Snapped: Women Who Murder - Theresa Tolliver

Episode Date: June 26, 2022

Two young boys are left fatherless when an Air Force sergeant is gunned down by a pair of intruders in his San Antonio home.Season 24, Episode 18Originally aired: December 23, 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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 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. When a U.S. Airman and a single mother fell for one another, their lives soared to new heights. They hit it off right away.
Starting point is 00:00:29 It was just kind of like a ray of light enters her life. He was tall, dark, and handsome. They had a good family. That is, until the stress of military service coupled with parenthood became too much to bear. The ups and downs with your relationship, it just proved too much. They both had moved on to other people. Would they both get a second chance at love
Starting point is 00:00:53 or would tragedy cut their opportunities short? She was crying, crying, crying. She said, crying, what would? First thought to anyone had when they saw this, was that it was a home invasion that got interrupted. Was this really the work of a stranger? Or would the old saying prove true? If two's company, then three's a crowd.
Starting point is 00:01:15 Do they have a jilted husband on their hand? Is he seeking revenge for someone dating his wife? They did know that he was angry at their father. She was scared. We ought to stay scared for years. It was a sucker for them. They loved having a fall guy. Somebody else was pulling his strings. I just thought they got away with murder.
Starting point is 00:01:34 It just made me sick. . . November 20, 2000, San Antonio, Texas. At 8 p.m., Perley Hannah and her children have just finished up a late dinner in their home not far from Randolph Air Force Base. All of a sudden, my doorbell started frantically raining. Somebody was pushing it, pushing it, pushing it.
Starting point is 00:02:17 And it's all I got up and I opened the door. It's Lorraine Womble, the girlfriend of 40-year-old Derek Tolliver, Perly's next door neighbor. Lorraine, she was crying, crying, crying. She said, calling me when Derek's been shot. When she called 911, she was very panicked. I mean, very scared. I said, my next door neighbor's been shot.
Starting point is 00:02:41 Can you please hurry up? She goes, officers are on their way. They were there, fast. And the cops came and started yelling at us to get in. The house shut the door. So we stayed there with the door cracked. And the cops went in the house. W's are going to go in, assuming that there is still a danger,
Starting point is 00:03:01 assuming there's still a threat. So the first thing they need to do is clear the scene. They carefully went into the house. They walked through that same door that Derek Colbert walked through. It came across his body. He was laying down, non-responsive, blood around his head, and they could see it.
Starting point is 00:03:16 The indications of a bullet having entered the back of this head. By the time they had gotten there, there were no life saving measures to do on Derek. Born on September 15, 1960, Derek Tulliver grew up in the working-class Chicago suburb of Gary, Indiana. A gifted and mature young man, Derek was an inspiration to those around him.
Starting point is 00:03:46 My uncle Derek was one of my role models when I was a child. He was a pretty impressive and imposing figure even amongst his peers. He was huge compared to me so it was like having a giant for an uncle. In terms of goals, I knew that he wanted to be stable, have enough security so that he could take care of himself. After graduating high school, Derek was presented with a choice. Derek's parents told him, hey, you know, we're proud of you, but now you need to either go to college or you need to go to the military, and he chose the military.
Starting point is 00:04:22 Seeing my uncle in four uniform was really, really cool because it was like, hey, you know, military people and police officers and firemen, they're all superheroes to you. Derek ended up at his first military base in Southern California and off base. He runs into a woman named Teresa who was working in the service industry.
Starting point is 00:04:43 Teresa grew up in the military town of Victorville, California. Like Derek, she had dreams of a bright future. However, at the age of 17, long before she met Derek, an unexpected pregnancy put Teresa's dreams on hold. And in 1980, Teresa gave birth to a little girl, who she named Hazel. The father of the child was around, but his involvement was limited.
Starting point is 00:05:13 So Teresa really was doing this on her own. Teresa was working around the clock. There's a lot more expenses she has to cover, so she was really struggling to make ends meet. Two years later, at the age of 19, the single mother met handsome 22-year-old airman, Derek Talliver. She was clearly at one of the lowest points in her life. And then all of a sudden, it was just kind of like a ray of light.
Starting point is 00:05:39 Uncle Derek, he was tall and caramel to brown skin, very handsome. He did have a presence about him because, you know, he was muscular and he walked with confidence. Teresa fell in love with Derek and Derek fell in love with Teresa and her little girl. Derek Talebur kind of took Hazel as his own, treated her like she was his daughter. The couple tied the knot in January 1983. And shortly after that, Derek formally adopted little Hazel.
Starting point is 00:06:12 My uncle was a person of strong character and family values. Not only would he play father figure to his new wife's daughter, but he would actually want to make the commitment and adopt my cousin Hazel. They just love being parents to Hazel and they decided to grow their family and have more children. They had two boys, Donald and Derek Jr. He raised the boys like kids should be raised. Don't take the easy way out.
Starting point is 00:06:39 Do it right the first time. I knew he was a good person because his sons were good kids. My uncle Derek had a really big heart, was very loving. Make sure I treated my mother and my aunt with respect. When Derek received a commission at Randolph Air Force Base, the family relocated to San Antonio, Texas. However, the move exposed some cracks in Derek and Teresa's relationship, specifically, Teresa found herself struggling with motherhood.
Starting point is 00:07:11 She was very isolated and sad and did not take care of herself the way she had. She was very apathetic about many things in her life that had previously brought her a lot of joy, spending time with Hazel and her boys and her husband. She wasn't a neighbor that was outside, watering or doing anything in the yard. She wasn't that kind of neighbor at all. None of us really knew anything about her. When Derek noticed the change in Theresa, he still remained supportive. He cooked for the boys. He cleaned the house. He took the boys to practice anything that he could do to keep his family running. Derek did it.
Starting point is 00:07:47 Derek was running himself tirelessly, trying to do his job as well as take care of his family. But at some point, his patients began to wear thin because it just seemed like no matter what he did. Theresa wasn't making any progress whatsoever. As it becomes more difficult to pick up the slack, Derek becomes frustrating. Small things become big things, and small arguments become something much greater.
Starting point is 00:08:13 Then in 1997, Derek was deployed to Bosnia. He hoped that in his absence, Teresa would step up to the plate and become her old self again. Deployments are difficult arm relationships and they strain them and so if you already are strained it can be a breaking point for many couples. It did seem to take a toll on the relationship. The relationship of Derek and Teresa started to road. I'm sure there was a lot of strain. After everything that Teresa and Derek have been through, they ups and downs with their relationship.
Starting point is 00:08:45 It just proved too much for them to get through. They just couldn't recover from that. In 1998, Theresa filed for divorce from Derek. She agreed to give Derek full custody of the boys in exchange for weekend visitation. Seventeen, she was a single mom at 19 19 she was married and she was married for about 15 years so now she's taking this time to just focus on finding herself and having fun. That's when Theresa met a young man who helped lift her out of her
Starting point is 00:09:19 doldrums. Emmanuel Fonse was 19 years old I believe and Theresa was 37 so there was a significant age gap between the two of them. Emanuel Fonse had come to San Antonio a year and a half or so before it was doing door-to-door sales and met Teresa. Whereas Derek was mature and committed and respectful, Emanuel had this edge to him. He was just completely different than what she experienced, and she wanted to know more.
Starting point is 00:09:49 Teresa and Emanuel spent the next several months traveling together, from California, all the way to Virginia, and finally back to Texas. So Teresa could be near her sons, while the details of her and Derek's divorce were finalized. By that time, Derek was also beginning to move on. Derek find himself back out on the market and he eventually finds love on the Air Force base, a civilian by the name of Lorraine.
Starting point is 00:10:18 It was raining one day and he took an umbrella out to her cart and he said, here, I've seen you around and I just didn't want you to get wet. And he was hit, he got hurt. Lorraine told Derek that she was estranged from her husband, another airman, Sergeant David Womble. Derek and Lorraine quickly progressed as a couple. People who knew both of them saw how compatible they were.
Starting point is 00:10:41 They had great chemistry. Essentially, Lorraine was the breath of fresh air he was looking for. Everything was said and done. I knew that they would get married. I'm telling you, Derek had it going for him. He had everything coming his way, finally. For Derek Antaresa, it seemed as though their lives
Starting point is 00:10:57 were moving in different directions with different people. But they were happy. Unfortunately, it was a happiness that would be shattered on November 20, 2000, just days before Thanksgiving. The cops went in the house and then they came out and started putting yellow tape around trees. It was lifeless with no vital signs at all. Someone shouted not just once, but twice.
Starting point is 00:11:23 He was clearly deceased. Coming up, could there be more to this suspected robbery than meets the eye? There was more of somebody trying to make it look disorderly. Somebody trying to turn it into a home invasion. Authorities are speaking with Lorraine, not as just a witness, but also to rule her out as a suspect. On November 20, 2000, investigators with the Bear County Sheriff's Department in San Antonio, Texas have just
Starting point is 00:12:05 discovered 40-year-old Derek Toliver, a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, dead, with two gunshot wounds to the head. The master bedroom, everything had been kind of thrown around, tossed out. The drawers had been gone through. When you went into the living room, you saw that sofa cushions were displaced. Things were out of order as well as taken. The only potential witness is Derek's girlfriend, Lorraine Womble, who is hiding out at the home
Starting point is 00:12:36 of Perley Hannah, Derek's neighbor. She just started crying and crying and crying. I just had my arms around her and I said, did you see anybody? She sent somebody breaking into his house. The first thoughts that anyone had when they saw this was that it was a home bird glory that got interrupted. All she saw was a five foot nine, uh,
Starting point is 00:12:58 thin male with a gray shirt on essentially. She didn't see a vehicle. She didn't see where he fled to. Just a very general description, not anything we could connect up to anybody, but it was something that's male. She gave an approximate height. Deputies put the street on lockdown and start canvassing for any sign of the shooter. They had our whole street locked off, nobody could come on their...our get off of our street. There are a number of reports of deputies that drove around the
Starting point is 00:13:25 neighborhood looking for suspicious vehicles or fleeing vehicles, people hiding and they didn't find anyone. A neighbor does bring detectives Derek's wallet. He says he found it on the side of the road, devoid of any cash.
Starting point is 00:13:41 Back inside Derek's home, investigators search the residents, hoping the killer has left behind some clues. Usually in a situation where there is a burglary or people entered the home if they intend to take property, they usually take the items that have the most value. There wasn't anything of value that was really taken from the house. Things that a burglar would normally take like TV
Starting point is 00:14:04 electronics, all those things were still there. While it's true, Derek could have surprised his assailant in the early stages of a burglary, something about the scene doesn't sit right with investigators. It was more of somebody trying to make it look disorderly, somebody trying to turn it into a home invasion. They looked at the objects that perhaps had been moved and drew black powder on those items looking for a print.
Starting point is 00:14:31 They did not find any prints. The nature of Derek Tollevers' injuries also raises red flags. When someone walks into a robbery, it's known in most reports that the gunmen will shoot just to flee the home. But in this case, this person fired more than once. The medical examiner was able to identify the two different wounds to Derek Oliver. One was fired from a distance. One was a very close-range contact wound.
Starting point is 00:14:59 Kind of wound that you do where you put the gun right up to somebody's head, hold the trigger, and it leaves marks that are distinctive. It looked more like an execution than a random act of violence. The first question is, who would want to kill Derek Oliver? He was known to be a nice, respectable man, and many of his neighbors were questioning what was the motive. I didn't know who could have done this. Just kind of makes you go crazy, kind of scared, you know. It wasn't somebody just walking by.
Starting point is 00:15:30 It was a safe area. Everybody felt safe there. The authorities trying to get clues on what happened. They start with Lorraine after all she was there with him at the time of the murder. They came over to the house and they talked to Lorraine. She says they want me to go downtown and make a statement and tell them what I saw and everything.
Starting point is 00:15:53 She just didn't understand why she had to go downtown. I could tell she was scared. At the station, Lorraine tells police that she and Derek had been looking forward to a few romantic days together. After Derek's ex Theresa Tolliver picked up the couple's children for Thanksgiving. November 20 was Lorraine's birthday. So Lorraine tells authorities that they were out grocery shopping because he wanted to make her a birthday dinner.
Starting point is 00:16:19 Derek and Lorraine had some alone time and he wanted to take advantage of it. When they drove up, he hit the garage door opener, and she said that he said, stay right here, something doesn't look right. Just as soon as he gets in through the door, he sees another figure come by. She saw a man about five foot nine, a great shirt, a black winter stocking cap,
Starting point is 00:16:47 come up from behind her and make sure to pop. She was hysterical, she went through what was happening. She takes off running to the neighbors for help, and as she gets the neighbor, she hears another pop, and that's all she could tell them. She hears another pop, and that's all she could tell them. Lorraine's story raises an unsettling question. Why would the killer make sure to finish Derek off, but didn't even bother to pursue the crime's soul eyewitness?
Starting point is 00:17:19 Authorities are speaking with Lorraine, not as just a witness, but also to rule her out as a suspect. Sometimes the person who's with the victim or the person who's closest to the victim could actually be the person behind the crime. That was a lot for her to go through. He was dead, and now she's being looked up. She was very scared about that.
Starting point is 00:17:40 Following Lorraine's interview, Bear County detectives have the difficult duty of notifying Derek's sons and estranged wife, Theresa Tolliver, about his untimely death. When they arrive at the apartment that Theresa now shares with her new boyfriend, Emmanuel Fonsey, investigators find Theresa already trying to console her two sons. I do know it hit the news, and I know the junior
Starting point is 00:18:05 saw it on the news. The boys clearly love their father and had a good relationship. The authorities spoke to the two boys and asked them if they knew of anyone who wanted to hurt their father. That's when Derek's sons tell police that there is one man who might be capable of the crime.
Starting point is 00:18:24 Each of them brought up the name David Wombel, which would have been a rain Wombel's husband. According to Teresa and her sons, when Derek and Lorraine started their relationship in July 2000, David and Lorraine were still married. Lorraine's estranged husband, who also worked on Randolph Air Force Base, caught wind that Derek and Lorraine were dating, and he did not appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:18:49 David Wombel, as they described it, would just barge into the house and have an argument with their father and with Lorraine on at least four occasions. And although the boys never saw any overt threats or any violence, they did know that David Wombel was angry at their father for dating, Maraine. So that was a critical piece right from the beginning. Do they have a jilted husband on their hand? Is he seeking revenge for someone dating his wife? Could this be a motive for her husband
Starting point is 00:19:17 to actually take Derek's life? Coming up, a new witness comes forward. I was shocked. I was thinking, I had to tell somebody what he said. And stunning new details emerge about the day of the murder. But will they be enough to put a killer behind bars? The fact that that particle was there doesn't mean anything, except that that vest had been in close proximity to a fire on. This is Kate Winkler Dawson inviting you to the brand new season of my True Crime Talkshow.
Starting point is 00:19:57 That's right, it's season three of Tenfold More Wicked Presents Wicked Words. I'm a True Crime historian and author and you might have heard my other podcasts on exactly right. 10 Fold More Wicked and Buried Bones On each new episode of Wicked Words, I interview other journalists, podcasters, and authors about the fascinating behind-the-scenes stories from their investigations in the world of true crime, many of which have never been shared before. So join me in a new special guest each week for new episodes of Wicked Words, as we dive
Starting point is 00:20:31 deep into the stories behind the stories. Wicked Words Season 3 is available now on exactly right, with new episodes every Monday. Follow 10 Fold War Wicked Presents Wicked Words Wherever You Get Your Podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on the Amazon Music or OneDriap. On December 19, 2000, one month after 40-year-old Airman Derek Tolliver was gunned down in his own home, detectives tracked down Sergeant David Womble for an interview. Derrick's soon-to-be ex-wife Theresa Tolliver and her sons have informed police that David had been seething over Derrick's relationship with Derrick's wife Lorraine for quite some time.
Starting point is 00:21:20 David spoke to authorities and he was quite candid. He informed them that originally he confronted Derek at his house two times about the relationship. However, David tells police that Derek is not the only man he's had to confront during his marriage to Lorraine. This wasn't the first rodeo, if you will. Lorraine has cheated on him in the past. David let authorities know that after trying so many times to make it work that his marriage was over, he made the decision to accept it and move on. He had no animosity, tort, Derek, not only was he okay with her relationship, but he had moved on himself.
Starting point is 00:21:59 They were fighting Lorraine's husband had a girlfriend as well. As for where he was the night of November 20th 2000. David essentially had an airtight alibi. He clocked in and out of work at the Air Force phase. And then he spent the night and morning with his new lady friend. Officers contacted that woman and spoke to her. And she again was cooperative and confirmed David Wombel's account. They were able to determine that David didn't have anything to do with this. If David Wombel isn't behind the shooting, then who is?
Starting point is 00:22:36 Deputies turned their attention back to the crime's sole eyewitness, Derek's girlfriend, Lorraine. Lorraine didn't flee the scene. She cooperated with them. She stayed around and answered everyone's questions. She looked to be a witness to a crime. Authorities feel that everything that she told them is credible and she was just doing everything to provide every bit of information to help find the murderer.
Starting point is 00:22:59 So she was quickly ruled out as a suspect. Outside of Lorraine's partial description of the alleged shooter, investigators have no way to identify him. They hope that Derek's neighbors can supply them with additional information. It's essentially back to the drawing board for authorities that are going back to the neighborhood, canvassing the area for clues,
Starting point is 00:23:21 and speaking with neighbors to see who else they can talk to. That's when investigators make contact with Perley Hannah, Derek's neighbor, who made the initial call to 911. While Perley says she didn't see anything unusual the day of Derek's murder, she has since learned someone else in her household might have. My son played with his boys. According to Perly's son, at around 2.30 pm, just hours before Derek's death, he saw Teresa Tullover's car pull into Derek's driveway.
Starting point is 00:23:58 My son saw Teresa, her boyfriend Fonsey, another guy, out in the front yard the the day of the murder. And he saw the boys get out of the car. Perley's son tells police that he asked Teresa if her boys could come over and play. They could, because they were leaving, they just went to get clothes he said. The plan was for Teresa and Emanuel to take the boys and have them all week. Since they were out of clothes, Theresa put them to Derek's home
Starting point is 00:24:27 so they can get a pair of clothes and some things to take to the house. However, Perley's son claims that everyone, the boys, Theresa, Emmanuel Fonsey and the other man who he didn't recognize, went into Derek's home and stayed for approximately 30 minutes. A fact that, based on what Purley Hanna understood about Derek and Theresa Tolliver's pending divorce,
Starting point is 00:24:54 seemed highly unusual. The manual and Derek did not have a relationship, and so it wouldn't be usual for a manual to go inside of the house, instead of just waiting in the car. They weren't supposed to be there. She wasn't supposed to be there. Listeric was there. I was shocked. And apparently, Perly Hannah's son wasn't the only person that saw Teresa's olds mobile that day. Another neighbor, Stephanie Espinoza, tells police that at 8 p.m., the same time that Perley Hanna was calling 911,
Starting point is 00:25:29 she had been driving home from the dry cleaners when Teresa's car flew past her at top speed. She actually saw two black males driving in the car that was described, and she actually identified a manual as the driver. Having the neighbors that had seen Teresa Talibar's car and the neighborhood at the time of the shooting was a major piece of evidence. There was something about that that there's no way
Starting point is 00:25:56 you can ignore it. The following morning, investigators arrive at Teresa's apartment where they find a manual Fanzi and his friend, Arkansas native Jeremy Far. Jeremy and a manual have known each other since they were kids, childhood friends grown up together. Police want to know what brought him to Texas. According to Jeremy, he had arrived in town earlier that week.
Starting point is 00:26:23 He was actually visiting his friend, Emmanuel, Emmanuel from Arkansas and he was in the area looking for work. Emmanuel Fonsey and Teresa Tulliver invited him to come to San Antonio and see the city he'd never been here before. And he decided to take him up on that. So a week before they had sent him a bus ticket, he didn't have plans to stay long. Given the timeline of Derek's murder, Jeremy's story seems awfully convenient.
Starting point is 00:26:48 So, investigators decide to question the two young men separately. In their respective interviews, both a manual and Jeremy's say that on November 20, 2000, they picked up some clothes for the kids at Derek's house, and then, after dropping Teresa and her children off at the apartment, they enjoyed a guy's night out. The manual was going to show Jeremy the town, and they drove off in that same car, and were gone a few hours.
Starting point is 00:27:16 It came back around eight o'clock. Jeremy's statement kind of correlated with a manual fontase. He said that they went and played basketball somewhere, that they had gone bowling together that night, but he, as well as Emanuel, kind of put themselves together the whole night. The story they gave was pretty darn identical. Emanuel tells police that even though he's Teresa's boyfriend,
Starting point is 00:27:41 he had no reason to want Derek dead. He didn't come across as having any ill will or animosity toward him. When authorities talked to Emmanuel's friend Jeremy Far, he let them know that he had never even met Derek. As to the allegation that the two men had been seen speeding away from the crime scene, Emmanuel and Jeremy say it's simply not true. To prove he's telling the truth, a manual consents to a search of the apartment.
Starting point is 00:28:11 They searched the entire apartment. At that point, they're hoping to find anything, any piece of physical evidence. A gun, some shells, some shell casings. They collected a number of clothing items, particularly the items that matched any part of the description that the rain had given. The crime lab did some forensic analysis on the clothes,
Starting point is 00:28:31 and there was a particular vest that they tested. They examined the clothing for gunshot residue. As it turns out, we did get one particle of gunshot residue. It was found on the manual faunces clothing. I think that the investigators had their main suspects, which were the manual and Jeremy. However, a single particle of gunshot residue isn't enough to warrant formal charges.
Starting point is 00:28:59 Suspissions don't equal beyond a reasonable doubt. And in this case, not even probable cause. There's not even probable cause. There's not just not enough. The fact that that particle was there doesn't mean anything, except that that vest had been in close proximity to a fire arm. Due to the lack of concrete evidence, detectives are at an impasse. And two days after the interview at Teresa and the manual's apartment,
Starting point is 00:29:24 authorities have no choice but to let Jeremy far return to Arkansas. They've done all the interviews they need to do. They've searched the places they can find to search. We needed to help for a break. Thankfully, detectives will soon discover the possible motive they've been looking for. But the authorities do some digging into their financials. And what they find is quite alarming. Theresa was struggling to make ends meet. Coming up, investigators grow suspicious of someone's unsettling behavior after Derek's sudden death. They went to Disney World for like three months, three months in Disney World.
Starting point is 00:30:05 And will a new piece of evidence put the brakes on the killer's fun? Bobby Jones was in possession of information on this case and served them up on a silver platter. January 2001, it's been more than two months since the murder of Derek Toliver. Detectives from the Bear County Sheriff's Department in San Antonio, Texas have a hunch that 19-year-old Emanuel Fonsey and his childhood friend Jeremy Far could be behind the murder of the 40-year-old airman.
Starting point is 00:30:46 But proving it is another thing altogether. They just didn't have enough evidence even though they were the main suspects. And if these two men were involved, detectives can't help but wonder how much Theresa Tolover, Derek's ex-wife and Emmanuel's current girlfriend knows about the killing. Jeremy Farr would have no reason to come from Helena, Arkansas, to San Antonio, Texas, to kill some tech sergeant without doing it for someone else. So at the order of his note, there was just a tough financial period for her and Emmanuel, 19 years old, and had a limited education. So, beings were really tough for them financially.
Starting point is 00:31:28 Theresa and the manual funds were certainly not living in a nice apartment. Theresa had bounced to track. She wasn't working. Any money coming in was barely enough to get by on. Detectives also discover that Theresa was on the verge of receiving a serious financial windfall. He had already had a serviceman's life insurance policy that he had purchased as part of being a soldier in the military
Starting point is 00:31:53 and had benefits close to $300,000 that would accrue and be payable to a beneficiary who was Teresa Toliver. But as detectives discover, Teresa's window of opportunity to collect on the policy was rapidly closing. They were just about to finalize their divorce. According to Derek and Teresa's agreement, their divorce was scheduled to be completed on November 27th. Just one week after Derek was shot to death. Once that divorce paperwork is finalized and signed,
Starting point is 00:32:26 she doesn't get the insurance process. Those don't come to her. They'd go to the kids. But since Derek died before the divorce was finalized, Teresa, and by extension, her live-in boyfriend, Emmanuel Fonsey, received the entire payout from the policy. The authorities definitely saw this as a red flag.
Starting point is 00:32:47 Detectives also discover that when Teresa finally did receive Derrick's insurance proceeds in February 2001, she didn't exactly set it aside for her children's future. All of a sudden, there's this huge influx of cash, and she was treating these life insurance policies as if she won a lottery. It was her jackpot, and she was just spending money left and right. They bought that new car that was tricked out.
Starting point is 00:33:17 And then we found out that they went to Disney World for like three months, three months in Disney Room. Though the insurance payout definitely suggests a viable motive for murder, without additional evidence connecting to Risa to the crime, neither detectives nor Derek's family can put a stop to her spending spree. Would they ever got picked up or anything? I just thought they got away with murder. It just made me sick. The case eventually goes cold.
Starting point is 00:33:51 Then, on January 7th, 2004, more than three years after Derek's murder, the Bear County Sheriff's Department receives a phone call from special agent Barry Roy. An agent in Helena, Arkansas named Roy had been approached by an individual, Bobby Jones, who was in possession of information on this case. Bobby Jones did know both Emmanuel Fonsi and Jeremy Far from Arkansas, and so he was familiar with both of them. He had heard that Emmanuel Fonzi and Jeremy Far had committed this crime together. He took it upon himself to try to get a confession
Starting point is 00:34:31 out of Jeremy Far. On January 20, 2004, agents from the Bear County Sheriff's Department arrive in Arkansas to get Bobby Jones' story in person. I believe Bobby was at a party with Jeremy. He knew Jeremy would talk once he'd given him a little bit of time and a little more alcohol. Bobby Jones was very good at getting Jeremy to talk
Starting point is 00:34:56 and he did. And Jeremy during that conversation admitted that he killed Derek Oliver. Bobby tells police that Jeremy told him that the murder had been a paid gig set up by Jeremy's childhood friend, a manual faunze. The manual contacted Jeremy and told him he had a job for him that would get him $50,000.
Starting point is 00:35:19 So he said, well, what kind of job is it? He was like, oh, you just have to kill a guy. And he was like, well, let me speak to the person who's behind this hit. And it just so happened to be Teresa Tolover. Bobby Jones served them up on a silver platter. It was very good information for them to reopen this case and pursue justice for Derek Tolover.
Starting point is 00:35:41 Bobby Jones tells police that he didn't just hear Jeremy confess. The statement itself had been recorded, so we have a recording of Jeremy Far, saying things that implicate him in the murder. It was enough at that point for us to be able to say, not only do we have Jeremy Far saying it to somebody, but we have something to really back it up. However, it's only enough evidence for one arrest warrant. It was simply a case against Jeremy Farr at the time. We didn't have enough evidence to go after a manual faunzee attrition call over.
Starting point is 00:36:15 His admission would not have been admissible against Theresa and against Fonzee, but it confirmed all the suspicions officers had again. That ended up being the impetus to issuing a warrant for Jeremy Farr. On January 20, 2004, Jeremy Farr is arrested for murder and extradited back to San Antonio. Jeremy Farr himself, when was confronted with the evidence
Starting point is 00:36:40 against him and the admissions he made to Bobby Jones, just invoked his right to counsel. Jeremy said nothing at that point. He stuck to his story about it and do anything. Y'all don't have a case, and I'm ready to go to trial. In 2005, five years after Derek Tolover's murder, Jeremy Farr's trial begins. We were real specific with the jury
Starting point is 00:37:04 that this is an individual who came into our county and killed one of our members of this society and did it for money. Their defense was, we couldn't prove that it was him and the tape, you couldn't really hear the tape that if anybody did this, it wasn't their client, Jeremy. In the end, it's a defense that falls flat with jurors. The jury didn't have any problem convicting Jeremy far.
Starting point is 00:37:34 Jeremy's sentencing is scheduled for the following Tuesday. He was facing up to life in prison, and we were fairly confident that the jury was going to give him a high number, if not lie. Once he's waiting for punishment, I think I was as shocked as anybody that Jeremy Far told us a turning to ask us if he could help. In 2005, 24-year-old Jeremy Farh was found guilty of the shooting death of 40-year-old Air Force Sergeant Derek Toliver.
Starting point is 00:38:14 Now, just days before his sentencing, Jeremy tells investigators that he is willing to sell out his alleged co-conspirators to reach a Tolliver and Emmanuel Fonsey for a price. It was time for Jeremy Fartle look after number one, and that's what he and his attorney decided that he needed to do. He entered a plea of guilty to the crime of murder of Derek Tolliver with this agreement of a cap of 40 years conditioned upon him
Starting point is 00:38:42 testifying truthfully at the trials of Treesa Toll and Emanuel Fonsi. While Jeremy far pulled the trigger, somebody else was pulling his strings. And that was Theresa and Emanuel. And we really wanted to see them brought to justice. Jeremy tells investigators that a few days before Derek's murder, Emanuel and Theresa
Starting point is 00:39:03 had paid for Jeremy's bus ticket to San Antonio. They told him he was going to get $50,000. He wanted him to come down and help take care of this. Jeremy says that Teresa Oliver was tired of being broke. And she was afraid that Derek Oliver make it custody of her children. And this was all Teresa's idea. She had every detail ready to go.
Starting point is 00:39:27 Around two or three the afternoon of the murder, they went over to Derek Tolver's house, show Jeremy and a manual, the layout of the house. When the time came, Fonzie says it's time. They got in the car and they drove out to a residence. And they go into the house at Stark at that time. They go in through the window and they wait. Derek Tolver came home, and when Derek Tolver came in the house,
Starting point is 00:39:51 Jeremy crept up behind him, shot him once. He goes down, and then Jeremy shot him again at close range. Jeremy realized at that time because he saw the garage door, he realized somebody else was there. And after shooting Derek, they make a quick escape. After the murder, when a manual sent him home on the bus, back to Arkansas, they gave him $500 and told him that they would get the big money, the insurance policies,
Starting point is 00:40:24 at a later time. However, Jeremy says that as the months passed, his promised $50,000 payout never materialized. He had seen a manual faunze in Treesa, to Oliver in town after the murder a couple of times, and he wasn't happy that a manual is driving around town in a brand new, pimped out, out Durango with rims and TVs inside. And so he kind of hunted a manual down that time and was able to find him and I think he
Starting point is 00:40:53 only gave Jeremy at that time a couple hundred dollars and then put him off. And I think that really made Jeremy man. The authorities gave him a chance to flip on them, so he can get a lesser sentence. He obviously jumped at the opportunity. He literally gave authorities everything they needed to pursue Teresa and a manual for murder. On August 7th, authorities locate Teresa Toliver and her boyfriend, Emmanuel Fonse,
Starting point is 00:41:20 at a motel in Colleen, Texas, some three hours north of San Antonio, where the couple is living with Teresa's sons. What's ironic about this is that Teresa's need for money or her great, if you will, allowed her to hire someone to kill Derek Toliver, and by the time authorities had enough evidence to bring her in, she was living in squalor.
Starting point is 00:41:43 It didn't have any of the money left from Derek Talver's life insurance. They'd spend it all. She didn't care about those kids, just like she didn't care about Derek, all she cared about was money. It's all she cared about. In January 2008,
Starting point is 00:42:01 almost nine years after the murder, a manual fancy goes to trial. In addition to Jeremy's testimony, prosecutors use Emmanuel's first police interview against him. The manual and his statement places himself with Jeremy the whole night. So if Jeremy is now saying he did it, Emmanuel is with him.
Starting point is 00:42:25 The jury didn't have any difficulty in finding the facts sufficient to convict him of capital murder and his sentence was automatic, life without the possibility of parole. Now it's Teresa's turn. Teresa was tricky, and we always knew it was going to be tricky to convict somebody who we can't necessarily place it the scene
Starting point is 00:42:50 However in October 2009 a jury finds Teresa guilty She is sentenced to life in prison For investigators prosecutors and Derek's loved ones it is a fitting end for a woman who was willing to risk it all To get rich quick the whole thing is sick I was asked if I thought the three of them got the right penalty and I said no. I think they should have all been given the death penalty. All of them. Greed and selfishness basically led to her downfall several times over. She did not want to lose that money so much so that she put her own selfish needs before her children
Starting point is 00:43:28 and before her ex-husband and his family. That made it so much worse and maniacal for the woman that he said I do to and had two children with, that she decided that he must die because she needed some money. I don't know if justice would ever be served for my uncle there because I don't know what justice in this instance looks like. My uncle lost his life in an act of violence.
Starting point is 00:43:57 My cousins lost their father. Jeremy Far is scheduled to be released from prison in 2034. He will be 52 years old. Theresa Tolliver and Emmanuel Fonsey are not eligible for parole. They will spend the rest of their lives behind bars. Derek and Theresa's sons still have contact with their mother. For more information on snapped, go to oxygen.com. contact with their mother.

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