Murder by nature

True crime podcast that dives into stories you never heard of, mysterious disappearances, and unsolved cases. You never know what small town we might be talking about this week.

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Murder by nature

The Family Murders

January 16, 2023 • Jazmin Hernandez • Season 1 • Episode 28

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Danielle and Seren were living with Danielle's family in a mobile home rented by Robert Joseph Marzejka, Danielle's father, in Clinton Township. Danielle and Bryan shared a bedroom. Robert, their father, was sleeping in the home's living room because his son Kevin Marzejka and Erin Funk (Kevin's girlfriend) were staying in the only other bedroom. The family had resided in the home for about a month and had a history of frequent moves due to evictions for failing to rent.

Robert did paintwork for a general contractor and his son Robert Jr worked with him most of the time, and Kevin would work when he needed the money. The contractor let the three have a white work van for jobs, but they also used it for personal purposes.

Danielle and Bryan began working the night shift at National Coney Island with a friend of Danielle's, Khriscinda Whaley. Because Danielle and Seren did not have a vehicle, Whaley drove them to and from work. On August 22, 2018, the three went to work around 9:00 p.m., and Whaley dropped Danielle and Seren off at home around 8:00 a.m. on August 23, 2018. When she dropped them off, Whaley noticed the white work van outside. Danielle’s father, Robert, left for work around 8:15 a.m., saying goodbye to Danielle. This was the last time Danielle and Bryan were seen alive.

Whaley, Danielle, and Seren were scheduled to work that evening of August 23, 2018, and Whaley was to give the other two a ride to work like normal. Around 1:00 p.m. that day, Whaley attempted to contact Danielle by Facebook Messenger to inform Danielle that she was having vehicle problems and would be unable to drive the three to work that evening. Around 5:00 p.m., Whaley sent a message to Danielle again, informing Danielle that she thought she found them a ride to work. And then, at 7:00 p.m., Whaley sent a third message to Danielle, informing Danielle the ride had fallen through.

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Intro

“Welcome to Murder By Nature, where we discuss True Crime, Mystery disappearances, and unsolved cases! I’m Jazmin Hernandez, your host!

Welcome back, I hope you had a wonderful new year. We have decided to switch things up over here at murder by nature and move our release date to Monday evenings. We have learned that doing a podcast while working and being a mom is a tad difficult with as Saturday morning release date. Thank you all for bearing with us during this odd transition. Now the case we are about to dive into I actually found while scrolling on Facebook is a weird one. As every case we cover please be mindful of the victims family and what not in the comments im sure they look at these cases and would not want to see rumor and etc floating around. With that being said lets jump into our case today.

References:

Robert did paintwork for a general contractor and his son Robert Jr worked with him most of the time, and Kevin would work when he needed the money. The contractor let the three have a white work van for jobs, but they also used it for personal purposes.

Danielle and Bryan began working the night shift at National Coney Island with a friend of Danielle's, Khriscinda Whaley. Because Danielle and Seren did not have a vehicle, Whaley drove them to and from work. On August 22, 2018, the three went to work around 9:00 p.m., and Whaley dropped Danielle and Seren off at home around 8:00 a.m. on August 23, 2018. When she dropped them off, Whaley noticed the white work van outside. Danielle’s father, Robert, left for work around 8:15 a.m., saying goodbye to Danielle. This was the last time Danielle and Bryan were seen alive.

Whaley, Danielle, and Seren were scheduled to work that evening of August 23, 2018, and Whaley was to give the other two a ride to work like normal. Around 1:00 p.m. that day, Whaley attempted to contact Danielle by Facebook Messenger to inform Danielle that she was having vehicle problems and would be unable to drive the three to work that evening. Around 5:00 p.m., Whaley sent a message to Danielle again, informing Danielle that she thought she found them a ride to work. And then, at 7:00 p.m., Whaley sent a third message to Danielle, informing Danielle the ride had fallen through.

However, none of the messages were successfully delivered to Danielle's phone because it was turned off. This concerned Whaley because Danielle was always on her phone and carried a phone charger everywhere she went. Moreover, Danielle was a responsible employee, and it was unusual for her to miss work without contacting her employer. However, Danielle and Seren did not show up for work that night. This was worrisome for Danielle’s friend. She wasn't able to get in touch with Danielle, and the last time she saw her was when she dropped her off at home the day before. Around 5:00 p.m. on August 24, 2018, Whaley went to Danielle's home to check on her. Robert and Robert Jr were both home; Danielle’s father was intoxicated and initially refused to let Whaley enter the home. After several minutes, however, he let Whaley enter, and the two talked in the living room for some time. Danielle’s brother Robert Jr was present during the conversation but did not participate in the conversation. Whaley then went to Danielle and Seren's room to look around to see if maybe she would find anything out of the ordinary. When entering the room, Whaley did not notice any, but the room seemed more disorganized than Danielle usually kept it. In addition, the blanket and top sheet on the bed were not what Danielle usually used, Danielle's phone charger was on her bed, and pillows were missing from the bed. This seemed extremely odd to her; Danielle was a person who always had her phone charger and had things a certain way. After checking the room, Whaley stayed in the home until around 8:00 p.m., calling several of Danielle's friends to see if anyone else had heard from her. At some point, while she was there, Robert Jr left in the work van.

Whaley went to work shortly thereafter but left early and returned to Danielle's home around 5:00 a.m. on August 25, 2018. She awoke Robert, who was still drunk and argued with him about reporting Danielle and Bryan missing to the police. She knew something was wrong but could not pinpoint what was going on. Danielle would sometimes leave to hang out with friends but not like this. Eventually, to get Robert in her vehicle; Whaley told him they were going for more liquor, but she instead took him to the police station, where they reported Danielle missing. Because Danielle’s brother had warrants out for his arrest and the police were likely to investigate wherever Danielle lived, Robert insisted that they tell the police that Danielle and Seren lived with Whaley. Sadly the police would not let them report Seren missing because they were not related to him, even though he was last seen with Danielle and she was missing.

Later that day or early the following day, Allison Moceri, a friend of Danielle's, and several other friends went to Danielle's home to look around. Like Whaley, Allison had been attempting to contact Danielle without success and was becoming concerned. Robert let Allison and the others in to look around the house and see if they were able to find anything that would lead them to where Danielle was. In the bedroom, Allison found Danielle's duffel bag, laptop, purse, and blood glucose meter. She also found Seren's wallet, which contained his state identification card. While one of the friends noticed blood on the mattress, nobody thought anything of it due to Danielle having a miscarriage a few months before. Allision placed all of the items she found on the bed, took a photograph, then left them there for Whaley to pick up and take to the police.

Danielle had diabetes and was dependent on insulin to maintain her condition for her blood glucose meter and medication to be at the house were extremely concerning for her friends.

On the evening of August 26, 2018, Kevin and Erin went to the home and discussed Danielle and Seren's disappearance with Robert Sr. Days had been going by and no one was able to find Danielle and Seren. Around 6:00 p.m., Whaley and Erin took the items Allison found to the police station and returned to the home to continue the discussion with the family. When Kevin looked through Danielle and Seren's bedroom, he did not notice any blood or signs of a struggle, nor did the room seem messier than usual, but something seemed off to Kevin. Kevin checked the window and then went outside to check the grass outside the window. He then walked around the house and noticed an inordinate number of flies on the back of the shed which immediately alarmed him.

When Kevin went inside to get the key to the shed from the kitchen, the key was gone, but the lock on the shed had come from a storage unit Kevin and Erin shared, and Erin still had the spare key. Kevin alerted everything that something was in the shed and that they needed to find out what was going on. Using the spare key, Kevin unlocked the shed. Robert Sr and Whaley were with Kevin when he opened the shed to see what was going on. Immediately inside the shed were a box spring and lawnmower, Kevin removed both items and noticed in the back of the shed were two large plastic bags. Robert Sr used a box cutter to cut an opening in one of the bags, and a leg became exposed. Everyone stopped in their tracks not knowing what to do they left the shed and called the police immediately. Kevin was the person to make the call to the police He said that Danielle and her boyfriend had been missing and that there was a strange smell coming from their shed. When the police arrived, Kevin and his dad, Robert were outside. They explained that Danielle and Seren were missing and that they had gone into the shed to look as there was a “smell of death,” coming from it.

Both bags were transported to the morgue as they were found. Dr. Mary Pietrangelo performed the autopsies for both victims. Both bodies had begun to decompose. Seren Bryan was wrapped in five plastic bags. Three bags were around his head and neck, one bag was around his lower body, and one was around his upper body. There was duct tape over his "lower mouth, and sides of his face, and the back of his neck." Dr. Pietrangelo believed the tape had been over Seren's nose at one point but had slipped down due to the decomposition. Seren had three scalp lacerations on the back of his head from blunt force trauma. According to Dr. Pietrangelo, these strikes occurred while Seren was alive and would have rendered him unconscious. But the head injuries did not cause his death.

Instead, Dr. Pietrangelo determined Seren's cause of death to be asphyxia due to suffocation. His knees were at his chest, and his arms were over his knees in the bags. Seren's wrists and ankles were bound separately and then together with duct tape, holding him in position.

Danielle was wrapped in three plastic bags; one bag was around her whole body, and two were around her head and neck. There was duct tape "around her head, which was also over her nostrils and her mouth, and she had duct tape around her neck." Danielle had seven lacerations from blunt force trauma scattered across her scalp and several skull fractures. While the skull fractures would not have been instantly fatal, Dr. Pietrangelo could not determine whether she died from the fractures or asphyxia by suffocation. Danielle was positioned similarly to Bryan. Her knees were up to her chest, and her ankles were bound by duct tape. Her wrists were not bound, but there was a loop of duct tape near her ankles, suggesting that Danielle's wrists were bound there at one point.

Danielle and Seren were wearing only shirts and underwear. Dr. Pietrangelo found no signs of strangulation or defensive wounds on either Danielle or Seren. She also found no signs of attempts to revive either through (CPR).

Police searched the shed in which Danielle's and Seren's bodies were discovered and the inside of the home. In the shed, Officer Steven found a plastic bag that contained several items, most of which had blood on them. Specifically, the Officer discovered pillows, a makeup kit, needles for checking blood glucose levels, a 27-ounce rubber "Husky dead blow hammer," an empty duct tape roll, some black duct tape, and a fitted sheet. The fitted sheet matched the sheet on Danielle and Seren's bed. Police found blood spatter under a doily on the television stand in their room and on the underside of a makeup station. There was a blood stain on the carpet under a hamper in the room and, with the assistance of Bluestar, there appeared to have been blood on the wall and floor that was cleaned up. Behind a panel in a walk-in closet near Danielle and Seren's bedroom, where the hot water heater was located, Officers found a roll of black duct tape with a bloody fingerprint on the inside of the roll and a number of other items with blood spatter on them, including a pair of pants with paint on them, a shirt, various towels, and an Xfinity box. While the officers were looking around the house for more clues Kevin was able to identify a pair of shorts and a shirt as belonging to his brother Robert Jr.

Ashley Motter, a forensic biologist with the Michigan State Police, performed a number of DNA analyses. She found three individuals contributed to the DNA on the handle of the Husky, hammer-including Danielle and Robert Jr. Danielle and Seren's DNA was found on the head of the hammer. Blood stains from the clothing presented matched DNA from Robert Jr, Danielle, and Kevin. Danielle's blood was also found on the hamper and mirror from the bedroom.

Soon after Danielle's and Seren's bodies were discovered, the police turned their attention to Robert Jr as only those who resided (or had resided) in the home had access to the shed, and he was the only resident unaccounted for. Robert's phone received a call in the area of the home around 10:13 a.m. on August 23, 2018. At 1:22 p.m. that same day, Robert ordered a cab with his phone from Shamrock Cab Company. The cab picked him up from his home and took him to Wendy's at the corner of 15 Mile Road and Groesbeck Highway, about two miles from the home, arriving at 1:42 p.m. Robert then called Williams Carpet care at 1:35 p.m. He then took a bus down 15 Mile Road. When he exited the bus, he entered a Tim Horton's, then left and crossed the street where Robert SR picked him up in the work van. The two returned home around 5:30 p.m.

At least until August 26, 2018, the day the bodies were found, Robert Jr remained in Clinton Township. Whaley saw Robert Jr at the home on August 24, 2018, and on August 26, 2018, he paid cash for a room at the Riverfront Inn. At 10:25 p.m. that same day, Robert Jr made a call from his cell phone near the inn. When he vacated the inn, he left behind a computer, a cell phone, "and other miscellaneous items." Around 2:00 a.m. on August 27, 2018, his work van was spotted in Toledo and reported to the police. The van was eventually found and seized from a market in Toledo, and On August 28, 2018, Robert took a Greyhound bus from Toledo to Cincinnati, arriving around 3:45 a.m. on August 29, 2018. Unbeknownst to him, Toledo police had already provided a photo of him to the Greyhound attendants, who reported Robert purchasing a ticket to the police. After spending some time at the Greyhound station in Cincinnati, Robert asked Greyhound employees for access to a computer, and they directed him to a library. When police arrived at the Greyhound station, the employees informed police of this fact, and the police successfully arrest Robert at the library that day without incident. While in Ohio defendant was wearing a blonde wig, hat, and sunglasses, and went by the name Josh Bianca or Bianco. He also utilized a reloadable charge card or cash to make his purchases. On August 31, the police questioned Robert back in Clinton Township. Robert told the police he wanted to talk, and asked what his charges were. The police told him he was being charged with premeditated first-degree murder. He asked what premeditated meant, and the police told him it meant to plan it out. Just when the police thought he was going to confess instead he asked if he could call his brother Kevin. The conversation was recorded as many are in situations like this, during the phone call Kevin asks him if he was going to plead guilty and Robert said no.

During the trial, Kevin testified that in November 2011, Robert was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and paranoia and that he had been hospitalized several times due to erratic behavior, for a total of three or four weeks over the course of nine years. According to Kevin, Robert did not believe his diagnosis and, therefore, would not take the medications prescribed to him, which included Seroquel and Lithium. A motive for the murders was never established; Robert’s defense attorney said his client had a mental illness and had heard voices on the night he murdered his sister and boyfriend.

He said he asked his client “a million times” why he had committed the murders, but Robert was never forthcoming. He argued for leniency based on diminished responsibility. However, the prosecution argued that Robert had carefully planned the murders; he had purchased the hammer and duct tape beforehand. He’d also bought a shovel indicating he’d initially planned to bury the young couple. He had also made a concerted effort to clean the crime scene and hide the bodies. In Toledo, he wore a wig to hide his identity. Robert never confessed to the murders of Danielle and Seren but on Nov 22, 2019, The jury found Robert guilty of both counts of premeditated murder, and the trial court sentenced Robert to the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for both counts on January 14, 2020. At sentencing, the Macomb County Circuit Court Judge told Robert, “you’re an evil man, and you’re going where you belong.”

On July 31, 2020, after filing his claim of appeal with this Court, Robert moved the trial court to either hold a Ginther hearing or grant him a new trial. His motion was premised on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Although he acknowledged that whether to call an expert witness is a matter of trial strategy, he noted that such a presumption was inapplicable when counsel fails to engage in a reasonable investigation or when failing to call an expert deprives a defendant of a substantial defense. In this case, he argued, trial counsel conceded that he killed Danielle and Seren, choosing to emphasize his mental illness in an effort to convince the jury that he could not have premeditated the killings. Counsel ineffectively failed to call an expert who could have explained his mental illness and the effect of his failure to take his prescribed medications. Instead, counsel relied entirely on the testimony of a lay witness who could not explain the symptoms of his mental conditions or his need for medications. Specifically, he argued that an expert could have explained that Seroquel is prescribed to treat sudden episodes of mania and to decrease hallucinations, and Lithium is similarly prescribed to reduce the frequency and severity of manic episodes. He argued such testimony was critical to his defense in light of the trial counsel's chosen strategy and had it been presented to the jury, he may have been found guilty of a lesser offense.

The trial court held a motion hearing on October 13, 2020, at which the parties argued consistently with their briefs. Robert also responded to the prosecution's Carpenter argument, averring that using mental illness to dispute premeditation was not a diminished-capacity defense because premeditation was not "the intent element." On November 17, 2020, the trial court entered an opinion and order denying his motion. The court recognized that he may present evidence of mental illness if relevant to some purpose other than to negate the specific intent element of the charged offense, but concluded premeditation is a specific intent element of premeditated murder. Accordingly, the trial court held that evidence of mental illness introduced to negate premeditation would have run afoul of Carpenter, and trial counsel could not be ineffective for failing to call an expert witness for this purpose.

Kevin was interviewed at the end of the episode. He said he doesn't hate his brother, but he’s not his brother anymore and doesn’t forgive him for what he did.

Seren’s mom, Diane, said she is currently working on a program called Seren Shining Arts, a program to give kids sketchbooks to help them communicate through writing and drawings.

Outro

That brings us to the end of this episode! As always, thanks for listening to Murder By Nature. If you enjoy our show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any streaming platform you are currently on, and be sure to come back Saturday for our new episode. Until then, I am your host, Jazmin Hernandez, don’t forget to stay safe! Don’t get murdered or murder people, you lovely humans!

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