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Nightmare in Napa | Full Episode

October 28, 2025 / 41:04

This episode covers the brutal double murder of Adrienne and Leslie in Napa Valley, the investigation, and the eventual arrest of Eric Coppel. Key discussions include the victims' backgrounds, the crime scene details, and the police investigation that led to the killer's identification.

Adrienne and Leslie were roommates who were murdered in their home on Halloween night in 2004. The episode highlights their vibrant lives and the shock their deaths brought to the community. Friends and family share memories of the victims, emphasizing their kindness and strength.

The investigation faced numerous challenges, with police collecting DNA from over 200 men, including Adrienne's boyfriend Christian. The breakthrough came when DNA from cigarette butts found at the scene matched Eric Coppel, who was married to Adrienne's best friend Lily.

Eric Coppel's confession revealed his motives tied to his relationship with Lily. The episode discusses the emotional fallout from the murders and the impact on the families involved, particularly during Coppel's sentencing.

Ultimately, Coppel received a life sentence without the possibility of parole, bringing some closure to the families as they remember the lives of Adrienne and Leslie.

TLDR

The episode details the 2004 Napa Valley murders of Adrienne and Leslie, leading to Eric Coppel's arrest and confession.

Episode

41:04
00:00:06
[Music] The Napa Valley is a place of wineries, of vineyards, of tourists, of uh
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[Music] lifestyle. It's a lovely place to live. And good afternoon. Welcome to KBON's
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afternoon edition. I'm Jeff Shackman and I'm the host of a local talk show. It's a very great place to live in
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terms of its safety, which is why this crime was so dramatic. The crime happened on
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Halloween night of 2004. [Music] There were three women living at the home on Dorset Street. Adrien and
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Sonia, Leslie Mazara, and Lauren Meanza. The intruder made his way to the house, sat outside the front window,
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smoked at least a couple of cigarettes that we know of, went through the window, made his way upstairs, and
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committed two brutal, horrible murders. [Music] Adrienne was one of my best friends. She
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never ever turned us down. If we needed something, her family are friends. We were always first. We always knew that
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she was a great person. Everything about Leslie's life is just pure and innocent and bright and
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bubbly and friendly and sweet. There's no way to even imagine the ugliness and the brutality of what was
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seen there. My biggest fear is that she was asleep in her bed and woke up and here's this man standing over her
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ready to kill her. And I just picture him just raising up above her and just stabbing her.
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What we know happened between Adrian and the intruder, they was clearly a struggle.
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She was a fighter. She was a scrappy girl. She would have fought very, very hard. And I hope she heard him.
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It was a who done it for a very long time and the truth of the matter is that the answer was right there at the very
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center of the circle. There's a major break tonight in a double murder that shocked the wine
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country. Napa police now have a suspect behind bars. And then the who done it rapidly turned into a why done
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it. There are just dark things that go on inside the human soul that we'll never know and never really understand.
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Nightmare in Napa. [Music] I was jealous when they moved in. I thought it was a wonderful house. There
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was a time when this house on Dorset Street, not far from downtown Napa, felt like the perfect place to live. Adrienne
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just seemed very happy, very content. Arlene Allen's daughter, Adrien, lived in the house and loved it. She was
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looking forward to living in that home a long time. She really loved the neighborhood. She just felt really at
00:04:08
home there. At first, there were only two roommates, both locals, 27-year-old Lauren Mansza, who coached volleyball at
00:04:15
a community college, and 26-year-old Adrienne and Sonia, an engineer for the Napa Sanitation District. Adrienne and
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Lauren both were very sportsminded, very active. Lily Prudome knew both women, but was especially close to Adrian. It
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was sort of a fast friendship. We worked together. We saw each other after work.
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We worked out at the gym together. How would you describe her? What kind of person was she? Outgoing. Um, really
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funny, but very strong. A strong person. Emotionally tough. Adrienne had proved how tough she could be. Back in 1994,
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while still in high school, she'd been in a near fatal car crash. It was a miracle that she
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survived. There were a lot of physical obstacles that she needed to overcome and also um emotional obstacles, feeling
00:05:07
unprett, feeling, you know, like she didn't fit in with her regular life anymore. But those problems were long
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behind her by June 2004 when Adrienne and Lauren invited a third young woman to share their home.
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Leslie Mazzara, a transplanted southern beauty queen. And good evening, a senior
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at the University of Georgia. I am Leslie Mazera, Miss Williamson. Kathy Harrington is Leslie's mother. She
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wanted to grow up to be a teacher, a mother, a nurse, and to be Miss America by the time she was 21. All those
00:05:43
things. All of those things. Beautiful. Beautiful. A rose for a rose. Lesie is a
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beautiful person and everybody is just naturally drawn to her. Kelly Mccoral was a close friend of Leslie's. The two
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shared a love of dance. She had long, beautiful, dark hair. Lesie Mazera. She was gorgeous. She had
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these beautiful green eyes with the longest eyelashes and the prettiest smile. Tell me who's going to win this
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thing. Who's going to win? And she loves to laugh. Her humor is something that I often
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think of. That has been fun. That's the best part is hanging out with the girls and having fun laughing. You just fall
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in love with her when you meet her. In 2004, after breaking up with a boyfriend, Leslie moved to
00:06:38
Napa. She got a job as a greeter at the Nebomb Copa Winery run by godfather director Francis Ford Copala. And we
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would always joke, you know, I'd say, "How's it going?" And she'd say, "Well, you know, Mr. Copala hasn't quite
00:06:52
discovered me yet, but he's going to one day." You know, we would just laugh about that.
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[Music] [Music] There we go. Trickor treat. There we go. On Halloween night, the three roommates
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handed out candy and were asleep by 11:00. Leslie and Adrien were upstairs in separate bedrooms. Lauren was
00:07:25
downstairs. [Music] Then just after 1:00 a.m., Lauren was startled by loud noises
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coming from the upstairs bedrooms. I was in my bed and just opened up my eyes and realized something
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was kind of not quite right. And then I heard a scream. Lauren asked that her face be hidden
00:08:04
when interviewed by America's Most Wanted. I jumped out of bed and stood there for a second trying to figure out
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what was going on. And uh opened up my door, went outside, listened. Suddenly, she heard
00:08:19
him. Whoever was in the house was running down the stairs right at Lauren. My gut told me to go out the back and I
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just remember thinking, I'm opening up the door for this guy to follow me out. Terrified, Lauren stood defenseless in
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the backyard, but for whatever reason, the intruder fled the way he came in through a ground floor window. Lauren
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said she never laid eyes on him. I waited um till I felt he was gone and then came back in inside the house.
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She climbed the stairs. And then I heard the screamings and cries for help. I had no idea what I
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was going to find. Adrien and Leslie lay in Adrienne's bedroom, bleeding from multiple stab wounds. Adrien was still
00:09:13
alive, but just barely. Lauren slipped on something and realized it was the blood of her roommates. She fled the
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house and called 911. This is 91 emergency. What are you recording? Oh my god, we got attacked because someone
00:09:26
need an ambulance. Oh my god, I dare die. I don't know what is going on everywhere.
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When the police arrived, both Adrien and Leslie were dead. [Applause] [Music] The killings are the first in Napa since
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2001. It is here that both women died during a brutal attack inside. It wasn't long before all of America knew what had
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happened in that house on Dorset Street, including Adrien and Leslie's heartbroken friends. You know, I assumed
00:10:03
it was an accident, but they told me that no, it's worse than that. She'd been she had been killed,
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murdered, and I called her cell phone like 25 times that night and she never answered
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and never answered. And half a world away in Australia, Adrienne's mom, Arlene, heard the news
00:10:28
and I completely lost it. As you can imagine, the pain is just excruciating. Leslie's mother, Kathy, was in her
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Michigan home all alone. I just have a broken heart. And I guess it's just really it's hard for me to understand
00:10:45
how anybody could get to the point of rage that they would murder these two young women, my beautiful daughter. It's
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I just don't understand it. I want to know why. Who was the mysterious intruder and why did he kill
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Leslie and Adrien? [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] She was a people person. Look at my
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eyes. [Music] That's just the thing about Leslie. She was enchanting. She just she was a
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charmer. Amy Brown grew up with Leslie Mazara. I can't remember not being around her and she knew her well. The
00:11:42
thing to know about Leslie is that she can fall in love very quickly. Guys tend to be attracted to
00:11:50
her even if she's not knowing that they are. Over the years, Amy had met a lot of
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Leslie's boyfriends. She went into every relationship full blast, openhearted, but none seemed like a killer. I tried
00:12:04
to think of everybody that she's ever known, and there's too many people. I can't narrow it down to
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anybody. I don't know who would do this. That was the job of the Napa police. Because the killer seemed to know where
00:12:22
he was going and who he was after, investigators quickly concluded this was not a random attack. The police released
00:12:29
very little information, but it didn't matter. The guessing game had begun. The kinds of rumors right away were um
00:12:38
number one that Lesie was the target and that Adrienne had come to her aid. Adrienne's mother, Arlene, based her
00:12:46
feelings on what she had seen. Leslie, being new to the area, was really wanting to meet new people. So, she was
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being set up on a lot of blind dates. Leslie was active, worked at a winery up Valley, was in a position where she was
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in a marketing position where she met lots of people. Napa detective Dan Lteran says the killer most likely
00:13:05
entered Leslie's bedroom first. She was possibly attacked while she was sleeping.
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And then the intruder entered Adrienne's room. The two struggled [Music] mightily. I went to the viewing of her
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body. Adrienne's good friend Lily. Looks like she fought pretty hard. Adrien hated turtlenecks. Hated
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them. Would not wear them. But she was wearing one in the casket for obvious reasons.
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During that vicious fight, the killer was injured, says Napa Detective Todd Schulman. We did find some blood
00:13:50
evidence on the blinds. There was blood left on these blinds as he was leaving. His blood? Yes.
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Now, the police had the killer's DNA. And there was yet another important clue found at the house.
00:14:06
We located several cigarette butts outside the residence. These are cigarettes that have been smoked down to
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the filter. It could be someone who's nervous trying to work up the courage to go inside and do this. The cigarette
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brand was Camel Turkish Gold, a new and unique brand. But police chose not to reveal that information to the public.
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Instead, they sent the butts to a crime lab to determine if DNA on the cigarettes matched the DNA from the
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blood found at the house. They've got some evidence. I mean, they've got DNA. They just have nobody to match it to.
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And when you're starting in Leslie's life, where do you start? Who do you match it with?
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The police started with those close to the victims. In Leslie's case, that meant her many admirers. guys loved
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Lesie and even if they weren't dating, they would buy her things. She never asked for anything. It was just like
00:15:02
they just would give the world to her. Take Brian West, a college boyfriend. He bought her a car. He bought her a car.
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He bought her a car. And how long have they been dating before he bought her a car? Oh,
00:15:16
probably 2 3 months maybe. That's just what guys would do for Leslie. Didn't ask for a car. And what did she do? She
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drove it for a while and then they decided they weren't going to be together and uh she gave it back.
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After the breakup, Brian built this web page tribute to Leslie. Does that strike
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you as normal? You break up with a woman and then you make a website about her? No, that's not normal. But I think
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because I know Brian a little at it's kind of normal to me cuz I just know that he idolized
00:15:52
her. And then there was William Lee Youngblood Jr., a lawyer. Leslie had been living with him, but they broke up
00:15:59
shortly before she moved to Napa. She really did love Lee. I could marry Lee. She said, "But a dad just makes me feel
00:16:06
uncomfortable." William Lee Youngblood senior, also a lawyer, often called the house, not to
00:16:13
speak with his son, but with Leslie. There got to a point where he would call her all the time, even knowing that she
00:16:20
was the only one at the house, and she got to the point where she just stopped answering the phone. Do you think the
00:16:26
father was in some way obsessed with her? It seems to be. Amy was questioned about the Young
00:16:34
Bloodoods by a Napa detective. He said, "If I told you that Lee Senior called Lesie twice on Halloween night,
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how would that make you feel? And when he soon as he said that chill bumps my hair stood on edge and I said
00:16:52
that I don't like that at all at all. The Napa police traveled to South Carolina to interview Young Bloodood
00:16:59
Senior. He denied any involvement in the murders. Said the phone calls on Halloween were an unfortunate
00:17:06
coincidence and said he was not infatuated with Leslie. Then he and his son each agreed to provide a DNA
00:17:14
sample. Neither father nor son was a match. Back in Napa, investigators went around collecting DNA from the men
00:17:28
Leslie had met there. She was getting back into a little bit more of the party kind of scene and meeting fresh faces.
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At the time of her death, Leslie was regularly dating two men. Leslie was definitely looking for the one, but
00:17:44
Leslie wasn't going to settle for anything less than perfect. Katie Norris and Vanessa Schnure were college buddies
00:17:50
who'd visited and stayed with Leslie in the house on Dorset Street just 3 weeks before the murders. We spent weeks going
00:17:58
through every conversation, talking about every person that we interacted with, just looking
00:18:03
for that one little thing that might have been a hint as to who did this. The women both thought there was something
00:18:10
odd about one of the men Leslie was dating. We went to a local bar in Napa. Leslie was approached by a friend that
00:18:19
was solely a friend. The demeanor of Leslie's boyfriend who was there at the time changed dramatically. It was
00:18:27
obvious that he was not comfortable with her talking to another man. It was a very eerie feeling after
00:18:36
we found out what had happened to Leslie. Vanessa and Katie told the Napa police their suspicions. Cops questioned
00:18:43
the man and took his DNA. But as with so many others, the test came back negative. Leslie's
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mother, Kathy, was not surprised. I'm not convinced that whoever killed the girls was was after
00:18:58
Lesie. It could have been somebody that was taken with Adrien. I want justice for my friend.
00:19:15
It's not going to make that much difference in our lives because we'll still be without Adrien and without
00:19:21
Leslie. But it's important. Like all of Adrienne's friends, Lily Prudon desperately wants Adrienne's
00:19:31
killer to be found. I've gotten pretty angry about what happened that anybody could do this. But I'm almost a little
00:19:38
afraid to have a face and a name to put the blame on and all my grief just hang it on this person. It's not going to get
00:19:46
easier because we have a face and a name. One name that police focused on soon after the murders was Christian Lee.
00:19:56
Christian was her boyfriend. They were on again off again for a long time. Lily says the relationship sometimes
00:20:05
caused Adrian pain. She'd come to work crying one day and of course being friends we would console her and towards
00:20:13
the end we only saw the negative side of Christian. Not surprisingly, Napa police were soon
00:20:19
pounding on Christian's bedroom door. I was I was fast asleep and I opened the door and about five detectives jumped
00:20:27
backwards. I take it you were startled to say the least. Yeah. What did they say to you?
00:20:33
They asked me to come out of my room and they kind of backed away from me slowly
00:20:37
and they asked me if I had any weapons or knives in my room and you know I told them I had one and asked if I could get
00:20:42
it for them. They no no just point out where it is. They collected a knife from the corner of his room. They took
00:20:49
samples of blood. They took my clothes. They took the sheets off my bed. And they wanted to take me to the
00:20:56
station for questioning. For weeks, he and Adrienne had been arguing. She wanted a commitment. He
00:21:03
wasn't ready. We'd have our problems. We'd argue, but I've never ever touched a woman in my life in that in in anger.
00:21:18
The police kept digging, but the investigation was going nowhere. Part of the problem of not knowing is that you
00:21:25
imagine. Leslie's mother, Kathy, felt haunted. I would wake up with these images in my
00:21:36
mind that were just so horrible. As my grief counselor said to me, Leslie died once, but you keep reliving it over
00:21:46
and over and over [Music] again. The frustrating part for me is that I feel that I really don't have any
00:21:54
information about what happened to my daughter, Adrienne's mother, Arlene. I know that she was stabbed to death, but
00:22:01
nothing has been forthcoming for months. Arlene lived with Adrienne's presence every waking moment. This car is um
00:22:09
Adrienne's car and I haven't even changed the preset radio buttons. So, every time I
00:22:18
get in this car um and turn on the radio, I feel very close to Adrien. I feel that she's with
00:22:24
me and that the day is going to be a good day. Adrienne's favorite song at the time of
00:22:30
her death was She Will Be Loved by Maroon [Music] 5. It makes me feel happy to know that
00:22:40
as long as I live, Adrien will be loved. Adrienne's memory touched others as well. Sorry.
00:22:48
Adrienne's best friend, Lily, and her boyfriend, Eric Cppel, came to a decision. Eric and I both re-evaluated
00:22:55
what is important in life. We've been together almost 8 years now. It was time to go ahead and get married. She and
00:23:02
Eric once before put their marriage plans on hold. It turned out to be the worst possible timing. Eric and I were
00:23:11
originally planning to get married on November 1st, which is the day Adrienne ended up dying. And if we had gone
00:23:17
through with that wedding, it was planned in Hawaii. Adrien and Lauren would have been in Hawaii with us that
00:23:23
week. Arlene was invited to be part of the ceremony and read scriptures to the couple. A portion of it was from the
00:23:34
Song of Solomon. Love is stronger than death. Passion fiercer than the grave. And although the day was joyful, Lily
00:23:48
says she can't get beyond the fact that there's been no arrest in Adrienne's murder. Somebody out there knows
00:23:55
something. Somebody would have had to notice a friend of theirs acting strange or, you know, had
00:24:01
bruises. It doesn't seem like somebody could just walk away from it and be fine.
00:24:10
By the following summer, the police here seemed truly baffled. Investigators said
00:24:14
they met with more than a thousand people, ruling them out one by one. Starting, they said, with the inner
00:24:21
circle, people closest to the victims, boyfriends, friends, and friends of friends. 200 of the men they met with
00:24:29
gave them DNA samples. Thus far, we haven't had any matches to the DNA from the suspect. So, is it safe to say that
00:24:36
the men who gave DNA samples have now been ruled out? Yes. And that includes Adrienne's boyfriend,
00:24:43
Christian. You think we should have had some more answers by now? something. Definitely something. Then in
00:24:53
September 2005, 11 months after the murders, there was something. Police in Napa have new clues in a double murder
00:25:01
case that remember those cigarette butts found outside the house on Dorset Street. Months later, the crime lab
00:25:07
results finally arrived. This is one of the actual cigarette butts that was located at the crime scene. In fact, the
00:25:13
saliva on those butts did match the killer's DNA. Investigators believe the asalent smoked Camel Turkish gold
00:25:20
cigarettes at the time of the attack. We feel like this is something that may prompt someone in the public to to make
00:25:25
that one phone call that's going to help lead to the identity of this killer. They were
00:25:33
right. Just 5 days later, my phone rang at 11:15 last night and uh it was the supervising sergeant u letting me know
00:25:42
uh that they had made an arrest. My next words were, "Who was it?" And I was not at all prepared for
00:25:52
the answer to that question. Neither was anyone else. Now, we know that this person is a white
00:26:16
male, and now we've added to that, this is a smoker. No one knew it at the time,
00:26:21
but there was one young man in Napa County who was feeling intense pressure. After police released information about
00:26:28
the cigarette butts found outside the house where Adrienne and Sonia and Leslie Mazara were murdered,
00:26:34
investigators believe the asalent smoked camel Turkish gold cigarettes. He was feeling so much pressure that within
00:26:40
days, two parents in the Napa Valley opened their mail. These are two different letters. Uh, one to his
00:26:46
mother, one to his father to find suicide notes from their own son. Napa District Attorney Gary Lieberstein read
00:26:54
to us from those letters which have never been revealed publicly until now. I am leaving this life because I know
00:27:01
that the consequences of my actions must be faced and they spell death. I will not grant the government
00:27:09
the satisfaction of watching me die. So I will end my life in a place and manner
00:27:15
of my own choosing. I do not consider it suicide. I call it justice. The man who wrote that letter may have
00:27:25
sentenced himself to death, but he didn't carry out the sentence. After relatives received those suicide notes,
00:27:32
they confronted him and convinced him to turn himself into the Napa police. There's a major break tonight in a
00:27:38
double murder that shocked the wine country. When Arlene Allen heard of the arrest,
00:27:45
she asked his name. I expected when I asked the question, "Who was it?" that it would be a name I was not the least
00:27:51
bit familiar with. But it was a name Arlene knew very well. It's heartbreaking. I am just so heartbroken
00:28:00
over this. 26-year-old Eric Matthew Coppel is in the Napa County Jail charged with two
00:28:06
counts of murder. The man who confessed was Eric Cppel, the husband of Adrienne's best friend, Lily.
00:28:16
I'm feeling as much grief now as I did upon hearing of Adrienne's death. The revelation was all the more shocking
00:28:22
because it was only months earlier that Arlene had been invited to speak at Eric
00:28:27
and Lily's wedding. And I remember looking into Eric's eyes and he seemed sad and paying close attention and it
00:28:37
really touched me. Just who is Eric Cppel? Little is known. He was the classic shy, quiet guy
00:28:46
who worked as a land surveyor and was never in trouble with the law. Not even a traffic violation.
00:28:53
He was nice. He was a nice person. It was hard to even imagine him do that. Ben Catz was Adrienne's close friend and
00:29:01
socialized with Lily and Eric. Whenever he was with Lily, she would do all the talking and he would just he'd just be
00:29:07
there. He wouldn't say much, but you know, he just figured just because he was shy. He did appear to me to be
00:29:14
reticent, remote, really a contrast to Lily's easygoing and outgoing personality. Yeah, they they do kind of
00:29:21
seem like an odd couple, but it's it seemed like it was working for them both. But how could Lily have gone for
00:29:28
nearly an entire year marrying and living with the man who murdered her best friend without suspecting a thing?
00:29:35
Do you think that Lily knew anything about Eric's involvement before he ultimately confessed? It it's hard to
00:29:41
believe that she laid next to him 11 months and didn't have any suspicions. When Lily sat down with us not long
00:29:48
after her wedding. What do you hope will happen here? I hope they find him. She said she couldn't imagine the killer
00:29:55
would go unnoticed. Somebody must have seen something. Somebody out there knows something. Somebody would have had to
00:30:01
notice a friend of theirs acting strange. What now seems chilling is the fact that Lily's husband, Eric, was
00:30:08
sitting right there in the room with us during our interview. It's important. It's important to find out who did this
00:30:15
and to find out why in some sick way. I want to know. I want to know how it happened. I mean, this was my friend. I
00:30:22
want to know what happened to her. It doesn't sound like Lily had even an inkling. I think that Lily was like
00:30:29
another sister to Adrien. She could not have even suspected that her husband was involved with that.
00:30:36
There is no proof that Lily knew what Cppel had done. And people also wondered about the investigators. Why didn't they
00:30:43
find him sooner? How is it possible they took more than 200 DNA samples from men
00:30:49
all over the country yet somehow skipped over CPP who lived and worked right here
00:30:54
in the Napa Valley? Here's a guy who was the boyfriend of the best friend, who knew your daughter, who knew Leslie, had
00:31:02
been to the house, and who smoked cigarettes, right? Are you surprised that the police did not question him
00:31:09
much, much sooner? That was one of my first questions. Um, right away, I was wondering uh how he could possibly have
00:31:16
been overlooked. Now that there finally was an arrest in the case, there was a great sigh of
00:31:22
relief. And not just in Napa. I've been waiting for that call for 11 months. Leslie's mother, Kathy, now a minister
00:31:30
living in Michigan, can't help wondering what was going through Copley's mind. My
00:31:35
granddaughter says it so well. It's like, why would anybody want to hurt Aunt Lesie?
00:31:42
How will the man who murdered Leslie and Adrien explain what happened that horrible night? I am a broken man. And
00:31:50
what will Lily say to the families? I'm Lily Coppel, Eric's wife. Eric Matthew CppP6y old
00:32:08
Ericpps of appearances that could lead him to the gas chamber. Even after Eric Cppel confessed, there was still no clue
00:32:15
about his motives. Marian's mom, Arlene Allen, was stunned. That is the burning question. Why? What caused him to lose
00:32:23
control and commit these horrible murders? The answer, says Napa District Attorney
00:32:30
Gary Lieberstein, lies in Coppell's relationship with Lily. He wanted Lily to be there for him. And I do think that
00:32:38
he was resentful of other friendships that she had. On Halloween night, he got so drunk that
00:32:47
an angry Lily refused to spend the night with him at their apartment. He felt his
00:32:52
relationship was slipping away with Lily. Cppell found himself all alone on what was supposed to have been his
00:32:59
wedding day. His memory of what happened next, he told police, is sketchy. He claimed
00:33:05
that while he had some memory of leaving his house and taking a knife, he didn't
00:33:11
know why he did that. He didn't know how he ended up at the house on Dorset. He remembered smoking a cigarette out
00:33:18
front, going in the window, claimed he remembered being in a bedroom, that he was responsible for killing both girls,
00:33:25
but he claimed his eyes were closed. What about the bloody clothes? What happened to those? His indication was
00:33:30
that he recalled going home and starting a fire in his fire pit and burning his his clothing and his shoes. What does
00:33:38
that say about his state of mind? Says he knew exactly what he did and he was doing everything he could to avoid being
00:33:43
caught. CPPell told investigators he did not remember what he did with the knife
00:33:48
he used to stab Adrien and Leslie. He offered no motive for killing Leslie. Now we're back on the record.
00:34:01
People of the state of California versus Eric Matthew Coppel. In order to spare the families the ordeal of a trial,
00:34:08
Coppel and the DA struck a deal. Do you plead guilty or not guilty? Guilty, your
00:34:13
honor. pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. Coppell was spared the death penalty. Good morning, your
00:34:20
honor. I'm Arlene Allen. I'd like to thank you for allowing me to speak this morning on behalf of my beloved
00:34:25
daughter, Adrien. At his sentencing, Arlene Allen finally got her chance to confront Eric Cobbell. Eric, you knew
00:34:34
Adrien. She counted you among her friends. And you know me. And Eric, I know you. You are a man who violently
00:34:46
stabbed to death the best friend of the woman you love. That is not love, Eric. You cannot
00:34:55
love Lily and bring a knife into Adrienne's home and stab her and stab her again and
00:35:05
again and again and again and again as Arlene drove home the brutality of his deed. Eric Coppel sat stonefaced. I say
00:35:17
to you, Eric, go. Leave this life of friends and family, of life and love and laughter. There is no place here for
00:35:30
you. For while in the coming years, the memory of Lesie and of Adrien will remain clear and shining bright in our
00:35:39
hearts, all of our hearts, and our minds, you will be forgotten. And when that door closes
00:35:47
behind you today as you walk out of this room, I will think of you no more. Thank
00:35:53
you, your honor. Coppel's demeanor started to change when the final speaker stepped up to the
00:36:00
podium. I'm Lily Cppel, Eric's wife. Lily was given special permission to speak on her husband's behalf. My heart
00:36:08
goes out to both Arlene and Kathy and to the rest of their families and friends.
00:36:12
I wish with all my heart these events had been avoided. Her expression of sympathy and regret took a quick turn
00:36:18
when she spoke directly to her husband. Eric, there is nothing in this world that you could do to make me love you
00:36:26
less. I found that a very shocking statement. In the months after the murders, Lily
00:36:34
and Arlene had become close and the words stung. We still bear the scars of losing Adrienne and Leslie in such a
00:36:42
horrifying way. Now we must also endure the pain of watching a muchloved and very admirable man spend the rest of his
00:36:49
life behind bars. I told myself that there is no way that I could know what she was going through. There is no way I
00:36:57
could put myself in her position. I can say without hesitation that the man who committed this crime is not present in
00:37:04
the person or mind of my husband today. I am praying that we'll survive this, but at this point it's really unknown.
00:37:15
Eric Copp would like to read a statement. Yes. And then it was Coppel's turn. My voice doesn't work.
00:37:25
The courtroom waited anxiously as he tried to compose himself. I am a broken man.
00:37:39
sucks. A man splintered by a penetrating awareness of my own potential for wickedness.
00:37:51
While I cannot fathom the full extent of the anguish I have caused, I recognize that my sinful
00:38:07
deeds have inflicted terrific agony on a great number of people. The words evade me to articulate the
00:38:20
depth of my sorrow. I did believe that he was truly truly remorseful. Those were real tears that
00:38:31
he was crying but not for us. I believe he was crying for himself. Lesie. The judge
00:38:40
only allowed the first minute of Cppell's statement to be recorded, but he went on to say, "I was afraid my
00:38:46
relationship with Lily, the singular ray of light in my black world, was in peril
00:38:51
of collapsing. I thought to myself, aha, this is why Adrienne was killed." [Music]
00:38:59
In his own tortured mind, Coppell believed Adrien was poisoning Lily against him. If he was in such great
00:39:06
fear of losing Lily, a panic would set in. He would have to find a way to keep her. He would have to eliminate the path
00:39:14
by which she might escape. I believe that he saw Adrien as that path. And that is
00:39:22
why he killed her. Your honor, at this time, we're prepared to proceed a sentencing. Because of the
00:39:32
plea deal, Coppel's sentencing was a mere formality and it has ordered Eric Matthew Coppell to serve a life sentence
00:39:39
without possibility of parole. The case of the Napa murders is solved [Music] now. Leslie's life speaks for itself.
00:39:57
Leslie's mother, Kathy, refuses to dwell on her grief. Her 26 years were full and
00:40:04
rich. I'm so grateful that I got to be her mom and that she brightened our lives. She
00:40:13
was a [Music] gift. I sometimes expect to just see her walking in the door. I see her face
00:40:23
clearly before me and you know I understand just what a loss it is. [Music] [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 95
    Most heartbreaking
  • 95
    Biggest twist
  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 90
    Most unpredictable

Episode Highlights

  • Nightmare in Napa
    A double murder in Napa Valley shocks the community, revealing the darkness within.
    “The crime happened on Halloween night of 2004.”
    @ 00m 49s
    October 28, 2025
  • Adrienne's Strength
    Despite past trauma, Adrienne was known for her resilience and fighting spirit.
    “She was a fighter. She was a scrappy girl.”
    @ 02m 32s
    October 28, 2025
  • The Search for Answers
    Investigators struggle to find the killer, leading to a complex web of suspects.
    “The guessing game had begun.”
    @ 12m 35s
    October 28, 2025
  • Coppel's Arrest
    Just five days after DNA evidence linked him to the crime, Eric Matthew Coppel was arrested.
    “I was not at all prepared for the answer to that question.”
    @ 25m 49s
    October 28, 2025
  • Suicide Notes Revealed
    Letters from Coppel to his parents revealed his intentions before the arrest.
    “I am leaving this life because I know that the consequences of my actions must be faced.”
    @ 26m 59s
    October 28, 2025
  • Life Sentence
    Eric Matthew Coppel was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the murders.
    “The case of the Napa murders is solved now.”
    @ 39m 46s
    October 28, 2025

Episode Quotes

  • There's no way to even imagine the ugliness and the brutality.
    Nightmare in Napa | Full Episode
  • I want justice for my friend.
    Nightmare in Napa | Full Episode
  • I will not grant the government the satisfaction of watching me die.
    Nightmare in Napa | Full Episode
  • I am a broken man.
    Nightmare in Napa | Full Episode

Key Moments

  • Friendship and Loss01:27
  • Unsolved Mystery24:53
  • DNA Match25:13
  • Arrest Made25:40
  • Suicide Notes26:49
  • Heartbreaking Revelation28:00
  • Life Sentence39:39
  • Mother's Grief40:09

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown