00:00:03
[music] people are so much more than how they are trying to survive in this world.
00:00:20
I wasn't making ends meet. So, I made the decision to post nude photos of myself on the internet to make
00:00:30
more money. I was definitely concerned about [music] the risks of being so exposed on the internet and you
00:00:42
never know [music] what's going to happen. Sometimes I think about Cat West and I
00:00:49
think about where she would be today and how much more of her life she could have
00:00:55
fulfilled. [music] [music] I started getting Facebook messages that a murder had happened in Caller.
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[music] you know, a beautiful woman nude in a street in a nice subdivision. That is what doesn't happen every day
00:01:21
around here. And that's what drove the story. [music] Cat West, she was 42, was found dead on
00:01:31
January 13th, 2018. [music] She was a beautiful woman. And she looked a little bit like Marilyn
00:01:40
Monroe. >> Female in the roadway naked. CPR no longer in progress. Female not breathing.
00:01:48
>> You believe it was murder? >> I do. >> It's a mysterious murder case. A married
00:01:51
mom found dead outside her home. >> We didn't know much about Cat West at all, and we certainly didn't know that
00:01:59
her husband Jeff was a suspect. Jeff could not have possibly done it. I believe Cat was murdered, but I do not
00:02:10
believe that it was by her husband. It really turned out that Cat was a lot more than just a wife and a stay-at-home
00:02:18
mom. [music] Cat was the very out there, exuberant, lively. She was the limelight
00:02:26
of everything that we did. Cat West was posting pictures on Only Fans, which [music] is a website where people pay a
00:02:32
subscription to see racy photos. It's sort of the happy medium [music] between porn and the Brady Bunch.
00:02:43
[music] She had several hundred followers. >> Everybody was a suspect to begin with.
00:02:51
>> One of her subscribers, [music] did they come through with rage or jealousy or
00:02:57
wanting something that they couldn't have? >> We were concerned. Do we have somebody
00:03:02
[music] out there that's actually killing people? Had you heard of Only Fans? >> No, ma'am.
00:03:09
>> There's a lot of things I learned in this case. [music] >> [music] [music] [music]
00:04:01
[music] >> One look at her online presence made it clear. Kathleen West put the social in social
00:04:14
media. It was out there for the whole world to see. >> And friends like Britney Dler say Cat
00:04:22
was very extroverted. In the real world, she was always the life of the party as
00:04:28
well. >> Cat would get on stages and sing. She couldn't sing for the life of her,
00:04:34
but she would sing. Cat was proud of who she was. So on January 13th, 2018, when the
00:04:44
42year-old wife and mother, widely known as Cat, was found dead in the street near her Alabama home, veteran reporter
00:04:53
and CBS consultant Carol Robinson smelled [music] a story. In the tight-knit Birmingham suburbs, she's
00:05:00
known as the Coco Chanel of crime. >> I don't let what I cover dictate what I wear.
00:05:09
She later arrived at the scene and started hunting to see if Cat's past could help explain her death.
00:05:17
>> She loved to be outside. That was that was her big deal. She had a swing set.
00:05:23
>> Cat's parents, Nancy and John Martin, say as a kid in Florida, she doted on her dolls.
00:05:31
>> And did she want to be a mom someday? [music] >> Absolutely. Yes. When she got a little bit older,
00:05:39
she wanted to do modeling. >> What was the obsession with Marilyn Monroe? >> She kind of looked like her. She says
00:05:46
she tried to recreate some of her photos, her hairds. She loved her. She was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and was
00:05:55
trying to emulate her in every way. >> As Carol Robinson retraced the lines of Cat's life,
00:06:01
>> there were always self-esteem issues there. She realized her resemblance to the troubled movie star was more than
00:06:08
skin deep. >> She craved adgulation from some people whether she knew him or not.
00:06:14
>> You tell her she's beautiful. She's just you're just my mom and dad. >> As time went on, Cat's parents say her
00:06:22
feelings of isolation, self-doubt, and depression spiraled out of control. >> I don't know how many different places
00:06:30
we took her to. >> She went to a lot of counseling. It was a tough few years. Her parents
00:06:36
say she was battling bipolar disorder and drinking too much. But by 2004, the broken pieces of Cat's life finally
00:06:45
began to fall into place. It happened at a Super Bowl party. >> And that's where she met Jeff.
00:06:53
>> Cat struck up a conversation with a local Army recruiter named Jeff West. >> They fell in love on their first date.
00:07:01
It was really love at first sight. >> Yes, it was. >> Within the year they were married in Las
00:07:06
Vegas. >> They moved around the country for Jeff's job and in 2005 they had a daughter,
00:07:14
Lola. >> Lola was her light. Lola was her her gift [music] and she adored her daughter.
00:07:23
In 2011, the West family moved to Southern California, where Army veteran Britney Dler's husband was thinking of
00:07:30
enlisting at the recruiting station. Britney says Jeff West basically had her husband at hello.
00:07:38
>> What was your impression of him? >> He was just super reassuring and and nice. He was just nice.
00:07:45
>> So nice, she says, that he even invited the Dlers to his home. his wife Cat [music] answered the door.
00:07:53
>> She was just in her tank top and shorts and really happy, bubbly, and hey girl.
00:07:59
Right off [music] the bat, she was like, "You want a drink?" >> Britney says as far as she could tell,
00:08:04
Cat and Jeff [music] West were a happy, if somewhat unlikely, couple. Seeing how Cat carried herself and what
00:08:12
she looked like and then seeing Jeff, I know opposites attract, but I was like, "That guy pulled that girl." Uh,
00:08:22
you know, it never really made sense to me until I started getting to know them more.
00:08:27
>> You would not describe this as a conventional marriage. >> Definitely not. When it came to the
00:08:32
unspoken rules of entertaining, [music] she admits Cat was so colorful that she sometimes colored outside the lines.
00:08:41
>> She would jump from the kitchen counter to the the sofa and shirtless, balless.
00:08:47
>> Wait, in front of you and your husband? >> Yes. My husband would go, "Oh my gosh."
00:08:52
>> The couples hung out at home, but also started going to bars and clubs. >> She'd be lively, animated. He would just
00:08:59
be sitting on the couch relaxing, having his drink. >> Did you ever see the two of them fight?
00:09:05
>> Cat would fight. Jeff would not. Cat would get emotional. When she was drunk,
00:09:11
she would get loud. She would get um feisty. But he would sit there and just say, "Okay, boo boo. Okay, I love you.
00:09:21
All right, baby girl." You never saw an ounce of jealousy from him. >> Never. Never. That surprised me because
00:09:28
I I don't think many men would feel that [music] way. >> Carol says Jeff was proud of having an
00:09:33
attractive wife. In 2014, the Wests had moved to Alabama where he had a job as a
00:09:40
campus police officer. The couple always made time to be together with a regular
00:09:45
date night, including on the night of January 12th, 2018. Jeff's parents had then 12-year-old Lola
00:09:54
for the evening. They go out to a restaurant. You know, they have some drinks and dinner.
00:10:01
>> After [music] dinner, they stopped at a liquor store. Security cameras show the
00:10:05
couple shopping, apparently without a care in the world. >> Everything seemed fine. At one point, he
00:10:11
even patted her on the butt. >> But it would be the last time Cat West would be seen alive.
00:10:35
I just was shocked, baffled. I don't believe it. >> When Britney Dler learned of Cat's
00:10:43
death, she immediately contacted Jeff West. >> What happened? How did this happen? And
00:10:48
his answer was just, "I don't know. Neither did Mccora Puraphoy. >> It was dark. It was cold. I wasn't sure
00:10:58
like what I was seeing. >> She'd been driving to work before dawn that day when she spotted something.
00:11:04
>> I think I see a person laying in the road. Well, halfway. >> Morchia went home to get her parents.
00:11:12
They returned to the scene. >> Her body was frozen. Like frozen. I was traumatized. I was just in the car
00:11:19
crying. Morscha's mother called 911. >> They asked to see if she was breathing or not. She [music] wasn't
00:11:28
and we just waited for the police to get there. >> Caller Police Sergeant Mike Melhoff, a
00:11:36
veteran criminal investigator, arrived about 30 minutes later. >> Looking at the scene, Kathleen's head is
00:11:42
laying in the road. Her body is actually laying in the grass. >> And there was something else he noticed
00:11:48
right away. >> [music] >> It did appear that the body had been moved more than once.
00:11:52
>> Cat West was found lying in a pool of blood across the street from her house.
00:11:58
Melhoff noticed there was another blood pool nearby. Next to Cat's body, her cell phone and an open bottle of absent
00:12:06
liquor, the kind she and her husband had been seen purchasing the night before. >> The absence bottle. It was just propped
00:12:14
up on the phone just like that. It just did not seem right that it would have landed in such a way if it other than
00:12:20
being staged. >> Carla Robinson, who saw the crime scene photos, also thought it looked staged.
00:12:26
>> That bottle was placed on the phone by somebody. >> By somebody. >> She says there was somebody at the scene
00:12:35
whose behavior caught authorities attention. >> Jeff West standing in the doorway. At
00:12:42
one point he was on the porch smoking a cigarette and watching. And when Melhoff
00:12:47
spoke to Jeff inside, >> his behavior was not what I expected it to be knowing that his wife was outside.
00:12:55
>> What was your reaction to it? >> It was everybody grieves in a different way and that was something I kept
00:13:00
telling myself. >> Cat had a roughly 2in gash on the left side of her head. The cause of death was
00:13:07
blunt force trauma. The injury that she suffered was enough to actually fracture
00:13:13
the skull. >> The autopsy showed signs of sex, but there was no indication of sexual
00:13:19
assault. Also, her blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit. Still, the medical examiner could not
00:13:28
say exactly how Cat sustained the injury. >> The manner of death was undetermined.
00:13:35
>> Was it an accident? Was Cat so intoxicated that she fell and cracked her head? Or was it murder? And if so,
00:13:44
who killed Cat West? Well, authorities searched the neighborhood for clues and witnesses. Jeff went to headquarters.
00:13:52
Police say he stayed for about 6 hours. Was Jeff cooperative? >> Absolutely. [music]
00:13:59
>> Jeff was adamant with police he had no idea what had happened to Cat. He speculated she may have died by
00:14:06
accident. He also said their marriage was in a good place. Police later discovered what the couple's friends
00:14:14
already knew. I think it would be fair to characterize her as an exhibitionist. She enjoyed the attention.
00:14:22
Jeff revealed he would actually photograph Cat [music] and help her post suggestive photos online where hundreds
00:14:30
of paying subscribers knew her as Kitty Cat West. >> She was very out loud about it. She was
00:14:36
making money. >> But Britney says for Cat, it was about a lot more than money. Cat, when not
00:14:45
behind the website, was not [music] always confident. Yes, you have your husband, but you always want to be
00:14:52
pretty to others. >> And remarkably, Jeff seemed to love it. >> Jeff got the best of both worlds. He was
00:15:02
able to be with his wife. She got what she wanted, which was, I get to make my money. I get to show off what I have,
00:15:11
and he's not going to leave me. Britney says by 2018, Cat's online activity had really ramped up. She'd
00:15:21
been using that subscription only website, Only Fans, to share adult photos and videos.
00:15:29
>> She was starting to get knee deep in that type of industry. >> And with Only Fans came a new feature
00:15:36
for Cat. Providers and subscribers could communicate. Subscribers could also make
00:15:43
requests. >> Had you heard of Only Fans? >> No, ma'am. >> Melhoff was interested to learn [music]
00:15:51
that Jeff had photographed Cat for her site the night she died, and her page contained subscriber requests for
00:15:58
[music] personalized content. Could one of her Only Fan subscribers have stalked
00:16:03
[music] and murdered her? >> Do we have somebody else out there that's actually killing people?
00:16:10
He says they knew they had to cast a wider net, so they sent Jeff home. Melhoff says they spent about three
00:16:17
weeks looking for other suspects. >> There were thousands of names that had to be called through in order to
00:16:23
properly investigate this. >> As police continued gathering evidence, Carol Robinson says they had more public
00:16:30
involvement than they wanted. Cat's death had set the internet on fire. You had this huge online presence,
00:16:41
these murder discussion Facebook groups. While they may have started in Caller, you know, there were people from all
00:16:49
over and they aren't quiet about their opinions. >> It seemed everyone had an opinion on the
00:16:57
way Cat died. >> It's the husband. I vote stalker. [music] It might have been a freak accident. and
00:17:04
the way she lived. >> I don't agree with her lifestyle. [music] She brought this on herself.
00:17:12
She was proud to have such an amazing figure. Good for her. She was a [music] sympathetic victim to
00:17:19
many. She was an unsympathetic victim to many. >> On [music] Facebook, Jeff later made it
00:17:25
clear that all the online chatter had taken a toll on the family. To the public, "Our tragedy is juicy gossip,"
00:17:34
he wrote. >> The Facebook thing was really intruding on their lives in his opinion.
00:17:42
>> Investigators had formed their own opinion. Cat's death had been no accident. And on February 22nd, 2018,
00:17:51
they made their move. >> William Jeffrey West, [music] the victim's husband, has been arrested and
00:17:56
charged with the murder. Bail was set at half a million dollars. >> Brittany Dryler says Jeff should never
00:18:06
have been arrested, firmly believing that police failed to fully investigate the hundreds of Only Fan subscribers who
00:18:13
[music] had paid to see the racy content Cat posted. Did someone else kill her? Some see it as unseammly.
00:18:39
Others call it harmless fun. Stay at home. Either way, the online venue where Cat
00:18:45
West posted her racy photos, [music] known as Only Fans, >> welcome to Only Fans,
00:18:51
>> is a lot more than only a website, says Carol Robinson. >> It's sort of the happy medium between
00:18:58
porn [music] and the Brady Bunch. >> Whether you're a vlogger, celebrity, model, whatever, you can reward your
00:19:06
loyal fans [music] with even more of the great content you already produce, but get paid for it.
00:19:13
Since CO 19 caused widespread lockdowns, Only Fans has become a provocative and profitable platform for celebrities.
00:19:26
Former Disney star Bella Thorne reportedly made a million dollars in one day posting lifestyle content.
00:19:34
>> There's a lot of myself in this video. Yeah. So, and the site has become an exotic
00:19:43
destination for more salacious stationers as well. [music] A place to dream of living large and
00:19:52
potentially to make a good living in the process. >> I'm really excited to introduce you to
00:19:58
Courtney Tillia. The former teacher in this YouTube video told a reporter she quadrupled her income posting nudes on
00:20:06
Only Fans. >> I wear things that allow me to feel sexy because when I feel sexy, I feel
00:20:11
powerful. >> This woman says she's paying her way through a neuroscience master's program.
00:20:19
>> Amen. >> And this pastor made headlines when she left the pulpit. Not for a higher
00:20:24
calling, but she did eventually make a higher paycheck. Can I get a hallelujah and an amen?
00:20:31
>> Posting on Only Fans and now reportedly earning tens of thousands of dollars a
00:20:36
month. By the end of 2020, the Londonbased site had grown to more than a million content
00:20:44
providers and 90 million subscribers. Does it surprise you at all to hear that as soon as the pandemic hit, Only Fans,
00:20:55
the popularity and the usage of it jumped by 75%. >> Not at all. >> In 2015, Lauren Quay moved to New York
00:21:06
from her home in West [music] Virginia with dreams of making it big on Broadway.
00:21:10
>> I really wanted to make something of myself. [music] Soon frustrated with the rat race, the
00:21:16
23-year-old daughter of a doctor and nurse began studying emergency medicine and [music] became a paramedic around
00:21:24
the time the pandemic began. >> I knew that there was a job that needed to be done.
00:21:29
>> Almost immediately, she found herself treating and transporting critically ill
00:21:35
CO patients, working at the intersection of life and death. I still remember taking patients
00:21:42
away whose family members couldn't come with us. They didn't know if it was going to be the last time they saw each
00:21:48
other. That was really rough for me. >> Rougher still, she says, because even though she was saving lives,
00:21:58
it was impossible to save any [music] money. She was making only about $40,000 a year, less than other first responders
00:22:07
like many New York police and firefighters. Is what you were getting paid enough to cover your monthly nut?
00:22:15
>> No, not at all. It wasn't feasible to live off of that salary. >> As her bills piled up and employment
00:22:22
options dwindled, Lauren turned to Only Fans. [music] >> I don't have to go outside of my house.
00:22:27
You know, this could be an easy business. Using an alias, she started by posting lingerie pics, [music] cropping
00:22:33
out her face. But she says she soon stopped cropping. And before long, the paramedic, who by
00:22:40
day was covering every inch of her body in protective clothing, started taking it all off online. Did you post full
00:22:50
nude shots? Yes, I did. >> And she says if Cat West was proud to be on Only Fans, she would have had reason
00:22:57
to be. the human body. I believe it should be celebrated. >> And how did it make you feel when you
00:23:03
were posting? >> I felt empowered. I did not feel like I was degrading myself. >> And just to be clear, this was money you
00:23:11
were using to put food on your table. >> 100%. >> But Lauren admits she was worried about
00:23:19
[music] the exposure. It was scary to think that, you know, I'd be taking pictures of myself that would be on the
00:23:25
internet, >> especially as her pool of Only Fan subscribers started to grow. She says
00:23:32
some of the requests for personalized content were disrespectful. >> There are some really weird people on
00:23:40
the internet. >> [music] >> Did you ever consider that maybe someone from her online life could have played a
00:23:49
role in what happened to her that night? >> We looked into that and there just wasn't that evidence out there.
00:23:59
>> No evidence that an Only Fans online user was involved in Cat [music] West's death. What the evidence does show, says
00:24:07
Jeff's attorney, John Robbins, is that Cat wasn't murdered. She fell and hit her head.
00:24:15
>> Jeff's [music] parents, Jerry and Susie, agree. They aren't sure exactly how Cat
00:24:20
hit her head, [music] and they don't think authorities can prove it either. >> They set out to say, "Get Jeff." There
00:24:26
was no investigation. >> I [music] know he's innocent. >> I don't care what anybody says. He did
00:24:32
not do this. >> Jeff's parents say he was incapable [music] of harming his family. Now, that is
00:24:39
exactly what you would expect to hear from the parents of an accused killer, but you would probably not [music]
00:24:46
expect to hear the same thing from the parents of the alleged victim. >> He's honorable and he loved my daughter.
00:24:54
I know he didn't do it. >> He didn't do this. >> Cat's parents, [music] John and Nancy,
00:25:00
say their daughter was conspicuously clumsy and the drinking did not help. Britney Dler concedes anything is
00:25:09
possible. >> She could have ran outside in the street, right, because she was so
00:25:15
intoxicated. >> Authorities insist Jeff West is a murderer, [music] but their tactics
00:25:22
suggest otherwise. John Robin says just a few months before trial, the prosecution offered Jeff West
00:25:30
a deal. It's called an Alfred plea. Jeff would not have to admit that he had committed a crime, but he would have to
00:25:38
acknowledge that the state had enough evidence to likely convict. Now, if the judge accepted that deal, it means that
00:25:45
Jeff would be led off with time served and only two years probation. He could walk out of jail almost immediately.
00:25:54
What does it tell you as a defense attorney when the prosecution is offering a deal? That tells you as a
00:26:02
defense lawyer, the prosecution has some problems with their case and they recognize that.
00:26:10
>> According to Shelby County prosecutors, plea deals are standard in every case.
00:26:15
Robin says he told Jeff it was a reasonable offer. >> He rejected it immediately.
00:26:22
>> Why did he reject the offer? >> Because [music] he says, "I cannot say that I'm guilty of something that I
00:26:29
didn't do. >> [music] >> Jeff West decides to roll the dice and take his chances in court.
00:26:36
>> He understands the risk of going to trial. For more than 2 years, Jeff West has
00:26:59
awaited trial in custody. >> We weren't getting a lot of information at the time. The police were holding
00:27:06
things close to their vest. >> Defense attorney John Robbins believes prosecutors have problems with their
00:27:13
case. He says the Friday before trial, they called him with more talk of a plea deal.
00:27:20
>> We discussed what would it take to settle the case, >> but they could not come to terms. The
00:27:27
prosecution has also notified the court it will make a new filing of evidence, text messages between Jeff and Cat.
00:27:37
>> It was very apparent that it was a very volatile uh relationship. Prosecutors will tell the jury that the
00:27:44
Wests did not have a harmonious marriage. You're throwing almost 14 years of a relationship away she'd
00:27:52
written a week before she died. You don't want me. Fine, someone [music] will. I always want you, he'd replied.
00:28:00
The texts went from erratic to erotic so fast that Robbins actually wants to use
00:28:07
them to defend Jeff. Anytime Cat said something that quote can be considered an argument, his response is, "I love
00:28:16
you. I want you. You're sexy." [music] >> Today is the first day of the murder trial against Jeff West in the murder of
00:28:27
Cat West. The judge banned news cameras from the courtroom, but we were at the courthouse taking [music] notes, and it
00:28:34
soon became clear there were at least two things the defense and prosecution [music]
00:28:39
agreed on. The cause of death, blunt force trauma, and how the night began. Jeff and Cat had started drinking at
00:28:48
dinner and bought more booze on the way home. It was later the cat apparently had
00:28:54
changed into lingerie and asked Jeff to photograph her for her online fans. On Instagram that night, he posted this
00:29:03
picture of the absent liquor bottle. Authorities contend he would bludgeon her to death with that very same bottle.
00:29:10
But why would Jeff West want to kill his [music] wife? I wouldn't want to speculate as to, you
00:29:17
know, what drove him to that point, but I can certainly say that I feel that yes, he's he's the one responsible for
00:29:22
his wife's death. >> At the scene, Melhoff says he found it odd that Jeff did not ask for details
00:29:31
about his wife's condition. >> I would have thought that he would have at least asked, you know, can I see her?
00:29:37
>> Carol believes what Jeff did say made authorities suspicious, too. According to Jeff, he went to bed about 10:30. Cat
00:29:48
stayed up. >> Now, that's Jeff's version of what happened. >> But before long, Milhof unearthed a
00:29:55
different story on a health tracker app on Jeff's cell phone. >> Well, the health app actually shows
00:30:01
Jeff's phone moving as late as 10 minutes after 11:00. >> And Melhoff says he believes Jeff also
00:30:08
lied about when he woke up that morning. Jeff told police his dogs got him up by
00:30:13
barking at the cruisers out front, but a neighbor reported seeing Jeff before police arrived.
00:30:20
>> She could see a man in the house pacing back and forth. >> Having laid out what they believed were
00:30:27
Jeff's movements that night. Police look at Cat's phone, which also had a health
00:30:32
tracker app. It showed her phone had stopped moving [music] 16 minutes before Jeff's.
00:30:38
But what had actually caused Cat's fatal wound? About a month after her death, police
00:30:45
got test results from that absin [music] bottle. It had a sliver of glass chipped
00:30:50
off and there were two spots of cat's blood on the bottom. >> We had Jeff's fingerprints on it.
00:30:57
>> Wouldn't you expect that given that they bought it together and they said they'd
00:31:02
been drinking that his prints would be on? >> Oh, absolutely. But Melhoff says there
00:31:06
was something specific about the [music] prince that helped point the finger of blame at Jeff.
00:31:13
>> Basically, the bottle was held inverted, much like he'd be holding it like a club.
00:31:18
>> Jeff's thumb print was found in a downward position on the bottle and his ring fingerprint was found over here.
00:31:26
>> She was not hit in head with that bottle. Robin says that's clear because Jeff is a righty and the prints and the
00:31:33
bottle were from his left hand and there is a good reason they're upside down. >> The bottle was in a bag. You would pull
00:31:41
it out of the bag in the same way where your thumbrint would be going down. >> But to win this case, the defense will
00:31:50
tell the jury that Jeff West could not have murdered his wife because Cat wasn't murdered. I've handled well over
00:31:58
a hundred murder cases. Never went forward on a murder case where uh the manner of death was classified as
00:32:07
undetermined. >> What happened that night to Cat West? >> In a nutshell, she fell. She hit her
00:32:14
head. >> Robin says police found Jeff dressed in the same clothes as seen in the security
00:32:20
video the night before. >> There was nothing on his clothes. No liquor, no blood, no bodily fluid, no
00:32:27
tissue, no hair, and there was no hair on the bottle. There's no glass in her womb.
00:32:31
>> And despite what police told us, no real effort Robins maintains to consider other suspects or theories about Cat's
00:32:40
death. >> The only person they ever looked at was Jeff, and they really never looked at it
00:32:46
whether it was an accident. Was there ever a time when you or anyone in the police department looked into the
00:32:54
possibility of it being an accident? >> Absolutely not. Um I don't want to sit here and say that I immediately ruled
00:33:01
out an accident, but just the the head trauma alone knowing that the body had been moved. It was very hard to try to
00:33:09
look at this as an accident. >> Not hard at all, insists Robins. The two blood pools at the scene suggest that
00:33:16
after Cat fell, she could have gotten up and fallen again >> because it's clear that she moved around
00:33:24
after uh she had that head injury. >> John Robbins has whittleled his entire case down to only one witness, [music] a
00:33:33
witness guaranteed to get the jury's attention. Cat's mother, Nancy Martin, takes the
00:33:40
stand to tell the jury about her daughter's lifelong struggles. >> It's a lot of pressure.
00:33:46
>> Yeah, it was. It really was. >> Martin testified that she herself had witnessed Cat West in an intoxicated
00:33:55
state go outside barefoot in any whether it was hot or cold. She said she would be in varying stages of dress. Were you
00:34:02
surprised at how supportive Cat's parents, particularly her mother was of the man police say killed her daughter?
00:34:12
>> You know, I can't really recall another case where the mother of the victim and
00:34:17
the father of the victim were so attached to the suspect. >> Cat's parents are even giving Jeff legal
00:34:26
advice, they help convince him not to testify. >> Jeff's a good mood. He's fired up.
00:34:34
>> In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Daniel McReer finally ties together the state's theory of what
00:34:41
happened that night and why. He says Jeff had lost his temper with his wife. >> He had a problem with her uh drinking
00:34:50
and her social media usage. >> Prosecutors say the evidence from that night shows it. He had thrown her phone
00:34:57
into the street and clubbed her to death with a liquor bottle when she went after
00:35:01
it. And McBrier says the way the bottle and phone were positioned convinced [music]
00:35:07
authorities it could not have been an accident. >> There were those two items stacked
00:35:12
perfectly together right there on the street next to her body. >> Jeff loved his wife.
00:35:19
>> Did you ever consider the possibility that this guy just snapped one night? >> But there's no evidence of that. He has
00:35:25
does not have a history of violence. >> The trial is ending when prosecutors make a lastminute move. They convince
00:35:34
the judge to let the jury consider a lesser charge than murder, reckless manslaughter.
00:35:40
>> I think that we could see a verdict tonight. >> This is the hard part. It just we're
00:35:46
waiting. [music] They were afraid that they were going to lose the case. >> John Robbins says he wasn't happy about
00:36:06
the last minute lesser charge that prosecutors introduced and it's easy to see why. It takes the
00:36:15
jury less than 5 hours to convict Jeff West of reckless manslaughter. >> Jeff is is stunned.
00:36:23
>> Both sets of parents are also stunned by the verdict. >> That was bull and you know it.
00:36:28
>> I couldn't believe it. I I really couldn't. >> Almost 3 months later, >> Judge Bill Bostic sentenced Jeff West to
00:36:37
16 years. >> How did you react when you heard 16 years? I just wanted to cry. [music]
00:36:46
>> With credit for time served, Jeff will be behind bars for 13 more years. For the prosecutors, it's a kind of split
00:36:54
decision. >> Obviously, we would have preferred a murder verdict, >> but they declare victory anyway.
00:36:59
>> We're glad you get a sentence as we did. >> For the defense, it is a stinging
00:37:06
defeat. Jeff knows if he had accepted that plea deal from the prosecutors, he'd probably already be home.
00:37:13
>> In retrospect, that probably he should have taken the deal. >> Both sets of parents stand behind his
00:37:21
decision. >> By a show of hands, who thinks Jeff is not guilty? [music] >> We all think he's not guilty.
00:37:26
>> We all think he's not guilty. >> They sat down with us as a group 3 days after sentencing. [music]
00:37:32
>> Who thinks that he got a fair trial? [laughter] Nobody, >> no hands. [music] >> They believe the judge threw the book at
00:37:43
Jeff West in sentencing for refusing to settle the case and that from the moment
00:37:48
Cat's death made news, >> a double [music] life, an adult themed subscription-based business,
00:37:53
>> she was harshly judged in the court of public opinion. It was the fact that she was doing these
00:38:01
things that small towns don't understand. >> I think society is always going to be
00:38:09
hard on women for anything that we do. >> New York City paramedic Lauren Quay says
00:38:14
for her the harsh judgments did not start until a newspaper reporter contacted her out of the blue.
00:38:23
He said somebody tipped the New York Post that you're a paramedic [music] with an Only Fans.
00:38:29
>> He told her he was investigating whether her Only Fans page violated her employer's code of conduct.
00:38:37
>> And in that moment, I I wanted to just like crawl in a hole and die. >> Lauren says she canled her Only Fans
00:38:48
account immediately. [music] The expose, including her real name and where she lived and worked, began circulating a
00:38:55
few weeks later. >> I opened my Instagram [music] and saw, you know, 600 follow requests.
00:39:01
>> Were you afraid for your safety? >> Absolutely. What do you think would have happened if you had kept your Only Fans
00:39:08
website going after the article dropped? >> Well, I I think it definitely would have
00:39:13
made a lot of money. As it happens, she did anyway. Worried that Lauren might lose her job, a friend
00:39:21
set up a GoFundMe page for her. Supporters contributed more than $100,000. But the private ambulance company she
00:39:30
works for kept her on the clock. >> It's always really hard to watch people pass away. [music]
00:39:42
Sometimes I think about Cat West and I think about where she would be today. Sucks that she was taken so early.
00:39:52
>> Cat's friend Britney Dler is living [music] with loss, too. >> She's gone. That's that that's
00:39:58
heart-wrenching. [snorts] They have a daughter that's in the mix of everything. [music]
00:40:04
>> I think people forget that a child is involved, >> right? Every week, Lola goes with all her
00:40:14
grandparents to see Jeff. >> Are the four of you [music] sticking together just for the sake of Lola?
00:40:23
>> No. No. >> They're family. >> But even when Jeff West does get out of prison, this will always be [music] a
00:40:36
family with someone missing. In an honest light, how would you like her to be remembered?
00:40:44
>> Kind, caring. >> Kind, caring person [music] who loved her husband and loved her
00:40:49
daughter very much. >> 48 hours to miss it would be a crime. >> Were you at all prepared for what
00:41:01
happened in this case? Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [music] [music] >> [music]