00:00:04
[chiming music] NANCY GRACE: Scott Dell
dreams of a white Christmas with his three children.
00:00:11
Scott was an amazing father. He was very nurturing. KEN LEPPERT: He was
enamored with Cherrylle
00:00:17
and willing to do
anything for her. NANCY GRACE: But on a
silent night a few days
00:00:22
after Christmas, his
life slowly slips away. The body was partially
clothed in the fetal position.
00:00:31
DWAYNE SEARS: This is
where it starts to get dark and go off the tracks. NANCY GRACE: A mysterious death
raises suspicion, fear, and even
00:00:39
hate in a small Canadian town. Murder is something
you don't expect. It's so dark.
00:00:46
It's so sinister. DARCY NICOL: Your
Spidey senses go off, and you're like, there's
more to this, absolutely.
00:00:52
[fire crackling] KEN LEPPERT: Her
home was ablaze, and she was believed
to be inside, dead.
00:00:58
NANCY GRACE: Police must
accept, the murder weapon is actually wrapped up
as a Christmas present.
00:01:06
DWAYNE SEARS: I was a
little bit incredulous as this happened in Killaloe. ELSA STEENBERG: I think I was
still in shock at that time.
00:01:14
The whole thing was
so unbelievable. [ominous music] [theme music] [christmas music]
00:01:52
Hello, I'm Nancy Grace. Christmas is a magical
time of the year. Who doesn't love
baking gingerbread men,
00:02:00
visiting Santa
with your children, decorating the Christmas
tree with your family?
00:02:05
People celebrate Christmas
all over the world. But in Canada, it's
really special.
00:02:11
There, you'll find
a village covered in snow, straight off
the cover of a Currier
00:02:17
and Ives Christmas card. GINA GLAUB: Killaloe is
a small town in Ontario. When you talk about
people that want
00:02:26
to escape the big city
life, this would definitely be the place for them. Citizens that live there enjoy
a quiet, peaceful winter,
00:02:36
a very cold Canadian winter. NANCY GRACE: Scott Dell
is an American living in the Canadian town of Killaloe.
00:02:44
Christmas 1995 is not a
joyous time for Scott. He is separated from his
wife, Cherrylle, and spending
00:02:53
Christmas with her parents. But he's got to wait
until December 29 to exchange presents
with his children.
00:03:03
GINA GLAUB: Scott's
children were alarmed and very upset
when he failed to pick them
00:03:07
up as planned. He was excited to see his kids. It was very unlike
him to not show up.
00:03:13
A close friend of his actually
went out to the farmhouse to check on Scott [phone rings]
00:03:20
KEN LEPPERT: On
December 29, 1995, the OPP received a call from a
witness who reported that she
00:03:25
had attended at a
friend's farmhouse outside of the village of Killaloe. GINA GLAUB: She was rather
shaken and hysterical.
00:03:34
She had found him deceased. She had tried to revive him. But it was pretty clear that
he had been gone for a while,
00:03:45
and there was not any hope
for bringing him back. [siren blaring] KEN LEPPERT: The OPP responded
by sending two police officers
00:03:53
in uniform to the farmhouse. Found the farmhouse
unlocked, entered the home. As they went through the
home, in the living room,
00:04:05
they found a turntable still
spinning with a long play album on the turntable. There was remnants of
candles that had been burned.
00:04:17
They also found a 1.5-liter
bottle of Piat D'Or wine on a desk, along with several
pages of handwritten notes that
00:04:29
made very little sense to them. They found a body in a bedroom
upstairs in the farmhouse,
00:04:36
deceased on the floor. The body was in
the fetal position. There was vomit near the body.
00:04:42
The body was identified
as Scott Dell. As part of the initial
death investigation,
00:04:49
there was no obvious
signs of foul play. GINA GLAUB: There wasn't
really anything suspicious
00:04:54
about this scene, but there was
a bottle of wine that was found. And it was white
wine, but the wine
00:05:01
had a yellowish green tint to
it, which was just unnatural. [suspenseful music] The police took the bottle
of wine, the wine glass,
00:05:15
and the handwritten
notes, hoping that maybe they would explain
this death a little better.
00:05:27
The body was
removed from the home and transported to a local
funeral home here in Killaloe.
00:05:32
[dramatic music] ELSA STEENBERG:
This friend of mine phoned me and said Scott died,
and I didn't believe her.
00:05:43
I drove over to Scott's
place, and of course, it was all taped with police tape.
00:05:49
I think I was still
in shock at that time. The whole thing was
so unbelievable. He was my best friend.
