Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Dr. Teresa Sievers' husband accused of getting best friend to kill Florida doctor

Episode Date: June 7, 2018

Soon after Dr. Teresa Sievers returned to her Florida home early from a family trip, the mother of 2 girls was found beaten to death in her garage. Husband Mark Sievers, who was still out of town, allegedly arranged for his childhood friend Curtis Wayne Wright to murder his wife. Wright pleaded guilty to  2nd-degree murder is cooperating with prosecutors in Mark Sievers upcoming trial. Nancy Grace looks at this case with Southern California prosecutor Wendy Patrick, forensics expert Karen Smith, psychologist Dr. Chloe Carmichael, telecommunications expert Ben Levitan, and reporter Bob Alexander. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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A gorgeous young doctor, the mother of two, goes out of town with her entire family for a family get-together many, many states away. She comes back that Sunday night so she can see patients the following Monday morning, leaving her two little girls and husband behind with her family at their reunion. It wasn't meant to be. She is found dead, brutally beaten. The bloody hammer used to kill her soon discovered. Who murdered Dr. Teresa Seavers? Who took her away from her two little girls to grow up without a mother? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. The murder, the brutal murder of Dr. Teresa Seavers sent shockwaves through the quiet Florida community in which she lived. That gated community had never seen anything like it.

Her clients, her patients began mourning as cops began looking for answers. It all starts right here with a 911 call. What does it reveal? 911, what is your emergency? I'm at a friend's house. He's out of town and I came here to check on his wife and she's dead on the floor. Okay, stand in the line. Sir, hold on. Stand in the line. Yes. Okay, you're doing very well. Good job. Just a moment, we're going to connect you. They're going to ask for the address. AML, I'm Friar. What is the address of the emergency?

210-34 Jarvis. Jarvis Road. Okay. And is that a house or an apartment, sir? It's a house. What's the phone number you're calling from? Tell me exactly what happened. My friend, Trisha Siebers, she's a doctor. I'm a doctor. She came home last night. Her husband is in Connecticut, and she was supposed to go to work at 9 o'clock. She called me, and I was on my way to work, so I swung by, and she's dead on the floor. And there's a hammer at the side, and she's bashed in the back of the head

okay all right stand the line with me sir okay yeah stand the line with me um sheriff officer are you on the way yes we are okay all right and so you said you're a doctor yes i am okay are you with her Are Uh I'm outside of the hou know if there's anybody i All right. So how old is is 47. All right sir. And she's the other before sh we had a bastion and there

Okay. All right. So I do department. Also, enforce with us. Okay. They're go Okay. Okay. I want you to moment. I'm gonna stay her because you know, I don't help. Okay. It was, right. It's just stay on the line, okay?

The sheriff's office has questions, and they're going to prompt you on what to do next. Okay. Sir, are you inside the residence then? No, I'm not. I'm standing in the driveway. Okay. And then when you walked inside the house, you said the blood was dry, or what did you say? Yeah, half the blood is dry, half is wet.

She's cold. She's dead cold. Joining me right now out of Port Charlotte, Florida, expert crime stories contributing reporter Bob Alexander. If you look carefully at the photo, the video surveillance, actually, of her in the airport, the crime scene photo shows that she's wearing the same shoes. I recognize them because they're really tall heels. And that struck me how difficult it would have been getting off the airplane, dragging her bags all by herself in those high heels. She was very petite. I'd be surprised if she was even five feet tall. So I guess she used those high heels to kind of like even it out. But I believe those are the same shoes that are in the crime scene photos. What

does that reveal? You know what, Bob, just start at the beginning with her going on the trip with her family. Yeah, Nancy, she went on that family trip. She left in advance of her husband and her two little girls to come back to see patients. Now, cameras that followed her travel from the Lee County Airport down to Bonita Springs show that she had an unimpeded path. She came home, and Lee County Sheriff's investigators believe that the minute she walked in the door, basically, she was ambushed. She didn't have time to drop her bags or change clothes or doed. She didn't have time to drop her bags or change clothes or do anything. She was hit from behind repeatedly. And I know you remember Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott saying that it was one of the most gruesome crime scenes he's ever

seen in his years of law enforcement. You know, it was a gruesome crime scene. One thing that has always stumped me, joining me now uh telecommunications expert joining me out of raleigh ben levitan ben could you describe the type of burglar alarm dr theresa severs has on her home she was bludgeoned dead her husband and daughters little girls they they couldn't have been over four or five years old, are away out of town with him. Ben, explain to me how that alarm system worked because the alarm did not go off. Nancy, there's three possibilities here. Obviously, the perpetrators could have been given the alarm code, and that would have been the quick and easy way.

But look at the sticker on the front window. I know this system, and this system has two options if it goes off. When it goes off, it will send a phone call either by landline to a control center or by cell phone. It's really easy to determine if it's a landline. To disable this alarm is incredibly simple. You walk over to the side of the house where the telephone wire comes to the house and you just clip it off. If it's monitored by a cell phone connection, anyone walking up to the house with a cell phone jammer would just completely disable this alarm, Nancy. It's so easy to bypass this thing that, frankly, if you want to go in, it's almost useless.

So I don't understand. Are you telling me, hold on, we're a bunch of Luddites, Ben Levitan. You're the telecommunications expert. Are you telling me anybody with a cell phone can come in and jam your home burglar alarm? Well, Nancy, what a cell phone jammer is, it's this device. I can buy one of these on Amazon for about $80 or $90. And it just puts out a lot of noise. You're familiar with listening to the radio or TV and getting a lot of static. This is a device that intentionally makes a ton of static so that if you walk into a room and you're holding this device, nobody will be able to use their cell phones.

Nobody will be able to listen to the radio. It just jams all the radio frequencies around. And if I wanted to break into a house that had an alarm system that's protected by a cell phone connection, it would be very easy to overcome that. Because once you walk into the house, you would set off the alarm, and then the alarm system would try to make a cell phone call back to the control center, but it wouldn't be able to get the call out. So it would be very easy to do. That's the most complicated answer. The easiest answer is that the perpetrator walked in with the alarm code, especially if it was someone related to the husband who would know the code.

Well, we know now that the husband has an alibi. A young mom of two, Teresa Seavers, found dead in her upscale Bonita Springs, Florida home. Her husband, Mark, and their children and her sister, Ann Lisa, all in Connecticut, far, far away when her body was found. She had been there with her family but flew home alone that Sunday to see patients. Police investigation commences immediately with police swarming the scene. One of the first things they do is protect the scene. With me now out of the Florida jurisdiction, forensics expert Karen Smith. Karen, we know that Teresa Severs was ambushed. I can tell that much from the crime scene photos. Somebody had to be waiting on her. Plus, she was beaten in the head and face 17 times

with a hammer. That scene had to be protected. First of all, was she ambushed? If so, how do you know that? Two, what can you determine from the 17 blows to her face and head? And three, how and why do you protect the crime scene? Karen Smith. Nancy, she was blitz attacked. The killer or killers were lying in wait for her when she came home from Connecticut a day early. So they had that information. As you said, the hammer was left behind, which is a treasure trove of forensic evidence. They used it to strike her 17 times. That is a close quarter combat situation. And based on the bloodstains at the scene, not only was she struck from behind, but she was also struck low from the photos. And unfortunately, according to her autopsy report, she also had bruises on her forearms, meaning that she was conscious for part of this attack,

and she was trying to fight back. When the crime scene is protected, you know, you have officers stationed outside. You have hopefully the whole block cordoned off. You have everyone at every entrance. You have a police officer at the back, the front, whatever doors are available. And it sounded to me like the doctor did the right thing touch your face, if you touch your neck, if you wipe sweat off and that sweat and that DNA transfers onto the outside of the glove, guess where it's going to go? Onto the object that you touch, meaning possibly that hammer, along with some of the other evidence. So I'm sure that the sheriff's office did their due diligence and found all of this, but it is really going to be interesting to find out what the forensics revealed in this case. You know, as I'm listening to Karen Smith, forensics expert, describing what happened, Bob Alexander joining me on the scene there in Port Charlotte, Florida, Crime Stories contributing reporter.

Bob, did she have on the same clothes she had on when she flew in that night before on Sunday night? Her body's found Monday morning, but she doesn't show up to see her patients. Did she have on the same clothing? Yes, you were dead on when you said that you recognized the shoes. She was wearing the same outfit that she had on when she landed because photos were taken by cameras at the Southwest Florida International Airport of her as she was wheeling her luggage out of the baggage claim area and heading toward her car. So the clothes that she was wearing at the time she was found in her home

were the exact same clothes that she had on when she landed in Fort Myers. That is significant because it tells me about the time of attack. Now, that is, if she didn't, Dr. Chloe Carmichael, renowned New York psychologist and founder of DrChloe.com. Dr. Chloe, I don't think this woman would have worn the very same outfit the next day to work. I mean, maybe when you're in college and you're late to class, But no, I don't see this woman doing that. No, certainly not. I mean, any type of professional would not do that.

Certainly not a doctor. Doctors like to convey cleanliness and professionalism. So wearing rumpled clothing from the day before would certainly not make any sense for a professional physician. So that tells me, Karen Smith, that she was attacked as soon as she got home from the airport. Absolutely. And the crime scene photos show that her luggage was still in the garage. She hadn't even gone back out to the garage to bring her luggage in to unpack. She walked in the back kitchen door and she was blitzed from behind. The subsequent hits all took place low to the

floor. She was defenseless. She basically was murdered in a short period of time and the killer left the murder weapon behind, which is baffling to me. But I don't know as far as any other DNA evidence and stuff. I haven't read any reports, so I'm not sure what they've got. You know, it's very important. Also joining me, veteran courtroom prosecutor out of the California jurisdiction, Wendy Patrick. Wendy, I mean, when you look at everything that Bob Alexander, Ben Levitan, Dr. Chloe, and Karen Smith are saying, it gives me a picture of what happened that night. That tells me somebody was in the home when she got there or was waiting for her. I don't know. Let me think

about it, Wendy. What if, what if somebody followed her from the airport? What if somebody was trolling the neighborhood and saw her come in by herself and and she herself disarmed the burglar system. The fact that she still had on her clothes and she was just coming in from the airport opens up a whole cornucopia of possible murderers. You know, it's true, Nancy, but let me, a couple of things. First of all, we know the motive was to kill and not to steal because nothing was stolen. If anything, like you said, evidence was deposited at the scene, i.e. the hammer. One of the things I would want to know is she only came home one day early,

which created the opportunity for a murder for hire, which is the charge. But why not all travel together home one day early because she had to work? That would be one of the pieces of circumstantial evidence that could shed some light on motive. Because you're right, at the fact that she didn't even get to bring her luggage in, this was an opportunity that was seized immediately after she entered the home. And we know it was intent to kill and not to steal because nothing was stolen, which takes out of the picture some of these other theories swirling around about whether or not somebody followed her from the airport. Very interesting fact why they didn't come as a family.

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even people who served with them in the military. It's never been so easy to find the truth. Go to truthfinder.com slash Nancy and enter any name to get started. Okay, and there's the hammer sitting next to her and you had left it. Did you touch anything? No, I did not touch anything. I touched her. I shook her a little bit. All right, one moment. You're doing really well. So the last time you had seen her is what time? Probably two or three weeks ago. Two or three weeks ago. Okay, and you said she returned today?

I don't know when she came back, but she was supposed to go to work today at 9 o'clock, and her husband called me from Connecticut to say she didn't show up at work, and she's not answering her phone. And he checked her uh uh he tried calling try calling he was going to call her mom and he said if you're swinging by can you swing by and i knocked on the front door and nobody answered and the lights were on i could see her purse is on the countertop and she didn't answer i pounded pounded and he gave me the key code to get into the garage door i opened the the garage door and the door leading to it was

open. One of the dogs ran out. I don't know if he left or not. And I walked in and I just opened up the door. I walked in the door and she was on the floor. And there's a big bash in the back of her head. You were hearing more of the 911 call as we sift through clues to determine what happened to Dr. Teresa Seavers. To Bob Alexander, expert crime stories contributing reporter, you know, the neighbors painted a very unusual picture of the family. They said they really kept to themselves. They had very little interaction with the other neighbors.

What did we learn as the investigation developed? Well, Nancy, they were a very unusual couple in the fact that they had the practice together. They were very well, now anyway, Teresa Severs was very well received in the community. She was very well loved here, but the husband was a bit of a mystery. There was not a whole lot known about him. He was the one that was kind of standoffish with most of the neighbors. Every once in a while, he'd wave or something like that, but Teresa spent so much of her time at work and was a philanthropist. She was helping out, giving her time freely to different clinics and things like that. She was so beloved. But when it came to the neighbors, they didn't really know a whole lot about the couple,

and that just kind of led to the whole mystery surrounding the two of them as details would come out later. Well, speaking of details that come out later, what can you tell me about a $4.5 million total life insurance estimate what do we know about 4.5 million dollars of life insurance on this doctor yeah there were a total i believe of five or six of insurance policies that were taken out by the husband on the life of his wife, which is what fueled the speculation all over southwest Florida that Mark Seavers, the husband, was somehow involved. You know, Bob Alexander, you're right. You earlier said that he had an airtight alibi. He is up in Connecticut. She is in Florida at the time of the killing.

But it was such a precision killing. You know, there is such a thing as murder for hire investigators in florida began honing in on this as bob is saying five to six million dollars worth of life insurance now dr chloe carmichael new york psychologist and founder of dr chloe.com i'm all for insurance okay but if my husband starts taking out multiple life insurance policies on me, I will notice. I will question that. I mean, one life insurance policy, enough to pay the children's tuition if they decide to go to a fancy college, fine. But when you start talking about $5 and $6 million worth of life insurance, well, hold on.

Bob Alexander, what did the husband do for a living? Was he rolling in the money? Well, he was the manager of the clinic that the two of them ran, the holistic clinic that they ran in Bonita Springs. So he was the one that was, I guess, the day-to-day money man, that sort of thing. She did the bulk of the work when it came to the patients. But he was in charge of the office that they ran. You mean he's in charge of the money.

I know what that means. Correct. All right, Dr. Chloe Carmichael, she's the one making all the money. She employs him, and he's got $5 million to $6 million worth of life insurance policies, multiple policies on his wife. That would make me take a hard look at the husband. I don't care if he was in Connecticut or Timbuktu. Well, that's true, Nancy. You know, regardless of what may or may not have happened, it does seem very clear that he was quite focused upon his wife as a source of financial security

and that he was thinking about her as a source of financial security and that he was thinking about her as a source of financial security, whether she was alive or dead. That much is obviously clear since he was living through her while she was alive and had arranged to be able to be very, very comfortable in the event of her death. So we know for sure that that's something that was absolutely on his mind. I would also be curious if he took out reciprocal policies for himself in the event that he died. Was he interested in providing for her or was it only on his mind that she might die? You know, I haven't heard a thing about her having life insurance policies on him, Bob Alexander. No, that hasn't been mentioned in any of the information that was gleaned out of the investigation. There's really been nothing said.

So that really suggests it's a one-way street. Yeah, and I find that interesting. I've never thought about it in that light. You know, Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert joining us out of Raleigh, we also know that Seaver's last contact with his wife was just before 11 p.m. that night. It was a late-night flight. She stayed in Connecticut with her girls and her husband until the last minute, flies home to Florida.

She sends him a text saying she had landed safely and was en route home. Now, is there any way we can tell if she really wrote that or someone else wrote it? Well, Nancy, pretty clear that if she landed, and we typically do this. When you're flying on an airplane, you're not getting text messages. You're not able to send text messages. As soon as you get off of that plane and turn on your phone, all of a sudden you get a blast of all the text messages that were sent to you while on flight, and you start responding. It would be very clear from the cell phone records that she sent that probably from the tarmac of the plane

or where she sent it. Obviously, there is a possibility that someone else could have used their phone, but I'm sure they've done a forensic of, we know from a forensic of his phone that they got 700 pages of material off his phone. He had a journal on his phone. He had all sorts of information that was preserved. Hold on. I'm trying to write it down as fast as I can. Hold on. Journal on cell phone. Note to self, do not write journal

about your marriage on your cell phone. The cops will give it. Ben Levitan's absolutely correct. The ability to text from the plane in the air is recent. Okay?

That's been within the last 18 months that that happened. So this, Dr. Teresa's's murder was just before that technology just before that technology was introduced so these this text could not have been sent from the plane also question ben this is a yes no don't go all defcom for technological army okay can cops tell or triangulate? I know they can triangulate phone calls,

but can they triangulate from where texts were sent? Okay, another lawyer question. We can tell a general area. We could tell it came from the airport. Ah, good, good, good, good. That's good. We could not pinpoint it. That's what I want to know.

If it came from the airport, I know she sent it, but did somebody kill her and then send the text from her home that's trying to cover up maybe the time of the killing and if somebody is covering up the time of the killing wendy patrick that means something to me this is a random killing they don don't care. If you're trying to clean up a scene or cover up the time of the murder, that means you're providing somebody an alibi. You're covering up the time of the murder. No, absolutely. And, you know, luckily, we live in a day and age where forensics and autopsy results are also able to tell us the time of the killing. So that's one of the corroborative factors that will be introduced to the jury to basically make it seem like everything was actually sent from her phone. And I like the point you make about this is the pattern and

practice that most of us use when a plane lands. And there was also nothing about that text message that seemed enough out of the ordinary where it would be trying to cover up the time of the crime. And that may have been because obviously when you look at an autopsy result, when the cops are there the next day, they will probably be able to find circumstantial evidence of when that crime was committed, especially because of the details that have been provided regarding the blows, the blood, the blood spatter evidence, that in fact the text was sent back at the airport as it sounds like the cell phone records are able to corroborate. You're right, Wendy Patrick.

Karen Smith, forensics expert, joining me, tag-teaming me with Wendy Patrick. Karen, of course, you don't always have to have an autopsy saying, oh, she had miso soup at 8.30 p.m. on the plane, or her body is at 90 degrees ambient temperature, blah, blah, blah. That's way, way advanced. We can tell this just plain old common sense, as Bob Alexander's telling us, looks like she's killed in the kitchen right when she walks in the door. suitcase is still in the garage the clothing is the same she was wearing right down to the shoes at the crime scene her pocketbook is in disarrays if she's dropped it or somebody rifled through it i don't know which but i don't think

anything was stolen which is another indicator she's not sex assaulted and nothing is stolen. So what's the point? So Karen Smith, I mean, just plain old-fashioned gumshoe detective work tells me it happened right when she walked in the kitchen door from the garage. That's exactly right. And one of the things that police are going to look for as soon as they walk in is, and this is a big clue forensic-wise and timeline- wise, is was the blood still wet? Was it drying? Was it cracked? Was it peeling from the floor? You know, blood has, we can get a general timeline of when this happened just based on the blood

that's still there. Are the pools still sticky? Are they wet? I know that's kind of a gross subject, but it's true. And it helps with the timeline as well as her body itself. There's a thing called lividity, which is where blood settles in the body and it's going to leave patterns on her body as to her position when she was killed. It can also help timeline when it happened. Rigor mortis was she stiff or not? All of these things are going to play into the timeline. And it sounds to me just like she walked in, she was blitz attacked, and she was found the next morning from everything that I've gleaned. You know what? I'm totally in a trance. When Wendy Patrick, Karen Smith, Ben Levitan start talking about analyzing blood spatter and technology evidence and circumstantial evidence. I mean, wow. You're so right, all three of you, regarding the evidence in this case. Now to Bob Alexander, expert and Crime Stories contributing reporter Bob they may be making a mint

this doctor was extremely dedicated to her clients and her patients and community outreach she had a thriving practice but it was not a bed of roses as a matter of fact they had a lot of money problems didn't they have a huge IRS lien on them approaching like $40,000 to the feds? I mean, you don't play with the feds. Uh-uh. N-O. They say, you owe me this. I'm like, here's a check.

It's so nice of you to take my money, and I'm not going to be a minute late. Mwah. No, you do not mess with the tax man. that's like a major no-no but they had a tax lien on them why with all those clients all those employees that big burgeoning practice they couldn't pay their taxes well there's a lot of details that we are still awaiting uh word on as far as a lot of personal information between the doctor and her husband. But we do know that there were issues financially and personally now. There apparently were some very tight circumstances going on as far as money, and there were also details released later on as uh ben mentioned there was a journal released

from mark fevers about his sexual life there was a lot of tense going on wait wait wait wait wait i don't know how his sex life got all up in my discussion of the tax man but i can tell you what i don't want to po the irs by intermingling his freaky freaky deaky sex life with their tax bill let me just say they were not paying their bills and they were making money hand over fist i imagine i mean she is board certified internal medicine doctor with additional degrees and holistic and molecular and body wellness. I don't know why they weren't paying their taxes, okay? But I know this, that is a sign to me. If you don't pay the tax, man, there are other bills you're not paying. Now, Bob Alexander, of course, has raised a specter of the freak nature.

Take a listen to what Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott tells me on HLN. Sheriff Scott, there's absolutely no evidence that this woman, a mother of two little girls, working her behind off all day long as a doctor, supporting the family, all right? There's no evidence she was having an affair that we have heard of. Is that true? I'm not going to confirm or deny an affair. What I will say, as I've said all along, she was very much a victim. And our investigation leads us to say that nothing she did brought this upon herself. She didn't put herself in a position of peril. Some people put themselves in higher risk situations where they're more likely to incur injury or become a victim.

That was not the case here. She simply returned home a little early in advance of the family because she had to open up and start to see patients. And that was her reason for being there. There was no other indication of anything else. The sheriff tells us there's new twists and turns every single 24 hours. Sheriff Mike Scott with us, the Lee County Sheriff leading this investigation. Sheriff, question to you, what did they buy at Walmart? I understand that at least Rogers, if not Rogers and and Wright were spotted at Walmart just before the murders that's correct but unfortunately I'm not able to share what

they purchased I will tell you with certainty we know what they purchased to the item and it's of course of interest enough directly germane to the case but I can't specify what it was because Okay. Were they there before or after the murder, Sheriff? Before. Okay. Now, I noticed you said they. Does that mean Wright and Rogers were there? Yes, ma'am.

Okay. And one last thing I wanted to ask you, Sheriff. Between Missouri and Bonita Springs, there are a lot of tolls. Do you think any of those had cameras? I know that some have. I can tell you that we have been able to basically follow virtually their every move as this investigation unfolds and unfolds in the beginning. Wow. It's been of great help to us along the way, both digital footprints and otherwise.

No stone will be unturned here. To Bob Alexander, joining us out of Port Charlotte, Florida, the plot thickens. Who is it the sheriff's telling me about, Wright and Rogers? Please explain who these two characters are, driving how many over a thousand miles from Missouri to get to Bonita Springs, and somehow they have now been connected to the home of Teresa Seavers? Curtis Wayne Wright was the longtime boyhood friend of Mark Seavers, Teresa Seavers' husband. They talked about each other as a brother from another mother, that sort of thing. They knew each other for so many years. And I know this is radio, Nancy,

but if you're ever able to see a picture of these two together, it's almost uncanny how exactly they look like each other, almost identical twins. Now, Jimmy Rogers was a gentleman from Missouri who allegedly was an acquaintance of Wayne Rogers, who was the one that was the friend. He was the one that allegedly was talked into accompanying Rogers, I'm sorry, Curtis Wayne Wright, on the trip down from Missouri to Fort Myers where the murder happened. How do we. How were they placed at the home of Teresa Seavers? Well, they were placed there because they had all kinds of evidence pointing them making the drive down between renting a car, between having tolls. Also, they were filmed, I believe at least one of them was filmed,

at a Walmart down in the Bonita Springs area the day before the killing. And they were seen purchasing items, tape and all kinds of other items that pointed law enforcement toward these two being there for the purpose of the murder. Isn't Curtis Wayne Wright the best, this is the best friend of Dr. Seaver's husband? Isn't he a computer whiz and he had been called in to do computer analysis of some sort at her doctor's office, called in by her husband? That is correct. He had been there at some point before the murders had taken place. He was in the office. He was working on the computers.

We don't know exactly how much time he spent in the office there, but he was a computer expert, and he was hired by the husband to come down and work on the computer system. You are correct. Isn't it true that some of her office staff believed that this best friend, and I swear he looks like an identical twin to the husband. No relation, though. Seaver's staff seemed to think that Curtis Wayne Wright had been actually using her office computer to follow along what was happening in Seaver's life.

Was he allegedly doing that remotely somehow? It's very possible, Nancy. I mean, this was a guy that really knew his way around a computer and spent enough time where he could have logged on, could have done whatever he probably wanted to with those computers. And of course, being the closest friend that Mark Seavers had, you know, it wouldn't be surprising for him to exchange all kinds of information with Mark Seavers. Everybody perk your ears up on this. So you've got the husband's very best boyhood friend, and they look like twins. And some dude he brings along with him, Jimmy Rogers, traveling from Missouri all the way to Bonita Springs.

They get there just before Teresa Seavers is murdered. And they're spotted in a local Walmart. Okay, that's not good. Combined with this, it turns out, right, the friend, the best boyhood friend, may have been eavesdropping on the Seavers allowed Wright to access every single thing on their computer system from his home in Missouri. He can creep onto the computer anytime he wanted, do whatever he wanted, and he could actually see everything that was going on in the office. Okay, that is freaky. No, Wendy Patrick, that's not just a coincidence.

There is no coincidence in criminal law that his best boyhood friend shows up in town about 1,700 miles away living in Missouri, shows up within 24 hours of Teresa Seavers being brutally murdered while his best friend has $6 million worth of life insurance on the wife? Yeah, timing matters in a fact pattern like this. And the optics are very bad. And I mean that quite literally. If you point out, you can't consider, well, gosh, it's evidence that they look exactly alike. But subliminally, it is odd. And it is also, it ties right into this narrative of this is somebody that was very,

very close to Mark, to the defendant, that he even would allow him into the inner workings of his computer system, which most of us would never do. So absolutely, that is one thing the jury will consider. So Bob Alexander joining me from Port Charlotte, Florida, Crime Stories contributing reporter. Bob, as it turns out, we have uncovered exactly what they did get at Walmart. Now, this is a computer whiz. Who would think it would leave a trail a mile wide? He bought, among other things, wet wipes, black towels, black shoes, a lock picking kit, trash bags, and they paid for their purchase with a $100 bill, as if that can't be traced.

After shopping at Walmart, Rogers and Wright, the best friend of the husband, continued using the navigation system. And, of course, we all know exactly where that led them. First, they went to the beach for a short while, soaking up some rays. And then they go back to the Seavers' home, where they hang out for hours in the garage. Ben Levitan, communications expert. How can we possibly know they hid out in the garage? Well, Nancy, what you don't know, and you can probably, if you have a GPS device, it keeps a history.

If that GPS device was with them, it's a very easy matter to pull up your history and see where they were stationary for four hours wow you know guys it's just like you have on your phone when you share like facebook photos it will tell exact where you are when the photo was taken, very often right to the street, these two, the best friend of the husband, the computer whiz, Curtis Wainwright, and the henchperson, Jimmy Rogers, nicknamed The Hammer, waiting in Teresa's garage for four hours until she gets home. Can you imagine her terror as she gets out of the car, gets her suitcase out, and then she's ambushed by these two thugs?

Well, it all boils down to this. Take a listen to the sheriff. As you've seen, Mark Severs is going to jail right now. He's been charged with second degree murder. Those charges may change. That's up to the state attorney's office. Of course, we want to be respectful of the prosecution phase of this, who has also done a great job with us toward the latter part of this investigation, and will continue on from here. But it's a very serious case that gripped our community. Our community can take solace in knowing that the power of the sheriff's office was brought to bear on three very dangerous people who gave a great deal, and I want to underscore, a great deal of effort

and energy into covering the tracks, into throwing us off on their track in that term. And so it's something, again, that I'm very proud of, and our community can rest easy knowing that there's closure here in this case. I do anticipate that this brings closure to the case. I'm not indicating that there's anything really further to do at this point. We were after Mark Seavers. We got our man, and we're very happy for that. I also want to note that our concern has been with the two daughters.

As you know, two young daughters. They're here behind me now in this building, and we're taking very good care of them. We'll continue to make sure that that's the case. I'll take a few questions, but again, I want to underscore the body of work that was completed by the sheriff's office, the major crimes unit and everybody involved. A very, very complicated case. I don't recall one quite this complicated and quite this intricate in my 28 years, my 12 a sheriff, and I've spoken with many seasoned prosecutors and otherwise that would tend to agree. And I think as evidence of the group that's gathered here today, this pretty I'VE BEEN HERE FOR 28 YEARS, MY 12 AS SHERIFF, AND I'VE SPOKEN WITH MANY SEASONED PROSECUTORS AND OTHERWISE THAT WOULD TEND TO

AGREE. AND I THINK AS EVIDENCE OF THE GROUP THAT'S GATHERED HERE TODAY, THIS PRETTY WELL TELLS THAT STORY. WE'VE HAD SOME BIG ONES, GATEWAY AND MANY OTHERS, BUT THIS WAS A BIG DEAL.

WHY WAS IT SO COMPLICATED? WELL, THERE'S A LOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS. AGAIN, AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, THESE FOLKS WENT TO GREAT LENGTHS TO COVER THEIR TRACKS. WE HAD INVESTIGATORS IN MULTIPLE STATES.

THIS INVESTIGATION WASN'T CONTAINED TO LEE COUNTY, AS SO MANY ARE, OR EVEN FLORIDA, FOR THAT MATTER. WE WERE IN VARIOUS STAT County, as so many are, or even Florida for that matter. We were in various states, Arizona, Missouri, and all points in between. And there was a lot of work. It's a body of work you've seen being released from the state attorney's office in recent weeks. And by the way, there's much more that they will, I'm sure, release. So there will be more even on top of what you've already seen. Thousands and thousands and thousands of pages. Yes, ma'am.

Sheriff, what changed this week that led to the arrest of Mark Seabrooks? Well, there's a lot of things that changed. Basically, the investigation came to what I would say a conclusion. I've said all along that our time frame is different. The sheriff's office and typically law enforcement has a different time frame from the general curiosities of the public or in particular perhaps media deadlines and other things. So I certainly respect your deadlines, but we're not operating on a 4 o'clock deadline or noon news on any particular day. So the investigation and the evidence, Jacqueline, to your question, to your point, brings us to this conclusion.

Again, working very closely with the state attorney's office. We have to be mindful of prosecution that lies ahead. Sheriff, I know that people want to understand the time of the arrest. I tell you, I'm not going to speak specifically to the judicial process, the prosecutorial process, just to say that this is a total body of work that we've been working very hard on, and you see that it's come to conclusion today. Sheriff, I understand that a couple months ago we had the two arrests of the other gentleman and then Sievers today. Why the two arrests before and then Sievers now? Well, again, we follow the evidence. THEM. THE INVESTIGATORS ARE TELLING US THAT THEY ARE NOT ON ANY SPECIFIC TIMELINE. WE HAVE SEVERS TODAY.

WHY THE TWO ARRESTS BEFORE AND THEN SEVERS NOW? WE FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE. THERE ARE CERTAIN THRESHOLDS THAT WE NEED TO MEET. OUR INVESTIGATORS NEED TO VALIDATE INFORMATION. THEY NEED TO FOLLOW UP ON

INFORMATION. AGAIN, WE ARE NOT ON ANY SPECIFIC TIMELINE. THERE IS NO RULE WRITTEN ANYWHERE THAT SAYS ALL THREE HAVE TO BE ARRESTED AT ONCE. IT IS WHAT IT IS. OBVIOUSLY, AS I HAVE SAID, I

WOULD MUCH PREFER TO PREVENT THE CRIME FROM OCCURRING. IF WE COULD SOMEHOW GO BACK AND PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS THAT WE WOULD THE CRIME. WE HAVE TO BE CLEAR ABOUT THAT. IT IS WHAT IT IS. OBVIOUSLY, AS I HAVE SAID, I WOULD MUCH PREFER TO PREVENT THE CRIME FROM OCCURRING. IF WE COULD SOMEHOW GO BACK AND PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING,

THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL. THAT IS NOT REALITY. AFTER THAT, WE WANT TO BRING THESE THINGS TO CONCLUSION AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. QUICKLY FOR ME OR YOU MAY BE A DIFFERENT THING WHEN THAT OCCURS.

OBVIOUSLY, WE WORKED AS QUICKLY AS WE POSSI life was taken. These kids celebrated their first Christmas just a couple of months ago without their mother. And now their father's off in shackles on his way to jail where he belongs, frankly, and where he'll stay for some time? Yes, ma'am. Has Curtis Wright either told investigators or prosecutors that Mark Sievers hired him to commit this crime? Jacob, I can't speak to that specifically. Just to say that this is a complete body of evidence, a variety of different things. Many you've seen through some of the releases that the state attorney's office has released and some that you will yet to see. You'll see them soon. Is this the most gruesome crime you've seen in your career? Well, I don't know about gruesome, but it's very gruesome, of course, but there's a lot of gruesome crimes. We've had even crimes

subsequent to this one. The Hyde case out in Lehi, the triple murder, the incident down at Iona Road, where the family basically did what they did there. So we've had even incidents since this. But this case, for whatever reason, you fill in the blanks, had a little special appeal to it. Perhaps it's because it's a doctor, a beautiful young woman, a mother of two, and just all of that. We talked about this early on, Kelly, that this is a case of high interest to the community. And I understand that. And we understand that. I wish we could have had this press conference five minutes after the crime occurred. That's not realistic. Again, this was a multi-state investigation. We had to connect a lot of dots, cross a lot of T's, learn it to be right. Slow and steady wins this race. Our people were methodical. They were patient. They were persistent.

And above all, they were professional. And I could not be more proud. Sheriff, has Mark been cooperating? Has he said anything to investigators since being taken into custody? We've had casual conversation with Mark just basically to make sure that his daughters are okay, some basic pleasantries in terms of changing clothes and getting him shackled up and otherwise, but he doesn't have a lot to say. Do you have a confession? I'm sorry?

Do you have any confession or anything? I'm not going to speak to that specifically. Can you tell us how he reacted when you arrested him today? Stoic, no emotion there. I'm not 100% sure he's got blood in his veins. I think it might be ice. And what's going to happen to his daughters? I'm not 100% sure he's got blood in his veins. I think it might be ice. And what's going to happen to his daughters?

His daughters will be processed initially with DCF, but of course there's family members involved in this that are loving and caring and we believe good homes. We've had their interest as well. That's another reason that we wanted to bring this together as quickly as possible. There are a lot of possibilities out there of what could have happened. I think this is probably the best outcome given the totality of events that brings us to this point. That outcome is that Wainwright, Jimmy Rogers, and Mark Seavers are locked up where they belong, and the daughters will be well cared for. I can't change what happened to Dr. Seavers. I wish I could. I told you that earlier, but I can't. We did everything we possibly could. We did it well. We did it professionally. And frankly, it may seem long sum, but we did it expeditiously. Have you talked to her family? We have had communication

with her family. Yes, ma'am. Their reaction to the arrest? They're pleased and relieved, naturally, as anyone would be. This has been going on for some time now. Which take maybe one or two more questions. Which jail is he being taken to? I'm not going to speak to that. It's a security issue. Obviously, we have three different people on arguably one of the most high-profile cases in this region. We'll make those determinations initially. We'll book him in as we normally would any other inmate. But beyond that, we have other thoughts about how that goes. Will he be in court tomorrow morning?

Likely. Has there been any information that's come to light yet that shows a payment or some other type of reward that directly links mark and curtis or jimmy yeah i'm not going to speak to that specifically jacob again just again a total body of evidence and lots of it that brings us to this point keep in mind this evidence has been reviewed not only by very very talented men and women of the sheriff's office but very very talented seasoned prosecutors and, very competent judges have all looked at this evidence and reviewed some of the things you've seen, some that will be forthcoming, and have all agreed with us that he belongs in handcuffs and belongs in jail.

You're going home this weekend. Is there any different feeling that you've had in the last nine months this weekend and all your crew with what you've accomplished? Well, I mean, unfortunately, this is a 24-7 business. We have other active cases that we're working, and this is a big case. It's got to feel good. It's a huge case. As I've said, I'm very proud of the team, Kelly, and naturally, as anyone would be,

when you bring something to a successful conclusion like this, there's some job satisfaction, I'm sure. As you know and I think you understand, I don't physically do this myself. I'm speaking on behalf of the agency, but I'm speaking on behalf of the men and women, again, of crime scene, digital forensics, evidence, and most particularly Sergeant Michael Downs and Sergeant David Levitt, who were the lead investigators on this case in our major crimes group. A really good day. I appreciate you guys giving it the coverage you can and bringing this community to some closure. Hopefully this community has a sense of peace knowing that this person's behind

bars. I think a lot of people have been waiting for this day and here is the day. We are awaiting trial as the investigation goes on into the murder of this wife, mother, and doctor, Dr. Teresa Seavers. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. There's a brand new website causing a lot of trouble for people with something to hide. Have you ever had a bad feeling about somebody? Maybe suspected your partner's cheating? Maybe worried about your online reputation? If you answer yes to any of those questions, you may need Truthfinder. Public records are only recently easily available online. Before websites like Truthfinder, you'd most likely have to visit a courthouse to get that information. Now, it's as simple as entering a name. Truthfinder sifts through millions of public records from

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