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48 Hours presents this is offic the Houston Police Department major offenders division career criminal
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[Music] Squad hey my name is Valerie McDaniel I've always tried to be an honest kind
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person I've try to live the best life I can Valerie wound up being the top of the
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class the valedictorian the valedictorian in our 1987 High School graduating class she sure did my name is
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Megan she's my second cousin she's generous and creative smart nice and sweet she would always like take care of
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my dog [Music] I wasn't sure if I should be a vet anymore and Valerie brought that passion
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back I know that Valerie made an audio recording of all of her memorable moments in life I met through friends a
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man named MC MCD and thought he was the cutest thing tall and skinny with his boots
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Valerie and Mac lived a lavish lifestyle a high-end life you know a life of luxury life of beauty Great Cars Valley
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had a Mercedes daughter went to a great school they worked a lot that was a big thing they both be working and but did
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they seem happy together yeah yeah it seemed [Music] great one morning at work there was a a note on my desk that
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said Dr McDaniel call Miss Brown she said I've been your husband's lover it tore up divorce is never an
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easy thing she met Leon a medical doctor he actually went to the same school I did a
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little bit of ER but then also like like cardio and transplant I looked at him and smiled and he smiled
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back and just a beautiful person her face her smile she had this outwardly exuberance of energy that I
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really can't describe she fell for Leon she was madly in love with him we were um planning on getting
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[Music] married Mac always wanted more more more at the detriment of their daughter my name is MZ Ai and Leon Jacob
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tried to hire me as a Hitman in the car did he give you $2,500 he paid the $2,000 in cash yes in
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cash right and what did you see on his face excitement he was enjoying it like he
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actually was excited about the whole thing I could never hurt the man that my daughter loves so much the male subject
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he's gone he's done all right this has been a long drawn out story that's led to an unbelievable
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conclusion when he came into my office he shut the door he said I'm Dr Leon Jacob I felt like I was talking to Satan
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himself [Music] [Music] 48 hours operation murder reported by Peter Van Sant continues in 90
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seconds [Music] 2453 2453 yes ma'am it's going to be a major offenders [Music] investigation it's 3:00 a.m. on Friday
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March 10th 2017 h Houston police are making their way to the seventh floor condo of
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beloved veterinarian Valerie McDaniel AF we have some bad news bad doesn't begin to describe what's about
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to be revealed found it looks like it turns out to be a fatality Valerie's ex-husband Mack
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police tell her was dead just 6 months after after their divorce had become final do you have anybody you can call
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to to help you to stay to stay with you but how could Valerie's life have arrived at this Dreadful
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[Music] moment Valerie earned her degree in veterinary medicine at Texas A&M it was
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during that time she met Mac McDaniel Valerie's friend Greg Holloway my impression of Mac is that he was a a
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good man he was a standup guy Mack proposed and Valerie had the man of her dreams as she describes in that
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recording of her memories we did get married we had a beautiful fairy tale wedding moved into a house that my
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parents had bought me to live in not long after that Valerie decided to open her own
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Clinic Valerie's cousin Cody Bernard I admired her it sunk something inside of me I wanted to I want to do that one day
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something big you know Mack was her office manager but even as the vet clinic thrived the two
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longed for something more he said she couldn't have any children so the only option was to
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adopt in 2008 the couple adopted a daughter when she was just 2 days old but as their new family came together
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their marriage began to fall apart it started Valerie says with a phone call from a stranger the woman who claimed to
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have been Max's lover but Valerie says that wasn't all she gave me L of women that he had slept
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with Valerie says she confronted Mac and forgave him but claims it wasn't long before Mac cheated
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again and that was the first time I ever said the word divorce and I yeled at him
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outside and I yelled it and I yelled it Valerie says she forgave Mac yet again but then a chance encounter would
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change the course of her life Leon Jacob the son of Valerie's neighbor Golda Jacob stopped by he ran up to me and um
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stuck his hand out and introduced himself the cockiest mother ever met in my life Valerie was in her mid-40s but
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she was stunning um both inside and out the attraction was Mutual you could tell
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he knew how beautiful and I was lonely Leon Jacob was 8 years younger than Valerie and a doctor what type of
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surgeries have you done all kinds of surgeries I've assisted in heart kidney pancreas
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transplants with a strained home life and an attractive new friend what happened next may have been inevitable
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and he sat across from me and we had some wine and I had my out on the chair next to him just out of the blue he
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reached out and just ran his finger up my left foot and that was it it was like a movie
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moment it's quite an interlude according to what she described yeah compliments uh all around I guess in December 2014
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Valerie filed for divorce claiming Mac committed adultery Mac's attorneys told us Mac had no comment about the divorce
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petition and the claims Valerie made in her audio diary between Max alleged cheating and
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Valerie's new love interest both wanted out of the marriage the divorce was finalized in August
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2016 Valerie and her daughter then moved into this building in the upscale River
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Oak section of Houston not long after Leon joined them here the relationship really Blossom
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quickly because we had been very close friends for so long Dr Britney King worked alongside Valerie at the vet
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clinic I seem very much in love um holding hands and and loving towards each other but there was one old problem
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in Valerie and lon's new relationship and his name was Mac there were multiple times in the
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clinic where she would just be in tears um say everything okay and it was something surrounding um her ex-husband
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Mac had found out that Leon was staying with me that be arguments or uh stuff with the the child of visitation but
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Leon had his own issues with past loves one involving extreme mental cruelty and
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another assault and stalking charges Leon Jacob is a predator he's scary Samantha connect is a Harris County
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assistant District attorney he wants what he wants and he'll stop at nothing to get it could there be more to
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Valerie's new love than she can imagine he has no problem using women um in fact I I think he enjoys
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it Valerie McDaniel's new live-in boyfriend grew up in a Texas sized world of beauty
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opulence and opportunity I always wanted to be a doctor my whole life ever since
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I was about three or four as he pursued his degrees Leon met and married his college sweetheart they
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had two boys we had a happy loving family I two great kids two boys they're the most important things
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to me in my life a good family and now with an MD after his name Leon was well on his
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way but Leon's picture perfect life disguised a troubled relationship after 12 years of marriage
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his wife filed for divorce citing extreme mental cruelty and one year later Leon was arrested for stalking his
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now ex Leon has to be in control when his ex-wife went to in their relationship he wasn't going to have it
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um and he wasn't going to go down without a fight Leon isn't it true that you've had brushes with the law
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involving stalking cyber stalking intimidation uh physical harassment assault aren't all those true I pled
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guilty to a attempted cyber harassment charge that was stemming from an acrimonious divorce
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that I went through with my previous wife Leon admits that he called often but he claims it was simply to speak
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with his Boys I Tried desperately to contact my kids over and over and over again and I'm not going to apologize for
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that Leon finally moved on to a new residency and was living in Pittsburgh where he met this woman 33-year-old
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Megan veras I met Megan in a hotel in Pittsburgh she was the assistant general manager
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there the new couple moved to Houston there were lavish vacations family get togethers and yet
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another residency Leon's 7eventh he's a failed doctor he's been kicked out of every Residency program he's ever been a
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part of and what's the problem what was the basis of these dismissals do you know the belief that he was the smartest
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guy in the room inability to get along with people um inability to get along with patients and in fact one of the
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records that we found said that they believe that he was a danger to patients and that he would be a liability for
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them to keep around 3 years into their relationship Megan vericast thought leyon was a
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threat to her too Megan kicked leyon out of their apartment later accusing him of
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assaulting her she wanted me to move all my stuff out she came there and was very hostile
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the police uh were called there was no violence of any kind and a day later she claimed that I had hit her and that
