20/20 - True Crime Vault: What the Little Girl Saw

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

A hockey player, Thomas Clayton, a brutal murder of Kelley Clayton, and a shocking witness --- the victim's young daughter. (Originally aired 1/21/23) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thanks for listening to 2020. Remember, you can follow us on Amazon Music to hear this podcast and other ABC News podcasts ad-free. Or you can ask Alexa to play the podcast 2020 on Amazon Music. Welcome to the 2020 True Crime Vault, where heart-stopping headlines come to life. We don't tell people we love them often enough. And if you learn anything from this, you don't know how much day you have ever. Ever.

9-1-1. Help me, help me. My wife is dead. So tell me about that night, September 28, 2015. You were on duty. Yep, it was on duty. In route up there, I just ended up feeling something was wrong. So you weren't really prepared for what you were about to find? No. Okay, where's she at?

Who? Who? Who? Okay. One day you wake up at amazing stats and the rugs pulled out. And these poor kids went to bed and woke up and they had lost everything. I got a female, mid-30s, early 40s. Her face is completely beaten in.

She definitely fought for her life and her children's life. children's life. She fought to her last breath to save their life. Family and friends are mourning the loss of the mother of two. My daughter said there was a robber in the house and she saw them. And she said she saw the man kill mom. He came in. When in my mom's starting hitting her. She had seen her mother killed beaten to death. Everyone says the same thing. This can happen in my town. This could happen to me. Well, yes, yes, it can. In the southern tier of New York, we border on Pennsylvania.

It's kind of a rural area. We have the finger legs here. When you look at them on a map, it looks like someone placed their hand on the topography of this area. of this area and press them in and that's what was left was the lakes. The summertime is a very big tourist area. We got a lot of people to come through and stay at the lake, also hit our wineries. When the weather gets cold and the days get shorter,

there's a little less to do outdoors. And I think when the jackals arrived in 2000, it really gave the community of the town something to rally around on those winter nights. winter nights. Jackals played in the United Hockey League are about two steps below the NHL. They were superstars. Everybody was in awe over these these guys. Agitator award goes to Tom Clayton. Clayton coming back at him. You could say Tom Clayton was a local celebrity. Tom was chippy, aggressive, and

His job was to go out there and instigate trouble. He would, you know, slash other players. He would just try to get them agitated to the point where they would draw a penalty. You get one of their top guys off the ice for two minutes, five minutes. You know, it's a job done. I just want to fight someone. Just like when you're a little kid and you get so mad, you just want to fight, you know? Clayton is most certainly one of the jackal's biggest antagonizers on and off the ice.

You might remember a certain shaving treatment today. Oh, who was that Clayton? Yes. Tom's personality off the rink was the exact same. He was aggressive, he was sure of himself. He and some other jackals wear at a bar. And he got up on a bar and he stripped down to nothing and danced in front of the bar.

There was kind of a scuffle that ensued over some of those clothes that went missing. Some punches were thrown. I think definitely it was an embarrassing moment for the team. And they would say, oh, that's just Thomas. When he would walk into a bar, what was that like? He would have a harem of girls following him. I mean, he didn't have to buy a drink anywhere he went.

He wouldn't have to pay for dinner. And one of the women who caught Tom Clayton's eye was Kelly Stage. Sunday's coming on. It's close to midnight. She was my old sunshine. We actually lived West Almire. My father was the fire chief there for many years. Kelly was definitely outgoing, spontaneous,

sassy, definitely sassy. Didn't put up with anything. Now down here where the highway meets the rubber. She loved music. We would drive around in the car when we would ride and listen music and sing. As a young woman, Kelly loved hanging out with her friends and she loved country music. country music so they would often head to Nashville to party at the country music awards festival she loved Luke Bryan

it would pile out baby once you stand now better have your boots on kick the dust up you know we just lived it up for maybe a week what were her hopes and dreams as a young woman well she had initially gone to school to become a teacher and she came home and then she's like I'm moving to Vegas I don't want to be a teacher we were all we were all like really and they like packed their car drove cross-country and she moved to Vegas she cocktail waitress she also did a little bit of modeling out there I have a picture of her I love this where she has a 30-pound feather headdress on

and she absolutely was the girl who didn't want to have regrets and I don't think she did. So she did that and then she wound up back here. She came back here to visit for Christmas and we went to a Amira Jackals hockey game and that night is when she first saw Thomas Clayton. He got checked into the boards and his helmet flies off and my sister's like, holy Holy cow. He was good looking.

And she went out that night to a bar after the game with her best friend, Andy. He was sitting at the bar and I asked him, do you have a girlfriend? And he said, who are you asking for? He said, not me. He said the blonde. She's unbelievable. What was it about him that attracted such attention? He was smooth.

We tried to make you feel like you were the most beautiful. girl in the room. He was a good time, but sometimes took things too far. I loved him as a brother. He just was, I hate to say it, he was obnoxious, and he loved to make people uncomfortable. He would say things that were inappropriate, maybe in front of me, and I would often say to him, Thomas, I'm her mother. Don't talk to me like that. And he'd think it was funny, and then everybody would just say, oh, that's Thomas. She loved him and defended him and told everybody that that's just Tom. One year after Tom and Kelly married, Tom was injured and his hockey career came to an end.

We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time, you know. You can only play pro hockey for so long, then you have to go to the real word and get a job, you know, work nine to five. After he retired from hockey, they started a remediation company to a flood or something, they could come in and fix your home model. Crews tell me that the work has really just begun. Clayton even made the local news with his new business after there was a disaster and his company was hired to do the cleaning up. The houses are going to be demoed and back filled and they're going to be pretty much vacant lots and the homeowners are going to decide whether they want to rebuild or not.

He was soon in charge of running a Serb Pro franchise. The Fire and Water Cleanup Team at 1-800 Serb Pro like it never even happened. Thomas was actually a fairly successful businessman. Another big change in their life, children. First came a little girl, they called Charlie, followed three years later by a boy named Cullen. She loved being a mom. She did everything for those kids.

I thought they were an ideal family. They did everything together. Were they happy? She was very happy, and as far as I knew, he was happy too. My sister truly, truly loved him. Were they doing well financially? financially as a family? They had purchased a home that Kelly absolutely loved,

and life appeared to be wonderful for Kelly, Tom, Charlie, and Cullen. But then one night, Tom Clayton comes home late from a poker game and makes a horrifying discovery. Help me, help me, my wife is dead. The 911 call was pretty eerie. he had just found his wife. Is she breathing at all, nothing? No, trust me, trust me.

Okay, is she on CPR? Yes, yes. You'll see, you'll see when they get here. And what police did see when they arrived, shocked even veteran investigators. Oh, yeah. 9-1-9-1. Help me, help me, my wife is dead.

We'll get help to you as quick as we can. So tell me about that night, September 28, 2015. You were on duty. Yeah, it's on duty. Yeah, it's on duty. I'm patrolled. It was, I believe, a little after midnight when we got the call. I'll be sure you're losing to the man road.

What do you understand the call this about? The call came in as a woman down, a medical situation. How long has she been down? I don't know. I don't know. I just got home. Deputy Sheriff Dean Swan drove me along the route to the crime scene. It was his new body camera that documented every minute that night.

What's the location? Two, two. I'm on Whiskey Creek almost to get in now. What were you thinking? Something was wrong. I just had a gut feeling something was wrong. I tried my red lights off. And when you pulled up to the scene, what was the first thing you noticed? When I pulled up to the scene, I saw it.

the scene I saw a gentleman at the front door now this was the neighbor this was the neighbor yeah how you doing okay what's going on um tom just came i'm the neighbor okay came and got me out of bed there's i could see he was visibly shaken i could see there was something wrong okay what happened his wife his wife is in there okay so i entered the home anybody else in the house tom just you Okay, where's she at? He's directed to the kitchen. When he saw the scene, it must have taken him about.

Oh, oh, okay. The victim lay dead on the kitchen floor. Her head bashed in. She was hit with some kind of heavy object. Come out here. I want you to have a seat. You don't need to see that anymore, okay? It was gruesome. There was blood spattered pretty much everywhere.

and where. Tom, where were you when this all went down? I was home. Okay. She was home alone? I came home and my daughter said there was a robber in the house and she saw them. Okay, come on out here, man. So the officers brought him outside the house.

The trauma level of interviewing him in a house where his wife has been killed would just be too much. I get that water. Yeah, we'll get your water. Take it easy, bud. Take it easy. We were just trying to get him to sit down and try and take some. deep breath and try to calm down. You're not in trouble, okay?

I'm just gonna have you have a seat so we can talk to you, all right? He had checked his clothes and his hands. Let me see your hands real quick, man. You ain't hurt or anything? Okay, good, okay. For any sign of struggle or blood or any other evidence that would indicate

he was part of this and found none. Come talk to me over here for a second. The only one I had actually talked to after that was the neighbor. Mr. Almey was just off to the side with a look of complete shock. He said anything to you about? Anything?

Look, I was down to sleep. He knocked on the door. He asked my wife if we would take the kids. He said, there, come with me quick. I got in the truck and he flew back over. OK. Do you know, is there any problems here? Have you ever seen any problems here?

I haven't. OK. Officer Swan knew he had a crime scene. So the first thing he had to do was make sure there were no more suspects in the house and no one who could possibly be in danger or in distress. We got to clear this house. I'm going to go this way. Just cover me.

I'm going to go upstairs. I got to go up and clear it. So you got blood on the wall, blood on the steps. Looks like she was attacked in bed. Whenever you search a building, you just go from room to room, but you don't ever pass a door. I got to clear over here. The kids' rooms are over here.

This one's clear. Let me check this last room. Clear. There's blood all over. She's been dragged. Blood on the wall. Blood with a hole in the wall looks like a face plant into the wall. All right, I'm going to get a paramedic.

Come in and verify. Nobody, I mean, nobody comes in unless you see me first or I get a supervisor here. Deputy Swan brings in a paramedic. But sadly, it's really just a formality at this point. You follow me and just stay. I'll show you where stuff is. Try to stay to the right here a little bit.

Her face is completely, yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. Her face was basically destroyed. It was one of the more brutal scenes I've ever seen in my career. To know that there's a person out there capable of that that's not in custody. At that moment in time was all hands on deck, everyone involved. We're going to need all investigators.

Homicide. Soon after dialing 911, Tom Clayton had called Kelly's sister Kim. Kim, Kim. Kelly's dead. I said, what? I don't know. She's dead. Somebody broke in.

She's dead. Here they're coming. You have to stop him. Kelly's sister showed up very soon after we established a perimeter with Kelly's mom. It was all crime scene tape all over her. all over her whole property. This was lit up like a Christmas tree. Sarge family coming.

I remember running to the ambulance, expecting to find them working on my sister. She was very upset when she couldn't see her sister. And I said, no, that she doesn't look like she did in life. You don't want to see her. I just remember hearing Kim screaming Kim screaming. I didn't know how she died.

I didn't know what happened to her. I didn't know where she was. I just wanted to go to her. And I wanted to hold to her. But I could, I couldn't. When the coroner's van left with the body, They asked if they could pray over the body as it was being loaded. We finally got to say a prayer for her, and when they took her away.

As the night wears on, investigators are calming through everything for evidence. No murder weapon turns up, but they do find suspicious tire tracks. They were really just investigating a robbery at that point. It was a robbery gone bad. I just want to make sure there's no force dentry. Is this a random killing at a house in the middle of the woods? And they start digging. They don't have to dig too deeply to start getting some real answers.

I got a female mid-30s, early 40s, beating the death. The assault initially took place on the second floor up in the master bedroom. Blood all over and looked like she was packed in bed. Kelly Clayton was struck there. She jumped up, she ran down the hall first to her children's room. There's blood in the kid's room. You could tell that she had went to Charlie's room and actually we're pretty sure shut the door

and tried to keep this intruder outside the children's room. She definitely fought for her. fought for her life and her children's life. Flood on the wall, blood with a hole in the wall. Proof suggests that she was shoved down those stairs because her hip and buttocks area slammed into the side of the landing, leaving a hole. There's blood all over.

She's been dragged. Then down the stairs through the kitchen, it looks like maybe she ran around the island in the kitchen. I mean, it was a long battle. And on the kitchen floor where he clubbed her to death, striking her in the face, the last moments of her life are absolutely horrific. One theory is that the reason she went downstairs was to take the intruder away from the children. She fought to her last breath to save their life.

Now police have got to figure out who that intruder is. They've already got to figure out who that intruder is. They've already got one big lead based on something Tom Clayton had already told them. You came home and the kids were up and they said there was a robber in the house. When the police arrived, it didn't look like there was any forced entry. The side doors open that doors. There's no forced entry on to go on. Okay. We checked the safe. We checked her jewelry. There was no sign of theft at all. You don't beat people to death if it's a robbery. Could you use? strike somebody could you shoot them sure I think that was kind of the

perspective was okay we have no evidence of a robbery so what do we have as investigators dig deeper into that puzzle Tom Clayton is outside the house pacing back and forth nervously take some deep breaths and stuff just try to stay calm here we'll sit down then come on over here as the family members arrived Thomas was up by one of the police cars Was Tom distraught when you saw him? What did, how did he appear? All I remember is that his head was down in his hands.

I couldn't hear him. I also couldn't get near him. I saw him sitting inside the crime scene. He did not acknowledge me. Here, their sister, their daughter, their friend, his wife is dead, and it didn't sit well. It didn't sit well. It didn't look right. I'm wondering if he had a domestic whether she could see how her face is beat in.

When you see that kind of damage, especially to someone's face, it tends to lead you to a crime of passion. It tends to make you believe that it was someone that was known to the aggressor. All anything I can think, if he was domestic, she hit here, boom, gone. He's trying to cover it up now. This had the earmarks of a domestic violent dispute. Thomas Clayton had an alibi. He said that he was at a poker game.

He couldn't have possibly have committed this crime. Husbands claiming he was out playing poker. Came home, kids said, Daddy, there was a robbery. And when Deputy Swan questions neighbor, Derek Almie, for a second time, he doesn't have anything suspicious to report. Did you know these guys real well at all? Yeah, we've been neighbors for a long.

Okay. You don't know of any trouble, though, between anybody here, him and her, or somebody else in them. or anything? Not really, no. He was really upset. Oh, my God.

He was all that, okay. Did he have any blood on him that you saw when he first come over? Did he change his clothes ever when you were here with him? Here? Yeah. No. No. Okay.

And remember, Tom Clayton brought his two young children over to Derek Almie's house right after he made that 911 call. Charlie and Cullen stayed to Almies while Derek went back to Clayton's house. Clayton's house with Thomas Clayton. Collin was three, Charlie Seven, and these poor kids went to bed and woke up and they had lost everything. Life as they knew it was gone. In the midst of this heinous crime,

the world goes on. That morning before the community understood what had happened, the school bus shows up. I remember the school bus driving by when finally in the morning and they were going to stop at the end of the drive, to get Charlie. And I remember all the little kids, like looking, looking at the window, you know, looking for Charlie. But little Charlie is down the street and about to play a big

role in this investigation. That's because it turns out she's the only eyewitness to her mother's murder. Got her. God. Okay. We'll talk to one more here in a minute. Oh, my wife. Okay. Charlie had witnessed the entire brutal murder of her mother. She had seen her mother killed. Yes. Beaten. Beaten to death. She described Kelly's last breaths.

A seven-year-old. Yes. And now, Charlie is sitting down with investigators about to tell them everything she saw. Can you tell me what he looked like? He was wearing jeans of black people. jeans, a black, long-sleeved shirt, and a mask? And what Charlie tells them next immediately changes everything. I... I couldn't believe it.

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Cassidy, get us home. Jonas Brothers, you got it. It'll be the best Jonas Christmas ever. I can't wait to see you guys. We love you. If they can only make it home. What's going on? Our tour plane burned down.

We cannot miss Christmas. Nothing can stop us from getting home now. Only. Yep. You lost all three of your passports? It's Christmas. Anything can happen, right? A very Jonas Christmas movie.

Streaming November 14th on Disney Plus and Hulu. rated TV PGDL. You can never imagine the horror of hearing that one of your children was brutally beat to death ever. Investigators are trying to piece together those last minutes of Kelly Clayton's life. That's when the investigators took Mr. Clayton back to the state police barracks and painted posts and started interviewing him. He was visibly upset. He wasn't crying. He was just kind of excited.

He said he had left work, went to a place for gymnastics, that he eventually went home, was home briefly, and then he went off to play poker, and that he discovered Kelly upon his return. Yeah, we asked him several times if he had killed his wife Kelly, and he absolutely denied any involvement at all in it. at all in it. While they're talking to Clayton at the crime scene,

investigators are beginning to hear rumblings about possible eyewitness. And at the same time, Sheriff Allard is talking to Clayton's seven-year-old daughter, Charlie, at a neighbor's house. I walked in to the residence and just kind of sat down and started talking to Charlie. And we just started a little chat,

and I said, you know, I said, you know, What did you see? She told me that a man was hurting mommy, and mommy was yelling, run, Charlie, run. In her room, she hears her mother yelling, run, Charlie, run. Her mother actually got to her bedroom doorway and may have like actually taken a step inside.

Charlie follows the fight. Charlie had told that she had told that she had seen somebody hitting her mother with she described as a like a white stick and she kept saying he did this and he did that and and so finally I said how do you know it's a he and she said his eyes look just like daddy's those three little words eyes like daddy opened a Pandora's box and that had to have turned this investigation for sure onto Thomas Clayton That was a chilling moment for me.

And I knew that at that moment in time, before we went any further, I needed some help in this interview. Definitely lots more toys. You get to teach me how to tell time. Police do the best they can to make the space comfortable for the seven-year-old child. There are blocks in the room. Well, Charlie, do you know why we brought you here today?

Okay. We're going to have to talk a little bit about last night. Okay. Or if I ask a question that you're not certain about or that you don't understand. Can you let me know? Okay. All right. She's lost her mother. She's not with her father.

So she's with some strangers at this point being interviewed. And you kind of got to treat this kind of witness, obviously, with kid gloves. So one of the key factors in interviewing children is that you have a professional child interviewer with you, because it's a real art. Do you know what a truth and a lie is? What's the truth? And it really happened in a lies that it didn't happen. Right, right. Very good. You're so smart.

And why do you see that? 2020 obtained this video from authorities of Charlie's interview with investigators. She tells them that her dad put her to bed and then left to go play cards with some of his friends. And in the middle of night, this guy came inserted, hitting my mom, like, this pipe thing. Okay. Can you tell me more about that? There was blood everywhere. Okay.

On my door, on the floor, not on the carpet, though. And I thought she was dead when she was lying on ground. And Daddy was out by car. We were basically alone for like 20 minutes. Then he came home and he was like, oh my God. Because he saw my mom on the floor with blood all over. Okay. She appears not to really know what's happened to her mother.

She appears detached. She's not emotionally straught. She's not crying. So here's a seven-year-old girl that saw one of the most traumatic things you're ever going to see in your life. And she's a smart girl, super smart girl. And I think her mind was trying to work through it and figure out what did I just see. Do you remember what the thing looked like that he was hidden on anyway? A metal type.

How did the rob or leave? The garage. And what did you see after that? She was sort of suffering. Okay. Like capturing with her body. And I hugged her leg. Okay.

All right. And where was mom when you hugged? Lay down in the kitchen with water all. Okay. My first thought, Charlie has the most beautiful blue eyes. The most beautiful eyes. And all I could think of was what those eyes saw. Could have been my dad, but he looked like my dad.

How did he look like your dad? The mask in his shoes. Have you seen anybody wear that mask before? My dad. Did the robber say anything? Probably not say anything because one of things my daddy. my daddy, he could recognize his voice. Everything was just like daddy.

And then she looks at me, she goes, but it couldn't have been daddy, because then who would take care of us? After answering questions for Sheriff Allard, Charlie now has a heartbreaking one of her own. It's about my mom, like, where is she at? And she hasn't comprehended that her mother's dead, right?

Then she wants to know where her mother is. Like, how is Monnie? You know, we know we need to find that out for you. We'll find out for you, sweeties. I said, I don't know, sweetie. I knew at that time, obviously, but she needed to be with family when she learned that, not with police officers.

No doubt Charlie's statement is damning. But there's one little problem. The one police talked to Thomas Clayton, he said he was at a poker game in a nearby town. And when they looked into it... Tom sat here the last night that he played. His alibi was true. There was an eerie atmosphere because of this horrible, brutal, mysterious murder at the house in the middle of the woods. family and friends are mourning the loss of the mother of two while police continue their investigation at the home a lot of people were struggling to come to grips with this beautiful mother of two was brutally murdered back in 2018 I spoke with one of the state police investigators who interviewed Thomas Clayton in the early morning hours after the murder was his thinking this was a burglar this was a somehow a robbery

Correct, and the robber is the one that committed the murder. Did that seem consistent with what you have seen over the years, with how a lot of robberies turn out? No, that was a brutal murder. That was not a robbery. We were basically telling him that your daughter is pointing the finger that you, that you were the robber. Thomas said things during the course of the next hour or two

that raised some red flags. You're looking at the blood spatter. She was hit numerous times. You don't beat people to death if it's a robbery. Perhaps maybe killing Kelly was the real goal. He just wasn't acting as a normal person would if they just discovered their wife brutally murdered. A little more composed. He was definitely calmer than I would say a normal person would be.

He wasn't agitated. Was he confused and wondering who could do this, why somebody would do this? He couldn't mention one suspect who might want to harm his wife. for his family. And there was something else that raised big suspicions, his initial call to 911. At first, he sounds so frantic. He's like, it almost seems like he's hyperventilating

when he's talking to the 911 operator. I'm gonna take my kids, I'm gonna take my kids. How long has she been down? I don't know, I don't know, I just got home. But that 911 call remained open. And then all of a sudden, when he believes that no one is listening, his whole tone changes. It's not frantic.

He's very calm and very quiet spoken. Was it a robber? It appeared that he was suggesting to the children to perhaps talk about a robbery if asked about it. You have to look at the circumstantial stuff, like what does his daughter say? What does the crime scene look like? How was the person killed? All of those things in this case would suggest that this is a domestic homicide. After being questioned at the New York State Police Barracks, Thomas Clayton was arrested

and charged with the murder of his wife. This description from Charlie of this assailant looking like her daddy, eyes, mask, clothes, he gets charged, largely based upon Charlie's words. A mother of two is dead and now her husband is charged with the murder. Thomas Clayton was arraigned in Katen Town Court Tuesday on a second-degree murder charge for the death of Kelly Clayton. So your sister has been brutally murdered, and now your brother-in-law is being charged with her murder. How did you even begin to fathom this? You can't. This is a part of your family.

And now he's charged with killing one of my most favorite people in the entire world. It's awful. This is someone I loved as a brother. And one day you wake up and everything that was safe and normal and life is... It's just the music staffs and the hugs pulled out. While authority is suspected early on, this could be a domestic dispute. Thomas Clayton had an alibi. was that he was playing a Monday night poker game at the home of Greg and Linda Miller.

A place he would go most Mondays. This is where we played poker on Monday evenings, every Monday at 7 o'clock. Where did Tom sit? Tom sat here the last night that he played, and I would be the bank over here. What'd you think of him lucky? Tom? Mm-hmm. Tom was very likable, very... Very flotatious.

But overall, you got along with him. Well, you got along great. So take me back to September 28, 2015. His mind was not into poker. You could tell. Usually, he maybe jokes around a lot more, and there was none of that. He was doing a lot of texting on his phone.

He was there until the game broke up. And Greg Miller recalled that Thomas left his home his home at about 12.15 for the 10 to 15 minute ride home. At what point did you hear that there had been a tragedy at the Clayton home? The next morning, in the 6 o'clock range, there's someone knocking at the door. And he says, you had a poker game last night? I said, yes. He says, a guy that you know as hockey puck was here, Tom Clayton? I go, yes, he was. And then he says, Tom went home last and found his wife murdered.

What are you thinking? You hear that Kelly was killed? I was numb. I was like, I think he talked to us, and I didn't even know what they said. When I said, there's no way Tom could do anything like this. I said, there's no possible way. I said, you're looking at the wrong guy.

Thomas Clayton wanted the police to get off of him. Stop looking at him and look elsewhere. Check the GPS on my truck. I got a solid alibi. And the GPS records from his work truck confirm Clayton's alibi. He didn't get back home until around 1235 a.m. 911.

He called 911 at about 1238. He was not present at the time Kelly Clayton was murdered. Clearly, police knew they still had a lot of work to do. They've now charged Thomas Clayton with the murder of his wife, even though He had a rock-solid alibi. Is it possible police have arrested the wrong man? And police discover there was another person in the house.

Open the door, walk said, and get the shock on my life. This was a case of rage. A brutal, murder in a home set in the woods to find this mother of two who's in her mid-thirties but she fought Charlie had witnessed the entire brutal murder of her mother she had seen her mother killed a seven-year-old could have been my dad but he looked like he looked like my dad how did he look like your dad the mask in his shoes up until that moment we thought that time Tom and Kelly had this loving, almost perfect relationship.

Thomas had an airtight alibi. Bombing to do it. Is it possible police have arrested the wrong man? You called us why? Walk said and get the shock of my life. I see her laying on the floor. They need to get to the bottom of it. Who went into that house?

Who bludgeon Kelly Clayton the death and why? The man accused of killing his wife and their Keaton home back in September appeared in court today. Clayton remains out of jail after posting bail in October. Clayton pleaded not guilty to second degree murder. After Thomas gets bailed out, he ends up cleaning the house himself from the murder of Kelly. And he stays living in that house. We know that within a month or two of this horrendous crime,

he was having sexual fling with a woman. We found that Thomas had been dating women even before the murder of Kelly, but certainly after the murder of Kelly as well. He goes and gambles at the Borgata in Atlantic City. He's living life. Definitely not the life of a mourning husband. He didn't seem to... to be profoundly upset that his wife was deceased.

After the crime, he continued to profess his innocence. He called me, and he had just said, you know, that it wasn't him. He loved her. He never would do anything like that to hurt her. Lucky Miller says she remembers having an uncomfortable run-in with Thomas Clayton at a local casino. I came down the escalator.

here lucky lucky he's like I'm lucky he goes I didn't do it so he pleaded his innocence with you too mm-hmm I didn't do it you know I was gonna take her away on a second honeymoon and I'm like Tom I don't know what to believe as police begin interviewing all kinds of people close to Thomas Clayton a name comes up Michael Beard Thomas Clayton and Michael Beard knew each other for at least five years I had learned that he was a jack-of-all-trades for Thomas Clayton, and he'd been to Clayton family home to do jobs there occasionally. Mr. Beard, I'm Byron Pitts.

My colleague Byron Pitts sat down with Clayton's former employee, Michael Beard. Anytime something needs to come up, he called me, I would go fix that. You're like his go-to guy if he needs something done, his handyman. How would he describe? He described me as being... a reliable worker. I'm the first one he called. If he needed someone to stay longer, he knew I would stay longer. First, dad, last to leave. Michael Beard worked for Thomas Clayton. Initially, he was hired to work for Clayton's cleaning service. They would go in and clean

homes that were flooded or after a fire. He became Thomas Clayton's go-to guy, his handyman. If you have water damage at your home as a result of a hurricane or flood, an insurance company They might hire serve pro, send them to your home. I would come in and cut the dry walls, pull up the rugs. Anything that got infected by your water that was there, we would just basically remove. One of the extraordinary things about Michael Beard is how incredibly ordinary he is. He had children in South Carolina. He also had a child in upstate New York.

He was the primary Brett Winner. He was living paycheck to paycheck. And so when he met Thomas Clayton, this local sports hero, he was a child. who had a business, he thought his life was changing for the better. I would work hard for him. He would give me little rewards like he brought me a bicycle because one job where we was working at, I ended up catching a cab. So I told him like I couldn't afford the cab every day to get to this job.

So the deal was to him was, if he brought me a bike, to pay that back, I would just have to work hard for him. I said, well, you know, I'm doing that already. And one day he came back with a bicycle. back with a bicycle. How would you describe your relationship with Tom Clayton? How would you care about? My relationship was more of a work relationship.

I never hung out with him after work or nothing like that. Tell me about his wife Kelly. What was she like? She was pretty cool for person. They spent a few times where she went to go pay bills or something and the kids didn't want to go. So she asked if I mind watching them for her until she come back. I'm saying, hey, give me time. Just quit working.

Plus, I'm getting paid. So, you know, we was pretty cool. And how would you describe the kids, Charlie and Cullen? Beautiful, respectful, smart, intelligent. So you knew them and they knew you? Very well. I basically seen him grow up. Thomas Clayton also owned the building where Beard lived with his family.

So Thomas Clayton Ellen was he your boss? He was your landlord. Correct. He had to pay Thomas Clayton $1,000 month rent. Thomas Clayton was kind of like his lifeline. He depended on him for not only work, but also for where he lived. When there was no work to be done,

there was talk that what Thomas would do is make sure that Beard was employed. My sister had made lunch for him when he did work on their home. My sister gave Hemmydown clothes to his children. Financially, Beard depended on him. I was his basically like his A-man. But just a couple of weeks before Kelly's murder, Clayton fires his A-man.

There were accusations that Beard had been drinking on the job. I remember my daughter coming to me saying, Mom, Tom just told us he fired Michael Beard. And I remember us going to the investigator and giving them that name. When they said you were fired, did you push back? Did you say, I'm not drinking the job? It's not true.

I spoke in my defense. There was no proof of me drinking on the job. I mean, I do drink. but I don't drink on the job. What state did it leave you in when you lost your job? I was basically in broke. This was a guy who was living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck when he had a job.

Now without a primary job, a man who was struggling is now really beginning to struggle. And to make matters worse, he's now behind on the $1,000 a month rent that he owes Thomas Clayton. According to Beard, Thomas had started eviction proceeding, against him and he had to move out. Police go and talk to Michael Beard and they ask him where he was that night

and he said it was a tragedy that Kelly had died but that he was home that night. Initially we pick him up, we take him to the barracks. He denies any involvement with the murder. He says that he had been at home the night of the murder, drinking the entire night, never left the house. After talking to police, Lucky Miller

begins replaying the night of that poker game. of that poker game back in her mind. And after rethinking every second, she remembers something. He walked up and asked me if he could borrow my phone. I'm like, yeah, sure.

When he handed you the phone back, did he seem bothered? No, you just put it on the table and goes, thanks, lucky, and he went back downstairs. So you thought nothing of it? Nothing. After she has that memory that he borrowed her phone, she immediately checks to see

who he called. And look at the phone, I'm like, there's nothing. And she's yelling at me. God, look at my phone. And she's shaking like this. I instantly thought the worst. An all new season of the secret lives of Mormon wives is coming to Hulu on November 13th.

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Lucky Miller, who host Poker Nights with her husband, Greg, has just had a major revelation that Thomas Clayton asked to use her cell phone, when his seemed to be working fine. This was on the night of the murder. And look at the phone, I'm like, there's nothing. No evidence of a phone call. Nothing.

She's yelling at me. Get your glasses, you gotta look at my phone. She's shaking like this. And I look, I go, no, he didn't use any phone call. She goes, no, he used my phone. I go, then he deleted him. She goes, you can delete phone numbers? I go, yeah, you can delete phone numbers.

She goes, I didn't know you could delete phone numbers. We determined through her records that Tom had used her phone, phone, that he had actually had a conversation with that person, then deleted it from Mrs. Miller's phone. At the time, you could plug in a phone number to Facebook and it would spit up the account. Please find out that this suspicious call that was made was Michael Beard. Beard had just been fired from Clayton's company, and he was also renting from him, so the two men were connected. Michael Beard was, from my knowledge, what I would call a gentle giant. He was a man with a very physical presence. Soft-spoken, kind, and often desperate financially.

You have a justified reason to call Michael. Why are you deleting the calls and why did you not just use your own cell phone? Matt Lambert, who is a state police investigator, was familiar with Mr. Beard from work in the city of Elmira. After the phone records came forward, Matt went back out and talked to Mr. Beard again. So we picked him up at his house on Grand Central Ave in Elmira. At that point, drove him to the state police barracks and painted post. I discuss the findings that we had with him. He denies any involvement with the murder.

He says that he had been at home the night of the murder, drinking with his wife the entire night, never left the house. My name is James Vaughn. I was an investigator for the New York State Police. I was a polygraph examiner. The polygraph examiner. Back in 2018, Investigator Vaughn showed me the area where he performed that lie detector test on beard. Polygraph chair?

Polygraph chair. That's the same chair he was sitting in. So we decided that a polygraph is the best course of action to determine what exactly, where we stand with this guy. If he's telling the truth, if he's lying, because we don't really have a lot to go on at that point. How did he handle the polygraph? He denies all involvement. He was deceitful. At that point, we began a more intense, more pointed interrogation.

Holly Barrett was a Michael Beard's partner. They lived together in this apartment owned by Thomas Clayton. They had to interview her once they were looking at Michael Beard. They separated them and they were talking to them. Holly was frustrated with Michael Beard because they were in financial troubles, him being not having a job and apparently her job not being, apparently her job not being quite enough to keep the family afloat. They've been fighting and he left around 11.30 and then he came back like an hour and a half later.

That fits in with getting a call from Thomas at 1053. Holly also says something that actually really cracks the case. Thomas Clayton had approached Michael Beard about burning his house down for $10,000. So in the other room they're interviewing Michael. Obviously, he doesn't know that she's actually telling that he was gone for a period of time. My boss came into the interrogation with that information, said, Michael, we know about the $10,000. He, throughout the entire interview, became more and more emotional, started exhibiting signs of, like, nervousness, like his stomach was growling. Signs that, in my experience, are very typical of somebody that's guilty of something and just kind of waiting and stressing about the truth actually coming out.

And he kind of put his head down, and I was close to him, sitting in front of him. I was like, Mike, is $10,000 the reason that you killed Kelly? And he kind of paused for a second and then responded, yeah, that's why I did it. It's a surprising twist for investigators, Beard making a full confession to murdering Kelly Clayton as another job for his boss. He didn't even get any money up front. I mean, he was going to go do this on the promise from Tom Clayton that he'd be paid $10,000. In a signed written confession, Beard lays out all the grisly details of the plan. He wanted me to go to the house, kill Kelly, then light the house on fire.

He said the kids would be at her sister's house. There was also gas in the garage. He wanted the cars to burn also so that he could collect insurance money. And why did he do it? Beard's explanation is pretty simple. I needed the money. He was supposed to set the house on fire. Why didn't he do that?

I think the homicide itself was more brutal than he had anticipated. And he said, in his words, that he got scared. Then another man comes forward. And along the way, you know, he says, I mean, I can kill a bitch. Does this story point to a more sinister plot? It was shocking to see somebody would be driven this far to make plans like that.

Every day you find out more and more. And now you find out he is a monster, a sociopath. After the murder, and even now the murder of Kelly, and even now, the community just really got behind. the stage family in support of Kelly. Purple ribbons were tied around utility poles and fence posts. Every time you saw a purple ribbon, you knew it was four. They were all over the area.

Michael Beard is behind bars. Clayton has made bail, but both of them are still under investigation. Clayton's children are staying with Kelly's sister, Kim. Mr. Kim. Frankly, the well-being of those children was first and foremost. Aunt Kimi. Have a good day. Okay?

They will see purple ribbons. And they'll say, oh, purple for mama. Purple for mama. That's all they know. The jackals don't exist anymore, but on the last hockey game that they had, they held a benefit. We're honoring the family of Kelly's stage,

and here comes Kelly's children. children. All of the money raised is going to go towards the kids. It's been a while since Kelly Clayton's murder and investigators are trying desperately to offer answers to a shaken community. Beard has just signed a confession admitting to being offered $10,000 to set the Clayton house on fire, which never happen but he has admitted to killing Kelly Clayton and the police investigation goes on at some point later in the evening it became obvious that he was becoming distressed that's when we basically went out back of the

barracks and I gave him a cigarette it became very emotional start crying and said I can take you to the murder weapon It was a piece in the house that matched the mall handle that was found off the side of the road here. So you knew that was your murder weapon once that was found? The mall's like a sledgehammer, but there's no actual sledgehammer head on it, so it's just a handle. And he used that? He used that to kill her. It was positive for DNA of Kelly Clayton and blood still on the murder weapon.

There were shards of that same handle at the scene. In addition, Michael Beard is now offering to take investigators to two more pieces of evidence that tie him to the crime. He did provide the keys to the house that Tom Clayton gave him and the clothes that he wore the night of the homicide. So they had been thrown over in this area? Yeah. Bloody clothes? Yeah, they had blood on. Mark Blamperd is a friend of Michael Beard.

And Michael Beard actually called him that night to see if he'd come along and be a lookout. Blamford agreed, but he says he really didn't know much about what was going on. He just sat in the truck. He asked me about doing the job. I'm thinking maybe it might be some type of drug deal or something.

As we start riding out, the next time about the job, he's saying he's getting, they were three grand, he's getting... He said, I'm going to pay you $500. I'm going to like, all right. And along the way, you know, he said, Because I'm actually killed a bitch.

I do remember him saying that. It's pitch black. There's no street light, nothing. Fish black. And he went walking down the street. And I said 15, 20 minutes passed. He comes back. He said, nobody was supposed to be there.

The kids are supposed to be in the wrecked mothers. He said, all you mentioned. He didn't tell me that he killed. He didn't tell me he was in the house. Beard was then arrested for murder. Beard confesses to the murder, tells him where the murder weapon is, tells him where the bloody clothes are buried, but adds the critical detail.

The reason he did was because Tom Clayton offered him 10,000 dollars to kill his wife. But if Beard is the perpetrator, what about Charlie saying that the intruder looked like her dad? After further interviews of Charlie and further analysis, the person that was in there, he had a mask on. So we're pretty sure that when she says, well, it looks like daddy, it was more of the clothing he had on looked like daddy. I observed no deceit in the statements she gave. I believe it was true. in her mind when she told it and as she related it. The focus shifted from Thomas Clayton

doing the crime himself. Now it became a murder for hire. Clayton was all about money. There was a substantial life insurance policy that Tom had on Kelly. We determined throughout the investigation that it had actually been recently upped. A year before Kelly's death, Thomas Clayton

double the family's life insurance policy. His life insurance policy was increased to $2 million. Kelly's was increased to $1 million. He couldn't get divorced because it would cost him too much money, which he had mentioned. It would cost him too much because Kelly would take everything. When I found out the true scope of what we were dealing with, it was shocking to see somebody would be driven this far to make plans like that. Investigators came to the conclusion. came to the conclusion that Clayton not only wanted to kill his wife,

but wanted to kill his kids too. He was going to set the house on fire with Kelly and the children in the house? That's correct. This is a cold-blooded attempt to remove your own wife and children from this earth. Thomas Clayton denies this allegation. I don't think Thomas Clayton cared

that the children in the house when his wife was to be murdered. That was callous on his part, but ultimately I chose not to indict for the attempted murder of the children. So your sister has been brutally murdered and now your brother-in-law is being charged with her murder. With her murder. How did you even begin to fathom this? I stood there as her matron of honor and smiled and watched her marry him.

marry him. Now you find out he is a monster, a sociopath. With Beard's confession, prosecutors are thinking, we've got an airtight case here. Then he recants. And now they've got a mess. He recants before the trial is supposed to start. Actually, it wasn't me.

What evidence can you point to that shows that you're innocent? With Beard's confession, prosecutors feel pretty confident they've got an airtight case. He leads police to his own evidence in this crime. The bloody clothes that he wore that night, to the murder weapon that he used. But then, just before the trial, Beard recants. And now prosecutors have got a mess on their hands. He says, I didn't kill Kelly. He says he was there that night.

He says he was there to set the house on fire, but that he got scared, backed out. And then he looks up and there's a mysterious figure who was already there at the house, handed him a murder weapon. So which is it? This doesn't happen often in broadcast journalism. Michael Beard called us. He wanted to tell his side of the story. exclusively to 2020.

You called us, why? Because the actual story need to be heard versus to what you heard and what they wanted you to know. My initial impressions of Michael Beard pleasant enough, well-spoken, bright, and he had conviction about what he thought was true. Financially, what state did it leave you in when you lost your job? It was basically in broke.

At some point, did Tom Clayton come to you with a proposal? No, not a proposal of anything like the way they portraying it to be. Okay, well, tell me what happened. It was just a proposal to ask me if I wanted to take this side job. There is something that Beard maintains is true, that he went to the Clayton home on the night of the murder. He says that a job came up last minute and that Clayton has asked him to help. And why is all this happening so late at night?

During the 24-7 restoration company, calls could come in at any time. You'd gone to his house this late at night? I've been to his house like 3 o'clock in the morning. So it goes down there, I get the key, open the door, walks in, and get the shock of my life. I see her laying on the floor. And I get scared from that point, which

not using it for an excuse, but I never caught now. one one that night. Why not? I wanted to get out of that situation. I had walked into something that had nothing to do with me. Did you know she was dead? I never checked her. I didn't expect to walk into what I had walked into.

You're a grown-ass man. When you walk in and you see a woman dead on the ground, or at best unconscious on the ground, blood everywhere. And you don't think to offer her assistance. This is someone who you need. No, right, that you're cool with, cool with her and her children. And you don't think to assist her. Put yourself into my shoes.

I'm a black man in the middle of a white neighborhood in the middle of the night. Where a white woman's laying dead on her kitchen floor, I didn't want nothing to do with that. And I'm sorry. Okay, now this is, in layman's term, is a sign confession. That's yes. Where they ask you about the crime.

Yes. When I got to the kitchen, she was following me about five or six steps behind me. I turned around and struck her again, and that's when she went down. Those are my words. Prior to that statement, they came and they laid down the whole scenario to me on what I supposedly had done. So the more resistance that I gave them, my family starts to come into play with this. So I'm telling them, if you keep my family out of this, I said, you can't can say whatever you want to say and I'll deal with it that in my opinion would not be helpful

to an interview to threaten them people need to give confessions voluntarily in order for them to be believable in my experience so you sign this confession yes admitting to killing kelly through them yes I wouldn't want to coerce a confession from somebody that didn't do it just morally it's wrong like I wouldn't I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I did So you sign this, you go to trial. Yes. We interrupt this programming to bring you breaking news. Michael Beard has been found guilty on all charges in the death of Kelly Stage Clayton last year.

Michael Beard was found guilty of one count of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life without parole. What evidence can you point to that shows that you're innocent? In the victim's hands is the DNA of a man. unknown source doesn't match my profile on the victim's clothing again DNA that does not match my profile so how is it that Kelly Clayton fought for her life with Michael Beard when you got someone else's DNA on her who's DNA is you know I don't know in fact authorities do say that the DNA on Kelly's clothing was

likely from her son or her husband not beard but the DNA sample found under her fingernails wasn't sufficient to either identify or exclude anyone, including Beard. The fact that there may or may not have been other DNA on Kelly Clayton, really, to me, has no bearing on this case whatsoever. When Kelly Clayton ran down the hall, we found her palm prints on the door. And mixed in with that blood, we found Michael Beard's profile. His DNA was in that blood swab that was recovered from that bedroom door. Police say you led them to the murder weapon.

They said I led them to the murder weapon. They also said I gave a confession. The mall handle was examined. We believe that Beard was wearing gloves at the time in the crime. That would have eliminated his DNA on it, but it was Kelly Clayton. As the interview continued, Beard told me something new and unexpected. But what I did see was someone else down there.

Who it was, I couldn't tell you at that point in time, because I never seen a face. I'm sorry, so you're saying you did see someone there? Yes. Well, I seen somebody in the, like coming out of the house, once I went in the house, someone else was coming in. Okay, how close was he to you? Basically about this distance right here.

And so you guys were close enough to each other to touch each other. to touch each other. I'm knocking down, getting past him. How could you leave out that kind of detail that seems so significant? That's when, at least from my perspective, his version of what happened, seemed to begin to fall off the rails a little bit. We got to this point here and he said this is the area. So the murder weapon, he discarded up here.

Yes. Those details that he gave to police. He threw the keys into this small creek. Combined with all of the physical evidence from the scene, there was no way, I think, for a jury to say that there was any reasonable doubt that it couldn't have been him. You were hired, you were the hit man, you killed her, and that's sad. There's three sides of every story, your side, my side, and the truth. I'm not sure the story that Michael Beard told me seemed to live on the side of the truth. Michael Beard in some ways told us the story in which he was both the hero and the victim.

The evidence was really overwhelming that Michael Beard had actually killed Kelly Clayton. The question was, what evidence was there that Tom Clayton actually hired Michael Beard? This case really became all circumstantial. We don't have a smoking gun. Studios and the director of prey Predator Badlands Welcome to the most dangerous planet in the universe Now playing

Everything in this world is trying to kill you You are prey Until you become the predator Experience it in 3D and IMAX We might not be alone in this hunt Predator Badlands Maybe inappropriate for children in a 13 Now playing

It started with a phone call in the early hours of the morning. 9-1-1. What is the address to your emergency? A terrified woman tells the operator she's been kidnapped, assaulted, and that she's trapped in a room with her attacker. He's fallen asleep, so she quietly and ever so carefully finds his phone and calls for help. Is there any way you can get out of the building? I don't know without waking him, and I'm scared.

This 911 call began an investigation that would turn the town of Ashland into a crime scene. We've got something big going on here. The first thing you hit my mind is a monster. A new series from ABC Audio and 2020, The Hand in the Window. Out now, wherever you listen to podcasts. Twelve jurors will decide the fate of Thomas Clayton. Clayton is accused of hiring Michael Beard to kill his wife, Kelly Clayton. Opening statements are set to begin tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.

Tom Clayton's trial was a very big trial for our county. The courtroom was packed every day, not just with Kelly's family and Tom Clayton's family, but people who knew them. He was a local celebrity of types. Not only that, but Kelly was well known throughout the community too. I think that's where a lot of this media attention came from. It was a long and in-depth trial. There was more than 75 witnesses. Tom showed up to court. Almost no emotion, I'd say. Tom was calm and collected every day when he walked into court.

He would never realize that he was on trial for his wife's murder. That could be because Thomas Clayton knows that the case against him isn't exactly a slam dunk. With Michael Beard's recantation, the prosecution realized that cannot use him as a witness. This case really became all circumstantial. We don't have a smoking gun. We have to build our case piece by piece. That's when the real investigative work comes in in proving that everything he originally said was true. The prosecution had to show that there was this ongoing relationship before

and after the murder, the night of the murder, and close in time. But at that time, we had enough documentation and the recoveries and the statements made by other people. So Blanford testified, we eventually allowed him to plead to a lesser crime in exchange for his cooperation. The evidence was really overwhelming that Michael Beard had actually killed Kelly Clayton. The question was, what evidence was it at Tom Clayton actually? hired Michael Beard and there really wasn't any evidence. The cell phone records turned out to be very pivotal in the investigation. Cy of Zetex Corporation, that's what broke the case, the geolocation data.

Zetex specializes in taking large amounts of big data and visually mapping it. Once we got Cy Ray involved, he was able to track where the phones were by using the cell towers. So in this particular case, we took all 67,000 points. and we combine them together on a map synced by date and time. The phones really provided a timeline of interaction, of planning. It showed the number of times that Michael Beard and Thomas Clayton interacted leading up to the murder. It corroborated everything. Our 14, 15 months of investigation had uncovered.

And most telling, a pair of phone calls made on the exact day that Kelly Clayton was killed. killed, the first one from a used car lot that had no connection to Thomas Clayton. There's an incoming call to Michael Beard from Eminem Otto. Michael Beard doesn't own a vehicle, so there's kind of a question there of why Eminem Otto would call him. Again, he's equipped with his own phone, but he's claiming I got terrible cell phone coverage, so he asked to use their phone. So who does he call using their phone?

He calls Michael Beard. In looking at Tom Clayton's phone, we can actually put his device in the parking lot of M&M Auto when this call is made. To me, it's circumstantial evidence of guilt. He's trying to hide his tracks. He probably didn't realize police methods, investigative methods, to the extent that they can recover evidence from phones. And then hours later, Clayton makes a second call to Beard from somebody else's phone. That's right. lucky millers at that poker game and this is basically the go call beard shortly after that phone call drove out to Clayton's home and committed to murder there was no evidence as to the content

of those calls and Cy Ray's testimony was skewed in trying to make much more of those calls I think it's important to look at the corroborative data we know Michael Beard received a phone call from Eminemado. The Verizon phone records puts Tom Clayton at Eminemado. And when we look at all this known information, the phone records align with it. It was very well planned out. As a matter of fact, according to Michael Beard two weeks prior, there was a dry run. They had set up that Tom would either be out of town or at least away from the house when it occurred. So Tom would have an alibi. He took steps that he thought would cover him, used a a Serve Pro truck with a GPS, so it would show where he was that night.

Clayton even arranged for Beard to use a borrowed truck that nobody from the neighborhood would recognize. We do see on the video, Tom leaves with one vehicle, with the SurfPro vehicle, and Michael Beard leaves with the red truck, which is ultimately used in the murder. After he returned the truck to Serf Pro, he rode home on his bike. It's a pattern that clearly shows that the that Michael Beard and Thomas Clayton did this together. There's no direct proof that Tom Clayton engaged

in a plot with Beard to kill Kelly. There was no record of any payment. Even if there is evidence linking Clayton to Beard and potentially to the crime, what was the motive? Why would Clayton want to have his wife killed? The motive was to get rid of Kelly. He didn't want to go through a divorce. He wanted money, substantial insurance monies.

Part of our proof of trial was to show that he indeed engaged in extramarital affairs. Testimony from one of the woman who claims to have an affair with Thomas Clayton. Even the insurance agent, he ended up having an affair with her. The women, the multiple affairs that he was having right under Kelly's nose, my nose,

I never heard of an affair, ever. Some of the women that we called at trial talked about Thomas Clayton and his relationship with Kelly did say that Thomas would say bad things about Kelly. He was telling them about her. She's lazy, she wants to go to every concert there is, and she spends all my money, she only works one day a week, and it's like, she's, mother, you're your kids, crying out loud, yet he didn't want a divorce. He had mentioned to me, divorce was never going to be a possibility because she would take

him to the cleaners, was his words. It's a distraction. The question isn't whether it was right that Tom Clayton had affairs. The question is, did he do this crime? But would the jury see it that way? All eyes have been on the Thomas Clayton murder trial for several weeks. Now, the former hockey player's fate is in the hands of the jury. Nobody knew what to expect, but after just about six hours of deliberating, they came back with that verdict.

Breaking news out of Steuben County Court. Thomas Clayton guilty on both first degree and second degree murder charges. I think that there was an absolute sense of relief. The people that were responsible for taking Kelly's life were held accountable. We did it! We did it! The family of Kelly walked out of the courtroom. They were sobbing, but almost tears of joy because the fact that justice was delivered. I told my sister from the night she was murdered that we would not stop fighting for her.

At his sentencing, Clayton is given life in prison without parole, and he doesn't go quietly. He delivered a profanity-laced, just rant about how the jury got it wrong. Screaming at the top of his lungs that he didn't kill his wife, everyone in the courtroom was shocked. First and foremost, I am extremely proud and honored. To call Thomas, my son. In a statement to ABC News, Clayton's family says their support for him is unwavering, and they pray that the justice system will write this incredible wrong. One of the most memorable moments of the sentencing was when a statement was read by Kelly's sister. The statement was from Kelly's daughter.

Charlie actually wrote a letter on her own. on her own, that she loved her mom, she loved her dad, but that her dad was a coward because he made Michael Beard kill Mommy. What a heartbreaking statement. These children have now lost both of their parents. Was Michael Beard a victim of Thomas Clayton? I believed that Thomas Clayton was a white, privileged man.

He used Michael Beard. Michael Beard. Michael Beard would do just about anything for money, for his family. Do you think Thomas Clayton set you? Hands down, I would say so, yes. In this small community, so many lives have been changed forever. Do you still play poker here? No, we haven't played poker here since that evening.

Lucky says nobody comes in the house anymore. comes in the house anymore. Nobody. So this table's basically closed? Done. It's hard for me in this small town to go places. People say things to you that can trigger you. I can't imagine for these kids to grow up.

And this is the only way people know them. The children are in the custody and care of Kelly's sister. And it's my understanding that both kids are thriving. Kelly spent a lot of time here and Kelly would also bring her children here. When you come here, what do you... I feel comfort when I come here. I don't feel sad. And Colin calls it my mommy's bench.

You took her life, not her light. And her light will shine forever. Forever. Through Charlie, through Cullen, through me, forever. And we'll be okay. Both Thomas Clayton and Michael Beard have exhausted their appeals and are serving life sentences. Clayton declined our request for an interview. That's our program for tonight. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Deborah Roberts from all of us here at 2020 and ABC News. Good night. Thanks for listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. We hope you'll join us Friday nights at 9 on ABC for all new broadcast episodes. See you then.