A Youtuber on the rise driven to murder,
an entire family gunned down in cold blood
and a sinister plot to take the
lives of at least 70 more.
On today's episode of "Morbid Reality" we document
the rise and fall of Trey Sesler,
better known by the internet as Mr. Anime.
Trey Eric Sesler was born on
August 8th 1989 to a loving family
comprised of his mother Rhonda, father
Lawton Rae and a single older brother
named Mark. As Trey grew older, he soon
realized that he had a passion for film
and it's this very love for the craft
that led to the eventual creation of his
YouTube channel Lens Cap Productions.
In September of 2006. There, Trey posted
numerous short films and skits, some even
featuring his mother and brother.
It was precisely a year and five days later
that Trey announced he would begin
shifting his channel's primary focus to
another passion of his: animation.
Specifically of the Japanese variety.
From this day on, Trey Sesler would be
known as Mr. Anime, one of the founding
members of the anime reviewing community
on YouTube and, according to many, an
inspiration for similar channels to come.
It's during this period when a third
passion of Trey's became apparent: his
love of firearms. Over the next five
years, Trey would deliver review after
review, discussing everything he knew and
loved about anime, while also
occasionally uploading gun themed skits
and even a few weapons demonstration
videos. None of this, of course, was cause
for concern amongst Trey's fan base. Sure,
he may have been a weapons enthusiast
but Trey himself openly condemned a gun
violence in a 2009 rant video in which
he discussed the media buzz surrounding
mass shootings that were taking place in
the U.S. at the time. "Hey everybody
Season 2 here, and today I'm ranting on
something, um, a little bit... right?
'Yeah.' Yes. I'm ranting on something a
little bit anime unrelated. I'm ranting
on all the shootings that have been
happening. I'm a firearms owner myself
but, uh, it's, uh, it is a little bit disturbing
to know that you could be a victim in something
like this at these times. All the people
that were victims you think 'it won't
happen to me', but sometimes it does. But
seriously, every day I open Yahoo, I'm like
'Well, time to see what today's
shooting is!' and there's
another one, so I don't know when it's
going to stop. I think it's..Why? Why? But
uh, what can I say?"
On May 13th of 2012, Trey uploaded a
video titled "Mr. Anime's new job!". In it, he
details how he just found full-time
employment for an unnamed production
company thanks to the work he had been
doing at home. He also reassured his
audience that, while uploads may be
slowing down, that the channel was in
great health and that he had no plans of
quitting YouTube anytime soon. This,
unbeknownst to Trey and his fans alike
would be the last time he was seen on
camera as a free man.
Just one week following Trey's update,
horrifying accusations sent shockwaves
throughout YouTube's anime community.
"If you haven't heard, Trey Sesler, aka Mr.
Anime, has been arrested for suspicion of...
Well, he's been arrested and charged with
murdering and shooting and murdering his
mother, his father and his brother."
It turns out that in the early hours of
March 20th 2012, Trey Sesler had snapped. The
murder spree began with Trey's mother,
whom he lured to the garage before
mercilessly firing into her chest four
times, causing her to collapse in front
of him. From inside the house
Trey's brother Mark began to call out,
complaining about the noise. It's then
when Trey swiftly made his way back into
the home, passing his brother in the
hallway before re-emerging from his room
with a different gun and delivering two
shots. Mark, although wounded, managed to
crawl into the nearby bathroom and to
lock the door as Trey began to make his
way to their parents bedroom, where
their barely conscious father had been
resting. After shooting his father twice,
Trey decided to retrace his steps, later
admitting to police that he wanted to
ensure that his family was, in fact, dead
and that no one was suffering from their
injuries. Trey then broke down the
bathroom door and
delivered the final blows to his brother who
had been curled up on the floor in the
fetal position. Shortly after the
killings, Trey continued his rampage,
tearing the house apart piece by piece
and scribbling apology letters on the
walls and doors, one of which read: "Why
did I do this? I love my mom, dad and
brother". Police were later sent over to
the Sesler residence by concerned
relatives, and soon discovered the
families corpses. Trey however was
nowhere to be found.
Later that day, Trey was finally located
and arrested, and it's then that even
more disturbing details began to emerge.
According to Trey himself, he'd been
plotting a mass murder, claiming that he
had plans to open fire on his old high
school campus, possibly during a
homecoming event. Other versions of his
plan included running a car into the
school's cafeteria or opening fire on a
local festival that took place each year.
Trey began to explain to officers that
he had thought about these plans in
great detail, and even studied the crimes
of past mass murderers to piece together
his own perfect plan, a foolproof plot to
take out as many as he possibly could,
with an ultimate goal of ending at least
70 lives. He noted how each mass murderer
had their strengths and weaknesses, even
going as far as to organize a detailed
rating system based on effectiveness,
weapons used, and the total number of
victims killed. It's because of this plan
that Trey noted that his family had to
be killed. That way, they wouldn't have
the burden of shame brought about by his
actions. Just a few hours after killing
his family, Trey found himself in the
parking lot of nearby Wallace Junior
High School, armed with an assault rifle
and hundreds of rounds. This, as he put it
in a later interview, was his opportunity
to carry out what he had been planning
for so long. Trey, however, ultimately
didn't go through with his plan, later
telling police it was because everything
had gotten, quote, "too real".
Although Trey had been planning to
commit mass murder for quite some time,
the slaying of his family, however, seemed
almost completely unplanned.
When questioned by police about
whether or not Trey had an argument of
sorts at home before the killings, Trey
said, "If I would have woken up that day
and you would have come to me and asked
'Are you going to kill your family
tonight?', I would have definitely said no."
So far, no real motive has been
established and Trey has since pleaded
guilty to his crimes, and is currently
serving a life sentence without the
possibility of parole. He's noted many
times how he'll never be able to forgive
himself for his actions and how he feels
as though he deserves to be behind bars.
Before this video ends, I'd like to give
a huge thank you to each and every one
of my Patrons. As you probably already
know, YouTube has recently been
demonetizing both true crime and horror
content, so if you'd like to help support
the channel, you can do so by visiting my
Patreon linked below. Any amount is
greatly appreciated and goes a long way.
With all that being said, thank you so
much for watching and I'll see you all in
the next video.