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Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is not intended for all audiences.
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Listener discretion is advised. And then I decided not to buy the gun, because then you guys are going to be like, oh, well, she has a gun.
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Right, right. So she's going to kill that. Hello and welcome to Sword and Scale Season 2 Episode 267.
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A show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Without the endless cackling and nonsense and gossip and bullshit.
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Well, I want to first thank you guys for making a lifelong dream an actual reality for me.
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We made a television show. Episode three is out right now, and it is just... I wish I had words for it.
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It's, I'm so proud of what we've done is basically what I'm trying to say. You got to watch it.
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You got to at some point. And again, I have to thank our incredible fans, the sassholes for supporting us and helping make this happen.
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I know it's expensive. I mean, everything's expensive these days, but enough of you have signed up for the super tier or VIP tier.
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and that has allowed us to start planning to do two Sword and Scale TV episodes a month.
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We're going to start ramping up production right away and the first month of this will be in October.
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So thank you. Once again, from the bottom of our hearts, you're making not just mine, but all of our dreams come true.
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There's a lot of people here with a lot of passion working on this. Thank you. I don't know.
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9-1-1. Oh, hi there. I just got home and I was thinking my son was a doctor and my door was open.
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And when I came inside, there's someone over my house and my mom's home and I didn't see them.
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Okay, take a deep breath. Tell me the address you're calling from. On March 6, 2014, a young mother named Amber Smith arrived back at her Michigan home to find her house had been ransacked.
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There was stuff thrown everywhere. Afraid there was a burglar inside, she rushed her child back to the car and called 911.
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Okay, and tell me what happened. I didn't quite hear what you had said. I'm just looking at my phone and calling you.
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So you think somebody has broke in? Oh, there's stuff everywhere and I don't see my fiance, but I didn't want to go further into the house.
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Amber was terrified as she sat in her car in the snow, begging for help. What is your name?
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Amber. Okay, Amber, I'm going to help you through this, but I need you to take a deep breath.
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I'm trying to get the information correct. All right, I got you. And Amber, what is your last name?
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Smith. Okay. And so is your son safe? Is he outside? We're both sitting in the car.
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Okay. All right. And about what time did you leave today? Um, I left about five after seven, maybe, because I had to stop at the store and get my other kid with snacks to take to class with him.
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Okay. And when you left, your fiance was there at the house? 28-year-old Amber was a mother of two boys.
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One she had with her, and the other one was at school. When she left that morning, her fiancé, Trenton Mallory, was still asleep.
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you need to use your own judgment whatever you do i'm going to keep you on the line until the
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officers get there does he have any known medical issues no and why my partner is sending the
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officers up that way what kind of vehicle are you waiting in amber oh it's a gold chevy malibu
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why is it always a chevy malibu anyway let's continue now when you left this morning you
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said he was sleeping he was in the bedroom yes ma'am did you guys have an argument or anything
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No, actually I got grumpy with him. We fell asleep on the couch last night watching one of our recorded shows
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and he woke me up when he went to bed and I said that I didn't feel like getting up
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and he's like, come on, just go sleep in the bed. And I was like, okay, quit being so grumpy.
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But it was 3 o'clock in the morning, so... Okay, all right. Okay I not listening here No I am I never had anybody in my home before
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And you said the screen door was broke? No, no. My two doors were open. Okay. To the house?
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Yes. And you know that they were closed when you left? Yes. Well, I double-checked because I had to run back inside because I forgot my son's backpack to school.
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Amber was too scared to go inside and check on Trenton. She stayed in the car, taking deep breaths, watching the steam from her chattering teeth rise into the cold air.
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And there's like papers and stuff screwed about or what? You know, like my entire cabinet, like full of medicine and like where we keep all that kind of stuff.
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It's like everywhere. It's all over my counter. and then in the living room there's books on the floor.
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So that was as far as I went and I came back out. Amber said she'd been trying to reach Trenton all morning
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as she was out and about with her two boys. Yeah, and I'd been texting him all morning,
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but I mean sometimes he's been pretty late so I didn't think anything of it. And when is the last time you actually talked to him?
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This morning before I left, I woke him up and told him that I was taking the kids to school and taking Carson to the doctor.
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Okay. So about what time was that? Well, what time did I get out of bed? So it had to be at about 20 after 6.
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Amber and Tretton's five-year-old son was visibly shaken up in the back seat, watching his mother melt down.
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Yep. Tell the child that the officer's on their way. The police are coming, honey.
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They're going to look and see what's going on, okay? The women keep us safe, right?
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Yep. Just go ahead and stay in your car there until they get there. How long have I been to you?
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Oh, my heart's going 100 miles an hour. I can imagine. I'm sorry. I'm right here with you, okay?
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I'm calming down. Just calm down, Mommy. The dispatcher instructed Amber to drive her car down a bit so police could find her.
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She backed up her car and waited, breathing heavily. The police were having trouble finding her address with all the snowbanks.
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Amber's son was scared as she tried her best to coax him down. Finally, the police car came around the corner.
