CONTACT US Email: paranaughtica@gmail.com Twitter: @paranaughtica Facebook: The Paranaughtica PodcastHello and welcome to another episode of some of the craziest shit out there. Todays case involves a woman who decided it was best to murder her mentally handicapped son.....pretty much to just rid of him from her responsibility. It's a ridiculous story and one you should tune into to hear out. Thanks everyone!Sources:1. https://thecinemaholic.com/who-killed-ramsay-scrivo-how-did-he-die-where-is-donna-scrivo-now/ 2. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/18/donna-scrivo-guilty-of-murdering-dismembering-son/27559717/ 3. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3086949/Woman-guilty-murder-death- dismemberment-adult-son.html 4. https://casetext.com/case/people-v-scrivo ***If you’d like to help us out with a donation and you’re currently listening on Spotify, you can simply scroll down on our page and you’ll see a button to help us out with either a one-time donation or you can set up a monthly recurring donation. You can also go to our Facebook page where we have a link to our Ko-Fi account and Pay-Pal account if you'd like to help out the show. We would greatly appreciate it and give you a massive shoutout on the show if you'd like! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Out of the air is a bit different, and our phone is unfit.
We sit watching our TVs while some local newscasts take no feet today.
We had to do some of the 60s and fire on Christ.
I think that's the way it's supposed to be.
We don't think that we're still mad.
It's like everything, everywhere, it's going crazy.
We don't go on anymore.
We see it all so far in the world.
Crazy, we are getting smaller.
We say, please, please, please, please.
Let me know.
I'm still melting radio.
I'm saying, just leave it alone.
Well, I'm not really.
I want you to get mad.
I want you to protest.
I don't want you to ride.
I want you to ride to your congressman.
I want you to ride to your congressman.
I want you to ride to the car.
I know he's the first.
Got to get mad.
I'm a human being.
Got to get mad.
I never see you.
I'm a human being.
That 90s film, a couple of dogs and a cat, and they just like trek through the mountains in search of their owners.
You know, they're trying to find their way.
You ever see that?
Bro, one of my favorite movies growing up.
Of course I've seen that.
Dude, it was fantastic.
I just love the theme song, dude.
I mean, you got Marty McFly.
The voice of chance.
He's just like clueless to everything around him.
So he's just learning all his lessons the hard way.
Of course, man.
Great film.
And dude, I wasn't even aware that he was diagnosed with Parkinson's when he was only 29. In freaking 1991, dude.
You know that shit?
Michael J. Fox?
Yeah. I mean, he's like 61 now, but he's still trying to live life.
To its fullest.
I mean, I feel like he's one of those people that was just an interesting case study with that disease because he didn't let him get it down.
He's like, you know what?
I'm going to do what I love doing as long as I possibly can.
Yeah, he didn't let it get him down, man.
He's fallen down a shitload of times, actually, because he's broken his shoulder, which he had replaced, and an elbow, and a hand, and some fingers, and a humerus.
And even his face.
He said he broke his face.
Wow. Actually, I hadn't heard the face one.
That's crazy.
Yeah. Broke his face.
Oh, man.
Poor guy.
Michael J. Fox, man.
Marty McFly.
Yeah. He's had Parkinson's for over 30 years now, which, I mean, that's pretty unusual, right?
Because not many people live as long.
I mean, that's what he was saying anyways.
Like, just don't.
Well, plus, a lot of people start showing signs when they're older.
So, I mean, you know, that's part of it.
But still, like, that's a long time to be grappling with that.
It's a big chunk of time, man.
And in an interview that I read that he recently gave earlier this year, actually, 2023, he said, no matter how much I sit here and talk to you about how I philosophically accepted it and taken its weight, Parkinson's is still kicking my ass.
I won't win at this.
I will lose.
But there's plenty to be gained in the loss.
Ooh, deep.
Man. Heavy shit.
That's sad.
Well, it's not all the way sad, though, because he's such a G. For sure.
About it.
But, yeah, here's a shout-out to Michael J. Fox, man.
Keep doing what you're doing.
Shout-out to Mike.
You know, he's also Canadian.
Another fun fact.
Say. Did not know that.
Yeah? Give me an adjective.
Beautiful. Beautiful.
Yeah, does that work for you?
It'll work.
Right on, man.
But, yeah, back to Michael J. Fox.
Great man.
Great actor.
Even greater.
Canadian. One of the best.
Great career.
He's part of some iconic masterpieces.
I mean, you got Back to the Future, acting next to Christopher frickin' Lloyd, dude.
Oh, great, Scott!
If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit.
Yeah, that was good, man.
Roads? Where we're going if we don't need any roads.
How was that?
Was that good?
Yeah, that's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
I feel like mine was a little bit closer to Scooby-Doo, but...
It's a work in progress.
I don't know.
Yours sounded pretty good.
But, yeah, I mean, I had some favorite parts in that movie.
I always thought that hoverboard was just rad when I was a kid, dude.
So cool.
I was like, can we please have that come out?
Cool as shit.
Bandai? Bandai, could you please, like, produce that?
Seriously. At some point?
Yeah, dude.
And he was great as Cruise in Star Trek III.
You ever watch that?
The Search for Spock back in 1984?
I missed that one, but I did know this little tidbit.
Roddenberry, the creator of that show, actually.
He flew over 84. Yes, Star Trek.
He flew over 80 combat missions in World War II before he made that.
That's insane, dude.
That guy had some stones.
That's insane, dude.
Man. Yeah, I can't imagine.
Yeah, the crazy part to that is that Star Trek only lasted three fucking seasons, bro.
And the dude's net worth was $500 million at the time of his death in 1991.
How the fuck?
That's insane.
I didn't know it was that high.
Three seasons!
Yeah, that's crazy.
I mean, when you think about...
The merch alone.
And just how many people would purchase or make Star Trek-like things.
All the masks.
Plus now there's tons of offshoots.
Yeah, I believe it.
I believe it.
Hey, Scott.
Tell me an adjective.
And it better be good.
Oh, another one.
What about...
Erectly. Erectly?
Yeah. Is that an adjective?
I don't think that's an adjective.
That's more like an adverb, right?
I suppose.
I need to go back to grammar class.
All right.
How about stiffly?
How about stiff?
Stiff. Stiff.
Yeah, okay.
Stiff. Stiff works.
Okay. Anyway, before we go off topic and get ourselves lost in the bush, we should probably give the people their daily bread, don't you think?
Oh, man.
Yes, sir.
I believe all are in agreeance.
So now, ladies and gentlemen.
You gotta loosen those Velcro ties.
Kick off your Velcro high heels.
Get rid of those Velcro corsets, along with those impressive menstrual belts that are also Velcro.
Guys! And get ready for the segment that everyone's peeling their flaky skin over.
That's right, it's time for the award-winning Trey!
Portrait! Man, they're just getting better and better.
Love this, guys.
Love it.
So our first story comes to us from www.newsweek.com.
A car explodes, man.
I mean, straight up explodes at the Canadian-U.S.
border. This was posted November 2nd.
Yeah. Or 22nd, sorry.
So not that many days ago, but two people were killed after a vehicle exploded on a bridge spanning the border between the United States and Canada.
And that happened on Wednesday.
They said that it exploded in the afternoon.
It was crossing the Rainbow Bridge.
Two people were found dead.
And they're currently investigating what exactly happened.
Yeah, that's crazy.
Could you imagine?
You're the crossing guards.
I mean, it's the Canadian border, right?
I mean, it's probably not too crazy on a daily basis.
It's not like the U.S.-Mexican border.
And then suddenly this car just randomly done.
I'd be like, what the fuck?
Like, what's going on, man?
I watched the video.
There's a CCTV camera video.
There's CCTV camera video of this, and the car launches in the fucking air.
Whoa! It's like Hollywood shit.
It was hauling ass.
It hit a berm or a jump or something, and it flew into the air, and it landed into a booth and exploded.
Bro, that's insane.
Yeah, that's crazy.
I did not see the video, but I'll have to check that out.
But apparently the other border crossings have been shut down.
They're not saying that they think this is some sort of coordinated or intentional deal yet, but they have shut down the other borders just in case.
Yeah, there's talk about it being a terrorist act.
Right, right.
It's being thrown around.
It's not official, but it's being thrown around.
They are investigating.
But, I mean, you know, when you think about it, there's an average of more than 8.5 million trips that are taken on these highways.
Like, between Monday before Thanksgiving and the Monday after the holiday, like, that's a lot of trips.
So, I mean, it sort of behooves you to do your due diligence and, like, at least look into it, right?
You know, prove, might as well just prove that it's not a terrorist attack.
Exactly. Exactly.
And they, apparently, they found an unscathed passport.
Oh, interesting.
Of an Iranian, I believe, an Iranian driver.
That was the driver.
So, obviously, people are like, oh, Iranian?
Oh, must be a terrorist attack.
Sure, sure.
Well... For now, at the very least, there's anybody who's traveling, just so you know, you can expect to have additional screenings.
So just keep that in mind.
Yes, prepared for a fist up the butthole.
Yeah, that's, I don't know how they screen in other places, but that's how we do it.
That's how we do it.
So just get ready for that.
This next one's a doozy.
So our second story comes to us from bbc.com.
It's about a French pilot.
Apparently he's being sentenced.
For decapitating a skydiver with the wing of his plane.
Holy shit!
Yeah, dude.
So, Nicholas Gailey is 40 years old.
He was struck in the air after jumping from the aircraft.
He's going to do some, you know, a little bit of thrill-seeking, a little bit of skydiving.
And the pilot, and they've kept the name out of the news of the pilot because there's an ongoing investigation.
Of course.
He was found guilty.
On Tuesday of involuntary manslaughter because he, boom, whacked him with the wing right after he jumped out.
That's insane, dude.
How did that happen?
So the dude jumped out?
So the dude jumped out and he's on his way down, right?
And then the pilot immediately began his descent, like, down to the tarmac.
Okay. But there was no, like, consultation between him and the diver of who was going to go where.
Like, they didn't have a little...
Huddle. Oh my god.
Or whatever.
So he zigged.
And he should have zagged.
Damn. And he smacked this guy's head off with the wing of his plane.
Which, I mean, that's absolutely insane.
Quick. Yeah.
So he's getting involuntary manslaughter.
And there's more hearings, you know, like for the relatives.
They're probably going to speak their piece of the victim.
But yeah, pretty insane.
I mean, obviously a freak accident.
Man. Right.
But like also...
Have the conversation, you know?
Like, which way are you going to go?
I'm going to go that way.
Okay, great.
I'll go this way.
Yeah. Wow.
You know?
That's rough, dude.
Because this shit can happen.
There should have been a plan.
That should have happened.
It sucks it happened.
The pilot, you know, I don't think he was consciously trying to do anything like that and just doing his job.
I mean, if he did, like...
That's quite the aim.
He's like, I'm gonna get this guy after he jumps out.
You gotta have skills to pay the bills, you know?
Wow. So, yeah, probably genuinely an accident, but man, talk about it!
Next thing you know, the government's gonna hire him as some, like, F-16 fighter jet guy.
Precision air attacks.
They're like, oh, is he just gonna drop something?
No, he's gonna hit him with his plane.
He just flies.
He hits things of his wings.
This guy's that good.
You're really good.
This guy's that good, man.
You don't want him coming at you.
Fuck, bro.
Decapitated by a plane, man.
Right after you jumped out of it.
That's so fucked.
Pretty crazy.
It's the last thing you're thinking about, man.
You're already like, oh, I'm falling.
I'm falling.
Oh, my God.
And then this next thing you know, shitty way to go.
You're like, woo!
Schwing! Like I said, man, that's gotta be super fast.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
I wonder if it was a clean cut and the head just kind of...
God, I hope so.
I mean, just for the dude's sake.
I don't know.
A wing is pretty thick.
So I think that obliterated a pretty good chunk of him, right?
You've got to imagine the velocity of the plane.
Exactly. Such a heavy thing begins the dive.
Damn. Yeah, pretty insane.
Rough. Speaking of fast, a Penn State professor...
This is our last story, by the way.
It's our third one.
So if people aren't following along, this is number three.
It is the tray per tray, after all.
And it comes to us from CenterDaily.com.
A Penn State professor is accused of committing sex acts, not just like regular acts, sex ones, with a dog.
A dog.
With a dog, dude.
Usually, you know, you start the article and you're like, oh, student.
But nope.
Dog. Wow.
So it's looking like it might go to trial, which is...
A dog.
With a dog, dude.
Pretty intense.
Like, that's crazy.
He's accused of enticing, so not just, like, accidental, which I don't know how it'd be, accidental.
But he's accused of enticing a dog to perform sexual acts, and then he masturbated in a state forest and did not challenge the evidence against him.
He was like, yeah, you got me.
You got me.
Got me puppy-handed.
So, in order to entice the dog, what did he have?
Bologna? Did he wrap his dick with bologna?
Did he put peanut butter on his dick to entice this dog to perform sexual acts on him?
That's interesting that you would jump to that.
How do you entice a dog?
I'm going to entice this dog to do stuff to me.
Yeah, I'm not really sure.
I don't know what...
It doesn't really specify, actually, the methods used.
But it does specify...
The exact act that he is charged with attempting, which he tried to get the dog, a leashed dog, by the way, tried to get the dog to lick his anus.
Oh, man.
In the Rothrock State Forest, and the ranger rolled up on him.
He said he's not accused, I don't know if he's trying to help him out, but in the ranger's statement, he says, he's not accused of having intercourse with the dog.
But he describes the case as a statutory interpretation issue, right?
Because it's illegal, obviously, probably to be caught engaging in a sex act in a federal forest anyways of any kind.
True. But is it illegal to have a dog lick your ass?
They lick their own asses all the time.
I mean, if anything, this case is probably going to determine the precedent, right?
For sure.
It's like the state versus Brown versus the Board of Education.
This is it.
This is the one like anus licking by dogs will now henceforth be illegal.
In state forests.
In state forests, specifically.
On state land.
On state land.
Yeah, or on federal land, I should say.
Federal land, yeah.
But yeah, so apparently they're going to have a...
It looks like it's heading towards a trial, which that's not going to be a pretty trial at all.
Now, was there cameras in the forest set up?
There were trail cameras, right?
That's a good...
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It says a trail camera captured the footage in April.
Oh, goodness gracious.
It doesn't get much better than that.
But a ranger also wrote that owners of two private camps surrounded by the forest said they discovered images on their trail cameras as well.
Wow. The guy was fully nude.
I don't know what this guy was doing.
He said...
This is his quote.
So his quote doesn't help him out, because all of this is public record.
He was served a search warrant in June, and he kept telling the investigators, I'm done.
I'm dead.
You don't understand.
I do it to blow off steam.
So he admitted right there.
Yeah, dude.
Man, he's a professor?
But yeah, he's a professor of chemical engineering and he earned a PhD from Michigan.
He's been with Penn State since 1991.
He's written several books.
But yeah, apparently he's on leave administrative while this is all going on.
He is not allowed to have any contact with any dog and is also not allowed to visit any state forest or park.
Oh, man.
Apparently the dog, though, everything's going okay for the dog.
The dog is fine.
But it's set to stay with a family member in another county.
The dog is traumatized.
He's going to go through some therapy.
Man. Well, dude, it says here he has a tenure at the Penn State.
Not anymore.
Can they just rip that away from him?
That's a good question.
I mean, I think...
I thought that was, like, solid.
Once you get that, you're, like, set, right?
That's what I thought.
It is, but I would imagine there's some bylaw where if you're charged with a certain crime or something like that, they can separate ways from you.
There has to be, right?
There has to be.
I mean, this is a huge case of bestiality.
Yeah, I think.
I think that's...
Worthy of ridding of your tenure.
We'll see, but I mean, come on, man.
Well, and the other thing is, if this becomes nationally, which I'm sure it's already gaining steam.
For sure.
But who's going to take his class and not be able to...
Who's going to do it?
I'm sure some people would want to just out of morbid curiosity, but good luck teaching a class about...
Chemistry. I want to know what you did in the forest.
What did you do with the dog, man?
Yeah, what about the forest, man?
Tell me about the dog.
Like, yeah, good luck.
And you know these photos and videos are going to be leaked out.
Yeah, we'll see.
That's rough.
We'll keep an eye on that, but that is it for this week's episode of Trey Portrait.
You know.
The history of our precious little undergarments, our Ray Grandes, if you will, is rather interesting and pretty depressing, actually.
Oh, I know.
Dude, there were, and probably still are, guides to help people, I guess, attach, if you will.
Sure. These undergarments to themselves with all sorts of hooks and pulleys and straps and ropes and shit.
Like, it's insane.
Fuck, all those chains.
That's exactly what I'm saying, bro.
The old, old models, though, are my favorite.
Oh, yeah.
In fact, I'm wearing a pair right now.
You too?
Yeah, exactly, dude.
Yeah, exactly.
Man, I have to wear these to sleep, dude.
I just can't fall asleep without them on, dude.
It's nuts.
Dude, I know.
Speaking of nuts, what do you say you take us exactly to the point where we are going today, right now?
So, the case we're covering today takes us to Michigan.
St. Clair Shores, to be exact.
The year is 2014.
On the 30th of January, around 3 p.m., two separate women were driving on Snowy Allington Road between Fredmore Highway and Trumbull Road, about 50 miles northeast of Detroit, Michigan, on their way to pick up their children from elementary school.
While on their drive, they both came upon a single black trash bag.
But something looked strange, and so they had to stop and look at what it was.
So, for this weird trash bag to catch their attention that much, like for someone to be like...
What the fuck is that?
Because it's just a garbage bag, right?
Yeah, you'd be like, uh, there's one, there's two.
Hmm, that's a little weird, you know?
Yeah, so Scott, give me a number, my man.
Oh, alright.
Let's go with 350.
350 it is.
Alright. As the women got out of their vehicles and approached this discarded trash bag with something partially in it...
That should not have been in it.
They regrettably realized that they came upon a human head.
A severed human head.
The women quickly called the police, who had soon arrived to cordon off the scene and begin the gruesome investigation.
Soon enough, three other similar bags were found further up the road, which contained human intestines mixed with trash and other random items.
The following day, January 31st, four bags containing body parts were found on Fredmore Highway.
Dude, that's insane.
Like, you're these investigators, like, going through, and you're like, oh, I got some used coffee filters.
Oh, a spleen!
Holy shit.
You know, just going through the trash and finding these human remains, just wondering, like, how much am I going to find?
Like, how many of what?
Like, oof, so insane, dude!
And while the investigators were combing the Allington Road area crime scene for usable evidence in the winter conditions, another resident of the area came forward to say that they saw a middle-aged, heavyset woman struggling to throw the bags onto the side of the road from a gray or tan SUV.
The authorities then quickly alerted the media to report the horrific murder and dismemberment of a body, and a very brief description of the suspect, who they said was a heavyset woman driving a tan or gray SUV.
I mean, it's one of those interesting cases where they put out accurate information immediately, right?
I mean, obviously, like, this person's well into killing if they're finding trash bags full of human remains.
But they had a description, they got it out there, and they worked on trying to catch him immediately.
Yeah, it was actually good police work.
Yeah, exactly.
I guess that's what I was trying to say.
Timely? Yeah, timely and engaged and like, oh, you guys are taking it serious.
Like, right on, man.
Yeah, pretty good, man.
Yeah, so this is a great time to get an adjective from you.
Alright, alright, alright, alright.
Let's go with scintillating.
Scintillating it is.
Alright, so now let's introduce the victim of this tragic crime, Ramsey Scrivo.
Real quick, though.
Yo. Really quick.
What's up?
Just real quick here.
Okay. I'll be fast.
I promise.
Words of every man.
Yes, that's true.
But before we go any further, I want to just tell this joke really quick.
All right.
What kind of sandals do frogs prefer?
What kind of sandals do frogs prefer?
Oh, man.
I don't know.
Frogs? No.
Fucking wrong again, dude.
Frogs prefer open-toed sandals.
Hey, man.
That's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
I like it.
I like it.
That's pretty good.
Yeah, well, maybe you should read up on your amphibian jokes, because I tell you, that was embarrassing, even for me.
I can't even imagine how you're feeling over there, dude, on the other side of this.
Hey, now.
This giant...
What is this?
A wire spool?
This giant wire spool?
Where does this even come from?
I don't know, man.
This Wayne Dale has been changing up the studio without any input from us.
Oh, Wayne, come on, man.
You gotta ask, dude.
I know.
Before you push it in here.
Wayne Dale?
All right, Wayne.
I see you.
Fuck. Yeah, man.
Anyway, moving on.
Oh, shit.
Yeah. My bad, dude.
All right.
So first, I need to get a verb from you.
Just really quick.
Okay. How about penetrating?
Perfect. All right.
Ramsey Scrivo was born on the 10th of May, 1981 to his father, Daniel Scrivo, and his mother, Donna Scrivo.
He had one older brother, Jason, who was about three years his senior.
The family grew up in the greater Detroit area but moved to St. Clair Shores, Macomb County, Michigan when Ramsey and Jason were still fairly young.
Donna Kay Chaffin, the mother, was born on February 4, 1954 to George Charles Chaffin and Melba Joyce Ford in Coffman County, Texas.
She always dreamed of becoming a nurse and eventually made that a reality and apparently she was a rather successful nurse.
Her bosses and co-workers had nothing but positive things to say about her and were in utter disbelief when they heard the shocking news of what she, Donna was being accused of.
She seemed as friendly as could be and was said to be very gentle and loving with all of the patients she tended to.
By all outward appearances, she seemed to be her average run-of-the-mill working-class woman of the 2010s.
Yeah, I mean, honestly, she sounds like a normal person.
Yeah. Which, you know, a lot of people that end up being sadistic do.
You never know, man.
You never know.
You never know, dude.
The most normal person you think is normal?
Probably is the one doing the most fucked up shit.
Exactly. Probably eating faces in their off times.
Yes. Absolutely.
And at the age of 24, Donna Chaffin married Daniel J. Scrivo, who was 26, on August 18, 1978 in Dallas, Texas.
Daniel Scrivo apparently owned and operated a house painting business.
Unfortunately, Daniel was suffering from hepatitis C for most of his life.
The two had their first son, Jason.
In late 1978 or early 1979, there isn't any information on Jason Scrivo readily available, at least none that I could find.
The brothers would go to an all-Catholic school, and Donna had very high expectations for both of them, but more so for Ramsey.
Okay, yeah, pretty inconspicuous beginnings, you know, pretty regular.
And after graduating De La Salle Collegiate High School in St. Clair Shores, Ramsey found himself graduating Wayne State University with a bachelor's degree four years later and seemed to be doing well for himself.
After he graduated from Wayne State, he went to work as an accountant in a local firm but quit after a supervisor or boss criticized his work.
And I think we've all met that type of person, someone who just can't take any degree of negative criticism.
And just react way out of proportion to the critique itself.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, you all know there's people out there that you've been in contact with and one negative word is spoken.
Oh, you don't know.
Fuck you, man.
You don't even know.
You know, like, whoa, hey.
Friendships end because he just said, I don't like your new paint job.
I think you kind of messed up.
That's it.
Done. Done.
Finished. Fist to the face.
Punch, man.
It's not worth it.
Daniel ultimately decided that accounting was not something he wanted to do anymore.
It was just too monotonous and repetitive and mind-numbing for him to handle.
Some reports say that he decided to take up work painting houses with his dad at his dad's painting business, while others say that he started a lawn maintenance company and also worked in construction or something like that.
At any rate, Daniel did have a job and was making ends meet, more or less.
And then, a near tragedy struck the Scrivo family.
Donna suffered a heart attack in 2003 and nearly died while under the knife.
During and after her recovery, she began to have intense anxiety and developed a forgetfulness that resulted in her losing her job as a registered nurse within the hospital setting.
It's a huge blow.
With that setback, she decided she would become an at-home nurse, working primarily with sick and dying elderly people.
And again, she was said to be great at her job and given many praises for her work.
In 2006, Daniel's parents bought him his own house, but it wasn't just like, here you go, have a new house.
There was a reason for them buying this house for their son.
Unfortunately, Ramsey was dealing with severe mental health issues during this time and had been for a number of years, actually.
Particularly, he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenia.
You know, it's one of those things, too, especially with that disorder specifically.
Like, even in the early 2000s, and still, I would say, we're shooting around for ways to treat it.
Like, we just don't know.
So who knows how effective it really was.
But, you know, I'm sure he still needed to be on something.
Yeah, lithium something, man.
So, buying him his own house was an attempt by his parents to help him manage his mental health problems, and also to help protect them from his violent outbursts.
Ramsey also had substance abuse problems, which, as we all know, is not a good addition to serious mental health issues.
Or probably any mental health issue, for that matter.
It causes mental health issues.
Yeah, but then, I mean, everything's become a mental health issue these days.
An itchy ass is now recognized.
I don't know if you know this.
As a mental health disease in the DSM 5.72653, you know what I mean?
Dude, yeah, alright.
The DSM 5.72653?
Is that what you said?
Oh, yeah.
Everybody knows that.
Everyone knows that one.
But you know what?
You're sort of right.
And I can guarantee that you could eventually find a doctor, after however many you'd have to go through, who would be more than happy to diagnose the most average person with some sort of condition.
It's like, that's kind of what their job is, you know?
Yeah, absolutely.
There are quite a few that are like that.
Like, oh yeah, you say you got something?
You sure do.
Here you go, man.
And you can just pay the doctors X amount of money to diagnose them.
Which has been done.
I mean...
Yeah, man.
I'd say believe it or not, but it's just like, duh.
Yeah, just duh.
Just believe it.
Because it's true.
And of course, as one would expect, Ramsey's alcohol use coupled with his untreated psychosis only led to further problems involving law enforcement.
In 2010, Ramsey was drinking at a bar with a few of his friends, and at some point, he got into a physical altercation with one of his buddies, in which he was the reported aggressor.
During the fight, he either fell...
As a result of this incident of Ramsey's, not only was he charged by police with assault, but his mental health issues only worsened, as did his temper.
He was ordered by the courts to do mandatory at-home breathalyzers multiple times each day, from early morning to late at night.
One article I read said nine times, but that seems quite excessive.
But he was also prohibited from engaging in the use of any drugs or visiting any bars.
Despite these restrictions, Donna said Ramsay was instead drinking and using drugs even more frequently than before.
And then came a very traumatic event in Ramsay's life, one that changed everything for the worse.
You see, Ramsay and his father were very close.
Most who knew them would say that his dad was probably his best friend.
Daniel was definitely Ramsey's biggest supporter.
He just wanted to see him do well in life, as all parents should.
Friends and family said that his father was very protective of him and treated him far more gently than his overbearing mother who had unreasonably high expectations for him.
Unfortunately, on May 15, 2013, only eight months before his own death, Ramsey's father was pronounced dead as a result of the hepatitis C that he suffered from for most of his life.
He was 61 years old.
It was during the same period of time that Donna went to her high school reunion back in Texas, where she caught up with an old fling named Craig Curd.
After Daniel had died, Donna decided she wanted to move back to Texas, presumably to be with Craig Curd.
Ramsey began to drink far more than he usually did, and he completely neglected to take all of his medications as prescribed, either not taking them regularly or not taking them at all.
And under all of that pressure and uncertainty, Ramsey then threatened to kill himself by hanging.
It's said that he was only verbal in his threats and never actually physically attempted to kill himself, but his schizophrenia was only worsening.
In September of 2013, he removed a crown in one of his teeth because he thought that someone had planted it there as a speaker or microphone so that they could hear all of his conversations.
Whew! Did a self-extraction, bro.
Damn! And so Donna then had Ramsey committed to a psychiatric hospital.
And, well, probably for the better.
And while there, Donna filed for guardianship over Ramsey, citing his deteriorating mental health condition and substance abuse problems.
And while she waited for a judge's ruling, Ramsey was further diagnosed with psychosis.
Now, a paranoid schizophrenic in its time was someone who had lost sense of what was real and what was not, the line between the two being blurred.
We should point out here that schizophrenia is a mental health condition that can and often does cause psychosis.
Furthermore, people living with schizophrenia Does that make sense?
Well, yeah, of course.
I mean, it makes sense because there's a number of things that can cause psychosis, like a blurring of reality and what's real and what's not.
Too many hits of acid, you can get psychosis.
Absolutely. So anyway, a judge found Ramsey to be a potential danger to himself and granted the guardianship to Donna under strict orders that Ramsey refrain from any and all alcohol use and to take his antipsychotic medication as prescribed.
And after his 90-day commitment at the psychiatric hospital, Ramsey was released to his mother's care.
Man, so his mom's not doing great, but she's kind of doing her thing.
Yeah, tough situation.
Definitely. Definitely tough.
So now, it's sometime around August of 2013, and the two would live at Donna's house, with Ramsey choosing to live in the basement, which is where he would stay most of the time.
Allegedly, at some point, while both of them were asleep, a mysterious fire broke out.
Scott, can you guess where the fire started?
I'm gonna guess, Coop, that it started in the basement.
I'm gonna guess the basement.
The fire started in the basement.
You are correct.
Yikes. Donna said that she had woken up to thick smoke filling her room.
She said she frantically tried to escape the blazing inferno, all the while only thinking about her son, hoping that he had already gotten out of the house because she was just so worried about him and his safety.
She said that she couldn't make it to the basement because...
She had panicked and didn't think it was safe for her to do so, and apparently it was so bad for her that she couldn't even yell for him from the top of the stairs.
Instead, she just calmly walked out of the house and sat on the little deck just long enough to light a cigarette and look off in the distance, blowing a cloud of a job well done.
And once she made it outside, that is when she decided to call 911, right after finishing that cigarette.
She took her time.
That's all I'm trying to say here.
And once the fire crew and paramedics arrived, which was within minutes, They ran inside and straight down to the basement where they found Ramsey.
And what do you think they found, Scott?
I'm going to go out on a limb, and I'm just going to say I think they found Ramsey fine.
I think he was probably fine.
Yeah, I mean, Ramsey was unharmed.
He was unharmed.
Oh, yeah, just chilling down there, roasting some weenies and some mallows.
The fire was ruled to be an electrical fire, and although it was suspicious, no further investigation took place.
Donna and Ramsay then moved into the house that was purchased for Ramsay some years prior.
To those on the outside looking in, Donna appeared to be very domineering, controlling, and demanding over Ramsay.
But many said that although she was domineering, controlling, and demanding over Ramsay, she also seemed to genuinely care about his well-being.
Thank you.
But all was not all as it seemed.
Ramsay was actually not happy with his mother, after all.
He wanted away from her and out of her guardianship.
In fact, He had been planning to petition the courts to vacate Donna's guardianship over him later that same year.
Ramsey's life had been improving, however slightly, but enough so that he felt that he was capable enough to fight for his independence from the tight bony grip that his mother held onto him with.
And it was around this time that, for reasons unknown, Ramsey and his older brother Jason unfriended their mother on Facebook, which for some people can literally be the end of the world for them.
Yeah, on a serious, non-serious note, that's so true, right?
People are like, I saw you deleted me from your friends.
Yeah, I mean, just, yeah.
It's unreal.
Talk about a crisis.
No shit.
Also, Donna's mother, Melba.
I actually like that name quite a bit.
That's a hot name.
Melba. Melba.
Melba. It's a word that definitely fills your mouth with your tongue when you say it.
Melba. Melba.
Yeah, the whole thing.
Yeah, definitely.
But anyway, Melba passed around this time as well.
I'm not sure if Melba was a big influence on Ramsey, but I think it's safe to say that she was a big influence on Donna, being that she was her mother.
And I say this because perhaps the death of her mother, Melba, had some detrimental effect on Donna's eventual behavior.
So, let's bring it back to those black bags.
You remember those black bags?
Let's go back to those.
On the 30th of January, exactly four days after Donna reported Ramsey missing, Amanda Stampless and Andrea Peterson happened to be driving along the snowy Allentown Road and came upon a decapitated head, partially exposed from a trash bag on the side of the road,
which initiated a major police search of the area.
Soon, more bags would be found.
Twelve body parts were found in the same type and style of black trash bags in four different locations around the China and St. Clair townships.
Some of the bags contained charred paperwork, women's clothing, Ugh!
That's kind of a spoiler, but, I mean, it's...
We gotta know who we're dealing with here, right?
Exactly. So, might as well just rip off the band-aid, and let's get into it.
In another bag was a battery-powered circular saw with some extra saw blades.
In all...
Seven bags were found that were linked to the case.
Some accounts say that Ramsey was cut into 14 pieces, but the coroner's report states that he was cut into 12 pieces, so we're going to go with that.
The Macomb County Medical Examiner, Daniel Spitz, was in charge of Ramsey's autopsy, and he gave testimony during the trial as to the cause of Ramsey's death and provided other macabre details.
Dr. Spitz testified that Ramsey died from asphyxiation, Caused by manual strangulation.
Spitz found that his Adam's apple had been completely fractured by the strangulation.
Damn! And they say that for an adult, it can take anywhere between, like, 10 and 35 pounds to crush that bad boy.
So, I mean, this is absolutely serious.
I mean, if you just go ahead and, like, just push on it.
Like, push on your own Adam's apple, dude, right now.
No, it hurts!
And even just, yeah, dude, that's what I'm saying.
Like, the slightest push.
You're like, oh, that's extremely uncomfortable.
I've literally just been tapped in my Adam's apple.
And it's like, oh, no, no, no, no.
That's not a good feeling.
Not a good feeling.
Insane. And his was crushed.
Crushed. When you hear cartilage break and shit, it sounds nasty, dude.
It sounds gross.
Yeah, it's not a natural sound.
I mean, it's, yeah.
Anyways, very uncomfortable, not a great feeling.
And people get it surgically removed.
Can you believe that shit?
And implanted.
Some people get one put in.
That's crazy shit.
That is weird, man.
And Spitz told the courtroom that such a compression around the neck would take, quote, a couple of minutes, end quote, with death happening within three or four additional minutes of strangulation.
Not a fast death, nor a pleasant one.
Well, and especially the psychological ramifications of it being your own mother.
You're staring right into her eyes.
She's got her hands around her neck just crushing your throat.
That would be so fucked.
I mean, insane.
I don't want to think about my mom strangling me.
I'm just looking at her and she's got the crazy look on her face.
Absolutely not.
That's terrifying.
My mom wouldn't do such a thing.
Oh, well, shit, dude.
I certainly hope not.
She couldn't look me in the eye when she did.
Oh, damn.
Dark. I'm just kidding, mom.
I love you.
Don't kill me.
Don't kill me.
Yeah, please!
I like this guy, man.
I'll come visit you, I swear.
Nah, my mom's great.
I love her.
Yeah, she's awesome.
Anyway, the doctor, Spitz, that is, said that based on blood and liver tissue that was tested, Ramsey had three distinct medications in his system at the time of the murder, which included a toxic level of Xanax that could potentially have been fatal in itself, and ruled that the medication was a contributing factor in Ramsey's death.
Investigators discovered that Donna had a prescribed medication.
Let me guess, for Xanax.
Poor Xanax.
But not only that, her most recent prescription was said to be missing 10.5 pills, which is sure to put someone into a deep sleep at the very least.
And at this junction, Dr. Spitz then described the contents of the black trash bags.
Oh boy.
Bag one contained Ramsey's lower abdomen and pelvic area.
And the still-attached partial thighs cut off about midway, which is ridiculous.
Like, you wouldn't cut in the thigh, like, cut at the knee.
You cut at the joints.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, like, who would just chop a thigh directly in half?
Like, that's insane.
This lady had no experience.
She didn't do any research, obviously.
Bag two contained his left arm, his right leg from the knee down, and his partial left thigh.
Bag three contained his bisected upper abdomen.
The fourth bag contained his head, his partial right thigh, and his left leg from the knee down.
Dr. Spitz told the jury that there was clear evidence that Ramsey's hair was singed and that there were injuries caused by excessive heat where his head was cut from his neck.
I couldn't find any definitive reason for the burning.
So Scott, using speculative analysis, why do you think that the fire or excessive heat was present on Ramsey's body, particularly around the neck where he was cut off?
I am going to postulate that in an effort to make the removal easier, that the cutting instrument was either heated up or heat was applied to the area.
For the same reason.
I'm just going to guess that.
Obviously, I don't know enough about it.
That's so interesting.
That's my guess.
Because this just doesn't make sense.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, it just doesn't make sense.
Where, why was there heat used?
It doesn't make sense.
Anyway, in the fifth and sixth bags were Ramsey's organs.
There were also five jigsaw blades and nine unused matchsticks.
Bag seven had various items of clothing.
Some terrycloth towels and a specific type of saw.
Once the media started to report on the dismembered body being found in different locations, tips began rolling in.
Witnesses said they saw a silver or gray SUV leaving the trash bags on the side of the road.
Witnesses also said that the driver was an overweight woman with long, graying brown hair.
A neighbor of Ramsey would report to police that they saw the mother of Ramsey leaving his house with black trash bags two days in a row and that she owned a gray-colored SUV.
Yeah, so the trail's being built extremely quickly, right?
Yes. I mean, all roads lead to Donna Scrivo.
It's just like she made no effort to cover up her tracks other than, you know, cutting up the body and attempting to distribute it.
But so clumsily, I mean, that just all of the breadcrumbs lead back to her, so to speak.
It's insane.
I just like it, man.
It just seems like this community, these people and the police, they're able to work with each other, and they get shit done.
Yeah, I will say, yeah, when you look at the other cases that we've talked about in the past, so many times when the evidence is being presented, they're like, yeah, meh, I don't think so.
I don't know.
And no one says anything.
There's nobody seeing anything.
This seems like it was dealt with fairly efficiently.
Yeah, man.
And it was also reported that the strong scent of bleach, something burning, and the sound of a saw were coming from the house.
Now, I'm not sure if this was the same neighbor or a different one who said this.
Oh, uh, give me your best noun.
Come on, throw it at me hot.
Let's do this.
Um, anvil.
Anvil. Yes, sir.
Something a blacksmith would have.
Okay, perfect.
At this point, investigators had already begun to comb through missing people's reports, and they searched CODIS, or the Combined DNA Index System, to see if they could find a match to the fingerprints on the severed hands.
And for those who don't know, CODIS is a system that's used by our government and police, actually, to exchange and compare DNA profiles and fingerprints, but electronically.
So it's just an easy way of looking at cross-referencing
Police gave interviews to the media in which they told the public that they had an idea of who the suspect is and what the suspect is believed to be driving.
They then gave out photos and asked the public to be on the lookout for said suspect.
A UPS driver would quickly come forward to tell them that they saw Donna Scrivo's car, which was a great SUV, in the same area where some of the bags were discovered during the same time period when they were found, which was the 30th and 31st of January 2014.
Within hours, Donna Scrivo was in police custody and the investigation was in full swing.
All right.
So, I mean, this would be pretty interesting, right?
Because you would imagine with all the evidence and with all the descriptions, you know,
What's she going to say?
Right? Yeah.
So, like, what was her explanation?
Well, it was a very realistic one.
Very believable.
Yeah. According to Donna, Ramsay left the house around 6 p.m. on Saturday, January 25th.
Donna says that she spent the night anxiously wondering where her beloved son was, hoping and praying to Marduk that he was safe.
Being the worried-to-death mother that she was, you know, very anxious and distressed, perturbed about her handicapped son, and being tortured by her son's unknown whereabouts, Donna then retired for the night.
She just went to sleep.
You know, she's so worried.
Yeah, she's like, eh, I'm done.
No problem.
The following day, the 26th of January, Donna says that she frantically called Ramsey's cell phone repeatedly throughout the morning and well into that afternoon.
She said that while she was calling him over and over again on his cell phone, but only getting his voicemail, she was also driving around the local area to places she says that he was known to frequent.
And with no luck in finding him at any of these locations or reaching him on his phone, she then called the police to report Ramsey missing.
She even stopped by the police station to speak to officers and make a report.
Jeez. Yeah, so manufacturing the alibi, just building it little bit by little bit.
Oh, yeah.
And the police were privy to Ramsey and the mental health problems that he suffered from because of his past arrest for assaulting his friend at a bar and also for other altercations with his mother over the years.
So the police took the report seriously and issued an APB, All Points Bulletin, for Ramsey.
They also talked with his friends and members of his family to get as much information as they could.
And they visited all the bars he was known to frequent but ultimately came up with no leads.
The neighbors came forward and told the police that they haven't seen Ramsey at his house in many days, which was very unusual.
They also found it unusual that the strong scent of bleach and something burning emanating from the direction of Ramsey's house, which only started in the two days prior to him being reported missing.
But right, so the police can't just barge in there.
Right. I'm sure they had to build some kind of evidence to get a warrant to search this place.
For sure.
Yeah, they had to go get a warrant for sure.
So meanwhile, the police contacted the phone company that Ramsey used in order to obtain call and text records.
They also ran checks on his debit and credit cards.
But again, came up with nothing.
But as the days went by, finally, a lead.
And a damn good one too.
Ramsey's phone was found in a neighbor's yard.
And upon inspection...
Nothing was found on it initially.
Looks like we're going to have to get one of those nouns you have laying around, Scott.
Oh, another one.
All right.
Well, let's go with 20-sided die.
I'm going to change it up a little bit.
What, are you playing magic?
Why, I know that.
I played magic.
I played some magic in my life.
A little D&D.
I had no idea what I was doing.
I was playing with people who knew what they were doing, and I was like, I have no idea what's going on right now.
That's how you do it.
And I kicked their ass, man.
I fucking laid down.
I don't even know the cards.
I have no idea what I'm talking about.
Absolutely. Shit.
Home skilly.
Good for you.
Anyway, the police obtained search warrants for Donna's home, which was under renovations due to the basement fire in the months prior, and also for Ramsey's house.
They also had warrants to search their vehicles.
Now, Scott, interesting, the cars that they were looking for were nowhere to be found, which the police thought to be quite suspicious.
So, they dug deeper, and soon enough, they found both vehicles in the possession of a local charity.
It's kind of fucking weird, huh?
It's just so A plus B equals C, you know, like, tries to, she's like, oh, donate the cars, they won't know.
Yeah, just donate them.
Jeez. So, coincidentally, Donna had given the two vehicles that the police were looking for to the Mother Waddle's car donation program shortly before her capture on Friday evening.
Let me guess.
It was an accident, right?
A little clerical error.
She didn't mean to donate them.
I'm just trying to guess what her alibi could have been.
Because she removed the license plates, so it has to kind of...
Not quite, because before she had given...
Oh, well, again, though, I mean, that could be accidental, right?
You know?
Accidentally donated them.
Meant to put them back on?
Just got the tags updated?
Quote, unquote, donated the vehicles to mother bottles.
She removed the license plates.
Well, that's, yeah.
Yeah? That isn't suspicious.
Right? She took them off, cleaned them or something?
I don't know, man.
Oh, well, again, though, I mean, that could be accidental, right?
No, no, no.
She knowingly removed the license plates.
Meant to put them back on, just got the tags updated, you know?
Not one bit.
Yeah. Now that the police had the vehicles that they wanted, they quickly went to work on forensics, searching for DNA and other usable evidence.
And soon enough, they found Ramsey's blood in the SUV that witnesses reported seeing Donna loading black trash bags into, and also tossing black trash bags out of in other locations around the area.
And while in custody, fingernail clippings, hair samples, and other DNA samples were taken from Donna Scrivo.
Further forensics work on the Coke bottle, remember that Coke bottle?
Being found next to Ramsey's severed head on the side of the road?
Yeah. Definitely.
Yeah, they tested that bottle and found someone's DNA all over it.
Donna's. Who would have thought?
And police also looked further into Ramsey's phone.
Remember how Donna said that she had called his phone repeatedly from morning until later that evening making dozens of calls?
That was one of her arguments in her alibi.
Well, his phone showed that not a single call whatsoever was placed by Donna to Ramsey on the day that she said she called him dozens of times.
I'm sure the- Now, just how stupid can she be?
I'm sure the investigators were, like, putting all these pieces together, and they're just like, well, there's another one.
It's gonna be open and shut.
Open and shut.
And later, police would gather surveillance footage showing Donna Scrivo buying gas around 2.30 p.m. on January 30th.
The gas station attendant who communicated with Donna Scrivoth said that she appeared to be frustrated, but nothing really seemed off.
Upon closer inspection, they would also find out that she was wearing the same type and style of gloves that were found with some of Ramsey's remains when she went to the police station to report him missing.
Then there was the saw.
But Scott, I first need you to instantly think of a body part.
Any body part.
Any. Got it?
Oh, man.
Let's see.
Any part.
Scapula. Scapula it is.
On the 27th of January, Donna visited a Lowe's store and purchased an electric saw and some extra saw blades, and then she left.
Later that same day, she went back to the store to complain that the battery was not charging correctly, but subsequently left again without returning the saw.
She just went there to complain about it.
So, like, here's this woman pretending like she has nothing to do with this grisly murder.
She's just leaving her face and energy in the process of it all over the place.
You know, I mean...
There's surveillance footage everywhere.
Because all of this was very clearly recorded by store security cameras.
Exactly. And investigators found that the same exact saw that Donna purchased on the 27th was the same saw found in one of the discarded trash bags containing Ramsey's body parts.
And her own cell phone showed that she was likely in the area of the discarded body parts at the time that they were being discarded since the cell towers in the area received pings from her phone.
Now, I'm not sure if that means that she was making phone calls, but if she was...
Who was she calling?
Oh, maybe if she was making calls.
Because it wasn't Ramsey.
She was probably calling her old fling from Texas.
Old Craig Curd.
That's what I'm thinking.
Oh yeah, Craig Curd, dude.
That's exactly what I was thinking too.
But after looking further into this, Craig was not looked at as being a suspect or part of this at all.
And I feel that if there were calls made to Craig during those times, that it would have been reported on and there's just nothing out there about it.
Yeah, exactly.
For all intents and purposes, he's just some random reconnection.
Just an old fling.
He probably heard all this and was like, whoa!
Or maybe Donna's phone was just automatically pinging cell towers as she drove around.
I do think that as long as your phone is powered on, the nearest cell tower is always going to be pinging your phone.
Because in order for the network to always be working, your cell provider has got to, or at least whoever owns the towers or subleases them from other cell companies to push their own signals to give you.
The ever-so-fateful customer, that is.
Your phone always needs to be available to connect to their network, so I think they just automatically pay me if they're on.
That makes sense.
So it wasn't looking good for Donna Scrivo, but she maintained her innocence the entire time.
But what you should do, Scott, is give me a noun.
Okay. Let's see.
Let's go with...
Phallus. Like a phallic thing?
Yeah, well, like the thing itself.
Okay. Phallus.
The thing.
Okay. So, that's a great noun.
Thank you for that.
Yeah, no problem.
Back at Ramsey's house, police found substantial traces of blood in various areas around the house.
It was found in a bathtub, on the handrail of a staircase, in random spots such as walls and doors.
And we know that Ramsey's decapitated head and his cut neck were also burned, and unused matches were found mixed with his dismembered remains.
Detectives testified that they smelled a strong scent of bleach in all of the areas where blood was found, especially at the front door and in the bedroom and in the bathroom.
They said that there was noticeable discoloration spots on the bedroom carpet as if bleach was used.
Did she, like, not know what bleach did to fabric like a carpet?
I mean, I just feel like if you were making any effort at all to hide what you were doing, you would just know that.
Or at least think about it.
But... She must have.
I mean, maybe she had white carpets to begin with.
I don't know.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, that or there must be some bleach products that just clean really good but won't actually bleach your shit all to hell like it's in the 80s, you know what I mean?
Yeah, exactly.
We don't need that to come back, let me tell you.
You know what I was just thinking of why the neck, because there's burning in the tub, burning on his neck.
I think she was trying to cauterize the wounds.
I just had the same exact thought at the same exact time to minimize the bleed.
Yeah. I was just thinking that as well.
But it's not going to work when you're cutting him into 12 pieces, unless she was trying to cinch each.
I think she started with the head and realized it didn't work, and so she just cut everything.
Or the head, she maybe thought that would be where the most blood potential to come out was.
I mean, we're just speculating, obviously.
We don't know.
Total speculation.
But, you know, maybe that's why.
I mean, as a nurse, she's a nurse for a long time.
She's got to have some knowledge of all of that.
Anatomy. Yeah.
Yeah, totally.
Man, it's so weird, though.
Anyway, it is speculated that on the 27th of January, 2014, Donna Scrivo drugged her son with Xanax in order to incapacitate him.
But she may have drugged him on the 28th or 29th.
We just don't know.
How she did this is unknown as well, but I surmise that she crushed the pills into a fine powder, the Xanax, you know how you do, and mixed that fine powder into whatever alcoholic drink that Ramsay was drinking.
I can't help but think that Donna had at some point purposely angered him because she knew that when he got angry, he would cope with it by drinking heavily, alone.
Yeah, I mean, obviously she took him on.
She knew his habits.
It'd be just all too easy, especially because he may not be the most observant of people, just given all of the stuff in the way, you know, mentally.
I feel like she could have easily slipped it in there, pissed him off, and been like, well, I know what he's going to do.
And then, of course, he behaved predictably, like he always did.
And then once Donna got him all angry and pissed and ready to toss the TV out of the window, that is when she challenged him to a drinking contest.
Who could chug a mixed drink the fastest?
And we'll see who wins, you know?
Right, and then she, like, eggs him on to drink, like, even more and even faster.
Yeah, this is speculation of what could have happened.
It's not what happened.
Not as far as we know, but, you know.
Right. It's valid speculation, devoid of any quote-unquote conspiracy.
Sure. Yeah, man, I think I agree.
Good. And once incapacitated, Donna then strangled him to death with a ligature of some kind, crushing his laryngeal prominence of the thyroid cartilage in the process.
So, do you know what the laryngeal prominence of the thyroid cartilage is?
That's commonly referred to as the Adam's apple.
Yeah, because it's...
Yeah. Yep.
Okay. I suppose that was fairly obvious.
Too obvious.
Well, if I can't stump you there, I'll stump you with a great joke.
So how about that?
Okay. What do you call a can opener that doesn't work?
Garbage. Well, first of all, one man's garbage is another man's treasure.
So I'm just going to throw that out there real quick.
Secondly, I knew I'd get you with this one.
You call it a can't opener.
What's up?
Oh, man.
You got bangers, dude.
I only come prepared with the best of the best.
Look at that.
That's pretty clever.
Thanks, man.
Well, Donna then dragged his lifeless body into the bathroom and placed him into the bathtub.
We know that Donna Scrivo had purchased the saw she used on her son from the departments, or Lowe's, on the 27th.
So it's likely that all of this happened on that date and carried on into the next two or three days that followed.
But neighbors did say that they had not seen Ramsey for some days prior to him being reported missing, which was on the 26th.
So someone could have killed Ramsey any time after the 22nd.
Witnesses said that they had seen a woman putting multiple weighted black trash bags into the SUV two days in a row on the 28th and the 29th, which would have been when Donna drove around discarding the seven bags that were found.
But once she had the saw, she began to cut her son into 12 pieces.
Intermixing with his body parts in the trash bags were burnt pieces of clothing, trash, and other random items.
And remember, the bathtub, his head, and his severed neck.
All showed signs of burning.
It's interesting because the fire wasn't intense enough to do any real damage to anything at all, and there is no reason given to the fire's overall purpose.
So we don't know the extent of the burns either.
All we know is that they were signs of fire.
Yeah, I mean, we've talked about this.
Was it torture?
Was it sadistic?
Was she attempting to destroy DNA, like fingerprints or something?
But... I mean, honestly, I still, I'm going to stand by what I'm thinking is, I think it was ease of whatever manual work that she had to accomplish.
But, I mean, yeah, crazy, right?
I think so, man.
And fingerprints around the neck, that could make sense, trying to get rid of fingerprints, but so many fingerprints.
I suppose, like destruction of evidence, you know?
But there are fingerprints everywhere, I mean.
Who knows?
It's possible.
I mean, I don't know if fingerprints could be lifted off of another person's skin.
But maybe she feared the cops would try, so she's like, I'm gonna burn my prints off.
But you also gotta think that if she had the presence of mind to do all that, maybe she wouldn't have thrown a Coke bottle or thrown these out with her trash, you know what I mean?
Where you could easily get her DNA off of other things.
It just doesn't make sense.
None of it makes sense.
Did she even try?
I don't know, man.
But after his body parts were bagged up, Donna started to clean the bloodstains with bleach, carpet clean, and other chemicals.
In their investigation, detectives found that Donna had purchased carpet cleaner one month prior to his son's murder.
This doesn't really mean shit when considered on its own because I think it's safe to assume that most American households have a variety of cleaning supplies most likely stored in a cupboard under the sink.
Exactly. It doesn't mean or point to anything nefarious.
Everyone's going to have or need, yeah, cleaning supplies.
So, you know, if they were trying to say, oh, well, she purchased the cleaning supplies like just a little bit ago.
Yeah. BS, because...
It's weak.
Pretty freaking...
Well, compared to all the other stuff they have anyways.
So after she decided that she was satisfied with her cleaning work, she then drove around to discard the dismembered corpse of her son in four different locations around the St. Clair area of Michigan over a period of two days, the 28th and 29th.
Black trash bags can be body parts, with then beginning to be found on the side of other roadways around 3 p.m. on January 30th.
Police put out alerts, and the media covered the story.
A picture of the suspect and her car were then broadcast over the news networks, and after receiving numerous tips about a middle-aged, heavy-set woman driving a grayish SUV in the area, police were able to track down Donna Scrivo at a gas station near the I-94 freeway on January 31,
2014. Damn, getting it out there quick.
Donna Scrivo's trial began in May of 2015, and while the prosecution could find no concrete motive for the murder of Ramsey Scrivo, they felt that they had enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Donna had murdered and dismembered her own son.
But Donna maintained her innocence, and she gave an alibi.
Can you guess what her alibi was?
Oh man, I can only imagine.
Someone else, maybe?
The whodunit?
Absolutely. Donna Scrivo would desperately maintain that an unknown masked man broke into the house while she was in the basement doing laundry.
Ramsay was upstairs in his room.
She said that the masked man had entered Ramsay's room and began to either tie him up or was in the process of killing him when she became concerned and went upstairs to check on Ramsay.
At that point, she said the masked man quickly subdued her and handcuffed her to the bed and stuffed a scarf into her mouth.
All right.
Yeah, you'd think she would have then gone on to report that.
You know, like, honestly, it's clear from what we've talked about so far that this isn't the case.
But you would also think that if that had happened to a person, she would have reported it.
Yeah, because she was out.
She went to the police station to report us on a mission.
She called the police station.
Exactly. She met up with numerous people.
We'll get into it.
Then she said the masked man led Ramsey into a bathroom, which I think was connected to his bedroom.
But Donna said that this masked man took Ramsey into the bathroom to kill him.
All the while, she was handcuffed to the bed.
Here's the kicker.
Donna said that it was at this point that the masked man forced Donna to go to various stores to buy items such as a saw and ice cream and whatever else he needed and wanted and then returned to the house.
She said that he stayed at the house while she went to various stores under the threat that if she did not comply with his demands, he would kill her other family members, specifically her other son Jason and her nephew and
niece. It was under this threat, she said, that the masked man also forced Donna to drive around.
The thing is, like...
None of the eyewitnesses ever mention anything about our second person.
No, he's never mentioned.
Ever. So the masked man allegedly stayed inside the house for five days, never removing his mask.
In that five days, the masked man forced Donna to run other errands as well.
And in the process of running those other errands, Donna had encountered and spoke with no less than 12 people.
But apparently, she was too afraid to tell any of them that a masked man had just killed her son, dismembered him, and is now forcing her to pick up ice cream and other things for him.
She also claimed that the masked man forced her to text and call people that she knew.
Why did this man force her to do that?
Well, because he apparently cared enough about her that he was helping her to keep up appearances, for lack of better words.
Right, right.
Like, don't worry.
Just act natural.
Got this.
Yeah, I'm going to help you out of this.
And keep in mind that Donna also spoke directly with the police during that time period.
If you recall, she went to the police department to report Ramsey missing on the 26th, and there is footage of her doing this, which is how they were able to, more or less, match the gloves that she was wearing to the gloves found with her son's remains.
But still, she made no mention to the police, no hint, nothing about this masked man killing her son.
And you think that if there was ever a time to speak up, that would have been the time.
Oh, for sure.
Absolutely. The dude's at her house, right?
Right. The cops just go there and arrest the man.
Obviously, that dude would be going to prison for the rest of his life for killing and dismembering a kid or an adult.
So, she shouldn't be worried about anything.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, of course.
The dude's in the house.
Just go to the house and arrest him.
Surround the house.
Get him.
Boom. He's gone.
So, anyway.
Donna said that after those harrowing five days that she was forced to spend with her captor and son's murderer, the man matter-of-factly told her that she would be blamed for the murder and that she should probably leave the country and that he proceeded to just walk away from the property,
never to be seen or heard from again.
And we should mention here that not a single other person in the neighborhood or surrounding area ever saw some random man walking around.
Exactly. I mean, there's so many holes in the story, it's kind of ridiculous.
We could do a whole side story on just the mind of this woman.
Right. And just trying to be convincing in this trial.
She wasn't just telling this to her lawyer, right?
No. She is testifying in court that this is what happened.
Yep. I mean, that's...
Quite the length, like, the imagination.
It's insane.
Yeah, sticking to her guns, dude.
Donna was entirely unable to give any details about this alleged masked man, other than her very generic description of a typical guy.
But we have no descriptors like tattoos, scars, color style of hair, color of eyes, or anything like that.
Not even what clothes he was wearing at the time.
She didn't even know what clothes he was wearing.
I remember, he just walked off somewhere into the neighborhood, escaping the attention of everyone.
And what I think she was doing is that she was deliberately trying to create just enough reasonable doubt in her story.
Yes, but I still feel strongly that the only reasonable doubt...
That she cultivated was with her own story.
Absolutely, dude.
She did a horrible job.
If she was trying to create enough reasonable doubt, she did a horrible, horrible job.
100%. But that was her story.
And she stuck to it.
And still, to this day, she sticks to that fucking story, man.
I mean, good for her.
Someone's so delusional, they can...
Carry on with what she did, first of all, and second of all, imagine that story like, hell yeah, she's gonna stick to it.
So, what about her defense team and their strategy?
Well, her defense relied heavily on the fact that none of Ramsay's DNA or blood was found on Donna.
Sure, but it's not that difficult to bathe and clean your entire body of blood after three to five days.
I mean, I'm not an expert, but I'm just saying.
Right. And they also tried to say that it would have been impossible for a woman of her stature, which her defense said she weighed in at about 110 pounds, to be able to carry her 235-pound son into the bathroom and then get him into the bathtub.
Yeah, no.
With enough adrenaline, you can do anything.
I mean, she just killed this kid.
Yeah. You could get a person to a bathtub.
If you were dead set on doing it, you're going to get that person in there.
Absolutely. So her trial would last two weeks, and Donna would even take the stand to give her side of the story.
She gave 90 minutes of testimony, which didn't do her any favors because she just repeats this ridiculous story of a masked man and gives evasive and often cold answers to the prosecution's brutal questions he put forth.
And man, the prosecutor took the time to put on a show, man.
It was a show indeed.
It was borderline unprofessional how he just goes off on her and basically yells at her while she's on the stand, full-on accusing her of killing her son.
And her defense just sits back, does absolutely nothing.
And the judge also just sits back and watches this vivacious prosecution's version of events, man.
It was pretty intense.
And Donna's up there on the stand just looking like a cornered crocodile.
No joke.
She literally looks like a crocodile.
That's just been backed up into a corner, and we all know what happens at that point.
It ain't pretty.
No, sir.
But in the end, the jury didn't buy any of it and convicted her of first-degree murder, as well as premeditation of the murder, disinterment, and mutilation of a body.
And removing a body without the permission of the medical examiner, which you need to make sure you do before you move your corpses around.
Absolutely, that's step number one.
Just call your local ME to inform them you'll be moving around a corpse of Ned, or whoever, from the basement to the backyard for an unofficial burial.
Otherwise, you could find yourself staring at a hefty ticket for not doing so, so PSA, public service announcement.
Exactly. And at the conclusion of the trial, Donna Scrivo would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Amanda Stampless, one of the two women who first found Ramsey's decapitated head, told the media that she was happy Donna Scrivo was finally put away.
She remarked, quote, I see a severed head every day of my life, and I would like to hopefully close the book, put it on a shelf, and be done with it.
End quote.
Damn. That's rough stuff.
That is rough.
Seriously. Today, Donna Scrivo is housed at the Huron Valley Women's Prison in Macomb County, Michigan.
Her biographical information on the DOC website says she has tattooed eyebrows, one eyelid tattoo, and one lip tattoo.
So she's getting tatted up there in prison.
Oh, yeah.
I'm sure she's famous on the yard.
I bet she is.
And get this.
Apparently, in Michigan...
The charge of disinterment and mutilation of a dead body carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Isn't that crazy?
Yeah, 10 years.
Just 10 years?
You go dig up a body and mutilate it?
It's like, you might get 10 years maximum.
Which is highly unlikely that you'd get that, because you'd plead out.
I mean, I guess, on the one hand, I mean, really, if we're going by impact to the community, yes, it would be...
Extremely disrespectful to the relatives of said body.
However, on the other hand, you aren't causing direct harm to a live person.
I'm not saying that that would make it any less disrespectful.
I'm just saying 10 years, I could see how a prosecution could frame that.
It just seems...
Just devil's advocate.
It just seems like a really fucked up thing to do that would carry a heftier turn.
Absolutely. Oh, absolutely.
I'm not disagreeing.
I'm just trying to go for, like, what could they possibly be thinking by that maximum?
And that's the only thing I could possibly think of.
Yeah, right.
Is that it's not a live, you know, being at the time.
This is weird.
Anyways. Well, ladies and gentlemen...
That will be the close of today's episode.
It's a pretty gnarly one, right?
Yeah, just the cold-blooded murder of her own son.
Ridiculous. Totally cold-blooded.
And he was mentally incapacitated.
It's a sad, sad story.
So, dear listeners, our fans, even our haters, please, if you have not done so already, click that subscribe button and follow us on Spotify, Apple Heart Radio, or Apple Spot.
What are they called, man?
I don't even know.
Follow us on Spotify and wherever else you listen to the Paranautica Podcast, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts.
I don't know.
Which other ones?
All of them.
All of them.
Yeah. Just subscribe and like us.
Give us five-star ratings.
Give us awesome reviews wherever you can.
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We love emails.
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That's P-A-R-A-N-A-U-G-H-T-I-C-A at gmail.com.
Come on, do it.
We love the emails.
They're so colorful.
Everyone has a different personality.
It's just great.
We love them.
In fact, here's one we received from Todd L. out of Jackson, Mississippi.
Shout out to Jackson, Mississippi.
Todd L. It reads, Quote, what's up guys?
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.
Great show.
I'm loving every minute of it.
You guys are clearly getting better with every episode.
Really enjoying it.
I wanted to write in and just tell you guys that I appreciate your podcast.
It brings me laughs and keeps my brain from running circles.
Anyway, good job on what you guys are doing and keep the episodes coming.
End quote.
Yeah! Thanks, man.
Thanks, Todd.
That's pretty cool, man.
Thanks, Todd.
It always shocks me.
I mean, in today's world.
Honestly, it shocks me when somebody takes the time to write an email because sometimes I hate writing emails, dude.
Yeah, I hate them.
And it's not much.
I mean, whether it's out of like, I mean, obviously it's genuine support, but it's like, is it boredom?
You know?
But whatever it is, thanks for writing in.
I appreciate your words.
That's badass.
I also appreciate mine.
I can't say I've ever written an email into a place, so thanks, Todd.
Yep, and don't worry, Todd.
We're going to keep the episodes coming.
Don't you worry.
We say it all the time, but we really do have the best audience in podcasting.
Seriously. We really do.
We really do, man.
Very beautiful and eclectic fan base.
We love you all.
You guys are awesome.
Indeed. Well, folks, remember, word of mouth is the best.
Way to spread the Paranautica podcast.
Therefore, we highly encourage you, our dedicated listeners, go out on the street, start convulsing, speaking in tongues.
I mean, I'm talking make a scene, right?
Get people looking back over their shoulder at your Emmy award-giving act.
And then when someone comes up to you and makes sure you're all right, just suddenly grab onto them like you've just received a message from above and let them know that it is imperative.
That they save the entire human race and future generations by turning to none other than the Paranautica podcast on a weekly basis.
I'm not talking just once or twice on a weekly basis.
Anywhere you listen to that podcast, that part is up to you.
Absolutely. Yeah.
And please like, share, subscribe, like we said.
And it's all to avoid the upcoming apocalypse, which should ensure that they soil their vintage undergarments.
Ooh. Don't want to do that, man.
Got to keep those undergarments nice and tip-top shape.
Now, we're going to have to read this Mad Lib, Scott.
All right, let's do it.
Are you ready for the Mad Lib?
Absolutely. All right, let's see.
It's a short one.
So it's called Runaway Bride Proposal.
All right.
Look, I guarantee there'll be beautiful times.
I guarantee that at some anvil, 350 or both of us is going to want to get out of this 20-sided die.
But I also guarantee that if I don't ask to be stiff, I'll be penetrating it for the rest of my phallus.
Because I know, in my scapula, you're the scintillating one for me.
Hey man, there you go.
That's ridiculous.
Runaway bride proposal.
Alright, well.
Didn't work.
That was something.
Yeah, that didn't work at all.
I'm terrible.
Did not work.
I need better words.
That's what you get.
Well, everyone.
Get out there in the streets.
Do your thing, but be safe.
We'll see you next week.
Absolutely. Have a good one.
Thank you.
To the dark white TV, my steam building radios by one second day
