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Christopher Porco
69 Plays3 months ago
A promising son is beloved and supported, even after he kills his father and tries to kill his mother in an ax murder. To what lengths will this psycopath go to get what he wants?
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Transcript
Introduction to Hearth, Home and Homicide
00:00:01
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Hello, listeners. I'm Bridget.
00:00:04
Caroline
And I'm Caroline.
00:00:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
You're listening to Hearth, Home and Homicide, a family production about family murders.
Focus on Ripple Effects of Family Murders
00:00:13
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Carolina and I narrate each story, and Brother Andy is our producer.
00:00:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
As Carolina and I talk about each family murder, we like to watch justice unfold for the killer, whatever that may look like. And we also know that in family murders, the ripple effect never ends. So we think about the victims, the family, the friends, everyone, the generational trauma that this killer has created for this family.
Case Overview: Christopher Porco
00:00:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So today, Caroline, we're going to be talking about Christopher Porco. We're going to be talking about his parents, his mother in particular. And and today's episode is about Christopher Porco, who snuck up on his loving parents while they were sound asleep.
00:01:01
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
in the wee hours of the morning in November 2004, killing his father and almost killing his mother with multiple ax blows to the head.
Porco Family Dynamics and Background
00:01:13
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
There are numerous oddities in this murder, which we will get to in an effort to begin to understand what is going on with his family. But we want to start with our victims, the parents of the killer, Christopher Porco,
00:01:27
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Actually, they both uniquely reacted to the explodes and Christopher's guilt. ah They both, I just, I admire them both very much and I'm sure our listeners will too, once they find out what kind of people they are and what happened and so forth. So here we go, Joan and Peter Porco, the parents. I've mentioned before that I get a lot of good information about people.
00:01:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
when I read their obituary and I found Peter Porco's obituary in the Times Union newspaper in Albany, New York. Peter Porco was the graduate of Albany Law School and University of Albany. Mr. Porco had a distinguished career. He first served as an assistant public defender for Albany County. He went on to private practice. He had it he was in part of an esteemed law group.
00:02:25
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He was especially proud of the work that he did with children and what they called the third department that focuses on children in the court situation. Later in his career, he served as law clerk to the late justice William McDermott. And when he was killed, he was working for ah the honorable Anthony Cardona presiding justice of the appellate division of the superior court of the state of New York.
00:02:53
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He was active in his community for many years. He was very beloved. He was part of the Democratic Party and worked hard for his candidates. In addition, he was very active in his church, St. Francis to Sales in Londonville, New York, where he served as a Eucharist minister. And that has to do with the seasons of the church and getting the church ready each and every week for ah the worship of that um of that season of that week and so forth.
00:03:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He was a great dad. He went to soccer events. He was a cheerleader for his kids and the teams. He was a coach. And his children were with his wife, Joan, two sons, Jonathan and Christopher. And he was survived by his family, his mother, his sister brother, and of course, the two sons and the wife.
00:03:48
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He was 52 when he was murdered by his son, Christopher. Now that wasn't in the obituary. They said he died suddenly. But today we're going to talk about a family killer, Christopher Porco. So what about his wife Joan? Well, she was 54 when her husband was murdered. She was bludgeoned and left for dad. She's a loving mother, loving wife, community.
00:04:16
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
member, volunteer, active in the church. She also was a speech therapist for kids. but The were a close-knit family. First born was Jonathan. Two years later, Christopher. But it was really kind of weird, unusual, because when they were growing up, Christopher had the habit of bullying his brothers, knocking structures such as Legos and blocks down.
00:04:46
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
You know, he loved picking on his brother, bullying his brother. Usually it's the other way around where the older one is jealous and is going to beat up on the younger one. But now Christopher demanded attention and his brother Jonathan, two years older than him, was a relatively quiet child who grew into a very private person and a dedicated military leader.
00:05:14
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Both children were loved and recognized for their individual strengths, and they both received a loving home supporting care from Peter and Joan. But in the end, it wasn't enough for Christopher Porco.
Christopher's Troubling Behavior
00:05:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Peter and Joan were very loving toward him, even though he stole from them, he frightened them, and eventually took an ax to their heads.
00:05:41
Caroline
Now, that last bit doesn't normally happen, but the other stuff I think is something parents have encountered. I wouldn't call it abnormal. I agree with you. There's a blip in that he's the younger and he's the dominator because it is usually the other way around.
00:05:56
Caroline
And it could be that it wasn't even after it could be that he wanted to dominate and exploit his brother.
00:05:57
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
back
00:06:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
do dominate and also, because I know the whole story, I'm gonna say manipulate.
00:06:04
Caroline
and and
00:06:10
Caroline
Yes. Yeah. Mm hmm.
00:06:12
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
and And at the same time, manipulate the parents.
00:06:14
Caroline
Yeah.
00:06:16
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So the lead up to the murder goes it like this, Caroline, two years before the murder, Chris graduated from Bethlehem High School and moved to Rochester, New York, having been accepted to the University of Rochester.
00:06:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So his brother went into the military, And he was nowhere in sight. He was in another state when all of this happened.
00:06:41
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But anyway, Chris was at the University of Rochester and he enrolled in a bachelor's program for Biomedical Engineering and Economics. Sorry listeners that my dogs are barking and they don't like Christopher Porco and neither do I.
00:06:58
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So Chris was smart, but was he studious? I'm going to say no.
00:07:03
Caroline
Yeah.
00:07:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Those who befriended Chris thought that he was a great guy, yet no one really knew him because he was a very deceptive guy.
