Snapped: Women Who Murder - Joyce Sturdivant

Episode Date: November 14, 2021

The death of a Texas racecar champion leads detectives down a winding road of suspects and reveals deep, dark family secrets hidden for decades.Season 27, Episode 8Originally aired: March 18, 2018Watch 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. She was a devoted wife, living in the lap of luxury. They were rolling in the money. I'll give them that one.

He was a stock car racing star who fell hard for the pit crew beauty. I think he really loved her, and I think she really loved him. There's always holding hands, hugging and kissing and all of that, you know? But when police receive a harrowing 911 call, I'll get it so bad. And discover the former racetrack champion dead under mysterious circumstances. Investigators suspect there's more to this couple's love

life than meets the eye. Something just doesn't smell right. He told her she was crazy. Then I've heard drugs too. As detectives race to find a killer, they encounter a tightly wound web of lies, conspiracy, and a string of potential suspects around every turn. I've talked to you, baby.

Very few times in my career, I've actually had the opportunity to talk to a sociopath, as it was born. She's going to take care of herself. I couldn't understand it. I still don't. When's Day, October 8, 2008? It's been a relatively quiet afternoon for the emergency dispatchers in Robinson, Texas, a small suburb on the outskirts of Waco.

But at 5.23 pm, a collar in distress prompts an unexpected change of pace. EMS, would it be as you severe heresy? Well, that's an inflating of oil blood. I'm like somebody's in here. How's that? Is he breathing? I'm in the blood all over there. I'm supposed to be breathing. Oh, I got it so.

OK, well, I have some help on the way. I'm a sample if you can tell they get there, OK? Yes. When police arrive, the hysterical woman from the 911 call guides them into the house. The woman identifies herself as Joyce Sturd event and directs officers to the master bedroom. Lying face down on the bed is her husband, Joseph Sturd event.

He was lying like he was sleeping and had an apparent gunshot wound to the back. There was stippling, outer burn. So it was a fairly close range shot. Did not see any shell casings or anything of that nature. As officers take a closer look, they notice a second wound. He was shot in the back of the head. To me, that was the most telling wound

because it was blood everywhere. With obvious signs of a homicide, police hope some answers lie with the woman who called 911. Joyce Sturd event was born Joyce McMullen in 1945 in Waco, Texas. The McMullen's were well to do and Joyce was the baby of the family. So she was kind of like to support one of the whole family. Even though she was a very pretty woman and kept herself really nice, she had that pom boy side to her that didn't mind getting dirty.

She liked cars and she knew you have anything about a car. It was her affection for cars that led Joyce into the arms of her first love. A local race car mechanic named Joe Sullen's. They met on the drag, went out a couple of times and then they hooked up.

They got married. By her mid-twenties, Joyce and her husband had two children. And together they ran an operation building stockcars for some of the best drivers on the Texas dirt track circuit. My dad did build cars, race cars. If he was underneath the hood of one, she was there with him. No matter what he was, the hood of one, she was there with him. No matter what it was, she loved it.

She loved the speed of it, the adrenaline. One of the driver's choices husband worked with most was a slightly older man by the name of Joe Sturd event. Mom, dad, and Sturd event became all friends to the racing end of it, back when he was driving my dad's car. From a young age, Joe was enamored with the ladies. But at 18, he was forced to settle down when his girlfriend got pregnant.

She was only 15 when they married. They had to get married. I can remember our daddy marching him down. You know, you got this girl in trouble. you got a marir, and he did. But they didn't stay married very long. He'd left his first wife in kids. Joe had an eye for the women. There's no getting around that.

But if there was one thing Joe loved more than the ladies, it was racing cars. He was good on asphalt, but dirt was his game. He'd walk out in the track. And he'd pick up the dirt, and he'd feel of it, and roll it around his hands, need walk around, need walk over, tell his brother what to do to the car. He was best-irever seen.

On the track, he was tough. It was tough. He won a lot of championships. He was an aggressive driver. He lost one time to you. He wasn't going to lose a second time. But in the early 1970s, when Joe locked eyes with the beautiful Tom Boy

who was working on one of his race cars, he knew he'd met his match. Joyce was a real strong-headed person. I think that's why he was attracted to her. And I think she was attracted to him. He was a good-looking guy. And as the saying goes, one thing they'd do another. She was a very pretty woman.

Joyce was very pretty. Despite Joyce being married to one of his close friends, Joe couldn't resist her allure. It was during the last six months of my mom and dad's marriage, is when it all fell apart, because she was sneaking around, meeting a start event. So dad followed him and called him, right then, and he told start event, then you could have her. With their passion for each other running in the red zone, Joe and Joyce married in January of 1973,

shortly after her divorce from Joe Sullins was finalized. They were a very good team. They got along together. I never saw. I have ever had a crossword with one another, ever. Joe brought Joyce into the fold with his auto business, called Sturdivan auto transmissions. Trading on Joe's fame as a driver and Joyce's ability to balance the books, Sturd event transmissions was a bona fide success. Joyce run the office at the shop. She took in the money,

took it to the bank and all of that, you know, and Joe, he run the shop, but she ran the office. Joyce helped build that business as well as Joe did. Joe may have started the business, but I don't think without Joyce, it would have been as successful as it was. And the happy couple didn't mind enjoying the fruits of their success. She'd see something, say, oh, look there, Joe ain't that nice. That's nice. Well, the next day it showed up at the house. He go buy for it.

They were rolling in the money. With a solid financial footing, Joe and Joyce were determined to build their dream home. Joe told me it was 50 acres. He had to survey it. And he put the house in the middle of it because he didn't want them to neighbor it. It was a huge house.

It was really, really nice, nice home. Joyce and Joe needed all the space they could get, since they were also raising Joyce's children from her first marriage, Tina and Little Joe. Joe was a good dad to him. Sometimes I think he wasn't a good dad to his other children. So he was a good dad to these kids. Whatever those kids wanted, Joe bought for them.

Little Joe tried to drive a race car a little bit. He had the best of good. He wasn't what big Joe was. And Joe, he put little Joe to work as one of his employees. And of course he expected more out of him than the other people that work for him. By 2000, Joe decided to hang up his helmet, giving up dirt track racing to focus full time

on the transmission business. But after a couple of health scares, Joe decided to step back from the auto shop too. Joe had some health problems. Joe had had bypass surgery. As his health situation changed, he was kind of glad to take his hands off of that operation. And Joyce was still running the books, and she was still collecting the money. And that aspect of it never changed.

He was happy to leave her to run that way. As Big Joe was stepping down, or diminishing his involvement, then Lil Joe saw that opportunity to try to become more involved in running it. He was very rare for Joe to come in or near the transmission shop since he'd retired. He was enjoying his retirement.

They had a lot of happy times. It was good. But in 2008, the Sturdavant family's perfect life is turned upside down when Joe is found dead in his bedroom. He had been shot while he was asleep. When he went to bed that night, he never woke up. Coming up, investigators will soon discover there's more to this deadly scene than meets the eye.

Near prior, there was a home invasion. There were actually Mr. Sternovet was assaulted. [♪ Music playing in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash in the background, sounds of a car crash important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most important thing is that the most He had never gotten up that morning. Some of the drawers had been left open as if they had been rifled through that sort of thing. And then, of course, it was horrific the way that he was shot. And so that caught our attention. As detectives processed the scene, they realized they've been to this residence before,

just one year ago. I was called out at the start of it home, on a home invasion. Supposedly, it's somebody that had come to the home on Mr. Stern a bit of a sleeping and attacked him. He was awoken with a black male trying to choke him in the bed, began fighting with him. The last thing he remember was some being hit over the head

with something. The bedroom was in this room. You could tell there'd obviously been a good fight. There was blood all over the head with something. The bedroom was in this way. You could tell that it obviously had been a good fight. There was blood all over the floor. According to Joyce, she was hit over the head and have been knocked out temporarily while this fight was taking place with Joe. It appeared to be a break in, and these guys attacked

a big job seemed to make sense that it was just a random burglary. Joe kept money in the house, a lot of money in the house. And I think him talking about it to people, probably got a ran to some undesirable people. Thankfully, Joe enjoys survived that attack. But unfortunately for Joe, this time, he wouldn't be so lucky. This just could have been a second attempt of a robbery or a burglary that had gone bad.

They had a gun safe. There was a wrench found there. There was some keys found there. There was some keys found there. We did notice that there were an ice pick and like a meat fork in front of that. Like if someone tried to pick the door, had no reason to suspect anything different than a couple of guys tried to break into his house, rob him.

To unravel the mystery, detective start with Joe's wife, Joyce. She tells police her husband had still been asleep when she'd left the house that morning. Joe was still in bed, going to her, and she had gone to work, and it was just a normal day. She spent eight hours at work, and when she came home, she found her husband shot and killed and it is bad. And it's called 911. She was just very cooperative. There's no reason I didn't suspect Joyce.

Knowing that at any time she could leave, I wanted my decision to go ahead and take her clothes into evidence. Joyce turns her clothes over to the investigators and grants them permission to conduct a thorough search of the couple's property. She gave us consent to search the house, looking for a murder weapon or any type of evidence

that would assist us. As CSI's processed the house for additional clues, detectives ask Joyce to come down to the station to see if she can help shed light on what might have led to Joe's murder. You normally get home around five, you five, thirty, or... Any word from 430 to five thirty? Did you notice anything out of the ordinary when you came home or everything looked like he was back home just like a normal day? Yeah, well now.

When I went in to the house, I know this bit. You mean, you're talking around? Okay. Okay, you're talking around when you're kitchen, with a grass. Oh, it's stowed in there. And drawers were open, like, given to you for something like. And open a door, and just jerked everything out and

forwarded both the counter. I'm going to come along behind. I got the police back up. And I'm power-noting for getting grass. Oh, pull them. I'm not a cousin either because he's late. I'm sorry, I just don't have that. I'm not a cousin either. He didn't do it. You know, I went around corner, back there, he was still in bed. And I thought, first, he had another heart attack. He was in an awkward position, so I went to the bed and I was shaking the colors. I didn't do anything.

So I'm restippable, father, and shaking me again. So I put my hands on him. He was trying to roll him over. And I was shaking him. And he was coming away. That's what I call him that, and one. But could Joe's murder have any connection to the robbery a year earlier?

I took the money. I'm kind of, Did he carry wallet? Okay, did not carry wallet. He just carried his money, a rubber band, and we wrap it up. We have to have a sandwich, and put it on a man or a handkerchief. That was even money for us. How much capacity normally keep all of you? It's eight times the heavy, you have anywhere from 500,000 months.

I know where you're going to get. Joyce explains that two handguns, a watch and some of her jewelry, are also missing. Okay. Okay, pink. You know, not a bright pink, but a pale pink. Okay. Like the wings are outlined and you look small down. I've got to go in. You can take your left orange. I've got your blue. You know, it's pink.

Despite signs that point to a robbery gone awry, detectives know it's highly unusual for a thief to strike the same place twice. We immediately have to look at our victim, maybe enemies that he may have had reasons why somebody would want to murder Joe. He hasn't said anything or mission, but anything about any trouble with anybody. Anything like that. anything you're missing, but anything about any trouble with anybody, anything like that. Can you think of anybody that could afford a army for any reason? The Joe was a real part of it.

He had trouble with somebody, but I mean, I found out about five, six months till he took care of himself. Following Joyce's interview, robbery still seems the most likely motive, but as CSI's continue to process the scene, they uncover additional evidence that seems to call that theory into question. Normally in a burglary situation,

if you're going to open drawers, you're going to dump the contents out. There were some of the drawers in the dresser that appeared to have just been opened. Detectives also noticed something odd about the gun safe. Not many people would use a pipe wrench to try to get into it safe. And if this wasn't a real robbery attempt,

maybe that first home invasion wasn't either. Whoever tried the first time, maybe it was more than a home invasion. Sounds like they were maybe trying to kill him then and succeeded this time. In her interview with police, Joyce told detectives that she didn't know anyone who would want to kill her husband. But as investigators question others familiar with Joe, they uncover an entirely different story.

In cases such as these and smaller communities, you get a lot of people call in, a lot of them are rumors, but we record all these calls, all these tips. Receives some information that Mr. Sturdovik may be involved in some type of drug trafficking was also said at one point that he was involved in gambling. As police dig into the drug angle, they receive a new lead,

one that suggests another equally salacious motive behind Joe Sturdyven's murder. Joe was accused of acting then it was sexual misconduct. Hey listener, it is me Jason Bateman. I want to tell you that we've struck podcast gold in our new episode with David Letterman available four weeks early on one Dree Plus. It's like a late night talk show hangout, but with a smart list twist. We are diving deep into David Letterman's incredible career in the moments that shaped him into the beloved icon he is today. Our interview with David Letterman was reported live in Brooklyn in front of thousands of our biggest fans from our smart list tour. This is the fourth of 10 interviews with new episodes

releasing every Thursday. We're talking with celebrities and icons like the Great, Will Farrell, Kevin Hart, Mark Cuban, Jimmy Campbell, so many more. Join us for an unforgettable conversation that will have you laughing pondering and quite possibly contemplating growing a beard like Letterman's. I know I have. You can listen to these episodes four weeks early and add free on Wundry Plus, find Wundry Plus in the Wundry app or on Apple Podcasts. the Texas race car driver Joe Sturd event and his loving wife Joyce were living a dream life together. But on the 8th of October 2008, Joe was found dead in his home. Joe was known to keep cash around, always had guns. He always was known to keep a large amount of cash on him. Our main initial thought was that someone attempted to rob the house.

But as investigators speak to others in the tiny town of Robinson, another possible motive for the crime comes to light. In cases such as these and smaller communities, you get a lot of people call in, we document and record all these calls, all these tips, receive some information that Mr. Sturdova may be involved in some type of drug trafficking. You hear the rumors, he was transporting narcotics or he was only doing in cash and he's got it buried out here. We heard a lot of that. We talked to those family, friends and associates and never once did we ever get any incredible information that that was true? If the murder is not related to drugs,

Joe's friends and family inform police of another possible motive tied to Joe's well-known affinity for women. Jealousy. He had a lot of affairs. So this could have been one of angry husbands or boyfriend. husband or boyfriend. However, the condition of the crime scene suggests the killer was someone more familiar to Joe and his pair of hyper vigilant watch dogs. The house was basically secure. There was no evidence of any break in.

Whoever did this was able to get in the house without alarming the dogs. They had bitten some of the rescue personnel that were trying to come in, barked continuously. For them not to wake Joe up, it had to be some way that the dogs knew. With nowhere else to turn, investigators decide to take a deeper look into Joe Sturdavan's past. That's when Joe's stepdaughter Tina comes forward

with some new eye-opening information. Joe wasn't a saint. Back in the 70s, he was indicted. He was accused of molesting a family member. That was an instant involving Joyce's daughter, where Joe was accused of sexual misconduct. He had molested me since I was five years old. When we press charges, other people

started coming forward. I wonder why three of my best friends never wanted to come back over spend the night. That was why. Although others came forward with accusations of abuse, Joe adamantly denied these charges. And through it all, Joyce stood by him. Joyce took Joe's side over the daughter back then.

She chose him over me, and I'm your daughter. She chose his side. She made her decision. She's my mom. I love her. It's just hard to forgive her. Despite the severity of the accusations, Joe managed to avoid any jail time.

When I press charges, of course, I go before the grand jury, and they indicted him. And they arrested him. But he makes bond. And we was ready to go to trial that day, and he made a plea bargain. So he got 10 years probation with the file, which to me wasn't nearly enough,

but he's the one who's had to answer for it. He had a pastor, we had to look at all those avenues and the possibilities that could have something come up over years of a grudge. But in speaking with Joyce's daughter Tina, it's clear to investigators that she had nothing to do with her stepdad's murder. The daughter really hadn't had any contact with Joyce or Joe for, you know, 20, 30 years at that point. Those top of leads you have to look into, especially in a circumstantial case, you don't ever want to leave any rabbit trails.

I looked at it. It was rolled out pretty quick. Someone would give us a name, and we would look into that. And it would be able to pretty quickly exclude them, simply to do the fact that either they were out of state or there was no obvious contact there for several years. But if Stepdaughter Tina or Joe's other victims aren't responsible for his death,

is it possible that Stepson Little Joe is responsible? After all, Little Joe had put in years of work at his Stepfather's auto business. Maybe he decided that it was finally time to get what he thought he deserved. I always thought that Little Joe had sent to do with it. I think he did not work whole lot. I think he and Joe had not parted ways, but I think Joe had gotten enough a little Joe not working like he should. And I think Joe was fixing to cut the money off, and I think Little Joe got mad at Big Joe.

Quite frankly, I thought it might have been Little Joe. Now, which we didn't have any evidence on Joe, other than he was very familiar with the layout, with the dogs, but I believe the detectives also checked out, and he had an alibi. So, my thought was wrong. And there was no one else that we could focus in on. With no other leads and no physical evidence tying

a suspect to the crime, the case comes to a standstill. Then, on October 13th, 2008, police get a phone call that changes everything. Out of blue, we got in a call from the jail. One of the supervisors out there said that they had someone in jail that had some information about the murder and it wanted to talk to us. An individual who can call himself cowboy Tay. The informant was actually in there on a non-payment of child support, never asked for anything in return for his information.

All right. Okay. Okay. How's the approach about this you're making us sorry? He starts telling us that he was approached by a lady that he knew, and they were hanging around at some apartment complexes in Waco. They hang out at different pools, drink beer,

and she had been asking him if either he would or if he knew of someone who would murder someone for money. Cowboy Tate tells detectives that the woman's name is Deborah Detrick. This is the first investigators have heard of Deborah Detrick. Could she be one of Joe's jilted lovers? What Cowboy Tate reveals next will steer the investigation in a whole new direction. When you look at the big picture,

what they say makes perfect sense in the context of what has happened here. She pointed it out, so that's the man that we need murder. We heard he was mean to a traitor I treated him like a s***. It's been nearly a week since Joyce Sturdavan's frantic 911 call curled investigators into the baffling case of her husband, Joe's murder. But now, detectives have finally received a break. They had someone in jail that had some information about the murder, and it wanted to talk to us. The man who goes by cowboy tape tells detectives

a woman named Deborah Dietrich approached him with a proposition. She actually took him to a parking lot across from Jill started its favorite cafe. She pointed it out, Jill started a vent in the vehicle, he was driving, and said that's the man that we need murdered. I think the hell over there, we go over the head. I just got a car and told him, you... He told her she was crazy, and he actually placed a phone call

to Michael Crimes Stoppers. Weided for Michael believes to show up. They were tied up on calls and in the process, the informer got scared and went back to work. Detectives question why Deborah Dietrich might have wanted Joe Sturdivan dead. That's when cowboy tape drops a bombshell. According to him, Deborah wasn't hiring a hitman for herself.

I know for a fact that my wife had done. That's what I heard. You know, he was mean to retreat her like sh- Sh- Sh- Joyce had convinced Deborah that she was being abused by Joe and mistreated, and that the only escape that she had was to get rid of him.

You know, I wasn't surprised. We all knew that it was something ever happened to Joe. It was one of two things. It was either a jealous husband or a Joyce. Armed with this game-changing revelation, police need to track down Deborah. Inductance of violence on the apartment complex when she was coming home approached her,

introduced herself, asked her if she'd be willing to talk to us, and she agreed, and she actually followed us out here to the police department. According to Deborah, she'd gotten to know Joyce after she delivered parts to the auto shop. They developed this friendship, and I guess Joyce must have felt like, you know, it was a pretty close relationship.

Sooner or later, it's been taken care of. What has you been about taking care of? Just... They... Talk to February, February, Just, uh, babe. I talked to cowboy cowboy to me now, David. We don't want you to get in. You don't want me to be in the middle of today, and we just wait for the long.

Did you talk to anybody else or? I dropped it. You OK? Then how did I come up again? She kept on asking me. Debra says that's when she reached out to another man named Carlos, an acquaintance of cowboy tape. Then I met Carlos.

What did you sign to me? I was thinking, you know, you knew I had people that could take care of somebody. Yeah. Deborah encountered these guys out at her apartment complex and they got to know each other, and she felt like they could carry the plan out. They wanted cash. They wanted $20,000.

Debbie told us when she approached Joyce, you know, about the money, she said, I've got these rings, and they're worth a whole lot more money than that. Okay. She has the rings to you and says, here's the payment, but then we can't move. Did she say anything else?

Did you agree in doing it? But according to Deborah, the two hitmen Did she say anything else? Did you agree in doing it? But according to Deborah, the two hitmen took Joyce's jewelry, but failed to live up to their end of the bargain. They never did the job. So basically, they ripped off Joyce and Debbie at that point. David said when she told Joyce about it, she got pretty upset. I guess you're just going to take care of yourself.

Take care of yourself and do it yourself. She was going to kill him or still. At that point, we were further than real confident. You know, we were getting to a point where we were able to confirm stories. We had the jail informant, which helped us cooperate that. On October 16, 2008, police tracked down one of the alleged hitmen, Carlos Garcia.

He tells us that David approached him in the front of his about killing somebody. And they thought she was crazy. Whenever he intended to kill anybody, we were just gonna try to roll Debbie. After speaking with Carlos, detectives are eager to once again talk to Joyce Sturd event. But before they get that chance,

a call comes in from Debra Dietrich, who says she has more information she wants to get off her chest. She came in and her conscious just told her she needed to come let somebody know. She was going to do it while I was still laying in the van. She was going to shoot. And she really couldn't work in the van with no anything. And she would go home and shoot people one to five. She said she was going to ramseck the house,

make it look like some hay frokin'. Here's the dance, too. She just told me she's tried to add a bit of rock-pump once before. She'd take a win, she'd done this. But when that happened, she'd stay here again. According to Deborah, the home invasion in 2007 was Joyce's first attempt at killing Joe. She says that one of the men involved in the attack is a friend of hers named Ali Mohammed,

who went by the nickname Doc. I went to Doc's house. His nish response was, well, I wondered how long he was going to take you out of them, talk to me. It's almost like it was relief to him. He had known the start-up incidents for many, many years. What Joyce had been feeding him

was that Zoddan abusing her, both verbally and physically. But was Joyce's start event truly a victim of abuse? Detectives aren't so sure. We looked into that. We found no indication, no reports, where the police had been called. Doc was just, you know, whatever Joyce told him, he pretty much would believe.

He needed money. He was sent a money by it. And so she longed to it. But according to Doc, even after getting paid, he still wasn't up to carrying out Joyce's hit on Joe. He was not healthy enough to climb the fence and go in there and bite Joe. So he got a friend of his, Chris Chapman.

He also came to rough up the guy and kill him. Chapman was born and went into the house at 07, and assaulted Joe, started up in Mohammed, provided the house at 07 and assaulted Joe Sturdybent. Mohammed provided him with a knife and then a gun to go in and teach Mr. Joe Sturdybent a lesson. In the end, Joe woke up right before the attack and he was the one who taught Chapman a lesson. He said when he got in the house, Joe Sturdybent got the best of him. He was actually scared Joe started up.

He was going to take Hills live. And he was lucky to have fled the house alive. Now investigators have multiple reports detailing Joyce's murderous plans. But with no proof of abuse at the hands of Joe, what other motive could Joyce have to have him killed? When questioned further, Mohammed reveals a key piece of information about his relationship with Joyce.

We learned that he had been actually selling prescription pills to Joyce. In talking with Ali, she was taking a lot of the pills a day. She would do just about anything to satisfy her addiction. To corroborate Mohammed's story, police sit down with Joyce's son, Little Joe, and his wife to see if they can shed some light on the Stardovans family life. For the last 10 years, he's been embezzling from the company on a regular basis. Sometime to the tune.0, $34,000 a week.

She was buying quite a few pills. There were some people there at the shop that I'm sure she was giving money to. Financial records of his transmission shop were not good. They owed a lot of back taxes, had a lot of debt, and seriously doubt Joe's start of it knew about that. She just depleted the business of money, and that was her only way out was to kill him. Other than the control of the business, the control of the money, she got $92,000 like insurance.

Little Joe also confirms that the abuse allegations are a lie. She got $92,000 like insurance. Little Joe also confirms that the abuse allegations are lie. What was your bad abusive to your mom? That's what I was saying. That's what I was saying. But they were physically abusive. Despite the circumstantial evidence pointing to Joyce as her husband's killer,

investigators still don't have the smoking gun that places her in the room with Joe at the time of the murder. We obviously didn't have the murder weapon, lacked a lot of physical evidence. The persistence in the case was very important. These guys were persistent. It was a lengthy process.

After over two years searching for something substantial, detectives finally uncover a crucial piece of evidence obtained in the original investigation. In reviewing the overall evidence that was found initially at the scene, the detective had had enough insight into taking her clothes. However, because Joyce was not initially a suspect, her clothes remained untested until February 17, 2011.

We got a lab report from the Texas Department of Public Safety indicating that there was gunshot residue on Joyce Sturdyman's jacket. Coupled with the circumstantial evidence, the gunshot residue gives detectives the ammunition they need to charge Joyce with Joe's murder. On March 16, 2011, they arrest her at the Sturdivan Auto Shop. She couldn't believe that we were arresting her. You know, she had been so long, she

thought she'd gotten away with it. Joyce's charge was capital murder and attempted capital murder. Her bail is set at $1 million. It just didn't match what I'd seen in the past. I didn't see the dark side over. I mean, it was heart-full. She's my mom, but everything was still a shot. If Joyce stirred events arrest was shocking, her trial would be a full-blown circus,

with Joyce herself in the center ring. As soon as the crowds of damnation started, it was like the otherys came out. By March of 2011, after evading prosecution for nearly three years, Joyce Sturdyvin's murderous plot to kill her husband Joe, as finally caught up to her. All the evidence pointed to Joyce Sturdyvin. When the trial begins on November 28, 2011, prosecutors paste jurors through the day they say Joyce finally pulled the trigger.

She got up at the same time she normally does it, through the day they say Joyce finally pulled the trigger. She got up at the same time, she normally does. But instead of telling her husband goodbye, that one, she shot him. And I believe after she shot him, at that point, I believe that's when Joyce started to realize he wasn't dead. She thought that she'd killed him on her last year wasn't there. She thought that she had killed him

when she saw him in the back. What we believe happened was that he was still breathing in what she heard was a gargling. When she went back in and finished him off, and that's when she saw him in the back of the head to finish the job. She just went to work and actually like nothing ever happened. It takes pretty cold person just to be able to pull that off.

When it's their turn to counter, Joyce's defense team sticks to her original claim that Joe was the victim of a robbery gone awry. They also double down on the assertion that Joyce was a victim of a robbery gone awry. They also doubled down on the assertion that Joyce was a victim of abuse, and then called Joyce to the stand to tell the jury her story. She took the stand and played the frail, you know, walking up there with a cane,

and my poor husband was killed, and I, if I'm the one who found the body, and tried to really play at the sympathy. But her testimony can't explain away the gunshot residue that proves she fired a weapon. Nor can it eliminate the sworn testimony of everyone's choice tried to enlist in the murder of her husband. Witnesses are very important.

And without a lot of physical evidence, you're going to rely on a lot of the testimony from these people. And when their stories all come together, and the story is all the same, it's definitely exciting for your case. On December 2nd, 2011, the jury returns with their verdict. The judge read the verdict. We, the jury, find the defendant. He kind of hesitated, and then he said,

guilty of murder. I did not see really any reaction from mom whatsoever. And they took her away. They assessed punishment at 30 years on the murder and 15 on the attempted capital murder. At her age at 67, she'll spend the remainder of her life in the penitentiary. Though most people in this small Texas town

are convinced to Joyce pull the trigger, not everyone agrees about why. I do think probably she got hooked on pen-killing drugs, and she just depleted the business of money. I truly believe she had finally had enough with everything that had gone on through the years. And you get tired enough if something's going gonna snap. [♪ Music playing in background, sounds of a car driving on the ground. Joy Certivan will be eligible for parole in 2026.

She will be 81 years old. All co-conspirators were granted immunity for their testimonies against Joyce. For more information on snapped, go to oxygen.com.