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hey smeltown fam it's your episode.

Hey, Small Town, fam. It's Yardley. How are you guys? I hope you're all well. We have a very dark, but very compelling episode for you today. So you're probably wondering why I say

this particular case is dark when really everything

we talk about on this podcast is deeply disturbing in its own way.

But this case stood out to me because of the lackadaisical attitude that the teenage suspects

and their parents showed when the teenagers revealed their master plan to

police. I'm not kidding. You'd think these boys were ordering takeout, not discussing a rape

murder plot. And so it brought to mind the age-old question, how much of a person's behavior is due to

nature and how much is nurture, particularly

when that behavior is aberrant or cruel. Personally, I think it's a combination of both. Therefore,

if we assume that's true and nurture is definitely part of the equation, then who's responsible when shit goes terrifyingly sideways

like it does in this case?

And does it matter?

I feel like at some point it does, but then what?

Things rarely change just because we think we know who to blame.

I don't know.

Anyway, I'd be curious to know what you all think.

Here is what went wrong.

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