Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Wife Accused of Plotting Husband's Murder with Family: 'Shockingly Stupid!'

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

Kate Restelli was taken into custody and charged with conspiring with her mother and brother to murder her husband, Matt Restelli, last July. Police in American Fork, Utah say they have text messages between Kate and her mother, Tracy Grist, that show the plan along with other evidence. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at some of the most shocking evidence in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host: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 and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A woman is behind bars accused of conspiring with her mother and brother to kill her husband. I have the details of the twisted murder plot and how police say another high-profile murder case may have been on the family's mind as they plotted murder. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Divorces and disputes over child custody can get very ugly, and sadly, we've seen them end with murder.

Police in American Fork, Utah, say that happened in this case and that Catherine Rostelli wanted out of her marriage to her husband, Matt Rostelli, so badly that she was willing to kill him so she could have her way, including having custody of their three children. Police took Kate Rostelli and her mother, Tracy Grist, into custody last week. They face a number of charges, including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, obstruction of justice, and more in Matt Rostelli's death. Kate Rostelli's brother, Kevin Ellis, has been in jail since July. He had claimed that he shot Matt Rostelli in self-defense, but the cops weren't buying it. This all started back on July 12th.

Matt Rostelli drove to Tracy Grist's home to see his wife, Kate. He had wanted her to come back to California with their children, but Kate, according to court documents, wanted no part of that. Police say Matt Ristelli didn't know his wife and her family were tracking him the entire time using an Apple AirTag. An affidavit states, a search of Catherine's iPad and her mother's phone showed that Catherine, her mother, and the shooter all had been shared access to the AirTag device to be able to monitor it. The AirTag was labeled truck, and the poop emoji was also displayed next to the title truck on the AirTag through the monitoring app Find My. Kevin Ellis shot Matt Ristelli when he arrived at the house. That's not in dispute.

Police say when officers arrived, Tracy Grist, Kate's mother, yelled, Don't say anything! Police then said Grist told them that Matt Ristelli came to the home armed with a knife. That night, detectives grew suspicious, noting things at the scene that didn't add up. Police were also curious why it took Tracy Grist six minutes to call 911 after the shots were fired. Kevin Ellis claimed the shooting was self-defense, but police felt something was off. According to the affidavit,

the knife in the victim's hand had the blade facing toward the victim, not facing outward. The victim was also lying on his stomach in front of the stairs that led to the second story of the residence, which was down the hallway from the living room area. There was more about the knife that just didn't seem right.

The knife was gripped with Matthew's right thumb wrapped around the knife and in line with his other four finger knuckles. Matthew's index, middle ring, and pinky finger were gripped around the handle of the knife with the pads of these fingers touching his palm. Based on these observations, it was clear to see that the knife was being gripped and not loosely held. Also, the blade was facing inward towards Matthew instead of pointing outwards towards a threat. Based on training and experience as a detective, I observed this picture and observed that it did not appear that Matthew was holding this knife when he was shot. It appeared that the knife was possibly placed into Matthew's right hand after he had been shot dead. Now, you may have noticed I said the knife was in Matthew's right hand, and that was a big red flag for detectives. They said they found out that Matt Rostelli's dominant hand was his left, so that backed up their belief that the knife was possibly placed in his hand after he was shot. The day after Matt Rostelli was shot to death in July, a friend of Kate Rostelli's

called police and what she told them was very concerning. An affidavit says the friend reported that on 5-13 of 2024, she received a text message from Catherine, which read something to the effect of, I'm trying to wait. I just might murder Matt today though. Detectives searched Catherine's phone and found that on 5-13-2024, Catherine did send a text message to this friend. The text message sent from Catherine's phone read, I'm trying to wait. I just might murder Matt today, though. Police say the more they looked into the case, the more they found, and it appeared the plan to murder Matt Rostelli began in June. Kate Rostelli left California with her children

for her mother's house in Utah. Police say Tracy Grist searched the internet about another case where a family was accused of plotting the murder of a man over child custody, the murder of Dan Markell. On June 7th, a little more than a month before Matt Rostelli was shot, police say Grist searched how old were dan markel's kids when dan was killed and she also searched katie magbanwa's second trial period defense charts there was also another red flag the friend told detectives that kate said her brother pepperballed her brother eight times when she offered condolences she claimed claimed Kate responded, It's okay. I'm happy. Police say they also found texts between Kate Restelli and her mom

where they discussed Kate staying in Utah so Matt would have to drive to Utah. The affidavit says on 7-11-2024, Katherine texted her mother, Matt doesn't want to drive out. He's depositing money for me to rent a car. Katherine's mother responded, Nope. Well, we will just stay with you, spraining your ankle and just keep putting him off. It's fine. Catherine then responded to her mother. I'll tell him.

Catherine's mother then responded, you are going to sprain your ankle soon. Catherine then responded, yes, he wants me to leave tomorrow. I have to make arrangements for the car today. Catherine's mother then responded, can't drive with that ankle. I know we can wrap it and make it look swollen under the wrap. That same day, police say Tracy Grist was searching the internet and looking up the Dan Markell case out of Florida. As I mentioned, he's the Florida State University 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? And the police say, University 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 say she conspired with her family to murder Markell by hiring hitmen so her grandchildren could move closer to her. Adelson has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

On July 12th, the day that Matt Rostelli was shot, police say Kate Rostelli messaged her Discord group, I have to do big girl things today. Wish me luck. When people asked what Kate meant, she didn't answer, according to police. The allegations get even 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. And there's more. This case is absolutely terrifying, and it really made me wonder what I would find if I researched Kevin Ellis on truthfinder.com. Truthfinder.com is one of the largest public record search services. I put in his name and a 2009 case from Arizona came up. It was a failure to appear. Truthfinder is really great because it will give you a person's past and current addresses, social media accounts, phone numbers, and much more. As you saw, it gives you criminal and traffic record results.

It will also show you sex offenders who live in your neighborhood, which is really helpful when you have children. Right now, I have a really great deal for you. You can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to www.truthfinder.com slash LC Crime Fix and start accessing information about almost anyone i want to bring in mauricio padilla he is a trial attorney mauricio your first thoughts on this case um 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 out on a date the day after the murder they put the 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. They have the video, the videos of when the truck showed up as opposed to when he got shot was like a minute apart. 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 going to look into everything. They're going to look at your Google searches, your mom's Google searches, your text messages,

your social media accounts. They're going to 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, their mindset is not going to be, did she do it?

Their mindset is going to be, how did she do it? So I'm really shocked at 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 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 was recording and at the end of the recording she made up she makes an uh a statement regarding you know her culpability in the murder she recorded herself without even knowing for like an hour apparently 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, you know, 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 okay well listen people that people that come with legitimate self-defense uh um you know arguments um they comply with with with the with the police you don't have anything to to hide if you really uh 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 Markel murder case. He of course, is the Florida State University professor, 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 prison

and basically said that she was leaving and they went and they picked her up in 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 know, you see it time and time again. In this particular case, this lady, is her name Catherine? She sent a text saying, I'm trying to wait. I just might murder Matt today. She sent a text to the other murder. Yeah, she sent a text to her friend, yes, saying 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 probable 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 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 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