Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 7 Twisted Details from Utah Family's Alleged Murder Plot to Kill Husband

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

Kate Restelli is accused of conspiring with her mother, Tracy Grist, and her brother, Kevin Ellis, to murder her husband. The District Attorney in Utah County said the three hatched a plan to lure Matthew Restelli to Utah from his home in California to kill him. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through some of the most shocking information in the indictment in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/CrimeFixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Mauricio PadillaCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law & Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Kate Rostelli, her mother and brother, appear in court in Utah accused of a conspiracy to murder Kate's husband. I take a look at seven of the most shocking details from the indictment and what happened at their court appearances. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Police in American Fork, Utah, say that Kate Rostelli

wanted out of her marriage to her husband, Matthew Rostelli, so badly that she was willing to kill him to make it happen. Detectives say Rostelli teamed up with her mother, Tracy Grist, and her brother, Kevin Ellis, to hatch a plan to lure Matthew to Tracy's home from California. Kevin Ellis, he admits to shooting and killing Matthew, but he claims he did so in self-defense. Kevin Ellis has been in custody since July. Police did not buy his story that he killed Matthew in self-defense. But Kate Rostelli and Tracy Grist, they were just arrested in late October. Detectives wrote in affidavits that they found a cache of digital evidence implicating Kate, her mom, and her brother in the plot. Some of it includes audio recordings.

An affidavit says, on 7-12-2024, Catherine records a recording on her iPad that goes on for several hours. This recording sounded like it was activated by accident because only background noise is heard. Near the end of the recording, a knock on a door is heard and Catherine states, I need you to watch my kids because I have to go to the car rental place to make my story sound plausible. Then a voice, later identified as the shooters, is heard saying, Okay. Court documents say that Matthew had sent money to Kate so she could rent a car to drive to California. That was the rental car reference. Police say

there's more on the audio recordings. On 7-12-2024, another recording between Matthew and Catherine is recorded on Catherine's iPad. In this recording, Matthew asks Catherine if he can leave the truck running when he gets to her mother's house because Matthew is worried the truck won't start if he turns it off. Catherine says that it's okay to leave the truck running and then immediately asks, you're going to come in though, right? Matthew Ristelli was shot inside the house that night. Detectives referenced the recordings again. After listening to the recordings between Matthew and Catherine that were found on Catherine's iPad, detectives observed the following. At no time did Catherine tell Matthew not to come to Utah to pick her up. Catherine and Matthew said, I love you to

each other. Matthew told Catherine he was excited to see her again, and Catherine responded that she was as well. Matthew sounded happy and did not say anything to Catherine that indicated he was mad at her or was going to force her to come with him. Catherine even assisted Matthew in planning his route from California to Utah, speaking about the best roads to travel. After reviewing text messages between the two, detectives observed that Catherine texted Matthew on 7-12-2024 the gate code to her mother's gated community, her mother's address, and even a picture of her mother's residence so Matthew would know exactly where to go. Police say this information completely

contradicts what Kevin Ellis told them. An affidavit says, while at the American Fork Police Department, investigators spoke to Catherine's brother and his attorney, who was present as the brother was questioned. It was relayed to detectives through the brother's attorney that the brother shot Matthew in a manner which the brother believed to be self-defense. The brother's attorney told detectives that Matthew had a knife. The brother and his attorney declined to answer questions from detectives about how the knife was produced or if Matthew threatened the brother or anyone else in the home with the knife. The attorney relayed to police investigators that the brother told him that Matthew had shown up to the residence uninvited and unannounced with a knife. Obviously, police have evidence that Matthew was invited to the home, and there was other evidence of that according to the affidavit.

Matthew texted Catherine on 7-12-2024 and expressed that he was concerned about his truck leaking oil and asked Catherine to put down some cardboard so his truck's oil wouldn't leak on the asphalt. On 7-12-2024, Catherine texted Matthew a picture of cardboard on the ground in the roadway directly in front of her mother's residence. On 7-12-2024, detectives observed the cardboard underneath Matthew's truck. That same day, police say Kate Ristelli messaged her Discord group, I have to do big girl things today. Wish me luck. And when people asked what Kate meant, she didn't answer, according to police. That same day, police say Tracy Grist was searching the internet and she looked up the Dan Markell

case out of Florida. He is the Florida State University law professor who prosecutors say was murdered in a plot by his brother-in-law and former mother-in-law. Police say Grist searched. When was Donna Adelson arrested? Donna Adelson was one of the alleged masterminds in the murder of Dan Markell. Prosecutors said she conspired with her family to murder Markell by hiring hitmen so her grandchildren could move closer to her. Donna Adelson has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The cases I cover each day here for you on Crime Fix show you just how scary the world can be. And one of the scariest things that can happen is if you ever get hurt. But I want you to know if you're ever seriously hurt or in an accident, your case could be worth millions. That's where

our sponsor Morgan & Morgan comes in. The firm has an army of more than 1,000 lawyers who will fight for what you deserve, and they have the track record to prove it. In the past few months, Morgan & Morgan, they've won some big verdicts, like $12 million in Florida, $26 million in Philly, and $6.8 million in New York. All of these were much higher than the highest insurance company offer. Seeing if you have a case can be done in eight clicks or less, and you don't even have to leave your couch to start one. Also, a really great thing, you only pay Morgan & Morgan if you win. There are no upfront fees. So if you're ever hurt, you can easily start a claim at forthepeople.com slash crime fix. Meanwhile, a month before the murders, police say Tracy Grist had some other incriminating internet searches. Those included Utah gun law registration,

Utah shoot break-in with a misspelling, Utah gun laws and regulations explained, and how does private sales of firearms work in Utah? A few hours later, Tracy searched to file for divorce if wife is a Utah resident and husband is a California resident, again, misspellings, and how to establish Utah residency. Later that same night, Tracy searched, renew my passport by mail, apply for a child's U.S. passport, and how to get my U.S. passport fast. The allegations get worse. The indictment says after Matt's death, Catherine FaceTimed one of her friends from the Discord group and showed her a picture of where the carpet was bloodstained from Matt's death. The friend overheard Tracy say that if she had known that the friend liked death, Tracy would have taken a picture of the body.

Yes, that is what it says. Kate Rustelli, Tracy Grist, and Kevin Ellis were all scheduled to appear in court, but these were very brief appearances. Not much happened since they were status hearings. I previously spoke with Mauricio Padilla. court but these were very brief appearances not much happened since they were status hearings i previously spoke with mauricio padilla he is a criminal defense attorney about just how shocking the details of this case are i was shocked at the utter stupidity involved in this case at in multiple levels um she makes she sends text messages that are incriminating she does social media posts day of the day of the murder she goes She does social media posts day of the murder.

She goes out on a date the day after the murder. They put the weapon in the wrong hand of the decedent. The actual weapon was tracked down almost immediately coming from a tactical kit that was delivered to the mother in april um they have the video the videos of when the truck showed up as opposed to when he got shot was like a minute apart um text messages from the sister saying that she talked the brother into it so i mean listen i'm used to seeing stupidity in the probable cause affidavits but this one is is up there i want to go to the the date after the murder and then you know she's getting ready for a date going on a date so she apparently according to the police kate rostelli was seeing somebody so that was maybe part of the reason she wanted out of her

marriage they also say that she searched on the internet how soon is too soon to tell somebody you love them and five ways to get rid of hickeys it's almost kind of like a high school kid or something like that it seems very immature and juvenile searching about how to get rid of hickeys um after you know you're accused of murdering somebody putting your brother up to murderings your your husband so there's a lot of digital evidence in this case and and the amount of digital evidence is really confounding it is and listen you know this lady lives on the corner of narcissist and stupid so I don't even know like the level of narcissism that you have to have to even try and get away with something like this but you also have to have a level of stupidity because

you they don't recognize how how in depth a murder investigation is like they're gonna look into everything they're gonna look at your google searches your mom's google searches your text messages your social media accounts they're gonna find out if you're sleeping with somebody and if you are you're obviously a suspect. You're always a suspect when your spouse gets killed right off the bat. But if you're sleeping with somebody, they're going to figure out not their mindset is not going to be, did she do it? Their mindset is going to be, how did she do it? So I really I'm really shocked at people that think that they can get away with with murder and commit egregious errors such as this.

The thing that's so crazy to me, too, is that she's accused of talking on Discord, which she's talking to a group of friends on Discord about a lot of things. Kate Rustelli is. And that is what's so crazy to me and she had apparently facetimed according to the police one of her friends from the discord group and was showing her a picture of where there was blood on the carpet and her mom apparently says over here she this friend overhears mom tracy grist say if she had known that the friend liked death she would have taken a picture of the body. I just can't even imagine. I mean, not only do you have the electronic evidence, you have witnesses telling the police things that kind of back up their theory of the crime.

That this wasn't self-defense, that this was indeed a murder. And then they have her iPad recording her for I don't know how long, where she didn't know the iPad was recording. And at the end of the recording, she makes a statement regarding you know, her culpability in the murder. She recorded herself without even knowing for like an hour, according to the probable cause affidavit. I've seen this a lot, not to this level of these egregious errors. I think this is one for the record books, but most people that commit homicides like this are not thinking clearly.

Their psychological problems, their own stupidity interferes with their ability to think clearly and they commit errors such as this. And that's why sometimes a prosecutor's job is easier than a criminal defense attorney's because it's a slam dunk. And then the brother shows up with his attorney. It's self-defense, but I don't want to talk. Here's my lawyer. Now, that's the correct thing to do because he's only going to dig the hole deeper. But the police are like, OK, well, listen, people that people that come with legitimate self-defense, you know, arguments, they comply with the police.

You don't have anything to to hide if you really were defending yourself. When you show up to the police and you're like, you know, I was defending myself, but I'm not making any statements. Here's my criminal defense attorney, even though it may be the best thing for you as a defendant or a possible defendant, the police already, their ears are perking up and they're like, hold on a minute. Why is this guy lowering up like that? I want to talk about the case that Tracy Grist, the mom in this case, the matriarch of the family, was searching. And she was searching the Dan Markell murder case. He, of course, is the Florida State University

law professor who was murdered in Tallahassee in 2014. And it's just a horrific, horrific case. And the Adelson family was accused of conspiring to hire hitmen to kill him. And so Tracy Grist is searching this case before the murder and after, you know, wondering when was Donna Adelson arrested? I mean, that's not a good look. You're using a case where a family is accused of conspiring to kill somebody over child custody. You're searching that and police are saying you're kind of using that as a blueprint and it's not a very good one. You're using it as a blueprint. You're looking it up on your own computer. So you must not have a clear vision of what a homicide investigation looks like. You don't. And it seems like, listen,

in the Adelson case, the mom had a conversation with her son on a recorded call from from from prison and basically said that she was leaving. And they wanted a picture of a Miami going to Vietnam. Like it's like they can't stop themselves from committing these egregious errors that is going to lead to their incarceration. I don't I can't explain it, but, you you know you see it time and time again in this particular case this lady um is her name catherine she sent a text saying i'm trying to wait i just might murder matt today yeah she said that's the other murder friend yes saying yeah i might murder him today i mean it's just um it's confounding that you would say that, you know, like that using that verbiage to somebody. She also said something about I need to rent the car so that it's so that my story lines up. You know, like, yeah, just air on top of air on top of air.

It's like I'm going to commit this murder and I'm going to make sure that I get busted for it. And I'm going to do everything in my power to help the prosecution convict me because when i read this public cause affidavit i was like wow shocking shockingly stupid it is kind of shocking how many digital footprints they left kind of all over the place and they're almost like muddy footprints um and it's almost like they just were wanting to get caught, leading the police right to their door. Thank you so much, Mauricio Padilla. We really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me.

Now to tell you a little bit about Matt Rostelli. According to the obituary, he had three children. His obituary said that he loved the outdoors and was an avid mountain biker and fisherman and spent hours exploring trails with his children. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.