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[Music]
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on this episode of women behind bars
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one woman pled guilty to the murder of
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her husband
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he said picture him know how to use it i
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said we're going to see
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and i took the safety off i pumped it
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and i shot him she continued to try to
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make it melt make it burn
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i didn't know what to do and i just kept
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trying to cover it up cover it up cover
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it up then
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anita gonzalez was convicted of
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murdering and robbing an elderly friend
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our officers found the victim ed
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woodree's door flying in the garage
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he had received severe blunt trauma to
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his head
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and face she's the devil in disguise
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two women two brutal crimes these are
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the stories of lutrice dancy and anita
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[Music]
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gonzalez
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on october 6 2003 miami-dade police
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officers were called to a local home
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where neighbors reported a horrific odor
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coming from the residence
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when i got here the smell was just
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incredible
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throughout the years of experience it
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was a familiar order
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that of a decomposed body inside the
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home
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detectives made a grisly discovery the
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corpse of 51 year old walter dancy
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investigators determined the body had
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been shot doused with acid and set on
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fire
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i haven't seen a corpse violated that
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way
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i don't think ever police arrested the
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victim's wife of two years
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latrice danci the aftermath of the
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murder
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is what really is totally out of the
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ordinary because of the extent that she
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went to to try to dispose of the body
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she continued to try to make it melt
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make it burn
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try to do so many things to it i just
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scared i didn't know what to do and i
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just
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kept trying to cover it up cover it up
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cover it up i wouldn't say i was saying
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because
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a same person really wasn't doing what i
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did
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i'm just angry and did everything
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spontaneously
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and i just did was latrice dancy insane
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when she murdered her husband
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and ravaged his body or was she a
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ruthless killer
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covering up a calculated crime
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[Music]
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latrice dancy grew up in the
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working-class neighborhood of little
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haiti
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a few miles from the glistening miami
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skyline and world-class beaches
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i was number five out of nine mom and
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dad together
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we was poor when my dad made ends meet
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mom take care of kids take care of home
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life for the nine cooper kids revolved
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around attending church
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school and minding their parents latrice
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had other ideas
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she was lovable very
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and tremendous wild trish
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with a special breed
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she just rebelled i was a rebellious
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child
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because if i get punished if i get a
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beat it didn't matter to me
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i'm going to do it and receive the
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consequences later her stubborn
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determination both haunted and helped
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lutrice throughout the rest of her life
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at age 11 her childhood almost ended
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when lutrice contracted a rare blood
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disorder
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the illness paralyzed her entire body
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gilliam brain is a blood disease that
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collapsed the muscles in my body
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a lot of people thought she wouldn't
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recover but she did
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i had to learn to talk walk and do all
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that over again
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it was kind of scary but you know
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i survived it lutrice overcame her bout
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with death
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only to face yet another challenge i was
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having sex i started
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at the age of 12. i was 13 when i had
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the child body didn't live
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i guess that was like a
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i blessing too young to escape the
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trauma of her illness and losing her
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baby
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lutrice tried to find a positive outlet
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for her pain
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i played sports in school i did
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everything sung in the choir honors
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choir
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she was on a track team she played
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softball she played soccer
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you name it trish did it very talented
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in sports she played softball she played
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basketball
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and she was good at it but sports
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weren't enough to keep her attention
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she started hanging out with an older
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crowd and experimenting with pot and
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cocaine
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the addiction would chase her for the
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rest of her life i hung out with the
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older girls and they'd use it and
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all the men they had the drugs i just
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wanted to fit in with the crowd
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and then i started enjoying it it's like
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she was withdrawn
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like something just took her life away
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the fragile 18 year old
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no longer wanted to live and attempted
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suicide by taking pills
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my brother-in-law have all kind of
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adventures and
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he gave me some because i don't want to
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live no more
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his effect is very bad very bad
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the tree survived the suicide attempt
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but there would be others
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in 1988 with her life back on track she
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met a rastafarian named david
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the couple married and the tree soon
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became pregnant i got pregnant against
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when i was about to get high
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she continued using and seven months
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later the trees gave birth to a
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premature baby girl named oia
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the infant weighed only one pound three
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ounces
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the social worker came to see me and she
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said so much drugs are sound found in
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your
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child's system the doctors didn't even
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know what some of it was
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and she said what are you going to do i
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say
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i'm going to treatment
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she went on to have two more kids but
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like so many addicts she relapsed again
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and again
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finally faced with losing her children
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she moved into the village
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an inpatient rehab center where
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drug-addicted mothers lived with their
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kids
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i don't want to leave nobody responsible
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to take care of my children but me
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and it's time for me to be a mom
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that's me using drugs is not going to
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help them 13 months later
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latrice emerged sober and determined to
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lead a positive life
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everybody in stay didn't want the best
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any school function
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a christmas play a talent show she'll be
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there
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i volunteered at school the whole year i
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got
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a year that year because i was just just
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like i'm going to work
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she was always at my school
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latrice continued to thrive working in
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outreach and caring for her three kids
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in 1996 she and her husband david
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divorced
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because she says his use of marijuana
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threatened her recovery
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two years later she met 46 year old
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walter dancey
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he was a hard-working man and provided
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for the household and
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did what he could for his children he
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had children and he had
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siblings who were he was very close to
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they
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often got together as a family latrice
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was part of that as well
