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- [00:00]
Matthew Scher
Wondery subscribers can binge all episodes of We Came to the Forest ad free. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
- [00:17]
Campside Media
Campsite media.
- [00:22]
Matthew Scher
Around 8:30 in the morning on January 18th of 2023, a pair of young activists named Sarah and Spencer awaken in their hammock in the River Forest.
- [00:33]
Sarah
It was very foggy, just like there was moisture hanging in the air.
- [00:40]
Matthew Scher
The couple have stopped in Atlanta to see a friend involved in the forest defender movement and to help clean up the wreckage from the last police raid, the one that ended in Vienna Forest's arrest. Like the other activists in this makeshift encampment, they've made sure to post up in a part of the woods they know to be open to the public, which is why they're so shaken when they hear a crash and a stampede of oncoming footsteps.
- [01:06]
Sarah
And I looked out through the tarp, basically just saw, like, GI Joes coming for us from across the woods. I couldn't count. There was at least 10 plus in full combat gear. I mean, like giant bulletproof vests, like full head to toe, like, coming into the woods as if they were, you know, infiltrating an enemy camp. That's exactly what they were doing.
- [01:34]
Matthew Scher
These GI Joes, Sarah will later learn, are cops, members of a joint task force assigned to clear the forest of protesters.
- [01:43]
Spencer
Contact. Contact.
- [01:46]
Sarah
I was just like, we're fucked. Basically, like, holy shit. I mean, I honestly didn't even know if they were gonna open fire on us at that point.
- [01:54]
Spencer
State police, come on out. Show me your hands. How many's in the tent?
- [01:59]
Sarah
I was actually terrified until they said, like, police, come out. And then I was like, okay, well, we're at least not going to get shot right away.
- [02:08]
Matthew Scher
I don't have clothes on.
- [02:10]
Spencer
Are your clothes in there with you?
- [02:11]
Matthew Scher
Yeah. Can I please put them on?
- [02:13]
Spencer
Yep. Send the subject out, the other subject out. Two subjects in here. One's putting clothes on. One male, one female. Is there a male and female in there, ma'am, or two females?
- [02:22]
Matthew Scher
No, but sure.
- [02:23]
Sarah
The first thing I said when I got out of my hammock was, can you please not point that directly at me? And of course, they didn't listen to me. Are we being detained?
- [02:33]
Spencer
Yes, you are. Yes, you are. You're actually being removed.
- [02:36]
Sarah
They took all of our phones right away. Kind of the first and only thing they really specifically went for was our phones. That seemed to be the only thing they really wanted from us. It's interesting to me that if they think that we're dangerous terrorists they wouldn't look for weapons. Like, why not look in my backpack if you think I'm a terrorist.
- [02:52]
Spencer
The gans where you can see where you can see them, boss.
- [02:54]
Sarah
And just like two or three officers, zip tie, handcuffed us and then walked us up through the woods, across the field to where they had some of the DeKalb county police vehicles. They put my partner in the one side of the transport vehicle. In the back of it. It's just like a metal box that they put you in. And I was still outside at the time and that's when I heard the gunsh. What I heard was a full clip unload. Like it wasn't like a shot and a shot and like a back and forth. It was just like a whole mess of shots just like blasting off. Like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
- [03:42]
Ashley Flowers
Like, holy shit.
- [03:46]
Sarah
I just knew in my gut that something was very, very bad, very wrong. Like, there's no reason why someone should be popping off like that. Like, holy fuck. I screamed. One of the police officers that was kind of like holding on to me at the time was just like, oh shit. Oh no.
- [04:28]
Ashley Flowers
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- [06:12]
Matthew Scher
From Wondery Campside Media and Tenderfoot TV, I'm Matthew Scher and this is We Came to the Forest. This is episode four in Love and Rage. Not long after, Spencer and Sarah are loaded by law enforcement into the back of a transport truck, their ears still ringing from the barrage of gunfire. Vienna Forrest is driving across Atlanta in her van, Ellie in the seat beside her. The van had been seized by police after she was arrested and during the seizure it had gotten pretty banged up. She's almost to the repair shop when her phone starts to buzz.
- [07:02]
Vienna Forrest
I get a text from someone who wasn't even in state. A friend sends me this news article saying police officer shot, protester dead.
- [07:14]
Matthew Scher
Matthew Johnson, a few miles away in a different part of Atlanta, gets the same text.
- [07:20]
Matthew Johnson
And I sunk because I knew it was somebody I knew.
- [07:27]
Matthew Scher
Matthew opens up his browser, punches in a few words, and sure enough, it's already all over the news.
- [07:34]
Ashley Flowers
Live team coverage of the shooting, which.
- [07:35]
Matthew Scher
Happened on the decanter. Another raid, this one ending not just with arrests, but with gunfire too.
- [07:43]
Spencer
This morning, the GBI with other local state law enforcement agencies conducted a planned clearing operation to remove individuals who were illegally occupying the area. At approximately 9:00 this morning, as law enforcement was moving through various sectors of the property, an individual, without warning, shot a Georgia State Patrol trooper. The individual who fired upon law enforcement and shot the trooper was killed in the exchange of gunfire. Identification of the deceased will be withheld until notification of the next of kin.
- [08:18]
Matthew Scher
Around the country, everyone with any connection to the Stop Cop City movement is doing the same mental calculus, the same somber game of elimination.
- [08:27]
Matthew Johnson
Now I don't wish even on my worst enemy what we dealt with from that point because do you know what it's like to be grieving for somebody and not know who you're even grieving for yet, but you know it's somebody you know.
- [08:43]
Matthew Scher
Over and over, everyone finds themselves coming back to one name.
- [08:48]
Vienna Forrest
We all kind of had our speculations at the time and we didn't want to confirm it quite yet cause it's only been a few hours. But Tortequito is the only one that was unaccounted for. I knew if Tortuguito was alive that they would have checked in. They might go into hiding. But especially if there was shots fired in the forest, I feel like they would have checked in.
- [09:17]
Matthew Scher
The day after the shooting with the fallen forest defender still unnamed and under a sky still filled with mist, Vienna Matthew and dozens of comrades stage a vigil in a friend's backyard.
- [09:34]
Vienna Forrest
We had a big old bonfire. I had Tortaquita's playlist, and we played that all night. Just shared stories around the fire of Tortequita and shared in love and rage.
- [09:45]
Matthew Scher
At her home in Panama, Belquis Torte's mom picks up her phone and sees a Florida number on the screen. It's Tara, a close friend of Torte's.
- [09:56]
Belquis Torte
She said, I'm sorry about your loss. You were a very good mother. So I said, what do you mean?
- [10:02]
Vienna Forrest
She responded, just asking what happened. I assumed she knew, but evidently no one had told her. I really, really didn't want to, but I realized that I would have to be the person to tell her or just called her. And I explained what happened. That her child was killed by Georgia state troopers.
- [10:28]
Belquis Torte
What are you talking about? No, you don't know.
- [10:31]
Vienna Forrest
And I felt horrible because she wanted to know what happened and why. There were so few details that I could even give her. There was just not any explanation I could offer her. That was one of the hardest things I had to do. Probably gonna be haunted by that call for the rest of my life. Going back to my friend and Lincoln, who died from alcoholism. It's two very different things when you see someone wasting away. But with Tortuguita, it was almost the exact opposite, where they became fully themselves and then they disappeared, not to be seen again.
- [11:18]
Matthew Scher
Were you angry?
- [11:24]
Vienna Forrest
I don't know if that's the word for it. I was more in shock at that time because at this point, I'm still not healed from my trauma of being arrested and everything. And in that moment, it was like a sense of denial. In a lot of ways, it didn't feel real.
- [11:44]
Matthew Johnson
Certainly anger. Certainly anger. You know, of course, these things cross your mind, but nothing like when it actually happens.
- [12:00]
Matthew Scher
The night after the shooting, the members of the Stop Cop City movement begin to circulate flyers across town, handing them out to passersby, taping them to lampposts and fences. They read, police killed a protester. Stand up. Fight back. Supporters of the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement gathered in the rain to mourn the man killed by troopers. Throughout the weekend, the crowds grow larger. A post on an influential movement blog, scenes from the Atlanta Forest, declares Friday a night of rage. Consider this a call for reciprocal violence to be done to police and their allies. The blog advises, make them pay.
- [12:42]
Vienna Forrest
I think with Torte's murder, that inspired a lot of people inspired a lot of rage and people are fucking pissed. They're going to come here and they're going to organize in whatever way they see fit.
- [12:56]
Matthew Johnson
They murdered somebody, so of course people are mad. And people are going to show up. People are going to show up, up.
- [13:10]
Matthew Scher
At least at first. Matthew makes the conscious decision to avoid joining the protests that weekend. He takes a yoga class instead. He wants to quiet his mind, which is cluttered with loud and chaotic thoughts.
- [13:23]
Matthew Johnson
We were reading the Bhagavad Gita and I'm just like, let me just stick in this class and just like sit through it. And then just like reading about the necessity to fight in these, like, just wars and stuff, like in the Bhagavad Gita. So I'm just like reading the book, like, fuck, fuck. This is not the time for yoga. You gotta go.
- [13:42]
Matthew Scher
Breaking news happening right now. Protesters have taken over downtown Atlanta. Upset after a the march, Matthew joins proceeds down Atlanta's main thoroughfare, Peachtree street, before turning in the direction of downtown and the headquarters of the Atlanta public safety Training Center's financial backer, the Atlanta Police Foundation. When the protesters reach APF's headquarters, the tone of the demonstration shifts as tourists watch from nearby hotels and from the Hard Rock Cafe. Activists begin throwing rocks and setting off fireworks. Windows are smoking, smashed and walls are tagged with spray painted messages. A police car is set ablaze.
- [14:30]
Matthew Johnson
What's on fire down there? What the are they doing?
- [14:32]
Ashley Flowers
In a matter of moments, the demonstration.
- [14:35]
Matthew Scher
Honoring a protester killed in an exchange of gunfire with officers earlier this week over the planned Atlanta police training facility nicknamed Cop City took a violent turn. Video shows individuals throwing rocks at windows of downtown. This is an APD vehicle that has windows smashed, multiple windows destroyed on this vehicle. They set off fireworks here.
- [14:56]
Ashley Flowers
Once the protest turned violent, police started swarming the area.
- [15:00]
Matthew Scher
APD says the destruction was stopped quickly and six protesters were arrested.
- [15:05]
Vienna Forrest
I was going to go to that protest, but by the time we got there, we saw people walking away and saying that there's cops. And so we got out of there. I'm not too familiar with what happened that night. I will say that I respect diversity tactics. I do not condemn nor condone the actions taken. The alleged actions taken on January 21.
- [15:30]
Matthew Scher
As the weekend grinds on, Atlanta police chief Darren Sheerbaum joins the recently elected mayor Andre Dickens at an impromptu press conference.
- [15:40]
Matthew Johnson
My message is simple to those who seek to continue this type of criminal behavior. We will find you and we will arrest you and you will be held accountable.
- [15:50]
Matthew Scher
Eventually, the protests do wind down, the broken windows are replaced, the burnt out cruiser is hauled away. But for a grieving mother hundreds of miles away, a different kind of firestorm is just beginning. One that will threaten to swallow her whole.
- [16:14]
Ashley Flowers
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- [17:57]
Matthew Scher
As soon as Belquis is able to secure an emergency visa to the United States, she boards a plane bound from Panama to Atlanta. She spends the flight peering out the window, tears of frustration in her eyes. Although it is her child who is lying in a Georgia morgue, she still knows next to nothing about the circumstances of their death, only the scant details released by the state.
- [18:21]
Belquis Torte
He shot somebody. He shot the police. He trooper. He shot the trooper and luckily the trooper is alive and blah blah. But even the name of the trooper we don't know.
- [18:33]
Matthew Scher
The thing is, Valquis doesn't believe it. Tort was a pacifist. He told her as much. They'd never take up arms.
- [18:42]
Belquis Torte
I asked him, do you have a gun in the in the forest? No mama, I don't have guns here. So in my opinion, he was gun free.
- [18:56]
Matthew Scher
In Atlanta, Belquis makes her way to a friend's house where she's joined by other family members, including Tort's brothers and their father, Joel. The group takes a collective vow. They will get justice For Torte, one way or another. Still, where to start? The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the agency charged with looking into police involved shootings, won't release any information, not until they clear the officers of any wrongdoing or charge them with a crime. Crime. Even finding out where Torte's remains are being kept requires call after call after call with Belquis bounced from one government agency to the next until finally she gets through.
- [19:40]
Belquis Torte
But we didn't like to see.
- [19:42]
Matthew Scher
You didn't want to see.
- [19:43]
Belquis Torte
No, no. It was too depressing to see somebody that is shot so much. What we want to see, we want to see a very dramatic body destroyed.
- [19:56]
Matthew Scher
Around this time, through a friend, Belkis and Joel are introduced to a lawyer named Jeff Filipovitz, who works out of an office in a tall tower in Decatur on the outskirts of Atlanta proper.
- [20:08]
Jeff Filipovitz
What jumped out at me is these are good people, immediately thoughtful people who loved Manuel. And it was just heartbreaking to see it. And what always happens is as soon as there's uncertainty and as soon as answers aren't provided, people start filling in the blanks themselves. And that's a terrible situation to put a grieving family into. And so it was tragic on a number of levels.
- [20:30]
Matthew Scher
As an attorney, Jeff has a very specific clientele.
- [20:34]
Jeff Filipovitz
We do case against police and government, so we do excessive force cases, wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution, First Amendment, jail and prison conditions, denial of medical treatment in jail and prison, basically any kind of government accountability work.
- [20:50]
Matthew Scher
Sitting in his office with Belquis, he agrees to take the case to represent Torte's family. It's a matter of conscience to him. A bit of research reveals that Torte and the other activists like Sarah and Spencer, had not returned to the off limit site of the original forest defender camp. They were in a public part of the South River Forest. They were not breaking the law by their presence. And yet still the cops had acted the way they had with an overwhelming and, to Jeff, terrifying exertion of force.
- [21:24]
Jeff Filipovitz
It was an alarming escalation and I wanted to make sure that the voice that was out there was calling attention to what was going on, because I thought the public really needed to know.
- [21:34]
Matthew Scher
Still, it won't be easy. The GBI and city leaders will dig in their heels. They will not be forthcoming unless compelled to do so. At every juncture, the state will attempt to control the storyline.
- [21:49]
Jeff Filipovitz
The official narrative started right from the start. There was very rarely anything that gave us a deeper glimpse into what evidence they had or what happened. They controlled the narrative exactly like someone who's skilled in handling these situations would.
- [22:04]
Matthew Scher
What was the narrative?
- [22:06]
Jeff Filipovitz
They said they were clearing the forest. Dangerous terrorists who were out there to harm people. And while they were clearing the forest, one of the people in the forest refused to exit their tent and then started shooting at officers. Officers returned fire. Strictly self defense situation as they presented it, and that was it.
- [22:26]
Matthew Scher
But Jeff has questions about that self defense narrative, plenty of them. And the activists closest to Tort have even more. To Matthew, to Vienna. It feels extremely unlikely that Tort would simply open fire on police.
- [22:42]
Vienna Forrest
I can't remember exactly how they worded it, but we can't win with violence. The state is so much better at violence. By their own reasoning, it does not make sense to enact violence on the state because if you open that up, then that puts a lot more people at risk.
- [22:58]
Matthew Johnson
This kind of sounds like a lie from the beginning, you know what I mean? Like, even for somebody that's an onlooker, this kind of sounds like a lie. Oh, yeah, they shut up. Police first. No history of any guns or engagement like that before from us.
- [23:13]
Matthew Scher
The more information that's meted out, the higher the skepticism levels get. For example, a week after the shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announces that because the officers who shot toward were with the Georgia State Patrol, there is no direct video footage of the shooting.
- [23:31]
Jeff Filipovitz
Everybody knows Georgia State Patrol doesn't have body cams. They do mostly traffic enforcement right on the highways. So if they do dash cams, that captures most of what they encounter in their work.
- [23:43]
Matthew Scher
Could be a coincidence, could be bad luck. Either way, it fuels all sorts of speculation. Was Torte specifically and purposefully targeted by a group of officers who weren't using body cams?
- [23:56]
Jeff Filipovitz
There's no way, I believe, that the GBI didn't have people embedded with these protesters. There's no way that they went in here without any intel at all. I want to know what they knew. I want to know who they had targeted. I want to know who they had files on.
- [24:09]
Matthew Scher
In the days after Torte's death, Jeff approaches Belquis with an idea. The full results of Torte's official autopsy won't be released for months. But as a parent, Belquis can request her own. It's within her rights, and it might yield something, anything that can nudge things forward. When Belquis agrees, Jeff arranges for the services of a doctor named Chris Sperry, a former GBI medical examiner who returns his own initial results at the end of January. What did he conclude?
- [24:44]
Jeff Filipovitz
Well, the most shocking thing Was the number of gunshot wounds that Manuel sustained. It was 57 separate gunshot wounds.
- [24:52]
Matthew Scher
Quick note that 57 bullet wounds is not the same as 57 entry wounds. But the paths those bullets took, they speak volumes.
- [25:03]
Jeff Filipovitz
Dr. Sperry also looked at it and thought that based on the gunshot wound patterns that Manuel was first seated when the shots were fired and second, that Manuel's arms were raised.
- [25:14]
Matthew Scher
Supporters of Torte will later seize on this analysis as evidence of Torte's passivity in the face of police aggression. Belquis will go so far as to theorize about what her child was doing when they were shot.
- [25:28]
Belquis Torte
His habit. It was in the morning. He was meditating. So I think they arrived when he was meditating.
- [25:38]
Matthew Scher
Jeff is more equivocal. Maybe Tor was meditating. Maybe they had their arms up. Maybe they were holding a gun. But if the latter explanation is the right one, he'll need to see the 9 millimeter pistol police say they found in Tort's tent.
- [25:53]
Jeff Filipovitz
If animal was holding something, there would likely be defects on whatever they were holding.
- [25:59]
Matthew Scher
Later, the GBI does post a picture online of the weapon, but no obvious defects are visible in the photos. Photo they also publish a point of purchase sale that seems to show Tort acquired the gun a couple years earlier. But the document is pretty heavily redacted. Finally, they release a statement saying that forensic ballistic analysis has confirmed that the projectile recovered from the trooper's wound matches Tehran's handgun. But they don't release the actual analysis itself, just a summary of it. A pattern is emerging. Dribs and drabs of information that the public is expected to take on face value. But never the full picture, never full transparency. It's basically the perfect conditions for doubt to grow. Tell us about the ballistics questions that you have. You know what's missing right now from the record.
- [26:56]
Jeff Filipovitz
What kind of bullets were in each gun? How many bullets were fired by each officer? How many bullets were fired by Manuel's gun? I mean, just to be clear, everything is missing from the record. Every single question anyone could ask about this case just leads to a we don't know.
- [27:15]
Matthew Scher
On February 6th of 2023, with the results of the private autopsy in hand, Belquis and Jeff hold a press conference. Standing in front of the former DeKalb county courthouse. Torte's brother Daniel has his arm around Balqis for most of it. Another family member holds a blown up photo of Torte smiling brightly in the woods.
- [27:37]
Daniel Torte
We are here today because 19 days ago, Manuel Paez Teran was killed by Police officers clearing the forest of protesters. We know very little about what happened on that day, and Manuel's family is here seeking answers.
- [27:57]
Matthew Scher
Jeff wastes no time framing Torte's killing in broader terms.
- [28:02]
Daniel Torte
We have heard the phrase outside agitator used to describe protesters. It's a phrase that has been used since the civil rights movement, and it's a phrase our elected leaders have used. But now we have a new phrase. Domestic terrorist. Before and after Manuel's death, law enforcement arrested peaceful protesters and charged them with domestic terrorism. What is a domestic terrorist, according to our leadership? I will give you examples.
- [28:36]
Matthew Scher
At this point, Jeff produces a list of some of the charges against the forest offenders and begins to read them aloud.
- [28:43]
Daniel Torte
Arrested while sleeping in a hammock with another defendant. Domestic terrorist. Criminally trespassing on posted land, occupying a treehouse and refusing to climb down, resulting in an over 12 hour standoff. Domestic terrorist. We used to call that a sit in protest. Now it's terrorism. Where does that end? Is anyone who is at a protest liable for everything that happens out of protest? Now, are these all domestic terrorists? Is this a law that anyone wants? Is this a rule anyone wants? No matter what?
- [29:17]
Matthew Scher
It's all part of the same issue. Jeff goes on the city, the state they are going to build cop city, no matter who or what attempts to stand in their way. And that should scare everyone, not just the forest defenders and their allies.
- [29:31]
Daniel Torte
And the message is clear. If you stand in our way, we will take you out of our way. We will not tolerate this dissent. There are plenty of crimes that can be charged against any individual who engages in acts of violence. No one condones that. But we cannot ignore this enforcement environment that is starting here in Atlanta, and that one day will be used against other groups. Maybe your group, maybe someone on the opposite end of the spectrum. This is not what we want. And this is not something that encourages a family, a grieving family, to trust what they are being told.
- [30:17]
Matthew Scher
In arranging the press conference, Jeff Filipovitz had two goals. The first being to draw attention to what he viewed as deliberate overreach on the part of prosecutors and law enforcement. The second was to garner enough public pressure to convince the various involved agencies to be more forthcoming about the details of the shooting in the south river forest and that he's not alone. Around the same time, the Southern center for human rights expresses deep concern that the Atlanta police department had, quote, coordinated a raid that did not adhere to its own standard operating procedures relating to body cameras and other behaviors. A few days later, in a Surprise move. The APD agrees to release four videos from four body cams worn by four different officers involved in the raid that killed Tord.
- [31:21]
Ashley Flowers
Hi, I'm Ashley Flowers, and if you're like me and grew up watching America's Most Wanted and reading Nancy Drew, then hi, you're a crime junkie. And I bet that passion for solving mysteries never went away. Which is why we've assembled a team of reporters to dig deep into all the cases we still obsess over. Each Monday, my best friend Britt and I will bring you a case that you won't be able to stop thinking and talking about. So join us by listening to Crime Junkie wherever you listen to podcasts.
- [32:09]
Matthew Scher
Sitting in his office, Jeff cues up the body cam videos. The Atlanta Police Department has released the same videos we played at the beginning of the show. Videos that constitute the best and only publicly available records of towards death and the injury of the state trooper.
- [32:27]
Spencer
This is the Atlanta Police Department.
- [32:29]
Vienna Forrest
You can sign the red or green tank. You come out with your hands up.
- [32:34]
Spencer
Oh, they knew we were coming.
- [32:36]
Matthew Scher
As Jeff discovers the clips follow the progress of a team of Atlanta PD officers through the forest encampment. The gunfire breaks out around the 18 minute mark. An absolute barrage that rings loudly through the woods. Oh.
- [33:02]
Vienna Forrest
Is this target practice?
- [33:05]
Matthew Scher
Watching the video, Jeff understands that he's hearing the sound of the shooting that killed Tort from hundreds of yards away. Real shopping party. He waits to see more, to see Torte in their tent. But no, there are just more holes, more gaps, more questions.
- [33:26]
Jeff Filipovitz
What warnings were given? What authority did officers have claimed to have to order Manuel off of this public land, where they warned about pepper balls, where they said if you don't come out you're going to hear some pops. It's not gunfire. We have to shoot in these pepper balls because you won't come out. And this is the only way we have to enforce this lawful order.
- [33:50]
Matthew Scher
And then there's the footage that will become the centerpiece of the activists argument that law enforcement is hiding the truth of what happened in the forest. The clip starts with a discussion amongst a group of cops who are listening to the sounds of gunfire. And across the forest.
- [34:10]
Vienna Forrest
That sounded like suppressed gunfire.
- [34:13]
Matthew Scher
The officers are hearing mostly suppressed gunfire. And the only ones in the forest with suppressed weapons, to their knowledge, are other members of law enforcement. Which leads one of the cops to draw a very specific conclusion. You fucked your own officer. You fucked your own officer.
- [34:31]
Spencer
Up.
- [34:31]
Matthew Scher
Up.
- [34:32]
Jeff Filipovitz
It's strange that an officer would say that, right? Why? Why would that officer Say that so quickly, unless there was some information conveyed to him about what happened.
- [34:46]
Matthew Scher
The GBI is worried enough about this sort of reasoning that it quickly releases a statement of its own. Quote, speculation is not evidence. Our investigation does not support that statement. We ask for your patience as we continue our investigation. When the investigation is complete, all videos will be provided. Several months later, a new announcement, this one from the District Attorney's office, which says it has examined the findings of the GBI's investigation and determined that no charges should be filed against the troopers. Lethal force, the DA says Will was, quote, objectively reasonable under the circumstances of the case. End quote. All six troopers can head straight back to work. Matthew and Vienna process the news with frustration, with anger, with an increasingly familiar weariness.
- [35:47]
Vienna Forrest
Tor was murdered in a very brutal way, a very visceral way. And there's no justification for that in my mind. I don't care what happened.
- [35:57]
Matthew Johnson
I mean, the President has said of what you can get away with when you're building a facility like this. I mean, yeah, why wouldn't you go for it? I mean, you can get away with it even after you kill somebody.
- [36:09]
Matthew Scher
To Balquis, the fact that the officers have been cleared is just plain agonizing.
- [36:15]
Belquis Torte
I don't think he was killed by people. He was killed by a system. The law that I really care is the God law. Nobody's gonna be away from that. So. And I believe that very strongly, God law is not to play around, to fool around. So I'm peaceful on that.
- [36:48]
Matthew Scher
But there's a silver lining here, if it can be called that. Once an officer involved shooting has been adjudicated, Jeff tells Balqis, the related files can be made public. And those files may provide her more information on how and why Tord died. And yet when Jeff submits a request for the files, he is immediately turned down.
- [37:10]
Jeff Filipovitz
This is the first time where the DA has closed the case, says no charge is going to be brought against these officers, then says, I'm going to defer entirely to the GBI about what happens from here on out. And then the GBI says, we won't produce anything.
- [37:24]
Matthew Scher
No. I don't know if they're depositions, but the police officers involved would have to do an interview on a recording, right?
- [37:30]
Jeff Filipovitz
Correct.
- [37:30]
Matthew Scher
Those presumably exist here.
- [37:32]
Jeff Filipovitz
They better, yeah. We always get audio of the GBI interviews.
- [37:36]
Matthew Scher
Not here, no. Although the GBI has fully cleared the officers, it will not provide any additional information to Jeff or to anyone. What do you think's actually happening?
- [37:50]
Jeff Filipovitz
I don't know. Sure seems like they're hiding something.
- [37:54]
Matthew Scher
That's next time on episode five of We Came to the Forest. If you like We Came to the Forest. You can binge all episodes ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com survey if you have a tip about a story you think we should investigate, please write to us@wondery.com tips we came to the Forest is a production of Wondery, Campside Media and Tenderfoot tv. The series is hosted by me, Matthew Scher and is written and reported by me and Tommy Andres for Campside Media. Our producers are Abacar Adan and Henry Lavoy. Additional production assistance from Timothy Pratt, John Aaliyah Papes, Johnny Kaufman and Jamie Albright. Sound design and mix by Garrett Tiedemann. Our theme is by Mondo Boys, Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set and Garrett Tiedemann. Our studio engineers are Jimmy Guthrie at Arcade 160 and Seth Cohen at Seth Coe. Sound fact checking by Aaliyah Papes Tommy Andres is the Executive Producer. Special thanks to David Eisner. For Wondery. Our Senior producer is Lata Pandya. Coordinating Producer is Sierra Franco. Development Producer is Olivia Weber. Consulting by Cassius Adair of Sylveon Consulting. Executive producers are Vanessa Gregoriadis, Josh Dean, Adam Hoff and me Matthew Schermann for Campside Media. Executive producers are Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay. For Tenderfoot tv. Executive producers are N'idri Eaton, George Lavender, Marshall, Louie and Jen Sargent. For Wondery.
- [40:39]
Campside Media
What if your partner developed 21 new identities? Or you discovered that your friend who helped you through the darkest times was actually a conniving con artist? Or what if you began seeing demons everywhere, inhabiting people around you, including your son? What would you do? I'm Whit Misseldine, the creator of this Is Actually Happening, a podcast that brings you extraordinary true stories of life changing events told by the people who live them. In our newest season you'll hear even more intimate first person accounts of how regular people have overcome remarkable circumstances. Like the man who went to jail for 17 years for accidentally shooting the person who tried to save his life. To a close friend of the infamous scam artist Amanda Riley, these haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies. But I assure you this is actually happening. Follow this Is Actually Happening on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts and you can listen to this Is Actually Happening ad free on wonder plus.