Snapped: Women Who Murder - Kelly Cochran

Episode Date: December 5, 2021

The disappearance of a Michigan man triggers a tragic chain of events that ends in another man's death nearly 400 miles away.Season 24, Episode 13Originally aired: November 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 Wonder East Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. They were childhood sweethearts who proved that opposites attract. She was the conversation person. He didn't really say much.

Everything we know about Jason and Kelly indicates that they were just normal, blue collar, hardworking people. They seemed very content. They seemed to love each other. But when a middle-aged man goes missing, the couple's lives are turned upside down. It's not uncommon to have people go hiking there

and sometimes don't come back. My heart just sunk and my thoughts went to the worst. A bizarre piece of evidence and a mysterious map may hold the key to cracking the case. It was no specific address, the directions to a specific location. However, it will take a horrifying discovery to unlock the truce. He had put together a scenario of going on a almost kind of killing spree. He appeared scared and confused.

They had just left him to die. And so you're serious? You're f***ing kidding me. I'm not f***ing with you. May 18, 2016, Crystal Falls, Michigan. On the remote Pantoga Trail in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, investigators and K-9 officers from the Iron River Police Department are following the trail of a new lead in a two-year-old missing persons case. It's just a very wooded, isolated area. It's not somewhere you'd necessarily stop and go out

and walk around. Suddenly, one of the K-9 units picks up a cent, leading them to a gruesome discovery. The only thing that was found at the time was a skull and perhaps some other bone fragments. Investigators instantly notice something more revealing in the condition of the skull, a bullet hole. They were able to prove that, yes, a murder was committed.

They really couldn't say for sure they were dealing with a murder case until they actually found that skull. Even without a formal identification, investigators believe they finally found the body of 53-year-old Christopher Regan. It's not surprising that no one found Chris's remains until they actually went looking for them in May 2016. This discovery marks the end of a two-year search, one that spanned multiple states

and multiple police departments, and involved a bizarre pact that would leave everyone in the tiny town of Iron River shaking their heads. They didn't want to believe that a murder could happen in Iron River. It took a long time for the pieces in this case to really come together for us to find out what really happened to Chris.

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Christopher Regan enlisted in the Air Force in his early 20s. While stationed at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in nearby Marquette, Christopher met Terry O'Donnell, a schoolteacher from the small town of Iron River. Terry was smitten with Chris from the moment she laid eyes on him. He'd look at you and you would think that you're the only person in the room. You mean he just would put you up in a pedestal anytime you're around him? Though Terry carried a torch for Chris for years,

the two remained just friends until Chris left the Air Force and settled in Traverse City, Michigan. In December 2012, Chris popped up on my computer. While I was on it, and we decided to pursue a relationship, and so we started a long distance. Chris and Terry quickly realized they both had a love for the great outdoors. Something her hometown of Iron River had in spades. This is an area that's known for its beauty.

A lot of people enjoy coming to this area to get out and enjoy which we call God's country up here. He just loved to be with nature. So in November, we went back down, cleaned out most of his house and moved him up to Iron River, Michigan. As their relationship blossomed, Chris took a job as a floor manager at a factory that manufactured parts for naval ships.

There, in 2014, he met another newcomer to Iron River, 33-year-old Kelly Cochran. Kelly Cochran moved up to this area with her husband, Jason. I believe it was early 2014. Kelly met Jason. When she was fairly young, she actually knew him because they lived next door to each other. Kelly was the conversation person. He didn't really say much

unless we got him talking about something. The childhood friends seemed an unlikely match, but after Kelly graduated high school, she and Jason tied the knot. After the wedding, the couple opened their own business, servicing swimming pools. They seemed very content. They seemed to love each other. However, after a decade of hard work and heavy lifting, Jason's back gave out on him. He couldn't pick up much weight at all.

He obviously wasn't a lot of pain. He couldn't do the cools anymore. I think times are tough for them. Kelly, I think, works very hard to earn what she could to support herself and Jason. She did all the finances, all the shopping, all the cooking, cleaning, and as she would do anything she could to make money. Despite Kelly's Herky-Lian efforts to keep them afloat,

Jason's back pain only worsened. And in 2014, the couple decided it was time for a change. I know one of the criteria for where they wanted to relocate was to get a medical marijuana card for Jason. He was using that for his back. In February 2014, the couple settled on Iron River, Michigan, a place where Kelly could find a job, and where Jason could get the treatment he needed. He wanted to get a medical marijuana card, and he did do that upon moving to Michigan.

Jason also spent a significant amount of time playing online video games. As for Kelly, she took multiple jobs in order to support them. One of them was at the same ship factory where Chris Regan worked. As fellow newcomers to Iron River, Chris and Kelly saw each other as Kindred spirits. These are transplants to our area. We didn't have ties here. They worked together on some wiring projects. They both went to the same area unbreak.

I think probably they built a friendship out of that. Both appeared to be very social, very outgoing. both appeared to be very social, very outgoing. Around the same time Chris and Kelly became friends, his relationship with his girlfriend, Teri O'Donnell, began to falter. And in April 2014, after nearly two years together, Chris and Teri decided to call it quits. I was planning a trip of family vacation to Europe

and Christopher decided that he was going to meet up with some other women. So he wasn't lonely or bored. And I didn't agree with that. And so we broke off our dating relationship. We'd still go to eat, we'd soan for walks, and we did things together. Now living alone in a new city,

Chris began contemplating another move and applied for several jobs in other areas of the country that appealed to him. On October 10, 2014, Chris had called, and he told me he had a new job offer in Asheville, North Carolina, Asheville's in the mountains, so he could enjoy that part of life again.

The next time I heard from him was the 14th. That morning, at 6am, he had texted telling me he took the next day off of work. This would be the last text message that Terry ever received from Chris. When I didn't hear from him on October 15, after his doctor appointment, I got a little concerned. All my friends just kept telling me, you know,

he's fine, don't worry about him. Nice that something's wrong. Terry wouldn't know the truth of Chris' disappearance for nearly two years when investigators discover Chris' remains on a remote trail just outside of town. They were able to identify Chris's skull from dental records. Coming up, how did Chris Regan end up dead in a Michigan forest? The rumor around Lake Shore was that Chris was having an affair.

I was getting these suck feelings that something obviously was very, very wrong. MUSIC MUSIC May 18, 2016. Investigators from the Iron River Police Department have just discovered the skull of 53-year-old Chris Regan in a remote field outside of Crystal Falls, Michigan. It marks the end of a case that had begun nearly two years earlier, when Chris' ex-girlfriend Tariot Donald filed a person's report on him. I went into the office and I noticed there was a woman standing at the front counter.

This person identified as Terry O'Donnell, who's reporting her ex-boyfriend missing. I started worrying about Chris because I hadn't heard from him. I messaged him and he didn't respond. And I thought, okay, well, you know, he's busy. He just got back all here from him on the weekend. I thought maybe he wasn't responding because he brought someone with him. That was a female.

And he wouldn't text me if he had somebody else with him. However, Terry says that it wasn't like Chris to not respond for 10 days. Sergeant Barrett took my statement. And then she said, you know, they'll go ahead and look into it. A lot of times, it seemed personally to be a couple of days and it'd be found elsewhere. So it was unusual for it to be a two-week period of time

that he was missing. Terry tells investigators that Chris had recently been hired by a company in Asheville, North Carolina. One idea of why Chris had gone missing was maybe he just moved out there earlier. We determined where he was going to be working. And that company was contacting next day. And I asked if they had received any calls from Chris Reagan.

He was supposed to have reported to them, and they had no word from him. If he didn't already move to North Carolina, maybe Chris embarked on one last outdoor excursion before starting his new job. Maybe Christopher was hiking or biking somewhere and got injured or fell. Iron Coney is an incredibly rural area. It's full of dense forests.

It's not uncommon to have people go hiking there and sometimes don't come back. In order to cast a wider net, authorities in Iron River reach out to Michigan State Police. K-9 units from the Michigan State Police came to search in the area. While K-9 units searched the nearby woods, Terry takes state detectives to Chris's apartment to look for clues to his disappearance.

