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Callarogus shark media. Good morning, I'm read Carter. Tuesday, September sixteenth,
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twenty twenty five. Today on Celebrity trials. No massive breaking news,
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no political assassinations, no celebrity scandals, just your regular Tuesday
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collection of Americans solving their relationship problems with murder. A
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Hawaii man who allegedly used a tomahawk on his wife
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because apparently that's easier than filing for divorce. A Florida
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man on trial for killing his pregnant mistress who made
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the mistake of wanting him to leave his wife. Another
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Florida man who dosed his wife with drugs then choked
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her because insurance money beats marriage counseling. Plus updates on
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the Only Fans killer, Courtney Clennie, whose lawyers now claim
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the state destroyed evidence because when you're on video stabbing
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your boyfriend, your only hope is technical violations. Just another
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Tuesday in a Maria where murder is always on the
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table as a conflict resolution strategy. This is Celebrity Trials.
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Let's start in Hawaii, where paradise apparently includes tomahawk murders.
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Bryant to Jada forty five has been charged with murdering
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his wife, Alvina with a tomahawk. A tomahawk in twenty
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twenty five in Hawaii, where you have to really go
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out of your way to find a tomahawk to murder
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someone with September third, Honolulu neighbors called nine one one
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after hearing screams from the Tejeda residents, not arguing, not yelling,
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screams the kind that make you stop everything and reach
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for your phone. Police arrive to find Alvina to Jada
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forty three with massive head trauma. The tomahawk was still
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in the bedroom, covered in blood and hair. Bryant was
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in the living room, also covered in blood, watching TV
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like it was a normal Tuesday night. When police asked
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what happened, Bryant's response was remarkable in its stupidity. She fell.
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She fell onto a tomahawk multiple times, causing defensive wounds
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on her hands where she tried to block the weapon.
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The real story emerged through investigation. The Tajadas had been
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married eighteen years, three kids, ages sixteen, fourteen, and eleven.
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Bryant had been unemployed for six months. Alvino was supporting
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the family working two jobs as a nurse, and a
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hotel cleaner. She'd filed for divorce two weeks before her death.
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Bryant's Google searches tell the premeditation story. Two days before
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the murder, he searched how sharp does a tomahawk need
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to be? Then tomahawk versus hatchet for self defense? Then
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Hawaiian divorce laws, then how much alimony in Hawaii? Then
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back to best tomahawk brands. He literally went shopping for
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murder weapons on Amazon with prime shipping. The tomahawk arrived
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August thirtieth. Alvina was dead September third, three days from
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delivery to murder. The children were home when it happened.
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The sixteen year old heard the screams and locked her
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younger siblings in a bedroom. She called nine one one
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while her mother was being murdered down the hall. Imagine
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being sixteen and having to choose between helping your mother
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and protecting your siblings. She chose right, but she'll live
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with that choice forever. Bryant's defense attorney, Michael Chang, is
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trying to claim temporary insanity brought on by economic stress.
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Economic stress. He was stressed about money, so he tomahawked
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his wife, who was working two jobs to support him.
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The prosecutor, Jennifer Kowamoto put it perfectly at the arraignment.
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The defendant chose to murder his wife rather than accept divorce.
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He chose violence rather than alimony. He chose to orphan
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his children rather than co parent them. Bryant is being
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held without bail. The tomahawk has been entered into evidence.
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Amazon has provided purchase records showing he paid for expedited shipping.
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He paid extra to get his murder weapon faster. Alvina
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Tejeda was forty three. She was one semester away from
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finishing her r N degree. She'd been accepted into University
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of Hawaii's Nurse practitioner program. She was going to specialize
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in pediatric care. Instead, she died with a tomahawk in
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her skull while her children hid in a bedroom. Bryant
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Tajada thought a tomahawk was better than divorce court. Now
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he's facing life without parole and his kids are in
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foster care. Paradise indeed, now to Florida, where Jose Sodo
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Escallera is on trial for murdering his pregnant mistress. Because
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nothing says I love my wife like killing the other
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woman carrying your child. The trial started yesterday in Miami.
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Sodo Esclera, thirty eight, is charged with murdering Melissa Rodriguez,
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twenty six, who was seven months pregnant with his child
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seven months viable, a baby that could have survived outside
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the womb. June twenty twenty four. Melissa made the fatal
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mistake of calling Jose's wife, told her about the affair,
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told her about the pregnancy, told her Jose had promised
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to leave his wife months ago. Classic mistress mistake, believing
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the married man's promises. Maria Soto Escalera, the wife didn't
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take it well, but instead of divorcing Jose, she gave
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him an ultimatum, fix this or get out. Jose chose
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to fix it with murder. Jose lured Melissa to a
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warehouse in Hialea, told her they needed to talk about
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the baby, about their future, about finally being together. Melissa
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believed him, because pregnant women want to believe the father
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of their child isn't a monster. Security footage shows Melissa
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arriving at nine pm, walking in alone. Jose's car was
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already there. Melissa never walked out. Jose left at eleven
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forty seven pm alone. Her body was found three days
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later by a maintenance worker, strangled with an electrical cord.
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The baby died with her. The medical examiner testified yesterday
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that the baby suffered for approximately four minutes as oxygen
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was cut off. Four minutes of a viable baby dying
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because daddy didn't want to pay child's support. Jose's story
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has changed more times than a teenager's Instagram bio. First
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he never met her that night, Then security footage proved
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he did. Then they met, but she left alive. Then
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footage showed she didn't. Then she attacked him, and it
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was self defense. A seven months pregnant woman attacked a
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two hundred pound man. Sure his wife, Maria is standing
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by him. She's in court every day, holding his hand
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during breaks. The woman whose husband murdered his pregnant mistress
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is playing supportive wife. Either that's de nile or she's
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as sick as he is. The prosecutor, Anna Martinez laid
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out the motive yesterday. Jose was broke, his landscaping business
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was failing. His wife controlled the money from her family inheritance.
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A baby would mean child support for eighteen years murder
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was cheaper than monthly payments. Jose's phone had searches from
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the week before. How much is child support in Florida?
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Can you avoid child support if not married? Electrical cord
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strength test? How long does strangulation take? He googled it?
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They always google it like Google doesn't keep records, Like
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clearing your browser clears your crime. Melissa Rodriguez was twenty six.
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She was a kindergarten teacher. She'd named the baby Sophia,
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had a nursery set up in her apartment with pink everything.
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She believed Jose would be a father to their daughter. Instead,
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he became their killer. The trial continues this week. Jose
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faces life without parole for two counts of murder Melissa
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and baby Sophia. His wife still sits in the gallery,
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pretending her husband isn't a monster. And somewhere another mistress
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is calling another wife, not knowing she's signing her own
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death warrant. We'll be right back with more Florida murder
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and what happens when you kill your husband in front
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of the entire assisted living staff staying in Florida, because
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of course, we are Herbert Swilley's trial for murdering his wife.
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Starts next week, but jury selection began yesterday. This is
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a special kind of evil. The slow motion murder. March
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twenty twenty four. Timothy and Patricia Swilley had been married
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thirty one years. Patricia had early stage Parkinson's. Herbert saw
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opportunities where others would see obligation. Herbert started drugging Patricia's food,
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crushed up sleeping pills in her morning oatmeal, xanax in
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her afternoon tea ambient in her dinner. She complained about
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being tired all the time, dizzy, confused. Herbert told friends
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she was deteriorating from the Parkinsons, but Herbert got impatient
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drugging her was taking too long. So on March fifteenth,
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while Patricia was unconscious from the cocktail of medications he'd
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fed her, Herbert strangled her with her own bathrobe belt.
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He then called nine one one, claiming she'd committed suicide.
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Said she was depressed about her diagnosis couldn't handle the deterioration.
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The responding officer noted Herbert was remarkably calm for a
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man who'd just found his wife's body. The medical examiner
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found enough drugs in Patricia's system to knock out a horse.
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But more importantly, the ligature marks were inconsistent with suicide.
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The angle was wrong, pressure points didn't match. This was
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murder dressed up as suicide, Herbert's mistake. Patricia kept a
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journal hidden in her craft room, where she documented feeling
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strange after meals, documented Herbert bringing her special tea, documented
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her fear that something was wrong. The last entry dated
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March fourteenth, the day before she died. Herbert has been
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so attentive lately, too attentive. I'm scared to eat what
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he brings me, but scared to refuse if something happens
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to me. Look at Herbert. She knew, She knew her
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husband of thirty one years was poisoning her, But where
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could she go? Who would believe a Parkinson's patient over
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her devoted caregiver husband. Herbert's Google history sealed it. How
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much ambient is fatal? Mixing sleeping pills with other medications,
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How to make strangulation look like suicide? Life insurance payout
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timeline remarrying after spouse death, Florida. He was already planning
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his next wedding while planning his wife's murder. Patricia's life
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insurance was worth five hundred thousand dollars. Herbert had taken
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out additional policies in the months before her death. Total
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payout would have been one point two million. For a
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retired plumber. That was worth more than a sick wife.
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Patricia Swilley was fifty eight. She was an art teacher
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for thirty years. Even with Parkinson's she was teaching painting
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classes at the community center. She had years left, good
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years until Herbert decided her life insurance was worth more
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than her life. The trial starts Monday. Herbert faces life
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without parole. He's sixty one. Life without parole means dying
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in prison, probably wondering if his cellmate is putting something
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in his food. South Carolina, where Dorothy Williams seventy two,
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shot her husband Charles seventy four, at his assisted living
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facility in front of the nursing staff during morning medications
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September tenth, Sunrise Senior Living in Charleston. Charles Williams had
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been a resident for six months following a stroke. Dorothy
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visited every day at ten am. The staff loved her,
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called her devoted, dedicated, the perfect wife. Last Tuesday, Dorothy
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arrived at her usual time, signed in at the front desk,
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brought Charles his favorite cookies from home, sat with him
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in the common room while he had his morning medications.
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Then she pulled out a thirty eight revolver and shot
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him in the chest once, in front of three nurses,
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two aides, and six other residents. She didn't run, didn't
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resist when security arrived, just sat there holding Charles's hand
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while he bled out saying, it's okay, baby, it's over now.
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The investigation revealed Charles had been diagnosed with advanced dementia
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two weeks earlier. He didn't recogniz Dorothy anymore, called her
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by his first wife's name, sometimes thought she was trying
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to poison him. The man she'd been married to for
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forty five years, didn't know who she was. Dorothy had
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inquired about medical assistance in dying. South Carolina doesn't allow it.
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She'd asked about hospice. Charles wasn't eligible yet. She'd begged
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doctors to increase his comfort medications. They said he wasn't
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in physical pain, but Dorothy saw pain, saw her husband
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of forty five years terrified of his own wife, saw
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him crying for his mother, who'd been dead thirty years,
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saw him disappearing, one memory at a time, so she
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decided to end it. Not a murder suicide, just murder.
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She wanted to face the consequences, wanted to go to prison,
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said it was worth it to end his suffering. The
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staff is traumatized. The nurse who was giving Charles his
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medications is on leave. The residents who witnessed it are
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having nightmares. The facility is facing lawsuits from families claiming
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inadequate security. Dorothy's lawyer is pleading not guilty by reason
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of insanity, claims she snapped under caregiver stress, but Dorothy disagrees,
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told the judge at her arraignment she was completely sane,
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knew what she was doing, would do it again. The
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prosecutor doesn't want to pursue the death penalty. Dorothy is
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seventy two with diabetes and heart disease. Prison is essentially
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a death sentence anyway. Charles Williams was a retired teacher
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taught high school chemistry for forty years. In his lucid moments,
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he'd still explain chemical reactions to anyone who'd listen. Dorothy
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said she couldn't watch his brilliant mind disappear anymore. Sometimes
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murder isn't about anger, or money or revenge. Sometimes it's
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about love so twisted by disease that death seems like mercy.
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Dorothy Williams loved her husband to death literally. Finally, an
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update on Courtney Clennye, the Only Fans model who stabbed
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her boyfriend Christian Obumcelli to death in their Miami apartment.
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Clennie's lawyers filed a motion yesterday claiming prosecutors destroyed evidence
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and failed to disclose a witness. When you're on video
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attacking your boyfriend multiple times before killing him, your only
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hope is technicalities. The destroyed evidence a hard drive containing
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surveillance footage from their apartment building. The prosecution says it
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was corrupted and unrecoverable. The defense says it was deliberately
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destroyed because it showed Christian as the aggressor right the building.
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Surveillance would show what happened inside their apartment. That's definitely
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how cameras work. The undisclosed witness is supposedly a neighbor
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who heard Christian threatening Courtney. This neighbor mysteriously appeared eighteen
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months after the murder, didn't come forward during the investigation,
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didn't call police, just remembered now that they heard something important.
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The state filed their response yesterday. The hard drive was
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corrupted when they received it. They have documentation from three
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D forensic experts saying it was unrecoverable. As for the
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mystery witness, they note this person only came forward after
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being contacted by the defense's private investigator and paid for
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their testimony. Meanwhile, the evidence against Clennie keeps mounting. Her
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phone had videos of her attacking Christian on ten separate occasions.
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Ten times she filmed herself being violent because nothing says
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self defense like a Greatest Hits compilation of domestic violence.