Blind Plea - Someone is Lying

Episode Date: May 17, 2023

Episode two: No one disputes that Deven shot and killed John. But beyond that, the stories of what happened that night didn’t align. Someone was lying. The question is who: was it Deven, John or… the other woman John was dating? Resources: If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, use a safe computer and contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at www.thehotline.org or call 1-800-799-7233. You can also search for a local domestic violence shelter at www.domesticshelters.org/. If you have experienced sexual assault and need support, visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) at www.rainn.org or call 1-800-656-HOPE Have questions about consent? Take a look at this guide from RAINN at www.rainn.org/articles/what-is-consent  Learn more about criminalized survival at https://survivedandpunished.org/  This series is created with Evoke Media, a woman-founded company devoted to harnessing the power of storytelling to drive social change. To learn more, visit weareevokemedia.com. This series is presented by Marguerite Casey Foundation. MCF supports leaders who work to shift the balance of power in their communities toward working people and families, and who have the vision and capacity for building a truly representative economy. Learn more at caseygrants.org or visit on social media @caseygrants. Follow host Liz Flock on Twitter @lizflock. For more stories of women and self-defense, check out her book “The Furies” from Harper Books, available for pre-order now. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-furies-elizabeth-flock Interested in bonus content and behind the scenes material? Subscribe to Lemonada Premium right now in the Apple Podcasts app by clicking on our podcast logo and the "subscribe” button. Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Lemon out. This show contains violent content and scenes of domestic abuse. Clear, please. Clear, shall we know one? I got Miss Gray on the line. She's one of I think. She shot her boyfriend in the head. Okay. Miss Gray.

Yes, I'm here. Okay, people's clear, okay? Okay. Okay, mail. here. Okay, just be clear, okay? You think like context, I think I'm one man, 200 feet. Okay, me. Okay. Yes. Okay.

Um, you're calling about your boyfriend and you? Yes, him and I just had a huge fight. He beat me up. He pointed at me and he was shooting like just shooting everywhere in the house. I took the gun away from him and I did shoot him and I'm pretty sure he's dead. And I need someone to come and like fix it, like figure out my story and everything else. We're back in the early morning of December 12, 2017. It's nearly 3 a.m. Devon Gray is 25 and she's covered in bruises.

Her ear is bloodied and she has facial fractures. She's on the phone with a 911 operator in Caliara. I just want the cops to come so they can see that this was self-defense and I did not just like pre-meditate this because he's been beating me up all night. We've both been drinking and this is I just I just need the cops to come. That's why I called 911. The operator asked for Devon's address but she's not sure. She's in a lot of pain and she's been drinking.

But finally, Devon gets it together and says where they live along the highway. She also confirms that she's secured the pistol. Where is your boyfriend right now? He's laying down on the bed. And I think I'm pretty sure I killed him. I know I shot him, so I'm pretty sure he's dead right now. Okay, so he's your boyfriend on the bed. Where is that?

It's in the living room. We live in a sea matroller. When they get here they'll see what I'm talking about. All they have to do is walk straight up towards the power lines and they'll see a team of trailer. But when the police arrive about 15 minutes later, they don't see what she's talking about, at least not right away. They have trouble finding the trailer. Because even though they're right off the highway, it's not visible with all the trees and wild overgrowth. I've driven by myself and you'd never know anything was back there

Do you want me to just go down there and like wave to them? You can go that's how if you can go outside of the trailer and flag down the officer Just make sure you don't have any guns or anything. Are you on a cell phone right now? Yes, I am okay carry the phone with you and talk to me while you're doing it, okay? It's freezing outside. Devon gathers her shoes and coat while she waits for the police to locate them. The cops say that? You see the office?

Yeah, I see the... I see the flashlights. I'm gonna come... I'm gonna go down there right now. Tell them not to leave. I'm gonna have to bring my daughter down with me. I understand that's fine. You're bringing your three, right? Yeah, all are bringing your three, all. Before calling 911, Devon says she went to wake up her daughter in the little bedroom where she slept, wrapping her up in a blanket.

Later, Devon explained to me that her daughter was so used to fights between her and John that she'd adapted to sleep through it all including that night. Allers walking out, she buys, she sees a patrol vehicle. With her daughter and tow Devon steps out into the night. The pit bulls are tied up outside, barking. The property is like a maze for the officers, with random structures and abandoned vehicles everywhere. But eventually, they find each other.

