64 - The King of Malibu

[00:00:05] At the intersection of true crime and real estate, you'll find Crime Estate. I'm Heather.

[00:00:09] And my name is Elena. As real estate agents and true crime junkies, we view crimes through

[00:00:14] a different lens. So walk through the door of some of the most notorious true crimes with

[00:00:18] us and discover how sometimes the scene of the crime has its own story to tell.

[00:00:28] Well, hey, y'all. Welcome back to Crime Estate. I'm Heather, and I'm joined as always by my

[00:00:33] co-host and fellow real estate agent, Elena, and our friend, producer, and commentator,

[00:00:37] if I could speak today, our friend, producer, and commentator, Melanie. Hey, ladies.

[00:00:41] Hey, guys. So we've been spending a lot of time together this week. We were prepping for

[00:00:46] a little presentation we did for other Dallas real estate agents about some local crimes that

[00:00:50] we covered and about Texas disclosure laws. But it's fun to be back in the studio with

[00:00:54] mics on and drinks in our hand because there was not drinks there at the presentation.

[00:00:58] Oh, it was weird to do that with coffee.

[00:00:59] Yeah, agree.

[00:01:02] Weren't y'all like at 9 a.m. too?

[00:01:04] Yeah, but the presentation was in a bar, so it was just sort of wrong.

[00:01:08] It's teasing.

[00:01:09] Well, I was very jealous because, you know, I was actually at my day job, but the entire

[00:01:14] time that y'all were doing it, I was looking at my phone trying to wait to hear from guys

[00:01:18] to see how it was, and I know y'all were going to be awesome. But it sounds like you

[00:01:22] guys had a lot of fun.

[00:01:23] Yeah, we did have a lot of fun. You know, it's always intimidating to stand up in front of a

[00:01:27] room full of your peers. But yeah, we had a good time.

[00:01:31] Yeah, totally.

[00:01:32] All right. But Mel, despite the fact that you couldn't join us, you're really the star

[00:01:35] of the show this week. You brought us the idea for today's story. And I'm really, I'm not

[00:01:40] sure exactly how you stumbled upon a newspaper article about this crime, but when you read

[00:01:45] it, you knew we had to cover it. I mean, it is exactly the kind of interesting story with

[00:01:49] noteworthy real estate that we like to cover.

[00:01:50] Do you want to know how I stumbled upon this?

[00:01:53] Sure.

[00:01:54] Reddit. I don't know. I used to make fun of people who did Reddit, but somehow or another,

[00:01:59] I do some of these true crime, different things on Reddit, and it came up on it in reference.

[00:02:07] And then I Googled, you know, because I definitely like a good story. And I started reading a bunch

[00:02:13] of articles, and then I saw a picture of the house, and I'm like, sold. Okay. Yeah.

[00:02:17] Yeah. So when Alana and I spoke at our meeting this week, we highlighted one of our very first

[00:02:22] episodes, The Queen of Swiss Avenue. And in many ways, this story reminds me a lot of that one.

[00:02:27] Today, we're discussing the life and death of Dr. Mark Sawich, who, I mean, he wasn't really the

[00:02:33] king of Malibu, but the stories have so many similarities that that's how I keep referring

[00:02:38] to him in my mind.

[00:02:40] In my mind.

[00:02:42] In my mind.

[00:02:42] Now, Mark is a successful ophthalmologist. And y'all, I'm embarrassed to say I had to Google how

[00:02:48] this was a little bit different than an optometrist. But imagine an eye doctor that does like surgeries

[00:02:54] on the eye a little more advanced. And the good doctor followed his father into ophthalmology,

[00:03:00] first attending the University of Chicago, and then later John Hopkins. But instead of taking over

[00:03:05] his father's practice in his hometown, he decided to move to sunny California.

[00:03:10] Now, professionally, Mark's life was extremely successful. He developed a successful practice

[00:03:16] in Pacific Palisades and went on to patent a procedure to correct corneal impairments.

[00:03:21] Emile, you've spent a lot of time in Florida. Have you been in Pacific Palisades?

[00:03:25] I'm assuming you mean California, not Florida. But yeah, it's been a really long week.

[00:03:32] I've driven through there. I definitely wouldn't say I've hobnobbed over there. But Pacific

[00:03:37] Palisades is beautiful. It is an affluent neighborhood. And I looked it up because

[00:03:42] it's really only about 20,000 people, but it is in West LA. So right along the ocean in between

[00:03:50] Santa Monica and Malibu. So you're already getting like, you know, rich people, beautiful location

[00:03:56] vibes. And it's well sought after by celebrities and other people that are looking for their privacy

[00:04:03] because it's a really hilly neighborhood. I looked it up and its motto is where the mountains meet the sea.

