Just a month before Juri “Julie” Kibuishi and Samuel Herr tragically lost their lives, Rachel Buffett focused on bachelorette party plans. During this period, she allegedly encouraged a former friend named Audrey to try ecstasy, according to Audrey’s account.

Audrey claimed that Buffett even went so far as to suggest, “Well, if I slipped it in your drink, you wouldn’t know about it.”

Sharing her experience on the Investigation Discovery series “A Killer Among Friends,” Audrey explained that this unsettling exchange marked the end of their friendship for her.

Recalling the volatile dynamics of Buffett’s relationship with her fiancé, Audrey told News Media, “Whenever Rachel and [her fiancé] fought, especially when alcohol was involved, they’d lash out at those around them.” Audrey had been on the receiving end of such anger but noted that the incident during the bachelorette festivities was pivotal in her decision to cut ties.

Audrey said Buffett’s remark about secretly drugging her didn’t feel like an empty threat.

“I really believed Rachel would have drugged me at her bachelorette party because she thought it would be fun,” she said.

Audrey walked away from the friendship. Buffett later reached out by text, inviting Audrey to be a bridesmaid and asking if she could come over.

About a month after Audrey ended the friendship, Kibuishi was found shot to death in Herr’s apartment, while Herr was missing.

Buffett, an actress, was not accused of carrying out the murders or helping her then-fiancé, Daniel Wozniak, commit them. In 2018, an Orange County, California, jury found her guilty of two felony counts of being an accessory after the fact after prosecutors accused her of lying to and misleading investigators.

News Media reached out to Buffett for comment about Audrey’s allegations. The case is explored in the episode “Staging a Murder” airing Aug. 10.

“Rachel and Dan loved each other, but they also got on each other’s nerves,” said Audrey. “It was fine when they were sober, but then when they got drunk, they were always more aggressive. They would argue and fight. I remember one time when he was drunk, I yelled ‘F— you’ to him, and I threw my shoe at him, hitting him in the back.”

Audrey’s friendship with the couple wasn’t always tumultuous. She met Buffett in college while they were studying theater.

“I just remember her being fun and bubbly,” said Audrey. “I thought, ‘That’s the type of person I want to hang out with.'”

At a party, she crossed paths with mutual friends Kibuishi, a dancer, and Herr, a U.S. Army veteran.

“I just remember them being delightful, funny, warm and loving,” said Audrey. “They were good people. You could tell they were good people.”

The buzz among the friend group was Buffett’s engagement to Wozniak, a community theater actor. They planned to get married on May 28, 2010. A week before the wedding, Kibuishi and Herr were killed.

Herr’s father, Steve Herr, became worried because his son wasn’t answering his phone and had failed to show up for a planned visit. He went to his son’s apartment and let himself in. Everything appeared normal until he reached the bedroom and discovered Kibuishi’s body. She was partially clothed and had been shot in the head. Herr was missing.

“By then, I wasn’t invited to the wedding because I stopped being friends with Rachel and Dan,” said Audrey. “I told her I didn’t want to be in the wedding. But when I heard the news, I was so confused. My brain couldn’t wrap around the idea of what happened.”

“I thought, ‘What did they get themselves mixed up in?’” said Audrey. “Maybe they got drunk. Maybe they got blackout drunk.”

At first, police thought Herr had killed Kibuishi before fleeing. But that theory began to unravel when investigators discovered someone was still withdrawing money from Herr’s bank account.

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Police traced the transactions to teenager Wesley Freilich, who told investigators that Wozniak had given him Herr’s ATM card and instructed him to withdraw money. Police arrested Wozniak at his bachelor party. After repeatedly changing his story during questioning, Wozniak confessed. Asked why he committed the murders, he replied, “Money and insanity.”

“From what I found out, he was racking up tons of credit card debt,” said Audrey. “That’s a poor excuse. There’s no excuse to do what he did.”

Despite their falling out, Audrey said she called Buffett after Wozniak’s arrest.

“Even though I had completely lost trust in her as a human, I was still expressing sorrow for the difficult hardship she must have been going through, knowing that the love of her life that she was going to marry and spend the rest of her life with did something atrocious,” she said.

“It’s a life-shattering thing to have happened. But then she responded, ‘You just want to talk to me because you want your five minutes of fame. You don’t really care about me.’”

“Is that what you are thinking right now?” said Audrey. “It was mind-boggling. There was such a disconnect. I was completely taken aback by that reaction. To me, that is not the reaction of a woman who just found out her fiancé was a murderer.”

Buffett has maintained that she had no advance knowledge of the murders.

“We were close for so many years,” said Audrey. “No matter what I thought, I was still going to treat her like a human being. At that point, it had only been a few months since we ended our friendship.”

Prosecutors said Wozniak killed and dismembered Herr as part of a plot to steal $62,000 he had saved from his military service. They said Wozniak then killed Kibuishi and tried to frame Herr for her murder. Hours after killing Herr, Wozniak performed in the musical “Nine” at a community theater.

“I’m innocent, and that’s what hurts me most in this whole situation is they’re trying to say I’m something I’m not,” Buffett told NBC’s “Dateline.”

In 2012, Buffett was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory after the fact. Prosecutors later said she lied to police and misled investigators while trying to protect Wozniak.

Wozniak was sentenced to death in 2016. In 2018, Buffett was sentenced to 32 months in jail following her conviction on two felony counts of being an accessory after the fact.

Audrey said she still wonders who sent the text messages she received from Buffett’s phone after their friendship ended.

“Were they really from her? Or did Dan use her phone? I don’t know.”

The experience also changed how Audrey chooses her friends.

“It’s OK to be nice and respectful to people without inviting them into your life,” she said. “I [remember] the quote from ‘Into the Woods’: ‘Nice is different than good.’ And I think that is something to think about when you’re out there making friends. Nice is different than good.”

Sugar concluded its tumultuous second season on August 7, leaving audiences with a heap of pressing questions as the final credits fade.

Warning: Spoilers follow for Sugar Season 2, Episode 8.

Let’s rewind: John Sugar, played by Colin Farrell, wrapped up the chaos after surviving the Fire Sale incident, which included eliminating Lieutenant Vega (Tony Dalton) and the subsequent arrest of those involved. As this chapter ended, Sugar aimed to pursue a blossoming romance with Charlotte, portrayed by Laura Donnelly. However, a jaw-dropping twist revealed she was not who she seemed. Charlotte had known Sugar’s identity long before their paths crossed and was, in fact, working for his sister, Djen (Mireille Enos). Unbeknownst to Sugar, Djen never left Earth and is very much alive!

While relieved his sister is safe, Sugar is mortified to discover she isn’t the same. Djen, having invested years in developing a weather-controlling technology, has sold it to a select group under the guise of combating global warming. Yet, what she confides in Sugar is that her true intention with the technology has a darker side.

Colin Farrell shared with Decider over Zoom, “Finding her was almost more devastating than her disappearance, because she’s altered. It’s a change he can’t quite pinpoint. They barely reunite when it’s clear there’s a threatening undercurrent. He’s scared because of her immense intellect and potential. There’s a shadow over her now that is baffling to him. Exploring their connection in potential future seasons, contemplating how they might find each other again, fascinates me.”

As of Sugar‘s Season 2 finale day, Apple TV had yet to renew the series for a third season. But should Sugar get the green light, Farrell and showrunner/EP Sam Catlin feel there’s more of John Sugar’s story left to explore, and includuing his layered relationship with Djen.

“We wanted her to be a character that had power and agency, and wasn’t just a damsel in distress. And someone worthy of Sugar’s admiration, and certainly his love. The more we talked, we were like, ‘What if she actually has more than agency? Maybe she set up the whole thing, and she’s quite powerful and a cautionary tale for Sugar going forward. Like, what can happen when you stay too long?’” Catlin told Decider. “She also has certain personality traits that Sugar doesn’t, in terms of ambition and greed, and all of those things that are going to make her a real problem for him going forward.”

By the end of Season 2’s finale, Sugar was reeling from the emotional whiplash of finding, then losing his sister again. But Djen wasn’t the only women weighing on him. Charlotte’s betrayal left him heartbroken and questioning if their romance was all an act.

“I think 100%, her feelings were genuine. And I think that is the complication for Charlotte. As time goes on through the course of the season, she’s more and more torn, because she has genuinely fallen in love with this man,” Donnelly told Decider. “For her, the hope that she managed to continue was that maybe he would want to come on board. Because I think she also does genuinely believe that she’s doing the right thing following Djen’s plan for the world. I think she had hope there that those two things could come together. When it becomes really clear that that’s not the case, I think that that will be devastating for both Charlotte and Sugar. Do I think that there could be a future reconciliation? I’d love to think so, but that’s not my call.”

If Sugar does land a Season 3 renewal, both stars adored sharing scenes together. So it seems like Charlotte’s return has real potential, especially if she’s still working with Djen. Story-wise, Farrell also told Decider that he had a “lovely” time portraying the new side of Sugar that explores romance despite the dangers.

“It was lots of fun to play a sincerely awkward [man], because he doesn’t even just let himself fall in love. He can’t help but fall. You’re out of control. There’s nothing to grip. You’re falling. And so he finds himself there, swimming in these waters that he’s never swam in before. And it’s as it can be in the world of romance. It’s intoxicating, euphoric, confounding, nerve-wracking, all those things,” the star/EP said. “He finds himself in a very uncomfortable position with Charlotte. And Laura was just amazing to work with. She just brought so much truth to everything, and heart, and humor, and sensuality. She really carried herself as a throwback to a bygone era in a way. That sensuality of the femme fatale, but also the sweetness as well.”

A longtime fan of Farrell’s work, Donnelly echoed the sentiment. “I think he’s really one of the greats. In terms of the acting, it was so free and easy. Everything just felt like it was there to be played with. He’s very generous as an actor, and made everything feel very spontaneous. I really just had to react to the truth behind his eyes,” she recalled. “He brings such grace, and humor, and generosity, and time for everybody. And I think a huge aspect of it is that he has absolutely still got a completely unsinkable wonder at the process of making film and TV. He loves working with the crew. He makes everybody feel like it’s somewhere they want to be. And his treatment of everybody else really sets the bar.”

While fans wait for updates on future of the compelling Apple TV, here’s what we know about a potential Sugar Season 3.

Sugar Season 2 is now streaming on Apple TV.

For five years, Terry Smith and her sister, Sherry, have called the cozy cul-de-sac on Little Mountain Drive home.

Smith often describes her Virginian neighborhood as a peaceful enclave where conversations among neighbors are common, forming their cherished piece of the American dream.

However, this tranquility is under threat as local authorities plan to construct a 900-megawatt data center at Summit View Business Park, just a quarter-mile away from Smith’s residence in Rocky Mount, close to Roanoke.

‘It’s practically in my backyard,’ Smith, aged 53, shared with the Daily Mail. ‘In our quiet neighborhood, the silence is only ever broken by friendly chats.’

Smith finds it inconceivable that the planners have overlooked the profound effects on those living right next to the proposed development.

She and the 100 or so households in her section of the neighborhood are worried the proximity of the data center will destroy their home values and their sanity.

‘I just feel the Board of Supervisors is not considering the lifelong impact of the environment,’ she said. ‘And I don’t feel like they’re considering the people who are affected immediately, like myself and the cul-de-sac.’

Smith estimated up to 500 to 700 homes are within a mile of the proposal site and all of them will be irreparably harmed by the addition, she told the Daily Mail.

‘I’m trapped!’ Smith said. ‘We’re all trapped. I cannot sell my house.’

If she were to try, she’d have to disclose that a data center that is connected to Crusoe AI, may be built practically in her backyard, which she said would be an impossible selling point. 

‘Everybody here is stuck,’ she said. ‘If I was to try to get rid of my house, I’d have to give it away, basically. Me and my sister would lose thousands of dollars, so would everyone else in the neighborhood.

‘And where would we go? Because we wouldn’t have a down payment, we would take a loss on the house if we got rid of it.’

Smith, alongside many other residents, attended the Board of Supervisors meeting last month to express their complaints and concerns.

A representative of a local church also attended, where he begged officials to understand how the noise pollution from the data center would affect worship services, but more importantly, funerals.

‘Imagine trying to have a funeral service there,’ Smith said. ‘Half a mile from the data center and all the noise pollution. You wouldn’t be able to hear a preacher make remarks, you wouldn’t be able to hear family say graveside remarks about their loved one.’ 

Smith and her sister have only lived in the neighborhood for five years, after moving in May 2021. Since joining the neighborhood, she hasn’t seen a home go up for sale, as many make the town of 5,000 their forever home.

Even in the newer section of town, which has dense pine trees to help block out the noise, Smith isn’t positive it will be enough to maintain quality of life.

‘I completely understand the need for these facilities, but they need to be placed practically,’ she said.

Across the nation, citizens’ lives are increasingly becoming disrupted by these noisy facilities, but none more than Virginians, whose state houses the most data centers in the country. 

Virginia has the highest number of data centers with 641, according to Pew Research. This is followed by Texas at 510 and California with 294. New York has 134. 

Vermont has the least amount with three, according to Pew Research. 

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, who came into power in January, has taken steps to protect environmental issues, such as air quality, and introduced the first-of-its-kind statewide energy consumption tax on data centers.

‘Under Governor Spanberger’s leadership, Virginia has taken landmark action to make sure data centers pay their fair share for energy use, protect air quality, and prevent families from shouldering the cost of new energy infrastructure investments by data centers,’ her office told the Daily Mail.

‘Governor Spanberger was proud to propose and sign into law a first-of-its-kind, $1.2 billion statewide energy consumption tax on data centers and more than a dozen other bills focused on addressing Virginians’ concerns – including by enforcing stricter requirements on backup generators and giving local leaders more tools to assess the impacts of data centers.’

Previous Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin had proposed making The Old Dominion State the data center capital of the world, but Spanberger’s office told the Daily Mail that she is ‘taking a different tune.’

‘While the previous administration encouraged data center growth without critical energy and environmental standards, Governor Spanberger will listen to Virginians and work to make sure data centers adhere to strict standards that protect families from higher electricity rates, strengthen grid reliability, and keep surrounding communities strong,’ the governor’s office said.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul was the first to put forth a statewide moratorium last month, which will block building new data centers over 50 megawatts in the Empire State for a year. 

Earlier this year, California voted on its first-ever anti-data-center legislation in Monterey Park, near Los Angeles. 

More than 85 percent of voters voted to prohibit the construction of new centers in the city in June. 

Monterey Park became the second city in the nation to pass legislation against data centers. 

Port Washington, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, was the first in April to vote to restrict any future data centers.

Wannie Park, founder of PADO AI, which helps data centers with energy management, told the Daily Mail that if AI companies want to continue to build facilities, they will have to start taking the human effect into account. 

‘As AI demand skyrockets, developers are realizing that ignoring local concerns around power grid strain, rising electricity costs, and resource allocation leads directly to regulatory roadblocks and public pushback,’ he told the Daily Mail. 

‘Moving forward, early community engagement, transparency, and demonstrating direct local benefits will be just as critical as securing land and power.’

And for residents who wish data centers be moved to desert areas far away from civilians, Park said this is a fever dream, as the facilities need access to a strong power grid, network connectivity and water sources to survive.  

‘Developers can’t simply run away from populated areas – they have to learn to be better neighbors where the power and fiber already exist,’ he said.