My boyfriend keeps a shite on me and I shot him, and I'll show you where to head to see your ears though. He says fill it in. The police officer immediately notices Devin's injuries, because they are not small. I saw them in the crime scene photos later, and they're really upsetting to look at. Her face was swollen, and she was bleeding from one ear. By pistol whip, she means John used the pistol like a blunt force weapon on her. Listening to the 911 call, that was probably my first clue that there's probably something

more to this. That's Collier Police Sergeant Mike Melhoff. He was assigned as the lead investigator on Devon's case. And that 911 call you just heard, that was his first introduction to Devon. And then her demeanor, just talking to her in person. I mean, you could tell. See, you know, to me, I felt like she killed John and called blood. It was just, she was way too calm.

So did you consider this like an open-and-shot kill? Yeah, this was probably one of the easiest ones I've worked. She's admitting to shooting them. She's, you know, everything that, you know, made our case. I mean, I didn't have to put a whole lot into it. I mean, she admitted to everything. This is Blind Plea. I'm Liz Flach.

In all of our lives, there are crossroads, moments that lead us far from where we were before. Moving to a new town, the birth of a child. For Devon, those moments led up to December 12, 2017. Or maybe it was just John that led her there. She once told me, my only mistake was falling in love with a monster. That December night changed everything. For her and for so many others whose lives were intertwined with hers and John's, the ripple effects were profound, and each person has their own version of what they think went down in that small trailer.

In the retellings of what happened, some stories align, some contradict, and at least one person appears to be lying. He said it was okay. He said it was okay, but he said he would if I wanted him to. And I told him it's up to him and he doesn't want to. I'm sitting in the Collier Police Department with my audio engineer, Andy, nearly five years after that night in December.

I'm talking to the Collier Chief of Police. He's Sergeant Melhoff's boss. Melhoff, who you heard earlier, was the lead investigator on Devin's case. I just want to be able to assuage this concern. I was starting to get the wrong idea of what I'm trying to ask him, which is not. No, he knows that. Melhoff didn't want to talk to me at first.

The police chief really didn't want him to. I told you she was very persuasive. I'm laughing a lot, doing my best to be charming and to persuade them to talk to me. And finally, they agree. As Melhoff settles into his chair, we make small talk. What do you have in the water? It's vanilla, vanilla orange. It tastes like grain sugar.

These days, Melhoff is no longer taking on cases. In fact, Devins was the last homicide case he worked. Now, he mostly writes grants. But back in December 2017, Melhoff could be thrown into a case at any time. So what, do you remember, it could just take us back to that night? Like, do you remember when you heard about it

or got the call? Yeah, it was late at night. I remember getting woke, you know, I got called, got woke up. It was told that we had a homicide that I needed to come in and start dealing with. And I thought, Melhoff told me homicides aren't common in Calirah.

He'd been the lead investigator on just one before this. So Melhoff set out to familiarize himself with Devon's case. The first step he took was listening to that 911 call you just heard. And like he said before, he was put off by his initial impression of Devon. You can tell there was no empathy or there was no emotion on the part of the victim. Well, I say victim on the part of the shooter which was definitely great.

It just something didn't sound right about it. Notice how he calls her the victim here, before catching himself. In the criminal legal system, you have to be one or the other, victim or perpetrator. But it seems like even Melhoff knows it's not always that simple. As Melhoff and I talk, I'm perplexed as to why he was so certain that Devon had no empathy or emotion. I've listened to a lot of 911 calls from women, and I've talked to a lot of detectives.

And one thing I've noticed is that women get criticized no matter how they sound. They're too calm or they're too hysterical. The thing is, in abnormal situations, people behave in abnormal ways. Even though she was bleeding and bruised, Devon was cooperative on the phone. She offered to flag down the officers. She was gentle and patient with her daughter. But Malfolf doesn't see Devon's demeanor this way.

He sees it as a red flag. So that was his impression when he arrived at the crime scene. By then, it was nearly 4 a.m. Patrol sergeants had already marked off the property. Can you describe anything that you remember, like just even what you were feeling when you showed up there? Well, I mean, it was, I don't know how to say this respectfully. It was just a rundown nasty trailer.

It's not a trailer like you think of a double wide or anything like that. It was literally a travel trailer they were living in. So it didn't even have proper utilities attached to it. As soon as you walk into the trailer, you're in the kitchen. Just off to the kitchen, you got what I would call a living room slash bedroom area. That bedroom is where Devon's daughter slept,

her three-year-old, who is now in custody of Alabama's child protective services. I remember Devon, they had her in one of the patrol cars and took her to the hospital just because she did have dry blood inside one of her ears. Devon was discharged from Shelby Baptist Medical Center around 11 a.m. and then straight from the hospital, Kaleera PD escorted her to the police department for an interrogation. Hey Devon, I don't no, we've been introduced yet.

My name is Mike Mellaw. You're Devon Gray? Is that right? What's your full name, Devon? Devon Gray. Devon Green Gray. Okay. Before we get started, I just want to get some basic information from you.

You're hearing a recording we obtained from a video camera in the interrogation room. The room is small, with gray padded walls, two chairs and a desk. Devon at nearly six feet tall looks tiny sitting in the corner, one elbow leaning on the desk. She is hardly slept in the past 24 hours, and she doesn't have a lawyer. Melhoff sits in the other chair across from her and reads her, her Miranda writes. It's in the other chair across from her and reads are her Miranda rights You understand this okay. You have any questions? We're gonna get into the nitty gritty of what happened that day and night

How things escalated and what led to John's death As Melhoff interviews Devon he sets out to establish a timeline starting with the previous morning Monday December 11th What did you do when you first woke up? Made breakfast for my daughter and for us and watch TV. Okay. And so you woke up, you made breakfast for your daughter. Do you remember what you made? We had pancakes and cheese bananas and eggs.

As Devon was making breakfast for the trailer, she says John was outside on the property, repairing a camper with his friend Brandon Riff. How long has he been a, no one branded? Maybe a year. OK, but you don't know Brandon's last name? No, because I wasn't like allowed to know or be a part of that, like, especially around men.

He didn't really want me to hang out and be around other men. So I don't really know this guy. You can hear the emotion in her voice. Devon said those years of isolation, abuse, and John's paranoid jealousy had broken her down. Devon tells Melhoff that after a while, John and Brandon left and Brandon's car to run a few errands, to get an air compressor hose for the camper

and to pick up some groceries. The man also stopped by the house of a woman named Alexis Bernstein. The other woman, John, was dating. It was in a secret relationship. Devon knew about Alexis and accepted that John had a girlfriend on the side. Because John had become so abusive when he was home,

Devon was actually glad that he'd started spending more time at Alexis's place. Alexis was a newcomer to the area. A 20-year-old woman, John, once described as, quote, the big but girl from Montevallo, which is a nearby town. How long has he been? Saker? I couldn't tell you.

I just found out that he was with her, looking so I couldn't tell you. And when did you find that out? About a month ago, he told me. Another woman in the picture. This catches Melhoff's attention. It's a whole new dimension to the case. An explanation may be for what happened.

Melhoff keeps this other woman in mind. And a quick note, John had actually been seeing Alexis for several months at this point. And in those months, Alexis and John had become progressively more serious. I asked Evan about this, and she said she miscalculated the timeline because she was in shock. That same day, after eating lunch at Alexis's place, John and Brandon came back to the trailer. I knew he was drunk, so I know I made him a sandwich, I made his friend a sandwich, so they

wouldn't, you know, maybe soak up some of the alcohol, and I, after that, they hung out for maybe another hour or so, and that's when he came in, and he kept drinking, kept drinking, kept drinking. Melhoff interviewed Brandon the same day he talked to Devon, and Brandon largely confirms what Devon is saying. You drank a little, not a lot. You're not in trouble for doing so. I'm just trying to establish some things.

Yeah, I mean, we drank a little bit. We were, we were all drinking. We drank in the body. Baga. Yeah, it wasn't. We weren't like, you know, to drunk to function or, you know, we just drank a couple of shots of peace. Later, John's blood alcohol level would show up as over a point two, over the legal limit

for driving. He also had hydrocodone and opioid in his system. That afternoon, John and Brandon chopped down trees on the property with chainsaws, and they fired off guns for fun. Around dusk, John and Brandon hopped back in the car for another errand. When they got back, they stopped by Henry's trailer. That's John's dad, who lives on the property. Here's part of Henry's interview with the cops.

He can't buy an ass meat for him to beer. When was that? That was right, right after dark. That was the last time Henry would see his son alive. Shortly after everything went down, Henry was called to the police station. Aunt Sheila drove him there while officers investigated the crime scene. So, sitting in the room with Henry, Melhoff wants to know, what did he make of John and

Devin's relationship? What about her? Tell me a little bit about her. Just... I don't know. What do you tell her? Pass it. Pass it. Okay. I just can't see her. She... Didn't seem like a tap. Henry tells Melhoff. I just can't see her shooting him. She didn't seem like the type.

You see, the relationship has been pretty violent though. Yeah. How often would you say that he's been violent with her? I don't know. I mean, you hear it, where they at now? Is that about a... The cabbages are close together? I hear her right there. Okay.

What could you hear when you heard that? I was raising a hell out of about one plane or another. I don't know. I just tried to tour it to you, but you know. Turn the TV up. That's what Henry said he did when his son abused Devon. After the beer run, John and Brandon hung out a bit more outside the trailer

before Brandon eventually left. Around 10 p.m., John and Devon both went to sleep before Devon says John slapped her awake. This is when things started to turn. And so when he first woke up, what happened? He asked where his phone was, and I told him that I didn't know. And he got really mad.

And at first he thought that he had just left it outside and he made me go outside and look for it. And when I couldn't find it, that's when he got really upset. The main thing was his phone, but then he started talking about me hanging out with friend in and he thought that I maybe was sleeping with him and it just spiraled out of control. Now, was he doing this because he thought you were sleeping with Brandon or because he lost his phone? All of it, like, he just... He got mad about his phone, but it turned into something like way more.

And he just got angry. He just took it out on me. Devon told me that was typical John. He could take something small and ramp it up into something dangerous. Because it could be anything at any time, Devon said she was always on edge. She told me John looked like he was possessed that night that he didn't see her as a person. But John's other girlfriend, Alexis,

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our life path and bring us to where we are today. My next choice, starting this new podcast with Lemonada Media, called Choice Words, where I interview people I admire about the biggest decisions they've made in their lives. Choice Words is out now, wherever you get your podcasts. Hey Alexis, how are you doing? wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, Alexis, how you doing? Good. I'm in law school, so like this is cold water. Yeah. Melhoff has called Alexis down to the station for questioning.

It's daytime now, several hours since the shooting. In the interrogation room, you can see she has a big smile on her face. She has no idea that John is dead. I'm going to the lawsuit. Two and a half years and almost three years. Okay, what you going on? It's not clear to me how a 20-year-old

could have been nearly three years into law school. I wasn't able to verify that fact. But the other thing that struck me about this interaction is Alexis Dominguez. She's laughing, she's chatty, casual even. She doesn't seem to understand why the police have called her for an interview. I mean does Devon know that you all were together? Yeah. And she's all right with that?

Yeah. Okay. Um, Melhoff seemed confused by the arrangement that Devon, John, and Alexis had. Devon called John her boyfriend in the 911 call, but she told Melhoff that John was seeing Alexis and that she knew about it. How does that work out? I'm just curious. I mean, are they boyfriend girlfriend or? Them? No, no, no.

They were together when him and I first started hanging out as friends and then they stopped being together and then him and I became together. At that point, John was seeing both Devon and Alexis, although he was increasingly spending more time away from home. Devon didn't like that John wasn't around for their daughter, but at the same time, when he was gone, she says that meant that he wasn't beating her.

So she accepted his relationship with Alexis. Okay. Can you tell me when the last time you talked to him once? Yes, sir. Melhoff still hasn't told Alexis that John is dead. He still wants to get more information from her. And you remember when you talked to him? I can look. Yeah, if you don't want.

Alexis scrolls through her call log. She says she made two calls to John in the early hours of that morning. The first at 12.33 AM and the final call at 123 AM. I know some of this is going to get personal, but I need you to try to be a detailed response one. I'll tell you why in a minute. What was the extent of Y'all's conversations?

I mean, him and Devon were arguing. Were they fighting at all? Not like that. She was just strong, and was complaining. He wanted me to come get him. I was like, I'm not driving that way. I was super tired. And then...

Okay, so pay close attention here. This is Alexis' story before knowing John is dead. Alexis says that Devon and John were verbally arguing. When Melhoff asks if they were fighting, she says, no, not like that. And then when you called me back that second time, when we talked for whatever the time was after 120, he just called and was like, whatever,

I'm going to sleep blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, from nothing like anything else like that, it was just typical, like, I'm going to to sleep he said it'll probably come over tomorrow today which was he said tomorrow which would be today but I haven't I haven't heard from him at all today I've been calling his phone his phone still off I texted her phone and called her phone and they're not answering so John said he was going to sleep that was it well I've got some very bad news. Jay was killed last night, but he was killed by Devin.

What? I know this is hard, and that's really- You're joking, right? No, I'm not joking. But that's the reason I couldn't talk to you on the phone about what I needed to do. You're kidding, right? No, I'm not. Get ahead, I'm sorry.

I truly am. Melhoff tries to hand Alexis a box of tissues, but she doesn't notice. She's got her head in her hands. Listen. Oh. Listen, Tommy. Look at me.

This is really important. It's really tough to listen to this interview with Alexis. I had to turn it off a few times because she's obviously in so much pain. She and John spent a lot of time together. He was like a father figured to her daughter, and they had all of these plans for the future. No, because she even said last night, and I put all my daughters' life by mom, that there would be where all the phone and I did a thing she would do in. And she wanted me to come get him.

Suddenly Alexis is telling a very different story, after she knows John is dead. She's saying that things were getting physical and that Devon was the aggressor. She was shooting the gun and then home through the ground and everything. the aggressor. So Devon was the one shooting up the place? When I heard Alexa say this, I had to stop and rewind the tape. Devon was quote, either going to shoot herself or quote, she was going to kill him. This is when I first started to realize that someone probably wasn't telling the truth. As I've been digging into this case for the last two and a half years, I've used every bit of evidence I could get my hands on to piece together a picture of what happened that night. Police interviews, the incident report, crime scene photos, court documents, medical files, social media, and 14,000 text messages.

I've looked through it all. And when I've traced the timeline of this night, there are only two people who could tell you what really went down. Devon and Alexis. But Devon was there, and Alexis was only on the phone. In his interview with Alexis, Melhoff takes her through the timeline that Devon laid out. Alexis and Devon both agree that around midnight, John woke up and he couldn't find his

phone. Let's go back to that moment with Devon. So maybe, maybe like 15, 20 minutes and so I'll try and find his phone. He called Alexis. Because John couldn't find his phone, he called her from Devon's phone. Alexis picked up. Then he started arguing, he was like, Devon, where is my phone at?

And she was like, I don't know, did it, did it, did it, did it, did it, flip it, like screaming. He was like, why are you talking to me like that? I'm just asking you for help. I'm just asking you questions. And he kept telling her, he was like, I don't understand why you're yelling.

Stop yelling. Like, she ended up going outside to look and see where his phone was. Devon says she did go outside to find his phone. He sent me out to go looking outside for it and I couldn't find it. And that's when he got it. He got like upset. John finds the charger at this point, but still no phone. Here's Alexis again. So he asked Devon again, he went inside, he was like Devon, could you possibly try to remember where my phone is? I just want to clarify that you're hearing this through phone conversation. Yes. Just because you're on the phone with it. Yeah. So you hear their conversations? Oh, yeah every time they thought he called me. So John and Devon were arguing. John was also talking to Alexis on Devon's phone,

and Alexis could supposedly overhear the fight. Here's what Devon remembers. After I voluntarily went outside to look for the phone, he then actually literally pushed me out the door and I fell. And that's why my, like that's why I have the bruises on my back from because I fell on the ground when he pushed me. Then he dragged me back in and then he just started smacking me all in my face. He punched me in my stomach.

It kicked me. Um. After a while. Um... After a while, he went and got to gun, and he started fusting shot. This is when their stories start to really diverge. Alexis tells Melhoff. Next thing I know, I hear gun gunshot and I freaked out and I said, Jay, what just happened? And Devon was in the background screaming like yelling, arguing to him, calling him a bunch of names, all the stuff, calling him fat, old, ugly, like all this shit that she always said.

According to Alexis, Devon was the one firing shots. John had recently taught Devon how to shoot a gun, though he was the far more experienced shooter. Alexis even claims one of the bullets went through the bedroom door where John and Devon's daughter was sleeping, even though Alexis wasn't there. He told me he was like, she's okay, she's okay,

just calm down Alexis, she's fine, she's fine, it's just Devon, it's just Devon. And he kept saying that and I was like, okay, but she's got a gun, she shouldn't do the fucking house. Like a little much. Devon says that she was hiding from John in the bathroom while he fired shots through the door. But here, Alexis claims Devon is the one who turned the gun

on the bathroom and shot at John. She started shooting through the bathroom door. With Devon? Yeah, and the bathroom, there's's a little wall next to the door. And she shot to that. And he started laughing. This bitch is really just shooting through the wall right now. But Devon says John shot through the wall.

I believe it was two or three times when he shot in the house and like the second or the third time it was like so close to my head like I had ringing in my ears because that's how close he tried to scare me or chew at me. A forensic psychologist would later write that Devon likely lived in a near constant state of fear of being seriously hurt or killed, and she wrote that Devon's accounts of this night were highly consistent with the crime scene evidence. Devon tells Melhoff John then began shooting through the bathroom door. She says bullets hit the toilet seat and floor, and water started pouring out of the toilet.

It was complete chaos. It's wild that Devon wasn't hit by a flying bullet in that small trailer. She explains. With all the shooting that Alexis says she was hearing on the other end of the phone, she or something, because our bathroom was cold like filled with water. I had to go outside. With all the shooting that Alexis says she was hearing on the other end of the phone, she didn't call the police or try to get help. Instead, she offered John some advice. She tells Mahaugh.

I said, just try to calm her down. I don't know. I said, just talk to her or even just get out, go outside, go ride the tractor around. I mean, that was his thing. He you know get stressed or something and he's hop on that big ass tractor and he don't run over stuff He stepped outside for a minute And then he said he's gonna call me back Meanwhile Devon says the horrific scene continued Devon tells Melhoff that John kept beating her, this time with the handgun.

This is corroborated by the injuries that sent her to the hospital. Fractures in her face, severe trigger, and he just like can't be with me, just like the front of it, the front end of that word of the issue. The back of my head, my ear, cause now my cheeks, and then like my neck right here. Police photos of Devon from that night

show these injuries. Like you heard earlier from John's dad, Henry. John was regularly rough with her and slung her around. When we called Henry, he didn't want to talk. But he told the forensics psychologist that his son was controlling and violent with Devon. That one Easter, he could hear John flinging her against the side of their trailer. And in text messages that police recovered from Devon's phone,

John acknowledges his abuse and even apologizes to Devon for it. Yet, Alexis insists otherwise. Just be honest with me, is he ever hit her? No. All my daughter's life, he's never put a hand on me, and I've never seen him put a hand on her. I've never seen him, like they've yelled and argued, and she'll get in his face, she'll push him,

she'll slam things on him, she'll throw things out of, but he has never lost his cool. Let me explain some things that we do now. Maybe you can help shed some light on that. She's got facial fractures. She's got some severe cuts on her. And she's claiming that they're from Jay. How would it get to that point?

If Jay was honestly beating her, I guarantee she probably would be knocked out or unconscious." Devon says she did become unconscious before John punched her back awake. Devon may have been tall, but she was no match for John. John was a big guy, 5'11 and 241 pounds. Devon says John hit her in the face, strangled her with both hands, and then flung her outside of the house a second time. She remembers sitting down on a slab outside to catch her breath, before John dragged her back inside.

At one point, Devon says John grabbed the compressor hose he bought earlier that day, and strangled her with it. All the while, she says, he continued to accuse her of sleeping with Brandon. Even though John was seeing someone else, Devon says he didn't like the idea of her getting with another guy. She says he was paranoid that she was, and that only fueled his jealousy. Things eventually became foggy for Devon, but you remember John calling Alexis again. Here's Alexis.

That second time we were on the phone, she said she was either going to shoot herself and blame Jay, or she was going to kill him and that free-tar baby that he gave her. This said Jay, it said, she's not going to shoot you. I said, just call I said, she's not going to shoot you. I said, just call me in the morning. Oh, come over and get you in. He said, you're going to call me when you woke up. And then he told me he loved me and got off the phone with me.

Devon denies saying any of this. She's adamant that she would never say those words about her daughter. And this accusation from Alexis is especially painful for Devon because her daughter is autistic. For what it's worth, I've never heard Devon use the R word. But Alexis says it a few times in her police interview in different contexts. After Alexis makes these allegations, her testimony about that night ends because after she and John hang up the phone,

he doesn't pick up again. Okay, so these are wildly different accounts, the kind of discrepancies that should set off alarm bells for any investigator. My instinct was that Alexis wasn't telling the truth. Or maybe John Hedden in his descriptions to Alexis over the phone. I was struck by how Alexis' story of that night changed once she learned John was dead. I brought it up to Malfolf during my chat with him to see if he noticed that too. Before she knew John was dead, she tells you you ask like, we're John and Devon fighting and she goes, no not really. And then as soon as

you told her John was dead, she was like actually Devon was shooting up the thing. So it seemed to me like it could have been the... Well, it wasn't like that either. I don't think she... I don't think I got that information until a few days later. No, it was the same interview because I watched the video, yeah. Was it what it's saying in the video? Yeah, again, it's been a while back. I don't... I'm not saying that she wasn't abused. She just wasn't abused that night. But, well, if the ear drum, let's assuming that that was inflicted by John.

And what about the bullets in the bathroom and stuff? The bullets in the bathroom. The bullet holes in the bathroom. Well, you know, she did there, right? How do we know that? Because that was the... You did read this whole case, right? I read everything, yeah.

So you read what the stuff I put in there by Alexa, her being on the phone with Alexa, and Alexa hearing the bullet shots. Yeah, but how do we know? Alexa's can't see on the phone, so that's what's confusing to me. Like, how does Alexa know who's shooting the gun? Because Devin was telling her,

if you don't come get him, I'm gonna kill him. But how do we know that Alexa's telling the truth? Well, you don't, but you just have to read people. And you know, maybe she did lie. You'll like this. Maybe she did, but I don't think so. I'm World Cup Champion Megan Klingenberg. Wondering who you should root for at the FIFA Women's World Cup? I'm hosting a new podcast, my new favorite Google EASTA, where I will introduce you to

soccer's brightest stars and the causes they are champions. From the 22-year-old American phenom, speaking out about student athlete mental health, I try to just like approach everything with like you don't know what someone's going through. To the US defender who travels to tournaments with her young son. Am I ever going to be able to run for five litigers straight? Check out my new favorite footballista, wherever you listen to podcasts. Hello, how you doing? I'm my president, host of the Warrzmah Mind podcast and the Lemon Adam Media Network. A podcast about how we can better take care of our heads in the

head-mouthing chaos of the modern world, and each week we'll be exploring the beauty and the beast that is our minds, so lend us your ears and see if we can help you make better sense of it all. And I'll be joined by some of the biggest global thinkers and leaders to discuss the end and out's ups and downs of the human condition, and looking forward to getting to know you. So after he'd hit you in the head, the back of the head with the gun, what happened then? Oh, he finally calmed down and he made himself more drinks. He took like two or three more shots and that's when he laid down.

He said he was going to kill me if I like, if I like, try to lay down next to him, where if he heard me breathing or if he thought I was using the phone, he was gonna kill me. Devon says John set the gun down and lay down on a stomach on their pull-out couch. He left the gun loaded, which Devon says he never did. Their three-year-old daughter, who depended on Devon, was fast asleep in the next room. Devon says she was sure that when John woke up, he was going to kill her, that she had no means to escape, so she picked up the gun.

And I took the gun and I shot him. I mean, I think I believe that I really felt like the next time you got up, you was going to take the gun. And it was going to kill me because... So I mean, we fight all the time, but something about what he was doing was different. Like, he wouldn't stop something inside of me. He just was like, I have to protect myself because I was really scared. And I never called the cops on him. I never go to the hospital for all of the lumps

and bumps and bruises, but just something inside me was different. So what happened this time that made a difference? He just wouldn't stop and I just saw that look in his eye. It was like death, like, deadly. And it was just different. I really felt like he was going to kill me the next time he got up. So I just did it.

Devon says five minutes passed since John laid down and she shot the gun. She and John had been together for six years. She knew him forward and backward better than anyone else. She knew what set him off. She knew how far he'd go before offering a half-hearted apology for abusing her. That's why Devon says she felt that night was so different. She says John wasn't following that usual playbook. Years later, Devon's story hasn't changed.

Even today, in an interview from prison, she remembers the terror she felt that night. I saw the girl and I saw him. That's how the girl and I saw him. that night. I don't know. I just saw the opportunity and I think that I just pulled the trigger. And that's when it was like, oh my god. It's just like this crazy feeling. I don't know. It wasn't relief, but it was like, I don't know. Relief has kind of a mess of word, but it just felt like there was like a way. Like this is like, oh my god,

like it's over. She could have walked right out the front door and he would have never been the wider. I mean, he was sleeping. You've got a way to escape. I mean, you literally have a gun in your hand. So even if she had felt threatened, had he woken up, you know, she wouldn't, there was no immediate threat at that time. The trailer had one door, so there weren't exactly many escape routes. If Devon and her kid did manage to escape the trailer, they'd have to navigate through the wild landscape

in total darkness. And Devon said John had always told her that if she left him, he'd come and find her, wherever she was. Research backs that up. A 2020 study of men who had killed their wives found the precipitating event was that the woman tried to leave or left.

So what would have had to be different to make the self defense like fighting back in the moment or? I mean, if it was something done in the heat of the moment, I mean that would certainly would have made a difference, but him sleeping, that's not, that's not self defense. It's not clear if John was sleeping or just lying down. We know that he was lying on a stomach, face down, his arms and legs spread wide. And the autopsy report shows that Devon shot him

in the back of the head. When I first learned that, I thought, wow, of course she got 15 years, given how narrowly the system views self-defense for abused women. Because no matter what state you're in, self-defense law requires the threat to be what a reasonable person would find imminent. It generally has to be in the heat of the moment, like Malhoff said, which makes it very hard

for domestic abuse survivors to win self-defense cases. But as the forensic psychologist writes in her report on Devon, it is not uncommon for women who kill their abusers to wait to act until their abuser has fallen asleep or is not in a position to kill them, because they feel as though it's their only opportunity to save their own lives. But Melhoff had a very different motive in mind by then for why Devon would have killed John. So you already weren't really considering itself to fence,

but then when Alexis came in and said that she was this other woman, like how did that change your investigation as well? Really, it gave motives to why Devon probably killed John. I mean, it just kind of bolstered, you know, I don't wanna say bolster, but it kinda gave merit to why she probably would have killed John, you know, at least gave him motives as to why.

Because he was living with both of me, was back and forth between two of them, so. And so he says, Devin killed John out of jealousy. It was because of the other woman, Alexis. Back in the interrogation room, it's sinking in for Devin that she's probably not going home anytime soon. And I like going to jail?

Yeah, you'll go to jail. Okay. Okay. But that doesn't negate anything that you told me tonight. I mean, like I said, I mean, this is just a formality thing. No, I just want to be prepared for what I have to do. Like, I figure it. I mean, I've killed somebody.

Like, I'm not thinking I'm just going to get to go home. I just want him to know. Devon is sitting in a booking cell in Shelby County Jail with no idea of what's coming next. Her daughter is in custody of Alabama's child protective services and Devon doesn't know when she'll see her again. Devon's also under mental health watch. The jail staff are monitoring her to ensure she won't die by suicide before they transfer her to a pod of other inmates. For six days, Devon sits in that cell,

sober, and alone, wondering what's going to happen to her. She said she felt like a dog in an SPCA commercial, staring out between the bars, hoping someone would help. She said none of it felt real. During that time, she is officially charged with murder, and her family starts to hear rumblings of what happened, that their girl is in jail 800 miles from home. They finally know where she is, but it's too late. It just hurts my heart. You know, that might go out of whiskey, that, you know? I'm a valedict.

Yeah, I'm a valedict. Before that night, before the fighting, before the baby, and before she stepped foot in Caliria, Alabama, Devin was a suburban girl who disappeared. Next time on Blind Plei, we go back in time with the Grey family to learn who Devon was to them, what happened when she went missing, and how everything went off the rails. I literally grieved her, because I thought she was dead for years. There's more Blind Plei with Lemonada Premium.

Subscribers get exclusive access to bonus content, like an interview with John Stead Henry and more excerpts from Devon's Detective Interview the night of the shooting. Subscribe now in Apple Podcasts. Blind Plei is a production of Lemonada Media. I'm your host, Liz Flock. This episode was produced by Hannah Boomerstein. Rachel Pilgrim is also our producer. Kristen Lapor is our senior producer.

Tony Williams is our associate producer. Story editing by Martina Abraham's Ilunga. Mix, music, and sound design by Andrea Christen's daughter with additional mixing and engineering from Ivan Kureyav. Naomi Bar is our fact checker. Jala Everett is our production intern. Jackie Danziger is our vice president of narrative content. Executive producers are Stephanie Widow's wax,

Jessica Cordova Kramer, evoke media, and Sabrina Mirage-Nayim. And myself Liz Flock. This series was co-created with evoke media and presented by Margaret Casey Foundation. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, use a safe computer and contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at thehotline.org, or call 1-800-799-7233. Help others find our show by leaving us

a rating and writing a review. Follow me at Liz Flach and for more stories of women and self-defense, check out my book, The Furies from Harper Books, available for preorder now. Find Lemonada at LemonadaMedia across all social platforms, and follow Blind Plea wherever you get your podcasts or listen ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime membership.

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