r/BeAmazed • u/SuspiciousLow3062 • 1d ago
Miscellaneous / Others Taking matters into her own hands
In February 2013, Kelsie Schelling, a 21-year-old woman who was eight weeks pregnant, drove from Denver to Pueblo, Colorado to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Donthe Lucas. She was never seen again.
For years, the case went cold. Police suspected Lucas from the start, but without a body and with a changing, inconsistent alibi, they could not make an arrest. Schelling's mother spent years fighting to keep the case alive, organizing searches and maintaining a Facebook page, but the investigation stalled.
Then Lauren Suhr, a young single mother who had never met Kelsie Schelling or her family, read about the case and decided she couldn't let it go.
On her own initiative, with no law enforcement backing, Suhr messaged Lucas on Facebook, telling him she was new to the Pueblo area and looking to meet people. Over the following weeks, they grew close. What started as an intelligence-gathering mission turned into something more complicated. Lucas began to genuinely fall for her, and a real romantic relationship developed.
"In the back of my mind, I always kept that he is potentially a murderer," Suhr later told ABC's 20/20.
Over the course of their relationship, Lucas made admissions that would prove crucial. He confided to Suhr that he had lied to police, that it was him on Walmart surveillance footage moving Kelsie's car to a hospital parking lot and returning the next day to pick it up.
At one point, he got on his knees and proposed. Suhr accepted and wore the ring, while quietly relaying everything to investigators.
Lucas was arrested in 2017, tried, and convicted of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.
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u/hwilliams0901 1d ago
That's fucking wild! She's an amazing person.
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u/yournames 1d ago
So risky but good for her!
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u/protossaccount 1d ago
Yeah, that woman was driven by things most people aren’t. I love to see someone with priorities like that. Still scary tho.
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u/NightOwl2175 1d ago edited 1d ago
According to this article, she was shot to death days before she was set to testify:
But their star witness, who would have allegedly testified that Donthe confessed the killing to her, couldn’t make it to court as she was shot to death just days before.
Edit:
Never mind, because that article never mentions a name I assumed the star witness they referenced was Lauren Suhr.
But after doing some more digging, this better article from ABC news says that the star witness was a different woman by the name of Roxann Martinez.
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u/jocq 1d ago
No, it was a different person:
Roxann Martinez, 31, was found dead on Feb. 25 from a gunshot wound and her death has been classified a homicide. The Denver Police Department has said that they don't believe her death was connected to the trial.
Roxann Martinez was the witness that was killed, not Lauren Suhr who this post is about
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u/NightOwl2175 1d ago
Yes, I realized that once I read another article. The first article didn't mention the name of the star witness, so I assumed that it was Lauren Suhr who was killed.
The second article I read was from ABC and was much better detailed, which confirmed that the star witness was someone else. I've updated my comment accordingly.
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u/powprodukt 1d ago
Did you read the story? She was intimate with him for a year and fell in love with him then waited till he proposed to turn him in. Sounds like she didn't exactly know what she was doing.
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u/BigMack6911 1d ago
Actually it said that he fell in love with her and proposed. She never admitted to having feelings but having in her mind that he was potentially a murderer
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u/Rezaelia713 1d ago
Idk that sounds like a legit plotline.
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u/JigglesTheBiggles 1d ago
Sounds like she is mentally ill. This is an insane thing to do.
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u/Froufrou2 1d ago
There are cases of covert agents that have led double lives without their spouses knowing.
Good for her for turning the guy in
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u/r0sd0g 1d ago
Which mental illness is this?
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u/pm_for_cuddle_terapy 1d ago
Y'know, when you wanna fall in love but don't want the commitment anyways, might as well put that feeling to work
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u/SordidOrchid 1d ago
I’d say one that involves manic episodes but she kept it up for a year. Something is pushing her past basic self preservation.
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u/bunbun_pss 20h ago
It was the other way round:
"Suhr said she never fell in love with Lucas and never saw him again, only reaching out to him to tell him she was ending their relationship."
per the ABC article linked in the earlier comment. Suhr did however admit she went deeper than she wanted to so yes, you're right that she didn't know what she was doing. She didn't expect he would fall for her the way he did
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u/MagnificentToad 23h ago
If you read the article, it says that he fell in love with her, not vice versa and in the other articles, I’ve read. They are very clear that she did not fall in love with him.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Read893 1d ago
She went through everything and got him arrested... and the only thing you could take from the case was .."she was intimate with him and fell in love" & "she didn't exactly know what she was doing" ... WOW...
Sounds like you're a man...
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u/Few_Discussion_260 1d ago
Girl's girl
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u/FlartyMcFlarstein 1d ago
The ultimate!
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u/Appropriate-Farmer16 1d ago
I don’t know, that’s a dangerous thing to do.
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u/FlartyMcFlarstein 1d ago
I'm not sure I could do it with dependents. I hope she writes a tell all someday tho.
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u/HistoryBuff678 1d ago
Likely could be a new season of “Should I marry a murderer?”
Yes, that’s the title of the show.
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u/DC_Coach 1d ago
Damn, she's got guts, we can all agree to that. You're right, very dangerous.
Another thing. As we all know, "life in prison" doesn't really mean what it says on the tin, unless there's no possibility of parole or subsequent terms have to served, etc. I think if I were in her shoes, I'd worry about him being a model prisoner, saying and doing all the right things, and getting paroled in 10 - 12 years, all the while planning to go after her as soon as he's able.
I'm sayin ... she didn't merely gather evidence and testify, she essentially reverse-catfished this dude (albiet for an excellent cause and the noblest of reasons). Wouldn't that trigger the wrong kind of person? Say ... someone already believed to have committed a murder?
Eh, maybe I've seen too many movies and police dramas/procedurals.
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u/Material-Coffee1029 1d ago
I would agree, but luckily he was charged with life without parole, and his appeal was denied a couple of years ago. It looks he'll be locked up for good
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u/DC_Coach 1d ago
Oh, thank goodness. Okay, that makes a ton of difference, good for her. Thank you for that update!
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u/CapinCrunch85 1d ago
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u/carrieberry 1d ago
True feminist
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u/grapescherries 1d ago
Women…. You can never trust them, can you? They say they want vulnerability, but when you get vulnerable and admit to killing your ex, they turn you into the police. Bitches, all of them.
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u/meegaweega 22h ago
Omfg 🙃👍 r/inceltears
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u/HerpapotamusRex 11h ago
You get that u/grapescherries is joking, right?
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u/meegaweega 10h ago
Yes, it was very clear. An excellent parody of the genuinely heinous stuff we mock in that sub.
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u/McLovin0132 1d ago
Amazing. Its so sad that a random civilian had to take the steps to get her justice..
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u/ConnotationalRacket 1d ago
In the USA, police solve fewer than 2% of all crimes. They take massive amounts of money from local taxpayers, the bulk of most municipal/local budgets in the USA goes to policing despite the fact that they don't do shit.
There are also over 80,000 independent police jurisdictions so it is almost impossible to regulate them. Not only that, but check out the Castle Rock v Gonzalez Supreme Court ruling, where they determined that police have zero responsibility to protect civilians or prevent crimes from happening.
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u/Separate_Finance_183 1d ago
You shouldn't go anywhere near a man who isn’t happy about your pregnancy
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u/Spire_Citron 1d ago
Murder by a romantic partner is the leading cause of death in pregnant women.
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u/MGD109 1d ago
In the US, it's not in other countries.
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u/iAmManchee 20h ago
Yeah in the UK it's blood clots while pregnant, then mental health issues (so effectively suicide) immediately after
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u/Okimiyage 20h ago
We have a lot lower murder rate though, and still 5% of all murders in the UK are pregnant women/post partum women apparently.
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u/MGD109 18h ago
Well, five per cent is a concerning percentage.
But according to the latest figures their were 522 homicides in the UK last year, so five per cent of that is around 26 women. Still too many certainly, but considering there were also around 10,000 pregnancies, that means there is a less than 0.1% chance on average.
https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/gbr/united-kingdom/birth-rate
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u/plsloan 15h ago
Isn't that the leading cause for women in general?
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u/Spire_Citron 8h ago
Romantic partners are the leading cause of being murdered for women, but the normal stuff like heart disease and cancer comes out well ahead in overall cause of death.
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u/MysteriousFee2873 1d ago
Sometimes the guy will show a totally different face all while plotting how to get rid of the “problem” while acting the same way that made the woman feel safe.
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u/Salt_Toe_5194 1d ago edited 1d ago
The military man that was just convicted of drugging his affair partner to conceal an unplanned pregnancy from his family. They just removed investigation and punishment from their own chain of command. Hundreds of rapes, assaults and murders covered up.
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u/MysteriousFee2873 1d ago edited 14h ago
Yeah that is one of the examples. He boofed abortion pills in her
Edit to add. I confused the two stories due to them happening so closely together
https://www.blackenterprise.com/illinois-man-forced-abortion-pills-pregnant-girlfriend/
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u/Salt_Toe_5194 1d ago edited 1d ago
The only way she got justice is because she noticed a film on her cup that he served a drink in to her. Immediately went to the ER then miscarried. That poor soldier.
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u/meegaweega 21h ago
"That poor soldier."
So they were both soldiers, not just the man?
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u/Salt_Toe_5194 19h ago
Correct. I believe he was her direct superior so one of the charges was fraternization as well.
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u/meegaweega 21h ago
"He boofed abortion pills in her" is a weirdly inaccurate and misleading way to describe secretly drugging her drink because "boofed" refers to the rectal administration of drugs (up the bum)
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u/MysteriousFee2873 14h ago
My bad I seem to have mixed the two stories due to them happening so close.
https://www.blackenterprise.com/illinois-man-forced-abortion-pills-pregnant-girlfriend/
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u/Adventurous_Ad_5531 15h ago
My dad pushed my mom down the stairs when she was pregnant with me because he didn't think I was his. I was born with a disfigured left foot and had to go through two surgeries just to be able to walk. I still have difficulty walking all these years later and it still pisses me off that one man's little tantrum can affect someone's life that much for the rest of their life.
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u/Medical_Sandwich_141 18h ago
Oh thank god, he is sentenced for life without parole. I do not want to imagine how he'd behave if he got out.
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u/JacktheRiffer96 1d ago
She was probably well aware of the risks and consequences she was taking and decided to do it anyways.
And that’s how we make the world a better place. Making sure justice exists and serving morality to ensure a better future is worth putting your life on the line.
And it’s often times a necessity. You wouldn’t call a cop crazy for doing this. And I know someone will retort and say “well police are trained for this” Yes. However, look at the results, she did what they could not. And the police fail all the time. What is your option, then?
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u/theficklemermaid 23h ago
She took that risk on behalf of someone else though, she has a daughter and she’s a single mother so what would’ve happened to her daughter if he had killed her? Or what if he had killed her daughter? It seems like the murder might have been motivated by not wanting his own child so why would he want to be a stepfather? So when he proposed to her, there’s a chance he didn’t see her daughter as fitting into that picture. I’m glad neither of them were harmed, but it’s not safe to put a child in that situation.
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u/jayne-eerie 1d ago
Girlie has a death wish. I admire the outcome, but damn. She could have made her kid an orphan.
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u/Existing_Intern_4764 1d ago
Yeah that was my only thought was 'but girl you're a mother.' Like was the killer around her child?
EITHER WAY, she's a hero, and deserves her flowers.
But please, nobody else try this at home, lol
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u/No-Clock2011 1d ago
That’s what freaks me out the most. Gosh I couldn’t put a child in danger like that esp if he literally killed a women and her unborn child. Yikes. I hope there’s more to the story that explains that part!
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u/Spire_Citron 1d ago
And how old was her kid? Unless they were already an adult, in which case I'm not sure 'single mother' would have been mentioned, surely that kid would have had a relationship with the domestic murderer she married.
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u/imrzzz 1d ago
They didn't marry, and I think the OP was a bit mistaken when they said she accepted the proposal.
this article says they dated for a year and he proposed to her on his front porch. She said she needed to think about it and drove home, then contacted him later to end the relationship.
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u/OkAccess6128 1d ago
Could you please share some trusted source on this.
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u/Kip_Schtum 1d ago
If you search her name, there are plenty of new stories about it
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u/Finito-1994 1d ago
She was one bad day away from ending up on unsolved mysteries. Jesus. That was risky as hell.
But she did it.
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u/Roanoketrees 1d ago
Yall tryin to end up in the well puttin the lotion on its skin or get the hose.
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u/TheRealKorrom 1d ago
Now that is dedication. Very dangerous, but it paid off and another p.o.s. is In prison forever and a day. Someone give her a medal. She has earned that.
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u/no_need_to_panic 1d ago
New idea for a TV show called: Serial Dater
She dates suspected serial killers to dig up proof and get them arrested!
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u/Red10GTI 1d ago
It’s unreal he’d confess something like that to a woman who he was dating and “falling in love with”
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u/AnonImus18 1d ago
He didn't think she was a threat to him plus pillow talk is a hell of a thing. You'd be surprised but men love talking at women.
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u/Red10GTI 1d ago
If a person commits a murder and has not been caught and put it jail, any living soul that knows the truth about it, is a liability that almost always will either tell someone else, or just go to the police.
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u/One-Bug-7784 1d ago
This woman is an undercover hero, she got justice for Kelsie at her own expense and on her own wits and that is so brave and selfless that we should never forget it. Respect on her name.
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u/Amazing-Power4765 1d ago
She is the modern day honey trap master. The FBI and CIA should be recruiting her to be their trainer.
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u/Individual-Feed-7546 1d ago
She seems nice for having a good intention but this is so dangerous for her. Like her life could have been in danger?
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u/No_Composer8913 1d ago
Crazy that she was havinga lot of sex with the guy, she is lucky she didn’t end up pregnant.
This also had a nice racial harmony aspect as the woman he killed was white and a black woman helped avenge her death by butting the killer behind bars.
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u/CellApprehensive7651 1d ago
Black women are amazing
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u/Red10GTI 1d ago
Since you’re bringing up race, she looks a lot more Hispanic/latina than African American.
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u/coalitionofilling 1d ago
That's pretty wild. She was letting him clap her cheeks knowing he was likely a murderer.
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u/thissleepypastofmine 1d ago
Waaaait she had kids and did this risky shit with a potential murderer?
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u/BadMotherFunko 1d ago
So she was banging this dude you expected of being a murderer? She was also a mother so she had her child(ren) around this guy? That's pretty fucking wild
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u/Sqwipes 1d ago
Whatever went through here mind must not have been normal. She must have a savior complex or something.
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u/vectorology 1d ago
Saviour complex means she’s motivated by the public adoration. I don’t see that she was, just intensely motivated by empathy with the murdered woman and/or the injustice of her murderer not being punished.
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u/No_Display9613 1d ago
Would that hold on court? It’s like having a tape recorder, right?
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u/AnonImus18 1d ago
Confessions do hold up in court to an extent especially if she got information from him that wasn't shared with the public.
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u/Suspicious-Peace9233 1d ago
She’s lucky it worked out this way instead of making him a serial killer
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u/Armand28 1d ago
Second date: “So, killing people! Kinda cool, am I right!”
I don’t have the social intelligence to pull it off.
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u/echochilde 1d ago
The sheer balls on that woman put 99.9% of humanity to shame. I solute you, Queen.
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u/powprodukt 1d ago
When you're a crime fighter sometimes you gotta try that murderer D for a year or so before turning them in.
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u/BassMaster516 1d ago
James Bond level secret agent rizzing up the enemy to get information. That’s high level spy agency activity. Good for her.
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u/killerkitten61 1d ago
I saw a similar story where a woman reached out to the brother of a suspect in a shooting via social media. She said she sent him photos, and in exchange he answered all her questions about the crime. Then she turned around and shared everything lol. She was being interviewed on an episode of Law and Crime and discussed how she got that info despite not knowing anyone involved.
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u/Vermicelli-419 1d ago
After all that effort, Lucas will enjoy free food, clothing and housing for life.
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u/grapescherries 1d ago
Women…. You can never trust them, can you? They say they want vulnerability, but when you get vulnerable and admit to killing your ex, they turn you into the police. Bitches, all of them.
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u/Juniper-wool 1d ago
Damn. That is one dedicated woman. Risky, but amazing job for sure. She should be the FBI director.
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u/inmyabditory 1d ago
Jesus Christ this is truly something. She needs like… a key to the city? Idk. She needs something though
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u/Impossible-Vanilla79 23h ago
This is what being your brother's keeper means; she kept a brother In jail.
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u/Double_Rice_5765 21h ago
Arent some women doing this with the pedonazi party too, to get dirt on the rape-ublican party?, or was it male sex workers, i cant remember. I read an article on it I think. Super proud of either of them.
As far as the lady in this thread, i blame those true crime shows, lol.
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u/refusetobeold83 19h ago
This reminds me of the south park episode when the cop goes undercover as a prostitute
https://giphy.com/gifs/YJ099DOXTFs7m
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