Snapped: Women Who Murder - Suze Adams

Episode Date: July 23, 2023

After a hardworking mother is trapped and killed in a California house fire, investigators sift through multiple theories to figure out who could have ignited the deadly blaze.Season 27 Episode 11Originally aired: June 7, 2020Watch 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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Search NPR Black Stories Blacks, wherever you get podcasts. A free spirited beauty falls for a smooth talking chef. He had a silver tongue, and he can be nice. He was a nice looking man, very good looking. She decided he was her soulmate. But the events of one summer night send their future up in smoke. It was whole home being engulfed in flames.

I could hear screaming, help me, help me. Oh, it was horrible. Someone really meant for somebody to die. They thought it was perhaps tied to his gang relationships. The only thing that I could think of is why would somebody think that I would do this? As investigators dig deeper, they find a crime ignited by passion and stoked by jealousy. It was a love triangle. She hated her and she wanted her gone. It just felt built up.

They thought it was fine to find her and no one knows where she is. You can't really get much more devious to that. I think there's something happening. I don't know if she pushed you. This was cold. This was calculated, and this was Calus. is the quiet town of Turlock, California. Turlock is a medium-sized city in the Central Valley of California, which is the agricultural heart-eat of the state. It's a rural community.

People know each other. You have farmers that live out in the outskirts of town, and they still make deals just on a handshake. It's pretty safe. But on June 18, 2004, while most Turlock residents are sound asleep, Gracie Olson gets a call just before 4 a.m. I was sleeping on my couch in my phone ring, and it was my brother.

And he says, open your door, and look at your front porch, your friend's house is on fire. I was just like, oh, my God, so I just, I'm believe it. He's bright, orange, and yellow, flange. The residence is home to Gracie's friend, 43-year-old Christina Salt and her family.

I hollered at my son and told Jonathan to come on Christina's house as a vampire. So I left the phone when I came around the corner. I could hear her screaming, help me, help me, and I was horrible. And it just got worse. It was the most awful, awful scream. When firefighters arrive at the scene, a young man rushes to the end. Joey, a young man in the street, tells firefighters that his mother is inside,

and she's trapped by the fire. Joey believes his mother is inside, and she's trapped by the fire. Joey believes his mother, Christina, has taken refuge in a bathroom. Keep points firefighters to the bathroom window. The window was small. It would have been pretty hard for her to get out of that window and to climb out. She was yelling for help, but she's being burned and for someone's saver. It was like a nightmare. You're gonna wake up from it. There was no waking up from it.

It was real. And she was yelling for help. And she was yelling for help. That she's being burned and for someone's saver. It was like a nightmare. You're gonna wake up from it. You know, there was no waking up from it. It was real.

Born in 1961, Christina Salt grew up in San Francisco. My grandparents were artists in the Bay Area. They lived a Bay Area bohemian lifestyle. They were very active in the counterculture. And my mom was part of that. She was a little bit quiet, a little bit reserved. She was good and art. She liked to do calligraphy.

She was real, real good at it. In high school, Christina fell in love with a classmate, Kevin Vanneck, and things moved fast. They were high school sweethearts. She was the class of 1979. She was pregnant with me when she graduated. And he proposed to her. They got married when they were both 18 years old.

But their young love soon burned out. They were married until I was two years old, and then they divorced in 1981, I believe. Shortly after, she met my stepfather, and they got married. Christina's second marriage to Vince Loakes brought her a stepson, Michael. I had to been 11 or 12, roughly. She didn't look at me as her stepson.

I was her son. She didn't, there was no step about it. And in her eyes. She was good at loving everybody. She always made you feel special. In 1987, Christina and Vince welcomed a son, Joey. She was a devoted mom. As I got older and I wasn't around as much,

her time was devoted to my two younger brothers. She made sure that they were taking care of as best as she could do. We didn't have a lot of fancy amenities, but we spent our Sundays listening to records. And she taught me a lot about music amenities, but we spent our Sundays listening to records. And she taught me a lot about music and the love for art. While she found success in motherhood, Christina's marriage was a different story.

It was wrong. Roughly 1992, she wanted to try and make things work, but there was no work with him. She loved my stepdad, but eventually they just grew to where they couldn't be around each other and they got divorced. It hurt her, but she was a strong woman and she was able to say, I can do this on my own, I don't need you. There was times I was closer with her

after the divorce and I was with my own dad. After her second divorce, Christina looked forward to a fresh start for her and her boys. We moved to Terlock, California. My mom worked in downtown Terlock. She was a waitress. She was billowed by her clientele. She worked. She seemed like every day to make sure that we were taking care of.

And she absolutely loved us. clientele. She worked, seemed like every day to make sure that we were taken care of, and she absolutely loved us. Soon after moving to Turlock, Christina met a smooth talking, good-looking cook, named Fortino Godoy. My mom started dating Fortino. About the time I was a senior in high school. He was a cook at IHOT and Terilock and other restaurants. He was a nice looking man. He was very good looking. He was from Mexico. He had a silver tongue, and he was very convincing what he wanted to be.

After two failed marriages, Christina wasn't eager to rush into a third. However, she did believe that Fortino was the best in the world. After two failed marriages, Christina wasn't eager to rush into a third. However, she did believe that Fortino was the one. She decided he was her soulmate. She was battling love with that. But after over a decade together, Christina began to wonder if Fortino felt the same way. They had been together for a long time,

but I think maybe that's beginning he did our, but then he was just using her. It was just, you know, a place to have a roof over his head. She did his laundry, she did anything for him. She was trying to keep him at the home and be her steady boyfriend. And he was more of a kind of come and get what he wants,

kind of guy. She started he wants, kind of guy. She started realizing that, you know, maybe this wasn't the right guy. For Tino had been living with Christina. And then simply said, I'm going to the store to get a pack of cigarettes. And never came back. She was really upset at that point.

With her love life up in the air, Christina channeled her energy into babysitting her only grandchild. She was a very happy grandmother. She had my son whenever she could. She would take him around town, do activities, go to grocery store, go to the park. Though Christina loved being near her family, her stagnant relationship with Fortino inspired her to make a move. She was making plans to move to Las Vegas, where her brother lived, to become a waitress because the job market was way better there.

She was making arrangements to move out there. She was making arrangements to move out there. Tragically, in the early morning hours of June 18th, 2004, a fire at Christina's home threatens her future. Firefighters struggle to reach Christina as her home goes up in flames around her. She was screaming inside the bathroom, getting me out of here, help me, help me. There was just no way for them to get to her

with the smoke pouring out of the window. It was a whole home being engulfed in flames. And it was such high intensity that they couldn't do anything. She's screaming, and then she goes quiet. Minutes later, firefighters tame the blaze enough to enter the bathroom, where they locate Christina deceased. She was laying in a like a fetal position and with her back to the door and had a towel over her face. It was really heartbreaking. She gave so much. You know, she was a giver.

She didn't deserve it. It made me sad for Chris that she died in such a violent death. Coming up, fire investigators find disturbing evidence at the scene. There was no way out. Someone really meant for somebody to die in this fire. And a Pandora's box, and a Fire investigators find disturbing evidence at the scene. There was no way out. Someone really meant for somebody to die in this fire. And a Pandora's box of leads burst open. It could have been a retaliation type thing.

Maybe they came back to get revenge. It was a little unusual to have this many suspects. June 18, 2004. Firefighters in Turlock, California have just recovered the body of 43-year-old Christina Salt in what remains of her fire ravaged home. You could see where the smoke had gone out from the windows because there's the darkening of the window sill, the top portions of it as the smoke was billowing out.

For investigators on the scene, the first order of business is determining the cause of the fire. It can be anything. It can be electrical problems inside the house that had been smoldering for a while, and then all of a sudden they erupt. As investigators carefully examine the scene, they quickly spot clues on the back porch that indicate the fire was no accident. The back door was a fairly newer door, it was metal. That outside metal was completely burnt and warped, and the paint was completely burnt on it, just ash. And you could clearly see a pattern of what looked like an accelerant was splashing in the door.

