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[Music] The disappearance of Ray Wright was a complete mystery. There was no explanation of why he was
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gone. The first real break is when your uncle Dean went to your father's house and
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found an intruder in the house. Did it strike you all as, "Okay, that seems too coincidental. Our dad is
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missing and here's a guy in his house." Yeah, 100%. Because it was just it was scary. So,
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Ray Wright has been missing since Friday when he failed to show up for a meeting
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at work. This case was a series of mysteries. You have a AM PM soda cup just like you would pick up at the gas
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station. The soda cup was the one piece of evidence left by the burglar at the victim's residence in which we get some
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key forensic evidence. Is it a white man? And then that evidence is linked to a car wreck.
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And as ground units arrived, it was like the scene uh out of a movie. Put your hands up. Put your hands up. Inside that
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van is just a treasure trove of evidence. [Music] a rain jacket covered in blood and a
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letter. I handd delivered you your revenge. Now it's time to pay me. All that added up to someone's got Ray.
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I knew something bad was happening to him. I felt it. It was weeks to months to then years
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without really knowing. Right. Years of not knowing. Yeah. Throughout the case, it was clear that
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many of the witnesses were afraid to come forward because I'm terrified of them. All of them. You guys are going to
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get me killed. I can't help you. I have to go. You're going to I love you. You're going to get me killed. 100% of
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the truth. What happened to Rey? I don't know. What happened to Ray? I don't know. I don't know what happened to Ray.
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officers in the family are left with essentially a person that has vanished off the face of the earth.
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[Music] [Music] Dean Wright was nervous. Where's Ry? It was Saturday morning, January 13th, 2018
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in Sacramento, California. I just wanted to know where Ry is. Dean hadn't heard from his younger brother Ray in 2 days.
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Highly unusual for brothers who spoke every day without fail. All of a sudden, middle of
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January, there's just nothing. Nothing. No phone calls, no texts, no social media posts. Nothing. Ray Wright, 55,
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had missed work. No one had seen or heard from him, including his daughters, Haley and Kennedy. My sister called me
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and she was like, "Hey, like, have you heard from dad?" Like, no one's heard from him.
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immediately hung up and called him and I called and I called and I called straight to voicemail every time. So, I
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was getting increasingly concerned. [Music] Dean had repeatedly checked his brother's house in Rockland, a
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Sacramento suburb, and the shop Ray rented in Rio Linda for his work as a master carpenter. Nothing seemed unusual
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except the silence of Ray's absence. And you didn't see his truck? No, his truck was not there. You're panicked at
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this point, right? I think the first couple of days was when it really started to get real and
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serious. I just felt really powerless over the situation, and it was really scary. It was the worst thing that could
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have ever happened. Ray's ex-wife, Peggy Wright, was also upset. I knew right away when he was out of touch that there
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was something wrong. Although they were no longer married, Peggy still considered Ry to be the love
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of her life. Was he romantic? Oh god, he was super romantic. They married in June
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1994, and Ry became an instant dad to stepdaughter Haley, then 3 years old. He was meant to be a father and he was so
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good with her. [Music] He was always there for me. First male role model and he always did everything
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to the fullest. Along came Kennedy nearly 3 years later. She says her father, a loving, hands-on dad, would
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never just up and disappear. He was like a te-ball dad. Um, and he would like take me like fishing, soccer,
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soccer dad, swim meets. He could do it all. Yeah, he could do it all. He was good at
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everything. Yeah. But after several good years, Peggy says the couple found themselves drifting
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apart. He was so busy working. I was busy parenting and I also worked. They divorced in 2001. Ray remarried and
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divorced again in 2009. I think it was the end of his second marriage that kind of put him over the edge and that's when
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he fell off the wagon at almost 20 years sober. Ray Wright, a recovering alcoholic, had stayed sober for most of
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his adult life. But when he went missing, Peggy worried he was in trouble. You think, "Oh gosh, maybe, you
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know, he had a setback or something." He was sober during your marriage. Oh, yeah. It was Ray's relapse after his
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second marriage that sparked a downward spiral, exploding one night in November 2011 when Ry got in a car and drove
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drunk. He slammed headon into a vehicle, severely injuring a husband and wife. Ry, then 49, was convicted of felony DUI
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and sentenced to 18 months in jail. I think that was rock bottom for him. Yeah. Rock bottom was getting in
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this devastating accident. Yeah. And hurting people in the midst of it. Ray immediately stopped drinking, rejoined
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Alcoholics Anonymous, and checked in with his sponsor every day. I think the Ray after that time was even better than
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the Ray prior to that time because he wanted to be the best version of Ray Wright that he could be. Just weeks
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before he went missing. This is the last Thanksgiving. And Ray spent Thanksgiving
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and Christmas with his growing family. Celebrations that included Ray's first granddaughter, Ashton. That's Ashton
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when she was really small. Oh, I love that. Proud mom Haley was thrilled for her dad. He was super excited. He built
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her a custom crib. He loved being a grandpa and she loved Grandpa Ray. Ray was at such a great spot in his life. He
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had it all. And then he [Music] disappeared. By Saturday afternoon on January 13th, more than 48 hours had
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passed without a single sign of Ry. Dean Wright went back to his brother's house
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yet again, knocked on the door, then let himself in. Said, "Hello. Hello." And immediately I smelled marijuana smoke.
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And that's when I knew this is completely wrong cuz he didn't like that. And I'm getting increasingly tense
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about it. So as I walked forward, I saw a cup and that had not been there. I took
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another step and a half. That's when a back door burst open and a guy yell at me, "Get out of here." And I
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said, "Who are you? Where's Ry?" The man took a step toward Dean, he says, then turned away and ran out the back door. I
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immediately called 911. Rockland police arrived. Dean Shaken filed a missing person's report and
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pointed to the soda cup on the kitchen counter, explaining that the intruder must have left it. The cup is full of
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ice. Uh, it's full of soda. Sacramento County Prosecutor Matt Chisum. It has a lid and a straw and it's sweating, so
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it's fresh. When did you start to fear the worst, Dean? Then. Right then. It was crushing. And you suspected foul
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play? Yes. [Music] [Music] [Music] Ray Wright, much admired and loved by friends and family, described as
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generous, creative, and vibrant, had seemingly vanished with a snap of a finger. No one has any leads as to where
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he is or what happened to him. It was the frightening home invasion just 2 days after Ray had disappeared
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that seemed too coincidental, says prosecutor Matt Chisum. I think that raised everyone's concern to a different
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level. As days go by, it becomes more suspicious. Rockland Police Sergeant Zach Lewis briefly considered Ray's
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history of alcohol abuse, but dismissed the possibility of a relapse. We checked
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his bank accounts. There was no activity on his bank. His vehicle had disappeared
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off of license plate readers. We couldn't find his vehicle anymore. His phone wasn't working. All those things
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led us to believe that it was more than just him not calling family members back
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and and drinking. Ray's family immediately organized a search. We all met up at a Target parking lot and
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passed out flyers. And then we just spread out and went in all different directions. We were doing everything we
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could and exhausting everything that we could do. The resounding question for the Wright
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family echoing at all hours of the day and night. Where was Ry? Vanished without a trace. He was last
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seen a week ago today. He was driving a white Ford F. 10 days after his disappearance, police discovered Ray's
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abandoned pickup truck in a North Highlands apartment complex. In this really high crime area, the radio and
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license plates had been stripped. For police, finding Ray's vehicle was a break in the
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case. For Haley, it was just heartbreaking. That was the first real piece of evidence I was like, "Okay, we
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know something bad happened to him." Rockland PD uh seized the car and collaborated with the FBI to have it
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processed for trace evidence. In the back of the truck, brown stains barely visible on black carpet liner were later
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determined to be human blood. That was tested for DNA against Ray Wright's toothbrushes. Since we don't have a
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body, and it was a match. 16 days after Ray's disappearance, something happened that would shift the
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investigation into overdrive. Chevy unknown occupants. It all began with a harrowing high-speed police chase
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through Sacramento. It was a very dangerous high-speed chase, speeds of up to 100 miles an
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hour. There was a terrible accident at the end of that pursuit. Put your hands up and
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open the door. Anybody in the car with you? This is one of those chases that you watch on TV and it's like, whoa.
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Yes. Except in this case, the guy who was responsible for that is much more dangerous than we even know. The driver
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pinned inside the vehicle with a broken leg was unable to move. [Applause] [Music]
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California Highway Patrol officers cuffed the driver, who appeared to be intoxicated. The man's name, Victor
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Gray. He had problems with the law before and police arrested him this time for felony evasion and DUI.
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He's taken to a hospital for treatment and uh is under guard and is then booked in the Sacramento County Jail.
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It was Gray's expired registration with current registration sticker tabs that caught the attention
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of a police officer. Like a stolen vehicle. Is that what they're thinking? Possibly. or somebody stole a
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registration tab and just stuck it on their license plate. A DMV records search showed the registration tab
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actually belonged to a 2016 Ford pickup truck that had recently been reported missing along with its owner, Raymond
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Wright. The registration tab is actually Ray Wright's registration tag off of his
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license plate. And so that's the first connection that they are able to make between Victor Gray and Ray Wright's
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disappearance. And then 3 months after Ray's disappearance, another turning point in the
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case. Investigators got a DNA hit off that soda straw in the cup left behind by the fleeing intruder who finally had
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a name. And it's one the police already knew. Victor Gray. So now we have two pieces
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of evidence linking him to Ray Wright. The DNA match placed Victor Gray inside Ray's home and at the center of the
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expanding investigation. Turned out things were about to get a lot worse for Gray
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because his wrecked smoking van was a smoking gun. Here you've got a treasure trove of evidence. Where was all of this
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found? All this was located in the vehicle that uh Victor Gray was driving. In the van's cluttered cargo area,
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Rockland PD and FBI investigators unraveled a black plastic tarp. Inside, disturbing evidence deepened the Ray
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Wright mystery. The hat. You pull that hat out. Ray Wright design. It was like a holy moment. This is huge for us. The
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yellow rain jacket. That is Ray Wright's jacket. And what was found on that? His
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DNA was found on that jacket. The glasses. The glasses. Yeah. And they're just broken into a bunch of pieces. His
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wallet, which it it appeared they tried to burn a cell phone that's clearly been
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destroyed. Like somebody took a hammer to it, right? Is that what it looked like? That's what it looked like. Yes.
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We had to run the serial number on the back and it was registered to Ray Wright's cell phone carrier. We now were
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definitely able to tie Victor Gray to Ray Ray going missing. But police had not found Ry. There was still a sliver
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of hope. It was just really hard being patient. It's still a hot investigation. There's still uh many details left to
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figure out. Perhaps none more significant than Victor Gay's cell phone. It wasn't just Ray's phone in the
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van. Victor Grace was there, too. The violent collision ending the police chase sent Gray's cell phone sliding
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underneath the van center console. The FBI found that and was able to process it for its contents. And inside that
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cell phone was also a treasure trove of evidence. Astonishingly, there was a photo of a handwritten three-page
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letter, prosecutors say, from Victor Gray to someone named Bob. And at this point, we don't know who Bob is. It was
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dated January 27th, the same day as Gray's ill- fated chase with police. And it's clear that Victor has grievances
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with Bob. And the grievances stem about not being paid for delivering the dude to you. Those are
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his words. The dude. Yeah. I handd delivered you your revenge. Now it's time to pay me.
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[Music] [Music] [Music] Let's talk about what was found in that phone. Text messages that seem to
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referred to Ray Wright's possible kidnapping at that point, right? Yes. It took months, but investigators
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eventually dug up a gold mine of evidence from Victor Gay's cell phone. There was a text conversation with a
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woman who appeared to be working as a lookout for Mr. Gray. Rays out front of the shop texted the
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woman, California Katie, in a series of misspelled texts. It was 9:50 a.m. January 11th, 2018.
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Yes, I'm watching out front for anything. Tracing California Katie's number found in Gray's cell phone,
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police identified her as Katie Bernard. The text messages with Katie Bernard were invaluable. Those messages were
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sent the very morning Ray Wright went missing, last seen at his workshop. They revealed a plan of sorts, says Pler
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County District Attorney investigator Ashley Angelfield. Ray Wright's house probably about 30 or 40 minutes east
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from here. Investigator Angelfield showed us Ray Wright's former workshop in Rio Linda and its close proximity to
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a neighbor, Katie Bernard. She happened to be living in a trailer next to Ray Wright's cabinet shop. So that trailer
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right there is where Katie Bernard was staying. That morning, Angelfield believes Katie Bernard was watching
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Ray's workshop from just yards away. She was in a prime spot to be a source of intelligence for Victor Gray. She's
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looking out that window and she's looking at the shop. So, where do we think Victor Gray is on
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that morning? During the course of that text conversation, we think Victor is out
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there on the road. He's waiting for the text from Katie, the one that would tell
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him when Ray Wright was alone at his shop. It came just before 10:00 a.m. Just you and him,
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hun. A few hours later, Ray Wright would disappear. [Music] I see right there. We'll be right with
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you. Okay. Okay. Angelfield brought in Katie Bernard for questioning in October 2018. Ray Wright had been missing for
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nearly 300 days. If we don't have reasons for why you did certain things and you lie to us about doing the things
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we know you did, it makes you look like a killer. Okay. Are you a killer? No. Katie Bernard would grudgingly become a
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pivotal witness. What did Katie Bernard think she was doing this all for? She told us that she was only involved
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because she thought that Victor Gray wanted to steal Raymond Wright's truck. This wasn't about Ray's truck. This
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doesn't start in the end with Victor Gray. It starts with somebody else. You're about to say it.
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Who? Bob. Katie knew the key players, including the mysterious Bob named in that letter. Who's Bob? Bob is my
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ex-boyfriend. What's Bob Cler? Bob Manor. Robert Bobby Manor. And so what's the story then? What's the whole
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backtory? Ray and Bob were in a car accident. When Ray Wright drove drunk 6 years
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earlier in November 2011, the married couple he struck was Robert Manor and his wife. She nearly died, and Manor
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suffered multiple broken bones that left him with a permanent limp and lingering
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pain. He was reminded about it on a daily basis from his injuries, and he could never let it go. After Ray's DUI
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conviction, he was ordered to pay more than $275,000 in restitution to Manor and his
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wife. He had occasionally made payments, but not very much. Police say Robert Manor was not a man to
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stiff. He was a feared methamphetamine dealer in North Sacramento, authorities say, who had done time for assault and
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selling drugs armed with a gun. And witnesses told police that Manor was enraged and wanted revenge against Ray
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Wright. That gives you a motive, right? The money and the revenge mostly. [Music]
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A few months before Ry went missing in a staggering coincidence, police believe that Manor,
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while visiting Katie, just happened to see the man who had smashed into him driving drunk years ago. the man he
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blamed for shattering his life. He came over one day and Ray was there. Ray Wright was working in his
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shop about 30 feet away. That might have been the moment Angelfield says when Manor lit the fuse,
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igniting his plot for revenge that had smoldered for years. Truck is gone. Yes. And Ray has been
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miss. Yes. Katie told police when she heard the news that Ry was missing, she realized this wasn't just about stealing
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his truck. I'm freaking out. Why? Because like it's obvious, you know, like what? That he's been taken or hurt
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or something. The cops can tell Victor and Bob. Katie says Victor Gray later told her that morning, armed with
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a gun, he approached Ray Wright and punched him. I think he then somehow secured Ray's hands and he was able to
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put Ray into his own truck. Then Angelfield says Victor Gray drove Ray's truck with a bloodied Ray Wright in the
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back to Manor's house a few miles away. I don't know what they did with Ray. Afraid she might be implicated in Ray
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Wright's disappearance, Katie told investigators she confronted Robert Manor. She asked him about whether he killed
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Ray Wright and he tells her that he did. Manor then grabbed her around the neck, choked her, and told her never to
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speak about this again. According to Chisum, Manor's chilling admission came in just three words.
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He says, "I got him. I got him. I got him." We heard that quote from Mr. Manor from
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multiple witnesses. I didn't do anything. I'm not saying you did. Like Tessa Trimble. I'm not
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involved in it. I'm not saying that you are. In an audio only police interview, Ashley Angelfield spoke to Tessa, a
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massage therapist who had treated Robert Manor's injuries from the accident. She
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says they eventually became romantically involved. Tessa was very hesitant to speak initially and she was also very
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afraid of Bobby. You're going to get me killed. I have to go. How do I get out of here? It would take some time, but
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Tessa began to talk. She received a phone call from Bobby. And Bobby had told her, "Hey, come over to the house.
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We need to talk." According to her, what she thought at the time was that they were going to talk about their
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relationship. But when she saw Manor, Tessa says there was something else on his mind.
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What did he talk to you about? He told me he took care of whatever something he was trying to take care of for a long
00:26:28
time. He didn't give me details. He just told me that he took care of it. He felt
00:26:35
good about him. When he said that, who do you think he was talking about? Not right. Why would you think he was
00:26:42
talking about? because he had a he had a problem with that guy. He he mentioned on numerous
00:26:50
occasions he wanted to get that guy. It sounded to me like one of the only persons that Bobby could tell about this
00:26:57
was Tessa. And so he did. Bobby's telling you what he got him. Is that what he said? I got him. Yeah.
00:27:08
Everyone knew that Manor was talking about Ray Wright. And then the first time they see him after the
00:27:14
disappearance, see Manor, he says, "I got him." In March 2021, prosecutors charged
00:27:22
Robert Manor and Victor Gray with the kidnapping and murder of Ray Wright. Even though police had yet to find Rey,
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both men pleaded not guilty. Manor facing a life sentence without parole. Can you hear me, Mr. Manor? Had
00:27:39
a very different story to tell. I'm innocent. You had nothing to do with the murder of Ray Ray. Nothing to do with
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it. [Music] It was still a missing person, but we all assumed it was a homicide.
00:28:08
Did they tell you at any point we believe your brother is dead? Yes. Maybe 3 and 1/2 years in.
00:28:20
During those agonizing years, Ray Wright's family one by one eventually came to the same
00:28:29
conclusion. Ry was no longer alive and their grief was compounded by not having his body to
00:28:38
bury. That's definitely still a source of pain for us. There was no laying him to rest.
00:28:47
like he doesn't get the send away that he deserves. Prosecutor Matt Chisum hoped to provide
00:28:53
the family a measure of justice by convicting Robert Manor and Victor Gray. Approaching trial, Chisum's crucial
00:29:01
concern was the credibility of his witnesses. You've got witnesses who have history of drugs and drug use. Does that
00:29:08
create a complication with the jury? Yes. All these witnesses had significant credibility issues.
00:29:16
[Music] including another witness who had come forward, Victor Gay's cellmate, Chris
00:29:22
Mitchell. [Music] Well, I started off talking to him. Yeah. And I'm real comfortable talking
00:29:30
to him. In an audio only interview, Mitchell says Victor Gray told him about Ray Wright's tortured final hours in Bob
00:29:39
Manor's house. What did Gray tell you? He delivered due to Bobby alive, though. Mitchell claims Victor Gray told him
00:29:52
there was plastic sheeting laying on the floor. Plastic everywhere. According to Mitchell, Gray said Manor
00:30:01
had Ray Wright poisoned. He poisoned him. Mitchell says Gray also told him that Manor had Ray's body dismembered.
00:30:13
cut the body up. Did he tell you what they did with it? No, he didn't tell me none of that.
00:30:21
Victor was your accomplice in this kidnapping and murder plot. There's no connection whatsoever with me and Victor
00:30:27
before the incident. Robert Manor spoke to us from the Sacramento County Jail. They searched my house. They tore the
00:30:34
carpet up. They did everything like that. There was no DNA found. Well, because you put plastic all over the
00:30:40
floor. No, he was good at covering his tracks. He got other people to do the dirty work. People like Victor Gray says
00:30:49
Chisum. We find all the evidence of Ray Wright's death in Victor Gay's van. The cleanup is done. And Victor Gray tells
00:30:59
you that on the jail call. I miss you. In a jail house visit with his wife after the high-speed chase with police,
00:31:11
Victor Gray made a powerful admission, says Chisum. He almost kind of confesses to his wife and brings his wife into the
00:31:19
no. Clean up the scene or whatever. I had to clean up. You know what I mean? He said,
00:31:25
"I had to clean up the scene." As if he was almost bitter about it. Such a mess.
00:31:32
else, but he played me and he was good. We believe that Victor was supposed to be paid $10,000.
00:31:39
He was pissed off because he didn't get paid by Bob. That's why prosecutors believe Victor Gray wrote the three-page
00:31:45
letter found on his cell phone. In it, he said, "I'm done waiting and need a fat package today." Meaning the money
00:31:54
Gray believed he was owed. He told Bob Manor to take care of him because he had handd delivered you your revenge. But
00:32:03
Manor never paid, Chisum says. So Victor Gray decided to deliver some revenge of
00:32:09
his own. No white unknown occupants. He was on his way to Manor's house with all
00:32:14
the Raywright evidence still inside the van. According to Chisum, that's when police tried pulling Gray over. Had
00:32:23
Victor Gray been paid, then maybe he's not driving across town with this treasure trove of evidence in the back
00:32:30
of the van. The trial finally began in March 2023, more than 5 years after Raymond
00:32:38
Wright went missing. Since there was still nobody, the case had become a nobody homicide.
00:32:47
Nobody cases are tough to prove. You lose a lot of information by losing the body. We developed every single lead
00:32:54
possible in order to prove this case. As Chisum fully expected, the credibility of his witnesses came under relentless
00:33:02
fire. The thrust of the defense was, "These witnesses are saying whatever the cops want them to say in order to help
00:33:12
themselves. I'm terrified of them. They're dangerous people. They have guns." But Katie Bernard, who was
00:33:17
granted immunity and never charged with the crime, emerged as a star witness, says Chisum, for her damaging testimony
00:33:24
about Gray's involvement and Manor's admission. And it was something that Manor was trying to keep under wraps.
00:33:32
Even though that he said it to her, uh, it was something that she was to take to
00:33:36
her grave. In court, Manor and Gray's defense teams zeroed in on the prosecution's lack of direct physical
00:33:44
evidence against Robert Manor and the absence of a [Music] body. I reminded the jury that it'd been
00:33:58
1,889 days and no one on the face of this earth had seen Ray Wright. And this one was magical. He spent hours on that.
00:34:11
The trial says Peggy left her imagining the unimaginable. Ray's final moments. It's
00:34:18
even worse to find out what it must have been like at the end for him. How scared
00:34:24
he must have been. He knew what was going to [Music] happen. After an 8-day trial, the jury
00:34:33
got the case. I remember like squeezing Haley's hand and like thinking I was going to throw up like while we were
00:34:39
waiting for the verdict. What do you make of the evidence against Manor and Gray? See a
00:34:48
timeline of the investigation at 48 hours.com. How long before you got word there's a
00:35:05
verdict? The jury was out about 4 hours. It was late afternoon on March 17th, 2023. The verdict was in.
00:35:16
It was the most gut-wrenching day of my life. Robert Manor and Victor Gray were found
00:35:23
guilty of firstdegree murder and kidnapping. But it didn't bring him back. So it was like it was a
00:35:32
bittersweet victory. It's unthinkable that someone would do something like that. Like you can't imagine that your
00:35:39
loved one would be swept off the earth like that. April 28th, the day of reckoning for Manor and Gray. Before
00:35:47
hearing their sentence, they heard from Ray Wright's family. I said, "My dad will be in heaven like amongst the
00:35:54
angels, like where he belongs, and you'll be in prison for life where you belong. We'll never be the same. None of
00:36:03
us. You just can't imagine how it impacts a family." Manor and Gray were sentenced
00:36:09
to life without the possibility of parole. Gray never responded to our request for an interview, but Robert
00:36:16
Manor insisted there had been a miscarriage of justice. I did not have anything to do with Ray Wright's
00:36:23
disappearance at all. Ray Wright's body has never been found. No. Where did you bury him? I I never buried Ray Wright. I
00:36:31
never I never chopped Ray Wright up. I never had anything to do with Ray Wright's disappearance or murder.
00:36:36
Nothing. He has a family that deserves answers. They want to know why. Why did you do this? I didn't I did not do this.
00:36:45
And there was something else Manor wanted to say. He claimed it was Victor Gray and Katie Bernard who had plotted
00:36:52
to set him up by kidnapping and killing Ray Wright. They came up with this and tried to come and ask me for money.
00:37:02
Gray and Bernard tried to extort Manor for $20,000. He says a claim that was never raised in court. Manor was making
00:37:10
it for the first time during our interview. What do you make of that argument? Wow. It's it that's a whopper, right?
00:37:18
There's no proof of of anything like that in Chisum argues it makes much more sense that Manor was the mastermind. You
00:37:26
also have this monster motive, revenge. Let the evidence speak for itself. It's not people that got on there said the
00:37:34
same exact phrase, you know, I got him. I didn't get nobody. The remnants of Ray Wright's life, these
00:37:46
silent witnesses, did speak loud and clear. His famous yellow raincoat that he had
00:37:58
had for like 15 years, like soaked in blood. Yeah. I think seeing his broken glasses
00:38:04
is what that killed us. Sealed the deal for me. Haley says even her young daughter
00:38:11
Ashton was overwhelmed by losing Grandpa Ray. She always thought people were going to go missing. I caught her
00:38:21
singing in the dark songs that she would make up about where her grandpa went. I hope we did enough for the family
00:38:31
until we find the body. It's still an open missing person's case with the Rock Police Department.
00:38:37
At the end of the day, do you believe justice was served? Yes, justice was served. It gives this family somewhere
00:38:48
to to start over. Consumed by Ray's disappearance and death for years, friends and family
00:38:56
decided it was time to celebrate his life. I'm glad you all are here to share these times with us. Ry was to me my
00:39:05
first best and forever friend. On this day, June 17th, day 1,983, since he went missing, Ray
00:39:17
Wright's presence filled the room and the hearts of those who loved him. We love you, Ray. How do you want your dad
00:39:25
to be remembered? Haley, exactly how he is remembered. lovable, accountable, creative, thoughtful. I
00:39:36
have never met anyone like my dad. Like I definitely used this whole event as motivation to do better. It's all like a
00:39:46
testament to my dad. I hope he's, you know, at peace. Free as a bird. [Music] [Music]
00:40:15
New CBS next. A young mother missing for 6 years. We'd called the hospitals, the
00:40:21
shelters, anywhere we could think of. They got this puzzle in front of me. Now, this exclusive video could be the
00:40:26
key to solving the mystery. Someone out there knows what happened. Come forward.
00:40:30
Be brave. A new 48 hours next on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus. [Music] Court will come to order will arise. The
00:40:59
case starts on Monday, June 29th, 2015. Hi, I'm Dr. Terresa Severs. Dr. Terresa Severs was due at work and
00:41:12
she didn't arrive. Teresa Severs is found on her kitchen floor dead. A pool of blood surrounds her
00:41:29
head. She is cold to the [Music] touch. This is Dr. Teresa Severs. High-profile doctor. did a lot of
00:41:41
holistic medicine and people uh you know said that she was just a little spitfire
00:41:46
just a short little thing and always wearing you know 4-in heels clack clacking around so let's get started we
00:41:52
got a lot of stuff to talk about ladies remember walking into a room meant turning heads
00:41:59
when I got into work that day we were getting word that this um 46-year-old doctor was
00:42:04
dead this beloved woman in our community had been brutally killed inside her own
00:42:14
house. Mark and Teresa have been a couple since 2003 uh when they got married in a beachside ceremony in St.
00:42:20
Petersburg. She was sort of the bread winner and he was the office manager at her practice and he helped raise the
00:42:28
kids. They had a trip planned to New York and Teresa would fly home that Sunday night to be at work Monday
00:42:35
morning. So on Sunday night, she comes back here to the Southwest Florida International
00:42:40
Airport. She calls Mark, tells him she's safe, and then gets in her car and heads
00:42:45
back to their house. 911. What is your emergency? Uh I'm at a friend's house. Mark had a friend come
00:42:53
and check up on her. Uh he's out of town and she's dead on the floor and there's
00:42:59
hammer at the side and she's dashed in the back of the head. It will later be determined that there are 17 impact
00:43:06
wounds to her skull. Who would possibly want this feisty Florida doctor dead? That question led investigators on a
00:43:15
wild chase that ended more than a thousand miles away with a shocking arrest of three
00:43:25
people. A break in the case came from all places from the state of Missouri. There were electronic footprints. When
00:43:33
you step outside your home, folks, you're always being observed. Once you started to unwrap it a little
00:43:41
bit, it was nutty. It was weird, and it was hard to keep track of it all. This is a case in which 21st century
00:43:48
technology became vital. I've been told we have a verdict. [Music] [Music] I think anytime there is a beautiful,
00:44:46
successful woman who is murdered, that's sort of what society pays attention to.
00:44:52
For better or for worse. The shocking murder of Dr. Teresa Severs in Bonita Springs, Florida, was a
00:45:08
huge story, especially for Jessica Lipkcom, who covered crime for the Naples Daily News. To think of this
00:45:17
mother of two who was killed brutally inside her home was horrifying to people. The doctor had cut short a
00:45:24
family vacation in upstate New York and had flown home alone on Sunday night, June 28th,
00:45:31
2015 so she could see patients the next morning. You kind of put yourself in her shoes
00:45:39
rolling your suitcase through the door and then to be attacked by someone from behind is
00:45:45
It's hard to imagine. Investigators believe that as soon as Dr. Severs walked into her kitchen, she
00:45:53
was killed, struck repeatedly with a hammer. The next morning, uh, her office staff got in. It's now
00:46:02
9:00. Now it's 9:05. Now it's 9:15. I said, "Where's doctor?" Sandra Hoskins was Theresa Sver's
00:46:12
longtime medical assistant. I was texting back and forth trying to see if you know where you at and no
00:46:21
response called. No answer. Mark's out of town. He says, "I can't get a hold of her either." How unusual was it for Dr.
00:46:31
Severs not to show up. Even if it was 9:00 and 3 seconds after, you would hear her heels coming in.
00:46:41
was just so unbelievable. When Connie Reese heard the tragic news, she contacted her stepbrother, Mark
00:46:49
Severs, the doctor's husband. How did he react to the death of his wife? He couldn't
00:46:56
speak. He's not the kind of guy that has been overly emotional on the outside, but he couldn't speak.
00:47:05
Connie and Mark became family when her mother married his father. I asked him what happened to Teresa. And
00:47:14
what did he say? No idea. Mark met his future wife in 2003 when he was visiting St. Petersburg, Florida.
00:47:26
Pretty much love at first sight. Well, I think by the time that he introduced her
00:47:31
to mom, uh, I think he was pretty much done. He was off the market officially. Yeah. Really? He was working as a nurse
00:47:41
while she was a recently divorced physician. Teresa hung the moon. She was a remarkable human being and very
00:47:49
special. And that's the way Mark treated it from the beginning. You could just you could hear it in his voice. They
00:47:55
were married on the beach surrounded by friends and family including stepmother Jenny Wacklman.
00:48:02
Was a sunset wedding and she had a beautiful gown and it was very nice. Was he happy on that day? Oh my
00:48:10
gosh, he was very happy. 6 months later, their first daughter was born. The Severs built a large house in Bonita
00:48:20
Springs and in 2007 welcomed another daughter. How did Mark feel about being a dad? It
00:48:29
was everything to him. They were his reason for being, but he was also all about Teresa and her mission. We talk
00:48:37
about our physical health, mental health. That mission was to open a holistic practice where she could heal
00:48:44
patients by blending traditional and alternative medicine. She also spread her message in speeches and videos.
00:48:51
There's our spiritual and energetic health. We would have patients from all over the world. They would come to us
00:48:58
after they failed everything else. She wouldn't take no for an answer. Talking about the doctor still makes
00:49:07
Sandra emotional. And as a patient, she wouldn't allow you to say, "I'm never going to get better." While patients
00:49:16
love the doctor, Sandra and her husband, Frank Pays, who also worked at the practice, admit it wasn't always easy
00:49:25
working for Severs. She had a short fuse. I would hear doctors screaming and yelling in the in back office. Dr.
00:49:32
receivers would yell at the patients. She was there to help you get better. Didn't have what they call the bedside
00:49:40
manner. Would she yell at you? Yes. Yeah. A wrist is a problem. The biggest problem. She expected perfection
00:49:48
and if it wasn't perfect, she would get upset because I need to maintain my mental sharpness. She was a big presence
00:49:55
and sometimes that meant that she got really feisty with people. She was the the biggest figure in the
00:50:03
room. While Teresa took care of her patients, Mark managed her office and took care of their daughters. The girls
00:50:11
were his pride and joy. And according to her sister, Annie Lisa, Teresa was equally devoted to Mark. Teresa always
00:50:20
said, "I'll never leave Mark. I won't ever do that to my girls." Nevertheless, within weeks, Mark Severs became a
00:50:27
person of interest. Did he cooperate initially? Oh, yes. I think he thought he was doing the right thing. Mark spoke
00:50:35
to investigators without a lawyer present and even handed over his cell phone and allowed them to download the
00:50:43
contents. Was he worried he might be arrested? He thought, "Why would they? What kind of evidence could they
00:50:50
possibly have? Cuz I didn't do anything." In fact, Mark Severs had an airtight alibi. At the time of Teresa's murder,
00:51:00
he and their two girls were with Teresa's family hundreds of miles away in New York.
00:51:20
[Music] Eight days after Dr. Teresa Severs was murdered, friends and family came
00:51:33
together for her funeral, including Mark's stepmother, Jenny Wacklman. There were a lot of people. Yes. Yeah. And it
00:51:41
was sad, of course. Almost all her patients were there. I was numb. Mark Severs reportedly had a
00:51:50
gun strapped to his waist at his wife's funeral. Strange? Well, perhaps, but her
00:51:57
killer hadn't yet been arrested. And according to stepsister Connie Ree, Mark was on edge. He's very much in
00:52:05
protective mode. When you say protective mode, what do you mean? Well, I think, you know, he always keeps an eye and an
00:52:12
ear to the ground, so to speak, and is aware of his surroundings and, you know, he he was concerned for their their
00:52:19
safety. I think it was in the back of his mind that that there might be some danger to his daughters because of what
00:52:26
happened to their mother. It just didn't make any sense. Who would want the vibrant and dedicated Dr. Teresa Severs
00:52:34
dead? and why killer was such anger and force. Could have been anybody. I really
00:52:41
thought maybe it was just somebody that was in the area and broke in or something. There were signs of a forced
00:52:50
entry, primarks on a side door, but Mark's extensive gun collection, and $40,000 in cash discovered inside the
00:52:59
Sever's home hadn't been touched. So when this happened, everyone wanted to know what happened with the alarm.
00:53:07
And as it turns out, it it hadn't been activated. While the family was on vacation, Mark had asked his mother,
00:53:14
Bonnie Severs, to feed the family pets. She had trouble setting the alarm that Sunday and told detectives her son Mark
00:53:22
said not to worry about it. Monday morning, Dr. Severs was discovered dead on her kitchen floor.
00:53:33
This is Mark's mother speaking to investigators. So, I really feel that it's my fault.
00:53:39
You can't you cannot blame yourself. Around the time of Dr. Sver's murder, the internet was buzzing with reports
00:53:52
about the suspicious deaths of other alternative doctors in the US. Did Mark think that her death might be
00:54:00
connected with that? Yes. Yes, he did. But with no real evidence to make that connection, investigators turned their
00:54:07
attention to the people who might have had an axe to grime with the energetic, often abrasive Dr. Severs. I think the
00:54:16
theory that I heard was that maybe it was a patient. Um, obviously they were interviewing all of her friends and
00:54:22
family members, so it was pretty much like a wide open field of suspects at that point. Then a surprising name
00:54:29
emerged. In her police interview, Dr. Siver's sister, Annie Lisa, said she heard Sandra Hoskins was a disgruntled
00:54:39
employee. That's the same Sandra who seemed so upset by Dr. Sver's death. You may not like your boss, but you
00:54:48
don't badmouth them to patients that are coming in the doors like Dr. Severs. You
00:54:51
know, she's she's a I'm like, "Oh my god, they think I did it." Sandra, who claimed she had been treated harshly
00:55:00
by Dr. Severs in the past, had planned to hand in a resignation that very Monday, the doctor was found dead.
00:55:07
According to Sandra, the doctor told her she was bringing bad energy to the office. Now I know why I was not
00:55:16
received very well at her memorial. Why would anyone think that you did this? That is shocking to me. A lot of the
00:55:27
patients did know the way she treated me. And so people thought maybe you just had enough. Yeah.
00:55:35
Sandra Hoskins was cleared when nearly 2 months after Dr. receivers was murdered.
00:55:40
There was a stunning break in the case. Police made arrests and the suspects were not from
00:55:48
Florida. So, we showed up to a press conference, I believe that August, and the sheriff
00:55:57
gets up there and tells us uh simply the name of uh the first suspect, Jimmy Rogers. And he says he's from Missouri
00:56:06
and he's been booked for the murder of Theresa Severs. Never heard of him. So, I thought, "Oh, well, who is he and
00:56:14
what's he got to do with this?" And then about an hour later, he calls us in again and says, "We've now picked up a
00:56:19
second suspect, Curtis Wayne Wright, also from Missouri." It was so shocking. To solve this murder,
00:56:28
investigators would travel more than a thousand miles and they were in for a wild ride. They would soon discover this
00:56:36
case had as many twists and turns as the Missouri River. [Music] Terresa Severs was bludgeoned to death
00:56:59
with a hammer. Neighbors are still waiting for answers. I said to my husband, the two arrests for Teresa
00:57:06
Sver's murder made,00 miles away in Missouri seemed to come out of the blue. Mark's stepmother, Jenny Wkelman. Why,
00:57:16
you know, what's going on? Just seemed like such a disconnect. No one had ever heard of the suspect, Jimmy Ray Rogers,
00:57:22
but it was the mug shot of the other suspect, Wayne Wright, that struck everyone. He had an uncanny resemblance
00:57:31
to the victim's husband, Mark Severs. They look alike. Yeah. At least in pictures, they look like twins. And
00:57:38
that's in that's that's when I be started to believe, you know, that definitely there is not something right
00:57:46
with with Curtis Wayight. As it turns out, Curtis Wayne Wright, he goes by Wayne, was no stranger to Mark's
00:57:56
family. He was Mark's very good friends and ages and ages. So, I didn't believe it. I didn't. It just didn't make sense.
00:58:06
Wayne and Mark had grown up together in Missouri. Wayne was at Teresa's funeral.
00:58:12
He had celebrated Mark and Teresa's wedding with them. And just two months before the murder, Mark had been Wayne's
00:58:19
best man at his wedding. Wayne was also a familiar face around the office. Did you two know Wayne Wright? How did
00:58:29
you know him? He was the computer guy that looked just like Mark. Wayne would travel from Missouri to Florida to work
00:58:36
on the computers in Dr. Sever's office. How would you describe Wayne? He was geeky. All he wanted to do was get the
00:58:43
computers up and running, focused. But to me, he just seemed like a very geeky creepster. Did he make you
00:58:52
nervous? A little bit. I can't explain it. It's just a woman's intuition. How would you describe Mark and Wayne's
00:58:59
relationship? They appear to be close friends. Yeah. He always said he's my brother from another mother. Yeah, that
00:59:06
was his lingo. Back in Hillsboro, Missouri, Greg Bolan knew both Mark and Wayne when they both
00:59:14
had hair. This here is Hillsboro Elementary School. This is where me and Wayne met for the very first time in
00:59:21
third grade. Greg Bolan remembers his high school classmate Wayne as a tech wiz. The kid voted most dependable and
00:59:29
as a fun guy to hang around with. He actually ran for and became our class president. Smart. Very smart. Quite
00:59:37
honestly, he was one of the smartest people with computers that I ever met. But it wasn't long before Greg suspected
00:59:45
Wayne Wright had a dark side. In 1996, Greg's brother, Ronnie Bolan, a preacher, mysteriously disappeared. His
00:59:54
body has never been found. And according to police, Ronnie was last seen with Wayne. Do you believe Wayne Wright
01:00:03
killed your brother? Yes, I do. You have no question about that? I have no doubt
01:00:08
in my mind. Greg believes the motive was money that Wayne owed Ronnie. Reporter Jessica Lipkcom. They found his car with
01:00:18
the car keys still in the ignition in a car wash in St. Louis. Wayne has never been charged in Ronnie's disappearance,
01:00:25
but he is listed in a police report as a person of interest. And Wayne's no stranger to the criminal justice system.
01:00:34
In 2011, he was serving time for drug possession when he befriended the other suspect in Dr. receivers's murder. A
01:00:44
young inmate named Jimmy Ray Rogers who was doing time on a weapons charge. You could just tell he needed a job. He
01:00:51
wanted a job. You know, Jimmy was released from jail. I'll show you. Tyler Juliet and Jeff Conway hired him to work
01:01:00
at a contracting company. He liked to tell a lot of stories. A lot of things he told at the time, nobody really
01:01:06
believed him. He liked to brag a little bit about the things he had done in the past. a colorful criminal past. He says
01:01:14
Jimmy would brag about con jobs ranging from stolen merchandise to counterfeit money.
01:01:22
I never felt Jimmy was a dangerous guy. I just felt like he was a blowhard, honestly. You know, I really felt like
01:01:26
he was just a talker. Conway recalls that he had asked Jimmy to work on Monday, June 29th.
01:01:32
But Jimmy texted him back and said he wasn't available. All it said was, "I can't do that. I'm still in Florida.
01:01:42
It was on June 29th that Dr. Terresa Severs was discovered bludgeoning to death with a hammer inside her Florida
01:01:52
home. And it didn't go unnoticed to investigators that Jimmy Ray Rogers had a unique nickname. Supposedly Jimmy
01:02:01
Rogers nickname was the hammer, but I think that was more of like a self-given nickname. If you talk to some of his
01:02:07
friends from high school, they say nobody really called him that. But I think maybe going to jail for the first
01:02:14
time, you know, trying to make a name for himself, maybe that's something he sort of assigned himself to fit in. Why
01:02:21
was Jimmy the Hammer Rogers in Florida that fateful weekend? Was Wayne Wright with him? And what led authorities to
01:02:29
believe they were involved in a doctor's murder? Why would Wayne try to look like Mark?
01:02:38
See more evidence from the case on Facebook at 48 [Music] hours. Back in June 2015, practically
01:02:52
everyone in Hillsboro, Missouri knew that Wayne Wright was planning a weekend trip out of town.
01:02:59
He let it slip to lots of people that he was going down to Florida. told some people he was even going to visit the
01:03:04
Severs. And it wasn't long before police got a tip that Wayne had been in Florida
01:03:10
at the time of Dr. Sever's murder. And he hadn't gone there alone. He went with his jail house pal, Jimmy the Hammer
01:03:18
Rogers. Jimmy's boss, Jeff Conway. He told me a story that his brother had graduated from law school and that he
01:03:28
had invited Jimmy down to Florida for the weekend. Uh, all expenses paid. But he told his pregnant girlfriend, Taylor
01:03:36
Showmaker, another story. He was going out of town for a few days to work with Wayne. He had told her that he was going
01:03:44
down to Florida to make some money. Weeks after Jimmy and Wayne returned, detectives from Florida showed up in
01:03:51
Hillsboro, Missouri. They confronted Wayne about that tip placing him in Florida, but he refused to talk. He
01:03:59
didn't need to. A rental car GPS gave the cops what they needed to know. On the morning of June 27th, 2015,
01:04:10
Wayne Ray got into a rental car here in Hillsboro, Missouri, and then went to pick up Jimmy Ray Rogers. At some point,
01:04:18
this address was put into the GPS and then the two men took off for the 1100 mile ride to Bonita Springs,
01:04:27
Florida. After driving all day and all night on Sunday, June 28th, Wayne and Jimmy arrived at the Sever's home, the
01:04:35
Bonita Springs address. It's all right there in the GPS, a digital footprint for
01:04:44
investigators. When Jimmy and Wayne arrived around 6 a.m., authorities believe they turned off the house alarm.
01:04:52
That may explain why Mark's mother, Bonnie, was so confused about the alarm system.
01:04:59
I wasn't there at 6:09 in the morning. He was turned off for 609 in there. That's what I'm trying to
01:05:05
work. Oh my god. Then according to the GPS, Jimmy and Wayne left the Sever's home and typed in
01:05:13
another address for a Walmart to do some shopping. Obviously looking at that security footage from the Walmart,
01:05:20
they're able to pretty quickly determine that that's who who was with Wayne. They
01:05:24
made no effort to cover their faces, disguise themselves. They just waltz through like they were anyone else. They
01:05:32
bought, among other things, trash bags, flushable wet wipes, black towels, black
01:05:38
shoes, and a lockpicking kit. They paid cash for their purchase with a $100 bill. After shopping at Walmart, Jimmy
01:05:48
and Wayne continued using the navigation system, even to find the beach and soak
01:05:53
up some sun. Does it make any sense that this guy who was so good with computers would
01:06:01
have left such a trail? It does, but it doesn't. Uh to a lot of people looking at it, it it kind of makes it look like,
01:06:10
you know, these guys were just dumb and dumber, but that's a lot of how he operated. After their beach trip,
01:06:19
according to police affidavit, Wayne and Jimmy returned to the Sever's home where
01:06:24
they hung out for hours in the garage, waiting for an unsuspecting Dr. Severs to
01:06:31
arrive. In the early morning hours of Monday, June 29th, the GPS again shows Jimmy and Wayne on the highway headed
01:06:40
northbound for the 17-hour drive back to Missouri. The electronic trail would eventually lead detectives to Jimmy Ray
01:06:48
Rogers door. But like Wayne, he denied he had anything to do with the murder. But when police brought in Jimmy's
01:06:57
girlfriend, Taylor Shellmaker, which means you're going to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
01:07:00
the truth. Correct. Yes. What a story she had to tell. Jimmy Ray Rogers took his
01:07:08
girlfriend Taylor for a ride right along here, Route 47 in rural Missouri. And along this road, he asked
01:07:16
her to throw out parts of his cell phone, which he had smashed earlier, some gloves, and a jumpsuit.
01:07:23
[Applause] He said, "Throw this in the river." And it took me a minute to click in. And
01:07:30
then I threw uh the gloves out and waited a minute and then I threw out the jumpsuit. Did you ask why or you just
01:07:38
did it? No, I just did it. I was scared. Okay, it's understand. Taylor told police that's when she pushed Jimmy to
01:07:44
tell her exactly what happened in Florida. And he told me about using a hammer on her.
01:07:54
Okay. And he said that he killed Teresa Siver, Mark's wife. Yes. With a hammer. Yes. Okay.
01:08:01
Florida detectives now thought they knew who killed Teresa Severs, but they still
01:08:06
didn't know the why. Why would Wayne Wright want to kill his best friend's wife?
01:08:14
Did everyone then say, "Oh my gosh, Mark had to be involved." Definitely. I mean,
01:08:20
there was really no putting Wayne in Florida in Bonita Springs inside their house without Mark knowing about it.
01:08:30
Did it occur to either one of you that Mark might be involved? No. Not even a thought in the back of your mind? No.
01:08:38
No. Absolutely not. But when investigators downloaded Mark's cell phone, they discovered the Sver's
01:08:46
marriage was more troubled than anyone guessed. Despite having $40,000 in cash around the house, they had serious
01:08:55
financial problems. And when investigators discovered five insurance policies on Teresa totaling more than $4
01:09:03
million, it was a big red flag. Jimmy's girlfriend had told police that Teresa's death was a murder for
01:09:16
hire and that Jimmy was supposed to be paid $10,000. and then asked him how he was
01:09:24
going to make money and it was murdering Mark's wife. He said that Mark hired Wayne. Yes. And Wayne hired him. Mark
01:09:33
didn't know anything about Jimmy being hired. Where's the money supposed to come from? Insurance from her death.
01:09:39
Okay. And did he ever get paid? No. Then almost eight months after Teresa Sver's murder, Wayne Wright, Mark's
01:09:48
lookalike best friend, suddenly turned on him and took a deal. Mr. Wright, why are you pleading guilty
01:10:01
today to seconddegree murder? Wayne Wright admitted killing Teresa. I'm I'm pleading guilty uh because of my role in
01:10:10
the planning and participating of the murder of Teresa Severs. He said the murder was all Mark's
01:10:18
idea and that's what police needed. Mark, did you hire Wayne Wright to kill your wife? Did you? Mark Severs was
01:10:27
charged with the murder of his wife. Did you hire anyone to kill your wife? But Sever's stepsister says he would never
01:10:34
risk losing his children. She believes Wayne Wright had long envied his best friend's life and he's the one who
01:10:42
killed Teresa on his own. Why would Wayne kill Theresa? Because he's a sick man. Do you think Wayne was jealous of
01:10:50
Mark? I think it's possible. Whether he's jealous of Mark or wanted to be Mark, I don't I don't have any clue.
01:10:59
Family and friends point to how Wayne Wright began to model himself after Severs, even shaving his own head when
01:11:07
Sver started to go bald. I can't They didn't look alike when we were younger. How much they they morphed into
01:11:16
each other over the years. If it was by chance or by their plan, I don't know. More than four years after Curtis Wayne
01:11:29
Wright cut that deal to testify against Mark Severs and ex-con Jimmy Rogers, the
01:11:36
two men go on trial, but separately. Rogers case went first October 2019. Terresa Sver's mother and siblings
01:11:47
were in the courtroom. This case was about the the perfect marriage, the perfect
01:11:55
friendship, the perfect alibi, the perfect murder. Assistant state attorney Hamid Hunter
01:12:04
told the jury that Terresa Sver's death was a classic case of murder for hire. Mark Severs was miles away while Curtis
01:12:13
Wayne Wright and Jimmy Ray Rogers killed his wife. Mr. Right. Hit her with the hammer. Hit her again.
01:12:22
[Music] Mr. Rogers came out of nowhere. Mr. Rogers engages with his hammer and he
01:12:30
starts hitting her, hitting her, hitting her. Rogers defense attorney, Kathleen Fitz
01:12:37
George. What you heard from the state attorney is what they believe or expect or hope the evidence will show. But it's
01:12:47
a bumpy road because they haven't told you [Music] [Music] everything. The state actually believes
01:13:09
Teresa Severs was killed with two hammers, but only one was discovered on the Sever's kitchen floor. They showed
01:13:17
the jury that weapon and the damaging video evidence of the two men near the crime scene.
01:13:24
[Music] Is this how you found this jumpsuit when you took it into your custody on the
01:13:32
side of the road in Cadet, Missouri? Yes. A fiber from the jumpsuit worn by Rogers was found on Teresa's body.
01:13:42
[Music] This time the state calls Taylor Showmaker. [Music] Roger's former girlfriend, Taylor
01:13:51
Showmaker, appeared shaken when she entered the courtroom. She identified that blue
01:13:58
jumpsuit. It's his jumpsuit and told the jury Rogers confessed to her and then asked him how well how. And he said with
01:14:08
a hammer. Then the state called their star witness. Next witness. State calls Curtis Wright.
01:14:18
In exchange for his testimony at both trials, Wright was allowed to plead guilty to secondderee murder and will
01:14:25
spend 25 years in prison. Mr. Wright, who killed Dr. Terresa Severs? Uh, I did. And Jimmy Rogers. How many
01:14:36
times did you hit Dr. Severs with that hammer? At three, Mr. Rogers came from somewhere and he started hitting her.
01:14:44
What did he do? Just just started hitting her over and over. How would you describe how I was
01:14:51
hitting her? In a frenzy. [Music] Rogers did not testify, and his attorney, Donald McFarland, called no
01:15:01
witnesses, but told jurors they should not believe Curtis Wayne Wright. Curtis Wright's the only one who ever hit that
01:15:10
woman and he's lying to you to save his own worthless skin. Jimmy didn't have a hammer.
01:15:17
The jury was out nearly 2 days and then I've been told we have a verdict. Is the
01:15:23
state ready? Yes, sure. The defendant is guilty of secondderee murder. Rogers showed no emotion. He was
01:15:33
sentenced to life in prison. And then in November 2019, Mark Severs went on trial for the murder of his
01:15:43
wife. He spent much of the prior 3 years in jail, still denying he had any involvement, and his family was still
01:15:52
behind him. Just haven't seen any evidence that makes any sense as far as Mark being involved. Both his stepmother
01:16:02
Jenny and stepsister Connie vowed to support him through the trial. I will do everything that I can to be there. Are
01:16:11
you nervous about it? Yeah. Yeah. Please be seated. Mark Severs, charged with firstdegree murder
01:16:21
of his wife, appeared unfased even though he faced the death penalty. The same prosecutors who tried Jimmy Rogers
01:16:30
will use much of the same evidence in front of a different jury. This is a case in which 21st century technology
01:16:38
became vital. Cell towers, cell tower dumps, called detail records that allowed massive amounts of data to be
01:16:49
sorted, organized, and searched. But Sver's defense attorney, Michael Mummer, says all that evidence only points to
01:16:58
Curtis Wright and Jimmy Rogers as the killers. Curtis swings that hammer bam right in the side of the
01:17:07
head, followed by another one across the bridge of the nose. Curtis says, "I struck Teresa three times in
01:17:20
the head with a hammer, but Jimmy did the rest." Testifying again is Jimmy Rogers former
01:17:29
girlfriend, Taylor Shellmaker, now with a new look. She says her ex was promised
01:17:35
a payday, but she can't connect Severs to it. And did he tell you how much money he expected to be making from
01:17:43
this? Yes. And what did he tell you? I think it was 10,000. The case again comes down to that star
01:17:52
witness, Curtis Wayne Wright, who will now come face to face with his mirror image and once closest friend,
01:18:05
Mr. Wright, who killed Dr. Terresa Severs? Uh Jimmy Rogers and I physically did it,
01:18:12
but uh Mark Severs was also involved in the planning. For several hours, Wright testified against Severs, the man he
01:18:20
affectionately called his brother from another mother. Why did you do it? Um I was asked to do it. By whom? Mr.
01:18:32
Severs. Wright told the jury that Severs and his wife were having marital and money
01:18:40
problems and that Severs believed Teresa was planning to leave him and take the kids. The only option that he had was
01:18:48
for her to die. Um, and he said that he needed to have her killed. When the judge asked Mark Severs if he
01:18:56
wanted to testify, I'm not going to testify. Okay, but I like to go home. This time the jury was out just four
01:19:06
hours. The families gathered in the court for the verdict. The jury find as follows as to the
01:19:13
defendant in this case. Count one first-degree murder. The defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.
01:19:20
Svers, stoic at first, began to cry. In addition to the guilty verdict, the jury
01:19:27
asked the judge to sentence Severs to death. This is how former employee Frank Pays
01:19:37
felt before the trial. What should happen to Mark Severs? He's facing the death penalty. I I I think the death
01:19:44
penalty is the easy way out. I think the the pain and torture that he deserves is to sit in jail to the rest
01:19:56
of his life thinking about his two pride and joy daughters. That should be his punishment.
01:20:05
[Music] On January 3rd, 2020, Mark Sever, now a convicted killer, returned to court to
01:20:15
find out if he will get life in prison or be sentenced to death. Is it okay if I refer to my notes? Yes, sir.
01:20:23
Absolutely. This time, he agreed to speak to plead for his life. Although a jury found me guilty, I am innocent of
01:20:32
all charges, as I've maintained since this heinous crime took place. Our girls have tragically lost their
01:20:43
mommy and now they're about to lose their daddy as well. It didn't take long for the judge to
01:20:52
rule. I judge uh people's actions. I don't judge people's souls. That's for somebody else to do. Sir, I'm going to
01:20:59
go ahead and adjudicate you guilty on each count on the first countderee murder. And it's the order of the court
01:21:06
that you be sentenced to death, sir. For Teresa's family, it's the end of an agonizing nearly 5-year wait for
01:21:17
justice. This has been an incredible nightmare from the beginning. Teresa took down three
01:21:27
guys that took her from us. She was my modern bday mother Theresa. I always called her
01:21:39
that because she always was trying to help people. Our focus now is to go on to take care take care
01:21:50
of the girls and uh give them the love and support that they need. And we're glad
01:21:58
that it's over. Justice has been served. [Music] CBS next Saturday. 48 Hours brings you
01:22:21
backtoback episodes all summer long. Next week, unsolved. I want to find out who murdered my sister. This is a woman
01:22:29
that has fought this battle alone since 2015. 48 hours prime time double feature
01:22:34
next Saturday 98 central on CBS and streaming on Paramount [Music] Plus. What was lost when Alyssa was
01:22:53
taken? What was lost with her murder? my daughter, Willow's mother, everything. How do you keep Alyssa alive for her
01:23:10
daughter, Willow? Show her pictures. This is your mom. This is your [Music] mom. Every Mother's Day, we visit the
01:23:19
grave. We take flowers. We take cards. You know, we talk about her all the time. What does this say?
01:23:26
Hello. Mother of Willow An. I hope that when she learns what happened, she doesn't let it tear her apart.
01:23:37
October 2nd, 2020. [Music] Any crime scene is going to be inside that tape. It's inside that tape. All
01:23:48
right. I remember my phone was continuously ringing [Music] ringing and I finally answer it cuz it's
01:23:57
my supervisor and she's frantic and she's telling me you've got to get to Green Tree Apartments.
01:24:04
I heard that pop. I turn around. I know it was a gunshot. And she says something
01:24:08
has happened to Alyssa. What? What happened to her? We're going to start having family
01:24:13
members show up here. I pull up. police, fire trucks, ambulance everywhere. She got shot in the car. Okay. She can see
01:24:22
her handprints. Who are you? I'm Detective Harding. I remember asking that officer. I said, "She didn't make
01:24:28
it, did she?" And he said, "No, she didn't." And I just lost it at that point. When you learned that your sister was
01:24:41
dead, did you have a suspect in mind? I knew immediately it was Andrew Beard. I knew that the only person I
01:24:51
could think that would want her dead was Andrew Beard. She even said, "I think he's the kind of person that's going to
01:24:58
try to kill me." And he did. And he did. Oh my god. It was one of the most brutal scenes
01:25:10
that I've been to in 32 years law enforcement. You could see the rage. Don't touch anything. Okay.
01:25:18
What does it tell you when it's this vicious about the killer? It's personal. She apparently has had a history with
01:25:26
baby daddy. Within an hour of getting to the crime scene, we knew that we needed
01:25:31
to look for Andrew Beard. Andrew Beard is a suspect. Yes. He cannot get away with this. He cannot get away with this.
01:25:40
At first, this seemed like an openandsh shut case. But as it turned out, Andrew Beard was
01:25:45
only half the story. [Music] [Music] In the months after Alyssa Berquette was murdered, she appeared to her mother,
01:26:43
Teresa Collard, in a dream. [Music] I see her across the room. And in my dream, I knew she was
01:26:57
gone. But I was hysterically happy that I was seeing her. And I was thinking, you're
01:27:07
back. She came to me and said, "No, I'm not back and I don't want to come back and I never want to be there
01:27:15
[Music] again." I was puzzled. why don't you want to come back? And she said, because
01:27:23
I was always afraid there. Although 24year-old Alyssa Bquette had been afraid for months, the attack at
01:27:32
this apartment complex where she worked in Carolton, Texas, north of Dallas, came as a surprise.
01:27:41
So, when you arrive here, what do you see? According to one of the lead detectives, Michael Harding, Alyssa
01:27:47
pulled into her usual parking space at around 9:00 a.m. Alyssa's car was actually parked right here where this
01:27:53
green van is right here. And the asalent's vehicle had parked right next to her in this spot.
01:28:00
Were you here when everything happened? Yes, I was sitting on my desk. Witnesses
01:28:03
say the asalent exited his vehicle, a black Ford Expedition SUV, with a gun in his hand. She had the window up and he
01:28:13
shot right through the wind. Right through the window. Maintenance supervisor Darren Ikler about 15 ft
01:28:19
away. It's horrible. I mean heard the gun blast and turned around. What do you see? Uh I see a a black
01:28:28
SUV starting to back out of the parking spot. Investigators believe the shooter thought Alyssa was dead. The blast had
01:28:37
destroyed her left eye and part of her face, but Alyssa Burquette was still alive.
01:28:45
She gets out of her car and she walks up to this landing to try to get help cuz she knows her her co-workers are here.
01:28:53
The shooter, described by some as a black man, I can say he's a black baby. Got out of the vehicle and began
01:29:00
sprinting toward Alyssa. this time with a new weapon in his hand. Something more
01:29:06
personal. A large hunting knife. Did you see him holding the knife? Uh yeah, in the hand after he starts to to stab her.
01:29:14
She's still fighting on this window right here. There was a blood handprint smear where Alyssa was trying to get
01:29:22
anyone to come out and help her. [Music] But fearing it was an active shooter situation, they stayed inside. We're
01:29:32
just getting our day started. And the attacker launched into a rapid killing frenzy, plunging his knife into flesh
01:29:40
and bone again and again. Incredibly, Alyssa was still breathing when her asalent fled. Once the suspect left, her
01:29:50
co-workers came out to try to render aid. One of her colleagues made this call to 911. 911. What is the address of
01:29:57
the emergency? Someone came up and just shot my my assistant manager. Where is the shooter? I don't have enough
01:30:02
information. I need He's gone. He left in his car. He literally left a second ago. Fire department pulled up first.
01:30:09
They come up. I get out of the way and let them do their thing. And they start working on her right here.
01:30:16
Immediately. Yeah. And it was too late. She was gone. Alyssa had been stabbed and slashed a
01:30:24
total of 44 times. Alyssa's mother, Teresa, immediately gave the police a name, and
01:30:33
it wasn't a black man. It was Andrew Beard. I know he did this. He's an evil person. Teresa told detectives that
01:30:41
Andrew Beard and Alyssa were in the throws of an ugly custody battle over their one-year-old daughter, Willowanne.
01:30:48
A battle that began when Alyssa was still pregnant, says her friend Brandy Reagan. He initiated by asking her if he
01:30:56
could have full custody of the baby after the baby was born. And what did Alyssa have to say to his idea of him
01:31:03
getting full custody? You better be effing kidding me. Alyssa and Andrew were worlds apart from
01:31:11
the beginning. He was almost 9 years older, established with a good job at a tool company, a nice house, even had a
01:31:19
plane. She was 22, loved eating turkey legs at state fairs, and was still figuring life out. After meeting on a
01:31:28
dating app, they had a fling, nothing serious, but then she found out she was pregnant, says her friend and roommate,
01:31:36
Shelby Wright. I'll never forget. She's just standing there hysterically crying.
01:31:42
um and upset. She couldn't even speak and she hands me a pregnancy test that said
01:31:48
positive and I honestly had no words for her. But as the pregnancy progressed, Alyssa's fears turned to excitement,
01:31:57
says Shelby. Especially when she learned it was a girl. On July 23rd, 2019, Alyssa gave birth to a baby girl she
01:32:08
named Willow. And when you saw them together, Alyssa and Willow, what was that experience
01:32:18
like? Amazing. Motherhood looked great on her. It did. Yes. Just looking at the two of them, you
01:32:26
could tell that their relationship was I mean, everything. I always love how she's looking at her in this picture.
01:32:35
Madison Grimes is Alyssa's younger sister. Willow clung to her every second of every day. And I think that tells you
01:32:43
a lot about the mother Alyssa was. Alyssa went back to college and got a good job as an assistant property
01:32:50
manager. I think everything she did at that point in her life was for Willow. She wanted to be successful for Willow.
01:32:57
She didn't want Willow to grow up and struggle. She just wanted Willow to have an easy life.
01:33:05
Andrew, who had joint custody, had Willow a few days every week, but he kept pushing for primary
01:33:13
custody. Dragging Alyssa in and out of court hearings, emptying her bank account. She was terrified.
01:33:21
Um, Willow at this point was the most important thing in her life. And when she, you know, looked at the bigger
01:33:29
picture, Andrew, he made more money than her. you know, he had a house. He had all of the nice things that she didn't
01:33:35
have. So, she was afraid that, you know, he wanted Willow and he was going to get
01:33:40
her. Andrew's mother, Lette Bowers, says her son was acting out of love, not malice. My son, Andrew Beard, is a
01:33:51
loving, warm individual who always operated from his heart, from his core center. When he had Willow, she was
01:34:00
constantly strapped to the front of him. He was reading to her. He wanted her to
01:34:04
see the whole world every day. He just felt that he could provide her more stability. In March 2020, when Willow
01:34:12
was 8 months old, things seemed to change for the better. The feuding parents found common ground, finally
01:34:21
reaching an agreement on visitation and child support. And so things seemed to calm down. Things calm down. Yeah.
01:34:30
But a gathering storm was about to come barreling in. Carolton Police Department. Church warn.
01:34:38
If you're in there, come out your hands up. [Music] In the spring of 2020, it looked like
01:34:57
the bitter custody battle between Alyssa and Andrew had finally come to an end. Alyssa had a new guy named Ben. And
01:35:06
Andrew fell hard for a woman named Holly Elkins, someone his mom, Lette, was thrilled about. A daughter from Minute
01:35:14
One. She just has this charm and energy. I warmed to her very quickly. Alyssa was happy that he started dating
01:35:25
someone else. I guess hopeful that Holly would help this situation, that Holly would be supportive of the mother that's
01:35:35
involved. Holly sent this text to Alyssa. Look forward to having a super healthy relationship with you and Ben.
01:35:43
Alyssa responded, "I hope your influence helps because I'd love nothing more for
01:35:48
us all to have a healthy relationship." Despite Holly's message, Andrew suddenly became hostile with
01:35:57
Alyssa. He was once again demanding primary custody of Willow, dragging Alyssa back into court. He was always
01:36:06
very short, very rude, very hateful. It just totally changed the way that they communicated together. Alyssa
01:36:14
couldn't shake this uneasy feeling that she was being watched and began telling family and friends that Andrew always
01:36:22
seemed to know what she was doing. He knew where she was. He knew where Willow was. He knew just other places that she
01:36:30
had been. I remember one night she was out with one of her friends and they were at a bar in downtown Dallas and
01:36:38
she's like, "Text me, oh my gosh, Andrew is here." And in my mind, I'm like, "The
01:36:43
odds of that happening are slim to none." You know, she didn't know how he was tracking her. She just knew that she
01:36:49
was being tracked. How would you describe what she went through? Hell. I mean, every day you feel like
01:36:57
you're having to watch over your shoulder. That's how I felt she lived. Hi everyone. Um, my name's Alyssa.
01:37:03
Madison found this video after Alyssa's death. It was never posted. This past year, I have been going through a
01:37:10
custody battle, a very ugly one. I have a one-year-old child. Um, it's taken a toll on my mental and physical health.
01:37:19
With that being said, I've become a lot stronger in the process. And I guess just my message is um no matter what
01:37:28
you're going through, stick it out. You can do it and stay strong. But she would
01:37:34
continue to be tested. In September 2020, one month before her murder, it reached a whole new level. A man who
01:37:43
said his name was Frank Marorrow called 911 and reported that Alyssa was selling
01:37:48
drugs out of the trunk of her car at work. I saw what I thought looked like someone just selling some drugs out of
01:37:56
their truck and I could smell it and I could see it and Okay. What kind of vehicle is it? It's a little Toyota
01:38:02
Corolla. I have a license plate if that help out. Okay, Frank. What was your last name? Marorrow. Acting on this tip,
01:38:10
Carolton police officers descended on the Green Tree Apartments leasing office and confronted Alyssa. She gave them the
01:38:18
keys to her car and they opened the trunk. Inside they discovered drugs, a pistol, and some cash, exactly where the
01:38:28
caller said they would be. So, your daughter suddenly now looks like a drug dealer and a dangerous one
01:38:38
as well. She's armed. Yes. I mean, is Alyssa worried that she's going to get arrested, lose her job? Yes. All of the
01:38:45
above. She's worried about her job. She thinks, "Yeah, she's going to be arrested now. He's going to use this in
01:38:49
court, so she's for sure going to lose Willow." After questioning Alyssa, it was clear
01:38:55
to police that she knew nothing about the drugs and pistol in the trunk of her car. They concluded those items had been
01:39:03
planted. The caller had tried to frame her. Alyssa knew in her gut that caller was Andrew Beard. Later that day, she
01:39:13
texted her roommate, Shelby. Alyssa messaged me and said, "He is going to try to get someone to kill me next."
01:39:22
And when you read those words, my heart dropped. That wasn't who she was. She wasn't a
01:39:28
fearful person. Showing and asking for help shows me that she was genuinely scared. She knew
01:39:35
that, you know, whatever was coming next was going to be serious. The once fearless young woman had become scared
01:39:46
for her life. These are some of the texts she sent to her sister Madison. Come over while I walk inside.
01:39:54
Lock the door behind you. Do you see anyone around you? And Alyssa wasn't the only one who
01:40:02
was terrified. It kept progressing. Each thing that he would do just kept getting
01:40:08
worse. And after this point framing her and she didn't get arrested, I thought, well, what else is there to do besides
01:40:15
kill her? One month after the drugs and gun were planted in Alyssa Briquette's car,
01:40:34
she was dead. I knew that it was him when when the drugs didn't work in the car for him to get the baby. Once we
01:40:41
talked to Alyssa's mom, we had an idea who we were looking for. And who was that person? That person was Andrew
01:40:46
Beard. Oh my god. And to Teresa's horror, he had visitation with Willow that day. The baby was with him. Yes. I
01:40:55
want my grand baby away from him. My first thoughts were if he's going to kill Willow.
01:41:04
Within hours of the murder, the police pulled over Andrew Beard's F-150 pickup truck for an alleged traffic violation.
01:41:12
Andrew and his fianceé, Holly Elkins, were asked to get out of the vehicle. The daughters in a car seat in the back
01:41:20
seat. Much of the body cam footage in this program has been resized so you can see it better. They've been pretty
01:41:27
cooperative. Andrew seemed unfased by the whole thing, says Detective Harding. He was very calm. He wasn't amped up. He
01:41:36
He didn't seem nervous. My part was to just find you. That's all they asked me to do. Ultimately, Andrew and Holly were
01:41:44
allowed to go. And because he had courtmandated visitation rights, take Willow with them, but the police seized
01:41:52
his F-150 pickup and instructed him not to return home. Andrew, Holly, and Willow went to a hotel. Yeah, garage
01:42:02
code. And that night, a search of Andrew's house turned up critical evidence. This was found inside the
01:42:10
living room in one of Andrew Beard's backpacks, such as this envelope scribbled with incriminating notes. Upon
01:42:17
reading the notes, we realized those were tied to the Frank Marorrow 911 call. Frank Marorrow, the caller who had
01:42:26
reported Alyssa was selling drugs out of her car. Alyssa's license plate number,
01:42:31
the color and model of the vehicle, Frank Marorrow, everything that he needed to make that 911 call was on this
01:42:39
back of this. Looks like you discovered the screenplay to this FOD call to 911. I was kind of shocked. I was like, did
01:42:46
he he kept this? So, we found this GPS tracker box. Also in plain view, says another lead detective, Jeremy
01:42:55
Shiovalier, charging stations and batteries that match the tracking device detectives discovered on Alyssa's car
01:43:03
after the murder. So, this is the device that was put on her car. That was all part of his plan to to catch her doing
01:43:09
something that he believed that she shouldn't be doing to gain an advantage in that child
01:43:15
custody dispute. A search of that Ford F-150 seized at the traffic stop turned up more
01:43:23
jaw-dropping evidence. So, this is one of the makeup vials that were recovered from inside one of the bags in the
01:43:29
F-150. It was a foundation called Java. It's really dark. Very dark. And the purpose of that was what do you believe?
01:43:38
Was to disguise Andrew Beard's face to make him look like an African-American. The police found the knife sheath at the
01:43:44
scene, but never found the knife or the gun. But the day after the homicide, they found something just as important.
01:43:52
That black SUV. They learned Andrew had bought it specifically to commit the murder. And there it was, abandoned less
01:44:00
than a mile from Andrew's house. He drove it to that location and he fled back to his house the morning of the
01:44:07
murder. That's Andrew Beard captured on a home security camera fleeing through the neighborhood. He is doing the
01:44:15
Bigfoot run from this vehicle. What'd you find when you guys process the inside of this vehicle? We were able to
01:44:22
recover multiple spots where blood was recovered. That was later tested to be Alyssa's blood.
01:44:30
They also found another part of his disguise, a fake beard. That looks like a Halloween kind of beard.
01:44:37
Exactly. Yes. He purchased a Halloween costume. So that's what led us to get the arrest warrant for Andrew Beard.
01:44:45
Andrew Beard, who still had Willow, had been staying in an Airbnb with his fianceé, Holly Elkins, and mother,
01:44:53
Lzette. When we were at the Airbnb, he got a call. He was going to be arrested. Just 3 days after Alyssa was killed,
01:45:03
Willow was sent back to Teresa and Andrew Beard turned himself into the police. Andrew Beard, come over here. He
01:45:11
was charged with murder. I was confident they had the wrong man. So was Holly Elkins. She volunteered to speak to the
01:45:19
police. I want to help. I really do, but I don't have any answers. Incredulous that the man she planned to marry was
01:45:27
capable of murder. So, I just told all my friends and family that I'm engaged to the most wonderful man on the planet.
01:45:34
And now people want me to believe that he's not that. And there are so many emotional roadblocks for you to try to
01:45:39
believe that. I get that. I can't believe that my fiance would do something like that to a woman or to
01:45:46
anybody, but a woman. Detective Shiovalier on the right and Detective Harding on the left
01:45:54
interviewed Holly for about an hour, hoping to turn her into a witness for the prosecution. I'm telling you,
01:46:01
there's a side of him that you do not know. But she stood by Andrew, insisting that he had an alibi. He was home with
01:46:09
her when the murder took place. There are a few hours that, you know, he was not in that house. You cannot tell me
01:46:17
that I feel that way, sir. I can tell you that because I know that for a fact that he was out of the house. Holly, I
01:46:23
don't know that for a fact. That's what my problem is. Holly remained adamant that she would have known if he had
01:46:30
left. I am a total stage five clinger girlfriend. I'm always up his ass. I find it hard to believe.
01:46:40
The interview ended with Holly standing by her man. She and Andrew's mom, Lette,
01:46:46
continued living together in an Airbnb. They became extremely close and bonded over their shared belief that
01:46:54
Andrew was innocent, says Lzette. "We stayed so close, we were just connected at the hip and made agreements to never
01:47:04
go anywhere without one another." Finally, after two weeks behind bars, Andrew was released on bond. Lette was
01:47:13
overjoyed. Holly, as Lette would soon discover, not so much. They've told us he's coming home tomorrow. And Holly
01:47:22
says, "I'm going." She hold is holding her suitcase and she goes, "I'm going. I'm leaving. I'm going home." But the
01:47:28
day before Andrew gets home, what? Why are you choosing now? during this scary scary time for
01:47:36
his in his life. She'd already ordered her her Uber and never came back. Detective Shiovalier says he was
01:47:45
so worried about Willow's safety, he reached out to the federal government to take the case under federal firearm
01:47:53
laws. Because an unregistered silencer was found in Andrew's home, the feds agreed. Andrew Beard was rearrested
01:48:01
eight days after he bonded out. Ultimately, at that point, our goal was to get him back into custody. Andrew was
01:48:09
ultimately charged with cyberstalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death. One year and 8 months after
01:48:18
Alyssa's murder, Andrew called his mother with unimaginable news. He said, "You know, Mom, I'm I'm going to plead
01:48:27
guilty." So, I immediately said, "Well, Andrew, you're not going to you're not going to plead guilty to anything you
01:48:33
didn't do because clearly he didn't murder her in my mind because that's out of character and not who he is and it
01:48:39
was stupidly done and he's not stupid. So, it never was him." But she would learn it was him. He admitted he did it.
01:48:48
He killed the mother of his child. I have physically dropped to my knees sometimes
01:48:58
feeling like I've gotten punched in the stomach. And I have to tell myself I have to tell myself that that
01:49:07
was a a moment, a heinous, awful, out of character, broken moment. Andrew Beard pleaded guilty, but the
01:49:21
investigation wasn't over. Andrew Beard was talking and he had a lot to say. How
01:49:29
come you waited so long to talk about what like what Holly did? What do you make of Holly Elkins
01:49:38
interview with detectives? See more evidence from the case at 48 hours.com. Holly Elkins left Texas and returned to
01:49:58
her home state of Michigan 2 and 1/2 weeks after the murder of Alyssa Burquette. She gave no hint of what
01:50:06
she'd left behind says her best friend from childhood, Stephanie Goddard. Did she ever mention the name Alyssa
01:50:14
Berquette to you? Never. Never. Never. Never. Not once. She didn't talk about Andrew Beard either. Not even once.
01:50:23
Nope. Stephanie, who met up with Holly about 7 months after she returned to Michigan, says her old friend appeared
01:50:30
to be starting life a new. A new condo, a new Lexus, a new man. She had this boyfriend with her, so everything just
01:50:39
seemed really normal. Stephanie says from the time she was a teenager, Polly always had a guy, and she knew how to
01:50:47
wrap them around her little finger. It was like a cat and mouse thing. When you say cat and mouse, she was the cat. Oh,
01:50:54
absolutely. Yes, she was the cat. She controlled the relationship. Absolutely. She was the one in the driver's seat.
01:51:05
Back in Texas, investigators were just beginning to learn more about the fiance who had skipped town after the murder. 1
01:51:13
year and 9 months after Alyssa was killed, Andrew Beard spoke to the FBI as part of a plea deal, which I'm assuming
01:51:22
absolutely does look planned out cuz it was the process was planned out. It quickly became clear to investigators
01:51:28
that this Holly Elkins I'm trying to help and no one's helping me. The Holly Elkins seemingly torn apart by Alyssa's
01:51:35
death. I just feel bad to not I just feel bad to not help something that I think is very sad that happened. Was
01:51:42
giving the performance of her life. I've literally cried myself to nauseium every
01:51:48
single night over this. What did you learn about her true feelings about Alyssa? She hated Alyssa
01:51:56
with a with a burning passion. Investigators dug back into Andrew and Holly's text messages, many of which
01:52:03
Alyssa's family also saw. Both of you learn that Holly had um some derogatory words about Alyssa. What did
01:52:14
she call her? Ugly, fat, a bad mom. all things that she wasn't. And baby mama is was my sister's contact
01:52:27
name in Holly's phone. See, baby mama, derogatory word that any woman finds despicable. What the heck's all that
01:52:37
jealousy? Holly wanted something Alyssa had and she didn't. Says Madison. She wanted Willow. Why was she so obsessed
01:52:46
with Willow? That was her life. She wanted a a perfect family and that was her way of getting it. Alyssa was going
01:52:53
to stand in her way of doing that. If it was Friday, Holly would have been. The more Andrew talked, the clearer Holly's
01:53:01
role became, says Detective Shioalier. What portrait did he paint of Holly Elkins? That she was the one running the
01:53:11
show. uh that she was telling him what he was going to do, when he was going to do it, how he was going to do it.
01:53:18
Remember that drug plant? If you were to ask me whose idea was what, drugs and and the planting of drugs was was was
01:53:26
Elkins. Holly Elkins even tried to get Alyssa's mom, Teresa, arrested. The incident started when Teresa and Alyssa
01:53:34
drove by Holly and Andrew's home. Teresa says Holly and Andrew had failed to return Willow at the appointed time. We
01:53:42
see Holly on the golf cart with Willow in her lap coming towards the end of their driveway. And I got out of the car
01:53:49
and I grabbed Willow, went and got back in the car, handed Willow to Alyssa and sped off. Holly immediately called the
01:53:57
police who arrived with body cams rolling. and the grandmother. Holly told them Teresa assaulted her when she
01:54:05
grabbed Willow from her lap. She literally attacked me from behind or from behind side. I was facing the lake.
01:54:12
Teresa says she never touched Holly, but Holly pulled up her shirt to show cops scratches she claimed Teresa had
01:54:20
inflicted. I have a No, no, no. Oh, you have some in your on your stomach. What did you think of those pictures?
01:54:28
That they were ridiculous. that it was so apparent that she had done that to herself. How would they even think
01:54:34
someone else did that to her? Because they're going downwards like your own hand did it.
01:54:41
The police agreed, concluding the injuries looked like they were self-inflicted. But it only made things
01:54:48
more dangerous for Alyssa, says Detective Shiovalier. The things that they were doing to try to get custody of
01:54:56
Willow wasn't working at that point. And I think that they decided we we got to up the game. And uh upping the game
01:55:02
meant getting rid of of Alyssa. Holly began playing her game of cat and mouse. It was made very clear to me that your
01:55:12
previous methods aren't working. This is what you're going to do now in order to
01:55:16
prove that um that that that you're basically you're worthy worthy of being a man who deserved her love. Holly
01:55:25
Elkins writes to Andrew, "I don't want anyone who is a to some low life or a pushover. I want a man who protects his
01:55:34
women and child before anyone and doesn't give two Fs otherwise." Your comment, just straightforward
01:55:41
manipulation. She was going to make him do what she felt needed to be done no matter what. And Andrew told
01:55:50
investigators it worked. like I was emotionally drained and at that point I just basically said okay and became
01:55:58
submissive to whatever she wanted me to do. That's the task I did. A week and a half before the murder, Holly left for
01:56:06
Mexico, but didn't let up on Andrew. Here's a text. This is one week before the murders. This is September 25th,
01:56:15
2020. Holly Elkins writes, "I hope you handle it. I'm not coming home to BS. Andrew Beard says, "That's my goal." To
01:56:26
that, Holly texted back, "Well, it will be a whole different conversation if I feel like you are ride or die. If not,
01:56:37
then I don't know." What is she saying to him? To me, it means that you're either with me or you're not with me.
01:56:43
Uh, you're either going to ride with me and die with me or you're not going to be with me at all. After he killed
01:56:48
Alyssa, Andrew told investigators Paulie begged for details about the crime. Her
01:56:54
request was that he described uh the murder to her while they were in bed together. It's one of the most degrading
01:57:01
things I've ever heard. In May of 2023, Andrew Beard was sentenced to 43 years in federal prison. Investigators believe
01:57:10
Holly Elkins thought the case was over. I think she believed that the further she got away from this, the less
01:57:16
involved she was going to be, but it didn't work out for [Music] her. These are the photos of the grave.
01:57:36
We always decorated for every holiday in July of 2023, Valentine's Day. And then
01:57:43
Christmas. Almost 3 years after Alyssa's death, happy Mother's Day. Holly Elkins
01:57:50
was arrested by federal agents at the Miami airport as she was returning from a trip to the Dominican Republic. The
01:57:58
lantern. That was I think one of my favorite things that we did. An arrest a long time coming for Alyssa's family.
01:58:07
What is that balloon? I thought we were never going to see that happen. I felt relief. Holly, who pleaded not
01:58:16
guilty, was charged with conspiracy to stalk and stalking using a dangerous weapon, resulting in death. The FBI had
01:58:26
built a compelling case against her, says Detective Shiovalier. Holly's phone really had a lot of stuff on it.
01:58:33
Searching for tracking devices. There were indications that they were together whenever the ammunition and the knife
01:58:40
were purchased. And they also tied Holly to the makeup Andrew used to disguise himself as a black man. It was um you're
01:58:50
going to dress dress up as a as a different person. Essentially, you're going to wear this dark makeup. That was
01:58:57
her plan. That was how it's going to be done. While Andrew seems harmless in this
01:59:02
video, never forget that he was the one who chased Alyssa down like a hunter tracking a wounded animal. He furiously
01:59:13
stabbed her with a brutality these detectives had never seen. Andrew ends up saying about why he
01:59:21
came back to finish her. What did he say? His statement to us during the interview with Agent Hansen was that he
01:59:30
did it out of mercy, that he knew that she was still alive and he was somehow doing her a favor by by killing her.
01:59:38
Andrew may have committed the murder alone, but according to the US Attorney's Office, he didn't plan it
01:59:45
alone. In April 2024, Paulie Elkins went on trial as a co-conspirator. In the courtroom, where
01:59:53
no cameras were permitted, one of the prosecutors put it like this, says Detective Harding. Andrew Beard is a
02:00:01
monster, but he was Holly Elkins's monster. "I don't want or need a lawyer because I don't have anything to hide."
02:00:09
US attorneys painted a picture of a woman who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Well, I feel like the
02:00:16
dumbest, most manipulated woman on the entire planet, if this is true. Yes. And what she wanted was a little girl named
02:00:25
Willow. And do you believe Holly Elkins was a puppet master in all of this? 100%
02:00:31
I do. She orchestrated this whole thing. I think Holly is wicked. I think she's wicked to the core that she would ever
02:00:42
want this to happen to another woman, to a mother, to a mother of the child that
02:00:47
she had come to love. What if these two had never come together, Holly and Andrew? Would Andrew
02:00:54
have committed this murder? I I don't think they would have. I don't 100% believe that if Holly and Andrew had
02:01:03
never met that Alyssa Briquette would be alive today. After a one-week trial, the case went to
02:01:10
the jury. The jury takes just 90 minutes to deliberate. When they come back to that courtroom, what is the verdict?
02:01:18
Guilty. Holly was found guilty and sentenced to two life terms, much longer than Andrew.
02:01:29
For Alyssa's family, the verdict was a bittersweet victory. I was thrilled but heartbroken at the same time.
02:01:38
I'm I'm so happy that Alyssa is getting the justice she deserved, but at that point it's over. Our fight is over.
02:01:45
Two families are left to grapple with the wreckage Holly Elkins and Andrew Beard left
02:01:52
behind. Lette Bowers will forever be known as the mother of a murderer. He killed
02:02:01
someone and that is beyond awful. It's the worst thing anyone can do. But that's not who I love.
02:02:10
And Teresa and Madison must try to make sense of a world without Alyssa in it. We don't get to live the normal life
02:02:19
anymore. It was always me and her, my best friend. Like that was my person. And only getting to be with her for 20
02:02:27
years, that's not just not fair. After the trial, Teresa was allowed to take Alyssa's things out of her car. It
02:02:38
was pretty emotional for all of us, actually. This was the mirror that she used so she could see Willow from the
02:02:44
driver's seat. You know, just knowing that was the last place she was sitting when it happened.
02:02:55
I want mama. Willow, who was with Teresa, had never cried over her mother until that day. She was crying, asking
02:03:07
me if I could please bring her mom back just so she could see her one more time.
02:03:11
And I tried to explain to her that she's in heaven. And then she asked me if she
02:03:17
had a phone number in heaven. One day, Willow will learn the whole story of what happened to her mother.
02:03:27
Do you know what this is? Willow tree. Yeah. And when that time comes, her family
02:03:35
hopes Willow will see the beauty in Alyssa's life, not the tragedy of her death. I
02:03:42
hope that one day she grows up and she feels the love that her mom sincerely had for her.
02:03:53
[Music] You've probably heard of the NCIS from the hit TV series, but we're about to
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watch. It was called Candyman. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder?
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Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts.