00:00:05
on this episode of women behind bars
00:00:07
one woman is convicted in the murder of
00:00:09
her adoptive grandmother
00:00:11
jessica was one that suggested that
00:00:13
putting a bag over her head to kill
00:00:14
joyce
00:00:15
i was aware of what was going on but it
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was like i had no control over like i
00:00:19
was scared
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to do anything say anything
00:00:24
then shannon bourard is found guilty of
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killing an innocent bystander
00:00:27
at a neighborhood dice game she had
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something to prove to somebody that
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they just wasn't gonna win and that's
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what she did she retaliate
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her daughter looked up at her shook her
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head and
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exhaled her last breath and died leaving
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little two-year-old baby charles
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motherless
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two women two brutal crimes these are
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the stories of jessica gentry
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and shannon bouard
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[Music]
00:01:14
[Music]
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on february 12 1999 a construction
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company discovered the body of a woman
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floating in a creek bed below a bridge
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just into the water was a partially
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submerged body
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we didn't have any indication who she
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would be the jane doe was later
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identified as 57-year-old carolyn joyce
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thomas
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the investigation led to the victim's
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granddaughter 21 year old jessica gentry
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and her friends sean barclay
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and drew alexander shawn
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and drew put a a bag
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over her head and suffocated her
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jessica was their access into joyce's
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home
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so the killing could be accomplished her
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obsession
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with sean barkley is what drove her
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involvement
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all i wanted was him i never wanted her
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to die
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was jessica gentry the mastermind in a
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plot to murder her grandmother
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or was she unable to stop her boyfriend
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from committing the crime
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[Music]
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i was born at parkland memorial hospital
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my early years
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i spent roaming around my parents were
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nomads never had a stable place
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her father he's an alcoholic and did
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drugs and
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couldn't ever hold a job down and her
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mother she
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couldn't stay off the booze when jessica
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was three
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her birth mother had jessica's brother
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jason and justin joined the family three
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years later
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at six years old jessica found herself
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in what she says was an unstable
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parental environment
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taking care of her young siblings my
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main concern
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was my brothers i did everything to look
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out for them
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at one time they were living in the back
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of their car out the lake
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jessica claims her early childhood was
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also colored by abuse from her
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biological father
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he was real abusive towards my mom he
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was
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abusive towards me physical abuse sexual
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abuse
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in 1983 when jessica was seven years old
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her biological parents realized they
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were unable to support their children
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her father told us that he couldn't take
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care of him anymore
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so we went over and picked him up sandy
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and her husband royce gentry jessica's
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biological uncle who had no children of
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their own
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adopted both jessica and jason another
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aunt took jessica's baby
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brother justin for the seven-year-old
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girl the ordeal was emotionally damaging
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i felt abandoned and i grew up feeling
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like i was trash
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and that's just the way i felt growing
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up all my life
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with new parents jessica finally got to
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have a childhood
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i didn't have to worry about where i was
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going to sleep where my next meal was
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going to come from
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but in school the young girls
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insecurities continued to mount
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from the very beginning i was always the
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outcast
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she struggled in school jessica was a
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follower
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if you told her go jump off the side of
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the cliff she probably would just to
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have a friend
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when jessica was 14 years old her
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adoptive parents royce and sandy
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divorced
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jessica chose to stay with royce but she
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quickly started to rebel
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i was skipping class i had started
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falling in with the wrong kids and i
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started drinking
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and smoking cigarettes jessica also
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struggled with her weight
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which made her feel even lonelier during
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her high school years
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jessica was a heavyset girl but she was
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a very pretty girl
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but she didn't feel that way being
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overweight is like
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you would do anything to be accepted um
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sleeping with the boys just it didn't
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matter whoever
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just whatever they wanted jessie used
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sex to get boys to like her
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jessie had jessie didn't feel like
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anybody could like her she just had no
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self-esteem whatsoever
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at age 16 jessica moved in with sandy
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and her new husband
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during the week she stayed in alvarado
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with sandy's mother
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carolyn joyce thomas known as joyce so
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that she could attend a better school
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it was really freedom to me
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because my grandmother didn't didn't
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hold a fist over me
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but jessica returned to sandy's house
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every weekend where they eventually
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realized that the arrangement was not
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working out
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they seemed that i was getting out of
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control i started smoking marijuana and
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getting into the heavier drugs and so
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they brought me back bought a new house
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put me in a different school district
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sandy and her husband
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enrolled jessica in her third high
00:05:54
school which was in arlington
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in 1997 she finally earned her diploma
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i had repeated grades six and nine and i
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was
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20 16 to be 21 when i graduated
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fresh out of high school jessica was
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more interested in partying than going
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to work
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and she had a job and we couldn't figure
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out why she wasn't going to work
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i found reasons to call in go hang out
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with my friends and sneak out at night
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and just
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i went crazy jessica would either get
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fired because of her drug use
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or she just preferred to mooch off of
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others instead of supporting herself
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at that job they did random drug tests
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and when i knew the drug test was coming
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up i just stopped going to work well
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they called and that's how she found out
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i said jessica what are you doing and
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she says i'm smoking pot
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and i said when are you smoking this pot
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i have some in my bedroom right now
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she was hurt and my stepfather
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couldn't take me abusing my mom like
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that and he just put me out
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with nothing jessica was
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concerned about one person and that was
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herself
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and even when people would try to help
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her
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she would take advantage of people even
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those that loved her
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on her own jessica worked odd jobs and
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got an apartment with friends
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but everything changed when she met sean
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barclay
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i don't believe in love at first sight
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but that's what it felt like
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i knew that he was going to change my
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life i didn't know it was going to be
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like this but i knew that
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somehow we were going to be connected
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forever for the rest of our lives
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when jesse met him he was just bouncing
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around he had been to the penitentiary
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before for a burglary of a habitation
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he didn't work he generally just lived
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off other people
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he had a girlfriend but he started
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living with me
00:07:46
we became inseparable according to her
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she loved him a whole lot more than he
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loved her
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but i think that both sean and jessica
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were using each other
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in the meantime jessica could no longer
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pay rent
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so she turned to her grandmother for
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help i had called him and asked her if
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i'd come stay with her
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and she let me come with the promise
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that i was going to get a job and help
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her pay her bills
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when women behind bars continues jessica
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helped in the the planning of the
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killing they wanted to
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find out what it was like to kill a
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person i said just
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just dump her right here
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in 1998 21 year old jessica gentry was
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unable to hold down a job
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due to drug use she appealed to her
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adoptive grandmother carolyn joyce
00:08:42
thomas to take her in
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she spoiled us she would spend lots of
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money on clothes and shoes
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and food she was loving
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but i never felt like i was her
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granddaughter
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i always felt like my cousins who were
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her biological blood
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were who she cared for most
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mom did say something to jessica several
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times about jessica you need to get out
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and find a job
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but she never did then jessica began
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taking advantage of joyce's hospitality
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when she would go to sleep i would take
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her keys and go and see shawn
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one night while jessica was on the phone
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with sean and their friend
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eighteen-year-old drew alexander shawn
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made a comment about her grandmother
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shawn wanted me to come over and i told
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him that
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my grandmother was still awake he was
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like well put her to bed
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i didn't take it as anything it was
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just boys talking but the topic
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resurfaced
00:09:42
several days later they were talking
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about ways to kill somebody
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and everybody was participating things
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that we had seen in the movies
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they read in books somehow they began
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talking about
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how they could go about killing miss
00:09:56
thomas jessica was one that suggested
00:09:58
that putting a bag over her head to kill
00:10:00
joyce
00:10:02
gentry says the subject did not come up
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again until two weeks later
00:10:06
on february 11 1999 jessica had an
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argument with her grandmother
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when she was caught sneaking shawn into
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the house she was telling me that she
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wanted him out the house
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and i kept promising he'll be gone he'll
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be gone
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well he never left sean hung out with
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jessica that day while her grandmother
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was at work
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he just stood up and said i'm gonna kill
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her and i was like what
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jessica maintains she still didn't take
00:10:31
sean seriously
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later that night when joyce came home
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from work jessica's boyfriend made a
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declaration
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sean barkley said tonight is the night
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or has to be done now or
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something along those lines according to
00:10:44
jessica sean had made up his
00:10:46
mind to kill her grandmother all i know
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is that shawn kept talking about the car
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the car
00:10:52
was a sense of freedom i can't say that
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that's why
00:10:57
he killed her and at the time that's all
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he talked about
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jessica says she felt powerless and
00:11:04
could not oppose her boyfriend
00:11:06
she was afraid jessie is the type of
00:11:09
person
00:11:10
she's not going to argue she also was
00:11:13
madly in love
00:11:14
with sean barkley and sean barkley and
00:11:17
her grandmother did not get along
00:11:19
i wanted sean to come live with me to be
00:11:21
closer
00:11:22
i didn't like the fact that he was all
00:11:24
the way out in fort worth
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but according to the prosecution it was
00:11:27
jessica who pressured sean into killing
00:11:29
her grandmother all along
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the motive in this case was to simply
00:11:34
get
00:11:35
her car i think that
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jessica knew that her grandmother was
00:11:41
getting ready to kick her out
00:11:43
and she wanted to use her grandmother's
00:11:45
property
00:11:46
and when jessica said that she
00:11:50
wanted to know what it was like to kill
00:11:52
someone i think that that was a large
00:11:54
part of the motive
00:11:58
[Music]
00:12:03
sean had tried to sneak up on miss
00:12:05
thomas and was not successful
00:12:07
and sean was angry with himself for not
00:12:09
being able to
00:12:10
just attack this woman and kill her so
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miss thomas lies down on the couch and
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goes to sleep and shawn
00:12:16
recruited jessie to kill her grandmother
00:12:18
and she says i'm not helping you
00:12:21
jessica claims she called their friend
00:12:22
drew alexander to help her calm sean
00:12:25
down
00:12:26
shawn ended up taking my grandmother's
00:12:28
keys and
00:12:29
going to pick drew up and by the time
00:12:31
they got back
00:12:33
it was like shawn had convinced drew
00:12:35
that this is what they were going to do
00:12:37
but the prosecution contended that it
00:12:39
was jessica who had enlisted drew to
00:12:41
participate in the murder of her
00:12:42
grandmother
00:12:44
all three of them wanted to find out
00:12:47
what it was like to kill a person
00:12:49
and jessica knew that
00:12:52
shawn was going to kill her grandmother
00:12:55
and actually when shawn said that
00:12:57
he couldn't do it himself she called
00:12:59
drew to recruit him to come over and
00:13:00
help
00:13:02
they put a either a pillow or a garbage
00:13:04
bag
00:13:06
over her nose precluding her from
00:13:08
breathing
00:13:10
that was shawn barkley that did that
00:13:12
drew was holding her feet down
00:13:14
and then after they thought she was dead
00:13:18
they put a cigarette out on her leg to
00:13:21
try to
00:13:22
make sure that she was dead
00:13:25
jessie says that she was in her bedroom
00:13:27
she put a pillow over her ears to try
00:13:30
not to hear
00:13:31
it was like an out of body experience
00:13:33
was like i had no control
00:13:35
like i was scared to do anything
00:13:38
say anything but jessica was perfectly
00:13:41
in control
00:13:42
according to the prosecution she heard
00:13:44
her grandmother screaming
00:13:46
and the dogs started barking so jessica
00:13:50
got up and put the dogs in another room
00:13:53
so that they'd quiet down
00:13:54
there was virtually no
00:13:59
credible evidence that jessica was
00:14:02
acting under duress or
00:14:04
under the domination or intimidation of
00:14:06
these two guys
00:14:08
gentry claims that once joyce had died
00:14:10
she peeked out the door
00:14:12
into the darkened living room i saw
00:14:15
just like a lump on the couch
00:14:18
and i saw sean standing over the lump
00:14:21
and
00:14:22
drew sitting on it and i knew it was my
00:14:25
grandmother
00:14:26
i immediately closed the door and just
00:14:28
laid on my bed and cried
00:14:30
according to jessica she remained in her
00:14:32
bedroom until the boys came to get her
00:14:35
shawn told me to go out and just wait in
00:14:36
the car they wrapped her in garbage bags
00:14:39
and put her in the trunk of the toyota
00:14:42
and the three of them drove around
00:14:44
looking for a location to dump the body
00:14:47
i was scared and i was throwing up
00:14:49
they eventually ended up on a farm to
00:14:51
market road in the southwestern portion
00:14:53
of tarrant county
00:14:54
i panicked and i said just just dump it
00:14:57
right here you know just
00:14:58
let's get rid of the body drew and sean
00:15:02
took joyce's body out of the trunk and
00:15:05
literally
00:15:06
tossed it over the side of the bridge to
00:15:08
the creek bed below
00:15:10
while jessica was acting more or less as
00:15:13
a lookout
00:15:14
after they disposed of the body they
00:15:16
went back to miss thomas's residence
00:15:18
drew alexander made a comment that you
00:15:21
don't know my name i'm not here so he
00:15:23
goes back to wherever he goes while
00:15:26
jessica and sean slept
00:15:27
a construction crew 30 miles away made a
00:15:30
grisly discovery
00:15:31
i received a dispatch call to go to a
00:15:35
bridge area
00:15:36
and just into the water was a partially
00:15:39
submerged body
00:15:41
obviously it was a white female older
00:15:44
lady
00:15:45
the body was lying partially on on right
00:15:47
side
00:15:48
but pretty much face up with the head
00:15:51
toward the bridge and then the feet back
00:15:53
upstream here
00:15:54
black trash bags were still around her
00:15:56
feet and she had on just kind of pastel
00:15:59
print nightgown
00:16:00
the body was originally a jane doe
00:16:04
as the tarrant county sheriff's
00:16:06
department began their investigation on
00:16:08
the unidentified woman
00:16:09
sandy malone started to worry about her
00:16:11
mother
00:16:12
mom was killed the day before my
00:16:14
birthday of 1999
00:16:16
and mom didn't call me that day
00:16:23
i'm sorry i just thought that maybe she
00:16:27
was working
00:16:29
and that she didn't have time
00:16:32
i thought well she'll call me tomorrow
00:16:35
she'd call me the next day either
00:16:37
[Music]
00:16:40
when women behind bars continues i
00:16:42
absolutely believe that jessica gentry
00:16:44
was the mastermind of this
00:16:46
i told her if that means you spin
00:16:49
the rest of your life in a 4x4 cell
00:16:54
i hope you think about it every day
00:16:57
and later in this episode of women
00:16:59
behind bars a dice game turns deadly
00:17:02
that's all she kept saying my only
00:17:04
daughter why you killed my daughter
00:17:11
on february 12 1999 jessica gentry hid
00:17:15
in her bedroom while her boyfriend sean
00:17:16
barclay
00:17:17
and their friend drew alexander
00:17:19
smothered her grandmother
00:17:20
57 year old carolyn joyce thomas the
00:17:23
three friends then dumped the body over
00:17:25
a bridge where it was soon found
00:17:27
but not identified jessica and sean made
00:17:30
plans to leave town
00:17:32
he said well we'll just take the stuff
00:17:33
from your grandmother's house i'm upon
00:17:35
it
00:17:35
he took vcrs and tv
00:17:38
microwave and video cassettes
00:17:41
shawn didn't have a picture id so that
00:17:43
left it up to me to pawn everything
00:17:46
on february 13th jessica went
00:17:49
to two pawn shops in the far western
00:17:52
side of fort worth
00:17:54
and that netted them a sum of 180
00:17:56
dollars
00:17:57
the last night that we were actually
00:18:00
here in texas
00:18:01
sean told me that he andrew had been
00:18:03
talking about what they would do to me
00:18:05
if i ever called the laws on them and i
00:18:08
just
00:18:08
i remember looking at sean i was like i
00:18:10
wouldn't do that it didn't dawn on me
00:18:12
that my family was going to be in pain
00:18:14
the only thing i couldn't fathom was
00:18:16
losing sean
00:18:18
jessica continued following the boy's
00:18:20
lead but she says her fear of sean was
00:18:22
mounting
00:18:23
whatever sean barkley told her to do
00:18:27
for whatever reason jesse was under the
00:18:28
power to do it
00:18:31
barclay and gentry took joyce's car and
00:18:33
drove to memphis tennessee
00:18:35
meanwhile jessica's mom sandy was
00:18:37
growing more concerned about the
00:18:39
whereabouts of her mother
00:18:40
i get a phone call from my brother
00:18:43
asking me if i heard from mom
00:18:47
he says her job's looking for her i
00:18:49
called the orange and police department
00:18:51
to make a missing person report sandy
00:18:54
met the officers at joyce's duplex in
00:18:56
arlington
00:18:57
there was a little bit of blood in the
00:19:00
in the apartment
00:19:02
we found a letter written by jessica
00:19:04
laid on
00:19:05
the dining room table and it states
00:19:08
granny
00:19:09
i'm sorry about the way i've been acting
00:19:12
then down at the bottom it says by the
00:19:15
way tell mom i said happy birthday
00:19:18
love jessica. and then there was a ps on
00:19:21
the note
00:19:22
and it said i took a couple of pieces of
00:19:24
your candy
00:19:25
[Music]
00:19:27
the day after the report was filed
00:19:29
police got a hit on the jane doe found
00:19:31
several days earlier in tarrant county
00:19:34
they were able to determine that the
00:19:36
body of the victim
00:19:38
was that of carolyn joyce thomas
00:19:42
police zeroed in on jessica gentry as
00:19:44
their number one suspect
00:19:45
investigators tracked her down at a
00:19:47
motel in memphis
00:19:49
and they told jessica uh your
00:19:53
grandmother's missing
00:19:54
do you know where she's at no they got
00:19:57
to hold the memphis police they wouldn't
00:19:58
have found the vehicle
00:19:59
it was mothers the detective
00:20:03
obtained warrants for sean barkley and
00:20:05
jessica gentry for the murder
00:20:08
of joyce he convinced me to come back by
00:20:11
telling me that
00:20:13
at that point i wasn't a suspect my
00:20:16
family needed my help
00:20:17
i told him that i would be back i told
00:20:20
him the next day i'd go get a bus ticket
00:20:22
and
00:20:22
we'd be back when we drove into dallas
00:20:25
and we
00:20:26
got to the terminal and i seen the
00:20:28
detective standing there
00:20:30
and i told sean they're here to get us
00:20:32
on february 17th
00:20:34
five days after the murder jessica
00:20:36
gentry and sean barclay were arrested at
00:20:39
a bus station in downtown dallas
00:20:41
drew alexander was apprehended the next
00:20:43
day she was charged with
00:20:45
capital murder which is a murder
00:20:48
committed in the course of committing a
00:20:51
robbery
00:20:52
jessica gave a lengthy statement to the
00:20:54
arlington homicide detective
00:20:57
as far as what had happened to my
00:20:59
grandmother
00:21:00
there was points where i was just
00:21:02
convincing myself well
00:21:05
it didn't matter i still had sean i
00:21:08
contacted sandy
00:21:10
and she hung up on me i said i don't
00:21:13
want to talk to her
00:21:14
we find out we just lost our mother and
00:21:16
the way we lost her
00:21:17
and then we find out that we have a
00:21:21
daughter involved in it
00:21:24
she was obviously grieving for her
00:21:26
mother
00:21:27
and she was grieving somewhat for
00:21:31
jessica too because this was a child
00:21:33
that she had
00:21:34
helped raise and she wanted jessica
00:21:38
to come to justice whenever the district
00:21:41
attorney's tells me
00:21:43
that we're going to trial and we're not
00:21:46
going to go for the death penalty
00:21:48
i was furious i couldn't understand why
00:21:53
i should give three people
00:21:56
the chance to live the rest of their
00:21:58
life in prison when they did not give my
00:22:00
mother that choice
00:22:21
[Music]
00:22:26
there's no question in my mind that
00:22:29
jesse did not instigate this this was
00:22:32
sean barkley's idea
00:22:34
he did it solely to get miss thomas's
00:22:36
vehicle
00:22:38
i absolutely believe that jessica gentry
00:22:40
was the mastermind of this that
00:22:42
but for the actions of jessica gentry
00:22:44
here and none of this would have
00:22:45
happened
00:22:46
and joyce would still be alive they
00:22:49
said that i was manipulative that i was
00:22:51
narcissistic
00:22:53
i was 286 pounds i had no self-esteem
00:22:57
my actions at the time were because i
00:22:59
just wanted acceptance
00:23:02
it was our theory at trial that her fear
00:23:06
as well as her obsession with sean
00:23:08
barkley is what drove her involvement in
00:23:10
this offense
00:23:12
the defense tried to say that
00:23:15
jessica went along with the murders
00:23:18
because
00:23:19
she was afraid of shawn and drew that
00:23:22
was contrived
00:23:23
in jessica's mind only and we had in our
00:23:26
possession some letters
00:23:28
that really blew that defensive theory
00:23:31
right out of the water perhaps jessica
00:23:33
in her own mind had
00:23:35
had thoughts of marrying sean barkley
00:23:38
the letter
00:23:39
was atrocious
00:23:42
after they were arrested for the murder
00:23:44
of joyce
00:23:45
jessica wrote sean a letter
00:23:48
expressing her love for shawn
00:23:52
and asking that they put this whole
00:23:54
incident behind them
00:23:56
and she never once showed or stated
00:23:59
any concern about what they had done to
00:24:01
her grandmother
00:24:03
the contents of that letter really hurt
00:24:05
her so too
00:24:06
did her testimony gentry failed to
00:24:09
elicit any sympathy from the jury when
00:24:11
she took the stand
00:24:13
the jury did not care for jessica
00:24:16
this young lady came off
00:24:19
really as a very cold individual that
00:24:23
didn't appear to really give any second
00:24:25
thought to the murder of her grandmother
00:24:28
i was living outside of myself for that
00:24:30
whole time that i was there
00:24:33
on december 2nd 1999 after three days of
00:24:36
testimony
00:24:37
the jury delivered its verdict jessica
00:24:39
gentry was guilty of capital murder
00:24:42
jessica was convicted as a party to the
00:24:44
offense
00:24:45
and a party under texas law can be
00:24:48
convicted
00:24:49
and sentenced just as the principal can
00:24:52
i'm not saying that i'm innocent but as
00:24:54
far as being guilty of taking her life
00:24:56
[Music]
00:24:58
it's not my fault i paid the biggest
00:25:01
price
00:25:02
as far as my freedom
00:25:06
gentry was sentenced to life in prison
00:25:10
at the conclusion of the trial sandy
00:25:12
made a very um
00:25:17
moving and heartfelt allocation
00:25:20
statement
00:25:21
i told her that i forgave her
00:25:26
but it doesn't mean it can have anything
00:25:28
to do with you
00:25:30
what you did you have to pay for it so
00:25:33
if that means you spend
00:25:35
the rest of your life in a 4x4 cell
00:25:40
i hope you think about it every day
00:25:43
gentry must spend 40 years in prison
00:25:46
before she is eligible for parole
00:25:48
she is serving her sentence at a maximum
00:25:50
security prison in gatesville texas
00:25:53
jessica tries to stay positive i've been
00:25:56
working to get certified as a braille
00:25:58
typist
00:25:59
just trying to keep my mind occupied
00:26:01
where
00:26:03
i won't just give up and die
00:26:06
her family is still coping with their
00:26:08
loss
00:26:10
she took so much away from this family
00:26:13
mom has
00:26:14
two granddaughters that don't have her
00:26:15
around anymore
00:26:17
i'm still angry but like i can forgive
00:26:21
her because i know that
00:26:22
it's the right thing to do but i will
00:26:24
never be able to forget what she's done
00:26:27
i don't even want to think about her
00:26:28
just
00:26:31
makes me so upset to this day i can't
00:26:33
give my family closure
00:26:36
i can't answer their questions as to why
00:26:51
it was selfish and it was needless
00:27:04
and now i wish i could take it back
00:27:16
next up on women behind bars she had a
00:27:19
gun down by her side
00:27:20
she had something to prove to somebody
00:27:22
and that's what she did she retaliate
00:27:26
for more information about women behind
00:27:28
bars go to wetv.com
00:27:36
on a warm april afternoon in 1998
00:27:40
shots were fired into a courtyard where
00:27:42
neighbors played cards and dice at an
00:27:44
apartment complex in south dallas
00:27:48
a 19 year old girl shawana moss was
00:27:50
struck in the chest
00:27:52
the bullet pierces her heart and she
00:27:54
dies almost instantly
00:27:55
the suspect of the shooting was 28 year
00:27:58
old shannon bouillard
00:27:59
addicted to drugs shannon allegedly spun
00:28:01
into a rage when she lost her crack
00:28:03
cocaine money in a craps game
00:28:05
her intention was to injure the man
00:28:07
running the table lester earl boyd
00:28:10
he was a person that miss bouillard
00:28:14
had her dispute with he was shot in the
00:28:16
lake
00:28:17
he survived their shooting shannon
00:28:19
thought that because she just didn't
00:28:20
mean to
00:28:21
kill shawana that she that she shouldn't
00:28:23
be in trouble and wouldn't be
00:28:25
maybe it was an accident but she was
00:28:27
killed
00:28:28
was the death of shawana moss an
00:28:30
accident or did shannon bouard shoot to
00:28:32
kill
00:28:35
[Music]
00:28:42
shannon yvette bouillard grew up in the
00:28:44
tough oak cliff section of south dallas
00:28:47
opportunity is not there there's not a
00:28:49
lot of money flowing through oak cliff
00:28:51
and the kids in the neighborhood is
00:28:53
doing whatever they can to survive
00:28:55
shannon had a very rough childhood she
00:28:58
was a rebel in the family
00:28:59
and she didn't like authority and she
00:29:02
didn't have a father figure
00:29:04
reviewing shannon's case i would suspect
00:29:06
maybe a
00:29:07
mismanaged home in which she was allowed
00:29:10
too much freedom as a child
00:29:13
shannon attended sarah zumwalt middle
00:29:15
school but dropped out in the eighth
00:29:17
grade when she discovered she was
00:29:18
pregnant
00:29:19
on march 17 1983 the 13 year old gave
00:29:23
birth to a son
00:29:24
antoine she had a child when she was
00:29:26
very young
00:29:27
and it did formulate her life because
00:29:29
she had to be a responsible
00:29:31
parent and she was not two years later
00:29:34
she had another son
00:29:35
dominique but instead of caring for her
00:29:37
kids shannon used drugs to escape
00:29:40
from the reality of her difficult
00:29:41
situation it was pretty tough on
00:29:43
dominican's brother
00:29:44
he said a lot of times they was at home
00:29:46
alone by themselves
00:29:47
he said his mother was doing some drugs
00:29:50
when they was
00:29:51
kids shannon had the bad bad end of the
00:29:54
stick as far as raising the kids
00:29:56
and and not being there as a mother for
00:30:00
me
00:30:00
not a good example leaving them walking
00:30:03
out on them
00:30:04
quite possibly she used to self-heal
00:30:08
or medicate some of the traumas that had
00:30:10
happened in her life
00:30:13
crack cocaine was shannon's drug of
00:30:15
choice and the addiction was fierce
00:30:18
it quickly consumed her life the crack
00:30:20
cocaine
00:30:21
seemingly makes everything else go away
00:30:23
drugs are more important to an addict
00:30:25
than their their children
00:30:27
their parents their siblings anything
00:30:30
she was not emotionally capable of being
00:30:33
a stay-at-home mom
00:30:36
in 1987 shannon was arrested on theft
00:30:38
charges
00:30:39
soon after her young sons were taken
00:30:41
away and placed in foster care
00:30:43
she wanted to be a mom but she got into
00:30:46
the drugs
00:30:47
and it just changed her life those
00:30:50
children had to be taken away
00:30:51
that her life was changed forever
00:30:53
shannon's drug use
00:30:54
intensified when she turned to
00:30:56
prostitution as a means of supporting
00:30:58
her habit
00:31:00
it's very very easy to exchange sex for
00:31:02
drugs
00:31:03
they don't have to hustle money they
00:31:05
don't have to hold a job
00:31:07
there's someone out there always pulling
00:31:10
these young girls in
00:31:11
it's a very rough neighborhood tough
00:31:14
lots of drugs prostitution criminal
00:31:17
activity
00:31:18
i don't know how anyone makes it over
00:31:19
there but people have to live that away
00:31:22
because they have no other avenues out
00:31:24
she probably used
00:31:26
the prostitution to support the drug
00:31:28
habit and the drug habit in turn
00:31:30
fueled the need to
00:31:33
be a prostitute just an endless cycle
00:31:36
once you become a prostitute there's no
00:31:38
going back from that because of the
00:31:39
shame
00:31:40
bourard also continued to have run-ins
00:31:42
with the law
00:31:43
majority of her arrests were for they
00:31:46
were mainly for narcotics for
00:31:49
prostitution
00:31:50
and for theft offenses and she had quite
00:31:53
a few arrests
00:31:54
in all of those categories meanwhile
00:31:57
shannon's sons were adopted by their
00:31:59
foster family the littletons
00:32:01
her youngest dominique was poised to
00:32:03
head down a similar path of drugs and
00:32:05
crime
00:32:06
until greg hatley intervened hatley had
00:32:09
started the oak cliff boxing club a gym
00:32:11
for kids in the community
00:32:13
i started training and picking up little
00:32:15
guys you know around the corner and
00:32:17
dominic was one of them every day would
00:32:19
pick him up and uh
00:32:20
bring him to the gym and train him
00:32:22
boxing really was like another life to
00:32:24
him
00:32:24
for him you know it's like something he
00:32:26
looked forward to every day
00:32:28
he was definitely full of talent and he
00:32:30
was just looking for something to get
00:32:31
some of that
00:32:32
anger out on as dominique littleton
00:32:34
honed his boxing skills
00:32:36
his mother shannon bouillard was living
00:32:38
just five miles away
00:32:40
at the general rental apartments the
00:32:42
complex was a low-rent housing area on
00:32:44
diceman avenue
00:32:45
and birdsong drive in oak cliff it was
00:32:48
a very crime ridden apartment complex
00:32:52
in a crime-ridden area of dallas
00:32:55
two of shannon's neighbors were katima
00:32:57
moss and her 19-year-old daughter
00:32:59
shawana
00:33:00
katima was a hard-working woman she
00:33:02
supported her daughter shawana
00:33:04
shewana had just graduated she had just
00:33:07
got a job
00:33:08
and she was trying to raise her
00:33:11
son that she had just had being people
00:33:14
without opportunity
00:33:16
they had to live in places that they
00:33:18
could afford and unfortunately
00:33:19
this was one
00:33:24
[Music]
00:33:28
katima and shawana started a card game
00:33:31
in the courtyard as a way of socializing
00:33:33
other tenants joined them playing games
00:33:35
and hanging out
00:33:38
these apartments on diceman had a large
00:33:40
courtyard
00:33:42
and katima and shawana and two other
00:33:45
friends
00:33:45
were playing cards and they're just
00:33:47
enjoying the day
00:33:49
about two or three tables out there and
00:33:52
they was all sitting there playing cards
00:33:54
and dominoes and they was gambling
00:33:56
shannon was upstairs in her apartment
00:33:58
smoking crack with a friend
00:34:00
when they ran out of drugs she left with
00:34:02
her last five dollars to score more
00:34:04
crack
00:34:05
she decided to try her luck at the craps
00:34:07
table manned by lester earl boyd
00:34:09
shanick makes her first bet two dollars
00:34:12
which she loses
00:34:13
the next bet she makes is for the final
00:34:15
three dollars but during this throw she
00:34:17
rolled up
00:34:18
what's called a cocked die one of the
00:34:20
dye didn't land fully on the ground
00:34:23
so her contention was that she was
00:34:25
entitled to
00:34:26
an extra roll of the dice lester
00:34:29
said no that's not the case you lost and
00:34:31
took her money
00:34:33
shannon bourne didn't think that was
00:34:34
fair she was just furious about this
00:34:38
according to witnesses shannon became
00:34:40
enraged and screamed profanities at boyd
00:34:43
there's statements that shannon picked
00:34:45
up brick threatened lester with it
00:34:47
lester in turn goes to his car gets a
00:34:50
gun when she sticks in his waistband
00:34:52
she had a mean streak in her the
00:34:54
attitude that she had with
00:34:56
everybody you know is like she had
00:34:59
something to prove
00:35:00
she was ready to fight just if you made
00:35:02
her mad
00:35:03
crack cocaine tends to elevate any
00:35:05
emotion that you have
00:35:07
if you're angry it tends to send you in
00:35:09
a tailspin of rage
00:35:11
in shannon's case she was angry
00:35:14
obviously
00:35:15
that she had lost her three dollars that
00:35:17
was her crack cocaine money and from her
00:35:19
point of view i mean her life had just
00:35:21
ended
00:35:22
i heard two people arguing and i looked
00:35:24
up out the window
00:35:25
shannon walked up the driveway like she
00:35:28
was going home instead
00:35:30
bouiard went to a friend's apartment to
00:35:32
borrow a weapon
00:35:33
i heard her coming back and she had a
00:35:35
gun down by her side
00:35:37
she was saying to herself they got me uh
00:35:40
messed up
00:35:40
and it just ain't gonna be like this she
00:35:43
had something to prove
00:35:44
to somebody and that's what she did she
00:35:46
retaliate
00:35:48
when women behind bars continues she
00:35:50
lifted the gun and said
00:35:52
all y'all big and small and just opened
00:35:56
fire
00:36:01
[Music]
00:36:04
by 1998 28 year old shannon burt had
00:36:07
spent time in jail for prostitution
00:36:09
theft and drugs had her kids taken away
00:36:12
and struggled with an addiction to crack
00:36:14
cocaine on april 18th
00:36:16
a dispute over three dollars lost in a
00:36:18
dice game pushed shannon over the edge
00:36:21
after engaging in a verbal altercation
00:36:23
burrard retreated to a neighbor's
00:36:25
apartment to get a gun
00:36:27
the weapon is an sks 7.62 it's a
00:36:31
assault rifle it's meant to
00:36:34
cause as much damage to a person's body
00:36:38
as it possibly can everyone was sitting
00:36:41
around the card table
00:36:43
she was peeking around the corner and
00:36:45
they saw her doing that and they were
00:36:47
laughing at her when she rounded the
00:36:48
corner she lifted the gun
00:36:50
she stepped back on her right leg throw
00:36:52
the gun up and caught it with a left
00:36:54
she says all y'all big and small
00:36:57
and opens fire and then she dropped it
00:37:00
back
00:37:00
beside her and walked back down the
00:37:03
driveway
00:37:04
i was up in that one and all this was
00:37:06
going on i could hear people
00:37:08
screaming and hollering so i ran that
00:37:10
way too the actual intended target of
00:37:13
the shooting was lester boyd he was the
00:37:14
person that was conducting the dice game
00:37:17
he was a person that miss boulard
00:37:21
had her dispute with and he was shot in
00:37:23
the lake
00:37:25
uh he survived that shooting but
00:37:27
19-year-old shawana moss
00:37:29
a new mother got caught in the line of
00:37:31
fire shawana moss
00:37:33
is struck in the side of her chest
00:37:36
katima shawana's mother who was right
00:37:39
there
00:37:41
runs around the apartments thinking that
00:37:43
her daughter is behind her
00:37:45
when she realizes she's not she goes to
00:37:47
her daughter
00:37:48
and that's when we seen the uh young
00:37:49
lady laying flat on her back
00:37:52
and her mother was in a state of shock i
00:37:54
could see her picking chairs up and
00:37:56
slaying them behind her
00:37:58
trying to get to a doll and was calling
00:38:00
her daughter name and
00:38:01
they ran to the front and called the
00:38:03
ambulance from the pay phone
00:38:05
katima is literally holding her in her
00:38:08
arms as her daughter
00:38:09
and exhaled her last breath and died
00:38:12
leaving little two-month baby charles
00:38:16
motherless the ambulance rushed shawana
00:38:19
to baylor hospital where doctors
00:38:21
attempted to revive her
00:38:22
the shooting actually occurred at
00:38:24
approximately 6 30 p.m
00:38:26
miss moss was transported to the
00:38:27
hospital and the doctor
00:38:29
declared her deceased at 7 05 pm
00:38:34
meanwhile shannon returned the gun to
00:38:36
her neighbor and fled
00:38:37
soon after officers from the dallas
00:38:39
police department arrived at the general
00:38:41
rental apartment complex
00:38:43
when the police officers got there they
00:38:46
were given a physical description of who
00:38:48
was involved
00:38:49
according to shannon she returned to the
00:38:51
scene to explain to the police that she
00:38:53
did not intend to shoot shawana
00:38:55
she thought because she was having a
00:38:57
fight with lester and she killed someone
00:38:59
else by
00:39:00
accident that should be okay
00:39:03
other witnesses remember it differently
00:39:05
she hid in the dumpster
00:39:07
and people seen her coming out the
00:39:09
dumpster she walked back towards the
00:39:11
general room i mean walk past police and
00:39:14
everything
00:39:14
shanna did not approach the police there
00:39:16
were people at the scene who said
00:39:18
that's her that's the woman who
00:39:19
committed the crime and so the police
00:39:21
apprehended her there
00:39:23
i seen the mother store trying to fight
00:39:26
and the police and stuff grabbed her
00:39:28
and they had kind of shattered him and
00:39:29
put her in the car and she wanted to
00:39:32
know how come you killed my daughter
00:39:33
that's all she kept saying
00:39:35
my only daughter why you killed my
00:39:36
daughter
00:39:39
board was taken to dallas police
00:39:41
headquarters where she confessed to the
00:39:43
shooting
00:39:44
i made her a plea bargain offer offer of
00:39:46
40 years she turned it down that's her
00:39:48
option
00:39:49
and so you just roll the dice she still
00:39:52
believed
00:39:52
that she didn't do anything wrong
00:39:54
because the mind is so messed up with
00:39:56
drugs
00:39:57
you you have an illusion as to what
00:40:00
really happened at the time
00:40:07
shannon board was charged with
00:40:09
first-degree murder under the theory of
00:40:10
transferred intent
00:40:12
which means that if you intend to kill
00:40:14
one person
00:40:15
but then miss and hit another person
00:40:17
your intent to kill is transferred to
00:40:19
the person that you actually killed
00:40:22
the defense argued that lester earl boyd
00:40:24
pointed a gun at shannon
00:40:25
and threatened to kill her the
00:40:27
allegations from shannon was that lester
00:40:29
had a gun
00:40:30
lester admitted during the trial that he
00:40:32
had a gun in his pocket
00:40:34
but denied ever pointing it at shannon
00:40:36
maybe he just
00:40:37
flashed it on a raised shirt or
00:40:39
something i did not see him
00:40:41
point no gun at him it all had
00:40:44
everything to do with self-defense the
00:40:46
whole
00:40:47
a whole trial of course because that's
00:40:49
the only way she could get out from
00:40:51
under this
00:40:52
but i couldn't prove it she went
00:40:54
upstairs and got that gun in
00:40:55
and opened fire because she was mad
00:40:57
because they were all laughing at her
00:40:59
she had a great deal of remorse even all
00:41:01
the way through the trial
00:41:02
i mean she never intended to ever hurt
00:41:04
that girl during the trial she cried a
00:41:07
lot
00:41:07
um i think a lot of it was also
00:41:10
sorry for herself and on the witness
00:41:13
stand when she testified which she said
00:41:15
i didn't mean to kill that girl i was
00:41:17
trying to shoot earl
00:41:18
they weren't sympathetic to to her
00:41:22
on february 26th the jury returned with
00:41:25
a guilty verdict
00:41:26
shannon bourad was sentenced to 85 years
00:41:28
in prison
00:41:29
and given a ten thousand dollar fine the
00:41:32
jury was really
00:41:33
really pissed this little girl should
00:41:35
never have died
00:41:37
over what over three dollars and some
00:41:41
crack
00:41:43
as shannon adjusted to prison life in
00:41:45
gatesfield texas
00:41:47
her son dominique littleton thrived as
00:41:49
an up-and-coming boxer
00:41:51
dominique was a three-time dallas golden
00:41:52
globe champion two-time texas state
00:41:55
champion
00:41:55
he's a two-time national champion became
00:41:58
ranked number two in the united states
00:41:59
at uh
00:42:00
18 years old so he had quite a bit of
00:42:02
accomplishment in the boxing amateur
00:42:04
boxing
00:42:05
arena but despite his success dominique
00:42:08
struggled to come to terms with his
00:42:09
mother's choices
00:42:11
he never really got a chance to know
00:42:12
where his mom was
00:42:14
and he was here behind his mom you know
00:42:16
she used to write letters to dominique
00:42:18
and when he couldn't read well so i used
00:42:21
to read the letters to him
00:42:22
she was telling that she was sorry for
00:42:24
you know things the decisions she made
00:42:26
in life and you know keep the boxing up
00:42:28
in 2004 dominique just missed a spot on
00:42:31
the athens olympic team
00:42:32
later that year tragedy struck
00:42:35
[Music]
00:42:41
i got a phone call that he had just been
00:42:44
shot
00:42:45
he was playing with a gun russian
00:42:46
roulette he actually shot himself in the
00:42:48
head and died
00:42:54
shannon was devastated to learn of her
00:42:56
son's death she says she has taken some
00:42:58
anger management classes in prison
00:43:00
and hopes to earn the equivalent of a
00:43:02
high school diploma
00:43:03
by passing the ged exam
00:43:12
although it's been more than a decade
00:43:13
since shawana was taken away from them
00:43:16
the moss family is still coming to terms
00:43:18
with their loss
00:43:20
katima moss was utterly destroyed and
00:43:23
devastated
00:43:24
by shawana's death i mean they were
00:43:28
mother-daughter team i honestly think
00:43:30
that if katima
00:43:32
hadn't had to have you know raised
00:43:34
charles shawana's little boy
00:43:36
that she would not have made it and for
00:43:38
shannon bourd
00:43:39
three dollars cost her her freedom it
00:43:42
shouldn't happen
00:43:43
she feel like what she was doing was
00:43:45
right because
00:43:46
this man took three dollars from her
00:43:49
and she just wanted to get even with him
00:43:53
i think that as the root of all crime it
00:43:56
just it comes down to drugs
00:43:57
i think that's why she prostituted
00:43:59
herself and i think that's why she made
00:44:00
bad choices
00:44:02
but ultimately she is responsible for
00:44:06
those
00:44:08
you
