00:00:07
a husband gets home to find a scene of
00:00:12
Carnage 911 help me help me my wife
00:00:15
she's
00:00:16
dead okay just stay on the line with me
00:00:20
in the frame for what appeared murder an
00:00:22
ex employee with a
00:00:24
grudge he denied all involvement but he
00:00:28
agreed to a polygraph test after he was
00:00:30
photographed he um failed he failed
00:00:33
miserably but then police discover an
00:00:35
extraordinary witness a 7-year-old girl
00:00:39
maybe they had the wrong guy what did
00:00:41
the Rober look like he looked like her
00:00:45
dad just one of a catalog of twists and
00:00:48
turns that detectives have to follow to
00:00:50
discover what really happened to
00:00:52
cheerleader turned mum Kelly Clayton as
00:00:55
more and more sorted details came out uh
00:00:59
it just kind of fueled the Flames of
00:01:01
that drama it was almost like watching a
00:01:03
made for TV movie
00:01:11
[Music]
00:01:43
in Upper New York State a young
00:01:44
Sportsman was making a name for himself
00:01:46
in the early
00:01:49
2000s on the surface Clayton was a very
00:01:52
Charming fellow uh he came across as
00:01:55
being very uh open and G and fun sort of
00:01:59
guy and friendly he was a charmer once
00:02:02
he graduates from high school he goes on
00:02:05
to college at Niagara University and
00:02:07
he's playing for the ice hockey team
00:02:09
there in the men's division and then the
00:02:11
year that he graduates from college he's
00:02:13
recruited by the Elmyra
00:02:16
[Music]
00:02:19
jackals Tom was a hockey player quite
00:02:23
popular uh loved by a lot of people um
00:02:27
especially women he had a reputation of
00:02:28
being a bad boy it was the reputation he
00:02:30
worked hard to maintain he was described
00:02:33
as not being very big but play like a
00:02:36
person twice his size and that usually
00:02:39
kind of indicates that someone um wants
00:02:41
to be bigger or more aggressive or prove
00:02:44
a lot and um he seemed to have that type
00:02:46
of
00:02:49
Personality I've been to hockey matches
00:02:51
before where somebody's been pushed up
00:02:52
against the the Plexi glass you know and
00:02:54
you can see the blood and you would
00:02:56
think the people would be concerned but
00:02:57
the whole crowd just you know erupts
00:02:59
both sides they love this he's what they
00:03:01
call in hockey Aon he's a guy that likes
00:03:04
to start fights on the ice and and
00:03:07
basically the whole idea is that you
00:03:08
know you get the guys rattled and then
00:03:10
you force errors so that's his job and
00:03:13
apparently did it pretty well you can
00:03:14
get one of their top guys off the ice
00:03:16
for 2 minutes 5 minutes you know it's
00:03:18
it's a job done I think he used it as an
00:03:20
excuse to start fights you know I think
00:03:21
he thought of himself as this sort of
00:03:24
powerful athlete and he used it to
00:03:26
dominate people both socially and also
00:03:28
in his sport
00:03:29
[Music]
00:03:31
Clayton coming back at him you want to
00:03:33
drop you want to fight someone just like
00:03:35
when you're a little kid and you get so
00:03:36
mad you just want to fight you know and
00:03:37
it wasn't just as a sportsman that he
00:03:39
had a reputation for trouble Tom Clayton
00:03:42
was always a hotthead he would be a
00:03:45
hotthead on and off the ice Clayton's
00:03:49
Behavior was was pretty aggressive and
00:03:51
it got to the point where it spilled
00:03:52
over into his personal
00:03:55
life if you're a narcissist right and
00:03:59
you're looking for attention one way to
00:04:01
stand out in a team sport is to be
00:04:03
aggressive the thing to be worry about
00:04:05
is when this aggression um uh occurs off
00:04:08
the
00:04:10
ice one night in 2003 Clayton and a
00:04:13
hockey buddy got into a bar fight
00:04:15
nothing too unusual for Tom Clayton
00:04:18
except for his opponents a group of
00:04:21
police
00:04:22
recruits supposedly it had to do with
00:04:25
Tom being a little lewd dancing almost
00:04:28
nude on top of some tabletops he at one
00:04:32
point was
00:04:33
dancing almost naked and challenged or
00:04:36
was challenged by four police Cadets and
00:04:38
it turned into a big brawl and he ended
00:04:39
up being arrested for that you pick a
00:04:42
new fight you you keep the you keep the
00:04:44
title it's the same thing he was doing
00:04:45
on the ice but he was doing it in a bar
00:04:48
and lucky for him he was only charged
00:04:50
with disorderly conduct the Mr meanor
00:04:52
and he pretty much got a slap on a
00:04:54
wrist for Clayton it was just another
00:04:57
badge of honor to enhance his reputation
00:04:59
one that was winning him a posy of
00:05:02
female fans he could uh charm the ladies
00:05:05
when he wanted to and be be he could be
00:05:09
flirtatious
00:05:11
um came across almost a sort of like a
00:05:13
Playboy sort of fellow but he definitely
00:05:16
was popular with the with the women
00:05:17
Tommy is known as a as a bad boy but
00:05:20
he's a real charmer the ladies love him
00:05:23
he never has problems um attracting
00:05:26
women he makes you feel like you're the
00:05:29
most important girl in the room you're
00:05:31
just the most beautiful girl alive I
00:05:34
think sometimes women are attracted to
00:05:36
these bad boy personalities because they
00:05:38
seem very Brazen they seem very bold and
00:05:42
many women like that in a man they like
00:05:44
men who are powerful and
00:05:47
strong for 5 Years Tom Clayton wore the
00:05:50
number 18 shirts for the alir jackals
00:05:52
playing pokon nights on his nights off
00:05:55
and enjoying the attention and Adoration
00:05:57
of the fans but one of them was
00:05:59
different
00:06:00
Elmyra jackals are playing and you know
00:06:03
as normal the the the stands are just
00:06:06
packed with these cheering fans and one
00:06:09
of these fans is Kelly
00:06:11
stage Kelly was herself a talented
00:06:14
athlete born and raised in alir where
00:06:16
her family were well known they were
00:06:19
fairly prominent primarily because of
00:06:21
their father her father was a a fire
00:06:24
chief uh in West elmeer for many years
00:06:28
it's a small town in the fingerlakes
00:06:31
region of New York State it's a
00:06:33
beautiful area the kind of place people
00:06:35
go on vacation because the Fall colors
00:06:38
especially are
00:06:41
striking Kelly went to school here at
00:06:44
the alira Free Academy where she was a
00:06:46
model student she played softball she
00:06:49
excelled in athletics and she was a
00:06:51
cheerleader she was involved in a lot of
00:06:53
different things she was outgoing her
00:06:55
sister called her sassy and bold and she
00:06:58
was just a really funl
00:07:00
um that she had that she was beautiful
00:07:02
but she had that kind of girl next door
00:07:04
kind of quality about her Kelly was more
00:07:06
reserved she had aspirations of being a
00:07:09
model at one point and was a well like
00:07:13
Community type
00:07:14
person in 2005 on a night out with her
00:07:17
friend Andrea to watch the Amir jackals
00:07:19
play Ice Hockey she spotted someone the
00:07:23
cute guy wearing the number 18 jersey
00:07:26
he's playing forward his name is Tom
00:07:29
Clayton
00:07:32
she's she she's she's got her eye on
00:07:38
him in a bar after the game the girls
00:07:40
run into him again coincidence or did
00:07:43
Kelly plan it that way Andrea goes up to
00:07:47
Tom and she says are you dating anyone
00:07:51
and he says who's asking and she says
00:07:54
well not me and then she points over to
00:07:57
her friend sitting at the bar this cute
00:08:00
bubbly blonde named Kelly and Tom looks
00:08:03
over at Kelly and he says the blonde
00:08:06
she's
00:08:07
incredible Tom Clayton the cool
00:08:10
good-looking pro hockey player with a
00:08:11
gambling habit on the side Kelly stage
00:08:14
the bubbly blonde cheerleader they
00:08:16
seemed a perfect match and in 2006 they
00:08:20
were
00:08:21
married it's possible that Kelly
00:08:23
actually thought that was attractive
00:08:25
that this person was an alpha male and
00:08:28
sometimes that signals to people that
00:08:29
they might be more protective in nature
00:08:32
Kelly was just so happy to be marrying
00:08:34
Tom and she is just this adoring wife
00:08:38
she goes to all of his hockey games she
00:08:39
is the perfect hockey wife on the
00:08:43
outside Kelly seemed like she had it all
00:08:45
but events were about to force Tom
00:08:47
Clayton to reconsider his entire
00:08:50
life he has an accident and Tom's career
00:08:54
basically comes to a crashing halt right
00:08:56
there on the
00:08:57
ice when Tom mom's hockey career ended
00:09:00
because of injury it took away a huge
00:09:02
source of his self-esteem and probably
00:09:05
robbed him of this identity that he had
00:09:06
held on to for years when you take that
00:09:09
out of the mix and you're sort of left
00:09:11
without that um that outlet uh yeah I
00:09:15
could imagine it it affected him um
00:09:17
pretty deeply and he realizes that this
00:09:20
is probably time to retire he says I got
00:09:24
injured I got married it's kind of the
00:09:26
way he sees it it's time to do something
00:09:28
different and start a family
00:09:31
could this poker playing bad boy really
00:09:33
settle down to domestic Bliss with his
00:09:36
wife Kelly when their baby daughter was
00:09:38
born in 2007 that question was put to
00:09:41
the test and that's when Tom went into
00:09:44
business for himself um with a a
00:09:47
franchise of a company that did um like
00:09:50
deep cleaning and restoration after
00:09:52
fires and floods and things like that
00:09:55
money was an instrument for him to
00:09:57
continue because he' lost his
00:10:00
career just like with hockey he became
00:10:02
singularly focused on wealth as a way to
00:10:05
supply him with a self-esteem he so
00:10:06
desperately needed Tom is becoming this
00:10:09
successful businessman he um he's
00:10:11
acquired some rental properties he's a
00:10:13
landlord um and um he's making some good
00:10:17
money little by little he acquires more
00:10:20
properties three years later Tom and
00:10:22
Kelly had another baby business was good
00:10:26
Tom liked to show off about it he was
00:10:28
definitely obsessed with making money
00:10:30
and spending it gambling it what
00:10:32
whatever one friend remembers that you
00:10:34
know the friend borrowed a car from Tom
00:10:36
at one point and inside was this thick
00:10:39
stack of
00:10:41
$22,000 I mean who carries that kind of
00:10:43
money around and leaves it in their car
00:10:46
in 2012 the couple bought a new home in
00:10:49
ginan Road Kon Kon is this small little
00:10:53
rural uh outside of El Myra it's in this
00:10:57
really peaceful really ilc setting just
00:11:00
gorgeous a lovely place to raise
00:11:02
children where they live is a very
00:11:04
remote there only only a couple of other
00:11:07
uh houses on that particular road behind
00:11:10
the happy family facade Clayton was
00:11:12
living a second life as well as
00:11:15
splashing the cash at high stakes poker
00:11:17
games he'd also returned to his
00:11:19
womanizing ways Tom was kind of a
00:11:22
Wanderer uh he you know he presented
00:11:25
this image of the of the uh doting
00:11:28
husband and and a devoted family man uh
00:11:33
but he had a Wandering eye clearly this
00:11:35
was headed for disaster because it
00:11:37
doesn't seem like he had much impulse
00:11:39
control at all Tom had been getting
00:11:42
around he had been seeing lots of women
00:11:47
and he'd been telling these women things
00:11:50
about Kelly he'd been saying she's a
00:11:52
[ __ ] he'd been saying she's lazy he'd
00:11:55
been saying he wants a divorce but
00:11:58
divorce is out of the question question
00:11:59
because she'd clean me out obviously Tom
00:12:03
was not so enamored with his wife he
00:12:05
seemed to think everything was okay and
00:12:07
was not aware that her husband was
00:12:09
running around shooting on her with
00:12:11
other
00:12:12
women if divorce was not an option for
00:12:14
financial reasons maybe Tom Clayton had
00:12:18
other plans in 2014 Clayton doubled his
00:12:22
wife's life insurance policy he took it
00:12:24
from a half a million dollar to a
00:12:26
million dollar it was in his mind that
00:12:28
he was starting to lay the ground work
00:12:29
at that point for whatever he had
00:12:32
planned it was the first sign that all
00:12:35
might not be what it seemed in the
00:12:37
marriage but what was it that Tom
00:12:39
Clayton had in
00:12:42
mind he did intimate to some people that
00:12:45
that he was planning on getting out of
00:12:47
his marriage
00:12:56
[Music]
00:13:00
on the night of September 28th 2015 Tom
00:13:03
Clayton was out at his regular Monday
00:13:04
night poker game at Greg and lucky
00:13:06
Miller House in nearby Corning Jeff
00:13:09
Murray is a reporter for the Amira star
00:13:11
Gazette covering the area where Tom and
00:13:13
Kelly Clayton lived in Kon New
00:13:16
York tragedy strikes uh had all the
00:13:19
makings of a real dramatic
00:13:22
story round about midnight the poker
00:13:25
game breaks up Tom gets back in his his
00:13:29
truck and he drives back the 15 minutes
00:13:33
back to Kon to his
00:13:36
home he walks in the door and there on
00:13:40
the kitchen floor his wife Kelly is
00:13:43
lying in a pool of
00:13:45
[Music]
00:13:47
blood his 911 call gave just a hint of
00:13:50
the horror that he had
00:13:53
found 911 help me help me my wife she's
00:13:56
dead hurry okay just stand lying with me
00:14:00
how long has she been down I don't know
00:14:01
I don't know I just got
00:14:03
home how you
00:14:06
doing what's going
00:14:09
on I'm just came I'm the neighbor just
00:14:12
came and got me out of bed inside the
00:14:14
house the officer encounters a
00:14:16
distraught husband who reveals the scene
00:14:17
of the crime anybody else in the house
00:14:20
time just
00:14:22
youer
00:14:24
help okay where's she at
00:14:31
oh oh
00:14:33
okay so the murder scene was pretty
00:14:36
atrocious you know some scenes even
00:14:40
seasoned cops aren't prepared for he
00:14:42
sees this mother of two lying in this
00:14:45
pool of blood on the kitchen floor and
00:14:48
there's blood splattered
00:14:51
everywhere I got a
00:14:54
female mid-30s early 40s her face is
00:14:57
completely beaten in
00:15:00
Kelly had been bludgeoned to death and
00:15:02
her half naked body dumped in the
00:15:04
kitchen there's blood all over she's
00:15:06
been dragged it looked like it began
00:15:10
upstairs there's blood all over up here
00:15:13
she tries to get away and she runs from
00:15:16
him and she goes toward the stairs and
00:15:18
that's when they tumble down the stairs
00:15:19
and he's dragging her down the stairs
00:15:21
picture flying off the wall comes down
00:15:24
the stairs the blood I mean he's bashing
00:15:26
her with something because there's blood
00:15:29
all over the place there was a hole in
00:15:31
one of the walls in the hallway that was
00:15:33
police believed were were from Kelly's
00:15:35
face L on the wall looks like a face
00:15:38
plant into the
00:15:40
wall even the the the first responder to
00:15:43
the scene was disturbed by that all the
00:15:46
signs suggested that Kelly had put up a
00:15:48
fight against her attacker it was clear
00:15:51
that in her last moments Kelly really
00:15:53
fought back and she was fighting
00:15:54
desperately for her own life but also to
00:15:56
keep her children safe as well I think
00:15:59
that's probably why she fought so hard
00:16:00
because she knew that that she was
00:16:01
really the last thing standing between
00:16:04
that perpetrator and her children I am
00:16:06
sure she put up a fight because that's
00:16:07
the type of person that she was the
00:16:10
first officer on the scene noticed some
00:16:12
curious
00:16:13
things first Tom had claimed that his
00:16:16
daughter had called to say there had
00:16:17
been a robbery at the Family
00:16:19
Home
00:16:21
Clown
00:16:23
where were you when this all went down
00:16:26
playing poker with my buddy I came home
00:16:28
and my daughter said there was a robber
00:16:30
in the house and she saw them this story
00:16:32
about a robbery just isn't working there
00:16:34
doesn't seem to be any sign of forced
00:16:36
entry but if that that's the case how
00:16:39
did the robber get in there was no
00:16:42
rumaging through through drawers or
00:16:44
anything that would suggest a burglary
00:16:47
um it was odd that none of that was
00:16:52
present at one point he says something
00:16:54
curious he says well you'll know it
00:16:57
wasn't me because my truck has GPS on
00:17:01
it it was something he would repeat in
00:17:03
this official statement to police later
00:17:05
that
00:17:06
night as the Emergency Services
00:17:09
descended on the house and began picking
00:17:10
their way through the horrific scene
00:17:12
Kelly's older sister Kim arrived alerted
00:17:15
by Tom
00:17:26
Clayton she and other family members
00:17:28
were question by police their suspicions
00:17:31
fell on a disgruntled ex-employee of
00:17:33
Clayton's his name Michael
00:17:36
beard beard worked for his company as a
00:17:40
laborer also did some work for him uh
00:17:43
personally around his home just just you
00:17:45
know different projects needed done like
00:17:48
you know mowing things mowing grass and
00:17:51
and digging things and cutting things
00:17:54
down whatever needed to be done beard
00:17:56
had been fired actually from serf Pro
00:17:59
when the owner got complaints from
00:18:01
customers that that beard was stealing
00:18:04
items from homes where he was working
00:18:06
Michael beard also is a tenant at one of
00:18:09
of Tom's properties so now he doesn't
00:18:12
have a job so he doesn't have any money
00:18:14
and can't pay the rent so now Michael
00:18:16
beard is facing
00:18:18
eviction seemingly bearing at least two
00:18:21
grudges against Tom Clayton beard made
00:18:23
an obvious suspect they blame it all on
00:18:26
Michael beard I see I mean you know the
00:18:28
guy needed money um you know the guy he
00:18:32
just got fired and and he was about to
00:18:34
be evicted and oh by the way he used to
00:18:37
work some odd jobs at the house so he
00:18:39
knows his way
00:18:40
around Michael beard was brought in for
00:18:43
questioning he denied all involvement
00:18:46
but he agreed to a polygraph
00:18:49
test polygraph tests are are used to Aid
00:18:53
at the investigation not necessarily
00:18:56
determine guilt or innocence but to see
00:18:58
a certain response or physical response
00:19:01
from someone when they're asked the
00:19:03
[Music]
00:19:04
question he um failed he failed
00:19:08
miserably and it wasn't just the
00:19:10
polygraph test that police had over
00:19:11
Michael beard investigators found Holly
00:19:15
bar Michael Beard's girlfriend uh
00:19:18
she pretty much told investigators what
00:19:21
she knew and what
00:19:23
happened with nowhere left to hide beard
00:19:26
began talking beard became extremely
00:19:29
Cooperative with police he led them to
00:19:31
the physical evidence evidence that
00:19:33
proved that he had been intimately
00:19:35
involved in the murder of Kelly Clayton
00:19:38
first he showed officers where he had
00:19:39
dumped the murder weapon the distinctive
00:19:41
yellow handle of a
00:19:43
sledgehammer beard threw the stick on
00:19:47
the side of the
00:19:49
road beard told them that's where he
00:19:51
left the murder weapon the the the mall
00:19:53
handle that he used to attack
00:19:55
Kelly next he took them to a swamp just
00:19:58
behind a roadside
00:20:00
in they retrieved the bloody clothing
00:20:03
that was tossed into that swampy
00:20:06
area the clothing that has Kelly
00:20:09
Clayton's DNA all over
00:20:14
it and there was something else he led
00:20:16
police to the creek where he' disposed
00:20:19
of one more vital piece of evidence
00:20:22
police then find the house keys that Tom
00:20:25
Clayton gave to
00:20:27
Michael be claimed that he'd been given
00:20:29
the keys by his former boss the reason
00:20:33
Tom Clayton was giving Michael beard one
00:20:35
last job Clayton said I know you're hard
00:20:38
up I will pay you $10,000 if you will
00:20:41
kill
00:20:43
Kelly the plan was that he was To Kill
00:20:46
Kelly then set the house on
00:20:49
fire and then burn the cars and it was
00:20:52
all part of this insurance
00:20:55
scam the million dooll life insurance
00:20:58
policy on Kelly that Clayton had doubled
00:21:00
just a year earlier the evidence against
00:21:02
Tom Clayton was growing by the day but
00:21:04
there was a serious problem with
00:21:06
Clayton's poker Alibi how were police
00:21:09
going to link him conclusively to the
00:21:11
murder of his
00:21:13
wife investigators did find a
00:21:18
witness can you tell me what he looked
00:21:21
like
00:21:28
[Music]
00:21:32
detectives hunting the killer of mother
00:21:34
of two Kelly Clayton had one man in
00:21:36
custody Michael beard now they were
00:21:39
pursuing a new line of evidence the
00:21:42
challenge the prosecutors fa is that all
00:21:44
the physical evidence was linked to
00:21:47
beard the casaste I had against him was
00:21:50
very strong uh you know they had DNA
00:21:53
evidence on the mall handle the bloody
00:21:56
clothing uh they had him pretty had the
00:21:59
rights so how could investigators follow
00:22:01
up Michael Beard's claim that he'd been
00:22:04
acting under instruction from Kelly's
00:22:06
husband the successful businessman the
00:22:08
hockey hero Tom Clayton unless there was
00:22:12
someone who might be able to identify a
00:22:13
masked man seen in the house that night
00:22:15
there was little they could do but was
00:22:18
there
00:22:19
someone unfortunately the children were
00:22:22
witness to this very brutal and bloody
00:22:25
murder of their mother
00:22:29
Clayton's daughter would need delicate
00:22:30
handling by specially trained police
00:22:33
interviewers in the middle of the
00:22:35
night this guy came and started hitting
00:22:38
my mom with like this pipe thing
00:22:41
me can you tell me more about that um
00:22:45
there was blood everywhere on my door on
00:22:48
the floor not on the carpet
00:22:51
though what did you hear like my mom ran
00:22:54
to the door
00:22:56
screaming she told officers everything
00:22:58
she could about the man she'd seen the
00:22:59
night her mother was attacked can you
00:23:02
tell me what he looked
00:23:04
like he was wearing jeans a black
00:23:07
longsleeve shirt and a mask okay what
00:23:10
did the robber look like he looked like
00:23:13
my dad and and why do you say that how
00:23:15
did he look like your dad the mask and
00:23:19
CH she says the mask looked like one
00:23:22
that Daddy wears when he goes
00:23:25
hunting the detectives listened in
00:23:27
horror as recounted her memories of the
00:23:29
traumatic evening I saw the rocker like
00:23:33
hitting her until she was on the ground
00:23:35
she was sort of
00:23:37
suffering Kelly's last words were run
00:23:40
run obviously concerned that her
00:23:42
children were going to be next cap
00:23:45
[Music]
00:23:48
with and I H her leg and she
00:23:52
says but it couldn't it couldn't be
00:23:56
Daddy because then who would take care
00:23:57
of us
00:23:59
and then she asked the cop where's
00:24:02
Mommy as investigators pursued this new
00:24:05
line of inquiry One By One The Pie has
00:24:08
fell into place now police are
00:24:11
continuing to collect more evidence on
00:24:14
Tom Clayton after firing beard Clayton
00:24:17
had tried to find him other work and
00:24:19
promised to pay an outstanding fine be
00:24:22
was very vulnerable and um Clayton was
00:24:25
taken advantage of that um put him in a
00:24:27
situation where he had some control over
00:24:30
beard when you consider that Clayton was
00:24:32
a narcissist right and that the people
00:24:34
in his lives were instruments for him to
00:24:36
either get ahead um become more
00:24:38
successful um then it it's no surprise
00:24:41
that Michael beard was a tool in
00:24:44
Clayton's toolbox Tom saw that maybe
00:24:46
this is a person who's a bit crooked
00:24:48
who's a bit lost and Tom with his power
00:24:51
and with his lure of money could cause
00:24:53
the tip in the scale for him to say yes
00:24:55
to an egregious act and that's in fact
00:24:58
what Tom did Tom saw that opportunity
00:25:00
and basically lured him in by saying I
00:25:03
can provide you with more Financial
00:25:05
Security if you just do this one thing
00:25:06
for me phone records revealed the
00:25:09
relationship between the two men one a
00:25:12
wealthy and popular local figure the
00:25:14
other a sacked employee about to be made
00:25:17
homeless the most compelling evidence
00:25:20
had to do with cell phone
00:25:22
use because uh Clayton and beard were in
00:25:26
a constant contact either by by phone or
00:25:29
text message in the days leading up to
00:25:32
the murder and even though Tom no longer
00:25:35
employs Michael he is on the phone with
00:25:39
him a lot they're in sort of Constant
00:25:42
Contact they thought they were being
00:25:43
clever there were no text messages that
00:25:45
said okay you show up at my house on
00:25:47
this night and kill Kelly and then the
00:25:49
next day I'll pay you $10,000 there was
00:25:51
no Smoking Gun like that but there were
00:25:53
different messages indicated
00:25:56
that something was in the
00:25:59
works his cell phone record showed an
00:26:02
inordinate amount of phone calls between
00:26:04
him and beard um leading up to the day
00:26:07
of Kelly's
00:26:08
murder Clayton even went so far as to
00:26:11
buy beard a gift later that day Michael
00:26:14
beard texts Clayton and said he needed a
00:26:17
bike and later that day Clayton bought
00:26:19
him the
00:26:20
bike Michael beard texts Tom Clayton
00:26:24
again this time the text simply says I
00:26:27
need a little bit he's asking for
00:26:32
money in another call traced by
00:26:34
detectives Clayton made inquiries about
00:26:36
a swampy area behind a roadside Inn a
00:26:40
couple of days later Tom calls an
00:26:42
acquaintance and asks if there are
00:26:46
surveillance cameras outside a certain
00:26:49
Inn located in Elmyra and the
00:26:51
acquaintance says well you know I'm not
00:26:53
really sure I can check and get back to
00:26:55
you and he says no no no don't bother
00:26:57
don't worry about it
00:26:59
it was the Inn where Michael beard would
00:27:00
later dump his bloody clothes and there
00:27:03
was one more call that Thomas Clayton
00:27:04
made which would prove crucial to the
00:27:06
police
00:27:08
investigation Clayton borrowed Ash the
00:27:12
his friend's wife when he was at the
00:27:13
poker game asked her friend's wife can I
00:27:15
borrow your phone to make a
00:27:17
call Lucky Miller the woman who hosted
00:27:21
the poker game the phone she lent to Tom
00:27:26
lucky tells police you know I thought it
00:27:28
was a little odd could he borrow her
00:27:31
cell phone because he had left his in
00:27:32
the truck so he takes lucky cell phone
00:27:35
he goes down the hall and he has this
00:27:38
hushed
00:27:40
conversation and when he's finished he
00:27:42
comes back and lucky realizes when she
00:27:45
looks at her phone that there's no trace
00:27:48
of that phone call Tom has apparently
00:27:51
deleted the phone call from her phone
00:27:54
Clayton thought that he'd covered his
00:27:55
tracks but police were able to retrieve
00:27:57
the call from Lucky Miller's phone
00:27:59
records the call Clayton made 10:30 that
00:28:02
night was to Michael
00:28:04
beard that was the go call once he made
00:28:08
that call Michael beard went to the
00:28:10
house and murdered
00:28:13
Kelly that was the evidence that these
00:28:16
two were inextricably connected and yes
00:28:19
Clayton was definitely involved in the
00:28:20
murder of his wife the theory looked
00:28:23
like it was coming together but it was
00:28:25
still just a theory the evidence against
00:28:27
Tom Clayton remained circumstantial at
00:28:29
best detectives were relying on the
00:28:32
testimony of Michael beard a man about
00:28:34
to face trial for the murder of Kelly
00:28:37
Clayton he told police that Clayton
00:28:40
asked him to Kill Kelly uh and if the
00:28:43
kids were there you know not to leave
00:28:46
any Witnesses he actually told Michael
00:28:49
beard to burn down the house to try to
00:28:51
destroy any evidence that this was a
00:28:53
murder so that he could collect on the
00:28:55
life insurance it was the version events
00:28:58
that had led police to investigate Tom
00:29:00
Clayton over the killing but Michael
00:29:02
beard was about to change his evidence
00:29:06
his initial story was that Clayton
00:29:07
offered to pay him $10,000 to Kill
00:29:10
Kelly he confessed to that but when he
00:29:13
he he came up to trial he told a
00:29:15
different story he later said Clayton
00:29:18
told him oh no I just want you to burn
00:29:19
the house down for the insurance money I
00:29:21
guarantee nobody will be home there
00:29:22
visiting relatives or whatever well
00:29:24
maybe what happened here was that he got
00:29:28
scared because the kids were there and
00:29:30
they weren't supposed to be there so it
00:29:31
freaked him out whatever Michael Beard's
00:29:34
intentions were that September evening
00:29:36
he was very clear to the jury at his
00:29:38
trial about one thing in particular he
00:29:41
went into the house with the idea just
00:29:42
to burn it down and then and and found
00:29:44
Kelly already dead now he's recanted his
00:29:48
confession and he says this was all Tom
00:29:52
Clayton he says this was all supposed to
00:29:54
be I was supposed to burn the house down
00:29:58
burn the cars it was all part of this
00:30:00
insurance scam it never was supposed to
00:30:03
be a murder I'm not the killer Tom
00:30:06
Clayton is the killer Beard's evidence
00:30:10
in court didn't hold water for one
00:30:12
simple
00:30:13
reason he recanted his confession
00:30:17
despite the fact that he had led
00:30:18
officers to the actual murder weapon and
00:30:22
other physical evidence the jury refused
00:30:24
to believe that he had nothing to do
00:30:26
with Kelly's death in November 2016
00:30:28
Michael beard was convicted of first and
00:30:31
second degree
00:30:34
murder Michael beard is sentenced to
00:30:38
life without parole on the first degree
00:30:40
murder plus 25 years on the second
00:30:43
degree murder he will serve those
00:30:44
sentences
00:30:48
concurrently convicted of killing Kelly
00:30:50
Michael beard had been proved in court
00:30:52
to be a liar but if his version of
00:30:54
events wasn't true where did that leave
00:30:56
the investigation into Thomas Clayton a
00:30:58
man Detective still believed was
00:31:00
intimately involved in the murder of his
00:31:07
[Music]
00:31:13
wife Thomas Clayton was first arrested
00:31:16
the day after his wife's murder in
00:31:18
September 2015 detectives though had a
00:31:21
problem there was no concrete evidence
00:31:24
linking him to the crime Tom posts
00:31:26
$250,000 and gets out on Bond and while
00:31:30
he was out police investigators um
00:31:34
continued to investigate without the
00:31:36
restrictions of married life Tom Clayton
00:31:38
quickly returned to his free willing
00:31:40
single lifestyle he doesn't seem like a
00:31:43
grieving husband at all he was ready to
00:31:46
move on to this new life of luxury and
00:31:50
social prowess and making new friends
00:31:54
and basically just being powerful in a
00:31:56
completely new way and I don't think at
00:31:58
this point he was thinking at all about
00:32:00
anybody else but himself and it's almost
00:32:02
as if Kelly and the children never
00:32:05
existed meanwhile detectives
00:32:07
investigating Kelly's murder were
00:32:08
turning up the new details of Clayton's
00:32:11
womanizing they talked to a lot of his
00:32:13
girlfriends and and female Witnesses who
00:32:16
gave a lot of information that
00:32:18
implicated
00:32:19
Clayton his relationships with other
00:32:22
women were ranging from him having a
00:32:25
relationship with one of Kelly's closest
00:32:27
friends
00:32:28
uh a relationship with even a
00:32:29
15-year-old
00:32:30
girl police discovered that at the same
00:32:33
time as he was fooling around with other
00:32:35
women Clayton was playing the devoted
00:32:37
husband with Kelly he'd sent her loving
00:32:39
messages while he was sending sexually
00:32:42
suggested messages to his other
00:32:43
girlfriends she had no idea what was
00:32:46
coming it was a painstaking process but
00:32:49
piece by piece detectives built their
00:32:51
case against Thomas
00:32:53
Clayton they had so many witnesses who
00:32:55
had maybe one or two things that add to
00:32:58
the pile but that pile got Higher and
00:33:01
Higher and each piece of circumstantial
00:33:04
evidence added to the last so by the end
00:33:07
they had a fairly compelling case but it
00:33:09
took a lot of pieces and a lot of dots
00:33:11
they had to connect to make that case
00:33:14
happen January the 9th 2017 more than 15
00:33:17
months after the killing of Kelly
00:33:19
Clayton her husband Thomas was finally
00:33:21
brought to trial accused of her
00:33:23
murder I've covered a lot of murder
00:33:26
trials and and other trials other
00:33:28
serious crimes uh some of which have
00:33:30
kept me up at night uh some of which
00:33:33
some of which have uh have haunted me
00:33:35
for months this was one of them in the
00:33:38
dock a popular local Sportsman turned
00:33:40
businessman for the prosecution a case
00:33:43
built on circumstantial
00:33:45
evidence this is a crime that happened
00:33:48
behind closed doors without Witnesses
00:33:50
they didn't have anybody could forward
00:33:52
could come forward and say I saw him do
00:33:54
it so they had to rely on the evidence
00:33:58
and a lot of that evidence would not
00:34:00
have been available without the the sort
00:34:03
of technology that we have
00:34:05
today at the trial evidence was revealed
00:34:07
about Clayton's true
00:34:09
character these women that had come
00:34:12
forward to police these women that he'd
00:34:14
been having affairs with take the stand
00:34:17
some of whom were single some of whom
00:34:18
were married some of whom were not even
00:34:20
of age one was 15 years old a minor when
00:34:27
Tom was seeing her another was a close
00:34:31
friend of
00:34:32
Kelly's and then there was the life
00:34:35
insurance agent who tells the jurors
00:34:38
about a threesome that she had with Tom
00:34:41
and another life insurance agent the
00:34:43
testimony of the women uh that Clayton
00:34:46
had affairs with pointed toward motive
00:34:49
Tom had said in casual passing that he
00:34:52
couldn't divorce Kelly even though they
00:34:54
were unhappy because she would take him
00:34:55
to the cleaners and take him for all of
00:34:57
his money all the witnesses described
00:34:59
what a [ __ ] Clayton said his wife was
00:35:02
and how much he stood to lose in a
00:35:05
divorce it Illustrated how much you
00:35:07
really wanted to kill
00:35:09
her wanting to Kill Kelly and actually
00:35:12
going through it would too entirely
00:35:13
different things and for a husband who
00:35:15
doubled his wife's life insurance a year
00:35:17
earlier it would have to be done
00:35:19
properly if Clayton was afraid she was
00:35:22
going to take him to the cleaners he
00:35:23
needed to be absolutely sure that she
00:35:25
was dead the defense argued that another
00:35:28
man was already guilty of this
00:35:30
murder Clayton and his attorneys denied
00:35:33
everything they wanted to pin everything
00:35:35
on beard and said that Clayton had
00:35:37
nothing to do with it as the evidence
00:35:40
against him mounted however the
00:35:42
prosecution's theory about Clayton's
00:35:43
involvement looked stronger and stronger
00:35:47
as more and more sorted details came out
00:35:50
uh it just kind of fueled the Flames of
00:35:53
that of that drama and it just you know
00:35:56
it was it was almost like watching a
00:35:58
made for TV movie it was like this was
00:36:00
made to be it was scripted to be like
00:36:02
that
00:36:03
almost Clayton's play boy lifestyle his
00:36:06
younger days as a hockey goon his
00:36:09
running with the law it all added to the
00:36:11
case against him we know that Clayton
00:36:14
liked to instigate fights right on the
00:36:16
rink so professionally and in the bars
00:36:20
right so in his personal life as well it
00:36:22
shouldn't shock anyone that he would use
00:36:26
aggression and in this case the form of
00:36:28
aggression the ending of someone's life
00:36:30
um to you know further his own his own
00:36:34
cause police think it's possible
00:36:37
actually that Tom's plan was that the
00:36:40
kids were going to be in the house that
00:36:43
he was supposed to have the house set on
00:36:46
fire with the kids in there this
00:36:49
automatically tips me off to an extreme
00:36:51
lack of empathy callousness for Jeffrey
00:36:54
Murray what he saw in front of him in
00:36:56
the courtroom
00:36:58
was a coldness about Clayton if somebody
00:37:01
was up there giving some rather
00:37:03
compelling or jamming testimony I'd look
00:37:04
over to see how was Tom Clayton reacting
00:37:07
and he wasn't he wasn't reacting he just
00:37:10
kind
00:37:10
of just like he was staring at a wall
00:37:14
almost
00:37:18
expressionless which way would the jury
00:37:20
go guilty or not guilty when they came
00:37:23
back with a verdict in only 6 hours I
00:37:25
have to admit I was pretty surprised I
00:37:27
said wow
00:37:28
that that was amazing I I didn't expect
00:37:30
that so they must have just realized
00:37:31
that some of the evidence was pretty
00:37:35
compelling in February of 2017 Tom
00:37:39
Clayton is found guilty first-degree
00:37:42
murder
00:37:44
oh oh okay and second degree murder in
00:37:49
the killing of his wife
00:37:51
Kelly people started crying they were
00:37:54
hugging each other uh it was very
00:37:56
emotional
00:37:59
I'm sure they had so many emotions
00:38:00
running through their heads you know
00:38:02
that the the satisfaction of getting a
00:38:05
guilty verdict so just the reminder of
00:38:07
the sadness that their their their their
00:38:09
daughter their sister was gone um all
00:38:12
those things collided at once and you
00:38:14
could read it so clearly in their faces
00:38:15
that's what sticks out for me the
00:38:19
most in April 2017 Thomas Clayton was
00:38:22
sentenced to life in prison without
00:38:24
parole for first-degree murder plus 25
00:38:27
years for second degree murder this was
00:38:30
all about Tom just wanting to get rid of
00:38:34
his wife and his children and go back to
00:38:36
being a single Bad Boy
00:38:39
again this is a case in which financial
00:38:42
motivation was absolutely the primary
00:38:44
and possibly even the only drive for why
00:38:46
he decided to kill her instead of just
00:38:48
divorce her or leave her this is
00:38:50
somebody who wants to protect his ego at
00:38:53
all costs and the money that he had
00:38:55
amassed is his entire self-concept and
00:38:58
so he wasn't going to allow Kelly to
00:39:00
benefit in any small way from what he
00:39:03
believed was rightfully
00:39:05
his all the elements were there you had
00:39:08
this family that appeared on the surface
00:39:10
to have an idolic lifestyle they were
00:39:13
happily married you see them they were
00:39:15
always smiling and they're playing with
00:39:16
the kids and they lived in this
00:39:18
beautiful house on top of a hill and it
00:39:21
was the American dream and they had this
00:39:22
whole dream life and and it just all
00:39:25
Came Crashing Down
00:39:28
people couldn't believe that Clayton
00:39:30
could commit such a a heinous act but
00:39:32
this is all part of the narcissist's act
00:39:35
right to to create the story for you and
00:39:38
control that story so that you know at
00:39:41
the end of the day when things like this
00:39:42
happen people won't pin the blame on you
00:39:45
automatically I don't think anybody
00:39:47
understood his true nature I think this
00:39:49
is somebody who basically put on a face
00:39:53
whenever he was in public and he was
00:39:54
this very Charming individual and it was
00:39:56
easy for him to show that superficial
00:39:58
charm for a little while and then he
00:40:00
would go back into his own space where
00:40:02
he would actually be the person he truly
00:40:05
was Thomas Clayton was convicted of his
00:40:07
wife's murder in part thanks to the
00:40:09
identification of his daughter now she
00:40:12
and her younger brother have been left
00:40:13
to grow up without either of their
00:40:17
parents it's really the children who
00:40:20
have suffered the most in all of
00:40:24
this they were both young children this
00:40:26
obviously had to be very traumatic for
00:40:31
them Tom Clayton the bad boy who killed
00:40:35
his wife to get his freedom back will
00:40:38
never be free again
00:41:27
[Music]
00:41:36
[Music]
