Anatomy of Murder - The Music Stopped (Scott Sessions & Heather Frank)

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

A musician is murdered. A new romantic partner and her ex quickly become suspects. A farm and a fire lead to a gruesome discovery no one expected. For episode information and photos, please visit: anatomyofmurder.com/the-music-stopped Can’t get enough AoM? Find us on social media!Instagram: @aom_podcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @AOM_podcast | @audiochuckFacebook: /listenAOMpod | /audiochuckllc

I've worked a lot of homicides over the last 30 years, and this is the first one that I had to set up circumstances anywhere close to this. And as law enforcement, our job is to protect people, or try to anyway. And the fact that we couldn't in this case, that's one I'll think about for a long time. Yeah, it is something that you live with, for sure.

I'm Scott Weinberger, 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 Murph. Romantic relationships can be exhilarating and bring out the very best in people when they're open, supportive, and simply want to make their partner's life better. Looking at the other side can be difficult and a bit revealing. You're vulnerable, needy, or even controlling when you wish you just weren't. All things that go straight to the heart and mind and can impact a person's sense of self-worth, their sense of belonging. And when things go wrong, it can be like stepping on a coiled rattlesnake.

And if so, the fangs just might come out. Today's case delves into a relationship gone wrong. So wrong, it ended in murder. But it's not just a simple tale of betrayal. Investigators found themselves navigating through a web of twists and turns, each one raising more questions. Who's really to blame? The events unfolded quickly, at times at a dizzying pace, leading a veteran homicide investigator to uncover acts of revenge

more volatile than any bad breakup and more chilling than the coldest rejection. For today's case, we spoke to Lieutenant Donnie Robbins of the Larimer County Sheriff's Office in northern Colorado. He's been in law enforcement for a little over 30 years. Nothing in that long career prepared him for the call he got early on a Monday morning in February of 2020. Pingree Park is an extremely rural area, mainly forest service property around it. There was a snowplow driver that was driving in the area of Pingree Park Road that day. He observed smoke and went to investigate, and that's when he located the body wrapped in plastic and a termite. I use

as belling wire. It was some wire that was wrapped around the body to hold the plastic around the body as well. The driver immediately called 911. When first responders arrived at about 9.30 a.m., they found the remains of an unidentified male. The body was in pretty bad shape overall. The majority of the body had extensive burning on it. There was a severe laceration cut to the neck to the point that the spinal cord that was off, the only thing that was keeping the head attached to the body. The brutality of the wounds left no doubt that a savage crime had taken place. But the mystery deepened when

investigators realized something unsettling. The crime didn't happen here where they found the body. While this was a crime scene, it was clear it wasn't the only one. With that kind of wound to the neck, there would have been a copious amount of blood strewn throughout the area. There was no signs of any kind of struggle. So it was pretty obvious that the actual assault and death had occurred somewhere else and the body had been transferred to that location. The cause of death was the wound to the throat and the manner of death was homicide. As soon as Donnie was notified of the discovery,

he drove right over to the Larimer County Sheriff's Office. We were getting our team together to decide how we were going to handle the investigation. Investigators were able to quickly determine that the body had not been there very long. So Donnie began by looking for anyone in the area who had recently gone missing. By the next day, a missing persons report of a local man was located.

It would be this case's first big break. On that same day, Monday, February 10th, 53-year-old Scott Sessions was a no-show at one of his band's regular performances in Greeley, Colorado, which is a small city that he lived about an hour north of Denver. And that trumpet that you hear is actually Scott Sessions playing. Scott was a beloved musician who played trumpet in a popular blues and rock band. He was considered to be one of the best trumpet players in northern Colorado. A local journalist once wrote that he was the kind of magnetic performer that many people wanted to get close to. Scott was also a responsible bandmate and never missed a gig.

His absence on that Monday night immediately concerned his bandmates. It was only two days earlier on Saturday when Scott had spoken with his father and told them that he was heading to Fort Collins, another Colorado city about 30 miles away. His son indicated he was going to Fort Collins to go on a date and he hadn't heard from him since and wasn't answering his phone. So that raised some concern with the father. By Tuesday morning, three days with no word from Scott, his bandmates and his family went to his house and, using a spare key, went inside but did not find him there.

