Sword and Scale - Episode 119

Episode Date: August 5, 2018

We all love to talk about all of the things we’re going to do to better ourselves… all of the changes we want to make. Maybe we’d like to focus more on our families, start a business, or go back to school. Whatever the case, these aspirations often remain nothing more than that… aspirations. We put them on hold for so long that we forgot about them.  This is the story of 26-year-old Laura Ackerson, a young woman who was taking those steps.  She was determined to build a brighter future for herself and for her children. But just as it was starting to take shape, that future was cut short.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 Now as far as it's never in her body Practically it was impossible for me to remove her from my dark floor apartment by myself Intact so when the idea came up it was the only way to get her out of our house. Hello and welcome back to Season 5 Episode 119 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Well, if you're stalking our social media, you know that I've just been a couple of weeks traveling all over the country.

I went to Newport Beach. There was a meet up there then to LA for another meet up and then across the country to Philadelphia for yet another meetup and then across the country to Philadelphia. For yet another meetup and it was so much fun meeting all of you and seeing all of you in person being able to talk about this crazy topic that we all love of True Crime. I also by the way was on Bobby Lee and Kalilah's podcast called Tiger Belly. It's a comedy podcast, it's a little different than what you're probably used to, but they had a whole bunch of Questions and things to talk about as true crime fans themselves. It was probably one of the funnest interviews I've ever done and definitely a bit revealing, but you should go check it out if you want to find out a little bit more about the

Creator of this show you listen to go over to Tiger Belly search for it on any podcast player including iTunes Stitcher tune in and go give it a listen. You can also actually see the video version on YouTube if you search for Tiger Belly episode 152. As always, you can get more content including Sword and Scale Plus, a full-length premium version of this show at patreon.com, slash sword and scale, and thank you so much to all of our fans that have now made us the number two most popular Patreon creator on the entire platform. Okay that's enough of that.

Let's get on with the show. Episode 119 coming your way right now. Sunday, July 24, 2011. It was a characteristically hot mid-summer afternoon in Fort Ben County, Texas, with temperatures pushing 100 degrees. Fort Ben crime scene investigator Kim Orisvitch was called out to a possible crime scene in the town of Richmond, about an hour southwest of Houston. I was initially called around 2.15, that afternoon. I believe I got to the scene about 315.

And just to be clear, was that Sunday, July 24th? Yes it was. We got out to that scene. What did you see? When I first got there, I was, well I was advised to bring a trailer out. I didn't know anything about the scene. I was just told to bring a trailer to the location. When I got there, I noticed that there were several departments there. So I made contact with the detectives from our department and just got a brief on what was going on. And what did you, I guess, actually learned how to information from detectives, what was the first thing that you did? Once I jumped the trailer, then I was advised that I'm going to be going in the boat with the fire department and possibly looking for a body within the creek. Oyster Creek is a narrow, weedy river that snakes around the northern edge of Richmond before eventually making its way out to the intercoastal waterway. The creek is, well that day, July, it was very hot.

The humidity was probably around 95%. But the creek is maybe 50 feet wide. I don't know the depth of it, but it's got tree lines on both sides and a lot of water lilies are within the creek itself, a lot of vegetation. Investigator Reskivich, along with a few other officers, took a boat out onto the creek. One of the investigators who was armed with a rifle was tasked with keeping a lookout for alligators, while the others searched the muddy water for human remains. After a few minutes, they spotted something tangled in the weeds, floating near the surface. We got to a certain point where the water lollies were across the creek when we could not

pass. But since they were across it, we wanted to go up and search that area because anything that was in the water would have popped and stuck there as well. So we went up to the edge line of those water lilies and when we got closer, we saw two white reddish-looking objects floating on top of the water that were put into the water lilies. They neared the white reddish objects, eventually getting close enough to confirm that they were human body parts. We get close enough so I can dip it down into the water and they're really scoop up each

piece and separate white sheet and then pick it up and transport it onto the boat. And when you picked up these items that are picked and depicted in states in the 136, were you able to identify what parts of the body they were. Yes, it was one torso but couldn't have. They brought the two sections of torso back to shore for further examination. It appeared to be an upper portion of the torso. And again, this is just my viewing of it. The upper portion of the torso appeared to have been cut near the neck,

and at both of the shoulders, it also was then cut under the ribs. Then there was a lower portion of the torso that had been cut in my opinion cut near the hip joints. The upper portion of the torso appeared to be largely hollow. About 30 yards south of the torso, investigators recovered another body part. It was in a moderate state of decomposition, and marine life had eaten away at some of the tissue. But it was still identifiable as part of a human leg

just below the knee. Subsequent examination would reveal that it was the lower portion of a right leg. What was the body water that she decided to do? Oyster Creek The following day, the Houston Police Department dive team was called out to the scene to search for more body parts. Brian Davis, a part-time member of the dive team, was one of the seven divers to respond to the scene at Oyster Creek. We were told that we were looking for a woman's body, more specifically, a foot, hands,

smaller objects. And at that point, we were aware that certain, certain remains have been recovered the day before. Yes, ma'am. You indicated you were specifically requested to look for some smaller hands and feet. Why was that? To assist with identification.

And to your knowledge at that point, the one that's had been recovered? No, ma'am. And were there any distinguishing marks that you were given with regard to our feet? Any reason that you were looking for a comfortable feet. Yes, man, we were told that she had a tattoo on her foot, and that would help with identification. This stretch of the creek was only about six or seven feet deep, but its water was thick

with mud, making a dive search under the surface difficult. With regard to the clarity of the water there in Oyster Creek, can you describe that for the jury? under the surface, difficult. When first placed into a body of water, human corpses tend to sink. Then as they decompose, gases build up and cause them to slowly rise to the surface. The same thing happens when you go swimming. If you exhale before diving underwater, you'll find it easier to sink to the bottom. As you inhale before diving, you'll immediately start floating back to the top. Of course, the rules are slightly different when a body has been dismembered. Smaller, denser body parts tend to remain at the bottom for longer periods of time.

Because the divers were searching for a foot, they began their search at the bottom of the creek. Unable to see anything, they moved slowly back and forth, hoping to make contact with a piece of human bone or flesh. That above is you any figure earlier, not a visual search, but actually a search by field? Yes, man. We've basically dropped down on the bottom and for lack of a better term, do snow angels in the mud and we search anything that's on the bottom. Take it up, look at it. If it matches what we're looking for, then we'll recover it.

During that first search where you were basically down the bottom, did you or any of the other diaries recover anything? No, ma'am. After scouring about 100 feet of the creek bed without success, they decided to try a different approach. We moved to the area where the torso was found. We began to notice a sheen across the water and the smell of a decomposing body. At which time we decided that we weren't going to search on the bottom any longer. We were going to start to search the top. And why did you make that decision?

That is to, you know, go from underneath the water, but to start searching on the top. We actually took parts of the sheen that we found and when contained it and had a cadaver dog come out, a cadaver dog hit on it. And we believe that she she was consistent with the fluids that would come from a decomposing body. And we wanted to focus our search in that area. As a diver, you said that that focusing on the sheen, what makes that sheen on the water?

As the body comes apart and decomposes. The area where the divers noticed the sheen was difficult to navigate, as it was almost completely covered with thick vegetation and water lilies. As you went through the lilies, did you make a discovery? Yes. Describe that. I found what initially I believe was a leg and I called Mark over my partner over so we could start measurements and it photographs. When you say initially you thought it was a leg, what about what you had discovered led you to believe it was a leg?

I could see a bone in the center of it and it was cleanly cut. There was no hair on it and then on the other side it was decomposing. So I believed it to be the thigh initially. Upon closer examination, the body part that Brian had discovered was not a thigh. We discovered that it was in fact the head and not the leg. And how was it that you were able to tell that once he got over that it was the head? We were able to roll it over and you could see that it was a face there. The initial part that you saw was actually the back of the head or the... Yes, ma'am.

It was no neck attached to it. It was to high up. And what I was seeing was, would be the back of this. The head was in an advanced stage of decomposition to the point where it was hardly recognizable. I noted whenever the skull was brought out, it was immediately apparent to me that the condition of the skull was brought out, it was immediately apparent to me that the condition of the skull was much different than the other recovered remains.

The skin from the face appeared to have slid down and it collected near the jaw. There were large portions of facial bones which were exposed. Near the area where the head was found, the divers would make one last discovery. Yes, ma'am. And did you recover another eye? Yes, ma'am. And what did you recover? And that was the leg this time. In total, five body parts, a torso cut in half across the ribcage, a lower leg, a left thigh, and a decapitated head, were all pulled out of the hot muddy water of oyster creek. Dive team's plan to continue searching the creek for additional remains.

The sheriff says that this is the most gruesome scene that he has ever seen in his more than 30 years of law enforcement. Fort Ben County deputy chief Craig Brady went on to state, I can't imagine someone being that cold. so uncaring after the murder. They took the steps of dismembering the lady in the manner that they did, and just tossing her in the creek. Exactly how and why the body parts ended up in Oyster Creek are questions that would

take years to sort out. Subsequent autopsies would reveal evidence of a possible stab wound to the neck, as well as signs of expixiation, but the level of decomposition would prevent medical examiners from reaching any definitive conclusions. The tissue was very decomposed, soft, discolored gray, some of the torso tissue from the chest and abdomen almost had, you know, a yellowish orange discoloration. And then in the case of the skull, that had been cleaned of all tissue or the majority of the tissue. The official cause of death was listed as homicide by undetermined means. In March of 2011, 26-year-old Laura Ackerson was working at a health food store in Kingston, North Carolina,

where she crossed paths with a woman named Shavon Mathis. Laura and Shavon hit it off, exchanged contact information, and started talking on a regular basis. We actually were just kind of getting to know each other, our likes, and you know, hobbies and things like that. And I told her about a business that I was working on. And she just happened to be working on something similar, but it was like the other head that I didn't know how to do graphics.

And she did. So she was doing graphics, and I was doing this menu advertising. And we kind of just thought it was a good idea to combine it, put it together, and we kind of just thought it was a good idea to combine it, put it together, and we kind of ran with it. Together, Laura and Shavon started a business called Fork and Spoon, which connected advertisers to local restaurants. Over the course of the next few months, as they worked to expand their business, they

spent more and more time together. I saw her every day, and we spent a lot of time together. So that wasn't a day that I could say we didn't speak at all. You know, we talked every day or saw each other or both. On July 13th, 2011, Chavon was making some business calls from home while Lara was out meeting with prospective clients in Wilson, North Carolina, about 40 miles northwest of Kingston. She was out on the appointments.

She would call me after she left each one of her appointments and she was very excited because she kept landing the account. So every time she finished one of the appointments, she would call me and tell me, you know, hey, I got it. I got another one and I was just encouraging her throughout the day. Laura was having a pretty successful day landing client after client. Her last meeting for the day was around 3pm with Randy Jenkins, the owner of a restaurant

called Bill's Grill in Black Creek, North Carolina, about five miles outside of Wilson. According to Randy, the meeting went well. And he signed a contract to have Forkins Spoon design some new menus for Bill's Grill. Just a very pleasant young lady, very professional, very poised, very excited. I think this was a new business venture for her and a friend. And she was just very excited about it and it was

just a very pleasant time. How long was you sitting there with her? Right around an hour. You mentioned she got there around three so it was a week around four o'clock. Right around four o'clock is best I can recall. Laura left Bill's grill to visit her two sons, one year old gentle and three year old Grant in Raleigh where the boys lived with their father Grant Hayes. Usually, Laura only had custody of the children on weekends, but Grant had emailed her the

day before to suggest a midweek visit. She was excited to have an opportunity to spend some extra time with her boys. According to Grant, Laura was supposed to meet him at his apartment and take the kids to Monkey Joe's. A children's play place full of inflatable bouncy castles. We had Saturday for Monkey Joe's, which was our second midweek visit. Laura was supposed to meet me there. And like she did the first time, she ran very late. At 4-12, Laura texted Grant. I'm leaving the Wilson area now. I'll call you when I get past traffic. Where will you

be in an hour or so? At 419 PM, Laura called a friend of hers who lived in Raleigh. They'd planned to meet up sometime before 7, but because Laura was running late, she wanted to reschedule. According to Grant, Lara finally made it to his house at around 6.40pm to pick up the boys. Did Grant tell you what time more of a return with the boys? Yeah, he said that she came back between 9 and 9.30pm. What else did he tell you about that? He said that when she got back, he said that they didn't go to monkey jos that they

must want somewhere else because the boys were sweaty and hadn't eaten What a grant tell you happened at that point on the evening of July 13th Then anyway, he said that that is wife You know had to take the kids to eat Where he says white took the kids to eat chickfully Did you ask him what time Laura left his residence? Yes, and what did he tell you? He said oh she left about 10 p.m earlier that day. Laura had told Shivan that she would give her a call after the visit with her kids. I didn't really know what time that would be, but I was assuming around 9 or 9.30, but I never spoke to her.

The next day, July 14, Shavon tried to get in contact with Laura. I called her many, many times, a lot of times, and then I hadn't heard anything from her. It was just going to her voice mail, which was really odd because she always left her phone one and saw what passed her apartment. And you could see like clear through the garage and her car wasn't there. Shavond didn't hear from her for the rest of the day. And Lara didn't show up to any of her scheduled appointments.

On Friday, July 15th at 12.11pm, Shavon sent her the following email with the subject line, you okay? Hey, I've been trying to call you since yesterday. Let me know if you're okay. Did you lose your phone? A sister is getting worried. And did you receive any response from the sacrosanctity to anything? No. That same day, Laura was supposed to meet Grant at a gas station in Wilson to pick up her kids for the weekend. Surveillance video from the gas station shows Grant waiting with the two boys, but Laura

never shows up. By Sunday, Shavon still hadn't heard anything from Laura. And on Sunday, the 17th, what steps did you take then? I sent another email. At 117 pm, Shavon sent the following email with the subject line, worried. El, I've been trying to call you since Tuesday. Send you an email and went past your house. If I don't hear from you by tomorrow, I'm calling the cops

so please get in contact with me because I'm really worried about you. If you lost your phone, just come to my house so that I know you're good. Scaring me. See. By the time this email was sent, it had been nearly five days since Shavan last heard from Laura. Once again, there was no response. So on Monday, July 18th, Sha'Vaughn went to the police to file a missing persons report. Immediately, the Royal Police Department jumps into action. You'll hear that they circulate a bolo, a be on the lookout about Laura and about her

car, this 2006 white Ford Focus. The Brock has that information in the public and everyone at this point is asking where is Laura? You'll hear that that Wednesday night, I'm sorry that Tuesday night, going into Wednesday morning. Right around midnight, the Relic Police Department locates Laura's car. Police discovered Laura's 2006 Ford Focus in the parking lot of an apartment building in Raleigh where Laura used to live. There was no sign of Laura herself, but the building was located about 400 yards away from the apartment where Grant Hayes was living with his current wife, Amanda. On Wednesday, investigators executed a search warrant for Grant and Amanda's apartment. There's a large bleach stain there near the front door.

There's a four-year area, a linoleum flooring near the front door as you come in. And just off of that on the carpet flooring, there was a large bleach stain. And then also there were a couple bleach stains small near the hall bathroom. Following the trail of bleach stains,

Detective Jerry Falk went into the bathroom. Following the trail of bleach stains, Detective Jerry Falk went into the bathroom. It was obviously cleaner, a lot cleaner than the rest of the apartment and noticeably cleaner than the other bathroom. There were two bathrooms in the apartment and this one in the hallway was to eat off the floor clean if you will. I mean it's very clean. April 30th, 2007. Four years before she would be reported missing, Lara Accerson met up with her best friend Heidi Schumacher to celebrate Lara's 23rd birthday.

But as Heidi quickly found out, that wasn't the only cause for celebration. We met at Sinelli's of celebration in six forks and she said she had a surprise for me. So I hadn't seen her in a while because I had been out of town training for a different job and this is the first time I've seen her in like six or eight weeks. So we met there because it was her birthday, her birthday present, and she said, hey surprise, I got married. I was like, oh okay, congratulations. So I, you know, we hugged in the parking lot and I gave her a gift and then she introduced me to Grant Hayes. Earlier that day, Laura and Grant had exchanged vows at the Raleigh Justice of the Peace, agreeing to spend the rest of their lives together.

Although the news came as a surprise to Heidi, he was happy to see her best friend so joyful and in love, but Laura and Grant's honeymoon phase wouldn't last for very long. Grant was a struggling musician. Performing under the stage name Grant Hayes spelled H-A-Z-E as opposed to his family name which was spelled H-A-Y-E-S. On March 2nd 2008, Laura gave birth to her first child Grant Hayes the fourth, but Grant the third seemed less interested in being a father than being a musician. Within months of the birth of his son, Grant moved down to the Virgin Islands to pursue his music career.

Did there come a time where it came where Grant had left and gone to the Virgin Islands? Yes. And what did you know about that? As far as why he went to the Virgin Islands. Yes. And what did you know about that? As far as why he went to the Virgin Islands. Oh, he had a show, his book, to there. And during that time was Grant still an infant, Grant the fourth? Yes.

Did Laura move with him to the Virgin Islands? Not at first. What happened at first? At first, Laura wanted to leave him. Laura was preparing to move back to her home state of Michigan. When she found out she was pregnant with her second child. Already 12 weeks along, Laura's second pregnancy would put a wrench in her plans to leave Grant.

She decided that she wanted to tell Grant about it and maybe give it another shot because they were having another child. And it was shortly after that that she left the Virgin Islands. Yes. Do you know how long she was in the Virgin Islands? I feel like it was about eight months somewhere around there. Laura gave birth to her second son, gentle, on August 3rd, 2009, in the island of St. Thomas. After the birth of Gentle, Laura tried to make her relationship with Grant work, but Grant was still more focused on a stalled out music career than his family. Later that year, Grant and Laura moved back to North Carolina with their two sons.

Shortly after, Grant moved to New York with the goal of landing a record deal. Grant was in New York and she suddenly got a message from him with a picture of Grant marrying Amanda in Las Vegas after he took Little Grant up to New York with him. And what I looked at her marriage certificate and found no signature on it of grants. So she realized she was no longer his wife or never had been his wife. It was a shock to her. In April of 2010, Grant married a woman named Amanda Perry, whom he had met while living with Laura in the Virgin Islands. I think that I don't think I realized at the time, but I think that she was very shocked

that Grant and I had gotten married. She had told me congratulations and stuff that day, but I think it really came as a shock to her. All of a sudden, Laura was being told that the past three years of her life had been a lie, that she had never been married, and that the father of her children was now married to another woman.

And you are recently married? Right, right. I married my soulmate, my best friend, and she is something that I wanted my whole life, and she's beautiful. This is Grant Hayes. In a promotional interview he uploaded to YouTube on August 30, 2010. As far as we can tell, this interview was never published by any actual media outlet aside from Grant's own website. Your music. What inspires you? Dreams.

Dreams inspire you. Dreams inspire me, yes. That's where you get your music. I get my music from dreams. The dreams that you have at night. The dreams that I have at night. Wow. And I would say the music comes through me and not to me.

In the interview, Grant's ego is on full display. Now I see myself. I have an incredible library. And I have a lot of eyes that I've been able to see myself through that have helped define me to me my best. And you'd say you're a genre, there's not a... I'm a acoustic soul. I was described that way in a industry publication about 10 years ago. And... You'd say it's still current. Yeah, you know, I'm not a folk singer, I'm not a rock,

I'm not an alternative, I'm not an armbass singer. I play the acoustic guitar and I talk about things that are near and dear to me and that's that." It doesn't appear as though Grant ever had much of a following, aside from his current 45 YouTube subscribers and 23 Twitter followers. Pretty pathetic. Nonetheless, he speaks about himself as though he's some sort of musical legend, even slipping into the third person at times. Be perfect, Grant. Grant knows what perfect Grant is. And Grant can always be perfect. Wow.

And that's that. Do your best. You know, I had my experience with drugs and alcohol of, you know, music. And during that time, I was not my best. You know, the music I was putting out was unsafe. You know, it's just, it's not classic. You know, it was, it was a waste. It was a waste. And me being perfect now, there's no problems. No problems at all.

Mike Boudet knows what perfect Mike Boudet is. No problems at all. Even when asked to talk about his kids, Grant finds a way to steer the conversation back towards his own accomplishments. Gentle is, I have these two boys and you know when I started making music it was about something totally different. When I was 18 it was about crowds, fame, fortune, acceptance. Now to me making music is more about a legacy.

And when I named my sons I I named my oldest grand haze for HAZ, which was my stage name at the time. It wasn't my real legal name. My legal name was HAYS. Our sense changed my name to HAZ. And gentle, there's a dichotomy of their father. You know, like you have that raw entertainer that did what he did, you know, who's now a father. And then you have gentle because now in my maturity, I'm understanding what real masculinity is. And it's gentle. And I'm leaving a legacy from my boys. Everything I do now, you know, they're going to,

my oldest son, Julimic Knight, International House House diva was in the room when he was born she was one of the first people that held him and you know these are things gifts spiritual gifts that that are his that when he's old enough to appreciate he'll say oh man you know my dad's a cool dude you know and and they're going to you know they get to travel around the world, they get to see things, meet people, and they have access to a life that I feel honored to give to them, and they're gonna have options. Later in the interview, Grant is asked what advice he has to offer the world. No words of advice would be let your emotions be your God.

Live by feeling because anything that feels good is not a task, anything that feels good feels good for a reason. And as long as you're feeling good, you're gonna be on a vibrational path to attract and make other people feel good. Wow. And you're always gonna be in the money, not meeting physical money, but in the money being, you're always going to be good.

They're always going to be people that that fill you. That you know what? And it's not really even about what you're saying or how good it sounds about your vibe that you put off. You're energy. Right, right. You know, when you listen to Janice Joplin, or look at Janice Joplin, she was having a good time. People love a smile.

A smile will never get old. And we all like to be spectators of someone's manifestation and actualization, and that atomic bomb that is a person enjoying themselves and appreciating themselves and loving it. And I'm always a fan. I don't care what it is who you sound like if you are just orgasmically happy and satisfied with the work of your hands, you're gonna have an audience. And so, and the internet and technology has brought it all to us. You don't necessarily have to satisfy a bunch of old guys right and checks anymore. Or networks.

Or huge groups of people. This planet is packed. And get out there, take their initiative, and stay happy. Stay happy. Because happiness is not something you have to search for. It's you are happy. So stay that way. Before the interview comes to a close, Grant has one last opportunity to talk about how much his family means to him. What is something that you're, if you could say there was one or two things that you were most proud of in your life? What would be those things?

My family. Yeah, because you know, my family makes me, my family defines me. My family says to me, you know, I look at them, they're awesome. I have to stepdaughter, wife, two little boys, and they all really date me. And so I think they're awesome. So if all these awesome people think I'm cool and follow me and trust me, respect me, I must be the man. In the spring of 2010, Grant and Amanda Hayes moved from New York City to Raleigh, North Carolina, about an hour and a half away from Kingston, where Laura Ackerson, the mother of Grant's two children, was living at the time.

At first, Grant and Laura attempted to split custody of the kids without getting the courts involved. Well, when we first came to North Carolina, there was no order. The courts were just barely involved in the situation. And so Grant had little Grant and Laura had gentle. There were no visitations. This arrangement didn't last very long, and it quickly gave way to an ugly custody battle between the two parents. Based on some information that Grant's sister, Grantino, was telling him he was able to get an exparte order, and he received custody ofel in the middle of June.

According to Laura's custody attorney, John Sargent, grant obtained this expartee order by going to a judge without Laura's knowledge and leveling a number of questionable accusations at her. What were the conclusions of the expartee or what was the effect? Well, they don't really make any conclusions. They're more allegations. But Mr. Hays' attorney had alleged in the paperwork that Laura was basically mentally unstable.

And because of that, she was a danger to the children. He also alleged that she didn't have any present place to live, that she didn't have any present employment. And he alleged a lot of material about her, what they alleged was her going on the internet and soliciting men or something along those lines is what they alleged. Based on these allegations, Grant was given sole custody of both children for 10 days. Laura and Grant went to court on June 25th and reached an agreement. That was an agreement that she would have kids on the weekends and he would have the kids

during the week. What was your interaction with Laura? What did you know about? Was she agreed to that? She hadn't seen her children in months and she wanted to see them so any time it was better than done. According to Laura's best friend Heidi, Laura was determined to continue fighting for full custody of her kids.

I told Laura that if she wanted to fight for her kids, I would be there to support her and do it. And if she chose to fight, she would fight for the rest of her life for them and she made that decision. I asked her if she wanted to be a lioness or a lamb and she said I'm going to be a lioness and I'm going to fight every step of the way. And that's what she did. Laura was committed to getting her kids back.

And over the course of the next year, she put herself in a position to do just that. By the summer of 2011, Laura had been taking online courses at a local community college and she started her own small business. She was hopeful that she would finally be granted full custody at her next hearing, which was scheduled for August 15th, less than one month after she was reported missing. Those who knew her well said she would never do anything to jeopardize this opportunity. Laura loved her children more than anything, and it showed in every action that she took. But before she disappeared, Laura had called Heidi, fearful that something might happen to her.

She called me and she was very worried. And she said, Heidi, if anything happens to me, if I commit suicide or if I go missing or if I get into a car accident, I know the grant did it. On the morning of Sunday, July 24th, detectives from the Raleigh Police Department showed up at the home of Karen Berry in Richmond, Texas, over a thousand miles away the Raleigh Police Department showed up at the home of Karen Berry in Richmond, Texas over a thousand miles away from Raleigh.

They knocked on the door and I answered the door and they identified themselves and said who were they were from and they said they needed to ask me some questions and I told them to come in that I would tell them whatever I could. And did you answer their question? Yes, sir. And was that recorded? I don't know. During that discussion, do you remember if they asked you if it was Laura here? I think they did.

I think they did. I vaguely remember, but I think they did. Do you remember responding to that question? I told him I was afraid she was. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me.

I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me.

I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. I don't know if you can tell me. Lawrence House was located just across the road from Oyster Creek, where over the course of the next 48 hours, investigators would find five separate body parts.

Those body parts would be identified belonging to 27-year-old Laura Ackerson. Karen would tell investigators that during the previous week, her sister had called to say she wanted to come down to Texas for a visit. Amanda told Karen she would be bringing a piece of furniture to give her. On Monday, July 18th, Amanda, Grant and their kids showed up at Karen's home, towing a U-Haul trailer behind their SUV. What do you recall when they arrived? What do you recall? You all did on that Monday. On Monday? When we first got there, of course, we had breakfast and just kind

of played with the children and then I had to go to the grocery store and I'd ran to the grocery store and come back and then I started cooking lunch and we had lunch and basically played with the kids. What started off as a normal family visit quickly took a dark turn. She came in and she told me that she had hurt Laura and that she had hurt her bad and she needed to talk to me. Karen stepped outside to talk with Amanda and Grant came over to join them. What if anything good Amanda tell you? She and I don't have the sequence of this in order at all.

I know that they asked me if there was any property that had a big hole in it and they wanted to know at some point if the well had a big hole in it and I told them no, that's not that type of well. It doesn't have a big hole. Sometimes during that time, I had told them that if this was bad, that it was my belief that if something was really, really bad, that it would be best to tell the truth and that I knew an attorney that we could go talk to if they needed to go talk to an attorney. Grant and Amanda proceeded to ask a few questions

about Karen's septic tank and the creek across the street. Karen was slowly starting to wrap her head around what was going on. Did you at some point put two and two together that maybe Laura was with them? I can't say I put two and two together. I had suspicions that something was wrong. And possibly I'm not sure how to answer that because I really just don't know what my feelings were. I really don't know what they were. Okay. At a but at some point did you come to the conclusion at least in your head that

Laura was dead? I think so. I think so. I did. That night, Grant sat down for a beer with Karen's son, Shelton Berry. He spoke with Shelton about the creek across the street. When Shelton told him that there were alligators in the creek, he asked if the alligators would eat people. How did you respond to that? Yeah, there are alligators. On Tuesday evening, Grant and Amanda took Karen's boat out on the creek for a couple of hours.

The next day, they got ready to head back to North Carolina. Just before they left, Karen pulled Amanda aside to ask her a question. And what did you ask Amanda a few? I had her sit down beside me, just like I did when she was a kid and I looked her in the eye and I told her I said I'm going to ask you one time one time only and I will never say anything to you again but I want the truth out of you now and I looked her straight in the eye and I asked her if she was covering for Grant. Did she answer you? Yes, sir.

She did. Did she say something verbally or did she? No, sir. She didn't say anything verbally. Amanda looked Karen in the eyes and nodded her head up and down. Grant and Amanda drove away, leaving behind several coolers they'd brought along and said they no longer needed them. On Monday, July 25, Grant and Amanda were both arrested in connection with the murder

of Laura Ackerson. Following the arrests, investigators made a number of significant discoveries. Security footage from a Walmart near Grant and Amanda's apartment showed Grant checking out with a reciprocating saw, extra blades, goggles, gloves, and trash bags at 2.31am on July 14th. The morning after Laura went missing. Later that day, at 5.31pm, security footage from a nearby target showed Amanda purchasing two sets of gloves, a lint roller, and multiple containers of bleach. Ultimately, investigators determined that Laura's body had likely been dismembered

inside Grant and Amanda's apartment prior to being packed in coolers and hauled to Texas in the U-Haul trailer. The events surrounding the murder itself, however, were still unclear. Over the course of the next few days, Grant and Amanda would tell two very different stories. According to Grant, Amanda killed Laura in self-defense, minutes after Laura signed an agreement to give Grant full custody of their kids. happened between Laura and Amanda and when you came back, Laura was on the floor. Yeah, Laura jumped Amanda as she was walking away from the table with the contract. Now, I was not in the room, but Amanda tells me that she had made a friend take a towel away from her and the next thing she knew, Laura had her body hair and was dragging

her back to her and reaching over her shoulder. Amanda said that she backed into her and ever reflexed. She elbowed her with her elbow as hard as she could. And she called her in the neck. Laura let her go. And Amanda said that she ran into the nursery and slammed the door. And this is almost on her heels. I come running in the room because I heard Laura fall.

When I come into the living room, my oldest son, Grant, who was on the couch during all this conversation, is standing up now looking over the couch that his mother on the floor. Amanda locked herself in the nursery and she screamed and called to the police. I want to arrest her. Why did you leave her alone with me? Why did you lose a room and you know I'm smackin' more on the face trying to get her up off the floor. And I think that there's this misconception that there was blood everywhere in our home. There was no blood in our own. A bleach stain is just that, it's just a bleach stain and the towels that were found to clean up the bleach as the police report shows. They were not blood on any of them. Well, Grant, what happened?

You're trying to wake her up. She's not coming, too. I mean, was she already deceased or was there more? This happened very, very quickly. I was not going to face, and within a minute, well, I went to sit her up, and that's when her, you died, I'm not trying to beat her, but I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it might be a bit degrading, but I'm

sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, when I went to sit her up. And my son, Grant, was standing not two feet in front of me, and I wasn't out of the room a minute when I came back into the room I wouldn't even say it was a minute before Lord died right there in front of me and my son. So basically I mean and obviously you know that she's probably gonna tell a different story when she goes to trial but your contention is that you left the room and that there was an altercation between Laura and Amanda and that Amanda elbowed Laura in just the right place

and that's what caused her death. I'm not saying that Amanda's defense as far as hitting her and the neck killed her. I don't know that. But Laura her. I don't know that. But Laura fell. I don't know what happened to Laura. I read Dr. Ratish's report that there was a head injury. It's possible that her spinal column could have been disarticulated causing how you're functioning to fail. I don't even know what that means. I don't know what killed Laura. I believe what my wife said because I don't think I was possible

that anything else could have happened. If Lauren's death were really an accident, why would they proceed to dismember her body? Now, as far as dismembering her body, practically it was impossible for me to remove her from my dirt floor apartment by myself in tech. So when the idea came up, it was the only way to get around of our house. Apparently going to Walmart, buying a saw, covering the bathroom and plastic sheeting, dismembering the body, scrubbing the bathroom with bleach, packing the body parts into coolers, renting

a u-haul, driving 18 hours to Texas, and tossing the body parts into Creek was a more practical option than I don't know. Calling 911. Tell me why you didn't call 911. Panic. Terror. This traumatized me. I was stunned.

It was surreal. My son initially, a little grand, was E3. And he had just seen his mother die. And more than anything, right then and there, I just wanted to rescue him and he raised that. And I did not want that to sit in, and I told him, man, I'll leave with the children. And I was gonna call police.

And that was my attention to at that time. And once they left, I just started drinking a lost my nerve and I kind of got paralyzed until I was ready to come back. And my inaction and in decision was one bad decision that committed us to several bad decisions. I don't really, I don't have a defense man. There's there's a reason, but there's no excuse. It was... Were you trying to protect your wife at the time?

I mean, were you afraid what would happen to her if you told the truth? I didn't feel that Amanda's... I mean, I'm asking you a question initially. Initially, I was more concerned about little Grant saying it's my other guy. And I didn't want him involved in a police question initially. Initially I was more concerned about little Grant seeing his mother guy. I didn't want him involved in a police investigation initially and all I saw was child protective services coming in and taking all three of our children and what there was investigation. My wife and I just had a baby. I'm a father. I'm a father, I'm a husband. And this is what the feeling that was go into my mind at the time."

Grant went to trial in the fall of 2013 and pleaded not guilty. Although he did not testify, the story you just heard is essentially the same version of events that his defense offered to the jury. They attempted to pin as much blame on Amanda as possible. But on September 16th, 2013, the jury sided with the prosecution finding Grant Guilty of first degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Grant Hayes, it's a horrible person that did a horrible thing. But he didn't act alone. Amanda Hayes and Grant Hayes decided that they were going to kill Laura and erase her. After her murder trial in 2014, Amanda took the stand to tell what she claimed to be her side of the story. Would you state your name, please? My name is Amanda Smith-Hays. Amanda, did you kill Laura Acreson? No, sir, I did not.

Did you help grant kill Laura Acreson? I absolutely did not. Were you present when grant killed Laura Acreson? No, sir, I was not. Did you know that Laura had died before you got to Texas? No, sir. Before you hear any more of her testimony, you should probably know that before she married Grant, Amanda had a moderately successful career as an actress, appearing in TV shows such as The Sopranos and playing a minor role in the 2004 remake of the film Steppford Wives, starring Nicole Kidman, Bet Midler, and Matthew

Brodrick. She wasn't exactly a movie star, but she did know how to put on an act. In February of 2014, her audience would be a jury of nine women and three men. On the stand, Amanda attempted to pin Blame squarely on Grant, claiming that he was the one who had killed Lara in their apartment. According to Amanda, the incident began when Lara asked if she could hold Amanda and Grant's newborn daughter, Lily.

Lara kept commenting how pretty Lily was, and I just turned around and walked off, and she had asked if she could hold Lily, and I just ignored her and walked off. And at that time she told me to wait a minute and she said that something to the effect that I had her kids and I wouldn't even let her see my baby. And she approached me and at that time she tripped over the rug and kind of bumped into me. I was heading to the nursery, which is, I know you guys have all seen the layout. There's a, there was a love seat right there and a rocking chair right next to each other. And there's a little wall.

And whenever she tripped over the rug, she bumped into me and approached her and grabbed her and kind of pulled her, was pulling her back and just telling her to chill out. And she started fighting him. And whenever she did that little wall, was pulling her back and just telling her to chill out. And she started fighting him. And whenever she did that little wall, but right by the love seat, she kicked it.

And whenever she did, they both went over the chair and landed on the floor. And I just went, I ran to the bedroom with Lily. I didn't even stick around to see what happened. And when I got to the bedroom, little grant was trying to come, he was coming out of the door. And asked me what that noise was and I told him that the chair fell and to come back into the bedroom and he asked where his daddy was and I told him he was picking up the chair and I got them situated back on the bed and everything and I don't know

how long it was maybe five or ten minutes and I don't even how long it was, maybe five or ten minutes, and I don't even think it was that long, maybe five minutes, maybe. Grant comes into the bedroom and he tells me that Laura's hurt and he needs to call for an ambulance that he wants me to take the boys out of the house so that they don't see anything. And so he tells me that he's gonna take Laura into the bathroom and that, to hurry up and get dressed and stuff.

Amanda testifies that she then left the apartment and drove around for a while with the kids aimlessly. When she returns to the apartment, grand assures her everything's fine. Supposedly, Amanda didn't even know that Laura was dead until they were already at her sister's house in Texas with the body and the u-haul. And he told me that he was trying to figure some stuff out. And I asked him like, what?

And he will, I mean, I'll never forget it. He was smoking a cigarette and he was like, calm and he looked at me and he said, what would you say if I told you Laura was dead? And I was like, you know, I was like, what? And basically, he told me that the night that Laura had come over to the house that she had died and that whenever I left that he just panicked and freaked out. And I got, I started freaking out and I was asking him why he didn't call the cops,

will call for help, like he told me he was going to. And he told me that he got scared that he was a black man with a dead white woman and nobody was gonna believe him that it was an accident and that he had taken her to Kingston. And then he stopped himself and he told me that he shouldn't be telling me any of that stuff. And then he had told me that the Kingston Police called. And so I assumed that they found Laura's body

since he told me that he took her to Kingston. And anyway, I was freaking out and he had the machete and he whacked me on the leg and he told me to shut the F up and that this was not the time for me to start challenging him. And that he told me that I didn't understand because I said something about the cops finding her and he said, you know, I didn't understand. And he told me that I had to help him figure out how to get rid of this body or else none of us were making it back to North

Carolina, to Raleigh. Amanda claims that she only helped grant dispose of the body because he threatened to hurt her eldest daughter, Shay. Not only was I afraid of him, but I was really fearful for Shea because I wasn't there to be able to protect her and I was scared. I was just scared that he was going to have someone get her. According to Amanda, Grant initially attempted to dissolve Laura's body using acid. Security footage on July 19, 2011 from a home depot about six miles up the road from Karen Berry's home shows grant purchasing a pair of gloves, a 32 gallon plastic trash can, and multiple bottles of myriadic acid, a chemical commonly used to clean concrete surfaces,

and adjust the pH levels of swimming pools. Etching on Laura's teeth suggests that parts of her body had in fact come into contact with the myriadic acid or a similar chemical agent. Amanda says that after the attempt to dissolve the body parts, Grant decided to borrow Karen's boat and dump them in oyster creek. Whenever we got to the boat, everything was black plastic over it. I didn't really see anything. And the boat was the front of the boat was here, the back of the boat, and I helped him push it in.

I got in and I sat down right there, and whenever he got in, he crawled over the front, and the boat was facing the wrong direction. We wanted to go to the left and the boat was facing the right, and so we just paddled the wrong direction. We wanted to go to the left and the boat was facing the right. And so we just paddled the boat backwards. And whenever the boat started filling up with water and I just kept trying to build the water out. And whenever we got down so far,

I just kept trying to keep the bone in the center and I was scared there were animals and it was dark in the moon. And I could just hear animals and there was grass everywhere and I just didn't know what was in the water. I was very scared. I didn't see anything. I just kept that way. Amanda insists that she never even saw what Grant had tossed into the water. Imagine that. Sitting there in a boat and your husband's tossing the body parts of his ex into the creek. And you don't see any of it.

You know, an arm, a leg, a torso. Seems a little fishy. No pun intended. I never saw her ever. Whenever we got to the boat, it was all covered up. Honestly, I didn't even know there was a middle seat until we saw the boat the other day. And she tried to claim to you that she didn't know what was going on. But at some point her credibility is a major issue in this case for you. Because in order to find her not guilty, you have to believe what she said from this witness stamp.

And that boat, you saw the boat, you saw how long it was, you saw it was around 12 feet long, which I've mentioned about earlier, it's about from here, it's about the end of the defendant's table right here. And those 12 feet, these are the small floors. These floors are stacked up in that boat. Her hands were bloody with lower accuracy in the body of that night. In this small space, in that boat,

there were two more of these coolers. So there's no grant, just put down plastic, and when I came into the boat I didn't see anything. And in order for that to happen Grant Hayes would have had to pick up the body parts out of the coolers and walk across the street with them and down to this land. And in that boat you again testify that she was facing backwards which makes another sense. And you heard that she went down, they went down river, you saw where the body was put. And if she's facing backwards, when Graham is, if wishing to believe his grants, putting body parts in the water over here, she would

get this end, washing them in flood of fire. And it's disgusting, and it's any humane, and it's an abhorrent crime. It's wretched. And there's not enough adjectives to describe it, but it's what she did. And then she has the goal to come in here and say that this is all a coincidence. Wake County assistant district attorney Becky Holt and Boszellinger argued that Amanda's entire story was a fabrication, that Amanda and Grant were equally involved in the murder. But what you have experienced through the course of this trial and through Amanda Hayes is a fine-acting job. Amanda Hayes has come before you and tried to sell you on a roll.

and tried to sell you on a roll. She's tried to play a role in which she didn't know what was going on and what she was controlled and manipulated by another person. And your reason and common sense says that's not what the evidence shows. From those 11 days of July 2011 to the past four weeks of this trial, Amanda Hayes has tried to duck justice. You heard that she's tried to put you on the wrong path, that she's tried to hide from justice, that she's tried to deceive it, and you know that justice screamed out when Laura was being murdered and dismembered in that apartment. You know that it waited for days and days as Loro's body was decomposing in that Texas

Creek. And you know that it covered its mouth when Amanda Hayes took this witness status for to tell you the truth and told you what she told you. But as you're done with today, justice arrives. you. Please join in today's Justice Arise. It is before you today. And it demands, on behalf of law, reason, and the humanity of what happened to Laura, that you find Amanda Hayes guilty of first degree murder. Thank you. The jury didn't see it that way.

Rather than finding a man guilty of first degree murder, they convicted her on a charge of second degree murder, with the most significant difference between the two charges being a lack of pre-meditation and deliberation. Amanda was sentenced to between 157 to 198 months in prison, which roughly equates to between 13 and 16 and a half years. Six months after her conviction, Amanda filed for divorce from Grant, something she probably should have done much sooner. And in October of 2014, the divorce from Grant was granted. According to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety,

her current projected release date is September 5, 2025. She will be 53 years old, having then lived twice as long as Laura. That does it for another episode of Sword and Skill. Thank you so much for joining us. Until next time, don't trust your ex and stay safe. S takh strošek, če ruk necu tne, ne moram bitrič, samore bit za frič, barih tam da zrih tam finance srečne ga doma, trebim se na stostranju se do zloma, borze redniši tinkreditnima pojima dosem, pa od partik par bar i ja da bo garan prihodne sam prihodek, ne sam od roški, ampa bito datek in čeres, more bit da več pribijem in na bit.

I'm gonna be a bit more with you