American Homicide - S1: E5 – Murder in the Desert, Part 2

Episode Date: November 7, 2024

Las Cruces, New Mexico was shattered by a triple homicide in 2010. Investigators believed the prime suspect, Gino Ferri, was behind the murders. As Ferri dodged authorities, tension mounted until a risky white-collar crime strategy finally put him behind bars. But even with Ferri in custody, the search for the murder weapon continued.  To reach out to the American Homicide team, please email us at [e-mail]. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Audio Up, the creators of Stephen King's Strawberry Spring, comes The Unborn, a shocking true story. My babies, please! My babies! One woman, two lives, and a secret she would kill to protect. She went crazy and shot and killed all her farm animals. Slaughtered them in front of the kids. Tried to burn their house down. Listen to The Unborn on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Entrepreneurs and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about.

It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine.

I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets.

Listen to Escape from Zakatistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The pressure was on Las Cruces police to solve what was called the worst killing in 20 years. We never had a case where three people have been killed all in one home and all at one time. For prosecutor Amy Orlando, the unsolved case shattered this safe and affluent community. People were concerned and they were fearful. That was something very unusual for our community. But the suspect would turn the

police's investigation inside out. These guys think they're gods with power. Well, I'm not a god, but I have powers of a god, and I'm going to show them what the f*** the powers are. Today, we're back in the remote hills of Las Cruces, New Mexico, for the conclusion of Murder in the Desert. I'm Sloane Glass, and this is American Homicide. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the individuals participating. This podcast also contains subject matter which may not be suitable for all audiences. Discretion is advised. New Mexico is an odd state because if you go up to northern New Mexico, you're going to just see a lot more museums and a lot of art. And then you get down south and we're still kind of slow moving here.

Las Cruces is where Amy Orlando started her 19-year career as a prosecutor. We don't honk at people a lot when they're going the wrong way or going too slow. I like to think we're a little bit more friendly. We have a lot of ranchers and farmers here. And then we have, I think, five or six Starbucks. And so I think that tells you kind of the size of what we are. Actually, Las Cruces is a city of 100,000. But those who live there say it feels like a small town.

I like that it feels safe and that we lock our doors, but you can still walk around at night. You don't feel like you just have to rush to your car when you're leaving the mall. We have our crime, but we have great law enforcement, and it just feels like it's still safe. That safe feeling was shattered in 2010 following the triple murder of Jill and Helga Delisle and Peter Weif. This was the biggest homicide that we had had since the 80s. And trust me, as the prosecutor leading kind of the legal part of it and working with law enforcement, we all felt that stress because we did not want to be, you know, the group that went down to not solve a triple homicide,

which was our biggest case of that nature in Las Cruces. As the months passed, it appeared from the outside that the investigation had stalled. But the reality was very different. We narrowed in on kind of one suspect, and his name was Gino Fieri. Gino Fieri was a contractor who did some business with the victims, but the deal went south. After Gino's tab climbed above $1 million, Gilles sued him.

But Gino filed for bankruptcy. A lengthy court battle ensued. The day before the conclusion of that trial, Gilles, his wife Helga, and his business partner, Peter Weith, were murdered. Gino claimed he had an alibi and had nothing to do with it. And so we knew we had to prove it. By the spring of 2011, nearly a year after the murders, a witness named Ricky Huckabee began cooperating with investigators. Ricky was a convicted felon,

who served 10 years in prison and later did some odd jobs with Gino, including driving Gino to the Delio's house on the day of the murders. He tells us the events that happened up to the killing of the victims. There was no question. Ricky was afraid of Gino, so the police offered to protect him. In return, Ricky would record his conversations with Gino. But getting Gino to talk freely about murdering three people wasn't easy. So Mr. Huckabee, I think, was getting a little frustrated with Gino because he'd always talk in circles. He knew what to say without saying anything. We tell him, you've just got to try and get him to talk about it, but you can't put words in his mouth, but you've got to get him

to talk about it. One afternoon, Ricky found a in his mouth, but you've got to get him to talk about it. One afternoon, Ricky found a way. There was one point in the investigation where he said to Gino, well, would you really do it again? Would you do anything different? And Gino said to him, yes, I would do it again. As open and shut of a confession as that seems, it still wasn't enough for the DA. They were still building their case. That became a familiar refrain to Detective Robin Gojkovic.

We were frustrated. It was already almost a year. We're still gathering evidence. We want to put this guy away. We know for a fact that he killed these people, but yet he's still walking the streets, our streets and our community where our families live. And he's dangerous and to the point where we as detectives have to take different routes home because he knows where we live. Investigators started looking over their shoulders because Gino seemed to be watching them. He was a type of individual that thought he was smarter than everybody and he could get away with anything that he did. And we needed to keep an eye on him to prevent other crimes from

happening and to prevent him from leaving town. Mexico's right there. And he had the money to leave. At one point, detectives placed what's called a bird dog or a GPS tracker on Gino's vehicle. That same day, something unsettling happened. We went back to the sheriff's department, did a briefing, and then Gino Ferry was parked across the street and just sitting there. It was almost like he was conducting his own surveillance on

us. And he had the mentality of like, he was like the godfather, you know. I know this sounds more and more like a movie plot, but it wasn't. These were real cops in New Mexico trying to put this guy away, all while looking over their shoulders and worrying about their loved one's safety. But if they arrested Gino now without a formal charge, there would be nothing keeping him in police custody. And from that point, we almost took a different path on getting Gino Ferry. Authorities went after Gino the same way law enforcement took down old school gangsters like Al Capone. Okay, if we can't get him on the homicide right now, let's get him on a white-collar crime.

Detectives knew that Gino had gone through bankruptcy proceedings, and in digging deeper, he had just gotten divorced. Police took that information and connected it to a tip that Ricky Huckabee provided. He said that Gino had a bunch of storage units where he hid property and assets from the courts, which is against the law. He had cars. At one point he had preschool stuff, like chairs and desks and stuff.

But more than just preschool furniture turned up. We found over 100 guns in multiple large safes that belonged to Gino. The detectives must have been thrilled. This was the breakthrough they were looking for, but none of the guns matched up with the bullets found at the crime scene. But then something odd happened. When detectives opened the door to another of the storage units, they were speechless. We found over 500 animals, like exotic animals, like lions, tigers, full-size animals, bears, deer, elk, rhinos. Just to be clear, these animals weren't alive.

They were stuffed and mounted. Not to mention, some of them were endangered species. He claimed he was going to use the animals for a museum here in Las Cruces. In my career, I've never seen anything like it. These hundreds of stuffed, life-size animals that Gino had hidden were valued at, get this, $1.25 million. And get this, $1.25 million. And hiding those assets from the courts is a crime known as possession of encumbered property. We can get this guy. We can get him off the streets.

So using the white-collar crime to get him off the streets was the way we needed to go. So we could actually take our time on the homicide and get everything that we needed to make sure it was a solid case so he would not get out. On April 8, 2012, police went to the DA to state their case. They had Geno's tape confession to Ricky Huckabee. They also had him on encumbered property. Plus, there was the growing fear that Gino was stalking them and could retaliate. He's a scary guy, and we don't want that kind of person in our community. This time, the district attorney had a change of heart. He gave me the green light. You have

enough to make an arrest on this guy. Just a couple days shy of the one-year mark of the murders, detectives finally got a warrant for Gino Ferry's arrest. I was super excited, super nervous, super anxious. And then I get a phone call saying, we're tracking him, he's leaving town. The GPS tracker on Gino's vehicle showed Gino heading south for the border. We thought that somehow he had found out that we were about to charge him. And we think he's fleeing. Sergeant Joe Renaud knew Gino had a second home in Mexico. And so we did not want him to hide down there because he had the funds. We believed he had money stashed

and other items possibly that he could turn over for money. Aside from a lengthy extradition process, the authorities had other fears. He had tons of guns, long-range rifles and stuff like that. And the race to catch Gino Ferry was on. That day was very intense. I-10 is the highway from Las Cruces that leads to Mexico. That afternoon, it quickly filled with squad cars heading south. It was very intense. I-10 is the highway from Las Cruces that leads to Mexico. That afternoon, it quickly filled with squad cars heading south.

We have other units, other detectives going. Everybody is just anxious about getting this guy. Authorities believe they could catch Gino just north of the border in El Paso, which is about 45 miles away. We tracked him through GPS on a laptop. The bird dog they placed on Gino's vehicle allowed them to follow his every move.

It's about a 45-minute drive, depending on traffic, and doing over 100 miles an hour. It took us about 20 minutes. Finally, the string of cop cars caught up with Gino's vehicle in El Paso. That's where they were joined by El Paso police and the SWAT team. We get to El Paso. We're in communication with El Paso Police Department. He's here at this location.

He's at this intersection. Investigators watched as Gino pulled into a parking lot in a secluded area. And we call them and like, move now, move now. And so El Paso PD, we all move in on him as he's getting out of the vehicle and we're able to get him right there at the vehicle. Police arrested Gino Ferri without incident and charged him with concealing encumbered property. They take him to El Paso Sheriff's Department and we go up there to see if he will give us a statement. And, of course, he said he didn't want to talk to us.

Even with Gino in custody, the police had work to do. It's not over. We still needed the murder weapon. And once we put him in jail, Ricky Huckabee was just like, okay, let's talk. Did Ricky Huckabee, the man who told police he drove Gino Ferry to the Delios home the day they were murdered, know more than he was letting on? And if he did, what was he holding back? Detectives were about to find out.

In the quiet town of Avella, Pennsylvania, Jared and Christy Akron seemed to have it all. A whirlwind romance, a new home and twins on the way. What no one knew was that Christy was hiding a secret so shocking it would tear their world apart. 9-1-1 response, what's your emergency? My babies, please, my babies! One woman, two lives, and the truth more terrifying than anyone could imagine. They had her as one of the

suspects, but they could never prove it. You're going to go to jail if you don't come with us right now. Throughout this whole thing, I kept telling myself, nobody's that crazy. Uncover the chilling mystery that will leave you questioning everything. A story of the lengths we go to protect our

darkest secrets. She went batshit crazy, shot and killed all her farm animals, slaughtered them in front of the kids, tried to burn their house down. Audio Web presents The Unborn on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired? Depressed? A little bit revolutionary? Consider this. Start your own country.

I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. There are 55 gallons of water for 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of Laudonia. I'm Jackson I, King of Capraburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Mentonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition.

The Waikana tribe own country. My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warheads. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Bullets. We need help! We need help!

We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia Keys opens up about conquering doubt, learning to trust herself and leaning into her dreams. I think a lot of times we are built to doubt the possibilities for ourselves. For self-preservation and protection, It was literally that step by step.

And so I discovered that that is how we get where we're going. This increment of small, determined moments. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Like grace. Have grace for yourself. You're trying your best. And you're going to figure out the rhythm of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Like, Grace. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best.

And you're gonna figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Police charged Gino Ferry with concealing incumbent property. And they believed he was also responsible for the murders of Jill and Helga Delisle and Peter Weiss. For Sergeant Renaud and his team to charge Gino for those crimes, they needed to find the murder weapon.

The crime lab calls us and they did in fact confirm that all three were killed with a 9mm handgun, which was an Uzi-type weapon, which leaves very distinctive marks. We eventually discovered that Gino owned a weapon like this. That information came courtesy of their informant, Ricky Huckabee. With Gino now behind bars, Ricky seemed more at ease and revealed some additional information about what happened after the murders, when Gino went to a public bathroom at a park to change his clothes. had planned to meet, Gino had gone into the portable outdoor bathroom latrine and he walked in with a duffel bag and he walked out without the bag. And as soon as he got back in the car, he looked at Ricky and said, man, I think I just f***ed up. And as time went on and as we started to work together, he started to realize, you know, I think maybe the gun's in there.

As we started to work together, he started to realize, you know, I think maybe the gun's in there. So if Gino did dispose of his murder weapon in that park outhouse, the chances of finding a gun in an outhouse toilet a year later were slim to none. But for Sergeant Renaud, it was worth a look. And I said, shine a light down that dang toilet, please, and tell me what you see. He calls me back. He says, yeah, I see a lot of crap. And I said, well, what else do you see? He says, I see a gun.

It looks like an Uzi. It's literally half a mile from our department. I hauled butt over there, and I looked in the toilet. Sure enough, there it was, just laying there, straight down. On the bottom of the outhouse toilet sat the murder weapon. This gun's been sitting in this toilet for a year. It was rusty. It was, it had stuff all over it. So who was going to fish the gun out of that toilet? I got the honors of dropping a magnet down and getting it because nobody wanted to go in there. And the magnet was able to pick it up. And we pulled it up and it was the most disgusting piece of evidence

I have ever recovered in my career. And we put it in a box. I had to let it air dry. And from there it went to the crime lab. I thought there is no way this gun is going to fire again. The lab did what they do and they called us two weeks later and said, it's a match. That was just incredible. Twelve days after being arrested in El Paso,

and just a year after the triple homicide, authorities were finally able to charge Gino Ferry with three counts of first-degree murder. We held a news conference, and they wanted, you know, all the investigators up there behind me. They asked me, were you afraid of Gino? And I said, yeah, we all were. You rarely hear cops get emotional. But talking about the threat that Gino was to the public and to law enforcement struck a nerve for Sergeant Renaud.

We knew what he was capable of. And we knew that you could get within 100 yards of every entrance at our sheriff's department. And he had guns, and we believed he still had guns, that were capable of hitting their mark. And he was very familiar with all types of weapons. And it was just something that was within his mentality to pull off. That afternoon, Sergeant Renaud proudly stood with his team of investigators to announce Gino's arrest. stood with his team of investigators to announce Gino's arrest. Mr. Fetty was the initial person of interest based on the information that we initially got that he was a defendant in civil litigation filed by Gilles Delisle against him. And then when the

Delisles did not show up for the final court hearing on that, the day their bodies were discovered, that was the first place we went. Prosecutor Amy Orlando also spoke at that press conference and shared what Gino told Ricky Huckabee right after the murders. The defendant made the remark that what he did at the Delisle's home, it felt good to him. In May 2013, two years after his arrest, Gino's case finally went to trial. Just as it was about to begin, more threats came from Gino. One of the good things that is a law enforcement tool is we're able to listen in on phone calls that happen at the jail.

Well, he started to make threats saying he was going to take somebody out during the trial. He was going to do it in front of the jury. It was going to be on camera. I will get my vengeance when I get the out of here. That's all that counts, okay? They've kicked me in the. It's time to do some kicking myself. This is bull between these cops,

that idiot, and all these other guys that are coming after me. These guys think they're gods with power. Well, I'm not a god, but I have powers of a god, and I'm going to show them what the f*** the powers are. And so we had to have the bomb dogs come. We had snipers on the roof every day, and lunch break, any break,

they combed the courthouse with the dogs. There was extra security in the courtroom. In fact, we were told by the judge if we wanted to that as the attorneys, we all had the right to wear like a bulletproof vest under our clothes. They locked me up in this shithole and they don't expect me to have feelings. They don't expect me to be angry for something I haven't done. And the s**t I'm going through, f**k them all. Let us have a war when I get the s**t out of here.

I don't believe in the government, county, city, state, federal, anything. This government could go f*** themselves. Everyone was just on heightened alert. Were Gino's threats real? Or was it just another way to intimidate his latest foe? I mean, he had killed three people, so no doubt he's evil and he's dangerous. But you just can't let that get to you or you'd be preoccupied with it. Even with the extra security came another

threat. We uncovered a plot to kill Ricky Huckabee, a legitimate plot with a known cartel member. Ricky Huckabee was the prosecution's star witness and this plot to assassinate him led Sergeant Renaud to personally escort him in and out of the courthouse. And I haven't seen that done, that much security for a case. For his protection, Ricky was even moved down to the state. But Gino's lawyer, Gary Mitchell, believed these threats were all taken out of context. The state tried to exploit everything they could about Gino's profile. The way he talks and his A-type personality

profiles him as somebody, well, this is a gangster kind of guy that will do whatever to get whatever. And that profiles him. It's wrong to profile him that way. For Gino, it was sort of funny. I mean, he just said, okay, why not? The Sopranos was a popular

show. He can act like he's from New Jersey and he can act like he's a tough guy. That's the way people saw him. He could fit in and have fun with it. Tough guy Gino Ferri gritted his teeth as Ricky walked to the witness stand wearing a bulletproof vest. The judge even ordered photographers not to take pictures of Ricky's face in order to protect him. On the witness stand, Ricky Huckabee testified that Gino confessed to him. According to Ricky, Gino used a key to get inside the Delisle's house and wore a mask and rubber gloves. When Gio Delisle first arrived, Gino shot him repeatedly.

A short time later, Peter Wythe unexpectedly showed up. Gino grabbed him by the back of the head and then forced him into a bathroom shower where he shot him. When Helga arrived, Gino shot her once in the back of the neck. Ricky testified that he kept quiet because Gino threatened him, and that's why he originally didn't want to cooperate with investigators. It was damning testimony against Gino, although his lawyer thought otherwise. Here's Gary Mitchell again. I think this idea that Rick Huckabee

says that Gino confessed to him is a bunch of nonsense. I don't think Gino confessed to him. It's not in his nature to go confess to somebody like that. I think that's just Rick Huckabee, as I said to the jury, trying to protect himself, point the finger at Gino, and help the state out, and realizing, well, the state now has all the power.

My friend, whom I really liked because he took care of me and helped me out and this sort of thing, no longer has the power, and the state has the power, so I'm going to go with the state. Along with calling Ricky Huck a liar, Gino's attorney argued that Gino wasn't the killer because he couldn't be in two places at once. We had an alibi.

Depending on the time you're talking about, he was either eating a meal or he was visiting with a friend that he had here. When clients face murder charges, most lawyers try to keep them off the witness stand. But when you have an ego as big as Gino's, there was no keeping him from testifying. Gino emphatically denied confessing to Ricky Huckabee. He testified that during that 4.30 to 6.30 p.m. window when the murders happened, he was at a friend's house and then grabbed a hot pastrami

sandwich from a deli. He even had a receipt, time-stamped 6.09 p.m., that backed up his story. Our sandwich receipt showed that it was impossible for him to have done this. But prosecutors said, not so fast. The owner of that deli, where Gino was said to be at 6.09 p.m. testified that the clocks on his cash register were wrong. They were an hour behind because they hadn't been adjusted for daylight savings time. That would put Gino at the deli at 7.09 p.m. A deli employee even testified that Gino left the deli around 7.45 p.m. It was a neat argument that the state made, which made our defense a lot weaker because they threw out the suggestion to the jury

that we didn't have the correct time, that we were an hour early or an hour late. And remember how Gino said he was with a friend at the time of the murders? Well, Gino's friend testified that Gino called him on his way over sometime around 5 p.m. But Gino's phone records showed no such phone call. That visit with his friend was something new to prosecutor Amy Orlando. She asked Gino why he failed to mention this visit when he first talked with investigators.

Gino muttered that he simply forgot. The judge had to tell the usually brash and boisterous Gino to speak up because he was speaking so quietly. He turned his back to me, to the point that the judge had to call his defense counsel up to say, that's not really effective. The jury isn't going to like that. And his defense attorney was like, I can't control him. The judge had to order him to turn around. Gino later admitted to lying under oath during previous hearings for divorce and bankruptcy. He proudly said, I'll lie to protect what's not right. I knew that I was getting under his skin, which, I mean, just affirms that, one, that I'm right, meaning that we had the right person and that you have no doubt,

and the fact that he was trying to control even that situation and I wasn't going to let him control it. From day one, prosecutors focused on Geno Ferry. This was something that his defense attorney pointed out to the jury. It could have been any number of people, and I wanted the jury to take a good hard look at that and say, listen, I mean, just because the district attorney selects this one person doesn't necessarily mean these others should be off the hook. And we, in fact, argued during the case that there were other people that were around that could have easily have done this. Gio Delio was not only a businessman, but also an inventor. At the time of his death, he was negotiating the sale of another invention, something said to extend gas mileage by 30%. The proceeds of the sale would have gone to charity.

But just before the sale, two of his partners involved in the invention mysteriously died. One was poisoned, and the other fell off a ladder while repairing his roof. There were a lot of people that could have done this other than Gino. Here's the bottom line. You screw with people from a business sense to the point that you bankrupt them to the point that you take everything away from them, and you think

in this day and age people aren't going to get upset over that kind of stuff? Those chickens come home to roost after a while. Gino's defense team wanted the jury to know that someone else had a motive. At the end of the day, it was a tough, hard-nosed, tried case in which the lawyers brought out everything that they could

and the jurors are left with jumping to one conclusion or the other. The worst part for a prosecutor is when the jury leaves the courtroom to deliberate because there's absolutely nothing else we can do. Just before noon that day, the jury began deliberations, and lawyers prepared for a long night of waiting. It was nerve-wracking because you never know what a jury's going to believe.

In the quiet town of Avella, Pennsylvania, Jared and Christy Akron seemed to have it all. A whirlwind romance, a new home and twins on the way. What no one knew was that Christy was hiding a secret so shocking it would tear their world apart. 911 response, what's your emergency? My babies, please! My babies! One woman, two lives lives and the truth more terrifying than anyone could imagine they had her as one of the suspects but they could never prove

it you're going to go to jail if you don't come with us right now throughout this whole thing i kept telling myself nobody's that crazy uncover the chilling mystery that will leave you questioning everything a story of the lengths we go to protect our darkest secrets. She went batshit crazy, shot and killed all her farm animals. Slaughtered them in front of the kids. Tried to burn their house down. Audio Web presents The Unborn on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Is your country falling apart?

Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Consider this. Start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it.

I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of Laudonia. I'm Jackson I, King of Capriburg. I am the Supremeest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of Ladonia. I'm Jackson I, King of Capraburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Mentonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition. The Waikana tribe own country. My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong?

No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a racket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warhead. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Bullets. We need help! We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you.

Alicia Keys opens up about conquering doubt, learning to trust herself, and leaning into her dreams. I think a lot of times we are built to doubt the possibilities for ourselves. For self-preservation and protection, it was literally that step by step. And so I discovered that that is how we get where we're going. This increment of small, determined moments. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Like grace. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best and you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before.

Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The trial of legendary 19th century outlaw Billy the Kid happened just south of where Gino Ferri now awaited his fate. Jurors heard six days worth of testimony and saw nearly 250 pieces of evidence under a heavy blanket of security thanks to a number of threats. I was authorized to do whatever it took to secure that courthouse. Sergeant Joe Renaud not only investigated the case, but oversaw courtroom security. We had undercover agents inside the courtroom, undercover agents outside the courtroom, cameras rolling. We had snipers. We had Ricky Huckabee in a bulletproof vest, and we didn't take any chances.

Ricky Huckabee was the prosecution's key witness, but there were fears he wouldn't make it into the courthouse alive. We had verified information of a planned assassination attempt of Ricky Huckabee. Although there were no incidents during the trial, additional law enforcement joined the already packed courtroom once the jury returned with a verdict. And although the lawyers were expecting a long wait, the jury returned with their answer relatively quickly.

Normally when it's a long trial, they deliberate for a long period of time. The fact that they deliberated for just two and a half hours stuck out to prosecutor amy orlando so when they came back quickly it's always an uneasy feeling it's obviously either a good sign or bad sign defense attorney gary mitchell read a little deeper into the jury's short deliberation it wasn't days later that it came in it was hours and i told gino you know it's not long enough to have an acquittal. So prepare yourself. On the three counts of first degree murder, the jury found Gino Ferry guilty. From the back of the courthouse came a scream. It was Gino's mother. An undercover agent stood behind her just in case she started any trouble, but nothing happened.

It was a relief because it had taken us two, three years to get to trial and finally to be able to give the victims some closure, even though they're deceased, but to know who killed them and then to give the survivors around them and our community that Gino was never going to be on the street again. The judge sentenced Gino Ferry to three life sentences. He was 50 years old at the time of the sentencing and won't be eligible for parole for 90 years. Gino didn't utter a word. He just stood there emotionless. While prosecutors embraced one another and celebrated their victory.

We knew that we had the right person in jail and charged with the crimes. There's TV shows out there that say if a murder's not solved within 48 hours, most likely it will never be solved. So when this verdict was read on Gino, that's blown away. on Gino, that's blown away. For Sergeant Renaud, the long, complicated, and dangerous case was finally over. And it featured many firsts.

I would tell these guys in the investigative team, watch your back. Don't take the same route home every time. Don't eat at the same restaurants every day. Tell your girlfriends to be careful. First time I've ever had to do that in my career. With all the homicides I worked, all the officer-involved shootings I've worked, and never in my wildest dreams would I have to tell cops to be super extra careful and protect their families. Because Gino was just a hothead. He was a hothead, and if you said the wrong thing, it pressed a button and the fuse was lit.

Gino's defense attorney believed the jurors had made up their minds long before his closing arguments. They jumped pretty quick to that one conclusion because primarily that gun business. And here's the big thing that overshadowed the whole trial. The number of homicides involved. I mean, excuse me, this was not a single homicide. This looked like somebody had gotten angry about something.

So it all sort of fit in to point the finger at Gino. He believes that Ricky Huckabee was responsible for the triple murders. Rick Huckabee walked away from this case. Interesting, isn't it, that he walks away? You know, I think a lot more of this evidence pointed toward Rick Huckabee than to my client, but I'm not the prosecuting attorney and I'm not the investigating police departments. Ricky Huckabee drove Gino to the Delisle's house and even called the house while Gino was there killing Jill, Helga, and Peter.

Ricky was never charged, but Sergeant Renaud understands why people believe he could have been connected to the murders. Could he have been more knowledgeable than what he let on? Sure. You know, they could have hashed this out and said, I'm going to go over there and I'm going to kill these people, and this is our plan.

But we never got any evidence to support that. I honestly truly believe Ricky Huckabee is a decent person and did the right thing. And took great courage to do what he did. Huge courage. Ricky Huckabee, wherever he is now, and he's still in danger. He is absolutely still in danger. I don't know where he's at.

I wish him well. New Mexico state law automatically triggers an appeal for anyone sentenced to life in prison. In 2015, the New Mexico Supreme Court upheld Gino's conviction. He will be eligible for parole when he is 142 years old. With Gino now behind bars for life, the city of Las Cruces slowly returned to being that safe, small, tight-knit city. Sometimes too small for Sergeant Renaud.

And how small of a world it is over here. My daughter was playing soccer for a local high school and an incoming freshman stood up and said, my dad is in prison for killing people and happened to be Gino's daughter. And, Gino's daughter. And, you know, that's how small of a town this is. Gino has a son and a daughter, and they've turned out to be great people. But Gino Ferry would never be done. In 2018, Gino filed a civil lawsuit against the New Mexico Department of Corrections. He alleged that his constitutional rights were violated following what's known as a facility shakedown. That's when prisoners place their belongings in a bin and items that don't fit in that bin are sent to the prisoner's home.

In his 133-page complaint, he voiced his anger that some clothing and four AA batteries were taken from him. He demanded the prison provide him with a desk and called out one of the guards for being a, quote, narcissist. In 2020, a judge dismissed his suit. Today, Gino remains in a medium-security prison in New Mexico. We got the son of a bitch. That's the only thing that mattered to me. For Jill's friend and neighbor, Bob Senecal, he still holds on to his anger. I know they don't have the death penalty in the state, but he's gone for the rest of his natural life. And he deserves it. And I, for one, hope he rots in hell.

Back in 2011, nearly a year after the triple murders, Bob wrote a letter to the editor that was critical of law enforcement's handling of the case. A week later, they arrested Gino. So I had to write up, make culpa, saying, I'm glad you guys did your job, and I'm sorry I tried to rat you out. In the end, Bob believes it all boils down to one thing. There's a lot of good people in this world, and there are some bad people in this world. And as long as the good people try to keep the bad people under control, we're going to be okay.

During those months following the murders, an outlaw named Gino Ferry continued to walk the streets of Las Cruces. It was something that scared Ricky Huckabee and even law enforcement. But for Bob Senecal, he actually hoped he would run into Gino. I kept my 12-gauge under my bed because I was just praying he'd come and talk to me. Next time on American Homicide, a beaten and bruised woman escapes her captor after a horrific ordeal. As more details emerge, what police uncover would be much bigger than they ever imagined.

I'm Sloane Glass. We'll make our final trip to New Mexico and head to Elephant Butte. That's next time on American Homicide. You can contact the American Homicide team by emailing us at AmericanHomicidePod at gmail.com. That's AmericanHomicidePod at gmail.com. American Homicide is hosted and written by me, Sloane Glass, and is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Todd Gans. The series is also written and produced by Todd Gans, with additional writing by Ben Fetterman and Andrea Gunning.

Our associate producer is Kristen Malkury. Our iHeart team is Allie Perry and Jessica Kreinchak. Audio editing and mixing by Matt DelVecchio. Additional editing support from Nick Arruca, Tanner Robbins, Britt Robichaux, and Patrick Walsh. American Homicide's theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of Noiser. Music library provided by MyMusic. Follow American Homicide on Apple Podcasts and please rate and review American Homicide.

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