Unconditional
STORIES by Lea Thau
Lea Thau
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2015
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This is a story of mothers, love, regrets and redemption, and of secrets from many years passed that cast long shadows in our lives. It’s about how Deborah Jiang-Stein came to be pulled over by two highway patrolmen at 19 years-old, with a trunk load of dope, a .38 revolver and a 10” switch blade…and … Continue reading Unconditional →
The entire back catalogue of Strangers can be found at STORIES by Lea Thau on Patreon and Substack, where you can also find my new work in its entirety, all of it ad-free. You can join as a free or paid member, so come be part of my community! Or follow my new work in my new public feed, STORIES by Lea Thau, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to strangers from KCW and Radiotopia. |
| 0:04.0 | I'm Leah Tau. |
| 0:06.0 | This past Sunday was Mother's Day in the U.S. |
| 0:10.0 | And today's story is about mothers and love and loss and regret and redemption |
| 0:17.0 | and secrets from many years past that cast long shadows into our lives for decades to come. |
| 0:25.9 | Here's Deborah Jiang Stein. |
| 0:28.9 | I'm about 19 years old, and two Highway Patrol flag me down on Highway 1-on-once between San Diego and Seattle, where I grew up. And I'm in an M.G. |
| 0:39.3 | Midget. I have a trunk-load of dope in two suitcases that I got from high school graduation. |
| 0:44.3 | I have a 38 gun under my seat and a 10-inch switchblade. The guys flag me down. I have to pull over. |
| 0:52.3 | There's no way to outrun to Highway Patrol. |
| 0:56.6 | I pull over to the side of the road and I turn my engine off and I just wait. |
| 1:03.4 | One of them comes up to my driver's side and he says, open the trunk. |
| 1:11.6 | I get out and I move like a snail. |
| 1:14.6 | Before I open it, I look up the cliff and Highway 101 is on the water and I see the ocean on the other side. |
| 1:22.6 | I could probably jump off the cliff and maybe make it to the bottom but I doubt it. And if I run up the hill, |
| 1:29.6 | I figure they'll shoot me. So I snap the button and I open the trunk and they see these two |
| 1:36.0 | baby blue suitcases. And the guy puts his hand on the trunk lid and slams it and said, |
| 1:42.7 | it's just as we thought. And they walk away. And I have no idea |
| 1:46.3 | what's happened. And then I see them wave down another car and I recognize that they're looking for |
| 1:51.8 | Mexicans smuggled in the trunks of cars. And I jump in that seat and I shift through the gears |
| 1:58.2 | and I rip up the coast. |
| 2:09.5 | That was enough dope to get me a life sentence and they were just feet away from looking at this. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lea Thau, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Lea Thau and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.