True Crime with Kendall Rae - Massive House Fire Destroys All Evidence of Her Murder: Who Killed Nanette Krentel?

Episode Date: August 8, 2024

Nanette Krentel was a beloved schoolteacher and member of her community when she was found dead in her house after a bad fire. Further investigation revealed that it wasn’t the fire that killed her, but a gunshot wound… and it wasn’t self-inflicted. After seven years, her case still remains open. If you have any information on the murder of Nanette Kernel, call Crime Stoppers: [phone] Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign...  Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop This episode is sponsored by: Liquid IV - promo code: KENDALLRAE SKIMS 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 to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. I am so happy to have you here and if you're new, welcome. So today guys, we're going to be getting into an absolutely wild case which is going to take you down so many different roads when it comes to what you think. It's truly one where I don't really know where I fully land like I have gut feelings but even I'm still just torn. This is the unsolved horrific murder of Nanette Watson Crental who was an amazing person and absolutely needs more coverage on this case.

There has been some bigger production and a decent amount of coverage over the years. However, it's been a while since there's been anything major done. And I really wanted to do so because more people need to know about this case. I still feel like it could absolutely be solved. And I really, really want that for this family. And I think as I tell you guys more about what happened, not only are you going to be, you know, all over the place as far as what you're thinking based on what I'm giving you at the time and things are going to change for you if you're not familiar with the case, but I also think that when I explain things, you're definitely going to agree with me that this case is

solvable. Whoever did this to Nanette absolutely had to have some type of personal connection to her. It had to have been someone she knew because they just had too much access to private information that a stranger wouldn't have known. So I truly don't think it was just a random person, you know, someone who just decided to do this to her. I think it was someone who had motive. And when we start going through the people that are potential persons of interest, suspects, I think you're going to see pretty clearly that it really could have been any of them.

And that's why it's so hard for me to land on what I think is most likely. But I am very confident that this could be solved and that they're on the right track as far as who could have possibly done this. But I'm obviously getting way ahead of myself here. So let me start by telling you more about Nanette. Nanette Watson was born on July 26th, 1967 in New Orleans, Louisiana to her parents, and Pat and Between siblings and half siblings Nanette was actually one of six which included herself Amy Wendy Kim Lisa and Chad and as you learn about Nanette one thing becomes very obvious She was an incredible person who truly loved other people That she didn't have a mean bone in her body, she was kind-spirited and absolutely adored and just beyond

loved by the people in her life. Nanette truly seemed to have room for everyone and everything in her heart, including animals. She was a huge animal lover which I think says so much about her and there was one story that her father, Dan, has told that I think really puts into perspective the type of person that she was. There was an instance where they were at the store and they were in the parking lot and they noticed that there was a dog in a car and that it was hot. And she decided to go into the store, find the owner, and explain to them why what they were doing was dangerous.

And her father was nervous that this person would get angry at her and you know, but she was like, whatever, I'm gonna do what I need to do to protect this dog. So she ends up talking to the owner and the owner ends up being really receptive to it and says, you know, thank you for making me aware of how dangerous it can be, how hot it can get in cars. And this was a while ago. I think it's more well known now. Hopefully that cars get hot extremely fast and you should never leave your car or your dog in your car unattended in any type of heat. But yeah, she had a great approach with this person, just educated them. They said they were super grateful that she let them know and she walked out of the store

with them. Dog was okay. And I think it's just the little stories like that that tell you a lot about a person, especially when you can confront someone in a situation like that and get the message across. It just shows that she was so kind hearted. She didn't have any ounce of a mean spirit in her. She genuinely made friends with everyone. She could communicate well with people regardless of the situation. And then another thing that kept coming up learning about Nanette was about her laugh.

Her friends and family say that she just had the most infectious laugh, that you couldn't help but laugh with her. And that's one of the many things that they miss about her. They say that she made every dinner table louder and every conversation more fun with that unforgettable laughter and her just loving personality. But she did have a serious side to her, especially when it came to the truth. Nanette was someone who was very honest, really valued the truth and was very hurt when she

found out someone was being dishonest with her. Which brings me to her husband, which I will explain more later what exactly I mean by that, but things were definitely rocky between them, especially at the time of her death. However, they weren't always rocky. Nanette and her husband Steve were married for a total of 22 years before she was killed. And for a while, like I said, things between them were great. And before I get into how they ended up not so great, let's talk about how they met and how their relationship evolved over time.

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and eight essential vitamins and nutrients. It's always non-GMO, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free. So indulge in hydration this summer with Liquid IV. Get 20% off your first order of Liquid IV when you go to liquidiv.com and use the code KendallRey at checkout. That's 20% off your first order when you shop better hydration today using promo code KendallRey at liquidiv.com. So back in 1994, Steve Krentel was the owner of a scuba diving shop and also a picture frame store.

And one day, Nanette walked in looking for a job. And so he ended up hiring her and the two of them really hit it off. The thing was, is at the time Steve was married and so at first they were strictly friends. However, over time that grew into something more. And this part's a little foggy. I will say that it has been reported that at the time Steve told Nanette that he and his wife were over.

However, it appears that they were not officially divorced yet. Again, I'm not completely sure, but it sounds like their divorce was not final at the time the two of them started dating. But once him and his ex-wife were officially divorced, Nanette and him ended up falling in love and got married a year later.

And another thing you should know is that at the time, Steve had a two-year-old son, Justin, who he had with his first wife. And Nanette had no issues with this at all. In fact, she was really excited. She adored children and really wanted children of her own one day. But unfortunately, after years of trying without success,

it ultimately never happened for her and Steve. And this was really, really hard on her, as it is for so many that struggle with infertility, but another great quality about Nanette is that she was very resilient. And in order to, you know, fill that space in her heart, she ended up getting a job working at a preschool. And it sounds like she just absolutely loved it, that the children loved her, the parents loved her.

It was a great fit. And during that time, she and Steve bought a massive property out in La Combe, Louisiana. And in the year 2000, they built their dream home together. And I think the most accurate way to describe this place is by calling it remote, absolutely beautiful. They lived on 100 acres of wooded land nestled in the trees, really away from where they could be bothered by others.

Which isn't to say they weren't social, they just valued their privacy, which I totally get. And I would love to live more remote like that. However, I also like having quick access to things and friends and stuff. So but yeah, that's definitely not to say they weren't social. They had a lot of friends and a lot of people were involved in their lives. Now Steve's cousin did live on part of the property, but it was behind a tree line and out of sight of their main home, which is semi important to note, but I will explain more about that in a bit. But the most important thing that you should know about their house is that

there was only one way in and one way out. And that was via their driveway, which was long gated and equipped with security cameras. And while we're on the subject of home security, there's another super, super important thing you have to know. And that's that they had nine security cameras on the property. Nanette really didn't mess around with safety, especially in the last like five to six years of her life, which after I explain, that will make a lot of sense to you.

But for as much of a concern as it was in the more recent years, safety wasn't always her biggest concern. There were many years where she and Steve appeared to be super happy. Back in 1997, he sold his businesses and got a job working for the St. Tammany Parish Fire District 12, and over the years,

he ended up earning the coveted title of Fire Chief, which was a really big deal, obviously, and put him and Nanette in a much more comfortable position financially. So much so that when Nanette was only 40 years old, she was able to retire. And being retired gave Nanette a lot of free time to do the things that she loved, which included spending time with her Chihuahua, Harley, and her two cats, Baby Kitty and Smokey. She also was able to spend a bunch of time shooting her guns, and if there's one thing Nanette loved to do, it was shooting on her property. In total, she and Steve owned 30 guns and often spent time doing target practice out on their property. But like I was alluding to before, Nanette was growing more and more concerned for her safety in the years leading up to 2017. And when I say that she was concerned for her safety, it's really a step above that. It got to the point where she was genuinely

concerned for her life. And in the end, it turned out that all of the precautions that she was taking to keep herself safe just weren't enough. And that's because on July 14th, 2017, Nanette was tragically murdered, brutally murdered. And to this day, her killer has not been brought to justice. So let's talk about that day,

everything that led up to that day and everything that has happened since. That day, July 14th, 2017 was a Friday. And according to Steve's account, it was a very typical morning for them. He says he woke up, took a shower, Nanette had put his clothes out for him and packed him lunch.

And then like she always did, she walked him out to his work truck and watched him drive away. And that at approximately 7 40 a.m. After this point though there are some discrepancies in what people believe happened that morning. Investigators say that some time after Steve left Nanette drove to McDonald's where she spent seven dollars and 22 cents and they believe this because her Mercedes SUV was seen on surveillance going through the drive-through and both her credit card and phone data place her there as well. Then at 9-11 a.m., a security camera on Phillip Smith Road, the road she lived on, is said

to have picked up an image of her Mercedes returning to the property. Now I do want to make it very clear that while investigators believe this, her family has some serious doubts and here's why. The surveillance camera that recorded the footage of Nanette's SUV at the McDonald's was actually across the street and therefore the footage is very, very blurry. And her family actually got to review the footage themselves in 2018 and they said that it's so bad, you can definitely not tell who's driving. There was a figure in the moving car which investigators believe is her dog,

but again her family says that you really can't determine anything based on that footage. And this footage has unfortunately never been released to the public, which is obviously very frustrating because being able to determine who is driving that car could really help establish an approximate time of death. Law enforcement has explained that they do not want to release the footage because it could compromise the case. Of course, it's frustrating and I wish we had that footage, but they do have it and they strongly believe it was in the net.

Also, you have to consider the cell phone data and the credit card data as well. But that is not a for sure at all. And I definitely see where her family is coming from. And I'm definitely getting a little bit ahead of myself here. But while I'm on this train of thought, the reason that her family is, you know, so frustrated by this is they believe that someone else could have been driving the car to make it look like it was Nanette and that it's possible she was actually killed the night before.

And her family believes that if someone else was driving the car, they were trying to make it seem like she was still alive on the 14th. In their minds, they just can't rule out the possibility that she was murdered the night before, which I will explain why that is so important later on. However, to investigators, they firmly believe that that footage is Nanette, and therefore they believe that she died

that day on the 14th. So the truth of what really happened that morning is definitely one of the biggest questions here. However, what we do know for certain is that at 2.30 PM, a 911 call was made by a neighbor's kid who was actually just riding her bike home when she saw a bunch of smoke coming out from behind the trees.

And as you probably can already guess, that smoke was actually coming from Nanette and Steve's house, which was completely engulfed in flames. And of course, Steve being the fire chief was called to the scene. However, he was actually already on his way because his cousin had called him and told him, the one who lived on the property as well. Steve said that he thought he was joking at first, but once he realized he was serious, he got into his work truck immediately and sped home as fast as he could.

And during that 15 minute drive, he said he could see all the smoke coming up over the tree line, and the closer they got, the more worried he became. And there is actually footage of him driving there, which I don't believe I'm able to play due to copyright reasons, but in it, you can see how concerned he is, of him driving there, which I don't believe I'm able to play due to copyright reasons.

But in it, you can see how concerned he is, how scared he is. And he said up until they got closer, he was really hoping it was just the surrounding trees that were on fire. But the closer they got, he realized that his entire house was on fire. And of course, he's not just worried about the house. He's worried about Nanette because he is trying to call her. He's calling her over and over. And every time it went straight to voicemail,

which he said just sent him into a sheer panic as I'm sure it would anyone. And that panic got even worse when he pulled up and realized that every square inch of his house was on fire. There was literally nothing that wasn't burning and it was a very aggressive fire. And so at that point, his only hope was that somehow Nanette wasn't in the house. But his hope that she had made it out was quickly gone when he stood there himself and watched his

entire garage collapse and inside the garage was Nanette's car. And he knew that she had to have been there. And tragically, she was. After the fire was put out, first responders found Annette's body lying face up on the floor of their master bathroom. I wanna give a trigger warning too. I know there are a lot of people out there who don't wanna hear about anything regarding animals, and I totally understand that.

So unfortunately, her dog and her other pets did not survive. Her dog was actually found lying next to her. Specifically, this was her dog, Harley. And that evening around 6.43 p.m., Steve called Nanette's dad to tell him the news, along with his interpretation of what he thought had happened. Which based on the fact that Nanette was found with her pets nearby, Steve believed, at least at first, that she might have died trying to save her animals because she did love her animals so

very much. But right off the bat, her family didn't think that could be true. They just could not see a world where she would take that much of a risk, especially being married to a fire chief and being in her own home, they figured that she would have known how to get out and when to get out, when would be cutting it too close. And so from day one, their family believed that her death was not an accident. And if your mind is already jumping where my mind jumped, you're thinking about those nine security cameras

on the property, right? Should be pretty easy to pull those up and figure out what had actually happened. However, the DVR system that the cameras were all connected to was horribly burned in a fire beyond recovery. Even when the DVR system was sent to the FBI, they weren't able to salvage it either. And even though all of those answers are on those tapes and we will never get them back, which is just so frustrating. The fire marshals were able to provide some insight into what happened, and their assessment was that that fire was set deliberately.

They brought in scent dogs who detected that an accelerant had been poured and concentrated in two separate areas of the house, in the living room and also in the master bedroom. And one of the items that was most heavily doused with gasoline was that DVR that stored all of the security footage, which tells us that whoever set this house on fire knew about those cameras, knew where the footage was stored and knew how to get rid of it. And this is horrible to have to say, but one of her cats was actually doused in gasoline.

So obviously very personal, very intentional. And this absolutely had, I mean, it reeked of foul play and her family was being told something different right off the bat. In that first week, her family was actually told that Nanette's death was intentional and that she was the one who did it. And for a million reasons, her family did not accept this explanation and you shouldn't either because it is a fact that she did not set her house on fire

and she did not take her own life. And I'm gonna explain why. On the night of the fire around 9 p.m., her remains were removed from the scene and sent to the coroner's office for an initial autopsy to Confirm her cause of death and by the very next day the coroner determined that her cause of death was actually the result of a single Gunshot wound to the side of her head now obviously that really changes things But of course it is common for people to take their own lives by putting a gun to the side of their head

So investigators tried to use this to say that she was responsible for her own death. But the rest of the coroner's findings say otherwise. Obviously, if Nanette had taken her own life, she would have had to set the house on fire before she did so. However, they ended up finding out that she had zero soot in her lungs, not even a microscopic particle, which tells us a lot. Had Nanette started that fire and then taken her life, there would have been traces of smoke particles in her airway. It's just a fact. Even if she had taken a single breath, the coroner would have been able to determine that. There was absolutely nothing in her lungs or her throat,

which tells us that she was not breathing while the house was on fire. And we also know that the fire couldn't have started by accident after she took her own life from like a candle or the oven or anything like that, because accelerant was found on the scene. Another important thing that the coroner found was that Nanette's body did not blister the way that it would have if she was alive when the

fire reached her. And this is something I had actually never heard of, but I guess your body blisters differently if you are burned while alive versus being burned after you are already gone. And lastly, there was also a serious lack of blood where Nanette's body was found. Considering Nanette's gunshot wound was to her head, the coroner said that he would have expected there to be serious pooling of blood around her head and body, which indicated to him that she may have been killed

somewhere else and then moved to that bathroom where she was found later. So yeah, I think we can all agree here that this is very obviously a homicide. But at the time, Nanette's family was not told any of the information that I just told you. I am someone who really values my comfy attire. What I'm going to wear as soon as I get home from work, when I take off the bra, take off the jeans, and I put on something that I'm going to feel comfortable, relaxed in,

sometimes even to sleep in. But I am picky about my comfies, I am picky about my loungewear because so much of it out there only lasts me for so long. I don't know if it's just me, but so many of the sweatpants that I have bought that I end up really liking at first you know when I first get them they're really comfy and soft and cozy and then I put them in the washing machine and after a couple washes they get pilled they start falling apart they're just not the same sometimes they shrink down but I have

been absolutely loving these skims soft lounge collection and I love that it's loungewear that I can actually wear out of the house which is so amazing. I have been living in the Skimsoft lounge collection lately. It has the softest fabric, it totally makes it through the wash. I haven't had any of their lounge sets shrink or pill or fall apart and I love that they have some lightweight options that I can actually sleep in if I want to without getting too hot in the summer. I really love their fold over pants in particular and I've been wearing them right out of the house and I get compliments on them all the time and they also have the soft lounge sleep set and I've got to say on those days where I'm stressed out, life's been hectic and I just want to feel relaxed. Putting on the

soft lounge sleep set is such a treat. If you haven't gotten on the matching pajama set train, you are totally missing out. I don't know what it is about having something like that. It's so simple, but I feel more put together even when I'm just lounging around the house. Kind of makes me feel like I just have it all together. So if you haven't checked out the Skims lounge where I'm telling you friends, you're missing out. It's so awesome. Shop the Skims soft lounge collection at skims.com now available in sizes extra extra small to four X. And if you haven't yet, be sure to let them know that I sent you

after you place your order, select podcast in the survey and select my podcast in the dropdown menu that follows. All that they had heard was that this was a side. They were not even told about the gunshot wound to her head. And it wasn't until a week later that their family found out the truth. And they found out in, God,

one of the most heartbreaking ways, mainly because of the day that they found out. And that was July 21st. That day, Steve held a memorial service for Nanette at the preschool where she had dedicated those 14 years of her life to those students. This school was such a big part of her story, so special to her.

And Steve felt that this was the best place to honor her memory. But literally just a few minutes before that ceremony started, a family member actually came across a blog article that released the information about Nanette's cause of death being a gunshot wound to the head.

And to say that they were upset to find this out, especially at a ceremony where they're trying to celebrate her life, I mean would just be an understatement. They were devastated, shocked, angry, and then they found out that investigators knew about this for days before they did. But what especially pissed them off about this was the fact that three days after Nanette died, law enforcement had released the scene back into their custody, which essentially means that law enforcement said they had finished up processing the scene

and that the family was free to do with it what they wanted. So there's essentially two ways to look at this and neither way is good. Either investigators thought this was a homicide and only took 48 hours to process the scene, which is very bad. Or investigators thought this was a side and didn't really process the scene at all, which is also very bad. But it really seemed that they were definitely treating this as a side, even though the coroner was suggesting otherwise. And I say that because

they clearly hadn't done a very thoughtful search the first time around. And when Nanette's family was given access to the house on May 17th, they noticed that there were a ton of things left behind as if they just weren't important to the case. Kim's boyfriend literally found an AR type rifle that an officer had just left behind. And honestly, just the whole experience of being let into the house seemed really strange to them. They felt so strongly that someone had to have done something to Nanette, yet nobody was really talking to them about it or making it seem like they were investigating this. And then flash forward to her memorial when they found out that she was actually shot, they realized that it was 10 times stranger that they were even allowed on the scene to begin with.

And if you forgot, Kim is one of Nanette's sisters and she is actually a criminal prosecutor. So obviously she knows about this kind of stuff and yeah, it made no sense to anyone in her family really why investigators were treating this so casually. And if you thought the investigators were being weird before listen to this. Five days after her murder and two days before the memorial service when their family found out the truth They had actually returned to the house and tried to Re-secure it as a crime scene pretty obvious. They knew they fucked up tried to pull the uno reverse But yeah, just such a failure

But basically what happened was during their initial search they'd found two guns near Nanette's body Which they had sent to the crime scene lab to see if either was the weapon that killed her and it's actually because they had found two guns near Nanette's body, which they had sent to the crime scene lab to see if either was the weapon that killed her. And it's actually because they had found a gun near her that they had jumped to this side conclusion so quickly. But the reason that they re-secured the scene was because neither of the guns they tested came back as a ballistic match. So they actually wanted to go back and see if they could find another gun to link it to her death. And they ended up finding a 40 caliber Springfield handgun, which is the same caliber as the bullet that she was shot with. But because of how badly it was damaged by the fire,

they couldn't say whether or not this was the gun actually used to kill her. And yes, the fire had obviously really hindered this investigation, but so did the fact that investigators were treating this as and were only trying to find evidence that supported that one theory, which needless to say is just a major failure on their part. During the first search of the scene, they left behind major evidence that lends to the homicide theory because for whatever reason they didn't seem to want to go down that road. And another major piece of evidence they left behind was that DVR that had all the

security camera footage on it. And of course, now we know that it was burnt beyond recovery. Even the FBI wasn't able to get it back. But likely at the time, they did not know that. And they just left it there as if it was nothing. Whether they believe this was a suicide or not, you would think they would take any and all evidence to come to that final conclusion no matter what, not just leave it behind as if it meant nothing. And so Steve ended up actually hiring a private arson investigator who found a handful of items that were left behind, which again just

goes to show how little thought they put into processing the scene. And for all of these reasons, the Watson family has grown incredibly wary of the investigators in this case, and I do not blame them. And they were especially skeptical of the sheriff, Randy Smith. And honestly, skeptical is kind of a nice way to put it. They just straight up did not trust this man. Important information regarding Nanette's murder was kept from them. The crime scene was so improperly secured and searched, and he seemed to be unwilling to believe that her death was anything other than suicide. And it got so bad that in August of 2017,

Dan, Nanette's dad, requested a temporary restraining order against the St. Tammany Parish Coroner's office and even against Steve himself. He also filed for injunctive relief, which means that all agencies involved in investigating Nancy's death had to preserve all the evidence and materials that they had collected. And the point of this was so that the Watson family could conduct their own autopsy with the help of a private pathologist, which ended up happening in September of that year.

And just like the findings from the first autopsy, this pathologist, Thomas Bennett, confirmed that Nanette's death was without a doubt the result of a homicide. He came to the same conclusions, that lack of soot, the lack of blistering, and the lack of blood. And to him, all of that is pointing to a cold blooded murder. Did you find any evidence that this could be a suicide? I mean, when you look at where the gunshot wound went in, was it at an angle that if she had a weapon, she could have shot herself? Because they said it was kind of behind the ear. Conceivably. If you look at one bit of evidence alone, you might say, oh, it could be, it could be. And so we thought, what rules it in, what rules it out? When you rule something as suicide,

you have to be able to conclusively state more probable than not that this person succeeded in the purposeful attempt to end their life. Is the location of the wound alone something that could happen with suicide? Yes, it is. 45% of self-inflicted gunshot wounds are to the side of the head. So that's a possibility. If you're right-handed, right side, left-handed, left side, people can sometimes use the opposite side, but that's not much of a clue. But that's the only thing that points to a side.

With everything else we're dealing with, the scene, the lack of any vital reaction to smoke in the air, so many other to smoke in the air. So many other factors ruled out that completely. So that's why we're able to conclude very easily that this was a homicide and not a suicide. Did she stop breathing before the fire started? She stopped breathing before the fire ever got to her. Any part of the fire. There was no evidence that the atmosphere of the fire, heat of the fire, anything of the fire was at her when she was alive. If you're in a fire, the atmosphere of the fire includes gases like carbon monoxide, things we look for.

None was found. It also contains the smoke, particulate matter that gets inhaled into the lungs so we can see it grossly with the unaided eye or microscopically. None. Either grossly or microscopically. She couldn't have done that. Here's the absolutely wild thing though. Despite a statement from the original coroner, which scientifically proved that Nanette died before the fire was set and that her manner of death was homicide, Sheriff Randy Smith made a statement that same day saying that he and his investigators didn't necessarily support the coroner's conclusion, aka insinuating once again that Nanette took her own life. And I

don't think I'll ever understand why, as anyone in law enforcement, that you wouldn't want to get to the truth and to justice. It's all very baffling, especially with there being so much evidence that they were wrong. And apparently there were five higher ups from the sheriff's department

who tried to convince the coroner to change his ruling, which luckily he said no. And believe it or not that's actually not even the weirdest part. Literally the next day on September 14th, Randy Smith held a press conference where he said that he and the others were working this case as a homicide and that they had been working the case as a homicide since day one. What? Now we're confused, right? To be clear this is the opposite of what he said the day before. What? Now we're confused, right? To be clear, this is the opposite of what he said the day before. And what also came as a shock to many is that during this press conference,

he publicly cleared Steve as a person of interest, which leads me to what I want to talk about next, the persons of interest in this case. And believe me, there are a few. And let's start with the obvious who he just talked about, Steve Krentel. And from the beginning and even to this day, Steve says that he completely understands, you know, why he has been considered a person of interest in his wife's murder. Statistically speaking, he gets why investigators had to consider the idea that he may have done it. And when they looked into him, he wasn't squeaky clean. During their investigation into Steve, some pretty damning information when it comes to his and Nanette's relationship came to light. And that was that he had had an affair.

He had cheated on Nanette with a woman that he worked with. And according to her family and her best friend, Lori, Nanette was thinking about leaving him. In fact, she was planning on talking to him about the fact that she possibly wanted to get out of the marriage around the time that she died. However, Steve told investigators something completely different about the affair. He said that yes, it happened, but that they were working through it. And obviously he knew that the affair did not make him look good. It definitely made him look more suspicious. and he knew that a lot of people

already were really looking at him as the person responsible for this. And so he volunteered to take a polygraph test, which he did pass, but as most of us know, polygraph tests don't really mean that much at the end of the day. They're not completely insignificant, but they're not admissible in court.

There's plenty of room for error. And so, you know, take that for what you will. But according to investigators, which of course, at this point, we're not feeling so great about them, are we? They did say that he cooperated in the way that an innocent person would. And a big thing that we have to consider is that Steve had a rock solid alibi. In addition to the nine security cameras that Steve had installed at his house, he installed a handful at the fire station as well. And not only could he be seen there all morning, but there were several witnesses that confirmed his alibi throughout the entire day.

Of course, up until the point that he found out about the fire and left. But this brings me back to what I was saying earlier about her family's suspicion that Nanette may have been killed the night before. Like I said, her family hasn't ruled out the idea that she was killed on the 13th. And if she was killed on the 13th, then Steve doesn't have an alibi. And this wasn't just a random hunch to them because on the night of the 13th, Nanette was on Facebook chatting back and forth with her high school best friend, Lori, and out of the blue, she just stopped responding, which of course isn't definitive proof that she was killed that night.

But her family does wonder why she just stopped replying. And they also wondered why she didn't get back on the next morning and explained to Lori where she went. Obviously though, even if the scenario was true, Steve does still have an alibi for the fire. And I wanna be clear that I am not saying that he's responsible for any of this. I truly have no idea.

I just wanna give you a picture of how her family feels. And investigators at the time obviously seem to have a very different opinion from them. They believe that Nanette was alive on the 14th and they believe that for several reasons alive on the 14th and they believe that for several reasons. First, there is the surveillance footage of which they say is Nanette at McDonald's and of course they also have that phone data and credit card activity placing her there as well. But in addition to that, there were also two phone calls placed by her phone that day.

The first was at 10.03 a.m. and this was a call to a local Kmart about refilling a prescription. The next call was around 1.30 p.m. to a local woman but she didn't pick up the phone. But what's weird about this and it may not mean anything but this woman who she called claims to not have any idea who Nanette is and it very well could have just been a misdial. And because this woman didn't pick up obviously she couldn't confirm who the caller was or what their voice sounded like, anything like that. And the Watson family aren't confident that either of those phone calls were placed by

Nanette. Her killer clearly had access to her house, so in their minds, they would have easily had access to her phone, her wallet, and the keys to her car. But the question remains, who would have wanted Nanette dead? And why were they willing to go to these extreme lengths to make it happen? According to Nanette's family, she was not happy in her marriage. She had told them on multiple occasions that she felt Steve was not doing enough to keep her safe or validate her very real fears, which I will get more into why she was fearful here in a sec. So of course her family was not happy to hear that this is the way she

felt in the way that he was treating her. But when it came to her actual murder, investigators did not believe that he was responsible. In fact, like I said, he was, according to them, very cooperative, very forthcoming and helpful, especially when it came to explaining the marital situation and what the deal was with all those security cameras. Like I said before, Steve told investigators that he and Nanette were having problems, but that they were working it out. And he also explained that the reason they had all of these security cameras was because Nanette was genuinely fearful for her life, which brings me to our next person of interest, who is actually Steve's brother,

Brian. Now, Brian Krentel is no stranger to the law. At the time of Nanette's murder, he had already been arrested 36 times. His arrests were a combination of DWIs and assault charges, but there was one incident in particular that is really of interest here. In 2015, Brian got into some type of car accident where he was under the influence of something, not exactly sure what, and he called Steve and Nanette to help him get his car out of a ditch. He basically wanted them to save him

from being arrested again because he had already been arrested at this point three times for DWIs. But when Steve and Nanette showed up, the police actually got there at the same time and therefore Brian was arrested. And he blamed them for him being arrested. He felt like they didn't get there fast enough. So he was sentenced to two years in prison for this incident, during which time he would write Annette letters threatening to assault her, kill her and Steve and then get this burn their house down.

He actually said that. So I think that tells us quite a bit and there's a lot more that we need to go over when it comes to Brian as well. But Nanette was absolutely terrified as I think anyone would be that he was actually going to make good on these threats. So she would actually call up the jail and beg them not to let him out. However, he was released for good behavior in September of 2016. And what's worse is he ended up moving back in with his parents, which was about

15 miles down the road from their house, which gave Nanette zero sense of safety at that point. And that's when Steve decided to install the cameras at their house. And not only that, he also installed some at his parents' house so he could keep an eye out for their safety and keep an eye on his brother who he did not trust. And this was supposed to make Nanette feel more safe and maybe it partially did, but she still felt the need to carry a gun with her at all times. And I don't blame her at all. I would feel the exact same way. They also attempted to put one more security measure in place. When Brian was released from prison, a GPS alcohol monitoring device was placed around his ankle and the supplier of this device said that they would put a geofence up that would alert authorities and Nanette if Brian came

within a thousand feet of their home. But Nanette believed that someone as violent as Brian would have still found a way to get to her and it terrified her every single day. But supposedly Brian had a rock solid alibi. However, it wasn't determined through the GPS monitoring device like you would think. And that's because the thing was never turned on. That's right.

They never turned the GPS monitoring device on. Oh my God, I cannot imagine how angry I would be if I were in this family's shoes. So that geofence was never actually in place and they couldn't determine any of his whereabouts since the day he was released. However, based on those cameras that Steve put up at his parents' house, investigators say that they can confirm that Brian was home when the fire was set.

Now, her family is still very sus about this. They do not accept that as fact. They would like for the security footage to be reviewed by the FBI because they feel it's possible that maybe the timestamps were altered or something like that, which very well could be the case. And I completely understand why their family does not trust the investigators.

I mean, they have failed them left and right, and they want to make absolutely sure without a doubt that his alibi can actually be confirmed. So I don't blame them for being cautious whatsoever. Now, moving forward, the suspicions around family members doesn't end with Brian. Early on, there was some concern that maybe Steve's son, Justin, could have been involved.

And here's why they thought that. It turns out that in addition to emailing her family about being scared of Brian, she was also emailing them about being scared of Justin. And based on all these emails, you can tell Nanette believed he was a dangerous person. I guess it was so bad that at one point when he was a teenager, he had to move out of the house and he was only allowed back if Steve was home. Nanette did not feel comfortable being alone with him at all.

In fact, she was straight up afraid to be alone with him. However, Steve disagreed with her concerns. He told investigators that Justin was just like any other kid with divorced parents. And yeah, he had gone through some tough times and might have had some behavioral issues, but at no point would he have ever hurt Nanette. In fact, a year after she died, Justin actually got married. And Steve says that during the mother and son dance, he stopped dancing with his biological mom halfway through and surprised Nanette by grabbing her hand and dancing with her as well. Which in Steve's mind showed that he was

a good kid. Not to mention, Justin actually does have a rock-solid alibi. So that sort of pumped the brakes on that theory. However, there is another person of interest who I haven't gotten to yet, and that leads us to the stalker. According to Dan, a few weeks before his daughter died, she was worried that someone may have been stalking her. And she thought that because footage from the security camera by their front gate showed an unidentified male lurking around the front of their property. She even ended up sending a screenshot of the guy to her dad, hoping that they could try and figure out who it was, but they couldn't. It was just way too blurry to tell. But what's also really strange is Nanette said after she noticed this guy was out there on the camera, she went out there herself and found cigarette butts and a knife. Neither she or Steve were smokers, so she felt like this

was proof that someone was staking out their property. But Steve disagreed. In fact, he seemed to be so unconcerned that the night before the fire, he didn't stop to reset the camera system to the gate when he noticed it was off. Yes, you heard that right. On July 13th, Steve noticed that the security system that was connected to the cameras by the front gate were off. And he said that because he was tired and wanted something to eat, he didn't stop to reset it. Now, according to him, the system malfunctioned a lot, so it wasn't uncommon for him to have to reboot it, but he just happened to not do it that night. And here's what I'm wondering.

If that system was on, would we have a clear answer as to who did this? It's pretty strange and frustrating that this happened to be off and could give us the answers that would lead to Justice 4 in a net, which really makes you think because obviously whoever did this knew all about the security camera as they knew to make sure that that DVR was destroyed. But were they just incredibly lucky that the system that controlled the front gate was out? Now, of course, I'm sure you're thinking about the fact that that person, since you couldn't make out who they were, could have been anybody. Definitely could have been Brian since there was no way to track him. But that's enough on persons of interest for now. I don't want to speculate too much here. I want to get back to the investigation

as a whole, which by October of 2017 had really slowed down. The two big announcements at this time were one, that the FBI announced that they were officially joining the investigation and two, that ballistics tests on one of the firearms located near Ninette's body could now not be ruled out as the weapon that killed her. Besides this though, little else was announced. Everyone that I talked about in the episode has been looked into by authorities or so they say and as we know, Steve was cleared as a suspect publicly. However, of course, he wasn't totally out of the spotlight. In November of 2017, he returned to work after taking a leave of absence, but around that

time an investigation into him was opened by the Fire District Civil Service Board. And to make a long story short, a fellow firefighter had accused Steve of nepotism, misuse and destruction of company property, and of being in an intimate relationship with a fellow employee. And they were basically calling for Steve to be removed as fire chief, which he tried to fight, but in May of 2018 he was officially demoted. Then in September of that year, he ended up retiring from the fire department altogether. Now all of this is separate from what's going on with Nanette's case, but I just felt like I should mention that. During that time though, when the review of Steve was going on, some other interesting

things were happening behind the scenes. Starting in December of 2017, Nanette's family began receiving anonymous emails from someone who appeared to have inside information on the investigation. In the first email, which is dated December 29 information on the investigation. In the first email, which is dated December 29th, the emailer described the investigators on the case and the connections they had to each other. They also advised her family on what questions to ask investigators as related to the case. And they did. But when they did, it was clear that they were asking about things that they weren't supposed to know about. Like for example, the fact that a new consultant was brought in to help with the

case. And when investigators asked how they knew about this, it turned into a series of crazy events. Once investigators learned about these anonymous emails, they secured a search warrant to secretly retrieve call logs and location data for phones associated with the email address. And it led them to a man named Jerry Rogers, who was not just a random guy. Jerry Rogers actually used to work for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office, and he was now a federal agent with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. And the more detectives looked into what he was sending, the more upset they became.

Over the course of two years, there were 10 emails in total that were sent, and they all seemed to be very critical of how the investigation was being done. At one point, Jerry called the lead detective a stone cold rookie and clueless, and also had some choice words to say about Sheriff Smith. I believe the words he used were Dumbo Sheriff. Now this whole next part is very legal and technical.

So I'm going to do my best to try and break this down simply. While the Sheriff's Office was working on Annette's case, they were also making a case against Jerry Rogers. In their minds, he was breaking the law by spreading privileged information about the high profile case and by speaking critically about their investigation. And they knew about him and the emails as early as 2018,

but waited until September of 2019 to actually arrest him. And when they did, they arrested him on the charge of criminal defamation. But it wasn't just Jerry who got caught up in all of this. Another investigator, Stephen Montgomery, was actually fired because of all of this. They said that he was the one that was leaking the information to Jerry

because the two of them actually used to be partners. But Stefan completely denies leaking the information. In fact, he wasn't even assigned to the Crental case until December of 2018, a year after the emails started being sent. Plus there was only one email that Jerry had sent after December of 2018, and it didn't contain any confidential information. Anyways, though, Jerry ended up suing the

department for his arrest, and the judge ruled in his favor in May of 2022. And it turns out that Sheriff Randy Smith was warned by the DA's office before he sanctioned the arrest that arresting Jerry was unconstitutional, but he decided to do it anyway. He even said that if he was given the chance, he'd do it all over again. And this is just wonderful, but despite all of this bullshit with the sheriff, he was reelected again in 2019,

which is understandably a huge concern, a very frustrating thing for the Watson family. It has now been seven years since Nanette was killed and since then there have been zero arrests associated with her case. Vigils have been held over the years in her honor and loved ones are absolutely refusing to give up on her. They believe that answers are out there but they feel very in the dark when it comes to what's being done to solve Nanette's murder. In 2020 the district attorney's office subpoenaed the complete investigation file from the sheriff's office and it stated that the files were required due to the

differences between the reports from the sheriff's office and the coroner's office. However, Randy Smith has come out and said that he and the coroner do not know what these differences were. In a statement, he said, I am unaware of any differences in the findings between my agency and the coroner's office. So upon receipt of this subpoena, I called and spoke with Dr. Preston and apparently he too is unaware of any differences between our two agencies. Rest assured, we will comply with the subpoena

and provide a complete copy of our investigative file to Mr. Montgomery's office. However, while it might sound like this was an effort on behalf of the DA to push things forward in the case, many believe that they were just using Nanette's case to try and get reelected. And I certainly hope that's not the case, but that's really the sentiment I'm getting from what I'm reading online. Even Nancy's sister Kim was confused by the timing of the subpoena. She questioned why after three years, the DA was just now interested

at the exact same time that he was campaigning for reelection. Seems pretty convenient. However, as of 2024, there actually is a new DA and he has stated that Nanette's case is a huge priority. Colin Sims is that new DA and he and his team of investigators have said that they are pursuing every single lead. They have collected 373 gigabytes of data including subpoenas, search warrants, videos, and phone calls as well as conducted 52 formal interviews. They say that their office hasn't cleared anyone in this case and they are determined to re-examine her murder from square one which is really great news and I hope all of that is true. It would be incredible for Nanette's sake and her family's sake if they make good on their word

and find her killer and bring them to justice. Seven years is just seven years too long for her case to have gone unsolved. Now, sadly, I do have to tell you, Nanette's dad did pass away from COVID in 2021 without ever knowing what happened to his daughter. And that just breaks my heart to think about. And as for Steve, he says that his world was turned upside down that day.

And the last seven years of his life have been among the hardest. He says that the only thing keeping him sane is the fact that the case is still active and being worked on, but not having the answers is just torture for him. Now, like I've stated, I don't really know what to think. You know, I think there's some strong possibilities here. I feel like we've probably been over the one who actually committed this murder to say exactly who I think it is, is I feel impossible with the information that we have and what we don't have. Of course, I believe that everyone is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law but I think we can all agree that this had to

have been someone who knew her and that this was personal and I'm pretty sure I'm going to see comments saying that Nanette was overly paranoid that she didn't trust so many people in her life and she was scared of the stalker and maybe was over cautious but really can you say that? I've seen people say that online too, and I don't understand. I mean she was right She was murdered in her home in a brutal way. I think she had every reason to be paranoid She had a feeling for years that something horrible was going to happen and in the end she was right as of right now There is a five thousand dollar reward leading to the arrest and indictment of the suspect or suspects.

So please, if you have any information on the murder of Nanette Krentel, please call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111. Before I wrap up today, I do want to make a donation to our NECMEC campaign in Nanette's honor. I think she would have loved that. She loved children. You know, she was an amazing preschool teacher and truly loved that position.

And I think the fact that she wasn't able to have children and always wanted to, I think she would feel very good about that donation being made there. I think she would stand behind everything that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children does. And also I wanted to go ahead and take a moment to say that we have a few more items available in our NECMEC collection, which is available at kendalray.shop. We have limited quantities left. So if you want something now's the time

to grab it. And 100% of the profit from that is also donated to our NECMEC campaign, which is nearing $450,000. And that's our goal. So if you would like to help us get there and purchase an item through my website, kendallray.shop or just make a donation through our campaign page, both will be linked below and I would really appreciate it. But that is going to be it for me today. This case is so, so heartbreaking and Nanette seemed like an incredible person.

Her friends and family seem so awesome and tough from the interviews that I've seen. And I just hope for all of their sake that they get the answers they need one day and eventually see justice. That would be truly amazing to be able to update you guys on this case one day that that has happened. But I definitely want to hear your thoughts on this one guys, what theory makes most sense to you? What are your thoughts on the failures when it comes to law enforcement in this case and their investigation? It's very, very frustrating. 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 Rae. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.