True Crime All The Time - Roderick and Mark Newell

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

Nicholas and Elizabeth Newall were wealthy retirees with an estate worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Their two adult sons were the sole beneficiaries of their money and properties. The Newalls disappeared after an evening out with their sons. Roderick and Mark Newall were the main suspects, but putting the puzzle pieces together wasn’t quick or easy. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Roderick and Mark Newell. Both brothers inherited a large sum of money from their parents. It was natural for police to have to rule them out as suspects, but they could not do that. They also could put together the evidence needed to prove they had anything to do with it. It took five years for the truth to come out, and it did so in a very unique way. You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 384 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And with me as always is my partner in True Crime. Mike Gibson, give me, how are you? Hey, I'm doing good about you. I'm doing pretty well. I'm very caffeinated. Hyper? Just I had to drink a little more coffee than normal because I didn't sleep well last night. Yeah. And I got up pretty early. So yeah, extra coffee. Keep me going. Okay. So you're going to go, you know, maybe a little faster with your talk. I doubt it. I doubt. No. It's hard to speed me up. Yeah. You know, I talk the way I talk and that's just how it is. Is it the best coffee in the world? Like an elf thing? Remember the elf scene?

You're talking about the movie elf? Yeah. Congratulations. You've finally did it. You got the, what was he say? You got the best coffee in the world. No, I don't know. I've seen the movie, but it's not something I watch every Christmas. My family seems to like it a lot, but I don't sit and watch it that much. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. Lori McConaughey, jump down to our highest level. Appreciate that, McConaughey. Shane. Hey, appreciate that, Shane.

Kat Stewart. Oh, Kat. Beth. Beth. Sarah Great House. Hey, Great House. Joshua Grant. What's going on, Joshua?

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And last of and not least, Nicole Baltimore. Well, thank you, Nicole. Yeah, and then if we go back into the vault, this week, we selected Timothy Maneer. I like that, Maneer. Yeah. Appreciate all the Patreon support. We also had what is definitely the biggest PayPal donation we've ever had from Kelly Krug. Well, thanks, Kelly.

That's amazing. So thank you all very much. Very much appreciated. So we have an episode out right now on Unsolved where, you know, we're talking about this guy named Henry McCabe. He was a husband, father. He went out celebrating with some friends on Labor Day weekend. And then his body was later found in a lake.

No real evidence of foul play, but a strange voicemail. Very bizarre. That has. made his family believe that his death was not accidental. Let's put it that way. Yeah. So make sure you check that out. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am. We're talking about Roderick and Mark Newell. Nicholas and Elizabeth Newell were wealthy retirees with an estate worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. So that lets you know. We're headed across the pond.

Going to go to a little British. Going to do a little British. Okay. You knew the British part had to come in. It was just how were you going to work it in? I was going to get that in there. So, you know, they're worth quite a bit of money. There are two adult sons.

We're the sole beneficiaries of their money and properties. The Nules disappeared after an evening out with their sons. Roderick and Mark Newell were the main sons. suspects, but it wasn't quick or easy to put the pieces of the puzzle together. On the surface, it doesn't really seem like a unique story, does it? No, it doesn't because, okay, you have some parents who are worth quite a bit of money. You have these adult sons. We've seen it before.

But in a lot of instances, those cases are solved very quickly. You know, the sons are going to be. suspects, they're going to be looked at, they have to be crossed off the list. And I think in the majority of instances, police solve those cases fairly quickly. Yeah. But not this one. 56 year old Nicholas Newell and 47 year old Elizabeth Newell were retired school teachers from Scotland.

They met while studying at St. Andrews University. The Newells left Scotland in 1967. to sail around the world. One of their stops was Jersey, an island country and self-governing British Crown dependency territory near the coast of northwest France. It is the largest of the islands in the English Channel.

So it's a little bit different than us saying, we're going to go to Jersey. Yeah, this is a different place. Yeah. If I don't have Snoopy and all them. No, no. The Jersey shore means something different. Yeah.

And apparently, loved it so much, they decided to stay. They purchased the house, got teaching jobs, and raised their sons on the island. Now, I think one of the first questions that a lot of people would ask is, how do these two people, both school teachers, afford to, you know, sail around the world, afford to, you know, live on this island? Because it would be expensive, right? I would think it would be more expensive. Islands usually are, depending on where you're at in the world. Yeah. But even just traveling around the world, I mean, it's going to take some money. Although Nicholas retired from teaching, sources reported that he was an underwriter for the

insurance company, Lloyd's of London. Okay. So that helps answer some of the questions. Yeah. So, you know, that is maybe one piece of the puzzle. Lloyd's of London, huge insurance company. Yeah. The Scotland Herald described Nicholas as an astute investor. You've never used the word astute describing anything I do. No. No, and I would not say you're an astute investor. Buying baseball cards for the gum is not a good investment. I've been telling you that for years. I just wanted the gum. I didn't know I was supposed to hold on to the cards.

Just buy the gum. I just tossed the cards to side. I didn't know. But I think, you know, all of this helps explain, right, how the Nules were able to afford a house in what was called an expensive part of the island called St. Brulat. They also purchased a villa in Spain and a yacht. They're doing pretty good. These are teachers. Yeah. And you're not going to do all that stuff on a teacher salary unless for some reason over in England, they pay a head.

heck of a lot more to teachers. And I don't think they do. I'm sure they make good money, but not villa in Spain yacht money. Why you're already living on an island? Well, yeah, while you've already bought this house on this expensive island. Roderick Newell was the oldest son. He was 22 years old when his parents died. Roderick chose to serve in the army instead of attending university. And okay, that's not something that is all that unusual. You know, some people just don't want to go to college. Maybe they're not meant for college. Maybe they don't have the grades. Yeah. Maybe they just want to break from school. Okay. Well, I'm not sure that enlisting in the army is a quote unquote break. It's an extended break. From what? From anything. It seems like a lot

of work. Yeah. In no way do I equate being in the armed forces with any type of break. Well, that's true. All right. Maybe not a break. There's PT. They tell you when to get up.

