00:00:00
[Music] so right here in this general area is where the caretaker was living at when he went for a walk up this
00:00:20
little Offroad when he found her [Music] initially now it wasn't even if was real
00:00:31
at first I thought it might be some kind of a prank you know actually I did reach down and touch
00:00:37
her hand that feels like flesh and bone to me when we found Anna rina's body we were able to see that her feet were
00:00:49
probably down in about this location and her head was pointed back towards the forest here
00:01:00
one of the first things we noticed when we made it our way to this Landing is there's pieces of trash and there was
00:01:07
garbage one of the biggest pieces of evidence that we found in this case was a KFC
00:01:12
[Music] bag along the edge of that clear bag there was a receipt that had the date of
00:01:19
the 14th so April 14th which is only a few days [Music] prior who was Anna rupina Anna was 27
00:01:30
years old and she came from a good strong family in Russia she wanted somebody to love her
00:01:40
wanted to have kids and so that's why she went on to the dating websites she happened to find will
00:01:52
Hargrove he's always trying to make people laugh making sure that everybody else is happy trying to push them to
00:02:02
become the better person that they can be he was complimentary to her uh he sent her flowers from the United States
00:02:11
to Russia he paid attention to her with everything that he had explained to me everything he had told me Anna was the
00:02:19
love of his life the sense that you got from Anna repina was that she was in love this wasn't coming to the United
00:02:30
States as some male order bride how does Michelle Chavez fit into this case well Michelle shavez is the
00:02:38
other woman she is that third part of the triangle he made me feel special he has a Charisma about him it's
00:02:49
like everything he's saying he truly believes and you believe it he makes you believe it especially if you're in love
00:02:54
and you want to believe it yeah and you were in love I was and it was always I choose you it
00:03:03
was how much pressure was he getting from Michelle to end it with Anna I know for a fact that Michelle didn't want
00:03:12
Anna even over here in the states he was basically given the ultimatum of one or
00:03:19
the other and 2 days later on it was found dead [Music] [Music] [Music] this is outside of corval quite a ways
00:04:16
out in the alc area and up a remote Logging [Music] [Applause] Road Ryan Joselyn and Amy matuso both
00:04:29
Deputy District attorneys in Benton County Oregon received an urgent call that a body had been found on April 17th
00:04:39
2017 he and I were both on scene to take a look for ourselves it's so important in a prosecutor's role that you
00:04:48
understand the scene not just from photos but having been there not too many people are going to
00:04:55
be up in that area but frankly the fact that the body was discovered as quickly as it was uh was pretty
00:05:03
extraordinary lead detective Lieutenant Chris duffett says a local caretaker happened to be out walking his dog that
00:05:10
day when he came across the body the caller was walking on this road on a day and a time and a place that he really
00:05:19
should have never been so we were very very lucky to find her body if it would have been any more time we might have
00:05:25
never found her the victim was identified as 27-year-old Moscow native Anna repkina she had been
00:05:33
shot she was smart intelligent she had an office job working for Ikea she loved cats she loved to travel
00:05:44
Anna had a lot going for her a lot of people liked her so how did a Russian woman who had a seemingly happy life
00:05:52
meet her end on a remote Logging Road nearly 5500 miles from home she had broken up with her boyfriend of
00:06:02
seven years and was really looking for that connection a year earlier newly single Anna started looking for love
00:06:10
online and joined a Russian social networking site she found what she was looking for halfway across the world
00:06:17
when she met 26-year-old Oregonian William Hargrove then they started really chatting they chatted a lot over
00:06:25
Facebook then uh they started video conferencing and that was happening on an almost daily
00:06:31
basis Anna and will found that they had a lot in common they really bonded over music she
00:06:39
very much loved music she liked to go to rock concerts they would have discussions about bands she had a good
00:06:45
sense of humor she would constantly send funny memes and she connected with her friends and her family that
00:06:52
way will and Anna exchanged thousands of messages imagining their future together
00:06:58
if Anna came to Oregon he definitely had the Gift of Gab The Gift of Gab he could talk a good
00:07:05
game he could he could talk a very good game Will's friend and former roommate Jamie clz he and I had things in common
00:07:14
cars he works on cars I work on cars I'm more Harry Potter he's more The Avengers
00:07:20
kind of genre but we could nerd out on things like that he actually took me to see my first Avengers movie he was a
00:07:27
likable guy a jokester he just liked to laugh and have fun I enjoyed being around him will worked as a mechanic at
00:07:34
a local auto dealership in his free time he'd meet up with friends like Joseph Thompson at the peacock Bar and Grill we
00:07:42
would play pool over there on Sunday nights and just basically ended up hanging out
00:07:48
doing karaoke I don't know how many times me and him would be sitting there playing pool and he'd just have women
00:07:56
walk up from the bar just sit there talk to him he was very charismatic he had the personality the presence was he a
00:08:05
player no not necessarily will was such a good friend that Joseph called him his
00:08:12
brother we were both in the military a lot of the training and stuff we had went through was similar and it helped
00:08:19
pull us together what branch of the service were you in Army and will I believe he was Marines he said that he
00:08:26
used to be stationed in Russia will seemed to have an affinity for all things Russian and his online
00:08:33
relationship with Anna took off Anna decided to fly to the states to spend the holidays with Will in Oregon
00:08:42
and see if their virtual love would feel the same in reality December of 2016 she
00:08:49
traveled here and spent a couple weeks with um William Hargrove but the road to romance had an unexpected
00:08:58
detour there was a problem when she first came out in December to see Mr harrove she mistakenly mixed up Portland
00:09:06
Maine for Portland Oregon and she was stranded in Portland Main amidst the chaos of flight changes
00:09:14
Anna messaged will building the anticipation to finally be together Anna eventually made it to the
00:09:23
right Portland and into the arms of will Hargrove during her visit she posted highlights of their Whirlwind romance
00:09:30
including photos of their trips to the coast Will's cars and even a Christmas wish scrolled out to her family back
00:09:38
home she came here for Love at the conclusion of this trip she actually became engaged to William harro and they
00:09:46
had plans to get married in the future Anna returned home to Russia after 10 days with a souvenir an engagement ring
00:09:54
from Will and plans to pack up her life in Russia and move to Oregon with the promise of marriage she was excited
00:10:01
about the wedding she was talking about um all the different style dresses and what she really wanted but there was
00:10:09
going to be an obstacle in Anna's path to love I'm Michelle Chavez and I was Will hard Grove's girlfriend
00:10:22
[Music] [Music] in 2015 33-year-old Michelle shavez was living with her husband and two children
00:10:39
in Albany Oregon unfortunately all was not right in the marriage our relationship at that point in time
00:10:48
really wasn't one it was like roommates that just happened to be married slept in the same bed but that was about it
00:10:54
didn't really talk Michelle met will car Grove while she was working as a cab driver it was a
00:11:02
kind of slow time in the summer and I was waiting at the bar waiting for people to call to go pick people up what
00:11:08
was your first impression of him God he short he's short yes God he short yeah um he is
00:11:18
short but that first impression gave way to something much more for shavez who was so unhappy at home he made you feel
00:11:26
like you were in the sun when he talked to you he had a way of being able to look at me and I I felt like I was
00:11:32
actually seen I felt beautiful I felt like I was wanted and so Michelle and will became much more than friends it
00:11:40
wasn't a planned thing it wasn't like it went off in my head I was like I'm I'm going to have a relationship with him it
00:11:46
just progressed that way this is one of him and our mutual friend Jamie he was willing to give her what she needed
00:11:57
affection attention the following year 2016 the relationship grew to a new and somewhat unusual level
00:12:07
with Will renting a spare bedroom in Michelle's house the same one she shared with her husband and kids though it's
00:12:15
not clear what Michelle's husband knew about her relationship with will he only had to pay $300 a month and his own food
00:12:23
unless he liked whatever it was we were making at the time honestly pretty sweet
00:12:27
deal Michelle even gave will her wedding ring a promise that she'd leave her husband soon but it wasn't enough for
00:12:34
will if Will had this relationship with Michelle and was in love with Michelle why was he going on internet dating
00:12:42
sites I think that it had to do with jealousy Michelle was going to leave her husband on her terms and it wasn't going
00:12:51
fast enough if he could make her jealous then maybe it would speed things up which may explain why when Anna
00:12:59
visited will over Christmas they stayed at Michelle's house under Michelle's nose it seems Anna knew nothing of
00:13:07
Will's other relationship they were in his room most of the time on New Year's Eve they were getting ready to go out
00:13:13
will was like oh maybe I should introduce you guys and then she shook my hand and she said her name was Anna I
00:13:19
said it was nice to meet her but Michelle wouldn't be quite that welcoming when Anna returned a few
00:13:24
months later on March 1st 2017 with the intention of becoming coming Will's wife
00:13:30
I was like well she's not staying here she's not staying in my house so will and Anna rented an apartment in Corvalis
00:13:36
a small college town not far from Michelle's home with Will working and without a job
00:13:42
herself Anna spent time on her own even joining the local gym life wasn't as easy for Michelle what did you want
00:13:52
simple just be happy and you thought you'd found that with him I thought I had but you have to actually know
00:14:00
somebody to find those things I think turns out actually knowing will was going to be a bit of a challenge for
00:14:07
everyone even with his new fiance in America he split his nights between his two love interests he really continued
00:14:15
to float between those two uh places back at Michelle's place and then back at the apartment with Ana with no clue
00:14:22
as to why will kept disappearing Anna often had to resort to contacting his friends to find her own fiance and she's
00:14:29
seeing him gone in the text messages she's reaching out to his friends do you know where he is what's going on she's
00:14:38
becoming suspicious where is he going what is going on with this time as it happened Anna's instincts were right on
00:14:45
the money this man was a fraud and relied heavily on Deception to convince other
00:14:52
people he was the type of person he wanted to be perceived as and he wanted to be something greater than he was he
00:15:00
told a number of people he was in the armed forces he was never in the armed forces then there's the matter of a
00:15:07
certain engagement ring Anna's ring or was it her and I had friended each other on
00:15:13
Facebook and then I saw her wearing my wedding ring what yeah the ring that had been Michelle's wedding ring had been
00:15:22
repurposed when will proposed to Anna will told Anna that this ring belonged to his grandmother and had
00:15:30
sentimental value to him Anna had no idea she was wearing Michelle's ring and on March 22nd she was shocked to get a
00:15:39
Facebook message from Michelle about sharing will at this point all Anna knows is
00:15:47
that Michelle Chavez is the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend because that's what Will harrove has told her and so Anna says no
00:15:57
way you get out of our life lives something about me being a [ __ ] I believe and I was like I'm just getting
00:16:03
started being one were you threatening her no just being mouthy I just meant that if you
00:16:10
think I'm being [ __ ] now like just watch just 3 Days Later Anna and will headed to the Oregon coast for their
00:16:20
wedding ceremony Anna brought a wedding dress with her from Russia she had her ring
00:16:27
that William uh preped poos to her with on the way will decided to stop at the local Walmart to buy their wedding
00:16:34
bands leaving bride to be Anna in the car while he's in Walmart shopping for his wedding ring he is on the phone with
00:16:42
Michelle Chavez and he is discussing their relationship and whether or not he's going to come see her that
00:16:49
night and you had no clue when he said he was in Walmart if he was like headed to a wedding no no none at all but as it
00:16:56
would turn out Anna and will were not headed to a wedding they go to the beach and the officient doesn't show up so he
00:17:07
has a phone call in which he relays to both the witnesses and to Anna that the officient couldn't make it he was Ill
00:17:15
something came up and William Haro was actually calling a couple video game stores to presumably
00:17:23
pretend he was talking to a wedding official to show him how mad he was about the
00:17:29
day he never arranged for an efficient he never got a marriage license he didn't have anything set
00:17:36
up sadly there'd be only one portrait of the Bride that day picking up some fast
00:17:42
food the McDonald's drive-through video is the only video or photo taken on Anna
00:17:49
rina's wedding day and you can actually see Anna repkina in her wedding dress uh
00:17:53
in William haro's vehicle seemingly oblivious to Will's feelings for Michelle Anna set her heart on a
00:18:03
rescheduled wedding date but Michelle had other plans so did you give him an ultimatum at one point I
00:18:14
did told him it was he had to pick one I didn't want anything bad to happen to her I just didn't want her
00:18:20
here so you pressured him to choose I did [Music] in April 2017 the relationship between
00:18:46
Michelle and will hit a Crossroads with Michelle insisting will finally choose between her and
00:18:53
[Music] Anna will told Michelle she was his choice so April 19th was the deadline right for
00:19:02
both of you correct you were going to be done with your marriage and he was supposed to she was supposed to be gone
00:19:08
or whatever he was going to leave her how much pressure did Michelle Put on Will to get rid of Anna a lot there
00:19:20
was a lot of pressure there's a lot of back and forth in there between all the text messages
00:19:28
is where one minute it's like clean out your stuff and get out the next minute is I love you I want to be together but
00:19:37
we can't do that if she's here there are texts between the two of you with you pressuring him to choose
00:19:46
and at one point you told him to fix it yeah what do you mean by that in the general sense fix it in the
00:19:53
sense that you would take care of it not take care of it like take somebody out you would end the relationship that you
00:19:59
would be done will told Michelle he' tried to send Anna packing many times but she wouldn't go so Michelle
00:20:08
perceived Anna as this girl who kind of never got the hint that she was being told to leave and she kept coming back
00:20:16
although Anna never knew any of this was really [Music] happening on Saturday night April 15th
00:20:24
Just 4 days shy of the deadline they'd set Michelle was supposed to have at Will's apartment it wasn't until about
00:20:31
8:00 p.m. that night that William harrove tells Michelle Chavez that she actually can't come over the Anna showed
00:20:37
back up the Anna's back again he'll take care of it what followed was yet another heated
00:20:45
text conversation not a surprise according to Detective Chris Dale who says Michelle
00:20:52
and will exchanged more than 13,000 texts during their relationship constant check checking in every morning to make
00:21:01
sure that he's woken up on time uh to get to work didn't seem as if there was a an hour and a day that went by where
00:21:10
they were not uh communicating but on that day there was one critical text so will Hargrove sent
00:21:20
a message to Miss Chavez I will have this permanently fixed by 1800 tomorrow so he'll have the situation of anarina
00:21:27
handled by p.m. uh the following day which was Easter Sunday that Assurance was not enough for
00:21:36
Michelle she continued texting and calling will who turned off his phone as the hours passed with no reply
00:21:47
Michelle's hope that will was truly fixing the problem with Anna vanished I guess you made your
00:21:54
choice okay I'll let you be [Music] why I just want to know why I want you be but I just want
00:22:15
why the next morning Michelle headed to her mother's house for Easter Jamie was there as well she said that she'd spent
00:22:22
the night ugly crying and even though I knew what the probable answer was going to be I still
00:22:28
asked her like why and she looks at me and she goes why do you think and I said because of
00:22:36
will meanwhile back at his apartment will was dealing with a very different but urgent problem his car insurance
00:22:43
policy they've been sending him notices that if he doesn't have it paid by midnight on the 16th they're going to
00:22:50
cancel his insurance he tells them that he knows his insurance lapses that evening and he needs to get it uh
00:22:57
extended uh for free uh because if it doesn't he's going to lose his uh vehicle loan and they're going to
00:23:04
repossess it immediately okay can you guys hold off until the 21st so I can get you paid um unfortunately once it is
00:23:13
pending cancellation for non-payment we don't have the ability to move the dates
00:23:17
at all um and this one yeah so it'll be effect canceled effective tonight at midnight just after 4:30 p.m. Michelle's
00:23:27
phone rang it was Will and what did he say that he had been out at the coast he was on his way back in and he almost had
00:23:35
a deer he ran off the road he had a flat tire and he needed help how did he sound
00:23:42
shaken sad and so Michelle left her family's Easter celebration to go and meet will in the town of
00:23:50
Alie he waited for her at a local convenience store you can see him walk to the uh cooler where he gets uh a
00:23:58
Pepsi he goes and gets his candy bar and then he ultimately gets a pack of cigarettes about an hour later Michelle
00:24:08
arrived she parks on the side of that store uh we see her get out of her Prius I asked him what what happened where
00:24:16
have you been he told me that he after we had talked that they got into an argument and he said horrible mean
00:24:21
things to her and that she had turned around and taken her suitcases and had walked out thinking Anna had finally
00:24:29
left the apartment for good Michelle says she and will got into his car we drove for a little bit and we'd pulled
00:24:36
off and we were talking for a few and then honestly we end up having sex in the front seat so you had makeup sex
00:24:42
essentially yeah essentially makeup sacks in the front seat Michelle and will then went their separate ways with
00:24:47
Michelle returning to her family's Easter celebration she came back she was in a good mood she was smiling she was
00:24:56
you know she was happy she looked totally 180 from what she looked like in the morning will headed home but he made
00:25:03
a few stops along the way first at an ATM where he withdrew money from Anna's bank account made a
00:25:12
$200 withdrawal from this machine and then engaged in some conversation with some employees um at that gas station
00:25:20
where he actually ended up hugging one of them and crying about the fact that his girlfriend an a rekina uh had left
00:25:28
him him his girlfriend whose account he just took $200 from yes will then headed to a second ATM he
00:25:37
goes to the Chase Bank and withdraws an additional $600 of Anar reina's money so
00:25:42
now William harrove has $800 uh that he stole from Anor reina's bank account at about 9 9:30 p.m. on
00:25:50
that same night he drives to another bank and he ends up depositing $160 of that cash
00:25:59
uh into his bank account will had just one more chore to take care of that evening thank you for
00:26:06
calling Progressive y should have a card on file for me and I need to make a payment please several hours earlier he
00:26:11
has no money all good then everything's done yeah everything is taken care of you are insured as we're
00:26:18
speaking excellent thank you very much ma'am my pleasure have a good night will all of a sudden he has money
00:26:28
and he's taking it out of Honor reina's bank account who's found dead the next day on April 17th 2017 the day after
00:26:52
Easter Sunday Anna repkina was found with a shotgun blast to the back of her head her body left like one more piece
00:27:00
of garbage Anna was discarded in this Landing with the other trash fast food bags uh cigarette
00:27:11
cartons candy wrappers uh that were that we here and at that point we don't know
00:27:16
what's evidence and what's not because that could either be huge evidence in this case or it could be just
00:27:23
trash while investigators hope to find a connection to Anna's killer will was sending on a text showing concern about
00:27:31
her whereabouts after the fight he said they'd had the day before will also launched a bizarre Deep dive online
00:27:39
researching time travel he is uh trying to ask for help in how to uh travel back
00:27:47
in time back to April 16th in order to correct a horrible mistake his words correct a horrible mistake yes
00:27:58
even went so far as to message strangers on WhatsApp for advice to help someone he called his best
00:28:05
friend will was apparently so desperate for this information he offered a reward
00:28:11
his [Music] soul in addition to his strange internet search will went on a shopping spree
00:28:19
spending more of that cash he stole from Anna buying candy video games and toys he bought aund and something something
00:28:28
dollar Set of Legos from a Walmart will reached out to a friend named Kevin Thomas saying that he's spending money
00:28:36
he shouldn't trying to distract himself on Wednesday April 19th investigators struck a lead with the trash found next
00:28:45
to Anna's body a KFC receipt from 3 days earlier with a crucial timestamp was there a name on the
00:28:53
receipt so on the receipt there was no name KFC told us that there was uh actually a car that pulled up on that
00:29:00
Friday uh and there was two purchases made from that car there was one made with a debit card that came back to
00:29:08
Kevin Thomas and another uh purchase that was made with cash with only one name to work with
00:29:15
investigators headed to Kevin's Corvalis home was trying to put some pieces together for that case um the garbage we
00:29:22
found was I think some you bought last week from KFC okay do you know about that yeah me and my brother go to KFC go
00:29:30
to KFC on Fridays what's your brother's name Kevin uh will harrove Kevin and will became Pals at
00:29:38
the peacock Bar and Grill Kevin like Joseph Thompson called will his brother police continued talking to Kevin at the
00:29:45
Sheriff's Office where he offered a revelation a few weeks earlier will had asked to borrow something that belonged
00:29:52
to Kevin his shotgun did you say why you wanted to borrow it just said he was going to go up and go shooting in the
00:30:00
woods and just kind of blow off some steam what's more Kevin told police that will had yet to return the gun with this
00:30:07
new information investigators headed straight to Michelle's house where will was staying to question him he answered
00:30:14
the door we're here following up on a case for working and uh uh your name came across and I want to talk to you
00:30:21
okay will then lied to investigators telling them that he and Michelle drove up to Alie together on Easter Sunday
00:30:29
drove into Elsie stopped at the little market there picked up a pack of cigarettes and drove back did you dump
00:30:34
some trash there when you were there yeah I did on the side of the building on the side of the general
00:30:40
storm but that trash that will claimed to have left at the store was the very same that was found next to Anna's body
00:30:48
investigators asked will to come to the Sheriff's Office while will was getting ready to leave he texted Michelle to
00:30:55
ensure their stories matched at the Sheriff's Office investigators got to the question of Anna what do you
00:31:03
know about her oh it's nothing how' you how' you guys meet matter downtown C just walking around yeah Will played
00:31:14
down their relationship even calling Anna psychotic we went on two dates and then decid I I told her it wasn't going
00:31:20
to be anything more than that and I was happy to keep hanging out with her but that was all it was going to be how long
00:31:28
ago was that uh last time I saw her was middle of March middle of March cut it off because she decided to put on
00:31:41
Facebook that we were engaged she posted that yeah after two dayses oh yeah and it brought hell down
00:31:48
upon me from who sure Lieutenant duffett turned up the heat on will and got right to the point
00:31:59
so will your trash was found where somebody was killed I'm sored to what okay that's what we're talking about
00:32:12
here you guys are looking me for this your trash like my partner said was found there and your your stuff was
00:32:20
found at a scene where somebody died yeah okay talking to you there a lot of inconsistencies with your story
00:32:28
about what what happened that's when will stopped talking and asked for a lawyer no offense guys you've been
00:32:36
really kind and I'd like to and I don't mind that but the moment that you say somebody was killed out there no I it's
00:32:46
just no okay so uh William harrove I need you to stand up and put your hands behind your back you're under the arrest
00:32:54
for the murder of Anna Rina will Hargrove was placed under arrest but did police have the right person in
00:33:05
custody if anyone on the face of it looks like they have a motive to kill Anna it's the other woman it's Michelle
00:33:12
how can you be so sure that she had nothing to do with Anna's murder just hours after will Hargrove
00:33:28
was arrested for Anor reina's murder El to go over at this point Michelle Chavez
00:33:34
was brought in for questioning about what she was doing Easter Sunday can you tell me what this is about though she
00:33:40
starts out on the wrong foot telling police what will had texted her to say that they' driven to ALC together and he
00:33:48
picked you up at your mom's house at that time he did okay ask him to take his immediately Michelle reverses
00:33:56
herself admitting what she just stated was false that's a little bit of lie he called me he was going to pick me
00:34:05
up and then he didn't why did you lie to them honestly I wasn't thinking and I don't have a
00:34:11
good answer I want you to know right now the Will's under arrest for murder okay
00:34:21
okay investigators say Michelle didn't seem at all surprised when they told her will had just been been arrested for
00:34:28
killing Anna how are you not extremely upset right now to know that the person who you were romantically involved with
00:34:36
I am very upset right now I'm very upset right now I don't understand how that can be a person that
00:34:44
I have spent the last year and a half with I was numb it didn't make [Music] sense over a year later in July 2018
00:34:56
will was formally indicted for Anna's murder the defense would go on to spin an entirely different theory of the
00:35:04
crime one that had Michelle pulling the trigger after arriving from her family's
00:35:09
Easter celebration according to them the defendant had taken Michelle Chavez up to the location to have a conversation
00:35:16
with Anna and the shelle had taken the gun out from him and shot on him a few pieces of evidence had given
00:35:28
investigators cause for concern for one thing Michelle mysteriously ended up in possession of Anna's phone Michelle
00:35:35
blames will I didn't realize it was hers he had given it to me I guess the night
00:35:41
before he got arrested Michelle's own cell phone records showed that a month before
00:35:48
Anna's body was found Michelle had visited that exact spot on the Logging Road Michelle claims that's only because
00:35:58
will brought her there but could she have been scouting the location the defense says that will loved Anna that
00:36:06
he was starting a life with her that you're the one with all the reasons to kill her what do you say to that I had
00:36:13
no reason to want her dead no reason to kill [Music] her I do get how it looks but her being dead is nothing I
00:36:24
ever wanted wanted to go home did you ever tell Will to kill Anna no days after Will's arrest his friend
00:36:38
Kevin's shotgun was recovered from the back of Will's vehicle evidence supports there had only been one killer will
00:36:45
harro's fingerprint was on the shotgun Michelle Chavez's DNA was never on that shotgun Michelle Chavez's fingerprints
00:36:54
were never on that shotgun piecing together various security cameras investigators tracked Will's
00:37:03
drive with Anna to Alie we see the defendant's car that's distinct for various reasons traveling along a
00:37:10
certain path and gave us location as well as time frames but it was GPS tracking that gave police an even bigger
00:37:18
piece of the puzzle with Will's phone pinging from the murder site from 4:35 to 4:48 that afternoon the reason we
00:37:26
have that it's because he called Michelle Chavez Michelle Chavez who was still at her
00:37:32
mother's house at that Easter celebration we don't have any forensic data or information that was left at
00:37:38
that crime scene to suggest that Michelle was at the crime scene on that day and remember that video of will
00:37:45
shopping at the alc convenience store as he waited for Michelle to arrive towards
00:37:50
the top of his bald head you can see what appears to be smaller black dots raising the question could it have been
00:38:01
blood spatter we can't tell you if that was blood we can't tell you what that was but we can tell you it was there
00:38:08
before he met Michelle Chavez subsequent photo comparison afterwards showed that
00:38:14
those spots weren't moles they weren't anything that was there permanently there was one more
00:38:22
heart-wrenching piece of evidence found in the trash alongside Anna's body from another fast food drive-thru a receipt
00:38:30
from McDonald's uh in Newport Oregon dated on March 25th of 2017 March 25th the day that should have been an his
00:38:40
wedding [Music] day Will's trial got underway in October 2019 the original witness list was 131
00:38:52
people eventually I believe close to 70 people testified the trial took a month will Hargrove was found guilty of
00:39:07
Anna's murder as well as identity theft and two counts of second deegree theft for
00:39:13
stealing that money from Anna's bank account I want to talk about Anna Rina for a minute and I placed her photo on
00:39:20
the witness stand to remind everyone of a life that was lost contrary to specul will sentencing was
00:39:27
held in January 2020 she came here with hopes and dreams to find somebody that was loving
00:39:36
her and start a family she doesn't have that anymore the defendant very nearly got away with this
00:39:44
crime it was his own trash that betrayed him uh you were receiving a sense of life
00:39:51
imprisonment will received a life sentence with a possibility of parole after 25 years
00:39:58
Michelle says living under the scrutiny of people in town wondering what she knew or didn't know became all too much
00:40:07
how bad did it get for you bad enough bad bad she had an incident uh in which she
00:40:23
couldn't take the stress uh anymore um and uh almost didn't get the police there in
00:40:36
time Michelle says that in June 2018 she tried to take her own life I tried to die I'm still here it didn't
00:40:53
work as for the young Moscow native who flew to the US with the promise of love I think you have to remember Anna
00:41:04
as the sweet loving caring person who put herself out there to be loved because Anna was
00:41:18
loved she was loved alive and she was loved after [Music] 48 Hours don't miss an
00:41:56
episode the [Music] [Music] the evil clowns you've seen in the movies well it came to life in this
00:42:40
case when your mom was growing up was she fascinated with clowns she was she even painted pictures of
00:42:50
them my mother Marlene Warren was a beautiful person she was loving caring kind [Music]
00:43:01
on May 26 1990 a woman answered her door in front of her 21-year-old son and saw
00:43:07
a clown at the door handing her balloons and flowers that was the worst day of my
00:43:16
life we were eating breakfast we saw the colors of the reflections through the glass looked like a clown costume my
00:43:24
mother opened the door and I heard how pretty and I heard bang I saw her fall and I ran toward
00:43:39
her as the clown was walking away and I saw that she's been shot in the face at that moment I felt my heart my
00:43:49
soul just rip out of my [Music] body what did you see on the Clown's face well it was a white face nose
00:43:58
orangish red hair and it was just a clown suit what does the clown do calmly walks
00:44:06
right back to the car like nothing happened a person disguised as a clown walked up to Marlene Warren's AOW Club
00:44:13
home in Wellington and shot her in the mouth I was working as a prosecutor here in this office when it happened and it
00:44:21
was big news meanwhile at our home investigators gather evidence searching for Clues killing with a great costume
00:44:29
to conceal one's identity and anybody passing by would probably say oh is that nice somebody's getting flowers it
00:44:38
wouldn't be suspicious and it would certainly make for the Perfect Crime Marlene Warren was someone without
00:44:48
any known enemies someone who cared deeply about her family and they lived in a home in a pretty secluded part of
00:44:56
Palm Beach County Michael Warren was married to marleene Warren Michael was a local businessman
00:45:05
in the car business the Warren's marriage seemed to be an ideal marriage but for the people on the inside that
00:45:12
knew better Marlene was expressing issues with Michael Warren the people closest to Michael
00:45:19
Warren that worked with him knew there was something wrong because they were observing Michael Warren's interactions
00:45:24
with a woman by the name of Sheila Kean and the rumors was what about Sheila and
00:45:30
Mike well it was more than a rumor that Sheila Kean and Michael Warren were having an affair it was not hidden from
00:45:37
any of the employees in the hours after the murder of marleene Warren the suspects became clear it was Sheila Kean
00:45:45
and was Michael waren but Michael waren had an alibi Michael and Sheila thought that
00:45:51
they could get away with anything it took over 30 years to make sense of it all [Music]
00:46:36
[Music] this house was the scene of a bizarre murder that shooter a clown carrying
00:46:52
flowers and balloons it's easy to see why this case has so much interest who isn't afraid of
00:46:58
a killer clown the 1990 murder of marleene Warren shot by someone dressed as a clown
00:47:05
haunted not just the public but the Palm Beach County state attorney's office despite identifying two suspects the
00:47:14
case for decades went unsolved Dave aronberg is the current state attorney this was an assassination this was not a
00:47:23
random act of violence this was not a robbery the unknowingness of this heinous crime
00:47:31
the fear it was hell Joe arens was 21 living at home with his stepfather Mike and his mother
00:47:39
marleene when she was murdered she was a good mother everything she did she took pride
00:47:47
in the morning of May 26th 1990 had started as a cheerful one Joe recuperating from a broken leg was was
00:47:56
having breakfast at home with his mom and three friends when they saw a clown approaching carrying balloons and
00:48:05
flowers and we kind of figured I had cast on somebody was sending to heal and for
00:48:12
gesture this is like oh what a delightful gift to cheer you up with your broken leg
00:48:18
right my mother opened the door and then we heard bang and she fell at that point
00:48:25
we knew something was wrong my mother was struggling to breathe and then I jumped to the phone you know called 911
00:48:32
right away as the clowns slowly and silently walked to a car Joe and some of his friends tried to get a closer look
00:48:40
at anything that might help describe the disguised attacker the only thing didn't
00:48:46
have any color on it was the shoes that were solid black and the white gloves and did you notice anything about the
00:48:54
Clown's eyes I did that that's the most thing I I saw was the big brown eyes and
00:49:00
the clown gets in the car what kind of car was it it was a white the baron and does the car peel off no just goes into
00:49:09
gear and drives off like nothing happened while some of Joe's friends remained at his house waiting for EMS
00:49:18
Joe got into Marlene's car and tried to chase down the clown but he couldn't catch up he is seen here back home after
00:49:26
afterwards where TV news crews were on the scene meanwhile with the clowns balloons and flowers Left Behind Marlene
00:49:35
was rushed to the hospital barely alive where she was put on life support I kept
00:49:41
telling her I love her and I don't want her to go and Please Don't Leave Me 2 days later with no hope of a recovery
00:49:48
life support was removed and Marlene died I knew my life was going to change and I knew it was going to become hell
00:49:57
cuz she wasn't here to help me a top clue the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office had was Joe's description of the
00:50:04
clown about 61 tall skinny with orange hair a red nose and a big orange smile and male and those balloons Left Behind
00:50:16
they now seemed cruy mocking you're the greatest one said the other had a picture of Snow White and the Seven
00:50:24
Dwarfs authorities had also spoken with Joe's stepfather Mike Warren who they learned had an alibi he was in a car
00:50:33
with friends heading to a racetrack when the shooting took place growing up with
00:50:38
Mike Warren what was that like was he a good dad I thought so that's the only father I knew I mean I was really young
00:50:46
when my real father and mother separated marleene and Mike were married when joob was just three they had built
00:50:54
a comfortable life in Wellington Florida an affluence suburb marleene owned several businesses including apartment
00:51:02
complexes and the couple ran bargain Motors specializing in used cars and rentals while business was good the
00:51:11
marriage says Joe was troubled he says his mother became convinced Mike was having an affair making her fearful she
00:51:21
said if anything does happen to me your father did it she said I told her no way
00:51:28
he would never do anything like that she said don't put it past him marleene shared that same fear with her mother
00:51:36
Shirley twing she says if anything happens to me Mike did it we interviewed Shirley in
00:51:46
2017 when 48 Hours started investigating Marlene's murder that's an ominous thing
00:51:52
to say did you sense fear in her voice sure yeah yes I did so when Shirley learned her daughter had been murdered
00:52:01
her mind went to Mike right away I figured Mike had something to do with it that's for damn sure but Mike had that
00:52:10
alibi so authorities were looking for someone else and when they visited bargain Motors Mike's place of business
00:52:18
one name kept popping up that woman with whom Mike was supposedly having an affair everybody at the bargain Motors
00:52:27
were reporting that you should look first at Sheila Kean Altha McRoberts an assistant State
00:52:34
Attorney in Palm Beach county has worked on the case from the beginning and within the next day or so tips were
00:52:42
being called in that you really should investigate Sheila Kean and Michael Warren they were definitely seeing one
