20/20 - True Crime Vault: Dead Man Talking

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

"20/20" features the first network interview with Wendi Mae Davidson from prison, where she is serving a 25-year sentence for her husband's murder. Originally broadcast: March 25, 2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the 2020 True Crime Vault. Most people would call the police if they found their husband dead on the floor in their living room. What I did was absolutely horrible, but it's the absolute truth. She's in prison from murdering her husband. But she swears she's innocent. They look like a slightly struggling, but optimistic. mistake young couple. Mike, up at the Air Force Base, Wendy building her new veterinary practice. At what point did this apparent dream life sour? And why? Michael said that his marriage was rocky

and that he was thinking about getting out. It was on this ranch that police found a decomposing body, believed to be that of 24-year-old Dias Staff Sergeant Michael Severance. Michael Severance survived five tours of duty in the Middle East, but he did not survive five months of marriage to Wendy Davidson. He was telling her that he had a secret mission he was going on. I said Wendy. That man hasn't got, that's enough to pour piss out of the boot. You can't make this stuff up.

Like Dean Coombs couldn't make this up. How is it that a wife finds the unlawful? wife finds the only way to get rid of a husband is through murder. It doesn't sound right. It doesn't feel right. I did not kill home. We all know that Wendy's a pathological liar. Who killed Mike Severance if it wasn't her? I'm traveling to the Gatesville Correctional Facility about an hour west of Waco. I'm there to Wendy Mae Davidson, the former veterinarian, current convicted murderer. From day one, she has insisted she wasn't responsible for the death of her husband, Staff Sergeant Michael Severance. When you do interviews like this, you always wonder what it's going to be like looking into the eyes of a killer.

But Wendy doesn't look or act like any of the killers I've talked to. I'm going to cut to the chase and get right to business. You know, you've basically kept your silence for 15 years. Why did you decide to do this first network interview? I was kind of advised from the get-go. It'd be best not to talk. It seems like that that hasn't done me any favors. So I want my side of the story of what happened heard.

So I want people to know what did and didn't happen. Wendy's story starts here in West Texas. St. Angelo is a funny little town because it's so isolated. There's just acres and acres and miles and miles of nothing leading up to San Angelo. It's pioneer country. It's ranchers. It's people who go to church have very traditional values. Marriage, family, raising your children right, these are going to be the priorities for most. people. We're out here on our own. The closest town really of any size is an hour and a half away. So the people take care of the people here. In the 1980s in San Angelo, Texas, a bright

little girl named Wendy Mae Davidson grows up on what's a modest ranch. It's a quiet life with her father, Lloyd, who's a handyman, her stay-at-home mom, Judy, and her younger brother, Marshall. Wendy was a happy little child. Animals became her life. In fact, by the age of seven, she knew she weren't to be a veterinarian where she grew up. Wendy excelled as a student.

She had to work hard, and she really worked hard. She was driven in a lot of ways to succeed. Wendy took part in future Farmers of America events and volunteered at a local veterinary clinic while she was still a student at Water Valley High School. She went to school with my daughter. She was just fun-loving.

She was out-going, and, like I said, she was outgoing. She was very responsible. 2,000 miles to the northeast is another small town. Lee, Maine. It's very small, very, very depopulated. Lots of open land, but all of it was choked with trees as thick as any jungle. At this area, you get all four seasons. And so during the summer, you're rollerblading, you're biking, you're outside in the summer, you're outside in the winter.

There's always something to do. In this deeply rural countryside, a little boy named Michael Severance also grows up in a close-knit family with his mom, dad, and younger brother, Frank. Michael loved the snow. He loved being outdoors. He went hunting. He went fishing. He went fishing. He went He went skiing. He wanted to do everything downhill, cross-country, you name it. And he excelled at it. And he was of the fabric of the woods of Maine. And Michael's family still lives up here in North Maine. Hi, Matt. Welcome to Maine. Oh, thanks for having us. This way. Appreciate it. Thank you.

What was he like growing up? I had a great son. He was a very, very good man. He put other people first to show you document after document letters after letters of his co-workers and such that say the same thing. I often called my brother, kind of my Superman. He was always there when I needed him. Tragedy hits this family early on when Michael's mother suddenly collapses with a brain aneurysm. I believe he was around 13 or 14 when his mom died.

I think Frankie was 11. Tough age to lose your mom. Yes. It was a shock to the system. We, as a family, my dad, myself, we didn't know how to function without her. It was challenging. There were nights where I would cry myself to sleep, and he would be. be there rubbing my back or just kind of telling me, you know, everything's going to be okay.

Near the end of high school, what were his career ambitions or just ambitions in general? I said, I suggest the military. And a little while later, he came to me and said, Dad, I'm going to enlist in the Air Force. This was the life-changing event for him to join the Air Force to do the things that he had always dreamed of doing in terms of adventure and being part of a team. Mike was stationed at the Air Force Base in Abilene, which is about an hour and a half from San Angelo. He loved the job because of the camaraderie,

because of the sense of adventure, because of the feeling he got from knowing he was doing something to serve his country. That meant a lot to him. Joining the Air Force is a turning point in Michael's life. Being a part of that Air Force team, and then ending up in Texas, certainly he was a fish out of water in many ways in Texas. There are a lot of ifs about this case.

If only Michael had never left Maine. If only he'd never joined the Air Force. If only he'd never been stationed in Abilene, Texas. But all of that did happen to a young man with a promising military career ahead of him. And then he met Wendy. I mean, I wish I could do it all. over again. You know, I don't think I was a terrible person. I think I just made a really horrible mistake. A lot of people were pretty certain that something was wrong. At what

point did this apparent dream life sour and why? Long before Wendy May Davidson crosses paths with Michael Severance, she's an aspiring young woman with a dream of working with animals. Even as a teenager at Water Valley High School, she has plans to become a veterinarian. Her younger brother, Marshall, has ambitions to go into law enforcement. And at the heart of the family is Judy, a powerful personality who's got high hopes for her children. The Davidson family was, was, people described them as close-knit, and I always thought that meant guarded. Going way back, Who was Wendy Mae Davidson?

Who were you? I grew up on a farm, so my life pretty much revolved around animals. I mean, I like to go out and have fun, but for the most part, you know, animals, veterinary medicine, and my family, you know, that was pretty much, that was pretty much me. By almost all accounts, the person closest to Wendy, the central figure in her life is Judy. a strong and loving mother. Judy saw the potential in her daughter and was determined to help her fulfill it.

