Hi Park enthusiasts, I'm your host Delia Diembra and the case I'm going to tell you about today is one that at its core involves two of the oldest motives in the book for murder. sex and drugs.

It took place in 2018 and was a case that got a lot of coverage within the state of California

where the crime happened.

But overall I didn't see a ton of national coverage about it, which to me felt like a shame because the circumstances that led up to this crime are things that millions of people deal with every day.

Either with a current or former romantic partner or maybe even an acquaintance.

I'm talking about stuff like out-of-control jealousy, stalking, manipulation, and even physical

and emotional abuse.

The National Park Service's website for Joshua Tree National Park, where the story

unfolded, dubs it as a place where two distinct desert ecosystems meet.

If you've ever been there, you know that the landscape where two distinct desert ecosystems meet.

If you've ever been there, you know that the landscape has endured hundreds,

even thousands of years of violent rainstorms and blustering winds.

Those events, plus volcanic activity, flash flooding, have all shaped the rocks and vegetation in the park, which are habitats to an array of animals and plant species that live in the landscape's harsh environment.

Most visitors go to the park during the springtime. in the landscape's harsh environment.

Most visitors go to the park during the springtime or on holidays.

Temperatures in Joshua tree tend to vary wildly throughout the year.

For example, it can get up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and sink well below

freezing at night in the winter.

The lives of the individuals involved in this crime were just as up and down as the well-known park's climate.

They were three distinct people whose lives collided in the most chaotic and violent way possible.

And the young man at the center of the entire saga had so many chances to stop and think about what he was doing, to make different choices, but he didn't.

And though the life he took as a result can never be brought back,

...