Show full transcript 0:53 purchase. 0:54 That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash date line. 0:58 Code date line at checkout. 1:00 Tonight on Date Live. 1:02 It was too odd. 1:04 Why can't we just find this woman? 1:06 We formed this little army. 1:08 We called ourselves Talena's army. 1:10 Somebody had to know something, right? 1:12 I saw her Facebook post saying 1:15 that she was going to the woods. 1:17 Don't contact me. 1:19 Somebody who had just lost their spouse. 1:21 She was very grief-stricken. 1:23 We gotta find her. 1:24 She was your best friend. 1:25 The closest person to me. 1:27 Talima left a lot of her stuff behind. 1:29 Correct. 1:30 Car, purse, wallet. 1:31 People were suspicious right off the bat. 1:34 Talima had this secret life that you never knew about. 1:37 No, I don't think any of us really did. 1:39 You see some of this stuff that they're into. 1:42 It's 50 shades of gray. 1:43 It's about dominance. 1:45 About control. 1:46 Control? Yeah. 1:47 This is crazy. 1:49 These people know something. 1:51 I said to look for poisoning. 1:52 We have evidence that somebody's making rice, and it's an incredibly powerful poison. 1:57 I wanted her to be okay. I really, really wanted her to be okay. 2:01 A widow vanishes in a web of secrets. What had happened to Talina? 2:08 It's horrific. Who would do something like that? 2:11 I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. 2:23 Here's Josh Mankiewicz with Heartless. 2:30 Most of us keep secrets, and many of us tell lies. 2:38 So when you think you know a person through and through, it's possible you don't. 2:44 Maybe you never can. 2:47 Because of secrets and lies. 2:52 They're at the heart of this story. 2:54 There was no stopping. You had to keep going. 2:56 It was one of those, but wait, there's more. 2:59 Like it's just, it's a never ending. 3:02 What the heck? 3:02 It was March 2020, COVID was beginning to spread across America. 3:14 For the citizens of Wagner in rural Oklahoma, the threat seemed far away. 3:21 That month, Rachel Parker Hall, a nurse back then, bumped into her friend, Talina Galloway. 3:28 The two women talked about COVID. 3:31 That turned out to be their last conversation. 3:34 Tell me about the last time you saw her or spoke with her. 3:37 I told her, I said, you know, I personally don't think it's that much to worry about. 3:41 If you get, you know, cold symptoms or whatnot, you just follow the normal things that you're 3:47 going to do for that. 3:48 The next thing Rachel knew, Talina was sick. 3:52 She posted about her symptoms on Facebook using her online name, Talina Zar. 3:58 My weekend migraine developed into a fever last night. 4:02 All I want to do is sleep. 4:03 Send your well wishes and energy, but please don't expect a response. 4:09 Cory Bomily was Tallina's roommate. 4:12 The two women had lived together at Tallina's home for the last 18 months. 4:17 We just kind of looked at each other and we said, you know, you were shopping in Tulsa last week. 4:22 Did you go catch the bug? 4:24 Cory says she took Tallina to the local hospital, but she was sent home to recover without ever being admitted. 4:30 it. Instead, Talina got worse. She and Corey were convinced it was COVID. Corey posted status 4:38 reports about her friend on Facebook. If she isn't posting right now, it's because she's 4:43 using all of her energy to fight this illness. Three days later, Corey says she went out 4:50 for a few hours and came home to an empty house. 4:54 The dogs were lounging around in the living room. The TV was on. I just assumed 4:59 She was, you know, in her room sleeping. 5:02 And I made myself a little something to eat in the kitchen 5:04 and then went back to see if she was ready to go back 5:08 to the hospital to get tested. 5:10 She wasn't there. 5:12 Corey says she looked around the house 5:14 and saw some cash was missing, along with a bottle of brandy 5:18 and Talina's guns. 5:20 Corey called friends, and one told her 5:23 to check out a new Facebook post from Talina. 5:26 I'm not going to let anyone intubate me, so I've made arrangements to spend some quality 5:32 alone time at one of my favorite hideaways, at one of my favorite lakes, and I've booked 5:38 it for the remainder of this week. 5:40 Didn't feel up to driving, so I hired a ride. 5:44 Then this. 5:46 I'm going to either beat this virus or be with Tom. 5:50 I see it as a win-win situation. 5:53 Tom was Talena's late beloved husband. A stroke had killed him two years earlier, and that 6:00 sent Talena spinning into a dark place. Near the end of the post, Talena said, I love each 6:08 of you. 6:10 So you saw those Facebook posts? 6:13 I did actually pretty much the moment they went up, and so me being me, I immediately 6:19 I started texting her and messaging her and I'm like, 6:22 hey, what's up, stop, you know, don't, don't freak out. 6:25 And you didn't really know where she had gone. 6:27 No. 6:28 So it's not like anybody could check that place. 6:30 Oh, look on, yeah, exactly. 6:34 Kim Littlefield also saw Talina's last post. 6:38 Kim was Talina's hairdresser, or as she calls herself, 6:43 heropist. 6:44 Kim had her own take about Talina's whereabouts. 6:47 Before she came up missing, she came in for a hairdo and she was going to go see her mom 6:53 and then she was going to stop at her favorite place in Arkansas on the way back. 6:58 Something Talina told her that day stayed with Kim. 7:02 She had gone into Tulsa to a store and she said that the clerk had slipped her phone 7:12 number and she didn't know what to do and I said well if you want to go out with 7:19 her you know go out with her and I said maybe she could meet you at that place 7:24 in in Arkansas is exactly what I told her. You never heard a name or anything else. 7:29 Didn't hear a name? I believe she said she was a redhead, a beautiful redheaded young 7:33 lady. And so there's I'm thinking there's some period of time which you're 7:38 thinking did she mean her and maybe everything's fine yes and just as we're 7:42 not hearing from her doesn't really mean bad news never no either Talina was fine 7:49 or she was very sick either way going to the local sheriff did not seem like an 7:56 option at least not at first anybody report Talina sounding I don't know 8:03 fatalistic, desperate, like the world was coming to an end. 8:07 I don't think so. 8:09 Because, you know, I'm not a family member. 8:12 And if I go to the police, they're 8:13 going to say, you know, she's a grown woman. 8:15 She's going to either come back or she won't. 8:18 That is what they say. 8:19 I know. 8:20 I know. 8:21 Wagner County Sheriff's Office is in. 8:24 10 days after Talena vanished, 8:26 Corey says she thought enough time had passed. 8:30 She called the Wagner County Sheriff's Office 8:32 as to file a missing person's report. 8:34 She was still in her pajamas when I left home 8:37 that Tuesday when I got home, she was gone. 8:41 Corey told investigators Talina had taken off 8:44 with some things but left behind key belongings. 8:48 Sheriff's investigator Joel Weber 8:50 and Lieutenant Danny Elliott. 8:52 Talina left but left a lot of her stuff behind. 8:56 Right, yeah, basically everything in her cars. 8:58 Well, yeah, everything, everything other than her phone. 9:00 Car purse wallet exactly a lot of questions and not too many clues 9:08 Where was Talena Galloway? I? 9:11 Said to look for poisoning. He broke into Talena's house one night when he was on the phone with me 9:16 And I kept asking him like what are you doing? 9:18 That was interesting because you're clearly lying to me about something that seemed unimportant 9:22 Why lie about that? Why lie about I've got to figure out what's going on with Talena 9:27 Now we gotta find her. 9:41 Talena went missing in the spring of 2020. 9:45 She posted those bleak Facebook messages 9:48 and then went silent. 9:50 Greg Thompson, a friend of Talena's. 9:53 Where did you think Talena was? 9:56 I'm not sure where I thought she was, to be really honest, 10:00 because she didn't have her keys, 10:02 didn't have her car, didn't have anything. 10:05 And she wasn't calling us like she normally would. 10:09 Investigators from the Wagner County Sheriff's Office dug into the case, starting with the 10:14 missing woman herself. 10:16 Who was Talina Galloway? 10:18 Investigator Joel Weber. 10:20 I didn't find anybody that had anything negative to say about her at all. 10:24 They learned she was 53 years old, an IT specialist, well regarded by her employer. 10:30 I think she was happy and that was going good. 10:33 She enjoyed her job. 10:34 Kim, the hairpist, enjoyed having a client who was always up for a new do. 10:41 Never once did she ever get mad at a hairdo that didn't turn out quite the way we wanted. 10:47 Sounds like the perfect client. 10:48 She was the perfect client, and yes. 10:50 Typically, you know, at Christmas she would help families in the area that maybe the kids needed, gifts and stuff. 11:01 She looked out for people. 11:02 Very much, yeah. 11:03 Her husband, Tom, was an army veteran. Their friends thought of Tom and Talina as soulmates 11:10 together for 15 years. She adored him. Worship the ground he walked on. They were the cutest 11:17 couple together. You could see their love for each other, giddy, funny, kind of nerdy, 11:26 but they were proud of it. In late 2017, Tom had a stroke while Talina 11:32 was out of town on a work trip. She came home in time to be with him before he died. 11:38 How was Talena after Tom passed? To me, she was hurt. She was upset. I mean, 11:44 it got to her big time. You could tell? I could tell, yes. 11:49 As time went on, Talena's friends say she was increasingly lonely. In late 2018, 11:55 18, she asked Corey to move in with her. 11:58 Corey was on her own too, going through a divorce, making money as an internet reseller. 12:05 Talena didn't need the extra rent. 12:08 She needed the company. 12:09 It didn't hurt that Corey was super handy around the house. 12:14 Every time she would come in and get a haircut, that was the first thing that I would ask 12:18 her is how's your roommate and her answer every time the best I've ever had. 12:25 For her part, Corey called Talena her heart sister. 12:29 In terms of loving to garden, loving animals, loving to go out on the lake, enjoy nature, 12:36 sit on the deck, enjoy a glass of wine, these are all things we enjoyed doing together. 12:41 She enjoyed traveling, we were in the process actually right before COVID hit of planning 12:46 a big three-week vacation to Russia. 12:50 Both women loved animals. 12:52 Talina and Corey lived surrounded by their rescues. 12:56 Eight dogs. 12:57 At least 16 cats. 13:00 One of my recent rescues was a little snorky 13:02 and Talina ended up adopting her. 13:04 What kind of dog is that? 13:06 That is a schnauzer and a Yorkie mixture. 13:08 Just a little bundle of happy energy. 13:12 A week after Corey reported Talina missing, 13:15 sheriff's investigator Joel Weber asked her to come in. He wanted to know more 13:20 about Talina's final hours. Corey arrived masked, gloved, and happy to help. She 13:28 told him her roommate was in rough shape the day she left. 13:31 Sometimes she'd start coughing and couldn't stop coughing. I said, let's take you back to the emergency room. I think you're bad enough now that they will admit you. 13:39 And she said, no, she just wanted to spend the night in her bed with one of the pumps. 13:46 And I said, if we do not go tonight, we have to promise that we can go tomorrow. 13:51 The next day, though, Corey told investigators Talena asked her to go out to give Talena 13:57 a long time with her dogs. 13:59 Did she ask you to do something specific or just leave for a while? 14:02 Yes, she just wanted me to leave her alone for a while. 14:05 Corey says when she returned, Talena was gone. 14:09 Among the things she left behind were her credit cards. 14:13 Corey says she immediately knew why. 14:17 I knew it was deliberate. 14:18 You think she left that behind so that you could use them and pay the bills? 14:21 I know she did because every time in the past year and a half that she left for a business trip, that was her MO. 14:28 In her final post, Talena mentioned hiring a driver to take her to the hideaway. 14:33 way. That explained why her vehicles were still in the driveway. So then, who did she 14:39 hire? Corey suggested investigators check with kids in a local trailer park, whom Talina 14:45 had befriended. Investigators wanted to know exactly where that was. 15:01 To my knowledge, she didn't have a single secret place. 15:06 I knew there were a couple of lakes that she enjoyed visiting, 15:09 but there wasn't one specific place that jumped out in my mind 15:12 when she said she was going to her favorite place. 15:15 Corey says Talina's final post was troubling but also touching. 15:21 The last thing she said in that post was, I'm sorry, Corey. 15:25 What I read in that message to me was that we had a lot of plans 15:28 And I think she was apologizing to me to leave me with such a mess 15:34 About that final post Corey said she wasn't the least bit surprised by its tone 15:39 Talina had dreamed of joining Tom ever since he died for the entire year and a half. We lived together 15:47 We had weekly conversations sometimes daily conversations about 15:51 Her very matter-of-factly telling me that she intended one day to take her own life 15:57 life. That was just the way it was going to be." 16:01 Other friends also say Talena spoke of suicide after Tom died. So when she vanished, their 16:08 concern grew. And the outside world woke up to a mysterious disappearance. 16:14 We call ourselves Talena's army. 16:21 You know that feeling. Too many updates, too many meetings, too many things falling through 16:26 the cracks. 16:27 Monday.com was built for that gap. 16:30 The AI work platform designed from the ground up 16:33 for people and agents to work side by side 16:35 and deliver more together. 16:38 Drafting the brief, flagging risks, 16:40 running a competitive scan, 16:41 your agent can do it all. 16:43 And the best part, anyone can build one. 16:45 Even you, try it. 16:47 Create your first Monday agent today at Monday.com. 16:51 When an intruder approaches a home, 16:53 they expect a camera, what they don't expect. 16:55 Stop. This is Simply Safe. Police are on the way. 16:58 Using smart AI cameras, live US-based agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds. 17:04 Don't just record a break-in. Stop it from ever happening. 17:07 Plan starting around a dollar a day. 17:09 Right now, get 60% off your new system with professional monitoring at simplysafe.com.slash.sxm. 17:15 30 seconds response time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at 49.99 a month. 17:19 Visit simplysafe.com.slash.licenses for alarm license information. 17:22 Some crimes are so shocking, they don't just make headlines, they forever change our 17:27 society. 17:28 I'm Katie Ring, host of America's Most Infamous Crimes. 17:31 Each week I take on one of the most notorious criminal cases. 17:35 Each case unfolds across multiple episodes, released every Tuesday through Thursday, from 17:39 the first sign that something was wrong, to the moment the truth came out or didn't. 17:44 Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon 17:49 on music, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. 18:01 In those early days of the pandemic, Jess Trevino, like most of us, was stuck at home. 18:08 And that meant she had plenty of extra time on her hands for her favorite hobby. 18:13 You're a true crime, John Key. 18:15 Absolutely. 18:16 Oh, yeah. 18:17 I love true crime. 18:18 Give me some sense of how much of that you'd consume during a week. 18:22 Most of the books in my shelf are true crime related. 18:24 I watched Dateline on Peacock like reruns until you guys put new ones out on Friday. 18:30 I listened to True Crime Podcast almost daily. 18:33 You're hooked. 18:35 One day, while scouring a true crime discussion group from her home in Minnesota, Jess saw 18:41 a post from Oklahoma. 18:44 A woman named Talina was missing. 18:46 The woman who posted it thought something was wrong. 18:48 Absolutely. 18:49 The concerned friend had reposted some of Tallina's Facebook posts and Jess was intrigued. 18:57 You'd never heard her name before. 18:59 No. 18:59 This was not some friend of yours or a friend of a friend. 19:02 Absolutely not. 19:03 Although she had no connection to this Tallina some 600 miles away, something about the 19:10 posts made Jess want to know more. 19:14 So, patterns. Right? There was a pattern of these messages from like March 27th to April 7th and every day it was progressively getting worse with COVID worse. 19:24 It was almost like she was chronicling what was wrong with her and I was like, that's kind of weird too. 19:29 It was like day one of, or it's day nine of this pounding headache. 19:34 Day 12 of the sore throat and it was online on Facebook, maybe to somebody who doesn't think everything's suspicious. 19:41 It sounded good. 19:43 You're a suspicious person. 19:44 Absolutely. 19:45 Jess was so suspicious, she reached out to Talina's friend. 19:50 She sent me to a couple other people 19:52 who were also friends of Talina's, 19:54 who kind of walks me through what had happened. 19:56 Like, yeah, she's been missing. 19:57 This is what we've been doing. 19:58 We just reported, and I'd asked the question, 20:00 well, why doesn't she have a missing person's poster yet? 20:01 Why haven't you done something? 20:03 You know, whereas you just reported it, 20:04 there's nothing else. 20:06 So Jess, a catering manager, decided to get involved. 20:10 She helped start a Facebook page called Help Find Talena Zarr. 20:15 I mean, you were not working because, like, the whole country was kind of locked down because of COVID. 20:19 Right. 20:19 So a lot of people were at home then. 20:22 Most people were, you know, making sourdough starter. 20:25 They weren't investigating the cases of people that they'd never heard of before. 