48 Hours - Puppet Master

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

On July 5, 2003, Sandra Rozzo was gunned down inside her car in Florida. Suspicion immediately focused on her ex-boyfriend, Tracey Humphrey, and before her death Sandra had filed charges of rape and a...ssault against him. But Tracey had an air-tight alibi. So if he did not pull the trigger, who did? “48 Hours" Correspondent Maureen Maher reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 7/26/2008. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Last night I was going through looking at pictures and stuff, and I relive the whole life all over again. I could look at those pictures and tell you exactly what we were doing and what a happy little girl she was. I always had a smile on her face. She liked to work out. Part of her was having the nice body. When she was younger, she modeled a lot.
Starting point is 00:00:40 My name is Tracy Havlicek. I'm Sandra Razo's sister. Her heart was bigger than the earth, always wanting to help somebody any way she ever could. I still think she's gonna call. When the phone rings, I always hope it's her saying, ah, ha ha, I'm here. It was a hot, humid, 4th of July weekend.
Starting point is 00:01:05 This is the part-place condominiums where the homicide occurred. Right there. right there in that garage. I am Paul Andrews, Penalz Park Police Department. Sandra drives into her complex in her black BMW and pulls into the garage. There is a smack on the window that scares her. She turns and sees the shooter.
Starting point is 00:01:31 Muzzle flash, shards of glass flying everywhere. The shooter then proceeds to shoot eight rounds into the car, and ultimately into our victim. It was an ambush murder. Somebody wanted her dead. This wasn't a random act. Who does she know? Who could possibly want this done? I said, I know who did this.
Starting point is 00:01:52 Pretty quickly Tracy Humphrey's name came up as someone who would definitely have an interest in having her dead. There was just something about him from the minute that I even looked at him. That was very, very creepy. He threatened to kill her and all of the family. My name's Timothy Lee Humphrey. Everybody calls me Tracy. I'm charged with first degree homicide. The minute I found out that that girl was dead,
Starting point is 00:02:21 to me, in my heart, I felt like he did it. I knew that he had to have been involved. She was so fun, and she was so beautiful. He repeatedly told her he was going to kill her. I am being charged for a crime that I did not commit. Who else would do this? The evidence led us in a way we did not expect. That was the shock of the century.
Starting point is 00:02:43 He had an alibi. We know exactly where he was. There's no way he should. daughter. Sandy Rosso will always be remembered as a vivacious young woman devoted to her big dreams and gorgeous body. She's been doing modeling off and on since she was in high school. Sandy's mom. She was into weightlifting, always caring about her body. And her younger sister, Tracy. If she could help anybody in any way, that's how she wanted people to remember her and be proud of her. She wanted to get into some movie starring.
Starting point is 00:03:37 She had the body. She had the face. She was perfect. Sandy spent her days looking for her next big modeling gig. By night, she tended bar at some of the hottest clubs in Tampa. She was just absolutely beautiful. It was very vibrant, very full of life. Heather Ersini worked with Sandy.
Starting point is 00:03:59 It was fun. Sandy was beautiful, so a lot of men would flaunt to her because of how beautiful she was. She was divorced with a teenage daughter, Giovanna, but her ex-husband had custody. Her daughter was her life. She hated the fact that Giovanna wasn't with her all the time. At 37 years old, Sandy had never given up on finding someone special to share her life with. She was just doing what most single girls do, trying to find Mr. Wright. Mitch Eubanks, Sandy's friend and hairstylist, was her confidant.
Starting point is 00:04:35 We would always talk about, you know, guys, and I'd give her my guy advice. You know, I think she always just wanted that kind of like storybook thing, and like, you know, the little picket fence in the house and the kids and everything. And then one day, into Sandy Razzo's life, walked Mr. Wright, Tracy Humphrey, a six-foot-two buffed-out muscle man, who told everyone that he was a former underwear model and pro football player. pro football player. I played some semi-pro football.
Starting point is 00:05:06 I did model for the in-house photographer for Armani. I did a couple of shows. I kind of describe him as Mr. Clean with a goatee, which is what he kind of looked like. Kelly Terrell met Tracy at a gym. He had a reputation as a top personal trainer, popular with his clients, especially his female clients. He was very gentle, and he was really good at what he did.
Starting point is 00:05:35 A lot of girls thought he was really, really good-looking. Sandy and Tracy met at a nightclub where they both worked. She at the bar. He at the door. Men definitely were intimidated by him. Women all over him. Tracy, of course, if he saw a pretty woman walk in, he'd open that rope, and there she goes.
Starting point is 00:06:02 Tracy's close friend, Hector Adorno. Nice, charming, masculine, everything that every woman would want in a man. You know exactly how to look at a woman. and say, God, you're beautiful. He definitely had charisma and knew how to play the field. Sexy? Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:21 Charismatic. Yes. He told me that he was supposed to be Vin Diesel's stunt double or something in some movie. Vin Diesel's stunt double? Yeah. And he constantly bragged about who he was, what he's done in his lifetime. And that to a lot of people was interesting. Model in Italy for a while.
Starting point is 00:06:39 Underwear model, wasn't it? Yeah, underwear model. and was Tom Cruise's bodyguard for a while. But Tracy says Sandy knew nothing about his colorful resume. But actually, he was attracted to her beauty. She caught my attention right away. She was so much fun to be around not like most people. She was a great lady.
Starting point is 00:07:08 How long did you date? Just like three or four months. but it was a real intense experience. His relationship was standing, from what I understand, was very physical as far as the bedroom's concerned. Sex? Yes, sex. He said that she liked violent sex,
Starting point is 00:07:30 that she liked rough sex. At first, their relationship was passionate, says Tracy. But soon, they began arguing. Tracy says the trouble all started one wild night here in Tampa's party district, Ibor City. Allegedly, he and Sandy got caught by the cops, pulling around in his boss's Mercedes. Tampa police caught us in the SUV. And I was laughing. I thought it was funny.
Starting point is 00:08:01 But they saw her naked and that made her mad. That embarrassing incident led to another big argument. big argument. And Sandy and Tracy went home with other dates that night. Over the next week, I paraded around a couple other girls that I hooked up with in front of her and made her pretty mad. The relationship spiraled down-heal from there. She started being cruel, making fun of me, ridiculing me. Just more gameplay.
Starting point is 00:08:33 Yeah, exactly. I said that I thought we needed to take a break and really look at this and maybe spend some time apart. But unwilling to give up a good thing, a couple of things. thing. A couple of days later, Tracy went home with Sandy again. We went back to her apartment. We did what we did most of the time. We had sex. She liked to be roughed up during sex. So we had what was normal between us. But a bruised and battered Sandy told friends and family a different story. Apparently they started drinking. He got angry. They got into an altercation of some sort.
Starting point is 00:09:15 He tried to physically force himself on her. He hit her. She had black eyes. Sandy also told Heather that Tracy had raped her and threatened to kill her and her daughter. She wasn't really sure what to do because she was so distraught over the situation. But because Sandy was so afraid, she waited a week before going to the police to file charges. Were you surprised them when you were arrested? Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:09:43 Did you have any idea it was coming? No. Tracy insists he did nothing wrong. She threw a pillow at me and I swung it at her. It hit her in the side of the eye and it knocked her contact out. She fell face down on the bed. Was there any question in your mind that she had been raped and attacked, beaten? No.
Starting point is 00:10:10 No. He beat her. He squeezed her head between his legs while he was straddling her and, you know, punching her face. several times. He did beat her up. She did have a black eye. Detective Scott Gozewski.
Starting point is 00:10:26 There was also allegations of sexual battery. But there was no DNA or medical evidence, because Sandy had waited too long to report Tracy to police. Instead, he was charged with assault, which carried a 10-year prison sentence, a prospect that utterly terrified him. Tracy told me that before he He went to jail.
Starting point is 00:10:53 He'd commit suicide. And that, police say, is when someone hatched a diabolical plan to make Tracy Humphrey's problems disappear. I don't think she suspected that anybody was watching her then. A plot that would involve seduction, manipulation, and murder. If Tracy Humphrey was worried about his upcoming assault trial, he certainly wasn't showing it.
Starting point is 00:11:44 He was a player. He had a different girl. It seemed like every month he was dating somebody new. He wanted to go out and sleep with other women. And he was attracted to this sort of sexier outgoing. Absolutely. He wanted them to look like that, sexy. And always, you know, in high fashion.
Starting point is 00:12:15 But in autumn of 2002, Tracy had his eye on a different kind of girl, a girl just out of high school. Ashley was a little scared girl. She was not a sexy girl. She was not pretentious stuck up. Ashley Laney was just 19. She was very fit, very bubbly, very vibrant, little dixie. She was very cute.
Starting point is 00:12:43 She was just so boy crazy and she wanted someone to love her so bad. Charlie Williams is one of Ashley's best friends. I liked Ashley the first time I met her. We had a lot in common. We used to go rollerblading together, and we had the same taste in music. The girls worked together at a frozen yogurt shop across the street from the gym where Tracy Humphrey was head trainer. So I came in and I met her, and I was kind of taken with her right away. She has that girl next door kind of a thing going.
Starting point is 00:13:13 She was nice. She was fun. She was eager. She was very eager. Ashley wasn't a bartender. Ashley wasn't a, you know, a topless dancer. flip-flops jeans and a regular t-shirt. As far as fashion, very simple girl.
Starting point is 00:13:27 She was a bright girl, A's and B's in high school. But at home, Ashley led a troubled life. Her mom was horrible, and her family was terrible. Her dad spent pretty much his whole life in prison. And Ashley's friends say that background left her insecure, vulnerable. She aggressively looked for love. And that played right into Tracy's hands. Tracy's really good about making sure he feeds your insecurities
Starting point is 00:14:00 by making you feel better about them. If they felt ugly, he'd make them feel beautiful. In no time, Ashley and Tracy had moved in together. She was a blast. She'd do anything that she thought would make me happy. And that's how our relationship grew. We got to be really good friends. I always got a bad vibe off of them.
Starting point is 00:14:23 Ashley's best friend Charlie thought Tracy was a bad influence. I knew something was wrong because she wasn't normal Ashley, but he definitely took over her life. You could just tell that Ashley there's something wrong with her. Like she went into like almost zombie. Soon Ashley was shedding her old friends, taking on a new job with Tracy at the gym. And eventually the couple started their own personal training business. Did you fall in love with her? love with her.
Starting point is 00:14:53 Oh, yeah. But Charlie says Tracy was cheating on Ashley. I just knew there was something not right. I always started hearing, you know, about all the different girls he was with. And did the two of you talk about that? Yeah, but when you think you're in love, you're not going to listen to what anybody else has to say. In fact, more and more, the only person Ashley listened to was Tracy. By springtime, he confessed that he was potentially facing serious time in prison.
Starting point is 00:15:22 Because of what he claimed was a bogus assault case. bogus assault case involving his ex-girlfriend, Sandy Rosso. How did she feel about the case? I think she found a way to hate Sandy. Because Sandra was the one making the accusations. Right. Essentially she would lose everything if she lost me. I told you she had a bad life. She struggled. And now we were starting a business together.
Starting point is 00:15:46 She was an equal partner. If she lost me, she lost all that. She goes back to mom in the trailer park life. Then, just a month before Tracy's trial in the Sandy Razo assault case, the couple surprised everyone and got married. I thought it was the craziest thing I had ever heard Tracy do. And whose idea was it to get married? That was mine. How did you propose?
Starting point is 00:16:15 We had this running joke that as soon as I bought her boobs, that we'd get married. That's an interesting gift. You know, ring or, you know. Or boobs, yeah. There you go. There you go. Tracy and Ashley got married at the gym. No minister, no rings.
Starting point is 00:16:37 Just a marriage license and some unusual wedding gifts. They got tattoos of each other's names in large letters on their back. There would be no romantic honeymoon to make up for the less than romantic, impromptu wedding at the gym. A day after Tracy got married, the woman who had accused him of rape was murdered. Sandy Rosa was shot eight times at point-blank range while she sat defenseless in her car. I was overwrought. I was, I shared time with Sandy, you know. I loved her. There was a significant amount of glass.
Starting point is 00:17:26 Lead investigator, Paul Andrews. Absolutely had a tremendous amount of blood and multiple shell casings that she could see on the floor of the garage and just outside the garage. Somebody had it out for her. This wasn't a random act. With Sandy's death, the assault charges against Tracy were dropped. But his troubles were far from over. He was now the prime suspect in her murder. He threatened from day one that if my daughter reported him or turned him in,
Starting point is 00:18:10 that he would kill her in all of her family. Almost from the start, police were convinced that, Tracy Humphrey was behind the murder of Sandy Razo. The trouble was, at the time of the murder, he was at home eating pizza. We spoke to the pizza delivery man. We described Tracy Humphrey to him, and he remembered going there.
Starting point is 00:19:02 Shortly after the murder, Detective Scott Golsuski went to the gym where Tracy worked. When Tracy refused to speak with him, Kalsuski decided to stop by Tracy's apartment and talk with his new wife, Ashley. She was very nervous, very scared. She almost threw up twice when I was interviewing her. However, it wasn't long before Tracy showed up, and the interview ended. What did you think when you walked out of that apartment?
Starting point is 00:19:35 I said she's definitely involved. She definitely knows something. The trail to finding out just what Ashley knew began when Gelsuski and his partner, Paul Andrews, got a tip from the fire department who had heard about the case. May 31st, her car was found on fire in Tampa. The fire department told the homicide detectives they had found Ashley's car in flames a month before the murder. Ashley had reported it stolen. Investigators suspected arson and turned over a background. check they'd run on her to Andrews and Gelsuski, who noticed some unusual purchases. She had purchased a couple of computer software programs that would enable her to look for
Starting point is 00:20:19 somebody. One of them actually was a search that she paid for on her credit card for Sandra Razzo. Trying to track down where she lived? Yes. And any sort of background information she could get on her? Yes. Another break came when they spoke with the co-signer of Ashley's car loan, David Abernathy, her mother's boyfriend. As we were leaving, I just asked him if he has any firearms, and he said he used to. Abernathy told them he no longer had a gun because he had loaned it to Ashley. It was explosive evidence. The shell casings from Abernathy's gun, a Ruger 22 caliber, matched the type found in Sandy's garage.
Starting point is 00:21:03 It did open up the investigation to we're looking at Ashley. a lot harder. Ashley's cell phone records on the day of Sandy's murder sealed their case. The cell phone records were very damning. Cell phone towers picked up Ashley's calls in Sandy's neighborhood at the exact time of the murder. Now with a mountain of evidence against her, police arrested Ashley for the murder of Sandy Razo. Do you understand what you're being arrested for? I said the murder of a woman that I don't know.
Starting point is 00:21:43 Okay. And I told him in the interview, there's no more going to the malls. There's no more going to the gym working out. This is it for you. You'll have to answer to the charge of you've ordered to the first degree. Get my turn. What do you mean get him? I mean, bring him here.
Starting point is 00:22:02 Her tough talk didn't last long. After three weeks behind bars, Ashley, Christ. act. She confessed to gunning down Sandy Razo, telling police she did it because she was afraid of losing Tracy. She shot Sandra because, quote, she's telling lies that are going to put him in prison. It turned out that Sandy's murder was the culmination of a plan far more elaborate than anyone had imagined. The day that Sandra was killed, that was not the first attempt in her life. No. Detectives learned that weeks before Ashley borrowed the Ruger 22 from her mother's boyfriend,
Starting point is 00:22:45 she had snuck into their home and stolen a rifle. Stowing hot! She stole a Chinese SKS assault rifle, almost identical to this one. A little girl or anybody can take a weapon like this and shoot fairly accurately with it even as a novice shooter. And with that rifle, Ashley began stalking Sandy Razzo. Donning elaborate disguises. She painted her face up to look dark skin and had baggy clothes on and shoes too big for her feet.
Starting point is 00:23:16 Then one month before the murder, Ashley drove her blue VW Beetle to a parking lot outside the bar where Sandy worked. When Sandra left work, leaning out the window, looking through the scope right at Sandra, she pulled the trigger. Sandra ducked like she heard the shot, but apparently didn't realize it was. was a gunshot nor that it was anything aimed at her and got back in her car and left. Shortly thereafter, Ashley realized that she had shot her own driver's side, or rather, she had shot her own passenger mirror. It's actually a mistake that a lot of inexperienced snipers make, not realizing that the barrel is lower than the scope. With a bullet hole in her car's mirror, Ashley panicked. She tossed the rifle into a wooded area off the highway.
Starting point is 00:24:13 She took the car to an empty lot and set fire to it. That's when she borrowed her mother's boyfriend's gun. Within six weeks of that failed attempt, there would be that wedding. And another plot. Less than 48 hours after Tracy and Ashley were married at the gym, instead of relaxing on their honeymoon, Ashley was staked out in the parking lot of a bar with a gun in her hand waiting for Sandy again. She was supposed to catch her in the parking lot and make it look like a robbery.
Starting point is 00:24:52 But once again, things went wrong. As it turned out, she fell asleep briefly, right at the time, Ms. Razor was getting to her car. Ashley woke up just in time to see Sandy's black BMW pulling out. Determined to get it over with, she followed Sandy 25 miles to her home. And this time, there were no fall-ups. Tracy says the news of Sandy's murder shocked him. It hit me hard, you know. And he was stunned when Ashley confessed to him.
Starting point is 00:25:46 I said, Ashley, what did you do? You got to tell me what you did. You got to tell me what you did. police say Tracy already knew exactly what Ashley did. There's no way in my mind that I can believe somebody like you would commit that dark crime unless someone was pushing, manipulate. Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart starts pounding, horrors, hauntings, and mysteries
Starting point is 00:26:23 is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kailan Moore. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying, true urban legends, bizarre true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror and more. So if you're looking to join a passionate community of The Darkly Curious, check out Heart Starts Pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay curious. As police saw it, Tracy Humphrey planned to get rid of Sandy Rosso. But he couldn't commit the crime himself. So his only alternative was to get somebody. else to do the homicide for him.
Starting point is 00:27:15 That's somebody, according to police, was Tracy's young girlfriend, Ashley, whom he had conveniently married the day before the murder. And in the state of Florida, one spouse cannot be forced to testify against the other. Now he felt she couldn't be compelled to testify against him. Because he told her, if we're married, you don't have to. Exactly. Detectives believed it was highly unlikely. was highly unlikely Ashley had come up with the murder plan on her own, especially as they learned
Starting point is 00:27:50 more about Tracy Humphrey's background and his double life. He was a very good friend to me. I was a very good friend to him. Just friends? Well, let's just say I don't go around kissing my friends. A life that was full of tall tales. Did you tell people that you played in the Rose Bowl? I told people that I went to the Rose Bowl with the University of Iowa. And did you? No. Who doesn't pad their resume a little bit? Turns out there was something else that Tracy had left off his resume.
Starting point is 00:28:24 He was an ex-con, and he had done serious time, mostly for violent crimes against women. Just like the brutal beating Sandy Razzo had accused him of. It's Tracy. Police were now convinced that Tracy was the master. behind the murder. Obviously, they've got something that's going to bring me back in. But they needed more evidence. So they enlisted one of his clients, Toby White, to go undercover.
Starting point is 00:28:59 So what am I supposed to say about him? Well, we've talked about it many times. Here, with Ashley Besideon, he's asking Toby to lie. By telling police, she saw Ashley with him at the time of the murder. I'm just hanging out over my house, referee in an argument. Armed with that tape, Humphrey's rap sheet, and those cell phone records, which revealed Ashley and Tracy had called each other 22 times the night Sandy died, police charged Humphrey with first-degree murder. Who's going to believe that I wasn't involved? What do I do? Where do I turn?
Starting point is 00:29:48 What am I going to tell on this woman who says that she loved me so much that she couldn't lose me? I wasn't guilty of doing anything besides not telling on her. In February 2006, just before Tracy Humphrey's trial was set to begin, the prosecutor struck a deal with Ashley. If she would plead guilty and agreed to testify against her husband, the state would recommend she be sentenced to just 25 years in prison instead of seeking the death penalty. You may call your next witness?
Starting point is 00:30:22 The prosecution painted Tracy Humphrey as a man with a history of violence and wheeled out an ex-girlfriend. He also hit me and tried to choke me, held me hostage. And Toby White, who had gone undercover for police. During my workout session that Saturday, he threatened to kill me if I was working with the police. But it was the testimony of this woman. Please have a seat in a witness chair. that Sandy's friends and family had anxiously awaited. Will you please state your full name?
Starting point is 00:30:57 Ashley Christine Humphrey. How old are you? 23. Ashley Humphrey, after more than two years in custody, this was you right before you went in custody? Yes. Was barely recognizable. She had gained more than 30 pounds,
Starting point is 00:31:12 and gone were the fresh-faced good looks of a girl who just a few years earlier had chased after boys with her best friend, Charlie Williams. She looks horrible. I hate to say it, but she was beautiful and she's not anymore. Ashley told the jury that she had gone out with plenty of guys, but had fallen head over heels in love with Tracy.
Starting point is 00:31:36 I was very tortured to his body. He was about 220 pounds, very muscular. He seemed older and more mature. I thought he had his act together. But it wasn't long, she said, before he began to dominate and control her. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere without telling him. I wasn't allowed to have any friends.
Starting point is 00:31:57 Possessiveness turned to pain and violence. We had fights often. Ashley said Tracy hit her. And he swung around and hit me in the face. And frequently threatened to throw her out. And I was begging to stay with him. One night, she says, he knocked her unconscious. When she woke up, Ashley says she agreed to do the un-and-a-one.
Starting point is 00:32:21 to do the unthinkable. And I told him that if you let me stay with you, I'll kill Sandra for you. Did he accept that? Yes. Ashley told the jury that once she agreed to kill Sandy, it was Tracy who hatched the murder plan. He was the mastermind.
Starting point is 00:32:44 It was his idea to get a gun. He wanted it to be a big gun. His idea for her to stalk Sandy. He wanted me to stalk her. His idea to use the gun. disguise. He wanted me to paint my face black so I would look like a black man. And when that first attempt failed, he was furious and he said if you still want to live with me, you still have to do this. Don't think this is a way out of it. Then just a few
Starting point is 00:33:15 weeks later on the night of July 5th, 2003, instead of enjoying her honeymoon, Ashley set out to keep her husband from going back to prison. I timed it so that I would be behind her when she pulled out of the parking lot and I got behind her and discovered she was driving in the direction of her home. As Sandy Razzo pulled into her garage, Ashley says Tracy was on the cell phone peppering her with questions. How many steps away was I? Could I run up to her and shoot her? At 11.15 p.m., Ashley became a cold-blooded killer. I went into the garage and And I slammed with the butt of the gun on her window and she saw me and she started screaming. And then I just shot her repeatedly until I thought she was dead.
Starting point is 00:34:21 And I looked in her eyes and she was dead. Finally, Ashley says there was one last conversation. I called him and I said, it's done. And he said, get rid of everything and call me when you're done. I think the question you all want to know is why? I loved him very much and I did not want to lose him. They were willing to kill another human being because you loved it. Yes.
Starting point is 00:34:56 Everything that happened here is Tracy's fault, right? No, I mean, I take complete responsibility for what I did, but I wouldn't never have done this if I hadn't even met him. I didn't even met him. But Ashley's husband insists he is innocent and says his wife is the true manipulator. Ash is a lot smarter and a lot more cunning than anybody's given her credit for, even me. Defense calls Timothy Humphrey. Facing the death penalty, Tracy Humphrey says the jury has only heard one side of the story.
Starting point is 00:35:53 Ashley's. They say that I had all this control over her. I couldn't even get her to clean the house. He insists Sandy Rosso's murder was all Ashley's idea. Did you tell her you were afraid of returning to prison for 10 years on the charges Sandra Rosso had placed against you? I don't know if I said exactly that, but I said I'd rather die than go back to prison. And to keep him from going to prison, Tracy says it was Ashley.
Starting point is 00:36:23 who hatched the plan. The first thing that she said was, what if she doesn't come to court? And I said that I kind of hope that's what happens. And then she said, well, what if somebody kept her from coming to court? And that was the first time that I said to her, don't ever even joke like that. That's not funny.
Starting point is 00:36:47 Humphrey claims all he ever wanted from Ashley was that she tried to dig up dirt on Sandy. dirt on Sandy. Did you demand, tell, or ask Ashley to harm or murder, shoot, or do anything to Sandra Razo? I asked her to do background research, to help discredit her. That's it. So yes or no? Did you ask her to kill Sandra Razzis? Absolutely not. Mendi also has an explanation for one of the most incriminating elements of the state's case.
Starting point is 00:37:22 Those 22 cell phone calls he and Ashley exchanged in the hours leading up to and after the murder. We like to talk to each other. We were still in the stage of our relationship where the, you watch the phone like it's the TV. Humphrey said they spent most of those phone calls arguing about Ashley's jealousy over one of his female clients. Well, was there anything in your phone calls to suggest she was fixing to murder somebody, according to you? That, no, she was frantic, she was upset. In an effort to prove just how manipulative Humphrey could be, the prosecution presents letters he wrote to ex-lovers after his arrest.
Starting point is 00:38:07 And in fact, hadn't you read another woman tell him you loved him? I think I wrote, yeah. So you're declaring love for one and saying, I dream of having children with you and moving to New York. And then I thought I was Con and Irby that she asked her for 150 bucks at the end of it. That was kind of the only reason I wrote it. That doesn't bode well for your credibility.
Starting point is 00:38:29 I know. But Tracy still claims he is simply a victim of circumstance. You've been called a manipulator, a liar, someone who beats women, puppet master. Are you basically just a good guy who got screwed by his young wife? A lot of wrong places at the wrong times, a lot of stupid decisions. He was the man pulling the strings. Hoping that Tracy Humphrey has finally run out of time.
Starting point is 00:39:06 The prosecution takes one final shot at him during closing arguments. Timothy Humphrey had a firearm. And that firearm that he pointed at Sandra was Ashley Humphrey. And he pulled that trigger on Ashley Humphrey. And he fired eight times and took care of his problem. The jury deliberated just four hours. The jury has reached a verdict. Yes, Your Honor.
Starting point is 00:39:46 The defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree. Who did he think he was that he think that he could get away with this? Did he think he was so high and mighty that he could do something like this and get away with it? His sentence? Sentence? Life in prison without parole. I feel like justice has been served? Yes. That's better. I think that's better than the death penalty. Because he's got to suffer every day and think every day what he did.
Starting point is 00:40:20 Tracy's punishment aside, Sandy's mother says she has finally found some peace, knowing that her daughter's death has likely saved other women from Tracy Humphrey's deadly grip. grip. She put her life on the line, knowing what the consequences could be, to put a message out there, to not let anybody do something like this to you and get away with it and stop it before they can hurt you.

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