[00:04:12] So, I mean, if you can just picture kind of Topanga Canyon and you're coming down over the mountains to the ocean.

[00:04:19] So, yeah, so he definitely located his business in a great area if you're trying to make some money.

[00:04:26] Yeah. And the house and the area are gorgeous. Of course, we have pictures of the property up on our

[00:04:31] socials and our website. So y'all should check them out. And, you know, I think it's important to note

[00:04:36] Mark invested really wisely and he grew his wealth over the course of the three decades

[00:04:41] that he practiced there in Pacific Palisades. And his net worth ended up being just over $60 million.

[00:04:48] Did he invest in real estate?

[00:04:50] I didn't get into his investments.

[00:04:51] Okay, sorry. I think a lot of stocks. Oh, yeah. Okay.

[00:04:54] I mean, he invested in this house we're going to talk about.

[00:04:57] Okay. Okay.

[00:04:57] Yeah, it was a solid investment. But unfortunately for Mark, he was not as successful in love as he was

[00:05:04] in his ophthalmology practice. First, divorcing his first wife because she wanted children and he did

[00:05:09] not. And then later divorcing his second wife only a year into their marriage.

[00:05:14] Can I pause?

[00:05:15] Yeah.

[00:05:15] Did y'all talk to your spouses before y'all look like y'all are headed down the aisle about kids?

[00:05:21] Because I feel like that's something you should probably discuss ahead of time.

[00:05:25] Yeah.

[00:05:26] Yeah.

[00:05:26] We definitely talked about kids first.

[00:05:28] Yeah, same.

[00:05:30] I don't remember. I mean, I got married pretty young. Not Heather Young, but pretty young.

[00:05:35] And I think we must have talked about like when we're married, what, you know, our future is going

[00:05:41] to be like. So I guess we did, but not in a serious sit down, have a formal discussion.

[00:05:47] Right.

[00:05:48] I think if we had gotten married a little bit later on in life, you know, we probably

[00:05:52] would have had that discussion early on to just make sure are we kind of on the same wavelength.

[00:05:55] Right. Yeah. I'm just curious.

[00:05:57] Yeah. And I do feel like though sometimes people change their mind or they say what they think

[00:06:01] the other person wants to hear and they think they can bring the other person around to their

[00:06:06] way of thinking. And then that doesn't really come to fruition.

[00:06:09] Right. So not long after that second divorce, Mark had a round of bad luck when his hands

[00:06:18] were burned in an accident, which made it almost impossible for him to practice medicine.

[00:06:24] And it seems like all of this was just too much for him. He seems to have lost his interest

[00:06:28] in medicine combined with having some new serious mental health concerns. He knew he

[00:06:34] was bipolar and took lithium, but was really bad about taking his medication. And I think we see

[00:06:39] that a lot, unfortunately. So starting in 2016, he began a pattern of not showing up for work and

[00:06:45] being found by welfare checks in altered and manic states. He was also abusing drugs and alcohol,

[00:06:51] and he had to be admitted for psychiatric care at the UCLA Medical Center multiple times.

[00:06:57] He was hospitalized in Las Vegas, had several suicide attempts, and was admitted in the spring

[00:07:02] of 2017 to a Malibu addiction treatment center. And things didn't get better or easier for him as

[00:07:08] spring turned into summer. While on an outing for ice cream in Venice Beach, Mark met the two people

[00:07:14] who had altered the trajectory of his life, Anthony David Flores and Anna Moore. Now let me tell you a

[00:07:20] little bit about these two before we dive into what happens next. Anthony is a somewhat famous

[00:07:26] hairdresser who went professionally by Anton David, much cooler name in my opinion. So picture a very

[00:07:32] thick mane of dark hair that he wore long over his shoulders or in a ponytail with a really dark

[00:07:38] beard. And he had, you know, in a total change of profession, had actually started a window cleaning

[00:07:45] business in high school that he continued to own during the time that he was doing hair and after he met

[00:07:51] Mark. Now Anna is a yogi slash actress. She studied theater at NYU and acting in London at the Royal

[00:07:59] Academy of Dramatic Arts, which sounds pretty impressive. Yeah, totally. While she initially

[00:08:04] landed some roles, including a small part in an Uma Thurman 2007 movie, she never saw much success.

[00:08:11] So Anthony and Anna meet at a yoga studio potluck as people do. Only in Santa Monica, right? I really

[00:08:18] feel like that is just definitely the appropriate place for these two people to have met.

[00:08:24] So yeah, so they meet at this potluck in 2012 and they quickly became a couple and partners

[00:08:29] in both life and the window washing business. So weird. So the two lived in Fresno, California,

[00:08:37] and it seems that Anna at least was fascinated with celebrities and the high-end lifestyle.

[00:08:42] But from what Melanie tells me, Fresno is a very far cry from Hollywood.

[00:08:47] No, it's just one of those inland San Joaquin Valley towns. I'm sure it's lovely and fine,

[00:08:54] but it is not the center of high society from at least an L.A. world.

[00:09:01] So when the three had a chance encounter at this Venice ice cream shop, they connected. And before

[00:09:06] the night was over, ladies, Mark invited them over to his home to watch the sunset over the Pacific

[00:09:12] from his balcony as one does. Would you like, I mean, you strike up, Alana, conversations with

[00:09:19] people. I think you're really personable and you meet a lot of great people. If you were out like

[00:09:23] getting ice cream and you met this great couple, would you be like, hey, y'all should come over

[00:09:27] and watch the sunset? Yes. I think you would. Yeah, I could totally see you doing this.

[00:09:32] And unlike you, I think he was very lonely. I mean, obviously we talked about earlier his mental

[00:09:38] health struggles and, you know, he wasn't in a relationship at the time. And I read that he,

[00:09:44] you know, had few friends and, you know, I think he was probably searching for connections.

[00:09:49] Oh, poor guy.

[00:09:50] I mean, I'm not gonna lie. I probably would have done this too. My mom 100% would do this.

[00:09:56] You know, she probably would meet somebody in the checkout line at the grocery and be like,

[00:09:59] just come on over. I've made some chili.

[00:10:01] And sadly enough, I mean, when you, it's, um, he's a man and it's a couple, like, you know,

[00:10:07] inviting someone over, it's a little less scary than if it was like a, you know, a man inviting

[00:10:12] two girls over or something like that. Yeah. Now in an odd turn of events from what we have all

[00:10:17] decided is a totally appropriate thing to do. I mean, I don't know if it's totally appropriate,

[00:10:22] but like I could see it happening. We can see it happening. Yes.

[00:10:24] What I can't see happening is then Mark gives them the keys to his Tesla,

[00:10:28] which they then take for the weekend on a trip to Yosemite without Mark.

[00:10:34] What? No.

[00:10:35] They were sending pictures to text pictures to him, um, all weekend of like them and the Tesla.

[00:10:42] Weird.

[00:10:43] That, that takes it one step too far, right?

[00:10:45] I agree.

[00:10:46] So like Melanie said, a series of text messages and phone calls later, um, after this weekend,

[00:10:52] this two continue like texting and talking and before too long, the two end up as guests

[00:10:58] at Mark's Malibu beach house.

[00:11:00] Okay. Good. Can we talk about the beach house now? Cause we've been talking for about 10 minutes

[00:11:03] and haven't gotten to the house yet.

[00:11:05] I know. I know you wanted to know all about the beach house, didn't you?

[00:11:07] Okay. So yeah, let's talk about the house, which we should note is currently for sale at

[00:11:11] the time we are recording this podcast.

[00:11:13] I mean, this is, it's kind of funny how often we have found some of these houses that were

[00:11:19] either recently for sale or for sale. Come on, go on sale right after we post this. And

[00:11:25] this was completely coincidental.

[00:11:27] Yeah. As a matter of fact, um, I texted Melanie and I was like, I just can't find the address.

[00:11:32] And she like in three minutes sent it to me and she's like, oh, and by the way, it's for

[00:11:35] sale. It's like, okay, well that's exciting. All right. So this is a two bedroom, two and

[00:11:40] a half bath home, small in size at 1198 square feet, but mighty in visual impact. It is currently

[00:11:48] listed for $3.75 million. And the description of the property partially reads, located on

[00:11:56] the sandy shores of Big Rock Beach near Moon Shadows Restaurant, this stunning Malibu home

[00:12:01] has undergone extensive renovations in 2019, creating a sanctuary of modern luxury and coastal

[00:12:08] charm. I'm in already.

[00:12:09] Totally. Totally. Yeah. This Malibu beachfront gem blends modern elegance with coastal living,

[00:12:16] offering a rare opportunity to own a home that exceeds expectations in every way. It is a true

[00:12:23] jewel box on the sand. I thought this was really interesting. It sits further out towards the

[00:12:29] water in what's called the quote, string line. So the deck is further towards the ocean than

[00:12:36] the neighbor to the west, which gives this home an unobstructed view to the sunset over the glowing

[00:12:42] Pacific Ocean. I think that's really smart from a design standpoint. So you're not, your view of the

[00:12:48] sunset is not impacted by your neighbor's death. I like it. Let's see. It goes on to say,

[00:12:56] it's also been updated with beautiful finishes throughout. It sits on a sandy beach on the

[00:13:00] eastern side of Malibu, closer to the shops and restaurants of Santa Monica, or just a short

[00:13:05] drive to the center of Malibu's finest dining, shopping, and the famed Malibu Pier. I could go

[00:13:11] on and on and on and on and on. Like this is, it sounds like a beautiful home. I love the description.

[00:13:16] I like jewel box on the sand. Yeah. I like that. Me too. Now, total real estate question aside,

[00:13:24] who writes the descriptions for you two when you're listing homes? Me, myself, and I. What about you,

[00:13:30] Elena? Aaron does. I knew you were going to say Aaron. He's really good at polishing that stuff up.

[00:13:36] Yeah. He's got, hey, Aaron, your husband, he's got a good turn of the phrase. He can like, you know,

[00:13:42] he can take your rough draft and just kind of polish it. I could see that. Yeah. Well, Aaron is

[00:13:47] a man of many diverse talents. He really is. Thank goodness for me. Like everything you talk about,

[00:13:53] like, I'm like, he does that and that. Okay. He can, you know, completely do construction work and,

[00:13:59] but yeah, he can also polish a listing description. Yeah. Hands off ladies.

[00:14:05] I will say though, I have been known only a time or two when I'm real tired to put the basic

[00:14:13] description in chat GPT and have it spit something out and then take that and make it sound more like

[00:14:21] my voice. I've been doing a couple of gen AI courses for work lately. And I, you know,

[00:14:27] it's really opened my eyes. I think I texted you guys the other day, something I was like,

[00:14:31] you know, it's a tool, you know, I used to think of it as just like a, you know,

[00:14:37] something more negative and I would never do anything that was a gen AI, like, you know,

[00:14:42] chat GPT by itself, but for brainstorming, getting ideas, I think it really is something

[00:14:48] that our children are going to grow up to be just like a normal tool. It's like a tool in the toolkit,

[00:14:52] not, you know, in the end all be all, but something to use.

[00:14:55] I had a girlfriend use it once for what I thought was a really interesting purpose. She had,

[00:15:01] maybe she'd taken a class or something. And part of the class was where people gave you feedback at

[00:15:07] the end, like your peers gave you some feedback. And so she dropped all the feedback into chat GPT.

[00:15:11] And she's like, can you summarize this? And so what it did was like, took all of their feedback

[00:15:17] feedback and like gave her the main points. And just as a like quick summary to read every day to

[00:15:23] yourself as you're starting to work or like, here's what you're good at. Here's what you need to work

[00:15:27] on. I was like, this is, I'm going to post this on my bulletin board.

[00:15:31] So I told you before that I sort of slightly know this area. And I mean, by slightly,

[00:15:35] I've driven it a few times, but just last year when we were out visiting family in LA,

[00:15:42] we were like, Oh, let's go do a Malibu day. And so we went and had,

[00:15:47] walked around the beach in Malibu and we looked up a restaurant to take the kids to

[00:15:52] and moon shadows, which was even in the listing there. We got a quick reservation for,

[00:15:58] and I made sure like the boys had like at least their nice casual clothes on because it was

[00:16:04] like a beautiful restaurant. I don't remember if food was that great, but it was fine.

[00:16:08] But you're paying for the million, multi-million dollar view where you're overlooking the ocean.

[00:16:16] But I vividly recall these houses right next to it on either side, which I'm assuming one of them

[00:16:21] must be this house because they don't look like anything from the outside because you're seeing

[00:16:26] kind of the backside. You're basically seeing a door and a parking spot. Like you don't, but you know

[00:16:32] that they are on these stilts overlooking the ocean. So it must be this amazing, amazing view,

[00:16:37] but it's kind of from the outside. You might even see, you might just see like a shower. Like I

[00:16:42] remember that, like a few of them. I'm like, because surfers, you know, you would, you know,

[00:16:46] if you're a surfer and then you would take a quick sand shower before you walking into your patio.

[00:16:51] Well, and to your point, when I was researching the story, you know, being in Dallas, Alena and I

[00:16:56] don't really deal with beachfront properties at all.

[00:16:59] Never happened.

[00:17:00] Never happened.

[00:17:00] But this house literally looks like it's on stilts. And I am sure there's some sort of engineering

[00:17:06] that goes into that, that makes it safe. But it looks like one big wave could just come up.

[00:17:11] I mean, like this is out into the beach. Like we're not on a hilly cliff. We're not, it is,

[00:17:17] y'all please go to the socials and check them out or the website. I mean, this house,

[00:17:22] I feel like you could lay two bodies from the edge of the house to the water. Like it is right on the

[00:17:31] water.

[00:17:31] Well, I can already answer the question. I would not live there.

[00:17:34] Because you're afraid the water is going to take you away.

[00:17:36] Yes.

[00:17:36] It was, yeah. Okay. So I'll remember that when we get back to this. All right. Back to the

[00:17:43] story. So we've got Mark and then Anton and Anna and they, you know, randomly met at this ice cream

[00:17:48] place and they hit it off. And, you know, at the point in their, in Mark's life where they meet,

[00:17:56] like we said, Mark was struggling. According to friends and family, he was suffering again from

[00:18:01] like the bipolar and then a lot of depression. And remember between 2016 and 2017, he was in and

[00:18:07] out of psychiatric facilities at least eight times with at least one suicide attempt. So just like

[00:18:14] we talked about earlier, just not in a great space in his life when he meets these people.

[00:18:18] And according to an article on MarketWatch, which in my opinion has the best article on this story.

[00:18:24] So we'll make sure we post it in our show notes. Flores's lawyer and Moore's family. So that's Anton

[00:18:30] and Anna's family have said that the couple were initially drawn to the doctor because they saw he

[00:18:35] needed help. The lawyer further argued in court papers that Mark saw in the gurus a lifestyle that

[00:18:41] he wanted to live and that bringing them into his home served as a mutual benefit in quotes.

[00:18:47] And so not soon after their first meeting, less than two weeks in fact, the couple were staying

[00:18:52] with Mark at his Malibu beach house and they didn't just come for a visit. The two essentially

[00:18:56] moved in living there for months. Now, not long after they moved in, Mark's mental health got even

[00:19:03] worse. And despite his constant companions, it just sort of began to deteriorate. You would actually

[00:19:08] think that like having people in the house could be helpful, especially for depression. I don't know

[00:19:13] about bipolar. That's a whole different story. But in one incident, he kicked the two out of the house.

[00:19:19] And then in the course of one week, he had three separate run-ins with law enforcement.

[00:19:23] First for throwing rocks and construction cones at cars on the Pacific Coast Highway.

[00:19:28] Next for walking out on a very large tab at a Malibu bar. Makes me wonder if that was Moon Shadows.

[00:19:33] It was.

[00:19:34] Okay, thank you. And then for punching a man on the Santa Monica Pier.

[00:19:38] Now, his erratic behavior led him to being committed to a psychiatric ward at what is described

[00:19:43] in the press as a, quote, rough and tumble LA jail. And during this time, his location wasn't

[00:19:51] really apparent to his family. And his mother, concerned as you would be by his disappearance,

[00:19:56] reached out to these former housemates to see if they knew where he was or if they could

[00:20:00] track him down. Now, I don't know if we mentioned this earlier, but Mark's family's in Florida.

[00:20:04] So it's not like they can just stop by the house or sort of, you know, easily check around

[00:20:09] town to see if anyone's seen him. So Anton tells his mother that sure, he'll search for

[00:20:13] Mark if she can send him $1,000.

[00:20:17] Dang.

[00:20:17] Which she does. I'm so angry.

[00:20:19] But now it's terrible.

[00:20:20] About reading that sentence even.

[00:20:22] And yeah, and his mother is in her late 80s. I mean, this, he is obviously taking advantage

[00:20:29] of her.

[00:20:30] So Anton then goes to the jail. It's unclear to me if he knew Mark was there or if he didn't

[00:20:35] feel like he probably did. Anyway, he goes to the jail and he tells Mark that his mother refused

[00:20:41] to post the bail for him and that she thought he should stay in jail while she tried to gain

[00:20:47] control of his affairs through a conservatorship. Whether this is true or not is sort of unclear,

[00:20:53] though it succeeded to really upset Mark who then decided to give Anton a power of attorney

[00:20:59] over his accounts so that he could access his funds in order to post his own bail. Which,

[00:21:05] is that the way that works? Like if you're in jail and you have the money, can't you just

[00:21:10] call your bank and be like, hey, why are the... I don't feel like that's the way that works.

