Murder, Mystery & Makeup - The serial killer you’ve never heard of… Killed her BF, husband, and 7 more? Who is Kelly Cochran
Episode Date: January 6, 2026Hi friends! Happy Tuesday!! What do you get when you mix a small-town love triangle (or maybe square) with a sociopathic personality? A story that will make your jaw drop. In Iron River, Michigan, t...he quiet life of Air Force veteran Chris Regan ended in a terrifying tragedy. The trail led police straight to Kelly and Jason Cochran, a married couple whose “open marriage” came with a deadly rule. This case has it all: A cheating scandal turned deadly... A desperate hunt for a missing body... A twisted marriage “pact” that led to murder... And shocking allegations from neighbors who believe they were unknowingly served human meat at a backyard barbecue Kelly Cochran’s lies, games, and shocking admissions left investigators and the public wondering—was she a cold-blooded killer, or something even darker? Come along as we dive into one of the most disturbing true crime cases of recent years. Also, let me know who you want me to talk about next time. Hope you have a great rest of your week, make good choices and I'll be seeing you very soon. xo Bailey Sarian ________ FOLLOW ME AROUND Tik Tok: https://bit.ly/3e3jL9v Instagram: http://bit.ly/2nbO4PR Goodreads: https://bit.ly/44P51lp Facebook: http://bit.ly/2mdZtK6 Twitter: http://bit.ly/2yT4BLV Pinterest: http://bit.ly/2mVpXnY Youtube: http://bit.ly/1HGw3Og Snapchat: https://bit.ly/3cC0V9d Discord: https://discord.gg/BaileySarian RECOMMEND A STORY HERE: cases4bailey@gmail.com Business Related Emails: bailey@underscoretalent.com Business Related Mail: Bailey Sarian 4400 W. Riverside Dr., Ste 110-300 Burbank, CA 91505 _________ Whatever challenges you’re facing, Grow Therapy is here to help. Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0, depending on their plan. Visit GrowTherapy.com/MAKEUP today to get started. That’s GrowTherapy.com/MAKEUP. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hi, friends. How are you today? Good? Okay. My name is Bailey Sarian, and today is Monday,
which means it's murder, mystery, and makeup Monday. If you're new here, hi, my name is Bailey Sarian,
and on Mondays, I like to sit down and talk about a true crime story that's been heavy on my
noggin, and I do my makeup at the same time. So in a quiet, like, little Michigan mining town,
one woman's messy love life. Honestly, it's more like a love square than a triangle. It went from
like small town gossip to national headlines. What started as an attempt to save like a crumbling
marriage actually spiraled into like one man vanishing without a trace, another one overdosing,
and a third dragged into a scandal that he could not escape. Today we are talking about the
disturbing case of Kelly Cochran.
Kelly, Kelly Cochran.
She's from Michigan, though, so, but still.
But like, here's the question.
You don't know with this woman, okay?
Was Kelly, like, honestly, low-key a serial killer?
Was she just, like, a mastermind who was pulling the strings?
Or was she just, like, oh, a simple woman who let her obsessions destroy everything
around her?
Those are the questions that you will probably be left with.
Kelly. So our story, it starts off in Iron River, Michigan. It's a small town in the upper peninsula of Michigan. And around this time, it was said that there were like 3,000 people living there. Maybe there's more now. Maybe there's less. But, you know, it was small. And they had like one stoplight. Now, if you look at pictures and stuff, this area is filled with like tons and tons of trees. It all. It all.
Honestly, it's like kind of spooky, okay?
And then the name is kind of aggressive.
It's like, Iron River.
But I guess they got their name from like the local mining company.
So that's fine.
It's here where 53-year-old Air Force veteran Chris Regan was making a life for himself.
You know, he like grew up in Detroit.
He later served in the Air Force.
And then he eventually came to Iron River to be closer to an old flame.
Her name was Terry O'Donnell.
So he moves and all that.
And he finds work at like a local manufacturing company where no one had anything bad to say about him.
You know, he sounded like a great guy.
Like it was said that he was reliable, a great team leader, and just like fun to be around.
So it was a little odd when Chris didn't show up for work on October 14th, 2014.
Now, he was not the type to like call out, let alone be a no call, no show.
so it was weird then he didn't show up to work for like two more days now again this was like
very concerning because it was completely out of character for him now his co-workers went to his boss
and mentioned that chris had mentioned to them like that he had gotten a new job and he was
planning on moving so they were thinking well maybe he just kind of like up and left you know like okay
So it was concerning, but okay.
But after three days of like, no call, no show, you know, at work,
this led him to being terminated from the workplace.
So this was like the first kind of sign of, hmm, something ain't right.
Now Chris and Terry had broken up by this point,
but they were still like close friends and they would like text all the time.
So she's texting him and calling him.
And after, you know, 10 days straight,
of texting and calling Chris with no response, Terry got worried.
She's like, what the hell is going on? Like, again, this is not like him.
So she went to police. So Terry ends up taking police to Chris's apartment and she lets them in
because she has like a key, you know? So she lets them in and when they get inside,
they see that the place is like a hot mess. In the apartment, there was just like boxes,
packing tape and crap everywhere. Now, Terry told police that Chris, he,
had accepted like a new job in Asheville, North Carolina. He was moving there to be like closer
to his son and he was packing and getting ready to move. But like normally he was a very
clean guy and organized. So this was just like unusual. So they're looking around the apartment
and they're finding all sorts of stuff. One of the documents they find was like the actual
offer letter for his new job. And it wasn't signed and it wasn't mailed back to the company yet.
So it was like, Terry's like, well, he accepted the job.
Like, why wouldn't he sign and mail it off yet?
Like, that's weird.
Then they see his personal calendar.
And they see that Chris had written he was going to resign from his current position on October 14th.
And his last day of work was written down on October 23rd.
So they were like, okay, so he had plans to like show up for work.
They also noticed that his car wasn't there, his cell phone wasn't there, and the apartment window was open.
Honestly, to police, it seemed like Chris had just, like, gotten up and, like, left the apartment really quick with the intention of coming right back.
So a few days go by, and there's still, like, no sign of Chris.
So Terry, she's, like, driving around, and when she's driving around, she sees Chris's car at the local parking run.
It's like a carpooling parking lot, you know?
So she sees his car and she contacts police.
So they come out to have a look, you know?
So Terry is telling police that like Chris would never leave his car like that for like a few days.
His car was like his baby.
So they look inside and they have a little flashlight.
So they look inside and they see his knee brace.
And Terry tells him like he always wore his knee brace.
So that was concerning.
Then when they get inside the car, they find a post-it note on the passenger seat.
And on the post-it note, it had like step-by-step directions written on it to someone's house.
So police, you know, they start looking into Chris a little bit more, trying to figure out what's going on here.
And they learned that Chris, he had relationships with a few different women.
He was a likable guy, okay?
He had options.
But I was watching an interview with Terry
and she was like, yeah, this was new news to me.
I thought we were exclusive.
Either way, you know, police end up questioning the other women,
but they, you know, had no helpful information.
So this is when police were led to Kelly Cochran.
You see that post-it note that was found in the car?
It had directions on them.
And this led police to the Cochran home.
So they go to the house, police knock on the door,
knock, knock, you know, and a guy named Jason answers.
And police are like, hi, you know, does Kelly live here?
Is she here?
And Jason responds like, no, she's not here.
But then a few seconds later, Kelly comes, like, from behind him and she comes to the door.
I was watching an interview with, like, the police who went to the house the first time.
And they said it's actually very normal when they go to someone's house and they ask for a specific person,
for whoever's at the door usually tells them no they're not here they said that happens
every time so it was kind of like it was normal you know all the same anyways not the point though
so kelly comes she comes to the door and they're like can we ask you some questions and she's like sure
you know so kelly tells them jason is her husband and police are like you know she's coming across
very cool and calm and they kind of look at jason and he disappeared very nervous
quiet, uneasy.
I guess his eyes were kind of like going back and forth, like, you know, they're like, okay, noted.
So they asked Kelly, like, hey, do you know Chris Regan?
And she tells them, you know, she did.
They were co-workers, but she hadn't seen him for a while.
Police ask, like, hey, do you know why Chris's car was at the parking ride?
And it was noted.
Her response was kind of weird because she said, like, what?
I don't know.
Like, he loved that car.
And police thought this was odd because she was using past tense.
They were like, he loved that car.
Hmm.
So they had their suspicions that something was up,
but they had nothing to base that on yet.
They were like, these two are weird.
Advice is cute, but let's be honest, anyone can give it.
And when the expectations pile up, new year, new me,
glowups, resolutions, you know, it can feel like we're being pressured to become a whole different
person overnight. That's where Grow Therapy swoops in to save the day. Grow Therapy makes it
easier than ever to actually find a licensed therapist who fits you, not the other way around.
Whether it's your first time trying therapy or your 50th, they help you connect with thousands
of independent licensed therapists across the U.S. You can search by what actually matters,
your insurance, your identity, your needs, your schedule, all of it. Plus you can get started
in as little as two days with virtual or in-person options and even nights and weekends.
Personally, therapy has been one of those things that helps me keep going when life and work
and everything just gets crazy and growth therapy meets you exactly where you are.
So this year, instead of reinventing yourself with advice from friends whose lives are anything
but perfect, maybe just give yourself the chance to grow.
Whatever challenges you're facing, grow therapy is here to help.
Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little zero.
dollars depending on their plan. Visit growtherap.com slash makeup today to get started. That's grow
therapy.com slash makeup. Growtherapy.com slash makeup. Availability and coverage vary by state
and insurance plan. The Iron River Police Department, they were, you know, pretty small
and they needed backup. So they called the Michigan State Police for help. And that's when they brought
in Jason and Kelly, they brought them in for questioning because of that post-it note that was found
in Chris's car. I mean, it led them straight to the Cochran house. So it's like this could have been
the very last place Chris went before he disappeared, right? So they're like, bring them in. So
they first interviewed Jason. Right off the bat, he starts the interview by telling police
that he hasn't been doing well. He was institutionalized like a month ago.
he has intense anxiety, and he was seeing a therapist.
Then he went on to say, like, he had lost a close friend recently,
and on top of all of that, his marriage was falling apart.
And it was like, wow, what a way to start.
You know, he just, like, laid it all out there.
So they asked him if Kelly was having an affair, and, like, did he know about it?
And Jason, he seemed pretty bothered by this question, but, you know,
he went on to say that he knew about the affair and he just kind of like accepted it and that if
Kelly really wanted to be with someone else and like not him, then he would let her go.
You could tell he was just very upset, emotional.
When Kelly was brought in, police noticed, once again, she was very like calm, cool.
She was very in control of her body language, you know, it was just different.
But right off the bat, Kelly starts talking about, you know, her husband, Jason, and how they had an open marriage.
She mentioned that, like, she and Chris were having a relationship, but Jason knew all about it and he was totally okay with it.
So Kelly tells police the last time that she saw Chris was between October 12th and the 15th.
at his apartment and like that was all she knew the chief of police for iron river her name is
laura frizzo she believed there was much more going on okay she was like they are involved somehow
and she was determined to figure it out side note but the chief of police Laura frizzo she's a little
badass like she's the first female police chief in iron river so she's an icon plus she's got the blowout
She's got the lash, and she's determined.
