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As I speak these words today, on a rainy February 23rd in Los Angeles, it is the fifth anniversary of the disappearance of Adeya Shabani, who you will get to know and admire over the course of this podcast.
And not a day goes by that I don't think about her.Not because I don't know what happened to her.You'll find that out.It's because of why it happened.After the final episode of this series,
I hope you'll also ask yourself the questions, what causes someone to take a life?What were they trying to accomplish with this?How could they do such a thing to another human being who they knew?
And why such a horrible, drastic solution to such a small, small problem?I believe there are mainly two kinds of people who commit premeditated murder.
those who kill because they enjoy it, and those who kill because they're trying to solve a problem.
And if this podcast serves a greater purpose besides bringing closure to those involved and helping a day's name live on like she didn't get the chance to, it's to spread the message that harming somebody else doesn't solve any problems.
It creates much larger ones that will never go away. Most pain is temporary.Death is not.
As you listen to and discuss this podcast, please be respectful and mindful of the fact that these are recent events and real people.
Some of them suffering from a nightmare so horrible that they still have difficulty accepting that it even happened.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast author or individuals participating in the podcast and do not represent those of Tenderfoot TV or their employees.
This podcast also contains subject matter which may not be suitable for everyone.Listener discretion is advised.
You have beat me up.You have beaten me up.You've taken my Rolex.You took my Rolex.You took my Rolex.You beat me up.
I'm not getting out until I get my Rolex.
This very disturbing recording is of 25-year-old Edea Shabani, an aspiring actress who moved from Macedonia to Hollywood to pursue her dreams of becoming, as she put it, a different kind of star.
But just three weeks before I'm recording this, Edea Shabani went missing, vanished without a trace from outside her apartment on Hollywood Boulevard, right alongside the legendary Walk of Fame.
A young and beautiful woman with dreams of making it in Hollywood now missing.The 25-year-old seen in this photo with Kanye West had been in L.A.for less than two years.Friends are now desperate for answers after she disappeared on Friday.
Something is going on with her.We don't know where she is.
It's just so sad.We're just hoping she's alive.
I don't know where Adea is, but I have a good idea who does. He's been on the run since the day he disappeared, armed with two guns and a metal club.
Right now, I'm sitting outside the apartment where he's believed to be staying, and it's my turn to confront him.I'm alone.I'm not armed.I've never been in a fight in my life, and I'm regretting this. Chapter 1, The Call.
The voice you hear is that of snowboarder Shaun White.We're in the offices of his talent agency, and I'm interviewing him about his Olympic win.On the table rests his Olympic gold medal.
At this exact moment, just five miles away on Hollywood Boulevard, Edea Shabani is disappearing, possibly even worse.And here I am, freaking out over a tiny piece of metal.
So this landed perfect, and I'm like, this is it.You can do this.And I just gave it a little more oomph than normal.And then I'm riding away like, holy fuck.I'm going to win the Olympics.It's over.
But this is my job.Rolling Stone assigns me to do things like ride motorcycles with Tom Cruise, or go to rocket factories with Elon Musk, or shop for Pampers with Snoop Dogg.And then I write about what it's like hanging out with him.
But what I don't do is investigating crime and hard news and missing people.At least I didn't, not until I received this call.
So I wanted to ask you a question about this other case that I'm working.Yeah.So I don't know, you might have seen it in the news.I don't know.But, you know, it's another missing persons case.Her name's Adeya Shabani.She's a girl from Macedonia.
She's been here. like for about 18 months, hired by her family.She was in Hollywood.Anyway, she was last seen on Friday.This Friday or the Friday like the week before?No, this Friday.Okay.Yeah.Wow.
That's Jaden Brandt. I'm not sure how to best introduce Jayden because our relationship is a little odd.About a year earlier, a 20-year-old student went missing in my neighborhood in Malibu, California.
And as a community member, I volunteered to help find her.Jayden, a former police detective who's now a highly in-demand private investigator, was working with the family of that missing student in Malibu.
And I guess as a new father, I felt the need to help the missing woman's family. and also just make sure our community was safe.So I began reaching out to Jayden, probably initially as a pest.But eventually, he began calling me for advice.
So this call was another one of those conversations.It just happened to be about a new case.
Basically, at this point, I mean, we have no leads, no suspects.We do know that she was last seen on some video surveillance in Hollywood, got it right near her apartment around 11 a.m. She had last communication with friends at around 2, 2.30.
We know her apartment door was left unlocked.The real odd thing is that there appears to be some usage on her computer that night, but no phone activity, no communication with anybody.
As Jaden spoke, I looked through Adea's social media.It is, in a word, glamorous. There are professional modeling shots, exotic European beach vacations, and pictures on the red carpet at premieres and events.
In short, it looks like a Hollywood dream.And many of the inspirational quotes underneath the images are also about dreams, such as this one from Michael Gambon.Dreamy kids become actors, don't they?
I don't know.I mean, we're trying to get some press going on it.I don't know if it's, you know, something you're interested in.Maybe write a story for Rolling Stone or, you know, it's one of those compelling cases.I mean, she's young.
She's a beautiful, aspiring actress.You know, I think it could be a good case.I mean, obviously, you know, we're hoping to find her.I don't know.What are your thoughts?
I told him I'd think about it and to keep me in the loop.
We found these flyers at several businesses here at Hollywood and Wilcox, where police say she was last seen.
Her name is Adea, Adea Shabani.Beautiful inside and out, say her close friends, who also say they're worried sick over the 25-year-old.
She's been missing since the morning of February the 23rd.That's when she went to the Rise and Grind coffee shop and vanished.There's absolutely no evidence that she is a voluntary missing, that she's a runaway.
Jaden Brandt is the private investigator hired by the Shabani family to try and find Adeya.The 25-year-old's mother flew into town from the Republic of Macedonia a couple of days ago.
Now, there's nothing yet to indicate foul play, but friends suspect that Adeya Shabani is being held against her will.
As time continued to pass.She's been gone for more than a week.With no leads and no developments.
It's been 11 days since anyone has seen or heard from Adeya Shabani.
Initial press coverage started to fade.
No one has actually seen her in almost two weeks.
The police had very strangely asked the family not to do any interviews.So they'd spoken to no one and frustration was mounting.
It's just another case and the media has died down.
As Jayden went on describing the family's plight, I wondered to myself why I hadn't gotten involved yet.I felt like one of those people who sees a car crash and just rubbernecks and holds up the traffic.Maybe there was something I could do to help.
Maybe Unlike the Malibu disappearance, if I really started reporting on this for an article or a piece or a podcast, I could make a difference for this family.
Little did I know that this small conversation would soon turn into a serious commitment that would put me and my family at risk.In fact, I've recently been told that if I release this podcast, quote, bad things are going to happen to me.
in a sense of a threat on my life, or my safety, or that of my family.I've decided, obviously, to go ahead and release this.
I wish I could give you a good reason as to why I've made that decision, but I've discussed it with my family, and I suppose it's that if someone is threatening your life to stop you from doing something, it's a good sign that you're pretty close to the truth.
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Chapter 2, Zest for Life.
And this is Alex, who works with me.Yeah, yeah, thanks for taking the time.I can get you something.
I'm at the Rise and Grind coffee shop on Hollywood Boulevard.It's the last place Adeya Shabani was seen, and I'm meeting her mother Nora for the first time, and formally, I suppose, beginning this investigation.
Just one day has passed since I told Jaden I'd get involved, and he's trying to get me caught up to speed as quickly as possible, which means speaking directly with Adeya's family and friends. Thanks for coming.
So we'll wait here or in the apartment?I think what we'll do is we'll just go up to the apartment.It's definitely not here because it's too loud.
Together, we walk back to Adeya's apartment to speak.I'm nervous because I don't know what to say to someone who's in Nora's position, with so much fear and sadness and uncertainty about her child.
Especially since just a few days earlier, it was Adeya's 26th birthday. and her loved ones didn't have their friend, their classmate, their daughter to celebrate with.
We bought her flowers because it was her birthday on Friday.
Oh, it was her birthday on Friday.
Yeah, and also when we came into the apartment there were flowers because she always buys herself.And they bought them together with Emma, but I don't know which day, Thursday or Wednesday.
We sit down at a small breakfast table, and Adeya's mother begins the first interview she's ever done about her daughter.You've been staying in Adeya's apartment?
Now, yes.And it's difficult, really difficult.I'm not from here.So it feels kind of weird.I'm going through her stuff.I'm staying in her room, feeling her energy, feeling her smells. every day, but she's not around.
And she wanted me to come here desperately.She invited me so many times.And now, I mean, I'm here and she's not around.I mean, it's such a difficult situation. For me, it's a nightmare.
She probably wants you here, not somewhere else anyway, to be close.
We are very, very connected.Very.I mean, I know she somehow knows that I'm here.I'm convinced that I'm the only person she wants to see now.
It's uncanny to look at Nora.Her face, her lips, even her gestures are almost exactly like what I've seen of a dais.She moves with the solitude, a mournfulness around the studio apartment.
Occasionally she goes to the window to smoke a cigarette and she looks forlornly over the dirty and desperate streets of Hollywood.It's warm inside, but Nora's wearing a sweater and a jacket that she doesn't take off.
There's a poster of Leonardo DiCaprio and Wolf of Wall Street on the wall.There's several photos of Justin Bieber scattered around the bed.
And Nora takes special care to show me the positive, inspirational slogans that are emblazoned on everything from photo frames to paperweights on Adea's desk.
But most notable is a whiteboard above the bed on which Hedaya has written phrases like, the source of all creation is my role model.And then below that, she's written just three words in black marker, zest for life.
So this is Adea, from very early on she had this passion for being on the stage, for expressing herself, for reaching out beyond her small community, beyond borders.
I mean, if you look at her diaries, recently we were moving and we found her diary from
at a very young age, she was drawing, she was writing, like, I want to be a star, I want to be, even this picture here that she bought from Marilyn Monroe when I came.
Yeah, I noticed on Instagram, too, there was a picture of her next to, like, an artwork where it said something like, you know, be a star in a different way.
I'm going to be a different star.
Outside Adeya's apartment is the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame, the famous landmark with the names of A-list celebrities pressed into the coral pink stars on the sidewalk.This, of course, was a place where Adeya wanted her name to be one day.
She was feeling so great.She was basically walking on the streets, and she would put the camera on, and, I feel so great, Mama, I want to see, I want you to come here.We have to make sure that you transfer and you work in the U.S.
so that we are close together, because this is where I found happiness.She really found herself.
And then suddenly, just after Edea booked her first role in a Macedonian animated film, she disappeared.
Edea's mom and I speak about Edea's childhood in Macedonia, her education at the American University in Paris, and her job at a jewelry store in Dubai where she decided that regular 9-to-5 work was not the life she wanted.
I ask Nora what her theories are on Edea's disappearance, and she suggests that I speak to the last person known to have seen Edea, her friend, Emma.
Every day is passing by, you're losing hope, but I'm really hoping she's still alive.
I'm really, it's too bad to, you know.
She's only 25, so her life is in front of her.It's only the beginning.
Emma is tall and thin, with a strong jaw, a chiseled face, and long, jet-black hair.She's wearing bracelets, which you may hear jingling during the interview, along with music leaking through the paper-thin walls of this Hollywood apartment complex.
This is a building designed specifically for Hollywood hopefuls.In the lobby, there's a picture of the Hollywood sign.And nearby, there are large neon letters that read, you've arrived.
A message to all those who drive and fly into the city of dreams from small towns around the world. Emma recalls the exact moment she knew something was wrong.
Then Saturday, which was the 24th of February, and he said, no, Emma, she's not answering.So I just started running from my place to her, to the building, so I can knock on the door.
Emma drove to Adéa's apartment, contacted the building manager, and explained the situation.But the manager wouldn't let Emma up to Adéa's apartment, no matter how much she pleaded.
Eventually, Adéa's friends had to contact the police to do a welfare check. And not only was Edea not there, but the door was left unlocked, which they found very suspicious and very unlike Edea.
And then we contacted the mom.The mom said, go to the police and report that she is missing.
Edea's friend Angel continues the story.Angel runs a company called The Hookah Guys, and what they do is they set up mobile hookah lounges at clubs.And Edea, along with Emma, were working as basically volunteer hostesses at his hookah nights.
So we go in on Monday, we spoke to the detectives.They seemed to like, you know, take whatever information that they had or whatever and It didn't seem like they were about to do anything.So we went out.
As a matter of fact, they called us and they called Liz John, the person who filed the report, and said that you shouldn't go down to the police station because you guys are just, you're there for nothing.Don't come down to the police station.
Our officers have other things to do.
It's hard to believe that you can have a friend go missing under suspicious circumstances with their door literally left unlocked.And the police would tell you that they have better things to do than go search for your friend.
I was shocked to hear this from Angel and asked him how this could be possible.
They're not looking, and I think I had that conversation with one of the detectives when he said, you know, we want to find her.You know, do you not trust that we want to find her?And I said, no, I don't trust that you want to find her.
I trust that you want to build a case.That's more important than you, than whether she's alive or possibly dead.
All these interviews have taken place in Adea's apartment. As we leave, I tell Jayden that it seems like her friends are holding back with me a little bit.Like they know something more than they're comfortable sharing right now.
He tells me there's another person I should talk to.An ex-boyfriend of Adea's who probably has more information on her than anyone else.
This is because, for some reason, her cell phone bill is in his name, and in addition, his name is on the lease to her apartment, although he never actually lived there.And this guy has a lot of the facts I've been looking for.
He's an odd, fast-talking, and very intense European who's asked to remain anonymous for reasons that will soon become clear.So for the purposes of this podcast, we'll call him Ivan.I've recreated Ivan's side of the conversation here.
I have all the information from T-Mobile and WhatsApp.The last data on the phone was 12.50.I called in to the bill from T-Mobile.
Oh, got it, because you have her phone bill so you can see the data.
Yes, the phone bill is in my name.I took a screenshot and I sent it to the police.
I'm going to text, are you on WhatsApp?If I text you on WhatsApp, I'd love to see that.
Yeah, yeah, you can text me on WhatsApp and I'll send you the screenshot from T-Mobile of the data and of the last text she sent.
Ivan explains that not only does he have all of Edea's cell phone data, but he's managed to have a hacker crack her iCloud and get her crucial last messages on text and on WhatsApp.
He shared with police the message that I'm about to share with you now.However, and this is worth noting, he has not shared Adea's full iCloud account and text message logs with Jayden, the private investigator.
It seems a bit weird to me that her ex-boyfriend is the gatekeeper of all her personal information. The text was sent to a friend from acting class named Christiane just 48 minutes before Adea's phone shut off for good.
And Adea made a very strange request.She wrote, baby, do you know where I can buy candles?Red ones.And that was the last time Adea Shabani communicated with anyone.
It remains unclear just why she was asking for red candles minutes before she disappeared and whether that's an innocent question or a significant clue.
Yeah, so we're in Adea's apartment right now, and we're leaving, and hey, thank you, Adea, for sharing your family and your friends with us, and hopefully we can find you or be of good or of service.
You got everything?You got the key?
At home that night, I review the only facts I've been able to gather so far.One. Edea Shabani was last seen on February 23rd, 2018.Two, the last place she was seen was at her local coffee shop, Rise and Grind.
Three, at 1221 p.m., according to data retrieved by Ivan from Edea's Google account, her YouTube search history shows her listening to music by Coldplay, Beyonce, Eminem, and then at 1248 p.m., she does her last search and listens to her final song, God's Plan by Drake.
Four, the last time her phone was in use transmitting data appears to have been immediately afterward at 12.50 that afternoon.I've gotten a couple of other times from people, but this is what the data from Ivan actually says.
Five, according to another screenshot that Ivan sends me, her computer shows that it was powered on and her Chrome browser used from inside her apartment at 1.08 a.m.that night.So that's over 12 hours after her phone went out of commission.
Six, the front door of her apartment was found unlocked, which is unlike Edea, though there were no signs of struggle inside the apartment.Seven, and most bizarre of all, her last text was asking about where to get red candles.
It's a lot of information, but it really doesn't point toward any specific direction or to any theory whatsoever. So far, the only suspicious person I've spoken to is her ex-boyfriend, Ivan.
But it turns out he was in Europe at the time of her disappearance.It almost seems as if someone snatched Adeya right out of her apartment.But I asked Jaden about that, and there weren't any signs of a struggle.
However, that night, as I'm going through all my interviews, I get this call.
Hey, I just wanted to give you an update.Just got a call from Angel.He just got a call that came in on his cell phone, which was, it's like sort of acting as the de facto tip line until we get ours up and get the new media out.
But basically, he got a call from a guy, anonymous, didn't leave a name, you know, a block number saying that he saw Adea and she was being like put into the bed of a pickup truck out in front of her apartment.
He said that she was like out of it, like the implication was like maybe drugged.And then the truck took off and drove south down toward Hollywood Boulevard.He gives us a description of the truck and he even has the plate number.
coming up on season one of To Live and Die in L.A.All right, I'm in my car, man.I don't do this.I'm terrified.
Still a mystery what happened to 25-year-old Adeya Shabani, an aspiring actress and model who went missing February 23rd.Now a twist.
And the bed had been stabbed several times, and there was a huge knife left in my bed.
He was panicking. Every second word he was telling me, shit, shit, I don't know, I don't know.I'm like, how do you know?When was the last time you saw her and what did she say?
This shit is so fucking, it's deeper than I've ever, you could ever go.Well, I mean, just think about it.If the bullet is exiting this window, well, first of all, nobody shoots themselves four times.
They searched our apartment.They searched his first father's place in Sacramento.They showed up in Colorado.
He said, I'm going to tie, this is talking about you, and again, please keep this between us, OK?He said, I'm going to go back, and we're going to tie him up, and we're going to torture him.
We're going to find out where he put Hedea, even if we have to kill him.
You get a sense that you have a person who is above the law and can do anything to play with all of us.
I got one last important question.How worried do I have to be if we don't work things out and I do this physically?
Girls go missing from L.A.every single fucking day.
To Live and Die in L.A.has been a production of Tenderfoot TV and me, Neil Strauss, in conjunction with Cadence 13.
The executive producers of this podcast are myself, Donald Albright, and Payne Lindsey, along with producers Alex Vestbested and Mike Rooney.
Because this is an open case, anything you know about Adeya Shabani or anyone mentioned in this podcast, we want to know.Please email us at live.la at tenderfoot.tv. or call us at 213-204-2073.
The music and score that you've heard in this podcast is by Makeup and Vanity Set.Our theme song is Love and War by Flurry, and our show art and design are by Trevor Eiler.
You can follow us on social media at LiveDieLAPod, or you can find our website with bonus content at LiveDieLA.com.
I want to extend a special thanks to Brian Fishback, to Rich Berner, Kevin Richter, Station 16, Oren Rosenbaum at UTA, Eric Lin at Shangri-La, and the Nord Group.
It helps a lot when you subscribe, rate, and review the podcasts that you enjoy and listen to.Thank you for listening and for your support.
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