00:00:05
[Music]
00:00:10
hell have no fury
00:00:11
like a woman's goal then start getting
00:00:14
pissed off at him
00:00:15
so i just emptied both guns anymore they
00:00:17
did really bad things
00:00:19
to get drums i killed a man
00:00:23
i blew his face off if if if that's
00:00:26
vivid enough for you
00:00:28
cannibalism is not my choice
00:00:34
i was young i was beautiful i had the
00:00:37
whole world in front of me
00:00:38
the people here are miserable it's a
00:00:40
struggle in here every day
00:00:42
i'm sitting on the death row
00:00:45
how do you accept that i got my chance
00:00:48
and i blew it
00:00:49
[Music]
00:00:51
on this episode three women
00:00:55
the prosecution was trying to present me
00:00:57
as
00:00:58
a wife gone mad he was dead when i
00:01:01
turned him over and
00:01:02
i didn't want him to be dead i was the
00:01:04
getaway driver
00:01:05
bob grabbed the bat mikey grabbed the
00:01:07
knife their
00:01:08
intimate confessions from behind bars i
00:01:11
found him bleeding from the head
00:01:13
it just freaked out we just went in a
00:01:15
downward spiral right back into the
00:01:17
drugs
00:01:18
horrific crimes bob was stabbed to death
00:01:21
inside the house this was a very brutal
00:01:24
killing from an enraged person
00:01:26
[Music]
00:01:27
[Applause]
00:01:30
[Music]
00:01:41
my name is belinda goff and i am an
00:01:44
innocent woman
00:01:45
sitting in prison
00:01:51
nestled deep in the ozarks are the small
00:01:54
towns that make up carroll county
00:01:55
arkansas
00:01:57
we are a step back in time in a good way
00:01:59
as a region defined by deep-rooted faith
00:02:02
and southern hospitality it is also a
00:02:04
hub for gospel music
00:02:07
in 1989 stephen and belinda gough moved
00:02:10
here to pursue his dream of starting a
00:02:12
gospel band
00:02:14
a dream that would end in murder i just
00:02:17
started screaming
00:02:20
because it was obvious he wasn't weak
00:02:27
the early morning stillness of a summer
00:02:29
sunday was shattered as paramedics and
00:02:31
police rushed to an apartment
00:02:33
in green forest arkansas my husband the
00:02:36
man i loved the father of my children
00:02:38
was laying on the floor bleeding from
00:02:40
the head
00:02:41
there was no question that this man had
00:02:44
been brutally killed
00:02:45
thirty-two-year-old belinda goff told
00:02:47
police she woke up to find her husband
00:02:50
murdered
00:02:51
it was highly unlikely that she could
00:02:53
sleep through this brutal attack
00:02:54
pieces of his skull and brain matter was
00:02:57
bound as much as 12 feet from the body
00:03:00
it didn't take long before investigators
00:03:03
zeroed in on the victim's wife belinda
00:03:05
as their main suspect there was blood
00:03:08
found in the bathtub drone whoever
00:03:09
killed this man
00:03:10
took a shower and cleaned up although no
00:03:13
blood was found on belinda's clothing
00:03:15
a polygraph indicated that she was not
00:03:17
being truthful
00:03:20
oh no sir you are wrong i can't believe
00:03:23
it
00:03:24
there's no eyewitness there's nothing
00:03:27
that ties
00:03:28
anybody directly to the homicide
00:03:32
i'm not a violent person i'd never in a
00:03:35
million years would have dreamed
00:03:37
i would have been charged for his murder
00:03:42
belinda fagoth was raised in suburban
00:03:44
illinois
00:03:45
in a strict but loving christian home
00:03:48
i was quiet and really shy
00:03:52
as a middle child i was usually the
00:03:54
peacemaker
00:03:55
in high school a teen pregnancy derailed
00:03:58
belinda's education
00:04:00
at age 16 i gave birth to my daughter
00:04:03
bridget
00:04:04
to support herself and her baby girl the
00:04:07
single mom got her ged
00:04:08
and worked factory and retail jobs then
00:04:11
she met steven goff
00:04:12
the love of her life he was very
00:04:15
charming he had a sideways
00:04:17
sort of a smile that was very endearing
00:04:20
to me
00:04:20
steve was a very charismatic guy
00:04:24
some called him a people magnet steve
00:04:27
was outgoing belinda was reserved kind
00:04:30
of the
00:04:31
yang and yang i felt like
00:04:34
my meeting him was ordained
00:04:38
a three-month whirlwind courtship led to
00:04:40
marriage
00:04:41
stephen and belinda had children from
00:04:43
previous relationships
00:04:44
and were eager to start a family of
00:04:46
their own
00:04:47
after their son mark was born they set
00:04:50
roots in arkansas
00:04:51
where stephen pursued his lifelong dream
00:04:53
of starting a christian band
00:04:56
my brother always had a passion for
00:04:58
gospel music
00:05:00
he was gifted and it soon became our
00:05:03
dream
00:05:03
because i supported him in that but
00:05:06
steven's life as a musician
00:05:08
tempted him in ways that strained his
00:05:10
marriage
00:05:11
stephen was a womanizer he wasn't the
00:05:14
perfect husband
00:05:16
in 1991 stephen performed in an ongoing
00:05:19
gospel show
00:05:20
in nearby eureka springs and had an
00:05:22
affair with a co-worker
00:05:24
belinda who had just given birth to
00:05:26
another son
00:05:28
threw her husband out only to take him
00:05:30
back a month later
00:05:31
we did counseling and decided we would
00:05:34
recommit to our own marriage
00:05:37
that same year the gospel show closed
00:05:39
and both stephen and belinda
00:05:41
took nine to five jobs at the local food
00:05:43
factory
00:05:44
where outgoing stephen made fast friends
00:05:47
he started drinking a lot
00:05:49
him and his friends their relationship
00:05:53
had a lot more struggles than either one
00:05:55
of them may have
00:05:56
said to anybody before long gossip about
00:06:00
her husband
00:06:00
started getting back to belinda oh she
00:06:03
was extremely jealous
00:06:04
she really wanted to control him very
00:06:07
much
00:06:08
belinda was checking up on him she
00:06:12
thought that there could be somebody
00:06:14
else
00:06:15
in the summer of 1993 belinda discovered
00:06:18
the rumors were true
00:06:20
stephen was once again having an
00:06:22
extramarital affair
00:06:24
he was dating a woman my heart was just
00:06:26
broken
00:06:28
the couple separated but stephen quickly
00:06:30
returned to his wife and children
00:06:32
i wanted my sons to have their father
00:06:35
and that's why i took him back
00:06:37
my mother was very much in love with him
00:06:39
and she was she was going to make it
00:06:40
work
00:06:41
when the goths reunited in the spring of
00:06:44
1994
00:06:45
belinda says they were happy for a while
00:06:48
we could laugh
00:06:49
with each other and have fun with each
00:06:51
other
00:06:52
steven was working on turning his life
00:06:54
around he had quit drinking he had put
00:06:56
an emphasis on his family he loved being
00:06:59
a dad
00:07:01
he was really looking forward to getting
00:07:03
back with his kids
00:07:05
but the marital bliss was short-lived as
00:07:07
a series of random events gave belinda a
00:07:10
familiar sinking feeling
00:07:12
we had been receiving a lot of hang-up
00:07:14
phone calls where if myself
00:07:16
or my daughter answered they would hang
00:07:19
up
00:07:20
on the evening of june 11th 1994
00:07:24
all the goff children with the exception
00:07:26
of the three-year-old
00:07:27
were sleeping over with friends with the
00:07:29
place all to themselves
00:07:31
belinda planned a romantic dinner with
00:07:33
her husband
00:07:34
i had planned a dinner there was good
00:07:37
food
00:07:38
just after the meal belinda says steven
00:07:41
received a mysterious phone call
00:07:43
and left their apartment it was a very
00:07:46
short phone call
00:07:47
he said that he had to go he was going
00:07:49
to go get some cigarettes
00:07:50
something didn't sound right with his
00:07:52
voice and his demeanor
00:07:54
when stephen had not returned by 10 30
00:07:56
belinda claims she
00:07:58
went to bed i was disappointed we were
00:08:00
having a good time
00:08:05
the neighbors immediately above this
00:08:07
residence heard
00:08:08
someone knock on the door from
00:08:10
downstairs they heard a lot of banging
00:08:12
on the walls or ceiling
00:08:14
the noises were so loud they were
00:08:15
concerned about them waking their child
00:08:17
and after a moment things got quiet
00:08:21
[Music]
00:08:24
according to belinda when her alarm
00:08:26
clock went off at 4
00:08:27
30 a.m she discovered her toddler in the
00:08:30
bed
00:08:31
and her husband dead in the living room
00:08:33
i found him
00:08:35
laying on the floor bleeding from the
00:08:37
head i just
00:08:39
freaked out i started crying screaming
00:08:43
an ambulance rushed to the apartment
00:08:44
within minutes
00:08:46
when the paramedic got to the crime
00:08:47
scene mr goff's body
00:08:49
was blocking the door the mt was able to
00:08:52
just crack the door and hold it
00:08:54
open with some resistance to get mrs
00:08:57
goff and the child
00:08:58
out the position of stephen's corpse
00:09:01
wedged against the front door indicated
00:09:04
that the killer could not have fled the
00:09:05
crime scene
00:09:07
i had to physically move the body
00:09:10
with the door as i entered the victim
00:09:12
was laying on his back
00:09:14
where the door hinges to the wall the
00:09:17
whole entire top of his head
00:09:19
his skull was crushed police gathered
00:09:22
evidence that included two claw hammers
00:09:24
from a closet
00:09:25
and a drop of blood in the bathroom
00:09:27
drain investigators had already narrowed
00:09:30
their sights
00:09:30
on the grieving widow my first thought
00:09:33
was that the killer did not leave the
00:09:35
apartment detectives asked belinda to
00:09:38
submit to a polygraph
00:09:40
and the results indicated deception this
00:09:43
says that you
00:09:44
you hit me okay i do
00:09:52
i did not hit my husband coming up
00:09:57
the evidence speaks for the dead it
00:09:58
would make no sense for mr goff's blood
00:10:01
to be in that terrain unless she had
00:10:04
killed him they prosecuted an innocent
00:10:07
woman
00:10:08
and later and he just said julie bob's
00:10:11
dead
00:10:11
the words hit me harder than anything
00:10:13
felt like i got shot
00:10:21
in june 1994 stephen goff a 40-year-old
00:10:25
father
00:10:25
and husband with a history of infidelity
00:10:27
was found bludgeoned to death in his
00:10:29
living room
00:10:30
the manner of the killing indicated such
00:10:32
rage that the police quickly focused on
00:10:34
the victim's wife belinda
00:10:36
as the primary suspect this was a very
00:10:39
brutal killing
00:10:41
from an enraged person eight to ten
00:10:43
blows on the top of his head
00:10:44
they had already made their mind up it
00:10:47
was i they had committed this crime
00:10:50
we tried to eliminate her as a suspect
00:10:52
but we couldn't
00:10:53
every piece of evidence had all come
00:10:55
back to her
00:10:57
everybody was kind of hopeful that it
00:10:58
wasn't her she always seemed to be
00:11:02
a good christian woman you know the
00:11:04
prosecution took their time
00:11:06
building a strong case against belinda
00:11:09
two years after stephen goff was found
00:11:11
bludgeoned to death
00:11:12
his wife went on trial for the murder
00:11:14
[Music]
00:11:18
all the evidence we had at the time was
00:11:21
circumstantial
00:11:22
belinda maintained her innocence but the
00:11:25
prosecutors
00:11:26
believed that the crime scene spoke
00:11:27
volumes about the events of that night
00:11:30
and that no one else had the means the
00:11:32
motive or the opportunity to kill
00:11:34
stephen goff
00:11:35
she had rejected her plans for a
00:11:37
romantic evening
00:11:38
she suspected him of seeing another
00:11:40
woman at about 2am he
00:11:42
came home an argument ensued over the
00:11:45
suspected affair
00:11:46
and he was hit from behind mr goff was
00:11:49
killed and
00:11:50
the killer ms goff stood over him and
00:11:52
continued to
00:11:53
beat him but belinda maintains she
00:11:55
didn't know what happened to her husband
00:11:59
he went somewhere he shouldn't have gone
00:12:01
and they
00:12:02
followed him a puzzling element to the
00:12:05
crime
00:12:06
was the knock on the door heard by
00:12:08
neighbors the neighbors said that she
00:12:10
heard some knocking on the front door
00:12:12
why would steve knock on his own front
00:12:15
door at two o'clock in the morning when
00:12:16
he had his keys to his house
00:12:18
he didn't take the car and he didn't
00:12:20
take his keys and that's why he
00:12:22
knocked on the door belinda and her
00:12:25
defense team
00:12:25
argued that stephen goff was attacked in
00:12:28
the living room while belinda
00:12:29
and her toddler were deep asleep in the
00:12:31
bedroom witnesses testified that they
00:12:34
heard
00:12:34
a banging noise they said it was loud
00:12:37
enough they thought it was going to wake
00:12:38
up their baby
00:12:39
there's no way that uh she could have
00:12:41
slept through it
00:12:42
my mother is a heavy sleeper there were
00:12:44
times i had trouble
00:12:45
waking her up belinda also claimed she
00:12:48
was still
00:12:49
recovering from a hysterectomy and
00:12:51
taking pain medication
00:12:53
she was medicated and would have been
00:12:56
sleeping
00:12:57
in a much deeper sleep than a normal
00:12:59
person
00:13:00
evidence from the bathroom added to the
00:13:02
prosecution's case
00:13:04
against belinda the shower curtain in
00:13:06
the bathroom was wet
00:13:08
beads of water on the bottom of the
00:13:10
bathtub somebody had just taken a shower
00:13:13
and when one of the detectives lifted
00:13:15
the bathtub drainage trap
00:13:17
a bead of blood was running down one of
00:13:20
his fingers
00:13:21
liquid blood experts testified that the
00:13:24
trace of blood found in the drain
00:13:25
did not belong to belinda or the
00:13:27
children
00:13:29
it was consistent with stephen goff's
00:13:31
blood although they could not prove it
00:13:33
definitively
00:13:34
it would make no sense for mr goff's
00:13:36
blood to be
00:13:37
in that terrain unless she had killed
00:13:40
him and
00:13:40
cleaned up the defense said well maybe
00:13:43
cut himself shape
00:13:44
far-fetched probably the prosecution's
00:13:48
biggest argument however
00:13:49
was what paramedics and police noticed
00:13:51
the minute they arrived at the crime
00:13:52
scene
00:13:53
stephen goff's body blocked the doorway
00:13:56
which in their view
00:13:57
trapped the killer inside it was not
00:14:00
very wide
00:14:00
of opening and i had to move the body
00:14:03
even further to get through
00:14:05
the location of the body the blood
00:14:06
splatter nobody left
00:14:08
the residence that was our theory he was
00:14:11
not blocking the door
00:14:12
my son and i went out the door the
00:14:14
defense fought back
00:14:16
by pointing out that no blood was found
00:14:18
on belinda or her clothing
00:14:20
there was no way to beat someone to
00:14:23
death
00:14:23
with a blunt instrument and have no
00:14:26
blood
00:14:27
as for the murder weapon the two hammers
00:14:30
found in the apartment
00:14:31
came up clean two hammers they were both
00:14:34
tested no dna no fingerprint
00:14:37
no blood it could have been cleaned with
00:14:39
bleach it could have been
00:14:40
cleaned with soap and water the theory
00:14:42
regarding motive was easier to prove
00:14:45
the prosecution was trying to present me
00:14:49
as
00:14:49
a wife gone mad who just went over the
00:14:53
brink
00:14:54
i'm not a violent person people snap
00:14:56
people
00:14:57
commit homicides that you wouldn't
00:14:59
typically think would be
00:15:00
a murderer a former friend of belinda's
00:15:03
anita bellafay
00:15:04
provided damaging testimony melinda
00:15:07
could get upset at the drop of a hat
00:15:09
especially if she thought you were
00:15:10
crossing her she had kicked steven out
00:15:13
of the house
00:15:13
he was having an affair and she said
00:15:15
this will never happen again or i'll
00:15:17
bash his head in like
00:15:18
and i was so shocked so it was a totally
00:15:20
different belinda
00:15:22
at no time did i ever have a
00:15:24
conversation with anita bellafay
00:15:27
regarding anything let alone to threaten
00:15:30
my husband
00:15:31
with beating his head in the defense
00:15:34
countered that anita had incentive to
00:15:36
lie
00:15:37
because she owed belinda money she'd
00:15:39
help me out with the gas spill
00:15:40
i don't know how that discredits me i
00:15:43
wanted her so
00:15:44
badly to be innocent in fact others who
00:15:47
knew belinda
00:15:48
described her as peaceful she never
00:15:51
demonstrated
00:15:52
any potential for that kind of
00:15:55
rage the blending of i know is not
00:15:57
capable of premeditated murder
00:16:00
belinda took the stand in her own
00:16:02
defense but was unable to convince the
00:16:04
jury she was innocent
00:16:06
i did not believe her story when she was
00:16:08
on the stand
00:16:10
her demeanor her defensiveness was very
00:16:13
damning
00:16:13
she just acted like somebody guilty
00:16:22
when i heard the word guilty
00:16:25
my heart literally froze it shattered my
00:16:29
world
00:16:30
when they said guilty that was
00:16:33
some justice i never had a doubt
00:16:36
about her ability to kill a man in
00:16:40
almost everything that they used to
00:16:41
convict her there were other
00:16:42
explanations
00:16:43
i think the jury was impartial they
00:16:45
sized up this evidence
00:16:47
and did their job i know they prosecuted
00:16:50
an innocent woman
00:16:51
they will never admit they made a
00:16:53
mistake
00:16:55
in 2001 a judge granted belinda a new
00:16:58
trial
00:16:58
based on the fact that her jury didn't
00:17:00
hear testimony that could have pointed
00:17:02
to a different killer
00:17:04
but the arkansas supreme court reversed
00:17:06
that ruling and upheld her original
00:17:08
conviction
00:17:10
belinda goff is currently incarcerated
00:17:12
at the women's prison
00:17:13
in wrightsville arkansas where she has
00:17:15
spent the last 15 years of a life
00:17:17
sentence
00:17:19
being in prison is not what the torture
00:17:22
is
00:17:22
being torn from your children is uh
00:17:26
torture my mother does not deserve to be
00:17:29
where she is
00:17:32
stephen goff's family believes the
00:17:34
rightful killer is locked up
00:17:37
time has not healed their sense of loss
00:17:39
one of the things i miss the most about
00:17:41
my brothers is laugh
00:17:43
it's very difficult to relive his loss
00:17:47
and i don't think anybody would say that
00:17:49
he deserved what he got
00:17:56
coming up addiction leads to death
00:18:00
everybody is trying to help julie but
00:18:01
there just comes a time when
00:18:03
you have to let that person hit the
00:18:05
bottom mikey came
00:18:06
stumbling towards my car screaming help
00:18:09
me that he is covered
00:18:10
in blood
00:18:16
[Music]
00:18:18
bob was stabbed to death inside the
00:18:21
house julie was involved in a home
00:18:23
invasion that went horribly wrong
00:18:24
mikey came stumbling towards my car
00:18:27
screaming help me
00:18:28
help me covered in blood julie was
00:18:31
shooting heroin every day
00:18:32
smoking a crack every night i don't
00:18:34
think anybody
00:18:36
was surprised that julie was involved my
00:18:38
name is julie
00:18:39
ann sally's and i'm serving a five to
00:18:41
ten year prison sentence
00:18:46
it was after midnight on june 6 2010
00:18:50
when meredith a new hampshire village
00:18:52
known for antique stores and upscale
00:18:54
restaurants
00:18:55
became the backdrop for a violent
00:18:56
killing
00:18:58
the lakes region of new hampshire is an
00:19:00
idyllic spot dotted with villages that
00:19:03
hearken back to the revolutionary war
00:19:05
but even quaint new england has a dark
00:19:07
side here like in many american towns
00:19:10
drug abuse is rampant there always seem
00:19:13
to be
00:19:13
illegal use of drugs whether it's
00:19:15
marijuana heroin
00:19:17
crack cocaine julie sally's was a girl
00:19:20
from the right side of the tracks
00:19:22
whose drug use landed her on the wrong
00:19:24
side of the law
00:19:25
i was shooting up cocaine taking
00:19:27
prescription pills
00:19:29
selling drugs i was a mess julie was
00:19:33
going to doctors getting prescriptions
00:19:35
you know she'd sell some she'd do some
00:19:37
there was really never a time that julie
00:19:38
wasn't high
00:19:40
raised in a loving home julie sally's
00:19:42
lost her mother to cancer
00:19:44
when she was nine years old having a
00:19:46
mother is what i missed
00:19:48
i don't think that she has ever coped
00:19:50
with losing her mother
00:19:52
i just stopped caring always had and i
00:19:55
don't care
00:19:55
i'll do whatever i want kind of attitude
00:19:59
julie got pregnant at 19 but managed to
00:20:01
stay clean
00:20:02
until her baby was born i remember
00:20:05
leaving the hospital with my daughter
00:20:08
and just the feeling
00:20:09
this wonderful feeling but her willpower
00:20:12
was no match for the addiction
00:20:14
julie gravitated toward the wrong people
00:20:16
i was just hanging out with
00:20:18
people that did drugs cocaine heroin
00:20:21
pills when julie's father also died of
00:20:25
cancer
00:20:25
it was a turning point when my father
00:20:28
died things just kind of
00:20:29
started to spin out of control once
00:20:31
drugs are in your life
00:20:33
they take over and they consume your
00:20:35
life i
00:20:36
gave guardianship of my daughter to my
00:20:39
aunt i thought it would just be
00:20:41
temporary as soon as i get my life
00:20:43
straightened out
00:20:44
julie entered rehab but gave up after
00:20:46
two weeks
00:20:48
it got bad after that at her worst point
00:20:52
julie was shooting heroin every day
00:20:54
smoking crack every night
00:20:56
get high get more high get as high as
00:20:58
you can
00:20:59
go to sleep and get up and do it all
00:21:00
over again it was a desperate life
00:21:03
she committed petty thefts in order to
00:21:05
get money for drugs she would steal
00:21:07
things robbing cars
00:21:10
writing bad checks even julie's family
00:21:13
and friends were targets
00:21:15
it was hard to trust her leave her alone
00:21:17
in your car she might go through your
00:21:18
pocketbook
00:21:19
if she's in your house she might steal
00:21:21
something worth value and sell it
00:21:23
my fax machine was gone my tv was gone i
00:21:26
know how powerful that drug is
00:21:28
you will steal from your own mother
00:21:31
inevitably her behavior caught up with
00:21:33
her in 2004
00:21:35
julie was arrested for forging checks
00:21:38
she was sentenced to two years in jail
00:21:41
i was 25 i was angry i didn't think that
00:21:45
i
00:21:45
did enough to be there while serving
00:21:48
time
00:21:49
julie participated in a work release
00:21:51
program there
00:21:52
she met a fellow inmate robert bob hart
00:21:55
i knew he was in prison for
00:21:57
for a robbery he was 17 years older than
00:22:00
me he was really polite
00:22:01
sincere he'd opened doors for me despite
00:22:05
the age difference
00:22:06
the two fell in love and moved in
00:22:08
together once they were both released in
00:22:10
2006.
