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Meet, Marry, Murder - Season 1, Episode 40 - Sanutti-Spencer - Full Episode

June 08, 2022 / 45:21

This episode covers the tumultuous marriage between Frank Spencer and Maria Sanuti Spencer, including threats, domestic violence, and eventual murder. Key discussions include Maria's criminal background, her father's influence, and the couple's contentious divorce proceedings.

Maria Sanuti grew up in a crime-influenced environment, with her father, Rocco Franklin, having a history of incarceration. After marrying Frank, their relationship deteriorated, marked by frequent police involvement due to domestic disputes.

In 2006, Frank filed for divorce, but the couple continued to live together, leading to escalating tensions. Maria's threats against Frank became more serious, particularly after Rocco was paroled in 2009, which added to Frank's fears for his safety.

The situation escalated further when Frank began dating Julie Dent, leading to Maria's increasingly aggressive behavior, including arson and threats against both Frank and Julie. The episode culminates in Frank's murder in 2012, with evidence pointing to Maria and Rocco's involvement.

Ultimately, Maria was convicted of murder and received a life sentence, while Rocco was also found guilty after a lengthy extradition process. The episode highlights the impact of a violent upbringing and the consequences of unchecked threats and violence.

TLDR

Frank Spencer's tumultuous marriage to Maria Sanuti ends in murder, influenced by her criminal father and escalating violence.

Episode

45:21
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[Music] spencer doesn't want a divorce and if there has to be one there will only be
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one winner do you understand you don't win spencer frank spencer had somebody else to
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overcome his father-in-law rocco a man with connections to the mob i think rocco left him with the message
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that any further disputes between him and his daughter could result in frank getting hurt or even killed
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maria's threats to frank were so detailed so gnarly so disgusting saying that she would cut off his hands that he
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could never hold his children again this is the kind of thing that you learn from
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knowing a father who has roots in the mafia detectives in hemlock pennsylvania were
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about to unravel the life and crimes of the sanuti family and the marriage of frank spencer and maria sanuti spencer
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[Music] [Music] maria sanuti grew up in new jersey part of a large italian-american family they
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were close maria spencer was one of four kids she had three siblings maria sanudi was
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beautiful smart maria had attended a law school in georgia an unaccredited law school
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although she was barred and licensed to practice law in georgia the law a profession chosen by a young
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woman whose father had chosen a life of crime maria's father was rocco franklin rocco
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was an individual who had essentially resided in state prison for a majority of his adult life
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despite his prolonged absences rocco franklin was a big influence on daughter maria's developing personality
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i think in many ways maria may have learned from an early age that abuse and crime are things that are no
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problem that perhaps are even rewarded in the way that she grew up she's she doesn't have any problem with her
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dad being a tough guy after maria's mother teresa divorced rocco she and her children moved to
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pennsylvania where maria would eventually meet her future husband frank spencer they relocated to the selinsgrove
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area which is very close in proximity to where frank spencer grew up in columbia
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county frank and maria met in columbia county where frank and his family ran their
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junkyard business frank was instantly attracted to someone he found dynamic confident
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i think maria was a very type a personality maria seemed like an amazing person at first glance she was
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outgoing people liked her she was able to really bring out the best in people it seemed frank spencer had a
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very different personality he was popular in the central pennsylvania community where he lived frank spencer
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was just one of those really nice guys he had a lot of friends and they all considered him
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his best friend i think sometimes people are attracted to people who maybe represent a part of
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their personality they're missing or a part of their life that they're wishing to have more of and i think
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certainly maria looked like that to frank in the beginning because she was kind of exciting you couldn't really
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predict what she was going to do she was adventurous in 1997 they elope i think for maria it was something that she
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would just typically do and for frank it kind of seemed exciting okay let's do
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this you know we're in love why not for frank it represented maybe this hopeful future where he would just have
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this excitement for the rest of his life but in only a positive way over the years they have two children
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cyrus their son and frankie their daughter fast forward to the early noughties and
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maria and frank looked like they were living the classic all-american family life
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they had two lovely children both of them very athletic and prominent in their community each of the kids had
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a great deal of friends but appearances of family contentment were deceptive frank and maria by all accounts had a
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very acrimonious relationship they were at odds with each other constantly making up and breaking up seemed to be
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the course of their marriage defense attorney christian hoy got to hear maria's take on the relationship
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just seemed that frank and maria's marriage was really suffering from a great deal of
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bickering and infighting between them so it was a difficult marriage by all accounts
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frank's commitment to his job became a source of conflict between the couple
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frank's father decides to retire in 2006 and frank then at that point takes over the family
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business which is a junkyard and you know he's a good guy and he treats all the employees like family so
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this is this whole new family that's coming into their world now and maria's
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not so sure she likes it she's just not cut out for this [Music] this is not the life that she signed up
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for she pined for that life that she was adventurous and risk-taking on a daily basis now she couldn't do that as much
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she had so many responsibility to tend to children family matters and i think she grew increasingly
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unhappy and blamed her husband for it and when the spencers disagreed they didn't do it calmly
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the police were called several times as this violence and a relationship escalated
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the local police had been involved in numerous domestic disputes between the two individuals property damage property
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theft each one pointing the finger at the other maria would later tell her defense
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lawyer that both sides were equally at fault constant fighting between themselves
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some issues regarding infidelity between themselves and both of them but when it came to arguments maria
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appeared to give as good as she got when these incidents would happen frank would call the police
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he wanted it on record but he didn't really want to press charges on her i think frank definitely saw that this was
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a pattern of escalation and i think he started to fear more and more for his own safety and that's why he wanted to
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have the police document all of these events and he still would call the police and he would make them file the
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reports because i think he really knew that if he wasn't able to stop maria or if
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she didn't desire the change herself that eventually it was going to come to
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blows and that he would suffer those consequences in 2006 frank spencer decided enough was
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enough he served maria with a divorce petition but he didn't leave her the couple continues to live together
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they're trying to keep things as normal for the children as they can frank is such a wonderful father that he
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proposed this amazing way to keep the children as stable as possible and that is for the children to
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stay in the home and for the parents to travel back and forth into the homes so that they can have that stability that
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children so desperately need as splits go it was far from straightforward even though they they actually kind of
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physically separated from each other there were many times where they reconciled let's say between
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you know 2007 and 2010. there were many instances where they'd reconcile maria would
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return to the family home for months they would have another disagreement the police might get involved they had many
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of those make up break up reconciliation moments according to her friends despite their
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difficulties maria did not want to divorce frank a fact which put his life in danger
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she's told people over the years that if he ever threatened to divorce her she'd
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kill him well now she's talking more and more openly about what she wants to do
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frank first reported one of maria's threats to kill to the hemlock police department in 2007.
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yet maria sometimes managed to present a reasonable face to the world and to frank
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saturday february 6th at 3 57 p.m listen i know for some strange reason you'll think that
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i was attempting to threaten you or i was attempting to scare you back to me or i don't know how
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your mind works but listen i mixed signals from mrs sanuti spencer to her husband frank still living together
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would the divorce happen and if it did what future if any did frank spencer have
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despite divorce proceedings franco maria's on off relationship continued punctuated by frequent violent incidents
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in 2008 maria is arrested when she causes a disturbance at the school where her daughter attends she
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goes to pick up her daughter and her mother-in-law shows up at the same time and she gets in this scuffle with her
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maria is charged with disorderly conduct harassment and endangering a child because she doesn't
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buckle up the child in the car eventually the prosecutor doesn't think he can really make all those cases so he
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arranges a plea deal and she pleads to disorderly conduct and she pays a 600 fine
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during the scuffle maria had warned frank's mother she would have him killed
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not the first time not the last time that she issued that warning [Music] former homicide detective rod demery
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suspects that at the time no one in columbia county was too concerned by maria suniti spencer's brash words
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i think in hindsight you know obviously people wish they had taken these threats
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more seriously but the reality during that particular time people are listening and dismissing
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and probably chalking it up to what they did oh she's a black widow but not really thinking that it would actually
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happen perhaps on her own maria would not have acted on her threats but in early 2009
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she gained a powerful ally her father rocco franklin was eventually paroled from state prison in 2009 he relocated
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to a town about 70 miles away from where maria and frank lived in columbia county it was
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harrisburg pennsylvania which is the capital of pennsylvania when rocco was paroled
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a number of threats and a number of interactions between maria and frank took place
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namely maria suggesting that her father rocco would cause him harm or hurt him if there were any further domestic
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disputes between maria and frank and she often jokes to friends that you know if
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if my dad's out of prison you know maybe frank will behave voice mail messages recovered from
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frank's phone hint at how maria was using her father's freedom to play games
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with frank i was surprised to find that my father wants an apology that wasn't a little thing
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funny ways just want you to say sorry and i got nothing to do with it it appeared from frank's interaction
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with his friends that he was very concerned about rocco franklin being paroled from prison and being out and
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available perhaps to injure frank or cause him harm or confront him over the difficulties he
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was having with maria i thought i'd let you know because i care about you because i
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wanted you back not because i wanted to frighten you anything i just wanted you to know
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that he wanted an apology if you want to be stubborn about it that's on you take care
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frank was afraid deathly afraid of rocco maria on the other hand was pretty proud
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that it was her father i think that gave her a sense of power maria probably had been whispering in
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her father's years all these years when he was in prison about how horrible frank was and how they needed to ruin
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his life and now that maria's father was out of prison they could finally make it
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a reality in many ways maria's father was probably looking for that chaos again looking for
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that excitement and looking for a reason to commit crime once again despite the threats and frank's obvious
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fear he and maria continued to swing between blazing rows and passionate reconciliations
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until that is frank met someone new frank started dating a woman named julie dent very seriously and i believe that
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really was the final moment between the two that drove them apart and drove them to getting the
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final divorce decree in 2012. when frank met his new woman julie dent maria became really angry
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probably for a sense of loss of control or reality actually sitting in that they
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were truly getting divorced she would leave threatening messages and and tell julie you know you don't really
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think he loves you or things to kind of shake her in the relationship naturally once frank began to date julie dent who
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by all accounts was fairly squared away she had a home of her own she worked she
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had a good job a well-paying job she would often encounter the kids frank would have custody of the children uh
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julie would spend time with the children and frank i think that was something that naturally bothered maria and caused
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a lot of problems between the parties from text messages later discovered it was clear that maria had become
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increasingly paranoid about julie spending time with the children some of those text messages dealt with
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everyday custody issues involving frank and julie and maria's children and a lot of them
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frankly seemed legitimate from maria's perspective she was protecting her children she was inserting herself on
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behalf of her children hey julia taurian spencer do me a favor don't watch my children do
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not get between me and frank like you and my children do you understand me maria was upset about those events and
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that created a whole separate set of animosity between the the parties on the 31st of october 2009 halloween
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the harassment by maria and her father rocco turned into a more tangible criminal act
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the first property crime involved a breaking and entering into frank's mother's property where the junkyard was
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housed and different financial documents were stolen from the property but what's odd
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is that the only thing that's taken are business records business records that
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you know could prove how much frank actually is making but nothing else is taken it was always
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believed that those financial documents related to custody and support issues that were being played out in court in
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2009 and 2010. strangely the documents that were stolen from frank's business showed up at
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maria's doorstep again very peculiar they only benefited maria the records were potential ammunition
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for maria in the spencer's now acrimonious divorce and she made little secret of the fact
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that they had been stolen for her benefit [Music] shaken but not undeterred frank
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continued dating judy dent they are madly in love and and they they don't want this to ruin that they even
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book this romantic caribbean vacation maria wasn't going to allow that to happen
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the night before they're to leave on their vacation maria calls frank and she she says you
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know really i need to talk to you about something maria invited frank ironically to a
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hotel in a neighboring town on the night of january 23rd of 2010. on that night maria invited frank to
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dinner and then to stay overnight in the hotel she sent a message to the new woman in
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frank's life too her reasons for spending the night with frank became clear the following morning
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when frank returned to his home on the morning of the 24th he found a number of fire trucks the fire marshal and local
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police surrounding his burned out building frank's mother's home burns down
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luckily she wasn't there and he wasn't there the family dog is killed in the fire and the
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house is destroyed as the wreckage continued to smolder the following morning the architect of the
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attack made herself known maria shows up and she clearly drives by to be seen she's smiling and she
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obviously wants people to know that she had some involvement in this or control over this particular crime
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it was believed and argued by the commonwealth that maria engineered that fire using rocco franklin to set the
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fire and destroy the property maria sends frank these taunting messages you know one of them is karma
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is just a wonderful thing i mean since you've just torn our life apart you know yours your life just went up in
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flames it seems fair doesn't it the theory in court of course was that maria
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was paying frank back for taking a vacation with julie in january of 2010 and as a consequence the home was burned
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to the ground the fire is is determined to be an arson but there's just not evidence to show
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who's behind it so it remains unsolved frank began to fear what his estranged
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wife and her father would do next it seemed for sure to be escalating over time each act was worse than the last
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and i think this is when frank really became fearful for his life that this is going to end in disaster and
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possibly his own death [Music] in the summer of 2010 it was julie dent's turn to feel the heat of maria
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sanuti spencer's wrath it began with a face-to-face threat right after the bombing of
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frank's mother's house julie was confronted by maria at a game and maria told her your house is next
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then more vitriolic text messages followed you better watch your julie you know her life
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is is about to to take some dangerous turns too she's going to lose her job she's going to lose you she's going to
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lose everything so she's constantly threatening this couple she's trying to
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break them apart that she's really angry no one took maria's threat seriously
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in late summer she struck again 2010 another vacation had been planned with julian frank
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uh on august 25 of 2010 while julie dent was asleep in her home uh by herself her home was set on fire a
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side window was smashed out fluid was placed into the home and ignited by a road flare
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and the home suffered significant fire damage julie thankfully was able to get out of the home escaped
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off of a roof and was able to escape without being harmed nevertheless her home was
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completely destroyed by the fire once again fire marshals investigated what looked like a deliberate attack
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when investigators are investigating arson they look for a point of origin to find out where the
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fire actually started and kind of build a theory from there they want to find out if there were
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accelerants used or or any other materials to get the fire to start a jack belonging to a nissan vehicle
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once owned by mr rocco franklin was found at the scene believed to have been used to pry open a
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window to allow the accelerant to be put into the homes to set the house on fire
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carjack a plastic jug a partially used flare a lot of physical evidence pointed to
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rocco franklin for the firebombing of julie dent's home on august 25th of 2010.
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there was mole folks that responded to the fire saw a corvette speeding away from the scene
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rocco franklin owned a corvette at the time the evidence against rocco franklin and
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maria was stacking up but no arrests were made it must have felt a frack like nothing
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and no one could stop them i think it made maria feel very powerful to instill fear on somebody and to make
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them feel powerless almost two years after julie dent's home was destroyed frank and maria's divorce
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was finally granted the parties were actually by law divorced on june 8 of 2012 which becomes
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an important date in the case the divorce decree assigned ownership of the family home on fairview drive
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sullensgrove to frank frank should have been relieved that his ordeal was over but he told friends he
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still didn't feel safe a number of them had been confided in by frank in the days and weeks leading up
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to his death wherein he indicated that he felt his days were numbered that maria and her
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father had something planned for him and he had become very scared on june 27th frank wrote to maria asking
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her to stay away from the house three days later news of the termination of the spencer marriage was published in
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the local paper later that same day frank and maria had a very public run-in he had attended a baseball game for his
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young son who was about 10 to 12 years of age at the time and played in the local little league
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that evening maria likewise attended the game and frank was seen harassing maria
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at the game maria was a diabetic and a very brittle diabetic at the time had lots of neuropathy difficulty walking
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and things of that sort and all of the accounts of frank's friends who testified at trial
00:25:18
suggested that frank was mocking her publicly and kind of embarrassing her about her limitations
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did frank's mockery push maria over the edge or had she always planned to take
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final revenge on the husband who was determined to leave her because soon after frank spencer was dead
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that all occurred on the evening of june 30 2012. it is believed from the forensic
00:25:46
evidence that he was killed about 12 hours later on the morning of july 1 2012. 46 year old frank spencer had been
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killed but it would be two days before the crime was discovered on july third friends who hadn't heard
00:26:01
from frank since the baseball game went to his home in selinsgrove to investigate
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when frank was found he was found in the doorway of his home in a pull of blood his arms were
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stretched out above his head and it appeared that he had been dragged within minutes police arrived and
00:26:19
secured the scene the police noted prominently a gunshot wound to his head the second shot was a closer shot
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through the bicep and into the chest cavity was this the handiwork of maria and rocco frank's friends were in little
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doubt but detectives needed the evidence to prove it immediately on a inspection of a crime scene of a
00:26:47
shooting you're looking for blood spatter where the blood may have landed you're looking for
00:26:54
projectiles that may have come from a bullet that's entered the body or may still be in the
00:27:00
body you look for shell casings anything that can kind of get you that firearm information that you need and you're
00:27:06
looking for the angle or the trajectory for where the bullet may have went in also the the velocity of blood spatter
00:27:13
how fine the mist is on the wall or there are a lot of different things that make a shooting
00:27:19
different from any other murder the blood evidence certainly told a story frank is found dead
00:27:28
on the front porch of his home he's lying in a pool of blood and it looks as though the blood has
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been like pushed with a a push broom or something that would indicate that someone may attempted to clean up the
00:27:44
blood or or wipe the blood investigators take a a piece of the tile floor and they are able to lift from that a bloody
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footprint and it matches to a size 11 dr scholl's escape model sneaker the same
00:28:02
kind of shoe that maria's father rocco is known to have worn it looked likely that rocco had been at
00:28:10
the scene but what about his daughter maria finally they found a rubber glove located inside the home this was a glove
00:28:20
that would be typically worn by an individual that was cleaning a toilet or a sink or using some kind of industrial
00:28:27
cleaner in their home that glove ultimately had dna belonging to maria spencer inside of it
00:28:37
while investigators were meticulously processing evidence they noticed two significant
00:28:42
absences frank's truck and frank's dog on the morning of july 1st 2012 the
00:28:50
police were able to gather video surveillance from local stores and businesses that operated along the
00:28:57
highways that surrounded frank spencer's home they were able to piece together
00:29:02
frank's coming and goings from the night before and the morning after the june
00:29:08
30th baseball game they figured that the murder happened at about 8 30 in the morning on july 1
00:29:15
because they saw his harley-davidson pickup truck leaving along the highways adjacent to his home
00:29:23
in and around the point in time the quality of the video wasn't sufficient enough to tell who was
00:29:31
driving the vehicle but one thing was clear is that someone was driving frank's truck from the crime scene
00:29:37
the ford f-150 harley-davidson vehicle was located in sunbury township wherein maria spencer
00:29:47
her brother owns a bar so that was the first piece of evidence found in that vehicle was mr spencer's wallet which
00:29:54
was loaded with cash and credit cards so the police eliminated robbery as a motive for his killing pretty quickly
00:30:03
when the truck was found frank's dog wasn't in it as police continue their investigation
00:30:11
they get some help from an unlikely source about an hour away from frank's house
00:30:19
these two wedding planners are setting up for a wedding and all of a sudden this dog walks in
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this this weimaraner and he's happy and healthy and wagging his tail and he's clearly somebody's dog he's not
00:30:32
a stray and you know the couple doesn't know what the deal is but they report this
00:30:38
dog you know has just turned up at our place as it turns out this dog was frank's dog motley
00:30:47
the dog was found near a catering facility about 10 miles away from the home of rocco franklin
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the wedding venue was on the north susquahani trail at dofin 40 miles south of frank's home and just a few miles
00:31:00
from harrisburg where rocco had lived since his release from prison so the police concluded pretty quickly that
00:31:08
mr franklin's uh activities included taking mr spencer's truck loading the
00:31:15
truck with mr spencer's dog going to the son's bar in sunbury and then making
00:31:22
his way back to his home where the dog was left unharmed at a catering facility and later recovered that day
00:31:31
as detectives were building a timeline of events around frank spencer's death
00:31:36
he was in the mortuary in bloomsburg what the coroner had found would offer an even more revealing picture of how
00:31:43
frank spencer had died as investigators determined that the the first shot was from a rifle and possibly
00:31:49
a longer distance they expanded the crime scene they went into the woods frank spencer had been shot twice on the
00:32:06
doorstep of his family home but both bullets had not come from the same weapon investigators determined that frank had
00:32:14
actually been shot by two guns one was a rifle shot at a long distance the other
00:32:21
was a close-up shot and that would indicate something more personal when it's discovered that a shot may have
00:32:30
come from a rifle or a long-range weapon we're going to try to determine where
00:32:34
that shot was fired from they searched the area and it's it's at this point of the year it's summer
00:32:40
time so the woods are all leafed out and they're you know it would be easy for
00:32:44
someone to hide out in the woods they went into the woods and they found a tree that was y shaped
00:32:52
perfect for a bipod or a tripod type steadying of a rifle for a shot a tree stand that was set up in a tree
00:33:02
about 150 feet up a hill directly across the street from frank spencer's home
00:33:10
they search this area where this tree is and they find a spent bullet casing and
00:33:15
then they also find a soft case for a rifle there they believe the first shot came from rocco franklin who was perched
00:33:23
across the street in the tree stand having used a long gun or a rifle to shoot the first shot that they believe
00:33:31
went through mr spencer's neck what happened next is less clear they think and have argued at trial that a second
00:33:45
shot occurred after frank dropped at the front door after the first shot made contact with him
00:33:52
they believe that second shot came from a handgun they recovered a bullet from the body of
00:33:58
mr spencer and it was indeed later traced back to a handgun they believed the second shot was discharged from a
00:34:05
handgun at close range and actually killed frank spencer but detectives couldn't prove who had
00:34:13
fired the shots forensic evidence placed maria and her father at the scene but that didn't prove they were killers
00:34:21
so a couple of months go by and when police are trying to get them to talk they call maria in for questioning and
00:34:29
she refuses they call rocco in and he's okay so he goes in and he agrees to talk to
00:34:38
investigators and they ask him so where were you on the day of uh and rocco is you know he loves this kind of cat and
00:34:46
mouse game while i went there i you know i was home all day i didn't leave and during that interview rocco said
00:34:52
that he had not left his home in harrisburg but detectives knew differently cell phone evidence is is awesome
00:35:02
it provides investigators not only communications and in conversations but points of of
00:35:09
where they were in their travel it's gotten advanced enough to actually make animated maps of someone's
00:35:16
movement on a crime the cell phone contacts that mr franklin had showed him at or
00:35:25
near the catering location in harrisburg where the dog was found they also located him in and around the sunbury
00:35:33
township area where the f-150 had been found questioned about the presence of his dna
00:35:39
and fingerprints at the crime scene and on frank's truck rocco franklin told a
00:35:44
far from credible story and when they say you know we know you were at frank's house
00:35:51
oh you know that's right i forgot i went um i went to frank's that day to you
00:35:56
know to clean i was doing some laundry and um and i used a push broom to sweep the floors
00:36:04
this from a man who could not stand his daughter's estranged husband a man who
00:36:08
had for months made frank's life hell and he said that at one point he wanted to
00:36:15
test drive frank's truck and purchase it and frank's response to him was i'll wrestle
00:36:22
you for it so obviously you can see that he's trying to put together a a reason why his dna would show up at
00:36:30
the scene and he's enjoying every minute of it circumstantial evidence was slowly
00:36:37
stacking up in august 2013 13 months after frank's murder prosecutors convened a grand jury
00:36:44
to determine if there was enough evidence to charge maria sanuti spencer and her father rocco franklin
00:36:50
so in the months leading up to the indictment of maria and rocco maria and rocco were asked to come to testify
00:36:59
before the investigating grand jury in pennsylvania ultimately she went before that grand
00:37:04
jury as did rocco and gave statements that were obviously under oath maria in her testimony just goes on and on and
00:37:14
on she she barely stops talking she denies of course everything she denies terroristic threats and everything else
00:37:22
but the authorities have the evidence and so they filed charges on her they filed charges of
00:37:30
12 counts of perjury more than a dozen other charges and most importantly the murder of frank spencer
00:37:40
in a process fraught with delays maria was not arrested until july 28 2014 two years after frank's death
00:37:49
detectives go to arrest maria and she freaks out on the same day authorities also issue a
00:37:57
warrant for ronco's arrest but he is nowhere to be found he has flown the coup
00:38:03
it turns out right after his grand jury testimony he boarded a plane nobody knows how he got there but he
00:38:11
ended up living in argentina and he was living in argentina undiscovered for an extended period of time
00:38:21
ultimately he was located he was detained and he fought extradition during the time that
00:38:28
he was fighting extradition the trial of maria spencer commenced it was november 2015. maria stood alone
00:38:36
in the dock to answer for frank's death motive was the government's biggest
00:38:42
piece of evidence they had piles of text messages piles of police criminal reports
00:38:50
piles of circumstantial evidence of her involvement in property crime she had the motive she had the anger she had the
00:38:59
ability with her father having been out on parole and that she was the driving force
00:39:05
to get her father behind the property crimes the arsons and ultimately his you don't win spencer
00:39:18
maria's conviction looked likely because of her own words written and spoken over
00:39:23
the course of the previous 15 years one of the more prominent statements attributed to maria took place at a
00:39:30
football game uh shortly after frank spencer's murder where she allegedly said to one of his friends that she was
00:39:38
responsible for the murder and that he might be next if he steps out of line with maria and rocco
00:39:46
one of frank's friends comes up to maria you know just wants to be safe and he says you know maria
00:39:52
i would never i would never do anything to you know in front of your kids i would never do anything to disrespect
00:40:00
you and she looks at him and she says that's why you're still alive but then she goes on
00:40:09
and she says you know the last thing he saw before he died was me this said prosecutors placed maria
00:40:20
firmly at the scene of frank's death and may even have proved that she fired the
00:40:24
bullet that killed him the government argued that maria was the perpetrator of the second fatal shot in
00:40:33
other words she was the first individual onto the decking after mr spencer was shot by mr franklin from the tree stand
00:40:42
across the street and that she approached mr spencer as he lied in blood outside his front door on the
00:40:49
porch deck and administered so to speak the kill shot with a small handgun maria and her lawyers refuted that
00:40:58
version of events lots of physical evidence electronic data based evidence suggested that mr
00:41:05
franklin was the sole perpetrator of the crime we still believe that and we still
00:41:10
think that maria didn't have the physical or mental capacity to do what they claim she did
00:41:17
would the jury agree on november 18 2015 they retired to consider their verdict i think a jury and injury deliberations
00:41:28
are always nail biters because they're humans and no two humans are alike so
00:41:33
you can have a room with 12 people and 10 could be thinking the same thing with the other two
00:41:39
don't after eight hours of deliberation the jury comes back maria spencer is found guilty on all
00:41:48
charges the murder of frank spencer 12 counts of perjury arson conspiracy terroristic threats they sentence her to
00:41:59
life without parole plus 50 years if you're convicted of first degree murder the sentence the only sentence
00:42:08
you can get is a mandatory life sentence she received additional time for some of
00:42:13
the additional offenses she's currently housed in a state correctional facility in pennsylvania and will be for
00:42:20
the rest of her life in the event that her appeals are unsuccessful in october 2018 after a lengthy
00:42:28
extradition process maria's father returned to face justice despite the slew of forensic evidence he denied
00:42:36
everything two years later her father rocco goes on trial and he too is found guilty he's
00:42:44
guilty of frank's murder arson and burglary the jury sentences him to life without parole plus 45
00:42:56
years how did maria saluti spencer come to join her father in a life of violence
00:43:02
and criminality she grew up with a criminal dad she learned a lot of her worst behaviors
00:43:09
from him and so she knew how to intimidate people she knew how to carry out her threats and she didn't cover her
00:43:15
tracks very carefully because this is not what an impulsive person does an impulsive person isn't all that
00:43:20
thoughtful and planful about the crimes that you're committing you just commit
00:43:24
the crimes and it probably gave her a sense of a high in many ways they enjoy this idea of playing god being able to
00:43:30
take out somebody's life and i think they really wanted to see that suffering
00:43:34
up front they wanted to see the blood they wanted to see him take his last breath they wanted to see him suffer and
00:43:40
that really points the way to maria and her father being the worst kind of psychopath that we usually would
00:43:46
know of some continue to believe that maria is innocent but it was shown in court that
00:43:53
she was a woman who made vows to kill who terrorized frank spencer in an escalating campaign until she committed
00:44:00
the ultimate crime against the man she had once vowed to love until death parted them
00:44:12
[Music] [Music] you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 90
    Most unpredictable
  • 85
    Most intense
  • 85
    Most surprising

Episode Highlights

  • Maria's Threats Escalate
    Maria's threats become increasingly violent, culminating in a series of alarming incidents.
    “If he ever threatened to divorce her, she'd kill him.”
    @ 09m 05s
    June 08, 2022
  • The Fire Incident
    Frank's mother's house burns down, leading to suspicions of arson against Maria.
    “Karma is just a wonderful thing.”
    @ 19m 40s
    June 08, 2022
  • Julie's Home Targeted
    Julie's home is set on fire, indicating escalating threats from Maria and her father.
    “Your house is next.”
    @ 21m 12s
    June 08, 2022
  • Frank's Death
    Frank Spencer was found dead in a pool of blood, raising suspicions about his estranged wife and father-in-law.
    “Frank is found dead on the front porch of his home.”
    @ 27m 28s
    June 08, 2022
  • Evidence Against Maria
    Forensic evidence links Maria and her father to the crime scene, but proving their guilt is challenging.
    “Forensic evidence placed Maria and her father at the scene.”
    @ 34m 16s
    June 08, 2022
  • Maria's Conviction
    Maria Spencer is found guilty of murder and sentenced to life without parole plus 50 years.
    “Maria Spencer is found guilty on all charges.”
    @ 41m 44s
    June 08, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • You don't win, Spencer.
    Meet, Marry, Murder - Season 1, Episode 40 - Sanutti-Spencer - Full Episode
  • Karma is just a wonderful thing.
    Meet, Marry, Murder - Season 1, Episode 40 - Sanutti-Spencer - Full Episode
  • Your house is next.
    Meet, Marry, Murder - Season 1, Episode 40 - Sanutti-Spencer - Full Episode
  • I still didn't feel safe.
    Meet, Marry, Murder - Season 1, Episode 40 - Sanutti-Spencer - Full Episode
  • That's why you're still alive.
    Meet, Marry, Murder - Season 1, Episode 40 - Sanutti-Spencer - Full Episode
  • The last thing he saw before he died was me.
    Meet, Marry, Murder - Season 1, Episode 40 - Sanutti-Spencer - Full Episode

Key Moments

  • Escalating Violence06:33
  • Arson Attack20:00
  • Divorce Decree23:55
  • Final Divorce23:55
  • Public Confrontation24:43
  • Frank's Murder25:40
  • Crime Scene Investigation26:41
  • Arrest and Trial37:49

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown