At the turn of the new Millennia, a pair of unlikely "friends" in Southern California came together in order to scam unassuming individuals who were already very much down on their luck who were looking for a hand up in just about any way they could get it. Both Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt had spent most of their adult lives making their money by running different scams over the years, most notably using their looks to their advantage on wealthy men when they were younger. But as time moved on, they had to adapt and come up with different ways to go about obtaining their income which would eventually lead them down an even darker road costing multiple people their lives.

This week’s episode begins in a similar fashion to last week’s. A young girl hitchhiking in the 1970s unfortunately accepts a ride from the wrong “family.” What follows are years of abuse in every form from a cruel “master” who slowly groomed her to be so dedicated to him that she was willing to do anything to keep him happy. Even after she was kept locked away in a tiny space with no light, room, food, or access to basic needs for more than 20 hours a day for years, Colleen Stan fought through it all by compartmentalizing and looking forward to even the smallest of rewards believing she was letting herself be put through this torture in order to save herself and her family.

Mary Vincent’s story is truly one of the most incredible, terrifying, and awe-inspiring tales any of us could ever hear in the world of true crime. The 1970s were most certainly a “different time” to say the very least. It was very common for people to get from one place to another via hitchhiking. Unfortunately, Mary would be one of the many victims to fall prey to drivers without the best of intentions.