Episode 334

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0:50Again, that's L-I-Q-U-R-E, promo code SWORD for 20 % off. Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

1:12So how did you kill her? Tell us how you killed her. I don't know because it wasn't Jared. It wasn't Jared.

1:33So I come back from basically almost less than a week of a break. And I put out three episodes for you. I put out Sword and Scale television. I put out Nightmares. The Return of Nightmares, by the way, season three. And brand new Sword and Scale. And what do I get? I get complaints. I get some guy complaining. Oh my god, this isn't the kind of story I wanted So oh my god, I'm gonna complain You guys are miserable

2:22Would it kill you to just say thank you? I mean, really? You don't work this hard. I know it. I can tell. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. I promise you that. I'm so negative. I'm just always complaining. I bring you all the true crime in the world and all you do is complain. You people owe me. Go buy a shirt right now. Go buy a shirt. You owe me a shirt. Go buy a hat. Go buy a hat. Sword at sword and scale.com. Go right now. Alright. Is that enough silliness? Can we start? This is Season 13. Episode 330, I don't know, something of Sword and Scale. Show that reveals that the worst monsters are real.

3:24I love you.

3:59Every family has a story that they don't expect to tell. In Waller County, Texas, two families were bound together by a relationship, a marriage, and a moment of unimaginable violence. On the 11th yesterday, approximately 4.18 p.m., we received a call through dispatch. There's a possible deceased person, 21-year-old female, inside a residence located behind 206 Ocala. Upon arrival, they did find a deceased person inside the house. It was a portion of a body dismembered and a residence that was covered in blood. It's a gruesome scene at best. Further investigation led to the family being detained and the suspect placed into custody for what we're assuming is going to be a murder charge in the end.

5:07On the flat coastal plains of southeast Texas, something unthinkable happened. It was January 12, 2023. The sheriff of Waller County stepped up to the microphones. He told the press what he could. By then, most of the facts were known. What happened, who was involved, where, when, and how. The only question left was, why? That would take some time. Days later, investigators sat down with someone who knew her best. Her uncle, Irvin Orellana. She hasn't been here very long, Greg. Can you tell me about how she got here? and she was brought illegally, as you already know. I don't care about that. She came along with her two brothers.

5:58Angie Diaz came to the United States when she was just 17. She crossed the border with her two brothers. They were undocumented, but hopeful and determined. Like so many before her, she was chasing something simple, a better life. She landed in Waller County, just northwest of Houston, and moved in with her uncle. It wasn't glamorous, but it was safe. It was clean. And for Angie, it was a start. She was always, uncle teach me how to ride the lawnmower, how to do it for you. And she was always, she always had that initiative of doing something for the house, because she felt grateful that she was living with us.

6:42But in a way, she felt like, I can't put so much weight on your shoulder, Uncle. I've got to help you somehow. Angie carried her weight, helping her uncle and contributing in any way she could. They were family, but she didn't want to be a burden. Her uncle didn't put any pressure on her about finding a job or contributing financially. She was still young. But one eventuality worried him. And I even talked to her one day. If I know, eventually you're going to meet someone. And when that time comes, there will be some set of rules at home for you to follow. Of course, Angie accepted her uncle's rules.

7:29She settled in, started to learn English, and found a job at the local Hispanic meat market called Chepez. Chepe is Spanish slang for Jose. It's like calling a place Joe's for those monolingual people out there. And it wasn't long before she proved her uncle right and met someone. She followed the rules and told her aunt and uncle she was just starting to get to know him. Their relationship would build, and the family would finally meet him. But not long after that, she broke it off. I broke up with Jose. To us, it was very surprising news. Before we went to vacation, she had even bought a wedding dress because they were thinking of getting married.

8:18And then we came from vacation and all of a sudden she broke up with Jose to us. I was very surprised, I think. Angie was young, but she was clear about what she wanted. She said there wasn't another guy. What bothered her was Jose's indecision and his reliance on his mother. He was a bit of a mama's boy. Angie wanted something more. I have not met anyone. It's just that I don't think things are going to work out. I need a real man in life. In my life, I can't keep wasting my time with a kid, she says. Angie had large aspirations in life and had the work ethic to achieve them. The last thing she wanted to do was waste it with a mama's boy.

9:08She needed a man instead, with similar life goals. Her uncle, though, suspected that maybe she'd already met him. Later, I had a conversation with her, just one-on-one. I told her, I need you to be honest with me. Is there anyone you're getting to know, anyone you're talking with? And I need to know, is there someone else in your life? because I'm responsible for what happens to you. You're looking out for her. And she said, yes, I met someone. And right now we're not going out. We're just getting to know each other. And I said, okay, it's fine. Thank you for letting me know. That's when Jared Dykus showed up.

9:58He was quiet, but there was something about him. Put it that way. Here's how his dad, Rodney, remembers the first time Jared met Angie.

10:34What kind of relationship did they have? Did you know? I thought that it was a pretty cool relationship because every time you heard them two, they were laughing. They were laughing. It was just something special. It was just pretty cool. Pretty cool to hear that we were laughing. Jared wasn't anything like Jose. He had a career as an electrician and, more importantly, didn't have to ask his mom for permission every time he did something. He was also white, with bright red hair, which earned him the nickname Rojo around Chepe's meat market. In case you didn't know, Rojo is Spanish for red. They talked constantly, video calls, voice messages, that sort of thing.

11:19They were falling in love. Eventually she came home, she's like, look, uncle. I really love him a lot. and he loves me a lot and we have decided to get married and I would like you to be the witness. He thought to himself, what can I do? I'm just the uncle. If Angie wanted to marry Jared, he wasn't going to stand in her way. By this time, she was 21 years old, a grown woman who could make her own decisions. She could do whatever she wanted with or without his approval. But even before the family could meet Jared, she tied the knot. She texted her uncle a picture of her and her new husband on the steps of the courthouse.

12:06Jared carried Angie across his arms as they kissed. Her white dress shimmered in the sunlight. When Angie's uncle finally met Jared, he was impressed. Jared was always clean and well-dressed. He was polite. He always shook hands, but he was quiet. He couldn't speak Spanish, so he was often lost during conversations. But he tried to be part of the family. During Christmas, he bought Angie's little cousins Nerf guns and played Nintendo with them. It was all very wholesome. He gave me this perspective of a mature person. It was a whirlwind relationship. They had been dating for a few months when they got married in the fall of 2022.

12:55But both Angie and Jared gave it their all. Jared started spending all his money to convert a small outbuilding on his parents' property into an efficiency apartment for them. Angie started taking beach body training courses, even flying to Florida to attend. She had her sights on becoming a fitness instructor. They were happy with their whole lives ahead of them. Isn't that usually how it starts?

13:47Where is he at? He's in my house. Okay, this is your house. They have a building on my property. Oh my God, please. Send somebody. Oh my God. Okay, sir, just calm down. We're getting people on the route, okay? Oh my God. And you said...

14:12Okay, and you said this is who to you now? She's my daughter-in-law. She's my daughter-in-law. Angie was dead. Rodney Dykus found his daughter-in-law lying in a pool of blood in Jared's apartment. It was clear, even to Rodney, that only one person could have been responsible. Oh my God, please hurry. There's something wrong with my son. Please hurry. He has no weapons. He's in my house. He's laying on the floor crying. Okay, okay. Oh my goddammit. Oh, son. Rodney was clearly in anguish, but he had to call 911 because Jared's mother, Lynn, couldn't. She saw Angie's body, too, and just lost it. Her legs gave.

15:11She went down on the ground in the front yard and couldn't get back up, crying, wailing, waiting for the police to arrive. Her husband, Jared, was balled up on the floor inside his parents' house also, crying. The whole situation didn't make any sense, but Rodney had felt something was coming. Oh my God, I told him in the hospital to keep him. Oh my God, I told him that. I told him that. Dude, he went down to keep him.

15:47I had him in the hospital two days ago. He was hearing voices. I told the doctor to keep him and the doctor said he was fine. The scene got hectic quickly. While the dispatcher was relaying this information over the radio, the EMTs were out of the loop. They walked into something they never expected. There looked to be like a towel on the floor and pink socks from what I could originally see. As I began to step up the steps, I could see underneath the towel that looked like blood. It looked like there was some blood on the floor as well. Because we had no information, didn't know what had happened, had she committed suicide with a shotgun, what we were walking into.

16:32There was a desk immediately to the right of me when I walked in the door. looked like it had a computer on it and as I looked around the desk I could see her feet stepped in far further and I could see the rest of the body and then I realized I was the patient did not have a head at that point my crew was coming up behind me I stopped them I said back out we're in a crime scene and they said they kind of looked at me and they realized the look on my face they even told me later they're like we saw the look on your face we knew there There was nothing we were going to do, so they backed out. I backed out.

17:06EMS got there. Vice paramedic, what we had, I said, there's nothing we can do. This wasn't a suicide or accidental death. This was a crime scene, and very obviously so. I need crime scene and detectives out to this location. Deputies were already en route. Still, more surprises were waiting on Oak Hollow Boulevard. Oh, Constable, thanks for coming. Who you got detained?

17:41Sir, some reason. Oh, no, sure. Yeah. Okay. The lead deputy assessed the scene. Jared was already in the back of a patrol car. His mom, Lynn, was weeping on the front lawn. His father, Rodney, paced back and forth when he wasn't seated on his riding mower. Other deputies kept them separate and took all of their phones. The lead deputy had the big picture, but the lead paramedic filled in the details. Yeah, she was just brutally decapitated. She's got to stab wounds to her back. Her head is in the bathtub. I mean, it's a... Little redhead? No, she's dark as fingers. No, no, no. So the one you got in, the one you got detained, old redheaded boy?

18:26Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The responding deputy thought he knew exactly what this was. That redhead boy. He'd seen him before. But as the scene unfolded, something didn't sit right. What they found inside that small apartment was worse than anyone expected. And the truth was far stranger than the assumptions that had brought them there. Whatever happened wasn't just violent. It was something deeper. It was something harder to name.

19:33The Body of Angie Diaz The body of Angie Diaz was found on the floor of a small apartment she shared with her husband, Jared Dykus. But her head was found in the bathtub. And this was? Taking place in a residence occupied by himself, the suspect, and the wife, the deceased, living behind the parents' house. Turning now to what appears to be a horrific case of domestic violence in Waller County. And we do want to warn you, the details in this case are very disturbing. Everything happened on the property and all parts and pieces were recovered. and submitted for evidence. She was found dead this past Wednesday.

20:21Investigators say that her husband, Jared Dykus, had killed her with a kitchen knife severing her head from her body. It is gruesome. It's a gruesome crime, and the best you can say is that's the world we live in today, and it's a gruesome scene. And both sides of these families are going to be altered by it. Either way, suspect and or the victims. They were only married in October, and now he is charged with her murder. Newlyweds Jared and Angie had so much promise. Now, Jared was charged with her murder. But the media calling it a horrific case of domestic violence didn't really tell the whole story.

21:07You see, the sheriff's department was familiar with the address. There has been prior calls disturbance-wise, but nothing to this effect and to this level of violence.

21:43When they got there, they assumed it would be more of the same. But his deputies talked with the father, Rodney. Are we done? Was that all the information you needed for me? You wouldn't have to know Miss Angie's maiden name. They said your wife's... DS. DS? A-Z. And the mother, Lynn. Hello, ma 'am. I'm Deputy Lewis. I think I've talked to you at the door here a while back about maybe some dogs or something. No, your son's truck. Remember I come knocking on your door one morning and I said, hey, you know where that truck's at? And the brother, Wayne. I was telling your mama, I think the last time I was here, your brother's truck was broke down or out of gas or something.

22:27That was yours? Yeah. They realized it wasn't what they thought at all. It's a mom and daddy and two brothers. And then unbeknownst to me, one of the brothers got married back in September, a little girl that worked at Chappie's, and they're living in the shed back behind the house. But when I heard possible BOA at 206 Ocala, I thought it was the brother that's sitting up around the carport. I just figured he'd O.D. I didn't think this other one would be involved. Between Jared and his brother Wayne, Jared was the good son. Jared. Randy Lewis, remember me? Yes, sir. You okay? Yes, sir. Wayne was the one who had previous run-ins with the law.

23:21Even the deputy was surprised to find Jared in the back of the patrol car. But interviews with the parents would shed light on Jared's recent behavior. He'd been acting unusual for some time. But the day of the murder, all the parents' worries would come to a head. I think it was around noon when Jared came in and told me that we needed to go to a Houston store. And he gave me the store number. I kept telling him, that doesn't tell me anything. I don't have an app to look up store numbers like you did. Because I don't work for an app. You have to give me an address so I know where we're going.

24:00He said, it's Houston. I said, it's Houston. It's fairly large. It doesn't tell me shit. And he went back there and his mother was asleep and he came back. And that's when I stopped him and cornered it and he heard where we're going. I said, I don't think he was going to talk to me at all. I don't get the impression that he was there to talk to me. I got the impression he was there to talk to his mother. And then I asked him, what does he need? he told me he needed his gun. What did you tell him? Told him you're not getting that gun back right now or you're like this. I said, what do you need your gun for?

24:39And he did this. Already suspicious of his behavior, there was no way Rodney was going to give Jared his gun. When he asked him what he needed it for, he pantomimed putting the gun up to his own head. But then quickly tried to play it off like he was just scratching an itch. Odd, for sure.

25:24yelling at him from our bedroom to the hall bathroom, the common bathroom, because she heard him on the phone and that was around 4 p.m. today. And his behavior just kept getting weirder and weirder and weirder. From 1 o 'clock on? Yeah. He just wouldn't answer my questions. I said, Derek, do you need to take me somewhere? Do you need to talk to someone? And then I just found him sitting in the bathroom on the toilet. He was looking at his phone and he was talking to someone and I said, well, who are you talking to? And he wouldn't like to answer me. He said that was my boss. I said, well, you didn't say much.

26:13I said, what did he want? I mean, he was giving me my instructions for tonight's job. and then he came in my bedroom because I asked him to come here because he wouldn't answer my questions you know I heard a phone ring from the bathroom and I was like whose phone is that in the bathroom why do you have and he's like well I have two phones and then I said why do you have two phones and then he goes no I only have one phone but he would just go back and forth back and forth these weird answers and um he went and picked it out out of the bathroom and put it in his pocket And I said, why do you have two phones?

26:54And then I said, give me your phones. And he gave me both of them. And then I noticed one of them was in Spanish. I said, well, this is Angie's phone. Because I saw the picture of Jared and Angie on the phone. So I just recognized that as hers. Everything is in Spanish. And I just kept asking, why do you have Angie's phone? When he was supposed to be at work, right? And then it just me and my husband just right away, right outside. Already worried about their son's behavior, their stomach sank when they saw that he had Angie's phone. They didn't know what to expect, but they knew it wouldn't be good.

27:34I opened the door and I walked in and you couldn't see anything. And I took a step in and I saw him. And that's what I told my wife. she said you don't want to come in here and she came in and I said call 9-1-1 and that's I knew she wasn't going to be able to I grabbed my phone and I started calling when y 'all walked in what did you see her? her line on me can you describe that for me I know it's hard but just she was on her stomach okay and just blood on the this side our right side so and then we just Any other type of injuries you felt? I didn't see her head but I don't know. You didn't see her head at all?

28:20No. But it was a quick glance that I didn't see her hair because she had long long long hair. I didn't see her hair. And we went back to the house and I said what have you done here? And she was already on the floor crying. Worry. You better know what I'm doing. What did he do? He just said, I'm sorry. He wouldn't give me any answers. I'm sorry. I'm not that person. Rodney and Lynn found Angie's body lying on the floor of the apartment. They knew it was already too late to help her. While they scrambled to call the police and keep Jared from doing anything else, their minds flooded with all the little weird things Jared had been doing for a while now.

29:14At work the night before, his father noticed some odd things. That was his demeanor. He was quiet. He was quiet. He's been, I don't know what the words are, but I think the word is lethargic. they just detached away he was happy because he was going to work and it was too he seemed he was really happy that he was laid off from November it was because they're slow during that time of year it happens every year he doesn't like that but he was laid off during November and December and this was his first job back okay no I'm sorry this was his third job back he did have two whether Josh prior to that.