Transcript

Episode 314

From Sword and Scale · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 14 min · 12,276 words · 252 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Episode 314", an episode of Sword and Scale published December 17, 2025 (1 h 14 min, about 12,276 words). It mentions 15 people, works and ideas, including Alex Chris, Dave Beckett, Lake Worth, Mike Budet, Palm Beach County.

What this episode is about

Episode 314 of Sword and Scale examines the darker aspects of human nature, specifically focusing on violence and crime. The episode begins with a personal reflection from the host, Mike Budet, who transitions into detailing a specific murder case that unfolds on November 25, 2017, in Lake Worth, Florida, as an employee at a train station frantically seeks help.

Key takeaways

  • Sword and Scale: where psychoanalysis meets morbid curiosity—your guilty pleasure has never been so chillingly entertaining.
  • Emotional detachment is the new currency here; welcome to the true crime circus where empathy goes off the rails.
  • Forget the politics; in this show, humanity's darkest corners take center stage—who needs lighthearted tunes anyway?
  • Why comfort the disturbed when we can entertain? Welcome to the blood-soaked stage of moral dilemmas and true crime.
  • Listener discretion isn't just advised; it's essential—because sometimes the monsters under your bed get their own podcast.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Lake Worth, Kinnerton – Charlie, Mike Budet, Palm Beach County
  2. – 20:00: Tasha McGra, Carol Thompson, Alex Chris, Palm Beach County
  3. – 30:00: Carol Thompson, Kenny Schmite, Dunkin Donuts, Dave Beckett
  4. – 40:00: Cicero Institute, Dave Beckett, Lake Worth, Robert Peller
  5. – 50:00: Dave Beckett, Robert Peller
  6. – 1:00:00: Alex Chris, Miranda v. Arizona
  7. – 1:10:00: Dave Beckett, Palm Beach County, Cicero Institute

Notable quotes from "Episode 314"

  • Hi, this is episode 314 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters sometimes don't need a bunch of dubstep.
    about Mike Budet · at
  • There was distance between the tents and shared resources. This wasn't just survival. It was strategy. In 2017, sleeping in public was criminalized in Palm Beach County, a…
    about Palm Beach County · at
  • Can you tell me who resides in this location?
    about Tasha McGra · at
  • May have never found out about it off the tri- rail tracks in Lakew Worth, Florida. Passengers on various trains had noticed the dead body of a middle-aged man out on the…
    about Lake Worth · at
  • Normal day. Go ahead. We went to Dunkin Donuts, came back, and this is what where we're at. We were in a tent watching TV when the sheriff showed up.
    about Carol Thompson · at
  • Well, I've known Chris for the better part of I don't know four or five years now.
    about Robert Peller · at
  • All just the mumblings of a man who desperately needed psychiatric medication. But Dave Beckett had been slaughtered to death with a 4ft long sword. Dave may have been a…
    about Dave Beckett · at
  • He didn't have the sword. You don't know what they No, we got statements from them. They saw you running after him with a sword.
    about Alex Chris · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Alex Chris — Person · Primary suspect / perpetrator in case narrative (homeless encampment resident) · 3 mentions · first at
    Central figure in the episode’s murder narrative; identified as the encampment resident who allegedly killed Dave Beckett with a sword and is later named as George Christopher Livingston.
  • Dave Beckett — Person · Homicide victim (as depicted in episode) · 7 mentions · first at
    Victim found dead near Tri-Rail tracks; described as a labor hall worker with a reputation as a sexual predator, central to the motive/self-defense claims discussed.
  • Mike Budet — Person · Host · 1 mention · first at
    Introduces and narrates the episode of Sword and Scale, providing commentary and framing around the case and homelessness policy debate.
  • Tasha McGra — Person · Witness / encampment resident interviewed by police (as depicted in episode) · 3 mentions · first at
    Provides key descriptions of the encampment layout, Chris’s behavior, and Dave’s reputation; her statements help contextualize motive and fear within the camp.
  • Robert Peller — Person · Witness / encampment resident; partner of Tasha (as depicted in episode) · 3 mentions · first at
    Key witness who reports seeing Chris chase and fight with a man later identified as Dave; confirms identity from photo and describes Chris’s weapons.
  • Carol Thompson — Person · Witness / encampment resident interviewed by police (as depicted in episode) · 4 mentions · first at
    Describes Chris’s routine screaming, perceived mental illness, and his request for an ace bandage; relays Chris’s claim that someone tried to rape him.
  • Kenny Schmite — Person · Witness / encampment resident interviewed by police (as depicted in episode) · 3 mentions · first at
    Corroborates Chris’s instability and weapons cache; mentions train-stopping “game” and that Chris asked for an ace bandage earlier that day.
    He's got all kinds of swords, knives, throwing stars, all kinds of Wow. Okay.
  • Devin Kurtz — Person · Referenced expert / interview clip (public policy) · 1 mention · first at
    Provides policy commentary on encampments, policing, and unsheltered homelessness; presented as Cicero Institute’s public safety policy director.
    The Cicero Institute's hallmark policy is the prohibition of street camping.
  • Kinnerton – Charlie — Person · 911 caller / Tri-Rail employee (as depicted in episode) · 2 mentions · first at
    Initiates the emergency response by reporting a person/body near the tracks, triggering police discovery of the homicide scene.
    Yeah. Hi, my name's Charlie and I'm calling from Fly Rail and I'm here to report one of our passing trains reported that just north about 100 ft north of the 7th Avenue North crossing.

Companies & orgs

  • Cicero Institute — Company · Referenced organization · 4 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of discussing homelessness policies and encampment bans.
    The public policy think tank argues that the housing first model has failed and instead supports banning unauthorized street camping and reallocating funds from permanent housing to short-term.
  • Dunkin Donuts — Company · Incidental mention · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a place visited by characters in the story.
    Carol and her husband spent most of their time shuffling back and forth from the Dunkin Donuts to their tent. Inside, they had set up a makeshift kitchen and bedroom where they tried to stay away.
  • Fly Rail — Company · Incidental mention · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the employer of a 911 caller reporting the incident.
    Yeah. Hi, my name's Charlie and I'm calling from Fly Rail and I'm here to report one of our passing trains reported that just north about 100 ft north of the 7th Avenue North crossing in Lake Worth. We have a crossing there.

Concepts & topics

  • Miranda v. Arizona — Concept · Legal reference · 1 mention · first at
    Referenced in the context of Miranda rights being read to a suspect.
    The Supreme Court ruled in Miranda v.

Places & events

  • Lake Worth — Place · Setting · 3 mentions · first at
    Primary location where the events of the episode take place.
  • Palm Beach County — Place · Jurisdiction · 3 mentions · first at
    The county where Lake Worth is located, mentioned in the context of local laws and enforcement.

Full transcript with timestamps

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

Why don't you ask him how many people he's raped and how many people he's murdered? Why didn't you bring him to justice? Hi, this is episode 314 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters sometimes don't need a bunch of dubstep. I'm your host, Mike Budet. Or sometimes it's bidday, or sometimes it's just that Nazi or that racist or that misogynist over there, the one that uh hosts that show that nobody likes. Anyway, I'm here not to talk about politics, but I'm just going to play some jams today because you know what? That's all I've ever wanted to do.

