Halloween Special Part 2: Nicaraguan Jungle Exorcism & Japan’s ‘Little Girl Killer’ | #474

0:00Everyone talks about how challenging it is to raise kids. But what about protecting them? Outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks, baby gates, where do you even start? Well, protecting your home and auto is a great place to start. Progressive offers customised coverage options, so you can be sure that you have the right coverage for you and your loved ones. They're basically the outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks and baby gates of insurance. Don't wait. Get your quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company. Affiliates and other insurers. Not available in all states. Who here picked a bank at 16? Probably because it was the one that their parents used and then never looked back.

0:39I know I did. I didn't really think about what I wanted my bank to do for me. Or what they could offer me that other banks couldn't. That's where Chime comes in. Chime is changing the way that people think about banking. Chime offers the most rewarding fee-free banking, all with no overdraft fees, no monthly fees, no minimum balance fees. You get 5% cash back on Chime card in a category of your choice, like gas or groceries, all while building credit through regular everyday spending with no credit check. You can also grow your money faster with a savings rate that's nine times the national average. And if you're ever in a pinch, SpotMe lets you overdraft up to $200 fee-free. Join the millions who are already banking fee-free with

1:23America's number one choice for banking. Head to Chime.com slash red-handed. That's Chime.com slash red-handed. Sign up now. It only takes a few minutes. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services and ChimeCard provided by Chime's bank partners. Qualifying direct deposits required. Terms and limits apply. Go to Chime.com slash disclosures for details. Welcome back, listeners, if that is your real name, to the second and final week of our very special Halloween Story Swaps, a tradition that has aged like a fine wine in that it has become more and more difficult to open every time. And then sometimes the cork disintegrates and we're already sad. Yes. And there's a lot of maintenance, as we've discovered.

2:18Is it true that you have to, like, turn wine regularly if you're, like, keeping it? Is that a thing? Somebody told me that recently. I was like, what the fuck? Because I was talking to my mum's very good friend the other day. We had lunch with her and she was like, oh, when my father passed away, he left me his whole cellar full of wine. And he was a very serious wine collector. And then she was trying to give my dad a bottle of it. And I was like, Diana, I think you should get these valued before you start giving them to people. I think they might be worth something if your dad was a serious wine collector and she's like what do you think and I was like for sure but she was like I haven't kept them in the dark they've just been

2:54in the spare room and I haven't been turning them and or doing anything like that and then the one she gave my dad he tried to put a corkscrew in it and the cork just fell apart and we were like hmm but I was like you don't have to tell people you could just try them and just be like, I've definitely kept them in the dark and I've definitely been turning them and there's nothing wrong with any of these corks. Give me your money. So anyway, the comparison to fine wine is apt because like we said last week, this gets harder and harder. But once again, I'm quite happy with my story and I'm pumped for yours because you're starting this week. Let's do it. Last week, we ventured into a nightmarish Nigerian forest and learned the grisly real

3:31life inspiration for the Candyman urban legend. And we're back this week with a fresh boatload of horrors. And I'm going to kick things off in 1980s Japan where stranger danger wasn't a thing yet but it really really should have been I feel like things got big in Japan a lot later like stranger danger eating disorders that was that's a sad one that the west imported there exported there, I should say. They were like, surprise! It's horrible out here. Well, not everything, but you know. That stuff. And probably this. We're starting on the 22nd of August, 1998. It was a sweltering summer's day in the Saitama Prefecture, just outside Tokyo. That afternoon, a four-year-old little girl named Mari Kono

4:27was walking through her apartment complex to go and play with a friend when a black car pulled up beside her. The young man in the driver's seat beckoned Mari over, asking if she'd like to escape the heat and go somewhere nice and cool. So little Mari happily climbed inside his Nissan Langley without a second thought. The man drove for an hour and a half before finally parking at the entrance of a trail leading into the dense woods of Komini National Park in western Tokyo. He pulled Mari along the trail, which was deserted by this time of the evening, and it was only once he'd led her off the path and into the trees that he agreed to stop and let the little girl rest. But he had no intention of letting four-year-old Mari catch her breath, or ever taking her home. Instead, 26-year-old Chitomo Miyazaki grabbed

5:30the four-year-old girl by the neck and strangled her to death. Then he stripped Mari's clothes and molested her corpse right there in the woods. Afterward, he bundled the tiny items of clothing into his pockets and laid out the child's body on the forest floor. And then Miyazaki walked calmly back to his car and drove home. This crime sparked the beginning of Japan's infamous little girl murders, a killing spree that terrorised families across the Saitama Prefecture between August 1988 and June 1989. And taught Japanese parents to never let their kids talk to strangers ever again. Have you seen those videos of parents like talking to their kids and they're like, and if someone tells you they have a puppy in their car, what do you say? And they're like,

6:26give it to me! It's so good. And they're like, what if someone tells you that they're mummy's friend and they're there to pick you up? Mummy doesn't have any friends. So, that's all of the comic relief you're going to get, I'm afraid. Really shoo, what are you in there? else any other jokes anyone got any see what i can come up with but for now we have to talk about who the monster was who killed little mariko no totsomu miyazaki was born in 1962 to a wealthy family that owned a major local newspaper and were a well-respected bunch in their own town just outside Tokyo. His parents were usually working, so as a child, Miyazaki spent most of his time with his grandfather, who he totally idolised. And childhood wasn't particularly easy for Miyazaki.

