Snapped: Women Who Murder - Wanda Stanley

Episode Date: November 15, 2020

When a Brooklyn native is found shot to death in the backseat of his car in a rough Atlanta neighborhood, police have to figure out if trouble followed him south or if the killer is in his inner circle.Season 23, Episode 10Originally aired: April 8, 2018See 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 an ordinary middle-class couple until a stroke of good luck changed their fortunes forever. That was certainly a substantial chunk of money.

She had diamonds. She had for a colds. She was living an American dream. But when a horrific murder upends their world, it exposes a life of secrets and proves the adage that more money often means more problems He was as we call the street pharmacist when I say substantial and I'm talking about like a brick of cocaine Thank you somebody took advantage of him shot and killed him and robbed him

The person that she describes is a monster, a complete monster. The resident of the apartment complex had walked by, they seen the vehicle, thought it looked out of place. The vehicle had moved, and generally, you know, people are in and out of the apartment complex. The woman peers through the window of the SUV. What she sees inside takes her breath away.

A body was light across the back, forebord of the vehicle. He was perfectly across the back, pullboard of the vehicle. He was perfectly in the back seat. I mean, his head was up against one door, and his feet were up against the other door. The woman immediately calls 911. Within minutes, investigators arrive on the scene. They find the man's driver's license in the front seat. He is identified as 45-year-old John Stanley.

His cause of death seems clear. He had a cap, a knit cap on his head, recovered part of his head, but it had a bullet hole in it. So that would be the exercise of the projectile, where it came out above the right eye. The question now is, how did John Stanley end up in the back of an SUV with a bullet in his head? The answer lies in a young love affair

that started on the rough and tumble streets of Brownsville, Brooklyn, some 20 years earlier, between 25-year-old John Stanley and 18-year-old Wanda Black. Wanda grew up in Ocean Hill Brownsville. She came from a two-family home with her mom and her dad. She was quiet, and she was a homebody. What we would consider is just like a nice girl. She would smile if you talk to her, she would talk back to you, but she would just strike up a conversation with you.

A wall flower for most of her teens, during her senior year of high school, Wanda fell hard for a smooth talking gentleman several years her senior. She ended up pregnant, but the would-be father didn't stick around. He lived in the projects. He was, as we call it, street pharmacists. He made his money on the streets,

and once he found out that she was pregnant, he didn't want anything to do it all at the time. And he was seeing other females as well. Though Wanda was prepared to raise her unborn child by herself, at a cookout in the summer of 1989, she was hit by a thunderbolt. In the form of 25-year-old aspiring boxer, John Stanley. We used to hang around the same area.

She would come over, she would spend nights. We would have girl nights, me, her sister, her cousin, and that's how she met John. Unlike Wanda, John hadn't been raised in a stable two-parent household. We grew up in a rough neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, section of Brownsville. The 80s was a crack year.

And everybody and their mother was a so-called dealer. As if a life in Brownsville wasn't hard enough, John's small stature only made things harder. He had a lot of neighborhoods like Brownsville, man. You know, I love it, though, man. A lot of good people came from it, but he had a lot of heart like Brown'sville, man. You know, I love it, though, man. A lot of good people came from it, but he had a lot of heart living in the neighborhood he was from. John was always, he was always small.

So he always had to stand up for himself and always be able to protect himself. But rather than turn to a life of crime, John took up boxing. It was a way to still some type of discipline into him, but always be able to protect himself. And he just loved it. He loved boxing. He was very, very fast, very fast with his hands.

He was really good at it. When I was training for a fight, John actually got into the ring with me one time. And I thought I was going to smash you until I got into the ring with John. John's skill in the ring landed him a spot on New York City's prestigious Golden Gloves Circuit.

But turning pro proved harder and less lucrative than John expected. So in order to support his boxing dreams, John took a second job as a long haul trucker. I can remember him getting up at four in the morning, taking a shower, getting dressed, packing his lunch. He packed his lunch as long as I can remember on time.

Never missed a day. He was a hard worker. He worked for what he had. It wasn't money. It wasn't hustle money. No drug deal of money, none of that never. We didn't sell drugs and never did. But every drug dealer money, none of that never. We didn't sell drugs and never did.

But every drug dealer, you know what? Because basically they went to school together or something like that before they became dealers. So you still kept a level of respect for each other. The moment John laid eyes on Wanda, he was hit with Cupid's arrow. Her and John started seeing each other. She told him she was pregnant.

And he said it didn't matter. I believe John felt that was a chance for him to be the father that he wanted to be. So he stepped in and he helped her. He tried to encourage her to finish school. He was genuinely head over heels and love with her, and that he felt like he could not be without her. It was really like she was swept off her feet by him.

She was quite smitten with him. My earliest memories of John and Wanda, loving, loving couple. I mean, I just remember him. He was in a lot of while, you know? Made a cute couple, you know? When Wanda's son James was born in June of 1989, John was right there by her side. When James was born, John basically

stepped into the role of being James's father. He'd set care of him from day one as if he were his own. Over the next decade, John and Wanda added three more children to their family. Wanda was very happy. Both of them was very happy. She was a good man to them. She was a good man. She was a good man. But in January of 2003, an unexpected accident took a toll on the Stanley's life together. While on his normal trucking route, John made a delivery to a construction site. An unsecured overhead door fell on him, fracturing both of his shoulders.

He had multiple surgeries on his shoulders and limited mobility after that point. Because of this limited mobility, he could not work. He could have boxed anymore. Boxing was really big things to him, so that's what happened when he was tragic. With both his boxing career and his job as a truck driver, wiped out in one fell swoop,

John struggled to support Wanda and the kids. It was definitely devastating for him. White doubt in one fell swoop, John struggled to support Wanda and the kids. It was definitely devastating for him. He would be arrogant, but you only would know that if he told you that. But even when it was hurt, he's not going to call you up. My name wasn't a wine, it wasn't wimpy. John decided to sue the construction company,

and in 2007, he was awarded a life-altering $600,000 in damages. That was certainly a substantial chunk of money for John and Wanda. He knew that once he received the money, he'll be able to provide more for them. He'll be able to give them better life. Suddenly flushed with cash,

John and Wanda decided it was time for a fresh start. They moved to Atlanta and purchased a six-bedroom home in the cozy suburb of Locust Grove. You can afford to buy a house in Atlanta, a real house, a big house, for less than what you would pay for an apartment in a place like Brooklyn. Wanda adapted well to the lifestyle. They had a huge house, a bunch of money, decorating the house, going shopping with the kids and things like that. I actually cried when I saw the place for the first time. I couldn't believe that he lived in a house like this.

I mean, compared to New York City, it was like a castle to a little girl. That was beautiful. I felt like they were completely happy with one another. John and Wanda's new fairy tale life wouldn't last forever. wouldn't last forever. John was found dead inside of his SUV in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Coming up, as the investigation into John Stanley's death unfolds, it becomes clear that not everything

in the Stanley's life was quite so picture perfect. He probably was shot without even knowing what hit him. In 2008, New York City natives John and Wanda Stanley parlayed a personal tragedy into a fresh start in Atlanta, Georgia after John received a six-figure workers' comp settlement. John showered Wanda with all the finer things in life. They did vacations all the time. She had diamonds. She had fur coats. She was living an American dream. She had this big, huge house. But that dream is shattered when John Stanley is found shot to death in the backseat of an SUV at an apartment complex in College Park.

Inside the vehicle was a black male laying on the floor between the driver's seat and the second row of seats. You find the body and you have to go back and you have to recreate how that body or that person could have been killed. For investigators, this mystery began five days earlier on the evening of December 21, 2008, with a 911 call from Juan de Stanley. Juan de Stanley, you called Henry County Police, let them know that her husband had gone out

and he was missing and she didn't know where he was. John left the residence, and he did not return. Miss Stanley reported he had some friends and he was going out to reclub or a bar somewhere up in the Atlanta area. Wanda explains she doesn't know the name of the club where John was headed, nor does she know the name of the friends he planned to meet up with.

Officers tell Wanda there's no need for her to assume the worst, at least not yet. This particular case, 40-year-old man, not coming home the next morning with the ven very suspicious, it happens very often, honestly. Most times they go missing for a while, and then they do come back. So you don't put a lot of your manpower out there trying to find a missing person 10, 12 hours being gone,

until things start developing. Evidence starts developing that they're well, and this may not be your typical missing person type report. But when Wanda calls John's family in New York, they immediately begin to worry. this may not be your typical missing person type report. But when Wanda calls John's family in New York, they immediately begin to worry. She says Curtis, your brother went out. And he didn't come home. He didn't even come home.

In 45 years, John has never gone anywhere without someone in his family knowing where he is. He loved his kids. It would take a army to stop John from getting to his kids. Over the next few days, friends and family try in vain to contact John. I remember I called for about three days straight. I called his phone. I called his phone. Please pick up. It's a phone. We call day in and day out. Leaving messages begging and pleading.

Please call somebody. Let someone know you're OK. Maybe he was in a car accident. And nobody found the car. Georgia is a dark place at night. And he's new to the city. So maybe he just didn't know his way. But when Christmas day rolls around

and there's still no word from John, the family's concerns turn to panic. So we can't just say here we have to look for him. My mom said enough is enough. I'm going to look for my child because something ain't right. The next day, John's mother Lillian and his sister, Shiniqua,

traveled from New York to Atlanta. After meeting Wanda at the couple's locust Grove home, they dive into action. My daughter and I, we went to Atlanta and we put up some post-endetrain station and different places, and we checked every hospital, every prison. MUSIC every prison. Then, on the afternoon of December 26th, Wanda gets a call from police with terrible news,

and she immediately informs John's family. She was crying. She was sniffling. So that's when I know something was wrong. I heard the words he's dead. I didn't know how to pass it. I... I don't even know how long I stayed on the floor and I cried.

It was just like, wow, our brother's gone. Never see. I'm never gonna laugh at one of his jokes again. You know, my son is never gonna see his uncle again. I couldn't even cry because it was so tragic. I just never expected it. I thought we would find him like, maybe he just wants a friend's house or something.

I didn't expect to make this. As John's family is reeling from the news of his murder, investigators in College Park are taking their first hard look at the scene. It was pretty straightforward as far as being able to determine the scene. It was pretty straightforward, as far as being able to determine the trajectory. It was a single gunshot wound to the back of the head and it had a slightly downward trajectory. It could imply some type of an execution type situation. And the direction of blood splatter found inside the vehicle suggests John never saw his

killer coming. Approximately five inches inside of the door, there was blood splatter indicative of that being the area where the impact took place. The assailant would have to be standing outside of that open door. He probably was shot without even knowing what hit him. There were certain items that were missing from John's person. Credit cards, cell phone, and other things were missing.

His pockets were pulled out of his jeans as if someone had been looking for valuables. Robbery had become detectives' first possible theory for the murder of John Stanley, and proves even more likely given the location where his body had been found. It's one of the rougher areas outside of Atlanta, and definitely rougher as far as the Henry County area was concerned at that time. He was just up there, and somebody took a band of job,

even shot and killed him in robbery. But when detective speak with John's family, they find it hard to believe that this street savvy X-Boxer from Brooklyn would have ever let anybody get the best of him. We survived the streets of New York City, Brooklyn, New York, Brownsville. You killed him, but you had a fight for us. John fought the devil himself. John had no fear.

He wasn't afraid of anyone. Although his family does acknowledge that ever since John arrived in Georgia, his 600 grand and settlement money had been a magnet for more than a few free-loaders. And he got down there, everything just changed. It was all about the money. They didn't feel the same way about him

that he did about them. People was about the money. They didn't feel the same way about him that he did about them. People was following the money. You know, you get a feeling, but someone, you just don't trust them. I don't trust the people. John's family tells police that even with people who barely knew him, John was often generous to a fault. If you were his friend, he would have died for you.

If John can help you, John gonna help you. When John got that money, John, look out for his friends. When detectives reach out to Wanda, she says the three men who most often sought out John's generosity went by the nickname's Cash, Wayne, and G. Each week, they came to John with a new sob story. And at one point, John seriously considered paying off Wayne's mortgage in order to save his house from foreclosure.

Police consider the possibility that one of these men might be willing to do whatever it took to get their hands on John's money. There was some moments that I could have been the people that he met in Atlanta that he had just became friends with. Maybe a jealousy over the money. What's even more suspicious is that according to Wanda, all three men, Cash, G, and Wayne,

have all been MIA since the morning John disappeared. It's really weird that his friends are out of town and he goes missing. John was possibly to involved in his new life in Georgia. I had a concern that there may be a financial motive to this. Coming up, disturbing new evidence will suggest John Stanley may have gotten involved in a dangerous new business venture. When she called, it was, hey, you're not going to believe this. Did Dave all the indications that he was a drug deal gone bad? Joe gone bad. The hardest true crime story to report on is your own.

I'm Tiffany Reese, host of the podcast Something was Wrong. For 15 seasons, I've always aimed to validate and amplify the voices of those who have survived abuse and crime. But for season 16, I'm opening up for the first time about my own experiences as an abuse survivor and a murder co-victim. With the help of trusted friends, we'll unpack my journey to becoming a victim advocate

by examining my past. From the emotional and physical abuse I endured at the hands of my parents and the bullying I received from my classmates to the murder of my brother and the bullying I received from my classmates to the murder of my brother and the securities fraud my father was convicted of. I'm covering it all and even learning more about myself through this process. This is obviously a very personal journey for me, but I believe that this will play a part in my healing helping me to process the trauma that I endured. Follow

something was wrong wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon music or Wondery app. Detectives in College Park, Georgia are less than 24 hours into the murder investigation of 45-year-old John Stanley. Thanks to a tip from John's wife, Wanda, investigators are searching for a trio of men who may have targeted John in an effort to get their hands on some of the $600,000 John had recently come into. When I heard about it and how they found them, I said, well, maybe someone down there got

a window for the money he had and decided to kill him. The brother in me was angry. The brother wanted revenge. The brother wanted to hurt whoever hurt my brother. Police scour the city for any trace of the three men identified only by their nicknames, cash, G, and wing. They also begin monitoring John's credit cards and bank accounts in case one of these suspects tries to withdraw cash.

Please use the start investigating my saying, okay, well, we got a cell phone missing. We got credit cards missing. Let's check his bank account. Has there been any activity on those? But there's no phone activity on his phone. There's no bank activity. Another fact about the crime scene

further contradicts the robbery theory. The issue that they're first going to sort of look at his well with the car still here. The most valuable thing that John may have had would have been the vehicle. If out this body there was the car, the rims on the car, GPS system radio system, none of this is missing.

And it all just done like, nah. Nah, nah. That a lot of times we'll make them more suspicious to say, OK, maybe this isn't a robbery. With the robbery theory in question, and three potential suspects still in the wind, investigators try and piece together the hours that led up to John's disappearance. Wanda couldn't remember the name of the club. She just knew they were going to go to a club. We would follow up on any leads. If she had a particular location where he would have gone to, we would have followed up with that location. Not only are investigators having a hard time figuring out which club John was headed to,

as his family is picking out a suit for his funeral, they notice something that adds even more fuel to the mystery. All his jewelry was still on the dresser in the house. What guy goes to the club without his jewelry? That's where you wear your jewelry. So I thought that was kind of weird. So if John wasn't going clubbing the night he disappeared, where had he been headed? And how had he ended up dead in an apartment complex miles from the bright lights of the Atlanta club scene? The area where he was found, he was found an apartment complex parking lot, a known drug area, very high in drug crimes.

And they said they found his body. They said that they found it in his car, you know, rough neighborhood or something like that, like in the projects or something. And I know my brother. My brother wouldn't go into no projects, especially in Georgia. In a place where he's new by himself. He had no reason to be in the projects.

They have a lavish life. They have the car. They have the house. But if you already have that, what sense doesn't make for you to sell drugs? John was never a drug dealer or a drug user. Is there another side to John that his family hadn't seen? On December 30, four days after police had discovered John's body, Wanda calls the station with a startling discovery.

I do know when she did call the police, that it was, hey, you're not going to believe this, I have found some cocaine in our house. She had found fairly substantial amount of cocaine. And I'm talking about like a brick of cocaine, at least over 500 dollars worth of drugs, if not considerably more than that. It was automatically assumed that it belonged to her husband,

or her husband had something to do with it being located in the house. The other members of John's family are floored by Wanda's discovery. In 45 years, he has never sold drugs. He's worked every day of his life, ever done drugs. That's not at all. So one thing of it, anyone in my family, never sold drugs. That's not him, not at all. So one thing of anyone in my family never sold drugs.

Everyone worked. My grandmother worked very hard. To tell me that he was buying drugs? No, that's not him. Wanda explains to police that due to his accident and his later surgeries, John's pain was becoming unbearable. He couldn't really move his arms that way he needed to anymore.

It bothered him. Wanda tells police that John had turned to drugs to cope with the pain. Wanda had made several claims that John was addicted to cocaine, powder cocaine. He can no longer do the things that he could have done before in the career that he had because of the injury. That's when Wanda drops another bombshell on police.

Well, she put it all so that he was a drug dealer. He was trying to get into drugs. And maybe John had gone there to purchase drugs and something negative transpired which led to him being shot and headed. and something negative transpired which led to him being shot and headed. Wanda also informs police that John's burgeoning cocaine habit was how he met his so-called friends, G, Cash, and Wayne.

You do have a lot of individuals coming from New York going to different state selling drugs. So in their mind, they probably did say this was a drug they were on bad. Was he there to sell drugs? And his drugs got stolen from him, and then they might as well take whatever, you know, property he had or anything of value he had, you know,

he was dead. The gunshot word in the back of the head, it gave all indications that it was a drug deal gone bad. We had no evidence at all that he had any connections to college part. Why would you be there other than for drugs? Investigators may have honed in on the theory that John's murder was drug-related,

but his brothers and sisters aren't buying it. To try to paint my brother the drug dealer, this absurd, this absurd. My brother wouldn't know a ounce of coke from a bag of weed. That's not us, that's not our blood. No one in my mother's family ever took that road. To us, that's the easy road. If you're going to sell drugs, you're going to sell drugs

when you don't have money. You don't sell drugs when you got money. But when family members confront Wanda, she insists she's seen a side of John, they never knew. Because I don't know your brother. He met this weird white guy. He was hanging out with him. The toxicology report conducted during John's autopsy

seems to support Wanda's assertion. He had cocaine into system at the time of the autopsy. The presence of cocaine in John's house and his bloodstream brings the narcotics division into the case as well. On December 30, 2008, they conduct an extensive search of the Stanley's home in Locust Grove. Again, they were looking for additional narcotics because the original powder cocaine was already located.

There is believed that there may be more in the house. Coming up, while the narcotics team is searching the house, Wanda pulls one of the agents aside and tells them something that will alter the entire scope of the investigation. There were records of domestic abuse. That's what's here for you, right? Sure. That's what's here. Sure, Ted.

MUSIC When Wanda and John Stanley moved to Atlanta in 2008, it felt like they had won the lottery. But two weeks after John was found shot to death in his car, that dream had wilted. And according to Wanda, the person most to blame for this tragedy was John himself. He had cocaine in the system at the time of the autopsy. It seemed very possible that that was the reason why John

went over there is to purchase illegal drugs. First impression would be that a drug deal gone bad, either he was up there selling and was shot and ripped off and killed up there, or he was just up there. And somebody took advantage of him, shot and killed him there. Or he was just up there, and somebody took advantage of him shot and killed him in Robby. But as narcotics agents searched the Stanley residence for more cocaine, lead investigator John Sacker receives an unexpected call.

My sergeant notified me that the suspect had been identified and was being held at that time. Myself and the sergeant got in his patrol car and we drove off to the house to the Stanley Household, where our narcotics team was. We got briefed immediately by narcotics agents that were there. They then informed me that Wanda was waiting to speak to somebody else.

Wanda said, I did. I was very shocking. I felt that it would be more appropriate that we speak back at my office. She seemed very calm and relaxed at that time, not too nervous. I let her know that I'd like to discuss with her what had happened.

In an interrogation room at the Henry County Police Department, Juan detells investigators that, while John may have appeared to be a doting father and husband, there was another side to him. You've always taken me to jail for taking serious news and I heard you. Yes, I just got time. That's how I live, no abuse and stuff.

She said she'd been abused verbally over the years by John. But Wanda also claims that over time, the alleged verbal abuse turned physical. There was some evidence that sort of supported her accusations that John had been very abusive toward her. And New York, they were able to obtain what we call TPO's, which are temporary protective orders. Does he have a history of domestic violence, physical violence?

Where he's now arrested. She indicated that she made countless numbers of 911 calls in New York to report this violence. She had been to the hospital. There's at least one example where I believe her soda got dislocated. Wanda claims the cycle was always the same. The courts would issue her a restraining order.

John would be asked to leave the house, but would eventually sweet talk his way back into her life. Things seemed calm at first, but after a while, the violence would resume. It was really the only relationship that she had had, pretty much all of her adult life. And so when that's your situation, that abusive scenario can become a kind of normal for you. Wanda tells police she'd hoped the move to Atlanta would be a catalyst that helps put an end to the violence.

But according to Wanda, things only got worse. And the situation finally came to a head on the night of John's murder. You wanted to closet where the stuff was at. What stuff were you afraid to? You got on your cocaine. Is this powder or a crack or a powder? It gives powder there.

She did say that when John was on cocaine, he got very sexually excited, and there was no stopping him. Does he like to have sex with him or his hire? Yes. Does he force it on him? Mm-hmm. The person that Wanda describes is a person that I have never met in my life. The person that she describes is a monster, a complete monster.

According to Wanda, on the night of December 20, 2008, John demanded that they go out dancing. They're going to have fun, have a good night out. But Wanda claims John had more than dancing on his mind. He get told her not to wear any underwear. So why are you them on your boots, sitting in the chair, in the master bedroom, he goes into the closet and he gets his foot candy.

And what happens? Okay, then he comes back out, and he goes in that bathroom. He goes in the bathroom, but he shifts the drawer. Now I was in there. Not the little butt body man, so so. Then he comes out, how does he act when he comes out? He's acting like, and she's like, pushing me, right?

And then once I told him I don't want to go, you go, that's when he started. That's when he started acting crazy. When he started doing the cocaine, and that's when she became fairly certain, it was not going to go well for her. She, at some point, when he's using cocaine, realized that he was going to write her.

You know, like, you think I'm playing, ask me, you came over to me, you think I'm playing a stupid bitch, you coming with me. At the time, I'm fixing everything when I sit in any chair. That's when he grabbed me. It was taking me down the stairs. He started to get angry, whether I started to yell

and raise his voice and verbally berate her. But Wanda says that after nearly two decades of abuse, she'd had enough. I can't take this anymore. I'm gonna slap. I can't take it anymore. She was done. It had to end. I was like, okay, okay.

I'm gonna get you. That's how I felt. I'm like, I'm gonna get you so I want you guys to go out and put in my pocketbook. She had taken a gun there for her protection, anticipating that he was going to become That's how I felt. I'm like, I'm just like, you know, I want you guys getting threatened by a horrible woman. She had taken a gun there for her protection, anticipating that he was going to become very physically violent. So he told you in the middle seat? He was insistent on the two of them having sex.

Juan's position was, I was in imminent danger. I felt that he was going to rape me. Where were you seated? In the back seat. In the back seat. Where were you, seated? In the back seat. In the back seat. Where were you? Right in the back of the... Why are you in the rear seat, lady?

That's when I took the gun. I'm a couple of people. You started off. She put it to the back of John's head as he sat there unsuspecting and pulled the trigger. Wanted to indicate it after she had shot him. She got scared. She panicked.

She drove over the vehicle. She got on I-75 and drove north. Just picked a random exit, exited the highway, and found herself a department complex in College Park. She didn't make it look as if he was a robbery victim. Wanda says from there, she got a taxi back to Locust Grove and the following morning reported John missing. John was found a couple of days later in College Park.

Drug deal gone bad. It kind of thing is the angle you want the police to believe or some drug dealer shot him over a bad drug dealer, something he regretted having done it. Are you happy that John is no longer able to hurt you the way it is? My thing, like I say now, is I'm good at the idea, but it's like I got a piece of mine with my kids.

I just want my kids to be a little nice to me, so my best old life, I don't want to be one. That's all I need to know, right? That's the truth right there that I gave you. That's the God of his group. She seemed very calm. She had a, and I guess an aura about her that she was happy, kind of weird to say.

Wanda's story is that of a woman who acted purely in self-defense, but detectives still need to compare her version of events to the facts at the crime scene. John had a history as a boxer and it would be plausible that he was a violent man. Her story is that she actually killed John herself, but that she did it in self-defense.

But as investigators weigh Wanda's story with the forensic evidence, one detail about her account doesn't add up. And looking at the impact spatter on the headliner, it was possible to line all that up and to determine where he was and how close and where the shot came from. They would have been located at that side door

and shot into the vehicle from the outside. To investigators, the fact that Wanda shot into the vehicle was John seated inside facing away from her suggests she was in no immediate danger. The evidence did not suggest that there was any imminent threat to me as a Stanley. She could have easily walked away and started a new life. She'd put a gun to the back of his head

and shot him execution style. As for the motive, investigators think Juan de Shot John is much for the money, as for anything. I'm his wife, so if he is no longer here, it all goes to me. You wanted the money. You wanted all to yourself. You don't want to have to share it with John if you want. It wasn't a crime of passion by all the occasion

that this was a premeditated murder. On January 7th, authorities in Georgia charge Wanda Stanley with murder. She was somewhat surprised. She thought she was justified in the homicide. She thought she was going to go home. When John's family gets word of W de Zarest, they're floored. My reaction was to shock.

I didn't believe that, and I didn't want to believe that anyone could be that cruel, that cold. For her to commit murder, and it's my own co-her own husband, it just made me sick to my stomach. Coming up, if the Stanley family was hoping the wheels of justice would turn swiftly in this case, they were sorely mistaken. I wasn't comfortable with it. She could have not a waste of her free. The 38-year-old Wanda Stanley has just been arrested for the murder of John Stanley, her husband

of two decades. But Wanda claims she shot John purely out of self-defense. She says she was defending herself the night that she shot him. He had cocaine into the system at the time of the autopsy. Of course, there's no evidence to show how it got there, but we had to acknowledge that. Armed with the best attorneys her husband's settlement check could buy, Wanda filed every motion she could

to have her case thrown out, all to no avail. Finally, in January 2012, nearly three years after her arrest, Wanda's trial begins. An anticipation of trial, you always go and look at every piece of evidence. You want to make sure that nothing happens during the trial that you are surprised for. In their opening statement, prosecutors

assert that Wanda's real motive was money. She probably didn't want to be with John anymore, but she wanted John's financial security. But the defense claims to have proof that Wanda had suffered abuse at the hands of her husband. The temporary protective order was issued by the court. John is obviously not here to speak on his own behalf. And you have this woman who presumably has no history of violence before this. On February 7, 2012, both sides rest their case.

As the jury adjourns to deliberate, everyone is waiting anxiously for the verdict and waiting and waiting. The longer they deliberate, each side is going to start questioning, okay, well, what are they talking about? The next day, with the jury still deliberating, one does attorneys reach out to the prosecution. Miss Stanley's attorneys approached us

and asked us if we would consider maybe a plea. After that length of time out, it just appeared to be a situation where we thought that it was worth discussing. On February 8, 2012, Juan de Stanley agrees to plead guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. Rather than spending life in prison, she receives a sentence of 10 years plus five more on probation. I wasn't comfortable with it, but I'm just grateful that she didn't walk completely. I was very happy Wanda didn't walk. At least she did time. The juror couldicho came back and said, oh, not guilty. And she could have been there with the money,

with the house, with everything else. She could have got a waste of her. And while both sides still dispute the events that led to that fateful night in December of 2008, no one disagrees about all that was lost. My uncle John sort of all kept us all together. So when he was gone, I was just every one drifted apart. We're not as close as before. There's not as much family barbecues. And even our family barbecues, the whole family, it's not there.

It's not the same. Abuse is never okay. If you or someone you love is in an abusive relationship there is help available. Call the Domestic Violence hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE.