Anatomy of Murder - A Tangled Web - Part 2 (Kevin James & George Taylor)

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

The murder of a young father soon uncovers a tangled web of deceit. A second murder is discovered and just may be linked to the first. View source material and photos for this episode at: anatomyofmurder.com/a-tangled-web-part-2/Can’t get enough AoM? Find us on social media!Instagram: @aom_podcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @AOM_podcast | @audiochuckFacebook: /listenAOMpod | /audiochuckllc

Previously on Anatomy of Murder. Who broke into the house? I don't know who broke into the house. All I know is that I think one of her finished shot and I did not want to go look. I did not want to look. It was very execution style. I mean it was clear, pillow over the head, shots into the pillow. He was clearly sleeping. We're 48 hours in and I know that unless we get

someone to talk, I don't think this is going anywhere. I don't even want to get involved in nothing. I understand you don't want to but you kind of are. She knows there's no video, she knows there's no tape going, she knows it's just me and her and she says to me, you're never going to solve this. And I just looked at her, and I said, let me tell you something. I am going to solve this. And when I'm done, you're going to be in prison. I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff. I'm Anasega Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation

Discoveries, True Conviction. And this is Anatomy of Murder. A quick reminder, this is a second episode in a two-part series, so if you haven't yet, go back and listen to part one. In January of 1998, Kevin James was asleep in his bed when he was shot three times at close range. His execution-style murder left detectives in Marino Valley, California searching for clues of who could have wanted

him dead. There were no signs of robbery, but there was a witness, Kevin's 12-year-old son, who claimed that after hearing the gunshots, he saw a man fleeing the house and jumping into a distinctive vintage Buick, a car he knew to belong to a neighbor named George Taylor. Our main thing was, left-rolled course. And Riviera just looked too nice. Ever been up to his room? Up to his kid's room?

Never? Ever? When questioned by Detective Michelle Amicone, Taylor denied having anything to do with Kevin's murder. But inconsistencies in his alibi were raising all kinds of red flags. He just went all over the place with where he was that night. I want to say it was like a three-hour interview and nothing was consistent from the beginning to the end.

He changed his story two, three times. I mean, nothing was consistent. Taylor was the prime suspect in the murder of Kevin James, a mechanic, husband, and father of two. But while detectives hunted for the evidence to prove it, the case did take a dark and unexpected turn. Deputies respond out to the very east end of Marino Valley to a dead body that's found. The victim had been shot once in the back of the head.

A tattoo on his back helped identify the dead man as Kevin's suspected killer, George Taylor. George is laying on his stomach. His hands are out, fully extended and above his head. I mean, it looks like he was dragged there and then boom, left exactly how he had been dragged there and laid. Despite the gunshot wound to the head, the surprising lack of blood at the scene supported the theory that Taylor was killed elsewhere and dumped in the desert.

And then here's the other interesting thing. So he's muddy. I mean, his clothes are muddy, his face is completely muddy. Everything's muddy. Except for his very white socks on his feet. They are white as can be. It's like, okay, someone took his shoes. Why? In Michelle's opinion, the two murders of Kevin James and George Taylor were clearly connected.

A hunch supported by an autopsy that revealed that both men were killed by.40 caliber ammunition, possibly even fired by the same gun. You know, so Scott, here are the theories. It just, there's so many different ways that you could potentially link these up. Yeah, I do like the fact that they were able to identify the weapon in both scenes, right? So my first question would probably be perhaps George Taylor did not work alone in the murder, perhaps it was the person he was involved with who was his accomplice.

Or one other way you can look at it is maybe somebody was taking revenge for the death of Kevin James. And again, right, like the caliber of the weapon is not dispositive, but it would be quite a coincidence that two men that knew each other, one being looked at as potentially responsible for the murder of the other, they're both killed by gunfire by the same caliber.

But also, you know, if George had nothing to do with it at all, it could be that the actual killer wanted to make it look that way, like they were trying to be silenced. So there's so many different ways to see it, but I definitely do agree with Michelle's early assessment that they definitely do seem in one way or another to be connected. But whichever way this may potentially pan out, there were still a stunning number of possibilities. And with very little forensic evidence in either murder, the best place to start was in the interview room, questioning the people in George Taylor's immediate orbit. Because if you remember, George Taylor's girlfriend had told police that before he

disappeared, he'd been hanging out with three people at a local motel, Shelby Harris, who lived next door to Lisa and Kevin James, and two other friends of Shelby's, Terrence Bledsoe and Joe Jensen. According to Taylor's own mother, her son was no saint, but she was convinced that it was Shelby and these other two men who were the real trouble in the group. And if anyone had conspired to kill her son

or anyone else, it was them. George's mom refers to as Shelby's gang. And so Tina is the one who puts George, Terrence, Joe and Shelby as this little gang that are doing criminal activities together. Before he was killed, George Teller himself had even admitted to police that he had been with Shelby, Joe and Terrence on the night Kevin James was killed. So who rented the room?

Shelby did. And now George's mother feared that her son's conversation with police about Kevin's murder gave his so-called friends more than enough motive to have him killed. And so I don't know if this is what his mom has picked up from him, what he's told her, or if it's actually true. But the one thing I do know is the four of these people are hanging out together and someone else was driving that car that took George away from Kevin's house.

And so good possibility, it's Stelby, Terrence, or Joe. Now I've got two more people that are possibly involved. And detectives in Moreno Valley were now facing not one unsolved murder, but two. When first questioned by police, Terrence Bledsoe confirmed that they were all indeed together in a motel room on the night Kevin was killed, but he denied ever leaving or knowing anything about the homicide. So you read about the shooting the next day in the paper. Yeah.

Did you ever talk to Shelby about it and ask her, hey, you know, what happened or anything like that? No, she didn't say anything. But I remember she's saying man she's at now who am I going to get the record my car. I remember that you know, you know that was you know that was about it. But Michelle suspected that Terrence was holding out on her

and knew a lot more than he was letting on and one way to prove it was to go to the motel and to try to verify his story. I go to the motel six and show them a picture of Shelby. You know, have you seen her? Did she run a room? Well, we've seen her, but she's not the one who rented the room. Oh, who rented the room? Listed in the register on the night of Kevin James's murder was the name Lisa Nash, a name that Michelle thought

sounded awfully familiar. It was recognizable because Lisa Nash just happened to be the maiden name of Kevin's wife Lisa James. Investigators knew that Lisa and Shelby were friends and neighbors, but why would Kevin's widow have never mentioned to police that she actually had been with Shelby, George Taylor, and the others on the day her husband was killed? So was this just a coincidence or was she somehow involved in a plot to kill her husband? Suddenly, all of Michelle's suspicions about Lisa's behavior in the immediate aftermath of Kevin's murder were becoming much more relevant

and Lisa's friendship with Shelby much more concerning. So I decided at that point, well, let's just see what Shelby and Lisa have to say to each other before I interview Lisa. And so I take Shelby and I say, oh, you know, Lisa's in this other room, you want to go and talk with her for a minute? Lisa and Shelby are supposedly best friends. They've lived next door to each other for a very long time. I've heard from Kevin Jr. and neighbors how close they were. And so when I bring Shelby into the room, I'm expecting what I would do with my best friend. Like, oh my god, big hug, how are you? What happened? What's going on?

You know, whatever. But instead, the two women sat across from each other and didn't speak. Debbie walks in, she sits on the other side of the room from Lisa, they give each other a hi or hello or something. That's it. And then they sit in total silence with each other, complete silence. Michelle's gut instinct as a veteran detective

told her something was definitely a mess. And they just sat there and I watched them on tape for, I don't know, it was probably 20 minutes or more. And they just sat there and I watched them on tape for, I don't know, it was probably 20 minutes or more. And they just sat there staring at each other. But it wasn't just staring, like it was, I don't know, there were a couple head nods. There were some looks. It meant something. In my mind, it's like, I don't know, they're communicating somehow. In Michelle's opinion, it was the kind of nonverbal connection shared by two people that are much more than just friends.

Whether they were having an affair, which was my first guess, or whether something else was going on, I don't know. And so in my mind, I immediately went to, okay, but we're gonna really interview these two. And so Lisa James was led to a separate interview room and the murder victim's widow sat for the first of several interviews, centering not on what she heard or saw on the night of the murder,

but what she might have known about it beforehand. If you remember, in her initial meeting with police on the night that Kevin was killed, Lisa was unable to think of any reason why her husband may have been targeted. But now she had a different theory. And her theory was that Kevin was into dealing drugs, that he sold marijuana, and that this was one of his dealers had gotten angry at him, and he had been arguing with him back and forth over the phone,

and then she felt like one of them was responsible for his murder. And George Taylor had mentioned to police that he sometimes bought marijuana from Kevin James. So this theory from Lisa was not completely out of the realm of possibility. But what was much more telling to Michelle was Lisa's sudden change of heart from being a grieving widow to informing on her husband's potential criminal activity.

I thought that was interesting because I don't have many people throw their beloved people under the bus quickly, you know, they're usually very protective, especially if they're dead. Like they don't want you know anything bad about them. Then Michelle confronted Lisa about her hunch that Lisa had a romantic relationship with her friend Shelby, and that maybe her infidelity had caused friction in her marriage to Kevin. As you can hear in her recorded interview, Lisa adamantly denied being in a relationship with Shelby Harris. I do not have an affair. I do not have an affair with Shelby.

I'm not turned on by women, point blank. But you knew deep down, somewhere deep down inside yourself that Shelby had something to do with that? This isn't some stranger who walked in your house and killed Kevin for his marijuana, is it? And now she starts turning on Shelby a little bit. She's saying stuff like, well we never had Nasir, but I do think she had trouble with Kevin. I'm saying if she was my friend, why would she come into my life and do this to me if she was my friend? My life was fine. Why would she come into my life and do this to me if she was my friend my life was fine

That's what I'm talking about Where your life wasn't fine Yeah, Kevin was gonna leave you again Well, that's what he told his mother and that's what he told his brother Kevin was about to split up well, because he was pissed off about Shelby and The time that you guys spent together. So, I could tell you that there are all types of reasons to target certain questions in these interviews. I mean, clearly you're trying to get information and then there's a type of questions you're

trying to get a reaction and sometimes a person's reaction, their body language, their tone of voice is much more telling than their words. And it's almost like you can hear it by her questions. Like Michelle is fishing. Like she's trying to set the hook and just see if Lisa will bite. Because again, if her hunch is correct, she just might get that answer based on the way

that she frames her question. And Lisa thinks, oh, maybe she knows. And I think that's exactly what Michelle is trying to do. But even while Lisa continues to deny, deny, look at what Michelle is learning. Yeah, I mean, obviously when she denies these things and Michelle has this information at her fingertips, she knows that this wedge probably was developing

between this relationship and that possibly more and more of this onion is being peeled back and that there's something definitely going on. Because either way, like a fair or not, they're supposedly close friends. But what Michelle is seeing is that Lisa is already starting to turn against Shelby. And so a little while later in the questioning, when she was asked again about what she knew about their murder now of George Taylor, Lisa stayed on the defensive. So now tell me what you know about George's murder. I don't know anything about George's murder.

What has Shelby told you? Sheldon told me about anything about George's murder. You guys haven't talked about George being killed? No, I mean we talked about like, I mean she didn't go to his funeral. Right. Not that. To Michelle, the suggestion was clear. Lisa was dropping big hints that Shelby Harris was behind

the murder of her friend George Taylor. And Michelle made it clear she knew why. Follow me here. Why did Shelby want George dead? What you thought he was going to tell. Exactly. She thought he was going to tell. In other words, Shelby feared that George Taylor was about to cooperate with police and tell the truth about their plot to murder Kevin James. A version of both murders was coming into focus, both connected and both seemingly mastermind

