1
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,000
[birdsong]
2
00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:17,200
[man] I don't consider myself a stalker.
3
00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:26,120
I thought stalking was more
watching somebody, like a Peeping Tom.
4
00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,240
Ashley and I,
we were like brother and sister.
5
00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:33,560
Just a great friendship.
6
00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,040
[woman] I thought,
"Anything could happen now."
7
00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:55,360
"I don't know what to expect."
8
00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,320
"This person that
I clearly don't know at all,
9
00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,600
the damage he caused,
I will carry it my entire life."
10
00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:17,720
[man] I didn't think
there was any harm in it.
11
00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:22,680
I didn't want to cause no harm to her.
12
00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:26,560
I would never even...
13
00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:29,080
even touch a hair on her.
14
00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:41,320
[man] I'd rather be considered
a murderer than a stalker,
15
00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:42,480
you know what I mean?
16
00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:51,960
[woman] I wanted the intensity
of, like, of her feeling watched.
17
00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:56,080
[man 2] Anybody can be a stalker.
18
00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:58,560
[man 3] It's all boogeyman talk.
19
00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:02,520
[man 4] I'm not still that crazy. Like...
[chuckles]
20
00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,600
[birdsong]
21
00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:47,840
[man] You look straight into the lens.
22
00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:48,880
- Just there.
- There.
23
00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:51,560
- Okay. Right there.
- If you look through, can you see me?
24
00:02:51,640 --> 00:02:53,120
[Corpus] I'm looking straight at you.
25
00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:54,760
- [man] Looking at me.
- [Corpus] Okay.
26
00:02:57,960 --> 00:02:59,520
- Try it again?
- [man] Yes, please.
27
00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,920
My name is James Corpus.
I'm in prison for stalking.
28
00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:10,720
[birdsong]
29
00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:23,200
[Corpus] I grew up in St. John, Indiana.
30
00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:28,160
I had a great childhood.
I had parents that never broke up.
31
00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:34,200
But I grew up basically kind of a nerd,
32
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,720
and I have always been...
pretty much on my own.
33
00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:45,720
I never depended on anyone,
or never had a kind of a backbone to...
34
00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:47,240
or someone to lean on.
35
00:03:56,960 --> 00:03:58,480
[Corpus] It was pretty bad.
36
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,720
I didn't wake up in the hospital
for a few days.
37
00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:06,200
My jaw was broken
in three different areas.
38
00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:11,480
My nose was pushed in,
which crushed my nose cavities in.
39
00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:14,760
My eye sockets were crushed.
40
00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,480
The accident did have an effect on
not just my looks.
41
00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:24,160
I mean, just...
people treated me differently.
42
00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:27,160
They just felt pity on me.
43
00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,360
[Corpus] I was working for
a friend of mine that owned a restaurant.
44
00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:55,800
She came in to help him out,
to manage it.
45
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,320
In the beginning, Ashley and I did not
exactly get along,
46
00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:06,360
because we were both managers,
we were both leaders.
47
00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:10,560
But then I sat back and realized
that she knew what she was talking about.
48
00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:13,440
And I listened to her.
49
00:05:16,280 --> 00:05:18,200
Ashley was very good to me.
50
00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:22,760
We got really close, as I...
extreme, like, best friends.
51
00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:35,520
[birds calling]
52
00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:47,920
My name is Ashley Manfre...
53
00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:52,040
and I'm a stalking survivor.
54
00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:00,160
I met James at a restaurant
where we worked together.
55
00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:05,680
He was my line cook,
56
00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,800
and we became very good friends
very quickly.
57
00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,440
We spent a lot of time in the kitchen,
just being silly and having fun.
58
00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:23,880
James was in an accident
when he was a teenager, I believe.
59
00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:29,200
And he was not initially liked
60
00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:31,240
by many people.
61
00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:35,200
I took that very personally,
when somebody was set back by him,
62
00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:37,920
because the way he looks
or talks or walks.
