Episode 363

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

**Corey Bailey** (0:12)
Oh, you know, as I heard shooting upstairs, and then my mother yelling and screaming.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:22)
I want to say, I have to thank you guys. Some of you are so nice. You really are. I had mentioned something briefly about an illness that I suffered over the last couple of years. And so many of you reached out and said, you know, you were praying for me that you hoped I got better, that you were curious about what it was.
I don't want to put certain parts of my life out there in the public. Just, it's just not a good idea. But I do want to thank all of you for the kind words. You know, I was really thinking about maybe this being the last season of Sword and Scale ever, because we're kind of in a transitional period. And a lot of the audiences dropped off probably due to some of the politics of some of the themes we cover here. But I took a couple weeks to just clear my mind. And I don't think I'm going to do that.
I don't think I can do that. This show is now firmly part of me. And we're just going to keep making it better.
Boots scraping over dirt and construction dust. Their eyes dart back and forth. Past fresh block walls, unfinished houses, open lots and weeds tall enough to, perhaps, hide someone. Someone named Mia Bailey. They've been looking for her since the previous evening through a dry creek bed near River Road, under bridges and around a golf course. They're searching with drones, a helicopter and a canine dog tracking through the dark. SWAT teams are poised. Officers have gone house to house asking neighbors what they saw, whether they know Mia, and whether they have any idea where she might have gone. By morning, the search has shifted into this new subdivision, where officers have to clear backyards, check unsecured houses, and try to keep residents out of the line of fire. From above, the scene is all angles and movement. Patrol cars blocking new streets, officers posted at corners. Other deputies move alongside yards and unfinished walls, all of them watching the same rough field behind the homes.
Mia is armed, and she's desperate. Police believe she has already killed two people.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:27)
This is the turn of the Jewish Police Department. We have you surrounded. Come out of your house.
This is the turn of the Jewish Police Department. If you come out of your house and comply, you will not be injured. Again, come out of your house, you will not be injured.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:44)
This is a new neighborhood. In a way, it seems post-apocalyptic or dystopian.
The sun is glaring, bullhorns blaring, but the landscape is barren and dry.

**Courtney Sinagra** (3:59)
My name is Courtney Sinagra. I'm a Deputy Washington County Attorney. I'm a prosecutor and I'm also our office's Public Information Officer. And I was involved in the Mia Bailey case from the night of the incident.
Any of the experiences that I share are my own personal experiences, my own personal opinions, and not necessarily reflective of the Washington County Attorney's Office. This is a nice neighborhood in our county, more affluent. In fact, one of our top attorneys lived just across the street from the scene. And so she came out, she was gardening, she was like trimming her rosebushes, and all these cop cars are there responding.

**SPEAKER_3** (4:51)
Behind the houses, the land opens into a rough dirt field dotted with dry brush and tumbleweeds. In places, the weeds are high enough to hide a person. Officers move car to car, wall to wall, trying to hold a perimeter around it.
Some of the homes have residents and some are still under construction. Every open door, every backyard, every unfinished garage is another place Mia could be hiding. No one wants to be that officer who accidentally walks past her.
They clear what they can. They watch their angles and they call out warnings. They talk over the radio about crossfire. The helicopter overhead is noisy, making it hard to hear each other. Then finally, someone gets eyes on her.

**Tyler** (5:43)
Should I tell her we're on the helicopter and we can see her and to comply?

**SPEAKER_9** (5:47)
Hold on, hold on.

**SPEAKER_3** (5:48)
Okay.

**Tyler** (5:51)
That's going to be us, LT.

**SPEAKER_8** (5:52)
She's 30 yards out.

**SPEAKER_9** (5:53)
From here?

**SPEAKER_4** (5:54)
Yeah, on the ground under a berm.

**Tyler** (5:56)
Okay.

**SPEAKER_8** (6:00)
Mia, we can see you on the ground laying down.