Scott's father immediately generated that missing person's report to police. And just to keep the day straight here, that Tuesday again is one day after that body was found in the woods. So the report was quickly linked to the murdered John Doe, which was then linked to the disappearance of Scott Sessions. And it threw the investigation into even higher gear. We found a recent missing person that met the general description, and we were able to identify the body as being Scott Sessions.

Scott's friends and family were shocked. No one had any idea who could possibly want to harm him. Everybody described him as an easygoing, nice guy, no issues, didn't know anyone would want to hurt him. Everybody described him as an easygoing, nice guy, no issues, didn't know anyone would want to hurt him. We were looking at anything from a carjacking to a crime of passion involving somebody we weren't aware of at that point. Based on the severity of the neck wound was obviously this person who had committed the crime was pretty passionate and wanting to kill Mr. Sessions. This appeared to be an intentional act. He was killed rather quickly in a pretty brutal manner. So by that Tuesday, the same day the missing persons report was filed, the Larimer County coroner identified Scott

Sessions as the John Doe found in the woods and as suspected that he'd been the victim of a homicide. The investigation continued to move quickly. We actually got the phone records first through his cell phone carrier, and we were able to locate the last place that his cell phone pinged off the cell tower at. It was in Greeley. Scott Sessions' phone records showed that he wasn't in Fort Collins that past weekend, as he had told his dad. Instead, the cell tower covered a one-mile radius within the city of Greeley, a leafy suburb about 50 miles northeast of Denver. The largest business in the area was a King Soopers grocery

store complex, very close to where the cell tower was located. I directed investigators from my criminal impact unit to go over there and start looking for his vehicle. And basically, as soon as they arrived in the area, they located the vehicle in the parking lot of King Soopers grocery store. Within only 23 hours of finding Scott's body, Donnie and his team found his car. But the car didn't yield any immediate clues about what had happened to Scott Sessions or why his car was parked at a Greeley store instead of being in Fort Collins, as he'd said. There was no signs of struggle inside the car, and there was no blood or evidence visible from an exterior view.

It almost looked as if Scott simply parked his car to do some grocery shopping. Investigators poured over security camera footage of the parking lot, hoping to catch a glimpse of Scott arriving, maybe even potentially with his killer. What they found raised more questions than answers. This seems to be our luck in law enforcement. There was multiple cameras located in that business area, and all of them but one were solar powered and were covered with snow, so they weren't working at the time. We got one video. And that video showed that Scott's car didn't appear in the parking lot until 6.30 a.m. Tuesday morning, which is one day after the snowplow driver found his

body, which would mean Scott was already dead when the grocery store camera recorded his car pulling into the lot. But the footage wasn't the most extensive, to say the least. That gave us a very, very limited view of somebody parking their car there and walking away to the west. Couldn't tell anything about the person getting out other than a direction of travel. Now, it's important to point out the timing in this case. Investigators arrived at the store to find the car a mere two hours after the mysterious driver abandoned it.

So whether it was their quick police work, luck, or most likely a bit of both, police are going to take good evidence any way they find it. However, even though only those few hours had passed, they missed whoever had abandoned Scott's car. But Donnie's next move yielded better results, and the case soon turned into the most bizarre and puzzling of Donnie's career. We executed a search warrant on Scott Sessions' house. He had written down passwords to some of his social media. The last person he had talked to was a female by the name of Heather Frank. He was going to meet Heather Frank the night he went missing.

She was living in Greeley, less than 200 yards from the King Soopers and the condominium. After 53-year-old Scott Sessions' burned body had been recovered in remote woods, investigators searched his Greeley, Colorado home, looking for clues to help identify who killed him. Inside his house, they hid pay dirt, a list of Scott's passwords to his online accounts, and with a warrant, investigators logged in. We were also able to get into Facebook Messenger.

The last person he had talked to was a female by the name of Heather Frank. The single musician had been exchanging romantic messages with the woman, which in itself was not especially revealing. It was only when investigators learned that Heather had invited Scott over on Saturday night, the last night he was heard from, that alarm bells started going off. It was obvious that they had been in a relationship to some degree. He was going to pick some alcohol up and meet her at her residence. And that's basically the last communication anyone had with him over his phone or through social media. Scott disappeared that same night. And by 9.30 Monday morning, police had discovered his body in the woods. His throat had been cut. Adding to the suspicious timing, investigators learned that Heather Frank lived only 200 yards

from where they found Scott's car, which was left there just two hours after Scott was discovered. Not one of Scott's friends or family had heard him mention seeing Heather. Donnie put Heather Frank and her home squarely on his radar. The first time we had heard of the name was going through the Facebook messenger, and I immediately requested a covert camera to be placed on the condominium parking lot, and I went there myself and observed two vehicles sitting there, one belonging to her and then one belonging to another male, Kevin Eastman.