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he's very supportive the whole while we
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dating very respectable you know
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he was all ww walter
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went to work every day he based on
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what we learned during the course of the
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investigation he also hung out a lot
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with his male friends
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drinking point blank he was a [Â __Â ]
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it was a [Â __Â ] when i met him he was a
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[Â __Â ] when i dated him
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it depends on who you ask to describe
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their relationship
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latrice described him as
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domineering sort of like i'm the man i
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do what i want
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accept where i've been walter's family
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described lutrice
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as being domineering in terms of no
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matter what he did
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it never pleased her the couple married
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in 2000
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because lutree says she was pregnant
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after getting an abortion
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latrice claims walter became violent
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there were no police reports
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that we could find about it there were
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no anecdotal
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reports by her to other people with
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regard to the domestic violence
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that doesn't mean doesn't happen and it
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happens all the time oftentimes you see
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the women or the victims
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and they have been abused and there's
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not a single iota of
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documentation anywhere it's unfortunate
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according to lutrice
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there was a reason no police reports
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were ever filed
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they don't have no reports because guess
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what every time they come to the house
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he go talk to them and anytime i call i
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end up in the hospital when women behind
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bars continues
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she grabbed a shotgun and
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she pointed it at him he said picture
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him
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know how to use it i said we're going to
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see
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and i took the safety off i pumped it
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and i shot him
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[Music]
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after years of battling depression and a
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severe addiction to crack cocaine
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the trees dancy finally got sober and
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was even voted
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parent of the year at her kid's school
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in 1998 the 36 year old met
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self-employed walter dancy the couple
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married and moved in together in a miami
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suburb with lutrice's three children
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but she claims the problems began as
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soon as she said i do
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he hit my mom and they got into a big
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altercation
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and some nights we'll just leave like a
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couple of days
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then come back i began to start hating
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him
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for the beatings and this man really
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playing games and i'm the laughingstock
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after two years of marriage latrice says
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she felt totally humiliated and began to
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unravel
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i couldn't believe on
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all the men's i dated and this is the
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way i get treated
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you have mental health issues and you
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have substance abuse issues it can be a
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very violent combination
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after several more hospitalizations and
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alleged suicide attempts latrice was at
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her wit's end
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she and her marriage were in crisis
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her and walter hadn't been getting along
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walter came home
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slightly intoxicated and went to sleep
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the trees went outside to the car to see
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if he had left any money
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instead of finding the money in his
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glove compartment which he found were
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some incriminating photographs of mr
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dancy supposedly with
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some other women graphic photos
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depicting sexual acts and that sort of
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set her off
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tears start coming up i'm just like i
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don't believe this he bring this crap
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all over here now i got a husband that's
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sitting here with
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people sitting and smoking stuff sick
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people
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and i'm having unprotected sex with you
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according to latrice
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she'd been wronged for the last time
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this was
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at least in her mind the ultimate
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humiliation
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comes inside and of course there were a
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variety of
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weapons in the house baseball bats
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handguns
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and there was a shotgun she grabbed
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a shotgun and she
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pointed it at him and in his
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shoeing her off and making light of the
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situation again
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he called her a stupid [Â __Â ] and he said
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picture him
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know how to use it
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i said we're going to see and i
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took the safety off i pumped it and i
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shot him
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and he just looked at me and dropped i'm
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i guess because of the alcohol his
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system no blood went anywhere
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nobody heard anything i was in my room
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really didn't like i didn't hear nothing
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at all
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walter lay dead on the floor from a
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shotgun wound to the chest
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what happened next would shock even the
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most hardened homicide detectives
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that night i bagged them up and i put
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them in the closet because
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my kids like to come to my room
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[Music]
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dancy told her kids that walter had left
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and sent them to school
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paralyzed with fear lutrice played
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solitaire at home all day
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while she tried to come up with a plan i
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cried
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i heard i lost my husband even though he
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beat me
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i just i didn't want it to happen like
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that
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i just wanted him to just go and just
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leave me alone
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[Music]
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desperate to cover her tracks the 41
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year old mother of three decided she had
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to get rid of the body but first she
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reported walter missing
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not only she called the police but she
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called the victim's family who came
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over so while she had this poor man in
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the closet wrapped up in garbage bags
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she had his
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kids his older children and telling them
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how he was missing
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to be able to sit down with your
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husband's family
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and file a falls police report that's
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pretty bad
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she probably had rationalized it too she
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makes a police report
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then everyone perceives him as being
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missing
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so if he never turns up again then he's
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missing
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it's not that she killed him after three
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days in the closet
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walter's body was in full decomposition
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and gave off a foul stench
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she sent her kids to stay with a friend
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and put in motion her plan to dispose of
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the body
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she comes up with a secondary plan of
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putting him in the bathtub
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and going to buy some some acid pour it
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on the body and hopefully the acid is
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going to
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dissolve the body and she'll get rid of
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it that way
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latrice went to a hardware store and
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purchased two gallons of muriatic acid
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gloves and a rake some miniature
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halloween pumpkins
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also caught her eye i'm a holiday
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festive person when i saw those pumpkins
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they're going to get one from my mom's
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house she was also concerned about the
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fact that
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someone would be suspicious of her
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buying these pool chemicals
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that would kind of mislead them to
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assure that
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once home latrice dragged walter's
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swollen corpse to the bathtub
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she doused him with two gallons of acid
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hoping to melt him
