20/20 - True Crime Vault: You've Got Jail

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

Michigan mother of three Sharee Miller sat in the center of a complicated love triangle. She used sex, deception and the internet to pit her lover, Jerry Cassaday against her husband Bruce Miller. (OAD 2/11/22) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is this on? Season 3 of Proof. Murder at the bike shop is available now, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm scared to be sitting here in this damn chair talking about this shit. This is a guy confessing a murder to her, and she has no idea what day it happened. Everything I tell you is the truth. I hope I don't bring a ton of shit down on me. Listen to season 3 of Proof Now, wherever you get your podcasts.

There was evidence in the house, and they would not listen to me. It's not me. Step into the 2020 True Crime Bowl. where you'll hear our most gripping stories. Because she played these games, my son died. He says, I was so blind and so stupid and so much in love. So we need to add call. Tell me the number.

So like that, right? Hi, is this Cherie? Yes, sir. Hey, Shari, it's Juju Chang calling. How are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm on the phone with Sheree Paulette, Kittley Miller. She's a mom, she's a karaoke fan.

But right now, she's at the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Michigan. So I get up in the morning, about 612. I have a real job that I go to eight hours a day, come back, take my shower, make my food. I paint. You always have to be doing something. Shree Miller is accused of using sex lies and the internet to get men to do what she wanted them to do, even if it meant breaking the law. It was like a video game.

Man, each relationship was another level to me. And each level was harder. Maybe it was seeing how much I could get away with, how much I could make somebody believe. Prosecutors say that Sheree's online antics left two men dead. Cherie's attorney says she's only guilty of creating a complex online fantasy life. Most of it was sex chat. It would get very graphic and very detailed about going through sexual encounters over the internet.

And she would describe lesbian fantasies and it would go back and forth. I spent hours upon hours online talking to people. It's sex. Like I wanted to be in control. of everything obsessively in control of that man. You were an online sex addict. Very much. Cherie says she never told her whole story.

And now, after years in prison, she says she wants to come clean on 2020. Well, the first time I'm going to tell the truth about this. And this is the first time you're admitting this. You've got jail. Sheree was born in Flint, Michigan, which is a town. about one hour northwest of Detroit. Recent years, sadly, it's considered perhaps the epicenter of the Rust Belt. When I grew up, Flint was booming, and there were upwards of 200,000 people here.

The plants were going, we had over 80,000 GMR Motors jobs, and all the ancillary jobs that went with that. You didn't worry about going to college or getting, you know, a trade degree or whatever, because GM was so big, everybody was just a about guaranteed a job here. Where do we want? And when General Motors pulled out, things turned. The 75,000 or so auto worker jobs were gone, down to about 7,500. Hi, I'm Michael Moore.

In my hometown of Flint, Michigan, General Motors closed the factories. If you remember the movie Roger and me, the Michael Moore movie about all the layoffs at various GM facilities there, and that kind of sums it up for that city at that particular period. Jim left. It tore everything down and it's just miles and miles of abandoned empty land that used to be productive factories.

As far as where Shari was living, probably more rural, where there's several junkyards where people go and take cars or sell parts and do that kind of thing. Growing up where I grew up, it was like your normal middle-class neighborhood. Every summer they sent us to Florida with my grandma and papa where like that was my safe space. She had a hard childhood product of several divorces that her mom had, different men coming and going in her household. She talks about being sexually abused. How old were you when you were first sexually assaulted? I want to say probably three or four. And kids, you take on like everything is your fault.

Like, I felt responsible in that moment, not understanding what I was feeling. She moved out early. She got married when she was 17. By the age of about 27, 28, she'd been married twice. She had three kids. As a single mom with three children, Sheree really had to hustle. She worked as a representative for Mary Kaye Cosmetics. She worked in a nursing home.

And she also got a job doing the books at a local scratch. called B&D Auto that was owned by Bruce Miller. Bruce Miller was born and raised here in Flint, Michigan. Did what a lot of people did as soon as they got out of high school, went to work for General Motors. Always into cars. Yep, he actually, when he's, man, I'm thinking his first car, because we used to have horses and stuff,

he traded a horse for his first car at 16, 17 years old, and was always in trying to race cars, whatever he loved. He was huge NASCAR. huge NASCAR fan. Dale Earnhardt was his favorite driver. He just was a hard worker, went to work every day. In fact, he stayed working on third shift, which is a hard shift to work 30, 40 years. But that shift allowed Bruce to tinker at the junkyard. He was really close to retire from General Motors, and he would have just had the junkyard to fall back on and do what he'd like to do. To have a salvage yard with all those parts and all that stuff for him to play with,

was just his idea of heaven. He also went through several marriages over his lifetime. He was married three times before. He had to be married. He had to be a married guy. He always told me he knew where the courthouse was. Bruce Miller was a lot older than Sherry, and he met her through the work at the salvage yard.

This is a junkyard. This is work. So what was the spark? Who pursued whom? I pursued him. Why? Bruce was not interested. I pursued him.

It was a short courtship between Sherry and Bruce, and their courtship was maybe four months. As soon as they started dating, she moved herself in with the kids. Perhaps the 20-year difference in age between Sheree and Bruce might have raised some eyebrows, but

this was a really solid man. It was a great family guy. He was a great husband. He treated her kids as his own. He was an all-around great guy. I think she didn't have really any place to live. No real stability for the kids.

And so Bruce provided that. Because I asked him, you know, are you going to marry this one? That was the first thing I said. And he told me, no, well, it wasn't shortly after that. They went to... Well, they went to Vegas. They went to Vegas. And we all, at home, thought...

They're going to get married then. Sure enough, Bruce and Cherie elope at a Las Vegas wedding chapel. There's a beautiful picture of Cherie sort of looking into a mirror. there. It was an odd coupling just by visualizing it and by the age of difference. But at the wedding pictures, he looked happy. He liked to be married, and she seemed happy too. That wedding photo was taken in Las Vegas on April 23, 1999. By the end of the year, Bruce would be dead. You know, we opened the door and walked her on the counter. Cherie Miller's life was very difficult.

She says she was abused sexually as a child, and to add to that pain, one of her own children became a victim of abuse. Today on Montel, please welcome to Shari to the show. Three months before she married Bruce, Shari appeared on the Montel Williams show and shared how her ex-husband had physically abused their infant son. Baby was crying, and he had dropped him in the kitchen. the floor and you couldn't get him to quit crying. So we threw him, I think they said, four to six feet against a wall. If you were a person who had a grievance and wanted to have a national audience listen to your concerns, you'd go to the Montel Williams show. How much time did the husband get for them? Four to a half months. With work, really. Why did you appear on Montel Williams?

Trying to change the laws of Michigan, the state of Michigan, gave him visitation rights, and made me show up with him so he could see his son. When she was on the Montel at William Show, I think that started her craving for more attention. She was expecting people to be really supporting her, but she never really got the recognition that she wanted. Compared to some of Cherie's previous lovers, her new husband, Bruce was a gem. He offered her stability. And as a mother with three kids that she needed to raise,

that was attractive. But it wasn't enough. It didn't take long before she started taking advantage of all of this stability brought to her. She started spending a lot of Bruce's money, including plenty on clothes and toys for her children. Do you get everything you want? Yeah.

Then you're spoiled rhyme, Brett. She's racking up his credit card, very short period of time. She racks up at over $46,000 in a credit card debt. And this is a man who's worked his whole life, paid his debts. Well, she started paying with things with one credit card and taking another credit card and paying them. That's how she was getting her without Bruce knowing about money. I was on a spending spree. I ran up Bruce's charged cards and took all the money in the house.

It was like a continuous void that I was trying to fill. Despite her new marriage, it seems that Cherie still crave the attention of men. And she finds this brand new landscape to start searching for new connections. It's called AOL, and she is busy online a lot. The Internet at that point was very new. AOL was the giant at that time. and people were just getting their home computers and learning how to navigate their way

through the World Wide Web. AOL came about, chat room started coming on, she started using that, and opened up a whole new world to her of talking to different people. It was so big. Everyone was so intrigued by this whole platform that a Hollywood movie was made called

You've Got Mail starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I turn on my computer. I go online. Welcome. And my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words. You got mail. Today, the nation's largest online service is going to get even bigger. America Online with 9 million subscribers.

We'll add 2.5 million more from CompuServe. America Online, the colossus of cyberspace. Everybody logged in to AOL. And at that point, it was the only one. in the industry. America Online, so easy to use, so easy to get started. With email, instant messages, and a buddy list, it's the easiest way to keep in touch. You've got the AOL disk.

You signed up and could always get a free AOL account. I still have an AOL account. You've got mail. More and more people are going into internet chat rooms looking for romance and finding it. It's the new social avenue, I think, of the 90s. AOL at that time, had... had these chat rooms where there would be a whole bunch of people talking about just about everything. Her screen names were all pretty sexy.

Shree had a lot of screen names. There were over a dozen of them. And they were all like, look at me, I'm sexy. Like sexy kitten for you, just looking at her screen names, suggests that she was sexually active. She seemed to have a very high opinion of herself. How much time were you spending online? I didn't get off from.

and get home from in front of that computer. Bruce worked at the shop, and he had his business. So he was gone a lot. So I spent hours upon hours online talking to people. While Cherie is perusing the Internet, one particular screen name catches her eye. That's JLC106. The man's name is Jerry Cassaday. And it turns out he's a person.

pit boss at a Reno Nevada casino. Hi, baby. Hey, my little sex kitten. It seems all this online flirting was heating up the keyboards because it didn't take long for this to turn into an actual physical romance. Three months after she and Bruce got married, she's on her way out to Reno to meet Jerry Cassidy. She got all dressed up and went to the casino to meet Jerry. What attracted you to Jerry?

It was the dangerous side. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Between work and family, you might start to build up a concept of yourself as someone who fulfills certain roles. Maybe you're the responsible partner or the supportive friend. And those things are all nice to be, but they can also put pressure on you. And if you need a little support, therapy can be just the thing. With BetterHelp, it's easy to schedule and attend therapy every week because it's all online. It all works according to your schedule.

You can do phone calls, video calls, even written messages. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform. They've served over 6 million people worldwide. And it works with an average rating of 4.9 and a 5 for a live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews. Plus, if your therapist isn't the right fit, you can switch at any time at no extra cost. So what are you waiting for? Prioritize your well-being with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash 2020.

That's 20-20 to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash 2020. BetterHelp.com slash 2020. 2020 is partnering with Vives, open-ear wireless headphones. That's V-Y-B-Z. If you listen to a lot of true crime, you probably like to listen with a good pair of headphones. But it can be tricky to find a pair that provides great sound quality that's not too immersive. Because when you're out with a podcast during a late-night dog walk or a pre-dawn run,

you don't necessarily want noise cancellation that blocks out the sounds around you. That's why you want to get yourself a pair of vibes. your perfect companion in audio. They're designed for maximum comfort with ultra-lightweight earbuds that just sit outside the ear canal, and they offer crystal-clear audio. No matter what you're listening to,

whether it's your favorite song or a sound-rich true crime podcast, it'll come across loud and clear and silky smooth. The battery lasts up to 10 hours per charge and they come in a range of sleek modern colors and styles. So what are you waiting for?

Order now and you'll be listening to better sound with better headphones before you know it. For a limited time, our listeners can get more than 60% off a pair of vibes wireless headphones. Just go to ABCsecret Savings.com slash 2020. Again, that's ABCsecret Savings.com slash 2020. ABCsecret Savings.com slash 2020.

The ink is barely dry on the marriage license between Cherie and Bruce before she's already developing an online relationship with Jerry Cassaday, whom she's never met. Jerry Cassidy grew up in the Kansas City area, Missouri. He was the youngest of the four boys. He was competitive. He thought he could do anything that his big brothers could do. A lot of good memories.

Every year would go deer hunting. He had a special tree that he loved to hunt out of, and nobody could get close to that area. That was Jerry's area. At a young age, he actually became a police officer, and it was very short time he was promoted to lieutenant. Jerry would meet his wife, a woman named Barbara,

who worked as a dispatcher at his department. She had two sons from a previous marriage, and then they had their own child together, a son named James. I was proud of my father. I remember helping him get dressed in the mornings and watching him get his uniform on. And it was just a whole different person

when he put on that uniform. He was enamored by the sheriff and the under sheriff, But he started to see a lot of discrepancies. Came to find out that there was some corruption going on. He believed the undersheriff had taken and falsified a document in a murder case. They brought in a special prosecutor. As a result of the investigations, County Sheriff was removed from office.

In the process of that, Jerry knew that his time as a police officer was pretty much up. It's hard for someone in law enforcement to go after their bosses. I mean, that's career suicide. And in Jerry's case, it was career suicide. He was never the same after that. It spills over in every area life. Your purpose, your recognition is taken away. After he left the department, he got a job as security,

but Harrah's casino, which was just opening in Kansas City. He continued to struggle. He really had a hard time grappling with the events of his life, and he ultimately decided just to get the heck out of Kansas City. They transferred him. Harris did. They had a position opened up in Reno, and he thought maybe a change of pace would be a good idea. So Reno is a tourist town.

It's also a gambling town, but it is not nearly as crazy as Vegas. Jerry was looking forward to having a friend. fresh start. And right away, he was promoted to a dealer. We worked at Harrah's property in downtown Reno, and we're both dealers. 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. Graveyard. I remember meeting him. Someone goes, oh, you know, this is Jerry. He's going to be on your shift. And it was like, oh, yeah, we'll have some fun. It was Gloria Taylor and Carol Slaughter. And they kind of were like the big sisters he never had. They tried to guide him through life, tried to help him.

My own personal feeling was that he was just kind of going through a midlife crisis, you know, trying to start over, but it just wasn't working out. As far as I can remember as he went to work for the casinos, that's when the drinking really picked up. He was depressed. In Nevada, drinking and gambling is entertainment. It's not seedy, it's right out. in front in the open for everybody to see.

And he started drinking way too much. Yeah, and he just spiraled. Mom was having a hard time trying to find a job out there. Money's getting tight. Let fights led to arguments. She moved back to Kansas City. I stayed out with him. At some point in time during that,

I guess he was meeting and conversing with women and stuff online. Jerry, of course, is newly single, and he's looking for love. He goes on to AOL and almost immediately finds the sexy Sheree Miller. And boy, does it get hot and heavy in the chat room pretty quickly. I'm all yours to do with me, whatever you feel fit. The amount of instant messaging and emails back and forth is enormous. Talking about everything under the sun. He's going through a divorce.

He's drinking a lot. He's depressed. And he's having financial problems. Shri comes along, she's paying attention to him, giving him that ego boost that he needed, but also, according to her, she's rich. She's telling him that she owns nursing homes, that she owns a junkyard, that she has possible lawsuit settlements coming up soon that are going to give her riches. Jerry, who, you know, who has money trouble, sees somebody with money taking an interest

in him, and of course he responds to that. I think she fulfilled his every fantasy. And he told me himself that he said, Mom, she is the woman of my dreams. I never dreamed. I would ever meet anyone like her. Right after, Bruce and I got married is when I met Jerry for the first time, when I went to Reno, with my friend Laura. What attracted you to Jerry?

For me, like back then, it was like family at home. And then the dangerous side, so like, You were looking for danger. Right. The weekend that she came into town, we all knew that she was coming in. And he was so excited, and as soon as she hit the floor,

he was taking her around and introducing her to Gloria and I. She got all dressed up, put her a best foot forward. I went to the table where he was dealing and played black ducks. And we kind of played like we didn't really know each other at all. And I know I was drinking a lot that night.

It felt like dangerous and a little scared but excited by it. Not only does she meet them, but she sleeps with them. We knew the first time they spent the night together. I think the whole casino floor. The first night they spent together. At one point, she sends a photograph. of herself wearing the same clothes that she wore that night to Jerry. And says, our first night together.

Sheree returns home to Michigan to be with Bruce and the kids, but every opportunity she gets, Shari is back online trying to keep that fire burning between her and Jerry. Sheree Miller starts sending pictures of her in different states of undress. Not only does she send them pictures, she starts sending them videos of herself masturbating. She labels it for Jerry's eyes only. which is clearly something to keep his interest sustained. Most of the online chats between Cherie and Jerry consisted of sex talk.

You are by far the sexiest woman I've ever known. But shortly after she actually met Jerry, she announces to him online that she's pregnant with his child. Jerry is ecstatic about the pregnancy, but the news quickly sour. So Shre tells Jerry that Bruce found out she was pregnant. I never thought I would ever tell you that he hits. I got in trouble because I was with you. Miller is a newlywed with three kids.

This should have been her honeymoon period. But she's making multiple trips to Reno, leaving her kids with her in-laws, Chuck and Judy Miller. We just wondering why she was making so many trips, and she just said she was going down there to her do. Had a lot of people buying her and Mary Kay stuff down there. Not only is Shari having an affair with Jerry, but she tells him that she's pregnant with his child. He was ecstatic, overjoyed.

They were making plans, you know, to get together, live together. She sent me a long email, how madly in love she was with Jerry and how she wanted to make a home with him and all of the plans that they had going down. Sheree even sends Jerry a video called My Family 1999. This is work. That is attractive as her work isn't. Now in this video, Jerry is watching images of her children playing, frolicing, having fun, this beautiful domestic setting.

And she's trying to show Jerry that this is what your life can be like if we are together and we raise our baby with my baby. a baby with my children. Sure you can live with us, huh? He's all excited, he's elated. The woman he loves, he's going to have a baby with, they're going to be rich, they're going to live in these nice houses. But Jerry's sense of joy and elation takes a daunting turn one day

when he finds some really shocking emails in his inbox. Jerry begins getting emails purportedly from Bruce Miller under his Beattie Junk email address from the business saying that he knows. about Shari and Jerry and their relationship. So Shri tells Jerry that Bruce found out that she was pregnant and that he beat her and that caused her to lose the baby. She sends him a picture of her torso

with alleged bruises all over her body. There's a lot of bruising. You'd had to beat her a lot. So Shari is now telling Jerry that her husband beat her so badly that she miscarried. And in Jerry's mom, his baby is gone and he's helpless to do anything about it. When you broke the news that that baby was gone, what did you say?

I think I wrote him on a chat. I didn't tell him on the phone. He was devastated. Devastated. Devastation. Absolutely devastation. I mean, he was like one minute, he's the highest high and the next, it's like, what happened? You know? And you've... You almost feel like you're scraping him off the floor.

He tells Cherie that she needs to leave her husband. Get away. Just leave Bruce. Come live with me. Bring the kids. We'll live happily ever after. Well, she said that Bruce was involved with the mafia and would beat her. Well, we know it's not true because that wasn't Bruce.

Very straight way. He's never had a woman in his life, you know what I'm saying? And then she says he's in the mob. It was just getting ridiculous what was going. on her. We knew that wasn't Bruce. Sheree was hot and cold. Someday she loves them. Some day she doesn't. Sometimes she wants to come to Reno. Sometimes she doesn't.

He'll find us. He'll put a bullet in our head. I can't leave him. But on the same token, I want to be with you. Despite the potential alleged danger from Bruce, Shari keeps making trips to Reno. And when she's there with Jerry, he is ecstatic. But when she goes back home, to Bruce in Michigan, he falls into deep depression. All of the turmoil involved in this relationship is hard on Jerry, who doesn't deal with it well.

And one night after getting off work at his casino, he goes to another nearby casino. And he was playing blackjack and drinking. He got into some sort of a heated discussion. He gets belligerent, and finally they call security to usher him out of the casino. On the way out, he slams the door, which hits one of these security people, which causes the police to come and arrest him. Got home from school that day, he wasn't there, which was strange. I got online trying to figure out if anybody knew where he was. That's when I was able to message a friend of his that he worked with.

His son called me and he said, do you know where my dad is? dad is and I'm like, uh-oh, the first phone call I called was the jail. And that's where he was. So his family kind of gather around him, say, listen Jerry, you're not doing well out there. Come back, be with family. I helped him move back to Missouri,

moved into a basement apartment and stuff with my cousin. He's got to work on his alcohol addiction problems, and so he begins going to go to to AA. He was telling me he was going to church again, and it sounded like things were kind of coming back together for him. But he was, of course, still in touch with Sheree. He carried that laptop everywhere he went.

First thing he would do is connect with the laptop and get back on instant messages. It was a constant deal and stuff. And I could tell he was in love. That's what he wanted to spend his time doing. It's basically talking with Cherie. Jerry begins to receive word of the new pregnancies, and in fact, it's twins. Twins, this is huge news.

And of course, Jerry is over the moon, especially because it happened so shortly after Sheree reported she miscarried. She was sending photos of the sonogram and her belly, and, you know, Jerry was just tickled to death. to see and you know here's here's my kids he was ecstatic once again Bruce storms into this relationship with with brutal emails Jerry opens his computer expecting to hear from Cherie and he sees an email from BD junk telling him that Cherie is going to rid of the two bastards in her belly that he had created his babies not only one but then two twins had been killed by Bruce Miller

and that just enraged him as it would any man. We were good friends. Me and Bruce got along great. I want to work for them down at the salvage yard. Framework, paint work, mechanic work. You name it, I did it. He'd give you the shirt off his back. That's just simple as it gets.

But Bruce Miller's wife, Sheree, is now deep into. to an affair. She tells her lover, Jerry Cassidy, that he got her pregnant. And Jerry is ecstatic at the prospect of being a dad again. Then Shari informs him that Bruce's violence terminated those pregnancies. And that terrible news will set off a series of tragic events. So Bruce Miller is just at work, a regular day for him. He's getting ready to go home, have dinner with his family. I had told Bruce that I had ordered pizza and gave him a specific time that they said it would be done. And it's getting later and later, and Bruce isn't showing up with the food.

She calls Chuck and Judy Miller, Bruce's brother and sister-in-law, to go, please go to the junk air and see if there's anything wrong. Well, she was all freaked out. He should have been home. And so it was like, oh, my God, you know, where is he? He says, well, I'll jump in the truck and go up to the junkyard and, you know, and see if it's around there. We opened the door and walked her on the counter, and he was laying on the floor in a pool of blood. So I told her to call 911.

He ended up laying face down. There's just a big pool of blood on the ground like he hit his head. Okay, you need to find out if he's breathing. Laid my hand on him, with my head on, he was cold. He's cold. They asked if we wanted to do CPR. She said there's no pulse, no nothing. The murder weapon was a head open.

No, every second. The murder weapon was a shotgun. Bruce sort of took a blast right to the upper chest and neck. There was absolutely no evidence at all. No fingerprints, no tracks, nothing. So about two o'clock in the morning, I just went to Sherey's house and informed her of what was going on. And she is desolate.

She is wailing on the floor crying. When you go to make a death notification where you know there is violence, you're always watching how people respond. And if you're trying to hide something, it's not natural, so you've got to be very methodical. We're always looking at body language. We're looking at, you know, how they should respond with these circumstances. But she seemed very appropriate.

She was visibly upset, crying. After the first contact with her, I didn't suspect her. And he started asking me questions. about who I thought it could be. Sherea had mentioned that Bruce had problems with a gentleman named John Hutchinson. I remember like me saying that John owed Bruce money, which he did, and that they had been arguing about it.

He had borrowed a large sum of money, which ended up being $2,000. I guess at that point you want to say he was our number one suspect. On the funeral, John Hutchison shows up with his wife to pay his respects to his friend Bruce. Cherie started screaming and crying because she thought for sure that John had did it. Mommy, mommy, daddy, daddy, get him out of here. He's the one who murdered my husband.

So I went and asked John to leave, so she would quit. Because I'm not welcome here after what's been done until this is cleared up. Exact words. That was a sickening feeling. Good morning, Harold. One of the big things that really helped us focus on John was his brother Harold. his brother Harold. Sergeant.

Kevin Channel, said we got a shared department. What's Harold Hutchinson? We begin talking to Harold. We're talking about the murder of Bruce Miller. Can you state your full name? Harold and charges him. Harold made the statement that John had called him the day after the homicide and said,

everything's taken care of with Bruce. He said he was disposed him. That was his words? Yeah. What did he mean by disposed him? It means that he was gone. Gone means what? Dead.

Not only that. Harold told police that he actually heard his brother threatening Bruce about that money he owed him. Because he said he was going to kill him because of the money that he loaned him. And you thought he was serious. Yep. I have no earthly idea where that comment came from. But yeah, did Harold say it? Yeah, because Harold's not all there. So now we got more reasons to go talk to John.

There was 50 police cars at my house surrounding me like I was a frickin' criminal. And I had no idea. had no idea in hell what was going on. Comp and skating guns, nobody could leave the house. It was a joke. They turned that place upside down. Every little dust ball was moved. John did have an alibi to offer up police,

but there did appear to be a questionable gap around the time of the murder. And they just say, hey, he's lying. They asked you the same question a hundred times, and the answer was the same a hundred times. No, I didn't have nothing to do with it. Oh, he's there? Oh, the days you know, no.

No, I was not there. Well, somebody's lying. Somebody's lying. That's guaranteed. Police confront John Hutchinson with their suspicion that he might be involved in a scheme to overcharge customers at Bruce's lot. That's pretty good moral of the murder right there. Because Bruce was mad and get a shot out of this.

You're looking at the wrong person. I don't think so. I've been wronged before, my lawyer. You're wrong not. John denies any involvement in the same. scheme. But for the police, at this point, he's still pretty much suspect number one in Bruce's murder. And the rope is tightening around his neck. So it looked bad for me, I guarantee it. And then a polygraph test definitely doesn't help his case. He looked at the polygraph machine

and says, oh, but then detectives learn about a seemingly unrelated violent death hundreds of miles away that will add the strangest twist to this case that nobody saw coming. You've got the freak in me. We had sex. We had murder. We had the internet. You've got mail. It was dubbed the first internet murder.

And how did you feel once you knew that your husband was dead? They found each other in an AOL chat. Shree comes along. She's paying attention to him, giving him that ego boost that he needed. He saw himself as a white woman. himself as a white knight, because she was a damsel in distress. And they could never be happy until Bruce was dead. He was laying on the floor and a little bug.

And he would not be the only one. Jerry had told his brother that if anything happened to him, there was a briefcase under the bed. Get a hold of it before anybody else did. There was a bombshell inside that briefcase. This can't be happening. That's a special kind of evil. How do you understand somebody who kills as part of a

the game. I just wanted to do one right tape before I leave this world. A call from B&D Auto Part reporting a possible DOA. Said there's no pulse, no nothing. They find Bruce murdered. He's laying on the floor in their blood. Any type of these investigations when they're whodunnits, and that's what this was a who done it. We had no idea who done it.

They wanted John Hutchison for the murder. That's the only suspect. I couldn't leave the state, couldn't leave the county, can't do this, don't do that. And then when you go somewhere, they look at you like a cockroach on a birthday cake. Put yourself in my position, how would your life be? Done. Police give John a polygraph test and the results are inconclusive, but they tell him he failed just to see what his reaction was. I believe at that time is when he looked at the polygraph machine and says, oh, I'm . And then he took the test again, and he failed.

What do you think about these body guys? I think it's a trap. I think you have a lot more knowledge than you're giving me. I wish I did. These denials are very weak, and he's given us deceptive answers with his body language. You don't think he had any motive to do anything to Bruce? No, I don't.

None whatsoever. Accusing when you have somebody accused of murder, they're pretty adamant about what, What are you talking about? What, why you think I had anything to do with it? I think you, are you either directly involved or know a lot more than you're willing to give up. Investigations are very grueling for people because we have to use different tactics to elicit the truth. You did it, you know you did it, which is hard to hear it when you're in that box.

It turns out that John Hutchinson had once had a brief affair with Sheree. Could that have caused more tension? He'd actually slept with her. I think before her and Bruce got together. Tell me about your fair with Cherie's another. I always slept together a couple times and my wife split her. Later on, when Bruce started dating Sharii, John was quick to offer some advice. I thought he was making a huge mistake because I knew she was a good road to go down for trouble.

He said, don't worry about it. I got it under control. Okay, I warned you. Now, investigators have been keeping the pressure on Hutchinson for months, but they just can't make a case. We didn't have any hard evidence against him. Not that actually said you're the guy and we're going to get a warrant for you. The weapon that we had taken from his house was a 16-gauge. We'd learned from the crime lab that the shotgun that was used was a 20-gauge. Shiree was upset about the lack of progress and stormed into the Genesee County Sheriff's Department,

demanding to find out what's going on here. What do you guys doing to solve my husband's murder? At this point, the murder investigation has come to a halt until something incredible happens 800 miles away that changes everything. It involves that former homicide detective, Jerry Cassidy, who'd been in a hot and heavy affair with Bruce's wife, Sheree Miller.

But now she's giving him the cold shoulder. The silence in his life was deafening. And then it starts to play in like, wait a second. I am being kicked to the curb here. Jerry was downstairs in his apartment in Odessa, Missouri. Jerry sat down in a big easy chair. Overlooking the lake, and he had a picture of his ex-wife, the mother of his son.

He had a picture of his son, and he had a picture of Sherry Miller. There was a wedding ring on the windowsill and his divorce decree on a nearby table. And a Bible in his lab. He opens it to Matthew 5, which says, you shall not murder. And whoever murders shall be liable to judgment. So you've got to think that he made his peace with God. And at that point, he took a... 22 caliber rifle, put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

And he took his own life. Extreme shock. I knew he had issues, Jerry had issues and that sort. I never thought he would do this. You're not supposed to bury your children, but we were. Mike got the duty to clean Jerry's stuff out of the apartment. I spent some time just downstairs trying to grasp what would have gone on. He had told his brother that if anything happened to him, there was a briefcase under the bed,

get a hold of it before anybody else did. So I went into the bedroom and looked under the bed and I found a black briefcase. It's got three letters attached to it and a note, do not open this alone. Mike, uh, do not open. Contact John O'Connor. The Attorney General Connor just knows of Jerry professionally. Didn't know if maybe he had pissed him off professionally. They were like, well, just could be booby-trapped.

Maybe the case is rigged. Maybe it's a bombing site. So they have the bomb squad examined the briefcase. He made his peace, but he left a mess for the rest of us. I'm R.J. Decker, the private investigator, uncovering the Sunshine State's Darkest Secrets. Tuesdays, it's the premiere of April. It's the premiere of ABC's hottest new crime show.

RJ Freaking Decker as I live and breathe. He's a private eye. It's not a standard murder. Someone bigger. And a public mass. Trying to get some back to prison today. You go to prison one time and suddenly it's all the jokes. RJ Decker, series premiere.

Tuesdays on ABC and stream on Hulu. ABC Wednesdays, the Emmy winning comedy Scrubs is all new. This is a whole new chapter for me. No more. That's what I'm talking about. I want both of our sacks to be fun. You two idiots are perfect for each other. From executive producers of Ted Lassau and Shrinking.

We were all a part of this victory. Now get those nachos out of the premium warmer. Nachos! It feels like there's more applause for the nachos than my speech. The new season of Scrubs. Wednesday's 8.7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu. The end of the affair with Sheree Miller drove Jerry Cassaday to suicide. He left that mysterious briefcase.

Not knowing Jerry's state of mind at the time, they were going to x-ray it to make sure everything was saved there. So they had the bomb squad actually opened the briefcase. Of course, there was no bomb. Now the family is gathered in the attorney's office and we'll find out what's inside. First, they read the suicide note. He wrote to his mother that he had done. taped on the outside. Jerry writes that he finally realized that Sheree had been lying to him about her husband, Bruce.

Well, she said that Bruce was involved with the mafia, was in the muddy laundering. He'd already killed three babies, and he would kill her. He saw himself as a white knight, as she was a damsel in distress. He said, I went to Flint, and I walked in the door, And I said, hi, I'm Jerry, and I shot him. There was so much rage that he made sure he brought a shotgun.

He hated Bruce Miller at that time. And then he said, I found out it was all lies, every bit of it. All for Sharia, and she never really loved me. It was all a game. And Jerry goes on to say, I was just so blind and so stupid and so much in love. And he ends with, I'm so sorry, Mom, I love you. My God, this was almost worse than Jerry dying to find out why he died and what it was all about. Before, it was a justifiable homicide in his mind.

Now it was first-degree murder. He judged himself, found himself guilty, and executed himself. That was his way of trying to make a minimum. hands as best he could. Now it's time to finally open that briefcase. We forced the briefcase open, and there were just pages among pages of information and stuff there. Records of airline flights, hotel rooms, emails and chat messages between Jerry and Cherie

that seemed to implicate her in her husband's murder. John O'Connor says we can lock this briefings. this briefcase up you can take it and throw it in a river nobody ever know or we can turn it over to the Genesee County Sheriff's Department and the family had a hard decision to make they're going to ruin their son's reputation forever calling him a murderer or they can just shut the briefcase and go on with their lives but that wasn't the point the point was she should pay for what she did otherwise two good man would have died in vain

John O'Connor contacts authorities in Michigan and says, I have some information you're going to want to look at. I got a briefcase here that indicates that Sheree Miller may have committed it. I hung up the phone and said some rather loud words that I shouldn't have said in the office. He was jumping around saying, she did it. She did it. The detectives hop on a plane to Missouri to bring that briefcase home. It was a treasure trove of evidence.

It was a treasure trove. of explanations they didn't have. I think the most damning thing there is the instant message where they plotted the murder. A very intricate plan where they were going to meet at a rest area and Cherie was going to give him her cell phone. Where to park at the junkyard. When you go inside, don't ask him any questions,

don't say anything, just kill him. Great detail. I'm talking line by line, play by play. But their plan worked. And he would not have been able to put any of that together. to put any of that together without her being the mastermind behind it. Clearly, investigators need to speak to Sheree Miller, but at the time, she's not in Flint, Michigan. Where is she? Well, she's in Reno, Nevada, partying it up with her new boyfriend. Why aren't you home morning? Why aren't you with your kids? Why aren't you with his family?

It's like, what the hell are you doing, women? It's like, do you not feel anything? I mean, anything. The sheriff's department, they were waiting for them at the Flint Airport, took her back to the department, and Sheree was pretty sure she was still in good shape. Do you know Jerry Cassidy? Yes, I do. Did you develop a relationship with him? No.

Nothing at all. A friendship. You never had a physical relationship or ever had sex with Jerry. No. With Jerry Cassidy? No. She had erased everything on her computer. but unbeknownst to her, Jerry had not erased everything on his.

What would I tell you if I told you that Jerry has saved his emails and used the messages that you and him had? I would tell you that you can change them and you know that, and everybody knows that. I can change any email that somebody sends me. Did you realize that they had you? I still thought that there's no way they're going to. Do not believe me.

If you say it, it's reality. Isn't it true that you don't plan? No, it does not. No. She continued the lie, which is she had nothing to do with it. I have an email that lives out right here in front of me about how you and Jerry KSD planned his murder. That's why I. Why would jury even think about changing?

I don't have a clue. Maybe because he was mad because I wouldn't have nothing. to do with him. I don't know. They're fake. That's my response. Stick with that theme until proven otherwise. I did not write that stuff. I don't know. Routhing that stuff, but I did not write

that stuff. No, I didn't. Sure. No, I didn't. No, because you guys are, that is all. They were able to surprise her, which is a great interrogation technique. Catch him in their lies. And at some point, Captain Comp would he said it was time to arrest her.

I said you're under arrest for the murder of your husband. I got hysterical. ADC 12 News at 5. Miller was arrested Friday, charged with the murder of her husband. She planned and helped to carry out that murder. But despite all those damning instant messages and emails, this is still a tough case to bring to trial. It's essentially circumstantial evidence.

Sherry Miller, someone who is an experience. actress. She's duped a police officer. There's a concern that 12 jurors might very well believe her story. She used manipulation to get everything from a free lunch to someone to commit murder for her.

Prosecutors say that Cherie and her lover, Jerry, plotted over the internet to kill Bruce. You've got mail. It was fueled by a steamy sex charge internet romance. It was eye-opening to me about the power of the internet.

It was what everybody was talking about. You had the glare of a national audience watching. In what is being dubbed the nation's first internet relative murder. This case is about Sherry Miller

manipulating and using her lover to kill her husband, Bruce Miller. And Cherie, they dressed her very conservatively and modestly. It's like, that's her? Because she had this suit on.

that she never would have purchased. They wanted her to look as innocent, as dowdy as possible. All the Cassidays were there. And of course, Bruce's family was there. We really didn't blame Jerry. I mean, even though he was the one that pulled the trigger. We hugged and shed a couple of tears because we had both lost a son because of Cherie.

Her lover, Jerry Cassidy, used a 20-gauge shotgun to kill Bruce Miller. Marcy Mayberry was amazing as a prosecutor. She used a computer and his emotions to get him to do it. There may not be a bloody trail of evidence, but there's an electronic trail, and this is something new in the prosecutor's arsenal. The really only truth in the whole emails was that she was married. and she was a female. The jury needed to see, while she may not have pulled that trigger,

she was the mastermind. They bring in deputies to begin reading passages back and forth. It made it easier for people to understand what was being said. They just read the words, but still it rang in here. That exchange was a dramatic part of the court TV cover. of the court TV coverage. Want to make mad, passionate love to you always. I am trying to leave.

I will when I can. Honey, I hate that man. He will pay. No one is going to get away with the things he has done to you. Why did you want to have Bruce killed? If you got together, you got married, and you decided, okay, this isn't really what I want after all. Walk away.

It seems that the only plausible motive is money, but she got tens of thousands of dollars. It wasn't a gold mine. I felt a little bit off balance because I couldn't understand. Why did she have to kill him? Why didn't she leave him? And it's our position that.

You know that the defense is going to bring that up. There's absolutely no motive for her at all to have killed her husband. David Nicola is a great trial attorney. He is flamboyant, and he's just this big hair and he's this big voice. This former police officer, he's no pawn. He's no sucker.

He's no wimp. This was his moment, and he was defending this innocent, 28-year-old wife, widow, mother. He was not manipulated at all. He was the one manipulating. There's also the claim by the defense that Jerry is a jilted lover. And what happened is he became bitter and hostile and vengeful towards her. And, you know, he made this all. up because he was pissed off that he was duped and dumped.

And that he framed her out of bitterness. When she rebuffed his advances, that he went after her and then killed himself. We have a killer, ladies and gentlemen, in this case. So the defense's theory is essentially that the real suspect is Bruce's former employee who owed him money and didn't want to pay it back. The real killer is, ladies and gentlemen, is John Hutchinson. So the defense puts John's brother, Harold on the stand.

Good morning, Harold. And he repeats claims that he made to police during the investigation that John told him he did it. It made me look like crap. That there pretty well ended my relationship with him. We haven't talked long enough to have a hot dog since then. I made several phone halls trying to find him to see if he dropped off a car someplace. The fatal mistake, in my opinion, that sealed her fate was when she testified. We had so many things that she said that she did in those emails that I think that she felt she had it testified to try to explain some of it away.

Shari admits on the stand that she wrote most of these exchanges, but she also wanted the jury to understand that in her mind, this was a fantasy world. You can make up whatever you want. But how does she explain all those messages to Jerry, complaining about the terrible abuse she supposedly suffered at Bruce's hands. I thought by writing stuff like that, that he would leave me alone, that at that point he wouldn't want anything to do with me. It didn't work. I wanted to just jump in and say, you're lying. That's not true. It turns out that Cherie Miller lied about those pregnancies that brought so much joy to Jerry. Jerry believed that he had impregnated Sherry Miller, and he believed that Bruce Miller had killed those children.

She claimed that the reason why she told Jerry that she was pregnant was because he was depressed. That is so twisted. It was really sad when you learned in court that she had her troops tied, and it wasn't even remotely a possibility. The defense claimed that those instant messages at the heart of the prosecution's case,

her step-by-step plan on how Jerry should murder her husband, husband Bruce, they claimed those were phony too. She was claiming that Jerry faked it, and we found it on her computer. He couldn't have put it on her computer if he faked it. So Dave and Nicola brought on an expert witness saying that emails can be easily faked. But when pressed by the prosecutor about these specific exchanges, he says there's no indication that they were made up. Which kind of blew all that out of the water. What you have is...

a cold, calculated, premeditated murder by Sherry Miller. On the day of the verdict, I saw her all dressed up and made up and all that stuff. I'm thinking she thinks she's getting out of here. We not only get a verdict, we get yet another unexpected turn in the case. I was just like, this can't be happening. From 30 for 30 Podcasts. Brian Patta, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian.

A hour before he died, he was on the phone. Argoner what's about this might be a hit. You want the truth. The biggest one of conviction being placed him to arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now. Ever feel like car shopping is designed to make you second guess yourself? Is this a good price?

Am I making the right choice? With car gurus, you don't have to wonder. You get deal ratings, price history, and dealer reviews without the surprises so you can shop with confidence. Buy your next car gurus at car gurus.ca. Go to cargueros.ca. To make sure your big deal is the best deal. That's c-ar-g-G-U-R-U-S dot CA. Carguoros.com. The jury finds the defendant guilty as charged a conspiracy to commit first-degree premeditated murder. She just stood there. No expression at all. Guilty of second-degree murder as an aider. You can't believe the feeling of relief when they read the verdict guilty.

And then it was like, you could actually breathe. You were shocked. Yeah, like, it's over. Like, people really know what I am, what I did. I'm going to resist. She had been there for six, seven, eight, nine. years and then in step the federal judge. Sheree Miller is free to post bond which would release her from prison.

You're granted an automatic appeal in the state of Michigan. The judge determined that the suicide note shouldn't have come in and so she was to be retried. A tearful and emotional, Sheree Miller walks quietly out of the Genesee County Jail with her legal team at her side. I was just like, what this can't be happening. She knew where we live but we didn't have have any idea where she was. Even her own family, they were kind of scared of Sherey being out of prison.

They didn't know what she was capable of. What was that like to be free again? I tried to live. I tried to make a bet so much. She had a chance to know her daughter and her grandchild and realized what she had done to Jerry's family. Pissed everybody off quite a bit, but then the fact was, you know,

This woman's not worth our time to think about. But you're still holding on to those lies. There was so many layers that was like callus, ungey, slowly those skills were starting to fall off. Clearly there was something wrong with that decision, and eventually it was litigated. Prosecutors fought long and hard to get that conviction reinstated. After three years, they did.

A court ruled that the suicide note was in fact admissible. So there will be no new trial for Shari, and she's ordered back to prison. When I had to walk through the door, as with the full impact of everything that I did, everybody just hit me really hard that day. Shari told me that saying goodbye to her daughter and granddaughter really changed her. But it would take another three plus years before the biggest change happened. When she sent a letter to the judge and prosecutor for the first time finally admitting what she'd done.

That was truly astounding to open up my mail one day and get a letter from Sheree Miller professing her guilt. She said we got a couple things wrong, but for the most part, we got everything right and that she was no longer going to file her next appeal. This is a copy of the letter. It's four pages long, typewritten. And it reads, in part, I don't want Bruce's or Jerry's family to have to suffer anymore. They have waited 16 years to hear me say, I am guilty. I did it. The fact that she confessed was a big deal because she had maintained her innocence.

Like, it made me wonder why now. Why do you think it took you so many years to fess up? Well, it was so much easier lying about it to myself. It's so much easier to look at yourself when you don't have to look at yourself with the truth. She even says it right in her letter. I know I'm not going to get parole out of this. I don't know what her reasoning is.

I did it because it was the right thing to do. I never thought the right thing. I just wanted to do one right thing before I leave this world. And so you take responsibility? I absolutely do, not just for Bruce, but for Jerry's death as well. At that moment, maybe for the first time ever I had some amount of sympathy for Sharia L. Miller. I like to think that finally she realized what she had done. Everything she does, there's a scheme behind it, there's a plot behind it.

Who does it really benefit? Benefits Sheree Miller. She wants everyone to believe that I'm finally being honest. She's not really honest. Whether people believe what Sheree wrote in that letter or not, in our interview, she goes much further. She goes into great detail exactly how she says the murder happened. We had been talking about it for a while.

Was it days or weeks or months, do you think? Probably weeks. On the day of the murder, Jerry Cassidy follows Cherie's instructions. He drives to Michigan, and he meets with Cherie so that she can give him a cell phone to use. It was almost like a movie that we were just playing a game. But after I met him at the truck stop, I knew this was going to happen. What was the plan moving forward?

I was supposed to call to make sure that Bruce was alone. I will send you a signal by calling that cell phone, and that means he's alone, go do it. So that was the signal for Jerry, was you called, rang once, and hung up? Yes. While I was on the phone with Bruce, when Bruce said that somebody was pulling up, and that's when I knew that Jerry was there. Jerry walks in and shoots Bruce.

He had planned on saying, hi, I'm Jerry, so that the supposed abusive mafia criminal would know exactly who was killing him. So you weren't on the phone with Bruce when the gun was fired? No, but within, I mean, it had to be a minute. Jerry had actually told me that she was on the phone with him at the time he did it because she wanted to hear it done. That's a special kind of evil. And so how did you learn that the deed was done? Afterwards, he called my landline and let it ring once and hung up. That was his signal to tell me he was on his way back to Kansas City.

And how did you feel once you knew. that your husband was dead? I think it was shocked. Even though I knew it was happening, it was still a shock. You're like, this really happened. I really did this. Part of the plan was somebody had to discover the body,

and she called his brother to go look for him. She set me right up there to go find you. Just what she did. The hurt that she inflicts on people is remarkable, as if knowing that Bruce has been murdered, is not bad enough. If we are to believe, Shari, then we understand the how. But what will come next is a shock to everyone.

Her answer to the question of why. Why did you want him dead? It took a long time for me to try to put this into words. Looking in the mirror, knowing what I did. And yet there are plenty of people who knew you when you were lying all the time who think you're lying now. And that this is some sort of big act. I can't make anybody believe me. All I can do is show them, you know.

Sheree Miller told me she wanted to come clean about everything. For example, she admitted for the very first time that she started contacting Jerry Cassaday online even before she married Bruce. She also reveals that she used sex as a weapon against men. That's how I got what I wanted. It wasn't just Bruce or Jerry. It was any man. It was what you could see. You could get a man to do. It was like a video game and each man in each relationship was another level to me. Cherie's manipulation of Jerry started with sex and moved on to more involved lies. All of it ultimately enough to convince a former homicide detective to commit murder.

How did Jerry react when you told him that you were pregnant with his baby? He wanted another baby so bad. He was really happy about that. You'd had your tubes tied earlier. How were you able to fake? The belly bump. I just pushed my belly out. Jerry wanted to believe it so bad that I believe that he seen the pregnancy, even though it wasn't there. When you broke the news that that baby was gone, what did you say? I wrote him on a chat.

He was devastated. Devastated. Devastated. And you told him not just that you'd lost the babies, but that Bruce had beaten you to the point of losing the. those babies. I did. I did. And so Jerry saw red?

Very, very much so. I mean, you were a Mary Kaye Cosmetics consultant. Was that makeup on your belly? Yes, it was. I remember being in the mirror and just trying to make it be more real, trying to create more reality. She manipulated him into thinking that Bruce was a terrible, horrible person, and that the world would have been a better place without him.

She definitely took advantage of Jerry Cassidy. There's no doubt. Set him right up. Come up here and shoot my brother. Why did you have to do that? Ruin people's lives the way you did? For what reason? What did you have to gain?

I wasn't sure she was going to answer that question. But when she did, what she said really surprised me. If I could just say, it was so I could get money, it wouldn't sound as bad as what it really was. Bruce was so close to knowing who I really was. Like, what was really inside of me, the consequence of Bruce dying was smaller than what the consequence would have been if he knew that I wasn't who he thought I was.

So rather than face the truth, you were willing to have your husband be killed. Yeah. Yeah. It was a game day. How do you understand somebody who kills as part of a game? It's hard to wrap your hat around. In her effort to, as she claims, be open and honest, Sheree went on to say that after the murder, she not only knew that Jerry was suicidal,

she knew he wanted to confess. Because he had been suicidal before, I think that people just didn't believe, but I believed them. He told me about the briefcase. He told you he had a briefcase full of evidence against you. Yeah, but I felt like I could talk my way out of anything. And so when the trial was approaching, did you feel like you were going to be found not guilty? Yeah. I still in my head felt like there's no way they're not going to believe me.

Cherie said she felt so confident about her case that she rejected a plea offer during the trial. You could have saved yourself if you had simply told the truth. Yes, I could have. And I waited to tell the truth until I get nothing from it. But hopefully, hopefully a sensitive. I've heard you say that you deserve to be in prison for the rest of your life. I do. I don't feel that I deserve to live life and be happy with they don't. You know, they don't get that she is.

What we didn't expect in our conversation was that Cherie was going to share that she had written apologies to the victim's families. Would it be okay? If I read them? Sure. For the very first time, the victim's families are about to hear from Sheree. I would kind of like to hear what she had to say. So when you're ready, if you just kind of push play and you guys can listen. There's no way.

How will they react? No way for me to change or undo what I did. I eternally hurt you, and I am so sorry for that. Sheree Miller read what she called letters, apologizing to the people she hurt. So when you're ready, if you just kind of push plenty. And when we interviewed some of those victims' families, we asked if they wanted to hear the recording. Brother, Jerry would have never hurt anyone.

He didn't murder Bruce. I did. I am so sorry for lying to and lying on Jerry. He just wanted to protect him. wanted to protect them of me. Bruce's family, not only am I responsible for Bruce's death, I'm responsible for continuing to open the wound over and over by life for 17 years. Through it all, you showed an unbelievable amount of grace towards my family. For that, I thank you.

My response to that letter? I just hope she rots in hell. That's where she belongs. It's difficult to believe anything that the woman has to say. I don't know if I could ever forgive her. I want to say that I could forgive her, but you can't. I can't. Some things are not forgivable, and she is not forgivable.

I forgive her would still make your skinn crawl, knowing that there's people. altar that can do these kind of things. For all of the ugly devastation in this case, I hope she comes out of it, understanding what she did, and with a genuine attitude of making amends. One last question from me, which is, how would you describe your relationship with your children and grandchildren today? Amazing.

Like, I can't believe how much I've put them through and they still love me. They still call me mom. I cherish every one of those moments. And Bruce and Jerry don't get those. They don't get those. They don't. Jerry was a good guy all the way around.

He loved to have fun. I loved spending time with his family at the lake. That was Jerry. He never knew when he died that he was going to be a grandfather, and he would have made a wonderful grandfather. He'd never got to know any of that. It was just such a waste.

Bruce is my brother. It's been 22 years, so it seems like yesterday. You're just never going to forget it. That's all there is to it. Bruce was a hell of a guy. He'll never be replaced. I love him. And despite Cherie Miller's admission and apology, The only way she could get out of prison is if the Michigan governor actually grants her clemency.

And our experts say there is virtually no way that will happen. From all of us here at ABC News in 2020. 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. It's the Paradise Podcast. I am your host, Ryan Michelle Bethay, with my husband Sterling.

What's up? Join us here on Hulu. and Hulu on Disney Plus, where we'll discuss each episode with the cast and crew of Paradise. I'll be getting all the secrets from Dan Fulglement, James Marsden, Shailene Woodley, Julianne Nicholson, and Sterling Calby Brown. Oh! Paradise, the official podcast, is now streaming. And stream Paradise on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.