380 - We Definitely Frenched | My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

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My favorite murder Hello! And welcome to My Favorite Murder. That's Georgia Hardstar.

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Thanks, that's Karen Kilcara. You're welcome. We're back. We're back from our little month off or May off.

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We took a May off. That's right. We peaced out. And how was your vacation? My vacation was gorgeous and luxurious.

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I went to Italy for the first time ever. Oh my God. And it was, everything you've heard about Italy isn't true.

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What do you think I heard about Italy? What if, stop gossiping about Italy. What if I was like the person that actually went to Italy

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and didn't have the most amazing time of their life? I mean, it's really hyped up, you know?

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I think it might be, it might need to be de-influenced. No, every single thing about that country is perfection.

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What it looks like, what it sounds like, what it tastes like, what the people look like.

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I'm telling you, the most good-looking people who, yes, it's their job to be of service to you.

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Most of the time, that's like what the entire industry of the country is besides making the best food,

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producing the best food items. But there's like, it's also a very matriarchal society.

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So there's this kind of intrinsic love and appreciation of women just at the outset.

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Wow. That I really recommend any woman that's kind of feeling low on her emotional,

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fuel cell, go to Italy. You will be appreciated in ways that you thought were no longer possible

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for you. Karen got her groove back, it sounds like. I mean, I'm just telling you, people should

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be nicer to women and female presenting human beings in this country. I think it's very obvious

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at this point in time. Yeah. But to go to a place where they're like, hey, yeah, what's up, ladies?

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and it's, you know what I mean? And it feels like good and right and they've got a gleam in their eye.

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Nice. Man, it's nice. That sounds amazing. I went to the equally overhyped Paris,

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city of Paris. How was it? Was there any like, were there any like demonstrations

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near where you were? Oh, no. I think like everything, all the protesting and stuff

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had like kind of just died down. But there was like some like boarded up windows and stuff of like businesses that you could tell had been smashed in some protests and stuff.

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But other than that, we didn't see anything. They're rising up over there. Yeah.

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Yeah, they are. But it was just, I mean, it is. It's so, you just can't go wrong in Paris.

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It's fucking perfect. Yeah. It's perfect. Did you go to the Louvre? No, we didn't do a single like touristy thing.

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We just walked around the cute neighborhood. and ate a bunch. And like, that's pretty much it.

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It was fucking magical. Did you drink some street wine? Definitely had street wine.

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We just would sit out front of a cafe. Yeah, right. And sit. You know what yesterday was?

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And this is kind of why we went too, is 10 years since mine and Vince's first date.

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Aw. Can you believe that? 10 years. Yeah, that's crazy. That's a really cute anniversary to know.

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Yeah, yeah. It's right by my birthday, so it's kind of easy. but still, you know.

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Well, that's a good celebration. Yeah, totally. In the city of romance. Ugh, ugh.

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Did you French? Vince kept hitting his, we definitely French. Vince kept hitting his head

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because no one's like over six feet, whatever there. So like in our hotel room, the doorway was like six feet tall.

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And he's like six three. So he kept hitting his head. Oh. Like another, in like all over town,

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he hit his head. A lot of ducking for him on that trip. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well, good.

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Yeah It nice to get away and then come back to LA and be like you know you can finally appreciate home Yes I think that also a very helpful thing

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You need to get away for a minute to be able to appreciate what you have, right?

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Yeah. And, you know, personally, I would recommend going to one of the most beautiful countries.

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I mean... It's our hot take. Yeah. This sounds crazy, but Italy is awesome for traveling.

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Yeah. You wouldn't believe what it looks like and feels like. Paris, they don't talk about the food enough.

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No one ever talks about the food. It's so good. Hardly ever. French cooking is like not,

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it's people need to know about it. Yeah, you heard it here first on this true crime podcast

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that Italy and Paris are the places to be. Are the places to be. Did you have one time,

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so we went on this like trip, I know I've told you a thousand times, but a trip to Russia in high school that ended on the way home in like one day in a bunch of

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different European capitals. I should say cities. I don't know if they're the capital. So we were in

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Paris for like, I think two days and we walked down the street because I think we went to the

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Louvre and we were walking all over and finally we're just tired. So we're just like, let's just

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go in there and see if they have anything to eat. And to this day, I haven't had a better sandwich.

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It was literally like their croque monsieur, whatever it's called, that was just kind of sitting in the tray at the end of their day.

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And I was like, that looks great. And it was the best thing I'd ever eaten in my life.

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Yeah, you can do that there. It's just so simple. Oh, sorry. I met several murderinos while I was in Italy, which was really hilarious.

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Oh, wow. One, and I'm so sorry, I don't remember your name. I should have written it down.

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One was a young woman who was with her parents and me and Adrienne were in a pharmacy.

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We kept going to the pharmacy because they have so many good like, right? Same with France.

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I went crazy in their pharmacy. So you're just like, you know that this is the best waterproof mascara.

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You don't know what, you've never seen the brand, but you're like, I have to get it.

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And so we actually went back to the same pharmacy two days in a row because Adrienne's like,

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I'm getting that blue mascara. And we were standing there making all these jokes

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of like, it's 1984 again, blah, blah, blah. And then we walked out of the pharmacy

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and this girl's standing there with this smile on her face. And she's like, are you Karen Kikarov?

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And I'm like, yeah. Was she Italian or was she American? No, she was American. And she recognized my voice from talking.

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So then I'm like, hey, this is my sister's friend, Adrienne. Point to Adrienne. Oh my God.

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It was so funny. So hi to her. I think her name started with a D. It was like, I can't remember.

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And I'm really sorry. It was a very passing. She didn't ask for a picture. She didn't want anything.

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She was just like, hi, bye. I met a French murderino who was actually French. Oh.

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Yeah, and I forgot her name too. But I think I was so like, she like ran after me

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and was like, hi and everything. And didn't want a photo, nothing like that. But I think I was so flabbergasted

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that there was someone in France who knew who I was. That was very exciting. Yes.

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Or listens. And then the second was Kim Jones, who is from, lives in Vancouver. Shout out to Kim Jones.

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We had a really fun, we had to sit at a communal table at one of the hotels that we stayed at.

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Oh, you bet. And both me and Adrian were like, this isn't going to work out. No.

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But Janet, who was our third friend in the group, who is a people person, was like communal table all the way.

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And she recognized me at the end of the dinner. I told some story about something we had done.

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And then she looked at me and goes, wait a second. And she's like, your name's Karen and her name's Adrian.

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Oh my God. And then like put it together Scooby-Doo style. And it was really cute.

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It was very sweet. I love that. I love that. Cool. Well, do you have any recommendations, Corner?

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Or should we get down to business? Let's get down to business. I haven't really been doing anything except for,

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I recommend walking through the streets of Florence and having people tell you that they think you're beautiful

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and they just want to get to know you. That's what I recommend. Oh, that's nice.

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That sounds nice. Okay, let's do some Exactly Right Network updates, shall we? Let's do it.

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Chris Fairbanks and I are finally back in the car on Do You Need a Ride. We're very excited about it.

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It makes all the difference in the world. I can't even tell you. So the first episode of season four, we're calling it...

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season four, Wheel Drive. I didn't get that. I'm looking at it on the computer right now.

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Now I get it. It's definitely kind of, it's a reading joke as much as, but that was,

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week his guest is Natalie Morales from Parks and Rec and the film No Hard Feelings, which comes out

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00:15:34

Look at us. Look at us. We're back in the groove. baby. It was not hard. It's just talking. It's just moving your mouth. Okay. Well, guess what?

00:15:43

What? My story takes place in France. Italy. Italy? Italy. Okay. Well, ask me if you need

00:15:50

directions or any, any recommendations. Did you, have you, have you been and did you go to Milan?

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We were there for like to get a train basically. Okay. It sounds like a really bougie city.

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Oh, yeah. Fashion capital. And you know how obsessed I am with fashion and labels.

00:16:08

You're like, give me that Prada. That's right. Bitch. Prada. I have a big tattoo, I'm going to say.

00:16:14

I told you not to get it. Okay. So today I'm going to cover a story that takes place in Milan during the drug-fueled underbelly of the Milan fashion scene in the 1980s.

00:16:28

Shit. Yeah. It's like a music video almost. This is the murder of Francesco D'Alessio by fashion model Terry Broom.

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Wow. You know this one? No, I've never heard of this. You didn't hear it when you were there?

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Why would you? You know, I was talking to so many locals and really picked up on the language pretty quickly.

00:16:47

But no, no one brought this up. The main source used is an article from Cosmos Archives entitled,

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A Murderous Model and the Mob in Milan, written by William Murray. And other sources were an archived New York Times article by Robert

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Surrow, an article from Medium by Vittoria Saladino entitled, From Aspiring Model to Murderer to Folk

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Hero. And the rest of the sources are listed in today's show notes. So first, I'm going to talk

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to you about this woman, Terry Broom. She's one of five kids in kind of, you know, lower class

00:17:25

American family. Her father is an Air Force sergeant. They move around a lot, but she spends

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a lot of her childhood in Elgin, South Carolina, which is just outside of Columbia. Her dad's kind

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of a hard ass. And because she moves around so much, Terry and her sister are really close and

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bonded. She's like her main ally and her sister Donna. But Terry is a little jealous of her

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because Donna is like seen as prettier and more popular than Terry. And she's just gorgeous.

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So gorgeous in fact that after high school she moved to New York to become a model And this is in the 1970s So you can imagine how fun that must be Oh my God Yeah So Terry initially gets married at 18 but that quickly ends

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And she sees her sister getting some success in New York and the industry. So she heads to New York as well to follow in her big sister's footsteps.

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But getting modeling work is a lot harder for Terry than it is for her sister, unfortunately, due to beauty standards.

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And of course, Terry's gorgeous. But, you know, your beauty standards are, of course, ridiculous for models.

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And Terry is pegged as being too tall, too gangly, and too freckly. That's like what they all peg her as.

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You know what I mean? Yeah. She was just a little too early. Yeah. Like now that would be so perfect.

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Totally. Yeah. It's just these impossible beauty standards that we all hate. Sorry, it just reminds me of back then.

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Like there was no Botox and there was no like easy outpatient plastic surgery of any kind.

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And people were literally washing their face with that almond scrub that just scraped the shit off of you.

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St. Ives, right? Yes. The apricot scrub. Oh, my God. It was like apricot shell kernels.

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And almonds. Yes. Horrifying. Oh, God. Just saying. It was hard to be pretty back then.

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It was. So Terry's frustrated by the lack of work she gets. She just starts doing what you do in New York in the 70s, which is partying hard.

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She gets into nightlife, meaning cocaine. She drinks a ton of alcohol. It's a, I read like a bottle of scotch a day.

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Which is a lot. Uh-huh. In 1979, Donna, the sister, goes to Paris to model there.

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Terry goes with her, hoping that her luck might change over in Paris. Whoa, this takes place in Paris and Italy.

00:19:43

Hey. Chances of that. But it's just more of the same. Donna is working and Terry turns to partying

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to escape the pain of not getting work. By 1980, Terry returns to New York jobless and depressed.

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And she goes back to South Carolina to recover under the care of her mom. And she faces a tough battle, keeping her addiction at bay.

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But after a couple of years, Terry has her life under control. She feels renewed.

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She's ready to get back out there and try modeling once again, this time in the fashion capital of everywhere,

00:20:14

Milan, Italy. Can I just tell you too, and I'm not exaggerating when I tell you, like the people in Italy are really gorgeous individuals, but they have amazing fashion sense.

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Yeah. Just anywhere we went, like I think it's common in Florence, but especially in Milan, but it's just people have great outfits on all the time.

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So it's classy and kind of like people don't wear workout gear with like, you know, everywhere.

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Athleisure. Athleisure, it's called. The athleisure has not caught on. Thank God.

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It's amazing. Yeah. I mean, that's all I wear at this point in my life. Mm-hmm. I'm always pretending I'm just coming from a spin class

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that I've never been to in my life. Totally, totally. So the fashion industry is, of course,

00:21:01

notorious for having some shady characters hanging around and taking advantage of the young models.

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But that's especially true in Milan in the 80s. For American models hoping to make it big,

00:21:12

a trip to Milan, which is actually usually sponsored by a New York modeling agency.

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It's a huge opportunity to meet the designers and photographers who are like the head of the industry and they can give them their start.

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They're given cash for a few weeks. And if they play their cards right, they could book ad campaigns that will pay them anywhere from...

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So it's $200 to $1,000 per day for modeling, which is equal to about 584 to... Do you want to guess how much $1,000 is in today's money?

00:21:43

From the 80s? From the 80s. 3,000? 29, 20. Fuck. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. You're so close.

00:21:53

It's so long ago. It's so sad. You can make a shit ton of money, like enough to cover your rent

00:21:58

for the fucking entire month in just one day. And the more work they get, of course,

00:22:01

the higher their chances get for international fame because if you're famous in Milan,

00:22:05

you're famous everywhere. And they can make a ton of money. And for the top models, you know, the sky's the limit.

00:22:11

But all of that money and fame comes at a price. Models are pressured, of course, to always look

00:22:16

their absolute best, which means to, you know, the modeling industry is skinny. You have to be

00:22:22

well-dressed. You have to always look perfect when you go out. And they also need to be going out to

00:22:27

the right clubs in Milan. I feel like New York's the same way where you have to meet the right

00:22:31

people, be, you know, see and be seen and parties and, you know, all that stuff. And it's not just

00:22:36

about you being a model. Right. So, cause in these like luxury clubs and all these spots and parties,

00:22:43

models meet Milan's richest and most powerful men. They all promise, of course, to give the models

00:22:49

expensive clothing and jewelry. They introduce them to the right business partners. It's almost

00:22:54

like a given that you have to flirt with these men. They're like the gatekeepers of the industry

00:22:58

because they actually do have connections. Right. So these young models who go there,

00:23:02

you know, they, a lot of times, of course, have to have sex with these men. And thanks to the

00:23:06

local mobs, the drugs, specifically cocaine, are always readily available in these circles.

00:23:12

So during their stay in Milan, many of the models stay at a hotel called the Principesa Coltile Day is what it's called in Italian. It's so well known as a model hangout,

00:23:22

where all the young models stay, and thus a rich playboy hangout that it's nicknamed.

00:23:27

Okay, you ready for what it's nicknamed? Just prepare yourself. You know, the name is Prince, basically Princess, whatever. It's nicknamed Princess

00:23:35

clitoris hotel. So not very imaginative. Like it's like so subtle. But again, to support my matriarchal society argument that I was making earlier, at least

00:23:48

they're talking about the clitoris. I mean, they're- That's true. It's they're focusing on what's important to the woman.

00:23:54

That's right. That is true. I thought you were going to be like princess pussy hotels.

00:24:00

or whatever. Nope, the good old clitoris. The old clit. I wonder if in Italian, it just rolls off the tongue

00:24:08

and it sounds so much better. Yeah, it sounds a lot better. Definitely. So millionaires just hang out in the lobby

00:24:16

and prey on these young vulnerable women, you know, looking to find work. Like it's a total cesspool of these millionaire men.

00:24:23

And this is the world that Terry Broom is thrust into when she arrives in Milan in 1984.

00:24:30

Can I ask you again how old she is? So at this point, she's actually in her later 20s.

00:24:35

Oh, okay. Yeah, like 28 or so. Okay. Terry arrives in Milan on April 20th, 1984 and immediately runs into bad luck.

00:24:44

She's at a subway stop the day after her arrival and a pickpocket takes all the money she has,

00:24:48

which was a thousand bucks. Oh. So she's totally broke. She's forced to move in with her sister

00:24:54

and she quickly becomes a nuisance to Donna, leaving messes and falling back into her old partying

00:24:59

habits. Donna, meanwhile, is focused on her own life, her modeling, you know, her big sister,

00:25:04

her modeling career. She has a rich boyfriend, a local businessman, and she can't really deal

00:25:09

with Terry. So she moves her into that infamous hotel, the Princess Clitoris. So it's just like

00:25:16

immediately in the wrong place for her. And it's here that Terry meets a 38-year-old man

00:25:22

named Claudio Caccia. He's one of the many rich playboys around the hotel. Claudio introduces

00:25:28

Terry to all the most extravagant hangouts around town. He's taking her out, showing her a good time.

00:25:35

Nightclubs, the drinks are always flowing. And the mob sold cocaine is just like passed around

00:25:40

by the tray full. It's the fucking 80s. Like, of course it is. They thought it was good for you back then.

00:25:45

Did they? They did. Well, you're a model and you need to stay thin. Like, it's perfect for you. And it's free,

00:25:52

right? So you're not spending all your money that you don't have on food and stuff. It's terrible.

00:25:57

I mean, it's rough because it's like millionaires can afford it. It's no big deal to them.

00:26:01

And they know models, some models like need it. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a crazy lifestyle.

00:26:09

Yeah. So on the night of May 6, 1984, Claudio takes Terry to a party at a villa outside the city.

00:26:16

The owner of the villa is a nan named Carlo Cabasi. He's the brother of a successful investment banker.

00:26:23

He's known for throwing wild parties that end in orgies. And this night is no different.

00:26:29

Terry ends up in the threesome with Claudio and Carlo. But there's another man at the party that night,

00:26:35

and he's upset that he wasn't involved in this threesome. His name is Francesco D'Alessio.

00:26:41

And after hearing that he missed the threesome, the next morning he walks into the room where Terry was sleeping.

00:26:46

And she just wants to go home at this point. It's the next morning. but Francesco is standing in front of her,

00:26:52

masturbating and demanding sex. And Terry refuses and makes her escape, you know,

00:26:58

but this rich dude, Francesco, is not used to being told no. So he takes this rejection as a huge insult.

00:27:06

Let me tell you a little bit about Francesco D'Alessio. So he comes from a rich family.

00:27:12

He's the definition of spoiled entitlement. His dad, Carlo D'Alessio, is an industrial entrepreneur.

00:27:19

who also runs one of the most successful horse racing stables in Italy. And that's big business there.

00:27:25

So they're fucking wealthy. Horse money. Horse money. Serious. That's like people buy horses to show how wealthy they are, right?

00:27:34

I would say so. Yeah, like horses and big boats. Yeah. The upkeep is expensive on those things.

00:27:40

Yeah, that's a whole other thing. It's not a one-time purchase. It's like those purchases that just add the bills over and over.

00:27:49

Yeah, exactly. Like cats. Very similar. Dottie's right here, just playing with $100 bills.

00:27:58

Okay. So this means that Francesco grew up around horse racing. He knows horse breeds inside and out,

00:28:04

so he can read horses better than almost anyone. So he loves horse racing and he also loves gambling.

00:28:10

And luckily for him, of course, the two go hand in hand. He often wins any bet he places on horses.

00:28:15

So he's fucking wealthy and, you know, this cocky Italian dude. Wait, do you think he wins any bet because he's in the biz or?

00:28:24

Probably, right? Okay. He like knows. He knows who to bet on. He's good at it. Sure.

00:28:31

Yeah. Because I mean, this is so unfair to be a millionaire that then wins every time he bets anything.

00:28:36

Totally. God. Irritating. So as he gets older, he actually grew up to be a tall, like handsome dude who ends up with all the hallmarks of a, you know, happy, successful life.

00:28:48

He has a wife named Cheryl. He has two beautiful kids and a life of luxury and leisure.

00:28:54

But because he never grows out of his childish ways, he's like rude and spoiled.

00:28:59

And his lust for the finer things in life includes drugs and women. As his addiction to coke increases,

00:29:06

so does his violence towards women. On at least one occasion, he's seen beating up an American girl

00:29:12

for not wanting to sleep with him. And he's even caught beating his wife after she threatens to divorce him.

00:29:19

But this bad behavior doesn't stop there. He destroys cars and hotel rooms, starts very public fights,

00:29:25

and stops taking care of himself, rarely showers or changes his clothes. Just kind of just does whatever the fuck he wants.

00:29:32

Because he's basically strung out. Yeah, probably, right? Wow. Yeah, yeah. It seems like it.

00:29:37

I mean, I bet the Coke was so good back then. Not to be all like woo-woo to drugs, but Jesus.

00:29:43

Right. Well, yeah, it's just kind of pure. And then if you're a millionaire, it's just bottomless.

00:29:49

That's like, yeah, that's a great way to make a monster. Yeah, absolutely. But he of course always gets out of trouble with his dad money and his connections They bail him out of any legal jam he gets into So this is who Terry turns down that morning and who she pisses off by turning him down

00:30:08

He proceeds to start spreading rumors about her in that, you know, tight little modeling scene.

00:30:15

And with all the millionaire men who are there, he says that she's into orgies, that she'll sleep with anyone.

00:30:21

And he just says anything to try to get her a bad reputation. He's 40 years old, by the way, at this point.

00:30:26

And she's 28, just so you know. Okay. So meanwhile, Terry meets another wealthy Milan playboy,

00:30:34

a jeweler named Giorgio Rotti. He's nice to Terry. He showers her with all kinds of expensive gifts.

00:30:40

He also loves cocaine just as much as she does, if not more. So they have a lot of fun partying together,

00:30:46

but it does seem like he actually loves her. He introduces her to his parents. And by early June of 1984, the two are living together and engaged.

00:30:57

So she actually does find love. But unfortunately, the nightlife scene of Milan's rich and powerful is a small circle.

00:31:03

So even though she's happy with Giorgio, she keeps running into a vengeful Francesco D'Alessio.

00:31:11

So every time he sees her, he harasses her. He makes lewd comments like loudly at her so everyone can hear.

00:31:17

He grabs his crotch at her and calls her a whore. Just like harasses her. So on the night of June 25th, 1984,

00:31:25

Terry and her boyfriend, Giorgio, are on a double date with the sister Donna and her boyfriend at a local spot called Cafe Roma

00:31:33

when Terry sees Francesco at the bar. She's high on drugs at the time and anxious about what Francesco might do.

00:31:40

So she convinces the group to go to another bar around 2 a.m. But Francesco follows them there

00:31:46

and walks right up to their table and starts immediately harassing Terry. She runs off to the bathroom to hide.

00:31:53

He follows her, waits outside, and keeps making crude sexual comments about her.

00:31:58

It's almost like he's trying to get Giorgio, the boyfriend, to fight him, but he never takes the bait.

00:32:04

Instead, you know, she's humiliated, and the group just heads home without a confrontation.

00:32:09

And on the drive home, though, Giorgio is silent. He's obviously bothered by what happened,

00:32:15

but instead of directing his anger at Francesco, he directs it at his girlfriend, Terry.

00:32:20

telling her he wants all of his gifts back and wants to break up with her. Oh, no.

00:32:25

Yeah, so this harassment actually ended in her, you know, getting broken up with.

00:32:32

I mean, in both of those circumstances, it's like the fragility of men can cause so much destruction

00:32:39

because God forbid, A, you turn one guy down. Right. Or B, you shame someone who can't like step up

00:32:48

to a basic kind of hey man back off situation. I know, it's just horrible. This is where the don't do drugs part comes in.

00:32:59

Because it's always glamorous in the beginning and it always ends ugly like this.

00:33:04

Totally. So Terry's of course devastated. Her hopes of marrying Giorgio are ruined

00:33:10

all because of this fucking dude, Francesco. So when they get back to their apartment,

00:33:14

Giorgio goes to bed, but Terry can't sleep. She's fucking so irate and distraught.

00:33:20

She goes and grabs Giorgio, her boyfriend's revolver and some cocaine and heads to Francesco's apartment.

00:33:29

Uh-oh. Okay, so now it's the early morning hours of that same night, you know, the day, June 26th, 1984.

00:33:38

You know what I mean? It's past midnight. It's the morning of the night before. Yeah, so it's like three or four in the morning, let's say.

00:33:46

Francesco is in his apartment in the ritzy Corsa Magenta neighborhood of Milan when he gets a call from a woman

00:33:53

who calls herself Diana and asks if she can come over to party. So he's like, absolutely.

00:33:59

He has a woman there spending the night already, this model named Laura Royko. But if he says, more the merrier, come on over.

00:34:06

Can you imagine how exhausting this life would be? Oh my God, five in the morning, I'm sleeping.

00:34:12

There's already somebody in your bed And he's just like, yeah, more, more, more, more, more, more, more.

00:34:17

Come on over. Bring drugs. Oh, my God. No, I'm tired just reading this. So around 5 a.m., there's a knock at Francesca's door.

00:34:28

He thinks it's this person, Diana. He opens the door. Lo and behold, it isn't. It's our girl, Terry.

00:34:34

And she's pissed off, smiles when he sees her, and he says, I knew you'd show up.

00:34:40

It seems like they might hang out a little bit first, taking drugs and talking. but then Francesco tries to make a move on Terry.

00:34:47

She shuts him down. His ego's bruised. He starts slut-shaming Terry, insinuating that she only likes group sex,

00:34:54

saying like, want me to call some of my friends to come over, you know, calling her a bitch

00:34:58

and just like kind of dressing her down. And so at that point, she reaches into her purse

00:35:02

and pulls out Giorgio's .38 caliber gun and fires. Whoa. The bullet blasts through the wall, missing Francesco.

00:35:10

And the second shot she fires hits him square in the chest. He lunges forward and grabs her wrists

00:35:15

and they fall to the ground, wrestling for control of the gun. And in the tussle, Terry fires three more shots.

00:35:23

One of them hits Francesco in the temple. And meanwhile, the model who's there, Laura Royko,

00:35:29

is like, please don't shoot me. And Terry's like, why would I shoot you? Like, you're fine.

00:35:34

And she runs out. She pockets the gun and takes off. She was at least in control enough

00:35:41

to know it wasn't like a spree. No, yeah, yeah. It was him. It was just for him.

00:35:47

Yeah. It was her revenge, the end. Exactly. So when Terry returns home, she goes home to Giorgio,

00:35:53

tells him what happens. He immediately starts helping her He cleans off the blood and helps her pack for the airport buys her a ticket to Zurich Switzerland sets her up at a hotel there But Italian police had already flagged Terry name

00:36:07

in the system because, you know, the model had called 911, not 911, called emergency services right away.

00:36:13

And so then, you know, they knew he was dead already. She had killed this man. Yeah.

00:36:17

So as soon as she lands in Zurich, the Swiss police are there and she's arrested

00:36:22

and extradited back to Italy to stand trial for the murder of Francesco D'Alessio.

00:36:29

So as soon as she steps off the plane, Terry is met with a media frenzy. Like this becomes one of the most high profile cases

00:36:38

in Italy of the 80s. It's huge. Partly because Francesco's wealth and notoriety make the case a high profile one,

00:36:46

but also because I think there are so many women who understand how these men act towards them

00:36:54

and kind of see her as a folk hero. Like there's only so much we can take. You know, Terry insists she didn't want to kill Francesco,

00:37:03

but she's charged with premeditated murder, which is the equivalent of first degree murder in America

00:37:08

and faces life in prison. She's bounced around from an overcrowded prison in Milan

00:37:13

to a prison filled with violent criminals. But as she waits for the trial to begin,

00:37:18

but finally she's moved to a calmer facility in Bergamo near Milan, where she has an easier time settling in.

00:37:26

In fact, she's become so much of a folk hero to women that when she arrives at this prison,

00:37:31

some of the prisoners hang streamers from their cells when she arrives to welcome her.

00:37:36

Oh my God. Yeah, they're like, yay for her. Yeah. She becomes fast friends with her cellmate,

00:37:43

a former terrorist named Vincenza Fiorini, who helps her learn Italian, while Terry helps Vincenza with her English.

00:37:52

So they become like, she's happy there. They become friends. So Terry's trial begins at last in June of 1986.

00:38:00

Her sister Donna shows up to support her and even her mom flies out from South Carolina

00:38:04

to be there for her daughter. Her attorneys paint the picture of a young woman who was pumped with drugs

00:38:10

and taken advantage of by older, wealthier men. And with the help of a court-ordered psych evaluation,

00:38:17

they can convincingly argue that Terry was suffering from a temporary psychosis caused by, quote, chronic cocaine intoxication on the night of the murder.

00:38:27

So the jury hears from countless witnesses that Francesco was indeed a violent, drug-addled man with a long history of mistreating women.

00:38:36

And while Terry admits that she did kill Francesco, she asserts that her, quote, intentions were not to murder him

00:38:42

or to do him any harm, but only to frighten him. You know, that's the thing about bringing a gun somewhere.

00:38:48

It's pretty much the only thing that can happen is murder or some terrible kind of consequence.

00:38:55

Absolutely. If you want to yell at a guy and slap him across the face, go ahead and leave the gun out of your purse then.

00:39:01

Absolutely. I totally agree with that. Okay, great. Thanks. Well, I'd like to disagree with that, tell you what I think.

00:39:10

At the end of the trial, one of our attorneys delivers a hard-hitting closing remark that

00:39:15

Quote, you see before you a living being, but in effect, she is deader than the one whose life she inadvertently took.

00:39:21

Only your sentences can bring this girl back to life. Because I guess she's super distraught

00:39:26

over the killing and over what's going on. That's a bit, I don't know. If I was on that jury, I'd be like,

00:39:33

you're saying the living person is deader than the dead person? I don't think so.

00:39:37

Yeah, the math doesn't add up there. No, that's a little fucked up. But the courtroom is so won over by Terry's tragic story

00:39:44

that the line causes an eruption of tears and applause so loud that the judge has to quiet everyone down.

00:39:50

So everyone's on her fucking side. Women have fucking had it. Yes. But Terry's not the only one on trial.

00:39:59

Actually, three more defendants face charges of their own. Claudio Caccia for false testimony,

00:40:06

Carla Cabasi for dealing drugs, and the boyfriend, Giorgio Rodi, for aiding and abetting and cocaine dealing.

00:40:13

So like they took these three men with her. Since they represent the massive problem

00:40:18

of abuse and manipulation in the modeling scene, these three men are immediately hated

00:40:23

and even nicknamed the three little pigs. Jesus Christ. So like people are totally anti them

00:40:29

and totally pro Terry. Wow. After eight days of trial and seven and a half hours of deliberation,

00:40:36

all of the men are found guilty of their crimes. And Terry is found guilty as well,

00:40:41

but of a lesser charge, which is the equivalent here of second-degree murder, which means premeditation is ruled out.

00:40:49

However, she brought a gun to an apartment of someone she hated. She gave a false name.

00:40:55

Yeah. There's a little that doesn't hold up, but maybe the standards are different over there.

00:41:00

Totally, totally. So Terry immediately sets out to make what she can of herself in prison.

00:41:07

She tells the courtroom, quote, I wish I could change what happened, but that's not possible.

00:41:11

what I can do is start a new life and stay away from drugs and maybe I will mature a little bit.

00:41:18

And that's exactly what she does. She cleans up and gets into a good rhythm behind bars.

00:41:22

She gets healthy. She works in the prison vegetable garden and laundry room. And she even starts making ceramic pottery

00:41:29

at the prison on her free time. Oh. And in the meantime, because of the notoriety of the case,

00:41:34

the Italian government is forced to impose some new legislation, including that underage models now have a curfew

00:41:41

and they also let club owners know that there will be consequences if underage models are found hanging out in their clubs.

00:41:48

But it doesn't last long, the legislation. You know, it's just like kind of for show.

00:41:52

Yeah, I was gonna say, because she was in her late 20s when this all went down Right right That a good point So Terry released from prison on February 22nd 1992 She moves back to South Carolina to be with her family

00:42:07

find a new job and reclaim her life once and for all. And that is the 1984 Milan murder of Francesco D'Alessio

00:42:17

by fashion model Terry Broom. God, I mean, now this is, I'm not trying to be funny at all.

00:42:24

did while she was in Milan, did she start getting work? I don't know. That's a good question.

00:42:30

I mean, because it just sounded like it's like she arrived, something bad happened and then worse and worse things happened.

00:42:39

Yeah. Like, God, there's nothing worse than that where you're like, I'm trying to move to a new town or I'm trying to like pursue my dream

00:42:47

and every single thing is working against me. Totally. Rough. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That's crazy.

00:42:56

I know. Right? Milan. Milan. And just cocaine-fueled. It makes sense. It's just like...

00:43:04

The 80s. Cocaine-fueled fucking living. It's crazy that there's not a ton more stories

00:43:09

that are kind of like similar to that. Yeah. It makes me think, you know, it was just the 30th anniversary of Phil Hartman's murder.

00:43:17

And that was... Oh, really? Yeah. That whole thing was cocaine-fueled. Was it? So horrible.

00:43:22

It's like, to me, that's one of the saddest. It's, you know, it is, the story is what the story is.

00:43:29

And it's so awful. But like, Phil Hartman was so amazing. And it was just like, everyone was just like, wait, what?

00:43:36

Why would this happen? And it's like, because of cocaine. It's cocaine. You should do that story.

00:43:42

It's cocaine. I know, but I kind of just did in a way. It's just like, there's not a lot else to it, sadly.

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Data accurate as of 220-26. All right. And the story I'm going to do today couldn't be more opposite of the story that you just told.

00:46:29

Good. It's kind of completely the opposite. We're going to go from Milan all the way to East Texas.

00:46:37

Okay. And I'm going to tell you the story of the murder of Marjorie Nugent by her man friend, Bernie Tita.

00:46:47

Okay. If you've seen the movie Bernie, it's going to be Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine.

00:46:54

You are familiar with this story, but I'm going— Wait, it's not the Zach Galifianakis one.

00:47:00

No. What's that one? That's not a true story. Oh, that one's the one where he— I can't remember what it's called.

00:47:09

When him and— It's fucking Will Ferrell, right? That are— They're running against each other and like—

00:47:15

No. No. No, there's a movie. Maybe I'm thinking of the Jack Black one. I think you're thinking of the Jack Black one.

00:47:24

I think you're right. Okay. Because he sings in church and stuff like that. Yeah.

00:47:28

And Matthew McConaughey is in it. Okay. Wow. So here's the thing about the movie.

00:47:32

And the movie's really good, I think. When it came out, I enjoyed it. I'll say it like that.

00:47:38

Matthew McConaughey is one of the executive producers because he's from that area of Texas.