20:30 I felt like I had to say something. 20:32 I had to speak up. 20:34 It was too odd. 20:36 It just nothing felt right. 20:38 Nothing. 20:38 thing. That Facebook page attracted hundreds of people, 20:43 a few who loved Alina, and a much larger number who loved true crime stories. So you're marshaling 20:51 the power of the internet to help you. A little bit. A little. 20:54 Crowdsourcing this. Yeah, we needed it. Somebody had to know 20:59 something, right? Jess and four other women, all from different 21:03 parts of the country, formed their own posse of amateur detectives. Like Jess, none of them 21:11 had heard of Tallina before. 21:13 We called ourselves Tallina's Army. 21:15 Tallina's Army with, what, five full-time soldiers and a couple-a-hundred part-time. 21:23 We had certain people checking certain tips that we'd receive. It was just amazing to 21:28 watch this group of women. They didn't know each other coming together during the most 21:32 It was the most lonely time I think any of us have ever experienced being quarantined. 21:36 It was not long before a lot of people who didn't know you, didn't know Talina at all, 21:43 had never been to Oklahoma, got very involved in this case. 21:46 The crime junkies and everybody else, yes, it amazed me. 21:51 It really opened my eyes to the power of the internet and the power of social media. 21:56 As internet sleuths far and wide hunted for clues, Corey gave local law enforcement permission 22:04 to search Tallina's house. 22:06 When anyone goes missing, you want to go look in the house, take pictures, things like that. 22:11 Among the items they found, Tallina's passport, newly renewed, sitting in a bedroom safe. 22:18 Perhaps that trip to Russia Corey had mentioned was more than an idle dream. 22:24 Investigators also reached out to ride-share companies, campgrounds, and AirBnBs anywhere 22:30 Talina may have been. 22:32 As for where her favorite lake might be, one friend suggested Arkansas. 22:38 And so obviously we put a blast out to the law enforcement in Arkansas. 22:43 They saw from Talina's cell phone records that her phone pinged near a town by the 22:48 Oklahoma-Arkansas border. 22:51 Obviously, we searched that area too, but didn't find the phone. 22:54 Which there is a very large lake there. 22:56 That's true. 22:57 So, that wasn't it. 22:59 I know we searched some of the businesses around there, looking for any kind of video 23:03 of a car, or a car, or a hur, or anything. 23:07 They came up empty, but the tips kept coming in, to both the Wagner Sheriff's Office 23:13 and to the leader of Tolena's Army. 23:16 So maybe she'd been missing a lot longer. 23:18 That's exactly what I thought. 23:33 Once the story of the missing Talina got traction on the internet, the Wagner County Sheriff's 23:39 Office received a flood of tips. 23:41 Each one had to be checked out, Sheriff's investigator Joel Weber. 23:46 We did get a random tip from a psychic who told us that she's buried in the yard 23:52 someplace. 23:52 And so doing my due diligence, we went to the yard all over the yard and just looked 23:57 for freshly overturned dirt. 23:59 We didn't find anything, but we definitely followed up. 24:02 I originally heard about this case from a friend of mine, and I called you and said, 24:07 can you look at this? 24:09 Veronica Mazzica is a supervising producer on Dateline's digital team. 24:14 She works on our Missing in America online series. 24:17 So when Josh Mankiewicz calls, you pay attention. 24:20 This will not get on Dateline. 24:24 Also, demonstrably not true. 24:26 Oh well, in my world it is. 24:29 A friend of Tallina's had told me she was missing. 24:33 The team looked into it and in May 2020 posted the first missing in America story about Tallina. 24:40 We were really happy that a bigger news division was going to put out there that Tallina was 24:47 missing and get some attention so maybe he could help us solve it. 24:52 It was a very big day for the group. 24:54 The comments were immediate and wide-ranging. 24:58 Some posters fixated on Talina's illness. 25:01 We had people who said, you know, that's odd. 25:05 If I were sick, I wouldn't go off and be on my own, not in my own home. 25:11 You know, when I'm sick, all I want is my own bed. 25:13 So people were theorizing that maybe she wasn't sick at all. 25:17 People were theorizing that maybe she was so sick that she had lost her mind and 25:23 she was just wandering the streets and that we would find her that way. People were saying 25:28 that she could have been in the hospital as a Jane Doe and no one realized it. It was her. 25:33 And then there were the sightings. A tipster told Missing in America, 25:38 Tallina had been spotted at a grocery store in the Los Angeles suburbs. 25:43 And you checked. That wasn't Tallina. That wasn't Tallina. 25:47 Closer to home, the week slipped by with no word from Tallina. 25:51 to leave his friends organized to search. 25:54 Yes. 25:55 Yeah, they had put flyers out and things 25:58 around all the stores and one Saturday afternoon 26:02 they had a vigil at our local fire department. 26:06 I didn't get to go to that event, but my wife did 26:09 and everybody there was pretty distraught. 26:14 You know, just wondering what happened to her. 26:17 You were worried about her. 26:18 Yes, I was. 26:19 Very much so. 26:21 Jess and her army spoke with more of Tallina's friends 26:25 and learned from them that it was not like the woman at the center of their quest 26:30 to be so public on social media. 26:33 The, I love yous, the I'm sorry she wasn't that kind of person. 26:36 So that felt like over-sharing or overdoing it. 26:39 It felt forced. It felt manufactured. 26:43 You read that Facebook post and you thought that was from Tallina 26:46 because it sounded like her and it was in character. 26:49 It sounded like it to me on first read, on second read, on third read. 26:53 People who were saying it wasn't her, I didn't understand what they were reading that didn't 26:58 sound like her. 26:59 And Jess had learned something else. 27:02 Talena's last digital appearance was on April 7th. 27:06 In real life, she went dark at the end of March. 27:10 So when I talked to more people in Talena's life, neighbors, coworkers, her massage 27:16 therapist. Nobody had actually spoken on the phone and heard Selena's voice. It had just 27:21 been text or email communication since March. So maybe she's been missing a lot longer. 27:26 That's exactly what I thought, is that if nobody physically talked to her, that's really weird. 27:32 Jess called the sheriff's office to tell them. Investigators say it was nothing they 27:37 didn't already know. She was trying to solve it from behind the scenes. 27:43 Generally, what's your attitude towards internet sluths? 27:49 Well, I'm all for anyone that wants to help solve a case. There's no issue there. 27:53 The only downside I would say to me is that I got probably hundreds of phone calls 27:58 from people that had theories, and theories don't help solve a case. 28:02 The evidence does. 28:04 They were never out and out rude, but dismissive. 28:07 At one point I was told I was like a dog with a bone. 28:09 I thought, wow, okay, I thought I was helping. 28:13 Any voice inside your head saying, I should stop? 28:17 No, I needed to know what happened. 28:20 Jess Trevino kept right on digging 28:23 and she soon made a significant discovery. 28:27 It's more than just people getting together and having sex. 28:30 There's a whole other world there. 28:33 Yes, yes. 28:35 At first it was one of those, 28:36 Oh, they had, you know, oh, this group killed her, they had to have done something with her. 28:54 Let's just say Jess Trevino was not prepared for what she would find when she searched online 29:00 for the name Talina's are. Okay, so tell me about the door that that sort of 29:08 opened when you Google Talina's name. It was 29:13 trying to think of the right words. Interesting. 29:16 Interesting. 29:17 That's one word. 29:19 I don't want to be the one that ick somebody else's yum, right? 29:23 It's not up to me what other people are into. 29:26 When she wasn't working as an IT consultant or taking care of her rescue animals, what 29:31 Talina was into was a subculture known as Gorian. 29:37 It's based on a series of science fiction books from the 1960s that inspired a 1987 29:43 movie. The novels depict a little-known and rarely discussed lifestyle that's 29:51 about 35 to 40 shades of gray. In the books, men are dominant, they're the 29:57 masters, women are subservient, they wear collars and self-identify as 30:04 slaves. So it's about dominance, about bondage, about control. 30:12 Control, yeah, dominance definitely. Your husband or partner is the one in control. You wear a collar, 30:19 you eat when you say, when he says you can, you wear what he wants, he has complete control 30:25 of everything that you do. And a lot of people find that freeing, right? That's, 30:29 from my readings, they love that. Because they don't have to make any choices. 