0:00

Hi, it's Phoebe. I

0:02

wanted to tell you about a powerful new story

0:04

from New York Magazine about a

0:06

woman, her sister, and her teenage son,

0:09

whose bodies were found in the Colorado Mountains

0:11

last summer. The

0:13

piece examines why the sisters decided to live

0:16

off the grid for almost a year and

0:19

what happened while they were out in the wilderness.

0:22

Look for the article called The Women Who

0:24

Walked Away by Elizabeth Weill at

0:27

nymag.com. Ladies

0:32

Killers is back with me, Lucy Worsley,

0:34

on BBC Radio 4. Join

0:40

me and a crack team of

0:42

female detectives to reinvestigate more astonishing

0:45

crimes from the past, all

0:47

committed by women. We've been meditated

0:49

to take his life. The

0:52

new season of Ladies Killers is coming soon.

0:55

Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hi,

1:00

it's Phoebe. I

1:02

spend most of my time in a dark studio

1:05

by myself or on Zoom

1:07

with the very smart people who I make these

1:09

shows with. But starting next

1:11

week, I'll get to be in a room

1:13

with all of you, telling you about some

1:15

of the wildest and most interesting stories we've

1:17

come across since our last tour in 2019.

1:21

A criminal live show isn't really like

1:23

our criminal episodes because we tell

1:25

you lots of stories in one night, specifically

1:28

chosen because they're fun to share in a room

1:30

full of people. Criminal co-creator

1:32

Lauren Spohr is up on stage with me

1:34

too, mixing everything live and pretending to laugh

1:36

at my jokes. We can't

1:38

wait. Come join us for

1:40

Criminal's 10th anniversary tour in February. Tickets

1:44

at thisiscriminal.com/live. You'll

1:51

be amazed what a

1:53

911 operator go through. And

1:58

their hair calls. where someone is

2:00

breaking into the house. And

2:03

they're saying, help me please. And

2:07

then the closet quiet

2:10

and whispering, and

2:12

you can hear the noise in the background. But

2:15

you're trying to keep

2:17

this person calm and let them know

2:20

we're on our way. I'm hitting

2:22

mute to tell my dispatcher what

2:25

all I hear, you know,

2:27

while taking the call. Terry

2:30

Clark has been answering 911 calls in

2:32

New Orleans for 25 years. Believe

2:35

it or not, actually, when

2:37

you did the application,

2:41

the name of it at the

2:43

time was police complaint operator. So

2:45

I really thought I was at a

2:48

job that was gonna take complaints. But

2:51

on my first day, when I

2:53

arrived, I realized it was 911. And

2:56

I was like, wow, I got a

2:59

real serious job. So

3:01

if I were to call 911 right now, and

3:05

you were to answer, what would you

3:07

say first? And I

3:09

do this every day. New

3:12

Orleans 911 was the

3:14

location of your emergency. So

3:16

I give you my address, and then

3:18

what? Can you

3:21

verify your address for me? My

3:23

address is, I'll just make something up, 123

3:25

Stone Street. 123

3:29

Stone, okay, what's your name? Phoebe.

3:33

Okay, Phoebe, can I have a callback number

3:35

in case we disconnect? 210-123-456.

3:42

So I'm looking at my screen

3:44

to verify that's the same address.

3:46

If it is, now tell me what's

3:48

your emergency. So

3:52

I very thankfully haven't had

3:54

to call 911 that

3:57

many times in my life, but I do think

3:59

that's the same address. that all I would keep

4:01

asking you is, is someone on the way.

4:03

And so when someone... Yes, Phoebe.

4:05

Someone is on the way. But yes, you

4:07

still gonna say, but are they on the way?

4:09

You're asking too many questions. That's what I get

4:11

in my ear all day. Yes, I know

4:13

it seems like a lot of questions, but

4:16

they're on their way. We just need to

4:18

get through this. And I need

4:20

you to make sure you have

4:22

your door unlocked. Put away any

4:24

pets. Have someone to flag down.

4:26

EMS, you know, well,

4:29

the responder when they come there.

4:31

But I also need you to answer these

4:34

questions for me. We're getting the information

4:36

because we need it. We're not just

4:38

asking questions to be talking to you.

4:41

And then at the end, I'm going to tell

4:43

you, if anything gets worse, call

4:46

us back. And

4:48

I always like to tell my callers, thank you for

4:50

calling. And today,

4:52

a conversation with a 911

4:55

operator about what happens

4:57

on the other end of the line and

5:00

about what happens when you realize

5:03

you recognize the voice on the phone. I'm

5:07

Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. In

5:20

medieval times, if you had been robbed

5:23

or tapped or witnessed a crime, you

5:26

would raise something called the human

5:28

cry, which was basically a

5:30

shout for help. Anyone

5:33

nearby who heard it was expected to

5:35

stop whatever they were doing to help

5:37

you and try to catch the suspect.

5:40

Anyone who didn't join would be punished.

5:44

Later, different alert systems were

5:46

developed. Watchmen patrolling

5:48

the streets in the late 1700s carried

5:51

wooden rattles to use if they spotted a

5:54

fire. Anyone who heard

5:56

it, both citizens and volunteer firefighters,

5:59

would grab any equipment. equipment they had and

6:01

run in the direction of the noise. In

6:05

1828, Philadelphia developed

6:07

a system using a special bell

6:09

in the statehouse steeple. A

6:12

watchman would ring the bell two times if

6:14

a fire was south of the statehouse, three

6:17

if the fire was to the east, and

6:19

so on. But

6:22

finding the exact location of the emergency

6:24

with these kinds of systems wasn't

6:26

easy. In

6:28

the mid 1800s, the recent invention of

6:31

the telegraph inspired a new

6:33

system in Boston. Boxes

6:36

were installed around the city that were wired

6:38

to a central office. If

6:40

someone needed help, they could turn a crank on

6:42

one of the boxes, which would

6:44

send a signal to the central office and

6:47

indicate exactly where the alarm was

6:49

being rung. You

6:51

can still see some of these boxes on the streets

6:53

of Boston today, and they still

6:55

work. This

6:57

alarm box system spread around the

7:00

country. And

7:03

then, in the late 1800s, people began

7:05

installing telephones in their homes. But

7:09

we didn't get a universal number for

7:11

emergencies in the United States until 1968.

7:17

The number 911 was chosen because it

7:19

was easy to remember and short, which

7:22

was especially important when most phones were

7:24

rotary phones and it took longer to

7:26

dial each number. It

7:29

was also unique. There wasn't

7:31

already a 911 area code,

7:34

and they hoped people might remember it. At

7:37

the time, one member of the FCC said

7:39

that 911 was going to be better known

7:41

than 007. But

7:45

it didn't take off right away. Just

7:48

20 years later, in 1987, only 50 percent of the country was using 911. Today,

7:55

about 240 million calls are made to 911 a year. most

8:01

of them from cell phones. But

8:04

a lot of people call 911 when

8:06

they don't actually need to. And

8:09

sometimes someone calling 911 can lead

8:11

to a response that turns something

8:14

that's not an emergency into

8:16

one. The 911 system

8:18

has been criticized for having a police-first

8:21

emergency response model and

8:24

dispatching police to situations that don't

8:26

involve a crime or violence. Terry

8:31

Clark says she gets all kinds

8:33

of calls. She says sometimes

8:35

they're from people who are just worried and

8:38

don't know what to do. I hear 911

8:41

calls with teenage moms all

8:43

the time where I

8:45

can relate and I notice against protocol, but

8:47

you know, you might say, I have

8:50

a child your age. I understand. Terry's

8:53

daughter, Tania, is 17. That's

8:55

one of the calls where you say, I

8:58

understand what you're going through, but try this.

9:00

But anyway, or maybe

9:02

they might call for EMS and

9:05

they call him back because they've

9:07

been waiting so long. You might

9:09

give them an idea, ma'am, do you have

9:11

a family member or a neighbor

9:14

that might take you to the

9:16

hospital since EMS is not

9:19

available at this time? You know,

9:22

oh, baby, I never thought about that. Let me go

9:24

ask my neighbor. So, hey,

9:27

one last call we have to go to and they're

9:29

going to the emergency room. How

9:32

do you keep yourself calm when you're

9:35

talking to someone who's in a

9:38

very big crisis? I

9:44

have to set the tone for them. And

9:47

if they hysterical and I'm

9:50

hysterical, we're not going to get

9:52

anything, you know. We're

9:55

not going to get them the help they need or

9:57

the address because we both screaming. So

10:00

you have to set the tone and just

10:02

remember, I need you

10:04

to answer these questions so the

10:06

responders can know how to respond

10:09

to the situation that they're en

10:11

route to, whether it's an

10:13

electrical pole or a stove

10:15

on fire to a baby

10:17

choking, or if they

10:19

had a stroke, have they had one before?

10:21

You know, so they can know

10:24

what all the equipment they need to bring

10:26

inside with them. How

10:29

do you recover after a day

10:31

of answering

10:33

calls where you're listening

10:36

to a scared child or a horrified person

10:38

hearing someone trying to break into their house?

10:42

To be honest, you

10:45

don't. You

10:48

don't. We

10:50

was trained not to bring work home

10:52

with you. So when I

10:54

get in my car, I tend to

10:56

take my ID off of my neck.

10:59

That's like me relieving work.

11:02

You know, leaving work where is that? When

11:05

I go home, the first thing I

11:07

want to do is take my shirt off. I'm

11:10

taking work off of me, but

11:13

you you

11:16

get immune to it. And

11:22

if you know, we can

11:25

only go to the item or

11:27

the incident at the end to see

11:30

if the person needed to the hospital

11:34

was the fire put out, how many

11:37

family members are without

11:39

their home or

11:41

not able to go back to

11:44

their house that day after their house fire.

11:48

With the police, you know, the

11:50

outcome was someone arrested. Did

11:53

they make it to the hospital? Their

11:55

house broken into. We don't

11:58

know if they're going to sleep. sleep

12:00

at home that night. You

12:02

never know what happens to someone

12:05

after you get off the call with them.

12:08

Can you find out? Not

12:12

for an operator, not

12:14

really. Unless

12:18

you go and

12:21

research that call, but you take

12:23

so many, you don't

12:26

have time for that. When

12:30

you get there at 7, you're probably waiting

12:32

on 7 p.m. that night because Orleans

12:34

Parish have a high call volume.

12:37

So you really never go back to

12:40

look and see what happened with this

12:42

call. Not that you don't care, but

12:45

when you release that call, you take

12:47

a deep breath and

12:50

you're ready for the next call. In

12:54

2012, a Northern Illinois

12:56

University study looked at

12:59

PTSD in 911 dispatchers. One

13:03

clinical psychologist said, dispatchers

13:05

are the forgotten first responders.

13:09

They carry a high level of responsibility for

13:11

coordinating the response to the incident, but

13:14

they are very remote from it. High

13:17

levels of responsibility and low levels

13:19

of the ability to actually influence

13:21

the outcome mean extremely high

13:24

stress. Do

13:26

you think that this work

13:28

has changed the

13:30

person that you are when

13:33

you leave work, the way you see the world,

13:35

the way you look at other people? Yes.

13:42

For my daughter, because

13:45

like so, and

13:48

even in the world, if you've been looking

13:50

at it, you've been having a lot

13:52

of shootings at football games, high school

13:55

games. So yes, you want

13:57

to enjoy your senior life. and

14:00

have fun, but yet I'm scared. She

14:03

don't understand. At work, I

14:05

hear the danger all the

14:07

time. She young, she

14:09

just want to go, go, go. And

14:13

you know, you have to be, I try

14:15

to tell her, you have to be mindful of

14:17

who your friends is, mindful of

14:19

your surroundings. We

14:22

asked Terri's daughter, Tania, what she thought about

14:24

her mother's work. I remember

14:26

I used to like, if I was at going to

14:28

summer camp for stuff, I used to wear the job. So

14:31

I'm like, okay, so my momma be

14:33

like, 911, what's your emergency? So I used to

14:35

be happy to tell people that. And

14:37

like, I felt like from like

14:39

the age of like six to eight,

14:43

I wanted to be a 911 operator,

14:45

but then I was like, no. Tania,

14:50

and she can tell you, sometimes if

14:52

I had had a rough day

14:54

or whatever, she might come

14:56

home and tell me, don't take it out

14:59

on me. Cause she say I be mean

15:01

or I be snappy. But when I come

15:03

home, like I tell her, give

15:06

me at least 15 minutes. Don't

15:08

talk to me. Don't tell me

15:10

anything. Let me calm down. She

15:13

don't realize it's a rush. You

15:15

know, like, I

15:19

need to calm down. I just need peace

15:21

and quiet. After 12

15:23

hours of listening to people,

15:26

problems, listening to call takers,

15:29

dispatches, other people

15:31

calling for things like, give me 15 minutes. Sometimes

15:35

even when I come home, I have

15:37

to sit in my car for 15

15:39

minutes just to be at peace with

15:43

nothing playing no radio, not

15:45

being on the phone, just

15:47

hearing the birds turfing or

15:51

whatever. On October 17th,

15:53

2022, Terry answered a 911 call. But

16:00

she was never expecting. It

16:02

really wasn't until I took Tennille's

16:05

call that I realized

16:07

I tend to

16:09

hold everything inside of me. We'll

16:16

be right back. Support

16:37

for Criminal comes from Universal Pictures. Argyle

16:40

is a twist-filled spy adventure starring

16:42

Bryce Dallas Howard as Ellie Conway,

16:44

an author whose fictional spy novels

16:46

begin to mirror the actions of

16:49

a real-life spy organization. Accompanied

16:51

by spy Aiden, played by Sam Rockwell,

16:54

Ellie races across the world to stay

16:56

one step ahead and the line between

16:58

the imaginary and reality begins to

17:00

blur. The film's

17:03

cast includes Henry Cavill, Bryan Cranston,

17:05

Catherine O'Hara, Dua Lipa, Ariana

17:07

DeBose, with John Cena and

17:09

Samuel L. Jackson. Directed

17:12

by Matthew Vaughn and written by

17:14

Jason Fuchs. Argyle, only in

17:16

theaters February 2nd, rated PG-13.

17:27

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18:36

Terry, take me

18:38

through October 17th.

18:41

How did your shift start? Just

18:44

take me through how that day started. Okay,

18:47

so my regular shift was from 6.30 to

18:49

7 p.m. I'm about

18:51

to say 1900.

18:53

So Tenea had to work

18:55

that evening. Tenea,

19:02

who was 16 at the time, had just

19:04

started her first job working at McDonald's.

19:07

Her shift started at 5 p.m. So

19:10

I signed up to do a little

19:12

overtime. I was like, I'm

19:14

going to stay here, make a little extra money, and

19:17

that way I'm up. You know, I

19:19

had it set. When she got off at

19:21

10, I'll be getting off to pick up. So

19:26

my shift ended, had

19:29

just started the overtime shift, and

19:32

I was

19:37

plugged in and the call came over.

19:41

Terry recognized Tenea's cell phone number on the

19:43

display. Because 911 have

19:46

call ID. It don't tell you the name,

19:48

but it tell you the address and like,

19:51

well, if it's from your cell phone, it

19:53

tell you the phone

19:56

number and give you the

19:59

closest address. address that it is. Like

20:02

that area or the

20:04

street, it all depends on, you know,

20:07

what company you have in a tower.

20:10

So immediately I looked

20:13

at my cell phone to make sure I didn't

20:15

miss a call from her. I

20:17

didn't have no call, right? So

20:21

in my mind, I'm like, why

20:23

is she calling my work phone? I didn't tell

20:25

her about this. Has she called

20:27

you at work before? Yes.

20:31

So, all right. I

20:34

might call her from the

20:36

desk phone, but

20:38

if you call the number bank, it'll

20:41

come to 911. Instead

20:44

of her calling like my

20:47

extension, she probably just hit

20:49

call bank and she'll come through

20:51

911 and she might say, mask me

20:53

to my mama, mask me to Terry

20:55

Clark. So, you

20:57

know, I'm like, Hey, I didn't tell

21:00

her this over and over. Don't call

21:02

them, but text me and I'll, you

21:04

know, stuff I would call you. So,

21:08

that day

21:11

when her

21:13

number came across, I'm

21:15

like 911, was she an emergency?

21:18

And she was like, mama, we

21:21

been robbed. I'm

21:23

like, I know I'm not here,

21:25

but I just heard. And

21:28

so I'm like, what's

21:30

your address? I

21:33

know my child was at McDonald's. I know where

21:35

she was, but I still need to know. Hey,

21:37

she could have left off, so let's

21:39

verify. And she was

21:41

like, mama, I'm

21:43

at the store, you know, it's me,

21:46

Taneer. So, once

21:49

again, what is your address? Because I

21:52

was trained to treat every

21:54

caller like their family.

21:56

So, when you get your family member, you

21:58

treat them like their regular girl. caller.

22:01

No, I mean, it's 911 was the

22:03

location of the emergency. Can

22:07

you please, you know, right now, the McDonald's?

22:11

Where is my

22:14

job? I

22:17

still need the address. It's been wrong. What's

22:19

the address? What's the address? The McDonald's or

22:21

click on 2866 click on? I

22:26

had to go through the protocol. So

22:29

I went under

22:31

robbery, asked all my questions.

22:33

Okay. Who

22:36

have a gun? Okay.

22:43

Is she inside or outside? Hello.

22:50

Okay. Okay. Is

22:53

she inside? She's

22:55

inside the location. Is

22:58

she trying to rob the store? Yeah.

23:04

I have to ask you these questions, baby.

23:06

Is she inside the store? Yes,

23:10

Mama. She's trying to rob it.

23:14

Yeah, she's. Yeah.

23:21

Give me a description. Give

23:25

me a description. Hello.

23:28

I would have backpack model, please. Okay.

23:32

We're gonna hurry. Give me a

23:34

description. She's a

23:36

black lady. She got a mask on. She got

23:38

somebody outside. And

23:43

she got a freezer. You're

23:45

in the freezer? Yes,

23:48

she has to the freezer. When

23:50

she said like we're in the freezer.

23:54

That was my break in point. Because

23:57

during the call, I had believe it. not

24:00

tears in my eyes, you

24:02

know, but I was trying to

24:04

remain calm, like to

24:06

get help, to feed them the information

24:09

just in case, you know,

24:11

when I'm saying, what was she wearing in case

24:13

the police come in that way. And

24:15

a lot of citizens don't

24:17

realize we asking for a description

24:19

because when the police come and

24:23

they don't just have one unit,

24:25

they have multiple units, someone might

24:27

spot the bad guy. So that was

24:29

my reason for asking. What

24:31

did you, you were calm, but what was going on in

24:33

your, in your body? I

24:36

sounded calm. I wasn't calm.

24:41

Cause I hit the mute button, some of

24:43

that's my child. Y'all get somebody to make

24:45

dollars. When she said,

24:47

we're in the freezer and

24:49

you heard me say in the freezer, I,

24:55

we, we can't never call no call

24:57

a baby. You heard me say, baby,

25:00

we coming, baby. I'm coming. I went

25:03

into mother mode. Please come

25:05

on. Baby,

25:08

I am. I'm gonna send somebody. I

25:10

have to ask you these questions. What's

25:13

she offer? All right. All right. Yeah,

25:15

she's on foot. Okay.

25:17

And y'all inside the location? Yes,

25:21

mama. We're gonna

25:23

get someone out. Okay. I have

25:25

to ask you these questions. How

25:28

many of y'all are in the freezer? How many

25:31

of y'all are in the freezer? It's

25:33

probably, it's probably, it's probably. It's

25:38

probably. It's probably. It's probably. It's

25:40

probably. All

25:43

right. Okay. What's your

25:46

name? What's your name?

25:48

Kenea, Kenea, you. Okay.

25:50

We're gonna have someone to come

25:52

out. Okay. Y'all in McDonald's. What's

25:56

your? Okay. We're gonna get

25:58

someone out. Okay. All

26:00

right. All

26:03

right. All right. Okay. Call

26:05

us back if anything changed. If y'all

26:07

have further information. Okay.

26:10

All right. To

26:14

hear your child call out for

26:16

help and

26:20

you're not there, and your

26:22

child begging you for help, and

26:25

really, you, I'm

26:28

sending help, but at the time

26:30

I'm not there to grab

26:32

my child and tell her it's going to be all right.

26:36

It was painful. I'm

26:41

a single parent and,

26:46

you know, I'm all she has.

26:51

And that time when she

26:53

needed me the most, it

26:56

wasn't nothing but God that I was in her

26:58

ear saying, we coming, mama

27:01

coming. But

27:04

then I had to switch it back to

27:06

being professional. I

27:08

wasn't nervous, right? I'm

27:11

like, you know, will

27:14

I see my child? Will

27:16

my child get home? But

27:20

I'm trained to do my job. We'll

27:29

be right back. Tania,

27:49

take me through what happened.

27:52

What was going on right before you called 911?

27:56

So that is school. I

27:59

really. did not feel good, like I had a

28:01

headache. And my friends, it's crazy because my friends,

28:04

they was like, don't go to work, girl, don't

28:06

go to work. I'm like, no, I gotta

28:08

go to work, I need my money. So

28:10

I go to work, and I'm

28:12

like, okay, this gonna be a regular shift, it's

28:14

fine. I'm like, okay. I'm looking at the clock,

28:16

time almost up, we about to go. Then

28:19

we seen somebody come in with a

28:22

hoodie, so I thought they was about

28:24

to order, so I say, hey,

28:26

how you doing, welcome to McDonald's, how

28:29

may I help you? And he had another

28:31

girl, she was walking over there to go take

28:33

the order or whatever. But

28:36

instead, she came to the back,

28:38

and me and my co-worker, we

28:40

looking like, is this actually

28:43

for real? We really getting

28:45

round right now? So

28:47

I look, and I'm

28:49

like, usually I always do this. Even if I'm

28:51

at school or something, if I

28:53

tuck my phone, I tuck it in the back, and

28:55

I'll pull my shirt down. That way you

28:57

can't really see. I don't

28:59

remember clearly, but I really think that I walked sideways,

29:01

that way she wouldn't be able to see it, it

29:04

was some way that I put it, that way she

29:06

wouldn't be able to see it, I still had my

29:08

phone on me. So

29:10

when I seen the gun, because

29:12

I remember she said, I'll never

29:14

forget this, she said, y'all

29:16

think I'm playing? And she pulled the

29:18

gun up, and I was like, oh. And

29:21

I'm the type of person, I really

29:23

don't like guns, they really scare me,

29:25

honestly. I'm

29:27

like, oh wow, okay. So I'm like,

29:30

I gotta be calm, because if I don't listen to

29:32

what she said, I could get hurt,

29:34

so I'm like, okay, I'm just following what she doing. So at

29:36

first she was gonna take us to the back, but then she

29:38

realized we had a freezer, whatever. So she put us in the

29:40

freezer, so I'm like, okay.

29:42

So I can't get out, stuck

29:44

in the freezer, I got my phone. So

29:48

usually people, phones don't work in the freezer, but

29:50

I'm like, I know my phone about to work.

29:52

So she closed the door, and I

29:55

waited about five to 10 seconds

29:57

before, like after she closed the door.

30:00

or whatever, and I'm like, okay, I'm calling

30:02

911. So calling

30:04

911, I'm expecting somebody to hear my voice

30:07

and probably notice me, because at the job,

30:09

I'm well known, everybody knew me as Terry

30:11

Daught, or Terry Twin. So

30:13

I call and

30:15

I hear her voice, and I'm like, this

30:18

ain't nobody but God. So

30:21

she was like, what are they wearing? I'm like,

30:23

I'm trying to remember what they wearing because at

30:25

this time, I'm trying to remain calm because that's

30:28

what I was starting to do. You call the

30:30

police, something going on, you remain calm because if

30:32

you're yelling, they can't understand what you're saying. So

30:34

I'm like, I can't yell. And

30:36

had your mother told you that always, is

30:39

that something you would learn from your mother? Yes,

30:41

I learned that you're not supposed to yell at adults.

30:44

No reason why. So, you

30:46

know, I'm talking calm, and at the same

30:48

time, I can't be disrespectful, and I can't

30:50

yell because the lady could probably be outside

30:52

the door. I

30:54

can't be disrespectful, that's my mama. So

30:57

yeah, so I'm like, I gotta make sure that I'm able

30:59

to tell her this calmly and clearly, that way she could

31:01

be able to hear. And this

31:04

is like a real big thing for me because like, everybody

31:07

who's in the freezer, I was the youngest.

31:10

So I'm like, I

31:12

gotta show that I'm not that childish,

31:14

I can't be scared. So

31:16

in the middle of the call, I tell my mama,

31:18

I'm like, she got us in the

31:20

freezer because I'm shivering, but I'm telling her at the same

31:22

time. So like, I know she was able to

31:24

hear me. I'm like, she got us in the freezer. And

31:28

when I heard my mama, she was like, you in

31:30

the freezer, and I know when my mama cry, like

31:32

my mama was never always the type to like,

31:34

describe. I mean, this

31:36

was your first job too. Yes,

31:38

it was actually my first week. That

31:41

was the first week on the job.

31:44

So towards the end of

31:46

the call, I can just hear my mama crying, like

31:48

in her voice, I could hear the change of tone.

31:51

And I looked at the

31:53

phone, I'm like, wait, my mama really crying.

31:55

So everybody, they like, oh, she only,

31:57

we're only waiting. That's why I kept saying mama, can you.

32:00

please send somebody please because I'm scared and

32:02

everybody else behind me scared but I can't

32:04

show I'm scared because I'm on the phone

32:07

nobody else wanted to call the police but I was going

32:09

to call the police. Once

32:13

you hung up the phone the call

32:15

ended with Tania what did you do?

32:17

I stood

32:20

up I told the man that

32:22

you're on duty I

32:25

gotta go that was my baby I

32:28

was so nervous I couldn't even log

32:31

I couldn't log out I told him log me

32:33

out I'm gone and I

32:36

clocked out I

32:38

got to her job is

32:40

maybe two miles away three

32:44

miles the most I

32:46

got to Tania job like in

32:49

about five minutes I

32:52

ran red lights I had to get

32:55

to my child and once

32:57

I arrived there one of

33:00

the sergeant she made

33:03

me out there and she was like

33:05

your baby is okay Terry you

33:07

you know you know the protocol you can't

33:09

come in it's a crime scene and

33:12

I was like just let me hold her

33:14

so she was like you know

33:16

we have a couple of more questions for

33:19

and then

33:21

you can get her so I

33:23

had to wait outside pace when

33:26

she came out we

33:29

hugged each other out there maybe

33:33

like three minutes you know

33:35

just tears. That was

33:38

nothing that

33:40

was the first time ever that

33:44

I just wanted to run and go hug my mom

33:46

like I got out and

33:49

I was like my mom yeah and that's straight

33:51

what I went to I went straight to my

33:53

mom and that hug was like huh

33:56

that was one of those like you know

33:58

how long day and you

34:01

just want to get in the shower and go to sleep.

34:04

That was that type of hug. It

34:06

was really a relief. That

34:10

night my daughter slept with

34:12

me. I allow her to sleep with

34:14

me because she cannot sleep with me.

34:18

And I went to work the next morning. Did

34:23

the people who robbed the McDonald's ever

34:25

get caught, were they found? To

34:27

my knowledge. Has

34:30

anything changed about how you answer

34:32

calls after what happened

34:35

with Tania? To

34:39

be honest with you, when

34:43

I'm at work now, I

34:50

answer calls but every

34:53

time I answer or if I know

34:56

Tania not where, like at school or

34:58

something, my first thought would be, oh

35:00

Lord, please don't let this be my

35:03

child. You know, it's a little frightening

35:05

now that you don't

35:07

want to call like you received

35:09

before. When

35:13

I get calls to where people

35:17

been robbed of a family member,

35:19

they didn't found their family member

35:22

inside, not breathing, unconscious, or

35:24

they possibly think they're dead.

35:27

You have more empathy because

35:29

to see a family member

35:31

go through something, you

35:33

know, you kind of see how they feel.

35:36

Even though it was over

35:38

the telephone, I felt my daughter's

35:40

pain. I felt my daughter, she

35:43

was scared for her life. So

35:45

I know how

35:47

they could feel if that answer

35:49

your question. Well,

35:52

if I ever have to call 911, I'd

35:55

be very glad if you were on the other side. Thank

35:59

you. Thank you. Oh.

36:02

Tania, what do you think

36:04

about being a 911 operator now? Well,

36:08

that is a job that I

36:10

cannot do. That's

36:12

like a job for a very

36:14

strong person. And my mom is the strongest person I

36:17

know. So, you know, that's

36:19

a job for a very strong person. Well,

36:23

you sound pretty strong yourself. I bet your mother

36:25

would say the same thing. I get

36:27

it from my mama. And

36:30

if she ever did own a company and she looked like a American management buddy, she decided to

36:32

get out and generate all of her money. But look, you've got 15 minutes. You

36:34

know you're still in the good Cayenne box. And

36:37

I'm not even a vegetarian person according to Covid. PB

36:44

Signiceps is a program that Emergency Mother Nature andcolors

36:46

call out all day. Criminal

36:50

was created by Lauren Spohr and me. Nadia

36:53

Wilson is our senior producer. Katie

36:55

Bishop is our superAAinsk-ing producer.

36:57

And here is Veronica Semenetti. Julian

37:01

Alexander makes original illustrations for each

37:03

episode of Criminal. You can see

37:05

them at thisiscriminal.com. You

37:08

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37:57

Cebi Judge. This is Criminal. Thank

38:01

you.