00:22:11
it was happy that first year and then we
00:22:14
just kind of went in a downward spiral
00:22:17
right back into the drugs after all the
00:22:20
lies and broken promises
00:22:21
julie's relatives had given up on her
00:22:24
you go from her to disappointed to mad
00:22:26
then like i want nothing to do with you
00:22:28
family members become burnt out they
00:22:30
feel like they're banging their head
00:22:31
against a wall
00:22:32
everybody has tried to help julie but
00:22:34
there just comes a time when
00:22:35
you have to let that person hit the
00:22:37
bottom coming up
00:22:40
a robbery ends in death i was guilty i
00:22:43
couldn't
00:22:44
live with myself for what i did julie
00:22:47
going to prison
00:22:47
is a total blessing in disguise and
00:22:50
later
00:22:51
he just started coming at me like a
00:22:52
linebacker i shot him two more times and
00:22:55
then i
00:22:55
took off out of the house
00:23:03
after being released from prison for
00:23:05
check forgery 26 year old julianne
00:23:08
sally's moved in with bob hart a
00:23:10
convicted armed robber
00:23:12
over the next four years strung out on
00:23:14
cocaine and heroin
00:23:15
the couple committed petty crimes to
00:23:17
support their drug habit
00:23:18
i did really bad things to get drugs
00:23:21
it's like my mind wasn't even there
00:23:26
on the night of june 5th 2010 julie's
00:23:30
drug
00:23:30
fueled world came crashing down we had
00:23:33
gotten some cocaine
00:23:34
and mikey had showed up according to
00:23:37
julie
00:23:38
27 year old michael nukes was a friend
00:23:40
of bob's who ran
00:23:41
in the same drug circles mikey came in
00:23:44
and said i want to rob this guy
00:23:46
he's got a ton of cocaine mikey just
00:23:48
kept on telling us how easy it would be
00:23:50
and we decided that we would help him
00:23:54
do the robbery bob started pulling out
00:23:57
dark clothing items and face masks and
00:24:00
that's when it really
00:24:01
changed changed over into how we're
00:24:04
really going to do this
00:24:05
10 miles away 18 year old david rivera
00:24:08
was sleeping soundly
00:24:10
at midnight julie drove mikey and bob to
00:24:12
the town of meredith
00:24:13
where they knew david was staying in an
00:24:15
apartment the plan she says was to rob
00:24:17
david rivera of his cocaine stash
00:24:20
and leave she parked the car and turned
00:24:22
off the headlights
00:24:24
mikey's roll was supposed to be the lead
00:24:26
guy and bob was his backup
00:24:27
and i was the getaway driver bob grabbed
00:24:30
the bat
00:24:31
mikey grabbed the knife they had put in
00:24:33
their masks on and
00:24:34
walked through the tree line down to the
00:24:36
house
00:24:38
according to police once bob and michael
00:24:40
were inside the home
00:24:42
the situation escalated into a bloody
00:24:44
confrontation
00:24:45
david rivera wakes up there's a man with
00:24:48
a baseball bat
00:24:49
and a mask on in his apartment there's
00:24:51
another man who comes in with a knife
00:24:53
david struggles with both of those men
00:24:55
eventually takes the knife
00:24:56
is able to stab michael robert hart is
00:24:59
also stabbed
00:25:02
after about 15 minutes or so i started
00:25:05
to get really concerned
00:25:06
like what is going on and that's when
00:25:08
mikey came
00:25:09
stumbling towards my car screaming help
00:25:12
me help me
00:25:13
he is covered in blood mike was injured
00:25:16
badly
00:25:17
with some several stab wounds she said
00:25:20
she could see the blood one
00:25:22
in sheer panic and confusion julie drove
00:25:25
mikey to the nearest help
00:25:27
a police station then went back to the
00:25:29
crime scene to find bob
00:25:31
i was thinking in my head i'll drop
00:25:33
mikey off to get help and i'll go back
00:25:35
for bob
00:25:37
she then returns to the apartment and
00:25:40
neighbors said
00:25:40
she was driving up and down the street
00:25:43
screaming that robert was inside
00:25:46
before long police pulled up and
00:25:48
confronted a frantic julie
00:25:51
at the scene of the incident she was
00:25:53
screaming that she couldn't find her
00:25:54
boyfriend
00:25:55
i was very uncooperative i mean i had
00:25:58
like psychotic behavior lashing out at
00:26:00
the officers
00:26:02
she was extremely volatile used extreme
00:26:04
profanity
00:26:05
towards us detectives did not reveal to
00:26:08
julie that a body had been found in the
00:26:10
apartment
00:26:11
and that it was her boyfriend bob hart
00:26:13
[Music]
00:26:14
bob was stabbed inside the house and he
00:26:16
died that way
00:26:18
julie was sent home not knowing what
00:26:20
happened to bob
00:26:21
but it wasn't long before a call from a
00:26:23
friend gave her the grave news
00:26:26
and he just said julie bob's dead the
00:26:28
words hit me harder than anything
00:26:31
felt like i got shot the crime made big
00:26:34
headlines in the small towns of the area
00:26:36
i don't think anybody was surprised that
00:26:39
julie was involved
00:26:41
after bob was killed i knew i was going
00:26:43
to go back to prison
00:26:44
i've never seen her so broken i mean she
00:26:46
was devastated and i couldn't do
00:26:48
anything
00:26:50
david rivera the intended victim escaped
00:26:52
the scene with minor injuries
00:26:54
michael nukes however spent several days
00:26:57
in the hospital
00:26:58
recovering from his severe stab wounds
00:27:00
soon after
00:27:01
both michael and julie were indicted on
00:27:03
robbery charges
00:27:05
julie decided that she wanted to come
00:27:06
clean
00:27:08
i was guilty i couldn't live with myself
00:27:11
for what i did and i figured to to speak
00:27:13
the truth of what happened that night
00:27:16
was the best way to to try to move on
00:27:19
julie pleaded guilty in december to
00:27:22
cocaine
00:27:22
and accomplished a burglary charges and
00:27:25
was sentenced to state prison
00:27:28
michael nukes is currently awaiting
00:27:30
trial he claims he did not plan the
00:27:32
robbery
00:27:33
and that julie's version of the crime is
00:27:35
untrue
00:27:37
of course she's going to say that it was
00:27:39
mike's idea but we we strongly dispute
00:27:41
that
00:27:42
julie was sentenced to 10 years in
00:27:44
prison for her role in the attempted
00:27:46
robbery of david rivera
00:27:49
i'm just letting things take me to where
00:27:51
they need to take me
00:27:52
trying to stay positive julie going to
00:27:55
prison is a
00:27:56
total blessing in disguise and i hope
00:27:58
that she
00:27:59
starts getting some counseling for the
00:28:02
stuff that she's been through
00:28:04
there was some relief for the family
00:28:06
that she
00:28:08
was off the street maybe get some help
00:28:10
that she needs
00:28:12
julie is learning to embrace life
00:28:14
without drugs
00:28:16
it's not hard to get clean in prison you
00:28:19
can't have drugs
00:28:20
i definitely will be an addict for the
00:28:23
rest of my life
00:28:24
but this has definitely triggered
00:28:27
something inside me
00:28:28
i truly do hope that she stays on this
00:28:30
path and cleans herself up
00:28:32
i know that i'm a good person drugs
00:28:34
really
00:28:35
really mess up your mind they turn it to
00:28:37
mush
00:28:39
i'd love to be with my daughter again i
00:28:41
would like her to be proud of me
00:28:43
someday i don't want her to be ashamed
00:28:45
of who her mother is
00:28:48
coming up it began as a romantic
00:28:52
rendezvous
00:28:53
i just wanted a normal life to be with
00:28:54
somebody that i loved i thought leonard
00:28:56
was that person
00:28:57
and ended up a valentine's day murder
00:28:59
she didn't want to live without leonard
00:29:01
and she was going to kill herself
00:29:06
this story of cindy and leonard is like
00:29:08
a movie it's a story of money
00:29:10
jealousy lust valentine's day you think
00:29:13
of love
00:29:14
in this case you have a murder she came
00:29:17
out from the bathroom
00:29:18
and just shot him
00:29:22
my name is cynthia tate villegas i was
00:29:24
convicted of murder and i'm serving a
00:29:26
20-year sentence
00:29:28
[Music]
00:29:31
on valentine's day 2001 even a little
00:29:34
town like alice texas had something to
00:29:36
fuss about
00:29:38
roses were on special and candy and
00:29:40
valentine's day cards
00:29:41
sold out like hotcakes but for 37 year
00:29:45
old cynthia villegas
00:29:46
cupid's arrow turned deadly and there
00:29:48
was anything but
00:29:49
love in the air at 11 am
00:29:53
a neighbor out for his morning walk
00:29:55
noticed something out of place
00:29:57
he had seen the vehicle parked what
00:29:58
appeared to be hidden
00:30:00
is the way he described it with the
00:30:02
sheriff's department they came to check
00:30:03
it out
00:30:04
once police identified the owner of the
00:30:06
truck deputies paid a visit
00:30:08
to an address on county road 149.
00:30:11
they knocked on the door nobody answered
00:30:14
but they didn't have a basis
00:30:15
to enter the house later that afternoon
00:30:18
the wells county sheriff's deputies
00:30:20
received a call that leonard villegas
00:30:23
had been shot by his wife cynthia
00:30:26
9-1-1 what is your emergency it happened
00:30:29
so fast
00:30:32
he was dead when i turned him over and i
00:30:36
didn't want him to be dead
00:30:38
when police returned to the house they
00:30:40
discovered that cynthia villegas had
00:30:42
barricaded herself inside
00:30:44
and was threatening to take her own life
00:30:47
i just wanted to kill myself because i
00:30:49
just couldn't believe what had happened
00:30:51
she didn't want to live without leonard
00:30:52
being in her life and she had a gun in
00:30:54
her hand
00:30:55
and she was scared very scared it took
00:30:58
hours of negotiations
00:31:00
but eventually cynthia villegas put the
00:31:02
gun down
00:31:03
and came out there was a whole swat team
00:31:05
and news crews
00:31:06
everybody was outside when investigators
00:31:09
entered the home
00:31:10
they found the body of cynthia's
00:31:12
estranged husband 38 year old leonard
00:31:14
villegas
00:31:15
he was lying dead in bed covered with a
00:31:18
quilt
00:31:20
there may have been some love between
00:31:22
them
00:31:23
at times but it seemed like a love-hate
00:31:26
mutually abusive relationship
00:31:29
although the couple were newlyweds
00:31:31
everyone who knew them
00:31:32
said their relationship was rocky he was
00:31:34
very controlling
00:31:36
possessive he was a user and an abuser
00:31:39
cynthia villegas refused to make a
00:31:40
statement to police
00:31:42
soon after she was arrested and charged
00:31:44
with murder
00:31:47
born cynthia tate in 1963
00:31:50
viegas grew up a happy middle-class girl
00:31:53
in the small town of ricardo texas
00:31:56
i was fortunate to have two parents at
00:31:57
home we were a normal family growing up
00:32:00
had working parents we did what most
00:32:04
families do at 16 cynthia was convinced
00:32:07
she had found mr right we dated for two
00:32:10
years and then we got married
00:32:11
by the time she was 22 cindy was a
00:32:14
stay-at-home mom of two active boys
00:32:16
but she was feeling stifled in her
00:32:18
marriage she was a den mother she was
00:32:20
devoted to her kids
00:32:23
model citizen in 1999
00:32:26
cindy filed for divorce after 18 years
00:32:29
of marriage
00:32:30
she was free no longer forced to be a
00:32:33
dutiful housewife
00:32:34
cindy made every effort to try and
00:32:36
become her own woman
00:32:38
she found herself for a little while and
00:32:40
she was very happy
00:32:42
very involved with the family
00:32:45
for the first time in years things were
00:32:47
coming up roses for cindy
00:32:49
when she met leonard viegas through a
00:32:50
friend the chemistry between the flush
00:32:53
divorcee
00:32:54
and the handsome chemical plant worker
00:32:56
was electric
00:32:57
their relationship started off as a
00:32:59
loving relationship
00:33:01
she was in love with him he was in love
00:33:03
with her
00:33:04
he was very attractive he was divorced
00:33:06
he and his first wife had
00:33:08
four girls cindy was impressed that
00:33:10
leonard appeared to be a doting father
00:33:12
my father was a dreamer he always had
00:33:16
goals and ambitions and
00:33:19
he couldn't wait to have grandchildren
00:33:21
it was always
00:33:22
a bunch of adventures i guess
00:33:25
with my dad around i just wanted a
00:33:27
normal life to be with somebody that i
00:33:29
loved
00:33:29
i thought leonard was that person
00:33:32
when leonard wasn't being a dad he was
00:33:35
busy romancing cindy at his ranch but
00:33:38
cindy soon realized that love had a
00:33:40
price tag
00:33:40
and she was about to get sticker shock
00:33:43
he wanted to start hay baling business
00:33:45
so
00:33:46
i bought a dodge pickup for him i bought
00:33:48
a john deere tractor
00:33:49
hay baling equipment the money drain
00:33:52
continued
00:33:53
and before long she was paying leonard's
00:33:55
bills she bought him a tractor she
00:33:57
bought him a truck
00:33:58
she paid his child support if there was
00:34:00
something that he wanted that she didn't
00:34:02
buy
00:34:02
they fought he would throw his bits
00:34:04
until she would give in
00:34:06
according to cindy leonard didn't just
00:34:08
have expensive tastes and trouble with
00:34:10
money
00:34:11
he had trouble holding his temper cindy
00:34:14
was in an abusive relationship
00:34:16
and not just physically
00:34:19
but also verbally mentally as the
00:34:22
relationship between cindy and leonard
00:34:24
deteriorated
00:34:25
the domestic violence increased the
00:34:27
police had to be called
00:34:28
there was instances where they both hit
00:34:31
each other
00:34:32
you could tell she had been hit she had
00:34:34
red marks
00:34:35
but he had been hit too we would get in
00:34:37
arguments on the phone or
00:34:38
if we did see each other we would argue
00:34:40
and bite it just escalated
00:34:44
when cindy dug deeper into leonard's
00:34:46
past she discovered that he had been
00:34:48
violent with his first wife
00:34:50
there was an occasion where he held his
00:34:52
ex-wife hostage
00:34:53
the gun he had a gun pointed at us
00:34:56
my heart just dropped they never got
00:34:59
back together after that
00:35:01
coming up a last chance for love
00:35:05
ends in a brutal shooting i was still
00:35:08
you know hopeful for reconciliation
00:35:11
because i did love leonard
00:35:12
she didn't want to live without leonard
00:35:14
she was going to kill herself
00:35:20
in 1999 after she received a generous
00:35:23
divorce settlement
00:35:24
35 year old cynthia tate fell in love
00:35:26
with leonard villegas
00:35:28
although he worked at a chemical plant
00:35:30
leonard dreamed of turning his land
00:35:32
into a profitable cattle ranch when
00:35:34
cindy found herself footing the bill for
00:35:36
many of his ventures
00:35:38
arguments about money turned into raging
00:35:40
confrontations
00:35:42
she was vindictive and that's wow
00:35:45
they had the problems with the money
00:35:47
leonard villegas
00:35:48
perhaps took advantage of her having
00:35:51
that money
00:35:52
cindy had filed suit against him to
00:35:54
retrieve
00:35:56
some of what she had spent on him the
00:35:58
lawsuit was to be short-lived
00:36:00
despite their volatile relationship
00:36:02
cindy could not resist leonard for long
00:36:05
she made an impulsive decision and
00:36:07
married him he sweet talked her into
00:36:09
marrying him where he would not have to
00:36:10
give back or pay back
00:36:12
anything i thought you know maybe we
00:36:15
could make it work maybe if we moved out
00:36:16
of the area
00:36:17
to a different place but their
00:36:20
relationship had long ago
00:36:21
become damaged beyond repair there were
00:36:24
numerous phone calls from cindy
00:36:26
griping about leonard it's like why
00:36:28
won't you just stay the hell away from
00:36:30
him
00:36:31
after four contentious months of living
00:36:33
together cindy declared that she and
00:36:35
leonard were
00:36:36
finally through by january i've had
00:36:40
enough
00:36:40
i called my attorney and asked him to
00:36:42
meet me and that i was falling for
00:36:44
divorce
00:36:45
but cindy was still drawn to leonard and
00:36:47
continued to date him in secret
00:36:49
because their quarrelsome relationship
00:36:51
had polarized their families
00:37:00
cindy parked her truck in a neighbor's
00:37:02
property because
00:37:03
leonard's family didn't want her to be
00:37:05
with him they were going to
00:37:06
have a rendezvous there at his house i
00:37:09
was still
00:37:10
hopeful for reconciliation because i did
00:37:13
love leonard
00:37:14
when he came in from his chores cindy
00:37:16
says they fell back into the same old
00:37:18
pattern
00:37:19
we got into argument and i told him he
00:37:21
was never going to change i was just
00:37:22
going to leave and just
00:37:23
forget about everything according to
00:37:25
cindy when she tried to leave
00:37:27
leonard lunged towards her he had taken
00:37:30
my pistol from me
00:37:31
some weeks before that and he had under
00:37:34
his pillow
00:37:35
i thought he was going for the gun and i
00:37:37
jumped up on the bed and grabbed the
00:37:38
pistol
00:37:39
he started coming towards me and i
00:37:41
panicked and i shot him in the shoulder
00:37:45
and he just looked at his shoulder and
00:37:47
started coming at me like a linebacker
00:37:49
and i shot him two more times and then i
00:37:52
took off out of the house
00:37:55
cindy claims that she listened for signs
00:37:57
of life but
00:37:58
everything had gone eerily silent when
00:38:01
she re-entered the house
00:38:02
it seemed like a bad dream i went back
00:38:05
in and he had
00:38:06
fallen on the bed i was freaking out he
00:38:09
was dead when i turned him over and
00:38:13
i didn't want him to be dead
00:38:15
[Music]
00:38:16
it happened so fast instead of calling
00:38:19
9-1-1
00:38:21
cindy called her sister candy i could
00:38:23
tell she was crying hysterical
00:38:25
and she said i'm okay but i may not be
00:38:28
here when you get here
00:38:29
i think she was contemplating taking her
00:38:31
own life she loved leonard
00:38:33
leonard was no longer there alarmed
00:38:36
candy clutched her car keys and shouted
00:38:39
to her husband
00:38:40
to call police there was a red quilt
00:38:42
that i put over him before my sister
00:38:44
came in the house
00:38:45
i just didn't want her to see him
00:38:47
according to candy
00:38:48
when she got to the ranch cindy was in a
00:38:50
trance pacing compulsively
00:38:53
with a gun in her hand i thought that i
00:38:55
could just lunge and get the gun out of
00:38:57
her hand and then i thought you know
00:38:58
that could go
00:38:59
really south in a heartbeat i told cindy
00:39:02
we've got to get some help out here
00:39:04
as deputies gathered at the scene cindy
00:39:06
continued the standoff
00:39:08
i was just thinking a lot of crazy stuff
00:39:09
at the time
00:39:11
while news crews and swat teams stood by
00:39:13
candy and police
00:39:15
negotiated after two hours cindy finally
00:39:18
surrendered
00:39:19
they took me in unmarked car to the
00:39:21
sheriff's department
00:39:23
and my sister rode with me during her
00:39:25
interrogation
00:39:26
cindy failed to provide a motive or even
00:39:29
an account of what led to her husband's
00:39:31
shooting
00:39:31
when she didn't claim self-defense or
00:39:34
offer mitigating evidence
00:39:35
she was promptly arrested and charged
00:39:37
with leonard's murder
00:39:39
the prosecution's version is that cindy
00:39:41
hit her vehicle
00:39:42
snuck into the house hid in closet with
00:39:45
a pistol
00:39:46
then he came home and laid down on the
00:39:48
bed and she came out and shot him
00:39:51
while awaiting trial cindy was released
00:39:53
on a 150
00:39:54
000 bond but within months cindy had a
00:39:57
new boyfriend
00:39:58
and plans for a future that did not
00:40:00
include prison
00:40:02
she skipped bond and fled to mexico
00:40:05
she loaded her stuff in my dad's horse
00:40:07
trailer and left
00:40:08
she never called me from mexico i met
00:40:11
this guy and
00:40:12
i got pregnant here i was waiting to go
00:40:15
to trial
00:40:16
he didn't want our child to be born into
00:40:18
all that kind of stuff so we decided
00:40:20
that we were going to go to mexico
00:40:22
when cindy failed to appear in court a
00:40:24
warrant was issued for her arrest
00:40:26
i think she panicked buzz around town
00:40:29
was that she was not going to win the
00:40:30
case
00:40:31
u.s marshals with the help of mexican
00:40:33
authorities were on the hunt
00:40:35
in april 2002 cindy had a miscarriage
00:40:38
and a few weeks later after two months
00:40:41
on the lamb
00:40:41
the fugitive was apprehended as she went
00:40:43
about her daily routine
00:40:45
they just pulled us over on the side of
00:40:46
the road and they brought me back to
00:40:48
texas
00:40:50
on may 25th 2002 cindy was extradited to
00:40:54
texas
00:40:55
considered a flight risk this time she
00:40:57
awaited trial behind bars
00:41:03
my strategy was to portray leonard the
00:41:06
way that he really was
00:41:08
as a violent person and a person who
00:41:11
attacked her at trial cynthia's lawyer
00:41:15
argued that she shot leonard in
00:41:16
self-defense
00:41:18
to corroborate her claim cindy's
00:41:20
attorney planned to use domestic
00:41:21
violence reports
00:41:22
filed by leonard's first wife
00:41:25
unfortunately
00:41:26
the documents never materialized the
00:41:28
records mysteriously disappeared
00:41:31
when cindy took the stand she detailed
00:41:33
how she feared for her life
00:41:35
and even acted out for the jury the
00:41:37
manner in which leonard pushed her
00:41:39
and how she lunged for the pistol
00:41:42
she came across as someone
00:41:46
who was going to get even
00:41:49
and self-defense seemed to be contrived
00:41:53
the jury dismissed the self-defense
00:41:55
claim as a desperate move
00:41:57
by a desperate woman no one indicated
00:42:01
that she had ever mentioned she was
00:42:03
attacked and had to defend herself
00:42:05
against the attack by leonard there was
00:42:08
a motive
00:42:09
of hurt not only because of the love
00:42:12
that wasn't returned by
00:42:14
mr villegas and the fact that uh he had
00:42:16
taken advantage of her and when she went
00:42:18
to leonard's house
00:42:19
she intended to kill him and
00:42:23
did exactly that
00:42:30
when i heard the verdict it crushed me i
00:42:31
really thought that that she would
00:42:34
she would get off on self-defense if she
00:42:36
had gone to mexico she would have stood
00:42:38
a
00:42:38
whole lot better chance of winning her
00:42:40
case
00:42:41
nine years later cynthia villegas still
00:42:44
can't wrap her head around
00:42:46
what happened i still have nightmares
00:42:48
about it i did love my husband
00:42:50
and i still do if i had to say one thing
00:42:53
to women out there with domestic
00:42:54
violence
00:42:56
don't keep going back on this point even
00:42:59
leonard's daughters seem to agree
00:43:02
it's not worth taking away somebody's
00:43:04
life and
00:43:05
letting their children suffer and losing
00:43:07
your life as well
00:43:09
if i saw cindy i'd probably ask why she
00:43:12
didn't think how this would affect us
00:43:15
my sisters and i lost our father but her
00:43:18
children lost
00:43:19
their mother too after all this time
00:43:22
that has passed
00:43:24
i've learned to forgive her
