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The Mortician, The Murder, The Movie | Full Episode

February 06, 2024 / 42:09

This episode covers the true crime story of Bernie TAA, a funeral home director in Carthage, Texas, who murdered wealthy widow Marjorie Nent. Key discussions include the complex relationship between Bernie and Marjorie, the details of her murder, and the subsequent trial that captivated the community.

Bernie TAA, portrayed by Jack Black in the film 'Bernie,' had a close relationship with Marjorie Nent, who was 42 years his senior. The episode reveals how Bernie allegedly manipulated Marjorie, stealing millions from her before killing her in 1996.

Local figures, including district attorney Danny Buck Davidson and family members of Marjorie, share their perspectives on the case. They discuss the community's mixed feelings about Bernie, who was seen as a beloved figure despite his horrific actions.

The episode also highlights the trial process, including the arguments made by both the prosecution and defense. It details how Bernie was initially sentenced to life in prison, but later released, only to face a new trial that resulted in a 99-year sentence.

Throughout the episode, the impact of the crime on Marjorie's family and the ongoing fascination with Bernie TAA's story are emphasized, illustrating the complexities of morality and justice in this case.

TLDR

Bernie TAA, a funeral director, murdered wealthy widow Marjorie Nent, leading to a controversial trial and community fascination.

Episode

42:09
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real people real crimes real life drama in the mid 1980s a young funeral home director named Bernie
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Titi came to the little East Texas town of [Music] Carthage it's beautiful yes I love the
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people here in Carthage Carthage is just a small town of 6,000 people a lot of people got very wealthy on oil fall in
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gas there's a lot of little widows in town who have a lot of money none more so than Mrs margorie
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Nan Bernie Titi was running a con on my grandmother they picked up a gun shot her four times in the back and
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then he buried her in her own deep freeze my name is Bernie TAA you may have heard about me this is my story
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they did a movie about me me called Bernie Jack Black who's going to play you [Applause]
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yes Richard link later is my favorite filmmaker I've ever worked with all right cut I'm Rick linklater and I directed
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the movie Bernie there was something about this story that stayed with me and I think it was that relationship the
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Miss nent Bernie relationship and the Bernie Tito that you know is he a good man he's the sweetest guy you know he's
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the a great man very complex character is that part of what attracted you to this
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film The thing about playing Bernie is that he's lovable and it's really important to
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Bernie that he be loved perf submiss and I can relate to that visions of I have a little bit of that in me too
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you know this would be funny if it was wouldn't so damn sad apparently marjerie was tough she was vile and hateful and
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just mean w hi hello she's very loving I miss her Bernie stole $3.8 million from
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my grandmother and then he put four bullets in her back at close range how did this happen and that was what the
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movie explored she didn't have a lot of friends she didn't have a lot of people around her to take care of her and to
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love her and that's where Bernie came in did she ever look at you Bernie and say
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Bernie I love you well we often told each other that yes she was a wonderful woman and didn't deserve to be executed
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by Bernie Titi I have to live with is every day of my life and I don't like that I think the film is asking the
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question can the nicest person in the world I don't like thinking of Mary be capable of the worst
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[Music] [Music] [Music] act [Music] let's go back and start the Bernie story from the
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beginning where'd you grow up well right here in East Texas one way or another Bernie TAA has
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been dealing with death and darkness since he was 3 years old my daddy and my mother they had a car accident and my
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mother was riding in the passenger side of the car and uh um daddy never forgave himself for that
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his mother dead his father started drinking hard and died when Bernie was just 15 so a lot of death had occurred
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in our in our family things only got worse for Bernie he claims he was molested by his own Uncle Elmer ducet 12
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when my uncle began molesting me ducet has always denied Bernie's allegations did it darken your world in some way yes
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it did Bernie learned firsthand that the wounded lonely and those the dead leave
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behind need comforting this was Bernie Tia's world I guess you could say that's true here Carlton shamburger is the
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owner of Hawthorne Funeral Home where Bernie worked for 9 years he was very successful here at Hawthorns and as a
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funeral director overall he could do everything he could he was talented could do everything from makeup hair he
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could sing he could preach even out coloration then apply highlights it would just be part of what inspired
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director Richard linklater and actor Jack Black to collaborate on the Darkly comic movie Bernie too much color does
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not make one look more alive he was on a lot of people's list to literally sing them to Heaven he knew how to take care
