The Binge Crimes: Night Shift - Deadly Fortune | 4. The Deeper You Dig

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

A group of insiders look into the case, and investigators start to take notice. Binge all episodes of Deadly Fortune, ad-free today by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge Crimes on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘subscribe’ or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access. The Binge – feed your true crime obsession. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When it comes to weight loss, no two people are the same. That's why Noom builds personalized plans based on your unique psychology and biology. Take Brittany. After years of unsustainable diets, Noom helped her lose 20 pounds and keep it off. I was definitely in a yo-yo cycle for years of just losing weight, gaining weight, and it was exhausting. And Stephanie, she's a former D1 athlete who knew she couldn't out train her diet, and she lost 38 pounds.

My relationship to food before Noom was never consistent. And Evan, he can't stand salads, but he still lost 50 pounds with Noom. I never really was a salad guy. That's just not who I am. Even through the pickiness, Noom taught me that building better habits builds a healthier lifestyle. I'm not doing this to get to a number. I'm doing this to feel better.

Get your personalized plan today at Noom.com. Real Noom users compensated to provide their story. In four weeks, a typical Noom user can expect to lose one to two pounds per week. Individual results may vary. Listen to all episodes of Deadly Fortune ad- free right now by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen. The Binge, feature true crime obsession. Let's go back to September 26, 2016, the day of Diane's death.

Detective Smith of the Atlanta PD was already on the phone with Steven Maples, Texas attorney, who, if you'll remember, had shown up at the hospital shortly after Diane had arrived that same morning. Hello? Hey, Mr. Mables? Detective Smith, how are you? Just fine, sir. How's everybody doing?

Mr. McIver had an anxiety attack there at the hospital and he's going home going to sleep. Tex had an anxiety attack while at the hospital and he's going home going to sleep. Tex had an anxiety attack while at the hospital. It was all becoming too much for him. Detective Smith wanted to talk with Tex. I don't know if you talked to the ER doctor. Well, she came in and did a brief. You know, she treated Mrs. McIver in the emergency room before they took her up for surgery. And she said before she put her to sleep that Mrs. MacIver said that it was an accident. Were you in the room when that was said? Yes, I was. Maples continued to make the point that key hospital employees and himself had heard Diane

say that Tex didn't shoot her intentionally. Yeah, the last thing that she said before taking in the surgery and before she was sedated, that Diane said that it was an accident. I'm still trying to figure out what happened and I understand he's probably going through a lot with the situation with his wife but was trying to see what it would be best just to go through him to see if you'd like to come in and or I can meet up and talk about what happened. What part do you think is confusing? I need to get from him exactly what happened as well.

I mean, I already talked to the driver, obviously, but... You know, in most cases, I like to get everybody's opinion on what happened. Not just one-sided. And the only person that would know that would be him, if, you know, if it's... Accident that happened, or they hit a bump or something I don't know I wasn't in the car but I mean I kind of we know the gun went off it's unfortunate the way it happened but guns only go off one way that I'm a particularly that gun it's only going to go off when the triggers pulled you know as well as I do have triggers guns go off

they don't somebody puts their finger inside the trigger guard. Yes and that is the very first no-no in all of life. I mean I know you watch television shows, you watch movies and everybody goes in and pulls a hammer back, and firing out single action and they got their finger inside the damn trip card. I know. You know, as well as I do that something the DA's office is going to, is going to need is his, his side of the story.

Yeah. And you know, the DA's office, that function is to prosecute. And so just about anything that he says is kind of discredited, right? Not necessarily. I mean, we work well with those guys. I mean, I've had similar cases before. I mean. That same day, Detective Darren Smith received a call from Tex McIver. Mr. Smith, Detective Smith. This is Tex McIver. Hey, sir. how are you today?

Oh, horrible. You know, you guys are going through a lot right now. Oh man, I tell you, you're not here to hear me fuss, but I'm a Vietnam guy. I put boys in body bags and stuff, and nothing hurts like this. Right. Can't even imagine. Just awful. God, it's just awful. Anyway, I understand that we should come in to see you. At least I should. That would be great. I didn't want to obviously call you today because of what was the what just go on. So I wanted to give you guys a little time for that. Thank you. I spent the day calling relatives.

I mean, obviously you and I both know it's not a murder. No, no. We both know that it's not a voluntary man's slaughter. And you know, it's not that sort of thing. Now, Tixnac Geyser is a senior partner with a very, very large, well, it's the nation's largest label law firm, Fischer and Phillips. Tex and his lawyers were already building a wall. And there's no disagreement.

