The Journey, Episode 2: Intended Parents
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What is happening inside the Arcadia mansion and who are Sylvia and Guojun?
That's newyorker.com slash dark.
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on The Journey. Oh, my
goodness. And now to a bizarre story in the San Gabriel Valley. Police say while Sylvia Zeng and Guangzhang Chen were arrested and released, their investigation into them and what went on inside this home continues. I've never talked with anyone. You are the only person I talk with. The story, trust me.
Continue on South Baldwin Avenue for one mile.
On a good day, the kind without traffic, I live about 20 minutes from Arcadia, a wealthy city in LA County. One afternoon, last November, I drove out there with our producer, Natalie Jablonski. Yeah, so you'll see it's like a lot of new builds, a lot of like really, really big houses. Arcadia is referred to locally as the Chinese Beverly Hills because a lot of prosperous Chinese immigrants live there. The city is dense with flashy cars and neo-Mediterranean villas, big stucco houses with red-tiled roofs shielded by tall hedges or gates. All morning, it'd been raining, and even the palm trees were hard to make out in the mist. So we're getting close? We're very close. This is also the land of white Teslas.
Every time I see a white Tesla, I'm like, is it her? We were headed to the house of Sylvia and Guojun, the couple who'd used surrogates to have more than 20 kids and who are now under investigation by police and the FBI. This is the house. We pulled up to a mansion surrounded by a low fence. Wow. That is a big house. It really was enormous, with an imposing stone facade, arched entryways, and castle-like turrets flanking the double doors. A white Tesla was parked in the driveway.
And all the blinds are drawn. It does have this kind of like fortress feel, like you kind of don't know what's going on in there.
This was the mansion where police had shown up a few months earlier after getting a tip about potential child abuse. Inside, they'd found surveillance cameras everywhere, dining areas converted into classrooms, and over a dozen infants and toddlers with buzz cuts. Those children were now in foster care. And for weeks, I'd been trying to get in touch with their parents, Sylvia and Guojun. I wanted to understand what was happening inside the house and what they'd been planning to do with all these kids. And is it okay to just sort of be around? Are we concerned at all about being spotted or anything? I made a point to leave a letter the first or second time I was here because I feel like that just makes it more normal that I'm here to talk if you guys want to talk.
And I've lost some messages and stuff, so... Sitting in the car outside their house that rainy afternoon, Natalie and I didn't see the couple. But we did see someone else. Someone who'd become almost as obsessed with a mystery mansion as I was. Oh, Johnny's back. Let's talk to Johnny in a second. Okay. I just don't want to miss him. Johnny is a hairstylist. I met him while knocking on doors in the area and started dropping by his place every time I was nearby.
Hi.
We ducked into his garage, filled with boxes of shampoo.
Oh, my God, it's really coming down. Hey, Natalie. Nice to meet you. We're working together on this. Oh, nice. Yes.
Working
with a group. Working with a group. Well, there's so much to look into.
Johnny has an extensive surveillance system installed around the perimeter of his property to deter potential burglars. And because he lives directly across the street, some of his cameras face Sylvia and Guojun's mansion. And some of theirs seem to face his. It's almost like a surveillance standoff.
Explain to Natalie the setup you have here. I have a CCTV there on the top, outside, yeah, right there. And then you have another one on the corner here.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is happening inside the Arcadia mansion and who are Sylvia and Guojun?
0:00–5:54
2
What did police discover inside the mansion regarding surveillance cameras and the children?
5:54–11:35
3
How did neighbor Johnny’s surveillance system reveal a standoff with the mansion?
11:35–16:57
4
What role does the surrogacy agency on the second floor play in the couple’s plan?
16:57–23:48
5
Who is Guojun and what is his business and political background?
23:48–29:31
6
What legal battles have former employees filed against Sylvia and Guojun?
29:31–36:47
7
What illegal activities were alleged at the Pacific Place property?
36:47–45:47
8
Why did Sylvia and Guojun pursue having so many children through surrogacy?
45:47–54:44