00:47:43

And his mother, there's a bunch of people that are actually play the townspeople

00:47:48

that come in and comment like directly to camera, documentary interview style, about Bernie

00:47:55

and about, you know, about all the things that happened. And Matthew McConaughey,

00:48:00

Conaghy's mother is one of those people. And she's just like, wow. She's great. She's really funny and very memorable from that movie.

00:48:09

Yeah. So, and a bigger star in our world is Skip Hollensworth is the one who wrote the script for that movie

00:48:17

because he did the original article when that story first broke. Oh my God. Our friend journalist, Skip Hollensworth.

00:48:27

Great true crime journalist. Screenwriter. Yeah. He's a great true crime journalist.

00:48:31

We've talked about him ad nauseum on the show. His writing and his journalism and research has enabled both of us, I think,

00:48:40

to tell many, many stories on this show. He writes a lot for the Texas Monthly, which is an amazing magazine.

00:48:48

And they now have a podcast network. So if you're into true crime and you're looking for something new,

00:48:54

you could search Texas Monthly. You could search Skip Hollinsworth in the podcast app,

00:48:59

and I'm sure you will find something amazing. Okay, so the sources used today are a Texas Monthly,

00:49:05

a couple of Texas Monthly articles by Skip Hollandsworth, including the 1998 long read,

00:49:11

Midnight in the Garden of East Texas. I bet that's amazing. And multiple Dallas Morning News articles

00:49:18

from 2016 by a journalist named Brandy Grissom. I actually found a couple articles by Brandy

00:49:25

in just trying to get, you know, like basic stuff. So Brandy was all over this story in the 2010s.

00:49:33

And then you can find all the other sources in our show notes. So just so you know, if you haven't seen the movie Bernie,

00:49:40

it is directed by Richard Linklater. It stars Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey.

00:49:46

Why am I picturing Zach Galifianakis as the character? It's this one. I know, I just looked it up and it's definitely Jack Black.

00:49:54

But in my mind, it was, I don't know why. Because it's a similar vibe of like the small town kind of goofy guy.

00:50:02

Yeah. That's like. That he plays so well that Zach Elfinac is just so good at. So in my mind, it's him.

00:50:07

Okay. Yeah. There's a lot of, but the funny thing is, and this is true about Bernie Tita.

00:50:15

He was big into church and singing in the church choir. So of course, there's all these scenes in this movie of Jack Black basically singing

00:50:23

and singing louder than everybody. But Jack's an amazing singer. And I bet you the original Bernie was just like a guy that was in the church choir.

00:50:32

So that's kind of, that's something I really enjoyed in that movie was Jack just jamming out to like church hymns or whatever.

00:50:43

Okay, so let's just start this story where it all begins on August 2nd, 1958, when Bertie Tita is born in the town of Tyler, Texas.

00:50:52

His father, Bernhardt, is a first-generation Ukrainian immigrant who heads the fine arts department at nearby Kilgore College,

00:50:59

and his mother, Lila May, is the educational director at their church. This young family is eventually rounded out by Bernie's younger sister, Anna,

00:51:09

and they're all deeply religious and very, very musical. In 1961, though, their family suffers a devastating blow

00:51:17

when Bernhardt and Lila May are involved in a head-on collision Lila Mae is pregnant at the time.

00:51:25

The other car that they got in head-on collision with was driving on the wrong side of the road.

00:51:29

Oh, my God. Lila is killed and her baby is killed. And Bernhard struggles with survivor's guilt

00:51:36

and begins drinking heavily. He eventually takes Bernie and his little sister, Anna,

00:51:42

both just toddlers at the time, and moves to Abilene for a fresh start. So that's just kicked off by serious tragedy in this family.

00:51:51

Jesus, truly. But in Abilene, more tragedy awaits. Here, Bernie experiences traumatic sexual abuse

00:51:57

at the hands of an uncle later on. And it goes on for years. Oh my God. Yeah. And later when Bernie's only 15,

00:52:06

his father passes away. Then on top of everything else, Bernie begins struggling with his sexual identity.

00:52:12

Being a gay man living in this incredibly conservative part of the country means that he has to hide a huge part

00:52:19

of who he is from others. And it's also at this point, if he was born in the 50s, this is like the 70s.

00:52:25

So just being gay just didn't, you weren't allowed to do that, be that. It was absolutely just not discussed.

00:52:35

And just so you know, when the film Bernie is released and when Skip Hollinsworth wrote his articles about this case,

00:52:42

Bernie was not out. They basically treat, both of those things treat Bernie's sexuality

00:52:49

as just kind of innuendo. And it's not really addressed directly in any way, but he has since come out.

00:52:56

Just, I think that's an important detail. Yeah. So he lives through all of this horrible personal tragedy,

00:53:04

but he's very resilient. He knows with his father gone, he has to provide for himself and his sister.

00:53:10

So he immediately gets to work. The first job he gets is at a funeral home and he's picking up shifts after school

00:53:17

and on the weekends doing yard work and landscaping. But eventually he goes inside

00:53:22

and begins assisting with funeral services. And his sister Anna would later tell Texas Monthly,

00:53:29

quote, I really think that because of the loneliness he went through in his childhood,

00:53:33

Bernie made it his calling to serve people in times of their own need. So I think that's really true.

00:53:40

It's like when you have that kind of understanding of loss and what people go through when they are at a funeral,

00:53:46

it would make a lot of sense that he would find connection there and be able to kind of give people what they need.

00:53:52

So after he graduates from high school, Bernie gets an associate degree in mortuary science in Louisiana And then when he in his mid in 1985 he moves back to East Texas and he settles in the small town of Carthage

00:54:05

population 6,500 people. Oh my goodness. Truly small town. So he gets a job at a place called the Hawthorne Funeral Home

00:54:15

and he is quickly recognized for his top-notch mortuary skills. According to the owner of the funeral home,

00:54:21

who says, quote, he was probably the most qualified young man I've ever seen. He waited well on the families.

00:54:27

He would sing solos behind the screen during the funeral. And he was a darn good embalmer.

00:54:33

He had a talent of making the hair of the deceased look really natural. End quote.

00:54:40

So kind of all of his best talents are being utilized. Yeah. Yeah. He really found himself a spot.

00:54:49

But Bernie isn't just valued for his work at the funeral home. in Skip Hollensworth's article,

00:54:55

Midnight in the Garden of East Texas, he describes Bernie as a remarkably warm-hearted

00:55:00

and popular man. He makes friends quickly and he's eager to be helpful. He helps his neighbors fill out tax forms.

00:55:08

He gives gifts just because. He does little repairs for friends and neighbors when need be.

00:55:14

According to a member of his church, Bernie is, quote, very quick to shake your hand and ask how you're doing.

00:55:20

And if you told him you weren't doing too well, he would drop everything to talk to you

00:55:24

and see what he could do. End quote. How many times have you asked someone how they're doing

00:55:29

and you don't even listen to the answer and you just like start talking about something else?

00:55:34

Yeah. I mean, very common. So this story, it's very important to kind of state this up top.

00:55:42

This story is almost entirely, the narrative is driven by Bernie himself. Right.

00:55:48

Whether it's in Skip's article or the resulting script that came out of that article, Marjorie Nugent obviously isn't there to talk about her experience in this situation, nor are her family.

00:56:04

So it is that kind of one-sided, it's a character study that's real, but it's also kind of this thing that's very, to me, very interesting as you kind of look through it, which is all the kind of red flags that we talk about, which is people hiding in the church, people using niceness as a mask.

00:56:27

So that essentially when all the other people in town hear about what happened, they just say, I can't believe it, therefore it didn't happen.

00:56:34

Therefore, that's not it. Right, right. Or something else must have triggered it or something.

00:56:40

Yeah, like... Yeah, there must be an explanation. The narrative is controlled by the person

00:56:45

who has the most to gain from controlling it. Yeah, and I think, but probably especially back then,

00:56:52

this idea of, say, sociopathy or psychopathy where people know they're controlling the narrative

00:56:59

and what they're doing is very much to play into that. I can do this over here with my left hand. And if I'm acting like this with a big smile on my face,

00:57:09

I can do whatever I want with my right hand. And that, you know, especially in a small town,

00:57:14

if you've built up those relationships and you've built up a certain kind of reputation,

00:57:20

you know, the movie Bernie and everything else kind of goes to show is it takes you really far.

00:57:25

Yeah, for sure. So that's where the other main character of this story comes in. Her name is

00:57:30

Marjorie Nugent. Marjorie's in her mid-70s. She's very wealthy. Her husband, Rod, amassed a fortune

00:57:38

in oil and banking. Damn. Yeah, oil wasn't enough. He basically is like, I have all this money from

00:57:46

this oil. I'm going to have a bank now. Holy shit. They live together in a sprawling, stately

00:57:52

compound in Carthage. And some locals describe Marjorie as icy and reserved. God forbid a woman

00:57:59

be unfriendly. This is how the movie Bernie depicts her. But her family is pushed back on

00:58:06

that characterization and called it deeply unfair, which I think is fascinating because in the story,

00:58:13

she is alienated from her family and kind of distant from her family. So the idea that after

00:58:19

the fact, it's like, this is, this all just got mischaracterized and she wasn't really like that.

00:58:25

Shit. Yeah. What seems true is that Marjorie doesn't have the same outward friendliness and charm that Bernie not only has, but that has made him locally adored.

00:58:36

So it's very easy to just be like, he's good and she's bad. Totally. Also, she's rich.

00:58:42

So she probably has a lot of rich people's habits of like, do this for me and I don't need to talk to you.

00:58:49

And out of my way, I'm first in line. Right. Maybe. I don't know. Yeah, or like, you know, she keeps to herself more than other people do.

00:58:58

Or they don't like her because she's rich and spread rumors about her, whatever it is.

00:59:03

It feels like there's lots of variables that could be at play here instead of the simplest.

00:59:08

God forbid, that is how life is. So one Carthage resident tells Skip Hollingsworth in his article, this about Marjorie.

00:59:17

They say, she wasn't all that unfriendly, but she didn't go out of her way to be friendly,

00:59:21

which can mean a lot in a small town, end quote. And there it is, really, 6,500 people.

00:59:30

There's high schools that are bigger than that. Judgy, judgy, judgy. One mark against you, it doesn't go away quickly.

00:59:37

Totally. Or ever, maybe. There's the girl that barfed in third grade. Remember when he called the teacher mom in fifth grade?

00:59:47

He's 45 now. Please let it go. And everyone calls him son. Okay so in 1990 Marjorie husband Rod dies suddenly of natural causes and it at the funeral home that Marjorie meets Bernie for the first time And he assists her with all the arrangements

01:00:06

So it's now well known around Carthage that Bernie enjoys close friendships with Carthage's widows.

01:00:12

Red flag number four, I think. Sounds like a party to me. But he takes particular liking to Marjorie, and surprisingly, the feeling's mutual.

01:00:23

Marjorie really loves Bernie. He's a godsend to her. She doesn't have very many friends in Carthage.

01:00:30

Now she's lost her husband. So she suddenly has this man there who's being very supportive in her grief.

01:00:37

That friendship continues after the funeral is over. Bernie regularly stops by Marjorie's house.

01:00:44

He eats meals with her. He runs errands for her. And he generally helps her recover emotionally

01:00:49

from her husband's death. According to one Carthage local, quote, Bernie made her smile. He gave her plenty of attention. He was an excellent conversationalist.

01:00:58

It was like he made her feel young again, end quote. And when you see the pictures of the two

01:01:05

of them, Marjorie really looks like an old lady. And Bernie has this 80s mustache and the 80s right

01:01:15

up the center, feathered hair and like a polo shirt. And he just looks like a young, good-looking

01:01:22

dude. Okay. It's an odd match. Some might say no judgments, but it, it also was the kind of thing

01:01:31

where back in a time where he couldn't be an out gay man that was just like, I love old ladies or

01:01:36

the movie anti-mame or whatever. He had to just kind of like, he was very caring and he wanted

01:01:44

to make sure she was okay in her isolation basically. Yeah. Or at least that's what everyone

01:01:50

So this is the part of the story where accounts begin to differ depending on who you ask.

01:01:55

Here's what we know for a fact. Marjorie's late husband, Rod Nugent, is worth about $10 million

01:02:00

at the time of his death. Shit. Yeah. Holy shit. His death makes Marjorie the richest widow in Carthage. I would hope so.

01:02:09

And the money just rolls in. She makes upwards of $300,000 a year off of her husband's business royalty payments alone.

01:02:18

Oh my God. Yeah. And now Marjorie's ready to use this money, you know, once she's kind of done with the grieving process to have some fun out in the world. And to do that with Bernie, she's basically found the perfect companion to do that with.

01:02:34

Despite their 40-year age difference, Marjorie and Bernie become incredibly close.

01:02:41

And this fact, of course, is not lost on the people of Carthage, who constantly gossip about them and speculate

01:02:47

if there's a romantic connection between them. Yeah. Marjorie's own family is deeply confused and a little unnerved

01:02:56

by how close Marjorie and Bernie have become in just a few months after the death of their father and grandfather,

01:03:02

including her only son Rod who has had a fraught relationship with his mother. So they're kind of distanced

01:03:11

but ultimately the family is glad to see that their newly widowed mother and grandmother has company

01:03:18

and isn't just alone in her house. Now Marjorie begins to lavish her new best friend

01:03:24

with expensive gifts starting with a $12,000 Rolex watch. Oh my God. Right? She also takes Bernie on incredible vacations.

01:03:34

They fly first class to Germany, England, Egypt, Russia. Holy shit. Yeah. And then when they come back, she bankrolls classes so that he can get his pilot's license.

01:03:45

She flies him to New York to watch Broadway musicals. Damn. I mean, good for like, if this didn't end so horribly, I'd be like, hell yeah.

01:03:54

Have some fucking fun, you know? Yes. And that to me is kind of the line in the sand

01:04:01

because as we will learn later, we don't think Marjorie thought this was her gay best friend.

01:04:07

We think Marjorie thought this was her new boyfriend. Oh dear, okay. Yes. So Marjorie eventually buys Bernie a house

01:04:17

not far from her own. Holy shit. And then he hosts a big open house that Christmas

01:04:23

with all his Carthage friends and acquaintances invited. So basically for someone like Bernie,

01:04:29

who's making $18,000 a year, this relationship with Marjorie is a life changer. I'm sure.

01:04:37

The benefits are mutual though. Marjorie seems very willing to spend her money on Bernie.

01:04:41

I mean, if she's making $300,000 a year on just the interest, she don't give a fuck.

01:04:48

She's like, this is a bottomless pit of fun we're about to have. But he does bring out the best in her.

01:04:54

You know, before she met him, she, of course, was introverted and, according to some people, standoffish and stuck up, if not grumpy and moody.

01:05:06

But now she starts going to Bernie's church. She starts opening up. She hosts a brunch at her estate for the women's Sunday school group.

01:05:14

She basically starts kind of thriving. Like she realizes, or maybe realizes, I don't know, but the power of human connection.

01:05:23

that you can have all the money you want, but if you're behind a big old wall on your estate by yourself,

01:05:29

it doesn't matter. Right. Basically, within one year of their meeting, Marjorie decides she's going to update the will.

01:05:38

She cuts her family out entirely. What? Uh-huh. And names Bernie the sole beneficiary of her estate.

01:05:46

Okay. Like, this is just a screeching halt at this point. Right. Wait, how does this come up conversationally?

01:05:54

Yeah. I mean if she wanted to add him in there and not tell him as a little like when she passes but to cut everyone else out and solely this one fucking person

01:06:06

that's a red flag right there. And you've got to know as an 80-year-old woman who has all your marbles in place,

01:06:16

that's going to look like you don't. So you have to do it. You would have to be communicating with your banker

01:06:23

or your lawyer or other people of like, well, are you cutting everybody out? Is that need to happen?

01:06:29

Or could you just include someone and make sure he has a piece of this gigantic pie?

01:06:35

Sure, sure. Anyway, so basically when Marjorie dies, Bernie stands to inherit $10 million.

01:06:42

Now it's just all going to be his. Oh my God. It would be a huge deal for anyone.

01:06:47

But at the time Bernie met Marjorie, he was sinking into credit card debt. And by the early 90s, he had given himself free reign over Marjorie's fortune.

01:07:00

And as Skip Hollensworth points out, because he figured that someday it would all be his anyway.

01:07:06

In any case, he feels very free to spend a lot of money on himself. Whatever he wants, he buys.

01:07:14

But he also starts pumping money into the Carthage community. He reportedly buys at least 10 cars for struggling families.

01:07:21

He awards educational scholarships at a nearby university. He gives his church $100,000 for building upgrades.

01:07:29

And he buys out a local trophy shop that's in danger of closing. Oh my God, not the trophy shop.

01:07:36

We can't lose this trophy shop. So basically, he's also buying people's respect and admiration in the community,

01:07:46

which is another very smart thing to do. if by chance this is someone who is just cynically playing this for what it's worth.

01:07:55

Totally. There's no limit to Bernie's generosity with Marjorie's money. Hollingsworth writes, quote,

01:08:02

when a man who once worked with him at the funeral home told him that he wanted to open a clothing store,

01:08:08

Bernie agreed to fund it, saying that Carthage needed its own Neiman Marcus. The man's idea of what Carthage needed was a little different.

01:08:16

He proudly opened boot scootin' Western wear. I love it. So basically, Bernie's kind of buying friends and buying, you know, buying the Goodwill.

01:08:28

Totally. And as he tells it, the relationship between him and Marjorie eventually begins to deteriorate.

01:08:35

We know Bernie begins to complain to his friends and family about Marjorie's possessiveness.

01:08:41

His friends seem to back this up. they later give accounts of how Marjorie would expect Bernie to be at her beck and call.

01:08:47

He becomes her round-the-clock caregiver, and if Marjorie can't track him down, she gets, quote, almost panicky and calls his pager incessantly until he arrives.

01:08:57

I feel like my response to that, though, is, what'd you think that $12,000 watch was for?

01:09:04

Right. And all the money you've been spending around town. There's no such thing as a free lunch, Bernie.

01:09:11

Bernie, you can't. Come on. Okay, so by early 1995, Bernie calls his sister and suggests that Marjorie is acting aggressively, irrationally,

01:09:21

and might be suffering from mild dementia. We do not know if that's true or not.

01:09:26

That's only according to him and his sister repeating what he told her. Right. But what Bernie's sister can tell is that he's exhausted,

01:09:35

So she urges him to find his way out of the arrangement between him and Marjorie.

01:09:41

Bernie reportedly responds by saying, quote, I'm her only friend. I have to stay because I'm the only one she has.

01:09:49

End quote. So then in November of 1996, Marjorie Nugent vanishes from Carthage, Texas.

01:09:57

No one sees her for weeks and then months. And when people, including Marjorie's family members, ask Bernie where she is,

01:10:05

he gives them a range of excuses. He claims that she's had a stroke and she's recovering in an out-of-town nursing home.

01:10:12

He then tells Marjorie's stockbroker that Marjorie hasn't been in touch because she now has Alzheimer's.

01:10:19

So he's using that dementia thing as much as he can. A few people, including Marjorie's family members,

01:10:27

find Marjorie's prolonged absence incredibly weird, if not very suspicious, especially considering what Bernie was telling everyone.

01:10:35

Marjorie's cousin says, quote, I was worried something had happened to her, but I didn't know who to talk to about it.

01:10:42

Bernie was so beloved in Carthage that if I had suggested he'd done anything wrong,

01:10:47

I would have been laughed out of town. Damn. The whole thing is like turns it into this super dark,

01:10:54

like what if this was the truth? Yeah. And he wasn't a victim and he wasn't like,

01:11:00

this was all a plan. Totally. Marjorie's absence doesn't seem to affect Bernie's spending at all.

01:11:07

He buys a jet ski, a bunch of new furniture for his home, an expensive coin, and crystal collections.

01:11:15

And if she's still alive and in a home somewhere, Bernie doesn't seem to be particularly worried about her.

01:11:22

He is throwing big parties at her house. Oh. Yeah. He goes on a trip to Nashville with some local friends.

01:11:30

And while he's on that trip, he somehow does a public performance of the song Beautiful Dreamer.

01:11:36

They get some like such an emotional performance. He gets like a prolonged ovation is how they describe it.

01:11:43

So he's kind of now living his best life. And all of this is very different than how a dedicated companion would act

01:11:51

if somebody was, say, in a home or suffering from dementia. Right. And that's because Bernie is hiding a very dark secret.

01:12:00

and that secret begins to bubble up to the surface in July of 1997, which is when Marjorie's family finally calls Carthage police

01:12:09

and asks them to please do a welfare check on her. Now, at this point, she hasn't been seen or heard from in months.

01:12:17

For some reason, police don't follow up on that request for another month. So then in August, investigators reach out to Bernie

01:12:25

and they ask if he knows where Marjorie is. Bernie gives them a new explanation.

01:12:30

He says Marjorie is in a hospital three to four hours away in Temple, Texas, where she's staying under a fake name.

01:12:38

But when police try to corroborate this, they can't find anyone that's been admitted to a Temple area hospital

01:12:43

that matches Marjorie's description. Yeah, and like, how weird would that be? What would be the point of that?

01:12:49

Right, like, she has to go four hours away to go to the hospital? With a fake name? That's silly.

01:12:54

It's like the details that start piling up where you're like, how come, what are all these details for?

01:13:00

So now police are getting suspicious. They loop in Marjorie's son, Rod. So Rod drives to Carthage with his daughters

01:13:07

and they unlock Marjorie's house for the officer with the police. The entire group searches the house together.

01:13:15

Everything seems to be in order. The maid still comes regularly. The yard's being tended to

01:13:20

and the mail gets taken in, which is super creepy. Yeah, so creepy. But something feels very off in Marjorie's garage.

01:13:30

And that's because there's a deep freezer in there that's mysteriously taped shut.

01:13:36

Ugh, taped. Bone chilling when you open that garage door and you're like, uh-oh.

01:13:41

Yeah. And sadly, one of Marjorie's granddaughters decides to cut through the tape and look inside.

01:13:48

And at the bottom of that freezer, underneath bags of pecans and boxes of pot pies,

01:13:53

is the body of 81-year-old Marjorie Nugent wrapped in a white sheet. You can never get over seeing that ever.

01:14:03

Like that is so shocking. Your grandma. I mean, I know it was like the early-ish 90s,

01:14:11

but like family members should not be searching a house with the police. Even if the policemen,

01:14:19

somebody you went to high school with and blah, blah, blah. Like, think it through.

01:14:24

Yeah. Think it through, people of the past. And it will later be discovered that she has four bullet wounds in her back.

01:14:34

Oh, my God. So now, immediately, police set out to find Bernie. And they don't have to look for very long.

01:14:42

He's about to take the local Little League team and their families out to dinner.

01:14:46

So when police ask Bernie for a few moments of his time, He very nervously agrees to be interviewed.

01:14:52

When the interview begins, he basically immediately confesses that he shot Marjorie Nugent in the back

01:14:58

in November of 1996. That means her body was in that freezer for nine months. Holy shit.

01:15:07

He adds, quote, I had thoughts of hitting Marjorie in the head with a bat or anything for a couple of months prior to that,

01:15:14

but I did not want her to suffer. She had become very hateful. She had become very possessive over my life.

01:15:20

She was now evil and wicked, but I still cared for her. And four bullets is like so violent in the back, you know?

01:15:32

And I think it's also really violent and gross to be basically crafting your excuse slash story

01:15:41

while you are confessing to this murder, where it's like, she was evil. Yeah. Like, no, dude.

01:15:49

Yeah. Like, you can't kill evil people. You can't kill good people, but guess what?

01:15:55

You also can't kill evil people. No, killing anybody isn't the solution. And if she had some sort of like,

01:16:01

and if her brain, as my mom used to say, was going organic, if there was something wrong with your brain,

01:16:09

why aren't you immediately getting her to a doctor or a facility, anything? Right.

01:16:15

Like, it's, yeah. So Bernie's arrested. He's charged with Marjorie's murder. He's given a $1.5 million bond.

01:16:24

And the response by many residents of Carthage upon hearing Bernie's arrest is a surprising one.

01:16:30

Instead of being freaked out or condemning the man for shooting an elderly woman in the back,

01:16:37

instead, they rally around him. They urge the local district attorney Danny Buck Davidson to go easy on him But this is not the view of everyone in the community Davidson says quote this town is split up People remember him as being real nice

01:16:53

and doing nice things. And they'd like my office to go real easy on him. And then there's a group

01:16:58

that wants no mercy, end quote. And I think it's safe to assume Marjorie's family would fall in

01:17:05

that second group. Even though Marjorie and her son Rod had a distant relationship, he of course

01:17:11

is shaken and devastated by his mother's murder. And in 1998, Rod publicly accuses Bernie of stealing

01:17:18

as much as $4 million from his mother. Rod believes that Bernie intentionally isolated

01:17:24

Marjorie from her existing support system, tricked her into giving him access to her funds,

01:17:29

and then killed her once she started figuring out his schemes. And to Rod, this is a clear case of elder abuse.

01:17:37

This theory gets strengthened when Bernie's old boss at the funeral home admits that a widow once called the business

01:17:43

asking Bernie to return the money he'd borrowed from her. Oh, dear. Mm-hmm. But Bernie's supporters claim that he was in an abusive relationship

01:17:53

with a controlling, emotionally suffocating elderly woman, and he snapped under the weight of her constant demands.

01:18:01

Bernie's defenders point to the fact that Marjorie seems to have few friends and strained relationships

01:18:07

with some of her family members. And these people claim that this is indicative of Marjorie's difficult, if not hostile, personality.

01:18:16

Got it. You get to be difficult and not be murdered for it. Right, totally. It's just how it is.

01:18:24

So to ensure fairness, Bernie's trial is moved more than 50 miles away to a town called San Augustine.

01:18:30

And in 1999, Bernie Tita is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

01:18:38

Not long after, Skip Hollinsworth and Texas-based filmmaker Richard Linklater write a screenplay about Bernie called Bernie.

01:18:47

According to Hollinsworth, the script sits on a shelf for a decade before finally being produced.

01:18:52

It's released in 2011 to critical acclaim. So Marjorie's family, of course, hates this movie.

01:19:00

Marjorie's granddaughter, Shanna, will later say that Bernie, quote, took Marjorie's life, he took her money,

01:19:08

and then in the movie, they took her reputation, they took her dignity. Ouch. End quote.

01:19:15

So meanwhile, Bernie has an ever-growing league of supporters and advocates who consider him a deeply generous, kind person

01:19:22

who is also flawed. Bernie committed a murder, which everyone agrees is terrible,

01:19:28

but he's undeniably remorseful. And among his supporters is an appeals lawyer named Jodi Cole,

01:19:36

who was so moved by the movie that she reaches out to Bernie and offers to take up his case.

01:19:43

Wow. While digging into Bernie's court records, Cole learns about the childhood sexual abuse

01:19:49

that he suffered at the hands of his uncle, and the jury in Bernie's murder trial

01:19:53

never heard this information, which Cole thinks is a huge oversight. She hires multiple psychiatrists who analyze Bernie

01:20:02

and conclude that, quote, the years of victimization coupled with what they described

01:20:07

as abusive treatment from Nugent caused Tita to suddenly snap, end quote. So Cole takes this information back to District Attorney

01:20:17

Danny Buck Davidson, and asks for Bernie's case to be re-evaluated. And to the shock of many people

01:20:25

following the case, Davidson, who is the same man who prosecuted Bernie back in the late 90s,

01:20:31

now concedes that he would not have sought a life sentence had he known about Bernie's history of

01:20:37

sexual abuse. Wow. The thought of Bernie's case being re-evaluated and potentially resulting in

01:20:43

a lighter sentence incenses Marjorie Nugent's family. I'm sure. They think that Davidson, who has become a bit of a celebrity thanks to the movie, has

01:20:53

fallen under the spell of Hollywood and fame. So in 2014, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals grants Bernie a new trial, but not to reevaluate

01:21:04

his guilt to look at his sentencing. So while he awaits trial, Bernie's released on bond.

01:21:10

He spends the next two years living on Richard Linkletter's Austin property and being a model citizen.

01:21:18

Holy shit. Yeah. He works for multiple nonprofits that, quote, seek to improve conditions for prison inmates.

01:21:25

And he also gets involved in a local Methodist church where he sings in the choir and at Christmas dresses up like Santa and hands out gifts to children

01:21:36

Marjorie Nugent's family members are astounded. They feel like everyone, journalists, the criminal justice system,

01:21:43

and many members of the public are being conned by Bernie just like Marjorie was.

01:21:49

So in 2016, Bernie heads back to court. His defense points out that he's remorseful and that he's been on his best behavior,

01:21:57

both while he was incarcerated and while living in Austin. The defense also continues to insist that Bernie's relationship with Marjorie

01:22:05

was rife with emotional abuse and crippling control. And now his lawyers claim that Bernie might have lost control when he killed Marjorie

01:22:13

because he himself was abused as a child. A psychological expert testifies that, quote,

01:22:20

Tita suffered from a dissociative episode sparked by the cumulative effect of his childhood abuse

01:22:26

and the demeaning treatment of Nugent, end quote. The defense would also add that the Nugent family

01:22:33

doesn't actually care about Marjorie, and instead they claim the family is using Bernie's guilt

01:22:39

to get at her fortune, which is pretty fucking awful. Yeah. To pretend that you would know

01:22:47

what any other people are feeling about their family member. Well, in response, the prosecutors maintain their stance.

01:22:55

They say that Bernie is a con artist who targeted vulnerable old women for his own financial benefit.

01:23:02

Prosecutors find an expert who argues that Bernie shows signs of narcissism and antisocial personality disorder.

01:23:09

And they also bring up damning evidence like the fact that Bernie created fake deposit slips

01:23:15

meant to convince Marjorie he was smartly investing her money when in fact he was just pocketing it.

01:23:22

Oh, no. And what makes a difference here is there's actual testimony on one of the more confusing and gray areas of this case,

01:23:29

the status of Bernie and Marjorie's relationship. So this is a quote from a 2016 article from the Panola Watchman about this trial.

01:23:39

And it says, quote, Witnesses in the now week-long trial have presented accounts indicating

01:23:45

the then 38-year-old closeted gay church choir singer was establishing a romance

01:23:51

with his 81-year-old benefactress. Tom Stone, the Nugent's Longview accountant since 1970,

01:23:59

said he had been talking business with the widow in her Carthage home one morning

01:24:03

when Tita emerged from a bedroom pulling on his jacket. and she stood and kissed him, the CPA said,

01:24:12

specifying when pressed by prosecutor Jane Starnes, it was a mouth-to-mouth kiss.

01:24:19

So to me, that is a real, that is where it's at. Because this isn't fun times with my grandma-like person in my life,

01:24:31

me trying to help a widow. Right now I'm playing the part of Bernie. Me trying to help a widow,

01:24:36

oh, me trying to be a good person, a church member, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. This is a person who's emotionally manipulating a woman who I bet you was married for 40 or 50 years, right?

01:24:48

Right. When you think about that, she's just lost her husband. Yeah. Absolutely.

01:24:54

She's basically like doesn't, and her family isn't close to her. Right. So what is she going to do?

01:25:02

And suddenly here comes Mr. Mustache. into her life being like, I got this. I can handle it.

01:25:09

We're going to have the time of our lives. And then she does. That's wild. Eventually in this trial,

01:25:16

Marjorie's granddaughter, Shanna, actually gets up and testifies. And she tells Bernie directly to his face,

01:25:23

quote, you want to take everything about my family and make it dirty and nasty. But the truth is that is what you are.

01:25:31

You, sir, are nothing to me. You took my grandmother's life. You took the last years of her life and you stole her money.

01:25:38

But you know what her legacy is? It's my family. Yeah. So the trial lasts for three weeks.

01:25:45

And then in April of 2016, a verdict comes down. And once again, it's another surprise twist.

01:25:53

Not only does Bernie not receive a lighter sentence for his good behavior, he's given 99 years to life in prison.

01:26:01

They double down. Holy shit. He weeps as he's taken from the courtroom. Bernie Tita is currently incarcerated

01:26:09

and will be eligible for parole in 2029 when he 70 years old Skip Hollinsworth who played a key role in the telling of this story has continued to mull over his feelings about this case In 2016 he writes quote

01:26:24

I have a feeling that Tita will always remain a mystery, either a very good man who snapped

01:26:30

and did one very bad thing, or a con man who fooled nearly everyone he met even after he committed murder.

01:26:40

Damn. And that's the story of the murder of Marjorie Nugent by Bernie Tita. Wow.

01:26:46

That is deep. And I definitely was thinking of the Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell character movie the whole time.

01:26:55

Similar. It's a similar vibe. Is it? Okay. Similar vibe. But I mean, that's the other thing is that movie in retrospect now,

01:27:02

and it is from 2011. Yeah. Whatever. But everything's different in retrospect. but to basically go back and then put that dark filter on it where it's like,

01:27:14

it was presented as, hey, this guy, you can't. But it's like, but we now, after seven years of telling these stories over and over again every week,

01:27:22

it's like, that's exactly how those people work. Right. Well, it's interesting. Both of our stories was like, you know, blame the victim.

01:27:32

At what point do you make someone snap? At what point is the victim? Yeah, part of the problem, that kind of thing.

01:27:39

It's just these gray area questions that are so hard to dissect. Well, and I think this is a thing that I've definitely learned on this podcast,

01:27:49

which is you want to talk about a person being a victim of childhood abuse and having that be the reason or the excuse or whatever later in life.

01:28:00

And we've heard it over and over from survivors where it's like, That doesn't hold up because most people who go through that horrible stuff do not go on to murder anybody at all.

01:28:12

Right. Right. Totally. It's not. Yeah. It can't be an excuse or everyone would be doing it.

01:28:18

Yeah. Totally. Totally. Well. Well, we're back. Yeah. And we did it. And we're Italian now.

01:28:27

And we'll continue to do it. Mm-hmm. Italian and French style. That's right. Thanks for joining us this week.

01:28:34

Yeah. And stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie?

01:28:41

Ah. Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder and Twitter at My Fave Murder.

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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgi

380 - We Definitely Frenched

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