Going West: True Crime - Belinda Temple // 276

Episode Date: February 4, 2023

In January of 1999, a 30-year-old pregnant mother was found murdered in her Texas bedroom closet. Police suspected her high school football coach husband from the beginning, but it wasn’t until eight years later that they would have enough evidence to convict him. And even after two trials, he still maintains that she was killed by burglars. So what really happened? This is the murder of Belinda Temple. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10024290/belinda-tracie-temple 2. Chron: https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/katy/news/article/Testimony-David-Temple-s-account-of-lead-up-to-14103449.php 3. Cinemaholic: https://thecinemaholic.com/evan-temple/ 4. The Monitor: https://www.newspapers.com/image/332590840/?terms=belinda%20temple&match=1 5. 20/20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfn8hjnNDX8 6. Free David Temple Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/FreeDavidTemple/ 7. Caselaw: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/tx-court-of-criminal-appeals/1620884.html 8. TDCAA: https://www.tdcaa.com/journal/not-so-squirrely-after-all/ 9. CBS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk3IEB4dGDQ 10. ABC: https://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/police-investigate-timeline-belinda-temples-murder-part-66701598 11. Longview News Journal: https://www.newspapers.com/image/211031197/?terms=%22belinda%20lucas%22&match=1 12. Tuko: https://www.tuko.co.ke/402039-the-story-david-temple-where.html 13. Heavy: https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/11/belinda-temple/ 14. Heavy: https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/11/heather-scott-david-temple/ 15. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20329814/ 16. CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0502/20/se.02.html 17. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1421612601381155 18. Click 2 Houston: https://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/2021/11/23/david-temple-found-guilty-twice-in-wifes-murder-and-loses-appeal/ 19. Katy Magazine Online: https://www.katymagazineonline.com/post/pandemic-delays-david-temple-sentencing-22-years-after-pregnant-wife-s-murder 20. CBS: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/evidence-photos-in-the-belinda-temple-case/2/ 21. Latest News: https://latestnews.fresherslive.com/articles/is-david-temple-still-in-jail-has-david-temple-been-sentenced-437198 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody, big shout out to Kelly, Shar and Candace for recommending today's episode. I had not heard about it previously but it is a wild one. Actually the day this episode comes out is me and he eats five years together. We met five years ago on February 3rd. That was our first date and we're just with just past four years of having this show. Lots of landmarks around this time for us.

I know, yeah, five years, half a decade together. I know, crazy. So a lot of people think we're married. We're not married yet, but we will be getting married. I think this September, we're still planning and we're doing a really bad job at it. So there's an update on our lives for you guys. But let's talk about this case.

All right, guys, this is episode 276 of Going West, so let's get into it. In January of 1999, a 30-year-old pregnant mother was found murdered in her Texas bedroom closet. Police suspected her high school football coach husband from the beginning, but it wasn't until eight years later that they would have enough evidence to make a decision. Her husband maintains that she was killed by burglarers, but what really happened? daughter Erin Ashley. Belinda Tracy Lucas, alongside her twin sister Brenda, was born on December 30, 1968 in Martins, Ferry, Ohio. The twins were born to parents Carol and Tom,

and they had three brothers, Brian, Barry, and Brent. They were really about those beanings. Yeah, I just read, yeah, Belinda, Brenda, Brian, Barry, Brent. Yeah, exactly. So when Belinda was young, the family left Ohio and headed to Nakadochis, I lost all confidence in that word,

Nacadoches, Texas, which is where Carol, Belinda's mother, is from. So Nacadoches is a college town known for housing Steven F. Austin University, and it's about a two hour and 45 minute drive from Dallas, and about the same distance from Houston. And there Belinda enjoyed a very traditional upbringing she was surrounded by family, and she was described as bubbly and just pure sunshine. Her dad remembered fondly that she, quote, always had a smile on her face. She loved life and she loved people. Belinda also had a very nurturing spirit and she took joy in caring for others.

She was also very athletic because while attending Nackadochis High School, she played on the girls' basketball team and competed in the state championships. In 1987, she graduated from high school and she went on to attend her hometown school, like I said, Steven F. Austin University. But meanwhile, over in Katie, Texas, which is about 170 miles or 273 kilometers away, Belinda's future husband was also playing competitive sports.

David Temple was a linebacker for the Katie High School Tigers and the toast of his hometown. He was known among players as the Temple of Doom, which is a clever little name there for his last name temple, for what an unrelenting force he was on the field. Charming and handsome, he was voted most athletic his senior year of high school. And actually kind of just a fun little side note fact he graduated high school Alongside Katie high school cheerleader turned famous actress Renee Zellwiger. Wow. That's actually pretty interesting I didn't know she was from Texas. I didn't either until looking into this episode So David graduated from high school in 1987 with a scholarship to play football at Steven F. Austin University, and it was there

that he met Belinda. Belinda was instantly taken with him, and vice versa. While Belinda decided to put her selfless disposition to good use and study teaching, David focused on football, winning a state championship for the school in 1989. He was aggressive in every sense of the word about his career on the football field and in his pursuit of Belinda. After a year of dating, David proposed to Belinda on the football field and she accepted. The two were married in 1992 at just 23 years old and they were thrilled to start their lives together. They both received master's degrees in education after the wedding, then in 1995, Belinda

gave birth to a baby boy named Evan, who quickly became the center of her life. Shortly after he was born, the couple decided to settle back into David's hometown of Katie Texas, which is a suburb of Houston. The family moved into a stunning red brick home on a large corner lot in the desirable Simuron neighborhood. They even lived near David's parents who were absolutely thrilled to have them there, and their grandson closer. David was hired as a football coach at a leaf Hastings High School, and Bolinda started working as a special education teacher at David's former high school, which again is Katie High School. They had a dog, a big, beautiful home, and they were loved by their community.

And also, the two became close friends with the other area football coaches and their wives. And Belinda was especially thankful for those friendships, and to be able to lean on them for support when David was out of town for work. In the summer of 1999, Belinda was so excited to be expecting their second child, this time a little girl. Belinda and David picked the name Aaron Ashley for their daughter, and Belinda happily prepped the house for her arrival. Friends, neighbors, and colleagues alike really admired what they called the temple's fairy tale relationship,

like the picture perfect all-American family, is essentially how everybody knew them, described them. One friend noted how affectionate they were with each other, and others when asked to describe their relationship, called them loving and caring. Both working full time at their respective schools, and also sharing the weight of caring for Evan and the House, friends really applauded their equal partnership. But others were a little bit less complimentary. And this mostly came from Belinda's twin sister Brenda so later she testified that the christmas that belinda was pregnant with their daughter aron cracks in their marriage really started to show

now according to Brenda david had started to resent belinda's weight gain evan was still just three years old at this time and she was less than a month from giving birth to aron so wait gain obviously was totally inevitable. That's what I was going to say. She's pregnant. Like what is she supposed to do about that? Yeah.

I mean, this is a very natural thing to happen. But while visiting them at their home in Katie that December, which was in 1998, Brenda witness David make multiple comments about Belinda's body and her quote, big butt. Sometimes even going so far as to smack it in front of her family to like embarrass her. And obviously, this really rubbed Brenda the wrong way because she's like, this is my sister, she's pregnant, she's beautiful, why are you making an issue of it? Like, you're her husband, you're just being an ass, you know?

Yeah, as any family member would do, they would be upset about that. Yeah, of course. And I mean, even if she wasn't pregnant, like that's just not cool. So Brenda kind of pulled Belinda aside and told her that she needed to put her foot down against David's behavior. Some witness statements claim that David could be intense, intimidating, and quick to anger. A former player of David's Alief Hastings football team said that he was someone that you didn't want to piss off.

David's career also took a toll on Belinda. His frequent travels with his team meant that Belinda had to pick up the slack with Evan and also around the home, all while working full time and being pregnant. But despite all this, neighbors remember seeing Belinda play with Evan outside their home every single day, and that none of the marital struggles affected her parenting or her sweet disposition. Quentin Harlan, who was a friend of David's, and a fellow teacher and coach at David's school, observed that David could be particularly controlling over Belinda.

Quentin's wife Tammy noticed that, though usually a strong and outspoken person, Belinda felt quiet and submissive in her husband's presence. They also both witnessed David tearing down Belinda's appearance, both her looks and her body right in front of them. Yeah, so he's not just doing that in front of their close family. He's doing that in front of them. Yeah, so he's not just doing that in front of their close family. He's doing that in front of his colleague. I mean, he just sounds like a big piece of shit, really. And Tammy recalled David saying that he was thankful that he moved Belinda and Evan

away from her family in Naka Doaches, because he claimed that they were quote, white trash and a bad influence on his wife and son. And this would prove to be sadly pressient later. When even after his wife's death, he was able to keep Evan from Belinda's family. The morning of Monday, January 11, 1999 started like any other day in the Temple Household. I mean, Belinda and David got Evan to daycare at Tigerlin Child Care Center, and then they headed off to their own schools for the day to work. Because like I said, it was a Monday.

But a short while later, Belinda got a call at work from one of Evan's teachers, claiming that he didn't feel well. And basically, Evan hadn't been interested in playing with his friends that morning, which was really unusual for him, and he had spiked a small fever. But Belinda had a very full day ahead of her, which included an important meeting at the school that afternoon. So she tried to get in touch with her husband, David at work, but he wasn't answering his phone.

Now, her friends and colleagues said that they rarely saw her rattled, but Belinda was very upset by David's absence this day. So she left to pick up Evan herself despite the day that she had ahead of her because she's an amazing mom, and she headed home with Evan. Now around 12-10 pm, David finally called her back and they agreed that he would head home to switch off with her. When he came home, Evan was sleeping and Belinda ran back to the high school so that she could make her meeting. She was back at school by 1pm.

And after that afternoon's meeting, Belinda headed home between 3.20 and 3.30pm. She stopped at her in-laws' house to pick up some homemade soup for Evan and then arrived home at 3.45pm. According to David, Belinda now just two weeks from Aaron's arrival have been exhausted by the stress of the day, naturally, and went upstairs to lie down. To kind of keep Evan busy and let his wife rest, according to David, David said he took Evan to the park and then with him to run some errands. So while David and Evan were out, Brenda called their home to check in with Belinda, and

also to just let her know that their grandfather had fallen ill. But strangely, there was no answer. Her in-laws, David's parents, called to check in on Evan at 5-10pm, 5-30pm, and also 5-40pm, and did not receive an answer to any of these calls. Now, according to David, the two arrived home at 5-30pm. He parked his blue chevrolet pickup truck in the garage, and he unbuckled Evan from his car seat. At that point, he claims that he noticed that the gate of the back yard was ajar.

So upon further inspection, the back door, leading from the yard into the house, was open, and there was glass shards scattered on the floor. Panicked, David grabbed Evan and sprinted across the street to his neighbor's house. Michael Regiero, who answered the door, recalls a frantic David pounding on his front door with Evan in his arms, screaming, Mike, Mike, it's David, let me in! When Michael opened the door, David shoved Evan into his arms and told him to call 911,

and that there had been a break in. He then ran back across the street and disappeared into the house. Now Michael handed Evan off to his wife Peggy telling her instead to call 911 and he ran after David to help. He didn't make it very far however as the temple's large dog Shaka stopped him at the gate to the yard. This account was later one of the many that planted seeds of doubt in the minds of investigators. Michael was able to close the gate to contain the dog, but didn't make it any closer to

the house. So you know, you might be thinking right away, how would burglars have been able to get across this dog? Exactly. Now Shaka was a vigilant guard dog, and he was jumping against the wood of the gate, just howling at Michael. So yeah, getting into that backyard area

would prove to be very difficult. Now, inside the temple's house, David described ascending from the stairs screaming Belinda's name to no response. When he reached their bedroom, their closet door was open and the overhead light was on. And it was there that he saw Belinda still clad in the black shirt, black and white printed pants, and black loafers that she had worn to work that day. She was lying face down on the carpeted floor of the closet facing the wall.

Blood droplets had sprayed everywhere. At 5.38 pm, so apparently around 8 minutes after David had gotten home, he called 911. I'm going to get you broken into my life. Stand in the life of the ambulance, sir. We have a shooting victim. Go ahead, sir. I just wrapped in my life. I've always been shot. It's got blood everywhere. Okay, sir. Is she breathing? Our brain is on the floor. I think she's already dead. She's eight months pregnant. Okay, sweetie. Just stand the following. Okay? Sir, is there any way that you can kneel down next to her and see if she is breathing?

Sir. Sir. He's dead. Okay. Let me get them over there. Okay. Have them check her out. When was the last time you saw her? It's been several hours. Several hours? Yeah. You say half of her brain is on the floor. She's got blood over the part of her neck and he's actually down in the corner. Okay. Have you felt for her to have a pulse? Yeah. She doesn't have one. We got a baby though, right? Right. Okay. Okay. I don't know. You know how to do CPR? Yes. Okay. I want you to do CPR for that baby. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay, I want you to do CPR for that baby. Okay. Okay.

Yes. Are you doing CPR for me? She's gone. Okay, well let's see if we can use her. Okay, for the baby. She's so drunk. Is there any way that you can do this? She's just no way.

She's got her brain and just blood is covered on the floor. I got a policeman that's pulled up now. Okay, but I got an ambulance and a paramedic just get ready to come in too. So before that break, we played the 911 call for you guys. We got to hear David explaining that his wife, Belinda, had been shot. She was eight months pregnant. And before police arrived to the scene, she was eight months pregnant, and before police arrived to the scene, she was already deceased. So within just a few minutes, police arrived at the home and were met with the same dilemma

that Michael had faced. Shaka, the dog, was being extremely aggressive, poised for attack, and the police waited helplessly outside. Soon though, David retreated from the house to contain the dog and greet the police officers. He told them that it was too late that Belinda was already gone. Belinda Temple was announced dead as soon as law enforcement were able to assess the scene. She had been shot in the back of the head with a 12 gauge shotgun. Now the temples did own guns, two of which were shotguns, and they were present in the house

at the time of Belinda's murder. But police could not find the gun that they believed to be the murder weapon. So they began combing the scene and attempting to put the pieces of Belinda's final moments together. Almost instantly, something just wasn't right. I mean, for one thing, the direction in which the glass from the back door had just kind of scattered looked as if the door had already been open when the panel was broken. And if that's the case, why did the window need to be broken at all? Assuming the window was broken to get in the house, but if the door was open, you don't need to break the window.

Very sus. Now it stretched so far into the house and diagonally like away from the door that it would have been nearly impossible to achieve had the door been shut and locked as David said it was when he got there. So David obviously cried burglary, but the home hadn't been burglarized. It hadn't even been ransacked. The Lucas family spokesperson said quote and remember the Lucas family is Belinda's immediate family said quote not even the dumbest burglar in the world is going to break into a

home when people are coming home from work, go up and shoot, and execute a pregnant woman. Because although burglaries do happen at any hour of the day, at 5.30 pm or even 5.00 pm will say that's like they're saying right when people are getting home from work, everybody's home, the kids are home from school, like this is a really bad time to do that. Yeah, it's a very risky situation. And on top of that, just given the the knowledge that we have, it just seems very implausible. I agree. So several drawers of the dresser and blend in David's bedroom were open, but it didn't appear that anything had been taken or even must.

Blinden's jewelry box sat on the top of the dresser undisturbed. Likewise, a tray-holding David's gold wedding ring, silver and gold watch and gold chain, and his 1989 championship ring from his college days were also untouched. Blinda was also still wearing her jewelry, including her wedding ring. The TV had been moved from the table to the floor, but was still plugged in. And this makes it kinda look like it was trying to be staged with like the TV being put on the floor,

but the drawers being open open the glass being broken. Yeah. It's like you try, oh, I have five minutes to make this look like a burglary. That's what it looks like. It doesn't, like, if this genuinely was one, obviously, there would be things missing. Nobody would, because a lot of the time, burglars don't want to kill people because that's so much more of a charge if you're caught. They go in because they want to steal.

Right. The priority is not to murder. It's to take things value. Right, so especially if you're going to kill somebody, why would you not take things while you're there? Then that means you just broke into a place to murder somebody and you gain nothing. Right, I mean, this obviously just seems very half-assed.

So in the coming days, investigators scoured the surrounding areas, including multiple rice farms in the area in hopes of finding the murder weapon. But nothing ever turned up. To this day, a murder weapon has not been located. Blinda's red Asuzu rodeo was still parked untouched in the garage. Her keys had been sitting on the stairs, and her purse was undisturbed in the downstairs hallway closet. Police quickly ascertained that this appeared to be a staged crime scene as we mentioned, but without any direct evidence tying David Temple to the crime, they had their work cut out for them.

Now two weeks after the crime, David would have leds that're actually war items missing from his late wife's jewelry box. But no, the only person who could prove that would be Belinda because the police don't know what jewelry she had. Exactly. So if David a couple of satars saying, oh, well, there were things missing, the only other person who could tell you whether or not, whether or not that's true, is deceased. Right. But also, please only learn of this from a local TV news report. Some of the clothes hanging above Belinda's body appear to have been shoved over after her death, and many of the clothes had been sprayed with blood

and brain matter. On January 12, 1999, so the following day, the medical examiner performed an autopsy on Belinda's body, which supported that she had sustained a shot to the back of the head, which had fractured her skull and exited through her right eye. The shot had been so forceful that the gun would have had to have been pressed to the back of her head. According to the doctor, her 8 and a half month baby was gone quickly after she was. And despite all of this, a time of death which would prove crucial to the investigation could not be determined.

The doctor did, however, say that he believed rigor mortis had begun to set in, which usually takes like 6-12 hours. So it was absolutely possible that she had been dead for a few hours already when David discovered her body. So obviously this normally very safe and idealic community of Katie just reeled from the shocking news of the death of one of its most treasured inhabitants, and of course, her almost-born baby. Fellow teachers and students alike could be seen across the campus of Katie High School and Tears.

And the possibility that a killer could still be at large, of course, just grip the town of, by the way, less than 12,000 people, so you can just imagine how filled with fear they were. One coach's wife would become very close with Belinda claim that she feared this was a pointed crime aimed specifically at the men and women in the Texas football community. Now David was questioned on the night of the murder, but not as intensely as another suspect may have been. David was taken to a small police substation near his home,

and he answered questions to the best of his ability, but fumbled some of the questions. But he was released afterward anyway. One of the detectives who questioned him said that he gave the names of two different parks that he had taken Evan to that afternoon. He mentioned both Simmerun Park near the Temple's house and Peckham Park. So he doesn't even know which park he went to. Exactly. And he also didn't give a clear timeline. He originally said that Belinda had arrived home at 3.45 pm, but David's father claimed

that she had left their house with Evan Soup at 3.45, which would have put her home around 4 pm. David said that they had started at the park and that Evan had requested a cold drink, so they left the park to go to the Brookshire Brothers grocery store, then home depot, and then back home. Later he told another officer that they had actually been on the way to the park when Evan became thirsty, so they had never made it there. It's just weird to say, we did go to the park,

and now we didn't go to the park, but I also told a couple other people that we went to a park, but I told them different park names like, what did you do that day, dude? Yeah, he can't get his story straight. So David and Evan were spotted on surveillance camera footage at 4.32 p.m. at Brookshire Brothers, and then 5.14 p.mpm at Brookshire Brothers, and then 5.14pm at Home Depot, so at least, you know,

they do have this on camera. This confirmed that they had in fact been running errands together, but did not prove that Belinda hadn't already been dead when they left the house to do so. And many feel that the errands were contrived simply to have recorded footage of David away from the home. Police began to question neighbors attempting to put together the pieces of what happened that afternoon, and one neighbor claimed to have heard what sounded like a truck backfiring twice on the afternoon of January 11.

The temple's neighbor behind their house, the Roberts family, were home when the murders occurred. So, on January 15th, police sat down with their two young children to see if they could recall any details to help narrow down a timeline. One of the young brothers remembered, quote, quote, I heard like this big boom, like boom. The child said that he thought that it was a firecracker and then later said that he

thought that it might be a gunshot. At the time, the boys were watching Eddie Murphy's Doctor Doo Little. The point in the movie at which they guessed they had heard the boom was when David and Evan were at the Brookshire Brothers Grocery store. And this continued to complicate the timeline of that afternoon. Strangely, David's family immediately contacted an attorney, but his attorney claims that this was because the spouse is, of course, always the first person to be suspected,

and not because they felt or knew that David was guilty of anything. David's attorney, who's name is Paul Looney, called the investigation against him a witch hunt. He remembers telling David just after it happened, quote, either you're innocent and we have a full and complete investigation or you did it and we need to make sure that nobody can figure out enough to prove it in court. David apparently proclaimed his innocence and told Paul to do anything in his power to

catch those at fault. So police, kind of losing their grip on David Temple, brought in their search to include other persons of interest. But who would have the motive to do this to such a beloved schoolteacher and an expectant mother? David's defense claimed that maybe their next door neighbor would. Riley Joe Sanders was a teenager at Katie High School and was one of Belinda's students. Now a fellow student remembers Riley as nice and a good kid, but who was a bit of a

stoner, nothing wrong with that, and had a penchant for truancy. Belinda was aware that he frequently skipped school and kinda was behind in his classes. So concerned about his academic performance, Belinda reached out to his parents, who, again, are her neighbors, to just let them know that he was behind. But in return, his parents restricted his driving privileges. So some feel like this gave him a motive. But most didn't buy that Riley was capable of such a thing. And also question the validity of such a grotesque overreaction to simply being grounded

from using the car. And I have to agree, I think especially because he was considered a good kid, he's not like a problem child, he didn't kill animals as a 10 year old, you know what I mean? Like, there's no other real science pointing to that, except for because she was concerned about him, he got his driving privileges revoked. Like, that's not enough reason to kill somebody with no other things pointing to you have that in you, you know.

Just taking it out on the stoner. Yeah, what the heck? And standing out in front of their homes, Riley himself even told the local news on the evening of Belinda's murder, quote, she's a very nice person. I can't believe anything like this would ever happen to her. Now, he was questioned and pretty much scrutinized as a potential or scrutinized as a potential suspect,

but there just wasn't enough evidence to point to him being guilty. So please set their sights back on David. Meanwhile, Belinda's family attempted to pick up the pieces and put together a memorial special enough to commemorate the incredible person that she was. And something that's crazy to me is that her family said later that David just seemed bored and unaffected at Belinda's funeral. And according to her dad, Tom, he said, quote,

David temples never looked us in the eye since the day our daughter was murdered. Now, obviously we know that he thought they were white trash, which is so rude. And so I'm not sure their exact exact relationship before this but you would think that if you lost your wife you would want to try to comfort your wife's parents or be there and all grieve together and go through this together. Like to not look at them in the eye makes it seem like you're guilty of something and that you can't face them or at least to me. So David and Belinda's marriage really began to be called into question,

and more and more lured details of David's private life came to light. Many of his friends and colleagues seemed to have stories about him being degrading toward Belinda, which we had some examples of that earlier as well, or he would act as if he wasn't married at all. David had started drinking more, going out more, staying out later, and frequently heading to the bars with other teachers from school after work instead of going home to Belinda and Evan. Now obviously this is fine to go out and have a good time. You don't have to be home every single night, but it just kind of seemed like he actually had more interest in going to strip clubs and the time leading up to Belinda's murder.

And this was according to Quinten Harlan, who again is David's friend and fellow teacher and coach. A friend of Belinda's remember that at some point earlier in the previous year, the couple barely spoke for six whole weeks. When Belinda became pregnant with their daughter, she hoped that it would kind of revive their relationship, but David only seemed to get worse. She didn't feel like he was as excited as she was about the baby, and she was having

to do all the preparation herself. But this had a simple explanation. It was because David had somebody else occupying his time and his mind. Enter Heather Scott. Heather was a young English teacher at David's school and he kind of took notice of her when they started to go out to happy hours in groups after school. And he kind of took notice of her when they started to go out to happy hours in groups after school. So this could also tell you a little bit why he wanted to be going to those happy hours

after school and not after work in school, I guess, and not home to his wife and his son. David and Quintin were reportedly both interested in Heather. Remember, Quintin is married as well. But David asked Quintin if he was serious about leaving his wife for Heather, and Quintin said, no. When Quintin asked David the same question, he said that he wasn't sure. So flirty email exchanges surfaced between Heather and David in the months leading up to Belinda's murder. Indicating Heather was aware that he was married with a young son and a daughter on the way.

On January 8, 1999, three days before Belinda's murder, David told Heather that he loved her and she reciprocated. After Belinda's murder, David wasted no time moving forward with Heather, even sending her flowers on Valentine's Day just over a month after his wife was killed. By March, they were official. And this is almost too hard to believe, but without enough evidence to arrest David Temple for the murder of his wife, he was allowed to resume his life as usual, and he and Evan moved in with his parents for a few months to kind of get used to their new routine, and he was just doing his own thing. Mind you with another woman.

And then in a move that would shock the entire community, on June 9, 2001, less than two years after the brutal murder of his pregnant wife, David Temple married Heather Scott. And worst of all, this meant that Heather was now Evan's stepmother, and the two were able to keep him away from Belinda's side of the family for good. While the temples claim that this was never the case, the Lucas family has stated in multiple interviews that they have attempted to keep in touch with Evan Temple and even David but to no avail.

And at this point, I mean, Evan's Facebook is covered in pictures with and comments from both Heather, Scott, and David's parents. And one comment from Heather on a picture of Evan Reads, one of my fav picks need to print it for my desk. And her cover photo is the two of them together. So you know, it's just really hard because Evan was so young when his mother Belinda died that he probably doesn't have a lot of memories with her and just kind of remembers

more so that Heather stepped in as that role of his mom so it kind of becomes the situation where belinda is sort of erased and david can move on with this other woman and and start fresh with her as if belinda was not a part of their lives and mostly i mean of course this is really just disturbing because of the fact that so many people believe that David is guilty

for her murder, and that's why it makes it even more disturbing that this is the situation at hand. Yeah, I mean, of course, this is not directly Heather's fault either, but it seems as if everyone in the Temple family is just conveniently forgotten who the true victim is here. Yeah, I completely agree. And it just feels like things moved really fast.

And obviously there is always suspicion when a wife is murdered and the husband was cheating on her and seemingly wanted out of the relationship and out of the marriage. Like he said to Quentin that he was considering leaving his wife for Heather and then they ended up getting married after she's murdered. So is that just convenient or was this a plot from the beginning? I mean, it never really does feel convenient in situations like that. It seems like it's always pre-planned. And as Nancy Grace said in an interview with Blinda's parents, she said, quote, no one

ever said no to David Temple. So while his family may not ever believe that he's guilty, he was finally indicted in November of 2004 and faced charges for the murder of Belinda Temple. The prosecuting attorney working on behalf of Belinda said quote, Belinda Temple was a lovely teacher, a lovely mother, and a lovely wife, and there was only one person on this earth who had the motive, the means, and the opportunity to cause her death, and that was this defendant, her husband of seven years. David's lawyers built his defense on the notion that quote, being unfaithful doesn't

make you a murderer, which we've talked about many times. Yeah, and it doesn't, but just like I was kind of just touching on, is that, like I said, it's convenient timing, but also the other things of this not really looking like a burglary at all, the fact that he didn't talk to her parents after her murder at all either. He couldn't even look at them in the eye. Like, there's just so many other things that lead you to believe that he would have been behind this other than the affair right and this is

very very reminiscent of the scott Peterson case i think that you know that yeah pregnant wife uh... husbands having an affair yet another horrible horrible tragic case but i'll i know I know there's a big pool of people who think he's innocent, a big pool of people who think that he's guilty, talking about Scott Peterson. A lot of people say the same thing about Scott.

Well, having an affair doesn't mean that you murdered your wife. And yeah, that's true. But like I'm saying, that's something only thing here. Right, right. So after a three-year wait during which he was a free man and a subsequent four-week trial, David Temple was finally convicted of his wife's murder in November of 2007. But it didn't stick.

In 2012, an investigator in the District Attorney's Office came across a piece of evidence that he believed may point to David's innocence. A similar break-in had occurred in Katie just 9 days before Belinda's murder, and those responsible were none other than the friends of Riley Joe Sanders, the only other person of interest in this case. Remember the student? Yes, the next-door neighbor who was also a student. So although Riley may have not been with his friends at the time of the burglary, the

investigator and then, of course, David's defense attorneys believe this to be enough for a mistrial. In 2015, a judge agreed that this evidence, along with a few other pieces of evidence found in the police report over 1,300 pages in length should not have been omitted by the prosecution. So David's conviction was overturned in 2016, and on December 28th of that year, he was freed from prison. However, on August 16, 2019, so a few years later, and over 20 years after Belinda's murder, a jury again found David guilty. When a jury couldn't agree unanimously on a sentence, however, a judge postponed the sentencing to a later date. And because of COVID-related delays, David Temple is still awaiting sentencing to this day

in a Texas jail, and his bond is set to $1 million. During his 2019 trial, Heather Scott Temple filed for a divorce. The Lucas family had said sadly that David and David's family have been keeping Evan from them for the last two decades. Evan is now married with a daughter of his own and he has kept in contact with David's family. Heather, who gained full custody of him when David went to prison, is kind of like I said earlier, essentially like a mother to him. And as far as we could tell, he still believes that his father is innocent

and doesn't have any interest in keeping in contact with the Lucas family. Belinda's mother, Carol Lucas, has since passed away, but Tom does what he can to keep her memory alive. On the 12-year anniversary of his daughter's death, Belinda's dad Tom wrote, quote, 12 years ago, tragedy struck. January 11, 1999, was the day Belinda and Aaron were murdered. It has been a very difficult and trying 12 years for mom and dad. We still love you, Belinda and Aaron. We love Evan too, even though he has been kept from us.

We hope that someday Evan will learn the truth as to what happened to his mother and baby sister. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and on Tuesday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. It's so sad with this case that it feels like there's still really isn't resolution like he is awaiting trial and he probably likely will be found guilty and spend the rest of his life in prison, but it still just doesn't feel like there is nearly enough to know

for sure what exactly happened on that day. And it's crazy to me that this case is not as well known, as for example Lacey Peterson's or many other cases like this one that gained national media attention, because I hadn't heard about it until it was recommended by a few of our listeners. So yeah, I had never heard about it either, but also I kind of was wondering about like double jeopardy laws and the fact that he was convicted and then it was overturned and now they're trying to convict him again Like how that works in Texas. I don't know, but I guess it's fine or else they wouldn't be able to try him again

Right, they wouldn't be pushing for it exactly So we'll see how that goes obviously whenever that trial does occur We will update everybody we usually do that on social media unless whenever that trial does occur, we will update everybody. We usually do that on social media unless there's enough to cover like a full update episode, which I kinda doubt unless David didn't do it or unless he confesses, you know, and there's either a confession

or another suspect that comes into play like unless there is enough of a development, we'll definitely post about it on our socials at the very least. So thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode, thank you in advance for sharing it, and we'll see you next week. Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

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