That is not a break to me. If anything, college is way more of a break. Yeah. Than that. Roderick was a lieutenant in the Royal Green Jackets, an infantry regiment of the British Army. Never heard of that. Me neither.

The Green Jackets. Maybe it's something like the Green Jackets. something like the green berets or they're like just going with the jackets we got the green jackets you guys can get the hats yeah his time in the military allowed him to indulge his passion for adventure according to the evening standard and that's something that i think can happen in the military and it might be why there are some people who choose to to sign up yeah you know they want to see the world they want to get paid for doing so right Roderick served in Belfast, Germany, and England.

He was said to, you know, have been popular. He had a lot of good friends. But an ex-officer told the evening standard that Roderick had clashes with his commander, Sergeant Major, and platoon sergeant. Well, it's not good. He's clashing with everybody in a leader-type role. Yeah. Does it maybe suggest that he had a little bit of a problem with authority?

And I would say the answer might be yes. It was also said that Roderick almost never talked about his parents. When he did, it seemed like he had some hostile feelings towards them. And maybe that's another reason for wanting to join the military. Sure. To get away. To get away from his parents, from his home life. Now, this could be because Nicholas was said to have been a strict disciplinarian.

according to a former student at a Jersey prep school where Nicholas taught. This student said that Roderick and his brother, Mark, were beaten often. Okay. To me, that is more than a strict disciplinarian. Yeah, that's extreme. Mark Newell, who was 21 at the time of his parents' death, had done very well for himself. He was working in financial services in Paris and reportedly earned six figures. That's doing really well at the age of 21. Well, that's good money today, but that was really good

money back in the 1980s. Yeah. I mean, if you make six figures today, you are doing very, very well for yourself. Now, how many 21-year-olds who are not YouTube stars or TikTok stars or whatever else muckbang stars? I don't even know what all there is. But are making six figures. Well, yeah, probably not a lot. You and I were alive in, in 1987, which is when this case takes place. We were both working.

Yeah. Now, I was a little bit younger. I was still in high school, but I worked. Yeah. Oh, yeah, me too. I was probably making, what, three bucks, four bucks an hour? Yeah, and I don't remember. I mean, I was at the hospital.

Yeah, well, you and do you and do the, that's different. You guys were making. bank, but I was not making a lot of money. And even my first job, my first real job, I remember, I think I want to say, you know, after I got a promotion, I was making about 30 grand. Yeah. And I was fairly young, 22, 23 years old. And I thought, oh my gosh, I am rich. Oh. I have all kinds of money. That's how I felt when I was, you know, 21. I was driving for UPS. You know, I thought, this is the life, man.

Yeah, I can buy as many pairs of these brown shorts as I would like to. And they're even giving us the one that we wear when we were there. I'm just buying extra ones to wear at home. To wear out to fancy dinners. But, you know, I can't stress it enough. 21 years old, making six figures in the 1980. Yeah. That is unbelievable.

According to the Daily Telegraph, in September, 1987, Nicholas and his twin brother, Stephen, received a call from their uncle Kenneth, who told them he was updating his will, and they would each inherit 500,000 pounds after his death. Again, we're still talking 1987. That is a boatload of money. Now, well, it's pounds too, right? And pounds, I'm thinking half a million pounds. It's probably like 700,000 U.S. in 1987? Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, it could be a little bit more. You're going with that? Because you've kept up with the O-A. Rate throughout the years, the conversion rate. Yes. Now, oh, let me go back into my head. Be bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-19.

It was X. Yeah. They had a lot of rain that year. I hope people realize that you are literally pulling that out of your ass. You have no idea. Oh, I know. but hey you'll turn out to be right and i'll get just a flood of emails you know when when you have you know the IQ as i do mm-hmm um do i need to say anything else no it's leave right there no

you know because until it reaches triple digits i don't even think you should say what it is but in all seriousness you know you're getting a call from a family member who says you know what I'm updating my will. I'm leaving you a bunch of money. Now, it's a little bittersweet, right? On the one hand,

you're going to at some point come into what is really a lot of money, but it's going to happen on the back of your uncle's death. So I guess depending on how close you are to that uncle, it's going to be very bittersweet. Nicholas and Elizabeth Newell disappeared about a month after this. On October 10th, 1987, Nicholas and Elizabeth went out to dinner with Roderick and Martin, who came to Jersey for a visit. The family ate dinner at the Seacrest restaurant to

celebrate Elizabeth's upcoming 48th birthday. Nicholas and Elizabeth were last seen alive when they left the restaurant with their sons. And we talked about it up front, right? the sons are going to be looked at just because they're a part of the immediate family. Yeah, I mean, just standard practice, right? Yeah, I mean, that's how the police do it. Now, you add on top of that if there's some type of financial motive and, you know, or things like that, that may bump them up the list a little bit. And then here, they're the last ones known.

to have been seen with Nicholas and Elizabeth. So you throw all those factors into the mix, how can they not be on the radar? Nicholas and Elizabeth failed to show up to appointments. Their neighbors became worried after a week passed and no one had seen or heard from them. One neighbor was so concerned, she decided to enter the house without permission.

The Nul's had left their patio doors unlocked. Now, is that something that you would, ever do. Leave my doors unlocked or go into someone's home? Go into someone's home. I get it. You might be worried about someone, but would you ever just go into the house

because you know that they leave their patio doors unlocked? I mean, you lock all your doors and I still come in when you're not here. But outside of that, yeah, I think I, if enough time has passed and I typically vent, venture over there and visit on a regular basis, I would be concerned and I would probably be like,

they're not answering their phone, they're not coming to the door. I mean, just peek in and make sure everything's okay. Yeah, I'm going to go the other way. I don't think I would. I would be worried that they were doing something. Maybe I didn't want to see. I was going to walk in on something that would be forever etched in my memory. Well, Yeah, there's that possibility. Unless you want to, you know, yell, hey, it's me, I'm here. Stop, what are you doing? But here's the other thing.

Why not just make a call to the police and say, hey, can you do a welfare check? I'm really worried about these people. Yeah, you could have done that too, but. I mean, I'm not blaming this woman at all. I'm really talking more about would I do that? And I'm not sure I would because I think I'd be worried. The other thing, the true crime person, in me believes that I would be possibly setting myself up by entering this house.

Yeah. Not knowing what is waiting for me inside. Oh, that's true. Now I've left a fingerprint on the door handle. I've left a bootmark because I stepped in some mud. They got me. Yep. And how am I going to get out of it?

Even though I had nothing to do with it whatsoever. sometimes it just pays to stay in your basement. Let's just be honest. You love staying in your basement and keeping your DNA here too. Exactly. It's hard to get in trouble. So this neighbor entered the Newell's home. The couple were nowhere to be found.

It seemed like they left their house in the middle of eating breakfast. There was still food on the table. The central heating was turned all the way up. The bed was made. There were no newspapers in the house. dated after October 11th. And Nicholas Newell was known for purchasing two to three newspapers a day. And that would make sense, right?

We said people described him as an astute investor. Sure. I think in the 1980s, you're going to have to stay on top of that probably through newspapers. Yeah. You want to read different financial articles, see how things, what things are doing out there in the market. Well, you're not going to have the internet to rely on. No. At your fingertips. Well, if you did, it would have been like the super slow internet. Remember that? So slow. Yeah, but was there even internet in 1987? Maybe there was. No, I don't think so. I don't remember it.

I don't remember having it that early, but maybe it was available somewhere. Yeah, maybe some DOS program was out there that people could dial into and get the leaves. Well, it definitely would have been dial up. Yeah. If they had it. The neighbors called the Newell sons and Roderick reported his parents missing. The police searched the house and found no valuable items missing. The only clothes missing from the house were the items worn by the couple when they went out to dinner. Officers found Nicholas and Elizabeth's passports in a drawer. They also had ferry tickets for a trip early the next week. So, You know, let's dissect some of this. Breakfast food still on the table, making it seem as though what?

They were interrupted. Something happened to them that did not allow them maybe to finish their meal. No items of value missing from the home can kind of rule out a robbery, most likely. And then this one kind of innocuous piece is that the only clothes missing were the ones that they wore to dinner. But to me, that really screams out that they never made it home or they never changed out or something. Well, it does seem strange because I don't think they would have slept in their clothes they

wore the night before and got up that morning in the same clothes and sat there and had breakfast. Probably not. Now, would I have done that maybe in my late teens, early 20s? Absolutely. Many times probably. Would I have done that in college? Yes. And I did. But these are people in their late 40s, 50s, responsible. They have jobs and kids. And it just doesn't seem like something they would do. I'm not saying they couldn't have. But to me, it's a very strange piece of information. And I guess it's up to everyone to figure out what to make of it. Roderick and Mark both said they dropped their parents off

around 2.30 a.m. on October 11th, Roderick stayed at Mark's place on the island. They returned later that morning and had lunch with their parents. They both flew back to England that evening. Well, they're trying to at least account for their parents' whereabouts. And it seems like they do that up until what? About lunchtime is what they're saying? Now, what they did say was that, you know, they didn't drop their parents off until 2.30 a.m. All right. That's pretty late. Does that maybe change my view on whether or not they would have slept in their clothes? No, not really because it's just not something that I would ever do. But you can't rule it out. But I think the important thing is they're saying, well, we came back

later that morning and then we had lunch with them. Mark said he returned to Jersey on October 13th to pick up his car and received no response when he tried to call their parents. The police launched a massive land sea and air search, but failed to find any trace of the couple. And like we've already said, right, Roderick and Mark were suspects from the beginning, especially, you know, after the police looked into the couple's finances and learned how well off they were. Yeah, because like you said, you have motive. Well, the more money's involved, you know, by my way of thinking, the more motive there is. Not to say that people don't kill for a little money,

because we've done many cases where people have killed for a minuscule amount of money. But when you're talking half a million, a million pounds, okay, that's a lot of motive. People will do a lot for that type of money. Although the home appeared to be clean, forensic investigators found traces of blood in different rooms. On March 4th, 1988, a forensic scientist identified the blood types as belonging to Nicholas and Elizabeth. Blood was found in the sitting room and master bedroom that belonged to Nicholas. Traces of Elizabeth's blood were found in the rest of the house. Now, I think on the surface, when you hear something like that, my first thought is, I'm pretty sure if a forensic scientist came into this house,

they're going to find blood from the whole family somewhere. I mean, who hasn't, you know, cut themselves or done something, got a hang nail and it started bleeding, had a bloody nose. I mean,

there's all kinds of different ways. Now, you think you've cleaned it up and maybe you haven't. They find traces of it. I think once you learn that detectives revealed that they found evidence that someone tried to. clean this blood though it becomes a little more ominous it also sounds to me like this is more than a like a droplet yeah same here they're not saying exactly how much blood it was but i don't think

this is like you know you've got a bloody nose and you've got a tissue up to it but one droplet escapes and you don't even realize it i i don't think that's what we're talking about no no and this wound up changing the course of the investigation. Yeah, no, absolutely. It led the police to believe that Nicholas and Elizabeth were murdered and, you know, in their mind, they had to believe that there was a real distinct possibility that, you know, these two sons had something to do with it. Roderick and Mark went to court to have their parents declared legally dead. In November 1990, the Jersey Royal Court declared the Newell's missing, presumed dead, following an incident of sustained violence, per the evening standard. It wasn't until January 3rd, 1991, that the Jersey Royal officially declared

that the Newells were presumed dead. And it was Mark Newell, who testified before the court that he now believed both his parents were dead. As quoted by the Daily Telegraph, he said, I believe they are dead primarily for three reasons. I have not seen or heard from them for more than three years. I have no evidence they've used any of their financial assets in those three years. And largely because of the information given to me by police, they have indicated they are investigating a murder. And I would say those are three pretty good reasons to believe that someone is no longer alive.

something that you and I talk about quite a bit, right? Why would somebody just up and leave to start a new life, not take any of their money with them? I think in most cases, that doesn't seem to make sense. It doesn't. Kind of lends you to think that, all right, something bad happened to this person. But let me ask you this. Why do you think it would be important for the Newell brothers to want their parents declared legally debt. Well, they need that to happen so they can go ahead and take ownership of the estate. Get their hands-on assets, life insurance, all of that, right? That first part has to happen.

A forensic scientist testified that blood sprayed across the walls in ceiling of the sitting room and had soaked through the carpet. So again, this is not a droplet. he is saying blood sprayed. Yeah. And soaked. On the walls and the ceiling and then soaked through the carpet. That sounds to me like a pretty good amount.

It was thought that Nicholas most likely died in front of the fireplace and that Elizabeth was killed in the primary bedroom. A senior detective testified that the blood stains were not visible because the house had been thoroughly cleaned. And my thought is you would have to do a pretty thorough cleaning to cover up or try to cover up this amount of blood. Sounds like they did a good job of that. Yeah, to the point where it wasn't visible. Now, we know the testing that can be done can pick up blood.

So the court declaring the Newell's legally dead meant that Roderick and Mark could have access to their inheritance. Roderick retired from the army, purchased a yacht, and went sailing around the world. Mark continued working in finance and invested most of his money. Now, neither of those things, to me, screams out, well, they killed their parents. You know, if your parents died and you came into a lot of money, would your lifestyle possibly change? And I think for some, yeah, the answer is yes. you might spend a little something. You might buy something that you've been wanting but couldn't afford.

Sounds like what Roderick did. Mark just put his money in the bank. But it does sound like he was pretty savvy financially. Mark? Yeah. Initially, the brothers were left with the home in Jersey, the villa in Spain, and their parents yacht. Their parents had accounts in London, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland.

Japan and Andorr, as well as profits from a 100,000 pound bond. Well, they just have money everywhere. And your favorite place, Switzerland. Oh, yeah. Which I know is one of the places where you keep a lot of your money. I like the neutrality of it as well. But again, we're talking about two retired teachers. And I think this just speaks to how astute financially Nicholas really was.

I mean, they had quite a bit of money. The fact that they had that account in Andorra, pretty amazing. That's the one that jumps out at you? Yeah. Okay. And And Andorra is where? In And Dora. Okay.

According to the Independent, their uncle Kenneth Newell had passed away by the time of the hearing, which meant they inherited the 500,000 pounds. He laughed to Nicholas. The value of the entire estate was close to one million pounds. And I'm actually surprised it wasn't much, much higher than that. Pretty good money, though, for any time, but back then for sure. And as young as these guys are, right? However, the police thought that Mark invested his inheritance in several countries

and increased it to as much as three million pounds. But because his money was dispersed internationally, it was difficult for them to know how much he had. So I think he must have inherited. or at least paid attention to and learned from his father when it came to financial matters because he seemed to be pretty good at himself. Yeah, to grow up to $3 million. That's good.

The disappearance in presumed murder of Nicholas and Elizabeth Newell remained unsolved until 1992. When Roderick made a tearful confession to his father's identical twin, he didn't know that their conversation was being recorded. So the police might have suspected these guys, but for five years, they weren't able to put it together that they had done anything. And I don't know if they would have been able to had Roderick not slipped up and, you know, made this confession that was caught on tape.

Clearly Roderick felt bad about what he had done. Yeah, the tearful confession kind of. Makes you believe that. On August 6th, 1992, Roderick Newell was arrested on his yacht after he was chased by a Royal Navy frigate. He was arrested 150 miles off the coast of Gibraltar in route to the Canary Islands or Cannery. I've heard people say it both ways. Connery. I've never heard anybody say it that. The Sean Connery Islands. I've never heard anybody say it that way. You know who you probably don't want to be chased by in your yacht is a Royal Navy frigate. Yeah, I'd be like, let's get the frigate out of here, but you know, you're not going to get

away. A warrant was issued for his arrest on July 17th after he confessed to his aunt and uncle. Jersey authorities spent three weeks searching for Roderick and were assisted by Interpol. A Royal Navy ship was on a port, visit to Gibraltar at the time, after a 48-hour surveillance operation, assisted by the local police, the ship was dispatched to arrest Roderick and his crew. And he surrendered without resistance. But he did protest his innocence. After he was arrested, his attorney said he was heading to the South Atlantic to open a marine charter business.

Okay, well, that could be. I'm not sure what that has to do with being innocent, but where you were going then or what you were planning to do at that time doesn't have a lot of bearing on what you may have done five years ago. No, not at all. Papers reported that Roderick's aunt in London contacted the police,

which revived the investigation and led to the arrest warrant. The police were initially vague about what Roderick said in his confession. Then on November 20th, 1992, a Gibraltar judge ruled that Roderick's confession tape was inadmissible. Prosecutors were trying to build a case to have Roderick extradited to Jersey,

and they worried that he would be released if their primary evidence was thrown out. And you would have to think that that was their primary evidence for sure, because if they had enough without it, they would have done something in the preceding five years. Oh, absolutely. They wouldn't wait it this long. It was only the existence of this confession on tape that really allowed them to move forward. But if it gets thrown out, you know, they might be up a creek without a paddle. Good reference.

Good movie, too. So this tape was recorded while detectives listened to a conversation between Roderick and his aunt and uncle at a hotel in Scotland. The judge accused the prosecution of, quote, sneaky behavior in securing the confession, saying, per the Daily Express, I do not believe the police acted improperly in the investigative sense, but they used a sneaky way to circumvent his right to silence. The judge added, the relatives were involved in a conspiracy with police to get what they wouldn't have got if the defendant's right to silence had been. honored. Well, he's not wrong. I mean, I think you have to be careful how you obtain certain conversations. So I can see his side is what I mean. But you wouldn't have that same issue here in the U.S. No, I don't think so at all. People are recorded without their knowledge all the time. I record you all the time. Yeah, for reasons unknown because I don't do anything. But, you know,

if you think back about like mobsters and putting bugs into their headquarters and I mean law enforcement records people without their knowledge any chance they can get yeah I just assume I'm always being under surveillance so I just always kind of careful with what I say so I don't know if this is a Gibraltar thing you know it's a territory of Britain so you would think they would follow kind of the same guidelines when it came to the law, but I don't know. Very rocky place. That's because you only went to the rock of Gibraltar. That's why you thought it was so rocky.

Yeah. Roderick was remanded into custody while a judge decided if he should be free on bail. In December, prosecutors presented an affidavit given by a woman to a Jersey officer that described a second confession from Roderick. The affidavit was presented at a judicial review with Gibraltar Supreme Court. Ultimately, the court ruled that the confession tape could be used as part of the prosecution's case for extradition. And to me, I think this is huge for the prosecution.

Again, without it, I don't know if they would have been able to move forward. I just don't think they had enough. Roderick overdosed on pills on December. 23 and was in a coma for 72 hours. His extradition was delayed until March when an appeals court was scheduled to hear the defense's argument against the ruling on the confession tape. On March 14th, 1993, Roderick attempted to end his life by injecting himself with drugs.

He was found unconscious in his cell and taken to the hospital. This was reported to be his third try at ending. his life. You think he felt remorse? I think he felt something, which is either remorse for what he had done, or maybe the knowledge that this case was going to go against him, and he was going to spend a very, very long time in jail. On March 17, 1993, Mark Newell was arrested in Paris on a murder warrant. The evening standard reported that Mark went into hiding after his brother, was arrested, but the family attorney said he was willing to speak to the police at any time. But what else is the family attorney going to say? Yes, Mark went into hiding or no, he's in Paris.

He's not in hiding. All you have to do is, you know, ask him to come in and he's more than willing to come in. Yeah, you don't want to be known as someone trying to hide because if you do end up going to the trial, it's not going to look good. No, taking off on the wrong. run never looks good. Trying to outrun a Navy Royal Frigot in your yacht never looks good. Mark was extradited to Jersey on April 30th and formally charged with murder. Roderick fought extradition for several months. His extradition proceeding started in October 1993. The court learned that Roderick confessed after, quote, gazing into the face of his dead fight. He said, father's identical twin.

You know what? I can see how that could set somebody off. Well, and you said the word remorse. And I'm starting to think there was some on his part. Roderick had tea with his aunt and uncle, Stephen and Gay Newell at the Dunkeld Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland. He was unaware that he was being recorded. According to the evening standard,

he confessed that he carried the blame for the murders. He said there were no mitigating circumstances and he had to live with the guilt. He confessed that his parents' bodies were wrapped in plastic and hidden. Roderick said that he couldn't spend 25 years in prison and would consider suicide if the police found out what happened. Well, he stayed true to that, right? He tried in his life multiple times. so maybe lends a little credibility to the confession. He also said he looked forward to seeing his parents on the far side,

but he would never apologize to them. The prosecutor argued in court, this amounts to the clearest confession to being involved in murder a person can make, short of saying, yes, I did it. And I would say that's pretty true. He never actually said he did it. He said he carried the blame. He said his parents' bodies were wrapped in plastic and hidden, and that he would rather die

than spend time in prison if they found out what happened. But he never actually says, I killed my parents. I did think it was strange that he said he looked forward to seeing his parents, but he would never apologize to them. That's going to be an awkward meeting. Now, I'm not sure that all of these individuals are going to end up in the same place. He used the term Farside. I think he might be going below deck.

Yes. If you get my meaning. I do. Before confessing to his aunt and uncle, Roderick confessed to his girlfriend, Helene Petto in 1991. He broke down in her arms and cried, I am a murderer, I am a murderer. You know what does not help you if you're a murderer? Being unable to stop saying, I am a murderer. Yeah, it doesn't look good.

And not being able to refrain from telling all of these different people. The court heard that Roderick asked his dad to rent a van in his name saying that he needed it to move mattresses. Prosecutors argued that this van was used to transport the bodies. And imagine that. Nicholas went to rent a van that ultimately was used to transport his body along with his wife. Kind of macabre. It's very macabre. But as a parent, would you ever think you have this request from your kid? Hey, can you rent me a van? I need to do something. About the last thought that's going to go through your mind is, well, I wonder if he's going to be. to use this or if they're going to use this to move my dead body. Now, you have me second guessing paying for my daughter's rental. Rental move. Yeah.

Yeah. Keep your head on a swivel. Absolutely. On the night of October 10th, Roderick and his parents drank two bottles of champagne at home and a third at the restaurant. All right. That's a little bit of champagne. It is. It's a lot of bubbly. During a drunken argument, Nicholas was bludgeoned to death in his sitting room and Elizabeth was killed in the primary bedroom. Roderick took elaborate but ultimately unsuccessful steps to clean the house and he turned the heat all the way up to dry out the rooms before police arrived. And I think this story of events helps to explain why the only clothes that were missing from the house were the clothes that Nicholas and Elizabeth had worn to dinner because they were killed in those clothes. So you can't have those in the

house. You got to get rid of them. I mean, how bad is a fight that you end up killing both your parents? Well, it said it was a drunken argument. And you know, alcohol, especially in in great quantities, can make people do some really nasty things. And I know from personal experience that champagne can give you a different type of drunk. So maybe you're friendly if you just, if you got drunk on beer or something, but different if you had a lot of champagne. I've never actually had a lot of champagne. I've maybe had a glass at a wedding or at a New Year's Eve party, but I've never just sat and like pounded a bottle of champagne. So I can't tell you. Obviously, you have multiple times in your life to have this much, uh,

knowledge on the subject. I can neither confirm nor deny. That seems to happen a lot with you. And I can confirm or deny a lot of things. Most of the things that people ask me, because everything in my life is pretty cut and dry. You're an international man of mystery. And so there's a lot of things that you cannot answer. On the advice of counsel, I must take the fifth. Take the sixth, too, while you're at it. The six and the seventh. Roderick said he had lunch with his parents on October 11th and then took a flight in the

evening. But investigators believed the nools were already dead and their bodies buried by that morning. Elizabeth's friend Maureen Ellum visited the house on October 11th to give her flowers for her birthday. Roderick answered the door and said his parents were still in bed, he would not let her in the house. And she was one of the neighbors who snuck into the house after she didn't hear from the couple for days. Now, I don't know that initially that interaction would be viewed with that much suspicion.

If he said, hey, we were out late, we were all drinking. They're still in bed. I could buy that. I think so, too. I drop off the flowers and, you know, I'll come back later. But obviously, as a number of days go by and you can't get in touch with this person, you might view that interaction much differently. And you're definitely going to view it differently once all the facts start to come out.

When Maureen came to the house after the Nul's were reported missing, she followed Roderick around and saw a stain on the carpet. in the primary bedroom. She also saw that some of the carpeting had been ripped up from what she thought was aggressive cleaning. And let's face it, blood is not the easiest thing in the world to get up. It is not. On October 20, 1993, the defense agreed to the extradition with no explanation.

Roderick arrived in Jersey on November 6, 1993. after more than a year of legal battles fighting extradition. And that seems strange. And like all of a sudden just say, you know what, I'll stop fighting the extradition. Yeah. Maybe he just got tired of it or wanted to get this thing over.

Maybe he thought, this has costing me a lot to fight this. Within hours of his arrival, he went with the police to search the wooded area where he said he buried the bodies. And maybe that does kind of lead, back to this theory that he was just done with all the fighting and he wanted to get this thing over with because, I mean, he's not back, but a couple of hours and he's already leading

police straight to the bodies. On November 8th, 1993, Roderick Newell pleaded guilty to the murder of both of his parents. Roderick admitted that he planned the birthday dinner. He encouraged his parents to drink champagne, vodka, and other liquor before they came home. He was the one who loaded the bodies into the rental van and buried them. The next day, he cleaned the house. The Evening Standard reported that he confessed to his aunt after he saw a vision of his mother. She told her husband, and their meeting was recorded. Roderick's remorse was allegedly brought on after reading works by author Herman Hess

and watching the movie Cape Fear. Cape Fear. Come out, come out wherever you're at. Which is a very good movie. I don't know which version, the original or the De Niro Nick Nolte version. Yeah. He watched, but I'm not sure how that would have triggered remorse. No, neither.

I've seen them. It's a good movie. It is. Both of them are good, but on November 9th, the remains of Nicholas and Elizabeth Newell were found in a wooded area on the island. The bodies were buried in a four feet deep hole on a steep sandy bank. And you know who we really haven't talked about much at all is marked. Right. So, you know, at this point, Roderick has confessed. He's basically said, you know, I was the one who encouraged them to drink. I loaded the bodies into the rental van. I buried them. I cleaned the house. What was missing. What was

missing from what I talked about is that he never actually said I killed them. True. But on the day that his parents' bodies were discovered, Roderick issued a statement seeking to clear mark of any blame. The brother's representative, David LeQueen, read the statement for him. According to the evening standard, he said, Roderick wishes to make it clear that he has pleaded guilty to alone killing his parents and alone is the important word there. Roderick has made a statement under caution to police in which he admits alone killing his parents. And in that statement,

it's quite clear that his brother Mark was not involved in the killings. So is this a brother trying to save another brother? Well, I think there's only two options here. Either that you're trying to save your brother or you really did it alone and Mark didn't have anything to do with it. On March 17th, 1994, the court heard that Roderick confessed the bludgeoning Nicholas and Elizabeth with a pickaxe and a martial arts rice flail. Wow. And I don't know exactly what that is. I'm kind of thinking it's something like they used to use back in the Middle Ages, right? right? A flail was like, is that like the ball with the chain and the spikes on it? I think so. I don't know if the martial arts version is similar, but either way, that, a pickax.

I think it kind of paints a picture of why, you know, there was blood spraying onto the walls, onto the ceiling. This must have been a very, very vicious attack. And this was his parents. That's a good point. I mean, you wouldn't want anyone to go through that. And you wouldn't want to do that to anyone. But imagine it being your parents. Yeah.

It's so tough. How do you do that? Despite his brother's earlier claim that he was not involved in the murders, Mark finally admitted to helping his brother bury the bodies and cover up the crime. Roderick made a full confession from his son. in November 1993, the following quotes come from the evening standard. Roderick admitted, my recollection is not completely clear about what happened after so much time. He did remember that he got into a drunken argument with his father after the

birthday dinner. According to Roderick, many old wounds were reopened. And it came to a head with my father and I standing face to face. And I told him what I thought about him. things which I had never said before. He pushed me and I fell, hitting my head. I found myself beside a box of possessions, which I had sorted out and removed from the attic earlier that day. On top of the box was a pair of rice flails, which I grabbed and used to club my father. Again, I am going to have to look up these rice foils because I do not know exactly what

they are. Could be nunchucks. Why wouldn't it just say nunchucks? Because I think different martial arts call them different things. Okay. You could be correct. Did you like my sound effects? Yeah, I did.

Okay. I don't know about the audience, but it was great for me. Because you also moved your arms, which people won't be able to see. That's true. And it went great with the sound effects. Because it's one of the questions that, you know, I had as we were kind of telling the story, how do you just happen to have these martial arts? implements with you.

Well, now he's saying, well, I was cleaning out the attic. I had a box full of stuff and they were sitting on top. They were just happening to be right there. Was there also a pickaxe in the attic that you were cleaning up as well? What kind of things are you collecting? He went on to say, in complete panic, I checked the kitchen and bedroom where I found my mother's body.

That triggered my memory of attacking her. Then I realized I had killed both my parents. And to me, this is an interesting statement by Roder. He has some clarity on what happened with his father that he doesn't seem to have with what happened with his mother. He says he found her body and that's what triggered his realization that he had killed her. Now, you'd take all that with a grain of salt, but if he's going to tell the story about killing his father, why not tell the story about killing his mother. It could be very well.

What happened? Yeah, there's no way to know for sure. He said that he called Mark and told him. The only thing to do is kill myself. Mark arrived and found Roderick holding a gun. He calmed Roderick down and they wrapped the bodies and tarps and loaded them into the rented van, then took them to the woods. They cleaned the blood inside the home.

So there's a couple of things for me. here. You know, one is, what would you do if you got a call from your brother who said he had just murdered your parents? This is assuming that this is the correct version of events. Well, that would be a very difficult call to take, unless for some reason you couldn't stand your parents and you quickly got on board with it. But it does sound like he pretty quickly got on board with with helping his brother. I don't know if he was on board with them being dead. Yeah, I mean, there is a thing about brotherly love, you know,

especially if you have a really good, close relationship with that brother. Well, that's got to be a pretty good relationship to help your brother cover up the murder of your parents, especially if as the story goes, you didn't know anything about it. You're just getting this call out of the blue that says, hey, I've murdered our parents. And then what? You go and help your brother dispose of the bodies,

clean the house. I think it's hard to think that somebody could just do it like that. Like you would think that they were involved somehow, or they must have had a lot of guilt in the past about something with their brother, that they felt like, I've got to help them, you know, because all the shit I've done to him or something in the past that they had to be okay with assisting. Or this story is BS.

Or the story is complete BS, yeah. Roderick said, my feelings of guilt and remorse built up ever since that night and I found it increasingly hard to live a lot. I was particularly concerned for Mark, who had counseled me not to take my life and helped and supported me in coming to. terms with what I had done. I felt certain that the police would not accept the truth, which was that he was not involved in the killings. And I do think if Roderick is telling the truth, he is different than a lot of the murderers that we talk about.

You know, I think many of them have no remorse, have no feelings of guilt. And it sounds like if he's being honest, that he really did. And I'm getting that the only reason he didn't come forward earlier was because he didn't want his brother to get in trouble. Protecting the brother. Well, it's brother protecting brother. Roderick said he still didn't understand how he was capable of the murders, but thought

his actions were caused by what he called bitter childhood memories that were brought up during the argument. Mark also gave a full confession and was convicted of assisting an offender and concealing the bodies. His murder charge was dropped. So, you know, the police must have believed what Roderick said. I mean, he took full responsibility for the murders. Now, Mark did help bury the bodies. He did help, you know, clean up the crime scene.

Mark said Roderick and his parents got into a drunken argument. about Roderick's career and other matters, they'd had similar arguments in the past. Mark didn't want to hear it, so he left the house. And then it was hours later that Roderick called him and said he killed their parents. When he arrived, he found both of their bodies in the house. You know, I'm thinking how tragic that really is, right? I mean, you're there, whole families together, and it breaks out to one of those crazy arguments where people are just complaining or not happy or.

Sounds like maybe rehashing, you know, things that they'd had problems with in the past, opening up, you know, old wounds, things like that. You're like, here we go again. Can we just have a nice night together as a family? And, you know, I can see where somebody would be like, okay, I'm out of here. I'm not going to go through this again.

This is such a waste of time. And they get a call a few hours later to hear what happens. And then you go there and you find your parents. You just had dinner with them. You just drank champagne with them. And I think if you're Mark, you do have to make a decision. And it sounds to me like, and I'm speculating here, but they were already dead. Yeah.

There was nothing that was going to bring them back. I wonder if he thought, well, I don't want to lose my brother also. He's the only person I have left. So I'll help him. So I'll help him. The brothers were sentenced on August 8th, 1994. Mark was sentenced to six years and Roderick received a double life sentence. He did have the possibility of parole, which is not uncommon in cases outside of the U.S.

It's something that we've talked about, you know, many, many times. When we do cases in the U.K., Canada, they are much more into. the possibility of parole or the eligibility for parole, then sometimes we are here in the United States for the same type of murder. Very true. The defense argued that the murders were not premeditated, but a prosecutor told the court that the brother's confessions were fabricated and carefully crafted. The police found evidence that Roderick purchased what they called murder equipment.

on the morning of the murders. While awaiting sentencing, Roderick issued a statement saying he wanted nothing to do with his inheritance. However, Mark made it clear. He was going to fight to keep his money. You know, this prosecutor saying that the confessions were fabricated.

There was one thing that kind of aided me as we were going through the research. And it was about this van. My question is, did Roderick really have mattresses to move? Because if not, that kind of screams premeditation. Sure does. Hey, dad, can you rent me this van that I'm later going to transport your body in? Or was it just the fact that he had the van, he had used it to move something. And so it was a perfect vehicle to move the bodies once the morgue. murders occur. Just convenient. It's one of the other, but there's a big distinction between the two.

Oh, yeah. So Mark wants to keep this money. And as the executor of his parents will, he refused to give permission for his parents to be buried in Scotland. We mentioned it up front, right? They were from Scotland. Nicholas's twin brother, Stephen, and Elizabeth's sister Nancy took steps to have him removed as executor. They have the brother's assets frozen and filed a civil action to have the inheritance overturned. And that doesn't seem like it would be all that tough to do. I don't know the legal wranglings, but you have someone who is at some level involved in, at the very least, the disposal and the cover up of a murder. How can you still then be the, the executor of that person's will.

Yeah, you think at a minimum, the courts would put it with some type of trustee. Something. Mark called his aunt and uncle greedy and distasteful for trying to stop the brothers from accessing their inheritance. Well, sure, that's what's distasteful about this whole case.

Yeah. Not the fact that our parents were murdered. We both had some involvement to what degree is still. under debate, but even, you know, if you believe that Mark helped clean up and help dispose of the body, that's a little more distasteful than trying to stop these guys from getting their inheritance. Mark Newell was released from prison. In May 1996, despite public outrage and protest, Gibbs, he served just 20 months in prison. And,

was free to access his inheritance upon his release. Authority suspected that he continued investing the money while in prison. I'm sure he did. I guarantee you that he had either somebody taking care of it or he was directing the investing himself. As we talked about earlier, he's good at investing. Yeah, they said they thought, you know, maybe he turned it into as much as three million The Herald Scotland reported that he most likely returned to Paris.

Roderick Newell was scheduled to be released from prison in November 2006. And I found that hard to believe. It's really early for a double murder and a dual life sentence. During his time in prison, he made contact with Mark after he was sentenced to life in prison. Roderick was barred from inheriting any more money from the estate. but the police suspected Mark would give his brother money to help him restart his life. And you know one reason Mark would definitely want to give his brother money is if his brother actually took the fall for what they both had done.

Oh, for sure, right? Like, hey, bro, I got you. I got you. Don't you worry. Because you saved me from however many years in prison. I'm not saying that's what happened. but you could see a scenario there where Mark would feel extremely obligated to help Roderick when he gets out. Yeah, because he could have spent a lot more than just 20 months.

Yeah, if his involvement was determined to have been more than what it was. Roderick had been working as an IT lecturer at Chichester College in West Sussex. he helped teenagers learn about computers. He was moved to an open prison facility, which is why he was allowed to have a teaching job. He wore glasses and grew a beard to disguise his appearance. And I think it's the other thing that we often see in some of these other countries, that we're just not used to as much here in the United States.

You know, here's a guy who's in prison serving what was called a double, life sentence, but is moved to an open prison and allowed to teach teenagers. I get it. If this guy's going to get out, he's got to try to be rehabilitated, he's got to be reintegrated into society. I get all that. Doesn't change the fact that it's strange for us from what we're used to. Yeah. Not the norm here. Roderick was officially released after serving 13. years in prison. And I think to a lot of people, that is tough to stomach. Pretty light, I feel. Well, I do too for a guy who murdered both of his parents. But again, a lot of that just goes back to what we're used to here in the United States. Yeah, but I still have a problem with it. No, I get it. And you're,

you're right to have that thought, just as there might be some people that say, you know what, they're fine with 13 years. He did his time and now. he can, you know, live his life. They're free to have that thought as well. But as we wrap this one up, the murders of Nicholas and Elizabeth Newell remain one of the most high profile cases in Jersey history. To this day, a lot of people are appalled at how little time the brothers served in prison, but especially Roder.

And that makes sense. You know, if he was the one who actually committed both murders, that 13 years, I think for many is a little tough to stomach. Yeah. After their parents were brutally beaten to death, the brothers conspired to cover up the murders and use their inheritance to fund their lavish lifestyles. Means selling around the world.

Yeah, and buying a yacht and doing all that. So, you know, there's a couple of things that, I guess if you want to throw on the tinfoil hat, you can bandy about. Was this really an argument that ended in murder, a double murder, committed by Roderick alone,

or was this a plan for the brothers to get their hands on their parents' money? And was Mark much more involved than what Roderick said he was? meaning did Roderick essentially take the fall for his brother? Potentially. I think there's questions. It could have happened exactly the way Roderick said it did. Sure. But I think you could also make the case that there was much more premeditation

than the version of events that he told, renting the van, buying things earlier in the day that prosecuted. called murder tools. Yeah, going out the dinner, making sure your parents got super drunk, yep. And then, you know, once it went bad, it did take five years, but once everything started to come out, you know, did they hatch a plan where one would help insulate the other?

That meant that one of the brothers would still be able to collect the inheritance. And then he would help the other one. once he eventually got out. Yeah. I think you could see a scenario where that's a possibility. I think he can also see the scenario that if Roderick just would have remained calm, they potentially could have never been caught. Well, I think absolutely.

There's a chance they could have gotten away with this if Roderick doesn't open his mouth. But why does he open his mouth? According to him, it's because he felt guilty. He felt remorseful. Yeah. and he saw a vision of his mom and saw his dad and his, you know, brothers and his uncle's face.

And it, you know, made him confess. Yeah. Maybe that's true. Maybe that's not. I don't know why else he would have done it because it didn't seem as though they were closing in on him at that point.

It had been, what, five years? I can see where Mark would be like, you know, if they plan to do this together and then all of a sudden, Roder decides to open his mouth. Did I see what Mark could be like, hey, that wasn't part of the deal.

Now you're going to take the. Yeah, you're going to take this because I'm rock. Yeah, I've been staying quiet, buddy. Yeah, I don't know. But it's an interesting, wild tragic story. Yeah. But that's it for our episode on Roderick and Mark Newell. We got some voicemails.

You want to check those out? Let's hear them. Hey, Mike. Hey, Givie. Hey, this is Mindy calling from Oklahoma. It's for you to look at. Logan Tucker. He's a little boy from the

Port Supply Woodward in Oklahoma area. And I would love to get your take on it because I love your banter and your take on these true crimes. Anyway, I love you guys. Gene Gibby. Hi, Mike. Keep your own time ticking.

Bye. All right. Thanks for the voicemail. Mindy. I think she also has one on Unsolved this week. She left another one there. She's awesome. Yeah, I looked at case up, and it is one that I do think we should cover.

You know, somebody is in prison for it, but there's some stuff online. People aren't really sure. The evidence was pretty circumstantial, so. I don't have to dive into it if you get out. It could be, it could make for an interesting case. Interesting. She's from Oklahoma, though, as I just did that performance in that big city, Oklahoma play. A big city in Oklahoma or the play Oklahoma?

The play Oklahoma and a big city. In Oklahoma? No. In just a big city. A big city? To be named not. A local big city. A local big city.

I think there was like 20 people there. I was going to say, we don't have any local big cities. Usher, ticket taker, and concession stand operator. Okay. So I am so last. laughing right now. I just finished the Ian Huntley. You know, he's British. Anyway, this is Debbie Dien's Frye. And I am just laughing at this episode because Gibby said a lot of tea bagging going on in England area. And I just laughed out loud. Everybody's looking at me crazy in the

office. So keep up all the good work. I love listening to you guys. And I know I'm Team Givby, but Mike, you're awesome too. I hope you guys have a good day. Bye-bye. All right. That's Debbie Deinstry. Deinstry. I've said it wrong like three times.

I'm hoping I can get it right. I mean, she just told me how to say it. She even kind of used like a British. But you're right. I mean, they do drink a lot of tea over there and there's a lot of dunking of the bag. Yeah, a lot of tea bagging going on. Up and down. Up and down.

Okay. You said that. That's how you dunk it. I make tea from, I don't drink tea myself, but my wife drinks a lot of tea. And sometimes she asks me to make it for it. So you enjoy tea bag in. I enjoy dunking the tea bag, yes, into the cup of water. I'm just letting you walk yourself into things.

All right, we had no mail bag this week. So that's it, buddy, for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time. Thank you.