"I Killed Her and I Regret It Every Day" - The Dyess/Sant Case

**Special Guest - Uncle Sawyer!**
Production Note: We apologize around 23 minutes there are some unknown rustling noises over the mic which couldn't be edited out. Sorry guys!

Imagine attending a casual birthday celebration only to find it the pivotal point of a tragic murder investigation. Picture a peaceful shrimp boil in LaSalle Parish, quickly transforming into a sinister scene where two party-goers vanish without a trace. This is the twisted tale we're about to unfold, a chilling story that will lead us from an innocent party right into the heart of LaSalle's Sheriff's Office, where things get a whole lot darker.

Our exploration takes us deep into the psyches of the prime suspects, Joshua and Austin. Their confessions morph over time, from denial to shifting blame, guiding us through a labyrinth of storytelling that would put even the most skilled writers to shame. As their stories twist and turn, we are led to the horrific discovery of the victims' bodies. How did a night of celebration descend into such horror? Who is truly responsible? Join us as we attempt to unravel this grim enigma.

As the courtroom drama unfolds, we're left grappling with the shocking behavior of the accused, their audacity adding another chilling layer to their harrowing trial. The tension is palpable as the defense fights for leniency, only to be met by a resolute appellate court upholding the conviction and sentencing. This is not just another crime story, but a testament to the dark depths of human nature. Prepare to question, ponder, and be gripped by this haunting narrative. It's a journey you won't forget.

Source Material:

• https://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/2016/04/29/2-men-facing-murder-charges-after-bodies-found-near-tullos/83721634/
• https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/local-news/update-two-suspects-booked-in-tullos-homicide/
• https://www.kltv.com/story/31893837/two-arrested-in-murder-of-hawkins-couple/
• https://law.justia.com/cases/louisiana/third-circuit-court-of-appeal/2019/ka-0018-0752.html
• https://law.justia.com/cases/louisiana/third-circuit-court-of-appeal/2018/ka-18-241.html

This has been an elfaudio production.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:16 Arma-Lite AR Correction
• 5:38 Backgroud - Scene Setting
• 10:25 Missing Person Report Started
• 11:49 Detective Clark Makes a House Call
• 14:22 Austin Dyess Police Interview - Subsequent Confession
• 17:23 Bodies Recovered - Charges Filed
• 17:41 Joshua Sant - Multiverse of Confessions
• 25:16 Austin's Trial-Conviction-Appeal
• 27:03 Joshua's Trial-Conviction-Appeal
• 33:27 Motive? - Wrap-Up Discussion
• 35:57 Outro - Support the Show!

Transcript

Kellye
Host
00:00
A detective from LaSalle, paris Sheriff's Office started investigating a missing person's case by making a cold call to a home where the missing persons had last been seen before they disappeared. When he arrived at the location and began talking to one of the people that had been present the night they went missing, he noticed the more they talked, the more the baseball cap on this man's head started to shake up and down, and when the investigator saw this, he knew he was on to something. Journey with us through this case that is murkier than pond water. On this episode CenLAw. Hello Hi, welcome back to this episode CenLAw. I'm Kellye. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
00:46
I'm Uncle Sawyer Of the Unsold and I'm Kyler. 

Kellye
Host
00:51
And this is going to be a little crazy episode, guys, because we've got, as you may have noticed, uncle Sawyer sitting in with us, so it's going to be a little chaotic, but we're going to make it through it. So, other than the arm alignment which I'm going to throw in here, Arm alignment. Right. So we want to apologize, kyler and I, because we sounded a lot incompetent pretentious, not pretentious Police, so I was corrected Ignorant Ignorant, ignorant. That's probably that one. Why is your tone on? 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
01:23
Chris texted me. 

Kellye
Host
01:24
Okay, so the AR in the AR-15 rifle stands for Arma Light Rifle, after the company they developed it in the 1950s. It does not stand for assault rifle or automatic rifle. The AR-15 and other semi-automatic rifles are not assault rifles or assault weapons. Assault rifles are fully auto, eg a machine gun or otherwise, fully automatic weapon. But Arma Light holds the patent and broke new ground in the early 1950s by using a foam filled fiberglass stock and an anodized aluminum barrel with a thin steel liner. And that's where the AR in AR-15 and all the other numbers comes from Still liner as opposed to thin moving liner. Oh gosh, I just wanted to clear that up for everybody. Thank you, jamie, for bringing that to our attention. We appreciate the feedback and we hope you guys keep it up Next time. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
02:17
Just ask me yeah or Hoppa, apparently because he said the exaxt same thing, yeah. 

Kellye
Host
02:23
Alright, so we just wanted to clear that up and now we'll start into our actual episode. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
02:27
Say hey to the Death by Southwest. 

Kellye
Host
02:29
Oh yeah, guys. Oh, that's right. Okay, so our listener base is very small, so all 12 of you, we've got double digits. Finally, I know I just want to let everybody know that I have sent out an email and proposed a crossover episode, which basically just means that us and another podcast will be working together on a single episode, because the case that I have in mind. It begins in Arizona, which is in their area of what they do, because their podcast is similar to ours. It's her and her sister, it's Margot and Jenna, and they cover cases in the American Southwest and we cover cases that are Louisiana based. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
03:09
So this case. 

Kellye
Host
03:10
They've been here longer, so we're similar to them Same thing. That's what I said. I proposed you guys are like you're a mouthful, tom, so they're super great, they're wonderful. You guys should give them a listen. But what I proposed was Are you hot? From what I understand, they sound hot yeah. 

03:28
All right, moving on, so they I'm hoping that we can do it together, because the case starts in Arizona and then it ends up in Louisiana, so I'm hoping we can do it together too. Okay, so that's the idea. So hopefully we'll have that coming up for you guys out of the pipe soon. We've got to get the fine details, and I don't even know if they actually are actually going to do that with us. If not, we'll still bring you guys that episode, but I really, really, really hope that that's something we can do together. That would be awesome. So I think that's everything. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
04:04
Full disclosure. Kyler and myself know nothing about this case.

Kellye
Host
4:05 
Out of the premise, yes, but generally I do give Kyler some kind of background, but I haven't given him. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
04:12
I can't stop talking. 

Kellye
Host
04:13
That's true, very true. I get excited about these cases when they're interesting. I get excited and want to share things. So what you're saying is this one's not interesting? No, it absolutely is. 

04:20
It absolutely is. But I kept this one on the download because I wanted it to be, because, as much as you hate not knowing and then you have a tendency to cut me off before I even get to finish part of what I'm trying to get to I don't hate not knowing. You hate me not knowing because I ask questions that are apparently and then you're like get there already. That's what you do to me. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
04:38
Sorry if that was loud, it's not against him. Everybody can be as innocently inclusive as I am. 

Kellye
Host
04:43
Right, right. So we're going to go ahead and get started, because it's already getting hot in this house, because it's still freaking hot, irrelevant, okay. So pause. Irrelevant. So this story doesn't take us too far back. We're going to August 24th of 2016 and we are near. I think it's Tulos. No, it's Tulsa. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
05:03
No, no, that's in Oklahoma, Louisiana. 

Kellye
Host
05:07
Tulos, tulos, tulis, tulis. Anyway, it's in La Salle Paris, that's in the movie. Okay, in La Salle Paris, which includes Gina and Tulis, is a little northwest of Gina. So, um, wait, there's the cat from uh, tulus, yeah, yeah, tulus, from Aristocat, aristocat. There we go. So this Sunday night so April 24th was a Sunday the group of friends were celebrating a birthday by having a shrimp boil at Mr Thomas Aubrey's house. It wasn't a big party, just a small group consisting of three couples. From what I could gather, it was um. It included Deman Garner he was a 26-year-old black male and Chelsea Copling, copling, copling, copling, copling. Either way, chelsea, she was a 19-year-old white female and normally I wouldn't. So she's ready for coupling. Normally I wouldn't deem it necessary to give her racial profiles, but it does become important later in the story. 

06:01
So oh, so it's because he's black, maybe Deman went by D and they were together, him and Chelsea and according to their Facebook they were married, but I couldn't find any actual marriage license. But that could just be because it wasn't electronically filed in Texas, so I'm not sure they were there with 26-year-old Joshua Sant and his fiance Kate. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
06:24
Were they white. 

Kellye
Host
06:25
Yes, and Thomas Aubrey and his wife. I could not find her name anywhere, so it was D and Chelsea, joshua and Kate and Thomas and his wife, and they were at Thomas's house. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
06:39
Which shall now be referred to as female A. 

Kellye
Host
06:42
Yeah, okay. So they were celebrating Chelsea's birthday, so the white girl, the white girl with D and they were having a strip bowl, like I said, and they had both just moved to Tullis from Hawkins, which is in East Texas. They had not even been in Louisiana for a week. So Chelsea and D didn't really know everybody real well. I believe that they knew Aubrey or Thomas, so that's why he had decided to throw her a birthday party, slash short boil. And at some point in the night Thomas Aubrey got into an argument with Joseph Sants fiance, kate. So Joseph and Kate, chelsea and D decided to go back to Joseph and Kate's house to try to continue the party Because they were drinking and trying to get a little bit rowdy. So they got into an argument with the owners of the house and his wife. So they all left, all four of them. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
07:35
So female A was the hostess. 

Kellye
Host
07:38
Yes, so they left and they were actually quoted as saying they were going to go back to Joseph's house and play beer pong and some moon out. Woo yeah, see you next time, right? 

07:50
So I mean like, yeah, and they're. You know, it's a Sunday night, so I guess they wilded, and I don't know. So maybe it was Labor Day, it wasn't, it was in April. So when they got to Joshua's house a little while later, after they were playing beer pong, another friend showed up by the name of Austin Diaz. He was an 18 year old white male and after hearing the music playing from the house because he lived a couple houses down he decided to go over there and play beer pong and do whatever they were doing because he could hear the music. And then he apparently replaced Kate, the fiance, as a person who has partners with Joshua in the beer pong game, and Kate went to bed. So after talking and playing for a while, joshua offered to take Chelsea and Dee, since they weren't really from around here, to go out to one of the empty fields and go shoot cans as you do out in the middle of nowhere, like we are. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
08:35
Yeah, but you don't do that with a random stranger, I mean, because then you get shot. 

Kellye
Host
08:40
I'm gonna send those two back. They were okay, they were drinking their inhibitions. We're a little bit, you know, lesser. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
08:45
Yeah, you go and make a baby, you don't go and die. 

Kellye
Host
08:47
Well, they didn't know that was gonna be the thing. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
08:49
Oh wait hang on. 

Kellye
Host
08:51
Did I just get the nail on the head? All right, let's continue. So they weren't really from around here. Like I said, they're from East Texas, so apparently over there they didn't do anything like that and that might sound crazy to some people, but around here that's something we do for fun. We go shoot coat cans, paper plates, shoot skit, whatever we can afford, but this is something that happens. Definitely, shoot a shot ski. 

09:11
I grew up in East Texas, yeah Went to high school in East Texas, but not in Hawkins. Hawkins is a piece of shit down in here. Okay, don't say that we are not against anti-Hawkins. Okay, that's Steven, Now stop. 

09:26
Now this is where the story kind of diverged, so I'm gonna go with the initial story that was told when they reported Chelsea and D missing the next day, on Monday, Uh-oh. So they told the LaSalle pair Sheriff's office that the couple were really drunk. They said that they were gonna go home. Joshua said Austin told him that Chelsea threw her purse into his truck and then, for whatever reason, Chelsea and D left on foot and left her purse in the vehicle and they just took off on. Uh, took off walking and he couldn't find them. He said that they hollered and looked for uh, both Chelsea and D and they could never place them Bullshit. And they told Thomas that they were, that they took off walking. So when he they called and told Thomas like hey, did they come back to y'all's house, Thomas said no and he told Thomas that they took off walking and nobody could find them. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
10:14
Hey, why is that unco-like? 

Kellye
Host
10:16
It's not. It's for the podcast Kellye God, okay, so. So why is that unco-like? It's not, so they're horrible at this. And when nobody found them or heard from them the next day, that's when they decided to go to the Tullos police office and report of them missing Tullos. So the LPSO initially received the report of the missing couple on April 25th 2016. So the next day they received the report from Tullos and they began their investigation, which culminated in the detective from the LaSalle Parish Sheriff's office office doing cold calls. Do y'all know what cold calls? 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
10:51
are when you have uh under seven degree temperature and you make a phone call. No, you know the air conditioner on high and you make a phone call no. Okay, um, when you're chilly and you can't use your fingers because they're too fucking, I shouldn't have asked. 

Kellye
Host
11:04
Okay, so a cold call is basically where you don't. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
11:10
Have a sweater on. 

Kellye
Host
11:12
You don't? It's like when telemarketers make cold calls they just randomly call numbers to try to find somebody that'll bite. Um, it's in the same way in a police investigation, except they're just calling random people that may or may not know things about the case, so it's called a cold call. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
11:26
Hey Arizona, I know you're listening, I do bite. Okay, fair warning, I just bit. 

Kellye
Host
11:33
Okay, so they're doing cold calls, which eventually led detectives to the home of Mr Joseph Sant as being the last place the couple would have been seen. So they drove out there on April 26th, about a day after receiving the missing persons report, and they discovered that Austin that's this Dies, the 19 year old that came over after they moved the party to Joseph's house. They moved, oh, they replaced Kate, yes, so they found him there and he was present at the home. Detective Tracy Clark began speaking with Austin and, again, being a small town area, detective Clark knew Austin, so they began kind of talking to shoot the shit, and when the detective eventually got around. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
12:10
I thought you were. 

Kellye
Host
12:10
James, no, that was the night that they were missing. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
12:13
Wait, this isn't the unsolved one, is it? No, oh, okay. Well, I'm kind of used to people, but you sound nice, yes you sound nice, I wish. 

Kellye
Host
12:21
So they began to shoot the shit and the detective eventually got back to why he was actually there, and when he mentioned Chelsea and D's names, the baseball cap that was on Austin's head begins to Head blood. No, it started to bob like up and down because he was. He got super nervous, super nervous, I think he did it. So at that point, detective Clark, he knew he was obviously onto something and so every second that went by he was like okay, something's going on here. This is just a still a missing person's investigation at this point. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
12:57
But he felt like there was something more and that was just a gut-in, so I'm going to say Austin in the field with the gun. Okay, we'll see. There was the butler in the closet with the candlestick. We're not talking about your fucking fifth birthday, okay. 

Kellye
Host
13:10
So, after discussing things a bit more, trying to get some information, statement they got was you know, they took off on foot. I didn't, I don't know anything else. We haven't seen them since they left, which was what Austin was telling them. So basically the same as the initial statement that they later got from Joshua St the same day. So they pulled in Austin or that. Well, he talked to Austin at the trailer or at the house and then they talked to Joshua St later that same day whose house that he had showed up at right. So now the two appeals that I went through, they have conflicting dates. One says that Joshua had a recorded interview on April 26th, but Austin says that he told them crucial information on the 27th in which he referenced the confession that Joshua apparently gave on the 26th. So I'm just gonna go with Austin's dates, because that's where things start to build steam and his account had to have come first, as you'll see why. 

14:01
Shortly so the detective brought Austin to be interviewed and, according to the court documents, around 10.20 am on April 27th, where he initially denied knowing anything or having any involvement with a couple's disappearance. 

14:15
But soon his story starts to shift. He next claimed that he blacked out drunk, didn't recall what happened, but then later came out with quote I think I shot the black boy, unquote. So he denied knowing where the shooting occurred, but eventually he led law enforcement to the location where the victim's bodies were found. He then proceeded to tell multiple versions, but his final and what he said was the true version went something like this Austin stated that Joshua said someone had brought up in conversation about D having a criminal history and they sort of started well, not D specifically, but somebody like having a criminal history. So they started talking about their backgrounds like what have you done? What have you done? And he believed it was D who actually mentioned that he had been arrested for statutory rape back in Texas and that this had prompted Joshua to tell Austin that D was a child molester and that made him mad. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
15:08
And that's one thing you don't do in Texas or Louisiana or anywhere in the south is confess or even be accused of being any kind of child molester or rapist. 

Kellye
Host
15:17
Right, but you're going to get your shit wrong. Well, but see, this is the thing, though. This is statutory rape. We're not talking about. This is this is the same case. It's like somebody is 18. This daughter is 16. The daughter's dad gets mad and then accused the 18. I don't know, yet Nobody does, because I'm not that part of the story, so let's continue. But either way in the south but I'm going to remind you guys again that Demond Garner D is 26 years old. Chelsea is 19. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
15:44
So they're covered by the Cinderella claws. 

Kellye
Host
15:47
Possibly we're not there yet, so let's continue. Now that we've been reminded of their ages, that he is now confessor said hey, I was arrested for statutory rape. So Juliet, yeah, romeo and Juliet. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
15:59
Romeo and. 

Kellye
Host
16:00
Juliet. Okay, so close enough. Hearing this about Dee being a child molester, quote unquote that made him mad, joshua mad, and he went and retrieved another gun, because apparently Joshua always kept one on his person, like on his belt, just like you know me Sawyer does for sure. So he said that at that point that he retrieved the gun. They then took the couple out to the woods, just to quote scare them, and things got out of hand. Austin stated that he ended up shooting Dee in the head three times to make sure he was dead, because after he shot him the first time he still heard gurgling noises, and that Joshua had pulled his gun and then proceeded to shoot Chelsea. They both then drug the bodies into a nearby pond, and Austin initially said he didn't know what happened to the weapons. Maybe they threw them in the pond, maybe Josh dropped them off somewhere he didn't know, full of shit. Austin also further stated that he and Joshua had made a blood pact not to ever tell anyone what happened, and then they went back home. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
16:59
Man, that was a. That was a shitty blood pact. 

Kellye
Host
17:02
Right, that was quick to go out the window, not even three days later. Okay, so once they finished this initial recorded statement, austin led them to the pond where they recovered the bodies of Chelsea and Dee, but did he not recover the weapons used in the murder? So obviously Austin was under arrest and charged with two counts of second degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and at that point they also left out to go arrest Joshua Stant for the same charges. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
17:25
So my question is why did they kill the white girl? 

Kellye
Host
17:27
We're gonna get there, we'll see. So we still have to listen. We still don't know what Josh's story is, yet we're getting there. So once they got Joshua into the station and began recording his interview, he too initially claimed he knew nothing of their whereabouts or what happened to them. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
17:43
So just a reminder in Texas and most every time in Louisiana, you kill one of us, we're gonna kill you back. That sounded awfully accusing. No, I meant like the justice system's gonna kill you back, not like me personally. Yeah, sometimes yes, but no. 

Kellye
Host
18:00
So Josh said basically the same thing that Austin started with. He didn't know what happened to them after they left the house that night, but the detectives immediately called him on it and basically said when we put the hand, when we put the handcuffs on you, it's because we knew they were dead. You want to try that again? So Joshua then changed his story to the following, which placed almost in the entirety of the blame on Austin, diaz and Zaheer. Do you want to read this? 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
18:26
Sure, why not Okay, quote. Okay, we rode down to the pond about 10, 30, 11 and we got out and we was looking around. Is that a hiccup? 

Kellye
Host
18:37
That's basically saying that that's what he said, because it's an improper grammar. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
18:42
Okay. So, looking around, because they hadn't been to no pond or anything around here, him and Austin got into an argument and the next thing I know he used my 44 that was laying in the seat and shot both of them and it scared me. It's really, it really scared me and I I don't. I don't want to lose my family over this and that's why I try to be quiet, because I don't know what's going on and I don't know what he is capable of. And I'm telling you the truth, okay, so almost anytime somebody says and I'm telling you the truth they're not, they aren't. 

Kellye
Host
19:15
And then, not long after that, the defendant. Well, josh, he tells Detective Clark another version yeah, I don't know, I don't know why, because your west is loud. 

19:29
He subsequently says I didn't kill them. I didn't kill nobody. You can put me on a lie detector test. And he said that. Then he was to tell them about the guns. He said he kept a 44 a 22 torus, a 12 gauge shotgun, in the truck at all times, but he said that the 12 gauge was currently in the vehicle. 

19:45
So he also claimed that Austin threw the guns in the water, and then he said he never left the vehicle, that it was all Austin, and so he said the following version is again just what he said that happened between Austin and the couple. He said I know he had one gun in his hand and I know that for a fact. And then they started arguing and I heard two shots. Then I heard three and I told him. I said let's get out of here please, and I went to the house and I called Thomas, the owner of the house they had originally started the party at which was where female a got into the altercation right with but that would have been after the fact that they called Thomas after they'd already shot them. 

20:21
This is the way after they left. So he told the detective that after Austin killed the couple, he threw their bodies in the pond on his own, then he came back to the truck and then they left. So after some discussion again because it wasn't matching up with the what Detective Clark already knew, joshel gave another version. Do you want to read this one? Sure, this one here? 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
20:43
begin quote well, I want to tell you the truth 100%. I always have my 22 in my pocket at all times and I guess he got that 44 out of my truck for some stupid reason, I don't know. We went over there and we was looking around him and that boy got in an argument and that boy had actually taken, started trying to take a pistol away from Austin and all I seen was Austin getting shot by somebody that he doesn't know. 

Kellye
Host
21:05
And I shot him and quote okay, and by shot him he means deep, deep, that's right so, josh was said that Austin threw the 44 into the pond where the bodies were, and when asked about the second gun, he said he didn't remember that there were two guns apparently. But then he, you know, he said the thing about having all the pistols and gun, the shotgun and the truck, um, and then he came up with this whole other story. But then, after he told them that Austin threw everything in the pond, including the bodies and the weapons, he admitted finally that he had given the all of the weapons to his father, at which point the detectives called the father and he and he actually the father did bring the two pistols into the station. Eventually his story morphed into the final version. So how many do we have now? 

21:55
that's three that I counted three, that two at least two red. Another part was that he stayed in the truck the whole time, and so the final version was this Austin and Dee got into an argument, and when Austin pulled the gun, dee tried to grab it and Austin shot him, at which point Chelsea started screaming and yelling and running towards them. So Joshua shot her. Stating quote I fucked up, I killed her and I regretted every day. Unquote. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
22:26
So she just got killed to shut her up. 

Kellye
Host
22:30
It sounds like once they shot Dee, she started to freak the actual fuck out Like she was I mean, as anybody would, I would assume and so she went to try to stop him either from shooting him again or just try to defend both of them in whatever way, and then she got shot. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
22:48
Death by police. 

Kellye
Host
22:49
So interesting to note. While Austin wasn't squeaky clean, according to his criminal background records, Joshua was. He had never been in trouble, he had no arrest record to speak of and had maintained steady employment and provided for his family that was about to get bigger, as his fiance was actually pregnant at this time. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
23:08
So by squeaky clean you mean never got caught, absolutely. My record was completely clean. 

Kellye
Host
23:14
Well and he had. He was able to buy guns legally and lawfully. All of the ones that he had were all in his name, so all of that was 100%. He was on the up and up, according to any kind of records. So just a note here Joshua had just admitted to shooting Chelsea and according to the autopsy report in the news article that I read, you can read Absolutely so proud, yay, ok. So in the news article I read it said that she had only been shot once and from outside information I actually learned that the angle of the gunshot wound was an upward trajectory, so it almost implied that she was shot while the gun was lower, obviously, and it seemed to be a shot from the hip. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
24:10
So, joshua, Don't get all old Western on us. 

Kellye
Host
24:14
That's how it seemed, though, was that he shot with the pistol at his hip and shot her and hit her one time, and it went straight through her head, and that was the only shot, and she dropped dead. The second she was shot. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
24:24
Well, yeah, usually when people get shot in the head they can kind of fall. 

Kellye
Host
24:27
Right, anyway, it was the book. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
24:29
Now remember, old boy said he always kept a gun on his hip. 

Kellye
Host
24:33
Yeah. So after his confession, joshua St was booked into jail on April 29, 2016. And it was at this point, during the booking, that he finally admitted to where the guns were, so they were recorded. Obviously, they have cameras and stuff inside the jail. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
24:47
At his dad's house. 

Kellye
Host
24:48
They were at his dad's house but that was recorded by the CCTV cameras that were inside the jail while he was getting booked. So they recovered and brought those guns to law enforcement and that was by Joshua's parents, austin Diaz, he had already been arrested and booked Austin lives. 

25:09
And he was tried first in September of 2017. So over a year and a half, or about a year and a half later, he was tried for one count of second degree murder in one count of conspiracy. So basically what they did was they charge each one for each murder, but then also a conspiracy to commit the other murder. So Austin was tried for the murder of DeMond Garner and St was later tried for the murder of Chelsea Coppling or Coppling, and both were charged with conspiracy for the opposite. So, based mostly on the recorded interviews of the defendant, Austin W Diaz was unanimously found guilty of both charges and sentenced to life plus 30 years for the conspiracy. But they were to run concurrent, so that just means that he's never getting out of jail. 

25:58
He's never getting out of jail. So Austin filed an appeal for quote error's patent, which defined as follows an error patent is one that is discoverable by a mere inspection of the pleadings and proceedings and without inspection of the evidence. So there was just something wrong in the proceedings. His sole assignment of error. He contended that the trial court aired in playing in allowing the admission of Joshua Sant being recorded during the booking part that he had given the murder weapons to his father, claiming it to be hearsay. Well, since this bit of evidence literally made absolutely zero difference in the finding of guilt and had no significant weight in the trial, the appellate judges actually stated that it wasn't a crucial element in his conviction and it made literally no difference. And after review, the appellate judges found no other errors and his conviction and synods was a burden. Now onto Joshua Sant. His trial began almost two years to the day after the murders, on April 23rd 2018. So, interestingly, josh Sant notably had no criminal history. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
27:06
like we said, Both of these parties accused each other of doing the murders. Each one said the other one did it. 

Kellye
Host
27:15
Well, austin didn't really say that, josh only did it. He admitted to his part that he was culpable for what he did, but he said that Josh had killed Kelsey Kelsey. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
27:27
Whichever way Roman. 

Kellye
Host
27:29
So he didn't really say oh no, it wasn't me, I didn't do it, it was all Josh. He never said that, he just said that he didn't do both. However, Joshua, initially he said that he didn't have anything to do with it, it was all Austin's idea. He stayed in the truck. But then eventually he admitted to killing Chelsea, so and that was all on recorded statements. Now when Joshua went to trial, he actually got on the stand and testified. 

27:54
As we've seen in other cases that we've covered on this podcast, that never ends well. That never goes the way they want it to. So I mean, even though Austin, he got on the stand in his trial too, but it really didn't make a difference one way or the other. Unfortunately for Josh, we had his also. They admitted his recorded statements, so his trial lasted three days and at the end of his trial he was also found guilty of both charges and received mandatory life plus 30 years, but his were to run consecutive. 

28:28
So this is just a quick quote from the trial court. They stated quote this case was one of the most disturbing cases that it has ever presided over, unquote, and that Joshua never gave the victims the decency of owning up to his actions and the court believed that Joshua had actually orchestrated the entire evening's events. And as a special addendum he got an additional 30 days because when he was sentenced he told the trial court, quote y'all can go get fucked for all I care, man unquote. So he did file for a reconsideration of sentence, but this was denied and later in his appeal his conviction and sentencing was also upheld. Why are you pointing at me? Because that's something you would say Y'all go get fucked for all I care man, yes, but still I wouldn't be on trial for murder. 

29:14
Yeah well, yeah, I guess not. So he argued in his appeal that there was nothing to prove he shot the victims other than Austin statements, and he even testified that he didn't do it. So he basically argued an insufficiency of evidence, which the appellate judges obviously found liking. And murdering. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
29:29
The recordings have him like admitting to the murder. 

Kellye
Host
29:35
Yes, yes, he said I shot her and I feel bad, and I think bad at every single day. Yeah, yeah. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
29:41
Yeah. So let me just I ate all your cookies, but I didn't eat all your cookies, right Right. 

Kellye
Host
29:48
And the worst thing that you can do, and this is just my opinion and I am not trying to give anybody advice again. So the worst thing you can do is change your fucking story, because no matter what happens after that point, you're either a liar, or you're a liar because you've changed your story from one to the other, so it's never going to work out in your favor. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
30:03
The best thing you can do is just ask for your lawyer, so stop talking. 

Kellye
Host
30:10
He said that many a time. The only other argument he had was that his sentences being run consecutively is excessive, because the crimes he convicted were that he was convicted of were in fact one in the same crimes, not separate instances. So this is actually a relatively smart argument and holds some water. Does the defense's case hold water? No, it doesn't. The defense is wrong. The defense is wrong. So and I even put in insert many quotes. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
30:42
That was a quote from one of my favorite movies, one of my sister's favorite movies All time, all time favorite movies. 

Kellye
Host
30:47
I have it on my Apple TV, if you guys put it in our comments, I'll give you $5. What comments though? They sent me an email, I got no comments. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
30:53
Alright send her an email. Alright, $5. 

Kellye
Host
30:56
Put it in the show notes and include no. I'll put it in what it was my cousin Vinny. Now everybody gets $5. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
31:04
Now nobody gets $5. Alright, I ain't got $5. Anyway, so this is what are you doing Broke-ass podcast? 

Kellye
Host
31:10
So this is a little bit of a decent argument anyway. Because he wasn't Okay, so he wasn't contesting his mandatory life sentence. So basically it sounds good, but at the same time it doesn't really make any sense because there's no practical difference between running them consecutively and concurrently, because it amounts to the exact same thing. You're never getting out of jail. So, for all the reasons stated above, joshua DeSant's convictions and sentencing was up, held by the appellate court. Joshua and Austin are both still incarcerated at the time of this recording. Austin, who was 18 at the time of the murders, is now 25. And is incarcerated at Angola State Penitentiary. Joshua, who was 26 at the time of the murders, is 33 as of now and it shows that he's incarcerated still. 

32:00
But I couldn't find his exact location. They didn't give me, like which housing he had. I just want to talk to you. Just want to talk. So I agree with the judge. He was 100% right. It was an incredibly disturbing case. The two victims were dumped in a pond and it was behind a church. Of all things, this pond that they were left in was within walking a few hundred feet of a church. Well, that seems fitting. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
32:26
Yeah, you want to make sure that they were in a holy water. 

Kellye
Host
32:28
Yeah okay, but they'd only been here a week. They had tried. Literally. They moved from Texas to try to start a better life for themselves and it was all stuffed out because of some conceived slight that was taking way too far, so did we ever get any evidence or any kind of story on the background 

32:46
of said accused yes from what I could find and from what I was told by people close to the case itself, the statutory rate charge was exactly what I said. So you did know already. Yes, but we didn't know in the story yet. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
33:03
So he had his girlfriend which was younger than him, and their parents got mad. 

Kellye
Host
33:08
Their parents got mad because they were interracial couple and the parents decided to file statutory rate charges against D to try to break them apart and to try to keep him away from her, and that was another reason why they left Texas, which never ends well, by the way, especially in Texas. 

33:25
So I mean, it was all absolutely wild, especially like they didn't know these people. There was no reason for any of this violence to have happened. Austin was barely in the picture for like an hour when they decided they were going to go take him off in the woods and kill him. And I honestly don't believe, I don't know that they were actually planning to kill them. I feel like it was something that kind of drunk spur of the moment. They might have wanted to, like, beat him up or rough him up and try to scare him, because that's kind of what their story was. Well, we were just trying to intimidate him so he wouldn't mess with us or our kids, and for the and fortunately, it devolved. Yeah, it devolved so much to the point where now Chelsea actually had a daughter. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
34:08
So she had another, she had a child before her and he got together again, she was 19. 

Kellye
Host
34:12
I don't know you can have kids as young as like 14 or 12, even, I think, as a young, you're not helping your argument. My point is, there's a reason. The reason that I say that, though, is because one of the articles that I found actually talks about Chelsea's mom talking about the fact that she has to raise her daughter's daughter now, and it's one of those constant things. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
34:31
It's something they call the grand daughter. That's exactly what that's called. 

Kellye
Host
34:35
So now you have a motherless daughter, a fatherless children, because Joshua had, I think, two other children and the baby on the way and an untold amount of family that have lost loved ones on both sides, and an 18, 19 year old kid that is not going to be in jail for the rest of his life. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
34:51
Not exactly, not untold, not undeserving the family yeah, there's more family. 

Kellye
Host
34:56
Untold amount of family. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
34:57
You do shit, you face the consequences. 

Kellye
Host
34:59
No, I understand that, but what did D and Chelsea do? They didn't do anything. They didn't do shit, they died so it's just a real tragedy and but 100% I mean at least on Josh's and Austin's side they can still go visit them and see them. Chelsea and D's family will never see them again. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
35:15
But 100%. That's people getting too much in their heads, thinking they can take the law out of their own hands, and then People they don't even know, People that haven't even been here. 

Kellye
Host
35:27
they were looking for a better life. It's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
35:30
When I find mine, I'll let you know if it's broken or not Sounds good, but that's all we have for you guys today. 

Kellye
Host
35:35
That was the entirety of the case of Austin Dias and Joshua Sant, and thank you for waiting through this. I know it was really hard for me, so it had to have been hell for y'all. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
35:46
So I appreciate you. Exactly, we love it. 

Kellye
Host
35:48
I appreciate you. You love it. I appreciate you guys listening. We hope you come back. In two weeks from now We'll have another case, and I think that one's just going to be me and Uncle Sawyer, because I think we have another unsolved case for you guys. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
36:00
The uncle of the unsolved? Yes, but we still want to know when we're all going to do it together. We're talking to you, arizona. 

Kellye
Host
36:06
Okay, that's enough, all right, so you better not cut this either. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
36:11
I'm probably gonna you better not, or at least send him the full clip. Thank you, I will Thank you guys. So much for listening. Does that work? 

Kellye
Host
36:21
Check the show notes. All of the source material is down there. You can send us an email at sinlawpodcastgmailcom if you have any recommendations, questions, comments or concerns, or if you just want to say that you love my cousin Vinny too, that's perfectly okay with me. There's a second one. You were definitely loud enough then, definitely loud enough, then? 

36:43
If you guys like the show, please leave us a rating and review. That really helps the show out. And if you feel like you want to give us a little bit of support, and you can do that from the website or you can click on support the show in the show notes. Even if you don't, we still love you guys. Thank you for listening, thank you for coming back and hopefully we'll have some more great content for you guys soon Maybe that crossover episode. We'll see how it goes. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
37:04
Yeah, we're talking about you, Jenna. 

Kellye
Host
37:06
And Margo. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
37:07
And Margo. 

Kellye
Host
37:08
Hey, we'll even take Mark. 

Uncle Sawyer
Host
37:09
Hey, Mark, you sound pretty too. It's okay Doses. 

Kellye
Host
37:14
See you next week. Take care out there.