LAST UPDATED AFTER THE LAST EPISODE: SEPT. 12, 2021
⁕ The 💰 notation indicates relation to the accident settlement
— JULY 27, 2015 —
- Father, Playboi Carti, etc., concert at the Orange County Observatory: Elaine is raped backstage by multiple men while incapacitated by substances
— MAY 2016 —
- Sadie has car accident and Elaine is a passenger in the car. The only injuries Elaine sustains is some cuts to her hands while trying to help the people in the other car get out of their vehicle.
- 💰 Susan helps Elaine file insurance claim, which Elaine later refers to as “fraud” in a text.
— JUNE 2016 —
- 💰 Elaine emails (Ep. 5)* Susan regarding the insurance check:
“I already know you want the checks for my routing info for the insurance check. Once it arrives it better either be linked directly to my checking account, or if it’s a physical check, directly in my hands. The full amount! I’m going to call the office and make sure you’re not pulling any snake shit, either.”
*(in Ep. 9 Neil calls this a text, but duckducklasers makes a persuasive case that he misspoke in 9, and that this was indeed from an email.)
— JULY 2016 —
- 💰 Susan gets angry that Elaine went out to eat before going to see the chiropractor who will support the insurance claim. This culminates in the argument with the DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!! (x8) texts 💬
— TUE. NOV. 8, 2016 —
- Elaine and Divine Compere get together. From iCloud we know they text “constantly” from this time through January 3
— DECEMBER 2016 —
- Susan and Elaine end up back under one roof again, as Susan lost her job as an assistant and Elaine, who had been staying at Daisy’s house, moves back home and is no longer working.
- Susan & Elaine exchange approximately 68 texts arguing over money, in amounts ranging from $2 – $30.
- Elaine’s father, Ray, ends child support payments to Susan.
A MONTH+ FROM ELAINE’S DISAPPEARANCE
- Elaine either blocks or stops following most of her high school friends on social media. Some of those friends, like Kristen, continue to follow her, and therefore see (and save) Elaine’s tweets about her rape.
— WED. DEC. 28, 2016 —
- Elaine tweets a thread about being raped and moving on, then deletes the tweets, but reconnects with Kristen after Kristen sees them.
— TUE. JAN. 3, 2017 —
- Elaine breaks up with Divine. She sends him a long text saying she needs to get her life together, that she cares for him, and that she hopes he gets his life together, too.
— WED. JAN. 4, 2017 —
- 💰 Attorney for Elaine’s personal injury case sends the insurance company a demand letter for $18,000
- Susan applies for a passport renewal.
- (Her last passport expired in 2009)
— JAN. 3-20, 2017 —
- Divine sends “at least a dozen” texts to Elaine, but she doesn’t respond.
— MON. JAN. 23, 2017 —
- 💰 Elaine’s attorney rejects the insurance company’s counteroffer of $4,000 with a new demand of $15,000
- Susan texts Elaine:
- 💬 “FUCKING MESSY BITCH”
- This is the last day that texts are backed up to iCloud
— THUR. JAN. 26, 2017 —
[Some times and events for 1/26, 1/27, and 1/28 come only from Susan Park. Those are indicated by a ‡︎. Susan’s detailed timeline, including transcript snippets from her narrative can be found here]
- 3:45AM: (phone records: Ep. 7) Elaine runs out of gas and calls Susan who goes with Jeff to meet her. ⍣
- ‡︎ They jump her car battery and give her some gas.
- 10:00AM:‡ Susan says Elaine was sitting around the living room in skimpy underwear, but ran into the dining room when she saw Jeff and Susan. Then Susan and her boyfriend, Jeff, left the house.
- Later:‡ Susan and Jeff return. Elaine is in her room.
— FRI. JAN. 27, 2017 —
- Morning:‡ Susan says she texted Elaine $20 with QuickPay, and says Elaine promised to pay it back by 6:00PM.
- 5:00PM: Elaine’s father, Ray, says Elaine came to his house to pick up “the weekend money.” Everything seemed normal. [Ep. 7]
- 6:01PM: 💬 Susan texts Elaine about the money. (The exact wording of the 6:01PM text is not shared on the podcast. Neil only says ‘her mom texted to get the money back.’)
- 7:00PM: According to Sadie, she picked up a curling iron from Elaine at Elaine’s house. Said Elaine didn’t talk to her, just handed her the curling iron.
- Later, in Episode 11, Sadie reports seeing Elaine leave the house and lock the door behind her.
- 7:30PM: Elaine leaves home in Glendale, drives approximately 40 minutes to Divine Compere’s house in Calabasas.
- 8:10PM: Elaine arrives at Divine’s
- 9:04PM: Elaine texts Susan:
- 💬 “Yeah, sorry, give me till later tonight.”
- 9:05PM: Susan texts Elaine back:
- 💬 “KEEP your word!!! You said at 6PM!!!!!!!!!!!”
- 9:45PM: Susan goes online to check the State Department passport application page.
- 10:20PM: Divine and Elaine take an Uber to see movie at AMC in Woodland Hills.
— SAT. JAN. 28, 2017 —
“Are you still listening? Don’t miss a second of the music you love.”
- 12:43AM: Elaine and Divine return to his guest house by Uber. Divine says they go to bed.
- AROUND 3AM:‡ Just prior to the cadaver dog search, Susan says that she went to Jeff’s to sleep Friday night, but got up in the “middle of the night” to come home and wait for Elaine, because she was worried after the incident with Elaine’s car the prior evening. However, she says many other times that she was at Jeff’s all night and wasn’t worried about Elaine that night, as she does to the polygrapher in Episode 12, Season Finale; Pt. 1
- **Serene’s note: No one has found a record of Susan ever saying this until the day of the cadaver dog search, and in many, many, many other interviews she specifically states that she was at Jeff’s, and did not worry about Elaine that night.
- 3:20AM: Elaine checks her social media for the last time: Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.
- Just before sunrise/or “around 4AM”: According to Divine, Elaine wakes in a panic, singing and shaking. She dresses and then leaves without saying a word.
- 6:04:53AM: CCTV- Elaine walks from guest house out of Divine Compere’s driveway, through gate toward her car.
- 6:07AM: Elaine’s car is seen leaving the Compere’s gated community. Can see car/plates, but not inside the car.
- 6:28AM: Facebook Find My Friends activity is shown on Elaine’s phone.
- At this same time, an Apple iMessage system message is included at the end of Elaine and Divine’s text message thread that reads:
- 💬 “You started sharing location with Div, January 28th, 2017, 6:28AM”
- This probably does not indicate that a pin was sent and it is unclear whether or not a notification would not have been sent to Divine, and he did not comment.
- At this same time, an Apple iMessage system message is included at the end of Elaine and Divine’s text message thread that reads:
- 7:13AM: 🎧 Pandora app cookies show on Elaine’s iPhone…
- 8:51:41AM – 8:51:47AM 💬💬💬 Susan sends three texts to Elaine in these six seconds. None of these messages showed as read:
- 💬“NOW”
- 💬“$20”
- 💬“NOW” (‘followed by a bunch of ilegible characters like angrily typing’)
- 9:32AM: …Elaine’s Pandora app prompts her:
- 🎧🔊“Are you still listening? Don’t miss a second of the music you love.”
- 10:13AM-10:15AM: Divine calls Elaine 3 times. None of the calls get through.
- 10:50AM: Susan calls Jeff. (She says she calls from her house.)
- 12:04PM: Susan apparently texts Jeff. Text erased.
- 1:10PM: 💬 Sadie texts Elaine:
- 💬 “What are you doing today?”
- 1:33PM – 1:34PM: Divine calls Elaine two more times.
- 1:36PM, 1:16PM & 1:42PM: Susan calls Elaine three times.
- 3:42PM: Final ping of Elaine’s phone hitting a cell tower in Malibu. It was this ping that helped Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department find Elaine’s car.
- 11:58PM: Susan calls Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station to ask about reporting Elaine missing. They tell her she should probably wait a day.
- Susan made this call before calling Elaine’s father or any of her friends
- Susan has often said that Elaine regularly left for days at a time without telling anyone:
SUSAN: She leaves– she go– she leaves two, three days, comes whenever she wish to.