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you'd put your hand over her mouth yeah which is not true Leon is about Leon smile D smile it frustrated him to no
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end that Megan varos would not forgive him and the fact that he couldn't get Megan back frustrated him and angered
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him Leon was arrested in February 2017 for assault and star you can charge anybody with anything it
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doesn't mean that you're guilty of that the DA's office has been on this case since its Inception we help prosecutors
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are convinced that Leon knew his future as a doctor would be destroyed if Megan testified against him so they believe he
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planned a little operation to make his pain go away he feels like if Megan disappears if she goes away that his
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criminal case will go away and he can res resume his career as this beloved surgeon that he thinks that he is
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prosecutors claim Leon decided what he needed was a hitman and he thought he'd found one Taz are you a Hitman no were
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you ever willing to murder anyone for money no no no no I would never do something like that Taz aay was
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introduced to leyon by a mutual acquaintance did Leon ever tell you how he wanted his ex-girlfriend to be killed
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yes he he actually offered suggestions one of them was a syringe to the heart with potassium would give her a heart
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attack and that would actually kill her Taz is a decorated former US Army soldier who saw Lyon's deadly demand as
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an opportunity to Save a Life I saw somebody in danger and I knew that I can do something about it and I did
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something about it Leon knew Taz by the code name Zach he says Leon wanted him to kidnap Megan first to talk her into
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taking him back and if that didn't work leaving town but that wasn't all if she doesn't leave what are you going to do
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and he was like I want you to kill her I'm not going to comment on any of this it's just
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ridiculous Taz says Leon paid him $9,000 which he happily spent to be honest I don't feel bad that I spent
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Jacob's money matter of fact I feel really good I spent his money then the man Leon knew as Zach
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vanished Leon Jacob was one of the most Unique Individuals I'd ever met Bale bondman Michael kubos this guy was
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focused was very intimidating didn't shake my hand just wanted to know one thing I want Zach's number he said I've
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paid Zach a lot of money need to take care of this I felt like I was talking to the
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Devil Himself here more from the soldier who played a Hitman to Save a Life on Facebook at 48
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Hours tonight's 48 hours will continue this is not a minor point this is really a who done it this is a
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heavy gun this is real this is crazy this is the Moment of Truth this is exactly what I tried to
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[Music] stop tucked away on a side street in Houston is perh perhaps the most colorful bail bondsman in all of Texas
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having hung out a bit with you you are the Elvis of bale bondsman you have his name is Michael kubos these are people
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that we're looking for fugitives and he understands the Criminal Mind I deal with the nicest the kindest and the
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meanest people on the face of the Earth I've bonded out judges prostitutes preachers
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missionaries he's also a larger than life member of the Houston city council who helps saved
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lives during Hurricane Harvey I can see You' been really working hard I know all
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the major law enforcement people in in the whole County Leon had stormed into kubos his
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office he said I've paid Zach a lot of money to take care of this said take care of what he said I want her out of
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the picture and and and I she can't be testifying against me out of the picture out of the
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picture I believe that he meant ill toward this woman and that's why I call the chief the chief of the chief of
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police in Houston Texas a search for the mysterious Zach was triggered and investigators quickly
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learned his real name Taz a a name that kubash did recognize as a former military man who is facing a misdemeanor
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theft charge for stealing from his roommate he was on bond with me he was still free it took Houston police about a week
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to find Taz and that's when things got really interesting to me Taz seemed genuinely
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concerned for Megan this man is an undercover officer with the Houston Police Department who goes by the name
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detective Javier he didn't want to see her hurt so Taz agreed to participate in a sting operation to help catch Leon
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Jacob in the act of soliciting a murder hello hey what's up man how you doing B Taz told Leon that he felt he
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had grown too close to him and Valerie and thought it best to hire another Hitman and he knew just the right guy
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can you meet me tomorrow yeah I I'll clear my SK no problem the next day Taz would introduce
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Leon to his new Hitman undercover detective Javier but before Taz could hang up Leon Dropped a Bomb we're taking
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care of both problems what both problems both of the individuals that we're talking
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about uh okay Valerie McDaniel Leon's new girlfriend the mild-mannered veterinarian who friends had described
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as an angel wanted her ex-husband murdered Valerie wants to talk to you about what he want she wants to do with
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her ex-husband okay that's good all right just bring her with you tomorrow the next day Leon and Valerie met with
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Taz and detective Javier at this Olive Garden to discuss the fate of both their exes over lunch the entire operation was
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recorded the meeting lasted nearly 2 hours and began with Leon's Target Megan I don't want you to hurt her but I want
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her to go he told me that he wanted me to run her off the road and threaten her but
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then he would say to me if she does not understand that then you do what you have to do those options don't
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work I don't give a we got got there was no doubt in my mind that Leon wanted Megan killed the subject
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then turned to Valerie's Target her ex husband Mac say if something would happen to
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him or could be a car it could be a robbery going she was under the belief that I was going to carjack him and I
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was going to put a bullet in his head which is exactly what I told her I was going to do but you need to to go
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ahead want to do that take my the next day March 9th 2017 detective Javier called Leon to say he had good
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news that he insisted on delivering in person are you AF he went to their home where he
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informed them Mac was dead neither wanted to see this photo which seemed to show Mac with a
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gunshot to the head when Valerie got the news that her husband was dead was she emotional about it did she say oh my God
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I never wanted to go this far she did not show that what they didn't know is that Mac was alive and well he' posed
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for those photos as part of this elaborate sting operation believing was dead Leon set
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his sights on Megan so you're going to snatch her and you're going to bring her some and talk to her that's the
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plan I need to show up you call me later that night these staged photographs of Megan
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were texted to Leon and he was told she was so out of control she had to be killed she's dead she's gone
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I don't want to know anything on that scale of good to evil in your mind what is Leon
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Jacob Leon is a very evil person he was willing to do whatever he needed to do to
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[Music] survive tonight's 48 hours will continue weekday good morning to you and
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welcome to CBS This Morning join Tony dcoa Anthony Mason and kale King I'm very glad it's us today the new CBS This
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Morning [Music] [Music] weekday it was probably around 2: or 3: in the morning on March 10th 2017 Valerie
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McDaniel and her Livin boyfriend Leon Jacob get a wakeup call from Sergeant Frank Quinn that will soon lead to an
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Oscar winning performance what's going on she lets them inside but she Fain surprise she can't understand why
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they're there remember just hours before detective Javier posing as a Hitman had
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told her that Mack was dead but now Valerie has to convince police she is hearing it for the first time sorry I
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have to tell you have you heard from him recently she pretends to be upset she puts her head in her hands uh she sits
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down and she acts like she's completely shocked and surprised that her ex-husband is dead is your boyfriend
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here with you you think he could kind of be a little help to [Music] tonight this surreal scene caught by the
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body cameras of Houston Police is about to reach its climax we were hoping you could help us
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we had to deliver some bad news to ex-husband been found toight oh my God Wass [Music]
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like might have been a robbery WR trying if anybody knows anything or no we to help us are you okay
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baby we've been here all night we were here all day with and their daughter and we watching
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movies we haven't been out of the house all day except then the cops decide to call cut on all this bad acting right
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now we're going to read you your rights cuz both of you are being arrested for solicitation
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it is only then that the couple learns that both their intended targets are alive and well I don't know why I'm
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being arrested Leon is Led Out can I get a sweatshirt I'm already cold and Valerie has a much bigger
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concern her daughter who's been asleep in the apartment this whole time although not caught on camera Mac
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arrives to pick up their 8-year-old and what did Valerie say to her you know something along the lines of just you
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know taking you to your dad he's outside and he's going to take you and it was very benign and you know just normal as
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could be and so all of a sudden on the news media came the arrest of two doctors a Houston woman and her
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boyfriend were charged with trying to have their exes killed and I'm laying there thinking well that's not the
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Valerie I know and they show the film of her going up for her arraignment you about fall out of your chair that almost
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rolled out of the bed because Leon has those other pending charges related to Megan he doesn't make bail but Valerie
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does Valerie was rushed out the jail alongside family after and goes home to wait for the legal process to play out I
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remember texting her throughout the week and calling her and constantly sending her I love you you know you can get
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through this so happy you're out Valerie's Veterinary license got suspended because of the charges Britney
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says Valerie was weighed down by her arrest and the prospect she wouldn't be seeing her daughter for a long long
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time she visited Valerie at her high-rise condo but I remember giving her a hug goodbye and I just felt the
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life in the eyes was not there it's weird things it wasn't like Bam Bam Bam ression things just
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gradually happened 2 weeks after the shock and shame of being charged with solicitation of capital murder Valerie
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McDaniel used her iPad March 25th it's been a few days to record her side of the story I didn't wake up one day and
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just say hey I want to kill my ex-husband for Valerie everything she loved was slipping away
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I want to talk to my daughter I want to talk to [Music] Leon this I'm just not SP I wish I were I just can't do it just
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can't do it 2 days after her final recording on March 27th 2017 Valerie who once seemed Unstoppable
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did the unthinkable she climbed over this very railing and jumped seven stories to her
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death she wanted me to be home with her and we were going to get through this and it was devastating and
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[Music] shocking I think that she was in a very vulnerable position when she met Leon
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Jacob but I think he influenced her and brainwashed her I'm innocent and um as a human being and
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as a physici that thought of killing somebody else is just goes against everything in
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my my nature it really depends on what they find Leon has hired one of the top defense attorneys in Texas George
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parnham who says Valerie McDaniel was the one calling all the shots I'm sorry for her demise but I believe that
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Valerie uh is and was responsible for this entire scenario that she was the driver
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she was the financier of all of this that that just my understanding the question now what will
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a jury think on March 20th 2018 a week before the first anniversary of Valerie's
00:31:20
suicide this is a state of Texas versus Leon Philip Jacob Leon alone trial on two counts of solicitation of capital
00:31:31
murder one of the things you learn about Leon Jacob is he has to be in control Mack was going to die and Megan was
00:31:38
going to die Cameron cigan is Samantha con's co-prosecutor he says Lyon's motive was clear there was two obstacles
00:31:48
to the defendant's new life with Valerie mcdan it was Ma and it was Megan Mac could keep Valerie away from him by
00:31:56
making Valerie choose between the defendant and her daughter and Megan could make him end up in
00:32:04
prison George parham's co-counsel Matthew ppil claims that it was the undercover officer whose identity were
00:32:12
protecting by calling detective Javier who pushed Ferry and Lyon to make a deadly choice if it was not her offic
00:32:21
trying to make this into a television story and force his own narrative Leon would not be forced here today to tell
00:32:26
his story all right thank you all please be seated let's continue testimony begins with some of the early stops on
00:32:33
this long road to Justice starting with Megan he didn't want her to testify against him and he had paid somebody a
00:32:41
lot of money to make sure that she wouldn't be here to testify against him he actually wanted me to um make her
00:32:49
disappear oh basically he wanted to gone like dead call your next witness please
00:32:53
before the trial concludes two potential victim victims will rise from the dead to take the stand could you please
00:33:01
introduce yourself to the members of our jury and the jury will hear from Leon who says he's only guilty of being a
00:33:09
Casanova I have no problem sitting here and saying that I slept with Valerie 7 days after Megan and I broke up but I'm
00:33:16
not on trial for being a womanizer I'm on trial for solitation of capital murder so you can assassinate my
00:33:22
character all you want up here it doesn't make me guilty of what you charged me with
00:33:41
[Music] one of the prosecution's strongest Witnesses Megan veros Leon's ex-girlfriend who had filed assault
00:33:53
charges against him in January 2017 takes the stand it was a long time coming um I tried to leave several times
00:34:02
she recalls Leon coming to the house where she was staying just after the alleged incident I
00:34:09
obviously didn't want to be near him so I hid in a closet why did you hide in a closet
00:34:17
because I was afraid of Leon he came in and was screaming and yelling and he said I know that that is here
00:34:24
Megan says Leon kept pursuing her when she was at work he was in the bushes outside um on a cell phone um
00:34:33
waiting for me and when she drove to her new home at that point I called 911 to let them know um that you know my
00:34:42
ex-boyfriend who assaulted me was um in a car behind me and then some point Leon had gotten
00:34:49
out of his vehicle in front of mine just yelling and waving his hands saying you
00:34:53
know just talk to me just talk to me I need to talk to you Leon was arrested a second time on
00:35:00
stalking charges on February 16th 2017 less than 10 days after that Megan was contacted by police and warned her
00:35:10
life could be in danger she fled to her hometown of Pittsburgh but police soon called her to return to Houston to be
00:35:19
part of that sting operation I sat in a chair in a warehouse and um they zip tied my hands and my feet um and put
00:35:28
duct tap around my mouth to make me look as if I had been kidnapped I was crying
00:35:33
and really upset next it was Valerie's ex-husband Mack McDaniel's turn we were married for
00:35:40
17 years and divorced and 2016 he recalled finding out his ex-wife was living with leyon what was your initial
00:35:49
reaction to that my initial reaction was not good and why was that because I was
00:35:55
aware of his history his criminal history did you convey to Valerie that you did not want the defendant around
00:36:02
your daughter on the weeks that she had custody yes ma'am and did she agree to that she did at some point did you learn
00:36:10
that she was not abiding by the agreement I did Mack tells the jury he too was notified he was the target of a
00:36:17
murder plot then the prosecution shows the jury that photo can you describe for the members of the jury what you're
00:36:25
doing here staging my death did they pour blood on you Pig's blood 3 days into the 5-day long trial
00:36:34
it's the defenses turn they call their star witness I never asked anybody to kill
00:36:43
anybody does the word kill hurt harm in any way shape or form appear in any of those recorded conversations not on my
00:36:53
behalf except for to exclude them from things I want done I never asked to have anybody hurt
00:37:00
killed harmed um kidnapped I never asked for anybody to be in any way physically hurt but the
00:37:11
prosecution says that's not true she's dead she's gone I don't want to know anything and
00:37:18
they claim those undercover tapes back that up did you not want anybody hurt when you said inject her with potassium
00:37:25
chloride stop her heart untraceable I said that was a something you could do I didn't say that for him
00:37:35
to do that did you recall telling the undercover officer if those options don't work I don't give a then you got
00:37:42
to do what you got to do because my survival is more important yes Leon's own words come back to haunt
00:37:50
him regarding Mack as well after the undercover officer proposed a fatal car jacket it could be a
00:37:59
robbery Leon offered $10,000 in four weekly installments so you're agreeing to give
00:38:07
him $2,500 just after he tells you I'm going to put a bullet in his head and throw
00:38:13
him on the street if that's what you say well that's in the recording it's not what I
00:38:20
say it's what Javier and you said right I guess Leon and the defense team tried to make their point that the
00:38:29
undercover officer was pressuring them into making deadly decisions I kept on telling them I didn't want anybody hurt
00:38:37
and they kept on going back to the theme of killing people I felt a lot of pressure from them to sort of commit to
00:38:44
this idea of killing people and that was never my intent were you asking them just to threaten
00:38:55
people essentially is did you actually want any harm to come to anybody no but the prosecution points out that when
00:39:04
Leon thought Megan was tied up and refusing to cooperate he did nothing to stop the lethal final step you'd agree
00:39:12
with me that you never said no no I don't want you to do anything stop this you didn't say anything like that did
00:39:19
you no the jury gets the case is the jury reached unanimous verdicts it takes just
00:39:28
an hour and 15 minutes before returning to the courtroom with the jury find the defendant Leon Philip Jacob guilty of
00:39:36
solicitation of capital murder is charged in the indictment Leon is found guilty on both
00:39:43
counts of conspiring to have Megan and Mack killed the trial moves to the sentencing
00:39:50
phase the same jury that found leyon guilty will decide his punishment new testimony begins I have no sense of
00:40:01
trust um just constantly afraid that something else is going to happen the only thing
00:40:09
that might impact Leon's sentence more than the words of his exgirlfriend may end up being the words
00:40:15
of his ex-wife the state calls Annie Morrison Annie Morrison has flown in from Chicago to testify yes there was a
00:40:23
time that we got into a fight and he pulled an knife on me there was one time he pushed my head down onto the counter
00:40:30
and and bruised my face near my eye any recounts an incident she says occurred when she was 7 months pregnant
00:40:39
with their second child he threatened a punched me in the stomach um he kicked my legs I remember
00:40:47
I remember bringing my legs up as far as I could toward my chest to try to protect my stomach he threatened that if
00:40:55
I ever left that he would kill me he said that nobody would ever find my body because he was a doctor and he
00:41:05
had access to chemicals that would that would dissolve my body Annie did leave moving to her
00:41:14
parents' home in Chicago that's when Lon started threatening her parents thank you judge may I publish st's exhibit
00:41:21
number 81 to the jury as the jury heard in this recording Annie made of a phone call with Leon I will torture them in of
00:41:35
you the defendant please stand the jury took just one hour to decide Leon Jacob's
00:41:43
sentence life in prison on each count solicitation of capital murder for Megan veros and MC
00:41:54
McDaniel victim imp statement please in Texas the victim impact statements come after the sentence Megan
00:42:04
takes the stand one last time you will never see your children grow up you will not be a part of their lives and they
00:42:12
will be F better for it you destroyed me financially and took away my sense of security but you can do that no more
00:42:20
while you sit in jail I hope you think of me the girl that you called poor and uneducated because it's because of me
00:42:27
you will be in prison for [Music] life Leon Jacob will be eligible for parole in the year
00:42:43
2047 he will be 69 years old I intended to kill him was he brainwashed by a psychiatrist
00:43:07
Dr bookfinder claims that she had no involvement at all in this then why was she just arrested why did you buy that
00:43:15
Sledgehammer a Hollywood producer and writer of graphic novels his girlfriend brutally murdered this was a prolonged
00:43:23
and brutal crime Blake was concerned that his brother's gambling had placed his family in danger was it revenge or
00:43:29
was his graphic novel a script for murder it's just more like a horror movie CBS News original
00:43:39
[Music] reporting