Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Teen Hitmen Kill Wrong Target, Brag on Social Media

Episode Date: March 8, 2022

24-year Alisha Canales-McGuire is babysitting for her sister when there is a 2 am knock at the door. Canales-McGuire is shot five times when she answers. The case is unsolved for nearly two years, when there is a break in the case. Police get a call about a teen bragging she had been hired to kill someone. A connection is made between Alexis Hale, 17, and Jerradon Phelps, 19. Phelps received a message from his cousin, Kevin Lewis. That message from Kevin Lewis, 34, asked Phelps is he would kill Lewis' ex-wife, Amanda Canales. Lewis expected his ex to be home, not knowing she was out of town on business. Canales-McGuire was watching her nieces and nephew.Joining Nancy Grace Today: Dante Pride - Sexual Assault Attorney, Founder: The Pride Law Firm, victimlawyer.com, Instagram: @thepridelawfirm Dr. Jorey Krawczyn - Psychologist, Faculty Saint Leo University; Consultant Blue Wall Institute, Author: Operation S.O.S. Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan" Ellen Dennis - Public Safety Reporter, The Daily Herald (Everett, Washington. heraldnet.com, Twitter: @reporterellen 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. A gorgeous young woman gunned down in her own home. Something was off about the investigation. What happened to Alicia Michelle Canales McGuire? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. First of all, take a listen to this. Detectives still have the road closed out here, so we've not had any access to where the shooting happened. In fact, you can't even see the home from where we are.

This is the Homish County Medical Examiner on scene after a young woman was shot and killed in a home near Everett. It was around 2 o'clock this morning when people called 911 to report gunshots fired in the 3100 block of York Road. When deputies arrived, they found a young woman dead inside the doorway of a duplex. We all just woke up and looked out the windows. Brandon Blevins

lives in the neighborhood and woke up to the gunshots. His roommate called 911. They did see a car drive off, but that could have been any card. The Sheriff's Office says three children and another woman were also inside the home during the shooting.

Detectives interviewed that woman, but a sheriff spokeswoman says there were no eyewitnesses when the shots were fired. At this time, we still don't have a suspect identified. We're still following up on leads. So, as I said, this is an active homicide investigation. Throughout the morning, detectives waited for a search warrant to begin collecting evidence at the home. Gunshots ring out in the middle of the night around 2 a.m. according to our friends at KOMO that you just heard. The victim, an unarmed young woman age 24, answers the door seemingly and gets gunned down right

there at the threshold to the home. Why? No one in the home sees a thing? With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. First of all, Dante Pride, attorney and founder of the Pride Law Firm. You can find her at victimlawyer.com. Dr. Jory Croson, psychologist, faculty, St. Leo University, consultant and author of Operation SOS, Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and star of a brand new hit series on iHeart, Body Bags with Joe Scott Morgan. But first, I want to go to Ellen Dennis, reporter with the Daily Herald in Everett.

Ellen, thank you for being with us. That's a very bizarre set of facts because the person, the victim seemingly comes to the door. You don't have a home invasion. You don't have a burglary. You don't have anything stolen. You don't have a sex assault. So the woman comes to the door and is gunned down at the door. The victim opened her door roughly around 2 a.m. that morning, and she was shot multiple times.

To Dante Pride, joining us, attorney out of San Diego and founder of the Pride law firm. Dante, again, thank you for being with us. You know, how many times have I argued to juries, nothing good happens after midnight. I mean, 2 a.m., somebody knocks at your door. I'm not blaming the victim at all, but 2 a.m. right there should have been a tip off that something is very wrong. Absolutely. 2 a.m. in the morning for any law abiding citizen at a time that would be absolutely insane to have someone knock on your door. And I'm not sure that she didn't feel that way when she answered the door. We don't know. Yeah, we'll never know. Do we know Ellen Dennis joining us from the Daily Herald there in Everett? Do we know how many times she was shot or anything about the shooting at all?

So dozens of people allegedly spoke with detectives in the hours after the shooting. Neighbors testified in court that they heard sound resembling a sledgehammer. One said they went to a window and saw a man running. Wow, that's a lot of evidence right there. From what I'm understanding to you, Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor of Forensics, the victim was shot multiple times, and that's telling me a lot. A, she died instantly. But B, what would have been the motive? There was, again, no home invasion, no burglary, no rape. Nothing was stolen that we know of. You know, when you talk about an individual being shot multiple fact, deceased at that moment in time, or they're not very practiced at doing this sort of thing.

You know, like a professional killer, say, for instance, if it was some trained Army marksman, they might fire one time to take the individual down, very sure of the shot that they're taking. There's another big takeaway here, Nancy. It's not like this is kind of randomized where she shot out in the yard and there's a car driving by. She came to the door. What does that indicate? Well, there was perhaps a knock at the door. The doorbell rang. She opened

the door. So that gives you an indication of proximity. And one more thing, we do know that she was shot multiple times. Five times, Joe Scott, I found out. Five times. And so that's even a bigger indicator of the fact of proximity, Nancy, that if you can put five rounds on target, on target now, five of them, that means you're really, really close or highly, highly skilled. I'm thinking you're really close. I mean, let's talk about it. If you've got a handgun, how many bullets are in the chamber, Joe Scott? Well, it's going to be dependent upon the talk about it. If you've got a handgun, how many bullets are in the chamber, Joe Scott? Well, it's going to be dependent upon the type of firearm. If it's a revolver, probably only six. But if you're talking about some semi-automatic weapons, you can have stacked

in there, you can have up to 17 rounds, perhaps with one in the chamber. Let's just go with six in the chamber and they shot five times and hit the target five times, obviously at close range. But if you're trying to figure out if it was a close range, you would look at the victim's body and you would look for, for instance, gunshot residue. Was the gun less than 36 inches away from the body? That's how you find gunshot residue. If you're further away, the residue doesn't hit the clothing or the body. That's why defendants often have their hands tested for GSR, gunshot residue. If they're the shooter, they may very well have the residue on their hands. You will look for burning, stippling. What will you look

for to find out if she was shot at close range, Joe Scott? Yeah, when you, you know, one of the best examples I've ever heard you give, Nancy, I've got to have you come over and teach for me sometime, is the fact that you like to use the water hose description where, you know, the further you are away, the more broad the spray pattern is. As you approach to the target, it's going to be tighter and tighter. So not only will you have a defect or hole where the bullet actually enters, but you will have a powder ring that surrounds. And the tighter that area is, as far as the distribution of the, you know, as you put the gunpowder residue or the unburned powder that's burned into the skin or perhaps the clothing, that's going to give you an indication of range of fire. Once you get outside that, some people will say from 18 inches to 36 inches, it begins to kind of fall away because powder, it's not like a bullet.

It doesn't have any aerodynamic quality, so it just kind of floats to the ground. Outside of that, it's an indeterminate range, but I'm betting, I'm betting you're going to find some kind of powder on this young woman's body. Guaranteed. Dr. Jory Croson joining us, psychologist on the faculty at St. Leo University and author and consultant. Dr. Jory, I often refer to, for instance, stabbing and strangling deaths as sweetheart murders. Not that there's any love lost between the victim and the killer, but that it's an intimate killing in that you're very close to the victim in proximity. A close range shooting would have the same characteristics. You're in close range to the victim.

You're not taking a pot shot out of the car window like the Miami serial killer. You are up close and personal to your victim. And that's a whole nother type of psychopathy. The personality is different from, say, a sniper. Yet up close like this with a firearm usually reveals, you know, somebody that wants to get in quick and leave quick, you know, so it comes down to time. They want to be on target, do their deed, and get out of there. Versus, like you said, stabbing.

That's close and personal. That takes a little bit more time. They get to see the effect of their work that they've done with a knife. Where shooting is just you go five shots, body mass, and you're out of there. So it comes down to— Up close, you would see the victim recoil. You would see her in pain. You would see her crumple to the ground.

Some of these shots had to be while she's already down on the ground probably wearing her PJs. At home, in the background, you've got children and a babysitter. Take a listen to our cut two. This is Kristen Drew, KOMO. Yeah, it just doesn't feel fair.

It's hard to imagine being in Amanda Lewis's situation. Her sister, Alicia Canales McGuire, was murdered five months ago and no one has been arrested. It's hard enough losing someone, you know, we were so close to, but not having justice for it. And this person is just walking around like nothing ever happened, their life that's that's hard to swallow. Alicia was shot at Amanda's home near Everett. At the time Amanda was out of town for work so her sister was staying here to help the nanny with Amanda's three kids. Deputies found Alicia's body near the front door after the nanny called 911. It was just just a really horrible time. Since the murder detectives have not released any information about a person of interest or suspect. In the affidavit

for a search warrant a detective wrote there was a lack of probable cause for a suspect in this case. He said the violence associated with the murder is disturbing and that it appears to be a targeted attack. Targeted attack. That could mean a number of things. Who was Alicia? Take a listen to our cut. A1, our friends at KIRO. Alicia is what I want people to remember. I mean, she was an amazing sister, an amazing friend to a lot of people, an amazing auntie. And 24-year-old Alicia Canales-McGuire was a newlywed, trying to have a baby of her own. When she was gunned down in her sister's doorway, Alicia was babysitting her sister's kids

and her kind-hearted, selfless sister, who died doing what she always did, a favor, watching the nieces and nephew she adored. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. There's something about that dichotomy, Dr. Jory, of a young girl, a newlywed, trying to start her own family, just mowed down in the prime of her life. That seeming innocence of starting fresh and then being gunned down in this way makes it even more poignant. If you look at it as a targeted and you start looking at her background, I mean, you see like a saint, you know, all that she was doing at the time in her life. And you try to think what could possibly bring about a target on this person. Now, according to Ellen Dennis joining us, reporter with the Daily Herald in Everett. A neighbor had video surveillance

footage of a single male running away from the murder scene. That is what one neighbor alleged when talking to a law enforcement official. Yeah, multiple neighbors heard gunshots and saw somebody in a white tank top, a male, I believe, at the scene. You know, though, Jessica Morgan, we hear Ellen Dennis describing what was seen, what was caught on video surveillance. But at that time of the night, it's really going to be hard to get a good picture, a face recognition picture of the shooter. They're running and it's 2 a.m. Yeah, it would be. And I agree with you because it's going to be dark. They're running away. way. But here's what's kind of curious about this, Nancy, is the fact that this individual, whoever they are, if this is the suspect, they didn't even take time to put, you know,

dark clothing on or something that's going to obscure their face. Because what I'm hearing Ellen say is that they were wearing a white tank top. Well, if that's the case, then you can assume that the head and the face are not covered. So I think this goes to the type of perpetrator that we're talking about. Somebody that's probably careless, maybe unplanned. I don't know if this was something sudden perhaps, but it doesn't sound like that this is necessarily a professional killer that's involved in the circumstance. Take a listen to our cut A3, Joanna Smalls, K-I-R-O-7. Isaiah is only three.

Pumpty Pumpty died. She did die. He shouldn't have to understand death, let alone murder, but he does because Aunt Punky, Alicia Canales McGuire, was shot to death while he and his five and six-year-old sisters were sleeping inside their Everett home. It was 2 a.m. and she was shot in the doorway. Multiple gunshot wounds. Alicia had been watching the kids for their mom, her sister, Amanda Canales, who was away on a business trip and learned of her sister's death from their father over the phone. Yeah, that was a hard moment. Ellen Dennis joining me, reporter with the Daily Herald. Did you say that one of the neighbors said they heard something like a sledgehammer?

That is what one neighbor told law enforcement, I believe. Interesting. What would that have been? Joseph Scott Morgan, if there were five gunshot wounds to the victim, what would have sounded like a sledgehammer? Well, you know, in the middle of the night like this, when you have a firearm going off in a neighborhood, you know, we have to contextualize this, Nancy, and think about this is an area where other people live. You know, these sounds like this, this report, you're talking about perhaps something that is breaking the sound barrier if a weapon is discharged, and it is going to be loud. and then it's a succession of these.

If you're pulling the trigger multiple times, you're going to have this kind of concussive event that's going to go out, sending out sound waves. It's going to come off sounding like someone hitting on a piece of tin with a sledgehammer, more than likely, not on a piece of wood that would be blunted, but there will be a sharp crack like that. And so it's going to get your attention, even if you're asleep. Just think if you're living next door to these folks, and you're jolted out of bed by the sound and not just one, not two, not three, not four, but five times, it's going to sound like the end

of the world is coming visiting at your doorstep. You know, I was just looking at the timing of this. The murder victim, Alicia, was married July 2017. She was killed in September 2017. She truly was a newlywed. To Dante Pryde, joining us from the Pryde Law Firm, a newlywed. Who in the world would have a vendetta against a young girl that had only been married a couple of months? Right, Nancy. I mean, sheesh, annulment. That's something to think about. And I would think from the police's perspective, they have to start thinking about jolted ex-lovers. Yeah, you have to. And isn't it true, Dante Pride, you're absolutely correct that investigations

typically start close to the family. Like you look at the boyfriend, you look at the husband, you look at the neighbor, you start moving out. Then you start looking at the ex-boyfriend and the guy that delivers the pizza and the grocery store clerk. So that's where you would look first. But it's kind of hard for me to believe they've only been married about three months and suddenly it's escalated to a murder scenario. Right. So that's why I would think it's someone from the past and not like a current husband.

Because, you know, they're still on the high. They're still newlywed. And she's only 24. How much of a past can she have? That leads me, Dante, to look at Everett, the county seat and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, the population is about 100,000. That's still a relatively small town. And I know I came from an area that wasn't even incorporated. It wasn't any city at all. So that really narrows your suspect pool, Dante. Absolutely.

And I think the way the crime occurred also narrows your suspect pool, Dante. Absolutely. And I think the way the crime occurred also narrows your suspect pool, right? Because this isn't a random crime that someone got shot with a stray bullet. This is five bullets that were put on target on purpose. And so we know that they target this person. And so there has to be some connection and some story. And I think that's where the police need to look in order to figure out and unravel this thing. Straight back to Ellen Dennis joining us, a reporter with The Daily Herald in Everett, where this occurred. I heard you mention earlier that in some of the law enforcement filings, it said there was no PC probable cause to issue a warrant at this time. Didn't you say

that, Ellen Dennis? That is correct. So, Dante Pride, when you hear police admit they don't have PC probable cause to issue a warrant, you know they've hit a dead end. Absolutely. I mean, probable cause is the lowest level standard that we have in our legal system. It's just really a suspicion, right? Probable cause breaks down to basically a suspicion. I think, and then fill in the blank, I think we should perform this search because, and then you give a few facts and you have probable cause

and a judge typically will sign it. That's the law under the Constitution. Yes, no, Dante. Absolutely. So right now we have got the cops at a dead end. No answers, no leads. They admit themselves. There is no PC for an arrest or even a search warrant.

They got nothing. And then out of the blue, a crack in the case. Take a listen to reporter Natalie Swabee, King 5 News. Patrol received a phone call from somebody in the Spokane area who said she had been at a social gathering. And a young woman there claimed that she had been hired to kill someone in Snohomish County. The young female would have been 16 at the time of the crime and the difficult thing for detectives is she went by different aliases on social media. Now wait a minute, that had a lot of information. Jackie, could you play that again please?

Patrol received a phone call from somebody in the Spokane area who said she had been at a social gathering and a young woman there claimed that she had been hired to kill someone in Snohomish County. The young female would have been 16 at the time of the crime and the difficult thing for detectives is she went by different aliases on social media. Different aliases on social media bragging that she had been hired to kill someone in Snohomish County. To you, Ellen Dennis, where is Spokane as it relates to Snohomish County? Spokane, I would estimate, is roughly four hours by car. It is located in eastern Washington.

So it is definitely a car trip. So what do you make of this, Jessica Morgan? You got a little girl, 16 years old, bragging that she's a hit person at a party. When you said not professional, you were right about that. But a 16-year-old girl, a hit man plus, according to the witness, it was a man that ran away. Yeah, yeah. And you think about this and look, cons can't even keep their mouth shut in prison. Many times they snitch each other out. Now you've got an individual who is at this age. They've got you talk about you think about cons and network in prison.

You're thinking about a a 16 year old who has access to social media and she's going out and blasting this information at parties. Of course, it's going to get out. My question is, what would be your motivation for throwing this out there? Is it to improve your social status? Is it to make people fear you? Yeah, wow. Is it to draw attention? I want to get with her.

She's a hired hit girl. Okay, Dr. Jory Crossan, why can't people keep their yaps shut? And why would you brag about something like that if it were true? Well, you got to look at the social media. All of this is anonymity. Okay? And you can look at the personality, how it develops and morphs within that anonymity. They're hiding.

So, you know, even hearing that, there's going to be questions as, well, is this valid? How reliable is this? Is this just somebody? I mean, think about it, Dr. Jory. A teen girl, barely 16, four hours away in Spokane, bragging at a party, probably after she had a couple of drinks or a big fat doobie that she's a hit girl. It doesn't really fit with reality. You think about a 16-year-old doing this, but, I mean, it's still a lead that, you know,

it's got to be followed. It's got to be run out. Just think about it. A 16-year-old girl bragging, probably drunkenly, at a, that four hours away, she was responsible for a hit on an innocent newlywed, a young bride, 16 years old. But they can't find her because she has so many aliases on social media. Jessica Morgan, explain what that means. Well, you know, you have individuals that go out there and they bury themselves. I can't tell you how many times I get friend requests and all kinds of people that are from all over the world.

You can tell it and you don't know who they are. So they're kind of hiding behind this digital curtain. But this is the key. If this 16 year old girl turns out to be a person of interest in this case. Remember my reference to cons earlier in prison. They have a certain level of sophistication. If they can track down who she is, they can apply a certain amount of pressure to her. And trust me, Nancy, she's going to roll over when they start talking about things like life imprisonment, that you brought about the death of somebody, she's going to give something up. Remember, we're not looking for a 16 year old

girl in this case. Per the description earlier, we're talking about possibly an adult male that's running away from the house. That's going to be significant. Supreme Court has affirmed recently that anyone under 18 cannot get the death penalty in the United States, no matter how many people they kill, including like school shooters, nor can they get Elwha life without parole. So that's not anything you could ever hang over her head if you found her. Right. That's true. And I think it's the right decision by the legislature. I mean, children make a lot of poor decisions. And we know in this instance, this young lady made a poor decision. But we know because of her age, she was likely influenced by someone who was older. I mean, that's just how it goes. Well, you know what?

I don't know if mass shootings in schools are a, quote, poor decision. But that said, it is the law of the land now. Well, it took months and months to unravel. She went by different aliases on social media that took months to unravel. But once they were able to identify who she was, they discovered that she was the ex-girlfriend of Kevin's cousin. The ex-girlfriend of Kevin's cousin. Hold on. Let me digest what I'm just hearing. The ex, a 16-year-old girl, is the ex-girlfriend of Kevin's cousin. And Ellen Dennis joining us in the Daily Herald in Everett, who is Kevin? Kevin Lewis is a man who resided in Snohomish County at the time of the shooting.

He was formerly the partner of the victim's sister. Kevin Lewis, 34-year-old, is the ex-husband of the murder victim's sister. Okay.

Let that soak in. The 16-year-old girl, probably drunk at a party, bragging that she's a hitman, four hours away, is the ex-girlfriend Wait, I need a family tree here. The ex-girlfriend of the cousin of the murder victim's sister's husband. Okay, whoa, is anybody beside me getting clarity? Take a listen to our cut for KOMO.

The accused 17-year-old girl in this case told a couple of friends in Spokane that she had killed someone here in Snohomish County. It turns out those girls contacted investigators here, and that ultimately led to these arrests. Alicia Canellas McGuire was a caregiver, a beloved sister and aunt, and a newlywed. She was the girl who said, I love you, every time she said goodbye. But nobody expected her life to be cut short at just 24 years old. It's hard enough losing someone, you know, we were so close to, but not having justice for it. But justice could come after all.

A year and a half after her murder, Alicia was Amanda Lewis's sister. And now listen to our cut five KOMO. Three people have been arrested in the suspected murder for hire. Prosecutors say 20-year-old Jared and Phelps, a cousin of Kevin's, and a 17-year-old girl from Spokane had been hired by the 31-year-old to kill his wife. But that night, Amanda's sister Alicia, who was babysitting her kids, answered the door and took the fatal bullet. That was just, just a really horrible time. Amanda and Kevin had been married for eight years

and have three children. Kevin is currently serving three years in prison for assaulting his ex-wife. Court records say the 17-year-old girl claims she and Phelps were promised $10,000 for the killing. Court documents say cell phone records and social media posts revealed trails of evidence that led to all three arrests. And all three are facing different levels of first degree murder. Kevin Lewis will be back in court tomorrow so his bond can be set. Phelps' bond has been set at $5 million.

Let me understand something. The father of three, Kevin Lewis, age 34, pays two teenagers to go kill his ex-wife.

They go to the door and they shoot the woman that comes to the door and they shoot the woman that comes to the door in PJs. In a case of murderous, mistaken identity, they gun down her little sister who was babysitting that night. Is that what is being alleged,

Ellen Dennis? That is correct. Kevin Lewis, the ex-husband, had made threats to his former wife, the Target, and he was actually in serving a sentence in prison at the time for assaulting her. Take a listen to our cut seven. This is Natalie Swabee, Kingfod News. With search warrants, investigators obtained phone records. Both of the suspect's phones were in the same location at the same time, traveling across the state to western Washington.

They actually met up with Kevin and he took them to the house where they were supposed to commit the crime. Detectives say social media also provided a trail of evidence, including a picture from the male suspect allegedly posted a Snapchat that showed $100 bills fanned out a few hours after the murder. A 16-year-old young woman, the 18-year-old male had been paid by Kevin, had been hired to come out from Spokane to Snohomish County to essentially murder Kevin's ex-wife, and then they drove back.

The murder-for-hire case is the reason three suspects are now in custody. At least it gives them some answers as to what happened exactly, and frankly, some justice. The suspects, Jared and Phelps, age 18, the alleged shooter, and that is Kevin Lewis, the husband's cousin, Jared and Phelps, age 18. Then you've got Alexis Hale, 16 years old. That's Phelps's girlfriend, the one apparently bragging at the party that she was a hit person.

So Dante Pryde joining me, a high-profile lawyer out of San Diego. You can find him at The Pride Law Firm. Dante Pride, I just love it when I can get pings and I can actually track two suspects' phones together in the same car traveling the four hours from Spokane to Snohomish County right to the doorstep of the dead victim. And then to top it all off, they shoot the wrong person. I mean, why else would they travel all the way from Spokane to Snohomish County together? They don't know anybody there. And she's bragging about it at a party you know the old world war ii slogan started in brit with the brits loose lips sink ships truer words were never spoken dante pride truer words were never spoken and from from attorney's perspective it's

very difficult when your client is the one who spoke the words. And then they have evidence showing that you go four hours outside of your normal area the one night when the murder occurs and then never do that again. So uphill battle for any attorney in this case for these people. Joe Scott Morgan, please outline what we know about the electronic trail these two left behind themselves. Yeah, you know, reflectively, it is almost like a fairy tale where someone's leaving breadcrumbs, and that's the beauty of the world that we live in now from a forensic standpoint. So every, when not only do they have one cell phone, Nancy, they've got two. They're traveling in tandem and you're going to a location that, as was spoken of just a moment ago, that is not familiar to you or it's

not your common, common locale that you're going to inhabit. You know, when you're moving around with your cell phone, say in home, like these individuals back in Spokane, that's in the eastern part of the state, you can get hits all over there. And it's going to if you look at it on a dot graph, it's going to be highly concentrated. But all of a sudden, you've got this you've got this thin line that's kind of in tandem with these two dots going down the road. And as the reporter mentioned earlier, this is a four hour drive, Nancy. And so these little dots are coming every time they're hitting a cell tower, every time it's bouncing off, they're giving an indication this trail. And to our attorney's point, this is a nightmare.

This is a nightmare to try to defeat this in court. And then when they show up, they're going to show up at the precise location. These two people are in the car together, not to mention the ex-husband who are in proximity. How can you explain that away? They meet up with the ex-husband for what, a 1.30 a.m. chat? Yeah. This is what happens when you hire teenagers to commit a murder. And it's not the first time. Take a listen to our Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

This is what happens when you hire teenagers to commit a murder. And it's not the first time. Take a listen to Hour Cut 20. This is Tammy Matusa, KOMO, when another perp hires a teen to commit murder. Well, you know what happens. Everything goes wrong. Court documents paint a deliberate and disturbing murder-for-hire scheme. Bellevue Police say Sharon Kelly hired a 17-year-old boy to murder her ex-husband, Baron Lee, and offered to pay the teenager $13,000. Something like this is rare. It is rare. On the day of the shooting in July, police say the 17-year-old got his friend

to drive him to the overlook at Lakemont Apartments in Bellevue, where court documents say he was going to cap someone and empty the clip. Police say the 17-year-old gunman ambushed Lee, shooting him nine times. The victim fell to the ground. The suspect stood over him and continued to fire. According to court documents, Lee said he couldn't think of anyone

who would want to kill him besides his ex-wife, saying they were in the midst of a very acrimonious custody battle that also included a financial motive for Kelly to have sole custody of their child. We know that children were involved in the current case. And in that case, you've got the teen boy standing over the victim, shooting him as he is prone, and the victim still lives and can identify the teen hit man.

So I don't get it. Dr. Jory, why would you hire a teen, much less two teens, to commit a murder? Well, there could be several reasons. One, that they can get away with it basically with a light sentence and they're not going to face a death penalty but they're going to implicate you you think you can't crack a 16 year old girl for pete's sake yeah but a lot of times they don't think that far down the road okay the anger the aggression the hatred the rage really puts a tunnel vision on their cognitive process they want to eliminate this person. This seems to be an easy

way out, a quick way, maybe even inexpensive. I mean, $2,400? I mean, you can't even get decent home repair at that cost. To you, Dante Pride, high-profile lawyer out of San Diego at the Pride Law Firm, here is the kicker, and I think Dr. Jory mentioned it. We see it a lot in dope cases where the doper will hand the crack, the meth, the whatever, to a juvenile and then stand or place himself, obscure, maybe in a car, around a bush or corner, and watch the teen sell dope. Because the teen will only get six weeks in juvie jail. An adult could go down for life if he's a third-time offender. So a lot of times you see criminals specifically picking teens to do the deed. But in this case, the teens will definitely rat out the adult.

Every time. I mean, 80, 90 percent of crimes, when there are more than one individual who perpetrates a crime, they tell on each other. So these criminals don't have the forethought, as one of our other talents has said, they're not thinking at all. And it's clear. And if this is correct, Dr. Jory, he agreed to have his wife gunned down at the doorway with his three children asleep in the next room. What does that tell you, Dr. Jory? Very cold blood. There's a lot of hatred, a lot of anger. He hasn't been getting his way. This seemed like his only recourse out of it. Not thinking down the road of what it would do to the children finding the mother there. As if the cell phone trail wasn't enough, take a listen to Our Cut 7. This is Jackie Howard at Crime Online.

The two hired to kill Amanda Canales were teenagers at the time, 18-year-old Jareden Phelps and his then-girlfriend, 16-year-old Alexis Hale. The pair drove to the Canales' home around 2 a.m. and knocked on the door. Amanda Canales was in New York on business, and her sister was babysitting Canales' three children. When Alicia Canales-Maguire opened the front door, she was shot five times. The pair was reportedly paid $2,400 for the hit. That payment showed up in photos on Jared and Phelps' social media as both teenagers bragged about what they had done. He captioned the photos with effing never guess what I did for this check. Alexis Hale, on the other hand, told several acquaintances

that she had been hired to kill someone. Phelps reportedly used the money to buy Timberland boots, a Ferragamo belt buckle, and several tattoos. The mastermind behind the hit, Amanda Canales' ex-husband. He hired his cousin, Phelps, to get his ex-wife out of the way. What a bunch of idiots. They post online, guess what I did to get his ex-wife out of the way. What a bunch of idiots. They post online, guess what I did to get this effing paycheck, and post $100 bills? Really? Well,

I want you to take a listen to this. This is what it all boils down to. Our cut A2, K-I-R-O. Lewis is already serving prison time for attacking Amanda after she ended their marriage. Initially, I wasn't going to, you know, do any interviews at this point. But then a couple of people actually reached out to me about how my experiences have impacted them. And so I thought it was important to share. Amanda says her ex-husband wasn't initially physically abusive, but she says he was controlling and emotionally abusive. I think it's important for people to be aware and recognize red flags. And if I had maybe recognized that earlier on, my sister might still be here. When Amanda says Lewis was physically abusive, attacking her outside her

Linwood home. And I should have moved at that point because it was the same house where he had someone show up to murder me and ended up killing my sister. In the end, it takes a jury about three and a half hours to convict Kevin Lewis of first-degree murder. How does the story end? Take a listen to our friend Dave Mack at Crime Online. It took a jury less than three and a half hours to convict Kevin Lewis of aggravated first-degree murder in a murder for hire that left the Target sister dead. The jury of seven

women and five men spent nearly six weeks in Snohomish County Superior Court absorbing testimony about the killing of 24-year-old Alicia Canales McGuire. Jaredon Phelps pleaded guilty and testified against Lewis at trial, claiming he only knew the address he was supposed to target, not the name of the woman he was supposed to kill. Phelps and his friend Alex Hale drove from Spokane to Snohomish County, where Lewis directed them to the home of his ex-wife. Hale pleaded guilty to her part and was sentenced to 15 years. Phelps got 31 and a half years, and Lewis sentenced to life without parole. Is it the end of the story?

I say no, because the children in the home that night will forever have this ingrained in their minds. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.