Sword and Scale - Episode 183

Episode Date: April 5, 2021

On Sunday June 28th, 2015, Dr. Teresa Sievers returned home early from a family vacation only to find she was not alone in the house. In the aftermath of a brutal murder, it appeared on the surface to be a robbery—but no valuables were taken, and no clues were left behind except for a bloody, hairy hammer. Uncovering the truth would take months, and involve a conspiracy that crossed multiple states.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. He actually turned around and ran back and he was laughing about it. He said he used the claw part of the hammer. This is season 8 of Sword and Scale, episode 183. A show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. I often wonder what the perfect crime would look like, because there really isn't such a thing. It's like a unicorn, like a magical

unicorn that only exists in your imagination. I wonder what kind of people actually think they can get away with murder. Let's face it, they can't be that bright. I'm a man To Risa's Seavers Sister recalls the weekend of June 26th, 2015. It began in celebration of their mother's birthday and abruptly ended. As the last weekend, the family would ever spend together. We enjoyed the weather the first day. It was beautiful and we swam in the pool and we relaxed in the sun. My sister was doing yoga. She prepared a beautiful dinner, started to cook for the weekend. And we just enjoyed each other's company and had wine and left and played a lot of scrabble because it rained the next day. So we just played a lot of Scrabble because it rained the next day, so we just played a lot of Scrabble and played piano because much to our delight

There was a piano there on my sister and I played and we had been played in years So there was a lot of that At these gatherings it was once a tradition to take a family photo together and So all the siblings significant others and grandchildren huddled around each other, smiling, not knowing this family ritual would soon, and forever be too painful to recreate. As the family reunion came to a close that Sunday evening, Teresa Sievers, her husband Mark Mark and her two daughters drove south to LaGuardia Airport, where Teresa would be dropped off for her flight back home. Teresa Sievers was, in fact, doctor Teresa Sievers, with a busy practice and patience

to see first thing Monday morning. Mark and their two daughters would stay behind, driving back up north to Connecticut, reuniting with Teresa's mother and extending their vacation for the next several days. Teresa returned home just after 11pm that Sunday night, and after parking the minivan in the garage and placing her luggage near the front bumper, Teresa walked through the laundry room and into the kitchen, where she would set her purse on the counter, undoubtedly feeling that same sense of comfort we all feel when we're finally back home after a long day of travel. But hardly a moment had passed,

when an extremely loud crashing sound rang out like a gong being hit directly behind her. That going off the kitchen walls and startling, Teresa, with the terrifying notion that someone else was in her home. She turned around. The large man was already through the laundry room and standing in the kitchen doorway, wielding a hammer, and striking her in the head with three swift strokes. Still in shock, she spun and fell against the kitchen counter, holding her arms and soft defense.

But her frantic attempts to stay alive were useless. As the footsteps of a second shadowy figure suddenly charged towards her, striking again with a hammer, only this time with decisively more force. Blow after blow after blow, Theresa was ultimately knocked to the floor where the horrible hammering overwhelmed her senses until, mercifully, it was nothing left to feel. In her final moments, Teresa uttered the question that would haunt her family and friends for years. Why?

When Teresa didn't show up for her 9. appointment on Monday morning, a concerned coworker called out to her cell, but never heard back. Not knowing what else to do, she called and texted Teresa's husband Mark. Mark hadn't heard from Teresa either, and still being out of state with his two daughters and Teresa's mother, the next course of action was to call a family friend. Hey Mark, this is Mark. I'm calling you to the city to check on you. Now I'm calling you today to see if you can check on Theresa. I know it's early night, 3 in the morning. I think it's probably a work and that's okay. Now, Theresa is not working yet.

In the office is calling and texting and we can't get through the Theresa. So I just want to maybe a few. We're not at work. We can possibly swing by the house. The garage code is 1313 enter. And the door opens up. Anyway, it's been this message great. I don't call for a never come over in general treason. Maybe she just found a sleep. It's just not like her. You know, all these are going to be a far away for work.

And I'm sure it's on. The family friend was returning from the post office when he saw Mark's voicemail. When he reached the severs home, a knock on the door went unanswered. The lights were on and he could see her purse on the counter, so he continued to pound on the door to no avail. He then used the garage code and was surprised to see one of the seavers' dogs bounding out of the house, indicating that the door from the laundry room to the garage was left open. Stepping inside the house, he called out for Teresa. But within moments, he understood why she wasn't responding. 911, what is your emergency?

I'm at a friend's house. He's out of town. And I came here to check on flight. And she's dead on the floor. OK. OK. I'm going to run. Sir, hold on to the other line. I know what we're going to connect you. We're going to ask for the floor. Okay, the address is... Okay, stay on the line. Oh, it's your phone on the camera line. Just know what we're going to connect you.

We're going to ask for the address. Okay, I'm on the temp fire. What is the address of the emergency? Tell me about it. What happened? My friend, she's a doctor. I'm a doctor. She came home last night, husband has been Connecticut and she was

post-school, at 9 o'clock, he called me and I was on my way to the works place one by and she's down the front. And there's a hammer at the side and she's dashed in the back of the head. Stand on the line, Mickey. Show the officer you on the way. Yes, yeah. Okay, so you said you're a doctor? Yes, I am. Okay, are you with her now? I'm outside of the house. I don't know if there's anybody in the house. Okay. All right. So, how long does it take? She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4.

She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4.

She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She's been here since 4. She calls. You can contact the warehouse gas stand and there's blood everywhere.

Just stay on the line. I'll take a surest office has questions, and they're going to prompt you on what to do next. Okay, so are you inside the residence fund? No, I'm not. I'm standing in the driveway. Okay, and then when you walked inside the house, you said the blood was dry, or what did you say? That helped the blood is dry. It's blood is wet. She's cold, she's that cold. Okay, and there's the hammer sitting next to her and you had left it and didn't touch anything? No, I didn't touch anything. I touched her, I shook her a little bit and she had cold.

And you didn't see anything else other than... No, I didn't, I didn't go into the house. I'm afraid somebody's going to help. Somebody's killed her. I'm in the house. I'm going to be killed. I'm going to be killed. It's the matter. She's passed in the back of the head. I can't see her falling or anything like that.

I just thought my dad was going to shoot my foot. For 10 days, all hands were on deck. Crime scene analysts took hundreds of photos. Every room in the house was dusted and swapped for DNA, and every neighbor was questioned about what they may have heard or seen on the night of Sunday June 28th. Authorities even conducted a line search 30 people wide looking up and down the streets for any items that might serve as a clue, but no tangible leads were ever obtained. Even the bloody Harry Hammer itself

only had the DNA of Dr. Teresa Sievers. Clearly, this had been a brutal murder, but why? And over what? If this was a robbery, why hadn't they taken the nearly $50,000 in cash stowed in the house? All the expensive electronics were still in place.

And even though the sievers had guns and samurai swords in the house, those were untouched as well. Detectives began interviewing family members and also got permission from Teresa's husband Mark to have his cell phone analyzed in the hopes of finding some sort of connection or clue. But all they found was shock and grief. These are excerpts from a law enforcement interview with Teresa's mother, who explains the moment her entire world was shattered. Sandra calls Mark on his cell phone. I guess it was about 9.30, Monday morning.

This is Mark. Dr. Heisenkiminja, that's not like her. You think maybe she overslept? Not likely. She might be around a few minutes late, but she was always on time to get to work. So now he's trying to get a hold of her. I'm trying to get a hold of her texting her and this and that. And we're not getting any answers. And he's already in tears.

You know, what had happened? He's already in tears thinking the worst. And I'm saying, Mark, you know, you've got to become and collected. We've got to see. It's got to be a rational reason for this, you know? She explains to the detective the same chain of events of reaching out to a family friend to check on Teresa and the devastating moment that friend called them back.

And that's what he called Mark. This is Mark. We've got to come home now, fast. And I guess he must have told her that she was dead. And then we both were up in the yard screaming, crying. And I said, you can't tell the kids now. The horrible news was left for once the family returned from what began as a wonderful vacation. He told the kids, family returned from what began as a wonderful vacation. Until the kids, Josie was just screaming her hand, a car, and she said tough cookie. I mean, she was sad and thawed and hard, but, you know, maybe because she was a little

bit younger, she didn't know how to express her feelings. She did scream like Josie did. But now Josie, she's so intuitive. She's like a mother almost, you know, spirit-wise. Mommy's bad here with her body, but I know she's here in the spirit. You can feel her energy. This is 11-year-old, oh, yeah.

Unfortunately, Teresa's mother was unable to provide any additional information for investigators. I hadn't seen any news reports all I know that she's been interviewed and talked about throughout the country people. Different parts of the country that they saw her on national TV or heard about her on National TV and that's where she was trying to do. She wanted to reach masses of people and I always thought, I know you'll do it Theresa, I just know you'll do it. She has, but not the way I wanted her to. Is there anybody used to suspect that maybe a model? Dr. Teresa Sievers was described by her mother as a firecracker.

Teresa's sister added that she was loud, loving, compassionate, and that her husband Mark worshipped the ground she walked on. She was the breadwinner of the family. A board certified internal medicine physician who had traveled the world to address the importance of healing the body, the mind and the spirit. Teresa had even begun filming a television series called Pathways to Healing, where she would be the host. I'm Dr. Teresa Sievers.

And as I promised you, I was going to be bringing you different modalities of healing. I think it's so exciting for people to find new ways of preventative health. This is one of the largest problems with our healthcare system. We don't do preventative medicine. We do reactive medicine and we wait until people are good and sick and then we start treating them. But just what if we actually stopped and looked at how to do preventative medicine? What might our health care look

like? Maybe we wouldn't be ranked 32 in health in the world. Maybe we would be one of the higher countries." On July 9th, almost two weeks after the mystery of Teresa's murder made national headlines, there was at long last a break in the case. While these brutal events had transpired in a city called Bonita Springs, Florida, two detectives made a trip over a thousand miles away to another city called Mount Vernon, Illinois. There they spoke with an acquaintance of the local police chief, who stated she had overheard information about a man named Curtis Wayne Wright, who had left for an unexplained trip to Benita Springs to fix a computer at the house of his friend, Mark Sievers.

And so, the two detectives traveled again, this time two hours west just outside St. Louis, to the home of Curtis Wayne Wright in Hillsboro, Missouri, or Missouri, as you guys like to say. Further investigating revealed that Curtis had rented a car and left without his cell phone, just a couple of days before Theresa's murder, returning home shortly after her death. When police questioned him, he denied ever making the trip, but the 2700 miles, driven on the retrieved rental car, told a different story. And it seemed he had not traveled alone.

When the cell phone records of Curtis Wayne Wright were analyzed, the name Jimmy Ray Rogers popped up around the same time frame of the murder, which was interesting, but not damning. It wasn't until nearly a month later that the results from Curtis' portable GPS device had been retrieved, that a major connection was established. This portable GPS device, popularly known as a Garmin, not only traced all of the stops Curtis's rental car made over the course of that weekend in June, but the device had also been linked to an email account. Jimmy Ray Rogers Rogers 90 at gmail.com. You heard that right. Jimmy Ray Rogers was known to his friends as Jimmy the Hammer.

This nickname was proudly listed on the man's Facebook page for Christ's sake before it was deleted. What you're hearing now is a law enforcement interview with his baby mama, now his ex-girlfriend Taylor Schumaker. Detectives had originally questioned her and Jimmy the previous month when they were looking for Curtis Wayne Wright as a person of interest. But no one was willing to make a formal statement. But immediately after the detectives left, and throughout the course of the following month, Taylor had grown increasingly more confident that her boyfriend Jimmy had something to do with the murder everyone was talking about on TV. and then broken to pieces. Where did he trench into water? Like a puddle or a sinker? A water fountain, like a fountain. So he trenches the phone and he took down the river

and water in the water fountain. And then he crushed it into about five pieces. And he crushed it. I didn't see him. Oh, okay. He just told me that he stopped out in the question. So what happened from there? Um, and then he comes, gets back on the car, hands me a phone, drives down that eye

wherever it is work. I'm not sure what it's called. I think it's live, but I'm not sure. Okay. Hands me the phone, it tells me to turn it out and he's by piece. Okay. And did you do that? Yeah.

Okay. Did he ask why or you just did it? I just did it. I was scared. Okay. It's under him. As they continued driving towards Taylor's mom's house, Jimmy handed her a rolled up towel that contained a dark blue jumpsuit and a box of industrial late-text gloves. And it struck to her to throw the items at the window.

And he had you, were you driving in the front seat? Yes, I was running back passenger. Alright, from passenger seat. And why did you pick that specific spot to throw it driving in the front seat? Yes, I was running for a passenger. Alright, from passenger seat. And why did you pick that specific spot to throw it out of the room? He told me to throw it out there because there's no houses. Okay. You didn't want to wait to find it or see if he's had something on his stuff. So, what do you mean?

I wanted to throw it in the river, but my arrest was a little late because I was tired and for me, that's being there. And my arrest was on my own late because I was tired and for me guys being there and my mind was racing, so I was like, yeah, so I went to the clinic and what he said and I threw it out. Okay, so did you throw the gloves first or did you throw the gloves first? I threw the gloves first. Okay. And then the jumpsuit. To clarify, as they passed over a bridge and on the way to Taylor's mom's house,

Jimmy instructed her to throw the jumpsuit and gloves out the window and on the way to Taylor's mom's house, Jimmy instructed her to throw the jumpsuit and gloves out the window and into the river. But Taylor was distracted, not only from how odd Jimmy was acting, but also because she had found out she was pregnant with Jimmy's child. By the time his instructions registered, they had already passed over the bridge, meaning when she threw the items out the window, they didn't land in the water, but instead just off the side of the road. Still, would anyone pay attention

to a dusty old jumpsuit crumpled on a lonely stretch of highway? A night later, while lying in bed together at Taylor's mom's house, Taylor started reconsidering Jimmy's strange behavior since returning from his impromptu trip to Florida. And then he used to ask me questions like, what I know about it. And I'm like, well, I know you went down there to kill somebody. And then he said, yeah. And then I took a guess at Mark's life.

Let me say, yeah. And you're saying, when you say Mark's wife, you're talking about Teresa Severs? The doctor, that was killed? Yes. OK. And then I said, did you shoot her? And he said said no.

And I said then how do you kill her? And then he made his people chuckle like us and then said, I don't think he's over there. Yeah. Okay. Taylor stopped asking questions after that. And when detectives had contacted her again, he was terrified and asking for

protection. In exchange, he was more than happy to take them to the exact locations where the crime scene items had been thrown out the window. Luckily, for everyone, well, maybe not for Jimmy, they were still there. The jumpsuit had been there for weeks exposed to the elements and even run over by a lawnmower. Still, the FBI Trace evidence unit was able to recover a hair from the jumpsuit, which matched the hair plucked from Jimmy the Hammer and corroborated Taylor's story. Added to this, a fiber from the blue jumpsuit matched a blue fiber that was found on Teresa

Siever's body. Bingo! Today, we're very pleased, again, eight weeks and a few days later, to announce that charges have been filed out of state against Jimmy Rogers. Jimmy Rogers will be charged in the death of Dr. Siever's. And I want to emphasize that this is very much, very much, an ongoing and active investigation. The public, as we thought early on, was never in jeopardy.

We recognized early on, as I said early on, that this was a, we believe, the targeted set of circumstances. And that remains the case. So we're very pleased. I'm very, very proud. Again, it was a great team effort. And one that I've not seen in my time here, both as Sheriff or prior as a member of the Sheriff's Office for many years. And I've talked to many, many people.

It's a really big deal. It's a big deal, as you know. We've got a lot of work to do and we're going to get back to work right now. Thank you. Jimmy the Hammer was clearly no criminal mastermind. He was 25 years old, raised by his brother, after his schizophrenic mother committed suicide, and before their father died, Jimmy was charged with a felony conviction after driving his dad's high performance trans-am 150 miles an hour

and not stopping for police. Jimmy was supposed to join the military as his older brother had, but he just kept drinking and doing drugs instead. But looking at Jimmy, you wouldn't know he was a cold-blooded killer. He looks like your average burnout. Pudgy, with a bad haircut and dorky glasses. He's a boy, really, one who was forced to grow up too quickly. And, this is the understatement of the year, made a lot of really bad decisions. But he wasn't the one who planned the murder of Dr. Teresa Sievers.

He surely participated in it, for sure. But prior to these events, you didn't even know who she was. In truth, he was just a hired gun, or a hired hammer in this case. The man who called him up, who knew Jimmy had been involved in people's deaths, and would actually go through with this very terrible crime, was the computer engineer we mentioned earlier, Curtis Wayne Wright. Curtis and Jimmy had been casual friends for a couple of years since first meeting and prison. The kind of friend you have a couple drinks with, or barbecue with, or you know, brag about hammering people with.

But Curtis Wayne Wright had another friend. The type of friend you can find your most troubling secrets to. And the type of friend you do anything for. That friend was Mark Severs. The out of town husband, we supposedly worshipped the ground his wife Dr. Theresa Severs walked on, but had been secretly planning what should have been the perfect crime. The word doppelganger is really a combination of two German words, doppel, which means double, and ganger, which means walker, creepily enough. Together the word has an almost mythical quality to it, to end strangers, a ghostly double,

or an evil alter ego. It may also be a personification of death, which in this particular case seems to really hit the nail on the head. Mark Sievers and his high school friend Curtis Wayne Wright could very easily be mistaken for one another. With the exception of their heights, they seem to share identical features. Same bald head, same goatee, same glasses. There's a wedding photo where Mark is helping Curtis with his tie, and in their matching corn flower blue shirts, you honestly have to do a double take

before you realize it's not just a man in the mirror. Seriously, Google the phrase, Mark Sievers, Curtis Wayne Wright, wedding. And you'll see the picture I'm talking about. Don't worry. I'll wait. And 3, 2, 1. I think you probably had enough time there to Google that. See what I'm talking about? Weird, right?

These two men are not related, but the planning and execution of his heinous crime was carried out by two conspirators who shared a bond that was clearly stronger than family. It's like the old saying, if you want something done right, do it yourself, or hire someone that looks exactly like you to do it for you. Before we return to the night of Dr. Teresa Sivir's murder, we have to go back to him once prior. We briefly mentioned that after Teresa was killed, her husband Mark agreed to have his cell phone analyzed. And at that time, investigators found nothing of note.

Although there was a text from Mark to Curtis Wayne Wright sent April 29, 2015 at Red Quote. Hopefully, we can talk privately tomorrow. Not about you or Angie, but it's personal. End quote. Curtis Wayne Wright was about to get married and Mark Severs would be traveling to Missouri to be his best man, or Missouri. I know you're going to email about that, so I'm just getting it out there. Anyway, well this should have been a weekend to celebrate the love between Curtis and his

fiance Angie, it was instead dedicated to conversations about the lack of love between Mark Sievers and his wife Teresa. Curtis Wayne Wright explains what happened next. The night before the wedding, he stayed with us. We had a lot of people in from out of town. I shouldn't say a lot. We had other couples from out of town. So our wedding was at noon in the park so we thought it would be better if we got everybody together the day before. We all hung out, had a cookout and then that night we had a combined bachelor bachelor at party where we all went out together to a karaoke bar. The night before he came to Missouri, he sent me a text message

telling me that he had something personal that he needed to talk to me about. He didn't say what it was, but he said that he'd hoped that we'd have some time to be able to talk privately. It was a busy day, of course. Anyone who's been married before knows that the final 24 hours leading up to a wedding can be a bit stressful, making sure everything is in place for the big celebration. But Mark was eager to get Curtis away from the crowd to talk about this important and private topic. At some point during that the day, that afternoon, he asked me if we could go somewhere and talk privately. So we went back to my bedroom, closed the door, where that could happen. He told me that

he and Teresa were having problems, marital problems, told me that she was having an affair and that they were having financial problems as well, considering bankruptcy. You know, at one point, he brought up, he said a hypothetical situation where if kids were gonna be taken away and, you know, and put it into some kind of danger, that if I knew somebody that would be willing to help them.

Help them help. We didn't get into the specifics, but my take on it at the time was maybe to have this guy run off, beat up, or something. But Mark and Curtis were interrupted before the conversation could go any further. Again, this was the day before Curtis's wedding, and understandably, people were wondering where the groom to be had run off to. The next morning, the day of the wedding, Mark brought it up again privately. While everyone was getting the tables and chairs set up at the park, Curtis and his bride had chosen for their festivities.

He brought the situation back up. This time he told me that Teresa was actually leaving him the night before. It was just that she was having an affair. So at this point, it's getting a little more involved. He said that she was actually leaving him. That she was taking the children and taking them on a state. He told me that the kids were in danger if she took them, that he couldn't let that happen.

We talked about some different options as far as the marriage goes. I mentioned that about fighting illegally for custody. He said that that wasn't an option. He didn't have that he wasn't financially in a place that he could be able to find her for that. Just a couple of different things. I think we talked about maybe counseling. I believe he said that they tried counseling and it didn't work. The conversation was interrupted again. It seemed there was suddenly a crisis at the wedding itself

that needed immediate attention. The food at the wedding was provided by a family friend who owned a grocery in Delhi. And in the final hours before the ceremony, it became apparent that an entire case of meat had been left in the walk-in freezer. It would be a roughly 40-minute trip to pick up the missing food, and Mark

offered to drive Curtis, sensing this was a perfect opportunity to be alone. He brought it up again, told me that she was leaving him, that he couldn't let her take the kids away from him. And again, said that they were in danger, some kind of danger, without him there to be able to protect them. He told me that really the only option that he had was for her to die. And he said that he needed to have her killed. I mean, what kind of help was he asking for? Was he asking you to do it yourself or what? Like, what kind of help could it be possibly asking this friend for?

Oh, it was pretty direct. He asked me to, I could, I would kill her or take care of it. I think ASAP was actually the term he used. So I didn't really see myself personally doing it, but part of what the way that it was asked was if I could make sure it got done. It was a matter of the day of your wedding, make second, 2015. Yes.

Curtis was caught off garden, didn't really know how to answer, saying the phrase, I'll see what I can do. That was all Mark needed to hear, to start planning the next steps. Two days after the wedding, Mark returned home and purchased plane tickets for himself, his wife, and their two daughters to travel to Connecticut to visit Teresa's mother for her birthday.

And two days after that, he purchased a prepaid phone and instructed Curtis to do the same thing. These burner phones are given an area code of your choosing, and they do not require you to list a name. Curtis hesitated for two weeks, debating whether or not he was going to be involved, but ultimately deciding to ask his friend Jimmy the hammer if he wanted to make a little money. And I got it right after I spoke to Jimmy. I went and talked to Jimmy in person and told him that, you know, there was a gal, you know, not specifics about who or anything,

but made sure that it was something he wanted to get involved and he was on board. So... As Curtis explains, he and Mark referred to their burner phones as their other phones. In order to protect the details of their conversation, the idea was that the burner phones would remain turned off unless they received a text with the code word other in it. Some texts are clever, like, hello brother from another mother.

And others? Not so much. Check other. Each time one received a coded text, they knew they just had to turn their burner phone on. And within minutes they received a call from the other to continue their secret plotting. Mark didn't want anybody else to know if there was someone else involved. He didn't want to know who it was and didn't want that person to know who he was.

I was in between person. So there was never any direct communication between the two of them. Even though Mark and Jimmy the Hammer likely interacted at some point during Curtis's wedding, neither had any idea of the others' involvement. It was up to Curtis, the middleman, to convey any information from one party to another, and make sure the plan ran as smoothly as possible. So what exactly was the plan? Well, initially, Mark's idea was that it would happen at the office, at the medical office, when she got off work, because she generally worked late, and usually come out by herself.

The office is off the road quite a bit, so it's kind of a secluded area back there. I thought that that would be an ideal place for a mugging to happen. She had to walk along the side of the building up to the parking lot to get to her car. He had me pull up aerial photos like from Google Maps, so that he could talk me through what he was talking about. He showed me where there's a side entrance where a stairwell comes down. That's where she exited at. So he gave me the the code, the push button code to that door so that I could either wait inside the stairwell or

The other option was right outside of that door. It was a blind spot where you had to walk past as once you left that door One of my concerns was with with the office location his suggestion was to use a gun and The office location, his suggestion was to use a gun. And my concern was that when I told him, he said that she leaves by herself most of the time. So when I told him my concern about whether or not she would, if what would happen if she wasn't by herself, he told me that there couldn't be any witnesses, and it would have to be collateral damage and to kill the person that was with her. And that wasn't an option for me. Bringing a gun across state lines

was also not a good option for Curtis. He was a convicted felon, arrested three times in recent years, including a stint behind bars for a quote, running a meth lab, end quote. Side note, Critis allegedly told a friend that his female roommate at the time ratted him out and took five years of his life. He told the friend that he found her, end quote, took her life,

end quote, and further reminisced about watching the life leave her eyes. Have I mentioned, guy was a freaking computer technician and IT consultant? I'm never making an appointment at the Apple Genius bar again. Mark's idea was that if it was going to happen at the house that you know that he thought that making it look like she came home and interrupted a purgly in progress or something like that. So I would think the weapon would be something that was at the house is how I looked at it. So we didn't bring any weapons with us. Armed with literally nothing other than a half-baked idea to stage a robbery that would turn deadly, Curtis picked Jimmy the hammer up in a rented white Hyundai Alantra. Then a half-baked idea to stage a robbery that would turn deadly.

Curtis picked Jimmy the hammer up in a rented White Hyundai Alantra on the morning of Saturday June 27th, and the two set out from Missouri to Florida, arriving at 6am on Sunday June 28th. Curtis asked Jimmy not to bring his cell phone, but they were already on the road when he realized Jimmy hadn't listened to him. Jimmy had also procured two navy blue coveralls from his place of work, and had also brought industrial latex gloves along with duct tape so they could tape the cuffs of their arms and legs to prevent any evidence from being left behind. By day, Jimmy the hammer worked at a lead disposal plant and was very well aware of how to

avoid contamination. But during this entire road trip, they still didn't talk in any more detail about what exactly they would do once Teresa Severs came home. Sure, market called the night before to make sure they had the garage code, but there were still a ton of variables, including the fact that Jimmy had never even seen the layout of the house.

When they arrived at 6 a.m. in the morning, the neighborhood was quiet. They hadn't suited up yet, but they did wear gloves. We were only there about five minutes, but yes, there was a little poking around in the house. The main reason we were there was to check out like the fence line and the doors. Mark had explained to Curtis that there was a fence they could jump over and that he had trimmed the hedges in advance so no one would get scratched and leave DNA evidence behind. But upon seeing the fence, it was clear that the area was just too exposed.

Instead, they entered through the garage. Initially, I looked around in the garage, Jimmy was kind of poking around stuff, found a hammer in it in a one of Mark's toolboxes and made a crude joke about it being treason's destiny made a hammering. Curtis trails off here, but if it's not clear, he says that upon entering the garage, Jimmy came face to face with his namesake, a hammer. It was destiny, he joked, and proceeded to make a hammering motion with a sinister grin. Curtis knew that Mark's mom would be coming by, at some point, to feed the dogs while the sievers were out of town. So they quickly finished their scouting mission and made sure the pets were

familiar with them, so they wouldn't be barking when they came back later that night. them. So they wouldn't be barking when they came back later that night. And the rest of the afternoon, the final hours leading up to this vicious murder, the guys did what anyone coming from Missouri to Florida would do. Check out the beaches, of course. Initially, we went down to the beach down to Bonita Beach. And Mark had showed me at one point that there's these small parking lots that you can park in for free they hold maybe I think it's like six cars or something they're probably private lots but but there's beach access there and you don't have to park on the main beach and it's got trees so it's shaded I think we actually went down there and took a little nap a couple hour nap while it

was still early I had actually brought I brought like a little gym bag with had a change of clothes and a towel and things in it. So I knew that we were gonna end up spending time down at the beach because, you know, in a crowd of people, you don't stand out. Jimmy hadn't brought any clothes or anything to go to the beach with. So he wanted to go to Walmart.

So about 10.30, we decided we were gonna go to Walmart. So about 1030, we decided we were going to go to Walmart. I think I did a search for it on the garment and found the nearest one. Part of what was bought at the Walmart was, you know, Jimmy needed clothes. I think he bought a t-shirt for Taylor, but some towels, trash bags, wet wipes, you know, some of which were used during the murder. And then there was a small backpack which actually I got that because I use backpacks as a tool. I mean, for our computer stuff, cables, all that stuff. And then we have kids that live at Dallas, they're always needing backpacks for something. And then I also bought a pair of water shoes. They were on sale just an impulse buy.

Just an impulse buy. Hey, it was on sale. Can you blame them? Lot of concentration put into beach attire, but still no specific plan for the horrific crime they'd be committing that night. By all accounts, it sounds like they were just going to try to wing it and hope for the best.

We should have been better prepared if we weren't. We're not very good at it. And now we reach the night of the crime. If the story hasn't already begun to remind you of the world's dumbest criminals, brace yourself. Curtis and Jimmy returned to the severs' home around 10.30 p.m. They entered through the garage door

and then stepped into the side yard to begin shooting up in the Navy blue coveralls Jimmy had stolen from work. Curtis also wore a hat, as well as the water shoes he'd gotten on sale at Walmart earlier that day. Curtis thought it would look more like a break-in if he pried the side door open.

Remember, the only quote unquote plan these guys agreed on was to make it look like Teresa had stumbled into a robbery and progress. But when police ultimately saw the door was unlocked, the fractured doorframe was just confusing. I never looked for a weapon. I know that there were things in the house, marked clicks, guns, and they're probably in a safe.

I never even looked for them. I don't think Jimmy did. So, nah, I mean, we weren't looking for weapons. I assumed that we were going to use like a knife or something that was there at the house, but it wasn't, like I said, to find the final plans hadn't formed yet. We still thought we still had a little more time to solidify that. Rather than rely on a last-minute improvised weapon, Curtis brazenly assumed his hands

would do the talking. But if you can believe it, according to court records, Curtis commonly boasted that he was a ninja and knew how to disappear. My intention was to... this may sound strange, but to put her in a chokehold, which isn't choking somebody, but it cuts the ball off. So the person passes out pretty quickly. I competed martial arts competition fighting. So I mean, I was exposed to it then. I practiced a lot with a lot of different people. So I had a lot of exposure to different kinds

of martial arts stuff. So Chuck Norris over here thought he would put Theresa in a chokehold. And then after she was unconscious, he would stab her to death, move her, or do whatever else they needed to do without her fighting or yelling. I didn't see it being such a violent situation.

So I thought that we would have had plenty of time to make it look like a burglary or whatever after the fact. He thought they would have plenty of time, but paradoxically, he also couldn't remember what time Theresa's flight was getting in. As I was thinking about things, I thought that it would be a good idea to probably be able to check to make sure the flight was on time or delayed or just to make sure, but Mark at one point, it told me the flight information,

but I didn't write it down, and I couldn't remember. All I felt like I needed to know was the time she was going to be there. So it was an afterthought that maybe it would be a good idea to check it, but I couldn't remember the information to check it. I had sent an email to Mark, a vague email, a disguised email to try to ask him what information, you know, what flight they were coming in on or what airline.

But I didn't get a response back in time. What Curtis had remembered was the time 11.25 pm. But they're in line the biggest mistake of them all. Yeah, that was an unfortunate misunderstanding. He built the 20-minute drive from the airport to the house into that time when he told me 1125. So I thought that's when she got to the airport because 1125 is kind of a specific number to pull out. It sounded more like an airline, you know, airline arrival time. But he told me that that's when she would be in. He meant that's when she would be home. I thought we still had at least 20 minutes. In fact, Teresa got home even before 1125 P.A. Jimmy the Hammer was milling about somewhere

in the house, and Curtis was so surprised. He was literally standing in the middle of the garage at Marring Mark's motorcycle. When suddenly, the overhead light popped on and the garage door started rolling open. When the light came on, I dove, because I didn't want the headlights to hit me. There was a, seems like there was a pile of boxes or something, maybe right there with the motorcycle.

The boxes were blocking him from the headlights of the family minivan, but he was still totally exposed on the other side. I stayed down, I couldn't I was kind of trapped, I couldn't really go anywhere at that point. He couldn't see Teresa, but he could hear her getting out of the van, dragging her luggage around and leaving it at the base of the two little steps leading into the laundry room. I panicked where I was at. I was afraid that if she stopped when she opened the door and sat her purse down and turned around to grab her bag, her luggage, she had been looking right at me. I panicked, I jumped up and I followed her into the house.

Curtis claims that in this moment, he came across a hammer on the freezer chest, sitting just to the right of the laundry room. This was a second hammer. Not the one Jimmy had been joking about earlier that day. It was just, I don't know, it wasn't thought through. I described it. earlier that day. Critics continued creeping in behind Teresa, who was completely unaware that these would be her final moments.

But in a scene straight out of a bad comedy, Curtis unexpectedly exposed himself in the most foreheads slappingly stupid moment of all time. At that point that I caught up to her, she was right at the countertop. Right before that, there's a dog dish. It's on a stand because the dogs are older dogs and so they don't have to bend over so far. Their dog dish is actually on a stand and it's in that little hallway and I've kicked it, tripped over it. I'm not sure the right term, but I've hit that thing with my foot.

I think every time I've been over there. So I kicked that stand. The dog dish went fly in water when everywhere. She jumped and started to turn towards me. He wasn't close enough to put her in a chokehold as he claimed was his original intention. Instead, he swung the hammer at her head. She didn't seem to respond much. I thought that it would knock her out. I've never had anybody with an hammer before, so I didn't know how hard she had to do it. But I have medical problems with my shoulders, and I don't have a lot of strength in my shoulders, so when I hit her it was more elbow, but

I didn't hit her hard enough. She continued to turn towards me. She was surprised. I actually think that she thought I was marked. She said why? Curtis responded with two more hammer swings. Right after that third time I swam, Jimmy came from my right side and just started to start blasting her over and over and over. As Teresa fell to the floor face down, Jimmy the hammer continued his delirious rampage, smashing her in the face and head with his weapon of choice. Devastating her skull so much that her brain started oozing out. When he kept hitting her on the floor, I asked him a couple of times to, you know, I said, Jimmy, stop. You know, I said, enough. And he wouldn't stop.

So I actually went over there and put my hand on his shoulder and just like, you know, I stopped. It was just too much. I mean, I, yeah, she would have been dead no matter what happened because that was the intentions we went down there 12 we were hired to do but Not like that. I mean Like I said if it if it was up to me she would have been unconscious

Before she was killed Curtis dropped the hammer he was holding when he tried to get Jimmy to stop. I thought that he stopped. At that point I turned around and I walked. I was starting to leave the kitchen to go out and he actually turned around and ran back and he was laughing about it. He said he used the cloud part of the hammer. Jimmy struck Teresa one last time, a sickening final fuck you for no good reason. It was now clear that the ruse of Teresa stumbling onto a home invasion would never pass, and any plans to steal things from the house were completely out the window.

No, that made it impossible to look like anything other than what it was. Even a walk in robbery wouldn't be that brutal. Curtis and Jimmy drove straight back to Missouri, stopping only for gas, and at one point a trucker's rest stop. There they cleaned out the car and split up to two separate dumpsters to deposit evidence, including the cover-all jump suits they'd worn. Or at least, that's what Curtis did. You may recall that Jimmy the Hammer stupidly brought everything back home with him, asking

his girlfriend to throw it out the window, only after police had started to question him. Guys are real, real winner. It wasn't long after Jimmy's arrest that a warrant was issued for Curtis Wayne Wright. Detectives took active measures to locate and arrest Curtis, and he was found speeding towards the North County line of Hillsboro when a traffic stop was conducted, and he was taken into custody without incident. Curtis, who had previously denied all involvement, was shown the incriminating other phone texts suggesting he and Mark Sievers were secretly communicating. And detectives explained that if his friend Mark had

intentionally involved him in a crime, now was the time to explain the situation. Taking one murderer's word over another is one thing, but proving it is an entirely different challenge. And by the time the third co-conspirator and ultimate mastermind, Mark Sievers was arrested, eight months had passed from the night of Teresa's murder. But finally, the answer to Teresa's question that night, why would it long last be answered? In the early days of the investigation before any suspects were known, a funeral was held for Dr. Theresa Sievers. In attendance was, of course, the grieving husband who had secretly asked for his wife's

death. And even stranger, so was Curtis Wayne Wright, who had rented a second vehicle in Missouri and taken a second road trip to Florida. Only this time to show support for the family, he had played a direct role in destroying. So much arrogance displayed over a crime so disastrously and completely botched. While these two men were no doubt able to muster a few tears, or the mourners and attendants, they probably both couldn't believe their luck that they had actually gotten away with it.

But thankfully, there are people smarter than these two idiots working in digital forensics. They may have thought they were being clever with their other phones. But after months and months of researching and filtering, an interesting cell phone tower pattern began to emerge. To simplify, if you take the tower location, the phone number itself, and the time the call is placed, together it gives you a clear picture of when and where a certain phone is being used. Both Mark and Curtis were AT&T users for their everyday phones, so investigators figured the cell tower information from that network

was a good place to start, and wouldn't you know it? Whenever the tower would register a hit from someone's public phone, minutes later their burner phone would ping. On top of that, both burner phones were activated in May, stopped in June, and primarily interacted with one another. While it would be impossible to prove the content of the secret conversations, this cell phone pattern was irrefutable proof that Mark and Curtis were in communication with one another, and that they didn't want anyone finding out about it. Just another strike against Mark's defense that he had no idea his best friend was planning to murder his wife. Figuring this all out needed list to say

was, unexdreamly, laborious task, but watching Mark Sievers flanked by reporters as he's put into the back of a squad car makes it all worth it. What do you have to say to keep girls? As I said early on, we would not leave any stones on turn. Our people worked tirelessly on this case. I've maintained all along that it was an active ongoing investigation. I think everybody has sensed both in the media and in our community that this was very much active and very much ongoing. But I don't think you realize, nor does our community realize the extent of investigation

and effort that went into this case. As you've seen, Mark Sievers is going to jail right now. He's being charged with second degree murder. Those charges may change. That's up to the State Attorney's Office. Of course, we want to be respectful of the prosecution, phase of this, who has also done a great job with us toward the latter part of this investigation and will continue on from here. I do anticipate that this brings closure to the case.

I'm not indicating that there's anything really further to do at this point. We were after Mark Sievers. We got our man and we're very happy for that. Do you have any confession? I'm sorry. Do you have any confession or anything? I'm not going to speak to that specifically. Can you tell us how he reacted when you arrested him today?

Stoic, no emotion there. I'm not 100% sure he's not blood in his veins. I think it might be ice. This terrible crime would be easier to grasp if he truly did have ice in his veins. But the disappointing truth is that Mark is a warm-blooded human being, just like you and me. He's motivated to do terrible things by the same driving factors that upend many of our lives.

Money and sex. The money part was easy enough to trace. When Mark stopped cooperating with investigators, he started forming his defense that he had absolutely no idea any of this was happening. Sipinas were sent out regarding insurance policies for Teresa Sievers. The results from these findings show Teresa's death would pay out nearly $5 million. A partially shredded insurance policy document obtained from Mark's office suggested he do a bit more than he was letting on.

And when Curtis Wayne Wright came forward with the truth of what happened that night, he explained how Mark had offered to pay him $100,000 for the murder, but that they would have to wait for the insurance to pay out first. At the time, Mark provided Curtis with $600 to pay for the rental car, gas, and other necessities. To add insult to injury, the check was issued to him as a business check from the medical practice of Dr. Theresa Sievers. Curtis in turn offered Jimmy the hammer roughly $10,000 for his help.

But as with everything this adult was in charge of, he wasn't actually sure how much he was going to get from Mark. And thus, he couldn't really specify how much he'd give to Jimmy. Jimmy agreed to this incredibly vague deal with the devil, but he had to wait for the payday, just like everyone else. A moment ago, I mentioned sex as another motivating factor. You'll recall that Curtis Wayne Wright's wedding Mark originally came to him explaining that he feared Teresa was having an affair and wanted a divorce. The truth was much stranger than that. Perfect fodder for news outlets to gossip about. But let's be honest, mostly a distraction from the brutal murder at the center of it all.

A charming couple established doctor, a picture perfect family from the outside. Behind the doors at Jarvis Road, another story was playing out. Documents appeared to show Mark Sievers kept a sex log. Part of an everyday itinerary, explaining when, how, and where the couple would have sex. Sometimes other partners, they had sex with. This one from July 2015, reading sex after dinner with two other people. Another reading T, times two, sex me times three.

Then a familiar name, Wayne enters the bizarre calendar. Toward the end, she mentioned Wayne. She really enjoyed having door open when he was in town. Then texts and logs became darker. Teresa become short, even angry, swearing at Mark. On June 13th, this is explitative that you laughed and did not tell me. I should leave you here without a right home. And this text after her death proving this sender knew nothing of

the husband suspected plan to murder his wife. Telling Mark, don't blame yourself. Looking through text, Mark Severs also became close with another woman. It's obvious their relationship was sexual and at one point, Mark even says that he loves her. The last time Mark told Teresa he loved her and a text was about two months before she was murdered. Curtis Wayne Wright eventually entered a plea agreement. He will only serve 25 years for his role in Theresa's murder, and only because he cooperated and gave multiple sworn testimonies under oath. The verdict for Jimmy the Hammer, which finally came in December of 2019, was a bit more as the judge stated, conflicted. He was found guilty of murder as a principal,

but without a weapon, even though the evidence showed a weapon was clearly used. The judge, in this case, theorized the jury perhaps felt Jimmy was taken advantage of because he was younger. Nevertheless, the judge recognized that Jimmy picked out the Navy blue coveralls. He brought the duct tape, tape and drove all the way to

Florida with plenty of opportunity to back out and turn around. Jimmy Ray Rogers was rightfully sentenced to life in prison. The trial of Mark Ceevers immediately followed the trial of Jimmy Rogers. Mark was not only sentenced to life in prison, but the jury also recommended the death penalty. Still, it is only a recommendation. It's up to the judge to make that decision. At a separate court appearance in January of 2020, Mark Sievers made a plea for his own selfish life. Still denying his involvement in the crimes that the prosecution successfully proved he committed for a half years earlier. was Josie and Karmie, with all my heart. Our girls have tragically lost their mommy, and

now they are about to lose their daddy as well. Therefore I respectfully ask the court for life, is not to compound their loss and suffering. I am grateful, however, that the court can only determine my fate on earth, when my soul is in God's hands, and God knows the truth. Although I cannot feel remorse for something I had absolutely nothing to do with. I am deeply saddened. And forever heartbroken to say the very least that Trees was taken from us. Trees is my soulmate. I will miss her and cherish her memories until we are reunited in heaven.

Until then, I will fight the strongful conviction, until I am proven innocent and set free to rejoin my family. During the formal sentencing, Judge Bruce Kale, who oversaw the proceedings of both Jimmy and Mark's cases, replied to Mark's proclamation of innocence. To just make a couple comments about your statements here today, Mr. Severs. A jury of 12 have found you guilty as charged so you are guilty. You do get an automatic appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. I'll inform you of that at this point in time as well.

I judge people's actions. I don't judge people's souls. That's for somebody else to do. Mark Severs was ultimately sentenced to death, and as he vowed in his statement, he continues to appeal what he calls a wrongful conviction. He also expressed concern over the well-being of his two daughters, Josie and Karmie, too little too late. After Mark's arrest, the two Sievers' daughters were initially placed with a non-relative caregiver.

The two grandmother's Teresa's mom and Mark's mom then engaged in a custody battle. The former claiming the two young girls had suffered severe psychological and emotional trauma as a result of their father's actions. Mark was still allowed to contact his daughters from behind bars, and in hours of recorded calls from prison, Mark is heard coaching his daughters to turn against Teresa's mother in favor of his own. But if there's one instance of right overpowering wrong in this story, it's that Teresa's mom, Mary Ann Groves, was ultimately granted custody.

In her impact statement, Mary Ann recognizes that the two young girls have been robbed of their remarkable and extraordinary mother. A brilliant doctor whose own statement to the world was, quote, being healthy is your choice. Getting you there is my passion. In a world that increasingly seems more and more insane, it's terrible that such a positive force was destroyed for such trivial reasons. But even in death, we can learn from the lessons she tried to impart while she was alive address the body the mind and the spirit and live a life of generosity and compassion

Listen, that's going to do it, but if you like the show, join Plus. It's $5 a month. If you believe in the $15 minimum wage, podcasters need a minimum wage too. Help out our whole staff here. Give us a hand. $5 a month, you get all kinds of plus content. Stuff nobody else gets. Sort and scale.com-sash-plus, find out all the details. See you there, and stay safe.

Mike, Mike, Mike. I'm a new listener. I'm a true crime fan. That's been listening to true crime knockoff. And I just discovered your show a couple months ago. And I have to say, I don't always agree with you politics, but what I can say is that your talent is undeniable, the way that you give light to these stories and the victims,

and your empathy for the situation, your research abilities, your interview abilities, I think you're great. And I don't care what your politics are, because as far as entertainment value and the value that you're bringing to the world, the tell these stories that need to be told is immense. So, thank you so much. Straight from Detroit. We appreciate you. Keep up the good work. So, here. Good work. Good care. 1.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0-2.0- you