True Crime with Kendall Rae - Murder for Hire Deal at Olive Garden? The Valerie McDaniel & Leon Jacob Case

Episode Date: November 22, 2022

Lots of people have exes. Some are friendly with them, others can’t stand the thought of them. But would you ever want yours killed? This episode covers a couple who went above and beyond to seek revenge on their exes, and they chose the strangest place to meet up with their would-be hitman... This episode is sponsored by: Native - promo code: kendallrae Apostrophe - promo code: KENDALLRAE Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

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maybe you don't wish good things for them and you don't want to see them happy. Those things are all pretty normal, right? What's not normal is wanting to see your X dead. Today we're gonna be talking about a couple that went really far to seek revenge on their exes. So this is Valerie McDaniel. She was known as a really awesome person and people who knew her described her as being very generous, really smart, creative, and overall just a really sweet and nice person. Growing up, Valerie was a good kid and a really good student. She graduated high school in 1987 and was top of her class and valedictorian of her graduating class. After high school, she attended Texas A&M and ended up becoming a veterinarian.

So while Valerie was in school, she met a guy named Marion McDaniel who went by Mac. The two of them ended up falling in love and ended up getting married. They had a really nice fairy tale wedding and they also had a really kind of cushy start to life. They got to live in a house that Valerie's parents bought for her. And Valerie lived a very luxurious lifestyle. She really liked the finer things in life, nice houses, nice cars, boats. But one thing about Valerie is she really loved animals. And eventually she decided to open her own vet clinic. And her husband, Mack joined in with her

to work at the vet clinic as like an office manager type of position. Obviously getting a business started is a ton of work and they both put in mad hours so they didn't spend that much quality time together. But they really put on a front around people and most people said they seemed like a really happy couple. The two of them really wanted kids

and finally they decided to adopt because Valerie could not have kids of her own. So in 2008, they adopted their daughter. She was only two days old when they adopted her and they were really excited to have a daughter. And I think they were really hoping that it would bring them closer together to have a daughter. And I think they were really hoping that it would bring them closer together to have a child together.

But things went bad pretty shortly after this. Valerie ended up finding out that Mac was cheating on her. One day out of the blue, Valerie had gotten a phone call from some stranger that was claiming to be Mac's other woman. And not only that, she ended up really spell on the tea because she ended up telling Valerie a list of names of people that Mack was currently sleeping with behind her back. She can front in him

about this. He said he was really sorry. So she ended up giving him another chance. However, it wasn't long until he started cheating on her again. Valerie was really desperate for the relationship to work out though. She loved her daughter. She didn't want to have to split custody. So she did stick around again. Valerie was really desperate for the relationship to work out though. She loved her daughter. She didn't want to have to split custody, so she did stick around again. But this time was different because during this time their relationship was obviously really rocky considering she has taken him back for the second time for cheating. But during this time, she met a man named Leon Jacob. Now Leon was actually her neighbor's son, and he just randomly came over to her house one day and introduced himself to her.

Now at first, Valerie described Leon as someone who was really cocky and full of himself. I can only describe it as I've always understood what men really well and they've always liked me. She said that he was really good looking and knew he was good looking and used that to his advantage. Now this guy actually thought he looked like Bradley Cooper. I don't know. I'll tell you more about that later. So after spending more time with Leon, Valerie ended up really liking him. She thought he was really good looking. He's eight years younger than her and he was a doctor. So even though she didn't want to be a divorced person, she ended up deciding to file for a divorce in December of 2014 because I think she realized, you know, she's only in her early 40s

she still has plenty of life to live and there's this hot, younger man that was showing her a lot of attention. So I feel like that finally gave her the leave Mac. The divorce took a few years as divorces do, but it was finally finalized in 2016 and they were officially divorced. After this, Valerie and her daughter moved into a very fancy apartment building in Houston. So at first she just wanted to make it look like she was just casually dating Leon, but eventually he did move in with them. Even though things moved pretty fast, people who knew her and him said that they seemed like they really were in love. Valerie seemed really happy and after being in such a bad relationship before her friends and family were really happy for her and were excited about her and Leon. However, Mac was not a fan of Leon and he did not feel comfortable with the fact that this guy was all-hunk staying with his daughter so soon after he and his wife had just gotten divorced.

And this caused a ton of arguments between Valerie and Mack. Okay, here's how Miro works. See, it's amazing. What's everyone doing at David's desk? Ever since marketing started using Miro's collaborative online whiteboard, he thinks all our other teams should sign up. Why? He says Miro's making his meetings disappear. And if every team gets on it, that means even less meetings. They're using Miro for brainstorms, mind maps, customer research.

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Uh, sorry. What did I miss? IT just approved Miro for the whole company. Miro? That's the... Online whiteboard. For team collaboration, we can make these long video meetings so much shorter with Miro boards.

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I mentioned he was a doctor. So Leon specialized in cardio and transplants. He had also been married. He had met his wife back in college as well and they had two sons together. But after being married for 12 years, Leon's wife filed for divorce. And she claimed that while she was with him, she experienced extreme mental cruelty. And he couldn't just leave her alone after she divorced him. He actually got charged with stalking her. He cyber her, asked her, threatened her,

called her over and over again. But of course, his excuse for this was he was calling over and over again to try to talk to the boys because she was keeping his sons from him and he was angry about it. I tried desperately to connect my kids over and over and over again, and I'm not going to apologize for that. He loved his kids so much that eventually he moved away from them. He moved to Pittsburgh for his doctor's residency, and it was there that he met this woman named

Megan Verkas, who was 33 years old at the time. The two of them met at the hotel that Megan worked at, but it wasn't long before they moved in together. Eventually, they ended up moving to Houston together so that he could start a new residency. And the two of them were really living a lavish lifestyle. Just like Valerie, Leon also loved to spend money, loved the finer things in life. Him and Megan were always going on vacations together,

going out to dinners, fancy outings. But one thing that was really strange about all this, is it turns out this was actually Leon's seventh residency. He had been kicked out of every residency program. He had ever been a part of previously. Now, apparently the reason he got kicked out of these other programs was because of his attitude. He would act super cocky and act like he

was the best person in every class. He was disrespectful to professors fellow classmates. Some of you have even said that there's record of times where he was disrespectful to patients and also put them in danger. He was marked down as a liability for some of these hospitals. So after Megan had been dating Leon for three years, she started to get bad vibes from him. Megan ended up kicking Leon out of their apartment because he had been assaulting her. She claimed that he was verbally abusive to her and that he hit her and put his hand over her mouth one time. Of course Leon, though, says this is all completely untrue. So then in February of 2017 Leon was charged with stalking and assault. One major fear that Leon had when it came to his ex-Megan is that prosecutors were claiming that if she were to testify against him

in a court of law, that he would not get to practice as a doctor anymore. This was always kind of hanging over his head and Leon did not want the illusion that he was this great doctor, this unbelievable person, to be shattered. So because of this, Leon decided to get a hitman to take out Megan. Prosecutors ended up figuring out that Leon had met up with this guy named Taz and had hired him to kill Megan. So Leon met this Taz guy through a mutual acquaintance and he thought that he would kill Megan for him.

But Taz claims that he's not a violent person, he would never take money to kill somebody. And Taz actually came forward and said that Leon offered up multiple ways that maybe he could think about killing Megan. And one of those ways was a syringe of potassium straight to the heart to induce a heart attack and kill her. That's some evil shit. But what he didn't know about Taz is he was a former US Army soldier. He said when Leon came to him with this request, he saw it as an opportunity to save someone's life. He ended up giving himself the code name Zach and had Leon refer to him as Zach. And this is so wild, but Leon had asked him to kidnap Megan. And once he had her, try to convince her to take him back.

He said if that didn't work, he said that he wanted her to move out of town. And if that didn't work, he instructed Taz to just go ahead and whack her. Leon ended up paying Taz $9,000 to kill Megan, which is pretty fucking low to kill someone. Taz said that he spent that money and has no regrets. It doesn't feel bad at all, which I agree with. So shortly after he gave him the money, Taz ended up ghosting Leon. So at this point, Leon is freaking out because he gave

Taz this $9,000 and he ghosted him. And not only that, Megan is still out there and could possibly put dirt out on his name. So Leon ended up hiring a really well-known bail bondsman. Now I lived in an area named Michael Kubash. So Michael ended up getting in contact with the police to try to figure out who this other hit man was, that he had paid $9,000 to. They look for the mysterious Zach and it doesn't take long for them to figure out who this other hitman was that he had paid $9,000 to. They look for the mysterious Zach, and it doesn't take long for them to figure out

that it's actually this guy named Taz. So when they find Taz, he explains to them that he never had the intention of hurting Megan. He simply was going to rip off this guy that wanted his wife killed. He figured he was doing the right thing by taking that money so he can't go give it to someone else and not falling through with what Leon wanted. Taz ends up agreeing to work with police in a sting operation to catch Leon in the act,

soliciting a murder. So Taz ends up calling Leon in a wire-top phone call. He tells him that he thinks it would be better for him to hire someone else and not to worry because he knew the perfect person to do it He tells him he knows a guy named Javier that can do it seamlessly But little does Leon know Javier is an undercover detective So the next day Taz and Leon talk on the phone again and of course they're listening to the entire conversation But this time he ended up asking Taz to take care of both problems. And of course, Taz was like, what do you mean by both problems?

And this is when Leon says both individuals that we are talking about. It turns out that not only did Leon want Megan dead, he also wanted his current girlfriend Valorie's ex-dead, Mack, who owned the vet clinic with her. The holiday season is right around the corner and with it comes gift giving, lots of great food and of course dreaded holiday portraits. We all want to look our best. I've had times where... Okay, here's how Miro works.

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that means even less meetings. They're using Miro for brainstorms, mind maps, customer research. So could we use Miro instead of having another hundred meetings for every round of feedback? Yep, you can comment, react to ideas, even leave a recording on the board. And what about presentations? There are Miro templates for that.

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Welcome to Vast National Bank. How can I help you? Hey, I'm here to talk to someone about a loan. Oh, I'll grab you the L-97B. We call it the just talking form. I'm here to talk to someone about a loan. Oh, I'll grab you the L-97B. We call it the just talking form. What about actually applying for a loan? Oh my. Let me pop in a new toner cartridge.

Hey Bill, I want to pass me the big stapler. Yeah, I'm going to try a community bank. Skip the mega bank. When you need a loan, find a community bank at banklocalee.org. Leon claimed that Valerie also wanted it on the deal and wanted to see her ex dead. So the next day, Leon, Valerie, Taz, and the undercover detective, Javier, all meet up at an all of garden to discuss the details of whacking both of their exes. The entire operation was

record. They're at an Olive Garden having their breadsticks and unlimited salad and soup, discussing the details of their exes future murders. And little do they know, they're talking right to an

undercover detective. It was at this Olive Garden on 59 at Buffalo Speedway. McDaniel says she and her boyfriend, Leon Jacob, sat down with the original supposed hit man, someone they'd talked to on several occasions by this point, and a new person they'd never met, a man who was actually an HPD undercover officer. Now Leon basically said that he didn't want to necessarily have to have Megan be hurt. He wanted to see if there was possibility that they could just run her out of town, just scare her,

maybe kind of run her off the road, freak her out, tell her to leave, and if she doesn't, that she will be killed. And if that didn't work, he gave hobby or permission to go ahead and just kill her. Those options don't work. I don't know how to go ahead and just kill her. So his emotions don't work? I don't know how to do a f***ing good lesson.

I'm just like that. I think we got you. And Valerie was part of this conversation too. She started giving details about what she wanted done to Mac. Her and Javier came to the decision that they were going to hijack his car and make it look like a robbery gun wrong, shoot him in the head and kill him that way. And with her own words, Valerie said that she wanted to for sure go through with this because she felt like she had no other option. Her main reason for wanting to have Matt killed was because he was

threatening to take their daughter. She didn't want to split any time with him. She was very protective of her child and she felt like he could potentially take her away from her But doesn't this just seem so stupid when someone just miraculously dies or there's you know Fogging us around their death and they're young, you know, it's not something that can be explained necessarily or you don't know who did it Often times they will look at the X. It seems really silly for a couple to hire someone the same person to kill both of their X's and think that they're gonna get away with it and not somehow be connected back to it.

Like even if this was a real situation and this wasn't a sting, why on earth would you move forward with this? I mean, at least get two different hitmen and don't like connect altogether at the Olive Garden. It just seems incredibly foolish and honestly just ridiculous that they thought they were gonna get away with this. When you download the Kroger app you have easy access to savings every day. Shop

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Like still to this day, all of her friends stand by her, they love her, but it's crazy to see she did have a side to her where she was legitimately wanting her ex to be murdered. Not goes to my point from the beginning. Most of us have exes that we may necessarily not want good things to happen to. But most of us don't want them murdered. Most of us don't want them to die.

I think there's gotta be a serious character flaw with someone who thinks murder is ever justified. So the next day on March 9th, 2017, Javier went over to Leon and Valerie's house and showed them a picture of Mac dead. It was literally a photo of him lying on the ground with a bullet wound in his head. I don't know if I'll be able to show it

because YouTube does not like that type of thing, but they used like pigs blood and staged a whole photo of him lying on the ground and also photos of him in his car. Now these photos were obviously fake. Mac was informed that there was a hit out on his life and was asked to participate in a sting operation and he agreed and staged those photos with police. So, Valerie and Leon saw the photos. They're happy with the job. They continue going on about

their life. And later on that night, Javier texted photos to Leon of Megan, Kiddnapped, with her hand tied behind her back and duct tape around her mouth looking terrified. And this is when Javier told Leon that she was so out of control that he had no choice but to kill her. Now of course all of this was staged as well. Megan was in on this, but her reaction was very, very real. While they were staging these pictures of her, she had an absolute meltdown. She realized that this could have been reality.

That if he was successful, maybe someone could have kidnapped her and possibly killed her. It just also had to hit her and she had a complete emotional reaction because she was scared of Leon. So technically the next day, March 10th, 2017, at 3am, police showed up to Valorys' apartment and came inside to tell them some bad news. Of course, they know what the bad news is. They've seen these pictures. But of course, Valerie acts super shocked when police tell her that her ex had

been murdered. Police went to the couple's Houston high rise of partner. Where the suspects appeared to act surprise. You can tell Valerie's at a really weird emotional place in these video clips. She's trying her best to seem surprised and shocked and sad. You can tell she's kind of numb and was ready for this information obviously.

You're both in here, listen. You think you can kind of be a real good person. Eventually Leon joins the room and the police tell him that Valerie's ex has been killed and he instantly reaches out to comfort her and his reaction, honestly, his acting is a little better than Valerie's. He seems a lot more surprised. I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna run you down, I'm gonna it seemed like there's no way they could have been involved in it. So after a few minutes of letting them act, meanwhile the police know the whole time that this is acting, the police decide to tell them that they are being arrested. When we were going to reach your rights, we need both of you to do the rightest

for the situation that could work. They were told that they were being arrested for solicitation of murder, and that Mack and Megan were both still alive and were in on the operation. Now as they're arresting Valerie, Mac actually comes up to the front door. She had to look at him, this man that she wanted dead and she ended up having to get her daughter who was sleeping in the apartment and hand her over to him. And this was actually the last time that Valerie would ever see her daughter. So the two of them are arrested and brought into jail. Now Leon is not able to make bail because he has pending charges against him that involve

Megan from the past, but Valerie does make bail and she goes home to wait until trial starts. Why would you want your ex husband killed out of jail on bail, but certainly not out of hot water. 48 year old Valerie McDaniel, a successful Montrose Veterinarian has a starring role in assorted tail. Normally it's more of a, I guess, a high society crime the fact that they're the ones who are going to afford to have people killed. I would say as far as going to the extent of making somebody up to think that they're killed, taking the pictures,

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Choose a new body block each month. Have fun, avoid burnout, reach your goals. But you're not going to quit on your self today. You in? Start a body block today. Visit body.com for a free trial. That's B-O-D-I-D-C-M. And her life just began to derail after all of this. She was devastated about not having her daughter.

She felt like tons of people in her life who had really looked up to her were probably now judging her. And not only that, her vet license was suspended. During this whole time, she was really emotional and she started using her iPad to take voice memos and kind of use it as a diary to talk about her feelings about Leon and you know the charges against her and what life was gonna be like for her going forward which she knew was not good. One thing that I hope people know and I hope comes out is that at one point when you were talking to the officer I was talking to the officer.

I said, can't you just talk to him and make him, make him be nice to me and he cut me off. Hopefully, please, sit down. No, no, no. Valerie went and met up with a bunch of her colleagues. They said that she was really emotional, feeling incredibly down. And looking back, they realized that this was her saying goodbye to them. Because on March 27, 2017, Valerie ended up jumping off her apartment balcony, which was seven stories and did not survive the fall.

Bill, we are learning a brand new information. This coming to us from the medical examiner just now officially ruling this a suicide. Yellow crime scene tapes surrounded the gates of his high rise in river Oaks where veterinarian Dr. Valerie McDaniel took her life this morning by jumping from the building onto a courtyard. Police do not suspect foul play. Ho workers, family, friends and those who took their animals to the clinic right behind me in which McDaniel owned described her as compassionate, kind, and worked very well with their pets. And they say that they're in disbelief about not only her death,

but the entire situation. I'm just really so sorry that this happened, and it just, it's, it's really made me sad. I think she was a kind and compassionate person, and that's how I knew her. She was just excellent here of all the animals and just a kind person. You know, her patients are horrified to learn that, you know, she's passed. And so I think it's a tragic loss. Who's your dog back there?

That's Foxy. Foxy is a rescued mut. They say her demeanor and her health are in large part due to the care of Dr. Valerie McDaniel. She's a compassionate caring person, very extremely good at her job, extremely bright. Valerie hired me straight out of school in a one. So she really taught me a lot. And she was not only a mentor, but a great, great friend of mine.

And she was always willing to help me do whatever I needed. To continue to follow my passion, which is veterinary medicine. I think Valoran knew that the road ahead was going to be hard, that it was going to be really hard to fight against her charges when she literally sat down with an undercover officer at the Olive Garden and said exactly what she wanted done. She knew that she probably wouldn't get off easy here and her reputation was completely ruined. Everything she built was completely ruined and she was a person that really cared about what people thought of her and her status.

And she knew that everything was gonna come crumbling down. And not only that, Mack would end up with full custody of their daughter, which was clearly her worst nightmare, and she was willing to kill him to make sure it didn't happen. All of her friends and family were completely shocked that she did this, but they kind of understood why they just knew that she could not live through this trial and face what she had done. Leon says that he has nothing to do with Valerie's death, that he takes no responsibility in pushing her to that or convincing her. It was a good idea to get involved in this whole plot. He said it was completely her idea to do

that to herself and he doesn't feel bad. So about a year later on March 20th, 2018, Leon's trial begins. And at this point he's facing two counts of solicitation of capital murder. So now it's up to Leon to prove that he wasn't the one running all of this, that it wasn't all his idea. And it's really easy for Leon to throw Valerie under the bus now because she's not able to speak for herself anymore. Leon's defense attorney argued that Valerie is the one who came up with this whole scheme and came into Leon to go along with it. Now they had two key people take the stand and that was Mack and Megan.

Megan got up there and testified that Leon had always been a great a creep. He had done weird shit like hiding in bushes outside of her work, stalking her everywhere she went. Sometimes he would just follow her in her car and one time she actually called 911 because he had followed her for so long. Eventually Leon got out of the car, stood in front of her car blocking it

and refused to move unless they talked. So he was that type of controlling person. So now let's fast forward. And let's go to January of 2017. Without going into the facts, did you and Leon have a pretty bad fight in the industry? And did that result in you going to the police? Yes.

And ultimately did the police fall charges in that case? Yes. Do you know what charges were filed? Assault against the family member. And the family member being US is girlfriend, right? Correct. It turns out that back in February of 2017, Leon was arrested a second time on stalking charges. And less than 10 days after that, Megan was contacted by police and told that her life was in danger. And in court, Leon gets up there and has a balls to tell everyone that he did not tell Paz or Javier to kill Mac or Megan in any way shape or form.

Even though he was caught on an audio recording, saying that he wanted Megan injected with potassium to give her a heart attack. The defense tried to argue that Javier was responsible for all of Leon's words and actions. That the police just wanted to have a successful sting operation and Leon is the victim here. Now, Zach will get up here and he's going to tell you that he was a hero because an army veteran in a purple heartbeats siphon and he could not stand idlely by while this lady, a damsel in the stress needed his help but the reality is no test is nothing but a comment he

was saw a situation take advantage of somebody like Leon who had money who had power and is still for him he'll get up here and tell you that he took money from Leon no one attention ever doing anything he helped out with or even getting that money back the reality't, Zach saw me opportunity to make his own fortune and jumped off it. Leon claims that his intent was never to have either of them killed. All he really wanted was to scare them and never really wanted to cause any harm. However, the prosecution argued that this was bullshit because when Javier first showed Leon the photos of Megan tied up, he didn't say not to kill her or protect her in any way. He didn't do anything to try to stop them from hurting her.

When the jury heard Leon's past, it was a no-brainer. They deliberated for only an hour before coming back with their verdict. We the jury found that he found the defendant Leon fell up Jacob guilty of solicitation of cap of the murder. So, soon there was another hearing to determine his sentencing. During this, Leon's ex-wife Annie Morrison ended up testifying in court. Talk to me about during that time period when you were pregnant with your younger son, was he violent with you?

Yes, he was. Tell me about that. It was much of the same, pushing, grabbing me. There was one time he pushed my head down onto the counter and bruised my face near my eye. I don't recall what the fight was about. I recall we were in the kitchen, and he pushed my face into the counter.

He threatened to punch me in the stomach. He kicked my legs, I remember, I remember bringing my legs up as far as I could toward my chest to try to protect my stomach. He even threatened you? Yes, he threatened me if I ever left, that he would kill me. He said that nobody would ever find my body because he was a doctor and

he had access to chemicals that would dissolve my body. He said if I ever left, he would find me and the children and take my children and I would never see them again. The jury also only took one hour to come up with his sentence, and he was sentenced to life in prison for both counts of solicitation of capital murder. Okay, it's the art of the court and Mr. Jacob that you haven't been found guilty of two cases of

solicitation of capital murder. We now delivered by the sheriff of Harris County to the director of the institutional vision of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice were on both cases. You shot a life sentence and be fully credited with all the time you already served on this case. Thank you. So Leon is currently in jail and he won't be eligible for parole until 2047 when he will be 69 years old and I highly doubt he will get out

at that point. Knowing his track record with women and how he's treated so many women in the past, I really do believe that if they didn't cook all this up, a Valerie would have been next and there would have been another woman after Valerie. So I am super glad that the cycle has ended and Leon is in jail because I think he is a crazy fuck. You convinced me to leave my life I had to pick for and you convinced me it was awful. You manipulated me to leave my family in your life I had. I believe everything happens for a reason. While you sit in jail, I hope you think of me,

a girl that you called porn uneducated. Because it's because of me, you will be in prison for life. You will never see your children grow up. because of me, you will be in prison for life. You will never see your children grow up. You will not be a part of their lives and they will be better for it. I think some part of me always knew that you would try to hurt me and that you were all you lying. And what's hilarious is, as I mentioned earlier,

he thinks he looks like Bradley Cooper. He thinks Bradley Cooper should actually play him if there's ever a movie about this whole thing. He said that in a jail interview. He's got this huge ego and doesn't seem to take accountability for any of his actions. He's still to this day just defend himself when it comes to all of it. So how much has he actually learned you be the judge? Let me know what you guys think of this case below. How much do you think Valerie was involved in this? It's hard because she's not

here to speak for herself, but a lot of her friends and family think that she was really almost a victim of Leon in a way that he really convinced her to do this. But at the end of the day, how can you be, if you're really a good person, you cannot be convinced to wanna participate in a murder. I don't care what my ex had done to me. There's no way I would ever get to that point where I would let someone convince me that they need to be murdered

and that I should be involved in the planning of it. That shows major character flaw with Valerie. And of course, I feel sorry for her friends and family that lost her, but at the end of the day, wonder how much she was pressured into this by Leon. It doesn't take away from her involvement and what she needs to be responsible for at the end of the day, but I definitely think that Leon was super, super manipulative.

And I don't think Valerie would have sought out a murder for higher plot if she didn't know Leon and he didn't convince her. Not that it's an excuse in any way. I think that's 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 wanna 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. From joyful occasions to the unexpected, first Franklin financial makes loans for living, offering fixed rates and flexible terms on loans up to $15,000. The next time you're looking for some extra cash to help make ends meet, come see the friendly Franklin folks, or visit us at 1ffc.com to learn more.

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