Episode Transcript
[00:00:17] Speaker A: The Combing through the Crime with Lori and Ashley, where true crime meets the beauty industry.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: We're pulling back the salon cape to uncover the real stories of fraud, theft, scandal, and sometimes even worse, all happening behind the scenes of salons, spas and beauty businesses.
[00:00:35] Speaker A: These are true stories reported in public articles, news outlets and police reports. We didn't make them up and they're definitely not our opinions.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: We're just here to share the facts, ask the questions, and reveal what really happens behind a chair.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Now let's comb through the crime.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: All right.
All right, Lori, this one's good.
It's kind of a little sad, but it's good and I love it because it shines a light on social media and, and how social media can truly impact your life and especially if you cross over into, like, the influencer world.
So this is kind of. I'm just setting up the tone for you. So this woman, she's 23 years old, super young, has everything going for her.
150 followers, thousand followers on Instagram, 114,000 on TikTok. I mean, it's crazy.
So she owns her own salon. I mean, at 23, that's amazing. She's lives in Mexico.
I think that, like, just picturing this girl thriving in life. Right on. This is recent, too. May 13, 2025. Her name is Valerie, Valerie Marquez.
She again is super young and owns her own salon. So imagine going into work, coming into work, she's starting her social media streamline, like live streaming in the salon.
She's like talking away, talking about everything. And then all of a sudden, this person shows up at her, at her salon with a mask on, delivering, trying to deliver her this gift.
And she was shot and killed while she was live streaming.
So let me just back up. So she, before she gets to the salon, she must have people at work for her because these. It was two people on a motorcycle that show up at the salon asking for her.
So in particular, like, is she here? So she wasn't. They have this gift that they want to leave her. It's expensive, but they need to do it in person. They're like, no, she's going to be, you know, coming back. So they leave and come back and then ask for her again because they clearly don't know who she is or what she looks like.
So they come in, ask for her.
They must get her. And she, as she's streamlining stream streaming, like live, she basically was saying to her people, like, this is weird. Why? You know, this is a weird feeling. You know what I mean, like, you know that something's not right.
So the two people on the motorcycle end up shooting her and leaving the scene. So that is the gist of it. I mean, I was, like, reading it, thinking, oh, my God, like, could you imagine being one of her followers watching her, like, morning routine? You know how you, like, follow certain people, you're watching the morning routine, and then all of a sudden, like, that happens. Like, you never really feel like something like that would happen. But so they think.
Investigators think they haven't shot this person yet, but they think that it has something to do with like, a higher hit for hire, you know, and. Or like the cartel or something like that. So these people, these. Because these people clearly didn't know who she was. That's kind of what leads them to that.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: But, yeah, I do remember hearing this story, actually, and I did look at it a little bit. She's a beautiful girl.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: And it is so, so tragic. And I hope that they continue to look for this or people and figure out who these people are, because that was something I thought about too, is they clearly don't even know what she looks like.
So, you know, if it was a for hire situation and they didn't provide like, a picture of her or like, you know, it's very odd.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Very odd. Yeah.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: I think that, like, is it like, you know, she. She does have a large following. Is it somebody who's, like, jealous or envious of her or, you know, whatever that maybe did something like that or set that up? But yeah, feel like it. And, and it probably is something personal. It just happens to be like, yeah.
How traumatizing, first of all, for all of the people that are watching that, you know.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. Yeah. I mean, I feel. I feel really bad because, like, reading this whole thing, I was like, oh, my God, like, you just. Even.
I couldn't even imagine. And just the.
The whole thing with social media. You truly are putting your entire life out there and where you work, who you are, what, what your routine is. Just what your routine is every day.
Sometimes it can really not be a good thing if you think about it.
[00:06:32] Speaker A: You know, when I worked in the salon, the salon owner was. And this was at least about six years ago, at least.
And the salon owner didn't want the stylist putting their names and things on their social or even, like, online booking. They didn't want, like, their full names on there because of that. But it was also like, this is how people do business now. This is how, you know, nobody's Walking around handing out business cards anymore at the grocery store just doesn't happen. No. So it's like you almost can't hide and be too private because that's how you're growing your business.
And, and on the other side of that, just like what you said, you are putting it all out there. You are putting who you are, what you look like. You know what your life essentially where you work and inviting because you're trying to get new business that way or you know, bring awareness to who you are, but you're putting it all out there.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
No, a hundred percent. Yeah. You and you really you.
That's the other thing. Like how can you not number one. And then how can you switch up your routine or like something like that? Like I feel like routine is huge. Like my, when I was.
When I run, I try not to do it at the same place at the same time. You know what I mean? Things like that.
[00:08:09] Speaker A: Did you hear those tragic stories too of like stalkers and those things that like you're on your routine and they pick up on that and same thing of, you know, your social media, what you're saying.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean I do watch a lot of people on social media.
Not often, but I do see a lot of people like posting what they do every single day. And I.
[00:08:32] Speaker A: Routes like when people like because you just said running, I see people post their running route.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: Like don't. It is so unsafe. Like tell us how many miles you ran in the distance and like the time that you did it. But just tell us, don't tell us your route.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: It's like, it's like showing my Google map to work every day. Like, no thank you. I don't want somebody to know the route that I take. Like where, where do you draw the line and consider. And obviously this caught her totally off guard. Right. She picked up. She has an in, you know, inside feeling that it felt a little weird because she clearly said that.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Yeah, she did.
[00:09:16] Speaker A: Otherwise, in your day to day life, you don't think people are like plotting against you or like following you or any of those things.
It's scary. Like where do you draw the line of what is too much to share?
[00:09:31] Speaker B: For sure. And even at work you definitely feel like nothing like that would happen at work and you're getting deliveries all the time. So.
Yeah. It doesn't seem out of the ordinary or weird. Just the fact that these two men.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: Yeah, well.
[00:09:49] Speaker B: And had masks on. I feel like that's a little giveaway too.
[00:09:53] Speaker A: Did they have cameras. Were there cameras in the. Well, besides her streaming, did they have cameras?
[00:09:59] Speaker B: She.
No, I don't believe so because she just had the live stream that doesn't mention anything about cameras in the salon.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: On her live stream, did it say anything? Like, did they capture these two people in her.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
So Valerie was live streaming from her salon when a masked man entered claiming a delivery, claiming to be a deliverer. An expensive. Delivering her an expensive gift. She appeared fearful on camera before he shot her in the head and chest. Wow. I know.
Like, why. And she really is so beautiful. It's just so beautiful.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: It is so sad. How old was she?
[00:10:49] Speaker B: 23.
[00:10:50] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: In 23, like you grow up on social media, like you have that and coming out of the womb, right? Like you know how to Instagram from birth.
So it's not anything unusual to her. Yeah, she learned to share more or somebody told her not to share. She learned that from the beginning of time of what to do and this is how to build your business and all those things. So, I mean, when talking to people in the salon or as we're putting this stuff out there, everybody wants to be Instagram famous. Let's just be real. Like, everybody's looking for tick tock fame, right? Like everybody wants to get noticed. Not everybody, but a very large percentage of people want, want that and want people to see what, you know, look at me, what am I doing and all of those things, which can be okay. But how do you make sure you're aware of your surroundings? Like, were there some, like, red flags or something from her ahead of time? Who knows, right?
[00:11:54] Speaker B: Like, yeah, the safety of it, like, for sure. You definitely want your work out there, especially in our industry.
You're right. Like, we, we don't hand out business cards like we used to. It just doesn't happen. I mean, if you have, I will say, like referral cards and things like that, when you capture the client that's already in the chair. Okay, great. Yeah, like that still works. But time to get personal.
How do you.
That whole demographic and you do that through social media, you do that by also showing your work, because you have people that are referring, you know, friends and family, and the first thing they're doing is going to go look at your social media, going to look at your work. And so I guess the big question is, like, how do you do it safely where it doesn't get, it doesn't cross the line. And of course your name of. The name of the salon is going to be on there.
But So I don't even know if there's an answer for that. I think just to keep it in the back of your mind is something really important.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: I do think there are definitely some steps that people could take to help their own awareness to. To identify if some weird things are happening. But pay attention to who starts following you.
Like on social media. Like, who are the people that are following you? They could be other salons, other stylists. They could be other clients. But, you know, if you see somebody weird that has no pictures, no profile, whatever, that could be an indicator.
Um, just keep an eye on it. Watch for, like, weird patterns. Do they. Are they instantly liking or commenting on every single thing you put out? Like they're the first person.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: Like, are they constantly monitoring your page or monitoring what you're doing?
[00:13:55] Speaker B: That's true.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: You know, any unusual clients that have come in lately? Because most likely. And we'll see what happens to the story as they find this person. But most likely this is somebody that, like, this isn't the very first interaction. Well, maybe the person did it, but the whoever set it up, if that was the shooter, then there was a reason that they felt that they needed to do that, whatever that, you know.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Right. And they also mentioned that this had happened. There was like a similar incident that happened earlier that day, that same day with like delivery motorcycle, that whole thing. So they are trying to see if it's connected. I'm assuming it would be connected. It sounds too similar.
[00:14:45] Speaker A: Totally different person.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: A totally different person. Yep. Wow.
Yep. So it's so bizarre. I mean.
Yeah. I don't know.
[00:15:00] Speaker A: Yeah, I would. I mean, I would say be aware of your surroundings, pay attention always. Even if you feel like nothing is even happening, just to have the awareness around you. I think, again, putting cameras in your business as well as, you know, that wasn't going to stop this situation. But it would maybe have helped the case to find this person afterwards if they were able to go back. Because they could go back and see, like, who was this person before? Did somebody fit this profile that's been in the business? And they could watch camera footage.
[00:15:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: Instead of just her live streaming. But being aware of those things and speaking up, like, maybe she had. Maybe this was a stalker. Maybe this was somebody that's been harassing her ahead of time and she never said anything scary too. And potentially that comes out. I don't know. But telling people, like, don't keep things like if you feel unsafe or if you feel like something is just a little off or a Little strange. Tell somebody. Don't keep it to yourself.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: Definitely 100 and even maybe like consider doing like a drop off area for packages. Like things like that. Like just say you have not random people walking into the door, you know.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Like maybe it's like an area where the UPS, FedEx, everything goes in that area.
I don't know. It is, it is interesting. A lot of, A lot of things to consider for sure. So I'm going back, I'm reading through and it is.
It was a former congressman that was killed earlier that day.
Very similarly. Yeah. Two men on a motorcycle, same thing.
Carried out the murder just hours before hers.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: Okay. That makes my thoughts in perspective. Completely different because it's like a congressman. Was there some relationship there.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:01] Speaker A: Happening. Was she going to like put some dirty laundry out there? You know, that now I'm. I'm feeling like this could be very political and maybe it was something totally different.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I agree. It's definitely interesting.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: And they did. The congressman, he. They did kill him also.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: It definitely makes me think like maybe she. They knew something. Maybe there was something going on between the two of them that this was set up.
[00:17:34] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean it definitely caught people off guard. I definitely would say, aware of your surroundings, help your children be aware of their surroundings. Like she was young, 23 years old is very young. Help, you know, help our younger generation to, you know. But when I was 23, I felt safe. Like I put myself in really bad positions too, that I was like, how did I make it out of here? How did I not end up on Dateline somewhere right now I know it's like, holy crap, I should never have been in some of these situations. And same thing. Like, she probably felt safe. She. You know, and people today feel safe in their areas. They feel safe in their salons. It's like a second home to them. It's like a family.
And they never expect that something is going to happen.
And it did.
[00:18:30] Speaker B: Yeah. It is really crazy and just, you know, normal day going into work, life is good. And the next minute it's not. It's crazy.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: Okay, well, this is one that we'll definitely have to follow because it is very. Then I do want to see if they catch these people or who hear what the story is behind it. So we'll definitely have to do some follow up on this one and see.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: Figure out.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:58] Speaker B: Do you even think that they will.
[00:18:59] Speaker A: I don't think, no. I think if it's. I think if it's political and some type of government. Like, it'll be buried. Like, it will just be brushed over and they're gonna forget about it. Probably, yeah. If it is something with her personally, personal relationship or whatnot, potentially.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: Never know. We'll keep it. We'll keep everyone posted.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll definitely follow up on this.
