Sword and Scale - Episode 111

Episode Date: April 1, 2018

What exactly is "God's Plan?"  Do you know?  Some people think they do.   Jonathan Hearn and Sabrina Limon thought "God's Plan" included having an illicit affair and killing Sabrina's husband.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sort and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised I don't remember how the the conversation was Came up, but obviously we were discussing killing him and she asked me how how I thought would be best and we discussed I believe car accident and fire and quickly skipped over those and arrived at poisoning. Hello, once again, and welcome to Sword and Scale, Season 5 Episode 11, a show that It reveals that the worst monsters are real. Religion is often a source of strength. Strength for victims of some of the most unthinkable atrocities. It is often a force for good, providing hope in dark times, bringing communities together

and offering comfort to those who need it most. But of course, religion can also be perverted in an attempt to justify acts of pure violence and hatred. When human beings believe that God is on their, around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, she is Bathsheba, the daughter of Iliam, and the wife of Eiraya the Hittite. Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with

her. In this story, Bathsheba ends up pregnant. To cover up the affair, David sends her husband, Yeraya, out to the battlefield, and writes the following in a letter to his commander. Put Yeraya out in front where the fighting is fiercest, then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die. Where is the story of David and Bathsheba from? Like a specific chapter in the Bible,

it's in the Old Testament. You ever taught that story to your children? Many times. Jonathan Hurn first learned of the story of David and Bathsheba when he was a child. But at the time, it probably didn't mean all that much to him. It probably didn't stand out from all the other Bible stories as father read to him. But at 22 years old, Jonathan would look to the story for guidance after spotting Bathsheba, not bathing on a rooftop, but handing out samples at a local Costco. Sabrina was just 18 years old when she crossed paths with her future husband, 21-year-old

Robert Lee Mone. As Sabrina would later put it, we were young. I feel like my mom gave birth and Robert caught me. They met at a barbecue in Prescott, Arizona. Soon after meeting, they started dating, and within months, they moved in together. Robert and I, we got along so well because we were very much alike.

We're very compatible. We both were energetic. We both loved life and people. On August 19th, 2000, before Sabrina turned 21, she and Robert got married. They committed themselves to stand by each other for better or worse, for richer, for you're where you and Rob happy together. We're so happy together. I couldn't imagine my life without Rob. Why? Because I loved him. I remember during the course the interview you said he was your best, but...

He was my best friend. Sabrina and Robert set about building a life together, leaving Prescott behind and moving out to Helen Dale, a resort town in the high desert of Southern California. It saves the happiest place on the high desert. It was, there were two lakes, Rob was a golfer, there was a golf course, there was a Olympic size swimming pool, a clubhouse, that sort of the thing. So it was, it's called vacation where you live.

Robert and Sabrina bought a home on Strawberry Lane and Helen Dale, fixed it up and began filling it with memories. We loved our home from the minute we saw it, but we did a lot of work to our home landscape. All nine yards. Their home was just across the street from Helen Dale Elementary School, and only about a five minute walk from one of Helen Dale's two lakes. It was the perfect spot for them to raise a family. Three years into their marriage, Sabrina gave birth to a son named Robbie.

A few years later, she gave birth to their daughter, Liana. I stayed home with the kids, and we just lived quietly and together happily. Sabrina Leemon had everything she thought she could ever want. A nice house next to a lake, a loving husband, and two beautiful children. It was a comfortable life, a happy life, a picture of perfection, but even still it was not enough. Sabrina still felt like she was

missing something. How old were you when you met Sabrina Lamont? 22 years old. In August of 2012 Sabrina was working part-time at a Costco in the neighboring city of Victorville when she met a 22-year-old firefighter named Jonathan Herne. What led you to meet Miss LeMone in August of 2012? Well, I had recently been assigned at my fire station. I was working in a new department and had been assigned some duties to purchase commissary restock food in the fire station. So having recently incurred that duty, I

was, uh, became a member at Costco and started going to Costco and ran into her a number of times. It started out fairly innocent. Sabrina made friendly conversation with Jonathan about their mutual friends and about his work as a firefighter. It was the second or third time that I ran into her. She had remembered my name and spoke to me directly saying hi Jonathan and I couldn't remember her name and feeling bad about that. But then also kind of noticing the fact that she had remembered my name, which was neat. And so I think it was on the third time that I was in Costco that I got her number. At that time, and prior to that, I had noticed she had no wedding ring on and hadn't

mentioned anything about being married. So I had asked for a number and she gave it and we talked and texted. I want to say was within a week or two after I got her number, she called me one time and set the record straight and said, you know I'm married right because I had been flirting, you know, we'd been flirting back and forth. And I explained that I didn't realize she was married. I didn't see that she had a ring on and she said that at work, she doesn't wear rings. I guess it's not allowed at her place of employment. So jewelry, that is. So at that point, I said, you know, I recognize that she was married.

And we agreed to just talk as friends and however the flirting did continue. Sabrina was 10 years older than Jonathan. She was a married mother of two, whereas he was just starting to figure his life out. He was 22 and I was 32 at the time and I was shocked that he was that young, much younger to figure his life out. Jonathan had never had a steady girlfriend before he started seeing Sabrina. Nonetheless, he decided to continue pursuing a relationship, and Sabrina welcomed the attention. Prior to meeting Jonathan, she'd been with the same man since she was 18 years old.

The comfort of her domestic life on Strawberry Lane had slowly turned to Monotony, and her once exciting marriage had grown dull. It wasn't that she didn't love her husband and kids. She was just bored, tired, restless. Now all of a sudden, an attractive 22-year-old fireman was practically throwing himself at her. He made her feel wanted again. But he pursued on me, the tension he showed me, was very different than anything I'd ever heard. I guess I should say what I was getting at that moment in my, that time in my life.

There was no single moment that Sabrina could point to and say, that's when it happened. That's when I decided to cheat on my husband. It was a slow progression, and at any point she could have put an end to it, but she didn't. She liked being the center of somebody else's universe. From November to then December, not only did we keep talking, but more than as friends started flirting and put ourselves in kind of a position spending time together where it turned into a full pledge to fare. So by the end of December 2012, we were carrying on a phone affair.

When you use the word affair, you were having sex with Mr. Le Mans. Yeah. Before long, the train had left the station. Flirty text messages turned into late night phone calls. Casual run-ins became scheduled meetups. This was no longer a fling or casual affair. Were you feeling guilty about your affair with John? Yes, I would.

But you continued with it anyways. Yes. Were you in love with Jonathan and her? Yes. How early in your relationship did you begin to express between each other love? Pretty quickly. I would say probably early in 2013. Not only was their relationship growing more serious, but it was also starting to take

on a religious undertone. Jonathan would have, we read Proverbs, the Book of Proverbs every day, or he'd want me to read it if he couldn't speak to me. He'd want me to read it if he couldn't speak to me. He wanted me to memorize scripture. Jonathan introduced Sabrina to his conservative Christian beliefs and traditions. Really he changed a lot of my views, just kind of placing them more into his kind of views. And it just felt, I don't know, they were enlightening and they made sense to me at the time. Failing to recognize the obvious irony of their situation, Jonathan and Sabrina began to center their adulterous relationship around prayer and spirituality. We were pursuing this relationship and hoping or expecting that somehow God would

look favorably on that. Over time it became very, it turned into a spiritual, you know, spiritually based everything was through prayer between him and I. Although Jonathan and Sabrina were only able to meet in person every once in a while, they were in near constant contact. They called each other multiple times a week, and they exchanged text messages almost every day. One day after this had gone on for a few months, Robert Lee Mone discovered some of the romantic text messages that Jonathan had sent his wife.

Robert was upset and he wanted to know who this guy was and what was so special about him. After finding out about the affair, Rob decided he was going to have a word with Jonathan. Did you become aware or did you receive a call from Robert Lemone about you having an affair with his wife? I did. When did that occur? March or April of 2013. Whatever Rob said made Jonathan reconsider his relationship with Sabrina.

Conflict it, Jonathan wrote the following note in his journal. I begged Robert's forgiveness and pray for his salvation. God has showed me grace. Shall we continue and sin that grace may abound? No way. I am blessed, but torn. I cannot afford to hurt Robert again, yet I love Sabrina. Ultimately, I want this woman to know that she is amazing and loved by God and me, but I cannot also disrespect hurt and dishonor her incredible husband." On April 13, 2013, Jonathan wrote out a personal check as a symbolic offering to Jesus for helping him with his conflict.

He made the check out to Jesus, the one who helped stop me, tried me, and showed me grace, and to Robert Lehmone. For the dollar amount, Jonathan simply wrote, all the rest. He signed the check for given saved sinner. In spite of the unusually close nature that are in spite of my attraction to Sabrina, that ultimately I had to go through missing her in order to undo what I had done. Jonathan and Sabrina told each other that this was it. They could no longer continue to see each other. Their relationship was over. Just like that, the story could have ended right there. Jonathan could have walked away, moved on from Sabrina, and gone about pursuing a normal life.

Sabrina could have gone back to the comfort and consistency of her home life. Sabrina could have gone back to the comfort and consistency of her home life. This time probably paying more attention to her marriage and her children, but unfortunately, as you may have guessed, that is not what happened. I had the best of both worlds right there. I guess I didn't want to give up either one of them. Within months, Jonathan and Sabrina were back together, now more committed to each other than ever before. I had been kind of willing to withdraw, but then we had come back together, you know, you know, definitely more passionate and more serious way than before. And that's, I can point to that time as being pretty much the groundwork for a lot of the solidifying of a lot of our

terrible plans. They set up a private Gmail account to exchange messages in secret. They talked about getting married, about having a future together. All the while, religion remained a focus of their relationship, and they began referring to their plans to be together as God's purpose. With respect to that exact phrase God's purpose, that had kind of graduated to the point of becoming a catch-all for everything referencing our future together and marriage and raising family. He would bring in God's purpose in lots of different ways and

then imply it to my life, his life, us meeting, knowing one another, coming together God's purpose. Jonathan and Sabrina knew that their relationship could not go on in secret forever and what they believed to be God's purpose for them did not involve Robert Lehmone. Well around that time, again, end of 2013, early 2014, as we became serious about discussing our marriage, obviously that solicited the conversation of her divorce first and foremost. But we, she expressed a number of reasons why divorce was not a very appealing option for her. And that was part of what solidified some of our conversations about his actual eventual demise.

According to Jonathan, Sabrina thought that a divorce would be too difficult for her children. She thought that in the long run, divorce would be too difficult for her children. She thought that in the long run, it would be easier for the kids if their father was dead. She also told Jonathan that Robert would rather be dead than divorced. In February or March, Jonathan wrote a letter to Sabrina containing a list of reasons as to why Robert deserved to die. It read, to another man to share the most passionate experience that humans can create together, wants to have a threesome, defied the living God. The letter goes on to say, please kill him God.

Although they would later deny it, Jonathan and Sabrina's decision to kill Rob also likely had something to do with his substantial life insurance policy, and his generous pension plan from the BNSF railroad. Whatever the true reason was, Jonathan, Herne and Sabrina Limone had made up their minds that they were going to kill Robert. According to Jonathan, the following series of events then took place. I don't remember how the conversation came up, but obviously we were discussing killing him, and I know we briefly discussed.

She asked me how I thought would be best and we discussed I believe car accident and fire and quickly skipped over those and arrived at poisoning and then did a significant amount of discussion and planning And why did you settle on poison you and Sabrina? just because of the thought that poisoning could present as a medical issue and not a criminal issue, which would reduce the likelihood of criminal investigation being waged. And so just because of the likelihood or the hope of escaping being caught, I thought that might be a better option." Rob had a recurring medical condition that caused him to exhibit flu-like symptoms and occasionally required hospital stays. Jonathan and Sabrina figured that given the symptoms of this condition, the symptoms of a poisoning attempt would not raise suspicion of foul play.

We discussed the location where they should take place. We agreed upon to hatch a pee to send him some food laced with poison. Rob was employed by the BNSF railway, and he usually worked out of bar still California. However, he sometimes picked up shifts for other employees in the Tehatchapy California facility. And there was a couple ideas behind Tehatchapy. One, the level of the emergency care there was probably not par with some of the metro areas or some of the hospitals

in our area. And then also just that he would be working alone there. So there wouldn't be the likelihood of someone else eating the same thing he was eating or that he wouldn't share with him. Jonathan and Sabrina decided that they were going to use arsenic to poison Rob. Who purchased the arsenic? I did. Describe how you went about purchasing arsenic. I used a prepaid card to put finances on a PayPal account and then I tried to purchase it from a couple of places that was unable to purchase it just due to the

sensitivity of the product and requiring background checks. But I eventually was able to purchase it under an alias and have it sent to my grandparents commercial hurt studio. A few days later, the arsenic was delivered. Now they just needed to get the poison into Rob's lunch. Which food items did she suggest that Robert the mom was sure to eat. She gave me two suggestions, one of some sort of sandwich or wrap that could be purchased at Costco and then also banana pudding with nila wafers. On March 8th, Jonathan looked up a few different banana pudding recipes, as if being poisoned wasn't bad enough. And what was searched for?

This is searched for Jello banana pudding. In the coming weeks, he made a few other incriminating internet searches. On March 21, 2014, Jonathan searched, How soon after someone dies, a life insurance policy payout. On March 30, he searched, Mixing arsenic trioxide. Jonathan also made a rookie murderers mistake. He created a to-do list on his phone. The list simply begins with, pray, read Bible, diet, work out for race, nothing out of the ordinary.

But then the list continues. Make sample batch, mix with water, neighbor dog. I examine the product, also tested the dosing. Well, I don't want to say suggested dosing because no one suggests it. But what I believe to be the toxic loading dose of arsenic And it's a dose by weight ratio and so I experimented with that on a neighbor dog who had caused me considerable issues in the past and put it on some some meat and

Put the arsenic that is on some meat and gave it to the dog to see what would happen. According to Jonathan, about three days later, he stopped hearing the neighbor dog barking and knew that he had correctly calculated the toxic dose of arsenic trioxide. He was now ready to bring about God's purpose for Robert Lee Mone. I made a pretty large batch of banana pudding with nila wafers, prepared a large tupperware that could appear to be like a family-sized portion for Sabrina and the rest of her family, something that could be put in the refrigerator to obviously not suggest that only one small portion had been made for his lunch that day.

But then I also made a separate smaller Tupperware simply with just a single serving-sized portion for his lunch. And in that, stirred in the arsenic into the pudding. After making the necessary preparations, Jonathan waited until Sabrina gave word that Rob had picked up a shift at the Tatchipi Railyard and told him to bring over the pudding. After you've completed the two batches, what do you do? I believe it was that day or perhaps the next, I believe it was that day. I drove out to see Sabrina.

I believe Robert was working that day as well. It might have been a regular shift that he was working that day. I don't recall right now, but I remember he was away and I went and spent some time with Sabrina and brought the the Tupperware with the larger portion as well as the poison laced smaller portion and gave them both to her explaining that the smaller portion was the portion that had the poison in it to place in his lunch the next day. So once Sabrina received the pudding with our scenic, what did she do with it? I placed it in her refrigerator and she told me that she put the smaller portion for Robert

put it in his lunch the next day. The plan was set into motion. John Affin and Sabrina simply had to wait. For Robert Lee Mone, that morning felt the same as any other morning, perhaps he was just in a better mood than usual. After all, his wife had been thoughtful enough to pack his lunch, even including his favorite dessert for him. He never suspected that the banana pudding his wife had packed for him contained a lethal dose of arsenic trioxide. Just a few spoonfuls of that pudding

would be followed by stomach cramps, difficulty swallowing, vomiting, diarrhea, delirium, convulsions, shock, and eventually death. Shirley Sabrina had gone over the events in her head. That afternoon, she would receive a phone call from an unknown number. The voice on the other end would tell her that there's been an emergency, that her husband was in the hospital, and that she should come immediately. She was ready to play the part of a grieving widow, to tell her kids that their father would never return home. She went about her day, waiting for that phone to ring. The longer she waited, the more she started to think about the risk involved in what they were doing.

What if they were caught? How could they fulfill God's purpose if they were rotting away in prison. She prepared herself and waited for the phone to ring. But when Sabrina's phone finally rang, it was Jonathan on the other end. I called her and we spoke about obviously not wanting to be caught and just in the... I told her I thought it was unlikely that it would be investigated, excuse me, investigated as a criminal investigation, but just if it was, that it wasn't worth that risk. So to hold off and she let me know that after that that she had called Robert, excuse me, to clarify, we had that first conversation, then she called Robert, and

then she let me know after that that she had told him to not eat the pudding because I think she said that she told him the bananas had gone bad in it. In fall of 2012, 32-year-old Sabrina Limone and 22-year-old Jonathan Hurn began having an affair. As their relationship progressed, they started to believe that it was God's purpose for them to be together. And in order to fulfill that purpose, they decided they were going to kill Sabrina's husband, Robert Lehmone. In April of 2014, they placed some banana pudding containing a leafledosov arsenic in Robert's

lunch. But at the last minute, Jonathan and Sabrina decided to call off the murder attempt. You might be thinking or at least hoping that Jonathan and Sabrina came to their senses, that they realized just how sick, twisted, and illogical their plan really was. Maybe Jonathan had realized that Robert did absolutely nothing wrong to deserve being killed, or maybe Sabrina had realized the cruelty of taking her own children's father away from them. But that is not why they called off the murder attempt.

They never questioned their motive. They never doubted God's purpose. They never considered anyone but themselves. They called off the murder attempt out of fear that they were going to get caught. At some point during the day, Mr. Lamone, Jonathan Hermer, were kind of talking about what if we get caught, what could lead us to get caught. And they kind of settled on, well, since there is so many phone calls, there is so many text messages, one of the easiest ways would of course Be for them to trace our phones

So because of that they decided to call off the poisoning and that day the next day Jonathan her not what you will hear Sabrina will mone later call a burn or phone Robertly moan tossed the banana pudding in the trash Robertly Mone tossed the banana pudding in the trash. It is lunch and carried on with his day. Never realizing just how close he had come to a slow and agonizing death. I remember discussing that it should be like three or four months that we hold off. And that way, if there was a criminal investigation later on through year or four months from then did it by searching her phone records law enforcement wouldn't immediately find any specific ongoing contact between her and I. So that was essentially the

same we still have the intent of that homicide but it was just gonna be put off for three or four months. Just under four months after the poisoning attempt, around 6.45pm on August 17th, a BNSF employee named Sean Ware pulled up to the BNSF facility. His work shift began at 7, but Sean liked to arrive early to have a chance to chat with whoever was working the previous shift. On this particular day, that person was Robert Lee Moan. I found the shop completely closed up. I found it unusual because normally Rob would not leave the garage in that way.

He was normally ready to go. So the garage door was normally opened. The signs of it being closed up was that he was not there. Sean opened the door to the warehouse and saw Robert's truck parked inside. If it being closed up was that he wasn't there. Sean opened the door to the warehouse and saw Robert's truck parked inside. At that point I was really thinking that something is off and that's when I started to look for Rob himself. Sean searched the warehouse for any signs of his coworker, eventually spotting a pool of blood next to one of the trucks.

That's kind of when I came further around and seen him. And I kneeled down to him and was trying to talk to him and trying to get him to wake up. We just didn't call what he said. I was just saying, Rob, what happened? Sean called 911 and attempted to follow CPR instructions to resuscitate his coworker. Having also worked the night before, Sean had seen his coworker rob that same morning at the beginning of Rob's shift. They had chatted for about half an hour before Sean went home. Sean would later recall that one of Rob's biggest concerns that morning had been a broken

iPod. Now, just 12 hours later, here was that same man. His body was now resting in a pool of his own blood. The 911 operators told Sean to leave the warehouse. He went outside, knelt down, and waited for officers to arrive. I exited my vehicle and I approached the mail. You said that he was distraught or able to speak with him? Yes.

What was his demeanor when you spoke? I don't recall if he was crying, but he was on the verge of it appeared shaking. Sean was clearly shaken up. He had difficulty communicating anything to the officers. He simply pointed at the entrance to the warehouse. I entered the warehouse and I saw broken glass. Paper work on the ground and I have served a mail on the ground bleeding. I saw a Chevy pickup with a service type tool bed sitting parked inside the roll up door

and then a man's body that was later identified as Robert Lemone laying against the front driver's side wheel of that pickup. He was laying face-up between the truck and the small refrigerator. The refrigerator door was open, looked like items that had been in the refrigerator were now outside of the refrigerator. There was some blood spatter inside the refrigerator. And he had his left arm across his chest and his right arm out to the side

at about a 45 degree angle towards his head. I took a direct approach to the body and when I got to where I could see better, I saw Mr. Lemong was laying a pool of blood. There was a lump on top of his head. One eye was almost shut and the other one was close as well and I saw signs of levity in his arm. Rob had been shot twice. One bullet entered his body near his jaw, traveled through his mouth, grazed his spinal cord, and exited through the

back of his neck. The other bullet hit him in the chest, ricocheted off his collarbone and lodged itself in his brain. Robert Lee Mone was pronounced dead at the scene. The office in the warehouse had been torn apart. Papers were scattered about and cabinets were left open, but very few items actually appeared to be missing. The attacker hadn't even taken Rob's wallet. The crime scene appeared to be staged, leading investigators to conclude that the attacker had entered the warehouse with the primary intention of killing Robert Lee Mone. But Rob's co-workers made it clear to investigators that Rob didn't have any obvious enemies.

