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0:59

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violence. Please listen with

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care. Fairfax County

1:55

Police and Fire. How may I assist you? Yes.

2:00

An emergency. More

2:02

than a thousand miles from where he

2:04

believes a crime is unfolding, Carlos

2:07

Gutierrez is desperately trying to

2:09

save his girlfriend's life. This

2:12

was back in the summer of 2017. Hello.

2:16

Are you there? Yes, I'm here. These

2:18

calls are from emergency services

2:20

in northern Virginia. That's

2:23

where the love of his life,

2:25

Helen Hargan, lives. I'm thinking

2:27

my girlfriend's life is in danger. His

2:30

girlfriend's life is in danger, but

2:33

Carlos feels like the 911

2:35

operator isn't taking him seriously.

2:38

Why aren't they responding with concern?

2:41

OK, so what I need you to

2:43

do then is contact your local jurisdiction,

2:46

follow a report with them and tell

2:48

them that Fairfax County requires a teletype

2:50

in order to do a welfare check.

2:54

OK, I think this is like life or death. Like, I

2:56

think someone might be dead. Carlos

2:58

is trying to make sure the

3:00

operator understands the seriousness of the

3:03

situation. But instead of quickly

3:05

dispatching police, the 911

3:07

operator tells him to call someone

3:09

else. Contact your

3:12

local jurisdiction, file the report,

3:14

have them send us a teletype, and then we will

3:16

go and check on her. OK, how do I get

3:18

a hold of my jurisdiction? How do I do that?

3:21

Well, sir, if you don't have

3:23

their non-emergency number, if you dial

3:25

911, you'll get your emergency center.

3:29

OK, thank you. Bye bye. I

3:34

would play this 911 call for

3:36

Detective Brian Byerson of the

3:38

Fairfax County Police. He

3:40

told me this first operator no

3:43

longer works at the call center. Yeah,

3:46

this one is incontrovertibly horrible.

3:48

We do not require a teletype

3:50

number to report a possible homicide.

3:53

That's completely ridiculous. Carlos

3:56

would call, speak to an operator, and

3:58

then be told he needs a teletype

4:00

number. needed to call someone else again

4:02

and again. Listen

4:05

closely because this 911 tape

4:07

is not exactly easy to understand.

4:10

Is your girlfriend at home right now? Well,

4:14

that's the thing. She wrote into her phone.

4:17

According to Carlos, hours earlier, Helen

4:19

had called him to say her

4:22

mom might be dead. And

4:25

then she stopped answering her phone. She

4:28

hadn't called 911. Carlos

4:30

didn't hear from her and now

4:32

he was worried Helen was in

4:34

danger. In a race

4:36

against time, Carlos keeps calling the police.

4:40

We're going to need you to call your local police department. And.

4:43

Are you still not there? I'm

4:46

sorry? You're still not there? How

4:48

are we supposed to get there? You didn't give us an address. We

4:51

looked at the name Pam Hargan and McLean. We don't know. We don't

4:53

know. We don't know. We don't

4:56

know. We

4:58

don't list individuals by name.

5:00

We don't record information that

5:03

way. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm

5:05

just having a hard time. All right. Finally,

5:07

more than an hour after his first

5:09

911 call, police

5:12

tell Carlos that they're sending officers

5:14

to Helen's home. Detective

5:18

Brian Byerson didn't find out about Carlos's calls

5:20

to 911 until after he walked through

5:24

the Hargan house and saw the

5:26

two bodies for himself. Ultimately,

5:28

what Carlos had to say would blow

5:31

a hole in the theory that this

5:33

was a murder suicide and

5:35

that meant a killer could still be

5:37

on the loose. If

5:39

true, you have a brutal,

5:41

vicious killer in this community. Okay,

5:44

kill again. That is correct. I'm

5:51

Peter Van Sant. From

5:54

48 hours, this is Blood is

5:56

Thicker, the Hargan family

5:58

killings. to

6:01

the boyfriend. Carlos

6:08

Gutierrez is on the phone with a 911

6:10

supervisor out of Fairfax

6:13

County, Virginia. She asks him more

6:15

about his relationship with Helen Hargan.