by Shelby Harris. But would this version of the truth stand up to scrutiny? And was there even more to the story yet to unravel? Not everything was peaceful in Moreno Valley, California. It seemed a potential romantic relationship between neighbors, Lisa James and Shelby Harris, was a potential motive for the murder of Lisa's husband, Kevin. Detective Michelle Amicone's theory? Shelby recruited her friend George Taylor to commit the crime

and then had him executed when she feared he would spill the beans of what they'd done to police. Here's Michelle and Lisa James talking about that very real and frightening possibility. So when you found out about George, did you? When I found out about him, I got really scared. I got really scared. What'd you think then? I was thinking okay George is dead. You know what I'm saying? And okay who's next? That's what I was thinking. Did Shelby ever tell you that George was running his mouth too much? Because she made that comment to a lot of people. Too much about what? About the Kevin Baines. It's a pretty compelling theory, but here's

the thing and something really worth pointing out. There was very little physical evidence to prove any of this. No fingerprints or DNA could put Taylor at the scene of Kevin's murder. No murder weapon had been found and any information he was getting ready to share with police was lost when he was killed and his body was dumped in the desert. Kevin's 12 year old son had seen Taylor's car in front of their house, but couldn't say for certain that the man he saw fleeing was Taylor.

And this being 1998, there were no cell phones to trace, no location data to track Taylor or Shelby's movements on the day of either murder. Which is all another way of saying that all the circumstantial evidence collected so far relied almost entirely on what Michelle could elicit in interviews with the various witnesses and suspects. And that included multiple interviews with Shelby Harris, who, if you remember, was cooperative with police in the hours after Kevin's murder. But after the discovery of her friend George Taylor's body, her sense of self preservation kicked right into

overdrive. So the reason you're back down here, like I told you and Lisa before, I have all kinds of new information. I've been talking to all kinds of people. Things are matching up. I told you that the other day. Well, they're matching up even less now. Confronted with Lisa's insinuations about Shelby's involvement in her husband's murder, Shelby fired back with a brow-raising statement of her own. So if Lisa tells me that you know more about who shot Kevin than you're letting on or that you're telling me is Lisa lying or telling truth?

I do not believe me if I know who shot Kevin they would be dead right now. Honestly if I knew for sure that George did it George wouldn't have came to the police station. That's pretty shocking and a look into the mind potentially of someone willing to entertain revenge. Shelby was saying that if she did know that George had murdered her girlfriend's husband, she would have exacted her own vigilante justice. Certainly a strange strategy, denying you are capable of murder while still revealing what you just might do if betrayed by a friend. So if Lisa says ask Shelby, ask Shelby, Shelby knows.

Shelby knows nothing. Shelby has told you everything Shelby knows. Well, why is Lisa telling me that, Shelby? Why? Why am I getting all these different stories from different people? I'm as funny as I do. What the hell is going on? And she actually also then agrees to a poly. See, Shelby was one of these I'm the smartest people in the room kind of people. And so no matter what I threw at her, she agreed to it. Because she was going to show me who was going to win this little chess match we were having or whatever. Despite her denials, Shelby Harris was

demonstrating all of the qualities of someone capable of masterminding a plan, manipulating those around her, and very possibly committing murder. This is how cocky she was. We were standing there looking at this car, and Shelby says to me, in the parking lot, she knows there's no video, she knows there's no tape going, she knows it's just me and her. And she says to me, you're never going to solve this. And I said, let me tell you something, Shelby, I am going to solve this. And when I'm done, you're going to be in prison. It was a cat and mouse game for the ages. But Michelle knew it might be time to change tact. So we have discussed before how it is legally permissible for law enforcement to use some deception in their efforts to speaking with and getting statements from a suspect. And just for quick review, the reasoning is that a suspect can answer however they want. If they didn't do anything, don't know anything, whatever, no matter what a detective says,

they are going to only have presumably one answer to give, right? The lie, if you will, shouldn't matter unless you're guilty and then it just might be the thing that spurs the truth. Remember, George Taylor had been questioned by police about Kevin's murder before he was killed, but none of his suspected accomplices knew just what information he may have shared. And so Michelle and a partner had an idea to pretend that Taylor had actually made a full confession. Let's write a letter as if it was written by George. So I sit down and I write a like to whom it may concern and I kind of just put down my theory along

with the information I've received from people. Like so I put something like this in the letter like if I wind up dead Here's what happened and I decided I'm just gonna show them the letter and see if anyone bites and While Shelby was unlikely to believe the ruse Michelle suspected that her two other potential accomplices Terrence Bledsoe and Joe Jensen that with them this letter it just might work Terrence was the weakest link in my opinion, and the one that was more easily manipulated. So in his next interview with detectives, Michelle shows Bledsoe George's supposed confession. And as expected, Bledsoe took the bait.

Terrence was just sweating and getting really nervous. And Terrence just lays out everything for us. Believing that he had already been incriminated by George Taylor, Bledsoe laid out his version of the events leading up to Kevin and Taylor's deaths. He tells us that on the day of Heaven's murder, he was at Shelby's house. Lisa was at Shelby's house. George was there. Everybody was there. Joe, George, everybody. Lisa and Shelby left the house. They went into Big Five Sporting Goods and bought ammo. Came back with the ammo to the house and he saw the ammo. He saw a gun sitting on the table, the ammunition was absolutely 40 caliber.

He then described how Lisa returned home while he, Jensen and Taylor followed Shelby's instructions to drive to the James's house. When you went over to Kevin's, I wanna make sure I have this straight, you were sitting where? I was sitting in the back seat. And Joe was in the front passenger seat,

and George was driving. What Terrence ultimately says, when he knows, like, his back's up against the wall finally, and we show him this confession note, he says, OK, OK. You know, I drove to Kevin's with George and Joe, but Joe was the driver and George is the one that got out. George ran inside the house. I heard shots fired. George ran out, got in the passenger side. Boom. He also confirmed Michelle's hunch that the cold-blooded plan was all hatched by Shelby Harris.

He confirms that Lisa and Shelby are having an affair. He confirms that Shelby is the mastermind behind all of this. Shelby told Lisa to sleep in the kids' room, told Lisa to leave the door unlocked when she went to bed. Shelby provided George with the gun. Bledsoe's version of events would be confirmed by his accomplice Joe Jensen. Although as you can hear from this recorded phone call, Jensen was a little more hesitant about cooperating. Where are you at?

I can come pick you up. Where are you at? I'd rather not say. I bet you wouldn't. The only thing I do ask, I mean, I'm not going to be like arrested anymore. Well, I'm going to be honest with you. It's a distinct possibility. I will give you the opportunity to talk to me, but then I'm going to have to make a decision.

You understand that? Is that fair enough? Jensen was brought into the station where he was given the opportunity to lay it all out and hopefully tell the truth. I've talked with Terrence quite a bit. In fact, he's still down here. Yeah, I just seen him a second ago.

Okay. And what I was talking to him about was the night that Kevin was killed. And Terrence pretty much came clean and told me what happened. So I need you to tell me, just like Terrence did, what the hell went on that night. And be honest with me, Joe, because I've got a story. Yeah.

I have a question. Okay, if I was with George, is that an issue to my next sister? Like Bledsoe, Jensen admitted that the night started at the Motel 6. He then claimed that just before 11 p.m. he and Taylor got into his 65 Buick Riviera. He took you over where? By Kevin's house. And tell me what happened? This is the important part, Joe. As you can hear, he first tried to protect his friend, Terrence Bledsoe, claiming that it was just him, Joe Jensen, and Taylor in the car. But Michelle quickly poked a hole in that lie.

Now are you trying to protect Terrence? Terrence told me he was in the back seat. Okay fine, in the back seat. Jensen went on to describe how he parked Taylor's car in an alley across from Kevin James's house. There was little doubt what he was there to do. Did he have a gun with him? George always carried a gun. Always. I mean, he had a gun when he was here. When he came he talked to you guys. According to Jensen, the front door was out of sight, but shortly after Taylor entered the James' home,

he heard the unmistakable sound of gunshots. I heard boom, boom. He comes running outside, and I had asked him, then I said, no, you didn't. And I said, no, I was upset at him, because I knew what he did, and I just was like, you just made me an accessory And I'm not you know thanks a lot kind of deal mm-hmm, and I told him to take me home

How many boom boom booms did you hear? All right loud I Could hear him I could tell what they were where the car window down or up All right, but you heard him. Yeah, I could hear him. And you knew they were gunshots. I've been around enough gunshots. I know what they sound like. After Kevin's murder, the men returned to the Motel 6, but the killing would not stop there because just two weeks later, Taylor was being interviewed by detectives and while he had not confessed

to police, he had already hired an attorney. Shelby was afraid that when George was arrested and talked to his attorney, that he spilled his guts because George, quote unquote, talked too much. And she told Joe and Terrence, listen, if George talked to his attorney, we're all screwed. So you're going to help me. We're going to get rid of George now.

They make George sit up in the front passenger seat. Joe's sitting right behind George. They drove out to this rural area. Shelby is there and meets them in a separate car. A month after the murder of Kevin James, the four people who planned and carried out his execution were meeting in a remote area to discuss their next moves. Little did one of them, George Taylor, know that those moves did not include him. They start arguing about George keeping his mouth shut. You know, he's telling Shelby,

my attorney can't say anything. They get into a huge argument. George gets back in the car, sits down in the front passenger seat. Shelby's still standing outside. Joe's still behind him. Joe has the gun out now. And Shelby says to Joe,

this mother- and Joe brings a gun up, puts it to George's head, one shot to the back of the head. According to statements, both from Bledsoe and Jensen, Taylor never saw it coming. Shelby Harris assured them that police would assume

Taylor had simply gone on the run. They take George out of the car, drag him over to this little ravine, leave him there, and Joe takes George's boots off of his feet because they were Joe's boots, not George's. Apparently on the day of Kevin's murder, Harris had forced George to get rid of his shoes in case he had left footprints or trace evidence at the scene of the crime. So she makes Joe give George his brand new pair of boots, Timberlands, that he had just bought, and Joe was pissed.

And so when they killed George and Duffin, Joe takes his boots back. That's why his feet were so clean. It was just another dark detail demonstrating just how much control Harris had over these three men. They would do whatever she told them. Both men painted Harris as the mastermind and a ruthless killer, even if she never pulled

the trigger. But there was still one major question, and that was how much Kevin's wife Lisa may have known about Harris's plan to eliminate the man she saw as her romantic rival. And so armed with these detailed confessions, investigators gave Lisa one more chance to come clean and admit any involvement in the planning execution or covering up of her husband's murder. And here is where the first thread began to unravel. Like I said we've been we've been talking to quite a few people we talked to Shelby talked with her last night we have been talking with her today.

We talked with Terrence for quite a while. And I have finally been told the entire story behind Kevin's murder and behind George's murder. Okay. And I'm telling you, I know exactly what happened in both instances. This is your opportunity to tell your story. And Lisa, we talked yesterday and you were almost to a point, I felt several times

where you were actually gonna tell me the truth. You never got to that point, although you teetered right on the edge. This would be a really good time to tip to that side of truth and honesty. And when you tell me your story, do not lie. This is really not the time to do that because I know what happened. And I will promise you this. I will not ask you any question.

I do not already know the answer to. The only reason I will be asking you the question is to see whether you're gonna lie or whether you're gonna tell the truth. Fair enough? Lisa admitted renting the motel room under an expired license and to buying ammunition on the day of her husband's murder, although she claimed the bullets were for a planned

day of target practice with her husband, Kevin. There was like four different types of bullets and like two packs of each kind. Whatever type of guns Kevin had in the house, I don't know. Did you buy any 40 caliber? I don't remember. When she was confronted with the version of the murder that Shelby and her accomplices already gave police, Lisa stopped short of admitting she was in any way involved in the plan to kill her husband.

And then you talk to Shelby on the phone. Right. Okay. Tell me if you remember this statement. Okay. Okay. Tell me if you remember this statement. Okay. Okay. Shelby says to you, okay, this is the night we're going to do it. No. You don't remember that. No. I explained to you the importance of being honest. Correct. Correct. Okay. So you understand that? Yes. All right. So you are going to sit here and look me in the eye and tell me that Shelby did not make the statement

This is the night we're gonna do it. She didn't say that She said that she gonna say it to me. So Shelby's lion and Terrence. Yeah So she says okay, you know, I think I'm just gonna go ahead and go so I say okay Well, you're under the arrest. You're under arrest for Kevin's murder. And she has her purse with her and she's keeping this purse on her lap and hands on very hands on this purse. And through this whole interview with her, I'm thinking, why are you hanging onto this purse so hard? You know, now I want to look in the purse. And so I search your purse because now she's under arrest. I can search her purse. And I find notes, a notepad, and there are notes that are being clearly two different

handwritings. Notes that are being clearly this note has been passed back and forth. Lisa had vehemently denied any romantic relationship with Shelby Harris, but the explicit note in her purse seemed to prove otherwise. Lisa, stop telling me you didn't have a relationship with Shelby. I didn't have a sexual relationship. There is no one else in this room. It's you and me right now. You need to start being honest. You wrote that. It's your handwriting.

I know it's your handwriting. It is my handwriting. All right. And you were writing it to Shelby. I know it's your handwriting. It is my handwriting. Alright. And you were writing it to Shelby. So I show that note, I said, well, what's this note? And I show it to her. And Lisa, oh my God, that was all Shelby. I mean, if you want to know the truth, Shelby basically raped me.

Yeah, we had sex one time. I was not a willing participant I was a victim here I've never been attracted to girl before you know what Lisa I don't care she forced herself on me it was like for me she knew what I was going to be Kevin and she was Okay. And what, one thing led to another? No. All right. But it happened before Kevin died. Shelby, Shelby, Shelby, Shelby. Now she is turning on Shelby big time. And yeah, I do think Shelby had Kevin killed because she wanted to be with me,

but I was no way I was ever going to be with her. So I take the opportunity and say, well, great, if this is all Shelby, let's put a wire on you and you call Shelby right now. And here's what I need you to say. And she won't, won't, won't. And then finally, I said, yeah, okay, you know. I mean, you can go down for this by yourself

or you can take the people responsible with you. I don't care. And so she agrees to wear a wire. Lisa James called Harris on a recorded line. But even her closest friend could tell she was someone not to be trusted. And somebody's there with you, huh? What are you talking about?

No, I'm by myself. We put a wire on her. She calls Shelby. And Shelby's not really biting, but before Shelby completely ends the phone call, Lisa says to her, you know, to the effect like, you know, Shelby, I'm really getting worried. And, you know, I don't know what you did. And I don't know what you did to Kevin. And she's getting these out. And Shelby says to her at one point, you know, Lisa, I don't know what you're doing.

And I don't know where you are, but you better remember we're in this together. You know exactly what's going on. We both know what's going on. So I mean, we're in it together, period. You know what I'm saying? What are you talking about? You know exactly what I'm talking about.

On March 10th, 1998, Shelby Harris was placed under arrest. You're under arrest for two counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder. Two counts of that. So young to be going to prison for the rest of your life. I got you. I told you, Shelby, this day would come, did I not? Did I not sit here and look you in the eye and say,

Shelby, I'm going to find out who did this. And you said, it ain't going to be me. I'm sorry. Man, I can't believe you lied to me. Shelby Harris, Lisa James, and Joe Jensen were all charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy. They were tried together, but heard by three separate juries during one simultaneous trial and I can tell you having done one of those myself they are a challenge for any prosecutor. It's all about the organization. In the trial prosecutors painted Shelby Harris and Lisa James as the masterminds of a calculated murder plot to eliminate the one person they believed was standing in the way of their romance,

Lisa's husband, Kevin James. Once they're incarcerated, they weren't in the same cell, but they continue writing letters to each other, Lisa and Shelby now, but they write them in code. So the letters are coded, and they're love letters to each other, and how much they love each other, and they're still gonna be together, and that was the whole thing, you know, letters to each other. And how much they love each other, and they're still gonna be together.

And that was the whole thing, you know, was to be together. And so, you know, they just had to get through this trial and be found not guilty, and then their day would come kind of thing. And so it was all about being together. But on December 18th, 1999, a jury's verdict would decide a much different future for both of them.

They were all found guilty. Lisa, her sentence was 25 years to life. She is now out of parole. And Shelby and Terrence both got life without parole, and they are both still in custody. In the end, there was justice for Kevin James, a father and a husband who by no fault of his own, found himself a victim of both an unfaithful wife and her vindictive and violent girlfriend. But like in so many cases of spousal homicide, we can't help but ask why Lisa James thought murder was the only option. The single most question and from day one, everybody that I ever talked to about this case says, why didn't she just divorce him?

She's worried about her reputation. She's worried about what her parents think. Her parents were pretty religious. Her and Shelby having an affair was never going to fly with her family, with her friends, with her kids, with anybody. It's just the background she came from. Instead, James and Harris embarked on a deadly plan that would claim multiple victims, including Kevin James, the man who shot him, and all of those friends and family members whose lives were forever affected by their murders. I can definitely say that this is one of the most memorable cases.

And I would say probably the one that I'm proudest of, really, because there was no evidence. This was truly detective work to me. This is what an investigation should have been. You know, it wasn't send some DNA swabs off, send some foot impressions off. It was myself and my partners working together and just keeping at it like every single day until we solved it. For today's closing thoughts, I want to talk about something we call criminal overconfidence.

There have been several examples throughout the cases we bring each week where people believe for them, the devil is in the details, meaning as long as they think out the cover-up, the crime, they'll never do the time. They think a staged crime scene, a wiped-down doorknob, or a perfect timed alibi will keep them one step ahead of investigators and perhaps a bulletproof piece of lab work. Whether it's a narcissist who truly believes they're too clever to leave a trace, or the psychopath who can't fathom that science will outlast their schemes, They all make the same fatal miscalculation. They misjudge the depth of the investigative web. But here's the kicker. No matter how

meticulous you plan, every fiber you dismiss, every smear you think you've erased, it's an invitation for the evidence to do the talking. Modern forensics isn't just about matching DNA or fingerprint patterns. It's about connecting dots you never even saw. I was thinking about what I wanted to say about this case. And the thing that keeps coming back to me is this. Kevin James's 12 year old son heard the gunshot

that took his father's life and then had to push past his mom to get to the window and then saw the person who shot his dad run away from their house and get into a car. That young boy, now a man, is not only a hero witness because he put the solving this case in motion, but he is also another victim beyond losing his father, victimized differently now because of his mother and Shelby's brutal, awful plan. I keep thinking about that 12-year-old and his younger brother. Of course, I think about Kevin James first, a likable man who worked to provide for his

family and loved them all, wife and children alike. But his wife strayed from their marriage, and we all know that extramarital relationships sometimes happen, and that was bad enough. Yet rather than walk away from the marriage, she decided to take her husband's life and her son's father from them forever. All those things, criminal, cruel, and unforgivable,

at least to me. I hope Kevin's boys are well and have each other to hold onto through these years as they have hopefully tried to somewhat heal from this life-altering trauma. ["ANATOMY OF MURDER"] Tune in next week for another new episode of Anatomy of Murder. Anatomy of Murder is an AudioChuck original. Produced and created by Weinberger Media and Frasetti Media.

Ashley Flowers is executive producer. This episode was written and produced by Walker Lamond, researched by Kate Cooper, edited by Ali Sirwa and Philjohn Grande. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo