Felony Friday - Cry For Help
Added 2020-11-21 01:04:56 +0000 UTCA woman frantically dials 911 after her estranged ex-husband stalks and kills her new boyfriend in the early morning pre-dawn hours of Monday, October 6th, 2014 in Milford, Ohio. The warning signs of his pending snap were there all along, but few would listen to the family’s repeated cries for help, until it was tragically too late.
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Written/Audio Sources:
- 911 call from Clermont County murder-suicide
- Estranged husband kills boyfriend, self
- Milford Miami Advertiser (10/15/2014)
- Early morning shooting apparent murder-suicide (The Cincinnati Enquirer - Print Edition, 10/7/2014)
- Police: 2 dead in murder-suicide (Springfield News-Sun - Print Edition, 10/7/2014)
- Obituary: John William Waitas (The Cincinnati Enquirer - Print Edition, 10/9/2014)
- Shannon Daniel-Waitas
- Miami Twp. murder-suicide is the result of lov
- Two killed in Miami Township murder-suicide
- Police ID shooter, victim in Miami Twp. murder suicide
- Police: Man broke into home, killed ex-wife's boyfriend, then himself
- Police: Man fatally shoots ex-wife's boyfriend, self in Miami Township
Music & Sound Effect Sources
- Opening Track: “Circles” by Acreage
- Closing Track: “Turpentine” by BRASK
Music & Sound Effect Sources
All music and sound effects used with express permission under unlimited blanket license authority from Epidemic Sound ®. Individual sources are available via request at info@invisiblechoir.com
Comments
Shannon, thank you for responding. If there is ever anything I can do to help you and your family share your experience in a way that may help others - with regard to identifying the early warning signs, talking about the limitations of protection orders, etc... as you mention above, I will prioritize it. Whether that be a follow up episode, interview, or combination of the two. I will do whatever I can to give appropriate voice to your experience, from your perspective.
Invisible Choir
2021-01-10 21:28:21 +0000 UTCI appreciate that. I know that you can only share what information you have access to. I asked my children. They said they are ok with it staying up. At this point we all hope that hearing our story can hopefully help someone else to avoid causing or having to survive such a tragic event. I appreciate your offer. But you can leave this all up. I really just wanted to say some things and I appreciate you allowing me to do so on your platform. Thank you Michael.
Shannon Daniel
2021-01-10 21:05:23 +0000 UTCShannon thank you for taking the time to share your experience and to provide such a thorough, personal response. We are absolutely willing to correct any inaccuracies or take the episode down altogether if desired. I send my personal condolences to you and your family. We try to be compassionate, accurate, and fair in presenting each case, but I will always respectfully defer to someone who was there and continues living the ramifications of the tragedies we cover. If there is anything that I can do, please feel comfortable to send me a direct message any time, day or night. -Michael
Invisible Choir
2021-01-10 21:01:14 +0000 UTCHi All. I am Shannon. I’m the one you heard hysterically screaming on the 911 call. I was recently told about this Podcast, I wanted to know what was being said. There have been a lot of things said about me, about Rob and about John. Somethings have been true, others have been artistic license in sharing a story that the teller did not witness or experience, and somethings are just incorrect. I’m not angry that this story is being told, I’m am a little surprised. But since I have the platform to do so there are somethings that I would like each of you to take away from this experience. 1) Ohio did not, and still does not, have an Extreme Risk Protection Order (a.k.a. Red Flag Law) on the books. Unfortunately, law enforcement was not able to go in and remove John’s guns from him until such a time when he was thinking clearly, mentally healthy, and responsible to own and use firearms in a safe and appropriate manner. 2) Not everything you hear in news stories are true or accurate. Rob did not live with me, but he was there often because John would show up in the middle of the night beating on my door while armed. We did not get divorced in 2009, I had filed, but he talked me out of it. John and I have 2 sons together, I have 2 daughters from my first marriage. Basically, things like that were not correct. John was the one to leave the kids and I in July of 2013, while we lived in a home that was across the street from the home I would eventually rent for my children and I; and where John ended his life. 3) Hearing my 911 call again is brutal. It instantly takes me back to that morning. I was terrified that John had killed my children, he narrowly missed shooting me in the head. John was dead on my bed. Rob was fighting for his life on my bathroom floor. It is the worst moment of my life, as well as my children’s. It is also the worst moment of the lives of Rob’s family and friends, as well as John’s. Hearing these stories are so hard on the ones left behind. But I do understand the curiosity, and I listen to and watch my fair share of True Crime podcast, shows, and read about it. 4) The 911 Operator. I was genuinely frustrated that morning trying to express that I needed everyone there right that minute. I was a mess. The Operator that spoke to me and the one that spoke to my daughter did their job and I am grateful for their ability to stay calm and not cry or scream or lash out while they hear people begging for help in the worst moments of their lives. 5) There were warning signs. Big huge glaring warning signs. At times ignoring those, or pretending to ignore them, was the only way I could kind of keep my children and I safe. There are statistics siting that nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. 1 in 7 women have been stalked by an intimate partner during their lifetime to the point in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed. The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500%. A study of intimate partner homicides found that 20% of victims were not the intimate partner themselves. 72% of all murder-suicides involve an intimate partner; 94% of the victims of these murder suicides are female. There are a million more statistics I can point you to, but I feel like this covers the main points. One of the things I hear the most is that the most dangerous time is when you are trying to get away from your abuser. It is true. That is when John would try harder to do whatever it took to get me back. 6) Many people are shocked to hear me say this. But John was not all bad, also, all the bad from John was not because he suffered from mental illness. John committed Domestic Violence, the court ordered Anger Management Courses were not effective because in general, he was not a violent person to others. That he saved for my daughters, my sons and myself. John had a lot of demons and in the end, he gave into some of them and now it is what it is. I ask each and everyone of you this. In your state check and see what the enforceable laws are for ERPO as well as Universal Back Ground Checks. If your state does not have these laws get involved and work with your local community activism group to get them introduced and passed. John got his guns legally, however if all jurisdictions reported as they should, I feel confident that he would not have been able to purchase his guns. Maybe he would have found a way to get guns anyway. But the fact is that we will never know what he would have done. I dare say I knew him as well if not better than most and honestly this was not what I saw coming. I saw something terrible coming, but not this. I also ask you to be compassionate when listening to someone else’s story. It is so very easy to say that I should have done something different, or that you would have done this instead of that. But again, unless you’re in it, living it, you don’t really know. In a lot of ways, we have too much access to things that should remain private, my daughter’s 911 call for example. She was 15 at the time and thought that her Stepfather just killed her Mom and was coming for her and her little brothers next. The Cincinnati area is a strange mixture of small and large and if you come to town and start talking about our story, chances are you can run into someone that was personally affected by this. So please remember to be kind. Finally. If you are someone in a dangerous domestic situation there is help for you. You can call The Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233). Save the number in your phone if you can. You never know when you or someone else may need help getting out of a bad situation. If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. Sometime in 2022 we should nationally (in the United States) have a 3-digit number to call in crisis, last I heard it is set to be 988. Reach out to those that are hurting. You never know what difference you could make. Thank you for taking the time to read this. NCADV: National Coalition Against Domestic Violence https://ncadv.org/STATISTICS
Shannon Daniel
2021-01-10 20:51:18 +0000 UTC