CROSSTALK: Have you ever–“
SUSAN: She never tells me where she goes.
WOMAN: Have you ever called the police before because you were worried about her–
SUSAN: No. That was the first time.
- From Episode 6:‡ Susan says when she called the police on Saturday they convinced her to wait a day before filing an official report. She says this may be because she told them that Elaine had been depressed, had dropped out of school, and had been laid off from her job waitressing. They told her that this would lead to police not classifying the disappearance as a crime.
— SUN. JAN. 29, 2017 —
- No time mentioned:‡ Susan says that despite believing that Elaine packed to stay away, she tells Jeff that she wants to file a missing person’s report because she says Elaine would have paid her back the $20.
— MON. JAN. 30, 2017 —
- 9:40AM: Susan messages Sadie on Facebook, saying she’s worried about Elaine, but tells Sadie that Elaine took all of her makeup and traveling blue duffle bag and may be staying with her boyfriend.
- 10:30AM: 💰 Susan calls the attorney representing Elaine on the insurance claim
- 11:48AM: Susan calls the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station again, followed by the Glendale PD to file a missing person’s report
- 3:10PM: 💰 Susan calls the attorney for the accident claim again
- 4:25PM: A Glendale PD officer comes to Susan’s home to take the missing person’s report
- The officer who takes the missing person’s report calls Elaine’s father, Ray, after taking the missing person’s report. This is how Ray first hears of Elaine’s disappearance.
- Despite the fact that Elaine told Susan she was going to see her dad before going to Divine’s house, Elaine didn’t call Ray to see if he knew anything during the time when she says she was “worried about” Elaine.
- The officer who takes the missing person’s report calls Elaine’s father, Ray, after taking the missing person’s report. This is how Ray first hears of Elaine’s disappearance.
— WED. FEB. 1, 2017 —
- Susan calls and tells Elaine’s brother, Dustin, that Elaine is missing.
— THUR. FEB. 2, 2017 —
- Susan and Jeff drive to Calabasas to speak to the Divine Compere’s parents.
- After leaving the Compere’s Susan and Jeff go to the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department and request that they ping Elaine’s phone
- 1:16PM: 💰 Susan calls the attorney for accident claim again
- 2:30PM: Police retrieve last ping from Elaine’s phone that had hit a cell tower at Corral Canyon Rd. in Malibu, five days earlier.
- Elaine’s car is found on the side of the Pacific Coast Hwy: doors unlocked, keys in the ignition in the on position, her phone, her baby blue duffle bag, and her backpack with her computer and about $30 are in the car.
- The Local Malibu — the website that defines self-own — seems to accidentally confirm that Susan’s original narrative to police was that Elaine committed suicide, by writing (in something like English): “By using the ‘suicide’ narrative and releasing the vehicle into the custody of her family, prevented potential evidence that could lead to Elaine’s whereabouts from being processed.”
- This is disputed by NBC Los Angeles, Channel 4, who wrote on February 4: “The car was transported to police headquarters for detailed forensic examination. There was no evidence of a struggle, but it could not be determined for certain whether Park had driven the car to Malibu, or someone else, nor whether she was in the car when it arrived.”
“We can’t start a criminal investigation until there’s evidence a crime was involved.”
Glendale Police Sgt. Robert William: Los Angeles Daily News
— WED. FEB. 15, 2017 —
- Susan’s new passport is issued
— WED. MARCH 1, 2017 —
- Reminder on Susan’s iPhone: “FB LOGIN HISTORY.”
— FRI. MARCH 3, 2017 —
- Elaine’s Facebook is logged onto. This is recorded as the first login in her Facebook account history. Previous history had been deleted.
— MARCH 12, 2017 —
- Big search for Elaine, organized by Rosemarie. This is the search where the Compere’s drove by looking for Daisy. (Daisy was not at the search.)
L-R: Vibiana Ibarra, Ingrid Strauss, Ann Mari Simpson, Daisy Alvarez, Michael Einziger, and Rosemarie Wheeler (people in the podcast in bold)
— TUE. MARCH 21, 2017 —
- 💰Elaine’s name is signed on the accident claim release, foreswearing all bodily injury claims and freeing up the insurance settlement money.
- $5,000 is split 3 ways: ⅓ to the attorney, ⅓ to the chiropractor, and ⅓ to “Elaine.”
— FRI. MARCH 31, 2017 —
- 9:00AM: Note in Susan’s iPhone calendar: “HIDE IT”
- 10:30AM: Members of the “Malibu team” visit to see Elaine’s room for the first time… with drug dogs.
- 1:00PM: Note in Susan’s iPhone calendar: “PUT BACK HIDE ITEMS – SHED.”
— SAT. MAY 6, 2017 —
- Cadaver dog search
Links:
About that settlement agreement signed with Elaine’s name… (and all the ways The Daily Malibu’s piece trying to prove it wasn’t fraud just made everything look much, much fraud-ier)
What Susan said: Susan Park’s extended timeline from Episode 6. (July 2)
Notes:
⍣ I think it’s fair to say that no one knows how much — if any — of this story is true, but it appears that the call itself is backed up by the phone records Elaine has out in Ep. 7
༓
serene 
Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon every day. It will always be useful to read content from other writers and practice a little something from other websites.
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The license plate footage shows Elaine’s car leaving at 7:14:38 (seems the time was out by an hour) so there was potentially a ten minute gap between her leaving the Compere’s property and exiting the gate, which is less than a quarter mile from the house.
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PS thanks for compiling this – awesome job!!
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The time was actually confirmed to be off by more than an hour. Another camera was used to correct the inaccurate gate time. A neighbor positioned near the gate picked up Elaine’s car. This is from the bonus episode, about 22 min in:
“NEIL/VO: A camera from a neighbor’s house right near the gate shows Elaine’s car driving past at 6:06:58 that morning. So, presumably she actually went through the gate not at 6:06 AM but at 6:07.”
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Oh gotcha – thanks!
Got stuck going down a rabbit hole on CCTV time stamping because of the incorrect times on BOTH this and the Compere footage. Makes it super confusing.
I’m off to re-listen to the Origins episode as I clearly missed this!
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Yeah, Neil has used these times before but in the Origins episode he finally explicitly states how they corrected their times and once again reinforces that LE watched the unedited video. The interesting thing is, that means back in 2017 the PI and investigative team working on behalf of Susan also cleared Div, yet for years now she’s been telling people no one saw Elaine get in her car. She accused a 19 year old kid of all sorts of things, people out for him online, and to this day she’s trying to force the narrative that Div is to blame for Elaine’s disappearance. That’s almost karmic, considering – thanks to the podcast – she’s now living the nightmare she inflicted on Div. It’s wild. 😬
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Part of me wants to say, “But…” But I don’t have it in me to be judicious tonight. By tomorrow I’ll probably have genuine qualifiers, but tonight I think I agree. It’s kind of a comforting thought right now.
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I’m so conflicted about everything relating to this case….
On one hand, it’s great that the podcast has raised the profile of Elaine’s case and now more people (including myself) know about it.
On the other hand, it’s thrown a LOT of shade (and a fair amount of abuse from the FB community) with very little evidence on a mother who may either be completely innocent or entirely complicit in her daughters disappearance.
I can kind of empathise with Susan putting her hooks into DC and not letting go – particularly when she’s got people meeting her in coffee shops telling her they know without question that DC knows more and that the facts she’s been told are lies. If she is not involved at all, then as a grieving mother you’re going to cling onto anything you possibly can as hope of finding answers… On the flip side, if she IS involved, then you’re going to cling to whatever narrative can help shift the focus…
But knowing that Glendale PD physically viewed footage of EP getting into her car and driving away makes it pretty evident that DC had nothing to do with it. I wonder why she chose to trust the information from some random source over LE?
And yes absolute irony – Neil and co doing to Susan exactly what Susan has done to DC – got stuck on one possible explanation and not just not letting go.
My gut says that neither DC nor Susan are involved in her disappearance, but I mean…. 🤷🏻♂️
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I think almost everyone who is paying attention to the case & listening to the podcast is feeling much the same way. Conflicted. I am seriously disturbed over the amount of public suspicion the podcast has put on Susan with very little evidence. But unlike you, everything I see, read & hear makes me absolutely think she’s involved, despite disagreeing with broadcasting it to the world. She has said the craziest, most ridiculous stuff from jump about Elaine, Divine, and anyone else to get people looking the other way and it is just not credible. Saying that Elaine probably committed suicide because her battery died again and she didn’t want to call two nights in a row. Nah. I don’t suspect premeditated murder. I think they got in a fight and things went wrong, but there are real reasons to suspect her and nothing ever comes out that exculpates her, even the crap they always dump after each episode to “help” her cause usually makes her look worse. No, it’s not enough and I completely fear we’re casting blame on an innocent mom, but I also know she actually does seem incredibly guilty. Divine just doesn’t. Have you seen their texts? They were so in love and he was so nice to her.
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Oh yeah absolutely – he clearly adored her. In contrast, if anyone was cold in those texts it was probably her.
I’m about as positive as a person who is not even remotely close to the investigation can be that DC wasn’t involved.
I’m less convinced re Susan, but I do still feel in my gut that she’s innocent (of murder and the covering up of such at least).
There’s no doubt she is an incredibly flawed person, but a lot of what she says and does feels more like her trying to hide some of those flaws and absolve herself of guilt – not from murdering her daughter, but from treating her so badly.
A lot of the stuff being called out about Susan on FB I really do think can be put down to cultural differences.
Either way, she is definitely not doing herself any favours in the way she’s presenting herself.
What’re some of the key things that make you question her innocence?
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The two Korean people I know — one who is in her community and knows her personally — say the cultural differences are what stand out to them. That in the Korean community a lot of the things I’ve given almost no weight have freaked them out. They both said a Korean mother would treasure her room and not touch it. (The room thing doesn’t impress me.) But in more nuanced conversations they’ve persuasively shut that whole “it’s just cultural differences” thing down with me, and were really irritated at it. Until two weeks ago the only people I saw commenting on this were white. At this point I’ve put that whole thing aside. Also, I always think EVERYONE is innocent. When I think someone might be guilty, it’s probably time to pause and reflect. 😏
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I’m very much in a grey area on Susan and am following the podcast’s recommendation to remember there are no official POI and to wait until all the episodes are released. There’s every chance she is a mother desperately grasping at straws and willfully ignoring that DC was cleared for good reasons. In fact, the more info Susan releases on FB in an attempt to defend herself from the podcast and place the blame on Div, the more innocent he seems and the more misguided she appears. Because of how messy this case is, I feel the podcast has done a disservice with their approach. Guilty or innocent, civilians and citizen detectives should not be harassing anyone. If there are tips, provide them through the proper channels, but otherwise… yikes!
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FYI: Ducks and I put our typing fingers together and have put up a transcript for Origins. https://therealtamishow.com/2021/08/15/transcript-tladila-origins-bonus-1/
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I may try to address this later… Ducks & I are transcribing Origins right now — because we’re mad women, apparently — and we’re putting together some of her very fine work laying out the history and timing of events occurring between the police, the Compere’s, and Susan/Jeff with me adding in legal explanations of warrant requirements, etc. to answer some questions coming up on Reddit more fully & in one place… which gets me to where I was going by the long road, as usual: if you’re not already on Reddit it’s probably time to bite the bullet. (I think I finally did in June & have really only been posting for just over a month. Ducks is pretty new there, too.) I only do the podcast stuff on there, but the forums r/Elaineparkcase, r/TrueCrimePodcasts, & to a lesser extent, r/podcasts are all great for this & most of what we’re talking about comes from there. Twitter is my social media home & I was concerned about what it would be like on Reddit 😬 but those little communities are incredible. People tend to be pretty bright, but the best surprise has been how friendly they are. It’s like a little island of safety. (There are exceptions, but they’re small, localized, and I haven’t experienced them or actually witnessed anyone else experiencing them. I just know a guy who can be a real jerk, but even that is low key.)
I’m @mythserene over there & if you do decide to give it a try hit me up & I’ll throw you some karma points so your posts won’t be moderated as long. (Dunno if the r/Elaineparkcase forum does that, but when I first joined my comments were held in moderation for awhile before they showed up. It doesn’t last long & the time they hold it decreases with each comment until it stops.)
My whole point in saying this was to avoid a long comment. That didn’t work out so well, huh? 😉
Head over there. If you don’t want to I understand, but you really should give it a try. 🚪
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I am indeed on Reddit! I joined the Elaine Park community the same day I commented on your blog post! I’m rolyat_au over there. Seems like a great little community, very much held up by the two of you! Loving the safe space feeling – the people on FB and Twitter scare me lol.
Thanks for doing the transcription of Origins. Funny how words can seem so when different written versus spoken.
It’s a fair point you make re. white folks having opinions on other cultures, and to be transparent – I am totally a white guy saying her behaviour has a cultural element to it. Haha. But I didn’t really mean the big stuff – more the little things. For example, I noticed that people were crucifying her over her notes about winning the cruise from a “drawing contest” and then later saying she won it in a “raffle” – basically suggesting she’s lying because she can’t keep her story straight even in the same paragraph.
Where I’m from we would call a raffle a “draw” (I don’t know if that’s the same there?) so I feel like this is simply just a communication failure rather intentional lying. Those – more than texting your child to die a gazillion times – are more what I meant by cultural differences.
It’s funny you say you usually think everyone is innocent – I’m the EXACT opposite. I listened to Serial and Undisclosed (S1) about ten times and my conclusion was that Adnan was guilty. Same with Steven Avery. On the flip side, here I am saying maybe Susan is innocent..? Maybe I’m just a difficult person?? lol.
I really loved TLDLA season 1 and I really want to like season 2, but it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to do so. They’re making relatively basic mistakes, particularly for a podcast that was recorded four years ago. A really basic example of this is – on their Instagram feed – they posted a comment re. the “Hide It” reminder suggesting Susan created this reminder for the 3rd of March (instead of the 31st). Susan’s excuse for this is that she was hiding pot and it was the same day the they brought the drug dogs through is (IMO) at least a LITTLE bit plausible, but by the podcast publishing the wrong date on their socials, this will throw more shade on Susan (unfairly). I find it kind of ironic that they made this mistake, given how often they comment on Susan not presenting facts clearly…
Pedantic, I know, but I’m a detail person (although you wouldn’t know it from my FIRST comment on this post)!
Eek talk about long road – this comment is SUPER long – sorry. I had to shift to my computer to reply because it was down to a single word on a line on the phone, and now I’ve just made it worse!
I’m hyped to read your breakdown of events with all of the sources compiled. If you need any help with anything – even just transcribing etc – don’t hesitate to reach out via Reddit, happy to help if I can!
Anyway – see you on Reddit!
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Have tons to say — 100% agree about the drawing/raffle thing, and think it’s indicative of dozens of other irrelevant nonsense — but I, too, on a smaller screen rn & just made food for the first time toda— scratch that, it’s tomorrow. I’ve had lots of work and had abandoned everything about the case & pod for a fortnight until this weekend, so I missed the date discrepancy on the HIDE IT note. (More to update on the timeline. 😞) Did you get your Reddit u/ right? rolyat_au? <Wow, such empty> 🤷♀️
You’ve probably seen it, but my blog post after Episode 8: “Cadaver Dogs” expresses a lot of the same frustrations you’re having. https://therealtamishow.com/2021/07/21/im-going-to-rant-a-bit-about-episode-8-tladila/
Yeah, you really should read at least this part of it, if only because “everything warrants” has become such an inside baseball shorthand for, well, everything that blog talks about. https://therealtamishow.com/2021/07/21/im-going-to-rant-a-bit-about-episode-8-tladila/#everything-warrants
Oh, last thing. In the comments box, did you catch this? [6 sec video to illustrate a thing it’s easier to show than explain] https://therealtamishow.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/rpreplay_final1629176554.mp4 If not, don’t feel bad. I didn’t either for a long time. (And it’s possible it’s not even there on your device.)
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What Ducks said. Also, the one thing no one — literally no one close to the case — disputes is those times on the CCTV. (There are questions about the part that’s cut off, but not the actual time she left. It’s been verified through multiple other devices.)
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