63
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,240
That made me uncomfortable.
64
00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:46,040
And if that was me, I would want
somebody next to me to stand up for me.
65
00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,960
I had developed
this sense of protection,
66
00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:54,000
that I needed to protect him
from the people that...
67
00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:55,960
could hurt him.
68
00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:11,720
[birdsong]
69
00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,600
[Ashley] Years had passed.
I had my party rental company,
70
00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:35,000
and he reached out to me
asking if I had any work for him.
71
00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:40,200
Apparently he had just got out of jail
from some DUIs.
72
00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:47,000
So I brought him into this new company,
and he would do odd jobs for me.
73
00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,680
He would set up equipment
and help me in the office.
74
00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:55,520
He was here all the time.
75
00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:00,440
He saw wherever I was stressed
and just picked those stressors out,
76
00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:02,560
and took some of that on.
77
00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,600
That just always made me feel
that I could trust him.
78
00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:13,040
So James had become very integrated
into my life, into my family life,
79
00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:13,960
into my business.
80
00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:18,600
My family accepted him
as part of our family.
81
00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:22,041
[Ashley] So, buddy,
what do you wanna be when you grow up?
82
00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,160
- James.
- [Ashley] You want to be James?
83
00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:25,760
- Yep.
- [Ashley] Why?
84
00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:27,960
I can play video games.
85
00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,080
[laughter]
86
00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:35,040
[birdsong]
87
00:08:40,560 --> 00:08:43,840
[Corpus] Being close to her family
was extremely, like...
88
00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:45,320
To me, it was awesome.
89
00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,040
It was like being accepted
by someone else's family.
90
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:49,680
Just be social with them...
91
00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,560
It was like... I've never really did that
with anyone else's family.
92
00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:55,760
It was always...
I've always been on my own.
93
00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:57,200
I've never...
94
00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:02,160
been actually accepted with anyone.
95
00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:04,320
This was actually my first time.
96
00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:08,960
And... and it was actually pretty cool.
97
00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:34,160
[Corpus] I had started drinking more.
98
00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,360
I just felt stuck in this small town.
99
00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:44,120
During one night,
I was drinkin' a little too much,
100
00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:48,560
and I just wanted to go up to Chicago.
101
00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,120
I knew she had a van she wasn't using
in her backyard.
102
00:09:56,200 --> 00:10:00,200
So I decided to go in it
and start it up and take off.
103
00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:05,880
I was so intoxicated, I got the van stuck
on the side of the road.
104
00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:11,240
My aim was never to steal the van.
105
00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:13,760
It just popped in my head.
106
00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:21,120
After the issue with the van,
the trust started fallin' apart.
107
00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:22,920
That was... that was the issue.
108
00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,000
[cicadas chirping]
109
00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:40,120
[Ashley] The police informed me that night
that the van was stolen,
110
00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,840
and that James's phone was in the car.
111
00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:47,280
The police told me,
"Well, obviously he did it."
112
00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,560
I didn't think that
this could be possible.
113
00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:55,040
I didn't think that
he would steal from me, ever.
114
00:10:55,560 --> 00:10:59,240
I just felt that there could be
another... option,
115
00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:02,640
or another... another reason,
or another way...
116
00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:05,560
than "James did this."
117
00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:17,000
[Ashley] We were with the police
for hours that night,
118
00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,960
and when we got back to the home...
119
00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:22,520
[sighs] ...my door was open.
120
00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:25,280
I... I just kind of brushed it off.
121
00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:27,440
Things just didn't make sense
at that point.
122
00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:29,480
So we decided we were gonna go to bed.
123
00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:33,240
I went upstairs to tuck my son in
and make sure he was okay.
124
00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:41,280
And there James was in my son's room,
on his couch in his bedroom.
125
00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:46,240
I shook him. He had fallen asleep.
126
00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:48,320
I think he was on something.
127
00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:51,440
I don't know if it was...
if he was drunk or it was drugs.