00:52:48
another Dela Ward worked at bargain motors with Mike Warren he had a lot of compassion a lot of empathy and people
00:52:57
just were drawn to him especially women one of those women Dela believed was Sheila Keen I found her very nice very
00:53:07
bubbly you knew the way she looked at Michael you just you loved them you could see it Sheila who also had a
00:53:15
reputation for toughness was a repo woman repossessing cars at bargain Motors to do repos you have to you have
00:53:24
to have some kind of guts she told me I keep a gun for my protection cuz people are crazy what they do Sheila told
00:53:32
investigators she was out working at the time of Marlene's murder she claimed that she was looking for repossession
00:53:39
vehicles but she was unable to provide any address that she went to so that they could follow up and confirm it as
00:53:47
for the affair both Sheila and Mike told investigators they were just friends but
00:53:53
that's not what authorities learned when they talked to she Sheila's Neighbors The Neighbors at that apartment complex
00:53:59
believed that Michael Warren and Sheila Kean were husband and wife is there any doubt in your mind that there was a
00:54:04
romantic relationship there's no doubt and they didn't hide it an affair though isn't necessarily a motive for murder
00:54:14
did anyone profit financially from Marlene's death yes so Michael Warren profited largely the properties and
00:54:22
assets that they own together were in her name so by her pred deceasing him he was able to obtain 100% of the
00:54:32
assets investigators were also trying to locate local stores that had recently sold clown outfits Deborah offord had
00:54:41
been working at a costume shop when two nights before Marlene's murder a customer knocked at the door at closing
00:54:49
time she wanted to see the clown costumes I said can you come back tomorrow and she said no I need
00:54:56
something right now Deborah told investigators the customer paid cash buying a clown suit an orange wig makeup
00:55:05
and a red clown nose she was I would say about 510 um long thick straight like chocolate color hair big brown eyes
00:55:21
detectives later presented Deborah with a photo lineup that included a picture of she Shea Kean Deborah identified Kean
00:55:29
and one other woman as possibly being the person who bought the clown costume the Sheriff's Office also believed they
00:55:37
located where the shooter bought those flowers and balloons this Supermarket the buyer described as a white female
00:55:45
with dark brown hair the description of the customer given by the worker at the supermarket brown hair and at the
00:55:53
costume store brown hair brown eyes was consistent with Sheila Kean and there was Sheila's reported affair with Mike
00:56:02
Warren it was intriguing circumstantial evidence but would it be enough to make an arrest
00:56:09
[Music] [Music] before they turn the machine off on my [Music] mother God I wish you could be here with
00:56:42
me I told her that I loved her very much and that we were going to get justice as as Joe arens mourned the loss
00:56:57
of his mother marleene investigators continued looking for additional evidence tying Sheila
00:57:05
Kean to Marlene Warren's murder you talk about this case to anyone and the first
00:57:10
place people go is yeah it's the mistress so investigators focused on Sheila Kean and soon a big break when
00:57:19
detectives located this abandoned white Chrysler learon matching the description
00:57:25
Witnesses gave of the getaway car what was found inside that Chrysler learon there was synthetic fibers similar type
00:57:34
fibers to a clown wig they were orange the same color as the wig Joe Aaron says the as salent was wearing also inside
00:57:44
the car they found a human hair it was brown like Sheila ke's Sheriff's detectives executed a
00:57:53
search warrant at the home of Sheila Keen in inside Sheila's closet detectives say they recovered orange
00:58:00
fibers that a forensic examination later concluded were similar to the ones found
00:58:05
in the Chrysler learon and another breakthrough was made when Sheila's hair from her apartment was compared to the
00:58:13
one recovered from the getaway car that was scientifically microscopically examined and found to be consistent
00:58:22
consistent with Sheila's hair but DNA technology was still in its infancy in 1990 and scientists were unable to make
00:58:31
a definitive connection there were other challenges for investigators the gun used to kill Marlene and the actual
00:58:39
costume the Killer Clown wore were never found and remember Joe thought the attacker was a 6ot tall man Sheila
00:58:48
didn't fit either of those descriptions we're talking about an event that took seconds glances of this CL was a second
00:58:57
or two also McRoberts says any eyewitness would have a hard time describing someone in a baggy clown
00:59:05
costume makeup and a wig it's basically a clown is a clown and there was Sheila's alleged affair
00:59:14
with Mike Warren those fiber and hair results and those sales clerks at the costume and grocery stores whose
00:59:21
description of the customer purchasing the clown outfit balloons and flowers was consistent with Sheila this sounds
00:59:30
like the evidence is really building up it's like you've got enough there to make an arrest what happens well there
00:59:36
was certainly argument about that and opinions that differed at the time and then there's a an indecision about do I
00:59:44
do it now or should we keep trying and get a little bit more as investigators looked for more
00:59:51
evidence they discovered that Mike Warren's business bargain Motors was connected to the suspected getaway
00:59:59
car they learned an employee stole the car from a competitor several weeks before the murder and that's how they
01:00:08
got the chrysal the baron Sheriff's detectives spent about 5 hours Thursday night searching the offices of bargain
01:00:14
Motors at and as they investigated Mike Warren's business they discovered widespread fraud charging him with
01:00:22
racketeering insurance fraud and odometer t pampering he ultimately was convicted on 43 counts of Fraud and sent
01:00:32
to prison it was for fraud and so you know you just can't extrapolate one to the next I mean there's no evidence that
01:00:38
he's a murderer we do have our suspicions though he was not charged with any crime in connection with
01:00:45
Marlene's murder and Warren felt he was a victim in this case sentiments he shared in a radio interview before he
01:00:55
went to prison they wanted to put me out of business Warren speculated that marleene might actually have been the
01:01:02
victim of an angry tenant or car buyer I really can't think of a reason why uh other than the fact of the type of
01:01:11
businesses that we're in as far as them landlords and crossing a few people by repossessing their
01:01:20
car but law enforcement did not think Marlin Warren's murder was the work of a disgruntle tenant or customer and as the
01:01:28
years passed the case grew cold and as for Sheila Keen she seemed to disappear nobody ever brought her name
01:01:39
up again you know for many years I was suffering in in despair after Mike Warren went to prison Joe says he and
01:01:47
his stepfather became aranged and as he continued to grieve the loss of his mother he was consumed by her case going
01:01:57
unsolved and give me a sense of what problems you fell into after your mother's murder ah wow where do we start
01:02:07
alcoholism drugs I mean you name it it was especially painful says Joe on each passing anniversary of the shooting I
01:02:16
would blow up that day and go get drunk you know and just go to her grave site it was sad would you go out to her grave
01:02:23
to talk to her I did I a lot I to try to find answers you know but I was so confused I was getting nothing I was
01:02:30
just lost I miss you I wish you could help me through these Hard Times Joe eventually emerged from the
01:02:40
fog of drugs and despair with that behind him he became increasingly certain of who murdered his mother I
01:02:50
concluded that Sheila was the one that did it she probably never thought in a million years she'd be held accountable
01:02:57
for her crimes she thought she got away with [Music] it these are paintings that Marlin had
01:03:15
painted when she was about 14 years old I kind of grin cuz I can almost see her doing this Shirley twing and her
01:03:24
daughter marleene Shar a fascination with clowns and over here in Shirley's home she even kept a room full of clown
01:03:32
art and figurin this one says to me things will get better the sad sometimes unsettling
01:03:41
images brought Comfort to Shirley despite the fact that a clown had so brutally ended her daughter's life I
01:03:50
don't hate clowns I just hate one although the Palm Beach County sh Sheriff's Office hadn't given up on
01:03:57
solving Marlene's murder 27 long years had passed without an arrest then by 2017 a Cold Case unit
01:04:07
made a breakthrough State Attorney Dave aronburg finally had new important evidence the hairs that were found in
01:04:16
the learon were able to be traced to Sheila Keen through DNA technology with that new DNA match
01:04:24
detectives believe they could now definitively connect Sheila to the alleged getaway car and to marleene
01:04:31
Warren's murder and when Sheriff's found suspect Sheila Kain they were blown away to
01:04:39
learn whom she had married after Michael Warren got out of prison he reconnected with Sheila Keen
01:04:47
here's someone whose wife had been murdered and he just married the chief suspect what did that tell you when you
01:04:54
combine the fact that the two of them were in a fair at the time of the murder and then later they got married it did
01:05:00
seem like mission accomplished that marriage was in 2002 the Warren now middle-aged settled into
01:05:09
a new life in Tennessee running this burger joint called Purple Cow she took Mike's last name but in an interesting
01:05:18
twist assistant State Attorney Altha McRoberts says she changed her first name she and Warren introduced herself
01:05:27
to their friends in that life that her name was Debbie she had dyed her hair blonde changed her name and was living a
01:05:36
full life we would have dinners they were wonderful Cooks the Warren befriended Brook bevens this is Mike
01:05:43
Warren's house a neighbor at a weekend property the couple purchased in the Virginia mountains when we spoke to
01:05:50
Brooke in 2018 she said she knew Mike's wife as Debbie and was told it was a childhood nickname her dad nicknamed her
01:06:00
that when she was small I never caught her Sheila always called her Debbie former Purple Cow employees Ashley sexon
01:06:08
and Cynthia Swafford say they knew Debbie as a tough boss I mean she was awful aggressive mean and even heard an
01:06:17
alarming rumor about her past the rumor around Purple Cow when we worked there was Debbie killed Mike's
01:06:30
ex-wife I thought they was blowing off steam I was like okay whatever but the rumors said it more
01:06:37
than once even to where we know she dressed up like a clown according to an employee Sheila
01:06:45
had appeared in clown makeup at the restaurant one year during Halloween by the fall of 2017 the warrant had sold
01:06:54
the business and retired fulltime to the house in Virginia meanwhile State Attorney
01:07:01
aronburg felt the case against Sheila had only gotten stronger when you combine the fact that they got married
01:07:09
and seemingly lived happily ever after with the new DNA breakthrough we're able to get enough evidence to make an
01:07:16
arrest on September 26 2017 27 years after Marlene's murder authorities arrested Sheila Warren
01:07:26
driving on a Road near their home she was charged with first-degree murder Sheila did not murder Marlene
01:07:36
Warren Greg Rosenfeld Sheila Keen Warren's defense attorney says Sheila was not the shooter everything was so
01:07:45
methodical this person walking up to the house committing the shooting and then slowly walking
01:07:53
away we're dealing with someone who had experience in committing a hit or a murder that's not Sheila that is not
01:08:03
Sheila shortly after Sheila's arrest Dave aronberg addressed reporters today we filed notice intent to seek the death
01:08:12
penalty in this case can you say whether Michael Warren is a suspect I can't say
01:08:17
that Altha mcrobert says there was something Sheila asked as she was being taken into custody that caught
01:08:25
Prosecutor's attention one of the first things she said is well are you going to
01:08:30
arrest him too pointing to her husband which suggests what to you that she knew exactly what she was being arrested for
01:08:37
and they had done it together Joe had come to the same conclusion that his stepfather and Sheila were both involved
01:08:45
in his mother's murder would you like to see Mike Warren charged in the murder of
01:08:51
your mother yes I would with Sheila in custody we wanted to speak with Mike Warren we're going to go to his front
01:09:00
door give it a knock see if he'll answer a couple of questions [Music] [Music] after the arrest of Sheila Warren in
01:09:32
2017 48 Hours wanted to talk to Mike Warren about what he knew about his wife's murder here he
01:09:40
comes hey Mike I'm Peter vanent with CBS News he wouldn't open the door but we spoke through it for several minutes
01:09:49
competing with a barking dog did you have anything to do with planning the murder of your wife
01:09:58
Marlene you did not he was adamant that neither he nor Sheila Keen Warren had anything to do
01:10:07
with Marlene's murder did you suggest to Sheila that she dress in a clown outfit
01:10:12
you're saying she she who I don't think thought do you believe based on the evidence over the years that Mike Warren
01:10:28
knew what was going to happen that day I don't believe there's any direct evidence of that there just wasn't
01:10:34
enough evidence to prosecute Michael Warren but if evidence emerges we'll pursue
01:10:40
it as they prepared for trial despite never recovering the clown disguise or the gun prosecutors were confident they
01:10:48
could prove that Sheila Keen Warren committed the murder so that she could marry Mike Warren Sheila Keen Warren had
01:10:56
the means the motive and the opportunity to do this we will never know who killed
01:11:02
marleene Warren because the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and the state attorney's office did such a poor job
01:11:12
investigating this case I can tell you without question that it was not Sheila Keen Sheila Keen
01:11:20
Warren's defense attorney Greg Rosenfeld says she's innocent a victim of the state attorney's Reckless desire to
01:11:28
close a notorious Cold Case and they said you know what this is our suspect we're going to stick with it even though
01:11:36
the pieces of the puzzle didn't fit the puzzle Rosenfeld says there were other potential suspects authorities ignored
01:11:45
including an inmate who supposedly bragged in prison about murdering marleene but prosecutors say he was
01:11:53
investigated and cleared it's not surprising that they would try to point the finger at law enforcement for not
01:12:00
looking at every potential suspect but if you look at the evidence it pointed to one person all along Sheila Keen
01:12:07
Warren the state was confident Sheila Keen Warren was responsible for Marlene's murder but Rosenfeld plans to
01:12:15
poke holes in its case at trial how do you overcome DNA evidence the state attorney's office should be embarrassed
01:12:24
about the DNA evidence in this case Rosenfeld agrees the hair prosecutors say was found in the learon getaway car
01:12:32
could be from Sheila King Warren but he says it could also be from about 4% of the US Caucasian population they
01:12:42
couldn't exclude marleene Warren from that hair sample so that was their groundbreaking DNA evidence and if you
01:12:49
con see that the hair is from Sheila Keen Warren says Rosenfeld there's an innocent explanation as to how it got
01:12:56
there the labarin was on the lot at bargain Motors where she worked Sheila may have been in the
01:13:04
car used in this murder that's it the defense attorney says well of course her hair might be in there it doesn't
01:13:12
suggest that she was driving at the time of the murder what do you say to that it's just one more link once you put
01:13:19
that one thing with the totality of all the circumstances then it starts become overwhelming Rosenfeld says the orange
01:13:29
fibers found in the car which prosecutors say could be from the clown costume should also be excluded so the
01:13:39
fibers found in the car were synthetic fibers that same type of fiber can be used in thousands of different products
01:13:48
so the state likes to present it as clown wig fibers but that's factually incorrect
01:13:55
even more troubling than the evidence gathered says Rosenfeld is how it was handled over the decades what are we
01:14:02
looking at here these are evidence bags at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office evidence unit torn
01:14:11
open just gaping holes in these evidence bags if there's gaping holes what can that do to the evidence
01:14:19
inside that's precisely how how you have cross-contamination now look at if I can zoom in here this bag contains
01:14:28
a clown wig investigators purchased similar to the one they believed was worn by the as salent they used it to
01:14:36
compare to the fibers found in the learon and in Sheila's home this is an open evidence bag with the wig sticking
01:14:44
out this is horrifying and so your bottom line is is that this evidence is unreliable now
01:14:51
with without question can it not be argued that some of the evidence in this case was indeed bungled you know it's
01:15:00
you're asking a lot of law enforcement to be perfect from 1990 to today some of the evidence was kept in an Evidence
01:15:09
storage area that wasn't ideal any mistake any small opening will be exploited by defense
01:15:20
lawyers prosecutors were still certain they had the right person for Marlene murder but in February 2020 after a
01:15:28
re-evaluation of Sheila Keen Warren's case they announced they would no longer seek the death penalty were you told by
01:15:36
the prosecutor's office that there was always a chance in a jury trial that she might even be
01:15:44
acquitted yes when you think of your mom today what do you think about what images come to
01:16:03
mind well she was robbed and so was I it is said the wheels of Justice turn slowly and when it came to the murder of
01:16:12
marleene Warren that grind often seemed to come to a halt after the 27e wait for
01:16:19
an arrest Sheila keing Warren's trial kept getting delayed by 22 she had spent 5 years in jail her trial postponed six
01:16:31
times and then we had covid so it just was one thing after another Decades of accumulation of files and photographs
01:16:41
and mountains of evidence and documents defense attorney Greg Rosenfeld was also trying to work his
01:16:48
way through all that evidence and he says adding to the delays was a lack of cooperation from the state evidence kept
01:16:57
I'd say disappearing Rosenfeld says one crucial piece of evidence for the defense that
01:17:04
disappeared for years was what investigators called the clown sighting file these were all the tips about
01:17:12
people who alleged to have seen clowns in the area that opens up for you new avenues as to possible suspects
01:17:21
absolutely absolutely I think the sheriff's off office and the state attorney's office just decided they
01:17:27
didn't want to look for this evidence but then suddenly in October of 20122 as another trial date neared the
01:17:36
file was found it was located not with the sheilan clown murder boxes it was actually a file out of place they find
01:17:46
this clown setting file and there's 35 tips we begin to investigate them now we're 32 years after the murder you know
01:17:55
we couldn't track down these Witnesses I've seen it and it's silly things clearly clown sightings that had nothing
01:18:02
to do with marlein Warren and it wasn't being intentionally hidden from the defense absolutely not we were
01:18:08
meticulous about making sure they had everything though as the trial neared the Decades of delays were causing
01:18:16
problems for the prosecution as well every day that went by it was a tougher case Witnesses die memories fade
01:18:25
evidence spoils one of our key Witnesses passed away he was the one who compiled