When I walked into the apartment, it was just in complete disarray. All the cabinets were opened up. There was things thrown everywhere. According to Terry O'Donnell, Chris was an incredibly organized gentleman. And one of her concerns upon entering his apartment was that it was much more disorganized

than he would have ever left it. Christopher's phone was not found either. I actually thought someone had robbed him and maybe done something to him. I was kind of panicked. I just started getting these gut feelings that something obviously was very, very wrong. The robbery theory seems even more likely when Chris' car is discovered abandoned

at the edge of town. Chris Reagan's car had been parked at the carpooling area about five miles west of Iron River. There's Chris Reagan's car had been parked at the carpooling area. Well, five miles west of Iron River, there was no reason his car would be parked there. He would never leave his car at the parking right. My heart just sunk and my thoughts went to the worst. And I told them something's happened to him.

With tools, I was able to access the car. And there was a jacket and a hat and gloves, but what I had most noted was on the passenger seat, and the front was a yellow sticky note upside down. And looking at the sticky note, it was directions written on the sticky note. It was no specific address, but directions to a specific location.

Christopher didn't know his way around. Iron River, he didn't know like street names, so if he wanted to go somewhere, he would ask how to get there by, okay, do I turn? At a gas station, do I turn at the stop sign? And he had written the directions down and so I knew it was the first time he had ever went to where those directions led.

Detectives follow the directions to a home in the nearby community of Old Caspian. It's a rundown, old mining community. The homes are a lot older there. They had blankets hanging over the windows and set of curtains. It was not in very good shape. And we first got to the house. A man who identified himself as Jason Cochran came out. Shortly thereafter, Kelly Cochran came out of the house. And I explained to her that we're investigating Prisregan as a missing person and his car

had been parked out at the parking right. Kelly tells police that she and Chris were co-workers at the naval factory. Kelly expressed her concern and said that she hadn't seen him in a few weeks. So I asked her when was the last time you had spoke with Chris Reagan. She said all the 14th or 15th. She had been calling him sending text messages and got no response. And she said she figured he had gone to North Carolina.

Police ask Kelly point blank, why would Chris have directions to the Cochrane's house in his car? Kelly says she has no idea. Kelly said that if she heard from her and got any more information that she would contact us. At first glance, Kelly seems to be telling the truth. Friendly, outgoing, not at least bit nervous, and that's the only way to describe it, Kelly. Jason's demeanor, on the other hand, raises eyebrows. Jason, basically, is very stoic, just stood off to the side. He was kind of emotional.

I became suspicious, but I had nothing to base my suspicions on. After speaking with the Cochran's, police head to the factory to interview Chris and his wife. had nothing to base my suspicions on. After speaking with the Cochran's, police head to the factory to interview Chris' co-workers. Chris was a supervisor of his department and Kelly worked in a nearby department. And I believe that they met because of their proximity at work. However, co-workers say that wasn't the whole story.

The rumor was that Christopher was having an affair with Kelly. At the end of October in 2014, investigators bring Jason and Kelly in for further questioning. Kelly is interviewed first and admits that she and Chris were having an affair. According to Kelly, they met up several times a week. They'd have dinner together. She'd go to his apartment and it seemed that they had a fairly steady relationship. Kelly's co-workers had told police that Jason was enraged

by Kelly's infidelity, but Kelly tells them that wasn't the case. Kelly said that Jason Cochrane was perfectly okay with it. Kelly says that her and Jason had open relationship, that she had cheated on him multiple times. When detectives interviewed Jason, they get a decidedly different impression. During interviews, Jason Cochrane did show how upset he was with Kelly and her extramarital affairs.

Jason's reaction gives investigators added reason to suspect he might be responsible for Chris' disappearance. Please, we're looking at Jason. That Jason had done something to Christopher because Kelly had the affair. There is definitely a thought that foul play could be involved. MUSIC Coming up, while investigators search for concrete evidence

of Chris' whereabouts, their two main leads disappear. They took off overnight and just slept. And a mysterious death changes the course of the investigation. Bruising showed up on his face as if he was suffocated. The The The The The The The The The The

The The The The Detectives in Iron River, Michigan are investigating the disappearance of 53-year-old Chris Regan. They have discovered that Chris was having an affair with his co-worker, 33-year-old Kelly Cochran, and have brought her and her husband Jason in for questioning. Jason knew that Chris and Kelly had an affair. He was jealous of her affair with Chris.

With no evidence that a crime has been committed, police in Iron River let Jason and Kelly go. Five months pass, and there's still no sign of Chris Regan. Physical evidence was really lacking in this case right from the beginning. They didn't have literally anything else other than rumors and speculation. Then, on March 5, 2015, the case takes a dramatic turn when a new district attorney looks into the case and convinces the judge to grant a search warrant for Kelly and Jason Cochran's house. The following afternoon, police descend on the residents hoping to find some clue

to Chris' disappearance. The police really didn't find anything that was conclusive. They didn't have anything that was direct evidence tying Chris' rig into that home. However, investigators do find something that peaks their interest. A rough draft of a book written by Jason, under his online video game handle, Quack Quack. Jason had put together a novel called Quack Quack's Revenge, a scenario of going on a...

almost kind of a killing-sprey type scenario, telling of how he's going to get revenge. It was dark. It was demented. Investigators come across the name of one of Quack Quack's victims that feels strikingly familiar. Christopher's actually written about and actually described in the journal.

Was the passage from Jason's manuscript truly a work of fiction? Or was it a sign that Jason had, in fact, killed Chris Regan? Whether I positively thought that Chris Regan was murdered by Jason Cochrane, you can't see 100%. Because I didn't have the proof, but I said, I have a very bad feeling. On March 25, 2015, investigators pay another visit to the Cochrane residents.

But when they arrive, they find the house empty and the cars gone. Shortly after the search warrant was executed after house, the Cochrane's packed up and just left. They took off overnight. Kelly and Jason left the state and went back to Indiana. Fearing the couple may take off before any physical evidence turns up in Chris' disappearance, investigators reach out to the Hobart Police Department in Indiana,

requesting assistance in a DNA search warrant. Jason contacted me one day and told me that the authority showed up at his house and took his DNA and heard DNA. Police in Iron River have strong suspicions about Jason, but without a body or any evidence supporting the theory that Chris had been murdered, their hands are tied.

By January of 2016, the trail has gone completely cold. After the initial search for the canine, you kind of come to a brick wall and where do we go from here? And the other thing that happened was within within a few days, we got an early winter, and we had snow and the ability to investigate on the ground and look for evidence with that snow was very frustrating. You never really want to give up hope, but you do get a sense of hopelessness. I figured that they would never solve this.

That Christopher is going gonna be out there somewhere and no one would ever know. 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, 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 Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Mark Cuban, Jimmy Kimmel, 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 Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. February 20th, 2016. The Northern Indiana town of Hobart is thrown into chaos. 911 in Lake County, Indiana received a phone call and she was super hysterical. The woman on the other end of the line

identifies herself as 33-year-old Kelly Cochrane. Kelly sounds like a very concerned wife in distress. She reported Jason was not breathing. When paramedics arrived at the scene, Jason was in a seated position. Paramedics noted that he was very purple and color, sweaty and warm to the touch. Kelly was described as being very hysterical

and actually getting in the way she refused to leave the room. Kelly was so disruptive that they actually moved Jason Cochran out to the ambulance. He had already passed at that point. It was clear that no lifesaving measures would be successful. As Jason is transported to the corner, Hobart police take the grief stricken Kelly

to the home of her in-laws who live just down the street. Back at the scene, Hobart detectives uncover the apparent cause of Jason's death. Jason appeared to have overdosed. I think they had found the needle at the bedside and thought it was a heroin overdose. With the amount of pain that Jason was in, it isn't out of the realm of possibility

that he might have self-medicated with something like heroin. But when detectives receive a call from Walter Amerman III, who claims to be Jason's best friend, Walter says there's no way Jason died of a heroin overdose. I got a text out of the blue from Kelly that said Jason passed away last night and right

away the wheels were turning. This didn't seem normal. I never knew anything about any harder drugs than marijuana. Walter explains to police that until a year ago, Kelly and Jason had been living in Iron River, Michigan. Then one day in March of 2015, Jason called him and explained he and Kelly would be moving back to Hobart the following afternoon.

Jason called me. He sounded stressed, which didn't seem normal. His first conversations to me were, there's a guy missing. The police think we have something to do with it. They were just sick of the gossip in the rumors and the finger pointing, and so they just decided to go back home.

Walt tells police that the couples returned to Hobart hadn't been the fresh start they'd hoped for, particularly for Jason. I remember talking to Kelly one time in probably November, and she had said that Jason had been in the hospital for depression and maybe tried to kill himself. Walter tells police that after Jason was released from the hospital, Kelly took increasing control

over his life. If he was playing the game with me online and she got home, it was, hey, Kelly's home, I gotta go. She had isolated him. He didn't have very many friends, and couldn't get around easily, and he didn't have anyone but her. On February 23, 2016,

the Hobart Medical Examiner releases the results of Jason's autopsy. The analysis of Jason's blood supports the theory that he died of a drug overdose. Evidence suggested that Jason was taking copious amounts of drugs. However, bruising around Jason's neck and face suggests a far more sinister cause of death.

They found out that he actually died of a spixia by strangulation. His manner of death was homicide. ... Coming up, investigators zero in on a suspect in Jason's murder. After Jason died, that'll peak their interest in Kelly. And an undercover sting brings them closer to the truth about Chris Regan's disappearance. And so you're serious?

You're not f**king a piece. MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC February 2016. It's been a year and a half since 53-year-old Chris Regan disappeared in Iron River, Michigan.

Now, in the town of Hobart, Indiana, the prime suspect in his disappearance, 37-year-old Jason Cochran, has been reported dead by his wife, 33-year-old Kelly Cochran. The cause of death was determined to be a sphixia due to strangulation. Once that connection between Kelly and Jason and Christopher became clear, there was no other suspect except for Kelly Cochran. On February 23rd, detectives in Hobart bring Kelly in for questioning. She was asked three questions.

If she caused Jason's death, if she put anything over Jason's face to cause his death, and if she administered any heroin to him. Unfortunately for detectives, straight answers prove elusive. Kelly always thought she could outsmart the investigators. This was all a game to her.

Looking for concrete evidence connecting Kelly to Jason's murder and Chris' disappearance, detectives reach out to Jason's friend, Walter Amerman III. It was posed to me that they wanted me to help and tell Kelly Aruse, tell her what I felt was an outright lie, and I struggled with that. I felt I was on a fine line of being Kelly's friend and being an informant. Eventually, Walter agrees to help.

On March 12, 2016, he calls Kelly, who has no idea that Hobart detectives are listening in. Thank you, Mr. Jeff. This has really been bugging me, but Jason asked me for my address. Okay. Okay. I got a letter like January 4th or 5th or something like that from him.

There was a fictitious letter that police had thought up to have one of Jason's friends, Tell Kelly, that Jason had given him a note before he had died. The note says there's something where the happy to be. Police send this in a few weeks. Do not open it. Thanks, Black, Black. If something were to happen to me, please send this in a few weeks. Do not open it. Thanks, Clack, Clack. And there's an envelope in there with no return address

to the Iron River Police Department. It's like I'm supposed to mail this. Please help. When she said please don't for me, it was, oh God. They did this. Are, so you're serious? You're not f***ing stupid. I'm not. I really got to go.

When I hung up that phone and turned the recorder off, I had no doubt in my mind that something bad happened, and I don't know where Chris is at this point, but I'm sure he's dead. For detectives, the phone call bolsters their suspicions of Kelly, but there's still no clear cut admission of guilt. However, after repeatedly questioning her over the course of the next several weeks, detectives

believe that Kelly is close to coming clean about her role in the two crimes. Then, on April 26, 2016, the investigation takes another turn when a detective gets an unexpected message. Kelly left a text that said the West Coast looks beautiful this morning, and he knew that she had taken off and was now on the run. Hobart detectives alert the Iron River Police Department, and together, the two agencies issue a nationwide below for Kelly Cochrane's arrest. As for Jason's friend Walter Amerman,

he's worried he might be next on Kelly's hit list. At that point, it was, well, I don't think we want to be home. Heh. She was still out there, and she knew we were involved. So I was a little nervous about that. Yeah, I slept a few nights with the lights on. Though Kelly's phone is turned off, the lead detective in Hobart continues texting Kelly,

hoping that eventually she'll check her phone. She was enjoying this game, and so he kept texting her, and though she was traveling with her phone turn off, she would check it to see what he was saying about it. And sure enough, her phone wasn't anywhere near the West Coast. They found her in Wingo, Kentucky. On April 28, 2016, authorities in Wingo arrest Kelly at the home of her cousin. With Kelly in custody, detectives from both Hobart and Iron River make the drive to interview her at the Graves County jail. Initially, Kelly portrayed herself as being absolutely distraught about Jason's death,

but once investigators really started talking to her, her attitude changed. It became very clear that her love was not for Jason, and in fact, it was for Christopher. However, Kelly says that before she and Chris could run off together, Jason discovered the affair. And that on the night of October 13, 2014, she and Jason got into a heated argument, one in which Jason invoked a bizarre promise the couple had made to one another a decade earlier. Kelly and Jason made a pact on their wedding night that if either of them was unfaithful, whoever was unfaithful would be responsible for killing their lover.

Kelly said it was done in jest and nothing serious, and she'd never thought that Jason would take it seriously. However, Kelly tells police that Jason did take the promise seriously, and he told her that if she didn't take care of Chris, then he would. Jason was going to go through with it and kill Chris, but Kelly felt like she needed to help him. Otherwise, she would not only lose Chris,

but she'd lose her husband as well, because he wouldn't know how to go about it. To me, that's just crazy, because I have this pack with my husband. I have to know killless person. It just doesn't make any sense to me. She lured Chris over that night to tell them come over. We'll have dinner. We can have sex. Kelly's story was that they were actually engaged in sex

at the top of the basement stairs. When Jason, who was at the bottom of the stairs in the basement, shot Chris in the back of the head. After Chris was killed, Kelly's story was that they dragged the body down into the basement, and that Jason had dismembered Chris's body with a reciprocating saw. His remains were put into several different garbage bags, and his remains were scattered in the woods.

As for the death of her husband, Kelly confesses that by the time she and Jason had buried Chris's remains and dumped his car, she was already planning his murder. Kelly claimed that Jason took away the only good thing in her life. She wanted revenge for Chris's death. Kelly says that her opportunity finally came on February 20, 2016.

Jason's back was causing him more pain than ever, so Kelly told him she'd get him a drug so powerful that he'd feel nothing but bliss. He was so susceptible to things that would sort of ease that pain that he had in his back. I think it made it easier for Kelly to make it appear that he had just o' deed. Kelly says that despite the lethal level of heroin she'd injected into her husband, Jason still wasn't dead.

So Kelly decided to finish the job herself. She claimed that she put her hands over his mouth and nose and around his neck while he was vomiting. According to Kelly, he looked at her while she was strangling him and he appeared scared and confused as she was killing him. He died within less than a minute. In April of 2016, Kelly Cochran is charged with the murders of Jason Cochran and Christopher Regan. As the gruesome details of both murders become public, friends of the deceased are horrified. I thought maybe they had curred him and just left him, you know, to die. What they did to him, I never imagined.

Coming up, Kelly goes on trial for her crimes, and her legal team mounts a surprising defense. She was the second victim of Jason Cochran in this case. And as the trial unfolds, it becomes clear there may be more to Kelly's depravity than meets the eye. Kelly said that they had murdered other people. It's been 19 days since 33-year-old Kelly Cochran confessed to the murders of her lover, Chris Regan, and her husband, Jason Cochran. Operating on information provided by Kelly and assisted by K-9 officers on May 18, 2016,

Iron River police set off into the sprawling woods just outside town to finally locate the remains of Chris Regan. They did end up finding Chris's skull, his eye glasses, and chewing tobacco, tin, as well. It would have felt better if they had found more of his remains other than his skull, but it kind of put closure to myself that we can finally put this to rest. With the location of Chris' remains no longer a mystery,

legal proceedings against Kelly finally get underway. On February 13, 2017, she is arraigned in a Michigan criminal court on the charges of murder, lying to a police officer, and mutilation of a dead body. In their opening statements, prosecutors assert, despite her previous claims, Kelly was the real mastermind of Chris's murder. Kelly, at one point, had told investigators that Chris was the best thing in her life,

so I think it was definitely more than just sex to her. But according to prosecutors, Chris didn't feel the same way about Kelly. He was ready to leave town, I believe, that Kelly may have wanted to go with him. And he did not want that. I will go to my grave believing that Kelly orchestrated it all. And Jason was guilty of loving his wife and helped clean up the mess. To support their case, prosecutors

introduce the most damning evidence of all, Kelly's own confession. But when it's the defense's turn, they call a surprise witness to the stand. Kelly took the stand during the trial, and that was something that her and I discussed together. On the stand, Kelly tells a story that differs wildly from the confession that she initially gave police. Kelly claimed that Jason was a monster in their marriage

and both physically and emotionally abused her. Kelly testified that she had called Christopher to come over, and she said that she didn't know her husband was in the house and that her husband snuck up behind Christopher and shot him in the back of the head. There was a gunshot. And we fell down the stairs. No.

But he's still having sex with you at that time that you fell down the stairs. You know me? We in the middle of it. In the basement, she found Jason cutting up Mr. Regan's body. When he cut him up, he had one of his hands. So the last time he'd be waiting for me, his way to the library.

He threatened her that you're going to participate in this, or I may do something similar to you. You could have gone to my head instead of shaking, you can't finish it themselves. In my opinion, I believe that Jason Cochrane was not the abusive person in the relationship that Kelly basically just did what she wanted to do, and that was just the way it is.

But the million dollar question is, how would the jury view Kelly's testimony? In your mind, you see, it's hoped that jury doesn't buy it. On February 28, 2017, after just three hours of deliberation, the jury returns with a verdict. returns with a verdict. Kelly was found guilty on all counts in the state of Michigan, and she was sentenced to life without parole.

When the verdict came back, I don't believe there was a ton of surprise. Again, Kelly had, unfortunately, made this a very, very hard case to win. I was relieved. She'll be locked up, and I wouldn't have to be afraid, and no one else would have to worry about being harmed. After her sentence is handed down, Kelly is extradited to Indiana to stand trial for her husband's murder.

In the Indiana case against Kelly Cochran, we couldn't have asked for a stronger case from a legal perspective. It would have been a slam-dunk trial. However, this time around, there will be no trial. In early 2018, Kelly entered into a plea agreement with the state of Indiana that required her to plead guilty to murder for Jason's death. She was sentenced to 65 years. The judge basically told her that while she claimed that Jason, Cochran, was a monster, that most everybody in the courtroom

thought she was the monster. With both cases closed, Kelly is transported back to the women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility to serve her time. But not before making another shocking confession. She had indicated that both her and Jason have been involved in some death in Indiana. I know that the police are hoping that maybe she'll give them clues to other people that her and Jason killed.

So far, investigators have uncovered no evidence to other people that her and Jason killed? So far, investigators have uncovered no evidence to support Kelly's claims, but those familiar with the case believe it's only a matter of time. I think it's possible that she's killed others. In fact, I think it's probable you couldn't write a plot like this. It's one of the most twisted stories I have ever heard.

Christopher was fairly new to Iron River. He really didn't have any close friends in Iron River. Kelly and Jason didn't think anyone would miss Christopher and report him missing after they had murdered him. If I hadn't reported Christopher missing, I truly don't think that they would have ever found Kelly and Jason Guilty. In May of 2018, Kelly Cochran appealed her conviction for the murder of Christopher Regan.

In June of 2019, Kelly Cochran lost her appeal. She will remain in the Women's Herred Valley Correctional Facility while she serves a life sentence. For more information on SNAPED, go to oxygen.com.