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He's falling down. I don't think he can find it. I'm going to stand out of my car.
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I wait and got him so he can see me. Okay. Can he see you? Yep, he's falling into my driveway right now.
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Okay, Amber, go ahead and talk to him. I'm going to go ahead and disconnect, okay?
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Okay, thank you. Bye-bye. When the officers and ambulance arrived on scene, they greeted a distraught Amber in her driveway.
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The snow was piled up, and they asked her to wait in her car as they entered the home.
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Just like Amber had described the house was a wreck. It looked like someone had haphazardly gone through every drawer,
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pulling out clothing, papers, medicine, and food, and then just throwing it around, as though they were looking for something.
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When they reached the couple's bedroom, they found Trenton. he had been shot in the back of the head and was lying under the covers when the police returned
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to the cold winter air they told amber the news there is absolutely nothing easy to say
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to do to make you feel any better in this situation so i'm terribly sorry for that
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That's not your fault. But on the flip side of that... You can help, right? You can figure it out.
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That's what I'm here for. Okay? I'll give you a... Time is of the effort in the situation.
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Okay, that's okay? Um... You... They gave you... I'm sorry. He told them as far as the time you left and...
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So they got a good timeline. He's like, okay. What's his name again? His name. Is he your frangals here?
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Trenton. Trenton? Trenton. And what does Trenton do? He works for Coca-Cola. Coke, okay.
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What does he do for Coke? In the wintertime, he merchandises. In the summer, he drives somewhere.
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Trenton was a merchandiser and a relief driver for Coca-Cola. He'd been working for the company for many years.
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He was a hardworking family man who loved Amber and their boys deeply. and he gets SSI and he gets child support from his dad.
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And financially, it would have been silly for us to get married right now. So we were just kind of waiting.
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When Carson started kindergarten I was going to try and go back to school for nursing And then we were going to get married after that Okay Are these both Trenton kids No Marshall not Marshall whose
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Timothy Schramm. But if you told Trent or Marshall that he wasn't Marshall's dad, they'd punch in the nose.
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He's always been there since the day Marshall was born. Timothy Schramm? Yeah. Where is he now?
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I don't know. Kingsley, I think. We don't have anything to do with him. Okay. Now you say you don't have anything to do with him.
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Does he have anything to do with Trenton? No. Are they in contact with each other at all?
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No, they met once when Tim met Marshall, the only time he's ever met him. Okay. That was it.
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Trenton and Amber had met when she was pregnant with Marshall, her first son. And he had raised the boy as his own.
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Carson came into the family a year later. so tell me did they ask you or talk to you about trenton's night night yeah what did you do
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from from six o'clock p.m last night until now we ate dinner i know we ate dinner a little late
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trenton naps until about five o'clock yesterday afternoon he was really tired and uh
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he got up and i was picking from him about sleeping so long because i was tired too because
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Carson's been sick, so he was up all night. And so I cooked dinner. We had spaghetti and watched Spongebob or Breadwinner or something like that on TV while we ate it.
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We told the kids we could have a picnic because they weren't feeling good. And he kind of hurt my feelings a little because he didn't have seconds.
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And I know he hates spaghetti, but I love it. So we ate spaghetti, and then I put the kids in the bathtub.
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And he watched something on TV while I was doing that, and Carson and I played Candyland after he got out of the tub.
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And the kids went to bed. It was a little late when they went to bed because I know Trent said that,
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you know, hey, it's way past your bedtime. We took that man, and then we went outside and had a cigarette.
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And we came in, and I made some Kool-Aid, and we sat down and watched our shows that we had recorded.
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and we fell asleep watching the last one, The Americans. We fell asleep on the couch and Trent got up about,
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I don't know, he told me what time it was. It was like 3.30 in the morning. He got up and he woke me up.
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I'm sorry, but this is a lot of details, isn't it? It's like a shocking amount of details
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for a woman who just found out that her husband was killed. Maybe she's just nervous, but go on, Amber.
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Because I fell asleep sitting up. And I don't like it. I feel like going to bed.
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Because I'm cranky when I wake up. Then he woke me up again and I said, stop being so bossy.
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And he's like, well, you're going to get a crank in your neck. And he pulled me into bed and he carried my hand and we went to sleep.
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Who doesn't like Trent? What would be his biggest enemies? Everybody likes Trent.
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He's such a good guy. Everybody likes him. Enemies? um i don't think so there's only one person in this world that we cannot stand and that's my
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mother talk to me about that why is that you know her who is she darlene simpson okay
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that's why i've heard your name before she tried to get me to call you when she was in jail
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she um we won't let her you know have anything to do with us because she's crazy
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Amber's mother, Darlene, had a criminal history and the two no longer spoke. But in a small town like theirs,
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it was hard to completely avoid each other. She told everybody that Marshall died,
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like all these people she worked with and stuff so she could get money from them in time off work.
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Like she told everybody that he was dead. And so we found out that she got a tattoo
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to commemorate his death. Like a tattoo. on her leg. Not a little one. It's like this big. It's huge.
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And the people that did the tattoo had told us it was for her dead grandson and I sent him a picture
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and I said, that's my son and he's very much alive. And I told her, I was going to
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go down to her house and talk to her about it and she had all of our stuff from we went out and make a wish trip for
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Marshall because he's too little, you know. And she had all of our keepsakes and mementos because she was going to make us a
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scrapbook. So Trent said, wait for me I want to come with you because I refuse to see myself.
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And we showed up there and she wouldn't answer the door. She called the cops on us.
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The officer noted that he better look into Darlene, but he had to focus on the murder.
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What exactly happened when Amber and Carson arrived home? I kicked off my shoes and Carson was taking off his stuff.
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And I came around the corner and I saw the stuff everywhere. And I turned around and said, Carson, I said, get your stuff back on and go outside.
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just because, I mean, there was no reason for meds to be all over the white counter like Trent
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when I do that. So I guess growing up as a police officer, I was taught to be scared of situations
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like that. So I just hurried up back outside and I called 911. And why, if I were to tell you that
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it's a possibility, okay, that somebody caused the death to you, that somebody caused the death to
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Who do you think would do such a thing? Nobody. Nobody would do that. Trent buys and trades a lot of stuff,
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so there's always people coming and going, buying stuff or selling stuff. Okay When you say buy and trade what do you mean by that You see my show Barter Kings Well everybody who knows Trent like Olsen and they call him Trader Trent
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because he's always trading something. Like he wants to be the next Barter King.
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So he's always buying stuff that he can make a profit on, you know. During the slow seasons, Trenton would buy and sell things on Craigslist
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and other bartering sites. Maybe someone he'd met on one of these shady websites
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was responsible for this. What was the last thing he saw? I don't know. He traded a gun.
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A gun? What kind of gun? What is that? It's a little tiny shotgun. It's a .410. A Winchester.
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Who's right at this? Some guy named Gordy, he traded it for a TV that we had bought.
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Trenton and Amber had many guns in the house and other valuables, too. They kept cash on hand, but none of that or the guns had been taken.
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The only thing that was stolen was Trenton's life, which is unusual for a stranger to want to take.
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If this, in fact, is a homicide, if it is, I would assume that you would cooperate to the fullest.
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That means taking computers, phones, anything. That's fine. I don't care. Amber was cooperative, but there was something that didn't add up with this whole story.
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Listening at home, you're probably getting that sense, too. Luckily, she was ready and willing to be her overly chatty self with the police.
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And she, like most women, oh boy, here come the emails, talked a lot more than she needed to.
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36-year-old Coca-Cola worker and family man Trenton Mallory had been found shot in the back of the head in his bedroom.
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His fiancée, Amber Smith, and their son, Carson, walked into the house to find the place had been turned upside down
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and that Trenton was dead. Amber said that Trenton had no enemies. The only person they didn't get along with was Amber's mother,
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who she said was nuts and had been in and out of jail. Trenton also did a lot of trading online,
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and perhaps someone he had run into did this to him. You never know with the internet.
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There's a bunch of weirdos out there, especially on Reddit. Just fat, mouth-breathing losers.
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You know who you are. Anyway, Amber's boys weren't taken to Trenton's mother's house.
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She went down to the police station to further help the detectives. How was your relationship with Trenton right now?
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Amazing. Amazing? You know, gosh, when Marshall first got sick, we found out we were pregnant a week before that.
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And it was too stressful for us. Like, we were two totally different people. And, you know, we got to handle the stress together.
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So we stopped talking for a while, even though, you know, I was pregnant with Carson.
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and then, you know, we've worked really hard on our relationship since Carson's been born
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and we kind of know, like, what makes each other tick, you know what I mean, type thing
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and, you know, we try not to be such selfish people, you know, like we used to be
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and, you know, it works for us. I mean, the biggest argument we get is, you know, he picks up Carson incessantly
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and just bugs that kid and Carson hates it and you know it drives me crazy that he does it and you know you need to leave him alone you're
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too hard on him and i mean that's like the biggest fight we get and we just don't fight because he
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grew up with parents that fought i grew up with parents that fought and it was just never something
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we wanted for our children so you know we'd rather not say anything than fight but even you know now
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we've gotten past any of that like I can't even remember the last time we had a fight
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it's just not what we do financially how are you guys doing financially yeah I don't really take care of it too much but
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I mean it comes and goes in the winter we struggle more than we do in the summer
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you know because his hours that work get cut you know he makes most of his money in the summertime
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My driver's side lower. So how much does he make per year? Do you know? Um, like 30.
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I think he made 38 this year. Okay. Does he do any other side jobs or anything? No, he just does his trading.
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The trading? Yeah. Okay. And when you say trading, I mean, talk to me about that.
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What do you mean by that? Like bartering. Just bartering. He has my keys and you give me a shoe.
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You know what I mean? Okay. Type thing. Bartering. Okay. Do you have any life insurance?
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No. Does Tren? No, I think he has a policy through his work if he gets hurt on the job.
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But we don't have life insurance policies. Any higher risk? Raise investments or anything like that?
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No. Amber and Trenton lived paycheck to paycheck. Like most young couples these days.
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She claimed she didn't know much about his finances. Any psychological stuff with Trenton at all?
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No. Okay. Have you ever seen her? Have you ever been to counseling and psychologists?
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Well, I've been to counseling in college for a little bit. Just because I was lonely and I'm sick.
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Which old college? Anderson. University, St. Anderson, India. Oh, okay. What'd you study?
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Well, I only went for one year. I studied criminal justice and psychology. But Amber
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didn't finish her degree. She partied too much and was just using college as a way to
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free herself from her parents. There's a lot of that. If you're a senior in college
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and haven't figured out what you want to do for the rest of your life, then maybe you're one of these people.
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So, Amber dropped out, and she went home. and he drank a lot and he constantly called me for rides
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home from the bar because he couldn't drive or because he was going to go home with a nasty bartender
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you know so that was our relationship for the first four years I knew him and it was fine and then Marshall came along
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and you know he loves kids like there's nothing in this world that Trent ever wanted
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more than to be a dad like he just always went to a house full of kids and actually we just talked about it
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two days ago when his niece was born how I should have gotten my tubes tied because he's left out for a while.
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And, you know, once he started hanging around when Marshall was born, you know, we realized that we know each other better than most married couples know each other
00:26:14
because we were best friends. And, you know, we tried to date. And then the stuff happened with Marshall, and, you know, it was just too much stress for me,
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like trying to deal with a dying child when I was pregnant. But then after Carson was born, you know, we figured it out.
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Though they didn't start in the most conventional way, Trenton and Amber grew together and made a little family that they were proud of.
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You know, the first probably year was a struggle, you know, trying to figure out how to deal with each other because, you know,
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he came from living at his parents' house until he lived on his own with me. And so, you know, he was messy and inconsiderate and drove me nuts, you know, and I was bossy and I mean, we drove him nuts.
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So, you know, once we figured out the dance of how to live with another human being, you know, then it was great.
00:27:07
But Marshall was a sick kid. He had a heart transplant at age one and then the poor boy had to battle cancer.
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His medical issues were a huge strain on the family and were something that would always be at the forefront of Amber and Trenton's minds.
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Even now, we have to take off at home. So if Marshall gets sick, we've got to go out and say it.
00:27:32
And then we've got to find someone to take Carson. It's hard enough to find someone to take one care that alone, too.
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Medical bills piled up as the couple had to invest in medicine and care. So Amber took to the local media to spread the word and fundraise money to pay for her son's treatments.
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The media coverage worked, and the couple were able to pay for Marshall's medical bills with kindness from strangers.
00:28:01
They received make-a-wish trips and other forms of charity to help Marshall live an exceptional life.
00:28:09
It was all experimental medicine, so everything had to be paid for by us. Insurance companies don't want to foot a bill that isn't FDA approved.
00:28:19
But it had been hours since Amber had found out that Trenton was dead. And now that she had calmed down a bit, they had to ask a couple of tough questions.
00:28:32
What do you think? What do you think happened? I don't know what happened. I don't even know what happened because you guys just said that he was dead.
00:28:42
and that it was a homicide between somebody else did it. And the only thing I can think about is how I'm supposed to live my life without him.
00:28:54
How are my kids and sisters, people who love their dad? I imagine if you said that somebody got into the safe, then they'd take our money, you know, which, whatever.
00:29:04
But I don't know why anybody would hurt Trent, because if they needed the money that bad, you would just give it to them.
00:29:10
Amber and Trenton had a safe with about $800 in it and some guns in the house. But nothing was touched.
00:29:20
In something like this, no offense, but something like this, you always look first inside out, okay?
00:29:26
What that means is his circle of friends, his circle of family. So we're going to do full, it's called victimology.
00:29:33
We're going to do full victimology. We're going to know everything we want to know about Trenton, okay?
00:29:37
And that's what I'm asking you for. So these seven cases you look inside out, so you look at family first.
00:29:41
Okay. And then once you eliminate, you just keep working your way out. Right? Do you understand that?
00:29:48
Okay. So, and I, I'd be lying to you if I didn't tell you that, you know, we do have to look
00:29:52
at you. Okay. Everybody a suspect right I going to ask you if you had any part or did you play any part whatsoever and try this stuff No Okay It your job It fine Okay All right So let say our first level so we know that the kids didn do it right
00:30:08
Right. Okay. And you're saying that you had no fun at that? Right. So now what's our next level?
00:30:14
Well, does he hang out with anybody at work? He just hangs out with us. Amber continued to sniffle and cry as she recounted all the happy days she had with Trenton.
00:30:28
The little things about their relationship, like how he would call her bossy, or that she was always running a little late for work and she'd make his coffee and lay out his uniform.
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Happy little memories flowed out of her between the tears. Then, the detectives honed in.
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Do you know how he died? No. Nobody. Huh? Nobody. Are you curious? So there's several different ways that a homicide could occur, correct?
00:31:01
Would you agree? Probably, yes. So he was shot, but it appears that he was sleeping, or that's a bird.
00:31:13
What? So this makes it just a little bit odd, okay? Do you see what I'm saying? No.
00:31:20
So let's break down everything, all right? So I got to look at this one of the detectives going on to you, okay?
00:31:30
We're on Broadway, a house in the middle of nowhere, all right? There's a truck parked in the driveway, okay?
00:31:37
The door's open, there's the neighbors, all right? And then all of a sudden a person is shot in his sleep.
00:31:47
Is there something on to you? Anybody killing another person sounds odd to me. Sure, but it happens sometimes.
00:31:55
Not around here. Well, right, I understand that, but it does have something. But I'm saying you take all those variables and put them into the basket,
00:32:04
you look at it and go, something's kind of odd, right? Because how then would somebody know that you're not there?
00:32:11
How would they know that nobody doesn't know? You may have a truck parked there, so you have to assume that somebody's there, right?
00:32:16
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that there's several things that can happen with something like this, okay?
00:32:25
One is that you could have done it, right? Just saying. You could have paid to have somebody do it for you.
00:32:33
I'm just talking these are variables that we have to look at, okay? Or it's just some random chance act that this occurred.
00:32:42
And up here with something like this, it's just not random. So there's got to be a reason.
00:32:47
Okay? Right. And, you know, so let's dive into reasons. Reasons would be a drug deal going bad.
00:32:56
Somebody owes somebody a lot of money and they're not paying it. Right? Is there anybody in your family, anybody that Trent owes money to that we don't know about?
00:33:06
I need to know any dark secret that you or him may have. I don't know. I mean, dark secrets, we don't have any.
00:33:14
Okay. Amber swore there were no secrets, nothing hidden beneath the surface. But the detectives knew more.
00:33:27
Fire and CEO will take a lie detector test and ask you that same question? I would still say no.
00:33:32
Okay. And would you be willing to take a lie detector test if that came? If you want me to.
00:33:37
Okay. And how do you think you would do on that test? I think I would do just fine.
00:33:41
I was with my kids. I mean, I would never hurt red. And it really hurts me to have dances.
00:33:49
And with that, the detective left. Amber sat quietly, sniffling and hugging herself in her winter coat.
00:33:58
Minutes passed. And then the detective came back. You know, we have two, possibly three witnesses now
00:34:09
and did not see anybody go into that house or any car go into that driveway? I don't know what you want me to tell you. I wasn't home, so...
00:34:18
I mean, how can we explain that? But, I mean, I'm just telling you, we have two, possibly three,
00:34:24
say we did not see any car go into that driveway or anybody go into that house. Okay.
00:34:29
I don't know how to explain that. I didn't see anybody coming to anything because I wasn't home.
00:34:34
Right. So who could possibly do this? I have no idea. Things were not looking so good for Amber.
00:34:43
Yes, she had an alibi that checked out, going to the drugstore, dropping her child off at school, going to her stepsister's house, and then back home.
00:34:53
But no one had seen a single car or person go into the house the day Trenton was murdered.
00:35:02
Amber said the couple had no secrets, but that just wasn't true. About a month ago, there was a recall.
00:35:11
What car were they recalling? They're not driving now. The one you're driving? Tell me about that.
00:35:15
What happened there? I don't know. I guess we got behind on our payments, and we had worked out an arrangement to pay them,
00:35:22
but they recalled it anyway, and I decided to be dramatic and say that I was going to
00:35:26
kill myself over it just because Marshall had to get to the doctor, and it was quite
00:35:30
the situation. I felt like a dumbass afterwards, but it was what it was. So they took the car, and we got the car back.
00:35:36
Okay. What were you, sort of talking about killing yourself, what were you doing?
00:35:40
What do you mean? How was it? Did you have a gun? Did you have... Yeah, there was a gun in the house, but...
00:35:46
There's a lot of guns in your house. Yeah, I know. I'm trans a big hunter. I don't hunt, so...
00:35:51
Okay. Actually he taught me how to shoot a 410 the other day the little one that he had treated and that was exciting for me Amber car had been repossessed because a couple had fallen behind on payments
00:36:05
Then there was another money issue that the police just couldn't ignore. There was about $900 in checks that she wrote just recently that were bad.
00:36:15
How did you pay for this? With our tax money. With your tax money? Yeah, with B.
00:36:21
All right, what did that $900 go to? What do you mean? Why? We wrote it. Did you write directly to the store?
00:36:29
Is that what it was? Cash? I don't understand that, but... I got it right. I understand what you mean.
00:36:33
$900 in bad checks, right? Right. Who'd you write those to? To the Levering Store.
00:36:40
Okay. We wrote one to the care. Okay. Do you say we? Oh, yeah. You? Well, thankfully, I wrote them, yes.
00:36:49
Okay. Not only had Amber written bad checks and had her car repossessed, but she had been aggressively flirting with other men on Facebook.
00:37:24
but we've been saying to him. I talked to him. Marshall was hospitalized. I talked to him then.
00:37:34
That was... 2011? That was the last time you talked to him? We talked on Facebook.
00:37:46
Maybe it was 2012. I don't know. It was a couple years ago. It was when Marshall was hospitalized.
00:37:50
Right. Well, it was... Actually, it was 68 months ago. What was it? Yeah, and you're specifically asking him to follow.
00:37:58
Excuse me? Correct. And we have those. Six to eight months ago? That's correct. And actually, in those messages, it expressed the fact that that's just something you do.
00:38:11
That, I mean, we're in the process of getting those. He read them off to me last night about two in the morning.
00:38:18
Okay. Was anyone else really stunned by the detective saying, asking him to fuck?
00:38:24
That was quite a shocker. Amber was looking worse and worse. Then, they told her that if her DNA just happened to be on any of the bullets, she would be in big trouble.
00:38:39
What I'm asking you is a simple question. There may be a lot of .22 shells in your house.
00:38:49
but is that 22 shell the one that we have, okay, potentially has a fingerprint and DNA on that shell,
00:38:57
is that going to come back to you? No. You better be absolutely certain because I'm telling you right now
00:39:02
that what you're seeing is not necessarily true. Okay. Okay? So, I mean, I just need a way to explain away that.
00:39:11
I can't explain it for you. Well, why is that? My answer? Yeah, what I'm saying is...
00:39:22
I did not shoot trends, so... Based on what we have, when we talk about your cell phone, when we talk about eyewitnesses,
00:39:29
all right, and we're talking about true evidence, based on that, I'm telling you, there's no
00:39:34
doubt whatsoever that you were involved in this. No doubt. There are two reasons, and I tried to explain that a little bit to you yesterday, about
00:39:41
it being two reasons. One is a person that was just caught in the middle of something that did something that
00:39:46
that they would not normally do and just snapped, okay? Or a person who's just simply psychotic, okay?
00:39:53
All right, so when we talk about this, when we talk about this, we're talking about something
00:39:57
that are two totally different people, right? Okay. Okay, and now we're trying to understand, right,
00:40:01
who you are, all right? I'm telling you, you put in a situation, and I'm telling you right now
00:40:06
that the evidence right here is not, it's not going away. Okay. And it's only getting stronger, all right?
00:40:11
Did you have anything to do with this? No. All right. Did you have any knowledge that this was occurring?
00:40:15
No. Okay. And I'm telling you right now that that's not true. Amber was adamant about the details of her whereabouts that day
00:40:23
and that she had nothing to do with the crime. But the evidence was stacking up against her.
00:40:31
You see, not only had her car been repoed and she was writing bad checks, but Amber had started to gamble.
00:40:41
At first, she and Trenton would go to the casino together. Amber won big one evening and thought that was her ticket to financial freedom.
00:40:50
Of course, if you have more than three brain cells, you know that's a really dumb thing to think.
00:40:57
But Amber thought it and she kept going. She hit the casino alone and when she wasn't there, she'd be gambling on her phone at night.
00:41:08
By the time Trenton was dead, she'd racked up $25,000 in gambling debt, all in her husband's name.
00:41:20
As the police continued digging in, they found out that the couple's house was about to be foreclosed.
00:41:28
Amber had been taking out payday loans with a 300% interest rate. they were swimming in debt
00:41:37
but it was all falling under Trenton under his name, under his credit the debts were all in his name
00:41:46
but Amber was the one who kept mounting it on with her gambling the police let her go
00:41:54
they didn have enough to arrest her at least not yet But they were looking into her She was the closest to Trenton The only one in his life who had a reason to need him gone
00:42:09
But then again, without him, her children had no father. And she had no support system or family.
00:42:16
There was no life insurance or cash out on either. Would she really have done this to the love of her life?
00:42:25
As the weeks passed and the snow started to melt, Amber's stepsister found something in her driveway that would seal Amber's fate.
00:42:55
28-year-old Amber Smith had come home to find her house ransacked, and her fiancé shot in the back of the head while sleeping.
00:43:21
At first, the police felt bad for Amber, but as they began their investigation, her entire story seemed suspicious, and they thought that Amber was involved.
00:43:34
Not only was nothing of value stolen from the home, but Amber and Trenton were having major money troubles, and that always spells bigger problems.
00:43:43
Amber had become addicted to gambling and had racked up almost $25,000 in debt and their finances were buckling beneath them
00:43:54
Bad checks, high interest payday loans and foreclosures were mounting However, Amber was the one handling the finances
00:44:05
Someone who should have never touched the finances to begin with Besides, Trenton being the breadwinner and everything being in his name,
00:44:15
Amber was in charge of the spending. She was good at it. So the cops were on to Amber.
00:44:23
Her story was sketchy, and she'd lied about their money issues. She cried during her interviews, but the sniffles were empty.
00:44:31
Still, without DNA evidence or a confession, they couldn't arrest Amber. So she was released.
00:44:40
March turned to April and heavy snow banks began to slowly melt. That's when Amber's stepsister walked outside and saw something odd in her driveway.
00:44:52
It was a long brown thing in the snow. She got closer and noticed it's a gun, the kind Trenton had been murdered with.
00:45:05
Remember, Amber had said that she stopped by her sister's house on the day Trenton was killed.
00:45:12
So her stepsister called the police and they miked her up and had her call Amber.
00:45:23
Hello? Hey. Hey. Where you at? Where's your cell? Okay. I need to talk to you. It's really important. I need to talk to you.
00:45:34
Okay, so where are you? I'm at home. I need to talk to you in a green hole. Oh, is I on the phone, or do you need me to be there right now?
00:45:44
Okay, stop, stop, stop. Yeah. You're fine. I went up to Mike's house, and when I was leaving there, I noticed something in the snowbank, and when I stopped to get it.
00:46:00
No, I put it there yesterday. And I was going to stop at Mike's house today and talk to him.
00:46:06
You put the gun in the yard? I just bought it because I wanted something for home protection.
00:46:13
Sure. Why wouldn't you say something? No, I did. I tried to call you twice, three times yesterday.
00:46:23
And I tried to call Mike's cell phone, too, twice. Oh, my God. No, honey, I tried to call
00:46:31
Because this just scares the shit out of me No, no, no, I understand that And I tried to call you this morning, too
00:46:39
That's why I stayed at Marcy's house so long Because I was waiting to get a hold of you
00:46:44
So I could get home Not get home, but stop by on the way home Okay, well, I was just freaked out
00:46:50
Because it looked a whole lot What did you do with it? I didn't touch it Oh, okay
00:46:55
Are you kidding me? I didn't know it I mean, it looks a lot like the gun that they had a picture of.
00:47:03
They said there was a gun missing. I was just shaking. I was freaked right out. Oh, gosh.
00:47:11
No, I didn't mean to freak you out. I tried to get a hold of you. Got to say, I think the stepsister is doing an excellent job here on this call.
00:47:20
It's very believable. It's okay. It just, you know, it just freaks me out. I mean, it just looks like you've been there a while.
00:47:27
and, you know, I don't know. I just, my brain is just racing right now. It's just, like I said, it's just to find it there
00:47:39
and look like it, you know, just the snow had melted or something. I just, it's sheer panic.
00:47:46
Right. I mean, I didn't know, you know, was somebody trying to set me up? What's going on, you know?
00:47:52
Oh, gosh, no. I just figured, let me avoid being all alone. You know what I mean?
00:47:57
It scares me. Well, if you could. go right to the lights and get it because I just gotta get out of there.
00:48:07
No, I agree. Okay. All right, I'll get it with you. All right, you're hitting the lights?
00:48:13
Yeah. Okay, thank you. Amber said she'd be right over, and the police were waiting at her stepsister's house,
00:48:21
staking out the scene to see if she grabbed the gun. Just in time, she rolled up in her Chevy Malibu.
00:48:30
But the cops had already taken the weapon out of the snow and into their possession.
00:48:35
She is. I'm recording. She's coming back to her car. The police watched as Amber shuffled around the snowbank looking for the gun.
00:48:46
She's getting in her car. Yep, she is. Go, go, go, go. Then Amber called her stepsister back and tried to make up a story as to why the gun was no longer there.
00:48:57
Listen carefully. I was buying a gun from a person named Snow And asked him to meet me at Mike's house
00:49:05
Not that somebody stuck a gun in your steel bank So you were going to meet somebody at Mike's house to buy it?
00:49:17
Yeah, and that's what I said today instead of yesterday Because I couldn't get a hold of Mike
00:49:22
Because I figured that way I wasn't all alone I just don't I don't even know what to think right now
00:49:31
I just I don't know I just feel like I'm just in such a shitty position I'm pissed
00:49:41
I just don't I just don't get this I absolutely I just don't get this I don't either
00:49:52
Amber tried to say she was meeting a guy named Snow to buy a gun to protect herself.
00:50:00
Not that she left it in the snowbank. Okay, Amber, whatever you say. I love you, but I mean, you didn't do this, did you?
00:50:13
Hello? Say that again? I said I love you, but you didn't do this, did you? Well, I mean, I just...
00:50:19
You got a lot of mad where I'm coming from here. This is just scary as shit. And I just, I'm just falling apart here.
00:50:27
I just don't understand all this. I don't understand either, but no, I didn't do it.
00:50:36
All right, well, I'm going to go try and pull myself together, but I just, I just needed to talk to you, so.
00:50:45
I don't know. I don't know. I guess hopefully we'll get some answers here soon. So, that would be the hope.
00:50:56
When the police directly confronted Amber about the gun in the driveway, the walls began to close in on her.
00:51:03
What did your sister tell you about the gun in the driveway? She said, yeah, she found it in the driveway.
00:51:09
And anything? Anything. So you don't have any idea? No. Because it appears to me to be the same gun that we're looking for.
00:51:18
That's what she told me. It's interesting that it would end up in your sister's driveway.
00:51:24
It would be interesting. I think we probably need to talk about this a little bit, don't you?
00:51:30
No, it's where we're going. Remember what I told you before last time when we ended our conversation about the truth
00:51:39
and how the truth is always going to come back and we're going to figure it out?
00:51:42
Yes. Well, this is the point right now. You going to let your story start on that Okay we told enough things that are half untruths and just flat lies at this point that they all coming back to bite you
00:51:56
I didn't do anything. Well, it's not working out that way, Amber, and you can continue to deny that,
00:52:03
but we know that's not the truth. We've now collected the murder weapon that killed your fiancée out of your sister's driveway.
00:52:10
Okay? And where do you think that is right now? I have no idea. That's at the lab being processed for a lot of different things, a lot of different trace evidence stuff.
00:52:19
OK, it's all going to come back to you. It's all already coming back to your story that you told us is falling apart in the midst of all this.
00:52:28
It's coming apart. I told you that's what's going to happen. Did I not? I did. Amber had painted herself into a corner and she had no more lies up her sleeve.
00:52:40
No more sob stories to throw out. No more ways to make herself the victim. The gun was being processed.
00:52:50
She was toast. Gigs up. We know. We're not looking for anybody else. We found our person, and here she is.
00:52:59
And we've given you the opportunity to tell the truth again and again and again,
00:53:04
and you refuse to do so because you're only thinking of yourself. You're not thinking of those kids.
00:53:10
Those two things that mean the most to you in this life, you're not thinking about.
00:53:13
You're only thinking about you. It's time to think about them. There were no other tire tracks in her driveway.
00:53:23
They connected Amber to the murder weapon. The hard evidence was smacking Amber right in the face, and yet she did not crack.
00:53:32
Is this what we're going to do all day? We're not going away. I did. Just get it away.
00:53:42
You're just saying. But again, they still couldn't arrest her without the lab results.
00:53:51
If Amber's prints were on the bullet or the gun, that's it. She'd be done for. Game over.
00:53:57
The police were so close. So they brought her in one more time. And like a good, bold-faced, psychopathic liar,
00:54:06
she showed up and took the emotional battery. doesn't get any more clear than that.
00:54:40
No, doesn't get any more clear than that. Right now, Amber, you're just a cold-blooded killer.
00:54:50
That's what you are. Who shot her fiancé in his sleep. Never saw it coming. Is that who you are?
00:54:59
No. So what are you? We know you're not just a grieving fiancé. Are you? That's not what you are.
00:55:10
I described it, but I didn't do anything. That's not true. I'm telling you we'll be down there.
00:55:19
So are we finished? Everyone thought Amber did it. Everyone. The cops, me, you listening at home.
00:55:27
Even Trenton's mother, who had loved Amber like a daughter. There was absolutely no other explanation.
00:55:35
The theory was that Amber got up that morning packed her kids in the car and then ran inside and shot Trenton while he slept Then she took the gun with her on her errands to create an alibi
00:55:52
and in the end dropped the weapon in the snowbank at her sister's house, knowing
00:55:57
it would be concealed for at least a month in the cold. As for the why, all the debts were in
00:56:06
Trenton's name, and the couple wasn't married yet. If she killed him, then the debt would also
00:56:14
die. That's the thinking inside her noodle. That's how simple it is. That's how dumb it is.
00:56:23
Criminals are not smart, guys. In her mind, she thought she'd end up as a grieving widow,
00:56:29
able to fundraise her way out of debt with her you found misery. Victimhood these days pays
00:56:37
a premium, after all. The plan was pretty solid, actually, as long as Amber stuck to her story.
00:56:46
But the bullets matched the gun, and she was busted with science. Amber went to trial for Trenton's
00:56:57
murder in October of 2014. She was arrested in the spring of 2014 and by the fall she was facing the courtroom and the jury. Amber sat sadly
00:57:11
in her pink t-shirt barely looking up during the trial. It was hard to know what she was thinking.
00:57:18
She had no expression on her sullen face as the litigators went over every one of her missteps in
00:57:25
great detail, showing the video of her digging for the gun in the snowbank. It took the jury
00:57:32
less than an hour to find her guilty of premeditated first-degree murder. Amber will be in prison
00:57:39
for the rest of her life, without the possibility of parole. The entire time that Amber was grilled by police,
00:58:19
they kept telling her to think of her family. Think of her sons. Think of anyone.
00:58:25
Except yourself, Amber. Amber's very sick child had been through enough in his short life.
00:58:34
He had battled cancer and a heart transplant. And now his father was dead and his mother was going to prison.
00:58:44
When Amber was doing her media circuit to raise money for Marshall's treatments,
00:58:49
she said something almost psychic about the strength of her boy. Maybe he was put here to teach the world a lesson that, you know, if he can go through all of this and be happy, then what are we all complaining about?
00:59:02
We don't know if Marshall is happy or his brother, for that matter. But we do know that they have the love and support of Trenton's family to keep them thriving.
00:59:14
As if Marshall hadn been through enough his own mother the woman who was supposed to protect him from harm and love him forever cast the greatest darkness onto her own child instead Ember is a cold killer and she is right where she belongs for eternity
00:59:57
Well, that's going to do it. Buy some merch. Sword and scale.com. Stay safe. Thank you.
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you