Snapped: Women Who Murder - Celestine Payne

Episode Date: April 17, 2022

The identity of a Jane Doe found dead in a New Jersey park holds the key to unraveling a tangled web of fraud and murder that spanned years and pulled in multiple victims along the way.Season 28, Episode 3Originally aired: September 20, 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 Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondries 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. The discovery of a Jane Doe in a park launches an intense murder investigation. There was massive trauma to the back of the hay. Nobody knew who she was. It's an unknown teenager dead in the park.

The quest for a killer unveils a disturbing series of crimes. They noticed large stains that appeared to be dried blood. That, of course, did narrow down the suspects to somebody that knew her and had access to the house. You've been breaking the law in all kinds of ways, you're thawting people. That's how they did it, throaging and impersonating people. As detectives zero in on a motive, they uncover a criminal ring with an unlikely mastermind. Somebody you can actually manipulate people

is much more dangerous than the actual murderer. We had a lot of killers cross paths with us as far as somebody as devious and as treacherous that have to put her right at the top. were right at the top. Saturday morning brings joggers to a popular park on the east side of Patterson, New Jersey. East Side Park is a place where people love to go to jog and walk and exercise. For the most part, not a lot goes on there, but it's a pretty safe place for people to go and hang out. But just before 11am, two joggers come across something out of place. They were jogging, and it looked like there was a sleeping bag.

One of the joggers went over, and he looked, and he said he saw red sneakers and parts of the jean coming out. Way into the visual, opened it a little bit. The seat head was up, a body inside. They called the police right away. They stood by until the patrol units responded, along with a size of patrol,

with their contactors that had come to the seat. I got there approximately around noon. I saw that the crime scene had already been blocked off by the patrol officers that were present. The state medical examiner is first to inspect the body. She was able to determine that there was massive trauma to the back of the head. There was no blood around outside of his sleeping bag.

The medical examiner gave the information that this person was killed somewhere else and in place to We looked to see whether there was any identification on our person and there was no identification at that particular point She was young 18 or 19 Barely tall young lady about 130 pounds a black female Nobody knew who she was. It's an unknown teenager Dead in the park. With scarce evidence at the scene, the Jane Doe is transported to the state medical examiner's office in Newark, New Jersey. The number one thing we want to do in this is determine who the individual is,

and that a fingerprinting her at the autopsy so they could put it through aphys, which is the automated fingerprint identification system. It's not long before A-Fist comes back with a match. Then it became a case with a name. It was Tera Carter. They identified her. That's when the case really took off. Tera Carter was born October 12th, 1976.

Tara was born and raised in Patterson, New Jersey. It was me and Tara, and we have an older brother. My mom was church-going, and my dad was hardworking. He always worked a lot of hours. It's never been a time I can remember that. It wasn't all of us together. Tara was just a typical kid. She was very social, very friendly. It wasn't all of us together. Tara was just a typical kid.

She was very social, very friendly. She had no problem meeting people. Just a few years apart, Tara and her older sister Rosie were inseparable. We did church programs and we were on a fire. And my mom had us in Girl Scouts. She had a very bubbly personality. She would, you know, always come home and have a friend.

She was that person that always, you know, gravitated to people. From a young age, Tara and Rosie's closest friend was Wendy Joy Payne. We met Wendy in school. Tara and Rosie's closest friend was Wendy Joy Payne. We met Wendy in school. They always became Tara and Wendy. She started going over their house and they would come over by our house and things like that. Mark our parents met from the kids. As their friendship grew,

Tara's parents got to know Wendy's parents, Celestine and Alfonso Payne. In the 80s when we met, to know Wendy's parents, Celestine and Alfonso Paine. In the 80s when we met, it was a mom and dad. And then there was three girls and a boy. And I was there, family, element, and tower going to school with them. They, you know, wanted to stay the night somewhere sometimes.

So that's how my mom met. So that's the pain. They were just our friends. They were just nice people and good people and you know, sometimes they run into mishaps and you know, you help each other out. For years Alfonso worked as a driver for Tuxedo Enterprises while Celeste intended to the households. She was a mom who was concerned with her children, and you know, her best entrance was her children in her family. In the early 90s, the pain family came

across hard times when Alfonso fell ill. As time went by, I was like, you know, my dad is sick, he's not feeling well, so we're thinking, you know, either they're going to get well or they're gonna pass long. But in September 1991, Alfonso's life meets a sudden and tragic end. Celeste Pains' husband was discovered dead on the street in an area of town that was known for drug sales. He did have a high amount of different kind of drugs in his body. The medical examiner ruled it as an accidental death due to drugs and alcohol mixture.

Just hearing about the heat, I was just like, oh, I'm so sorry for you Wendy. That's what we were trying to do just to be there a friend, a helping hand. While offering support to the pain family, the Carter's experienced a major life change of their own. My mom moved to Alabama, but my dad, his job was still here in New Jersey. And my dad stayed here for a little bit of a tower and did a moving, I never moved. I stayed in New Jersey because I wanted to finish high school.

Though ripped away from her sister and her best friend, Wendy, I never moved. I stayed in New Jersey because I wanted to finish high school. Though ripped away from her sister and her best friend Wendy, Tara met a young man in Alabama who helped ease the pain. Tara met him. I believe in school. And when I would go down, we would go by his house. They were boyfriend and girlfriend. In 1991, when Tara was only 14, the young couple learned they were expecting a daughter. He and Tara had a relationship at the time, but I don't think it was steady.

They were kids. She just was a teenager so she knew that she wasn't prepared to be a mom. Tara and her boyfriend broke up after the birth of the baby. But luckily for Tara, her family was willing to step up and help her with everything. Tara was still young and my mom actually was still raising Tara and she's trying to prepare Tara to be a mom for herself with her daughter. My dad took the like a family leave and he put out a band then when he went back to work, his job transferred her to Georgia.

After another move, 18 year old Tara missed her hometown more than ever. Was he transferred to Albany, Georgia? We came back to New Jersey and my mom kept her daughter because Tara was not old enough and responsible enough to really have full custody or control over her daughter. We were young, wanted to live in New Jersey. Back in Patterson, Tara reconnected with the pain family. I went and stayed with my best friend,

and she stayed with Celestein. Celestein, Celteara, that. Okay, you know, I'll read you my first floor, my apartment here in my house, so Tara gave her her money and was supposedly renting the apartment from her. She always seemed like she was wanting to make sure that she was okay, that she wanted to best retire.

After several months living in Patterson, Tara started to focus on a career. She wanted to go to school and get her license to do hair. She was very good at it and she enjoyed doing hair. So that's what she was doing. We was going to move back to Georgia with our peers, which she never made it back to Georgia. After joggers found Tara's body wrapped in a sleeping bag

on the east side of Patterson, New Jersey, investigators are now on the hunt for a killer. Once we have the victim identified and redo what's called a victimology, we find out the background of the victim where she was living, potentially people that she might add a problem with. We found out from aphys. She had an address on Clark Street, I believe in Patterson, at that time.

We had two detectives go down to Clark Street. They went, they told up, they talked to the superintendent of the building on Clark Street. He said that she no longer resided there, that she was residing up at Jefferson Street, Patterson. After learning that she had been living at the Jefferson Street address, police went there to investigate. It's all a steam pain, the answer to door. And they asked her if Kara Carter lived there. She said to them that Kara does live here, but she's not home right now. They asked her if she knew where she was now. She gave the address of her sister, Rosie Carter. At that particular time, they didn't tell a cellist

he was a murderer. That was committed because they hadn't made a notification to the family yet. When they went to the house, I don't think there was any time of a murder or blood that was immediately evident. But at this point, everyone's suspect, and every place is suspicious. But at this point, everyone's suspect and every place is suspicious.

Coming up, detectives learn about Tara's final days. There are several men that lived in or hung out at their house a lot. And it's not long before stunning evidence comes to light. Then you saw it, a state on the beams. Blood had come through the floor itself, and you had dripped down. Jane Doe from Eastside Park, investigators in Patterson, New Jersey have identified the victim as 18-year-old Terra Carter.

Now detectives want to question Terra's sister, Rosie. Monday morning comes and the police come to the door and they started asking questions and they're like, oh, are you related to Tara Carter? And I'm like, yes, that's my sister. So then my girlfriends, that father's step-dining, they actually showed them the pictures of her body. He took a look at the photo and was able to positively identify that it was in fact He took a look at the photo and was able to positively identify that it was, in fact, a tarot. And they told Rosie that she was the victim of a homicide

and that she was bounded east side park. I was trying. You just want to go crazy and you just want to hurt something. And I was really distraught that this happened to my sister because I felt that that was my job as a big sister to make sure that nothing happens to her. Though she's coping with tragic news, Rosie agrees to an interview. I guess at that time I was considered to be a person who was up inches of the murder. They started backtracking where she may have been prior to the time she was murdered.

Rosie tells detectives that she and her sister had made plans to move south that weekend. She wanted to move back to Georgia with our peers. We was supposed to leave that Friday. I wanted to go to this concert before we left. I said, you know, okay, we got to go to the concert tonight. And then Saturday we'll take the train and go to Georgia. But Rosie says when it was time to go to the concert, Tara was nowhere to be found.

That Friday, I was looking for a heart to go to the concert, but we never could find her. So I just went on my own. Rosie says the following morning, she tried to track down Tara. Saturday, I was looking for her and worried about her well-being. She has contacted me and nobody knows where she's not by windy or anyone. Where can she be?

And come to find up Saturday and never came for her. I can't believe that someone would do this to Tara. After collecting Rosie's statement, investigators circled back to Tara's land lady. After speaking to Rosie Carter, they proceeded back over to Jefferson Street. They then had Celeste Bain-Hurler, two kids, accompanied the detectives down to the detective

bureau. It was Payne, Warbri, and the younger daughter, went to the headquarters, and they were going to get a great statement from them. Celestine Payne was, you know, a middle-aged woman with grown

children, she said she certainly didn't look like a kind of person that would be involved in a murder like this. And they were just there interviewing her to try to find out who her acquaintances were and who might have done this. There were close friends in a family and she had known Tara for approximately 10 years, especially thought of her as like a daughter. Celestine says she doesn't have much information on Tara's final whereabouts because she'd left town to visit her two oldest daughters in South Carolina. This pain was telling them that last time she seen Tara was on that Friday afternoon hours.

That night, she had left the photos South Carolina. Celestein Payne said she went at approximately 11 o'clock on the night of the third, which would be on Friday night. And she was down there until Sunday night, and then proceeded back to Patterson, New Jersey, where she arrived early morning Monday. Celestein's children confirm their mother's timeline. With their written statements in hand,

investigators ask Celestine if she'd let them conduct a search of Tara's things at the house. They're still looking for a suspect. They're still looking for a motive. Anything that would give them some idea of who killed her. She agreed to let them look through Tara Carter's legs. The detectives accompanied Celestein back to Jefferson Street, and she was very cooperative. They were going through the bedroom that Tara had shared with her daughter Wendy.

Celestein grabbed a suitcase from the closet, gave it to investigators, and told them it belonged to Tara. They looked in the suitcase. They really didn't find anything of the value that would help them in the suitcase. And at that point, she said, well, she did keep things also down in the basement. They all went down the basement to look through some more stuff. And while they were down there, detectives noticed a brown stain on the floor. Detectives knew full well with that stain, what's as soon as they saw it. They noticed stains that appeared to be dry blood.

And any detective cassari looked up, he saw it. A stain on the beams, blood had come through the floor itself, and they had dripped down, and that's what created the state on the floor. Once they saw the blood, or the floor, obviously, now they were pretty sure that the murder had taken place at that house. At this point, investigators reveal their suspicions to Celestine. Celestine Payne said, oh, if this happened here, I want to know about it. It's Harold's killed here.

I want to be the first to know about it. So the detectives were looking at each other, probably raising their eyebrows. The best Celestine Payne, at that point, to detect this quote for the forensic team got its search warrant so they could go through the whole house. got a search warrant so they could go through the whole house. On March 9, a full team of detectives and a crime scene unit search the house for evidence.

They begin by locating the source of the blood found in the basement. When it went back upstairs, that same closet that day were looking into for the deceased's belongings. There was a lot of clothes that was piled up in there. After they moved the clothes, then they could see that there was blood stains on the floor there. So another detective from another squad, what does the day we get to search for, retrieve a lot of these items, who does contract. So I have cut pieces of the beam out, the floor out. We named it, but we were there for a few hours.

Patterson Police came back with additional evidence, and that included swabbing, scraping, floorboards, carpeting, items from bedrooms, from the basement, and they wanted that also detected the blood. Though detectives suspect Tara was killed somewhere in the house, they are unable to narrow down the exact location. It appears whoever killed her tried to cover their tracks.

