00:00:04
on this episode of women behind bars
00:00:06
one woman allegedly took part in a
00:00:08
vicious hate crime that resulted in
00:00:10
murder
00:00:12
my feeling is that he was still alive
00:00:14
when they placed him in the trunk
00:00:16
i'm not gonna lie i want the truth no
00:00:20
then chanel boyd tells her story she was
00:00:22
convicted of inflicting fatal injuries
00:00:24
on her eight-month-old baby
00:00:26
there was bruising to the baby's head
00:00:29
and hemorrhaging to the eyes of the
00:00:32
child
00:00:33
they kept asking me what happened and i
00:00:36
just kept saying she failed
00:00:38
two women two brutal crimes these are
00:00:41
the stories of rita knits and chanel
00:00:43
boyd
00:00:44
[Music]
00:00:45
[Applause]
00:00:46
[Music]
00:01:06
on april 9 1988 campers in the remote
00:01:09
wilderness of southern illinois
00:01:11
stumbled on an abandoned car inside the
00:01:13
trunk they discovered a grisly scene
00:01:16
the headless corpse of a young man the
00:01:19
car was burned
00:01:20
to try and destroy any potential
00:01:22
evidence that was inside the vehicle
00:01:24
you expect something like this to happen
00:01:27
in the big cities you don't
00:01:28
expect it to happen here detectives
00:01:31
identified the murder victim as
00:01:32
23-year-old michael miley
00:01:34
a gay man who they suspected had been
00:01:36
killed because of his sexual orientation
00:01:39
the investigation soon led to a married
00:01:41
couple richard and rita nitz
00:01:43
who were found with the dead man's
00:01:44
credit cards
00:01:46
in my mind we're talking about very evil
00:01:49
people
00:01:50
was rita a participant in a vicious hate
00:01:52
crime
00:01:53
or was she simply guilty by association
00:02:00
i've got four brothers so you know
00:02:04
being the only girl in the family there
00:02:06
was always
00:02:09
yeah there was always competition rita
00:02:11
joe brookmeyer was born in 1959
00:02:14
and grew up in a midwestern working
00:02:15
class family
00:02:17
her father made a living as a truck
00:02:18
driver and only saw his children
00:02:20
two days a week on the weekends when he
00:02:23
was home
00:02:24
it was disney world when their father
00:02:26
was on the road
00:02:28
rita says her mother was difficult to
00:02:29
live with
00:02:31
mom would just you know she would just
00:02:33
lose her temper
00:02:35
and unfortunately i'd be the victim of
00:02:39
that a lot
00:02:40
i know in her own way she did love me
00:02:45
she just didn't know how if i were to
00:02:48
sum up
00:02:49
our mother in one word unpredictable
00:02:51
there was absolutely no way to
00:02:54
predict what mood she was going to be in
00:02:56
and that was subject to change at a
00:02:57
moment's notice
00:02:59
despite rita's memories of a difficult
00:03:01
childhood she did well in school
00:03:03
and even dreamed of becoming a lawyer
00:03:06
but her ambitions were derailed when at
00:03:08
16 years old she got pregnant
00:03:11
she says under pressure from her mom
00:03:13
rita married her 21 year old boyfriend
00:03:15
michael hayward in 1975
00:03:17
and gave birth to her son charles the
00:03:20
marriage ended five years later when
00:03:22
rita claims she caught hayward with
00:03:24
another woman
00:03:25
at age 23 rita married her second
00:03:27
husband who she says was physically
00:03:29
abusive
00:03:30
they divorced after three years she was
00:03:33
somehow attracted to
00:03:35
to bad boys she had a past history of
00:03:38
some involvement with men who
00:03:39
walked on the wild side after two failed
00:03:42
marriages 27-year-old rita met 33 year
00:03:44
old richard nitz in 1986
00:03:46
he was a car mechanic who had spent a
00:03:48
few years in prison for burglary
00:03:50
on the day they met he rescued her when
00:03:52
she fell ill and fainted in a parking
00:03:54
lot
00:03:55
richard was working at the garage right
00:03:57
next door
00:03:58
and saw me and he picked me up and took
00:04:01
me to the hospital
00:04:03
the two were married in october of that
00:04:05
year it was just one of those
00:04:07
whirlwind type of romances i met him and
00:04:09
within three months
00:04:11
we ended up getting married but even on
00:04:14
her wedding day
00:04:15
rita already wondered if she had made a
00:04:17
mistake
00:04:18
we got married out at the lake at sunset
00:04:20
it was so gorgeous
00:04:22
and when the minister said you know you
00:04:24
may now kiss the bride
00:04:25
he picked me up and threw me in the
00:04:28
light wedding dress and all
00:04:30
there is no question that richard nitz
00:04:32
was a bad guy he had a
00:04:34
long criminal history and he had a very
00:04:37
violent history
00:04:39
however rita's brother claimed that she
00:04:41
too had a darker side
00:04:43
rita was very good at exploiting any
00:04:46
situation to her advantage
00:04:48
it was not beneath her to cheat
00:04:52
or deceive or lie to anyone including
00:04:56
myself
00:04:58
to get whatever it was she wanted
00:05:02
rita and richard moved into a trailer on
00:05:04
pear lane a rural neighborhood on the
00:05:06
outskirts of carbondale illinois
00:05:09
richard continued to work as a mechanic
00:05:11
and rita attended a nearby community
00:05:13
college
00:05:14
within a mile of their home was crab
00:05:16
orchard lake
00:05:17
a popular playground for families
00:05:20
boaters and campers
00:05:21
at night however it was a notorious
00:05:23
gathering spot for gay men
00:05:25
who would get together and party it's
00:05:27
well known in the carbondale area that
00:05:29
there's
00:05:29
spots that gay people hang out in
00:05:32
michael miley was a 23 year old college
00:05:34
student and gay man who frequently met
00:05:36
with friends out at crab orchard lake
00:05:39
mike was a very tender hearted and
00:05:41
compassionate
00:05:43
person he he didn't like to see
00:05:46
anybody hurting michael lived just a few
00:05:49
miles from the lake
00:05:51
he and his mother went to church every
00:05:52
week my mother was
00:05:54
a choir director for small children in
00:05:56
the church and
00:05:57
mike would help her with you know the
00:06:00
choir and
00:06:01
mike would come and help me in my sunday
00:06:03
school class
00:06:04
michael had a fraternal twin named mark
00:06:07
who was also gay
00:06:08
michael was known to be a sensitive
00:06:10
young man but he got angry about the
00:06:11
harassment he and his friends sometimes
00:06:13
encountered when they hung out at the
00:06:15
lake
00:06:17
there were a group of rednecks for one
00:06:19
of a better term who made sport out of
00:06:21
going out to that area
00:06:22
and harassing intimidating and even
00:06:24
extorting
00:06:26
members of the gay community prosecutors
00:06:29
believe that richard nitz was one of the
00:06:30
worst of these troublemakers
00:06:32
he had been arrested before for chasing
00:06:34
people around crab orchard lake with
00:06:36
baseball bats and threatening to kill
00:06:38
him because of their
00:06:39
their sexual orientation according to
00:06:42
police reports in may of 1987
00:06:45
michael miley's twin brother mark was
00:06:46
parked at the lake when richard nitz
00:06:48
went on a rampage
00:06:50
richard and two men they showed up with
00:06:52
baseball bats
00:06:54
and as the people tried to get away from
00:06:56
them in their cars
00:06:57
richard and his two male friends
00:06:59
attacked the cars with baseball bats
00:07:01
breaking headlights windows that type of
00:07:03
thing
00:07:04
rita claims that richard was also
00:07:06
volatile and abusive with her
00:07:08
after only a year of marriage she wanted
00:07:10
out
00:07:11
in january of 1988 which would have been
00:07:14
four months before the crime occurred
00:07:17
that they separated richard moved out
00:07:20
and rita and her 12-year-old son charles
00:07:22
kept the trailer on pair lane
00:07:24
rita invited a friend betty boyer to
00:07:26
move in with her
00:07:28
betty boyer had two children and so
00:07:30
there became a close connection between
00:07:32
betty and rita
00:07:34
she also was filing for divorce from her
00:07:37
husband
00:07:38
who happened to be one of richard's
00:07:40
buddies so we kind of just
00:07:42
supported each other and help each other
00:07:46
out
00:07:47
but rita felt threatened by richard so
00:07:49
on march 24
00:07:50
1988 she bought a gun for protection
00:07:53
however authorities believed that the
00:07:55
couple had reconciled by this time
00:07:57
and that richard was actually with rita
00:07:59
during the gun purchase
00:08:01
richard and rita had had a stormy
00:08:03
relationship during during the
00:08:05
period of their marriage and and they
00:08:07
were on again off again but
00:08:09
you know at the time of these these
00:08:11
occurrences
00:08:13
they were they're pretty much on
00:08:15
[Music]
00:08:19
in early april police responded to
00:08:21
another attack at crabb orchard lake
00:08:23
gunshots had been fired into the car of
00:08:25
a gay man who drove away unharmed
00:08:27
police did not know the identity of the
00:08:29
three male assailants at the time
00:08:32
but they would later learn that the
00:08:33
shooter was richard nitz
00:08:37
when women behind bars continues they
00:08:39
were raising a little hell and
00:08:41
turned his vehicle over and when they
00:08:43
did the trunk
00:08:44
lid popped open and out tumbled the
00:08:46
remains of mr miley
00:08:48
were without the head
00:08:58
in the spring of 1988 just outside the
00:09:00
city limits of carbondale illinois
00:09:02
the gay community was terrorized by a
00:09:04
series of hate-fueled and increasingly
00:09:06
violent assaults
00:09:07
that took place at night at nearby crab
00:09:09
orchard lake
00:09:11
police suspected the attacks were the
00:09:12
work of several local bullies
00:09:14
at the top of their list was richard
00:09:16
nitz who'd been caught out of the lake
00:09:18
smashing cars with his baseball bat
00:09:20
on april 6 1988 the violence escalated
00:09:23
out of control
00:09:24
the victim this time was a gay college
00:09:26
student 23 year old michael miley
00:09:31
my mother remembers that mike
00:09:34
was picking up sticks in the yard on
00:09:36
wednesday april the 6th because he was
00:09:38
going to be
00:09:39
mowing the yard the next day they had
00:09:42
dinner together
00:09:44
and then they went to choir practice
00:09:46
they drove separately to choir practice
00:09:48
i guess mike had plans to go out
00:09:51
a friend stated to authorities that he
00:09:53
saw 23 year old michael miley in his car
00:09:56
at the lake around 9
00:09:57
30 p.m police believe that miley crossed
00:10:00
paths with richard and rita knit soon
00:10:02
after
00:10:03
betty boyer was a friend of rita's who
00:10:05
along with her children
00:10:06
was temporarily rooming with her
00:10:08
according to rita
00:10:09
that night betty and her children were
00:10:11
out at a local cookout with some friends
00:10:13
but betty's testimony tells another
00:10:15
story
00:10:17
betty boyer's testimony was that
00:10:20
she was babysitting at the trailer
00:10:24
for rita's child according to betty
00:10:27
rita and richard left the house together
00:10:29
twice that evening and took rita's gun
00:10:31
with them
00:10:32
when they returned a stranger also drove
00:10:34
up
00:10:35
[Music]
00:10:36
around 10 o'clock 10 15 or so
00:10:40
she remembers rita and richard returning
00:10:44
and michael miley showing up at the
00:10:48
trailer
00:10:49
the young man getting out of his car
00:10:52
betty stated that the young man began
00:10:54
arguing with richard
00:10:56
richard told him that he needed to get
00:10:57
off his property he was going to kill
00:10:59
him
00:11:00
and when the man turned around to lead
