but she thought that 30 years would be a much more at least, yeah, at least, at least, at least 30 years, because I don't know, I'm not sure how old rebecca grissman is, if she's in her 30s or 40s or whatever, but you know, I mean 15 years.
Speaker 1:Let's say she's out in seven and sure that that the whole thing is gonna have a detriment on her life, but it should. You killed two young children for a stupid reason. Racing a, racing a car in a city.
Speaker 2:Well, it doesn't even matter if you're. I mean, racing in the city is stupid, but like driving drunk is the real. I mean racing is bad too, but driving drunk is such an issue For sure. It's unacceptable behavior really. I mean walk, literally, walk, walk somewhere. Go sit at another like bar or another like restaurant and have some water Right, sit there, just there. Just. I mean you have your phone, you have your phone.
Speaker 1:Go to a bookstore, get a book, just relax for two hours, it's fine absolutely go to a bookstore and get a book right and while you're getting that book, look for my book. Just kidding, no you should look. You should look for the vanishing ballerina by jameson keys which you can find on all the major retailers and on my website at jamesonkeyscom. And you can even get past episodes of this program also on my website, but what else is going on?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that was tough. Wow, that's just. That's so sad. I am happy that she is you. She is getting um a couple years, but I really it should be more. I feel so bad for that family. That is so tragic, especially for the children who had to witness their siblings right getting hit. Oh my god, right. I hope that they are on the the journey to healing and I wish them the best, and that that is so scary. So don't drink and drive, guys.
Speaker 1:For sure.
Speaker 2:Um, I also wanted to bring up. I wanted to say happy pride to all my fellow LGBTQ people and I wanted to say, if anyone is looking for a way to celebrate pride in a really sweet way, there's an organization in the D of B area called Smile. It's S-M-Y-A-L and it's their 40th anniversary actually this year, and so basically what Smile does is it raises money and it has other services for children who are LGBTQ, so it's from six to 24. And they give housing, they give mental health services, they give like little craft sessions for the kids and they do like book readings and yeah, and they just do a whole range of different things. So if you're interested, you can go and donate like five bucks or volunteer if you're in the area or whatever you'd like.
Speaker 2:But this is like one of my favorite new like they're not new, but they're new to me um, organization that I just think is so sweet and yeah, it's just, it's super, super sweet. It's called Smile, S-M-Y-A-L, or if you know someone in the area, they also have online things going on. So if you know like a young person who needs services, who is queer, you can also reach out to them because they are free services for queer youth, especially like the youth that you know maybe was kicked out or maybe is like struggling or they need mental health services for free, because that is not cheap nowadays it's really not, but you can, they can get that, the resources that they need through this organization. So, yeah, I wanted to mention Smile, love them.
Speaker 1:Fantastic.
Speaker 2:Trigger warnings today are domestic violence, captivity, child abuse and murder wow yes, um, brace yourself.
Speaker 2:So if, if you're not someone who like is, if you get nervous and like anxious about like children, then maybe this one's not for you, but trigger warning there. So and I apologize for name I do my best, y'all. Um Deja Maldono and her husband, eli Dominguez, met and fell in love a few years ago. They lived in LA and California and they had two children and were happily together for many years. It was a beautiful love story. Unfortunately, eli became sick with pneumonia and he struggled to heal from this.
Speaker 2:In January 2021, eli died of pneumonia, leaving his widowed wife and two children without a father two children without a father. Um eli had a friend, brandon toesland, and he swooped in and was trying to help the family. Uh, yeah, but not in the best way. He wanted to help her financially at first and you know she was just struggling. She was young, she was a young mother, now single, widowed mother. You know she's going through a lot. Obviously I mean, like her, her partner, love of her life, literally just died and now she has two kids. I can't imagine very, very tough situation.
Speaker 2:So two months later, march 2021, she's really down on her luck. She doesn't know what to do so. She moves her children into brandon's house, which is eli's friend. So he starts being weird. He starts alienating her from her family and friends, which, I'd like to point out, is a huge red flag in any relationship, romantic or not. Um it's, if you notice that back away, give it some space and, uh, probably just run away. Just don't be friends with that person or date that person. After he felt like she was isolated from her support system, he told her to quit her job. What? Which is a huge red flag as well.
Speaker 1:So he wanted her to be completely and 100% dependent upon him.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and that's just never healthy. You know what I mean. That is never healthy. He told her to quit her job and you know, if a family decides that one partner can stay home, mind you, they're not partners. If a family decides that one partner can stay home, wants to stay home take care of kids or the house, or whatever, that's totally fine, um, as long as it's like consensual.
Speaker 2:But trying to convince someone to do that, um, it's, it's controlling, right, exactly, and borderline abusive, because it's like, why are you trying to, you know, control their life and like what they're doing and like their income, because income is everything. Honestly, I hate to say it, but like, having money is the difference between, like you know, surviving and not, sometimes, or being able to leave a bad situation and not Right. Money gives you options, exactly, and you know it's frustrating, you know, when you don't have the money to to hear it, but it's, it's important that you know people are independent on their own financially, as long as they can be, you know, or working towards it. He started to tell her where she should or shouldn't spend her money. So again, he's like, you know, trying to dictate what she's doing with her money. And so he was like well, I'm just better with money, I'll just take over your accounts.
Speaker 2:It's so bad, right, and again she's grieving her husband, she's trying to get her life back together Like she's young. She's, like you know, unfortunately, when we're young, everyone typically is like just easier to manipulate because they don't have the the traumatic experiences of being manipulated or, like you know, the lived experience of seeing other people you know be manipulated. So it's unfortunate, and this did you know happen to her, and so he would claim then that she was talking to other men. So they're like starting to blur the lines of their relationship. It's becoming more romantic at this point and you know I don't blame her. It happens often, actually, if a spouse dies and then the friend steps in to like support them, it's easy to fall for someone who's been supportive of you, right.
Speaker 1:White knight again.
Speaker 2:Exactly yeah, and so that happened. And then he's starting to like again, be manipulative and she I just feel so bad for her. You know, it's like yeah, like it's easy to like blame her for being like, oh, just accepting anything, but at the same time, like she's in a very bad, vulnerable state, right. So it's so sad You're trying to heal emotionally.
Speaker 1:You're trying to figure out how am I going to take care of these kids. Someone offers to house you.
Speaker 2:Yep, a friend of your late husband.
Speaker 1:Who, you might think, is doing so because of only your best interest, in the interest of the children, because they were friends, but unfortunately, it's not always the case.
Speaker 2:Nope, nope. So he claimed that anytime she would leave the house to do anything, that she was meeting up with guys which is so creepy and like, oh, I just I can't imagine like not being able to leave the house in peace. It's no longer at home, you know, it's a prison which you'll see. Um, he then confiscates her phone oh man and she's not working right, so the situation has become potentially very dangerous for her at this point, because she's basically in captivity.
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 2:Her family and friends now are not used to hearing from her because she's been isolated from them and she doesn't have a job to go to and no way to communicate with others now. So she's completely alone with an abusive man and she has her children to take care of and think about. Wow, all under his roof, wow, no, no contact to the outside world and no one's looking for her, because they assume this is like normal. Now, right, right, oh, it's so scary, it does get worse. He starts telling her that she babies her son too much and wanting them not to be around each other as much. And he told her that boys are supposed to be tough and she's just babying him too much. Mind you, he's four, he's four.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is not a 20-year-old child. He starts restricting how much she can hug him and how often they can be around each other. Wow, it's really bad. This guy's a sociopath for sure. I mean, it's weird. Then he starts physically abusing her, which you know, we saw this coming. Not that she should have saw this coming, but, like I'm saying, we did just based on, like, what I'm telling you. Right, yeah, it's like a checklist it is.
Speaker 1:We've done so many cases. At this point, it's just like controlling the money, you know, making them feel bad, controlling their access to friends and family.
Speaker 2:It's like you could just see it, each domino falling as it does and it's easy to do that, like from a distance, of course, and reading through articles like, yeah, we see this happening, but it's very difficult when you're like on a day-to-day, like going back and forth with this person.
Speaker 2:Like you know they there are always good parts of people too which is tough to, like, you know, talk about in these situations. So, like she's, like you know, thinking like, oh, am I just being dramatic? Or like you know what I mean and so super important to you know, learn from these situations, which is another reason why I do like true crime, because it kind of gives you like a warning on, like different relationship dynamics that you should be aware of and, you know, learn from. Or, especially even for your friends. Like you know, you gotta watch out for your friends too. If they start isolating themselves, you know, talk to their other friends, is it? You know what I mean? There's a lot of things that we can learn from these situations. So he would scream at her and push her around and choke her, choke her. Yeah, very abusive he made her, withdraw her son from school.
Speaker 2:Uh-oh yeah, he starts installing locks on the bedroom doors from the outside.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, it's scary, imprisoning them now it's scary, yeah, so he locks her in and puts motion sensors around the house and finally duct tapes her to the bed while he's away. Wow, it's very scary. I know, this is over months. This is over months and I'm just kind of like listing it out. It's very scary, very serious stuff. If they need to go out in public and she needs to be there, she would be handcuffed to the inside of the car. What the? Yeah, he's insane, insane. Mind you, this is like a friend of well, not really a friend, right.
Speaker 1:No, apparently not.
Speaker 2:He was supposed to be a friend of her husband.
Speaker 1:I wonder if this guy had any kind of history of doing crap like this. Probably I wonder if this guy had any kind of history of doing crap like this Probably.
Speaker 2:But that's another thing with their justice system is that it doesn't reward people for, you know, coming to the police and telling them you know that someone has been abusive, because it's like, ok, well, do you want to file a report? We have to go and do this. And we have to like, go take him to court and this and that, and it's just like it's hard to create a paper trail as someone who's been through it, just not on abuse, but on stalking, which is, I guess, technically abuse. But um, you know it's, it's not rewarding. Everyone second guesses you. You have to go to the police multiple times just to file a report and then they laugh you off most of the time. So you know not that she was able to do that anyway, he had to kept her like under wraps.
Speaker 2:But I'm saying like this is probably progressed behavior from like when he was younger, because this is not like, obviously it doesn't just happen one night. For the most part no. And so, yeah, there were definitely red flags before. I'm assuming at this point, but, like you know, from learning from other true crime and other you know experiences I've seen myself and my friends go through. Uh yeah, like I, I believe that there were definitely other victims of his that have, um, weird experiences, abusive experiences with him, and you know I I'm it's tough to go and report, it is really tough, um, and it's tough to get it actually taken seriously and filed. Report Right.
Speaker 2:To be fair though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the police. It has to be exculpatory. It has to be something that they can act on, right?
Speaker 2:That's another tough part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because so and so if you get someone, and that's I personally think that there should be if it's a, if it's a woman that's reporting a crime, all police should take it seriously. But I think maybe a woman would be more empathetic in terms of that sort of thing, and that's sad, it is. I mean, every everyone should be empathetic. They should, um, but maybe I it may be easier for more people would come forward if they didn't have to face a room of men.
Speaker 2:A room of men, yeah you know, maybe something that could be, so it's interesting actually that you bring that up, because I went when I was being stalked, kind of diverting from this story, but when I was being stalked by a random stranger, terrifying, who just caught an obsession bug, I don't know, and so I went to the police in two times before and the men were like, okay, but what, what do you want us to do? Like, what do you want us to do? And then finally they called a woman and she was like you need to go right now to the commissioner and get a, um, a peace order right. And I'm so glad I did, because that did end up stopping it right. So, you know, and there was eventually, and there was a whole long legal blah, blah, blah, blah not as long as it could have been, of course, but you know, two months of like legal blah, blah, blah, whatever, and like it was humiliating and it was scary and it was shitty, uh, and I just got lucky with the fact that I had that woman tell me to do that.
Speaker 2:And then then the first judge was horrible, horrible, but the second judge, after he appealed, after the like person who was stalking me appealed, um, the second judge decided to, you know, keep the peace order in place. So you know it's, it's tough and I think a lot of people don't want to go through that and that's fair and it's just it's so shitty. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know the answer on how to fix it, but in this woman's case I'm not sure she couldn't have at this point. I don't know how she can extricate herself. Sure she could say, no, I'm done with this. But then what? Where are you going to go?
Speaker 2:Where he is not even letting her see her children. Right, for the most part, they're locked away in different rooms, right, so you know she has her children to think about. She's in a very horrible like backed into a corner at this point, right, so he started keeping the children away from her while they were at home, so keeping them all inside the house. They would be locked in separate rooms most of the time. Wow, yeah, so this most of the time, wow, yeah, so this has all happened over months. She moved in in march, december. Same year, 2021, same year, her husband died.
Speaker 2:This is all one year, horrible, horrible year. I mean, oh, I feel so bad for her. Yeah, her husband died. Her husband died in um january. She moves in with his friend in march and then december 21. Now mason, her four-year-old son, becomes ill. Brandon takes mason into the master bedroom and keeps him there. Days go by, desha has been confronting him and he's been screaming and hitting her, trying to derail the conversation, not giving her answers on what's happening. Finally, she just keeps pushing and pushing him until he breaks and he tells her that mason died died died the four-year-old child.
Speaker 2:She was sobbing and you know, he literally put her hand, his hands, over her nose and mouth, telling her that she was being too loud and the neighbors were going to hear her if only yeah, exactly honestly, and it breaks my heart to think that all of this change happened to her in a year.
Speaker 2:You know, she would have had a happy life with her husband and pneumonia of all things, and he dies tragically. And then this sociopath who was his friend, takes advantage of the situation to the point where, I mean, it convinces her to move in, traps her, controls her like, keeps her like a pet. It's, it's insane, it is keeping away a pet. It is I know it's scary, and and and a poorly a like an abused pet. You're right, an abused, yeah, it's, it's horrible, um, and I want to press it, preface this by saying you know, no blame goes to her husband, of course, um. However, I think this situation shows us how important it is to have good-hearted people around our loved ones, like we really do need to, and I'm not saying that in this situation, he could have, like you know, seen everything, but I think it is important to like, not introduce shitty people to our like loved ones right have good people around you right.
Speaker 2:Everyone needs a support system yes, everyone needs a support system, but a good support system that, like you know, is not going to be dangerous to our loved ones.
Speaker 1:Does she? Does she have family, a mother, a father?
Speaker 2:She does. But remember she was isolated from them. She stopped talking to them, so they think this is normal. They have no idea what's going on.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know, but my goodness, I mean you couldn't be isolated enough that I wouldn't be going. I need to. I need to see her.
Speaker 2:I need to talk to caroline today yeah, I mean there's different right, no blame on them, but there is different like family dynamics too. Like we're close, but like if they're not close they don't live close. Like right you know, sometimes it's tough to keep in contact. I know some people who like talk to their parents once a month and so if they miss a month it's like oh you know, or they think she's, she's getting over it, exactly she's grieving right exactly and like that's.
Speaker 2:That's really not their fault, but it is important to check in on family and friends for sure, even if they're trying to push you away. As long as you know it's, it's a tricky line right.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you need to have an uncomfortable conversation with someone so at this point, she knows she needs to find a way out of this horrible situation for her and her daughter before he kills them all, because obviously that's the way it's looking. What did he do with the body, incidentally? So I'm getting there. Be patient. She finds a sticky note in a pen in the car one day and, you know, decides to like put this risky plan in place. She writes out a note that says her mother was being held. So her she was like sending it by the girl. So her mother's being held against her will and needs help immediately. So this is now a full year um later from after the death. So it's after the death of her husband, only a few months after the death of her son. So it's the 22nd of february 2022. Dasha slips the note into her daughter's sock before she goes to school. One day, this brave little girl goes to school and gives a note to her teacher.
Speaker 2:Thank god yeah, and the staff at the little girl's school contacts the authorities immediately brandon was arrested. It's not clear if it was the same day or like a few days after, but he was like arrested pretty quickly, thankfully. Authorities went through his house looking for evidence and any trace of the little boy Mason. Unfortunately, they did find the remains of the four year old boy in the freezer in his garage.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so sad. So at this point, brandon has been charged with the murder and kidnapping of um all of them, really. Uh, and march 31st 2022, a grand jury convenes and daisha tells her story. Of course, brandon wants to pull her into this horrible shit storm that he has created and claims that she knew her son was dead and they agreed to keep him in the freezer until they had enough money to bury him oh my god which is illegal, totally illegal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's not the way it works, right? Um, he started trying to excuse the claim, saying she was dramatic about everything and lying and you know whatever. Just anytime she would bring up something like oh, he choked me and he'd be like oh, but it was like it was, we were just like having like sexy time, what? That's not true. If someone's crying, no right it's, it's like he was just lying, um, trying to dismiss her. However, when they did the autopsy of the little boy, they found that he had been abused in several areas of his body. They found injuries to his face, his arms, his stomach, his head and internal damage to his small intestine that led to rips in his small intestine. From what? Abuse? From a beating, yes.
Speaker 1:Oh my.
Speaker 2:God, yeah, so he remind you, he's four.
Speaker 1:It takes a special kind of monster to manhandle and beat up a four-year-old.
Speaker 2:A four-year-old child.
Speaker 1:Of your friend, yep, oh what who just died it's horrible.
