Snapped: Women Who Murder - Emma Raine

Episode Date: December 27, 2020

The family of a former soldier questions whether or not his death was a tragic coincidence when they learn of a suspicious detail from his wife's past.Season 22, Episode 1Originally aired: November 19, 2017See 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. Emma Smith was a respected member of her community. She was like the perfect pastor's wife. And her husband was a popular preacher.

Everybody loved Ernest. Never heard of anybody saying that they disliked it. Which made the circumstances around his death that much more tragic. She heard Ernest call and say, baby, I've been shot. The case went cold, lost in a deluge of crime that flooded New Orleans and the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Given what the police department was going through at the time, this goes by the wayside.

But then Emma remarried. He was a handsome guy and he was fine. And less than six years later, he was dead. James Raine had been murdered. Was it a tragic coincidence? They have really no suspects. Or would one family's quest for justice? We let the murderer walk the streets.

Expose the awful truth about Emma. That's when the bomb shield was dropped on us. New Orleans, Louisiana, April 12, 2006. It was a steamy spring night in this normally laid back river city known around the world as the big easy. It's a city that definitely knows how to enjoy itself. We love parades, we love marnigrap. But that April, living in New Orleans, was anything but easy. Eight months after Hurricane Katrina,

the city still struggled to rebuild after the catastrophe. Its population hovering at around 200,000, barely 50% of what it was before the storm blew through. I'm not even sure you could say we were recovering at that point. And that night, the city's population was about to get even smaller. Sometime before midnight, the call comes into 9-1-1. The caller was 41-year-old Emma Smith.

She stated her husband had just been killed and that she needed the police. When police arrived minutes later, they were greeted by a gruesome scene. 38-year-old Ernest Smith laid dead just inside the couple's townhouse. His shirt was saturated with blood. It was shot twice in his chest.

Emma told the police her husband had been out that night with a friend, and that she'd been upstairs in bed when the shooting occurred. She wasn't feeling very well. She had taken a sleeping pill. And then she heard a couple of popping sounds. Sure, the sounds outside. And she just thought it was a car.

A car that had backfire. And according to Emma, it was only moments later that she realized what really happened. Mr. Smith somehow managed to get himself into the house and said, baby, I've been shot. Was Emma's husband simply another casualty of a city in chaos, with local government and law enforcement left so crippled by the storm's damage

that it had almost descended into anarchy? The city was struggling to fight crime in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Or would it take years and another murder to reveal the whole story? It's almost titillating. There's a fascination with how can somebody do this? Born in 1964 in the sleepy River Town of Vicksburg, Mississippi,

Emma started life in modest circumstances, but grew up dreaming of bigger, better things. She always wanted to be rich. She always wanted to live a lavish lifestyle. She always wanted to drive a fancy car. And once Emma finished high school, she set out to make those dreams a reality. During her time in Vicksurs, she was a text repairer.

Emma also married and had two kids, a son and a daughter. But in 1993, when Emma was 29, disaster struck. Emma's first husband, he was hit by a car, which left him as a paraplegic. Emma spent the next year nursing her paralyzed husband, who tragically passed away in 1994. He ended up choking to death on his feeding tube in bed one night. A widow and a single mom at the age of 29, Emma decided to put some distance between her 11 and 12-year-old children and the memories of their father's tragic death.

Soon after her husband's funeral, she moved the family to New Orleans, where she met a charismatic young minister named Ernest Smith. Four years younger than Emma, Ernest had a hard childhood growing up in the big easy. His mother and father did die and he was around 10. And he was adopted. He never talked father did die, and he was around 10.

And he was adopted. He never talked about his past, never talked about his parents. But other than a reluctance to talk, his tragic childhood left few emotional scars. He was always like a little boy, always happy. I've never seen him where he was sad, never had a ugly look or anything on his face. I've never seen him sour. I've never seen him where he was sad, never had a ugly look or anything on his face. I've never seen him sour. I've never seen him angry.

After high school, Ernest did a stint in the National Guard, got married and had a daughter. But when the marriage ended in divorce, Ernest sought solace in religion and found his true colleague. He loved teaching gospel and he loved preaching in the gospel. He just loved what he did. He was dedicated to the gospel. He worked Monday through Friday as a truck driver. But shortly before he met Emma,

the passionate preacher managed to start his own church. And every Sunday, people flocked to hear him preach. He was always excited about something. When you first meet him, you're falling low with him. That was apparently true in Emma's case. Soon after attending a service one Sunday, the single mom and the single pastor were dating. She was very captivating. We all were.

And in 1995, she and Ernest were married. She was like the perfect pastor's wife. She was a good host. If you came to her home, you was treated like royalty. Being a pastor's wife is a very hard job anyway. And she was doing a very good job at Sosvin first lady. Although, like Ernest, even the first lady had to work outside the church in order to make ends meet.

She had all these different ideals and jobs that she was doing. She owned a weak shop. She was into real estate, and she was a tax repair. And together, the couple raised Emma's two children who Ernest treated as his own. He was a real father to him. I know they loved him, and he did everything that a father would do. He would often throw barbecues and they had a pool at the house and everybody would come over and enjoy himself. From what I can see from their family relationship,

it was pretty good. Everything was just great between them both. To meet him with the perfect loving family. But in 2005, Emma's perfect life was once again swept up by tragedy, one that would affect the entire community. At the end of August, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I remember one of the elected officials as he surveyed sort of the city

and looked out over the community. He said New Orleans, as we know, will never exist again. The storm forced the evacuation of more than half of the city's residents, including Emma, Ernest, and the kids. To earn Katrina, they were displaced. And fame into Arlington, Texas.

In Texas, Ernest got a temporary truck driving job, and Emma's children, both in their early 20s, found work and settled in, too. But Emma didn't stay in Houston long. Instead, she returned to New Orleans almost as soon as the flood waters receded. She had businesses that she had to get back on online. Ernest, with his congregation scattered by the storm, stayed behind in Texas, hoping to earn enough money to see the couple through the crisis.

So I think he stayed there for the job. And when Ernest did return to New Orleans, he wasn't planning to be there long because a new opportunity promised to take the family and Ernest's career to the next level. He was supposed to be moving to Atlanta to take over a 500-member church. He was very excited about that new chapter in his life.

Just excited about becoming pastor there. So in April of 2006, prior to moving to Atlanta and taking charge of a much larger church than his old congregation, Ernest returned to New Orleans and the rented townhouse on the east side that served as Emma's temporary home. New Orleans east was one of the areas to recover more slowly than others.

There weren't a lot of people that lived there. It was a very, very desolate, very remote area. And for Ernest, at least, it wasn't very safe, either. Within the week of him moving back to New Orleans, he must have. Coming up, the New Orleans police have no suspects. Everybody loved Ernest. I didn't see him having any enemies. But does that mean his death is a random robbery gone wrong? It was almost the perfect place to commit a murder

and get away with it. At around midnight on April 12, 2006, 41-year-old Emma Smith called 911 and reported that her husband, Ernest, had just been shunned. Apparently right outside the couple's New Orleans home. She said she heard what sound like a popping sound. And she didn't think anything of it until she heard Mr. Ernest call and say, baby, I've been shot. And she said that's when she made her way downstairs to call 911. When the New Orleans police arrived on the scene minutes later, they found the 38-year-old lying dead just inside his front door.

Ernest Smith is shot twice in the chest with a 9-millimeter. He fell inside of the apartment at the base of the stairs. And based on where the investigators found two 9-millimeter shell casings, it appeared that his killer had been outside the house, waiting in ambush. Those two shell casings are found outside, not far, but there is a sort of an alleyway that goes beside what appear to be apartments

or like small townhouses all down a row. But had someone specifically targeted the popular minister, or was he merely another victim of the crime wave that surged through the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina? Emma said she had no idea. All she knew, according to what she told the police, was that Ernest had been out that night

with his friend Ronald attending bike night at a local bar. Ernest Smith had just recently purchased a new motorcycle. He was learning how to ride a motorcycle. It was his first motorcycle. And Ronald confirmed Emma's story when he arrived at the scene a few minutes later. We received a phone call from Emma Smith stating that Mr. Ernest had been shot. And he made his way back to the scene.

