What Happened to Morgan Pt. 2

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[SPEAKER_00]: Warning check the locks podcast is a true crime podcast and may contain graphic descriptions of violence, murder, sexual assault, and more.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Check the locks podcast is not appropriate for all listeners.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Listener discretion is strongly advised.

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[SPEAKER_01]: When the remains of a missing 19-year-old are found at a Georgia home, her killers are arrested and forced to answer for what they've done.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Finally revealing secrets that they've kept buried for years.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Join me, John Connor, as I discuss the disappearance and murder of Morgan Bauer.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This is Check The Locks Podcast.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, and thank you for joining me as I dive into part two of a truly terrifying true crime case.

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[SPEAKER_01]: As always, before we begin, hope that you're doing well.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Hope you're having a great week, and I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for letting me spend some time with you as you go through your day.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This week, we're going to jump back into the case of Morgan Bower.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So if you have a listen to part one, please go ahead and pause this episode, go back to last weeks.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Let's just make sure you're all cut up.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But before we continue, I will be honest, I just

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[SPEAKER_01]: I know that usually we talk about a lot of disturbing details when we're going through these stories, but this week there is some mention of cannibalism and necrophilia.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to be very honest, I hit this information at a very high level because it is unsettling, but I didn't want anyone to feel blindsided while they were listening to the episode.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So just a quick heads up on that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But with that being said, I'm going to quit the Gabby Gabby.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We'll get to the stabby stabby.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In July 2023, a question that honoured Cherry Keenan for years was finally answered.

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[SPEAKER_01]: What happened to her daughter, Morgan Bauer, who had moved from a small South Dakota town to Atlanta in 2016, hoping to chase her dream of big city living, only to disappear 14 days after arriving.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Sadly, the answer would come when Morgan's remains were found buried at a home in Porto, Dale, Georgia, a home that once belonged to Jonathan Alexander Warren.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Warren and his girlfriend, Caitlyn Gold, were the last two people to be seen with Morgan before her disappearance.

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[SPEAKER_01]: For years, the pair told the same story.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They had dropped the missing girl at a gas station, where she got into a green Mitsubishi eclipse with an unknown male.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The story never changed, but investigators now knew that the former couple had been lying from the start.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And in October of 2023, there was an indictment from the Newton County Grand jury.

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[SPEAKER_01]: laying out what investigators believe happened to Morgan on the day that she was killed.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The cause of death was believed to be strangulation, with detectives thinking that both Warren and Gold actively participated in, choking the life out of the 19-year-old inside Warren's former home.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Then, in a sickening display that spans several days, Morgan was dismembered, but not before Warren committed sexual acts with a girl's lifeless body, and both participating in eating part of her genitals.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Then her remains were placed inside of a suitcase and burned in the backyard.

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[SPEAKER_01]: After their arrest, the former couple would tell detectives two different stories.

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[SPEAKER_01]: According to Gold, she had left the room only to return a short time later, finding Morgan lying cold on the floor with Warren on top of her.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She claimed that she had not been there when Warren had killed her and only admitted to discovering the body.

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[SPEAKER_01]: but Warren spun a much different tale.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He told detectives that his former girlfriend had a history of dark and twisted fantasies, and gold had a longtime fascination with that and violence.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Well before the pair had ever met Morgan.

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[SPEAKER_01]: According to Warren, Goldman spoke extensively in the past about wanting to kill someone in this member of body.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Each story pointed to finger at the other person, with both Warren and Goldman trying to minimize their participation in the brutal murder, but only one would end up going to trial.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In January of 2024, Jonathan Alexander Warren would plead guilty to malice murder, tampering with evidence, concealing the death of another and necrophilia, entering what's called a non-negotiated plea.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, this means that he was asking the court to hand out a sentence without any type of prior agreement.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He had also been cooperating with the state, and helping to build a case against

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[SPEAKER_01]: And he was hoping that he would get life in prison with the possibility of parole.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But the judge who reviewed the gruesome details thoroughly sought differently, sentencing war into life in prison with absolutely no chance of parole.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, by October 2025, Golds' trial was still pending, with the defense and the prosecution arguing over what evidence would be allowed.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The district attorney wanted to introduce gold's social media history, which included TikTok videos in which she allegedly discussed her interest in both serial killers and the occult.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Prosecutors also had a social media video, which has never been released in full to the public.