Speaker 2:Brandon is currently being held without bail, thankfully, in the clark county detention center in las vegas. Prosecution is considering going for the death penalty for him and no charges have been brought to um daisha, thankfully, even though he was like making claims, but I think they saw through it. Hopefully that like she was a victim in all of this as well.
Speaker 1:For sure, um, yeah yeah, I mean, if you've been, if you're duct taped to the bed, yep. Handcuffed in the car, yep, I mean.
Speaker 2:No way are you culpable for no you know and and it's just, it's really upsetting that he's like oh, but she also knew that he was there. It's like, yeah, she knew because you told her after she pushed you, but then she couldn't do anything about it because you took her phone and she can't talk to anyone. So you have her restrained and locked in a house, yeah, and he wants to blame her. I mean, it's of course he does. It's crazy. So that is the update. That that's all that's been updated so far, but it it was. It's. It's so sad and I just I hope that daisha and her daughter have like a lot of healing in the journey after this.
Speaker 2:It's hopefully they're back with her family and I hope so too or some kind of support system, friends, anything but you know it's sad how common abuse is in relationships and abuse of children.
Speaker 1:First of all, I'm amazed that this monster let the little girl go to school.
Speaker 2:Me too. I'm really amazed by that. I think it was some kind of gender or something, because he didn't like the little girl go to school. Me too, I'm really. I think he, he, I. I think it was some kind of gender or something because he didn't like the little boy apparently right, but he was competing for her.
Speaker 2:I think that's it. But then the the girl was fine to him for the most part, so it's just, it's interesting. I think he just didn't think that, like women, I think he thinks he could control women, but he felt threatened by the little boy, which is insane. But you know how, that's how some people are.
Speaker 1:I mean, well, hey, you know, thank you, thank god that, uh, she came up with this plan, but honestly quick thinking honestly it was quick thinking, but honestly I mean, what a gamble. Yep, if he found the note, oh my god. Probably daisha and her daughter would probably be dead also yeah, and we wouldn't even know anything about this, but it's a Hail, mary, you've got to do something. What a brilliant plan and what a brave little girl.
Speaker 2:Brave little girl, yeah, for going to her teacher, and thank God for the teachers I know, and thank God for the systems in place that actually worked that day. And I know I've talked about this case before, um, for I think it's Gabriel and I forgot the last statement. Maybe, uh, it's Gabriel Fernandez. So in that case, uh, it was. It was both parents abusing um, abusing him, and he was a young boy and he would go to school with all these cuts and bruises and burns and stuff and it was just horrible.
Speaker 2:And his teacher kept calling, cpsps kept calling, kept calling because she was like what in the hell, like you know? And he would even say like, yeah, like my parents did this to me and yeah, and it's unfortunate because cps just they didn't do their job like they they were, they claimed they were too overworked by this point or whatever and they didn't have enough evidence or this or that, I don't know how. But, um, and it's interesting because the mother of that case, of gabriel um fernandez, used to go to the school and yell at the teacher for calling, so she knew who called. It was bad, it was a very bad situation and the teacher kept calling and and he did end up dying. So I know it's very sad, yeah, and but I'm happy that in this situation the teacher was able to contact the authorities justice was done and, yeah, the systems actually work to protect, um, the victims of these crimes.
Speaker 2:So the national domestic violence hotline is 800-799-7233, and you're going to always call and speak to someone. It uh, it doesn't mean that you need to file reports and it can be completely anonymous. They have english, spanish and 200 other language interpreting services. That's fantastic. Yep, it is. It's really good, um, and it's they. They just play a really pivotal role in helping people, even if they have smaller questions.
Speaker 2:It doesn't have to be a situation like this for you to call, even if it's just something that you feel weird about and you want to talk to someone about. And you know, you know you've talked to your therapist or you don't have access to therapy. You know this. This, this is a great way to get some information. It's completely anonymous, um, if you so wish. It wish it to be, it's a place where you can get support and help and you know some clarity. Perhaps, if you're feeling uncomfortable in situations. Again, the number is 800-799-7233. And it also is text for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, or if you just want to text, and you can text BEGIN, b-e-g-i-n. Begin to 88788. Follow the show on whatever streaming site you're listening on.
Speaker 1:And remember. All of the source material will be available in the show notes.
Speaker 2:And follow us on Instagram at Whatweloseintheshadows, and let us know if you want to hear a specific case.
Speaker 1:Or if you just want to give us some feedback.
Speaker 2:Okay, join us in the shadows next Tuesday. Bye.