Questioned by the police, Ronald said he dropped Ernest off at the apartment just minutes to the scene. Question by the police, Ronald said he dropped Ernest off at the apartment just minutes before the shooting. Ronald tells us they come back to Ernest Smith's home and they're outside sort of just having a conversation talking about by night and this, that and the other. Eventually, according to Ronald, Ernest had gotten out of the car and headed for his front door.

Ronald, I'm saying, you sure you're gonna make it? You know, inside and he was like, yeah, I'm safe, you can leave. It wasn't an idle question, considering the city's semi-abandoned state in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This particular portion of New Orleans East where they were living,

it was a desolate, isolated area. The apartments were for the most part all vacant. And despite his friends' assurances, Ronald said he'd even sat in his car and waited until Ernest reached his door. He sees Ernest Smith go into his pocket, pull out his keys. Then, according to Ronald, he drove away. Apparently, just moments before his friend was gunned down. He said when he was on the interstate,

after leaving Pastor Smith, he saw the police unit. And he saw that NMS wagon. He didn't think anything of it. The next thing that happens is he gets a phone call from Emma Reign saying that Ernest Smith has been shot. He says he's alarmed, he doesn't understand, he was just with him, there wasn't anybody out there. But someone had been out there.

And as a result, Ernest was dead. I don't know if he was startled by the individual or if they called out his name or if they said anything to him because he had to turn around to face them because the entry room was to the chest. But who had attacked the up-and-coming minister? And why? That was the puzzling part. Everybody loved Ernest.

I didn't see him having any enemies. Never heard of anybody saying that they disliked at him. Only one thing was certain. The flood ravaged neighborhood offered few answers. This was a totally dead area where canvassing the neighborhood would have produced nothing. It was almost the perfect place to commit a murder and get away with it. And still struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there was little the New Orleans police could do about it. It was a time when the city was sort of just processing scenes.

If there was a suspect, they would move forward, but if not, the case went cold, and they would move on to the next one. Which is precisely what happened in Ernest Smith's case. They go out and they do an initial investigation, and then basically they come to a dead end. They have no more leads, they have no more clues, they have really no suspects.

With no witnesses, no evidence other than a pair of shell casings and no immediate suspects, the case went cold, and the police moved on. Given what the police department was going through at the time, this goes by the wayside. With her husband's murder still unsolved, Emma moved on, too. Her kids were settled into new jobs and a new life in Texas, but she stayed in New Orleans focused on her businesses.

And in the aftermath of her husband's murder, she started spending more time with an old friend of Ernest, an army buddy named James Ray. Him and James was in the same door unit. And in the wake of Ernest's murder, he was exactly what Emma needed to take her mind off the tragedy. He was fine.

He made people smile. He's very popular. And people just, it's like they flocked around him. Emma and James started dating. And in 2008, they married and moved to Mississippi, building a house in James's hometown of Poplarville. It was like 4,300 square foot, four or maybe five bedrooms, upstairs, swimming pool.

For Mississippi, it was extravagant. It was a $400,000 home. Emma had finally found the life she dreamed of as a child. They had nice cars, they even had a boat, nice boat. But after tragically losing two husbands, would her third attempt to make a life for herself finally last? Or would another tragedy bring Emma's world crashing down? It was March of 2013, seven years after Ernest Smith's murder, when Detective Descinda Chambers

phoned Ray. It was a cold case, a homicide detective, and investigate cases after they were a year old. The caller was Enic Ray, the brother of James Ray. He'd recently seen the detective on television, interviewed on a true crime TV series that profiles cold cases. James Rayne's family in Mississippi reached out telling her specifically

that they had information on a New Orleans homicide. The homicide of Pastor Ernest Smith to be exact. Detective Chambers, as you would expect, follows up on the lead. She goes and sits down and meets with these individuals. Although, as it turned out, Ernest Smirter wasn't the only one the family wanted to talk about.

Coming up, tragedy strikes Emma again. James Raine had been murdered. But is it a coincidence or will the cold case investigation uncover even more victims? He would be number four. who's the most important in the world. He's the most important in the world. He's the most important in the world. He's the most important in the world.