01:18:30
the evidence and without him we lost a chain of custody for some crucial evidence relating to the fibers if I can
01:18:37
zoom in here this is an open evidence bag evidence the defense already claimed had been poorly stored and mishandled
01:18:46
contaminated inadmissible unreliable it just goes to show you how poor of an investigation that was done they were
01:18:54
going to be able to argue that because of the opening of the bags that the evidence was spoiled and because of the
01:18:59
break in the chain of custody because of the death of our Witnesses it shouldn't
01:19:03
even be admitted so you had some real potential for Reasonable Doubt there was beyond Reasonable Doubt on April 25th
01:19:13
2023 2 weeks before Sheila Keen Warren's trial for the murder of Marlene Warren was to begin there was yet another
01:19:21
surprise in a case that had been filled with the unexpected a plea deal was reached Miss
01:19:29
Keen Warren the defendant herein will agree to withdraw her previously in her plea of not guilty in her plea of guilty
01:19:35
Sheila Keen Warren whose case at one time included the death penalty then life in prison would now plead guilty to
01:19:43
second degree murder and be sentenced to 12 years in prison under sentencing guidelines for time served she is
01:19:52
expected to be released in 2025 perhaps sooner we had to make a judgment based on what we had because
01:20:00
the fear is what if you take this to tral the worst thing that could happen would be that Sheila Keen Warren would
01:20:07
be found not guilty not because she was innocent but because after 33 years we could not prove Beyond a reasonable
01:20:14
doubt that she was the one who did it but Sheila Keen Warren did have to publicly pay a price for this plea deal
01:20:23
admitting in open court that she in fact did murder marleene Warren if this case
01:20:29
were to proceed to jury trial the state would present evidence that honor about May the 26th of 1990 the defendant was
01:20:36
responsible for the death of Marlene Warren Warren did you hear all that yes sir and do you agree with that factual
01:20:41
basis yes despite admitting her crime Sheila Keen Warren through her attorney still maintains she is innocent Sheila
01:20:52
did not commit this murder it was was very difficult for her to admit to committing a crime that she did not
01:21:00
commit but as a matter of law she has admitted to committing The Murder by saying yes correct for the purpose of so
01:21:10
she is a convicted murderer and so far as the laog go sure but when you're told you could be home or you know you can
01:21:21
play Russian Roulette and risk spending the rest of your life in prison it's kind of a no-brainer the defense cannot
01:21:27
have it both ways so she will be a murderer for every day for the rest of her life even when she gets out of
01:21:33
prison one day she'll still be a convicted murderer when she does get out of prison
01:21:38
she will reunite with her husband Michael Warren Sheila is going home to Tennessee
01:21:45
she's going back to her life Michael Warren in a statement provided 2 48 Hours regarding the polia
01:21:53
said my wife wife did not commit this crime it was difficult to see her plea to a crime she did not commit but it
01:22:01
wasn't worth the gamble when she was offered a deal that'll have her home in 16 to 18 months with this deal there is
01:22:11
a chance that Sheila might get out of prison within the next year or two are you all right with
01:22:19
that well I'm not all right with it but I have to be still Joe erens approved the plea deal feeling it wasn't worth
01:22:29
the gamble of going to trial that was very emotional because that was the end of something so huge That Grew for 33
01:22:38
years of my life finally it's over finally you know it [Music] was the demons that once occupied Joe's
01:22:48
mind are gone replaced with loving memories of how his mother Marlene lived lived rather than how that life was so
01:22:57
violently taken what would you say to your mother if you could speak to her today wow what
01:23:04
can I say to my mother thank you for showing me how to love and be peaceful and thank you for being in my
01:23:12
life hurts [Music] 48 hours to miss it would be a crime were you at all prepared for what
01:23:38
happened in this case [Music] here with the fabulous Mo Wilson you are like ready I'm ready yeah I'm so excited
01:24:35
to be here um feels like the first big race of the year so um yeah ready to kick it
01:24:43
off I'm still getting better I'm still learning it's an exciting time there's still so much for me to learn her name
01:24:49
was Mariah but everybody called her Mo my name is Po Mendes and I am a senior reporter with The Daily
01:24:58
Beast funny and friendly and smart and driven Mo was a rising star she graduated from Dartmouth in
01:25:07
engineering everyone thought she was about to make her big break in cycling I have always relied on other
01:25:16
people to push myself what happened to Mo was a tragedy they found Mo inside the
01:25:30
residence who is pretty grizzly scene she had been shot multiple times at first detectives
01:25:37
thought it was a robbery you're looking into this possibility of a robbery or a burglary but parallel to that there is
01:25:44
this name Colin Strickland my name is Colin Strickland I am a bicycle racer Colin Strickland was a top biker and he
01:25:59
was also friends with Mo I mean Colin you know he was an interesting character had a lot of like
01:26:06
you know cool qualities about him motorcycled professional athlete I mean Colin had dated like a few girls in the
01:26:14
cycling scene you know girlfriends here and there but you know pretty standard stuff Colin's relationship with Mo like
01:26:22
was like they were both bike Racers they had like a romantic relationship there had definitely been
01:26:30
something romantic between them Colin said they had broken up the situation was complicated there was another woman in
01:26:42
Colin's life her name was Caitlyn Armstrong Caitlyn you know first impressions she was really nice glow
01:26:53
hopping around the world was you know really interested in yoga like very attractive person uh both inside and out
01:26:59
at least the Caitlyn and I you know initially knew homicide detectives were very
01:27:08
interested in talking to Caitlyn Armstrong he's starting to get the sense that there could be some jealousy to it
01:27:15
she has a gun few things like that start to paint a picture of like it could definitely be
01:27:21
her we were still trying to figure out are they going to enough information to sit down and scratch out a
01:27:28
warrant at this point she kind of disappears no one knows where she [Music] is Caitlyn Armstrong vanished seemingly
01:27:42
in a thin air sparking what would become an international Manhunt first leading authorities across the United States and
01:27:49
then eventually here to the beaches of Costa Rica along the way she used multiple identities and changed her
01:27:55
appearance even getting plastic surgery how smart was Kaitlyn Armstrong she did some pretty intelligent things
01:28:06
the thing that people don't know is you don't have to be just smarter than one two three or four of us cuz there's a
01:28:14
team of 20 plus people you have to be smarter than a lot of people to get away with it m it almost worked it almost
01:28:23
worked [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] hello I'm here with the fabulous Mo Wilson you are like ready I'm ready
01:29:16
ready in March of 2022 upand cominging PR gravel bike racer 25-year-old Anna Mariah Wilson known as Mo to some
01:29:26
appeared on the pre-ride show an online program about cycling so excited to be here um feels like the first big race of
01:29:33
the year so um yeah I'm ready to kick it off just two months later Mariah was found murdered the news shocking the
01:29:44
cycling Community I don't think anybody could really believe it at first you know why
01:29:50
would anybody want to hurt or harm or kill this lovely talented young woman Lisa Goslin Lynn is the editor of
01:29:59
Vermont Sports magazine and Vermont ski and Ride magazine she's also a CBS News consultant Mariah Wilson right there
01:30:06
coming in Lynn had been following Mariah Wilson's career for many months before her tragic death it is all Mariah Wilson
01:30:14
as she is snaking through into the Finish Mariah was pretty much winning every race that she entered Mariah
01:30:23
Wilson the winner of round one of winning or finishing in the top two and the races
01:30:29
that she entered were top tier in first place Mo Wilson Mariah had the potential
01:30:36
to be one of the top bike racers definitely in the country and probably in the world Mo phenomenal race
01:30:44
remarkably Lynn says that Mariah was new to the procycling world her first Passion had been downhill ski racing a
01:30:52
love shared by her close family she was born into a family of really great athletes her father Eric had been on the
01:31:00
US ski team and Mariah's Aunt actually was a two-time Olympic Nordic ski racer and it's no surprise that Mariah was
01:31:09
drawn to outdoor Endurance Sports she was raised in Northern Vermont next to Kingdom Trails a mecca for skiers and
01:31:16
mountain bikers and that was her playground Mariah attended Burke Mountain Academy
01:31:22
an elite ski school that produced Olympic rates like two-time gold medalist Michaela schiffren Mariah had
01:31:28
hoped to make the US ski team but knee injuries eventually ended her skiing career that's when she switched Sports
01:31:36
she had used cycling as a way for rehabbing and kind of building back her strength what was fascinating to me was
01:31:44
she then went on to Dartmouth she got an engineering degree and after doing that
01:31:49
she went to her mother and said hey Mom I think I want to be professional cycl [Music]
01:31:56
and Mariah told the podcast we got to hang out that she wanted to do much more than just win
01:32:02
races how can I inspire people how can I give back to the cycling Community how can I bring more people into the sport
01:32:09
how can I make it more inclusive like I want to find meaning and purpose in cycling that goes like far beyond the
01:32:17
the result Mariah eventually moved to San Francisco where she focused on cycling
01:32:23
and quickly Rose to the top of the sport Mariah was forging her own path she knew
01:32:29
what she wanted to do and she was working hard to pursue [Music] it on May 10th 2022 just one week before
01:32:41
her 26th birthday Mariah arrived in Austin Texas to prepare for the gravel Loos bike race a race she was favored to
01:32:49
win Mariah stayed with a close friend in this Austin apartment but the next evening just before 1 p.m.
01:32:57
the friend returned home and discovered Mariah who had been shot multiple times she called 911 she's laying on the
01:33:06
bathroom floor and there's blood everywhere Maria's friend tried CPR but it was too late it sound like started
01:33:15
off near the door and went backwards like she was trying to get away or there was some sort of struggle or a Austin
01:33:20
police officers Mark McLoud and Jonathan r worked the case from the beginning whoever shot her at that point stood
01:33:28
over top of her and shot her at least once you're in a 1 investigators wondered who could have murdered this
01:33:35
promising young athlete as they canvased the immediate area police discovered a possible clue 432 I located the bike
01:33:44
Mariah's expensive racing bicycle had been discarded in the bushes so at that point okay is this a burglary a robbery
01:33:52
gone wrong but that theory was quickly dismissed because there was no sign of a Breakin then police learned that just
01:34:00
hours before Mariah was found murdered at around 8:30 p.m. she had been dropped off by another professional bike racer
01:34:08
named Colin Strickland so obviously the focus would be who's this Colin Strickland Colin Strickland was a very
01:34:16
good grapple racer he was at the top Echelon Colin Strickland who was 35 was considered a a Pioneer in the sport he
01:34:25
had won some of the most prestigious races and was sponsored by the industry's top brands like Red Bull my
01:34:32
name is Colin Strickland I am a bicycle racer and general Entertainer in 20120 he appeared in an
01:34:41
online video called Wahoo Frontiers about his long and successful career pretty early on I looked up to Colin
01:34:48
when I was coming up in the scene please welcome for Chris colie Chris T is friends with Colin
01:34:55
Strickland they met on the racetrack he was the one to beat he loved to kind of create a show around bike racing uh kind
01:35:03
of selling bike racing he was really passionate about it and tal said although his friend had
01:35:09
been popular with women he eventually became serious with a woman named Caitlyn Armstrong however in a social
01:35:16
media post after the crime Strickland wrote that about 6 months before Mariah's murder during a short breakup
01:35:23
with Armstrong he did have a brief romantic relationship with Mariah that spanned a week or so he said that it
01:35:31
ended and their relationship had turned into a platonic and professional one he just wanted to be friends with like
01:35:39
someone who was going to do great things in cycling the day after Mariah's murder
01:35:45
police visited and spoke to Colin Strickland at his home my personal take was he's being very Cooperative being
01:35:52
very forthcoming um obviously he was in shock being very transparent very transparent yeah an investigator say
01:35:59
when he agreed to go down to the police station to be interviewed he didn't seem
01:36:04
to hold back when telling them about the day he spent with Mariah a day that would end up being her last that day in
01:36:12
May it was hot in the80s and this story started with a swim right here it's a famous old outdoor pool and Colin
01:36:20
Strickland told detectives he took the victim Mo Wilson on on the back of his motorcycle here to cool off they went
01:36:27
swimming then they got food Mariah and Strickland are seen here on the restaurant's security camera I know he's
01:36:34
being transparent at this point during this questioning but what he's saying is starting to sound a lot like a date oh
01:36:42
yeah 100% investigators had a lot of questions and their prior visit to Strickland's home had raised even more
01:36:51
on the night of Mariah's murder police discovered an important clue on video from a neighbor security camera the
01:36:58
video was taken just 1 minute after Mariah was dropped off there's a video from a ring doorbell camera that clearly
01:37:05
shows like a black SUV with a bike rack can't see the license plate because of the bike rack on it so it was obviously
01:37:11
like we need to focus on this and a vehicle that fit that description was outside Strickland's house who was
01:37:19
driving the black Jeep SUV with the bike rack the answer would lead directly to another
01:37:27
[Music] woman the day after Mariah Wilson's murder investigators quickly had an answer to who could have been driving
01:37:49
that black Jeep that was seen on security cameras shortly before her death investigators had spotted a similar
01:37:57
looking Jeep in Colin Strickland's driveway when they spoke to him they see a black jeep with the bike rack on the
01:38:04
back of it so at that point we run the license plate and it comes back that it's registered to Caitlyn
01:38:11
Armstrong Caitlyn Armstrong Colin Strickland's Girlfriend Chris tally says he knew her very well you know we
01:38:19
connected pretty early on Caitlyn and I became friends they were both from the mid West we kind of had a similar uh
01:38:25
like upbringing and so I think that kind of uh you know helped us become like even better friends she'd come over to
01:38:31
parties I would have Armstrong had a background in finance and loved yoga she had a really strong you know kind of uh
01:38:40
you know love for travel love you know she spent time pretty much you know Globe hopping around the world really
01:38:46
you know kind of interesting person Armstrong got certified as a yoga instructor in Bali after she met Colin
01:38:52
Strickland in 200 19 she also started getting into cycling he was very willing to kind of show her you know what his
01:39:00
passions were and how passion he was for cycling and you know get her involved with it and she also became you know
01:39:06
kind of addicted to cycling along with Colin Armstrong even started racing on an amateur level at the end of the day
01:39:13
like I feel like they had a pretty like normal relationship they both ride bikes
01:39:17
together they would you know do fun stuff and you know then 2020 happened and the pandemic started so everyone
01:39:23
would was kind of you know forced with uh you know Close Quarters with their significant others the couple eventually
01:39:28
moved in together the moment I I saw the relationship become more serious is you
01:39:32
know they talked about uh that they purchased a house recently uh together which I thought you know was a pretty
01:39:38
big indication that a you know a serious relationship they also started a business together restoring classic
01:39:44
trailers I think she was helping with the finance side of things Colin was doing a lot of the operations their
01:39:50
relationship went from you know just a normal couple to also owning a business together but things got bumpy in late
01:39:58
2021 the breakup I personally didn't know like they were split up at the time neither of them mentioned anything to me
01:40:06
it was during this time that Colin Strickland and Mariah Wilson had briefly dated although Strickland had said they
01:40:13
had broken It Off Mariah seemed confused in the aftermath polar Mendez covered the case
01:40:19
for The Daily Beast around this time I think Mo was pretty Prett confused by her the status of her relationship with
01:40:26
Colin and she literally wrote this weekend was strange for me if you just want to be friends that's cool honestly
01:40:34
my mind has been going in circles it sounds like someone who's in her early 20s who just wants to know the status of
01:40:40
her relationship with someone that's confusing her and it seems totally reasonable that she might be
01:40:47
confused Strickland had a lot to say about his relationship with Caitlyn Armstrong he starts to portray her as
01:40:55
being the jealous type even saying things like I can't keep people in my phone like Mo's not in my phone is Mo
01:41:03
Strickland told investigators he kept marah's phone number under an alias in his contacts and on that evening after
01:41:10
he'd been out with Mariah at the pool he texted Armstrong that he'd been running
01:41:14
an errand and that his phone had died that was not true investigators say there were other
01:41:22
Clues pointing toward Caitlyn Armstrong on the night of the murder Caitlyn Armstrong's phone was not
01:41:31
connected to a cell network not connected correct so whether she powered it off whether she put it in Airplane
01:41:38
Mode uh there's some something happened that her phone was not communicating with any cell phone towers do you think
01:41:45
this was on purpose absolutely in this day and age if your phone is off and not connected to a network you're either the
01:41:53
victim of a crime or you're probably committing one a silent phone speaks louder in some cases than actions oh
01:42:01
absolutely Strickland also shared that he had bought handguns for Armstrong and himself for personal security he talks
01:42:09
about how they purchased guns and that there are these two guns and that she has a gun um they've taken lessons and
01:42:17
that th these guns are back at the house and so few things like that start to paint a picture of like this could it
01:42:24
could definitely be her police worked quickly that same day investigators picked Caitlyn Armstrong up on an old
01:42:32
warrant for failing to pay for a Botox treatment she's just kind of sitting there and she's not showing very much
01:42:39
emotion at all what were you doing yesterday I would like to leave I think typically when we see some interviews
01:42:45
going on and if you didn't do it this is your like you're going to be like you know not me not it I want out of this
01:42:52
room what do you want to know so you don't come back looking for me and there was none of that is there any
01:42:57
explanation as far as why the vehicle would be over there I would like to leave she was almost completely
01:43:03
disinterested in in hearing what the detectives had to say so it sounds like this is a big red flag immediately oh oh
01:43:10
absolutely absolutely but investigators had to let Armstrong go there was a problem Armstrong's birth date did not
01:43:18
match the date on the warrant so the warrant wasn't valid and police didn't have enough to charge charger with
01:43:23
anything else 2 days after that interview police got an unexpected call it was from a
01:43:31
friend of Caitlyn Armstrong police say the caller told them that Armstrong was so angry about Strickland's relationship
01:43:38
with Mariah that she wanted to kill her it was yet another indication that they were on the right
01:43:45
track a few days later an arrest warrant was issued but when police went looking
01:43:50
for Caitlyn Armstrong she was [Music] gone after Caitlyn Armstrong vanished US Marshals got the job of
01:44:11
tracking her down plain and simply the Marshals are manhunters Chris godet hosts and
01:44:20
produces a podcast with the US Marshal service I'm Chris goik and this is chasing
01:44:27
evil his podcast tells the stories of some of the US Marshals biggest cases including the hunt for Caitlyn
01:44:36
Armstrong nobody thought Caitlyn Armstrong was going to run and she surprised them all she disappeared
01:44:42
Caitlyn Armstrong ran from a murder charge but the US Marshals Lone Star fugitive task force had a different
01:44:50
plan so take me through this where do you begin when you're looking for somebody that does not want to be found
01:44:57
you know it depends on the case honestly we look for friends sometimes we look for family one of the things that I did
01:45:04
was collect as many photos as I could Damen Fernandez and Amir Perez are Deputy US Marshals they joined ausome
01:45:12
police officers Jonathan Riley the and Mark McLoud on the case watch the house the team based in Texas is known as the
01:45:20
Lone Star fugitive task force with no sign of Caitlyn Armstrong the task force suspected Armstrong may have
01:45:27
left town headed for her sister Christy's place in Upstate New York we were thinking maybe she's
01:45:34
driving cross country we didn't know their instincts were right and Upstate New York another deputy Marshall managed
01:45:41
to track down Armstrong's sister what did the sister say the sister ultimately said that her sister had come to visit
01:45:48
her had stayed with her a couple of days but that she had dropped her off at the
01:45:52
end airport in New York and uh last she heard she was going to board a flight back to Austin but then called her back
01:46:01
later and said that she decided that she was going to drive back and which made Absolut no sense to
01:46:09
any of us that you would just drive back when the task force checked outbound flights at Newark Airport No
01:46:18
Reservations had been made in Caitlyn Armstrong's name we never got a hit on on Caitlyn Armstrong's passport but the
01:46:25
team had a hunch unaware of because Christy told the deputy Marshall in New York that she didn't know where her
01:46:31
passport was so they checked with their contact at Homeland Security and within minutes of reaching out to him he got
01:46:38
back to me and he's like yes we're showing uh Christy Armstrong traveled out of Newark New Jersey International
01:46:43
Airport on a one-way flight to Costa ricao you knew it and I said there's no way that the sister left and we're
01:46:51
looking for her we can't F Caitlyn no that's Caitlyn the Marshall suspected that Caitlyn Armstrong had used her
01:46:59
sister's passport to flee Christy Armstrong later emphasized to authorities she did not give her sister
01:47:05
the passport she has never been charged with any crime related to this [Music] case and this is where Caitlyn Armstrong
01:47:22
landed Costa Rica Gem of Central America home to mountains tropical rainforests and white sand beaches as far as the eye
01:47:32
can see but she didn't spend much time here in San Jose shortly after arriving Caitlyn Armstrong disappeared again and
01:47:43
she had a huge lead on the US Marshals Marshalls Amir Perez and Damen Fernandez arrived in Costa Rica a month
01:47:53
after Armstrong this is you guys now on the hunt how intense is it once you touch
01:48:01
down in Costa Rica what happens you're on a timeline I hear timeline and I hear the pressure's on pressure's on I know
01:48:09
we were sitting in the plane and we're talking what's the game plan although they would have help from
01:48:16
the Costa Rican authorities and US state department officers on the ground they knew finding Armstrong was going to be a
01:48:23
big challenge we had other intelligence indicating that she was staying in hosts
01:48:29
in Costa Rica and I don't know if you know anything about Costa Rica but Costa Rica has a lot of hostiles a lot an
01:48:37
unbelievable amount of hostiles the marshals wouldn't tell us exactly how their intelligence gathering
01:48:44
worked but their team back in the States had managed to track down the phone number for an American businessman they
01:48:50
believed had connected with Caitlyn Armstrong at some point we didn't know what city he was in so we decided hey
01:48:57
let's just cold call him so we call him and we're on the conference room he answers and we're like hey it's the US
01:49:02
Marshals U my name is Mark and he goes I don't want any click just hangs up like
01:49:06
it's a like a telar telemarker call yeah after three or four call attempts the businessman finally stayed on the line
01:49:15
to answer the Marshall's questions and we actually end up sending a picture of Caitlyn while we're on the phone with
01:49:21
him he looks at it and goes yes but she doesn't look like that and she's not using that name and did he tell you her
01:49:28
new name he did it was bad B going by bath and the businessman said Armstrong no longer looked like this she had cut
01:49:38
her hair and changed its color went Brown instead of red she dyed her hair the businessman told the marshals he had
01:49:46
no idea that the woman who called herself Beth was actually Caitlyn Armstrong but he did tell them where
01:49:53
they might find her he's like well I met her at a yoga studio in [Music] hako this is hako a popular tourist
01:50:05
destination known for its nightlife and its beaches and the perfect place to hide it was the Marshall's first real
01:50:12
tip so they rushed out here they canvased the area combed through hours of surveillance video but
01:50:20
could not find a single sign of Caitlyn Armstrong anywhere it was a bust but the Marshalls have one more
01:50:30
solid lead and that takes them to a beautiful touristy Beach Town a one street town called Santa Teresa
01:50:38
[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] one month after Caitlyn Armstrong disappeared the US Marshals were in Hot
01:51:07
Pursuit of her and another area of Costa Rica a source had suggested she might have gone to a small village on the
01:51:16
Pacific coast the marshals took a fairy like this one to reach a remote Peninsula one there they drove by car
01:51:23
through those mountains to the Tiny Town of Santa Teresa but when they finally arrived they ran into an unexpected
01:51:33
problem get to Santa Teresa was it easy to identify her there from the other people that were there I think from the
01:51:42
get-go we were told you're going to be in for a surprise cuz a lot of the women in Santa Teresa look just like Kate a
01:51:50
lot of them and it turns out that that advice was right the town was full of foreign
01:51:56
tourists Deputy Marshals Fernandez and Perez arrived in Santa Teresa after dark so we get there and he starts walking
01:52:05
down a main strip that's there uh like down the street there's only one road on on that town and he sees Main Road he
01:52:13
sees a girl and he says you know that looks just like her well couple of minutes later we see another one and
01:52:20
it's late at night and we're like well oh man that's two and then there's another
01:52:25
one as the marshals tried to find Armstrong they even had one of their female operatives start going to yoga
01:52:32
classes to see if they could spot her she actually did three different classes for us and they tapped into
01:52:40
local contacts oh yeah we made friends with people there that would send us pictures
01:52:45
oh look I I think I saw her at this restaurant yesterday and she's in the back in the background of a photo that I
01:52:51
took stuff like that [Music] in fact people had seen Caitlyn Armstrong at local spots in Santa Teresa
01:52:59
but they didn't realize who she was Armstrong was hiding in plain sight using different
01:53:06
names she had like multiple names yeah um she came in Beth um Beth it wasn't Beth Ari Ari Ari Ari right so she came
01:53:17
in as re Greg Haber is an American from the New York area who owns a restaurant called Cook's Smokehouse and bar here in
01:53:23
Santa Teresa Ari what did Ari look like did she stand out to you pretty came in introduced herself as a yoga teacher
01:53:32
which is basically anybody else down here hey I moved here teaching yoga down the street and that was it what was her
01:53:39
General Vibe like she definitely seemed like she was trying to establish Roots here like this was going to be her new
01:53:45
home and Haber says one day he noticed something different about her I saw her on the beach I walk my dog on the beach
01:53:51
every night for Sunset and you're walking through and you see the bandage on her face it's like ah what happened
01:53:57
she like ah surfboard hit me in the face it's like well happens to everybody right at least once so you wouldn't even
01:54:03
question that story here like you see people all the time turns out that bandage would later prove to be an
01:54:10
important part of this story and one of the reasons the Marshalls say Armstrong was so hard to find so you're this close
01:54:18
to giving up yes finally they decided on one one last tactic they turned to a local Facebook page we decided we were
01:54:26
going to put an ad out for a yoga instructor and see what would happen so this is the equivalent of Craigslist yes
01:54:34
correct pretty much and a little of a more lively but yes and just saying ay we're this hostel we're looking for a
01:54:41
yoga instructor the soon as the possible please contact us at this number but after almost a week of hunting even that
01:54:49
didn't seem to be working Sunday we decided we haven't gotten any response back from anything we're so Sunday are
01:54:57
like okay we're done none of them have panned out so we're going back to San Jose now back in San Jose the marshals
01:55:05
were getting ready to head home when suddenly we got a bite somebody that identified herself as a yoga instructor
01:55:13
and said that wanted to meet with us at a particular hostel and we said this is this is our chance Deputy Marshall's and
01:55:22
Fernandez rush back to Santa Teresa just ahead of a tropical storm caroso tourism police Lieutenant Juan
01:55:34
Carlos solano's team helped the marshals in their search for Caitlyn Armstrong they did surveillance on a hostel called
01:55:41
Don John's where the yoga instructor the one who answered the online ad was believed to be so there is this massive
01:55:49
International Manhunt and of all places in the world it ends in this very discreet
01:56:00
hostel it was now time for the marshals to make their move so I walked up and I got in they decided that Deputy Marshall
01:56:09
Perez would approach the woman alone they didn't want to scare her off he would pretend to be a tourist and try to
01:56:16
get a really good look at her face and I saw two individuals sitting there at a table off to the the left uh as soon as
01:56:23
I walked in he says one was a woman she looked like Caitlyn but not 100% so I thought well how can I approach her or
01:56:33
get close enough where I start asking questions where she doesn't suspect something so I decided that I was going
01:56:40
to speak to her in Spanish so I spoke to her in nothing but Spanish so you're communicating she goes to use her phone
01:56:47
for Google translate and then so I got a little closer cuz I saw that she was trying to get to Google Translate on on
01:56:52
her phone and she'd raised it up to me and I got even closer and I noticed that she had a bandage on her nose and
01:56:59
possibly her lips were swollen and I saw her eyes the eyes are the exact same ones that I saw in the picture and this
01:57:08
is her 100% he gets in the car and he's like that's her she's in there local police moved in to make the
01:57:16
actual arrest and soon the marshals discovered why Armstrong had been so hard to find
01:57:23
she had been getting plastic surgery when they first arrived in Santa Teresa at the hospital they found a
01:57:31
receipt the receipt for surgery plastic surgery plastic surgery in these side bys side photos you can see that
01:57:39
Armstrong changed the shape of her nose the deputy Marshall said their female operative the woman they sent to
01:57:46
yoga classes to try to find Armstrong told them Armstrong's New Look would have tricked her she told me I think if
01:57:53
I would have run into her at the yoga studio I don't think I would have recognized her wow it almost worked it
01:58:01
almost worked the marshals took Armstrong back to Texas where she was charged and held
01:58:09
in jail but just weeks before she was due to stand trial for the murder of Mori Wilson Caitlyn Armstrong escaped
01:58:16
again almost 3 weeks before her trial former fugitive Caitlyn Armstrong somehow managed to escape from custody she was
01:58:41
at a doctor's appointment and tried to escape as they were walking out parar Melendez from The Daily Beast says
01:58:48
Armstrong didn't get far before deputies caught her it was pretty astonishing that she did that given the fact that
01:58:54
she had tried to escape prosecution prior this was just more evidence of her guilt Jose Garza is Travis County's
01:59:03
district attorney he says his team of prosecutors Ricky Jones and gal Gonzalez were more than ready to try the case
01:59:11
when we learned that um she had tried to escape um it just added to our confidence level in the facts of this
01:59:18
case that we would be able to secure Justice for Ryan her family on November 1st
01:59:25
2023 Armstrong's trial began the Last Thing mo did on this Earth was scam and Terror in opening
01:59:37
statement Jones told the jury about chilling audio from a security camera that captured the last moments of
01:59:44
Mariah's life those screams are followed by two gunshots kayen Armstrong stood over Mo Wilson and put a
01:59:57
third shot right in MO Wilson prosecutors said Armstrong had been tracking Mariah Wilson using a
02:00:06
sports app Caitlyn prior to the murder had been following Mo on a straa app which is basically an app that athletes
02:00:12
USS to track their miles running biking and she knew exactly where she was and they said that Armstrong on the
02:00:20
night of the murder was most likely tracking Colin Strickland as well she did have the ability to monitor his
02:00:29
Communications she had access to all of his passwords so she had access to um his Instagram account I believe that
02:00:38
when Mo sent Colin a text letting him know the address where she was I believe that Kaylin Armstrong was at home on
02:00:49
Colin Strickland's laptop she saw that message after murdering Mariah and before leaving the scene Jones told the
02:00:57
jury that Armstrong took Mariah's bike and discarded it in the bushes just yards away from where her Jeep was
02:01:05
parked our belief is that she maybe stag it to look like a robbery or something or another theory is Mo Wilson's
02:01:15
bike is a tool of her trade it might have been like the bullet shot in the heart
02:01:22
I'm going to shoot you in the heart I'm going to throw away your bike but they said Armstrong made one
02:01:30
big mistake she left her DNA behind on the handlebars and seat of Mariah's bike and that's on all the evidence
02:01:38
prosecutors had against Armstrong there was that receipt that showed Armstrong had received plastic surgery while
02:01:44
hiding out in Costa Rica everything she does it's all consistent with trying to evade the authorities but when it was
02:01:52
the defense's turn attorney Jeffrey puer told the jury there was no direct evidence including security footage that
02:01:59
actually showed Armstrong was at the scene of the crime not one witness saw Caitlyn Armstrong allegedly Commit This
02:02:10
murder then why would Armstrong flee and hide from the authorities defense attorney Rick kofer pointed the finger
02:02:17
at Colin Strickland was she scared what do you think think do you think that she may
02:02:24
have been concerned a little bit that her boyfriend had killed someone fear results in fight or
02:02:32
flight and it was flight but Janes said there was a big problem with this Theory
02:02:37
because Strickland had nothing to do with the murder of Mariah Wilson in fact at the time of the murder
02:02:44
he was actually on the phone speaking with someone it wasn't Colin Strickland Armstrong's defend team did
02:02:52
not respond to our request for an interview after a twoe trial the defendant will please rise it took the
02:03:01
jury around 2 hours to decide Armstrong's feate we the jury find the defendant Caitlin Armstrong guilty of
02:03:09
the offense of murder as a prosecutor the first row right behind you is the family and you
02:03:19
began to feel their pain and their desire for a just outcome for their loved ones one day after her conviction
02:03:28
Armstrong was sentenced to 90 years behind bars you may be seated but before the case came to an
02:03:37
end judge Brenda Kennedy allowed Caitlyn cash Mariah's close friend whose apartment she'd been staying at and who
02:03:44
had found Mariah's body to take the stand and speak directly to Armstrong so many people in this room
02:03:53
have lost so much I'm angry at you at the UT utter tragic nature at the senselessness at not being able to hear
02:04:06
Mo's voice again I feel deep sadness for the road ahead then it was Mariah's mother's turn
02:04:16
I hate what you did to my beautiful daughter it was very selfish and cowardly that violent act on May 11th it
02:04:27
was cowardly because you never chose to face her woman to woman in a civil conversation she would have
02:04:38
listened she was an amazing listener she would have cared about your [Music] feelings but despite the pain Karen
02:04:48
Wilson closed with words of love and optimism because she said that's how Mariah would have wanted it you killed
02:04:57
her Earthly body but her spirit is so very much alive and you can never change that today in Kingdom trails in Northern
02:05:10
Vermont a place that was sacred to Mariah a trail was built in her honor it's called Mariah's
02:05:18
Ascent Mariah was a vermonter she was giving she was hardworking she was honest she was caring and she came
02:05:28
from a wonderful family and that family really wants that Legacy and all of her good qualities to inspire others
02:05:42
[Music] 48 Hours don't miss an episode [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
02:06:43
[Music] did you have anything to do with the death of your wife Cory I did not two minutes I'm with the CBS affiliate
02:06:56
in Quincy so we've been covering this from day one I was a journalist in Quincy for 25 years and I'm now writing
02:07:04
a book on the CH save the [Music] touchdown Curtis Loveless was a center on the Quincy High football team the
02:07:16
offensive line Kurt L went to the University of Illinois and became an all big 10 Center well we're just underway I
02:07:24
think we all understand the concept of the play more than in the past he was hired in the Adams County
02:07:31
State's Attorney's office as an assistant State's Attorney she was a beautiful blond-haired blue-eyed woman
02:07:38
thin perfect face essentially what it was it's you have like the star football player dating the cheerleader that's
02:07:45
what Cory and Curtis were and then they get married and they have these kids everybody thinking he had it all
02:07:52
do you have good memories of any of the time together I do there were good times
02:07:57
uh and bad I mean it wasn't a perfect [Music] marriage on Valentine's Day 2006 Curtis
02:08:09
Loveless found his wife Corey dead in the bedroom of their home on Kentucky Street in Quincy what was your reaction
02:08:17
just utter shock just not knowing what to do at what point does it change from being this Blissful you know storybook
02:08:27
relationship to death on Valentine's Day I think the volatility you know sort of
02:08:32
built over time it did escalate to a point where there was a lot of Gossip in the community about him the case was
02:08:39
quickly closed there was no determination for a cause of death and Curtis went on with his life that's when
02:08:46
the Quincy gossip mil got started going people wanted to know what happened to her
02:08:54
I was sitting in my Newsroom and uh got the call and they said sounds like Curtis less has been
02:09:01
arrested Curtis less was arrested this afternoon and less is accused of suffocating his former wife Cory
02:09:07
Loveless in 20 We Begin tonight with the start of a Curtis Loveless murder trial
02:09:13
to not only be called a murder but to say that I murdered the mother of my children it's horrible this is a
02:09:20
prosecution that should have never been brought there never should have been an indictment breaking news here inside the
02:09:32
Adams County Courthouse judge Hardwick did just now declare a mistrial it set for retrial we plan to retry
02:09:39
[Music] it here we are again the beginning of another Loveless trial the retrial we a
02:09:48
year after the first one defendant's first wife Cory Loveless will suffocate that will be our medical
02:10:00
evidence you know in the age of supposed fake news this is a fake case and there
02:10:04
are fake Witnesses no evidence of any Jenny what do you see as the big difference this time around lovel's
02:10:12
second wife Erica Gomez as we know she was banned from this first trial she is the biggest difference in this case a
02:10:18
lot of people saying that she was the missing puzzle piece to why we're even here to begin with you come up here and
02:10:23
be sworn May 2012 is the first time that he attacked me he ripped my shirt and he tried to
02:10:32
grab me again and I kept on trying to fight him off the children were called down to stop me from calling the
02:10:42
police they were lies I told them multiple times that I had nothing to do with Cory's death so
02:10:50
how do you find yourself in this position it's a good question and it's a question that we've been asking for the
02:10:56
last two and a half years [Music] [Music] [Music] the way I describe circumstantial
02:11:29
evidence says as follows I like to look at it as pebbles in a mosaic and you're going to step
02:11:36
away from that Mosaic you know what it's going to say murder opening statements are about what
02:11:47
the evidence is going to show the state had an opportunity to explain to you what evidence they have
02:11:55
that c love murdered his wife for love and they didn't present him because there
02:12:03
is for Curtis Loveless and his family February 14th 2006 might seem like a long time ago but for the second time in
02:12:13
two years the husband and children of Corey Loveless are about to relive those difficult days after she died with yet
02:12:21
another murder trial this time it's in a different courthouse in a different city
02:12:28
but first you need to know how this all [Music] started it's Friday night in Quincy
02:12:49
Illinois [Applause] and hundreds have come out for the home [Music] team local journalist Bob gof swaps his
02:13:01
keyboard for a microphone and moonlights as an announcer score Quincy 28 if you're a
02:13:09
local sports star people are always uh wanting to know about you and at Quincy High in the 80s there was no bigger star
02:13:17
than blue Devil's Hall of Famer Curtis Loveless both on the field and in the classroom
02:13:25
Curtis Loveless was a very hardworking kid smart kid the fight L the University of Illinois gave Loveless number 54 a
02:13:33
scholarship to play football but he wasn't just any player Loveless a business administration major
02:13:41
was considered one of the top offensive linemen in the Big 10 a team captain who
02:13:47
led the fighting Aline ey to the conference Championship his senior year he even got a look in free agent camp in
02:13:54
the NFL with the Patriots had a bad knee injury which uh not sure if he would have made it or not but that certainly
02:14:00
didn't help the situation but being a smart kid you know Curtis Loveless already had other goals in mind while
02:14:07
still in college Curtis started a long-distance relationship with high school classmate Corey dedrickson who
02:14:14
was studying Communications at the University of Iowa she just had a perfect smile Marty
02:14:21
dedrickson Corey's mother spoke to our CBS affiliate khqa and she just smiled at everybody
02:14:28
and she just did stuff Cory was vibrant Dynamic a little bit of stubbornness and
02:14:36
she was a pistol and I loved her for that Steve Belo Beth doisy and Brett Shader grew up with Corey and Curtis in
02:14:43
Quincy Kurt was easygoing he was a gentleman funloving intelligent uh a gentleman did you think
02:14:51
they were well matched I did I did they well they looked great together they had
02:14:57
a lot of similarities and they seemed to have fun together in 1991 just one year
02:15:03
after graduation they were married Steve was Kurt's best man and Beth was Cory's
02:15:09
bridesmaid it one of the best days you know in our lives they were very happy the pictures you could see on their
02:15:17
faces it was a magical night with Corey by his side Loveless had Grand plans he attended law school and
02:15:28
eventually became an assistant State's Attorney in the city they both loved Quincy what did Corey want to do with
02:15:36
her life what were her dreams Corey was all about family she wanted the big family the happy marriage being involved
02:15:44
in Quincy Corey's Dream came true in 1993 when their first child Lindsay was born what are you doing Lindsay that's
02:15:54
an ugly dog you got there and continued with the addition of Three Sons Logan Logan say something
02:16:01
he Lincoln hey Lincoln smile and lson Lindsay is now in her 20s she was a loving person she was involved head room
02:16:13
mother PTA always there at our games dance recital everything um our number one cheerlead later do you have a
02:16:21
fondest memory of her I always say dancing to Aba in the kitchen um she always played ABA and we
02:16:29
always sang along and twirling around and it was just special and I still listen because it's everything to me and
02:16:39
Curtis continued to chase his dreams as well in 2005 while still at the State's Attorney's office he started his own law
02:16:48
firm and as if he wasn't busy enough Loveless was elected president of the school board became a captain in the
02:16:56
Illinois National Guard and an Adjunct professor at Quincy University Big Man on Campus and he always kind of had that
02:17:04
air about him was he arrogant he became arrogant more and more yes there was a little bit of a holier than now maybe
02:17:12
you were entitled to this living I I think he lost friends over time because of that and the situation at home was
02:17:19
changing as well Curtis's working long hours away from Corey and the kids was taking a toll on their personal
02:17:27
life they fought as at a young age I thought it was normal but then growing up later on after she was gone I
02:17:35
realized that it wasn't normal neighbors around the Loveless house here on Kentucky Street say that in the months
02:17:43
leading up to her death they had heard loud and contentious arguments between Corey and Curtis by many accounts counts
02:17:51
both were heavy Drinkers and in this small community it was known that at times there was a tremendous amount of
02:17:59
turmoil in their home I knew that uh she wasn't taking care of herself Cory's family acknowledges she was suffering
02:18:07
with an eating disorder bulimia I was aware of the bulimia aing and the purging late in the day Cory was an
02:18:16
alcoholic and unfortunately so much of alcoholism all of alcohol ism is not it's not pretty it's it's it's ugly and
02:18:25
it brings out often times the worst in people and it was something that she she struggled with you said you drank would
02:18:33
you describe yourself as an alcoholic I do describe myself as an alcoholic and I
02:18:37
stopped drinking was Corey's death the result of her alcohol abuse or was it murder it was a question that would go
02:18:47
unanswered for almost 8 years until a rookie detective would take a new look at this old case that's when I went to
02:18:56
the Chief and asked him if if I could take a look at it again and when you saw the pictures what was your first
02:19:04
reaction it did not appear to me that that could have been a natural death I was at the office just reading old
02:19:28
case files and the Loveless case popped into my head in 2014 Adam Gibson as a newly promoted
02:19:36
detective decided to take a look at a file of a case he'd always been curious about the death of Cory Loveless 8 years
02:19:45
earlier a death ruled as undetermined after seeing the photo that's when I went to the Chief and
02:19:53
asked him if if I could take a look at it again the photos of Cory's body show her arms slightly elevated above her
02:20:01
chest it didn't really make sense and there was no real explanation for him in reopening the case Gibson first
02:20:08
consulted Adams County coroner James Keller who was the deputy coroner in 2006 when he was called to the Loveless
02:20:17
house the morning of February 14th upon entering the bedroom I notice the um female lying on the bed on her back with
02:20:26
her hands kind of in an upright position a body always tells a story the way you
02:20:31
find them what is the story that Cory's body was telling you that she had passed
02:20:39
earlier that prior evening or day Gibson contacted Dr Jane Turner an assistant medical examiner in St Louis who agreed
02:20:50
with k tell's assessment that Cory's body had stiffened a condition called rigor mortise which only happens over an
02:20:59
extended period of time in my report I stated 10 to 12 hours rigor mortise develops maximally at 12 hours and it
02:21:07
was the position of Cory's arms that led Dr Turner to the theory that Corey had been suffocated what did you determine
02:21:17
would have caused the Suffocation well with the position of the hands it suggests that there was an
02:21:23
object between her hands and her body and it appears that there's a pillow missing so I suppose that a pillow was
02:21:32
used to suffocate her Turner theorized that the pillow had not been removed until much later her after Cory's arms
02:21:41
had Frozen around it that her dead body had laid in bed all night Gibson and Turner's theory of murder was a a very
02:21:51
different account than the one Curtis Loveless gave police Curtis says it all started the weekend before Valentine's
02:21:59
Day she had become ill um she uh appeared to have the flu Curtis insists Corey was very much
02:22:09
alive that morning the vivid memory is is her coming down one of the one of the kids needed uh a pair of
02:22:18
pants she wasn't feeling any better and we we made the decision that I would take the kids to
02:22:23
school 4-year-old Larson stayed home while Curtis dropped off the other kids lson would later tell police that on
02:22:32
that morning he couldn't wake mommy up frightened he waited at the top of the stairs for his dad by 9:00 a.m. Curtis
02:22:41
returned and that's when he found Corey dead in their bed what was your reaction um just utter shock uh I in
02:22:53
fact uh I'm not even sure how I reacted I know what I did oddly Curtis did not react by calling 911 what I saw was
02:23:04
someone who didn't need help um I just saw my wife who who had passed away Loveless says at that moment his main
02:23:14
concern was to get his youngest child Larson out of the house at trial Cory's mother Marty testifies that Curtis
02:23:22
brought him over to her house which was just around the corner sometime after nine Curtis's knocks on the
02:23:30
door and he asked if I would watch Larson so I take Larson and he turns and he said oh by
02:23:40
the way Cory's dead then what did Mr he turned to leave and I'm trying to think I I I
02:23:51
think I think I remember the the fact that on the way I said I want to go and he said everything's been taken care of
02:23:57
and he left did he stay there and explain to you you no nothing no did you have anything to do with the death of your
02:24:06
wife Cory I did not but detective Gibson wasn't buying it his investigation would
02:24:13
lead to an indictment Curtis Loveless was arrested afternoon in connection and Curtis less' first trial 10 years after
02:24:21
his wife's death following breaking news outside of the Adams County Courthouse where a mistrial has been declared the
02:24:26
jury deadlocked on able to decide if Corey was murdered how does it feel to be released
02:24:33
finally Curtis Loveless was out of jail but for how long one year later a new trial a very
02:24:42
dramatic day today here in the segment County a new jury but the same question did Cory die from alcohol abuse or
02:24:50
something more Sinister right see folks the second trial would be the culmination of events that began 11
02:25:01
years ago that Valentine's Day morning she was laying in the bed and her arms were drawn up by her chest the Grim
02:25:10
details of that morning would be embedded in the minds of those who were there EMT Cole Miller was among the
02:25:18
first on the scene I went in there to check for signs of life and checked her cored pulse in her neck and then checked
02:25:26
her wrist and saw that it was cold and stiff I'm Jeff be be was the lead detective in the case in 2006 you
02:25:36
determined that this investigation should be closed because there was no evidence that is what we determined
02:25:42
defense attorney John Loy asks him to describe the scene did you find anything whatsoever that seem consistent with any
02:25:49
kind of no did you find any evidence of a homicide no no signs of homicide because
02:25:58
the cause of death was ruled undetermined were you surprised she came back undetermined I think it was
02:26:05
unexpected I was expecting to see a death from natural causes related to a health condition be also didn't expect
02:26:16
to see on the day he discovered Corey the condition of her hands and arms and her arms were up in an unnatural
02:26:24
position her hands and arms from the elbow to the hands were leaning or resting against her abdomen and appear
02:26:33
to be up it is this strange position of Cory's arms that would become a critical
02:26:40
and controversial piece of this case there was mild rigor in one of her arms and moderate rigor in the other uh
02:26:50
rigger was also forming in her legs let's be real clear were her arms still pliable at 105 yes tell the jury what
02:26:59
pliable we could move them the defense argues if Cory's arms were pliable it would indicate she could have died that
02:27:08
morning and that is in direct contrast to James Keller's testimony the body was in a full state of rigor rigor mortise
02:27:18
however long Cory Loveless had been dead to Keller it certainly appeared that medical rigor mortise had set in the
02:27:26
state of rigor mortise to get in that position um generally the rulle of stum of anywhere from 8 to 12 hours did it
02:27:33
make any sense to you that they were saying it was that morning it did not it just didn't seem to add up 2 days after
02:27:42
Cory's death her body was cremated and the case was closed a 38-year-old woman was suddenly dead for seemingly no
02:27:53
apparent reason we assume that uh that her her eating disorder that her alcoholism um somehow caused her death
02:28:04
and whether it was checked undetermined uh or natural death really wasn't something that we were concerned about
02:28:13
life went on 6 months later Loveless started dating Erica Gomez who he later married
02:28:20
Gomez would become an explosive figure in his second trial his parents knew that he was abusive that's why they came
02:28:29
and got him his parents probably knew that he killed his first [Music] wife after his wife Cory mysteriously
02:28:49
pass passed away in 2006 it took Curtis Loveless less than 6 months to find love
02:28:57
again this time with one of his students at Quincy University Erica Gomez I remember my dad coming up to me and
02:29:06
saying hey just so you know I've been seeing this woman and what was your reaction I was shocked but couldn't
02:29:15
process it at the same time because what 12-year-old's going to process apparent
02:29:20
dating mhm especially so quickly after the loss and looking back it was I think properly characterized as a rebound
02:29:28
relationship I regret starting the relationship were you lonely absolutely two years later Loveless and Gomez were
02:29:36
married what was your relationship like with Erica not good at all um for some reason there was some hatred towards my
02:29:45
mom like she was Public Enemy Number One so I would tell her heard who stop like
02:29:51
it's not fair and then I would get punished for that by whom by Erica and what scared me more was that my dad
02:30:00
would sit there and watch it it didn't take long for things to go from bad to much worse it was Christmas Eve and my
02:30:09
mom's side of the family invited all of us to come for family dinner Christmas was my
02:30:15
mom's favorite holiday and I Was Cry cuz I missed her and I wanted her there and all of a
02:30:22
sudden Erica walks in and says we're leaving now so I get 3 to 5 minutes to calm down get ready go to walk out the
02:30:31
door find out that my dad Erica the boys had left my family was not happy with them
02:30:41
leaving me and that set off a bomb a bomb that blew her family apart it blew up to the point where when I
02:30:51
returned home that evening uh Miss Gomez was throwing Lindsay's stuff out of the
02:30:57
house my clothes were in the street my room is completely trashed I knew my life was never going to be normal ever
02:31:04
again and that's when you moved in with your mom's mom yeah Loveless and Gomez divorced in
02:31:11
2013 I decided that IID made a a poor decision um and tried to end that relationship as peacefully and as
02:31:21
amicably as possible unfortunately it just didn't didn't end as peacefully and amicably as it as it should have on the
02:31:31
stand in front of the jury Erica gave the courtroom a sample of her explosive personality he threatened me he
02:31:39
controlled me he is physically abusive to me he had hurling a variety of accusations against Loveless I watched
02:31:48
him get rid of evidence have you watched him use his children to get rid of evidence he used my social security
02:31:55
number to try and Ste money out of my account he did you have any concern that they
02:32:04
would buy into what she was saying I didn't have that concern because I knew they were lies he was
02:32:11
poisoning me there was my hair was falling out with were white lines on my fingers I was extremely sick I had to
02:32:22
you were aware Miss Gomez that you were not supposed to mention that because there was no evidence well Gomez was a
02:32:27
witness for the prosecution ultimately her testimony may have done more for the defense I had a hard time believing that
02:32:36
the prosecution actually wanted to put her on the stand also in the courtroom Curtis Loveless is third wife Christine
02:32:45
who like Corey Curtis knew from Quincy High they were married in 2013 just months after his divorce from
02:32:54
Gomez the behavior was so outlandish the accusations were so outlandish the fake
02:33:01
tears the children were called down to stop me from calling the police so you felt that the jury would
02:33:10
have zero credibility with absolutely on the stand for the prosecution detective
02:33:15
Adam Gibson would have to defend his credibility and explained just how he found an expert to support his belief
02:33:23
that Corey was murdered it's been implied that you did some doctor shoing yes do you think that's what you did
02:33:32
absolutely not remember Dr Jane Turner cided with Detective Gibson after studying the evidence Turner believed
02:33:41
that Corey had died the night before police arrived given the circumstances of the state in which her body was found
02:33:48
and the altered that it it appears that she did die of homicide from Suffocation a logical
02:33:56
conclusion except for the fact that when questioned by Quincy police the Loveless
02:34:02
children except lson said they saw their mother alive on the stairs before going
02:34:07
off to school the morning Gibson believed Corey was already dead when Adam Gibson came to speak to you and he
02:34:15
asked you do you remember you told him that you did you remembered seeing her that morning and you came to believe
02:34:22
that the children were wrong correct I didn't say they were wrong I don't know what they saw and maybe
02:34:29
neither did they I had had a story in my head of I saw her sitting on the stairs
02:34:37
waving to us goodbye I love you left and I always said oh it was great I got to say I love you do you remember seeing
02:34:44
your mother that Valentine's Day morning it's a black hole you don't know no how
02:34:50
certain are you now that Curtis Loveless murdered his wife Corey I'm 100% certain
02:34:56
but defense attorney John Loy was about to challenge everything detective Adam Gibson believed about the death of Corey
02:35:05
lovess Adam Gibson decided to create a crime where one didn't exist you knew that the case had been closed because
02:35:14
nobody found sufficient evidence of corre s read that it was closed prosecutor Ed Parkinson brings in three
02:35:33
forensic Pathologists to prove detective Gibson's theory that Corey was murdered
02:35:40
from world-renowned Doctor wner Spitz Miss Lov died in my view of Suffocation to Dr Scott Denton the pathologist was
02:35:49
first consulted when the case was reopened I would determine her cause of death to be Suffocation and finally to
02:35:56
Dr Jane Turner the outof state expert who also believes Corey was suffocated defense attorney ly tries to discredit
02:36:05
Turner saying she never saw Cory's body and her opinion that Cory's body was in full rigor Morse conflicts with the
02:36:14
First Responders on the scene for you to be right Jeff be has to be wrong about his assessment cor that's correct right
02:36:22
yes for you to be right paramedic Ballard has to be wrong about his assessment that the arm was still
02:36:27
correct yes if Cory less' body was pliable as the defense claims full Ram mortis had not set in and she did not
02:36:38
die the night before when coroner Keller is cross-examined ly belittles his role in
02:36:46
the case you're at the scene of Cory death for all of five minutes right sir probably yes sir lby comes down
02:36:56
hardest on detective Gibson you continue to pursue Mr love all right because you
02:37:02
had already decided that this man must be guilty no he grills Gibson about rigor mortise at what point did you
02:37:09
learn that you were wrong that the body was in full rigor at the scene I don't know to the to this day
02:37:17
that I'm wrong I'm going to show you a copy then a new twist ly accuses Gibson of withholding evidence emails that
02:37:27
never made it into the first trial you did delete all your emails in January 2015 did you not yes the defense was
02:37:35
able to recover those emails Loy reads one email from a pathologist who told Gibson he could never make a good murder
02:37:44
case since Corey's death had originally been ruled undetermined that is more than Reasonable Doubt in any reasonable
02:37:52
person's mind all right this email should have been turned over right I believe so it should
02:37:57
yes you didn't turn it over did you I did not but Gibson testified that he never
02:38:05
engaged in any intentional wrongdoing and have you ever intentionally deleted or modified emails to manipulating
02:38:15
investigation no this time we call Dr calls to the stand his own noted pathologist Dr William Oliver who was on
02:38:25
the OJ Simpson case Oliver had no doubt how Corey died it is my opinion that she
02:38:31
died of the complication of alcohol withdrawal known as a cute fatty liver after a battle of the
02:38:44
experts the defense gambles that the most believable Witness might be the accused killer
02:38:53
himself as I approached the bed I could I could see I could see her hands um I could see um I could see her eyes were
02:39:02
open um and she was she was very pale and there was just there was nothing there Cory was dead um that's that's
02:39:13
what I saw um that's what I saw I told them multiple times that I had nothing to do
02:39:21
with Corey's death being accused of a cold blooded murderer of your wife that reduces your liability Factor
02:39:28
correct a little bit do you feel like every thing you said every decision you made is now being picked over and
02:39:37
twisted unfairly um we've been doing this for two and a half years and it was remembering the time
02:39:50
right after Corey died that Curtis became most emotional one of our high school classmates who was a pastor um he
02:39:58
he's he's the one that that that delivered the eulogy I wrote it but I couldn't couldn't deliver
02:40:10
it all three Loveless boys continue to support their father the two oldest testified they saw their mother that
02:40:18
valent Val 's morning I remember getting ready for school walking back and forth
02:40:23
getting stuff done sitting on the stairs with my mother um and heading out the door how confident are you though from
02:40:29
your memory itself that you saw your mother 100% was this the last time you ever saw
02:40:35
your mother yes their sister Lindsay was not called to testify by either side as the trial goes to final
02:40:45
arguments you A Reasonable Doubt ladies and gentlemen is the standard those words don't have a dictionary definition
02:40:52
you're all going to have to apply your life experiences beyond the Reasonable Doubt doesn't mean probably doesn't mean
02:40:58
Beyond a reasonable what's that mean because really what the case is about is that
02:41:08
lady Cory that's who the case is about she died at age 38 because a 6'4 in former
02:41:17
football player standing over her muffled her and and forgot to take the pillow away the question is whether any jury
02:41:30
can sort out what exactly happened that Valentine's Day morning do you think we'll ever know what happened with your
02:41:39
mom no if a verdict comes out this round it comes out I don't think we'll ever fully
02:41:48
know [Music] all murder trials have their clashes between the prosecution and defense I
02:42:06
would like to know who's coming like you Bard pretend but the spats between Ed Parkinson and John ly morning were more
02:42:19
contentious I've objected to his Antics I told him to shut up I don't like him after 7 Days of testimony in Curtis
02:42:31
less' second murder trial the jury continues hearing closing arguments so here we are what is the
02:42:41
state showing died from Suffocation and he didn't prosecutor David Robinson he had
02:42:51
a motive she was an alcoholic she yelled at him she yelled at the kids and that night he had
02:42:58
enough the state has to find C was guilty of Mur there is no evidence in this case
02:43:09
that this woman was smothered she died a natural death they have no murder weapon
02:43:14
they have no forensic evidence I me he went out trying to prove a case where there was no
02:43:20
crime this is rebuttal and I won't keep you on I got good news for you I'm not going to take
02:43:26
long because he committed a stupid crime this B smart smart man here you can do your job now because the
02:43:35
only thing that makes sense here is that she was suffocated thank and with that the jury
02:43:42
began their deliberations this case is stated in these instructions and it's your duty to
02:43:48
follow all I believe in everything we did um every step that we took it was a search for the
02:43:59
truth then in little more than two hours all parties were called back to the courthouse unlike in the first trial
02:44:09
this time the jury had reached a verdict we were prepared um uh in our minds in our heart for for whatever the
02:44:21
verdict was so this time at least you know there's going to be an answer we know there's going to be an answer but
02:44:28
still knowing that 12 people have our fate in our future and our children's future in their hands is
02:44:40
scary we the jury defendant ctis L Not Guilty by person and 11 thank you anybody like
02:44:57
[Music] to more than 10 years after Corey died and two trials accusing him for the
02:45:07
murder of his wife Curtis Loveless surrounded by his three sons walks out of the courtroom a free man we put our
02:45:17
trust in God and and uh and we put our trust in the legal system and uh we weren't let down and so it's a a great
02:45:25
day for uh our family um a great day um for all of our friends and uh we're just
02:45:33
we're just thankful Kurt had absolutely nothing to do with his wife's death and the jury saw that prosecutor Ed
02:45:40
Parkinson is clearly upset by the quick decision uh disappointed but but the jury is so that
02:45:49
it's the end of it but just days after the verdict Curtis Loveless told 48 hours that he and Christine still have a
02:45:58
lot of questions about detective Adam Gibson's investigation cor I don't appreciate
02:46:05
what he's done to uh to me and my family and um uh whatever happens with Adam Gibson um happens with Adam Gibson
02:46:15
there's truth and uh and I believe the truth will come out you intend to pursue how and why this all
02:46:22
happened I I think those are questions we want answered the family remains deeply divided by the legal Saga now
02:46:31
behind them Curtis Christine and the three boys have not spoken to Lindsay since the day Curtis was arrested in
02:46:42
2014 I I don't think by our choice we were advised not to engage in a relationship with people who were
02:46:51
possibly against Kurt so do you see a day when we hope so together we talk about it often is that on the docket of
02:47:00
things to do you know I I think we we'd all like to see reconciliation I'm just not sure
02:47:07
how that happens it's it's it it it I'm sure it's going to be difficult for now Lindsay says she is
02:47:15
working to move forward with her own life inspired by her mother's memory my mom was a beautiful
02:47:27
person she touched so many people she was passionate but that's the kind of person she was and that's the kind of
02:47:35
person I try to be [Music] [Music] 48 Hours presents this is Officer the Houston
02:48:30
Police Department major offenders division career criminal [Music] Squad hey my name is Valerie
02:48:42
McDaniel I've always tried to be an honest kind person I've tried to live the best life
02:48:49
I can Valerie wound up being the top of the class the valedictorian the valedictorian in our 1987 High School
02:49:00
graduating class she sure did my name is Megan she's my second cousin she's generous and creative smart
02:49:14
nice and sweet she would always like to take care of my dog I wasn't sure if I should be a vet
02:49:25
anymore and Valerie brought that passion back I know that Valerie made an audio recording of all of her memorable
02:49:36
moments in life I met through friends a man named Max mcdel and thought was the cutest thing
02:49:50
tall and skinny with his [Applause] boots Valerie and Mac Liv a lavish lifestyle a high-end life you know a
02:49:58
life of luxury a life of beauty Great Cars Valley had a Mercedes daughter went to a great
02:50:05
school they worked a lot that was a big thing they' both be working and but did they seem happy together yeah yeah it
02:50:11
seemed [Music] great one morning work there was a a note on my desk that said Dr McDaniel call Miss
02:50:28
Brown she said I've been your husband's lover it tore up divorce is never an easy
02:50:42
thing she met Leon a medical doctor he actually went to the same school I did a little bit of ER but then also like like
02:50:48
cardio and Transplant I looked at him and smiled and he smiled back and just a beautiful
02:50:59
person her face her smile she had this outwardly exuberance of energy that I really can't describe she fell for Leon
02:51:07
she was madly in love with him we were um planning on getting [Music] married Mac always wanted more more more
02:51:20
at the detriment of their daughter my name is MZ Ai and Le Jacob tried to hire me as a
02:51:32
Hitman in the car did he give you $2,500 he paid the $ 2,5 in cash yes in cash right and what did you see on his
02:51:41
face excitement he was enjoying it like he actually was excited about the whole thing I could never hurt the man that my
02:51:51
daughter loves so much the male subject he's gone he's done all right this is been a long drawn out
02:52:02
story that's led to an unbelievable conclusion when he came into my office he shut the door he said I'm Dr Leon
02:52:14
Jacob I felt like I was talking to Satan himself [Music] [Music] 48 hours operation murder reported by
02:52:40
Peter vanent [Music] 2453 2453 yes ma'am it's going to be a major offenders investigation it's 3:00 a.m. on Friday
02:53:15
March 10th 2017 Houston police are making their way to the seventh floor condo of beloved
02:53:22
veterinarian Valerie McDaniel bad doesn't begin to describe what's about to be revealed found it looks like
02:53:39
it turns out to be a fatality Valerie's ex-husband Mack police tell her was dead just 6 months
02:53:47
after their divorce had become final do you have anybody you can call to to help
02:53:52
you to stay to stay with you but how could Valerie's life have arrived at this Dreadful
02:53:59
[Music] moment Valerie earned her degree in veterinary medicine at Texas A&M it was
02:54:07
during that time she met Mack McDaniel Valerie's friend Greg Holloway my impression of Mac is that he was a a
02:54:17
good man he was a stand up guy Mac proposed and Valerie had the man of her dreams as she describes in that
02:54:25
recording of her memories we did get married we had a beautiful fairy tale wedding moved into a house that my
02:54:33
parents had bought for me to live in not long after that Valerie decided to open
02:54:38
her own Clinic Valerie's cousin Cody Bernard I admired her it sunk something inside of
02:54:46
me I want to I want to do that one day something big you know Mack was her office manager but
02:54:52
even as the vet clinic thrived the two longed for something more he said she couldn't have any children so the only
02:55:00
option was to adopt in 2008 the couple adopted a daughter when she was just 2 days old
02:55:08
but as their new family came together their marriage began to fall apart it started Valerie says with a phone call
02:55:16
from a stranger the woman who claimed to have been Max's lover but Valerie says that wasn't all she gave me L of women
02:55:26
that he had slept with Valerie says she confronted Mac and forgave him but claims it wasn't long
02:55:34
before Mack cheated again and that was the first time I ever said the word divorce and I yeled at him
02:55:41
outside and I yelled it and I yelled it Valerie says she forgave Mac yet again but then a chance encounter would
02:55:49
change the course of her life Leon Jacob the son of Valerie's neighbor Golda Jacob stopped by he ran up to me and um
02:55:59
stuck his hand out and introduced himself the cockiest mother ever met in my life Valerie was in her mid-40s but
02:56:09
she was stunning um both inside and out the attraction was Mutual you could tell
02:56:15
he knew how beautiful he was and I was lonely Leon Jacob was 8 years younger than Valery and a doctor what type of
02:56:29
surgeries have you done all kinds of surgeries I've assisted in heart kidney pancreas
02:56:36
transplants with a strained home life and an attractive new friend what happened next may have been inevitable
02:56:44
and he sat across from me and we had some wine and I had my feet out on the chair next to him just out of the blue
02:56:50
he reached out and just ran his finger up my left foot and that was it it was like
02:57:00
a movie moment it's quite an interlude according to what she described yeah compliments
02:57:07
uh all around I guess in December 2014 Valerie filed for divorce claiming Mac committed adultery Mac's attorneys told
02:57:16
us Mac had no comment about the divorce petition and the claims Valerie made in her audio
02:57:24
diary between Max alleged cheating and Valerie's new love interest both wanted out of the marriage the divorce was
02:57:32
finalized in August 2016 Valerie and her daughter then moved into this building in the upscale River
02:57:40
Oak section of Houston not long after Leon joined them here the RO ship really Blossom quickly
02:57:50
because we had been very close friends for so long Dr Britney King worked alongside Valerie at the vet clinic I
02:57:57
seem very much in love um holding hands and and loving towards each other but there was one old problem in Valerie and
02:58:05
Leon's new relationship and his name was Mac there were multiple times in the clinic where she would just be in tears
02:58:16
um was say everything okay and it was was something surrounding um her ex-husband Mac had found out that Leon
02:58:24
was staying with me it be arguments or uh stuff with the the child of visitation but Leon had his own issues
02:58:32
with past loves one involving extreme mental cruelty and another assault and stalking charges Leon Jacob is a
02:58:41
predator he's scary Samantha connect is a Harris County assistant district attorney he wants what he wants and
02:58:49
he'll stop at nothing to get it could there be more to Valerie's new love than she can
02:58:57
imagine he has no problem using women um in fact I I think he enjoys it Valerie McDaniel's new live-in boyfriend
02:59:22
grew up in a Texas sized world of beauty opulence and opportunity I always wanted
02:59:28
to be a doctor my whole life ever since I was about three or four as he pursued his degrees Leon met
02:59:35
and married his college sweetheart they had two boys we had a happy loving family I got two great kids two
02:59:44
boys they're the most important things to me in my life a good family and now with an MD after
02:59:53
his name Leon was well on his way but Leon's picture perfect life disguised a troubled
03:00:03
relationship after 12 years of marriage his wife filed for divorce citing extreme mental cruelty and one year
03:00:11
later Leon was arrested for stalking his now ex Leon has to be in control when his ex-wife went to end their
03:00:20
relationship he wasn't going to have it um and he wasn't going to go down without a fight Leon isn't it true that
03:00:26
you've had brushes with the law involving stalking cyber stalking intimidation uh physical harassment
03:00:34
assault aren't all those true I plad guilty to a attempted cyber harassment charge that
03:00:43
was stemming from an acrimonious divorce that I went through with a my previous wife Leon admits that he called often
03:00:50
but he claims it was simply to speak with his Boys I Tried desperately to contact my kids over and over and over
03:00:58
again and I'm not going to apologize for that Leon finally moved on to a new residency and was living in Pittsburgh
03:01:06
where he met this woman 33-year-old Megan veras I met Megan in a hotel in Pittsburgh she was the assistant general
03:01:17
manager there the new couple moved to Houston there were lavish vacations family get togethers and yet
03:01:29
another residency Leon's seventh he's a failed doctor he's been kicked out of every Residency program he's ever been a
03:01:37
part of and what's the problem what was the basis of these dismissals do you know the belief that he was the smartest
03:01:43
guy in the room in ability to get along with people um and ability to get along with patients and in fact one of the
03:01:50
records that we found said that they believe that he was a danger to patients and that he would be a liability for
03:01:55
them to keep around three years into their relationship Megan vericast thought Leon
03:02:01
was a threat to her too Megan kicked Leon out of their apartment later accusing him of assaulting
03:02:09
her she wanted me to move all my stuff out she came there was very hostile the police uh were called there was no
03:02:18
violence of any kind and a day later she claimed that I had hit her and that you'd put your hand over her mouth yeah
03:02:23
which is not true Leon is about Leon smile D smile it frustrated him to know in that Megan varos would not forgive
03:02:31
him and the fact that he couldn't get Megan back frustrated him and angered him Leon was arrested in February
03:02:39
2017 for assault and stalking you can charge anybody with anything it doesn't mean that you're guilty of that the DA's
03:02:47
officers has been on this case since its Inception uh we help prosecutors are convinced that Lon knew his future as a
03:02:53
doctor would be destroyed if Megan testified against him so they believe he planned a little operation to make his
03:03:02
pain go away he feels like if Megan disappears if she goes away that his criminal case will go away and he can
03:03:12
resume his career as this beloved surgeon that he thinks that he is prosecutors claim Le decided what he
03:03:18
needed was a hitman and he thought he'd found one Taz are you a Hitman no were you ever willing to murder anyone for
03:03:31
money no no no no I would never do something like that Taz aay was introduced to Leon by a mutual
03:03:40
acquaintance did Leon ever tell you how he wanted his ex-girlfriend to be killed
03:03:46
yes he he actually offered suggestions one of them was a syringe to the heart with potassium
03:03:53
would give her a heart attack and that would actually kill her Taz is a decorated former US Army soldier who saw
03:04:02
Leon's deadly demand as an opportunity to Save a Life I saw somebody in danger and I knew that I can do something about
03:04:10
it and I did something about it Leon knew Taz by the code name Zach he says Leon wanted him to kidnap Megan first to
03:04:21
talk her into taking him back and if that didn't work leaving town but that wasn't all if she doesn't leave what are
03:04:29
you going to do and he was like I want you to kill her I'm not going to comment on any of this it's just
03:04:35
ridiculous Taz says Leon paid him $99,000 which he happily spat to be honest I don't feel bad that I spent
03:04:45
Jacob's money matter of fact I feel really good I spent thisy money then the man Leon knew as Zach
03:04:53
vanished Leon Jacob was one of the most Unique Individuals I'd ever met bale bondsman Michael kubos this guy was
03:05:02
focused was very intimidating didn't shake my hand just wanted to know one thing I want Zach's number he said I've
03:05:10
paid Zach a lot of money to take care of this I felt like I was talking to the Devil Himself
03:05:23
[Music] tucked away on a side street in Houston is perhaps the most colorful bail
03:05:36
bondsman in all of Texas having hung out a bit with you you are the Elvis of bale
03:05:43
bondsman you have his name is Michael kubos these are people that we're looking for fugitives and he understands
03:05:51
the Criminal Mind I deal with the nicest the kindest and the meanest people on the face of the Earth I've bonded out
03:05:58
judges prostitutes preachers missionaries he's also a larger than life member of the Houston city council
03:06:11
who helped saved lives during Hurricane Harvey I can see you've been really working hard I know all the Major law
03:06:17
enforcement people in in the whole County Leon had stormed into kash's office he said I've paid Zach a lot of
03:06:27
money to take care of this said take care of what he said I want her out of the picture and and and I she can't be
03:06:36
testifying against me out of the picture out of the picture I believe that he meant ill toward this woman and that's
03:06:43
why I call the chief the chief of the chief of police in Houston Texas a search for the mysterious Zach was
03:06:51
triggered and investigators quickly learned his real name Taz a a name that kubos did recognize as a former military
03:07:00
man who is facing a misdemeanor theft charge for stealing from his roommate he was on bond with me he was still
03:07:11
free it took Houston police about a week to find Taz and that's when things got really
03:07:19
interesting to me Taz seemed genuinely concerned for Megan this man is an undercover officer with the Houston
03:07:28
Police Department who goes by the name detective Javier he didn't want to see her hurt so Taz agreed to participate in
03:07:37
a sting operation to help catch Leon Jacob in the act of soliciting a murder hello hey what's up man
03:07:48
how you doing Budd Taz told Leon that he felt he had grown too close to him and Valerie and thought it best to hire
03:07:56
another Hitman and he knew just the right guy can you meet me tomorrow yeah I I'll C my schedule no
03:08:05
problem the next day Taz would introduce leyon to his new Hitman undercover detective Javier but before Taz could
03:08:14
hang up Leon Dropped a Bomb we're taking care of both problems what both problems
03:08:21
both of the individuals that we're talking about uh okay Valerie McDaniel Leon's new
03:08:31
girlfriend The mild-mannered veteranarian Who friends had described as an angel wanted her ex-husband
03:08:39
murdered Valerie wants to talk to you about what he want she wants to do with her ex-husband okay that's good all
03:08:45
right just bring her with you tomorrow the next day Leon and Valerie met with Taz and detective Javier at this Olive
03:08:53
Garden to discuss the fate of both their exes over lunch the entire operation was
03:09:00
recorded the meeting lasted nearly 2 hours and began with Leon's Target Megan I don't want you to hurt her but I want
03:09:09
her to go he told me that he wanted me to run her off the road and threaten her but
03:09:17
then he would say to me if she does not understand that then you do what you have to do those options don't
03:09:25
work I don't we got we got do there was no doubt in my mind that Leon wanted Megan killed the subject
03:09:38
then turned to Valerie's Target her ex-husband Mac say if something would happen to
03:09:45
him be like car wreck or it could be a car wreck it could be a robbery going WR she was under the Bel that I was going
03:09:56
to carjack him and I was going to put a bullet in his head which is exactly what
03:10:02
I told her I was going to do but you need to give me to go ahead want to do that going take my
03:10:13
daughter the next day March 9th 2017 detective Javier called Leon to say he had good news that he insisted on
03:10:23
delivering in person are you afraid he went to their home where he informed them Mac was dead neither
03:10:32
wanted to see this photo which seemed to show Mac with a gunshot to the head when Valerie got the
03:10:41
news that her husband was dead was she emotional about it did she say say oh my God I never wanted to go this far she
03:10:50
did not show that what they didn't know is that Mac was alive and well he'd posed for those photos as part of this
03:10:58
elaborate sting operation believing Mack was dead Leon set his sights on Megan so you're going
03:11:08
to snatch her and you're going to bring her some and talk to her that's the plan I need to show up you call me later
03:11:15
that night these staged photographs of Megan were texted to Leon and he was told she was
03:11:25
so out of control she had to be killed she's dead she's gone I don't want to know
03:11:35
anything on that scale of good to evil in your mind what is Leon Jacob Leon is a very evil person he was
03:11:45
willing to do whatever he needed to do to [Music] [Music] survive it was probably around 2: or 3:
03:12:10
in the morning on March 10th 2017 Valerie McDaniel and her Livin boyfriend Leon Jacob get a wakeup call from
03:12:18
Sergeant Frank Quinn that will soon lead to an Oscar winning performance what's going on she lets them inside but she FS
03:12:29
surprise she can't understand why they're there remember just hours before detective Javier posing as a Hitman had
03:12:36
told her that Mack was dead but now Valerie has to convince police she is hearing it for the first time sorry I
03:12:45
had to tell you you heard from you recently she pretends to be upset she puts her head in her
03:12:52
hands uh she sits down and she acts like she's completely shocked and surprised that her ex-husband is dead is your
03:13:01
boyfriend here with you you think you can kind of be a little help [Music] to this surreal scene caught by the body
03:13:13
cameras of Houston Police is about to reach its climax [Music] we were hoping you could help us we had
03:13:21
to deliver some bad news to H oh my God [Music] like might have been a robbery going
03:13:33
wrong trying if anybody knows anything or no we to help us are you okay baby we've been here all
03:13:45
night we were here all they with and their their daughter and we were watching movies we haven't been out of the house
03:13:52
all day except then the cops decide to call cut on all this bad acting right now we're going to read you your rights
03:14:00
both of you have being arrested it is only then that the couple learns that both their intended targets
03:14:08
are alive and well I don't know why I'm being arrested Leon is Led Out can I get us sure I'm already cold
03:14:19
and Valerie has a much bigger concern her daughter who's been asleep in the apartment this whole time although not
03:14:28
caught on camera Mac arrives to pick up their 8-year-old and what did Valerie say to
03:14:35
her you know something along the lines of just you know taking you to your dad he's outside and he's going to take you
03:14:41
and it was very benign and you know just normal as could be and so all of a sudden sudden on the news media came the
03:14:49
arrest of two doctors a Houston woman and her boyfriend were charged with trying to have their exes killed and I'm
03:14:56
laying there thinking well that's not the Valerie I know and they show the film of her going up for her arraignment
03:15:05
you about fall out of your chair that almost rolled out of the bed because Leon has those other pending charges
03:15:12
related to Megan he doesn't make bail but Valerie does Valerie was rushed out the jail alongside family after and goes
03:15:20
home to wait for the legal process to play out I remember texting her throughout the week and calling her and
03:15:27
constantly sending her I love you you know we can get through this so happy you're
03:15:32
out Valerie's Veterinary license got suspended because of the charges Britney says Valerie was weighed down by her
03:15:40
arrest and the prospect she wouldn't be seeing her daughter for a long long time
03:15:48
she visited Valerie at her high-rise condo but I remember giving her a hug goodbye and I just felt the life in the
03:15:55
eyes was not there it's weird things it wasn't like Bam Bam Bam progression things just
03:16:03
gradually happened two weeks after the shock and shame of being charged with solicitation of capital murder Valerie
03:16:12
McDaniel used her iPad March 25th it's been a few days to record her side of the story I didn't wake up one day and
03:16:21
just say hey I want to kill my ex-husband for Valerie everything she loved was slipping
03:16:33
away I want to talk to my daughter I want to talk to [Music] Leon this I'm just not strong enough I
03:16:43
wish I were I just can't do it two days after her final recording on March 27th 2017 Valerie who once seemed Unstoppable
03:17:02
did the unthinkable she climbed over this very railing and jumped seven stories to her
03:17:13
death she wanted me to be home with her and we were going to get through this and it was devastating and
03:17:20
[Music] shocking I think that she was in a very vulnerable position when she met Leon
03:17:28
Jacob but I think he influenced her and brainwashed her I'm innocent and um as a human being
03:17:38
and as a physician that thought of killing somebody else is just goes against everything in my my nature it really
03:17:46
depends on what they Leon has hired one of the top defense attorneys in Texas George parum who says
03:17:53
Valerie McDaniel was the one calling all the shots I'm sorry for her demise but I
03:18:01
believe that Valerie uh is and was responsible for this entire scenario that she was the driver she was the
03:18:11
financier of all of this that that is my understanding the question now what will
03:18:18
a jury think on March 20th 2018 a week before the first anniversary of Valerie's
03:18:26
suicide this is a state of Texas versus Leon Philip Jacob Leon alone stands trial on two counts of solicitation of
03:18:36
capital murder one of the things you learn about Leon Jacob is he has to be in control ma
03:18:42
was going to die and Megan was going to die Cameron cigan is antha con's co-prosecutor he says Leon's motive was
03:18:51
clear there was two obstacles to the defendant's new life with Valerie mcdan it was Ma and it was Megan Mack could
03:19:00
keep Valerie away from him by making Valerie choose between the defendant and her daughter and Megan could make him
03:19:08
end up in prison George Pam's co-counsel Matthew ppil claims that it was the undercover
03:19:16
officer whose identity were protecting by calling detective Javier who pushed FY and Lon to make a deadly choice if it
03:19:25
was not her offic trying to make this into a television story and force his own narrative Leon would not be forced
03:19:31
here today to tell his story all right thank you all please be seated let's continue testimony begins with some of
03:19:38
the early stops on this long road to Justice starting with Megan he didn't want her to testify against him and he
03:19:45
had paid some a lot of money to make sure that she wouldn't be here to testify against him he actually wanted
03:19:52
me to um make her disappear oh basically he wanted to gone like dead call your next witness please before the trial
03:20:00
concludes two potential victims will rise from the dead to take the stand could you please introduce yourself to
03:20:07
the members of our jury and the jury will hear from Leon who says he's only guilty of being a Casanova I have no
03:20:16
problem sitting here and saying that I slept with Valerie 7 days after Megan and I broke up but I'm not on trial for
03:20:23
being a womanizer I'm on trial for solicitation of capital murder so you can assassinate my character all you
03:20:28
want up here doesn't make me guilty of what You' charged me with [Music] one of the prosecution's strongest
03:20:49
Witnesses Megan veros Leon's ex-girlfriend who had filed assault charges against him in January
03:20:57
2017 takes the stand it was a long time coming um I tried to leave several times
03:21:03
she recalls Leon coming to the house where she was staying just after the alleged incident I
03:21:10
obviously didn't want to be near him so I hid in a closet why did you hide in a closet because I was afraid of Leon he
03:21:20
came in and was screaming and yelling and he said I know that that [ __ ] is here Megan says Leon kept pursuing her
03:21:28
when she was at work he was in the bushes outside um on a cell phone um waiting for me and when she drove to her
03:21:36
new home at that point I called 911 to let them know um that you know my ex-boyfriend who assaulted me was um in
03:21:46
a car behind me and then some point Leon had gotten out of his vehicle in front of mine just
03:21:52
yelling and waving his hand saying you know just talk to me just talk to me I need to talk to you Leon was arrested a
03:22:00
second time on stalking charges on February 16th 2017 less than 10 days after that Megan
03:22:08
was contacted by police and warned her life could be in danger she fled to her hometown of Pittsburgh but police soon
03:22:17
called her to return to Houston to be part of that sting operation I sat in a chair in a warehouse and um they zip
03:22:26
tied my hands and my feet um and put duct tap around my mouth to make me look as if I had been kidnapped I was crying
03:22:34
and really upset next it was Valerie's ex-husband Mac McDaniel's turn we were married for
03:22:41
17 years and divorced in 2016 he recalled finding out his ex-wife was living with leyon what was your initial
03:22:50
reaction to that my initial reaction was not good and why was that because I was
03:22:56
aware of his history his criminal history did you convey to Valerie that you did not want the defendant around
03:23:03
your daughter on the weeks that she had custody yes ma'am and did she agree to that she did at some point did you learn
03:23:11
that she was not abiding by the agreement I did Mack tells the jury he too was is notified he was the target of
03:23:18
a murder plot then the prosecution shows the jury that photo can you describe for
03:23:24
the members of the jury what you're doing here staging my own death did they pour blood on you Pig's
03:23:31
blood 3 days into the 5-day long trial it's the defense's turn they call their star
03:23:41
witness I never asked anybody to kill anybody does the word kill kill hurt harm in any way shape or form appear at
03:23:50
any of those recorded conversations not on my behalf except for to exclude them from
03:23:56
things I want done I never asked to have anybody hurt killed hared um kidnapped I never asked for anybody to
03:24:08
be in any way physically hurt but the prosecution says that's not true she's dead she's gone
03:24:17
I don't want to know anything and they claim those undercover tapes back that up did you not want anybody hurt when
03:24:23
you said inject her with potassium chloride stop her heart untraceable I said that was a something
03:24:33
you could do I didn't say that for him to do that did you recall telling the undercover officer if those options
03:24:41
don't work I don't give a then you got to do what you got to do because my survival is more important
03:24:48
yes Leon's own words come back to haunt him regarding Mack as well after the undercover officer proposed a fatal
03:24:56
carjacking it could be a robbery Leon offered $110,000 in four weekly installments so you're agreeing to give
03:25:08
him $2500 just after he tells you I'm going to put a bullet in his head and throw
03:25:14
him on the street if that's what you say well that's in the recording it's not what I say it's
03:25:21
what Javier and you said right I guess Leon and the defense team tried to make their point that the
03:25:30
undercover officer was pressuring them into making deadly decisions I kept on telling them I didn't want anybody hurt
03:25:37
and they kept on going back to the theme of killing people I felt a lot of pressure from them to sort of commit to
03:25:45
this idea killing people and that was never my intent were you asking them just to threaten
03:25:56
people essentially yes did you actually want any harm to come to anybody no but the prosecution points out that when
03:26:04
Leon thought Megan was tied up and refusing to cooperate he did nothing to stop the lethal final step you'd agree
03:26:13
with me that you never said no no I don't want you to do anything stop this you didn't say anything like that did
03:26:20
you no the jury gets the case has the jury reached unanimous verdicts and takes just an hour and 15 minutes before
03:26:32
returning to the courtroom we the jury find the defendant Leon Philip Jacob guilty of solicitation
03:26:38
of capit to murderers charged in the indictment Leon is found guilty on both counts of conspiring to have men Megan
03:26:46
and Mack kill the trial moves to the sentencing phase the same jury that found Leon
03:26:54
guilty will decide his punishment new testimony begins I have no sense of trust um just constantly afraid that something
03:27:07
else is going to happen the only thing that might impact Leon's sentence more than the words of his
03:27:13
exgirlfriend may end up being the words of his ex-wife State calls Annie Morrison Annie Morrison has flown in
03:27:21
from Chicago to testify yes there was a time that we got into a fight and he pulled a knife on me there was one time
03:27:29
he pushed my head down onto the counter and and bruised my face near my eye Annie recounts an incident she says
03:27:37
occurred when she was 7 months pregnant with their second child he threatened to punch me in the
03:27:44
stomach um he kicked my legs I remember I remember bringing my legs up as far as
03:27:52
I could toward my chest to try to protect my stomach he threatened that if I ever left that he would kill
03:28:00
me he said that nobody would ever find my body because he was a doctor and he had access to chemicals that
03:28:08
would that would dissolve my body Annie did leave moving to her parents' home in Chicago that's when Lon
03:28:18
started threatening her parents thank you judge may I publish st's exhibit number 81 to the jury as the jury heard
03:28:24
in this recording Annie made of a phone call with Leon I will torture them in front of
03:28:36
you the defendant please St the jury took just 1 hour to decide Leon Jacob's sentence life in prison on each
03:28:48
count solicitation of capital murder for Megan veros and Mac McDaniel Victim Impact statement
03:28:58
please in Texas the victim impact statements come after the sentence Megan takes the stand one last time you will
03:29:08
never see your children grow up you will not be a part of their lives and they will be F better for it you destroy me
03:29:16
financially and took away my sense of security but you can do that no more while you sit in jail I hope you think
03:29:22
of me the girl that you called poor and uneducated because it's because of me you will be in prison for life
03:29:32
[Music] [Music]