This couple never argued, never fought, never had any disagreements whatsoever. He's very very successful, of course Diane was very very successful. She worked for Billy Corey. Well ultimately what happened was... What I'm saying is he's not going to run anymore. No no no no. What I'm saying is if you decide, you know, if you decide or if you want to take it to the district attorney's office, if they want to look at it and they want to indict for something, just give me a telephone call. I think the forensics are going to bear out exactly what happened.

I know what happened. I just need to figure out why it happened. The forensics are going to say that this gun probably was fired and this is where it went. But that still doesn't explain how the gun went off. Guns just don't magically go off on their own. From Sony Music Entertainment and Waveland Road, you're listening to Deadly Fortune. This is episode 4, The Deeper You Dig. big. Tex had continued to try and reach Danny Joe. This is when she finally had had enough and arrived at my house with her husband Tom.

She was hiding from Tex. We discover that Tex wanted Danny Joe to leave the hospital that morning, wanting her to claim that she was not even with Tex and Diane. This was highly suspicious. Why in the world would he want Danny Joe to leave the hospital and pretend she wasn't with them. If Danny Joe leaves the hospital and is later discovered to have been part of it, her credibility is significantly harmed.

So how do you believe anything she says? This would have allowed Tex to create a narrative that was more favorable to him. I call this Tex and the Tell-Tale Heart. Tex continues to make decisions that arouse suspicion. Still grieving, Tex did agree to sit down with police to share his side of the story. This is Brett Zembrock, who was immediately involved in the case. I was with the Atlanta Police Department for 33 years,

26 of those years I was in the homicide unit as an investigator. And prior to that, I did a year of undercover narcotics work as an investigator, and then five years of uniformed patrol. So the next day after the shooting, when I report to work, that's when I hear that there was an overnight shooting in a car. Victim died as a result of a gunshot wound.

Husband is the individual responsible. Brad was in the room the day Tex and his lawyer came in to speak with police. He's accompanied by two attorneys, his personal attorneys. Darren is the lead on the case and I sit in the interview. Darren is the detective you heard in the phone call earlier with Stephen Maples. The attorney was making it clear that this is what we're here for. We're going to have Tex explain what happened, how it got to that point. He's not going to be specific about right turns, left turns, where they were exactly

because he doesn't recall it. So please don't pressure him. We went through an area, I can describe my familiar area, we went through an area I felt recall it so please don't pressure him. there were the blue lights on and they're doing things with the rifle that are there. And... Were there landmarks or anything? It was an underpass. It was the best idea. It was very dark, but it seemed to me it was. And that's one that has a particularly high population on the homeless people.

At least in the daytime. But at night there were a lot of people there. And I quickly said, this is a big mistake and we're in a place that we don't belong. And of course here we are in an almost new SUV and two women in the front seat. They made a couple turns and things were not going well. We'll be on P-Month shortly." And I said, you know, I'd like, if you don't mind, please hand me my gun. I was in the center console. We had some break-ins in our office where the only thing they're looking for seems to be a gun.

And so I, in response to that, I had wrapped my gun in a public grocery sack. So, okay, if you open the console, you have no clue what you're looking at. You're looking at flashlight and stuff like that. So Diane reaches in, pulls it out, hands it back to me. And by then we may have been on P-Month. Anyway, I'm relatively satisfied that we're out of that kind of area. And I guess I just lay back again and want to sleep. Danny Joe came to a stop.

Anyway, I'm just trying to wake up. But she came to a stop, and I was handling the gun. And I realized it was in my lap. Right. And it went off. Okay. He came across as a little bit saddened. Obviously, his wife had just died and he appeared to feel remorse or some responsibility for that act.

He was trying to relay to us that it was an accident and he made a few comments to the effect that he wanted us to be sure that we knew it was an accident. What do you remember after the gun fight? I immediately called out and said is everybody alright? And Danny Joe said yes. And Diane, her head was kind of flattered. She said, I've been shot. Worse than that, in fact. And I immediately put my arms around her

and tried to determine how bad it was. I think one thing that stood out to me was the fact that he made the comment in the interview that the doctors had told him that Diane had come to was responsive and Told the doctors it was an accident which I thought was kind of a weird You know, why would she have come? to Regain consciousness only to say it was an accident

and very little else after that. But he made sure to say that and if I'm not mistaken he repeated it. He kind of admitted to being responsible for it but wanted to make sure that the accident part of it remained in the forefront, made us continually think about the accident word. NPR's Through Line podcast sort of feels like stepping into a time machine. Each episode, our Peabody award-winning show travels beyond the headlines to answer the question, how did we get here? Listen to one of Apple's favorite podcasts of 2024 by searching for Thru Line on Apple

Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app. He was a Boy Scout leader, a church deacon, a husband, a father. He went to a local church. He was going to the grocery store with us. He was the guy next door. But he was leading a double life. He was certainly a peeping Tom, looking through the windows,

looking at people, fantasizing about what he could do. He then began entering the houses. He could get into their home, take something, and get out and not be caught. He felt very powerful. He was a monster hiding in plain sight. Someone killed four members of a family. It just didn't happen here.

