Snapped: Women Who Murder - Jackie Ray

Episode Date: November 13, 2022

In Gig Harbor, Washington, a homicide investigation reveals the dark lengths to which one woman will go for her family's safety.Season 24, Episode 5Originally aired: September 23, 2018Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WatchSnappedPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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They were a charismatic couple that seemed to be on the brink of the perfect life together. He loved his wife. He was crazy about her. And he was the happiest I've ever seen him. Until a harrowing discovery shatters their future. Now, I wonder what you're putting? I found a deep person. Mankles were still duct tape together.

Duck tape on each wrist. Detective soon have an unexpected suspect in their sights. She's active in her church. She did a lot of work for the community. She helped people. And a trove of long buried family secrets suggests there's more to the murder than meets the eye. Suspissions bow bowel, and affair.

Any reason why he would be not in your eyes, please? I really don't have any idea I can't think of a logical thing that makes sense. He lost control. It just got out of hand. Detectives will soon discover that some family secrets can have deadly consequences. That's really what get it. That's what pushdroll of the edge. I'm gonna get up there.

Stay to side. What? I just didn't understand. It's just after 8.30 p.m. in Gig Harbor, Washington, a local couple is walking their dog, Daisy, down a quiet, tree-lined road. It's got a rural street. It's trees and shrubbery kind of along the both ends of the little marshland, off the side of the road. The dog went out front the brush a little bit, and they went to go see what the dog was after. And that's when they discovered a body. Just a few feet off the road, they

see the body of an African-American male. And I will wonder what you're reporting. I found a steep person. They thought initially it was a hit and run. OK, and you believe that the man that hit by a color of something hung is speculating because he's laying in a low-lying swamp area.

First responders from the Pierce County Sheriff's Department rushed to the scene. When I went out into the brush and took a look at the body, the first thing that I saw was that he had white duct tape around his wrists, around his ankles, and face his nose and eyes area. This is obviously some sort of a homicide it wasn't hit and run.

This is obviously some sort of a homicide it wasn't hit in Ron. The patrol deputies are already secured the area. I called for our forensics unit. Pierce County law enforcement begins scouring the roadside for clues. We located his wallet out in the brush right next to his body. We found some identification in there.

The victim is identified as 33-year-old Leon Bachum. Once we identified who he was, we were trying to find out whatever information we could get about him, set down some sort of a timeline in relation to how long he had been there. As investigators peel back the layers to this mystery, they'll unmask a killer that no one in this tiny tourist town could have ever imagined.

Gig Harbor, this is not the kind of place where people expect bad things to happen. Born in 1978, Leon Bakum grew up in a tight-knit family in the nearby city of Tacoma. Leon was our first child and his sister was born 15 months later, so they were pretty much raised like twins. We spent a lot of time together. I mean, every summer we were gone somewhere, we went to camps, we went to Disneyland, we went to, you know, we'd go swimming, all kind of stuff.

He was very close with his sister, Rachel, but his grandmother was his rock. There was a big part of what drove him, you know, was to make her proud. Not only did Leon have an unyielding drive to succeed, he had the brains to back it up. He was super intelligent. As soon as he got into something, he wanted to brains to back it up. He was super intelligent. As soon as he got into something,

he wanted to know everything about it and he did whatever he could to learn it. He's got to have this presence about him where people just kind of just come out of respect. Leon's confidence served him well in 2001. When 23-year-old Leon began dating 21-year-old Umiko Roberts. Umiko is a very gorgeous woman,

and she just had this magnetic personality. People would just want to hang out with her, and she attracted a lot of attention. Leon was convinced he'd found his soulmate. For Umiko, a struggling single mother, Leon was just what she was looking for. Any girls I don't want to be with the guy, I think they can feel safe around. I think that's what initially you heard him.

She was ready to settle down, you know, and he was ready to settle down. She had already got a kid and, you know, just ready to start a family. He was so proud. He was like, he had hit the jackpot, you know? I could just see his look on his face. As their love for each other grew, Leon quickly took over the role of being second parent to Yumeko's son. A role that Yumeko's mother, Jackie Ray, had been filling for the past year.

They just tell that Jackie and Yumeko were very, very close. Jackie did everything for her. She was very protective of her. Having Jackie by her side was a blessing for Miko, whose struggles as a single mother began when she was a teenager. She went to college in University of Las Vegas. She was there for, I think, two years, and then she got pregnant with her son and came home.

The boyfriend has left her, and this is when Jackie steps in. Jackie was basically raising that child until Leon got in the picture. She's very giving. She does a lot for the people that she loves. When Yomiko married Leon Bakum in 2008, Jackie supported her daughter every step of the way. By 2012, Yomiko and Leon had two more children of their own. Jackie did a lot of care-taking for the kids,

like she would babysit the kids a lot. You could tell that she loved her grandkids for sure, like she was always around, always giving them what they need. Jackie's help at home with the kids allowed Yomiko to be a security guard You could tell that she loved her grandkids for sure. Like, she was always around, always giving them what they need. Jackie's help at home with the kids allowed Yomiko to be a successful working mother. She wanted to get out of the house.

So she started working customer service for a cable company. Yomiko had stayed home with the children, and he had been the sole breadwinner of the family. And so when she was working, they were in a good financial spot. sole bread winner of the family. And so when she was working, they were in a good financial spot. But on the evening of July 12, 2012,

their picture perfect family is ripped apart. When Leon's body is found off a rural road in Gig Harbor, Washington. When we found him there, it was obvious that he'd been there for a few hours. My next step was to try to figure out who would want to do this. A closer look at the body gives detectives more insight

into their victim's final moments. Leon had been shot once. The entrance one was in the upper back that led me to believe that he was shot during some sort of a scuffle. Whether this was an intentional God shot wound, certainly wasn't an execution. We knew that he had been dumped

because we have drag marks through the brush. There is little at the scene to indicate where Leon might have been killed, or who might have killed him. When it comes to collecting evidence, investigators find themselves grasping at straws. We had found three styrofoam packing peanuts. Here is body.

We found a door of the explorer, card. We had collected all those as evidence. Didn't know if it was just trash alongside the road or it might be related somehow to how Leon ended up here. As investigators continue to work the scene, a patrol deputy knocks on the front door of the Bachem's residence in nearby Puealop, Washington. Leon's wife, Umiko, answers.

She was told by the patrol deputy that Leon had died. I had specifically asked them not to give her any information about how he died. Coming up, Yomiko unearthed some skeletons from the past, which leads detectives to a potential suspect. She's being secretive with her phone, hiding the messages, and stuff like that. There was quite a bit of conversation leading up to Leon's. I'm a death.

He lost control. It just got out of hand. On the evening of July 12, 2012, 33-year-old Leon Bacchum's body was found along a remote stretch of road in Gig Harbor, Washington. Investigators are now at the scene trying to make sense of Leon's death. We knew that he had been dumped because the duct tape on his wrists were broken. It appeared to me that whoever had drug him out to the brush had drug him out by holding onto the duct tape around his wrists. Upon hearing of her husband's death,

Umiko breaks down. She becomes distraught. She is very upset. Once she collects herself, Yomiko notifies the rest of her family of her husband's death. Yomiko called me. She says they found a body and they believe that it's Leon's.

I said, what? Then I immediately hung up the phone, and I was bawling my eyes out. My sister tells me they found me on, and he's dead. I found his body, and that's the last thing I remember. I couldn't believe it. I didn't understand what happened. I certainly didn't think murder.

Though it takes you me go longer to reach her own mother, Jackie Ray, who is vacationing with her husband, LaFaniel, 200 miles away at a place called Moses Lake. Jackie's response is, I have got to get home immediately. But there's a storm, and there is no possible way that we can get home. While stunned family members try to make sense of the unfolding tragedy, Detective Mark Maraud arrives at the Bacchum's residence just before 3am.

When we went to the house, we sat down with him, with Amiko. We talked to her about her whereabouts, whether you're having any relationship problems at the time. Through her tears, Amiko admits that while she loved Leon, in recent months, they'd hit a bit of a rough patch. According to Yomiko, it all started when she went back to work. She had been home for so long and hadn't been out.

Now she's out and she's getting all this attention. She's a beautiful girl. The way she dressed was very provocative, and Leon didn't like it. Emiko felt like Leon was a little, you know, she felt like he was controlling. So apparently Leon installed a tracking app on Emiko's phone, something that would allow him

to see her location on his phone. And he had had that on her phone for some time. Amiko is aware of it. Yomiko says she tolerated Leon's jealousy because she was sure it would eventually subside. However, a few weeks back on May 30, things took a much darker turn. They were having a discussion,

and they just got up escalated. It just got out of hand. And he ended up putting his hands on her. He had allegedly punched her in the eye. She said that she had fractured her eye socket during that incident. When Miko's mother, Jackie, found out what happened, she immediately notified his police.

When you have a domestic violence problem, the court automatically gives you a temporary little contact order. Yomiko tells police that she and her husband were trying to put the incident behind them. We're trying to work on it. We're trying to repair it. Hopefully, you know, we can get this restraining order,

you know, lift it. He was staying at the house. Not every day, you know, but He was staying at the house, not every day, but he was staying at the house a lot. Yomiko tells police that Leon had stayed at the house the night of July 10th. The next morning, though, Leon's extreme jealousy returned. She had dressed up too much to his liking to go to work.

There was an argument over how she was dressed, and she ended up liking to go to work. There was an argument over how she was dressed, and she ended up just leaving going to work. When Yomiko's shift was over, she was still angry from the argument, and decided it was time to put some real space between her and Leon. While Leon was working, the night shift I afforded Yomiko the opportunity

to act some clothes for herself and the kids and leave and go to the hotel up in a better way. According to Amiko, she checked out of the hotel that next morning and returned home with the children. Amiko tells police that she assumed that Leon had spent the night of July 11th at his grandmother's home in Tacoma. at his grandmother's home in Tacoma. There were times that he would stay with his grandmother because he had a fear that he might get caught with a meco at the house in violation of that no contact order.

But there's one detail that's troubling investigators. When we were talking with her, not once through the entire interview did she ask where we found him or how he died. It's a detail that certainly raises a red flag for detectives. It may be possible that Miko was lying. Because in a murder investigation, you always look at the people closest to the victim.

When police visit Leon's grandmother, she tells detectives that Leon was supposed to stay with her the night of the 11th, following the fight with Umiko. She told us that Leon had called and said that he was going to spend the night. When she got up in the morning, she saw that Leon wasn't there. His white SUV wasn't out in the parking lot. However, Leon's grandmother says that when she returned home later that day, his white SUV was in the parking lot. However, Leon's grandmother says that when she returned home later that day, his white SUV was in the parking lot.

But Leon was still nowhere to be found. Somebody had to have brought that car back and parked it in the parking lot because he was dead. The revelation suggests one thing. Leon Bakum probably didn't die at the hands of a stranger. Whoever killed him obviously knows where his grandmother lives. The following morning, investigators reach out to Leon's family, who provide them with even more details

about the couple's rocky last few months, including what had truly sparked Leon's rage the day he struck Yumeco in the face. He had suspected that she was having an affair with somebody at work. She's being secretive with her phone, text messages, that's certain hours, you know, hiding the messages and stuff like that. He got a phone call from someone that worked there and said, Leon, you need to come and check on your wife

because something's going on here that's not right. So Leon shows up and talks to the guy. And the guy basically says, I know she's your wife, but I don't care. According to Leon's family, shortly after that confrontation, he found Racy messages from the man on his wife's phone, and that's when he lost it. That's when he slapped her.

If Amiko is having an affair, that is definitely going to add to the suspicion that she had a hand in her husband's murder. I had a pretty strong suspicion. She was somehow involved. Coming up, a new observation leads detectives down a different path. It was found within a mile of her house. That was a huge red flag.

And a new witness comes forward. We received a call. He wanted to give us information. She's too upset, so she wants to talk to a person. Less than 48 hours after 33-year-old Leon Bacchum's body was found dumped in a remote corner of Pierce County, Washington, investigators wonder if Leon's troubled marriage Leon Bacchum's body was found dumped in a remote corner of Pierce County, Washington. Investigators wonder if Leon's troubled marriage

to his wife, Umiko, may have been the catalyst behind the murder. We had learned later, Leon had had some suspicions about Umiko having an affair. Umiko adamantly denies any affair had taken place. I just kind of escalated and just out of anger, and you know, not, definitely not a good move, but he did it.

When investigators scour the domestic violence report related to the incident, the location on the report immediately peaks their interest. The address that he had been arrested at for the domestic violence was Jackie and Nathaniel's house. It was inlaid. When the investigators look into the proximity of Jackie's residence to where the body is found,

then it becomes interesting. We thought that was a little suspicious that he was found just a mile from their house. At that point, we wanted to talk to everybody that was involved in that domestic violence incident. Investigators ask Umiko's mother, Jackie Ray, and her husband, LaFaniel, to come down to the station. They sit down with Jackie first. We're investigating the death of Leon.

It was kind of one of the talks to you a little bit. Help us try to resolve this. Jackie tells detectives that in the aftermath of Leon's assault on Yomiko, she'd witnessed a sigh of her son-in-law that she'd never seen before. It was kind of unreal. I mean, people like to catch animal back and forth

and yell at you with screaming. She had a whole lot of nice things to say about Leon. I wouldn't be happy if my daughter was involved in relationship with somebody who was abusive towards her so that it was completely understandable. Jackie says her opinions about Leon have been strongly influenced by her past experiences with abuse.

She had Amiko when she was a teenager. She becomes dependent on a man with a temper. He eventually becomes abusive. Jackie eventually found the courage to leave Umiko's father. Once she was on her own, Jackie worked hard to set a good example for her daughter, Umiko. She always instilled their grades were number one. Like, I always go to school like work hard. In 1993, Jackie went on a blind date with a forester named Lathaniel Ray. The two hid it off immediately.

They're looking for companionship. They're looking for somebody really to connect to. And it happens. Two years later, Jackie and Lithaniel married. Like Jackie, it was Lithaniel's second trip down the aisle. When they married, they just combined, and it was one big copy family that they had the baby girl. The baby brought the couple even closer together,

and though Jackie and Lithanian worked long hours to make ends meet, the newly blended family of four seemed to be thriving. Given her own troubled marriage to Yumeko's father years earlier, Jackie pleaded with her daughter to walk away from Leon. Advice Yumeko apparently ignored. She took him back. Jackie claims that at first, Leon seemed to embrace his second chance. But over the past few weeks, his behavior had grown erratic again.

It was more the last month or so than ever, but yeah, he needed to be okay and he was just kind of crazy. For Jackie, it all came down to one word, control. He was jealous of Renathy. Look about this current start of all this. He had a potential threat. Maybe he would do something like this. We're about to start with all those potential threats. Maybe somebody would do something like this.

And it keeps them. Detectives then turn their attention to the location of Leon's body. Any idea why we'd find him where he was? Anybody think you're out there? Any answer to the slide? According to Jackie, she and Lathaniel weren't even in town when Leon's body was discovered. They had been camping with friends almost 200 miles away

at Moses Lake since July 10th. That's when Jackie disclosed that she and her husband didn't drive over together to a camping that she had stayed home. She talked about camping. That she had stayed home. She talked about some errands she had to run. Jackie tells detectives she planned to leave the morning of the 11th, but once again, was delayed.

Miko calls Jackie, and she says, Leon and I have had another fight. Jackie is distraught, and she says, that's it. I'm fed up. I'm getting you a hotel room, gather the kids and get out of there. Jackie told us that she had driven up to fed her weight to pay for the room.

Jackie says she spent a second night at home and then drove up on the morning of the 12th to join LaFaniel and their friends at Moses Lake. And that's where she was when Yomiko notified her about Leon's death. I texted her and said, there's a thunderstorm. I'm going to wait till it passes. When investigators interviewed Jackie's husband, Lathaniel Ray, he confirms the timeline of Jackie's statement

and seems equally confused about how Leon's body ended up in gig harbour. In the reason why he would be out in sugar as a place, I really don't have any idea I can't think of a logical thing that makes sense for him to be out there. After speaking with Jackie and Lathaniel, investigators inform them that they're free to go. But before detectives can corroborate their statements,

they receive word that Leon's autopsy is complete. I learned that Jackie was actually still in Pierce County during the time frame that Leon had been killed. The medical examiner estimates that Leon was initially shot sometime between the night of July 11th and early the morning of July 12th. The fact that she was in town still, the fact that he was found within a mile of her house,

that was a huge red flag. As detectives are pouring over the autopsy results, they receive a call that sheds new light on the case. From Ron Pratt, who's a close friend of Leon's, he wanted to give us information that that would be helpful. According to Ron, he had been on the phone with Leon the night police believed the shooting occurred. Ron said that he had received a call from Leon on Wednesday and told him that he had been in an argument with Miko.

He's like, yo, like, you know, Miko's gone. She left me. I was like, you know, what happened? He's like, yeah, I don't know. He was like, she's just completely gone. According to Leon, he hadn't been able to reach Umeco all day. But that around 1030 that evening,

he received a call from his mother-in-law, Jackie. Leon had told Ron that he had received a call from Jackie. Umeco, you know, wants to talk, but she's too upset to get on the phone, so she wants to talk in person, so I'm headed out to her house. Oh. Because he had that tracking app on Umeco's phone,

he could verify that she was, in fact, there. So I was the reason why he did go. He got to Jackie's house. It's like right before midnight or just after midnight, now I'm like, OK, you'll just give me a call tomorrow, because I'm a crash, I got to work in the morning. So we don't have to phone. And that was the last time we talked.

Ron was the person that was able to tell us that Leon, in fact, was going to Jackie's house. And now we have the reason why he was there, and it made sense. After talking with Ron on the phone, I was relatively sure, Amiko and Jackie were at the house when Leon was killed, but I still had issue with the fact that you would have taken people of a lot bigger stature to be able to load him up into a vehicle, unload him, and actually drag him out into the woods.

Investigators Sapina Yumiko's cell phone records, what they find would seem to verify Ron's story that Yumiko was at her mother's house on the night Leon was killed. We saw that Yumiko's phone was actually hitting off a cell tower in the north end of the gigabre area, which would put her phone in the area of her parents' house. We'd also learn from the phone records that Amiko had been communicating with the coworker

she was having an affair with. And there was quite a bit of conversation leading up to Leon's time of death. Then it kind of went quite a while. Is it possible that Umiko's lover provided the manpower, mother, and daughter needed to move Leon's body? We did go and talk with Umiko's coworker. He did have an alibi that he was at a movie theater in Auburn,

which is about an hour, hour and a half away from where Jackie and Lithuanian lived. He was out by Checktown. Umeeko's lover's rock solid alibi throws a wrench into investigators' theory, but it's not the only one. We had the conflict of Umeeko saying she was at the hotel in Federal Way, but yet her phone is at her mother's house. I did send a couple detectives up to the comfort end

to pull surveillance video and also check for who had registered for that room. Hotel staff confirmed that Yumeko was in fact at the hotel the night of the shooting. If that's the case, then why was Yumeko's phone at her mother's house when she was at the hotel? Why would Jackie have Umiko's phone? Mako's in a hotel out of the way. Jackie's husband is in a campground.

If Jackie committed this crime, how could she have done it by herself? Was she the one that actually had killed him? I didn't think so, so it kind of raised the question of who did. Coming up, detectives get a break. We had just been released from prison. Literally, weeks prior, pre-biased background.

And some alarming answers follow suit. He is walked directly into a trap. They confronted him, and he didn't surrender. It's been nearly two weeks since Leon Bokom's murder, and police in Pierce County, Washington are convinced that his mother-in-law, 49-year-old Jackie Ray, is somehow involved.

I had a very strong suspicion. She knew exactly what the story was, but we needed a little bit more time to put things together. Detective Sapina, Jackie's phone records. As they review her call log line by line, something catches their eye. We saw that she had been texting with a phone number that we didn't know who that belonged to. She was discussing with this person

that Leon was on his way over, asking this person to hurry up and get over there, and that person was responding back, saying he was on his way. Our next step was to find out who the subscriber was. While they wait for the phone company to provide additional info about the number and question, investigators continue their search for additional evidence. We applied for a search warrant for Jacking

in a Nathaniel's house. And the following day, we executed a search warrant on the house. We searched the entire house. We didn't find anything really remarkable. Before they leave, detectives take a look in Jackie's van. But there was this cardboard box inside. Inside that box were the same popcorn, shaped packing peanuts that we had located by Leon's body.

On the floorboard of her car, we also found a handful of door-to-the-explore cards. While the discovery doesn't prove murder, it does connect Jackie to the crime scene, a fact detectives waste no time imparting to her. I can tell that she was really nervous. I just kind of threw out at her that we had her text messages,

and we had talked with Leon's friend, Ron, and we knew that Leon was there at the house. Jackie startled me at that point. She looked at me and she said, I didn't pull the trigger. So I knew she had involvement at that point. My disnated figure out who that person was, who actually did pull the trigger. It really didn't have enough to arrest her

for murder at that point. Thankfully, the phone company notified them that they've identified the individual Jackie was texting. An ex-con named Lewis Barker. Lewis Barker had just been released from prison. Literally weeks prior to this. We looked into his background.

He has pretty violent background. He has had several run-ins with the criminal justice system. Armed with new evidence, investigators request another sit-down with Jackie. She agrees, but only if the meeting can take place at her attorney's office. Before investigators can question Jackie about her connection to Lewis Barker,

she starts in on her son-in-law, Leon, all over again. It was a constant, almost every single day, she would call me instead. I can't do this, I can't sleep. Jackie says in the days prior to Leon's murder, Yomiko had begun to fear for her life. She was scared, she was what I'm going to do, I can't do this, I'm going to go crazy, he's going to kill me.

Jackie says that Yomiko's fears came to a head when Leon allegedly brought up a painful chapter from Yomiko's fears came to a head when Leon allegedly brought up a painful chapter from Yomiko's past. He was escalating to the point that he had said to her her brought up the subject of her father. Your ex-husband? My ex-husband was somewhat abusive. I was able to get out of that situation. But he had remarried.

He had three children and was in the midst of a divorce. He shot his wife and then he shot himself. He knew how since if she was them. And she really thought he was crazy enough to do that. I thought he was crazy enough to do that. Jackie says that's when she decided to reach out to an old friend of hers, Lewis Barker. Jackie and Amiko were friends with Lewis and Lewis's wife.

They were close enough with each other that they knew that Lewis had just recently been released from prison. He's from the neighborhood and just of her and that he was always in and out of trouble, you know. Jackie told us she had contacted Lewis Barker and she asked him if he would have Leon killed. He wanted $10,000. And if you agree to pay him $10,000, I said I shouldn't get it all at once. And I said I can get you some maybe more than half.

And he said that's okay, we can get you some. Maybe more than half. And he said, that's OK. We can work it out. Jackie subsequently made a withdrawal from her bank account for $8,000 and made the down payment. Jackie says that on July 11th, she met Yumeco and Yumeco's children at the hotel in Fedway. Jackie paid for the room. Jackie told us she had taken Yumeiko's children at the hotel in Fedway. Jackie paid for the room. Jackie told us she had taken Yomiko's phone

while she was at the hotel. Run it back to her house because she knew Leon had placed that tracking app on the phone. Her plan was to call Leon to ask him to come out to the house to talk with Yomiko. I called him eventually and said, do you still want to talk? And he said, yes.

He specifically asked me, are you going to call the police? And I said, if you're going to stay calm, if you're going to leave, have I asked you to leave? And I'm not going to call the police. She knew that he would use the tracking app to verify whether she was there or not. The original plan was to get Leon into that house, kidnap him, and take him somewhere else to murder him.

Once she was back in Gig Harbor, Jackie texted Lewis to let him know it was time. She told us when Lewis showed up that there was another male there with him. She didn't know him, and she had never met him before. He was white or maybe a light Hispanic. I remember it had, and I remember a great step check in for either of Mark and his head again. The three waited until Leon pulled into Jackie's driveway around 11.30 p.m.

Leon knocked on the door. She opened the door and invited him in. Once he entered in the living room, that's when Leon realized that there were two people that were waiting for him. Leon has realized he is walked directly into a trap. They confronted him and he didn't surrender. They had a gun, and he lunched a fight back. Jackie tells detectives she was too scared to watch what happened next. She turned and walked out and went on to the back deck. I heard yelling, scuffling.

I eventually heard a shot. I heard a shot. I heard Leon say, I'm sorry, I won't bother her anymore. I heard him moan. I don't know how long it went on. But then the list comes in and says, I need a plus bag or something to, so that I don't get any blood in the car and I'm taking your car. And I said, OK, I gave him a car.

I gave him a piece taking your car. And I said, OK, I gave him the car. I gave him the keys to a car. With Leon clinging to life, Jackie, Lewis, and his accomplice used duct tape to bind Leon's wrists and angles. She watched as they packaged Leon up into the tarp and loaded him up into her car. Jackie went back inside to clean up, while Lewis and his partner dumped Leon's body in the marsh less than a mile away.

Then, the two men returned to take care of one last detail. They took Leon's escalated back to Tacoma and dropped it off. She later withdrew some more money from her bank account to make final payment to them. Before they conclude the interview, Jackie wants to make sure one thing is clear. Jackie is adamant. Miko knew nothing about this plan.

What finally pushed Jackie over the edge was that domestic violence incident. She had a fear that her daughter would be killed. She didn't see any other way for Miko to get out of this relationship unless he was dead. Jackie felt helpless, not knowing what to do, like, helpless for her daughter didn't know how to help her daughter, scared for her daughter. Following her confession, we placed her under arrest for murdering the first grade. Word of Jackie's arrest quickly reaches Leon's friends and family.

Rachel just calls out of the out of, like, one day, and just she's excited. I don't know if it's out of the phone. And all she's saying is they got her. They got her. They got her. They got Jackie. Coming up, detectives enlist Jackie's help

to finish their case. Why do you keep you say that? I guess I didn't. And Jackie's defense team drops a bombshell. Should've stood up and said, you liar. Investigators in Gig Harbor, Washington have just arrested 49-year-old Jackie Ray for the murder of her son-in-law, Leon Bakum.

In exchange for her cooperation with the investigation into Lewis Barker, Jackie is allowed to plead down to second-degree murder. We had worked out a deal with her and her attorney that she would cooperate in a wiretap and have a conversation with Lewis Barker. Jackie arranged to meet Lewis at a restaurant. I was trying to speed up the heat.

We threw it. He said that still never hung she. I'm not sure. I'm feeling a little bit of a haunted family. She's a little bit better and gone. Is that it? Yes. Louis told her, you know, just to relax.

That everything would be fine. And I asked the question, you don't have to answer me. You do? Why did you show them in my house? I get to you. Louis replied back to Jackie that that wasn't his intention, but he didn't know that Leon was going to put up a fight. They kind of sealed the deal for Louis.

Louis' statement is enough for a warrant. On August 10th, he is placed under arrest. Louis was compliant for the most part during the arrest. He invoked right away. He wouldn't talk to us. He wanted an attorney. But I was kind of par for the course with somebody with his experience in the criminal justice system.

Moreover, Lewis refuses to identify his accomplice. The best description we got is a white male and his mid-20s. He's about medium-build, average heights. At Jackie's sentencing hearing, Leon's family begs the judge to hand down the maximum sentence of 25 years. That despite the alleged assault, he didn't deserve to die the way he did. What he did was not worthy of him being murdered like a dog. Next to take the stand is Jackie's daughter,

the victim's wife, Yumeco. People are waiting to find out is she going to support her mother? Or is she going to lash out and say, you took the father of my children, you took my husband? She told the judge that she was so fearful of her life throughout their whole marriage and relationship. that she was so fearful of her life throughout their whole marriage and relationship.

She really was trying to protect myself and my children. I know this from other, but how can you stand there and defend someone that did that to the father of your kids. Yomiko adamantly stands by her claims of long-term abuse from her husband, but Leon's family believes otherwise. I should have stood up and said, you liar, and went jail for contempt, then allow her to stand in court and say that and get away with it. Jackie's defense also claims that their client's abusive first marriage is further proof

that a lenient sentence is in order. Jackie says because she was a victim of domestic abuse, that was her defense. Badgered wife syndrome. However, the judge doesn't buy it. Jackie is sentenced to 18 years in prison. Louis Barker pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. In November of 2013, he was sentenced to 34 years in prison. Jackie doesn't deserve to be let out because she could have stopped it at any time.

She's older, and so even with that amount of time, her life is pretty much done anyway. I would have liked to see longer, you know, or to where she can't get out at all. With Louis, I was okay with it. Leon's family gets some satisfaction in seeing Jackie behind bars, but they must live with the fact

that his murder leaves behind a complicated legacy. He couldn't defend himself. All they could say just slander his name and drag him through the mud. It was just horrible. It was horrible here and it was horrible. Who's dead today? She was never afraid for herself and her children.

She did not live in fear. And her children never did. Leon was a good provider. He was a loving father, a loving husband. I don't see any justification for what Jackie did. Absolutely not. I've never been able to find any. The third individual involved in Leon's murder

remains unidentified and at large. The investigation is ongoing. Jackie Ray is currently housed in the Washington Correction Center for Women in Gig Harbor, Washington. She speaks regularly with friends and family, including her daughter, Lumeco. you