7:33He had a rare birth defect called radioenlyar stenosis, which I've probably said wrong. Stenosis I'm pretty confident on. The first one? Something to do with his arms? Certainly. What it means is that his hand joints were fused so he couldn't bend his wrists up or down. So just this always? I'm going to Google a picture so I can describe it. I feel like I've seen this guy's hands before. You have. I promise. Yeah. Okay. Okay. It's coming back to me. Yeah. It's like, like that. Okay. All the time. That's tough., like that. Okay. All the time. That's tough. That's tough. Yeah. At school, as I'm sure you can imagine, Miyazaka was bullied and ostracised, and that made him introverted to the point of invisibility.

8:22But what he lacked in friends, he made up for in academic excellence. He was actually the first student from his junior high school to pass the entrance exam to the prestigious Medai Nakano High School, and he had big plans to study English and become a teacher one day. But in his teens, Miyazaki's grand ambitions led to nothing. He lost interest in academia and his grades plummeted, meaning that he failed to get into any elite university like the rest of his peers did. But since he had a massive chip on his shoulder, he blamed his crash out on his hand deformity rather than his own lack of effort. Miyazaki studied to become a photography technician at a local junior college instead, and then he started to work at a print company after graduating in 1983.

9:12To put it bluntly, Totsumu Miyazaki was the sad sack stereotype of burned out gifted child. He still lived at home in a granny flat with his older sister, but was desperately lonely and even contemplated suicide. He had no mates, his two younger sisters found him repulsive and he didn't have much of a connection with his parents either. Only his grandad still gave him the affection and attention that he craved. Otherwise, Miyazaki's only enjoyment in life came from a fantasy world that he filled with comics and video games and slasher films and anime and child sex abuse material. There it is. They're everywhere. And then, in May of 1988, Miyazaki's beloved grandfather passed away. This loss marked the definitive end to his already fragile connection with the real world.

10:03And Miyazaki's behaviour took a drastic and alarming turn. Characterised by him eating his grandfather's ashes in an attempt to retain something of him. I don't think Dennis Nielsen did this, but it feels very Dennis Nielsen-y, like something he would have done had he had the chance. Exactly. Ooh. And then Miyazaki started peeping on his younger sister in the shower and then bashing her head against the bathtub when she called him out for it. And just three months after that, Miyazaki murdered four-year-old Mary Connor. Later, he would hauntingly say, I felt all alone, and whenever I saw a little girl playing on her own, it was almost like seeing myself. Which is very Dennis Nelson. Yeah. I'm like, that's also kind of bullshit.

11:02Seeing yourself. No, it isn't. It's just what you wanted. The evening Mary vanished, her panicked dad called police, reporting her missing. Thousands of posters of Mary's face were plastered across the nation as the police investigated her disappearance. At this early stage, all they could do was warn parents to keep an eye on their kids. But six weeks later, Miyazaki struck again. On the 3rd of October 1988, he lured seven-year-old Masami Yoshizawa into his car and drove her to the same spot that he murdered Mari Kono. He repeated the same horrific acts all over again. He strangled Masami to death, he stripped her, and then he sexually abused her corpse. But Miyazaki got a fright when Masami's body shuddered involuntarily after death.

11:59He ran back to his car and sped off, leaving the child's remains just a hundred metres away from the bones of his first victim. He was spooked, for sure, but it wasn't completely enough to stop him killing again. A few months later, he realised that the police weren't onto him, and he couldn't resist indulging his twisted urges once again. On the 12th of December, he abducted four-year-old Erica Namba while she was walking home from a friend's house. This time Miyazaki drove for an hour and 45 minutes to the car park of the Naguri Youth Nature House, located in the serene mountains of Hanno in Saitama Prefecture. He ordered a crying Erica to undress in the back seat, taking a few flash photos of her in the darkening car.

12:45Then he climbed into the back, held Erica's body down and strangled the life out of her. After raping Erica's corpse, Miyazaki chucked her clothes into the nearby woods. He bound Erica's hands and feet with nylon cord and wrapped her body in a sheet, which he stowed in the boot of his car. But as soon as he started to drive off, the front wheel of his car got stuck in a rut. Fearful about getting caught, a jittery Miyazaki leapt out of the car, removed Erica's body and hurriedly dumped it in the same woods. But when he got back, with the crumpled sheet in his hands, two men were standing beside his car. Luckily for Miyazaki, they were just asking him if he needed help moving his car, and he managed to act completely calmly as they aided him.

13:33And soon the tyre was free, and he sped off without so much as a thank you. Everyone talks about how challenging it is to raise kids. But what about protecting them? Outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks, baby gates, where do you even start? Well, protecting your home and auto is a great place to start. Progressive offers customised coverage options so you can be sure that you have the right coverage for you and your loved ones. They're basically the outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks and baby gates of insurance. Don't wait. Get your quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company. Affiliates and other insurers. Not available in all states. There's nothing like having amazing pieces in your wardrobe that you

14:15can count on for any occasion. Except maybe giving someone you love that same feeling. So this holiday season, I'm trusting Quince with my gift shopping. Quince offers elevated everyday essentials using premium materials like 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters from just $50 and 14-carat gold jewellery to add the perfect bit of sparkle to any outfit. They're the sort of gifts that you'd be just as happy to unwrap yourself. Personally, I'm hoping to find another of Quince's gorgeous cashmere scarves under the tree this year. Another thing putting Quince on the nice list is everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen,

14:54so you can give luxury quality pieces without the luxury price tag. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Red Handed. It's the best way to support the show. Hannah and Cerusee from Red Handed here and we'd love to tell you about a podcast that we think you'll enjoy Lived to Tell as true crime podcasters we hear stories all the time about stabbing, shootings, robberies and you know, mayhem that comes with the genre but Lived to Tell is about people who have been through these situations

15:41and lived to tell and it's not just crimes there's also tornadoes, volcanoes who have been through these situations and lived. To tell. And it's not just crimes. There's also tornadoes, volcanoes, and falling from great heights. On Live To Tell host Caitlin Van Moll talks to people who have been through the most harrowing situations and come out alive. Plus, all the aftermath that comes with having your life turned completely upside down. Because surviving the worst things imaginable doesn't end with rescue. I hope it does. Listen to Live to Tell wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show on Instagram or TikTok at livetotellpodcast. Oh, lovely. Thank you very much. Thank you Everyone talks about how challenging it is to raise kids

16:32But what about protecting them? Outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks, baby gates Where do you even start? Well, protecting your home and auto is a great place to start Progressive offers customised coverage options so you can be sure that you have the right coverage for you and your loved ones. They're basically the outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks and baby gates of insurance. Don't wait, get your quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, affiliates and other insurers, not available in all states. There's nothing like having amazing pieces in your wardrobe that you can count on for any occasion. Except maybe giving someone you love that same feeling. So this holiday season, I'm trusting Quince

17:13with my gift shopping. Quince offers elevated everyday essentials using premium materials like 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters from just $50 and 14 karat gold jewellery to add the perfect bit of sparkle to any outfit. They're the sort of gifts that you'd be just as happy to unwrap yourself. Personally, I'm hoping to find another of Quince's gorgeous cashmere scarves under the tree this year. Another thing putting Quince on the nice list is everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80 percent less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen so you can give luxury quality pieces without the luxury price tag. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to

17:55quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Red Handed. It's the best way to support the show. Hannah and Cerruti from Red Handed here. And we'd love to tell you about a podcast that we think you'll enjoy. Lived to tell. As True Crime Podcasters, we hear stories all the time about stabbing, shootings, robberies and, you know, mayhem that comes with the genre. But Lived to Tell is about people who have been through these situations and lived to tell. And it's not just crimes. There's also tornadoes, volcanoes and falling from great heights. On Lived to Tell, host Caitlin Van Moll talks to

18:46people who have been through the most harrowing situations and come out alive. Plus, all the aftermath that comes with having your life turned completely upside down. Because surviving the worst things imaginable doesn't end with rescue. I hope it does. Listen to Live to Tell wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show on instagram or tiktok at live to tell broadcast oh lovely thank you very much thank you the next day a nature house worker worker found Erica's clothes in the bushes. They called the police who launched a search in the area. And just a day later, they discovered the little girl's lifeless body. This discovery made it crystal clear to authorities that there was a serial killer at work.

19:42The three victims lived just within 30 kilometres of each other. A voracious child predator was clearly on the loose, and no little girl across the region was safe until he was caught. And it wasn't enough for Miyazaki just to ruin the lives of his victims' families. He decided to taunt them as well. Less than a week after Erica's murder, her parents received a postcard with a message spelled out in characters cut out from magazines. It read, Erica, cold, cough, throat, rest, death. And on the 6th of February 1989, Mary Connor's father found a box on his doorstep. Inside were the ashes, charred bones and baby teeth of his four-year-old daughter. There were also photos of Mary's shorts, underwear and sandals,

20:47and a sheet of paper with just five words. Mary. Bones. Cremated. Investigate. Prove. An initial examination of the teeth mistakenly concluded that they weren't Mary's, which prompted her mum to say on a TV press conference that she still had hope that her daughter might be alive. And when Miyazaki saw that footage, his pride was bruised. So he wrote a letter to the family correcting that mistake. He called this letter Crime Confession and signed it Yuko Imada, which in Japanese apparently is a pun for Now I'll Tell. And in this letter, he insisted that the remains did belong to Marie Kono. He wrote, I had to write this confession so Marie's mother would not continue to hope in vain. This was quite obviously not an act of sympathy for the Conno family.

21:57It was just another way of playing with their emotions. After three agonising weeks, police sheepishly confirmed that they had got it wrong. The box did contain the remains of their daughter. On 11 March 1989, seven months after she was declared missing, Marie Conno was finally laid to rest. At her funeral, Marie's dad wept that her hands and feet bones weren't included amongst her remains and made a tragic appeal to her killer. When she gets to heaven, she won't be able to walk or eat. Please return the rest of her remains. But he was not going to do that. There was no way Miyazaki was going to have a burst of mercifulness and let this family grieve in peace. When Mari's parents returned from their daughter's funeral, another letter from Yuko Amada was waiting for them.

23:02This one was titled Confession, and it described in gruesome detail the changes that he observed in Mari's body after her death. Before I knew it, he wrote, the child's corpse had gone rigid. I wanted to cross her hands over her breast, but they wouldn't budge. After a while, the body is covered with stretch marks. It was so rigid before, but now it feels like it's full of water. And it smells. How it smells. Like nothing you've ever smelled in this whole wide world. Hideous for Mari's grieving family, and also really clearly shows just how detached Miyazaki was from the consequences of what he had done. It was all just a game. But even with these letters from the killer, police made infuriatingly slow progress.

23:44So Miyazaki kept going. In fact, his life narrowed even more around his sick fetish. By the summer of 1989, he skipped work most days to sit in his room with his precious child sex abuse materials and violent anime videos. And nothing could quell his urges now. Not even a foiled attempt on the 1st of June when neighbours spotted him taking photos of a little girl and chased him off. Maybe Miyazaki didn't realise how close of a call this was. Or maybe he just didn't care. But if those neighbours had called the police that day, instead of just shooing him off, perhaps Miyazaki's fourth victim would still be alive today. On the 6th of June 1989, Miyazaki approached a five-year-old, Akaya Nomoto, while she was playing alone in a park.

24:48He asked her to pose for some pictures, and once she'd grown comfortable around him, he suggested they take some shots inside his car. Ayako bounced happily in the backseat as he drove her to a quiet area a few hundred metres away. But when he went to hand her a stick of gum, the little girl innocently remarked on his deformed hand. And that triggered Totsumo Miyazaki like nothing else. The last words Aiko ever heard were, here's what happens to kids who say things like that. And then he strangled Akio to death, later saying that she kicked and kicked, but went limp in four or five minutes. This time, Miyazaki brought the little girl's corpse back to his apartment. He stripped Akio naked before placing her body on a table, spreading her legs open.

25:46And then he spent the next two days taking photos and videos of her corpse in various positions while he masturbated. When the body began to smell, he dismembered it, cutting off the head, hands and feet. He left the torso near the public toilet at a local cemetery for four days and dumped Akio's skull and feet in the hills near his house. As for her hands, Miyazaki roasted them over a fire and ate some of them, but not before drinking the blood from inside of them. So clearly he is gaining momentum with every kill. Which again, quite Dennis Lelson. Two weeks later, Miyazaki retrieved the skull and feet and then he hid them in his wardrobe He was fearful that the proximity to his apartment might link the crime back to him

26:30He was right to worry Five days later, Akayo's mutilated torso was found in the cemetery The size and blood type matched the little girl who had been reported missing by her mum on the 6th of June and the stomach contents matched Akayo's last meal. But somehow, the police were still no nearer to catching their man. But Miyazaki's eventual capture was closer than even he realised. On Sunday 23rd July 1989, he approached two sisters playing in a public park He told the elder girl to stay put while he beckoned the younger one towards him and a nearby river The older sister however had clearly got the stranger danger memo and she legged it home to tell her dad what had happened The girl's father sprinted back to the park

27:24to find his youngest daughter naked with a man pointing a camera between her legs and he fucking lost it. The girl's dad lunged at Miyazaki and wrestled him to the ground. The slippery bastard managed to twist himself free and started running back to his car. But this time, he wouldn't be escaping quite so easily. The police had already been called and they were waiting beside his beloved Black Nissen Langley ready to arrest him. Miyazaki was initially apprehended on the charge of forcing a minor to commit indecent acts but the police knew that they finally had the man behind the little girl murders in their custody. A search of Miyazaki's flat turned up nearly 6,000 videotapes of child sex abuse material and very violent anime,

28:14earning him the nickname Otaku Murderer. Otaku is like the term for anime and manga all in one go. And this discovery caused a nationwide moral panic over the influence of otaku culture on Miyazaki's murderous inclinations. Further searches eventually led police to Masami Yoshizawa's remains in the forest near Komeno Pass, where they also found Mari's missing hands and feet. It was a small comfort to the grieving Kono family to have their daughter's remains whole again. But although Miyazaki confessed to the murders of Mari Kono, Masami Yoshizawa, Erika Namba and Aiko Nomoto, his prosecution was far from straightforward. And over an excruciating seven-year trial, starting in March 1990, his lawyers tried to get him a reduced sentence on the basis that he was mentally unwell.

29:16They attempted to prove that their client had been incapable of telling right from wrong. A strategy that Miyazaki nudged along by blaming his crimes on an alter ego that he called Ratman, who he continuously doodled in cartoon form as he sat in court. And he also tried to claim that his murders had actually been an act of benevolence. Although he never really made anything totally clear about what that meant. Also, he fucking taunts the families and whatnot and sends them body parts. Like, shut the fuck up. Oh my God. In the end, the Tokyo District Court determined that, rat man or no rat man, Miyazaki was fully aware of what he had done and would be held accountable for his actions. He was sentenced to death on the 14th of April 1997 and after spending 11 years in prison

30:07he was hanged on the 17th of June 2008 his twisted legacy as the little girl murderer shattered the innocence of a generation of Japanese children in the most terrifying way and we do always bang on about the importance of explaining to children that an adult never needs their help but also it's so difficult to balance you also don't want your kids to be afraid all the time how do you balance those things it's really tricky because like absolutely you don't want your child to just like be scared of every adult or every person that they don't know like that's just gonna turn them into an anxious mess. But yeah, at the same time, I think it's just teaching them like what's inappropriate behavior, like teaching them to tell the difference between someone who is having a normal conversation

30:55with them and someone who is crossing boundaries. So touching them, asking them to do things that make them feel uncomfortable, very very specific things, or asking for help, luring them away, telling them to keep secrets. But it's tricky. It's really fucking tricky. Oh, nightmare. Gross. I'm upset. Yeah, me too. There you go. Rat man kills little baby girls. Oh, wonderful. Well, thank you for that one, Hannah. Let's go from there to the other side of the world shall we this one I've had on my list for quite some time but it's been one of those stories that there's not enough to do a whole episode so this is the perfect place to to get into this one really so I want you to picture this everybody. An incredibly remote rural

31:46settlement, we can't even call it a town or a hamlet or a village, a settlement with no roads, no electricity, over 10 hours on foot and by mule to the nearest small town. And this is where one day a young woman started behaving in strange and disturbing ways. She muttered to herself and had frighteningly vivid visions. She also claimed that she was going to birth a monstrous serpent. The woman's God-fearing family sought help from the only place they could think of, the local church, located in a cabin in the woods. And as whispers about the woman's alleged sexual immorality went around the small community, the church's pastor made a shocking declaration. An exorcism was needed to cleanse this wicked woman of

32:47the demons inside her. And so, after a week of captivity and starvation, church leaders trussed her up against a tree in the centre of the village and then literally set her on fire. Now, you are probably imagining some sort of medieval village during a witch hunt from years gone by, perhaps. Well, I'm sorry to break it to you all, but what I just told you happened in 2017. No, that's now. That is now. That is basically now. And it all took place in the tiny rainforest community of El Cortezal in Nicaragua. Hi, this is Mike Ferguson. And I'm Mike Morford. And we're the host of the true crime podcast, Criminology. Launched in 2017, we've covered a variety of cases, both solved and unsolved, from missing persons to mysterious murder.

33:53Some of the cases we cover are well-known and historic ones that you may be aware of, while other ones may be intriguing ones from small towns that you've never heard of. A lot of the cases we explore are currently breaking in the news. We have 400 episodes for you to binge on right now. New episodes drop every Saturday night. Subscribe today so you don't miss an episode. Everyone talks about how challenging it is to raise kids, but what about protecting them? Outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks, baby gates, where do you even start? Well, protecting your home and auto is a great place to start. Progressive offers customised coverage options so you can be sure that you have the right coverage for you and your loved ones.

34:31They're basically the outlet covers, kitchen cabinet locks and baby gates of insurance. Don't wait. Get your quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company. Affiliates and other insurers. Not available in all states. There's nothing like having amazing pieces in your wardrobe that you can count on for any occasion. Except maybe giving someone you love that same feeling. So this holiday season, I'm trusting Quince with my gift shopping. Quince offers elevated everyday essentials using premium materials like 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters from just $50 and 14 karat gold jewelry to add the perfect bit of sparkle to any outfit. They're the sort of gifts that you'd be just as happy to unwrap yourself.

35:11Personally, I'm hoping to find another of Quince's gorgeous cashmere scarves under the tree this year. Another thing putting Quince on the nice list is everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen, so you can give luxury quality pieces without the luxury price tag. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Red Handed. It's the best way to support the show. Hannah and Cerruti from Red Handed here.

35:58And we'd love to tell you about a podcast that we think you'll enjoy. Lived to tell. As True Crime Podcast is, we hear stories all the time about stabbing, shootings, robberies, and, you know, mayhem that comes with the genre. But Lived to Tell is about people who have been through these situations and lived to tell. And it's not just crimes. There's also tornadoes, volcanoes, and falling from great heights. On Lived to Tell, host Caitlin Van Moll talks to people who have been through the most harrowing situations and come out alive. Plus, all the aftermath that comes with having your life turned completely upside down. Because surviving the worst things imaginable doesn't end with rescue. I hope it does.

36:45Listen to Live to Tell wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show on Instagram or TikTok at livetotellpodcast. Oh, lovely. Thank you very much. Thank you. so this is a story of how that poor woman ended up tied to that tree set on fire that february so february 2017 25 year old mum of two vilma trujillo made a desperate cry for help out of nowhere she started experiencing terrifying hallucinations and couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. She begged her sister for help, confiding in her that she was afraid that she was carrying something evil inside her. She was scared that she was going to give birth to a snake. None of Vilma's family had ever seen her like this before, and they didn't know what to do. They knew that she needed help, and so did Vilma's family had ever seen her like this before. And they didn't know what to do.

37:46They knew that she needed help, and so did Vilma. But they couldn't come to traditional doctors for help. Firstly, there was no medical care facility at all in El Cortezal, the small rainforest community in which they lived. The nearest doctor was over 25 miles away, in the nearest impoverished mining village of Rosita. And it's not like the family even had a car or any form of transportation. Not that that would have helped even if they had had those things. Given the terrain in which they lived, it would have taken almost a full day to get to Rosita using a combination of like off-road trucks, donkey rides and moving on foot. But what was on offer in El Cortezal was spiritual advice. The tiny village was home to a Pentecostal church called Celestial Vision Church. So for Vilma's

38:41family, the obvious choice was to go and seek advice from the church's leaders. The famously chill Pentecostal church. Exactly. Especially the ones that are not overseen by anybody else and are just operating out of a cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere. Now, the church's head pastor, a man named Juan Rocha, was just 23 years old he was a simple farmer's son but he had attended school up to the age of about 10 which in the mostly illiterate community of El Cortezal made him as qualified as anyone to run the celestial vision Church so when Juan Rocha arrived at the Trujillo homestead and declared that he could help rid Vilma of her demons causing her so much distress, well, she believed him, and so did her entire family.

39:36They had no idea that his twisted exorcism would do the opposite of healing anything. It would become a vicious punishment for unspoken sins, and it would of course lead to Vilma's absolutely brutal death. On the 15th of February 2017, Juan led Vilma through the dense forest to a clearing at the top of a hill where the Celestial Vision Church's dark wooden cabin loomed large. Life in Celestial Vision's congregation was still fairly new for Vilma. Of the Trujillo family, only Vilma and her sister had left Catholicism behind to pursue Pentecostal Christianity. They were seeking a fresh start after their mother had died of cancer in her forties. Vilma in particular had thrown herself full throttle into church life,

40:23singing in the choir, participating in meetings, and in true Christian fashion, even giving her pastor 10% of her income. But even though Vilma had been inside the church cabin plenty of times by now, she had never been kept a prisoner inside it, and was tragically unaware about what was to happen to her next. As soon as they arrived, Juan Rocha enlisted the help of four other people to restrain Vilma. And those people were his brother Pedro, his sister Tomasa, her husband Franklin, and a particularly fervent congregation member named Esneda. Together they bound Vilma's hands and feet so that she couldn't move. And they told her that they needed to act fast in order to cleanse her of the demons

41:10that had so evidently taken root within her. So for the next six days, Vilma was denied food and water. And this was while the entire flock stood around praying for a divine answer to cure her affliction. That week, needless to say, must have been absolutely pure hell for Vilma. She's starving, she's dehydrated, she's forced to sit in her own filth. She's tied up inside this church while these people just watch her and pray over her. And also, like, not to forget the fact that she's obviously already suffering from some sort of mental break. None of this is going to help her. She's already terrified. So obviously Vilma had entered into this situation voluntarily, but now she found herself a prisoner

41:56in absolutely dire conditions. So several days in, Vilma decided she had to escape. Eventually, Vilma managed to grab a machete and swung it wildly at her captors in a desperate attempt to break free. But there were a dozen of them and only one of her, so they easily overpowered the 25-year-old woman. And her violent escape act obviously didn't go down well with the pastor who was convinced that she was demonically possessed. When Vilma's family tried to visit, Pastor Juan Rocha sent them away telling them that she was nowhere near cured yet. So as Rocha and the congregants prayed with ever-increasing fervour to God to reveal a solution, Vilma grew weaker and weaker by the minute. Until finally, on the sixth night, when one congregant

