True Crime with Kendall Rae - High School Football Star Murders His Wife To Be With His Mistress – The Case of Belinda Temple

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

In 1999, Belinda Temple, an 8-month pregnant mother with one young child already, was shot dead in her home. The scene was staged to look like a burglary, and it was all because her husband wanted to get rid of her and be with his mistress, no matter the cost. Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign/kendall-rae/c438796 This episode is sponsored by: Rocket Money 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]

Hello, everyone, and welcome back. So happy to have you here with me to discuss yet another case. And if you are new, then welcome. Also so happy to have you here. So today we're going to be getting into a case that reminds me a lot of Lacey Peterson. And I'm surprised that it's not more well-known. Today we're gonna be talking about Belinda Temple. And I think that more people should hear

Belinda's story. In preparation for this video, I listened to Catherine Casey's shattered the audio book. And as you can imagine, after listening to a whole book on a case, it was very hard to narrow down all of what I wanted to talk about today, because there's just so much, so much to talk about when it comes to the case, her life, the trial.

And so I've narrowed it down, although it's going to be a bit of a longer one. I have a huge document here in front of me full of information. So let's just jump in. So Belinda was actually born Belinda Tracy Lucas. And she had a twin sister named Brenda. They were born December 30th, 1968 to their parents Carol and Tom. The girls had three older brothers and Carol having so many boys was actually very surprised when

they were girls and even more surprised that there were two of them. She didn't know she was going to be having twins. I cannot imagine a bigger shock. Blinda and her four siblings were raised in Nakadocia's Texas and had extremely happy childhoods. Blinda was a very energetic child. She was very active. She loved sports when she wasn't playing basketball, which was her favorite sport. She was watching games and taking notes on how she could improve her own game. Blender really had an eagerness to life and never had trouble making friends and accomplishing her goals. As she was growing up, she knew she wanted to help people and at first she wanted to be a nurse,

but she ended up deciding that it was her dream to become a special education teacher and also a basketball coach, which were two dreams that did end up coming true. And another one of Blinda's dreams was to get married one day and to have children. A lot of children. She knew she wanted to have a big family just like her family, and she was so good with kids. Blinda's family was really strong. She was loved and supported by her parents. She had a and supported by her parents. She had a great relationship with her siblings and like I said, she had a really happy childhood and her dreams were never that far out of reach. As she got older into her college years,

Blinda first attended a local junior college and then chose to live at home during that time, but this definitely came with difficulties. She knew she wanted that next level of independence, so she got a job. She actually got three jobs. That's one thing about Blinda is she was such a hard working driven person, and eventually she had enough money to support herself, move out, and she moved in with two of her closest friends.

At one point, Blinda did end up getting engaged to a boy that she had been dating since high school, but then he was unfaithful to her and she was not about that, so she dropped his ass and never looked back. And I think that's one great example of the type of person that Belinda was. She did not take any shit

and I want to really emphasize that. And it was no secret that she was like this. People knew this about Belinda and that was one of the reasons that she was so respected and loved by her peers. Now I just mentioned that she was living with friends and attending a local junior college, but eventually she made a pretty big change in her life when she decided to transfer to Stephen F. Austin University. And it actually wasn't completely random that she decided to go there. Her twin sister Brenda was going there as well,

and this is eventually where she would meet her future husband, David Temple. Now David was from Katie, Texas, and he was actually born the middle child to his parents Marine and Kenneth Temple. And oftentimes we hear that the middle child is ignored by their parents. We've all heard of middle child syndrome. Obviously, it's not always the case. And it definitely wasn't the case when it came to David. He was very loved and pretty spoiled by his parents. From a very young age, David was treated differently

than his other two brothers. They were much harsher on the other two, much more strict. And David would just get away with shit all the time. And Katie, Texas is a sports loving city, especially high school sports. Very big there. And from a young age, it was obvious that David was going to be a star, just like Belinda, he had always taken an interest in sports. And he started playing football as early as he could. And once he was playing at Katie High School, his town stardom, as you could say, only continued to grow. If you've grown up in a place like Katie or have seen the show Friday Night Lights, you'd know that being a football player, especially

a good one, really meant everything. It really meant automatic popularity as well as special treatment from friends, parents, and teachers, and David was no exception. And something about him that I don't think many of his peers would dispute is that David was a bully. And unless you were one of his teammates or close friends, David was probably going to be mean to you. In fact, people called him Temple of Doom. That was his nickname, due to his aggressive behavior on the field and just in life. And yes, this type of behavior definitely helped him in sports, but it wasn't something that he could turn off when he was off the field. It has been somewhat speculated that David took steroids to help his performance, and this could explain some of that aggressive behavior off the field. But this has never been confirmed. So take it with a grain of salt.

But anyway, to get the picture of David, his parents loved him. Kids feared him. Teachers kind of turned a blind eye and people he was friends with definitely tried to stay on his good side. And I'm sure it won't surprise you to hear that his dream was to one day go to a big name school and play football and then make it all the way to the NFL. But the problem with that is he was only 5-11 and so coaches at these big schools didn't think he would be big enough to play on their teams. And that resulted in David being drafted to Stephen F. Austin University, a school whose athletic department was slightly less intense. These days, it feels like there is a subscription for everything. I have so many that I love,

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Rocketmoney.com slash kennel ray. And like I said, it was at this school that David and Blendimette and from the day they met, they were truly inseparable. He was known as the type of guy to literally put the woman he was dating on a pedestal, and wouldn't hesitate for one second to fight anyone that looked at her the wrong way. And even though that might sound admirable, it was really more dangerous than anything else. I mean, if anyone even smiled at a girl that David Temple was dating, he would physically

fight them. But many people who knew them at this time said that David and Blinda had a great relationship. His parents absolutely adored Blinda, and her love for sports and athleticism really fit in perfectly with his own. But people who are close with Blinda also say that when her and David started dating, her personality changed a lot. She was once really strongwilled and dominant, and after dating David, she became very submissive.

People said that she seemed only want to please David and fulfill his every need, and sometimes wouldn't stand up for herself when she should have. And sadly, this passiveness in her relationship only got worse. Her roommate in college and her twin sister expressed their concerns over David, but she only seemed to get closer with him with every person who expressed doubt. And almost as soon as the two of them started dating,

David seemed to distance Belinda from her own family who she was very close with. I'm not sure if he outright told her that he didn't like her family, but suddenly, when they were together, she stopped calling every week, which was something Belinda always did, and she stopped coming home for holidays.

It seemed like her top priority was now David. And I can only imagine how difficult that was for the Lucas family, and for a Blinda too. But their relationship continued and eventually they got a dog together named Shaka, and it wasn't long before David was proposing to Blinda on the 50 yard line, of course. So the two of them got married in 1992 before they even finished college. And soon after, they decided they both wanted to get their masters in education. And David's parents, like I said, loved Blinda, and so they were happy to take care of most of

the preparations and expenses for the wedding. So around 1993, the two of them were both finishing their master's degrees. And David ended up getting a call about a job opportunity. And this was for an assistant football coaching position at a leaf Hastings High School, which he accepted right away. And not only was he super excited to be a coach, but he was also pumped because the school was in Katie, Texas. So he was moving back home. As for Blinda, she quickly found a job as a special education teacher. And at a glance, it looked like the couple really had it all. Blinda was very well liked by her new neighbors and had no problem making friends anywhere she was.

So she adjusted really well to living in Katie. David, on the other hand, remained extremely private and people said that they had trouble getting close with him. That is with the exception of the Harlan family. Quentin Harlan was also a coach at the school and he became friends with David very quickly. And his wife Tammy became friends with Blinda. And the two of them were one of the few couples

who really saw the ins and outs of David and Blinda's relationship, especially as it started to decline. Blinda and Tammy became extremely close and it was actually Tammy that Belinda first confided in when she thought that David might be cheating on her. The thing was, she didn't really have any proof and she certainly wasn't gonna confront her husband about it.

So she sort of set her feelings aside that this was happening and really tried to move on and hope for the best. And then in 1994, their lives completely changed when they found out that they were going to be having their first child, a boy. And on April 13th, 1995, Evan Temple was born. And he was the absolute light of Belinda's life. She was so excited to be a mother and she was a great mother. As I mentioned, she wanted a lot of children. And so Evan was the start of what she hoped would be a large family. As for David, he was also excited to be a father. He was stoked to have a little boy, of course. And what's interesting to

me is even though he now had a child, he seemed to not be interested in really bringing Belinda's family into the mix. In fact, Brenda, Belinda's twin, felt like he was purposely keeping Evan from their family. And I really don't see any reason for doing this besides control, which is all David Temple ever wanted. And Belinda knew that whatever way her husband wanted things to go, were the way things were going to go. And we may never know why Belinda was so submissive to her husband, but many people believe that it's because she feared what he was capable of doing if she wasn't.

So after having Evan, things picked up for Blinda in her work life. She ended up getting a job working as a special ed teacher and basketball coach at Katie High School, which was her dream. Now she had it all. She had her child, her dream job, and she was coaching. And it's hard to even describe how good of a teacher Blinda was and how involved she was with the school. She loved her student. She loved her school. And if you read Shattered, you'll see just how involved she was. Everyone at the school adored Blinda. The faculty, all the kids, she was known for sending out daily inspirational quotes over email.

She was always the most dressed up for spirit days and had the loudest chair during school games. But even though things were going so good for her, she was finally a mom, she was coaching, she was teaching, she was doing everything she wanted to do. Belinda was still struggling because things were not as they seemed at home. David was becoming more and more controlling over time. And by that point, he was even dictating what clothing brands that she and the baby were allowed to wear. Friends and neighbors said they started to notice that Belinda would act very different

when David was around and any ounce of independence that she would have would quickly go away whenever David showed up. People who knew them have said it was almost like Belinda wasn't allowed to have a life outside of David, which is incredibly frustrating when you find out that David had a whole last secret life going on outside of Blinda. David and Quentin, his fellow head coach, who I mentioned earlier, who Blinda and him were very close with. He was the one that's married to Tammy. Anyway, the two of them were both into this girl named Heather. They both had serious crushes on her. She was a fellow teacher at the school.

Her name was Heather Scott. And the three of them had a very strange dynamic between them. It's really detailed and shattered. But basically, Quentin was the first one who expressed feelings in Heather. But David was the one who really pursued her. David and Heather's relationship started out with flirtation. They would send very flirty emails back and forth to each other all day. And Quentin, who is David's best friend, is also sending emails to Heather, but Heather was never as interested in him.

She was much more interested in David. And because David never wore a wedding ring to work and never talked about Belinda, the other teachers didn't know that he was being unfaithful Other than Quentin, of course. Heather herself actually didn't know that David was married at least not at this point They would go to these work happy hours every week together and it was rightfully assumed by others that they were dating Heather and David were definitely fully known as an item and Belinda had no idea. Now, I did mention that Blinda had her suspicions that David was cheating on her.

And even though she was right, she never had any proof. And it seemed like she was afraid to say anything. And sadly, cheating wasn't the only shitty thing that David was doing to his wife in 1998. He went literally weeks without speaking a word to her, which I cannot imagine. He was also just mean to her. He would say things in front of other people about her, about her physical appearance, especially after she had their son. He would talk about how she was skinny before having him, you know, she had gained some baby weight, and he was just brutal to her about it. And obviously, Blinda was unhappy, but even though she was unhappy, she really tried to put on a good face when

she was around other people. Only a handful of close friends knew the truth. And besides that, she seemed like a very loving, doting, happy wife. And towards the middle of that year, after David had started talking to Blinda again at least. The two of them found out that they were having another baby. They found out that baby number two was a girl and Blinda and David came up with the name Aaron for her. And just like with her first pregnancy, Blinda was over the moon to be having another baby.

She was so excited to be having a girl. But David on the other hand was not expressing that same happiness. In fact, he really had no interest in this baby. And despite later on trying to say that he was super involved during the pregnancy, he absolutely was. And I want to be very clear. He really treated Blinda no differently. He continued to just treat her like shit. And really did not seem excited about his baby girl coming into the world.

Belinda did all of the prep work for this baby by herself, and it is really heartbreaking to think about. She got everything the baby needed, you know, did all the nursery prep, painted the nursery alone, and David did nothing. Anything she did ask him to do, he would straight up ignore. There was one point where she really wanted to put up these shelves in the baby's nursery, and she asked David so many times to help her with it, and he just wouldn't do it. And it's because he was too busy

with his new girlfriend, Heather. Oh, and speaking of Heather, she actually did find out that David was married, but that didn't stop her. She still wanted a relationship, even after learning that he was married and had a baby on the way. So as 1998 is coming to a close, Belinda is doing her best to prep for the baby alone, trying to keep up that excitement, but obviously she's feeling heartbroken at the same time because she totally knew something was going on with her husband. And she was also trying to balance working, being that amazing teacher and being an amazing

mom. Christmas was coming up and she wanted to make it one of the best Christmas ever for Evan and she really worked hard to do that. And by this point, David's bullshit and his disinterest in their new baby was becoming harder and harder for him to hide. Late that December, just after Christmas, Belinda's twin sister Brenda decided to fly out from Kansas to Katie, Texas to be with Belinda as she was nearing the end of her pregnancy. She was eight months pregnant at this point, and it was actually believed that she could go into labor early.

And they also wanted to spend their birthdays together December 30th. And during those few days that Brenda was in town, she got to see first hand how horribly David was treating her sister and how much it was affecting Belinda. There were many times that she heard David call Belinda fat. Keep in mind she was eight months pregnant at this point and he's calling her fat unbelievable. And they had also agreed not to get each other Christmas like big Christmas gifts because they were saving money with the new baby coming in everything. But she figured that he would still get her something little and sweet. And at no point did he give her any birthday gift or Christmas gift.

And it really broke Belinda's heart. And I'm sure it won't surprise you to hear that he gave Heather a gold necklace. And despite their daughter being two to three weeks away, really could come at any time. I mean, she was definitely expected to deliver sooner than 40 weeks. He decides that he is going to go on a hunting trip. He lets Belinda and Brenda know that he's going, but he doesn't tell them where he's going, who he's going with, any of the details about it. And he's going to be gone on New Year's Eve. And this

was heartbreaking to Blinda that he was going to leave on a holiday. And when she is so close to giving birth, I mean, he could just straight up miss the birth. And she doesn't even know where he is or how to get in touch with him. And I'm sure you can guess what he was actually doing that night. That's right. David was out with Heather. He and Heather were actually out at a party. With there are other co-workers, that's the crazy thing is he was just doing all this out in the open. And not only that, he was bragging to his co-workers about how he pulled one over on his wife. So impressive, dude.

So that brings us to January 11th, 1998, and Belinda was only a week or two away from giving birth. She hadn't slept well the night before because one, she was pregnant, but also because her son, Evan, was really sick. He had a fever and she was up with him most the night because, of course, David's not gonna get his ass up and help. So she was exhausted that day.

And she decided that she was still gonna send her three-year-old very sick child to daycare because she couldn't stay home from work. She was trying to save all of her PTO for when the baby came. She did, however, speak to David and he agreed that if Evan was too sick to be at daycare that he would pick him up. And Blinda did end up getting that call that Evan was way too sick to be at daycare. His fever had spiked.

He wasn't eating. He seemed miserable. Someone needed to come get him. And of course, David did not show up. Blindock tried calling him many times. He went answer and so Belinda had to leave work to go pick up Evan. So she leaves work.

She goes and picks him up, brings him home, but she still had to go back to work because she had a meeting, like a parent teacher conference that she had to be at. So she continues to call David hoping that he will answer. She finally gets a hold of David at 1215 and he does come home to take care of Evan so she can go back to work. So Belinda goes back to Katie high and David is home with Evan and he is not happy to have had to leave work to be home with his son. Once she was wrapped

up with her meeting, Belinda left work around 3.30 and she actually went over to David's parents house to pick up some soup that they had made for her. Now, according to David, Belinda got home around 4 p.m. and when she did, she was exhausted and wanted to rest. So he decides to take Evan to run some errands

and out to the park so she could get some peace and quiet back at home. He claimed to have taken Evan to one park and then he decided that there was another park he'd rather take him to. So on the way to the second park, he actually makes a detour because Evan was thirsty. So they stopped at a grocery store called Brookshire Brothers. After they got something to drink and picked up some cat food, David said he bailed on the idea of going to the second park and instead took his son to home depot. And surveillance cameras placed David and Evan at both of these locations around the time that he said he was there. But when he came back, approximately 5.30 p.m. tragedy had struck.

David claims that when they got home he had Evan stay in the garage and ride his bike around and then he went inside to let Belinda know that they were home. But when he went to their side door he saw that it had been broken into. This is when he grabs Evan and runs across the street to a neighbor's house and pounds on the door. When the neighbor opened up, he shoves Evan into his arms and says that someone had broken into his house and he needed to go back and check on his wife. And so the neighbor hands Evan off to his wife and ran after David thinking that he shouldn't enter the house alone. At 536, the neighbor's wife called 911 to report that the temple's home had been broken

into. And just two minutes after that, a second 911 call came in from David himself, reporting that his wife had been murdered. On the call, the operator asked David many questions like if he could feel a pulse, which David said he could. He was also asked if he could perform CPR because it was believed that even if his wife had passed that maybe the baby could still be saved Depending on how long she was without oxygen But David told the operator that there was no way he could do CPR because Blinda's head

Had been essentially blown to bits Which is a very disturbing and sad but Important detail not long after this when two Harris County deputies arrived at the scene which is a very disturbing and sad but important detail. Not long after this, when two Harris County deputies arrived at the scene, they were immediately prevented from entering the house because the temple's family dog, Shaka was blocking their entrance. And I can't stress enough that this wasn't just a dog casually getting in their way. Shaka was a hyper-aggressive dog that would not hesitate to attack a stranger.

This dog was in full attack mode when they got there, barking, snarling, jumping up on the gate, almost about to bust through and attack the two officers. Of course, they were terrified of what Shaka might do, but they knew they had to get into that house as soon as possible. One officer was even prepared to shoot the dog if they had to, but luckily David stepped outside the house just before that could have happened. He put Shaka in the garage and the two officers started to survey the scene and waited for EMS and other officers to arrive. And inside the house, they found Belinda Temple face down in her closet with a single gunshot wound to the back of her head. There was no sign of life in Belinda.

And sadly, there was no possibility that baby Aaron had survived. And the scene was horrific. There was blood and brain matter sprayed across the closet. I know that's very gruesome to think about, but it's a detail that really does matter. And aside from Belinda, detectives had a crime scene to investigate. Like I said, the initial theory was that the home had been robbed and Belinda's death was the result of a robbery gone wrong. And like I mentioned, the side door to the home was broken into, and there were shards of glass all over the living room. The TV had also been knocked off the stand, and countless drawers had been left open as if someone was going through them. But here's the thing, even though this looked like a robbery, nothing was stolen.

Nothing. Blindes' purse, wallet, and car keys were immediately found, not to mention there was a tray of expensive jewelry just left completely untouched in their bedroom. And yes, there were several drawers left open, but nothing was actually touched inside of them. And so red flags are popping up for these officers right away. And with all that in mind, they asked David to wait in the back of their patrol car. And this is when he became very agitated.

They explained that they needed to bring him in so that he could make a statement, and he did not understand why he had to do that. He did not like the idea of having to do that, as if the whole thing had nothing to do with him. And David didn't seem sad or traumatized about what had just happened to his wife. And that neighbor that followed him back over to the house said that as they were going over there and David was going to be checking on his wife, he never called out her name, which he thought was incredibly weird. And that was honestly just one of the many strange things that police started to catch on to. Even though David had said that their home had been broken into, the more officers looked at the scene,

the more clear it was that it had been staged. The first red flag was that nothing had been stolen and that the doors that were open hadn't been looked through. The next red flag was the door that had been broken into. You'd expect that when the door was broken into, the glass that the so-called perpetrator shattered would be scattered directly behind the door just inside the home. I mean, just picture it. If the door is closed and you break the glass, where's it going to go?

It's going to go straight back, but that wasn't the case here. The glass was off to the side, more in the living room area than anywhere else. And this suggested that the glass was shattered after the door was already open. And why would a robber do this? If the door was unlocked, there would be literally no reason to break the glass. Another red flag was Shaka. In no world, would that dog have just let an intruder into the home without giving them a serious run for their money? I mean, even responding officers were terrified of him. Now, later on,

David would try to say that the dog was actually locked up in the garage all day, but that makes no sense. That would mean that after David realized that the house was broken into, and after he realized that his wife had been brutally murdered, he went around to the garage and let the dog into the side yard before officers got there. I mean, make it make sense. And I mean, at the end of the day, we know that the dog was outside when officers got there.

So clearly, that was a lie. Oh, and remember how I said earlier that David told the 911 operator that he attempted to check for a pulse? Well with how much blood was at the scene, you'd expect at the very least, David would have gotten a little blood on him. Well, nope, the man was clean. And that makes you think that he didn't check for a pulse because he knew that she was

already dead. And there were some other inconsistencies, which officers learned about later, that had to do with David's alibi. Even though we know with 100% certainty that David did go to Brookshire Brothers and Home Depot, the time it took for him to get in between those two places was eerily long. It was only a 20 minute drive from the grocery store to Home Depot at most, but the timestamps show that it took David 36 minutes. And he said that there was traffic, which sure, that's always possible, but

investigators believe that this was the time where he was hiding the murder weapon, especially because a student from the school that David taught at actually saw him in his truck near the rice fields, which is not along the route that he would have driven between those two places. And it was in the rice fields of Katie Texas that many believed the 12 gauge shotgun was hidden. A weapon that to this day has not been found. There were actually two rifles found inside the closet where Blinda was killed but never a shotgun.

And the fact that this weapon was never found was a huge problem for prosecutors when it came to the trial, but I don't wanna get ahead of myself. Blendez Autopsy, which was performed the day after her murder, confirmed that she was killed with a 12 gauge shotgun with reloaded double zero buck shot shells. And based on the findings of the Autopsy and the blood spatter at the scene,

it was clear that the shotgun had been placed directly at the back of Blinda's head. The blood spatter also revealed that Blinda had been on her knees when she was killed. And if this was truly a robbery gone wrong, there is just no reason that that person would have executed Blinda like this. Also, and this is important, why would a robber be using a shotgun? I mean, it's big, it's clunky, it's hard to conceal, it makes no sense. Also, you have to consider what time of day this happened. This is in the later afternoon,

kids are getting home from school, coming home off the bus, parents are coming home from work. I mean, what robber in their right mind is going to break into home when all these people are out in a very active family neighborhood. You're probably thinking that David is looking guilty as hell, and investigators were thinking the same, but there wasn't enough for an arrest yet. And without a murder weapon, it was going to be extremely difficult.

And it was also difficult that David lived there. And it would be perfectly normal for his DNA to be all over the entire house. And it was no secret to David, to his family, to the community, that he was being considered as a suspect in his wife's murder. But not everyone believed that he was capable of doing such a horrific thing.

Obviously with all the information I've gone over, we all know that David wasn't a good husband or person, but you have to remember that he had really kept up a good appearance and many people thought he was. Only a few close friends and neighbors knew how bad it actually was for Belinda. People just couldn't wrap their mind around this good old, all-American high school football coach David Temple

committing a murder and murdering his pregnant wife. I mean people just they couldn't go there, but of course people were talking as people do and words started going around about David's affair and more and more people thought it was possible that he actually did this. And investigators actually learned about the affair the day of the autopsy. And this would be their motive that they clung on to four years. And I'm sure this won't shock you, but literally days after his wife was brutally murdered, David was asking Quentin for updates on Heather, wondering how she was doing. But David actually wasn't the only suspect in Belinda's murder. Riley Jo Sanders, who was a student and neighbor of Belinda's, came into question very early on.

Turns out, Belinda had recently told Riley's parents that he had skipped 131 classes. And as you can imagine, he was not happy about that. Of course, this wasn't a huge motive, but it definitely could have pissed him off. But the main reason he was really considered as a suspect is because he lied to police about where he was on January 11. Even though he said he was at school that day, it turns out he was actually riding around with his friends, smoking weed. Now, of course, he probably just didn't want police to know that he had skipped classes or his parents to find out, but it didn't look good. And it was quite useful for the

defense, not to mention eight days before the murder, Riley had actually burglarized a house in the neighborhood. So was it possible? He was pissed at Belinda for telling his parents about him skipping all those classes. And he killed her because of it? Police thought so, especially considering the fact that Riley's dad owned a 12-gauge shotgun just like the kind that was used to kill Belinda. And things started to look even worse for Riley when police found out that that shot gun was missing and then was eventually found under Riley's friend's bed. And so all this looks really bad, but jumping forward a little, it was determined that

that gun was not used to kill Belinda. Riley was heavily interrogated, but investigators just couldn't make a connection to murder. So there was no arrest made in the murder of Belinda Temple, and weeks went by, weeks turned into months, and then months turned into years without an arrest. And David's family, who loved Belinda, stayed quiet. They never made public comments. They never begged for Belinda's killer to be found. They never put out a reward to find Blinda's killer, which you think would be kind of useful for them if they believed that their son was innocent.

Blinda's family, the Lucas' on the other hand, pleaded with the media and investigators for justice to be served. And while it was definitely infuriating and frustrating for the whole community, that no arrest had been made, Harris County investigators knew that they really only had one shot at this. So they waited and gathered evidence and worked as hard as they could to put their case against David Temple together. And as the years went on, David continued his life like nothing ever happened. And this probably won't shock you, but he ended up marrying Heather. They got married in June of 2001 and together they raised Evan.

But finally, in November of 2004 an arrest was made. Of course, David pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and his trial began on October 16th 2007. And like I normally do when we talk about trials here, since there's so much to go over, I'm going to give you the main arguments from each side starting with the prosecution. So obviously it was very clear from the jump that the affair was the motive for this murder. David wanted to be with Heather, and rather than divorce his pregnant wife, he decided to kill her, which I will never understand. The leader Tony argued that David staged his home to look like there was some type of invasion, and then took his son out to run some errands in order to establish an alibi. What would be difficult about David's alibi is the fact that the medical examiner was

never able to determine Belinda's exact time of death. Of course, the defense would argue that Belinda was murdered at 4.30, which would work perfectly for them since David was seen on camera at 432. The prosecution, on the other hand, argued that Belinda was murdered closer to 4pm right after she returned home from work, and when David didn't have an alibi. And one thing that suggests this is the fact that Belinda was still wearing her shoes and workflows when she was found. If she was in the home for 30 minutes before being killed, chances are she would have taken off her shoes.

According to the prosecution, the scene suggested that she had marched right upstairs and had been immediately executed and wasn't at home relaxing beforehand. If this was the case and she was killed right when she got home, that would have given David 20 minutes to stage the scene and that would have been plenty of time, according to the prosecution. They also brought up the shattered glass being in a place it shouldn't be, and the dog who clearly would have attacked a stranger in their home, and the fact that nothing was ever stolen.

The lead prosecutor brought out many people to testify about David's treatment of Belinda, including Quinten and Tammy Harlan. They also brought out many of the first responders and deputies who were at the scene who could testify to David's emotion or lack thereof. Now there were two people who ended up testifying during the trial and their appearances not only shocked the jury, but everyone in the courthouse. And those two people were Riley Jo Sanders and Heather Scott. Riley testified for the prosecution, helping cast out away from him as a possible

suspect. He was extremely forthcoming with information and overall very cooperative. But let's talk about Heather Scott or Heather Temple, I should say. Even though she testified for the defense, it did not look good for David that he married the woman who it's believed he killed his wife for. She spoke about their relationship and from everything I gathered, she seemed to really downplay its significance, saying things like, it wasn't going on for very long before the murder, and how the two were never in love before the murder, and much more. And of course, she's trying to paint the picture for the jury that why would David kill his wife for a woman that he wasn't that serious with? But that's really what's up for debate. How serious were they before he killed Belinda?

The prosecution thinks they were pretty serious. And before the trial even started, Heather was interviewed and she was asked if David ever brought Belinda up to her. And she said no. She said that he never brought Belinda up at all. His wife who was murdered brutally. He never brings Blendup at all. His wife who was murdered brutally. He never brings it up. I mean, that's just extremely hard to believe.

So either Heather was lying or David really is one of the coldest people on the face of the planet. Now as for the defense, all they really needed was reasonable doubt. And without a murder weapon, their job was made easier. One hurdle they had to get over was the broken glass in the living room. Remember, if that glass was broken when the door was closed, it would have shattered it straight back, but at the scene, it was found off to the side almost as if the glass was broken when the door was already open.

While the defense's argument was that the reason the glass was off to the side was because David rushed into the home that day, and all that glass just got pushed to the side by the force of him opening the door. The defense also tried casting doubt on the dog, saying that it wasn't as aggressive as the prosecution was making it out to be. Now there was one bit of testimony for the defense that I wanted to share and get your opinions on, and it has to do with the time of death. As you know, the prosecution believes

that Belinda was killed closer to 4 p.m. while David was still at home. And the defense argued that she was killed closer to 4.30. Well, three boys that lived behind the temples told police back in 1999 that they heard the sound of a gunshot at 4.30, a single gunshot. And if that was the gunshot that killed Belinda, and it was 430, that would mean David couldn't have done it. But even though this testimony supports the defense and David's alibi, they were merely kids at the time.

Is it possible that they got the time wrong or possibly mistook the sound of a car engine firing for a gunshot, just some things to consider. But ultimately, in November of 2007, after a four week trial, David Temple was found guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison. We, the jury, found the defendant, David Mark Temple, guilty of murder as charged in the indictment. However, the case doesn't end there. A handful of years after the sentencing, a friend of Riley Sanders came forward and told investigators that he had to clear his conscience.

He told them that he had overheard Riley talking about the Temple House being burglarized and how it had escalated. He claims he overheard him say that he was attacked by the dog, shot the dog, panicked, and left. And he thought that shooting the dog was code for shooting Belinda. Investigators were definitely interested in this and they had him record his statement so that they could bring it to a judge. And meanwhile, a detective who was not super involved with the case was asked to look deeper into everything and see if he could find something new. And boy did he. It turns out that there were 1,319 pages of old police reports that were littered with Riley Sanders' name and a ton of information that the detective believed had never been

seen or shared before. And I mean, based on all of that, it made Riley look like a much bigger suspect than they thought originally. So of course, this information was shared with David's defense team and when it was, their eyes lit up. Based on what they were seeing, it looked like the lead prosecutor didn't disclose all the evidence. A hearing was actually held to address all this, and the former lead prosecutor said that she did everything according to law during that trial, but the judge didn't fully agree. And that's why he made a recommendation for the case to be

reopened. And it was. In November of 2016, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned David's conviction. After serving nine years in prison, David Temple was released on bond while he awaited his retrial. side of the fence. It's been a long time. I wouldn't wish a trial on my worst enemy. I would take for anybody to have to go through that and then tell you've been through something of that magnitude. I don't think anybody or any family could even begin to understand. So the second trial began on July 8, 2019, and four days into it, Heather announced that she had divorced David, which was not a good look for him. For 18 days, a new jury heard all the information, and I mean all of it. But ultimately, thank God they came to the same conclusion.

David Temple was guilty of murder. A jury has found David Temple guilty for a second time. This decision today follows seven hours of jury deliberations and four weeks of testimony. Tomorrow the jury will decide his punishment. The former Ailey Fasting's high school coach killed his wife, Belinda, in January 1999. Channel 2, Sofia Bosele live at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center downtown, where the punishment phase continues tomorrow. Sofia? After the judge read the verdict this afternoon state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state

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the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the of murder as charged in the indictment. But the wild thing is, after seven hours of deliberation, they still couldn't agree on a punishment for David, leaving the judge no choice but to declare this a mistrial. But luckily, the mistrial wouldn't mean that David would get an entire third trial. David was guilty, That was done. What happened instead was he was given a

sentence only trial, but unfortunately, it was delayed due to the pandemic. And during this time, David remained out on bond. Finally, though, in April of 2023, just recently and 24 years after Belinda was murdered, David received his sentence and he was sentenced to life in prison. The jury sentenced his David temple to life in prison. 24 years after he shot and killed his pregnant wife, Belinda Temple, it has been a long and winding legal journey to today's verdict. And what was so shocking to me is Evan, Belinda and David's son, stood by his father throughout the entire thing and hoped that he would be acquitted. And what's also shocking and disturbing is even though he has a life sentence,

he's eligible for parole in 17 years. Belinda's family, of course, remains adamant that David killed her despite his claims of innocence. means adamant that David killed her despite his claims of innocence. You're just stickable, these trash. Call our family to that trash, look at you, David. Yeah, thanks, Bob. I want you to think about the start of the day, you spend the rest of your life in tourism. Whew, that was a lot to cover. And I definitely want to hear your thoughts on this one.

I feel that I know how most of you are going to feel. I know that most of you are going to think David is guilty, but I think there could be some of you out there who at least have room for reasonable doubt or think it possibly was Riley. But let me know. In my opinion, David killed Belinda and he killed Aaron, and I think he should have been held accountable

for both of their murders. I'm a bit frustrated with how all of this shook out and cannot imagine him actually getting parole in 17 years. Unbelievably, I can't imagine how her family feels. Reading about Blinda's story truly broke my heart. Blinda seemed like such a wonderful person. All I know is that what happened to Blinda is beyond tragic. She was a very very good person who is dearly missed by so many. 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. you