In 2015, Hitchbot — a hitchhiking robot made from pool noodles and a bucket by the eager students of Canada’s Ryerson University-slash-Toronto Metropolitan University — was dismembered by unidentified assailants on the streets of Philadelphia. Its decapitated cake-container of a head has never been recovered.

In this episode, we’re going to try to answer the question: Can you murder a robot? Plus, social experiments, baby seal violence, and everyone's favorite sci-fi topic: sex robots.

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/DasCriminal

Sources: https://bit.ly/3ygv9Fz

In 1932, the Menzel family purchased Marc Chagall’s painting, Jacob’s Ladder, and hung it in their apartment in Brussels, Belgium. But as the Nazi regime advanced, the Menzels, fearing for their own safety, fled Brussels for the United States, leaving their Chagall painting behind.

After the Allied Forces declared victory, the Menzels returned to their Brussels apartment, only to find their Chagall painting missing. The Einsatzstab Rosenberg, a Nazi Party organization responsible for looting cultural property like artwork, had stolen it during the war. But the Menzels were not about to let the fascists take anything else from them. They were determined to find and retrieve the Chagall.

Mr. Menzel passed away in 1960, but his widow, Erna, refused to give up on the painting. In 1962, she found it. And the legal case that would follow was controversial and precedent-setting in New York State, the art world, and the field of post-war damages and reparations.

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/DasCriminal

Sources: https://bit.ly/3ygv9Fz

On Sunday September 27th, 2015 Marco Muzzo landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport. He was returning on a private jet from a trip to Miami. He got into his SUV and drove off, reaching 85 kilometers per hour (or ~53 mph).

At around 4:10 PM, Muzzo’s SUV sped past a stop sign in Vaughan (a city in Ontario, north of Toronto and within the GTA), smashing a family minivan. Gary Neville, 65, was killed instantly. Children Daniel (9), Harry (5), and Milaga (Milly, 2) Neville-Lake also died from their injuries. Neriza Neville and Josephina Frias, also in the minivan, were severely injured. The children's father, Edward, would later die by suicide.

In this episode, we dissect this case and the controversy surrounding the sentencing and parole of Marco Muzzo, as well as better solutions to the epidemic of driving while intoxicated or under the influence.

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/DasCriminal

Sources: https://bit.ly/3ygv9Fz

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On July 21st, 1999, the girls at the Plankinton juvenile detention boot camp in South Dakota were forced to do a 2.7 mile — or 4.3 kilometer — run. Fourteen-year-old Gina Score was having trouble. Gina had not even finished a week at the boot camp, and she almost immediately fell behind the other girls.

Gina was showing signs of heat stroke — the most severe form of heat illness. Gina had several serious indicators: she was barely moving, and gasping for breath. Gina was cooking like an egg in the hot sun. Her organs were shutting down. 

She lay like that for more than three hours before staff called an ambulance, but it was too late; at only fourteen years old, Gina Score was declared dead en route to the hospital. 

Gina was a victim not only of the cruel staff at Plankinton who literally worked her to death, but of a juvenile criminal “justice” system that doles out ruthless punishments to children under the guise of “alternatives to prison.” The very place that claimed it would help Gina by reforming her into a model citizen murdered her. And while Plankinton itself has been investigated and shut down, most of the ingredients of the deadly recipe that killed Gina Score continue to abuse and traumatize children around the country.

Patreon: www.patreon.com/dascriminal

Sources: https://bit.ly/3xIznW5

On August 10th, 2021, the Dandong City court found Michael Spavor guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 11 years in prison and the payment of a fine and deportation following the sentence. Spavor was arrested alongside another Canadian, Michael Kovrig, on charges of espionage in December of 2018. The “Two Michaels,” as the cases are commonly known, have caused a stir in Canadian politics and strained Canada’s relationship with China.

Many believe that the arrest of the two Michaels was a direct response by China to Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou. Meng, a Chinese citizen, and executive of the massive multinational technology company Huawei, was arrested by Canadian authorities on December 1, 2018. She was stopped by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police while transiting in Vancouver International Airport. 

The RCMP announced that they had detained Meng on behalf of an extradition request by the United States. The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York had issued a warrant for Meng’s arrest on August 22, 2018, and Canada has an extradition agreement with the United States. The US charged Meng with bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. At heart is the claim that Meng had knowingly cleared money for Huawei when it was meant for Skycomm, a Huawei subsidiary that has been dealing with Iran contrary to US sanctions. 

