Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Killer Got Rich - The Mary Ellen Samuels Story

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Mary Ellen Samuels was a California woman who orchestrated a murder-for-hire plot in 1988 to kill her estranged husband, Bob Samuels.

So this woman hires a hitman to kill her husband, and then she's got to hire another hit man to kill that first hit man. Let me explain. Now, the woman's name is Mary Ellen, and Mary Ellen is about 39 when this story starts, and she's living in California, and Mary Ellen apparently really wants money, and she's willing to do terrible things to get it. In fact, she's currently going through a divorce, and one day in 1988, she comes up with a plan to have her soon to be able to. ex-husband murdered so that she can collect the life insurance money as well as take over sole ownership of the subway store that they own because i guess they own a subway together now the soon-to-be ex-husband she wants to murder is this guy bob and bob is actually a camera operator working in hollywood he's worked on movies like beverly hills cop two and short circuit and the color purple

so he's pretty successful at what he does regardless mary ellen one him dead. And in order to make that happen, she needs to hire a hitman. Of course, she doesn't know any hit men. So she ends up approaching some guy that she knows, a shady drug dealer guy. And I guess she's like, will you please kill my soon-to-be ex-husband? And shady drug dealer guy's like, why? And she straight up tells him that it's for the insurance money and to own the subway store. And shady drug dealer guy's like, nah. So that didn't work. and Mary Ellen has to try again. And she ends up approaching another sketchy guy,

an adult man who is dating her teenage daughter. This guy, Jimmy. So Mary Ellen goes to Jimmy, and she lies to him. She tells him that Bob is this terrible guy who's been inappropriately touching her daughter, aka Jimmy's girlfriend. And wouldn't you know it, this lie works. Jimmy gets all pissed off,

and Mary Ellen says that Bob needs to be assassinated. and she offers to pay Jimmy to do it. And that is when he decides he is going to kill Bob. And that's what he does. One night, Jimmy goes over to Bob's place while he's still asleep and he breaks in and he sneaks into Bob's bedroom where Bob is in bed. And suddenly, pow, he hits him with some blunt object and he knocks him out. And then, blam, he shoots him and unfortunately Bob doesn't survive.

Two days later, Mary Ellen goes over to where Bob is living, because, you know, they're separated, and she pretends to discover Bob, and she's like, oh no, the horror, and she calls the police. So now police start investigating, and they search Bob's place, and they immediately notice something weird. Nothing is missing, so nothing was stolen. Even his wallet is still there. So obviously, this wasn't a robbery gone wrong, This was a planned assassination. So now police are suspicious.

And so they bring Mary Ellen into the station for questioning. And they immediately notice something is off about her. Like she doesn't seem distraught about her soon-to-be ex-husband's death at all. In fact, she shows up there in a low-cut shirt with her boobs all hanging out, acting flirty with the officers, making suggestive comments, and intentionally bending over. It seems like she's trying to see. seduce them into believing her. And while all that is strange, it's not exactly an admission of

guilt. So police clear her and they let her go. Now, during this time, Mary Ellen collects the life insurance money that was signed up for for Bob's death, which is around half a million dollars. And that's a lot of money, especially in the 80s. Plus, she now has sole ownership of the subway store that they used to own. So things are looking good for her financially. And so what does Mary Ellen do with all this new money she's got? She fucking spends it. She buys herself jewelry and fur coats and lingerie and she takes trips to Las Vegas and she rents a limousine just to like go out to bars. She hires male strippers. She throws herself a huge birthday party. She buys herself a new Porsche. And of course, because it's the 80s, she does a lot.

of cocaine. And so months past since Bob was assassinated. And suddenly Mary Ellen starts acting weird. Like she's starting to get paranoid. She's worried that Jimmy might snitch on her or even casually talk about their murder plot to a friend and then that information might get back to police. So now she's thinking that Jimmy needs to die. And of course, that means she's going to need to hire a hitman to take him out. So she meets up with you. yet another shady guy who was recommended through a friend. This shady guy is named Paul Gall. And so Mary Ellen meets with Paul Gall and she lies to him too and she tells him that this

Jimmy guy has been harassing her and blackmailing her and that she really needs him assassinated. And Paul Gaul's just like, all right. Now, funny enough, Paul Gaul is actually acquainted with Jimmy. I guess they had done some shady business together in the past. So Paul Gaul hits him up. and he tells him that he knows some drug dealers in this nearby park and that they should go and rob them.

And Jimmy, he actually agrees to do it. Then Paul Gull and some goon he's with, they go and pick Jimmy up. So they're driving along to this park to do this robbery, and suddenly, out of nowhere, scurred, Paul Gull slams on the brakes, and he says, now, and the goon in the back seat reaches forward and he starts choking Jimmy. While Paul Gull jumps on him and holds him down. And together, they end up strangling him until he's no longer alive. Then they take his body and they dump it in a local canyon.

So now all of Mary's problems should be solved. Bob is gone. She collected all his insurance money. And Jimmy, the only guy who could snitch on her, is also gone. And so all there is left for her to do is enjoy her new life and spend all her money. Until Well, there is one person who could snitch on her Remember that shady drug dealer guy

The very first guy she approached to assassinate Bob The guy who said nah Well for some reason That guy decides to talk About five months after Bob's murder He calls up the police And he tells them that if they want answers Surrounding Bob's murder

They should really look into Jimmy And so police are on They go to this electronic store where Jimmy works and they're asking around for him. But Jimmy's boss is like, I haven't seen Jimmy. He stopped showing up to work. Then the boss asks, what's this all about? And police are like, well, it's about Bob's murder. And the boss is like, yeah, well, he had been talking about how Bob deserved to die.

So now police are sure that Jimmy is their guy. But they don't know he's dead. They actually think that he stopped showing up to work because, because he went on the run or something. Now, police know that Jimmy had been dating Mary Ellen's teenage daughter, so they want to question her about where Jimmy might be. However, they can't find her, because she's on vacation with her mother, Mary Ellen, in Cancun.

I guess Mary Ellen is still out there spending all that insurance money. Now, eventually, they do both get back to California, and police try to question them, but they both refuse to cooperate now. So a few months go by. And then one day, randomly, police get a call that some pedestrian found a body in a local canyon. That body is, of course, jimmies. And now that police know that he's dead, they go and search his apartment and they find a phone card,

and eventually they find that he made calls to both Mary Ellen and her teenage daughter on the night of Bob's murder. So now they know Mary Ellen is involved in all this. So they start interrogating her friends, and one of her friends ends up snitching. And so police, they go and search Mary Ellen's house, and they find a nude picture that she took of herself covered in all of Bob's life insurance money. This woman is cold. Anyway, and so, bam, Mary Ellen is arrested. Here's her mugshot. Also, bam, Paul Gall is arrested, and I couldn't find any pictures of him.

And so ultimately, Mary Ellen goes to trial and she's found guilty and she's sentenced to death, but later it's commuted to life without parole. While Paul Gaul is sentenced to 15 years to life. To realize the future America needs, we understand what's needed from us. To face each threat head on. We've earned our place in the fight for our nation's future. We are Marines. We were made for this.

In prison.