Just, I loved it.
I loved watching her.
I was like, you go, girl.
So she starts looking into Kelly Cochran a little more.
She's like, something ain't right here.
So she's looking at Kelly, and she finds out that Kelly was not only married to Jason,
but she was also dating Chris, and she was dating another co-worker named Eric Erickson.
It was like, damn, she is busy.
So police are like, okay, you know, maybe Eric was jealous of Chris and he's the one responsible.
So they bring in Eric for questioning and Eric tells them like, yeah, you know, me and Kelly, we were hooking up or whatever, you know, but that she had mentioned to him that she and Jason, they were separated and they were just like living in the same house.
That was it.
They were not together.
So police, they looked through Eric's phone.
He like willingly gives it over.
He's like, yes, yes, yes, you can take it.
And they see text messages between him and Kelly.
And it was the text messages, it seemed like Eric was getting irritated with Kelly because
she was blowing him off and she was not, like, responding to his text messages.
So he's kind of like sending these angry texts.
And these texts, they were sent a week before Chris went missing.
Hmm.
You know, Eric told police that there was a.
this one night when he, him and Kelly were hanging out at the lake. They were having some beers
and her phone kept going off. Like it was ringing back to back to back to back. So finally he asked
her like, like, who's calling you? And she tells them like, oh, it's Chris. So again, police are like,
hmm, hmm, you know, maybe Eric was jealous and he wanted Chris out of the picture. But Eric swore up
down, you know, he had nothing to do with this and he had an alibi. So they asked him to take
a polygraph test, which he ended up passing and he was cleared. So this brought police
back to Jason and Kelly. So they're thinking, okay, it has to be Jason. It has to be Jason. Because,
you know, his wife is having an affair. He's probably jealous. He obviously isn't doing well,
you know so they talked to jason again and he tells police that again like the marriage had been
going well and that kelly was living like she was a single woman so they end up going through jason's
text messages and see that clearly he was bothered by her relationships jason had sent kelly text
messages saying i cannot take it you promise me you would stop was that a lie also so investigators are
like what made you send these text messages? And he was like, well, there was just one day where I went
on a walk and just so happened to be like outside of Chris's apartment where I saw Kelly's truck park
outside. So I was bothered by that and I sent her these texts. So after that he sent her more text
messages where he was asking her like not to go back to the apartment and reminding her that she
was a married woman. So again, this is kind of like solidifying to police. Okay, Jason, it's
got to be Jason because he's kind of giving the, you know, that's stalking behavior. Like he's
following her around. He's getting mad. You know, Jason had mentioned that he was admitted to a mental
hospital because he wasn't doing well. So police did the math and they realized that he was admitted
just two days after Chris went missing.
Now, what are the odds of that, huh?
With all this in mind, they're like,
it's Jason, it's got to be Jason.
Now, Jason and Kelly, oh my God, sorry,
I just had like a flashback moment.
Do you remember the movie?
It was like from Justin to Kelly or something like that?
I saw it in theaters for some reason.
It was after American Idol came out.
I know his name's Jason, it's not Justin,
but it was just, it gave me.
I had a little, that's a Raven moment.
Okay, so Jason and Kelly, you know, they went way back.
You know, growing up in the 80s, they were next door neighbors, and they knew each other
all their lives.
After graduating high school, the two of them started dating, and then eventually they got
married.
Now, according to Kelly in like a later interview, she said she felt like she was doing the right
thing, like, you know, going to college, getting
married, getting the house, et cetera. And she also said, like, in the beginning, marriage was,
it was cool, you know, but after some time went on, it got boring to her. And she was like,
dude, all I do is, is work. Yeah. You know, you grow up and you realize that's it. All I do is
work. You know, anyway, she was like, yeah, it's boring. But people who knew them said that they
were total opposites. Jason was kind of like a little shy boy, more reserved. He kept to himself
where Kelly was like the outgoing one. She was the life of the party. She was more talkative.
And according to Jason's family, it was definitely Kelly who wore the pants and the relationship.
Months are going by, but police have like no solid evidence, you know, to link them to Chris's
disappearance, but they're waiting for an approval to get like a search warrant for the
Cochran home. But again, like Iron River is a small town. So the fact that someone like just
vanished was a very rare occurrence. And like the people, the locals, they wanted to help.
So a local private investigator team, they step up and decide to like, hey, how can we help?
So things that, you know, they're moving slow. But in March of 2015,
which is like five months later, Chief Frisso,
she finally gets approval to perform the search warrant
at the Cochran home.
So she's talking to the private investigators about this
and they decide to go with.
They're going to go with her, okay?
When the police and the private investigators
show up to the home, they said like their first impression
was that the home was quite creepy.
Okay?
So, you know, the first thing they do when they enter,
They ask Jason and Kelly, you know, are there any weapons in the house?
They're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And they start naming where all the weapons are, okay?
Now, normally, people have like a gun here or guns, whatever.
They had tons of weapons in the house.
They had tons of knives, swords, crossbows, guns, in literally every corner of this freaking house.
And I was looking at pictures of it, and it's a lot of, like, medieval-looking weapons and swords, battle axes, daggers.
And it seemed like Jason was a collector, but it was a lot.
It was like, what do you need that battle axe for?
What are you doing with that?
It was a lot.
They had a lot, which isn't illegal.
Well, is it?
Whatever.
Okay.
So they're like, okay, there's a lot.
So police are looking around and they see like, you know, one of the doors has like a full on punch hole through it.
Plus the front door itself was cracked and damaged.
So they decide to call in the crime lab people to come out and like document the scene, collect any evidence, take photos, do all that stuff.
So while police are waiting for the crime lab people to show up, the two private investigators that came with them, they're standing in the living room and they're just.
kind of like looking around.
They don't want to touch anything
and like potentially contaminate the scene.
So there's kind of like sitting there waiting
and they look up at the ceiling
and they notice that the ceiling tiles
were newly painted.
Fresh paint, you know?
But they're looking and they could see like little spots
that look like blood spatter underneath the new paint.
And all this was caught on police full.
So you see them, like, looking around and they were like, what's that?
You know?
So they asked Kelly about this.
And Kelly said that they were doing some, like, recent remodeling and painted the ceiling tiles.
But if you look at the interior of their home, you're like, remodeling where?
Okay?
Because, girl.
Where?
Sure.
Okay.
So eventually the crime lab people, you know, they show up and they end up doing, like,
luminal tests on the ceiling spots now luminal will detect blood so they do the test and it comes back
positive for blood so to police they're like okay it looks like some kind of an attack happened at the door
and then the blood had like spread out onto the ceiling so they collect their samples and a bunch of
evidence and chief frizzo was feeling like this is it like this is it we got it you know once we get
confirmation on that blood that's it yeah she's feeling good literally the next morning chief frizzow gets
a phone call from the cochrane's neighbors now they were calling to let her know that kelly and
Jason loaded up their truck and took off.
Like they were skipping town.
She's like, oh shit, no.
So the neighbors, they were brought in for questioning.
And they had mentioned that around the time of Chris's disappearance,
they noticed that the Cochran's started renovating their house,
but they weren't like working during the day.
They were only working at night.
Okay.
For multiple nights.
The neighbor said that they could hear.
them like sanding and sanding and using a reciprocating saw. I don't look that one up. But again,
it was like two or three in the morning and they did this for like a handful of days. This is when
Chief Frizo, she knew deep down. She's like, oh shit. They most likely like we're cutting Chris up.
But again, like she had no hard proof. She had no hard proof yet. Just allegations. Then another neighbor
told police that like they were outside in their front yard, like mine in their own business
when they smelled something funky, like real funky. And they're like looking and they noticed
that Jason and Kelly they were burning something. So the neighbors like out front kind of like
looking in their direction and I guess Kelly came like running out into the front and the neighbor
asked her like, what the hell are you burning? And she told him like, oh we're just like
burning some brush it's not you know no big deal but according to the neighbor he was like i have
lived here all of my life and i have never smelled anything that awful before like it was bad
now to you and i were like what's she burning where they burn it a boy police they go out and
they search like the cochran yard and they notice that they're like in the yard there's a fire pit
shaped like a barrel sunk into the ground, but the barrel itself was missing.
So they ended up like sifting through the dirt and the ashes.
And investigators, um, they uncovered a saw blade along with small scraps of denim, rivets
from like your jeans, buttons and a zipper.
What?
Yes.
But like, again, it's like it's not that, uh, it's not that DNA proof.
just like, you know what I'm saying?
So there wasn't anything they can do with this.
They all know what the fuck is going on,
but they can't make an arrest just based off of this.
So during their search, when they searched the home,
they also found journals and like short stories that Jason had written.
And there were a few that stood out,
but there was one story titled Quack Quacks Revenge, and I guess it was an odd one.
So quack quack, the main character, quack quack, went on a killing spree in this story, and he wanted to get revenge on a guy whose description almost matched Chris's to a T.
Okay, it was a bizarre story and it was dark and it was highly suspicious, but not illegal.
So quack quack, we're on to you.
Well, lab results come back to Chief Rizzo about the blood samples found on the ceiling tiles.
Now, she's all excited about this because this, again, is going to be like, this is it.
But sadly, the samples were bad.
Yeah, they came back with nothing, like no clear DNA, nothing.
Now, this turned out to be, like, one of the biggest disappointments because, like, again, this was, this was it.
So I was like, damn, like, now what do we do?
You know, because Jason and Kelly had skipped town.
Well, surprise, surprise.
You know those private investigators?
Well, they came in very handy because while they were performing the search warrant,
one of them, the PIs, snuck away and quietly, like, put a tracking device on the Cochran's truck,
which is legal for private investigators to do in the state of Michigan.
Michigan and I was like oh good to know so according to the the private
investigators the reason they put the tracking device like on their truck was
because they thought at some point the couple they were gonna drive to the
location of where wherever they dumped the body so you know they stuck that
little device under the truck low key without like anyone knowing so the
private investigators they go tell Chief Friso about the GPS because they
were following them. And they share that Jason and Kelly, they drove all the way down to
Hobart, Indiana, and we're staying at Kelly's parents' house. So, Chief Frizo, she contacts the
local police department in Indiana, and she tells them everything. She tells them what's going
on, just fills them in, okay? And she's like, listen, I really want DNA samples from Jason and
Kelly. So luckily, this police department is like, oh, okay, like, okay, we'll get that for you.
So once again, the police, they locate Jason and Hobart, and they bring him into the department
saying like, hey, we have a warrant to get your DNA. So it was said when they picked him up,
he was like, obviously very nervous. He didn't say a single word the entire time. And he was
like shaking and sweating and just acting odd.
So Hobart police bring him into the station, and then they put him in, like, in an interrogation
room. So Jason is just sitting there, and then in walks, Chief Frizzo.
Listen, she drove over six hours from Iron River down to Hobart just to further talk to Jason and get his DNA.
Now, this little moment was caught on the security cameras or whatever, but when she walked in,
like Jason just kind of, he kind of goes red in the face, but he just looks completely shocked.
He's like, what the fuck?
You know, just to see her walk in.
Now, Chief Rizzo said that she was really hoping to make him feel like a victim in hopes that, like, he would kind of confess.
So she was like, hey, remember when your wife was cheating on you?
And you, like, just wanted her to act like your wife?
Remember?
That was kind of crazy, huh?
and you could tell Jason it was like uncomfortable and bothered but immediately he asked for a lawyer
so she's like damn so she backs off but uh she gets her DNA sample so during this time Kelly was
calling his phone non-stop she was calling calling calling you know I think she's worried so um
then Kelly comes into the station and Chief Frizo said like she could tell Kelly was annoyed
Like, damn, this woman will not leave me alone, you know?
Like, oh, God.
Chief Rizzo, she sits down and she kind of fibs a bit.
She tells Kelly that Jason had been there for a while
and that he told her some stuff.
She's like, yeah, he told me some stuff,
hoping to create, you know, some kind of distrust between the two,
between the couple.
But Kelly, she immediately asked for a lawyer.
and Chief Rizzo was like, God,
so she backs off, but she's able to get her DNA sample.
So, things kind of hit a standstill.
That is, until the night of February 20th, 2016.
So a 911 call comes through, and it's Kelly,
and she's calling to report that her husband, Jason,
is barely breathing.
She said his face was turning blue and,
like she needed an ambulance.
So when paramedics arrived to, you know, the house,
Kelly was a mess, as you would imagine.
But it was, they felt like it was a little over the top.
Plus, Kelly was actually getting in the way of the paramedics,
getting to Jason and like helping him.
She was kind of like, just in the way.
And they were like, get out of the way.
I guess it got so bad that like they had to remove
her from the room. Now, sadly, there was nothing they could do, and Jason was pronounced dead
from what looked like a heroin overdose. Poor quack, quack. So, after Jason had died, Kelly reached out
to, like, one of his good friends. His name's Walt. And she lets him know, like, hey, Jason passed away from
an overdose. Now, this did not feel right to Walt. Walt knew. Walt knew.
like Jason never, ever, ever, ever, ever touched hard drugs.
So there was no way like that he died of an overdose.
So Walt, he contacts the FBI, which I know feels like a jump.
But he said, according to Walt, he said he found the missing person flyer with Chris Regan's info on it.
So he remembered that Jason told him that he and Kelly had gotten into some trouble back in Michigan over a missing guy.
And Walt's like, okay, well, now Jason is dead.
So he was thinking that Jason's death was connected somehow.
So that's why he contacted the FBI to like pass on this information.
So after Walt's tip came in, the FBI reached out to Hobart Detective, Jeremy,
Ogden. Now, this detective, he had a reputation, like not just as a great investigator, but as like
an even better interrogator. First, he started digging into Jason's death, and then Kelly's
background. And then finally, Chris Regan's disappearance. So he's like connecting all the pieces.
And he's like, oh, okay, yeah, there's something here. So that's when he ends up connecting with Iron River
police chief Laura Frizo. Now, she was thrilled to get this phone call, you know, just to see any
type of movement on the case. And immediately, like, she sent over every document and video she had
regarding the situation. Thank God for once police departments were, like, communicating with
each other. You know how it is. A very rare occurrence. So it was refreshing to see this. So he gets all
the information, Detective Ogden. So right away, he orders an autopsy to be done on Jason's body.
And when the results came back, I mean, it was shocking. Yes, Jason had drugs in his system,
but it was determined he died from asphyxiation caused by strangulation. Asphyxiation is not coming out
how I wanted to come out asphyxiation caused by strangulation. Yes. Anyways, what I'm getting at
is that this was not an overdose. Okay, nope, this was a homicide. So with that in mind,
Detective Ogden, he officially ruled Jason's death a homicide. So after all this, you know,
Detective Ogden, he brings Kelly in for questioning. Now, I'll be honest here, this would be
be the first of many interviews. There's so much footage of her being questioned. In the end,
it was said they had over 100 hours of questioning. She liked to talk, but only with this
Detective Ogden guy, because she wouldn't talk like this with Chief Rizzo. Anyhow, so Detective
Ogden, he told Kelly, like, hey, I just want to talk to you about your husband's death. You
know. But during questioning, she stayed in control. She was playing games. She was given dodgy
answers. She was saying like a lot, but nothing at all. Do you know what I'm saying? In some of the
interviews, she's like, oh, I like observing people, like studying people. I like to manipulate people.
Like she's, I think she's smarter than everybody else. And it's really annoying to watch. I watch too
watch of it. I was just like, shut the fuck up. God, she wouldn't shut up. But the two, like Kelly and
Detective Ogden, they kind of built like a strange rapport, you could say, yeah. Kelly seemed to like
like him and was always willing to meet up and talk. And Detective Ogden, he would meet her anywhere,
diners, fast food joints, and he was like always wired with an undercover camera, just hoping that
she'd slip and confess.
But every single time, Kelly, like, danced around the one thing that he really wanted to know.
So Detective Ogden, his first move was to call Jason's friend Walt, the same guy who, like,
tipped off, who told FBI.
Yeah.
So Detective Ogden goes to Walt and he's like, hey, will you, like, help me out with this, like,
plan?
So the plan was simple.
Walt would call Kelly and pretend that he had received a letter from Jason that was written before his death and like sent to him.
And this is all being recorded.
So Walt gets Kelly on the phone and he tells her like, hey, I received a letter from Jason that said,
if something happens to me, like please send this sealed note to the Iron River Police Department.
And on the other end of the line, you know, Kelly, she's kind of quiet for a minute.
she doesn't say anything and then finally in like a low voice she's like please don't now this was
something but still detective ogden you know it wasn't enough he wanted to mess with kelly a little bit
more and i kind of love him for it because yeah let me tell you let me just tell you so you know
detective ogden he had been like following kelly and like watching her low key for a while
And he noticed she had the same routine every night.
Same time, same park.
She would go sit on like the same log next to the same tree and just sit there.
Maybe she was contemplating life or something.
I don't know, but she would just sit there every night.
So Detective Ogden came up with a little creepy idea.
So he ended up carving into the tree that she would sit by the word,
Chris is here.
The idea was like to spook her,
maybe think this message was coming from like beyond the grave
or like from a ghost or something.
It's kind of silly, but he did it.
And he's hoping like, I don't know, we'll see what happens.
Maybe it'll get her to talk.
It's kind of Scooby-Doo-ish, but I like it.
I'm like, okay.
He did his little carving, and then that night he parked nearby
and he waited to see her reaction.
And sure enough, Kelly, you know, she showed up.
She sat down on her log and she spotted the carving.
And I guess right after that, she bolted.
And she ran straight to her car, got in, sped off.
And guess what?
It worked.
Because that same night, March 29th, 2016, Kelly finally cracked.
The good old Scooby-Doo carving in the tree really got her.
So she called up Detective Ogden and said, you know, I'm ready to talk about what really happened.
And they ended up meeting at the station.
So Kelly came into the station to meet with Detective Ogden.
And finally, she gave a confession.
Kind of.
She came in and she painted herself as the victim saying,
was abusive and controlling and that she was, you know, just trapped in all of this.
And I'm kind of saying that sarcastically because you'll see.
But like as time goes on, she's just a liar.
This woman is a liar and I don't believe her.
But that's what she tells him, okay?
Kelly said, you know, that night Chris had come over to her place and Jason shot him right in front of her.
Start from the beginning.
He comes in the house.
What happens?
Fort me.
Okay.
Then what?
Okay.
Then what?
Jason shot Chris.
Then he forced her to help clean up the mess and, like, hide the evidence.
She said Jason even made her use forceps to pull the bullet out of Chris's skull before he, quote,
downsized him. So Detective Ogden was like, um, what does that mean? Downsized? What's that?
And Kelly completely like straight face said like it means we cut him up. Kelly told Detective
Ogden like, you know, Jason took away the only good thing in her life, you know? And Detective
Ogden, he convinced her to show him where and how everything happened. So at 1 a.m., they drove
six hours to Iron River. I like how determined everyone is to solve this. It's great. So they
drive all the way out there. And when they get there, Kelly like first led detectives to a spot where
she claimed they had dumped Chris's like body parts. So the area was searched, but nothing was found.
So Detective Ogden tells her, okay, well then like take us to your house and walk us through
step by step what happened that night so they go to the house and like you know
Kelly's like fine here's what happened so according to Kelly Jason had forced her to lure
Chris over that night she said that she and Chris ended up having sex like on the landing
by the back door I was like sure all right whatever so they had sex and like where they had
sex also happened to be at the top of like the basement stairs so it went like stairs to the basement
landing stairs to the kitchen so that landing is where they were doing it she said when they were finished
chris started heading upstairs towards the kitchen and that's when jason came out from the basement
and shot him kelly said chris had like he fell backwards onto her and the two of them like tumbled
all the way down the stairs. So, you know, Detective Ogden, he's listening to her story, sure,
whatever, but he could tell. He said in an interview, he was like, I could tell she's just like
making this up as she went, you know? So at this point, police are really realizing that Kelly
is just a serial liar. Now, the problem was figuring out, you know, what exactly she was lying
about and like, what was the truth? Because the truth was in there somewhere. But like, was she
genuinely confused about the location that she pointed them to, or was she deliberately, like,
sending them on a stupid wild goose chase? They couldn't tell. But, you know, like, at least she's
talking. With no hard evidence, they had to send Kelly back to Indiana, and without proof,
they couldn't get a warrant for her arrest, which sounds crazy, right? Because you're like,
well she's confessing like this is what happened but like according to her confession she was just
there and it was all jason so they couldn't arrest her meanwhile investigators they kept like combing
the area around her iron river home um they would find items that like could be evidence but the struggle
was always the same there's no DNA you know but as time was going on every so often Kelly she would like
text Detective Ogden. I know this bitch. So she's like texting him and she's she texts him one day like,
hey, ever been to the West Coast? I was driving there last night. And then like she would shut her
phone off. Now Detective Ogden, he kept replying to her anyways, knowing that like Kelly could not
resist checking a see if he texted her back. Like it was just another one of her dumb little games.
Sure enough, you know, she turns her phone back on and she checks her text messages.
But what she didn't realize was that every time she turned her phone back on, it pinged a cell tower.
So it gave away her location.
Now, she was trying to make everyone think she was out like on the West Coast.
But she wasn't, of course, just trying to throw them off.
She was actually in Wingo, Kentucky.
I guess she was there, like, hiding out at her cousin's house.
Wingo Kentucky.
Now listen, she really messed up with this whole text game
because fleeing the state and taunting the detective
implied suspicion of guilt.
And this was enough for police to finally get a warrant for her arrest.
Oh, finally.
So just a few days later, on April 29th, 2016, U.S. Marshals had arrested Kelly Cochran and Wingo, Kentucky, and sent her ass back to Michigan.
So Kelly, she was formally charged with five counts, first-degree murder as an aider and abettor, conspiracy to mutilated dead body,
concealing the death of an individual,
larceny in a building,
and lying to a peace officer during a violent crime.
So these charges were all tied to Chris, Chris's death.
Now, Jason, his death, had to be handled separately
since it happened in a different state.
Now, you're probably wondering,
or thinking to yourself larceny where the hell does that come from larceny what turns out after
chris was killed kelly had like broke into his apartment to grab her wedding ring like she left it there
and then she also stole his camera and i was like why well according to kelly the camera it had some
like raunchy photos and videos on it and i guess she didn't want anyone to see it but remember
when police first went to Chris's apartment and Terry O'Donnell was like, it's a hot mess.
Well, that's why it looked like a hot mess because Kelly's ass broke in.
Kelly was like sitting in jail, you know, just waiting for trial to happen.
And Detective Ogden, he kept visiting her, trying to pull any, anything from her.
More details, anything. Just keep her talking.
Because remember, at this point, technically, police still had like no.
physical evidence, there was no body. There was just like a kind of confession. Okay, but listen,
during one of those interviews, Kelly shared new information. Well, she shared a lot,
but she's something interesting came out. She told Detective Ogden that on the night of her
wedding, she and Jason made a pact, a deal, an agreement. Now, according to her, she said the deal was,
if either one of them cheated, they had to kill their sidepiece. So if Jason cheated, he had to kill
his mistress. If Kelly cheated, she had to kill her mantress. Yeah, I was like, um,
was that part of like their vows or something but okay okay so listen this is the first time that
Kelly was finally admitting that she knew in advance that Jason was going to kill Chris that
night because of this pact didn't I just say though that like she would have to kill whatever
eventually Kelly dropped the games and she told chief Frizo that she wanted to do the right thing
So she agreed to take them to where Chris's remains were buried.
So Kelly takes them like out to this wooded area and it's funny, but it's not funny.
But like while, you know, police are searching, Kelly is like, hey, can I get like a smoke?
Can I get a cigarette?
Can I get a smoke?
Can I get a light?
Like, whatever.
And then she asked them like, hey, can someone get me a cheese pizza and like a soda?
I would love that.
While they're looking for, like, the remains,
she's like, can I get a cheese pizza?
Yeah, just cheese.
And you're like, girl, read the room, Jesus.
With the help of a cadaver dog,
investigators uncovered a buried skull,
later confirmed to be Chris Regens.
Now, it was the break in the case they desperately needed.
So from that location,
they brought Kelly back to her old Iron River home.
which had been left untouched since she and Jason left a year earlier so it's like
everything is still like how it was left and in the police footage you can literally see her
cheese pizza in hand like pointing out where they dismembered chris's body she's like yeah it happened
there this is like the pizza she's like yeah this is where we come up then they find the
forceps that she used to dig out like the bullet from Chris's school, they were still sitting in the
kitchen sink. She's like eating her pizza. Oh yeah, that's it. That's what I used to pull it out.
It's right there. It's just like, yeah, girl. But also so frustrating because if police would have like,
when they initially did that warrant and like took stuff from the house, if they would have taken like these
tools from the kitchen, it would have had the DNA on it, you know? It was like, they were so
freaking close. Anyways, at least they were getting answers. And then Kelly shows them, like,
where they hid the gun or, like, hit part of the gun that Jason had used to shoot him. So it was
like, finally, like, everything is, like, coming together. So even after confessing, Kelly pled
not guilty to all five charges. Her trial, it actually started on February 14,
2017. So Valentine's Day, kind of ironic, you know. It's like rain on your water. Because, you know,
it's a trial about killing her lover. It starts on Valentine's Day. Come on, that's kind of ironic.
Anyways, so the trial starts. It lasted like three weeks. Now Kelly's defense team argued,
like it was all Jason that she was just a victim. They even leaned in.
to the idea that Kelly was such a liar and a drug addict that like nothing she said could be
trusted. She's a liar. She's a liar. Her story changes constantly. So how do you even know
what's real? They just leaned into that. She lies. I think it's very apparent that throughout
the course of proceedings, my client has been less than truthful. Okay, she recorded. She's liar.
And I was like, okay, that's, that was an interesting.
approach, you know? The prosecution, though, I mean, they focused on, well, first of all, the
hundreds of hours of questioning, but also like the whole marriage pact of it all, you know?
You know, they had her on tape admitting that she knew, like, what would happen to Chris that
night proving that she wasn't just an innocent bystander in all of this. She was a willing
participant. So Kelly, she actually ended up taking the stand, you know, herself. Oh, I was like,
uh-oh, this isn't going to go well. She told the court that Jason was abusive. He was jealous
and controlling, but that she never told anyone about it until after the murder. So people were
like, you know, was she lying about? I don't know. No one really believed her about him being
abusive, but also she was claiming. Now, at one point, she tells the court straight up that everything
she said she lied about, like everything was a lie. Her story kept changing. She's like, yeah,
I lied about everything. She said there was no pact with her husband. She said she made that up. It never
existed. And she claimed that she had no idea Jason was going to kill Chris that night. Well, you know,
again, after like three weeks, the jury, they go for deliberations. And they're only gone
for like three hours.
And, you know, they didn't buy anything that Kelly said
because they came back
and they found 35-year-old Kelly Cochran
guilty on all charges.
Now, she was sentenced to life without parole.
Now, it was said in court, well, you can see the footage to you,
but like, in court, she just, like, had nothing, nothing.
She had no emotion, nothing, nothing.
She didn't care.
Well, what about Jason?
You know, I was like, well, Jason.
11 months later, in May of 2018, Kelly pled guilty to the murder of her husband, Jason,
and she was sentenced to 65 more years in prison.
In exchange, she got a deal, guaranteeing she could never be charged with any other murders in the state of Indiana.
I was like, okay.
Now, you think it's over, but it's not over.
Because after Kelly's sentencing, even more disturbing allegations,
started to surface.
Her own brother, his name's Connor, listen.
He reached out to Detective Ogden
with his suspicions that Kelly
hadn't just stopped at Jason and Chris.
Now according to Connor,
Kelly once told him there were more victims.
Nine in total.
He said she and Jason would like make
these little comments about killing people.
But at the time, everyone brushed it off as like, oh, my God, they're just like dark humor.
But obviously, looking back now, it wasn't so funny.
Yeah, so he believed there were more people.
Now, while in prison, you know, Kelly's mom had called to talk to her.
And you know, it's recorded.
Her mom calls her and is like, Kelly, what the hell is going on?
Like, where the hell is all this coming from?
And Kelly responded telling her, like, you didn't see this coming.
Her mom's response made me giggle just a little because she was like, well, yeah, after all this, I could see a coming.
But still, it was just, it was just funny because most people were like, I never saw it coming.
And her mom was like, yeah, I could see a coming.
So then her mom goes on to say like, but I didn't know that like you guys had like killed people before.
Do you guys even have like a conscience?
And have you always been like this?
And Kelly responded, I've always been like this mom.
And it was like, I don't know, I just thought it was an interesting call.
She said a lot, again, without saying really anything.
Chief Frizo, she later admitted that she believed there were more victims.
Why?
Because when it came to Chris Regan's case, it was just too clean.
Like if Kelly hadn't cracked, they might have never actually solved it.
Again, like there was no solid evidence without her confession and, like, leading them to where his remains were found.
And to Chief Frizo, that kind of precision didn't feel like a first-timer kind of situation.
But, you know, there's like no proof or anything.
So it's just beliefs.
Then came another disturbing allegation.
This one from the neighbors.
So remember the same neighbors who said that they heard Jason and Kelly like running power tools late into the night?
Yeah, them.
So listen.
Okay.
They said that just two days after like all that noise, the construction and all that, the Cochran's, they had invited them over for a little like backyard barbecue.
So the neighbors agreed, you know, sure.
And when they showed up, according to them, they were kind of shocked because they, they were.
said there was like $150 to $200 worth of meat piled up just like way more than you'd expect for
a little cookout you know so they were like oh wow okay so you know they ate they ate it
and later they shared that like the meat tasted off like it was extra chewy well according to the neighbor
he said it was kind of see-through, like lobster meat.
You know how it's kind of like see-through?
He was like, it looks like that.
And he was just horrified.
I watched the interview of him, and you could just see it in his face of just,
he was disturbed.
You know, afterwards, the neighbors truly believed that Kelly and Jason
chopped Chris up and, like, served him at the barbecue.
After this realization, they were messed up.
I'm sure they're probably still messed up.
According to Chief Rizzo, none of this, like, ever made it into the official investigation because there was no proof.
There was no evidence that they consumed Chris's remains, you know what I'm saying?
And that the neighbors came to that conclusion on their own.
But still, I don't know.
Listen, in 2019, Kelly Conkron, she filed an appeal and she lost.
And to this day, she's still behind bars at the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ipsilante, Michigan.
Now, I was thinking to myself, I don't know if you were thinking this, I know you weren't, but I was.
And I was like, Huron Valley Correctional Facility.
That sounds very familiar.
Why does that sound familiar?
And you know what?
You know who else is at this prison?
Murder Mystery Deep Cut.
Sheree Miller.
Do you remember her?
No, let me tell you, I did a murder mystery episode on her.
It was titled Catfish Gone Wrong.
She was like one of the first internet catfish.
Sheree was married and like had online relationships.
And then like she and her internet lover planned to like murder her husband.
It was a whole thing.
It was a wild story.
Anyways, she's at that prison too.
That's all.
I was just like, ah, I wonder if they've crossed paths at all.
Hmm. I just, you know, when murder mysteries cross over, I'm always like, well, it sure is a small world.
Unfortunately, not everyone got a happy ending. Chief Laura Frizo, love her. She put everything into this case.
She was dedicated. She got, she, she, she was a big player in all this, okay? In the end, she ended up getting fired from her position.
Yes. I was like, for what? I don't know. It's not very clear. Okay. Now, afterwards, she filed like a wrongful
termination suit, but she ended up losing. And to this day, the exact reason as to why she was
fired isn't clear. But Chief Rizzo, she believes her boss just didn't like all the attention
she was getting in regards to this case.
Didn't like that she was a woman in charge.
And yeah, that.
It was sad.
It's like, what the, shouldn't you be proud that she got the job done?
Jeez.
But listen, because there was one unexpected silver lining.
While working this investigation, Chief Laura Frizo and Detective Jeremy Ogden,
they grew close and they eventually fell in love yeah the two ended up dating and then they ended up
getting married I was like aw it's actually really cute it's dark you know when people ask you
like how'd you guys meet that's a story for them but like yeah I was like oh okay cute
cute okay sad story cute cute
love story. You just don't hear about that that often, huh? Listen, Kelly Cochran is one of those cases
where the deeper you go, the less sense it makes. The marriage packs, the possible multiple
victims, neighbors who think they were fed human barbecue. It's just one big like, what the
moog? And I feel like I barely scratched the surface because when you watch even the police
interview footage with her, she is something else. She is. She is.
something. Okay? The way she changed her stories, the way she thought she was playing like
games. Exhausting. I don't think we'll ever really know the full truth. And then the thought
like that there might be more, you know? It's just like what the fuck? Or maybe I was thinking
maybe she's just one of those like compulsive liars who makes stuff up for attention.
But I, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. She's exhausted.
Losting. I'll say that. And I was thinking, I was like, I mean, if this is what we do know about Kelly, I can't imagine what we don't know about her. And then at the end of the day, poor Chris Regan lost his life because of this stupid woman and her husband. And between like Kelly's lies, Jason's violence and like all the games they played, it just feels like Chris was caught in the middle of just something he never stood a chance against.
And like, she, oh, and to lose your, her, oh, just sad.
Thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.
You make good choices.
Please be safe out there.
But other than that, have a good day.
And I will be seeing you guys later.
Goodbye.
Oh, go watch that catfish murder mystery I did.
because that one's crazy too, okay?
Goodbye!
