Murder With My Husband - 332. The Deadly Rejection - The Murder of Corey Wieneke

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

On this episode, Garrett and Payton dive into the case of Corey Wieneke, a 22-year-old Iowa bartender whose brutal 1992 murder went unsolved for 25 years. Links: Netflix Video Every Monday @11am PST, 12pm MST, 2pm EST 1pm CST https://www.netflix.com/murderwithmyhusband Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband NEW MERCH LINK: https://mwmhshop.com Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Case Sources: Oxygen.com - https://www.oxygen.com/snapped/crime-news/annette-cahill-convicted-corey-wieneke-murder-baseball-bat NBC4I.com - https://www.nbc4i.com/news/u-s-world/dateline/murder-of-iowa-bartender-corey-wieneke-on-dateline/ DailyMail.co.uk - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6761751/Childs-memory-critical-1992-Iowa-homicide-trial.html WQad.com - https://www.wqad.com/article/news/crime/woman-found-guilty-in-1992-murder-of-corey-lee-wieneke/526-dcfb5777-1b1f-4228-b602-8030f594baea RadioIowa.com - https://www.radioiowa.com/2022/03/25/supreme-court-denies-appeal-in-tipton-cold-case-murder-conviction/ CBS2Iowa.com - https://cbs2iowa.com/news/local/iowa-grandmother-convicted-in-1992-slaying-of-ex-boyfriend TheGazette.com - https://www.thegazette.com/news/crime-and-courts/court-ruling-upholds-conviction-of-tipton-woman-for-killing-cheating-boyfriend/article_2db9ad5b-f2d9-5b9e-88f3-5dbc6baf8c80.html TimesRepublican.com - https://www.timesrepublican.com/news/todays-news/2018/06/son-boss-believe-suspect-is-innocent-in-1992-iowa-homicide/ IowaCourts.com - https://www.iowacourts.gov/courtcases/12224/embed/SupremeCourtOpinion NBCNews.com - https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/iowa-grandmother-faces-murder-trial-case-built-largely-testimony-child-n978281 TimesDelphic.com - https://timesdelphic.com/83562/features/wrongful-convictions-clinic-shares-annette-cahills-story/ IowaBar.org - https://www.iowabar.org/?pg=IowaBarBlog&blAction=showEntry&blogEntry=130934#:~:text=The%20new%20scientific%20evidence%20does,the%20tragedy%20of%20wrongful%20convictions. CaseLaw.FindLaw.com - https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ia-court-of-appeals/2122408.html DesmoinesRegister.com - https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2018/05/31/iowa-cold-case-arrest-west-liberty-tipton-annette-cahill-corey-wieneke-muscatine-dci-crime/662398002/ Oxygen’s Snapped - https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.c2ce9e6b-d4c3-49f8-8443-d501b9786e2e?ref_=imdbref_tt_ov_wbr_ovf__pvt_aiv&tag=imdbtag_tt_ov_wbr_ovf__pvt_aiv-20 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Morland. And I'm Garrett Morland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. That coffee hitting me.

Oh, you're feeling good. I'm freaking like my body's going. I'm moving right now. That's good. That espresso shot? Holy. Tell them you made it. Oh, okay.

Jumping into my tents. Well, first of all, thank you for being here. think if you're watching, thank if you're listening. Got a new coffee machine. Got a, well, it's not for no reason. Look, I'm going to keep it simple. Got a new coffee machine, got a new grinder, been experimenting with a lot of different drinks.

The shot I just drank, I don't know what was in it, but I am amped up right now. Came out good. It took me a long time to dial the machine in. I don't know why it took just so long. For those who aren't familiar with how coffee works, I had to dial in the espresso machine. Got it all dialed in.

We're good to go. Taste amazing. I made it just like an iced caramel latte, basically. Tasted great. We're going to update you kind of what's going on with their pregnancy. Everything's okay and not okay at the same time. Payton, there's, we're not getting get into specifics right now because we're going to keep it a little private.

But there's just some stuff going on with. Peyton and her body and the baby. And so far, baby's fine. Baby's fine. Baby's okay. So far so good. We're just waiting to see. We're basically like on hospital watch right now,

waiting to see if she needs surgery. The doctors want Peyton to try the best she can to try to get to 32 weeks. So if she does have to get this surgery and the baby needs to come out that everything will be okay. And there's the higher chance of everything going well. right now she's at 28 weeks. Fun fact, I was born at 26 weeks. But right now the baby's at 28 weeks, and so we're just trying to keep pushing along.

Anything else you want to add to that baby? Nope. I'll cry. Yeah, so that's why I'm talking. Peyton's just kind of tired, kind of emotional. It's a lot going on, but baby's healthy. Peyton's hanging in there. She's doing a great job.

So support for Peyton. Everyone send your support her way. Dude, pregnancies? There's a lot. It's already hard enough. So when you start adding other factors into it, not fun. Not fun at all. I think that's it. Thanks for listening. Thank you for being here. Thank you for watching. Thank you for everyone saying hi to us for those who go to the bagel shop. Thank you for just all your support. On that note, I think that's it. And we're going to hop into today's episode.

Our sources for this episode are Oxygen.com, NBC4L.com, Dailymail.co.co.com, WQAD.com. Radio Iowa.com. Cbs2Iowa.com. The Gazette.com. TimesRepublican.com. Iowacourt.com. NBCNews.com. Times Delphick.com. Iowabar.org. Caselaw.com.com. Dwaywaywayrister.com.com. And Oxygen snapped. Today, I want to talk about an ugly little truth called rejection. We can all agree that rejection is probably universally hated. I mean, introduce me to one person that likes to hear the word no. But if you're a silver lining kind of girly like me, then you can understand how rejection is character building. It adds grit, it toughens your skin.

It teaches you how to get back out there with your head held high and to try again. There's no way to avoid it. It happens in almost everything we do. We can fill rejection in work, play, love, and the more feelings you have invested, the harder that rejection hits. But for some people, that pain can be unbearable. Picking their head up and getting back out there just doesn't seem like an option. And when a rejection like that happens to the wrong person, it can be weaponized and become a death sentence. So let's turn back the clock to the year 1992 to a little town with a population of only about 4,000 people called West Liberty, Iowa. It's the kind of place where you grow up going to school with the same kids. You probably marry your high school sweetheart.

You open up a small business with your childhood best friend. The kind of town a lot of people live and then die in. and as was the case for 22-year-old Corey Winneke. Now, Corey had a larger-than-life presence in this small town of West Liberty. His family had been there for a few generations. Everyone in town basically knew his last name. Corey especially, though, because not only was he a star football player, he was the class clown and one of the most popular kids in high school.

With his welcoming and warm personality, he just wanted to bring everyone together. He would invite all the neighborhood kids over to his family's house to play baseball in their giant grassy yard on a summer's night, teach them how to pitch and catch. And when the sun went down, he was curling up on the couch with his mom, Susan, sharing their favorite shows together. Now, Susan has said that the two of them, her and her son, Corey, were extremely. close, even when Corey began dating his high school sweetheart, a girl named Jody Hots. Now, Jody was intelligent, grounded, someone who inspired Corey to do his best in life. The two balanced each other out in a way that most everyone in West Liberty felt was probably forever. When Corey wasn't playing sports, doing his class work or hanging out with Jody, he would work at his

family's business, which was a popular pub in town owned by his grandparents called Winks. Corey would go down there on the weekends to clean the counters or change kegs, and when he turned 18, he actually started bartending. Now, if someone in West Liberty didn't know Corey's name before, they definitely did now. Winks was the spot in West Liberty where all of the locals went on the weekends, and Corey quickly became the face of the establishment. The grandpa's grandson who really brought the place personality. And it kind of became a second home to Corey. And I mean this literally because after he graduates high school,

he moved into the little apartment upstairs, like above the bar, which made it easy for him to just get out of bed and then go right down to work. Now eventually, his high school girlfriend Jody moved in with him. But the space was tight and she started making money of her own after graduation. So she gets a job working at a bank 17 miles away in Iowa City. So eventually, the two actually decide to upgrade their living situation. And in 1992, the now 22-year-olds moved to a small little farmhouse just west of town. Now, at this point, they're, you know, they started as high school sweethearts, but they're definitely young adults trying to make it work.

So spending time together was a bit tough. Corey worked nights. Jody worked days. Oftentimes they would really only see each other in passing. But it seemed to work for the two of them, living together. Because that same year, Corey finally proposed to Jody and she happily said yes. They were just starting to build their future together. They were talking.

about marriage, having kids, high school sweethearts, the white picket fence life, until October 13th, 1992, when everything in their life unraveled. That morning, Jody woke up, got ready for work, tiptoeing around her sleeping fiancee because he works nights. Around 8 a.m., she gave Corey a kiss and headed off to Iowa City for another day on the job. But when she came home around 6th, 6.30 p.m. that night, she immediately notices something is off at their little farmhouse. Their dog was outside wandering around, which they never did. Like they never just let it stay outside while they were at work. The screen door to their house was open, but most of all, she noticed that Corey's car was still in their driveway. But Corey is definitely supposed to be at work by now. He

usually went in at around 5 p.m. So Jody goes inside and she calls out for Corey. After no response, she went deeper into their home. She turned a corner to the bedroom. And that's when she saw Corey, her fiance, lying face down by the bed in his underwear in a pool of his own blood. She runs up, she places a hand on him. She could tell that he was already cold. He wasn't breathing. She races to their phone. She dials 911 and right away she's like, my fiance is dead. Now when the police arrived, one of the first things they realized was Corey appeared to have been a victim of blunt force trauma. He had wounds on his back, arms, and a giant one on the back of his head, basically going from ear to ear. Corey was viciously beaten in what detectives would call a, quote,

blitz type very rapid assault. Okay. Very fast. There didn't look like there was any signs of a struggle. There was no defensive marks, bruising, cuts, no furniture turned over, and no signs of any weapon. Plus, nothing was missing from the house that would indicate this had been some sort of robbery. So between that and just the brutal and kind of quick manner in which Corey was attacked, police immediately believe this murder was personal.

And detectives also felt that whoever came to the house probably came with their own weapon and the intent to kill him, which is why it was just done fast, no argument. And as for that weapon, well, police do have a guess. They think it's something like long, like a pipe or a baseball bat, but who would have wanted Corey dead? And why in such a violent, disturbing manner? I mean, bashing someone's head in. This was one of the most popular, well-liked guys in town.

So they obviously know the first person they need to rule out is his fiance, Jody. Jody was very forthcoming with police. She told them, no, the last time I saw Corey was this morning, he was alive. Once she left for work, he was still asleep in bed. She walked them through her day, how she went to Iowa City, ran an air, or two on her break and then came home at 6.45 p.m. So Jody has a very clear alibi that they are able to confirm. Plus, it was clear that she was grieving. She was in total shock over the situation she had come across his body. To them, Jody was a pretty easy person to cross off their list.

But the news of Corey's death began spreading fast through the small town and by the morning, local media was swarming the area ready to cover the case. And one of those reporters who comes to the crime scene actually finds something crucial. So they are parked a little bit east of Jody and Corey's home, kind of just outside the crime scene tape perimeter, just like any reporter or news van would be. But this specific reporter sees a baseball bat that's just laying along the roadway. Now, luckily, crime scene texts were already on site by this point.

So instead of this reporter like going up to it, they literally just send someone over to check it out. Sure enough, the baseball bat has blood on it. They're pretty sure this reporter has just found their murder weapon. So they bring it in for processing. And meanwhile, other detectives were canvassing the area looking to talk to witnesses. They actually find a man who owned the farm just up the street. So they're neighboring farm.

interestingly enough he said hey I also saw that baseball bat on the road it's so interesting that you can just piece things together and I guess what I mean by that is I feel like it's pretty hard to get away with things like there's just like oh this person saw that this person saw this this person saw that we found the baseball and then all of a sudden things just slowly and slowly it turns into a snowball and yeah I don't know it's kind of wild all right you guys we are getting into an ad and it is Amazon music. And if you don't follow us on social media, you need to go right now and check out the Amazon music reel that I made. Yes, Peyton just posted and Amazon Music ad reel. We don't do many ads on Instagram. So Peyton did one. Go check it out.

It's pretty good. She worked really hard on it. And Loki, it explains like everything I love about Amazon music. We both love Amazon music. Honestly, we both are big fans of audiobooks. I'm always like working or driving and I do like books. But for me, it's so much easier when I can just listen to a book and hear everything and picture everything. I love it. I'm a big, big fan of that.

And you know what it is? It's the fact that they made it so you don't have to go to three separate apps because Amazon music is your one app for music podcasts and audio. So like no matter what you're listening to, you can get it on Amazon music. You get access to audio books included with your Amazon Music Unlimited subscription. You know, I wish I had this when I was in high school. I know. I really wish I had this when I was in high school because I have a hard time reading. Yeah.

And so this would have been such a game changer for me in high school. I actually would have read all the books. Well, I'm spark noting them. I know. I'm currently on Amazon. Amazon music besides listening to music and podcast, obviously. I'm currently listening to Project Hell Mary because Garrett was like, you have to watch this movie.

You have to watch this movie. It's so good. And so I watched it. And then I fell in love with Rocky. I fell in love with Grace. And I was like, I have to listen to this audio. You're also a big fan of a core of Thorns and Roses. Yeah.

They have that on there too. And you know the thing about it's the narrators are so good. they really can bring like the book to life. Yes. So listening to a court of thorns and roses versus reading it was like a whole different experience. I mean, they have so many titles over on Amazon music. Something Peyton and I actually just started doing recently as well is like when we're driving, we'll throw on an audiobook and listen to an audiobook.

Just pretty cool because we used to, I mean, listen to a lot of music, but lately we've been doing more audiobooks. It makes the drives go by. Yeah, it makes a drives go by faster. Like it feels like you're doing something. And so the drive goes by way faster. Honestly, for me, it's just the fact that I can put an audiobook on and continue about my day. Like things I do while I listen to audiobook, podcast music from Amazon music is laundry.

I put it on while I get ready, doing my makeup, doing my hair. I use it in the shower. Also, I'm sure a lot of you listen to. But we actually have a good audience on Amazon that listen to our podcast. Again, it's just so nice. It's all in one place. Like it's so easy and so good. If you're curious, go check it out.

Music, podcast, audiobooks, all in one app. Again, music, podcast, audiobooks, all in one app. Go check it out. We're big fans of Amazon music. And we are back to our regular episode. So they talk to the neighbor and he's like, no, I definitely saw. that bat, but I noticed it yesterday, which is before Jody found Corey's body. He said, so the morning before, around 9 a.m., he was driving slowly down the road to check on his crops, because again, he's a

farmer. He circles back again at 1.30 p.m. And that is when he noticed the metal baseball bat on the side of the road. And he swore it was not there that morning. So he, like, past that area at 9 a.m. And then after, you know, his workday, he comes back at 1.30 p.m. and that's when he notices it. So this is obviously helpful because it gives them a potential timeline

for Corey's murder because obviously by 1.30 p.m., the murder weapon with blood on it isn't like sitting on the side of the road. And it's not until 6.45 p.m. that she comes home and finds the body. So soon enough, the results from the forensics team come back.

And they said the blood on the bat, was a match for Corey's blood type. However, you have to remember, this is 1992. DNA testing wasn't widely available. It required specialized labs and a lot more sample material than it does today. And unfortunately, they don't find any fingerprints on the bat either. So they're like, we think it's his blood because it's the same type, but we can't like 100% confirm it.

And we don't have any fingerprints on the murder weapon. They do learn from the autopsy report, though, that Corey had 13 different blunt force injuries in total to his body. Four of those were to his head, including the fatal blow that finally split open the back of his skull. Oh, my gosh. And they also still believe Corey was ambushed. And at this point, they're like,

not only was he ambushed, which is why there's no defensive wounds, we think the attack began while he. was still asleep, which is why he didn't fight back because he immediately started getting beaten. Problem was, none of this got that much closer to a lead. So detectives began speaking to everyone in Corey's life, obviously, family, friends, coworkers, customers. They find that Corey was supposedly not only had he been the football star in high school, now the like lovely bartender at the most popular bar, he is also the local marijuana and cocaine dealer around town. So at the bar,

he's not just doing alcohol. Yep. And not only that, apparently when they really start digging into his life, they learn that despite the fact he's engaged to his high school sweetheart, he had an even bigger vice than dealing drugs. And that was women. So it turns out, Corey wasn't just popular with the ladies in high school. He had continued that streak into adulthood. He had quite a few girlfriends over the years, all while dating Jody. Apparently, she knew for a lot of their relationship

that he would cheat on her from time to time, as did basically everyone else, but it kind of seemed like they had a don't ask, don't tell policy. Like, Jody knew their names. She would be like, I know that he's cheated on me with this girl, this girl, this girl, but this is just what they did in their relationship. That sucks.

Like that's not a way to live life. No. And it's sad and unfortunate. If anyone is in the same situation, I promise, not a way to do it. There's probably just a lot of psychological stuff going on behind the scenes. For sure. Because like from the outside looking in,

that seems absolutely crazy. But, you know, not just women, men and women stay in relationships where they are treated horribly. And it's for psychological reasons. mostly. So she knows some of these girls and there are at least two outside girlfriends or relationships that were still ongoing at the time of Corey's death. So when they start talking to people, they're like, oh, he was also kind of hanging around this girl and this girl despite like living with Jody. So I assume they're going to go see if those girls have boyfriends, significant others. Yes. Well, so they keep digging into this. and they discover that one of these relationships was with a woman that Corey had been friendly with for quite a while. Like this had kind of been a long thing.

And they learned that two months before he had gotten engaged, this woman that he had had this relationship with had his baby. So Corey has a child with another woman. Is the main girlfriend? I'm not sure. I'm not, I mean, they, they hinted that like she knew about his affairs.

Yeah, I doubt she knew that. She had a baby. But I'm, they don't go into detail, mainly because she's not a suspect. So they're not going to. And also like,

we don't want to talk about the. Yes. Baby. I mean, that's a. Yeah. But this is pretty messy. Yeah.

Right. Like he, this is a small town. We're in the 90s. He's beloved and he has a baby with a woman. and then two months later still gets engaged to his high school girlfriend. So that woman's name was 20-year-old Wendy Marshall. So the police track Wendy down when they learn all of this drama.

And when they question her, she has some pretty wild information to share. She said in the early morning hours, the day Corey died, he left the bar with her after closing around 2 a.m. But when they're walking out and they get to Corey. his car, they run into his third lover, his third girlfriend. So his fiance's at home in bed. He's just closing up shop, walking out with his second girlfriend. And as they get to his car, they run into his third girlfriend.

Now, this is 29-year-old, so a little older. Annette Hazen. And she's out there by his car waiting for him at 2 a.m. For his shift to get over. Now Wendy, girlfriend number two, said Annette was very intoxicated and visibly annoyed when Wendy and Corey walk out together to the car. It was clear she was hoping that Corey would be alone. She said based on the conversation she was wanting Corey to come home with her. Now those plans are obviously foiled.

But Corey told Wendy, hey, I know we already have plans to hang out at your house. But can we just drive Annette home from here? Okay. So the three of them. Oh my gosh. Can you imagine? Girlfriend two and three. There's no way.

Get into the car to drive Annette home. Now remember, she's intoxicated. She's distressed. But on the way, Wendy said Annette got so angry. She opened the door and tried to jump out of Corey's car. So. Okay. Corey pulled over.

Annette got out and so did he. The two of them began having a conversation in front of the car. and Wendy is sitting inside just watching. Now, I'm not sure exactly what was said, but it seemed Annette convinced him to change his plans because when he gets back in the car, he tells Wendy, listen, I'm driving back to the bar to Winks so you can get your car.

I'm going to handle Annette, basically. So he tells girlfriend, too, I know we're supposed to go to your house, I'm driving you back to the bar, you get in your car, you go home. I'm handling intoxicated girlfriend. Got it. Number three.

What a life. Yeah, at 2 a.m. Mind you. Like, I would want to be in bed. He turns around. He drops Wendy off. And then he goes back to Annette's house. And then they hook up.

So he hooks up with our very distressed third girlfriend, Annette. Okay. So him and Annette go to her house. You know, they just do a little bit of fooling around. and after this he leaves and goes to Wendy's house because he feels bad that he had to drop her back off and made her drive home after they had already made plans. So they hang out there and he chats a bit or I don't know.

He hangs out with Wendy. And then he finally goes home to his fiancé, Jody, and gets in bed. So no wonder he's still asleep when Jody gets up and leaves at 8 a.m. He had had a night. He had had a long night. And when investigators hear about this, they're like, okay, there's got to be something in here that gets us to the murder. No, a thousand percent. So they look deeper into a net and they find that this sort of behavior, you know, this crazy, her waiting at his car at 2 a.m., begging him to like go back to the house with her.

Did a girl do this? Making him change his plans. That sort of behavior was. exactly out of character for her. So now please dive into Annette. She's divorced with two kids who she had shared custody of. Like I said, she's a bit older than Corey. He's only 22. She's 29. However, she's known him since he was 16. She would sometimes pick up shifts at winks. So between working and drinking there regularly, she gets to know Corey. She says she developed. a little crush on him.

According to some reports, they messed around, but they didn't have sex. But then apparently things did get more serious in the year of 1992. According to Annette, the two were having sex a few times a week at that point leading up to his death. So at the time of his murder, they were actively sleeping together. In fact, it was getting serious that Annette said, oh, no, me and Corey actually made plans to skip town, like he was going to leave his fiance. and we were going to skip town.

Oh, no. We were going to go to Branson, Missouri, and we were going to open up our own bar there. Love triangle. Here we come. There was just one problem. Everyone who knows Corey is like, listen, we understand Annette's telling you this,

but he would never leave Jody. Did he cheat on her? Yes. But that was the love of his life. How weird would it to be known as like, oh, he would never leave that person, but... I think it happens, like more than we think. But it just, I should.

strange to me. Yeah. So everyone in his life is like, no, listen, he loved Jody. Like, he would never leave her despite all of this. Now, whether Annette was aware of that or not is unclear. And whether he told Annette this, but didn't mean it, is also unclear. Like, whether she's making this up or the words came out of his own mouth, we don't know. But he had just proposed to Jody about a month or so before he died. So doesn't make sense why he's telling one woman he's going to run away with her, but then, you know, proposing to another. But also two months before that proposal, he also had a baby with someone else.

So the whole thing fills off to detectives. They're ready to call Annette into the station, but she comes in herself. I think she probably heard that Wendy, a girlfriend number two, was speaking with police. And so she was like, obviously that night's going to be talked about. So she brings herself in to tell her side of the story. Either way, police are like, yep, we're ready to hear it.

Now, as far as I'm aware, Annette didn't deny any of the things Wendy had said about that night. She confirmed, yes, I did see Corey hours before he was murdered. He did come to my house. We did have sex, but he did leave. She also admitted to police. She was jealous that night when she saw Corey and Wendy, and that's what they were arguing about.

But she felt better once he dropped her off and went back to Annette's house and they made up. So detectives asked her, okay, well, can you account for the hours during? during the murder, basically. And she says, she woke up early that day because she was helping out a friend with a roofing job. She says she got to the site

around seven-ish, worked for about an hour and a half, and then her sister-in-law, Jackie Hazen, picked her up around 8.30 or 9 a.m. to run some errands. However, she admits that after that,

her and her sister-in-law stopped by Corey's house. She said she goes up, she knocks on his door because she needs to drop a book off. one that she had borrowed. Okay. She says, but no one answered.

So me and my sister-in-law, Jackie, left. She says, then we drove to Iowa City to take Jackie to a doctor's appointment, do some shopping, which Jackie did have a receipt for. It showed that she had shopped at 1.45 p.m. And afterwards, they went back to Jackie's house, where Annette was also staying at the time. And she hung out with her kids until Annette went to a work shift at Winks, the bar later that night. That's when Annette said she learned about Corey's death for the first time that had happened earlier that day. So police are like, hey, we just need to bring Jackie the sister-in-law in.

So they bring her in and she confirms all of this. But to be extra sure, they hook Annette up to a polygraph and she passes. Now, even though Annette admitted to stopping by Corey's house that morning, which is during their iffy hours, there's no evidence suggesting she actually went inside or that Corey wasn't already dead at that point. So they keep speaking to witnesses. Over the next six months, they conducted around 400 different interviews. I feel like this happens a lot.

We've covered a couple cases where they interview a set group of people, right? Yeah. They move on. They go to a bunch of different people that can't figure out what's going on. And somehow it always leads back to like the first set of people. I don't know if that's what's going to happen. I'm just saying it always leads back to this first set of people. and that's who has done the crime.

It does feel like that, especially in like cold cases we've been seeing solved lately where it's like, oh, the person was in the suspect notes. Like in the investigator's notes. They just couldn't,

there was enough substance to like do something about it. Yeah. Yeah. So anyways, they do all of these interviews. They also end up talking to a local man who is like,

Corey had an affair with my wife. like maybe this was that. They also believed maybe it was drugs. You know, he was a drug dealer, maybe this. The possibilities were overwhelming. Let's just say, Corey's life had a lot of motive. Sometimes we see victims that it's like,

no one would ever want to hurt this person. That's not necessarily the case here. So by April 1993, this is six months after Corey's death, the investigation reaches a standstill. They don't really know where to turn. And that's where things stand for the next. next 25 years.

That's such a long time. So we're covering a cold case that has been solved recently. Okay. So the case goes cold until a chance. Sorry to interrupt. It's an update on another case that we did. Did I send you that? What's her name?

She, I don't know what the plea agreement was, but I think she reached a plea agreement or something that only fans grow. who killed her boyfriend. I saw they just reached a agreement or something like that. We should post update on our social media. Anyways, which is crazy because I'm never on this stuff. But it came across my Instagram. I haven't even seen that.

I came across my Instagram. Okay. Anyways. So in December of 2017. Okay, so 2017, not that reason, but 2017. An agent with the Division of Criminal Investigation, which is part of the State's Department of Justice, is looking into a case at the University of, of Iowa hospital.

And while he's there, one of the nurses comes up to him and says, hey, you know, since you're here working on a recent case, do you know anyone

who works on cold cases? And he's like, no, actually me. Like, that's actually, that is my job. Yeah,

it's me. Why are you asking? That's when she says, well, I've kind of been harboring a secret for decades. What is up?

She goes, when I was just nine years old, I think I heard someone, confessed to a murder. And she goes, again, I was only nine, but it's been weighing on me.

Can't blame her at all. She goes, this has been weighing on me. And now that you're here, like, I don't even know, but I just feel like, it's been weighing on me. I don't even know if it's real. But I think I heard someone confess to it. She's like, and I know the name of the victim now. I know who they were confessing to killing.

His name was Corey. So he takes down her information. schedules a meeting with her and two other DCI agents so they can hear her full story. And on December 15th, 2017, she tells them this. When she was a kid, she slept over at her best friend's house a lot. Her best friend was the daughter of Jackie Hazen. Jackie is Annette Hazen's sister-in-law. The one who was like, yep, confirmed her alibi, we went to Corey's house that day.

He didn't answer. We went shopping, blah, blah, blah. Okay? so she would have sleepovers with Jackie's daughter a lot. And she said, and Annette, Annette Hazen, the girlfriend number two, lived there at that time. So I got to know her as well. Like her, she was always around. How do you kill somebody and then just go about life?

I don't know. Like just go about life. She goes one night in the fall of 1992 right around when Corey was killed. Jessie said she and Annette's niece were hungry during one of their sleepovers. So they snuck downstairs for a snack around midnight. But that's when they hear crying coming from the kitchen. Okay, they're just these two little nine-year-old girls sneaking down. But then they stop because they hear crying.

And they see Annette. She says that she was standing in front of some black lit candles, crying in the kitchen and she's saying over and over I'm so sorry Corey I didn't mean to hurt you I didn't mean to kill you now obviously these two nine year old girls are startled

like here's not even their mom but their aunt basically one the girls a hand she's just a friend and she's standing in front of lit candles crying and like talking to someone that's not there right and so

the little girls just turn around and race back upstairs. They're like, forget our midnight snack. We are scared. And so, Jesse, like, they go back upstairs to the room and she tries to talk to her friend about it, who that's her aunt. So she tries to talk to the other nine-year-old little girl. She's like, what was she saying? She said she killed someone. Like, she was saying she killed someone.

She said her friend was like, no, no, no. That was just her boyfriend and she's heartbroken over his death. And so she was like, but this other little nine-year-old girl is like justifying it in her little nine-year-old head. And there's only so much you can comprehend at that age. And also you're at someone else's house. Yeah, no. And then when you look to the friend who's related to this person for answers and they're like, oh, no, it's fine. Her boyfriend died.

You're like, oh, okay. You're like, okay. And that's what she says. She's like, that was that. But she goes the next day when I went home, I told my mom. I said, hey, like, it was weird. She was crying in the kitchen and her mom was like, we're not going to go to police. I don't even know what happened.

I don't even know Annette. What if she did kill this guy and now she's going to kill you for telling me? She was like, I'm not going to take this anywhere. Just says sorry to her little nine-year-old daughter. But now Jesse is in her mid-30s. And this agent strolled into the hospital working on a different. case and she was like, you know what? I'm going to tell him this story. And she's now telling it to multiple DCI agents. And it changed the direction of the case completely. So after confirming Jesse's

story with her mother, she's like, go talk to my mom. She'll tell you. I told you that way back then when I was nine years old. And they go talk to her mom and she's like, no, she did. She came home from a sleepover and told me that she saw that. Oh my gosh. So they know it's a lead worth pursuing. so investigators pay another visit to now 56-year-old. Could you imagine? Annette Hazen. Thinking that you got away with something, the cops come over 20, whatever, plus years later.

Yeah. Wait, 20 years? Yeah, 20 plus years later, 25, whatever. And they're like, hey, we're here to talk about a crime. Yeah. That we think you committed 25 years ago. Well, they track her down. She's living in a place called Tip.

in Iowa. It's only 20 miles or so from West Liberty where the murder happened. She's remarried. She's changed her last name from Hazen to Cahill. And she has another child. She's now a grandmother of four grandchildren. Oh my gosh. I can't because it's like part of you as a human wants to feel bad. But the other part's like she killed somebody. Well, she got to go live her life and Corey didn't. You know? I think there's sometimes a tear, right? It's weird. That's what I'm saying. I think. I think for our brains to comprehend, it can be kind of strange. It makes more sense for her to be arrested in the time of the murder. Yes.

Versus now. And I think we are seeing that a lot lately with like these 70-year-olds who are getting arrested for cold cases. And you look at them now and they're not, they're not who you think killed this person. Yep. But they are. You know what I mean? It is a very weird mental battle in a sense.

I don't know. She loves to spend her free time cooking and quilting. she has not had any run-ins with the law for the rest of her life. In fact, she's working as a customer service assistant with the Police Law Institute, which helps train officers around the country. Oh my gosh. This is weird. Now, when she tells, when detectives bring her in, they're like, listen, we need to talk to you about this cold case.

She's open about her relationship. She tells them, Corey was the love of my life. but they don't get much time with Annette that day because she goes back to work. They stop by her house again weeks later and she's a lot more defensive. She's like, listen, Corey's death nearly killed me. She says, when he was murdered, I started drinking heavily, doing more drugs. And she says, I'm going to share something with you that I never told police back then. She says that night after he stopped the car and got out and they were fighting, Corey said to Annette,

I'm nothing to you, but you're not nothing to me. I love you. So according to her, Corey confessed his love for her that night and then dropped off the other girlfriend and went home with her. And she's like, and this was the first time. And she says, but when he left after sleeping with me that night, I was hurt. She knew things were probably never going to change. She says the pain turned to anger. And police are kind of just sitting here like, okay, she's defensive, but she's also talking about that night. So they kind of just keep letting her talk. Yeah, I was going to say, if you really didn't do it, I don't know.

But I feel like you'd probably be like, look, I don't know, guys. Like, I've told them everything. Like, it was such a long time ago. Like, I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do. Like, this is about, this is it. Well, this interview kind of started as her being like, I had nothing to do with his death. And now it's turned into her completely lost in the story of her love.

And that's why you know. Like she's, there's something going on. She's back. She's explaining it. She's talking with emotion. It's not like she's like, he loved me.

But I knew things we're never going to change. Like she's fully back there. Like no offense, but like when I talk about an ex, I'm like, yeah. Oh yeah. I don't know.

I dare that person. It was a long time ago. I mean, yeah, that's about it. And so police just let her keep going. Yeah. They're like,

whatever. And then she asks them something strange. She says, quote, you know the old saying fish or cut bait. Now, Annette No. I don't. I don't either, but I'm not from Iowa. Okay. She obviously doesn't say it explicitly, but it seems in that moment that she decided

to cut bait. So when a Texas finally confront her, they're like, listen, we understand what you're saying. We also have an eyewitness who says they overheard you talking about murdering Corey. She's like, who? She tells them they have no idea. how wrong they were. And from there, she refuses to answer any more questions without a lawyer. So she, like, gets all the way up to the point. And then it's basically like, am I going to do it or am I not? Am I going to fish or am I going to cut bait? And they're like, okay, whatever. We have this. And she's like, I'm cut and bait. Get me a lawyer. Like, I'm not confessing. But by now, police are like, ah, we feel like we have enough to arrest her. They present the case to the grand jury. And on

May 31st, 2018, six months after Jesse came forward with her story, Jesse, our nine-year-old. Police went to Annette's home and arrested her. Okay, so she goes to trial. Obviously, this isn't going to be very easy for the prosecution because their entire case is basically hinged on Jesse Becker's story, who was nine years old at the time. They have no concrete evidence, no eyewitnesses, no DNA. That's what I was going to say. I was going to say, even if this went somewhere as a jury, I mean, you're just, you're not going to go anywhere. The story is based off of someone that was nine years old. Right. It's not going to happen. So this trial, not really going to detail is so much small town drama. Okay, well,

she slept with this person who did this. And back then, she was into drugs and how can you even trust someone like that? She definitely could have done this. No, she couldn't have. Look at who she's at. Look who she is now. She's never even been in trouble with the law. Why would she kill someone? You know, they bring in experts who are like, you can't trust a nine-year-old's testimony. and memory. They're right. And the prosecution's like, yes, you can.

Even her mom, like alibied her story, whatever, whatever. Either way, the jury did not think Jesse's testimony was enough. They couldn't reach a unanimous verdict and the judge declared a mistrial.

Some people did think she was guilty, but not all of them. And that appeared to be that. Annette was just going to go back to living her life. She could sigh a breath of relief. That was until the prosecution finds a new witness

that makes them reconsider. So after the trial, Corey's mother, Susan, was at a funeral when she runs into an old friend. They get talking about the case, you know, about the recent updates with the case. And the woman says, I just don't even understand why they didn't interview my son. And Susan's like, huh? Apparently, her son, a man named Scott Payne, had some pretty, like, relevant information about Annette that, like, hadn't come out in this new trial. hasn't been shared with the new investigators. They never called him in, so he never came forward with it.

Turns out, Scott had been avoiding the police during the original investigation because he was into drugs back in the day, just like Annette. But now at 54 years old, things are different. So he goes down to sit down with investigators after Corey's mom finds out about this. And he says, I saw something that actually supports nine-year-old Jesse's testimony. He said, I was at the Hazen's house on the day of the murder hanging out with Annette's brother. He saw Annette pull up to the house with a brown paper bag. She was frantic and nervous. And Scott watched as Annette pulled out clothes in the bag that were covered in blood. She then placed them into

a barrel and let them on fire. He's like, but obviously I wasn't going to come tell you guys this back in the day. I was on drugs. So detectives are like, well, how do you even know these like this was blood? Also, he was on drugs. How do you even use that? And he's like, well, I worked at a slaughterhouse. I know what bloody clothes look like. I'm just saying I'm a different person now, but back then I was at the house the day of the murder, she came in and burned bloody clothes. So with this new information, prosecution attempts another trial.

She's back in court in September of 2019, and they now have another witness, Scott Payne, who's going to get on the stand as they, not only did this nine-year-old little girl, at this same house see her talking about murdering someone, I also at this same house saw her walk in and burn bloody clothes on the day of the murder. So now they have these two.

And the verdict is... On September 19th, 2019, Annette was found guilty of second-degree murder. She was given the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison. Wow. Which at 56 is a life sentence. I'm actually... I think I'm a little surprised.

I mean... I get it. Is there doubt? Is there reasonable doubt? I don't know. I get it. I'm not saying she didn't do it. I don't, not that I wanted to be in prison, but I think I was, I mean, she did it.

She obviously did it. So, sorry. Don't kill people. Like, how psychologically, how do you live an entire life that comes back to you and then you just go to prison? Well, I think going back. That would be. Yeah, it's weird. I think going back to the trial, you also have to remember her.

alibi that day. Yes. Is. Okay. She goes to work for an hour and a half and then goes to Corey's house around the time of the murder and then goes shopping and make sure to keep a receipt. Well, she was at Corey's house at the time of the murder. Like, according to her own story, she just didn't go inside.

That's other circumstantial evidence of like the, the suspect herself admits to being around the house at the time of the murder, but not going in. Yeah. Like that, that's, that's a lot of, you know. Annette to this day claims she's innocent. She says there's some evidence that was not considered during her trial. She's like, Corey had four human hairs found in his hand at the time of his murder. But the request to test those hairs for DNA was denied at her trial.

Okay. Plus there was a box of documents and evidence that was never turned over to Annette's attorneys before her trial. And apparently the prosecution lied to the jury saying they couldn't extract DNA from the baseball bat. So post-trial Annette's attorneys tried to do it themselves. They brought the bat in for testing and found that wasn't the case. There was both male and female DNA on the bat. But it didn't belong to either Annette or Corey. Oh.

So then Annette's team are like, do you even have the right murder weapon? Because his DNA is not on this bat that you're claiming was the murder weapon. And she still got found guilty? This is after. She's trying to get a retrial. She's appealing. One source says the state refused to compare it to any other potential suspects. So we may never know.

All we know is Annette is in prison. Oof. She was set to have a post-conviction relief trial in January of 2026. And I mean, we do see this. Anyone who gets convicted is going to poke holes in any way they can. And most likely we'll find some. here and there, but it's just, I hate cases like this because if it's like there, there really is DNA on a murder weapon that the state refused, really truly refused to test

and then her lawyers tested it. Again, this is now her lawyers, not the state, but her lawyers pay for testing and none of the DNA on the bat belongs to her or the victim. It's just hard because I don't want people to go to jail if they're actually not guilty. I don't want that. Like, that's not okay. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Well, this is why we push for new trials because we're like, there's a lot of people who are like, listen, if you think she did it, just give her her fair trial. Look, we just need truth serum. But it's like, maybe these are just her poking holes. I mean, there is circumstantial evidence. You have two witnesses who tie her to it.

Yeah. All I will say, though, is all of this basically comes back down to rejection. I mean, when she was talking to police. before being arrested, she says, when he left that night, after telling me he loved me, but then he left, I knew it was never going to change

and he was never going to pick me. Is that enough motive to kill someone? And my answer is yes, we've seen it time and time again. All right, you guys, that was our case this week and we will see you next time with another one. I love it.

I hate it. Goodbye.