In 1996, Wendy graduates second in her class from Water Valley High School. Judy wanted her daughter to be successful. There was a lot of drive in that family. And success in high school leads to success in college for Wendy. Wendy went to Texas A&M, which is one of the toughest veterinary schools, and she did very well. But she was also rebellious.

She also wanted to have fun. I think in some ways, once she tasted freedom, she just went overboard. And she got pregnant while still in Texas A&M. In October 2001, Tristan is born. Now, Wendy says that her relationship with Tristan's father falls apart, leaving her a single mother and a student. her mom moved across the state of Texas to live with Wendy to care for the infant so that Wendy

can continue to go to school Wendy graduates with a veterinary degree in May 2002 and she heads back to West of Texas gets her first job as a vet in Abilene. Meanwhile, Michael Severance is also in Abilene, stationed at Dias Air Force Base. After several deployments to combat zones in the Middle East, Mike continues to build a terrific career and assume greater levels of responsibility as a C-130 crew chief. So he loved the Air Force, was doing really well.

The worlds of Wendy May Davidson and Michael Severance are about to collide. Mike and Bray, Wendy met when he was out line dancing. And I think she just was drawn to him like a magnet. I was there with a friend, and he came and asked me to dance. And I had an emergency call before long, so I had to go see a pet.

Something I normally wouldn't do, I gave him my phone number just because I had to leave. And I figured I might never see this guy again. They had a flash romance. I think they just hit it off immediately. He was quite surprised when she called up and said, Hello, I'm pregnant with your child. Despite only knowing each other for a couple of months,

the couple decides they want to make a go of it, and Wendy introduces Mike to her family. Mike probably didn't make the best impression on the Davidson's family. They probably think he's a little bit too much of a playboy, a guy who's out at the bars trying to pick up women. Judy did not like him from the outset. Why didn't your family like Mike? I think it was probably primarily my mom.

She never liked any guy I ever dated. She always felt like they weren't good enough. Mike came along. She thought that he was rude. In what way rude? One story she told me was when we were staying at her house overnight. She told me she saw him walking in the hallway to the bathroom at night in his boxer shorts, and she thought that was disrespectful.

Judy described Mike as lazy and claimed he to get angry if anyone asked him to do anything, so she said she kept her distance from him. I think she looked at him as kind of a scrub. He's come into her life, and the first thing he does is get her pregnant. So I found out I was pregnant with Shane, but it was just things happened out of order. It kind of sounds like the pregnancy forced you into marriage. He asked me, you know, do you want to get married now? And I, of course, I wanted to.

You know, I wasn't going to pressure him. In September 2004, Wendy's second child, Shane, is born. And Mike makes a decision that will change his life forever. The wedding was in a justice of the peace office. They repeated their vows. The rings were exchanged, and that was that. Michael's dad and brother traveled to Texas for the wedding, the wedding and it feels like an immediate culture clash. Lloyd came in and he said you must be the dad and I said, I am. He said, well, I'm Lloyd. We shook hands and he turned around and left. And that was

pretty much it. Judy Davidson came in, pretty much just introduced herself and left. But Judy remembers the day differently. She says she bought the wedding cake, paid for the dinner and that Mike never even thanked her. As for less, Judy says she felt he was a bit standoffish. They were supposed to meet us all for this dinner, which they never showed up. So there was animosity right from the get-go. The Davidson's want to give their daughter a hand, so they help her finance her veterinary clinic. At the back of the building, there's just enough space for a small apartment and it's there that mike eventually moves in with wendy and the two boys it was really very small and cramped for four people it wasn't a very comfortable existence

wendy is trying to manage two small children a tiny little residential area her family and her practice. So there's a tremendous amount of stress in this relationship for a young couple that basically are starting out with two young kids. And adding to these rising tensions, Michael's about to be redeployed. So long days, and then on top of that, he chose to live well away from the base, so ended up having to spend three hours out of every day commuting, which in itself takes a toll. It just becomes almost a big cauldron, boiling, a situation that could easily boil over. Michael's just returned from an Air Force training course and gets into an argument with Wendy. Wendy started yelling at him, and Michael's pretty much said, screw this, I'm going to, I'm going to take Shane and go to Abilene.

That stirred up a hornet's nest. We have a downed space travel. Tonight, the premiere of Fax's Alien Earth. This ship collected specimens from other worlds. Invasive species. Creditory. From creator Noah Hawley and executive producer Ridley Scott. We don't lock them down.

It'll be too late. What did you do? FX's Alien Earth premieres tonight on Fax and Hulu. Fridays, Project Runway is back in dramatic fashion. This is more stressful than Cinderella at the ball. Welcome to the runway. Heidi Kloom returns his host. One day you're in, and the next day, you're out.

I'm here to show them who's the queen. With Christian Seriano. I'm excited. And judges Nina Garcia and Law Roach. I hated your dress. Hate is such a big word. It's a short word. It's only four letters.

Project Runway, new episodes Fridays. Stream on Hulu and Disney Plus. it's thursday january thirteenth it's been four months to the day since wendy married mike he's just gotten back from an air force training course and gets into an argument with wendy and mike without saying a word took shane and drove up to avalien just to you know cool off loose team and he hadn't shown shane around to his first He didn't tell Wendy he was leaving. I mean, he was upset with Wendy.

Wendy, of course, is losing her mind trying to figure out where he is and where he has taken their son. She's calling him, but he will not answer the phone. There was a confrontation with him. When he got back, he caught a hell from Wendy, that he can't just take the baby whenever he likes. Mike said, oh, he's my son too. Like, I can take my son where I want.

on what I want. Wendy took Michael's taking off with the baby as a sign of things to come, as a warning, a portent. He's now under significant pressure at home, and Mike is also readying himself for redeployment, likely to the Middle East. We learned today of two more American soldiers killed in Iraq. 577 U.S. troops have died in action now since the war began. Michael had deployed several times to the Middle East after 9-11, so he knew what deployments were like. But this was the first time with this new wife, with a baby, that he would have to leave them behind and, again, go somewhere else on the other side of the world. And it creates a lot of anxiety and angst. So that house was under a lot of pressure, a lot of anxiety just prior to his deployment.

It did seem you had a guy who had a good job, maybe he was about to be deployed, but was there for you? you and the children. He helped. He was loving to you. You guys had fun. At what point did this apparent dream life sour and why? I still don't know that it ever did. Everything was fine to me, but see, I was busy. I was in the middle of trying to run this clinic I had just opened, taken care of two little babies. The only thing that I noticed that changed with Mike was he was having a very hard time driving back and forth to Abilene every day. So, I did notice that that he had started, he was still drink every afternoon, he was drinking, but then he started kind of, at first I noticed he was using caffeine pills and like a fedra,

something like that. He did ask me on a couple occasions if I had anything that could help him sleep. And the only thing I ever gave him was Benadryl. Would you say that he was abusing alcohol and drugs? At the time, I didn't realize there was an issue, but looking back, you know, like hindsight's 2020 and everything. So looking back, obviously there was a problem. That's not normal. Now, despite what Wendy says, there was never any evidence that Michael had a problem with drugs or alcohol. It seems that even with everything else they're going through, the couple has at least one thing to look forward to. They plan to squeeze in a trip to Michael's hometown in Maine before his next deployment.

