SERIALously - 226: Love, Lies, and Murder: A Valentine’s Day Turned Deadly

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

In place of our regularly schedule Headline Highlights episode, I have decided to give you all a mini case deep dive. Richard Schoeck thought he was meeting his wife for a romantic Valentine’s Day gift exchange at a secluded park, but instead, he was ambushed and shot five times, including twice in the face. Investigators quickly uncovered a web of secrets, including an affair and mysterious tire tracks at the scene that hinted someone had been lying in wait. But as the clues unraveled, they revealed a shocking betrayal that no one saw coming. Shop the Merch:  www.annieelise.com Follow the podcast on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@serialouslypodcast Follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serialouslypod/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise All Social Media Links: https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_ SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/ About Me: https://annieelise.com/ For Business Inquiries: [e-mail] 

Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of serial asleep. Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialously with me, Annie Elise. And today's a little bit different. We've got headline highlights every Thursday. You know that. We do our case deep dives every Monday. But today we're going to do a little bonus-esque type episode because it's the day after Christmas. I don't know if

you're with your family, if you're having some alone time, if you're running around with chaotic children, whatever it is you're doing. But I wanted to jump on and give you a little bit longer of a case and I was gonna hold this one back because I mean it's not really tis the season it's more Valentine's Day skewed but we're gonna do it differently this week. We're gonna do one single case, case a mini deep dive into it and then we will be back next week with all the headline highlights everything going on and Go through from there, but I wanted to just do things a little bit different this week I hope you all had a great holiday with your family regardless what holidays you celebrate

Hopefully even if you're not celebrating you're having some downtime and some time to focus on yourself or be with your loved ones. And yeah, so let me jump right in. In 2010, 38-year-old Stacey and 46-year-old Richard Schaek seemed like the picture perfect married couple. They lived in a beautiful home in Snellville, Georgia with their three children, a 19-year-old named Doug who went by DJ, a 13-year-old named Keith, and a 7-year-old named Kevin. Though nobody would have ever guessed it unless they knew the Sheks, that all three boys weren't biologically Richards. But again, you would never know that because of how attentive and close he was with these

boys. Now, while it was the first time being married for Richard, it was actually the fifth time being married for Stacey. Stacey was born in 1971 and she was raised in Florida until she was three years old and that's when her family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. When she was pretty young, her dad died and the loss of that was pretty devastating for her and it was something that she carried with her into her adult years. Now, like I said, Richard wasn't her first go-around at marriage. Not by any means. She actually got married to her first husband, who was her high school sweetheart when she

was just 17 years old. The two of them eloped, and they didn't have any children together, and their marriage was pretty short-lived because Stacey filed for a divorce just a couple of years later. But in 1991, she got married again, and her and her new husband moved back down because Stacey filed for a divorce just a couple of years later. But in 1991, she got married again and her and her new husband moved back down to Stacey's home state of Florida, and that's where she had her first son, DJ. But having a baby didn't help their already stressful marriage because they had a lot of stress mainly for finances and the two of them ended up splitting up when DJ was just one year old. Stacey knew that she wanted a better life for DJ,

so she decided that she was gonna get an undergraduate degree at Jacksonville University in Florida. That's where she studied nursing and psychology, and she graduated in 1994. Right after she graduated, she used her degree to get a nursing job, where she did pretty well for herself and for a DJ. But she didn't want to be single and alone forever, so she actively dated, and she eventually found herself a third husband in 1997. And either Stacey was just unlucky when it came to love or something else, I don't know, but just after a month and a half, the two of them ended that marriage. But Stacey didn't sit on the bench waiting too long, and definitely not when it came to getting back out there

and putting herself out there. So she dated shortly after this divorce and even had a pregnancy come from one of her casual flings. This led to the birth of her second son, Keith. And the dad seemed to stay out of the picture for the most part because they never really went on to get married or even date for very long. They didn't really stay together. Again, that's why I say it was casual. So even though Stacey's nursing job was pretty good, now that she had two mouths to feed,

she knew that she needed something more and she knew that she needed more money since she was the primary caretaker of her children. And luckily for her, she was able to find a great six-figure job where she worked as an office administrator at the Georgia Spine and Neurology Center in DeKalb County. This was on campus of the DeKalb Medical Center, which was a really, really large practice as well. So she had more of an established career. It was something with a little bit more. I don't want to say credibility. What is it? But like a little bit something more. It was like a really large practice, a large campus. It was great. So not only did she help make sure that the office ran smoothly, but she also helped out with surgeries due to her nursing background and people loved Stacey.

They absolutely just fell in love with her. She did her job really well. She was a go-getter and she had this amazing personality. In fact, her nickname was Mama Spreadsheet because she liked to be in control of everything, keep track of everything, and just be super thorough and organized. So at this point, she really seemed to have it all. I mean, although things started out a little bit rough for her going through three failed marriages at such a young age, she actually was able to pull it together and build her dream life for herself and her boys.

She had two healthy and happy little boys. She now had a very well-respected and high-paying career. And not only that, but she was also a bit of an entrepreneur because she was a landlord for multiple properties that she owned. But like we hear so many times, even with all of that personal

success, at this point in her life, Stacey still felt like her life wasn't really complete. That was until 2001, and that is when she got married to her fourth husband. Now, the two of them seemed to have a great marriage and even had another child together, Stacey's son Kevin. The family of five was envied by so many people and they were basically living this suburban dream. It was a happy couple, three amazing kids, a beautiful home with a pool. I mean, there's not much more than anybody could ask for.

But Stacey then started to feel a bit uneasy about things in her marriage. She filed for divorce in 2004, leaving her yet again a single mother. She kept the house and she navigated life alone with now three children. But that is where Richard then came into the picture. See, Stacey and Richard met each other in 2005 when he was a patient at her work, and while she was kind of in the throes of her divorce, not exactly ready to be quite back out there yet. But timing wasn't gonna matter

because when Richard saw her, it was love at first sight. And even though she knew that it was very quick to jump into a new relationship, Stacey could not resist Richard and they became inseparable. He was different from anybody that she had ever met, let alone ever been in a relationship with. Richard grew up and was born in a very stable, loving household in New Jersey,

and he was one of three kids. He loved all things art related when he was growing up, and so much so that he got a degree in art from Auburn University in Alabama. And although he didn't have any children of his own, he was an amazing uncle to his seven nieces and nephews, and he just loved kids. He had really cool hobbies

that were not just related to art too. He liked to also be on the open road with his motorcycle. He was even a hot air balloonist, which I didn't even know was a thing, but that's super cool. And I don't think that there are many people with that hobby. So it was something that just kind of made him

a little bit more magnetic as a person, a little bit quirky, a little bit unique, and just really magnetic. But he was also just a genuinely really great guy too. Everybody loved him and anybody who befriended him even back in his childhood stayed friends with him well into adulthood. That's always a telltale sign too. If somebody you meet has friends that they knew from childhood, that is definitely a sign of like good character in my opinion. So in 2007, after living together for a little bit of time at Stacy's home in Snellville, the two of them decided to run off and to elope and they didn't tell anybody. But luckily, since everybody loved Richard already,

nobody was even upset about this secret wedding. In fact, Stacy's family considered him to be the best of all of her husbands, all of the ones that she had ever had. Not only was he friendly and great, but he was also a stable guy who respected that Stacy had a full-time life and full-time career, full-time motherhood, well before him, and that all of that just came as a package deal with her. He didn't just start dating Stacey and then try to keep the kids separate from their relationship.

He made an active effort to get all of the people involved, all the children. Whether that was taking them out on motorcycle rides with him and Stacey, jet skiing, or something else, he always was happy to include the children on their adventures together. He even became a den leader for the two youngest boys Cub Scout group, something that he and Stacey did together. And he wasn't just any old den leader either. He was one of the Scouts favorites because he was so fun, so interactive with the kids. I mean everything was picture perfect. She was finally getting her happily ever after. He was also so close with Stacey's boys that

he actually took the initiative to legally adopt Keith and Kevin, since at this point their biological dads weren't really in the picture much. He was a great dad. He was always attentive to what his kids needed or wanted. An example of that is Kevin's favorite movie at the time was Finding Nemo. So Richard painted his room the entire theme of the movie. Richard was just the total package and truly someone that I think any single mom would hope for in their next partner. But unfortunately, not too long after their wedding,

Richard lost his graphic design job. However, since Stacey still had her job, it didn't really affect them too much. Stacey had been making it work on her own salary for so long that she wasn't dependent on Richard's. So Richard didn't really work after that, and instead he stayed busy taking care of the kids, and that became more of his focus, which then put Stacey in the position as the sole financial provider for the family. On Valentine's Day in 2010, Stacey and Richard planned to meet at Belton Bridge Park in Hall County. This is about an hour away from their house

and they were gonna meet in the park to exchange their gifts. Now, Belton Bridge is a pretty woodsy and remote kind of park. It's great for fishing, for boating, even for walking. So the spot that Stacey and Richard had planned to meet up at was a pretty desolate area, and they had stumbled upon it one time when they were out on a motorcycle ride, and it kind of became

their little space, their little romantic spot, since it wasn't a very popular area of the park. And they even kind of, just to say, used it as a place to like hook up sometimes. I mean, it was like definitely their private little spot, and apparently that was something that they liked to do at random places that they stumbled on during their motorcycle rides. I guess it just kind of added some sort of element of excitement and secrecy to their relationship. I mean, whatever. Who's, who am I to judge? Not me. So the spot wasn't really a place that you would make plans to go to normally.

I mean, think of it more or less as like a spot that maybe on a long road trip you would stop so that you could stretch your legs or a place to launch your boat into the water because there wasn't really any pavement for parking spots or lights. It wasn't really meant for much else. But Stacy thought that it would be the perfect place for a romantic and spontaneous date for Valentine's Day.

With three kids at home, it wasn't exactly easy to get away or do anything too elaborate. So their special spot that they had found seemed like the best option, and Richard was super excited too. So as the two of them kissed each other goodbye for the day, he expressed how he was looking forward to meeting up and even suggested that the two of them could maybe even get like a little makeout session while they were there. And apparently apparently Stacey had promised a little bit more than making out. Again, their secret little romp spot. So later that evening, Stacey was still at work and had spent that

weekend snowed in at her grandparents house, which was an hour and a half away in Cleveland, Georgia. And Richard was there at her grandparents house making a very special Valentine's Day dinner, not only for her but for them as well. I mean, honestly, talk about like a true keeper that Richard was. Stacey's grandparents needed 24-7 medical care, and Richard was just always there to step in for them when needed. I mean, it's truly remarkable. So Stacey was running late, so she called Richard and told him that she couldn't leave

until a nurse came to replace her. So she told him, just head to the park without me. I will meet you there. I will be right behind you and I'll be there as soon as I can. So Richard headed out and Stacey left work a little after 9 p.m. And she headed to their secret meetup spot. This was about 20 minutes away from her job. But when she arrived at 930 or so, she made a truly gruesome discovery. You see, there in the dark, illuminated by the truck lights that were on due to his door being open, Richard was lying next to his Ford F-250 truck, and he was in a mixture

of dirt and blood. He was dead, and he had been shot multiple times. So Stacey was absolutely frantic and heartbroken, distraught, shocked at all of the emotions that she could feel. And she immediately called 911. We have been shot and we have been. Shortly after the 911 call, the Hall County police officers showed up

to investigate the scene. The whole thing seemed really off though, due to how desolate this area was, but one thing was very clear. This wasn't a robbery gone bad because nothing had been taken from the scene. Richard still had his wedding ring on, his wallet was still in the truck, and his $40,000 truck was just sitting there with the keys that's still in the ignition. It was obvious that nobody was trying to rob Richard. And again, this area was so hard to find, so was this targeted? I mean, it all seemed

so random. But Richard was unarmed, and he was in the middle of nowhere, yet he had been shot to death. And not just one gunshot eater that we're talking. He was shot five times. He was shot once in the chest, twice in the abdomen, twice to his face, and authorities believed that at least one of those shots happened when he was still inside the car. But the police? They didn't have a ton to go off of. There was no surveillance cameras in the area. There were no fingerprints at the scene of the crime.

It also apparently had recently rained in that area, so the ground was very soft and muddy. That was good though, because it was a major win for the police, because they were able to find some track marks, and that was all they had to go on. I mean, luckily they did find three sets of tracks, but now it was, okay, what other evidence can we find and how do we put these tracks to use? So one belonged to Richard's truck, one belonged to Stacy's Ford Explorer, and then there was a third set of mystery tracks. Those tracks came in from the park and they could be followed from the road. So this led police to the realization that whoever was driving that car was there before Richard arrived and then left after he died. Which really makes you wonder, who was just like hanging out in the

middle of some random park at night? And again, this wasn't some popular park that was all lit up or had any lights really. It was pitch black at night. So I can't imagine many other people were planning to go meet their loved ones to exchange gifts on Valentine's Day in the middle of nowhere, in the pitch dark, like Stacy and Richard were. I mean, what would the chances be for that, right? Then, as police were about to wrap things up at the crime scene, Stacy was acting pretty panicky

and she made an unwarranted and downright jaw-dropping confession to the police. She made the arbitrary choice to tell the officers that she had been having an affair with a co-worker named Juan Reyes. And this wasn't some recent affair either. The two of them had been hooking up for years. So Stacey was then brought in for questioning and talked about how, yes, her marriage had ups and downs, but nothing too crazy. She then got a little personal at one point and she started

talking about how her and Richard's physical side of their marriage wasn't as great as she would have liked it to be, saying that they only had sex once every few months. Then she was asked more about her affair with Juan, regarding how long it had been going on for, whether or not Richard had ever been suspicious of it, things like that. So Stacey talked about how at some point after the kids graduated, she probably would have officially left Richard for Juan, but she planned on sticking it out until then due to how close her sons were with Richard. Toward the end of the interview, the officer made it clear that it was pretty obvious that something seemed fishy about the whole thing, due to the location that it happened in, the

circumstances, all of those things. Again, this wasn't your typical park where people flocked to. And not to mention, it was late at night, in the middle of February. Something wasn't right. So police decided to hone more in on Juan as one of their main suspects. I mean, it would kind of make sense if they had been together and in touch for a period of, I don't know, five years, there had to have been some very deep feelings going on here. And maybe Juan was ready to be the main man in Stacy's life. And she did tell police that she

told Juan about her Valentine's Day plans with Richard at the park, so it seems plausible. Now, Juan worked as a surgical assistant in Stacy's clinic and he was hired by her, even though he actually didn't have any experience required for the job. Before he was hired, he had a hotel security job, which is honestly kind of scary considering he was given a medical job with zero medical skills or prior training.

But in her interview, she said that she hired him because she felt bad for him. He was a struggling divorced father to multiple kids who needed a good paying job. Not to mention, Stacey had a lot of power with her job. She had a big say on who worked there, who got hired, and who didn't. So as more came out during the interview about Juan and the relationship that he and Stacey had, it wasn't just your typical affair. Stacey seemed to be bankrolling Juan's life completely.

I mean, first off, she provided shelter for him and his family because he and his family lived in a house that she and Richard owned. But it was also more than that. She paid for his phone bills, his truck. She would take him on work trips, but really it was just a trip for them to go to Vegas. And that most recent one happened only a few weeks before Richard was murdered.

And not only all of that, but Stacey also rented an apartment for the sole purpose of having a place for them to hook up, like a secret love shack, a love pad. Now I don't know how she was hiding all of this from Richard either, because that relationship came with a really hefty monthly price tag And I feel like that would have been very difficult to keep secret. That is very expensive. You have his truck He's living in one of your properties. So you're not getting the income from that. You have a love shack apartment You're using work trips. How does that go unnoticed unless Richard Richard really was just truly so hands off with all of the finances? So after the police wrapped things up with Stacy, Juan was now the prime suspect.

So at 4 a.m. on February 15th, police went to Juan's house, but after knocking for a little bit, nobody was answering the door. So they went around the perimeter of the house, they were knocking, continuing, but again, nobody was coming out. So now they decided they would just try to get in touch with him in the morning at work, where they did in fact find him. But he looked a little different than usual.

In the weeks leading up to Richard's murder, Juan had a beard, but then when the police questioned him he had shaved the beard into a goatee. But either way he was okay with talking to the police and he even waved having a lawyer present. He claimed that he had nothing to do with the murder. He also took a polygraph and the results came back, but they did show as inconclusive. He was questioned for four hours by multiple different detectives.

And Juan didn't hide or lie about the relationship that he had with Stacy. He even talked about all of the things that she bought for him and claimed that Stacy had told him that her marriage was kind of an open marriage, and that her and Richard were allowed to do their own thing. Juan also kind of made it clear that he wasn't really even in love with Stacy, but pretty much just used her for the money, and he fully intended on cutting her loose when he was able to financially. So he wasn't in this for the long haul and it didn't seem like this was motivated financially.

So then the investigator asked him when she mentioned that she was gonna be meeting her husband, Richard, at that park for Valentine's Day, to which Juan replied Friday after work. But the problem was this went against what Stacy had said during her interrogation. So then the detective said, well, would you find it odd if I told you that she made a statement

that she told you earlier than Friday? To which Juan said, no, I mean, I remember the conversation on Friday. If she mentioned it before that, I wasn't thinking about it or didn't pay attention to it. I am forgetful sometimes. So he gave his alibi to the police, saying that on the day of the murder,

he was out and about with his girlfriend and his son Anthony. Now to make things clear, when he mentioned girlfriend, he meant his unnamed ex-wife, who he was attempting to get back together with, albeit while he was still seeing Stacey on the side. He went on to say that he was a very light sleeper who always was tossing and turning and that he ran on about three to four hours of sleep, which really then drew some red flags for the police, being that they were knocking at his door and his windows at 4 a.m. and he didn't answer, which if he claimed to be in bed by 10 30 that evening and only got a usual three four hours max of sleep and was also a light sleeper, there was really no reason that he wouldn't have been able to hear the knocking at his door and answer the door. Which to all this, Juan just kind of said, well hey, you know, I don't know what to tell you because I was in bed all night. Even though the police ran his

doorbell 10 plus times, he was saying he was in bed and didn't hear it. Now things weren't looking very great for Juan because at this point he hadn't passed the polygraph test. The results were partially inconclusive when it came to questions regarding Richard's murder, such as were you present when Richard was shot and did you shoot Richard? But not only that, but he had changed his overall appearance by shaving his beard off. He also didn't answer the door in the middle of the night, even though to his own admission he was a light sleeper. But he did claim that he was with his ex-wife and some of his kids the night of the murder,

that they were doing family stuff. So the best way to figure out whether or not Juan was involved was to cooperate his story with his ex. So she was brought in for questioning, and she talked about how she wasn't Stacy's biggest fan, and how she felt like she and Juan were too close. She also said that while she didn't care for Stacy much, she would come around a lot

and spend a lot of time with their kids. So that's when the detective revealed to her that Juan had been having an affair with Stacy for quite some time. And although she wasn't happy to hear that, not at all, she also didn't seem very surprised by it either. Now, apparently Juan's ex-wife would stay at home with the kids.

So I almost wonder if she knew deep down all along that that's what was going on, but didn't say anything because she knew that Stacey was providing quite a bit financially for her and her family. And maybe that's why she bit her tongue a little bit on Stacey coming around so much and being so heavily involved in her kids' lives. I think it also makes sense that that's why they had the little love shack apartment because they couldn't clearly go to Juan's house that his ex-wife was living in with the children, right? But the key thing that came out of her interview with detectives was whether or not she was able to co-operate

where Juan was, when he said he was, what he was doing, who he was with. So even though Juan had a lot of things stacked against him that really didn't shine the best light on him, at this point she co-operated the story, so he was free to go. His alibi checked out, and that left detectives really scratching their heads as to who could have possibly killed Richard. It's not like he had any enemies. With Juan now cleared, police were back at the drawing board as to who the suspect was.

All they really had to go off of was the third set of tire marks that were found at the crime scene. But without knowing what type of car had the type of tires that were found, it was almost like finding a needle in a haystack. So the detectives did a massive deep dive to figure out the make and the model of the car that had been at the scene. Lieutenant Dan Franklin and other officers scoured the internet. They visited local places that sold tires, and they spoke with car dealerships. And then finally, while visiting a tire store, Lieutenant Franklin and his partner spotted a tire in that store that they knew they were looking for. They knew it had the marks, and it was a Goodyear Integrity tire.

But the thing was, figuring out the tire was only a small piece to this puzzle. It's not like Goodyear is some obscure brand of tires, right? It's one of the biggest tire brands in the world. I mean, its net sales in 2021 were $17.5 billion dollars alone. So even though it was great that the detectives were able to find the brand of tires that were there that day, it didn't really help them much in finding out who was driving the car. So Stacy and all of Richard's friends and family all gathered for his memorial service on February 20th.

And Stacy requested that everybody wear their personal favorite color because Richard just had an extreme love for color and all things art, if you remember. All of the Paul Bears were Cub Scouts that Richard had mentored. And after the memorial, everybody gathered for a helium balloon launch afterwards where they wrote their favorite

memories and messages to Richard. It was truly the perfect ceremony that embodied how special Richard was to so many people and the impact he really had on people's lives. Now meanwhile, the police were receiving tips about Richard's murder, but nothing that led to much. That was until an IT worker who worked at Stacy's office called something into the police department, unsure of whether or not it was even worth calling in for, but they figured that they were just going to report it anyway. The unnamed IT worker was in charge of cleaning out all of the company's email on a semi-regular basis.

Anything that didn't need to still be in the server, just clear things out. And they noticed that the weekend of Richard's murder, Stacey had cleared all of her accounts from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday emails. Now obviously, that made police very suspicious of Stacey. And luckily, when it comes to most things computer related, things are never really deleted. And that was also the case for her emails because they had been backed up.

So the police issued a warrant for her email account and they obtained access to over 4,000 of her emails, which went back much further than the Friday before Richard died. Now the majority of them were junk mail or they weren't relevant to the case. But she did have two deleted messages that she had sent to her bank asking for money to be moved from a real estate account that her work had. And get this, the first message to her bank was asking for a very specific amount, $8,902.

And this was just a few weeks before Valentine's Day, which I mean talk about specific. Why not just $8,900 or $9,000? The extra $2 really were throwing me off. But what's really interesting is in the second message, Stacey sent this two days before Richard died, and it was asking for $1,100. So what in the world did Stacy want $10,000 for, or $10,002, I should say? Well, it turns out that she wanted that money sent over to somebody named Linitra Ross. Linitra and Stacy knew each other well due to the fact that not only did Linitra

work at Stacy's job, but she also rented a house from Stacey. So police went directly to this rental home, and they wanted to get to the bottom of all of this, to the bottom of why Linitra received $10,000 from her work's real estate account through Stacey. And when they arrived, Linitra seemed pretty undisturbed that officers were showing up to her door asking her about the money transfer. She also had a pretty good reason for why Stacy would have transferred that much money to her. She said that it was for home repairs, including a water leak. And she was able to provide receipts for the different types of housework that she had done using that money that was given to her. So she had the receipts to prove it. So at the end of the day, this investigation again just hit another dead end.

Each time the investigators thought that they were on to something, it wouldn't pan out. All the while, Stacey was going on, living life, not crying, or seeming even a bit upset. She was posting on Facebook about what she had been up to lately, and honestly, going through her posts a couple months after everything, you would never guess that her husband had died so recently, no less than murdered in cold blood. I mean, I get that life has to move on, but some of her statuses seemed a little bit strange. She seemed more interested in birthday parties,

basketball games, and roller derbies, over figuring out her husband's murderer, which still hadn't been solved. But something interesting that did come out was that Stacey stood to gain nearly $600,000 from Richard's life insurance policy. And this really made detectives wonder if that could have played into his suspicious death.

The life insurance will always lead you down one road, guys, every single time without fail. But is that the right road to go down? So just when this case now seemed to be impossible to solve, the police received another pretty credible tip, and this was from somebody in the family, Stacey's cousin Connie Hearn. Connie was a bit younger than Stacey, but the two of them were really close, practically like sisters. And she had been sitting on something pretty big for a while, and she was unsure whether

or not to tell the police due to the fact that she was so close with Stacy. Stacy had been put in charge of selling her grandparents Chevrolet Impala, and this was not too long before Richard was murdered. Her grandparents needed the money for their around-the-clock care, because remember, they weren't exactly in the best condition. They were aging and they were sick and they needed constant care. And being that Stacey was the planner, and the one who usually took charge of the family, she was assigned the task of selling the car for them.

But when she took over the car, it was apparently gone for a couple of weeks. Then it was back. Then, shortly after, it was gone again. But her grandparents never received any money. And as time went on, people in the family, Connie especially, were really wanting to know where that money was. Because Stacey said that she sold the car for about 14 grand. And that's not exactly chump change, so where or what did she spend that money on? So the investigators ran the VIN number on the car, and they ended up finding it at none other than Lenitra's house. And not only that, but it had the exact tires that the

investigators knew were at the scene of the crime. But even so, there wasn't enough evidence to prove that Lenitra was the one who murdered Richard. So Lieutenant Franklin figured out a plan B, one that was gonna take a little bit of time. All along, investigators knew that whoever did kill Richard had been waiting for him to arrive at the park, though it wasn't clear how long they were waiting. Well, what does anyone do while they are waiting? They usually will pull out their phone,

they will start going on apps, they will start scrolling social media, maybe send some text messages, make a call, whatever they can do to pass the time. So Lieutenant Franklin decided to subpoena any and all phone records from the night of Richard's murder, February 14th, 2010, and he did this through a tower dump. Now essentially a tower dump is whenever police or any law enforcement agency collects a ton of cell phone data from specific areas over a certain amount of time. They do this through the cell phone companies that

operate in the targeted area through the cell tower. And the cell tower in the area near the park serviced four of the big cell phone companies, meaning there were literally endless amounts of records collected. It would have taken investigators months to go through it all. But Lieutenant Franklin had a brilliant idea to shorten the list and shorten it quite a bit.

So at that point, he felt pretty strongly that Stacey was involved in her husband's murder in one way or another. So he figured that it wasn't a long shot that whoever shot Richard very well might be a contact in Stacy's phone. And what could have been a month or even longer search ended up only being one hour. Because Lieutenant Franklin found a match. One number had made a call from Belton Bridge Park at 8.40 p.m. the night that Stacey found Richard dead at the park.

And the contact in her phone who matched the number was listed under Reggie. But he was also known as Mr. Results. But the number that Reggie called from the park wasn't Stacey. So, any guesses on who it could be? Lenitra. So at this point, the investigators needed to figure out who Reggie was, why he was calling Lenitra right before Richard's murder, and how he was connected to Stacey in the first place.

Well, it turns out that 36-year-old Reggie Coleman knew Stacey because he had held boxing boot camp sessions at her workplace during the employees' lunch breaks. And he used to be a semi-pro boxer and was now a personal trainer, hence the name Mr. Results. And Reggie also had an on-and-off-again romantic relationship with Lenitra. And he also had a child with her. He was from the Philadelphia area, but had moved to Georgia after serving time in prison because he had a criminal record.

But when he moved to Georgia, it was his way of starting fresh. So that's when he started his personal training business. And he also worked with young people who were on the same bad path as he was at that age, really trying to help them turn their lives around. So the phone records went on to reveal that Reggie made another call to Lenitra at 9.40 PM. And at that point, Richard was dead. So it was safe to assume that he was probably calling her to let her know that

he was heading back. And just a few minutes after that call, Lenitra texted Stacey. She sent her a text saying, forgot to tell you, I'm coming in late tomorrow. By the way, happy Valentine's Day. So investigators had a hunch that the text was actually a secret coded message to Stacey to let her know that the job was done and Richard was dead. So at that point the investigators knew that they were dealing with some type of murder-for-hire plot, right? And that all three of the people were somehow involved in this situation.

But it was a bit tricky to try and arrange speaking with each individual separately, without one of the others then finding out and then fleeing and running. So the investigators attempted to concoct a plan, all in order to prevent that. And they called that plan Operation Tangled Web. So in the meantime, while Operation Tangled Web was deep underway, on May 23rd, Richard's ashes were scattered by parachute alongside his father, Ed, who had died before him.

The ceremony took place at Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and Stacey was the one who spread Richard's ashes. Afterwards, she took to Facebook, saying, This was a bittersweet day. My first hot air balloon ride. Taken to scatter Richard's ashes. Thank you to all who made it special. The hot air balloon flight was wonderful. Richard would have loved it. I can't wait to see all of the pictures.

Much love to you all. So police figured out a way to get a hold of each person all at once. And on May 25th, the plan went down. First, officers arrested Reggie at 7.30 a.m. at his house. Then, they stopped LaNitra at a traffic stop around 9.15 a.m. and they arrested her. And then, they got a hold of Stacey while at work. Well, kind of. So get this. When police arrived at her job, one of her co-workers said, oh hey, police are here. And Stacey panicked.

She ran and locked herself in a room that was only accessible by approved personnel through a keycard. Which, how dumb can you be? I mean, did she really think that she could hide out forever in this small room? So not too long after that, she surrendered herself and she was arrested at 1 15 p.m. Lanitra and Reggie just played completely dumb during their interrogation. Lanitra said that she had no idea why she was there and Reggie just acted like he had no idea who the victim was or what was going on. Stacey

on the other hand, she didn't play dumb. She took a very different route, and she made a very strong accusation against Richard, claiming that her middle child came to her saying, You don't know what he does to me when you're not around. Now, not only would that be horrible and downright unimaginable for any parent to ever hear, but Stacy also told the police that she had been physically harmed in a sexual manner as well as a child. So hearing that and hearing that it was happening to her child too was just too much for her to bear. So she said that she talked to Lenitra about the situation since they were such good friends. And while most people in that situation would try to be there for their friend during such a dark time, maybe even suggest calling the police, Linitra suggested something much more sinister.

She said that Reggie could take care of Richard, all for a price. And she claimed that killing people was something that Reggie did to make a little bit of extra money on the side. Like, it was a casual side hustle or something like, oh yeah, he does this a little bit to just kind of make some cash on the side. What? So the three of them all met up at a Mexican restaurant for lunch one day to figure out the twisted details Reggie said that he would do the whole thing for a flat rate of ten thousand dollars, which Stacy agreed to But she also told him that she would give him her grandparents impala car And of course Lenitra wasn't left out of this deal at all, because in exchange for her cooperation and the finder's fee, she now received the house that was Stacey's without any monthly

payments. It was now completely hers. So when everything was all in agreement, all three of them headed to Belton Bridge Park to make sure that the area would work, and that's where they mapped out their game plan. Stacey told Reggie that she wanted the murder to look like a robbery gone bad. And as we know, with what really went down, that wasn't the case at all, meaning that Reggie went rogue, just shooting Richard multiple times, then leaving all the valuables behind, which apparently really frustrated Stacey. And then Stacey revealed a devastating bombshell. Her son,

who went to her saying that Richard had been harming him, told her afterwards that what he meant about the harming wasn't actually physical harm at all, but instead he was frustrated that Richard was more of a strict parent than she was and that he didn't let things slide as easily. But then Stacey talked about how she was afraid if her and Richard ever split up that he would get custody of her kids since he was legally one of her two youngest kids' fathers. It's like she couldn't really keep her story or her motive straight at this point and was kind of just spiraling in

my opinion. But legally, the police had all they needed to proceed forward, even with Reggie and Lenitra playing dumb. Between all of the hard evidence and Stacey admitting to everything, capital punishment was very possible for her future. So she decided to work out a plea deal that if she testified against Lenitra and Reggie during their trials and told the whole story from her point of view, she would avoid lethal injections. And the courts agreed to it. So on May 17, 2012, two years after the arrests were made, Lanitra's trial took place. Unfortunately, the trial wasn't televised,

so all I could find were reports from the trial. Stacey did go up on the stand to testify about Lanitra's involvement in Richard's death and the deal that she, Lanitra, and Reggie had all agreed to. Even though up until that point, even two years later, Lenitra was still holding her ground, claiming that she was innocent. But Stacey was telling a totally different story, saying that she herself orchestrated the deal

between Lenitra and Reggie, testifying, "'I didn't, the jig is up.'" Then Stacey went into her why, her reasons for hiring Reggie through Lenitra as a hitman? She said that Richard and her sons hit it off so well as soon as she brought him around But then at some point her middle son and Richard started clashing 24-7 and then she testified that same story that she had told the detectives during her interrogation about Richard harming her son Which I don't guess and she had already said that her son had exaggerated that story.

But either way, she went on to discuss how an unnamed family member of hers had harmed her as a child, and that that was the reason that she had so many failed marriages. Basically, that the abuse stuck with her, making it hard for her to ever feel safe and ever feel at ease in a romantic relationship. After going through all of the evidence and the testimony, a week later the jury found Lanitra guilty of first-degree murder, and she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Now at this point, Reggie had heard about his baby mama sentencing and life in prison, and he figured that especially with Stacey as the main witness, there was no way that he was going to be considered not guilty, and he knew that the death sentence was on the table for him, and that that was

strongly being considered, too. So a few months later, on November 12th, he pleaded guilty to the murder, and he was given the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole so that he would not receive capital punishment. Stacey had taken her plea deal in agreeing to testify against Reggie and Lanitra a long time ago so that she could avoid the death sentence, but her sentencing was still yet to be determined. So investigators decided to look more

into why she claimed she killed Richard, being that she literally testified in court about it. Because if that was the case, if Richard really did harm her child, that could have potentially helped her case as far as whether or not she got the possibility of parole. So the police decided to go directly to the source, Stacey's son, who she claimed had come to her saying, you don't know what he does to me when you're not around. And when the child spoke to the police, he said that that never happened

and that he never said anything like that. Investigators couldn't even find evidence that the conversation between Stacey and her son ever even happened in the first place. Not one saying that he had said Richard was harming him or even the one of him saying that he was exaggerating. So on December 3rd, Stacey officially pled guilty for what she had done.

And I mean, at this point, she had literally already testified saying, I did it, the jig is up, so there wasn't really anywhere else for her to take this. So now it came down to her sentencing. And the prosecution team believed that Stacey was lying entirely about those abuse claims against Richard, and instead used that as a cover-up for the real reason that she wanted him dead. They believed that she just didn't want to have to pay for a divorce, that she didn't want to deal with custody issues, or even have to pay some type of spousal support to him since she made the money in the family. And the judge agreed with the prosecution. So they sentenced her to life in prison without parole.

Today, Stacey is serving her life sentence without the possibility of parole in Hawkins, Georgia, at Polanski State Prison. And apparently, she still feels very bad about what she did and is working, trying hard to fix her wrongs, like that's even possible. However, she still is sticking to her story about believing that Richard had harmed her child. Her family claims that she has now found God, she has now found God. She has earned an associate's degree in biblical studies and is working toward becoming an ordained minister. She is also working on a children's book for kids who have parents in prison,

because apparently she likes to write poems and short stories during her time pondering what she did. So on top of creative writing, Stacey also likes to teach her fellow inmates about their health regarding risks that they are at. How to protect their health in prison, about their right to proper health care behind bars, all of those things. So safe to say, Stacey seems to be doing just perfectly fine in prison and hasn't seemed to even make any sort of enemies. In fact, it almost seems like she's kind of taken on a leadership role, similar to how she was before she was sentenced to life in prison. Reggie and Lanitra are also serving their life sentences in prison without the possibility

of parole. However, there isn't any information or updates with how they are handling prison life. Lanitra did try to appeal her sentencing in 2014 due to her and her attorneys thinking that her cell phone records should not have been used for evidence, but her appeal was denied in 2015. Stacey's sons are all adults now, and they all have lives of their own, away from the spotlight. It isn't clear if they are still in their mother's life at all or if they're not, but Richard's family and friends have all had to go on living life without him. Richard filled a space in so many people's lives

from being an amazing dad, a friend, a scout leader, and just a community asset. And Richard's life just being stolen from him was felt by many. Stacey's family has voiced their opinion over the years that although they love her, they are okay with the sentencing and that they believe that she is where she needs to be,

especially because of the fact that Richard was such an amazing person. I mean, this case is just beyond shocking, and honestly, even after going through it all, it still kind of is a little bit of a head-scratcher. Richard was truly a good man. He had never harmed so much as a fly. And yet, Stacey hired a hitman to murder him because she didn't want to deal with custody issues? I just don't get it. And now, of course, cliché as it is, she has apparently found God. And maybe she did, but this is just a theory. But I kind of think that Stacey just wanted a way to rise up in prison. And what better way than to take on a religious

role and get people to confide in you? She was always known to be somebody who liked to be in control, she liked having power, and that kind of thing doesn't really just go away once somebody goes to prison. Not only that, but she also took on a teacher slash mentor type of role, using her medical knowledge to teach female inmates about their health. I don't know, it's just a theory, but either way, at the end of the day, Stacey is a cold-hearted, calculated solicitor of murder, period. Not only did she hire a hitman on her innocent husband,

but she then went and defamed his name when he wasn't even around to stick up for himself. And being that it came out as being a straight-up lie, it's not only so disrespectful to Richard's family and friends, but it just goes to show even though she didn't physically pull the trigger, she just is a monster. Which is such a shame in so many ways, not only for Richard, but also the fact that Stacey could have used her smarts and hard work ethic for good, but instead, she did the unthinkable. I'm curious to know what you guys think about this case too. Are you happy with the sentencing for Stacey, Reggie, and Linitra? I'm curious if Richard had any idea that Stacey had been cheating on him too. Are you happy with the sentencing for Stacey, Reggie, and Linitra? I'm curious if Richard

had any idea that Stacey had been cheating on him too. I read some rumors that he did know but wanted to work things out, but I'm not sure if that's true or not. I also have a bit of a, I don't know, morbid curiosity to whether or not Stacey will be one of those women who marries in prison. I mean, hey, maybe it'll be, I don't know, lucky number six for her, you never know. Especially with someone like her, who seems to not be okay with being alone for any long stretch of time. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to today's mini bonus episode in lieu of headline highlights. As a reminder, that's also kind of a little sneak preview to all of the bonus episodes that we do every single Friday. As a reminder, if you ever need more content to binge, I put out a bonus episode every single Friday

where it's ad free and it's a mini deep dive into a case. Some of them are current event cases, some of them are older cases, it really just depends. But you can get access to those if you want, either through Patreon, which is patreon.com slash Annie Elise, or if you listen on Apple, you can do it directly on the Apple Podcast app. So if you sign up right now too, you unlock,

I believe it's almost like 70 bonus episodes, and then like I said, a new one every single Friday, all ad free. So that's just kind of today's episode is a little sneak preview of what those episodes are like. All right guys, thank you so much for tuning in today, and I will be back on the mic with you first thing, Monday morning with an all new

Deep dive case. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Enjoy your week your time with your family and I'll talk with you guys very soon Thanks for watching!