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The Case of Alisha Burns
📻 Episode #272
🎙️ Hosted by Maggie Freleng
📅 Jun 27, 2022
About This Episode
In 2002, 15 year old Alisha Burns ran away from her foster home with Steven Kaczmarek, a sex trafficker who then groomed her to act as a prostitute for wealthy-looking men. On September 25, Burns was offered cash in exchange for sex iin Las Vegas, Nevada by Pedro Villareal. When they arrived at Villareal’s residence,…
The Case
In 2002, 15 year old Alisha Burns ran away from her foster home with Steven Kaczmarek, a sex trafficker who then groomed her to act as a prostitute for wealthy-looking men. On September 25, Burns was offered cash in exchange for sex iin Las Vegas, Nevada by Pedro Villareal. When they arrived at Villareal’s residence, Kaczmarek and his friend “Tommy” attacked Villareal in an attempt to rob him. Villareal was later found dead in the same room. Burns and Kaczmarek were arrested, and in highly unusual fashion Burns was allowed contact with Kaczmarek while in the custody of the police. During their conversations, he coerced her into accepting a guilty plea. She plead guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years. Maggie speaks to Alisha Burns, Kelly Diane Galloway- an Advocate from Project Mona's House, and Burns’ attorney, Tony Abbatangelo.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/SupportAlishaBurns
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:04:19“Speaker 3: I went through thirty six different placements between the ages Speaker 3: of eleven and fifteen, so I was booted around a Speaker 3: lot and just kind of did the foster care system Speaker 3: thing before I ended up in prison. Speaker 5: In two thousand and two, Alicia, now a teenager, was”
00:17:04“Speaker 3: his ass. Instead of like being known as a child molester, Speaker 3: he'd rather be known as someone who was like robbing Speaker 3: someone and you know, and did. Speaker 3: So he had told other inmates about that, and they Speaker 3: called the homicide detectives.”
00:29:15“Speaker 10: and that will reflect who was in there, and that Speaker 10: could help Alicia's claim that he was still alive. Speaker 5: It was at this time that Alicia started to realize Speaker 5: the truth about her time with Cosmeric. Speaker 6: You know, there were.”
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Also on the podcast: #566 Josh Burns