Cold Case Files - Death of a Deacon - A Wife's Mission

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

When a church deacon is found shot to death it looks like police may have stumbled upon a multi-party murder plot. And, a wife remains a key suspect in her husband’s murder case for six years, until she attempts to prove her own innocence.Boll & Branch: Go to BollandBranch.com/coldcasefiles and use code coldcasefiles to get 20% off your first order, plus free shipping!Earnin - Download Earnin on the App store or Google play and type in ColdCaseFiles under Podcast when you sign up!Hers: Start your free online visit at forhers.com/CCF for your personalized weight loss treatment options.Marathon - Join Marathon Rewards today and start earning rewards on every gallon of gas. Marathon, where fun runs on full!Progressive - Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.Rosetta Stone - Cold Case Files listeners can get Rosetta Stone’s lifetime membership for 50% off when you go to RosettaStone.com/coldcaseZenni -  Give those glasses a refresh! Go to Zenni.com/PODCAST and use code PODCAST15 for 15% off your first order!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. There are over 100,000 cold cases in America. Only 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories. Adam and telling him, this wasn't supposed to happen. You were just supposed to scare him. You're just supposed to tell him.

Don't mess with married women. You weren't supposed to kill him. In a San Bernardino interrogation room, police watch as a wife, talks to her husband. The topic of conversation is murder. I'll do this study. It's a story that begins almost 10 years earlier

with the end of a marriage. He took his ring off and he put it on the counter and I took mine off and put it on the counter. And we're just real quiet. It's 1992 in Rancho Cucamanga, California and Christine Perry's life is coming apart at the seams. Her husband, Phil Perry, a deacon at the scene, the local church is having an affair with a member of his congregation.

And now he wants a divorce. I laid down, and I couldn't even talk, and he just laid down next to me. There was a quiet resolution. It's over. It's done. It's done. Phil Perry leaves the house the next morning. The day after that, Christine discovers her husband has vanished, and she talks to the police. The question specifically was, do you know where your husband is? Does he all always tell you where he is. And I said, no, I don't always know.

And the officer said, okay. That was enough. He got the message. He understood that things weren't okay. Police generate a missing person's report. Then Christine finds a letter in the mailbox, supposedly from her husband. The content was just saying that he was going to be away for a while and could clear his head and he'd be okay.

And he'd check back later. He had signed it and in the bottom then it said, Phil Perry underneath. that Phil wouldn't be that formal with me. It just seemed too business-like. Even with the subject matter that was there, it was just a little bit too formal to be the way it was. Bob Emerson is a detective with the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department. He sits down with Christine and her son, Russell,

and talks about what might have happened to Phil Perry. When we first started, it was a missing person. He'll be back in a couple days. And then when the letters started coming in, and then the notification from San Diego was when it really turned hard that there was more to it than what we just thought it was a missing person.

The call from San Diego is about a body found south of the border. But back then it was, it's still days worth of work. This one right here in front of me is a picture of Mr. Perry's car parked along the sidewalk in the street, in the city of Tijuana.

Three days after Phil Perry is reported missing, Detective Emerson drives south to Tijuana. On a residential street, he finds an abandoned white Chrysler. In the back seat is the body of Phil Perry. It appeared from the evidence that he had actually been pushed down and the gun went off or shot him in the back as he was being pushed down. The entry wound was into his back and it exited through his cheek area as if it was shot in a downward air trajectory. This document is from the U.S. Customs. It's a border crossing. Emerson asks Customs to determine when Phil Perry's car crossed the border. He also requests that customs check on two people who might want Phil Perry dead,

his rumored lover Lisa Bragg and her husband, Carl. I had the license plates numbers of Mr. Perry's car, also the Bragg's two cars. I asked and requested that all three be run and the Jeep. It did come across the border on the date that I requested. According to customs, Carl Bragg's Jeep crossed the U.S.-Mexco border the day Phil Perry was reported missing. Emerson brings in Carl Bragg to ask him why. And then he asked me a bunch of questions about, you know, Phil Perry and Lisa and that I know about his murder and a disappearance. And at that time, I was saying, no, I didn't know nothing. Bragg's home in business are searched.

Emerson finds a stash of love letters written from Phil Perry to Lisa Bragg. Carl admits to finding the letters and confronting his deacon about them. Phil denied everything. Even when I told him I had the letters, he said, no, it's not what you think. It's a sisterly, brotherly love of Christ. It's not what you're thinking. You're thinking of the lust and the flesh. He says, and we got a spiritual love. Carl, however, reads something different in the letters. They mentioned that they were in a hotel room and they made love. It was in detailed.

I was angry. I was hurt. Mainly more hurt than angry, I was hurt because I trusted this man a lot. Philip Perry and I were very close friends. He was like a spiritual advisor for me. I could talk to him about anything. Emerson wants to charge Bragg with murder, but he has a problem. He had a bunch of alibis. Number one, he never been to Mexico and he's like,

life. Number two, he was busy that night. Carl can prove he was at a hospital with a sick child the night Perry disappeared. Carl Bragg, it appears, could not have killed Phil Perry, unless, of course, he had help. Right now we're behind the St. Joseph's Catholic Church in the city of Upland. This is where Mr. Perry was last seen after counseling session here in this building. Detective Emerson returns to the church parking lot where Phil Perry was last seen a lot. He recalls a story about a woman who claimed to have car trouble. An unknown female described as a short Hispanic female needed a pair of jumper cables. Mr. Perry retrieved the jumper cables, went with her.

She came back a short time later and delivered the jumper cables back. No one seemed to know the person. We asked the priest if he had ever seen her before. He stated that he had never seen her before, had no idea who she really was. Emerson wonders that the woman might have acted as Carl Bragg's accomplice and somehow helped to kidnap Perry. It's a theory that goes nowhere for more than a decade. What happened to my dad ate at me over the years. It just was eating me up inside. But what kept me going was hope that someday someone would have to pay for what they did.

Russ Perry was 18 at the time his father was killed. By 2001, he's 27. and the case is still cold. So I called the homicide unit in San Bernardino, and that's the first time I spoke to Sergeant Bobby Dean. This is the sheriff's homicide detail, and the investigators' offices are over on the side, and this is where they keep all the cold case files, or the unsolved files.

That year, Sergeant Bobby Dean of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department opens up the Perry case file and begins to read. One name immediately stands out. Carl Bragg was a member of Phil Perry's congregation and the husband of a woman rumored to be the deacon's lover. That makes Carl Bragg a person of interest once again. So definitely Carl was a suspect, but we knew from the investigation the detectives did in 1992

that Carl was alibied up. So we knew Carl wasn't actually involved in the kidnapped murder. We certainly suspected that he either paid or had someone kidnapped, Perry. Cold case detectives believe that someone might be a woman seen with Deacon Perry just before he disappeared. We knew that a lady had went to the church that night and asked for some jumper cable said her car broke down and Philip complied with that and helped her out. That was the last time we was seen. So who was that woman? It was a Hispanic female with dark hair, short, about 150 pounds

heavy set. And it matched Liz Meyer, putti. minor is Carl Bragg's step sister. Detectives decide to tap her phone and serve a search warrant at the minor's home. Liz's husband Robert opens the door to Sergeant Chris Elvert. We walked in and introduced ourselves to Robert. He immediately started chain smoking. And as we kept searching around the house, he kept on following us around. What are you guys looking for?

What are you doing? What's this? What's this about? And his big telling statement that I thought was critical in this case was, you guys looked at this in 92 and you put it away. Why are you back? Bob Miner is scared and makes the mistake detectives we're hoping for. He gets on the phone with his wife Liz.

We got the sheriff's department here. Why? That damn shit with Carl Joseph. You don't know nothing, right? Uh-uh. Don't be nervous all that they can detect things. All right, kiddle. Their demeanor and their attitude and their voice inflections,

You can tell the first phone call between Liz and Robert, Robert's stressed out. He knows the cops are on to him. They said that they want to talk to me more tomorrow, that you've talked to other people, and that still seem to tell them everything. Liz is starting to worry because she knows she has more involvement in the case, and Robert does her, so she's trying to obtain information from him. He's trying to tell her what's going on.

So there's a very strong dynamic going on there between them, and they're both worried, obviously. Robert Minor is taken downtown for an interview, and Liz follows shortly after. They are placed in separate rooms. One will eventually be let go, but the other will be charged with murder. How are you doing? Fine, how are you? You're Elizabeth Minor?

I'm sorry to Dean. My hands are still a little bit wet. Oh, I don't mind this. Cold case detective Bobby Dean doesn't waste a lot of time with Liz Minor. Liz, what do we know about the death of this deacon? Just what my husband told me. With that, Liz Miner begins to tell a story that places her husband on the road to Mexico, with Carl Bragg and a dead body.

What did Bob tell you that he did? He just said that he drove to T.J. with Carl, that Carl told him that if he took a ride with him, that he would disregard a debt that we had owed him. What did he tell you drove? He said he drove the Jeep. The Jeep? He drove the Jeep down to Mexico.

Right. With anybody in it? I believe he said Carl was in the change with him. I guess Carl wanted to go to Mexico to leave Deacon Phil with the car in Mexico. Is that what Bob told you? Well, that's, yeah. She tried to infer to us that the source of information was her husband, because her husband had given her that information.

When we suspected all along that she was the person that Lord Perry from the church so that she was directly involved in his kidnapping and the subsequent murder. And I yelled, I was, what did you go with Carl for? You know, what the f*** were you thinking? What did you do? And he said he felt scared and intimidated. You've seen my husband. He's of what? It was time to cut to the chase. You know, she could tell us everything that Bob won, Bob had told her.

We want to know directly what she knew and what she participated in in an attempt to roll her into a confession. Bob also tells us something about going to see Phil the night of the spirit. Okay. Because you wanted to confront Phil about why he was having to feel with Lisa. This isn't time to get truthful here, Hunt. This is where the hard questions are coming in. I've been doing this long time.

You're rolling the dice because she can, she's not in custody. She can say, hey, I'm leaving. Which would have been alright. She could have left. Or she could have said, I want an attorney and play that card. and play that card. So we're hoping that she feels enough motivation of pressure. Liz does feel the pressure and begins to give in.

As police suspected, she did meet Phil Perry on the night he vanished. According to Liz, it was Carl Bragg who pushed her into the meeting. He goes, I want to talk to him. He goes, I want to talk to him. I just want to talk to him. That's all I want to do. I just want to talk to him. I just want to tell him to leave my wife alone.

And that's what was supposed to happen. What did happen. I think a lot of us have tried learning a language at some point, maybe in school or right before a trip, and you pick up a few words, but then when it's time to actually have a conversation, it just doesn't quite come together. That's why Rosetta Stone's Sapphire caught my attention.

It's their new app, and it's built to help you move from knowing phrases to actually speaking with confidence about things you care about. Rosetta Stone, the trusted leader in language learning for over 30 years, just launched Rosetta Stone Sapphire, a new app that combines its proven immersion method with latest innovation in technology to help you learn faster, personalize your lessons, and have more fun along the way. What I like is that is not one-size-fits-all.

With Sapphire, you can focus on topics you'd actually talk about, travel, work, hobbies, so it feels way more relevant. I've been using their new chat missions, which lets you practice real-life conversations in a safe, interactive setting before you use your skills in the real world. Chat missions make learning feel like a game while giving you instant feedback on grammar, spelling, and sounding more natural. And because there's less pressure when I'm practicing,

it makes everything feel more personal because I can talk about things I'm interested in instead of the same old conversations you get on other apps. If you want to take your language skills to the next level, don't wait to try Rosetta Stone Sapphire. Cold Case Fowles listeners can get 20% off their Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription when they sign up today. You'll get unlimited access to all 25.

Rosetta Stone languages, plus all the new Sapphire Learning Tools. Visit rosettastone.com slash cold case to redeem your 20% off. That's Rosettastone.com slash cold case and start learning a language for real. Waiting is the worst. I mean truly, waiting on hold, waiting for emails, waiting for your own money to hit your account. It's terrible. And that last one really gets me. That's what Earnin fixes. Earnin is an app, not a bank, that gives you access to money you've already earned. You can get up to $150 a day and up to $1,000 between paychecks. And the structure actually makes sense. Tips are optional.

Standard transfers take one to two business days with no mandatory fees. And if you need it faster, expedited transfers are just a few dollars. I've definitely had moments where it felt like traditional banking just slowed everything down. Like you're doing everything right, but you're still stuck waiting. Earn-in flips that. It lets you move on your own timeline, whether that's covering a bill, handling something unexpected, or just not stressing while you wait for payday. And it's working.

Over 5 million people are already using it. It's one of those tools where time just feels a little different when you're not stuck waiting around. Download Earnin on the app store or Google Play. Spelled like Earning money without the G. Type in Cold Case Fowles under podcast when you sign up. It'll really help the show. Earnin is a financial technology company, not a bank.

Access limits are based on your earnings and risk factors. Standard cashouts take one to two business days with no mandatory fees. expedited transfers available for a fee. Tips are voluntary and do not affect the service. Available in select states, terms and restrictions apply. Visit earnin.com for full details. Okay, so my husband is constantly losing his glasses or scratching them and doing that thing where he insists they're still fine when they absolutely are not.

And replacing them somehow always turns into this whole production. Got to book an appointment, go in, spend way too much and then wait around. That's why Zenny Optical is such a relief. It's an online eyewear. shop. Prescription glasses, sunglasses, blue light lenses, all starting under $30.00. You just go to Zeni.com, pick your frames, upload your prescription, and they ship them right to your door. And I'm not kidding, the last time we priced glasses in store, it was around $300. Zeni was under 50. Truly shocking. But the bigger shift is once you have them, you stop treating glasses like this big, precious purchase.

You're not agonizing over one pair that has to do everything for the next two years. Now he has a pair he loves without scratches, a backup pair, and even a pair that's a little more fun. And the quality is fantastic. They're comfortable. They look great. And the virtual try-on made it really easy to choose. It just makes buying glasses simple. If your glasses are overdue for a refresh, now is the time. Go to zeni.com slash podcast and use code podcast 15 for 15% off your first order. The style sell out, so don't sit on it. That's z-en-n-i.com slash podcast promo code podcast 5.com.com.com. Hello and welcome to Pluto Fo. If you know the name of the movie you'd like to see,

just stream it for free on Pluto TV, where all your blockbuster favorites are landing all summer long. Catch Anchorman, the legend of Ron Burgundy. Fantastic. Men in Black, one through three. That's what I'm talking about. Mean girls. Shut up.

Titanic. I'm the key in the world. And so much more. For showtimes, press nothing. They're free 24-7. That is so fetch. On Pluto TV, stream now. Now, pay never.

But now it's time to tell the truth about what happened to Phil that night. Liz Miner's talk with police is not going well. You know it's going to eventually come down. Eventually. There's too many people in your family that know all about this people. She has already implicated her stepbrother, Carl Bragg, in the abduction and shooting of a church deacon named Phil Perry. Sergeant Bobby Dean, however, wants more.

We know you went to see Phil that night. People saw you. And there's another issue that took place that night that you're scared about, you're worried about. Because you know that that issue can put you there that night. You're watching the body language and you're trying to watch her demeanor and her attitude and what's expressions. She's given off to see if she's ready to push that button and go all the way with it. And she did. Scott showed up at my house.

Scott Harrison. Whatever his name is. Scott Harrison is a friend of Carl Bell. Greg. Scott's an intelligent, real cool character. I think there's another person inside that individual, and he's hidden it for many years. According to Liz, she and Scott Harrison drove to the church parking lot. There, Liz approached Phil Perry with a story about car trouble. We were standing by my truck talking, and the next thing I know, Scott is standing next to Phil, and I jumped, because I got scared because I didn't see him come out. And, and I was, and I was,

And he told Phil to shut up and he had a gun. Scott has some sort of tape or something and he puts it over Phil's mouth and he forces Bill in the back seat. Scott points the gun at me and he says, get in the car. And then the next thing I know, I hear a valve bang in the car. My ears are hurting and I go, you know, and I jump. and he's all just drive. And I'm like, you know, and I'm shaking and I don't know what to do.

And I'm like, I need to go home. She was done at that point. Stick a fork in her. Liz Miner is booked on a charge of murder. Her husband, Robert, is released. Okay, just relax. I'll be right back. Well, Carl, where shall we start?

It's up to you, where you want to start in. Carl Bragg is now known as Carl D. Tomaso, but his story hasn't changed. You know, I did not kill him, and I'm not going to admit killing somebody when I didn't kill somebody. I'm sitting down below, and this is Carl sitting here, and I'm still trying to convince him to tell us the truth about some of the information that we obtained. What did you think was going to happen? Them to scare him. How were they going to scare him?

I mean, Scott was this been supposed to tell him to stay away or else? Uh-huh. At this point, I'm getting close to him, trying to tell him, hey, what he's telling us does not make any sense. and that he needs to come off of that story that he didn't know anything about it. You already told me that you always know that Scott had a gun. So do you think he was probably going to bring that gun

to scare too? Pretty safe assumption, right? It's probably safe assumption, but I don't think you'd ever, I mean... I'm not saying you would know that he would do that. But, I know for facts Scott Harrison carried a gun with him at all time. Okay.

Carl knew that he was armed and basically admitted that he sent an armed guy over to go slap somebody around. But what you're telling me is, realistically, honestly, is that you knew Scott was armed, or always armed,

and you told him, go slap around, Phil. And this was a very crucial part of the investigation, and in the case, was as finally he admitted his involvement, that he, in fact, as we believed all along, has set this whole murder in motion.

Cold case detectives have the man, they believe set up the hit on Deacon Perry and the woman who acted as bait. They now set their sights on the trigger man, Scott Harrison. When we first knocked at the door, he was pretty surprised. He was pale and we could see his pulse racing on his neck. He was quite concerned. Initially he said he didn't know anything about Perry's death

and had never driven a man down to Mexico in the backseat of a Chrysler. But after a few minutes of thought, reflection, and convincing from his wife, he decided to tell us a different story. We are going to go to Mexico. Who's driving what? Come on bother in the beach and I am a black car. Any problems at the border? Customs, U.S. guys, Mexican guys. All right.

In your heart, I'm going to be just. We're shone somewhere. All I saw us. The body there. For cold case, yeah, there was. And you yourself in the court, turn. For cold case detectives, the denial doesn't really matter. A murder charge is in Scott Harrison's future.

We filed murder charges in special circumstances of lying in wait and kidnapping against Carl Dia Tommaso and Scott Harrison and Elizabeth Minor. In 2001, Mike Ramos is the district attorney assigned to the Perry murder. He focuses on Liz Minor, who takes a plea deal. She played guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping and went to prison for 11 years. Carl Bragg DiTamaso opts for a trial. I didn't want the man to killed. I never ordered the man to be killed. I didn't kill him.

I told somebody to go talk to him, not to kill him. That is essentially DeTamaso's defense. District Attorney Mike Ramos tells a difference. They parked in a dark area. Scott Harrison was hiding in a dark area. They brought the tape to put over his mouth. He had a gun with him. When you bring those types of items to simply scare somebody, it doesn't make sense. No, they were there to lure him away and murder him. A jury finds the state's case persuasive and finds Carl D. Tomaso guilty of second-degree murder. He is sentenced to 15 years to life. The next case is the murder charge against Scott Harrison.

Sometimes as a prosecutor, you know that somebody has committed a crime and that they're guilty, but your evidence might not be, you know, the best. Deputy DA Cheryl Kersey works the Harrison prosecution with Mike Ramos. Almost immediately, the case runs into problems. In a pre-trial case. trial motion, a judge rules that police failed to read Harrison his Miranda rights, and therefore Harrison's statement is inadmissible. With that, the state's case implodes. With that exclusion of evidence, Mike Ramos made a decision at that time to dismiss Scott Harrison. I told Bobby Dean's

team keep working on that case because since it's a murder, there's not a statute of limitations problems. We may be able to refile it in the future. And then they found some other evidence. The evidence consists of two letters signed Phil Perry and delivered the day after he was reported missing. DNA testing ID's two male DNA profiles. The first on a stamp is Carl D. Tomasos. The other, on an envelope flap, belongs to Harrison.

We said, okay, there it is. His DNA is now on the alibi letter. It puts him there. In July of 2005, Scott Harrison goes to trial. His defense attacks the credibility of two people who point the finger at Harrison, Carl D. Tomaso and Liz Minor. The defense works, and Scott Harrison is acquitted. In the courtroom that day is Phil Perry's son, Russ. A jury of 12 people heard the evidence and felt that the case didn't meet the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.

but their verdict also frees him from jail, from the fear of ever having to serve any custody time. Carl DeTamaso is not happy with Harrison's acquittal either. I don't understand. I really don't understand how the judicial system could allow him to walk and give me 15 to life. 15 years to life will provide DeTamaso with plenty of opportunity to reflect on his role in the death of deacon Phil Burr.

Perry. I like to say that I'm very sorry to the Perry family. I wish them, you know, my condolences go out to them. I'm very sorry for the pain and suffering that they've all had to go through, but I do want them to understand that I never, ever wanted Phil Perry murdered, ever. I didn't ask nobody, and I didn't do it. You know, what my dad did was wrong. I don't think there's a person that would sit there and say that, you know, having an affair with a married person is right. But certainly the punishment for that is not murder. It's not death. My dad was a good man, and he might have made some mistakes,

but he certainly didn't deserve to die, and he didn't deserve to die the way he did. As for Scott Harrison, the jury has spoken, and he is innocent in the eyes of the law. I never look at this album. I can't. It's in my room, and it's odd to have something in your room that you're afraid of. I have not gone this far in years, I would say.

In Tampa, Florida, in August 2005, Lynn Lopez opens up a photo album and looks into her past. Every Christmas, my husband was the thing that you put bows on. You can see my husband so playful, so happy. It's very painful, and it almost makes me feel like it really never happened. But it did happen, almost 10 years earlier, a handful of moments that changed Lynn Lopez's life forever. Around 4 a.m. on November 13, 1996, Hillsborough County Deputy Steve Donaldson responds to a call and finds a home in flames. Before I could even get out of my car, the man ran up to me, and he goes, he's still inside, he's still inside.

And I said, well, who's inside? And he said, you know, the owner, Mr. Lopez. Donaldson enters the Lopez home. He finds the living room engulfed in flames and 42-year-old Jay Lopez on the bedroom floor. I could see Mr. Lopez lying on his back. He was covered in blood and he had multiple stab wounds and he wasn't moving. Firefighters extinguish the blaze and police examine the body. Meanwhile, Donaldson approaches a survivor of the fire, Lynn Lopez. She was standing there on the lawn, and she approached me, probably just about as calm as I am right now, and asked me, is my husband okay? And I just thought that was remarkable considering how she had been terrorized over the last few hours. Lynn tells police she had been sexually assaulted by an intruder,

and then forced to shower as he set fire to the home. It's an account that leaves Donaldson scratching his head. Why did he leave you alive? Why would he leave you alive? Why would he he stab your husband, murder him, commit this just heinous act, terrorize you over the course of three and four hours, and leave you as a witness. If he has that much of a demon inside him, how much more would have it been for him to just kill her as well? Lynn is taken to the hospital where a rape kit is taken and semen recovered. Inside the home, investigators collect blood-stained blankets and bedding, all of which is sent to the crime lab for testing. Meanwhile, detectives turned to their best piece of evidence, Lynn

Lopez. It was important that we talked to Lynn that same day because she was the only eyewitness that we had. She was the only one that could provide us some details. Just hours after learning her husband has been killed, Lynn Lopez sits down with detectives. I believe it was between maybe two and two 30 this morning. And all I remember is all of a sudden hearing my husband yell something like look out or something. I remember I let out a scream that was so blood-curdling to me in horror. And I jumped up and I saw a man in the doorway of my bedroom

holding a knife and my husband and him started fighting. And I don't know if I'm seeing what I'm really seeing. Is it a dream? Did I jump up and am I imagining this? According to Lopez, she watches as her husband tries to fend off the attacker with a baseball bat and is stabbed. My husband lets out an exhale breath and quietly he just crumbles down in the corner of the room to the floor. Then the attacker turns to Lynn. He said, well, I'm probably going to get the electric chair for this, so I might as well enjoy you. Lynn Lopez tells detectives she was raped repeatedly.

Then the attacker led her to the bathroom. He took me into the shower and he made me face the wall. I didn't use silver or anything because I didn't want to wash anything away because I heard about that. I knew that you're not supposed to wash away evidence. And I immediately shut the water because I wanted to hear what who's doing out there. He said, I have two things left to do. One of them is to kill you and the other is to torch the house. Those are the exact words.

He laughed in this demonic laugh and kind of hit the door and laughed and said, nah, I don't think I'm going to kill you. According to Lopez, her attacker set the living room on fire and left. Now, sitting in a police interview room, Lynn hopes her account will help find her husband's killer. I felt that the questions as painful as they were were what the questions I had to be asked to find the perpetrator. Let's describe this man. He's a white male.

White male. He's a prostrate how old? I'm going to say in his mid-30s. About how tall? Maybe six feet. And it's what type of hair? Very frizzy. It seemed like it must have been in a ponytail.

And the word she used was like a Michael Bolton haircut, which he had pulled back in a ponytail. A composite sketch is developed, but it leads no way. instead, all paths and questions lead back to Lynn Lopez. This is a fight that she's describing that took place between two grown men, pretty good sized men based on their descriptions with a baseball bat. You can see that nothing appears to be disturbed on the bed.

There's nothing broken. After taking Lopez's statement, Detective Jorge Fernandez reviews the evidence and comes to a difficult conclusion. Lynn Lopez might be lying. The story that she was providing about how the attack took place, not just on her, but on her husband, didn't seem to match the evidence that we were seeing at the crime scene. Police questioned Lynn several more times. I remember the detective kept saying to me, we have nothing. We have nothing.

You have to wonder, is there something else involved? Was there something else going on? The DNA results come back from the Florida Crime Lab. A male profile, is developed from the rape kit and some blood on the bedding, but it isn't from Jay Lopez or anyone else in the state's DNA database. Was it somebody that Mr. and Mrs. Lopez invited into their house? And then once they were in the house, you know, the situation became out of control and escalated to the point where someone was murdered and the house was set on fire. She may not want to incriminate someone if it was a friend of the family or something like that.

Detectives ask Lynn to take a polygraph test. Of course I'll take a polygraph. I'll tell you everything. What I look for are reactions in all three components, the breathing, the heart rate, and the amount of sweater moisture that's on the hands. Lynn Lopez takes her polygraph in November of 1996 and promptly fails it. I completely lost it. Deception. What kind of deception?

So I don't know if she was being completely truthful about the information that she was provided that. that took place in her house, or if she failed a polygraph simply because of the emotions involved. Emotions aside, police need to take a harder look at Lynn, and Lopez feels the pressure. I was horrified. If I saw a police car, I would panic

because I would think they're coming to get me. So I had to secure an attorney to protect me from the people who are supposed to protect me. I couldn't fathom this. Although no charges are ever filed, a shadow of suspicion hangs over Lynn Lopez and stays there for seven years, until one day when she decides to take matters into her own hands. I knew from that minute I am going to rattle this cage and I'm not going to stop, no matter if I end up in a psychiatric ward, I'm never stopping.

It feels like every week there's a new diet, a new routine, a new piece of advice, and it's honestly hard to know what's actually worth your time when it comes to weight loss. That's one of the reasons hers stands out to me. They offer access to an affordable range of FDA-approved GLP-1 medications, including the Wagovi pill and the Wagovi pen. With Wagovi through HERS, people can lose up to 20% or more of their body weight when it's combined with diet and exercise. It works by helping regulate your appetite so you feel fuller,

eat less, and keep the weight off. And there's even a pill option now, so no needles are needed. Everything is 100% online, which makes it so convenient. You connect with a licensed provider, they figure out if it's right for you, and if it is, it's delivered straight to your door. No insurance necessary. And it's not just the medication. You also get access to a care team and tons of in-app nutrition tips, recipes, and fitness content, things that actually help you build habits that stick. And with a range of affordable GLP1 options, hers makes it simple to find an approach that fits your needs and your budget, if eligible.

It's weight loss designed to work with your life. Are you ready to reach your goals? Visit 4Herz.com slash CCF to get personalized, affordable care that gets you. That's F-O-R-H-HR-S dot com slash CCF. For-HERS.com slash CCF. Weight Loss by HERS is not available in all 50 states. Wagovi is the registered trademark of Nova Nordisk AS.

To get started and learn more, including important safety information, Wagoe clinical study information and restrictions, Visit 4hurst.com. You know what drives me crazy? When I put fresh sheets on my bed and they're smooth and tight, but by morning, the corners have slipped off and I'm tangled up in sheets that don't fit anymore. It's funny, most of us hang on to our bedding way longer than we should,

and it wears down so gradually you don't even clock it until you finally upgrade. And a lot of people think they need a new mattress, but the biggest difference usually comes from what touches you every night. That's why we upgraded our bed with bowl and branch. They make everything, signature organic cotton sheets, pillows, blankets, comforters, all breathable, super soft, and they actually get better over time. We started with the signature sheets, added their waffle blanket, and now the whole bed just feels amazing.

Before my sheets were pilling, corners popping off, and I'd wake up too warm. The first night with Bowling Branch, I could feel the difference right away. The sheets fit just as well in the morning as when I put them on the day before. No more loose sheets to get tangled in. Plus, they're cooler, softer, and just more comfortable. And after a few washes, they feel even better. Sleep cooler this summer with Bowlin Branch during their annual summer event. For a limited time, get 20% off sitewide at bollandbranch.com slash coldcase files with code

cold case files. That's Bolandbranch, B-O-L-L-A-N-D, branch.com slash cold case files, code coldcase files, to take 20% off. Bolandbranch.com slash cold case files, code coldcase files. supply. At Marathon gas stations, every stop is the start of fun. Like the awesome fuel savings you can get with Marathon rewards. Join Marathon rewards today and start earning rewards on every gallon of gas. You can redeem rewards at any time, saving up to $1 per gallon. And don't forget, marathon stations are packed with all the conveniences you need to stock up and live life on the go. Marathon, where fun runs on full.

Available at participating marathon locations, terms and conditions apply, see Marathon Rewards.com for details. Cold Case Files is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home in auto policies. Process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, potential savings will vary, not available in all states.

my psychologist office, Dr. Colin, where two years ago I reopened the case. The case is that of her husband, Jay, who was stabbed in front of her in 1996. It's a loss she's dealt with for the past six years in private and in therapy. And this is where she asks for a meeting with detectives. I felt safe because my doctor was here and there was. was a trust issue. I wasn't comfortable with the detectives at that time. She had gotten to the point where she was ready for something to happen. And I think you can, you could see that in her demeanor and in her eyes that it was time for something to happen

with this case. For six years, Lynn Lopez herself has been considered a person of interest in her husband's murder. Now she is determined to clear her own name and find her husband's killer. She wanted us to find the person who did this to her husband and to herself. I know it took a lot for you to come in here and talk to, talk to us. Detective Harry Hoover promises to give the case another look and hopefully give Lynn Lopez a second chance. This is our evidence room for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Amidst the hundreds of boxes lining the evidence shelves in the Hillsborough County Evidence Room, Harry Hoover pulls materials from the Jay Lopez case. This would have been all of the evidence that was originally secured from the crime scene back in 1996.

We have the bedspread, blanket. A bed spread and a blanket, stained in blood and taken from the crime scene more than six years earlier. Hoover sends the items out for DNA testing. We're at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the DNA extraction laboratory. We're going to be entering the area where we actually extract the DNA profile, Melissa Sutth works the Lopez case. Samples were re-ran to generate an STR DNA profile. It's a highly discriminating test, and it's the current standard for

databasing profiles in the United States. Developing an STR profile is a prerequisite for access to CODIS, the DNA database of more than one and a half million convicted felons throughout the United States. Sudet begins with blood found on the blanket. Out of all of the stained areas, there was only one particular stain that actually showed profile that was different from the two victims involved in the case, and that was this one stain that was located here in the bottom corner of the blanket. That profile matches the profile developed from Lynn Lopez's rape kit. When uploaded into the DNA database, the profile generates a hit to Chatsium Adam Leoy, a name that does not appear in the old case file. detectives dig into Leoy's criminal history and find a photo of their suspect.

Lynn's initial description of the guy was almost perfect to what he was, the long, frizzy hair. Hoover asks Lynn, almost seven years later, to try to ID the man who raped her and killed her husband. I knew that I could not pick these out until I put myself mentally back in that room that night. I jumped up and I saw a man holding a knife. I needed to be there. It was excruciating, but I knew I couldn't pick that picture

unless I got that image of what he looked like. Very frizzy. I was in there. There was nobody else there. I was in there. It seemed like it must have been in a ponytail. I pointed and I said, this is the son of a bitch.

That's the one she identified, and that's the one that DNA placed in her home, denied it as crime. Before detectives can put Loi in handcuffs, they have one more loose end to tie up. The next step we wanted to do is make sure he had no affiliation with Lynn. So we came up with the concept of doing a missing person's alert, putting a picture of Lynn that would have been taken around the time this occurred, putting her picture on a flyer and then going door to door specifically to Mr. Loi and asking him specifically if he had ever seen this woman, did he know this woman,

which he denied ever seeing her, ever knowing her. Leoy's statement convinces detectives their suspect acted alone and removes the last hint of suspicion surrounding Lynn Lopez. Leoy is arrested and charged with the murder of J. Lopez. This is the interview room at our office where Chatsim Leoy was brought in. In an interrogation room, detectives Harry Hoover and Frank Lossat sit down with their suspect to talk about a murder seven years cold. It was interesting to sit across the table from Chatsium Leoy and look into his eyes. He had shark eyes.

They were black and empty. Basically, what we're going to do is we're going to go back and discuss a homicide that occurred. back in 1996. Okay, it was November 13th of 1996. Okay? Any recollection of that? No. We started throwing out little bits and pieces of the crime scene

and things we had, and he still kept denying it at that point. This has not sounded very good to me. Well, I told you up front. It's a serious, serious situation we're dealing with. Okay. But we put you there. We can put you in that house. I know that.

We can put you in that bedroom. I know that too. Those rooms in that house, we left a whole bunch of DNA behind, and guess what? We have it all. And then she even IDs you and here you sit. Those seven years, we've been working on a case that didn't go away. Didn't go away, Chad. Both of us, we didn't fall off the truck yesterday.

Leoy shrugs off the DNA match and sticks to a story. This was not done at my head. hands. Detective Sen Loi back to his jail cell. Within minutes, however, he has a change of heart. I remember everything. Okay. I can remember every single detail. He basically told us that he had had like a vision that Jay, the victim in this crime, had kind of appeared to him and told him that the only way he could be free of this was to tell the truth. killing Jay was an accident. It was. The other idea was her. slap me with life,

slap me with every fucking because that was me. I did that. Nobody could say anything different. I did that. Anything you would like to say to the victim in this? I can tell her that would make it any better. I've been, as she has, been living with this all this time myself. And there's none of the day that went by that I did not think about per R&J.

about what I did to do. He could never be dead enough for me. They could put him in the electric chair 50 times. It's never going to be enough for me. Chatsium Loi pleads guilty to a charge of first-degree homicide and receives a term of life in prison. For Lynn Lopez, the conviction offers little relief. The love of my life was taken from me

16 years of a marriage that was a dream come true was taken in about two hours. Every morning when I wake up, I still think I'm back at home and my husband is next to me. And then my eyes open and I realize I am in hell. I am living in hell. You know the name of the movie you'd like to see. Just stream it for free on Pluto TV. Where all your blockbuster favorites are landing all summer long. Catch Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burr.

Fantastic. Men in Black, one through three. That's what I'm talking about. Mean girls. Shut up. Titanic. I'm the key in the world. And so much more.

For showtimes, press nothing. They're free 24-7. That is so fetch. On Pluto TV. Stream now, pay never.