A House of Horrors: Stewart Weldon | Making A Serial Killer | Forensic Files

I did what I did nobody guilty but me you know what I'm saying if she were here now I would
start by telling her that I'm sorry and that I love her I would tell her I need my big
sister back he chose a certain category of victims who he believed he could victimize without
repercussions this is a person who was on a path at an early age and just progressed and became somebody who was a
danger to everybody around him I can only imagine the fear that is felt at this time I would characterize it as evil I
would characterize it as subhuman I think he's a monster every day I am haunted by
memories and images I will never be whole again [Music] [Music] Stuart welon was born in 1977 he grew up
in Jamaica Queens New York which was an area that was known for having a lot of drug
activity his father died when he was a teenager there was indications that he was sexually assaulted that he was
experimenting with drugs and was introduced to pornography at an early age in 1990 just after his father's
death Stuart won's mom moves them out of the city to Montclair New Jersey a safer neighborhood with a lower
crime rate no mother wants to see their child involved in criminal activity so what is
often done is let us move to a more Suburban life and we can start all over that was probably the intent of
this caring mother trying to move her son to a different way of life but Stuart weldon's difficult start
to life continues when he reaches high school he seemed to have some pretty significant learning problems he was
diagnosed with severe ADHD he apparently had dyslexia I think when a child um has
some learning challenges how that child does depends on a couple of different things not just
the severity of their disabilities which is important to know but also how the school handles those so are they getting
diagnosed early are they getting appropriate treatment and it sounds like that he ended up having a pretty limited
education in 1996 Stuart Welden is at a mall and he and his buddy uh basically pick up
three girls they're going to go out and party they end up taking two of them home but the third one they end up
kidnapping and sexually assaulting at the age of 19 when he was in New Jersey he was charged with uh
sexual offenses as well as a weapons charge he was picking up women that were might have been drug involved uh mental
health issues involved in prostitution we often see a progressive nature of criminal offenses For Those
who commit very serious crimes the issues of violence often have their foundation in control that if I'm
able to violently get you to do what I want I have control over you he's not starting out painting
graffiti or even loitering in places where he's not supposed to be or being on top of
the school when he's not supposed to be on there or you know things that we might think juveniles are exhibiting
poor judgment and they're going to grow out of it this kind of crime is not like
that another step up the ladder of engaging in criminal activity engaging in violence especially when you see
sexually uh related or sexually involved offenses you know typically that's a red
flag sometimes those behaviors are innate and they repeat uh sometimes they get progressively
worse it suggests premeditation it suggests violent Behavior it is violent Behavior it suggests predatory behavior
and those are things that are often times predictors of future violence and future
sexual offenses [Music] when we look at serial killers we often do expect them to come from the most
horrendous backgrounds and have parents who don't love them don't care about them abuse them take advantage of them
and then you find parents who for whatever reason uh indulged their children were permissive and basically
prevent that child from developing a sense of right and wrong that's internal [Music]
Stuart weldon's criminality reaches a new level now 28 years old he commits assault with a deadly weapon and
receives a 3-year prison sentence when he's released he moves with his mother again this time to Springfield in
Western Massachusetts they live in a a property made of two separate Apartments it would
hide some chilling Secrets Springfield is the largest city in Western Massachusetts and the largest
city in Hampton County there's a lot of poverty here a lot of crime a lot of drugs essentially
it's an old industrial town that has uh been kind of overtaken by crime and drugs it's essentially like a
distribution center of heroin between Boston and New York this kind of underbelly of criminal
activity um is something that is appealing to him he kind of gravitates to it and I think he feels like he fits
in and he understands it the narcotics detective once told me the only reason we don't have methamphetamine moving
into the Springfield area is because heroin is so cheap here it's likely that his mom thought she was moving him to a
better place what she doesn't realize is she's basically moved moves him from the
frying pan Into the Fire there's a Road in Springfield that is essentially known
for sex workers to hang out for people to be looking for to make money in exchange for drugs and for Stuart Welden
who is very involved in criminal activity this would be like a candy store he could just drive down and pick
and choose whatever he wants Welden became very well known in um circles involving women who were
prostituting themselves became very well known in certain criminal circles in particular
an area of high in School Street in the City of Springfield he became sort of embedded
in in a particular uh criminal aspect here in the City of Springfield when you have kind of a
subculture of criminal behavior in a community it is easier to get away with things because people kind of look out
for each other in a way and you don't stand out Stuart weldon's respect for the law
deteriorates further he breaks into someone's home and when apprehended he violently
attacks a police officer he receives a 2-year prison sentence this is somebody that really
strikes me as he doesn't care about anything he doesn't care about himself that much he puts himself at all kinds
of risk he pulls a knife on a police officer I mean he could have been shot by police for legitimate reasons on many
different occasions so he's somebody who doesn't care about anybody or himself and I
think that is scary that is something you don't often see [Music] Stuart welen was very involved in the drug
world and he was dealing drugs which made it very very easy for him to encourage and entice women who were
struggling with addiction into his car Wen used that as a way to lure them to his
house a lot of the times he would get women into a car with an offer of hey I've got some drugs let's go do them uh
and then as they got closer maybe a negotiation took place about a sex act that ended up going too far but in a lot
of cases women went to his apartment thinking they were going to hang out and then when they got there they would find
out it was far more involved than just smoking drugs together it was more about physical
controls slaps punches uh ordering them around uh forcing acts on them that they
did not agree to he was kind of pushing the boundaries to see what he could get away with he
subjected the victims of his crimes to experiences that could could only be termed as near-death experiences
[Music] Stuart welon now aged 40 already has a criminal history spanning kidnap burglary sexual offenses and assault
with a deadly weapon he served two prison sentences he's now luring vulnerable women to his
basement where he's torturing them almost to the point of death despite this increasingly alarming
Behavior he isn't drawing police attention these women are vulnerable on a lot of different levels not only in
terms of getting into a car with somebody they don't [Music] know not only desperate perhaps in terms
of looking for drugs to kind of feed an addiction but also their relationship with the police is going to be very
difficult and so you know Stuart won knows this he knows that most often when a sex worker is raped or beaten up
either she's not going to go to the police because she's afraid she's going to be arrested for what she's been doing
or that she's not going to be believed and all too often that's exactly what happens these are women who sometimes
fall out of touch with their for periods of time and uh liveed very transient lifestyle so sometimes not being around
uh wouldn't be noticed it was actually the women uh who hung out in high and School Street who are the first ones to
realize we haven't seen this person for a while but even they said that's not uncommon sometimes people go to uh rehab
they get clean or they try to move on or simply find another area move in with a
with a man things like that so these are people whose disappearances might not go
noticed uh right away it is almost a matter of you you haven't punished me so why should I stop
committing the crimes or maybe even escalating those crimes I think we see the latter in this
case you haven't punished me severely I am going to continue doing these crimes and since the system is not stopping me
or deterring me these crimes will continue he does not have some of the normal restraints that most people
have and that makes people afraid of him they're aware that he'll do whatever he's intimidating he'll fight cops he'll
run from cops he'll fight anybody I mean this is somebody who truly seems to have
no restraint when it comes to getting what he wants or doing what he wants to do a lot of these women described
feeling like their life was draining away they were losing vision and unable to speak having that complete and utter
control over someone's life that essentially having the power over whether or not they live or die and
being able to see their face react to the situation that they're in it's just astonishing to see the fact that he's
doing all these things not hiding them not seeming to care about the consequences
[Music] America Len is a 33-year-old mother who's just completed a drug rehabilitation
[Music] program 47-year-old Ernestine Ryan has lived her whole life in Springfield she is a mother and soon to
be [Music] grandmother Kayla Escalante a 26-year-old mom from neighboring lllo struggles with drug addiction and
has lost touch with her [Music] family police have no idea where these three vulnerable women are or even if
they're alive [Music] it's not until 5 months after America Leiden is reported missing that
authorities suspect Weldon is involved the first time I learned about Stuart Welden he was pulled over for a
routine traffic stop essentially by by some detectives the car took off and Mr Weldon had just taken off in the middle
of the stop which obviously the officers gave Chase to him the traffic stop all for the police officer with probable
cause with probable cause to do a search of the vehicle to check out the welfare of the
individuals inside the vehicle and perhaps to ask questions if there is any speculation of criminal activity taking
place this isn't somebody who's sophisticated and trying to hide his criminal activities he's doing whatever
he wants to do right then a Chase occurs and at the end of the chase the police officers find that
there is a woman tied Bound in the back seat of the [Music] car it's really the case of outstanding
police work police officers being observant uh aware of of uh their surroundings and and people of interest
in the area it probably saved a life and it probably saved more than one life the woman who was in the front
passenger seat began screaming and it became very obvious at that point she was significantly
injured she immediately tells them she has been held captive for one month that she has been unsafe unwell
that she's been kidnapped and taken by Welden the police officers uh see some odd and very serious injuries she
complains to them about pain the victim then communicates with police officers about how Mr Welden had
been abusing her and and striking her with an object and she had injuries on her body very consistent with this sort
of abuse she was giving this information a very hysterical uh way that was sometimes difficult to follow a little
rambling she was in obvious trauma and distress essentially saying that he'd been holding her against his her will in
his house for the past 30 days he had been beating her tying her up things like that uh she claimed that he had
been beating her with a hammer in the leg and the injuries to her leg were obvious it was very clear that she'd
been receiving abuse on that leg for quite some time and she had to be rushed to the hospital uh where she was
actually in almost in danger of losing that leg welon is charged with kidnapping
threatening to commit a crime carrying a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest despite the claims of his victim
police don't have enough evidence to search his house Mr won was brought to court and uh
the next day and I I handled the arraignment on that case he was charged with kidnapping and a a variety of other
assaulted charges I believe at that time we requested a high cash bail and he was
held on a million dollar cash bail for given the kidnapping and the serious allegations which we later came to find
out was only the tip of the iceberg we didn't have probable cause at least in my opinion that time to go and search
his home uh that came a few days later [Music] on Springfield police received a call
from his adoptive mother who was complaining about a smell in the basement uh the way she described it to
police officers on on that call was she was worried about potentially there being a dead animal in the basement and
she was afraid to go and check it out a number of uniformed Springfield police officers entered the home and
immediately were struck with uh a very strong inv vile odor that they were familiar with as either decomposing uh
human remains or animal remains for those of us who have been involved in investigation there is a distinct smell
you do not forget at this point it was dark out it was 8:30 or [Music] so I recall getting onto the driveway of
the home I remember smelling an odor that I was somewhat familiar with at the time
even uh a great distance from the home probably 50 ft at the end of the driveway I went accompanied by police
officers into the home and down the stairs I remember at that point the the smell was very very
strong and then I was taken into a a bathroom area and I I witnessed a body there that was uh at that point pretty
severely [Music] decomposed when you find that it is is a human being there is a drop in your in
your heart in your stomach because that was someone's Mom Dad brother sister family
member and when you find that the death has occurred that's an awful lot to take the victim in the bathroom we
believed was the most recent victim went missing sometime April or May of that year a distinctive an tattoo and
fingerprints allow police to identify the first victim as missing 27-year-old Kayla
Escalante her body was bound and gagged the first body was just in a basement bathroom that anyone could have
really walk down to I then walked outside and I was brought down to the garage area down at
the end of the driveway by police officers again the smell was very strong even being in the open air uh walked
into the to the garage just a few steps and could see at that point uh a severely decomposed body the smell was
very strong there were black flies present we believe the victim found in the garage uh was abducted sometime in
April the second victim is confirmed as missing 47-year-old soon to be grandmother Ernestine
Ryan her body was dumped and Loosely covered with cardboard I knew that we we had a very
serious situation on our hands uh I made some phone calls to members of my staff
called uh assistant district attorney Max Bennett and asked him to respond to the
scene at that point it looked like we had two bodies that had just been kind of [Music]
left the following day after detective had noticed uh Disturbed dirt underneath a wooden shed in the backyard and a uh
State Police Cav dog had alerted on the area detectives began digging there where we Unearthed the body of the third
victim bound with internet cords computer cables and almost completely decomposed
in a skeletal fashion uh with very little tissue left based on our investigation we
pieced together we believe she went missing sometime in September investigators need to use
dental records to identify 34-year-old America lien it certainly presents in in my
experience now as a very unique crime scene and uh a very unique set of circumstances that um you know at the
time were were startling were were scary were horrifying and now stand out as uh some
of the more uh heinous crimes and really egregious you know scenery that that I've seen in my years in law
enforcement women that were in the home while his mother was around or present in the home they walked out alive uh
when his mother would leave the house or be gone for a long periods of time that's when we believe the murders
occurred we do believe that Mr Welden has been living up uh up until the time of his
arrest at this address this is a a largely residential area with you know sort of middle class
families who take pride in their homes and who go to work every day you know children lived in that neighborhood uh
so there was a lot of shock especially from that area of the City of Springfield that you know this kind of
behavior that became National and international news was happen happening you know just yards away from their
[Music] homes Welden is now charged with the murders of America Leiden Ernestine Ryan
and Kayla Escalante along with the previous charges related to the kidnap and attempted murder of the victim found in
his car with well off the streets other victims now feel able to report what he's done to
them so here you have Welden in police custody and police work now shows that a series of rapes that had been ongoing in
that same city also stopped police work then puts two and two together to look at Welden perhaps
being the suspect for those rapes he was incredibly brutal in his rapes and I think that he didn't really
care if they lived or not I can certainly see that once somebody died in his care how that would become
an additional fun thing for him and then it would continue even if something was reported
to police you know Prosecuting a case involving a person with serious mental health issues
and serious addiction issues who's homeless in transient really presents very difficult
circumstances for prosecutors to maintain you know these cases are very challenging it wasn't until a lot of
these women realized that women they knew had been killed in that house that's what brought them forward it was
doing it for other people and realizing this this was a lot more serious and they had to stand up for these women
that no longer had a voice he's looking for people who are less likely to go to the police he made
several statements to some of them go tell someone no one's going to believe you a and quite frankly that that's the
exact mentality of the women that he was seeking out people who didn't think they'd be believed who didn't think it
was worth coming forward and would just be happy to move on with their lives after the fact having
escaped his objectives with with these women his propensity to rape and commit acts of violence are are are things that
have no place in our society those rapes We Believe became more and more violent involv
strangulation involved the use of uh various sort of tools or Machinery in in to to carry out these rapes and to carry
out uh the violence that was a part of this experience for Mr Welden some cases murder becomes a
product of one's desire not to be apprehended but we believe in Mr welden's case it was truly a sexual
murder in which the murder became a part of uh his fantasy and carrying out his desires Stuart welen was a sexual
stist in many respects so it wasn't just a murder this isn't somebody who's raping women and then killing them to
avoid capture this is somebody that I think given the level of torture that he inflicted on his victims who got sexual
satisfaction from that torture from hurting them from seeing them cry or beg or [Music]
plead eight cases of rape are added to weldon's charges thanks to the testimony of survivors who are granted
anonymity a rape by its very definition is a vile act one of the most heinous crimes that um we know uh in our
Criminal Justice System but certainly Stuart welden's behaviors as we came to know them were particularly dark uh and
focused where he brought them to a level of violence where uh they were strangled
where they were beaten and so on and so forth in very very severe ways this guy is not just a min
to sex workers this guy is a loose cannon to everybody in his life this is somebody who's been known
to threaten to shoot up a bar because he's angry to assault a woman on the street and yet this is somebody who's
engaging in all of these activities in any other neighborhood this guy would be in in
jail and then prison for any one of these and yet he seems to be operating with few consequences if
any Welden pleads not guilty to all charges as prosecutors prepare for trial they fear the nature of the crime scene
and the accounts of some survivors may allow Welden to plead Insanity so at that point it was my
concern that this is going to bode poorly for us trying to prove that he was able to conform his conduct the fact
he would leave rotting bodies out like this [Music] [Music] there was a description by one victim of
him uh essentially putting candles on the floor in a pentagram another one indicated that he
had motioned to an area underneath the basement stairs and said that a demon lived there and he threw salt there um
other times he he would just maybe ramble about something satanic in a way that uh the victims couldn't really tell
us exactly what he was saying just that he was rambling on about satanic things one of the things that I do
wonder about Stuart welen is whether he had some kind of brain impairment or brain damage that in some
respects affected his impulsivity that's a problem for us because one of the things we're going to have to prove in
this case is that he was uh sane and that he appreciated the wrongfulness of his actions and that he had the ability
to conduct himself in a lawful manner when you hear things like that or the fact that he he was obsessed with a
ghost detecting web site those are things that you're going to need to [Music] explain Stuart welon is in custody
pleading not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and 49 other charges relating to a total of 11
victims prosecutors are working to prove he was criminally responsible for his actions as they fear weldon's defense
may claim Welden was insane or under the effects of a mental disorder at the time
of the offenses he's due to face trial in April 2020 we had to show that there was going
to be some kind of organization to What's Happening Here some kind of some kind of pattern rather than just random
chaotic violence I tell this a lots of new prosecutors the most important witness and the most consistent witness
in any murder prosecution is going to be your scene we had to ask for an extension here
because crime scene detectives spent days digging in that yard and then going through that house and being very
careful to procure DNA evidence swabbing everything uh looking for fingerprints things like
that they were very careful in making sure that they're preserving evidence this is preserving your crime scene are
you keeping as many people out of the crime scene as possible are you thinking in the fure future is there something
that could change my crime scene weather for example we had to take a lot of small disparate pieces of evidence link
them together to build a pattern that we could extrapolate we found two bleach bottles
there which kind of indicated some kind of cleanup had happened the ground was sticky also indicating some kind of
cleanup had occurred under there at some point yo it's me Jersey I apologize if I ever my over
say wish I could have did better with my life you know what I'm saying but I'm tired of living
man the video isn't a confession but evidence of Welden trying to cover his actions would help prove he was acting
with intent there were inconsistencies in his story too it became kind of known to me that
he might be saying the the victims were only bound after they were they were killed so that they' be easier to move
and so we had to look at the exact circumstances we found him in at that point and uh the first victim uh in
discussions with the medical examiner we were able to determine that the she was
bound in duct tape and due to some of the lividity and the blanching of the skin uh that medical examiner was going
to be able to give us testimony saying that blood was still flowing at the time that those Bonds were were applied lied
to the victim and that she was alive when that happened there's a broken hyoid bone in
the neck and and we knew that to mean that some Force had been applied manually to the neck uh most likely with
hands we got very lucky with a DNA hit from our second victim uh on one of the backs of the post there which let us
know her body had some at some point been underneath those basement steps and then we found her in the garage that was
very helpful because it brought back uh the art Theory essentially that the bad things were happening to these women in
the basement and then the bodies were brought out which showed an organized pattern and that allowed us to start uh
bringing in the stories of the survivors from from uh his basement and we're able
to start applying what happened to them to what happened to the bodies that we [Applause]
found essentially through all these pieces of evidence it became very clear that Mr Welden knew uh who was a
suitable victim for what he wanted to do he knew where to procure them from and how to procure them uh without any
resistance there weren't reports coming in of him dragging women into his cars he knew how to charm them in and then he
knew how far he could go with these women if there's someone in the house he knew he had he had to let them go if he
knew he had the house kind of completely unfettered for a long period of time that's when we believe these killings
were happening [Music] [Music] when you have bodies buried in your basement you know one of the only
options left is to plead insanity and the fact that he didn't plead Insanity U likely means he was evaluated and was
told as an attorneys were told that he doesn't meet the insanity defense he wasn't legally insane at the time he
committed these crimes this was definitely premeditated and well thought out by him people evaluated him and said
bad news you're not insane to discover that a human human being was capable of uh really
torturing victims uh systematically in that home and the the deaths that those three
women experienced and what Mr Welden did in frankly a ham-handed attempt to cover
up his crimes is very unique it it's it's something that I have not seen otherwise
and I hope to never see [Music] [Music] again pleas be seated course now on session no talking
[Music] please your honor many of these women didn't come forward because they were terrified
about what happened to them based on who they were how they lived what they were
going through they didn't think anyone would believe them or care about what happened to them the only good thing
that comes from this case your honor now they know that that's not true when America Ernestine and cayb
were in his house he knew he had that house to himself for an extended period of time he knew he would not be
interrupted or disturbed he would have time to do what he needed he tailored his lies and the
cover up about this case depending on who he was talking to he would explain the smell in a way that was designed to
cause the least amount of alarm to his audience he tailored these lies about the smell while searching the internet
on how to remove the smell of dead animal carcasses always careful to never search them as dead bodies
the intent for what he did here is all over this case kayy was a daughter a sister and a
mother she could light up a room with her smile fill it with her laughter her love for her friends and
her family never dwindled but instead it grew every day she could love with the power of a
thousand Hearts she never gave up on the things that meant the most to her there are no words to describe the
pain in my heart that start of the day I found out my mom was one of the defendant
victims the feelings of hurt sadness confusion loneliness regret and most of all anger are just few of my daily
emotions now I wake up every day hoping that this was all the bad dream and relive the world
when I realized it was real they they say time heals all all wounds but your honor I don't feel like this is
a wound that will ever heal I miss my mom for 3 months I wondered every single day where she was
is she okay having hope we would see her again the day I gave birth I still wasn't aware she was dead playing alone
in a dirty dark garage my life crumbled and stopped the minute the detectives came to my
door I'll never forget those moments every day I am haunted by memories and images I will never be whole again
the defendant took away my daughter my sweet little angel Kayla Jean take care Out Mr Stewart Wen in consideration of
this offense court orders that you be confined at MCI Cedar Junction for the term of your natural
life to give voice to people who are downtrodden to give a sense of respect to people who have really been at the
lowest rungs of society for a very long time uh to give a sense of purpose and meaning to people who are suffering from
addiction and are suffering from mental health issues to give them worth through
this process is is really very special work I want to give credit to our team and in particular assistant district
attorney Max Ben who pieced together a case and worked with great compassion and in great fortitude to
give the murder victims families and the living victims a sense of dignity a sense of closure a sense of
justice around the horrible things that happened to them or happened to their loved ones there's nothing I could say
that would ease the pain of the of the families of of the victims in this case seart won's victims were at a very
desperate point in their lives and they were all battling addiction and trying to beat it and it's can be easy to
forget that these were women who had children often they were sisters they were daughters they had interest they you
know they loved their family and they really were much more than that snapshot of what they were struggling
with when they died [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

When multiple women are reported missing in Springfield, Massachusetts, a shocking crime scene unfolds after police receive complaints that there is a foul odor coming from the home of Stewart Weldon.

Stewart Weldon was a career criminal who was operating in plain sight. Until, police uncover a gruesome scene inside Stewart’s home.

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Brief Summary

Stuart Weldon's violent history culminates in the kidnapping and murder of three women, revealing the impact on victims and their families.

Key points

The Rise of Stuart Welden. Stuart Welden's troubling childhood and early criminal behavior set the stage for his later crimes.
The Chilling Discovery. Police uncover the bodies of multiple victims in Welden's home, revealing the extent of his crimes.
The Arrest of a Monster. Welden's capture leads to the revelation of his brutal crimes against vulnerable women.
Welden's Manipulation. Prosecutors reveal how Welden tailored his lies to evade suspicion.
The Pain of Loss. A daughter shares her heart-wrenching experience of losing her mother to violence.
A Grieving Mother's Plea. A mother speaks about the profound impact of losing her daughter to violence.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I would tell her I need my big sister.

A heartfelt expression of loss and longing.

0:21WatchNov 17, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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