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of families he could connect that quickly connect yeah exactly so it wasn't long after 27-year-old
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Bernie arrived in Carthage back in 1985 that everyone seemed to know him from the dusty dirt roads one of his
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excellent qualities was he was a gourmet cook where Jack Payne and Ira bounds live I think that he was well thought of
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amongst the little old ladies in town and at Comer's famous barbecue he taught our Sunday school he preached a
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funeral for us even down at the courthouse did you know Bernie TAA yes where local Legend district attorney
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Danny Buck Davidson ruled back then and still rules today everyone sense something good had come to town you
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think G I'm glad this guy came here he's an asset to the community everybody love
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Barney I come to the G alone well I enjoyed singing in the choir and then I got active also in the
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school here in the drama Department I was acting and and and doing in plays and you were often times the star often
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times often times yes did you feel loved in this community very much so I felt very much loved local ladies Lisa and
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Susie cochrell sum it up simply he was a God he God I mean almost people really s
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like that yeah he's got a warmth got a magnetism just a super generous sensitive guy and
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is is everybody's best friend Bernie TAA always had that human touch he knew just
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what to say to bring a smile to anyone who needed it so when a grieving vulnerable Widow came here to the
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Hawthorne Funeral Home Bernie saw an opportunity to do what he did best in 1990 the town's leading banker and
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oilman Rod nent hard-nosed tough but fair businessman man dies skip Hollingsworth covered the case for Texas
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monthly magazine and Bernie is in charge of his funeral I inbombed his body and got him ready for the funeral and Mrs
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Nan arrives and I'd met with her about the arrangements Marjorie nent would one day be portrayed by Oscar winning
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actress Shirley mlan I saw her to the grave site we had the funeral service there and then I took her back to the
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car are you thinking to yourself well we've parted ways we did some business and never shall meet again well no cuz
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that's not how I I conduct funerals as I often do with the widows widowers check
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on them uh go by the house make sure they're all right did they appreciate your your dropping by oh very much so
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why don't you know that I was thinking about you you know these times can be hard well Margie wasn't a Huggy C person
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Ruth cochrell would come to know as much as anyone in Carthage about the Friendship of Bernie and margorie well
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we are first cousins were you guys close we got pretty close could margerie be difficult I think any of us can be
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difficult I mean as an old setting hand [Music] sometimes in small towns anywhere your
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reputation is not often defined by who you are it's by what people think of you and so the reputation did get around
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that Mrs Nan could be cantankerous could Marjorie be mean yes sir she could and another thing newly widowed
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74-year-old margorie nent was loaded with cash she would kind of be a call a blue blood as much as $6 million some
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soaps and a little bubble bath to soo the in the tub Bernie wasn't about to be turned away come in oh that it would be
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my pleasure I felt sorry for margorie I really did and soon Marjorie and Bernie were
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seen on the scene The Odd Couple of Carthage we'd go to the Cherokee club we would go to the Jalapeno Tree here in
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Carthage yeah they were uh they were a pair and it wasn't long before marjerie wanted more than a part-time dinner date
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and Bernie complied SL she asked me to leave the funeral home she just wanted more and more and more of me around she
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actually hired Bernie and paid him a salary there's this notion out there that you were attracted to margery's
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money yes um I'm aware of that uh I that was not part of the deal that was not part of my wanting to be around
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Marjorie there's members of margery's family that tell a different story Bernie TAA is what a
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thief just two hours up the road in Dallas these are some of our old family photos of my grandmother three proud
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granddaughters everything that has been said about her is not her have a very different take on just why Bernie was
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befriending Marjorie he saw her as a mark he stole her money when he was about to be found
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out he shot her and killed her that's the real story that is the real [Music] [Music]
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story is this case about money yes it is how so I think that defines everything The Majestic Gates swung open to a
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kingdom of riches and Bernie TAA rolled right in I think the Fatal mistake my grandmother made is she ended up buying
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a $30,000 headstone from Bernie D from that moment he marked her within months of meeting at her
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husband's funeral Bernie was fulltime at marjerie Nan's ey popping home helping her with anything that she needed help
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with make her coffee make sure she was up she was all right he was there he was there for her
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they loved each other yeah Bernie loves everybody and I think he's the one person in the world in that era who
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could feel that from Marge when no one else could I never thought of them as being lovey Dobies never just just just
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together just friends I never saw him kiss you never did nope and da Danny Buck probably
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never would because there was something about Bernie that made folks Wonder back
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then I'm a gay man and it's hard to be a a gay man and being out in a small town
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did margerie know you were gay we never discussed it never discussed no so what was the attraction she's 42 years older
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than you right he was targeting wealthy women well I think the attraction for Marjorie was uh the same as it was for
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every everybody else in town he was just a a lovable guy when you spend time with him you
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want to hang out with him less than a year after her husband's death Bernie and margerie started
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hanging out big time trading in the back roads for Broadway we'd go up on Friday
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morning and then come back on Sunday saw Broadway shows we had a lot of fun together Bernie TAA the morti who made
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about $24,000 a year now had access to marjerie Nan's 10,000 sqt mansion in Carthage her checkbook and a world of
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opportunity they went on great adventures together away hi hello they had a ball together they traveled the
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world we went to Washington Baltimore and then took a a cruise down the East Coast we went to uh ger Germany
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England Scotland and Wales to Egypt I went to the pyramids we just went everywhere was she having a good time
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she was having a great time he was her man servant is it too busy the guy hired to
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take care of her every need clipped her toenails all the uh nitty-gritty and for
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Bernie the perks kept piling up marjerie showered him with cash clothing cars even flying lessons and planes to
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go with it and in turn Bernie gave gifts to the good people of Carthage he provided
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money he provided scholarships doing good doing a lot of good in Carthage turns out he was generous with M Nan's
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money he was kind of the conduit to her generosity to her better Angel she spoiled me rotten but the nents say
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their Grandma never needed Bernie or anyone to teach her kindness my grandmother was a loving sweet woman and
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she was kind she was she was kind and she loved telling stories this is really eye
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openening guys to talk to you this is really eye opening in '93 like we went there and she opened
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the door and she hugged me and she kissed me like eight times but whatever margery's affection for her
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granddaughters the stakes were about to change Marjorie nent filed a new will leaving everything to Bernie and nothing
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to her family did you encourage her to do that no she brought that to me uh one day and it was in
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1991 why would she do that well I felt like she could felt like she could trust trust me I guess it was on one of the
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next family visits to Carthage that the nent women got a hint of How Deeply Bernie had moved into their
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grandmother's life flash forward to 1994 we go to see her and she opens the door and she goes I don't know who you
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are and I go what do you mean you don't know who we are and she goes I don't know who you are she's like you need to
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leave and we went in and there were pictures of Bernie every everywhere and we said who is this you know nanny who
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is this and she said well he's my friend and the thing that Disturbed me was that
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all of the pictures of my grandfather were gone for shanana Alexandria and Susan Grandma margery's new Behavior was
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disturbing she was like a school girl in love and the motives of her new companion deeply suspect we believe that
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my grandmother was in love with Bernie and believed that he was in love with her when was the last time you guys saw
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your grandmother alive that visit in 1994 and now they worried that Bernie was well on the way to tricking Marjorie
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out of millions I think it's the perfect example of a sweetheart scam um that I have ever seen my grandmother believed
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he loved her how do you know that cuz I saw her but Bernie tells a different story claiming that after 5 years
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attending to Marjorie the relationship had soured and that even though he had his own modest home he felt trapped by
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Marjorie and wanted out Bernie claims marjorie's 247 demands had turned into an abusive relationship she was very uh
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mean-spirited very um uh abrupt with me very um could she be abusive yes very much so in some ways what was her place
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his gilded cage and she closed the door on that cage yeah we were uh in a heated discussion
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about um I I I told her I said I just I've got to I can't do this anymore and I said I I I can't be your friend
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anymore I just can't do this go ahead desert me she was very distraught you can't leave me you're not going to leave
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me no one has ever left me I know you're so I backed my car out of the garage and by the time I got out there
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she had locked the gate on me until I finally de okay I won't leave you I won't leave well just park your car jump
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over the gate run you know whatever but Bernie is not one built for conflict I think he takes it as his fate I can't
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get away from this woman the door's right there Bernie but it's not as simple as that uh people get trapped
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people get trapped no exit no way out and at least according to Bernie feeling like
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margerie nen prisoner reminded him of the abuse he says he suffered as a boy and in some ways did you feel trapped in
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this relationship just as you had been trapped with your uncle yes yes I did I think he is a killer I think he
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has no remorse I don't believe a word that comes out of the man's [Music] mouth [Music]
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[Applause] Bernie TAA claims it pains him to recall how controlling and contener margorie nent
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could be I don't like the things that she did but I don't like talking about him
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either personally and I think he's Pure Evil let's move now to November 19th 1996 tell me about that day and what
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from your perspective led to the tragedy I had gone out to the house to make coffee early
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7:30 got her up that's enough of that ex I don't want you to talk about the shooting this is attorney jod Cole she
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would eventually become a big part of Bernie Tito's life this is all public records I do not want him to talk about
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the shooting and how his story would be told that's enough yet when we spoke with Bernie jod Cole stopped him from
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telling those Grizzly details hard facts everyone from Carthage to Hollywood now knows shot her in the back
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four times shot her dead with this 22 caliber rifle the first bullet in her back makes
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her paralyzed so she falls straight down onto the concrete he shoots her again he
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then walks walks straight up to her body puts the nuzzle to the gun to the back of her and shoots it two more times
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those graphic details would be missing from the movie I remember right before we shot that scene I went up to Jack
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Black and I said have you ever killed anyone in a movie like this yeah yeah that was one of the hardest scenes in
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the movie AR you see a scene like that in a script and you Circle it in the calendar
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when you're going to shoot that and you think about it a lot why can you say something oh no no no no no Jesus no no
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no what have I done I'm sorry that that happened in my life I caused the death of somebody that
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I loved days turned into months as Bernie kept his awful secret and marjorie's family they began to wonder what had
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become of Grandma I started asking my dad have you heard from Nanny I I can't get her and you know maybe she's on
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another trip she'll call you when she gets back and the nent women all busy college students at the time this was
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Christmas it's my grandparents admit there was a reluctance to reach out to Grandma margorie we had the strange
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encounter in 1994 where we didn't feel welcome and every Sunday he'd come sit right beside
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me and give me a full report on Margie and what were you thinking to yourself I'm thinking you're lying that's what
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I'm thinking and I just made up one thing or another you told one she had Alzheimer's another she was in the
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hospital such a a difficult time and Mama would tell us what he had been saying and and it's like Mama are you
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crazy he's either got her locked up in the house poisoning her or he's already killed her if I had gone to the police
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and then been proven wrong I would have been left out of Carthage because people thought so much
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of Bernie so week after week month after month passes marjor is nowhere to be seen nine
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months nine months it was August 18th 1997 the nents had finally shared their concerns with the local
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sheriff I get a call from my dad he and I drive down and it's clear that no one's been there
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for a very long time so where was Marjorie nent I wanted to check the freezer my grandmother was a child of
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the depression so you didn't waste food turning back up the hallway so when Alexandria and the sheriff's deputies
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got to the house she knew exactly where she wanted to go she walked down this hallway Alexandria knew that if her
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grandmother had left the house she would have put everything she kept in the refrigerator in a freezer located inside
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this Pantry she opened the door and there it was it was so quick it was like I walked in I said there's tape on the
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freezer and this is freezer she untaped it and raised it up and threw the lid open and there was a top of Miss n's
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head and I looked at my dad and I said they found her and he just kind of did this and all I wanted at that
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moment was my mom do I regret the fact that I didn't rush down there to stop him from doing
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this yes because that's what you do when you love someone and you find out that the person that they were in love with
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shot them four times in the back as you think how could I have saved them while a motive remained unclear there was Zero
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mystery about the prime suspect Bernie's name was top of list Bernie was easy to
00:25:06
find he was right in Carthage at home when the sheriff's deputies showed up and brought him in for questioning I was
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so relieved when they came for me and arrested me it felt like this big weight had been
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lifted off my shoulder how could you come to my house eat my food and sing hymns and my cousin over there in the
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Deep Freeze it's Grim when you know you see an old lady on video being pulled out of
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a freezer those are images that stay with you and I think it took two days to thow out and for them to do an autopsy
00:25:52
strange yeah that same day Bernie TAA confessed to Penola County sheriff's deputies that he murdered margorie nent
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there wasn't a question in anybody's mind everybody knew thank you're right Danny Buck Davidson would charge Bernie
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with first-degree premeditated murder and seek the ultimate penalty laugh life in prison maximum sence and that's when
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this Twisted Texas tale really got strange people in the community were coming in saying Berney was a real good
00:26:25
guy if he killed her he had a reason for doing poor Bernie he had his groupies Bernie had his groupies yep some people
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are saying hey let him go some people are saying no put them away for life you just have never seen a story
00:26:41
like this come across your desk ever and people still want to talk about it they're still mystified about what
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really happened on that November afternoon that led Bernie to shoot her four [Applause]
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times I'd stay Bernie TAA had preached and comforted and sang his way into this proud small Town's everyday
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life he held a special place in the hearts of many people in Carthage Texas some folks even suggest Bernie was next
00:27:29
door to the angels and I said he's an angel all right he's an angel of death your job as a prosecutor you got a
00:27:37
man who's admitted he put four bullets in the back of a little old lady put her in a preure and kept spin her money
00:27:43
while she was dead and you have a community saying leave him alone that's what would they say go easy
00:27:51
on Barney it happened so often he asked for a change of venue and and he got one
00:27:59
the trial of Bernie TAA for murdering marjerie nent was moved 50 Mi away and in February of 1999 Danny Buck told his
00:28:08
tale to a jury who had never heard about Bernie I thought it was greed and betrayal that's what I sold to the jury
00:28:19
Bernie's defense was that he killed margerie in an act of passion that her murder was not premeditated I
00:28:28
don't know what happened that morning but jury did not relate to him they related to
00:28:38
me the trial lasted less than a week how long did it take this jury to make its decision I think it took them maybe 20
00:28:48
minutes to find him guilty 9 years after he met marjerie newon at her husband's funeral Bernie
00:28:56
was sentenced to life life in prison which is the top Max sentence and I felt pretty good about it I deserve time I've
00:29:06
done a particularly horrible thing the worst thing in my life Case Closed except for this Richard
00:29:17
linklater couldn't get the tale of Bernie TAA out of his head I ended up attending the trial and started thinking
00:29:24
of this maybe there's a movie here Rick and Skip Hollingsworth wrote The Bernie screenplay and brought it to Jack Black
00:29:33
and he said hey I never told you about this thing that I've been obsessed with this story about this fellow Bernie TAA
00:29:40
and so I said let me read this thing amaz Jack Black became so intrigued he agreed to play the lead
00:29:50
role but not before he and Link later paid a visit to a Texas Maximum Security Prison to try and understand just who
00:30:00
Bernie TAA really was I wanted to come and uh meet you I still think it's important if uh if I want to play a real
00:30:10
person that I that I should meet you love be around people I'm just a people person black wanted to know what made
00:30:17
Bernie tick right down to what he felt in the days after he murdered Marjorie that must have been incredibly stressful
00:30:26
that period with the have no Earth idea it was absolutely horrendous if you're playing a person
00:30:34
and you have access to them you got to go see them it's just one of the rules of the game I'm very appreciative of of
00:30:40
them coming to meet me and I have to stay here unless something changes oh there's one man in particular I can
00:30:46
think of i' you like to talk to the movie Bernie also featured Matthew mccon as Danny Buck Danny Buck's coming to get
00:30:54
you first ja over here please in April 2012 it premiered in Rick's hometown of Austin critics loved it I know you hate
00:31:05
me this idea that my grandmother was a monster is ludicrous the Newen family thought it was beyond offensive it was a
00:31:14
complete lie it was devastating to us I mean they took the most awful part of our lives and just laughed about it and
00:31:25
joked about it it's like he castes fell over the entire area and now the Bernie TAA story was about to take yet another
00:31:33
bizarre twist that began right at the movie premiere a little feisty lady comes up to me and says I bet there was
00:31:42
some you know crazy stuff going on to the trial she's appeals lawyer jod Cole and after watching the movie she got a
00:31:50
hunch that the trial of Bernie TAA had been a miscarriage of Justice I want the world to know that Bernie TAA is a good
00:31:59
person and that this outcome is unacceptable I said look at that he snaps and so I thought why did he get a
00:32:09
life sentence she asked link later if he had the transcripts from Tia's 1999 murder trial he came with his boxes of
00:32:19
transcripts put it on her desk and like I don't know have at it jod poured over the files knowing that Bernie's sentence
00:32:28
hinged on Danny Buck's argument that the murder was premeditated and within a couple of
00:32:34
weeks she had come to see me is there a miracle that's about to occur yes and jod Cole did a lot of work toward that
00:32:42
Miracle happening all [Music] right Marie margerie are you okay that morning I felt like I wasn't a
00:33:00
part of the shooting 16 years after he shot marjerie nent dead Bernie painted a picture for defense attorney jod Cole
00:33:09
about how he felt that awful morning I felt like I wasn't even there and I have learned that that is called a
00:33:17
dissociative episode I think it's a classic case of a kind of a disassociated moment that's what this
00:33:23
whole case hinges on a dissociative episode the new age psychological term would
00:33:30
break the case against Bernie TAA wide open when they are overwhelmed with stress and emotion they
00:33:39
actually disassociate which is leave their body and Bernie's body the theory goes
00:33:47
killed marjerie without his mind taking part and he shot her yes involuntarily the nen family would have their own take
00:33:56
on on Jody's ideas not connected with reality thoroughly confused this woman had been abusing him for a very long
00:34:05
time and his body acted in a way to end that abuse Bernie also confided in jod what he says is his darkest secret about
00:34:15
that childhood sexual abuse he claims he suffered at the hands of that Uncle jod brought the findings to the DA
00:34:24
and he was sold what do you include in terms of why this murder occurred the child abuse and the abuse of
00:34:35
relationship I think that he did not plan on killing her Denny Buck says if he had to do it all over again he would
00:34:43
have sought a much lighter sentence 20 years would have been the maximum sentence not because Danny Buck want to
00:34:51
me it's what the law says Danny Buck then went to B for the killer he had once helped convict and on May 6th 2014
00:35:03
Bernie T's life sentence thrown out a new sentencing trial is ordered and Bernie is released from prison for the
00:35:11
time being lots of Miracles have happened in my life the next miracle was in the parking lot Mr linklater picked
00:35:18
me up and we drove to Austin the real life Bernie Titi just got out of an East Texas prison uh this is Bernie's little
00:35:26
apartment he lived down here he put me up in his apartment at his home in some ways did Bernie become part of the
00:35:34
family yeah very much I mean did you ever babysit your kids yeah in Austin Bernie went about creating a new life
00:35:42
all on borrowed time he joined the Gay Men's Choir in the time of King Herod he became a regular at Pastor Sid Hall's
00:35:50
Church our folks surrounded him like mother hens just loving him he was definitely feeling the uh Ecstasy of
00:36:01
[Applause] Freedom well my first thought is how is this happening the nent granddaughters
00:36:08
found it all beyond belief Richard linklater ConEd Richard L CL is just as ConEd as my grandmother
00:36:18
was I think I'm pretty uncontable I think Danny bet got enthralled with Hollywood I'll say
00:36:26
that's B before the sentencing trial Danny Buck recused himself he was replaced by two
00:36:33
prosecutors determined to put Bernie TAA back behind bars this was just a straightup execution I think he's conned
00:36:43
Hollywood and he's con the whole Judicial System Jane stars and Assistant Attorney General Lisa Tanner weren't
00:36:50
buying it Bernie didn't have a dissociative episode this case is about abusing elderly vulnerable people it's
00:36:59
about abusing marjerie nent financially and it's about just cold blooded murder what do we have in front of us here we
00:37:07
have just small portions of the paper trail Lisa Tanner would allege Bernie regularly forged marjerie Nan's
00:37:15
signature he was very good at signing her signature manually manipulated her bank accounts this is what he showed
00:37:21
margorie but this is what he really deposited we had 14 of these all Ed her brokerage statements the original of
00:37:29
this document is literally a cut and pasted dummied up statement all of this he's pocketing her money both while
00:37:37
margerie was alive and after Bernie had killed her and stuffed her in her freezer the numbers ended up being
00:37:45
approximately $3.8 million total Bernie's motive for murder came into Focus he was about to be found out
00:37:55
about in April 2016 after 2 years of Freedom Bernie Tia's new sentencing trial began is the
00:38:06
jury here and ready to go it was moved to Henderson Texas because Bernie still had so many friends and fans in Carthage
00:38:15
we began with the state Miss Tanner Lisa Tanner put Bernie in her sights this is
00:38:20
a real case with a real murderer he did that and Hollywood so we're going to talk about that in a non-f fictionalized
00:38:29
non hollywoodized kind of way Hollywood means you know lack of morality thank you guys but I took that really personal
00:38:39
cuz I don't live in Hollywood I'm an indie Texas director Rick link later was called to the stand to defend his friend
00:38:48
I think he's a incredibly nice generous man who you know did a horrible thing the
00:38:57
director and those who love Bernie argued he had paid his dues with time already served 16
00:39:04
years yeah I'd say he served enough time and Bernie's Uncle under oath denied ever having molested Bernie you say
00:39:13
never never but did admit writing him a letter sexual in nature Bernie did not testify at the trial I mean I just there
00:39:24
there just some questions they don't have any [Music] answers two dramatic versions of
00:39:33
margerie Newton's murder have now been told one on the big screen the other in a courtroom in Henderson Texas the
00:39:41
question now is who will the jurors believe sudden passion dissociative episode Snappy when he took that gun and
00:39:54
pointed it down straight to the ground and put it in her back that justified a life sentence then Bernie are you a
00:40:01
danger to society no sir not at all the jury goes out to deliberate Alexandria what's going through your
00:40:10
mind you know at that moment all you can do is pray on April 2nd 2016 some 26 years years after he met
00:40:27
marjerie nent the jury once again sentenced Bernie TAA to 99 years in prison for 99 years
00:40:38
alive everyone in that courtroom knew that my grandmother was not mean she did not deserve to die and that this man
00:40:47
deserved to go away for the rest of his life when I heard 99 years I mean it was
00:40:55
just it was devastating he's back in prison for life it's very discouraging now what's as certain as
00:41:06
his life sentence is this deep in the Heart of Texas Bernie TAA is [Music] loved even today is there a Bernie TAA
00:41:19
fan club in Carthage yes not as big as it once was but it's here [Music] [Music]
00:41:55
he [Music] m

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Biggest twist
  • 85
    Most shocking
  • 85
    Most controversial
  • 80
    Most heartbreaking

Episode Highlights

  • The Twisted Tale of Bernie TAA
    Bernie TAA, a beloved figure, confessed to murdering Marjorie Nent, leading to a bizarre trial.
    “People still want to talk about it.”
    @ 26m 41s
    February 06, 2024
  • Trial and Sentencing
    After a quick trial, Bernie was sentenced to life in prison for the murder.
    “The trial lasted less than a week.”
    @ 28m 36s
    February 06, 2024
  • A New Chance
    Bernie's life sentence was thrown out, leading to a new sentencing trial.
    “Bernie's life sentence thrown out.”
    @ 35m 03s
    February 06, 2024
  • 99 Years in Prison
    The jury sentenced Bernie TAA to 99 years in prison, a devastating outcome for many.
    “When I heard 99 years, it was just devastating.”
    @ 40m 55s
    February 06, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • It was devastating to us.
    The Mortician, The Murder, The Movie | Full Episode
  • I felt like I wasn't even there.
    The Mortician, The Murder, The Movie | Full Episode
  • I think he's conned Hollywood and the whole Judicial System.
    The Mortician, The Murder, The Movie | Full Episode
  • It was just... devastating.
    The Mortician, The Murder, The Movie | Full Episode

Key Moments

  • Community Reaction26:20
  • Trial Begins28:01
  • Life Sentence28:56
  • Movie Premiere31:01
  • Miscarriage of Justice31:50
  • Dissociative Episode33:19
  • New Sentencing Trial38:00
  • Final Verdict40:30

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown