00:00:06
on this episode of women behind bars
00:00:08
one woman is convicted of fatally
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poisoning her husband
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anytime a spouse is murdered under
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mysterious circumstances
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first the wife and any other family
00:00:17
members become the primary suspects
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on the one hand i'm dealing with losing
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my husband
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on the other hand there's all these
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questions about what happened
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then shelby carano tells her story she
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was found guilty
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in the heroin death of a sex client he
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had tracks up and down his arms
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when he said i want to do another one i
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didn't even second guess it
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i said boy you've done it this time
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they're going to make an example of you
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shelby
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two women two brutal crimes these are
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the stories of diane fleming
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and shelby carano
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[Music]
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on june 12 2000 37 year old chuck
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fleming was rushed to the emergency room
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after exhibiting severe flu-like
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symptoms
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within two days fleming was dead the lab
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results revealed he suffered from
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methanol
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poisoning it was just
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a lot to absorb you know all at one time
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police focused their investigation on
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the fleming home viewing chuck's wife
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43 year old diane fleming and her 24
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year old son
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chucky as suspects they start you know
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saying that they thought that someone
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did this deliberately
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all their questions were more leaning
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towards chuckie
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she did what she did as a mother
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protecting her son
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not as a killer trying to hide her own
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guilt
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with little forensic evidence tying
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diane to the crime the state's case was
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entirely circumstantial
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and some people question whether chuck
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fleming's death was murder at all
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the so-called smoking gun was the
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methanol in the bottles
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if you can explain that another way
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which you can scientifically
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there's no smoking gun there was
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methanol in the bottles
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and there was deceitful behavior on her
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part
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there's a latin phrase false in one
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false and all did diane fleming fatally
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poison her husband
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or was she falsely convicted of a crime
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she didn't commit
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[Music]
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my parents were both from fredericktown
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missouri
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and they moved back there when i was
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four and a half
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fredericktown is a small rural area
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we've got uh
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like 4 000 people
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my grandfather had some horses and
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pigs and cows and was really like
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growing up on a farm
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when diane was six her sister donette
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was born
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she used to sew barbie doll clothes for
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me
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and it was her job every morning to
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brush my hair
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diane attended fredericktown high school
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where she excelled in her studies
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i was a real good student i hung around
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with a group of good kids
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but the kid she hung around with the
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most was her high school sweetheart
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charles ellinghouse he was very
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studious very smart they dated
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most of their high school years diane
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worked at a local drug store
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and intended to go to college to become
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a pharmacist but her plans were derailed
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during her senior year when she
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discovered she was pregnant
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i always feel like she was wasting what
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she had because i felt like she was very
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smart
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and needed to be going on to school and
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and getting her career established
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but she was in love in february 1976
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diane gave birth to her son charles jr
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who went by chucky
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but in 1979 after four years of marriage
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diane and charles divorced i wasn't
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mature enough i still wanted to go out
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you know with my girlfriends when i got
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married she was
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my maid of honor the best man was my
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husband's cousin
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and they hit it off pretty good
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in january 1981 four months after
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donette's wedding
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diane married charles tanner a marine
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she and chucky moved with her new
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husband to northern virginia
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where he was stationed the following
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year diane had another son
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jeffrey i had a good childhood
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we were close family for the most part
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but not long after jeffrey was born
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diane's marriage to charles began to
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fall apart they separated in 1986
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my father has anger management issues
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he had a very bad temper chuck was a bad
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choice
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by 1989 three years after separating
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from her second husband
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diane was ready to date again she placed
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a personal ad in the local newspaper
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and got a response from another man
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named charles charles fleming
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i called him and said i no longer date
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men named charles
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chuck got a laugh out of that he he
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persuaded me to go out with him anyway
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we hit it off in march 1990 chuck
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proposed and the two moved to the
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richmond area where he had gotten a job
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as a maintenance mechanic at a tobacco
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company
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they were married in september and
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diane's sons chucky and jeffrey moved in
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with them
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there were growing pains from the start
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between diane's oldest son
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and his new stepfather he really cared
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about
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my mom and my brother and me but my
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brother
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and chuck really didn't get along
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he and chuck locked horns frequently i
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because i think being 14
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and getting a step parent must be really
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hard
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there were quite a few pretty serious
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altercations between
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chuck and chucky on
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three different occasions over a period
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of
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a few years the police you know had to
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come
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he was actually arrested and taken to
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juvenile court at one point
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the other two incidents were much more
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minor the tension was temporarily put
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aside when megan joined the family in
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1993. the day my sister was born
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was the happiest day of my life
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and the happiest day of my mom and dad's
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life
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diane describes the next few years as
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enjoyable ones for her family
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but in 1996 she grew concerned about her
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husband's activities
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he went to work came home
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so when that behavior changed
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it wasn't hard to figure out that
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something was going on
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diane suspected chuck was having an
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affair with a co-worker who she claims
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had been pursuing him
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i had complained about her calling
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and i didn't trust her i
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checked her house and you know saw him
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there
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so i i just knocked on the door until
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he answered and and that was when it all
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you know blew up
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chuck did have an affair he confessed
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what had been going on and it was really
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hard on my mom
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we were able to make it work because
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they both love each other very much
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that and the kids i think he realized
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too that he he had a lot to lose
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and that was it and we we were fine
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after that
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we put that behind them bought a new
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house and a nice subdivision
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there was really no indication that the
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affair was still an issue
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when women behind bars continues he was
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in the hallway bathroom
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on his hands and knees that's when i
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knew
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this isn't the flu this is
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something more
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[Music]
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by 2000 43 year old diane fleming and
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her third husband
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chuck had weathered a rough patch in
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their marriage when diane caught chuck
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in an affair with another woman
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when that was resolved they bought a new
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home in midlothian virginia
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a suburb of richmond 37 year old chuck
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continued to enjoy a passion for
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basketball
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as well as an interest in fitness chuck
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had
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one of his home gyms the treadmill work
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out
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every day he was trying some
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protein shakes vitamins because
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his muscles weren't cut chuck did all
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the wrong things for himself
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you should hydrate when you play sports
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instead he would drink diet coke
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you're supposed to refrain from alcohol
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he would drink alcohol
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he started talking about this creatine
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he wanted to try
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so i thought well here's another phase
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creatine is an over-the-counter
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bodybuilding supplement used by some
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athletes to help increase muscle mass
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a lot of bodybuilders use it but he
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didn't take care of himself he thought
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the
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medication the creatine would actually
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do that for him
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after church chuck had wanted to get
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this creatine stuff and we had talked
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about what
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to mix it in so we picked up a case of
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the 20 ounce
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bottles of gatorade i got the mixing
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spoons out
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and he said one and a half tablespoons
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and i put those in
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he put it in the refrigerator and he
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went to play basketball
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he came home about 6 30
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and he drank the first bottle of the
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gatorade mixture
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and again went through the same ritual
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we're standing there talking mixing it
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up
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but it said one and a half teaspoons and
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i said
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you said tablespoons it says here
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teaspoons
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he said that's okay more is better
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diane says chuck went to bed early that
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night without eating much dinner
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the next morning he got up for work and
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complained he was not feeling well
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i heard him groaning and making
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sign noises i said well don't go in if
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you
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you know don't feel good no no he never
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missed work
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so he went on to work my mom and i took
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my sister
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to school that morning we passed my
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stepfather coming
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back towards the house we get home he
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was laying on the couch
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he'd been throwing up at work
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i asked him if he wanted to go to the
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doctor he said no
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no one point i had come downstairs and
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he was in
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the hallway bathroom on his hands and
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knees
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just getting sick
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that's when i knew this isn't the flu
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this is something more about 5 30
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it said i'm having trouble breathing i
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talked him and let me call the rescue
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squad
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they seemed to think that he was
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dehydrated from
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vomiting all day my stepdad
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couldn't breathe he couldn't see
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and that's when the paramedics took him
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to the hospital
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the ambulance rushed chuck to chippenham
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medical center where his condition
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quickly deteriorated
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the doctors really had no clue what was
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going on with him
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he wasn't making a lot of sense they
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said what is he ingested
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well of course i told him about the
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creatine a kidney specialist was called
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in
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they kept asking me if he could have
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taken an overdose of aspirin
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i said no he was no longer conscious
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about 7 or 7 30 in the morning
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the doctor called and told me that the
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talk screen had come back
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and that it was a methanol methanol is a
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chemical compound
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often used as a laboratory solvent to
00:12:29
make other chemicals
00:12:30
including automotive fuel when they
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suspected that he was poisoned with
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methanol
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one of the antidote of methanol is
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ethanol so they give him ethanol
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at some point during that long day they
00:12:43
they're just saying it wasn't working
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[Music]
00:12:46
and it was just a nightmare
00:12:52
on wednesday june 14th the doctors told
00:12:54
diane they suspected chuck had been
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deliberately poisoned
00:12:59
detectives with the chesterfield county
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police department met diane at the
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hospital
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the doctors are telling me that he's
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deteriorating
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and i had to actually leave his bedside
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that afternoon to go with the police
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back to the house
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so i could show them where any chemicals
00:13:20
were kept
00:13:23
it went in the garage the only
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thing they found that had methanol in it
00:13:30
was the gallon of windshield washer
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fluid
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unopened full dine they opened the
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refrigerator and pointed to the bottle
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and said this is one that chuck mixed
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that's still in the refrigerator the
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evidence technicians took the gatorade
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and creatine mixture from the home
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refrigerator
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they also found three more bottles in
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chuck's office
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two in the refrigerator and one
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partially empty bottle at his desk
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diane returned to the hospital by this
00:14:01
point
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the doctors were telling me they had
00:14:03
done a cat scan
00:14:06
and saw a huge brain hemorrhage
00:14:11
that they said no one could have
00:14:14
survived
00:14:16
it was just surreal you know that
00:14:21
somebody that came in with symptoms that
00:14:24
seemed
00:14:25
like dehydration
00:14:32
his family and i were going back and
00:14:34
forth about do we leave him on life
00:14:36
support
00:14:38
i called pastor rupar and said
00:14:42
do you have anything like last rites
00:14:45
so we were able to do that
00:14:50
before they actually discontinued life
00:14:51
support
00:14:54
a memorial service was held for chuck
00:14:56
fleming on saturday june 17th
00:14:58
he was 37 years old
00:15:00
[Music]
00:15:01
it was a beautiful service my mom and i
00:15:06
just we broke down you could tell she
00:15:09
just
00:15:11
she was falling apart on the one hand
00:15:15
i'm dealing with losing my husband on
00:15:17
the other hand there's all these
00:15:18
questions about
00:15:20
what happened according to the autopsy
00:15:22
report fleming's cause of death was
00:15:24
acute methanol poisoning
00:15:26
the police investigation ramped up and
00:15:28
in late june diane and her two sons took
00:15:30
polygraph exams
00:15:32
that was nerve-racking
00:15:36
we were suspects we each took the test
00:15:40
three times
00:15:42
and we both passed with flying colors
00:15:46
her son on the other hand chucky he did
00:15:49
not pass his polygraph
00:15:51
diane started to worry that police were
00:15:53
viewing her son as their number one
00:15:55
suspect
00:15:56
detective baker was sitting in our
00:15:58
living room
00:15:59
chuckie was on the computer she was
00:16:01
asking is that the computer that people
00:16:03
use
00:16:04
for internet access chucky
00:16:07
has this like thing for horror movies
00:16:09
and there's like a lot of websites that
00:16:11
he would frequent
00:16:13
i didn't want them to see these horror
00:16:16
sites and think oh this is a weird kid
00:16:18
you know they already had the previous
00:16:22
incidents of the police the altercations
00:16:25
so i switched out the hard drive
00:16:38
next up on women behind bars there was a
00:16:41
bottle with methanol in it still at the
00:16:43
house
00:16:44
so that's a tough one to get around from
00:16:46
from the defense standpoint
00:16:48
you wouldn't expect methanol to be at
00:16:50
the house if it had been ingested at
00:16:51
work
00:16:52
and later the phone rang it was the
00:16:55
police
00:16:56
i was thinking i was getting ready to go
00:16:58
to jail for prostitution
00:17:00
boy was that wrong
00:17:08
on june 14 2000 37 year old chuck
00:17:11
fleming died in a richmond hospital
00:17:13
two days after falling ill from flu-like
00:17:15
symptoms
00:17:17
the medical examiner ruled the official
00:17:19
cause of death as acute methanol
00:17:21
poisoning
00:17:22
chuck's wife 43 year old diane fleming
00:17:25
was devastated by her husband's death
00:17:27
and concerned the police were targeting
00:17:28
her son chucky anytime a spouse is
00:17:31
murdered under
00:17:31
mysterious circumstances the
00:17:35
first the wife and any other family
00:17:36
members become the primary suspects
00:17:39
at first a lot of the attention was on
00:17:42
chucky
00:17:42
it was pretty clear that chucky and
00:17:45
chuck did not get along well
00:17:46
when the lab results showed that
00:17:48
methanol was present in all four
00:17:49
gatorade bottles taken from the fleming
00:17:51
home and chuck's workplace
00:17:53
police concluded that someone had
00:17:55
deliberately spiked them
00:17:56
diane claimed she had no idea there was
00:17:59
methanol in the bottle from her kitchen
00:18:00
refrigerator
00:18:02
i wouldn't have given it to them i would
00:18:05
have had two days to have disposed of it
00:18:08
i most certainly wouldn't have left it
00:18:10
there where anyone including my daughter
00:18:12
could have drank it
00:18:14
the only source of methanol found at the
00:18:16
fleming home was the unopened bottle of
00:18:18
windshield wiper fluid in the garage
00:18:20
investigators also learned that pure
00:18:23
methanol was accessible at the plant
00:18:24
where chuck was employed
00:18:26
they have jugs of it just laying around
00:18:29
pure methanol
00:18:30
he's a supervisor he could have easily
00:18:33
made someone mad
00:18:34
despite the pure methanol at the
00:18:36
workplace diane says the police seem to
00:18:38
focus solely on the home and her son
00:18:41
authorities also found an internet
00:18:43
search for methanol poisoning had been
00:18:44
made on the family computer on may 15
00:18:47
2000 nearly one month before chuck's
00:18:49
death
00:18:51
the expert admitted that the clock could
00:18:54
have been wrong it could have been
00:18:55
missed
00:18:56
on the other hand there was anything to
00:18:58
suggest that it wasn't the right time
00:19:00
that was in june not may that diane
00:19:04
made the search i was researching
00:19:07
methanol poisoning from the moment he
00:19:10
was diagnosed
00:19:11
on july 16 2001 diane claimed that she
00:19:15
was surprised when she received news
00:19:17
that a grand jury had indicted her for
00:19:18
the murder
00:19:26
well we were all flabbergasted because
00:19:27
it was
00:19:29
the whole focus of their investigation
00:19:31
had been directed toward chucky
00:19:34
there was evidence that from the time
00:19:36
that they went and got the creatine and
00:19:38
the gatorade bottles
00:19:39
chucky had been at work there really
00:19:42
wasn't any
00:19:43
direct proof that chucky had done
00:19:45
something
00:19:48
without evidence to link chucky to the
00:19:49
crime diane fleming was charged with
00:19:51
first-degree murder and adulteration of
00:19:53
a food substance
00:19:56
they arrested her right there in the
00:19:58
driveway
00:20:00
they put her in the car and drove away
00:20:08
diane spent eight days in jail before
00:20:10
being released on bond
00:20:23
i was totally confident that this was
00:20:27
just
00:20:27
something i had to go through the
00:20:30
state's evidence against diane came down
00:20:32
to two key points
00:20:33
the first being the methanol found in
00:20:35
the gatorade bottle in her home
00:20:38
there was a bottle with methanol in it
00:20:39
still at the house
00:20:41
that's a tough one to get around from
00:20:43
from the defense standpoint
00:20:45
you wouldn't expect methanol to be at
00:20:46
the house if it had been ingested at
00:20:48
work
00:20:49
but there was no forensic evidence that
00:20:51
the methanol in the gatorade bottles
00:20:53
came from the windshield wiper fluid in
00:20:55
the garage
00:20:57
diane's attorney asked the toxicologist
00:21:00
even if chuck had drunk all of the
00:21:02
bottles was there enough
00:21:04
chemicals in the drinks to kill him and
00:21:07
the answer was no there wasn't enough
00:21:09
even if he drank all of them and there
00:21:12
was no definitive explanation as to why
00:21:14
there was methanol in the bottles
00:21:16
the second key point revolved around the
00:21:18
family's computer hard drive
00:21:20
that diane destroyed months earlier
00:21:22
prosecution kept saying she destroyed
00:21:24
evidence
00:21:25
and the defense kept saying she didn't
00:21:27
have any reason to think that it was
00:21:29
going to be evidence diane claimed she
00:21:33
removed the hard drive in order to
00:21:34
protect her son
00:21:36
she said she gave the drive to a friend
00:21:38
then later retrieved it and threw it
00:21:39
away
00:21:40
but her friend told a different story on
00:21:42
the stand
00:21:43
she said that diane had taken the hard
00:21:46
drive out
00:21:46
because she didn't want to appear to be
00:21:48
a jealous wife
00:21:50
diane denies this and says she wanted to
00:21:52
search through a document that was
00:21:54
password protected in hopes that it
00:21:55
might solve the mystery of chuck's death
00:21:58
and the friend of diane's testified at
00:22:00
trial that diane didn't want
00:22:02
the police to find some kind of software
00:22:05
that she used to break in
00:22:07
to mr fleming's emails that was pretty
00:22:10
damaging evidence
00:22:12
coupled with the the hard drive itself
00:22:17
diane's demeanor in the courtroom did
00:22:19
not win any points with the jury either
00:22:22
she was clearly uncomfortable talking
00:22:24
about the places where she'd been
00:22:25
deceitful
00:22:26
when you admit that you lied it hurts
00:22:28
your credibility on the key issue
00:22:30
my doctor put me on zoloft for
00:22:32
depression
00:22:34
that really puts you in a fog not a word
00:22:37
was ever mentioned during trial that she
00:22:39
was on this medication
00:22:41
on the morning of february 20th the
00:22:43
second day of the trial the jury retired
00:22:46
to deliberate
00:22:47
after two and a half hours they returned
00:22:49
with their verdict
00:22:50
guilty on both counts
00:22:56
when they said guilty i had to think
00:23:00
did i hear that right this is a mistake
00:23:02
it's going to get
00:23:03
get straightened out my mom had no
00:23:08
reason
00:23:09
to kill chuck
00:23:12
the circumstantial evidence was as weak
00:23:15
as it possibly could have been
00:23:17
so it's very surprising that the jury
00:23:20
found her guilty
00:23:23
[Music]
00:23:33
in september 2002 fleming entered
00:23:36
fluvana correctional institution
00:23:37
in troy virginia to serve her 30-year
00:23:40
sentence coming to prison
00:23:42
my appeals were still going on i really
00:23:44
didn't think i would be here that long
00:23:48
in 2007 dr muhammad ali al-bayati
00:23:51
a renowned toxicologist and pathologist
00:23:54
did an independent review of the fleming
00:23:56
case
00:23:56
his findings were published in 2008.
00:23:59
czech was
00:24:01
taking about 10 medication causing
00:24:04
threatening
00:24:05
to be absorbed to the kidney causing
00:24:07
kidney toxicity
00:24:09
albayete stated the methanol traces in
00:24:11
chuck's blood were a false positive and
00:24:13
the subsequent treatment led to his
00:24:15
fatal brain swelling
00:24:17
the medical evidence clearly show
00:24:20
that he did not die as a result of
00:24:24
methanol
00:24:25
intoxication and also show he did not
00:24:29
ingest
00:24:30
methanol on june 11
00:24:33
2000 and june 12th diane
00:24:36
is innocent it was a misdiagnosis
00:24:40
what killed him was the brain hemorrhage
00:24:43
if they had gone in
00:24:44
you know stop the bleeding probably he
00:24:47
could have been saved
00:24:49
some feel that dr albayetti's findings
00:24:51
are not strong enough to overturn
00:24:53
diane's conviction
00:24:55
the problem with that theory is there
00:24:57
was still methanol
00:25:00
where it shouldn't have been all the
00:25:02
symptoms were he died of methanol
00:25:03
poisoning
00:25:06
whether or not the traces of methanol
00:25:08
found in the gatorade indicate that the
00:25:09
bottles had been deliberately spiked
00:25:12
remains a point of contention
00:25:14
[Music]
00:25:21
for diane fleming the separation from
00:25:23
her kids is the most difficult part of
00:25:25
being in prison
00:25:26
her daughter megan is being raised by
00:25:28
chuck's parents
00:25:30
she was mommy's girl you know i've not
00:25:33
seen megan
00:25:35
for two years
00:25:39
my mom first went to prison
00:25:44
it was really hard on me i mean even
00:25:47
still to this day it's hard for me to go
00:25:49
see her
00:25:56
diane lives on the honor wing and works
00:25:58
as a teaching assistant
00:26:00
i'm a tutor and administrative
00:26:03
aide in the printing class where women
00:26:06
can
00:26:06
take vocational training that's really
00:26:10
been one of the the best things
00:26:13
she continues to maintain her innocence
00:26:15
and has a loyal group of supporters
00:26:17
working on her behalf to get her a new
00:26:19
trial
00:26:20
diane has been stripped of her freedom
00:26:23
but there's three things that diane has
00:26:25
not lost
00:26:26
that is her faith her dignity and her
00:26:28
pride
00:26:30
don't ever assume that
00:26:33
if you lead a law-abiding life
00:26:37
that something like this can't happen to
00:26:39
you
00:26:41
but i still am confident
00:26:45
that it's going to work out
00:26:49
next up on women behind bars a dose of
00:26:52
heroin
00:26:52
turns deadly i always had the golden
00:26:55
rule of
00:26:56
i didn't get high with customers if i
00:26:59
stuck to that rule
00:27:00
i would not be sitting in this chair
00:27:01
today for more information about women
00:27:04
behind bars go to wetv.com
00:27:16
in the late night hours of december 11
00:27:18
2003
00:27:19
43 year old stanley mcmillan was found
00:27:21
dead on the floor of a motel room
00:27:27
the autopsy showed that he did indeed
00:27:30
die of
00:27:31
an acute heroin overdose phone records
00:27:35
led police to 38 year old shelby carano
00:27:37
a prostitute who had been with macmillan
00:27:39
earlier that evening
00:27:40
i laid it down on the table i told him
00:27:42
yes i was there this is what we did
00:27:45
couldn't believe he was dead shelby a
00:27:48
longtime drug addict
00:27:49
admitted shooting heroin with stanley
00:27:51
but claimed he was alive when she left
00:27:53
the room
00:27:54
they attempted to make it appear as
00:27:55
though the entire incident was her idea
00:27:58
was shelby corona responsible for
00:28:00
administering the lethal injection that
00:28:02
killed stanley macmillan
00:28:04
or is she paying the price for a grown
00:28:06
man's choice to use drugs
00:28:18
i spent my younger years living with my
00:28:20
parents um
00:28:21
williamsburg road i can remember my
00:28:24
father coming in
00:28:25
on his motorcycle in the evenings and i
00:28:27
would be at the door you know
00:28:28
the daddy's girl i could tell
00:28:33
she was going to be a very pretty girl
00:28:35
she had a great personality
00:28:38
she liked animals and she always liked
00:28:42
horses
00:28:44
when shelby was seven years old her
00:28:46
parents decided to separate
00:28:50
from that point on things kind of went
00:28:51
downhill you know the broken home
00:28:53
syndrome i just told her me and her dad
00:28:56
couldn't get along anymore
00:28:58
she said she wanted to stay with her
00:29:00
father i raised the best i could but
00:29:03
you know me being single trying to raise
00:29:06
a child
00:29:08
she got a little while my father loved
00:29:10
me very much
00:29:11
but at the same time he didn't have
00:29:13
enough time for me
00:29:14
so i ended up spending a lot of time
00:29:16
with my aunt
00:29:18
shelby visited her aunt nida on weekends
00:29:20
she says nida was disabled and a lonely
00:29:22
alcoholic who enjoyed having her niece
00:29:24
drink with her
00:29:26
my first drink was probably at the age
00:29:29
of nine or ten
00:29:31
and nada was the one that would give it
00:29:32
to me
00:29:34
it wasn't about the alcohol for me it
00:29:36
was about trying to make her happy
00:29:38
[Music]
00:29:39
aunt would uh sell her body for
00:29:43
money because she was crippled
00:29:46
everybody kind of felt sorry for nobody
00:29:49
ever knew
00:29:50
that we were drinking fits the liquor on
00:29:52
the weekends and eating valiums
00:29:54
like candy by 9 10
00:29:57
11 i was probably full-fledged alcoholic
00:30:00
and it progressed at 14
00:30:04
shelby went to live with her mother but
00:30:06
by this point she was out of control
00:30:09
it was one issue after another she
00:30:11
wouldn't go to school
00:30:13
she really tried to keep a tight hand
00:30:15
but if your kids want to be bad they're
00:30:17
going to find a way
00:30:18
and i partied i hung out with all the
00:30:20
bad kids
00:30:21
in 1981 16 year old shelby quit school
00:30:24
and left home
00:30:26
shelby went to work i don't know if that
00:30:28
was a good thing or not
00:30:29
shelby lived with various boyfriends and
00:30:31
worked at a fast food restaurant and in
00:30:33
a warehouse
00:30:34
but she was not satisfied with her
00:30:36
meager income i got a job working at a
00:30:38
little bar called flips
00:30:39
a waitress there they had dancers they
00:30:42
had talked me into getting to a couple
00:30:44
of the wet t-shirt contests
00:30:46
and i won the money that's all it took
00:30:49
was once or twice to get that taste of
00:30:51
money
00:30:52
and i started dancing hitchhiking to
00:30:55
work one day shelby met a guy whom she
00:30:57
began dating
00:30:59
it was good to me and the reason why we
00:31:01
got married was because i got pregnant
00:31:04
in september 1986 shelby gave birth to a
00:31:06
baby boy
00:31:12
despite her joy at being a mother shelby
00:31:14
started using cocaine
00:31:16
it was really my first exposure to hard
00:31:19
drugs
00:31:21
it was fun for a while but we were doing
00:31:24
way too much
00:31:26
the drug use added problems to an
00:31:28
already troubled marriage
00:31:29
deep down inside of my heart i just
00:31:32
wanted to be a good mom
00:31:33
but it's impossible to do when you're
00:31:35
getting high
00:31:36
so i put ultimatums you know you got to
00:31:39
pick me
00:31:41
or the drugs he got in the truck and
00:31:43
took the dog and left
00:31:44
and that was how our marriage ended she
00:31:47
loved her son
00:31:48
and she was a good mom she was there in
00:31:52
the beginning
00:31:53
and then she moved to southsides and
00:31:56
that's where
00:31:57
a lot of drugs are at she just got
00:32:00
more involved in them deeper and deeper
00:32:03
it was a whole new world of drugs
00:32:05
that was my first taste of crank that
00:32:08
escalated into meth
00:32:10
when the meth ran out i went to coke
00:32:12
once the drug gets a hold of you
00:32:15
it just turns your life upside down
00:32:18
shelby lost custody of her son because
00:32:20
of her drug addiction
00:32:21
and in 1992 she was arrested for cocaine
00:32:23
possession
00:32:25
i got four years i did ten and a half
00:32:27
months and got out on parole
00:32:30
and when i got out i just wanted to stay
00:32:31
out of jail and do the right thing
00:32:35
after landing a job dancing at a club in
00:32:37
richmond shelby ran into a former
00:32:38
acquaintance at the bar
00:32:40
and three weeks later he proposed
00:32:44
that was flattering to me and i always
00:32:45
had this great crush on him so i just
00:32:47
knew it was the right thing to do
00:32:49
so i married him and i got pregnant
00:32:53
i got my other son back so you know i
00:32:55
had a
00:32:56
happy home in 1995
00:32:59
shelby had another son she finally felt
00:33:02
her life was turning around
00:33:04
until she caught her husband doing drugs
00:33:09
being on the rebound now i've got two
00:33:13
no education all i can do is dance
00:33:16
the struggle of trying to keep their
00:33:18
heads above water financially got back
00:33:20
to her
00:33:21
she started using drugs again
00:33:24
so i started doing the heroin once you
00:33:27
start
00:33:29
it's not like cocaine and it's not like
00:33:30
marijuana you can't put it down
00:33:33
because of her heroin use shelby could
00:33:35
no longer get jobs dancing
00:33:37
well i run into a girl who
00:33:41
said well you know i got the perfect job
00:33:42
for you you know i'm working for this
00:33:44
escort agency
00:33:46
it's you know 150 bucks just to walk in
00:33:48
the door
00:33:50
and that's good money
00:33:53
she used to tell me i can't support two
00:33:56
kids myself flipping burgers at
00:33:57
mcdonald's
00:33:59
it wasn't really something that she
00:34:00
wanted to do it was something that she
00:34:02
had to do
00:34:03
there wasn't that one time that i
00:34:05
knocked on the door that i wasn't
00:34:06
standing there holding my breath
00:34:08
you know but the money is a lure there
00:34:10
was some jobs you go and then you stay
00:34:11
an hour you'd leave
00:34:12
250 shelby stuck to a policy when it
00:34:16
came to partying with clients
00:34:17
i always had the golden rule of i didn't
00:34:20
get high with customers
00:34:23
if i stuck to that rule i would not be
00:34:24
sitting in this chair today
00:34:27
on december 11 2003 shelby currano would
00:34:30
break her golden rule
00:34:32
it would cost her her freedom and it
00:34:34
would cost her client
00:34:35
his life next up on women behind bars
00:34:40
wrong place wrong choices
00:34:43
sad situation but a man died
00:34:46
and i told them i'm not a murderer you
00:34:49
know
00:34:50
i don't have a violent bone in my body
00:34:57
by 2003 38 year old shelby carano had
00:35:00
battled drug addiction for more than
00:35:02
half her life
00:35:03
she turned to prostitution by joining an
00:35:05
escort service to support her kids
00:35:07
in the heroin habit that consumed her
00:35:17
one night a gentleman called and i went
00:35:20
over to see him
00:35:22
and he was a very nice man shelby's new
00:35:25
client was 43 year old stanley mcmillan
00:35:28
who worked for a reforestation company
00:35:30
he was staying at a motel just outside
00:35:32
richmond virginia
00:35:34
we had experienced a hurricane in
00:35:36
september
00:35:39
and there were many people who came from
00:35:41
neighboring states
00:35:43
to help with the cleanup and as i
00:35:45
understand
00:35:46
that's what mr mcmillan was doing we
00:35:49
did what you do in escort service
00:35:52
he noticed a track mark on my arm and he
00:35:55
said
00:35:56
wow you get high well can you give me
00:35:58
some drugs
00:36:00
and i was like we'll talk about this
00:36:02
later so i tricked with him
00:36:04
and i made my money she had already you
00:36:07
know performed the acts that he asked
00:36:09
for
00:36:10
and then he said would you go get drugs
00:36:13
despite shelby's personal role not to
00:36:15
get high with clients
00:36:16
she agreed he was a nice person
00:36:20
i think that's what made me say yes so
00:36:22
he gave her the money
00:36:25
to go and buy heroin and
00:36:29
she went to her supplier
00:36:32
it was very like probably one o'clock in
00:36:34
the morning well it's not a good time to
00:36:36
go
00:36:37
in the projects well i got robbed
00:36:40
the next afternoon she called stanley to
00:36:42
apologize for not returning with the
00:36:44
drugs
00:36:44
when i got robbed they had taken the
00:36:46
agency's money as well as mine
00:36:48
so now i'm in hole so he gave me the
00:36:51
money to pay my debt to my boss
00:36:54
and i said go get me some right now and
00:36:56
come straight back
00:36:58
so i did i went i got not a lot three
00:37:01
eggs of heroin
00:37:09
so i worked him up one in a spoon i
00:37:12
worked me one up in the spoon
00:37:14
and i was getting ready to do mine he
00:37:15
said well can you hit me
00:37:17
shelby injected the heroin into
00:37:19
stanley's arm for him she says this is a
00:37:21
common practice
00:37:22
among intravenous drug users we get high
00:37:26
and he sat there for a few minutes he
00:37:27
said that was really good
00:37:29
she said that in a little while
00:37:32
he wanted some more he had tracks up and
00:37:35
down his arms
00:37:36
so in my mind i'm thinking you know he
00:37:39
was older than me he was in his 40s
00:37:42
then he knew what he was doing so when
00:37:44
he said i want to do another one
00:37:46
i didn't even second guess it after the
00:37:49
second hit of heroin stanley's actions
00:37:51
seemed impaired
00:37:52
he got up he walked around the bed and
00:37:55
he walked into the wall
00:37:58
and i jumped up in a run over to him and
00:38:00
i said hey man are you all right
00:38:02
he said yeah yeah i'll be all right it
00:38:03
kind of pushed me away
00:38:05
that's what heroin does to you it makes
00:38:08
you get this
00:38:09
you fork high it can make you look as
00:38:12
though you're unconscious for a bit
00:38:14
and it seemed normal i put my hand
00:38:16
underneath his nose
00:38:17
he was breathing i went and got a wet
00:38:19
rag i wiped his face because he was
00:38:21
sweating
00:38:22
he was snoring she felt like she could
00:38:26
leave
00:38:26
because he just needed to sleep it off
00:38:30
those were her words
00:38:33
[Music]
00:38:36
shelby maintained stanley was alive and
00:38:38
sleeping when she left the motel
00:38:40
several hours later around 4 a.m
00:38:43
stanley's roommate returned and found
00:38:44
the 43 year old dead on the floor
00:38:47
[Music]
00:38:54
this gentleman had gone next door at his
00:38:57
request knowing
00:38:58
that he was expecting company the
00:39:01
roommate called the police who arrived
00:39:02
on the scene soon after
00:39:04
while checking the phone records for
00:39:06
stanley's room officers discovered an
00:39:08
outgoing call to a number registered to
00:39:10
shelby carano
00:39:11
shelby meanwhile was with another client
00:39:14
i was in the middle of
00:39:15
you know spending time with this guy the
00:39:17
phone rang
00:39:18
it was the police what i was thinking
00:39:21
was
00:39:22
i was getting ready to go to jail for
00:39:24
prostitution
00:39:26
was that wrong later that morning shelby
00:39:29
met with detectives at the motel where
00:39:31
she was living
00:39:32
they wanted to know could they search
00:39:33
the room and i told him yeah
00:39:36
the first thing he finds is the needle
00:39:38
and he was like what was in it i said
00:39:40
heroin
00:39:42
and he said well you know you're going
00:39:43
to jail
00:39:45
carano was brought to chesterfield
00:39:47
county police headquarters for
00:39:48
questioning
00:39:50
i still wasn't aware that he was
00:39:53
dead i couldn't believe what i was
00:39:55
hearing
00:39:57
shelby had no attorney present and she
00:39:59
was so terrified and intimidated
00:40:01
at first shelby denied being at the
00:40:03
motel with the victim
00:40:05
i tried to say you know that i wasn't
00:40:07
there just because i was scared
00:40:09
and you know finally i was like okay
00:40:11
look this is this is what happened
00:40:14
and i told them i'm not a murderer i
00:40:17
don't have a violent bone in my body
00:40:20
then the autopsy report was completed
00:40:23
the autopsy
00:40:24
showed that he did indeed die of an
00:40:27
acute heroin
00:40:28
overdose some experts believe that the
00:40:32
amount of heroin considered to cause
00:40:33
death from acute heroin intoxication
00:40:35
could vary from person to person
00:40:37
depending on that person's tolerance to
00:40:39
the drug
00:40:40
and environmental factors when injecting
00:40:42
the heroin
00:40:44
shelby was brought to riverside regional
00:40:46
jail where she was charged with
00:40:47
distribution of heroin and second-degree
00:40:49
murder
00:40:50
she'll be calling me on the phone and i
00:40:52
said boy you've done it this time
00:40:54
they're gonna make an example of you
00:40:56
shelby
00:41:02
i was very scared i really didn't know
00:41:04
what to expect
00:41:05
i've never been through such a trial we
00:41:08
heard that yes indeed she did
00:41:11
bring them to stanley mcmillan she did
00:41:14
inject them to him she did see that he
00:41:17
was
00:41:17
in distress she did
00:41:21
leave the scene without calling
00:41:24
for help that was pretty much the
00:41:26
prosecution
00:41:28
the medical examiner said that there
00:41:30
were signs
00:41:32
that this wasn't my first experience
00:41:34
with drugs
00:41:36
on october 19th after one day of
00:41:38
testimony shelby's fate was in the hands
00:41:40
of the jury
00:41:44
and considering all of the other
00:41:46
evidence
00:41:47
he died of an acute heroin
00:41:51
intoxication it just didn't leave
00:41:54
much doubt after an hour the jury
00:41:58
returned with its verdict
00:41:59
guilty for distribution of heroin and
00:42:01
guilty of second-degree murder
00:42:04
during the sentencing phase of the
00:42:05
proceedings the victim's family took the
00:42:07
stand
00:42:10
this was the one person we couldn't hear
00:42:12
from
00:42:14
mr mcmillan could not tell us his side
00:42:17
and so it's difficult to see his family
00:42:20
um you know with those horrible
00:42:23
circumstances
00:42:25
it's very unfortunate that anyone ever
00:42:27
has to lose someone
00:42:28
because of something as idiotic as drug
00:42:30
use
00:42:32
my heart goes out to the family of the
00:42:33
man
00:42:35
they lost a loved one
00:42:47
no one on the jury felt that she had
00:42:50
done it intentionally
00:42:52
wrong place wrong time
00:42:55
wrong choices sad situation
00:42:59
but a man died she was responsible
00:43:03
for that when the judge said 16 years
00:43:06
you know i just took my breath away
00:43:08
it just seems unfair they can blame one
00:43:11
adult
00:43:12
one junkie so to speak for another
00:43:14
junkies actions
00:43:16
shelby carrano is currently serving her
00:43:18
sentence at a maximum security prison in
00:43:20
virginia
00:43:21
if i were not here today i would be dead
00:43:26
the heroine would have took me out this
00:43:29
prison time
00:43:29
saved my life
00:43:33
since my incarceration i finally got
00:43:35
that ged
00:43:36
she's already a tutoring other
00:43:40
inmates and what it can do to you if you
00:43:43
get
00:43:44
addicted to the drugs
00:43:47
i guess everything happens for a reason
00:43:48
in life and
00:43:50
i'm sorry that you know this family died
00:43:54
but in hindsight of it now and i'm gonna
00:43:58
try
00:43:58
to make a difference for somebody so
00:44:01
another person doesn't die
00:44:10
you