They book tickets for the whole family, Mike, Wendy, Tristan, and baby Shane for Sunday, January 16th. Michael was very, very excited because we were excited. A lot of his friends were going to get to see the baby and his new wife. So it was really much looking forward to spending an hour or five minutes or just, hey, good to see you, give him a quick hug, hold the baby and spend some time with the baby. And, you know, just kind of show Tristan what snow was. I'm not even sure if Wendy had ever seen snow. So it was going to be a change for them, too.

Regardless of the challenges they're facing, on Friday, Wendy and Mike decide to go out for the evening, just the two of them. Michael doesn't know it yet, but his days are now numbered. That last Friday night that you went out to dinner together, probably had a few drinks. Yes. Do you remember anything about that night?

We went out, we had fun, we came back, he slept in. I mean, everything seemed fine to me, you know, that night and even the next day when I saw him. That was Friday, you saw him Saturday. Yeah, he was at the clinic. And then everything gets murky. Between Friday night and Sunday morning, we really just have Wendy's version of events. Describe to me the last time that you say you saw you saw. say you saw your husband alive. Okay, so Saturday morning, I stayed at the clinic until three,

and I was going to take Shane and go get Tristan because we were supposed to go to Maine on Sunday. I saw Mike. He was in the back watching TV, and I told him that I was going to go out to my parents' house and get Tristan, and I would be home in a little while. No one other than Wendy knows exactly what happens next, but one thing is for sure. Michael never be heard from again. And Tristan started crying. He said, mommy, why are we crying? And I said, because I don't know where daddy is,

I said, I guess we're not going to go to the name. It was January 16, 2005, and that's when everything changed up here for the Severance family. We were supposed to go to the airport and pick him up. I walked through the door and said, let's come, you guys aren't ready, let's go, let's go. We've got to go down. We've got an hour and a half ride to Bangor to pick Mikey, and Mikey's wife and baby. We've got to get him.

And Brenda says, you need to sit down. She said, well, Michael's messing. And I said, what do you mean, Michael's messing? Well, Wendy can't find him. She's saying that she couldn't go to Maine because she can't find. find Michael she's saying maybe Michael went to Maine without me I got to talk to Wendy and asked what's going on Wendy what was what's up and she says well I don't know I was I had taken his truck and gone to my mom's house and when I got back he

was he was gone Clearly, Michael Wendy and the boys are not catching that flight to Maine. Instead, Wendy calls her mother Judy. Did your parents know that Mike disappeared? When I called, I asked my mother, do you know where Mike is? And she said, no, do you know where Mike is? and I said well he's not here I don't know where he is

and she said well then you need to come up to the house right now so I got the boys went out there I went to sleep at some point now here's one of the first strange things Wendy does despite her parents telling her to call the police Wendy spends that Sunday sleeping on and off throughout the day at their house definitely thinking like if my husband was missing

I wouldn't sleep I wouldn't eat I would be searching for him I would be looking for him I would be calling everybody I knew on the sun to come help me and when he does eventually call the San Angelo Police Department at 6.43 p.m. that night telling them her husband is missing and a manhunt begins I knew we had a missing airman, and they were in the process of looking for him. He'd totally fallen off the radar screen, totally disappear.

The very next day, Wendy does something extraordinary. Within 24 hours, she filed for divorce. Bizarre as this sounds, Wendy does have an excuse. It wasn't her idea, she says. It was her parents. I was a zombie at this point time, just doing whatever they said. My dad took me to the attorney's office, told them whatever. He signed the papers, though.

Of course I did. They told me to sign the papers. I did what they told me to do, and I don't know why. Not only did she file for divorce, but she got a restraining order against him. A restraining order that forbid him from writing to her, being a restraining order. around her, talking to her on the telephone. In that request for the restraining order, Wendy claims she's worried Michael will take Shane away from her.

Just a day after Mike went missing, Wendy filed for divorce and filed for a restraining order against Mike. Red flag. In the days that follow, officers talk to Wendy and visit the clinic. On Wednesday, Wendy is interviewed by the San Angelo Police

department. She says that Saturday afternoon was the last time she saw her husband. I walked in and he wasn't anywhere. But I thought, well, that's not unusual. He's probably across a bundle of lovelings or maybe went down the grounds or something. They'll move back a little bit. So we get more worried and more worried and I started crying. And Tristan started crying. He said, Mommy, why are we crying? And I said, because I don't know where daddy is and if you don't hurry up and get back and we can't get everything packed. I said, I guess we're not going to go to Maine. So about 5 o'clock, that's when I picked up the phone and I called my parents and said, y'all heard from my crazy.

Days later, the investigation ramps up when the San Angelo police team up with the Texas Rangers. My name is Sean Palmer. I'm a retired Texas Ranger. I joined the investigation with the Tom Green County Sheriff's Department and the San Angelo Police Department as kind of a task force approach to the investigation. And so we got together and came up with ideas of other leads that we could follow to find out what happened to Michael. The investigators want to know if they can think of any reason why Michael might have run off. They talked to some of his buddies. I believe I met him in the latter part of November of 2004.

I'd even told him that any time he was in San Angelo to give me a shout. So he said, I don't go down there. a whole lot because my mother-in-law hates me and she wished I was dead and I kind of giggled about it and he said no I'm serious I just thought well maybe he's had enough of it and kind of went for a few days away and then I learned he left his car and his cell phone and I thought that was really strange because you know everybody lives by both nowadays and that's when I really begin to wonder if something was really going on the more the rangers dig the more they discover just how unhappy Michael appears to be in his marriage.

During the investigation, we interviewed a friend of Michael Severance named Jeffrey Holden. During our interview with Mr. Holden, he said that he had spoken to Michael around November, December period. And during that conversation, Michael said that his marriage was rocky and that he was thinking about getting out. Now, this is something the Texas Rangers want to drill down into further. So I obtained the cell phone records for his cell phone to try and determine what activity there was on his phone around the time that he went missing. And in one case, a female had his phone number programmed in her phone.

