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1:10

let's go places. Sword

1:12

and the Scale Nightmares, the sleep

1:15

time companion to this show, is

1:17

available now for free on Apple

1:19

Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeart

1:22

Radio. You can also get it

1:24

commercial free and get episodes one

1:26

month early with your plus subscription

1:28

starting at the super supporter level. Find

1:31

out more at swordandscale.com.

1:35

Sword and Scale contains adult themes

1:37

and violence and is not intended

1:40

for all audiences. Listener

1:42

discretion is advised. Did

1:48

you choke her? Did you put something over her face?

1:50

Or how did you stop her breathing? Did you use

1:52

something? Did she say anything to you when she got

1:54

home? Did you even give her an opportunity? Welcome

2:02

to Sword and Scale, Season

2:05

11, Episode 272, a show that reveals

2:07

that the worst monsters are

2:11

real. It

3:11

hurts to see someone struggling, someone

3:15

that's in pain. There's

3:17

an instinctual empathy for a

3:19

person in need, especially

3:21

if it's family. The

3:24

natural reaction is to help. If

3:27

someone's feeling down, you cheer them

3:29

up. If someone needs a

3:31

little money, you loan it to them. Someone's

3:34

hungry, you feed them. So

3:37

all the things that this country was

3:39

founded on, give me your tired, your

3:41

poor, your huddled masses, etc. Sympathy

3:44

like this usually makes those

3:47

that are helped, and the

3:49

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between sessions if anything comes up. We

18:03

have called, texted, we're getting

18:05

no reply." Nancy

18:08

left Dallas, Georgia on Thursday, September 29th

18:10

at 4pm. As

18:14

the Category 4 hurricane carved a

18:16

path of destruction across

18:18

Florida, Nancy carved her

18:21

path through the night. The

18:24

trip only took about 9 hours, but now

18:27

it was 9am Saturday, October 1st,

18:29

41 hours later

18:33

and no one had heard from Nancy

18:36

or Travis. My concern

18:38

is that when the police department

18:40

did the well check before, prior

18:42

to my aunt coming home, he

18:46

did not come to the door. He

18:48

would not answer the door. And

18:50

they, of course, they did not do

18:53

any kind of forcible entry. I

18:57

don't know that he would come to

18:59

the door. He knows, probably

19:02

through her texting him, that

19:04

even though he didn't reply to her, that it's

19:08

a big situation and that the police were

19:10

going to pursue some criminal charges in some

19:17

way, the neighbor was. So

19:20

I just want them

19:22

to know that if he's in

19:24

there, he would probably not come

19:26

to the door. And if my

19:29

aunt's car is in the driveway and

19:32

no one comes to the door, then I

19:34

just want it to be known that's a

19:36

situation also because she would

19:38

absolutely come to the door if her car

19:40

is there. Unsure of

19:42

what was going on in Toledo, Amy

19:45

tried to give the dispatcher any

19:47

scenario that should cause alarm.

19:50

She knew her aunt and her cousin. She

19:53

knew that if Nancy's car was in the

19:55

driveway, she was there. So

19:58

if she didn't come to the door, something. This

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26:01

To the left of the home was

26:03

a driveway leading to a detached two-car garage.

26:06

The lawn and landscaping were nice, albeit

26:09

a bit neglected. It

26:11

was clear this home was well taken care of

26:13

for many years. Behind

26:16

the property was heavily wooded, hiding

26:18

the steep descent to

26:20

the Delaware Creek. No

26:23

sooner did an officer take all this in than

26:25

a person showed up. Laura

26:28

Malick approached the officer and explained

26:31

her mother and Georgia called her about

26:33

her Aunt Nancy. She

26:36

was Amy's sister who still lived in Toledo.