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like Letterman's. I know I have. You can listen to these episodes four weeks early and add free on Wondry Plus, find Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. By March of 2013, it had been seven years since the unsolved murder of Emma Reim's second husband, Ernest Smith. The 38-year-old minister had been gunned down outside the couple's New Orleans apartment during the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As is the case with a lot of things that happened right after this storm, the case went cold

and eventually investigators just sort of put the case aside. But one phone call had changed all that. Detective Chambers gets a call from people who have some information about a homicide that took place in the city of New Orleans. The caller was a man named Enicrain, the brother of Emma's third husband, James. We put the ball in the rolling.'re contacting the center chambers, New Orleans Police Department. However, the earnest Smith case wasn't the only murder

that Enoch was calling about. They advised me that fear. Brother James Raine had been murdered. We won't just, and then know what took place with James murder. James had been murdered in October of 2011 at the House in Poplarville, while Emma was out of town visiting

a client of her tax preparation business. She had been trying to get in contact with him and she was unable to. So she called his mom and told his mom to go over to the house and check on him. The mother goes there and is the one who ultimately finds him shot in the head in his bed. Officially, the police in Mississippi

had no leads, despite the fact that the couple's half million dollar home had been wired with security cameras. The security system was down. It was unplugged. It was off. And while unplugged, it was off. And while Emma had been away when the murder occurred, the family was convinced that Emma had set the stage for James' killer before she left.

The last person to be seen on the surveillance cameras inside Emma and James' home is Emma Reign. And I believe it's the day before he is murdered, and she's seen in the image shutting the cameras off. The security cameras weren't the only reason James' family suspected Emma either. Because according to the family, it was no coincidence that Emma and James married

just two years after the death of her second husband, Ernest Smith. So her and James Reign had been in a physical relationship certainly for some period of time before Ernest Smith is killed. Could Emma and James as a fair have led to Ernest's murder? According to the family, Ernest was aware of the relationship. Family members of James Reign had heard him arguing on the phone

with Ernest Smith, Ernest sort of telling him, look, stay away from my wife. James's brother, Enoch, says he warned James to heed Ernest's words that nothing but trouble could come from sleeping with another man's wife. I told my brother,

I said, do you know you, you flirting with death? But it was Ernest who'd ended up dead. And within two years, James and Emma had gotten married, moved to Mississippi, and built a brand new house, a house that Ernest's death had essentially paid for. They cashed in on the $800,000 insurance policy that she had taken out shortly before her husband's death.

Enex said the family had been a little suspicious when the couple started throwing money around after Ernest's death. I asked my brother, did he have anything to do with it? James' answer had been no. I said, you didn't have anything. And he told me again, no, I didn't. So I left it at that.

We took him at his word because we're a family that's not wishy-washy. Say what you mean and mean, what you say. And according to Enic, he now knew that James wasn't the one who'd killed Ernest. Enic said that he'd learned the truth about Ernest's murder from a man named Terry Everett, who was practically a brother to James, too.

When James were very close, he was adopted by our James mother in his teenage years, because his mother passed away. When James died, Terry was living in Atlanta, but he had come home for the funeral. And after the service, Enic and his uncle pulled Terry aside and told him what they suspected.

That Emma was behind James's murder, and that James and Emma may have killed Ernest, too. They say that Terry begins to weep, hysterically weep. And they ask him, what's going on?. And they ask him what's going on, calm yourself down, what's going on. That's when the bomb shield was dropped on us. He tells us he killed Ernest. Enec and his uncle were stunned.

The vehicle goes silent for a little while. And my next question was, why? And he said, James and Emma got me to do it. According to Enic, Terry said he had been promised a share of the money from Ernest's life insurance, but it was an empty promise. His deal was $10,000 and he never even got there. He instead said that he got two clunker cars. Emma and James had married and spent the life insurance proceeds themselves.

And now, more than five years later, James was dead too. As the reality of Terry's confession sank in, Enic told Terry that he had to go to the police. We told him, when you ready, we'll go with you. And we'll do everything we can to help you. But even if it came down to having to pay for a lawyer, we'd help you. You know, but you got to do the right thing.

Still, according to Enic and his uncle William, Terry had agreed. And I think he did make the emission out of guilt and also that he was missing James. But for all his guilt, Terry had never followed through. Six months came. Nothing. Six months came. Nothing. A year came.

Nothing. Eighteen months came. Nothing. And at this time, I'm at the point where, you know, we let the murderer walk the streets. So in March of 2013, seven years after Ernest's murder and almost two years after James had been killed. Enic Reign and his uncle had contacted the New Orleans police. These were decent, honest, hardworking people who simply wanted to convey something that

had been sort of weighing on their mind for a time. They were having to give to the detective information about someone who was a family member. That's something that's very, very difficult. They're snitching on their own family member, really. I mean, to hear them talk about it, it really tore that family apart. But was their story about Terry's confession true? According to Enic, Terry had provided details.

We knew what type of gun. We knew how many times he was shot. And that was something that was never revealed in this case. And he'd also described just how the murder had gone down. He says, I was waiting in my car. I watch him talk to another guy for a while. He says as soon as the guy leaves, he pulls off.

He gets out of his car. He shoots him twice in the chest. After the crime was committed, Terry drove away, backed Mississippi, as he was crossing over the bridge, over Lake Pontetrain. He threw the murder weapon, the gun into the lake. It was consistent. Everything that they said, um,

that he confessed to was consistent. Following up with members of Ernest's old congregation, the investigators also uncovered evidence that was consistent with the family's claim about Emma having an affair. That were rumors from some of his members that she was no good. You know that she had boyfriends.

Emma's phone records, especially one call she made the night of Ernest Smirter, just moments after talking to the police, provided additional evidence that pointed to the affair. At that time, they don't know who she's calling. We later learned from her phone records. She's calling James Rain and Mississippi. But some of the most damning evidence had to do

with Ernest's $800,000 insurance policy. Half of that money should have gone to Ernest's daughter from his first marriage, but it had all gone to Emma. She forged Mr. Smith's daughter, named to the insurance documents, which allowed Miss Emma to receive the $800,000 insurance policy. Ernest's daughter had sued over the fraud and won. She actually hired a lawyer, and they did a forensic guy come in with the handwriting and found out

that that wasn't her handwriting. Was collecting almost a million dollars worth of insurance Emma's motive for murdering Ernest? That's what the New Orleans investigator thought. I got to certify documents from the fraud case and I apply for an arrest warrant for first degree murder and solicitation for first degree murder.

The judge also issued an arrest warrant for Terry Everett, who was picked up first on July 13th of 2013. They found him working on a pipeline in Texas, and they extradited him from Texas to New Ansoesia, where he was booked accordingly. But would Terry, who'd already confessed to James' family, cooperate with the police. I spoke with him and he cried like a baby.

I'd never seen a man cry the way he cried. But for all his tears, Terry never talked. Terry Everett, once he was arrested, did not make any statements to detective chambers. Not that he didn't wanna say anything, I was like, shock, I can't say nothing. I can't, I just can't believe that I took part in something that led me here today.

The authorities arrested Emma two weeks later on August 1st in Kansas City, where she was living with a new husband. The marriage had occurred in December of 2012, exactly 14 months after James's murder, nearly seven years after Ernest's murder, and 18 years after the death of Emma's first husband. And the first thing came to my mind was that,

well, he would be number four. In fact, Emma had such a long trail of dead husbands behind her that she was confused when the police placed her under arrest. She needed clarification as to why she was being arrested. I told her this was about a husband, and her words to me were woodhub. MUSIC

Coming up, is the case against Emma a long shot? There is no physical evidence tying Emma to the case. Or will Terry finally come through? He still has a chance to do the right thing. MUSIC on August 10, 2016, 11 years after Hurricane Katrina swept New Orleans, 52-year-old Emma Reigns stood trial for the decade-old murder of her second husband, Ernest Smith. This case had been a cold case for several years. And according to the prosecutor's opening statement,

Emma's motivation for killing her husband was just as cold. The motive that Emma Reinhard was the insurance proceeds that she was going to get as a result of this man's death. She was a very cold and calculating individual. She was ruthless. There was one problem with the prosecution's case, though, one that the defense was quick to point out in its opening statement.

There was no physical evidence tying Emma to the case. There is no blistics, there's no blood, there's absolutely nothing. Of course, they did have someone who could tie Emma to the murder. The alleged triggerman, Terry Everett, but would he testify? Terry Everett, once he was arrested in connection with this at no time was ever

willing to cooperate with the prosecution. And since he had been unwilling to cooperate the district attorney had decided to try Terry first in December of 2014. We had to win the case against him in order to have a chance against M.A.R.A.N. So it was the building block on which the M.A.R.N. prosecution was based. Although even getting a guilty verdict against Terry had been no slam dunk. There were no witnesses. There was no weapon. There's no DNA.

There's no surveillance footage. There's no financial records showing a sudden, large, unexplained increase in Terry's bank account. There's none of those things that you would look for. What they did have, though, was moving testimony from the brother of Emma Reigns' third husband, James Reign. Enoch Reign claimed that Terry had confessed to killing Ernest as part of a plot that Emma and James had put together

in order to collect the insurance money. I sit there on the stand and had to repeat what he told me. I love him the death, but I still couldn't look at the fact that he was just as cowardly as my brother James and him. It broke his heart to have to testify, and so the jury realized that he would never have done that had it not been the truth because it was torture. And that had been enough to seal Terry's fate. He was found guilty of second degree murder.

But would the life sentence he was facing be the leverage the prosecutors needed? They offered us if he would cooperate to somehow work out a sentence for 40 years. Terry did not want to take that. Still, despite his refusal to cooperate, the prosecutors called the convicted murderer as a witness during Emma's trial.

He still has a chance to do the right thing. But would he take it? It was a very dramatic moment. He was shackled, handcuffed, on his wrists and ankles, and he refused to take the witness stand. He sat with his attorneys, kept his head down. He didn't say anything. Terry may not have willingly cooperated,

but his silent show of defiance played right into the prosecution's hands. We had to place on the record that he's refusing to answer. In order for us to legally be allowed to impede him with the statements that he had made to his family members. Without Terry's refusal to testify on record, any testimony from the family about his confession

would be hearsay. But since they'd given Terry the opportunity to testify and he refused, the prosecution was able to put members of the Reign family on the stand to recount the details of the murder plot that Terry had confessed to them. She coerced and set this plan up and got him called up. Terry called up in it and I feel for him.

And to explain Emma's motive for murdering her husband, the prosecution also presented a detailed analysis of how prior to the murder, she had dramatically increased the amount of Ernest's life insurance. She starts to increase the life insurance policies slowly but in drastic amounts for Ernest Smith up into the point where she's at $800,000.

The last bump came, I believe it was just four months before his death. The prosecutor also explained that after the murder, Emma and her daughter, now in her 30s, had committed forgery to cheap earnest daughter out of her rightful share of the insurance money. She has her daughter go in and forge the signature signing over her half of the $800,000 to Emma Reign. It wasn't speculation either.

By the time Emma stood trial, her daughter had already pleaded guilty to fraud charges stemming from the forgery. I imagine the only reason she did it was because of the pressure that her mama put up on her. To elicit your child, to to sign or to forge a document that shed a different light on the investigation, to show the means that which she would go through

to get basically what she wanted. And according to the prosecutors, there was only one thing that Emma wanted. The money, the degree, the distance, what these crimes were about. The money to degree, to disassist what? These crimes were more about. The fact that somebody could be so driven by money, I think, was really horrifying,

that they would be willing to literally destroy the lives of people that they loved and exchange for money. In fact, the prosecutors were convinced that Emma had destroyed more than one life. It was not just about Ernest Smith she had made her living killing husbands. Not only had Emma's third husband, James Rayn, been murdered too, there was also the tragic accident that had almost killed her first husband. It was a mysterious sort of possibly hit and run.

No one was really sure who was responsible. It rendered him a paraplegic. Was the fact that he'd lived merely a glitch in Emma's plan? That's what her first husband's family suspected. When a year later, he choked to death on his feeding tube, while lying in bed. The mother and the deceased's brother tell us that the last person to be in the room with him

was Emma Reign. Her first husband's family also wondered whatever became of his life insurance. They did not receive any money from his life insurance. They believed that there was a policy in place and that she likely collected. We just simply had tried and tried to find documentation to support that and we were not able to. We always kind of suspected that that was her first taste at how easy it might

have been to receive financial gains at the death of her husband. However, since they couldn't find any documentation, the judge didn't allow the prosecutors to present the evidence from her first husband's death to the jury. There just simply wasn't enough evidence there to support that he had died at her hands. However, the prosecutors were allowed to present evidence of the suspicious circumstances

surrounding the death of James Rayne. The jury could consider this other evidence to determine whether or not this was consistent with her character, her motive, her interest, her intent. And according to the prosecution, whether it was two murders or three, the pattern was the same. You don't get a lot of black widow cases,

it's kind of fascinating. Or was it possible that she't get a lot of black widow cases. It's kind of fascinating. Or was it possible that she was just a victim of circumstance and a series of tragic coincidences? According to the defense, the murders of Ernest Smith and James Raine did have something in common that Emma wasn't involved in either of them. Essentially, they say that there is no evidence that Emma Reign had anything to do with this.

For starters, they claimed that there was nothing sinister about Emma increasing the amount of earnest Smith's life insurance. She claimed when he got a motorcycle that that was the reason to increase his life insurance. And Terry Everett's emotional confession to James Reigns family. According to the defense, it was possible Terry and James

had conspired to kill Ernest without Emma. In the defense's case, they portrayed James to be the evil one who planned all of this. They claimed that the insurance proceeds were supposed to go to James, who ultimately they say is the evil mastermind. And since Emma didn't take the stand, when the case went to the jury on August 12th, the decision essentially came down to one thing,

the credibility of a convicted murderer's confession to a bereaved family. Unless the jury was able to believe the statement made by Everett, there would have been no foundation for the trial against Emma Rain. Coming up, Will Terry's second-hand confession be enough to convict Emma? If not, his woman was going to destroy somebody else's family.

Or will the jury get hung up on hearsay? Her defense attorney really felt like he had a good argument. On August 12, 2016, the jury and Emma Reigns murder trial announced that it had reached a verdict. The 52-year-old was charged with orchestrating the murder of her second husband, Ernest Smith, and she was suspected in the deaths of her first and third husbands, too. The Black Widow aspect was fascinating for both police prosecutors and the media. People were very interested, just sort of horrified at the fact that this had happened so many times. But would the jury believe Emma had killed one husband? Much less all, three.

I got the impression that she felt she was going to get on. Her defense attorney really felt like he had a good argument that she wasn't involved and that it was non-fair prosecution. After all, the entire case against Emma Hinge on the confession that convicted triggerman Terry Everett had made to her third husband's family. It's been a heartbreaking experience for them. that convicted trigger man Terry Everett had made to her third husband's family. It's been a heartbreaking experience for them. They had to testify and tell the ladies and gentlemen

of the jury exactly what he had told them. I know how we feel as a family. We won't justice because if not, this woman was going to destroy somebody else's family. But would the family get the justice they sought? It all came down to the jury's verdict. Emma Reign was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder. She had no reaction really to the verdict.

But for the family of Emma's third husband, James Reign, the jury's decision came as a huge relief. That guilty verdict. I'm talking about a weight lifted off. You can't bring people back, but knowing what I knew, when they said guilty with her, it just... it was lifted. And she would be going away for a long time, too. And her, it just, it was lifted.

And she would be going away for a long time, too. On October 21st, the judge sentenced Emma to life without parole. And Emma only has herself to blame. According to the prosecutors, if she had stopped with Ernest Smirter, Terry never would have confessed and James' family wouldn't have gone to the police. To find people who do the right thing, just because it's the right thing to do is such a rare thing for us to find in this business.

If it had not been for that break, Emma Reign would still be out there. Although in hindsight, James' brother wonders who made the bigger mistake. Emma for murdering James, or James for marrying Emma. What the hell was you thinking? You just been a part of hippin' this woman murder her husband. No, where you didn't think you was gonna be next. you