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i wasn't thinking maybe like i'm
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put the acid on a little shrivel up and
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get his
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bones and just deteriorate it nothing
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happened but he just like bubbled up and
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i'm just like
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oh
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he was still there and now he's smelled
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even worse
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so at that point she decides to light
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him on fire
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so she bought lighter fluid he scored
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lighter fluid on him
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hoping to burn away the stench but
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latrice had to do something to deal with
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the smoke
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i put the grill on the outside of my
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bathroom
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door putting hamburgers out on the grill
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so i could be smoking out there so
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to see the smoke out of the bathroom
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they won't think no bad bad and just
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cooking some hamburger
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because i always like to cook out while
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she was barbecuing the meat
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it was to cover the smell of the burning
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walter
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like the acid lighting walter on fire
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did not work
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his ravaged body was still there i was
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just trying to eliminate it
00:16:04
just let it dissolve just
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disintegrate just go away
00:16:10
i just wanted that whole day night to go
00:16:13
away
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like it never existed to see it's not
00:16:17
there
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now latrice is at a point where she's
00:16:20
tried this and it's not working
00:16:22
so she's got to go to the next step
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she's got to get the body out of the
00:16:25
house
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the smell started getting then i went to
00:16:36
home depot and i got some
00:16:38
freshener and down the family dollar
00:16:42
family dollar got paid a lot of money
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off of me trying to keep that smell down
00:16:47
despite latricia's efforts to mask the
00:16:49
smell the stench spilled into the street
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several neighbors called the police to
00:16:53
report the suspicious odor
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i told my neighbor that my sewer had all
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backed up
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she met the police and said well
00:17:02
no you mean dead body she saw a sewer
00:17:05
backed up
00:17:06
the police could not find the source of
00:17:08
the smell and believe the neighboring
00:17:16
left
00:17:18
human bodies start to
00:17:21
putrefy particularly if they're not in
00:17:24
cold storage
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relatively soon after a person dies
00:17:29
also swell and she decided she's just
00:17:33
got to get rid of walter
00:17:35
i was trying any and every way to do
00:17:38
what i got to do by myself i didn't want
00:17:41
to tell nobody
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i just wanted to get rid of his body i
00:17:45
take him too long
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i just got to get the body out of here
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as a last resort latrice decided to take
00:17:50
walter's body to the everglades and dump
00:17:52
it
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but first she had to get his corpse out
00:17:55
of the house and into her chevy
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she finally got so exasperated that she
00:18:00
went
00:18:01
to a neighbor and said listen i need to
00:18:04
wheel out my
00:18:04
husband's body when women behind bars
00:18:08
continues
00:18:09
when i actually went inside was just a
00:18:11
combination of things that this victim
00:18:13
had gone through i had never seen
00:18:14
anything like that before
00:18:16
i felt bad because here it is he has
00:18:18
three children
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then i took their father and it started
00:18:21
hurting
00:18:22
real bad and later one thing i've
00:18:25
learned about this job is evil exists
00:18:28
i've seen it this woman is evil evil
00:18:31
people need to be removed from society
00:18:41
on october 1st 2003 lutrice dancy after
00:18:44
suffering years of alleged infidelity
00:18:46
and abuse
00:18:47
shot and killed her husband walter dancy
00:18:49
known in the neighborhood as wau lewis
00:18:52
the 41 year old mother of three then
00:18:54
attempted to cover up the murder
00:18:56
by dissolving his corpse in acid and
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burning the body
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when neither worked the trees planned to
00:19:01
dump dancy in the everglades
00:19:03
desperate she asked a neighbor to borrow
00:19:05
a dolly to move her dead husband
00:19:08
the neighbor goes back inside and he's
00:19:09
like wait a minute did she just say
00:19:11
she was going to move her husband's body
00:19:14
and at that point
00:19:15
he called the police in her panic
00:19:17
latrice locked herself
00:19:19
out of the home as reality set in she
00:19:21
then called the one man who was always
00:19:23
there for
00:19:24
her i called my dad and i said daddy i
00:19:27
i killed why louis he said baby don't go
00:19:30
nowhere
00:19:31
i'm coming over so now this time i'm
00:19:34
losing it
00:19:35
joe cooper met the police and told them
00:19:37
what happened
00:19:38
homicide detective rolando garcia was
00:19:41
one of the first on the scene
00:19:43
it was a hot day normal routine call
00:19:46
once i get out of the car i i felt and i
00:19:49
sensed
00:19:50
and smelled that decomposition when i
00:19:53
actually went inside
00:19:54
it was just a combination of things that
00:19:56
this victim had gone through
00:19:58
i had never seen anything like that
00:19:59
before the six-day ordeal was over
00:20:01
and the trees finally broke down
00:20:06
her demeanor was totally distraught with
00:20:08
whatever she wanted to do she knew she
00:20:09
was going to get away with it
00:20:10
she was pretty hysterical police
00:20:13
arrested lutrice and took her to the
00:20:14
miami police department
00:20:16
where she was interrogated by sergeant
00:20:18
eunice cooper let me ask you this
00:20:20
why did you decide to burn it with the
00:20:22
acid
00:20:24
it was is it because he was smelling i
00:20:26
just fit
00:20:27
he can just burn and be easy for me to
00:20:29
put my little bags
00:20:31
put her in bags and i'm just like it's
00:20:33
not doing anything anyway it's just
00:20:34
making scissors and sounds and stuff
00:20:38
going outside of the window
00:20:40
what did it have a smoke a cloud yeah
00:20:43
you know yeah
00:20:46
i think her willingness to talk about it
00:20:48
and
00:20:49
the rambo acts that she took to
00:20:52
kill him i think it all came very easily
00:20:56
and it was not like i'm sorry i did it
00:20:59
it was not like
00:21:00
i wish i hadn't done it it was more like
00:21:03
i had to do it
00:21:04
and these are the things that i did to
00:21:05
get it done i'm caught red handed and i
00:21:09
did it
00:21:10
so what what's the high now
00:21:14
police charge the trees with
00:21:15
first-degree murder with a full
00:21:17
confession
00:21:18
gruesome crime scene photos and stacks
00:21:20
of incriminating evidence
00:21:21
the defense faced a near impossible
00:21:23
legal battle
00:21:25
i had filed a notice of reliance
00:21:28
on an insanity defense and i had her
00:21:30
evaluated
00:21:31
by an eminent neuropsychiatrist she had
00:21:34
major depression
00:21:36
she had confused thinking she had an
00:21:38
ability
00:21:39
to control anger behavior but
00:21:42
he couldn't diagnose her as being
00:21:44
schizophrenic or psychotic
00:21:46
the defense attorney did a lot of work
00:21:48
with regard to her mental state i think
00:21:50
he believed the only way to defend this
00:21:51
case would have been a mental
00:21:53
health defense but it just wasn't there
00:21:55
based on her actions
00:21:56
she demonstrated rationality by lying
00:21:59
hiding the body moving her children
00:22:02
buying pool acid trying to
00:22:06
get rid of the smell now these were all
00:22:09
obviously sick behavior
00:22:13
and impractical
00:22:16
but once again it didn't
00:22:20
arise to the level of what would be
00:22:22
considered insanity under the law
00:22:24
state of florida two years later in 2005
00:22:28
the case went to trial
00:22:29
if found guilty latrice would be
00:22:31
sentenced to life without parole
00:22:33
my opinion to latrice was that if you go
00:22:36
to trial
00:22:37
regardless of what jurors we pick
00:22:39
doesn't matter
00:22:40
and they play your tape and as soon as
00:22:42
they look at the pictures
00:22:44
they're going to convict you because
00:22:47
if you say you did it explain how you
00:22:49
did it
00:22:51
and they see what you did they'll have
00:22:54
no alternative but to convict you
00:22:57
at the last second lutrice accepted a
00:22:59
plea guilty of second-degree murder with
00:23:02
a sentence of 45 years
00:23:04
with her age and everything that that
00:23:06
would be a long enough sentence that
00:23:08
she's not getting out of jail i know i'm
00:23:10
guilty
00:23:11
so there's no way i'm not i'm going to
00:23:13
be found not guilty
00:23:15
45 years to me is less
00:23:19
than life no possibly a parole i'd be
00:23:22
able to walk out of here
00:23:24
if you committed a crime like that i
00:23:27
it's got to be a reason
00:23:28
and this really would upset me so bad
00:23:31
and when she sat in jail two years and
00:23:33
then took a
00:23:34
plea bargain to me why would no plea
00:23:37
bargain
00:23:38
what she did to mr dancy was horrendous
00:23:41
and cruel 45 years is the exact price
00:23:45
that
00:23:46
fits the crime i don't see any reason
00:23:48
why she should get out before then
00:23:50
in 2005 latrice was transferred to a
00:23:53
maximum security prison near miami
00:23:55
florida
00:23:56
she has adapted well to the structured
00:23:58
life behind bars
00:23:59
saying somebody then you can sit down do
00:24:02
this
00:24:03
do that do this
00:24:06
i can follow orders i'm very cooperative
00:24:10
you get three meals a day you get a cart
00:24:12
all you got to do is clean cook whatever
00:24:13
you got to do
00:24:14
just do it and you're back into just
00:24:16
like you're back home latrice is now
00:24:18
sober and faithfully takes her
00:24:20
medication
00:24:21
although she is in touch with her kids
00:24:23
through letters it pains her to be away
00:24:24
from them
00:24:26
i'm sorry i love you sorry i put you
00:24:28
down i'm sorry i'm sorry
00:24:30
i'm sorry i truly haven't accepted that
00:24:34
part
00:24:35
that i love my kids out there they're my
00:24:38
main concern
00:24:40
you know i love them i just wish that
00:24:43
she could come home and be here with us
00:24:45
everybody loves her and we miss her
00:24:47
dearly
00:24:48
the tree still thinks about how she
00:24:50
could have handled the situation
00:24:51
differently with her husband
00:24:53
no one deserved to die because they
00:24:55
cheat
00:24:56
he beat me i just got angry and i just
00:25:00
got
00:25:01
tired of it in latrice dancy's case
00:25:06
her efforts to save herself from her
00:25:08
perceived humiliation caused
00:25:11
a lot of pain for her children for her
00:25:14
family for walter's family
00:25:16
and ultimately it ended up with her
00:25:18
being incarcerated and away from
00:25:22
the very people whom she was trying to
00:25:25
save face with
00:25:26
a lot of regrets i could have just gone
00:25:29
ahead
00:25:30
packed up and just gone and started over
00:25:33
somewhere else
00:25:35
and left him he'll be alive and i'll be
00:25:37
with my children
00:25:39
[Music]
00:25:41
next up on women behind bars a robbery
00:25:44
turns fatal
00:25:45
you can't say that you're totally
00:25:47
innocent and then go to a bank
00:25:49
with the check from a dead man
00:25:54
for more information about women behind
00:25:56
bars go to wetv.com
00:26:10
on january 26 1996 a teller at a check
00:26:13
cashing business became suspicious
00:26:15
when 37 year old anita gonzalez tried to
00:26:18
cash an 11 thousand dollar check
00:26:20
allegedly signed by edward riesdorff the
00:26:22
girl at national check
00:26:24
cashing calls back to the reason's door
00:26:25
of home a young male answers the phone
00:26:29
and starts talking to the check cashing
00:26:31
company representative
00:26:33
this is supposed to be an elderly man so
00:26:35
she got suspicion she refused to cash
00:26:37
the check
00:26:38
police raced to the home but they were
00:26:40
too late sixty-eight-year-old edward
00:26:42
resdorff lay dead in a pool of blood
00:26:44
he had received severe blunt trauma to
00:26:48
his head
00:26:48
and face authorities arrested
00:26:51
18-year-old david shane tate
00:26:53
his mother anita gonzalez and two
00:26:55
acquaintances but police believe that it
00:26:57
was anita who planned the robbery and
00:26:59
murder
00:27:00
one thing i've learned about this job is
00:27:02
evil exists
00:27:03
i've seen it this woman is evil and
00:27:06
evil people need to be removed from
00:27:08
society
00:27:10
was anita gonzalez a calculating greedy
00:27:12
woman who orchestrated her close
00:27:14
friend's death
00:27:15
or was she a victim manipulated by a
00:27:17
gang of hoodlums
00:27:21
[Music]
00:27:25
anita is a lot of fun she always
00:27:28
felt inferior to her older sister
00:27:31
but she had a good childhood the
00:27:34
stapletons raised their kids on the
00:27:35
coast of northern florida near the world
00:27:37
famous kennedy space center
00:27:39
but from an early age anita tested her
00:27:41
parents and defied their rules
00:27:44
she would get upset about things and
00:27:46
she'd take off and be gone for
00:27:49
several days in high school anita
00:27:51
enjoyed cheerleading but earned only
00:27:53
average grades and dropped out before
00:27:55
graduating
00:27:56
at age 17 she got pregnant and married
00:27:58
the father
00:27:59
it was a bad time because
00:28:02
the one that she married was
00:28:06
plain speaking of no good skunk he was
00:28:09
abusive
00:28:11
in 1977 anita gave birth to a son named
00:28:14
david shane tate whom she called shane
00:28:16
according to anita the next three years
00:28:18
were a life of hell
00:28:19
due to the daily beatings from her
00:28:21
husband
00:28:23
the couple divorced in 1980 soon after
00:28:25
anita claims she cut her hand in a
00:28:27
tomato slicer while working in a
00:28:29
restaurant
00:28:30
as a result she was in and out of the
00:28:32
hospital some 40 times
00:28:34
she was on workers comp a lot of her
00:28:37
identity was being sick
00:28:38
i don't remember exactly when she
00:28:40
started having them
00:28:42
but she's always had health problems
00:28:51
[Music]
00:28:54
but anita's insurance company questioned
00:28:56
the validity of her claims
00:28:58
she was sent to a psychiatric hospital
00:29:00
for a three-week evaluation
00:29:02
they determined that a part of it was a
00:29:05
mental
00:29:06
issue but it was also a physical over
00:29:08
the next 10 years anita alleges she
00:29:10
underwent 12 more operations for another
00:29:12
work-related injury
00:29:14
she admits that as a result she became
00:29:16
addicted to painkillers
00:29:18
she was always taking medicine she was
00:29:20
becoming
00:29:22
attached to them and it did worry me
00:29:25
i'm extremely skeptical about her
00:29:27
medical claims
00:29:28
if they weren't self-induced they were
00:29:31
fabricated for purposes of acquiring
00:29:34
drugs
00:29:35
anita's personal life was also in crisis
00:29:38
after two more failed marriages the 32
00:29:40
year old married husband number four
00:29:42
todd wagner wagner had a three and a
00:29:44
half year old son named sean from a
00:29:46
previous relationship
00:29:49
a thursday night in june
00:29:52
todd called me and wanted me to bring my
00:29:54
son shawn over and i said okay fine
00:29:56
friday morning my child supposedly got
00:29:59
into a bottle of elevo
00:30:01
and ate 30 tablets shawn was rushed to
00:30:04
the hospital but the pills used to treat
00:30:07
anita's depression
00:30:08
were too much for his little body police
00:30:11
investigated anita for neglect
00:30:13
and allegedly prohibited her from being
00:30:15
around children or the elderly
00:30:17
robin alderman believes anita played a
00:30:19
more serious role in sean's death
00:30:21
it is impossible that my son took 30
00:30:23
pills
00:30:25
she's the devil in disguise anita denied
00:30:28
any wrongdoing in shawn's death
00:30:30
but there would be more brushes with the
00:30:32
law she was essentially a little mob
00:30:34
barker
00:30:35
she'd previously been charged and pled
00:30:37
with burglary and theft
00:30:39
she'd been investigated for insurance
00:30:41
fraud
00:30:43
by the mid-1990s anita's 18 year old son
00:30:46
david shane tate
00:30:47
was also racking up a criminal record
00:30:50
and hanging out with a gang of kids
00:30:51
known as the merritt island posse
00:30:53
shane he was doing a lot of residential
00:30:55
burglaries a lot of vehicle burglaries
00:30:57
married island posse is a group of about
00:31:00
100 kids
00:31:01
that lived in my town we just raised
00:31:04
hell
00:31:04
none of these kids had any real
00:31:07
education
00:31:08
they were just having a grand old time
00:31:10
and they thought the party would last
00:31:12
forever
00:31:13
and apparently it didn't while her son
00:31:16
shane ran wild anita says she was
00:31:18
drowning in guilt because she felt she
00:31:20
couldn't provide for him
00:31:22
she was so desperate for cash she took
00:31:24
out credit cards in her mother's name
00:31:26
the credit cards that she had i did not
00:31:28
apply for
00:31:29
and i had to take the money out of my
00:31:32
retirement
00:31:33
and pay them off but authorities believe
00:31:36
anita found a new mark in 1994 when she
00:31:39
met her ex-boyfriend's elderly parents
00:31:41
teddy and donna risdorf their son
00:31:43
describes his parents first encounters
00:31:45
with
00:31:46
anita she said she had cancer my mom
00:31:48
said i think i've got cancer and then
00:31:50
anita started coming over and
00:31:52
she befriended my parents they treated
00:31:54
her as if she was their daughter
00:31:56
and she liked that relationship and
00:31:59
liked
00:32:00
having that feeling of being liked dad
00:32:02
worked for
00:32:03
southern belle for about 35 years before
00:32:06
he retired
00:32:07
and my mom sold real estate but within
00:32:09
the last 10 15 years she just kind of
00:32:11
was a homemaker
00:32:13
over the next year anita ingratiated
00:32:15
herself into the restore family
00:32:17
they loved her very dearly and she loved
00:32:20
them
00:32:22
anita claims she oversaw donna's medical
00:32:24
care and teddy gave her donna's credit
00:32:26
card to help her with her finances
00:32:28
but authorities paint a different
00:32:29
picture ms riesdorff was still in the
00:32:32
hospital
00:32:33
anita acquired at least one of donna
00:32:36
ruizdorff's credit cards
00:32:38
which she had been using he might have
00:32:41
helped her out on a couple things
00:32:43
like groceries but he's not going to pay
00:32:44
her bills i guess anita
00:32:46
had found out about his finances and
00:32:48
then when the time was right she
00:32:49
stole that uh atm card from my mom's
00:32:51
purse while she was in the hospital and
00:32:53
uh
00:32:53
started racking it up we had numerous
00:32:56
videotapes receipts
00:32:59
uh for weeks of anita
00:33:02
at atms at two three four o'clock in the
00:33:05
morning
00:33:05
draining several hundred dollars at a
00:33:07
time out of mr reisdorf's
00:33:09
checking account and she was taking that
00:33:11
money and she was
00:33:13
having parties with her son and all her
00:33:14
son's friends it was at one of these
00:33:17
drug-fueled parties that police say
00:33:19
anita recruited her 18-year-old son
00:33:21
and his friend timon black to steal
00:33:23
blank checks from her beloved friends
00:33:26
twenty-three-year-old anisha muncie who
00:33:27
met anita a couple of weeks before the
00:33:29
murder
00:33:30
also joined to help cash the forged
00:33:32
checks
00:33:33
anita um myself
00:33:37
and david we're gonna go to the house
00:33:40
the two boys were gonna go inside and
00:33:42
see if he was home
00:33:44
if he was they were gonna time up and
00:33:45
put him into the bathroom anita was
00:33:47
gonna go in and get the check
00:33:49
and we were gonna go to the bank and
00:33:50
catch it there was no talk of killing in
00:33:52
front of me
00:33:55
when women behind bars continues he told
00:33:58
him please
00:33:59
leave me alone shane didn't stop he
00:34:01
blunged my
00:34:02
my father to death right here david
00:34:04
shane tate actually did
00:34:06
the murder but his mother masterminded
00:34:08
it
00:34:15
in 1994 anita gonzalez met edward and
00:34:18
donna riesdorff an elderly
00:34:20
couple living in melbourne florida the
00:34:22
three became close
00:34:23
but police believe the 37 year old had
00:34:25
an ulterior motive
00:34:27
addicted to painkillers and deeply in
00:34:29
debt authorities assert anita conspired
00:34:31
to rob the restores
00:34:33
with her 18 year old son and two
00:34:34
acquaintances the plan was to
00:34:37
go into mr riesdorf's home
00:34:40
subdue him tie him up steal his
00:34:44
checkbook
00:34:46
anita would then write checks out
00:34:50
and anisha muncie would then go and cash
00:34:53
these checks
00:34:54
but prosecutors maintain that
00:34:56
unbeknownst to anisha and timon
00:34:58
anita and her son david shane tate plan
00:35:00
to kill mr
00:35:01
restore from the beginning all this
00:35:03
activity that had been going on
00:35:06
by anita on the credit card
00:35:09
that statement was due mr reisdorf was
00:35:12
going to be
00:35:13
killed before he could find out about
00:35:15
this on january 25th
00:35:17
1996 at the break of dawn anita
00:35:20
her son david shane tate timon black and
00:35:23
anisha muncie
00:35:24
drove to the riesdorf residence anita
00:35:27
knew that donna riesdorff was visiting
00:35:28
her mother
00:35:29
leaving her husband teddy in the house
00:35:31
by himself
00:35:32
the stress level went up when we dropped
00:35:36
the two boys off
00:35:38
and we went and parked it in the street
00:35:40
5
00:35:41
36 in the morning dad was in his chair
00:35:44
reading the paper and drinking his
00:35:45
coffee and he heard some commotion in
00:35:47
the garage
00:35:47
so he got up to go check on it and he
00:35:49
went out through the back
00:35:51
to go out into the garage
00:35:55
the dad came around here to this door to
00:35:56
see because they got into the side door
00:35:59
and that's when the confrontation
00:36:00
started and i guess they wrestle around
00:36:03
shane armed himself with the pipe wrench
00:36:05
and then struck mr riesdorff
00:36:07
mr reisdorf fought with him he told him
00:36:09
please
00:36:10
leave me alone don't hit me anymore i'll
00:36:11
give you what you want and
00:36:13
shane didn't stop he plunged my my
00:36:16
father to death right here
00:36:19
while shane allegedly attacked mr
00:36:20
riesdorff in the garage
00:36:22
anita and anisha pulled into the
00:36:24
driveway according to anisha
00:36:26
she had no idea the plan included murder
00:36:29
police say that when anita walked up to
00:36:31
the driveway
00:36:32
she discovered that timon had fled anita
00:36:34
went after him while anisha entered into
00:36:36
the garage
00:36:37
so that left me in shane there when he
00:36:40
stepped back in the garage the man was
00:36:43
already laying down
00:36:44
and he picked up a piper and she hit him
00:36:46
twice i didn't stop it
00:36:49
at that point i don't know if i would
00:36:51
have saved him or not
00:36:55
that's a question that i've had to deal
00:36:56
with
00:36:58
the group sped off leaving the 68 year
00:37:00
old's lifeless body on the cold garage
00:37:02
floor
00:37:03
the gang then dumped the wrench in a
00:37:05
nearby river in the clothes on a dirt
00:37:07
road
00:37:08
back at anisha's house anita proposed
00:37:10
returning to the resource for a second
00:37:12
shot at stealing the blank checks
00:37:14
but anisha refused to go anita went back
00:37:16
in she stole the check
00:37:18
anita still wanted to catch the check
00:37:19
but i wouldn't agree to do it
00:37:22
at that point it was it was too much
00:37:25
according to police anita then took the
00:37:27
boys on a spending spree with a credit
00:37:29
card she had allegedly taken from mrs
00:37:31
riesdorff
00:37:32
months before she took them all to the
00:37:34
mall
00:37:37
spent off credit cards took them out to
00:37:39
lunch she had a very
00:37:41
carefree attitude the next day anita
00:37:44
forged ahead with the plan to cash one
00:37:46
of the checks
00:37:47
the check was typed out to anita for
00:37:49
eleven thousand dollars
00:37:51
timon then forged mr restore's name
00:37:54
she made timon do the signature forgery
00:37:57
on the chicks
00:37:58
as punishment for leaving shane at the
00:38:01
house
00:38:02
during the crime she first went to her
00:38:05
own bank apparently
00:38:06
and they wouldn't cash it and then she
00:38:09
went to
00:38:10
national check casting register
00:38:13
they've made a copy of her
00:38:14
identification the
00:38:16
girl down there cashing the check
00:38:18
indicated that well
00:38:19
i'm going to have to call on this one
00:38:21
after approval
00:38:23
so they tried to call mr riesdorf's
00:38:25
house where of course
00:38:26
nobody answers because there's nobody
00:38:28
alive there
00:38:29
so anita said well he's probably
00:38:31
sleeping i'll go over to mr resource
00:38:33
house and wake him up
00:38:35
supposedly timon broke into the house
00:38:37
again
00:38:38
and answered the phone and said yes this
00:38:40
is a good check
00:38:42
this is supposed to be an elderly man
00:38:43
yet the voice on the phone sounded like
00:38:45
obviously a young man so she got
00:38:47
suspicious she refused to cash the check
00:38:49
anita left this girl then called law
00:38:52
enforcement
00:38:54
our officers made entry into the house
00:38:55
and found edward raisdorff
00:38:57
he was lying in the garage partially
00:38:59
covered with a blanket
00:39:01
he had received severe blunt trauma to
00:39:04
his head
00:39:04
and face while officers processed the
00:39:08
scene
00:39:08
a swat team stormed anita's residence
00:39:10
timon and shane were found hiding in the
00:39:12
attic and were taken into
00:39:14
custody anisha was also brought in shane
00:39:16
denied any involvement with the burglary
00:39:18
or murder
00:39:19
but timon and anisha told a different
00:39:21
story i didn't kill anybody
00:39:23
david shane tate actually did the murder
00:39:25
he committed a murder but his mother
00:39:27
masterminded it
00:39:29
detectives had yet to bring in their
00:39:30
prime suspect but in a surprising turn
00:39:33
of events
00:39:33
anita called the station first inquiring
00:39:36
about her friend's death
00:39:37
she volunteered to come in and speak
00:39:39
with detective casey
00:39:41
she was very sad that he had died
00:39:43
towards the end of the interview when we
00:39:44
explained that we had already
00:39:46
spoken with anisha the co-defendant
00:39:49
and that the co-defendant had explained
00:39:51
her involvement in it
00:39:53
then she tried to blame it on anisha but
00:39:55
never made any admissions to being
00:39:56
involved
00:39:57
anita and shane were charged with
00:39:59
first-degree murder and armed robbery
00:40:01
in january 1999 anita's trial began but
00:40:04
was declared a mistrial due to anita's
00:40:06
medical problems
00:40:07
a second trial commenced three months
00:40:09
later the prosecution had surmised that
00:40:11
although anita did not commit the murder
00:40:13
she was the instigator she set all the
00:40:16
pieces
00:40:17
in place and then she shoved him out the
00:40:20
door and said go forth and do this
00:40:23
the best analogy would be charlie manson
00:40:25
i don't think anita could be a ring
00:40:27
leader
00:40:27
she may have been a needy person but i
00:40:29
don't think she was ever a ring leader
00:40:31
any type the defense maintained that
00:40:34
anita had nothing to do with the murder
00:40:36
or burglary
00:40:37
and put the blame back on anisha and
00:40:39
timon
00:40:40
my defense was she was around these
00:40:42
people she was influenced by these
00:40:43
people but the act that they committed
00:40:45
was
00:40:46
on their own teddy was one of her best
00:40:49
friends and so was donna
00:40:50
i knew she didn't kill him and i still
00:40:53
to this day know that
00:40:56
although the murder weapon was never
00:40:58
found the prosecution presented a key
00:41:00
piece of evidence
00:41:01
the smoking gun was that check you can't
00:41:04
say that you're
00:41:05
totally innocent and then go to a bank
00:41:08
with
00:41:08
the check from a dead man she first said
00:41:12
that
00:41:13
this check was given to her previously
00:41:16
the problem is that check
00:41:18
did not fit the numbers after three
00:41:20
weeks of testimony the jury returned
00:41:23
with the verdict
00:41:24
people were very passionate about anita
00:41:27
gonzalez
00:41:28
either on her side or wanting to see her
00:41:30
rot in hell
00:41:39
the state of florida is about 200 years
00:41:43
behind times
00:41:45
there was no evidence that convicted
00:41:47
them there was lies
00:41:49
and suppositions all of us that were
00:41:52
sitting
00:41:53
in my area supporting my father we all
00:41:57
hooted and hollered yep
00:42:08
[Music]
00:42:14
no
00:42:18
[Music]
00:42:29
it's probably better that they didn't
00:42:31
get the electric chair because now they
00:42:32
got to wake up every day
00:42:34
in prison thinking about what they did
00:42:36
anita has since admitted that she was
00:42:38
involved in the burglary
00:42:39
but still maintains she had nothing to
00:42:41
do with the murder
00:42:43
in 2008 while in prison anita says
00:42:45
doctors found a lump in her chest
00:42:47
the growth that she has on her chest
00:42:50
is in some way connected to her lungs
00:42:56
so we don't face a very
00:43:00
rosy future at this point
00:43:03
as long as she's around i'll be with her
00:43:13
teddy reisdorf's wife donna passed away
00:43:15
from cancer
00:43:16
six weeks after her husband was murdered
00:43:18
for randy reesdorf there has been one
00:43:20
positive change as a result of his
00:43:22
father's death
00:43:23
while at the trial he met and fell in
00:43:25
love with robin alderman
00:43:26
the mother of the little boy who died
00:43:28
taking anita's medication
00:43:30
she had lost a son
00:43:34
years ago and this woman
00:43:38
anita was behind it in one way or
00:43:42
another
00:43:42
and we had a lot in common his dad was
00:43:46
murdered by the same person and
00:43:47
it's the bond that's unbreakable somehow
00:43:49
we've made it work for 10 years
00:43:52
still randy believes he can never let go
00:43:54
of what happened to his father
00:43:56
this is her last stunt i can't forgive
00:43:59
shane
00:44:00
or anita i probably never will get over
00:44:06
that
00:44:09
you