6:23

Carlos and Helen had been dating for

6:25

a year. They

6:30

first met in Dallas. They

6:33

were working at a local restaurant together and

6:37

there were sparks. They hit it off.

6:39

This is Michelle Segona. She's a

6:42

producer for 48 hours and has

6:44

spent years following the case. There

6:46

are cases we will spend months,

6:49

years on, and then they will

6:51

air. This is one of those

6:53

that we spent an incredible amount

6:55

of time prior to it airing.

6:57

Carlos was in his early 30s

6:59

when he met Helen. She

7:02

was 23. He said

7:04

that, you know, although maybe he

7:06

wasn't technically formally living with her

7:08

per se in Texas, he was

7:10

at her house 24-7.

7:12

So they were living together essentially.

7:15

Helen was attending Southern Methodist University

7:17

and said on her resume that

7:19

her goal was to work for

7:21

a defense contractor just as

7:23

her mom Pamela had once done. According

7:26

to Carlos, they fell in love and

7:29

were inseparable. It seemed

7:31

like Carlos was planning to include

7:33

Helen in his long-term future. The couple

7:36

were planning to leave Dallas and build

7:38

a new life together in Northern Virginia.

7:41

He was so dedicated to Helen that

7:43

Carlos was ready to leave his life

7:46

in Texas and move to

7:48

Virginia. As Carlos calls

7:50

911 the day of the

7:52

tragedy, he tells the story of the life

7:55

they had planned. He even

7:57

mentions the

8:00

house in Aldi, Virginia, that Helen's

8:02

mother was buying. He

8:05

said they were serious, committed.

8:08

According to Carlos, he had big plans

8:10

for their future. He was planning to

8:12

propose to her at some point. After

8:15

Helen made the move back

8:17

east, the couple video chatted,

8:19

texted, and called every day.

8:22

He said the night before the shootings,

8:24

they missed each other so much that

8:27

they spent nearly four hours talking on

8:29

the phone. It's a long time to talk

8:31

to anyone. Ten days before

8:33

Pamela and Helen's deaths, Carlos

8:35

went to see Helen in Virginia. So

8:38

according to court testimony, Carlos said he

8:40

came to the area. He did

8:42

not stay at Pam's house, that

8:44

he and Helen stayed at

8:46

a hotel nearby. Carlos

8:49

said he had no idea that

8:51

Helen's family had any animosity toward

8:53

him until after the shootings. But

8:56

there were signs. None

8:58

of Helen's family came out to meet

9:01

him when he and Helen stopped by

9:03

the house for blankets for a Fourth

9:05

of July outing. The blankets were put

9:07

outside, but Carlos said he didn't think

9:09

anything about it. Helen's oldest sister,

9:11

Megan, would bring this up to

9:14

police. They were in the driveway.

9:16

She came to get blankets for

9:18

the drive. And she said, Megan, wait,

9:20

they're in the driveway. She's saying

9:22

her mom told her not to go out and

9:24

meet him. Pamela

9:26

had bought Helen a house, but

9:29

was now having second thoughts because Carlos

9:31

might move in with her daughter. Here's

9:34

Megan in a police recording

9:36

taken hours after the shooting.

9:39

My mom

9:42

let Helen know that

9:44

she was canceling the contract on the

9:46

house she was building her because

9:49

she truly believed

9:51

that Helen was going to try to move Carlos into

9:53

the house. And my mom didn't want him being there.

9:56

After that, she said Helen was

9:58

furious. Her mother changed her mind,

10:01

but also said her kid's sister

10:03

was even mad at her. Why?

10:06

Megan said she and her husband

10:08

closed on a house of their own

10:11

in West Virginia. So while

10:13

Helen's dream was taken away, Megan was still

10:15

getting hers. She got mad at me and

10:17

thought the house was my fault and you

10:20

know, mom was like, it has nothing to do with her. You

10:23

know why Helen? I can't trust

10:25

you. And I'm not letting that

10:28

Carlos move into that house. Megan

10:30

said that she was leaving to drive

10:32

to West Virginia that morning. Before

10:35

she left, she said the door

10:37

to her mom's home office was

10:39

closed. When I was leaving, like I said, I

10:41

saw her office door closed and that usually means she's on

10:43

the phone, so I just left it be. She

10:46

remembered how Helen was out on the front

10:48

porch, very upset. It

10:51

was this afternoon when

10:53

I was leaving the house and she was

10:55

crying. And I said, who do

10:57

you call the phone with? And

11:00

she was like, are you okay? And I said, are

11:02

you okay? She

11:10

was crying. Police

11:13

had been given two versions of that

11:15

deadly morning, one where Helen was

11:17

scared for her life and another

11:19

where she was the likely killer. But

11:23

which one did the evidence support?

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there's joy in every journey. This

12:34

particular case, there were things about

12:37

the scene itself that were concerning

12:39

to us on day one. Detectives

12:42

Brian Byerson and Julia Elliott,

12:44

a forensics expert, looked

12:46

over the two rooms where Helen and

12:48

Pamela were shot. Helen

12:51

was found upstairs in her bathroom.

12:54

Pamela in the mud room, found on

12:56

the floor under a quilt. Oddly,

12:59

her phone was sitting on top of

13:01

the quilt in a pool of

13:03

blood. We know what that means. We know

13:05

that it means that that phone was placed

13:07

there sometime after she died. But

13:09

this wasn't the only strange clue. Helen's

13:13

cell phone was set on the bathroom counter

13:15

near the sink and yet

13:17

didn't have a spot of blood on it.

13:21

And I want to find out who put that cell phone

13:23

there in that particular place. So you

13:25

want to check for fingerprints and DNA? Yes.

13:28

What do you find on this phone? Nothing.

13:31

Nothing on Helen's phone. She'd

13:34

find the mother's phone was also

13:36

clean. On the front,

13:38

we will typically see fingerprints or at

13:40

least smudges of fingerprints. On

13:42

this one, we were able to see

13:45

smears as if someone had wiped it

13:47

from side to side. The

13:49

bathroom was in disarray with toiletries

13:51

scattered on the floor. But

13:54

Detective Elliott noticed that the rifle

13:56

was neatly placed. Why

13:58

hadn't it tumbled away? when she

14:00

shot herself. The rifle

14:02

was still laying perfectly within

14:04

her legs. That to me

14:07

tells me that if

14:09

she's moving enough to move things off of

14:11

the back of the toilet, I would expect

14:13

that gun to have fallen down to the

14:15

floor. I also have

14:18

seen suicides done with long

14:20

guns where they are not

14:22

able to retain control of the gun. But

14:25

for detectives, the rifle's perfect

14:27

placement wouldn't be the only

14:29

red flag. You have

14:31

a scene that's relatively small. Detective

14:34

Byerson told me that if Helen

14:36

had killed herself in such a

14:38

small bathroom, there'd likely be

14:40

blood on the rifle. There is blood

14:42

everywhere. It's all over the place. However,

14:46

there doesn't seem to be any blood

14:49

on the rifle itself, which is sitting in the middle of all of

14:51

this, even though there's blood underneath.

14:54

So that is a

14:56

huge problem. To the

14:59

detective, this just didn't make sense.

15:02

We had a generally clean weapon, and

15:05

then underneath the weapon, there was blood where there

15:07

shouldn't have been, if the weapon was there. So

15:10

that suggests perhaps someone

15:12

else shot Helen. It suggests that

15:14

the weapon wasn't there until later

15:17

on, which doesn't

15:20

sound like a murder-suicide to me then, right? It does

15:22

not. And

15:32

in the basement, another strange sight. Detective

15:36

Elliot found couch cushions that looked

15:38

like they'd been slashed with a

15:40

knife. I wasn't sure if someone

15:42

was taking out some anger or

15:46

what they were doing. Was it

15:48

a tear kind of cut or was it a

15:50

puncture kind of cut? It was a stabbing-puncture type

15:52

cut. Like someone had what,

15:54

practiced on it? Yes. And

15:56

is it true that there was a long knife

15:59

found in the house? Yes. The

16:01

knife was in plain sight. She took a

16:03

photo of it still down there in the

16:05

basement. This is the knife, and

16:08

it's sitting on a bookshelf that was just to

16:10

the left of the couch cushions in the same

16:12

room. Detective Elliot believed

16:15

the killer may have considered using the

16:17

knife as a murder weapon instead of

16:19

the rifle. And

16:21

then, when Detective Elliot turned

16:23

to look at Pamela Hargan's

16:25

bookshelves, she spotted something else.

16:28

So that center set of

16:30

books that are kind of gray with the

16:33

red band, those are photo albums. And I

16:35

got a little nosy, and I

16:37

wanted to see what my victims may have looked like in

16:39

life or as they grew up. So I

16:41

pulled out one of the center photo albums to

16:44

look at it and open it up, and

16:46

behind it was a piece of evidence that ended

16:48

up being quite important. What was

16:51

found? It was a

16:53

photocopy of Pamela's spreadsheet that she

16:55

used for all her accounts, account

16:57

numbers and passcodes. It

17:00

was also a photocopy of Pamela's

17:02

bank statement. This was

17:04

still the night of the shootings. And

17:07

while Detective Elliot wanted to dig

17:09

in and learn more about this

17:11

bank statement, financial documents were

17:13

not on our search warrant, and so

17:15

therefore I could not take it. We

17:18

photographed it as we found it that night, and

17:21

eventually a couple days later came back with a

17:23

search warrant to recover those papers, and they were

17:25

not there. They were not. They

17:28

were not. You found yourself a pretty interesting piece

17:31

of evidence, right? Yes. At the

17:33

time, we weren't exactly sure what we were dealing with. Detectives

17:38

were becoming increasingly convinced that

17:41

both the Hargan women had been

17:43

murdered, but by who and

17:46

what was the motive? It

17:49

would turn out that Helen's boyfriend,

17:51

Carlos, had shared a theory with

17:53

Ashley. Here's Detective

17:55

John Vickery asking the father,

17:57

Steve Hargan, about it. Tell

18:00

me again what Carl says to her. You

18:03

know exactly what actually tells me that Carl

18:05

said to her. That Megan

18:09

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19:24

that July morning, Carlos had woken

19:26

up to some messages from his

19:28

girlfriend Helen. One text

19:30

read, I wanted to see if

19:32

by chance you were awake. Call

19:34

me when you do wake up. Love

19:36

you. To Carlos, nothing

19:39

out of the ordinary. Everything

19:41

appeared to be okay. Our

19:44

producer, Michelle Segona, read through

19:46

Carlos's court testimony about that

19:48

morning. He was at

19:50

home in Dallas and had slept in. The

19:53

two played phone tag until after

19:55

11 Eastern time. When

19:58

Carlos finally caught her, Helen

20:00

was beside herself. Later

20:03

in the morning, Carlos

20:05

says specifically that Helen sounded

20:07

frightened and scared. He

20:10

used words like Helen was trembling,

20:12

she was sobbing, she was very

20:14

frantic. She immediately

20:16

told him why, and Carlos

20:19

would tell 911. Perfect.

20:21

Tedding police and buyer, how may I assist you?

20:25

My girlfriend told me that her sister

20:27

killed her mom, and

20:30

now my girlfriend won't answer her phone. Carlos

20:33

explained to the operator that Helen

20:35

told him her sister Megan came

20:37

upstairs to her room and

20:40

said that she killed her mother Pamela.

20:43

So if you let that sink in for a minute, she

20:45

told me that her sister had killed

20:47

her mother. I can't imagine

20:49

being in Dallas, Texas

20:52

while talking to

20:54

my girlfriend on the phone who was

20:56

inside this home where something

20:59

horrific has happened and

21:01

not really knowing what to do. Carlos

21:03

even said Helen told him she

21:05

could hear her mother gasping for

21:07

life. Things sounded dire.

21:10

He was trying to get to the heart

21:12

of what was happening in all of this.

21:15

Carlos told Helen to leave immediately.

21:19

He was trying to tell her to get out of the

21:21

house to call police to do something, but Helen

21:23

had hesitation. According

21:25

to Carlos, Helen was very

21:29

nervous and possibly scared for

21:31

her niece, who apparently was

21:33

also in the home. Helen

21:36

wanted to protect her niece, Megan's

21:38

daughter Molly, and that she

21:40

was worried what her sister might do if the

21:43

police showed up. She

21:45

didn't want her niece to see her mother

21:47

getting arrested. Soon after,

21:49

Helen stopped responding, and

21:51

he called for help. But

21:54

Carlos couldn't recall Pamela Hargan's

21:56

address. I

22:00

live in Dallas. She lives in McQueen. Okay,

22:03

and what's her address? I

22:05

don't know. She's at her mom's house, and mom's

22:07

name is Pam Hardin. Carlos

22:10

thought his future wife's life was

22:12

at risk, but this

22:14

lack of details only left

22:16

emergency services with more questions.

22:19

They asked Carlos to call back

22:21

when he had more information, and

22:23

kept having him speak to different

22:25

operators, rehashing what Helen

22:27

had told him. Finally,

22:30

the public safety supervisor

22:32

in Fairfax County, Virginia

22:34

called Carlos herself. Her

22:36

name is Lisa Wegener-Smith.

22:39

She wanted to know how this alleged

22:42

murder had unfolded. Okay,

22:44

was this just out of the blue? Did she say how she did it

22:46

or why she did it? She said she

22:48

shot her. She said she woke up, and her sister

22:50

told her she shot him off. So

22:53

your girlfriend is sitting in a

22:55

house with a dead woman? The

22:58

911 supervisor sounded skeptical.

23:01

Why would Helen stay put if her sister

23:03

had killed their mom? Carlos

23:06

would call back with the right

23:08

information and reach a 911 operator. I

23:11

reported a murder earlier, and I didn't have

23:13

the address, and I don't have the address. So

23:16

what do you mean you reported a

23:19

murder earlier? Do you think something happened

23:21

there? Well, I'd

23:23

know for a fact that her sister shot her mom.

23:26

When? This morning. That's what

23:28

I'm trying to tell you guys. Yeah, this morning. She

23:30

called me and told me that her sister shot her mom. She

23:32

didn't have to do it. That's why we called the cops. You

23:35

get the kid, you're going to call the cops. The

23:37

operator passed Carlos back to

23:40

Lisa, the supervisor. With

23:42

the address and some

23:44

information confirmed, after multiple

23:46

calls from Carlos, 911

23:49

was finally able to send help. We

23:51

are sending an officer out there. Is there anything else

23:54

you can think of that we need to know? No,

23:57

I'm just speaking out. I'm just...

24:00

something bad happened at the girlfriend. In

24:02

case you didn't catch that, Carlos

24:04

said he was freaking out and

24:07

worried something had happened to Helen.

24:10

Before they end the call, though,

24:12

Carlos did think of something else

24:14

officers needed to know. Yeah,

24:16

I needed like I have like some incriminating

24:18

text that her sister sent me. Carlos

24:21

thought Meghan was texting him,

24:23

not his girlfriend. What

24:26

does that say? Because

24:28

after the fact that Helen told me

24:30

that her sister told her mom, right?

24:32

Mm-hmm. She, I

24:35

called her and she would answer and

24:37

so she texted back Helen did. And

24:40

I was like, oh, sorry, I'm just arguing with my

24:42

mom. She pisses me off. I hate her. And

24:45

this is after the fact that Helen told me

24:47

that her sister told her mom so I know

24:50

that her sister got her phone and was sending

24:52

these messages. Here's what one

24:54

of those texts said. Everything

24:56

is fine. I'm not mad at Meghan.

24:59

I'm mad that my mom paid for her

25:01

house. She and her

25:04

husband should buy it themselves. Here

25:07

is our producer, Michelle Segona, again.

25:10

Based on these text messages he was receiving,

25:12

they were a huge red flag for Carlos.

25:15

He just wanted Helen to call him. But

25:17

all they got were texts. And

25:20

that started to feel suspicious. I'm

25:22

not even mad at her, really. The

25:24

text continued, just effing hate

25:26

my mom. Carlos didn't

25:29

think that sounded like the woman he loved.

25:31

He kept calling Helen's cell. Finally,

25:34

he was able to reach someone,

25:37

but it was not Helen. It was

25:39

Meghan on the other side of the phone. Here's

25:42

Carlos again. Yes, and now

25:44

I called my girlfriend and her sister

25:46

answers the phone and received it to

25:48

let me talk to my girlfriend. But

25:52

Carlos persisted. He kept asking,

25:54

I need to speak with Helen. I'm having

25:56

a bad day. I need to speak with Helen. He's

26:00

just getting some conflicting information. Carlos

26:03

doesn't back down. He

26:05

said he stayed on the phone, pushing Meghan

26:07

to give the phone to Helen

26:09

for nearly 10 minutes. He

26:12

believes at this point that she is not okay. On

26:15

that long call, Carlos said Meghan

26:17

told him that her mother didn't

26:19

approve of him and that

26:21

she wasn't going to let them move

26:24

into the new house in Aldi. Carlos

26:26

claims that Pam had never said that

26:28

to him or to Helen. The

26:31

call ended without him ever speaking

26:33

to his girlfriend. So

26:35

none of this is making sense to him. This

26:38

is why he decides to

26:41

make a brave move and call 911.

26:44

Carlos realized that he needed to be

26:46

the one to call for help and

26:49

would begin his agonizing journey

26:51

to sound the alarm with

26:53

emergency services. My gosh,

26:55

can you imagine, I mean, not knowing

26:57

what's happening inside of that house and

27:00

trying to call 911 and being told you have

27:02

to go through all these steps? Meghan

27:05

told police she left the house around 1.30

27:08

that afternoon, headed for

27:10

West Virginia and then turned

27:12

around to go to her dad's after

27:15

she heard about the shooting. Ashley

27:17

was racing to her dad's too. Carlos

27:20

had called her while she was in the car,

27:22

but Ashley had trouble believing his

27:25

story. Here is Detective

27:27

Vickery asking Ashley about the call

27:30

after she arrived at her dad's. We

27:32

heard they received a call from Carlos? Yes. And

27:35

they don't even know this kid who's a stranger off the

27:37

street. He just told me that

27:39

my, this sister, shot my mom. By

27:42

this sister, Ashley meant Meghan,

27:45

who was sitting right there with them.

27:48

She would never do that ever.

27:50

Never. Okay. Obviously,

27:54

I'm not going to make her life any better.

27:58

I know my sister. Ashley told the

28:01

detective she's been calling her mom

28:03

and sister. Meghan chimed

28:05

in to say she has two. Carlos

28:12

was saying Meghan killed her mother,

28:14

but in that moment, the sisters

28:17

were dismissive of him. Ashley

28:24

made it clear. She

28:26

didn't believe that Meghan is a murderer. People

28:29

recall his exact words. Meghan

28:33

shot your mom. I was like,

28:36

I'm sorry. But they were together

28:38

all morning. Nothing's adding

28:40

up. Nothing was

28:42

adding up. Ashley and

28:45

her dad didn't seem scared of Meghan.

28:48

Police didn't arrest her. And

28:50

that day, law enforcement told the

28:52

public that the killer was dead.

28:56

Patrol officers thought Helen had

28:58

done it. But given

29:00

how the crime scene didn't neatly

29:02

fit a murder suicide, and

29:04

Carlos's 911 calls, Detective

29:08

Byerson asked himself the

29:10

question, was Meghan

29:12

the killer? Did she

29:14

murder both her mom and Helen that

29:17

morning? We

29:21

have manipulated

29:23

crime scene in multiple

29:25

places, the wiped phone, the possibly

29:27

wiped rifle, the placing of

29:29

the rifle. We have the

29:32

fact that mom was covered and

29:34

that her phone was laying on top of the

29:36

quilt. A couple days

29:39

later, they would hear about a

29:41

suspicious call. It becomes very

29:43

obvious to us that

29:45

there is no other, there is

29:47

no boogeyman here. It is exactly who we think it

29:49

is. James.

30:01

Judy Tigard is the executive

30:03

producer of 48 Hours. Original

30:06

reporting by 48 Hours producers

30:08

Josh Yeager, Sarah

30:10

Ely Hulse, Michelle Segona,

30:13

and Lauren White. Jamie Benson

30:15

is the senior producer for Paramount

30:18

Audio and Mora Walls is the

30:20

senior story editor. Recording

30:22

assistants from Alan Pang

30:24

and Marlon Polikar. Special

30:27

thanks to Paramount podcast vice

30:30

president Meghan Marcus and 48

30:32

Hours senior producer Peter Schweitzer.

30:36

Blood is Thicker is produced

30:38

by Sony Music Entertainment. It

30:41

was written and produced by Alex

30:43

Schumann. Our

30:45

executive producers are Catherine St. Louis

30:48

and Jonathan Hirsch. Our

30:51

associate producer is Zoe Culkin.

30:54

Theme and original music composed

30:56

by Hans Dale Shee. He

30:58

also sound designed and mixed

31:00

the episodes. We

31:02

also use music by Blue Dot

31:05

Sessions. Catherine Nuhan is

31:07

our fact checker. Our

31:09

production managers are Tamika

31:11

Balance-Kolasny and Samantha Allison.

31:15

I'm Peter Van Sant. If

31:17

you're enjoying the show, be sure to

31:19

rate and review. It helps

31:21

more people find it and here are

31:23

reporting. For early and ad-free

31:26

access to Blood is Thicker, subscribe

31:28

to 48 Hours Plus

31:30

on Apple Podcasts or Wondry

31:33

Plus on the Wondry app. Start

31:36

your free trial today. Thanks

31:39

for listening. It

31:46

was the biggest scandal in pop

31:48

music. The stars of Millie Vanilli,

31:50

the Grammy-winning multi-platinum R&B phenomenon, were

31:52

exposed as frauds, but none of

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this was their idea. So whose

31:57

idea was it? Enter German music

31:59

producer Frank Farian. He saw the

32:01

success of acts like Michael Jackson and

32:03

Prince, and he wanted in, no matter

32:05

the cost. So he devised the perfect

32:08

pop heist. Two once-in-a-lifetime talents

32:10

who were charismatic, full of sex

32:12

appeal, and phenomenal dancers. The only

32:14

problem? They couldn't sing. But Frank

32:16

knew just how to fix that.

32:19

Wonder's new podcast, Blame It on the

32:21

Fame, dives into one of pop music's

32:23

greatest controversies and takes a never-before-heard look

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at the exploitation of two young black

32:27

artists. Millie Vanilli set the world

32:30

on fire, but when the truth came out,

32:32

Rob and Fab were the only ones who

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got burned. Looking back now, it's hard not

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to wonder, why did everyone blame them and

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not the man pulling the strings? Follow Blame

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It on the Fame, Millie Vanilli, on the

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You can binge all episodes of Blame It

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by joining Wonder E+. The

33:17

Hargan women seemed to have it all. We

33:40

were blessed. My mom was amazing. But

33:42

detectives would soon discover... Inside the house,

33:44

there were the bodies of two women.

33:46

A story of betrayal you would struggle

33:48

to believe if it wasn't true. I

33:50

am just praying to God this is

33:53

a sick suit. From

33:56

48 hours, this is Blood is Thicker,

33:58

the Hargan Family Killings. Listen

34:00

to Blood is Thicker, the Hargen family

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killings early and ad-free on the 48

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hours plus subscription on

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Apple Podcasts. Fame dives

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into one of pop music's greatest controversies

34:11

and takes a never-before-heard look at the

34:13

exploitation of two young black artists. Millie

34:16

Vanilli set the world on fire, but when the truth

34:18

came out, Rob and Fab were the only ones

34:20

who got burned. Looking back now,

34:22

it's hard not to wonder, why did everyone

34:25

blame them and not the man pulling the

34:27

strings? People blame it on the

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fame, Millie Vanilli, on the Wondery app or wherever

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