00:11:02
richard supposedly reached into his car
00:11:04
got a baseball bat and ran up to the guy
00:11:07
and hit him in the back of the head with
00:11:08
a downward motion like this
00:11:10
richard kept hitting him with the
00:11:13
baseball bat
00:11:14
several times then according to betty
00:11:16
rita
00:11:17
just watched and didn't say anything and
00:11:20
then when it was finished
00:11:21
richard went to the miley's car took out
00:11:24
the keys
00:11:25
and he said help me get the body into
00:11:27
the trunk of the car
00:11:28
she remembers rita helping richard carry
00:11:32
the body
00:11:33
and stuff his body in the trunk of his
00:11:36
vehicle
00:11:37
betty told police she witnessed richard
00:11:39
drive off in his car while rita followed
00:11:41
driving michael miley's car
00:11:43
when richard and rita returned rita went
00:11:45
straight to bed
00:11:47
and she claims that richard got some
00:11:49
soap and water and was washing
00:11:50
the blood off of the concrete patio
00:11:54
and that was the story that betty boyer
00:11:56
told
00:11:58
according to rita betty boyer's version
00:12:00
of april 6th was complete fiction
00:12:02
rita insists she was home taking care of
00:12:05
her son charles known as chucky
00:12:07
who was sick and that betty was never at
00:12:09
the trailer that night
00:12:11
me and chuckie were home that evening
00:12:15
richard did come up you know parked the
00:12:18
car out in the road
00:12:21
and asked me to come out you know i came
00:12:23
out we ended up arguing because he
00:12:25
wanted you know
00:12:26
some money for gas rita says richard
00:12:29
left around 10 or 11 p.m
00:12:31
she didn't see him again until sometime
00:12:33
after midnight
00:12:35
richard came back later on foot knocked
00:12:38
on the doors
00:12:39
i didn't even know who it was because i
00:12:41
hadn't aired his car or anything
00:12:44
knocked on the door said that he had his
00:12:46
car stuck in a ditch
00:12:47
and you know would i help him pull it
00:12:49
out rita claims she reluctantly left her
00:12:51
12 year old sleeping while they drove
00:12:53
down the road to pull richard's car from
00:12:55
a ditch
00:12:56
then she went back home alone the next
00:12:58
morning michael miley's family knew
00:13:00
something was wrong when he hadn't
00:13:02
returned home
00:13:03
my dad and my uncles and brothers they
00:13:06
searched
00:13:07
the streets of carbondale driving up and
00:13:10
down looking for mike's car
00:13:17
on saturday night three days after the
00:13:19
disappearance of michael miley a burned
00:13:21
and abandoned car was found by some
00:13:23
campers near a remote graveyard
00:13:26
a group of young men i would say in the
00:13:29
18
00:13:30
to 21 year old age raised in little hell
00:13:33
and
00:13:33
turned his vehicle over and when they
00:13:35
did the trunk
00:13:36
lid popped open and out tumbled the
00:13:39
remains of mr miley
00:13:40
or without the head the body had been
00:13:42
decapitated
00:13:44
so they were looking at fingerprints to
00:13:47
identify the deceased authorities
00:13:50
scoured the area to find the missing
00:13:52
head but to no avail
00:13:53
it was apparent to investigators that
00:13:55
whoever committed the murder tried to
00:13:57
cover their tracks
00:13:59
the car was burned to try and destroy
00:14:01
any potential evidence that was
00:14:03
inside the vehicle any hairs fibers
00:14:06
fingerprints that could have been in the
00:14:07
vehicle
00:14:08
were mainly destroyed from the fire i
00:14:11
remember seeing my dad drive up in the
00:14:13
driveway with the pastor in the car
00:14:16
and so we knew that they had found
00:14:18
mike's body
00:14:20
police suspected the murder was a hate
00:14:22
crime because michael was gay
00:14:24
and began questioning residents in the
00:14:26
area within days
00:14:27
richard nitz was a person of interest
00:14:30
about a year ago
00:14:32
richard nitz had assaulted three
00:14:35
gay men but police had no solid proof
00:14:38
that richard was involved in the miley
00:14:39
case until they got a break
00:14:41
michael miley's credit cards had been
00:14:43
used after his death at a mall in
00:14:45
kentucky
00:14:45
one hour's drive from carbondale sales
00:14:48
clerks at the mall positively identified
00:14:50
richard nitz as one of the shoppers
00:14:53
obviously he went from a suspect
00:14:57
to the number one guy on our hit list at
00:14:59
that point
00:15:01
police questioned rita at the trailer
00:15:03
and she admitted to having been with
00:15:04
richard at the mall
00:15:05
but she maintained she didn't know the
00:15:07
credit cards belonged to a murder victim
00:15:10
well when he started walking around the
00:15:11
stores and he held out these credit
00:15:13
cards i'm like
00:15:14
since when have you got credit cards you
00:15:16
know and he's like oh well
00:15:18
glenn and danny had gave them to him for
00:15:20
some work that he had done
00:15:22
on their cars police searched the
00:15:25
trailer cars and surrounding grounds and
00:15:27
discovered numerous items on the nits
00:15:29
property that had been purchased with
00:15:30
michael miley's credit cards
00:15:32
in addition they found several of
00:15:34
michael miley's personal items
00:15:36
his car radio was found in the knits
00:15:38
garage and miley's gold timex watch was
00:15:41
found in rita's car
00:15:43
what was not found at the trailer
00:15:44
according to detectives was the gun
00:15:46
rita purchased just a few weeks before
00:15:48
the murder
00:15:50
the prosecution believed the missing gun
00:15:52
was key to michael miley's death
00:15:54
my feeling is that he was still alive
00:15:57
when they placed him in the trunk
00:15:59
they drove out to some secluded spot
00:16:02
and richard wanted to finish him off so
00:16:05
he
00:16:05
did that by shooting him in the head
00:16:10
the head was cut off so that there could
00:16:12
not be any
00:16:13
ballistics that we could find richard
00:16:16
and rita were arrested in may 1988 and
00:16:19
held in the local jail pending separate
00:16:21
trials
00:16:22
rita's son chucky was sent to live with
00:16:23
his father we offered
00:16:25
rita a 10-year sentence if she would
00:16:29
testify truthfully about what richard
00:16:33
nitz had done
00:16:34
rita did not take the plea deal i cannot
00:16:37
imagine that
00:16:38
if she had the opportunity which
00:16:40
obviously she did have
00:16:42
to turn state's evidence and you know
00:16:45
make things go a lot smoother on her
00:16:47
from everything i know about rita she
00:16:48
would have dumped on him like a ton of
00:16:50
bricks
00:16:51
i'm not gonna lie you know the state's
00:16:54
attorney wanted me to lie then
00:16:56
if you tell us that you saw him do this
00:16:58
we'll let you go
00:16:59
i didn't see him do anything when women
00:17:03
behind bars continues
00:17:05
she said she knew where the head was i
00:17:08
want it found i want the truth known
00:17:11
and later in this episode of women
00:17:13
behind bars chanel boyd is accused of
00:17:15
fatally injuring her eight-month-old
00:17:17
daughter
00:17:18
her brain was bleeding her skull was
00:17:20
cracked
00:17:30
in 1988 23 year old michael miley had
00:17:33
been killed and decapitated as part of a
00:17:35
suspected gay hate crime
00:17:37
two suspects had been identified rita
00:17:40
nitz and her husband richard
00:17:42
rita would be prosecuted separately as
00:17:44
an accomplice
00:17:45
although she denied having any role in
00:17:47
the murder at all
00:17:48
in august of 1989 just before her trial
00:17:51
rita gave authorities information about
00:17:54
where she thought they could find the
00:17:55
victim's head which had never been
00:17:56
recovered
00:17:58
rita sent them to a remote area where
00:18:00
she claimed to have helped her husband
00:18:02
pull his car out of a ditch
00:18:03
on the night of the murder that would be
00:18:08
the place to look that would be my best
00:18:09
guess as to where
00:18:11
it would be she got out there and it was
00:18:13
obvious she was playing games with us
00:18:15
um it might have been over in this field
00:18:18
or you know it was dark and maybe it was
00:18:21
over here
00:18:23
you know if you guys start digging over
00:18:24
here you'll eventually find it
00:18:27
we felt she was not sincere at all in
00:18:31
trying to cooperate
00:18:32
with us rita believed that the missing
00:18:35
head would provide
00:18:36
evidence to contradict the account of
00:18:37
her former friend and roommate betty
00:18:39
boyer
00:18:40
who claimed that she had seen richard
00:18:41
attack michael miley with a baseball bat
00:18:44
while rita stood by if the head were
00:18:46
discovered and showed no signs of blunt
00:18:48
force trauma
00:18:49
it would destroy betty boyer's
00:18:51
credibility
00:18:52
i want it found i want the truth known
00:18:56
if and when it's ever found and god i
00:18:58
pray every day that it
00:18:59
is they'll see betty boyer is lying
00:19:02
through her teeth
00:19:08
we were trying rita on the theory of
00:19:12
accountability in that she
00:19:15
had not done the actual killing
00:19:18
of michael miley she had just
00:19:21
helped aided and abetted
00:19:25
the state star witness was betty boyer
00:19:27
but the defense argued that betty had
00:19:29
compelling reasons to fabricate her
00:19:31
testimony
00:19:32
betty boyer had some limitations of some
00:19:34
intellectual limitations
00:19:36
and she had some problems with the
00:19:37
department of children and family
00:19:38
services
00:19:39
in relation to her children they told
00:19:42
her if she didn't say what they wanted
00:19:44
her to say
00:19:45
that they were going to take her kids
00:19:47
from her and lock her up in prison
00:19:48
forever
00:19:49
she gave in to the pressure but the
00:19:52
prosecution denies these allegations and
00:19:54
points to betty's consistency on key
00:19:57
elements
00:19:57
as proof she was speaking the truth she
00:20:00
was attacked
00:20:02
by the defense attorneys she never
00:20:04
wavered on the fact that i looked out
00:20:07
that window
00:20:08
and i saw that young man getting beat
00:20:10
with a baseball bat and i saw
00:20:12
rita nitz help him stuff him in the
00:20:16
trunk of his car
00:20:17
the defense hammered away at other
00:20:19
aspects of betty's testimony
00:20:21
didn't work in terms of where betty said
00:20:23
she was where her sworn testimony where
00:20:25
she was
00:20:26
what she saw and how she could have seen
00:20:28
it it just didn't work
00:20:30
investigators for the defense measured
00:20:32
distances at the trailer and viewing
00:20:34
angles at the window from which betty
00:20:35
was looking out
00:20:37
according to their testimony it was
00:20:39
absolutely impossible for someone to
00:20:41
look at that
00:20:42
angle and to be able to see miley's car
00:20:44
that was parked down the end of the
00:20:45
driveway
00:20:46
and nobody knew exactly where his
00:20:49
vehicle was parked
00:20:50
betty boyer she was making an estimate
00:20:54
the prosecution then presented evidence
00:20:56
of a single head hair found on the
00:20:57
victim's body
00:20:59
forensic scientist glenn shubert's
00:21:01
evaluation backed up the prosecution's
00:21:03
theory that miley had suffered severe
00:21:05
damage to his head
00:21:07
the hair contained crush type of damage
00:21:10
which
00:21:10
could be indicative of some type of head
00:21:13
trauma that occurred at some point
00:21:15
being hit over the head with a baseball
00:21:16
bat would cause this type of damage
00:21:19
but the lack of other forensic evidence
00:21:21
would help read his defense
00:21:22
since it created doubt that rita had
00:21:24
ever been in the victim's car
00:21:26
this went against betty boyer's story
00:21:28
about the night of the murder
00:21:30
betty bohr's testimonies i recall had
00:21:32
rita
00:21:34
driving away in the miley vehicle with
00:21:37
richard
00:21:37
behind her in his vehicle and there was
00:21:40
never a scintilla
00:21:42
in iota or nary a peppercorn of evidence
00:21:45
which put her
00:21:46
in that vehicle and and these people
00:21:48
were not sophisticated there were no
00:21:49
gloves
00:21:50
they wouldn't have worried about
00:21:51
fingerprints in the real world
00:21:56
it's not like csi
00:21:59
it's quite frankly very rare that we
00:22:03
actually find a fingerprint that
00:22:06
helps us solve the case rita's defense
00:22:09
attorney took a gamble by putting rita
00:22:11
on the stand to face the jury
00:22:13
she tried to convince the jury that she
00:22:16
was an abused woman
00:22:17
and she came off as being a big liar
00:22:22
my trial wasn't even my trial
00:22:27
the state's attorney went through my
00:22:29
entire trial
00:22:30
saying richard did richard did richard
00:22:32
did richard did
00:22:34
well richard is not me i am not richard
00:22:48
betty boyer's testimony along with
00:22:49
evidence of rita's use of the victim's
00:22:51
credit card helped to persuade the jury
00:22:54
we were all very grateful and thankful
00:22:57
that
00:22:58
rita had been found guilty mike was
00:23:02
murdered because he was gay
00:23:04
and it was out of just pure hatred they
00:23:06
didn't know
00:23:07
anything about mike they didn't know
00:23:10
what a good person he was
00:23:12
and i think that once she has served out
00:23:15
her
00:23:16
natural life in prison that justice will
00:23:18
have been served
00:23:20
in my opinion the conviction of rita
00:23:22
nitz for first degree murder was a
00:23:23
gross miscarriage of justice and perhaps
00:23:26
even a grotesque miscarriage of justice
00:23:29
and i'm bothered by it to this day rita
00:23:32
was incarcerated at a maximum security
00:23:34
prison in northern illinois
00:23:36
her husband richard nitz was convicted
00:23:38
of first-degree murder and is currently
00:23:40
serving a life sentence
00:23:42
they have since divorced and rita
00:23:43
changed her name back to brookmeier
00:23:46
the hardest thing about being
00:23:49
and coming to prison at all is knowing
00:23:56
every day of your life
00:23:59
is spent not knowing you don't know what
00:24:01
happened
00:24:02
you don't know for real why you're here
00:24:06
20 years later i'm just as convinced
00:24:09
that they are guilty as i was
00:24:11
back in 1988 there is absolutely no
00:24:14
doubt in my mind
00:24:16
rita is estranged from most of her
00:24:18
family except for her mother and her son
00:24:20
chuckie who is now 32 years old
00:24:22
she focuses her efforts on helping
00:24:24
others in prison
00:24:25
since she gets little or no contact with
00:24:27
family
00:24:28
i do my best to do everything i can to
00:24:31
help others here
00:24:32
it's a good feeling to know that you can
00:24:37
take
00:24:38
and talk to these girls that come in
00:24:41
and they're like i can't do it i can't
00:24:42
do it i can't do it yes you can baby
00:24:46
i've made it if you dwell on all the
00:24:49
wrongs in the world
00:24:52
it'll kill you i'll just kill you
00:24:55
[Music]
00:24:57
next up on women behind bars a 16 year
00:25:00
old girl is convicted of murdering her
00:25:01
baby
00:25:03
they kept asking me what happened and i
00:25:06
just kept saying she failed
00:25:09
for more information about women behind
00:25:11
bars go to www.wetv
00:25:23
on the morning of february 17 1998
00:25:26
paramedics responded to a 9-1-1 call
00:25:28
from a multi-family home in chicago
00:25:31
sixteen-year-old chanel boyd held her
00:25:33
limp an unconscious baby in her arms
00:25:36
the eight-month-old was rushed to the
00:25:37
emergency room where doctors suspected
00:25:39
the injuries were intentional there was
00:25:42
bruising to the baby's head and
00:25:45
hemorrhaging
00:25:47
to the eyes of the child the young mom
00:25:50
claimed her baby fell off the couch but
00:25:52
police suspected child abuse
00:25:54
the injuries in this case were similar
00:25:57
to falling out of a second
00:25:58
story window according to the medical
00:26:00
examiner chanel eventually confessed to
00:26:02
police and was charged with murder
00:26:04
but shortly thereafter she changed her
00:26:06
story and accused the baby's father
00:26:08
instead
00:26:10
was chanel boyd a teenage mom who lost
00:26:12
control and killed her baby
00:26:14
or was her boyfriend the true murderer
00:26:25
i was rambunctious as a kid i was
00:26:28
hard-headed
00:26:29
i did what i wanted to do chanel boyd
00:26:32
was born in 1981
00:26:34
to a mother who struggled with drug
00:26:35
addiction chanel and her siblings lived
00:26:38
with her grandparents in inner city
00:26:39
chicago
00:26:40
my grandma adopted us when we was young
00:26:43
because my mom was on drugs
00:26:46
it was six of us three girls with three
00:26:48
boys my daddy didn't stay too far away
00:26:50
so
00:26:51
he was in my life too the kids grew up
00:26:54
in the stable working-class environment
00:26:56
provided by their grandparents
00:26:58
but chanel remembers how her mother
00:26:59
would randomly come in and out of their
00:27:01
lives
00:27:03
my mom was so addicted that she'd stay
00:27:05
gone for days
00:27:07
or maybe even weeks not sleep eat
00:27:10
or do nothing but smoke crack
00:27:13
every day if i see on the street
00:27:18
she'd be looking so bad and i would walk
00:27:20
right past her
00:27:21
[Music]
00:27:24
chanel's mom was not a reliable part of
00:27:26
her life but extended family embraced
00:27:28
her and her siblings and took part in
00:27:29
their upbringing
00:27:31
i was full about everybody my aunties
00:27:33
uncles grandparents
00:27:35
anything i wanted i got
00:27:40
but as chanel became a teenager she
00:27:42
admits she had a rebellious streak that
00:27:44
caused
00:27:44
tension with her grandmother i was not
00:27:48
close
00:27:48
with my grandmother me and her really
00:27:50
didn't get along ever
00:27:53
so most of the time we argue back and
00:27:55
forth i like to go to parties hang out
00:27:58
with my friends
00:27:59
i started smoking weed every day
00:28:02
drinking
00:28:02
every day even at school i was drinking
00:28:05
and smoking
00:28:06
i was very very frustral because i
00:28:09
didn't want her to go out there
00:28:11
and get into any kind of trouble
00:28:14
chanel also admits that she would get
00:28:16
into fights at school that would cause
00:28:17
her to be expelled
00:28:19
i got kicked out of school in eighth
00:28:22
grade because
00:28:23
my little brother told me that these
00:28:24
other little kids had jumped on them
00:28:26
so i ended up going to school the next
00:28:29
day
00:28:32
and fought the kids
00:28:35
at age 14 chanel met 17 year old
00:28:37
jermaine mullen on a neighborhood street
00:28:40
he was selling drugs he was a drug
00:28:42
dealer he was a bad boy
00:28:44
and that was attractive she had money
00:28:47
nice cars
00:28:48
in her sophomore year chanel quit high
00:28:50
school
00:28:51
i dropped out because i was smoking and
00:28:55
drinking
00:28:56
so much and not coming home at night
00:28:59
or maybe not coming home for a couple
00:29:01
days and i had started selling drugs
00:29:04
the neighborhood i lived in it was a lot
00:29:06
of bad influences drugs
00:29:08
crime you name it but if you didn't want
00:29:11
to do it you didn't have to it was all
00:29:13
up to you
00:29:16
while continuing to sell drugs to make
00:29:18
extra spending money she moved in with
00:29:20
jermaine at his grandparents home
00:29:22
in 1996 just weeks after her 15th
00:29:25
birthday
00:29:26
chanelle became pregnant i felt
00:29:28
something in my stomach move
00:29:30
and that's when i realized i was
00:29:31
pregnant i was scared then
00:29:34
i didn't want to get abortion because
00:29:38
that was killing the baby and i wasn't
00:29:39
gonna do it
00:29:42
chanel kept her pregnancy a secret for
00:29:44
nearly six months
00:29:46
but in january 1997 jermaine was picked
00:29:49
up by police and sent to prison on a
00:29:50
drug charge
00:29:52
chanel moved back into her grandmother's
00:29:54
home and revealed she was pregnant
00:29:56
she was real happy she was happy about
00:29:59
being a mom
00:30:00
it was scary trying to figure out how
00:30:03
i was going to be an adult and grow up
00:30:06
and take care of a growing baby
00:30:10
while jermaine was incarcerated chanel
00:30:12
says she tried to get her life back on
00:30:14
track
00:30:15
i was getting ready to enroll back in
00:30:16
school but that didn't happen because i
00:30:19
ended up
00:30:20
selling more drugs
00:30:27
chantelle was born may 29 1997.
00:30:32
i cried all day the first half i had
00:30:35
i was happy i was happy
00:30:39
chenille bonded with her baby daughter
00:30:40
chantella real good
00:30:42
she really loved her she really wanted
00:30:44
to be a good mom
00:30:46
she was a quiet happy baby she never
00:30:48
really cried
00:30:50
the only time she cried is when she
00:30:51
thought i was leaving you know his
00:30:53
grandmother testified
00:30:54
that chanel was a decent mother
00:30:57
and you know the baby was healthy
00:31:01
just a little bit underweight but that
00:31:02
wasn't uncommon
00:31:04
chanel adjusted to life as a new mom but
00:31:07
she admits missing the freedom to go out
00:31:09
with friends
00:31:10
at night time i want to run a street
00:31:12
stand smoke drink go to parties
00:31:14
do what teenagers do
00:31:18
in late 1997 jermaine was released from
00:31:20
prison
00:31:21
chanel decided to move in with him again
00:31:23
against the wishes of her grandmother
00:31:26
it was like she wanted me to grow up she
00:31:28
wanted to just still have control of my
00:31:29
life
00:31:30
my mother was trying to prevent anything
00:31:32
that you know
00:31:33
bad would happen to the baby chanel took
00:31:36
her baby and went to live with jermaine
00:31:38
at his grandparents home
00:31:40
i was thinking we was going to be a
00:31:41
happy little family but
00:31:43
i knew that was not going to happen with
00:31:45
him still selling drugs he ain't banging
00:31:48
chanel says jermaine rarely took care of
00:31:50
their baby and to make matters worse
00:31:52
she felt he'd been cheating on her we
00:31:55
would fight a lot
00:31:56
we physically fought like every week
00:32:00
after she moved with him and she would
00:32:02
come here and i would notice that she
00:32:04
would have bandages on her arms
00:32:06
so i would say what happened to your arm
00:32:08
and she said oh
00:32:10
the iron fell on my ear i found
00:32:14
out later that jermaine had burnt her
00:32:17
with the iron
00:32:18
hit her in the eye twice made it
00:32:21
bloodshot and
00:32:22
gave her a black eye i would fight him
00:32:24
back he just wasn't gonna beat me up
00:32:27
initially when jermaine was questioned
00:32:29
he had said
00:32:30
he had never touched an l when we
00:32:32
informed him that
00:32:34
other family members said he did he
00:32:36
admitted that on
00:32:37
one occasion he did hit her
00:32:40
while chanel and her aunt claimed that
00:32:42
jermaine was a violent boyfriend
00:32:44
jermaine had his own stories of how
00:32:45
chanel could be abusive too
00:32:48
he told police that chanel got upset at
00:32:49
him and sometimes directed her
00:32:51
frustrations at their child
00:32:54
jermaine then went on to tell us she was
00:32:56
shaking the baby and then threw her on
00:32:58
the couch
00:32:59
and jermaine kept telling her don't take
00:33:02
it out on the baby
00:33:10
according to chanel the couple's
00:33:12
fighting got out of control in the early
00:33:14
morning hours of february 17th
00:33:16
when an argument broke out over the baby
00:33:19
she started crying so i got up to change
00:33:22
up pamper fix her bottle
00:33:24
but she kept on crying jermaine was
00:33:27
irritated
00:33:28
he went over there and picked her up so
00:33:30
now he's holding her like this
00:33:32
and pushing me with other harm when i'm
00:33:34
trying to get hurt
00:33:35
so she hollering and screaming still so
00:33:38
he takes the pillow
00:33:39
and put it over her face i tried to get
00:33:42
to it but i couldn't
00:33:43
so he took the pillow off her face and
00:33:45
she was hollering and screaming even
00:33:46
more trying to catch her breath she was
00:33:48
so red
00:33:51
so he picked up again and took it and
00:33:54
slammed up against the wall
00:33:56
she was just hollering so
00:34:00
i was like stop please stop but he
00:34:02
wouldn't
00:34:04
he slammed her head up against the wall
00:34:06
again and
00:34:07
she just wasn't crying no more
00:34:11
when women behind bars continues there
00:34:14
was
00:34:14
bruising to the baby's head and
00:34:17
hemorrhaging
00:34:19
to the eyes of the child
00:34:27
in 1998 sixteen-year-old chanel boyd and
00:34:30
her 19-year-old boyfriend jermaine
00:34:31
mullen
00:34:32
lived together in a tumultuous
00:34:33
relationship while raising their baby
00:34:35
daughter chantella
00:34:37
on a cold february morning chanel called
00:34:39
9-1-1
00:34:40
claiming that her baby wasn't breathing
00:34:42
an ambulance rushed the eight-month-old
00:34:44
to the emergency room at nearby mount
00:34:47
sinai hospital
00:34:48
where doctors immediately suspected
00:34:50
child abuse
00:34:51
there was bruising to the baby's head
00:34:54
and hemorrhaging to the eyes of the
00:34:58
child
00:34:58
her brain was bleeding her skull was
00:35:00
cracked
00:35:03
chanel told doctors the baby had rolled
00:35:05
off the couch and fallen on the floor
00:35:07
doctors performed emergency surgery to
00:35:09
relieve pressure on chantelle's brain
00:35:12
making sure that the child is stable is
00:35:15
the most important
00:35:16
priority and after that's done that's
00:35:18
when the child protective services team
00:35:20
is notified
00:35:20
the surgeons knew that this could not
00:35:23
have happened the way
00:35:24
chanel had told them accidental injuries
00:35:27
versus inflicted injuries
00:35:29
usually look different doctors noted
00:35:32
that chantelle's eyes showed signs of
00:35:34
hemorrhaging or bleeding
00:35:36
retinal hemorrhages are a huge red flag
00:35:38
for
00:35:39
inflicted trauma there has to be a fair
00:35:41
amount of force inflicted
00:35:44
on their brain to cause bleeding in the
00:35:47
retina
00:35:48
they notified dcfs department children
00:35:50
family services
00:35:52
as well as the police which is their
00:35:53
duty in a case like this
00:35:57
police arrived and questioned both
00:35:59
chanel and jermaine about what happened
00:36:01
to their baby
00:36:02
they kept asking me what happened and i
00:36:05
just kept saying she failed
00:36:07
from the way they was looking you could
00:36:08
tell they didn't believe me they brought
00:36:10
jermaine and chanel down to the police
00:36:12
station she said
00:36:13
she had put the baby to sleep and when
00:36:16
she woke up the next morning the baby
00:36:17
had
00:36:18
rolled off the couch that she was
00:36:19
sleeping on and was on the floor
00:36:21
and was having difficulty breathing
00:36:24
jermaine was questioned separately by
00:36:26
detectives
00:36:27
he said he had come home late the night
00:36:30
before
00:36:31
and went to bed and in the morning
00:36:34
chanel woke him up and said that the
00:36:36
baby was on the floor
00:36:37
and had trouble breathing chanel's
00:36:40
family arrived at the precinct and
00:36:41
authorities released her to their
00:36:43
custody
00:36:44
detectives hoped her family could
00:36:45
convince her to tell the truth
00:36:47
the police told me to take her home and
00:36:50
talk to her
00:36:51
jermaine was held overnight at the
00:36:52
police station they actually ended up
00:36:54
holding germain because they thought
00:36:56
that he had in fact committed this
00:36:58
murder or caused the injuries to the
00:36:59
child
00:37:00
baby chantello was on life support in
00:37:02
the pediatric intensive care unit
00:37:04
and doctors kept watch over her around
00:37:06
the clock
00:37:08
at her grandparents home chanel refused
00:37:10
to talk about what happened
00:37:12
i know she was in total shock because
00:37:15
she was just
00:37:16
she would just sit there and cry she
00:37:18
wouldn't say a word she just sat there
00:37:19
and cried
00:37:20
i didn't want to see nobody i want
00:37:22
nobody to see me
00:37:24
on february 18th chanelle phoned
00:37:26
detectives and said she was ready to
00:37:28
talk
00:37:29
but she requested that they take her by
00:37:30
the hospital first to see chantella
00:37:34
i remember her with all those tubes
00:37:37
in her and bandages i didn't stay long
00:37:41
because
00:37:41
i couldn't look at her like that
00:37:47
detectives then drove chanel to the
00:37:49
precinct for more questioning
00:37:51
when i got to the police station they
00:37:54
talked to me about
00:37:57
if it was a mistake then you could tell
00:38:00
us it was a mistake and then we'll let
00:38:02
you go
00:38:04
chanel then revealed to detectives that
00:38:06
baby chantelle's injuries
00:38:08
actually occurred three days before she
00:38:10
was rushed to the hospital
00:38:11
during the course of this interview
00:38:14
chanel
00:38:15
told us that on valentine's day she had
00:38:18
a severe headache
00:38:19
and the baby would not stop crying i
00:38:22
ended up telling the police
00:38:23
that i was mad and i had threw up
00:38:27
against the wall
00:38:30
and it was a mistake that's what i told
00:38:32
the baby was
00:38:34
pretty laxadaisical
00:38:37
for the next couple days eating very
00:38:40
little
00:38:41
by the morning of february 17th police
00:38:43
believe chanel realized the baby wasn't
00:38:45
breathing
00:38:46
and finally called 9-1-1 armed with
00:38:48
chanel's confession police once again
00:38:50
questioned jermaine who confirmed the
00:38:52
abuse jermaine was saying
00:38:55
the baby was abused by chanel because
00:38:58
jermaine could come and go as he pleased
00:39:00
and chanel was stuck at home with the
00:39:03
baby
00:39:04
chanel was arrested and charged with
00:39:06
aggravated battery
00:39:07
jermaine was also charged with the crime
00:39:10
jermaine was looking at conviction
00:39:11
through accountability
00:39:13
he was there at the time the baby was
00:39:14
being abused and didn't do anything
00:39:16
about it
00:39:17
in illinois if you have a child that's
00:39:19
being abused
00:39:20
and it results in death and you haven't
00:39:23
done anything
00:39:24
to stop that abuse you're as guilty as
00:39:27
the
00:39:28
abuser on february 19th
00:39:32
two days after she was brought to the
00:39:33
hospital baby chantelle died
00:39:37
i knew she was gone
00:39:43
but i still i still didn't know how to
00:39:44
react to it
00:39:47
i didn't process it then and it still
00:39:49
took me years to process it after the
00:39:52
fact
00:39:55
the charges against chanel boyd and
00:39:57
jermaine mullen were amended to first
00:39:59
degree murder
00:40:00
despite being just 16 years old chanel
00:40:03
would be tried as an adult
00:40:04
frank medea was assigned to defend
00:40:06
chanel who now claimed that she was
00:40:08
innocent
00:40:09
she told me jermaine was an abusive
00:40:12
partner that he's the one who committed
00:40:14
the acts which caused the injuries
00:40:17
but medea knew this was a different
00:40:18
story than the one she confessed to
00:40:20
police
00:40:21
chanel was now saying that she had
00:40:23
confessed only because she felt pressure
00:40:25
from the police
00:40:26
who thought she was guilty why would i
00:40:28
implicate myself
00:40:31
because the way that they was talking to
00:40:33
me already made me feel like
00:40:36
they were saying i did it anyway i said
00:40:39
it because
00:40:40
i was still a minor and i figured that
00:40:43
really wasn't going to do too much
00:40:44
nothing
00:40:45
she was pretty much straightforward that
00:40:48
jermaine is the one who did it
00:40:50
and she didn't tell the police that
00:40:52
because she was afraid of him he grabbed
00:40:54
me he was like
00:40:55
you better not tell him i did
00:41:04
it was really whether the jury believed
00:41:06
her statement taken by the police
00:41:09
or her testimony that jermaine is the
00:41:11
one who did it
00:41:12
when i got on the stand i told the jury
00:41:15
that jermaine
00:41:17
smashed my baby head against the wall
00:41:19
slammed against the wall
00:41:21
i thought we had a chance to win her
00:41:23
case i believed her story and
00:41:25
i tried to get the jury to believe her
00:41:32
story
00:41:37
the jury thought that since chanel had
00:41:40
made a false statement to the police to
00:41:42
start out with
00:41:43
that any testimony she gave was also
00:41:45
false and that's more likely than not
00:41:47
why they chose to disbelieve it
00:41:49
i was totally shocked that they found
00:41:51
her guilty
00:41:53
there is no doubt in my mind
00:41:56
chanel didn't do this i saw how she
00:41:59
loved that baby i saw how she took care
00:42:01
of that baby
00:42:02
40 years is a long time for a 16 year
00:42:05
old girl
00:42:05
for making a mistake you have to look at
00:42:08
what she knew she was
00:42:09
under educated she was poor she was
00:42:12
overwhelmed
00:42:13
it's a you know very tragic situation
00:42:17
because you have
00:42:18
babies having babies and the
00:42:20
eight-month-old victim is the tragedy in
00:42:23
the case
00:42:25
unlike chanel jermaine mullen was not
00:42:27
tried by a jury
00:42:28
but by a judge his lawyer presented
00:42:31
chanel's initial statement that germain
00:42:33
was not present when the fatal injuries
00:42:35
were inflicted
00:42:36
based on that statement and the fact
00:42:38
that there was no evidence that germain
00:42:39
was present
00:42:40
the judge acquitted germain chanel boyd
00:42:43
was incarcerated at a medium-security
00:42:45
prison
00:42:46
three hours drive from chicago
00:42:48
everything
00:42:49
was hopeless then i was detached from
00:42:52
everything and everybody
00:42:54
i was depressed every day all day
00:42:57
staying connected to family including
00:42:59
her mom who is now off drugs
00:43:01
kept chanel going and continues to be
00:43:03
her lifeline today
00:43:04
i know sometimes she can get depressed
00:43:06
we keep in touch with chanel
00:43:08
through our letters chanel and her mom
00:43:11
writes to each other every day
00:43:13
they develop they have a close
00:43:16
relationship i think right now
00:43:21
looking back chanel wishes she had
00:43:23
listened to her grandmother and regrets
00:43:25
moving in with jermaine after chantella
00:43:27
was born
00:43:28
i was fine until he got out of jail i
00:43:30
should have just stayed at home
00:43:33
but i did chanel maintains she is
00:43:36
innocent
00:43:37
i lied when i said that i threw my baby
00:43:40
up against the wall
00:43:41
jeremiah did i think that
00:43:44
i shouldn't have been the only one to go
00:43:46
to jail whether i did it or not
00:43:48
i still hold a lot of resentment towards
00:43:50
him
00:43:53
in the meantime she holds on to the good
00:43:55
memories of her baby
00:43:57
i think about chantelle a lot every day
00:44:01
her smile she was a playful baby
00:44:04
that's what i remember when i think
00:44:07
about it they are good thoughts
