Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
Exposing California's 3 Strike Law | How He Survived a Life Sentence
26 Nov 2025
Chapter 1: What led Chris Curtis to a life sentence?
So here I am in a high-speed chase doing 110 through Anaheim during lunchtime. Unmarked cars. I got down and they put me in the car. And it's a weird feeling getting a life sentence. Just remember this, I'm telling you right now. What the door sounds like when it shuts in your cell, that's what you're going to be hearing for the rest of your life.
I grew up in the city of Orange, in Orange County, California. I had a really good life. In the beginning of my life, it was great. My dad was a baseball coach. He was a bricklayer. He had his business. He was doing really well. As a kid, we had everything a kid could want. We had good Christmases. We had a nice house. We lived in a great community.
And then around the age of 12 years old, my parents sold the house. And at the time, I didn't understand what was going on because I was a young kid. But they sold the house.
Chapter 2: How did Chris's childhood experiences shape his future?
We moved into another. We rented a house down the street. So I stayed and I had to change schools. It was far enough to change schools, but not really that far at all. But I had to change schools. And I met some new kids there. I still didn't understand what was going on. I was still racing bikes and I was still just being a kid.
And I met some kids in the neighborhood and we started, I started hanging out, became good friends with these kids. And this was like the first experience that really, as I look back, that really made me kind of understand what was going on. So I would spend the night at this kid's house and we just being kids. And then one day after school, they stopped me.
They were, but usually they wait for me after school. They didn't, they were around the corner waiting for me. And when I get around the corner, they're all telling me I'm a drug addict.
hey you're a cocaine sniffer you're a drug addict and I'm like what and then come to find out their parents knew my parents knew friends of my parents and they were telling their kids hey his dad lost his house because of And at the time, again, I didn't know what was going on. I didn't believe it. But now these kids weren't allowed to hang out with me anymore. Right.
After school, I was just known as a drug addict. Nobody wanted to hang out with me. Well, just kind of being a young kid, that's kind of tough because you don't know what's going on. So then that was like the beginning of kind of everything going bad. A few months later, my dad and my mom split up. Did you have any –
knowledge that they were having problems at all like was it obvious arguments not at all i remember that i'd wait a lot for my dad to come home on friday to take me to race bikes and there was always coming up i can't go or just whatever i can't make it or i'm busy or things like that but then my parents got divorced my mom moved in with my aunt and then we moved in with my dad and
The house was a little bit more rundown. It was in the same neighborhood. Stayed in the same school. But it was a little bit more rundown of a house in the area. And it was right behind the 55 freeway in Orange off of Sacramento Street. And there was another guy living in the back room. Me and my brother were there. And then my dad and his new girlfriend. He got a new girlfriend right away.
So it was different. I still didn't know what was going on. But my friends would come over. We'd hang out.
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Chapter 3: What role did addiction play in Chris's life choices?
And then one night on Christmas, I mean on New Year's Eve, my dad comes out. Me and my friend are listening to records on the record player. That's how long ago this was. And he's got a white vial in his hand. And he pours some out on the table and chops up some lines on a mirror. He does a line and then he gives it to me. He goes, go ahead, try this. Me being a kid, I'm like,
The first thing I thought, though, the first thing I thought of when he was doing that was what those kids were saying. I was like, wait. Right. But I did it. And right away, I was high. I loved it. And then my friend, too. From that point on, we just started doing a lot of drugs. Along the way, I learned that my dad's roommate was selling a lot of drugs out of the house. It was a lot.
It was all over the place. People were coming and going. And as the weeks went by, it got worse and worse because this is a new house. But as the weeks got gone by, it was more and more traffic, more and more people. Sometimes he was Italian. So sometimes these people would come over to the house and we'd have to leave. These guys would come in with suits.
I don't know, like not too suited up, but they would come in like these guys would come in and they would have a little meeting or whatever. And then they would leave and then we go back in the house. but we'd have to take off. But that was a crazy environment for a kid being young like that. So I'd get lines for doing the dishes. I'd get lines.
I'd get for Christmas, a carton of cigarettes for Christmas. To wash the car, I'd get. I did good in school, which was not often. That was going south fast. We just started doing a My dad's girlfriend was always drinking and always drunk. One time, she stabbed my dad in the leg. And then there was a big old fight. I ended up hitting her with a 2x4 because she threw a 2x4 at the truck window.
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Chapter 4: How did Chris's life change after receiving a life sentence?
It was out of control. I was just a kid. But I really didn't like her anyways. That's the first time I ever hurt a girl and the only time I hit a girl. But I was just a kid. And then not long after that, we got kicked out of a Saturday work study. So if you get in trouble in school, I went to Sarah Billet Junior High School.
If you get in trouble at school, you have to go to a Saturday work program where you spend eight hours all day in like detention. Well, we got kicked out. Me and my friends got kicked out of there. And what we did was we broke into the cafeteria because we were mad. And we just destroyed the place. Why did you get kicked out of the detention? I can't remember.
I think it was because, for one, the teachers didn't like us. We were the only kids in the school that had long hair. At that time, we were like, we were outcast. We were always getting in trouble. That school, Saraville, is predominantly a wealthy area because all the kids from Villa Park go to that school.
You got Villa Park, and then you got the city of Orange, which is just across from Santiago area. And we didn't have any money for clothes like these other kids did, for one. So we were dressed differently, and we were going down the wrong path now. We were on clubs. It happened. We got in trouble for talking. I think I was arguing with one of the rich kids or something like that.
I can't exactly remember. But we got kicked out, and they kicked us all out because we were all friends. And we broke into the cafeteria and destroyed the place. I broke all the trophies. Me and my buddy threw the piano off the stage. And we were there all weekend long just going back and forth, partying there, and just destroyed the place. Well, that Monday morning we went to school.
The police were there, obviously. And they arrested us. They called us all in. They knew it was us. And we went to juvenile hall. That was at like, I think I was almost 14 by the time. And that was my first time being in trouble with the law.
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Chapter 5: What was Chris's experience like in prison?
And we just spent the night there. And we were out the next day, but we were on probation. This was back in the 80s. And when I get home after getting out of juvenile hall, my dad and his roommate, they're pissed. They're pissed at you? Yeah.
And what surprised me, the more I look back at it, the real reason they were really upset about it was because I could have brought the cops to the house and got everybody. Right. You're bringing heat on the spot. Bringing heat to the pad. It's funny how these things that you think about going through the years, it's just one of the, as I was writing my book, I just, you remember a lot of things.
And that was, that was the beginning of my being a criminal. I adopted all these character defects from that house, criminality, drug addiction. It's funny when you write a book, how, because it's probably the first time someone really has to sit down and chronologically go through the
the the parts of their life and and it's like prior to like prior to writing my book like i'd never done that and like like you just said it was probably the first time you ever sat there and kind of went like wow that i never put that together like you start putting things together that you're like like you're a grown man never thought about it again never put it together but then you start right you write it out and you're like fuck like that that like that's like
Why did he do that? You know what I'm saying? You start thinking that, why would someone say that? And yet, just as a regular adult, most people just never review their life the way you do when you write a book. And then since you did that, you'll understand what I'm going to say right here. And then you start remembering all these things that you never remembered before.
You start remembering all these scenarios, all these events that happened that you totally forgot about because after you write all day or you sit there at night and you're thinking and then something pops in your head. You start remembering all these different events that happened in your life. And yeah, I remember, I remember that house.
I'm not going to say it was all bad times because I grew up there. We had a lot of fun, but eventually that drug addiction just took over my life. And I never, ever thought it would end up like it did, but when you're on drugs, You really don't think. And you don't grow up. As a kid, you don't grow up if you're using drugs. You never become responsible.
If you don't have the right guidance, you just go down a dark path. I remember a few times going to the probation department because I'd have to go every month to see the probation officer. My dad, we'd be driving down the street and he'd have this little mile on him and he would like tap it on the steering wheel and give me a little bit before we call the probation officer.
And I think back on that now, like, and it's crazy. How old were you at that point? 14 at the time. About 14. That went on for about a couple, a year and a half, two years, living in that house. I just remember just all the drugs. And I didn't really understand what it would do to me, but it definitely changed me. And not only that, I could say that for my friends too, right?
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Chapter 6: How did Chris manage to survive and adapt in prison?
So now my dad would have me go score on Fridays or during the week or whenever he wanted it. And there was times when like, it'd be Friday night. My friends would be here to pick me up. I just waiting for my allowance so I can go out and have fun and party or whatever. And he'd be like, Hey, can you go to Santa Ana to get some, get some, I'm like, Hey, I can. My friends are here.
So I would take off and then he would yell out a couple of this. I didn't realize this once again until later in life. He's like, you know, hey, you are restriction. Get back in the house. So I go back in the house and you didn't take the trash out. Go to your room. So I go to my room and I'd be like mad, of course. And then he'd come in a few minutes later. He can you go say that?
Give me some coke now. Of course, I'm going to say, yeah. So I'd go down there. I'd call the guys, come pick me up. We drove down there, come back. And my dad would give me a little, my allowance. And then I'd say, okay, yeah, you can go out now. Right. Here's, I didn't really figure it out because the trash can was only a quarter of the way full.
I mean, why would you waste a bag and take it out? But I didn't even realize it till later in life that he actually put no restriction for not getting them. And it's crazy. So I stayed there for a little while, but then after a while, I just, I ran away and went and moved in with my brother and we just did. I stopped going to school and I ended up getting.
What were you doing to make money at this point? At this point, I wasn't really selling it. I was just doing it. We were just whatever we could to get. I ended up back in juvenile hall for cash and stolen checks to get I ended up going to YGC for 90 days after that. And then when I got out, my mom had a place in Anaheim, and then that's when I moved to Anaheim. Okay.
This was, I don't know, probably all that time. This was probably like 89 now. And Anaheim's a little bit different. At this time, around 89, 1990, a lot of was going around. That's when the speed started coming into play. And so I started doing that. And that's a whole different high. When you do, I don't know if you've done it before, you kind of just stay inside. You don't really do anything.
I mean, some people do, but we didn't. Now I'm out on the streets, running around the streets, running around with different types of people. And we're doing whatever we can to get that. We're stealing cans off the side of people's houses. Like we would, in the daytime, we would like go around and look at people's, like drive around, look at people's houses.
You can see big bags of cans on the side of the houses. We'd write down the addresses. And then that night we'd come and just pick up all these cans. Sometimes we made like 300 bucks a night, two, 300 bucks a night doing that. For like what? Recycling? Yeah. We'd have like bags and bags of cans. And from there, my mom, after a while, My mom just ended up kicking me out.
I went to jail a few times. I turned 18. I went to jail for not like for driving around without a license and not going to court. And then once he kicked me out on the streets, that was pretty much it. What about high school? What's up? Were you still going to high school? No, I dropped out of high school when I went and lived with my brother. Oh, okay.
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Chapter 7: What led to Chris's eventual release from prison?
You weren't a tough kid. But all the way until I was 17 years old, I was like 4'11". Like I was a small kid. And I've always been skinny. I mean, the only reason right now is because I work out. Right. I just benched 310 pounds last week. I'm in the gym every day. 51. I'll be 53 in November. Oh, 53. Oh. Yeah. And I still can't gain weight. I'm like 190 pounds. I'm stuck there. I'm strong. Yeah.
I can't run to save my life because my knees are so messed up, but I could bench 300 pounds. If you can bench 310 pounds, you don't have to run. But the thing is, is that for me, the gym holds my sanity. That and I go to church. But anyways, we're getting shot at here and there. And then what happened next is what I never thought would happen. I started carrying a gun.
I've seen a lot of crazy things start happening. This guy I know ended up getting murdered. He was friends with some other people that I knew. And in the back of my mind, if he can get killed, I can too. And it just changed everything. And then one day, it just snapped in me. And I was just like the rest of them. I was shooting at people. Um... And I was just out of control.
I lost my way pretty much. So when you say shooting at people, like, I mean, what do you mean? An argument with someone? Yeah. Like for, I'll give you an example. This is before I ended up going to prison for, I got shot. I got caught shooting two people in 95, but this is before like a year before that. We were having problems.
Me and my buddy were selling drugs, a lot of drugs, but we were running around the streets and we had some problems with these guys. I ended up shooting at one of their friends. So what happened was we rented a room at this house and we were selling drugs to sell drugs at him. The first night we're there, this happened. So this guy shows up and he wants to buy an ounce.