26:39

She explained how unusual it was for her aunt

26:42

not to let her family know when she

26:44

made it to town and if she

26:47

even did make it. Laura

26:49

led the officer to the garage and peeked

26:51

through the window. Inside

26:54

was Nancy's red Ford Escape. She

26:57

had made it home. Just

26:59

then the officer noticed they

27:02

were being watched. From

27:04

the upstairs window they could see the

27:06

figure, Figior,

27:09

Figior of

27:11

a chubby man. He

27:13

had short messy hair and a five

27:15

o'clock shadow. He stood

27:17

there staring at the two

27:20

by the garage. Laura

27:22

told the officer that it was her

27:25

cousin Travis and the officer

27:27

tried to talk to him through the window. Travis

27:30

just stood there and

27:32

shook his head no. The

27:35

officer continued to try to get a response

27:37

from Travis until he disappeared into the room

27:40

behind him. Is that

27:42

how adults act? It's very

27:44

strange. The officer

27:47

freaked out by this weirdo then

27:49

called for backup. Nancy

27:52

was missing or at least incommunicado

27:55

and Travis was refusing to come outside

27:57

or even speak through a

27:59

window. Skip

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So try to get to the bottom of where the hell

32:39

his mother was. Hey Travis, I'm

32:41

Detective Quigley, this is Sergeant Kennedy,

32:44

okay? We want to talk

32:46

to you about... I'm glad the officers were out

32:48

of your house, okay? He

32:50

sat like a statue, his

32:53

hands laid flat on his thighs. By

32:56

American standards he was average

32:58

height and weight, but when

33:00

compared to a frail elderly woman,

33:03

he was a beast. At

33:06

5'8'' tall and 210

33:08

pounds, he far

33:11

outweighed his mother. They

33:14

were eager to see what he had to say, but

33:17

first they had to Mirandize him,

33:20

something he said he'd never done before.

33:23

He's been arrested before and convicted, but those

33:25

were open and shut cases where they

33:28

didn't even need to question him. So,

33:31

do you know why the officers

33:33

came to your house today? Yes. Why?

33:37

What's the story with that? They

33:44

were looking for my parents, my mom. Your

33:48

mom? Yes. Do you

33:50

know where she's at? No. He talked

33:52

like a teenager in trouble. He

33:55

fidgeted with his hands and avoided

33:57

eye contact. But he seemed

33:59

to be a good guy. to know exactly what

34:01

was going on. He knew

34:04

they were looking for his mother. She

34:30

was back and forth, right? Between. OK,

34:33

and so when she's up here, you guys live together, right? OK.

34:37

When was the last time you talked to

34:39

your mom? When

34:44

September 30? OK, you

34:46

know what time the day? 2

34:55

o'clock. They probed him

34:57

with questions that they already knew the answers to.

35:00

They were looking for either information

35:02

that led to Nancy or evidence

35:04

that he was hiding something evidence he

35:07

was lying. He said

35:09

he'd last talked with his mother on September

35:11

30th at 2 o'clock. 2

35:14

AM on September 30th would have been

35:16

10 hours after Nancy left

35:18

Georgia. Was she still down

35:20

in Georgia at that time? Or did she

35:22

say where she was? No, she sends me

35:25

emails, but she's this

35:27

contact me. She started

35:29

home from Georgia. She

35:32

sent you an email? Yes, saying

35:35

what she's coming

35:37

home from. She was on her

35:39

way. Yeah, yeah. She

35:41

hasn't texted or calling you. We

35:44

all know the answer to that

35:46

question. He had a phone. It just

35:49

wasn't connected to a network. Travis

35:52

completely relied on his mother to

35:54

live. Without her, he

35:56

wouldn't have a house to live in

35:58

or a car to drive. drive. The

36:01

very same car, I might add, that

36:03

he was arrested for stealing years previous.

36:07

He backpedaled the comment about speaking with

36:09

his mother and instead said

36:11

he received an email from her saying

36:14

she was on her way home. While

36:16

Travis was answering their questions, the cadence

36:18

of his speech made

36:20

the conversation confusing for detectives.

36:23

He said the last time he

36:26

heard his mother's voice was

36:30

months before she

36:33

left for Florida.

36:47

That was a long time ago to go without hearing

36:49

your mother's voice. Then he

36:52

said this. So do you

36:54

know, did she make her back to Toledo

36:56

and make her back to the house? Yes.

36:59

She did make her back to the house? Yes.

37:03

Okay. And what day was that? It

37:05

was December 30th. So it was yesterday. Okay.

37:08

It was late. It was 2 a.m. What's

37:12

that? She got back

37:14

to the house at 2 a.m. Yes.

37:18

On the 30th? Yes. Okay.

37:20

I guess I maybe misunderstood. I

37:23

thought you said she was leaving

37:25

Georgia on the 30th. Okay.

37:28

But you're saying she came back on the 30th at

37:30

2 a.m.? Yes. Okay.

37:33

And were you at the house at that

37:35

time? Yes, I was. Were you sleeping or

37:37

did you, you must have heard her

37:39

come in or something or did you talk to her at

37:41

all? I heard her come in through the door. Okay.

37:44

Were you, so did you talk to

37:46

her at all then when she came

37:48

in? No. I

37:50

guess you could call it being cooperative,

37:52

but he wasn't being forthcoming. He

37:55

kept his answers short, mostly yes or no.

37:58

But when he did give more details, he was not. they

42:00

were getting at. You could

42:02

hear him sigh when he realized there's

42:04

no way to wiggle out of this. From

42:07

what your aunt says, do you

42:10

have some, do you have disabilities

42:12

or anything you've been diagnosed with? No.

42:15

You've never been diagnosed with any kind of mental

42:17

illness or anything like that? No.

42:21

Okay. Well, your aunt and your

42:23

uncle, your aunt, or I'm sorry, your cousin,

42:26

Laura and her

42:28

husband are kind of upset. They

42:30

would like to know where your

42:33

mom was at. I mean, what

42:35

should we tell them? After

42:37

a long pause, Travis

42:40

muttered the following. You

42:42

have to tell them, I guess I killed

42:45

my mom. He

42:48

admitted the whole truth. He

42:50

had killed his mother. Of

42:53

course they already knew something happened to

42:55

Nancy. They just didn't know exactly what.

42:58

You see, after they arrested Travis, they took him

43:01

in and they searched the house.

43:04

Like the outside, the inside of the house showed

43:06

signs of being well taken care of until

43:09

recently. Another

43:11

section of the wall was removed from

43:14

an upstairs bedroom. The

43:16

pieces from this project were stacked

43:19

messily nearby. The

43:22

basement was empty, prepped for a

43:24

new floor, but only a

43:26

few boards had ever been laid down.

43:30

This is where they found her purse and

43:33

wallet in an empty basement.

43:36

That was the first clue that something

43:38

bad happened to Nancy. Just

43:41

like the basement, her purse

43:43

and wallet were also empty. Calling

43:46

her phone led officers to one of

43:48

the kitchen cabinets. They

43:51

found Nancy's vibrating cell phone, her

43:53

driver's license, her debit and credit

43:55

cards and her car keys.

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46:49

more like it. Travis attacked

46:51

his mother as soon

46:53

as she walked through the door. And

46:56

where then did you first attack her? Was it

46:58

inside or outside? Inside the kitchen. Okay.

47:01

So had she started to unload her car at that

47:04

point? Or was she getting stuff out of her car?

47:06

She walked in and turned the

47:10

kitchen lights off and she only

47:12

brought her purse in. She

47:15

just turned the light on and you were there waiting? Yes.

47:19

Okay, what do you mean attacked her? Like

47:21

with your fist? Or did you have something

47:24

else in your hand? I

47:29

don't remember if I had weapons

47:31

or not. There

47:34

might be weapons in

47:37

my house, but nothing

47:39

like that was used against her. They

47:43

didn't get into a fight. He

47:46

blindsided her as soon as

47:48

she got home from a 10-hour trip. The

47:51

mother that took care of him, he attacked

47:54

her the moment she got there. I

47:57

guess he was telling the truth about not talking to her.

48:00

Okay, so when you say you attack her

48:02

though, like what exactly happened would you do

48:04

I Attacked

48:07

her when she came off from she when

48:11

she returned from from Georgia

48:16

How did you attack her like what happened Stop

48:22

I Her

48:25

breathing I guess her breathing stopped.

48:27

Yes. Yes, how'd you do

48:29

that? Physically

48:32

my my body Attack

48:39

her What do

48:41

you mean? I guess just help me understand how it

48:43

happened. I use my weight

48:47

power to To

48:50

kill my mother I

48:54

Was she that

48:57

was my plan anyway Okay,

49:01

it did no last for Sometime

49:05

I guess if you

49:08

wanted my confession on that. Um, I Attacked

49:13

her when she came home 2 a.m.

49:16

She said she would be home sometime after

49:18

12 I Made

49:26

the decision to to

49:29

attack her and Stop

49:34

her Stop

49:36

her breathing He described

49:38

it almost clinically like

49:41

a sociopath He stopped

49:43

her breathing But what

49:45

he actually did was wrap both meaty

49:47

hands around his mother's neck and Squeeze

49:50

as hard as he could for

49:52

as long as he could When

49:54

his hands got tired or he couldn't bear to look

49:57

her in the eyes any longer. He

49:59

pushed his elbow into her throat and

50:02

used his entire body weight to

50:04

finish the job. I

50:30

didn't even allow her to speak before

50:32

he attacked. He

50:38

didn't even allow her to beg for her

50:40

life. She just walked

50:43

through the door and her son, whom

50:45

she'd always rushed to help, stared

50:48

into her eyes and strangled the life

50:51

out of her. Does that make

50:53

you mad? Because it sure

50:55

as fuck makes me mad. The

50:57

once little boy she brought

51:00

into this world removed her from it.

51:03

As the police continued at the

51:05

house, the neighbors were

51:07

shocked but not caught

51:09

off guard completely. We knew him

51:12

since he was in high school. And

51:16

he had trouble back then, like a

51:19

lot of kids, but maybe a little bit more. And

51:21

it just followed him as he grew up. It's

51:24

very unexpected. Yeah, the big drama on the

51:27

Facebook neighborhood page usually is, oh, I think

51:29

somebody broke into my car last night. You

51:32

know, this is just not something

51:34

we're used to experiencing, but

51:37

it's very real in our community.

51:39

But it is shocking because it's a quiet neighborhood.

51:41

It's a very quiet neighborhood. And for something like

51:43

this to happen, it's quite a shock to

51:46

everybody. Her friend back

51:48

in Florida, who had known her since

51:50

the third grade, chose to remember her

51:53

as she was rather than how

51:55

she horrifically died. She

51:57

knew Travis was verbally abusive to his mother. and

52:01

that he struggled with his mental health. But

52:04

never does she think it

52:07

would have homicidal thoughts. They never think

52:09

these things, no matter how

52:11

many times it happens. It hasn't

52:13

really come to reality because

52:15

it's so out there. It's

52:18

so unbelievable. He

52:20

was like a sister to me, an

52:23

aunt to my children. She

52:25

sat aside like a couple hours every

52:27

day to send out encouraging messages

52:29

to people that she didn't

52:32

even know because that was

52:34

her nature. Nancy Luton,

52:36

known for her kindness to strangers

52:38

and her devotion to her son,

52:40

died on the kitchen floor of

52:43

their family home. Her

52:45

son failed to appreciate all that she

52:48

did for him through the

52:50

three decades of his miserable life. He

52:53

murdered the woman who wrote prayers and

52:56

the margins of her Bible asking

52:59

for divine assistance with her son,

53:02

the idiot. She

53:04

wanted the best for him, even

53:06

though he was difficult, to

53:09

put it mildly. Now

53:11

all that was left for detectives

53:13

to understand was why

53:16

and what happened in that ravine. Why

53:19

have him when you got her down there? I

53:22

tried to remove myself

53:24

from anything that

53:31

would connect me to this,

53:33

to what happened. Well,

53:35

how did you do that? It

53:40

was a fire. The

54:13

welfare check for Nancy Luton led

54:15

to a bizarre interaction with her

54:17

son Travis. He stared

54:19

at officers from the upstairs bedroom window. He

54:22

refused to talk or even come to the door.

54:26

Officers noticed odd things in the ravine

54:28

behind his house, a

54:30

wheelbarrow and a hand truck. This

54:34

combined with his cousin Laura pointing out that

54:36

Nancy's car was in the garage and

54:39

she should be home, raised

54:41

further suspicions. Nancy

54:43

always came to the door if she was home. Officers

54:47

suited up and breached the back

54:49

door. They found

54:51

Travis lying in bed watching TV and

54:54

took him into custody. He

54:56

denied everything until he realized the

54:58

officers had seen what

55:00

was in the ravine. Then

55:03

he finally told the truth.

55:06

He attacked his mother as soon as she

55:08

walked through the door and

55:10

then strangled her. When

55:13

he got tired he used his elbow and

55:15

his weight, all 210 pounds. He

55:20

confessed to killing his mother, but

55:23

what he did after is just

55:25

his heinous. After

55:27

she stopped breathing, I was

55:32

in the ravine, so the wood

55:35

behind my house there. She

55:40

was unconscious. I

55:46

guess I tried to

55:50

make it look like there

55:53

was any altercation

55:55

or fight to

55:58

get rid of. Any

56:00

evidence, sir? Can you get rid

56:02

of... Okay, so did you take your mom's mom

56:04

down to the ravine then? Um,

56:06

yes, yes. How

56:09

did you get her down there? Oh,

56:12

through. I had

56:14

to carry it on her. A

56:17

carrier? Yes. Okay,

56:21

like, you

56:23

didn't have to use anything else? Do

56:25

you just carry her like this? Or

56:27

a fireman's carrier? Or like,

56:30

how did you get her down there? Because that's pretty steep. The

56:33

reason I ask, I mean, we went down

56:35

there, and it's pretty steep on a dollar.

56:37

Okay, yeah, um, I

56:40

guess that's a difficult thing to do with, uh, trying

56:44

to get rid of evidence, I guess, moving

56:47

her. As his

56:49

mother's body lay lifeless on the rug

56:52

in the kitchen, Travis came

56:54

up with a plan. He cleaned

56:56

up to get rid of any evidence of his

56:58

struggle. He rolled up the rug

57:00

and stashed it in the garage. He

57:03

took his mother's purse and wallet, emptied

57:05

them of any money, and

57:07

hid them in the basement. Then

57:09

he grabbed a flashlight and his

57:11

mother's body and carried

57:13

her to the ravine. Behind

57:16

the garage at the back of the property was

57:18

a gate and a path into the ravine. It

57:22

was a steep hill going down to somewhat

57:24

of a landing before another

57:26

trail went deeper. The

57:29

woods were dense, with lots of

57:31

bushy undergrowth. Travis

57:33

cleared the path, cutting low

57:35

branches and snapping high weeds. The

57:39

trail was long and winding, heading ever

57:41

lower and deeper into the woods. Eventually,

57:44

it ended at an access

57:47

point to this storm drain system. A

57:50

manhole jutted out of the

57:52

ground a couple of feet high. Travis

57:55

removed the cover and placed the small body

57:57

of his mother in the

57:59

pipe. It

1:00:00

was weird to think that no one noticed a blazing

1:00:02

fire at the bottom of a ravine, but

1:00:06

it is a clue to how thick

1:00:08

these woods really were. Travis

1:00:11

manned the fire for hours, feeding it

1:00:13

wood and stoking the

1:00:15

flames. When officers

1:00:17

finally pulled Nancy's remains from the pipe,

1:00:20

she wasn't even recognizable as human. What

1:00:23

was left of her only weighed 36 pounds. Her

1:00:27

arms and legs were reduced to little more

1:00:29

than bone and ash. Her

1:00:32

torso was charred and burned, revealing

1:00:35

the sooty black organs inside.

1:00:39

The front upper part of her skull

1:00:41

was fragmented from the extreme

1:00:44

heat exposing brain matter. They

1:00:47

couldn't tell if she was alive when she was set

1:00:49

on fire due to the airways

1:00:51

being charred, but the

1:00:53

examination of her lungs

1:00:55

revealed a low carboxyhemoglobin

1:00:58

saturation. If I said that right.

1:01:01

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1:01:03

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God, at least for that. Travis

1:02:40

strangled his mother to death and then

1:02:42

burned her body in a makeshift incinerator

1:02:45

to try to get rid of the evidence. That

1:02:48

part now made sense, but the question remained

1:02:51

why? Why would Travis kill

1:02:53

the only person in his life who ever

1:02:55

cared about him? I mean, she

1:02:58

was certainly the person taking care of him.

1:03:01

He couldn't take care of himself. And

1:03:04

I'll say one more thing. It's weird

1:03:06

that a person that can't really take care

1:03:08

of himself and, you know, get a

1:03:10

job at Taco Bell to

1:03:13

pay their bills has all

1:03:15

this ingenuity to put together

1:03:17

this entire plan and kill

1:03:19

someone. Weird, right?

1:03:23

So you said that you had made a plan to do this.

1:03:25

You just decided that when she came home. That was what we

1:03:27

were going to do. Yes.

1:03:29

How come, what

1:03:32

I guess made you get to that point? What

1:03:34

drove you there? It was... How

1:03:36

were you feeling, I guess? I was

1:03:39

feeling, I guess,

1:03:44

it was the decision from, like I

1:03:48

said, my household right now and what

1:03:51

I'm going through and I don't

1:03:53

have support or help from, I

1:03:56

guess, others. So you were angry before

1:03:58

she got home? home. Yes. Travis

1:04:02

had been harboring anger towards

1:04:04

his mother for some time. He

1:04:07

complained that he couldn't take care of

1:04:09

himself because she never left

1:04:11

him with enough money for his

1:04:14

household. Think about

1:04:16

that for a second. Think about it

1:04:18

real good. It was over

1:04:20

over money and I

1:04:26

guess would I have my house? What

1:04:29

do you mean by what you have in your house?

1:04:33

She's not there. I spoke. So

1:04:36

it was kind of

1:04:38

like how I

1:04:41

take care of myself or feed myself

1:04:43

and I eat

1:04:45

food if I can get it out. Now

1:04:48

that he was finally saying it out loud,

1:04:50

Travis didn't seem to know why he decided

1:04:53

to kill his mother. It

1:04:55

all sounded so dumb.

1:04:58

His explanation was little more than

1:05:00

ramblings and incomplete thoughts. It

1:05:03

seemed he was worried about

1:05:05

his mother finding out about his marijuana use,

1:05:07

but more about him

1:05:09

not being provided the means to take

1:05:11

care of himself. You

1:05:13

see, when you do everything for someone,

1:05:15

when you give them everything

1:05:17

they need, take away

1:05:20

any independence or sense of

1:05:22

self by just providing

1:05:25

everything, what

1:05:27

ends up happening more often than not is that that

1:05:30

person getting everything starts

1:05:32

to take it for granted. I

1:05:35

mean, it's there no matter what they

1:05:37

do. And once they've

1:05:39

taken it for granted enough, they

1:05:42

then start to resent you for not giving

1:05:44

them more. It

1:05:46

happens to entire

1:05:48

societies. In fact, I

1:05:52

mean, just take a look around. He

1:06:29

was trying to give a reason for

1:06:32

what he did, but it just

1:06:34

wasn't very good. Who

1:06:36

kills their mother because he's mad about his

1:06:38

allowance and not having enough money? I

1:06:41

wouldn't want to give him any money if I were Nancy. And

1:06:44

if I learned he was spending it on pot, you

1:06:47

know, get the fuck out of my house. That's

1:06:50

how you raise kids. At least ones

1:06:52

that aren't a complete piece of shit. All

1:07:16

of the little bullshit excuses he had for

1:07:18

being mad at his mother culminated

1:07:21

in him deciding to murder

1:07:23

her. He said he didn't

1:07:26

have enough money for food, and

1:07:28

he blamed his mother for this. He

1:07:30

said she was upset about him smoking pot

1:07:33

and he resented her for it. He

1:07:36

said he had trouble coping with

1:07:38

life, and all that

1:07:40

combined led to his

1:07:42

decision. His reasons

1:07:44

are poor ones individually, but put

1:07:47

together, Travis found himself at

1:07:49

a breaking point. And it sounds

1:07:52

like Travis had a low bar for breaking. But

1:07:55

this wasn't a spur of the moment

1:07:57

decision. He planned it.

1:08:00

Was this plan for a while? So

1:08:02

at what question you remember what day

1:08:04

it was or were you decided in

1:08:07

your head that's what you were

1:08:09

gonna do? Like

1:08:11

was it just as she came home or

1:08:13

was it days before that that you had

1:08:15

made up your mind once she was home?

1:08:17

I think about a week before she came

1:08:20

home. Before you had

1:08:22

thoughts of killing her? Yes.

1:08:25

Well before Hurricane Ian was anywhere

1:08:28

close to landfall Travis

1:08:30

had decided to kill his mother. He

1:08:33

was mad at her. He blamed her

1:08:35

for everything. Rather than

1:08:37

take any responsibility for his life. He

1:08:40

put everything on his mother unjustly. Nancy

1:08:44

always ran to his side when he needed

1:08:46

help just like she did this time. She

1:08:49

funded his lifestyle or lack

1:08:51

thereof. But it

1:08:54

wasn't enough for Travis. Never is. I'm

1:08:58

sure there's a Travis in your life. There's been

1:09:00

the Travis in mine. That's for

1:09:02

sure. Every perceived

1:09:04

slight in his life was

1:09:06

all because of Nancy. He

1:09:09

had no aspirations. No real future.

1:09:11

I mean What was his

1:09:13

plan if he got away with it? Which

1:09:15

he could have really if he weren't so

1:09:17

fucking lazy. He could

1:09:19

have burnt the purse and everything in it. He

1:09:22

could have stoked the fire longer completely

1:09:25

to destroy his mother's body. He

1:09:28

could have ditched the car somewhere rather than

1:09:30

leave it in the garage. Then

1:09:33

Nancy would have just been missing

1:09:35

under mysterious circumstances. But

1:09:39

then what? Was Travis just

1:09:41

gonna go back to watching TV and smoking pot

1:09:43

in bed? What happened

1:09:45

the next time he needed to buy some more? What

1:09:48

then? It was gonna

1:09:50

give him money for his household. He

1:09:53

had a plan to kill his mother, but it

1:09:56

sort of lacked all semblance of logic.

1:09:59

Travis killed Travis. the only person

1:10:01

left who truly cared

1:10:03

and loved him, for no

1:10:05

good reason. Travis

1:10:08

was indicted for tampering with

1:10:11

evidence, felonious assault,

1:10:14

aggravated robbery, abuse of a

1:10:16

corpse, murder, and

1:10:18

aggravated murder. He

1:10:20

pleaded not guilty by reason of

1:10:22

insanity. Apparently

1:10:24

Travis had a difficult birth, including

1:10:26

not breathing for at least half a minute

1:10:29

and subsequently spending time in isolated

1:10:32

intensive care afterwards. They

1:10:35

surmised that this led to the

1:10:37

mental health issues he

1:10:40

had since childhood, but then

1:10:42

again he could have just been a piece of shit. You

1:10:45

ever consider that science? You ever consider that some

1:10:47

people are just a piece of shit? But

1:10:50

the judge, being a judge, granted

1:10:53

the defense a

1:10:55

complete evaluation. And

1:10:57

after that, everything changed.

1:11:01

Travis entered an Alfred plea, which

1:11:04

is a guilty plea without admitting to

1:11:06

the crimes themselves. I

1:11:08

don't know what legal scholar came up with this, but

1:11:11

it's like admitting to a crime without admitting to a

1:11:13

crime. Way to go,

1:11:16

legal system. Sounds

1:11:19

super good for society. It

1:11:22

was an attempt to lessen his

1:11:24

sentence because he knew that

1:11:26

if he went to trial, he would go to prison

1:11:28

for much longer. Travis

1:11:31

has struggled since he was

1:11:34

a young man. And

1:11:36

I think the fact that, as Ray said,

1:11:38

it's a quiet neighborhood, it just highlights that

1:11:42

mental health issues are universal. We

1:11:45

need more community resources. We need help.

1:11:48

It doesn't matter. Nobody is immune. A

1:11:50

mother's love just doesn't end, no

1:11:52

matter what your son's mental illness is. And

1:11:55

I'm sorry I didn't do it this way. At

1:12:00

the sentencing hearing, his

1:12:04

family gave statements. Despite

1:12:11

what he had done, they begged for

1:12:13

mercy on him. Laura

1:12:15

Malek asked the judge to give him

1:12:17

a chance at release if he underwent

1:12:19

mental health treatment in prison. She

1:12:22

said, it's never too late and

1:12:25

no one is ever too far gone

1:12:27

to receive God's gift of forgiveness if

1:12:29

they only ask. Have

1:12:31

mercy on her son in spite of his

1:12:34

crimes because that's who

1:12:36

Nancy Luton was. Without

1:12:39

hope, there is nothing. Just

1:12:42

before handing down a sentence, the judge spoke

1:12:44

to Travis directly, saying, I don't

1:12:48

know how quickly she died. I

1:12:50

don't know if she looked into her son's eyes

1:12:53

or what it might have been like to know that the

1:12:55

person you love more than life is

1:12:58

taking yours. I

1:13:00

suspect her last thoughts were about you,

1:13:04

not in fear or anger, but in worry

1:13:07

about who would take care of you afterward.

1:13:11

He then sentenced him to life in

1:13:14

prison. Big Daddy

1:13:16

State can take care of you now that mommy's

1:13:19

gone. Travis Luton

1:13:21

laid around all day in his mother's

1:13:23

house watching TV. His

1:13:25

mother's TV, I might add, running off

1:13:28

the electricity and the cable that his mother

1:13:30

paid for. He slept

1:13:32

in a comfy bed with clean sheets in the

1:13:34

master bedroom. His mother's

1:13:36

master bedroom. Even

1:13:38

the food he ate was thanks to his mother. His

1:13:41

life was on easy

1:13:44

mode, but he acted like

1:13:46

he had it tough. Oh,

1:13:48

whoa is me. Oh, look at all my ailments.

1:13:52

Nancy provided everything for this

1:13:54

fucking loser. And

1:13:56

all she asked in return was for him to give

1:13:59

it the old college. Try you know try

1:14:02

just try to do something something

1:14:04

anything with your life Turn

1:14:07

off the computer Turn off

1:14:09

the television Go outside

1:14:11

go find out who you are

1:14:13

go find out how to build

1:14:16

a life for yourself You'll

1:14:19

fail you'll fall you'll stumble you'll get up you'll

1:14:21

do it again That's

1:14:24

what it takes to be on this Spinning

1:14:27

rock and if you don't want to

1:14:29

be on it be my guest Get

1:14:33

the fuck off But

1:14:35

don't burden Everyone around

1:14:37

you with your bullshit Don't

1:14:39

burden your own mother for

1:14:42

the rest of your life because

1:14:45

you're too fucking lazy

1:14:48

To get out and go get a job Nancy

1:14:52

God bless her. She loved her son She

1:14:54

didn't want to see his life wasted She

1:14:57

tried everything she could to try to

1:14:59

help him She tried everything

1:15:01

she could think of But

1:15:03

it was all for nothing She

1:15:05

poured her love into Travis and

1:15:08

helped him at every opportunity so

1:15:10

much that she stunted him

1:15:13

Travis wasn't capable of taking care of himself

1:15:15

because he never had to

1:15:19

It wasn't her fault She only

1:15:21

wanted her son whom she loved

1:15:23

to be happy and successful But

1:15:26

all her helping only did Was

1:15:29

harm him and in the end

1:15:32

harm herself Sometimes

1:15:35

all you can do is try unless

1:15:41

trying is the

1:15:43

problem and it's up to

1:15:45

someone else to try instead