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,
00:02:20
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]