In this episode, Payton unravels the chilling case of a Jane Doe murdered in a peaceful Florida town. As rumors of a serial killer spread, investigators piece together a shocking murder mystery you won’t believe.
NBCMiami.com - https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/2-arrested-in-love-triangle-murder-of-south-florida-woman/148945/
FoxCharleston.com - https://www.foxcharleston.com/friend-who-heard-murder-confession-thought-furniture-heiress-would-end-up-dead-in-love-triangle/
FoxNews.com - https://www.foxnews.com/us/friend-who-heard-murder-confession-thought-furniture-heiress-would-end-up-dead-love-triangle
Sportskeeda.com - https://www.sportskeeda.com/us/shows/5-chilling-details-aileen-seiden-s-murder
WCTV - https://www.wctv.tv/content/news/Franklin-County-authorities-identify-murder-victim-481062551.html
DailyMail.com - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13977901/torture-murder-heiress-aileen-seiden-throuple-episode.html
NewsHerald.com - https://www.newsherald.com/story/news/crime/2018/04/28/friends-eastpoint-murder-victim-had-become-distant-sent-strange-messages/12368606007/
MyPanHandle.com - https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/local-news/franklin-county/second-person-found-guilty-in-franklin-county-murder-trial-has-been-sentenced/
ParamountExpress.com - https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/cbs-news-and-stations/shows/48-hours/releases/?view=110443-a-throuple-checks-into-a-motel-room-but-only-a-couple-walks-out
CBSNews.com - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aileen-seiden-throuple-florida-murder-mystery-48-hours/
People.com - https://people.com/aileen-seiden-throuple-spiraled-out-control-young-woman-murder-8730493
Franklin County News - https://franklincounty.news/2024/06/07/araujo-sentenced-to-25-years/
Police1.com - https://www.police1.com/arrests-sentencing/watch-fla-officer-testifies-at-daughters-sentencing-for-murder-after-he-helped-coordinate-her-arrest
The Independent - https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/throuple-murder-aileen-seiden-documentary-b2633105.html
Tallahassee.com - https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2024/10/18/48-hours-to-report-on-brutal-murder-of-miami-woman-at-an-eastpoint-florida-motel-aileen-seiden/75733392007/'
Hey everyone,
Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Payton Moreland. Garrett Moreland is alive and well, but he is not here today.
Garrett had a procedure two days ago, and currently, as I'm filming, he cannot open his eyes because they are completely swollen shut. He talked about it, I think maybe in last week’s episode—he got his hair transplant. It went well, but geez, no one tells you how invasive and insane that procedure is.
Fourteen hours, entire head bloody, can't lay down for a week, and now he can't open his eyes because his head is so swollen. The swelling has moved from the top of his head down to his eyes. He literally looks like he has the worst bee-sting allergy on both of his eyes. If he lets us, I’ll put a picture in, but if not, that is why he’s not here today.
It was a very heavy and hard procedure. The aftercare is intense, and he’s not sleeping very well. So, I told him, "Hey, just take the week off," and it'll just be you and me today.
But hey, listen, before we jump into the episode, I want to ask you guys to do something for me. What I’m doing right now—sitting alone, getting ready to dive into a true crime story—is literally what I do over on my solo show, Into the Dark.
It’s basically bonus episodes for you Murder with My Husband listeners. So, if you’re all caught up on everything and want to keep listening to your typical true crime Murder with My Husband case (minus Garrett—and I know he’s the best part), over there it’s just me.
Please, please, please go follow my show Into the Dark. And honestly, if you don’t want to listen to it, can you please just go follow it and turn on automatic downloads? Then maybe one day, when you have nothing to listen to, you can check it out.
I work really, really hard on that show, and it’s my baby. It surprises me how many listeners of Murder with My Husband still don’t even know that Into the Dark exists. So yes, that is my solo show. I do basically the same thing I do over here. What you’re getting today is basically what I do on Into the Dark.
That being said, let’s jump into today’s case.
Our sources for this episode are CBS News, NBC Miami, FoxCharleston.com, FoxNews.com, Sportskeeda.com, WCTV, DailyMail.com, NewsHerald.com, MyPanhandle.com, Paramount Express, People.com, PoliceOne.com, The Independent, and Tallahassee.com.
Let’s be honest, you guys, we have seen parents do some pretty unthinkable things for their kids on this show. We’ve seen parents who hide evidence, parents who hide bodies, and even parents attempting murder themselves for their children.
But when you’re in law enforcement, and your job is to serve and protect people from things like this, what do you do when your child is the one who steps out of bounds? Do you use your connections and power to make it go away, or do you stick to that oath of honor?
I imagine this is probably one of the biggest moral dilemmas you could face in your life. But if you ask Colonel Tony Oro, he would say duty and justice come before all else.
Today, we are headed to Miami, Florida. In Miami, we meet a little girl named Eileene Seidon. Eileene and her sister, Franchesca, were the two daughters of a wealthy local businessman named Frank Seidon. Frank had the unique job of selling furniture to luxury hotels and cruise lines, including Disney Resorts.
From a very early age, Eileene and her sister learned what it was like to endure tragedy. When Eileene was just 9 years old, and Franchesca was 16, their mother passed away from cancer. The illness progressed quickly, leaving the girls with little time to say goodbye, let alone process that they were losing their mother. Suddenly, Frank found himself raising his two daughters alone.
But life wasn’t done throwing challenges their way. When Eileene was 14 years old, her father, Frank, died of a heart attack. This left the two girls—Eileene and Franchesca—orphaned. At this point, Franchesca was 22 years old, barely an adult herself, but she became the legal guardian of her 14-year-old sister.
Franchesca had to ensure her sister was fed, got to school on time, and had stability—all while trying to finish college and hold down a job.
Seven years went by, and Franchesca eventually moved out west to Los Angeles to pursue a fresh start as an artist. Meanwhile, Eileene, now in her 20s, stayed in Miami to build her own life. She got a job as a property manager, lived in a beautiful apartment, and learned what it meant to be independent. She had been doing it for so long by that point that she really didn’t have much of a choice.
Eileene built a strong circle of friends who practically became her family, and she stayed close with her sister despite the physical distance. In fact, it seemed Eileene was even considering moving out to Los Angeles after visiting Franchesca there in 2016.
But when Eileene returned to Miami, those plans to move fell by the wayside. While Franchesca was likely disappointed that her sister chose to stay on the East Coast, she knew Eileene was independent, smart, and had a good head on her shoulders.
However, this is where the story takes a turn.
Eileene’s friends began to question some of her decisions around March of 2018. On March 25, 2018, Eileene had plans to meet several of her close friends for brunch. But she didn’t show up. This was wildly out of character for her. Concerned, her friends decided to drive past her apartment that afternoon to check on her, but Eileene didn’t appear to be home.
Later that night, one of Eileene’s friends received a call from her using an unknown number. During the call, Eileene explained, “My cell phone’s broken.” Over the next few weeks, that same friend received texts and calls from several random numbers. Eileene always claimed it was her, calling on different phones because her cell phone wasn’t working.
Despite these odd interactions, she always reassured her friends that she was okay and working on getting a new phone. However, her life during this time began to feel like a mystery to those closest to her. They all sensed that something was going on—but they weren’t sure what.
At around 5:00 p.m. that night, a couple was driving around Apalachicola, Florida, about 600 miles northwest of Miami. It’s a sleepy little coastal town on the Panhandle—quiet and quaint—hardly the kind of place you’d expect to see a dead body on your way out to go fishing.
And yet, that’s exactly what this couple spotted in an abandoned cul-de-sac that evening. They immediately called it in to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, explaining that the body was right off Highway 98 in an underdeveloped area by the water.
When police arrived, they were shocked at the condition of the body. It was immediately clear that the victim was a woman, though she was so badly beaten it was difficult to make out distinguishing features. She had bruises from head to toe, and almost all of her ribs were broken.
In fact, the medical examiner later stated that her injuries were so severe they were comparable to those sustained in a terrible car crash. The body had no phone, no wallet, and no ID on her. For now, they took her in as a Jane Doe.
But the police couldn’t help but wonder: Did their quiet little town have a serial killer on the loose? This was a gruesome murder, and they weren’t sure what they might be dealing with.
However, the following day brought some clarity when police received another call—this time about a room at the Sportsman’s Lodge Motel, six miles away in Eastpoint, Florida.
When detectives arrived, they were directed to room number 15. As soon as they entered, it was obvious that this was most likely where their Jane Doe had died. Crimes like this almost never happened in this part of Florida, and now they had two crime scenes discovered a day apart.
The evidence strongly suggested that she was killed in the motel room and then dumped in the cul-de-sac. The state of the room was horrifying. Furniture had been knocked over and thrown everywhere, the sheets were missing from both beds, and one of the mattresses was still soaked in blood.
And then there was the smell. The room reeked of vinegar, a clear sign that someone had tried—and failed—to clean up and cover their tracks. Luminol testing revealed traces of blood all over the room—not just on the mattress but also in the bathroom.
In the bathroom, detectives discovered that the shower curtain rod had been pulled off, and there was a giant, bloody handprint left on it. This piece of evidence told investigators that whoever committed the crime was likely rushing to get out, leaving behind this crucial clue.
When police spoke to the manager of the motel, they gained valuable insight into what had happened leading up to the murder. The manager explained that on Saturday evening, four nights before the police arrived, three people had checked into that motel room.
According to the manager, the trio was well-dressed, well-spoken, and respectful. They even had a small barbecue outside their room on Sunday night and brought the manager a small gift afterward. By Monday morning, they had checked out, and their bill was fully settled.
Of course, the motel staff at that point had no idea that the hotel room they were checking out of was a bloody crime scene. It wasn’t until later that afternoon that the housekeeper went inside, noticed the red stain on the mattress, the furniture strewn about, and realized something bad had happened there. Even then, the motel property manager didn’t report it to the police until the following day. I’m not sure why they waited, but it almost seemed like they cared less about the crime scene and more about the damage to the hotel. When police talked to them about it, they said they just needed a police report for when they charged the credit card for extra damages.
Now, of course, the biggest question here was: who paid for that room? Obviously, there’s a credit card on file, and police did get a name from the motel staff—38-year-old Christina Aro. But who were the other two people the motel staff saw her with? Remember, three people checked in.
After testing the DNA from Jane Doe alongside the blood found in room 15, police confirmed their suspicions: this was, in fact, the same woman. Both of these crime scenes were tied together. It didn’t take long for them to get a name, too. Jane Doe was identified as 31-year-old Eileen Seiden.
So, they had 38-year-old Christina Aro’s credit card on file, and they now confirmed that the other woman with her was 31-year-old Eileen Seiden. Naturally, they located Eileen’s next of kin—Franchesca. Hasn’t this poor woman been through enough? She’s lost her mother, her father, and now her only sister. It’s heartbreaking to think about. When they called Franchesca to update her on everything they knew so far, she told them she had a pretty good idea of who the third person in the hotel room was that night. She believed it was 30-year-old Zachary Abel.
Remember when I mentioned earlier that Eileen was considering moving to Los Angeles until she went back to Miami and changed her plans? According to her sister, a big part of that decision was due to Zach Abel. Zach and Eileen had actually known each other since high school, and in 2017, shortly after Eileen took that trip to LA, the two reconnected in Miami and began dating in the weeks that followed—but secretly. Zach already had a girlfriend at the time, one he’d been with for the last five years.
Do you want to guess who that girlfriend was? Christina—the other woman who was in the hotel with them. Zach had told Eileen repeatedly that he planned on ending things with Christina. He claimed they weren’t a match, that she was controlling and demanding. However, Zach also told his friend Mike Pette that it wasn’t easy for him to just walk away from Christina for Eileen. Not only did Zach and Christina live together, but they also had a business together—a used car dealership.
Still, Eileen was head over heels for Zach, and every time he told her he was waiting for the right opportunity to end things, she believed him. One day, he finally did have the conversation with Christina, but she offered a different solution. Instead of leaving her for Eileen, she proposed, “Why don’t the three of us date instead? A throuple, if you will.”
Shockingly, when Zach approached Eileen about the idea, she agreed. In fact, when Eileen lost her job as a property manager that year, she also joined Zach and Christina’s used car business. And when she lost her apartment, she ended up getting a place in the same building as them.
But as you can imagine, this wasn’t the happy solution they were all hoping for. It wasn’t long before Christina began getting jealous of the affection Zach was showing Eileen. If she felt like the odd one out, she made sure her frustrations were known. Things escalated further when Christina drank, as she often became more erratic, even threatening Zach by saying she could make him disappear without consequence.
Christina’s father was a high-ranking colonel with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, and she made sure everyone knew it. She frequently threw it in Zach and Eileen’s faces, boasting that if anything happened, her father could easily cover it up. She claimed she had gotten away with everything in the past by using her "cop’s daughter" card. This was why Eileen was terrified to go to the police when things in the relationship began turning violent.
According to their friend Mike, who knew about the throuple, the first physical fight between Eileen and Christina happened at his house back in 2017. Eileen had made a comment about how she’d been sleeping with Zach long before Christina even knew about him, essentially admitting they’d had an affair. Christina, enraged, began throwing punches at Eileen.
From then on, the fighting became a regular occurrence, especially when the two women had been drinking. Mike said it wasn’t uncommon to see one or both of them with a black eye. Soon, the fights became almost daily.
However, Eileen’s friend Ally shared a different side of the story. She recalled getting calls from Eileen, pleading, “Please come over and help me. He hurt me again,” referring to Zach. When Ally encouraged her to file a police report, Eileen refused, citing Christina’s father’s connections. She was convinced that no one would believe her because of Christina’s influence with the police.
Eventually, Ally said the abuse had gotten so bad that she once had to take Eileen to the hospital. Even then, when staff asked about the bruises, Eileen was too afraid to legally report what had happened. Ally warned her, saying, “If you don’t get out of this situation, someone is going to wind up dead.”
By that point, though, Eileen felt trapped. She was struggling financially and couldn’t afford a place of her own anymore. Around March 2018, instead of moving on from the couple, she decided to move in with them.
It’s challenging enough to live and work with your partner, but doubling that—living and working with two partners in an already violent, contentious dynamic—was a recipe for disaster. Still, Eileen told her friends and sister, “No, no, no, it’s just temporary.” She said she was only giving it a month or two to see how it played out.
But Eileen couldn’t even make it that long.
A few weeks after moving in, Eileen knew she had to get out. Everything changed on April 7th when Zach came to her and said, “I’m done with Christina too.”
That day, Zach and Christina had gotten into a vicious fight—perhaps their most violent yet. Eileen called her friend Ally right after to tell her that she and Zach were getting out of the house and away from Christina. But Ally assumed “getting out” meant going to the mall or a coffee shop for a bit. She didn’t think it meant they were running away—out of state.
The next call Ally received was from Christina, who said, “Since Zach and Eileen aren’t answering my calls, I’m going to call you to relay a message to them.” Christina threatened to report the car Zach and Eileen were driving as stolen if they didn’t come back for her. Ally called Eileen to relay the message, but by then, Zach and Eileen were already on their way to Georgia.
They had left so quickly that Eileen didn’t even grab her phone or wallet—she was just using Zach’s. Still, Eileen reassured Ally, saying this was the best thing for them. She believed they were finally escaping Christina and could be together like they had always planned.
However, it didn’t take long for things to unravel. Christina started sending Zach texts, initially saying, “You two deserve each other.” But over the next few hours, her messages became more threatening. She wrote, “My dad’s going to be calling you,” and, “You fed me over, now I’m fing you over.”
Within 24 hours, Christina sent them over 150 text messages. Zach and Eileen didn’t reply to a single one, seemingly determined to cut ties.
The following day, the couple reached Texas. That’s when Christina changed her approach. She began begging Zach and Eileen to come back home, promising to change, saying, “You’ll never have to question my love again.”
Zach caved. Instead of telling Eileen they needed to turn around, he told her that he had invited Christina to fly to Dallas to join them for the rest of what had now become a road trip.
Of course, the second Christina arrived in Texas, things turned ugly. Eileen managed to sneak off with Zach’s phone to call Ally, saying things were getting really bad between the three of them and she didn’t know how to get out of the situation—especially since she didn’t have her phone or wallet.
This dynamic continued for several more days. Meanwhile, Eileen’s sister, Franchesca, was growing increasingly worried because she hadn’t heard from Eileen in over a week, which was very unlike her.
When the throuple passed through New Orleans, Eileen finally called Franchesca. On the call, she told her sister flat out, “I think they’re going to kill me.”
Franchesca, horrified, begged her sister to run to the nearest police station or gas station—anywhere she could get away from Zach and Christina. But for some reason, Eileen said she couldn’t. She quickly ended the call, leaving Franchesca feeling completely hopeless.
Franchesca had no idea what hotel they were staying at, where they were headed, or what their plans were. All she could do was pray that her sister would somehow make it back to Miami okay.
That was around April 17th when the two spoke. By April 21st, the throuple was back in Florida, still driving their way down to Miami. They decided to call it quits on the driving for the night and holed up in the Sportsman's Lodge Motel in East Point, Florida. This is our crime scene.
For the first night, it seemed like the trio was actually getting along. According to hotel staff, they were pleasant. They checked in on the evening of Saturday, the 21st. The three of them grabbed dinner before going out to play mini-golf. Then they went back to the Sportsman's Lodge, partied for a while, and eventually called it a night.
The following morning, Sunday the 22nd, the three of them made a plan for the final leg of their road trip. They decided to spend one more night at the hotel before making their way to Tampa on Monday morning. So they went to the liquor store and bought two huge bottles of vodka and a massive container of Fireball. They spent most of the day hanging around the motel, barbecuing and drinking.
But Eileen was not having a good time. At this point, once again, she snuck away to call Ally. She told her friend, "I just really need to find a way to leave right now. I... I cannot wait until tomorrow." She added, "Honestly, I'm being treated like a sex slave right now in this relationship."
Eileen said Zach was being scary ever since Christina joined them. According to her, Zach had a look in his eye that she didn’t recognize. She begged Ally for help, saying, "Can you help me? Please help me come up with a plan."
Ally bought her a Greyhound ticket and told her to hop on the bus when they made a pit stop in Tampa the following day. The plan was for Eileen to wake up the next morning, get to Tampa, and take the bus. Ally would pick her up from the bus station in Miami, take her home to gather her things while Christina and Zach were still on the road, and then let Eileen stay with her for a while until she figured out her next chapter in life.
Only, as we know, Eileen would never make it to Tampa. That was the last time Ally would ever speak to her friend.
By Monday morning, Zach and Christina were back on the road, and as we know, Eileen was no longer with them. I’m not sure where they went that afternoon, but it seems they spent those early hours looking for a place to dump Eileen's body. By Monday night, April 23rd, they were knocking on the door of their good friend Mike’s house back in the Miami area.
When they arrived at Mike’s house, he immediately asked, "Guys, where's Eileen?" He knew the three of them had been on this road trip together, so it was a little strange that only Christina and Zach showed up.
Christina replied, "Oh, Mike, Eileen ran away."
Mike didn’t buy this for a second. He could sense something was up. The two of them were acting weird, and it didn’t take long for Zach to break. Zach looked at Mike and said, "Eileen is dead."
Mike was obviously reeling from this news. He was friends with Eileen too, and now two of his close friends, who were in a throuple with Eileen, were sitting in his home, acting strange and saying she was dead. But it wasn’t until Christina left the room that Mike got the details out of Zach.
Here’s what Zach tells Mike. He claims that on Sunday night, the night before Christina killed her, he didn’t see or hear it happen, but when he woke up the next morning, Eileen was dead in the bed next to him. He woke up, tried to give her CPR, but it wasn’t working. When he told Christina he was going to call 911, she stopped him.
When Mike asked, “Dude, why?” Zach explained, “I listened to her because I wanted to protect Christina. I mean, she murdered Eileen.” He then gave Mike a pretty good description of where they left the body, which was definitely a useful piece of information in this confession.
However, Mike was now worrying for his own life. He was thinking, Okay, I just let a murderer, maybe two, who killed a girl yesterday, into my home. And now they’re confessing to me that they’ve done it. This is dangerous. Am I next? Who knows what these people are capable of?
Mike pulled a really smart move. When the couple passed out on his couch, he took a photo of the two of them. Then he went on Google Maps to try and find the exact location Zach had been talking about. It wasn’t hard for him to find the abandoned shack in the small rural Florida town.
Finally, he went on Facebook and found Christina’s father. Mike knew Christina’s dad was a police officer—she had told him a million times. He thought, I’ve got to reach out to her dad. He sent him the photo he just snapped of the couple on his couch and told Colonel Tony that he had some really important news to share about his daughter.
Colonel Tony didn’t hesitate. He told Mike, “Meet me at a gas station nearby.” So Mike pulled up to the gas station, and Colonel Tony was there. He couldn’t hold it in, mainly because he was worried for his own safety. He told Colonel Tony outright, “Your daughter just killed someone.”
When Colonel Tony realized how serious the news Mike had for him was, he said, “Nope, we’re not doing this here.” He wasted no time getting Mike down to the station to make a formal statement about whatever this was. In fact, he even had two other officers do the questioning because he knew this was a conflict of interest.
Despite Christina saying that her father could protect her from anything, that was definitely not what this scenario was shaping up to be. Colonel Tony Rojo took this statement very seriously, especially when they learned from the Franklin County Sheriff's Department, "Hey, we did find a body."
They tried to corroborate Mike’s story of what Zach and Christina had told him. They called Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, and they confirmed, "Yeah, we found the body exactly where Zach had told Mike it would be."
That same day, Colonel Rojo had Mike look at a photograph of the victim, and Mike confirmed without a doubt, “Yes, that is my friend Eileen Siden.”
So what does Colonel Rojo do? Well, it’s the opposite of what his daughter Christina had been threatening all this time. He doesn’t help her get away with anything. Instead, he coordinates her arrest.
Within hours, police were circling Mike's home with arrest warrants for 30-year-old Zachary Abel and 38-year-old Christina Rojo. They were transported back to Franklin County and were later charged with first-degree murder. But thanks to a series of complicated delays during the pandemic, it would actually take six years before there was any movement in this case.
The arrests happened in 2018, and the murder occurred in 2018. It wasn’t until January 2024, one year ago from the time I’m recording this, that Zachary Abel stood trial. He pleaded not guilty to those first-degree murder charges. But eight months prior to that, Christina accepted a plea deal to lesser charges of second-degree murder. Along with that deal came 25 years in prison and the agreement to testify against Zachary Abel in court.
You know, just your typical two-person-involved murder, where one’s going to turn on the other, and it’s exactly what happened. Christina Rojo became the star witness in Zach’s trial, and for the first time, she revealed more details on what had happened that evening in Room 15—or at least we get her version of it.
Here’s what she said: that Sunday night, the three of them were just relaxing in the room after a day of heavy drinking. Zach was not acting like himself. She said whenever he was drunk, he became more aggressive, and this is exactly what happened when Eileen posed one tiny question to Christina that night. Eileen said, “Christina, guess what?” Now, Christina doesn’t know what Eileen was going to say, but according to her, Zach clearly knew what she was about to say because he snapped.
She said he got up, walked over to Eileen, and started hitting her in the face, screaming at her and asking her why she always had to start problems. Christina got involved, but for different reasons. She wanted to know what Eileen was going to say and what Zach was trying to cover up. She said violence was a normal thing in this throuple, so when she couldn’t break up what was happening between Zach and Eileen, she said she just left the room to catch her breath.
When she came back 15 minutes later, Zach was in the bathroom with Eileen, holding a shower curtain rod and beating Eileen with it. Christina said he then moved her back to the bedroom, where he began hitting her with a wooden walking stick. He hit her so hard that he broke it. That’s when Christina claimed she got in between Zach and Eileen because this was too much for her to bear.
Wow, I’m so glad that eventually, at this point, it was too much for her.
She said Zach stopped beating her. Eileen was still laying there, and you remember the autopsy—absolutely broken. She said she and Zach passed out shortly after from exhaustion, thinking they would all wake up, Eileen would be injured but alive.
She says when they woke up the next morning, they realized that wasn’t the case—that Zach had beaten her to death. Christina only admitted to helping cover up the crime because she was terrified of what Zach might do to her if she didn’t help.
Now, I don’t know how much of Christina’s account can be trusted. After all, we know she’s had violent tendencies in the past and was clearly abusive toward Eileen. But some of the evidence does seem to match her claims.
Although, I want to point out the obvious: even this confession, this version of the story, does not make Christina look like a good person. The bruising on Eileen's body was consistent with a shower curtain rod, one that was confirmed to have a palm print on it that matched Zach's, which doesn't match Zach's version of events. Detectives also testified that they found broken shards of wood in the motel room, again with Eileen's DNA on it. So, Christina saying how the murder happened does kind of match up as far as the murder weapons.
However, Zach Abel's defense at trial painted a totally different picture. They said Christina was the aggressor and had acted alone. Evidence that was supposedly visible in the photo Mike took of the couple sleeping on the couch showed Christina’s hands and feet covered in bruises. Not to mention, there were those 150 text messages she sent to Zach and Eileen when they left her behind on that road trip, many of which spoke of the bodily harm she would cause both of them when she saw them again. She threatened them.
They also argued that Christina told Zach to pick up the curtain rod so he would leave his prints behind, that she had been driving the bus almost literally the entire time. This was all calculated, something that was confirmed when a surveillance video caught the two after the murders. In this video, Christina’s driving Zach’s car, and he's riding in the passenger seat.
The defense argued Zach had no reason for wanting Eileen dead, but Christina Rojo did—jealous. But the jury didn’t buy the idea that either of them sat idly by while this crime was committed. When they returned from deliberations, they found Zachary Abel guilty of second-degree murder instead.
But their friend Mike, who is probably the closest to all of the people involved in this case, thinks that might have been a mistake. He says he doesn’t think Zach is the kind of man who would murder someone. He doesn’t think he’s capable of killing Eileen. In fact, Mike said he had a camera inside his apartment that night that captured Christina admitting to being solely responsible for the murder. Why this wasn’t included in evidence during the trial, I’m not totally sure, but Mike does think that Zach was pressured to help cover up the crime.
Still, one of the bigger questions is: what triggered either Zach or Christina that night in the hotel room? What happened? What was Eileen about to say when she said, “Christina, guess what?” Why had Eileen told her friends she needed to get out of there? Why did she tell people this was dangerous and that she needed to get away? She was being treated like a "sex slave."
Well, Zach shared a clue during his sentencing hearing about maybe what Eileen was about to say in that moment in the room. He told the judge that he had proposed to Eileen before Christina had joined them on that road trip. When they ran away, he proposed with a Ring Pop. According to Zach, Eileen said yes.
Now, was this a story at trial to sort of reduce his sentencing, maybe make the judge sympathize with him more? If he was willing to get engaged to Eileen, why would he then kill her? I don’t know if we’ll ever have that answer, but I do know that Zachary Abel will be spending his life in prison, while Christina is scheduled to be released in 2043 when she’s 63 years old.
And I also know that her father made an incredibly difficult but correct choice in making sure she got what she deserved. At her sentencing hearing, he made sure she knew what side he was on when he told his daughter, “You will own up to the truth. You will accept responsibility. You will be the voice of the victim, and you will testify under oath in a court of law. And then whatever is sentenced to you, that’s fine.”
And that is the case of Eileen Siden. I don’t know if we have a clear-cut picture of what happened in that motel room back in 2018, but I do know that Eileen loved Zach. She loved him. She wanted to be with him, and she also felt like her life was in danger. She couldn’t wait to get back to Miami and get out of this situation. Sadly, she wasn’t given the chance. Her life was taken unfairly and unjustly, and in my opinion, long sentences should be served because of that.
You guys, thank you for sticking it out this week. I think Garrett will be back next week for another episode.
I love it, and he still hates it.
Goodbye.
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