What crimes have been committed here? Is this justice being conducted or a complicated game of international relations?

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DasCriminal

Sources: https://bit.ly/3bhoMVw

On June 4th, 2008, Jodi Arias murdered Travis Alexander — her ex, her on-again/off-again boyfriend, her friend-with-benefits, her stalking victim, or her fuck buddy, depending on how you view their relationship. Media pundits like Nancy Grace saw this as a case of a beautiful, narcissistic psychopath slaughtering her ex-boyfriend in cold blood. Arias’s defense team painted her as a woman abused.

But we want to take another approach — one that recognizes the toxic nature of Jodi and Travis’s relationship while affirming that nothing in Travis’s behavior justifies his brutal death. In the words of author and activist Sarah Schulman: conflict is not abuse. Hurt feelings — even when caused by someone else’s deceit or selfishness — don’t give someone a free pass for violence.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DasCriminal

Sources: https://bit.ly/3bhoMVw

In the early hours of December 28, 2015, Lynn Witteveen was woken up in her Haggis Drive, Peterborough home by a commotion in the kitchen. She made her way to the source of the noise just in time to see her partner, Dr. Andrew Chan, plead with his son Thomas as Thomas stabbed him to death.

Thomas then turned his attention to Lynn. He stabs her multiple times, but she manages to flee to the bedroom and call 911. The operator hears Lynn plead with her partner’s son, “I love you, I love you.” Inaudible screaming follows, and then “Ah. I’m dead.” Lynn tells the dispatcher she has a knife in her head. In the background, Thomas is heard yelling. 

Lynn Witteveen survived this horrific attack. Unfortunately, her partner and Thomas’s father, Andrew, did not. So, what happened?

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DasCriminal

Sources: https://bit.ly/3bhoMVw

On April 3rd, 2018, around 12:45 pm Pacific Time, someone with a grudge against YouTube went to the platform’s physical headquarters at 901 Cherry Avenue in San Bruno, California, armed with a semi-automatic pistol. That person shot and wounded three people before turning the weapon around and killing themselves with a shot to the heart.

When details emerged about the YouTube attacker, social media lit up. This person didn’t conform to so many of the stereotypes we hold about mass shooters. Nasim Najafi Aghdam was vegan, a member of the Baháʼí Faith, and — exceedingly rare for lone mass shooters — a woman.

Why did Nasim decide to commit such an act of violence at the YouTube headquarters before ending her own life? Join us for a look into the 2018 YouTube headquarters shooting and the life of the woman behind the attack.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DasCriminal

Sources: https://bit.ly/3bhoMVw

At his inaugural address in 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace infamously declared, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” An avowed racist, he opposed the Civil Rights Movement and its mission to end legalized racial discrimination in the United States. To label him a “controversial” figure would be an injustice to the people he hated and devoted his political career to oppressing.

On Monday, May 15th, 1972, at approximately four in the afternoon, Arthur Herman Bremer fired at George Wallace at point-blank range. Though seriously injured, Wallace survived the attack.

But why did Bremer fire on the governor? Was this a political statement? Or, was it something else entirely?

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DasCriminal

Sources: https://bit.ly/3bhoMVw

On November 8th, 2010, three intruders entered the Pan family household in Markham, Ontario near Toronto. After stealing the cash in the home, they tied up the family's 24-year-old daughter, Jennifer, and shot her parents. Her mother, Bich, died instantly, but her father, Han, miraculously survived.

When York Regional arrived at the scene, they quickly realized that not everything was as it seemed. They turned their attention toward one of the central characters in the event: Jennifer Pan herself.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DasCriminal

Sources: https://bit.ly/3bhoMVw

On May 28th, 2014, a group of five adults and one child attempted to proselytize people in a McDonald's in Zhaoyuan, China. When a woman name Wu Shuoyan refused to give them her contact information, they beat her to death inside the restaurant.

Join us for a deep dive into cults and new religious movements in China, Mao's stance on religion, the so-called Eastern Lightning sect and its female Jesus, and a family whose collective delusion eventually drove it to murder.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DasCriminal

Sources: https://bit.ly/3bhoMVw