Journey inside the mind of one of history's most notorious killers, BTK, through the voices of the people who know him best. Listen to Monster BTK on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. As investigators had questions for Tex, Billy Corey had his own set of concerns about what had happened that night. And he wasn't the only one in the office invested in finding answers. We were just waking up on that Monday morning and Tex called Jay.

Jay had already gotten out of the bed and gone into the bathroom to get ready for the day. And he had just gotten up and gone in there. This is Christy Phillips, the fiance of Jay Grover, who had worked for Billy Corey since he was a teenager. And I heard a phone ring. I heard one side of the conversation. Of course, he was in the other room, so I didn't hear word for word what was going on but I could just tell from the tone I guess or you could sense some reaction and I knew it wasn't good. I didn't know what it was, I didn't know who the phone call was from, I just knew it wasn't

good. My first thought went to Mr. Gorry. Something had happened to Mr. Gorry naturally just given his given, you know, his age. It wasn't, it was a very short phone call. He came out of the bathroom very quickly and by that point I knew something was wrong, so I had already set up in bed and immediately met him with, what is it? And he said, it's Diane, she's gone.

I said, what do you mean she's gone? He said, there was an accident and she didn't make it, she's gone. I said, what do you mean she's gone? He said there was an accident and she didn't make it, she's gone. And he said, I got to get to Mr. Corey. So he was immediately throwing on clothes and out the door. That was all I got. Jay, Billy and Diane were all close and the news shook Jay too. It was before noon that Jay called me and said it wasn't a car accident. She was shot. And then of course, my brain's real, I'm like, what do you mean she was shot? You know, we had a million questions, but yeah, at some point that morning before

noon, they knew that it was a, you know, a gun accident, accident, and that Tex had done it. He was not forthcoming with exactly what happened, and he definitely repeatedly reiterated it was an accident. Before becoming VP at Corey Companies under Billy Corey, Jay Grover had been a detective. He was a very, very sharp guy. Billy and Jay started to dig into the events of that night and Tex's story. So pretty early, pretty early on,

I think just literally the not forthcoming of what happened that day when we were delivered the news Very quickly into the next day Jay was very much an observer a listener Especially in something like this where something was not right, you know, even if it had been an accident This just wasn't right. So this was this was horrible. So he was very in tune very very early on trying to get the details, the correct details, you know, pieced together and very quickly to the conclusion that this is not making sense. This is what we're being told is not adding up. That coupled with the things Tex were saying just weren't making sense. And then his actions, he started doing very strange things that just didn't

seem normal for somebody who just lost their spouse for whatever reason, you know. who just lost their spouse for whatever reason, you know. But it was definitely by midweek. I think Jay was 100% convinced that this was not an accident. He was on a mission for Diane, a mission to get answers and the right answers. While the police had interviewed Tex and the story wasn't completely clear,

it didn't seem like the investigation would lead anywhere. After all, Tex said it had been an accident. The initial investigation questioning, I don't think, well I know, wasn't going to go any further with the police department. They were done, shut case closed, were done, it was an accident. Move on to the next one was the way they pretty much handled it. It would have been left alone. It would have been left to that had it not been for Jay

going to D.A. Rucker and saying, no, you need to look at this. And by that point he had already gone into full detective mode. Bill told me in interviews that texts suggest to Bill that the reason that he had the gun in his possession is because they took an exit off the interstate that was in a dodgy part of town and that texts wanted Bill to put it out there to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other media sources that he feared for his life and his wife and his friends' life because of Black Lives Matter protests. In retrospect, this is like our modern-day news bubble. Folks that live in an environment where this is a plausible explanation to them, with no awareness of

how volatile that kind of claim would be. Jay believed from that morning at his home that it was intentional and that things did not add up. He was a former DeKalb County police officer, former Rock Hill County police officer, I believe sheriff's deputy and a detective. And whereas I was watching this unfold and being shocked that this longtime family retainer lawyer was destroying himself, Jay's take was this was intentional, there was a plan, and when did it start? And so they started looking for

things like the second will and motive. And like I said, Jay and I are friends of four decades and I remember the conversation with him about this and saying, you know, I'm not going to help Tex anymore, I'm not going to be a spokesman anymore, but my story isn't going to change because I wasn't there, I wasn't in the car. I can only relay what was told to me. As crystal clear as I can, I will repeat what was told to me, assuming at least at one point in time,

I recommended the night of, the night of that first conversation, let's get a video camera, let's get you to lay every detail you remember about that entire day out now. Give it to the Atlanta Police Department. Give it to the District Attorney's Office. And for your own purposes,

you'll have a consistent story to fall back on and rely on. Your memory will fade. Who knows how this is gonna play out? He wouldn't do it. And he wouldn't stop talking. And changing his story. And talking to everybody. I mean, there were different versions with Jay, with Mr. Corey.

Yeah. He decides he's going to sell all of Diane's belongings, her jewelry, her hats, her dresses as quickly as he can. He makes this decision within two weeks of her death and sets the auction for December, which would have been eight weeks, twelve weeks after her death. This infuriates Billy Corey. You're selling off all of Diane's possessions. It continues. Tex refuses to go to the funeral home to collect Diane's cremains, telling the funeral director, I'm waiting for the estate to make funds available for that purpose.

We're talking a couple of thousand dollars. Tex allows Diane's cremains to stay in a cold building in Conyers instead of going to collect them. Jake Grover's theory about this? That Tex doesn't want Diane in their condo, living or dead. Jake Grover's other theory? Tex wants to get all of her possessions out of the condo, and he certainly doesn't want Diane's cremains in the condo. He's gotten rid of her. He wants to stay rid of her. At this point Jay is

having conversations with the Atlanta police, homicide detectives who truly wanted to believe it was a tragic accident and then curiously Tex without anyone suggesting he do so schedules a polygraph test just two weeks after the shooting. Tex did this of his own accord. Law enforcement didn't ask him to do it. And remember, Tex is not under arrest. Crane didn't understand why Tex was doing the things he was doing.

I thought, this is, he's getting bad legal advice. When I saw the interview that he did with the Atlanta Police Department and his own lawyer trying to explain how the gun went off without pulling the trigger, I have an almost identical handgun to that.38 myself. It doesn't fire itself. You can throw it at the floor or the ceiling or drop it off a one story building. It's a revolver. It doesn't. And watching his attorney insist that Texas fingers weren't on it and this and... So initially I thought he's just getting

bad counsel, things like the estate sale. And so I wasn't seeing him in person every day, but I would call him and I would text him like, what are you thinking? And it was not a short series of, I mean, he, as an example, told me that he'd had nothing to drink that day. And Diane perhaps had more to drink. She liked her wine, but they had both had wine on the golf course and I believe beer by tax on the golf course. And then at dinner, they finished one bottle and the second bottle was in front of him in the back seat of the car. And who knows who had what? But again, I was saying to him at the time, you weren't driving. Why didn't you tell the police you're 75, what, six years old? You take medication to sleep, you have narcolepsy,

and you'd had a few, relating to your own defense. But until it was demonstrated otherwise, he was telling people he had nothing to drink. And so what I told him, I can't continue talking or speaking on behalf if I think you're lying to me. I can't credibly do this job and you're harming, and he was, your own defense because once you cross that line of away from documented truth and fact and either fiction or outright

intentionally misleading people, not only does your credibility go away but your bargaining authority, you know, that you might have with a district attorney's office, solicitor, land and Police Department, starts to vanish if they believe you're being this genuous or dishonest. Jay went back into Detective Moe and poured himself into the case. He was frustrated that the vehicle was back in Texas possession, and we had a conversation about that. And it was our understanding at that time that there had not been any kind of plumb line test of that seat

to see the trajectory of the bullet because it just appeared that it was a tragic accident. So Jay and I make an agreement. I'm going to call JD Danny Stevens and I'm going to say to JD, somebody needs to take a look at the angle of that bullet in the seat. And Jay calls someone in the DA's office and something changes. Something happens to where now all of a sudden there's curiosity about recovering the vehicle. As Jay, Billy and I continued to try and understand what really happened that night, there was

a tone change from the district attorney's office. Calling all sellers, Salesforce is hiring account executives to join us on the cutting edge of technology. Here, innovation isn't a buzzword, it's a way of life. You'll be solving customer challenges faster with agents, winning with purpose, and showing the world what AI was meant to be. Let's create the agent-first future together.

Head to salesforce.com slash careers to learn more. With TD Direct Investing, you can get live support. So whether you need help buying a partial share from your favorite tech company, opening a TFSA, or learning about investing tools, we're here to help. But keeping your cat off your keyboard? That's up to you. Reach out to TD Direct Investing today and make your investing steps count. Plus enjoy 1% cash back.

Conditions apply. Offer ends January 31st, 2025. Visit td.com slash di offer to learn more. The media sensation about him having a garage sale or an estate sale with all of her clothes and jewelry and all that stuff. You know, like I said, the optics are bad on that. I mean, people, you know, do dumb shit all the time. I mean, people do dumb shit all the time. I'm not sure at what point the district attorney decided to jump in with both feet. The district attorney's office decided to jump in with both feet.

But as the investigation proceeded from the Atlanta police perspective, the district attorney's Office was made aware of what we had uncovered, what we believed based on what we saw, our experience, the evidence that we had, the interviews that we've conducted. You know, that everybody had a big question about why did he go to Emory Hospital as opposed to going to Grady Hospital. There's obviously an entrance hole at the back of the seat and an exit hole at the front of the seat and then based on autopsy the entrance hole in the body of Diane, you know,

you could basically put the body back into the seat based on that alone, or you would have an approximate position of Diane at the time that the bullet entered her body. So the processing of the vehicle, the recovery of the gun, all that stuff was probably done fairly early in the investigation. I'm not sure what triggered Fulton County to become exceptionally interested. We would discuss it as a group and the detective, the lead detective in the case would make the presentation that this is what I believe we can back up if it goes to trial. The involuntary or the reckless conduct, which included the

involuntary and what other misdemeanor gun charge there was, was what we, the Atlanta Police Department, the Homicide Unit and the lead detective, believed we could justify at trial. Even more information starts to pile up about Tex's financial situation. He had lost his status as partner at the labor law firm he worked at, Fisher Phillips, and with that a pay cut. For a man as proud as Tex, this was humiliating. On December 21, 2016, Tex McGyver was charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct in the shooting death of his wife, Diane, consistent with the theory that her death was an accident, not a cold-blooded murder.

A police issued a warrant for a prominent attorney, Tex McGyver. McGyver is accused of shooting his wife near Piedmont Park. An APD is charging Tex MacGyver with a felony count of involuntary manslaughter and a misdemeanor count of reckless conduct. 10 days after he is charged, on New Year's Eve 2016, police discovered that Tex owes Diane $350,000 and that money is due in just a few days, and she had already extended the note once before.

But Tex only has approximately $20,000 to his name deposited in four different bank accounts. dollars to his name deposited in four different bank accounts? Was tax about to be exposed as broke and in Diane's eyes, a failure? Could this ruin their marriage? And how would Diane have looked at him? The attorney accused of murdering his wife owed her thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and could have lost his interest in the ranch they owned together. Prosecutors say Tex McGyver owed his wife Diane $350,000 at the time of her death, and that he used part of his interest in their Putnam County Ranch as collateral,

they say he stood to lose all of it if he didn't pay up. Next time on Deadly Fortune. Not everyone wanted to believe that Tex was what he was or what he is. And only God knows for sure. Then I'm like, oh hell no. Everything that came out from that point on, I would get it damn sideways. You know, lots of people denied there was a will, but nobody could ever find the will.

To me, it was just another peculiar thing that happens when someone dies. Your wife dies right in front of you. There's going to be a lot of odd things that happen. We begin with breaking news from the Tex McIver murder trial. After four days of deliberations, the jury... You can't change facts and you can't change physical evidence. You can change a witness. You can't change physical evidence.

I think there's more to that story that hasn't been told yet, sir. Don't want to wait for that next episode? You don't have to. Unlock all episodes of Deadly Fortune ad- free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Search for The Binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on Apple? Head to GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen. As a subscriber, you'll get Binge access to news stories on the first of every month. Check out the Binge channel page on Apple Podcasts or GetTheBinge.com to learn more.

Deadly Fortune is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and Waveland Road. I'm your host and reporter, Dale Cardwell. Jason Hoke wrote and produced the series. Our associate producer is Marni Zambri. Production support provided by Tim Millard. Audio engineering by Shane Freeman. The original score for Deadly Fortune is by Thomas Avery. Jason Hoak is the executive producer on behalf of Waveland Road. Executive producers for Sony Music Entertainment are Jonathan Hirsch and Catherine St. Louis. If you love the show, tell your friends and don't forget to leave a review. Thanks for listening! You