48 Hours - The Murder of Anna Repkina

Episode Date: November 1, 2020

Did a love triangle lead to murder? After his fiancée is found dead, a man researches time travel to “correct a horrible mistake.” Correspondent Tracy Smith reports for "48 Hours."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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ConstantContact.ca So right here in this general area is where the caretaker was living at. When he went for a walk up this little off-road when he found her initially. I wasn't even sure if it was real at first. I thought it might be some kind of a prank, you know. Actually, I did reach down and touch her hand. That feels like flesh and bone to me. When we found Anna Repkina's body, we were able to see that her feet were probably down in about this location.

And her head was pointed back towards the forest here. One of the first things we noticed when we made our way to this landing is there's pieces of trash and there was garbage. One of the first things we noticed when we made our way to this landing is there's pieces of trash and there was garbage. One of the biggest pieces of evidence that we found in this case was a KFC bag. Along the edge of that clear bag, there was a receipt that had the date of the 14th, so April 14th, which is only a few days prior. Who was Anna Rukina? Anna was 27 years old, and she came from a good, strong family in Russia. She wanted somebody to love her, wanted to have kids,

and so that's why she went on to the dating website. She happened to find Will Hargrove. He's always trying to make people laugh. Making sure that everybody else is happy. Trying to push them to become the better person that they can be. He was complimentary to her. He sent her flowers from the United States to Russia. He paid attention to her.

With everything that he had explained to me, everything he had told me, Anna was the love of his life. The sense that you got from Anna Repkina was that she was in love. This wasn't coming to the United States as some mail order bride. How does Michelle Chavez fit into this case? Well, Michelle Chavez is the other woman. She is that third part of the triangle. He made me feel special. He has a charisma about him. It's like everything he's saying, he truly believes, and you believe it. He makes you believe it.

Especially if you're in love and you want to believe it. Yeah. And you were in love. I was. And it was always I choose you. It was. How much pressure was he getting from Michelle to end it with Anna? I know for a fact that Michelle didn't want Anna even over here in the States.

He was basically given the ultimatum of one or the other. And two days later, it was found dead. Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok This is outside of Corvallis quite a ways out in the Alsea area. And up a remote logging road. Ryan Jocelyn and Amy Matusko, both deputy district attorneys in Benton County, Oregon, received an urgent call that a body had been found on April 17, 2017. He and I were both on scene to take a look for ourselves. It's so important in a prosecutor's role that you understand the scene, not just from photos, but having been there.

Not too many people are going to be up in that area. But frankly, the fact that the body was discovered as quickly as it was, was pretty extraordinary. Lead detective, Lieutenant Chris Duffett, says a local caretaker happened to be out walking his dog that day when he came across the body. The caller was walking on this road on a day and a time and a place that he really should have never been. So we were very, very lucky to find her body. If it would have been any more time, we might have never found her.

The victim was identified as 27-year-old Moscow native Anna Repkina. She had been shot. She was smart, intelligent. She had an office job working for Ikea. She loved cats. She loved to travel. Anna had a lot going for her. A lot of people liked her. So how did a Russian woman who had a seemingly happy life meet her end on a remote logging road nearly 5,500 miles from home? She had broken up with her boyfriend of seven years and was really looking for that connection. A year earlier, newly single Anna started looking for love online and joined a Russian social networking site. She found what she was looking for halfway across the world when she met 26-year-old Oregonian William Hargrove.

Then they started really chatting. They chatted a lot over Facebook. Then they started video conferencing. And that was happening on an almost daily basis. Anna and Will found that they had a lot in common. They really bonded over music. She very much loved music. She liked to go to rock concerts. They would have discussions about bands. She had a good sense of humor. She would constantly send funny memes, and she connected with her friends and her family that way.

Will and Anna exchanged thousands of messages, imagining their future together if Anna came to Oregon. He definitely had the gift of gab. The gift of gab. He could talk a good game? He could. He could talk a very good game. Will's friend and former roommate, Jamie Klotz. He and I had things in common. Cars. He works on cars. I work on cars. I'm more Harry Potter. He's more the Avengers kind of genre, but we could nerd out on things like that. He actually took me to see my first Avengers movie. He was a likable guy, a jokester.

He just liked to laugh and have fun. I enjoyed being around him. Will worked as a mechanic at a local auto dealership. In his free time, he'd meet up with friends like Joseph Thompson at the Peacock Bar and Grill. We would play pool over there on Sunday nights and just basically ended up hanging out doing karaoke. I don't know how many times me and him would be sitting there playing pool

and he'd just have women walk up from the bar, just sit there, talk to them. He was very charismatic. He had the personality, the presence. Was he a player? No, the presence. Was he a player? No, not necessarily. Will was such a good friend that Joseph called him his brother. We were both in the military. A lot of the training and stuff we had went through was similar, and it helped pull us together.

What branch of the service were you in? Army. And Will? I believe he was Marines. He said that he used to be stationed in Russia. Will seemed to have an affinity for all things Russian, and his online relationship with Anna took off. Anna decided to fly to the States to spend the holidays with Will in Oregon

and see if their virtual love would feel the same in reality. December of 2016, she traveled here and spent a couple weeks with William Hargrove. But the road to romance had an unexpected detour. There was a problem when she first came out in December to see Mr. Hargrove. She mistakenly mixed up Portland, Maine for Portland, Oregon. And she was stranded in Portland, Maine. Amidst the chaos of flight changes, Anna messaged Will, building the anticipation to finally be together.

Anna eventually made it to the right Portland and into the arms of Will Hargrove. During her visit, she posted highlights of their whirlwind romance, including photos of their trips to the coast, Will's cars, and even a Christmas wish scrawled out to her family back home. She came here for love. At the conclusion of this trip, she actually became engaged to William Hargrove, and they had plans to get married in the future. Anna returned home to Russia after 10 days with a souvenir,

an engagement ring from Will, and plans to pack up her life in Russia and move to Oregon with the promise of marriage. She was excited about the wedding. She was talking about all the different style dresses and what she really wanted. But there was going to be an obstacle in Anna's path to love. I'm Michelle Chavez, and I her husband and two children in Albany, Oregon. Unfortunately, all was not right in the marriage. Our relationship at that point in time really wasn't one. It was like roommates that just happened to be married. Slept in the same bed, but that was about it. Didn't really talk.

Michelle met Will Hargrove while she was working as a cab driver. It was a kind of slow time in the summer, and I was waiting at the bar, waiting for people to call to go pick people up. What was your first impression of him? God, he's short. He's short. Yes, God, he's short. Yeah. He is short. But that first impression gave way to something much more for Chavez,

who was so unhappy at home. He made you feel like you were in the sun when he talked to you. He had a way of being able to look at me and I felt like I was actually seen. I felt beautiful. I felt like I was wanted. And so Michelle and Will became much more than friends. It wasn't a planned thing. It wasn't like it went off in my head. I was like, I'm going to have a relationship with him. It just progressed that way. This is one of him and our mutual friend, Jamie. He was willing to give her what she needed, affection, attention. The following year, 2016, the relationship grew to a new and somewhat unusual level, with Will renting a spare bedroom in Michelle's house,

the same one she shared with her husband and kids. Though it's not clear what Michelle's husband knew about her relationship with Will. He only had to pay $300 a month and his own food, unless he liked whatever it was we were making at the time. Honestly, pretty sweet deal. Michelle even gave Will her wedding ring, a promise that she'd leave her husband soon. But it wasn't enough for Will. If Will had this relationship with Michelle and was in love with Michelle, why was he going on internet dating sites? I think that it had to do with jealousy.

Michelle was going to leave her husband on her terms, and it wasn't going fast enough. If he could make her jealous, then maybe it would speed things up. Which may explain why, when Anna visited Will over Christmas, they stayed at Michelle's house, under Michelle's nose. It seems Anna knew nothing of Will's other relationship. They were in his room most of the time. On New Year's Eve, they were getting ready to go out.

Will was like, oh, maybe I should introduce you guys. And then she shook my hand and she said her name was Anna. I said it was nice to meet her. But Michelle wouldn't be quite that welcoming when Anna returned a few months later, on March 1st, 2017, with the intention of becoming Will's wife. I was like, well, she's not staying here. She's not staying in my house. So Will and Anna rented an apartment in Corvallis,

a small college town not far from Michelle's home. With Will working and without a job herself, Anna spent time on her own, even joining the local gym. Life wasn't as easy for Michelle. What did you want? Simple. Just to be happy. And you thought you'd found that with him?

I thought I had. But you have to actually know somebody to find those things, I think. Turns out, actually knowing Will was going to be a bit of a challenge for everyone. knowing Will was going to be a bit of a challenge for everyone. Even with his new fiancé in America, he split his nights between his two love interests. He really continued to float between those two places, back at Michelle's place and then back at the apartment with Anna. With no clue as to why Will kept disappearing, Anna often had to resort to contacting his friends to find her own fiancé. She's seeing him gone. In the text messages, she's reaching out to his friends. Do you know where he is? What's going on?

She's becoming suspicious. Where is he going? What is going on with this time? As it happened, Ana's instincts were right on the money. This man was a fraud and relied heavily on deception to convince other people he was the type of person he wanted to be perceived as. And he wanted to be something greater than he was. He told a number of people he was in the armed forces. He was never in the armed forces. Then there's the matter of a certain engagement ring, He was never in the armed forces. Then there's the matter of a certain engagement ring.

Anna's ring. Or was it? Her and I had friended each other on Facebook. And then I saw her wearing my wedding ring. What? Yeah. The ring that had been Michelle's wedding ring had been repurposed when Will proposed to Anna. Will told Anna that this ring belonged to his grandmother and had sentimental value to him.

Anna had no idea she was wearing Michelle's ring. And on March 22nd, she was shocked to get a Facebook message from Michelle about sharing Will. At this point, all Anna knows is that Michelle Chavez is the crazy ex-girlfriend, because that's what Will Hargrove has told her. And so Anna says, no way. You get out of our lives. Something about me being a bitch, I believe. And I was like, I'm just getting started at being one. Were you threatening her?

No, just being mouthy. I just meant that if you think I'm being bitchy now, like, just watch. Just three days later, Anna and Will headed to the Oregon coast for their wedding ceremony. Anna brought a wedding dress with her from Russia. She had her ring that William proposed to her with. On the way, Will decided to stop at the local Walmart to buy their wedding bands, leaving bride-to-be Anna in the car. While he's in Walmart shopping for his wedding ring, he is on the phone with Michelle Chavez. And he is discussing their relationship and whether or not he's going to come see her that night. And you had no clue when he said he was in Walmart that he was, like, headed to a wedding?

No. No, not at all. But, as it would turn out, Anna and Will were not headed to a wedding. They go to the beach, and the officiant doesn't show up. officiant doesn't show up. So he has a phone call in which he relays to both the witnesses and to Anna that the officiant couldn't make it. He was ill. Something came up. William Hargrove was actually calling a couple of video game stores to presumably pretend he was talking to a wedding official to show him how mad he was about this day. He never arranged for an officiant. He never got a marriage license. He didn't have anything set up. Sadly, there'd be only one portrait of the bride that day, picking up some fast food.

The McDonald's drive-thru video is the only video or photo taken on Anna Repkina's wedding day. And you can actually see Anna Repkina in her wedding dress in William Hargrove's vehicle. Seemingly oblivious to Will's feelings for Michelle, Anna set her heart on a rescheduled wedding date. But Michelle had other plans. So did you give him an ultimatum? At one point I did. I told him it was he had to pick one. I didn't want anything bad to happen to her. I just didn't want her here. So you pressured him to choose. I did. I did. 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

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In April 2017, the relationship between Michelle and Will hit a crossroads, with Michelle insisting Will finally choose between her and Anna. Will told Michelle she was his choice. So April 19th was the deadline. Right. For both of you. Correct. You were going to be done with your marriage and he was supposed to... She was supposed to be gone or whatever.

He was going to leave her. How much pressure did Michelle put on Will to get rid of Anna? A lot. There was a lot of pressure. There's a lot of back and forth in there between all the text messages, where one minute it's like, clean out your stuff and get out. The next minute is, I love you, I want to be together. But we can't do that if she's here.

I love you. I want to be together. But we can't do that if she's here. There are texts between the two of you with you pressuring him to choose. And at one point you told him to fix it. Yeah. What do you mean by that? In the general sense, fix it in the sense that you would take care of it, not take care of it like take somebody out. And you would end the relationship, that you would be done.

Will told Michelle he'd tried to send Anna packing many times, but she wouldn't go. So Michelle perceived Anna as this girl who kind of never got the hint that she was being told to leave and she kept coming back, although Anna never knew any of this was really happening. and she kept coming back. Although Anna never knew any of this was really happening. On Saturday night, April 15th, just four days shy of the deadline they'd set,

Michelle was supposed to have dinner at Will's apartment. It wasn't until about 8 p.m. that night that William Hargrove tells Michelle Chavez that she actually can't come over, that Anna showed back up, that Anna's back again, he'll take care of it. What followed was yet another heated text conversation. Not a surprise, according to Detective Chris Dale, who says Michelle and Will exchanged more than 13,000 texts during their relationship.

