- 5 days ago
Perry, New York. 2016. At the cookie factory, friendships rise fast—but so do rivalries. What starts as harmless gossip between co-workers soon turns sour, and when jealousy and ambition boil over, the sweet life at the plant ends in cold-blooded murder.
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00:00the cookie factory was a big place everybody worked there did I like a lot of people there
00:17no but I put on a smile people find me intimidating I had no respect for her I
00:26think she was a little bit of a bitch at first she thought she was the boss of the group the
00:32cookie factory was becoming pretty hostile 9-1-1 Center what's your emergency she kept
00:41screaming she's gone she's gone I hate her she's a monster I wish I never called her a friend
00:56the fact that a friend could do this to another friend is uh just incomprehensible
01:18Perry is a small town it's in upstate New York they have about 6,000 people who live there
01:26and it's you know for all intents and purposes pretty idyllic
01:29Perry is similar to a lot of small towns but at the center was their cookie factory
01:38the town smells of cookies as soon as you drove to the the plant and opened your door
01:45I mean there it was smack in the face
01:47they make every kind of cookie you can think of if you're looking for cream filled cookies
01:57they're making them down to the little crushed pieces of cookies that are going in your favorite
02:02ice cream
02:02the cookie factory was a big place it was easy to get hired I mean everybody worked there
02:12it was a great job with good benefits good hours and a lot of the employees there were women and just
02:21like the cookies the drama here gets served up hot and fresh they go from high school straight to the
02:29factory so they would still bring what they did in high school into the factory as far as like drama
02:36rumors you know starting problems between people because you know they didn't like
02:41that they were friends or they didn't like that they were talking to that person because they were mad at them
02:52but across the lot from the cookie production line the flatbread plant offers a refuge
02:59here the baked goods are savory and for the most part the drama stays off the menu
03:06I love flatbread because it's totally different from being at the main plant there's no fighting there was no arguing
03:16and that's where I met Donna she was 18. I was like this girl's cool I mean tattoo you know young spunky
03:28it was like me so I saw myself we became friends and then Jordan came in
03:39I was hired at the flatbread plant in 2008
03:43the first time I met Jordan oh
03:45the attitude like people thought I had an RBF resting bitch face
03:51oh no this girl had a resting bitch face yeah I get this a lot uh people find me intimidating
04:02I put a front on just because I had heard about Heather I was told stay away from Heather you know
04:09she's bad news don't get wrapped up in her business I know a lot of people didn't like Heather and Donna
04:16they say that they ran the flatbread they acted like they were bosses but getting to know them
04:23I was like what are you guys talking about they're they're sweet
04:27so fast forward two days later and that's the first time I actually talked to Jordan
04:33a lot of people say you know when you see somebody or with that resting face don't just make
04:39assumptions yeah I did that we became close friends like I wanted to protect her I was the mother hen
04:50and I would give my opinion and I would hear okay mom with the eye roll Jordan was funnier than
04:58shit just her facial expressions and just stuff that came out of her mouth
05:05where's the next party that was my job that was a social butterfly
05:12Heather, Donna and Jordan quickly become inseparable
05:17but the queens of the flatbread make room for one more
05:24Kira moved in next to my parents and she was 31.