It was a compelling lead. These calls to Michael's phone, could Mike, in fact, be seeing another woman? This is not my son, Michael. This is not what he does. Staff Sergeant Michael Severance is missing. His newly wed wife, veterinarian Wendy Davidson, says he left their home while she was out with her family. There's no sign of him anywhere. His father, Les, is getting very anxious.

At that time, were you confident of the investigation by the Texas Rangers and the San Angelo police? No. No, I gotta be honest. I was not. They weren't asking the right questions. When Michael doesn't show up for work, he's considered AWOL, absent without leave. But it's highly unusual for somebody that had been in the service this long to just disappear. That raised the red flags, and that's why the Air Force was so diligent. We need to find out what happened here. So they now need to get the OSI involved, the Office of Special Investigations,

because this is a mystery. OSI has a lot of resources they can use on investigation. And as the investigation progressed, such as this one, where we're looking at a deser case. There are now several law enforcement agencies joining together to investigate Michael's disappearance. The task force then goes back to the clinic and decides they need to take a closer look

at the cell phone records. We were able to identify some of the phone numbers that contacted him. And in one case, a female had his phone number programmed in her phone. One of the scenarios that came from, him off was the fact that Michael might be having an affair with another woman. It seemed like a compelling lead.

Midnight calls to Michael's phone from a mystery woman. Maybe he was hiding out with her. I believe that if Michael was going to leave with another woman, he would have ended things with Wendy. He would have said, this isn't for me anymore. I want a divorce. And he would have done it the right way before he would have walked away. I don't think Mike had it in him to be a cheater or anything like that. It turns out this would-be girlfriend, it's just an old friend calling Michael.

Nothing more than that. But when investigators talk to the Davidson's, the couple supports the other theory from their daughter, Wendy, that Michael's gone awall. He was all concerned about he didn't want to be deployed because he was afraid that something bad was going to happen. And he kept saying, like, those guys that went over to Canada, and it would be so easy just to go into Canada. What do you think happened to him? I think you just pied out. You think it's strange you left with no blows and no money? If you had to met the guy, you wouldn't think it's strange at all.

Because I mean, he was just one super widow. You think anybody heard him or anything? He had a pretty smart mouth on him, so, you know, he popped off at somebody. I don't know. I mean, he was obnoxious, he was rude, he was nasty. nasty. I want no part of him. And I didn't want her or my babies to have any part of that.

I'm not going to want him. I didn't want him. Never did. Never will. And I hope no harm's come to him. But if I never see him again, that's fine too. I'm going to ask this question of everybody. Did you do anything to the .

No, I do. No, I didn't. Awesome. You just have a seat right there. I'll be right back to you. All right. Well, I asked Judy this too, I said, because I, you know, I've got to ask you. And I don't think anything did.

But, you know, I asked her, I said, did you do anything to him? Did you hurt him or do you know if anybody did? Do you know him? Well, I never did. And I never would. My thoughts are that at first I was leaning towards, he'd probably get out somewhere. I don't believe that's where most of his friends are and stuff, you know,

people that he knew. But then, you know, the more time was about I think, well, maybe one of his family, remember hiding out since he always told Wendy how easy it be to go over in Canada from Maine. And then, according to her, he had even said something about how easy it be to get fake ID and stuff like this. If he had taken off to Canada or something, you wouldn't cover him. Oh, gosh, no. I'd let y'all have him in a minute. He was telling her that he had a seat. secret mission he was going on. I said, when that man hasn't got

that's enough to pour piss out of a boot. Do you really think they're going to send him on a secret mission? He had like three, four years left, something like that. He wanted out. He was heard of people telling him what to do. The Davidson family seemed to indicate that they believed that Michael was worried about

an upcoming deployment, and so he left on his own. to avoid being deployed. The task force talks to Michael's family and friends and look into a service record. Michael really loved the service. There was no indication that he was a malcontent. He liked being in the Air Force, and he had gone to Afghanistan, and he was going to do it again.

His friends' minds are starting to go to some pretty dark places. I mean, things started running through my head that may be the possibility that something has happened to him, that somebody did do something to him. You know. It's now more than two weeks since Michael was last seen, an investigator search Wendy's clinic yet again. This time, they get Wendy's permission to make a copy of her computer hard drive for analysis.

It'll be several weeks before the results come back. In the meantime, investigators aren't ruling anything out. They're even considering the possibility that if Michael is AWOL, maybe it's Wendy who's helping them hide out. Their next move is critical. They put Wendy under surveillance in the hope she'll lead them to where Michael might be. We were given permission to place the tracking devices on Wendy's car. With that tracker in place, the task force will know anywhere that Wendy goes,

and they're hoping it leads them to Michael's location. Wendy's car is recorded making a trip to the 4-7s ranch. It's about 20 miles outside of San Angeles. They noticed on the tracking download that she had spent quite a bit of time at the pawn. Then on March 3rd, the results of Wendy's laptop search come in. Some bone-chilling revelations come to light. Ultimately, what became a breaking point in the investigation was when we learned about the research that she had done on the computer. When they looked in that computer, they found out that she'd looked to see about body decomposition.

for her to research that it would indicate that she had some knowledge that michael's body was in a body of water ranger sean palmer goes back to the clinic to question wendy one more time and at first she seems to have answers for why she's searching the internet about decomposing bodies she wasn't caught off guard by those questions. She explained that she had researched the decomposition of a body and water because during that time period, searchers, volunteer searchers were out searching for Michael. But he presses Wendy further, telling her he knows she's been to the 4-7s ranch and he wants to know why. She obviously became disturbed by the information that the pond would be searched and it caused her to kind of lose her

composure that she had maintained throughout the investigation. That's when Wendy started to feel the fire breathing down her neck. She grabbed her infant son, jumped in her car, and took off. If you're keeping score as to who's behaving like they're innocent and who's behaving like they're guilty, Wendy's behaving like she's guilty. Once police started really being on your tail, you called your brother Marshall. Yes. Wendy's brother, Marshall, is a game warden.

That's a law enforcement role. And he's now in an awkward position. They agree to meet at a nearby location, Grape Creek Cemetery. And that's where Wendy May's story is about to take a major plot twist. So Marshall arrived first, and he said, why am I here? What are we doing here? And she said, I've got to tell you all something. He said, well, tell me now.

What happened there? I told him what had happened. That I found Mike dead, and he dumped his body in the pond. The story Wendy tells her brother is that she came home that Saturday and found Michael dead in their living room. And in a panic, she decides to get rid of his body in a pond on the 4-7. on the 4-7s ranch. Of course, he was a bit shocked, but she kept swearing that she hadn't killed Michael.

But Wendy's revelation to her law enforcement brother Marshall is about to tear this close-knit family apart. He said, Wendy, he said, I'm a cop. You can't be telling me this. He was like, you know, I can't believe you just told me this. Parents drove up, and me and my brother were telling them. everything that happened, which was, you know, that I had found him dead and he dumped his body in the pond. My brother told me that he was going to try to call an attorney, and instead

he called the police. So as your brother had called the police, they came to take you away to questioning. What did you think? What was going through your mind? Did you feel betrayal at that moment? I didn't feel anything, I except impending doom. I was crying, vomiting. I don't. Everything was horrible. Everything.

And then the bombshell. As they approach Wendy, investigators hear her say that she didn't kill Mike, but that someone else in her family did. Wendy was insisting that a member of her family had murdered Mike. and so she got rid of the body to save one of her family members from getting into trouble. Man, look at it. Returned-day-old king, man.

Oh, wow, emotional. King of the Hill is back. They got a bobs in the airport now. Oh, that's boba. World has changed, Dad. Bobby wants to bring that new girl over for dinner. The Vegas? What the hell am I supposed to feed her?

Can't we just put some grass in a bowl? from Mike Judge and Greg Daniels. Ready to make some memories, Dad. Let's freaking go. A Hulu original series, King of the Hill. All episodes now streaming on Hulu. In March 2017, police in Ketchikan, Alaska, got a worried call. And I haven't heard some of them, so I'm getting worried.

It was about a beloved surgeon, one of just two in town, named Eric Garcia. When police officers arrived to check on the doctor, they found him dead on a couch. Is it a suicide? Is it a murder? What is it? From ABC Audio and 2020, cold-blooded mystery in Alaska is out now. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

So let's just take a step back. You wake up Saturday morning. You have a veterinary clinic, a live husband, two kids, and a life. Almost all of that is gone. Wendy's revelation to her brother Marshall is about to tear this close-knit family apart. Wendy was insisting that a member of her family had murdered Mike, so she got rid of the body.

Your two boys are in the car seats in the truck and in the flatbed is your husband who's dead. Yes, unfortunately, yes, that's the truth. If she didn't kill that young man, why did she throw him away? I thought if somebody killed my son Maybe somebody would try and kill my grandson. Wendy, only a guilty person disposes of a body the way you did.

An innocent person calls the police. You wouldn't do anything to protect your mother or your child or your wife. Is there one memory? from the good times that you hold on to. The best thing that I remember about my was one morning I had woke up on a Sunday morning and he was laying in the crib with both the boys asleep, crawled up with him.

He said Shane woke up, so he said I was trying to get him to go back to sleep and then Tristing woke up and came and crawled in bed with us. Sounds like a sweet dad. He was a good dad. So all in all, we're talking about a good man. Yes. A good man, but one whose body, Wendy, says she left at the bottom of that stockpond.

A couple of detectives' cars came pulling up, and they went to where the Davidson family were gathered at the cemetery. When you found your husband dead, when you say you found him dead, what did you do? I had both the boys with me, and I told Tristan, you know, go play in the other room. And I went over to him to see if he was alive, to fill for a pulse. And, of course, there wasn't a pulse. He was cold to the touch. Why did you call the police? I think that that's maybe what most people would have done if they didn't think that someone in their family was involved.

This is what I thought. He's dead. I can't bring him back. I can't save him. but if my mother is involved in this, I can save her. So I made the horrible, horrible decision that I was going to move his body and just pretend he went missing. Wendy was insisting that a member of her family had murdered Mike, and so she got rid of the body

to save one of her family members from getting into trouble. How do you make that leap to my mother must have done this. And then another huge leap back to going, oh, well, I have a decision to make. Because even if my mother must have done this, you probably still should be calling 911. Wendy's put in the back of the patrol car and taken from the cemetery to the police station for what's going to be a very long night. And by the time Wendy gets into the interrogation room,

She's suddenly doing a lot less talking. We kind of got to know from you, you know, why this all happened. But I'm not talking right now. And that's just about all the police get from Wendy that night. Now, Wendy's brother Marshall is also interviewed by police that night about his sister's shocking revelations. What happened this evening? You got what I'm out there?

Well, I don't know if I should tell you. either. But, I mean, basically, well, she did something, but she didn't kill him, hurting, anything like that. But she knows where he's at. She's like, I didn't do anything. It's in that. Now in the interview room is Wendy's mother, Judy, who, given the circumstances, seemingly has no problem with the fact that her son called the police on his sister. She's pretty upset with you. Well, and I know she is, but he did the right thing. He did the right thing and I know he's going to catch flat for her, but he did the right thing.

Did Wendy call you y'all at the house, or did she call your son, Marshal? She called the house. I answered the phone, and she said to everybody come to the cemetery. Did she say, was there blood? Did she say she just found him dead? She just found him dead. She said, I didn't do it, but I made it. She thought that I had done something on one of us. Did you have anything to do with what happened to Mike?

I thought he had run away, no. Okay. I understand that's a hard question. No, it's not. But I had to... I know you have to ask it, and he knows that I hated it. But I would never, ever. I couldn't even know for any of the thoughts.

I couldn't. I couldn't. And now, Wendy's father, Lloyd, confronted with his daughter's unthinkable accusations. What did she say she found? Look at women. She said she walked in and said he was laying in the floor, and his box were sharp. She went over and looked at him

and said he was dead. And I said, well, I said, well, how do he die or whatever? She said, well, I don't know. I said, it didn't seem like anybody had shot him or anything. She said he was just laying there dead. What did she do? What did she? What did she?

She just said she, that's what she was so scared. And she said, she just knew that since we had keys and stuff that just knew, of us had done it. Were you kind of surprised that she thought Joll had killed him? Well, yes, I was kind of, but not totally shocked because she knew that Judy hated him. I've never heard Judy threaten killing.

And what about Lloyd and Judy urging Wendy to go to that lawyer to file for divorce? Was it John's idea or was it Wendy's idea to file for divorce? That was ours and especially duties, because we said, you know, he said if he's starting to pull that kind of stuff, he's going to do nothing but get worse. He's already getting drunk all the time. He's already running off with a baby and stuff. So you don't need that.

So we need to get away from him. So at this point, all Wendy is being charged with is tampering with evidence, and she's going to be held at the county jail. With no reason to believe that Wendy's family is in any way involved in the disposing of Michael's body, they do not press charges against Lloyd, Marshall, or Judy. But a gruesome discovery is about to be made at that pond. It turns out that dead men do tell tales. How do you go to a pond and stab that body 41 times?

How do you do that? I was coming home from hanging out with some friends, pulled in the driveway, and the car with government plates was in our driveway at 9, 10, 11 o'clock in night. That's not a good sign. Walked down over the driveway and dad said he's gone. When I lost my mom, I was still a little young to fully grasp the effects. So when I lost Mike, I lost a big part of myself. So do we have here. This is Michael in front of his aircraft, C-130.

It's hard to convey to people what kind of a person your son is because everybody has a great son. He said to me one day, Dad, I want to be a truck driver. I'm going to haul logs. And I sat him down and I said, Michael, you only know Lee Main. You need to go out and see the world and then decide if you want to come home and be a truck driver and haul logs in Lee Maine. I said I suggest the military but if I hadn't have said that if I'd have said go ahead and be a truck driver

I'm like he might be coming through the door right now I'm sorry it's not your fault last I know but you can't always control your emotions And now the true horror of what had happened to Michael Severance is about to unfold. The investigative team makes its way to the Four Sevenths Ranch. To get to this ranch, you draft seven miles north of the city limits on U.S. Highway 87.

You'll turn on one of the side paved roads and follow it for about three miles. There were approximately 10 investigators along with the Texas Department of Park. Public Safety Dive Team. It's not a great big pond. And I know it was cold and there's a little breeze that would come off that water, make it cold. It was kind of an uneasy anticipation about what would be found.

We're all on the shoreline kind of watching where the divers are. These are guys like search divers. I mean, they have the boots and the big bellhead and they're running air down to them. And all of a sudden, they said something, They said something, and the guy, the diver, that had the radio that was talking with him, and he looks up, since they got him, they found him. He was wearing underwear, and he had lots of different implements tied to his body.

They knew something was holding him down because he just wasn't buoyant, and then guided him to the shoreline where other ones were able to get him out of the water, and that's when we got him in the body bag. Because of the cold temperatures in the water, the body had been preserved. In all the 36 years I've been doing this, I've never had a human remains in water with apparatuses tied around his person to hold him in the water. How did you move the inert weight of a 160-pound man? Well, there was a box sitting over in the corner,

and in my mind, I thought I was just going to roll the body in the box, and I was going to pick the box up and put it in the back. of the truck. A cardboard box? Yes, that's what I thought in my crazy mind. Look, I can't make this stuff up. This is real. Okay. This is so crazy. Like, you can't make this stuff up. Like, Dean Coombs couldn't make this up. What I did was absolutely horrible, but it's the absolute truth. I rolled the body in this big cardboard box, and of course, no, I couldn't lift it into the back of the truck like my crazy mind thought. So I devised a ramp out of a couple of boards, put them on the tailgate.

Where are your kids while you're devising the ramp and loading cinder blocks on your dead husband? Shane was only four months old, so I'm almost positive that he was asleep through that whole thing. I do remember they were both asleep when I got in the truck because I put them in the car seats. So your two boys are in the car seats in the truck, and in the flatbed is your husband who's dead? Yes, unfortunately, yes, that's the truth. Wendy says she drove her husband's body to the stock pond on the 4-7s ranch. I had these cinder blocks in the fishing line and a knife to cut the fish in line. I put the cinder blocks on these handles in this big cardboard box and pushed it down the hill.

As soon as the cardboard box hit the water, it disintegrated. so now I have to devise something different. So Mike's body is now floating in the pond? It's sitting in about a foot of water. So I had to take these weights, and I'm trying to tie them onto this body. And, of course, it's the middle of the night, you know, can't hardly see. And there's one other grisible.

detail the police now discover Michael's body is covered in puncture wounds, 41 of them, suggesting he had been stabbed to death. His body is taken to the medical examiner's office to determine the cause of death. The main thing I think we came out of this was there were a number of stab wounds, they were in some sort of like cluster, but I don't believe a single wound would be considered lethal or would, you know, you know, generate a death to the individual. I think the conclusion was these were post-mortem stab wounds. If the stab wounds didn't cause Michael's death,

why were they there? I knew error made bodies float, so I decided to make holes in the body, bent holes, like, so the air could escape. So you were actually stabbing your dead husband's abdomen to make these holes so that gases could escape. Yes. She really thought that nobody would find the body at the bottom of that pond.

She took a gamble, sure. But taking gambols never seemed to bother Wendy. So if it wasn't drowning or the stab wounds, investigators now have to wait for the toxicology report to reveal the cause of death. They have found animal tranquilizers in a system. And how will a chihuahua named Weezy finally break the case wide open? With her husband's body now retrieved from its icy tomb, Wendy Mae Davidson has taken into custody and remains there for the next 34 days. It calls Wendy May to her brother Marshall and her mother, Judy.

It seems jail is a shock to her system. How you doing? I'm hot enough. I'll be much prior when I get out of this little cell. I mean, it's about to find me safe because there's no TV. You know, I'm stuck here. The only girl was just normal. She was actually a girl equal.

So I didn't talk to her about my case at all. And then Judy gives Wendy some savvy advice. I know. I didn't say nothing. Then, with her brother Marshall, it's sounding like Wendy is starting to worry about Michael's toxicology report, which her lawyer told her is about to be released. They sent samples off to some better ones to see on toxicology. Now, he said he doesn't know about if there's any... in the system or not.

I mean, if there is, they still can't prove that it was me or you or anybody else. On April 8th, Wendy gets out on Bond and goes back to work at her animal clinic. And then the toxicology report on Michael comes back. It reveals exactly what was in his system. We are very confident that the cause of death was due to the combined toxicity of three drugs. Phenetuan, pentobarbital, and phenobarbital. That was why the person died. It was not the stab wounds.

It was not a drowning. It was not because they were weighted down. There was no lethal blunt force trauma. This is the cause of death. It's the taking of these drugs. Now, that toxic cocktail of three drugs is a showstopper for investigators. Why? Because of what those drugs are used for.

The first thing the medical examiner found what he got the body the body was that he had been poisoned with medications that veterinarians use usually to tranquilize or euthanize animals when we find out that he had been euthanized it's kind of signs he'll delivered right she's a veterinarian and they had found animal tranquilizers in a system kind of rights itself from there armed with this new information the task force conducts yet another search of Wendy's vet clinic. We had to go back and conduct another search to go ahead and seize those drugs that were consistent with what was found in Michael's body.

Now keep in mind, Wendy's been out of jail for a couple of days now. She's back at work at her animal clinic when police arrived to conduct that search. Phenobarbital is a controlled substance. It's dispensing must be documented in controlled substance logs. We seize controlled substance logs from the clinic. They find crumpled up records in the trash can. The records belonged to a dog named Weezy. He'd apparently been prescribed a large dose of phenobarbital for his seizures.

Little Weezy, the Chihuahua, did not receive the kind of medication that was now a that was now on his record. Such a large dose of phenobarbital would not be used to treat such a small animal. But it turns out a large amount of that same drug, phenobarbital, is what Michael has in his system. It was clear that somebody did not want that record to be found because it was clear once we found it that we would identify that the records had been doctored. Now, Weezy is just fine. But is that crumpled record in the trash just a clumsy attempt to cover up that missing phenobarbital?

Those were her drug logs. Those were her drug books. They weren't somebody else. She's responsible for the drugs. She's responsible for the logs. She's responsible for trying to change the logs. I believe that there were false documents written by you purported to show that a chihuahua named Weezy was the wall. who received the drugs that actually killed your husband. No, that's not true. But you did falsify veterinary documents about the use of medication for your animals.

That's not true, though. The only thing that... Did you not falsify documents? No. No, there was nothing falsified. And here's where things really go sideways. All along, Wendy has been claiming, has been claiming she thought Michael was murdered.

But now, in the same interview, she's about to completely change her story. Somebody planned to kill him. Somebody had access to the drugs and the clinic. And only one person here is a vet, and that was you. But nobody takes into account that he had access to this. He's not the only one. Everybody at that clinic had access to this, but he certainly had access to this. So why did you say that at the time?

And you also basically, you know, accused your mother? And only now do you realize that it might have been a fatal overdose? I didn't know drugs were involved until I read it in the newspaper. That's how I found out the cause of death. My aunt called, whenever that was, two, three months after he was dead. It appears that Wendy Davidson has changed her story from believing that one of her family members killed Mike, and that's why she disposed of the body to now that possibly Michael either accidentally or intentionally took his own life.

So could Michael have taken the drugs himself? The medical examiner on this case is that even if Michael used drugs, as Wendy alleges, they're not the typical kind of drugs that a user would go looking for. We're talking about drugs to go to sleep. You know, generally we're not looking at pentobarbital or phenobarbital or phenotone. This isn't generally what you take to decide to take a nap or go to sleep. Is that a possibility? Somebody could say that, but it didn't make sense.

Remember, Wendy says she allegedly saw Michael abusing alcohol and possibly drugs. She recalled caffeine pills and maybe ephedra. What she wants us to believe is that. that Mike somehow made this huge leap from taking oral medications to injectable medications. At this stage of the game, we all know that Wendy's a pathological liar. She has told so many different stories

that you cannot believe anything that Wendy says. The toxicology report and the missing euthanizing drugs are enough for the grand jury to indict Wendy for the murder of her husband. Ultimately, authorities reject Wendy's claim that someone in her family was involved in Michael's murder. But soon enough, Wendy finds herself in yet another mess. And this time, it's her son who's in danger. Tristan was found on his little tricycle across two busy lanes of traffic, unsupervised, while his mother was in a bar.

You never want to give up that hope, but I knew. I knew in my own mind that I wasn't going to see Michael again, because I believed with all my heart that if Michael was alive, he would have contacted me. It's too much loss for you. one man. You're not supposed to lose a child ever. Parents are supposed to die before their children. On the one hand, at least there's closure. You know Michael's been found. On the other hand, you now know that he's not alive. I can't imagine what these parents go through that don't

find their children. It's got to be the worst horror in the whole world not knowing what I'm happened to your child. I kind of count my blessings that we did find Michael. Michael is buried in Maine with full military honors. But a few months after Mike's funeral, his father, Les, gets a letter from Wendy, who's at on bond. I was at Les's house, and he literally got a letter. from Wendy. She basically said, you know, when this is over, I hope we can become a cheerful family again and everybody can get along and we'll have a good, we'll have a good future.

I hope to come to Maine and spend time with you guys and, you know, either become or stay a part of the family and, you know, why? Like, this is the role playing that she's chosen to do. She has to ingratiate herself with Mike's family, with her family, playing the role of, you know, the victim here. Essentially, what she's saying is Mike's left. I wanted this relationship to work. I loved my husband. It's Wendy doing Wendy. This is what she does. It's a hot summer night and Wendy leaves her older son Tristan, she thinks, asleep in bed. while she goes out to a local bar called Graham Central Station. Tristan was found on his little tricycle,

having traveled across two busy lanes of traffic, over to a shopping center, unsupervised. A waitress came out, got him, and called the police. The police recognized him, knew he was from across the street. They took him back to the clinic. Wendy pulled up about the same time, went to the police officer, said, oh, I just ran down to the pharmacy

to get Tristan some medicine. The policeman said, you could stop that because we know that you were at Graham Central Station. And she broke down and she was so sorry. Wendy gets arrested again, this time, for child endangerment. If my opinion could get any lower, that's where it bottomed out.

Because not only are you a horrible wife, you're a horrible mother. In the end, the San Angelo Police Department decides not to charge Wendy with child endangerment. Now as prosecutors begin to plan for trial, there is one thing that's been alluding them, and that's motive. Why would Wendy have wanted Michael dead? Based on what Wendy says, she has no motive. to kill her husband, Mike. So we have to conjecture. Would it relieve the stress in her household?

Or is it a motive as old as time itself? Is Michael Worth more to Wendy dead than alive? Congress added $100,000 to the SGLI, the military life insurance. It's a quarter of a million dollars if your husband dies while he's in the military. She made sure that she was a beneficiary. Michael called me before this ever happened.

Dad, I got married. I have to change my beneficiary. I said, sure, I understand that. You've got to provide for your family. Something should happen. The trial date is set. The prosecution has, it thinks, a cut and dried case. That is until Wendy's defense team pulls an ace out of its sleeve.

Is it possible that a key piece of evidence could be thrown out. The twisted tale of Amanda Knox is coming to Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus on August 20th. Amanda, where did you go to the night of Meredith's murder? Do I need a lawyer right now? Inspired by the infamous story. We cannot do our jobs unless you are honest with us.

I swear to God, I'm innocent. You only thought you knew. For 15 years I've been defined by something I didn't do. Watch the new Hulu original scene. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, August 20th. Streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply. Good Liberty!

Our WMBA champion! We can't get enough of the WNBA. A fresh draft class has arrived. Dallas Wing Select. Page Beckers. Teams stacked with new talent. Jewel is a complete dog. The Valkyries take flight in the bay.

Our ridiculous! We've got more stars and more stars. them ever. WNBA on ESPN, presented by Google. We can't get enough. Thank you. Wendy, did you murder your husband? I didn't. If not you, then who?

The first thing that I would do if I was an investigator, if I found a body in a pawn, And of course you're going to think foul play. And you're going to think the spouse. That's always what they think. That's the first thing. Because most often it is the spouse. Sure. Sure.

She's just kind of like, it's horrible, it's unbelievable, I know. Believe me, don't believe me, I wanted you to hear my side of the story. And that's a really hard thing to do convincingly if you're lying. Her point of view, is it reliable or unreliable? Is she lying or is she manipulating us? We have to go with the facts of the case. Michael's family is feeling confident as the trial is about to begin. Leading up to the trial, from what we had been informed,

we were pretty certain she was going away for a long, long time. But Wendy's defense quickly play their ace. They file a motion to suppress the evidence gained from the tracking. device on her car, claiming it was illegally obtained. Wendy Davidson's attorneys tried to argue that the evidence obtained from the GPS was improperly collected. Generally, police officers need by law to get a court order to allow them to attach a tracker to a person's vehicle.

Now, Wendy is banking her whole future on this one legal technicality and her lawyers are confident. Don't worry, we're going to get this whole thing tossed. because they didn't have a warrant. Without the evidence from the tracker, the prosecution would be struggling to make a case. Wendy would get off on a technicality. Based on the fact that OSI followed the rule of law

at the time that we gained the permissions and approval to utilize the tracking devices, I was not concerned with the outcome. So it isn't the San Angelo police who put the tracker on the car. It's OSI, and they operate under. different rules and regulations. We were looking for a deserterter, and that was our reason why we utilize the tracking advices, to see if that would bring forth a discovery of Michael Simmons.

And the judge rules in favor of the prosecution. The tracker was legal, and therefore the evidence gained via the tracker is admissible. If they had succeeded, they probably would have taken the guts right out of the case of against Wendy, because it was her movement in and around the stock pond and the ranch that led police to the discovery of Michael's body in the first place. Wendy's defense has taken a huge hit, and what happens next absolutely stunts the Severance family. Last minute, we're sitting in a room waiting for the trial to start, and the DA comes in and has a conversation with that and they usher us into the courtroom and Wendy pled no contest.

So when Wendy's defense team loses this legal argument about the GPS trackers, it's really harmful to their case. At this point, her lawyers, based on the evidence that the prosecution has, recommends that Wendy take that plea. Basically saying, I'm not saying I committed this homicide. What I'm agreeing to is that if we were to go to trial, that the prosecution has enough evidence that I would likely be convicted. The easiest way to explain that from my understanding is admitting guilt without admitting guilt. The judge rules there is that. enough evidence to support the no contest plea. He finds Wendy guilty of murder. Her sentence 25 years.

The truth is, once she took that plea, no contest, she was saying, in essence, she was guilty. Those who were in the courtroom say they saw Wendy collapse onto the floor sobbing. Her mom, Judy, is in tears. What was your reaction to the judge pronouncing you guilty? I think I was just in shock and I was horrified. I mean, by everything. I mean, I never went to trial. I never got to give my side of the story. That plea deal leaves the Severance family feeling deeply unsatisfied.

She should have got life. The death penalty would have been fine with me. I don't understand. Here's somebody out fighting for your country. What more can you ask for of a person than to go fight for your country? I don't think forgiveness is in my heart. Wendy is taken to Tom Green County Jail

where she lobs another grenade. So she writes a letter to the judge and basically tells the judge, you can't send me to prison because I'm pregnant. Two months after Wendy Davidson is sentenced to 25 years for murdering her husband, she's in her jail cell and picks up her pen. She's writing a last-ditch effort letter to her trial judge. Pleading that he not sent her to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the TDC.

And then another Wendy Davidson stunner. In the letter, Wendy writes to the judge, she says, judge, she says she's pregnant. Even if that were true, it would be so easy to verify whether she was pregnant or not. And Wendy now says that although she thought she was pregnant at the time, she was mistaken. It wasn't true and it didn't stop anything. She is a person who runs from responsibility. When Wendy killed Michael, she hurt the community. She took a part of this community. And Lee Main's a small town. Everybody knows everybody. There is a lot of collateral damage left in the wake of all of this. And we can't lose sight

of the two other lives shattered. Those two boys. Tristan now 20 and Shane now 17. Do you have any contact with Shane? I do. We have joint custody. The Davidson's have primary care. And And I get visitation on all the holidays and spring break. And I get him in the summer. Mike was definitely robbed of a lifetime of getting to know his fantastic son. And it's hurtful. It's painful.

Because you'd love anything. I would give nothing more than to watch Mike be able to give his boy a hug. I didn't just lose my brother. Dad didn't just lose his son. Shane didn't just lose his son. father. The world, the country, lost a soldier, lost one of the most decent human beings ever. For what? I don't know. Even among all the endless futilities of homicides, this one's

one of the most, if not the most futile that I've ever seen. The Davidson's declined an interview request for this program. Wendy says she last spoke to her parents in 2009, more than 12 and a half years ago. She says she hasn't seen her sons since they were two and five years old. Are you hoping to be able to see them again one day too? Yes. I would hope so.

Yes. At the start of our interview, Wendy told us she wanted to tell her side of the story. And now having served 15 of her 25-year sentence, she still seems disappointed that she never got her day in court, and she still refuses to confess to Michael's murder. Would you say that in all of this story, Wendy Mae Davidson is a victim? No. I think my husband was a victim.

I think my children were victims. I think Mike's family are victims. I did what I did. I think it was horrible. I think that I made a bad choice. there were better choices to be made but I still didn't kill him what I did was horrible there's no excuse

I mean I might have had crazy reasons in my head but there's no excuse whatever Wendy might say she did or didn't do the authorities have absolutely no doubts about the facts of this case I can speak to the fact that 100% certainty that we found no evidence that anybody else, but Wendy Davidson, was responsible for Michael's murder.

What strikes me after leaving the Gatesville Correction Facility, and then meaning less is how raw the pain still is for less severance. Wendy was kind of happy because she didn't get life. She got 25 years. She'll be out a little while walking the streets. Michael's not out. He got life. He's gone.

She took his life. That's forever. You've been listening to the 2020 true crime vault. Friday nights at 9 on ABC, you can also find all new broadcast episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening. You've seen the headline. The three-point ball has created a monotonous rhythm to the game. Has the three-pointer ruined basketball?

And how did we get here? The rise of the three-point shot can be partially traced to an eccentric Kansas genius named Martin Manley, whose story didn't turn out quite the way he imagined. I decided I wanted to have one of the most organized goodbyes in history. 30 for 30 podcast presents. Chasing Basketball Heaven. Available now, wherever you get your podcast.