True Crime with Kendall Rae - Did Sandra Garner Kill Her Husband?

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

In 2018, Sandra Garner called 911 claiming that her husband had been shot by a masked home-intruder. After a gun was found in her car, and a few different searches for how to kill someone found on her iPad, Sandra was arrested. And to add on top of that, her son Wesley was quick to make it clear that he believed she could commit this crime. This episode is sponsored by: Bare Necessities - promo code: kendallrae20 Vegamour - promo code: kendallrae Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

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The FU energy, energy for everything. Captain Banner now to learn more. Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. So today we're going to be talking about a very controversial case. People are all over the place with their opinions on this one, and I think this comment section is gonna look the same way. Normally, I can kind of pinpoint how I think you guys are gonna feel about a case,

but this one is really, really hard. I'm not even sure what I think about this case, but it's definitely one of those that's gonna leave you feeling frustrated either way, and probably a bit confused. And another reason why this case was interesting to me was because there is a lot of body cam footage available to kind of look at.

And I think that's really interesting to see someone right after an incident occurs, kind of see how they're acting. I think that can sometimes tell you a lot. Today we're gonna be talking about a couple of names, Sandra and John. So Sandra and John met in the 90s in Paris, Texas when they were both working at a packaging company. Sandra is actually 13 years older than John

but that never bothered them. She had already been through a divorce and had two kids. So he stepped in as a father figure to them as well. Her son's name is Wes and her daughter's name is Andrea. The two of them dated for two years before they decided to get married at the start of the millennium. They got married on January 1st in Las Vegas and became a new family. So John was known as a really nice guy, very outgoing, very kind, very warm. Most people really liked John and got along with him really well. People that didn't would point out though that he had a bit of a drinking problem. He would drink a little too much and kind of pushed the boundaries with get a little wild at times. I don't know exactly what that means, but that's what friends and family said.

Also, it's been noted that he struggled a lot with his mental health and he was on antidepressants at this time. And John actually was a manager at the packaging company. So he dealt with hiring people and firing people and he actually enjoyed firing people. He found it to be fun. Like he got some type of rush out of it. He liked the power that it gave him. He would say that he did not want people working for him that were lazy in any way and anyone who's gonna slow him down. So he had no problem firing people which this is hard for a lot of people to fire someone. That's like a dreaded task for most. But overall he loved his job and he loved

his family and he loved Sandra. So life was going pretty good for him at this time. Sandra and John were deeply in love. They felt like partners in life like soulmates. And like I said, John really stepped up and was like a second father to her kids, especially her son Wes. Wes and him bonded a lot easier. It was a lot more natural for him to get along with Wes. However, he struggled a lot more with Andrea, her daughter. Andrea just did not warm up to him right away. She kind of got strange vibes, but that's fairly normal. You know, it's hard when a parent starts dating someone or marry someone that you aren't completely comfortable with yet.

It can just be someone of a transition. And in 2014, Sandra was actually diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which is so, so hard on your body, so difficult to deal with in your everyday life. It completely transformed your life. So John had to really step up and be a caretaker to Sandra. And he did not mind that. He stood by her side every step of the way, making sure that she was as comfortable as possible,

that he could, you know, make everyday tasks and stuff easier for her, making sure she's getting enough rest, and seeing John step up and take care of her mom, really made Andrea realize how much John really loved her. So that's when their relationship turned. She ended up really caring about John, and thought he was a good fit for her mother, and loved him. So the family was getting closer, you know, he's close with Wes, he's close with Andrea, and his relationship with Sandra is really great. know, he's close with Wes, he's close with Andrea and his relationship with Sandra is really great. However, she's really struggling with her at Mass.

It is really taking a toll on her physically and mentally as well. The medicine that she had to be on was making her feel very sick and depressed. And at some of her lowest points, Sandra actually thought about taking her own life. She felt like she was a burden to John, she felt like she was holding him back in life and she was just in

pain and feeling so depressed that she actually googled how to kill herself. But her biggest concern was about John, how he would get on without her, and eventually she actually told him that she was thinking about doing this and he talked her out of it because he said, if you do that, I'm going to have to kill myself as well. And she said that was the moment she knew that she couldn't do it. So John essentially became her reason for living and she loved him very much. He was her full-time caretaker. Eventually she couldn't even work anymore. She did quit her job and he also was the sole breadwinner. So he was carrying a lot of pressure

in the relationship and Sandra knew that and felt so badly about it but also loved him so much that he never changed the way that he loved her or acted like he always had a good attitude was there for her wanted to help her truly cared about her. So at this point Sandra is emotionally, physically, and financially dependent on John. And obviously that's a lot of pressure for him, but that did not seem to bother him one bit. If anything her having a mess seemed to make their relationship stronger. In 2016 they moved to May Pearl, Texas, which is a small town in Ellis County, about 35 miles south Dallas.

And it has a population of under a thousand people. They ended up buying a house. It was on the 100 block of Creekview Circle, and they moved in there with their two dogs. And they were both really close with their families. So close that John's family ended up moving across the street from them. And they would host tons of events at their house, holidays, get together, birthdays, dinners, all of that. Their house and backyard became kind of a central hub for the family. So things were good for them for years, you know, other than her MS, that was very difficult. But overall, they were really happy and their relationship

was strong up until 2018. From joyful occasions to the unexpected, first Franklin financial makes loans for living, offering fixed rates and flexible terms on loans up to $15,000. The next time you're looking for some extra cash to help make ends meet, come see the friendly Franklin folks, or visit us at 1ffc.com to learn more. All in terms of APRs depend on meeting our underwriting and income criteria and may require collateral. First Franklin Financial Corporation is licensed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission

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Save big on your favorites with the Buy, Fiver More, Save a Dollar each sale. Simply buy five or more participating items and save a dollar each with your card. Kroger, fresh for everyone. It was Monday, January 1, 2018, so this is their 18th anniversary. That evening, we were going to have dinner with Sandra's son, Wes.

He came over in the afternoon, and he stayed till about 7 pm. And normally, John and Sandra did not stay up very late at night. They normally went to sleep between 9.30, 10-ish at the latest. So they went to bed sometime between 9 and 10. But then at 12.50 in the morning, police got a frantic call from Sandra Garner. 911. Why is your emergency? I need somebody to come. I need a police car.

I need an ambulance. I wasn't the job. OK. What happened there? There was a man in here. I need somebody. Can you tell me not to call the police? And do you know where the mouth's

up to? Can't? No. I was in the bathroom. And I need somebody to sit down. I got to a hundred. And not to call the police. So he went back to the bathroom.

They said, as I call him, before I reach the house, he come back and kill me. Please hurry. I think it's so loud. Is it like you know is it? Please, what can I do for him? You want to try to do CPR? Yes.

Yes. I need the legum to let him back on the ground. You're a movie. You need to try to do CPR? Yes, yes. I need to lay down flat on the back on the ground. You remove any pillows. On the ground? You don't have to get them off the bed. Yes, no, it's possible. We need to try to do some complaints. Okay, he's on the floor. One, two, four, one, two, three, two, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, tonight's the day you're here. So clearly she's very upset, very scared. She is screaming that he might still be alive, that she heard him making some noises,

so she takes him off the bed to do CPR. And she said that some man had come in and shot him and then had her sit in the bathroom and count to 100 slowly before calling 911. So that's what she had just finished doing. Now, it's so weird is you have this woman screaming on the phone that her husband's been shot by an intruder and it took the police 15 minutes to get there.

And like I said, they were wearing body cams so you can see the whole thing playing out. You can see the officers first coming in the house in this clip. Sandra was originally in the bedroom, screaming for help when they walked in. And John was lying on the bedroom floor where Sandra had moved him. The officer checked him and said that he was still warm, so it's possible that he was alive when Sandra first called. And then you can hear Sandra asking if he's still alive. If he was. No man. Oh, sweet.

You're gonna get it. You're gonna get it. Please. Then the officers realized that the person who did this could still be in the house according to Sandra, a man was in the house. So you can see in the footage, they start checking around,

seeing if anyone's possibly hiding in the house still. They were able to clear the house though, and they locked it down. And then they ended up taking pictures just with one of the officer's cell phones, and he snapped photos of Sandra all around the house. But unfortunately, before they were able to completely lock the scene down, several paramedics had been in another room. Sometimes this happens, but it's definitely not ideal for a crime scene. And as soon as they got there, Sandra was just so emotional and upset. She could not stay

calm for even a few minutes to talk. She was just very traumatized by all of this. Did you see who did this? Yes! I don't know who they came in here. You came in the house? Yes! So they ended up calling in the Ellis County Sheriff's Office to help with the investigation because they're a really small town and they rarely see these types of crimes.

Once the other officers got there they searched the house for evidence, swabbed, and locked on the crime scene. And meanwhile Sandra was brought into the station for questioning. Now obviously Sandra is the only witness here. So at this point she is their best chance of solving this. So they start interviewing her around 2 a.m. and I mean she had just been asleep according to her, so she's very shaken, this has all happened very quickly. She was really struggling to stay calm as anyone would in this situation, but she was trying her best to not get emotional because she knew the more emotional she got,

the harder it would be for her to reconformation and help give them the correct information for them to solve this case. And she was very upset about what had happened to John. They started by swapping her hands for gunshot residue, they took some pictures of her, and then they also collected the clothes that she had been wearing before they started questioning her. So here's how it all went down according to Sandra. You wanna be on my shoulder? So first she told them that they were sleeping, it was a normal night, Wes came over for dinner, and then suddenly they awoke at 12.50 to the sound of a gunshot, and she quickly corrects herself and says it's actually

two gunshots that she heard. When she looks up she sees a man in their bedroom with a flashlight and a gun. Next thing she knew she was on the floor next to her bed hiding and screaming and she said she was just hoping someone would hear her if she yelled loud enough. Then she described this guy. She said that he was a white man wearing a blue hoodie and jeans. And this guy was also wearing a mask and he was taller than her. That's pretty much all she recalled about his physical appearance. So the man had already killed John. He'd already shot him and Sandra starts saying, please don't kill me. And that's when he says that he was here to kill John as revenge. So what minus all, I believe,

I lost my house, I lost my wife, I lost my cube. So as you heard her explain, she says that this person was there because John had fired him from work, so it must have been one of their ex employees. And then he said something about how he heard that John stored money in the house and that he was there for that. So she says then she led him to the safe where he kept the money in the closet. Now this is the way that Sandra says she was kind of able to catch a glimpse of this person. She could only see his eyes of course because he was wearing a face mask, but the light from the

lock box lit him up kind of. And she said that when she looked at the man that he said if he ever looked at her again, he would kill her. So she looked away. Sandra said that she then gave him the money that was in the safe, which according to her was $18,000. They can't verify this. She said that was how much it was last time she counted, but they have no idea exactly how much it was or if there was even money in there. Then he leaves her in the bathroom, tells her to count to 100 before she calls 911. They interrogated Sandra for hours, and then they let her go back home.

And when she got home, all of her family had already gathered at her in-laws' house across the street to discuss everything that had happened, kind of mourn John together, and try to put the picture together of what had happened here. And of course Sandra was very upset.

She needed her family more than ever at this time. Now most of the family never considered Sandra to be a suspect in any way and never even crossed their minds. But there were a few family members who had their doubts. And that night Sandra went back to her house, which you'd think would be pretty scary, you know, your husband had just been killed there. But she said that she knew John would want her to be there, that she felt more comfortable in her house, and she had no intention of staying anywhere else, or moving anywhere else. In fact, she was hoping that the killer would come back

to the location so that she could kill him herself. So Sandra went home after meeting with family to kind of rest, gather herself, and recoup after everything that had happened. Meanwhile, Sandra's family had just gone over to her son, Wes's apartment, and told him that John had been killed. And as soon as he hears this, he gets in the car and goes to the police department to talk to them. So they brought him into a room to find out what he knew. And at this point, Wes hadn't even talked to his mom yet, which is kind of odd, right?

You know, her husband had just been murdered, right? In front of her, you'd think he would take a second to call and see how she's doing. I feel like it says a lot that he instead went straight to the police station. And as soon as he started talking to them, he started implying that his mom did this. When they would ask him to clarify this more, you know, be more direct, what do you mean? He would kind of clam up and get uncomfortable because this was his mom. So you were working to realize that,

Dr. Senn, if she did something like to help out the other kind of life, put your thoughts on it. What was it? I guess mom, man. But he doubted Sandra's version of the story majorly. He said that he didn't buy the idea that an intruder just came into their house.

He said that the dogs would have barbed, they would have had more of a warning, and they really weren't looking at Sandra at all. They really believed her version of events, her story was very clear, she stuck to the same story, so they didn't have much of a reason to question her until they talked to Wes. He seemed almost eager to pin this killing on his mother. He never flat out accused her, but he made it clear that he thought that she was capable of committing this murder. From joyful occasions to the unexpected, first Franklin financial makes loans for living, offering fixed rates and flexible terms on loans up to $15,000.

The next time you're looking for some extra cash to help make ends meet, come see the Friendly Franklin folks, or visit us at 1ffc.com to learn more. All in terms of APRs depend on meeting our underwriting and income criteria and may require collateral. First Franklin Financial Corporation is licensed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission CFI-215, Georgia Residential Mortgage Licency 5656, and the MLSN of the 14165 Board, not available in North Carolina Wendy's is open till midnight or later so you can give in to the craving and go night mode

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So all throughout the night and the next several days, they searched all of John's belongings, all their stuff in their house, all their cars. They had like a few detached structures, like a shed, and a garage. They searched all of that as well. And Sandra drove a Ford Mustang that was kept in a side detached garage. So Wes ended up telling them that Sandra had a gun in her car that she normally kept it in her purse, but it was also sometimes under a gun in her car that she normally kept it in her purse,

but it was also sometimes under the seat of her car. So officers searched the garage and the Mustang and they found nothing. In John and Sandra's bedroom, they found a bullet inside of one of their pillowcases, and then they obviously took as much as they could from the house, you know, electronics, anything where data was stored. I've had iPhone anything that has messaging on their in search history and they also found a lot of guns in this house. Guns were a hobby to John. He had a huge collection. He had 49 pistols, 12 rifles and he didn't keep them all like in one organized space. He stashed them everywhere. They were all over the house in case he needed to quickly access one, which makes you think that maybe he really was worried that someone he had fired or someone from his past would, you know, come and

do what they did. He seemed to feel that he needed the protection. So investigators were able to account for all the guns that they owned except for one gun, which was a 38 caliber that John had gotten Sandra for one of their anniversaries. It was a tourist pistol and it was registered to Sandra. So that doesn't look good. And then not only that, when they tested her hands for gun residue, a small amount of gun residue was on her hands. Now, this can be explained in other ways, you know, she was near his body, she was touching him doing CPR, she could have gotten gunshot, residue on her hands that way, and there wasn't

that much. However, if they had bagged her hands properly, they put bags over your hands to preserve whatever is on them, but for whatever reason, they didn't do that in this situation. So when they did test them, it's possible that some of it had rubbed off. So it's been argued that maybe at one point there was more residue on her hands, but the evidence was not maintained properly. So that's making her look more like a suspect. And then when they looked at her devices and saw her search history, that really sealed the deal.

Just a few days before John had been killed, someone had searched, how can I kill someone in their sleep? Then whoever was doing these searches, clicked on an article that said 16 ways to kill someone and not get caught. Then there was also a search for fentanyl, which is not a good,

and also a few other medications, but this was all in the midst of some really normal searches, like how to make a cappuccino and espresso maker. So by January 4th, 2018, they're definitely looking at Sandra, but there was not enough, especially because they did not find a gun. So they go back to Wes and they tell him that they did not recover a gun in her car. He was confused and Sandra claimed she never told Wes that she kept a gun in her car because she, according to her, she didn't.

But he said that she did, and if she did, it would be underneath her seat. The next day, they decided to go and check the detached garage again, see if maybe they had missed it. But when they got there, the door was locked. So Wes went to go ask his mom who was over at the in-laws house across the street if she could give him the key

so that the police could search the car. And when Sandra heard this, she actually threw her fork down to she was eating something and freaked out, said, fuck no, you can tell them to fuck off. And everyone in the room was just quiet. Like, what? We thought you wanted to help solve this, you know? She'd been cooperative up until this point But she felt like at that moment things were starting to turn and they were looking at her which made her really mad Mostly because she felt like they weren't looking for the real suspect that had killed John She walked across the street and tried to stop them from searching the garage and they told her you know We're going in the garage whether or not you agree to this. We're gonna to just kick down the door. So you either give us the keys, we can make this easy or we can make this hard. So she gave the keys over. And of course, when they looked in

the Mustang, what did they find? The exact gun, the 38 caliber Taurus handgun, it had been wrapped up in paper towel and was in a grocery bag set underneath the seat exactly where West said it would be. So automatically they knew that they couldn't have missed this the first time. It would have been too hard to miss. They knew that someone had to have placed the gun there after they had originally searched. So West saw all this happen and he walked across the street until the entire family that they found the murder weapon in Sandra's car. So that's when a lot of them started to shift their opinions on Sandra. At this point, John's whole family believed that Sandra did it. But they had no idea why she would want to do something like this.

Why would she want to kill John? Her caretaker, this man who she loved so much, there was no reason for her to do this, no motive. So Sandra was brought in for questioning again, and this time it was different. They definitely were pushing her. She was now being interrogated as a murder suspect, not just a witness. And right away, they made it clear that they thought she was guilty. They were accusing her of this crime, and they accused her of lying and trying to throw everyone off.

They said that she killed John, and that she put the gun under her own car seat. But Sandra started freaking out. Something happened. What happened? I'm not cute, mom. That's bad. We want you to tell us. That's what we're here for. Just say what you knew. You only get excited I did. What I did. Then what you can tell us the truth. That's it.

I told you the truth. We're not telling us the truth. Maybe you could do it in your car. Just want me in my car. Are you serious? I want to get in my car, y'all. I swear. When was I getting in my car y'all. I swear!

What is that? I'm getting my car! No, you tried to get me to admit something I didn't do. Yes. Yes. And done talking to you. So clearly, Sandra is very emotional and some people say this is really good acting. Other people say that she's genuinely upset and cannot believe that she's being accused

of murdering her husband. So the next step here was to analyze the gun, but they were not able to pull any evidence from it. No fingerprints, no DNA, but they were able to prove that John had been killed with that 38 caliber gun. They confirmed that both the bullets came from the gun as well, and that was the murder weapon.

So now they have the weapon, and they believe they have the gun as well and that was the murder weapon. So now they have the weapon and they believe they have the murderer as well. So they decided to arrest Sandra for murder. They went to her house and stayed there. She wasn't home yet. Then eventually she pulls in and was shocked when she got out of the car and they immediately arrested her for the murder of John. And of course John's whole family is watching this all across the street. And they sharing because they felt getting some justice for was brought into jail. Her

bail was set at $2 million which is way more than she could ever pay. So she was stuck there. I talked to a nearby neighbor who knew the couple pretty well and she says she cannot believe that this happened. And my

husband, his, his's right by there, and the place to ask this regarding thing. We were doing all kinds of trying to figure out what had happened. And we just wouldn't have ever thought Sandra was involved. So Sandra was officially indicted for the murder of John Gardner on March 21, 2018 and she spent the next year and a half in prison and it definitely took a toll on

her physically and mentally. It seemed like prison kind of drained her of all the life she had left. By the time the trial came up she looked very tired, very disheveled. The trial officially started in September of 2019 in Waxahatchi, Texas, which I hope I'm saying that right, but even though Sandra was clearly exhausted by the start of the trial, she said that she felt confident. She felt like they did not have enough evidence to actually convict her. But on the other side, they felt very confident that they had everything they needed more than enough evidence to convict Sandra Gardner of murdering her husband.

And they actually thought that this was a slam dunk case. They had the proof that she owned the murder weapon. It was in her car. But the more that they had dug into the case, they realized that there was a chance that she could get off because there was plenty of other ideas out there of what could have happened or who could have done this. And one of the biggest hurdles that they knew they had to face was her son Wes. Why was he so sure that Sandra did this and why was he so sad I'm making sure the

police knew what he thought? Now Wes was never considered to be a suspect or even a person of interest really but when they looked into it a little bit more, they realized that there was more to Wes. He definitely had the opportunity to kill John, and he may have even had a motive. Not only that, Wes had access to Sandra's bone and her iPad, and he was at her house a lot. And four days before John was killed when those searches were made on Sandra's devices, Wes was in the house and had access to all of them. And what's weird is, you know, John and Sandra went to bed around 9.30 every night, but those searches were made around 11 p.m. Plus,

they were a little weirded out by the fact that Wes kept pushing them in the direction of his mother. Like, he seemed set on making sure his mother was pinned for this. They thought it was odd that he was so ready to blame his mother without even talking to her first or looking at the situation a little more. And then of course the fact that they found the gun in Sanders' car after Wes had told them it was there and after they had already completed a search

and didn't find it. So the whole thing is starting to really look like a setup. And when they started working on everything for the trial, they originally had thought that they had a solid alibi for West that he was home drinking beers and watching Netflix. They actually confirmed this by his Netflix account. They saw that he was logged on watching at the specific time that John was killed so it couldn't have been him until they realized that he was logged on watching at the specific time that John was killed, so it couldn't

have been him. Until they realized that those times were listed in the wrong time zone, you think they would double check on this, but it turns out that West did not have an alibi, there was nothing to prove that he was home or anywhere else, at the time that John was killed. And you'd think that they would double check for that type of thing. I mean, it never ceases killed. And you'd think that they would double check for that type of thing. I mean, it never ceases to amaze me the stuff that they will just let slide. And not only that, West also had a motive, like I said.

It turns out that West was under the impression that he was in John's will. But Sandra didn't have a motive like that. I mean, it wouldn't make sense for her to want him dead. There was no reason, and he was such a big part of her life, and to care for every single day, she kept making the point over and over again. Why would I want to kill him? But Wes, now there's more of a motive for him. And this is very interesting, but in Texas, prosecutors do not have to prove motive. It's not a requirement, but of course it does really help when trying to

convince a jury. And a big point that was made to the jury was about the lack of experience and improper handling of the case by the police. First of all, the fact that it took 15 minutes for them to arrive at the house did not look good. And then the chief who was working that night, this was his first time working on a murder investigation. Also, like I said, they failed to lock down the scene. So the crime scene was trampled initially, which could have affected things. They also brought up the fact that Sandra's hand should have been bagged. She should have been brought to the police station even sooner than she was. So it was not looking good for the prosecution. The jury was definitely skeptical of the police work. And remember me telling you about those pictures that the

chief had taken on his phone at the crime scene. Well somehow they were all deleted and are lost forever. So that really does not look good at all, at all. They also pointed out that no one ever fingerprinted the actual Mustang. You know, they could have lifted fingerprints off of the door handle or underneath the car. And if someone had placed them there, maybe their prints would have been there. They should have impounded the car and had thoroughly searched and documented, but they never did any of that. They interviewed a couple people that John had fired in the past, but did not do anything extensive enough. In court, the prosecution tried to make the point

that no intruder would come in the house and have a full-blown conversation with the victim, the victim's husband, you know. Why would they be talking much at all? Telling her all his information, saying exactly why they were there, why they wanted to target John, stripped, saying that they were fired by John. That seems weird. Then they also brought up that the killer must have forgot their weapon because they used Sandra's gun at the crime scene,

which is odd, unless you knew Sandra and knew that they had all these guns there. But prosecutors dismissed the idea that Wes could have done this. They said that he just didn't seem like the type of guy. that's straight up what they said. They said he seems too nice and that he also doesn't seem smart enough to do it. But most importantly, they brought up the fact that it didn't make much sense for Sandra to not have known that it was Wes on that night. This is her son standing in front of her in a sweatshirt and a mask apparently. Is she really not able to tell who this is in front of her? She didn't recognize his voice which they thought was odd. They thought if it's

less she must have known. They even brought up the fact that she claimed to have I sure somebody just need to go by the water. They even brought up the fact that she claimed to have gotten a good look at his eyes. Why don't you recognize your child's eyes? But Sandra says that you can't understand what it would be like to have someone come in and shoot a gun in your house while you're sleeping. Like it startles you so much that you're not thinking clearly. And she was so scared and panicked that she didn't pay attention, but she says now looking back, she thinks it actually was less.

That's right, Sandra thinks that her son killed her husband and framed her. So then they decide to let Sandra take the stand, which is always such a risky move and really makes her break a case. On cross examination, she did struggle quite a bit, though. You know, she was able to tell her side of things, get her opinion out there, her feelings, but also they were able to kind of rip her story apart. She wasn't able to recall a lot of

information about the search history and she wasn't able to explain some of it, which definitely made her look bad to the jury. So by the time they wrapped up, the state had presented over 400 exhibits of evidence against Sandra, and they were feeling confident that the jury was going to find her guilty of murdering John Garner. But when the defense got up there, they pointed out to the jury that the prosecution was not able to prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt. The trial finally ended after about four weeks. It was originally supposed to be two weeks, but it was double because there was so much to go over. And everyone was very exhausted afterwards. Now they were hoping that it would be a pretty long deliberation that

the jury would really go back and forth on this, but it ended up being only just a couple hours when they came back with their verdict. So it was that day at 5 p.m. that everyone, including the families, gathered back in the courtroom to hear the verdict. We, the jury, find the defendant Sandra Louise Garner, not guilty. So Sandra was found not guilty. You can see Sandra was very happy. She could not hold back her joy. She gave her attorneys a big hug

and was clearly very relieved to be getting out of jail. And after 21 months in jail, she was free to go home. And of course, Sandra and her family, her daughter Andrea, especially, was super, super happy about it. Everyone but Wes and John's family, of course, was not happy about this at all. family, of course, was not happy about this at all. It feels wonderful. It feels wonderful. I was just praying to God, my husband and my daddy just to help them say, not guilty, please. And of course, she's got to go home now to the house where

John's parents are living across the street. Even after jail, she said that she has no intention of moving. She wants to be in the house close to him. So for a while there, they were living across the street from each other, which I can't imagine how awkward that would be because they think 100% that she did it. Eventually it got so uncomfortable that they did end up moving away. As far as I know, no one in John's family has even talked to Sandra. They all think that she got away with murder.

Sandra is really close with her daughter, Andrea, like I said, but they're not close with Wes at all. And Sandra believes that Wes was the one to kill John. However, John's family has stayed in touch with Wes and they think that Sandra did it. Prosecutors from the trial believe that Sandra did it, even they weren't able to prove that she did it, and they are not pursuing any other suspects. Sandra has gone on to live her life. She lives alone

as far as I know with her dogs. And her attorney and Andrea, her daughter, are very concerned about her safety, worried that the killer is still out there and might seek revenge on her. But Sandra believes that her own son is still out there and might seek revenge on her, but Sandra believes that her own son Wes killed her husband. But nothing more will probably ever be done. There's pretty much no chance they're going to move forward with Wes as a suspect and they can never put Sandra on trial again. It seems that we're probably never really going to know what truly happened that night and who actually pulled the trigger. But to this day, Sandra maintains her innocence and so does Wes. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on

Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.