They detected the cleanup pretty good. And it was a decent job. But they never thought that the blood was seeped through the woods onto the floor or onto the beam that was down at the base. They didn't think of that part. The location of the blood stains offers a few implications as to who the killer might be.

You can eliminate strangers. You can eliminate where a young lady picks up somebody in a bar and brings them home and something goes wrong. Nobody's going to take the time to clean up or secrete in a closet. They're going to turn around and they're going to get out of here. But that, of course, did narrow down the suspects to somebody that knew her and had access to the house. Celestines, son, Celestines daughters. There were several men that lived in or frequented Celest to the house. Celestines, son, celestines daughters,

there were several men that lived in or frequented Celestines house. A lot of people were coming and going, so there were quite a few potential suspects at that point. So now there was an urgency for investigators to track down any and everyone who had stepped foot in that house. Coming up, a detective's memory sparks a lead that could be the key to finding Tara's killer.

Sergeant Humphries was with the detectives, and he said he remembered for previous investigation, an attempted murder. And an anonymous tip shakes up the case. Somebody called police and told them they knew who killed Tara. The hardest true crime story to report on is your own. I'm Tiffany Reese, host of the podcast Something Was Wrong. For 15 seasons, I've always aimed to validate and amplify the voices of those who have survived abuse and crime. But for season 16, I'm always aimed to validate and amplify the voices of those who have survived abuse and crime.

But for season 16, I'm opening up for the first time about my own experiences as an abuse survivor and a murder co-victim. With the help of trusted friends, we'll unpack my journey to becoming a victim advocate by examining my past. From the emotional and physical abuse I endured at the hands of my parents and the bullying I received from my classmates to the murder of my brother and the securities fraud. My father was convicted of I'm covering it all and even learning more about myself through this process. This is obviously a very personal journey for me, but I believe that this will play a part in my healing, helping me to process the trauma that I endured. Follow something was wrong wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen early and add free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. After investigators in Patterson, New Jersey determined Tara Carter was likely killed at home by someone she knew, they combed through evidence from the scene in search of leads. The police had sort through this evidence with a fine tooth comb. We found life insurance policies in the name of Celestine Pain. She was the beneficiary

for an individual call Eugene Cooper. For one detective, the name sets off alarms. Sergeant Humphrey remembered the previous investigation, an attempted murder in September of 1994, where Eugene Cooper was the victim. I realized that was a stab-and-baked so we wanted to know what connection he had to the house. At that time, he got stabbed. He was in a hospital. He was on a life support for a while. So we wanted to know what connection he had to the house. At that time, he got stabbed.

He was in a hospital. He was on a life support for a while. And he stayed there for a period of time. And finally, when they took us, went back up to the hospital, he had left. So nobody knew where he was. In the original report, Eugene identified his assailant as a man named Charles Darby,

and stated that Charles frequented Celestine Pains house where Eugene was a tenant. He said that he was up in the house that night with the Spain, Charles, ultimately. He left the house with Charles. Charlie followed Eugene out when Eugene walked out of the house. Charlie got ahead of him and put his foot up on a curb or a bench or something and pretended to be tying his shoe.

When it actuality he had one of Celestean's knives and his sock and whipped it out and stabbed Eugene with it and then ran away. Eugene somehow or another managed to get across this little bridge to a street corner where it got an ambulance and took him to the hospital. In the original investigation, they went to locate where this guy was, and they couldn't find the guy. The question for investigators is,

could this mysterious Charles Darby be involved in Tara's murder as well? Now detectives want to talk to Eugene Cooper, because they want to make a connection between his stabbing six months earlier and the murder of Tara Carter. But on March 9, 1995, five days after Tara's body was found, detectives get a new lead that sends the case

in a whole new direction. Someone called police and told them they knew who had killed Tara, and that it was a guy named original. Investigators reach out to Tara's family and learn that original is the nickname of Tara's current boyfriend, 27-year-old Edwin Morrison. Rechecked them out because you know we re-figured well you know could he have access to it all when he found out that we were looking for he called called us and he said, I'll come down. He came down. He's very cooperative.

Original tells detectives that he was with a friend in the days leading up to Tara's body being discovered. Police checked into where he was during the time frame of the murder and confirmed that everything he was telling them was true. He gave a full interview and we were able to establish a Zalaba. The original was 100% checked out.

He had nothing to do with any of this stuff. With the tipster's lead falling flat, investigators turned their attention back to Eugene Cooper. The sergeant had directed a detective to pull out the previous investigation from 1994 where Eugene Cooper had been stabbed. I see if he could locate Eugene Cooper. And he was successful in doing that. On March 10th, detectives finally speak with Eugene Cooper about his time living under

Celestine's roof. We found out that she would take advantage of him by taking his money she charged him a pretty high rent for living it. Not so luxurious accommodations. And Cooper told me it was $400 every two weeks. I say $800 a month. You know you have your whole room. When detectives ask Eugene about the insurance policy

police recovered from the pain house, he says it's fraudulent. When they found out that Eugene's policy, while it had his name on it, he said he never signed it. Of course, it meant somebody forged his name on it. Gene's statement to us that she had been trying to have his life insurance at his job changed. As her is the beneficiary, he refused to do it. He said it was for his mother, so he wasn't going to do that.

When asked about where he met Charles Darby, Eugene says he met his attacker while living at Celestine's house. Charlie was a fixture there. He dated her daughter and he hung out at their house a lot. The name rings a bell for detectives. When they interviewed Celestine, she mentioned that a Charlie Pincham had been dating her daughter, which raises the question, could Wendy Payne's boyfriend, Charlie Pincham,

and Eugene's alleged attacker, Charles Darby, be one in the same? They show Eugene a six-photo lineup to confirm their suspicions. He picked out Charlie Pincham's picture instantly, and acquired a liberal, you know, he knew him for years. He picked out Charlie Penchham's picture instantly and acquired a living room, you know, he knew him for years. Yeah, enough.

We do an statement about Eugene Cooper, the maker restaurants, charging Charles with attempted murder. We went down to Pincham's mother's house where we located him. That's why he took him in the custody. He was broached on the Eugene Cooper attempt at her. We told him that Eugene had. He was approached on the Eugene Cooper attempt in her. We told him that Eugene had identified him. He identified the weapon.

He gave the run down. He admitted it. He stabbed him. And then he said he took off for a run. However, Charlie claims the attack on Eugene was someone else's idea. He went into telling us that he had been basically recruiting by both Celestine and Wendy to do this.

They're after it for a while, but do this. Boyd, Dave, and it was for an insurance policy. And he did. He promised them the exorbitant amount of money, which I didn't think the policy was worth that much money. She first said 20, and then I think she got only a 60,000. When investigators ask about Tara's murder,

Charlie says Celestein tried to get him involved in that, too. But this time, he refused. Charlie claims that on March 3rd, he'd witnessed the true killer at work. Then he came over to the house because he was going to help her pack to go to South Carolina. He said that when he got to the house, he saw Celeste and her son Aubrey dragging dragging terrorist body across the floor and into a back room where they shoved her in a closet. At that time, he says, Audrey told him, look,

get out of here, get out of here now. And Celestine was there smoking a cigarette. Charlie's accusations are shocking, but investigators need more evidence to back up his claims against Celestine and her son. They find this insurance angle with Eugene Cooper, and looking further, they find low and behold. There's an insurance policy on tarot Carter as well,

in which Celestine is the beneficiary. So now we've got two individuals here. That Celestine pain has insurance policies on. What's the possible reason with somebody have life insurance policies at on these two individuals? They're not even blood relatives. So when you start putting that puzzle together, it starts fading.

Following their interview with Charlie, Detective Secure arrest warrants for Celestine and her 21-year-old son, Aubrey. We set up a surveillance on pain-failure. They were moving around town, moving around town. It appeared to us that they were trying to leave town. Detectives tale Aubrey and Celestine to a family friend's home where they'd been staying since the murder investigation began.

We immediately went over to the area. It was on 11th Avenue. They're replaced under arrest here. She yelled out the people in the house of 11th Avenue. They think I killed that child and I'm going to tell him exactly who did. Coming up when stories clash, detectives must determine who is telling the truth. She had her daughter pretend to be our Carter.

And the investigation reveals more skeletons in the closet. She said, don't eat anything or drink anything that I prepare for daddy. March 11, 1995. One week after the discovery of Tara Carter's body, officers have arrested Celestine Payne and her son Aubrey for Tara's murder. Investigators are eager to get information, and they start by questioning Celestine.

Right away, it was trying to throw more on Charlie Benjab. She suggested that she came to the house, and she was surprised that Charles Pitchett had done this. I didn't fit up with any of the things that we were able to develop a door and a course of our investigation. The doll returned to her to the cell block. But it isn't long until new information prompts

Celestine to talk. Celestine found out Aubrey was being charged with murder. And she wanted to talk to detectives for a second time, because she wanted them to know that Aubrey had absolutely nothing to do with any of it. She was aware that Charlie did shot him given a statement. She admitted to the fact that they conspired to kill her. She knew we knew all about the insurance policies and everything. She just tried to downplay her role a bit. Then general, you can't take out a policy on someone

that you're not related to. So what Celestine apparently did was she had her daughter Wendy go to the insurance agent and pretend to be Tower of Carter so they could get the insurance policy. That's how they did it both with Tower of Carter and with Eugene Cooper forging and impersonating people in order to get these policies. Once all the pieces were in place, on Friday, March 3rd, it was time to cash in before leaving town. Celestein said while Tara was curling her hair at the kitchen table, Charles walked up behind her and struck her several times

in the back of the head with a crowbar. Or maybe he hadn't come home. My body was still there and never still cleaned up. He wanted to come into the house because he had crabs that he had purchased. And she said, no, no, no, don't come into the house. And he said, all right, I'll blow to my friends. And he hung the bag of crabs on the exterior door.

And he left. Though Celestine is adamant, Aubrey wasn't involved. Her statement contradicts when investigators heard from Charlie Pinschan. We bring Charlie back in and read dresses. You know, Celestine also should gave the statement, Charlie. This and that, some of the things your tellers doesn't make sense. The game's up. Reality's here.

Well, son, we break staff, so that's the right. He says, look, she used me. She used me. She had a multiple times. Who? She always said she used me. Charlie Pinchonhan in his second statement said that Horbree and that commitment to her. He wasn't there.

Being the help, and he didn't help move the body. Charlie says his girlfriend, Wendy Payne, had been in his ear about the murder for a while. Wendy told him that with the insurest policy, she'd get money, her mother told she was in giving money and he'd kill Tyrant. Charlie said he was sitting in the living room. And she said, Christine Tank came walking in

with this crowbar. And she said, OK, now's your chance. And he just took the crowbar, walked at the occasion, dashed Tyranter in the head with a several times. The two of them picked up the body, moved it into the bedroom, where Tarot was staying, and then they proceeded to clean up the house, which was extensive. They even took it to the park, but they dumped her bag.

He goes out his way, she goes to South Carolina, but they dumped her bag. He goes on his way, she goes to South Carolina with corporate and the younger building. Between Charlie and Celestean statements, investigators believe that they have finally learned the truth. They cooperated where she was killed, how they moved her into the closet. There wasn't just that they gave confessions.

The physical evidence cooperated those confessions. It's not the corroboration of violent statements. The couple playing his ovary was dismissed, he had nothing to do with that. As the evidence builds, investigators secure an arrest warrant for 22-year-old Wendy Payne. She was charged with recruiting Pitchham to some extent both in the Eugene Cooper case and in the Tower Carter case. Renew she was down in Lake City, South Carolina, re-contacted the Lake City Police Department. We made a request that they take her in the custody. May it call back later on, they said that he had her in custody.

And then May asked, well, is she willing to talk to detectives from the Patterson Place? They said, yes, she's well in the talking. So detectives were brought over to the Florence County jail where the interview was winding over there. She admitted to the fact that, you know, she was involved with the planning of both Tarrer Carter and Eugene Cooper. She had a direct contact being part of the murder itself.

She had knowledge of it, so she was a participant. But in a stunning turn, Wendy also tells police that her mother's insurance schemes extended beyond Eugene Cooper and Tara Carter. That time she started to tell us about different flyers that the mother had been for insurance purposes. Wendy says her mother's crimes didn't stop there. She also said that she had no doubt that her mom poisoned her father because of the way it was always laid up there. And don't eat anything or drink anything that I'd prepare for daddy.

The information from Wendy adds another twist to the case. Following her interview, detectives escort her back to New Jersey and open another chapter of their investigation. Alfonso's case was then opened up and we had to nail everything down on that and be prepared to charge her with that and go to trial. To tighten up their case on Tara's murder, investigators tracked down the car Celestine had rented for her trip to South Carolina.

Recente-Tect is over. They picked up the car. They brought it up to the state police. They brought in the trunk lining and the trunk padding from underneath the lining of a rented uric. The liner itself didn't give any reaction for blood, but it was interesting to see that the padding that was underneath the liner did. This is more consistent with the blood of tariff fighter.

Coming up, investigators find answers in Alfonso's death. The high volume of the drugs that were in the system weren't anything that was prescribed to him. And as trial approaches the stakes rise. They both knew that no matter what they did they were both going to get convicted. They were just rolling the dice as to the death battle to part. After arresting 44-year-old Celestine pain and her accomplices for the murder of Tara Carter, Patterson investigators are pursuing a lead that Celestine also killed her husband, Alfonso Pain. We reopened Alfonso's case, which was closed out in 1991. Initially, when Alfonso was found down the Bulkary Hill section, they just claimed there was an accidental death through a drug overdose.

We were able to see on the talks and everything that the high volume of the drugs that were in his system weren't anything that was prescribed to him. the high volume of the drugs that were in his system weren't anything that was prescribed to him and not really anything that you'd be getting on a street. Our investigation revealed that, in fact, Celeste Payne was feeding her husband drugs that she had prescribed to her. And that was how he died.

Further investigation reveals a familiar motive. It was for life insurance policy. I think the total, what we're able to determine was about $56,000. His policies were honestly taken out in a sense that he went down here and water policy and named his wife Celest, as the beneficiary. Prior to her husband's death,

the mortgage was behind. She was losing the house. He was seeing us, psychiatrists, saying that she had a terrible marriage. She hoped that her husband would get killed or died. After her husband died, he came back. And she said, good boy. He's happy, house is paid for, go, she did a whole turn around.

Based on all the facts, the totality of it, she was then charged with Alfonso-Baseburn. In addition to the charges in Alfonso's death, they were also charging Celestein with the murder of Tarracardir, the attempted murder of Eugene Cooper, forgery, insurance fraud, and several other offenses. I was pitched to the same thing, murder, attempted murder, weapons offenses, Wendy Payne's I Chartered for Spiracy, because of me murder. Though Wendy Payne's I charge with the conspiracy because it may murder.

Though Wendy Payne accepts a plea deal, Celestine Payne and Charlie Pincham don't budge until the death penalty hits the table. Do you never move for a death penalty case unless you're sure that you could prove the case? We didn't do it often. We did it when we thought it was a deserving punishment. We go to Charlie and say, look, Charlie, if you go to trial here, I don't know what's going to happen, but there is a potential that you could get the death penalty. You ought to think about that.

And he did. On April 7, 1997, Charlie Pincham accepts a plea deal in exchange for his testimony against Celestine. With no sign of concession from Celestine, trial proceedings begin as planned on May 27, 1997. But a twist comes at the 11th hour. We were in the process of jury selection when the defense attorneys approached us and asked us if they could plead guilty to all of the entire diamond and facing sense of life with a 30 year parole in eligibility. They took it right to the absolute bitter end. I was really shocked that she took it that close. She received a life sentence as did Charles Pincham.

And after 30 years, they would become eligible for parole. Wendy Payne was sentenced to 28 years. Somebody who can actually manipulate people at the doing crimes like that is much more dangerous than the actual murderer. Even after a quarter century, those who encountered Celestine won't soon forget her. Well, we had a lot of killers cross pass with us

in the detect of your as far as somebody as devious and as treacherous, you had to put her right at the time. and his treacherous got to have to put her right at the time. You can break into law in all kinds of ways. You're fraughting people. I would describe her as an evil person with no love in her soul. When you have children, you take on a mother figure for your kids and your kids' friends. You want to make sure everyone is okay and protected. But for her to do these things to my sister,

I think there's something wrong. There's some type of disconnect. For Tara Carter's family, the loss they feel never goes away. My whole family still hurts from this. We always say, I wonder how she will be today, what she will be the room,

you know, what will be going on in her life. She never got a chance to live life. She was still young. She was 18. She didn't even see life. She didn't touch it. There's a kid. Wendy Payne was released from prison on September 23, 2009.

Celestein Payne will be eligible for parole in 2025. In Charles Pincham, will be eligible in 2031. Tara's daughter was raised by Tara's family and is now 31 years old. you