48 Hours - A Vision of Murder

Episode Date: January 24, 2016

A Florida mother of two claims she saw the murder of a friend in a dream.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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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. Real people. Real crimes. Real life drama.

Real people, real crimes, real life drama. This is a murder case that began with a nightmare and a woman who had visions of violence. To me it was a dream. I woke up and it just startled me. I usually have very strange dreams. When I wake up in the morning, I remember bits and pieces, and within half an hour, it's completely gone. I said, I'm worried about Kelly. I think Kelly's hurt. Kelly Brennan was a nurse at one of the local hospitals,

well thought of at the hospital. Kelly was beautiful. When she came in the room, it was, like, glamorous. She was patient-oriented, wasn't afraid to take charge. We called her the Sarge. Tell me what happened. What did you dream about Kelly? Everything was black, and she was arguing with somebody, and I saw the sign for Mark's Landing.

On February 15, 2010, Kelly Brennan went missing. She didn't show up for work. There was like an unsettling panic that we didn't know, what happened to Kelly? Something was not right, it was not adding up, and that's why we called the police. 911, what's the problem there? I think there's been a murder.

We sent people down to start to look at Mark's landing and in that area to see if they could find Kelly and actually put a aviation unit up in the air. Helicopter had spotted what they believed to be a person laying in the wooded area. Shortly later, we were able to identify that it was Kelly Brennan. If you follow me, Peter, right back in here toward the scrub. Wow, back in the bush. And this is where Kelly ended her life. Right here. Most of the injuries are directed direct at her head.

So there's a frenzied attack with many blows being struck. There's a lot of anger and rage in that. Once the body's found and it's where she says it is... Mark's landing. I said, I can see Mark's landing. Of course, then she becomes your prime suspect. In the dream, just like I told them, she was arguing with somebody. My name is Todd Deretani. I was a criminal defense lawyer. And one day, Sheila Trott came into my office and told me that she was accused of murder.

Sheila was trying to convey to me that she didn't commit any murder and that she merely had a dream, a vision about this that came to her, like she was clairvoyant. If it hadn't been for me, they wouldn't have gone to Mark's Landing looking for her. I told the truth, and I'm continuing to tell the truth. I did not kill Kelly Brennan. You don't believe that she has some supernatural ability, that all these facts

came to her in a dream? No, I don't think she's clairvoyant. I think she's a killer. I'm Peter Van Sant. Tonight on 48 Hours, a vision of murder. Hotshot 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's 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.

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 harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still have heard it. 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. It's hard to imagine this picturesque seashore, Mark's landing on Florida's space coast as a beachside grave. Is this the spot where Kelly Brennan was lying on the ground? We noticed her legs sticking out from the bushes a little bit and kind of the lower part of her torso.

It was on the morning of February 16, 2010, that chopper pilot John Coppola of the Brevard County Sheriff's Department spotted a body. We landed. I got out of the helicopter, ran over to her. I saw a lot of trauma to her head. It's a very sad moment to see somebody dead like that. It was 46-year-old Kelly Brennan, who had vanished from her home in the Atlantic less than 24 hours earlier. There was no saving Kelly Brennan. No, unfortunately, no, there was no saving her.

She was so alive. She was always, you know, running around doing things, and then to know that she was dead, it was just a total shock. Lou Irvesi and Kelly were close friends and nurses at a local hospital. They often kayaked together. When you think about Kelly Brennan, what do you miss the most? Her friendship. Working with her was good because she was a good nurse. She knew her stuff, but also just as a friend. Kelly was committed to her patients, even after she was diagnosed with an incurable disease, multiple sclerosis. It would flare up at times, and she would just keep working and work right

through it, which was another thing I admired about her. Sheila Trott, the woman at the center of this murder, says Kelly Brennan was her friend as well. What is it about her that you liked? We had the type of friendship where we wouldn't see each other for four or five years, and then something would bring us together. She hosted parties. She liked to be the center of attention. Kelly was a great girl. There was nothing that she did to deserve that at all. So how did it come to this? Sheila Trott, suspected of brutally murdering her friend

and dumping her body right here among these bushes. Well, it's a complicated tale of secrets, lies, and intrigue. A story that begins with an eerie dream and ends like a Shakespearean tragedy. Does this case have an affair? Yes. Sex? Sure. Jealousy?

On both sides. Major Todd Goodyear is the lead investigator. And a nightmare and visions and who knows what. Clairvoyance. Of course, that's our suspect saying that she's clairvoyant. For us, that's somebody that's trying to live with what they've done. I woke up and it just startled me. And I said, I'm worried about Kelly.

I think Kelly's hurt. In this dream, was Kelly Brennan dead? Mm-mm. Did you see her bloodied? No, mm-mm. Did you see her body at Mark's Landing? Uh-uh, no. You did not kill Kelly?

No. No, I would never have hurt Kelly. No, I never would have hurt Kelly. No, I never would have hurt Kelly. But to truly understand just how strange this story is, you have to go back in time, 20 years. Kelly Brennan, a nursing student, and Sheila Trott were friends. Sheila was working three jobs to put her husband, Daniel, through flight school. Dan was an upwardly mobile kind of guy, liked the limelight a little bit. Some of the things we heard was he was a little narcissistic, one of those people that liked to believe he had a little more power and a little more status.

She was head over heels. Alison Bartlett remembers when her best friend Sheila fell for the tall, handsome, aspiring pilot. I never heard or saw that spark in her that I did when she talked about Dan and sent photos of Dan and I could see that they were going to be getting married. And what did she tell you about his personality? Fun, like the same things that she did. I think in a lot of ways she found a soulmate. At least she thought she did. At least she thought she did. Sheila and Dan were married on August 26, 1989. The couple had two sons, Creighton and Graham.

Sheila became a real estate agent, and Daniel Trott achieved his dream of becoming an airline pilot. of becoming an airline pilot. In 2002, his political career also took off when he was elected mayor of their small town, Indy Atlantic. Based on your investigation, were Dan and Sheila Trott considered a power couple in Indy Atlantic? I think within town, because of his status as being, you know, formally in the political circles there and her being a real estate agent, them being fairly well-to-do.

I think they were in that social circle where they would be well-known throughout the community. From the outside, Sheila and Dan seem to have the perfect life. But images can be deceiving. What did you see in his behavior? What happened? He began having affairs. I would notice his ring was on the counter.

He wasn't wearing his ring. And then when I would say, look, we need to talk. What's going on? He would swear and cuss at me. That's Sheila's story. 48 Hours reached out to Dan Trott about these allegations, but he refused to comment. By January 2009, Sheila had had enough.

So you asked for the divorce? Oh, absolutely, yes. I said, I'm done. While her marriage was crumbling, Sheila and Kelly met for a girls' night out. And it wasn't long before Sheila realized that Kelly's six-year marriage to restaurant manager Gino Rallo was on the rocks too. She had made a point of saying that she wouldn't care if Gino had an affair, which I thought was a really strange thing to say. Dan Trott moved out and joined a cycling group

where Kelly Brennan was a member. And soon, they were going out on more than long bike rides. Dan and Kelly were both lying to everybody, saying that they weren't having an affair. And while this whole thing was going on, I was having my problems with Dan. He was just being very belligerent. Sheila's mother repeated to investigators her daughter's claims of other affairs. But Major Goodyear says it was Dan's admitted relationship with Kelly that led to murder. She's going to lose Dan.

I'm going to kill the thing that he now loves. Or I'm going to take that away and I'm going to hurt him as bad as he's hurt me. And then you get the third thing. If I can't have him, nobody's going to have him. You've been portrayed as being obsessed with Dan. You laugh. You're saying that's not true. Oh, no.

I'm sure he wishes I was obsessed with him. No, absolutely not. You couldn't bear the thought of losing him. You couldn't bear the thought of him with another woman. Oh, no. Well, the fact that I set him up with Kelly would, you know, that would be a little different. With Kelly Brennan? Yes, absolutely.

You set them up? Yes, absolutely. Wait a second. Yeah, she was my ticket out of a bad marriage. But police aren't buying one word of Sheila's story, and they want to question her about Kelly Brennan's murder. God's honest truth, if I was going to kill anybody for any reason, it would have been him. have been him.

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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 Plus. It's just the best idea yet. That's the place. That's the place that she loves. That's where her heart is, right there. Sheila Trott had a lifelong love affair with the water. Yeah, I should have been born with gills, I suppose. Long before she was accused of murder,

she spent carefree summers on this picturesque Canadian island. This is where she learned to swim, and this was her favorite place in the whole world. Margaret Byers says her daughter doesn't belong at the center of this murder investigation, but back with her family in Canada. Sheila used to just love to run through these rocks. If she could see this right now, she would just be in tears. This is where she belongs.

It was Sheila's love of the water that drew her to live on the Florida coast, where she was a diving instructor and went to college. Now, she swims in a sea of suspicion. I did not kill Kelly Brennan. She was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. In fact, Sheila says she orchestrated the relationship between Dan and Kelly one night over dinner to speed up her own divorce. So I said to her, I said, you know something, Kelly, I said, you and Dan would be great for each other.

And she just perked up and she said, really? And I said, yeah. And I said, but Kelly, you're going to have to lose weight. But prosecutor Samantha Barrett says Sheila is making up the matchmaker story. Barrett says that Sheila was simmering with anger and jealousy over the relationship. Anger that finally boiled over when she savagely killed Kelly on this lawn right behind me. It was horrific. She was lying in wait for Kelly when Kelly came out of her house. I believe once she started the

attack and she knew Kelly wasn't going to be able to fight back, that that's when the rage came to the surface. Authorities begin building a timeline that Prosecutor Jim McMaster says started on the night of February 15, 2010, when Kelly misses an appointment with her personal trainer. And they couldn't find her. Couldn't contact her and couldn't find her. Kelly's roommate files a missing persons report

two hours later. They checked every police department, every hospital, fire, rescue, highway patrol. They went to her residence and were clueless as to where Kelly Brennan was. Meanwhile, according to her sons Graham and Creighton, Sheila arrives home after a four-hour trip to Walmart. She was dizzy, shaking, and acting strangely. So her son's girlfriend calls 911. The paramedics arrived. They couldn't find anything physically wrong with her, so they left.

didn't find anything physically wrong with her, so they left. An hour later, another call to 911. My boyfriend's mom just had a seizure about an hour ago, and they said to call back if she's been acting weird or anything, and she's acting very strange. She was then transported to the hospital, and they ran routine tests, and nothing of medical significance was identified. She was released from the hospital and came home.

When they returned from the hospital in the wee hours of the morning, Sheila begins talking about the dream. She called her younger son Graham into the bedroom. She told him she had a bad dream. She kept seeing Kelly's face in the dark and that she believed that she hurt Kelly. Worried, Sheila's sons telephone their grandmother. Graham just said to me, Margaret, we need you. We need you. She drives from her Florida condo to Sheila's house, where she finds her daughter curled up in a fetal position on her bed. She was shaking from head to toe, and she said, call the police. I said, what happened? She said, Mom, everything's black.

Everything's black, and all I can see is Kelly's face. It was Graham that said to me, Margaret, I think Mom's killed Kelly. Fearing her daughter was having a nervous breakdown, Margaret Byers makes yet another 911 call. We just need a policeman, please. What's the problem there, please? This call would change Sheila's life forever. I think there's been a murder. My daughter has had a nervous breakdown and she's saying she's killed somebody. Your daughter's telling you she killed somebody? Yes. All right, she didn't tell

you who she's saying she killed? She's saying, I don't know, Kelly. Kelly. Did she tell you where this happened? Well, it's down, Mark's Landing. Mark's Landing? It's sort of the defendant's own words through her mother and through her sons. I mean, she's basically confessing to the crime in the 911 call. After that explosive call, officers rush to Sheila Trott's home, and she continues rambling about the dream. She's making some statements. I believe I hurt someone.

I keep seeing Kelly's face. To the point that the Indiana Atlantic Police believe we may have a homicide on our hands. Then detectives put two and two together. Wait a minute, we had a missing person report last night of Kelly Brennan. And when you make that connection, what are you thinking? You're talking to the killer. That's when Kelly's body is spotted from the air And cops on the ground rush to Mark's landing

Detectives have been at this Indialantic home for some time All after the body of 46-year-old Kelly Brennan was found 10 miles away in this sand dune area Kelly's body was found exactly where Sheila dreamt it would be And so, less than two days after Kelly Brennan disappeared, Sheila Trott is arrested for murder. I'm gonna be in jail for a very long time, okay? Sheila Trott calls her son, Creighton.

They're charging me with first degree murder. She says, but it's not true. I didn't do it. Sheila hires defense attorney Todd Deretaini. And even though that dream led to Kelly's body, Deretaini insists the prosecution's case isn't so ironclad. The police didn't have DNA, they didn't have fingerprints, witnesses, and they didn't have any blood that matched to Sheila Trott.

Looks like you've got, at a minimum, a case of reasonable doubt. Absolutely reasonable doubt. It was a dream case. So little physical evidence, prosecutors say, because Sheila Trott planned it that way. It's not like she all of a sudden found out that Kelly was having an affair with Dan Trott and then confronted her immediately and beat her to death. She'd known this had been going on for months and months and months and she planned it down to the last detail. She's a murderer. My daughter has had a nervous breakdown and she's saying she's killed somebody. Did you kill Kelly Brennan? No, I didn't kill Kelly Brennan. Absolutely not.

Sheila Trott remains behind bars for four and a half years awaiting trial for the brutal murder of her friend Kelly Brennan. She said, all I want to do is hug my boys. And I understand that, because all I want to do is hug my girl. Today you absolutely believe in your daughter's innocence, correct? Absolutely. 110%. As the trial finally begins in September of 2014,

Remain seated. Come to order, please. begins in September of 2014. Remain seated. Come to order, please. Four, two, and six. Investigators believe they've built a strong, but admittedly circumstantial case, beginning with that bizarre dream.

The defendant began saying that she'd had a dream, that she may have hurt Kelly, and that it happened at Mark's Landing. Do you have an eyewitness to this murder? No. Do you have a murder weapon? No. Do you have Sheila Trott's DNA on Kelly Brennan? No, no, I don't believe so.

But Major Todd Goodyear does have a theory of the murder based on bloodstains and divots in the grass in front of Kelly's home. Peter, this is the house where we believe that Sheila Trott laid in wait, waited for Kelly Brennan to come out to her vehicle, snuck up behind her at nightfall, hit her in the back of the head, and then continued to hit her in the head multiple, multiple times with some type of object, we believe a hammer. Goodyear believed Sheila then put Kelly's body inside Kelly's own SUV, where CSIs found her blood on the passenger side floor. He says Sheila then drove Kelly's SUV to Mark's

landing, where she dumped the body. Then she abandoned the SUV at a nearby condo. What kind of a murderer could I have been that I didn't leave fingerprints? I didn't leave hair. I had no bruises. I had no broken nails, no cuts on me or anything like this. Nothing connects me to this crime whatsoever. This was not a physical fight. This was an ambush where she bashed in this woman's brains with a hammer. She probably didn't have to break a nail to do that. What the lack of physical evidence means to me is how premeditated the crime actually was. Defense attorney Todd Deretany couldn't wait to bring this case to trial. I was absolutely certain that this was 80% chance I could have won this case.

Working at half speed, it was that good of a case. But as the trial begins, Deretani won't be able to show how good a case he thought he had. He's nowhere near the courtroom. Are you looking for 4x4 or two-wheel drive? He's selling used cars across town at a dealership he now owns, Big Boy Motors. He has had his own legal troubles. Florida State Supreme Court has permanently disbarred him for harming clients by taking their money and then failing to represent them. So while Dara Taney's counting the cash from his car business,

Sheila is fighting for her freedom. The prosecution plays that damning 911 call from Sheila's mother. She didn't tell you who she's saying she killed? I don't know. Did she tell you where this happened? Mark's landy. The man at the center of this alleged love triangle takes the stand. My name is Daniel Trott.

Last name spelled T-R-O-T-T. It's Sheila's husband and Kelly's boyfriend at the time of the murder. Clearly annoyed, Dan Trott wishes he could be anywhere but here. Do you recall the date of February 15th of 2010? Yeah. Do you have a specific memory about that date? I've been spending nearly the last five years trying to forget it, but yes, I suppose I remember a few things.

Prosecutors need to establish Dan's affair with Kelly as the motive which pushed Sheila to kill. You're looking forward to seeing her that evening? Absolutely. Very much so. Sheila's new attorneys, public defenders, see an opening. They use Dan Trott to point the finger at a man they believe had the strongest motive to kill Kelly, her jealous husband, Gino Rallo, who reacted with violence when he learned of the affair.

He physically shows up at your house and confronts you both? He physically broke through the door and came up and essentially assaulted me, yes. Did he have a weapon in his hand when he barged through the door? Yes, he did. Describe that weapon. It was some sort of jack. Dan suffered injuries to his face and neck. He says moments later, Kelly followed Gino home, where Gino turned his rage on her.

He attacked her in the garage, essentially was choking her. It was a rather violent encounter. Less than two months later, Kelly was murdered. The state calls Gino Rallo. Gino Rallo testifies Sheila Trott was the master manipulator who taunted him into attacking Dan. She would call me from time to time and say, hey, this is going on and they were having an affair. How many times was the defendant calling you about this? A lot. Did you believe it at the time? I did not. Prosecutors say Sheila used emails to light

Gino's fuse as well, but they also revealed her own deep-seated anger. In one email she wrote, he was sitting in front of you, lying to your face. Were you hoping that Gino was going to go over and attack his wife or attack your husband, putting an end to this affair so you could have Dan back? Oh, no. Oh, no. I wasn't upset that Dan was having an affair with Kelly. I was upset that he was spending the money that he was. Still trying to prove no one was more upset than Gino, Sheila's attorneys want the jury to hear a voicemail

that he left Dan two months before Kelly's murder. You mother-----. Come on, you want to f----- up this marriage? Chuck, I'm going to kick your mother----- ass. But the judge refuses, declaring it irrelevant. Gino's the only person who knew where Kelly specifically was that evening. It sounds like you think Gino's the killer. I'm not going to say who I think it is. Gino could absolutely do it, and Kelly wanted out of that marriage.

Prosecutors say Gino has a strong alibi. They say this security video from a drugstore in another town proves Gino couldn't have been at the murder scene. in another town proves Gino couldn't have been at the murder scene. And Kelly's next-door neighbor, Scott Vickers, testifies that he saw a blonde woman, not a man, on Kelly's lawn that night. It was a light-colored outfit, which, you know, that's... or else I wouldn't have been able to really see, but it was some type of light outfit. That light-colored outfit, detectives theorize,

could be a reason why none of Kelly's blood was found on Sheila. What do you think about their contention that you were wearing some sort of hazmat-like suit? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. We're next to Disney World. Why didn't they just put me in a Mickey Mouse suit? Are you serious? Things were about to get very serious at Sheila Trott's trial. Her two sons are about to take the stand against her.

And what they have to say is another nightmare for their mother. In a tragedy that seems to know no bounds, Sheila Trott's two sons are about to testify at her murder trial. For the prosecution... How are you related to her? She's my mother. And do you see her in the courtroom here today?

Yes. With his mother watching and listening just 15 feet away, Graham Trott first describes helping her when she seemed to be having a seizure the night Kelly Brennan was killed. I picked her up and put her on the couch because she was hitting her head against the wall. Prosecutor Samantha Barrett quickly cuts to the chase, asking him what happened after his mother came home from the hospital a few hours later. She was telling me she was seeing things. What did she say she saw? She saw Kelly's face and she said she thinks she's hurt and a beach. Despite the prosecutor's efforts,

did you ever hear her say, I think I hurt Kelly? No. Graham won't repeat what he initially told investigators in a recorded interview. She said, I think I hurt Kelly. And I keep seeing her face and that I hurt her. And I was like, well, that's not good. But what he does reveal next is a bombshell. And it's something he did not tell law enforcement until shortly before the trial. I said, do you want to drive down to this beach that you're seeing, and we can see there's nothing there, and then we can call it a night and go to sleep. Sheila agreed, taking her sons

Graham and Creighton and Graham's girlfriend on a macabre field trip to Mark's Landing. And there, with Sheila leading the way, the boys, 16 and 18 years old at the time, saw Kelly's bludgeoned body. You could see, I mean, it was just a lifeless body just lying there. Was your mother with you when you saw that? Yes. What did she say? I don't remember.

Nothing, really. I was just in shock. Why would you take your two teenage sons out to Mark's Landing and show them where the body was? The kids took me. You led them to that place? I didn't take them right to the body. We walked around and we were just on our way out when we saw her feet. Why is it when your mother came over to the house,

you didn't tell her, we just got back from Mark's Landing where we saw a dead body? You'd have to ask the kids that. I don't know. It just never really came up when my mother first came in. Didn't come up? Didn't come up, Sheila. Didn't come up? you'd have to ask the kids that. I don't know. It just never really came up. When my mother first came in there... Didn't come up, Sheila. Didn't come up.

You'd just been to see a dead body, a woman whose skull was crushed. Well, when my mom came in, I was in bed and she woke me up. I don't remember the conversation very well. As inexplicable as that seems, the horror of the night didn't end there for Sheila's sons. She told them she also had visions of a nearby vacant lot.

And that's where Creighton Trott tells the court they made a second damning discovery. A bag. Mom opened it up, went into the purse and saw, opened up the wallet and we saw Kelly's driver's license. What did you do next after you saw the bag with Kelly Brennan's driver's license in the wallet? Um told her that we didn't want to have anything to do with it that me and Graham were going to go to sleep and that she had to deal with it on her own. How important are these boys to your case? Their testimony is absolutely critical.

It seemed that they were determined to do what was really the right thing and tell the truth. After her son's scathing testimony, Sheila's defense team faces a huge uphill battle. They try to poke holes in the forensic evidence gathered at Mark's landing. Well, we know that Kelly's body comes out of the car and comes down this way, and we know that because there's blood transfer found on this pole right here. Kelly's blood was on this very post. Right. The defense says not so fast. The spots on the fence post, did you afford them for forensic testing? They were not.

So as to whether those items are blood or a kid's red Slurpee, we're left to guess, right? If you would like to put it that way. And the defense tries to tear apart the alleged motive that Sheila was jealous and murderously angry over her husband's affair with Kelly. Elizabeth McHugh was Sheila's divorce attorney. She says Sheila seemed fine with the affair.

She really didn't have a problem with Kelly because she knew her and so she knew she would be very good with the children and wouldn't really be a problem in the divorce. Okay. Motive aside, Sheila's dream about Kelly lying hurt here at Mark's Landing and that field trip with her two sons here are among the strongest evidence against her. But there is a new twist to this tale. Sheila says that dream was actually a memory of witnessing Kelly being killed by a strange man. She was arguing with him, and I heard him say, but Kelly, and she said enough. And then she went and bent into the car to do something, and I saw him hit her.

While behind bars awaiting trial, Sheila says that her memory has come back to her, and she's written a detailed account of what happened. Then you write, he dragged her into the grass and kept hitting her. Mm-hmm. Is that what you saw? Yes. Yes, and I didn't do anything.

You didn't call police. Why not? I don't know. Sheila shared this memory in a letter to a friend. She claims that she had decided to stop at Kelly's house that night to ask Kelly to stop driving by her house, looking for Dan. And at the exact moment she arrived, Sheila saw a strange man attack Kelly. How would you describe this man who was with Kelly? It was too dark. It was too dark.

This letter, prosecutors say this is a confession. No, it's not a confession letter. That's my account of what happened that evening. But Sheila's new account becomes even more bizarre. Instead of running for her life or to the nearest police station, she followed the stranger's car all the way to Mark's landing

and watched him dispose of Kelly's body and belongings. Do you understand as you sit across from me right now that your story is a fantastic story? You follow the killer, which doesn't make a lot of sense to anyone. And then you don't tell cops what happened, what unfolded. You don't even tell your own mother. All these things are consciousness of guilt, are they not?

If they're consciousness of guilt, why would we call the police? If I committed this crime and I had killed her, I would have taken off. I'm not stupid enough to stick around. Come to order, please. And Sheila believes this new memory could set her free. But the question is, will the jury get to hear Sheila Trott's version of what happened the night Kelly Brennan was killed. Is Sheila clairvoyant? Has she had visions throughout her life, dreams that have come true? I don't think so, Peter.

With her daughter's dream now being described as an eyewitness account of Kelly's murder, 48 Hours has brought Margaret a copy of that document Sheila wrote. Do you recognize the handwriting on this letter? Yes. Whose is it? Sheila's. She reads for the first time from its 22 pages. He dragged her into the grass and kept hitting her. I felt the blood rush out of my arms and legs and I started to shake. Are these the writings of an eyewitness to a murder or the writings of a murderer describing what she has done? I think she must have seen it. She couldn't have done it, Peter. I did not murder Kelly. I witnessed it. Now came the moment in court where Sheila Trott could take the stand and persuade the jury

her new story is true. But on the advice of her attorneys... First of all, have you made a decision about whether you wish to testify in your case or not? Yes, sir. What is your decision? Not to, sir. That you've chosen not to testify? Yes, sir. Sheila's first lawyer thinks he knows why Sheila didn't testify and explain

that letter. Obviously, this was just her confessing to the crime. She needed to get it off her chest. Todd Deretani? Todd Deretani's a liar. So the case goes straight to closing arguments, with prosecutors zeroing in on what Sheila did say after Kelly disappeared. The smoking gun in this case are the defendant's own words telling the police where the dead body is. They play Margaret's damning 911 call one last time. And my daughter has had a nervous breakdown and she's saying she's killed somebody. Your daughter's telling you she killed somebody? Yes.

Defense attorneys make no mention of Sheila's new claim she saw Kelly's killer. Instead, they try to pick apart the state's case. they try to pick apart the state's case. You're being asked to believe a 115-pound person is going to be able to pick up a 146-pound person, probably deceased at this point, and no pun intended, but there's dead weight. But she's going to pick her up from the floor, lift her up, and place her in the seat of not of a Honda Civic, but of an SUV. Place her in there. With no neighbors hearing a thing, no neighbors hearing blow after blow after blow,

does that make any logical sense? Does that make any logical sense? They end by pointing the finger at Kelly's jealous husband. She had no ill will, no spite, no evil intent, no premeditation. You saw the person. You heard from the person that had all those things and how he acted on those feelings. Ladies and gentlemen, the decision that you need to speak is that Sheila Graham Trott is not guilty. Thank you.

Less than three hours after beginning their deliberations, jurors reach a verdict. Margaret can't wait to hear the good news. I was dancing. I was dancing in the elevator. I was so excited because I knew, I knew, and I kept saying, we're going to bring our girl home. Instead... The defendant, Sheila Graham Trott, is guilty of first-degree premeditated murder. Guilty of first-degree murder. Sheila Trott was immediately sentenced.

It's the sentence of the court that you serve life in prison as a minimum mandatory sentence. For Margaret Byers, who wishes she never made that 911 call, the embers of blame burn deep within her heart. You are a loving mother and grandmother, and you love Sheila dearly. Yes. Does it tear you up at night to think, did I put my own daughter in jail? Yes, it sure does.

It just tears me up to think I put my kid in jail for the rest of her life. Absolutely. Isn't it time for you to stop telling these stories and tell the truth? Don't let your loved ones suffer thinking that you're innocent when you did this. I told the truth, and I'm continuing to tell the the truth and I'm going to keep telling the truth. She killed Kelly Brennan. She's a murderer. She's finished. As well she should be. For Kelly Brennan's mother, the taste of justice is bittersweet.

What tragedy would that family have swept? her sweet. That's a tragedy for the family, I swear. Almost five years after her death, Kelly's friend Lou says her kind spirit lives on. When she did come to work, she was always happy and she had her little corner. It was called Kelly's Corner, a place in the hospital where Kelly gave extra care and attention to her patients. And even after she died, it was an area of reverence. If you went there, it was comforting. Why shouldn't this audience believe you're just a clever sociopath, that you are a killer. You know the difference between right and wrong, but in the case of Kelly Brennan, you don't care. I do care. I do care. When would her body have been discovered? You said yourself, who led them to the body?

It was us saying that it was at Mark's Landing. They would never have checked at Mark's Landing. They would never have checked at Mark's landing. But despite leading her sons to Kelly's battered body and being found guilty by a jury of six, Sheila Trott is unrepentant. The real killer, she insists, still walks free. I have to live with a lot of guilt for not stopping the attack. Now I'm paying the price. Kelly's family has closure, but they don't have justice because I didn't kill Kelly. Sheila's sons, Creighton and Graham,

told 48 Hours, we unequivocally believe in our mother's innocence and stand by her. Sheila Trott is appealing her conviction. 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.