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30 :: Victoria and Emile Cilliers :: Suspicious Parachute Malfunction While Skydiving — Transcript

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0:08thank you for tuning in to the voice of
0:10the victim podcast we discuss a lot of
0:13sad and potentially triggering things on
0:15the show we try to be as sensitive and
0:18cautious as possible but if you are
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0:25before listening to our show there are
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0:40ourselves and our children from these
0:42despicable predators welcome to the
0:45voice of the victim podcast where we
0:47discuss criminal cases that involve some
0:49factor of abuse our goal is to spread
0:52awareness of abuse that could be taking
0:54place around any of us and encourage
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1:00being abused
1:04it was Sunday April 5th 2015 in
1:08salisbury plain near Amesbury Wiltshire
1:11and England Victoria and Emil singers
1:15had just welcomed their second child
1:18into the world and to celebrate a meal
1:21arranged for Victoria to do one of her
1:23favorite hobbies skydiving which she
1:26hadn't done in over a year due to her
1:28pregnancy she was no newbie at the sport
1:31she had already been on 2649 jumps
1:36around 4:00 p.m. the plane reached an
1:39altitude of 4,000 feet and Victoria
1:42jumped she pulled the release on her
1:45main chute but when it came out it
1:47malfunctioned so she cut it away and
1:50pulled to release her reserve chute but
1:52this chute wasn't fully attached
1:55Victoria began to spin out of control
1:57and drift in and out of consciousness
2:00she felt 4,000 feet from this guy with
2:03no parachute and hit the ground at 60
2:06miles per hour so welcome to the voice
2:13of the victim podcast I'm Ryan and I'm
2:16Rosie and this week we're talking about
2:21an interesting case from the UK Rosie do
2:26you have anything you want to say before
2:28we get started tonight oh let me see
2:31here Ryan we've had a long week we went
2:35I'm just gonna say why we went to the
2:38twenty one pilots concert on Sunday no
2:41yeah Sunday yeah we've been pretty
2:45exhausted the the past week we're
2:48actually recording this really close to
2:53our release time because because we also
2:57put in a new water heater this week and
2:59a new toilet so it's just been crazy
3:01busy around here and but we're still
3:04we're trying to stay regular you can get
3:06our episodes out on time for you guys so
3:11so that's why
3:13we might sound a little tired or off
3:16during this episode but thank you for
3:19tuning in so this week we're talking
3:22about Victoria and Emile sillies yes
3:28Victoria hit the ground at 427 on April
3:335th she fell 4,000 feet spinning out of
3:36control it seems almost impossible that
3:39anyone could survive a fall like this
3:41yeah it's possible to died from just
3:44falling from like the second storey of a
3:46house if you land wrong and that's only
3:48a 16 to 20 feet Victoria was spinning
3:52around like crazy up there she could
3:54have landed anywhere in any way like on
3:57her head or neck she could have landed
3:59on concrete or trees but she was really
4:04really fortunate look Victoria landed on
4:07freshly plowed dirt and she actually
4:09woke up afterwards mm-hmm this is the
4:13only way I could imagine anyone
4:15surviving a fall like this the aeration
4:18within the dirt kind of creates like I
4:23got a mattress cushion yeah yeah a
4:27cushion to help absorb all the energy
4:29and force that would go normally go
4:32straight back into here your body if it
4:34was a hard surface yeah watching the
4:37documentary of the fall cuz they show it
4:40probably 30 times within the documentary
4:43it doesn't look good but somehow this
4:47plowed dirt like really made a
4:48difference yeah it was it's scary thing
4:53to watch in the documentary and actually
4:56picture what it could have been like
4:57mm-hmm
4:59don't let you forget because they show
5:01it over and over and over yeah
5:04like most documentaries it's extremely
5:06sensational yeah well anyway during her
5:10fall Victoria had blacked out and had no
5:13control over the way that she landed but
5:16eventually she woke up laying in the
5:18dirt she seemed to be on top of things
5:20as soon as she regained her
5:22consciousness she checked to see if her
5:24arms and legs worked and to see if
5:27spine was in one piece she didn't feel
5:29any pain yeah it's actually pretty
5:32common experience for people that get
5:34injured really badly to go into shock
5:37and feel almost numb so eventually
5:41emergency services got to her and
5:43brought her into the hospital after
5:45examination they found that one of her
5:47lungs had collapsed and she also had
5:50broken her pelvis and ribs also she
5:52fractured her spine in four places
5:55oof sounds painful
5:57I don't want to get off topic but I
6:00wonder if they ever found out who that
6:02farmer was that had plowed the ground
6:04just prior to this fall and if they ever
6:06told the person that they had saved
6:08Victoria's life it's a random thought oh
6:10yeah no wonder because if he wouldn't
6:13applaud as his field that day could you
6:16imagine if he was supposed to he was
6:18like uh I'll do it tomorrow
6:19yeah and dies yeah interesting
6:23Victoria is a 42 year old woman from
6:25Amesbury Wiltshire in England she lived
6:28with her husband Emil and they had two
6:30young children together she worked in
6:33the British Army as a what
6:37physiotherapist physiotherapist sorry
6:39I'm dumb not dumb whose skydiving was a
6:44passion of hers and she was very
6:47experienced like we mentioned in the
6:49intro she had made 2649 jumps without
6:55any accidents yeah that's pretty
6:57impressive now we're gonna talk about a
7:00meal and we're gonna dig a little bit
7:02further into his past because I think
7:05it's relevant for the rest of this case
7:08right Emil is Victoria's husband he was
7:13born in South Africa he was very
7:15outdoorsy and a very active person he
7:18was also handsome and charming when he
7:20was 16 he got together with his first
7:22serious girlfriend
7:23nikoline Sheppard she was only 13 at the
7:27time but they dated for seven years
7:29nikoline had felt like she was ready to
7:32settle down and marry this man that she
7:34had been with since since she was 13
7:37according to her all the girls liked him
7:40a magnetic personality he had a way of
7:43making her feel like she was the only
7:45thing in his world and showed it off
7:47with lavish displays of affection
7:49giving her a long stem two rows each
7:52month of their monthly anniversary oh
7:54this sounds pretty good that's cute yeah
7:58it does seem like he knows how to treat
8:02a woman mmm how to woo them yeah I mean
8:06what woman doesn't love flowers
8:08I'm sure there's women out there that
8:10don't with flowers don't ruin it for the
8:13rest of us so when nikoline was 16 she
8:18gave birth to her first child from a
8:20meal and he eventually proposed to
8:23nikoline using his grandmother's ring
8:25they planned to get married until she
8:29found out that he had been cheating on
8:31her with her best friend oh not a good
8:35start she didn't break up with him but
8:40she didn't want to marry him at that
8:41time they had another child together but
8:44shortly after that amel moved from South
8:47Africa to the UK looking for work he
8:50promised that he would return but in
8:522000 she got a call from a Meals mother
8:55saying that he had married a British
8:57woman named Carly Taylor Wow sounds like
9:01a scummy move to have your mom call the
9:03person you've been with for seven years
9:05and had two kids with to break up with
9:08her for you like yeah does that because
9:12he was cheating on her with the best
9:15friend she decided to keep him but
9:18thought maybe marriage wasn't the best
9:20choice moving on they had a kid together
9:23and then he like completely breaks her
9:26heart by not even telling her yeah and
9:29not to mention the two little kids that
9:31oh the two kids behind oh man okay
9:35that's a lot well several years after
9:39this Nikoli and herself moved to the UK
9:42as she had been wanting to for quite a
9:44while after her move the daughter asked
9:47if she could get to know her father so
9:49Nikoli and called up Emile's mother and
9:51said that she learned a meal was willing
9:54to me
9:54up so they went to a water park as a
9:57family
9:58Emil told her that Carly and him were
10:00getting a divorce
10:01and as they spent time together it
10:03reacted the passion that had been there
10:05before
10:06Oh nikoline no after all the stuff he
10:11put it through he must be such a ladies
10:14man yeah it seems like it they got back
10:17together after this and it seemed like
10:19they were a happy family again but one
10:22morning after he had spent the night at
10:24her place he forgot his phone there when
10:26he left her house the phone rang and
10:29nikoline answered it it was a woman's
10:31voice
10:32nikoline asked who it was and the woman
10:34replied it's the wife Carly Emil was
10:39actually still with his wife while
10:42hooking up with nikoline yeah ouch and
10:47it's funny the way the two women
10:50actually got together and ended up
10:52confronting him and when he saw them
10:55together he started yelling at nikoline
10:59in Afrikaans which is the common
11:02language of South Africa we have good
11:04friends that from South Africa that
11:06speak it it's really cool but because he
11:11knew Carly couldn't understand that so
11:13he was trying to communicate with
11:14nikoline but after that he calmly looked
11:19back and forth between the two women and
11:22then told them that he chose nikoline
11:26which at this point really means nothing
11:30of course he chose the woman he's not
11:32married to yeah really
11:34when she heard that nikoline she got up
11:38and left and said that carly could have
11:41him cuz I mean she doesn't want to be
11:42with a guy that lies like that right at
11:46this point this whole story reminds me
11:49of a Lifetime movie yeah like it just it
11:53seems like such a dramatized movie yeah
11:56and this guy is such a narcissist to
11:58think that when these two women are
12:00confronting him that he still gets to
12:04make the choice of who he's gonna be
12:06with right right
12:08as if these two women are dying to have
12:10him he's so self-absorbed hmm well in
12:142004 he became a physical training
12:17instructor in the British Army this is
12:20where he actually met Victoria in 2010
12:22because she was working as a physical
12:24therapist in the Army they bonded pretty
12:27quickly because they were both
12:29adrenaline junkies and they loved
12:31high-risk sports a year later they got
12:34married in Cape Town South Africa so I
12:38know I haven't said a lot of nice things
12:41about Amelia yet but as the story
12:44unfolds you'll understand why okay so
12:50now let's get back to the story we
12:52started with in the beginning about the
12:54parachute jump the parachute Club where
12:58they had done the jump they inspected
13:02the parachutes that she had been using
13:04because it's extremely rare for both the
13:06main chute and the reserve to
13:08malfunction in the way these did when
13:10they looked into it it appeared that
13:12these chutes have been tampered with
13:13after the pre jump inspection one of
13:16them said I've never seen anything like
13:18this before they called the local police
13:21the police took on the case but they
13:24didn't have any leads to start with they
13:26sent the parachutes off to be officially
13:28inspected by the British parish the
13:31British parachute Association lots of
13:38[Laughter]
13:41four weeks later the police got the
13:45results back we shouldn't be laughing
13:48this is really sad great it concluded
13:52that there was no mechanical reason the
13:54parachute should have failed the cords
13:57of the main chute had been wrapped
13:59around the canopy which is the part that
14:01inflates to catch the air so there was
14:04no way for it to come loose and then on
14:07the reserve chute one of the links or
14:09slinks which means soft links had been
14:13removed and there are two links that
14:17hold the cores of the chute onto your
14:19back so when one of them is missing
14:21there's no way for there to be stability
14:24while it's floating down so even if it
14:27did inflate it's a flopping all over the
14:30place because you only have one link
14:31attaching to you so yeah it would be
14:35really scary okay so for those of us
14:38who've never gone parachuting before
14:41you're me I'm gonna say this and just
14:44tell me if I'm wrong you're wearing like
14:46a harness and the harness has the length
14:50on it like the little carabiners so as
14:52you calm it's like a yeah it's like it
14:54you're wearing a backpack right that has
14:57straps that go off of it and then the
15:00links attached to the top of the straps
15:02which attach to the cords that go up to
15:04the canopy okay
15:06that catches the air okay it's trying to
15:08make a mental picture and I don't know
15:10anything out parachuting I just looked
15:11at a map of a parachute on Google so
15:15okay got it so they concluded that there
15:17had to have been tampering by either the
15:19parachutist themselves or a third party
15:22that's when they realized that they had
15:25a criminal investigation on their hands
15:27mmm-hmm so anytime there's an
15:30investigation like this we know the
15:33first place they check is the husband
15:35and with good reason as we've talked
15:37about this guy's a scumbag
15:39on April 20th the police brought a meal
15:42it's silly ears well that's how the
15:46documentary pronounced it other places I
15:49saw pronounced that silly a but I'm
15:52gonna go sillier cuz okay I've been
15:54dancing around it not wanting to say it
15:59okay so in April 20th the police brought
16:03a meal silly ears in for questioning
16:05they had come to his place of work to
16:08pick him up and he got upset that they
16:09had arrested him in front of his
16:11subordinates so this was right after the
16:14arresting officer had made it clear that
16:16he was being taken in for questioning
16:17about suspicion on the attempted murder
16:20of his wife and she was really taken
16:23aback by his lack of reaction and how
16:26the thing he was upset
16:29was the fact that she arrested him in
16:31front of his subordinates and he didn't
16:34show any concern for his wife or like
16:36you know do whatever you want to help
16:38with the investigation
16:40he was mad that she embarrassed him she
16:43made him look bad in front of his
16:44co-workers yeah yeah so that's the first
16:47red flag we see well the first interview
16:50that they had with a meal lasted for six
16:52hours during it he divulged a lot of
16:55information about his marriage he said
16:58it's not really a relationship I want to
17:00be in anymore also he said I have a very
17:04high sex drive and my wife has a very
17:06low sex drive it's crazy to me how much
17:10it already sounds here like he's trying
17:13to make excuses for something it he
17:16doesn't seem to be happy in his marriage
17:18but it also sounds like he's trying to
17:20justify certain things that they haven't
17:24even asked him about yet he was also
17:26super willing just to chat about his
17:29life they were really like surprised and
17:32how chatty he was especially about his
17:34sex life right another thing the police
17:37noticed while questioning a meal is that
17:39he never claimed innocence or said that
17:42he didn't do anything to sabotage his
17:44wife's parachute well personally I don't
17:46put a ton of weight on that detail
17:48because if he didn't sabotage this
17:51parachute he would have no idea what
17:53actually happened so he wouldn't know
17:56what to say he was innocent of if you
17:58know what I mean
17:59you know okay like if he didn't actually
18:02know what the crime was you know or that
18:06a crime had taken place then it would be
18:09even more suspicious if he was saying
18:11that he was innocent and had nothing to
18:13do with it so that there's that that
18:16after the interview the police figured
18:19this affair could be a pretty good
18:21motive to pin a meal if they decided to
18:23prosecute him the meal bailed out of
18:25jail but the police required him to find
18:27somewhere else to live and not return to
18:30his home with his wife Victoria this
18:33seems like it would be really difficult
18:35for Victoria just after having a huge
18:37injury like this she's in a body brace
18:40and she had a newborn baby
18:43the three-year-old child she need all
18:45the help she could get and probably
18:47someone to take care of her but on the
18:51other hand if a meal was guilty the
18:53police wouldn't be able to protect
18:55Victoria from him if he were to strike
18:57again
18:58and I understand that her parents came
19:01to help with the kids and stuff so that
19:04was nice
19:05understandably Victoria was pretty upset
19:08about the fact that a meal wasn't coming
19:10home she asked the police why can't he
19:14come home I need him and them and told
19:18them you're ruining my life
19:20this would be tough to hear if you're a
19:22police officer trying to do your best to
19:24protect a victim we know it can be a
19:27thankless job more often than not it's
19:30really sad another thing that was
19:33disheartening for the police is knowing
19:35that her husband had potentially tried
19:37to kill her and she didn't want anything
19:39investigated mm-hmm I never really
19:42thought about this before oh but how an
19:45investigation like this affects the
19:47day-to-day life of the victim not only
19:50did she suffer a traumatic fall from the
19:52sky and she has to endure a horrible
19:55recovery period in a body brace but her
19:57home life is ruined
19:59it's hard enough caring for a newborn
20:01baby when you're completely healthy but
20:03in a body brace with seven several
20:06broken bones and having your husband
20:09under investigation for trying to kill
20:12you I couldn't do that five days after
20:15the skydiving fall one of Victoria's
20:18close friends had called the Wiltshire
20:20Police the friend told the police that
20:23Victoria's marriage to Emil wasn't quite
20:26as nice as it appeared from the outside
20:28she was suspicious about Emile's
20:30involvement in what happened to Victoria
20:32mm-hmm so people on the outside are also
20:36starting to show suspicion in him not
20:38just the police now at this time
20:41Victoria is completely in denial about
20:44Emil having anything to do with the fall
20:47correct yeah she's really struggling
20:50coming to terms with it so as far as she
20:53can she's concerned he's innocent and
20:56the police are the one
20:57and the ROM at this point I I don't know
21:01if she thinks the police are in the
21:03wrong but I think she's having a really
21:06hard time and this is something that
21:08persists to this day but having a really
21:11hard time believing that he could have
21:15tried to do anything to hurt her but
21:18we'll talk more about that later
21:19during the interview after his initial
21:22arrest police learned that a meal had a
21:24bit of a love life outside of his
21:26marriage apparently a meal had been
21:28having an affair with a girl named
21:30Stephanie
21:30he told Victoria that he had a serious
21:33girlfriend and was planning on leaving
21:35her another heartbreaking thing he told
21:38her is that he had denied paternity of
21:40their son I did not know you could even
21:43do that is that like an option that's in
21:46the UK I don't know I'm trying to wrap
21:50my head around right now and that would
21:52work hearing all of this had broken
21:55Victoria's heart and she was really
21:57distraught about it but she didn't want
21:59to believe he actually could have killed
22:01her this is a real struggle for like you
22:05had just mentioned to believe that the
22:06man you're in love with and you have two
22:10children with could ever want to hurt
22:11you like this when Victoria told the
22:14police about this she lost it and
22:16started screaming and crying she was
22:18really broken up about it but according
22:21to the investigator that was the only
22:23time through the whole process where she
22:25broke down and wasn't completely
22:27composed and appeared tough so in
22:30September of 2015 the police brought a
22:33mule in for another interview he showed
22:36up in flip-flops and a t-shirt he acted
22:39like being there was such a waste of
22:42time for him and he had better places to
22:44be when the investigator asked him what
22:46checks he did on the parachute he just
22:48said the standard checks
22:52when she asked him to clarify both of
22:54the spot about the specifics he got
22:57really disrespectful and told her that
23:00she should look it up herself
23:01yeah later we'll play a clip a short
23:04clip of one of the police interviews so
23:07you can hear his attitude yourself but I
23:10mean I didn't I didn't do a good enough
23:14job no she did fine baby it was really
23:16good you could be an actress actress or
23:22an actor if you want to call you
23:24something
23:24Thanks then they asked about about the
23:29affair that he had been having with this
23:31woman named Stephanie she was the one he
23:34was planning to leave his wife for he
23:37had only met her five months before the
23:39parachute accident when they asked him
23:41about her he got really quiet and upset
23:44and wrapped a blanket around himself and
23:46started sulking this was a really weird
23:49part of the documentary it's really
23:51funny though to see him he starts wiping
23:53his eyes and grabbing Kleenexes and
23:56dabbing his nose yeah and the
23:58interviewer interview yeah interviewer
24:01is just staring at him think crossing
24:04things off on her notepad yeah well he's
24:08totally trying to get pity out of them
24:10yes and like he they asked him where he
24:12saw the relationship going and he
24:14quietly said no where and yeah like you
24:19said he pretended to wipe tears from his
24:21eyes as he told them that they were no
24:24longer together but the investigators
24:27they saw right through this as an act to
24:30get their pity and what's really but
24:32annoying about this is that he was
24:34crying about his sidepiece breaking up
24:37with him but he didn't cry when they
24:40were talking to him about his wife who
24:42had fallen out of the sky he seemed
24:45relatively unaffected by everything she
24:47was struggling with so I kind of feel
24:50like he's a sociopath cuz in the
24:54interview video he is absolutely no
24:56empathy for anyone else but he's trying
24:59to play the victim here which is
25:01sociopathic behavior as far as I
25:03understand and
25:05not trying to diagnose anyone but I just
25:07think it correlates with that the police
25:09were able to pull over two years worth
25:11of whatsapp messages between him and
25:13Stephanie and the way he had been
25:16talking to her made it seem like he was
25:17planning on being free to be with her in
25:20April after the parachute jump he
25:23specifically texted her from April
25:26onwards I can do random and spontaneous
25:28in other words he was planning for three
25:32months uh for this situation to wait
25:37until the baby was born I'm guessing and
25:39then somehow he would be free of his
25:41wife but he wasn't just conspiring to be
25:44with Stephanie he'd also been sending
25:46messages to escorts trying to set up a
25:49hookup and yet even asked one of them if
25:53he could film it yeah it's like what is
25:56he doing trying to make a collection of
25:58homemade porn with prostitutes like why
26:01would you film that it also came out
26:04that Emil had been visiting multiple sex
26:06clubs in Salsbury
26:08at one of the particular swingers clubs
26:11he visited he had physically assaulted a
26:14married woman and made her cry he would
26:17creep people out by staring at them
26:19without saying anything he eventually
26:21got kicked out of this club mm-hmm they
26:24made it clear that everything that
26:26happened there had to be consensual yeah
26:29obviously I mean you gotta have
26:33standards although the club was pretty
26:36dingy
26:37yeah they had holes drilled in the door
26:39I was it called again I don't know I
26:42didn't think that was an important
26:45detail sorry it was to me uh well maybe
26:52we'll let them know next is like time
26:54keepers holes or something yeah but
26:57another interesting detail that came out
26:59during the investigation was that
27:02Victoria told them but a gas leak they
27:06had on March 30th 2015 which was only
27:09six days before the almost deadly jump
27:14she had noticed the smell of gas in
27:16their house around 9:30 in the morning
27:17after a meal had left for work so she
27:19checked their gas pipes to see if she
27:21could find anything that seemed off she
27:24noticed that there was some blood on one
27:25of the gas pipes so she texted him and
27:28asked Emil if he had adjusted the gas
27:30lever and he said nope that's weird
27:33is the stove working this response seems
27:38pretty nice a lot not really suspicious
27:42but unless that's how he's trying to
27:46come across to play it cool it's
27:49possible for a gas leak to happen
27:51naturally especially in an old house but
27:54they were living in a relatively new
27:56house so this combined with the
27:58suspicious parachute accident less than
28:01a week later turned up the suspicions
28:03even more especially because there was a
28:06little bit of blood on the pipe it sure
28:09seems like you physically tampered with
28:11him might cut himself or something yeah
28:14this wasn't just a natural leak because
28:16Howard every blood on it mm-hmm does
28:18seem sketchy so investigators logged
28:21this new piece of information and sent
28:24the pipe pipe off for analysis as well
28:27they found that the pipe had a mark on
28:29the nut that matched up with the print
28:31of Emile's wrench sure that sorry yet
28:35don't interrupt but they explained that
28:38every wrench kind of has its own
28:41fingerprint because it'll get chipped in
28:43certain spots you know so they took his
28:47wrench and they matched it up with the
28:49markings on the nut explain that so here
28:54we're going to play a clip of the
28:55interview they had with a meal after
28:57they found out this information and so
29:00you can get an idea of the attitude he
29:03had while they were interviewing him the
29:05last time you used you're looking -
29:08remember
29:12you just asked me one fell off for my
29:15use there and now he asked me
29:17and when I said I can't remember when I
29:20lost you then how can I remember what
29:22are you from before you can tell that
29:24he's got an attitude on him but one
29:27thing about this investigation that's
29:29really sad
29:31and it's that many people in the
29:34department didn't want to investigate
29:36this case any further so there were only
29:393 people total interested enough in this
29:42case to spend time investigating it and
29:45in fact they weren't even given the time
29:47to work on it they had to squeeze the
29:49investigation into the little free time
29:51they had between other work because the
29:54department heads didn't think it was
29:56possible to prove this case so these
29:59investigators are basically volunteering
30:01their time to try to help protect
30:03Victoria from any future threat so these
30:07cops are a great example of what police
30:09should be they really seemed to be in
30:11this line of work to try to help other
30:14people and to do the right thing even if
30:16they're not getting support from the
30:18victim you know like like they want to
30:22help protect her even if she doesn't
30:24want it yeah that's a really good point
30:26that you brought out thank you another
30:29interesting tidbit was how much debt
30:31Emil had he had it mostly from payday
30:34loans and whatnot and he told Victoria
30:36that his father was ill and needed help
30:38with medical bills she agreed to give
30:41him the money to help his father out but
30:43his father wasn't sick the records later
30:46show that he had bought an expensive new
30:48fish tank around this time I'm wondering
30:52where he put that fish tank because
30:54Victoria would have noticed it if it was
30:56for their house yeah and I don't think
30:58he'd have a place to put it at his army
31:00job so my guess is that he took the
31:03money from his wife to buy a fish tank
31:06for one of his side lovers Emil was a
31:09notoriously greedy and selfish person
31:11his first girlfriend
31:13nikoline who we mentioned in the
31:15beginning had been struggling to afford
31:17the basic supplies to care for her
31:19children she asked a meal for help as he
31:23is the father but he told her that
31:26he had no money but the same day he
31:29bought himself an expensive pair of
31:31golfing shoes at the time of the
31:33parachute accident Emil was in 24,000
31:36euros of debt which is over $27,000 in
31:41the US but he would often spend money on
31:45new toys like skiing equipment golf
31:47clubs and new gadgets for himself it
31:50seems like this guy is extremely
31:52narcissistic and possibly sociopathic
31:55like I said before I obviously can't say
31:58that for sure and I don't want to try to
32:00diagnose anyone but his actions really
32:03line up with a narcissistic sociopath so
32:06let me know what you think especially
32:08very qualified because I obviously am
32:11NOT saying this with any authority and
32:13if you think I'm trying to diagnose him
32:16I'm not I'm just it just seems like this
32:19and I'm genuinely curious for an expert
32:23to come tell me what's what
32:26so another detail while we're on the
32:30topic of debt is a life insurance policy
32:32that covered both Emil and Victoria that
32:35amounted to a hundred and twenty
32:37thousand pounds which in the u.s. is
32:40nearly one hundred and fifty five
32:41thousand dollars this is another very
32:45suspicious detail also could someone
32:48from the UK please explain euros and
32:51pounds to me I don't know the difference
32:54Kaleem either because the life insurance
32:57is one hundred twenty thousand pounds
32:58but he's in twenty four thousand euros
33:02of debt so I didn't understand what how
33:06that all correlated like why they'd use
33:08two different ways to to say money don't
33:13look at me I have the others yeah so if
33:17someone could explain that to me
33:19I really appreciate it sorry I'm asking
33:22more of you in this episode that I'm
33:24giving but so we have now three motives
33:28/ clues that we want to just reiterate
33:32one Emil was dating the Stephanie person
33:36and wanted to be a bit available for
33:38more spontaneity
33:39as well as who knows how many other
33:42sexual escapades he had on the side - he
33:46had this massive amount of debt and a
33:49generous life insurance policy that
33:51would be much more than enough to cover
33:53his debts and three which is more of a
33:56clue than a motive but it's that he has
33:59had used a wrench to cause a gas leak in
34:02his house just before he left for work
34:04while his wife was still asleep and this
34:08was six days before the jump so
34:10apparently he loosened the gas as he was
34:13leaving and it seems like he was hoping
34:17that she would just fall asleep and die
34:19or something
34:19mm-hmm and I wonder if he was thinking
34:22about the children at this time - what
34:24was gonna happen to them yeah that's the
34:26other huge thing is that if he actually
34:29did this he was putting his children's
34:32lives in danger - which just shows what
34:36a narcissistic sociopath could possibly
34:39be not that you're diagnosing of course
34:42I'm gonna get so much flak for this
34:46anyway what really happened to the
34:50parachute because we didn't really
34:52explain in detail yet so do you wanna
34:57that before each jump parachutes are
35:00supposed to be inspected and cleared on
35:02the day of this nearly fatal jump
35:05Victoria's chute had gotten all cleared
35:07from her husband Emil before the jump he
35:10had taken Victoria's parachutes into the
35:12bathroom with him while he was taking
35:14their daughter to use the toilet the
35:17amount of time that he was in the
35:18bathroom became a loose fact at first
35:21Victoria said that he was in the
35:23bathroom for up to 10 minutes but later
35:25she changed it and said that she
35:27probably exaggerated the amount of time
35:29yeah and we'll talk more about her
35:31changing statements later but the fact
35:35is that he was the one that did the
35:38final check on her parachutes before the
35:40jump and they both malfunctioned and
35:42they were both clearly sabotage so
35:45there's no denying that he was the last
35:48one to see those chutes before they
35:51deployed right something very easily
35:53could have happened in that bathroom
35:55mm-hmm so now we're gonna talk about the
35:58trial and sentencing Emil was charged
36:01with the attempted murder of his wife
36:03and he denied all of them so they took
36:06him to court and felt that they were
36:08armed with a pretty good case but
36:10shockingly their star witness also the
36:13victim suddenly changed her story she
36:16said the first parachute she released
36:18was probably good and she just cut it
36:20away too soon she also said that she was
36:23the one that messed up the gas pipe this
36:26part is so sad to me because he is the
36:29one that did the inspection of her shoes
36:32just before she went up and the reserve
36:34chute did fail because of intentional
36:37removal of the slinks she was right
36:40about the first chute though it wasn't
36:42actually broken but the cords were all
36:45wrapped up around the inflatable canopy
36:47so it couldn't possibly open up this
36:51sudden changed I mean it's
36:52understandable because how can you
36:56possibly wrap your head around the fact
36:57that the person you love and you've been
37:00with for several years actually tried to
37:02kill you I mean could you believe that
37:05if I did that
37:07you know wouldn't you be shocked so but
37:16looking at it from an outside more
37:18objective standpoint it seems pretty
37:21obvious to me that he did it
37:22unfortunately the first trial ended in a
37:25meal going free it's pathetic to watch
37:28but a meal made some videos of himself
37:30playing guitar and singing love songs
37:32for really terribly yeah I my opinion is
37:38that you're not a musician don't do that
37:41but he's a musician so that's why he
37:44would say that sorry so nikoline um who
37:50we'd talked about in the intro his first
37:52girlfriend had talked to reporters about
37:54how emil could have you under his
37:57romantic spell while you were with him I
37:59mean we'd see that it happened to her
38:01when he had completely deserted her and
38:04her children
38:05mm-hmm but then she saw him again and he
38:09somehow got her back mm-hmm even after
38:13he hurt her like this
38:14so she believes that that Victoria could
38:20possibly be under that same spell still
38:22which could explain why it's so hard for
38:25her to accept what really happened right
38:27well Emil was brought back to trial the
38:31prosecution shared thousands of text
38:33messages from a meal texting Victoria
38:35about the kids texting sex workers about
38:38free slots in this afternoon just side
38:41by side yeah it's like he could go back
38:43and forth without being fazed at all
38:46having this double life they also found
38:49that Emil had made a web search for a
38:51wet nurse just days before the parachute
38:54jump the prosecution believed that this
38:56showed his plan to kill her because he
38:59was looking for a way to feed his
39:00newborn baby I'm just curious for this
39:05fact what device they found the search
39:07on like was it on his phone or was it on
39:10his home computer because I'm thinking
39:12that if it's on the home computer it's
39:14possible that Victoria could have
39:16searched it you know yeah maybe
39:18she didn't want to breastfeed herself
39:20for some reason or another but that's
39:22just some random speculation I'm
39:24thinking not to be like nasty but what
39:28if he was just like a super weird horny
39:31guy yeah it could have been a fetish I
39:34mean he obviously had a lot of other
39:37fetishes and like wanted to film himself
39:39with a bunch of escorts yeah but if that
39:42were true he already had a pregnant
39:44lactating woman in his house he did seem
39:47interested in ah so sad I don't know I'm
39:51just throwing it out there yeah I mean
39:53that the details are so foggy but I mean
39:57it's also very possible that he was the
40:00one searching wet-nurse and and that it
40:03was to replace her great no totally but
40:07it does seem weird that he would be
40:08thinking of his kids like he obviously
40:12thinks he's gonna get away with all this
40:14because he thinks he's gonna get the
40:16life insurance policy mm-hmm he thinks
40:19he's gonna still be taking care of his
40:22kids like if all these facts are true
40:24and I'll come together this like he
40:29thinks that this is the perfect crime to
40:31sabotage her shoots and she just hits
40:33the ground and they're like oh something
40:36went wrong we're not gonna investigate
40:37anything let's just pay mm-hmm but he
40:42should know especially people don't get
40:45away with life insurance scandal or what
40:48do they call scams I don't know anymore
40:51because these days people are suspicious
40:54of everything and if there's a big
40:56payout the life insurance companies are
40:59going to find out if if the death was
41:03suspicious or not mm-hmm so let's kiss
41:07an idiot so eventually the jury found
41:10Emil guilty after three days of
41:13deliberation and the judge sentenced him
41:15to life in prison with 18 years until
41:18parole so Victoria really doesn't seem
41:22to want to be a part of this anymore
41:24she refused to be part of the recent
41:27documentary parachute murder plot it's
41:30so bittersweet because
41:32the victim really can't feel a sense of
41:34justice in this case because she can't
41:37even bring herself to believe that her
41:39husband would do this to her or that
41:41there was an actual crime committed and
41:44we really can't blame her for that
41:46it's such a huge thing to wrap your head
41:49around and I can't even imagine if you
41:53tried to do that to me I would probably
41:55have just as hard of time like she
41:57wouldn't do that
41:59you know right it's hard to imagine the
42:01amount of gas like gas lighting that had
42:04to be done during this relationship and
42:06sadly some people being gaslighted never
42:09realize it they just believe that it's
42:12their own fault and they deserve the
42:14treatment that they're getting yeah like
42:16we talked about a few weeks ago with gas
42:18lighting basically the person that's
42:22causing the abuse is trying to convince
42:25the other person that it's no big deal
42:27err it's their own fault and who knows
42:30how much of that Victoria got from this
42:32guy mm-hmm I mean it's clear that he's a
42:36scumbag but another thing that hit me
42:40almost the hardest during this case was
42:43seen his daughter Selene talk about her
42:47life disconnected from her father she's
42:49the one that was born right before um he
42:53moved to the UK and left his family
42:57behind in South Africa right so he
42:59Selena's nikoline Stonor yeah from his
43:02first relationship mm-hmm and now she's
43:05torn or she's 18 or 21 now I can't
43:08remember but she talked about how he
43:11felt like he always loved her so much
43:13well when she was a little kid and she
43:17couldn't really understand how someone
43:19who she thought loved her so much could
43:22ever leave her behind and she mentioned
43:25how he never apologized for leaving them
43:28behind and hurting her so much and this
43:31is something I can really relate to
43:33personally with my father and this
43:35desire for some kind of apology for
43:38something that hurt you when in reality
43:42the parent will barely acknowledge that
43:45they did anything wrong
43:46and you almost never get that
43:49acknowledgment or apology that you want
43:52you know one other interesting detail
43:55that speaks to Victoria's character in
43:59this case is um the man that she was
44:03jumping with the day that she fell his
44:05name was James Rankin and he was really
44:10nervous when they were going up because
44:13they were jumping from a relatively low
44:15altitude typically skydivers jump from
44:18about 13,000 feet or 4,000 meters but
44:21they were jumping from only 4,000 feet
44:24so less than a third of the typical
44:27altitude but Victoria reassured him and
44:31told them to keep his head up and stay
44:33positive and that it would be fine and
44:36she was just really encouraging to him
44:38she so um I mean she was confident
44:43because of all of her experience she
44:44didn't seem to be nervous at all about
44:46this jump and it's so sad now that we
44:49know what was waiting for her within
44:51minutes of this great well now it's
44:55October of 2018 it's been more than
44:59three years since Victoria almost died
45:01from that tragic skydiving accident and
45:04she's really rebooting her passion she
45:07decided that she wanted to go skydiving
45:09again she had her daughter and her son
45:12waiting on the ground for her and they
45:14were seen there waving and shouting for
45:16her as she safely flew from a height of
45:20about 2 miles yeah so and she it's
45:24amazing that she's starting up her
45:27passion again yeah after having such a
45:30traumatic experience with it but like we
45:33talked about with the last guy James
45:36that I mean she approached skydiving
45:39with almost no hesitation before she was
45:42super confident in it and I mean she has
45:45all this experience so it's really
45:48really nice that this horrible tragedy
45:51didn't completely ruin her hobby for
45:54yeah it's like that um saying goes what
45:58doesn't kill you makes you stronger
46:00yeah I completely embodies her situation
46:02yeah exactly
46:04I can't believe that she's skydiving
46:07much less like walking yeah I mean she
46:13fell from such a high height and hit the
46:16ground yeah and it's hard to wrap your
46:19head around but when you watch the
46:20documentary and they show the
46:22reenactment of it over and over again
46:23and you could hear the crunch when she
46:25falls oh it's not a real you know it's
46:28like you know it's not completely right
46:32but it sure freaked me out yeah well
46:34like how is she even alive it doesn't
46:37make sense like you think how bad it
46:40hurts when you fall off like yeah so Wow
46:46it was it's pretty amazing that she's up
46:49in the air again and skydiving yeah so I
46:53guess what I would like to close with is
46:55if you are someone that is contemplating
47:00murdering their spouse for a life
47:03insurance policy don't do it if you're
47:08thinking about murdering your spouse get
47:11a divorce don't murder them wise words
47:15from Ryan I don't want to like encourage
47:19someone to end a relationship but if
47:20they're thinking of murdering someone
47:22that is a better path than actually
47:26following through with it thank you so
47:32thank you for listening to the voices
47:33victim podcast I mean this is a really
47:36uncomfortable topic to discuss as pretty
47:39much everything we talk about is but I
47:41think that it's an important story to
47:44get out there and for especially people
47:47that are thinking about doing this -
47:50you're not gonna get away with it so
47:52don't do it
47:53you are tired Rosie's looking at me with
47:56so much confusion
47:59well there are sociopaths out there that
48:03and when you're sociopathic it's almost
48:05like you don't feel that empathy that
48:08human compassion that everyone else
48:11usually does so like it could be easier
48:14for you to think like well I don't care
48:17I'll just do this you know you're right
48:20I'm tired we should end this yep so if
48:25you would like to follow us on Instagram
48:27we're at vo V podcast and on Twitter at
48:31vo V pod and you can always email us at
48:33vo V podcast at gmail.com
48:37we've been loving the sweet reviews
48:39we've been getting everyone's been
48:41really kind
48:42yeah and we're so grateful that we
48:43haven't been getting and hateful reviews
48:46we know if this episode doesn't blow it
48:48it might so and of course as always you
48:55can support us on patreon at vov pot or
48:58patreon sorry www patreon.com slash vo v
49:03podcast to get some cool things or to
49:07just show your support for us hmm
49:10because very much appreciate it yeah it
49:12does take a lot of time and we really
49:14realized that this week when we had so
49:16much stuff going on in our house to take
49:19care of and also trying to get this
49:21episode up but that this story was just
49:24really really fascinating and we wanted
49:28to share with you guys so thank you
49:31again for listening and we'll talk to
49:33you next week
49:33yes thank you very much guys bye
49:37little baby birds that's good

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