Rotten Mango - #219: She Dated 3 Of Her Roommates Till One Ended Up Dead

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

They nicknamed her “mini Martha Stewart” because of how perfect she was. Her doctor husband adored her. She took care of their baby girl while still getting her master’s degree, cooking, cleaning, and even volunteering. Her life seemed so perfect till she was arrested and her secret life started to unravel. Years ago, before moving to the perfect suburban town, she lived with roommates. She dated 3 of them. And now they were all back. 1 - her husband’s patient. 1 - the man she was having an affair with. 1 - dead. And they think she did it. Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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in all states or situations, prices vary based on how you buy. Bada Bing Bada Boo Welcome to this week's main episode of Rotten Mango. I'm your host Stephanie Sue. And have you guys ever run through the woods? You know, like the horror movies, the leaves crunching underneath you, your breath getting faster and faster and you're whipping your head from one side to the other, ducking to make sure that you don't get caught by those branches that seem to be trying to grab at you.

People need a very good reason to do that type of stuff. That is not something that you do on a normal casual Tuesday. Maybe you do it because somebody is chasing you. Maybe you're chasing someone. Maybe you're chasing someone into the cabin in the woods because you know that they're cheating on you. You're running to catch them in the act to confront them. You've given your whole life for this person and they're in a cabin with another man.

You're running, running, running, and everything stops. And the question lingers, why did Michelle have to do this to you? Why? You're like, who's Michelle? Michelle was a PTA mom. She was known as the Martha Stewart of the neighborhood. Listen, the girl had a way to, um, she had a deal with the devil, I guess you could say, because nobody has that much time.

How does she have the same 24 hours as everybody else? That's the question everyone around her would ask. She would cook, clean, bake for her doctor, husband. the same 24 hours as everybody else, that's the question everyone around her would ask. She would cook, clean, bake for her doctor, husband, she would take care of their child, volunteer for the PTA, she got her masters. In college, she volunteers at shelters for people without homes. She would throw backyard neighborhood parties, she would charm the pants off of these neighbors, and she even gave them parenting

advice that, you know, usually people hate when you give parenting advice, but they loved hers because her daughter loved her. Her daughter loved her. So other parents wants to be that. Yeah, they're like, okay, well, there's got to be something you're doing, right? Your kid loves you. You can't actually love you. Wow. That's crazy. This is news to me. You know, and she was so wise and kind. She cared about people who were victims of violent crimes. She got involved in these local church programs. She just had this real Southern charm about her. She had grace, humility, all the women wanted to hate her for being so damn perfect.

But how do you hate someone who's so kind? How do you hate someone that's always giving you a helping hand? She rescued puppies. She knew all the people without homes by first names in the area She would bring them food and blankets when it got cold out. Everyone always says I don't know Something about it. We all have 24 hours in a day, but Michelle. She's got 48 Even her relationship with her husband was perfect. He knew what a catch he had. He would gush over her. Michelle is a great wife and an amazing mother. Our daughter is full of spirit and so caring and loving because of how Michelle

raised her. This is a direct reflection of Michelle as a mother. She is instilled in Audrey our own values of love and kindness. I mean, imagine that's your neighbor. Imagine this is the life. It's a, you know, picture scenario like this in your mind. Your neighbor is a mini Martha Stewart. You love her, respect her, you care for her, and then one day you're out gardening. And you see her being rushed out of her home in handcuffs. You see her being pushed into the back of a police car and you might think, okay, there's gotta be a glitch in handcuffs. You see, you're being pushed into the back of a police car and you might think,

okay, there's got to be a glitch in the simulation. This is a glitch in the universe. You wipe the soil off your gardening apron, rush inside, call your other best friends, see what the hell is going on. Maybe she would tell you what she knew or what was on the news. Michelle had a pass that people didn't know about. Ten years ago, she was a stripper in Alaska. She was engaged to three of her clients, and eventually she grew. She changed as a woman. She created a completely different life for herself now,

and she's got a doctor, husband, a beautiful child, but all of her past is catching up with her. For one, she had three fiances in the past. They were all back. One of them is her husband's patient. One of them is having an affair with Michelle again, and one of them is dead. And they think Michelle did it. Wow.

One man with so many secrets. Oh yeah. As always, full show notes are available at rottonminglepodcast.com, but there is an incredible book on this case called Seduced by Evil by Michael Flemen. I do really like the way that the author formatted this book. It is an incredibly easy read. Not in the sense that the subject matter is easy, obviously, but it's easy to gather the facts of the case and really understand what happened. The book is well researched, well structured, comprehensive, and most importantly, it's pretty impartial.

You know, there's a lot of opinions about this case out there, but this book tries its best to remain impartial, and it's probably the best deep dive that you will find on this case hands down, so I highly recommend checking it out, and without being sad, let's jump right in. The two men sat around the couch watching TV. Their names were John and Kent. Neither of them were really that into what was on the TV. They would just both kind of lost in thoughts sitting on the couch. They would glance at each other here and there, make some light comments. Do you like the show?

Yeah, it's fine. Not my favorite. It's my first time actually. What about you? Yeah, the show's fine. I think that character is a little weird. It's pretty awkward. Rumeight situations can be kind of tense sometimes, you know?

And while watching TV, the phone rang. Bing, bing, bing. Both men glance at each other, maintaining eye contact. And then with a speed that they have never exerted before, both of them jump up and start sprinting to the phone. When they get there, it's a push and shove game to see who can handle the phone. Hello, this is drawn. And then the phone was ripped on my- Hey, hey, it's Kent. It's me. It's me Kent. Then Kent would be pushed out of the way. It's drawn again. Hello, are you there? Both of

them were waiting from a call from their girlfriend. Michelle. They both loved Michelle. They both lived with Michelle. They tended to her every need. If she said vent, both of them would drop onto the floor. If she said jump, they would compete to see who could jump higher for her. They were both madly in love with her. And she was on vacation with her other boyfriend. And both of these men would lose their lives for her. Brian didn't understand that. Bryan is not one of those guys. Like Bryan is a type of dude where if a girl cheats on him, he's over it. He's not into it anymore.

And his whole life dream was to become a successful attorney. Everyone sold him this life. They said, Bryan, you're going to be a super important attorney. You're going to be wearing suit, rubbing elbows with politicians. Imagine having dinner with a CEO of a multinational company. Imagine you'll get home at the end of the day, you gotta pour yourself a glass of scotch because you know, another day dominating the world.

That was what he thought he was getting into. That's probably the vision that got him through law school. He didn't realize, no, he didn't realize that most of his day he would be sitting in his office across a bickering couple. Was he a lawyer or a marriage counselor? We don't know. I guess maybe it's his fault for choosing to be

in a state attorney. He was probably thinking all these things when Kent and Michelle are arguing in front of him. Literally arguing about who cheated, who takes out the trash. I mean, this couple was so hostile, he felt like he was in a boxing ring. He feels like a referee. Cat and Michelle even at one point acted like Brian wasn't there,

screaming at each other, just yelling. Michelle even accused Kent of being gay in front of Brian, and then she stormed out an anger. Kent is left there in awkward silence staring at Brian, like, do I still have to pay for this? Brian's staring at him. Okay, now what I signed up for, but since you're here, Kent, can I give you some friendly advice? Now that Michelle has gone. Uh, sure. Have you ever heard about the turtle and the scorpion? No.

Well, maybe not because the real story is the scorpion and the frog, but Brian for some reason remembers it as a turtle. Well, the story goes like this, Kent. because the real story is the scorpion and the frog, but Brian for some reason remembers it as a turtle. Well, the story goes like this, Kent. A turtle is about to swim across a stream, when a scorpion asks for a ride. The turtle is shocked, saying, oh no, you're just going to sting me and then we would both drown. Scorpion and this absolutely not, that would never happen because think about it, it's not

in my best interest. Why would I sting you if I am also going to die with you?" Okay, I mean the turtle's thinking, you know what, it kind of makes sense. He reluctantly agrees and the scorpion gets on the turtle's back. And as they get halfway across the stream, sure enough, the scorpion stings him. And while both of them are sinking to their deaths, the turtle asks, why? The scorpion remains calm and responds. It's in my nature. So look, Kent, the moral of the story is, the scorpion is a scorpion period. They're going to bite you even when they say they won't, even if it's not in their

best interest, they're going to sting you. And Michelle is a scorpion. And you're the turtle. And you just gave her a ride. You know, my advice to you, Kent take her out of your will, remove her from her $1 million life insurance policy before she stings you. Kent agreed. That day he requested Brian help him take Michelle out of his will, but it was in the scorpion's

nature, because not too long after Kent was found dead. You know, being called a scorpion is a very specific insult. You don't really hear it a lot. Like I guess if you were going to be called some sort of insult that pertains to animals, maybe it's a rat or a snake, right? You never really hear it. You're such a scorpion. Don't listen to her.

She's a scorpion. That's a, like, that's a calling in Chinese. Oh really? Yeah. We don't hear it a lot here. Snake or snake scorpion. Oh. It's like a very evil poisonous.

Yeah, we hear snake and rat a lot here. A little rat. But yeah, scorpion, very specific. And I think it's also a very specific type of person that reminds people of scorpions. Some would say, Michelle was freaking born with that type of personality. Michelle Hughes was the younger of two daughters

in a military family. Her dad is, I'm talking Air Force all day every day. Like a lot of military families, they moved around a ton. Then they settled down in New Orleans, and oddly, Michelle didn't give off scorpion energy from the beginning. She was pretty quiet. She was pretty shy. She was obsessed with rescuing animals at a young age.

And this is something that's gonna like stay with her for the rest of her life. But her parents remember they were traumatized. They're like, you don't get it. It was so bad. She would bring home any sad animal that she found outdoors. You know cats, dogs, that's nothing. She would bring home species of animals that we never even knew existed. We didn't even know how to take care of these animals, or even a hole in earth Michelle freaking caught these animals. But she did. Eventually the parents put their foot down and they told her, okay you've brought in squirrels, birds, lizards, all these things.

The only request we have is no snakes and no monkeys. I'm sorry. I don't know where you found this monkey, but it's gotta leave. She caught a monkey. I think so, yeah. She was catching everything. I think she caught a monkey, but she caught some really bad things Not bad, but like really out of this world like I've never even seen that in person type of animals

Like a cockatoo's and I don't know how you catch a parrot in the wild, but she caught a lot of parrots in the wild Taro she's kidnapping She's a zoo thief. She's stealing. Yeah, it was like an African-gray parrot. I'm dead serious. She rescued that many animals. So it seems like she's having this really cute childhood. But when Michelle is 12, things just start going downhill. Her parents get divorced. Her dad passes away shortly after.

She's diagnosed with scoliosis and was so bad that they had to put a steel pin inside her back. And it hindered her ability to dance or be flexible in the future, which is kind of confusing because her occupation would be a stripper later, but it gave her perpetually fantastic posture. I'm talking ballerina posture. It wasn't a great experience though, 10 out of 10 she probably wouldn't recommend. And I think that these back-to-back blows, just Michelle was over it. She took her sister's ID, her older sister, who's 18. Michelle's like 14.

She takes her ID, moves to New York, uses her sister's ID to try to become a model. She's trying to make it. She found a job as a secretary at a modeling agency, but nothing really came out of it. I don't know. People say that it's her height. I'm not sure.

She was very aesthetically beautiful, like speaking just from a visual perspective. She was blonde, she was beautiful, but eventually she decides to leave New York. She would later tell her suburban doctor has been to Colin that it's because I just didn't believe in it. This modeling agency were exploiting young women, and I didn't want to be a part of it. I didn't want to see it, I didn't want to witness women and I didn't want to be a part of it. I didn't want to see it. I didn't want to witness it.

I didn't want to be a part of it. You know, it kind of seemed like she was this martyr, a saint, but a lot of New Yorkers are remember otherwise. There's a guy named Pat in New York City. Pat dated Michelle and she was in New York. She was maybe 19. At this point, he was in his late 20s and Pat fell hard and love. See, this isn't the thing about Michelle. There's something about her that men just fall in love with. He said, you know, I'm from New York City. I come from a pretty fast place, and let me tell you,

the day I met Michelle, it's like I was standing still. Hmm. They fell in love, they even lived together for three years. Until one day, he was at work and Michelle took his Volvo and Just left take his car stole it. Oh, there's some other valuables in the house too Yeah And somehow she left him involved in a homicide investigation. I don't know how she did it But it just seems like the the general consensus that a lot of people that knew Michelle they would say she loves to

Create a mess and then leave it behind and just go somewhere new. Leave everybody else in this mess. It was a shit show. I mean Pat would say, Michelle did not leave New York City because, oh, she was too moral for this modeling agency, it's because she created way too many messes. That's just the way that she was. So Michelle leaves to go back home to New Orleans briefly, and she starts working at all these gentleman's clubs.

She stands in a couple nights a week, she's trying to save up for veterinary school, and her mom said, you know, I didn't approve, obviously. What kind of mom is like, yes, I love your occupation. But I couldn't argue with her. Her reasoning made sense to me, okay? She didn't go around telling people about her job though. It just wasn't something that we all talked about openly. She wasn't proud about it.

Michelle's working hard though, and she keeps hearing, hey, New Orleans is great, but you know where it's better. You know where the real money's on? Can you take a guess? LA Anchorage Alaska Why a lot of men there working a lot of blue collar jobs white collar jobs a lot of men that go there just to work They don't have families yet because I don't know, I guess a lot of people don't settle down there. I don't know. Very interesting.

But I mean, this came up in a different case too within Laskin's Eurricular, but yeah. A lot of men moved to Anchorage, Alaska. A lot of traveling salesmen there too. A lot of, yeah, contract work. So she's like, okay, Alaska, that's where the money's at. She up and moved to Anchorage, Alaska, and she starts working at the Great Alaskan Bush Company.

Apparently, it's a relatively well-known establishment. It's considered one of the classier gentleman's clubs around. The locals call it the Bush. You don't need a Bush to work there. It's not a prerequisite, but it's fascinating. And the whole life of the place is super old-fashioned. I'm talking, it looks like old-school cowboy dance hall, okay?

It's like got that western vibe, and the guys love it. On a good night, it's filled with literally hundreds and hundreds of men. And what's interesting is that Michelle really didn't match the image of the woman that did well at the bush. So some of the most popular girls at the bush, they were tall, they were curvy, very sexy, very seductive, they were incredibly flexible,

and Michelle, remember, she wasn't flexible because of that steel pin in her back, she wasn't the best dancer, she was very, very petite, but she became the most popular. Why? Because it seems that men like cute and innocent more than they like sexy. Is she had this innocent do vibe about her,

like a scared little deer and headlights vibe? And all these men were like, oh my God, we gotta save this girl, we gotta save this stripper. Yeah, they like rallied around her. And like, you know, it's, the looks were deceiving because she had this look, but she was a fierce business woman. She knew where she didn't compete with the other girls and she focused on what she was good at,

which was flirting. Listen, flirting in the industry is nothing new. She's not a revolutionary stripper, okay? Most performers will flirt with their clients to build rapport, to get their clients to spend money on them. It's very common with like any other industry, you know, you just have to be nice to your clients, you have to build rapport, right? To feel like they're developing this personal relationship

with you. Everybody did it, but Michelle did it really well because she listened. And she went by the name Bobby Joe, and this is in the last gun. She has this southern appeal about her. She never drank, never smoked, didn't do drugs, she showed up and dawned her stage persona and she chatted up the entire house. I mean, she started doing what most of the lonely male clients wanted, which is just sitting there and listening to them talk on and on and on and on. She wasn't talking about herself. She wasn't trying to sell them a story about how she needed money for college.

She just listened to them. And keep in mind, these are not naive men. These are regulars. They know that you will. They know that the performers will flirt with you, make you feel special, and then you drop thousands of dollars, and then they're like, oh, sorry, no, I don't want to go to Apple Bees with you. The point is, these guys probably knew logically that Michelle was not in love with them, but she had a way of talking to them that made them feel so special. And they just could not help but come back and keep giving her their hard earned money.

I mean, Michelle starts building up this strong clientele. She's good at ton of regulars. Okay, so she would get to work around 3.30 PM, stay till 2 a.m., nearly 12 hours a work. And on a good day, she would make $3,000 in one day. One single freaking day. And what was this? This was like in the 90s.

Wow. So much more now considering inflation. Wow, that is, she's killing it. Yeah, and that was just the cash because she got gifts from her clients. Jewelry, fur coats, real fur coats, like, mink. One man even was like, hey, borrow my truck for as long as you need.

It wasn't long before Michelle went from, you know, crashing at coworkers places to getting her own apartment in Anchorage. Inside note, Michelle was not a pick me girl. It wasn't just the clients that liked her. The girls in the club really liked her too. She just was someone that was very nice. She didn't step on other people's toes

She was a fierce business woman, but she would never screw someone over for the money And if any of the other girls needed a place to stay just like she had needed at one point You know she would open up her home for them and with love from the customers and her coworkers I mean, it's not a surprise that she became one of the top performing dancers in the club She became Bobby Joe and everybody loved Bobby Joe. Bobby Joe was a business woman. She was someone that worried about her money above all else and she had to become Bobby Joe.

That is until she fell in love. The unspoken rule. Do not fall in love with your customer because you can't make money if you're not accepting it and you can't make money if you're giving it away. And the second most important rule that's unspoken is don't fall in love with your customer, which is rule number one, but if you do, it better be your richest customer. Better be the VIP, the VIP of the whole place.

If you break rule number one, okay, he's got to be a hell of a catch. He better be loving, kind, handsome, and Mr. Moneybags. Michelle's love interest was not Mr. Moneybags. He was maybe Mr. Coinbags, maybe, maybe not. Which nothing's wrong with it, but her coworkers were all kind of confused. I mean, men were throwing themselves at Michelle. I mean, she was one of the most popular girls. Some of the guys that were throwing themselves at Michelle, they were single and ready to marry

Michelle and take care of her for the rest of her life, and here she is, falling in love with the traveling salesman. Side note, this is not what I'm saying. Who cares who you fall in love with? Love is love, right? But a lot of her friends were just bamboozled. They're like, what do you see in this guy? I mean, everybody that you could have, this is the one you choose?

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in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, Whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us, wherever we are, whenever we need it. Download the free Peloton app today. Peloton app available through free tier, or pay to description starting at $12.99 per month. The lucky man's name was James Scott Hill. He just went by Scott and Scott originally lives in California,

but because he travels around the US to sell, this is so specific, like this is what I'm talking about when people have very specific jobs, I find it fascinating. You know it's steam and other gas machines. You need to have like valves to connect tubes. He sells valves. He doesn't sell the machine. He sells like the valves. Yeah. It's very interesting. So he sells valves for

these big chemical plants. And a lot of the times he would hang out around Anchorage, that's where a lot of the chemical plants were. And there were a lot of huge power plants too. So those are his main clients. When he's done with work, he would blow off steam. Off his valve. At the Grey Elaskan Bush Company, where he runs into none other than Bobby, Frickin' Joe, good old Bobby. I mean, she's this pretty young blonde with a southern accent.

What is there not to love? People get that about her. She's got the it girl factor. She has the allure, the mystique, but nobody really understood what she saw in him. Scott wasn't the most attractive or the richest person in the room, and personality-wise. He was whatever. He was very, very confident, like very, very confident, to the point where it was tipping

on arrogance. Oh, he was. Yeah. Maybe that's it then. Yeah, so that's what people thought. Maybe it's, you know, Michelle was used to guys paying for her attention and begging for her attention. And here's this guy, thinking that she should be thankful just because he's existing around her,

breathing the same air as him. Maybe it was a refreshing breath of arrogant air for her. Reflect. Yeah. It's also speculated that Michelle made more money than him. And this is again, it's not to point out or tell you that life is about money, but you know, it was quite the scandal of the company.

And later, this all becomes pertinent to the story because Michelle does love money. There's no denying it. So oh, and Scott was a full 17 years older than her. He was nearing 40 at the time, and he was going through a super messy divorce that wouldn't be finalized for another year. So this guy had a lot of baggage. He had a lot of baggage and none of it was filled with cash. Michelle's co-workers were genuinely surprised that she chose Scott. Maybe it was arrogance, maybe it was intense physical attraction, maybe it was love. We don't know. But quickly,

the two start dating and Scott went from knowing her as Bobby Joe to moving in with Michelle Hughes. He even referred to her as his LOML. And I was like laughing out, mother fucking loud. I was confused. It means love of my life. Yeah, I don't know if that's romantic. But that sounds like something a 40-year-old would call his girlfriend. You're my LOML babe. Yeah.

I'm LOMLing now. Sorry. Michelle really appreciated that Scott wasn't possessive or the jealous type. I'm not really a male babe. I'm not a male, I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe.

I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe.

I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. I'm not a male babe. effort to provide for her and the girls were just left empty handed. She had heard these horror stories so she made sure that Scott was not someone that would make her quit her job and he really wasn't. He didn't even care about her job. He knew that she had to flirt with

all these guys. It was part of the gig but he was fine with it because it was incredibly lucrative. It wasn't long before Michelle and Scott moved out of the apartment and into the house that Michelle bought with her own money, about 40 miles outside of Anchorage. And honestly, she didn't need to buy the house, but remember how she loved rescuing animals? Yeah, her apartment building was starting to get a little bit upset. Like, these are too many animals. So she bought a house, so she could rescue more animals. She had dogs, a cat, three cockatus, and an African gray parrot. So she bought a house in Scott's travel a lot for work, but he was like, you know what?

I am gonna try to be an Alaska mor. And a lot of people speculated that what Scott didn't have in money, he made up for airline points. Because he traveled so much for work, he had insane numbers on his Alaska and United Airlines frequent flyer accounts. At one point, this is such a weird flex.

At one point, he had such a weird flex at one point here and a million miles on Alaska Airlines. So even though he's not rich rich, he would buy first-class tickets anywhere in the world to be with Michelle at a discounted price because of his airline points. It's really specific. Okay.

So their relationship is going well, okay? And Scott even proposes to Michelle Thanksgiving of that year. She accepts and they make plans to have a beautiful Thanksgiving wedding. Scott even prepared to quit his job as a traveling salesman and start up a full-time permanent business in Alaska. I mean, this was supposed to be the happiest time of their lives. They should have been in love. It should have been exciting. And instead instead Michelle started losing interest. She seemed less and less into Scott, the minute that they committed to each other. Maybe it was Scott's fault, maybe it wasn't, but it seemed like maybe marriage was too big of a step. You know,

dating is one thing, but being married as an employee at the bush, maybe it's not lucrative. Like one thing to be like, oh, he's not my boyfriend, we're just like kind of seeing each other. And then that's like, oh, yeah, we're legally married. It's very different, right? So she starts having second thoughts. And that is when she meets Kent LePink. Kent was another older guy in Michelle's life. And he was ready to spend a pretty penny to be in her favor.

Kent LePink was originally from Michigan, and he's very important to the story. So there's three main guys that are super important. Scott, Kent, and later a guy named John. It's like a giant love square. Kent LePink was from Michigan and he was number two out of four brothers and he grew up in like a stereotypical boy house. I mean four boys running around all that energy. I mean the parents constantly took them hiking outdoors to get their energy out, and by the time the kids were teenagers, the parents took them hunting. They loved hunting, and everyone that knew Kent, they said, He was odd, which I don't know how I feel about that description, I guess it's honest.

But they said that Kent could be very polite and shy one second, and then the next second out of nowhere completely out of context. He would make a comment that was considered a joke But it was really inappropriate and very sexual. It just seemed like can't really have the ability to discern whether or not It was inappropriate time to make a sexual joke or not and most of the time it was not but he did it He was a bit awkward in social situations. I mean I guess that's a better way of phrasing it He was also very incredibly awkward around women He's a bit awkward in social situations. I mean, I guess that's a better way of phrasing it. He was also very incredibly awkward around women.

So basically, that's how everybody is describing Kent. And he ends up going to college in Michigan, eventually starts working for his family who are very well off. They own a giant grocery store chain in Michigan. It was called the Leapink Food Store or something. They do really well for themselves. And it was kind of a great that Kent would take over after his parents passed. He's not the oldest son, he's the second oldest, but you know, he was in the business

since he was young, he was working in the bakery and the produce sections ever since he was a kid. But then there were pinks. They were doing some accounting. You know where this is going. They're like, wait a minute, there's some money missing. It was speculated that it was about $200,000 missing. That's a whole lot of money. That was just gone. Poof.

And, uh, yeah, everyone thought it was Kent. Their dad was pissed. He came to the conclusion that Kent had been embezzling and he forced Kent to resign and forfeit all of his shares in the family business, which was probably around a hundred K worth of shares. And in return, the family would not press charges against Kent. It is safe to say that family relations kind of sh- soared a little bit, you know. I mean, eventually they would mend the whole relationship,

but it's just a bit awkward. And Kent was kind of lost. There was nothing even holding him in Michigan anymore. He was awkward with his family. You know, why not move? Get a change of scenery. So instead of being the black sheep of the family, Kent starts bouncing around, trying to figure out where's the place for him, where's an industry

for him? In Tennessee, this guy learns taxiderming, so he's like stuffing his hunted animals. He even got a nickname, TT, for the Tennessee taxidermist. Everyone will call him TT, but later, TT stands for something else, so yeah, just breath it in. In Reno, Nevada, he learned how to wear cowboy boots and joined a hunting organization. And then he ends up in Alaska where he's gonna join a crew of commercial fishermen, and it made sense to Kent. He loves being outdoors. And it seems like, you know what?

Yeah, so what I'm in my thirties, and I'm couch surfing on a fellow fisherman's boat being surrounded by the smell of salty sea water and fish, I am the happiest that I have ever been in my whole freaking life in all 33 years of living. So the guy starts to blossom. It's like he was born for it. You know, he would wake up before sunrise, he would get ready, everything about fishing, everything about Alaska, he loved it. He didn't care that it was constantly cold, windy, rainy, gloomy in Alaska, he thrived

on it. And then his fisherman buddies found out that he never had a girlfriend. They were like, oh my God, we gotta take you to the bush. This way you're gonna meet a nice young girl, okay? His mom would later say that she thought that her son Kent had a complex. She said, and I quote, I think he felt a little too inferior

to ever be a boyfriend. Interesting. What does that mean? He just like, didn't feel like he deserved a girlfriend ever. Yeah. So he goes to the bush, Jenny meets Michelle Hughes,

and soon enough his parents are getting calls, and he's like, oh my God, a great news moment, dad, I'm moving in with my girlfriend, Michelle. Yeah, so Kent moves in with Michelle, and you're like, wait, I'm so confused by this timeline, because she's engaged to Scott now,

and she's living with Scott, no? Yeah. Yeah, you're correct, And now so is Kent. But they don't know. Yeah, well, they don't know. Listen, it's weird. So Kent moves in with them and you're like, what are the sleeping arrangements?

Oh, wait, they're together. Three people, sitting together. Uh-huh. Oh. Kent is sleeping on the sofa. And I'm assuming that Scott was in the bedroom with her. And both men felt bad for the other man. So let me explain.

Scott felt like Kent was just like a lost puppy dog that was obsessed with Michelle and Michelle was using him for money, like a piggy bank, an errand boy. Night after night, Kent would go to the bush, even though he lived with Michelle, he would spend hundreds of dollars on her, and then he would come home to cook and clean

and do whatever she wanted. I mean, people likened him to a puppy that was obsessed. And what is Michelle doing with him? Nothing. Just keeping him around. Okay. And Kent was told that Scott was gay. I mean, do you not all sleep in the same bed and live with your gay best friend? And those noises in the bathroom don't worry about it. We're just doing gay stuff. It's like really weird. I see. I see the setup now. Okay. Yeah. It's really weird. So around this time, while the three of them are living together, another man comes into Michelle's life. John Carlin, the third. We're just going to call him John Sr. because his son is John the fourth and to sit here and be like John the third, John the fourth. That's a lot. John Sr John senior had a son John junior. Okay. The johns moved to Anchorage recently because John senior's wife the mom she was sick.

She was really sick and she had visited Anchorage on a vacation and she's like I love it here. This place is amazing and I think that the the health care is good here. The doctors actually care about you here. I want to move here. This is my last dying wish. So they bought a house in Anchorage and the whole family uprooted their lives and moved to Anchorage for her. Now they did have a lot of money though because John senior had some pretty bad health issues. He had suffered lead poisoning while he was working at a steel plant. He sued the company and received about $800,000. So the first thing that he bought was that money you ask. Custom license plates that read Suim. Yeah.

Yeah. Wow. But in all honestly, you know, no amount of money was worth the pain of lead poisoning. If I'm being honest, common symptoms of high levels of lead poisoning are, you know, anemia, weakness, kidney and brain damage. And that's just like the basic symptoms. So the family, they move to Anchorage and John Sr's wife ends up passing away. Super rough on the family, right?

And maybe the loneliness? John Sr starts feeling, I don't know, maybe it's the grief, but he starts going to the bush. Now side note, John Sr didn't really want to date after his wife passed. And it's not because he loved his wife so much, he's like, I can't move on, no. But more so, he felt like nobody would date him. He was older, overweight, he had a lot of health conditions, and he was impotent. So he just felt more comfortable hanging out and getting womenly comfort at a gentleman's

club. The stakes are low, he's not going to feel judged. And that's where he runs into sweet southern blonde Bobby Joe. And it wasn't long before he starts dropping thousands of dollars a week on Bobby Joe thousands of dollars a week John senior became Michelle's piggy bank number two after Kent and Scott her fiance and Scott her fiance starting to get annoyed He's like okay one sugar daddy that lives with you and me fine. That's fine But another one and he's not the jealous type

But he starts feeling some type of way. Especially when John Sr. was like, Hey, Michelle, do you want to come on an all expenses paid trip to Europe with me? I'm going to whisk you away to multiple different countries and we're going to have a blast just you and me. Scott was not a muse. He's like, well, obviously, clearly. You're going to say no. You know, work is one thing, but this is crossing a boundary. Well, she went.

Not only that, but she was like, you need to stay home and watch my pets, Scott. So he stayed home to watch her pets while she met another man in Amsterdam, Paris, in London, and Scott said, you know, I told her I wasn't particularly comfortable with it, obviously, but, you know, Michelle's gonna do what she wants to do. Michelle tried to make Scott feel better about it though. She kept telling him, don't worry, seriously, it's not physical or romantic. John is super sick, he's not, he's impotent, he can't even do sexual things.

Didn't really make Scott feel better than being honest. But Michelle went, Scott was stuck taking care of all of her kids and can't LaPink. Well, Kent was still living with Michelle and that just really bothered Scott. He also had a sneaking suspicion that Kent was watching him and Michelle have sex. Listen, it's also confusing. I don't know how Michelle excused the fact that she was having sex with her gay best friend. I don't know, okay? Suddenly he went from being gay to bisexual and then it's weird. I don't understand. But can you just imagine the two of them just feeding the

parrots and the cockatoo's awkwardly just staring at each other and then Michelle gets back and I'm like John moves in Okay, John doesn't move in but pretty much he moves in soon after the European tour Michelle finds out that she has dryrod in her house And in order to get it fixed everybody has to move out. So where do they go? That's a lot of people. John Sr. is like, well, why don't you come stay with me and my son? It's just the two of us. Like everyone can come. I'll take care of all of you guys. So Michelle and Kent move in with John Sr. and now, now Scott is like, I don't know, like this is bizarre. I'm not doing this. So he moves back to California. So he left.

Yes, but he still comes and sees Michelle like every week or two. And it's just so strange. So it's assumed that Michelle slept in John Senior's room and Kent was on the couch. And both of them were okay with it because neither of them considered the other competition. John Senior thought that Kent was gay

and delusional and being used by Michelle. And Kent thought that John Senior was bald and impotent and delusional and being used by Michelle and Kent thought that John senior was bald and impotent and delusional and being used by Michelle. They both felt pity for each other. Wow. Wow. And I'm assuming a lot of it is told by Michelle, right? Yeah, for sure.

So all things considered, Scott seemed to be the only man that Michelle genuinely felt affection for. You know, she stuck around even when he wasn't showering her with money. She didn't need him for the money, because she had John Sr. and Kent for that. They were constantly throwing money at her, buying her expensive jewelry, fl-furs. She loved saving animals, unless they were being turned into fancy coats for her to wear.

Yikes. And Michelle really knew how to play the men. For example, Kent proposed, and I'm assuming that Michelle gave him enough confidence to propose because you just don't really propose marriage to someone randomly unless you have like an established relationship with them. You know, you guys love each other. You think that they're going to say yes, but he proposed. It was a rather small ring. And Michelle said, you know what? I will marry you, but you have to buy me a bigger ring. I just don't wear small diamonds. I just don't. So now Kent feels like, okay, she loves me. I just need to prove to her that I love her with a big ring. That's all I need to do. Kent didn't understand that Michelle was just messing with him to get a bigger big ring out of him. He genuinely thought that all it took was a bigger ring. He even gushed about Michelle to his family, calling her the most wonderful

gal in the world and referring to her as his fiance and they're like, well, then okay! Let's meet the lucky girl. We want to meet her! Kent's parents talked to Michelle here and there on the phone and they kept inviting her to visit them in Michigan and she would just constantly come up with some excuse on why she couldn't go. So finally, Kent's parents are like, okay, let's just go. Let's go fly out to Anchorage to meet the most wonderful gal in the world. Except she wasn't so wonderful. I mean, she was beautiful, she was well dressed.

But this is Ken's family, you know, they want the best for him. And they were pretty quick to see that Michelle was beyond disinterested in Ken. She also never wore her engagement ring. And in a bizarre situation Kent had bought Michele Diamond pendant and gifted it to her in front of his family and she rejected it and it wasn't like oh no no no Ken it's too much I can't accept this like you already do enough for me like no Ken like please this is too big of a gift it was more like no thanks I already have one and it's a bit bigger than this one, so I probably won't wear it.

I mean, can you imagine seeing that as a mother? And this is your son? I would just be so heartbroken and confused. Kent's family, they wanted him to be happy, but it was nearly impossible to not be skeptical of Michelle's motives. They definitely would have freaked out if they knew just how much money Kent was spending on her. So Kent would constantly call his parents to ask for fishing money. Like for a fishing season you need to buy new equipment and stuff and

you need to buy a new boat and his dad would loan him like tens of thousands of dollars. And he was spending it all on Michelle. Meanwhile Michelle is engaged to Kent and to Scott and had no no intention to marry either one of them really. She wasn't even trying to act like she was going to. When Ken's parents would call, she would just flat out ignore them or act like she would get back to them, but then she would just ghost them. Eventually, they were so sick of the whole thing.

You know, they called Ken to infustration and he sounded devastated. And they're like, whoo, what's wrong? Mom, I don't know where Michelle is. Well, what do you mean, you don't know where she is? I don't know. Sometimes she does this thing where she leaves. She leaves Anchorage without telling you where she's going

and she won't pick up my calls and I don't know where she goes. Kent sounded depressed and his parents happened to be vacationing in Florida so they're like, okay, well why don't you come to Florida and try to clear your mind? He joined them in Florida and that was the last time both of them together would be united as a family with Kent. And every part of that trip was setting off alarm bells in their stomachs. was the last time both of them together would be united as a family.

And every part of that trip was setting off alarm bells in their stomachs. Ken's mom said, Ken was in really bad shape. He was losing weight. He wasn't physically or mentally present. He would have these intense mood swings. He would be depressed and angry and then frustrated and then he wasn't sleeping. He would just pace all night long. In justice his parents suspected there was more that Kent wasn't telling them.

They're like, just tell us, honey, you know you can trust us. He spent some money, Mom. I spent $50,000 on helping Michelle remodel her house. And now I'm all out of the money that you loaned me. And I need to borrow more money for equipment for this season of fishing. What?

I mean, yeah, his parents were upset, Ken had lied to, and had been financially reckless, but they were more worried about him than anything. He was deteriorating mentally, he had this obsession. Every second of every day, he spent trying to get in contact with Michelle. He was glued to his phone. When he wasn't doing that, he was sending her email. After email, Ken refused to leave the trailer that they rented in case Michelle called her

email back. It was really messy, but the LePinks had no idea just how messy it was until a whole decade later. Ten years later, it took ten years for them to learn the truth, and for the sake of the story, we're going to dive into the mess head first. The reason that Kent had been so depressed in Florida was not just because Michelle was MIA, but he had found out that she was definitively cheating on him with Scott. In the whole thing was messy, because Michelle made it seem like she was only engaged to Kent, but she was engaged to both, so technically she was cheating on Scott with Kent, but then

Kent was like, you're cheating on me with Scott. In any case, Kent was snooping around through Michelle's stuff, found conversations between her and Scott, and he confronts her. They get into this big messy fight, and it ends with him apologizing to her! About snooping through her things. And to really seal the deal and make sure Kent wasn't mad at her, she gaslighted like a girl boss and then flipped a switch and gave him a romantic connection and lovey-doveyness that he desperately wanted.

She wrote to him, my darling Kent. Since we're getting married, it's time for me to be honest about my past and my feelings. Scott and I were involved both sexually and emotionally. When I met him, he was on the rebound in the midst of a divorce and I was confused. I thought I fell in love with him. You know, we were engaged to be married for a while, but we're just not good friends. It's been over, and it will stay over. And there were times that I treated you so badly, and I know, but you stayed with me.

And that means more to me than you'll ever know. And sometimes, you know, when I leave, it's because I feel like the world is closing in on me and I protect myself by running. It's only for a week, but when I come back, I feel refreshed and you always seem to understand. And I need that, you know, and I'll get over it. I just need a simple life. I've never had a simple life. And I want that now.

And I know that you can give me that. I know that I hurt you. And for that, I'm so sorry. And as for John, there's nothing to worry about about John. You know that we've never had sex, and you know that he can't because he's impotent. And you know, this was a secret. I'm breaking promises by telling you this, but you must never tell anyone. You don't know how sick John Sr. really is.

He's very sick. The lead did something to his kidneys as well. His blood is messed up somehow, and he asked me to take care of John Jr. if something happened to him. And I agreed. John to me is more like a brother, or even a father than anything. Please don't worry about him. I think if you still want to marry me, we should just go ahead and do it. We don't need our families to be there.

Just us and some trust. We don't need a big wedding. We should get married ahead and do it. We don't need our families to be there. Just us and some trust. We don't need a big wedding. We should get married within the next month. We should just do it and start our lives. We don't need anything else. This was a letter she wrote to him. An email. Well, an email. And this satisfied Kent. And he would later call his parents to tell them that the marriage was back on. Kent even felt bad for Scott, that Michelle had chosen him instead of Scott. So he wrote to Scott and John Sr. about how sorry he was that everything turned out this way, and that he was sad that people got hurt along the way. He said, I want to be your friend, you stole me in a lot to Michelle.

So we can't have anything get in the way, like no skeletons in the closet. And I think this just highlights Ken's innocence and trusting nature. Like he truly wanted everyone to be happy. And I don't think that there's a lot of people who could do that in this type of situation. Like he really was one of the good ones, you know? He tried to get along with everyone. He saw the world through these rose tinted glasses and he did completely idolize Michelle. And it is evidenced by an email that he wrote. This is um, to somebody else, and he wrote, from the moment that I met Michelle, I fell in love with her.

It would seem pretty strange to say that, knowing where she used to work, but when she would do table dances for me, I was watching her eyes. I mean, yeah, I get it. It's hard to not see the naked body in front of you, but I felt more for her than just as a sex object. I knew that we would be getting married to each other almost from the beginning. I gave her a diamond within one month, and we talked about life together, sex, waiting for a while, you know, to have

sex, and having children, and I would have married her right then and there. But we talked and decided to set not set dates right away. But I think the confusing part is he sent this email to John Sr. Get the other sugar daddy in the picture, his roommate, and John Sr. emailed back. He wrote, You are a true friend. I also appreciate your willingness to help my son John Jr. You will be assuming the role model for him. Wait, what does that mean?

I guess when he dies. What is going on with these people? But he doesn't die for a really long time, so... It's not like he had a terminal illness and he was dying tomorrow. Yeah, but he talks like he's about dying. Yeah, it's very confusing. He said this is a very serious commitment and I know that if you accept this, you will do well. He's still not getting over his mother and you know that he's not handling that.

But you and I can't, we are kindred souls. We both have not had the sex life that we hoped for as men. And I don't know why you were so worried about me. I'm a fat bald man with no social graces. Why would you break into these apartments? For money, for drugs, whatever was in there. Why aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? No. Who's going to catch us?

What a police. It was the height of the crack era, and instead of locking up drug dealers, some New York City cops had become them. I would suit up in my uniform and we're going to want some drug dealers, and I know how to do it really well. This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the

investigation that uncovered it all. Did you consider yourself a rat? 100% I saved my soul just like everybody else does. Listen to and follow the set, an Odyssey originals documentary podcast series, available now in the Odyssey app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows. I'm not a big guy, man, but I love being that 30-month-of-s**t. And John reassured Kent that Kent had nothing to worry about

because Michelle was all Kent's and all John Sr. wanted was friendship from both of them. And for a while everything was running smoothly in the awkward house until Michelle went out of town. She lied to Kent about where she was going, she said she was visiting family, but it seemed like John Sr. knew that she was going on vacation with Scott. And just as quickly as he told Kent not to worry about him because he's bald and can't get a boner, he immediately starts bombarding Michelle while she's with Scott with some emails that I can only describe as intense.

He wrote, I want you home so bad. I don't want to call you because Scott won't like it, but I miss you. Michelle responded. She completely ignored everything he said and was complaining about how she missed her pets and Scott doesn't want to fly her first class back to Alaska. To which John senior responded, well maybe you shouldn't come back. It's probably better for you in California than in Alaska. You don't like it here much and you like Scott.

Scott is a really, really lucky man and I only wish that I could have been so lucky. Scott obviously has something that I do not have. And I'm laughing because I think John's senior's a little ridiculous. I do, because almost immediately he gets drunk and fires off this email. I want you and I'm hard for you. I want to take you like I have never before. Fuck God and the horse that he rode in on, I want you and will have you when you arrive.

And then another one. The atmosphere here is very unhealthy. I will never have a fair shot at winning your heart. It frustrates me so much. TT here, he is very weird. He intercedes anytime I have a moment with you. I can't openly even talk to you in case he might hear. I blame it all on TT. Sometimes I think you don't really understand how this affects me with TT living here. How really, really frustrated and I'm going to be with him being here and you're gone. This is gonna kill me. And then another email.

And the emails are just getting stranger and stranger and slightly unhinged. John emails Michelle again saying, I'm so high, TT wants me to fuck him. I don't know what I said. He threw up and I'm confused. TT wants me to stick it up his ass. Yeah, I don't know.

It's like drunk texts. Yeah, but an email format and like, none of them are providing the context that we desperately need because like, what is going on right now? John then sends another email to Michelle. I want you, I love you. I'm gonna throw you on the bed and fuck you like no other.

You might not want to come home. And then there were some emails that indicated that John was sexually confused or is sexually curious because he emailed Kent, um, information about a gay website called the male club and was like, Hey, I just got this and maybe you should too. And Kent himself was puzzled by everything too. He wrote in an email to Michelle, what does John think I am? And then later John wrote to Michelle, you really enjoy telling people that I was a whore with a man, huh? Don't you? Huh? Like, she's going around telling people that he's gay?

And then he's like, oh well, humiliation, I guess. I don't know what's going on. I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm just trying to provide as much context that was available, but I don't really know how to describe these emails other than just very intense, okay? And all of these would be up for debate by the attorneys during the trial and each attorney, depending on whose side they were on, would try to interpret these emails in a completely different narrative. Meanwhile, Kent sent emails of feeling lost and alone without Michelle. He wrote to Michelle,

I miss you, I miss you, I miss you, more than I love you. It's making me crazy being away from you. Did you talk to your mom about the wedding? And she going to be able to come? And Michelle was responding back to Kent lovingly. And then around the same time, she emailed her own mom. Very hard to read. She talks about Kent's parents and how she had met them. And she writes, I told Kent's mom that you never loved me and that you only loved my

sister. And I explained to them that I wasn never loved me and that you only loved my sister. And I explained to them that I wasn't your real daughter and you were forced to take me as your daughter because your third cousin had me when she was only 14 and the whole family suffered because it was her brother that fathered me, the baby, implying that she was born of incest and unwanted. She wrote, so I think they understood. I also explained that a deal you made had gone sour because you lack of talents and that's how I ended up in Alaska. Naturally,

they begged me for more information. So with a little sobbing on the phone, I told them the rest. And Michelle wrote, in the email, a very intense story that she allegedly gave to Kent's parents about how she was sold into sex work, and that she was a victim of human trafficking, and that she was finally saved by a fisherman. That's how she met Kent, and she wrote, I told Kent's parents the minute I met Kent, my destiny became clear, and all the clouds moved out of my small, confused minds as the tears cleared my eyes, and I began to see an angel appear, and it was Kent. He came and swept me off the street and accepted me and taught me how to love and be loved,

and he showed me the way of life, and well, all my dreams came true of that day. I took one look at this man, and I knew that I wanted to be pregnant with his children for the rest of my life, that I was put on earth for this man, and I thanked his parents for producing such a god-given gift that showed me the way to life. And then at the very end came the punchline. In all caps, multiple rows, a succession of ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I'm just messing around with you. Wait, what? of ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha This is her way of calling Ken and his family stupid. Wait, this email was sent to her mom. Yeah.

So she's saying, I met Ken's parents and I told them that he rescued me off the streets and I was put on earth for him. Okay. So she's laughing at them the time we got it. Yeah. I don't know. It's really hard to read and I just can't imagine even talking to your mom like that. It's just bizarre.

I don't know. So then she responded to him for his pleas of love and she gave him what he wanted. She wrote, I'm not trying to procrastinate our wedding. I'm just concerned that everything is gonna be rushed. And I know you care, you know? And I'm gonna try my hardest to keep our family strong, loving and sturdy.

And a few days after that loving email, Michelle put a down payment for a million-dollar life insurance policy on Kent's life. She paid for premiums for both her policy and his policy, but ironically, her policy was only $150,000. His was million. But instead of saying that she paid for both their life insurance premiums, because I don't know,

maybe that's weird, she said, oh, it's an early wedding gift from my grandpa. He wanted to buy his life insurance. That's not weird at all. But it wasn't true. Her grandpa had nothing to do with it. The money came straight from her personal accounts. And 20% of Ken's, Ken's life insurance would go to Kenneth and Betsy, his parents. Meanwhile, the other 80% would go to Michelle. Now, we don't know what happens between this moment, the signing of the Life Insurance Policy, and two weeks later,

when Kent and Michelle are at Brian's office because Kent wants her taken off his Life Insurance Policy. It's hard to say what set Kent off to make such a drastic change? Maybe he just couldn't take it anymore. Maybe he was fed up with Michelle's incestant need for money. He had already spent so much money,

tens of thousands of dollars on our home renovation, on jewelry, on fur, on everything. She even pestered Kent about asking his parents to buy her her dream wedding dress. Which was another few grand. She also demanded that Kent pay for her new kitchen cabinets. It just started to seem like everything was about money. She was constantly sending Kent emails like, you know, you said you were gonna wire it, but you have not. I need $2,000 for the dress and 500 for the head dress. That's the cost of the head piece. You need to wire it to me.

I would not expect you to follow through because you haven't done it so far. Then she wrote, stop putting me off and give me a definite time and place where the money's gonna be. Tell me by eight o'clock. For once, Kent put his foot down briefly, but he did. Where's the money that you told me you would get me

for the tile work at the house, or for the vet bills, or for the things that I do for, you know, Brett's truck. I ask you about the money, and you tell me not to worry about it, that you're gonna give it back to me. I wait and ask and ask and wait, and no money. You show me a picture of a bird cage, and you ask me if it's okay to get it. How does that make me responsible to pay for it?

Is my wallet supposed to have a one-way path on it and my supposed to just pay bills and not know where the money is going or Help make plans for its use. I don't think so as far as people covering other people's asses I guess I've done my fair share and that's enough enough of this bullshit. I'm a show is pissed She broke back. Why don't I have a job? Because you said you would support our family, kind of indicating that maybe she had quit her job because Kent said he would support the family. I don't think that that's what happened. I feel like she kind of cornered him into it. She wrote, if the cage were not ordered, I wouldn't have to pay for it. It was out of your commitment that I ordered it. So it seems like she showed him a picture of a bird cage and was like, should I get it? And

he was like, sure. And in her mind, that's like, okay, he is 100% responsible for paying for it now. And she said, it was out of your commitment that I ordered it, remember? And as far as all the other shit, I told you, you could be a part of everything, except for the dress.

I want to pay my dress. And you told me your parents want to pay for everything that pertains to the wedding. If this has changed since then, then you need to just tell me. Kent took some time to calm down. And he said, you know what, you're right. Let me try to fix this. So he goes back to trying to fix their relationship. Meanwhile, Michelle has vanished again. I'm dead serious. Kent noticed that a lot of his valuables were missing, including his future wife. So she had vanished with his car, computer, antique

rugs, and a family heirloom statue that was worth like $5,000. When Kent realized what happened, he kept emailing Michelle demanding where on earth is his fucking computer, and listen, I don't know how he emailed her, but his computer was gone, okay. And she responds with, whoa, whoa, whoa, don't freak out. I took the rugs to clean them.

I didn't steal or mess with your laptop. I sent it to my sister in Utah to help me fix it. He's like the freaking computer was never broken to begin with what? So now he's pissed and this is when he writes Michelle out of his life insurance. And Michelle knew and in retaliation she wanted him to repay her for the payments that she made on the life in prison. Listen, it's just so gross. It's so messy and I think Kent's family could tell that he was just not doing okay. He was not doing okay ever since he started dating Michelle, but it was only getting worse.

So the dad flies out to Alaska to meet with Kent. They stay in a hotel. And during that time, Kent pulls out a non-villup and he's like, by the way, dad, this is for you. It's my life insurance. You're like the beneficiary. He's like, since when did you have life insurance, Kent? Oh, Michelle's grandpa got it for us as a wedding present.

What? That is bizarre, can't... I don't know, I don't like the smell of this, that's not right. It's fine, don't worry about it, dad. And can't went back to sulking about how he couldn't get in contact with Michelle. He said on the phone to his mother, Mom, I can't find Michelle, she's missing again, and I think that she's in hope. So hope is a small town in Alaska, and Kent's mom was immediately alarmed, because she had actually driven through hope on a big rope trip once, and she said, can't honey, have you ever been to hope?

No, why? Well your dad and I have, sweetie, we were there years ago, and it's this tiny, almost like a village, there's literally nothing out there, just nothing at all. Why on earth would she be in hope? She owns a cabin there. Why just don't believe it, sweetie? This is not a type of place where people buy cabins. Last time I went, there were no cabins and hope we drove through the whole town.

It's a tiny little place. There's no hotel, there's no lodging, there's no bed and breakfast, there's nothing there can't. Well mom, I have reason to believe that's where she is and I'm going to go find her. Immediately, she doesn't like this and to make things worse, he's like, oh, by the way, Michelle's grandfather bought me a million dollar life insurance policy for our wedding gift. And Betsy LePink was completely floored. She couldn't even hide her disdain.

She's like, can't, that's sick. That's absolutely sick. I've never heard such a thing in my life. And now, now you're gonna go to hope where I just know that she can't be in hope. Trust me, she's not in hope. And he's like, yes, she is. And I'm gonna go look for her.

Betsy was begging, don't go, don't go, don't go alone. Just get out of there. You know, sweetie, why don't you come visit us for a week. And we can think about, you know, how to handle everything with Michelle. Maybe I can try to talk to her. You know, she's really trying to make sure that he doesn't go to hope. She just has this like mother's instinct. But he was going to go to hope. And there were some very bad things waiting for him to hope. But before we get there,

let's talk about some of Michelle and John's emails. So maybe like a week before he went to hope to look for Michelle. There were emails between them that said things like, and this is Michelle to John. I can't imagine what's going on with TT. He is just shh- shit. He sent me a letter asking me where his computer is saying that I might have damaged it in the way that I unplugged it. It should be easier than this, you know?

This is not going smooth. John was dogging on Kent calling him stupid. He professed his dedication to Michelle and only Michelle, and he sent a follow-up email that said, the other day, I upset you a great deal. I can't believe you told me that you were worried about me leaving you because I found someone else. Michelle, I want to reiterate that I would never leave you,

cheat on you, desire anyone but you, and I will worship the ground that you walk on. The air that you breathe, the words that you speak in the glow of your being forever. And Michelle responded, you say that I'm too good for you, but the truth is that's not what you mean. You, you give me a reason to be. You give me a reason to live. It's clear that Kents money while is drying up and Michelle needs to make sure that John doesn't leave. She doesn't love him. She loves his money, Just like she loved Ken's money. Now, that's not to say that she's a killer, just to be clear.

Manipulating two men to get their money is not illegal. Morally and ethically, it's a different story. You know, everyone's going to have a different opinion on how bad this is, but legally, it's not something to be concerned about. It's not fraud. They're willingly giving it her. It's like emotional manipulation. You can't really, you know, go to jail for that.

But it's really, really clear that she had no genuine affection towards either of them. And near the end of Michelle and Ken's relationship, John Senior starts to send very questionable emails that he hints that he's willing to do anything to keep her happy. He said, please be happy. Don't let me be the cause for you to be unhappy. I will be the one who will take the loss. You've asked me several times to tell you what to do and that you will do it. So, okay, I'm gonna do this for you.

What was he gonna do? He didn't specify in the emails, but it seemed like they talked about it in person. He also wrote, you'll be just fine, Michelle. Just give it a few weeks, your life is going to get better. You'll see, now the ball is in your court. You are now making the decisions, not me. You will decide what will happen.

Wow. And then it implies that Michelle did something for John because in another email, he wrote, the last night you were here was so special to me. I know that you did not want to do what was done, but yet you did it for me. I will remember that night till the day that I die. I will never forget.

I was truly happy that night and I have longed for that for so long happiness. It felt very good and now I know the feeling of spending the night with someone you love. In another email, he wrote, I'm not going to wait. I'm going to end this soon. I'm the one who will take the risk. I cannot wait. It will end. You know what I'm saying here.

Considering the fact that I can't be dead within a week of this email, I would wait. It will end. You know what I'm saying here. Considering the fact that Kent would be dead within a week of this email, I would say that it's pretty damning. But there were more. Michelle wrote to John about how she was excited to go to Seychelles with him, which is one of the world's smallest countries geographically, and it lies near Africa.

It's like a, it's a collection of islands. And Michelle wrote to him that, did you know that you could buy a citizenship there for around 10 million? And no matter what crimes you have committed, they won't extradite you to the US. They are the only country that won't send you back to the US. I found that out yesterday. Have you given any thought to where you want to go? Maybe you want to learn to die? Maybe cancun, cabo? Anywhere. Then Michelle flew to be with Scott for a while. And around the same time, conveniently, she had created an alibi. She was in California with Scott,

when Ken's body would be found in the tiny town of Hopolaska bleeding out in the woods. Ken was found shot to death in the woods, and on his body, there were a couple of documents. The first one was the change of his life insurance beneficiaries. Another one was a hotel receipt from a hotel that Michelle had gone to with Scott,

indicating that he knew that she was still seeing Scott. This decant was probably very significant. And then a third document was not found in the woods on Kent's body, but in his car. And it was a no-dressed to Michelle from somebody named John. But I guess we can't confirm that it was John's senior. So somebody named John. And it said, the roof on your cabin in hope is fixed. It will not leak anymore. The fireplace has been cleaned, but as he said,

it's gonna have to be redone the next year or so, but it's safe for you to use. The locks have been changed, the screens have been changed, and the note continued, I'm so glad that I bought it for you. It does make a fine getaway. And then the author implied that they were going to Costa Rica and hope cabin would be for Michelle to use and

The letter wrote I do hate going and losing you in my life though. Please be happy safe and well You guys enjoy your stay in the cabin this weekend, but here's the kicker. There's no cabin in hope Nobody bought one nobody bought it for Michelle Michelle never stayed in one. Oh Mm-hmm so Nobody bought it for Michelle Michelle never stayed in one. So yes So Kent saw this letter at home assume that they were living there. Yeah, he tracked them down Yes, so someone planted this for him to find to believe that Michelle was going to a cabin in hope to get away from Kent And not only that this letter coupled with a hotel receipt that was left behind for him to find It was indicating that Michelle and Scott would be at the cabin get away, secretly away from Kent.

I mean, if you found this out about your partner and you were picking up all these clues, there would be a million things running through your mind, but the last thing I would think is that this is all a setup that this was planted for me to find, to lure me into the woods of a tiny town called Hope Alaska last but that's also very obvious evidence Yeah, super obvious. Yeah, and it seemed like someone just wanted to lure him out to hope to kill him And that's what they did Ken's parents and family were the first to catch on how shady this whole thing was because Ken had gone to hope and

I I don't think that there's anything a Samley could have done. I'm sure that they live with guilt, but you know, when an adult really wants to do something, when it comes to love and relationships, they just have to get closure. They want to get answers. And who would ever think that they would get murdered? But he did send a cryptic piece of mail to his family.

He wrote, included in this letter, is an enclosed envelope in your safety deposit box. Do not open it. I talk to you about insurance policies, parents, and this is mine. If I didn't think that things would get a little rough up here, I wouldn't have sent you this. I think this is going to be safer. It's not funny to talk about being killed, but in today's world, you have to expect anything. Don't get all nervous and call me on the phone about this. If you think anything fishy has happened to me though, then you can open the other envelope I've sent.

It's pretty self-explanatory. You don't have to worry about me though. I'll be okay. I just want to make sure that all my ducks are in a row. By the time that you get this, I hope that I'll have called you on the phone to explain everything. Love Kent. He had not called.

Wow. So the family read this letter. They didn't want to read the envelope yet because you know they were being respectful. They were calling Kent all night long. They got it that night. They were calling Kent all night long and the next morning they were alerted by police that utility workers had found Kent's body in the woods and he had been shot three times. So they opened up the envelope. It was filled with bank documents and it was pretty much Kent talking about what he wanted

done if he was dead. And it started very chilling. It said, since you're reading this, you assume that I'm dead. Don't dwell on it. It was my time, and there's nothing that can change that. There are a few things I would like for you to do for me. I hate to be vindictive in my death,

but paybacks are hell. Kent asked that his parents take the money from his life insurance policy, pay off his debts, for me. I hate to be vindictive in my death, but paybacks are hell. Can't ask that um his parents take the money from his life insurance policy, pay off his debts, and with the remainder, go on vacation." And he said, act like I'm there with you and do things that I like to do. Lie on the beach, fish, relax, two weeks minimum, but not much longer. And use the information enclosed to in caps. take Michelle down. Make sure she is prosecuted.

Michelle, John, or Scott, were the people or persons that probably killed me. Make sure that they get burnt. He asked his parents to make sure that Michelle was jailed for a very long time, but in the same breath he wrote, but I want you to visit her in jail. Tell her how much I really did and do love her. Tell her that you love her and tell her you want to help her. She has a split personality and the part that I fell in love with is very beautiful.

I really did want to marry her and make her dreams come true. Love you. Kent. I mean, this is insane that Kent wrote this letter. Clearly he could sense that something was off, but he was still kind enough to be understanding of Michelle. I also don't think that Michelle had this associative personality disorder. I think that maybe she allegedly tried to convince him

that she did to excuse her inconsistent behavior. So once Kent was found, I mean, immediately the police are interviewing all of those that are closest with him. His fiance, Michelle, John senior, John junior, and even Scott. And just things were weird. Michelle hinted that their whole relationship was a lie

because he was gay. And his parents didn't know that, so Kent asked her to pretend to be his fiance, that they had no intention of getting married. She also, during the police interrogation, called Kent's stupid. And he was like, she was like, oh, that's like really mean, but what I meant was like, it's just really bizarre. And as for the laptop, she told the police that she had sent it to her sister because the Norton anti-virus system was, you know, acting up and if they had gone to like a local computer shop, they would have taken months. And in the end, the detectives asked her if she knew anyone that would have anything to

gain from Ken's death. And she said, well, I guess I would, from life insurance. Then the police went to John Sr. to interview him and John basically described Kent as a delusional man that was obsessed with Michelle. And when asked about Kent's life insurance policy, John Sr. said that it wasn't Michelle that got it. It was Kent that got it to make himself more appealing for marriage.

That Kent was sneaky like that. He said that Kent was the type that would leave his life insurance policy beneficiary papers lying around in the car for Michelle to see and show her that like see, you know, you definitely want to marry me because I have life insurance. Which is such a bizarre thing to do. What? Yeah, and John senior was also like, hey, come look at all of Kent's porn. Like it was weird. I don't know how that had anything to do with Kent being a murder victim.

But the detective said John didn't seem nervous or evasive. He answered all the questions calmly and thoroughly and they did do a preliminary search of John senior's house and they found a gun box that didn't have a gun inside. But it would probably fit a 44, which is the type of gun speculated to have been the murder weapon. So they're like, where's the gun, John? And he's like, oh, that old thing? That I bought in New Jersey before I even moved to Alaska.

And the gun is gone, I just kept the box. So all this weird stuff is going on. And even after the murder, Michelle is doing a lot of weird stuff. She's going to the hardware store immediately after Kent dies. And it's like, oh, well, don't cancel the cabinets because he's dead. I still want the cabinets. But like, charge it to to his card Kent had some store credit at a jewelry store leftover And she tried to go and buy some jewelry off his store credit But it wasn't under her name. It was under Kent's name and Kent was dead and the store clerk said it was very creepy

So you know, the police did have a theory their theory was that Michelle had orchestrated the murder But she's not the one that pulled the trigger Michelle was in California with Scott to create a clear alibi. John senior most likely told Kent about the cabinet hope. He was like, oh, I know about it too. We should catch her in the act. And together they walk through the woods and then Kent was shot in the back first. He was shot in the back, close range. He fell to the ground and then he was shot in the back close range, he fell to the ground, and then he was shot twice close range. He was still alive when the third shot to his face was fired. But they had no hard evidence, they didn't even have these emails at that point. They had no murder weapon, no DNA, no witnesses, other than Kent's letter that he wanted Michelle to go down for his murder, there was nothing.

And eventually the case went cold. Michelle and John Sr. moved away from Anchorage. go down for his murder, there was nothing. And eventually the case went cold. Michelle and John senior moved away from Anchorage. Michelle moved to California to be with Scott and then later back to Louisiana. John senior went back to New Jersey and Michelle 's own sister reached out to the police. He ended in Kent's computer and said, you know, Michelle is very strange. After Kent died, she told me, people in the light Kent anyway, because he hunted and stuffed animals. She felt like he got exactly what he deserved.

I mean, it was stunning to watch her talk about the dead like that. It was just weird. Michelle even said that it was too bad that someone didn't torture him first. The words were very strong to hear. The detectives called Michelle back and were like, hey, we just heard from your sister

that you wanted Kent to be tortured before he died. Can you explain that? And Michelle calmly responded, while I was cleaning up his shed and I found the dead animals that were taxidermied and it was odd. So I guess, you know, him dying in the woods, it's like the animals that he killed. So yeah, from an animal's point of view, I think he deserved it. Strangely, Michelle hated hunting and taxidermying, but she had no issue owning fur coats. Then the case went cold.

Michelle starts going to veterinary school in Louisiana. She had a rebirth, if you will, completely changed her image or her life, I don't know, okay? Because people do grow and change. She starts dating a medical student named Colin Linen and Colin fell in love. He was struck by her beauty. She was so kind and selfless and just literally

the perfect wife. So they get narrated and at home she was so kind and selfless and just literally the perfect wife. So they get narrated and at home she's so supportive and Colin would say, you know, Michelle never sees him maze me with her energy and dedication. You know, I was a resident. I wasn't even making a lot of money. She was working as a waitress and volunteering teaching CPR. I mean, it's like she had unlimited time. She would watch our kid, our first kid, John Z.

Nearwood fly to Louisiana to be Collins patient, which Michelle was really upset about that, but he just, I guess, wanted to somehow stay in contact with him. It was weird. But other than that, it seemed like she was living the best life. She went back to school, got a biology psychology degree, then earned her master's in public admin, and everything was great until Collins went to war, literally went to war. Then he returned home safely, unharmed Iraq, and it put this huge strain on their relationship, and the two started going to marriage counseling. Turns out Michelle was having an affair, a long standing affair.

With Scott. Oh my goodness. It's been like 10 years since Kent was found dead, by the way. But she could never really get rid of Scott, I guess. It's like the one that got away. And in a twist of fate around the same time, Anchorage got a new team in their police department, a cold case team.

And two detectives, two of the best, were put on the cold case of Kent LePink. They would crack Kent's laptop and they would find all of those emails that I read you. And Michelle's perfect suburban mom, facade, came crumbling down. Turns out she had been seeing Scott on and off while dating Dr. Colin, and while he was gushing about how amazing of a wife that she was, she was even seeing Scott in hotels

bringing their daughter to sleep in a hotel room and she would go to Scott's hotel room in the same building to, you know, do nasty things. But again, that doesn't mean she's guilty of murder, but things were getting strange. The police reached out to John senior's son who blew the case right open because he did say that um, his dad had bought a gun that matched the murder weapon. So with that, oh, and also he did mention that TT was not for Tennessee taxidermist, but his dad and Michelle for some reason called Kent Titanium Testicles. I don't know why.

So both of them were arrested. Michelle's husband, they did turn themselves in, so they weren't like hand cuffed out, but they both pled not guilty. Michelle's husband stood by her side the whole time, even getting a second mortgage on their house to pay for their bail. Yeah.

Wow, there is something about her. About her. Something. A lot of Michelle's friends even rallied around her, and they put up a fund in the local suburban community. To support her? Yes, because they believe that she was thrown under the bus to sell the sensational story of a stripper turned murder. They believe that the public had already made up their minds about her guilt when they found out that she was a stripper in the past. Now I

don't really know how to feel about that because I can see how that is true and I can see how the public will do that. But I do think that my opinion of her as a person and this has nothing to do with if she did kill or facilitate a murder. But it has more to do with personality-wise. I just don't think that she's a great person considering just the emails.

The emails were very hard to read and they were very just kind of nasty. I get it, you can do these things in a relationship but it is just very difficult to read. John's senior was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison. Michelle's case was harder, she had an airtight alibi and she argued that John's senior killed Kent without Michelle's knowledge because he was mad that Kent was gay and tried to make a pass at him. But Michelle was found guilty since to 99 years,

but she would appeal her sentence and be released in 2010 and she was never retried. So she returned back to her suburban mom life, raising her daughter, running a small clinic with her husband. And in 2008, John was found dead in his prison cell under suspicious circumstances. He was beaten to death, but no arrests were made. So I don't know if it was a fellow inmate, I don't know if it was a corrections officer, it's just very confusing.

And that is the very suspicious murder of Kent LaPique. What do you think? Did everyone want Michelle to be guilty because she didn't have a picture perfect past? And the story sold better if she was guilty because she was a stripper? Did everyone just create a narrative and then fit her into it? Or do you think based off the emails that she was guilty? I'm honestly so torn. I think I'm so overly conscious to not let someone's past create connections to alleged crimes or actions, but the emails were really hard to read. But also just because she's using two men for money, does that make her a killer? But the whole extradition thing, the whole emails about like, I'm gonna do this for you, the extradition, it's just so messy. But she is not legally found responsible for Ken's murder, so she is not a killer, at least not in the eyes of the justice system. What are your thoughts? And I'll see you guys on Sunday for the minisode. Bye! Stay safe!