Down. So he left and found brittany. Who police would learn told her friends not long before she disappeared that she was getting a little exasperated with joe, too. She said that she would come home and he would have gone through her stuff and that they got in a few little fights. I was kind of worried. I asked her about that no, she would go, no, its okay. Its okay. Did you warn her . I did. I did. I warned her about having people into her house. And now still no word. We still didnt stop believing that there was a chance that she was alive. Police rededicated their efforts to find the elusive joe roberts. We have run out of leads frankly when it comes to his trail going west. Its less populated than we are and if he doesnt have his vehicle on the road and keeping a low profile, thats hopefully somebody will see him in a store when he goes for some provisions or groceries. Thats why we want to turn up the heat on him. We are looking for him and theres no question about that. Then, sure enough. We figured it would be something trite or petty he would get caught for. Sure enough, thats what happened. Coming up the drifter makes a mistake. And brittanys family learns the truth. Just chilling for me to think about that. Heres a good one seattle. What did geico say the mariner . We could save you a boatload foghorn sounds loudly whats seattles favorite noise . The puget sound foghorn sounds loudly all right, never mind doesnt matter. This is a classic. What does an alien seamstress sew with . A space needle foghorn sounds loudly continuously oh come off it captain geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. As parents we hold our kids hands when crossing the street so think of the internet as the worlds busiest street. Teach your kids to surf and post responsibly. Theyll be safer with a dedicated crossing guard. The more you know. For three long months britdbritd Brittany Tavar was just missing. They have produced no sign of brittany or joe roberts, the young border who disappeared along with her. Nothing, not a thing. And then, on october 12th he was caught in seattle in a Grocery Store in the area trying to steal lunch meat. His captor was a clerk in a Grocery Store. He wasnt a sheriff. He wasnt a police officer. He was somebody that was employed by a Grocery Store to deter theft. But it wasnt until after the Seattle Police showed up and arrested roberts on the shoplifting charge that they discovered this was one very wanted man. And so called the police in st. Augustine florida. Sometimes we just have to count on luck and sometimes we have to count on their mistake. In this case, i think he made a mistake and we had a little luck on our side. And then a little more luck. They had found Brittany Tavars car parked in like a north Seattle Library parking lot. The keys had been locked inside of it actually. So, the police had the car but no brittany. It wasnt long before policemen from florida were sitting in a seating Interrogation Room with young mr. Roberts. Her family waited again, it was time to hear what roberts would say. Only he could resolve the mystery. Why she had been out of touch for months. You always hold out a small amount of hope that she would be alive and you never give up hope. And then within three hours, there in that police station, joe roberts finally answered the question that had been hanging over hope happen dread what happened to Brittany Tavar. It was the most dreadful story this Crime Reporter ever written. Taken right from the confession roberts gave to police. She woke him up very angry that something wasnt done correctly or that he didnt do it at all and was bugging him early in the morning, trying to get him out of bed, yelling at him. Now, why would she do that . Didnt take for a minute for her friend to figure that out. This whole big argument with joe was him not being able to get this dvd or cd up to perfection about what they were going to take to court. The court case against ann leyden, that is. And so her friends speculated about what happened that last morning of her life. She must have vented on her temper on a man who had a drug habit, possible Mental Health issues and anger problem. I got to the point where he got pushed to the point of no return. In a statement to police, roberts said they argued the night before her disappearance and then the next morning brittany went off about something. Which is when he grabbed a hammer and hit her in the head a couple of times. That anger issue again. Right. And she was laying on the Kitchen Floor bleeding and in the report he says there was lots and lots of blood and at first he tried to stuff her body in the attic of their house. But he said that she was too heavy for him to carry all the way up the stairs and then decided he was going to leave town and dump her body in the woods. Roberts would tell investigators he brought the dogs with him to buy him time. People who knew her well would think it was strange that she left without her animals. It was a shock, of course. Then joe roberts answered another question. This one with no good answer. Where was brittany . She was found on a state road sort of where some homeless camps in the area that is mainly just woods. One of the most terrible things would be to know that someone you loved died in fear, you know, died in a moment of terror and pain. And that was a very, very hard thing for me to accept. It just was even today its just chilling for me to think about that. But at least we never would have found the body if he hadnt told us, you know. It was in a forrest somewhere. Maybe we show up in 20 years but we wouldnt have found it. Having offered his detailed confession to the police, roberts pleaded not to first degree murder. But ultimately his case did not go to trial. After years of legal wrangling state your name. Joseph roberts. Roberts pleaded guilty to Second Degree murder on an amended indictment in may 2014. You still think this plea is in your best interest. Yes, sir. And was sentenced to 30 years in a Florida State correctional facility. As brittanys family struggles with the aftermath of her loss, her friends look after brittanys dogs. Theyre in great shape. Happy, healthy. Theyre really good dogs, you know, brittany would have wanted that. She would have wanted somebody that loves them to have them. And her friends mourn, as does her family. My sister was the one that my parents worried about the most, you know. She was the one they were concerned about because she had the hardest time getting her feet on a path in life, finding her way. We never, ever, ever dreamed that anything like this would happen, that anything violent would happen to her. I guess you have a point from which you move on, but there isnt really closure, that is actually something that the homicide detectives know, there isnt closure. Its a cliche that people use, but theres no closure. Brittany tavar lived life on her own terms, naive maybe, reckless sometimes, and it cost her dearly. She just thought she was invincible. She didnt think anything bad would happen. Well, thats part of who she was. She did have a very big heart. Though she did and lived out loud and was exuberant and generous and for those who loved her, is eternally missed for all of those things. She was my sister and ive been robbed the rest of my life with my sister. Ive been robbed of that relationship. Ive been robbed of those conversations. Ive been robbed of that friendship. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com i am being followed. There are threats on my life. I know were in danger. I know we are. Its a riveting mystery that started in a place of glamour. It became a destination for frank sa gnat ra. And ended in a case of murder. The wealthy heir to this Legendary Hotel dead. He was my father. He is the only father i ever knew. Now police said she was next. Someone in the shadows gunning for her. My suspicions are growing and growing by the minute. So, who was behind all this . Plenty of suspects and plenty of motives, anger, jealousy, greed. Someone had 10 million reasons to kill. We look back and said, my god, i couldnt believe what i saw. Youre not going to believe it either because in this case, there is a final terrifying twist. I see them with a crowbar. Will you see it coming . Im lester holt. And this is dateline. Tonight, Family Affair. Here is dennis murphy. If ever there was a little girl lost, it was maya bod. From when i was little, i was always in the way. She survived a mother Daughter Relationship quite unlike any youve ever heard. My mother is like trying to hug a cactus. You will eventually get hurt. And if the intersection of blood and money intrigues you, pull up a chair and stay awhile because theres plenty of both just ahead in this story. Its really an amazing, unusual, frightening story. What ended so badly in a darkened hotel room with the curtains drawn, has its beginnings really in the warm sands of south florida. Not the south beach of today with its hot bodies and pulsating dance clubs. Thats all a marketing reinvention of a mucholder miami beach. No, we need to go back 50 years or more when caddies with tail fins were pulling into the newest, glitziest hotel on the east coast. The fountain blue. Miami should be a great city. A Hotel Wheeler dealer ben novak built it and they came. Steven gaines wrote about it in his book fools paradise. It became a destination for the major stars who were performing at the fountain blue and lots of movies were shot there as well. Novak was the king. He found a queen in a former cocacola model named bernice with her beauty and effortless charm, bernice turned out to be the perfect host es to greet the celebrities, gangsteres and just plain guests who made the fountain blue the scene of the day. King ben and Queen Bernice lived in a penthouse suite. Then along came their prince, ben novak jr. He was a spoiled kid. He was a brat. Ben jr. , dont call him benji would be trotted out to shake hands of the likes of the jfk then back up to the hotel elevator. The kids who came to the birthday party, were complete strangers to him. Just kids who were passing through the hotel. The friendless, lonely boy lost himself in the fantasy world of batman. The superhero became an obsession. Even as an adult, ben jr. Was still amassing a floor to ceiling collection of batman memorabilia. He bought an old bat mobile. Just as the rat pack faded away, so too did the fountain blue. By the late 70s, miami beach was regarded as a stale place for old people. Ben novak sr. Lost the hotel to bankruptcy and died not long afterwards. The son, ben jr. , all grown up now, stayed in the Hospitality Business and made his mark. He created a company ran out of his home here that organized conventions in big hotels. Like his father, he was a hardnosed businessman. And in time, he was grossing 50 million a year. And like his father, he needed someone like his mother to mix and mingle with the clients. He found that woman in a lady from ecuador. Her name is narcy and she had a little girl named may. My mother is a lot of fun. You know, she definitely partied. When ben jr. Met her, she was partying for tips as a stripper in a sleesy miami club, supporting herself and her little girl. She did very well with it, i guess . She did very well. My mother is a survivor. She adjusts to pretty much anything. Narcy left behind her stripper pole to marry ben jr. She felt like excess baggage. She was dispatched to boarding school at the age of 8. Did you feel you had been shipped off . Kind of. You had a tough childhood. Best thing is that its over. Ben jr. And her mother lived in a 2 million ft. Lauderdale estate with a boat out back. His elderly mother bernice lived not far away. But may, the stepdaughter, was never going to be a rich mans trust fund kid. She grew up tough and hard, estranged from her mother, paying her own way with bar tending and waitressing jobs. She had two children young and sweated the bills. It was the grandchildren that ultimately thaws some of the ice between mother and daughter. She may have been a horrible mother, but she was the best grandmother. She did everything with them. And ben jr. Warmed to may. The one time lonely prince belatedly seemed to recognize a Kindred Spirit in lonely negligented may. She saw me as his daughter and i saw him as my father. He had no children of his own. Ben, after his own stunted childhood, finally found in his grandchildren some kids who wanted to play with all his batman stuff. He did a lot of the grandfather things with them. A lot of, i think, why we saw so much of each other was because of those two boys. When she was in her late 20s, ben jr. Asked may to become part of his very successful convention organizing business. She would work alongside her mother and his mother bernice. It had taken 20 years, but they were finally becoming a family. You know, when i actually became older and got into the business, he was always there, guided me and showed me how to do things. Then sadness. In the spring of 2009, bernice in her late 80s slipped and taken a nasty fall getting out of her car. She struggled to the house and died. May thought the time had come. For years ben had been asking her to consider becoming his legally adopted daughter. She thought it would be the perfect fathers day gift for him. I started thinking, bernice had just passed. And it would be something nice for him, you know, to be like, okay, you do have a daughter. Because i do feel like i am his daughter to this day. So it never got legally changed. All the paperwork is still on his desk. It never got attended to because of the brutal event three months after bernices passing. Ben, narcy and may were putting on a Big Convention in hotel in new york. Just after 7 30 sunday morning, july 12th, 2009, the last day of the convention, Hotel Security got the urgent call. Something very bad had happened in one of the suites. A 58yearold man had been found bound and bludgeoned to death in the bedroom. Ben novak jr. , the onetime prince of the fountain blue had been murdered. So then, who might want ben novak dead . Investigators are writing up a long list of possible suspects, was it a business deal gone badded . Was someone after his fortune . Maybe it was someone closer to home. The search begins when we come back. And it wasnt going to be easy. We decided we were going to down load the locks of the entire hotel. The comings and goings of every room . 450 rooms. When Family Affair continues. Or more on car insurance. Everybody knows that. Well, did you know you that former pro Football Player ickey woods will celebrate almost anything . Unhuh. Number 44. Whoooo fortyfour, thats me get some cold cuts. Get some cold cuts. Get some cold cuts whooo gimme some geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Whoo fortyfour ladies, thats me whoo. Gonna get some cold cuts today narcy. The sproling hilton hotel in new york was host to 2,000 amway conventioners that summer weekend in 2009. One of the suites had become a homicide scene. Sergeant terry wilson from the local police would lead the investigation. I couldnt believe what i saw. I went in the room and there was the victim, hog tied on the floor. And it was a bloody mess. What does that tell you . This was a targeted individual. Was it true that his eyes were also gouged out . Yes. Yes. Sergeant wilson learned that the victim was ben novak jr. , a name that meant nothing to him. The murdered mans wife and stepdaughter had been escorted to a nearby hotel room so investigators could take their statements. The wife of 20 years, narcy, told Sergeant Wilson that her husband had been up all night working on Convention Details and didnt go to bed, she thought, until about 6 30 in the morning. She then gone downstairs around 7 00 a. M. To oversea getting breakfast organized for the convention guests. Could you verify for instance that the wife was indeed at the breakfast by a security camera. Yes. We did have our own video confirm what she was saying. The stepdaughter, may abad who managed the Company Money on these road trips confirmed her mothers story of coming down to pitch in with breakfast. I was thinking, there is a lot of people. There is 2,000 people down here. Ill take any help i can get. After the breakfast rush, narcy says she called her husband up in the room, no answer. Then she comes back up around 7 30 or o so and finds him. Yeah. She told the detective she tripped over the body, bolted 23r9d room shrieking for help. Our Security Guard was holding narcy at the end of mr. Novaks feet and narcy was continuing to lunge towards the body, howling and screaming at the top of her lungs. When narcy told police about the timeline of the. Her card was used to get in the room from 7 40, but just after midnight no activity up to that point. No activity opening to go into the door. That right away tells you that then the door opened from the inside. If narcy had been downstairs helping with breakfast, and no key other than the wifes had opened the door since midnight, who then had admitted the killer or killers . An early on mystery. May meanwhile had been summoned by the Hotel Manager to her stepfathers suite. I asked them, what happened . And theyre just like hes gone. You know. And im like, what do you mean hes gone. Try go do something. The hotel guards wouldnt let her in the room. One Security Officer was talking to another once. He said its a blood bath in there. A blood bath that sent her mother into hysterics. She is emotional, whaling, tears . She is throwing herself on the floor. Then she said, i think theyre after all the convention money. It had to be a robbery. They know we carry a lot of money. Somebody must have been watching us. Unusually ben novaks Convention Business ran on cash, bags of it. The exhibiters would turn over their dollars to the stepdaughter may and her assistants on site. This weekend they had taken in more than 100,000. Now, that money wasnt being kept in a hotel safe behind the front desk. Rather, it was stashed in closets, under the beds of the staff members. Question, had an insider who knew how they had gone about their business decided to rip off the company by torturing ben to cough up the cash . They had around 110,000 in cash. Youre in motivation country right now, right . Were trying to figure out, whats going on. They didnt get anything from him. So of course im scared. You know, not just for myself but for the staff. And if someone had been roaming the Hotel Hallways with money and murder on their mind, there were 2,000 potential suspects. A detectives might mare. We decided we were going to down load the locks of the entire hotel. Youre kidding . With the comings and going of every guest. 450 rooms. It took him two weeks to do it. The hotel was bristling with security cameras, but unfortunately for the investigators none in the hallway outside the murder room. One of the first things the cops did was round up all that cash and get it stored in the hotel safe until the banks opened in the morning. Then Sergeant Wilson posted a guard at the hotel room being shared by the mother and daughter. Before that sunday night was over, the two women would have another round of questioning with the detectives. If they totally grill med. You get mad. So of course i was fighting back. They were asking you the questions, did you do this . Correct. You know, one of the cops told me, we have to ask these questions. Im like, do you have to get like right here and ask the questions . A veteran West Chester County detective named alison had joined the investigation and led some of the questioning. May, the daughter, what did you make of her . Pretty much i got the feeling that she was being honest with me, but you never know. People are deceptive. The p kos went through narcys story once again. Hoping for some overlooked detail or investigative nugget. She is a grieving all of a sudden widow. Exactly. We need that information. Shes the last person that saw mr. Novak. Narcy told detectives there was something of value missing, a gold bracelet that spelled out bens name in diamonds. An expensive rolex watch was still on the bed lying in a pool of bed as well as an unexplained broken stem from a cheap pair of sunglasses. And then there was the matter of her husbands huge batman collection and a rare comic valued at 43,000 he was planning on selling that weekend. Batman might have a motivation for murder, his passion in life. Uhhuh. He had a valuable comic and somebody else wanted it. Correct. Wanted the value of it. Correct. Sunday was over. On monday, the cops would hear about the novaks tie me up sex games. On monday, when mother and daughter started to go for one anothers throats. Coming up they should have been united in grief. Instead, there would be a feud sparked by a single troubling moment. Im sitting there, my suspicions are growing and growing by the who had bound, gagged and bludgeoned to death ben novak jr. . It was overwhelming. To see it and just thinking, oh my god. In this case, the detectives thought vikt mology would play a big role. Figuring out his friends and families, his enemies. This is the address here. Detective alison along with detective terry wilson would eventually piece together an unflattering family portrait. We didnt know an affair, domestic, just a random act. They cobbled together the story of ben jr. , the wealthy son of a famous miami beach man with his eccentric batman collection. The wife from modest beginnings. The stepdaughter welcomed late to the family circle. We were still learning the dynamics of the family, how may was a stepchild. It took us a long time to learn more about the family. The novaks came off like candidates for the cast of a bad reality show, but good Old Fashioned robbery still looked like motive number one in the homicide. Ben novak jr. Was a hardcharging businessman. Lot of guys didnt like his style. Thats correct. He could have cultivated enemies along the line. There were a lot of people that didnt like him. On the monday after the sunday morning murder, police took narcy and her daughter to the morgue to identify ben jr. s bo dpi. Thats when may started to get the creeps about what had happened. Watching her stonefaced mother watch. Im throwing up in a garbage can. Detectives are right there and Everything Else and we all turn around and she is just staring at him. There was no emotion at all from her. That monday, late into the night, narcy and her daughter we are interrogated by the detectives. I should have been there. And i wish i got killed with him. Detective alison broached the sensitive subject of the sex life. With the male detective out of the room, detective alison managed to win narcys trust. Narcy confided that ben was into bondage. And when he let you tie him up, does he like his hands behind his back or in front . He likes his hands at the back because hearing he had been tied up in the homicide, did you think, is this a sex game gone wrong . We brought it up to her and i confronted her with that during the interview. Ben is found in a way that he enjoys sexually no, no, no, no. When i left ben uhhuh. He was not tied up. I just found it odd that the way he finds pleasurable he is killed in the same way. Because she was the spouse, the questions for narcy got sharper as the night wore on. Was she in on the murderer . If im being asked if i let anybody in, no i dont let them in. All the while may had been outside eves dropping on her mothers interrogation, getting chills. May said to me that somebody told her it was a blood bath. I dont remember anything blood. Blood is red. Just listening to her talk to detectives, nothing was making sense. When she heard her mother describe tripping over the body and reaching down to touch ben, alarms went off. She had seen her mother shortly after that. Im looking at her and theres no blood on her. In a scene that was described to you as a blood bath. As a blood bath, correct. Im looking at her from head to toe you dont see any evidence. I dont see any evidence on you. What are you thinking . My suspicions are growing and growing by the minute and im thinking that i am this horrible human being thinking that my mother could do anything like that. For 14 relentless hours, homicide detectives tried to pin back nar vi novaks ears, grilling her as though she master minded her husbands murder. Did you have anything to do with your husbands death. No. She never ate anything. She never drank anything. And she never went to the bathroom. The detectives would come in, question her, she would just keep flowing, nothing phased her. Question, had ben hired a kingky escort girl to tie him up . Narcy scoffed at the idea and told the detectives to tone it down. I want you have compassion, please. Have mercy. If there is an electrical chair and im a suspect, give it to me right now. Put me out of my misery. I want to die. Shortly after 9 00 p. M. , detective alison brought up the idea of a Lie Detector Test. I take a hundred lie deck te tors, i do whatever you want me to to. At this point im hoping i am completely wrong. If she passes, im going crazy in my own head. May also agreed to be polygraphed but then narcy got cold feet about taking hers. And the daughter is saying to her daughter, what is wrong with you. Why dont you just take the Lie Detector Test . Whats the problem . The mother finally agreed to the polygraph. May would pass her test but how did the Lie Detector Test go for narcy . It didnt go well. She flupged it all the way through. Yes. When the cops were finally done with the two of them for the night, may confronted her mother. I asked her to her face what, did you have something to do with this . I did. I got in her face and they had pictures of like the crime scene and stuff and i smacked them in her face. You think your mother killed ben jr. . I think she definitely had something to do with it. You know, i didnt think she did it herself personally. The cops had only started to peel back the many layers of the novak family story. There was still so much about these people they didnt know. Turns out, there were a few things may herself didnt know. But when we come back, she is about to find out. I see my mother coming at me with a crowbar. When Family Affair continues. The cops were going through hours of Hotel Security cam footage looking for what, they werent exactly sure. The footwork team of a Homicide Investigation was under way. Were leafing the doors open as far as were concerned. Everything is on the table until the investigation stalls or someone is arrested. The body of the ben novak jr. Was with the medical examiner. Mother and daughter attached now by blood only returned to florida separately. May had her own agenda, telling the cops she would help them any way she could. She was collecting her things from her parents house when she stopped in the guest cottage where ben had his home office. She was sno thropinggh his files for the detectives, when she turned to see her mother upon her like a fury. I see my mother coming at me with a crowbar. I very quickly she swung it and i picked my arm up and she got this whole end on me with the crowbar. It was literally the final blow for may. She was calling me a trader. She knew that you were getting evidence against her. Uhhuh. Could you have backed off at that point . Could you have been a good little daughter and fallen in line . No. Its not in me. I knew what she had done was wrong, even though s was my mother, i knew sheas wrong. The battleground between mother and daughter then moved from the novak house to the courthouse. A take no prisoners fight over the will. May was giving her cops her theory, her mother murdered her stepfather for the inheritance. Narcy stood to get an estate estimated at 10 million. Lock, stock and bat mobile. At this point, my mother was to get everything and i was like, shes going to get away with this. May filed a civil lawsuit against her mother, arguing the Probate Court shouldnt award narcy bens money because she had him killed. The court freezed his assets. So the big money was on ice, but may said her mother had already been then ill lis italy cleaned out safe deposit boxes kept by ben and his mother. Was she on the list of people . No, she was not. She told them a story. She did. My husband is out in the car waiting and she had been dead for a week. Yep. Narcy was seen leaving the bank with a duffle bag. With police scrutinizing her every move, narcy hired new york attorney, howard tanner. He says narcy did have authority to go into those safe deposit it boxes. He also disputed mays contention that narcy was involved in her husbands beth. When she discovers ben novak, she acted consistently with how anyone else would act in that situation. And the defense attorney urged anyone looking at this case to follow the money in bens murder. Down there in the fine print of the will, it shows that may, the daughter, may have had her own reasons for wanting ben dead and her mother accused. May abad and her children were the next in line. If somehow narcy was removed from the line of inheritance, the daughter, may abad would get 10 million through her children. Thats correct. With narcy out of the picture, may would get a flat 150,000 and her two boys the rest of the 10 million estate. Narcy began offering her own theory of the crime, may did it. When she realized the finger was being pointed on her, she accused me. Of arranging to kill ben. Correct. For the money. Uhhuh. The mother and daughter finger pointing accusations continued without cease fire, even though they inturned ben in if family moz lee yum. Narcy hidden beneath sunglasses ignored the daughter. The daughter brought her sons. One of my mothers body guards flashed his guns at my kids. Im packing in case theres any doubt. Yeah. I saw the extent of everything when she threatened her own grand kids. And i always said she would never do anything to her grand kids. She loves these kids. There was mother daughter war. Bad blood for sure, but the detectives were about to learn there was another close relative of interest in this toxic family portrait. And more crimes to investigate, perhaps even another murder. Coming up, from out of the blue, a twist. A cloue that could turn the cas upside down. This is shocking and it could be a big break. And then, revisiting those Hotel Security videos. The sight that chilled investigators. When dateline continues. Heres a good one seattle. What did geico say the mariner . We could save you a boatload foghorn sounds loudly whats seattles favorite noise . The puget sound foghorn sounds loudly all right, never mind doesnt matter. This is a classic. What does an alien seamstress sew with . A space needle foghorn sounds loudly continuously oh come off it captain geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Mother and daughter each had a 10 million motive for murder as the detectives saw it. But Sergeant Terry wilson was focussing on narcy. He knew he didnt have enough to charge her with her husbands death, at least not yet. She had an alibi for the assumed time of the murder. The case against her was circumstan shall. Then out of nowhere, an unanimous letter fluttered on to the desk of a coming up on early today major revelations from president obama on americas underestimating isis and are u. S. Ground troops inevitable to fight them in syria. And dozens of air travelers with the facility fire. Its so intereing. The united, its causing trouble all over the country. Plus, a monster truck rally that goes terribly wrong. Mr. And mrs. George clooney make their debut as husband and wife. Plus, were going to tell you where you can score free coffee today. Its monday, september 29th, early today starts right now