00:05:58
He's originally
from Connecticut. And his parents encouraged him
to move to avoid the draft.
00:06:07
He was a very gentle
person, soft spoken, and he was super intelligent. NANCY GRACE: 1969, Scott
Dell meets a small town
00:06:16
Canadian teenager at a party. Her name is Cherrylle. ELSA STEENBERG: Cherrylle
was absolutely beautiful.
00:06:24
She was always perfect
in her appearance. Her hair was
perfect, her makeup. So she was quite the sight.
00:06:32
Scott was totally
in love with her. Scott was 20 years
old, and Cherrylle was 17 when they married.
00:06:40
Scott and Cherrylle Dell
buy a small farm in Killaloe, and they raised three children.
00:06:47
21 years later, they separate
when Cherrylle decides to explore other relationships.
00:06:55
ELSA STEENBERG: Scott loved
Cherrylle enough to accept her having sex with other people.
00:07:01
All he wanted was
her to come back. And it's just a phase. She'll get past it. [ominous music]
00:07:11
KEN LEPPERT: Immediately
after they left the farmhouse, officers interviewed Scott's
estranged wife, Cherrylle Dell.
00:07:17
GINA GLAUB: Cherrylle
explains to the police that Scott had been struggling
with mouth and throat
00:07:23
cancer, a battle that had been
going on for quite some time. She felt that his
death was likely
00:07:29
a result of his cancer battle. KEN LEPPERT: Locally, it was
known to police and the coroner
00:07:36
that Scott had
cancer of the throat. The coroner issued a
death certificate, naming
00:07:44
cancer as a cause of death. NANCY GRACE:
Cherrylle Dell tells police husband, Scott, wanted
to be cremated after his death.
00:07:53
KEN LEPPERT: The local coroner
released the body to Cherrylle. The body was transported
to a crematorium in Ottawa.
00:08:01
[suspenseful music] Scott's family traveled
from Connecticut and arrived within
days of his death.
00:08:10
When they were made aware of
the reported cause of his death being cancer, they
were very concerned.
00:08:15
The family believed
that he was in remission and pushed for a further
fact-finding mission
00:08:22
around the cause
of Scott's death. NANCY GRACE: But
Scott Dell's body has been released for cremation.
00:08:29
It may have already happened. ELSA STEENBERG: But by the
grace of god, it was Christmas,
00:08:35
and the crematorium
was not open. So the police retrieved his
body from the crematorium.
00:08:44
GINA GLAUB: His body was
being kept in a storage shed that lacked insulation. The cold Canadian winter
helped to preserve his body,
00:08:52
freezing it solid. And Scott's family
ordered an autopsy. NANCY GRACE: The cold Canadian
winter at Christmas time
00:09:00
turns out to be a break in
the police investigation. The lab results from the
autopsy reveal a stunning fact.
00:09:08
KEN LEPPERT: His death
was not caused by cancer. The coroner was able to
confirm that there was
00:09:13
no signs of active cancer in
his throat or in his neck area and that there was no tumor.
00:09:20
GINA GLAUB: What was
even more shocking were the results of
the toxicology screen.
00:09:24
Scott had ethylene
glycol present in his blood, which is the
main ingredient in antifreeze.
00:09:33
NANCY GRACE: Traces
of antifreeze are found in the wine
bottle at the farmhouse.
00:09:42
GINA GLAUB: When the uniformed
officers returned to Cherrylle's home to inform her of
the autopsy results,
00:09:47
she tells them that
Scott had been depressed. The two were estranged, and he
was spending the holidays alone.
00:09:55
She suggested the
possibility that Scott had committed suicide. KEN LEPPERT: They
realized that Scott
00:10:01
was alone at the farmhouse. He would have been the
only one present when he was drinking, what they
believe to be the toxic mix
00:10:11
leading up to his death. NANCY GRACE: Police find
paper in Scott Dell's handwriting at the scene.
00:10:17
They assume it's a suicide note. KEN LEPPERT: The officers left
the investigation as a suicide
00:10:24
at that point. Not everyone is
convinced Scott Dell would take his own life. GINA GLAUB: Scott's friends and
family brought up the question,
00:10:34
why would this man, who
had spent so much time valiantly fighting his
cancer, then commit suicide?
00:10:41
Scott was determined to
be there for his children. I didn't think it was suicide.
00:10:49
I never believed it. [serene piano] NANCY GRACE: For the family of
Scott Dell, the New Year of 1996
00:11:03
brings tragic news. Police in Ontario rule
Scott has taken his own life just three days after
Christmas by drinking
00:11:13
a bottle of poisoned wine. Scott Dell's family and
close friends, however, remember how he fought for his
life during his cancer scare,
00:11:23
and they wonder, why
would he give up now? Was another Christmas
without wife Cherrylle
00:11:29
just too much for him to bear? At Scott's funeral on
a cold day in January, wife, Cherrylle, doesn't
seem that mournful.
00:11:39
All eyes on her as she turns the
sad occasion into a celebration. [suspenseful music]
00:11:50
ELSA STEENBERG: At the
funeral home in Killaloe, she came in sitting
in a wheelchair
00:11:56
because she had had a
skateboard accident. And she had cast around her leg,
and it was decorated with rabbit
00:12:04
fur and Christmas decorations. I was very sad. KIM MEISEL: I kind of kept
to the back at the funeral.
00:12:14
And when Cherrylle made this
dramatic entrance, I just-- I had this sick feeling in my
stomach of how dare can she
00:12:24
come there with
Scott's family there, and yet it was all about her. She played this
widow, dramatic widow.
00:12:34
I felt like I
was going to vomit. [eerie music] NANCY GRACE: One year
later, Ken Leppert
00:12:44
joins the Killaloe detachment
of the Ontario Provincial Police as a detective. KEN LEPPERT: In March of 1997,
a woman called the detachment
00:12:54
asking to speak to a detective. It was around 4:30
in the afternoon, and I was about to leave.
00:13:00
I took the call. And I remember
hearing a lady's voice on the other end
of the call, who I
00:13:07
now know to be Nancy Fillmore. She was very
distressed, anxious. Nancy started to report a number
of different crimes, credit
00:13:20
card frauds, insurance frauds. And she eventually
named Cherrylle Dell. By her own admission,
she was an accomplice
00:13:28
in many of these crimes. And before we end the
conversation, she adds in, there is also a murder
involved in this.
00:13:37
But she didn't know if she
could talk about it because of her own legal jeopardy.
00:13:43
So I encourage her to
come in and provide me with a video statement. NANCY GRACE: The next day.
00:13:49
Nancy Fillmore sits down
with Detective Leppert. KEN LEPPERT: We treated
her as appropriately
00:13:55
as we could under the law, as
both a witness and a potential accused person. [unsettling music]
00:14:03
Nancy and Cherrylle had
been involved in an intimate relationship and had lived
together at a home on Mill
00:14:13
Street in Killaloe and
that that relationship had recently been terminated,
not by Nancy's choice
00:14:20
but by Cherrylle's. DARCY NICOL: Cherrylle
was like a chameleon. One minute she would be blond on
a skateboard and dating a man.
00:14:28
The next minute, she would
be dark hair dating a female. NANCY GRACE: Nancy
Fillmore and Cherrylle
00:14:34
Dell meet in spring of 1995,
months before Scott's death. Cherrylle has responded to
a personal ad Nancy placed,
00:14:45
looking for a female partner. And the two women
quickly become lovers. ELSA STEENBERG: I believe the
reason that Cherrylle and Nancy
00:14:54
became lovers is because
Nancy had some money, and Cherrylle wanted
to buy a house.
00:15:01
NANCY GRACE: Scott Dell has sole
possession of the farm where he and Cherrylle lived together.
00:15:07
He also has custody
of the children. DWAYNE SEARS: Nancy
tells us that Scott was not a good person.
00:15:15
Scott was abusive,
physically abusive, that he was sexually
abusive towards Cherrylle,
00:15:20
their children, and as
well as foster children that they had in their home. Nancy explained that Cherrylle
was happy that her estranged
00:15:32
husband was diagnosed with
cancer because now, she could get the things that she wanted,
the farmhouse and the children,
00:15:37
upon Scott's death
without a legal battle. KEN LEPPERT: Nancy
had relayed to us how much she feared
and disdained Scott,
00:15:46
and that there was nothing
that the system would do to stop him from continuing
to be a threat to their family.
00:15:54
[suspenseful music] NANCY GRACE: When Detective
Ken Leppert investigates Scott Dell's
background, he finds
00:16:06
a long history of
serious allegations made by Cherrylle Dell. KEN LEPPERT: We uncovered
that early in the 1990s,
00:16:16
Cherrylle made a series of
allegations against Scott, alleging that he had assaulted
her as a domestic partner,
00:16:27
that he had sexually
assaulted their children and other children that
they were in the care of.
00:16:37
DARCY NICOL: Cherrylle, making
that accusation against Scott, it ultimately is trying to
destroy him, his reputation,
00:16:43
and make sure that he has zero
contact with any of the kids ever again, and trying to get
him completely off the scene.
00:16:52
And it didn't work. Scott was completely
exonerated of all the allegations as well as
granted custody of the children.
00:17:03
NANCY GRACE: Cherrylle Dell has
very little money when husband Scott's granted
custody of the children
00:17:07
and possession of the farm. Nancy Fillmore tells police
she and Cherrylle Dell commit credit card and insurance
fraud just to make ends meet.
00:17:20
KIM MEISEL: Cherrylle
could make her do anything. And I used to say to
Nancy, what are you doing?
00:17:24
I told her, get out. You've got to get out. It's gonna get worse. KEN LEPPERT: Several
days after Nancy provided
00:17:30
those initial
statements, there was a call to the OPP asking for
assistance in keeping the peace.
00:17:40
ELSA STEENBERG:
Nancy had moved out, and she went there
with police escort to get her things out of
Cherrylle's and her house.
00:17:49
DWAYNE SEARS: Detective Leppert
and I went to her house, and Cherrylle invites
us into the home.
00:17:53
We have a conversation with her. And she's very, very
gregarious, flamboyant. KEN LEPPERT: Cherrylle
was unrattled
00:18:04
by Nancy, whereas Nancy was
very upset, very anxious. GINA GLAUB: Cherrylle
brings out two
00:18:10
black trash bags that she says
have Nancy's belongings in them. When Nancy looks inside,
though, she finds actual garbage
00:18:19
and becomes infuriated. Filled with rage, she blurts
out that she knows for a fact
00:18:26
that Cherrylle killed Scott. Nancy made several
utterances to Cherrylle, including the fact that she
knew that she had killed Scott.
00:18:36
KIM MEISEL: Nancy said,
I could have stopped it. He'd still be alive if
I would have stopped it.
00:18:49
NANCY GRACE: Three days
after Christmas 1995, families in the small town of
Killaloe are still celebrating.
00:18:56
Scott Dell is not. Police believe he
committed suicide by drinking himself to death.
00:19:04
There are whispers
throughout the town, Scott would never
have killed himself. His death is officially
ruled a suicide.
00:19:13
Now, two years
later, a woman named Nancy Fillmore claims Cherrylle
Dell murdered her late husband.
00:19:20
But can her story hold up
under police questioning? KEN LEPPERT: She was
clearly a jilted lover.
00:19:27
There was no doubt about that. She could be
motivated to fabricate allegations against Cherrylle
from that perspective.
00:19:40
I read over the
postmortem examination report, the initial
death investigation. It was certainly a set of
facts that did not rule out
00:19:52
the potential for a homicide. NANCY GRACE: Nancy Fillmore
tells investigators Cherrylle Dell hatches a
plan to kill her husband,
00:20:03
Scott, over Christmas. Cherrylle Dell convinces Nancy,
Scott Dell is a sex predator,
00:20:09
so Nancy does not
stand in the way. GINA GLAUB: When Scott beat the
odds and went into remission,
00:20:16
it infuriated Cherrylle. Nancy explains
that at some point, Cherrylle learned that
antifreeze was toxic to animals,
00:20:26
but at the same time,
it was sweet in taste. KEN LEPPERT: It was reported
by numerous witnesses
00:20:33
that she actually
experimented with poisoning one of her own cats. ELSA STEENBERG: And the neighbor
brought the cat to the vet,
00:20:43
and the vet said it had
consumed antifreeze. KEN LEPPERT: That
cat was euthanized
00:20:50
at the veterinarian's office. Cherrylle Dell knows
just how much antifreeze she needs to kill a cat.
00:20:59
Her next step is to
calculate the amount she needs to kill a man. DWAYNE SEARS: Nancy
told us about Cherrylle
00:21:08
making inquiries with the
poison control center in Ottawa. GINA GLAUB: She
told poison control
00:21:13
that she had a special needs
brother who had accidentally consumed two bottles of
automotive antifreeze,
00:21:23
and she was wondering
if this was lethal or what she should do. DWAYNE SEARS: The
key part for us
00:21:29
was that she actually gave
Scott's weight, 130 pounds, as her brother's weight. Poison control person
told her to immediately
00:21:38
get to the hospital,
that it could be lethal. And I think that's
all Cherrylle needed
00:21:43
to know because the
operator from poison control also called the
hospitals to let them
00:21:49
know that this person was
coming in, to get them heads up. And no one appeared. NANCY GRACE: December
1995, Cherrylle Dell
00:21:59
sends Nancy Fillmore
out shopping with very clear instructions. She tells Nancy to buy a
Christmas present for Scott.
00:22:08
Nancy actually goes to Walmart
with Cherrylle's direction. She purchased antifreeze,
knowing that Cherrylle was going
00:22:15
to use it to poison Scott. And then Cherrylle sends
Nancy to the liquor store where she purchased a magnum
of Piat D'Or white wine,
00:22:28
takes it back to the
home on Mill Street. They empty some of the
contents, and they spike
00:22:35
it with automotive antifreeze. [surging music] NANCY GRACE: On December
28, Scott returns
00:22:45
from a trip out of town. He drops by
Cherrylle and Nancy's home to pick up his Christmas
gift, a bottle of wine.
00:22:54
GINA GLAUB: The fact that she
had bought him a Christmas gift probably elated him.
00:22:59
Cherrylle told Scott
that she wanted him to go home and drink
this bottle of wine
00:23:05
while they were on
the phone together. She presented this
gift as more than just
00:23:10
simply a bottle of wine but more
as a means of reconciliation between the two. KEN LEPPERT: He
didn't have taste buds
00:23:18
as a result of the
radiation treatment, so he wouldn't be able
to detect the off taste
00:23:23
that the antifreeze would
have caused to the wine. [ominous music] Scott began to consume the
wine while talking to Cherrylle
00:23:39
for approximately nine
hours of broken conversation and note taking about
the prospect of them
00:23:46
rekindling their marriage. GINA GLAUB: Scott wanted so
badly to have his family back
00:23:52
together for the
holidays, and this really made him vulnerable
to Cherrylle's manipulation.
00:23:58
At 4:00 AM, after nine
hours on the phone, Scott was starting to slur his words.
00:24:04
He was starting to retch and
wasn't feeling well at all. He wanted to go and lay down,
but he never made it to his bed.
00:24:13
KEN LEPPERT: Nancy was very
engaged in the whole process and was telling
us how she was not
00:24:18
only taking it all in but
very nervous about what was happening. GINA GLAUB: She could
hear Cherrylle's side
00:24:24
of this conversation, and
she knew that Cherrylle was talking to him as he died.
00:24:36
KIM MEISEL: She hung up the
phone and turned to Nancy and said, if you speak one
word of this, you're next.
00:24:42
[suspenseful music] KEN LEPPERT: When Nancy
formalizes her statement and in detail
about the homicide,
00:24:50
it became a formal
homicide investigation. Cherrylle started to
try to plant seeds
00:24:57
to suggest that Nancy was the
sole killer of Scott Dell. NANCY GRACE: Nancy Fillmore
is devastated when Cherrylle
00:25:05
Dell breaks up with her. Cherrylle Dell has a brand
new lover, a young man named Brent Crawford.
00:25:13
Ontario detectives are still
not sure if they believe Nancy. They wonder, is Nancy
Fillmore blinded by rage
00:25:22
and simply out for revenge? The detectives couldn't
just take Nancy's word for it.
00:25:28
They had to really
think about this. This is a person
who hated Scott. She believed that he was a
child abuser and a wife abuser.
00:25:36
She was the one who
actually purchased the wine and the antifreeze. So they had to consider the
possibility that this was her
00:25:48
committing this
crime, not Cherrylle. And perhaps just
being a jilted lover, she decided to point
the blame at Cherrylle.
00:25:57
[suspenseful music] NANCY GRACE: Detectives execute
a search warrant for Cherrylle
00:26:04
Dell and Nancy Fillmore's home. They find notes Cherrylle
Dell wrote to herself while husband Scott was dying.
00:26:15
KEN LEPPERT: Handwritten
notes from Cherrylle, written at the time of the
conversation, that Scott was
00:26:21
consuming the wine,
corroborating not only what Nancy told us but what Scott
had authored on the other end
00:26:29
of that phone call. GINA GLAUB: The letters
that were found at the scene could now be seen through
a different light.
00:26:35
Scott is writing love
letters to his wife. And unbeknownst to him, she's on
the other end of the phone line,
00:26:42
encouraging him to
drink poisoned wine. In reality, the whole scheme
was a manipulation by Cherrylle.
00:26:54
And it was a murder
plot, a brilliant one where she wouldn't even have
to be in the same location.
00:27:05
NANCY GRACE: Detectives
are now convinced, Scott Dell was murdered by
his ex-wife, Cherrylle Dell.
00:27:11
They build a case against her
over the next five months. They also become concerned
that Nancy Fillmore,
00:27:18
who's their star witness, could
be Cherrylle Dell's next victim. Because of Cherrylle's
diabolical planning,
00:27:26
she left very little
evidence of her crime. And so Nancy is the main
piece of evidence against her.
00:27:35
She committed this
crime remotely, so she wasn't at the scene. There's not going
to be any forensics
00:27:42
to link her to this case. So Nancy becomes a
very important witness. NANCY GRACE: Nancy is also aware
and anxious about the target
00:27:52
on her own back. KIM MEISEL: She says, Kim, I'm
not gonna make it to trial. She's gonna take me out.
00:27:58
I can't open my mouth. I'm dead. KEN LEPPERT: We were
strongly recommending that she leave Killaloe.
00:28:09
We offered to pay for a move and
to register Nancy in a witness protection program.
00:28:20
And Nancy did not want to
look at witness protection until she was able to recover
the property that Cherrylle
00:28:28
was holding on to. August 19, Nancy was
successful in small claims court. She got a court order
that allowed her access
00:28:37
to Cherrylle's house
at 18 Mill Street to get back personal belongings. NANCY GRACE: Nancy
Fillmore retrieves
00:28:44
her personal belongings
from the home she shared with Cherrylle Dell. She seems ready to close that
chapter of her life and move on.
00:28:53
KEN LEPPERT: When that
sheriff's order was executed, Nancy returned to her
home on Queen Street
00:29:00
and has a beer with a neighbor. I was called later that evening
and told by the on-duty sergeant
00:29:09
at the OPP detachment
that Nancy Fillmore's home was ablaze, that she
was believed to be inside.
00:29:18
KIM MEISEL: Somebody came up
and said to me, holy man, Kim, there's a big fire in Killaloe.
00:29:26
And I knew. I just-- I just knew. [suspenseful music] NANCY GRACE: Ontario,
Canada detectives
00:29:46
are building a case
against Cherrylle Dell for the murder of her husband at
Christmastime two years earlier.
00:29:53
Police are worried Cherrylle
Dell may try to kill the star witness, Nancy Fillmore.
00:29:59
They asked Nancy to enter a
witness protection program. She refuses. And now, her home is
burning to the ground.
00:30:10
Nancy Fillmore's
home is on fire. And it's believed that
she is inside, deceased.
00:30:21
The fire department
have not been able to gain entry because of
the advanced state of the fire.
00:30:26
DARCY NICOL: The suspicion
at the time with the scene, it was that Nancy was
having some drinks.
00:30:31
There was some candles, and
the candles spilled over, and a fire ensued, and that
she had been basically drinking
00:30:36
and passed out, and
didn't get out in time. [fire crackling] KIM MEISEL: I remember
driving in to Killaloe.
00:30:45
And all the fire
trucks were there, and the police were there. And I saw Ken. And I'm like, why didn't
you take her seriously?
00:30:54
She was afraid for her life. KEN LEPPERT: It
was very difficult. I looked back, and I just--
00:31:07
I stumbled to
describe it because it was very difficult for me. I know in my heart that we were
not directly responsible for it,
00:31:15
but it's also difficult
to not feel otherwise. ELSA STEENBERG: Nancy was
becoming a problem for Cherrylle
00:31:22
because she had
gone to the police. Nancy was to testify, so the
timing was perfect for her
00:31:30
to be eliminated. Nancy Fillmore's remains
are discovered in the house. Detectives are now
investigating a double homicide.
00:31:41
GINA GLAUB: When
Nancy's house burns down to the ground with her
inside, the detectives
00:31:47
are fearful that
this was Cherrylle's attempt to silence her. KEN LEPPERT: Nancy
was our key witness.
00:31:54
The whole framework
of our prosecution was no longer available to us. We had a fire marshal
come in and conduct
00:31:59
a traditional investigation to
determine the cause and point of origin of that fire.
00:32:07
We never found evidence
to conclusively show that it was an arson. DWAYNE SEARS: I went to
Nancy's postmortem examination.
00:32:18
The autopsy results
was that she died of carbon monoxide poisoning as
a result of inhaling the smoke.
00:32:26
NANCY GRACE: Police canvassed
the area looking for witnesses. They also locate the
whereabouts of their number
00:32:31
one suspect, Cherrylle Dell. DWAYNE SEARS: So, of
course, our first thought is Cherrylle is involved in this.
00:32:38
And she tells us that
she has an alibi, and she's telling us the truth. She did have an alibi about
where she was physically.
00:32:47
NANCY GRACE: Cherrylle
Dell is ruled out as the actual arsonist. But detectives wonder
if she convinced
00:32:55
her latest lover, Brent
Crawford, to set the fire. KEN LEPPERT: On the 20th,
the day after the fire,
00:33:03
Brent was seen by myself
outside of the fire scene watching our investigation. Brent had been seeing Cherrylle
and staying at her house
00:33:16
throughout the summer of '97. [eerie music] The detectives bring
Brent in for questioning,
00:33:24
and they ask him to
take a polygraph test. KEN LEPPERT: He takes the
polygraph exam, and he fails it.
00:33:31
That's not admissible evidence
in a court of law in Canada. But it painted a very dark
picture of Brent's involvement
00:33:38
in Nancy's death. The interrogation
ended with Brent, being fully aware that we
are looking at him as now,
00:33:50
a suspect in Nancy's death. GINA GLAUB: Because
he wasn't under arrest and was free to leave,
Brent exercised those rights
00:33:58
and took off. KEN LEPPERT: So Brent
travels to BC early in 1998. And we list Brent as part of
our Canadian police information
00:34:08
system that's
available to all police officers across the country. NANCY GRACE: Brent Crawford
is nowhere to be found.
00:34:15
Detectives focus on the Scott
Dale murder investigation. GINA GLAUB: The detectives were
very frustrated with a lack
00:34:24
of physical evidence. The circumstantial
evidence against Cherrylle was all they really had left
after losing Nancy as a witness.
00:34:33
KEN LEPPERT: We were
going in any direction that we thought could provide
evidence of how Scott died.
00:34:44
I went to the poison control
center in the fall of 1997, spent a few days there, going
through their hard copy records.
00:34:53
I find a very, very similar
call in my estimation, too similar to be
anything but that
00:35:00
call that Nancy reported to us. I can remember driving home from
Ottawa when I found that poison
00:35:08
control record, on top of
what Cherrylle had told me, on top of what
Nancy had told me,
00:35:13
all of the physical
evidence, the notes, and the postmortem examination. It was all coming together in a
very powerful realization for me
00:35:23
that Cherrylle had
killed Scott Dell. NANCY GRACE: Detective Ken
Leppert gets a tip that Brent
00:35:32
Crawford has been spotted. KEN LEPPERT: I receive a phone
call from an OPP officer.
00:35:38
Brent had come back into
Ontario and was now hitchhiking across Northern
Ontario on Highway
00:35:46
11 at approximately 3:00 AM. GINA GLAUB: The police
acted brilliantly. When Detective Ken Leppert
was informed that Brent was
00:35:53
hitchhiking, he sent his
best undercover detective up to Northern Ontario. This detective actually picked
Brent up as he was hitchhiking
00:36:03
along the side of the road. KEN LEPPERT: Our undercover
officer picked Brent up, engaged in conversation.
00:36:14
And over the next three
days, our undercover officer used covert techniques
and strategies
00:36:22
that resulted in Brent
confessing both setting the fire and eventually providing
a handwritten confession.
00:36:34
DWAYNE SEARS: Brent told
us that his original plan was to take a knife and
to cut Nancy's throat.
00:36:38
But once he got inside,
he sees the clutter. He sees Nancy
asleep on the couch. He sees the candles on a stand.
00:36:48
And in his mind, the
easiest way to kill Nancy is to append the candles
and start a fire.
00:36:54
Brent told us that he had
got $750 from Cherrylle. He was a 16-year-old kid who was
physically involved with a lady
00:37:04
that was 42 years of age. So he would do anything for her. NANCY GRACE: Christmas 1997.
00:37:13
Justice finally catches
up with Cherrylle Dell, two years after she
kills her husband, Scott.
00:37:22
GINA GLAUB: Cherrylle Dell is
arrested for the murder of Scott Dell on December
28, 1997, which is
00:37:30
two years exactly from the date
that she murdered her husband. Three days after
Christmas 1995,
00:37:45
Cherrylle Dell gives
her unsuspecting husband Scott a gift of poisoned wine,
and it leads to his death.
00:37:55
Exactly two years
later, Cherrylle Dell is arrested for his murder. ELSA STEENBERG: I was in court
the day that she was arrested,
00:38:08
and she seemed really surprised. And her mother was
in court as well. And the mother also
seemed really surprised.
00:38:17
They thought for sure, that
there wasn't enough evidence. NANCY GRACE: Detectives
are concerned they may not
00:38:25
have enough evidence if
Nancy Fillmore's testimony is not admitted at trial. The best evidence
would be a confession
00:38:32
from Cherrylle admitting
to something in regards to Scott's death. So we got a list of individuals
who had been in custody with her
00:38:41
and been bunkmates with her. And we started
approaching those people. DARCY NICOL: Cherrylle
remained in custody
00:38:48
while she was
awaiting her trial, so she spent time in various
different detention centers
00:38:53
across the province. Ken and Dwayne asked me if
I would be willing to attend the detention centers
to interview the inmates
00:39:02
that she had spent time with. Dwayne and I put thousands
of miles on the vehicles.
00:39:07
We were all over the province. We were working four
and five days a week, 14 to 15 hours a day.
00:39:13
So, you know, you get
tired, you get frustrated, and then you find
Brandy Cameron.
00:39:21
Brandy Cameron, who was
Cherrylle's bunkmate, and Brandy was basically
her protector inside.
00:39:27
So Cherrylle began
to trust Brandy. And ultimately, Brandy told
us that Cherrylle flat out
00:39:35
told her, I killed my husband. I put antifreeze in his wine. And Dwayne and I looked
at each other and went,
00:39:43
did that just happen? Did that really just happen? Finally, after all of
those thousands of miles,
00:39:50
something came through that's
going to completely back up what Nancy's statement had said.
00:39:55
And it's an admissible statement
by a bunkmate of Cherrylle's. ELSA STEENBERG: There
was a lengthy trial.
00:40:04
It started out in Pembroke
and moved to Ottawa. KEN LEPPERT: We went to trial
in Ottawa, winter of 2001.
00:40:16
BRUCE MCINTYRE: Some
of the residents were there from Killaloe. And they say something in
the effect of, boy, she's
00:40:20
not wearing her leopard
skin leggings today, is she? She's looking pretty plain.
00:40:25
She was being escorted in by
a constable in full uniform, being taken by the elbow,
and being led in handcuffs.
00:40:31
So it wasn't the
glamor that she had. KEN LEPPERT: During
the trial proper, Nancy Fillmore's statements,
video and transcripts,
00:40:40
were thrown out. We could not use them
or rely upon them as evidence in any way.
00:40:45
Her defense was that
he killed himself. KEN LEPPERT: And we
realized that this was gonna
00:40:53
be a fight right to the end. And it was. We didn't know what the
outcome was gonna be.
00:40:58
I'm sitting there with Dwayne
and other investigators. And the judge opens his
comments by saying Scott
00:41:09
Dell did not commit suicide. [dramatic music] And you could just
feel the adrenaline
00:41:17
because now, he's ruled out
any argument the defense made. He concludes how he has no doubt
that Cherrylle murdered Scott.
00:41:28
And when he said that,
he said, I find you guilty of first degree murder. It's difficult for me
to even talk about it.
00:41:36
And she was found guilty. It was a huge relief. ELSA STEENBERG: I thought
I would feel really happy,
00:41:44
but everyone there cried. Everyone that was involved
in the trial cried. It was such a senseless murder.
00:41:52
Cherrylle was sentenced
to 25 years with no parole. ELSA STEENBERG: In Canada,
a life sentence is 25 years.
00:42:00
I hope she never comes
back to Killaloe. NANCY GRACE: Brent Crawford goes
to trial a few months later,
00:42:14
April 2001. Brent Crawford is convicted
of first degree murder and sentenced to life behind
bars, with the possibility
00:42:25
of parole after 10 years. GINA GLAUB: Cherrylle Dell
can really be compared to killers like Charlie Manson.
00:42:33
She was able to convince people
to kill for her without getting her hands dirty.
00:42:39
She was a master manipulator
and one of the most evil killers there is. Christmas for Scott's kids will
always be remembered as the time
00:42:50
that they lost
their father, a time where he was so eager to
spend time with his family
00:42:56
and reunite. [dramatic music] KEN LEPPERT: He wanted that
family model with Cherrylle
00:43:07
and her family to continue. He wanted that above anything. And she used all of this to
design a plan, unlike any other,
00:43:28
to kill him. GINA GLAUB: His vulnerabilities
were used against him, and he was manipulated.
00:43:36
And his death is so tragic
because how much he really just wanted to be a family man.
00:43:55
The murders of Scott
Dell and Nancy Fillmore are blanketed in the most
picturesque of Christmas towns.
00:44:05
It's such a striking contrast
between the good inside man at our most joyous
time and the evil that
00:44:14
can lurk beneath the surface. I'm Nancy Grace. Thank you for joining us here
on "The Christmas Killings."
00:44:23
[theme music]