Fan Favorite - "One Foot Out the Door"

MrBallen (0:00)

Today's episode is a fan favorite. The audio and the story has been remastered for today's episode.

Just after 7 p.m. on June 16th, 2010, an employee at the Palmdale California Sheriff's Department tapped his fingers on the desk inside. The department was usually pretty busy, but this night had been very slow, and so the shift was totally dragging. But as the employee aimlessly moved around some paperwork and shifted in his seat, he suddenly heard something that made him look up. The sound was coming from outside the front doors, and it was muffled, but it sounded like somebody yelling. Then seconds later, a young woman charged through the front doors. She was frantically screaming for help, and she was covered in blood. But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So if that's of interest to you, on the next really hot day, please offer the follow button a nice ice-cold lemonade, but only offer them a soggy crumpled up paper straw to drink it with. Okay, let's get into today's story.

Around 9.30am on June 16th, 2010, a 29-year-old woman named Lanell Barsak lay in bed in her house in Palmdale, California. It was a Wednesday, and Lanell had the day off from her job at a health center in Los Angeles. But she didn't really have time to relax because she was also a college student. She was working on becoming a registered nurse, and she knew she had to get up and go study, but she just didn't feel like it. Plus, she could hear her boyfriend Lewis moving around in the kitchen downstairs, and just knowing Lewis was down there was another reason to stay put.

So, Linnell and Lewis had been together for about four years. They'd met in college and immediately hit it off. Now they own this house together, a five-bedroom home that they had scraped together all their savings to make a down payment on. At the beginning of their relationship, Linnell and Lewis had been completely in love and on the same page about building a life together. But over time, Lewis had become this incredibly jealous and possessive person that was just really volatile, and it really just kind of scared Linnell and was beginning to drive her away. And then, just a few months ago, they had gotten into this huge screaming fight when he had heard her talking to another guy on the phone. That fight had gotten so bad that she had tried to drive away. But Lewis had literally chased her in his truck, which led to both of them crashing.

Even now, as she laid in bed months later, Linnell still felt traumatized by that whole thing. They had eventually made up, but it was hard to look at Lewis in the same way. It was like she couldn't see a future with him anymore. All she saw now was this volatile, controlling guy. And so lately, Linnell was seriously considering ending things with him.

But just then, Linnell's phone buzzed on the nightstand, interrupting her thoughts. It was a message from her friend Lorraine asking if she was up. And as soon as she saw it, Linnell just kind of sighed because she actually had forgotten that she had plans with Lorraine, who would offer to do Linnell's hair that day. So, resigned, she texted Lorraine to come on over. Then, Linnell got out of bed.

About 30 minutes later, Linnell sat on a bar stool and ate breakfast at the Kitchen Island with Louis. The stools were actually some of the only furniture in the whole house. It had already been a year since they'd moved in, but Linnell so far had not had time to decorate. As she ate, Linnell tried to keep her chitchat with Louis to a minimum. They'd been fighting so much lately that she didn't want to accidentally start an argument. But Linnell was a naturally bubbly and talkative person, and so just sitting here being quiet was kind of awkward.

So she was actually relieved when she heard the front door open and her friend Lorraine walked in. Linnell smiled. Lorraine lived right in Palmdale, and so it was nice for Linnell to have a friend so close by. The rest of Linnell's friends and family were in LA, about an hour and a half away. Lorraine walked over and gave Linnell a hug, and the two of them began talking while Louis got ready to leave. He was going to have his truck worked on actually by Lorraine's boyfriend, who lived near LA and would do the work for a low price. It was a long drive, but it was worth it for the savings.