05:28she needed a job and I'm like hey put in your application where I work and she did
05:38she's tough a straight shooter like when something came out of her mouth she's serious
05:46I think Kira was a little bit of a bitch of hers she thought she was the boss of the group
05:50I found her intimidating if I didn't do something that it was her way then I get yelled at that's not
05:58how you're supposed to do it this is how you're supposed to do it Kira was tough she was still
06:05but she also had a funny bone she was mean but I got to know her and then eventually you know we
06:15keep friends
06:21the trio becomes a quartet and the click is complete life in flatbreads is good
06:31it's late 2008 everything is going great these four are loving working there together there's no drama
06:39it's super chill and then they get the news that they are being moved to the main factory across the street
06:49this is not good news for this crew the main plant was like going back to high school
06:56so you got to tweak your personality you have to did I like a lot of people there no but I put on a smile
07:06I mean you had your higher ups and you had the boomers
07:14they were a group of you know five six people they're the older generation they have been there
07:20for 20 plus years they were going to retire there for decades the boomers have ruled the factory floor
07:28they outlast managers outwit rivals and they know what it takes to survive their ringleaders are Pam and
07:37Gina now they didn't call themselves boomers I don't think they particularly liked being called boomers
07:44but this is what the younger girls were calling them they certainly do not like change they'd been
07:51pretty much running the show for a long time management respected them and trusted them they
07:56knew how everything was supposed to work and they wanted the factory to continue running the way that
08:00they wanted it to and to these boomers donna kira heather and jordan aren't just the new generation
08:10they're a direct threat
08:19i mean a lot of times i felt like it was a competition between the boomers and the millennials
08:25just because we were younger beautiful we had energy
08:30i think that they thought we were there to replace them
08:32but boomer in chief pam knows the best way to fight back is to stir the pot pam was she was quite
08:47a handful a lot of times pam would uh go to heather and say hey did you hear what jordan said about you
08:54and heather would come at me and be like did you say this about me and i'm like no i didn't
08:59so that it would be back and forth like that i'm the type of person that actually takes things to
09:05heart i'd get really upset and i'd be mad i'd be pissed off all day you really couldn't talk about
09:12anything personal or anything you did over the weekend uh because then if you talked about what
09:17you did over the weekend then the entire plant would know that was pam she loved to turn us against
09:25each other and cause trouble
09:30this rivalry between the boomers and the millennials it was not good
09:35tensions are extremely high in the main factory and then management brings in another new girl
09:43in 2009 25 year old desiree withy enters the factory
09:48first time i saw desi i was sunbreak she was very beautiful very beautiful
09:57she came in and i looked at her and she looked at me and i could tell either
10:02she'd be your best friend or she'd kick your ass
10:04things were definitely about to get changed up at the cookie factory
10:18even though it seems like just workplace politics there were very real stakes and
10:23very real consequences to the attitudes within the cookie company
10:28and unfortunately the consequences ended up being deadly
10:43once desi came to the plant we clicked we were two piece in a pod
10:48within months we were wifey calling each other wifey
10:51kira was mean to a lot of people especially the new people that would come in
10:58but when desi started it wasn't like that with her she wasn't mean to desi at all
11:04her joining our group was fantastic we all hung out as much as we could we'd go down to
11:11the bar and get a few drinks you know we could do things that friends do
11:14desi was fun she was a single mother she always had something to talk about
11:24desi she always walked with her head held high shoulders back
11:29desi was the type of person you didn't want to mess with
11:32and desi was the type of person who would get us all onto the dance floor every song
11:37and it would be nothing but dancing all night
11:49not only is she popular but desi quickly rises to become the factory's star employee
11:58i feel like desi could fix anything in that factory
12:00like you show her one thing and she knew how to do it right then and there bob the builder had
12:08nothing on that girl management loved her but i could understand why some of the boomers would
12:14feel very threatened by her position there they've worked there for a long time and things seem very
12:20different now that desi's around
12:24and desi isn't the only member of the group upsetting the boomers and their leader pam
12:31pam liked the scale where when the cookies come up they pack into the box you have to weigh it
12:40when it comes down it weighs and then you go on that was her job pam loved it pam loved it
12:51so pam is furious when she discovers that donna has been given her coveted role weighing the cookies and now
12:58she's in this cold room putting cream in the cookies and she feels slighted with the change
13:04and that's one thing about pam she was vocal and she was not happy she would throw fit
13:12pam was there for a very very long time years so she felt entitled she felt like whatever she said
13:21should go so she complains enough to management and suddenly she gets her job back
13:31so now management's trying to figure out where do we place donna and as a huge shock to kira
13:35donna is given kira's job packing the cookies in the main plant factory floor drama can turn even the
13:44closest allies into enemies kira was upset for the fact that it was donna that had gotten the job
13:53kira didn't think she was qualified to do the job donna and kira they're very strong at it they
13:59didn't really agree on a whole lot especially when it came to like work i think there was part
14:05of kira that felt like donna was breaking girl code like donna shouldn't have even accepted the offer of
14:10this job it's sad because they were all so close and then something like this really just started
14:16breaking them apart i mean kira was so furious with donna she wouldn't even speak to her
14:22kira sees desi and heather still chatting with donna she feels like they're betraying her i mean
14:31it doesn't take long for a group to fall apart when there is a rift like that kira really moves
14:36away from the millennials entirely she's now taking her breaks going out to smoke with pam
14:41and the boomers and falling in with their crew
14:44the group of four is now down to three and the boomers are poised to finish them off for good
14:58one of the mixers called me baby girl and i gave him a hug
15:05and the next thing i know we're sleeping together
15:09and it's like no no that's not true he's married to my aunt it's heartbreaking i'm married like i don't
15:22need this getting back to my husband there were rumors a lot of rumors if you were talking to a male
15:32at all you were sleeping with them pam was definitely behind a lot of the rumors kira and pam
15:39we're now good friends pam would go directly to kira with information and then it would just
15:46go down the chain it's almost like pam and the boomers are making accusations intentionally to
15:52pick them off one by one and completely break down this group of millennials
16:03gossip stirs things up but if you really want to take someone down
16:08you go to management
16:12pam would go back to management with information that we were doing or you know what we supposedly
16:18shouldn't be doing or you know we're not working hard enough
16:24every time i turned around i was being pulled off that floor
16:28because i did something and it's like what do you mean but it's a write-up
16:33i look around donna would be getting written up for something jordan would be going into the office
16:43because something's going on desi she's as clueless as the rest of us
16:49and it just kept going every time i turned around something was was sad that we did
16:57i believe that pam had started a war she always ran to management with information
17:06because she thought that we were there to replace them
17:12things were bad at the factory between the rumors the tension uh the gossip
17:17it was july 2011 and we had to be in early that day
17:37by two o'clock i was asked to go into the office to see the plant manager
17:51i i just had this feeling so i kind of put on my resting face
18:04and i just looked at them
18:14hr started her spiel which i didn't really care to hear her because i had no respect for her
18:25and she told me that i am no longer an employee of the cookie factory
18:34and i was stunned i was stunned
18:41and i go why she goes facial harassment
18:48and i'm just looking at them like what what's facial harassment and they're like
18:55you rolled your eyes i go i rolled my eyes then this whole plant should be fired
19:07because everybody rolls their eyes
19:11i believe pam hated heather enough to get her fired
19:15she thought that she was causing too much problems between our group at the boomers
19:19and pam wanted heather gone i think the the main one was pam
19:27but of course pam's sweet sweet little boomer and nobody can be mad at her
19:37i told jordan i go girl you better you better watch yourself
19:41we're all brought in one after another we didn't see heather she was fired
19:49and then uh desi and i were pulled in the office and told that you know whispering is uh bullying and
19:55that's not tolerated
19:58i thought it was
19:59i was in my kitchen and jordan called me which i think it was around 11 o'clock
20:16and she said that she was fired
20:22heather is fired jordan is fired
20:25kira is hanging out with the boomers and now all that's left in terms of alliance really is donna and desi
20:38as the last two standing desi and donna know they need to stick together
20:45but a handsome new hire is all it takes to pull them apart
20:48josh was a good-looking man all the girls were you know hot and bothered you know by him
21:00donna had taken a liking into him first
21:05once she sealed him it was you know he's mine no you cannot talk to him like you cannot look at him
21:15so donna and josh had been seeing each other for a few months
21:27things didn't go right i believe josh had ended things
21:34after they broke up there was a rumor that desi had been sleeping with josh
21:37he always liked desi uh he took a liking in desi i mean they did start seeing each other for a little
21:45bit it wasn't really like a an announced relationship it was you know see where things go
21:54donna didn't really care for that and donna was not um a person that you want to mess with
22:00donna got distant after that she ended up hanging out more with pam and kira than with desi
22:17now the only one left in this once tight-knit group is desi everything is closing in on her at
22:23the cookie factory i think desi felt very lonely without our little group it was getting too much
22:33she wanted to get out of there she wanted to go to culinary school to be a baker
22:39but she never gets a chance to do that
22:47i was off duty at the time shopping with my family i gathered myself together i responded to
23:17the scene on borton avenue upon entering the residence i went to the first floor bedroom where
23:26the deceased was located what stood out to me was how brutal the attack was the victim was laying on
23:34her back she had marks all over her body she had incised wounds to her wrists her vaginal wall and she
23:43had bruising throughout her body the 911 caller identified the victim as desiree withy
23:54she was 33 years old
24:00she ultimately died from strangulation as far as we could tell the injuries to the pelvic region were
24:06sustained after she was dead although we recovered numerous cutting instruments from knives to scissors
24:17to box cutters we were never able to definitively say which one of those was used on the victim
24:25this was a deeply personal murder motivated by a severe hatred and we had to figure out who despises
24:32women enough to commit a crime like this
24:46one thing that we did notice at the scene was the way desiree's fingernails were cut back somebody
24:52would normally do that to themselves when someone is strangled the natural reaction of a human being is
24:58to scratch and when you scratch you peel up skin cells from the person that's strangling you it's
25:03likely that desiree's fingernails were cut in an effort to conceal evidence or a transfer of dna
25:10at this point we figured it was either an ex-boyfriend ex-spouse of some sort someone that has a
25:16personal vendetta this was definitely uh set forward to you know send a message
25:30we found out that desiree had two children uh ages two and six
25:35the six-year-old went to the child advocacy center to be interviewed
25:39she told us that she came downstairs and saw a woman in desi's room in the middle of the night
25:46and she heard crying in that room this person has her back to the door so she doesn't see her face
25:55they gave her some crayons and she was able to basically draw a jacket that had almost like a
26:03pink color to it and a white color all indications are the person that was wearing that jacket is the
26:09person that killed desiree withy
26:24i was upstairs getting ready and then my phone's ringing
26:39and instantly it was it's a blur from there um i remember falling down my stairs um
26:49wailing out and then i called heather
26:58she kept screaming she's gone she's gone i'm like no who what i go you're lying i go you are lying
27:07and she just kept saying she's gone she's gone she's gone
27:17it's just heartbreaking because she really was a beautiful person she was my sister
27:28we learned that desiree worked at a baked good factory
27:38we interviewed several people that worked at the cookie factory i believe the cookie factory was a
27:45place that was becoming pretty hostile for desi to be in
27:48i was taken into the investigator's car to give my statement i was questioned for a good two hours
27:58they asked me if i knew anybody that would want to hurt does he
28:03i knew somebody from the factory murdered her
28:09they looked at all the drama the clicks the suspensions all the things that had happened
28:20in the years since desi had worked there investigators spoke with pam and the other
28:25boomers and they were shocked to hear this news obviously they had their own workplace drama but
28:31certainly not enough to kill for investigators learned that donna felt betrayed by desi's
28:39short relationship with her ex josh donna and josh had split up they're now back together
28:45so they interviewed donna donna was honest with investigators she didn't like desi
28:51but she wouldn't kill her
28:53she had an alibi for the evening of desi's murder
28:58they didn't believe that she was involved so they had to let her go
29:02but they did find out that desi and josh had had this relationship
29:08and they really wanted to talk to josh about it
29:10thank you for coming down i appreciate you all know i was hoping everything i heard was intrigued
29:18right now talking to you what are your thoughts like what do you think could happen
29:23i don't know what happened all i know is she ain't here right
29:26josh may have a past with desi but he thinks there's another man they should be talking to
29:34kira who left the younger group after fighting with donna is now back in desi's life but for all the wrong reasons
29:46a gentleman by the name of larkin daniels formerly dated kira for approximately eight years
29:58he started ending his relationship with kira and kira was not taking that very well
30:04something happened at the christmas party that kira was upset about
30:18all i know is is that desi and larkin ended up staying up all night talking and that's all they did
30:24once the next work day came uh desi was online too uh you know just packing her cookies away row
30:40packing away and all of a sudden uh kira comes up to her and calls her a and starts screaming at her
30:48telling her how dare you stay up all night talking to my boyfriend or my fiance at that time kira and
30:57larkin were broken up but they were still trying to see where things would go so kira made a scene
31:04she made a big scene to where she had to be literally escorted out the building
31:12the next man they talked to is kira's former fiance
31:15larkin daniels what did you hear happen at work between the two of them um i just heard that
31:27kira made a lot of confrontation to her and she physically attacked her no i know shortly after
31:33they had a blown christmas shopping together i don't see kira ever doing anything like that hurting
31:39someone or anything like that larkin was calm he was collected uh he was sad over the news but he did
31:48not show nervousness in any way larkin said that he believed that kira was never someone that could
31:56be responsible for this heinous crime investigators turn their attention back to the cookie factory
32:08and to desi's old friend kira i was doing neighborhood interviews and a female came out of a house on hope
32:15street and i said hi do you mind if i speak to you what's your name she told me kira kastenhuber
32:25knowing this i asked her if she would accompany me back to the pd so we could interview her a little bit
32:32further
32:32we want to know what happened she was one of my best friends and i loved her you know we were very
32:42very close it's just very hard to hear that she's gone i don't know what happened to her
32:53who do you think could have done it i don't know as far as i know she didn't have any enemies so that
33:02argument that you had with desi what was it really i just said you know i would love to kick the
33:10shit out of her you know but i would never hurt her no not at all kira admitted to being mad at
33:21desiree but denied ever being capable or ever wanting to harm desiree in any way she gave us a dna
33:29sample she gave us her telephone she gave us the keys to her car she was more than reasonable during
33:36the interview she seemed like a normal person would be upset that a friend of theirs had died
33:54at the end of the interview we made the decision that we're not going to arrest her
34:01and we're going to let her go what happened the next morning change everything with the case
34:069-1-1 center what's for your emergency okay i know who killed the woman in perry
34:24i don't know who killed the woman in perry i don't know who killed the woman in perry
34:29i don't know who killed the woman in perry i don't know who killed the woman in perry
34:33and that person had also tried killing themselves you need to be advised that she took a boatload of
34:41pills so she's not quite with it right now two responding officers went to the scene from rochester pd
34:48what they found was kira cast and huber the call was placed by kira's mother's friend
34:57kira was lying on an air mattress on the floor she was disoriented she was breathing heavily
35:03the officers said that kira was slurring her words but she did say to the responding officers a lot of
35:08things happened that shouldn't have happened and it's all my fault at this point ambulance arrives
35:18on scene uh transports kira to strong memorial medical center in rochester along with one of
35:25our investigators where kira was treated and evaluated as kira recovers investigators tear through her home
35:35while searching the laundry room we had found a pink and white jacket laying on top of a laundry
35:39basket that pink and white coat had been freshly washed and dried it's actually amazing how good the
35:48witness did of identifying the jacket because it looks very similar it's a really good job for a
35:55child it's better job than i could do for drawing that jacket then investigators find something even more
36:03chilling within various garbage cans we had found a torn up note in numerous pieces
36:10and that note was a to-do list if you will
36:16the checklist reads wear masks so no scratches
36:23try to get her in shower
36:26have her write suicide note
36:28give her sleeping pills if that doesn't work then it's her wrist bring both blades
36:40and then at the very bottom
36:42we also found basically a series of suicide notes that appeared to be written by desi and they
36:59were found in kira castenhuber's trash actually kira had written the suicide notes as if they were written
37:07by desiree the sum and substance of the notes was that she was sorry for the person that she was and
37:17she is allegedly describing herself as a homewrecker and for that she was apologizing and she could
37:23not go on uh living anymore because of that
37:29despite all efforts to conceal this crime and dispose of any evidence during the medical exam of
37:34desiree one of desi's fingernails were found and on that fingernail was kira castenhuber's dna
37:44we had investigators at strong memorial hospital because the moment she was to be released
37:49from their care we were arresting her for the murder of desiree withy
37:52i heard what happened um the details of the crime was sickening it was disgusting i hate her she's a monster
38:12i wish i never called her a friend jordan called me and she's like
38:25she killed her excuse my language but she killed her i go who she goes kira
38:34and i just couldn't speak at that moment
38:41i couldn't sleep because all i could think about it was desi
38:52she took a mother there's two little girls that are growing up right now without their mother
38:57with the evidence stacked against her kira has no way out she pleads guilty to murdering her former
39:12friend the judge ultimately sentenced her to a minimum term of 15 years a maximum of her natural life
39:18the judge did make a statement to the effect that he hopes that the parole board does not release her
39:27the fact that a friend could do this to another friend is uh just incomprehensible
39:42i think kira was very jealous of desi because desi was happy and kira wasn't
39:49and larkin kira always thought that desi was gonna come and snatch him up
39:54i think she did this because nobody could have larkin
40:02i was heartbroken because i was thinking back of how close we were the pictures the camping and
40:14the barbecues and the vacations we did everything together
40:24she took my ride or die
40:36working at the cookie factory just seeing her it just made a bad day just turn into a good day
40:44she made a hard life easy and a little bit sweeter
40:52a piece of my heart died when desi died
41:07on the next mean girl murders pageantry is amazing pageantry is cool everyone wants to be the queen
41:17don't pick your favorite just yet clearly she had something special there was jealousy they had to go
41:23after her only a hollywood movie would have these kinds of details it's kind of crazy
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