Every Town - The Real 'Fatal Attraction' Killer - Jennifer Reali - Colorado Springs, CO

Episode Date: September 16, 2022

This week, we highlight a love triangle involving Jennifer Reali and couple Brian and Diane Hood that turned disastrous. On the surface, it may look like jealousy and passion prompted Jennifer to commit murder, but a heinous and unholy plot was soon discovered, the details of which you need to hear to believe.--------------------------------------------💀Get your name in the credits of our freaky movie! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/anangryboy/a-scary-movie-from-the-creator-of-scary-mysteries--------------------------------------------💀 Exclusive Video Content & Access https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries 🥇 Watch This Episode on Youtube!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlrnlGlWgnw&ab_channel=ScaryMysteriesSOCIAL👁 Videos not found on Youtube check us out on TikTok @andrewfitzgerald💀 Instagram @andrew.fitzg💥 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficialPODCAST🎧 Scary Mysteries Podcast for more content from ushttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1235579 Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between.

With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every town has a dark side. When the riveting performance of Glenn Close in the 1987 psychological thriller film Fatal Attraction made waves among filmgoers and critics, caution had been thrown out about how dangerous getting entangled with a deranged mistress could actually be. Three years later, a real-life murder involving Jennifer Really, a separated woman turned mistress, made headlines when her obsession over a married man led her.

to commit an unforgivable crime, causing the media to aptly dubber as the fatal attraction killer. I'm Anderidge-Gerald, and welcome to another episode of Everytown. If you're new here, and I want to let you know that you can always watch these episodes over on our YouTube channel called Scary Mysteries. And for even more exclusive content from us, or just to show some support, go check us out on our Patreon page at patreon. slash scary mysteries. This week, we highlight a love triangle involving Jennifer Really and couple Brian and Diane Hood that turned out disastrous. On the surface, it may look like jealousy and passion prompted Jennifer to commit murder,

but a heinous and unholy plot was soon discovered the details of which you actually need to hear to believe. So now, let's head back to 1990 to Colorado Springs, Colorado. where we learn all the details in the case of the real life fatal attraction killer. Brian and Diane Hood were college sweethearts who laid down the foundation for their relationship at a relatively young age. Sending six foot three, Brian excelled as an all-American football player, while Diane was a cheerleader, so their paths inevitably crossed. The two ended up his husband and wife, settled in Colorado Springs and had three children. But after their third child was born, Diane was diagnosed with lupus and fought the illness by seeking treatment until she was in remission.

Due to her medical condition, Mrs. Hood mostly stayed at home and took care of her children, while her husband provided the means to sustain their needs. Brian became a successful insurance salesman, while still remaining as a devoted child. churchgoer, like his wife, who valued religion. He was well-liked by his co-workers and neighbors, and his family life seemed idyllic. As a former athlete, Brian was addicted to working out and went to the gym almost every day to maintain his physique. And it was this adrenaline-pumping habit that opened a hole for temptation, causing his marriage to crack and ruining their lives in the end. Brian played with fire, personified by Jennifer Really.

Mrs. Reilly was a college graduate and a mother of two married to Benjamin, a captain in the army, and an intelligence officer. She held a job at a local flower shop while Captain Really was stationed in Fort Carson in Colorado, more than nine miles away from Colorado Springs. At times, this setup strained the really couple's marriage and in the end, Jennifer became vulnerable to getting attracted to other men, Brian Hood in particular. In March of 1990, 29-year-old Jennifer met 33-year-old Brian in a health club jacuzzi at their gym. It became close, and she insisted that it was a platonic relationship because Brian was happily married and devoted to his faith. She felt their relationship was safe, but their innocent flirtations soon turned into a romantic relationship. An extramarital affair, as Brian and Jennifer were married to their respective spouses at the time. This was corroborated by the gym employees who said that they behaved like a couple.

Jennifer and Brian's relationship then became sexual two months later. When the two would hook up at her home when Benjamin was away on a military assignment. They met up frequently for a trist in the back of Brian's Cherokee and in other places away from prying eyes. As Jennifer felt deeper for Brian, she was lured into his scheme of eliminating a person. not just any person, but his wife and a mother of his three children, Diane. On September 12, 1990, Diane joined a Lupus Support Group meeting held in a recreational area in Colorado Springs. It was only 18 months earlier after she had given birth to her third child that she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease that occurs when the body's immune system

attacks the tissues and organs. When the meeting was over, Diane walked to her car outside with a fellow Lupus support group member named Karen Johnson. When the unthinkable happened. In assailant, garbed in camouflage fatigues and a ski mask. Grab Mrs. Hood's purse from behind and then gundered down as the bullet pierced her shoulder. As she squirmed in agony, Diane was shot a second time in the chest while begging for mercy. Karen hurriedly went back into the center to inform the others that Diane had been shot, and another support group member, who was a nurse, ran outside to help.

The mother of three, was found lying in a pool of blood and gasping for breath as the nurse applied compressions on her. Sadly, though, Diane was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital, and this crime sent a shockwave throughout Colorado Springs. And at angered Lieutenant Joe Kenda, a homicide detective with the Colorado Springs Police Department. So he vowed to catch Diane's killer. When Lieutenant Kenda arrived at the scene, he initially thought it was a robbery gone bad, so he interviewed Karen Johnson first because she was a vital witness to the crime. Karen recounted that she and Diane heard footsteps from behind while walking to the ladder's car, and they were from a person wearing dark clothes and a ski mask.

Diane gave up her purse and began to run, but the shooter fired at her shoulder, causing her to fall to the ground, and then another fatal shot at her chest was fired. It indeed seemed to look like a robbery that got out of hand. Lieutenant Kenda and his fellow police officers began canvassing the area, hoping to find any additional evidence. Criminals usually have a planned exit, so the investigators used a canine unit to comb the area and look for the shooter's scent. About a mile in, the dog locked on to a scent, led the officers to a garbage can and then sat down. Inside the garbage can were an olive-drapped field jacket,

a pair of gloves, a black ski mask, and some camouflage pants. They all match the witness's description of the shooter at the scene. Another piece of evidence that investigators found was a strand of brown hair in the mask, as well as evidence of gun residue

on the gloves when they were tested at the forensics lab. Unfortunately, though, the canine dog lost the trail of scent because the shooter most probably sped away in a car. And while it was a promising lead, it just simply hit a dead end. Without a suspect and substantial leads, Lieutenant Kendra decided to delve into the life of Diane Hood, hoping to find out everything, including who would want her dead.

The investigation over Diane started by knocking on the doors of her neighbors and asking them if they'd seen anything unusual or suspicious. One woman indicated that a certain David Burns, aka Homicidal Dave, may have been involved. Lieutenant Kendra learned that Mr. Burns was a veteran of the first Gulf War, loud, obnoxious, and dangerous, according to the people in the community. He also often wore camouflage similar to the alleged shooter. However, further investigations prove Mr. Burns' alibi that he was out the night of the murder was true. He was cleared, and so without any person of interest in Diane's murder,

investigators needed to expand their probing. Lieutenant Kendra combed through all the evidence again to find new clues, and he deduced that someone wanted to make it appear like a robbery when, in fact, Diane was a deliberate target of an assassination. The two bullets recovered from Diane's body were sent immediately to ballistics, and the lieutenant was informed the next day that he was looking for a very rare and valuable cowboy gun, a cult peacemaker Patton, 1872 single-action army revolver. This type of gun was worth thousands of dollars, so the profile of the suspect was limited to gun collectors. As for Diane's

life as a devoted wife and mother to her three children, there was nothing that raised any red flags there. Then Lieutenant Kendra turned to Brian Hood and interviewed him about his work as a salesman, active involvement in the church, and interest in sports and fitness, which explained his frequent visits to the gym. Investigating further meant finding out about Brian's gym life, and when Lieutenant Kendra spoke to a couple of gym employees, he found out that Mr. Hood spent a lot of time with a woman named Jennifer, who worked at a flower shop. The police officer went down to that flower shop and learned that Jennifer really was married to an army captain and an intelligence officer named Benjamin or Ben. The shop owner then shared that he liked Ben because both of them loved collecting antique guns.

This, of course, piqued the interest of Lieutenant Kendra and was considered a solid lead. A number of questions then ran through his mind. Did Ben also own the same gun used in shooting Diane? Did he own the military clothing found in the garbage can? Did Ben kill the wife or his wife's lover when he found out about Jennifer and Brian's affair? Or was it Jennifer who shot Diane dead? The lieutenant knew that Ben as a soldier was an expert in killing, and as an investigator, Ben knew how to get away with murder. So Lieutenant Kendra paid Ben a surprise visit, and Mr. Rehn.

really immediately went on the defensive. He admitted, though, that he owned several antique guns that included a cult 45 peacemaker patent 1872. The officer wanted the gun analyzed, and although Ben was confused and concerned, he agreed that no fingerprints were recovered. He was then interviewed at the police station where he was shown the clothes worn by the shooter that were retrieved from a trash can. Ben admitted he owned the clothing, and the ballistic.

sticks office confirmed his gun matched the wanted weapon. Ben claimed he last saw the clothing in his closet at his house, but he hadn't been living there for about three weeks as he and Jennifer had separated. He had been staying at his post. Ben said his wife asked him to hold the gun that morning, and a couple weeks ago, she wanted to shoot it, so he took her to the gun range to practice. Ben went from a person of interest now to a witness. Then Lieutenant Kendra, remember the witness telling him the shooter put the purse over the shoulder like a woman would do so the target suspect had become a woman. And so, Jennifer Really was now on top of the detective's mind.

Two days after, Diane Hood's murder, police were on the hunt for Jennifer, whose physical appearance they thought didn't fit the profile of a killer. Police executed a search warrant on the really home and vehicles. Hair from the Rilly's dog matched the hair found on the clothes near the crime scene. A ballistics test came back 90% certain that Ben's gun was the one used to kill Diane. Now consider her a suspect, Jennifer was brought to the police station, and Lieutenant Kendra hoped that she would spill the beans after pressing her. While Jennifer was being asked, the lieutenant realized that Ben,

who was with his wife that day, wasn't a co-conspirator, but a confused husband confronted with the possible. that his wife might be a murderer. The clothing retrieved was Ben's and the bullet casings matched the same gun he owned. Consequently, Jennifer was arrested for first-degree murder, and Ben had a hard time dealing with it. After the arrest, Jennifer was further interrogated, and she denied any knowledge of Diane's death, so Lieutenant Kendra presented the evidence to her and backed her into a corner. Jennifer tried to say that the gun must have been stolen, but it was It was ridiculous that someone would then return the gun after stealing it.

Finally, then, Jennifer crumbled, and Lieutenant Kendra got his confession. Mrs. Reilly admitted her relationship with Ben Hood that started after they met at the gym, and what began as a platonic-friendly relationship between them, and turned into something romantic and sexual as time passed. She said she got attracted to Brian's physicality and faith, And then she said, I did it, confessing to shooting execution style Diane Hood

and trying to make it appear like a robbery. It was a confession that the police saw coming, but Jennifer's next revelation was even more bombastic. She shared that someone else was involved in the plot to kill Diane, and she claimed it wasn't her idea. Jennifer disclosed that she killed Diane for Brian, who brainwashed her into committing. the crime because God wanted to end Diane's suffering from lupus, which would eventually take her

life anyway. Brian told Jennifer they already committed the sin of adultery, and the sin of murder was no worse. He professed that Jennifer was his whole life and even used passages from the Bible to let her know that it was okay to kill Diane as long as she repented. Brian also believed the police were stupid and would assume this wasn't armed robbery. and this was his final plan to convince her that they would get away with it. Moreover, Mr. Hood also had an insurance policy out on Diane for $100,000, and if she was murdered, the payout would double to $200,000. For months, Brian brainstormed ways to kill his wife,

as if he was a mercenary, and he finally decided to stage robbery in a parking lot would do. He told his mistress about his wife's whereabouts on September 12th, the day his plan would materialize. Perhaps Jennifer was stupidly in love to carry out the murder and thought that she and Brian would outsmart the authorities, but she was proven wrong and had to face dire consequences. After her arrest, Jennifer was held in the El Paso County Jail for first-degree murder, but the mastermind was still at large.

Police hunted down and arrested Brian Hood for conspiracy to and solicitation to commit first-degree murder and first-degree murder itself. Damning information came from Brian's friend who said that Mr. Hood wanted his wife dead. During the trial, Jennifer again recounted how she met Brian and how the relationship developed and deepened that Brian was able to convince her by using twisted Bible interpretations and killing Diane.

Jennifer told the court, he felt in his mind that to murder her was less of a sin than to divorce her. And further convincing her, Jennifer said, her lover told her, If you love me, you can do this. And we can have a life together. Brian maintained his innocence, all throughout the trial, man in defense of himself, said that Mrs. really acted on her own out of a crazed desire to exact revenge

because he had decided to break up with her the morning of Diane's death. Eventually, despite pleading insanity, as she was brainwashed to commit murder, Jennifer was convicted by the jury of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Brian was also found guilty of lesser counts in the plot, criminal solicitation, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder,

but was acquitted for the first-degree murder. While Jennifer was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole at the Colorado state penitentiary, Brian was sentenced to 37 years in jail in Sterling Correctional Facility in Sterling, Colorado. Yet, police felt like he got away with murder. Brian Hood served 27 years in prison.

It was granted parole on March 11, 2019. Jennifer really became a model prisoner and even released two albums of gospel music, Love Me In, and Prisoner of Hope. In 2011, Governor Bill Ritter commuted her sentence, making her eligible for parole. The act of mercy came after she received support from an unlikely ally. Her prosecutor, John Sothers, who said,

She didn't have an opportunity to have much of a life with her children. All around, it's a very tragic story. In 2014, while still in prison, Jennifer was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had to undergo chemotherapy. She applied for parole that year, and in 2015 and 2016, but they were all denied. Finally, her next attempt was a success, and she left prison on December 12, 2017. Denver attorney, Phil Turner, who helped Jennifer transition to a community-based prison alternative, praise her for her desire to turn her life around.

He said, the fact that she got through without breaking any rules is remarkable. She had incredible dedication and a really stiff spine. At her parole hearing in October of 2017, Jennifer told the board that she believes in redemption and that she's changed. It makes me mad, very mad, that somehow I could come to a place that I did that. She said of the murder, adding that the person she was is dead and gone and I'm glad. She needed to go. But just as Jennifer was reborn and starting life anew, she succumbed to cancer three months after, was granted parole.

Perhaps this was the heaven's way of protecting her from sinning again at her new lease on life. So that's it, guys, for this week's episode of Everytown. If you enjoyed it, remember, go check out Scary Mysteries on YouTube or check out the Scary Mysteries podcast as well. We have two new podcasts coming out over there every single week for you guys to check out.

Remember to tune in next week for another episode filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories. Because who knows? Maybe your town will be next. Conviered your passion in a business with Shopify and bathe records of ventas with the form of pay with a better conversion of the world. Has heard it.

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