[00:21:14] Yes. I don't think so.

[00:21:16] Yeah. Or you can get a lawyer.

[00:21:19] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:21:21] I think someone has to go get a bail bond for you, right?

[00:21:24] Don't they have to just go get a...

[00:21:25] Well, yeah.

[00:21:25] He's got $60 million. I don't even know if he needs a bail bondsman because the idea of

[00:21:30] a bail bondsman is they're putting up, like you're paying like 10%.

[00:21:33] Right.

[00:21:34] But don't they have to be the ones that go to the court system?

[00:21:37] Even if you are, I don't know. I don't know. That's just what I thought.

[00:21:40] This is when we need Heather's husband.

[00:21:42] I know. I'm going to ask him about this. We'll post a follow-up on socials.

[00:21:46] Okay. So Anton goes, he gets power of attorney, he gets money for Mark, he bails him out. And then

[00:21:52] while all of this process is taking place, because it doesn't just happen overnight,

[00:21:57] Anton writes back to Mark's mom and tells her that, you know, hey, I've spent quite a bit of

[00:22:01] money helping Mark out and I'm going to need some more money. In fact, he asked for a very specific

[00:22:08] amount, $4,688, which he said he spent on food for Mark, getting his house cleaned and his piano

[00:22:15] fixed. And of course, for the time he spent visiting him in jail.

[00:22:19] That's crazy.

[00:22:20] Now to her credit, Patsy, Mark's mom, goes ahead and sends these funds to Anton, but she emails

[00:22:27] Mark separately and says, hey, I think these people are just pretending to be your friends.

[00:22:31] They're only helping you because I'm sending them money. And she said, quote, stop the money and he

[00:22:38] will be gone.

[00:22:39] I mean, that's very astute. And you can just imagine a mom in her late 80s, you know, she probably did

[00:22:47] not have the capacity to quickly get up and fly across the country and go to an LA County jail by

[00:22:53] herself. And so she started depending upon the only people she knows who has contact with them,

[00:22:58] but she knows that something's wrong. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. And

[00:23:04] eventually, you know, they do complete this power of attorney paperwork and Anton's able to access

[00:23:09] his funds and bail him out and they leave jail and the three go back to Mark's beachfront property.

[00:23:15] And for the next six months, Anton and Anna appoint themselves his guardians, taking care of his finances

[00:23:21] and medications and treatment. Court filings show that not long after they moved back into the house,

[00:23:28] Anton texted a friend to say, I got power of attorney for the beach house, to which his friend replied,

[00:23:35] boom. Dang, that's messed up. Yeah, it's awful. And it was then that Anna and Anton started accessing

[00:23:43] Mark's money, drawing on it for fancy nights out in an LA nightlife scene, Oscar viewing parties at the

[00:23:49] Waldorf Astoria, private chefs and more. They spent $70,000 in 2017 and 2018 at three markets

[00:23:58] alone. And like big markets, we're talking about like Whole Foods.

[00:24:02] How? I mean, girls, you know, I can spend some money.

[00:24:05] I cannot spend $70,000 at Whole Foods. I mean, I like to eat out. I or I mean, I'm not this is not even

[00:24:12] eating out. This is grocery shopping. I will say that I spend some good money. I like a few steaks and,

[00:24:18] you know, salmon, but there is no way even that I could even come close to that. That's crazy.

[00:24:24] You would have to be buying like Dom Perignon. I mean, yeah. You know, by the casefuls,

[00:24:29] essentially. I read some articles. I'm like, you could be sympathetic with these people for a while.

[00:24:36] Like, okay, they're spending money to keep this man in a nice lifestyle. But then you're like,

[00:24:41] okay, this is not what even regular rich people do. This is someone who has a blank check is doing.

[00:24:48] So that same article, Alana, that I mentioned in Market Watch earlier said that under Flores' and

[00:24:55] Moore's Watch, Sawage received massage therapy for up to six hours a day.

[00:25:01] Six hours a day massage therapy?

[00:25:03] No, I read later, not just six hours, six times a day.

[00:25:08] Oh.

[00:25:08] Of some of them, there were over two hours in length. So sometimes it went up to 10 hours a day,

[00:25:15] constant massaging. Why?

