48 Hours - A Raging Son

Episode Date: August 14, 2016

A Weight Watchers executive is murdered by her Wall Street lawyer boyfriend. Did his mother's neglect 30 years ago push him to kill? "48 Hours"' Troy Roberts investigates. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. I received a call of a possible DOA at this location. I'm Detective Dennis Frawley, New York City Police Department, retired. Of course, I had very little information to go on. As I came in, the first thing I noticed was how clean this particular apartment was. I was directed to the bathroom, and as soon as I came in, there

was a little dog protecting whoever was in that bathtub. And I thought to myself, perhaps this person fell, a home accident. And I noticed she had terrible injuries on her head. Towards here, right by the drain where her feet were, I found several empty ice bags. Interestingly enough, on top of the toilet tank right here, there was a large electric fan. And the fan was on, the breeze blowing through this window, which opens up. Now the scene's starting to come together for me. And I said, you know something? Somebody tried to preserve this body.

I told the lieutenant, we have a crime scene. Seal the building. No one comes in. No one goes out. Her name was Daniel Thomas. We reached 911. No! It's, uh... You can't bring her back. I can't bring her back. I can't bring her back. That's how it makes me feel.

Her boyfriend, Jason Bond, an Ivy League educated lawyer... A suspect from the beginning, now charged with her murder. ...leaves custody for allegedly bludgeoning her to death and strangling her. He beat her so badly that he broke most of her ribs, broke her sternum. He didn't just kick her, he was stomping her in the chest. Jason Bond, he was not your normal suspect. He had become an attorney and had attended an Ivy League school. I've been covering crime and law enforcement in New York City for three decades.

And it's very rare that the murder victim turns out to be a very successful executive for a company like Weight Watchers. I identified her through a photo, and I can close my eyes and I can see that photo still. Jason has taken my only child from me. I've seen many murder scenes. You've got to move beyond the emotion. I had to dig, and when I did dig into Jason's life, there is no doubt that he is suffering from a mental illness.

So I turned to Dr. Sacha Bardet, Harvard education, one of the best forensic psychiatrists that I have seen. My job is to climb inside the mind of a killer. In other words, I have to dissect him. My mother was in the process of giving us up. At the age of nine, his own mother abandoned him. That leaves a psychological mark. Based on mental illness, I believe that Jason Bond should not be held responsible for murder. Has the jury reached an verdict? Yes, we have. It's absolutely ridiculous to believe that because his mommy didn't treat him necessarily as well as she should have,

that somehow, 15 years later, he's not responsible for the torturing murder of his girlfriend. He was caught virtually red-handed. We had a tape of him killing her. It's one of the worst things I've ever heard. You have five seconds. I'm going to light you up. Then you need to answer quickly or else you die. I'm Troy Roberts. Tonight on 48 Hours.

A raging sun. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn and it harbored a deep dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still a virgin. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials I'll be uncovering a story of

abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast,

Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. It was the horror that happened here, among the neighborhood streets of Astoria, Queens,

with the glittering Manhattan skyline just across the river, that made one of a great city's best detectives, Dennis Frawley, decide he didn't want to be a cop anymore. This did it. This set the ball rolling. But you've covered thousands of cases. Not quite like this. So cases. Not quite like this. So many. Not quite like this.

It was early summer 2012 when cops at the precinct just around the corner got a tip over the telephone and investigators rushed to this apartment. The door was open, but it didn't look like it had been broken in in any way. Assistant District Attorney Marilyn Fillingeri took in the image of the broken body of a young woman. She's in the bathtub. Her head and her face are covered by her hair. Frantic dog that had been standing watch already removed. I'm just examining, looking, you know, for an injury, maybe a fall. But in minutes, the cop knew this was no accident. It's almost as if someone held her down and hit her head or maybe did this with their foot.

The apartment was now a crime scene. This was murder. Pure and simple. And it was vicious. And someone had already tried to manipulate the evidence, that fan venting the smell, those bags of ice now empty and drained. That threw the time of the crime scene off by maybe 12 hours.

How long do you think the body was there? Probably over 36 hours. Detective Frawley soon learned the battered young woman was a vibrant, successful New York City professional. But there was something else, something gnawing at the veteran cop. And it was a terrible realization. Once he learned her name, Danielle Thomas. I remembered her. I remembered speaking to this victim not too long prior to that awful day.

27-year-old Weight Watchers executive Danielle Thomas had been on the NYPD's radar for weeks before she was killed, starting with an incident in May between her and her boyfriend, witnessed by neighbor Charette Corsi, who called 911. 911 operator took the 7-7 with the emergency. There's a altercation going on next door to me where the guy seems to be forcibly holding this girl from leaving. And then I saw her run out, and then he kind of chased her and grabbed her back into the apartment.

Did she say anything as he was pulling her back inside the apartment? No, she was just screaming. But that night, May 24th, police never connected with Danielle. It wasn't until two weeks later, when she came into Detective Frawley's precinct, that police heard her story. Danielle told police her boyfriend, Jason Bond, had beaten her up that night her neighbor called 911. In the 114th precinct, Danielle Thomas showed police her still black and blue bruises. That's when Jason Bond called Danielle's cell phone,

and she put him on speaker right in front of police. And they heard him on speaker, like, yelling, like a mad, you know, very angry, very upset. Lead prosecutor Patrick O'Connor would soon review the details of that call. What did he say? He said, I'm going to make your life impossible. I'm going to hunt you down like a dog in the streets.

This is war? This is war. Jason Bond would be arrested and charged with assault, but Danielle would eventually refuse to cooperate. Still, police tried to help her. I pointed out to her that you did the right thing by coming to us, and the courts will protect you. You have an order of protection.

This is that order of protection given to Danielle Thomas. Police had no problem finding it, just a few feet from her lifeless body, along with a bouquet of flowers and handwritten notes from her boyfriend, Wall Street lawyer, 33-year-old Jason Bond. What do the notes say? One of the notes said,

Danny, I will love you forever. Jay? She just loved adventure. She loved skydiving. She went swimming with the sharks. Bungee jumping. Fearless. Yes.

She truly was beautiful inside and out. Danielle's grandmother Juanita and mother Jamie live in a world changed forever by the loss of the child they both adored. When she was a little girl, I told her, Danielle, just shoot for the stars. And she said, I'll do that, Nana, and she did. She graduated the University of Florida with an MBA and was soon working as a revenue analyst at Disney World. There were boyfriends.

Danielle always dated what she always said, Mom, always married the nerd. Then in October 2011, at a tailgating party. At a football game, I think a friend introduced them. Danielle met an intense young man, a lawyer who also seemed to be shooting for the stars. That's what she looked for, is intelligence and ambition. His name, Jason Bond. This was a whirlwind romance. Yes.

Danielle wanted her family to meet Jason and pay for them all to take a Disney cruise. Jason turned on the charm. And when you were with them together, how did he treat Danielle? He always called her his princess. He never took his eyes off of her. I just thought, you know, they were in love. Then in March 2012, just five months after they met, Danielle followed her new boyfriend up to New York City,

taking a job as an executive at Weight Watchers, and moved into an apartment with Jason in Astoria, Queens. But Danielle's mother wanted assurances about Jason and was thrilled when a trip was scheduled to Tony Greenwich, Connecticut to meet Jason's mother, Maureen O'Connell. I even bought a new dress for the occasion, you know, because Jason's mother was the chief financial officer of Scholastic Books. I wanted to make Danielle proud.

But at the last minute, Danielle told her mother the visit was off. She just said, we're not going. That was it. And that dress that I chose to meet Maureen in, that's the dress I wore to Danielle's funeral. Maureen in. That's the dress I wore to Danielle's funeral. What her family didn't know was that Danielle's world had become a hell, caught up in a gruesome web of domestic violence.

Why didn't she tell me? Why couldn't she tell mom or me? Searching for safety, Danielle was staying at hotels with friends, but she eventually began living with Jason again. And on June 23rd, Danielle suggested drinks with Jason and his work friends here in a bar near New York's famous Times Square. As the night grew late, they'd argue. Danielle would confide to one of Jason's friends that he was abusing her, and she would be urged to spend the night in a hotel. Then Danielle remembered Jason had threatened her dog. And she goes home because she's afraid for her dog.

So to protect her dog, at 2.15 a.m., Danielle Thomas walked back into their apartment. Just 16 minutes later, she dialed 911. The phone call is chilling. She called 911 and the police failed to respond. She called 911, and the police failed to respond. That really hurts me at night, is she called and no one came to help her. It's not clear precisely what happened, but that would be the last time the NYPD had a chance to save Daniel Thomas. And the next time I saw her, she was dead. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly?

Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans, discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party.

So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+. It's just the best idea yet. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in a Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror.

Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America.

If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. Hours after brutally beating to death his girlfriend, Danielle, Jason Bond is at the local Rite Aid store shopping for cleaning supplies and ice. He was trying to buy time to extricate himself from the situation to figure out what he was going to do. By putting the ice in the tub, putting her body in the tub, neighbors wouldn't smell her body for some time. Prosecutors say Jason picked up Danielle's Blackberry and pretending to be her, sends texts that she's just walking the dog

and indicates that she has not seen Jason. Saying that everything's okay, Jason spent the night at a friend's house. So, you know, we think that one of his initial attempts was to set up an alibi that he wasn't even there when she was killed. Then with Danielle's lifeless body in the bathtub, Jason flees New York, drives through

New Jersey. Surveillance cameras show him in an ATM in Washington, D.C. He ended up in Chicago, I believe, at one point. But while it looks like Jason's trying to get away with murder, his lawyer Todd Greenberg says something entirely different was going on. He was not running away from this. He wrote a letter. He makes an admission. Jason left a letter cradled in Danielle's arm in the bathtub. It reads in part, It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. And Jason continued, I'm so sorry. Evidence Jason's lawyer says that Jason wasn't trying to hide anything. And remember that phone tip that police responded to and found Danielle's body? Well, it was Jason who made that call. There is no hiding this crime.

There is just no hiding this crime. So what was Jason doing? He was contemplating suicide, and he was biding time. Jason's defense says he accepts that he killed Danielle, but doesn't actually remember doing it. And that could be very important at trial. Jason says he remembers arguing with Danielle, grabbing her wrist and maybe even pushing her, but not much more. After his arrest, he told investigators what happened the next morning. Waking up and my head was spinning. I was still in my clothes. I went into the bedroom. She was unconscious. I picked her up and ran her to the bathroom and stripped off her clothes and ran cold water on her and tried to revive her. Slowly, Jason says he understood he must have killed Danielle.

He left this message for an ex-girlfriend. Jason's defense believes his lack of memory about the murder could be symptomatic of a serious mental illness. Dr. Alexander Sasha Bardet is a Harvard-educated forensic psychiatrist. And a consultant for the TV show Law & Order SVU. I spent a total of about six or seven hours with him over the course of three different sessions. Now, working for the defense, he spoke with Jason and others who know him. What conclusion did you reach? I concluded that Jason was suffering from intermittent explosive disorder.

What is that? That is a mental illness characterized by bouts of loss of control and bouts of anger and bouts of violence. I described him as the Hulk. I mean, this is a metaphor. And the metaphor is for someone who is one minute calm and rational, and then because of some trigger, turns into an angry monster. I mean, it sounds preposterous. It sounds preposterous. But Dr. Bardet says it's very real, and supported by hundreds of documents from Jason's childhood, including psychiatric reports. And they draw this startling conclusion. This Ivy League graduate was an abandoned child.

He developed a mental illness because of his genetic background, because of his experiences as a child, because of the trauma that he endured. And Dr. Bardet says that trauma begins with Jason's mother, Maureen O'Connell, the wealthy, accomplished executive at a children's book company, who lives here at this Greenwich, Connecticut mansion worth almost $3.5 million. But it wasn't always that way. Maureen O'Connell was once a pregnant teenager

living here in the Bronx. She married Jason's father and had a second child, Jason's brother. But Jason then claims his mother was ready to move on. My mother took my father out. And from the age of three to nine, his mother gradually disengaged from Jason and his brother. Jason was primarily in the care of his grandmother, who may have been schizophrenic. She used to, like, talk to herself and pee on the floor.

There were imaginary people that she dealt with. Then when Jason was nine years old, his mother remarried. She completely severed ties and turned her back on Jason and his brother, wanting to put them into a group home. Instead, Jason was sent to live with his father in Miami, and the story he told social workers is heartbreaking. His father turned out to be an abusive, crack-addicted man who abused his sons emotionally, physically, would point loaded guns at them. He put my hand on the

stove because I told him I turned the stove off, and it wasn't turned off. And then another time, Jason says he called his mother for help. But his mother was never going to bring Jason to live with her. Instead, she found an apartment to rent in Westchester for Jason to live again with his grandmother. I was hanging out with bad kids and stealing stuff. I'm just angry that I wasn't going to be living with my mother. His grandmother moved to an assisted living facility. At 14 years old, Jason was living alone until authorities got involved. Court papers were filed. Jason is a neglected child left alone without adequate food to sustain him. My mother was

charged with neglect and abandonment. I became a ward of the state. Maureen O'Connell submitted papers of her own saying Jason was verbally abusive, brought knives to school, requested he be placed with social services. Jason would spend the rest of his youth in group homes. One psychiatrist noted, Jason is seething with rage and shows resentment, especially in regards to his mother. And records from the group homes repeatedly document efforts to engage his mother in Jason's treatment. And consistently the records indicate that she refuses any involvement.

She's too busy with her work, she can't come to a meeting, she can't be part of the treatment planning, she can't be part of any assessment that has to do with her son. She just didn't want to have anything to do with them, and Jason knew this. Then a miracle happened. Jason met this man, Dr. John Piacenti, who himself overcame a rough childhood. He encouraged Jason to get a GED and go to college. Jason got a scholarship to Columbia University, the Ivy League.

He became a lawyer, but his deep-seated anger, his defense believes, never went away. The rage at 13 years old that never, never left him, and that was exhibited again on the night of the murder. The defense will argue Jason believed Danielle was going to leave him, just like his mother did. It was too much for him, and because of his mental illness, he snapped. Patently absurd to believe that he somehow lost control and killed this young woman because of that past trauma. What's more, prosecutors say,

they have evidence Jason was not suffering from mental illness when he killed Danielle. And they have tape to prove it. You have five seconds. I'm going to light you up. And you need to answer quickly or else you die. Should Jason Bond's rough childhood diminish his responsibility for murder? Chat now on Facebook and Twitter.

Prosecutors Patrick O'Connor and Marilyn Filangieri still can't quite believe it. They know Jason Bond brutally beat Danielle Thomas to death, but Jason's defense is claiming he's mentally ill. His anger stemming from his mother abandoning him almost three decades ago. It's ridiculous, and it makes a mockery of the judicial system. This is why people have a problem with science, with psychology, with psychiatry, because they come up with these concepts which are meant to excuse us from taking personal responsibility for our actions. I've covered thousands of cases and I've heard all kinds of creative defenses. Veteran crime reporter Murray Weiss is a 48 Hours consultant.

This case was an extraordinary one. The tabloid newspapers had a field day with this case. They called it blaming on his mother. But intermittent explosive disorder is not something Jason's defense team has made up. It's been listed in psychiatric manuals for 30 years, and three doctors, including one who works for the prosecution, say Jason suffers from it. Over the years, Jason Bond exhibited some deeply violent and disturbing behavior. It ranged from choking girlfriends to flying off the handle of people over insignificant things. There was even an incident where a friend of his put his feet on his table and he became so intensely angry about it

that his pupil took over his eye and it went completely black. One of his friends even recalled a time when he talked to him about his mother and he would suddenly go from being this nice guy into, like, Jekyll and Hyde. But Jason never killed anyone before. He ended numerous relationships before he met Danielle. Why was his relationship with Danielle different? I thought it was different because it was a deeper, more profound relationship and they had begun to speak about marriage and a life together. A woman who he thought wouldn't leave him like his mother did. And strangely, a woman who his mother really liked. After he went to law school and he was involved with Danielle,

his mother came back into his life. Jason says out of the blue, his mother contacted him, apologizing for what happened in his childhood. He says his mother even offered to help Danielle with her career. And I think having his mother back in his life was very much a mixture of emotions for him. On one hand, he was still the child that really wanted his mom. But at the same token, having her back in his life

reignited a lot of the anger. He still had, in my opinion, murderous rage toward his mother. That was turned to Danielle on the night of the murder. In the weeks leading up to the murder, Jason was violently threatening Danielle. He sent her a series of emails accusing her of repeated lies and broken promises. I think it was all around whether she was reacquainting herself with a prior boyfriend. Evidence, Bardet says, that he feared Danielle was leaving him. It's pretty clear that Jason felt that Danielle was lying to him.

On the morning before the murder, Jason says they fought again about Danielle's ex-boyfriend. Then after a night of drinking, Dr. Bardet believes Jason, in the throes of mental illness, lost all control and killed her. Do you think he is mentally ill? No. He's just a person who has an anger issue. He could control it if he wanted to, but he has a problem with doing that. Ultimately, prosecutors say, it doesn't really matter whether Jason has this illness. It's whether in the course of murdering Danielle, he was actually suffering from it. And they believe they had the proof he was not.

What we have here is a small snippet of a longer period of time where Jason Bond is strangling Danielle Thomas, killing her. They call it the pocket dial. At some point in the process of him killing her, They call it the pocket dial. So what happened? I can't breathe. At some point in the process of him killing her, her phone was activated. And a recording of Jason killing Danielle was made. He speaks in a very calm voice several times throughout the tape saying, listen, Danielle, you don't have a lot of time. It's extraordinarily graphic, so 48 Hours has decided just to play a small portion of it. You have five seconds. I'm going to light you up, and then you need to answer quickly or else you die.

Daniel Thomas on this tape is begging for her life. She's being strangled repeatedly, and at various points she's saying that she can't breathe. She repeatedly claims that she loves him. saying that she can't breathe. She repeatedly claims that she loves him. What's worse, the recording was made an hour after Danielle called 911. That means, prosecutors say, Jason was attacking Danielle for at least 60 minutes.

There are seven seconds on this voicemail recording that's silence. That's a period of time when you hear a snoozer, her dog, bark two times. That seven seconds of silence is indicative to me that the defendant had his hands around her throat and was strangling her to the point where she couldn't even make any sounds. He taunts her that,

you're so stupid, you think I'm going to stop. I won't stop. You know what you're so stupid, you think I'm going to stop, I won't stop. It made me sick to my stomach. Her last seconds were nothing but horror. And I can't imagine. It was the prosecutor's smoking gun,

evidence, they say, that proved Jason Bond knew exactly what he was doing that night. And he took his time doing it. This tape is going to be the crucial piece of evidence. All right, let's do this. You have five seconds. I'm going to light you up, and then you need to answer quickly or else you die. Defense attorney Todd Greenberg concedes that Danielle Thomas' pocket-dialed voicemail is chilling.

But he hears a different story in that recording. When I heard that tape, I heard howling. I heard shrieking from Jason. It's almost like somebody else coming out of him. At trial. Case on trial, 1830 of 2012, Jason Bond. Greenberg hopes to persuade jurors that when Jason Bond was beating and strangling Danielle,

he was overwhelmed by his emotions. Jason Bond is a classic case of intermittent explosive disorder. It's a rare defense used in fewer than 1% of murder cases in New York State. Jason Bond should have a reduced degree of responsibility because he suffered an extreme emotional disturbance. It's a viable psychiatric illness that people suffer from. Psychiatrist Alexander Sacha Bardet is a key defense witness. You hear him strangling her

and then stopping, telling her she's going to die in five seconds. It sounds like someone who is in control to me. Being out of control doesn't mean you're just screaming gibberish and waving your arms and flailing around. You're just doing something that you really shouldn't be doing, that you don't want to do, that your rational reason would tell you not to do, but you can't help yourself. Despite all of Jason's achievements, says Dr. Burday, despite that law degree, Jason was unable to overcome his horrendous childhood. He grew up thinking that he was a worthless individual. His own mother abandoned him.

Maureen O'Connell, the financial executive at the heart of the defense's case, is a no-show at her son's trial. Yet surprisingly, she's the one footing the bill. The mother did retain me to help him. I will say that she stood behind him at this trial, even knowing what the defense was going to be. Jason's mother declined her request for an interview. Her spokesperson says Maureen O'Connell is horrified by this tragedy, and her heart goes out to Ms. Thomas' family.

Did you have an opportunity to interview her? She declined. I met her, but she did not want to provide any background or history of her own. Were you surprised that she was paying for his defense? I mean, it's unfortunate. I think it's a little too little too late. I mean, I think none of this, I believe, would have happened if his life had been different early on. Many people who survive horrific childhoods don't go on to being a killer, right? Of course. Right. But in Jason Bond, and that's what we're talking about here, that childhood caused him to suffer from a mental illness. Greenberg is not asking jurors to let

Jason go free. Instead, he says they should convict him of a lesser offense. But Richard Brown, the district attorney, says once he heard that voicemail and realized what happened in that apartment, the state had only one option. The voicemail confirms in your mind that this was murder, not manslaughter? Certainly so. And it fits very clearly in the definition of murder in the first degree, which is a torture murder. The victim is tortured prior to being killed. The prosecutors who report to Brown point to a text message that Jason sent to a friend just a half hour after that voicemail ends. I just wanted her out of my life.

She's been nothing but trouble. He actually was able to type on a phone using perfect grammar, punctuation on the she's been nothing but trouble. Jason knew exactly what he was doing. There's not a doubt in my mind. Daniel's mother and grandmother say Jason even tried to manipulate them. I got a Christmas card from Jason expressing how sorry he was. I cried till my eyes bled, he told them.

I don't even remember our fight that night. I have had mental and emotional issues since childhood. Do you believe that he could not recall killing your daughter? Oh, I believe. I believe he remembers it. I believe he does. But what will the jurors believe? I am a very firm believer the environment of the child has a lot to do with what he becomes. What did you think of Dr. Bardet's testimony?

I thought that he was helpful in trying to get us to understand. The stakes are high. First-degree murder could mean life without parole. How do I feel? I'm on edge. But prosecutors say manslaughter could mean as little as five years. You never know what a jury is going to do. Jason committed the most terrible murder when he took Danielle from Jamie and me.

Danielle Thomas' family, who relocated from Kentucky for the seven-week trial, have been waiting for some sense of closure for nearly two years. I was so emotional. Now, after deliberating less than two days, jury forewoman Elena Rodriguez takes a final vote. We went around. Everybody was, yes, yes, yes. And with that, the jury returns. Jason Bong, please stand.

My heart was pounding out of my chest. Under the first count, murder in the first degree, how does the jury find the defendant? Will the jury find the defendant guilty? Jason Bond, Ivy League grad and Wall Street lawyer, guilty of first degree murder. Jason Bond, please be seated. Jurors, in the end, decided he tortured Danielle, enjoyed killing her. That chilling 911 call and voicemail recording of Jason murdering Danielle proved crucial. No one considered manslaughter?

No. Nobody went for that one. Because they just didn't believe that Jason, while in the midst of an extreme emotional disturbance, lost control for some 60 minutes. I feel he would have been out of control if he would have grabbed her by the neck and that's it, finish her right there. Then that could have been like a moment of madness. But when you release and you go again at it, right there, there's control.

We did get a just verdict. Women of faith. My Bible teaches me that I have to forgive. Danielle's mother and grandmother hope they can forgive Jason. I think it would help me if he would show some remorse, if he would speak at the sentencing to Mom and I. And they would soon find out. Today is the sentencing for Jason Bond.

Five weeks after the verdict, on a cold, rainy morning, everyone gathers back in the courtroom. First, Danielle's family gets the chance to confront Jason. I'd like to be able to see Jason. To look him in the eye and show him their heartache. You murdered Danny while she was gasping for breath and begging for her life, Jason. Only a beast, Jason, could have done to her what you done to her. They begged to know how he could choke the life out of the woman who would have married him.

Jason, three weeks before she died, I asked Danielle, if Jason were to propose, what would you say? Jason, she immediately said, I'd accept, with a big smile on her face. Before the judge imposes his sentence, Jason's lawyer implores him to consider his horrific childhood the root of his mental illness. Jason's life was one of physical abuse to this day he points out jason lacks any loving support i look around this courtroom your honor and i'm noticing as i did throughout the trial that there is not one person not one person who is here for jason bond now just just as Jason is about to learn his fate, he stands and, to everyone's surprise,

addresses the court for the first time. Danny and I were best friends that planned to marry. Nana and Mom were my adopted family. Then, turning to Danielle's mother and grandmother I don't know what to say Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it I don't know how this happened

It's the moment they've been hoping for But the judge shows no mercy. As far as this court is concerned, with respect to murdering the first degree, you are sentenced to the rest of your natural life without parole. 35-year-old Jason Bond will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Before being led away, he again turns to Danielle's family and mouths an apology. He said, I am so sorry.

I love you. In my heart, I feel that Jason meant what he said. He showed remorse, I think, for the first time today. For Danielle's mother and grandmother, I think, for the first time today. For Danielle's mother and grandmother, it's the beginning of their journey of healing. While Danielle's life was cut down so tragically, they take comfort in knowing that she lived her short life

to the fullest, fearlessly. Her grandmother will always remember something Danielle liked to tell her. Nana, she said, I would rather die young and do the things that I want to do and make good memories than to live with regret and not have done any of the things I'm doing. So she lived as much in her 27 years as a lot of people do in a lifetime. I think of that often. Danielle Thomas's mother is suing the NYPD for not responding to her daughter's 911 call. Jason Bond's mother moved to have her son put into protective custody. He is there now.

You be the judge. Should Jason Bond spend the rest of his life in prison? Chat now on Facebook and Twitter. Twitter. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.