And I'm like, all right, well, hey, tell him to come in. He's like, no, he don't want to. I'm like, all right. So I got my gun. I go out there with the ounce and I tell him, hey, give me the money. He's like, no, give me the dope first. And I show him my gun. I go, if I wanted your money, I'd just take it right now. So he throws the money on the seat. It's a big water cache.
I pick the money up and throw the money on the passenger seat. And he just takes off. And in my mind, I'm like, what's going on here? So I start shooting at him. This is right at Disneyland, like in the middle of the daytime, right by Disneyland, right by the Jack and Jill Hotel. It's not there anymore, but. And then I go in the house and I tell the girl, hey, why is your friend shooting at me?
And then I go in the room and shut the door and Cliff's like, dude, what are you doing? I go, dude, count the money or the money's fake. I don't know what's going on. So he counted the money and it's $5 short. But in the back of my mind, I'm like, why is this dude taking off like that? And that's how it's become.
Hey, real quick, just wanted to let you guys know that we're looking for guests for the podcast. If you think you'd be a good guest, you know somebody, do me a favor. You can fill out the form. The link is in our description box, or you can just email me directly. Email is in the description box. So back to the video. When you were interviewed by Johnny Mitchell, he was talking about, he's like,
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Chapter 8: How is Chris now giving back to at-risk youth?
And I was telling Cliff about him. We kind of laughed because we didn't, we didn't know that, we didn't care about the guy, but we just kind of laughed about it. So the girl was friends with all these guys. She went back and told all her friends. Told all her friends, which were guys. So they're calling my friends. They're calling my friends and telling them, hey, we're going to get Chris.
And one of my friends, it's funny because one of my friends told him, like, if you go after him, he's way too smart. He's going to shoot you. And sure enough, a couple months later, I'm with this girl. And I pull up to this apartment complex. And There's a bunch of guys out there. I don't, I don't recognize them. I don't know who they are. I don't recognize them, but I got my gun.
She goes up there to take care of. And then these guys leave and then she calls me up there. So I go up there and I'm sitting on the couch and then these guys, those same guys come in the apartment and they're looking at me and I realized who they were. It's all these guys, friends who say they're going to get me. There's like seven of them. And then they just look at me like, all right.
And then they take off. So I tell the girl like that I'm there with, I'm like, Hey, we're leaving right now. And she's like, what's wrong? We got to get out of here. And then the guy in the back room, he's an older guy, all tatted up. You could tell he's been to prison. And he goes, hey, those guys, they're going to get you if you leave here. Just stay here.
I'm like, look, man, you got kids here. I go, I don't want to cause any problems here, but I'm telling you right now, I'll shoot these guys. I wanted to get out of there. For me, my best survival for me at that time is to get out of there as quick as possible. I don't know if they're going to get guns. They got guns or whatever, but I'm not waiting around for, but I'm not calling the cops.
So we're leaving. So we started leaving and there's like seven guys at the bottom of the stairs. And I tell the girl that I'm with, I go, just go get in the car. They're not going to mess with you. So she goes, she goes in front of me. She gets in the car and I'm at the bottom of the stairs. I got my hands on my, my hand in my pocket. And I'm like, Hey, what's up? And they're just looking at me.
They don't say nothing. And I'm sitting there for hours. Awkward for a few seconds. I just walk off. So once I get in the car, I shut the door. They rushed the car and they're like, hit me through the window, trying to hit me through the window. And I'm just like, what the hell? Well, then they started opening the door. So I just pulled my gun. I started shooting and, and that was it.
And then she's freaking out. She thinks they're shooting at us. She stalls the cars. So I get out of the car and everybody's gone. But one guy, he's kind of like crawling away on the, on the concrete. And I just turned him over. I'm like, you stupid fucker. I carry a gun. Because everybody's out. It's on Friday night. There's people everywhere. And I knew at that point it was over.
There's no way of getting away with this. So she's all still freaking out. So I go back, get in the car, tell her to get in the passenger seat and we take off. Not even five minutes later. The police paged me on my pager, telling me I should turn myself in. And I'm like, it's over. So I tell her, hey, we're going to go to my friend's house. We'll paint your car.
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