00:00:04
[music playing] NARRATOR: Trucking
tycoon Bill Hall Junior was a hit with the
ladies, even at just
00:00:14
16 when he won the heart
of local girl Frances. He had a baby face,
and the most prettiest
00:00:20
smile, the most cutest nose. I mean, Bill was just-- he was hot. NARRATOR: Fast forward
31 years, and Bill
00:00:27
was still winning hearts. This time, of the so-called
exotic dancer Bonnie Contreras.
00:00:33
It was easy for me
to start loving him. NARRATOR: The two women became
locked in a bitter fight
00:00:39
for Bill's affections. One played dirty sending
incendiary message attachments. Video footage
of her having sex
00:00:47
with your husband,
the only man you've been with your entire life. At some point, you have
to say this has to stop.
00:00:54
Leave me alone. NARRATOR: When the cheat,
his wife, and his mistress met in a high-speed
chase on Route 1604,
00:01:02
tragedy was around the corner. Never in a million
years would I have thought my husband would
have been cheating on me
00:01:08
or living this double life. [music playing] NARRATOR: For a long
time, there were
00:01:38
three people in the marriage
of Bill and Frances Hall. There was Bonnie too. Now only two of them are
alive to tell the tale.
00:01:47
I know she's not this vicious
person that they portray her to be, just like I'm not this
home-wrecking, gold-digging
00:01:57
person they portray me to be. She's a nut-case. She is what you considered
your typical psycho
00:02:05
girlfriend crazy-ass. You know you're
with a married man. Now it takes two
to tango, I agree.
00:02:13
He ain't going to
leave his wife. He ain't going to
leave his wife. You don't mind being like this?
00:02:21
NARRATOR: This is a story that
began in 1979 on the west side of San Antonio in Texas.
00:02:27
I remember us living
in the projects. They were called
the Cassiano Homes. There was two of us in
the beginning with my mom,
00:02:34
and then she later
had two more children. And then there was four of us. We come from very,
very humble beginnings.
00:02:42
When I'm staying humble,
poor, poverty-level poor. Bill lived fairly
close to her,
00:02:48
and they were high
school sweethearts. She was working at
a movie theater, and they started
dating after that.
00:02:55
And this love affair began,
and they've never looked back. NARRATOR: Trucking
tycoon Bill Hall
00:03:02
Junior was a hit with the
ladies, even at 16 years old. We started as a friendship.
00:03:09
He was a real respectful guy. With me, he was very
respectful, and I think he knew I was a good girl.
00:03:14
NARRATOR: As teens, Bill Hall
Junior and Frances [inaudible] were very different.
00:03:18
Bill is this budding cowboy. Every time you see him, he's
got cowboy boots on, cowboy hat.
00:03:24
He's got all the gear. Back then, I thought he
was the most cutest guy I had ever met.
00:03:28
He had a baby face,
and the most prettiest smile, the most cutest nose. I mean, Bill was just--
00:03:34
he was hot. He looked good in his jeans too. He's also determined
to be a success in life.
00:03:42
He's one of those risk takers. And by 1981, Bill can't
hold back anymore, and he proposes to Frances.
00:03:50
We got married at 18. He got down on bended knee in
front of my mother's house, and it was 10 o'clock because
my mom had a strict curfew.
00:03:58
You got to go to
bed at 10 o'clock. And he got down on his knees
in front of the side door
00:04:02
that we came in, and I
was like, are you serious? And he goes, yes, I
want to marry you.
00:04:07
And I was already
in love with him. I don't think there's probably
a day from the day she met
00:04:13
Bill that she didn't love him. NARRATOR: Children
came along soon after. Bill's pride and joy.
00:04:22
Nicki came along
April 1st in 1983, and Justin was
born June 7th 1987. NARRATOR: Bill and
Frances were determined
00:04:32
to give their children
the best start in life. She's working some
odd jobs like cleaning.
00:04:37
He gets a job at his
aunt's trucking company, but Bill has a dream. He wants his own company.
00:04:44
And in the early 1980s, the
couple gets their first truck. They hire half a
dozen employees,
00:04:50
and they start Bill
Hall Junior's Trucking. By 1989, they have become
the largest trucking company
00:05:00
in the entire state of Texas. They're doing well. Bill Hall Junior's Trucking
is worth $12 million.
00:05:10
NARRATOR: Within
just a few years, Bill and Frances,
still in their 20s, have become pillars of
their local community,
00:05:16
but fortune came
with the realization that Bill and Frances wanted
different things from life.
00:05:21
Once Bill's business
took off and they started making a lot of
money, he enjoyed that money.
00:05:27
He did things like
travel to Vegas. He showered his
friends with gifts. She's at home making
tortillas and playing
00:05:34
bingo with his mother. NARRATOR: And when the Hall's
two children grew up and left
00:05:38
home, Bill had even more
free time to indulge his hobbies and whims. Bill loved motorcycles,
loved to ride fast.
00:05:46
I had never been
around a motorcycle, but he always had them. He loved them. I bought him a Harley Davidson,
a V-rod for his 40th birthday.
00:05:54
NARRATOR: Bill also indulged
in another passion-- women. He was a very successful,
very handsome man,
00:06:00
and I think he had women
throwing themselves at him. He starts going out more
and more, hitting the bars,
00:06:07
buying the drinks,
having affairs. He was a businessman. He knew how to talk to people,
how to get things done,
00:06:13
and how to provide, and
I think that women really loved that quality about him. Unfortunately, to his demise.
00:06:21
At one point, Bill has an
affair with his cousin's wife and gets her pregnant. NARRATOR: Friends of the family
say that despite the one night
00:06:28
stands, Frances and
Bill's marriage, by now three decades
old, stayed strong. Their love was
just never ending.
00:06:35
Those two were never
going to be apart. They were made to be together,
and all of the things
00:06:43
that we see in our
daily life every day that cause families
to break up, they had overcome those
hurdles, buying a house,
00:06:51
raising two children, growing
a business from the ground up, good times and bad.
00:06:57
I said to myself,
well, you know what? I put in a lot of time
and effort with you,
00:07:02
and a lot had to do
with I loved this man. I genuinely loved this man. NARRATOR: Everything
changed for Bill and Frances
00:07:11
in the autumn of 2010 when
Bonnie Contreras entered the life of Mr. And Mrs. Hall.
00:07:16
I first met Bill when I
was at a spinach festival in my hometown. NARRATOR: Former exotic
dancer Bonnie Contreras
00:07:23
hailed from Crystal City, a
farming community two hours southwest of San
Antonio, and was
00:07:29
present when the so-called
spinach capital of the world hosted a festival. I was actually helping my
aunt sell chicken on a stick.
00:07:38
He was passing by with
a group of friends. They kind of just backtracked
themselves back to the booth,
00:07:43
and Bill and I just
started talking. And I kind of just
ignored everybody else, and we kind of hit
it off right away.
00:07:51
I came home, and a
week later, I find out that he's looking for me. NARRATOR: When Bonnie
met up a month later
00:07:57
with the handsome stranger
19 years her senior, she had one pressing
question on her mind.
00:08:03
When I first met him, I
didn't see a ring on him so I figured, oh, he's a single man.
00:08:09
He asked me if I wanted
to go out for lunch. I accepted. Our first date was at a
restaurant called Scuzzi's.
00:08:15
It's an Italian restaurant. I asked him, I said,
are you married? He said, yes, I'm married.
00:08:20
I'm separated, and I'm
going through a divorce. So after that, I felt like
it wasn't a necessity for me
00:08:29
to keep hounding him about
it or for me to keep asking him questions about his family.
00:08:35
NARRATOR: This is where the two
different versions of the story of the Halls begins to emerge.
00:08:39
For Bonnie that chance
meeting with Bill was the beginning of
the rest of her life.
00:08:43
He was a very special
man that came to my life when I was only 27 years old. We connected right away.
00:08:50
It became an
everyday thing where him and I were just constantly
together from morning to night.
00:08:57
He was going to become my
husband one day and the future, you know-- the future father of my kids.
00:09:04
NARRATOR: What was Frances
thinking around this time? Nothing. She didn't know. It's so weird because
people have said,
00:09:12
well, she put up with his
ways and she knew about it. No, I didn't. No, I didn't.
00:09:18
Not once did I
know that Bill had been messing around with--
around my back or anything
00:09:23
like that. I wasn't the type of
woman that, oh, OK, well, as long as he comes home
to me and blah, blah, blah.
00:09:28
Uh-uh.
Uh-uh. I'm Hispanic. I got some spunk in me. NARRATOR: So how would the
Hispanic woman with spunk
00:09:35
react when she found out? I made the choice,
and I said to myself, I'm going to forgive him because
it's been a hell of a ride,
00:09:47
and I'm not ready to leave
this man or anything. And first and
foremost, I loved him.
00:09:54
As hurt as I was, I was more-- I was worried about what
he was going through, but I figure I can handle this.
00:10:07
I'm going to handle this. I'm going to-- I'm going
to save my marriage. NARRATOR: If only things
could be that straightforward.
00:10:15
According to Bonnie, Bill Junior
had decided to stick with her. I wasn't trying
to hurt anybody.
00:10:21
It was a decision he made,
and I was respecting it. And I guess the
decision he made,
00:10:27
it just wasn't what
other people wanted, and that's where
things got really bad.
00:10:40
NARRATOR: Attorney Leigh Cutter
doesn't believe Bill was ever truly serious about Bonnie.
00:10:44
I think it's easier
for him to have the wife and keep her on the side. He had no intention
of putting that woman
00:10:53
in Frances's place ever. You ask his cousins,
his sisters, everyone that worked
for him, they knew Bill.
00:10:59
They knew where his
heart was, and maybe his heart and his genitalia
were in different rooms.
00:11:04
I don't know. But there was no way
he was going to leave Frances, especially for Bonnie.
00:11:10
NARRATOR: That wasn't what
Bill was telling Bonnie. Bill never talked
bad about his wife.
00:11:15
He said, I'm always
going to love her. She's the mother of my kids. She gave me 32
years of her life.
00:11:21
I'm always going to
respect her for that. He goes, but I'm just not
in love with her no more.
00:11:25
NARRATOR: For
almost three years, Bill Hall Junior
led a double life. One day after another,
a week, then a month,
00:11:33
then years, and it kind of just
started getting more intense. NARRATOR: But between
2010 and 2013,
00:11:39
Frances says she didn't know
that Bill was seeing Bonnie. I would have never
in a million years
00:11:46
guessed that my husband had
been living a double life. Never. We were so in sync.
00:11:53
I mean, it's almost like-- man, the last year of his
life, like, we were boom, boom, together.
00:12:02
We were together every day. Every day he would come
to my house at anywhere from 6:00, 7 o'clock
in the morning.
00:12:10
We'd spend all day together,
lunch, breakfast, dinner. Bonnie's satisfied. She's got her man, and
does she have her man.
00:12:19
He buys her two cars. He's paying her rent. He tells her she
doesn't have to work.
00:12:24
I mean, why should she? He can afford everything. He pays for breast enhancements.
00:12:28
This goes on for three years. NARRATOR: Leigh Cutter would
one day defend Frances in court.
00:12:34
She has her own opinion
about what made Bonnie stick with Bill Hall Junior. Evil gold-digger.
00:12:39
Is that OK? I mean, incredibly
manipulative woman. NARRATOR: Not the worst
thing said about Bonnie.
00:12:46
I've gotten more
than 100,000 messages. I've gotten bad
ones to good ones to God bless you
to go kill yourself
00:12:57
to you deserve to die too. NARRATOR: Bonnie Contreras is
no stranger to being called
00:13:02
a gold-digger, but
she insists that what she and Bill had was real. He was a very loving,
very free-spirited person.
00:13:10
He was very funny,
very easygoing man. Very, very easy
to get along with. NARRATOR: One version
of the whole story
00:13:17
says that in September 2013,
Bill Hall Junior had started to lose interest in Bonnie.
00:13:22
Bill starts to get a little
tired of this relationship, so he starts being
a little distant.
00:13:27
And the spigot turns
off, and Bonnie is wondering what's going on? I mean, my man and my money.
00:13:34
I mean, what's happening? So she starts
texting him, and he's not responding like he used to.
00:13:41
She starts sending
a barrage of texts. She tries to reach him by phone. He's not returning her phone
calls, so she texts him.
00:13:46
And she finally gets to the
point where she's just had it, and she threatens him.
00:13:50
And she says, you
respond to me, or I will tell Frances everything. She won't let up.
00:13:56
She keeps threatening him,
so he finally says, go ahead. Tell Frances. NARRATOR: After 32
years of marriage,
00:14:04
Frances Hall was about to
find out about her husband's double life. It was in mid-September
2013 that Bonnie
00:14:11
Contreras brought
herself very directly into Frances Hall's life. I get a call on my phone,
and all I heard is, Frances.
00:14:19
And I go, yeah. She goes, you don't
know who I am, but I need to talk to
you about your husband.
00:14:24
And I thought, oh my god. He's been in an accident. And she went on, no, I need
to talk to you about Bill.
00:14:31
I've been having an
affair with Bill, and we need to talk
because this needs to stop.
00:14:35
We need to get this
out in the open. Frances was angry with Bill. I think she was hurt,
and she felt humiliated.
00:14:44
NARRATOR: She stood by him,
despite the provocation of his relationship with
Bonnie, who let Frances
00:14:50
know what they were up to. I started sending her
pictures, and, of course, I sent her a picture that Bill
had taken of me of my behind.
00:14:57
NARRATOR: A little more than
that according to Frances. She sent-- was it
two or three videos?
00:15:03
I know there was
one her from behind, one from her in the front. I don't know what
the other one was.
00:15:12
I can't remember. It might have been two. Sending you not just pictures
but actual video footage of her
00:15:20
having sex with your
husband, the only man you've been with your entire life. NARRATOR: After one
message, Frances
00:15:25
decided to confront Bill. We get inside his Range
Rover, and he's driving, and I get in on
the passenger side.
00:15:32
And as soon as he puts it in
drive, I go, what's going on? And he's driving,
and, I mean, his--
00:15:40
the tears are
coming out, and I'm looking at him like, oh, god. And, I mean, did I get mad?
00:15:47
Did I have a temper? Of course, I did. I grabbed his phone. I threw it at him in the car.
00:15:53
It hit him in the head. It shattered. The phone broke. And then that's
when I asked him how
00:16:00
long has this been going on? And he wouldn't tell
me, and he finally said almost three years.
00:16:04
And I was like-- I was devastated. NARRATOR: Frances suspected
Bill's mistress was attracted
00:16:10
to him for one simple reason. She got my phone number,
and she contacted me. She was telling me about the
company, about the money.
00:16:17
She was scuffling about
how she had busted her butt from the ground up. I said, hey, by all
means, I'm not trying
00:16:24
to interfere in any of that. She kind of said, well, it's
not fair that you're just
00:16:29
going to be sitting pretty. And I said, you know what? I said, just leave me out of it.
00:16:34
I said-- and that was
one of the first times that her and I kind
of got into it.
00:16:40
NARRATOR: His secret
life exposed, Bill was torn between his two worlds. He went back to Bonnie.
00:16:46
A war of words broke out
between his heartbroken children and his defiant mistress.
00:16:50
If you've ever
experienced infidelity, either as a child when
your parents, one of them
00:16:56
were unfaithful, or as
a partner in a marriage, it's devastating on both ends. Of course, the kids were mad.
00:17:04
His daughter had been contacting
me leaving nasty messages. NARRATOR: Then
Frances weighed in.
00:17:10
She started texting me, and
when she started texting me, it was not pleasant
text messages.
00:17:16
She was talking everywhere
from my daughter, from personal things,
so then I hit back.
00:17:24
You want to get nasty with me? Well, I'm going to
get nasty with you. Some of the things
that Bonnie said
00:17:29
were really, really
cutting deep. She talked about how she
had had a hysterectomy,
00:17:35
and she wasn't a real woman. She sent Frances diagrams
and called her a broken woman,
00:17:44
hollow, empty, a lot of
very explicit language, and it was pretty nasty. As soon as she didn't
get what she wanted, money,
00:17:53
she threatened him. He goes, we'd break up for
a while, and I was fine. He goes, there was times
I wanted to call it off,
00:18:01
and I would. And then she'd call
that she was doing this, doing that to herself,
that she was going to tell me.
00:18:08
She knew about
where my kids lived. I'm not nobody's doormat. NARRATOR: Feeling
under pressure,
00:18:13
Bonnie he threw Bill out. It was actually the second
time that I had kicked him out.
00:18:18
I kind of told him, look,
I'm fed up with this. I'm fed up with her. I'm fed up with you.
00:18:22
I'm fed up with the kids. I threw out all his clothes. I changed the locks. I changed bank accounts.
00:18:28
I did all of the sort so I
would have no contact with him. NARRATOR: Bill decided to
give the marriage one more go.
00:18:35
Bill was struggling with this. He didn't know how to get
this woman out of his life
00:18:40
and fix his marriage
with Frances, and it's something he very
clearly did not want to lose.
00:18:45
I had only witnessed
him that low, and that was when
his mother passed. Instead of me being pissed,
I told him, you know what?
00:18:53
It's OK. We'll figure this
out, and he was like, are you sure, [inaudible]? Are you going to leave me?
And I go, no.
00:18:59
No. I go, I'm mad as
freaking hell, and I really need for you to leave. I go, but we'll figure this out.
00:19:07
We'll work with it. Frances and Bill were
committed to staying together. And that just doesn't--
that doesn't come from just
00:19:14
Frances's side of the house. That comes from Bill's side too. NARRATOR: Having had
time to cool down,
00:19:19
Bonnie decided she wasn't going
to give up her man so easily. The third person in the
marriage was not about to leave.
00:19:26
On the 8th of October
2013, Bill and Frances were at a nearby hotel
trying to work things out.
00:19:32
I wanted my
boyfriend back home, and so I went looking for him. And I kid you not.
00:19:39
I started looking for
him at all the hotels. I couldn't find him, and I
said, he has to be over here
00:19:43
at the resort off of 151. So little did I know,
I was driving there, and I went up to the entrance.
00:19:53
And I see her car parked
behind the Range Rover. And I said, what? This doesn't look right.
00:20:00
She shows up to
the hotel, and she lies to the bellhop to get in. I told the
concierge to tell him
00:20:06
that Miss Contreras was there. When the concierge
was talking to Bill, I could hear Frances
in the background
00:20:13
yelling, and fighting with
him, and stuff like that. And I guess she then
wanted to come downstairs,
00:20:19
and he didn't let her come
downstairs because then that would be a scuffle and a fight.
00:20:24
NARRATOR: For Leigh Cutter,
this was when Frances Hall began to lose patience with Bill.
00:20:28
It got to the point where,
at some point, you have to say, this has to stop. Leave me alone.
00:20:35
Stop. NARRATOR: Frances
had had enough. The following day, there
was a violent altercation
00:20:40
back at the Hall
family home, and Bill was sent unceremoniously
back to his lover.
00:20:45
She got very
physical with him. Lamps broke in
the house, and she banged up his bike really bad.
00:20:54
And she was really-- like, this
is really coming to reality. NARRATOR: Would Bill Hall Junior
have bounced back and forth
00:21:00
between his wife
and his mistress forever, or was Bonnie
right to believe that this would have been the
end of his marriage to Frances?
00:21:06
I do know that he
was seeing a counselor because I did accompany
him to that counselor.
00:21:13
It was kind of like
a divorce counselor. I guess he just wasn't happy
in his marriage anymore,
00:21:18
and like he told me--
and he was honest. He goes, I'm always
going to love that woman.
00:21:22
That's the mother of
my kids, but I'm just not in love with her no more. NARRATOR: Not what
Frances was hearing.
00:21:27
He comes around and not
begs me, but he tells me, I love you. You're the woman I love.
00:21:35
NARRATOR: One of the three
people in the marriage of Bill and Frances Hall had to take a
step back if matters were not
00:21:40
going to get very
ugly, but neither Bill nor Frances nor Bonnie
seemed in a mood
00:21:45
to let go of what they had. DISPATCH: Bexar County 9-1-1. What is your location?
00:21:51
MAN: Uh, 1604 right
passed the Medina River. A man needs medical
attention immediately.
00:22:08
NARRATOR: The day after Bill
returned to Bonnie's home, the two of them
decided to take a trip.
00:22:12
It was the 10th of October 2013. We were supposed to go on
a bike rally, so we woke up.
00:22:17
He took his meds. I went to a doctor's
visit with him because he had gotten surgery
on one of his shoulders.
00:22:26
We left home, and
he got on his bike. And he tossed me his
cell phone and the keys,
00:22:32
and we were driving
down 1604 going towards Macdona Lacoste Road. NARRATOR: With Bill on his
Harley Davidson and Bonnie
00:22:39
driving behind him,
the lovers were heading for Corpus Christi, a
popular tourist destination
00:22:44
on the Gulf of Mexico. But just minutes into
their journey, the couple encountered Frances Hall.
00:22:50
So I go to a volleyball game. My niece was having a
volleyball game, Miranda. She saw her husband,
Bill, on his motorcycle
00:22:58
and not far behind him Bonnie
in the family's Range Rover. NARRATOR: Until this moment,
Frances had only seen
00:23:05
videos and pictures of Bonnie. They had not met in person. And that's when she
actually physically sees
00:23:11
Bonnie Contreras for
the very first time. 1604 is a loop in San
Antonio, and she's
00:23:17
at one of the crossroads. And she's sitting there in
their family's Escalade, and she sees Bill go by
on his very distinct baby
00:23:29
blue Harley Davidson. And then she sees her family's-- her brand new supercharged
Range Rover and Bonnie
00:23:38
in the driver's seat. Well, I'm coming this
way, and I notice a bike. And I go, hey, that's Bill.
00:23:46
Didn't think it-- in my
mind, I go, oh, he's going to Hank's to go park his bike.
00:23:52
About a few car lengths down,
I saw his car, the Range Rover. And I was like-- well, as I'm driving, mind
you, we're passing each other.
00:23:59
Bill passed me. I'm passing this way. Here comes the Range Rover. She sees me. She passes me.
00:24:06
She's coming, and she
starts giving me the bird. And she said I grabbed
the steering wheel,
00:24:13
and I squeezed it so hard. And I said, that's it. I'm going to
confront this woman.
00:24:22
I turned around,
and there we go. We start cat and
mousing each other. She steps on the brake.
00:24:29
I'm speeding up. Where we going fast? Probably. I wasn't looking
at my speedometer.
00:24:35
There was cars. She'd pass a car, and I'd
pass right in back of her. She'd step on the brake,
and I'd come close.
00:24:43
And we just started
going down the street. It seemed like for miles. And all through the time,
I'd kind of move over
00:24:49
and I'd tell her, pull over. Nope. And pull over. And nope. I was terrified. The only thing that was going
through my head was Bill
00:24:57
and me flipping over because
we were going so fast. As soon as she flipped me
off, man, I just passed her.
00:25:07
I parked, and I always
remember that I said, please, dear God, just
let me confront this girl.
00:25:13
You know what? If she wants him,
she can have him. I had even thought to
myself, we're done.
00:25:18
That's it. I can't do this. If he wants to be with
that skank, go for it. I'm not going to do this.
00:25:25
I'm too old to be doing
this, and I turned around. And there we go. NARRATOR: Frances
got back in the car.
00:25:34
She sees Bill around that time. I'm coming up the hill, and
she's braking and braking.
00:25:39
And I know she's taunting me,
but me being the dumb person, playing along with her.
00:25:45
And at that point,
it's like I told you, I think I still wanted to-- I'm going to tell you, you know?
00:25:52
I'm going to tell you, and I'm
going to tell you a lot of you. She starts braking, and I see
that Bill starts pulling over.
00:26:00
And I'm like, OK. There was a point where
Bill pulls off to the side, and he slows down some.
00:26:12
And Bonnie and Frances's are
still playing brake check. And Frances looks over,
and she sees Bill.
00:26:19
And he makes eye
contact with her, and he goes, oh, because
he knows, oh my god,
00:26:25
my wife who I'm
working it out with now has run into my mistress. All of a sudden,
I look this way,
00:26:30
and she just slammed
on her brake. I mean, it was so fast
that I went like this,
00:26:35
and then I just
stepped on my brake. NARRATOR: In Bonnie's
version of the story,
00:26:43
not until after the
impact did she realize it was Frances driving behind her. I felt somebody
hit me from behind,
00:26:51
and I thought it was
an accident at first. It's a bump, a hit. You know, you feel, like,
oh, somebody hit me.
00:26:59
They're not paying attention. But then when I felt
it for the second time, I said, what the hell?
00:27:04
And so I looked through
the rear view mirror, and I saw it was her. And I got thrown on
to oncoming traffic.
00:27:12
And so I was fighting traffic,
and when I was fighting traffic I managed to merge
in front of Bill.
00:27:19
And by this time, I'm in
front, he's in the back of me, and Frances is
riding behind him.
00:27:26
NARRATOR: Bill is suddenly
in no one's rearview mirror. I remember him
pulling over, and I'm
00:27:31
like, where is this guy? But I remember seeing
dust, and I was like-- and I thought, well, it
might have been a dirt devil.
00:27:39
You're out in the country. So I'm coming back this
way looking for Bill, but I remember I didn't
go that far back.
00:27:45
I see where the bike flew,
and then I see Bill fly. And I just started screaming at
the top of my lungs and crying.
00:27:54
NARRATOR: Passing motorists had
called the emergency services. BILL HALL JUNIOR:
Bexar County 9-1-1.
00:28:00
What is your location? MAN: Uh, 1604 right
passed the Medina River. A man needs medical
attention immediately.
00:28:09
NARRATOR: Bonnie
Contreras got to the scene of the accident moments after
her love rival Frances Hall.
00:28:14
I was just so scared,
and I was screaming. I was crying. I was calling his sister.
00:28:19
I called-- I actually
called Hank Hall first, and my cousin was so mad
at me because she said,
00:28:25
you need to call and hang up
and call the cops right away. Well, by that time,
other people had
00:28:30
already reported the accident. NARRATOR: Bill Hall
Junior lay injured at the side of the road.
00:28:36
Emergency services were on
the scene within minutes. What had Frances done
to her high school
00:28:41
sweetheart and husband? She didn't know
that Bill had run into the back of her vehicle.
00:28:47
And then she goes,
where's Bill at? And I think at that
point, the panic sets in.
00:28:54
My sister, Connie, calls me. Where are you at? I go, instead of answering
I don't know, I told her,
00:29:01
I can't find Bill. She goes, what are
you talking about? I can't find Bill. She goes, what are
you talking about?
00:29:09
And by then, I'm
kind of hysterical. I go, I don't know
where he's at. I'm looking for Bill, and
I don't know where he's at.
00:29:14
He was off of 1604
by the statuary right here on Macdona Lacoste
Road, and I can't find him.
00:29:19
Bill's Harley had gone
in between the two vehicles sending him flying into
the air and crashing
00:29:26
down hard on the pavement. He has no helmet on. NARRATOR: In the chaos,
Frances maintains to this day
00:29:33
that she was oblivious
as to what had happened. She continued driving the road. As I'm turning around looking
for Bill coming this way,
00:29:41
my sister-in-law calls me. And I go, hello? What did you do? And I go, huh? What did you do?
00:29:51
What did you do to Billy? I go, what the hell
are you talking about? I'm looking for him.
00:29:57
She goes, no, you hit him. I go, what? NARRATOR: Frances Hall headed
to find Bill Hall Junior,
00:30:05
her teenage sweetheart,
her husband, and the father of her children. Somebody was wearing a suit,
a uniform, and they grabbed me.
00:30:13
And I went like this,
and I just ran to Bill. And I remember my
sister had Bill in between her legs, his head.
00:30:21
And I go, what happened? And my sister's bawling, and
Bill has this thing, the mask.
00:30:26
By then, I guess the volunteer
fire department got there. And they're putting the
mask, and he took it off.
00:30:31
And he goes, I can't breathe. I can't breathe. And we put it back on, and
he kept putting it off.
00:30:36
There was, like, two or
three times he busted it. I can't breathe, and he
would tell me, [inaudible],,
00:30:42
I can't breathe. [inaudible], I can't breathe. Like, I can't breathe. And I was just, like,
never thinking--
00:30:54
I just assume he-- I don't know what I assume. I thought he had an accident. NARRATOR: What happened next is
disputed between the two women.
00:31:03
Frances claims Bonnie was
yelling for her to be arrested. Bonnie remembers
nothing like that.
00:31:08
Either way, Frances
was soon on her way to a police station
and not the hospital,
00:31:13
where she wanted to
go to look after Bill. The officer looked at me,
and he goes, are you his wife?
00:31:18
And I go, yes. And he goes, turn around, and
he put the handcuffs on me. And he took me
straight to the car.
00:31:25
They put me in
the back of a SUV just to calm me down because
I was just so hysterical,
00:31:32
and I had so much anxiety that
they wouldn't let me near him. And I'm glad because
I don't have--
00:31:38
I don't have those images. NARRATOR: The fight between
two women over one man had become a fight for the
life of Bill Hall Junior.
00:31:51
[music playing] Bill Hall Junior, the
50-year-old trucking magnate with a larger-than-life
personality,
00:32:04
had died moments after
the helicopter took off. At the police station
in San Antonio,
00:32:09
Frances Hall heard the news. I remember hearing
the news on the TV, and it was still in shock.
00:32:20
I remember with the phones,
you don't know numbers anymore. All you know is names,
and I couldn't remember
00:32:29
anybody's phones number. And I remember
being in that cell, and I remember I kept
calling Bill's mobile for him
00:32:38
to answer. And I finally remembered
my sister, and I go, what happened? She goes, Bill died.
00:32:45
And I go, no. I remember begging my sister
to get me out of here. I need to go with him.
00:32:52
Please get me out of here. And she goes, we're trying. We're trying. Investigators go to
the scene, and they
00:33:00
see the damage on the Harley
inflicted by Frances's car. That night, they took
me to the magistrate--
00:33:09
or that morning. I can't remember. All I remember is that
they transferred me across the street or
something, and they kept
00:33:20
me there for the longest time. And I was still in shock
because I was like, no, and I think that was
what they told me they
00:33:27
were charging me with murder. In Texas, we have what's
called felony murder. NARRATOR: Bill had
died while Frances was
00:33:36
allegedly committing a felony. Because she was
in a vehicle, it's considered a deadly weapon.
00:33:40
And so just the mere act
of her following Bonnie and telling her to
pull over, that's
00:33:46
considered aggravated
assault with a deadly weapon. It's a felony that carries 2
to 20 years in prison in Texas.
00:33:54
Even if they didn't convict
her of aggravated assault with a deadly
weapon, the mere fact
00:33:58
that she was
potentially attempting to do that and someone
dies, felony murder. Thought that
this was so, like--
00:34:06
this only happens in TV. I could not believe this. I-- when I finally-- when we
finally said that we were going
00:34:13
to trial and this
and that, I thought, well, the truth is
going to come out. They're going to see
that it was an accident.
00:34:19
They're going to see that I
would have never hurt him. They're going to see that I
loved this man, that I didn't
00:34:27
hurt him, and they might have-- show mercy on me. I never really thought I
was going to go to prison.
00:34:35
Never. NARRATOR: Bonnie Contreras
was satisfied with the charge. The second she
turned around, she
00:34:42
was already committing a crime. When you start to give chase to
somebody at that rate of speed,
00:34:51
you're going to harm somebody. You're either going to
run them off the road. You're going to cause
a major accident.
00:35:00
Somebody was bound to get
hurt when she gave that chase. I don't know if she thought
it was going to be me,
00:35:07
or if she thought it was
going to be him, or both. I don't know. But to me, I mean,
she killed him.
00:35:17
She took his life. NARRATOR: Three years
later, those claims were tested in court.
00:35:24
A witness for the prosecution,
Bonnie took the stand. I basically told
them what I saw,
00:35:30
and I told them that she
started hitting me from behind. I was in back of me, and I
just saw her come up to him,
00:35:57
and I thought in my head,
she's not going to do this. And then I said, she hit
him, and he went flying.
00:36:05
And she didn't stop, and
she still kept chasing me. I didn't do this
intentionally.
00:36:13
I know I didn't do
this intentionally. And it's so weird because he was
talking to me and everything,
00:36:20
and then I thought, oh, he's
going to have a long recovery, but he'll be OK. Frances' bumper is
taken out and shown
00:36:29
to the jury, the bumper that
hit the other bumper over, and over, and over again.
00:36:37
The prosecution argues that
this was a woman in rage, and it was this
woman's rage that
00:36:42
caused the death of this man. There was photographic
evidence of the Escalade on the rear right side.
00:36:50
The damage was
shown or presented to show that that was actually
the part of the vehicle that
00:36:56
hit Bill's motorcycle. NARRATOR: Leigh Cutter
and her defense team presented a very
different version
00:37:00
of what had happened that
fateful day in October 2013. I have always maintained that
Bonnie Contreras is the reason
00:37:08
that Bill Hall is dead. If you look at Bonnie's
childish behavior once Frances decides
to turn around,
00:37:14
she's telling her to pull
over, and Bonnie's brake checking her. She's flipping her off.
00:37:20
NARRATOR: The defense claim
that Bonnie had slammed on her breaks causing Frances
to swerve, and at that moment
00:37:27
Bill had plowed into the
back of Frances's car. She didn't know
that Bill had run
00:37:32
into the back of her vehicle,
which is also people say, well, how is that even possible?
00:37:39
Imagine where you're at. You are just complete
tunnel vision chasing down this terrible woman
who has been tormenting you.
00:37:48
NARRATOR: On the 8th
of September 2016, the jury returned their
verdict to a packed gallery
00:37:54
of friends and family. The verdict came in, I
think, around 7:30 or 8:00 in the evening.
00:37:58
The courtroom is--
it's a decent size, but there were
people pouring out all the way into the
hallways, in the galleys,
00:38:05
everywhere watching. The jury's verdict was her
guilty of murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
00:38:15
No one was prepared
for that guilty verdict. NARRATOR: It was a
devastating blow to Frances
00:38:20
and the whole family. Frances was potentially facing
99 years or life in prison.
00:38:26
They immediately took
Frances into custody, and I just remember
her looking terrified.
00:38:31
She had no idea what to do. I had some guards
that were there, and they're pretty cool--
00:38:36
not cool. They were being, sweet and
this is what's going to happen and this and that.
00:38:40
And then they took me. NARRATOR: But Frances
Hall's lawyers believed there was still hope.
00:38:48
In Texas, a
defendant can request that their sentence is
determined by a jury, and that's exactly
what Frances did.
00:38:56
Could the 53-year-old killer
win some mercy from the court? The defense argues that this
was a case of sudden passion.
00:39:05
And that means an
experience so profound that you are not capable
of clear thinking.
00:39:13
It's an experience
so out of body that it renders the mind
incapable of cool reflection.
00:39:19
Now that wouldn't
change the conviction, but it could certainly change
the level of punishment
00:39:24
from 5 to 99 to a
range of 2 to 20 years. I figured 99, you know-- I figured I'm going to spend
the rest of my life there.
00:39:32
I'm not going to see my
kids or my grandkids. I'm not going to see my family. NARRATOR: Arguing
against this plea
00:39:39
for clemency, Bonnie Contreras. She says that her-- she never
meant to hurt either of us,
00:39:46
but at that precise moment,
she wanted to cause harm to me, and maybe it backfired on her.
00:39:52
And it just instead
of me, it was him. I know she was going
through a lot, but just--
00:39:58
I just-- I really
wish she would have made such a different choice
and not given me chase
00:40:04
that day because had she not
turned around and given chase, he would still be here.
00:40:10
NARRATOR: When the jury's
verdict on Frances' whole sentence came in,
they made it very clear
00:40:15
where their sympathies lay. They found her that she
had acted in sudden passion,
00:40:20
which is a mitigating fact. That reduced her sentence
to a maximum of 20 years and a minimum of
two years in prison.
00:40:28
And, ultimately, the jury
gave her two years in prison. I thought, OK, it beats 99.
00:40:38
It beats the rest of my life. And I figured I
can do two years. I can do 730 days.
00:40:46
I can do that. Not to say-- and even now, I
don't care what anybody says. I should not have served a
day in jail, a day in prison,
00:40:57
but, OK. I feel like two years,
it's no justification for me, but she did her time.
00:41:05
And I know she suffered
while doing her time. NARRATOR: After
two years in jail,
00:41:11
Frances was free to begin
rebuilding her life, but a life without her
husband, Bill, in it.
00:41:18
In September of 2018,
Frances is released from prison and returns home to her family.
00:41:25
NARRATOR: Bill and Frances
Hall met in their teens. Their love spanned
over three decades,
00:41:31
and for Frances, it lives on. Frances will always
tell you, I took a vow, and I meant what I said.
00:41:38
And I'm a woman of my word. Sicker, poorer, for
better, for worse, I will stay with Bill Hall,
and that's what she did.
00:41:47
NARRATOR: In the
meantime, Bonnie Contreras is learning to live without
the man she thought she'd be
00:41:51
with for the rest of her life. Bill's missed every day. Yes, he is. He's missed every
single day of our lives.
00:41:59
He was a grand man. Kind of hard to surpass,
and he will always be a special man in my life, but
we got to keep pushing forward.
00:42:06
We can't look back. Bill was a good
man, a great man. He was the most
exceptional person
00:42:15
I had ever met in my life. He was the best husband,
the best father. Am I ever going to
find another Bill?
00:42:21
Hell no. God broke the mold
with that one. [music playing]