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[Music] a key witness takes a stand in the trial of Patrick frzy investigators believe
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Patrick frzy killed Kelsey Barth in her town home on Thanksgiving last year day two of the murder trial for the
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man who allegedly killed his fance day seven of the trial investigators revealed the moments they found
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surveillance video of Kelsey Barth and her one-year-old daughter at Woodland Park Supermarket is the last anyone seen
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of the 29-year-old mother if convicted frzy could face life in prison we can certainly sense that we are in the final
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days of this trial and it is cly purple Creek is a small town Teller county is a
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small County we're up in like a minute they have never seen anything to this magnitude in Creek Ashley
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Franco KKTV 11 News you've covered every second of this trial what has the feeling been inside that courtroom it's
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been cold it's been very heavy and chilling during the first week we learned about some of the evidence in
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the case Crystal Lee Patrick fr's exgirlfriend is said to be the prosecution's star
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witness okay it's uh 11:15 again on the 21st December 2018 um we're inside Kelsey's apartment
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with Crystal you are seeing what the jury saw remarkable evidence the heart of the prosecution's case when you you
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came in what did you see um when I first walked in I saw um blood all over the floor I saw blood
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up the wall who is Crystal Lee Crystal Lee is a rodeo queen from Idaho she's very well
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known and she's Patrick fr's ex-girlfriend they'd known each other for over a decade she's the bread and butter to
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this case that's Crystal Lee wearing a police jacket and hat can you point to the area
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where you saw and clean blood up on the wall she admits to cleaning up the crime
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scene and tells a prosecution the whole entire story of what happened the spray was friend here all
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way she's the only person in the world that they have to possibly convict Patrick czy
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we did a deal with the devil there's just no if hands or butts about it in this case but it's a deal that we made
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in order to move this case forward and to solve this crime sometimes in order to solve a case
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or move a case forward we have to give a deal to the devil uh that's exactly what
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we did here did you say that you cleaned off some of the appliances I did I wiped
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the there was blood on the front of the dishwasher there was blood on the front of the stove Crystal Le was obviously
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the the star witness for the prosecution and she testified to things that the prosecution needed her to say in order
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to establish this case I am a grber I'm a professor of law at University of Colorado law school I think there were
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doubts about Crystal Le's testimony coming into it Crystal Lee has trafficked in
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lies Crystal Lee is saying he has been planning on killing Kelsey and he had called me multiple times about it
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there's poison coffee there's a baseball bat scented candles a blindfold phones that are
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pinging all over Colorado and and in Idaho I got to tell you it's one of the most emotional trials I've ever been
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through and I've been through a lot of Trials uh the roller coaster everybody was put on there wasn't anybody on this
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team that at some point uh didn't have tears running down their face we just got word that a verdict has
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been reached in the case against Patrick frzy tell them try to take it we're the
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F we're the only ones out here there's always a little bit of nervousness and question in the back of your mind just
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hours ago we were hearing closing statements and now now we have a verdict [Music]
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[Music] Patrick frzy sits in this grim Creek Colorado jail put here by his former girlfriend Crystal
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Lee there's blood on the wall here there's blood on the wall here and there was blood right here in disturbing
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evidence that you will see throughout the program tonight she tells her story about a crime scene cleanup I moved to
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the couch I wiped the couch off um there was blood behind the couch down the wall
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a plan to transport a body we brought got the tote here we unloaded the tote and her help in making sure there would
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be no trace of it left behind the things that were thrown into the fire by me were the um the belongings from Kelsey's
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house the curtains the pillows the stuffed animals The Tale begins when these haunting images were captured a mother
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in the grocery store shopping with her baby Thanksgiving Day 2 8 the last time Kelsey Barth was seen in public she not
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the kind that runs off this is completely out of character it was Cheryl Barth who reported her
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29-year-old daughter missing after trying to reach her for days Kelsey we just want you
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home call us if you can and we won't quit looking at that time in early December
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Woodland Park police had not publicly named a suspect we are treating Kelsey's disappearance as a missing person's case
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at this time you can't eat and you can't sleep and the stress won't end until we
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find her usually it was us four all together all the time Ashley Cogburn Amanda Smith
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and Nicole Haywood had an unbreakable bond with Kelsey they grew up together in Moses Lake Washington from the
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pictures she's gorgeous obviously and very put together and so you might think that she's you know this prissy girl but
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she was not she she was raised on a hay farm and very much a tomboy country girl
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yeah she's out there driving tractors and and bucking Bales in flying planes she was a flight instructor is she a
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good pilot oh yeah she was really good she wasn't afraid to challenge the the typical
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boundaries so it wasn't a surprise when a Colorado cowboy named Patrick frzy caught Kelsey's eye on a dating website
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in 2016 he was like a country boy and that's what she was used to that's what she
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liked they started a long-distance relationship Patrick frzy lived on a 35 acre ranch in rural Floris Colorado
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these are four dogs to be our dogs to train this fall and winter in this video Patrick can be heard training cattle
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dogs pepper that'll do down he also shoed horses and groomed donkeys the black and white one is uh
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flash Clint kleene has known Patrick for seven years Patrick is uh the faer for the donkeys people call them hor shoers
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and all that but our donkeys don't have shoes so he trims their feet he trims their feet it's he he gives them as we
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call it donkey manicures client says Patrick was quiet and dedicated to his work he's kind of a laidback you know
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kind of stays to himself uh he had his Ranch to take care of eventually Kelsey moved to Colorado
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from Washington State to be closer to Patrick and they were expecting a child her mother Cheryl says they were engaged
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do she have a dress yet no I don't think she cared about The Big Wedding kind of
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thing it was between them and God even after their daughter Kaylee was born in October 2006 17 the couple still didn't
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live together but shared parenting duties he never came to see her but um she would like on her days off she would
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go back and be with him friends say Kelsey was struggling to balance the baby her job and a long commute her
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relationship with Patrick seems strained she seemed to be kind of stressed out from the whole thing that she couldn't
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make him happy was Patrick emotionally abusive um it appeared that way from uh what I saw and it seemed like it was
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just knocking her spirit down did Kelsey ever say he was physically abusive no Ashley says Kelsey once mentioned there
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may have been another woman in Patrick's life I think Kelsey had mentioned one time about an ex-girlfriend who still
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kind of wanted to be with Patrick Kelsey wasn't worried about it I don't know if
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it cuz she knew she lived far away Kelsey didn't seem all that worried about it after Kelsey was reported missing
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police talked to Patrick he told them that the day before Thanksgiving Kelsey said she wanted to end their
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relationship KKTV reporter Ashley Franco he said that Kelsey wanted to go their separate ways and things weren't working
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out between them they wanted to split custody 50/50 and they were just not meshing
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anymore Patrick told police he and Kelsey met to exchange the baby on Thanksgiving Day He also returned
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Kelsey's belongings a purse um keys to the car keys to the town home and then a gun that Kelsey owned it was a gun
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Patrick says he had once taken from Kelsey for her own protection police say Patrick told them Kelsey struggled with
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depression hinting that she made suicidal when you hear that Patrick said Kelsey was unstable that she was maybe
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suicidal no no not at all it doesn't match up with Kelsey police searched Kelsey's home but turned up no signs of
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Foul Play then Cheryl and her son went to the house to check it out there was a mat a like a rug of some
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sort in the bathroom and it's gone and she had also noticed that the refrigerator looked like it had been
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wiped down recently you could see [Music] streaks later her son is in the bathroom
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and notices Blood on the base of the toilet and the alarms go off in their minds alarms go
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off Kelsey's mother Cheryl alerted investigators who returned to the house this time they used chemicals to detect
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the presence of blood they found Trace Amounts of blood everywhere in the bathroom do we know whose blood DNA
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results showed it was Kelsey's investigators believed Kelsey had been murdered but they needed more
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evidence a closer look at Kelsey and her fiance's cell phone activity Thanksgiving weekend would lead them to
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her suspected killer [Music] [Music] Patrick fry was taken into custody this morning in Floris and Colorado just
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after 7:00 this morning Mountain Standard Time nearly a month after Kelsey Barth
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vanished Woodland Park police chief miles D young made this Grim announcement today we arrested Patrick
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frzy on charge of the first-degree murder of Kelsey Barth as a reminder Patrick frzy is Presumed Innocent
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until proven guilty Patrick what do you have to say despite the murder charge Kelsey's body had not been found as you
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can tell from the arrest sadly we do not believe Kelsey is still alive Kelsey's daughter Kaye is in
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protective custody and will be re reunited with Kelsey's family Patrick frzy entered a plea of not guilty but
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from the beginning investigators had questions about Patrick's story starting with his initial claim that the day
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before Thanksgiving Kelsey told him she wanted to break up and quote go there separate ways so this is Woodland Park
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this is Woodland Park yet there she was shopping the next day for the family dinner you see her
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grab a cart and and put Kaye in the cart and then go off and that's last time publicly anyone had seen Kelsey Barth
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what does she buy Here at Safeway she buys ingredients for a sweet potato CLE investigators wondered if Kelsey had
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broken up with Patrick why would she send him this text I bought some sweet potatoes in case you wanted sweet potato
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casserole Kelsey didn't tell her mother she and Patrick were breaking up when she spoke with her Thanksgiving morning
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did she sound normal did she sound definitely she she sounded happy and normal mom daughter talk yeah yeah
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another big question investigators had was when Patrick said he last Saw Kelsey Patrick told officers that he
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hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving November 22nd when he exchanged their daughter kayy
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Barth in images from a neighbor security camera on that Thanksgiving Day Patrick
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and Kelsey are seen at her door with a baby carrier after Kelsey returned from the store you can see her holding a
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point CIA later Patrick is seen at that same location alone we don't know whether he's is coming or going he
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doesn't have Kaye um and he's not with Kelsey and then that's it University of Colorado law professor ya Gruber has
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followed the case the critical question is what happened in between around 13045 and 3:30 when they get that
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picture of him police say this is likely when Patrick killed her investigators have recovered um a
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number of items that make us suspicious that the crime did occur at Kelsey's residence Patrick told authorities he
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drove their daughter Kaye to his Ranch for Thanksgiving dinner he said Kelsey wasn't with them but investigators
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discovered that her cell phone was they pulled Tel phone records and found that on Thanksgiving Day November
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22nd all of a sudden Kelsey's phone and Patrick's phone started traveling together but Patrick and Kelsey were not
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together investigators say Patrick took Kelsey's cell phone after he killed her as part of a scheme to cover his tracks
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They believe he faked 19 calls between the two phones over Thanksgiving weekend and was sending texts between them
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including this one from Kelsey's phone I'm going running I'll call you guys when I get home his response okay be
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safe the theory that the prosecution's going to put forward is that that was Patrick with her phone and he's texting
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pretending to be Kelsey two days after Thanksgiving authorities believe Patrick concocted this conversation are you
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awake sorry I didn't hear my phone going to jump in the shower I'll call you guys
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when I get out okay then investigators believe to keep up his ruse that Kelsey wanted the breakup Patrick sent this
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message if this is truly what you want I'll respect your wishes and give you space on Sunday 3 days after
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Thanksgiving there was a bizarre development that would send this case in a very different Direction phone records
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show while Patrick cell stayed near his Ranch Kelsey's phone was on the Move heading west out of
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Colorado so was a text from Kelsey's phone to her supervisor at Doss Aviation saying I won't be at work so people had
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thought maybe they heard from Kelsey the next text from Kelsey's phone said do you even love me that text pinged off a
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cell phone tower 800 miles away reports are correct that Kelsey's phone gave a location near Gooding Idaho on November
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25th when that came out I think everyone was was just shocked and where's Kelsey and where's
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Kelsey no one knows where Kelsey is so how did her phone end up in Idaho this woman may have the answer
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[Music] it was startling news when investigators revealed that 3 days after Kelsey Barth
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was last seen her cell phone had pinged in Gooding Idaho 800 miles from her home
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tonight we have new information about a 32-year-old twinfalls woman that may have helped Patrick frzy cover up The
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Disappearance and alleged murder of his fiance Kelsey Barett at the time of Kelsey's disappearance
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phone records show that Patrick was in touch with this woman Crystal Kenny Lee Crystal was a nurse and Avid horsewoman
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who grew up here this is Crystal's world kmvt news director and weekend Cowboy Kade Atwood we work hard to be able to
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do this on the weekends Crystal and her family are a big part of the rodeo Community a very
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PR minent Family Talk horses and that's you're speaking her love language you know
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Michelle Stein is Crystal's best friend horses are her life she loves [Music] horses take a look at this and in Idaho
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where Rodeo rules Crystal was royalty in 2008 she was crowned queen of the Magic
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Valley Rodeo she was so Lov by Laura stman has known Crystal since she was a teenager Crystal was so kind with
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everybody that it was just so difficult to turn her down in any way Crystal had a reputation of getting what she wanted
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no I wouldn't say it was a reputation of getting what she wanted Crystal worked so hard at everything she did to try to
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do everything completely correct authorities believed that it was Crystal who traveled to Idaho with
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Kelsey's phone but when the FBI made their initial call to Crystal she said she had no idea who Kelsey Barth was she
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also denied knowing Patrick frzy then she changed her story they asked her when was the last time you talked to him
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and she said I don't know I'd have to look at my phone and then says oh in the last month and investigators are
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thinking okay but we already know that your phone has called his phone multiple times in the last few weeks she says I
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don't have a personal relationship with Patrick frzy I've gone to Colorado and looked at a few of his horses and that's
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the extent of our relationship she lies she lies turns out Crystal Lee and Patrick
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frzy had a long history they met After High School then 8 months before Kelsey disappeared Chrystal and Patrick's
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relationship heated up Crystal was recently divorced with two children she had been out here multiple times to see
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him and it was type a type of Affair what did Crystal say about Patrick was she in love with him I think she was to
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a point during the investigation the FBI got a tip that Michelle had explosive information about the case she says
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Crystal called and confided in her about a disturbing conversation she and Patrick had a month before Kelsey
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disappeared she was very very upset very distraught she had told me that he had asked her to take care of his baby mama
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and you took that to me or she took that so I was like well I was in shock at first because people who says that
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nobody says that so I was like wait what and she said yeah he asked me if I would kill the mother of his baby I mean
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what are you thinking at that point I I was just in shock and disbelief what was
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Crystal's tone when she was telling you this she was balling she was crying she was extremely
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upset and scared Michelle says she asked Crystal why Patrick wanted to kill Kelsey he had told her it was because
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she wanted to take him back to court to get custody of the baby and he was in fear that she was going to harm the baby
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investigators found no proof Kelsey had harmed her daughter but did find evidence that Patrick had planned to
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challenge Kelsey for custody and believe that may have been his motive for murder
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Michelle says she pushed Crystal to call the police I kept telling her I think you need to call and tell somebody see
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you got to understand I'm trusting her to do the right thing but I think Michelle people watching will say call
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the police say you need to talk to my friend someone's asking her to kill someone you're right okay of course the
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viewers are going to think that but do you have regret of course I regret it I regret it every day oh my God I would do
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anything to have stopped that somehow Kelsey had been gone about a month before Michelle talked to the FBI
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and when the FBI went back at Crystal a second time she too was ready to talk I think at that point she kind of knows I
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have to come clean but first Crystal wanted a deal in exchange for her testimony against
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Patrick she agreed to plead guilty to evidence tampering she admitted to getting rid of the gun to tossing
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Kelsey's keys in a canyon and destroying her phone it's a tampering with evidence
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charge which is a minor charge compared to murder or um you know accessory to murder or attempted murder she only
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faces at Max 3 years in prison this is a pretty good deal that she gets what Crystal revealed to investigators
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would become the center of the prosecution's case against Patrick frzy when I first walked in I saw blood all
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over the floor I saw blood up the [Music] wall when Crystal Lee finally started talking she didn't stop for 4 and a half
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hours her story was stunning she claimed Patrick tried to get her to kill Kelsey
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three different times the first idea was to get a caramel macchiato from Starbucks Kelsey's favorite drink and
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put poison in it 2 months before Kelsey went missing crystal says she drove 12 hours from Idaho to this Starbucks near
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Kelsey's home in Colorado hi welcome to Starbucks what can I get started for you
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to Crystal a nurse told investigators she suggested the perfect potion a lethal dose of ambient and Valium this
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is the drink that is the drink Crystal Lee had ordered to put poison in to give to Kelsey
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Barett so Crystal brings this Starbucks Caramel Macchiato right here waits in the alleyway walks up to 's door knocks
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on the door Andel Kelsey opens it Kelsey opens it tells Kelsey this elaborate story she says I'm new to the
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neighborhood someone had told me that you had helped get my dogs out of trouble and Kelsey says no I didn't do
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that does Kelsey take the coffee allegedly Kelsey takes the coffee inside and closes the door and from there we
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don't we don't know what Kelsey does with the coffee but crystal says she couldn't do it she didn't poison the
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coffee and when Patrick found out he was angry he was Furious he was not happy that she didn't go through with
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it he would play head games with her a lot Crystal's best friend Michelle Stein he just had a way of manipulating her
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into doing things after crystal said she couldn't go through with the poison plan
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she told investigators Patrick came up with a different idea he says um I have a metal
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pipe that I'll leave outside my property that you can come pick up and I want you
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to go wait for Kelsey at her town home and when she comes hit her on the back of the
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[Music] head the way Crystal tells it she drove to Kelsey's house with that metal pipe
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but didn't attack her and drove back to Idaho a week later she says Patrick called with a new murder plan once again
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Crystal drove from Idaho to Kelsey's Colorado townhouse Crystal claimed she waited for Kelsey outside her home this
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time with an aluminum baseball bat but just like her earlier attempts she says she chickened
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[Music] out it's just hard to believe these stories they seem outlandish and wild phone record show Patrick called
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Crystal in Idaho around 4:30 on Thanksgiving Day crystal said he told her you need to get out here now you got
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a mess to clean up crystal says that she can't come out that same day um but will
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come out a few days later um she's in Idaho loads up the car with cleaning supplies bleach um hairnets you know
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gloves trash bags she basically brought the equivalent of a hazmat suit and every
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sort of cleaning product that one might see in one of those uh TV shows about how to clean up a crime scene 2 days
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later on Saturday morning Crystal says she drove 800 miles to Patrick's Ranch to pick up a set of Kelsey's keys he
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left for her outside then she says she drove to Kelsey's Home Crystal tells authorities
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she opens a door and the scene is horrific there's blood everywhere according to Crystal Kelsey's body was
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not inside and then spends you know 3 to 4 hours cleaning and scrubbing the the murder scene she takes some of the
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things that she couldn't clean and puts them into trash bags and loads them in the back of the car she was driving
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Crystal claims Patrick was back at his Ranch during the cleanup there was a point in time when Patrick frzy had told
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Crystal when you go to clean up her town home there is possibly a tooth somewhere
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crystal said she found that tooth and put it in a trash bag Crystal told investigators after the
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cleanup she met with Patrick she described to them how he said he lured Kelsey to her death Crystal claims
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Patrick invited his fiance to play a guessing game with candles she says that he takes a sweater
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from Kelsey's room and blind fold her with the sweater and has candles sitting out in front of Kelsey and is telling
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Kelsey to guess the scent of each candle during her interview with investigators crystal said Patrick told
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her while baby Kaye was in another room he took a baseball bat in quote he went to
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swinging after killing Kelsey with that baseball bat on Thanksgiving Day crystal
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says Patrick told her he put her body in a black tote this surveillance image shows Patrick at
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an ATM earlier that day with a black tote in his truck Crystal went with investigators to
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Patrick's Ranch she told them that she and Patrick went there together and she watched him burn that tote he poured
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gasoline in the bucket and pitched it into the fire I believe yesterday you said that you also collected wood in put
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into the burn pit yes I did police later examined the spot where they believe Kelsey's body was
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burned Crystal also went with investigators to Kelsey's home she's wearing that police jacket and hat the
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floorboards had been removed for testing and can you point if you remember where
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the tooth was around the tooth what was there if anything one there was blood on the chairs there's
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blood on this chair there's blood on the table there's blood on the Hobby Lobby bag that was sitting there she pointed
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out where she claims she intentionally left blood for them to find right there on December 21st
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2018 Patrick was arrested at his Ranch and charged with Kelsey's murder this is a case where without a
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body uh this is a case without a lot of physical evidence so what we mainly have
00:32:04
connecting Patrick frzy to an incredibly brutal and violent crime is Crystal Lee's
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testimony Chrystal who had cut that deal with prosecutors seemed shaken when she
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appeared in court after she turned herself into authorities the crystal I knew could do
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no wrong but the crystal that has done the things that came out of her mouth is somebody I don't know and that leaves
00:32:36
Laura stutzman with one question [Music] [Music] why almost a year after Kelsey barth's
00:32:56
disappearance there was a long on line to get a seat in the courtroom at Patrick fr's murder trial uh I think a
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lot of people that knew Patrick they don't think that the candle story adds up fr's friend Clint Klein was there
00:33:13
almost every day I don't know of any guys that would have thought of going out and buying candles and having their
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girlfriend be blindfolded and then smell the candles you think that had to be a woman's idea I think so
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frzy was driven from the jail in a black SUV he entered the courthouse through this white tent out of sight from the
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media security was tight no cameras in the courtroom district attorney Dan may I got to tell you it's one of the most
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emotional trials I've ever been through and I've been through a lot of trials in
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my career prosecutor Beth Reed painted a picture of Patrick freezy very Charming
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very manipulative and controlling all traits consistent with being a sociopath Ashley Franco summed up the
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defense case no body no murder weapon and no clear motive they had said you know Patrick wasn't involved there's no
00:34:19
evidence to show he was involved and Crystal Lee had already lied to law enforcement so she's the one to blame
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for this on day four the prosec ution star witness Crystal Lee took the stand her credibility was on the line I don't
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think we would have known what happened to Kelsey without Crystal Le I started picking up things that were blood
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spoted for two days prosecutor Jennifer vean asked Lee to describe Fry's plan to
00:34:47
kill Kelsey Barth they bolster their case with surveillance videos and photos this one shows the black tote in the
00:34:55
back of Fry's truck that Lee says he would use to dispose of her body when you came in what did you see
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blood all over the floor I saw blood up the wall saw Blood on the this wall most
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disturbing prosecutors played that video of Lee inside Kelsey's home showing investigators how she cleaned up the
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crime scene did you say correct me if I'm wrong did you say that you cleaned off some of the appliances I did I wiped
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the there was blood on the front of the dishwasher there was blood on the front of the
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stove um there was um that cinnamon roll pan had blood on the um tin foil they had pulled up the floorboards
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where they found Kel's blood they showed video of a hay barn where Lee says frzy hid Kelsey's body in
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that tote overnight a cadaver dog alerted to the area this is a surveillance image of
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frzy at a gas station Lee says he was buying gas to start a fire we brought the tote here okay we unloaded the
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tote okay Kelsey's body was moved to Fry's Ranch were you present when he started the fire yes I was okay this is
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the video that shows how Lee says she helped frzy burn Kel's body in that black tote what about the accelerant gas
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okay and burned evidence including kayle's toys and Kelsey's bloodstained Bible do
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you remember what the books were by just one of them was her um I would imagine it was a
00:36:41
Bible experts say a human female tooth fragment was recovered from fr's Ranch near the burn site but there wasn't
00:36:50
enough DNA to determine a profile [Music] at the end of her testimony she told the
00:37:01
jury Kelsey's chilling last words please stop but he didn't he keeps beating her
00:37:08
and beating her and beating her the jury needed to hear that they needed to hear
00:37:12
how brutal this was how uncaring he was how senseless this was why would Lee help frzy she claimed she feared for
00:37:20
herself and her children she was in love with Patrick frzy and had been for a long
00:37:25
time as the tri went on and and we saw that dark side of Patrick frzy that crystal saw that Kelsey saw I think you
00:37:36
can understand some of that fear I I I don't know that we'll ever understand entirely why she did what she did it's
00:37:44
it's fairly inexplicable perhaps the most shocking testimony came from a surprise
00:37:51
prosecution witness your last witness I think jws dropped when he started testifying tell me about him we didn't
00:37:57
know about him prosecutor Beth Reed says the surprise witness was an inmate at the same jail where Patrick frzy was
00:38:04
being held he actually had started calling our office while we were in the middle of trial the former inmate had
00:38:11
watched a 48 Hours episode on Kelsey barth's murder turns out he says frzy gave him a
00:38:20
hit list some of the names handwritten on paper towels he was instructed to flush describe to me what was in the 16
00:38:29
notes passed between Patrick and the former inmate well they were requests that a certain number of
00:38:38
Witnesses needed to disappear but it was very specific as to Crystal Lee graphic
00:38:45
descriptions of what needed to happen to Crystal Le he described putting a bullet in her
00:38:51
head also on fr's Hit List Crystal Lee's best friend Michelle Stein and Kelsey mother Cheryl
00:38:59
Barth what does that say about Patrick frzy it says that Patrick will do whatever he wants to get whatever he
00:39:08
wants the defense called No Witnesses frzy chose not to testify the case went to the
00:39:15
jury after 3 and 1/2 hours of deliberations a verdict a verdict is in in this 11 breaking news alert the jury
00:39:24
says they unanimously found Patrick frzy guilty of first deegree murder frzy was
00:39:30
found guilty of first-degree murder sentenced to life in prison plus 156 years do you think if Patrick hadn't
00:39:39
involved Crystal he would have gotten away with Kelsey's murder yes I do I think it's very possible he would have
00:39:45
gotten away with that involving Crystal was that was a stupid plan the whole plan was stupid but he wanted Crystal
00:39:53
Lee to pend it on as for Crystal Lee She's facing a maximum of up to 3 years in prison I think a lot of our viewers are
00:40:04
probably thinking Crystal Lee given what she's admitted to got a really good deal she did and um
00:40:13
uh it's it's not right and I'm not going to try to justify it any way uh it's unfortunately a part of my profession
00:40:19
that sometimes in order to solve a case or we have to give a deal to the devil uh that's exactly what we did
00:40:25
here if you could sentence Crystal Lee what would it be uh heck of a lot more time than 3 years she could have saved
00:40:33
Kelsey so many times over so many months and it's totally inexcusable is this Justice for Kelsey
00:40:41
and kayy can there ever be justice justice in this case Kelsey be sitting here talking to
00:40:49
you not us excuse me um so we can C certainly seek a certain amount of justice but not the justice that this
00:41:02
case deserves [Music] [Music] he [Music] the week before Frank was murdered we were at a go-kart
00:42:13
[Music] race Frank would be running all these cars and it got so competitive and they
00:42:21
loved it he couldn't quit a real competitor yeah he really he just he the quit wasn't in
00:42:32
him Frank Spencer was he was like a big teddy bear if he knew you he'd cut a leg off
00:42:39
get up and ask if you need anything else he was one of a kind great person outstanding
00:42:47
friend I've talked to at least five of Frank's friends who've all told me they were Frank's best friend I think that
00:42:55
speaks volumes about who Frank Spencer was was Peter this is the Frank Spencer residence uh the scene of the murder
00:43:04
really unchange since 2012 can you take me inside sure let's go Frank Spencer's body was right here
00:43:12
on these tiles oh my is that remnants of his blood here it is we didn't have to ask each other we
00:43:23
knew we knew it was Maria we didn't know who else might have been involved but we
00:43:26
knew it was her Maria Spencer to me is a classic fem fatal an attractive woman a
00:43:34
seductress who when a man becomes involved with her this is going to end poorly how would I describe her as a
00:43:42
terrorist you keeping with me cuz I'm not with you I mean it's I'm done it was a campaign of Terror Frank is afraid of
00:43:51
Maria and he's also afraid of Roco Franklin Roco Franklin's Maria Spencer's father everybody knew who Rocco was I'm
00:44:01
a street guy Rocco everybody calls me Rocko what was the reputation of Roco the mythology of Roco in the community
00:44:08
he was a hitman he would do things for people he was had some type of association with the mob I'm not a
00:44:14
violent guy now I don't mind begging somebody's legs if they deserve it this was not simply a murder
00:44:22
case Frank told me where it was going to happen was going to be at his house she said you're going to get shot in the
00:44:28
head and she told him that I think she was an emotionally troubled woman who did not want to be
00:44:36
divorced if you could picture somebody screaming help help help and everybody's just standing around watching that's
00:44:43
what the situation was like was he a dead man walking absolutely in his opinion yes you don't win unless I let you in do
00:44:52
you understand you don't win how could this all happen if you made this into a movie tomorrow nobody'
00:45:02
believe it actually happened [Music] [Music] I was working on the go-karts uh we're
00:45:52
right in the middle of a big series we were trying to win it was July 3rd 2012 in the once
00:45:59
easygoing town of Bloomsburg Pennsylvania a Tuesday Joe yodok Frank Spencer's lifelong friend hadn't heard
00:46:08
from him since Saturday and I had been texting him cuz we had issues we had to work on with the go-karts Joe and Frank
00:46:15
raced go-karts together for years with their kids and so that morning Joe went looking to find his missing buddy I'll
00:46:24
never forget it I was pulling down the driveway and and I thought man I hope I don't find him dead when Joe found Frank
00:46:32
lying on the floor it took him a moment to process what he was seeing and he' had this look of Peace calmness that he
00:46:42
hadn't had in a long time uh I stepped over his legs and I noticed what looked like dried blood in
00:46:50
his ear then I realized what happened and then he wasn't alive this loss somebody you knew from
00:46:57
the time you were in kindergarten can you put that in words oh nope it was a tragedy but not a
00:47:07
mystery for Frank's loved ones most suspected Maria Spencer Frank's former wife who had officially become his
00:47:14
ex-wife just 3 weeks before the murder Maria didn't want the divorce and the proceedings had been drawn out and
00:47:24
contentious very contentious you could tell there was just Venom didn't matter who was there she'd fly in screaming
00:47:32
slamming car doors ironically Maria's passion was one of the things that had attracted Frank
00:47:39
to her in the first place he liked the crazy Frank's friend Paul Siciliano you know in the beginning when they were
00:47:48
together it was fun for him you know cuz he did have that kind of wild side to him Frank and Maria eloped in
00:47:55
1997 soon they had a a son Cyrus and then a daughter Frankie well the kids were the were his biggest priority
00:48:03
everything he did was about the kids when Frank's father retired he took over the family business a junkyard located
00:48:11
behind Frank's childhood home Frank's friend and Joe's wife Katie yodok he knew everybody I mean everybody in the
00:48:20
town knew Frank Spencer Frank's friends say Maria didn't seem to warm to family life the way Frank had Frank was
00:48:29
disappointed that she wasn't taking that much of an interest in the kids the marriage eventually began to
00:48:36
crumble and Frank filed for divorce in 2006 police were called several times for domestic disputes despite this Frank
00:48:46
wanted to keep the kids in one home his friend Ron Ro Frank said that kids shouldn't be punished by having to go to
00:48:55
their mother's house or their father's house this is your house so this week I live here then the that week I'll leave
00:49:03
and that the the kids should try to have as stable as life as they possibly can but friends say Maria was anything but
00:49:12
stable in 2008 she was arrested after a scuffle with Frank's mother at her daughter's school she was charged with
00:49:21
disorderly conduct harassment and child endangerment for allegedly not buckling her daughter into the
00:49:29
car Tom lipold prosecuted the case when he was an assistant DA but didn't feel he could prove child endangerment and so
00:49:39
I agreed to dismiss that charge in exchange for the plate of the two other offenses Maria pleaded guilty and had to
00:49:46
pay a $600 fine but the Judgment only seemed to fuel Maria's rage she repeatedly threatened to kill Frank
00:49:55
sometimes in front of other people Frank had been reporting those threats to local police for years the issue is is
00:50:03
that Frank and Maria relationship was volatile Hemlock Township police officer Scott Tross says Frank and Maria would
00:50:13
fight but often reconcile he says he wrote up Maria's threats but says Frank didn't want it pursued he just wanted
00:50:21
things documented for his sake in case something happened to him by 2009 the Spencer's divorce battle was
00:50:30
3 years along and still far from over but emotionally Frank was moving on did the two of you hit it off right away we
00:50:39
did Frank and I both admit that we were both smitten at the same time when meeting each other Julie Dent met Frank
00:50:47
through mutual friends and things soon turned serious Maria did not take this news well especially when she heard
00:50:56
Julie had spent time with the children hey Julie it's Maria Spencer you can go out with Frank but do not make no
00:51:03
mistake about it watch my children the situation escalated further that summer Maria's father Roco Franklin who had a
00:51:13
reputation as a tough guy was released from prison after serving 5 years on fraud charges this was not good news to
00:51:22
Frank he started changing his habits when when her father was out of jail because he was very concerned about
00:51:31
something happening to him did he feel like he was being hunted yes a few months after Rocco's release
00:51:39
there was a Breakin at Frank's junkyard nothing of value was taken but a pile of
00:51:45
business records was stolen documents that could potentially help Maria prove Frank's income in the divorce the day
00:51:54
after the apparent Breakin uh I received a phone call from Maria Spencer saying that she had found a trash bag on the
00:52:00
front porch of her mother's house with all these business records in it remember Tom lipold the man who once
00:52:07
prosecuted Maria he was now serving as Maria's divorce attorney even though he was still an assistant DA it may sound
00:52:17
bizarre but it is allowed in Pennsylvania for parttime prosecutors in terms of appearances do you understand why it for
00:52:26
some it's troubling that you took on Maria Spencer because she'd had all these run-ins with the law doesn't that
00:52:33
compromise you it did not compromise me I had no contact and no involvement with
00:52:40
any criminal matter involving Frank Spencer or Maria Spencer after I undertook to represent her in the
00:52:46
divorce none many in town suspected Maria and Roco had been involved in the burglary Sergeant TRW interviewed Maria
00:52:56
and gathered evidence which he took to the DA Tom Li hold's boss um I consulted with the district attorney at that time
00:53:05
and then I reviewed the entire case with him and he determined that there was not
00:53:10
enough to pursue criminal charges against Maria Spencer Maria gave the documents to her lawyer and they were
00:53:18
ultimately returned to Frank but the burglary was left unsolved to this day I don't understand it it's like we're in
00:53:26
you know some weird Universe Frank's friends were beginning to wonder if Maria would ever be stopped especially
00:53:34
when they saw what happened next I guess when the house burned down I was like this isn't a game
00:53:46
[Music] anymore hey Julie it's Maria Spencer do me a favor don't watch my children do
00:53:59
not get between me and Frank by doing my children do you understand me by the winter of 2010 the war of the Spencers
00:54:08
continued and so did the threats from Maria I've never been threatened I really chocked it up to just a a bully
00:54:18
that she was just running her mouth as she so often did Maria continued to harass Frank too
00:54:26
often making veiled threats about her father hey Frank it's Maria old man got funny ways I thought I'd let you know
00:54:39
because I care about you not because I wanted to frighten you despite the threats Julie and Frank
00:54:47
tried to live a normal life that January they planned a romantic trip to the Caribbean and was Maria aware that you
00:54:56
were about to take a vacation unfortunately yes Maria started texting Julie about Frank he says he loves me
00:55:04
and didn't want to disappoint you on your only vacation this year and do you want to know if he loves you or me then
00:55:15
the night before they were supposed to leave she asked Frank to dinner to talk about custody and dinner turned into a
00:55:22
room for the night at a hotel she led him away that night Frank's mother's home where he lived off and on went up
00:55:31
in Flames Frank's friends rushed to the scene including his divorce attorney Joel whis nobody could find Frank we
00:55:39
were all very upset thinking Frank was in the fire fortunately the house was empty that night except for the kid's
00:55:48
dog who died in the fire Frank's friend Dirk Reed says as they were standing by the smoldering ruins Maria drove up
00:55:58
smiling drives up the driveway smirk on her face turned around left that was that Frank arrived soon after Maria left
00:56:08
and told the state police fire marshal that he was certain Maria and her father had set the fire but the fire marshal
00:56:16
said there was no way to find evidence of arson because the structure was destroyed the fire was designated
00:56:25
undetermined Frank was extremely angry that they could not figure out why or how the fire started Frank was done with
00:56:32
just wanting things documented he wanted an arrest Frank and I approached everybody we could think of in the law
00:56:39
enforcement Community I still to this day do not know if there was ever an investigation Sergeant tra from the
00:56:45
hemlock Township Police started a case File and spoke to Maria but says because of the Fire Marshal's conclusion there
00:56:53
was little else he could do I did have a strong suspicion that it was arson um but I'm not an expert so when he
00:57:01
determined that that's what I have to go with after the fire Maria seemed to taunt Frank in a text karma is a
00:57:12
wonderful thing you destroyed my life I feel a lot better since your whole life went up in the fire makes it
00:57:22
fair and I can hear her saying it it was just a text I can hear Maria followed up with another menacing
00:57:30
text about Julie I will make her lose her job her home and you did Frank read that to you he did he was very um
00:57:42
distraught by it as time went on Maria's threats grew more bold and more public at a kids
00:57:50
soccer game Maria screamed in Julie's face that her house was next a few months later Julie was home alone asleep
00:58:01
it was when I heard the breaking of glass as I came around to the top of the stairs as I was about to round the
00:58:08
corner I was greeted by a fireball literally a fireball coming up the stairs what do you do nothing else I
00:58:15
could do but to open a window and go out onto the porch roof Julie jumped from her second story porch roof and survived
00:58:24
shaken but uninjured I lost everything and do you believe that the sole intent of this was to burn a house
00:58:35
down or was it to kill you I do believe it also had the component of of ridding me from the life yes of Frank Spencer
00:58:45
Julie lived in a different County and she and Frank were hoping for a better outcome this time but another state
00:58:52
police fire marshal at the scene that night said he couldn't find evidence of what started the fire at this point even
00:59:00
I wasn't accepting it let alone Frank Julie's home insurance sent a fire inspector out the next morning and Joel
00:59:08
whis says he showed him what they'd found here by this window there was a car jack right here laying on the ground
00:59:16
it was a scissor jack that would lift the car what would a jack be doing here it's heavy it's steel it was used to
00:59:22
break that window in and the investigator noticed a through the weeds by the house there was a milk jug a
00:59:30
gallon container and there was an unused road flare lying next to it an igniter an igniter which said to the
00:59:37
investigator these are the makings of a firebomb a firebomb the state police fire marshal
00:59:45
came back out to the scene and they used their apparatus to determine accelerance
00:59:50
and there was gasoline all over to steps this time the fire was ruled an arson Frank and Julie told the fire marshal
00:59:58
they were certain Maria was involved and shared her prior threats but once again
01:00:05
no one was charged in the fall of 2010 Frank and Julie tried separating briefly and in desperation told their story to a
01:00:15
local paper a year and a half later there was something else in the newspaper an
01:00:22
announcement that Frank and Maria were finally divorced had the two of you talked about spending the rest of your
01:00:29
lives together perhaps we did yes but that would never happen the day after that divorce notice was
01:00:38
published Frank Spencer was dead let's open this a little bit further oh my [Music]
01:01:05
this is his home right here yes it is right here on the left uh this is the murder scene Pennsylvania State Police
01:01:11
Corporal Shawn Williams was assigned to lead the murder investigation the day Frank Spencer's body was
01:01:19
found on that July Morning as you approached the front door here what did you see Peter there was a lot of blood
01:01:27
right here in front of this doorway uh the blood had striations in it like as though it been pushed with a push broom
01:01:36
attempt at cleanup Frank's house has been frozen in time in the years since his murder in
01:01:44
2012 you can see some of our Chemical Testing uh Frank Spencer's blood uh spattered against uh this frame and door
01:01:53
can you get us inside sure [Music] Frank Spencer's body was right here on these tiles uh Frank's head was uh
01:02:13
behind this doorway and his arms were outreached above his head he was laying on his back investigators found their
01:02:22
next clue in the blood around Frank's Body right here where this section of the floor was
01:02:29
removed the forensic Service Unit did their collection of evidence uh they found that there were Footwear
01:02:35
Impressions uh on this tile in blood Footprints yes right here yes we sent it to the FBI uh for analysis and
01:02:46
it came back that it was a Dr scholes model Escape brand uh size 11 uh sneaker the same size and brand of shoe
01:02:57
that Maria's father Rocco was known to wear what other evidence did you find here in the house I can show you if you
01:03:05
come on in this is the main living room of Frank Spencer's home we come back into the kitchen
01:03:12
here the forensic Services Unit they found a glove a yellow cleaning glove uh right about this position right
01:03:22
here [Music] you expect to see a rubber glove in the kitchen but not laying in in the middle
01:03:29
of the floor and the mate for the rubber glove was actually right inside the sink
01:03:36
here when the gloves were tested Maria's DNA was found inside friends say she hadn't lived in that house in over a
01:03:45
[Music] year it wasn't a a door slam close the file and make an arrest but it definitely helped us along the way
01:03:56
Detective Williams had now apparently linked Maria and her father Rocco to the murder scene but that could only take
01:04:03
Williams so far I mean we work in our business with fact so just because everybody in town was saying I think
01:04:12
Maria did this I think her father did this we couldn't just assume that but soon investigators uncovered more
01:04:19
evidence of two suspects Frank had been shot by two different guns and and forensic analysis determined that the
01:04:28
first bullet struck Frank when he was outside the front door and it came from a rifle uh a bullet passed through his
01:04:37
bicep and went into his chest cavity and was at a fatal shot do you believe yes since a rifle is typically a
01:04:47
longdistance weapon police expanded their search into the woods Peter right up here on this Ridge across from the
01:04:55
house you'll see a y in a tree and there's a big base this one right up here yes so that is the location uh
01:05:03
where we found a spent casing a live casing both 30 out six rounds and there was a soft gun case uh for a long rifle
01:05:15
uh located as well now this killing took place in July height of summer so I take
01:05:21
it this whole Hillside would be covered with leaves bush is would Frank have seen an attacker up there I wouldn't
01:05:30
think so so this was a classic Ambush yes after that first shot Williams says Frank was dragged inside and shot again
01:05:40
this time with a handgun at close range then why a second bullet it could be a motivation of hatred uh it could be a
01:05:50
message sent to Frank Spencer that shot meant something to someone that put it there Detective Williams had another
01:05:59
mystery to solve where was Frank's pickup truck we have a victim inside the house but there was no vehicle there for
01:06:07
the victim investigators checked security cameras along the roads near Frank's house and they found images of Frank's
01:06:16
truck driving away from his house just minutes after they calculated he had been murdered but who was inside theck
01:06:27
truck I sent it to the United States Secret Service and it was still just too far away it wasn't like they could zoom
01:06:35
in look through the window and see who was there Frank's truck was eventually found in Sunberry Pennsylvania 27 mil
01:06:44
from Frank's house and just 5 miles from where Maria was living at the time Frank's missing truck had led
01:06:53
police toward Maria's home but there was something else missing from Franks that
01:06:59
day that would lead them toward rockos and then all of us saw there was a dog up here right over
01:07:07
here there a w [Music] miranian see you good what do you think does it look all right yeah so Frank and
01:07:27
Barbara Pinto run a wedding venue in Dolphin Pennsylvania 72 miles from where Frank
01:07:33
Spencer was killed on the day of the murder they were setting up for a wedding when an
01:07:40
Uninvited Guest wandered in beautiful dog just come saching in I said well whose dog is this and nobody knew whose
01:07:48
dog it was it was Frank's dog Mutley adopted after his kid's dog was killed in the
01:07:55
fire so did Mutley look exhausted like he had taken some 70 M journey to get here no you could tell he was somebody's
01:08:03
dog he was very well taken care very well taken care of Detective Williams realized that someone had driven Mutley
01:08:11
to dolphin and that person must have been at Frank's house at the time of the murder and how many killers would take a
01:08:20
dog with them unless they knew that dog I wouldn't think too many Williams learned that Rocco lived in Harrisburg
01:08:28
Pennsylvania and the wedding venue is right along the road from Frank's house to rocos Rocco's cell phone is on that
01:08:38
direct route that same day Williams theorizes that Maria had asked Roco to take Mutley for the kids sake and that
01:08:47
Mutley had run off accidentally when Roco stopped along the way it was now two mon months after
01:08:56
Frank's murder and Williams wanted to talk to his two main suspects Maria refused but to William's surprise Roco
01:09:06
agreed which still blows my mind why he decided to talk to us however I think Rocco likes that cat and mouse part of
01:09:15
an investigation Rocco did give Williams an alii what did he say said I never left Harrisburg I couldn't believe it
01:09:24
because I know from his cell phone that he had traveled twice Rocco told police a Preposterous story saying that while
01:09:33
he had never liked Frank he was actually at Frank's house the day before the murder without Maria helping tidy up I
01:09:43
said well what kind of cleaning were you doing and he said well uh I was you know
01:09:47
folding laundry and uh cleaning up with the push broom that's the same push broom that
01:09:54
was used to clean Frank's blood off the porch even more far-fetched Rocco said Frank had let him test drive his truck
01:10:03
that day and that when he offered to buy it Frank suggested they wrestle for it basically what he's saying is I touched
01:10:12
Frank Spencer I touched the truck and I touched that push broom it sounds like he's trying to create a scenario if you
01:10:20
find my DNA in any of these places this is why absolutely run touch around the same time Rocco was
01:10:30
talking to Williams Frank's friend Dirk saw Maria in the stands at a high school
01:10:35
football game so I just sat down beside her and I said I just want to let you know don't
01:10:42
worry about me around your kids I said I'm never going to say anything to disrespect you or Frank around your kids
01:10:48
and she looked at me and goes that's why you're still alive Reed and I just looked at her and said
01:10:54
tell your dad I said hi and she went off like many of Frank's friends Dirk suspected Rocco had helped Maria murder
01:11:04
Frank and we were basically almost nose to nose and I'm going why you took him away from not just your kids from
01:11:13
everybody what did she say to that though I mean did she say I didn't kill him oh no no what she said was the last
01:11:21
thing he saw before he died was me it was a wretched moment for dirk but a huge piece of evidence for the case
01:11:31
she's putting herself at a homicide scene if she saw someone take their last breath she's saying she was there by
01:11:39
that Autumn Williams was working with prosecutor Tony foray the senior Deputy attorney general for the Commonwealth of
01:11:47
Pennsylvania I think it was horrible that what Frank went through foray was handling the prosecution because the
01:11:54
County DA was now Tom lipold Maria's former divorce attorney and he had recused himself from the
01:12:02
case foray was a gast when he learned Frank had been reporting death threats for years both before and after the
01:12:12
fires in 2010 in the state of Pennsylvania is making a death threat to someone is that
01:12:20
a crime yes that would be a terroristic threat even when Frank did did ask police to investigate some of the
01:12:27
threats he reported Maria was never brought in for an interview or charged with making terroristic threats you get
01:12:35
away with terroristic threats and then if you get away with a burglary and you get away with a fire and you get away
01:12:42
with a blatant attempt to murder a girlfriend in a fire the only thing left is murder local police officer Scott TRW
01:12:55
people in this town who believe that you and other members of the hemlock Township uh police department were just
01:13:02
not doing your job you were not properly investigating these threats and complaints you say what that's not true
01:13:11
every incident that was thoroughly investigated if they were serious in nature um the colum County district
01:13:17
attorney was consulted and he would determine at that time if somebody would get arrested or not arrested the County
01:13:23
district attorney during most of the time leading up to Frank's murder was Gary Norton he says he never knew about
01:13:31
Maria's threatening voicemails and texts as district attorney I only know what the police tell me and Norton says it
01:13:39
was usually up to police to make arrests not the da but when I was Da 95 to 99% of the arrests that were made were made
01:13:48
without consultation with the da the police had that power and exercised that power Julie dence fire was not in TRW or
01:13:57
Norton's district and Norton says he didn't ignore Frank's mother's Fire or the theft of Frank's business records he
01:14:05
says he was following the law is there an arson and can we prove arson no is there a burglary no because Frank
01:14:13
Spencer had no proof that it was Maria who entered the premises before a prosecutor can ethically bring a charge
01:14:20
there has to be evidence or proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt but prose Tony for felt he could prove the earlier crimes
01:14:29
and Frank's murder it took time to gather evidence and in 2013 foray convened a grand jury this time both
01:14:39
suspects agreed to talk and there was no interrupting Maria so as soon as she took a breath I would ask a question did
01:14:48
you ever threaten to kill Frank Spencer her answer would be absolutely not check one count of perjury did you ever
01:14:59
threaten Julie Dent absolutely not check and so foray charged Maria with 12 counts of perjury more than a dozen
01:15:08
other charges and most importantly Frank Spencer's murder in July 2014 Williams went to
01:15:17
arrest her and that's when I told her she was under arrest for the murder of Frank Spencer she immediately began to
01:15:24
say oh my God oh my God oh my God the warrant for Rocco's arrest was issued the same day but Rocco was
01:15:35
nowhere to be found it had been 2 years since Frank Spencer's murder and Maria Spencer was
01:15:52
finally under arrest it was like you lifted a you know a weight like there's 1,000 lb on your back but her father
01:15:59
Rocco had skipped town the year before flee right after he finished his grand jury testimony within like 36
01:16:08
hours Rocco Franklin had boarded a plane to Columbia South America and are you hot on his Trail not at that point
01:16:18
that's because rockco had an 11-month Head Start but once Williams had an arrest warrant and a Little Help from
01:16:25
the state department he found him he was only four blocks away from the United States Embassy in Buenos series
01:16:33
Argentina I couldn't believe that it was sort of that easy sort of was the operative term within weeks Rocco was
01:16:41
arrested by Argentinian police but he fought extradition and so in the fall of 2015 Maria Spencer went on trial for
01:16:50
Frank's murder alone prosecutor Tony for the totality of what went on is I think
01:16:59
both the strength of the case and also the the horror of the case foray had Maria's DNA at the crime scene the truck
01:17:09
found close to her home and her history of death threats Maria's defense was to blame her own father clearly the defense
01:17:19
strategy was this was all Roco Roco Roco He's the bad guy it was all him cameras
01:17:27
were not allowed inside the trial one by one Frank's friends took the stand how many of you uh were called upon to
01:17:36
testify at trial all of us all of us they told the jury about the fires Maria's admission that she was at the
01:17:44
crime scene and the years of harassment Julie Dent testified about an especially
01:17:51
disturbing threat so what would she say to Frank one specific that I remember playing his
01:17:58
day is that she would cut off both of his hands and dip them into hot tart cauterize them so that she would
01:18:08
never he would never be able to hold his children again the trial lasted 9 days as the
01:18:17
jury began its deliberation Frank's friends were worried you just things never seem to go our way you know
01:18:28
I was scared 8 hours later the jury had reached a verdict I look down I never look at the jury because I don't want to
01:18:39
react I'm waiting which seems like an eternity and then it's guilty guilty guilty guilty Maria was found guilty on
01:18:50
all counts for murdering Frank Spencer and for the two arson the burglary 12 counts of perjury conspiracy and
01:19:00
terroristic threats thank you Merry Christmas she was sentenced to life without parole plus 50 years that was it
01:19:09
that was it yep that's it for all of us oh my God thank you thank God it took another year and a half but
01:19:18
in 2017 Williams was finally able to bring Roco back to stand TR I never done anything have you killed Mr Spencer of
01:19:27
course not don't talk R Maria had argued Rocco killed Frank alone but Rocco wasn't following that script come on I
01:19:37
got no beef with Frank Spencer if I had a beef out have broke his face a long time ago but Rocco who spoke to us from
01:19:45
the county jail doesn't appear to be holding a grudge against Maria for trying to blame it all on him Maria
01:19:53
never hurt nobody but did to that girl is outrageous Roco says he's innocent of murder and the rest of it but they got
01:20:02
no proof what proof they had show me one piece of evidence one eyewitness one fingerprint one
01:20:09
anything prosecutor foray says he has plenty of evidence from the shoe print in Frank's blood Footprints yes to
01:20:18
Rocko's ridiculous Story how are you feeling Rocco I'm doing fine how you doing putting himself at Frank's before
01:20:24
the murder and of course the arrival of Mutley at that wedding like I'm that dumb that I'm going steal a a guy I'm
01:20:33
supposed to whack take his dog and leave it 10 miles from my house come on that don't even sound
01:20:41
right in the Autumn of 2018 after a 4-day trial Roco Franklin was convicted of Frank's murder and for the burglary
01:20:51
and the arson at Frank's mother's house he was sentenced to life plus 45 years I mean this has been a long drawn
01:21:01
out Affair and it never needed to be what we're going through now Dirk's wife Dena Reed after the first fire she
01:21:13
should have been in prison um Frank should still be here Sergeant TR says he did what he
01:21:21
could Frank's dead I I understand that but I wouldn't do anything and our department wouldn't do anything
01:21:27
differently than we did Tony foray has called what Frank experienced an epic failure of law enforcement did anyone
01:21:37
stop and look at the totality of everything that was going on and do something significant in terms of
01:21:43
arresting either Maria or her father Rocco the answer is no well there's not a crime in the Pennsylvania crimes code
01:21:50
that's called the totality of the circumstances make you look really guilty former da Gary Norton you have to
01:21:58
analyze these things Case by case and ask yourself can the arrest be made and can I in good faith uh secure a
01:22:05
conviction Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and the answer uh was yes where we prosecuted her and no when we did not
01:22:12
prosecute her I reacted as best I could in the situation and my conscience is clear I don't have any regrets as to
01:22:21
what I did out in front of the courthouse house where Gary Norton now serves as a judge
01:22:27
and Maria's former divorce lawyer Tom lipold serves as the County DA is a fundraising brick Frank Spencer
01:22:36
purchased years ago he dedicated it to his children and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about
01:22:45
him and I and I still can't figure out why why it happened [Music] [Music] he [Music]
01:24:06
here we [Music] are so we're at Al of Branch the church that I grew up in for 3 years this is the house that I lived
01:24:26
[Music] in this is probably not a door I want to open I just I don't I don't know if I could
01:24:39
handle being in there knowing what [Music] happened my name is Jesse my hair is pink I do decided to change my hair I
01:24:56
also changed my name to Jesse Jessica I no longer wanted that name cuz she was a very sad lonely angry
01:25:07
little girl and I just didn't want that [Music] anymore when I was a young child I lived
01:25:20
with my mom and my dad and then there was me the oldest my middle sister Janelle and then there was my little
01:25:27
sister Jolene my dad died when I was 5 years old after my dad had died my Mom married
01:25:36
Bob p and Bob had become a minister because my stepdad was the minister of the church we lived in the parsonage Bob's
01:25:45
kids were older than me and my sisters my first impression of Jeff was he was very tall skinny crazy big hair
01:25:55
uh and Jackie she was a little more quiet reserved my sister janal and I had a best friend Stephanie
01:26:03
[Music] Fagan she was like one of the family we played in the backyard we ran through
01:26:09
the corn fields it was typical country girl stuff the P family through my eyes seemed
01:26:22
normal for the most part [Music] in April 1989 I was 9 years old my whole world was
01:26:33
shattered Jeff was planning to go to the prom that weekend Jackie was at a church camp I
01:26:41
had planned to go to a friend's house so I ended up going to the sleepover by myself for the whole weekend
01:26:54
my Sunday routine was we would usually arrive at church between 9: and 9:15 I would go over to the P because
01:27:04
Don usually had breakfast made eggs bacon whatever we wanted so I ran over there when the door was locked I was
01:27:14
confused the doors were never locked and I went running back to the church and I said I don't know they must
01:27:23
all sleeping at this point in time I think the whole congregation was there they
01:27:31
had a master key they went and scoped it out themselves and they came back and said everybody needs to run to the Altar
01:27:44
and pray I was super confused we drove up and and I saw lots of people in the parking
01:27:57
lot and there were cop cars everywhere there was yellow crime tape a police officer came up to the van
01:28:05
and asked my friends mom to get out and I could see them talking and I could see
01:28:11
the tears just start streaming down her face who shot and killed the family so she came around and told me that my
01:28:23
whole family was gone the brutal murder of the P high powered shotgun wasn't home
01:28:33
[Music] [Music] the brutal M of the P family shot to death in their home Sunday morning
01:29:26
thrust a small town into the national [Music] Spotlight I had just found out that my
01:29:36
whole family was gone I had just lost everything I pretty much became an orphan in a
01:29:45
day Lake V indana was never the same for me and it was never the same for anybody
01:29:51
to be honest with you that lived there it was hard on the whole Community this happy picture of the P
01:30:04
family is how most people who knew the Pell probably want to remember them because that family was loved dearly and
01:30:12
nobody could understand it Jesse and I we were 3 years apart in age it wasn't too hard for me to try to
01:30:21
put myself into her shoes and to know what it must be like to lose everyone the funeral was on May 3rd 1989
01:30:32
in the church where Bob P preached every Sunday next to the house where they were
01:30:38
[Music] murdered it was standing room only there was media everywhere news anchors running around with cameras
01:30:47
pointed at us as we walked in also at the funeral where Jesse's stepsister Jackie and Stepbrother Jeff both had not
01:30:56
been home the weekend of the murders I remember seeing Jackie visibly emotionally upset and
01:31:04
shaken Jeff he was just flat and distant it's like he was there but he wasn't there the only thing I remember about my
01:31:13
family's funeral was the caskets I don't remember who all was there I couldn't tell you what I was was
01:31:24
doing I just remember the four caskets we were toward the front of the church in a
01:31:32
Pew and all at once the chords to a piano began to play the song Amazing [Music]
01:31:43
Grace and I just remember being so devastated to realize the reason that the caskets
01:31:55
were closed is because of the horrific way that they had died no one should have seen what we saw
01:32:12
that morning we walked in through the garage door and upstairs Robert P was in the
01:32:22
hallway his glasses next to him and he had two gunshots on his body and then we went downstairs and
01:32:35
saw Don jonell and Jolene and that was what really put a face to this crime to see the young girls in that
01:32:50
position the way they were with their mothers trying to protect them was just something that was ET in my
01:32:57
mind forever they were all shot in the head it was devastating it stuck with me my whole life I mean 30 years later I
01:33:07
can still see if I close my eyes the three people in the basement as a detective I saw the worst of the worst
01:33:12
that morning but we had a job to do so immediately started talking about suspects it did not look like a
01:33:21
burglary it did not look like a home invasion the police spoke to all of the surviving
01:33:26
members of the P family including Jeff P so do you know who killed your mother and father or your father and no I I
01:33:35
really don't I I don't know who would want to I didn't know who had done it or who they thought had done it it was like
01:33:43
a hush hush thing with me in my own mind I had to come up with something so I thought my stepdad had
01:33:51
killed my mom and my two sisters and then killed him self he was not very nice to me spanked
01:33:59
me a lot so I thought you know at nine that he could have been capable of that but police had dismissed that
01:34:08
possibility almost immediately after seeing the extent of injuries of Bob p and no murder weapon
01:34:14
or no weapon laying around him I rode the suicide part out in my mind a month after the funeral relatives sent Jesse
01:34:22
away to Camp with her friend Stephanie in an effort to restore some normaly to her life uh ended up to not be normal
01:34:32
Jessica was a very changed person after that when I say the million mile stair like she had it a lot it was almost as
01:34:41
if she was there but she wasn't there when I look at those pictures it's just so weird and strange to me because
01:34:50
we both have Smiles on our faces but those little girls [Music] weren't right um those little girls were
01:35:00
hurting after Camp Jesse says her relatives thought it was best for her to start over they didn't want her to
01:35:09
communicate with the people that she had shared this tragedy with after the murders we really didn't have a close
01:35:16
relationship my step brother and my steps sister and I they went with family members on their dad's side and I went
01:35:22
with a family member on my mom's side I ended up in Michigan because I went and stayed with my grandfather they
01:35:30
just wanted me to forget and move on it's like they wanted me to be in this bubble to protect me but it wasn't
01:35:37
really protecting me it was isolating me and hurting me I had sent letters and I
01:35:43
was told not to send any any any more letters I just would sit at night and think to myself I can't imagine what
01:35:53
she's is going through I uh ended up running away and then they placed me in a foster home I
01:36:04
didn't really have a place to call my own I felt like a Drifter I didn't know where I was going
01:36:11
to stay I felt like I didn't belong anywhere as time passed and Jesse tried to regain her footing the investigation
01:36:20
dragged on without any arrests at the age of 13 I did try and take control of my life and I actually pushed down all
01:36:29
the feelings that I was feeling I was happy and outgoing and had friends and didn't think about the past but 5 years
01:36:37
after the murder of her family someone from her past life Came Calling my step brother Jeff he did call
01:36:46
me when I was 15 and asked me to come down to Florida to visit him when I went to visit him he
01:36:54
did have a really good job with the computer business he had a wife Kim and you know had his own house so he was he
01:37:02
was doing pretty good and the first thing that he asked me was who do you think did
01:37:07
it so I looked at him and said I think your dad did it and then it was dropped unbeknownst to Jesse police had
01:37:16
been focusing on someone else from the very beginning looking back on that time visiting Jeff it could have gone way
01:37:24
worse than it [Music] did after the P were gone and after they were buried here I am at the cemetery
01:37:50
there was no more laughing there was no more running there was no more playing just going to grabb my stuff out of the
01:37:56
trunk there was just no more of anything and they're right over here when I was 16 I got my driver's license
01:38:05
and the first place I went was to the cemetery I would just sit and talk to them it was a huge way
01:38:14
to cope with the loss and then i' started kind of tending their graves just making sure that they
01:38:21
were clean and scrubbed and that there wasn't any moss and stuff on them my mind just wonders
01:38:30
why I mean they were so young for years Stephanie Fagan grieved the loss of the murdered P family but
01:38:46
also the loss of Jesse she was gone I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't just let me you know keep in contact
01:38:55
with [Music] her when I was a teenager I did start doing research about the murders and
01:39:05
that's when it became kind of an obsession for me to find her every time I came out I was always
01:39:14
thinking I'll run into her someday if I just come out here enough she'll be here
01:39:20
[Music] I did not realize anybody was out there looking for me I pretty much thought
01:39:29
everybody forgot about me and had moved on with their lives because it wasn't their family that they
01:39:37
lost in 1998 when she was 18 Jesse tried to move on as well the first chance that
01:39:46
I got to purchase my own home I did I used some of the inheritance to purchase it I had not had a home since I was
01:39:56
nine it was an amazing feeling I felt like I belonged there that I had a place Jesse finally had a home and a
01:40:07
family would soon follow when I first met Tyson it was love at first sight for him me it was not I was with someone
01:40:15
else so when we reconnected a couple years later we just started hanging out and ever since then we've been together
01:40:24
I have two children when my children were younger they did know that I had a family and that they were gone I did not
01:40:32
go into detail I did not really give them any explanation on what had happened they just knew they were
01:40:40
gone but in 2002 13 years after the murders keeping her past barried would become more difficult there was a knock
01:40:50
on my door and there were two detectives standing there they told her the case was being reopened they said well we're
01:40:56
here to talk about you know your family's murder case and we just want to know who you think did it when I told
01:41:03
him it was my stepfather they looked at each other and then you know looked at me and said well there's no way it could
01:41:10
have been him and then that's when they asked me well who do you think could have done it and in that moment Jeff
01:41:17
came to my mind my older stepbrother Jeff liked to do things that just scared me he was so quick to getting angry and
01:41:31
he would use his fist he would fight and they said yep that's exactly who we think did
01:41:37
it I got a pit in my stomach and then they started telling me a little bit about the
01:41:44
case Reverend Robert P his wife and their two youngest children were found shot to death in their home Sunday
01:41:50
morning I know there was a lot of angst in that family between him and his dad I know of a situation where Bob
01:42:01
punched him one time I think the the neighbors saw a lot of that same thing as well just weeks before the murders
01:42:08
Center had handled a case in which Jeff P had burglarized a home Bob P grounded Jeff for the burglary case he could not
01:42:18
go to the prom without his dad taking him he couldn't go to dinner before the prom
01:42:23
he couldn't go to the after prom the embarrassment of his dad driving him not having to do any of the other activities
01:42:30
was crushing to Jeff P conducting an interview with Robert Jeffrey P I interviewed Jeff with his grandparents
01:42:39
May the 1st [Music] 1989 did you have anything to do with it no I didn't me and my father didn't get
01:42:48
along sometimes and sometimes I'd be really upset with him but but we always work things out but investigators didn't
01:42:58
believe him when you're talking about the death of your family uh you think you know every once in a while he'd tear
01:43:03
up or he'd cry um he never did any of that the main evidence against Jeff was the timeline the P were last seen alive
01:43:12
shortly before police believe Jeff left for prom who else could have done it who
01:43:16
else would have done it who else had the motive I believe he killed his family and and then was able to go to the
01:43:25
prom yet back in 1989 the case against Jeff was thin we didn't have any forensic evidence we didn't find a
01:43:33
murder weapon no eyewitnesses we had circumstantial evidence and the timeline very tough case to proof very tough case
01:43:40
to [Music] prosecute the prosecutor's office chose not to file charges on Jeff P at the
01:43:49
time the prosecutor did not think we had enough to my mind I thought we had enough
01:43:56
but 13 years after the slaughter of the P family a new prosecutor thought there was enough evidence Jeff P was arrested
01:44:05
and charged with four counts of murder when I heard Jeff was arrested I was just waiting until the trial to see
01:44:16
you know what was going to happen I was scared that he was going to get out come after me
01:44:24
when he's angry he's not a nice [Music] [Music] person when I came back to Indiana for
01:44:50
the trial it was like coming back a stranger 17 15 years after the murder of her family Jesse returned to the place
01:44:57
she once called home I felt like it had never been my home I couldn't remember a
01:45:03
lot about it I couldn't remember a lot about the past on Monday a jury got its first good look at a man most people in
01:45:10
St Joe County haven't seen for a long time Jeff Hy and when I went to trial people were asking who I was and that's
01:45:18
when it hit me that wow I really was lost a jury of seven men and five women will hear the case against Jeff P I was
01:45:25
scared to see him I was scared to have all these memories come back up I did hope to have a reunion with
01:45:34
Jessica at the trial my anxiety was very high because I thought okay here's my chance I'm going to be able to see her
01:45:41
because we're all going to be in the same courtroom and that never happened that's because Stephanie was a witness
01:45:48
and only in court the one day she testified I was not allowed to see her I was not allowed to contact
01:45:54
[Music] her Tuesday lawyers laid out their cases to the jury in opening statements this
01:46:01
was a totally circumstantial evidence case there was a very very small window when the family could have been murdered
01:46:10
uh it was very clearly the only person who could have done this was Jeff the prosecution's theory was that Jeff
01:46:16
killed his father in an argument over prom and then had to get rid of the surviving Witnesses the prosecutor took
01:46:23
the jury through the timeline on Saturday April 29th the P house was definitely buzzing many of the individuals going to
01:46:36
the prom wanted to come by and show bob their prom dress their prom tux his home
01:46:42
was always open he wanted to be someone the community could depend on someone who could be trusted by his parishioners
01:46:49
so up until roughly 5:00 there was a lot of traffic in and out of the home but the prosecution says by 5:30 no
01:46:58
other visitors could get into the house the house was locked up as tight as a drum it became very clear that the
01:47:04
murders had to happen between say 5 and 520 the biggest thing was Jeff said he wasn't there Jeff told investigators he
01:47:12
left before 5:00 but Witnesses testified they saw Jeff's car parked outside the P home
01:47:20
after that the witnesses who saw when the car was at the house and when the car left the home he was clearly at the
01:47:27
house Jeff's prom date also testified she said when Jeff showed up at a nearby friend's house at 5:30 he wasn't wearing
01:47:36
his tucks the idea that he had to take the prom offit down to his girlfriends and there was no pictures taken with his
01:47:43
parents said a lot about what he had done in the house he had to get out of there Jeff's prom date also recalled
01:47:49
something Jeff told her at an amusement park the day after prom shortly before news broke of the murders Jeff had
01:47:57
seemed troubled when she asked him what was the matter Jeff had told her he thought something bad had happened at
01:48:05
home it seemed to come out of nowhere for this whole situation unless he knew something had happened back in Lakeville
01:48:13
Indiana even though Jesse had not been home the weekend of the murders she was also called to testify the day comes to
01:48:20
where I have to testify and I was very nervous cuz I knew I was going to see Jeff and at this point I did want to say
01:48:27
something to him that he took my whole family from me he destroyed my life in one Split
01:48:35
Second as I sat on the stand and looked at him he didn't even look at me I did not get what I wanted it's like he just
01:48:44
pretended like I wasn't there I was always concerned that she would break down on the stand just because of the
01:48:51
emotion involved in this she did not she stayed very very solid the whole way Jesse testified she saw something
01:48:58
important before leaving for that sleepover I let them know that when I said goodbye to my mom that the gun rack
01:49:06
was on the wall and there was a bow and a shotgun on it the bow was in the rack when officers came that Sunday morning
01:49:14
cuz we had photographs of it but the firearm was not there police never found that gun believed to be the murder
01:49:20
weapon but they were convinced they didn't need it they testified Jeff made a seemingly damning statement in an
01:49:28
untaped interview if I tell you what happened would I get the death penalty who would say something about that
01:49:35
unless they' done something wrong there was no motive there was no opportunity there was no murder weapon there was no
01:49:46
case from the very beginning the police basically assumed that Jeff had committed the this crime without any
01:49:54
evidence what they didn't investigate in the case was any possibility that someone else and for other reasons had
01:50:01
committed these murders after calling more than 50 Witnesses prosecutors say all the facts point to Jeff Pell it's
01:50:08
Preposterous to think that in the short amount of time that Jeff's presence was unaccounted for somewhere around 20 to
01:50:16
30 minutes he could have killed his family disposed of the murder weapon driven over to his dates house there no
01:50:24
possible way that he could have done all of those things in the amount of time he
01:50:28
[Music] had as the trial Drew to a close Jeff's fate and Jesse's sense of security were
01:50:36
hanging in the balance there's no doubt in my mind that Jeff is innocent he did not commit these
01:50:44
murders he's not a killer do I think the evidence points to Jeff yes I do [Music]
01:50:59
[Music] the prosecutor started his closing argument letting the jury know it was
01:51:12
his burden to prove the case the prosecution had no murder weapon did you have anything to do with
01:51:21
it no I didn't no confession and no forensic evidence the case the jury had to consider rested mainly on the
01:51:28
timeline and Jeff P's motive his anger over prom waiting for a verdict was very nerve-wracking but now the burden of
01:51:37
deciding Jeff P's fate is theirs I didn't know what was going to come out of this I hoped he was going to be put
01:51:43
in prison but there was always that chance that that might not happen one of P's lawyers says his client is under a
01:51:49
lot of stress now that the jury has the case Jeff was facing life in prison so everything was at stake the jury
01:51:58
deliberated on this case they went out I believe it was a Wednesday afternoon about 2 or
01:52:03
3:00 came back with a verdict I believe it was after 8:00 on Friday night the jury came back with
01:52:11
guilty on all four counts against Jeff Pell guilty for the murders of dawn Bob Janelle and Jolene p
01:52:23
I felt a sense of justice when I heard the verdict was guilty my family's killer was put away Jeff does have a
01:52:32
wife and a child so I did feel for his son because he was losing a dad and I know how that feels but I remember to
01:52:41
this day the image of Jeff being handcuffed is burned in my mind jurors were quoted as saying well if he didn't
01:52:48
do it who did that is not proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt Jeff was sentenced to 160 years in prison for the four murders
01:52:55
in this matter the case however was far from over so after the conviction we of course filed an appeal and we were
01:53:06
successful the convictions were set aside on a number of procedural grounds I actually had someone call me
01:53:13
and tell me that and I remember being at saala actually and I was sitting in my car and I just started crying because I
01:53:21
was afraid it was all going to start again and I didn't want to have to look over my
01:53:26
shoulder but Jeff remained in custody and in February 2009 the Indiana Supreme Court upheld Jeff P's conviction the
01:53:37
sentence stood with the case seemingly behind her Jesse decided her children were old
01:53:44
enough to hear how she lost her family when I was first told about my mom's past we were actually in Indiana she
01:53:53
took me to her sister's and Mom and stepdad's Graves she told me that they had been killed when she was nine it
01:54:04
made me sad cuz I was like well that's your family that's my family I had never actually witnessed her cry like
01:54:15
[Music] that so I would Google p p murders Jessica [Music] Pell you know any two words that I could
01:54:28
put together to figure out where she was well I had found one clipping of one article that said Jesse
01:54:39
tanjo so I went on the search bar typed in her name boom this eye came up it was just this part of her eye I
01:54:51
knew it was her I knew part of me was scared because I thought maybe she didn't want me in her life but I said to
01:55:02
myself you know what I've come this far there's no stopping now I don't know if you remember me or not my name is
01:55:10
Stephanie we were close when we were younger I'm just going to write her a letter I'm going to tell her how I feel
01:55:14
I'm going to tell her who I am and if she wants me to be in her life fine if she doesn't I will leave it to you to
01:55:20
write me back I will probably be biting my nails until you do so one day I log into Facebook and there's a message from
01:55:28
a Stephanie Fagan well I don't recognize the name but I I click on it and I read
01:55:33
it I have huge tears in my eyes right now just knowing that you were actually going to get my letter this time I just
01:55:38
told her I've been looking for you my whole life and I told her I took care of your parents Graves and I've thought
01:55:45
about you and I've talked to you in my sleep I've talked to you when I wake up I've gone through my life and never lost
01:55:51
sight of finding you I never in a million years thought I'd ever see you again and I'm balling as I'm reading it
01:55:57
I'm just crying hysterically and the feeling I got was someone reached out to me and has been
01:56:04
looking for me this whole time and wants to get to know me again and wants to be
01:56:10
around me and remembers everything and at first she didn't remember me but then I started kind of telling her stories
01:56:17
about camp and it clicked immediately I have missed you for many years much love
01:56:23
Stephanie and the rest is kind of history there we go Stephanie and I call each other's
01:56:35
sisters from the moment that we reconnected we bonded in such a way that I've never had a bond like that Jesse's
01:56:43
cousin Jamie Collins also came back into her life reuniting with Jesse she was this Fierce vibrant kind of bold
01:56:52
freespirit um person with this hot pink hair she had told me a lot of her deepest darkest secrets about her past
01:57:01
and her thoughts and her fears and her dreams and we talked about so many things that in a lot of ways I felt like
01:57:07
I knew her better than maybe I've ever known anyone so Jamie said to me you know you should write a book about your
01:57:14
life and I told her I said well everybody tells me that but I definitely could never do that and I probably
01:57:20
couldn't talk to a stranger about everything and she said well what about me could you tell me and I told her yeah
01:57:27
I could probably do that though she came across as outgoing and positive the trauma of Jesse's childhood was never
01:57:35
far below the surface we were actually writing the book at the time that Jessica kind of had a downward
01:57:42
spiral and it was a very scary time for both of us she lost a close family friend to cystic
01:57:50
fibrosis and for her it had triggered these elements from her past once the triggers hit her that was that was it I
01:57:58
hadn't lost anybody since my family and I never realized that it would hit me like that so I have a whole week where I
01:58:07
don't remember a whole lot I trashed my living room I was angry it was like I wasn't even there I could feel
01:58:16
myself being sucked into the darkness and I just couldn't bring myself out that week I knew something was going on
01:58:23
I got a call and she was crying all I could hear was you know I I I need you I was like okay you need to calm down
01:58:31
there was no calming her down I was like maybe you just need to take an anxiety pill you know maybe you just need to
01:58:36
calm down she's like I took all of them I said oh this is not good and the phone went
01:58:47
silent and I couldn't hear her anymore and I thought that's it this whole time I waited for her and I
01:58:55
looked for her and now this is it this is it she's [Music] [Applause] gone that week when she was spiraling
01:59:19
the last thing I remember was an ambulance at our house and I was watching them take my mom out on a
01:59:31
[Music] stretcher I ended up waking up in a hospital and I didn't know how I got
01:59:38
there I didn't know what had happened but the doctor asked me if I tried to kill myself and I was floored I guess I
01:59:45
had taken a bottle of pills and tried to kill myself I later found in a notebook
01:59:52
uh goodbye note at that point in time that was Rock Bottom for her she called me I was one of the only people that
01:59:59
knew she said I'm done I got to get help I was scared for my life that I wasn't going to make it and I did not come this
02:00:08
far not to make it so I ended up admitting myself in the hospital and started getting some
02:00:17
[Music] help I've learned that I do have d ID which is dissociative identity disorder
02:00:25
and I am part Jessica and part Jesse so when I pushed Jessica down inside me way
02:00:32
down and didn't want to feel sad lonely I think I lost a lot of the memories that I had in doing that and now that
02:00:41
I'm trying to get them back you know it's difficult too because I'm just now letting Jessica come
02:00:49
back a survivor's path is is very messy there is no clean line there is no straight path you have your ups and
02:00:57
downs but when you get help it's a little bit easier I do not consider myself fully
02:01:03
healed but I'm definitely on the way to recovery when I think of Jessica I don't
02:01:09
think of just a lonely scared little girl anymore I realize she is me and together we can overcome
02:01:18
anything anything including a recent develop in her step brother's case it's still winding its way through the courts
02:01:27
Jeff P's new legal team has filed a motion for postconviction Relief 30 years later there's still a legal
02:01:34
process going on it really is a form of slow torture but I fully believe that he's not getting
02:01:41
out Jesse is trying not to dwell on it and instead focusing on helping others I am Jessica the book she wrote
02:01:50
with her cousin Jamie was published on April 29th 2019 the 30-year anniversary of the
02:01:58
murders we've had a few book signing events and it's been amazing just to see kind of the outpouring of support from
02:02:05
the community I just appreciate everybody that's been supportive and um has hung in there with me it's been
02:02:11
really an overwhelmingly positive experience for both of us when I read the book it made me
02:02:19
realize how strong I am and it made me realize that I have a purpose and it is to help people and this book is one way
02:02:29
that I'm going to do that there's a lot I admire about Jesse I admire Jesse for her strong will
02:02:37
I admire her for her strength I admire her for everything that she went [Music] through there you go and I feel like she
02:02:47
came out just this beautiful flower in a field Full Of Weeds that's how I feel about
02:02:55
her what am I doing with this lemon I saw her in this downward spiral and then just the past year or so I've
02:03:06
seen her crawl back up she survived it seeing my mom go through this has taught me to Value family and to never give up
02:03:17
and to always keep fighting no matter what's going on in my life you better eat yourself Val having my family today
02:03:23
is a blessing I look at them and I just realize how lucky I am to be alive 30 years later Jesse has regained the sense
02:03:32
of family she lost so suddenly but she still thinks of what life would be like had things turned out differently now
02:03:41
that I'm starting to feel again I do think about my sisters and what they would have been like and if I would have
02:03:47
had any nieces and nephews from them and my mom you know how would she be with my
02:03:53
kids would they have called her grandma would they have called her nana I think today my mom is looking
02:04:02
down and she's proud of me I know they're not here but I know they're with me and I still think of
02:04:11
[Music] them I remember singing with my sisters right up there on that stage we would sing Amazing Grace 30 years ago
02:04:27
I did not know Amazing Grace would apply to me I know now that I survived for a reason I once was lost now I'm
02:04:36
found I really was lost for a long time and now I'm not anymore [Music] [Music]