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*Wait* She Cheated On Him With His Friend?! (Meet Marry Murder hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg)

October 13, 2022 / 40:32

This episode of "Meet Marry Murder" covers the tragic story of George Young III, his wife Tia, and her affair with Tim Lee, leading to George's murder. Key discussions include the couple's marriage, Tia's infidelity, and the investigation into George's death.

Michelle Trachtenberg narrates the timeline of George and Tia's life together, highlighting their family-oriented lifestyle in Buford, Georgia. George, a dedicated family man, worked multiple jobs in security while Tia lost her job, creating financial strain.

As George worked hard to support his family, Tia began an affair with Tim Lee, a friend George had taken in to help. The affair escalated, leading to George's murder on November 16, 2017, when he was ambushed outside his home.

The investigation revealed inconsistencies in Tia and Tim's accounts, leading detectives to suspect them. They discovered a life insurance policy worth a million dollars, with Tia as the sole beneficiary, raising further suspicions.

Ultimately, Tia and Tim were charged with murder after evidence of their affair and premeditated plans emerged. They were found guilty, with Tia receiving a life sentence with the possibility of parole and Tim sentenced to life without parole.

TLDR

George Young was murdered by his wife Tia and her lover Tim Lee, driven by infidelity and a life insurance policy.

Episode

40:32
00:00:13
George Young III, a dedicated family man. He loved his family, talked about his sons all the time,
00:00:21
talked about his marriage. WOMAN 1: 911, what's your emergency? MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Married to Tia for 22 years
00:00:28
and still feeling the love. All I've ever heard from George was how much he loved his wife.
00:00:33
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: But Tia was cheating. It would come out later that there was a lot of text messaging back and forth,
00:00:39
sexually suggestive text messages and funny memes. Talking about cheating on your husband.
00:00:45
WOMAN 2: I just heard a gunshot. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: As motives for murder go,
00:00:49
it's a classic, right? Now, let's add guns to the story. We did a lot of executive protection
00:00:57
with high-end clients, those were armed details. We do a lot of celebrity protection, Beyoncé, Usher.
00:01:04
And when they require firearms, then we do firearms. An affair, weapons, and a life insurance policy.
00:01:14
Does the devoted husband, George Young, know the danger he is in? [theme music] Half of women and more than a few men
00:01:34
end up being murdered by their partners. I'm Michelle Trachtenberg and this is "Meet Marry Murder"
00:01:41
with a real-life story of Tia and George Young who got married in South Carolina in 1995.
00:01:49
They wanted someplace safe to raise their three sons. Like Buford, a quiet Atlanta suburb.
00:02:00
Marcelo Bump has the same idea. He becomes the Young's neighbor. It's a wholesome fee.
00:02:07
It's family oriented and there's a lot of restaurants where a lot of people, you know, that's
00:02:11
what they do Friday night. They go to the same restaurant or everybody, you know, sees each other in the grocery store and it's like,
00:02:17
hey, you know, and everybody's talking. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: It's a great fit for the Youngs,
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a solid American Family of mom, dad, and three growing boys. There were more of homebodies, they always stayed inside,
00:02:29
didn't do anything except for, you know, occasionally cooking out in the backyard.
00:02:33
And I yell over, let me know when it's ready. I couldn't tell you one time did he shared with me that there was a problem of anything.
00:02:41
There was never any fighting or anything like that and never any, gossip, neighborhood gossip, about them
00:02:48
in any way. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: George is in the security business and boy, does he put in the hours
00:02:54
to bring home the bacon. He worked from his own company, Massive, working for me part time,
00:03:03
and also working for Ackerman Security. So the guy's holding down three layers of responsibility.
00:03:11
And guess what? He's knocking them all out of the park. He's not behind in anything.
00:03:17
He's giving everything that he had. Very good at providing for his family, but he didn't have the time to spend at home
00:03:24
that I'm sure he wished he did. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Not that Tia seems to mind.
00:03:31
Tia was over the house with a few other family and I showed up later. And she said, hey, did you know my husband
00:03:40
does the same thing as you do? She said, I'm me give you his number, you call him, and see what he can do.
00:03:46
At that time, George and I connected. And from the first time I met him, when he walked in
00:03:52
our office with that huge, bright smile, and 6' 6" height, he definitely was very, very convincing.
00:04:03
George seemed like the kind of person who just wants to believe the best in people.
00:04:08
And I think he must have felt like perhaps on times when he was more down on his luck, he has been helped by nice people
00:04:15
in his life, and he wanted to be that person for others and return the favor. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: How far would
00:04:20
you go to help out a friend? Early 2017, George goes above and beyond, like way above and beyond for an old friend from back home.
00:04:32
George had approached me and said, there's a guy who he knew from South Carolina.
00:04:39
And he's here and he's looking for a job. His name was Tim Lee. And Tim had been down on his luck lately.
00:04:45
He'd lost his jobs. He was living out of hotels. Really just not doing well at all.
00:04:52
And so George said, well look, we're doing quite fine, so come live with us. So he opened his home to him.
00:04:58
He gave him a job. Tim was living in the Young home rent free. George brought him up to help him get on his feet.
00:05:07
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: George goes all out for Tim, but his friend Rob's a bit more skeptical.
00:05:12
Can this guy really be trusted? When I first met Tim he was, by far, not George.
00:05:20
He was withdrawn, very quiet, looking around a lot. I noticed as he's working he didn't have a lot
00:05:28
of the skill set to do the job. But George was there covering everything. I think perhaps he was overly trusting,
00:05:37
but not in a naive way. I think he just truly wanted to believe the best in everyone, especially a friend
00:05:42
who he thought that he knew. I had no clue that Tim was living with George. And I can believe why George wouldn't share that with me.
00:05:53
Because if I ever heard that, I would have definitely had my opinion to why I thought that was a bad idea.
00:06:03
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Is it just me or is there something weird about this whole situation?
00:06:08
In September 2017, George has bigger things to worry about. Somehow Tia loses her job.
00:06:16
George is now the only person standing between the Young family and serious money troubles.
00:06:22
So George says, don't worry about it, Tia, we're fine. And he just takes on more hours to support the family.
00:06:28
I knew that he would get home late. He was always parked out front in the road. You can pretty much hear him when
00:06:35
he would get home from work. Anyone looking from outside in, you could never have imagined that there was a problem of the magnitude that
00:06:43
was about to happen. You did not have a clue about that. You knew he was proud of that any other husband.
00:06:51
You know, put in the time in a job, taking care of your family, and then trying to balance that with being there
00:06:58
for your wife and your kids. I think George must have been under a terrible amount
00:07:03
of stress knowing that he was basically supposed to be the savior for his entire family and now
00:07:08
also this long-time friend. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: But we all know a guy like George,
00:07:12
don't we? He isn't taking time for anyone. Meanwhile, can we guess what out-of-work Tia is doing?
00:07:20
You got it. Getting to know Tim. They are continuing to refer to each other as cousins or sister and brother.
00:07:28
It's pretty clear, as you can see later on from their phone messages, flirty phone messages talking
00:07:37
about their relationship, that it is way beyond fraternal. It's not the sister-brother.
00:07:44
This is the ultimate betrayal because Tim was given a second chance at life, and yet he
00:07:50
was sleeping with George's wife under his very nose, under his roof, while he was working
00:07:55
hard to provide for the family. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: It's 2017, 22 years since George
00:08:02
and Tia young tied the knot. And while George was away working, his wife and Tim are working up a sweat together.
00:08:10
And working out a plan. I was actually out with some friends and I got a call from my daughter who was babysitting.
00:08:19
We had a four-month-old baby. I got a call that she had heard a gunshot very close
00:08:25
and almost sounded like it was inside the house. [dramatic music] Around half of Georgian's own a gun, but not George Young.
00:08:47
He doesn't even carry one at work. We did a lot of executive protection with high-end clients.
00:08:54
Those were armed details. We do a lot of celebrity protection, Beyoncé, Usher. And and when they require firearms then we do firearms.
00:09:05
But a lot of times a lot of it was unarmed. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: George isn't exactly a natural when
00:09:11
it comes to handling weapons. George and I talked about guns. And he always would ask, hey, am I going to get trained?
00:09:18
Are you going to train me? One day at the office, I took my firearm so George could hold it.
00:09:26
I made sure removed the clip, everything, it was clean. Back, showed him out, and I unlocked
00:09:36
it back, so he could hold it. So George held the gun so bad that it scared me that he had it, that maybe I didn't
00:09:45
take out all the bullets. I quickly took the gun back. I said, George, we'll get a day to train.
00:09:52
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: That day never came around, and I'm guessing that's about to become relevant.
00:09:58
Most people would think that because it's security and protection that it comes with a certain level of risk.
00:10:03
And the reality, it's a very low risk. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: So November 16, 2017,
00:10:09
George is unarmed. It's a big night for Strickland Security and, as always, George Young is on point.
00:10:17
We had an executive detail, a pretty big one. It was at Macy's Lenox Square in Buckhead.
00:10:27
The artist was Lil Yachty, great event, big crowd, everyone was very happy. George returns home late at night, between 11:23 and 11:25.
00:10:43
He gets out of his vehicle, puts his key in the lock of the front door, and just
00:10:49
as he's turning it, boom! Out of nowhere, two gunshots. One to the chest. One to the face.
00:10:55
He was shot from the side. He was ambushed. He never saw the shooter coming. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: What is going on?
00:11:04
This is Montauk Hill, not somewhere you expect to hear gunfire. I was actually out with some friends and I got a call
00:11:13
from my daughter who was babysitting, we had a four-month-old baby. I got a call that she had heard a gunshot very close,
00:11:20
it almost sounded like it was inside the house. She was scared. Told her to run upstairs and check on the baby
00:11:26
to make sure somebody didn't shoot a gun from outside and come into the house. And told her to call 911
00:11:33
WOMAN 1: 911, what's your emergency? Tia says she was asleep when all of a sudden
00:11:38
she heard this noise. And she was afraid. She didn't know what was going on. About six minutes after the shots were fired,
00:11:46
Tia called 911 TIA YOUNG: I just heard a gunshot. And said she believes her husband
00:11:51
had been shot but she didn't want to go downstairs because she was squeamish and she didn't want
00:11:56
to see her husband like that. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Does that sound right? We have our first red flag.
00:12:02
I think it is a ridiculous alibi that a loving and doting wife would not go and check
00:12:07
on your husband's dead body. I don't care how squeamish you feel, how much you don't like blood.
00:12:13
This is the blood of the love of your life. And anybody would, in that particular situation,
00:12:19
would not be thinking about their squeamishness and would just be running out there to see
00:12:22
what happened to their husband. George dies at the scene. On the 911 call, Tia explains that Timothy is her brother.
00:12:35
And that after hearing the shots, he got his shotgun and went outside to investigate.
00:12:41
And that's where Timmy found George dead. When Tia calls 911, a couple of things stick out.
00:12:49
One is she's referring to Tim as her brother and it's pretty apparent that's not the case.
00:13:00
And the other thing is she tells them, please, when you arrive don't bring the lights and sirens.
00:13:08
I really would rather not wake my children. Who does that? Who in a situation, your husband is murdered
00:13:23
and you don't want the police to turn on their-- get them over here as soon as they can.
00:13:28
The quicker they can collect evidence, , the quicker they can get camera, possible camera footage,
00:13:34
whatever it takes, do it. But no, she doesn't want them to wake up the kids. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: But here's something
00:13:42
else that doesn't smell right. The boys won't wake up until long after the cops have arrived.
00:13:48
How do you figure that one? It is speculated that he may have given them medication to keep them asleep so they wouldn't
00:13:58
hear what was going on. My guess is that she didn't want them to wake up and discover what was going on and thwart her plans.
00:14:07
If a woman is going to kill her husband, she's probably not a good mother either.
00:14:12
So I imagine it wasn't to save them from any trauma, it was to save her from being caught.
00:14:20
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Here's what first responders find when they approach the Young family home.
00:14:25
A 43-year-old man, George Young, dead on the front steps. No gunman to be seen. Are we looking at a robbery here?
00:14:34
The house and yard are taped off with crime scene tape, a pretty rare sight in this cute,
00:14:40
family friendly neighborhood. There was cops and news reporters everywhere. You couldn't even-- it was a half mile from the beginning
00:14:49
of the neighborhood to my house, and I pretty much had to walk it because they had everything,
00:14:54
there was just cars everywhere. Once all the kids were checked on, everything was fine,
00:14:57
I could actually see George laying on the sidewalk of his doorway. When detectives arrived on scene,
00:15:05
they realized, pretty quickly realized, that this was not a robbery. Everything of value that George had was
00:15:11
still present, his wallet, his iPad, his keys, cell phone. Anything of value was still there so robbery
00:15:17
was probably not the motive. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: That's one motive struck off the list.
00:15:23
So what are investigators looking for right now at the Young family home? They're asking if the clues at the scene
00:15:31
match what they're being told about the shooting. It's not necessarily just the firearms evidence
00:15:36
that you collect. It's the firearms evidence that's missing. If there is a shell casing missing,
00:15:42
when we know there should be two and there's only one present, then that suggests that someone moved the first shell casing.
00:15:48
Those are all very important points because a person may have just missed the first shell casing
00:15:55
and found the second one. Or, in their haste, they only collected one. It's as if the scene has been cleaned up.
00:16:03
But if this just happened as they they're describing it, it doesn't add up. More and more things are not adding up.
00:16:10
Investigators were a little discouraged to find out that there was security surveillance at the home, but the particular camera
00:16:17
was not operable. That camera was disconnected, so police naturally get suspicious about that.
00:16:25
But as it turns out, George had just been too busy helping his customers. And when talking to George's son, George's son
00:16:34
explained that George had talked about fixing the camera but never got around to doing so.
00:16:39
It seemed that he was putting up security and making sure cameras were working everywhere else
00:16:45
but neglected his own. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Can you imagine how frustrated detectives are right now?
00:16:51
Maybe the family can tell them more. Tia start throwing out things to detectives.
00:16:56
And maybe it was gang initiation or gang violence. Maybe it was George's work with a rapper.
00:17:04
Anything that she could do to kind of give them a clue of what may have happened.
00:17:10
She was asking me, hey, what happened? What happened today? What happened at the job?
00:17:15
What happened at the detail? And you know, I'm, everything, and this is over the phone.
00:17:21
And I'm saying, everything was fine, Tia. Everything was fine. George was not in harm's way.
00:17:27
I don't know what's going on. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Next on detectives' radars is Tim Lee, the guy who's at home with Tia
00:17:34
when George is shot. He seems like a credible witness. No reason not to trust him.
00:17:40
Till a few hours later, when Rod Strickland and his wife get to the scene, and cops realize
00:17:47
Tim is not who he says he is. Eventually, one of the detectives showed up and said, well, who are you guys?
00:17:55
And I explained to him who we were and we asked him what happened. He said, well, you know, someone shot him
00:18:06
as he put his key in the door. So we were just questions, all kind of questions for him.
00:18:18
And he said, yeah, well we just talked to Tia and her brother. And we were whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:18:26
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Tia and her brother? She doesn't have a brother. And the detective said, really?
00:18:36
She said this person over there is her brother. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Riddle me this, everyone.
00:18:41
Why on Earth is Tia Young pretending to cops that Tim Lee is her brother? When it got to day three, I realized there's
00:18:50
something going on here. There is definitely something going on between Tia and Tim.
00:18:56
[dramatic music] MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Can you imagine George's family getting the news out of the blue
00:19:16
that he's been killed? His sister, Ivy Barnhill, lives six hours away in Myrtle Beach.
00:19:23
She calls Tia right away, and immediately she smells a rat. Call it sisterly instinct.
00:19:30
George's your sister Ivy called after she heard of the incident, Tia, but Timmy answered Tia's phone.
00:19:39
And she didn't know that someone had been living with them and she didn't think that there was
00:19:45
a man that would be comfortable enough to answer their phones. Ivy goes to the home.
00:19:50
She wants to know what has happened and how can this be true. Could her brother really be dead?
00:19:55
Ivy he gets to the house and she finds Tia and Tim in a bedroom, close together, which is odd.
00:20:04
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Tim hanging around doesn't seem right. It's kind of giving everyone a bad feeling.
00:20:10
Whole family didn't know anything, you know, what was going on except for them two.
00:20:14
So I just felt like, even when I was over there bringing stuff over for the kids and hanging out with the little one,
00:20:21
it just seemed very, like, put on. Like a show was being put on. The other thing that concerned Ivy was that Tia didn't
00:20:29
seem to show a lot of emotion. She appeared maybe to be upset, but there were no tears.
00:20:35
And when she greeted Ivy she just acted as if though it was a regular visit. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: So let's get the straight.
00:20:44
Tia's husband has been murdered. The father of her three kids. And she can't squeeze out a tear or two?
00:20:51
Walked inside. Tia met us all. She was, she seemed a bit more cordial than anything else.
00:21:01
Hey! Hey, guys. You want something to drink? No, no, no one wants anything to drink.
00:21:11
Tia, what happened? What happened? So then she starts talking but then the phone rings.
00:21:20
So somehow she gets on the phone and now she's talking to the donor group about his parts, his body
00:21:33
parts. And they're talking about, and we're all there listening to her. And she's very OK on the phone.
00:21:44
His eyes, his this, his that. OK, you're going to-- OK. And in my mind I'm going, is this what happens?
00:21:55
How are you capable of doing this? I think the way people grieve is completely different
00:22:00
all across the spectrum. But there are some things that just don't make a lot of sense.
00:22:06
So if someone is appearing to be nonchalant about someone being murdered, it's not necessarily indicative of them
00:22:16
being suspicious. But if they're nonchalant and in the bedroom with another man,
00:22:22
that kind of adds to the suspicion. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: And when she talks to Rob,
00:22:26
Tia is messing up all over the place. The more she kept talking, the more pieces
00:22:32
she would give, including up to what happened that night. It would change a bit regarding where Tim was.
00:22:41
First Tim was downstairs, but then Tim was upstairs. And the more pieces I'm getting here I'm saying to myself,
00:22:50
I think I'm reaching a part where I need to talk to the police. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: It's no secret
00:22:56
that when there's a murder at home there's a big chance the victim's other half is involved.
00:23:02
We know it. The detectives know it. So two days after George was shot, the cops have a lot more questions
00:23:10
for Tia Young and the guy she keeps calling her brother. During their interviews, both seem to change
00:23:18
their stories quite a bit. There are inconsistencies between the two stories. And as they change, it's obvious that they can't
00:23:25
keep their stories straight. On the 911 call, Tia tells the police dispatchers that she heard what she thought may
00:23:36
have even been firecrackers. And on that same call, you can hear Lee coming into the room saying that George had been shot.
00:23:48
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Sitting in front of cops on November 18, Tia and Tim are each telling a different version
00:23:54
of the story. Guys, shouldn't you have worked this stuff out? The story that Timmy told investigators is that he heard
00:24:03
gunshots, he grabbed his gun, he went out to investigate, and came back inside and told Tia.
00:24:09
Whereas Tia's saying she heard the noise, and she went looking for him and said, did you hear that?
00:24:16
So obviously the stories are inconsistent. The cops are thinking something's up here.
00:24:21
But there's not enough to determine what exactly happened here. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: The cops are suspicious,
00:24:28
but what evidence do they really have? A lot of questions, not many answers. Are Tia and Tim responsible for Georgia's death?
00:24:39
Why would they kill him? Maybe Mrs. Young's next move will give something away. How am I going to do it by myself?
00:24:48
Everybody loved George. She goes on the television news and she plays her role. She is sobbing.
00:24:56
She is shocked and horrified. She is the grieving widow. There is nothing uncommon about people
00:25:04
making appeals to the media or to the public for finding someone who committed a crime.
00:25:10
In fact, it's often helpful. But for an investigator, the focus is now on the person
00:25:19
who's making the appeal. How am I going to do it by myself? Everybody loved George.
00:25:23
I think on the one hand, Tia was somebody who was trying to cover her tracks and have an alibi.
00:25:28
So it makes sense that she might express to family and friends how sad she was to have lost her husband.
00:25:34
But to go on TV and put this public persona out there and basically become a mini celebrity
00:25:39
and her community is a completely other thing. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Dr. Judy Ho, a forensic psychologist,
00:25:46
knows how people like Tia's mind works. And she's got a tip for Gwinnett County police.
00:25:52
What it shows me about Tia is that she was somebody who desired not only fortune but fame.
00:25:58
I think she was liking all of the attention that she was getting from the tragedy.
00:26:02
And she enjoyed playing this role of the doting wife and wonderful mother. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Now, I know actors.
00:26:08
And believe me, Tia's not winning any Oscars here. And when the grieving widow act gets too much for her,
00:26:14
George's friends start thinking maybe his murder was all about the Benjamins. The day of the murder we were there most of the day.
00:26:25
It was getting pretty late. And I said hey, Tia, the wife and I, we're going to have to take off.
00:26:31
We'll get some change of clothes, we're going to come back. And she said, before you go, can you help
00:26:38
me find the insurance policy? This is not normal widow behavior. I would imagine that the widow of someone who
00:26:46
was taken so tragically, this would be the last thing on her mind. In fact, someone might have to remind her that there's a will.
00:26:54
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Now Rob doesn't rush to the cops, but there's nothing like a grieving
00:26:58
sister to get things done. Ivy told investigators that there was a life insurance
00:27:05
policy and Tia was the sole beneficiary of that life insurance policy. Once detectives found out about the life insurance policy,
00:27:14
they discovered that within 24 hours Tia had attempted to cash in on that policy.
00:27:21
A life insurance policy on George worth a million dollars, and Tia is the sole beneficiary.
00:27:30
And she started just talking about the money and what the money was going to do.
00:27:37
And that didn't sit right with me. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: OK. Is it just me or is Tia's behavior looking very shady?
00:27:45
Detectives know something is off, but there is nothing to pin on her. Until a witness comes forward and drops a bombshell
00:27:54
into the investigation. The evidence was provided by me and my oldest daughter. When she was on the phone with 911,
00:28:03
she was looking outside to see if she could see anything. And actually saw a male figure run outside,
00:28:08
and run underneath George's truck, and do something, and then run back into the house.
00:28:14
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Who's the only man in the house at the time of George's murder?
00:28:18
That's right, it's Tim Lee. When police questioned Tim and they say, look, the neighbor saw you out there.
00:28:26
Said you ran outside right after the shooting. You grabbed something from under George's vehicle.
00:28:31
What were you getting, Tim? And Tim says, oh yes, well yes. I did, I had a GPS tracker, that George
00:28:38
had asked me to put a GPS tracker on his vehicle to keep him safe. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: I think we can all take a guess
00:28:45
at why cheating Tim might want to track Tia's husband's whereabouts. We found out later that there was a GPS locator
00:28:54
on George's truck so that they could figure out when he was coming home. Timmy's explanation for the GPS tracker
00:29:01
was an outlandish that George asked him to put the tracking device on his vehicle
00:29:07
for his, George's, safety. Timmy me claimed that George was a gunrunner and that he didn't want his family or friends
00:29:15
and know that. So he removed the GPS tracker so no one would discover this. Your friend has just been gunned down on his porch.
00:29:24
And you jump over the bloody body, and your first thought is, I need to get the GPS tracker off the truck.
00:29:30
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: I mean this story is a little unlikely. I had a talk with Tim, I said, Tim, what's going on?
00:29:37
The police interviewed you. He says, yeah He says, I know you're not going to believe me when I tell you this but
00:29:45
George was a gun runner. I'm fighting everything in my body not to grab him by the throat and throw him to the ground.
00:29:55
But I know that's the worst thing I can do for a lot of reasons. What I have to do is listen.
00:30:02
I said, really? Yes. George was gun running. George was moving guns from Florida to Georgia.
00:30:10
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Detectives aren't buying it either. Police are still having trouble getting enough evidence
00:30:17
to bring charges. But they are pretty convinced that this Tim and this Tia, they're behind this murder.
00:30:25
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: The detectives' case is looking stronger and stronger, but the puzzle is still
00:30:30
missing a couple of pieces. Such as what exactly is going on between the two prime suspects?
00:30:37
If they're going to bring charges, they need proof of what Tia is doing behind her husband's back.
00:30:44
They provide evidence from cell phones, conversations that the two have had. And they corner them on this relationship.
00:30:51
[dramatic music] MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Five months after the shooting, detectives have bagged some circumstantial evidence
00:31:16
and a lot of theories. They still can't prove who killed George. Then forensic technicians get around
00:31:25
to looking at the contents of Tim and Tia's cell phones and it makes for very racy reading.
00:31:32
Investigators now have possession of text messages, email messages, and it shows a very
00:31:41
intimate and sexual relationship between Tia and Timmy. Sexually suggestive text messages and funny memes,
00:31:49
talking about cheating on your husband and killing your husband. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: At Gwinnett PD,
00:31:54
there's a fascinating picture developing. Not only of Tia and Tim's motive, but also something
00:32:00
that looks like premeditation. In some ways, the joking around was probably a way that they tested
00:32:06
that water with one another. Well, are you willing to do this? Because if you are, I am.
00:32:11
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Time to haul the lovebirds back in for a deep and meaningful
00:32:14
conversation with the cops. Tia finally breaks. And she admits to police that, yeah, they were having
00:32:23
an affair, but this had nothing to do with what happened to George. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: The cards are stacking up
00:32:30
and they aren't in Tia and Tim's favor. The cops know now that the cheating couple has
00:32:36
been lying to them for months. They also know Tia's shown an unhealthy interest in cashing in on her husband's life insurance.
00:32:46
Come on, it is a million dollars. Now police have the life insurance policy, the affair,
00:32:53
they have motive. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Hang on. There's more. Police are searching through Tia and Tim's
00:33:00
electronic devices, their computers, their phones, and they find that Tim has been doing
00:33:05
some interesting searches. He had some very odd internet searches for things like snake venom, Black Widow spider
00:33:14
venom, or other deadly toxins. Various kinds of ways one might poison someone in case someone might want to poison someone.
00:33:23
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Can anyone else hear the sound of corks being popped down at the station?
00:33:28
Late April of 18 both of them are charged with murder, and they both plead not guilty.
00:33:32
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: TIA YOUNG: It's not over m though, it's now up to a jury to decide if the evidence is strong enough to prove Mrs.
00:33:40
young and her lover, Tim Lee, really are a pair of cold-blooded killers. March 28th, 2019, testimony gets underway in the murder
00:33:51
trial of Tia and Tim. The jury will hear testimony that includes the fact that this brother-sister relationship was
00:34:01
actually an affair the two were carrying on behind George's back. The jury will hear about a $1 million
00:34:10
life insurance policy where the sole beneficiary was Tia. And the jury will also hear that there was a GPS tracker
00:34:20
that Tim had placed on George, the victim's, vehicle, and found the need to, immediately after the murder,
00:34:28
run and retrieve it from George's truck rather than helping George. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: So this is
00:34:33
what the prosecution is saying. The tracker meant Tim knew, to the second, when George would be getting home
00:34:39
from work on November 16, 2017. As George's truck pulled up, Tim was waiting in the front yard.
00:34:47
He shot George twice then ran back into the house through the back door. George's friend, Rob, just can't fathom such an evil act.
00:34:56
When you go home, it's that time where everything just drops. And to know he's going in that door
00:35:05
and, putting his key in that door, and he is ambushed by the people who he thought loved him
00:35:13
and who he trusted. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: And their motive? It's a no-brainer. It was about the money.
00:35:21
It was about that $1 million. It was about her and Tim having a relationship and being able to start over again with the $1 million.
00:35:37
Tim and Tia started having an affair and basically they wanted to be together. And George had a very high insurance,
00:35:47
life insurance policy. And that's what the plan was, was to kill him, collect the insurance,
00:35:52
and then be together. So while my friend, my cousin, every other great name I could
00:36:02
ever call him, was breaking his behind, working three different jobs, doing the best he could to love his family,
00:36:12
her and Tim were starting their own family. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: The courtroom was packed
00:36:17
with people who loved George. Hearing the word guilty is a bittersweet moment for them.
00:36:23
After all, the deliberation and everything that happened, we heard guilty verdicts at the end.
00:36:34
First off, you get a real quick feeling that comes, first feeling comes. George isn't coming back.
00:36:43
That guilty verdict doesn't, doesn't all of a sudden he walks to the courtroom miraculously.
00:36:50
He's not coming back. But the second piece of that is the people who are responsible for his murder are going to pay for it.
00:36:59
Tia was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole plus 3 years.
00:37:05
Lee was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The judge said, you know, he thought
00:37:12
that if the two had not had this affair, George might still be alive today. He actually put the bulk of the blame on Tim Lee.
00:37:22
Here was a man that George had opened his home to. He had given him a job because this man was down on his luck.
00:37:31
And how was he repaid? He was repaid by having Tim steal his wife, attempt to steal his life insurance,
00:37:41
and ultimately to steal his life. It was the ultimate betrayal. The judge wanted to make that clear
00:37:48
and make sure that Tim Lee would never see another day as a free person. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: The sentencing of Tia
00:37:56
young and Tim Lee brings a kind of closure for George's loved one's. Justice has been done for George.
00:38:04
But can anyone ever really wrap their head around that kind of betrayal? Cheating on your husband of 22 years.
00:38:12
Killing him. Taking away your son's dad. What in the world? What in a world in life could cause
00:38:20
you to think that this was a way, that this was the answer? To take a man like that away from his children,
00:38:29
from his family. Do you know how much he loved you? Do you know how much he talked about you and his family?
00:38:41
Do you know the dreams that he had? Do you know why he worked so hard? He would talk about his loving wife.
00:38:51
He trusted you. He trusted you more than anything else in this entire world and you betrayed that trust.
00:39:02
And I hope, I hope she suffers every day. Every day. MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Tia young and Timothy Lee
00:39:16
were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. One in five murder victims are killed by their spouse.
00:39:25
George Young had the misfortune to love the wrong woman. I'm Michelle Trachtenberg and I'll see you next time
00:39:35
on "Meet Mary Murder." [theme music]

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  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 90
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  • 85
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  • 85
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Episode Highlights

  • George Young's Devotion
    George Young III was a dedicated family man who loved his wife and sons.
    “All I've ever heard from George was how much he loved his wife.”
    @ 00m 31s
    October 13, 2022
  • The Betrayal Unfolds
    Tia's affair with Tim Lee reveals a shocking betrayal against George.
    “This is the ultimate betrayal because Tim was given a second chance at life.”
    @ 07m 42s
    October 13, 2022
  • The Night of the Shooting
    George Young is ambushed and shot outside his home, leading to chaos.
    “Out of nowhere, two gunshots. One to the chest. One to the face.”
    @ 10m 50s
    October 13, 2022
  • Tia's Alibi Raises Suspicion
    Tia's odd behavior and alibi after George's murder raise red flags for investigators.
    “I think it is a ridiculous alibi that a loving and doting wife would not go and check on your husband's dead body.”
    @ 12m 05s
    October 13, 2022
  • Inconsistencies in Their Stories
    Tia and Tim's conflicting accounts during police interviews deepen the mystery.
    “Guys, shouldn't you have worked this stuff out?”
    @ 23m 56s
    October 13, 2022
  • The Inconsistent Stories
    Timmy and Tia's conflicting accounts raise suspicion about Georgia's death.
    “So obviously the stories are inconsistent.”
    @ 24m 16s
    October 13, 2022
  • Life Insurance Policy Discovery
    Detectives uncover Tia as the sole beneficiary of a million-dollar life insurance policy.
    “Tia was the sole beneficiary of that life insurance policy.”
    @ 27m 05s
    October 13, 2022
  • Shocking Text Messages
    Investigators find sexually suggestive texts revealing an affair and possible motive for murder.
    “It shows a very intimate and sexual relationship between Tia and Timmy.”
    @ 31m 37s
    October 13, 2022
  • The Murder Charges
    Both Tia and Tim are charged with murder, pleading not guilty in court.
    “Late April of 18 both of them are charged with murder.”
    @ 33m 31s
    October 13, 2022
  • Guilty Verdicts
    The jury delivers guilty verdicts for Tia and Tim, bringing a bittersweet closure.
    “Hearing the word guilty is a bittersweet moment for them.”
    @ 36m 23s
    October 13, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • It's a classic, right?
    *Wait* She Cheated On Him With His Friend?! (Meet Marry Murder hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg)
  • How far would you go to help out a friend?
    *Wait* She Cheated On Him With His Friend?! (Meet Marry Murder hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg)
  • Everybody loved George.
    *Wait* She Cheated On Him With His Friend?! (Meet Marry Murder hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg)
  • This is not normal widow behavior.
    *Wait* She Cheated On Him With His Friend?! (Meet Marry Murder hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg)
  • What in the world?
    *Wait* She Cheated On Him With His Friend?! (Meet Marry Murder hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg)
  • Do you know how much he loved you?
    *Wait* She Cheated On Him With His Friend?! (Meet Marry Murder hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg)

Key Moments

  • Family Man00:13
  • The Affair00:33
  • Gunshots Fired00:45
  • Inconsistent Accounts24:16
  • Suspicious Behavior26:42
  • Affair Revealed32:23
  • Murder Charges33:31
  • Guilty Verdict36:23

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown