Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Trans Woman Killed For Surgery - The Vonlee Nicole Titlow Story

Episode Date: January 17, 2026

Vonlee Nicole Titlow was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2000 death of her uncle, Donald Rogers, in Michigan after prosecutors said she helped her aunt, Billie Jean Rogers, kill him.

So this woman is trans. Now her name is Nicole Titlow, and Titlo is 33 when the story starts and she's living in Chicago. And Titlo, she loves partying. She loves going out and having fun, and there's always some sugar daddy around willing to take care of her. But what she really wants is gender confirmation surgery. However, unfortunately, that stuff is expensive, so she can't afford it.

But one day, all that time, All that changes. Because in the year 2000, she goes to visit her family in Tennessee. And while she's there, she reconnects with her aunt. This woman, Billy. Billy is 60. And despite being 60 years old, Billy still likes to go out and drink and have a good time. So she starts taking Titlo out.

And she takes her out to the local bars and the casino and they have a lot of fun together. And they do this over and over again. And over time, Billy and Titlow get pretty close. In fact, they get so close that Billy tells her that she can come live with her in Tennessee with her rich husband. Her rich husband is this guy, Donald. And Donald is 74 and he owns a successful tool and dye shop, so he's worth a couple million dollars. So Titlo hears this offer and she's like, sweet! And just like that, she moves in.

So now she's living in Tennessee. and she doesn't live with her aunt and uncle for long before she starts to realize that something in this house is off. Like Donald drinks every single day, he's a heavy alcoholic who barely ever leaves the house, sometimes he'll get so drunk that he falls unconscious, and a lot of times when that happens, Billy has to be the one to take care of him. And because Donald is always drunk and never really present, poor Billy is constantly left feeling lonely.

So she copes with her loneliness by doing a lot of gambling. And not just casual gambling, she gambles a ton, like she loves nothing more than going out and getting a few drinks and then spending hours at the casino. One could say that she's legitimately addicted to it. And like everyone who gambles consistently, she loses. And in fact, she blows a lot of money on this habit. For example, one time she lost $13,000 in a single number.

night, $13,000. Now, despite all the chaos going on in this house, none of this seems to bother Titlo. She's not complaining at all. Like, in fact, she kind of enjoys it. Because, honestly, she doesn't have a lot going for her. Like, she's just grateful that she gets to tag along with Billy without having to spend any of her own money. Now, here's where the story gets really wild. One night, Titlo and Billy, they're out. And they probably had a couple of drinks or something, and they start opening up to each other. And Billy, she starts talking about how tired she is of Donald, and how he's always drunk, and she's the one who has to constantly look after him, and how all of this is just so overwhelming for her. And then Titlo starts opening up too,

about how she's trans. Now, Billy is her aunt, so I'm sure she knows that Titlo was born a male. But what she doesn't know is that Titlo hasn't had the full bottom surgery yet. She's had breast implants, but she still has a dong, if you will. And so Titlo tells her that what she really wants is to have the full gender confirmation procedure. And of course, this surgery costs tens of thousands of dollars, so how the hell is she going to be able to afford it? And I guess Billy is like, don't worry, you will.

And they just continue on drinking. So some time passes, and these two keep going out together, to bars and casinos, and Billy keeps gambling. And over time, her gambling starts getting out of control. And she's losing more and more money. And by this point, she's racked up $40,000 in debt. So she goes to her rich husband Donald for help. And I guess Donald, he ain't trying to hear that.

He's like, no, you're addicted. Go get help. And so they get into a huge argument. And Donald is super pissed off and Billy is super pissed off. Because she feels like she's been the one taking care of him every time he's. drunk and now that she needs help he's gonna refuse and so it's here that Billy has finally had enough and she starts thinking about murdering Donald so that she can inherit his money and she's serious about this she just needs to find the perfect time to do it and one night

that perfect time comes because she and Titlow come home from the casino and they find Donald's drunk ass passed out on the floor. And Billy is thinking, well, this feels like the right time to murder him. Here's the thing about that, though. Titlo is standing right there. And if she sees Billy kill her Uncle Donald, she might snitch on her. And so Billy decides to bring Titlo in on the plan. She offers her a deal. If she will help murder her husband, she will pay her $100,000, and then she can go get that surgery that she wants. And Titlo really wants that surgery. So she's like, all right. And so Billy and Titlo get to work. They grab a bottle of alcohol and they start pouring it into his mouth.

They're going to try and kill him through alcohol poisoning. The problem with this is that Donald is so drunk that he can't get himself to swallow. So the alcohol just spills down the sides of his mouth. So that doesn't work, and now they need another plan. And that is when Billy just says fuck it and she grabs a nearby pillow and she starts smothered. smothering him with it. And this actually does work, and unfortunately, poor Donald doesn't survive this. So now they have to stage the scene. And they act like they just came home and found him on the floor like that. And Billy calls 911 and she pretends to be freaked out. And later, the police show up and they start

investigating this death. But they don't actually find anything suspicious. I mean, it just seems like an alcoholic drank himself to death. Even the medical examiner examines Donald's body and concludes that he died from alcohol poisoning. So no one suspects Billy or Titlo of anything. Meanwhile, Billy inherits all of Donald's wealth and she pays Titlow the $100,000 that she promised her. And from here, the two go on living their lives, having just successfully gotten away with murder. I have created the most advanced AI soldier. The weight is over. Torn Aries now streaming on Disney Plus.

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Until one night that same year, the year 2000, Titlo is on a day, with one of her sugar daddies. And I guess she's feeling guilty about the whole killing her uncle thing. And so she confesses to this date and she tells him everything. How she and Billy murdered Donald so that she could get $100,000 to pay for gender confirmation surgery. And this date hears this and he's thinking, oh hell no, I need to go to the police. And that's exactly what he does. He goes to the police, but police can't just arrest Hitler off of this guy's words alone. So this, the they come up with this whole sting operation, and they get this guy to agree to wear a wire and meet up with her. So this guy puts on a wire and he meets up with her, and during their meeting, he starts talking to her about the murder again,

and this is all the police needed. And so, bam, the police arrest Titlo. Here's her mugshot. Also, bam, they go and arrest Billy too. And I couldn't find a mugshot of her, but here she is eating yogurt or something. Now, the prosecuting attorneys really, really want Titlo to testify against her Aunt Billy. Because they say that if she does that, then they'll bump her murder charges down to manslaughter. But Titlo refuses to do that because she feels like they aren't cutting her a good enough deal.

So in 2002, they go to trial and Titlo is found guilty and she gets sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison. and because she never testified against Billy, Billy is able to beat the case and she's later acquitted and she gets no prison time. Wow.