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[SPEAKER_01]: According to investigators, it included footage of gold holding what appeared to be a fake severed human head while being covered in fake blood.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But the defense disagreed, arguing that the social media evidence was nothing more than inflammatory, claiming that it would only be used to horrify the jury and not focus on the facts of the case.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Judge Joe Bishop would ultimately grant concessions to both sides, allowing for the social media history to be entered, but also granting a request from the defense to

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[SPEAKER_01]: And with that, juror selection would begin on August 24th of 2026, which at the time of this recording was just over a month ago.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now during opening statements, prosecutors told the jury that Goldman Warren had lured Morgan to their home, promising her a place to stay.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They would describe the violent attack into brave events that took place, telling the jury that things you're going to hear about, they sound like things out of horror movies.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The prosecution also shared that Jonathan Alexander Warren would not be testifying.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Telling the court that they would not give him a platform to talk about the things that he had done to Morgan, things that he and Gold enjoyed doing together.

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[SPEAKER_01]: but the defense painted a different story.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Cleaming that gold was in the room, but it was Warren who had committed the murder and telling the jury that their client was afraid of her boyfriend and what he would do to her, which caused her to stay quiet about the crime for years.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The defense called the social media posts art, claiming that her online persona was nothing more than cosplay.

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[SPEAKER_01]: and referring to the prosecution's claims is nothing more than smoke and mirrors, but the district attorney's office came prepared, calling David Settles the second to the stand.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Settles testified that he in Met Gold in 2016, after Morgan had been murdered and her relationship with Warren had ended.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Settles and Gold would eventually marry, having two children together before divorcing.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And according to her ex-husband, Gold will head confess to him.

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[SPEAKER_01]: While I'm the stand, Settles described a trip that he and his wife had taken a California, where they met up with Warren.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Settles testified that he overheard a conversation between the former couple.

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[SPEAKER_01]: During which, Warren asked gold how much her new husband knew, and when gold replied only what we discussed, Warren responded by saying, I think we got away with it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Settles had no idea what their conversation was about, till a few months later, when he received a phone call from his wife, drunk at the strip club that employed her.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Settles told the court that Golb seemed to be having a bad night, and proceeded to confess what she and Warren had done.

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[SPEAKER_01]: If that wasn't enough, Golb's younger brother also took the stand, telling the jury that he had never seen his sister be controlled by any of her former boyfriend and stating that she was usually the one to make the decisions.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But the final nail in the coffin may have been a portion of an interview with Jonathan Alexander Warren.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In the clip, Warren claimed that gold instigated the murder, telling Warren that she wanted to kill Morgan and cut her up, saying, come on, it'll be fun.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And with that, the trial was over.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It would take the jury only one hour to reach a verdict, and on August 31st, 2026, Caitlyn Gold was found guilty of her involvement in the murder of Morgan Bauer.

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[SPEAKER_01]: At sentencing, Morgan's mother Sherry Keenan made a powerful statement, saying that, if a person truly dies after their name is no longer spoken, I know my daughter will live forever, and asking the judge to place Caitlyn Gold behind bars for the rest of her life, so she could never have the opportunity to hurt anyone else.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In the end, Judge Bishop agreed, sentencing Gold to life in prison without the possibility of parole

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[SPEAKER_01]: Today, Morgan Bauer would be 30 years old.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Her life was cut tragically short before getting the opportunity to achieve the goals that she had set for herself.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But Morgan's story isn't necessarily a cautionary tale.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Rather, it's a story about a young girl who dared to step outside the known for bigger things, and hopes of not only discovering a new place, but discovering herself.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And to the people who loved her, Morgan will always be remembered as the kind and loving person that she was.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The girl with a big heart and bigger ambitions.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So that's this week's case.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And as I had mentioned last week, I wanted to hold off on my final thoughts until we had gone through the entire case together.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, if you did listen to last week's episode, you may remember me talking about how I related to Morgan at this age in a way that I bet a lot of us probably did when we were younger.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In a sat feeling of wanting to break out of your hometown and see what's past your doorstep and establish yourself as your own person.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But now as a parent, I find myself relating a lot to Sherry Keenan.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I know a lot of people that listen to this podcast right now, they have older kids.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I would imagine that it's scary because you know the dangers of the world, but you also want your kids to be brave and to thrive and to feel like they're capable of handling what life throws at them.

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[SPEAKER_01]: To have the courage to carve something out of their own.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I guess when I think about it like that's why I don't necessarily want to look at this as a cautionary tale.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Morgan and Cherry were both doing exactly what they were supposed to do.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, Morgan just ended up crossing paths with what I believe to be true evil.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now I can't say for sure that I buy either Warren's story or global story, but I do suspect the truth most likely falls somewhere in the middle.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And if Goble really did just come into the room to find that Warren had killed Morgan, the fact that she would participate in those gruesome acts after the fact is absolutely disgusting.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I also don't necessarily believe that it was solely her idea or that she pushed Warren to commit such a brutal and terrible crime.

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[SPEAKER_01]: What seems the most likely to me is that both Warren and Goble had these sick fantasies, and they fed into each other, ramping each other up in a truly disturbing way until they finally acted on it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And, grotesquely, I think that it was a way for the two to remain bonded to each other.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like I can tell you for sure, that if I were on vacation with my new wife and she wanted to swing by her ex-boyfriend's house in another estate, I would definitely have some

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[SPEAKER_01]: And it seems pretty obvious that even after their breakup, they managed to stay in communication.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So again, this is speculation, but I truly believe that Morgan was just a victim of opportunity for these two.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Again, she was a young woman alone in a new city.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She didn't have any friends or family there nearby.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I almost wonder if they thought that no one would come looking.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Sadly, if it hadn't been Morgan, I think it would have just been a matter of time until it was somebody else.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I also couldn't help but notice parallels from another episode of the podcast, and this was one of the very first episodes we ever released like years ago, called The Michigan Thrill Kill, where two teenagers, JP Orlowitz and Alex Leckhamen, murdered a dismembered man inside of a garage.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, if you've listened to that episode or you've been following the podcast for that long, you may remember that that murder took place across the street from the house that I grew up in.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I was there when the forensics team came.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They were searching everything, you know, saw the police on the street.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was, it was just crazy.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe it's because I just found out that the house where the murder took place is actually currently for sale.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But it got me thinking back, and in both cases, the prosecution argued that the murders were committed just because the killers wanted to know how it felt.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And to think that there are people walking the street, just wanting to know what it's like to take someone's life is absolutely horrifying to me.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And lastly, I guess I'll end up in this, while researching this case, I saw a few references to how people reacted to Morgan's murder, and it was in a way that almost blamed her for what happened.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, oh, if she would have answered that Craigslist to add, or hadn't decided to work as an exotic dancer, almost in a, like, well, what did you expect to happen kind of tone?

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I just wanted to make sure I took a moment to speak to that because we've done a lot of episodes of this podcast where members of vulnerable communities have been victims of absolutely horrific crimes.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And just because you work in a strip club or engage in sex work or whatever it may be, it doesn't mean that your life is any less valuable than anyone else's.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The end of the day Morgan Bauer was a person, she had a family and friends and people who loved her and miss her until this day and working a job that you may not agree with doesn't negate that or again make her life any less valuable.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I just wanted to make sure that I touched on that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But if we're talking devil tests for me, this case is a straight-up 10 out of 10.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, as a parent now and as someone who identified a lot with Morgan when I was younger, this one really got to me and it's one that I don't think I'll forget anytime soon.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So again, for me, this is going to be a 10, but as always, I want to hear from you, the listeners,

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[SPEAKER_01]: You can let me know, reach out on Instagram, check the locks pod, you can find me on Twitter, check the locks, and if you're not in our Facebook group, what the heck are you doing?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Come hang out with us.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I say it every week, but it really is the best place on the internet.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And everyone is just genuinely kind to each other, which, you know, something you don't see a lot of,

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[SPEAKER_01]: kind of tying it back to the judgments that were made on this case from people on social media.

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[SPEAKER_01]: One thing I'm very proud of about our Facebook group is that is not the vibe that we have in the slightest.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It really is an amazing community.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Click that link, answer a few questions.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I also try to get the episodes out whenever my schedule allows me to do so.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So again.

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[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to help financially support the show through a few dollars a month, that's patreon.com forward slash check the locks, and I would greatly appreciate your support.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And if you can't financially support the show, I definitely understand just listen in, share in the show with your friends, your family, the people who are important to you, it means just as much if not more.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I say it every week, but this is a very small independent podcast.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This is one person doing everything in a bedroom.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So when you tell people that the podcast exists, it really does help bring new listeners in, helps bring in new members of our community and really helps the podcast to grow and reaches many people as possible.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That is all that I have for you for this week's case, but please make sure that you're subscribed to check the locks on your favorite podcast app so that you never miss an episode.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I will see you again next week with another truly terrifying true podcast but until then remember, monsters are real.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So stay safe.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Stay ready.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Don't forget to check the locks.

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[SPEAKER_01]: See you next week.