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Is he alive? He's not. Oh, good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Oh, thank you. This is 63-year-old Cynthia Sietebaca, a
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once beloved grandmother and wife who chillingly was hiding a dark secret. When Cynthia suffered a stroke, her
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daughter Laura agreed to let her stay in their guest house while she recovered, allowing her to live in comfort near her
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family. But comfort is far from what Cynthia experienced as inside the lavish, expensive house in California
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lived a troubled and unhappy family. My brother would tell me that she didn't approve of the way he disciplined the
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kids. [music] On the other hand, my brother didn't approve the way she would discipline his kids. [music]
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While outwardly being known as an agreeable and friendly guy, Laura's husband Jawad was secretly a harsh and
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aggressive father. In what he simply called tough love, he would verbally and physically abuse his family as well
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[music] as break his children's toys when they misbehaved. My aunt Cindy would be on the back patio
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smoking cuz she wasn't allowed to smoke in the house. And he would be out there watering and he would see, "Oh, where
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[music] I see smoke, I see fire. Got to put out the fire." And he would hose my aunt down with the hose. He did it to my
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cousin, too. To Laura, his wife. At one point in a bout of rage, he even threw out Cynthia's late husband's
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[music] ashes. But despite all this, the family put up with Jawad's actions until
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one day everything took a horrifying turn for the worse. Cynthia had purchased a revolver from a local
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munitions store. All she needed now was the trigger, and it wouldn't take long for one to appear. On her 62nd birthday,
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before heading out to her granddaughter's spelling bee, Jawad said something that filled her with rage.
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Just you [snorts] can't go like that because you look like you're ghetto in this.
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Just a few minutes later, five gunshots would be heard [music] echoing across the neighborhood, then five more, and
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five more again. [music] Jawara's body was found later sprawled across the kitchen floor covered from head to toe
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in 12 [music] bullet holes. Meanwhile, Cynthia had traveled to a nearby Denny's to order breakfast and then went to
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casually celebrate her birthday [music] at a casino completely unfazed by the horrific acts that she just committed.
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But due to her jaded past with Jawara, it wouldn't take long for police to land on Cynthia as a leading suspect. [music]
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And they picked her up at a coffee shop just hours after the murder. But who would suspect [music] a sweet old
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grandma had just killed her own daughter's husband? Cynthia knew that in custody, all she'd have to do was spin a
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couple lies, put on an act, and by all accounts, she'd be set free. Well, unfortunately, Laura's husband
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has passed away. Huh? We're going to ask you some questions. [laughter] We're going to ask you some questions
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because we're trying to figure out what happened today, okay? All right. Likely realizing that she wasn't going
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to be winning any awards, it wouldn't be long before she dropped the act and her
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tears turned to disdain. What did you think of him? [music] And why do you say that?
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That's a big thumbs down. He didn't like him. Eventually, Cynthia remembered how to
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speak and told detectives about the abuse that her family had endured because of Jawara, recounting the times
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that he would spray his family with water, verbally attack his kids, and even choke his wife. So, while
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detectives were now aware that Cynthia wasn't the biggest fan of Jawara, they didn't expect what would happen next.
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Did anybody try to stop him? Did stop him? It sounds like somebody had to stop him,
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weren't you? I did. I did. Okay. I was guilty. Hey. Somebody had to stop him. I did.
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Okay. It's okay. Is he dead? You tell me. He's got to be dead. You think he's dead?
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I hope so. Cynthia's near instant admission of guilt was followed almost immediately by
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a chilling recount of the gruesome events. You got your gun from your purse, and
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then what happened? Went shot him. It wasn't enough. After she fired all five shots out of
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that revolver, she chose to go all the way to her car and reload five more rounds into her gun. She walked back
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into the backyard and found the victim bleeding and crawling trying to get away. And at that time, she pumped five
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more shots into his body. She still wasn't done. She still chose to go to her car, load five more rounds. She
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pulled out that revolver and fired five more shots until the victim was finally dead.
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It was also later revealed that just a few weeks before the event, Cynthia had traveled to a local gun range to take
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shooting lessons with the same gun she purchased to kill Joward. Another obvious sign that the murder was planned
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and premeditated. But premeditated murders are usually done in a state of pure rage where the killer is adamant
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that their victim must be dead by the end. Very rarely are they done with this level of nonchalance.
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Did you check to see if he's dead? I didn't care. And it seemed as though she truly didn't
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care. [music] As of course, after the murder, she went out to enjoy her birthday with breakfast, gambling, and
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coffee. Cynthia also showed no remorse whatsoever when she asked if she even felt bad for what she did.
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You don't feel bad about it? No. Would you do it again? Yes. Is he dead? He's dead, man.
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Oh, thank [laughter] you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. OH, BOY. OH, BOY.
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After less than 10 minutes of interrogation from Cynthia's denial through to her complete admission and
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celebration of Joward's murder, detectives decided it was time to conclude the investigation. Cynthia's
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family was led in to say their final goodbyes and it was here that they truly realized they were living in a nightmare
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that nobody could ever hope to experience. I wanted to [screaming] Through Laura's shrill and
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uncontrollable agony, Cynthia sits there, nothing but pleased with what she's done. A cold-blooded, unremorseful
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killer granny. And while her granddaughter was asked to come say goodbye for the final time, Cynthia was
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shown the true scale of the havoc she'd wreaked on this family as she refused to
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even enter the room. Oh, honey. God forgive me. No, you killed my dad. This notion of Cynthia being this
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cold-blooded killer granny was enforced further by the reply she gave when the detective advised her to pray to a
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higher power that she would be treated well through the justice system. Whoever you pray to, you make sure that
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you pray to anybody. Call on a higher power. today today. Okay. First time I ever prayed.
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What'd you pray for? For God's Oh, what's Three years after the shooting of Jeward
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Eustáquio, the trial of Cynthia Ceballos began. While it was admittedly obvious that Cynthia had indeed killed Jeward,
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the main questions the trial aimed to explore were was the murder premeditated and was it justifiable? The case against
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premeditation was fairly easy to debunk. Remember, Cynthia had bought the gun used in the murder just a few weeks
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before and she'd even visited a shooting range to hone her skills to make sure the kill was carried out swiftly.
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[music] It also didn't help that in this interrogation, Cynthia had said this. 13 years I want to go
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I'm devastated. But the idea of the homicide being justifiable was slightly harder to argue
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with. Cynthia had claimed that Jawara was an abuser, both verbally and physically. In fact, the defense even
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had Jawara's wife Laura on their side. She attempted to argue that he indeed was abusive and that it could be excused
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that in an act of passion or rage, Cynthia had discharged the weapon to protect her family from this man that
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was supposedly destroying it from the inside out. But of course, the extraordinary interrogation tape was
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once again cited to dismantle the case. And a few weeks later, a decision was made. Sentenced to 50 years in prison.
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At 65 years old, that meant she'd be living the rest of her life behind bars and forced to live with the weight of
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her actions resting on her shoulders until the day she dies.