128
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:55,560
I have no idea. Um... He just wasn't right.
I'd never seen him in this way.
129
00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:03,080
I was just so confused,
and still trying so hard
130
00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:04,920
to give him the benefit of the doubt.
131
00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,160
But he couldn't answer me
why he was there.
132
00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:12,880
I questioned him about... about the car,
and why his phone was in there,
133
00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:16,200
and he... he just gave me
all kinds of excuses
134
00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:18,240
that made me feel uncomfortable.
135
00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,200
And I didn't want him, in the state
that he was in, in my house at all.
136
00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:41,120
[Ashley] James was arrested
after he admitted to stealing the van.
137
00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:42,720
[water running]
138
00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:45,440
I felt guilty.
139
00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:50,480
I didn't mean for that.
I didn't want for him to be in trouble.
140
00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:55,360
But I felt very betrayed by him,
141
00:12:55,440 --> 00:13:00,120
and I was very confused
of why he did what he did,
142
00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:01,280
and what just happened,
143
00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:03,720
and still trying to put the pieces
back together.
144
00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:20,840
I can't explain how suddenly
our friendship started separating,
145
00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:23,040
but I think it mostly had to do with, uh...
146
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,440
just me taking things
that doesn't belong to me.
147
00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:29,320
Well, I mean, for instance, the van.
148
00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:32,040
For taking that.
149
00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:34,040
She trusted me, she knew...
150
00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:39,120
she knew that I knew
where all the stuff, everything was.
151
00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:41,560
[man] Did you take any other things?
152
00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:44,200
From her? Um...
153
00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:46,440
I took some money from her,
154
00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:49,200
out of the business account,
to pay off a phone bill.
155
00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:54,320
And due to that transaction,
I kind of emptied out her account,
156
00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:57,680
because I didn't know how that...
how that worked.
157
00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:01,120
So I hurried up and put it back
into her account.
158
00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:05,120
And she...
159
00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:12,280
that really stopped all the trust,
between her and I.
160
00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:27,520
Um... I think it's the second one.
No, it's the brand-new one. In the pink.
161
00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:34,520
Whatever had happened with James,
I just was continuing to... to live my life.
162
00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:40,960
But soon after James was released,
163
00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:45,600
I had a phone call from my school,
'cause I was still in college,
164
00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:50,320
and my school needed a payment,
and my card was declined.
165
00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:51,920
[notification chime]
166
00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:56,480
I thought that was very strange.
167
00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:59,840
And I had to give them another card.
Declined.
168
00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:01,440
[notifications chime]
169
00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:04,240
I've never had any of my cards
ever declined for anything,
170
00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:07,280
so I was very... confused.
171
00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:11,120
I logged into my bank account,
172
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:13,480
and everything said zero.
173
00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:15,400
[notification chimes]
174
00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:17,520
And my heart just dropped.
175
00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:22,840
I was so overwhelmed
and in a panic,
176
00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:25,600
and in that moment, I just flashed that,
177
00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:29,320
"Oh my gosh, my whole business
can be stolen from me right now,
178
00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:30,720
and how will I pay my bills?"
179
00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:50,840
[Ashley] James had transferred money
from my account directly into his.
180
00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,600
All the money that I had worked
so hard for,
181
00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,520
all of those sacrifices we made
were just gone, just like that.
182
00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,840
And the more I uncovered,
I found more and more things
183
00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,280
that I didn't know I needed to look for.
184
00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,920
He had found the credit cards
185
00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:15,480
that I had thought were locked
in my office in a drawer.
186
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,040
He was using those credit cards
and charging them up.
187
00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:20,880
The statements were coming in.
188
00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,800
He would get the mail,
he would throw them in the garbage,
189
00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:24,960
and I never saw them.
190
00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:32,160
Altogether, I lost over $120,000
191
00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,920
from the fraud that James did.
192
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,000
[birds calling]
193
00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:46,520
I felt very betrayed by him.
194
00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:51,520
I thought, "Anything could happen now."
195
00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:57,520
"This person that I clearly
don't know at all, somebody who, uh..."
196
00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:00,440
What, 12-plus years of friendship?
197
00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:04,960
And knowing them, I didn't think
that this could be possible.
198
00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:32,720
[Corpus] I spoke to Ashley
right after I got out of jail,
199
00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:37,040
because I wanted
to reconcile our friendship.
200
00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:42,800
I didn't know how to get back
to be friends with her again.
201
00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:46,560
How did I do this?
Why did I screw this friendship up?
202
00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:48,280
Someone that actually wanted to...
203
00:17:50,120 --> 00:17:53,080
uh... help me out and make me... make my...
204
00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:55,120
have me achieve my goal.
205
00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,560
I wanted to resolve the issue,
206
00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:03,320
pay off whatever dues I owed them,
207
00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,400
and see if they could...
we could resolve it outside of court.
208
00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:09,960
I was not threatening.
209
00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:12,760
I was just more apologetic than anything.
210
00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:21,640
[Ashley] So, I had asked him for space,
211
00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,400
and I had asked him
to please just leave me alone.
212
00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:34,120
But he didn't respect that wish of mine.
213
00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:42,320
And he kept calling on different platforms
and calling and texting,
214
00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:46,680
calling from his cell phone,
his home number,
215
00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:49,680
Messenger calls, Snapchat.
216
00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:52,480
There was all these different ways
he was communicating with me.
217
00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,040
He said he wanted to talk about
what happened,
218
00:18:56,120 --> 00:18:58,960
and that he loves me,
219
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:03,920
and he doesn't want
to do anything to hurt me.
220
00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:09,320
I just was feeling overwhelmed.
221
00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:12,360
So the police said that they thought
222
00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:16,520
it was in my best interest
to issue a restraining order
223
00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:22,280
to just get him to stop.
224
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:39,080
[Ashley] He was served the papers for
the order of protection, and afterwards,
225
00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:41,960
I think a day or so later,
he was contacting me again.
226
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,040
[notifications bleeping]
227
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,880
He texted me and called me
from his cell phone,
228
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,000
his mom's cell phone,
his sister's cell phone, Facebook.
229
00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,480
I needed to feel safe again,
230
00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,520
because I was starting to feel scared
at that point.
231
00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:26,320
[man] What we see when we deal
with stalking behavior,
232
00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,920
we see that
that stalking behavior escalates.
233
00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:33,920
It could start off as text messages,
234
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,600
then it goes to repeated phone calls,
235
00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:41,120
then it's social media postings,
236
00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:43,560
and then come specific threats.
237
00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:48,400
My name's Mark Kurkowski.
238
00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,080
I'm a former law enforcement officer.
239
00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:58,120
And one of my focus areas is training
law enforcement prosecutors
240
00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,440
and other practitioners in the field,
241
00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:04,800
looking at how stalking can co-occur
with other crimes.
242
00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:21,040
[Kurkowski] So, I think with James,
and the behaviors he was showing,
243
00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:24,560
we see that it's about possession,
244
00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:28,280
and it's about a relationship
that he did not want to end.
245
00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,240
He started off by texting Ashley,
246
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:35,720
and then calling her,
247
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:37,840
and then calling her repeatedly.
248
00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:43,440
When she tried to stop that behavior,
he resorted to other means,
249
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,840
contacting her sister
and other family members,
250
00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:53,440
trying to persistently get to Ashley,
whatever means possible.
251
00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,680
It continued even after
getting orders of protection,
252
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:06,000
even after multiple arrests and judges
telling James not to contact Ashley,
253
00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:07,720
he continued to do so.
254
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,440
When we look at escalation
in stalking cases,
255
00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:16,600
we want to look
at what is called DIF patterns,
256
00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:21,800
duration, intensity, and frequency
of that stalking behavior.
257
00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:26,640
That's a big concern,
when we see both the DIF patterns
258
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:28,760
and those threats escalate.
259
00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:31,840
That's when we really need
to step in and make sure
260
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:33,920
that there's a safety plan enacted.
261
00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:37,880
[birdsong]
262
00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:46,600
[Ashley] I think
once he reached out again,
263
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:48,680
after the order of protection
was in place,
264
00:22:49,360 --> 00:22:50,520
I got scared.
265
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:56,000
James had known the code
to get into my front door,
266
00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:58,800
the key code inside of my car.
267
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,480
And I just felt increasingly nervous.
268
00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:11,160
I needed to take action and precautions
to make sure my family was safe.
269
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,800
We had to change all the locks
on my house.
270
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:19,000
I didn't drive anywhere by myself.
271
00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:24,320
Every single place and thing I did,
I did with somebody else.
272
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,640
I was terrified to be alone.
273
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:32,840
I went through and just adjusted my life
very dramatically,
274
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,040
because "If this has happened,
what could be in front of me?"
275
00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:37,240
"Anything is possible."
276
00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:39,800
And that was terrifying to me.
277
00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:44,520
There was no line that he wasn't
going to cross at this point.
278
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,160
[man] The term "stalking" means
279
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:33,760
"a knowing or intentional
course of conduct
280
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:38,360
involving repeated or continuing
harassment of another person,
281
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,840
that would cause a reasonable person
to feel terrorized,
282
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,160
frightened, intimidated, or threatened."
283
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:49,920
My name's Tim Brown.
I'm a supervising attorney
284
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,480
with the Lake County, Indiana
Prosecutor's Office.
285
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:58,360
And I was assigned Mr. Corpus's case
after he was charged with stalking.
286
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,040
[Corpus] What I thought stalking was,
was more...
287
00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:12,160
more, um...
288
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,600
watching somebody,
like a Peeping Tom.
289
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,120
Uh, someone that... that's into voyeurism.
290
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:24,960
But I didn't believe "stalking"
meant more of like, uh...
291
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,880
"Okay, you broke a no-contact order."
292
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:31,560
That's... that's a stalking?
293
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:33,400
I didn't realize that would...
294
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,480
How is that? It... it's confusing to me.
295
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:39,960
If someone's out there
to apologize to someone,
296
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:44,160
to make amends,
does that make me a stalker?
297
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:46,680
It just...
298
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:48,280
It's crazy.
299
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:53,760
I... I didn't see myself as a stalker
just because I'm...
300
00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:59,040
I want to persist, uh...
being friends with this person.
301
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:06,560
[Brown] So it's apparent that Mr. Corpus
302
00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:09,320
doesn't personally feel
that he's a stalker.
303
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,600
We don't go off how someone
personally feels in the state of Indiana.
304
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:17,280
We go off the definition
of what stalking means.
305
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:23,720
So, if you look at the stalking charge
that was filed against Mr. Corpus,
306
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:28,600
that case involved repeated phone calls
to Miss Manfre.
307
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,560
Repeatedly attempting
to apologize to someone
308
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:36,720
in violation of a no-contact order
309
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,560
can be considered a form of stalking
310
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:42,440
if it intimidates
or places fear in the victim.
311
00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:47,240
And we believe that Ashley had
every reason to be scared of Mr. Corpus.
312
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:52,600
So his claim, he merely wanted
to apologize to her?
313
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:53,680
Okay, that's fine.
314
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,920
But that does not mean that that behavior
does not amount to stalking.
315
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,280
And, in fact, it did.
316
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:18,880
[birdsong]
317
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:22,080
[Ashley] There was a...
a huge sense of relief.
318
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:28,000
I remember just a huge...
[exhales] ...breath come out of me
319
00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:31,600
that I didn't realize I was holding back
for so long.
320
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,920
I think I was more relieved that...
321
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,120
he couldn't keep hurting me
322
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:43,880
or finding ways to...
323
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:48,720
disrupt my life if he was put behind bars.
324
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,320
[Ashley] I was doing something at home,
and the doorbell rang.
325
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:12,680
It was the sheriff's department
for Lake County
326
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:19,480
telling me that they needed me to come
in to the courthouse for questioning.
327
00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:29,840
I remember driving there not knowing why
we were going there, what it was about.
328
00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:32,800
I was kind of confused.
329
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:38,160
"Why? Because I feel like I've already
said everything multiple times."
330
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:48,040
I remember sitting there
in the detectives' conference room.
331
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:55,560
And they asked me to sit down
and draw a map of my house.
332
00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,800
And I thought that was so bizarre,
because they gave me no context.
333
00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:03,080
Why would I possibly need to draw a map?
I just did not understand.
334
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:06,880
So I drew the map for them
and I handed it over to them.
335
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:10,520
And I remember watching their eyes
just get very large,
336
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,920
and they both looked at each other,
completely in awe.
337
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:28,000
[man 1] Okay, now you said his name
was James Corpus?
338
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:29,400
- [man 2] Yeah.
- [man 1] Okay.
339
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,720
Uh... what did he contact you for?
340
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,160
- [man 2] Um... I mean I got the plan.
- [man 1] What...
341
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,480
[man 2] He drew the plans,
everything out in my pocket.
342
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:38,000
[man 1] He... he drew the plans out?
343
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:39,840
[man 2] He drew the whole layout
of the house,
344
00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:42,480
camera systems, alarm systems,
codes for everything...
345
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,160
[man 1] Codes for the systems. Okay.
346
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:52,760
[man] It was November 30th of 2018.
347
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:57,720
I was alerted to a jail tip
that we received on our Telmate system.
348
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:02,560
After reviewing the jail tip,
we were able to pull up a, uh, individual
349
00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:06,000
who had, uh,
information against Mr. Corpus.
350
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:14,120
My name is Christopher Adams.
351
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:17,240
I'm a sergeant with the Lake County Metro
Homicide Task Force.
352
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,280
This inmate was provided a map
by James Corpus.
353
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:31,000
Also included with the map
was an additional piece of paper
354
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,000
with the potential victim's name,
355
00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:36,040
and passwords to various items
within her residence,
356
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:38,800
such as her, uh... security system,
357
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:42,720
uh, passcodes to a vehicle
that was located in her residence.
358
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:47,160
The drawing also had areas
where there may be cameras.
359
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:52,400
So all these things added up,
uh... to, you know, a conspiracy.
360
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,320
And he said, "If I could... if this bitch
either shut up or disappear."
361
00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:57,920
"You know what I mean?"
362
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,120
"Man, the house is loaded with stuff,"
and everything.
363
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,680
Like, "You could pay me."
He's like, "And I get money to you."
364
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:05,720
"If I can get you a gun,
you go do the job."
365
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:11,520
[man 1] He asked you
to either shut her up or make her go away?
366
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,320
[man 2] He said, "I want her silenced,
I don't care how it happens."
367
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:16,696
[man 1] "I want her silenced,
I don't care how it happens."
368
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:18,720
[keys jingling]
369
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:25,720
The inmate stated that James Corpus
wanted him to, uh... silence a witness.
370
00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:29,120
James said
that he didn't want this witness
371
00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:31,280
to come forward against him
in his trials.
372
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:34,840
That inmate understood that "silenced"
373
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:37,800
uh, meant that
he had to kill someone for James.
374
00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:41,200
Uh... He... he explained that to James,
375
00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,240
and James just said
he wanted her silenced.
376
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:46,640
[man 1] What's, uh...
what's the lady's name?
377
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:49,000
[man 2] Ashley Manfre.
378
00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:54,680
[Adams] An individual
who commits these types of actions,
379
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:59,360
and who is determined
to commit these types of actions
380
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,560
to the point where you don't end
your criminality
381
00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:04,840
even after you've been,
uh... taken into custody,
382
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,560
that type of person
is willing to do anything.
383
00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:28,040
I believe I was wrongfully accused of...
384
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:31,520
being a part of conspiracy and murder.
385
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:34,560
I've had no intentions
to hurt her or hurt her family.
386
00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,520
I was socializing
with someone that I shouldn't have.
387
00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:42,280
He took advantage of my kindness
388
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:45,520
and he...
389
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,200
said I hired him to kill Ashley.
390
00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:52,360
Which I never did.
391
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:56,920
I had some personal stuff
I'd written down from Ashley's home,
392
00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:01,960
like her house plans and her...
393
00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,600
Just, I jotted certain things down, uh...
394
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,560
like... like what her house looked like
and stuff,
395
00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:16,120
and I put it in my room,
and put it in my cell.
396
00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:19,920
What this guy did, he came in and...
397
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:23,480
he went into my cell
and grabbed all my paperwork
398
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:26,480
and took it straight
to the sheriff's office.
399
00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:28,800
Said I hired him to kill her.
400
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:39,120
His words were to "take her out."
401
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:43,400
I don't even know
if I heard anything after that. [sighs]
402
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:47,440
I just... The world just kind of stopped
in that moment, and...
403
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,880
someone who says that they love me
and they would never hurt me
404
00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:56,640
now wants me dead.
405
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,200
And it was just this nightmare
that I was living.
406
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:05,520
[birdsong]
407
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:28,640
[birdsong]
408
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:35,640
[Ashley] The police made me feel that...
they had everything under control,
409
00:34:35,720 --> 00:34:38,680
and they caught the gentleman,
and that I shouldn't have to worry.
410
00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:45,920
But... I feel like James is very smart.
411
00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:49,120
So when they tell me
I'm safe and I shouldn't worry,
412
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:51,000
I literally did the opposite.
413
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:09,600
[Ashley] The day after he was released,
414
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:13,040
I started feeling
like I was being watched.
415
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:19,720
Maybe it was just weird coincidence,
or timing was strange,
416
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:21,720
but different places I went, I felt...
417
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:23,240
Even the grocery store, I just...
418
00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:25,800
I felt like I was being watched
everywhere I went.
419
00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:29,160
[cicadas chirping]
420
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,800
About two days after
this gentleman was released,
421
00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:34,800
I was standing in my kitchen.
422
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,320
It was, I don't know,
maybe 11 p.m. or something.
423
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:47,320
I saw two flashlights
kind of walking towards me,
424
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,840
and they were moving...
as if someone was walking.
425
00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,560
My motion detector light went on,
426
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:04,400
and I could see that there were
two people walking up to me.
427
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:12,480
They were wearing all black,
with black hoods over their heads.
428
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:19,680
Behind me,
there's 56 acres of fields and forest,
429
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:22,080
so there shouldn't be anyone there.
430
00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:26,040
I'm just watching
these people get closer and closer.
431
00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:30,160
I ran and grabbed my phone,
and then I went and grabbed my gun.
432
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,920
And I made sure
every single door and window was locked.
433
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:37,440
I had called 9-1-1.
434
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:44,160
I was standing there shaking and crying,
and just so scared.
435
00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:47,440
[cicadas chirping]
436
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:55,560
Never in my wildest nightmares
would I have imagined
437
00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:59,240
sitting in the position I was sitting in,
fearing for my life.
438
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:01,320
[siren approaching]
439
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:14,320
[Ashley] They arrived,
but the police did not find anything.
440
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:22,840
I spent, I don't know, six hours or so
watching, all night, in different windows,
441
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:26,520
trying to see if someone
was gonna come back up to my house.
442
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:29,480
That was terrifying.
443
00:37:38,720 --> 00:37:40,720
[birdsong]
444
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:19,920
[Ashley] Now, no one will know...
445
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:22,640
[scoffs] ...that he hired
someone to kill me.
446
00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:24,320
No one will know.
447
00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:27,240
It's not on his record.
448
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:30,600
So anywhere he goes,
anyone he becomes friends with,
449
00:38:30,680 --> 00:38:31,760
anywhere he works
450
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:34,200
has no idea what he's capable of.
451
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:35,760
They have no idea.
452
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:42,200
James took a lot from me.
453
00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:50,200
The thing that he took
that I can never get back
454
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,320
is my sense of security.
455
00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:57,480
That hole will always be in my life.
456
00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:23,080
[Corpus] I am very remorseful
for what I've done.
457
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:26,720
I feel extremely terrible.
458
00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:36,000
I didn't realize
that I was such a bad person.
459
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:48,080
Today, I probably consider myself
as harming her emotionally.
460
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:51,240
But back then, I didn't think that.
461
00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:53,320
I was not thinking that at all.
462
00:40:09,240 --> 00:40:12,480
[Corpus] Did I conspire to...
to murder Ashley? No.
463
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:17,040
I didn't want to cause no harm to her.
464
00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:19,880
It was...
465
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,000
It was all false. It was all made up.
466
00:40:24,240 --> 00:40:25,880
[man] So why did you draw the map?
467
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:32,840
I was probably just bored,
and I just drew it up... drew it out.
468
00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:37,280
I just... I take notes
and I draw a lot of times.
469
00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:40,560
But it was nothin' to...
470
00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:48,240
nothin' to go with, uh...
any kind of conspiracy or any of that.
471
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:50,680
It was not even supposed
to be seen by anybody.
472
00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:06,080
Did I know about any intruders
appear on Ashley's property?
473
00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:07,160
No, I have not.
474
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:09,040
I never knew.
475
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:12,040
[man] When did you find out?
476
00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:13,360
I never found out.
477
00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:16,040
I don't know.
478
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:18,680
That's the first time I'm hearing that.
479
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:28,920
I never, never, ever
would ever hire him to do a...
480
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:31,240
uh, have another person hurt her.
481
00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:32,800
I would...
482
00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:35,200
That's just ridiculous.
483
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:46,760
Do I believe I'm a stalker?
484
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:51,520
Actually, I don't. I mean...
485
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:56,720
the way I behaved with Ashley,
I have never done that before.
486
00:41:58,200 --> 00:41:59,200
I...
487
00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:01,240
It's not like me.
488
00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:06,000
It's just... I wanted to be like her.
489
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:09,840
I... wanted to be...
490
00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:11,800
what she had.
491
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:15,720
She had a great home, great family,
492
00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:20,080
and I just felt like I...
493
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:29,040
I felt like I had sort of the rights to...
494
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:32,880
I don't know, get, uh...
495
00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:35,680
Uh...
496
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:38,040
I... [murmurs]
497
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:44,640
I wanna resolve it,
I wanna fix it, but it's too late.
498
00:42:45,160 --> 00:42:47,480
I've... It might be too late.
It might not be.
499
00:42:57,440 --> 00:42:59,440
[birdsong]
500
00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:13,320
[bleeping]
501
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:20,320
- I like that she's got face paint on.
- Mm-hm.
502
00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:21,880
I don't like...
503
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,200
[Ashley] After all this
happened with James,
504
00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:26,120
it completely tore my world apart.
505
00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:28,600
...thing, you can enter
another one up there...
506
00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:30,880
[Ashley] But I realized one day...
507
00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:38,560
that I had been giving him so much control
over my life for far too long...
508
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:42,840
that in some weird way,
he was still winning.
509
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:46,320
He still had some sort of handle on me,
or he had some sort of...
510
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:52,600
hand around my neck.
511
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:54,680
[birdsong]
512
00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:02,040
Getting over what James has done
has been a decision to just...
513
00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:05,840
put him in my past and move forward,
and not let him...
514
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:10,560
take over any more of my life.
515
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:16,400
I decided not to be the victim anymore.