[00:25:18] I don't know. But Anthony hired a half dozen, Anthony, Anton goes by both, hired half a dozen

[00:25:25] massage therapists to act like it was a high-end spa and provide almost constant massages to Mark

[00:25:31] using lavender oils. And then later in a court deposition, one of the massage therapists said,

[00:25:36] it seemed like to me they just kept him drugged. He was out of it. He couldn't carry on a conversation.

[00:25:42] They would have, it was just, if you can imagine, it would be like a schedule and there would be the

[00:25:48] morning masseuse, the afternoon masseuse, the evening masseuse. I mean, it was just constant.

[00:25:53] I love a good massage, but I mean, this guy was just living drugged out with massages constantly.

[00:26:00] I mean, I guess that's not the world's worst way to die, but it's weird.

[00:26:04] It's really weird. And they had to be doing it just to keep him like pliant.

[00:26:08] Yes.

[00:26:09] And for the appearance that they were taking care of him, right?

[00:26:13] Yep.

[00:26:14] So it turns out that they also helped administer doses of LSD, marijuana, and ketamine, an animal

[00:26:22] tranquilizer, and a party drug that Sawwich had been prescribed to use to treat severe depression,

[00:26:29] the prosecutors later said. And ultimately, their reckless medicating was the cause of Mark's death,

[00:26:35] which resulted from a toxic mix of ketamine and alcohol combined with two heart conditions.

[00:26:41] Now, again, quoting from that article, prosecutors said that in the days leading up to Mark's death,

[00:26:45] he began spiraling into another manic episode, triggered in part by the doses of LSD that he had

[00:26:52] been given. And fearful that Mark would throw them out of his house again, Anton and Anna are relocated

[00:26:58] to a posh hotel in Santa Monica, where prosecutors say they callously watched security camera feeds from

[00:27:05] inside the doctor's home as he died.

[00:27:08] That's awful.

[00:27:10] And it wasn't just that. I mean, they put the cameras, like a half dozen of these cameras,

[00:27:16] inside of the home. So that's not for security. That is for watching whatever's going on.

[00:27:22] So all in all, the two ended up going through $3.1 million of Mark's money in the time that they lived with him.

[00:27:29] And look, I think we can all agree that's just awful. These people took complete advantage of him.

[00:27:34] But they go on to claim, gets even worse, that Mark had promised them a third of his fortune and his home.

[00:27:42] Now, Mark's family had no idea that he had amassed such a fortune until after his death.

[00:27:47] And they say that Anton and Anna were just crifters who thought Mark was vulnerable and easy Mark,

[00:27:53] and they only had eyes for his money.

[00:27:56] According to Mark's obituary, he spent his final day doing what he loved,

[00:28:01] watching wildlife from a seaside balcony and listening to the waves of the Pacific Ocean.

[00:28:05] It goes on to say that Mark spent his life in a constant pursuit of knowledge.

[00:28:09] He integrated his passion for science with his love of helping others,

[00:28:12] fulfilling his dream of becoming an ophthalmologist.

[00:28:15] And in addition to his beautiful mind, those close to Mark will remember his keen sense of humor and sharp wit.

[00:28:21] He will be remembered fondly for his gentle demeanor, generosity, and kind-heartedness.

[00:28:26] I mean, he seems like a really gifted, lovely man who was just troubled by mental health issues

[00:28:33] and in a horrible coincidence of events met up with the wrong people at the wrong time.

[00:28:39] Yeah, that's awful.

[00:28:41] Do you think that he suffered from issues but they were drugging him to make him go more into like a manic state?

[00:28:49] I think it was all of the above.

[00:28:52] I mean, he definitely had documented.

[00:28:54] I mean, he was in and out of jail and hospitals pre-meeting them in the year or so right before meeting him.

[00:29:01] But it spiraled out of control after meeting him.

[00:29:04] So as much as they thought they were maybe or like to claim they were helping him, obviously they were not.

[00:29:10] Sad.

[00:29:12] So you guys are going to be very happy to hear that Anton and Anna did not succeed in their plans to wallow his money.

[00:29:20] A federal judge sentenced Anthony David Flores to nearly 16 years in prison and ordered him to pay a million dollars in restitution.

[00:29:29] And Anna pled guilty to the majority of the crimes that she was accused of against Mark.

[00:29:34] But she is not scheduled to be sentenced until later this year.

[00:29:38] It's really sad that they were able to identify someone who could so easily be taken advantage of.

[00:29:45] Yeah, that's maybe the most, I mean, not the most horrific, but it's unsettling.

[00:29:50] They quickly realized this is an opportunity and seized on it.

[00:29:54] And how did people like that find each other?

[00:29:55] We've covered a few crimes where it's like a couple committing the murder or conspiring to do something awful to someone.

[00:30:03] How do you even start that conversation?

[00:30:05] Like, hey, would you be good with stealing the guy's money?

[00:30:08] Yeah.

[00:30:08] Yeah, that's weird.

[00:30:09] I mean, it probably is one of those things that has just snowballed.

[00:30:13] It snowballed.

[00:30:14] They were both people living a very kind of, quote unquote, clean living lifestyle, which is hilarious in retrospect.

[00:30:21] And, you know, she was vegan and they were both really into yoga and spiritual.

[00:30:27] They were.

[00:30:28] But obviously, both of them were attracted to, you know, they aspire to a different lifestyle, you know, and they wanted the money and the fame.

[00:30:38] And I'm sure it was completely coincidental that they met him getting ice cream and struck up a conversation.

[00:30:45] But they must have.

[00:30:46] I mean, I'd like to look the best at people that they weren't looking for this, but they quickly identified someone that, you know, that they could take advantage of.

[00:30:57] Well, and do you all see why this totally brought up, like, recollections of the Queen of Swiss Avenue?

[00:31:02] I mean, in that case, a couple preyed on an elderly woman in an attempt to get her house upon her death, too.

[00:31:09] And, you know, I think, you know, there's a whole other conversation to be had about advocating for the elderly, even though Mark was not that old.

[00:31:16] The Queen of Swiss Avenue, she was, I think, in her 80s at the time.

[00:31:21] All right.

[00:31:21] Well, ladies, it is time for the question of each episode.

[00:31:24] Alana, you've sort of already answered.

[00:31:26] Have you changed your mind?

[00:31:27] Would you live there or would you list it?

[00:31:29] Well, taking everything into account, no.

[00:31:32] I would not live there.

[00:31:33] I would list it.

[00:31:34] I would not live there.

[00:31:35] Okay.

[00:31:35] Melanie, what about you?

[00:31:37] Yeah, I've seen pictures of the house.

[00:31:39] Yes, I would live there.

[00:31:40] Even if it's only 1,200 square feet, I would still have my entire family there living there.

[00:31:47] I'm with you 100%.

[00:31:48] I would live there.

[00:31:49] I would be worried about the cost of insurance because I'm practical that way.

[00:31:54] But, yeah, it's a pretty fabulous.

[00:31:55] Seriously, y'all, crimeestate.com or you can find us on Instagram, Facebook.

[00:31:59] You must see pictures of this house.

[00:32:01] It is fabulous.

[00:32:05] Well, we hope you all enjoyed today's episode.

[00:32:07] As always, we love receiving all your comments about the show and hearing your episode suggestions.

[00:32:12] We got some great episode suggestions this week.

[00:32:14] Oh, we did.

[00:32:16] We got a lot of them.

[00:32:16] I'm really excited to dig into all of them.

[00:32:18] And we love hearing from all of you on your favorite things.

[00:32:21] And one of the things we get asked a lot is how can we support the show?

[00:32:25] Well, first, telling your friends about the podcast, leaving a five-star review is the best.

[00:32:29] But we also now have a great way for you to shop some of our favorite products on our website at crimeestate.com slash shop.

[00:32:36] All the products are Heather, Elena, and Melanie approved and will make your home nicer or safer.

[00:32:41] So if you love the show, go check out crimeestate.com slash shop.

[00:32:46] Yeah.

[00:32:46] So if there's one thing the three of us know, it's great products for your home.

[00:32:49] So take it from us that you'll want to see what we have here.

[00:32:52] It's a great way to get started on your holiday shopping.

[00:32:54] And let's be honest now, Heather is always the hostess with the mostess.

[00:33:00] And so she's got some really good ideas for hostess gifts to the site.

[00:33:04] So come check it out.

[00:33:06] That's it for this week.

[00:33:07] Thanks.

[00:33:08] Bye.

[00:33:08] Bye.

[00:33:10] Hey, y'all.

[00:33:11] Thanks for listening and being a part of our Crime Estate family.

[00:33:14] If you're curious about today's featured Crime Estate, you can find additional photos and details from today's episode online at crimeestate.com

[00:33:21] or on Facebook and Instagram by following at Crime Estate Podcast.

[00:33:26] Have a Crime Estate we should cover?

[00:33:27] Let us know.

[00:33:28] Shoot us an email at crimeestatepodcast at gmail.com.

[00:33:31] Until next week.