Donnie did some digging into Heather Frank and Kevin Eastman. Donnie did some digging into Heather Frank and Kevin Eastman's backgrounds. She worked at a local cafe. She had adult children. She was single. It turned out that Kevin Eastman was Heather Frank's 48-year-old ex-boyfriend. He had a police record that included

assault and weapons possession. Eastman and Heather had lived together in Denver. Several months earlier, Heather called police after Kevin allegedly had repeatedly punched her. An arrest warrant for harassment was issued, but it hadn't been executed and Eastman remained free. The surveillance warrant allowed Donnie to attach GPS trackers on both Heather Frank and Kevin Eastman's cars and to also access their phone records. But beyond that, Donnie decided not to knock on Heather's door or to try to arrest Eastman, believing it was too early to make a move.

Investigators suspected that they likely had found the suspect in Scott's murder, but a hunch wouldn't get them into court. Would there be evidence? What was the motive? Was it financial? Was it a crime of evidence? What was the motive? Was it financial? Was it a crime of passion? What was the true motive of it? Our initial thoughts were that it probably was a crime of passion where Eastman had found out about Sessions.

But our concerns were that if we contacted Eastman and arrested him, was not able to contact Heather Frank, that we could lose potential evidence that might jeopardize our ongoing homicide investigation if we picked him up on the domestic violence warrant. Beyond Heather reporting Kevin Eastman's abuse to police, Donnie didn't find a reason to suspect her of foul play, at least on paper. She really didn't have any past criminal history to speak of at all. Seemed to be a fairly well-respected person of the community. But Heather's co-workers had something intriguing to report.

They told investigators that Heather called in sick to work on Sunday, which was the night after Sessions had supposedly gone to her home. And she seemed out of sorts on Monday. Those are significant dates. Heather was out sick the day after Scott Sessions disappeared, and she was upset at work the day police found his body. Just as Donnie was hearing about this from other detectives, the surveillance he placed on Heather Ann Eastman did turn up some really bizarre clues. We saw them numerous times traveling together and traveling separately from her house. She went to work, and then one day they were traveling together,

and they basically were on a shopping spree. It appeared that they had probably been in a somewhat volatile relationship. It didn't appear that either one of them were in any kind of distress from being around each other. Their phone records told a story that heightened investigators' suspicion that one or both of them had something to do with the murder of Scott Sessions. We were able to track them the morning of the homicide from Heather Frank's residence to the mouth of the Poudre Canyon. And Poudre Canyon is the route you have to take

to get to Pingree Park where the body was dumped. It stopped there because that's where cell phone service stops. Three hours later, they show up at the mouth of the Poudre Canyon when the phone reconnects. And we were able to track them back to her house from there. So a pretty good indication that both of their phones had been in the area where the body had been dumped. You know, Scott, even just hearing about their phones and where they were, there are various possibilities. Yeah. So this is obviously a big red flag, I'm sure, for both of us. You do have two people that are connected to your victim and both individually carrying cell phones located in the very area where Scott Sessions' body was dumped.

Now, I always get really excited about phone cell data as evidence. But I also recognize, Anastasia, that the fact is that it's very possible that one of the subjects may have been carrying both phones. So while it's a great lead, there's more work to be done. Yeah, and people also might be saying, well, wait a second, wasn't there an arrest warrant out there for him? So what are police doing? But remember, they are investigating a homicide. They're keeping close tabs on these two. So they are watching, waiting, hoping to gather evidence in Scott's murder while still also keeping track of where they are and what's going on while they continue their investigation. And there is also some history that indicated that Heather may have had a reason to be afraid

of Eastman. So, you know, at this point, the arrest wasn't made for the warrant that was outstanding. So there's a lot to untangle here. And again, there's various possibilities. Neither of them may have done this, right? But it doesn't seem to be pointing in that direction. Is it one or both? And if she had filed a report against him in the

past, why is she now with him? And they seem to be fine. There doesn't seem to be tension between them. But unfortunately, Scott, as we know, in relationships that are abusive, there can be this unfortunate cycle that even after abuse, whether it is control or physical, that the survivor remains in the relationship but goes back in. So as you said before, it's really too tangled at this point and there's too many unknowns to really figure out the what is going on or what happened. And while it's too early to tell, like even if it's an abusive relationship, again, is this some sort of scheme? You know, did they together want to kill him for the money? Like is it one or both?

Is it jealousy? Is it some sort of grift? You know, who knows? But Donnie and his team were wondering the same thing. It appeared that both of them had some culpability in the homicide. That was the discussion we were having. They obviously, more than likely, based off their cell phones, had dumped the body together. Donnie began to suspect one or both of them in Scott's death. But what he was missing was any hard evidence to prove it. We sent a team out to do a video canvas of that area. And there's a hard-end grill about halfway up the Poudre Canyon. And they had very good external video surveillance.

And we were able to pick Kevin Eastman's vehicle, traveling both eastbound and westbound from the area. But we could not tell how many occupants or who was in the vehicle. Even more than the cell phone records, it was the security footage that placed Kevin's car even closer to the area where Scott's body was discovered. And that would prove to be a key piece of the puzzle. Seven days after Scott Sessions went missing, Donnie discussed the case with the local prosecutors

and from there decided to draft a search warrant for Heather's house, an arrest warrant for Kevin Eastman, and one for Heather Frank, too. It definitely led to the setup being a motive more than anything. But as they got ready to execute their warrants, things got even less clear and more puzzling. Late Saturday, as we're getting them finalized and make sure the DA has everything, we observed that Heather and Kevin Eastman

had came out of the residence and had entered into Eastman's vehicle. The tracker placed them going to a small town to the east of Greeley, very rural, called Kersey. Went to basically a farm out there, which was strange. We had never seen either one of them go that direction or in that area, and we could not find any connection with the property that they were on. Donnie decided to drive to the farm to see what Eastman and Heather Frank were up to

in such a remote location in the middle of the night. By the time I got out there, it was dark and basically couldn't see anything. I couldn't see his vehicle, although I knew it was on the property based off the tracker. The arrest warrants were at the judge about that time. It's probably 10 o'clock. We made the decision that we would execute the arrest warrants and search warrants the next morning at her house. Donnie left the area and headed out to prepare for executing the warrants in the morning.

But in the light of the next day, it was news of suspicious activity regarding Eastman's car that got their first attention. It had moved a couple of times during the night. I had observed it move to the Platte River. I had some concerns that maybe they were trying to get rid of evidence in that area, maybe throw it in the night. I had observed it move to the Platte River. I had some concerns that maybe they were trying to get rid of evidence in that area, maybe throw it in the river. Instantly, Donnie started driving to the Platte River area while the rest of his team prepped for the arrest and the search warrants. It was probably around 8.30, 9 o'clock. I got into the area. As I was getting into the area, I noticed smoke coming from the farm that both

Kevin Eastman and Heather Frank had been on the night before. I diverted to the farm area to see what was going on there. I'm out there by myself and I was able to identify as Kevin Eastman standing next to, for lack of a better word, a fire pit, actively burning something. I start making phone calls and radio calls to get people spun up so we can prevent the loss of potential evidence. After establishing Eastman's location but not seeing Heather anywhere, Donnie headed for the Platte River himself to see if the couple dumped evidence there the previous night. Probably going 10 minutes, 15 minutes, didn't see anything, Aaron. On his way back to the farm, Donnie made an abrupt U-turn. I met Kevin Eastman driving his vehicle going the opposite way. So I began to conduct

one-man surveillance on him. I was in an unmarked vehicle. I followed him to the town of Kersey itself, where he pulled into a gas station and had exited his vehicle and was trying to pump gas into a small five-gallon gas can. Donnie knew that an accelerant like gasoline had been used to burn Scott Sessions' body. My concerns of losing potential evidence was out the roof at this point. My belief was he was coming to get more gas so he could feed that fire to make it destroy the remainder of the evidence there. I made the decision that I wasn't going to allow this to go on any longer.

Alone, and knowing that backup was nearly 45 minutes away, Donnie got out of his car and went towards his main suspect and deeper into a twisted case of love and hate. One week after Scott Sessions had been found murdered, Larimer County Lieutenant Donnie Robbins tracked his prime suspect, Kevin Eastman, to a rural gas station. Donnie believed Eastman was filling a can with gasoline to take back to the mysterious farm, where he'd just seen Eastman tending a burn pit. By this point, Donnie had seen enough. I had a perfect opportunity to attempt to take him in custody. Got out of my vehicle and began to give him commands.

He had a look of shock on his face, but he was compliant with commands. And I ended up taking him to custody without incident. One of the things I did ask him was where Heather was. And he told me he didn't know, which I knew was a lie. Eastman was taken to the Larimer County Sheriff's Office for an interview. A team remained behind at the farm to search the grounds and nearby Pawnee National Grasslands for evidence or signs of Heather Frank. While that search was going on, back in Larimer County, two investigators interviewed Kevin Eastman. Eastman appeared relaxed and cooperative at first. You understand that you don't have to talk to us right now? Yeah. And after explaining

that, do you still want to talk with us? Yeah, sure. Kevin told investigators that he had an on-again, off-again relationship with Heather Frank. They often stayed together at her house, except for the numerous times she kicked him out during an argument. When that happened, according to Eastman, he went to stay at the farm. The same farm where Donnie observed Eastman stoking a burn pit earlier that day. The farm was owned by a friend of Kevin's. So the two investigators questioned Eastman about Heather's whereabouts. So when was the last time you actually saw Heather? It was yesterday.

I still love her with all my heart. And we're trying to work it out. Eastman claimed that he believed that Heather was actually working at the diner as they spoke While they had him in the interview room Investigators tried to put together a timeline of events during the week Scott Sessions was murdered They started by asking Kevin about the day Scott disappeared When you said that she had a date Right

Tell me more about that So when you showed up to Heather's house You said that she had a date. Right. Tell me more about that. So when you showed up to Heather's house and she said that she had a date, was the date already there? Or was the date coming? Um, I don't know. She kept me on the outside of the screen. She just said she had a date and she didn't want to see me that night, so go ahead and leave. The detectives knew exactly who Heather had planned to see that night.

She had invited Scott to her home through online messaging. If Eastman was telling the truth that Heather rejected him, what were the chances Scott was already there, inside her home? And how would that rejection have affected Eastman? I was really hoping that it wouldn't went different. What wouldn't went different? That she would let me come in and shower. It would have been

like it used to be between us, you know? Although that's really emotional. I mean, yeah, I didn't want to live no more. You know? Is that because you're jealous of the lifestyle that she has? No. No, it's because she doesn't want me. You want somebody that cares for you.

Yeah. I told her I don't understand how she can say that she loves me when she does what she does. But I'm just wired different. If I love somebody, I can't go excuse somebody else. But it didn't seem to make any difference to her. So listening to him, Scott, here, you know, he sounds like a broken-hearted man. But at the same time, he's being interviewed by detectives.

So, you know, is this legit or is he doing this, putting his best foot forward to gain favor with them? You know, there really is multiple possibilities. I mean, if we're just looking at it, the three important factors in a standard homicide investigation, and I see, again, which you know,

which is motive, means, and opportunity, you have a significant other here who may have been rejected by the other. And when it comes to a potential motive, yeah, that checks that box. And as an investigator, you're trying to circle around those three factors, motive, means, and opportunity,

within your questions. And I do believe those three boxes were being checked right here and now. And I also just think it's interesting that so early on, that he is going to put this all out there to them. You know, oh my gosh, like she's so different than me. If I love somebody and I love her, I would never be doing the things that she does with

other people. I don't know. That goes to someone who is very quickly putting out that they are less than thrilled with what he sees as her slight to him. Let's also remember that he already has a violent history with Heather. There's an active warrant for beating Heather in Denver. And I think that absolutely factors into the impression of his behavior in the room, that someone sitting across from you as an investigator is capable of violence. And I'm just to play devil's advocate here, I'm going to throw something

totally sideways for a moment, because just on you know, investigators have to look at things from every way. So could it be Heather maybe for some reason who committed a crime and that it's Eastman who's helping her get rid of evidence because of his love and or infatuation for her? You know, at this point for investigators, really anything's still possible. Yeah. I mean, they're following the evidence, but they're trying to gain as much information. And always, and this is so important in these types of interrogations and interviews, is keep the person talking. If you approach them too quickly, too soon, and try to make that turn to make them feel uncomfortable, they may just shut down. And detectives did just that. They played to Eastman's emotions

to try and uncover the truth. Saturday night, you, Heather, and Scott were at Heather's house for an extended period of time. We know that as fact.

Until Sunday morning. Kevin, I'm thinking that what happened was there was some sort of conflict between him and her and you wanted to protect her and things went wrong. Things went bad. You can tell us. We're not going to be mad at you. I don't remember seeing anybody when I was there. Kevin, are you covering for Heather? Did Heather do something? Was Heather defending herself against this guy? You went over there.

She freaked out. There was a mess. And being the devoted partner you are to her... You helped her, didn't you? You cleaned up Heather's mess. Because you are devoted to her. You will do anything to help her when she's in a jam.

She doesn't respect you, but you will respect her. You will do anything to help her get out of a mess, right? I love her a lot. Eastman repeatedly denied seeing or even hearing of Scott Sessions. And throughout the interview, he maintained that he had a memory problem and was under psychiatric care and could not recall anything else about Saturday night. In fact, he even said something may have happened, but, quote, I could be blocking it out.

And as he continued speaking, slowly Eastman's story began to change. Okay, she told me that she told him no and he just kept going and that he raped her. And I feel bad speaking ill of the dead, right? That's not very polite. And here's the thing. Where did we find Scott? You said that you didn't want to speak ill of the dead. I told you that he was a missing person.

You said that you didn't want to speak ill of the dead. So Eastman isn't admitting a crime by him or Heather, but he is now saying that Scott Sessions did something to Heather, almost as if he's starting to set up a self-defense claim for one or both of them eventually. But while Eastman kept changing his story and possibly lying, investigators kept pushing forward with their case. Don't forget that Donnie had tracked Eastman driving around the night before.

From there, he sent a team to Pawnee National Grasslands to look for evidence while he stayed behind. What he found would change this investigation and Donnie Robbins' mindset forever. While that was going on, we located another body on the property next to the burn pit underneath a pile of wood. It was wrapped in plastic, similar to what Scott Sessions had been wrapped in,

and appeared to be a female. Inside of a sheriff's office interrogation room, investigators were listening to Eastman's repeated denials when, miles away, Lieutenant Donnie Robbins' team made a horrible discovery. On the very same piece of land where Donnie had found Eastman tending a burn pit just a few hours earlier. Not far from the ashes, investigators found a body hidden beneath planks of wood, burned and wrapped in plastic, secured with wire and duct tape. It was eerily similar to the way Scott Sessions' body was dumped just a few days earlier. Investigators could see that the body was that of a woman, and it didn't take long to make an identification. It was Heather Frank. Heather had been shot twice in the chest. And remember, investigators were still in the room with Eastman when Heather's body was found.

Their strategy of putting their suspect at ease had just entered its third exhausting hour. Heather puts you in this position. You're not the bad guy. I don't want to hear it. Okay, you're the victim here. When investigators got the call telling them that Heather's body had been found, beyond the obvious horror, it also presented investigative opportunity. As they sat with him now, would this new information finally get him to tell the truth?

This next piece of audio is investigators coming back into the interview room after learning about the discovery of Heather Frank's body. I'm going to move over here. So I'm going to be able to see. I know you guys are probably tired and frustrated, and I'm sorry I can't answer your questions any better. At this point, law enforcement was convinced that Eastman was involved with not only one, but both murders, so they decided to confront him head on.

Heather's dead. Okay, if you gave your word to Heather, that doesn't matter. She's no longer around. Don't say that. You guys, that's mean. You can't sit down and sit like that. You're trying to make me talk, all right? That's not fucking fair. Fair. Except, instead of talking, Eastman broke down.

And honestly, I don't think this was unexpected by investigators. I mean, this was a pure opportunity for investigators to be completely honed in on Eastman's reaction. Could it be in his eyes, in his shoulders? The jig is up here, right? They wanted to know, is this the very moment, an opportunity for Eastman and Anasig to confess to everything? You know, we talk about him breaking down and crying, which, you know, it's not uncommon to see this in an interview. I mean, you know, as you know, Scott, certainly in a circumstance like this, when there is this relationship aspect that they suspect being the motive, you know, yes. Is he crying because now this object of his obsession, at least from how it appears, is gone, even if it's at his own hands?

Or is he just crying for himself because he knows he's been caught? And the skeptic in me is clearly pointing that way right now. But you know, in the end, Scott, whatever his words, his tears, they are, there's still all this other evidence that investigators are accumulating against him and putting together right now. And one of the first places they're going to go from there is executing the search warrant for Heather's condo. I mean, they ended up carrying it out that same day later in the afternoon. And when they were there, they were met with a lot more than they expected. The floor was soaked with blood right at the entranceway. We went down to the plywood, actually removed the plywood from the flooring,

which the blood is soaked into. We also found some cast-off blood on some of the furniture and other pieces of the wall. So by this point, Donnie had two victims, one suspect, and now at least one actual crime scene. And when I say crime scene, I'm referring to the place where the actual murder likely occurred.

So we deducted, and this is speculation to some point, that as soon as Scott Sessions arrived at Heather Frank's residence, that he was attacked by Eastman and killed at the doorway. Kevin Eastman was formally charged with two counts of first-degree murder

and two counts of tampering with a deceased body and tampering with evidence. For the abuse Heather endured at Eastman's hands in Denver, a domestic violence sentencing enhancer was also added to the charges. Eastman's claims that he was incompetent to go to trial was denied. It was mainly circumstantial, putting him at both death scenes, putting him transporting the body of Scott Sessions from Heather Frank's property up to the dump site in Pingree Park.

Obviously, seeing him standing next to the burn pit where Heather Frank's was found 10 yards away. Multiple cell phone reports provided direct evidence linking Eastman to Scott and Heather's locations throughout their final days. Arguing that Eastman killed Scott Sessions in a jealous rage, the prosecution concluded that he killed Heather to keep her quiet. After a three-week-long trial in Greeley, Kevin Eastman was found guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, plus 27 years without the possibility of parole for murdering Scott Sessions and Heather Frank.

During Donnie's conversation with Anasiga, she asked the question we've all been wanting to ask. Did Heather have any hand in the murder of Scott Sessions or was she being completely controlled by Eastman? Our belief after everything was compiled that Heather Franks wasn't involved with either homicide as far as actually partaking in it, not that we think she was probably forced into assisting in covering up the murder of Scott Sessions. With Eastman and her relationship, he was pretty domineering. She was afraid of him. It was probably Kevin Eastman that was actually typing the message using Heather Frank's Facebook Messenger to lure Scott Sessions over to the property. When Donnie found Eastman at the gas station filling the can, presumably so he could burn

more evidence, he also observed that Eastman had a lot of cash on him. So Donnie might have grabbed him just before Eastman was about to run. But there's a darker side of how things came together during the investigation. Could Heather Frank's life have been saved had things gone a little differently? It's something Donnie has thought about a lot. It's frustrating. If we would have been one day earlier of getting the arrest warrants, if we'd have gotten probably 12 hours earlier, we would have got them both in custody safely,

and she would probably still be alive. This is the kind of hindsight that undoubtedly keeps members of law enforcement up at night. Our job is to protect people, or try to anyway. And the fact that we couldn't in this case, that's one I'll think about for a long time. It's a chilly phrase. If I can't have you, no one will.

It's tied to many domestic violence homicides. It often reveals the deeply rooted possessiveness and control that can drive a domestic partner to murder. In these cases, the individual may view their partner not as an independent person, but as something they own, fueling an obsessive need to control their fate. When they feel that control slipping, whether through separation, infidelity, rejection, it can trigger a violent, deadly response. For these individuals, the loss of power becomes intolerable, leading them to believe that ending their partner's life

is the only way to maintain control, even in death. So much tragedy and violence in this case, Scott Sessions, an innocent, likely had no idea the violent web he was entering when he went to Heather's home. Heather Frank, an on-again, off-again relationship that was tumultuous, violent, and clearly obsessive. Eastman controlled her, and then he killed her. For law enforcement, the hindsight reflections are also painful. Could they have stopped Kevin Eastman before it was too late for Heather Frank?

They are natural thoughts that most of us would have, but what happened to Heather Frank rests on one man's shoulders alone, Kevin Eastman. Police worked to try and solve one murder as quickly and thoroughly as they could. Heather Frank's murder in the midst of that investigation, obviously horrible. But there doesn't seem to be any signs that would have predicted that what Eastman did to her in the middle of that night was about to come. The music made by Scott Sessions in his lifetime with his trumpet was a thing of beauty and skill. It made people smile, including Heather Frank. And that is how we should remember them both.

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 Frosetti Media. Ashley Flowers is executive producer. This episode was written and produced by Walker Lamond.

Researched by Kate Cooper. Edited by Ali Sirwa, Megan Hayward, and Philjean Grande. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? No!