42:52claimed that she had had a divine revelation. God had told Esenada that the demon in Vilma could be expelled with flames. This was the message they'd all been waiting for. Finally, God had answered all their prayers. Juan Rocha and his dozen followers immediately got to work constructing a pyre on the hillside. And at dawn on the 21st of February 2017, almost a week after Vilma had first entered the church, she was led outside and tied to a guava tree beside this pyre. Vilma's 15-year-old sister was inside the church praying when she heard her sister's screams. With a blood-curdling shriek, Vilma's desperate voice allegedly called out, I'm going to die, I'm going to die. Her little sister bolted outside and saw Vilma's body being consumed by flames and all around her the church members were apparently smiling. The sister listened in

43:56utter horror as the elders exclaimed that death was good because death would lead to resurrection and soon Vilma would be free. Even now, today, no one can say for absolute certain whether Vilma was pushed into the flames and set on fire deliberately, or if the blaze from the pyre grew large enough that it simply engulfed her. But either way, it was clear to Vilma's little sister that her fellow celestial vision members had zero intention of saving Vilma from the inferno. They just watched on in awe as the flames licked at her body. And her petrified teenage sister was frozen in a state of shock as she watched her big sister burning alive. It would be an image that she'd replay in her mind for years to come.

44:52Incredibly, hours passed before a single member of the congregation finally broke ranks and pulled Vilma's sister aside, telling her to go get help. The girl ran as fast as she could through the dense forest to her aunt's house, and when she got there, the only word she could get out was, they've burnt her. This was seven whole hours after Vilma had been tied to that guava tree. And it was now that finally a rescue party led by her father Catalino arrived at the scene. By this point, the last embers were still flickering and Catalino found his daughter lying naked on the ground, with at least 80% of her body covered in burns. Her breasts, thighs, back and parts of her face had been horrifically charred.

45:37But remarkably, unbelievably, Vilma was still alive. Fading in and out of consciousness, Vilma weakly asked her father for water. Catalino and his nephew carried Vilma back through the woods to Aunt Angela's house, which was just next door to her own. And despite being in unimaginable pain, Vilma was able to comfort her crying five-year-old son by telling him, the little pastors baptised me. But this is quite literally a baptism of fire. Vilma was in a critical condition and needed urgent medical help, which meant that her family had to find a way to get her out of El Cortezal. A desperate Catalino gathered Vilma's siblings, cousins and uncles to help him fashion a sort of makeshift stretcher using a hammock and two poles.

46:33And in the early hours of the 22nd of February, the heroic troop of men set off, carrying Vilma for 12 hours through rivers, dense underbrush and along steep, muddy paths to the nearest town of Rosita. The journey must have been agony for Vilma, whose skin was raw and scorched. But when they finally reached the clinic in Rosita, Vilma was still not out of the woods. As soon as the doctors saw the second and third degree burns covering her body, they knew Vilma's injuries were too severe to be treated even there. So after the intense journey from El Cortezal, Vilma was taken by ambulance to an airstrip another 20 miles away. From there, she was flown over 300 miles to a hospital in Nicaragua's capital, Managua. But tragically, it was far too late for Vilma Trujillo.

47:29She died in hospital on the 28th of February from multiple organ failure, after her lungs filled with blood. Vilma's death sparked outrage across Nicaragua, because how, how was it possible that in the year 2017, a 25-year-old mother of two had been killed in such a cruel medieval way? Basically having been burnt at the stake. Now Nicaragua has its fair share of violent crime, that's true, but murder by fiery exorcism was a whole different kettle of fish. Officers from the National Police and even the Nicaraguan Army investigated the case, and a swarm of reporters also descended upon the tiny village of El Cortezal, nestled deep in the rainforest, hoping to capture justice playing out for Vilma. But when one plucky TV reporter managed to

48:22interview the pastor and all of his collaborators once they had been detained, a disturbing new detail shone a fresh light on the story. Pastor Juan Rocha and his brother-in-law, Franklin, insisted that Vilma was possessed by demons, with Juan Rocha explaining that his followers had, quote, built a small fire, as God had told them to. And after that, quote, the spirit lifted her up and she fell into the fire. But then Franklin made a startling interruption. He said blankly into the TV camera and said that Vilma had committed an error. This is a quote. She had a life partner and she made a mistake with another man. She was trying to be Christian, so she was punished. She was possessed. And Juan Rocha also confirmed that it was all

49:22punishment by God. The TV crew that had been filming this was utterly stunned. Before this point, the public had been under the impression that Vilma's exorcism was done as a response to her troubling mental health symptoms, where she had been telling people she was about to birth the serpent. But this, well this now suggested that there was another element to this brutal ritual, where Vilma was being punished for her so-called sexual immorality by the puritanical churchgoers. It honestly sounded more like the Salem witch trials than the 21st century. If you're planning on taking your workout game to the next level this season, I'm going to let you in on my secret weapon, Honey Love. I've always hated how most sports bras dig in and chafe,

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55:21that there was even more of a disturbing possibility at play. Because a rumor started to swell that Vilma hadn't actually cheated on her partner. She had been drugged and raped by a powerful local man weeks before her death. And this had changed everything. In his Notorious TV interview, Pastor Juan Rocha revealed that according to the community, quote, the other man did something to make her cheat. We're not exactly sure what Juan Rocha meant by this, but it potentially meant that Vilma had been forced into a sexual encounter against her will. Nobody in Vilma's family could confirm if this was true because she hadn't said anything about it to them. But if it was true, it might explain why her behaviour suddenly changed in early February.

56:11Her usually friendly and bright personality seemed to switch overnight, and she became paranoid and distressed. But in the deeply religious and isolated community of El Cortezal, they took it to mean that Wilma was guilty of adultery, even if she had been forced into it. And they believed the demonic possession was part of God's punishment for her sin. Vilma's tragic story highlighted the widespread issue of violence against women and girls in Latin America. National news outlets and Nicaraguan feminist activists slammed her death as more than just religious fanaticism. It was femicide. Because this was a vulnerable woman who had potentially been sexually assaulted. But thanks to the dogmatic rules of the Pentecostal

56:58Church forbidding extramarital sex in any form, she was treated by her community like a criminal. And tragically, Vilma received a life sentence for her supposed crimes. As you might expect, the wider Pentecostal community in Nicaragua went into very quick damage control mode after Vilma's death hit the headlines. The Celestial Vision Church was an offshoot of an organisation called Assemblies of God, and its lead pastor, a man named Raphael Arista, publicly insisted that violent exorcisms were not standard protocol. Arista did everything he could to distance himself from the Celestial Vision Church, claiming that it wasn't even recognised as an organised church, and Juan Rocha was more of a lay preacher than any sort of official pastor

57:46and surprise surprise Pastor Arista seemed a lot more bothered about protecting his church's image than he was about remembering Vilma in fact he even expressed sympathy for Vilma's attackers defending them from accusations by insinuating that the crazy woman must have thrown herself into the flames of, you know, the pyre that they built and set fire to. Fortunately, Nicaraguan judge Alfredo Silva didn't share Pastor Arista's callous interpretation of the events that took place deep in the rainforest in February 2017. Juan, Tomasa, Pedro, Franklin and Esneda were all convicted of the murder of Vilma Trujillo that May. Judge Silva determined that they had acted with, quote, treachery, viciousness and abuse of confidence when they tied Vilma to that guava tree and lit

58:41that pyre. The perpetrators, who, just to remind everybody, were all in their twenties, received 30 and 36 year jail terms each. And they showed absolutely no remorse as the sentences were handed down. But for Vilma's grieving family, including her partner and her two children, the convictions, obviously, were not going to bring her back. The most terrifying part of this whole story is how they, and Vilma herself, had put their trust in a man they truly believed could help them. And that trust was betrayed in the cruelest, most depraved way possible. Because when Vilma followed Juan Rocha to the Hilltop Church that day, she believed that she was walking towards a cure for her terrifying hallucinations.

59:33Hallucinations that may well have been brought about by a sexual assault that had taken place. She had no idea that it was going to turn into a punishment for the sins that she had supposedly committed. At the end of the day, Vilma Trujillo didn't have demons inside her, but there were plenty of monsters around. And her death became a chilling warning to other girls in such remote rural communities in the Nicaraguan forest, with women warning their daughters, be careful, don't let what happened to Vilma happen to you so yeah in summary Christian's just as bad as the rest of them oh my god it's absolutely fucking terrifying absolutely terrifying and I think it's the thing of when the sister looks around and all of these people are smiling.

1:00:33Like the mass delusion, the mass, like psychosis, the mass, whatever is going on, hysteria. Over what? Even if she had had an affair, over what? And yes, obviously her feeling like she's going to birth a serpent is going to make people feel freaked out, especially if there's not, you know, ready to hand mental health care on site. But I don't believe for a second that she accidentally fell in that pyre. It was seven hours before they called for any help. They burned her. I just cannot believe that several hours later she was still alive. And to go, her and her family, to go through that horrific journey, carrying her all the way to help 25 miles away and then for her to still pass away. It's fucking horrible shit.

1:01:12But there you go. Now you guys know the story of Filma Trujillo and, yeah, just the absolutely terrifying ordeal that she went through. Bad times. But there you go, guys. That's Halloween. The happiest Halloween of all. Dead babies. Yeah. And burned at the stake. Yeah. Sorry about that, guys. But we're done. That is Halloween. Wrapped up for the year 2026 thank you for joining us as ever and we'll be back next week when it's going to be november yeah move over guy folks time exactly so we'll see you then goodbye Hi, this is Gemma Spegg. I've been approaching my health really differently this year. I used to be really focused on maximizing and doing more. And now I'm just realizing that if I listen to what my body needs, I perform way better. And

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