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Talking Dateline: Death at the Spa

Talking Dateline: Death at the Spa

Released Wednesday, 14th February 2024
 1 person rated this episode
Talking Dateline: Death at the Spa

Talking Dateline: Death at the Spa

Talking Dateline: Death at the Spa

Talking Dateline: Death at the Spa

Wednesday, 14th February 2024
 1 person rated this episode
Rate Episode

Episode Transcript

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0:00

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slash bundle. USAA. Restrictions

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apply. apply. So

0:20

this episode of Talking Dateline is

0:22

featuring a Dateline episode called

0:24

Death at the Spa, which

0:28

is quite the title. And this

0:30

is a very good episode from

0:32

Josh Mankiewicz. Hello, Josh. Hi,

0:35

Andrea. Yeah, I can't wait

0:37

to dig into this one. There is so

0:39

much to talk about. We

0:42

have a lot of spoilers coming up. So if you

0:44

haven't listened to the show yet or watched it on

0:46

TV, it's the episode right below this one on the

0:48

list of podcasts. So go there, listen to it or

0:50

watch it on TV and then come back here. And

0:53

when you come back, I've got a ton

0:55

of questions for Josh. And apparently, so do

0:57

you. A lot of people

1:00

posted questions on social media about this one.

1:02

And the last thing we should mention, Josh

1:04

is going to play us an extra clip

1:06

from one of his interviews that didn't make

1:08

it into the broadcast, which this

1:10

is a good one for an extra clip. There's

1:13

a little tease for you because

1:15

it's something that you won't

1:17

see coming from the episode. So

1:20

stick around for that. And

1:22

you'll hear that right here on Talking

1:24

Dateline. Okay, so let's talk Dateline, Josh.

1:27

But first. Josh

1:31

is, for those of you who can't see this, he

1:33

is holding up a sign that says, I'm wearing a

1:37

wire. Right, which is figured in

1:39

this show. A very funny moment. Not

1:41

that murder is funny, of course, but

1:43

I'm sorry, I laughed when

1:46

that happened, when you held up that sign, because

1:48

I wouldn't have thought of that. As I said

1:50

in the broadcast, maybe I watch too many movies

1:52

and TV shows, but that kind of thing

1:54

does happen when people are being recorded and they want

1:56

to tip off the other person. Now,

1:59

in that sting. The world, the land of

2:01

ourselves they are but they now on the of

2:03

be I was watching as well as listening but

2:05

I presume there was an opportunity. Verna hold up

2:07

a sign just like that and I as valerie

2:09

about and she says that she did not sell

2:11

aren't Like right out of the game I thought

2:13

okay. This is an episode for me. And

2:16

I'll I am a huge. Real Housewives fan.

2:19

Ends and of Orange County is

2:21

actually my favorite. And at

2:23

the same choice. About of all the

2:25

hell's one of on a half ago my

2:27

number one and as I started watching I

2:29

thought to myself minus the murder. All.

2:32

Of this could be in the

2:34

Real Housewives. I mean. It.

2:36

Was so fitting all of the the drama

2:38

and the men and women. In the

2:40

Sex and The I mean it's also

2:43

sued Surgery be to the you know

2:45

Elvis was a mom. and

2:47

of friend and she had a

2:50

group knack for making people. Feel.

2:53

Brighter, lighter beer and she connected

2:55

with her clients. only the

2:57

Susilo people love for, you know,

3:00

Builder. To had a lot of boyfriends

3:02

and see did not always tell he's

3:04

one of them but the others. Does.

3:06

Usually no problem in life. Unless.

3:09

You get killed. And. Then. All

3:12

of those relationships are going to it looked at which is

3:14

what happened. Here on one hand as like O L

3:16

Dakota, you're playing with fire And then there was a

3:18

part of me that was like look, I guess she

3:20

knows what she wants in L This is a woman

3:22

whose sorta like. As as

3:24

me, she was sort of constantly

3:27

looking for. The. Right

3:29

guy. You. Know she went through

3:31

long ago as defined that put as your

3:33

friends told us your she would believe this

3:35

year the right guy. Once you get bored

3:37

masood, move on to some other right guy

3:39

and you know. One of the things that

3:41

this episode sort of bears out is that.

3:43

You. Know homicide investigation have a

3:45

nasty habit of laying bare everybody

3:48

secrets including those held by people

3:50

who don't so we have anything

3:52

to do with the murder. It

3:54

certainly gives a lot of suspects

3:57

instantly got this Long lists for

3:59

law enforcement of people who who

4:01

could want her dead. Be.

4:03

I Oh, there was a lot of drama

4:06

in the is in this story. There was,

4:08

and certainly a lot of it was generated.

4:10

By. That relationship between. Elder.

4:12

Joe and the As and the Man

4:15

she had been seeing and his wife

4:17

Elizabeth Back isn't so ill. The Co

4:19

is sleeping less elizabeth. Husband's.

4:22

At. One point. Yes. So. Elizabeth.

4:26

Goes and confronts. Sell.

4:28

Decal at the spa. Yeah,

4:30

both of them. and there was a fight. There

4:32

was a shouting fight, And somebody

4:34

shoved somebody else. Not quite clear

4:37

how that happened. Or. Who

4:39

began that right after the one

4:41

of the explosion illegals husband and

4:43

Stephen deal both. Tell. Law

4:45

Enforcement about that other couple

4:48

and about how angry Elizabeth

4:50

a dinner she wants. And.

4:52

Was of of that she got her husband back

4:54

from illegal and. That didn't even

4:56

slow how angry she was until

4:58

the girl. she's sending old ago

5:01

photos which we would never be

5:03

able to show on Tv. I'm

5:05

essentially say I got him, You

5:08

lost know. The

5:10

feeling I got from. From. it

5:13

was was that was that she was more

5:15

interested in gloating that she was in hurting

5:17

anybody you know it was trash talk and

5:19

are more than she was like absolute going

5:21

to go on her but it was with

5:23

knew that i think she knew as and

5:25

said us that that see expected. That

5:28

the police would be at her door after she heard that

5:30

l the job and killed. And.

5:32

right? This this is like

5:35

really scary. When. you're dealing

5:37

with at it in explosion as

5:39

it. As a method of

5:41

murder, I mean you're putting. Other

5:43

people in danger, not just your

5:46

target by like anybody. Any that

5:48

was a big explosion in a

5:50

commercial area. Will. Particularly when

5:52

it's a it is your that

5:54

bombs not remotely detonated. And it

5:57

wasn't like put in some his car where you

5:59

can see who it. There's and push a button. I

6:01

mean, That bomb was gonna go off whenever

6:03

they package was open and it was ill ago.

6:05

Who. Opened it and she was getting a kill

6:08

and if somebody else them that they were

6:10

going to I killed live. There were three

6:12

people standing around when that happened. they were

6:14

getting a kill an evil and it opened

6:16

up the walls of the building and that's

6:18

what people thought was a ghastly because was

6:20

that kind of like super powerful explosion. And

6:22

there were two women in the spawn. Ah,

6:25

at the time they just been her

6:27

clients and that's when they. They get

6:29

this. This huge flash and an explosion

6:31

and then the roof caves and. Can

6:34

you add in that sphere? Both. Of those

6:36

women have dealt with serious. Health

6:39

concerns since there. And not

6:41

just physically, but imagine they're at their the

6:43

mental trauma that they you. Wouldn't know married

6:45

orderly from something. Like that. It's just

6:47

not something. You. See very often

6:49

you know of a way to target

6:51

someone. I mean, this requires

6:53

skill. To. A lot of

6:56

skills et al how to do this and also

6:58

to know where she is when she's there, that

7:00

there's a good chance she'll be the one to

7:02

open at. I mean, a lot. Of

7:04

thought has I go into this. Is

7:07

and that's one of the things that sort of

7:09

narrowed the field. I mean, You know, there

7:11

were a lot of things that led investigators

7:13

to Stephen Bill. I mean she had gone

7:15

out with or he clearly was disappointed that

7:17

they were together anymore. He's had the chemicals

7:20

in his house with could have been used

7:22

to make the bar and he bought that

7:24

battery. ah just a few days before the

7:26

explosion of which they believe is the battery

7:28

powered the bomb and they breed. But that

7:30

box that is very much like the one

7:33

that the. That. The of the other women

7:35

in the spa soil the globe as I mean. It's.

7:37

Kind of circumstantial in that case.

7:39

The detective work was really incredible.

7:42

Honest with you know, down to

7:44

the Cvs video of buying that

7:46

battery and me nuts. That.

7:48

Was. That. Was really good. That.

7:51

Was an investigator for saw the

7:53

video of Stephen be getting tears

7:55

from that machine. And he knew

7:57

that area and he said, you know

7:59

what they're. Cvs right across the street and

8:01

down a little bit and he's like was just

8:03

go get their tape and see what we say

8:06

and so they get to tape and they find

8:08

Stephen be buying one battery that was that was

8:10

definitely us or of clinching piece of evidence I

8:12

think. One. Of the things

8:14

I just could not understand. Was.

8:17

Why? Stephen. Would

8:20

insert himself and come in.

8:23

Without. Even being asked, I'd love your

8:25

take. Your this is not be the

8:27

first time with On Dateline that we've seen

8:29

somebody walk into law enforcement. And.

8:32

Engage them, feel it with the guise of

8:34

i'm trying to be helpful I was are

8:36

trying to find out is how much you

8:38

have. He certainly came across as a guy

8:40

who thinks he's the smartest guy in the

8:42

world. Walk. In in law enforcement

8:45

volunteering all this information and when he

8:47

leaves, she's under much more suspicion that

8:49

he was with the moment he walked

8:51

in. Maybe in his mind, he thought,

8:53

well, the real killer wouldn't volunteer and

8:55

wouldn't come in. You know they. They

8:58

certainly will think I'm innocent. But

9:00

she's. Killed by a bomb. And.

9:03

That is such a specialized thing and year

9:05

in her world. your and her circle. And

9:08

you. At. Know and real

9:10

that Tyler saying you've got those chemical the

9:12

moves You get that video online about a

9:14

mix explosive chemicals night and he had to

9:16

have known that was out there. Arm.

9:19

You. Know he also had the know those those

9:21

who those chemicals were in his house. And

9:24

would be found in a search warrant. A

9:26

If. You. Looking back as

9:28

mercy to those, retain counsel immediately and

9:30

not speak with law enforcement but absolutely

9:32

any would be other way when you

9:35

scrub your house as. If

9:37

you've just committed a murder like wow wouldn't

9:39

wouldn't you have like gotten rid of all

9:41

of your chemicals in your explosives? I. Asked

9:44

about the I presume the

9:46

answer could be that any.

9:49

Traces of those chemicals could still be detected.

9:51

Yeah, a negative. You get rid of them.

9:54

Are that a A? You know, a A?

9:56

sort of. but you know Explosive sniffing dog

9:58

is still gonna know that. Was.

10:01

Exposed to chemicals stored there at one point and

10:03

that may look worse for you then as you

10:06

just leave them there and say well I build

10:08

model rocket so he I have this in the

10:10

garage and they've been or long time. True,

10:12

and but if you don't volunteer

10:15

yourself, Eat. It may never get

10:17

to the point where they can even get a

10:19

search warrant. For. Your house. Will.

10:21

Assume seem be only law enforcement job

10:23

easier by want to you and not

10:26

being able to Zola. There's no Priscilla.

10:28

So Stephen, one of the things.

10:31

We we teased earlier I and earthquakes.

10:33

Were. Having an earthquake? Your hair? Know whom? right?

10:36

Now we are you? Okay. With anything

10:38

falling on. Mobile. I

10:40

saw you shaking. Know. This

10:42

is still searching. My

10:45

Dental surgeon. Not a giant

10:47

one button or definitely bigger than

10:49

last year that we had current

10:51

Will. Really here

10:53

looks intact. so let's continue.

10:56

Some. Never a dull moment on talking Dateline.

10:59

No. No children Rose. And.

11:02

The other thing that was just unbelievable

11:04

to me was says. This.

11:07

says the. Acting gig that he got.

11:10

In Twelve Angry Jurors What are

11:12

the odds? And then I

11:14

was dying when. You

11:17

tell us that not only was.

11:19

State. Line in the audience, but so

11:21

is the Sci. There's the bureau. Ah,

11:24

You. Know those years ago pillow would was

11:27

six people wearing that same gray suit.

11:29

The audience loan move us litter box.

11:31

When you. Know if the players like

11:33

something from Shakespeare that that's one thing. This

11:35

is a play about a murder trial. I

11:37

mean come on and he's was yours. Warm

11:39

and in. the boy knows good a mean

11:42

you know. Art. Art art

11:44

imitating life and less of a deal.

11:46

York? Yeah, no kidding. I'm

11:48

when we come back. Josh has a

11:50

clip to place for us from his

11:52

interview with Stevens daughter. You

12:00

were day a service to

12:02

help you say take advantage

12:04

of savings when you hover

12:06

your homes as you're right

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our how we're helping members

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at Usa A.com/bundle. Restrictions

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apply Hey guys, Willie Geist here. Remind

12:15

you to check out the Sunday Sit

12:18

Down Podcast. On this week's episode, I

12:20

get together with one of the funniest

12:22

people on the planet, Catherine O'hara to

12:24

talk about her new movie, Argyle Be

12:27

Wild popularity of her character Moira Rose

12:29

and. Her lifetime in comedy.

12:31

You can get our conversation now

12:34

for for read wherever you download

12:36

your podcasts. Hell

12:41

was I thought the big weakness in

12:43

the government's case and it's the same one

12:45

as the difference pointed out in both

12:47

trials, both a mistrial. In the eventual

12:49

verdict is I see the chemicals and

12:51

I see this the the very specialized

12:53

set of skills with that you would

12:55

need to have to make a bomb like

12:57

that. I see the access and I

12:59

see the motive. One I don't see

13:01

is the venom. Which. You

13:04

know, we've covered a lot of Jesus like

13:06

this in which guys. Killer. At

13:08

their answers or the woman who broke

13:10

up with them and they usually telegraph

13:12

that much it's not hard to see.

13:14

Tell me you know they're furious and

13:16

I sort of government like. Where's

13:18

the text where he says you'll never get

13:20

away with this or you know you humiliated

13:23

me. You will pay for and that I

13:25

just didn't see. there still is changing sort

13:27

of these these cuddly texts or right up

13:29

until the end. Because. He's like a.

13:32

Bomb himself. That's. About

13:35

to go off at sell. Bottled up inside it's

13:37

as easy need to light the fuse, you know

13:39

he. That's exactly what the government's that,

13:41

which is he's not that down. A

13:43

person is over numbers new, you're angry

13:46

and yell he's gonna take some some

13:48

a ladson a the. That that

13:50

when that when it kills you will not be subtle. One.

13:53

Of the things that was not in the show.

13:56

Which. is kind of bag of

13:58

kind of surprised it wasn't in the show. Stephen,

14:02

this is not the first

14:05

death of someone he

14:07

supposedly cared about. No,

14:10

it's not. In 2008,

14:13

his wife, Christine,

14:15

fell down the stairs in the home

14:18

that they had in the Long Beach

14:20

area. We have a clip of Charlene

14:22

Brown, Stephen Beale's daughter, on that topic.

14:25

So my mom and dad start

14:27

carrying this dresser down the stairs.

14:30

He's above and she's below. She's on the top, she's

14:32

on the bottom. If I were doing this, I'd be

14:34

on the downward side and my wife would be at

14:37

the top. Not if you're my mom. She

14:39

was strong enough. Oh, yeah. And

14:41

something happened. He lost his grip? Basically,

14:43

they lose their balance. So

14:46

she falls and

14:48

the dresser falls on

14:50

top of her abdomen and my dad falls

14:52

on top of the pile. And

14:54

she's hurt pretty badly. Yeah, she was hurt

14:56

pretty badly. Your mom was convinced it was

14:58

completely an accident. It was completely an accident.

15:02

You're convinced it was completely an accident. Completely convinced

15:04

it's an accident. And anything else to

15:06

the contrary is absolutely absurd. Wow.

15:09

She has some lingering injuries from that and she

15:11

has to go back to

15:13

the hospital a few more times over

15:16

the next couple of weeks. And then eventually

15:18

she dies from those injuries. But

15:22

the death is attributed not

15:24

to that only, but also

15:26

to some complicating factors. One

15:29

of which being that she had a lot of lead in

15:31

her system. And

15:33

no one's quite clear where that came from. So

15:35

she dies. Is this

15:37

suspicious to some people? Well, certainly in light

15:39

of the Ildiko situation it is. But even

15:42

back then, it was enough for law enforcement

15:44

to take a look at it. The reason

15:46

I didn't include that is

15:49

that I didn't have the time to tell

15:51

the Ildiko story and this other story. That

15:53

could be a whole separate date line, except

15:55

it doesn't lead anywhere. No charges

15:57

were ever filed. the

16:00

insurance company did not want to

16:02

pay the settlement to Stephen Beale

16:05

for the accidental death of his wife. And

16:09

there was a lawsuit about that, and he

16:11

won, and they paid. Oh my goodness. So

16:14

he must have had some argument that

16:17

she died legitimately as an accident.

16:20

And that's why we decided not to

16:22

spend any time on it, because to

16:25

tell that story kind of suggests

16:27

to the audience that there's more

16:29

there than actually is there. Can

16:32

we talk about Valerie, Valerie,

16:34

Valerie? Yeah, Valerie.

16:36

Oh, Valerie. I just wanted to shake her.

16:38

Like, why are you staying

16:40

with him? Well, that's the

16:42

question. I mean, you know, they had just started

16:45

seeing each other when he got arrested. She

16:48

stuck with him. They dropped the charges. She's

16:50

there to pick him up from the slam.

16:52

Now, I will say this. I

16:55

thought that Valerie sort of

16:57

was doing the best that she could in the situation

16:59

that she was in. And, you

17:02

know, I mean, as I said to Valerie, there

17:04

weren't any men available who were

17:06

not already facing a federal indictment.

17:08

I mean, there are. You

17:11

don't have to take the Stephen Beales

17:13

of the world who are locked up. But

17:15

she was on board by then, and she cared for

17:18

him. And I think she thought, well, you know, he

17:20

says this is nothing. And

17:22

therefore I believe him. And when the

17:24

FBI came to her and put a lot of pressure on

17:26

her, you know,

17:28

Valerie sort of said, look, I

17:31

will do the right thing here. I

17:33

will be undercover. I'll wear a wire

17:35

and I'll be at this wired, you

17:37

know, weekend away with the FBI listening

17:40

in the next room and watching on

17:42

video. And I will try and get

17:44

him to confess. And nobody, not the

17:46

prosecutors, not the FBI, nobody claims that

17:48

Valerie did not try. She tried to

17:50

get Stephen to say something

17:52

incriminating and he did not. Valerie Reid

17:54

And that's the other side of the coin. You know, the one

17:57

side is your sign, right? And then the other

17:59

side is... she was doing

18:01

everything she said she was doing. She was

18:03

being truthful and he didn't bite. And so

18:06

that, you know, made her feel better that

18:08

like, here we are in private and he's not,

18:11

you know, confessing to this, I feel better about

18:14

this. I think his lack of confessing

18:16

did make her feel better. And I

18:19

believe that Valerie was maybe more

18:21

surprised by the verdict than a

18:23

lot of people. Well, she was

18:25

also very surprised by your revelation

18:28

that that hurts, which, wow,

18:30

I've never seen anything like that on

18:32

Dateline before. When

18:35

you told her about these text messages

18:37

to Ildiko that Stephen was sending when

18:39

they were together and she thought he

18:41

was over her and I mean,

18:44

that was just, oh, that was so

18:46

painful to watch her face in real

18:48

time getting that news about that,

18:50

you know, he was still in love with Ildiko. Yeah.

18:52

And that was not pleasant for me either. But

18:54

on the other hand, Valerie was

18:56

on the witness list for both

18:58

trials. So she wasn't there when

19:00

those texts were read in court.

19:03

So that's information that was available

19:05

to everybody except her. And,

19:07

you know, she's not talking to the

19:09

government. They're not breaking down the case

19:11

for her. Now, Stephen's defense was I

19:14

didn't hate Ildiko. In fact, I'd

19:16

already moved on. I was in another relationship and

19:19

it's this woman of our. The text messages would

19:21

say otherwise. Uh, the government's

19:23

argument was that the whole relationship with Valerie

19:25

was sort of part of his alibi, that

19:27

he did it as part of the coverup.

19:31

I, there really is anything to prove

19:33

that. Uh, and Valerie, I

19:35

think certainly felt like

19:37

that was a genuine relationship. And

19:39

then you present her with these text messages.

19:43

That was enough for her to, to break

19:45

up with them. Correct? Was that the beginning of

19:47

the end? I think the

19:49

beginning of the end was probably coming anyway. And

19:52

maybe that, uh, that sort of pushed

19:54

her a little bit quicker. Right. Well,

19:56

this, this was a very fascinating,

19:59

fascinating. episode. Coming

20:01

up in just a minute, I'm going to ask

20:03

Josh some of your questions about the show. We

20:06

know you have a lot. Sergeant

20:13

and Mrs. Smith, you're going to love this

20:16

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get your podcasts. So

21:01

Josh, a lot of viewer response

21:04

as we mentioned earlier. We got

21:07

one comment from a

21:09

viewer named Felicia who is Felicious

21:11

1908. I should say Felicia

21:13

is a friend of mine in real life

21:16

because we met at one of those one

21:18

of those Dateline viewer

21:20

events and then she and I have

21:22

kept in touch since there's a couple of pictures of us sitting

21:25

next to each other and we've stayed in touch on the

21:27

Twitter or whatever they're calling

21:29

it now. Well Felicia is very

21:32

intuitive and she has caught on

21:34

that Steven was talking in past tense

21:36

about Ildiko. Well which was one

21:38

thing that the cops realized that Steven Beal

21:40

was talking about Ildiko in the past tense

21:42

and that was before they had identified her

21:44

as the person who was killed in the

21:46

blast. He's talking about her in the past

21:48

tense. This is one of those things that

21:51

you and I come across all the time

21:53

which is that getting away with

21:55

murder is harder than you think it is.

21:58

Like you think okay I'm gonna camouflage my

22:00

involvement in the scheme. But then you can be

22:02

tripped up by something as small as you're

22:05

talking about the person as if they're dead and

22:07

the police haven't even identified the victim yet. That's

22:10

a tell. Yeah, for sure. All

22:12

right, Seth, underscore 982760. What

22:14

a talker. How many hours of interviews

22:19

did he give? Steven, I feel like it was more

22:21

than average. It was something like 10

22:23

hours. I think that for Steven Beal,

22:25

the urge to sort

22:29

of see where the investigation was going

22:32

was irresistible. He walked in

22:34

and just couldn't shut up. I

22:36

said this on Twitter the other night, which is,

22:39

if you're guilty, don't do that.

22:42

If you're innocent, don't do that. If

22:45

what you really like is facing a

22:47

lot of scrutiny for law enforcement, then

22:50

do that. I mean, the only time

22:52

if you're not guilty that you would want to do

22:54

that is if you genuinely had really

22:56

important information and you

22:59

tell the police, this could help you solve

23:01

this crime. This is really important that I

23:03

give you this information. Right. I'm not saying

23:05

don't go in and talk to the police.

23:07

I'm saying that whether you're innocent or whether

23:10

you're guilty, going in and sort of making

23:12

light of the situation and telling jokes, doing

23:14

a magic trick, that's something else. Okay.

23:18

So Sheena, Shebuster, 85. We're

23:21

not doctors. We're not therapists. But

23:24

could a narcissist pass a polygraph?

23:27

Certainly possible. Look, you don't

23:30

have to be a narcissist

23:32

to pass a polygraph. It's

23:35

one reason why they're generally

23:37

not admissible in

23:40

court cases and certainly

23:42

not in the instance of like

23:44

Stephen Dale. And

23:48

that's why. Because if

23:50

you can convince yourself, sometimes you can convince

23:54

a machine and therefore your

23:56

responses will appear to be truthful. Another

23:59

really big... viewer response was

24:02

in regards to Valerie. So, Jazz

24:05

and Summer said, why is

24:07

Josh embarrassing this woman on TV by reading

24:09

those texts? But then Felicia, Felicious1908, who we

24:11

already talked about, said, I'm glad Josh read

24:14

her the text. She really was

24:16

prepared to wait for him. And

24:18

then another person said, Josh

24:20

burst wifey's bubble with those

24:22

texts. So, you know, this

24:25

was a very unique moment in a

24:27

date line, for sure. Yeah. You know,

24:29

look, I did not

24:31

enjoy telling Valerie

24:33

that Stephen was still thinking

24:36

about Ildiko at a time when he was

24:38

telling Valerie that he was thinking only about

24:40

her and that he, that Ildiko was in

24:42

his rear view when she clearly was not.

24:44

But on the other hand, it felt like

24:46

it was time for some tough love, which

24:48

I think after you've spent years

24:50

and years and years kind of sitting around

24:52

waiting for this guy to be

24:54

available with your own life on hold,

24:56

I think finding out that the basis

24:58

of the relationship, which

25:01

was a lie from him to her, is

25:03

something that everybody needs to know. In

25:06

the end, I thought that she needed to hear

25:08

that. And I think it was a wake

25:10

up call for her. And I think that that was the

25:12

silver lining of that uncomfortable moment. So I

25:14

think ultimately, Valerie

25:16

is in a better place because of that. Absolutely.

25:19

And I want to give a shout out

25:22

before we go to Pebbles.

25:27

Oh, Pebbles. She's a friend of mine. Yes.

25:30

Well, we love Pebbles because she

25:32

loves you and she loves Dateline.

25:34

And she loves you so much

25:36

that she named her cat, Mank, and

25:38

she calls it Baby Mank. And I guess

25:41

the show got Baby Mank kind of worked

25:43

up because Baby Mank

25:45

got the hiccups and they

25:47

were making his entire body

25:49

jump. It got adult Mank

25:51

kind of worked up too, I'll tell you that. Look,

25:55

I think more and more people need

25:58

to name their parents. pets

26:00

after their favorite Dateline correspondence. Now, although Andrea

26:02

would be... Andrea is such a strange name

26:04

for a pet. I don't

26:06

know what kind of pet it is, right? What

26:08

if it's like a beautiful bird, right?

26:12

Okay, maybe someone out there will name their bird after

26:14

me, as long as it's a pretty one. Right.

26:18

Well, thank you, Josh, for

26:21

all of your insight. That

26:23

is it for our Talking Dateline for this week,

26:25

and thanks everyone for listening to us. We love

26:28

hearing from you so much. Thank you. So

26:30

remember, if you have any questions about our

26:32

stories or Dateline or true

26:34

crime that's on your mind, reach out to

26:37

us on social at Dateline NBC, and

26:39

we'll see you on Fridays on Dateline. Sergeant

26:56

and Mrs. Smith, you're going to love this

26:58

house. Is that a tub in

27:01

the kitchen? There's no field

27:03

manual for finding the right home. But

27:05

when you do, USAA Homeowners Insurance can

27:07

help protect it the right way. Restrictions

27:09

apply.

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