I just wanted to be a DJ. Just wanted to play some tunes, you know? Well, uh, people listened and praised me for it. So, that's what we're doing. That's nice, isn't it? Got to love that jazz guitar. Oh yeah. They say that when you uh get tired of what it is you're doing, when you when you get sick of it, you should probably stop doing it. Well, the people that say that are [ __ ] morons cuz you still have a mortgage and some electric bills and whatnot. So, here we are again, and we're going to tell you a murder story. Yes, we are.

Unfortunately, somebody has to die for your entertainment, you [ __ ] weirdos. But, uh, it is what you've come to expect when you come here, isn't it? I guess that's my fault. I guess everything is my fault. I keep doing bad things. I'm such an unempathetic jerk, you know. I should probably just quit and delete my show. Ren would throw a parade. Actually, that's a good reason to keep going.

November 25th, 2017. It was just after 4:00 in the afternoon in Lakew Worth, Florida. At the Tri Rail station, an employee was frantically pacing in his booth as he called 911. A crisis was looming on the train tracks.

Sheriff. Yeah. Hi, my name's Charlie and I'm calling from Fly Rail and I'm here to report one of our passing trains uh reported that uh just north about 100 ft north of the 7th Avenue North crossing in Lake Worth. We have a crossing there just west of I 95. There is somebody lying down about 10 ft east of the east track lying on the ground. We don't know if it's a if it's a body or if it's a uh uh you know somebody just sleeping or whatever. I do have security on the way.

One second, please. Yeah, Paul, go ahead. As the caller was on the phone, one of his colleagues came into the booth. He had more to report on this mysterious body

covered in blood. So, I'm going to shut everything down. All right. Radio that was about that. Yeah, that's exactly right.

All right. So, 7th Avenue North and where else? Uh, well, on the railroad tracks, the uh tri rail tracks.

The body on the side of the tracks was covered in blood. His legs and arms spled out. It wasn't clear whether he was dead or alive just yet, and no one could get close enough because the trains were still rolling into the station one by one. Panic set in as the Triel employees tried to figure out what had happened. If he'd been hit by a train, this could be a major problem. Terrible optics. We know how important PR is these days. The crew had no choice but to call an emergency and try to shut things down as quickly as they could.

And is he breathing? Um, you you know what I do? So, okay. So, all right. I'm going to get the termin. But near the tri rail station.

Hold on a second. Tri rail track. Near the tri rail tracks. There's a male covered in blood.

Okay. Is he on east or west side of the track? East. East side of the track. Sir, what's your name?

Charlie. Is he breathing, sir, or did you know of Can you ask your guy there on the radio?

They they just called him. This came from a passing train. Uh that's all they had first. They said, you know, it looked like maybe a body or somebody sleeping there. And then the second train just went by and you heard what I did from the dispatcher about this uh

EMS. Just just for your guys information there, I guess we're getting another call and they said that the guy is possibly deceased and he's uh possibly got hit by a train possibly.

Trains kept rolling through the station as calls flooded in. At the same moment, another passenger dialed 911 from his cell phone. I'm taking the train down from um West Palm Beach Station down. There was a dead man on the side of the train. I saw him from the window. Did you see that? There's a dead guy on the side of the road. You may get

Where? Where at, sir? Yes. This I'm talking to an officer right now on the train to him. Okay.

Okay. But he's on the train. No, no, he was laying on the ground. I was looking out the windows. We're pulling into the Lake Forest Station just above Lake Forest Station. There was a man either he got shot and he's or he got hit by the train.

Okay, so this is at the Lakew Worth Tyrell Station above above the Lakeworth station along the track. So we're slowing down coming into the station. There was a dead man on Saturday. He's all bloodied up and beat up.

Passengers had gathered around the collar. How could they not? After miles of gravel and green bushes, they rolled into the city station. And just as the train picked up speed again, there it was. A bloody mess just off the tracks. Looks like somebody was crossing traffic got hit by the northbound train.

All right, stand up. I need to get the paramedics on the line. Okay. The train kept going. The body was now a memory in the distance, but that image was unshakable.

I'm just talking to the officer here on the train. There's already people on the way to take care of it.

What's the address, sir? Um, there is no address. I'm on the uh Amtrak train heading south just above Lake Worth Station. There was a man on the other side of the track. I was looking out the window. He was dead. From what I can see, he was really messed up. Um, can you tell me, are you just north of Lakew Worth Road? Actually, no. We're I'm on a train. We're just north of Lake Worth station along the train tracks. He's along the train tracks on the on the north south side of the train just on the other side of the track. He was laying face up and was a mess up. I mean, literally, his feet are probably just fall off the track.

Passengers talked in groups, trading half for memories of the body. they thought they saw as the train sped on. Meanwhile, Tri Rail employees were still on the phone with 911, trying to make sense of it all. What most passengers didn't know is that this wasn't just a one-off tragedy. In cities across America, the edges of public infrastructure like train tracks, underpasses, and wooded areas have quietly become home for those with nowhere else to go. Who's That's another call. That's another call that I guess a a citizen called that in.

So he was like right by the track. Your driver said, "Yeah, about 10 ft east of the tracks."

We do have a train traffic shut down at this time. And he didn't say if he could tell approximately how old this male was or anything like that.

No, ma'am. Do you have a description or anything like that? Why not Hispanic? Nothing. The Palm Beach Sheriff soon arrived at the train station. They hiked up the tracks towards the bloody man. The closer they walked, the more obvious it became. This man hadn't been hit by a train. He'd been butchered. He lay sprawled on the cobblestones, blood soaking the rocks beneath his head. His blue eyes stared skyward, frozen in fear. The victim had a fatal stab wound to the neck. the source of all the blood. He also had defensive wounds on the fingers of both hands, a laceration to his left hand and his stomach, and a slice to his right jawline.

It was brutal. His t-shirt, his khaki shorts, his bare feet. The man looked like someone's middle-aged dad who'd wandered off the beach and walked straight into hell. Blood covered every inch of him. As officers moved up the tracks, they spotted a pair of sunglasses. Then a few steps later, they found it. A 4- foot long broad sword, slick with blood. Think of uh Braveheart. The officers paused. The sword was ornate. It had a woven silver handle with two floral designs at the edges. It looked like something out of a Scottish museum. Yet here it was lying on the dirty rocks by the train tracks covered in blood.

Nothing about the victim fit the weapon, but the blood, the sword, it all pointed to something very deliberate. That's when officers heard it. Voices drifting from the trees just beyond the tracks. So they started walking. As they did, they found themselves following a trail of blood towards the sounds. In the brush, about 75 ft north of where the body was found, the police discovered a small homeless encampment. The camp wasn't accidental. It was laid out with intention. There was distance between the tents and shared resources. This wasn't just survival. It was strategy. In 2017, sleeping in public was criminalized in Palm Beach County, a place where lots of very wealthy people live. So, the people here stayed out of sight and far from the law.

There was one large tent on the far north side of the camp, tucked away in trees, like a little plastic cottage. About 20 ft down from that was another tent set up in the same neat and organized fashion as the first one. The police drew their weapons and announced themselves. Two couples emerged from the tents with their hands up and shocked faces. After things cooled down, the police started recording.

All right. Who would like to uh who would like to speak with me? Take your pick.

All right. How about we go this way? You're up. All right. Hi, I'm Paul. Excuse me. I'm Paul.

Tasha. My hands are dirty. Okay. I'm sorry. Um, no, it's okay. Can uh what is your first name?

Tasha. T A S H A. Can you tell me who resides in this location? Uh, as far as I know, it's just Robert and I are in this first tent.

Okay. and it's green and it's got like a black tarp um that's got the Mis Queen plastic piece over top of it

and then pretty good distance away you have to walk a path through in between there's a generator after the generator is the white and blue tent.

Okay. So your tent is the furthest north. Ours is the furthest north. Okay. All right. So then you pass a generator. Who do you get to next? I get to which I thought her name was Glattis today. What's her name? It's Carol.

That's how close we stay as neighbors. And then I know Kenny because he work with Robert. He lives with Carol.

According to Tasha McGra, the camp was quite spread out. Tasha and Robert Peller shared a generator with another homeless couple, Carol Thompson and Kenny Schmite. But that was about all they shared.

Robert and Tasha, Carol/Glattis and Kenny. And then who else is here? I know that somewhere this way there was a guy named Chris. And I only know of him I because he has I guess Tourette's is what I was told.

He had what? He has Tourette's. He has Tourette's. That's was my guess. Okay. because he spends hours on end yelling, "Get out of my ass. Get out of my house. I said no." I, you know, and I mean, he does it continuously until he wears himself out and passes out. The man with turret syndrome, Chris, lived far, far off in the brush, away from the two couples who shared the generator. But he was loud, always screaming and making a fuss. So Tasha heard him, even if she didn't see him.

So Tasha, um I'm sure you know why we're here. I have no idea. Okay. All right. Um

I I'm I'll be honest with you. Being a woman, Uhhuh. I I'm am curious and probably should be smiling because there's detectives here, which means there's probably something serious that's happened.

Okay. Um, so you have no idea why we're here. I heard somebody yelling earlier. I

when it was Chris. Uh, probably [clears throat] I lose track of time. I was holding close maybe 3:30 and I could be Robert would be if I looked at my phone I could tell you exactly what time I heard yelling

cuz I was texting at the time that they yelling. And I said to Robert, "I think Chris has gotten out."

Okay. and we came to the door and listened and he said I he was like I think it's just Chris and

all right Dr. cleaning. Life at the small encampment was relatively calm except for Chris. Though his tent was far away and hidden beneath some brush, he still came out. But he was one of the people that Tasha stayed clear of. She'd only been on the streets for a few months and still had [clears throat] a job she went to. All the couples at the camp were living a pretty normal existence beyond the fact that they were homeless and living in the woods in houses made of nylon. These four people, Kenny and Carol and Robert and I stay away from the drama.

You don't see us hanging out in front of the store. Not none of us drink or do drugs.

We can't we get we work home. We eat. We have a generator and a TV and all those things because that's what we spend our money on, not on drinking and drugs. And I my car was just recently towed and I've been back here for just a few months and

I leave at 4:45 4:30 in the morning. I work at the labor hall and oh I'm likely to get home by

6 or 6:30 at night. I'm working in Belgade. So Wow. Okay. Um, is there anybody else that you know of that stays here or lives here, anything like that?

No. Okay. Uh, does anybody ever have any people over? No. I know. I would never bring anybody.

I have to say, if all of this is true, Tasha is pretty incredible. She's got some serious spiritual serenity we could all use a piece of. She is homeless, living in a tent in the woods. Her car has been towed, and she clearly can't get it back. But here she is making the best of it. Still getting up at 4:45 a.m. to go to work. I mean, that's admirable. To the public, homeless encampments often conjure images of chaos and danger. And although that's true to some extent, that's not always the full story. People like Tasha are holding down jobs, folding laundry by flashlight, and doing their best to live quiet, invisible lives.

What does Chris look like? Uh, as far the only way the only way I know what he looks like is because they described him to me and I remember seeing go with it. Tell me work.

He has some kind of tattoo on his forehead. I believe the tribal tattoo on his forehead. Does it look like a propeller?

I think it's more like a tribal thing. It could be a propeller. Okay. I know it's not a teardrop,

but it's right smack center of his forehead. And it's not tiny. It's big. Yeah, it's it's a good size tattoo.

All right. I think I know Chris. Okay. And then he had longer hair and he always wore spandex shorts.

The officer knew Chris from the streets. It was hard not to. He looked like Iggy Pop. If Iggy Pop wore spandex and hiking boots and rode a scooter around town with his mullet blowing in the wind. What a sight. Chris had a big tattoo in the center of his forehead that looked like a swastika or maybe a plane propeller. Nothing says I want to be homeless forever than a tattoo on your face. He wore a snake pendant around his neck and a thick gold Superman ring on his finger. Most days, he didn't bother to put on a shirt. While one officer talked with Tasha, a few others made their way down to Chris's tent. When they got to his spot, they noticed a large sword hanging by the door, like a do not enter sign. The camp had become sort of a no-go zone. Not officially, but practically. Police didn't patrol it. Why would they? Until this moment, they hadn't even known that it existed.

As the officers got closer, they could hear Chris inside his tent. When he finally came out, he was screaming.

He attacked me. He attacked me. Chris's hand was bloody and so swollen it looked like a baseball mitt. It had been wrapped up in a bandage that was soaked with blood. The officers cuffed him. As they sat him on the ground, they suddenly noticed the trail of blood that they had originally followed. It led straight to Chris's tent. How's that for detective work? It was a strange irony. A crime this loud in a place built to be silent. If it hadn't spilled onto the train tracks, the world may have never found out about it

off the tri- rail tracks in Lakew Worth, Florida. Passengers on various trains had noticed the dead body of a middle-aged man out on the tracks. Train traffic was halted as the police investigated what happened to this unassuming victim who looked like he belonged at a Palm Beach casino instead of butchered by the railroad tracks. Next to the victim's body was the murder weapon, a 4ft long sword. If I'm not mistaken, that may be the first sword murder we've told on Sword and Scale, which is kind of weird. Following the blood trail from the victim's body, the police discovered a small homeless encampment where three tents were set up. Two of the tents were inhabited by couples, and the furthest tent was owned by a man named Chris, a very wild man named Chris. He was known on the streets for his erratic behavior and ridiculous appearance. The police took Chris up to the fire and rescue to get

his hand injury looked at. And while they did, the other officers continued to question the couples at the encampment. They started talking with the other couple, Carol and Kenny.

Okay, so Carol, what's been going on today? Who uh how'd the day start out? What's um what have you been doing all day? Well, as normal, we always wake up to Chris screaming at home.

Um, he wakes up screaming. Is that a normal occurrence? He's schizophrenic. Okay, no problem.

At least that's a wasted feel. So, normal normal day. Normal day. Go ahead. We went to Dunkin Donuts, came back, and this is what where we're at. We were in a tent watching TV when the sheriff showed up.

Carol and her husband spent most of their time shuffling back and forth from the Dunkin Donuts to their tent. Inside, they had set up a makeshift kitchen and bedroom where they tried to stay away from Chris's chaos. As Carol put it, he was unstable. But over time, the chaos became routine. So when he knocked on their tent, and I say knocked because I don't know what else to say. When he knocked on their tent asking for an ace bandage, she didn't think much of it.

You You guys went to Dunkin Donuts today. You were here watching TV? Yeah. Um, how long ago would you say that he came up and asked for an Ace bandage?

Um, I don't know what time it is. Um, okay. It's 5:40. Uh, about two 2 hours ago, maybe.

2 hours ago. 2 hours ago. Okay. Did he What was he wearing? Do you know? He had no shirt on and I think sweatpants.

You know what color sweatpants? I think they were blue. Okay. I'm only I'm blinded one night. So,

no problem. So, but he asked for an ace bandage for his wrist. meet him and he's vanished and he left.

Oh, really? Yeah. Are you guys close with him? Does he talk to you or is it just kind of like a I mean, you guys obviously know him or I mean

we try to avoid him. Okay. [snorts] Okay. It's less problems. Would you say he's Does he scare you or

at times he does? Okay, got it. Um, how about before that? Does Chris say that he was having any conflicts with anybody? Did he

He has He has inner conflicts with people inside his hat. Oh, okay. He's always yelling at somebody to get out. He's going to kill him. He's always always yelling at somebody to get out trespassing. You're doing this, you're doing that. They're always

He's diagnosed schizophrenic. I don't know if he's diagnosed schizophrenic, but I'll tell you what, if he isn't, there's definitely a problem.

Does he take any medication? No, he takes vitamins. Tasha had thought Chris had Tourette's syndrome, but Carol assumed he was schizophrenic. Needless to say, none of these people were mental health professionals. Put it that way. Chris woke the whole camp up every morning screaming about trespassers or people who were trying to hurt him. He lived in his own head, which was a dark neighborhood that he could never crawl out of. But even his chaos had rules. He stayed mostly to his corner and others stayed to theirs. There was a kind of internal logic to the camp full of invisible boundaries and unspoken understandings.

But still, Carol was scared of Chris. Tasha was too. Being the two women in the camp, Chris made them nervous when the men weren't around. By the way, who's the Karen responsible for getting rid of mental institutions? Remember when all these people were housed and cared for, but then something happened and somebody got hurt? So, we got rid of all of them. I know one of you Karens out there was responsible. at least one of your grandma parents with a PhD. What a [ __ ] idiot. Just cuz a patient dies in a hospital doesn't mean you get rid of all hospitals.

These so-called experts really are useless, aren't they? Probably should have loized her instead of taking Dr. Karen's advice.

All the men back here, which would be Kenny and Robert, told him, "Do not come this way. We have women that live here. we don't want to see you. And he's since then he's respected that and stayed away because I'm new. For the most part, Chris kept to himself and stayed clear of the couple's area. But whenever Chris did come knocking at their tents, the men would deal with them. Residents told police that earlier that afternoon, Chris had barged into the camp asking for an ace bandage. Carol's husband, Kenny, had given him one.

He He asked you for an ace bandage on his right hand for one of his hand. I What can't you tell us on what hand it was?

No problem. Go ahead. Um after that, after we ate, was watching TV. One other incident happened. The train stopped right out here.

Okay. And then took off again. I figured, okay, he was playing his stupid games again and the train stopped cuz that's the only time they stopped.

Gotcha. I don't know if you caught that, but listen carefully. Kenny said that earlier that day he heard the train stop near their camp, which was 100 ft north of the station itself. He assumed that it was because of this little game Chris usually played. He insinuated that Chris would often go to the train tracks and get close to the train, causing it to halt, like a suicidal game of chicken. I guess when you're homeless, you got to entertain yourself somehow, even if usually it's at society's expense.

What does Chris look like? Describe that. Um, tall, maybe 62, skinny, long, dark hair.

Weird. Okay. Long dark hair. Very weird. Okay. What What makes him weird? He's schizophrenic.

Okay. He's got like 12 He's got a whole family of uh in invisible friends. It was hard to take anything Chris said with any credibility. He was always ranting and raving, fighting with the so-called invisible friends in his head. Then Carol remembered something strange about Chris coming over and asking for a bandage.

Chris did come over to our tent before you guys did come up. Said somebody was had tried to rape him.

Somebody tried to rape him. It's something we've heard millions of times over. He did say someone tried to rape him. Oh okay.

Okay. When he was getting a Spanish, I said, "Who?" He said, "I don't know." Okay. You got to understand. I live with him next door screaming at all hours of nights about him. His ghost uh was sticking something in his ass or mouth or something.

Wow. Though the officer was shocked, Carol and Kenny were unfazed. They had heard rape accusations from Chris many times, mostly about the ghosts who were trying to shove things into his backside orifice. So, like every other outburst from Chris, they turned their backs and zipped up their tent. I mean, what else could they do? But now, there was a man who had been stabbed to death in the place that Chris liked to go and try to halt the trains. According to Kenny, the only man who had weapons in their camp was Chris.

Does he have any weapons or anything? Uh, his tent is a weapon. Oh, really? He's got all kinds of swords, knives, throwing stars, all kinds of Wow. Okay. Um, do you

I don't worry about him. Does he have any um Well, you say knives and throwing stars. They have like swords and stuff.

Yeah, they got swords. Wow. All kinds of weird. Oh, jeez. Uh, any kind of sword, knives?

You remember any one specifically? any kind of swords like big swords or anything?

Like five big swords. When the police investigated Chris's tent, it was filled with weapons and a few cats. Poor things. Chris has display knives, samurai swords, throwing stars, and other exotic weapons all over the edges of the inside of his little home. He had a blowup mattress, a makeshift kitchen complete with about nine bottles of vitamins, a boom box, a television, a DVD player, a microwave, and a little mat at his front door. How cozy. Maybe this was a tent in the woods, but it was also his home. And most damning of all, inside Chris's tent, they found the sheath to the samurai sword that had been used to kill the victim. Chris's real name was George Christopher Livingston. What a name. Sounds like some sort of oldtimey explorer instead of a homeless nut. He was 51 years old and had been on the streets of Lake Worth for years. In fact, Tasha's partner, Robert, had known Chris for a

long time. Tell me about Chris. Well, I've known Chris for the better part of I don't know four or five years now.

Okay. And um he's always been somewhat less than cohesive. Okay. Have you been living with him for four or five years or just known him?

I've never lived with him. No, I same area. There was a time a few years back when the radio station was all wooded areas. We stayed there.

Chris burned that down. So we got jettison from that. I remember that. Yeah. Chris had burned down the last encampment Robert lived in. It was such a big fire that the officer remembered it too. Chris was always in trouble with the law, but it was never anything big enough to get him behind bars. Unfortunately, he was just a hindrance, a drain on society. The man needed some serious help. He was mentally unstable. Stories like Chris's aren't rare. untreated mental illness, no steady psychiatric care and a legal system that sees the need for help, but not the kind it can give. According to court records, his own parents had kicked him out of their home due to repeated violence, which is how he ended up on the streets in 1998.

Things spiraled from there. In 2012, he'd been arrested in Boon Beach while hanging around a children's park with a large hunting knife. When the officers took him off the premises and searched him, he asked why they didn't also take his taser that was stuffed into his spandex shorts.

And around that time, you know, we'd have conversations from time to time, nothing terribly extensive, but, you know, you can tell he's not playing with a full deck. Okay? He he claims, you know, to have been struck by lightning. And there was a time I'd come home and find dead raccoons laid out of my doorstep, you know, like went to hell, you know. Oh, I thought you could make a nice hat out of them.

Can you imagine? So, other than Chris and you and Tasha, who else lives here in this in this woods here?

Kenny and Carol are here. Okay. Um Dave Beckett was I don't be honest with you I don't venture much past my own tent. The only reason I know Kenny and Carol is cuz we have a you know a business arrangement sharing the generators.

A business arrangement. Imagine living in the age of AI and you have a business arrangement involving a generator.

So the other person that you mentioned Dave, what's Dave's last name? Becket. And you know that for sure. Not with a a 100% degree of certainty.

Okay. But that's a name I've heard. Okay. Referenced to him on more than one occasion.

Okay. What is uh Dave's uh not Dave's story, but about how old is he? Can you describe him at all?

Um well, he similar to my look, a little shorter. Okay. But he's got the the graying beard, you know, wears a ball cap all the time.

About how old? Early to mid50s, I would guess. Dave had been in and out of the camp. Like Tasha, he worked at the labor hall. In case you don't know, the labor hall is a temporary staffing agency that helps people pick up blue collar work throughout the area.

When was the last time you saw Dave today? Or have you even seen him today? [snorts]

See, I'm not sure it was Dave that I saw Chris encountering. Okay. I I know at one point we had gotten back from the beach I guess sometime between 1:30 and 2:30. Tasha and myself.

Thank you. I was going to say who's we? All right. Tosh. Uh 1:30 to 2:30 you said between

in that area. Okay. And um we went into the tent and we were pretty much s sorting through clothes to decide what to take to wash and whatnot.

Uh at one point I had to run to Sidco and get some gas for the generator. Okay. But at some point after we were home, I couldn't nail down a specific time. Um, two people I I recognized the second one as Chris ran past the tent.

Okay. It It appeared that Chris was chasing somebody. I thought it might have been Dave, but I wasn't certain.

See what the guy was wearing that he was chasing. like a blur filled in like a uh

well, if you can The reason I'm not entirely certain it was Dave is cuz he was wearing I don't know what specifically, but it was brighter colors than I'm used to seeing him. It's usually a camouflage or a darker color.

Okay? You know, all right. But it seemed to me like he might have been wearing a a t-shirt that was light in color. Maybe I don't know if it looked like it was light blue with orange sleeves. The dead man on the tracks matched Dave's description perfectly. The gray beard, mid-50s, bright blue shirt with orange sleeves. I thought it was Dave ran past the tent first. Now Dave's more often than not drunk. So it wasn't with any real speed that he ran by the tent. It's more of a And then, you know, 3 seconds behind him came Chris just yelling yelling something like, "I was going to marry her. You raped her." Or something. I don't know. I don't know. It It wasn't a big commotion, but it was it was enough to catch my attention. Tasha and I both stood up and went, "What the hell's going on?"

Right. And we we walked out and we actually walked as far as the train tracks here and could see down here some altercation, but it didn't look it didn't look too violent or too serious. It just looked like a couple of guys shoving each other.

Okay. Did anybody look familiar? Well, I I could see one of them was Chris. We saw one of them was Chris. What was Chris wearing? We have to put this into perspective because I know what you're thinking. If you heard two men rush past your home screaming at one another, you'd probably follow the noise to see what was going on. And if you saw them getting into it, you'd contemplate calling the police. But Robert and Tasha were homeless and squatting in the woods. During this time in 2017, there was an ordinance that made it illegal to set up permanent shelters on public property. Though their camp was hidden deep in the woods, it still wasn't allowed. Robert and Tasha didn't want to bring any attention, let alone the police, to their encampment. This is probably why they just all did their best to ignore Chris's outbursts and roll with the punches. The idea that you would call the cops for help concerning

anything was preposterous. You don't do that when you're breaking the law yourself. It's the wild west out there. Which raises a broader question about the growing homeless population. Encampments are now a major issue in cities nationwide. For years, most advocacy groups and academics have followed the consistent philosophy. provide housing regardless of sobriety or mental health status and homelessness will decline. But the Cicero Institute challenges that view. The public policy think tank argues that the housing first model has failed and instead supports banning unauthorized street camping and reallocating funds from permanent housing to short-term shelters and treatment programs. Here's Devin Kurtz, public safety policy director from the Cicero Institute.

Criminological literature, there's a lot of talking about, oh, well, this is a very visible population, which allows it to be, you know, policed more than than other communities. And and there's some truth to that, but there's also this the sort of wild west component where if you get an encampment that's far enough out, uh, there's, you know, no one coming to help and there's no one surveilling it. So these have at times become you know, no-go zones for for law enforcement and and it ends up until there's a fire or until there's a murder, it's sort of just left on its own. This encampment in our story had definitely become a no-go zone. The cops were unaware of it until the murder occurred. But how do you police something that's buried deep in the woods and no one even knows it's there?

The Cicero Institute's hallmark policy is the prohibition of street camping. Most nonprofits are very unhappy with the fact that they have passed encampment bans in 19 states. And the framing by critics and and they usually come and they protest the hearings and they protest our office as they did a couple weeks ago. And this criminalizes homelessness and ultimately leads to mass incarceration of them and saddles them with criminal records etc. etc. The reality couldn't be further from the truth. This is trying to respond to the obvious need for a community to regulate the existence of encampments in their community. If there's a camp on the sidewalk in front of your house or in front of your business, obviously there needs to be some mechanism by which law enforcement and the city and county and the state can can ensure that that that um is is dealt with in a way that is certainly compassionate, but I

would argue that we're not experiencing a homelessness crisis that's particularly unusual as much as we are experiencing a crisis in unsheltered homelessness. What we're seeing in, you know, certain states is is this population doubling.

Robert, Tasha, Carol, Kenny, and Chris were a part of this unsheltered population, tucked away in a no-go zone of society's fringe. The crime happened in their hidden world. And if the victim's body hadn't been left by the side of the train tracks, maybe nobody would have ever known that this happened. In fact, Robert was the only one who witnessed the fight begin.

What was occurring when you saw them standing there? Well, what I saw was whoever the other gentleman was, possibly Dave with his back to the fence. Chris shoving them against the fence. There was a shove back.

Okay. Um, did you see anything else? a little, you know, where they grabbed each other's elbows and, you know, and then who I thought was Dave ran that way and Chris came back this way. Okay.

And Kosh and I went back into the tank. Okay. Few minutes later, Chris showed up just outside the tent asking if we had an ace bandage for him that he could borrow. Okay.

Did he have any any blood or anything on him? I didn't see any signs of blood. No.

Okay. Does anybody here in this camp carry any weapons? Uh, other than Chris, no.

Okay. What does Chris have? Well, Chris has a cache of weapons in there. Um, swords, knives, an assortment of knives, uh, Chinese throwing stars.

Okay. A collection he's rather proud of. Everyone knew about Chris's tent of weapons. It was almost as infamous as he was. Okay. Did you see him Chris using any of those weapons tonight while this incident was going on?

When he ran past my tent, it looked like he had like a samurai sword possibly in his hand. I don't know. I again, I didn't get a really good look. I'm just speculating, but he had something that had some length to it and was silvery in color.

Chris had that in his Chris did. Yes. Okay. When Dave walked away from I again, I'm not sure it was Dave. I I'm just guessing. But whoever it was that walked away back here, when they walked that way, they had something in their hands, too. But from where I stood, it looked like it might have just been a stick.

If you saw a picture, Dave, would you be able to say, "Yes, that's him." Yes, I would.

All right. That's when the officer brought over a picture of the victim and showed it to Robert.

Yeah, that's Dave. Okay. Without the veer. Robert had said that Chris was screaming when he chased Dave past their tent. something about a woman he was going to marry and that Dave had raped her. But then Chris had told Carol and Kenny that someone had tried to rape him. It was all just the mumblings of a man who desperately needed psychiatric medication. But Dave Beckett had been slaughtered to death with a 4ft long sword. Dave may have been a homeless drunk, but he was still a person who lost his life. And the police had to find out why. In his years of being homeless, Chris had been charged with a few misdemeanors for carrying illegal weapons. Maybe this whole murder was a manic episode, a full break from reality where the hallucinations took the lead.

Or maybe David pushed him, provoked something dark that needed to finally come out. Because that's the thing, for as crazy as Chris was, his criminal record was pretty minimal. And every time he was arrested for something, he cooperated and just mumbled incoherently to his imaginary pals. Chris did what Chris did. He rode around on his scooter and his spandex shorts talking about the ghosts in his [ __ ] He was out of his mind. The women were frightened of him because, well, why wouldn't you be? I mean, I'm frightened of him. Wouldn't you be frightened of him if you lived in the woods in a nylon tent next to a screaming man with nothing but a thin layer of cloth to protect you? The potential of danger was there, but Chris had no track record of physically assaulting or sexually assaulting anyone within the homeless community. He just had zero social awareness like someone freshly released from an asylum. Dropped

into the world without a map. Dave, on the other hand, had a reputation. I always called him Dave. I did not tell you his last name. I know him. He worked out of the labor hall with me since 2015.

Um, I heard he lived in one of these tents back here. When was the last time you saw him? I haven't I've never seen him back here

except for my very first day. Which was when 3 to 6 months ago. That's when Robert came out and said, "You are not welcome here."

To to Dave. To Dave. Okay. Why was he not welcome? Because I'm here. Okay. And he has a bad reputation. And since that day, I have never heard. He is even we've passed by at getting our checks cashed because we all have to go to the same place to get our checks cashed. He won't even look at me. He looks away. Dave was one of those people that when women see him, they make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

Is that what Davey said? Dave. Okay. And that's when you want to back away. And so that's why I never spoke like that. [clears throat]

Throughout the Lakew Worth homeless social circles, Dave was known as a sexual predator. Many women had been assaulted by him and these rumors circled around the streets. According to the court records, Dave had been in trouble with the law since 2003. He's got two felonies under his belt. One for drug possession and another for driving with a revoked license, as well as a bunch of misdemeanor for trespassing, theft, public intoxication, and indecent exposure. In 2011, he was arrested for, get this, possession of a Burmese python without a license and improper caging allowing escape.

Now, a Burmese python is one of the most terrifying snakes on the planet. It's also one of the largest, and for some reason, they are infamous in Florida. Now, I don't know why this man had a python or what he was doing with it, but it fits, doesn't it? In any case, the records are sealed, but you can just imagine a homeless guy with a python. What a sight. Anyways, the python was a rare one, but most of Dave's charges had to do with indecent exposure and even masturbating in public. One time, he was seen masturbating on the side of I75.

That'll wake you up on the way to work. Then Tasha told the police something that made them question who the victim in this whole thing actually was.

It was a rumor and this is all just rumor that [clears throat] he almost I have a friend named Robert Croftton.

Mhm. And that's the person you live with. No, no, no. Okay. That's a different Robert.

That's a different Robert. He goes by Bo. Okay. that there was a rumor um maybe 6 months ago that he had beat up Robert Crampton and sent him to the Delray Medical Center wave to beat him and that was just a rumor.

Tasha said that Dave had raped and beat a male friend of her so badly that he had to be hospitalized. Was Chris actually a victim? The target of a sexually aggressive drunken deviant? Dave was dead. So his side of the story died with him. Now all that was left was Chris.

When the body of Dave Beckett had been discovered slaughtered on the side of the tri rail cracks in Lakew Worth, Florida. Police had followed the blood trail to a small encampment of five people. Two couples and an infamous unhinged man everyone knew as Chris. Dave had been murdered with a 4ft long sword. As police interviewed the residents of the encampment, they discovered that Dave and Chris had been seen fighting down by the tracks earlier that afternoon. Chris had told the other residents that Dave had tried to rape him, but no one took it seriously because Chris was always saying things of that nature. But Dave had a reputation as a sexual predator and had even recently beat and raped another homeless man, sending him to the hospital for treatment. Now, it was time to hear what Chris had to say. After paramedics took care of his hand, he was ready to start talking.

So, basically, I'm called out here. I'm going to check with the sheriff's office because you've been detained for quite a while. You were handcuffed. I'm going to read your Miranda warnings. All right. Have you ever been read your Miranda warnings?

Your rights, your legal rights. I know them. You know, so let me Do you mind if I just do my job?

Detective Oliver. You can call me Sean. Call me Dick. Whatever you want. I don't care.

Do I have a right to you have a right to man? Yeah, but I'm these verbatim. It's our policy.

Is this Miranda versus Arizona? Yeah. 1962. Chris stated the exact law that created the Miranda warning, Miranda versus Arizona in 1996. The Supreme Court ruled in Miranda v. Arizona that police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them. Ernesto Miranda confessed to a crime without knowing he could stay silent or ask for a lawyer. So, the court said that violated his constitutional right. This decision created the Miranda warning. the rights you've heard read over and over and over for the last 10 years on this podcast and for the last 60 in the real world.

How did it get to the point where he was injured with the sword? How do you recommend it's your sword? It's out of your tent.

I gave it to him. When did you give it to him? I gave it to him almost a month ago, but he didn't want to do it. I said I'll give it to you.

Did you give it to George to somebody that already told me that you were afraid of?

No. No. I tried to make I tried to make some kind of I tried to uh I guess symbolic. Yeah. That I I'm in my home.

Okay. Chris admitted that he was skeptical of Dave, but he had been hanging around. And he'd given Dave the sword as some sort of symbolic gesture, like here's my weapon from my collection. Protect yourself on the street. That sort of thing. But then Chris told detectives that he was scared of Dave because Dave did weird things that made him crazy. Chris felt like he needed to stay away.

Say it again. You told me earlier. I had never premeditate. Okay. Slaying man. Might as well do the reverse psychology guy.

When I was injured, I couldn't help him anymore when he had injured himself because I know he had injured. I turned my back on him.

When he saw when he when the injuries occurred to me, I would know how to defend him.

That's the end of my statement. But it obviously wasn't the end of his statement. Chris kept trying to explain that Dave was a sexual predator. He had raped and hurt other women on the streets, and Chris was fed up with it. Then he hurt some woman that Chris had declared he wanted to marry. This is what Robert heard when Dave and Chris came running by his tent earlier that day. But Chris's story was bouncing back and forth as he tried to explain himself. His main point was that Dave was secretly gay. Chris knew that Dave had raped other men in his tent. Then he started coming on to Chris and that changed the course of their relationship.

I was I'd been sexually harassed. He made comments about my gender terror, but it was pretty for man.

I knew that he was homosexual, but he's had men. I am not. He has a prohibition in the state of Florida. It is not legal

and numerous men and hes. You realize you're claiming something. I'm very aware.

I I am I I feel threatened now as my home. I didn't hurt you. You haven't given me what's going on. I'm not going to explain because I do not have to explain myself.

Do you feel the self-defense? Remember what Tasha told police? She knew a man who had also been raped, beaten, and hospitalized by Dave. Without this rumor from Tasha, Chris's self-defense could have been viewed as pure fiction. The ramblings of a crazy person, something the voices in his head told him to say. But maybe there was some truth to all this. Maybe this time Dave had tried to rape him.

You said you injured yourself, but you ask you to answer my questions, but you're refusing to answer. You put yourself on the sword, didn't you?

Why don't you ask him how many people he's raped and how many people he's murdered?

Okay. Well, what does that look me look like? What does that make? Just cuz he raped and murdered somebody else. How many?

Just cuz they did that, someone else did. Why didn't you bring him to justice? I known a person in this jurisdiction. I don't know.

Were you born in Florida? I don't know him. Okay. That's a good That's a good start with

Dave slipped through the cracks. It happened. How many other people are 25 years of cracks?

Yeah. Hey, he's a system is not perfect. And I I agree with that. System is not perfect,

but you're claiming self-defense. And all I'm asking is why. I don't want to claim anything. I I'm not going to be incriminated either way by

you do this with other people as well. Okay. very different. Yes. Okay. You realize he's dead.

I do not realize anything about the man. I just I will defend myself and other people you equally as myself and

I feel your life would have been threatened for him. Chris had slipped through the cracks when it came to his mental health. He should have been institutionalized or at least seen a psychiatrist given a couple pills or something. But Dave slipped through the cracks when it came to his sexual crimes. And Chris was angry. Maybe he wasn't just a crazy man yelling at the moon for no reason. Maybe he knew something about the man he killed that justified his actions.

I'm giving you a chance. Don't put the shoe on the other hood. That's my advice to you.

Well, I can't I didn't I don't live your life. I didn't I didn't I didn't live that.

Okay. You do. What is your question that will help you dispose? Clarify. You did not consider murdering me before this.

True. I'd never premeditate impulsive or would it be like an active? Do you know what a credible credible threat is? It only requires a criminal intent to commit.

Yes, sir. An aggravated assault or or a felony, right? And once, but your friend saw you running after. He didn't have the sword. You don't know what they

No, we got statements from them. They saw you running after him with a sword. Okay. Well, he was the aggressor. Why were you running after him with a sword?

After this? Where did I I took it back? Where did that happen? And then he took it back. Actually, when I took it back and then I gave it to him.

But the detective needed to decipher the facts based on the physical evidence. The evidence was a dead man slaughtered by sword and an asalent with a giant defensive wound on his hand.

You said you So he fell on his sword. He had the sword. I gave it to him. Okay. I said, "Look, you're not going to use it on me anymore here." And I turned my back on him and left.

I don't know if he ran after me or what. I don't know what happened. See, that's what I'm talking about.

You know your adrenaline when someone when your life is threatened, you're going to react. You don't remember exactly how you do what you do, but you're alive because you're fighting for your life.

How annoying is this guy? I mean, why why why is he out on the street? Oh, yeah. Karen and her virtue signaling. Out of sight, out of mind. Ain't that right Karen?

I'm not going to be murdered in my sleep, by the way. How are you? How is How are you fighting for your life? Where

I just told you, right? Okay. I'm consistently when I'm I when I get stressed out, I begin to bleed internally because of an injury happened 22 3 years ago. I was struck by lightning

in Georgia. And you're causing it to hemorrhoids and it's internally bleeding. Now, that's not good. This guy thinks his hemorrhoids were caused by lightning. Lightning causing

I'm not saying that you're you're you're in a misconduct. You talk in your introduction.

You don't understand manhood, a deviant intent. That's criminal and it was an ill will against me because perhaps I wasn't.

What did he exactly do though to put you here? Anything and everything he could to sway me from other than a heterosexual being a homosexual. I was

uh my body language, the things he did, he'd walk out and he'd expose the genitalia and urinate right in front of me. When I asked please as many times I asked him, he never respected what I said that please do not where we walk

expose your urinate. Mhm. And he he does never respect in the woods, right? You go deeper in the woods.

Yeah. I do not I don't obsess myself with any kind of gender demand, especially when it's this is common sense. How passive is this cop? Yeah, I know I'm bitching a lot, but my god, slap the cuffs on him already. I mean, I'm all for due process and self-defense, but perhaps maybe Mr. Garrison here is better suited for a career track in botany rather than law enforcement. I mean, Jesus, man, grow some assertiveness. This unassertive detective was not going to get a straight answer about anything. Not mumbling the way he was anyway. Chris said that Dave had tried to rape him and was making sexual remarks, but the truth about how the sword was passed between these two men was unclear. And without a witness, who saw every inch of that murder, there was no real way to figure out what exactly happened. Then Chris said this about Dave, which mirrored exactly what Tasha had told the detectives she and other women felt.

knowing. Okay. You ever feel when you can when you can't turn your back on someone cuz they feel like they're looking over your shoulder?

What about a girl that wants that? You can feel that stuff. That's why she want

one of those people that when women see him, they make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

That was what Davey said, Dave. Okay. And that's when you want to back away. And so that's why I never spoke like that. [clears throat]

When he swung the sword, I punched him and they don't know what happened because the sword's there and his face is there. my hand.

How'd he get the sword? He already said that you took it back from him. You said he swung at you.

Sir, when someone's trying to kill you, your adrenaline doesn't allow you to decipher every critical fact.

But they never got nothing but confused. You never gave him a sword. Yes, I did give him a sword.

You said you didn't. You said you tried to give it to him and then you took it back

and then from that point on, you've never said that you gave him back the sword.

I'm not trying to complicate this. It's simple. Yeah. Just be truthful. That's all I ask. Be truthful. Don't try to.

It doesn't need to be complicated. You got to accept responsibility for your actions. You understand that? You're a grown man now.

I defended myself. Okay. But how? You have a sword. How are you defending yourself? It's your sword. You're running after

back to him. We were running after him with a sword. I gave it back to him. Chris couldn't remember who had the sword first or how it all unfolded. Maybe adrenaline and mental illness blurred all the details. His life had always been driven by fight-or-flight instincts. How could he reliably recount events when he lived each day assuming the world was against him? But what he did explain was that ever since Dave had started coming around the camp, he had been making sexual advances towards Chris and that it finally hit a breaking point. The officer wanted to know why Chris didn't just pack up and leave. His answer was simple. I was here first, he said. Yes, Chris had loaned Dave the sword. That much was true. But when they got in that scuffle down on the tracks, Dave swung at him with the blade, and Chris lost it.

I don't know whether it was the blade, his face, or both. But once I was threatened, once he swung at me, that was it. I knew the intended care.

It's or where were you when I spent in the tent? I mean in between the tents in my camp. How did you get that cell in your tent?

Told you I gave it to him. But why? Why would Chris give someone who he deemed a sexual menace a sword? Was he ever really playing with a full deck? What if Dave do that? You have not told me that Dave

or you would just stab him. What justification do you have to use a sword on other than anger?

We'll say that again. You were not there. So, and I did not tell you that's what happened. So, you you are

Well, we know he's dead. You know, it's your sword and you're injured because the sword cut you and you have David's blood on. We have Dave's blood probably in the tent.

Well, I don't have to ask you questions. I mean, you're asking all these questions. I'm not asking one question.

You have. Are you a homosexual? Does it matter? Okay. doesn't matter. I don't care if you are.

You know what? It doesn't matter to me these questions you ask me anymore. And I don't mean it in disrespect.

Fine. Yet. I have nothing to say. And I will not answer. I want my attorney then.

Fair enough. Have a seat. And you're a detective, Oliver. Yes. Okay. I'm suspending.

You didn't ask me. You don't want You want to answer? Well, I can also have you taken in custody. I told the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Defense. Wonder why this went on for 25 years. Okay.

Why they didn't serve a death warrant yourself and execute him, I do not know. But I do not have to disclose any more information to you.

Right on. Okay. So, you should respect that because as a man, I respect you and your profession.

Goodbye. This guy's got a real problem with gays. Anyway, why does he talk like Eugene Porter from The Walking Dead?

Do you know what goodbye means? Still didn't answer question. I don't want you in the jurisdiction anymore. Remove yourself from Palm Beach County as a fourth week.

You think I'm kidding? You're dismissed. We're leave. I said it a dozen times. Don't speak to me anymore.

If you feel like talking again, it's Yeah, you meant to arouse me, aggravate me, and cause internal bleeding again.

Bleed inside. I'm bleeding in the neck and the chest now, thanks to you. Will you understand plain English? Do you understand? Yes. No. People trying to sleep.

How about no more dog? Move your foot in a little bit more. I don't want it. I don't want to hurt you. Can you go in any

You already did. Can you move in any further? I don't want to hurt you. Right. Seriously, I don't want to hurt you.

Then leave and let her do her job. That's when Chris turned away and let the female officer put him in the squad car. He was done talking. He was done trying to explain what had happened. The stress had caused him quote unquote internal bleeding from his previous injuries. How exhausting are these nuts? I mean, I know how our audience just loves to be perceived as compassionate, but at what point are you willing to admit what a drain on society these people are? They provide nothing, not a single benefit whatsoever to society, yet they demand everything from it. It's just so insanely tiring. Crazy people can just they can just drive you crazy.

You know, it's contagious. There isn't a lot of great data on homelessness and crime, but according to Devon from the Cicero Institute, AI is slowly helping us get there. If it were me, a simple abattoire would do all the work. Slap chop it, I say. But that's why I'm never getting elected. Anyway, here's Devon arguing that statistics don't always match the cultural narrative,

but in terms of of of hard data, the best we have is a report from San Diego's district attorney's office that did an analysis um they released it two years ago on homelessness and crime and they they found that unsheltered homeless people, those people who were living on the street were hundreds of times as likely to commit crimes like arson, robbery, etc. ETA and they were dozens of times as likely to be victims of similar crimes including homicide, sexual assault, robbery, etc. So what we're seeing is is the case that you described of two homeless people getting into a you know antisocial spiral ultimately an interaction that led to one of them killing the other.

That is the majority of the violence that we're seeing in homeless encampments. There's this rhetoric by activists that's, oh, people are coming into these homeless encampments and they're robbing them and taking advantage of them. Well, those people tend to be other homeless people. The narrative around homelessness has long been rooted in the idea that housing is a human right. What a dumb idea. Obviously, some Karen came up with that who's never had to compete for limited resources. Somebody actually has to pay for it. Oh, so I get to work twice as hard to subsidize someone else's generatorbased business arrangement.

Okay, sure. But that better mean we put all these people in a locked facility and never let them out. I mean, would housing alone have helped someone like Dave or Chris? Giving Dave a bed wouldn't have stopped them from sexually assaulting people. Maybe a temporary shelter might have limited Chris's stockpile of weapons and kept it from growing into the unregulated arsenal it became. But both were deeply disturbed individuals, misfits with serious mental health issues. They needed more than a roof over their heads. Sure, others at the camp would have gladly taken housing, but are they representative of the unsheltered population at large? I mean, we don't really know. The data just isn't there. It's hard to track a population in constant motion, both by nature and by necessity or illness. Then there's the darker question no one actually wants to ask.

Do we even care that Dave was murdered? I'll be honest. I don't think I even need to be honest. You might actually be able to guess what I'm going to say. Question is, will you be honest, Karen? How much do you actually care past the virtue signaling tweet or the dollar you handed to that stinky man outside the Starbucks so he'd leave you alone until the Karens of the world with the ability to vote start being honest with themselves? Actual tangible solutions that don't involve rotating blades will continue to remain out of reach. Dave Beckett was a known sexual predator.

what the public knew was only the tip of a likely much uglier iceberg. Did Chris, in his own twisted way, do society a favor? Don't you dare roll your eyes, Karen. Because ultimately, whose job is it to manage adults who are incapable of managing themselves? Chris and Dave weren't just homeless. They were rejected by their families, shunned by their peers, even outcasts within the homeless community itself. The sad truth is that most people living on the streets aren't victims of circumstance. It's a great story to tell and it keeps getting perpetuated by media, but those people put themselves there through their own actions. That may not be true all over the world, but here in America, the land of opportunity, you have no excuse for ending up homeless, unless you want to. Not permanently, anyway. That's just an uncomfortable fact that Karens who want to feel good about being lazy and shitty to everyone around them refuse to

accept. Why demand accountability when you can just virtue signal feel good about yourself? The humans in this camp and many others like it were pushed so far to the margins, the only people left to deal with them were each other. And this time it ended in murder. So the question lingers, if society had stepped in sooner, not just with housing, but with real accountability instead of virtue signaling, would Dave still be alive? I think you probably already know the answer to that.

Well, I'm going to get a lot of hate mail this week. It's a good thing I don't read any of it. As a matter of fact, why do I even have an email address? Haven't gotten anything other than Nigerian scammers and Karens for the last 10 years. Anyway, that's going to do it for another one of these silly murder shows you guys seem to love for some reason. Hope you enjoyed that one. We'll be back before you know it, probably over the weekend with another one. They just keep happening, folks. People are [ __ ] Speaking of which, head on over to our store to support us if you want to. We got some people are [ __ ] merch, which uh we can't advertise on YouTube cuz that's a dirty word. And uh all kinds of other stuff.

Go check out store.sordskill.com if you haven't signed up for Plus. That's where you get all the goodies, extra episodes, commercial, free, lots of good stuff in there. So, go check that out at swordscale.com and download our iOS or Android app. We've made lots and lots of improvements. It's way better, much more stable, got a lot more features in there. So, check it out if you haven't in a while. And I think that's going to do it. That's my sales pitch. Thanks again for joining us. Thanks for being a plus member if you are. We love you guys. Well, I don't love anyone other than myself cuz I'm a narcissist.

But you know what I mean. I appreciate you. So does our staff. Oh, I almost forgot. This episode was written by Mish Barbara Wei, one of our producers here that's been with us for a long time. She's great. That's going to do it. Thanks again. Till next time, stay safe and uh stay out of the homeless camps. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Episode 314"?

Mike Budet (Host), Charlie (Guest), Paul (Guest), Tasha McGra (Guest), Robert Peller (Guest), Carol Thompson (Guest), Kenny Schmite (Guest), Chris (Guest).

What is "Episode 314" about?

Episode 314 of Sword and Scale examines the darker aspects of human nature, specifically focusing on violence and crime. The episode begins with a personal reflection from the host, Mike Budet, who transitions into detailing a specific murder case that unfolds on November 25, 2017, in Lake Worth, Florida, as an employee at a train station frantically seeks help.

What is mentioned in this Sword and Scale episode?

15 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Alex Chris, Dave Beckett, Lake Worth, Mike Budet, Palm Beach County, Tasha McGra. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Episode 314"?

The episode runs 1 h 14 min; the transcript is about 12,276 words in 252 timestamped sections.

More from Sword and Scale

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.