Anatomy of Murder - Behind the Mask (Ernest Ibarra)

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

A social media blogger is tied up in her home and her husband is abducted, and later found dead. Police soon have a web of suspects, and learn that appearances and the truth can be far from the same.��View source material and photos for this episode at: anatomyofmurder.com/behind-the-mask-ernest-ibarraCan’t get enough AoM? Find us on social media!Instagram: @aom_podcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @AOM_podcast | @audiochuckFacebook: /listenAOMpod | /audiochuckllc

You know what? You know what I think? I think it's not going to be long. I think they're locking your butt up. I think you've been lying to me this whole thing. You did get them right. I think you're a liar. I think you know exactly who investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff. I'm Anasiga Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction. And this is Anatomy of Murphy. It's no secret that people all across the world are spending more and more of their time online for all sorts of reasons.

Whether it's scrolling social media, online gaming, or starring in their own YouTube channel, many people see the internet as a virtual world offering community a bit of fantasy and for some even the promise of online fame or fortune. And many can understand the appeal. Becoming an Instagram influencer or the hero in a video game can offer an escape from our normal lives, letting us become a very different version of ourselves with little or no repercussions. But as we know in the real world, there are consequences to our actions. And when fantasies give way to lies, people can get hurt and even killed.

Ernie Abara was born on Christmas Day 1985 in Mount Pleasant, Texas, a town about a two-hour drive from Dallas and not far from the borders with Oklahoma and Arkansas. Growing up, Ernie had a knack for all things electronic and was known in school as the kid who could just fix about anything. Like a lot of teenagers, Ernie enjoyed playing video games, finding a safe refuge online from what could sometimes be a challenging home life. Ernie's family often struggled to make ends meet

and it hadn't been easy in various ways, including when his dad spent some time in prison. So you can imagine how gaming could provide an escape from those often painful realities of everyday life. Another great way to find a little joy, falling in love, which is exactly what happened when Ernie met an aspiring YouTube

creator named Samantha Walford in 2008. Samantha had already had two kids from her previous relationship, but Ernie was ready to be a dad. After they got married, they quickly added kids number three, four, and five, all by the time Samantha was just 24. There were an older set of twins from a prior relationship. And then with Ernie, she had a child and then another set of twins. But Ernie basically raised those kids, the other two as if they were his own.

That's the voice of David Cawley, who in 2015 was a newly hired assistant DA in Titus County, Texas. His first year on the job would be what is sometimes referred to as a baptism by fire, as he would soon find himself embroiled in one of the darkest and most senseless crimes of his entire career. It all started in the early hours of February 20th, 2015, when Samantha's mother Rosie received a frantic call from her daughter, who said intruders had just broken into her and Ernie's home. The masked men had dragged both of them from bed, beaten Ernie severely and then abducted him from the house, all while their five children were sleeping just a few feet away.

So Samantha called her mother, who was in a town about an hour and a half away. And Rosie called her sister, who was about 10 minutes away. And so her sister and her sister's boyfriend just came straight to the house. Samantha's aunt and her boyfriend found Samantha upstairs where she was gagged and bound. Downstairs, they saw blood, a chunk of hair and other signs of a violent struggle. After her boyfriend, we'll say, cleared the house, he went in with his firearm, made sure

nobody else was there, and at that same time they're calling along. I have a home invasion. My niece is tied up. I am at the verge of untying my niece at this particular moment. Okay, she's tied up. She is tied up and gagged. And gagged. It's Samantha's aunt who's on the phone, and Samantha is being untied by the aunt while she's on the phone.

Her arms were tied behind her back. She had it fixed like gagged in her mouth, and then her legs were binded together. Samantha is basically relaying the story and it gets relayed to law enforcement which is that somebody had broken into the house, had pulled her and her husband out of bed from asleep. They had a knife to her throat and then they pulled a gun on her husband, hit him in the face several times with the gun and he'll come out. They pulled a gun on her husband, hit him in the face several times with the gun,

and he came out. She thought that they were going to shoot him in the face right here, right now. Can I talk to her? Is she able to speak? Yes, ma'am. Hello. Hi, Samantha.

I know you're upset, but I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. Do you need EMS? The young mother of five described to the dispatcher what sounded like an incredibly terrifying ordeal. that be men and they said I thought that would get your attention and I want you to stare at this woman do you want us to kill her and he said no and they said then tell us the truth and he said I don't know anything and they said you're lying. According to Samantha the men repeatedly hit Ernie with a pistol causing him to bleed heavily from his face and from the top of his head.

And as they continued to beat him they put her on her knees in front of him they would say things like you know this wonderful woman that you have this beautiful woman can you you deserve her you don't deserve her things like that they continued to use her to taunt him, basically, while they were beating. A brutal home invasion in the middle of the night while their children slept. It's a scenario right out of a parent's worst nightmares. But what was perhaps even more terrifying was the possibility that this was not some random attack

because, according to Samantha, the masked men referred to her husband by name. He said, you are Ernest DiMera, right? And he said, yes. And he said, then you are the right person. We were ordered to come and get you. The men then proceeded to drag a barely conscious Ernie from the house to Samantha's truck

before taking her keys and driving off to parts unknown. Miraculously, the couple's children were left unharmed. The children are all in the bedroom sleeping. They all are there? They're all in one room. Okay. Now, this is one of those really rare opportunities to listen to this investigation unfold from the first knock at the door

with the help of audio from the deputy's body cam. When deputies from the Titus County Sheriff's Department arrived at the door with the help of audio from the deputy's body cam. When deputies from the Titus County Sheriff's Department arrived at the home shortly after receiving the 911 call, you could hear that they immediately noticed damage to the front door, possibly indicating forced entry. Yeah, I've got the front door has been shattered, which they kicked it in. And she's saying multiple male subjects come in the house. After confirming Samantha was not in need of immediate medical attention, officers asked her to describe the intruders as best she could.

Mount Pleasant was a small town, and there was a good chance that the men, and her husband, had not gotten far. And of course, with Ernie's life possibly in danger, time was of the essence. So walk me through what happened. I don't want to say no to it. I was in bed asleep and we heard a noise. And the second I was able to open my eyes, somebody grabbed me and jerked me out of the bed

and slammed me down on the ground and started tying me up and putting it up to my head. She told them they were all wearing black. They had black masks. They had black gloves. Every inch of skin was covered, like gloves. I couldn't see anything. Her description of the men wasn't much to go on.

And while typically officers would start canvassing the neighborhood, looking for both possible suspects and witnesses, in this case, that would prove difficult. So that house is about as secluded as it can be for Titus County. It's surrounded by acreage, and I mean, it's just out there in the middle of nowhere. So there was nobody who would have heard anything.

And unlike in the more suburban areas, there also wasn't any security footage or neighborhood ring cameras that could have captured the suspects on video. There's not going to be any kind of surveillance, neighbor surveillance or anything, unless, you know, I guess you could happen to cross a game camera that somebody might have put up. But those aren't going to be things that anybody's going to be able to see or know about. And so in those first moments of the investigation, law enforcement just had Samantha's version of the events to go on. But even early on, detectives were starting to suspect that Samantha was not being totally truthful about what had happened. There was something off about

her answers and her demeanor that didn't quite fit with an actual victim of such a horrific crime. So when you were in here, did you see them actually drag Ernie out and leave? No, they took me back upstairs. They took you back upstairs. Did you hear anything else before? Just some faint conversations, but I couldn't make out what was being said. Something about Big Ernie. Again, I heard Big Ernie's name. I heard him again. And then, get him out! Get him out! Get him out! Get him out! Load him up! Big Ernie was her husband's father, the one we had mentioned who had a criminal history. And in Samantha's retelling, she repeatedly mentioned that he or his money may have been the real target.

with $20,000 in five minutes, it spares his life. And he said he couldn't get his hands on that amount of money. There are other signs that also indicated that Samantha's story wasn't quite adding up. Chris Bragg, he was the lead investigator. And when he arrived, the first thing he noticed was that supposedly the door had been kicked in, but when there's a burglar with somebody kicking in the door, popping it open with a pry bar, it usually busts out the frame around the backside of it.

There's some amount of wooden damage to that wood and that was not the case here. He thought that it was maybe made to look like a home invasion that actually wasn't. Later on in the bodycam audio you can actually hear more of that suspicion in their voices like in this recorded conversation, where they discuss how the intruders made their way in so quickly to the upstairs bedroom. The only part that's getting me is how do you, they would have to either be familiar with the place

to be able to do all that and know where they were asleep. There was also the matter of how Samantha had managed to call her mother on her cell phone while she was still bound and gagged and why she didn't just call 911. And she had this big elaborate story of how, you know, why didn't they take your phone? Well, they didn't take my phone because I hid it. How did you hide it? Well, whenever they tied me up and left me alone, I somehow used my mouth to toss it over into this box of junk. And then whenever they left, I scooted over to the junk and fished it out with my mouth and flipped it open and pressed the most recent call, which was my mom. I got it with my teeth and I pushed it aside with my nose, the case, and was able to call

my mom because she was the latest call and I just pushed it with my face and it worked. And so I called my mom and my mom called my aunt and my aunt called the police. I couldn't make any dials. Not that talented. So was she telling the truth or was her acting skills better than she was letting on? Because if Samantha's account of her husband's abduction really was an act, it could only mean one of two things. Either he wasn't really in danger or she had a hand in the crime.

In the early hours of February 20th, 2015, 29-year-old Ernie Abara was awoken by masked men beaten and then abducted from his home outside Mount Pleasant, Texas. Ernie's 24-year-old wife, Samantha, witnessed the the assault and after being untied she told Titus County deputies that the vicious attack may have been something to do with Ernie's father and his criminal past. But there was also something a little off about her behavior and some details of the crime scene just didn't line up with her version of the assault. You know, Scott, there really are a bunch of things here that we can talk about. You know, one thing, the way the police right away were questioning about the entry, but I just thought it was so interesting that apparently these guys just come in and know exactly where to go. And it's not like we're talking about a one level, you know, three room house. Like they had to go up kind of an intricate entryway upstairs, but apparently they found their targets right away. Yeah. You know, to to me it seems like every time

they questioned a part of her story, she quickly came up with a version that she thought may have answered the question. But it didn't seem to match any of the physical evidence on scene, starting with what may have been that, as you said, Anasika, staged for a century. And there is one other thing that we just be remiss not to mention, is like her dialing her phone.

Remember, they find her with her mouth gagged, yet you don't hear anything from the 911 caller. I think it was her mom talking about her voice being muffled or anything. It just seems like almost like a contortionist move, just bizarre. And then the Houdini style skills. To be able to dial a cell phone after being tied up. I mean is it possible as

An investigator you have to look at everything but you also have to have that sixth sense to really realize Something is not right and then there was also this which in some ways is the most disturbing of it all the whole time She was recounting the details of her husband's violent abduction, she never once checked on her five young kids who were all still asleep in their room right next to where the intruders had supposedly snatched Samantha and Ernie from their beds. And in that little room was a TV, which was on,

and the five kids asleep on the floor on basically palettes. There was some kind of dumbbell or weights like holding the door closed. And not only that, Samantha at times seemed almost kind of nonchalant, more interested in those deputy sheriffs than she was her own kids. She asks him, what is it you're carrying? Is that a Glock? Can I see it? You know, while her kids are somewhat sometimes crying out in this closet right beside them, coughing, you know, do you not? When this has just happened to your children's father, you have a child crying out, I mean,

don't you go in there and hold it and cradle it and tell it, you know, everything's okay. And no, she's just sitting there asking to see the officer's gun. So obviously, Samantha's behavior was raising some eyebrows. But for at least the immediate aftermath of this home invasion and abduction, at least until proven otherwise, she was still a victim. So investigators had to put her suspicious behavior aside and act on the little information that they had and the very real possibility that Ernie had been abducted and his life was in danger.

And like in any violent crime, especially one in which the victim appears to have been specifically targeted, investigators needed to look into Ernie's background and try to identify any friends, connections or enemies who might have had a motive to do him harm. It's called the victimology portion of your investigation. Most people that knew Ernie saw a dedicated and hardworking young dad who was working two jobs to support his family. One at a wooden bat manufacturer and another covering the night shift at Little Caesars. But police also knew that given Ernie's past, he was not unfamiliar with the darker side

of Titus County. He comes from a rough family. His dad and uncle had been in trouble with the law, probably in somehow related to some kind of minor narcotics trafficking. Ernie himself had been to prison, but at this time, he was clean, he was working two jobs, he was supporting the family.

In other words, he was not a bad guy despite a rough childhood. Ernie chose to go straight. And according to police, he really had no enemies or known involvement with the local drug trade. But remember, there was a good reason to believe that Ernie knew his attackers, or at least they knew him. Because according to Samantha, they referred to him by name and to his father, Big Ernie. There's other things where they're supposedly saying things about, because of your dad, somebody was taken from us and now we're going to take somebody from him,

and that's going to be you. And Ernie says, how do I get out of this? What do you want? They said, well, if you got $20,000. And Ernie laughs, you know, he didn't have $20,000. And so they punch him some more. And, you know, he offers up, well, you know, he didn't have $20,000. And so they punch him some more. And, you know, he offers up, well, you know, my grandparents have money. We could go break into their house. I would get you money from their house. We can steal some jewelry or something.

So what were the theories? Was this a robbery? Or was it some personal vendetta against Ernie's father? There was only one way to find out. But investigators had to move fast. Two deputies went to the north end of the county where his dad would have lived to make sure that there's not more things happening there. But there was no sign of Ernie or his kidnappers at either his father's home or grandfather's house, and

neither was able to offer any clue to Ernie's whereabouts. With no other witnesses or leads, investigators turned back to their only source of information. And then investigator Chris Bragg took Samantha to the sheriff's department so that she could be talked to further.

So a little background on Samantha. She was a stay-at-home mom who certainly had her hands full with five children, including two sets of twins. But she also harbored some ambitions of her own. Along with taking care of the kids, Samantha hosted a YouTube channel where she mostly posted makeup tutorials and beauty tips. Hey guys, I'm doing a makeup tutorial today.

It's my first one so don't be too harsh. This is what it looks like. Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed it. Rate, subscribe, comment, all right? But recently, her videos had gotten more personal and more popular as she shared details of her home life, her marriage, and the challenges of raising five kids.

And in these videos, she made it pretty clear that her relationship with Ernie was not a picture-perfect marriage. In fact, not long before she'd filed a complaint with local police after a recent argument, accusing Ernie of being physical with her. However, no charges were ever filed against him. So this is what I would refer to as the snapshot portion of your investigation. And here's what I mean. In order to really learn about any potential motives, you need a clear picture of what was going on in your victim's life at the moment that they were killed. And if a relationship could be part of that, that

snapshot or frozen moment in time can give you a lot of information. And I think that's an important way to proceed. But you know, I'm sitting here listening to what she is posting on YouTube. You're still married, but you're talking about the difficulties in your marriage. Now there's one thing to talk about things openly and try to support other people and this online community. But you also start to wonder, is she starting to paint a purposeful picture? And I don't know, I think I can see this going both ways because we just don't know if her claims about Ernie,

whether they were true or untrue. Yeah, I mean, is she trying to get attention through these YouTube videos? Is she wanting people to feel bad for her, in a sense? Someone who may be struggling with five children. But deputies had Samantha in the interview room at the sheriff's office, and detectives were eager to find out what the truth was. Instead, Samantha treated investigators to another bizarre performance.

It's the middle of the night, working towards morning. They are still running down these other leads trying to, if something can be done fast, to find Ernie. That's what they're trying to do. So while that camera's running, she takes a nap. She took a nap. Not exactly what you'd expect from the grieving and traumatized wife of a man who had recently been kidnapped and who had five young kids in the mix. And not with her at present. Those kids alone, you'd think, and would hope would cause audible concern. Seeming to realize that she was being filmed and recorded,

the aspiring influencer and actress who had once played an extra on a zombie movie demonstrated that there was no camera that she didn't love. There's a dry erase board on the wall. You know, every once in a while, she'll stand up and write on the dry erase board, where's my husband? And then turn to the camera and do this, like, shrug,

irritated face thing. By the time she was interviewed by investigators, Samantha once again found herself in the center of the spotlight. Of course, obviously you understand when something like this happens involving a spouse. Obviously, you know, you're in the streets, in the news, you're seeing deals when a wife that was missing, you're looking at the husband or vice versa, but the wife, if the husband's missing, we start with their inner core people, family, friends, all that, and then start working our way out. You can rule all them out first, make sure that they're-

Well, I mean, you've got our family here. You can ask them. My mom talks to me every single day. She knows every fight we have. She doesn't inquire about her kids. She doesn't ask to be with them. She does, on occasion, and throughout her interview, inquire about her husband, but it's not- there's something acting about it.

There's something fake about it. There's something fake about it. What's the last time you saw her? I never have. I did one that was a fake, and on set of her show, back when they had that zombie film going on in Pittsburgh. It's not like you would expect

for something to have happened so horribly to someone you love, and to you, and then just to be, I don't know, more putting on a show, and less of a real emotion. When I say, I just think you're digging yourself a hole. I'm telling you everything I know. I'm repeating everything they've said. You can look at my record. I'm not somebody that gets into trouble. While this might not be Broadway, these Texas sheriffs knew a performance when they saw

one. She had a few hours in the interview room. The sheriff came in, got frustrated with her, tried to talk to her a little bit, and then eventually says, you know, I think you're lying, I think you know something. You know, people out here sit right there and told me the same story just like you're telling me, and oh, they tried to convince me. And in the end, when the evidence come in, they sat there and we all want to rely.

You can be the hero or you can be the villain, villain because I danger just not piecing together with your story. I want to do anything possible to find him. That's my husband and I love him. I want him found. I just think there's still something that you probably know that you're not telling us. She finally says something like well what if I know something and I don't even know that I know it? I do know who did it and why they did it. Okay. Doesn't that make me like an accomplice? And then that kind of opened the door for her

to reveal the things that set all of the dominoes in motion. Up to this point, Samantha had denied recognizing any of the men who tied her up and abducted her husband. But now she was being asked to speculate. I've been up at the hospital with my three child. Okay. She's got a guy there and I swear to God I cannot go up there tonight, so idiot.

They push her a little bit and she said, well, I met this guy, Johnny Reb, that's all I know him as, at the hospital. And some things were said about Ernie. And he was saying, and she like makes his voice, you know, tries to mimic him and says, well, you know, a man shouldn't treat a woman that way. And he seemed really upset about it. But what if he decided to do something on his own? This Johnny Reb, his real name was Jonathan Sanford. And not only did he have a criminal record,

he had just recently been released from prison Samantha had met Sanford through her friend. Charlotte and even knew exactly where they both were at that very minute And she says and in fact, he's picking her up at the hospital right now and and he's using my car to do it. In Titus County, Texas, sheriff's deputies were running out of patience with the 24-year-old wife of Ernie Ibarra. You know what? You know what I think? I think it's not gonna be long

that I'm gonna be locking you up. I think you've been lying to me this whole thing you did get him around. I think you're a liar, what I think. I think you know exactly who did this and I don't buy your freaking story for a minute. That's what I think. And from there, in response, Samantha started naming names,

revealing that she may know one or more of the men involved in the abduction of her husband. John, I don't truly know his last name, but his Facebook says John Rebel. So she met Jonathan Sanford and Jose Ponce at the hospital with Sharla. And it was there that Samantha went on and on about her abusive husband and that sort of thing and how Jonathan said, you know, a woman shouldn't be treated that way. And I would never treat a woman that way.

And anybody who does doesn't deserve to live or whatever. What this guy saying he's going to do? Handle the situation. When did he take this? Yesterday. According to investigators, Sanford was a potentially dangerous man, so his threats were not to be taken lightly. I mean Jonathan Sanford would be the most hardened criminal out of the bunch. He had been to prison. He had been to prison for sexually assaulting his teen-year-old male cousin, probably a sociopath at the very least.

As for Samantha, she was attempting to distance herself from Sanford and the assault against her husband. In this recorded audio, you can hear how quickly her demeanor has changed, from being defiant, almost bored, to being this tearful, scared informant. Because they have a lot of friends around here, my life will be in a lot of danger. She was even so kind as to tell police exactly where they could find Samford. The sheriff, Aaron Baxter, an investigator with the sheriff's department and John Livingston go to the hospital and they see two guys leaving and they see the two guys kind of separate once law enforcement's there.

And the sheriff yells out, Johnny Ram. And Sanford pauses or turns and then within seconds, they grab hold of those two guys. So Sanford is almost like, well, I'm calm. So might as well just let you know what happened. At the sheriff's office, Sanford seemed to know that the jig was up and was surprisingly cooperative, quickly admitting his relationship with Samantha and the fact that he had been to her and Ernie's home. Sanford had been to her house before

to pick up some baby stuff that Sharla could use. So Sharla was Samantha's friend who was pregnant and at the hospital to have her baby. Investigators were also able to establish his association with two other men, Jose Ponce and Octavius Rime, and together they had made a plan. Here's audio from the investigator's interview with Samford. Supposedly, from what I understood, supposedly we were going out here, all I was supposed

to do was pull up, sit outside, they were going to go in, supposedly rough the dude up. I'm the only person that knows the layout of the house. So the judge asked me, like, where they sleep at? Supposedly, I'm the only person that knows the layout of the house." So JoJo asked me, like, where they sleep at? Sanford proceeded to lead the other men inside, but according to him, the planned beating quickly got out of hand. Dude said, all I want to do is be with my kids. Please don't hurt my kids.

JoJo said, well, what are you talking about? Like, what do you mean? He said, what can I do to fix this? They started laughing. I do think that they did beat him pretty severely. Jonathan Sanford eventually said, Ernie put up a pretty good fight when they first drug him out of bed,

until I hit him in the head with a pistol, and then that pretty much subdued him at that point. But if the plan was just to give Ernie a beating The three men's true motive was revealed in what happened next From there everything went from inside the house to outside the house When we got outside the house they had him up against the truck and still behind the back this dude's head split Nose broke, and he busted.

And I asked Sanford, you know, you weren't afraid he was going to run off, you weren't. As y'all were rifling through his truck, and Sanford's like, no, he wasn't going anywhere. His breathing was labored. You could tell things were broken and there was internal fluid, and Sanford didn't say it quite eloquently, you know, but basically there wasn't much fight left in him. The three men put Ernie's unconscious body into the back of Samantha's truck. Considering the viciousness of the beating and the attacker's lack of mercy, the ending seemed inevitable. We go all the way out to the country. Get out to the country.

Next thing I know, they walk off. Before I ever make the vehicle, all I hear is pop. I know that sound by heart as you roll through guns. My dad is 21 years, Nate. I know what a gun sounds like. Sanford was describing the sound of the single gunshot that killed Rooney Abara. And Sanford agrees to quickly to show them where the body was and to show them where the gun is.

He's not asking for anything for his benefit. He just is agreeing to do it. The sheriff, the driving, Aaron Baxter in the back seat and Jonathan Sanford in the front passenger seat just go where Jonathan tells them to go. Sanford directs investigators to a remote wooded area near Sand Crossing in adjoining Camp County. They get out to the middle of this bayou wooded area and it is also in the middle of nowhere and Jonathan, you know, takes them to the edge and they see this path and officers walking on there and go a little ways and they see the body of Ernie, naked except for his blue boxer shorts, lying face down in the leaves and the briars and the underbrush and shot in the back of the head.

It was only then that detectives in Titus County could confirm that Ernie Ibarra was deceased and the cause of death was homicide. Right after this, it started raining and it rained for weeks. And if they had not found the body when they did, it would have ended up in some bayou in Louisiana because that area flooded and that would have been the end of it. The murder weapon would be recovered from the home of one of Samford's accomplices, Octavius Rhyme. While in custody, Samford and Ponce confessed to their roles in the crime,

detailing how they, along with Rimes, coordinated and carried out the attack on Ernie Ibarra. So, you know, Scott, you have to kind of come back first to Samantha here. You know, is it possible that she's telling the truth, you know, from the beginning, that she had nothing to do with her husband's murder, but all I can think about when I even ask myself that question is like, why would these guys do this but for her? It definitely raises some real questions. We have a body and the murder weapon and we have confessions and all of that, Anasiga, is lining up with the physical evidence.

But at that very moment, a big question does still remain. Did she have anything actually to do with her husband's murder? I mean, maybe she planted a seed in their heads that she needed to get something done or she wanted him hurt. She never expected it to turn to murder. And maybe she truly was worried or feared retribution from her husband of getting beat up or she feared retribution from the three offenders if she turned on them. So I don't think they had the actual answer at that very moment. Agreed, but yet to me it just kind of defies common sense, right?

Like why they would do this but for her. But I definitely agree that her not giving it to investigators right away could absolutely, whether she's in it or not, could be partially thinking about herself, not only repercussions with the police, but at the hands of these guys. I think her statements to police led them to believe that she wasn't being truthful, that she was putting on an act, and that she was really coming up with answers to questions, even though it seemed she was making it up on the fly. I think when she came back in for that second interview, she thought she had everybody fooled.

Samantha continued to deny having any role in the plot to kill her husband. But there was one thing she had not counted on, the digital evidence she had left behind on her cell phone. So when Bragg was first interviewing her, he asked, can I see your phone? And she says, yes. So she gives him permission to see her phone

and he steps out just in the doorway of the interview room and with his phone, he takes as many pictures of various screens on her phone. Recent text messages between her and her husband, he takes pictures of those. He takes pictures of recently added contacts and just does as many as he can. He doesn't know what he's looking for, but he hopes to catch something and he in fact does.

Samantha's text and cell phone records revealed extensive communications between her and Samford in the day leading up to the murder. Her location data also matched up with Samford's version of events and proved that Samantha Wulford was an essential part of their plan. On February 19th of 2015, these people are all acting as a group. They're using Samantha's car. They're all hanging out together. At one point, Sanford, Lacona Slayton, Jose Ponce and Octavius Rhymes are all at

Walmart, stealing groceries with Samantha's kids using Samantha's car while she's at the hospital. So they had a plan. According to Sanford, the initial plan did not actually include the home invasion. First plan was to go to Octavius Rimes' cousin in Mount Vernon and buy some meth and use that to set up Ernie so that he would go to prison and get him out of Samantha's life. Then as the night went on they were all together. They were together at Octavius Rhymes house. Jose Ponce was cooking enchiladas with the groceries they stole from Walmart

and it was during that period of time Jonathan said the plan changed and the plan changed for them to kidnap Ernie, make it look like a burglar in kidnapping, and to kill him. And that all Samantha had to do was leave the door unlocked, and that would be their answer. And in the early hours of February 20th, Wolford gave her answer in the affirmative.

Even after her husband was beaten, kidnapped, and shot to death, her cell phone records show that she made efforts to assist the perpetrators in concealing the crime. Further proof that she was complicit in the murder. There's also messages between Samantha and Octavius telling them what law enforcement is doing. Telling them to get rid of Ernie's phone because it's being pinged. Telling them that law enforcement has located the phone and so to ditch the phone and move. In their second interview with her, detectives confronted Walford with the damning evidence against her. But she doubled down on her innocence, even going as far to suggest that maybe her husband was dealing drugs and had invited this violence on himself. by getting to me? I don't know. I told you, I'm 1000% being honest.

But thanks to the confessions of two of Ernie's killers and a mountain of digital forensics, they had her dead to rights. All four suspects would eventually be charged with aggravated kidnapping and murder, with Walford facing additional charges due to her role in planning Ernie's death.

All four were charged with the aggravated kidnapping in Titus County and the murder in Camp County. And so from a charging standpoint, what that does is give us two bites at the apple. It also lets sentences be stacked because the cases would not be tried together. Also except for Sanford, nobody probably had the history that it would require to get the death penalty. Jonathan Sanford and Jose Ponce accepted plea deals in exchange for their testimony at trial.

He and Jose Ponce both pled guilty to all the charges, and they each received 50-year sentences on each one to run concurrently. In two separate trials Octavius Rimes was convicted and sentenced to 23 years for aggravated kidnapping in Titus County and an additional 75 years for murder in Camp County. Samantha Walford's murder trial began in September of 2017 more than two years after the murder of her husband, Ernie Abara. In going into Samantha's first trial, I felt like the Titus County Sheriff's Department had done such a thorough job that I had everything I needed.

Biggest fears were just, you don't know what a jury's going to do. You don't know how they're hearing the story you're telling them. During his testimony, Jonathan Sanford recounted the cold-blooded execution of Ernie Abara, all the while careful to blame Jose Ponce with pulling the trigger. The plan was for them to take Ernie out into the woods and shoot him with this one firearm that they carry around. They kind of pass between them. At one point Jonathan said he changed his mind and he was going to slit Ernie's throat, but he didn't get to because Ponce shot

him first. He also testified that Samantha was in fact the mastermind behind her husband's murder. She knew what she wanted done and she knew exactly what Sanford and his accomplices were capable of. When Sanford testified, you feel like you were watching evil. I think the feeling through the jury and all of us is, oh my goodness, there are horrible people walking around Wal-Mart with us. And you don't want to think that our little communities have that sort of thing.

And you see it and it's like, oh my gosh. You know, they're seeing the surveillance of him in Walmart, gathering up stuff, gathering groceries. And it's like, well, this is somebody you pass in the aisle and he doesn't care that somebody died and he doesn't care about his part in it. And he would have rather have slit the guy's throat and shot him in the head, but you know,

that's the way it goes. Wallford continued to maintain her innocence and ultimately decided to take a specific approach to avoiding blame. She testified and her position was that she had taken Ambien before she went to bed. And so she had no recollection of sending any text messages. She can't say that she sent them. She was going to say that probably she did

not send them. That doesn't sound like something she would do. The problems with that were the timing of those text messages were captured pretty closely with her holding her phone, doing something on her phone, and the time stamp on Durant's body cam for the first text message she sent where she told them to ditch phone and move. Those texts all demonstrated a consciousness of guilt and a clear intent to cover up her involvement in the crime. She supposedly knew the damning nature of the text messages because she told a fellow

inmate, well, I just met with my lawyer and, and I could get out of this if it weren't for the text messages. As for her motive, we can only speculate, but testimony from several witnesses revealed that this may not have even been the first time Wallford had tried to put her plan into action. So by the time she testified, they had heard from at least two, maybe three different males who she had gone to and either asked for a gun or done this spiel about my husband's so mean to me and all this.

And I think that's why this case came about was because she happened to say that to the right people. Whether it was her ego or confidence in her acting abilities Walford was convinced that she would get away with it. I think she told Jonathan Sanford and Octavius rhymes Don't worry about me. I'm an actress. I can convince anybody of anything Multiple witnesses also came to Ernie's defense against her allegations of abuse I don't think that he was really abusive towards Samantha, the way she portrayed it to be.

I think at this point in his life, he was just working hard, trying to take care of this family without any help from her. In the end, Walford's performance fell flat. Then she got up there and she did her little fake cry, and she did her little acting cry and she did her little acting and nobody bought it. A jury found Samantha Wallford guilty of murder and sentenced her to 99 years in prison on top of a 50-year sentence for kidnapping.

Judge Ralston stacked those sentences so she will have to make parole on the aggravated kidnapping before she ever starts serving the murder sentence. The murder of Ernie Obara had lasting effects on the many people that loved him and relied on him. Ernie's mom struggled hard. I mean, she was kind and grateful and listened to what I had to say. But she had a real emotional difficulty with the fact that her son was murdered for no reason, except for this horrible woman that he had aligned himself with.

His loss was made especially painful because it sadly also meant the loss of her grandchildren as well. Samantha's mother very quickly took possession of the kids and would not let Ernie's side of the family see them. She basically just took them out of their lives and it broke their hearts. The irony of Samantha Wohlford lies in the shocking duality of her persona. A YouTube vlogger who presented herself as a loving, relatable mother, yet secretly masterminded a plot so heinous it

defied the very image she portrayed. Samantha's carefully crafted online presence painted her as a woman struggling through the everyday challenges of parenthood. But behind the scenes, she orchestrated a chilling plan to murder her husband. The contrast between her seemingly benign digital persona and the cold calculated reality of her crime highlights a disturbing truth. In today's social media age, appearances can deceive. Even the most polished profiles can mask sinister realities lurking beneath the surface.

But the tragedy doesn't stop with Samantha's deception. There were other victims here, the children left behind. Their father is gone and their mother now faces decades behind bars. For them and for Ernie's entire family, the cost of Samantha's choices is a lifetime of loss and that's a pain no sentence can ever truly erase. Murder causes such pain in so many ways. Ernie Abara didn't have an easy start, but had landed in a place where he was happy,

and all he wanted was to care for his family, his children, and work hard at his two jobs to provide for them. Rather than end the marriage, if that's what she wanted to do, his wife orchestrated his assassination. At the hands of his killers, she took Ernie from this earth and from all five of their kids. Their lives will be impacted forever.

We hope that they are well and are being wrapped in love as they continue to heal. We will be off next week, but Anatomy of Murder will be back the following week with an all new episode. 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?