00:00:04
on this episode of women behind bars
00:00:07
one woman claimed she was driven to kill
00:00:09
her father after years of sexual abuse
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i performed oral sex and didn't really
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know it i couldn't believe that this was
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my dad
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that he was hurting me like this we had
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a
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victim laying on the couch with apparent
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gunshot wounds blood all over his face
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another woman kills a key witness to
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keep her boyfriend out of jail
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she was in a gang she participated in
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drug dealing
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baby doll turned out to be probably one
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of the ruthless females that i've ever
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seen
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they had wrapped a phone cord around her
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throat trying to strangle her as they
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dump the urine
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down her throat two women two brutal
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crimes
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these are the stories of stacy leonard
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and charity white
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[Music]
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in the early morning hours of july 4th
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1990
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tom leonard was shot to death in his
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home
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according to investigators the shooter
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was his own daughter
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eighteen-year-old stacy lanart this was
00:01:22
a well
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thought out plan to to kill her father
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but allegations of years of abuse
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painted a different theory
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stacy was in fear of her father and was
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always in fear
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of her father was this a calculated
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murder for prophet
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or a daughter's desperate breaking point
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[Music]
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i remember that carefree time when
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everything was just
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okay and you know you're
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happy to explore and the world's ahead
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of you and
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you feel like you can do anything i did
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feel that
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growing up stacey ann leonard was born
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in 1972
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in st louis missouri to tom and deborah
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lennart
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my dad he was my hero i remember
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how i would wait for him to come home
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and i'd just be you know so excited when
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he'd pull up
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and you know i do have those memories
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and i really try to cling to them
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the lanyards from all accounts seemed
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like they were probably
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the family next door
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[Music]
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but the smiling family photos concealed
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a shocking secret
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it changed after my grandpa lanark died
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once he died my dad really started
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drinking heavily mr lanard was an
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alcoholic
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and so people sometimes could excuse
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behavior in their mind they'll say oh it
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was because he was drunk
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tom leonard's drinking created friction
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in the marriage
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and deborah stacy's mother refused to be
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with him when he was drunk
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we lived near my mother's family and she
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spent a lot more time with them
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than she did with us and she became more
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independent
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as a rift grew between husband and wife
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tom began to spend more time with his
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oldest daughter
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stacy was known as tom's favorite
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she was the one that he chose to spend
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time with the most
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he rewarded her with more presence
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because of that it made me feel very
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special we had little t-shirts that said
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um daddy's number one girl
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it was in the basement of the family
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home where everything changed for stacy
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she says she was eight years old when
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her dad first molested her
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he put marshmallow cream on his
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area he'd haven't touched him told me
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that was his little friend
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i performed oral sex and didn't really
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know it he had told me
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that i was special and that he loved me
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and that i loved him and that's what
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people who love each other
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do several months later leonard claims
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her father's secret game turned violent
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i knew it had changed because it was the
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first time i felt pain
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and it was the first time they raped me
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i couldn't really wrap my mind around
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what was happening and how it felt
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because it hurt
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so badly i couldn't believe that this
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was my dad
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that this was my dad that i loved that
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he was hurting me
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like this i just screamed
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and i might not even have screamed out
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loud she
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did dissociate which is very typical of
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battered children
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children in that sort of abusive
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situation really almost
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some of them describe it as an
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out-of-body experience they they can't
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deal with
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the feelings that they're that they're
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actually feeling when they're being
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raped or molested he took something from
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me
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right then at that moment and
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part of it was the ability to feel and
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never feel normal
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or to ever feel really and truly happy
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again you know right then right there
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on that spot on that floor
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with him after the rape
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stacy screamed for her mom but she was
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not home
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according to leonard her father told her
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that mom already knew about the abuse
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and didn't care stacy believed her dad
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and kept quiet an aunt
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said that she thought that stacy acted
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like a sexual abuse victim because
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she and her sister who was stacy's
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mother
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had also been sexual abuse victims and
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she recognized
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the signs stacy's mom deborah sent her
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to a psychologist
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but stacy denied being raped overwhelmed
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by a crumbling marriage
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deborah did not know what more she could
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do for her daughter
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tom and debra lennart divorced when
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stacy was 12 years old and shared
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custody of the children
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stacy says her father's sexual demands
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never let up
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i didn't want him to touch me i didn't
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feel like i could go through it anymore
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and i'd just rather die than have to
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deal with what i was dealing with
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at 14 years old stacy attempted suicide
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she tried to overdose on pills
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leonard says her sister was her only
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reason to live
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you know i took care of my sister and
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being with her
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was really the only thing that i had
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that kept me hanging on
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in 1988 tom leonard and his daughters
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moved to st
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john missouri a suburb of st louis and
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stacy threw herself into high school
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activities
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to those on the outside stacy appeared
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to be a normal
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happy student she was a member of the
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yearbook staff she was a member of the
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tennis team
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she had quite a few friends but stacey
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was careful not to let anyone
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into her private world the closer we
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grew the more distant she made it
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and when it ended it seemed that we just
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ended better as friends than as
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boyfriend and girlfriend
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i think she did what she needed to do in
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order to keep her secret
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she was completely afraid that somebody
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would find out
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you don't want to be looked at
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differently
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and there was so much shame and guilt
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because
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i always felt like some part of me
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allowed it to happen
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and i wondered how people would
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treat me once they knew fed up with her
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abusive home life the 17 year old quit
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high school in her senior year
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and moved to be with her mother who had
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remarried a man in the military
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stationed in guam stacy was doing well
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out in guam
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living with her mother until she got an
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emergency call from her sister
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who said that she needed help she
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started calling
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us and she'd be drunk and she's 14 years
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old
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she's begging me to come home after a
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two-month stay in guam
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stacey returned home to missouri in
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april 1990 to help care for her sister
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once stacey moves back in the house she
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now then assumes the role of the mother
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and wife back in the role that she had
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left so there was a lot of
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tension in the home after stacey moves
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back from guam
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stacy's 18th birthday was far from a
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happy occasion
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she remembers that day as one of her
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father's worst assaults
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he was drunk and he just beat me
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cut off my ponytail brought the knife
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down by the side of my face
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and with what he had left just pulled me
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to the ground and raped me
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and then when he got done he kicked me
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and he spit on me
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and he threw 40 on me and told me happy
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birthday
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when women behind bars continues we had
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a
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victim laying on the couch with apparent
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gunshot wounds blood all over his face
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eighteen-year-old stacey leonard was the
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image of a bright outgoing college-bound
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teen
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no one suspected the terrible secret she
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hid from everyone
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according to leonard she had endured 10
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years of repeated sexual abuse at the
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hands of her own father
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then on july 3 1990 tension in the
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leonard household reached a boiling
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point
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i can't even remember everything that
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was said or everything that
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had happened but him and i had a fight
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a lot of screaming a lot of yelling and
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i eventually ran out the door
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stacey and her sister christy left the
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house and hung out with friends at the
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fair in downtown st
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louis and then when it was time to go
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home
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i didn't want to go home i didn't ever
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want to go home again
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so we actually went to a little cheap
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motel
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i didn't know what we're gonna do you
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know chrissy's looking at me for answers
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and i don't know
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i really don't we had to go back
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to get the dog they had wanted to pick
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up a puppy
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that they had got because they were
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afraid that their father was going to
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kill the puppy because he said he was
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going to get a puppy
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[Applause]
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we drove home and when we got there we
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went through the basement window we're
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trying to
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sneak in and sneak out before he ever
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even realized we were there
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i heard him i heard him upstairs
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something had woke him up
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and i thought we're leaving here
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we're leaving here right now whatever
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i've got to do we're going to leave
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and the gun was downstairs
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from him earlier he put it down there
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and i took it upstairs
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she went upstairs because she didn't she
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knew he'd been drinking all day and she
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didn't know what she was going to run
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into
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i didn't know what i actually thought i
00:11:00
was gonna do
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but i think somewhere in the back of my
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mind i kind of knew
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that that this might happen
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by the time i got upstairs he had passed
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back out
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and i put the gun on a ledge
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and i shot him
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[Music]
00:11:23
according to the police statement
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christy lannard says she was in a
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bedroom when she heard the shot
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the first shot while mr leonard was
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sleeping on the couch struck him in the
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shoulder and awokened him
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at that point he asked stacy to call for
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an ambulance
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he thought that he had
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broken his collarbone he thought he had
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twisted and broken his coggles how drunk
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he was
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she intended to get him help and she and
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he sat up and they talked and she looked
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for the phone and she was going to call
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an ambulance
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and he starts screaming just yelling at
00:11:57
us calling us [Â __Â ] and wait till
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he gets up from here and and so i'm
00:12:01
looking around panicked going to where
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the phone should be the phone isn't
00:12:04
there and i walked back in the living
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room and there was the gun
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and i thought it's got to stop
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and then i shot him the second time
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the second shot that she fired was was
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in the forehead which was the immediate
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cause of death
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well when i first walked in the scene it
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was extremely hot it was the fourth of
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july it was very hot
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and we had a victim laying on the couch
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with
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apparent gunshot wounds blood all over
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his face the leonard sisters were taken
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to the police station for questioning
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detective tom schulte of the major case
00:12:52
squad was assigned to interrogate stacy
00:12:55
i first had my suspicions that she was
00:12:57
connected with the case uh when i walked
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into the room quite honestly
00:13:00
i mean the way he looked at me i knew he
00:13:03
knew
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when i asked about the the abuse in the
00:13:06
household she busted down she just
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started crying
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and that's when i knew that she was
00:13:11
involved in the homicide i just remember
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telling him
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and when i told him i was at
00:13:18
peace you know how
00:13:20
i was and i was so glad
00:13:25
that everything was over
00:13:31
at one am after six hours of questioning
00:13:34
police asked stacy to do a video
00:13:36
reenactment of the crime
00:13:38
i didn't want to at all whatsoever i
00:13:40
didn't want to step foot in that house
00:13:42
ever ever ever again detective schulte
00:13:46
told me that it would be okay and that
00:13:48
i needed to go back so
00:13:53
i walked back in there and
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the only condition that i'd had was that
00:14:00
i didn't see the area
00:14:03
they said that if i was sorry
00:14:07
about what i did i would go back
00:14:11
and i was sorry stacy walked
00:14:15
investigators through the crime scene
00:14:17
step by step
00:14:18
and i decided at that moment
00:14:22
that i was going to do it
00:14:27
i walked he's laying on behind here
00:14:30
right here
00:14:30
with my client here with the gun
00:14:33
on that little ledge and then pull the
00:14:36
turkey
00:14:40
then in the early morning hours of july
00:14:42
5th she was booked for murder
00:14:47
stacy spent the next two years in jail
00:14:49
awaiting trial
00:14:51
chris mcgraw was appointed as stacy's
00:14:53
defense attorney and knew he had an
00:14:55
uphill battle on his hands
00:14:57
stacy wasn't necessarily forthright with
00:15:00
the
00:15:00
allegations of sexual abuse at at the
00:15:02
outset
00:15:03
i couldn't even say that my dad
00:15:06
raped me all i could at that time all i
00:15:09
could say was
00:15:10
that he hurt me he hurt me
00:15:15
the trial began in october 1992
00:15:18
the cornerstone of stacy's defense would
00:15:20
be her mental state
00:15:22
caused by years of systematic and brutal
00:15:24
sexual abuse
00:15:25
a claim the prosecution would contest
00:15:28
throughout the investigation we could
00:15:31
come up with absolutely no concrete
00:15:33
evidence whatsoever
00:15:34
that she was sexually abused we talked
00:15:37
to enough people and interviewed enough
00:15:39
people
00:15:40
that something would have come out and
00:15:42
we could not
00:15:43
substantiate it one bit dr hutchinson
00:15:46
believed that stacy was actually
00:15:47
dissociating at the moment that she shot
00:15:49
her father
00:15:50
and that very well may be true because
00:15:52
she some of the details she's told about
00:15:55
that crime are inconsistent there's
00:15:57
things she doesn't remember very well
00:15:59
so there was going to be gaps because if
00:16:02
she had disassociated disorder this is
00:16:04
what would happen we would have gaps
00:16:05
that we couldn't explain the prosecution
00:16:08
started off strong showing jurors the
00:16:11
videotaped reenactment stacy did for
00:16:13
police
00:16:14
her cool demeanor puzzled jurors
00:16:17
and i went downstairs to try and find
00:16:19
the phone
00:16:34
i think people on the jury were i don't
00:16:37
know if they were surprised or
00:16:38
they were just sort of like well she
00:16:40
really didn't care
00:16:42
look at her she she's so emotionless
00:16:44
about this she's like
00:16:45
she killed just killed her father and
00:16:46
she can just walk through it like
00:16:47
there's nothing to it
00:16:49
the videotape supported the
00:16:51
prosecution's theory that stacy was a
00:16:53
cold-blooded killer
00:16:55
but the defense argued that leonard's
00:16:57
reaction was evidence that she did shut
00:16:59
down emotionally
00:17:01
the court took a recess after the tape
00:17:03
and the jurors were escorted out
00:17:04
and all of a sudden stacy just
00:17:06
completely melted down just completely
00:17:09
unfolded with a hysterical crying and
00:17:12
real outpouring of emotion which fit
00:17:15
pretty close to what the psychologists
00:17:18
were telling us
00:17:19
and that is is that she can
00:17:22
hold things back and take herself out of
00:17:24
the situation
00:17:26
for periods of time but then like
00:17:28
anything else if it's an avalanche
00:17:30
unfortunately for us the jurors never
00:17:33
saw that the prosecution had other
00:17:35
evidence that stacy simply wanted her
00:17:37
father's money
00:17:38
and was willing to kill for it one
00:17:40
witness told the jury stacy wanted to
00:17:42
hire a hitman
00:17:44
a friend of hers that used to babysit
00:17:46
she said that
00:17:47
he knows someone that would do it whose
00:17:49
name to my knowledge is artie
00:17:52
okay and i told her she was completely
00:17:55
nuts and that
00:17:56
you know no matter how you know much she
00:17:59
wants the money or how much she can't
00:18:00
stand her dad
00:18:01
that you know that's a little bit too
00:18:05
drastic
00:18:06
it was determined that she had tried to
00:18:10
hire someone to kill her father and and
00:18:12
that never worked out so therefore she
00:18:14
had to
00:18:15
to do it herself the prosecutor brought
00:18:18
a really strong case for
00:18:20
um that it was premeditated we see that
00:18:23
there was pre-planning
00:18:25
we see that uh not only shot once but
00:18:28
shot twice
00:18:30
um and that is a
00:18:33
clear indication that she wanted him
00:18:36
dead did she try to hire a hitman
00:18:38
probably did she try to do this sure you
00:18:41
know
00:18:42
did she do it for the money i don't
00:18:44
think so
00:18:46
where i differed from the people who
00:18:48
were running the investigation at the
00:18:49
time is i believe that she did it
00:18:51
because she was being abused
00:18:54
they believed that she did it because
00:18:55
she wanted the money that's the
00:18:57
difference between murder one and burner
00:18:58
two
00:19:00
when women behind bars continues there
00:19:02
were people that were just
00:19:04
shocked how could we possibly come back
00:19:06
with that verdict
00:19:10
leonard was on trial for the murder of
00:19:12
her father in st louis county missouri
00:19:14
in october 1992. the defense argued that
00:19:17
stacy was a confused and battered child
00:19:20
the prosecution claimed she was a cold
00:19:22
calculating killer
00:19:24
i have investigated many homicides
00:19:27
probably close to 50.
00:19:29
and i can say without a doubt this is
00:19:32
probably one of the
00:19:33
most cold-blooded crimes that i have
00:19:35
ever investigated
00:19:37
quite a few of the jurors and myself
00:19:39
included um
00:19:40
really had lots of reservations because
00:19:43
she did shoot him twice
00:19:44
and the second chat was at very close
00:19:47
range
00:19:48
she had to go over and see him and get
00:19:51
there and had to pull the trigger a
00:19:52
second time make that conscious decision
00:19:54
to do that again so
00:19:56
that had a huge impact on people once
00:19:58
the court would not
00:19:59
allow us to instruct in self-defense i
00:20:01
still felt there was enough evidence out
00:20:03
there for the jury to embrace the idea
00:20:05
that
00:20:06
stacey committed a homicide but
00:20:08
shouldn't be punished to the full extent
00:20:09
of the law
00:20:18
there were people that were just shocked
00:20:20
how could we possibly
00:20:21
come back with that verdict or that
00:20:23
decision at all when the verdict was
00:20:25
read
00:20:26
there was a emotional response by the
00:20:29
spectators they were
00:20:31
there was a lot of yelling and screaming
00:20:33
and crying
00:20:35
of course it was an emotional packed
00:20:37
case right up to the very
00:20:38
you know very end i felt as though
00:20:41
justice was served when the jury came
00:20:43
down with a verdict of first-degree
00:20:44
murder
00:20:46
i really think that the justice system
00:20:48
really had let stacy down
00:20:49
you know and i think i was kind of part
00:20:51
of that i think the jury believed she
00:20:53
was sexually abused i think the jury
00:20:54
said yes
00:20:55
you were sexually abused but we don't
00:20:57
care and i think that
00:20:58
that's a separate unto itself wound
00:21:01
because stacy was not being abused in
00:21:03
the moment of the attack
00:21:04
the judge did not allow self-defense as
00:21:07
an argument
00:21:08
i felt like the defense attorney did
00:21:11
bring out that there was sexual abuse
00:21:14
and that it probably was
00:21:16
going on but the judge had instructed us
00:21:19
to not really bring that into play
00:21:21
because it didn't
00:21:22
impact the decision for what had
00:21:25
happened in that moment
00:21:27
how could anybody sentence me to life
00:21:29
without parole
00:21:31
after knowing what we lived through you
00:21:34
know
00:21:34
there was that part of me that so badly
00:21:38
wanted
00:21:40
wanted to be forgiven
00:21:43
stacy was incarcerated at the women's
00:21:45
eastern correctional center in vandalia
00:21:47
missouri
00:21:48
to serve out her sentence of life
00:21:50
without the possibility of parole
00:21:52
you know it's taken me a long time to
00:21:54
discover anything about life
00:21:56
in the beginning i didn't care you know
00:21:58
i didn't care if i was alive or if i
00:21:59
wasn't alive i didn't have emotions i
00:22:02
didn't have
00:22:03
feelings what other people take for
00:22:06
granted
00:22:07
i didn't even know was there missouri
00:22:10
state law requires all offenders to hold
00:22:13
down a job or attend school
00:22:15
stacy works for champ an organization
00:22:17
that trains assistant dogs for the
00:22:19
physically challenged
00:22:21
they stay with us in our rooms we don't
00:22:22
actually have cells i live in a five-man
00:22:25
room there's five people that live in my
00:22:26
room we have bunk beds
00:22:28
and the dogs have crates that are up
00:22:30
against the wall they sleep in their
00:22:31
crates
00:22:32
but the dogs don't look at us as being
00:22:35
prisoners
00:22:36
the dogs look at us and they care for us
00:22:38
and they love us regardless of what we
00:22:40
did or what we've been through
00:22:42
offenders who have life sentences
00:22:44
they've come to accept
00:22:45
the fact that they're incarcerated this
00:22:47
is going to be their life so they need
00:22:48
to make the best of it
00:22:49
and you definitely see them become
00:22:52
mentors and
00:22:54
better adjusted i don't want to say i
00:22:56
like prison
00:22:57
because i obviously at some point in
00:22:59
time would love
00:23:00
the opportunity to be free but
00:23:04
what i like about being in prison is
00:23:07
that i have control of my body
00:23:09
and what happens to it
00:23:12
she gets very discouraged about this
00:23:14
case sometimes
00:23:16
she really hopes for a future and she
00:23:18
really wants to have something else than
00:23:20
this
00:23:20
the hardest part about being in prison
00:23:22
is being separated from my niece
00:23:25
i don't think being in prison ever
00:23:26
really bothered me until i couldn't be
00:23:28
there for her birth
00:23:30
and now for her life stacy's clemency
00:23:33
petition filed in 1998 was passed over
00:23:36
by three previous governors and now
00:23:38
rests on the desk of current governor
00:23:40
matt blunt clemency is an act of mercy
00:23:43
for cases just such as this someone who
00:23:46
falls through the cracks in the legal
00:23:47
system
00:23:48
and will have no other remedy for
00:23:50
release i would love to see her get
00:23:52
clemency from the governor
00:23:53
she spent her entire adult life there i
00:23:56
think she's
00:23:57
probably more than learned her lesson if
00:23:59
we're not successful in this clemency
00:24:01
petition
00:24:02
stacy will never get out of prison she
00:24:04
will die here
00:24:06
the prosecuting attorney's office still
00:24:08
firmly believes that stacy lannert
00:24:10
is right where she belongs i cannot
00:24:13
possibly fathom the fact that somebody
00:24:16
who
00:24:17
does us to their own flesh and blood
00:24:19
deserves to be back out on the street
00:24:22
i have regret i have a lot of regrets
00:24:25
you know i wish i could change things
00:24:28
i wish i was had been stronger and
00:24:32
would have found a different way to make
00:24:35
it stop
00:24:36
grateful that the abuse has stopped
00:24:40
but i wish i had found a different
00:24:45
way to make it stop
00:24:48
then the choice that i made made
00:24:52
a devastating choice 17 years now
00:24:56
she's been in prison for
00:24:59
getting herself out of a situation in a
00:25:02
terrible way and i don't minimize
00:25:04
the murder of her father she was 18
00:25:07
years old when this happened
00:25:09
she's 35 now it's time to let her go
00:25:12
being in prison i've been able to become
00:25:15
the person who
00:25:16
i think i was supposed to have been
00:25:18
before all this started
00:25:20
i try to make a difference i do i want
00:25:23
my life
00:25:24
to stand for something no matter where i
00:25:26
am whether i be here
00:25:28
or out or wherever
00:25:33
next up on women behind bars a brutal
00:25:36
homicide
00:25:36
there were injuries that i'd never seen
00:25:38
before we all
00:25:40
cut her we all play deported
00:25:45
for more information about women behind
00:25:47
bars go to www.wetv.com
00:25:57
on may 3 2000 police detectives
00:25:59
discovered the mutilated body of a 19
00:26:01
year old woman
00:26:02
dumped in an alleyway the victim turned
00:26:05
out to be
00:26:06
danielle montgomery a key witness who
00:26:08
was set to testify against her boyfriend
00:26:11
in his upcoming murder trial she
00:26:13
wouldn't die she kept
00:26:14
fighting she was pleading for her life
00:26:16
this was an extremely painful death and
00:26:19
it was done
00:26:20
to make her scream even more disturbing
00:26:23
was the fact that the killers were three
00:26:24
young girls
00:26:25
including a teenager named charity white
00:26:28
known on the streets
00:26:30
as baby doll there's no question that
00:26:32
baby doll was the ringleader
00:26:34
but did charity mastermind this
00:26:36
horrendous slaying or was she just
00:26:38
following orders
00:26:40
[Music]
00:26:43
the gateway arch stands proudly over st
00:26:45
louis missouri
00:26:46
as a national icon and popular tourist
00:26:49
attraction
00:26:50
but just north of the stainless steel
00:26:52
monument are broken neighborhoods
00:26:54
scarred by violence and neglect where
00:26:57
kids grow up fast
00:26:59
charity white nicknamed baby doll was a
00:27:01
product of this dangerous environment
00:27:04
at age 15 she left home and had to fend
00:27:07
for herself
00:27:09
she was in a gang she participated in
00:27:12
drug dealing
00:27:13
she participated in other violence she
00:27:15
was admittedly
00:27:17
known to carry a gun she had a
00:27:19
background a history
00:27:21
with our police department for part one
00:27:23
crimes burglaries
00:27:24
and things of that nature but no one
00:27:27
suspected what charity was truly capable
00:27:30
of
00:27:30
we did not know how evil she was and
00:27:33
we're thinking she's just into
00:27:34
prostitution and drugs
00:27:35
we did not know she had this in her at
00:27:37
all
00:27:39
the case had its beginnings with the
00:27:41
murder of jerome harden
00:27:43
and that happened right after christmas
00:27:45
in 1999
00:27:47
it was a drug deal that had gone bad
00:27:50
jerome hardin wanted to buy some
00:27:52
marijuana
00:27:53
just for personal use and he knew a
00:27:56
woman
00:27:57
charity white named baby doll and
00:28:01
she told him that she had connections
00:28:03
that she could score him some pot
00:28:05
charity and jerome waited together in a
00:28:07
parked car for charity's friend
00:28:09
charles liston and her boyfriend
00:28:11
demetrius ursory
00:28:12
who were supposed to have the drugs
00:28:14
charity's plan was to lead him to
00:28:17
charles liston
00:28:18
and then charles liston would rob him of
00:28:21
the money that he had brought to buy the
00:28:23
pot it was a
00:28:25
robbery under the pretense of a drug
00:28:26
deal i think a struggling suit inside
00:28:28
the car and mr liston had
00:28:31
decided to shoot mr harden
00:28:34
the bullet hit jerome hardin in the face
00:28:37
after he was shot
00:28:38
liston charity and her boyfriend
00:28:40
demetrius ursory fled the scene
00:28:43
they had a tentative id of baby doll
00:28:46
charity white
00:28:47
as participating in the robbery murder
00:28:49
but the investigation was very slow
00:28:52
detectives finally got answers when
00:28:54
charles liston's girlfriend
00:28:56
19 year old danielle montgomery showed
00:28:58
up at police headquarters
00:29:00
when we first saw danielle she appeared
00:29:02
a lot younger than what she actually was
00:29:04
she seemed very very quiet
00:29:07
very kept to herself danielle montgomery
00:29:11
was living with
00:29:13
charles liston the shooter of jerome
00:29:14
hardin she
00:29:16
at that point had been the victim of
00:29:18
domestic violence and i think she did
00:29:20
see this opportunity and thought
00:29:22
well maybe this this could be my out if
00:29:25
they actually do
00:29:26
arrest him he goes to jail danielle told
00:29:29
the police
00:29:31
that her boyfriend was responsible for
00:29:34
the murder of
00:29:35
jerome hardin i think she also gave them
00:29:38
charity white's name maybe just his baby
00:29:40
doll
00:29:41
and a third person who was part of the
00:29:43
deal danielle's information was the
00:29:46
break detectives needed
00:29:47
we felt good at that point that we could
00:29:49
get the ball rolling and
00:29:50
and get somewhere on this case but if
00:29:53
word got out about their key witness
00:29:55
danielle could be in jeopardy because we
00:29:57
knew that charles if he found out about
00:29:59
danielle
00:30:00
is the one that's trying to turn him in
00:30:02
we knew this this could turn bad
00:30:04
[Music]
00:30:06
just days later danielle shocked
00:30:08
investigators when she returned to
00:30:10
headquarters with charles liston in tow
00:30:12
she came upstairs and there's there's
00:30:15
somebody with her
00:30:17
and from looking at him and from seeing
00:30:19
the pictures and we were trying to
00:30:20
locate him we're like
00:30:22
oh my gosh she just brought charles to
00:30:24
us
00:30:25
danielle lured liston into police
00:30:27
headquarters under the guise of dropping
00:30:29
battery charges against him
00:30:31
we hurried up and kind of whisked him
00:30:34
away
00:30:34
got him into one of our interview rooms
00:30:36
and then got her
00:30:38
to a different section began talking to
00:30:40
her and asking her what
00:30:42
why are you doing this at that point she
00:30:44
thought she was doing us a favor
00:30:46
and she thought you know that she was
00:30:48
actually doing a good job she felt good
00:30:49
about herself
00:30:50
she should feel good about bringing them
00:30:52
in you know but
00:30:54
this is not the way that we wanted
00:30:55
wanted to do this
00:30:57
detectives immediately arrested charles
00:30:59
liston for the murder of jerome hardin
00:31:02
charles became very irate uh became
00:31:04
violent
00:31:05
uh stood up from the the interview table
00:31:08
so at that point we knew
00:31:10
he was very angry at us and he was very
00:31:13
angry at danielle
00:31:14
he went to the medium security
00:31:16
institution here in the city of st
00:31:17
louis which we refer to as the workhouse
00:31:21
police then picked up liston's
00:31:22
accomplices baby doll
00:31:24
and her boyfriend demetrius ursory known
00:31:27
as mighty
00:31:28
mighty was sent to the workhouse pending
00:31:30
trial charity was called in for
00:31:32
questioning
00:31:34
but charles finally got up
00:31:37
and that's when the shot went off did
00:31:39
you have
00:31:40
any involvement in this with was setting
00:31:42
this up
00:31:44
no iran was not free
00:31:49
is there anything that we haven't
00:31:50
covered
00:31:52
only that i didn't have nothing to do
00:31:54
with it and i was doing what the man
00:31:56
the gun was telling me to do charity was
00:31:59
soon released due to lack of evidence
00:32:02
danielle left the police station knowing
00:32:04
she would be called upon at a later date
00:32:06
to testify danielle was one of those
00:32:08
people that we were worried about
00:32:10
because we knew that she didn't have any
00:32:12
family around she was probably on the
00:32:14
run
00:32:15
she did have limited resources we tried
00:32:18
to instill in danielle when she left
00:32:19
here that you know please keep in
00:32:21
contact with us
00:32:22
unknown to detectives danielle began to
00:32:24
have second thoughts
00:32:25
and went to visit charles liston in
00:32:27
prison danielle montgomery
00:32:30
had gone to tell her old boyfriend
00:32:32
charles liston that while she had
00:32:34
turned them in she now regretted it and
00:32:36
she wasn't going to testify against them
00:32:39
by that time obviously it was too late
00:32:42
you know
00:32:42
he didn't trust her according to the
00:32:44
prosecution
00:32:45
it was then that charles liston decided
00:32:48
danielle had to die
00:32:51
[Music]
00:32:53
he was thinking if he got rid of
00:32:54
danielle that he would walk on the
00:32:56
murder that he was sitting
00:32:57
in jail on him and demetrious ersory
00:33:00
from the jailhouse telephone
00:33:02
charles liston called charity and his
00:33:04
new girlfriend tiny
00:33:05
to coordinate the hit on danielle tiny
00:33:08
was diagnosed
00:33:09
as as being mentally [Â __Â ] mindly
00:33:11
mentally [Â __Â ] tiny essentially did
00:33:13
whatever
00:33:14
charles told her to do but charity white
00:33:17
had personal reasons for wanting
00:33:18
danielle dead
00:33:19
and liston knew it he would tell baby
00:33:22
doll you have to do this you have to
00:33:24
protect yourself
00:33:25
you have to take care of snitches you
00:33:28
have to protect your boyfriend
00:33:29
mighty the control that men have over
00:33:33
women is
00:33:33
it can be very strong and we certainly
00:33:35
saw it in danielle's case
00:33:38
when he said to her hey i've got a place
00:33:40
for you to live
00:33:41
you need to go stay there she did
00:33:43
charles liston was able to
00:33:45
coax her into going to stay with tiny
00:33:48
who he said would keep her
00:33:49
hidden until his trial was over and then
00:33:52
those two could get back together
00:33:54
and she trusted him and unfortunately he
00:33:56
was lying the whole time
00:33:58
[Music]
00:34:00
at the beginning of may 2000 danielle
00:34:02
moved in with tiny and lost contact with
00:34:05
detective stone
00:34:06
and his partner detective carol all of a
00:34:08
sudden
00:34:09
the number that she was supposed to be
00:34:10
at for the police she's no longer at
00:34:13
and they can't find her they'd say she's
00:34:14
gone to ground she
00:34:16
decided to go on her own instead of
00:34:18
talking to the detectives
00:34:20
and so she was out of our grasp we
00:34:21
couldn't help her
00:34:23
danielle trusted the wrong people and
00:34:26
danielle thought she'd solved her own
00:34:28
problems
00:34:29
unfortunately the people she was
00:34:31
trusting were her problems
00:34:36
charles liston became aware that a new
00:34:39
grand jury date was coming up
00:34:41
and so the goal would be to get rid of
00:34:43
danielle before she could testify in
00:34:45
front of the grand jury
00:34:46
and then charges would have to be
00:34:47
dropped and as a consequence he
00:34:50
convinced
00:34:51
babydoll and tiny that she had to die
00:34:54
that night
00:34:58
when women behind bars continues they
00:35:01
had wrapped a phone cord around her
00:35:02
throat trying to strangle her as they
00:35:03
dumped the urine
00:35:05
down her throat
00:35:11
in may 2000 charles liston was sitting
00:35:13
in a st louis jail
00:35:14
awaiting his murder trial he wanted the
00:35:17
state's key witness
00:35:18
danielle montgomery to disappear before
00:35:21
she could testify against him
00:35:23
from a prison phone liston recruited
00:35:25
charity white to carry out his deadly
00:35:27
scheme
00:35:28
with the help of two other women crystal
00:35:30
barge
00:35:31
and tiny whose name is being withheld to
00:35:33
protect her identity
00:35:35
on the evening of may 3rd danielle never
00:35:38
suspected
00:35:39
she was being set up to die daniel was
00:35:42
asked to watch
00:35:43
tiny's three boys while tiny and one of
00:35:45
the other girls
00:35:46
charity white had gone to meet with
00:35:48
crystal barge
00:35:50
on the way back to tiny's apartment the
00:35:52
three girls finalized their plan to kill
00:35:55
danielle montgomery
00:35:56
when the girls got back to the apartment
00:35:58
danielle
00:35:59
was in the kitchen and charles liston
00:36:02
had called and wanted to talk to
00:36:04
danielle and when danielle got on the
00:36:05
phone with charles
00:36:07
tiny had placed her three little boys in
00:36:10
a closet
00:36:10
because she didn't want them to see what
00:36:12
was going to happen she put them
00:36:14
had made a bed for them in a largish
00:36:17
closet that was off of the bedroom and
00:36:20
she turned the radio up in addition to
00:36:23
preventing the neighbors from hearing
00:36:24
any screams was also to prevent her
00:36:26
children
00:36:26
from hearing the screams baby donald
00:36:29
went into the
00:36:30
into the kitchen and began beating
00:36:33
danielle montgomery knocking her to the
00:36:34
ground
00:36:36
and each girl took a steak tonight and
00:36:38
began stabbing
00:36:40
they stabbed her repeatedly
00:36:44
the estimates we have were over 100 stab
00:36:46
wounds and cut wounds alone
00:36:48
danielle was fighting for her life and
00:36:50
and
00:36:51
the wounds on the palm of her left hand
00:36:54
were signs that she was
00:36:55
trying to grab the knife and prevent the
00:36:57
knife from cutting her further
00:36:59
the kitchen knives were too dull to
00:37:01
inflict immediately fatal wounds
00:37:03
so the attackers turned to other methods
00:37:06
one of the ways that they tried to kill
00:37:07
her
00:37:08
was to first suffocate her and they tied
00:37:11
a bag around her neck
00:37:12
danielle was still able to get her hands
00:37:15
free and
00:37:16
try and tear open a hole in the bag
00:37:19
when that failed the girls tried to
00:37:21
drown danielle with mop water
00:37:23
and even urine from tiny's three small
00:37:25
children
00:37:26
who were still in the closet during the
00:37:28
attack one of her little boys had to
00:37:31
go to the bathroom and she gave him a
00:37:33
cup to pee in
00:37:34
they had wrapped a phone cord around her
00:37:35
throat trying to strangle her as they
00:37:37
dumped the urine
00:37:39
down her throat phone logs from prison
00:37:42
show that charles liston called the
00:37:44
apartment numerous times during the
00:37:46
attack
00:37:47
part of the time that they were killing
00:37:49
danielle
00:37:50
they were talking on the phone to
00:37:52
charles liston
00:37:54
who was egging them on charles listen's
00:37:57
on the phone they're saying here
00:37:58
tell charles you love him now he wanted
00:38:00
to hear her dying he wanted to hear her
00:38:02
last breath
00:38:03
the medical examiner's report revealed
00:38:05
even more shocking evidence of torture
00:38:07
there were injuries that i'd never seen
00:38:09
before and
00:38:11
that was her heels had been slashed the
00:38:14
achilles tendon
00:38:15
i can only imagine that someone would do
00:38:17
that to keep her from running away
00:38:20
they actually took their knives and
00:38:21
severed her ankles
00:38:24
completely cut through her ankle all the
00:38:25
way to the bone where she
00:38:27
bled profusely they did so many things
00:38:30
to danielle it
00:38:32
almost defies the imagination she was
00:38:34
going through so much pain
00:38:36
but yet she continued to fight for her
00:38:38
life
00:38:39
and i think that made the girls confused
00:38:42
about what they were actually trying to
00:38:43
accomplish
00:38:44
because they couldn't get it done and at
00:38:46
one point
00:38:47
they referred to even calling someone
00:38:49
saying uh
00:38:50
this [Â __Â ] won't die what else can we do
00:38:53
to kill her
00:38:54
the medical examiner believed that
00:38:56
danielle hung on for over two hours
00:38:58
before she died
00:39:00
daniel montgomery finally died they
00:39:03
rolled her up in some
00:39:04
sheets and then dragged her out to the
00:39:07
back porch
00:39:08
and tossed her over in the neighbor's
00:39:12
yard
00:39:15
they were so amateurish about it i mean
00:39:18
these were three girls who did a
00:39:19
terrible thing and then didn't even know
00:39:20
what to do with the body
00:39:22
he hadn't thought you know two minutes
00:39:24
ahead of themselves
00:39:26
the women tried to clean up the blood
00:39:28
that was everywhere in the kitchen
00:39:30
before they left charity and crystal
00:39:32
told tiny to call police
00:39:34
and pretend she had simply found the
00:39:36
body
00:39:37
detectives clifford harper and byron
00:39:39
harrington got the call to investigate
00:39:41
while i was processing the scene
00:39:43
i could see in the yard immediately to
00:39:46
the east of the
00:39:47
victim was what i would appear to be a
00:39:49
pool of blood
00:39:50
coming off the back porch of the
00:39:52
residence there tiny let the detectives
00:39:54
into her apartment so they could get a
00:39:56
closer look at the blood on the back
00:39:58
porch
00:39:58
while walking through the house i
00:40:00
noticed that the entire residence
00:40:02
was a disaster it was torn apart
00:40:05
everything was
00:40:05
out of place and as i entered into the
00:40:07
kitchen everything was real clean
00:40:09
they noticed that there were some knives
00:40:11
that were in
00:40:12
the sink that appeared to have blood on
00:40:14
them i could see
00:40:16
what appeared to be the blood splatter
00:40:18
on one of the kitchen walls
00:40:20
and obviously with my experience i
00:40:22
figured that this is where a crime
00:40:24
scene did occur police questioned tiny
00:40:27
and she immediately told them
00:40:28
everything that happened tiny was
00:40:31
arrested that night
00:40:32
and the wanteds were placed on
00:40:35
charity white and crystal barge and they
00:40:38
were later picked up about
00:40:40
three or four days later
00:40:47
the next morning detectives and the
00:40:49
circuit attorney's office
00:40:51
learned that their key witness was dead
00:40:54
detective carol and i are sitting there
00:40:55
and
00:40:55
we just look at each other and said how
00:40:58
did this happen
00:40:59
what what happened who got to her it's
00:41:02
every prosecutor's worst nightmare
00:41:10
would you give your full name please
00:41:12
charity nathan white
00:41:14
charity white and crystal barge readily
00:41:16
confessed to the police what they had
00:41:18
done
00:41:19
i admit that i did stick up three times
00:41:23
and i stuck her in a chair so by then
00:41:26
she was still alive
00:41:28
we all cut her we all played a party
00:41:33
her own confession explained that
00:41:36
she didn't want to lose her boyfriend
00:41:38
mighty she didn't want mighty
00:41:41
to go to jail or prison as she was
00:41:44
stabbing
00:41:45
danielle one of the ways she kept going
00:41:47
through it is this is for mighty this is
00:41:49
for my man
00:41:51
what kind of a bag was it that you put
00:41:52
overhead
00:41:54
some plastic bags and what was that for
00:41:59
what did you put a bag over her head for
00:42:02
chimes okay were you intoxicated
00:42:06
or under the influence of some type of
00:42:08
drug that night
00:42:09
okay
00:42:11
[Music]
00:42:12
boy which is
00:42:24
charity white displayed zero remorse
00:42:26
throughout her entire
00:42:27
trial baby doll turned out to be
00:42:29
probably one of the the
00:42:31
ruthless females that i've ever seen
00:42:35
she was just as evil as charles was you
00:42:37
know i never saw
00:42:39
charity white as you know
00:42:42
consummate evil or anything i mean these
00:42:44
are
00:42:45
street crimes and some tough characters
00:42:49
they were poor people and they don't
00:42:51
have much education
00:42:53
and they don't have parents giving them
00:42:55
good guidance i mean they were
00:42:57
a group of dead end kids really
00:43:00
[Music]
00:43:05
23 year old charity was incarcerated at
00:43:07
the women's eastern correctional center
00:43:09
in vandalia missouri
00:43:11
in 2006 crystal barge was also sentenced
00:43:14
to life without parole
00:43:16
tiny testified against all three in
00:43:19
exchange for second-degree murder
00:43:21
and is now in a prison witness
00:43:22
protection program
00:43:24
and the person that started all of this
00:43:26
charles liston
00:43:27
is serving life without the possibility
00:43:30
of parole
00:43:31
for the murder in the first degree of
00:43:32
danielle montgomery and murder in the
00:43:34
second degree
00:43:36
for the murder of jerome harden
00:43:40
for her role in the killing charity
00:43:42
white will never be allowed out of
00:43:44
prison
00:43:45
the rest of her adult life will be spent
00:43:46
coming to terms with the shocking crime
00:43:48
she committed as a teenager
00:43:51
in this case i barely would glance at a
00:43:53
report and i could remember so many
00:43:55
details about it
00:43:56
so it's obviously a case that sticks
00:43:58
with you and probably will
00:43:59
for my entire life
00:44:10
you
