48 Hours - What Angelina Saw

Episode Date: March 12, 2023

A young girl peeks out of her bedroom to see blood on the floor and her mother in distress. As an adult she looks back on a night that changed her life. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Mom loved the beach. We would go every weekend in the summer. She was fun. She was spunky.

Young mom. My name is Angelina Fernandes and Stephanie Fernandes is my mother. Angelina is my everything. I really can't imagine anything without her. I just remember feeling the joy when she would tuck me in at night and give me the nighttime kiss. I feel like I've done a pretty good job with raising her. She wanted to have like that picture-perfect, an all-American dream family with a nice house and kids. Who are these two people?

The lady is my mom and the man is Andrew Wagner. My mom met him when I was six years old. It's been said that you would call him your stepdad. Is that true? Yes. He had really nice eyes. He was very handsome. He liked to work out, so he was really big. I was with him for five years. There was a lot of signs in the beginning.

Severe jealousy, a lot of control. He would say, I trust you. It's the other people I don't trust. I don't trust other men. I would hear them arguing. I heard her, like, screaming and crying. I had a talk with my mom. I know what's going on between you two, and I don't like it. You guys need to stop. It can't happen anymore. I walked down, and I saw my mom and the neighbors in the house. I'm like, what is going on?

Like, I knew Andy was hurt. I knew my mom was in distress and just, she was crying. You could see blood. Yeah, blood, footprints, just blood everywhere. It was shock, like I didn't even know what to think. I just remember wanting to make sure my mom was okay because I didn't know where she went. She was just taken.

Please, please, I need someone, please. I don't know what to do. Like, I'm gonna freak out. Like, I'm on fire. i'm a knife in a sink in the bathroom there's only two people in the house and we can only talk to one of them where do all the blood come from this is your juice blood please all right we're gonna go we're gonna go check okay

Alright, we're gonna go check, okay? Please, I can't be in the hospital. Please, tell me he's alive and in the hospital bed. 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 a virgin. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations

of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 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. 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 defence 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. Prime shows early and ad-free right now. I don't know what's going to happen. Please, please tell me if he's okay. No, I'm not.

In the pre-dawn hours of May 8, 2014, This is like a nightmare, a walking nightmare. Stephanie Fernandes was desperate to learn from police what had happened to her fiancé, Andrew Andy Wagner. I know this is a traumatic night, okay? No, please tell me to be ready. We have to get through this, okay? Please tell me to be ready.

What I'm going to do right now is I'm going to reach here. At around 10.30 the night before, after a sudden bloody encounter with Andy at their home in Worcester, Massachusetts, Stephanie says she couldn't find her cell phone, so she rushed to a neighbor's house to get help. It's coming up on the left. Which house? Right here on the left. Stephanie's daughter, Angelina Fernandes, now 20, was just 11 years old that night. Where was your bedroom? Um, I wouldn't know. Upstairs. But can you still remember? Yeah, it's like pictures. So I was sleeping, and I heard the door slam shut, and it woke me up.

And then I just heard my mom from outside, Help me! Someone help me! And then I just hear my mom screaming and crying. When you looked from that balcony down and could see your mother and Andy. There's blood everywhere and then I saw them giving CPR on him. I just remember my mom and then she spotted me upstairs and she pointed at me and she was like, someone get her, someone get my daughter. Police took Angelina to a relative's house. Andy was rushed by paramedics to the hospital. Police took Stephanie to the station where she was led into an interrogation room and interviewed for almost three hours. No, no, please tell me he's okay.

Please tell me he's okay. I can't even talk. Like, he's my life. It doesn't even matter. Like, I love him so much. No, no. I don't know what to do. Like, I'm going to freak out.

Sit down for a second. I don't want to hear nothing. I don't want to hear nothing. I don't want to hear nothing. And if anything bad happened to my family, please don't tell me. I know I look psycho. Please. Stephanie, just for right now,

I just want to get some basic information. Detective William Perrow led the questioning. Before we talk about the incident that occurred tonight, I have to read you your rights. Okay. You have the right to use a telephone and contact an attorney. Do you understand this right, Stephanie? Right now, we can't talk to Andrew. I can talk to you, okay?

Why can't you talk to him? The officers press on, telling Stephanie that Wagner is in the hospital. Stephanie appears to settle down a bit. Stephanie changes into a white cover-up, and two hours into her interview, finally learns Andy's fate. Andrew is no longer with us. And there's a reason why that happened, but we don't know that reason yet. Oh, I know.

Stephanie is told Andy is dead. She begins to reveal details of what happened that night. What happened was we got into an altercation and he was hitting me. And that's what happened. And he pulled out a knife and gun. He started like choking me and hitting me and stuff. An autopsy would later reveal Wagner had bled to death after being stabbed in the neck. Can I see him? Stephanie was later charged with first degree murder. I can't believe that. I never, never and never would

kill someone, harm someone in that way on purpose. Stephanie Fernandez is talking publicly for the first time about the death of her fiancé, Andrew Wagner. I will always love him. But how did it come to this? Just five years earlier, Stephanie was smitten with Andrew Wagner. Blue eyes, really nice smile, nice hair, just really handsome and really fun personality. Very talkative. And did you feel an attraction to him right away?

Yes, I did. We had chemistry. A lot. At the time, Andy worked at the tire shop of a Costco. He dreamed of working in law enforcement. In the beginning, Angelina got along with him. What kind of things did you guys do together? We used to watch Criminal Minds together.

Did your mom ever tell you, Angelina, I love Andrew. I'd like to marry Andrew someday. Yes, she wanted that so bad. A stable family for me and her. She just, she wanted that. But what Angelina didn't know at the time

was that her mother's life with Andy Wagner also had a violent side, recalled Stephanie's friend, Danielle Lord. She constantly had, like, grab marks on her arms. She had marks on her inside of her legs, like, I have never seen in my life. Sing the best idea yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala?

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Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. The little girl is me, and my mom is next to me, Stephanie Fernandes. So tender and loving, and she was high energy, and I was like her little sidekick. Angelina was just six years old when Andrew Wagner came into her life.

She remembers good times at the beach, family gatherings, and vacations. We would actually go to Cape Cod every summer to his parents' Cape house, which was fun. She loved him. She wanted a house with him. She wanted to get married to him. She wanted babies. In those early times, Angelina says her mom never said how she met Andy Wagner, never revealed what she did for a living that kept her away at night. She was beautiful. She just had these piercing eyes first that you notice, and her hair was just beautiful. Danielle Lord worked with Stephanie in a Massachusetts nightclub.

We both were very intimidating. A lot of men would say that we were intimidating, especially together. That's attractive to men. We just became this kind of duo. What did you do at the nightclub? I was a topless dancer. Exotic dancer? Exotic dancer and stripper, yeah.

And had you been trained in dancing at all? I took dance classes when I was younger. Not in that way, but... Stephanie was a single mom. She says after she split up with Angelina's father, she needed to earn a paycheck. I would go in there, make a lot of money, and then I would get out and be there for my mom and my daughter. One night back in 2009, a new guy at the club caught her eye. I was on stage and he was there. We just started talking and talked for like an hour. She was instantly attracted to him. She wanted to be with him. She didn't look at him like a customer. She was like, oh, this is a cute guy. I like him.

At first, Stephanie loved the attention. I thought, oh, he's just into me. He just really likes me. I think she just had stars in her eyes. Danielle says Stephanie and Andy's relationship quickly became a little obsessive. A lot of alarms went off whenever Steph met Andy. They were alarms that she couldn't hear. He was completely possessive right from the beginning. Andy was calling her nonstop, messaging her, and showing up at the club right from the beginning. Stephanie and Andy moved in together almost immediately in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Danielle says their relationship moved from obsessive to dangerous. I've never in my life seen bruises like that, ever. And I don't even want to think of what she went through to get those bruises. We were covering it with makeup. When she had the bruising down there, there was nothing you could do to cover it. Soon after moving in together, Stephanie says Andrew demanded some changes. Did he demand that you stop dancing? Oh, yeah. Yes.

His girl was not going to dance at a club. And I said, jokingly, nervously, jokingly, well, who's going to pay my bills? And why did he want you to quit? Because of the attention, the men, taking off my top in front of men. Stephanie says she stopped dancing, but the violence continued. He's hit me in my head, in my face. He's choked me. Stephanie says she took this photo in 2010. Body shots all over the place. My mouth, my eyes, everywhere. Why didn't you ever call the police and report this violence? I was told that bullets can go through paper.

It would mean nothing with a restraining order. He would get to me way quicker than the cops would, and just, I would die if I left him. I can't explain it. It's very hard to leave a domestic violence situation. You don't have your own money. You don't have anywhere to go. You know, you're broken down completely. Your brain is like scrambled eggs and you can't think for yourself.

And you just walk around every day like you're in shock. You just want to end the day. And when you wake up the next day, it's just another day doing the same thing. So I think she was just stuck in a situation that she didn't know how to get out of. In spite of their volatile relationship, in 2012, Stephanie and Andy were engaged. A short time later, Andy became a corrections officer. You and Andy had bought a condo together. You were planning a wedding, correct? Yes. You seem happy in that picture. What went wrong? Severe jealousy. But Stephanie admits it wasn't just Andy. Sometimes she antagonized him, teasing and tormenting him with texts. They're pretty vicious. Yeah. You admit that, right?

I do. It's embarrassing. I asked Stephanie to read a few. I'm going to F your best friend. You should kill yourself. Hope a car falls on you. I admit I'm flawed. Yeah, I can get upset. She says Andrew would get upset too, especially when she wore outfits that might make her attractive to other men. He freaked out over the tank top that I was wearing, grabbed me, and then threw me on my bed in the room and tore it off, took out his gun, made sure I knew there was bullets in it, and jammed it down my throat. Did he threaten to kill you?

Did he threaten to pull the trigger? During that time, it was if I didn't listen to him, yes, that he was going to kill me. When he was mad, he'd turn into a different person. His whole face would get red. His pupils would dilate. It was like possession of demonic entity. Angelina recalls seeing Andrew trying to headbutt her mother.

He'd go like that. Would he bump her? No. A headbutt would literally make contact? No. But it would go right up in her face? Yeah. And mm?

Yeah. And she called that a headbutt, right? Yeah. And did that bother her? Mm-hmm. By early 2013, Stephanie decided she and Angelina needed a change. She left Andrew and began a new relationship with an old boyfriend, Mike Laramie. I left Andy to get away from the abuse and a number of things.

Stephanie says both men knew about each other what i did what andy mike knew about what i did what mike andy knew about she says mike treated her very well he spoiled me in every way he would carry me into bed if i fell asleep on the couch and just months after they got back together, Mike proposed and Stephanie accepted. Mike brought me to Niagara Falls. He did take out the ring and asked if I would marry him. And I did wear the ring. Both men knew that you were engaged to the other man.

Yes. About a month later, Laramie says he broke off the engagement. Stephanie got back together with Andy, but she says it was more out of fear than love. If I didn't go back with Andy, he would have killed Mike or definitely myself if I didn't go back with him. He never would have let me live. Once Stephanie was back, she says the cycle of abuse resumed. Just three days before his death, Andy texted her. He said, I'm going to effing kill you. Do you remember him texting that to you? I remember him texting that, saying that

all the time. Then, on the night of May 7, 2014, everything exploded. Angelina was upstairs in bed. Stephanie says she was in the kitchen preparing dinner when Andy started an argument about what she'd been doing that week while he was away at work. And that's what started the questions. What have I been doing all week? Things like that just escalated. She says Andy wanted to have sex. Stephanie didn't. He was punching me in the head, trying to pin me down, trying to remove my pants. Trying to pin me down, trying to remove my pants.

Then she says he pulled out a gun and tried to pin her against the couch. I was in fear of my life. I was trying to get away. Stephanie says she grabbed this knife to scare him. What unfolded would soon end one life and destroy another. It just was so quick. He just charged at me. Once I head-bombed me, as he always would do. How were you holding the knife? Like this. Show me. So you have it up, and he's coming at you, right? Yeah. And what happens? That's when I'm like, stay away from me. Stay away from me as he's screaming, I'm going to kill you.

He's on the other side, and he goes to grab my hand, and it must have nicked his neck, the one and a half or two and a half inch, whatever it was. You held the knife that cut your fiancé's artery, and he bled to death. And people would think, well, you murdered him. My actions led to him dying. They did. But I didn't make a decision to take his life. I did not want that to happen. But if it wasn't him, that would have been me in the ground. Hear more from Angelina and learn more about the case at 48hours.com. As Stephanie Fernandes' trial finally approached, her legal team prepared her defense.

Domestic violence or intimate partner violence was central to the entire case. Mara Tansley was one of Fernandes' attorneys. It set up the nature of the relationship between these two people, and I think raised questions about what happened that night that Mr. Wagner died. The trial had been delayed by procedural arguments, and then the COVID pandemic. Stephanie had spent those years in home custody, wearing an ankle bracelet. In June of 2022, eight years after Andrew Wagner was killed, the murder trial of Stephanie Fernandes finally began. Andrew Wagner's family was there, his mother, Melissa, his father, Tom, and his sister,

Jillian Cristaldi. They declined our request for an interview. Surrounded by supporters, they were hoping that by the end of this trial, Fernandez would be behind bars. In his opening statement, prosecutor Terry McLaughlin said that Stephanie Fernandez stabbed her fiance, Andrew Wagner, in the neck, cutting an artery and killing him. McLaughlin says that Stephanie told different stories about what exactly happened that night. She said, quote, he was waving a gun around, so I stabbed him. And to a neighbor, she said, quote, he hit me, so I hit him. And McLaughlin said Stephanie had fits of rage and that she was the aggressor.

was the aggressor. Lead defense attorney Peter Ettenberg told jurors that Andrew Wagner was, quote, 189 pounds of fury and frustration, who violently came at Stephanie and said, quote, I'm going to kill you. Ettenberg says Stephanie thought she would be killed, so she acted to protect herself. We believe that when he grabbed her hands and went to go and headbutt her, he pulled and that pulled the knife into his neck. But prosecutors presented witnesses who testified Stephanie has a long history of violent outbursts. Assistant DA Julianne Carcasinas. How many times did you see Ms. Fernandes strike Mr. Wagner?

Multiple times, ma'am. This is Daniel DiStefano. He was a friend of Wagner's and a former police officer. He says he saw Fernandes hit Andy at a wedding reception back in 2010. And can you please tell the court where Ms. Fernandes hit Mr. Wagner? She very precisely struck him in the face and the head with a closed fist. Do you admit that at times you have hit men in your life with a closed fist? Hit? Hit them. No, I hit, well, yeah, I hit Andy once. He punched me in the head.

I punched him back. And Stephanie's former fiancé, Mike Laramie, testified. He told the court that Stephanie pulled a knife on him at his home. This is audio of Laramie's testimony. All of a sudden I heard a ching of a knife coming out of a butcher block. And I came inside and I hit it out of her hand. And there was another knife incident. She went to my dining room table and she was going to carve it up.

And I was afraid for my life. I grabbed the chair and I wasn't going to let her come near me with it. And she stabbed the chair with it like three or four times. After this happened, what, if anything, did you do? I grabbed all the knives and I got rid of them. The things that like Mike Laramie said are not true. You never came after Michael Laramie with a knife in your hand? I never did. You never damaged his furniture with a knife? No, I did not. As Stephanie's defense began, they called an unusual witness. My name is William Perrow. I'm a Worcester police sergeant. The detective who interviewed her the night Andrew died. The

defense showed the jury that police video, a video the prosecutors had decided not to show. In that interview, Detective Pero points out Stephanie's bruises. I look at the bruises on you, okay? And they're not old. Please tell me he's okay. And they're not old bruises.

I mean, they're fresh. The fact that there are fresh bruises on her that's consistent with how she described Andrew Wagner grabbing her and coming towards her, I don't know what else

would be better to lay the foundation that she was acting in self-defense. she described Andrew Wagner grabbing her and coming towards her, I don't know what else would be better to lay the foundation that she was acting in self-defense. You have bruises on your face, on your arm, on your body. I can see them, Steph. Prosecutors show Perro photos taken that night. He says he sees a bruise on her arm, but not on Stephanie's face. And do you see any injuries to the defendant's face in this photograph? Objection, Judge. Overruled. I do not. And do you see any injuries to the face of the defendant in this photograph?

I do not. The prosecutor suggests that during that interview, he may have been playing Stephanie. Some of your questions or comments are designed to get the person you're interviewing to drop their guard and or talk to you, correct? To show empathy and to relate to me. You want them to start talking, correct?

I do. Two people fought that night back in 2014, and only one survived. The defense decided they had no choice but to put Stephanie on the stand. The truth, the whole truth to put Stephanie on the stand. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Her defense attorneys walked her through the hours leading up to Andy's death. We tried being intimate. That morning?

Yes. Okay. And did it happen? No. She says Andy became angry when she made fun of him. I made the comment as I got out of bed walking into my bathroom, and he came in there and smacked me a few times. Later that evening, with Angelina upstairs in bed, Stephanie says Andy, with a gun in hand, attacked her. Hit me in the head with a gun, choked me, and he wanted sex. Somehow we were on the floor and I was crying and I ended up getting away.

And I ran, screaming, and away, like, don't come near way like don't come near me don't come near me and he was screaming I'm gonna kill you you when I ran and I kept on saying don't come near me don't come near me did I did he listen to you when you said that or did he keep coming near you it happened so quick where I ran to the kitchen. I picked up a knife and held it and said, don't, like screaming anyways the whole time, don't come near me, don't come near me. Andy ran right to me and said,

give me the knife, you f***er, and put his hand on my throat and grabbed my hand. And it went to the head on me. And he went, Steph, I think I got stabbed. I just was there. I was in shock. I think we both were in shock. After Stephanie Fernandes took the stand and told her version of events, the prosecutors got their turn to challenge her as assistant D.A. Julianne Carcasinas zeroed in on Stephanie's history with men. You claim that you were a loyal woman. Isn't that correct?

Correct. Now, were you loyal to Andy when you cheated on him with Mike? Yes or no? I didn't cheat on him. Mike was Mike Laramie. Now, July 26, 2013, you were in Niagara Falls. Isn't that correct? Correct. And you accept a $44,000 engagement rate from Mr. Laramie while on that trip, isn't it correct? That is correct. I put it on my finger, yes. Do you get engaged to all your guy friends?

No. No. On Stephanie's second day on the stand, You may proceed. the prosecutor tried to pick apart her account of the day Andy died. Ms. Fernandez, how many times did Andy choke you that day on May 7, 2014? That day? Yes. In the morning and at the nighttime of the event. And then how long did he choke you for that morning? I'm not sure. I didn't count. I'm not sure. It was quick.

And you had no marks on your neck? I don't remember. Stephanie had described a struggle around the couch in the house that night. But the assistant DA says the crime scene pictures don't show any sign of that. The coffee table was in front of the couch on that. Yes. At our house, yes. Yes. And it's not pushed out of the way, correct? I can't tell with that couch and how close the couch and coffee table is, but it does not look crooked. Correct. It's not pushed to the side or anything like that. How is he choking you on the couch?

At one... It all happened so quick. And Carcasinas tries to cast doubt on Fernandi's recollection of the night. So you do not have a memory of certain parts of that evening. Isn't that correct? I would say that's correct, like the time and stuff like that. And finally, Carcassina's questions Stephanie's credibility, especially her claims that she had lived her life in fear of Andy Wagner.

Were you afraid of Andy Wagner when you told him he was stupid? Yes. Were you in fear of Mr. Wagner when you said to him, I hope a car falls on you? No. And were you in fear of Mr. Wagner when you sent him a photograph of yourself performing sex on Michael Laramie? Yes or no, ma'am? No. No further questions, Your Honor. Thank you. All right. Both sides called in domestic violence experts who interviewed Stephanie. Good morning, members of the jury. Carol Ball testified for the defense, saying that Andrew Wagner's escalating verbal threats and physical violence left Stephanie with post-traumatic stress disorder.

My opinion is that she experiences the symptoms of battered woman syndrome, also known as intimate partner violence. That cycle repeats itself over and over. that partnered violence. That cycle repeats itself over and over. And prosecutors called up their expert, David Adams, who concluded that Andrew, not Stephanie,

was the victim of abuse. Well, I actually didn't see any evidence that she was fearful of him. I think this case raises some interesting questions about what it means to be a victim. Stephanie is not a sympathetic victim, right? She is a flawed person. And yet she is still a victim and still has a right to act in self-defense.

It's much easier for us to understand someone as a victim of domestic violence where they have a perfect past, where there's no other anger issues or anything else. But that's not what we have. where there's no other anger issues or anything else. But that's not what we have. The defense believes that this case will ultimately come down to whether jurors believe Stephanie intentionally murdered Andrew Wagner, a medical examiner who testified couldn't say for sure. Couldn't rule out the fact that this was an accident.

And after 10 days of witnesses, the defense presented their closing arguments. She picked up a knife and said, Andy, stay away, stay away. He didn't. This time, for whatever reason, it was too much. And the prosecution hasn't proved that this wasn't an accident, and they have not proved that it wasn't in self-defense. What the prosecution hasn't proved is that Stephanie Fernandes is a murderer. Prosecutor Terry McLaughlin disagreed. She's the aggressor. She's the one with the temper. She's the one with the mouth. She's the aggressor. She's the one with the temper. She's the one with the mouth. Ladies and gentlemen, I would suggest to you that this is first-degree murder, premeditated

and planned. She got him from the side, or she got him from the back, from behind. She grabs a knife and she stabs him when he's not looking or he's not ready for it. With that argument, the case would go to the germs. What do you think of Stephanie's decision to take the stand? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and Twitter. If convicted of first-degree murder, Stephanie Fernandes could face life in prison. But the question is, did you murder him? No. It makes me nauseous just to even think of that. But the question is, did you murder him? No.

It makes me nauseous just to even think of that. All right. After about nine hours of deliberation, jurors reached their verdict. Guilty of a lesser charge, voluntary manslaughter, which carries the possibility of up to 20 years in prison. Shane Bernard and Gayla Biekcha sat on the jury. I think that both of them are equally controlling and abusive to each other, you know? I agree.

I think they were both in this vicious cycle that just, they couldn't stop themselves. He was a more physical abuser where she was more psychological abuse. I do believe she didn't want to kill him, but she did. As for Fernandes' claims of self-defense, juror Gayla Biekshaw believes Wagner made contact with the knife when Stephanie says he attempted to headbutt her. The headbutt was a huge piece for us.

We went off the medical examiner's report saying that the knife went in from the front, the angle was in from the front and downward. And that she'd actually had a stabbing motion. So that, in a sense, was what ruled out self-defense. Before sentencing, Andrew Wagner's family finally got to speak directly to the woman they believe murdered their son and brother.

My name is Jillian Cristaldi. I'm the sister of Andrew. My parents and I have waited to speak, to have a voice, to give my brother a voice, and to get him the justice that he deserves. To clear his name from the blatant lies that have been spewed from Stephanie Fernandes and her attorney's mouth for over eight years. When you look at Stephanie Fernandes, you are looking at a face of evil, of someone who gives no consideration for her actions, who is incapable of love, and has shown no remorse or guilt for killing my brother. Andrew's mother, Melissa Wagner. She took away Andrew's joy and love of life.

She took away all of Andrew's family and friends. She took away Andrew's dreams of a family of his own. She took away all of Andrew's money. She took away Andrew's dignity and self-respect and when there was nothing, nothing, nothing left for her to take, she took away Andrew's life. I beg you, Judge Reardon, I beg you, I beg you, I beg you, take away the one thing that matters most to her. Take away her freedom for as long as possible. Please, please, please.

Thank you. I realize that no sentence I impose in this case can do perfect justice. Judge James Reardon reminds everyone that Stephanie Fernandez was found guilty not of murder, but of voluntary manslaughter. Ms. Fernandez is being sentenced for that conviction, not for her relationship with Andrew Wagner or any other individuals or for her past life.

I sentence Stephanie Fernandez to a term of not more than 10 years and not less than eight years in state prison. term of not more than 10 years and not less than eight years in state prison. After all this, according to what you have said, Andrew struck you, choked you, threatened you with a pistol. Do you still have some sort of emotion for this man? Some sort of love for this man? I do. I know it bothers a lot of people. I will always love him. Stephanie says the night Andy died could have been avoided. Maybe the night wouldn't have happened if I got him help, if I got us counseling, if I got him therapy. Angelina, why did this happen? Because he was abusive and my mom was his victim. But his family blames your mother for that. They're going to believe what they want to believe. I can't imagine the pain they're going through.

I don't think they want to see their deceased son that way, so they're trying to blame my mom for all of the wrong he did towards her. Angelina is now studying to become a forensic psychologist, and she hopes to work with victims in court and with children. Angelina says she looks forward to the day she'll be able to reunite with her mom. When she's out of jail, she'll be able to see all of my successes and she'll be able to see everything that I've accomplished. I want to accomplish all of my dreams so my mom can experience the happiness afterwards. I'm Erin Moriarty, and this is my life of crime.

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