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AR R O E dot net. Enjoy your exploration. Hello and good morning. How are you guys doing today?
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Good. Thank you. Good. Good. Good. I got to ask you a question in the way of how many people
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are you meeting that are sitting here going? Do you realize this is how I lived my life as a young
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adult and teenager and how am I even alive today because it's stories like this that wake up
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that child inside saying you're one lucky son of a gun to be here today.
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It was just such a unique era though that it's such a different world now you know that we live
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in we're kind of so much more aware of social media and I have a teenager and you know young
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teenager and you know I'm constantly bombarded with kind of like positive messages about you
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know how to how to look after them online you know how to do this what we should be aware of
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and everything else you know it's it's it's something it's a constant conversation but back then
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there was there was nothing nobody nobody really. See and that's the thing about like about
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today's modern society I mean you know you know we always talk about ghosting and and you know
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there's bad things that are happening on social media something happens to somebody very close
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to your heart and people like Eric you're going to step up and they're going to make sure that
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hey we're going to we're going to cover all bases and we're going to try to figure out what's
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going on here that's what I love about modern day technology it's an authentic friendship that
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goes below the the surface of your skin yeah yeah I would think that's kind of my big takeaway too
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a lot of people like to blame technology but I think technology in a way keeps us all a little bit
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more honest it keeps everything out there in the open it's a whole lot more challenging to try
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to hide stuff or or to lie and that was especially true 13 14 15 years ago because no one understood
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technology so you weren't even trying to hide at that point right see and the thing about it is
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though is that we talked about this in the very beginning in the way that I can relate with this
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so much and I mean that because because I have done what Skyler did out the window in the car I
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did that and the thing about it is though those that check in with this documentary are going to
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say the same exact thing and the thing is is we're going to be inspired by people like Eric because
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it's like okay if they're doing it then make sure that you give them a gut check and you make
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sure that you're you're keeping up to date with them hey you were doing this the other night you
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were doing this the other night let's find out what you're really up to
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but the the frightening thing about this though was that she was doing that and crawling out of her
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window but she was crawling into a car with people that she knew I think that's that that's one of
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the frightening the really chilling things about all of this is that you know that it's not
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strange danger that it is people that she knew but isn't that what they teach us Eric is the fact
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that it is those that we know that we shouldn't trust the most uh I think I think that's
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what they teach you later on in life yeah well but I think as kids you're you're taught the stranger
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danger kind of thing don't get in the back of a van with candy kind of thing um but and I think
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that's probably something that we need to look at more broadly as a society is when that conversations
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had um I don't have kids to to kind of even begin to navigate that but I think I think it's a lot of
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how we've kind of I don't want to say evolved as a society but it used to always be stranger danger
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yes studies show that it's not the strangers that are going to to affect you it's it's your closest
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friends and allies it's I think that's something that we probably need to revisit of kind of
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uh getting rid of the stranger danger aspect and just uh kind of as terror was the sounds uh just
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focus on the danger uh the danger could be a stranger or your best friend and kind of uh teaching
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people how to navigate that and uh I don't want to say see the warning signs because there wasn't
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really any but uh at least be prepared to to know how to defend yourself and and kind of go
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go through life that way please do not move there's more with Claire Titley and Eric Finch coming up
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the name of the documentary is friends like these we are back with Claire Titley and Eric Finch
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Claire you being a part of this project it is everything what journalism has lifted itself to
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because this is more than just storytelling this is effective and I love the way that you're working
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with everybody involved in this because it really does show that this isn't about armchair
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quarterback sleuths that are trying to solve a case here you really have authentic people and
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this should be an eye opener for those that check in well thank you and it is one of the things
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we tried we were very very determined that this story was going to be told I mean we say from
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kind of like the inside out so it was just it's not just this isn't a police procedural you know
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case that kind of unfolds and we're kind of as you said some armchair detectives it's very much
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we've tried to tell it from the perspective of her friends from from her community around her
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so that um and every every narrative point that we came in on was was was was through that lens
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so that you really get a sense of what it was like to be a teenager at that time so that you
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remember even just what it was like for yourself to be a teenager and what it's when your brain is
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just sort of maybe not fully formed you know your your friendships are so intense um you know
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feelings emotions are so intense and you know consequences can feel kind of quite arbitrary and
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kind of quite distant sometimes that that's the approach that we've truly tried to take with this
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series with all that you know today Eric could you go back to being a teenager again I couldn't
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I mean I guess I could I just don't want to exactly yeah I think I think if if I could it
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probably be a lot easier knowing what I know now but uh I have no no no desire to go back to
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being a teenager what have you learned from this Claire in the way of opening a brand new door
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for sharing stories like this because I don't want to just sit there and put a label on it that says
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oh this is true crime no this is more than true crime this is reality
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I think what I've learned about it or what I've been reminded to do is to kind of keep those lines
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of of of communication open you know so when you're talking to your to your kids you know to kind
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of like to to make sure that you don't want to spy on your kids all the time but you just want
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to make sure that they're able to talk to you about what's going on and that I mean that's a kind
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of a life lesson anyway but I you know whether that's with your kids whether that's with your
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friends whether you know we all kind of know that social media can be a horrendous thing whatever
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age you are you know but it so I think I think that's one of the things that I kind of particularly
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took away from this myself that's the important thing Eric how have you changed because here's
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a thing I talk with a lot of police officers and lawyers across the country and the one thing
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that they're relying on are people like yourself Eric who take a chance to further the investigation
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how have you changed knowing you aren't the same person that you used to be I I don't I mean
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as far as I've changed I don't I don't know because it's been such it's a decade so it's kind of
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it really changed me but it's how it's how it formed me too okay when you're thinking about my
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age in the time you know 16 to 16 to 18s really went all this kind of happened or had the biggest
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impact and so I think it's more so how it formed me and obviously you had the issues with trust
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and navigating those waters I think as far as how it changed me truthfully is I look at law
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enforcement a little bit differently because I know that they had with me and early one I know
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how far off they were and how over time they kind of narrowed down the scope and kind of figured
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things out but I would say that's one part of how it's changed me is to kind of realize everything's
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not as it seems on the surface wow 10 minutes with you guys is never going to be enough but I want
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people to come to this show friends like these because you are opening up a new door of story
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sharing as well as experiences in the everyday world please come back to this show anytime in the
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future thank you thank you be brilliant today you two and once again thank you from my soul to yours
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for doing what you're doing thank you thanks