48 Hours - Love and Death in Alaska

Episode Date: December 27, 2015

Is Mechele Linehan a conniving ex-stripper who should be in jail for murder, or was she unfairly targeted by police because of a past life?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. 48 Hours presents a 20-year mystery, now with a stunning new conclusion. The mountains were absolutely amazing. We would fly down the waterline, and it was just gorgeous.

You could see glaciers. It was great. I never saw anything like it. Alaska is big. It's cold. It's brutal. It's unforgiving. It's also the place where bad people come to get away. We have a lot of cases up here dealing with a lot of wackadoos and this is one of them. This case is about money. It's about power.

It's about greed. It's about sex. Kent Lepink was found lying on his back. His legs were crossed. The victim in this case was shot three times. And this was a very personal crime. He was fun. He was energetic. He was adventurous.

He was full of the old gee whiz. And he said, Mom, I've met the most wonderful girl in the world. I have fallen in love. Her name is Michelle Hughes. Michelle was a stripper who worked at the Alaska Bush Company. And that's where she basically stopped her parade. It was work.

And that's all it was. I thought I could do it and save up enough money just for school. Kent proposed to Michelle about a month after he met her. And she accepted. Ten days after that, she got engaged to Scott Hilkey. Several months later, John Carlin, the third, came along. She was engaged to him. And she just overwhelmed these men.

They were sucked in. Kent Lepink ends up dead as a result of his relationship with Michelle. Michelle Hughes went on to become Michelle Linehan. Michelle is such a charming woman. I introduced her to almost all of my friends and all of my friends were so very impressed with her as well. She became a mom, moved to Washington and she became a woman with a master's degree. I continued to go to school. It's very active in my daughter's school and our church. Married to a doctor with an eight year old daughter,

somebody who both gave back to the community and was a volunteer in all sorts of organizations. I knew that she had been in Alaska. I didn't know there was any trouble in her past. There's no doubt in my mind that John Carlin III and Michelle acted together to kill Kent Lepink. There's no DNA, there's no hard evidence. There's nothing that irrefutably links Michelle or John

to the murder of Kent Lepink. I did not kill Kent Lepink. I can look at you right, Mr. Lepink, I did not kill your son. This is the strangest case I've ever worked on. I haven't even heard of a case this weird. Since we aired this story, the whole nature of this case has changed, and so has the outcome, with some stunning new developments. But when it all began, Michelle Linehan found herself the focus of a complex murder investigation.

I just feel like there's nothing I can do to make people believe me or make people like me. It hurts me that it hurts me that the family would think that I did it. Michelle is a chameleon. She's going to portray to other people what she thinks is in her best interest. The evidence is going to show that she is a conniving witch. Yeah, well, a witch I might be, but a psychopath, clearly I'm not. I'm Susan Spencer. Tonight on 48 Hours, love and death in Alaska. 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?

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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. A lot of my customers are really lonely. It's sad, but it's true. When you're a stripper, you have 50 boyfriends a night. You do, and that's just the way it is.

Tina Brady ought to know. Over more than 15 years, she's seen a lot of men pass through the Great Alaskan Bush Company. Try wearing these to the PTA. But she remembers a time when they all seemed to go after one particular woman. Michelle to me was a really hot showgirl. Michelle Hughes. She was gorgeous. One of our top girls. I mean, when she danced, I always wanted to know her secret because I knew she had one. Michelle Hughes came here because she wanted to make big money. Reporter Megan Holland, formerly of the Anchorage Daily News, has been covering this story. And she says Michelle did what she set out to do.

She was making $1,000 to $3,000 a night. But that was then. A decade later, Michelle was living near Seattle with her master's degree, physician husband, and daughter. We like to cook together as a family. it's loud and it's a busy house and I love it she's definitely one of the most fair-minded generous people she always had good words of wisdom pals like Christina her Mac say the Michelle they know fits right in person that she is now and has been for the last seven years is a wonderful woman.

Certainly, the woman she is now bears little resemblance to the starry-eyed 18-year-old girl who left Louisiana for New York to work in a modeling agency. to work in a modeling agency. In 1994, Michelle headed further north. She'd been dancing at the Great Alaskan Bush Company only a few months when a shy, 35-year-old fisherman walked in the door. His name was Kent Lepink. fisherman walked in the door. His name was Kent Lepink. Kent's 6'4", and he always dressed cowboy boots, big hat. According to his parents, Betsy and Kent, he had always had an impulsive streak.

He lived right on the edge all the time. And sometimes he lost his footing. He'd been in trouble, caught skimming money from the family business in Michigan. They'd hoped Alaska would be a new start. He worked on a boat that picks the fish up and takes them to the fisheries. He really loved what he was doing. And I thought that was great. Kent also saw it as a break from his past. And when he met Michelle Hughes, he thought he had found his future. He seemed to be head over heels in love with this woman.

Oh, yes, very much so. So much so that he'd proposed after just a month. I think he truly wanted to marry her. They'd even talked about going into business together. He just worshipped her. He did not tell us she was a dancer. A fact left out when Ken and Betsy Leppink had met Michelle in Anchorage. They were underwhelmed anyway.

Betsy Leping had met Michelle in Anchorage. They were underwhelmed anyway. She would kind of pull back a bit physically when he'd put his arm around her. It's hard for a mother to be that honest, but she didn't love him like he loved her. Did you have any sense that there were any other men in this woman's life? No, none. Well, I was suspicious. Ah, a mother's intuition. I've never met anyone like Michelle Hughes in my life, and I've not met anyone like that since. When traveling salesman Scott Hilkey met her at the club late in 1994, he fell hard too. You fell in love with this woman? I did. I was in love with her, yes. Hilkey says he soon asked Michelle to marry him,

becoming another fiancé. Did you, at the time you proposed, did you have a clue that Kent Leppink had proposed to Michelle and that she had accepted his proposal? No clue whatsoever. He's telling his parents that he's met the love of his life. I told my parents the same thing. And then there was John Carlin. She brings out a charm that just, it's like a magnet,

it makes you feel good. Carlin had just lost his wife to cancer and was raising his teenage son alone. He wandered into the club in the summer of 1995. She's mesmerizing. She really should have gone to Hollywood. By the time he discovered she was seeing other men, he was in too deep to care. I was in love with her. So I said, what the heck? Carlin professed his love and around around Christmas of 1995, says he popped the question. So, are you still with us here? It is mind-boggling, but prosecutors say that over an 18-month period, Michelle did have three fiancés. Or at least three guys who seemed to think they were her fiancés. Even more confusing,

for part of that time, she lived in the same house with two of them, though not always the same two. 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 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. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app.

So everybody's kind of in and out of this house? That is correct. How does this happen? I have no clue. They became entangled in this bizarre, it wasn't even a love triangle, it was like a love hexagon. What is it about this woman? I think she outsmarts most people that she gets involved with. I think that she reads the situation, figures out how to recreate her personality in such a way that she will profit from that.

recreate her personality in such a way that she will profit from that. And profit she did from every boyfriend. She got lots of jewelry. She got lots of furs. Not to mention car payments, house repairs, diamonds, all went on the tab. A lot of regulars buy you gifts. Michelle did not do anything differently than any other dancer. After work one day, Tina reminded us that Michelle's fiancés also were her customers. And they were all at least 10 years older than she was. I don't think that she had any intent on marrying anyone. Tina says Michelle was just playing the game. Michelle had a way. She had a way of going, love me. Love me till 2.30 and then at 2.30 I'm going home.

Scott Hilke finally got the message. We were planning on a year engagement and that year came and went. By late 1995, he had had it. We didn't get married and it was obvious at that point that we weren't going to. Though he and Michelle would still see one another on and off, he left Alaska, which only made John Carlin turn up the heat. Our relationship started to go into full bloom when she broke up with Scott. Remember Kent Lepink?

Well, his mother says he was telling his family to get ready for a wedding. Did you assume they would get married? Yes, yes. On a trip to Anchorage in the spring of 1996, his dad says he was expecting to see his future daughter-in-law. She was supposed to meet with us and we were trying to get a date set.

They kept changing dates. But he says by the time he got there, Michelle was mysteriously missing. Kent was mortified. And he was just kind of beside himself because she didn't appear on the scene and I had to come up there and all this. Upset, Kent's dad says he went back to Michigan, not realizing that within hours of his departure, Kent had mailed his parents a letter. A letter so alarming that when they got it, they immediately called, but they failed to reach him. Actually, it was a letter inside a letter.

And the first letter asked us not to read the second letter unless something happened to him. Something already had. Kent Lepping's body was found off this deserted road 90 miles south of Anchorage on May 2nd, 1996, the day the letter arrived. He'd been shot three times, point blank. There were shell casings near his body, but no murder weapon to be found. near his body, but no murder weapon to be found. It was about 5 o'clock on a Saturday morning. Our son Ransom and his wife were banging on our door,

and the sheriff had gone to their house. Yeah, it was a terrible, terrible, terrible moment. Whew! Hell. And in that same awful moment, the Leppinks remembered that second letter. We had a letter from the victim saying, if I'm dead, this is who killed me. Wow, they really did pick a remote spot. This is in the middle of nothing. 49-year-old detective Linda Branchflower has been down this remote road before.

There was an electrical crew that was coming up to check the radar station. Many times, in fact, since the veteran cops started investigating the Kent Lepping murder case. We thought it was a workable case because there were suspects that were clearly developed. The isolated road is near Hope, Alaska, some 90 miles south of Anchorage. The driver looked up this road and he saw something red in the trail, and that's when he discovered Kent Lepping's body. Do you think for one second that they thought that his body ever would be found? I think they thought if it was found, it wouldn't be found anytime soon, and it wouldn't be found intact. And they probably thought that if bears got to the body,

that evidence of murder would be gone. As it was, it was impossible to determine an exact time of death, only that it had been within a day or two. Well, we got three evidence items listed. Steve DeHart was among the first investigators to get to the crime scene. It's an empty.44 Magnum casing found at the crime scene in Hope, Alaska. He never imagined for a second that the victim himself would provide even more critical clues. There was a letter to his parents.

Actually, remember, there were two letters, one inside the other. Put in your safe deposit box. If you think anything fishy has happened to me, then you can open up the other envelope. They say they agonized, but in the end honored Kent's wishes. I was going to just open the other letter and then I thought no. What did you think when you get this first one that says you know don't open the second one unless something terrible happens to me? Absolutely scared to pieces. Scared and confused which made the devastating news of Kent's death even harder to bear. It's the most painful thing that's ever happened to us.

First thing we did was open the second letter. It was terrible. We were, yeah, it was really terrible. For in that second letter, Kent seems to solve his own murder. Michelle, John, or Scott were the people or persons that probably killed me. Do me another favor, make sure Michelle goes to jail for a long time. Everything was happening so fast, yeah. So what could I have done to have kept him alive? And there are not answers for that. There just aren't answers for that.

The letters gave police at the time three ready-made suspects. I hate to be vindictive in my death, but paybacks are hell. Michelle and her two remaining suitors, John Carlin. Michelle and her two remaining suitors, John Carlin. The letter Kent mailed to his parents narrowed their scope of investigation. And Scott Hilkey. I was surprised that, you know, there was any suspicion thrown on me. Surprised, Hilkey says, because he was in Lake Tahoe, thousands of miles away.

Though they'd broken up, Michelle had asked him to meet her there. He now thinks the timing was no accident. Her intent was to be out of the state when anything bad that was going to happen happened. I believe now that I was used as an alibi. For the record, did you shoot Kent Lepping? No, I did not. He may sound like he means it, but Hilkey failed a polygraph on that one all-important question. Did you fire the shots fatal, Dan? No. Your overall score indicated that you were deceptive, and that you were most deceptive when asked, did you shoot Kent Lepping? I think that's interesting because obviously I wasn't there and obviously I didn't do

it. Polygraphs, you know, sometimes are helpful, but they're just a tool. And sometimes they are absolutely wrong. Investigators came to believe this one was wrong. Although they never checked all the airline and phone records, they nonetheless decided that Hilkey, in fact, had not been in Alaska. Michelle, however, had flown back the night

before Kent was found. A day later, police interviewed her. She begins to sob. He's dead. We don't know who Kent is. He's not a violent death. She begins to sob. When did it happen? We don't even know that for sure. Later, through tears, she tells them that Kent did own a gun.

He's got a handgun, a big gun. He said it was too big. She also told them something else, in their minds the most incriminating fact of all. There was a one million dollar insurance policy on Kent's life. Nobody buys a life insurance policy for a wedding gift. Investigators say that's exactly what Michelle had done, paying for the policy herself and naming, guess who, as the main beneficiary. It was insane. I was afraid. And I told him that. He said, Mom, I'm a big boy. But even Kent had second thoughts. A clue at the crime scene proved it. What exactly was found on the body itself?

Well, his wallet was on his body. He had jewelry. His watch and necklace were on his body. Also, he had a change of beneficiary form. And this is a change of beneficiary form from New York Life. After days of indecision, Kent had taken Michelle off the policy completely. But if she didn't know that, then the million dollars could be a million motives. Kent had no more money. His only value would be a life insurance policy.

If Michelle had a motive, did she perhaps also have help? To police, a mysterious note found days later in Kent's car? Well, it's become known as the Hope Note. It has the name John typed there at the bottom. Hinted at a conspiracy with John Carlin. What exactly is the Hope Note? He indicates in the note that he purchased this cabin for her in Hope, Alaska. And what about this cabin in Hope? There is none. So they just invented this? Yes. They made it up.

But the cabin sounds very real in the typed note. A hoax made to look like a genuine exchange between Carlin and Michelle, and meant for Kent to find. Carlin writes he's fixed the roof, cleaned the fireplace. You guys enjoy your stay, he says, making it sound like Michelle won't be alone that weekend. She scrawls back, great, please don't let anyone know where we're at. Love you and thanks again. Prosecutors say the note was meant to lure Kent to Hope in search of Michelle, who actually was in Lake Tahoe with Scott Hilke. The note worked at least once.

A few days before his murder, a distraught Kent drove to Hope. Cafe owner Maria Motoyama remembers meeting him. He came in and showed a picture of a blonde girl and wanted to know if we had seen her in town and said she was his fiancée. Frustrated, Kent returned to Anchorage, only to be found dead back in Hope a few days later. No proof how he got there or who killed him. Investigators had no witnesses, no murder weapon, no direct evidence. Over time, officers were transferred out of the area. The investigation stalled.

They had the life insurance policy. Yes. They had Kent Lepink's letters to his parents predicting that if something happened to him, these would be the people who would have done it. Yes. And yet, no charges. No charges. Scott Hilkey already was living in California.

Carlin and Michelle were free to leave Alaska, and separately, each soon did. It appeared to me like maybe it would never get solved. Michelle finally settled in Washington neatly shedding her past. I did a lot of volunteer work in our community from the beginning when we got there. I continued to go to school. And for eight long years, Alaska seemed forgotten. Then one day, detectives knocked on the door of her neat suburban home. They asked for clarification on certain statements I had made in the past,

so I tried to help them as much as I could. I was just shocked by it, and I was just shocked by it. And... I was just really shaken up. I think that it's a normal progression of life that you have a job, you go to school, you get married, you might have a family. I think that's where my life went. Meet Michelle Linehan, formerly exotic dancing star Michelle Hughes. And they told me to apply in person. And we walked in and there was this woman on stage and I just stood there and my jaw dropped and it was the first time I had ever been in a place like that.

At the Great Alaskan Bush Company, Michelle caught on fast. But she insists she always saw stripping as just a means to an end. I would go to work, and I kept my goal in mind. My goal was to make money and leave. And leave she did. Just months after Kent Lepping's murder, Michelle left Alaska for good, eventually settling in Olympia, Washington. I went to school full time.

And talk about reinventing yourself. I studied biology and psychology, and I got a master's in public administration. In 1998, in New Orleans, she married a young doctor named Colin Lenahan, just a day after he graduated med school. I'm not a big believer in love at first sight, but it's probably as close as you can get. A year later, they had a daughter. I've known this woman for 10 years. I catch myself just, wow, she's amazing. And her daughter, our daughter, adores her.

Their life together in Olympia, Michelle says, was the very definition of normal. We have pizza night. The neighbors come over and they bring their kids was the very definition of normal. We have pizza night. The neighbors come over and they bring their kids and we have just lots of dough and cheese everywhere. It's a mess and I love it. In 2004, Colin served an Army tour in Iraq. And for a year, Michelle was a single mother, but she had a strong network of friends.

Michelle's beautiful on the inside as she is on the out. Michelle's close friend, Christina Hermack. Michelle's vivacious and friendly, intelligent and witty. Michelle is a lethal chameleon, if there is such a thing.

Detective Linda Branchflower says be careful. Michelle's whole life is a facade. She can change herself to fit any situation and play any role. She's deadly. She came to that conclusion in 2004, soon after joining Alaska's new cold case unit. Investigators quickly made the eight-year-old Lepink murder a top priority. Did you really look for any other suspects when you started probing this again? We went where the evidence led us, and we didn't find anything in

our investigation to indicate anybody else could have done it. I honestly thought it had gone away. It soon did go away for Scott Hilkey. Did you fire the shot's fatal man? Who was ruled out despite that failed polygraph. We did try to investigate whether or not Hilkey knew that the murder was going to take place. And there was nothing to indicate that at all. take place. And there was nothing to indicate that at all. Branch Flower badly needed a break, and on a pair of old computers seized in the original investigation, she found it. Many of the emails had been deleted back then, but with the technology that we had in

2004, we were able to do a lot more with the computers. What exactly did you find on this computer? Well, they were able to pull up emails between Kent and Michelle, Michelle and Carlin, Michelle and Hilke, that indicate different things about their relationship. Scores of emails, some silly, some meaningless, but very interesting to investigators. In an exchange between Michelle and Kent, you should not be concerned about John. He's more a brother or even a father to me. But in an email to Carlin, you are the most important thing in my life.

I need you more than you ever will know. First of all, they show how manipulative she is being. Special cold case prosecutor Pat Gullifson. That she is saying one thing to one person, another thing to another person. But manipulation and murder are two different things. Is there any specific evidence in those emails that connects Michelle to Kent Leving's death? I think you come real close with the Seychelles email. The so-called Seychelles email was sent from Michelle to Carlin just days before the murder.

It seems to suggest that the tiny island chain off the African coast just might be a safe haven from the law. Did you know that you can buy a citizenship in the Seychelles for around 10 mil, she asks. No matter what crimes you have committed, they will not extradite. It's the whole idea that she's talking about, not being extradited. When you start putting that together with the rest of the evidence,

it's pretty strong that there's something going on there that extradition is important to. Investigators decided the emails were a very good start, but not strong enough to make a solid case in court. They needed the missing murder weapon. They knew from markings on the bullets it was an unusual gun. This is a.44 caliber Desert Eagle. This is the same type of gun that was used in the murder of Kent Leffink.

Wow. It's a six-inch barrel. It's very heavy. It is heavy. Heavy, cumbersome, and hard to shoot. Jeez. John Carlin consistently denied ever owning one. Branch Flowers shot his story full of holes

with information from an unlikely source. Carlin's own son. He'd been only 17, a juvenile at the time of the crime. His father wouldn't let us talk to him, was now an adult. Confronted by police in 2005, Carlin's now adult son decided to talk. Where did this Desert Eagle come from? My father bought it out of a newspaper.

So what, he saw an ad or something? Mm-hmm, in the classifieds, yes. He was able to provide the link between his dad and the Desert Eagle. Branch Flower not only dug up the old ad, she found the seller, one David Stilchin. And I put the gun up for sale, and the first person that called me was John Carlin, and that's who bought the gun from me. But Carlin's son kept talking about what he'd seen just days after the murder. I came into the house. Michelle was standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

My father was there as well. And the gun was in the sink and was soaking in some sort of chemical. At the time, Carlin's son couldn't be sure if it was a Desert Eagle. Did anybody offer an explanation as to what they were doing with this gun? No. What did it look like he was doing? Looked like he was cleaning a gun. And to this day, he is unsure about the implications of what he saw.

Who do you think killed Kent Lepping? I lean towards a party yet to be discovered. You don't think your father had anything to do with it? You don't think Michelle Hughes had anything to do with it? I didn't say that. But Branch Flower had no doubts. She was sure that Carlin Sr. did have a role in the murder, and she was just as sure that he had not done it alone. I think she's got some explaining to do. Branch Flower headed for Seattle with some tough questions for Michelle Linehan. When she would ask me a question, I would answer it the best that I could,

and I felt like she was just so combative with me. Michelle says from the first time the police questioned her in the days after the murder, she always cooperated fully. I told them about the life insurance policy. Do you know if anybody has anything to gain from Kent's death? No, other than life insurance. Life insurance? Yeah. And it wasn't just the life insurance policy. She also told them about the note that she and Carlin had written about that fictitious cabin in Hope. John told you about the letter that we wrote?

What letter? About the cabin, you know. Investigators dismiss all this initial cooperation as Michelle just trying to cover all the bases. Michelle says, well, they would say that. They have never listened. When were you aware then, you know, oh, my God, you know, they think I did this? When they were leaving, I asked them to keep me informed of what was happening. And Linda Branchflower said that I would be informed that I was going to be indicted.

In the fall of 2006, a decade after the crime, Michelle Lenahan and John Carlin were indicted for the murder of Kent Lepink. They're both charged with murder in the first degree. Michelle posted bail and was free to return to her family in Washington. I just feel like there's nothing I can do to make people believe me. John Carlin echoes her complaint. I didn't do it. Bottom line. But unlike Michelle, he would spend the next six months under arrest.

The day before his body was found, what were you doing? Well, that's the big question, isn't it? Carlin remains an enigma until the very day his trial begins. Please rise. Superior Court for the State of Alaska, 3rd Judicial District, is now in session. Mr. Gullifson? Prosecutor Pat Gullifson tells the jury... They have policed the court. This was, in effect, an execution.

Kent LaPink was found dead. He had been shot three times. He is intentionally vague as to whether Carlin pulled the trigger or just pulled the strings, with Michelle firing the shots. Under Alaska law, Carlin can be convicted either way. It's a story that's going to involve passion, greed, manipulation, and deception. A story made all the more tragic, Betsy Lepping says, because Kent wrote the ending himself. Do you recall when you were notified that Kent had been found dead?

Do you recall the day? I believe it was a Saturday morning. Did you then open the sealed portion of the letter? Yes, we did. This is in part what it contains. Michelle, John, and Scott were the people or persons that probably killed me. Make sure they get burned. that probably killed me, make sure they get burned. Even though Kent named John Carlin as one of his probable killers,

his lawyers, Marcy McDaniel and Sidney Billingsley... Whatever's most convenient for you. ...think they can win this circumstantial case. Are you absolutely convinced that John Carlin is innocent? I believe him. The defense tries to cast suspicion on anyone but John Carlin. Let's talk about Scott Hilkey. They ignored Scott Hilkey's potential involvement altogether. They even offer up Carlin's then-teenaged son, suggesting he could have had a relationship with Michelle. If he's an infatuated 17-year-old and she's got her hooks in him, too.

Trying to discredit him before he takes the stand with his story of the gun washing. He would have every reason to lie if he did it. The police had him as a suspect. But the defense's chief suspect is Michelle herself. I think Michelle did this. She lost it, and she shot him. His lawyers pointed the finger at Michelle and said that she was a manipulative, seductress,

an evil woman who committed the crime herself, that John had nothing to do with it, and that she just used him as a scapegoat. She pulled the trigger and killed him for the million-dollar life insurance policy. What you will not be able to eliminate and what the state will never be able to disprove is that Michelle herself, the center of everything, the hub of the wheel, acted alone. It's just that I'm sitting here on trial for my life, and they're not talking about me. So let's look again at Michelle Hughes.

Talking about her. Carlin says both sides were so focused on Michelle, he felt like an afterthought at his own trial. One day I sat there all day long, and all they did was talk about Michelle. I mean, I didn't even have to be there that day. She is back home in Olympia awaiting her trial, but prosecutor Gullifson insists none of this would have happened without her. John Carlin was in love with Michelle. He had spent a great deal of money on Michelle. With twin motives of love and money, all the two needed, he says, was a plan. Enter that phony Hope note. Mr. Carlin and Michelle Hughes had fabricated a note and left it for Mr. LePink to find in the house. Kent believed that Michelle was in Hope. In those days right before his death, he was obsessed with finding her.

The note would lure a jealous Kent to Hope, the prosecutor says, where Michelle, or Carlin, would kill him. The Hope note is so strange. It's pretty astounding. Here they are, purposely delivering a message to Kent in the form of this note that Carlin has bought her a cabin in Hope. Not only that, but that Michelle is there with somebody.

Wrong, says Carlin. It was just a prank to mislead Kent, nicknamed Titi, so Michelle would be free of him on her trip to see Hilkey. Carlin says he didn't really want her to go, but he desperately wanted to please her. I wrote the note. I know what I wrote the note for. And it wasn't to get T.T. out of the house. It wasn't to get T.T. down to Hope. You've never had a cabin in Hope? No. The note just allowed her to go down to have me with Scott. Carlin's problem, of course, is that Kent Leppink's body turned up in hope. I suspected that Carlin was involved.

And given Michelle's grip on the men in her life, Scott Hilkey isn't surprised. There is an amazing pull there. And Hilkey says Kent Leppink never could see that Michelle was using him. I think he followed her around like a puppy dog. I think he was certainly willing to do anything for her that would ingratiate or strengthen his relationship with her, no question about it. When she wasn't with her boyfriends in person, Hilkey says,

Michelle was always on e-mail. We would call Linda Branchflower to the stand. E-mails, which, according to Linda Branchflower, prove that John Carlin in particular would have done a lot more for Michelle than just write the hope note. The most beautiful person in the world, the one I have fallen in love with, the one I would do anything in the world for, including giving up my life. Anything, including murder, Branch Flower says. Why else does Michelle write the Seychelles email, helpfully explaining that for $10 million, the islands are a safe haven from the law? You just thought you'd find that interesting. Did you think I was going to go there and pay $10 million to get a citizenship in the Seychelles

off a $1 million life insurance policy? No answer from Carlin to Michelle ever was found. But for Branchflower, the Seychelles email helped clinch the case. So you figured when you came across the Seychelles email, you thought this is really... This is good. This is good. This is very... Very good.

But the defense stresses that most of the emails are ambiguous, or even make Carlin's case for him, showing that he and Kent were close. I value my friendships more than I value most things, Kent wrote. Thanks for being a friend. This is one of the best defense cases I've seen in a very long time. There's a lot of reasonable doubt in this case. But the defense is about to run up against a potentially devastating witness. Thank you, Your Honor. Our next witness will be John Carlin IV.

Taking the stand to testify against his own father. Are you nervous? A bit. Who reluctantly drops his bombshell on the jury and on his dad. Do you remember seeing a pistol in the sink? Yes. And describe what you remember about that. I remember coming around the corner and seeing Michelle and my father. And there was a firearm in the sink. And the sink was about half full of a clear liquid. He didn't really want to rat on his dad, but he didn't want to carry this anymore. Could you smell anything that you associated with the liquid? I did smell bleach. I felt like I was betraying my father.

I felt like I was betraying myself. So much so that he went to visit his father in jail just a few days later. He's doing good. I just kind of gave him a nod and it was strange um he's feeling real confident so you know we're hoping that he'll be walking out the door and heading to the airport by the end of the month apparently carlin didn't fully understand the impact of his testimony on his father's case john carlin iii's lawyers offered no explanation as to why their client might have been washing a handgun after the murder he shot my son i know he did i just know with all Will justice be served? I didn't mastermind this slaying. Or will this twisted tale of sex, money, and greed

One way or another, it was over. take yet another bizarre turn? This is the strangest case I've ever worked on. This mystery will be right back. 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.