48 Hours - Introducing Raynella Leath | Married to Death from My Life of Crime with Erin Moriarty

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

The trial of Raynella Leath is unlike anything Erin Moriarty has covered before. It all began in 2003 with a frantic call to 911 when Raynella said she found her second husband David Leath dead of a single gunshot wound and called 911 to report it as a suicide. However, his autopsy said otherwise, and 14 years later, Raynella stood in court on trial for his murder. Hear the beginning of Raynella Leath’s story and how the widow’s web begins to unravel. This is the first episode of Married to Death from My Life of Crime with Erin Moriarty, available on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes on Wednesdays.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. Hello, 48 Hours listeners. It's Erin Moriarty. Today, I have a very special episode to share with you

that is unlike any other case I've investigated. Raynella Lee, the former nurse from Knox County, Tennessee, leaves many wondering about the suspicions of her past. Her first husband was said to have been trampled to death by his own cattle. The death of her second husband was a reported suicide with three shots fired. She denied any involvement in either death, but will details surface to prove she's a murderous widow? Join me to look back at Rainella Lee's case and her involvement with three murder trials in Married to Death from My Life of Crime with Erin Moriarty. Here's the first episode of the series.

North County 911. Help me! Help me! Ma'am, why? Please help me! Please help me. Every case has twists and turns. Every single case does. But few cases have the twists and turns that take you aback. Underneath that very respectable surface,

it seems like everything's rotting to the core. When you have success, sometimes that makes people more interested in your downfall. I'll just say we waited for the autopsy. And what did the autopsy say? Homicide. I'm Erin Moriarty, 48 hours, and this is Married to Death. Get ready to hear about such an unusual case. We need six episodes to tell it all.

This is the story of Raynella Lee, and her case begins like so many others do, with a call to 911. On March 13, 2003, this frantic call came into the sheriff's office in Knox County, Tennessee. My husband's on himself. A suicide call itself was not unusual.

Okay, where is your husband? He's in the van. But the death of 57-year-old David Leith would turn out to be no ordinary suicide. Looks like it's been drunk out of. Gentleman's laying in a bed covered up with blankets and covers fingers are cold and turning stiff but i checked the toes toes still filled this is the voice of the lead detective perry moyers that day as he walks into the dead man's bedroom.

Another detective questions Raynella who found him when when you when you opened the bedroom door and you went in you said you touched him okay calm down It's okay. All right. Take your deep breath. Take your deep breath. I understand. Raynella was telling the police that he'd committed suicide. That's Beth Roberts, David's cousin. But is it impossible? I mean, it's not uncommon for men in their 50s. Well, I'll just say we waited for the autopsy. And what did the autopsy say? Homicide. We're going to Knoxville to solve a mystery

that continues to baffle the best investigators and legal minds in the state. This is a case that has pitted a daughter against her stepmother, raised questions about a county's judicial system, and has forever tarnished the reputation of the mysterious woman at its center. We begin in a Knox County, Tennessee courtroom on a morning in May 2017. All rise. We say the pledge of allegiance to the flag. morning in May 2017. All rise. We say the pledge of allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Please be seated. The high-profile trial is beginning. Sixteen jurors are in the courtroom, but only 12 of them will end up deciding Raynella's fate. Senior State Judge Paul Summers presiding. I was an appointed senior judge by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Most every case that I try is somewhat controversial. And this one's controversial because of the woman sitting in front of him in the defendant's chair.

Ms. Leith, just like anybody else who's charged in a criminal case, is innocent until proven guilty. Raynella Leith is the one who made that frantic 911 call back in 2003 reporting her husband's suicide. And now more than 14 years later, she's in court on trial for his murder. And what makes the case interesting is that she is anything but the usual suspect. She's a woman in her late 60s,

this elegant, tall, gray-haired grandmother and mother, the last person you would suspect of being a diabolical murderer. She was born Raynella Large. She married a Dossett, and then she married a Leith. So she's got a long name when you throw it all together. Such a Southern name. Diane Fanning, who wrote a book about Raynella's life titled Her Deadly Web, is one of the dozens of writers and journalists drawn to this trial like moths to a flame.

You can feel the Spanish moss dripping off the story. And that's very much like this. There is the gentility of Raynella Dossett-Leath. So many of these people in the community that are professionals. And underneath that very respectable surface, it seems like everything's rotting to the core. It made me want to learn more. And every time I turned a page in this story, there was something more to learn. The courtroom is packed with journalists like me, spectators, and family members like Beth Roberts, David Leith's cousin, who went to the trial every day.

And what was your first impression of Raynella? She fills up a room. I mean, that's the first thing is that she was very pretty. Beth told me that she first met Raynella 24 years ago, soon after she had married David. I said to my mother, I thought he had hit the jackpot with this girl because she was so pretty and so interesting. And when she talked to you, it was like you were the only person in the room and she was terribly interested in what you had to say. Both of them had been married before.

Raynella's first husband, Ed Dossett, had died just six months earlier and happened to be her new husband's best friend in a small town. Those details don't go unnoticed. They were happy to be able to have this little romantic scandal to talk about. And some of Dave's friends were merciless. They would not cut him any slack. They gave him a hard, hard time about it, but it was more in a good-natured way, although that was accompanied by a little bit of concern that he was moving too fast.

But by most accounts, it was a love match. David Leith was the handsome barber in town, Raynella, the attractive widow with a large home and farm left to her by Ed Dawson. She had her own thing going on. It's not like she needed a husband. I mean, she, you know, she was a very attractive, very well-read woman. I would imagine she would have been a catch for anybody. Unlike her two husbands, Raynella wasn't from Knoxville. She grew up 25 miles away in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. That's the town high up in the Smoky Mountains, best known for the Manhattan Project.

Larger reactors were built at the Clinton Engineering Works near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. She grew up among the children of the elite group of scientists who developed the atomic bomb. And even among the elites, Diane Fanning told me, Raynella stood out. So she was well educated, and yet in this environment, she still stood out as an excellent student. She was in the physics club and the chemistry club. In this environment, she still stood out as an excellent student. She was in the physics club and the chemistry club. She was a student that teachers noticed and noted. Then I talked to some people who knew her in high school who were absolutely shocked.

And the woman they knew in high school could not have been where she is now. It was at East Tennessee State University that Raynella met Ed Dossett. She was 21 years old when they married in February of 1970. He brought her home to Knoxville, where he went to law school, and she worked as a nurse in a hospital in town. Raynella was such a confident woman. And she would walk into a room and it was like you knew she was there. She had presence. And I think that Ed was really drawn to that. She was taller than the average woman. She held herself with pride. And there was something like having her by his side that made him proud indirectly. She just was exactly what he was looking for, even though he didn't know it until he found her.

They soon became Knoxville's power couple. They were successful. Her husband was elected district attorney. He was respected. She was the director of nursing. But Knoxville was and is at its heart an old-fashioned southern town. She has a strong personality.

And Josh Hedrick, a 37-year-old local defense attorney, says Raynella's manner put a lot of people off. When you have success, sometimes that makes people more interested in your downfall. They want to see a successful person fall. Diane Fanning agrees. People are looking for a crack or a flaw. When things are suspicious, it sticks with them harder and they hold on to it. The resentment towards Raynella simmered even more after Ed Dossett suddenly died on his farm

in 1992. Investigators concluded he had been trampled by his own cattle after they found him in a field with hoof marks on his clothes. And Raynella's marriage to his best friend, David Leaf, just six months later, didn't help matters. And then, on March 13, 2003, there was that call to 911. was that call to 911. 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 reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of us. 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 Informant'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. Looks like it's been drunk out of. Gentleman's laying in a bed covered up with blankets and covers. Fingers are cold. When the first officer comes in, he finds David Leith deceased in the bed. He is covered by the bedclothes, the comforter and the sheet. This is Stephen Crump. He's the District Attorney General prosecuting Raynella Leith.

Where's the weapon? The weapon was a Colt revolver, a six-shot revolver, a police-type weapon, a very common weapon. type weapon, very common weapon. And it was laying with the hammer inside the hand of David Lee. How soon did investigators start questioning this story of suicide? I think it was probably immediate because there were three shots. There was more than one shot. Three shots. One bullet was found in the headboard, another in the mattress, one in David Lee's forehead. And while that's not unheard of, well, it didn't look like a suicide scene. And so I think from the beginning, Perry Moyer, who was the detective, really started looking at this and saying,

I don't know that this is exactly right. Maybe this is a suicide, but it doesn't look like one. Isn't it possible that David was trying to shoot himself missed and then just tried again? No, it's not. When you opened the bedroom door and you went in, you said you touched him? Stephen Crump wasn't on the case back in March 2003, but he has listened to all the audio tapes from that day, and he's troubled by what Raynella Leith said she did when she found her husband. And remember, she's a nurse. She said she talked to him, and he didn't answer,

and she said she looked at him and realized that something wasn't right there was an enormous pool of blood around him and she was a nurse and she says she immediately calls 9-1-1 she grabs on one-one she doesn't attempt to roll him over she thinks she covered him up she doesn't give him CPR no she doesn't touch him there's no blood found on her she doesn't try CPR she doesn't she doesn't even check to see if he's dead. Just 24 hours after Raynella Leith reported her husband's suicide, a medical examiner ended the autopsy and reached a very different conclusion. So the medical examiner determined it was a homicide.

Yes. What do you believe happened to David Leith? Raynella Leith killed him. She shot him. She missed with the first shot. It's a scary proposition to take a human life. She missed with the first shot. She scored with the second shot. She ended his life with that second shot, and then in an attempt to cover up, he fired that third shot to get gunshot residue on him. That's what I think.

You're describing a pretty cold-blooded killer. Yes, that's what I think she is. But as you were about to hear, believing in a case is one thing. Proving it in court has been something else entirely. Can you connect Raynella to that weapon? Fingerprints? No. Can anyone see or pick up the gun? No. Can you connect Raynella to that weapon? Fingerprints? No. Can anyone see or pick up the gun? No. Can you connect Raynella to any of the bullets that were used in that gun? No. No.

That's a problem, isn't it, in this case? If a jury's looking for that, then yes. No one back in 2003 could have predicted what it would take to get to this day in court or the fact that it would take more than 14 years. And this is actually Raynell Elise's third trial for the murder of David Lee. She was first tried for his murder back in 2009, but the jurors were deadlocked 11 to 1. So the judge declared a mistrial. Prosecutors were much more successful the following year.

Raynella was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. She spent six years behind bars when that conviction was vacated. The reason? As it turns out, the judge who had handled her trial had a serious drug addiction. So Raynella was sent home to wait until the state could try her again. This time around, it's Stephen Crump's job. Prosecutors know the term snake bit because what can go wrong will go wrong in a case sometimes. But this one, tortured from a procedural standpoint, something that we don't normally see,

a hung jury followed by a guilty verdict, followed by the case being upheld on appeal, then set aside and back for a third trial. So it's really an unusual, unusual scenario. Crump tells me he's determined to make a conviction stick, especially because he believes this is not the first murder she committed. Crump suspects she also killed her first husband, Ed. And Crump wasn't the only one who had those suspicions.

So the ambitious woman from Oak Ridge, Tennessee made a name for herself, all right. A name no one would want. The Black Widow. That's life in a small town, attorney Josh Hedrick says. The story that's being told, regardless of accuracy, is juicy.

It's interesting. You know, people are discussing it. They have opinions about it. They're weighing potential theories. And, you know, I think this is what happened. And I think this is what happened. And you know what I heard? She yelled at some guy one time down at the co-op about moving his truck or whatever, you know. down at the co-op, about moving his truck, or whatever, you know? And it gets its own, it has a life. It becomes a thing. It becomes a living thing. Those stories, rumors, swirling around Rinella Leith worry Attorney Hedrick because he's now defending her,

along with an out-of-state attorney Rebecca Legrand. They believe Raynella Leith has never killed anyone. She's not a killer. Nope. She's not a black widow. She is a woman who had a hard life and the justice system treated her wrong. justice system, treated her wrong. Is it possible that Raynella Leith is just a very unlucky woman? Yeah, but coincidence make me itchy. If you're curious to know how Raynella Leith's case ends, you can hear the rest in Married to Death from My Life of Crime with Erin Moriarty,

available on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. This podcast series, Married to Death, is developed by 48 Hours in partnership with CBS News Radio. Judy Tigard is executive producer. Nancy Kramer is our executive story editor. Mike Vallee and Alan Pang are the series producer editors. This episode was produced by Josh Gaynor, Lisa Freed, Louise Geraldo, and edited by Mike McHugh, Dwayne Tullison, and Megan Marcus. Thanks to composer Richard Fiocca for his original scores. Gabriella Demergen and Morgan Canty are our associate producers.

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