Aug. 25, 2025

"WOLFENBARGER WALKS FREE: Jury Acquits Wife-Killer Despite Google Searches for 'How to Strangle Someone'"

Show Notes
Transcript

Reid Carter explodes over Christopher Wolfenbarger's shocking acquittal for murdering his ex-wife Melissa, despite prosecutors presenting his Google searches for "how to kill someone with your bare hands." Plus, the Menendez brothers' parole denials continue to reverberate as the board cited "lacking insight" and public safety risks. Weekend horror stories include death row killer Matthew Caylor who murdered his therapist then killed himself, and Nikki McCain who shot her husband then posted about needing a new boyfriend on Facebook. From calculated Google searches to Facebook confessions, today proves American juries will ignore any evidence if the defense tells a good enough story.

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WEBVTT

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Calorogus Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Red Carter. Monday, August

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twenty fifth, twenty twenty five. Today on Celebrity Trials, Christopher

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Wolfenbarger is a freeman. A jury in Georgia just acquitted

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a man who googled how to kill someone with your

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bare hands before his ex wife disappeared and was found

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buried on his family's property. But sure reasonable doubt. We'll

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recap the Menendez brother's spectacular failure at parole. Turns out

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admitting to prison phones, gang associations, and tax fraud doesn't

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scream rehabilitation. Plus, your weekend murder roundup includes a death

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row killer who murdered his therapist then killed himself and

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a California woman who shot her husband then immediately posted

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on Facebook about needing a new boyfriend. Subtle All that

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and more on today's Celebrity Trials. Let's quickly recap the

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Menendez brothers' parole hearings for those just joining us. Thursday,

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Eric Menendez was denied. Friday, Lyle Menendez was denied, and

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the parole board didn't mince words about why. According to

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their decision, both brothers are lacking in insight about their crime.

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That's bureaucrats speak for, you're still lying about why you

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murdered your parents. The board specifically cited Eric's recent disciplinary issues,

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the cell phones, the gang associations, the tax fraud scheme

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from prison. They said he poses an unreasonable risk to

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public safety. A man who can't follow rules and maximum

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security can't be trusted on the streets. Lyle got similar

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treatment multiple cell phone violations in twenty twenty four, not

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decades ago. Last year, the board said both brothers continue

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to minimize their responsibility and haven't genuinely accepted what they did.

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Commissioner Amy Lamb put it per ffc The brutal nature

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of these crimes and your continued failure to fully acknowledge

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your role makes you unsuitable for parole. Translation, you executed

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your parents for money and were not buying the abuse excuse.

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Thirty six years later, The brothers can try again in

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three to fifteen years, though with their moderate risk assessment

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it could be as soon as one year. But after

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these catastrophic hearings, good luck with that. Kim Kardashian has

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been silent since the denials. Netflix hasn't announced any new documentaries.

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Turns out celebrity endorsements can't overcome contraband, cell phones and

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prison gang memberships. The Menendez brothers killed their parents in

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nineteen eighty nine. They'll die in prison sometime in the

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next few decades. Justice served, even if it took the

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parole board to confirm what the jury decided in nineteen

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ninety six. Now for your weekend murder roundup, because apparently

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people can't stop killing each other, even on Saturdays and Sundays.

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First up, Matthew Kaylor, a North Carolina death row inmate

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who was out on a forty eight hour pass. Yes

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you heard that right, A death row inmate on a

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weekend pass decided to murder his therapist before killing himself.

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Kaylor was serving life for the nineteen ninety seven murder

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of Melinda Hinson, who he shot during a robbery. He'd

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been on death row for twenty eight years, but North Carolina,

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in its infinite wisdom, gave him a forty eight hour

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unsupervised release. During this brilliant decision, Kaylor went to his

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therapist's home and killed her. Then he killed himself. The

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therapist's name hasn't been released, but she's dead because someone

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thought a convicted killer needed a weekend off. This is

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what happens when we prioritize inmate's mental health over public safety.

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A therapist is dead because the system cared more about

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Kaylor's feelings than the danger he posed. Next up, Nicky

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Sale McCain in Califf. Excuse me in California? Who gives

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us the most insane social media confession since people started

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live streaming crimes. McCain thirty six, shot and killed her husband,

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Tyler McCain, thirty four, on Friday night in Stockton. Within hours,

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not days, hours, she was on Facebook posting about needing

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a new boyfriend. The post, which has since been deleted

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but was screenshot by everyone with a phone, said, and

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I quote, well I'm single now. Who wants to be

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my next mistake? Hashtag fresh start? Hashtag new beginnings. Your

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husband's body isn't even cold yet. Police arrested her Saturday

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morning after neighbors reported hearing gunshots and seeing her drag

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something heavy to her garage. That something was Tyler McCain's body.

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Her motive, according to investigators, she was angry he'd eaten

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the last of her yogurt. I'm not making this up,

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she allegedly shot him twice in the chest over yo play.

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She's being held without bail and his pleaded not guilty,

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though I'm curious how her lawyer is going to explain

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away the Facebook post, your honor, My client was grief

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stricken and processing trauma through social media. This is your

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brain on social media, folks, murder your spouse, immediately post

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about dating because nothing says I'm innocent, like advertising for

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a replacement before the blood dries back in a moment.

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But now for the main event, the story that made

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me throw my coffee mug at the wall. Friday afternoon,

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Christopher Wolfenbarger is a free man. After a week long trial.

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After prosecutors presented evidence that he googled how to kill

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someone with your bare hands after his ex wife's body

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was found buried on his family's property, a Georgia jury

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acquitted him of murdering Melissa Wolfenbarger not guilty. He walked

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out of that courthouse Friday afternoon, a free man. Let

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me remind you what we learned during this trial. Day

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four brought us detective Jamie Abernathy's testimony about Wolfenbarger's Google

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search history in the months before Melissa disappeared in November

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nineteen ninety eight. He searched for, and I'm quoting here,

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how to kill someone with your bare hands, how long

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does it take to strangle someone? And how to make

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someone disappear? But apparently that's just light reading for the jury.

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Day five brought doctor Karen Bailey, the medical examiner, who

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testified that Melissa died from blunt force trauma to the head,

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multiple impacts. Her skull was fractured in several places. This

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wasn't a single blow in a moment of rage. This

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was a beating. Day six, the prosecution laid out their timeline.

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Melissa was last seen November twenty fourth, nineteen ninety eight.

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Christopher claimed she left to go shopping for Thanksgiving dinner.

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Her body was found in two thousand and two, buried

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on his parents property. He told their children their mother

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abandoned them. But here's what destroyed the case. Melissa's mother,

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Norma Patten. Remember Norma, She's married to serial killer Carl Patten.

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She admitted, under immunity to helping her husband dispose of

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multiple bodies. The defense painted her as completely unreliable, and

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apparently the jury agreed. Defense attorney McClean. Watson stood up

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and actually argued with a straight face that maybe Melissa

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asked Christopher to kill her, that it might have been

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assisted suicide, that maybe she was so depressed about her

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serial killer father that she wanted to die, and the

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jury bought it. They deliberated for less than four hours.

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Four hours for a murder case with Google searches about

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killing methods, a body buried on the defendant's property, and

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a pattern of lies about the victim being alive. Christopher

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Wolfenbarger's own daughter, Christina Garrett, testified about growing up believing

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her grandparents were her parents, about finding out at age

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six that her whole life was built on lies about

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her father telling her that her mother had abandoned them.

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Didn't matter. The prosecution had everything motive, a custody battle opportunity,

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she disappeared from his house, evidence, those google searches, the

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body on his property, witnesses, multiple people testifying about abuse,

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but they had one fatal flaw. The victim's mother was

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married to a serial killer. This is what's wrong with

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our justice system. The defense doesn't have to prove innocence,

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They just have to create doubt. And what creates more

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doubt than a serial killer's wife is your star witness.

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Never Mind that Norma Patten was desperately searching for her daughter.

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Never Mind that even someone who helped cover up murders

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knew something was wrong here. Never Mind that being married

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to a killer doesn't make you wrong about everything. The

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jury looked at Norma Patten and decided they couldn't trust

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anything she said, and without her her testimony, the prosecution's

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case fell apart. So Christopher Wolfenbarger, who googled how to

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strangle someone whose ex wife was found beaten to death

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and buried on his property, who lied about her being

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alive for four years, is walking free today. He's probably

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having breakfast somewhere, maybe looking at apartments, perhaps setting up

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a dating profile, free as a bird, while Melissa Wolfenbarger's

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bones lay in a grave he put her in. This

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verdict is a masterclass in how to get away with murder.

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Make sure your victim's family has credibility problems. It doesn't

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matter if you leave a digital trail of murder planning.

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It doesn't matter if the body is literally in your backyard.

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If you can make the jury doubt the witnesses, you walk.

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The district attorney's office says they're disappointed, but respect the

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jury's decision. That's lawyers speak for, we can't believe these idiots.

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Let him walk. Christina Garrett, who lost her mother when

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she was two, had to watch her father walk free.

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On Friday. She released a statement saying, simply, the system

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failed my mother. Yes, it did. It failed Melissa Wolfenbarger

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when Christopher was googling how to kill her. It failed

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her when he was beating her to death, It failed

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her when he was burying her body, and it failed

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her again on Friday, when twelve people decided that reasonable

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doubt was more important than obvious guilt. Christopher Wolfenbarger murdered

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his ex wife. Everyone knows it. The prosecutors know it,

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the judge knows it. Hell I bet even his defense

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attorney knows it. But because the jury couldn't get past

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the serial killer connection, he's free. This is why domestic

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violence victims don't come forward. This is why women stay

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in abusive relationships, because even when their abuser googles how

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to kill them, even when their body is found buried

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on his property, he can still walk free if his

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lawyer tells a good enough story. Melissa Wolfenbarger was twenty

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three years old when she died. She had two young

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j children. She was trying to escape an abusive relationship,

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and the man who killed her just got away with it.

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Welcome to justice in America, where you can literally search

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how to kill someone, kill them, bury them, and walk free.

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If the jury doesn't like the victim's mom, Christopher Wolfenbarger

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is a murderer. The jury just decided they didn't care that.

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Celebrity trials from Monday, August twenty fifth. Tomorrow, we're checking

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in on the cardib assault trial as jury selection begins.

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Can the rapper convince twelve people that beating up your

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own security guard is somehow justified? Plus updates on next

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week's sentencing for the Austin Drummond family murders, and a

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preview of our upcoming Eight Days of OJ series beginning

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September twenty sixth. I'm Red Carter. Today we saw the

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Menendez brothers stay in prison where they belong, and Christopher

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Wolfenbarger walk free where he doesn't belong. The system works sometimes.

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Today wasn't one of those times until tomorrow. And remember,

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apparently you can Google how to kill someone and still

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get acquitted. So maybe clear your search history anyway, See

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you tomorrow.