Investigators find a similar pattern on the front porch. They were able to determine that there are two points of origin. The fact that the fire on the porch was a similar type of accelerant used in the back door, again, pointed to the fact that it was not accidental. With Arson determined, detectives with the Turlock Police Department joined the investigation. I got called early and it was a suspicious fire and a woman had died. As firefighters brief detectives on the morning's events, they reveal this is not the first time they've responded to a fire at this address.

About three months earlier, fire department had responded there for a fire on the front porch. During the previous fire, the victim, Christina Salt and the son, Joyelopes, were able to escape through the back door and it was the middle of the night. It was three o'clock in the morning and it was contained to the front porch. It was kind of up in the air how it happened. Was that an accident?

Was it intentional? It was just kind of what happened here. At the time, Arson investigators concluded the fire was accidental. My mom, she had just shrugged it off. She didn't seem suspicious of anything. The porch had coffee canjus for cigarette butts, where they had done a lot of smoking out there,

and they couldn't determine how the fire had started. As soon as it was an accident, but now, three months later, now the whole house has burned down. Whoever set this fire was determined to make sure both and accident, but now, three months later, now the whole house is burned down. Whoever set this fire was determined to make sure both exits were blocked by flames. There was no way out. Someone really meant for somebody to die in this fire. I would say 75% of the home was destroyed.

The back porch kitchen was still somewhat intact with just everything in there was destroyed by soot. There were no surfaces or items that they could fingerprint at the house because of the charring that occurred. At daybreak, patrol officers searched the surrounding area and make an intriguing discovery. During the neighborhood canvas, there was in a garbage can

in the alley. There was plastic, like, ziplock bag. They had a strange smelling liquid, like an accelerant, in the bag. They found the baggies, which appeared to be Rosemary, as well as what appeared to be alcohol inside of it. Outside the crime scene, detective

speak with Christina's 17-year-old son, Joey. He was distraught. He was beside himself. He just listened to his mom die at terrible death. Joey tells detectives that before the fire, everyone in the house was sound asleep. Christina and her grandson were sleeping in the bedroom on her bed. There was a family friend in Joey Loops bedroom,

and 17-year-old Joey Loops was sleeping on the couch in the living room. He was the one who actually noticed the fire first. He wakes to the front window being blown in, and smoke and fire pouring in that window and across the ceiling over his head. He jumps up, fire starts yelling at everybody. As they're heading out the door, his mom is just wearing a t-shirt.

She hands the baby to Joey, said she's going back to put on clothes. He tried to convince her, no, no, no, we got to get out. And then she left and went back towards her bedroom. Joey, his friend and the toddler all escaped through the back door. As the flames grew in intensity behind him, Joey realized his mother hadn't made it out.

They get out into the back, he's waiting for his mom calling for her, and now smoke is pouring out of the back door, making it impulse for him to get in. He actually burned his hand on the door knob, trying to get back inside because it was so intense. And so he couldn't go into the home. He couldn't do anything to help his mom. He had all those emotions of not being able to help his mom.

And he was in a bad placement, because of that. It did affect him. Joey tells detectives he fears it's possible the fire was set with the intention of killing him, not his mother. He hung out with the gang crowd, he started to spend more and more time with them. Joey says that he'd recently quit hanging out with gang members and had even cooperated with police on a gang-related investigation. He was always on edge because he was kind of a marked snitch.

It could have been a retaliation type thing. Maybe they came back and were trying to get revenge. Where part of the fire was set, his bedroom was right there. It kind of made me wonder. To investigators, the theory is plausible. They think that's their job to go to put in work for their gang and to raise their status in the gang. And nothing would do more than towards that goal

as to hurt a snitch. Joey also offers up a second suspect. He tells detectives there's a possibility his half-brother Mike Vanick could be behind it. He said, hey, my brother, Mike Vanick, he's been kicked out of the house. He has slept in the carport and his mom's car and thinks that his mom owes him money for something.

and thinks that his mom owes him money for something. After speaking to Joey, investigators have several leads to sift through. He was kind of all over the place. We got local gang members. Now we got the victim's own son. It was a little unusual to have this many suspects. Of Joey's theories, one especially stands out to detectives. Joey had said a few weeks prior, he was told by a neighbor or a friend,

hey, these guys, who they knew, local gang members, or parked down the street, watching his house. He named who they were. During their initial conversation, Joey provided detectives with the name of one particular gang member. Investigators have no trouble locating the man. He's already behind bars. He was in custody. He'd been picked up for something else. When it spoke to him at the county jail and went over why he would be at odds with the victim's son and he's the only thing about the fire

and said he didn't know anything about it. And it was innocent, and I think he even said he didn't have any reason to be at odds with Joey. And we're able to connect him with it all over his cohorts. With the gang theory ruled out, detectives turn to their next suspect, Christina's son and Joey's half-brother, Mike Vanneck. I was called to the on Turlock Police Station,

and they sat me down in a room. I told them everything I knew. Coming up, detectives make some troubling discoveries. They each knew that he was dating both of them. She starts asking questions like, about how to make a maltopp cocktail, and how to make a pipe bomb. And a search warrant yields an interesting find.

There was rosemary bushes there. Within 48 hours of the horrific death of 43-year-old Christina Salt, detectives are now sitting down with her son, Mike Vannack. They wanted to know where I was at and what I was doing. I didn't know why the house was on fire. I didn't know who did it and that I was at what I was doing. I didn't know why the house was on fire. I didn't know who did it, and that I was working. When confronted about being kicked out of the house, Mike admits he was angry.

But he tells detectives he blamed the landlord, not Christina. The landlord told her that I couldn't live in her house. I didn't have any place to go. So she had a't live in her house. I didn't have any place to go, so she had a car parked and her car parked behind the house. And she said, if you need a place to sleep, you can sleep in that car. Mike also points out that Christina was babysitting

his three-year-old son at the time of the fire, and he would never put his son in danger. I called my mom and told her that I can't watch James, my son this weekend. Can you watch him for me? And she was yet to no problem. Those were my days off. Throughout his conversation with detectives,

Mike maintains his innocence. I was very scared. And the only thing that I could think of is why would somebody think that I would do this to my mother? I love my mom and death. And I just, I couldn't understand why somebody would do this to her. It could be because she was so nice. Everybody that she knew loved her.

And it just boggled the mind. I had no idea. Detectives end the interview with few reservations over Mike's sincerity. He was very cooperative, and I believe he had an alibi. Having cleared Mike, detectives have gone from two leads to none.

Then, the day after the fatal fire, they get a mysterious phone call. The caller is anonymous. It's a male saying, I work next to Susie Adams at AJ's Cafe and she bragged about setting fire. Born in Kansas City in 1959, Susie Adams was raised by struggling parents.

Susie described them they were kind and generous, but they had financial troubles. They were fairly poor. She got picked on a little bit for that. I think she had kind of a rough life and internalized these things for her whole life. Expecting she would have to fend for herself, Susie dropped out of high school and began working in a restaurant. She was a good cook.

That's how we met. We were working at Kansas City at a really, really, probably the best restaurant in Kansas City. She just wanted to be happy, kind of live life, and she was kind of a mix between a 60's hippie chick and a 70's punk rocker. In the mid-90s, Susie made the most of her unencumbered existence and left Missouri on a whim.

She had just left her life against me behind and gone off with two friends to kind of live as gypsies on the road. By 2000, Susie planted roots in Turlock, California and eventually landed a job as a cook at AJ's Cafe. It's at AJ's in June 2004, where detectives are eager to question Susie about her relationship to Christina Salt. We went to AJ's Cafe, the owner's there, and we talked to him and asked you know about Susie. She worked for him.

Yes, he said, yes, she does. Though Susie is off that day, detectives quickly discover that Susie and Christina knew each other, and their relationship was tense. It was a love triangle, and Christina and Susie were dating the same guy. Susie's co-workers name a local cook, Fortino Godoy, as the third member of the love triangle. Fortino had been dating Christina for about 16 years, and Susie had been dating Fortino for about four to six years. Fortino would pretty much ping pong back and forth.

They each knew that he was dating both of them. About a year earlier, the tension between the two women intensified when Susie became pregnant with Forkino's baby. Forkino went live with her, got her pregnant, and then once she was pregnant, he went back with Pristina, the victim. Susie just had the child and immediately gave it a prud option. Suzy didn't want to be a mom, she's not fond of babies. I know that.

I think that's what started the feud between Suzy Adams and Chris. But instead of getting angry with Fortino, the two women focused their fury on each other. Two days before the fire, Christina went into Suzie's restaurant and ate there, and that enraged Suzie. Suzie's manager points detectives to one of the cooks, David Jean, who worked the closest to Susie.

Investigators get a feeling David might be their anonymous tipster. This first word's our, how do you know it was me? Well, we're detectives. That's what we do. So, he just goes ahead and tells us everything. As you said, after the first fire, that she was the one who did it, but to not to tell anyone. And David wasn't sure quite what to make out of the reason being was that Suzy would often exaggerate things and tell lies. Suzy's bizarre claim was followed by other concerning comments.

She starts asking questions like about how to make a multi-top cocktail and how to make a pipe bomb and these sort of things. And it just, she's really weird why she's talking like this. And he kind of blew her off as something that Susie would say. But with Christina dead after an arson attack on her home, detectives take Susie's words very seriously. Detectives leave A.J.'s and head straight to Suzie's home, armed with a search warrant.

They find Suzie eager to share her side of the story. If you downplayed that there is any type of animosity between the two of them. It was just a war of words. Suzy tells detectives if anything, she was the one who had reason to be afraid, not Christina. She went on to explain how she was being harassed by Christina, that Christina would call her a textor. She went on to explain Christina would follow her and whether it was rightfully or wrongfully.

Susie just felt paranoid about Christina who was being around. Christina's fault. She bullied Susie for, I don't know how long. Susie was calling me during the period that she was being bullied. I could tell that Susie was calling me during the period that she was being bullied. I could tell that Susie was kind of distressed. Susie tells detectives that she and Fortino

were at her house sleeping when the fire broke out. She didn't waver from the fact that she was home asleep and didn't know anything about it. Following the interview, police carry out the search of Susie's apartment. They found in the porch area of her apartment that there was Rosemary bushes there that she was growing Rosemary.

And it was similar to the Rosemary that was located at the crime scene. However, the presence of the common herb isn't enough to indicate Susie's involvement in Christina's death. I have rosemary in my backyard. Nothing unusual about it at all. So there's really no way to link that together.

The police really don't have any physical evidence to tie her to that case, other than that she had some rosemary. The officers felt that Susie wasn't really involved with the fire, and they had no other reason to believe that there was more to it than what Susie was saying. Susie agrees to schedule a polygraph to clear her name. Detectives next turn their attention

to the link between the feuding women, 44-year-old, 14-o-g-doin. The boyfriend that was the central problem between these two women could have wanted out of this situation. He could have wanted the two women to, you know, the fight to stop between them. He maybe he was sick of it.

Coming up, exposed secrets set off red flags. He had a family down in Mexico. And a suspect re-emerges with a shocking admission. Okay, take it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. And investigation into Christina's soul's death has revealed that Christina's boyfriend, Fortino Gadoi, was also seeing Suzie Adams. The two ladies are fighting over the same guy. With Suzie claiming innocence, detectives track Fortino down for an interview. He did know about the fire. He said he learned about the fire, and he drove by the house and saw the house was burned.

And he was very sad and teared up about that she was gone. Fortino claims he spent the night in Susie's bed. He dated both women, and he was currently with Susie. He gave it all by that Susie was sleeping with him all night. And at her apartment. Fortino also reveals he had other priorities in life beyond the tumultuous love triangle. Fortino had a family down in Mexico.

They were sending a paycheck to his wife down in Mexico and his family. The interview with Fortino leaves detectives with more questions than answers. They decide to head back to A.J.'s to speak to Susie. The investigators wanted to question her more. They go to find her. She picked up her check on Friday.

She didn't show up for an ex-shift and no one knows where she is. or more. They go to find her, she picked up her check on Friday. She didn't show up for an ex-shift, and no one knows where she is. It started to paint a picture that perhaps Susie was more involved than she was letting on. Susie's behavior has landed her at the top of the suspect list. When search efforts fail, police fear she may be gone for good. I was able to get the case to a certain point,

an investigation to a certain point, where work wasn't done, but we didn't know where she was at, but she was our main suspect. About a week later, on July 2nd, Suzy unexpectedly shows up at the Turlock Police Department. I get a call from one of my partners, saying, hey, Susie's here. He informs me.

She's cut her hair and she's blonde, and she's telling us that she just got back from Mexico. Susie tells the police that she hadn't been in on a vacation in quite a long time, and thought it was time to go then. Though the trip seemed sudden, the fact that Suzy is sitting in the police station is a positive. Detective Schedule her polygraph exam

for August 4, 2004. When the day of the polygraph arrives, Suzy sticks to the story she initially told police. I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, Did you plan or conspire with anyone to set that fire at Christine the South on June 18th? Or you personally present at Christine the South on June 18th when that fire started? Do you know for sure what was used to set that fire? The skilled polygraph examiner calls Suzie's bluff. What's that say right there? The assumption indicated probability of deception is greater than 0.99. That's the highest score, of course.

At that point, that's when Susie Adams demeanor changed. I think something happened. I don't know if she pushed you to the point that you couldn't take it anymore and you acted out and you did something. I don't think you meant for this to happen for her to die. Then you could. That's when she started going more extensively into the grasping behavior. And that's also when Susie Adams said Christina went to her place of employment two days prior to the fatal fire

and sat in her restaurant at Orard food almost to antagonize and poke at her. And that inflamed Susie Adams. Tap call me, I go to f***ing ditch and stuff like that. Just... everything. You just couldn't take it anymore. Did you go over there by yourself? Or was somebody with it? I was by myself.

I took Rosemary and dried it. It's just in a rubbing alcohol for over a week. It's not more. Yeah. Which made it very planable. This is the most unusual type of murder weapon. Never seen any type of murder in which Rosemary was used. She had learned when she was in the Girl Scouts

that if you have Rosemary soaked in alcohol, it acts as an accelerant. She thought that was very clever. And then what did you do? I mean, did you just spread it around? Or what did you do? I mean, did you just spread it around or what did you do? You know, I just did it out. And then in the front of the house, and then on the other side. So now you've done the front.

Then what do you do? I did the back thing. And then what did you do? And then it go, who's dead? Who's your dead? While she was walking home, she could hear the fire engines and sirens headed to the scene. She went upstairs to her apartment,

her old back in bed with Fortuna, and went to sleep. Fortuna had no idea. And he didn't know you'd left. When asked why she did it, Susie is forthcoming. Susie Adams said she'd been pushed and that she snapped. It just all feels hurt. I couldn't take anyone. However, Susie claims the fire was meant to scare Christina, not kill her.

So you didn't mean for her to die. You just wondered, I'll leave you alone. When did you hear that she hadn't gotten out of the fire? The next morning. So you didn't know it, though. How did you hear that she hadn't gotten out of the fire the next morning? So you didn't know until now. How did you feel then? I felt horrible. But detectives listening in aren't buying it. Suzie's motive was to get rid of the competition.

This was a love triangle and Suzie wanted to get rid of the other lady. The plick-of-fur got done in former she was under arrest, and we took her to jail. For Christina's friends and family, news of the arrest is a bittersweet reprieve. Every emotion possible hit me, a sense of relief, a sense of joy

that they found the person that killed my mother, also a sense of anger. Why would somebody do this to such a nice person? Coming up, Susie changes her tune. The defense strategy was maybe it was self-defense. She made the decision to go back into the house. By May 2007, prosecutors are prepared to hold 48-year-old Susie Adams accountable for the 2004 murder of her romantic rival, Christina Salt. The trial started May 16th, 2007, and Susie Adams was facing one count of first degree murder, a special circumstance of murder by Arson.

She was facing two counts of Arson, and she was facing three counts of attempted murder. [♪ Music playing, music playing, music playing, music playing, despite her full confession during her polygraph, Susie pleads not guilty. When she takes the stand, Susie claims she was a victim as well. She described, you know, I'd be walking to work and here comes Christina driving up following me, yelling out, Susie, Q, you know, I'm gonna get you Susie Q, that kind of stuff.

So, she said she was afraid of her. The threats from Christina were coming on almost a daily basis. Then they started increasing in severity. Phone records were looked into, and it was confirmed that there were calls from Christina to Susie Adams. There was a long period of just harassment and the target to live with.

Threats and feral were a long period of time, really do affect a person. Susie testifies that on the night of the fire, Christina bombarded her with death threats just before midnight. Christina was calling Susie and threatening her when she was done with Susie and for Kino that either one of them would be able to walk. Four phone calls, one after the other, they were really just a few minutes apart.

It bothered her so much that she got up and grabbed some of her rosemary after the other. They were really just a few minutes apart. It bothered her so much that she got up and grabbed some of her rosemary and walked over. She did these fires as a warning. Suzy said it was self-defense. She didn't have the specific intent to kill, but just to scare Christina. Suzy's attorney also argues that Christina played a part in her own death when she turned back to retrieve her clothing. She was able to very easily get out of the house, very easily survive all of this, but she made the decision to go back into the house.

The defense was saying how Christina, at her priority, should have been to just run out of the house. The defense was saying how Christina, at her priority, should have been to just run out of the house. I asked for a lesser of attempted voluntary manslaughter. I mean, I wasn't going in and saying she's not guilty. I'm saying she did some things, but let's convict her of what she's guilty of. But prosecutors argue that Susie had many other options to stop the harassment than setting a potentially deadly fire.

She had the opportunity to call 911 if she felt that she was being threatened at the moment or that there was going to be harmed to her at the moment, but she didn't. She decided to take matters into her own hands. Prosecutors argue that Susie planned and executed a cold-hearted murderer. She had soaked that rosemary for one week

prior to going over to the house to light it on fire. It shows the premeditation. Susie Adams had a walk a mile a half from her home to the victim's home during this mile a half walk and she had time to reflect about whether she should do it. She not only said the front porch on fire, she said the back porch on fire as well and tried to eliminate any escape, which was diabolical.

I mean, you can't really get much more devious than that. This was cold, this was calculated, this was pure evil. On May 29, the jury announces its verdict. And the jury deliberated for two days, and they came back guilty on all counts. When the verdicts were read, she was calm and showed no emotion. When they said they found her guilty of all charges, we all screamed and cried and we thanked them.

We screamed, thank you so much. In July, she is sentenced to life without parole. What began as two women competing for the attention of one man ended in the ultimate tragedy. Christina's death could have been prevented by realizing that Fortino wasn't worth it. If they had known that, perhaps they would have realized that he wasn't worth killing over.

She hated her and she wanted her gone. She wanted her dead. She could have chosen to do the right thing, but instead she chose evil and she chose to carry it out. She's still trying to get out. She's still trying to get out. She's still trying to defend herself. And I'm just like, let her rot because she took away my support system.

She took away my one person that took care of me when I was oils. Nobody else was there, but mom, I would take my mom's place on a heartbeat. She didn't deserve what happened to her. She was a genuinely nice person. And, uh, I've made it my mission in life to make sure that her memory is never forgotten. I don't know that you ever get over a death, whether it's from natural causes or like this, you learn to move on, but you never get over it. I lost a great woman. The relationship between Susie Adams and

Furtino Gidoy ended following Susie's arrest. No evidence was ever found connecting Furtino to the crime. In 2008, Susie Adams appealed her conviction. The appeal was denied.