He was the kind of person who could get along with pretty much anyone. They didn't know anybody who would have ever wanted to harm Robert or see him dead, but of course, they did not know about Jonathan Hurn. That morning, Jonathan had gotten off work at the fire station, purchased some ammunition at Walmart, and tested out a gun suppressor, otherwise known as a silencer, that he'd built using materials from a flashlight. Sometime that afternoon, Jonathan drove out to T'Hatchippi on his motorcycle, which he had attempted to disguise using reflective tape. Wearing a Halloween mask, he arrived at the rail yard and waited a few minutes in the

breezeway, just north of the BNSF warehouse. He collected his thoughts, prayed, and entered the building. intention I went to pull out a firearm. However, the gun kind of was or the silencer was kind of stuck in the corner of the backpack that I had. So ultimately sort of followed him with one hand in this bag trying to retrieve a gun and at some point he turned around which was around the time when I fired the first shot from within the bag. Jonathan grabbed a laptop from the office, hastily staged the scene to make it look like a robbery and headed back towards the door.

I headed for the entrance again so so I was to exit. But previously when I had shot Rob and he fell, he had exiled in a way that made me believe he was dead, but I questioned that as I was about to leave thinking, I really didn't wanna leave him if he wasn't entirely dead. So I went back around the backside of the truck and quickly fired one more shot at him and then closed the garage door behind me

and ran from the facility. Well, the Hanazon for the suspect in the murder of a railroad worker into Hatchapy. There's somebody out there in the community that committed this crime and we want to identify that person as soon as we can and get that person in custody. This is obviously a very high profile case and it's a case that we want to solve. After the news of the murder broke, one of Rob's friends was quoted in a local news article stating, Rob was the best man I have ever had the honor of knowing.

My heart is broken for my beautiful friend and their children. This is just senseless. He made an impact on every single person he met. Him and Sabrina were what every couple should strive to be. They were so in love with each other, their beautiful kids in life. Rob's friends and family were shocked to find out how he had died. In search for answers, lead detective Robert Meyer called Sabrina Lee Mone in the early morning hours of April 18th. Can I get your first name in some English?

I'm Christian and Sabrina, and I'm the H.A.R. High and A. And it's really interesting. I'm Stella and Helen. In the interview, Sabrina seems to be surprised by what happened as everyone else who knew Rob. As far as Robert goes, do you know if you have any trouble with anybody? Never. Never. Never. Never. Never.

Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never everybody, everybody loves rocker. Okay. Watch out. And so everything's going pretty well with your imagination, there's no issue with my life. No. Okay.

So much. And you haven't had, there was no one you can think of that might have. That was Amber, you've never told you before that. No. Okay. How about school workers? How do you know all the school workers? No. 30. Sabrina plays the part of the grieving widow, even asking some questions of her own about the status of the investigation. In another interview on August 22, Detective Meyer specifically asks Sabrina about her and Rob's marriage. Rob's funeral took place the day after that interview. In the weeks following the funeral, Sabrina, whom Rob's obituary referred to as his loving

wife of 14 years, publicly mourned Rob's death. Privately, however, she was busy planning a future with her husband's killer. On September 7th, Sabrina texted Jonathan from a burner phone, quote, you I feel God's purpose and strength working in my life and in our relationship. I love you Jonathan." The next day she posted the following on Facebook, God blessed us with Rob for the time he did, and the love he gave was more than some ever will feel or show. I will never let Rob's love die or fade out. I will carry it with me wherever I go and remind our children daily as they grow."

Three days later on September 11th, she texted Jonathan, quote, "...You are so good to me. We can only get better with God. That's so exciting. As so many look to others' lives or other things, we look to God. There is no greater peace to find. I feel super blessed." End quote. On October 18, Sabrina sent the following message to Jonathan, quote, As time passed, Jonathan and Sabrina seemed more and more convinced that they were in the clear. Last, Jonathan and Sabrina seemed more and more convinced that they were in the clear. They spoke to each other about getting married, raising Sabrina and Rob's children together and living happily ever after. Months went by, and they thought that their fantasy was finally within reach. gotten away with murder.

Months after a railroad employee was gunned down at the Rayl Yardin to Hatchapy, two people are behind bars, one of them his own wife. On November 18th, 2014, three months after Robert Leigh Moan was gunned down, Sabrina Leigh Moan and Jonathan Hurn were placed under arrest and connection with his murder. This point we have not identified any other person or persons we believe are responsible for Mr. Leigh Moan's murder. We are confident that the two people we arrested yesterday are responsible for Mr. Lemone's murder. We are confident that the two people we arrested yesterday are responsible for his murder. Two days later, Sabrina was released without charges due to insufficient evidence. But in January, she was

re-arrested after Jonathan Hurn agreed to testify against her. In exchange for his future testimony, Jonathan Hurn, who admitted to shooting Robert Lehmone, staging the crime scene and then going back and shooting him again just to make sure he was dead, was not charged with first-degree murder. Instead, he pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter, attempted murder, poisoning, and being an accessory to murder. Sabrina Lee Moan was ultimately charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit a crime, soliciting murder, being an accessory after the fact, attempted murder, and mingling harmful substances into food or drink. Her trial began on September 11, 2017.

On September 14, Jonathan Herm took the stand. Three years after killing an innocent man just to be with this woman, Jonathan spent seven days testifying against her. He spared no detail as he told the jury about his relationship with Sabrina, their initial plans to poison Rob, and Sabrina's involvement in the eventual death of her own husband. So we discussed the location, some of those other incidental concerns, but trying to think, I know as I needed specific logistical information, she was able to provide some of those things.

Did you tell Sabrina that you planned on confronting Rob directly into Hatchopy as you put it? I did. Did you tell her that you were either going to assuming shoot him from distance or close range? I know that she knew that I was going to be confronting him at a closer range. Of course, there are plenty of reasons to doubt the testimony of a killer, especially one whose plea deal is contingent on providing that testimony.

But in this case, there was more direct evidence to back up the most incriminating allegations of Jonathan's testimony. Sabrina Lee Moan took the stand on Thursday, September 28th. She admitted having an affair with Jonathan, but she attempted to talk her way out of any evidence tying her to Rob's death, insisting that Jonathan had acted by himself without her knowledge. I am definitely guilty of entertaining hopes and dreams with Jonathan and we had talked about divorce, but that's never anything that I acted on or was ready to act on with Robert. On April of 2014, Sabrina had allegedly called off the

poisoning attempt because she was worried about her phone records being discovered. Ironically, much of the evidence presented at her trial came from these phone records. The evidence showed that on August 17, 2014, the day Jonathan Herne killed Robert Lehmone, Sabrina had called Jonathan from her burner phone at 6.40am, 8.11am, 8.47am, 10.07am, and 12.05pm. You said you talked to Jonathan that day. Do you know how long you talked to Jonathan? I don't remember exactly how long.

I added it up. 223 minutes, three hours in 45 minutes you talk with Jonathan, her prior to him leaving to go kill your husband. I did not know he was leaving to go kill my husband. That wasn't in the question. Three hours in 45 minutes prior to him leaving to go kill my husband. She called Jonathan from her burner phone again at 7.50pm, talking to him for 10 minutes

and 37 seconds. While on the phone with Jonathan, Sabrina placed 7 phone calls from her landline to Robert's cell phone. Clearly, she anticipated investigators gaining access to her home phone records. She wanted to portray herself as a worried wife, repeatedly attempting to contact her husband after he didn't come home from work. What she hadn't anticipated was that investigators would also gain access to the records of her burner phone. Discovering that while she was placing those calls to her husband,

she was also speaking to the man who had killed him. All of those phone calls made by you and your testimony to your husband's phone were done while you were on the phone with Jonathan Herr. Were they not? When I was trying to call Robert? Yes, 751, 752, 753, 754, 759, 8 o'clock, and 801. That was during your 10 minute call with Jonathan Herr and we just saw from his records.

And I was trying to call Robert. Do you recall being on the phone with Jonathan while making all of those calls? No. After the murder, investigators began wiretapping calls between Jonathan and Sabrina. During the three-month window in which the two lovers were busy planning out their future,

investigators would listen to their phone busy planning out their future. Investigators would listen to their phone calls and build their case. Although Jonathan and Sabrina were careful to avoid mentioning the murder directly, their recorded phone calls show that they were sharing information and working together to throw off the investigation. For example, on November 9, 2014, after receiving a text from Lead Detective Robert Meyer, Sabrina and all the pre-ordering of the other people. The case is when you get into the plane. You can say, you can't do anything. Come please help us, to God please help us.

That's the wise hope. To bring the town to the right works. You have to help. That the country be at risk of us for the phone with Jonathan, Sabrina spoke with Detective Meyer. I think we're going to get into a day and I wanted to open the library really, because that is a video of the little spark something somebody may have seen something, or you can go see for a witness check or something like that. Immediately after talking to Detective Meyer, Sabrina calls Jonathan back letting him know

that everything is fine. I'm sorry, I'm not sure if it's true or not, everything is fine. I'll talk to you after a short time I see it. Is that okay? Yeah, that was done. Yeah, that's fine. You just said that they don't have anything and they're really reaching the same video because the other one won't be back for like two minutes Well, let me ask this why were you talking to Jonathan about the investigation?

He in the very beginning. I mean he wanted to know everything He wanted to know everything that was going on and I I told him I trusted him. I felt the time like in a way that he was protecting us, protecting me. I believed him. You believed in him or did you believe him? I believed in him and I did believe him him and I did believe him because I didn't want to believe that Jonathan had anything to do with Robert's murder. Was that because you loved him? Yes. On November 18th, Detective Meyer had called Sabrina once again, this time seeking her help

in identifying a suspect. Detective Meyer described the suspect as Sabrina as someone with the letters J-O-N in his name. He was white, male, skinny, owned a motorcycle, and had a beef with her husband. Whose names did you then subsequently give? beef with her husband. After that conversation with Detective Meyer, Sabrina called Jonathan Herne, whose name she conveniently hadn't thought to mention as someone who fit the suspects description. So after you were done giving the description you called a white male skinny who knew Rob with J.O. N in his name who owned a motorcycle who had a beef with Rob. That's who you called. I did not feel that Jonathan Herurn was who had killed Robert.

Which one of those descriptions that I've listed does not perfectly match Jonathan Hurn? That could be... I don't know what... I didn't know what was happening at that point. I didn't know what was happening at that point. I didn't know what to think. Sabrina Lee Moan remained on the stand for three days, during which time she ineffectually denied over and over, having any involvement in the death of Robert.

Sabrina, up until the time you were arrested this year, and you found out that Jonathan accused you of planning with him to kill Robert. Had you ever discussed any time from the time you began being involved with Jonathan until the day Robert was killed and after Robert was killed, discussed with him killing your husband. No, I did not. After three weeks of testimony, the defense rested its case on Monday, October 2nd. Two days later, the jury reached a verdict,

finding Sabrina not guilty of the two charges related to the alleged poisoning attempt, but guilty of all four other charges, including first 12, yes. A month and a half later, Jonathan Herne addressed the family and friends of Robert Lee Mone at his set in sing hearing. Demonstrating just how much easier it is to take responsibility for your actions after you've already been caught. I have sinned. I am guilty of choices that have torn off open in many cards, wriggling destructively through so many precious lives.

I have fallen terribly short with the standards of Jesus who commands to serve each other to be humble and to love one another. I have evoked God's name and yet behaved exactly opposite of his dictates. I have sinned. I am aware that for my crimes anything short of death is really merciful. Yet for my sin, I truly do deserve much worse. I have wept and struggled searching for adequate words. To express my repentance, it seems like saying, I'm sorry to you all, will never be enough.

And so speaking on, on Warrogan, an undeserved breath, I offer him life, broken hearted in jingling, apology, knowing that it cannot come to the great that I've caused all of you." On November 16, 2017, Jonathan Herne was sentenced to just 25 years and 4 months in prison. He will be eligible for parole before he turns 45. Morality is not something found in a book. It's not something found in a belief or an ideology or a political party. You're not going to find morality on NPR or Fox News. You're not going to find it here either. You either know what it is

or you don't. If you think, no. If you know, you're on the right side of morality. I challenge you. Stop. Take a breath. And look around. Take a deep inventory of your surroundings. Take a good look at what harm you may actually be doing. And then ask yourself, are you still on the right? Are you still on the side of right? And why is everyone else wrong? Wrong. That does it for this episode of Sword and Scale. We hope you've enjoyed it. Very special thanks to the Seattle-based hip hop group Sadistic who let us use this track that you're listening to right now.

You can find out more about them at SadisticMusic.com. That's S-A-D-I-s-t-i-k music.com. Until next time, throw away that banana pudding and stay safe. Okay, that doesn't mean that all banana pudding is bad. I mean, you know, unless the banana pudding is bad, which is then not a good thing. So just throw that shit out, but otherwise it's not going to kill you. Maybe. I don't know.

Or it could. Who knows.