Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - SPECIAL WEEKEND CRIME STORIES UPDATE: Dead wife's FitBit says hubby's lying, GUILTY

Episode Date: September 24, 2022

Richard Dabate tells Connecticut State Police that a masked intruder broke into his home, shot his wife, Connie, and tied him to a chair. Investigators say however that data from the Fitbit tracker Connie was wearing contradicts those statements. Police put together a detailed digital timeline. Dabate told police his wife came home during the intrusion. He told her to run and said the intruder chased her to the basement and shot her. Connie's Fitbit, however, logged more than 1200 steps in the house. Richard Dabate, charged with murder, tampering with evidence, and making false statements, now convicted by a jury.   Joining Nancy Grace Today:  Dr. Daniel Bober - Forensic psychiatrist Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan" Ashley Wilcott - Judge and trial attorney, anchor at Court TV, www.ashleywillcott.com Ninette Sosa - Crime Online Investigative Reporter.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous young woman in the prime of her life shot dead in the family home just two days before Christmas while their two little boys were in school. I'm talking about Connie debate. Why was this young mom gunned down in the home by a masked man? Take a listen to this. Our friends at CBS. Everyone who lives on Birchview Drive in Ellington remembers that awful day.

It was shock. There was just no way in the world that you could comprehend it. December 23, 2015. Their friend and neighbor, Connie DeBate, was shot and killed inside her home. Stuff like that doesn't happen here. You see it on TV, in movies, sitcoms, but you don't see it on your street. Time moved on, but for Connie's friends, like Russell Stone, life was never quite the same here. The conversation is two minutes and then it goes right to Connie.

And, you know, it's just a shadow hanging over everybody's head. that masked man that guns down the mom, leaves the dad alive and ties him up with zip ties. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. You know, this woman, Connie DeBate, her whole life was her family, her whole world. So how does she end up gunned down in her own home? No rape, no robbery, and daddy somehow lives to tell the tale? Richard claims that a masked intruder, here we go with the masked intruder, breaks into their upscale Connecticut home and ties him, Richard DeBate, to a chair. P.S. it was a folding chair and when cops got there, he had one arm and one leg tied to it. But for some reason, they didn't tie the wife to a chair.

They decided to chase her through the home and murder her. Take a listen to our friends at NBC. Richard DeBate told Connecticut police a terrifying story about the morning of December 23, 2015. An intruder covered in a dark green camouflage suit with a mask tortured him and fatally shot his wife Connie, according to court documents. Debate told police his wife came home during the intrusion. He told her to run, then said the intruder chased her to the basement and shot her.

Now, this is the problem. Richard, the husband, calls the cops and tells them everything that happened. And then cops get there. They find the wife brutally murdered. No forced entry. No burglary alarm goes off. I don't think anything was taken. I guess they just broke in and committed murder and left.

You know, forget about the TV, the VCR and the jewelry and the money. Just, you know, okay, that didn't work out, so they left. And they left a witness alive. Oh, yes, I forgot one important fact. Nanette Sosa joining me. He claimed the masked intruder sounded a lot like Vin Diesel. But here's the problem. The Fitbit.

Listen to our friends at NBC. Connie's Fitbit logged more than 1,200 steps in the house. Police say total distance from garage to basement would have been 125 feet. Dr. Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist and M.D., Ashley Wilcott, lawyer and well-known child advocate. Joseph Scott Morgan, forensic expert and professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University. Nanette Sosa, crime stories investigative reporter joining us. Nanette, what does a Fitbit have to do with Richard Debate's story to cops? Well, the Fitbit, and it's actually referred to in some places as the Fitbit murder.

The fact is that it shows that she was active at the house, but it was one hour after he said the alarm was stripped. Whoopsie. So how would that be possible? I just hate when that happens. Ashley Wilcott, his whole timeline is blown. So the cops show up, and he goes, yeah, yeah, they murdered her like two hours ago, and I've been tied to this chair all this time.

And I just got loose and called you. And then they find her Fitbit. I don't know how she did it. I don't know how Connie did it. But after she was brutally murdered, she walked around the house for about an hour and a half logging like, what, three or four thousand steps? How does that work? And this is one of the first times you hear about publicly using a Fitbit by criminal investigators. What a great tool.

This has solved the murder mystery, but it did in this case. Pretty good investigation here. And I just think he's an idiot. Let's be honest. Not only is he a murderer, he's an idiot. When you look at his story, it doesn't make sense. Late, late one night in Novembermber uh connie debate was texting her husband a photo of herself and some sexy lingerie so obviously she had no idea that

anything may be wrong within the marriage but one day before that back to nanette so so crime stories investigative reporter one day before the sexy linger to Nanette Soso, Crime Stories investigative reporter. One day before the sexy lingerie photo she sends to her husband, her husband, Richard DeBate, was texting somebody else. Who? The girlfriend, Nancy. He has a girlfriend. She's 10 weeks pregnant.

Hold on. Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Nanette. Nanette, I know that you're used to just rattling off the information and knowing every detail. But I got to take this in for a moment. Dr. Daniel Bober with me. I think I need to shrink. I'm pretty sure I just heard Nanette Sosa say, as his wife is sending him photos of herself in sexy lingerie, he's texting his 10-week pregnant girlfriend.

Dr. Bober, help me out. Do I hear motive, Nancy? This guy really is an idiot. His story has more holes than Swiss cheese from the first moment. And between the Fitbit, it seems like he's all done. 10-week pregnant girlfriend. Take a listen to our friends at Fox. When asked whether there were any relationship issues,

DeBate told a detective that Connie had wanted to have another baby, but due to medical issues, she could not conceive. DeBate told a detective that a mutual friend of theirs was single and wanted to have a baby. Now, in the report, DeBate says he fathered a child outside of the marriage, and that Connie DeBate agreed they would be co-parenting that child. However, DeBate goes on to reveal that he thought the situation ultimately bothered his wife. And finally, investigators examined an iPhone belonging to Connie debate, which she had a special section in the notes portion labeled,

Why I Want a Divorce. All right. Nanette Sosa, this girlfriend, apparently somebody he's known since childhood? Yes. According to Richardard they had gone to high school together he told investigate when he gives investigators a couple of versions of the story first and one part he says that he and his wife connie had an untraditional type of marriage and that connie was okay with this and that they planned to co-parent and that there was cheating

on both sides. So there's that part. Dr. Daniel Bober, hold on. Hold it, Nanette. I got to go back to our shrink on this. Dr. Bober, why is it always, have you noticed a trend? Now, this is just anecdotal on my part. I haven't done a statistical study, but why is it always the man who is standing over the dead wife's

body going, oh, yeah, she was fine with me dating other people? We had an arrangement. We had an open marriage. Why isn't the woman ever saying, yeah, we had an open marriage? Why is it always the man, Bober? It just seems to work out better for men that way, Nancy. I'm not really sure why, but it seems like whenever they make that assertion, the only person that can refute that is dead. I'm so glad you didn't even bother to put up a fight with me on that one. Ash,

Ashley Wilcott with me, renowned lawyer and child advocate. Ashley, an open marriage? Bull. He's just full of crap. I mean, he's just saying what he thinks he can say to get away with it. Because, no, I cannot imagine she said, oh, yeah, that's great. And the other thing is, she knew something was amiss with the marriage. I stand by and I've always said, if any spouse, male or female, has gut feelings or writes things down about reasons to divorce my spouse. You have some sense that something's amiss, even if you don't know what it is.

Nanette Sosa, I so rudely interrupted you, but I had to just isolate the fact that the husband, when his girlfriend pops up 10 weeks pregnant, says to cops, oh, we had an open marriage. She was fine with it. Nanette, what were you about to say? Well, there was that one version. And then the other version is where they have text, a police source has text about him to the girlfriend that this is getting a slow move, divorce, to make it easier on our kids. Wait, wait, wait.

I've got to dissect that too, Nanette Sosa. A slow-moving divorce. That's his words, Richard DeBate's words, not mine. A slow-moving divorce so as not to affect the children. Yeah, let's just rip the Band-Aid off very slowly to just drag out the children. Yeah, let's just rip the band-aid off very slowly to just drag out the pain. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Connie Debate, a gorgeous young mom, gunned down in her home just two days before Christmas. The husband's story never made sense, nor did the fact he was having an affair with a woman who was pregnant at the time his wife was murdered by a mysterious intruder. To Joe Scott Morgan, Connie DeBate was shot dead in the Ellington home with a.357 Magnum.

What kind of bullet is that, Joe Scott Morgan? A very large bullet, Nancy. It's fired from a revolver, which is a weapon with a cylinder. And it's a very ominous-looking handgun when you see one of these things compared to, say, like something, an old-fashioned.38 Special. You know, even more significant, though, I think, than the size of the bullet, which I was interested in, that the killer would inflict so much pain on the victim, is the fact that we now know Joe Scott Morgan. This.357 Magnum was one her husband had purchased just a month or so before the shooting. She's murdered with her husband's own gun.

Yeah, and there's tieback to that. You can place this weapon in his hand at the time of purchase. And what's really kind of compelling about this, Nancy, is the fact that this woman didn't want guns in the house. She didn't feel comfortable around them, but yet he purchased not a small weapon, but one of the largest weapons you can purchase over the counter at a gun store where you walk in and say, yeah, I don't want a small one. I want to get the.357 Magnum. To Dr. Daniel Bober joining me,

forensic psychiatrist and medical doctor, the husband, Richard DeBate, claims that he was subdued. Okay, brace yourself. DeBate tells police he struggled with the masked intruder, but that the intruder subdued him by, quote, applying pressure to debate's wrists. What does that mean? Pressure on your wrist.

I mean, he didn't even have a bruise, Bober. Nothing. He didn't even get roughed up. Nothing. Nancy, it's just it's just complete nonsense. I mean, he really he really should have thought it through better if he was going to come up with a story. Nancy, it's just complete nonsense. I mean, he really should have thought it through better if he was going to come up with a story. There's just too many holes here. Well, how can you subdue?

What does it mean to put pressure on your wrists? I guess he's trying to say that he was trying to immobilize him by putting pressure on the wrists so that she couldn't move her hands. Debate says the intruder put, quote, pressure on his, the husband's, wrists to subdue him. Now, how did he get Debate's gun? It doesn't fit. It doesn't make any sense. Again, as we have learned, Connie did not like guns, did not want them in the home,

and there was no indications in their emails or text she had any idea her husband was having an affair or had gotten another woman pregnant. Take a listen to this, our friends at CBS. State police arrested the man they say murdered Connie, her husband, Rick DeBate. Not surprised. You know, we expected something like this a long time ago. Everybody's wondering why, and, you know, they know they're thinking you know did somebody drop the ball? Did a mistake get made in the prosecution of the crime scene? State police say it's nothing like that but this murder investigation is very

complicated and detectives needed to cross every t and dot every i. The arrest warrant answers some questions as to what led up to the murder. It says Connie wanted to have another baby and that due to health issues, she was not able to. So Rick did some untraditional things and had a baby with another woman he was having a relationship with. The warrant also says they were all going to co-parent the baby. But even after these details came to light, other questions still surround the case. Everybody's got speculation. Everybody has a fact or something that they know is to be true, and it's all speculation, so it's tough.

Take a listen to this. Richard DeBate was held on a $1 million bail after being charged with killing his wife. Richard DeBate's family used four pieces of property as collateral, including the home owned by his parents, Richard and Julie DeBate. The other property was Richard and Connie's home in Ellington. Richard DeBate's father also posted an $89,000 cash bond. The properties and cash totaled $800,000 in equity. The remaining balance was paid through a bail bondsman. Richard DeBate was released from prison on bond. Ashley Wilcott, how did that happen? I don't know how he got out on bond or why a judge would set a bond, frankly, that he could get out on because from all accounts, the evidence is there. He was

in jail. I don't even understand how he's out. And during that time, Ashley Wilcott, he has gone into the insurance accounts and bank accounts and drained nearly $80,000 out of the accounts. Listen. At the time of her death, Connie Debates' estate was worth about $77,000. But a fiscal accounting just months later showed DebBate's estate only worth $6.42. Connie DeBate's will was finalized before either of her children were born and never updated. All of DeBate's assets were left to her husband. A judge removed Richard DeBate as executor of his wife's will after he was charged with murder. The estate was frozen and the judge ordered an inventory. Debate had

withdrawn more than $90,000 from a Fidelity investment account that belonged to his wife. Connie Debate also had $475,000 life insurance that Richard Debate tried to claim five days after the murder, but the insurance company did not release the money. We also know that he had a secret credit card, has charged about $1,200 at a strip club, was using it for flowers for his girlfriend in hotel rooms. This is during his wife's life. The focus right now is the legal issue of the Fitbit. As Danette Sosa told us, this has been called the Fitbit murder case. I think, Ashley, it's going to be like every other test in court.

Like the first time they used fingerprints, somebody said, wow, I don't have much faith in this. Or the first time you used DNA or fiber or hair analysis, you have to undergo a test of reliability and prove that in court. So how are we going to get, I mean, I see it being the way of, for instance, Siri and Alexa and OnStar Fitbit. We surround ourselves with technology. We rely on it. And now, you know, you live by the sword, you die by the sword. How are they going to get the Fitbit evidence in that his story is a lie? It's going to be like a cell phone record, in my opinion. It's an electronic footprint or record that shows exactly where the steps were and when they were

taken. And so I think it's going to be a series of questions that an attorney will use to lay the foundation to do exactly what you said, which is to show it's reliable electronically. This is the footprint. This is the footprint. This is the record. And it's like any other record that we all have to introduce in court to lay the foundation and make it admissible. It's probably going to be challenged because it's new. But like you said, once you get that certain list of questions to lay the proper foundation, I suspect it's going to be admitted, just like a cell phone record. Take a listen to our friends at Fox. Because prosecutors plan to use data from the device to prove their suspect killed his wife.

Teresa Priolo in the newsroom now with a look at how this could really set legal precedent. Prosecutors say that the Fitbit shows Connie DeBate was moving when her husband says she was dead, calling into question his alibi and his statements. This case also questions the science behind fitness trackers and their reliability when it comes to criminal cases. DeBate's legal team attempting to have that data tossed. The issue of whether or not a Fitbit can be used in court is one that's gone all the way to the Supreme Court. James Kassouris is a criminal defense attorney. There is a tremendous amount of litigation. The Supreme Court of the United States has dealt with these issues. You know,

your phone not only can track your text messages, your emails, you know, all of the things that are stored on it, but also your GPS. Katsouris believes there's a lot still unknown, including if the device also tracked Connie's heart rate and the overall reliability of the science. If it sufficiently contradicts the statements that the defendant made, then it certainly can be used by the prosecution to attack the credibility of his statements, to attack the credibility of his story. Alan Duke joining me with me from LA. Now a police spokeswoman explained the Fitbit. What did she say Alan? Well she explains how detectives when they realized that she was wearing it they accessed the data and it is what allowed them to nail down the timeline of when she actually was killed. Let's listen to it. So once that movement stops, the Fitbit stops.

Detectives were able to determine the time that Connie, unfortunately, stopped moving. In the last hours, the jury hands down a guilty verdict in the fatal shooting of Connie DeBate, a gorgeous young mom gunned down in her home just two days before Christmas. The husband's story never made sense, nor did the fact he was having an affair with a woman who was pregnant at the time his

wife was murdered by a mysterious intruder. Well, the jury could see through Richard DeBate's story. There were so many holes in it. Listen through Richard DeBate's story. There were so many holes in it. Listen. Richard DeBate was found guilty of all three charges against him.

Murder, tampering with evidence, and making false statements to authorities. Judge Corinne Klatt sentenced DeBate to 60 years for his wife's murder, five years for tampering with evidence, and one year for giving false statements to police. A total of 65 years to be served. Richard DeBate, headed to the penitentiary. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.