Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Jilted dental hygienist hires HITMAN

Episode Date: June 11, 2021

Kendra Hatcher enters the parking garage of her Dallas apartment. Moments later, someone approaches her from behind, shooting her in the head. Police say it was a murder-for-hire. Detectives soon zero in on Brenda Delgado, but why would this dental hygienist kill the successful pediatric dentist?Joining Nancy Grace today: James Shelnutt - 27 years Atlanta Metro Area Major Case Detective, Swat officer Lawyer www.ShelnuttLawFirm.com Dr. Jenn Mann - Marriage and Family Therapist, Host 'Couples Therapy' and 'Family Therapy' on VH1, "The Dr. Jenn Show” on Sirius XM, Author: "The Relationship Fix: Dr. Jenn’s 6-Step Guide to Improving Communication, Connection and Intimacy", doctorjenn.com Dr. Tim Gallagher - Medical Examiner State of Florida www.pathcaremed.com Sheryl McCollum - Forensic Expert & Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder, ColdCaseCrimes.org Alexis Tereszcuk - CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter, Writer/Fact Checker, Lead Stories dot Com, Twitter: @swimmie2009  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Police go on the hunt for the person that guns down a gorgeous pediatric dentist as she parks in the garage of her luxury Dallas apartment building. But who would want to kill a lady pediatric dentist? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. One female is possibly shot in the neck. Authorities say the 35-year-old dentist was gunned down Wednesday night shortly after pulling into the parking garage of her apartment building. Detectives released surveillance images of a vehicle of interest,

an older model Jeep Cherokee with faded paint. They say that car slipped past the security gate when the driver followed another car through just before Hatcher arrived home. The individual appears to walk in her direction. We witnesses describe hearing the gunshot and the individual gets back in the car. That's not right. As if any murder is right. But I don't hear about a rape. I don't hear about trying to carjack her vehicle. I don't hear anything about stealing her pocketbook or her jewelry. She's described as glamorous. Glamorous. that means to me she's probably dripping in beautiful jewelry. So why would someone pull into the garage? They snuck in, by the way. Did you hear that?

You were listening to our friend Carrie Sanders at NBC. Snuck in. I've done it myself. When one car goes under the gate as it lifts you just scoot in behind them so who is this person that scoots in walks up to this quote glamorous pediatric dentist guns are down and leaves not a rape not a robbery not a carjack again I'm Nancy Grace this is Crime Stories thanks for being with us as we try to make sense of all Not a rape, not a robbery, not a carjack. Again, I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thanks for being with us as we try to make sense of all this.

And with me, an all-star panel. And boy, do I mean it. James Shelna, 27 years, Metro Major Case, now lawyer with his own firm, ShelnaLawFirm.com. Catch this in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, man, you're taking over the world. To Dr. Jen Mann, marriage and family therapist, host of Couples Therapy, Family Therapy, VH1, The Dr. Jen Show, Sirius XM, author of The Relationship Fix, Dr. Jen's Six-Step Guide to Improving Communication, Connection, and Intimacy. Well, I'm almost out of breath. You can find her at drjen.com.

Dr. Tim Gallagher, the medical examiner for the entire state of Florida at pathcaremed.com. When he's not performing autopsies, now in the thousands, he's a lecturer of forensic medicine at University of Florida. Cheryl McCollum, founder director of the Cold Case Research Institute. You can find her at coldcasecrimes.org. She's a forensics expert. But first to Alexis Tereschuk, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, also with LeadStories.com. Alexis Tereschuk, right there. Not to say that a murder in itself isn't wrong, but something is way, way wrong. Talking about this beautiful woman, and she is, I'm telling you, this one doesn't need,

I'm looking at her right now, any plastic surgery. She doesn't need a makeup and hair artist. She is a natural beauty. Long raven locks, beautiful. They look like big blue eyes and of course, a perfect smile. And I'm looking at her, she's wearing double diamond earrings. Right there, Alexis. Right there. This is not a theft theft that's the first thing you would do is snatch those earrings out of her ears they're huge they're tasteful they're studs but what gives tell me about the shooting Alexis so she you just were talking about how perfect she is she also was the captain of her cheerleading spot in high school she rips sports. She was the most popular girl in school because she was so kind.

Okay, I mean this in a good way. Alexis, she looks like a Barbie doll. She looks like the brunette Barbie doll. She does. She's beautiful. So she pulls into her. She is a dentist. She's a pediatric dentist.

And she pulls into her Dallas apartment. It's a very, very high-end apartment. Hey, Alexis. Alexis. Everybody on Crime Stories, it's like one big family sitting at the table eating. And everybody butts in on each other. Please, everybody, jump in when a thought comes to you. Except for you, Cheryl McCollum.

Seriously, do. Because that is the way cases are developed. Brainstorming, bouncing off everybody else's idea. You know, Alexis, here's, I can look at her, but here's insight into her personality. You've got to have a certain temperament to be a pediatric dentist, to deal with little children that may bite you and keeping them calm and happy during a dental procedure. I mean, you've got to have a lot of patience. And she had a thriving practice.

So she clearly had a good way with children, even though I don't think she had any children. Back to you, Alexa. I was just saying she seems to be beautiful on the inside and the outside. Yep. So she pulled into her Dallas apartment, gated apartment where she could park. She pulls in and another car. Fancy ride. Weren't they exclusive gated apartments?

Was it a high rise? I believe it was medium size, but not one level, but not. But not like a condo complex that was all spread out with walkways and paths and playgrounds and all that. No. It's like one building with a parking deck. And see, I find that very significant because to get in there, you had to use a key card. And whoever did this did not have a key card or did not want to be traced through their key card. They snuck in there.

And here's the thing, though. She gets out of her car just like a normal night. You park in your building, you feel secure because the gate is locked. You know that there's security. She is shot in the back of the head. No defense, anything. She wasn't running away. She didn't even see this person come up and shoot her point blank in the back of the head. Executed in her parking lot police on the hunt for a mystery gunman who shoots a pediatric dentist dead as she is getting steal her purse nancy oh he did did take the purse yeah well yes the shooter did steal her

purse she had a coach purse fancy purse and that was stolen from a scene but you're right her earrings weren't stolen. None of the jewelry she was wearing. She had just picked up a camera from a friend, a cool underwater camera because she was going on a trip, but her purse was stolen. I'm curious. Were any of her credit cards or ATM ever used? No. Okay. That goes to my theory right there. My initial theory when I first heard the fact, Cheryl McCollum, didn't use the ATM, didn't use any of the credit cards, no gas cards, no nothing. Nothing was used.

So why take the purse? Again, Nancy, you're dead on it, I think. You look at this woman and she's what we would consider a low level risk for being a victim of gun violence. She's not a prostitute. She's not a drug addict. She's not a thief. She's not a criminal in any way. She doesn't hang out with criminals. All day long in her profession, she hangs out with little children. She's got a loving boyfriend. She's got a solid family foundation. She goes to and from work. That's all she does. So this person, the fact that they took the purse, but they didn't use anything from it. And if they were a stranger to her, they wouldn't even have known she had a coach purse. So it couldn't be for the purse. So you start looking at those three things.

And you and I used to go through these all the time. You know, I'm looking at another picture, Cheryl, on her Facebook. It shows her in a bikini. Of course, she's got a great figure to boot. And she's apparently a yogi. She's out doing on the beach, these complicated yoga positions. And to top it all off, she can actually hold the position long enough to get a photo. I mean, this woman is the total package for Pete's sake. Oh, she's pretty flawless. But again, you've got to look at who, who in the world want to hurt this woman and who would benefit. And that's where law enforcement's got to get up and go to work. Now, the reason I'm saying I think it was a high rise, and to me, this is significant

because you have to establish not only a timeline, but you have to look at the area, the area where this happened. And I see pictures of her posing with a cityscape behind her. And it looks like she's on at least the eighth or ninth floor based on the buildings I see behind her. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. So to me, it's a high rise that has exclusive entrance and exits. You can't just walk in. crime stories with nancy grace the murder of a gorgeous young pediatric dentist i wish you could see her picture right now with a big beautiful smile the hunt is on for the killer take a listen

to our friends at nbc as investigators in dallas work to find the killer of 35 year old pediatric dentist kendra hatcher police and families say they believe there is more to it than just a random robbery i don't believe this was a robbery Robbers don't walk up and shoot somebody first and then grab their stuff. Now, see, that's a point right there. Straight out to you, James Shelnut, Metro major case detective and SWAT officer, 27 years now lawyer. That's a good point. They shoot her. Then they take her pocketbook, then they never use the ATM or any of the credit cards. Oh, agreed 100%. Nancy, you hit on an important point also. You know, she's supposedly adorned with all this jewelry. They don't take the easy

pickings either. All this reeks of a setup. It reeks of being a staged event. Staged, staged. And why is it significant that they grab the pocketbook, the purse, after they shoot her, Cheryl McCollum? I think, again, it goes to they want law enforcement to think it was a robbery. If law enforcement thinks that, then they are going to believe that almost anybody can be a suspect. If you start looking at, there's three things, Nancy, money, sex, and revenge. That's why people get killed 90% of the time. If she wasn't sexually assaulted, take that away. If this wasn't a robbery, you can take that away. Law enforcement is only left with revenge. And again, who would want to hurt this pediatric dentist? You know, I find so many of the facts intriguing. To Dr. Tim Gallagher,

medical examiner for the state of Florida, pathcaremed.com, lecturer, University of Florida, forensic medicine. Dr. Tim Gallagher, she shot point blank in the back of the head. How do you tell that a wound, a gunshot wound, is point blank when you look at the body? Well, there are certain clues that the gun would leave behind to show you how close the gun was to the body when it was discharged. Not only does the bullet come out of the gun, but also a gunpowder, soot, smoke, and a flame also comes out of the muzzle of the gun. And if that's close enough to the back of the head, all of that material would be deposited on the back of the head, in the hair, in the neck area. And then we can determine by the pattern that this material leaves how close or how close to the body when it was discharged.

What about stippling? A stippling occurs when the unburnt gunpowder, which is white hot, it's flaming white hot, comes out of the gun and lands on the skin and actually burns into the skin. And if the gun was one foot two feet three feet away from the body that a piece of gunpowder burning into the skin or stippling as you call it would occur if the gun is further away then the particle would cool down before it reaches the body and simply bounce off and not leave a stippling print. So if there's stippling there, it means that the gun was very, very close to the body. And in this case, that is probably why they determined it was a point blank or very close

gunshot wound to the back of the head, possibly execution style. And that is why we call it contact, a contact wound, because the barrel of the gun is making contact with the skin. And you have to be either a contact wound or just inches from the skin for there to be stippling. In other words, the human skin is actually burned by the heat of the gunpowder coming out of the barrel of the gun, be it a long gun or a revolver. That's what we mean by point blank or contact wound. Point blank can be contact or a foot away at point-blank range. Contact wound means you're making contact with the victim's skin. Right, the muzzle of the gun.

Yeah, the muzzle of the gun is pressed against the victim's skin when it is discharged. That's contact gunshot wound. Now, police immediately go on the offense. They increase patrols in this ritzy area and remind everybody to be vigilant about their surroundings, reporting anything suspicious to 911. But back to you, Alexis Teresha at CrimeOnline.com, this is an area where there's not a lot to be vigilant about. It's very low crime rate. Only, you know, you've got to have a lot of money to live in this upscale building, correct? Yes, you do. You do.

But because the building is so high end, it has security cameras. So there was a security camera in the garage. It did not catch the murder, but it did catch a getaway car. Guys, when you see a case, it's not, as Cheryl McCollum correctly pointed out, it's not about a sex assault. It's not about a robbery. What is it about? You always start with those closest to the victim. You start in their family. And typically you're not talking about their children. You're talking about a husband, a boyfriend, an ex, a fiance.

So who is she involved with? Take a listen to our friend Rebecca Lomas, WFAA-TV. Dr. Hatcher was a pediatric dentist who had fallen in love with another doctor, dermatologist Dr. Ricardo Penaigua. They dated for about six months. Things progressed quite rapidly with Kendra. We started a wedding fund. Started a wedding fund after just six months. And now that we're talking about it, I'm looking at this photo of her and this guy, Dr. Ricky Pinagua has his arm around her. He also has perfect teeth, I might add. They're outside. No, they're inside, but they're obviously at her place. It's a high

rise. You see those same buildings behind them. They're inside like on a sofa. And she's wearing a sweatshirt that says, I'm with Dreamy. Dr. McDreamy. I'm talking about Dr. Ricardo Ricky Paniagua. And some people may call him handsome in a kind of a dark good looking way perfect teeth the the chin the look and a lot of these he's in almost all of the pictures that we have of her there they are riding a tandem bicycle there they are on a. I think that's them together at the beach. They're kissing by a

lake and taking goofy selfies together. It looks like it's picture perfect. Straight out to Dr. Jen Mann, couples therapy host, family therapy host, VH1, the Dr. Jen show on SiriusXM and author of The Relationship Fix. It looks great on the outside, doesn't it? But so often that's just not true, Dr. Jen. Absolutely. You know, you see these two people who are gorgeous. They are well educated. They are successful. They appear to have it all. But clearly something was awry that This crime, as Cheryl pointed out, appears to be very personal. And like you said, the first place we look is, what about the boyfriend? What about the husband?

I've got to ask you something, Dr. Jenman. And I was asking it to my husband just today. We're talking about seemingly the perfect couple you got a pediatric dentist gorgeous stunning you've got her boyfriend they started a wedding fund the doctor dr ricky piniagua so you've got the doctor the dentist and the killer i was talking to my husband just this morning, Dr. Jan, about why can't people be happy? You see millionaires with the beautiful home, the beautiful family, the everything, and they're, quote, just not happy.

What? What's there not to be happy about? Now, no offense to Bill Gates, one of the richest people on the planet, but he allegedly told people he had a loveless marriage and they just, quote, just wasn't happy. You know what? My advice? Work on it. Suck it up, little sister. Get in there. Go to Dr. Gin Man. Work on it. What's there not to be happy about? You know, I see people pushing their grocery carts along full of all their worldly belongings. And then you have people that quote, just aren't happy. I don't get it. How can you be this perfect looking and not be happy? I don't

get it. Do you meet people like that, jandy you just want to ring their necks well no i mean look i'm a therapist this is what i do okay that's just you compassion and i look i also think that life is very complicated and people have doesn't have to be does it don't we make it complicated sometimes we do and sometimes our circumstances make it complicated i call it the myth of the perfect life when we see a couple like this we look we look at them and we say they have it all what's not to be happy about it you know i remember one time in my practice i had a client in my office who was pining about this celebrity oh she has the perfect life and everything is perfect and her hair is perfect and her body is perfect and you know her relationship is perfect and our hair is perfect and our body is perfect and her

relationship is perfect. And unbeknownst to her, that person was a client of mine coming in three hours later crying about her terrible boyfriend who had cheated on her, about her depression, about her family, about her own self-image. So what it really speaks to is no matter how perfect things look on paper and on Instagram, that a lot of the time what goes on behind closed doors is very different. And one thing that we know about this guy from what he said is that six months in, they've started a wedding fund. What that tells me is this is a really intense person. This is someone who loves hard, who leaves hard, who a lot of the time people

get very attached to someone like that and they get attached very quickly and that's interesting Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You know, Cheryl McCollum, you and I have seen murder cases in every walk of life. And I started off, most of my first prosecutions were not rich people that had it all. But it didn't take long for me to work my way out of inner city Atlanta and start prosecuting cases of all the rich people up in North Atlanta and the gated communities and the mansions and the rolling laws. And truer words were never spoken than what Dr. Jen just said. But, you know, as you know, I look around at my life and it ain't perfect, but it's perfect for me. And when I look at this scenario where this woman and this guy, a doctor and a dentist and a wedding fund, it's just shocking how everything can suddenly go wrong. You know, I think having

the ability to be grateful is a gift. I do. And I think that is part of being happy, whether you're in a mansion or in a shack by a swamp. If you're with people that love you and that you love, you are, to me, in a gift, in a world of, you know, love. I mean, you can't ask for nothing else to me. And you and I have certainly worked, you know, murder in what people would consider the cut. And we've worked murders on Tuxedo Drive, and they have a lot in common. That's right, by the governor's house, and apparently that is the street to live on if you're in Atlanta, I guess. I wouldn't know about living

over on Tuxedo, but back to this case, guys. So, cops are on the search for a man that murders this pediatric dentist seemingly in cold blood, trying to figure out who, what, where, when and why. Then police get a break in the case. Take a listen to our friend Carrie Sanders at NBC. Police got a break in the case when the owner of this Jeep, seen on security camera video in the garage where Hatcher was killed, told police she loaned the car to a friend. That friend, 23-year-old Crystal Cortez, a dental assistant, admitted that's her driving away from the scene. The black Cherokee fled towards St. Paul.

Cortez is now charged with capital murder. She told police she conspired with an unnamed individual for $500 to drive an unknown male suspect to Rob Hatcher. The suspect's brother says authorities came in the middle of the night and took Cortez's son away. I really broke down in tears because me knowing my sister, she's not capable of something like that. Oh, man, you would just be surprised, wouldn't you, what people are capable of. So let me understand, Alexis Teresha at CrimeOnline.com, investigative reporter. Police get a break because the Jeep is spotted on video. Can't make out who the shooter is. Don't know who the shooter is.

But they can see this Jeep Cherokee flying out of there like a bat out of hell. Now, you know what's interesting, Alexis Tereshchuk, and we see this in other cases, just for instance, Molly Tibbetts, the Iowa co-ed that goes jogging and ends up dead. She goes missing. Can't solve it. Can't solve it. Can't solve it. Then neighborhood video shows her jogging by and then they see a black Chevy Malibu going back, then reverse, then back, then reverse. And it has quote, unusual markings on it. Another case, the people's court mom. Remember her? She drops her children off to be taken care

of while she works and she leaves. Then her Hummer is found in a sea of cars across the street from a big mall, but her business stickers that cover the back of a Hummer advertising her tanning business have all been carefully scratched off. Alterations on a vehicle make that vehicle one of a kind, whether it's a scrape down the side or stickers on the back or stickers removed. It makes that vehicle the only one like it. Very quickly, the owner of the Chevy, of the Jeep comes forward. Right. He does. He sees the car on the news and he comes. He he realizes that he this is his car. So he comes to the police and he he tells them, he says, I a friend of mine, somebody that I know, borrowed this car the of that Kendra was shot. And I'm going to tell you who it is.

And so he goes to the police, they release it, he sees it. And he, and he struggled with this. He talked to his family, the owner of the car, he talked to his family. He said, I don't know what to do. I can't imagine that the friend of mine that I know that borrowed the car had anything to do with this. This seems so crazy to me. You know, maybe I just, I don't want to get them in trouble. And his family said, you have to do the right thing. And so he did. He went to the police and he told them that he had the car in the video. So this woman, Crystal Cortez, no connection whatsoever to Kendra Hatcher, the dead pediatric dentist, says she had the car. She borrows the car.

Boy, if it had just been stolen after that. But no, she returned the car. But she had the car at the time of the shooting. She says she conspired with an unnamed individual for $500 just to drive a guy to where Hatcher was. That's all she had to do. Take a listen to our friend Carrie Sanders at NBC. The person under arrest, a 22-year-old woman named Crystal Cortez. She's charged with capital murder and is being held on $250,000 bond. Authorities say she admitted involvement in the crime, claiming she was paid $500 and drove a man to the scene,

who then shot and killed Hatcher. But still, what's the motive? You know, to you, Cheryl McCollum, there's nothing like a little capital murder charge to make you blurt out what happened. And here she's saying she got paid $500 just to give this guy a ride to where Hatcher was, the murder victim. Listen, $500 to give somebody a ride? You got to know something is way wrong with that, right? You know it's way wrong.

And Nancy, you and I have known people that got murdered for a whole lot less than $500, but there's no question she knew what was fixing to go down. Oh, yeah. She had to know what was going down. Guys, the police are getting closer and closer to making some sense of the murder, the brutal murder, seemingly for hire, of this young pediatric dentist. Now, take a listen to this. This is Dallas Police Major Max Giron. Detectives have been working around the clock executing search warrants

and interviewing individuals in connection with the offense. Tonight, we announced the arrest of Christopher Love, black male, date of birth 3-23-1984. He is the person we have identified as having shot Dr. Hatcher. He has been charged with capital murder and a federal charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. He is currently in the Dallas County Jail on $2.5 million bond. When Mr. Love was arrested, he was found in possession of the weapon believed to have been used to kill Dr. Hatcher. Additionally, we have secured a warrant for the arrest of Brenda Delgado, Latin female, 6-18 of 1982, also for the charge of capital murder for her involvement in the offense.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Now we find out the trigger man is a guy that also has no connection whatsoever to the murder victim. And we hear for the first time the name Brenda Delgado. Brenda Delgado. Listen to our friend Chris Gutierrez, NBC5. On Friday, Dallas police announced Love was their prime suspect in the murder of Dallas dentist Kendra Hatcher. They believe he was the trigger man in this elaborate murder-for-hire case. Police believe Brenda Delgado hired Love to kill Hatcher. But for the first time, we're hearing about another unnamed man involved in the plot.

The FBI affidavit says Delgado was overheard asking that man if he would find someone to carry out the crime. That's when the FBI believes Love got involved. Cortez told police Love hid in the backseat of the Jeep seen in these surveillance photos, so he wouldn't be seen on the cameras. They waited for Hatcher, and Cortez says Love got out of the car, fired one shot, and came back to the Jeep with two purses in his hand. Okay, now you got the FBI involved. That means one thing, murder for hire is suspected, but I still don't have the answer. Who's Brenda Delgado?

Take a listen to our friends at Crime Online. Friends describe dermatologist Dr. Ricardo Rickyci-Paniagua as quiet and thoughtful. Patients say he has a wonderful bedside manner. Brenda Delgado likewise has friends who speak of her in glowing terms. The 31-year-old dental hygiene student was petite, pretty, and personable. Always easy to talk to. So it's really no wonder that when the two met through a dating app, they hit it off. They were living together in Paniagua's apartment just three months after their first date.

Things stayed that way for two and a half years. Paniagua had even given Delgado a promise ring. But that promise did not ring true. Paniagua tells his girlfriend that it's time for him to move on. A promise ring? You've got a medical doctor, Rick Paniagua. He's living with a dental hygienist, Brenda Delgado, and he gives her a promise ring after two, what was it, two and a half years? Uh-uh. Dr. Jen Mann, don't you give promise rings in like the seventh grade?

Well, I think a lot of the time people give promise rings when they feel like they're moving in a certain direction, but they're not really ready to cross that finish line. And I think that this may have been a situation where he wanted to... I mean, hold on, Dr. Jin, wait a minute, wait a minute. Do we have this right, Alexis Tereshak? Was it a promise ring? Just yes, no? Yes. Okay, Shelnut, 27 years Metro

Major case, SWAT, now lawyer. What if you got down on your knees and gave your now wife, the mother of your five children, a promise ring? Yeah. I mean, is he like 12 years old? I mean, I agree with you.

I mean, that's like, that's what kids do. And so I will tell you this, that would have been the last ring that my wife would have ever received from me because she didn't ever talk to me again after that. Cheryl McCollum, a promise ring? Why didn't he have to ask her to move out? You give me a promise ring after I've shacked up with you nearly three years. Uh-uh, no. Well, I'm going to play devil's advocate. Oh, Lord. And she's crazy. And he gave her the promise ring because he couldn't give her an engagement ring because he didn't want to be,

you know, tied to her in that way. But he had to string her along long enough to figure out how the hell to get out of this relationship. That's what I think happened. So after he unceremoniously tells her to pack up and leave, he sends her an email telling her he's in a new relationship and very happy. Well, that's just pouring gas on the fire. Delgado is not happy. She begins stalking Penaigua, reading his texts and emails, has his iCloud password, set up an app that allows her to track the location of his cell phone. She had a key to his apartment. She began tailing him all around Dallas with the plan of getting her boyfriend back. Listen to this. Hatcher and Paniagua make plans to fly to Cancun for a long weekend, but someone walks up to Hatcher in a parkingagua make plans to fly to Cancun for a long weekend.

But someone walks up to Hatcher in a parking garage and fires a bullet into the back of her head. That night, Paniagua texts Delgado, letting her know what happened. The next morning, Delgado texts him back, offering to bring over groceries or anything else he needs. Yeah, I can imagine what she wanted to bring over the next morning. So the boyfriend, Dr. Paniagua, calls his ex, Brenda Delgado, and says, my fiance has been murdered. And she offers to come comfort him the following morning. Okay, Cheryl McCollum, how is it that you could track through an app anybody's cell phone? It appears that Delgado shared a plan with her former boyfriend.

So when they broke up, she stayed on his cell phone plan, and she was able to use the Find Me app because they were connected phone to phone. So she started by tracking his movements, found out where the victim lived, Dr. Hatcher, and then started following her, it would appear. What kind of a sick thrill do you get out of that, following your ex's new girlfriend, Dr. Jan? Well, what that tells us is that this is someone who was extremely obsessive, who is really crossed that line from, you know, we've all been obsessive about an ex or. Speak for yourself. I don't think we've all been obsessive. But this has crossed the line where she's now become a stalker.

And that tells us that this is someone who is deeply pathological, which kind of brings us back, by the way, to that promise ring. I think on some level in his gut, he was not giving her an engagement ring because he knew something was wrong with this woman. Well, you know what? Maybe you and Sharon McCollum are right. Take a listen to Hour Cut 9. This is David Goins at WFAA-TV. Prosecutors say Brenda Delgado was upset her ex-boyfriend had moved on, so she plotted to kill his new girlfriend. Surveillance video from September 2015 showed Christopher Love walking in the parking garage of Hatcher's Uptown High Rise.

Seconds later, the pediatric dentist was shot in the head. A Dallas County jury gave Love, the hired hitman, the death penalty, in large part because of testimony from the getaway driver, Crystal Cortez, who told jurors last fall Brenda Delgado hired her. Probably two weeks after I met Brenda, we started planning this murder. Instead of the death penalty, Cortez got 35 years for her testimony against Love. She will testify against Delgado this week. Prosecutors will show surveillance video of Delgado and Cortez meeting shortly after the murder.

And this photo, the $500 Cortez says the assassination of her ex, the doctor's new dentist lover, Kendra Hatcher, goes to trial. So what happens at trial with Delgado, Alexis Tereschuk? I want to point out one thing before we talk about the trial. One of the things that Brenda had said about their relationship when she was with Ricky is they were so serious. She actually got pregnant and Ricky asked her, he said, I want to have kids with you eventually, but I want you to have an abortion now. And she did that. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a shrink, but I think that was something that weighed very heavily on her when she saw that he had moved on with someone else, when he had promised her they'd have kids together, she was pregnant,

she was going to have a child. And then he's like, I don't want you at all, and tossed her away. And this also could have been a big trigger for her. What happened at trial, Alexis Terescheck? The defense didn't, she never took the stand. She didn't say anything on her own. She, in fact, sat in the court and didn't look at a single witness ever. She was very stoic, looked straight ahead, except when Ricky took the stand, her ex-boyfriend, the one that she loved, he took the stand. He looked at her one time and one time only. The prosecutor asked him to identify, do you recognize the woman in the court who is accused of this crime? He said, yes. And he looked at Brenda. She stared at him the entire time.

Staring, staring. Prosecution rest, defense rest. The jury spends all of 20 minutes before they came back with a guilty verdict. And what was her sentence? She did not get the death penalty. She got life in prison. Brenda Delgado, life behind bars. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.