a little afternoon on Valentine’s

Day 1998 a married couple named Steve
and Kim Rico held hands as they walked
towards their car they had just dropped
their 8-year-old daughter off at a
neighbor’s house in the Suburban
neighborhood in Maryland where they
lived and now Steve and Kim had the
whole weekend to themselves and they
were really excited about it because
they had this big trip planned now
admittedly Kim had no idea what they
were actually going to be doing because
Steve was the one who planned it and he
was obviously being very secretive about
the details he wanted this to be a
surprise and so for weeks leading up to
this weekend Kim would see Steve on the
phone all the time presumably planning
whatever it is they were going to be
doing but wouldn’t let Kim hear what he
was saying on the phone he would kind of
muffle his voice or he’d hang up before
she could come over and hear him and
then also after these secretive phone
calls Kim would often see Steve writing
all these notes down in his journal
presumably about whatever it was he was
planning the only details Steve shared
with Kim about this trip was make sure
you wear something nice when the couple
reached their car Steve hopped in the
driver’s seat and Kim hopped in the
passenger seat and immediately right
after Steve had fired up the car Kim
turned to him and said are you going to
tell me you going to tell me where we’re
going but Steve just grinned and said
nope it’s a surprise Kim gave a
theatrical sigh and sat back and feigned
frustration but inside the way she was
really feeling was just excited this was
so cool that steveen put so much effort
into whatever it is they were going to
Kim and Steve
do but also Kim was seeing her husband
was really making a big effort to make
her happy and this was kind of new
because lately their relationship had
been really Rocky Kim and Steve had been
married married for 9 years by this
point and they were both very very
different people Steve was a total
homebody kind of introverted and Kim was
the opposite she was super extroverted
and very social but when they first met
each other it was actually their Stark
differences that brought them together
for Kim when they met she was in her
early 20s she had just dropped out of
college and her experience with men so
far had been she would meet them at
parties or bars and at first it would
seem like their relationship was great
but then invariably these guys would
just kind of move on and break Kim’s
heart but Steve was different he was
this huge guy 6’4 massive football
player but he was totally a gentle giant
and as soon as he met Kim Kim could tell
this guy is different he’s treating her
with respect you know he’s loyal to her
he really cares about her and so they
hit it off right away and Kim very
quickly became pregnant at which point
Steve asked her to marry him and Kim
didn’t hesitate for a second they were
totally in love and marriage to Steve
had really been a stabilizing factor in
Kim’s life she wound up going back to
college and got her degree which landed
her a job as a surgical technician which
is what she did now and Steve turned out
to be just a fantastic father and he
wound up actually staying home with
their daughter when she was a baby so
Kim could go out and work and Kim always
thought it was funny when she would come
home and she would see Steve standing in
the doorway cradling this infant but
he’s like this massive person and so
their baby looked like a toy but
unfortunately over the last year Kim had
seen a change in Steve he went from
being a shy person but a person who
could go out and function in society to
a shy person who basically stopped going
outside altogether Steve basically
refused to go out anywhere with Kim he
didn’t want to talk to anyone he didn’t
want to spend time with their friends or
family he just wanted to stay home and
watch TV or hang out in the basement I
mean it was pretty obvious he was
depressed but his introvertedness was
becoming kind of stifling for Kim and so
Kim approached Steve and said you really
need to go to therapy to get better here
you know I’ll go with you we can do
couples therapy but Steve refused and so
finally right around this past New Year
Kim decided she had just had enough she
was totally unhappy she did not feel
like Steve was going to change and so
Kim told Steve that she wanted to get
divorced and when Steve heard that he
The Getaway
realized the gravity of this situation
he knew Kim was unhappy with him but he
did not know she was thinking about
about separating and so Steve kind of
broke down and begged Kim to give him
another chance you know let him prove to
her that he will change that he wants
this marriage to work and Kim said okay
and so that was how Steve wound up
planning this very secret Getaway on
Valentine’s Day this trip was supposed
to be the start of their new and
improved marriage and so Kim was really
excited and optimistic about the future
after driving for about an hour and a
half Steve pulled off the highway and
began following sign towards the Eastern
Shore which is a waterfront area of
Maryland that’s very beautiful that was
located about 70 M away from Steven
Kim’s home after driving for a few
minutes Steve pulled into the parking
lot of the Harbortown Golf Resort and as
soon as he pulled into a spot and turned
off the car he clapped his hands and
turned to Kim and said okay we’re here
and Kim looked from her husband out to
all the perfectly manicured grounds and
the Beautiful Resort and she smiled and
leapt out of the car excitedly Kim and
Steve Took each other’s hand hands and
marched inside to check in and as they
were checking in the person behind the
desk gave them glasses of champagne and
then after handing Kim and Steve their
key cards the receptionist told them
that their Cottage where they were
staying was like the nicest property at
the resort Kim and Steve were totally
pumped they took their champagne and
their room keys they walked back to
their car and then drove a little ways
deeper into the resort to their Cottage
it was Cottage 506 and it looked out
over the water and when they went inside
Kim was totally wowed it it was this
rustic Suite with a Woodfire stove in
the middle and two queen-sized beds and
a little coffee table area for breakfast
over here it was perfect and then when
Kim actually walked into this Cottage
she noticed there was a card sitting on
a table and it looked like a wedding
invitation Kim was confused and looked
over at Steve and Steve just smiled and
said go check it out and so Kim walked
over and she grabbed the note and she
began reading it and as she did she
began to smile the card really was a
wedding invitation albeit it was for a
fake wedding because it would turn out
this was not just a random overnight
that Steve had planned for both of them
instead he had purchased a romantic
getaway package which included this
amazing Cottage but also a professional
dinner theater performance that would be
held on the resort grounds Kim read the
description of the dinner theater show
on this invitation it was a murder
mystery called The Bride who cried where
the actors in the show would put on a
whole fake wedding and then at the end
of the wedding somebody would get killed
and the audience would need to figure
out who did it for an extrovert like Kim
an activity like this was perfect and so
Kim felt totally touched that clearly
Steve had heard her and the first thing
he did to kind of win her back was to
begin to do the things that Kim really
wanted to do which was really going out
and having fun and so after Kim finished
reading the card she turned and looked
over at Steve and Steve was kind of
nervous cuz he wasn’t sure if Kim was
going to like it and Kim she broke into
this huge smile she walked over to Steve
and gave him a big hug hug and Steve he
was so happy and he hugged her real
tight right back Kim and Steve would
spend the next couple of hours sitting
by their fire inside of their nice
Cottage drinking their champagne and
talking about the future and just
telling stories and having a good time
and then around 700 p.m. stepen Kim put
on their nicest clothes and walked their
way over to the area on the resort where
this dinner theater was going to happen
it was in an event Hall with a bunch of
round table set up for the audience and
The Wedding
so once Steve and Kim and the other
audience members all took their seats
the ACT actors and actresses came into
the room and they were all dressed in
their wedding clothes there was a bride
and a groom and a wedding party and the
audience was instructed to participate
in the wedding as if they were wedding
guests and so the audience all stood up
and they began kind of having this fake
Social Hour of meeting all the wedding
guests and then Steve Kim and the
audience members all took their seats
and they got ready to watch the drama
unfold and Kim pretty much immediately
was totally absorbed in this performance
she was so enthusiastic talking to the
ACT and talking to the other guests and
really pretending like she was part of
the wedding I mean she was having a
blast the play itself was about a groom
who was in the mafia who was forcing his
bride to marry him by threatening her
family the climax came when the groom
stood up and gave a toast with his
champagne he took a sip and then fell
down dead Kim watched all of this with
delight but she kept looking over at
Steve hoping he too would be smiling and
having a good time but each time she
looked at him he was just kind of stone
faced and looking straight ahead like he
just didn’t care or he was totally
disinterested and then a couple of times
when Kim leaned over and said hey you
know honey who do you think did it who
do you think the Killer is Steve
basically just completely ignored her it
was like she wasn’t there and the play
wasn’t there he was just totally zoned
out eventually Kim and a few other very
enthusiastic audience members figured
out the killer in the play was the
bride’s mother who poisoned the groom
and then after this discovery was made
the play was over as everyone got up
from the seats and began to leave Kim
couldn’t help but feel really annoyed
with Steve because he was just so silent
and not invested in this play and it’s
like we came all the way here why aren’t
you at least pretending to enjoy this
but Kim also thought you know Steve put
a ton of effort into the weekend he’s
clearly trying I’m not going to start a
fight I’m not going to bring it up and
so finally Kim just said to Steve hey
you know why don’t we go to the bar and
get a couple of drinks bring them back
to our Cottage and just hang out there
for the night and when Steve heard this
he actually smiled and said okay great
let’s do it and by the time the couple
got back to the front door of cottage
506 they were holding hands again and
laughing and telling stories and they
went inside and Steve put the beers down
on the table and then Kim said she was
going to go in the bedroom and just
quickly change into something more
comfortable and so Kim walked into the
bedroom and shut the door and Steve
walked to the front door and turned the
[Music]
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back to the
[Music]
stories 3 hours later a man named Philip
Cottage 506
Parker who was staying at the resort
with his family heard a commotion in the
lobby and he heard people saying there
might be a fire at Cottage 506 and there
could be somebody still inside Philip
immediately turned to his cousin who was
with him and the two of them bolted
outside and just started running towards
Cottage 506 and as soon as they got to a
place where they could see the cottage
from a distance they could see black
oily smoke pouring out of the windows
when they got up to the burning Cottage
Philip ran to the front door but it was
locked he couldn’t get inside he
screamed to see if anybody was in there
but there was no answer and so Philip
and the cousin ran around to the back of
the cottage where there was a glass
sliding door and Philip he tried the
handle but it was locked at this point
the cousin said he was going to run back
to the resort and get a fire
extinguisher and after the cousin ran
off Philip turned back towards the
sliding glass door and realized it
actually opened on both ends and he had
only checked one side and found that
side to be locked but on the other side
which he was now noticing it was
obviously unlocked because it was open
just barely and so Philip immediately
opened it up and all the smoke began
coming out and so Philip dropped down to
get a better look because down low the
smoke had not fully settled there was a
bit of an air pocket right at the bottom
of the floor and so Philip got down and
he looked inside and for a second he
couldn’t quite see anything but then he
noticed in the middle of the bedroom
right inside this Cottage he could
clearly see somebody’s feet somebody was
on the ground and so Philip screamed
that he was coming in and then he opened
the door the rest of the way and he
began low crawling into the bedroom and
as he did he was hacking and coughing
from all the smoke and so finally Philip
reached this person and he grabbed their
foot and he shook them to try to wake
them up but they weren’t moving but the
fire was getting bigger and stronger the
smoke was getting thicker Philip was
really starting to panic and was worried
that he too would get trapped in here
and so he just grabbed this person’s leg
and began pulling them and it was really
hard but he finally got this person back
to the door he couldn’t quite get them
over that lip of where the sliding door
was but right then Philip’s cousin
showed up and the two of them were able
to grab this person and get them out of
the cottage and this was the moment when
Philip finally got a look at the person
he was just dragging out and it was
immediately cleared to him that this
person was deceased their face was
basically gone it was completely burned
away in the days and weeks leading up to
this weekend Steve really was taking
secret phone calls and writing notes
down in his journal because he was
planning something very special but he
was not the only one with plans for this
weekend here’s what police say happened
after Kim and Steve got back to their
Cottage follow Following the show and
Kim went into the bedroom to change and
Steve went to the front door and locked
it a couple of minutes later Kim came
out of the bedroom wearing something
sexy and she looked at Steve and smiled
and said come on get in bed I’ll join
you in a second and so Steve’s like
great my plan is working we’re going to
reconnect here he climbed in bed and he
laid down and Kim she walked over and
got something out of her bag and then
she walked back over to the bed and she
pulled out a syringe and she stabbed it
into Steve before he could do anything
and she injected him with something
called sual choline Kim had access to
this drug from her job as a surgical
tech sual choline is used to relax
people’s muscles during surgery but if
you give someone too big a dose it can
stop their breathing and this drug works
pretty much instantly which means Steve
would have seen his wife stab him with
that syringe but then instantly he would
have been totally paralyzed but fully
awake and fully alive and so as he was
laying there there he would have seen
his wife put the syringe down and then
grabbed lighter fluid and then walked
over to him and calmly poured the
lighter fluid all over Steve’s face and
chest and then one of Steve’s final
images he likely saw before his lungs
stopped working and he died was his wife
striking a match and lighting him on
fire after lighting Steve on fire Kim
casually walked out the back sliding
door she shut it leaving it open just a
crack and then she made her way to the
resort Lobby where she put on the big
act about how her Cottage was on fire
and she thinks her husband was still
inside and Phillip overheard Kim say
that her husband might be inside the
cottage which is when he and his cousin
jumped into action they ran to the
cottage and ultimately found Steve
deceased inside of the cottage
ultimately Kim never intended to give
Steve a second chance in their marriage
she was already having an affair with a
much younger man who was in the Marines
and she was just done with Steve and so
as Steve began telling his friends and
family how he was going to make a huge
effort to save his marriage Kim was
going around to her friends and
literally openly talking about how she
wanted to murder her husband but nobody
took her seriously they thought she was
just kind of venting and being kind of
dramatic but as soon as the news broke
that Steve had died in this fire and Kim
had not people rushed to the police to
tell them pretty sure Kim had something
to do with this Kim was convicted of her
husband’s murder and she was sentenced
to life in prison it would turn out the
primary reason Reon why Steve was so
secretive before going on this trip was
he really wanted it to be this
unbelievably special romantic kind of
like Recreation of the couple’s first
aid and so what he was doing is he was
calling all of Kim’s friends and family
members and asking them questions about
things Kim liked because he wanted to
incorporate all of her interests in this
trip and then after these calls when
Steve was writing in his journal that
was not just writing down like Logistics
of the trip he was also writing down how
how much he loved Kim and how excited he
was for their future and what they would
build together as a family I mean Steve
really believed they were on a path to
reconciliation but of course that just
was not the

case