30:31 right because all the choices are made for them right right these people are 30:36 consenting to this yes by all accounts Talina and her husband loved the 30:43 lifestyle in fact she legally changed her birth name Jana to Talina Talina is a 30:51 character in the gore series at the same time many of her friends knew 30:57 Nothing about it 30:59 Talina ever talked to you about the Goryans. No, no, never. No. No, honestly, we had 31:07 Absolutely, no idea. It wasn't something she was marching down the street screaming at the top of her lungs 31:11 But she was proud of who she was and what she was doing 31:14 She felt that that showed how much she loved her husband, but at the same time like 31:17 Maybe her co-workers didn't know about it. They didn't when you apply for a new job 31:22 It's not a thing you put on the resume special skills 31:26 Talina's roommate Corey knew about her lifestyle but says, while it wasn't her cup of tea, 31:32 she respected Talina's choices in her marriage to Tom. 31:37 It was their life. 31:38 That's what they lived. 31:39 And they both approved of it. 31:41 It's what they wanted. 31:42 And they were deeply, deeply in love. 31:44 So who's to knock what two people enjoy doing together, right? 31:49 But that was her life. 31:50 Talina and Tom had a close relationship with another Gorian couple, the Anguses, Marty, 31:57 who also went by Wolfie and Lorianne. When Tom died, Marty wanted to assume Tom's role 32:05 as Talina's master. Talina was not necessarily interested. According to Corey, Talina helped 32:13 Marty financially, and Marty had been named as executor of her will. That was until 32:19 shortly before Talina disappeared. When she put Corey in charge. 32:25 Marty Wolfie had been in the well and then he wasn't in the well, right? 32:30 That's the kind of thing that makes people angry. 32:32 Yes, it certainly made Marty angry. Marty knew that we were in the process of 32:37 transferring all of these documents and life insurance policies and financial stuff. 32:42 From him to you. 32:43 From him to me. 32:45 Talena had listed Marty as the beneficiary of a $300,000 life insurance policy. 32:52 Marty was very afraid and concerned of losing his cash cow and his financial control. 32:58 As a master, he wasn't able to say to Talena, this is what I'm telling you to do, put it back in my name. 33:05 Talena was a very strong person. Marty was not in charge. Marty very much wanted to be in charge. 33:11 Corey said after Tom died, Marty wanted more than just friendship with Tolina. 33:19 Tolina absolutely said that's not happening. Tolina called the shots as far as that was concerned. 33:27 Could all that be a reason to make someone disappear? Maybe. Jess had also been talking with Marty by phone. 33:36 Marty openly told me that he thought I was attractive so he assumed that I 33:41 would not be smart. So correct to say it's a not just male dominated society but 33:47 male dominating society. Absolutely they are the supreme beings and us women are 33:53 down here. As Jess learned more about the gory and way of life one question was 34:00 unavoidable. At first it was one of those oh they had you know oh this 34:04 This group killed her. 34:05 They had to have done something with her. 34:08 Still, Marty proved helpful to Jess, breaking the ice with other Goreans. 34:14 And it was funny because some of the people he connected me to said, if you think he's 34:19 not involved up to his eyeballs in this, you're dumber than I thought you were. 34:24 It wasn't long before Jess' concerns about Marty grew. 34:28 He started to do some things where I was like, okay. 34:33 It's a little more shady than I think you need to be, like what's actually going on. 34:39 What made you suspicious of him? 34:40 He broke into Talina's house one night when he was on the phone with me and I kept asking 34:46 him like, what are you doing? 34:48 You know, what's happening? 34:49 He said, well, I need to get in and check and see what, you know, I want to see what 34:53 our will says. 34:54 And he ended up telling me he had taken a chainsaw from the house. 35:00 Seemed really weird. 35:01 He said why he said that he needed money and he was gonna pawn it and it was just like alarm bells red flag everywhere and I 35:10 Called the sheriff's department like hey 35:13 He's pawning chainsaws. He stole from the house. That's anybody think that's weird and they said we'll be right over 35:19 No, they blew me off 35:22 It turns out investigators were well aware of Marty 35:25 And they were already talking to him about Talina. 35:34 This Monday.com ad was created by a team of people and AI agents. 35:39 The agents wrote the copy and managed the timelines, while our human-creative director 35:43 made sure it all made sense. 35:45 Easy. 35:46 Create your own AI agent today on Monday.com. 35:49 When an intruder approaches a home, they expect a camera. 35:52 What they don't expect. 35:53 Stop. 35:54 This is simply safe. 35:55 Police are on the way. 35:56 Using smart AI cameras, live US-based agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds. 36:02 Don't just record a break-in, stop it from ever happening. 36:05 Plan starting around a dollar a day. 36:06 Right now, get 60% off your new system with professional monitoring at simplysafe.com slash SXM. 36:13 30 seconds response time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at 49.99 a month. 36:16 Visit simplysafe.com slash licenses for alarm license information. 36:22 If anyone wanted to commit a murder, 36:24 up here would be the greatest place in the world to hide the body. 36:28 But no one will find it. 36:30 He acted friendly. He talked friendly. 36:33 He sounded friendly. 36:35 They all knew that I did the scary boogie stuff, 36:38 and they said maybe she'll find out where this girl is. 36:42 I saw him violent. Backhanded her pow! 36:48 Listen to the Devil's Quarry Season 2 36:50 in the Bone Valley feed on the I Heart Radio app. 36:54 Apple Podcasts. 36:55 Or wherever you get your podcasts. 36:57 pasts. Marty Angus, also known as Wolfie, is a name that came up early on in the investigation 37:16 into the disappearance of Talina Galloway. We just have a lot of questions and no answers. 37:22 When Talina went missing, he spoke with a local reporter about her. If you take all 37:27 the goodness in the world and put it in one person, that's Talina. I believe the first 37:32 time we talked to Marty he called us. Through Marty, investigators learned more about 37:37 the Gorian lifestyle he and Talina shared. That world was entirely new to law enforcement 37:44 in Wagoner, Oklahoma. 37:46 I'm guessing that when you heard that she's a member of this sort of secret might not 37:52 be the right word, but certainly a private society that involves bondage and women being 38:01 collared and given as property. 38:03 That might rise to the top of the list 38:06 of reasons why Talina might have disappeared or been killed. 38:11 Well, unfortunately we did have to look into it 38:13 and what that even meant, 38:14 because it's not something I've ever heard of. 38:16 You've never heard of the Gorians before. 38:17 Right, and I had to explain my internet history 38:19 to the IT department, 38:21 but it may have been relevant to the case 38:23 or it may not have, we didn't know, 38:24 so we had to look into that to figure out what it is. 38:26 That's a rabbit hole, you gotta go pretty far down. 38:28 It's part of her victimology. You have to look into it and you know what we call strange was Tuesday to them 38:35 Marty told investigators he was very close to Talena's late husband Tom and had a special ring made for his friend 38:43 When Tom had a stroke both he and Talena were with him at the hospital 38:48 she was laying in the bed with him and 38:53 This is when she took the black ring off of his hand. That's me 39:00 if I wanted to wear it or if she could have it." 39:11 Marty described himself as Tolena's new master. But they knew. She had recently cut him out 39:18 of her will. 39:19 That feels like somebody who, whether they're a suspect or not, is somebody you're going 39:24 to look at pretty closely. 39:25 Well, nobody was off the table at that time. 39:28 Marty was still being looked at, but in his many conversations with law enforcement, 39:34 Marti came across to investigators as a caring and concerned friend. 39:40 Like others they had spoken with, Marti said it just wasn't like Talena to up and leave 39:46 without saying where she was going. 39:48 This is why I'm saying there's no place he left her on the court. 39:52 She went somewhere. 40:27 Everything Marti told them seemed to check out. 40:30 I mean, nothing he told me was alive. 40:31 And there was no vagueness. 40:32 He wasn't trying to evade anything. 40:35 that story about him breaking it to Tallina's house to steal a chainsaw, he 40:40 admitted it to the sheriff's investigators. Well I called Marty and asked 40:45 him, yeah I did it and now I'll take it back. I mean he didn't lie to me even 40:49 about that. To him it wasn't a crime because he had permission from Tallina 40:53 in his mind that he could go take take stuff as he needed it from the house 40:57 but he admitted to that, he pondered, he got it, he purchased it back and 41:01 and returned it, so like, there was no reason to... 41:05 He didn't have to volunteer that, but he did. 41:07 But he did, all right. 41:09 Marty slash Wolfie had a relationship with Talina 41:12 that was definitely unorthodox. 41:15 And maybe he did want too much from Talina. 41:19 So, did that mean he was involved in her disappearance? 41:24 It was hard to say. 41:26 It seemed like they had a genuine relationship. 41:31 Not just something that was being set up, or, you know, because that guy was my friend, 41:38 I'll help out with his wife, it was, you know, they had a brother and sister relationship. 41:44 Well, he seemed genuinely concerned that she was missing. 41:47 Yes. 41:48 Yeah. 41:49 And he was not the only person in Talina's world whose relationship with Talina might 41:55 have been out of balance. You will not be looking for a body. You will be looking for body parts. 42:02 You know, money, jealousy, control, that'll get you to the finish line of a lot of murders. 42:23 Investigators were coming up empty as they looked for leads in the Gorian community. 42:28 Marty for one seemed to be playing it straight. They weren't as sure about Talina's roommate 42:34 made Corey. It started with a little fib, she told, about a white trailer. 42:41 Deputies that took the initial report, they drive by the house and see there's a trailer 42:44 there. I drove by the house and didn't see a trailer there, and so I just asked her about 42:48 it. I just was curious, like, so where did that trailer go that you had at your house? 42:52 And she said, oh, the last trailer had I sold months ago. And we know that it was 42:56 there just the other day. So that was interesting because you're clearly lying to me about 43:01 That's something that seemed unimportant. 43:03 Why lie about that? 43:04 Why lie about, yeah. 43:05 As time went on, Corey's behavior raised suspicions 43:09 among many people. 43:11 Talena was still only missing. 43:13 But friends and strangers online were talking about Corey 43:18 as if she had done something to Talena. 43:21 We had a couple comments of people who said that maybe 43:25 her roommate had something to do with it. 43:27 These were people who presumably knew Talena 43:29 knew that she had a roommate. Yes. I had this little team of people within the 43:34 neighborhood that would text, I see her down by the lake, she was at the gas 43:36 station this morning, I seen her leave the house. They're tracking Corey's 43:39 movements. Non-stop. Did that make it feel as if sort of the you know the 43:44 noose was closing on you? I had a couple of Tolena's friends call me during 43:50 that first month that she was missing and asked me if I was okay. I said is 43:55 there a specific reason you're asking and they said it's all the 43:58 conspiracy theories, it's all the haters online and everything that's being said and 44:03 I told them I don't have any time to be reading all this garbage that everybody's conjecturing 44:11 and talking about. 44:12 It came up in Corey's second interview with the Sheriff's Office. 44:17 You've probably already said lots of things and it makes people bark up the wrong tree 44:24 and it's just our culture. 44:25 During that same interview, they brought up something that was more than gossip. 44:37 Corey admitted she had run into some trouble in Wisconsin a few years earlier, which brings 44:45 us to a deeply strange story told by Sherry and Mike Ziegler of Verona, Wisconsin. 44:52 It was the spring of 2014, and they had just finished a long drive home from Florida. 44:59 What happens when you get back? 45:01 It was late at night. 45:03 We had drove quite a ways, and she was cleaning up some stuff, and I'm going to go to bed. 45:10 Sherry did too. That's when she noticed a gritty substance that looked like kitty litter in her sheets. 45:18 Yeah, this is where this stuff was, it was in our bed. 45:22 And then I pulled mine back and it's like, what the heck? 45:26 And I just went, I'm tired, I'll clean it up in the morning. 45:30 And it's like kitty litter, it's that consistency? 45:33 So this is what, like some kind of prank? 45:36 Well that's what we kind of thought. 45:38 Next morning got up and vacuumed it all up and cleaned it up. 45:41 And then she found more of it in her dresser drawers. 45:44 They did not call police. Not then, anyway. 45:50 A couple of days later, you discover your safe is missing. 45:52 What'd you have in the safe? 45:54 Well, we had our passports in there. We had titles. 45:58 So important legal papers. 46:00 Exactly. 46:01 Money? 46:02 Yeah. 46:02 Yes. How much money? 46:05 Well, there was $1,700 in there. 46:07 So you call the sheriffs and say we've been robbed? 46:10 Yes. 46:10 Yes. 46:11 And they say what? 46:12 He says, who do you think did it? 46:14 Could your grandkids, you know, they're five and seven years old. 46:18 So I don't think it was them. 46:19 How about your son? 46:20 No, he wouldn't have been him. 46:22 A couple of weeks later the mail comes. 46:24 And there was a visa bill in there. 46:26 We had no idea what this was because at that time we really didn't use credit cards too much. 46:31 We used cash. 46:32 What kind of charges are on the bill? 46:34 It was gas charges from Quicktrip and PDQ. 46:38 Those are local stores. 46:40 Gas stations, yeah. 46:41 And then there was a FedEx and the post office and it was total of I believe 46:48 $299. Something made you want to go be a detective. Mm-hmm. We knew the manager at 46:56 QuickTrip quite well. I went there and his name was Nick and I said Nick I got a 47:02 problem and he says okay and I show him the credit card bill and I says can 47:06 Can you check and see if somebody was using him? 47:11 He took me in his back room with the camera. 47:14 He scrolled back. 47:16 He showed me exact picture. 47:18 And there she was with her muddy boots. 47:21 Corey. 47:22 Corey, yes. 47:23 You're next door neighbor. 47:24 Yes. 47:26 That's right, Corey Bomily, her then husband, and a whole lot of animals were living 47:32 next door to the Zieglers. 47:34 Now, they knew that Corrie, at the very least, had stolen their credit card. 47:39 They figured she saw them hide an extra door key in the backyard and just let herself in. 47:46 So she's arrested, Corrie ends up pleading guilty to fraud. 47:51 She's convicted of stealing and using your credit card. 47:56 They ever find the contents of the safe or the safe itself? 47:59 No. 48:01 Corey pleaded guilty to felony fraud and was sentenced to probation. 48:06 Six years later, when Oklahoma investigators asked her about all this, she spun it a little 48:12 differently. 48:13 It started off with me being booked for a mid-last misdemeanor. 48:18 Is that what they called it? 48:26 So I don't think she's ever run into a situation where somebody didn't believe her 48:31 and started questioning her. 48:32 Where her story is going to get checked. 48:33 Corrie told us it was all a misunderstanding. 48:38 She thought Mike had loaned her the card. 48:40 I spent $299.99 on groceries and gas, postage, other things that we needed to do were on 48:49 the house. 48:50 You didn't break into their house. 48:52 I never broke into their house. 48:54 Either way, Oklahoma investigators realized Talena's animal-loving, handy-around-the-house 49:00 roommate actually had a record, another woman with a secret or two, or maybe more than that. 49:13 You know that feeling. Too many updates, too many meetings, too many things falling through 49:18 the cracks. Monday.com was built for that gap. The AI work platform designed from the 49:24 ground up for people and agents to work side by side and deliver more together. Drafting 49:34 do it all and the best part anyone can build one even you try it create your 49:39 first Monday agent today at Monday.com when an intruder approaches a home they 49:45 expect a camera what they don't expect using smart AI cameras live US based 49:52 agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds don't just record a break in 49:57 stop it from ever happening play and starting around a dollar a day right now 50:01 get 60% off your new system with professional monitoring at simply safe 50:06 30 Seconds Response Time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at 49.99 50:10 a month. 50:10 Visit simplysafe.com slash licenses for alarm license information. 50:14 Monday on NBC, the new season of The Voice has arrived. 50:18 I'm so excited! 50:20 Fan favorites Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson are back to take on two new powerhouses. 50:26 The legendary Queen Latifah, the Queen is in the house, and country superstar Riley 50:31 Green. 50:32 Riley is super charming. 50:33 He is a whole vibe. 50:34 Can we put that on my chair? 50:36 It's going to be a wild ride. 50:38 The Bright Auditions continue on The Voice this Monday on NBC. 50:52 She had a felony record for fraud in Wisconsin. 50:56 But that's not why Oklahoma investigators were drilling down on Corey Bommily. 51:01 It was what Corey did after Talena vanished that got their attention. 51:07 She was selling Talena's belongings online. 51:11 Nice things, too. You know, things that meant something to Lena. 51:14 Talena's friends were buzzing about it on social media. 51:17 Corey was still living at her house, was still driving her vehicles, 51:22 and then one of her friends popped up and said, 51:24 Corey is selling Talena's stuff on eBay. 51:28 She had sold Tom's Gory and Family Ring. 51:32 She had sold his war medals. 51:34 She had sold a bunch of things that there's no way Talena would have had her 51:37 sell those things or allowed her to. 51:39 That's not something you do if you're wondering whether that person is coming back 51:44 Yeah, I think I would be fearful that my roommate would be mad at me if they came back and found all their stuff was sold 51:52 Investigators also got a call from Corey's ex-husband Alec Adams. He'd heard Talena was missing 51:59 During his 13-year marriage to Corey. She helped manage his career 52:05 You're a musician. Yes, I am. What do you play? 52:07 Ah, well, I play guitar and fiddle and mandolin and drum. 52:12 You play at Renaissance fairs? 52:14 Yes, when I can. 52:15 I also went to the world to a red-haired girl, and now to you, my boy. 52:19 He also performs in coffee shops, bars, and at conventions. 52:24 A few years ago, Alec played at a Gorian gathering. 52:27 That's where he and Corey met Talina. 52:31 They gave Talina the title of head slave at the event. 52:34 Head slave would mean she'd be the person that would interact with you. 52:38 The event coordinator, yeah, she was very nice and extremely business-oriented. 52:44 As for Cory, he says their life together was okay early on, until it became all about Cory 52:52 and her needs. 52:54 Alex says she had a lot of needs. 52:56 I started out with maybe less than, you know, seven animals of my own, and over the time 53:05 that I spent with Corey, we ended up with 50-plus animals to be taken care of. 53:11 He says she became controlling, angry, verbally abusive. 53:16 I would come off the stage and I'd be like, yes, I'm Alexander James Adams, haha! 53:20 And she would say, yeah, well, you're off the stage, don't forget, you're just 53:23 a stable boy. 53:24 And tomorrow you've got five horses and, you know, eight goats and donkeys to take care of. 53:30 She wasn't a Gaurian and you weren't a Gaurian. 53:32 No. 53:32 But she liked being in control. 53:34 She liked being the one in charge. 53:37 By the time he spoke with an investigator in Oklahoma, Alec was divorced from Corey. 53:43 I called him up. I said, I'm Corey Bomley's ex-husband. 53:46 He mentioned how Corey once worked at the coroner's office in Las Vegas 53:51 and bragged about how quickly she could dismember a human body. 53:56 I said, I don't think this is a missing person's case, 54:00 but you will not be looking for a body. 54:03 You will be looking for body parts. 54:06 And then he told investigators to look for a rare and incredibly deadly homemade poison. 54:14 I said to look for poisoning and I told them the Ryson story. 54:18 Rycen is a deadly biological agent with no antidote, used in targeted assassinations and 54:25 acts of terrorism. It's made from caster beans, which are easy to obtain. 54:31 You saw Corey making Rycen. 54:34 Yes, I did. 54:36 Why would she do that? 54:38 I asked her, and she said, well, I'm just making sure we've got something that we might 54:45 need in case we need to poison our enemies. 54:48 You guys know what Ryson is? 54:50 No. 54:51 Well, not before this, I mean, but I know now. 54:55 They weren't sure Alec was 100% credible. 54:59 He was, after all, Cory's ex. 55:02 You also have to consider that they are going through a divorce 55:05 and so this may have, you know, this person may have an agenda 55:09 behind why, you know, why he's giving information. 55:12 That said, Corey was very much on their radar. 55:17 Investigators had started tracking her movements. 55:20 We trailed her using Gmail, GPS, anything that we could use in association with her devices. 55:29 At one point, we put trackers on her vehicles. 55:32 So we didn't leave any stone unturned to find out if she was going to lead us to Talina. 55:38 her, she did not lead them to Talena. 55:42 Corey did answer the front door when, about two months after Talena disappeared, investigators 55:49 conducted another search of Talena's home, where they found a safe. 55:55 He opens the safe and sure enough finds caster beans inside this safe. 56:01 By then, they knew what that could mean. 56:04 And it was just a surreal moment because now that gives confirmation that Alec is telling 56:13 the truth and there may be some validity in what he was saying. 56:16 Caster beans are not illegal to buy or own. 56:21 Well, on another search, investigators found something that, in Corey's case, absolutely 56:26 was illegal. 56:28 A gun. 56:29 Remember, she was a convicted felon. 56:32 In her purse, we find a nine millimeter. 56:36 And so she's not allowed to have a gun. 56:38 Corey was arrested. 56:41 And when Talena's friends Rachel and Greg heard about that, 56:45 they worried about the animals Corey left behind. 56:49 So we went into the house and I'm checking on the animals 56:52 and everybody was doing okay. 56:56 And they noticed something was missing. 56:58 And I remember looking at Greg and I'm like, where's the freezer? 57:04 And Greg's like, you're right, where is the freezer? 57:08 And he goes back out into the garage and he's like, it's not out there. 57:12 Cory made Bond, then moved to her mother's home in Wisconsin. 57:17 Most of the animals were adopted out. 57:20 And the mystery of the missing freezer might have gone unsolved. 57:24 had this woman not been walking in the woods in Arkansas 57:28 and spotted something out of place. 57:31 When I looked down through there with all the foliage gone, 57:36 I could see the white tip of something sticking up. 57:40 That discovery would help answer the question, 57:44 where was Tallina Galloway? 57:59 Just a day before Corey got locked up on that gun charge, 58:03 March. Something happened 150 miles away that would change this investigation. 58:10 It was a hot June day here in Mina, Arkansas, population somewhere south of 6,000. 58:17 Janalyn Philpot Alds was watching something. She's a retired private investigator. So 58:23 when Janalyn watches, she pays attention. 58:26 There was a truck hauling a U-Haul coming very, very slowly up my road. 58:32 And it kept going and going and going so slowly that I left my post at the foot of the driveway 58:40 and I walked out into the yard to see if I could see how far it had gone. 58:44 And I could see them, although I don't think they could see me. 58:49 She says there were two people in the truck, one of them dressed in an old-fashioned 58:53 leisure jacket. 58:54 The pair started backing the truck down a rough trail in the woods, about 50 feet 59:01 from where she was standing. My thought at the time was they've never backed this 59:05 truck up with a U-Haul on it before because they were terrible at it. At that 59:10 point I kind of moved closer where I would be hidden a little bit more to 59:15 try to see them through the woods and all I heard was a thunk so I thought 59:21 I'm going to go down and confront them and find out what they're up to. 59:24 The two people were out of sight, deeper in the woods, when Janelyn approached the truck 59:30 and trailer. 59:31 This strange odor just hit me and there was like a putrid sweet kind of leave a nasty 59:42 taste in your mouth kind of smell and so at that point I decided that confrontation 59:48 wouldn't be a good idea. 59:50 She wrote down the truck's license plate 59:53 and called her local sheriff. 59:56 Janelyn says she didn't hear back from law enforcement, 59:59 so she let it go. 60:02 Life got in the way for a few months, 60:05 but then just after the new year, 60:07 Janelyn was taking her bubba for a walk. 60:11 I looked down through there with all the foliage gone. 60:14 I could see the white tip of something sticking up. It looked like a freezer or a washer machine, 60:22 a clothes dryer, some large white appliance. She called the sheriff again, and this time a 60:28 deputy showed up. They found the appliance. It was a freezer. The deputy pried it open. 60:35 And I thought I saw a gray quilt spill out of it. And he explained to me that it was 60:44 maggots. They were coming out of it and there was a body in it and it was a decapitated 60:49 and it appeared to be a female. 60:53 Sheriff's investigator Joel Weber was at home having dinner that night when the phone rang. 60:59 Talina had been missing for nine months. 61:03 We get a call from investigators in Arkansas saying they have a body in a freezer. 61:07 I mean it was five minutes they were in the truck on their way to Arkansas. 61:09 And the whole way you're thinking this is not a fool's errand. This is it, right? 61:15 It was dark by the time they arrived 61:18 It was a steep decline from the roadway pretty wooded pitch black 61:23 It's hard to really see what we're doing my understanding is the freezer was like kind of face down and sealed 61:29 But when we get there they have it unsealed and open so I can clearly see a hand stick out of the freezer 61:35 It's not necessarily gory because there really isn't any blood, but we're looking at body parts in hefty bags and trash bags 61:43 Inside of a freezer. It's something I've never witnessed before 61:46 Tattoos and fingerprints confirmed it was Talina 61:50 The medical examiner ruled it a homicide blunt force trauma. Her skull was crushed her body cut into pieces 61:59 Rachel worries about Talina's final moments. I just pray she was asleep 62:05 that she didn't feel this coming and it just bothers me the fear if she knew that bothers me. 62:12 It bothers me a lot. I just pray she didn't. More than ever now investigators were looking at Corey 62:22 because the evidence seemed to be lining up starting with that freezer. It had a blue 62:28 sticker with a telltale rip in the corner just like the one investigators could see 62:33 in a photo taken at Talina's house. 62:36 And I'm like, that's definitely the freezer 62:38 we've been looking for. 62:40 Janalyn Philpott Alds told investigators 62:42 she believed the people in the truck were both women. 62:46 The one in the leisure jacket was relatively short. 62:50 I would say at the most, probably 5'4". 62:56 Corey is about 5'3". 62:58 Police could not confirm there was a second person. 63:01 But that plate number Janelyn wrote down that day, it came back to Talina's truck, 63:08 and Corey had those keys. 63:11 And one other thing. 63:14 Did Corey actually try to buy property in Arkansas? 63:17 Yes. 63:17 She did. 63:18 The piece of property she was trying to purchase was the property that the body 63:21 was found on. 63:23 The red flags were all waving in the direction of Corey Bomily. 63:28 On January 21, 2021, Corey was arrested in Wisconsin and charged with Tallina's murder. 63:36 I think all of us were virtually high-fiving and very happy. 63:39 We thought, okay, we got it. 63:42 They had it, or did they? 63:45 As one side prepared for trial, the other insisted all of this pointed to someone else. 63:53 I can Corey to a lobster in a pot. 63:55 Corey did not realize that she was their chief suspect until it was too late. 64:04 You know that feeling when too many things fall through the cracks? 64:08 Monday.com was built for that gap. 64:10 The AI work platform where people and agents work side by side to deliver more together. 64:16 Create your first Monday agent today at Monday.com. 64:19 When an intruder approaches a home, they expect a camera. 64:22 What they don't expect. 64:26 Using smart AI cameras, live US-based agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds. 64:32 Don't just record a break-in, stop it from ever happening. 64:35 Plan starting around a dollar a day. 64:37 Right now, get 60% off your new system with professional monitoring at simplysafe.com.slashsxm. 64:43 30 seconds response time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at $49.99 a month. 64:47 Visit simplysafe.com.slash licenses for alarm-license information. 64:51 Some crimes are so shocking, they don't just make headlines. 64:54 they forever change our society. 64:56 I'm Katie Ring, host of America's Most Infamous Crimes. 65:00 Each week I take on one of the most notorious criminal cases. 65:03 Each case unfolds across multiple episodes, 65:05 released every Tuesday through Thursday, 65:07 from the first sign that something was wrong, 65:10 to the moment the truth came out or didn't. 65:12 Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes 65:15 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, 65:18 or wherever you listen to your podcasts. 65:28 District Attorney Jack Thorpe knew 65:30 he faced a few challenges as he prepared for trial. 65:34 No murder weapon, no DNA, no video of anybody committing any crime. 65:41 It's a circumstantial case, but it's a pretty good circumstantial case. 65:45 Do you know what they say about circumstantial evidence? 65:48 It's the only evidence that cannot lie. 65:50 And circumstantial evidence, at least the circumstantial evidence we developed in this case, 65:55 all pointed toward Corey Bomily. 65:56 The prosecutor believes Corey attacked Talina suddenly and forcefully, wielding something 66:03 like a bat or crowbar, while Talina was asleep in her bed. 66:09 Talina had her nightguard in, and that nightguard was still there with her body when it was discovered. 66:16 And what became of Talina's bed? 66:19 Her friend Greg explained that soon after Talina went missing, Corey asked him to 66:25 run an errand. She told me to come by and pick up this the scrap metal and I'd come by the next day. 66:35 Greg recognized the scrap. It was Talena's mattress and bed frame and it had been scorched 66:42 black by fire. I asked her you know isn't that the mattress I just put in the in the bedroom 66:49 room, you know, not too long ago. And she replied, yeah, 66:55 the CDC told me to burn it because of the COVID. 67:00 DA Thorpe teased out the lies he believed Corey told from the 67:04 beginning, like what she said about Talina's trip to the 67:08 hospital. It turns out there's no record of Talina going to 67:11 the hospital and getting checked out in the parking lot. 67:13 Yeah, there's no record of that. There's no record of her 67:15 ever being there. 67:15 And Talina's Facebook posts, remember, those were the first things that bothered Jess Trevino. 67:23 I had to speak up. It was too odd of the writings of her Facebook posts about why she was leaving. 67:30 It just nothing felt right. Nothing. 67:33 Thorpe agrees. He believes Corey wrote those after she killed Talina. 67:39 To throw off the investigation and buy some time. 67:42 Is there any evidence that Corey actually tried to report Talina missing? 67:48 Not until after people started noticing that Talina was missing. 67:52 And we put that at around 13 days from when we suspect the homicide occurred. 67:57 What happened during those 13 days? 67:59 I think that she destroyed evidence, cleaned up the crime scenes, disarticulated the 68:04 body of Talina, put the body in a freezer, turned the freezer on, froze the body. 68:11 And, at least for a while, kept that freezer in the white trailer she lied to investigators 68:18 about. 68:18 And made sure she'd covered all the bases that she knew to cover. 68:23 Corey did make one odd misstep early on. 68:27 When investigators asked her if they could spray a chemical called Blue Star around 68:31 the house to check for blood. 68:34 And her response was, even the garage, well, now we are. 68:39 Things not to say during a search warrant. 68:42 Yeah. 68:43 The blue star showed some kind of biological residue 68:46 on the floor, but nothing definitive. 68:49 Still, investigators believe Cory dismembered 68:53 Talena there, in part because it had been so thoroughly cleaned. 68:58 Scoured, bleach, lime. 69:01 And then painted over. 69:03 Freshly painted with a type of paint 69:04 that has a tendency to cover up blood. 69:07 And Corey may have forgotten to cover up. Her cover up. 69:12 Corey did Google searches on how to get rid of DNA, the type of paint that would cover 69:17 cellular evidence of blood, how to get blood out of concrete and wood. All of that comes 69:23 in. All of that we anticipate we're going to admit into evidence. 69:27 One question a jury might have, why would Corey kill the woman she called her heart 69:33 sister and who'd put a roof over her head. 69:37 I think that something happened that night and I think Tolena was kicking Corey out of 69:42 the house and I think that Corey had it very, very good. 69:47 It is true that Corey had something to gain from Tolena's death. 69:51 She was the executor of her estate and the beneficiary of an insurance policy. 69:58 But you don't think that by itself is the motive? 70:00 We think that at some point Cory was gonna have to leave the house and honestly she didn't have anywhere else to go 70:06 So not greed anger. No by the injuries that we observed on the body 70:11 It was some type of anger or some type of force for sure 70:15 We're confident that a Wagner jury is gonna find her guilty of murder 70:21 The defense was equally confident 70:24 Cory's attorneys Rachel Dallas and Ryan Canone. I've never caught Cory in a lie 70:29 I don't believe Corey did this. I really don't. 70:32 I can Corey to a lobster in a pot. 70:36 Corey did not realize that she was their chief suspect until it was too late. 70:42 And at that point, there was no fixing that tunnel vision that I believe the Sheriff's Office had. 70:48 By their lack of investigation, they never considered anyone but Corey Bommily to be a part of this. 70:55 not once. Not when they had Marty Angus setting across from them, admitting to 71:00 breaking into Talena and Corey's home. Not when he set across from them and said 71:07 that he was Talena's master and that he owned her. 71:11 Everyone seems to paint Corey with this motive. She has this motive for money. 71:15 She's gonna get all this money from Talena. She wasn't. She was on one 71:18 life insurance policy of $150,000. Marty was on a $300,000 policy. That 71:23 That had not been transferred to Corey yet. 71:26 They argue Corey was better off with Talena alive. 71:31 She was living rent free and had the use of Talena's vehicles and credit cards. 71:36 Friends say Talena was cutting Marty out of her life and replacing him with Corey. 71:43 The value that Talena had alive financially to Marty was undisputedly dwindling. 71:48 And they said even though Marty might not have actually killed Talina, he could still 71:54 be behind her murder. 71:56 Do I feel like he physically did it himself? 71:59 Probably not. 72:00 Do I feel like he orchestrated what happened to Talina? 72:04 Absolutely. 72:05 I don't know who helped him. 72:07 I do believe it was not Corey. 72:09 The defense hoped to bring up another motive, Talina's private lifestyle, and Marty's 72:16 attempt to become Tallina's Gorian Master, the judge would not allow it. 72:22 You have a belief system that puts women as slaves, and men as masters, and you have 72:27 a woman who is pretty financially independent, who goes missing, who's part of that. 72:31 It seems like that's something we would want to talk about. 72:34 The defense's argument would be supported by a star witness who was ready to spill. 72:41 Do you think Marty Wolfe had something to do with Tallina's murder? 72:44 I do. This guy was setting me up from a much earlier time to take the fall for 72:51 something that I think he was involved in. 73:06 Cory Bommely's defense team believed they had a convincing case against Marty 73:11 and an ace in the hole with Cory herself. 73:15 The only way for us to be able to defend Cory in this case was to let Cory take the stand. 73:21 Corey had gone from Talina's devoted roommate to her accused killer. 73:26 Now she wanted to explain. 73:29 And I had some questions. 73:31 You look harmless. 73:33 Well, thank you. 73:33 That's the one most wonderful comment anyone's given me for a while. 73:38 Should people fear you? 73:40 Well, I'm sure that people like my ex-spouse have told you to fear me. 73:44 I'm only dangerous to people's heads because if you're into your ego, if you're into fear, 73:51 if you're into anger, if you're into vindictiveness, I oppose those kinds of things. 73:57 Corey seemed ready to take the stand. 74:00 She had an answer for everything, starting with whether Talina even had COVID. 74:05 We drove down to Wagner County Hospital to the emergency room and we were going 74:11 to get her tested. 74:12 So I dropped her off and went to park the vehicle and even before I had turned off the car 74:17 She was stomping across the parking lot back at me and not a happy camper 74:23 And I asked her what was wrong and she said they wouldn't even take my temperature 74:26 They won't test me. There is apparently no record of that. No, and that was typical back then 74:32 I'm quoting law enforcement here, but please do they say there would be a record of even that 74:38 One of the things that looked suspicious to law enforcement, and to me, is that very soon 74:47 after Talina is gone, you don't know where she is, you don't know what her condition 74:51 is. 74:52 Did she recover? 74:53 Did she die? 74:54 Did she take her own life? 74:56 You don't know. 74:57 Nobody knew. 74:58 But you're selling off her things. 75:00 I had been selling her things for a year and a half the entire time that I was 75:04 with her. 75:04 All, she says, with Talina's permission. 75:08 Even some items that had belonged to Tom, like his Gorian ring. 75:13 There were so many things of Tom's that she had me selling. 75:17 She was downsizing. 75:18 They were sitting on the counter in the right place. 75:21 That told me Corey sell these. 75:24 Corey denied knowing how to cut up a human body, but admitted knowing her way around 75:30 a large animal. 75:33 When an animal that's sizeable, a cow, a horse, a llama, dies, you're obviously not 75:43 going to let that creature lie there and rot in place. 75:46 It's a messy, bloody, day-long process that is not a job I'd wish on anybody. 75:53 When Talena's found, she's in pieces. 75:58 And that sounds to me like something you would have known how to do. 76:02 Well, and you are damning every medical professional, every hunter, 76:07 every farmer, just to name a few groups out there. 76:09 You're saying many people would have that kind of knowledge. 76:12 I believe so. But would they use it? 76:15 No, of course not. It's horrific. 76:18 Who would do something like that? 76:19 Who would do something like that to their best friend? 76:22 We were as close as two people could be. 76:24 I would die for her if I could still to this day if it would bring her back 76:30 I would happily change places with her 76:33 She means that much to me 76:38 So then how did Talina's body find its way to Arkansas on property Corey had been to and tried to buy 76:46 her answer 76:49 Marty I 76:51 Remember calling Marty and I told him I put a bit on it. I think he actually thought I purchased that property 76:57 Okay, so instead of this being one more coincidence 77:00 of the Talina's body turning up at a place 77:03 you had visited and knew where it was, 77:05 this is Marty framing you. 77:08 This is Marty thinking that you owned that property 77:11 and then if I dump the body there, 77:13 it'll point the finger at Corey. 77:15 You look at all these things 77:17 and you start adding them together 77:19 and it sure as hell looks that way. 77:22 Corey says it's possible Marty didn't kill Talina, 77:26 that she might have killed herself 77:28 and says Marty had reason to make it look like murder. 77:33 I think it's very possible 77:36 that if she did commit suicide, 77:39 I think that he freaked out 77:41 and possibly did damage to her post-mortem 77:44 because he was afraid his $300,000 policy 77:48 wouldn't pay if she committed suicide. 77:52 Remember, the medical examiner said 77:54 the blows to Tallina's head killed her, not suicide. And keep this in mind, it's always 78:01 easy to blame a dead man. Marty, known in the Gorian world as Master Shakara, died of a drug 78:10 overdose while Tallina was still missing. There's a couple of theories. One of the theories is 78:17 you and Tallina had some kind of fight, and you killed her as a result of that, 78:22 Maybe not attempting to kill her and she died 78:25 The second is that you sort of planned this that you saw her as a mark 78:30 And you wrote that Facebook post after you had killed her to cover your tracks 78:35 And then began selling every single thing you could get your hands on to make as much money off this as possible 78:42 And that you delayed reporting her missing for as long as possible to give yourself some lead time 78:49 The evidence doesn't support any of that 78:52 It's speculation, it's all sensational, none of it's supported. 78:58 I will maintain till the day I die that I had nothing to do with the disappearance and 79:03 death of Tolina." 79:05 Cory was ready to tell her story to a jury. 79:09 At the same time, a skeleton in her closet was just rattling back to life. 79:17 Something about kitty litter? 79:19 So I took a shot in the dark and I talked to Mrs. Eagler, sweet lady, and I said is there 79:25 any chance that you kept any of that white powdery stuff, was there any chance? 79:46 The prosecution was ready, so was the defense, and so was the defendant. 79:52 When the American public gets their hands on the actual evidence that my defense counsel 79:58 is going to make available now to the American public, they're going to be astounded 80:03 at the amount of evidence against Marty Angus. 80:07 As her trial approached, sheriff's deputies 80:10 continued to investigate Corey. 80:13 They took particular interest in that felony fraud case 80:16 in Wisconsin. 80:18 We get a copy of the report. 80:20 And in the report, it talks about somebody 80:23 spread this white powdery substance all over the bed, 80:26 the pillow, the underwear drawers, 80:28 all over the house. 80:29 They thought it was kitty litter. 80:30 Well, they said it had a consistency of like kitty 80:32 By now, they knew that, A, Corey's ex-husband, Alec, told them Corey had been making ricin, 80:40 and B, ricin can have the consistency of kitty litter. 80:46 So I took a shot in the dark and I talked to Mrs. Eagler, a sweet lady, and I said, 80:50 is there any chance that you kept any of that material, that the white powdery stuff 80:57 was there any chance? 80:58 And I said, no, I threw it out. 81:01 After we hung up, I thought, hmm, I wonder in my sock drawer.
Community discussion