Constant checking in every morning to make sure that he's woken up on time to get to work. It didn't seem as if there was an hour and a day that went by where they were not communicating. But on that day, there was one critical text. So Will Hargrove sent a message to Ms. Chavez, I will have this permanently fixed by 1800 tomorrow. So he'll have the situation of Anna Repkina handled by 6 p.m. the following day, which was Easter Sunday.

That assurance was not enough for Michelle. She continued texting and calling Will, who turned off his phone. As the hours passed with no reply, Michelle's hope that Will was truly fixing the problem with Anna vanished. I guess you made your choice. Okay. I'll let you be. Why?

I just want to know why. I'll let you be. But I just want to know why. The next morning, Michelle headed to her mother's house for Easter. Jamie was there as well. She said that she'd spent the night ugly crying. And even though I knew what the probable answer was going to be, I still asked her, like, why?

And she looks at me and she goes, why do you think? And I said, because of Will. Meanwhile, back at his apartment, Will was dealing with a very different but urgent problem, his car insurance policy. They've been sending him notices that if he doesn't have it paid by midnight on the 16th, they're going to cancel his insurance. He tells them that he knows his insurance lapses that evening and he needs to get it extended for free. evening and he needs to get it extended for free because if it doesn't he's gonna lose his vehicle loan and they're gonna repossess it immediately okay can you guys hold off until the 21st so I can get you paid unfortunately once it

is pending cancellation for non-payment we don't have the ability to move the dates at all in this this one, yeah, so it'll be canceled effective tonight at midnight. Just after 4.30 p.m., Michelle's phone rang. It was Will. And what did he say? That he had been out at the coast. He was on his way back in and he'd almost had a deer. He ran off the road and he had a flat tire. And he needed help. How did he sound?

Shaken. Sad. And so Michelle left her family's Easter celebration to go and meet Will in the town of Alcee. He waited for her at a local convenience store. You can see him walk to the cooler where he gets a Pepsi. He goes and gets his candy bar, and then he ultimately gets a pack of cigarettes. About an hour later, Michelle arrived. She parks on the side of that store. We see her get out of her Prius. I asked him, what happened? Where have you been? He told me that he, after we had talked, that they'd gotten

to an argument and he said horrible, mean things to her. And that she had turned around and taken her suitcases and had walked out. Thinking Anna had finally left the apartment for good, Michelle says she and Will got into his car. We drove for a little bit and we'd pulled off and we were talking for a few. then honestly we ended up having sex in the front seat. So you had makeup sex essentially? Yeah, essentially makeup sex in the front seat. Michelle and Will then went their separate ways with Michelle returning to her family's Easter celebration. She came back. She was in a good mood. She was smiling. She was, you know, she was happy. She looked total 180 from what she looked like in the morning. Will headed home, but he made a few stops along the way.

First, at an ATM where he withdrew money from Ana's bank account. Made a $200 withdrawal from this machine and then engaged in some conversation with some employees at that gas station where he actually ended up hugging one of them and crying about the fact that his girlfriend, Anna Repkina, had left him. His girlfriend, whose account he just took $200 from. Yes. Will then headed to a second ATM.

He goes to the Chase Bank and withdraws an additional $600 of Anna Repkina's money. So now William Hargrove has $800 that he stole from Anna Repkina's bank account. At about 9, 9.30 p.m. on that same night, he drives to another bank, and he ends up depositing $160 of that cash into his bank account. Will had just one more chore to take care of that evening. Thank you for calling Progressive. Y'all should have a card on file for me and I need to make a payment, please. Several hours earlier, he has no money.

All good, then? Everything's done? Yeah, everything is taken care of. You are insured as we're speaking. Excellent. Thank you very much, ma'am. My pleasure. Have a good night, woman. All of a sudden, he has money, and he's taking it out of Honor Rep. Kina's bank account, who's found dead the next day. On April 17th, 2017, the day after Easter Sunday, Anna Repkina was found with a shotgun blast to the back of her head.

Her body left like one more piece of garbage. Anna was discarded in this landing with the other trash. Fast food bags, cigarette cartons, candy wrappers that were here. And at that point, we don't know what's evidence and what's not, because that could either be huge evidence in this case, or it could be just trash. While investigators hoped to find a connection to Ana's killer, Will was sending Ana texts, showing concern about her whereabouts after the fight he said they'd had the day before. Will also launched a bizarre deep dive online, researching time travel.

He is trying to ask for help in how to travel back in time, back to April 16th, in order to correct a horrible mistake. His words, correct a horrible mistake. Yes. He even went so far as to message strangers on WhatsApp for advice to help someone he called his best friend. Will was apparently so desperate for this information, he offered a reward, his soul. In addition to his strange internet search, Will went on a shopping spree, spending more of that cash he stole from Anna, buying candy, video games, and toys. He bought a hundred and something dollar set of Legos

from a Walmart. Will reached out to a friend named Kevin Thomas. Saying that he's spending money he shouldn't, trying to distract himself. On Wednesday, April 19th, investigators struck a lead with the trash found next to Ana's body. A KFC receipt from three days earlier with a crucial timestamp. Was there a name on the receipt? So on the receipt, there was no name. KFC told us that there was actually a car that pulled up on that Friday, and there was two purchases made from that car. There was one made with a debit card that came back to Kevin Thomas,

and another purchase that was made with cash. With only one name to work with, investigators headed to Kevin's Corvallis home. We're trying to put some pieces together for the case. The garbage we found was, I think, something you bought last week from KFC. Okay. Do you know about that? Yeah, me and my brother go to KFC.

Go to KFC. On Fridays. What's your brother's name, Kevin? Will Hargrove. Kevin and Will became pals at the Peacock Bar and Grill. Kevin, like Joseph Thompson, called Will his brother. Police continued talking to Kevin at the sheriff's office, where he offered a revelation. A few weeks earlier, Will had asked to borrow something that belonged to Kevin.

His shotgun. Did he say why he wanted to borrow it? Just that he was going to go up and go shooting in the woods and just kind of blow off some steam. What's more, Kevin told police that Will had yet to return the gun. With this new information, investigators headed straight to Michelle's house, where Will was staying, to question him. He answered the door. We're here following up on a case we're working, and your name came across, so we want to talk to you. Okay.

Will then lied to investigators, telling them that he and Michelle drove up to Alcee together on Easter Sunday. Drove into Alcee, stopped at the little market there, picked up a pack of cigarettes and drove back. Did you dump some trash there? Yeah, I did. On the side of the building, on the side of the General Store. Yeah, I did. On the side of the building, on the side of the General Store. But that trash that Will claimed to have left at the store was the very same that was found next to Ana's body. Investigators asked Will to come to the sheriff's office. While Will was getting ready to leave, he texted Michelle to ensure their stories matched.

At the sheriff's office, investigators got to the question of Anna. What do you know about her? Almost nothing. How'd you guys meet? Met her downtown Corvallis. Just walking around? Yeah. Will played down their relationship,

even calling Anna psychotic. We went on two dates, and I told her it wasn't going to be anything more than that. And I was happy to keep hanging out with her, but that was all it was going to be. How long ago was that? Last time I saw her was... Middle of March. Middle of March.

We cut it off because she decided to put on Facebook that we were engaged. She posted that? Yeah. After two days? Oh, yeah, and it brought hell down upon me. Permission? We shall. Lieutenant Duffet turned up the heat on Will and got right to the point.

So, Will, your trash was found where somebody was killed? I'm sorry, what? Okay, that's what we're talking about here. You guys are looking at me for this? Your trash, like my partner said, was found there. Your stuff was found in a scene where somebody died? Yeah. Okay.

Talking to you, there's a lot of inconsistencies with your story about what happened. That's when Will stopped talking and asked for a lawyer. No offense, guys. You've been really kind, and I'd like to. And I don't mind that. But the moment that you say somebody was killed out there, that no, I

just, no. Okay. So William Hargrove, I need you to stand up and put your hands behind your back. You're under arrest for the murder of Hannah Reptina. Will Hargrove was placed under arrest.

But did police have the right person in custody? If anyone on the face of it looks like they have a motive to kill Anna, it's the other woman. It's Michelle. How can you be so sure that she had nothing to do with Anna's murder? How credible is Will Hargrove during the police interview? See more of the evidence at 48hours.com. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch.

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And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Just hours after Will Hargrove was arrested for Ana Repkina's murder, Michelle Chavez was brought in for questioning about what she was doing Easter Sunday. She starts out on the wrong foot, telling police what Will had texted her to say, that they'd driven to Alsea together. And he picked you up at your mom's house at that time?

He did. Okay. Immediately, Michelle reverses herself, admitting what she had just stated was false. That's a little bit of a lie. He called me. He was going to pick me up. And then he did.

Why did you lie to them? Honestly, I wasn't thinking, and I don't have a good answer. I want you to know right now, the will is under arrest for murder. Okay. Okay. Investigators say Michelle didn't seem at all surprised when they told her Will had just been arrested for killing Anna.

How are you not extremely upset right now to know that the person who you were mentally involved with? I am very upset right now. I'm very upset right now. I don't understand how that can be a person that I have spent the last year and a half with. I was numb. It didn't make sense. It didn't make sense. Over a year later, in July 2018, Will was formally indicted for Ana's murder. The defense would go on to spin an entirely different theory of the crime,

one that had Michelle pulling the trigger after arriving from her family's Easter celebration. According to them, The defendant had taken Michelle Chavez up to the location to have a conversation with Anna and Michelle had taken the gun out from him and shot Anna. A few pieces of evidence had given investigators cause for concern. For one thing, Michelle mysteriously ended up in possession of Anna's phone. Michelle blames Will. I didn't realize it was hers. He had given it to me, I guess, the night before he got arrested. Michelle's own cell phone records showed that a month before Anna's body was found, Michelle had visited that exact spot on the logging road.

Anna's body was found, Michelle had visited that exact spot on the logging road. Michelle claims that's only because Will brought her there. But could she have been scouting the location? The defense says that Will loved Anna, that he was starting a life with her, that you're the one with all the reasons to kill her. What do you say to that? I had no reason to want her dead. No reason to kill her. What do you say to that? I had no reason to want her dead. No reason to kill her. I do get how it looks.

But her being dead is nothing I ever wanted. I wanted her to go home. Did you ever tell Will to kill Anna? No. Days after Will's arrest, his friend Kevin's shotgun was recovered from the back of Will's vehicle. Evidence supports there had only been one killer. Will Hargrove's fingerprint was on the shotgun. Michelle Chavez's DNA was never on that shotgun.

Michelle Chavez's fingerprints was never on that shotgun. Michelle Chavez's fingerprints were never on that shotgun. Piecing together various security cameras, investigators tracked Will's drive with Ana to Alcee. We see the defendant's car that's distinct for various reasons, traveling along a certain path and gave us location as well as time frames. But it was GPS tracking that gave police an even bigger piece of the puzzle, with Will's phone pinging from the murder site from 435 to 448 that afternoon. The reason we have that is because he called Michelle Chavez. Michelle Chavez, who was still at her mother's house at that Easter celebration. We don't have any forensic data or information that was left of that crime scene to suggest

that Michelle was at the crime scene on that day. And remember that video of Will shopping at the Alcee convenience store as he waited for Michelle to arrive? Towards the top of his bald head, you can see what appears to be smaller black dots. Raising the question, could it have been blood spatter? We can't tell you if that was blood. We can't tell you what that was. But we can tell you it was there before he met Michelle Chavez. Subsequent photo comparison afterwards showed that those spots weren't moles. They weren't anything that was there permanently.

There was one more heart-wrenching piece of evidence found in the trash alongside Ana's body from another fast food drive-thru. A receipt from McDonald's in Newport, Oregon, dated on March 25th of 2017. March 25th, the day that should have been on his wedding day. Will's trial got underway in October 2019. The original witness list was 131 people.

Eventually, I believe close to 70 people testified. The trial took a month. Will Hargrove was found guilty of Ana's murder, as well as identity theft and two counts of second-degree theft for stealing that money from Ana's bank account. I want to talk about Ana Repkina for a minute. And I placed her photo on the witness stand to remind everyone of a life that was lost. Will's sentencing was held in January 2020. She came here with hopes and dreams to find somebody that was loving her and start a family.

She doesn't have that anymore. The defendant very nearly got away with this crime. It was his own trash that betrayed him. You were receiving a sentence of life imprisonment. Will received a life sentence with a possibility of parole after 25 years. Michelle says living under the scrutiny of people in town wondering what she knew or didn't know

became all too much. How bad did it get for you? Bad enough. Bad. Bad. She had an incident in which she couldn't take the stress anymore and almost didn't get the police there in time. Michelle says that in June 2018, she tried to take her own life.

I tried to die. I'm still here. It didn't work. I'm still here. It didn't work. As for the young Moscow native who flew to the U.S. with the promise of love. I think you have to remember Anna as the sweet, loving, caring person who put herself out there to be loved. Because Anna was loved. She was loved alive, and she was loved after. Anna Repkina's ashes were flown back to Russia.

Will Hargrove has filed an appeal. A beautiful high school senior stabbed to death. It looks personal. It's overkill. No one charged. The case goes cold. We were looking for a needle in a haystack. Forty years later, the arrest no one expected. The DNA was the key. 48 Hours, Saturday at 10, 9 central on CBS.

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. 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 urged 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+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.