00:07:12
Caroline
Yeah.
00:07:13
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Chris invented a phony life while he was at school, telling students that he was rich and that his grandmother was a wealthy landowner who owned much of the land in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and that they had a home in Aruba.
00:07:31
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
This is what a fraternity brother said on the witness stand at the trial against Christopher Popo for killing his parents. So to keep up appearances, Chris spent lavishly on things he could not afford. To find his imaginary life, to fund his imaginary lifestyle, Chris resorted to theft and he wasn't beneath stealing from anybody and everybody. But why not just start with his parents?
00:08:01
Caroline
this I think this is a theme that we've seen before because I know we had a son who murdered his parents and he stole his dad's life story about becoming a pilot and and all these things.
00:08:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
of the Yule family.
00:08:16
Caroline
and the
00:08:17
Caroline
the ewels. Yes, that was a big thing there. But then also we see it with the Menendez brothers, which of course you and I haven't covered, but has resurrected an interest in pop culture. They did this same thing, where they were, it's almost like a rebellion against the privileged lifestyle you clearly are living.
00:08:38
Caroline
But for them, they would steal too from their rich neighbors. I mean, their parents. So for wealthy parents, that's this is an added layer that is probably really uncomfortable to deal with. But it needs to be dealt with.
00:08:53
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Well put. And yeah, I mean, Christopher Porco has a lot of company in terms of psychopaths and narcissistic, selfish, murderous people.
00:09:03
Caroline
Yeah.
00:09:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
A robbery that took place at the Porco home in November 2002 carried out by Chris. ah What did he do? He stole two laptop computers.
00:09:16
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And it was a staged burglary. So it looked like, you know, other things were going to be stolen too, you know, drawers pulled out and all that kind of thing. But really it was just two laptop computers.
00:09:31
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And they were sold later, ah a couple of weeks later on eBay to a man in California, according to court records. The sale was eventually traced back to Chris, who was using his brother's name on the you on the eBay account. Six months later, Chris staged another burglary at a veterinary hospital where he worked. He stole a digital camera, a camcorder, pocket computers, a cell phone, all stolen by him and sold on eBay by Chris. And just one month later in July, 2003, Chris's third robbery resulted in the theft of his father's laptop.
00:10:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
The Times Union reported that police found an open window and a torn screen on the first floor. Now I mention that because it's gonna come into play later. The same day as the theft, Chris put the laptop up for sale on eBay, again under his brother's name. Chris's parents suspected that Chris, for all of this, that they suspected him for all of it, but they they never reported their son to police.
00:10:46
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
By December 2003, his grades were so bad that during the first semester of his sophomore year, he was suspended for a year from the university. But did he tell his parents? No, he did not tell his parents the truth about his poor performance.
00:11:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But he told them instead that he had been mistakenly suspended because of a professor who allegedly lost his final exam. And this is all came out in the trial. Moreover, he allegedly told them that the school would reimburse him for the last semester, even though that was far from the truth.
00:11:31
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Accepting his story and hoping for the best, his parents allowed him to temporarily move back home before going back to Rochester. So that is a mouthful and I just want to take a moment to take it all in.
00:11:46
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
These parents are hoping for the best.
00:11:50
Caroline
Yeah, and I just want to say like, absent the, you know, psychopathic choices and the, ah you know, the real criminality aspects here,
00:12:02
Caroline
None of this is really that abnormal. I actually think a lot of kids struggle when they go to college and they they do so experiment with the parameters of their own value system or definitely the value system that they were raised in. I don't think anything is abnormal in that way.
00:12:18
Caroline
and i don't think it's abnormal for parents to just desperately try to deal with this behind closed doors and not it i mean i don't know that i could call the cops on my own kid. But you can front the situations and you figure out how to deal with them because they do have to be dealt with i mean this is obviously.
00:12:36
Caroline
You have to, we
Academic Struggles and Deception
00:12:38
Caroline
discussed this earlier, this nip it in the bud concept, you know, you really need to strike right up front so that it doesn't go down this really criminal path, this really bad path, this coping strategy path, you know?
00:12:53
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Absolutely. And you're right. you You know, we're taught that when you turn 18, you're no longer your family's responsibility and you're on your own. Bye-bye. Have a good life.
00:13:04
Caroline
All right.
00:13:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And then, you know, if you like me, uh, bought that idea, hook, line and sinker, I had it all planned out. You know, Ben is going to graduate here. Okay. I mean, eight, okay.
00:13:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He'll be 18 on this day.
00:13:17
Caroline
Yeah.
00:13:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he's going to be 18 on this day. Caroline's going to be 18 on the other day. This is the day that we're going to be totally just a couple, Ted.
00:13:23
Caroline
Yeah.
00:13:24
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
What do you want to do? And so, I mean, but what really happened, and I think what happens to most people is you think, you know, you're going to be driving along the smooth sailing for the most part of parenthood.
00:13:28
Caroline
ah really
00:13:38
Caroline
yeah
00:13:39
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
They don't tell you in parent classes that there's gonna be a three to five year period of time after that, it's gonna be a bumpy ride over a very wide railroad track.
00:13:52
Caroline
Yeah.
00:13:52
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And you your child is gonna come back and live with you and move out and live with you and move out. And so I do think you are absolutely right.
00:14:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
this Ordinarily, this would be you know normal.
00:14:03
Caroline
Yeah.
00:14:08
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
i don't you know They're not doing anything about this criminality.
00:14:09
Caroline
Yeah.
00:14:11
Caroline
That's the... us yeah
00:14:14
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And even in even with the you know letting him come into their home and live it there again, even after he's been thieving from them, I don't see that as abnormal.
00:14:27
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I do think that they should have laid, this would have been an opportunity to lay down some rules, like you're gonna get into counseling because we don't like that you steal.
00:14:33
Caroline
Right.
00:14:36
Caroline
Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
00:14:39
Caroline
Yeah. And you're lying. And so there's.
00:14:40
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And you know they don't know he's lying to his friends.
00:14:43
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah, yeah. Anyway, Chris moved in with his parents. He immediately enrolled in community college for spring quarter 2004, but he failed to complete his coursework there, Caroline, and instead of working hard at his studies to earn his way back to the University of Rochester, he chose a much more deviant route to gain re-acceptance to the college. Jeff Boyer stated, Jeff was a someone who testified at his trial,
00:14:43
Caroline
Right.
00:15:14
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
stated that Chris allegedly forged his community college unofficial transcripts from failing grades to As and Bs before sending them off with the readmission application to the University of Rochester.
00:15:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Now, unfortunately, somebody in the office, maybe it was Chris in disguise, maybe it was one of Chris's friends, or maybe it was just and somebody made an error, but Chris's unofficial transcripts from the
00:15:38
Caroline
Yeah.
00:15:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
community college were accepted in place of his official transcripts, and in September of 2004, he was readmitted to the university. So the month before Chris returned to the university, he had managed to talk his father into co-signing on a loan for $2,000, which he claimed was for school expenses, such as books.
00:16:10
Caroline
which is unfortunately a believable amount.
00:16:10
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
unbe
00:16:13
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
i about twice that now.
00:16:15
Caroline
Yeah, I know.
00:16:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I hate to tell you because I know one of your kids is, you know, heading that way. But in it, unbeknownst to Chris's parents, he used his father's financial information that he was now had access to because he had his father cosign.
00:16:30
Caroline
mr Yeah, that signature.
00:16:33
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And when you cosign, you have to fill out your own loan application.
00:16:37
Caroline
Yeah.
00:16:37
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And of course, the father gave that to Chris to take to the bank. but Chris had his own plans and he um he modified that and got himself a $31,000 loan instead of the $2,000 loan that the father had agreed to.
00:16:55
Caroline
Ruh-roh.
00:16:57
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Peter discovered this of course, soon as the bank statement came in and he contacted the university, Peter did. And that's when he learned that the truth of the matter about the free quarter of school, that was a lie.
00:17:12
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
that What are you talking about? We never give away ah a free quarter.
00:17:16
Caroline
I was gonna say, I think that we all knew that was a lie right away. Colleges don't do that.
00:17:19
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes.
00:17:20
Caroline
They just say, sorry, we've made an error.
00:17:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes.
00:17:22
Caroline
Welcome back next quarter. Don't forget to pay your tuition. That's the kind of thing they say.
00:17:26
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah. But Chris Porco, the one that I am beginning to understand in learning watching this murder unfold is that He likes to tell the most outlandish lies in order to see how good he is at manipulating other people.
00:17:43
Caroline
Yeah.
00:17:48
Caroline
i think you're right
00:17:48
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
This is his favorite thing to do, is manipulate other people.
00:17:51
Caroline
i think you're right yeah
00:17:55
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But wait, there's more. Peter also learned that Chris had not only borrowed $31,000 to pay for tuition without his knowledge,
00:18:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
but that Chris also forged Peter's name on a car loan to buy a $16,450 yellow Jeep Wrangler, I mean, bright, bright yellow.
00:18:15
Caroline
I think you're right. I think you're right.
00:18:20
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
like Remember those neon poster boards that you could buy and then you could get neon markers to mark on them and that way at your science for your project, you would really stand out?
00:18:28
Caroline
Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:18:33
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah, that's how yellow this Jeep Wrangler is.
00:18:37
Caroline
Yeah. I don't know why people purchase cars like that, but I mean, I guess I do.
00:18:37
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
so
00:18:41
Caroline
Like if you were not a murderer and you wanted to be conspicuous everywhere you went and to be the focus of all the sort of a commentary or attention yellow cars or where it's at, you know,
00:18:57
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Well, yeah, and you know some people are very optimistic and happy, and this they see that yellow and they resonate with it.
00:19:02
Caroline
Mm hmm.
00:19:05
Caroline
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I had a yellow car, so it's but mine was a cute yellow bug and I didn't kill her, you know, still so different.
00:19:08
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes, you did.
00:19:12
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
True, true. But anyway, and we're not saying that there's anything inherently wrong with the yellow G-Bringer. were saying Chris bought it with another lie to the bank to his father and had his father cosign his Chris cosign for his father basically out of 16,450 dollars. To make matters worse Chris was behind on his payments which negatively influenced his parents credit report.
00:19:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
At wit's end, Peter wrote to Chris on November 5th, threatening to file a forgery affidavit against him if he didn't stop fiddling with his finances.
00:20:00
Caroline
Yeah, oh.
00:20:01
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
The letter was followed by several more written by his mother in which she was questioning Chris's mental health and ah and begged him to be honest just Just, I mean, you know can you imagine how beside herself she must have been?
00:20:17
Caroline
Well, that's it. I mean, these poor parents, I think anybody can relate to the turmoil that is you wanting to address the issues your children are facing without understanding how to really do that. And without, you know, I don't know, it's just hard. Parents know what I'm saying.
00:20:36
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Parents do know what you're saying Caroline. Both parents obviously sent follow-up emails to him about all of this, but they finally ended with some emails that said, look, we're not real happy with what you're doing.
00:20:53
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
We were disappointed in some of your behavior, but we love you very much and we want to help you.
00:20:53
Caroline
Right.
00:21:01
Caroline
Yeah.
00:21:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And if it was me, I'd say, and therefore get in my car because we're going down to the mental health clinic and get you diagnosed.
00:21:10
Caroline
Yes, I think that's a piece that people don't get training on if I can be really honest for a minute and get out of soapbox because we all know what the right things to say are. We even know what the right things to do are.
00:21:22
Caroline
But it's the connecting of those two in a force accountability situation that it has the impact to move the needle if this is what we're trying to do.
00:21:28
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
right
00:21:33
Caroline
in either direction, right?
00:21:33
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
right
00:21:34
Caroline
Because they're either going to flee and go find their own rock bottom, which is going to suck for you, but you got to deal with that. Like then now you know you got to go separately for your own resources versus like you said, look, this is scaring the bejesus out of me.
00:21:48
Caroline
So I have done XYZ for you and you are coming with me joined up my hip to do it for you until you are on your own doing it. And I know you're safe there. Yeah, I think there's some some more, I don't know, talking about that, that we can all do as a society that would help because it's getting between the two.
00:21:58
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Right. Yeah.
00:22:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
yeah
00:22:08
Caroline
I know what to do and I know what to
00:22:12
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes. And again, you know, we're talking about Christopher Porco and our dogs are barking. But anyway, I apologize for that. Sort of.
00:22:22
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I mean, you know, I live with it. So I'm OK with it. But I'm sorry, listeners. Sorry. It's a family podcast.
00:22:29
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
What can I say? They're part of the family. So let's talk about the murder and how Christopher was caught, which is obviously my favorite part. So I went into the court records to reconstruct Christopher Porco's murder of his father and attempted murder of his mother.
00:22:29
Caroline
in it.
00:22:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And
Night of the Attack
00:22:48
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
here are the inculpatory evidence features that really stood out to me. So there may have been a hundred different things. I'm probably going to give you the top 10 insurmountable evidence against Christopher Porco that he is the one who murdered them or tried to murder the mother and murdered the father.
00:22:56
Caroline
There you have it.
00:23:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Christopher Porco left his dorm at the University of Rochester at approximately 10.30 p.m. on November 14th, 2004. So it's November. He's in his, um you know, yellow Jeep. He drove that very, very, very unusually bright yellow Jeep some 232 miles from Rochester, arriving at his parents' home a little after 2 a.m. on November 15th.
00:23:36
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
The prosecution was able to provide videos of surveillance footage from the campus parking lot and from the nearby off-campus medical center during the trial that showed Chris's Jeep leaving campus and heading east, supposedly toward the highway. And about the same time that he drove away from campus, his fraternity dorm mates gathered in the dormitory lounge to watch a movie together. His dorm mates left the lounge for bed around 3.30 AM the next morning. So therefore at his trial, they all came forward one at a time. No, he was not in his room. No, he was not with us down in the in the movie room where we were the lounge. He was nowhere to be seen.
00:24:27
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So he had, he, Christopher told police that he was watching the movie. And then when all those people said, no, he wasn't, he said, well, I must have been in my room.
00:24:39
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And then all those people said, no, he wasn't because we went to get him and we're watching the movie where we would have seen him if he came in the door.
00:24:42
Caroline
yeah
00:24:47
Caroline
Well, and we looked through the parking lot and no bright yellow ray of sunshine, so the Jeep was gone.
00:24:52
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Right. it Yeah.
00:24:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
The prosecution told the jury during the trial that around 1045 a New York State Thruway toll collector remembered a young white man in his mid 20s with a baseball cap driving a bright yellow Jeep Wrangler with very large tires driving up to his toll booth at exit 46 in Rochester.
00:25:20
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And you know, it doesn't surprise me that Christopher Porco needs to have tall tires because he wants to be head and shoulders above everybody else.
00:25:27
Caroline
Yeah,
00:25:31
Caroline
yeah that's true.
00:25:33
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
While on the stand, another witness said that he believed he added a toll ticket to the man in the bright yellow Jeep and only remembered the vehicle because he thought it would be a nice car for his son to have.
00:25:46
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And then in later testimony, a DNA expert claimed that there was a 99.6% chance that the DNA extracted from the ticket matched that of Christopher Porco.
00:26:01
Caroline
oh i you know I really appreciate DNA and like the CCTV or whatever we're calling the cameras we have everywhere.
00:26:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yep.
00:26:09
Caroline
and the The zero expectation of privacy when you're out in the world is something I as a non-murdering, non-lying individual really appreciate.
00:26:18
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I appreciate it too. Um, that's why I always, you know, try to have clothes on when I'm out in public. So another, yeah, no more streaking.
00:26:27
Caroline
but just doing our part
00:26:31
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
We are going to know who you are. Another New York state throughway toll collector. Uh, Karen Russell testified at trial that she saw a yellow Jeep speeding toward her toll booth.
00:26:45
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
at Exit 24 in Albany at around 1.51 a.m. on November 15th. She testified that she remembered a young white man behind the wheel of the car.
00:26:55
Caroline
We're just doing our part.
00:26:55
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
The toll booth at Exit 24 is less than 10 miles distance from the port coast home ah just outside Albany on Broccoli Drive. Evidently, Peter, after he was bludgeoned by an ax by Christopher,
00:27:16
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He got out of bed after the attack when his alarm went off. He went to the bathroom, unaware that he was dripping in blood. He looked in the mirror and his bloody head didn't register when he tried to brush his teeth. He went downstairs and started his day as usual, even though he was dripping blood, gushing blood everywhere.
00:27:42
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He went downstairs and started his day as per usual. He emptied the dishwasher, made his lunch, made his way out front to get the paper and then died in the home's staircase landing.
00:27:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Apparently the um entire top part of his skull was whacked off along with the part of the brain that operates judgment.
00:28:07
Caroline
Jeez.
00:28:08
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
The part of his brain that was not destroyed was part What's the part that stores routines?
00:28:14
Caroline
Oh, so eerie. It's just an eerie part of the story to me because, but I like the way that you framed it because this truly it just sends chills down my spine because I mean, it's just this, that eerie space between life and death. It's just, this I just get weird about it, but um You had framed it really well when you talked about Peter as a person.
00:28:42
Caroline
I mean, look at his history, just dedicated to people. And so those routines, I mean, they were, ah I was just ingrained in him to be every day for the service of others.
00:28:54
Caroline
And I do these things.
00:28:54
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I think, yeah, you're right. When you read his obituary, the words showing up, being there, being there, ah those were so important to him and his life did not want to extinguish.
00:29:01
Caroline
Yeah, yep.
00:29:05
Caroline
Yeah.
00:29:16
Caroline
Yeah, it's gonna keep going.
00:29:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he went as far as he could and then some.
00:29:21
Caroline
Yeah.
00:29:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And I think that pretty much sums up Peter Porco that he was there for his sons.
00:29:28
Caroline
Yeah.
00:29:28
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He was there for his wife. He was there for his community. He was there for his employer. I could go on and on. This is a man who showed up every single day and his son would not know what I am talking about.
00:29:38
Caroline
Yeah.
00:29:44
Caroline
Yeah.
00:29:46
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
When Peter did not arrive at the courthouse where he worked for the appellate court chief justice, his coworkers knew that something was wrong immediately. So they went to the house and immediately found Peter's body on the landing and Jones' hacked and bloodied body still in the bed, but they called 911 because she was still alive.
Discovery of the Crime Scene
00:30:08
Caroline
So crazy, another crazy and just, oh, the whole, yeah, I'm glad we don't have a ton of details on their actual attack other than the after, because it sounds crazy.
00:30:20
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Well, you know, Christopher Porco took an ax to his dad and his mother and he knocked them so bad that they all both lost part of their brains and and so forth and so on.
00:30:34
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And um the father kept on living for a while and the mother is still alive today.
00:30:39
Caroline
Yeah.
00:30:42
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And I don't know what else to say about an ax murder, except, you know, It takes a special kind of person in a dark, horrible way to be able to do that.
00:30:54
Caroline
Yeah. Yep. I agree.
00:30:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And Christopher Borco, he left the family's axe. It was a full-size fireman's axe because of some civil duties that I think the parents had in their community.
00:31:08
Caroline
Yeah.
00:31:09
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So they had this axe, and ah everybody knew it was in the basement in the family. Everybody in knew it was in the basement. Anyway, the the mother Joan was still alive.
00:31:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She was bludgeoned very badly. Her skull and her brain were showing and I had been knocked out.
00:31:30
Caroline
Mm.
00:31:31
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
she was They knew what happened because the ax was still on the bed, the bloody ax.
00:31:34
Caroline
Yeah.
00:31:35
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She was rushed into surgery, but before she went into surgery, here's what she did. Although her face was horribly hacked and she was alive,
00:31:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Police asked her if Christopher tried to kill her and Peter, and she nodded yes. She nodded herself her head yes two times. And you know the police actually asked her, did someone in your family do this?
00:32:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And her head bobbed up and down.
00:32:06
Caroline
Yeah.
00:32:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Was it Jonathan? And her head went left to right.
00:32:11
Caroline
Oh, see, now that's a very poignant thing to me, because I believe her utterance, her initial utterance, but that's an important thing.
00:32:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
When they asked her, was it Christopher? She nodded her head yes. The jury decided not to count her information that Chris had hacked her and Peter. After she recovered from surgery, she had no memory of any such um just you know head nodding and all of that.
00:32:38
Caroline
Yeah.
00:32:39
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She told police and the judge that there was no way that Christopher hacked them. And she still stands by Christopher to this day.
00:32:48
Caroline
I believe she believes that.
00:32:48
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
a
00:32:49
Caroline
ah I mean, that's the way the brain works, you know?
00:32:53
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes, she's lost her husband. She's lost most of her face.
00:33:00
Caroline
Yeah.
00:33:01
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
She's lost an eye. She's lost the capacity to live the life that she had. So she lost her life.
00:33:08
Caroline
Yeah.
00:33:10
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Is her brain capable of facing the fact that her son is the one who did all this to her?
00:33:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I think you're right. And also, if you look at how she handled all of the missteps that Christopher made as a young adult in stealing from the parents, breaking into the house um and stealing from the parents, ah she sort of hoped for the best in that scenario.
00:33:21
Caroline
Right.
00:33:34
Caroline
Yeah.
00:33:46
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
and you know couldn't ah think that there was anything really wrong with Christopher. So she's still you know doing that. But at Christopher, you know he had he was one of four people, Peter, Joan, Jonathan the brother, and he all knew the code to the alarm system in the house.
00:34:07
Caroline
Yeah.
00:34:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he used that alarm system to murder them with an ax and not trigger the alarm. But then he bashed the keyboard the keypad so he would leave no evidence of having used that secret code.
00:34:23
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He did not realize that the storage memory of the system was stored remotely.
00:34:29
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
This produced evidence that it was Christopher who was there and used the secret code.
00:34:30
Caroline
Yeah.
00:34:36
Caroline
dan Yeah, not a tech guy should have done more of your course work.
00:34:41
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Okay, so so far, let's count it up, Caroline. He's missed the digital cameras everywhere.
00:34:47
Caroline
Yeah, guys living in 1990.
00:34:48
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He's mitched he's met he's missed the oh the flaming obvious Jeep color.
00:34:57
Caroline
Yeah, the yellow sphere flying down the roadway.
00:35:02
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And the tall tires.
00:35:05
Caroline
I mean.
00:35:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
ah uniqueness of his vehicle. He's missed that. He's missed the fact that DNA, when you touch something, they've got you now.
00:35:13
Caroline
yeah Yep. Yep.
00:35:20
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he missed the fact that the alarm system stores everything elsewhere.
00:35:29
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He didn't know about that.
00:35:29
Caroline
It's like a main company.
00:35:30
Caroline
They probably pay a company so the company in California has your information, not the stupid keypad on your wall.
00:35:38
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Here comes another one that he missed. Christopher had broken the glass in the same door when he went to killer's parents. He broke the same glass in the same door he used once before to break into his parents' home and then make it look like the entryway of the killer. So he's trying to emulate what he has done before. However, what he didn't know is that his father had bolted the door shut.
00:36:11
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
There's no way any intruder would have been able to use that door.
00:36:15
Caroline
Uh-oh.
Conviction and Reflection
00:36:18
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So Christopher Porco was found guilty of the first degree murder and first degree attempted murder of his mom. He makes TV appearances behind bars. He writes letters proclaiming his innocence.
00:36:34
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He hosts his devoted mother on a regular basis and he has filed many, many appeals. But he's still in prison and he will not be considered for parole until 2052.
00:36:54
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Now, Caroline, in my opinion, Christopher Porco and Jonathan Porco, were treasured by their parents. Peter made his life and living in the law. Did he want to face the truth that one of his children was possibly a psychopath? Joan made her living helping others as a speech therapist and she did a lot of volunteering. She was and is a patient soul.
00:37:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Could she ever fathom that one of her children would try to kill her with such violence and gore? These parents probably saw many signs with Christopher that he needed help and that he possibly had a dark side. They maybe took the boys will be boys approach when Christopher bullied his reserved brother.
00:38:00
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I mean, from the time that this boy came onto the scene of these loving people, they had they just didn't have the capacity to be as terrified as they needed to be.
00:38:00
Caroline
Yeah.
00:38:09
Caroline
Yeah.
00:38:17
Caroline
Yeah, like I think sometimes overreaction is a part of the job of the parents. You better believe I'm going to overreact. So imagine next time you behave this way how I'm going to approach it because this is not acceptable. Like that's part of the reason you do that is to really exemplify for them how unacceptable that behavior will be, not just in my home,
00:38:39
Caroline
put in the world at large. like but At least that's like kind of some of the things that I think about when I'm like, no, this can't go on. Because there's so much panic involved in parenting too.
00:38:50
Caroline
You're kind of panicked on the inside about, what does this mean? Oh my God, it's my child XYZ. How do I prevent? How do I reverse?
00:39:00
Caroline
how do i You know what I mean? it's There's just so many.
00:39:03
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Oh, yeah.
00:39:05
Caroline
things that you're terrified about and then other things are actually happening, you know what I mean? so
00:39:11
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes, and I do know what you mean. And, you know, I'm extrapolating. I don't have any facts, but just I did raise children and I know of other people who have children. And I I read ah a lot about ah family murders and family dysfunction and all of these things that ah interest me.
00:39:32
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And what I find, and what I'm leaning on here, is that Christopher Porco probably started lying very, very early. So I'm imagining that he crushed and destroyed his brother's Lego set construction and then told his parents, I have no idea who did that.
00:39:58
Caroline
Right.
00:39:59
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And in fact, Jonathan is lying to you. I think you need to, you know, he's a liar. I hope you see that.
00:40:06
Caroline
cry
00:40:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So he's ah he's like, a ga i'm I'm putting on to him now facts that I do not have, but I suspect
00:40:12
Caroline
Right. But yeah, yeah.
00:40:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I can, I can, I can connect the dots and I can say, okay, from the very beginning, we know that he got caught bullying his brother and doing things to his brother's creations and hurting his brother, at least emotionally.
00:40:33
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But my guess, he was also a gas lighter and he was gas lighting and had these people totally just not believing their eyes.
00:40:36
Caroline
so
00:40:39
Caroline
Yeah, yeah yeah.
00:40:45
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
not trusting their instincts.
00:40:47
Caroline
Yeah, or like with the college thing, making up this, oh, someone falsely, you know, they misgraded me. So the, you know, they're just gonna fail me and give me a free year.
00:40:57
Caroline
Like, that's not reality on any planet that we know of. So why do we accept that, right?
00:41:02
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Right.
00:41:05
Caroline
It's the dynamics of of what we're in.
00:41:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
It's a mystery to me, really, but i all I can say is that these parents were very busy trying to raise these children and also be in the community and also help other people through their careers.
00:41:25
Caroline
Yeah.
00:41:26
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And I don't think they missed anything.
00:41:28
Caroline
No, yeah.
00:41:29
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I didn't i don't i think it was so far from their reality, so far from anything they had read.
00:41:33
Caroline
Right.
00:41:35
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Me, I'm reading that kind of stuff every day.
00:41:37
Caroline
Right.
00:41:38
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
But you know these people are not, yeah, I think the father
00:41:39
Caroline
They just hadn't expected that. Yeah, you're right.
00:41:45
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Peter had the best inkling that his son was a criminal and getting worse. It came out in trial that he told one friend that he feared his son was a sociopath. So I think he knew.
00:42:01
Caroline
Oh yeah. And that could have been, there could have been dynamics between the parents too, where the mom's like, just give it time. And he's like, nah, I see these people all day, every day in court. No, this needs to be dealt with.
00:42:13
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes. Now, Christopher has prison visits on a regular basis from his adoring mother whose face is utterly and brutally disfigured. Does he feel bad for destroying her face as well as her life?
00:42:37
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
My answer is no. I think, it's just my opinion, I believe he likes how well he is able to continue to manipulate this woman.
00:42:55
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
he This is his trophy. This is what he's taking from his Andy work so that he can remember it over and over and over again.
00:43:01
Caroline
Yeah.
00:43:08
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I think he just loves to make statements about his superiority. The brighter than bright car.
00:43:17
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
The bigger, the bigger the crime, the better.
00:43:17
Caroline
Yeah.
00:43:21
Caroline
yeah
00:43:21
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Oh, my father has given me $2,000. I'm gonna turn that into $31,000.
00:43:28
Caroline
Yeah. Or like my grandma owns all this property and and a home in Aruba.
00:43:29
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Oh, my father.
00:43:33
Caroline
So I'm so rich. you know
00:43:34
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Oh, yes. So this is a man who's a compulsive liar, our psychopathic, what is it called if you're constant liar it's not um a constant liar? It's a
00:43:49
Caroline
ah
00:43:49
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
c clinton
00:43:51
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
It's a compulsive liar, ah but there's even a, there's a psychological disorder where you are unable to tell the truth.
00:43:51
Caroline
Compulsive.
00:43:52
Caroline
You're a compulsive liar. one
00:44:03
Caroline
lying.
00:44:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes.
00:44:05
Caroline
It's like the um kleptomania, which is the stealing you have to steal. It's like one of those. like
00:44:10
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yes, yeah. it's ah it's a it's a I'm not going to remember the words. I'm just going to say a bad, bad, bad person who lies all the time would rather lie than tell the truth.
00:44:24
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And maybe that's just where they get their nourishment. That's where they get their pleasure. um I think that that's him. he He's been doing this his whole life.
00:44:37
Caroline
Mmhmm.
00:44:37
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And his parents couldn't see it because that is so foreign to them.
00:44:42
Caroline
Yeah.
00:44:44
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he thinks he's smarter than everybody else. He's so smart, he doesn't have to actually show up for class in school.
00:44:53
Caroline
Right.
00:44:54
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He's so smart that when he's thrown out, he can figure out a way to get back in and also steal money from his father.
00:44:59
Caroline
Yeah.
00:45:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
to pay his tuition while his father is thinking that it's free.
00:45:08
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he's laughing to himself. My father's an idiot.
00:45:09
Caroline
Right.
00:45:12
Caroline
right
00:45:12
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
My mother's ah my mom's a dope.
00:45:15
Caroline
Right.
00:45:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
No, they're not. You are the one with the problem.
00:45:19
Caroline
Exactly.
00:45:20
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He's a psychopath.
00:45:21
Caroline
Yes.
00:45:22
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So all he needs now that he's in prison, he's thinking, all I need is just persist in my appealing, my conviction, get a chance for a new trial, because I know that we can do a better job of picking a more malleable jury.
00:45:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I know how to do that now. I've been studying the law.
00:45:47
Caroline
Hmm.
00:45:50
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I'm practically a lawyer.
00:45:50
Caroline
I'm sure he has.
00:45:52
Caroline
Yeah.
00:45:52
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I mean, for some reason, he was not able to manipulate that first jury, and he so much wants a redo.
00:46:03
Caroline
Yeah.
00:46:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I think that's what's going on. And I think that in prison, it's a wonderful opportunity to manipulate weaker people.
00:46:11
Caroline
Oh my gosh, that's all that structure is, is a negotiation of transactional exchanges of, you know, relationship.
00:46:15
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Right.
00:46:20
Caroline
Like, and I mean, that's really like all it boils down to because it's, I mean, you're really just surviving, I imagine, but I hope that he does not get a chance to try to, you know, overturn it and get a new trial because what a nightmare for everyone to have to try and relive.
00:46:37
Caroline
i we I didn't hear much about Jonathan, so I hope he's living a grand life of anonymity and doing whatever it is that brings him joy.
00:46:45
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah, I couldn't find anything on him other than he was a military officer. And he did testify at trial.
00:46:53
Caroline
Okay.
00:46:54
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And at trial, his testimony included, um did your parents have life insurance and did the both you and and Christopher know about it?
00:47:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he said yes.
00:47:08
Caroline
Oh, okay.
00:47:08
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
The parents sat down and talked to them at a dinner table one day about their will and about where the papers would be and so forth.
00:47:14
Caroline
Yeah.
00:47:18
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So they knew that they had life insurance. in your Did you know that your parents had a fireman's axe? The hardwood handle, long curvy handle, you know, and then the red axe head.
00:47:32
Caroline
Yeah. yeah
00:47:36
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Fireman's axe. Yes, I knew that they had an axe. Did your brother know? Yes, because our parents told us about the and we knew we went down to the basement all the time to get things and it was kept down there.
00:47:45
Caroline
Yeah.
00:47:50
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So everybody in the family knew.
00:47:52
Caroline
Yeah, that is kind of my appreciation for the criminal side of the, I mean, these investigators and the prosecutors too, it isn't enough for us to all think of what we think of reasonable. No, every last I needs a dot, every last he needs a cross, every sentence needs a period, commas will be dispersed exactly where they need to be. Like, I mean, when you are reconstructing everything needs to up to and including how we know what you know.
00:48:23
Caroline
So this is how I know, this is how I know you can't tell me you forgot.
00:48:23
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Right.
00:48:26
Caroline
This is how I know you can't tell me you just like were never told. I mean, every detail. So this is how I know you got in your car at this time at your thing. I mean, it's just, I have such an appreciation for that because it's inspired me in my life.
00:48:40
Caroline
There's, you can't come at me, it's like you're saying like, we're really worried about you. Please stop behaving that way. It's more about we're really worried about you, and these are the following behaviors that are of concern. So I've gone ahead and made appointments for you for the following things to begin addressing them.
00:48:55
Caroline
I mean, that's that's the level of detail you're looking for if you want to have real impact.
00:48:59
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Right.
00:49:00
Caroline
And so I just, i think I think the investigators and the prosecution did a great job because it does sound like he's quite highly skilled at manipulation.
00:49:12
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
That's all he does. That's who he is.
00:49:14
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And in fact, I have to say that Piers Morgan, who is a British journalist, but kind you know has a home in Los Angeles, and he does a lot of work in the United States.
00:49:14
Caroline
there
00:49:27
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
that he has a program where he goes around and interviews fairly infamous serial killers, family murderers, and he interviewed Christopher Porco, and he finished that interview and told his cohorts that, I don't know if I can say that I'm sure that he committed this murder.
00:49:38
Caroline
Yeah.
00:49:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Even though he has all the evidence, but he says, I have never met a more reasonable person.
00:49:57
Caroline
ah
00:49:59
Caroline
wow
00:50:04
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
I've never met a more logical person. He wasn't defensive. He wasn't angry. And so he has Piers Morgan, the journalist, in his, you know, interviews with killers.
00:50:18
Caroline
Wow
00:50:20
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he's interviewed many killers.
00:50:23
Caroline
I was going to say that scares me for Pierce because really you say that like it's a prerequisite that anyone taking the life of another must be irrational at all times, illogical at all times.
00:50:34
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
right yeah yes yeah well i thought i'd throw that out i'm not trying to throw shade on appears morgan i i think that um that you know plenty of people do that but i i think that um that was a good example
00:50:36
Caroline
You know what I'm saying?
00:50:39
Caroline
Like Pierce.
00:50:44
Caroline
No, I know. No, I know.
00:50:50
Caroline
and
00:50:55
Caroline
Yeah.
00:50:56
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
of how manipulative he is.
00:50:59
Caroline
Yes.
00:51:00
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And you know, it's because he doesn't have any of the bits that he needs to have to be a fully functioning human.
00:51:06
Caroline
yes
00:51:06
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So what he has to do is emulate others.
00:51:10
Caroline
ye Yes.
00:51:11
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And so he has emulated others. He's a sneaky, deceptive, lying killer.
00:51:20
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And he would do any other name it he would do he's not somebody who gets pleasure out of killing because and he's not repelled by the idea either it's neutral
00:51:28
Caroline
No.
00:51:32
Caroline
It's a neutral because it's just a thing. It's just a thing he needs to do to get to this other side so he can do more things to get the things he wants. It's literally like that part of your, you can convince your brain of truths that you know are not true. I mean, you know, this is how people do murder people and go to death row saying, no, it's weird. You know, I mean, look at Ted, Ted Bundy is like this, like all these things.
00:51:54
Caroline
I think he can convince himself, not only is it not a problem to choose murder, it's neutral to just go ahead and use that as one of my multiple methods. But then I later can convince myself I never even did that. That wasn't me.
00:52:07
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Yeah, and you know, Caroline, I have never done any of these bad things. I mean, I've just never stolen laptops and put them under somebody else's name to sell on eBay.
00:52:16
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
And oh, by the way, Christopher Porco found out that you can get away with not delivering the stuff that he sold these computers several times over.
00:52:16
Caroline
Right.
00:52:25
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So anyway, he you because you can always blame it on the US Postal Service.
00:52:26
Caroline
Oh God.
00:52:30
Caroline
Yes.
00:52:30
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So um so
00:52:38
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
So the point is that ah he's just empty of all of those bits.
00:52:46
Caroline
Yeah.
00:52:47
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
He wants what he wants and he'll do anything to get it. That's Christopher Porco. That ends our episode today. And ah all I can say at this point is that today's episode is researched, written and narrated by Bridget and Caroline, produced by Andy.
00:53:05
Andy, Bridget and Caroline
Our research is solely based on public domain documents, including legal documents, articles, and books about our subject. Episodes are aired every other week. If you like us, please subscribe. Give us a five-star review. Tell your friends about us in person and by social media. All of those things help find help other listeners find us. We do want to thank our listeners ah profusely because we really appreciate you We like to tell our stories of family murder, and we're so glad that you listen. And one other thing, don't forget to live and let live. Bye bye, Caroline.
00:53:46
Caroline
ah Bye-bye.