Snapped: Women Who Murder - Amy Van Wagner

Episode Date: May 29, 2022

A quiet Wisconsin town is shaken by its first homicide in six years when an eccentric father of four is found dead in his basement.Season 23, Episode 12Originally aired: April 22, 2020Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WsLCJWqmIebSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wonder East Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. They were a loving couple, leading a quirky lifestyle. She always referred to herself as a good witch. I mean, they were just different, you know what I mean?

They really loved each other, and you could see it. Did their peculiar passions trigger a deadly desire? When we moved that deer skinned rug, we found a massive pool of blood. The talk that Sunday night was suicide. As investigators dig into the case, they unearthed a trills of secrets and lies. The phrase, don't tell your father, did come up. You did this to my daughter in my house.

You were my house. You were my friend. How dare you? This is a 16 year old kid. He knows what a gunshot sounds like. He always told me it's a sickness. I love guns I have to have them. May 17, 2015. It's a quiet Sunday evening in O'Connor, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

A thriving lakeside community due west of Milwaukee. Like most of his neighbors, 40-year-old Donald Hanson is at home, savoring the final few hours of the weekend. A lot of the houses on that street, particularly the families all knew each other, all certainly were the type to help a neighbor if needed. And that night,

one neighbor would desperately need Donald's help. Around 6.30 p.m., Amy Van Wagner ran across the street to a neighbor's house, Dot Hanson. She was crying. She was pretty hysterical. She didn't say much. It was just, stand. He's in the basement. 50-year-old Stan Van Wagner is Amy's husband of over 20 years. She had said something's wrong with Stan and that prompted Don Hansen to go over to the house

to find out what was going on. While Amy waits outside, Don enters the Van Wagner residence and heads into the basement. He goes in the basement and he sees a body wrapped in a tart. Donald Hanson's gruesome discovery will trigger a police investigation, the likes of which the town of Ocona-Malok has never seen.

By all accounts, Stan and Amy Van Wagner seemed to be leading a charmed life. They had raised three loving children and had carved out a comfortable living in scenic Okonomowak. But their story actually starts way back in 1986, when Stan, a Massachusetts native, enlisted in the Army and was deployed to Fort Hood, Texas. He always likes driving trucks. He always likes wagging into tanks, I think, in the Army.

You know, he likes driving that heavy equipment. And he was really good at it, too. While in Fort Hood, Stan met a young woman named Grace. They quickly fell in love. When Stan's military service was complete, he married her and moved to be near her family in Illinois. Sally didn't want to come back to Massachusetts. Sally wanted to be out on his own, doing his own thing,

with his own way, and that's pretty much what he did. While the marriage lasted just a few years, after the divorce, Stan decided to move to Wisconsin for work. He really liked Wisconsin. The hunting, the fishing, the outdoors, you know what I mean, to change the seasons, he just loved it. In addition to the hunting and fishing, Stan developed an unusual new hobby, taxidermy. He made some fun stuff, some back-room hats. He built a deer hide jacket with horns on it on

the hood. There was deer hides all over the place. Stan's friends worried that he'd never get a date with a house full of dead animals. But in the summer of 1991, while driving a truck for a local recycling facility, Stan crossed paths with the plant's 27-year-old secretary, Amy Marie Chowesnik. Like Stan, Amy had always taken pride in living life on her own terms. Amy loved the fact that she was born on October 31st.

She celebrated Halloween a good chunk of the year. Always referred to herself as a good witch. What you saw is what you got with Amy. She was very real, very down-to-earth. You never felt judged by her. Pretty soon, the amateur taxidermist and a good witch hit it off. And in the summer of 1992, they began dating.

We all know Stan and Amy had a dark side, a fun dark side. They didn't stick to the social norms, and they were both okay with that. They made it look so easy and so fun to be free in that respect. Stanly loved Amy, so my mother said, yes, if it'll make you happy, marry Amy. In 1993, the couple did just that. And of course, they chose to do it their way

with a Renaissance-themed wedding. I know they were both very interested in the Renaissance. I have pictures of the Renaissance wedding. It was a beautiful wedding. It was a very unique wedding. How they dressed and the attire that they wore, it was fun. They were happy. After tying the knot, the couple moved to a comfortable home

near the lake in O'Connor, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1994, Amy gave birth to their first son, who's a named Wolfgang. In 1996, they added a daughter. And another son, Thor, came along in 1999. In 1996, they added a daughter, and another son, Thor, came along in 1999. When the kids were growing up, she was a stayed-home mom. She wanted to raise those kids, she wanted to care the kids.

Amy would stand up from like a mother bear, and she always called herself Mama T. Rex. They couldn't have asked for a better mother. While Amy stayed home with the kids, Stan worked 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, to make sure his family wanted for nothing. It was also pretty good at managing money in front. He knew what was going on and how much, and he made a point of it.

He'd sit back there, he'd go over his finances. I don't think I ever saw the guy on a plight. I've seen the guy drive dump trucks. I've seen him suck mud out of ditches. I've seen him chop hundreds of cords of wood. He had a love for family. Literally do anything for family. As the children got older, Amy started working outside

the home again, eventually landing an office position at a stone company in the nearby town of Sussex. While things were financially stable, Stan and Amy never flaunted what they had. Stan and Amy, they didn't buy the extravagant things. They made things work. They didn't have steak and potatoes for dinner every night.

They didn't go out for dinner. Instead, Stan and Amy poured their savings into paying off and redecorating their home in a style that truly fit their personality. They had a little garage bar. He started decorating the walls. He had medieval swords, tools, battle, regalia, shields, little dragons here and there.

The name of the garage, which was actually a bar, was the dragon inn. little dragons here and there. The name of the garage, which was actually a barn, was the dragon in. They were a little less normal than everybody, but they liked it that way, and so did I. Amy and Stan presided over their many get-togethers like a king and queen of a castle. When they did have the parties, you know,

she'd stand up on a chair and lean across the bar and he'd lean the other way and they'd kiss and people would cheer. Then, in 2015, Amy and Stan received an unexpected financial windfall. All of a sudden, she's like, I have this $80,000 inheritance. It was some uncle that had passed and left it to them. Always wise with their money, Stan and Amy opted to put the lion's share of the inheritance toward paying down their mortgage.

Amy put $60,000 down on paying off the house. So they only owed $17,000 on their house. There's not many people nowadays who can say that. With the house almost paid off, and both he and Amy still working, Stan decided it was high time, the couples splurged a little. Stan went ahead and bought the money for the Corvette.

He bought Amy a nice Mustang convertible. When Stan got the Mustang for Amy, she was ecstatic. She has always wanted one. Stan paid for it in full. So much he loved her. By 2015, their son and daughter were out on their own, and only the youngest child Thor was still in the house. It seemed Stan and Amy were well set up for their golden years.

And as their 22nd anniversary approached, the couple simply couldn't believe their luck. I was not only proud of my brother Stan, I was a little jealous of my brother Stan. Stan would have had what I would have assumed to be a perfect life. Or so it seemed. On May 17, 2015,

what neighbor Donald Hansen finds will rip Stan and Amy's picture perfect life apart at the seams. He initially just peels back the tarp a little bit and can see that it's Stan Ben Wager. I think anybody would be a little taken aback by what they saw. First responders arrive within minutes. They open the tarp to try to see if Stan is alive. He's not.

He's called to the touch, and there's nothing anybody can do. He is deceased. It was an apparent gun shot injury. The first responding officers could observe that. Detectives from the O'Connor-Mawok Police Department are called in to secure the scene. As they do so, a terrified Amy looks on in disbelief. Amy was absolutely in hysterics. Like, any wife would be your husband's dad, you know. She was distraught. She was very sad. She was your husband's dad, you know. She was distraught.

She was very sad. She was crying. She was, you know, ringing her hands and acting very disturbed about the fact that her husband was dead. Coming up, as investigators process the scene, questions begin to swirl about what led to Stan's death and the possibilities seem endless. Maybe he was selling guns and somebody just murdered him

and stole them. It was very real. We thought this could be a possibility but he did something. He wasn't thinking straight. -♪ As they approached their 22nd wedding anniversary, Stan and Amy Van Wagner had never looked more in love. Stan and Amy really loved each other, and you could see it, you know, on some couples

you don't see it. You could definitely see it with them. With only their youngest son Thor's still in the house, Amy and Stan were just a few months away from becoming empty nesters. That's why I always thought that my brother Stan had had a great life. It should have been retirement time, relax a little bit, and you've earned it.

And it just didn't work out there. That's because on May 17, 2015, Stan Van Wagner's lifeless body was found in the basement of his home, the victim of an apparent gunshot wound. As investigators cordoned off the scene, news of Stan's death rips through the quiet lakeside community of O'Connor, Milwaukee. Within the hour, friends and family

have all gathered outside Stan and Amy's home to try and comfort one another. It's not true. You know what I mean? You just leave your house. You go not believing. You don't want to believe it. It slams you right in the gut.

To hear that your brother's gone, that you're never going to see him again. You're never going to get. To hear that your brother's gone, that you're never gonna see him again. You're never gonna get to talk to him again. On the front lawn, a bewildered Amy tells investigators what she knows about the events leading up to Stan's death. She said that the last time she had seen Stan was Friday morning, May 15. Stan said he was sick. He called into work.

He was laying on the couch in the office and I just opened the door. I said, I got to go on, run the lights. He said, drive safe. Make sure work got my message. And did he indicate any plans or the day or for... I thought he would be home sick. I thought he would still be there when I got home. Amy says that she planned to knock off work early in order to take care of Stan. But when she got home, her husband was nowhere to be found.

She wasn't home. And that's where, when I hadn't even talked to him, he didn't let me know that he felt better or anything. She thought maybe he was going wood cutting or fishing or something with his friends later in the day. He was very close with his friends, so he spent a lot of time with them. Amy says she still wasn't alarmed,

even when Sunday afternoon rolled around, and there was still no word from Stan. She said it wasn't unusual that we hadn't seen each other all weekend. It wasn't unusual that we didn't check in with each other. That's just how Stan and I were. But when Stan failed to show for their regular Sunday dinner, Amy began to worry. But when Stan failed to show for their regular Sunday dinner, Amy began to worry. On Sunday, Amy put up a Facebook post saying, flowers planted, dinners in the oven,

just wondering where my husband is. So she says, I go downstairs, and she says, when I went in there, it was difficult for me to open the door. But eventually I got the door open, and I see feet sticking out, blue tarp. And that's when she runs upstairs over the Don Hansen house and calls Nightwood One. Amy's like, why did he do this? She was thinking that Stan took his own life. The talk that Sunday night was suicide.

They treated the crime scene initially as a suicide. But why would Stan Van Wagner, a man who seemed to be leading a charmed life, decide to end it at the point of a gun? That's when Amy makes a startling revelation to police. Stan got the shingles, and he was very much in pain. He was so uncomfortable. Always went to work, but he was miserable. Amy also reveals that instead of seeking treatment

from a doctor, Stan was self-medicating. He would post photos of a bottle of Jack Daniels, I be profan, Benadriel, cocktail of medications, and alcohol, saying anything so I can sleep. They'll Stan. He was one of those guys I could fix it. Had Amy's fears come true? Had a combination of drugs, alcohol, and pain pushed her once happy husband over the edge? I was unbearable for him.

So it was very real. We thought this could be a possibility. He did something. He wasn't thinking straight. Perhaps that explains why Stan's body was lying on a tarp. As investigators know, it's not unusual for suicide victims to plan ahead. It seems like a plausible theory,

until detectives take a closer look at the room where Stan's body was found. They don't find any bullets. They don't find any bullet casings. There is not a large amount of blood anywhere. Most importantly, there's no gun. They move the body in, they're like, oh, whoops. There's no gun here. Kind of hard to shoot yourself without the gun being in the same room. With no gun to be found, investigators take a closer look

at the body. It wasn't a headshot, it wasn't towards the heart, there were bullet holes in his back. Three bullet holes to be precise. It wasn't an accident, it wasn't a suicide, it was a murder. So you went from trying to process that Stan took his own life to know he was murdered. And now you have a whole new set of emotions,

trying to figure out why, who, when. So the question, is this where he really died? Is this where he was really shot? Detectives find two more clues not far from Stan's body. They see a pillow, they see a laptop, there's a hole through it. It looked consistent with a bullet hole. As officers collect the pillow and laptop

and tag them as evidence, detectives make their way upstairs. What we did find is pillows that were the same types were actually in the den. They're matching pillows on the couch in the office. The power cord to the laptop computer was still there, connected to an outlet. There wasn't necessarily a lot of damage in the room.

Didn't look like there had been any type of struggle. There wasn't a lot of things out of place. That's when detectives discover something that does seem out of place. A deer skin rub. It's down when you put a deer skin on a floor because you walk on the deer skin and tears the hair out of place. A deer skin rug. Stand one and put a deer skin on a floor because you walk on the deer skin to tear the hair out of it.

It was decorative. It wouldn't be down in the floor. When we move that deer skin rug, we found a massive pool of blood. We believe there was some effort to disguise the crime scene because of the deer skin rug on the floor. Investigators also find shell casings and bullet holes in the wall and floor.

Based on that information, we know that Stan Van Wagener was killed in the office. This had to be where Stan had been shot and died. If that's the case, then who killed Stan Van Wagner? And why? The patio door hadn't been pushed in, the front door hadn't had any sort of damage to it that would indicate it was forced in.

We never located Stan's cell phone. And initially, that seemed to be the only thing missing until officers noticed a gunsafe in the corner of the room. He asked, Amy, you know, are there any guns missing? And she did indicate, yes, there are guns missing from that safe. Among the missing weapons are several rifles as well as a 380 caliber pistol, the same caliber as the bullet casings found on the floor of the office.

When investigators press Amy for more information about Stan's gun collection, she tells them that Stan was an avid sportsman and weapons enthusiast who liked to buy and trade guns on the internet. He always told me, it's a sickness rob. I love guns I have to have. And according to Amy, just prior to his death, Stan had been thinking of selling his 380 pistol. Could Stan have arranged a gun deal on Friday while Amy was at work, only to have it turned deadly?

Maybe he was selling guns and maybe somebody just wanted them and didn't want to pay anything for him and murdered him and stole them. Coming up, did Stan's love of guns lead to his untimely death? Could a seemingly normal transaction have had tragic consequences? To Craigslist and somebody responds to, they still go on, kill them with it, make off without having to pay a dime. Summer is finally here, which means the great outdoors are hotter, more humid and filled with bugs.

Actually come to think of it, there's no better way to spend the summer than an air-conditioned comfort while listening to your favorite podcasts. Discover the summer of podcast with two months free of Wondery Plus. With Wondery Plus, you get early and ad free access to your favorite podcasts. You can also listen to our entire library of award-winning binge-worthy shows. That's thousands of hours of captivating content in any genre you like. From true crime, to business, comedy, sports, history, and even podcasts for the whole family. With Wondery Plus, you also get access to special live events found nowhere else, as well

as discounts in the Wondery Shop. Summer is a time to relax and unwind by binging your favorite podcasts, so don't let the summer of podcasts pass you by. Right now, new subscribers can enjoy two months free of Wondry Plus. Visit Wondry.com or download the Wondry app to get started. For 20 years, Stan and Amy Van Wagner had lived life on their own terms. But now, Stan has been found dead in the couple's basement, the victim of a trio of gunshot wounds to the back. With a cache of weapons missing from Stan's gun safe, investigators wonder if Stan had been murdered in a gun deal gone wrong.

Perhaps, you know, it's a Craig's list, that somebody responds to, they steal a gun, kill him with it, make off without having to pay it down. So we did look into Craigslist and other sites where Stan could have been selling a gun. Stan had not sold a gun any time recently. With Craigslist a dead end, investigators searched the local classified ads to see if Stan had recently tried to sell his pistol there.

Again, they come up empty. There was nothing in there that showed us Stan was in the process of selling a gun, had done anything recently, to sell to somebody. With no clear proof that Stan had been trying to sell his 380 pistol, investigators turned their attention back to his wife, Amy. He said, well, Amy, you're going to be the number one suspect. They always start the inner circle, and they worked their way out from there. In an interview room, Amy has trouble keeping her grief in check. I don't have any answers. I don't want to talk in check. I don't have any answers.

I don't want to talk to anybody. I don't know what's going on. She's acting like any wife would. Whose husband just passed away, upset, not knowing what to do, not thinking straight, just out of sorts. Amy eventually composes herself long enough to tell police that Stan's bout with shingles wasn't the only problem the couple had recently been facing.

Since starting his sophomore year of high school, four, Amy and Stan's 16-year-old son had been acting out in troubling ways. One of the things we learned from our investigation is that the sun had been suspended from school. A couple months ago, he was having a problem in school and I could tell when it got to a bad point. You know, he would totally withdraw and, you know, nobody likes me and I don't know I am still here. He was in trouble or hitting tickets for driving or loitering or whatever, you know, it might have been stealing.

Stan also knew Thor's smoke marijuana. According to Amy, Thor's behavior didn't sit well with her husband at all. You know, and when Stan phoned the pod and went to the police, we leave the list. You know, and when Stan found the pods and when he was fully ballistic, anyone knocks, and he had every right, I mean, he went crazy, he, you know, drugs in our house, I mean, Stan's maybe, I think he got high wants in his entire life. Please not a little friend.

No, no, you know, he, ex-military, it's illegal, you know. Okay. You didn't have any excuse for bad behavior? You just had bad behavior. He had no patience for it. He was extremely upset about it. Um, I know he grounded him. I know he took his computer away.

He made you feel pretty miserable when he wasn't happy with you. Amy says the situation had grown even more tense three days earlier. When Thor was suspended from school, Stan did have so much pride. and please don't disrespect me. The sun was suspended from school on Thursday, and that's a big disrespect. Could a violent confrontation between Stan and his youngest son be the cause of death?

He was not happy with his father. He was kind of a lost boy at that time. We learned that Stan Benwagner kicked their son out. He had changed the locks on the door, and that all occurred during October, during this big fight. Amy is adamant that Thor could not be involved. Thor would have turned the gun on himself

before he turned it on his death. Amy identifies another man as the possible killer. The son of Stan's former best friend, Mark. The kids referred to him as Uncle Mark and many nights, Uncle Mark, stayed over because Stan and Mark were drinking. But according to Amy, one day in 2011, she was cleaning her teenage daughter's bedroom

when a text message popped up on her daughter's phone. It was from Mark. She's like, why does Uncle Mark writing her? What is he saying? She starts going through the history of text messages. And began to shake. Amy tells police that the text messages revealed that 46-year-old Mark had been engaging

in sexual intercourse with her teenage daughter for almost a year. Needless to say, Amy was furious, but her anger paled in comparison to the white hot rage of her husband. Stan was ready to go after Mark. I mean, you did this to my daughter in my house. You were my friend. How dare you? As any dad, you'd go after that son of a bitch and you'd kill him. According to Amy, cooler heads ultimately prevailed

and Stan and Amy turned Mark into the police. After his arrest, Mark accepted a plea deal. But on the day of his sentencing, Mark stood before the judge and claimed he was the real victim in the case. He actually had the nerve to say, you're on her, she was all over me. She was asking, so how was I to not?

And it took a lot for all of us to just sit there and listen to that. Amy says that's when Stan snapped. During the time when Marbon had been sentenced in court, Stan had actually attacked Mark and court. It was a melee. It was a literal free-for-honkarm. We both had about five shares piled on them.

Amy says that while the court officers were trying to subdue Stan, Mark's son began shouting threats at him. His son had threatened to kill Stan right there in a court. But even with Mark behind bars, she and Stan took the threats from his son seriously, based on his reputation around town. His son was known to be in a gang in South Milwaukee, Stan had given his kids a vehicle,

and the vehicle was spotted around town a few times. Had Mark's son finally made good on his threat to kill Stan? If so, was Mark the one who put him up to it. Speaking with investigators, the Van Wagner's friends and family certainly think so. Mark was somebody that initially everybody had brought up that he had someone, his son, a friend, or somebody else, take revenge on Stan.

Investigators pull the visitor log from the prison where Mark is incarcerated. We looked at phone calls, visiting records. That was really a dead end, essentially. We were able to say, we don't believe he did this. There was nothing there. We did look at the sun, was working at the time, and we did look to see if he was working on the day

that Stan was murdered, and he was. Looked at his cell phone records, he was nowhere near O'Connor, Milwaukee. We felt comfortable and confident that they had nothing to do with this murder. With Mark and his son eliminated as possible suspects, detectives turned their attention back to Stan and Amy's 16-year-old son, Thor.

During an interview at the station, Thor admits that his relationship with his father had been bumpy as of late. I think that's what went through a lot of his mind, is that dad didn't respect or treat him as good as he expected. But Thor tells police that he would never want to hurt his dad. He loved their father. All the children did.

Wasn't that he was a bad father? Even though Thor is adamant, he had nothing to do with his dad's murder. Investigators aren't so sure. It was said that Thor was home. You know, he was in the house. Almost that whole weekend. It stands murdered here within the home. Don't you think Thor is going to notice this?

He's not like his little toddler. This is a 16 year old kid. He knows what a gunshot sounds like. According to Thor, he never heard anything out of the ordinary the entire weekend. Coming up, Thor makes a surprising revelation, causing detectives to question everything they know about the investigation, and in the process,

shine the spotlight on another member of the Van Wagner family. Thor was crying. She's telling everybody else that Mr. Van Wagner stayed home sick from work. That is an inconsistency. May 20, 2015. It's now been three days since Stan Van Wagner was found dead in his basement. His wife Amy initially told detectives that Stan had been homesick on Friday May 15,

but Stan and Amy's son Thor claimed his mother told him just the opposite. Well, there was a discrepancy there where you're telling the only other person who could and Amy's son, Thor, claimed his mother told him just the opposite. Well, there was a discrepancy there where you're telling the only other person who could be in the house. That stands at work, but you're telling everybody else outside of that house. That Stan is at home sick. That was another big red flag that was out. So where was Stan Van Wagner on Friday, May 15th? Investigators send Stan's laptop, which had been shot during the attack, to a forensic expert.

He was able to verify that at the exact time of 3.57 AM, there was a sudden and unexpected termination of the computer activity. Could this sudden termination of the computer activity. Could this sudden termination have been from a bullet striking the screen? And if Stan had been shot at precisely 357 AM on Friday, May 15th, how had he managed to call in sick to work later that morning? Apparently, he didn't. When police visit Stan's work, Stan's boss

tells them that on May 15, 2015, Stan had texted in sick. Sicker than a dog was the text messages that his boss was getting, which would be my brother's type of language. According to Stan's boss, the language sounded like Stan, but the method of communication was completely out of character. My brother's employer, wasn't even surprised. My brother never missed work in all the years that he worked there and he never sent a

text message. My brother was not very tech savvy. I don't think my brother knew how to send a text message. You would have called you and told you. It wasn't one to not do things in person. So if Stan hadn't sent the text message, then who had? Until investigators can determine the location from which the text message was sent, identifying the sender will be next to impossible.

We can have proof with 100% certainty who was using the phone. Investigators Sapina Stan Van Wagner's cell phone records. While they wait for the order to go through, they pay his widow Amy another visit. They're hoping to clear up the discrepancy between what Amy told her friends regarding Stan's whereabouts and what she told her son Thor. However, this time around, Amy isn't quite so cooperative. She didn't want to talk to the police. They weren't allowed to house anymore.

They had to do things for a lawyer. That's not to say that that proves guilt. But her sheer does improve essence. You know, it doesn't look good for you when you do that, you know? She was very against even talking to the police. We're doing anything. You think you'd want to help Maul you can figure this out. or you would do that, you know? She was very against even talking to the police, or doing anything. You think you'd want to help Maul, you can figure this out.

You would think. With Amy refusing to answer questions, investigators reach out to the Van Wagner's Friends and Family. And again, they all say the same thing. Stand and Amy were very happy together. When you were in the house, they're joking around back and forth each other. Though friends and family all say

Stand and Amy's relationship was still on solid ground, some of them suggest there was a brief period about a year ago where the marriage seemed to be in trouble. And it all had to do with finances. Amy was what we found a little bit more free with her money. Amy had a tendency to run the credit cards up and then get extra credit cards, and there was issues with that.

Friends say that Amy's profligate spending prompted Stan to start keeping a firmer grasp on the family purse strings. Pretty much if he stuck his hand in his pocket, you couldn't pay for it. You didn't need it. They had separate checking and calling separate finances, and that's because Amy had been accused of being

a little looser with her money. Sometimes, she would give Amy some money for groceries and cigarettes or things like that, but he was really the main person who would control the finances in the house. Amy flaunted breaking Stan's rules on spending money and would even brag to friends about how she'd open the safe for Stan kept his guns

along with a huge chunk of cash. She took money from Stan. She knew where the key was to the safe. It was like a joke to her that she could get in there at any time she wanted. Friends tell police that in October of 2014, Stan discovered that Amy had been stealing money from the safe. And he put the family finances on an even tighter lockdown.

He even threatened Amy with divorce. He would tell Amy, well, you can leave. You know where the doors? This is all mine. This house is mine. Anything under this roof is mine. All of which made Amy terrified that she'd soon be all alone and completely broke.

Stan was threatening that he was going to take everything. She really believed that he was going to get everything, if he was going to follow through with this, you know, threat of divorce. Friends also say that during that time, Amy secretly borrowed money from them in an effort to pay down her credit cards and get back into Stan's good graces.

She was borrowing money from family and friends and stuff that she swore she would pay back. And for a while, it seemed like Amy's plan worked. They worked through their issues based on what we found out from friends. She essentially said things were resolved. It seemed to be over in January. Things seemed to be getting better. Friends say that was about the same time Amy received $80,000 in inheritance money

that's when some of them started calling in their deaths I told her it's just you know money is tight with me can you give me the money Amy is like yeah I'll get that money back to you not a problem but apparently it was a problem because even though the inheritance money came from Amy's uncle, Stan insisted on controlling every penny of it. He said, no, you're not going to just blow it. Instead of just wildly spending, he kind of told her, hey, you got to put this towards the house.

Let's get the house paid down. Friends tell police that without access to the inheritance money, and with no way to pay back the money she borrowed, Amy began to panic. All of a sudden, she feels the need she needs to pay it off. It was going to cause obvious stress in the marriage, perhaps a divorce perhaps, she would throw her out. Armed with this new information,

police subpoena both Amy's cell phone and financial records. In our case, we were very fortunate that these cell phone records included the content of text messages. And what those texts show is a cash-strapped woman growing more desperate with every day. She ran into a wall where she didn't have the money to pay them back. They had been asking Amy for the money that she borrowed from them. All of this was coming to a head,

and Stan was about to find out. Bank records and ATM surveillance videos also show Amy was drawing thousands of dollars just hours after Stan's death. She took this money out of the account, and she went and paid back all these people that she borrowed money from. This is very serious, very serious case.

They're obviously going right after you right now. So, as your friend, Kenan attorney, and she says, but won't I look guilty? Well, yeah. I said, but you're going to look guilty no matter what. Coming up, the most damning evidence comes when investigators finally receive Stan Van Wagner's cell phone records. Stan Van Wagner's cell phone was nowhere near where Amy Van Wagner had said he was.

For over 20 years, Amy and Stan Van Wagner appeared to be living an idyllic life together. But in February 2016, nine months after Stan was found dead in the couple's home, investigators have pieced together evidence that suggests the eclectic couple's marriage was far from perfect and that Amy murdered Stan in order to avoid the fallout from her mounting financial problems. It wasn't necessarily just one thing that we saw where we thought, yes, this has to be Amy.

It was everything put together that led us to believe that she is the one who murdered Stan Van Waver. I don't think she wanted to deal with the aftermath of having to listen to Stan, tell her, hey, screwed up, you know, I can't trust you again. Based on cell phone records, bank statements, and evidence collected from the crime scene, investigators believe that on the night of May 15, 2015, Amy opened Stan's gun safe, grabbed his 380 pistol, snagged a pillow from the sofa in the den, and crept up behind Stan while he was on his laptop

in the family office. We believe that around 3.57 am, Amy comes in and shoots Dan three times. The last shot being into his chest while he's on the floor. She apparently used the pillow to muffle the sound, was what we concluded. Maybe proceeded to drag his body downstairs, wrapped him in a tarp, and left him there until Sunday when she ran hysterically to the neighbor's home.

On February 24, 2016, detectives issue an arrest warrant for Amy Van Wagner. Amy's arrest was devastating. I couldn't believe it. It's my friend. I don't want to believe it. You don't want to ever believe that somebody you knew, you loved, whatever do such a thing. Whatever happened to you loved, whatever do such a thing,

whatever habit in them to do such a thing. A trial, Amy Van Wagner is found guilty of first-degree murder and a sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. When I heard the verdict that she was finally guilty, I just burst it into tears. I was so happy and so relieved. I heard the verdict that she was finally guilty. I just burst it into tears. I was so happy and so relieved.

As Amy is carted off to Tejita State Prison, those closest to the quirky couple still can't fathom the senseless nature of the crime. Whatever got somebody to that point is to take away a husband, father to your children. How do you justify that? I can't understand it.

Amy had to be desperate. Amy had to be at her last straw. There was just money. It was just, it wasn't even a whole lot of money. It's just filthy green paper. It doesn't, you know, it's just, it wasn't even a whole lot of money. It's just filthy green paper. It doesn't, you know, it's just pretty. Amy is serving a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.

go to oxygen.com.