True Crime with Kendall Rae - Open Marriage, Infidelity, & Murder – The Case of Robert Limon

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

Robert and Sabrina Limon were known to friends and their community as an aspirational kind of couple. Their relationship just seemed perfect to those on the outside. But when Sabrina began a new relationship with another man, things went south. Robert was shot and killed at work, and it was made to look like a robbery gone wrong. Someone had motive to kill him. Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign/kendall-rae/c438796 This episode is sponsored by: FabFitFun Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Hello everyone and welcome back. So happy to have you here with me today to discuss yet another case. And if you're new, then welcome so today I have a wild case for you guys. We're going to be talking about open marriages, cheating, manipulation, religion, and murder. Today we're gonna be talking about Robert and Sabrina Lamone. So let's go ahead and start with Robert Lamone. He was born August 11th, 1976 in Lake Havasu, Arizona, to his parent Sharon and Robert Senior. Robert had four sisters, Lydia, Chris, Marianne, and Esther, who from what I can tell he was very close with.

There's not much information available about Robert's early life, but from what I can tell he was very close with his siblings, specifically Lydia and Chris, who have been especially vocal in the media since his murder. Because of his parents' divorce, I'm also not entirely sure if some of these sisters are half siblings, but Because of his parents' divorce, I'm also not entirely sure

if some of these sisters are half siblings, but both of his parents did remarry, so I just wanted to make that clear. Robert attended River Valley High School in the Mahave Valley where he played defensive end on his school's football team, and he was known as a good teammate, and people described him as a great friend.

His coach spoke very highly of Robert. And one thing that he noted about him that I thought was interesting is his family would make these burritos. And Robert would actually sell them at school. And this is how he would make some extra cash for his family. But it's also how he gained a lot of his social skills. And I think his willingness to help his family from such a young age says a lot about his character. Then after graduating, he moved in with his sister, Chris, in Prescott, Arizona. I would have definitely pronounced that Prescott, if I didn't do an episode of my podcast, The Sash with Hyram, also known as Skin Care by Hyram,

and he grew up in Prescott. He said it was a pretty small town vibe. And it was in Prescott that Robert met Sabrina, the woman he would eventually marry. But before I get into their relationship, I wanna tell you a little bit more about Robert. Robert was described as someone who loved life. He was always staying active, getting outdoors, and wanted to live life to the fullest. And it's clear to

me after doing research that he was an incredibly passionate and hardworking person, and he truly treasured his friends and family. He seemed like the kind of person that others looked up to professionally and personally. And the more I talk about this case, the more that will become clear. Obviously, I can't say that he was perfect, who is, but from what I can tell, he seemed like a good man who cared about those who he loved. And that included his wife Sabrina. Now let's talk about Sabrina a little bit. She was born in 1980 and was raised in Barstow, California, and at certain times in her life, she was described by her friends as loving, kind, and sweet. At 18 years old, Sabrina, or Brena, as her friends called her, was living in Prescott, Arizona,

with her father, who actually moved there after retiring. And like I mentioned, it was here that she and Robert first met. And from the time that the two of them first met, it was pretty clear to those in their life that these two were in it for the long haul. Sabrina's older sister, Julie, said that she just knew that she was going to marry Robert. And in the year 2000, that came true. The two got married in a church in Arizona, and I imagine that the ceremony was very centered around religion, considering Sabrina and Robert were both deeply religious people. And their faith is something that really brought the two of them together in the first place.

Robert was a very godly man, and that's something that Sabrina really loved about him. He was everything that she was looking for in a husband, at least for a while. And not long after getting married, they had two children, a boy and a girl, and the four of them ended up moving to the Silver Lakes community in California, about 100 miles outside of Los Angeles. I've never been there myself, but from what I've seen online, and I can only tell so much, and you guys will let me know if I'm wrong about a place, but Silver Lakes looks pretty serene, and they actually lived on a street called Strawberry Lane, so their whole life seemed kind of

picture perfect. From what I gathered, Silver Lakes was a beautiful, safe, and close-knit community that was extremely family-oriented. And because family was such a huge priority for the limones, Sabrina decided she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom while Robert worked. And one thing about Rob that you should know is that he was an incredibly hard worker, a very driven person who had a lot of pride in what he did. He was employed as a railroad mechanic at Burlington, Northern Santa Fe railway, or BNSF, and commuted from Silver Lakes to Barstow, and really all over Southern California. Robert was a rapid responder, which means that he would basically fill in for anyone who was unable to work. And sometimes that meant driving like a hundred miles on a moment's notice. Most of the time he would be called into the Tachypie area, which is 85 miles away from where he lives.

And I imagine this took a toll on him in some way. I mean, that's a lot of time commuting, which can be really hard, but he really did love his job and planned to work as long as he needed in order to support his family. So the Silverlake community was a very family oriented area, and they quickly made friends with other families as you do when you have kids. And once they found their kind of core group of friends, their group ended up naming themselves the Wolf Pack to describe how close of a bond they all had. They partied together every week and it was more common that they would all be together

than it would be for them to be apart. And that was especially the case for their friends, Kelly and Jason Bernatine. Kelly worked as a hairdresser in the area and she became friends with Sabrina when she came in as one of her clients. And before they knew it, they were as close as two friends could be. And one really common theme it seems among all these friends is that they

really viewed Sabrina and Robert as the it couple that they had the ideal marriage. Everyone seemed to look up to what they had. And many women said that they wish their husbands could be more like Rob. I mean, he was hard working, he was funny, he was kind, and above all else, he absolutely loved his wife. And everyone said that he treated her like an absolute queen, and their friends just couldn't help but admire them as a couple. I can't stress enough how happy they seemed to everyone in their lives, but that all changed

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true crime, customize your box and get access to discounts up to 70% off brands like Fenty, Free People, and our place just to name a few. And if you're not in love with this season's options, you can take the credit to shop their exclusive flash sales of up to 70% and save on the biggest name brands out there. If you join FabFitFun as a new seasonal member, right now you'll also get 20% off your membership, so your first box is only 47.99 for up to a $300 value box each season. But only while supplies last, because FabFitFunBoxes sell out. Join FabFitFun today and save at FabFitFun.com slash true crime. Again, that's FabFitFun.com slash true crime. I can't say what exactly led them to this decision because Sabrina says that it was Rob's

idea and others who knew them say it was Sabrina's idea. But for whatever reason, they decided that they wanted to open their marriage. Now, there's nothing wrong with this, and for some couples, it's what works. They both agreed that they wanted to add some excitement back into their relationship, and this is how they chose to do it. The thing about their open marriage, though, is that as far as I can tell, it was limited to their close group of friends. They didn't have their own relationships outside of one another, but they would be intimate with other members of the Wolfpack.

And at first, this was exciting for them, but this excitement did not last forever. Sabrina began drinking way more than she ever had, and her partying seemed to be a bit out of control, according to people in her life. She never admitted to actually having a drinking problem, but those in the Wolfpack definitely felt that there was a shift in Sabrina's behavior and with this shift, Sabrina seemed to have a change of heart.

She began thinking more about her religious values and felt that opening their marriage was changing the dynamics of their quote, sacred bond. At some point, she decided it was no longer what she wanted for her relationship and she made this clear to Rob and she also made it clear that she wanted to start going back to church and getting back to some of their traditional values. But Rob didn't agree. He wanted to keep their marriage open and he felt that going back to church would be hypocritical. In the end, I'm not sure what agreement they ended up coming to or where they were at with things. And I think the only two people who really know the truth about this are Sabrina and Robert.

So I feel it's important to look at this part of their relationship with a grain of salt. It's possible that Rob ended up deciding to close the marriage. It's possible they decided to keep it open. I'm not sure. But let me be clear that regardless of the decision they made, an opener closed marriage still meant that they could not have their own relationship outside of the other person. That was always their deal, whether or not their marriage was open. Sabrina wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend on her own and Robert wasn't allowed to have a girlfriend on his own. That's what they agreed to. Being open to them meant that they could only experiment with other couples within their wolf pack who were also open and consenting. But unfortunately, that didn't stop Sabrina because in 2012, while she was working part time as

a sample girl at Costco, she met 22-year-old Jonathan Herne. The two of them began dating in secret, and I will get into more detail about that here soon, but at this point in time, nobody knew. And no one would know until tragedy struck. So that brings us to August 17, 2014. That day, Rob drove the 85 mile route to Tatjope, where he was scheduled to fill in for a coworker, and it was quite literally like any other day. He was supposed to work until 7pm until someone else would take over for him and he would drive home. But that day, when his coworker arrived, Robert was not packing up his truck like he normally would be. Instead, he was slumped over near the driver's

side of his truck, with a gunshot wound to his upper torso and a second to his head. 9-1-1 was called at 6.47 pm, but by the time EMS got there, it was clear that Robert was already gone. Rob was only 38 years old when his life was taken from him. And that evening, Sabrina made countless calls to her husband, because she was worried that he hadn't come home from him. And that evening, Sabrina made countless calls to her husband because she was worried that he hadn't come home from work. She also said that their daughter, who was starting school the next day, had stayed up late, waiting for him

and had also made several calls to him. However, it wasn't much later that Sabrina got the call from the police letting her know what happened to her husband. And from what I'd gathered, Sabrina seemed devastated and shocked about what had happened. Now when it came to the crime scene, first responders and police walked around and the first thing that they noticed was that it looked like someone had ransacked the place. The office was left with papers and folders thrown around everywhere, file cabinets were left open and there was even a laptop missing. And for a very short amount of time in the

beginning, detectives are thinking that this is a robbery gone wrong. But within a matter of hours, they quickly realized that there is no way that's what happened. Soon they started to think this was a staged robbery gone wrong. And one big thing that actually led them to believe this was the fact that no shell casings were found at the scene. And if someone is trying to conceal evidence, picking up the shell casings is one of the things that they would do. If this was really a robbery gone wrong, chances are the person would be pretty flustered and wouldn't have time or think to clean up after themselves. And then they started to think, why would someone rob the BNSF office?

It's not like they kept money there or anything valuable at all. I mean, they did have some pretty expensive equipment, but all of that was still there. And the thing about the BNSF office is that it was located down a long one-way road. You wouldn't drive down there unless you needed to. That or you were lost and why would someone who's lost go and murder someone. So all of that is what ultimately led detectives to believe that someone came here with the intention to kill and then staged the scene as a distraction. So in the first few days after Rob's murder, detectives started to talk to the people who were closest to him. They were

trying to get a sense of who could have done this. And if he had enemies, maybe that could explain why this happened. But the thing is, Rob didn't have any enemies, and people they talked to were shocked, hearing that someone would have wanted to kill him. It made no sense. And when they spoke to Sabrina, she painted the picture of a happy marriage. And of course, everyone else they knew did as well. She told detectives that things were great between them, and even answered no when she was asked if either of them were having any extra marital relationships.

Remember, Rob was described as the husband that every wife wanted, and with that, it was clear to investigators that this would be much harder than they thought. But the good news is, they weren't completely empty-handed when starting off this investigation. Footage from a surveillance camera on the BNSF property was collected on August 18th, and in it, there appeared to be an older white male walking with a noticeable limp in the direction of the crime scene around the time it's believed the murder took place. Unfortunately, though, there wasn't any identifying features besides this limp, but it was still at least a lead that investigators were going to follow.

They ended up publicizing the clip in hopes that someone would recognize this person and maybe they could get a good lead. There's currently a major rainstorm going on and the thunder was scaring my dog, so I put him up on the cat tower to see if that would relax him. Seems to be working. He's a strange fellow. He's kind of like a cat, so it's like a good fit, you know? Now you can be close to me.

All right, where were we? So after this clip goes out, investigators learn that there was this guy named Joshua who walked with a limp and he often walked this way to get to his house and a shoe print near the warehouse, even matched a print from a shoe that Joshua owned. So they were kind of hopeful at first, but then they learned that he had a rock solid alibi. Definitely wasn't him, so they were back to square one. So the next thing they hoped to find was video footage captured by Rob's work truck, which was rigged with a camera.

I'm guessing for company liability purposes, but unfortunately because his truck was off during the attack, the camera was as well. So investigators kept thinking and eventually they thought maybe Rob wasn't the intended target. I mean, he was filling in for another co-worker. Is it possible that the person was coming after them, not him? At first, this seemed plausible, but after they dug into it, not so much. So yet again, they're at a dead end

and investigators are just hoping that more information will come to light that will point them in the right direction. BNSF even posted a $100,000 reward for information, but unfortunately that mostly brought in false leads. But one lead that came in was actually from a local gunsmith. And he said that a man came in

earlier that week to his shop with a revolver asking if he could change the firing pin on it. And because the autopsy revealed that the gun used in Robert's murder was either a 44 or 45 caliber, this revolver fit that description. Now, as you guys know, I'm not a gun person. I've learned some things doing true crime over the years, but I'm still pretty clueless. From what I've gathered, changing the firing pin would make it harder to determine if a bullet came from a specific gun. I'm sure there are other purposes, but it seems like this is what investigators thought changing the firing pin would have been done for in this case. Was it possible that this person wanted the gunsmith to change the firing pin so that he could kill

someone and it wouldn't be traced back to him? Short answer is yes, but unfortunately like every lead they had before this one ended up not panning out as well. But luckily additional surveillance footage from the area was uncovered and Kern County investigators finally had some new information. And in this new footage, several cars were seen entering and exiting the road leading up to the BNSF office. Rob's car was even seen as he made his way to work that day.

But even though investigators were able to match every car to the driver seen on footage, there was one person they couldn't place. Right around the time, it's believed that the murder took place, a white male was seen riding a motorcycle towards the BNSF office. This person was also seen exiting shortly after it's believed the murder took place. So at this point, investigators started to think this was their guy, and they were lucky because not long after coming across this tape, a big tip came in. Remember Sabrina and Robert's good friends, Kelly and Jason? Well, on September 1, 2014, Jason called investigators to let them know about a very strange voicemail that he had received.

And it came from a guy named Jonathan Hurn, a name that they had never heard before. And in this voicemail, Jonathan seemed extremely sorry about what happened to Robert. He didn't outright say he did anything to him, but overall the tone was very apologetic. And according to Jason, it was very possible that Jonathan was Sabrina's boyfriend, and that he'd contacted him because the two of them actually worked together. You see, Jason and Jonathan worked at the same fire department, and they weren't necessarily close friends at all, but they had worked closely together before. Jason even described Jonathan as a highly intelligent man.

Oh, and the call wasn't the only weird thing Jason received. Jonathan also wrote him a letter where he asked for forgiveness, but never said what he wanted forgiveness for. Now, both the letter and the voicemail had heavy religious undertones, talking about being sinners, God, and forgiveness. And that was also interesting to investigators. So right away, they ended up looking into him and his possible connection to Sabrina,

who, if you remember, told investigators that her marriage to Rob was great and never mentioned having an affair. So if it was true and she was having an affair with Jonathan, what else was she lying about? So once it became clear that Sabrina was hiding something, they started surveilling the two of them to see if they could corroborate the affair. At this point, Rob had only been gone for three weeks.

And Sabrina and Jonathan weren't doing much to conceal the fact they were spending time together. They were seen together, not just hanging out, they were actually hugging and kissing at a restaurant called Roundtable Pizza, and her kids were with her. And Jonathan seemed very comfortable around her kids almost as if he had spent time with them before. And the more they looked into their relationship, the more information just kind of fell into their laps. And not only were investigators learning about Sabrina and Rob's open marriage for the first time, they were learning that Sabrina had known Jonathan for two years at this point. Like I said earlier, back in 2012, Sabrina met Jonathan at Costco when she was working

there as a sample girl. As a firefighter, he was tasked with going to Costco and getting food for the department. And when he was there, he was distracted by the pretty girl handing out food. Investigators learned that the two exchanged phone numbers and began having a texting relationship, which eventually turned into a sexual relationship. And get this. Sabrina actually started bringing Jonathan around the wolf pack when her husband was still alive. Not to confuse you here, she wasn't openly dating him

that was very much a secret, but because Jonathan had this connection to Jason, he tried to play it off like that was the reason he was hanging around. Jason even says that he felt really uncomfortable with how much Jonathan was trying to infiltrate the Wolfpack. He said he texted them all constantly about hanging out. Meanwhile, it was all employed to spend time

with his secret girlfriend. And I just wanna note that Sabrina is actually 10 years older than Jonathan, and he was 22 years old when they met. And I know that I said that their relationship was a secret, and at least that was their goal. And it was for a while from everyone, but eventually Rob actually found out about

it. He figured it out after going through her phone and finding some of their text messages. We don't know that much about what this time and their relationship was like, but from what we do know, he asked her to end the relationship, she said she did, but Sabrina continued to date Jonathan. Now, as you can imagine, investigators felt pretty strongly that the two of them could have been involved in Rob's murder. I mean, statistically speaking, you're more likely to be killed by your spouse

than anyone else. And given Sabrina's willingness to lie about her marriage to police, they're thinking what else is she lying about. So the next logical move for them is to get Lawrence for each of their cell phones. And after doing that, it was even more abundantly clear that the two of them had a relationship. Records showed that the two of them were talking to each other pretty much all day.

All the time, sometimes for hours on end. But the communication between their cell phones stopped a few months leading up to Rob's murder and this is when investigators believed the two of them hatched their plan. But how would they plot to kill someone if they weren't communicating? Well, turns out Sabrina had another phone. Suddenly in Jonathan's records, there was another phone number. That started texting him all the time. And it didn't take them long to confirm that this was Sabrina's burner phone. Another major thing that they learned from Jonathan's cell records is that on the day

of the murder, there was activity on Jonathan's phone in the morning, but during the time of the murder, there was nothing. No calls, no texts, no movement, absolutely nothing. But of course, activity resumed later that night and who else did he call, but Sabrina. Of course, this isn't conclusive, but it showed them that during the murder, he wasn't busy on his phone. So their next logical step was to get a warrant to wire tap their phones and see if they can get the evidence that they would need to make an arrest And even though the two of them talked a lot about Rob's murder They never directly stated they were responsible

But it was really the way that the two of them were talking about it that made Investigators feel that they were involved when they weren't talking about the murder them were talking about it, that made investigators feel that they were involved. When they weren't talking about the murder, they were talking about love, they were talking about their relationship, their future, and most importantly, they were talking about God. And at one point, Jonathan was even talking to Sabrina about the story of David and Bathsheba, and mentioned how it related a lot to their story. To very briefly recap this story because I don't know a whole lot about the Bible, the general just is King David was having an affair with Bathsheba, despite the fact that

she was married. She became pregnant with King David's child, and in an attempt to hide his sin, he had her husband killed during battle. And I don't think I need to explain more for you to understand why Jonathan thought this related to him and Sabrina. Mine is the whole pregnancy bit. But of course, this isn't a full admission and it wasn't enough to make an arrest. So the lead detective ends up doing something called tickling the wire, which is where they will feed false information to someone, hoping that they

will later incriminate themselves in a future conversation that they can record. And she was actually on the phone with Jonathan when she got a text from the detective tickling the wire. He asked her to call him and then Sabrina tells Jonathan about the text she just got and he says he would pray. And when they spoke, Sabrina was told that the investigation was reaching a dead end, which should make any grieving widow very upset. And I wanted to show her that my reread and that is the video that will start something to somebody and they may have seen something or gave me some secret minutes just to

hopefully call me or something like that. And not so surprisingly, she picks up the phone right away to call Jonathan and tell him what she's just learned. And it goes without saying that telling him this is really, really weird. Not only that, but it didn't sound like she was all that upset that the murder of her husband seemed to be going unsolved. Um, I'm sorry. Yeah. I got to come to church right now.

Everybody's fine. All of them. I'll talk to you after church. I'm gonna see you guys. Is that okay? Yeah. Yeah. Very good.

Yeah, very fine. So this was their first attempt at tickling the wire. It was a good first attempt, but they needed more, something more incriminating. So they tried something different. A few days later, they called Sabrina and tell her that they did have some leads. He lied and told her that they had found some sweat drops at the scene and that there was a really good DNA profile that they were able to collect from it. And that this was a solid lead. And of course, on the phone, she sounded surprised and somewhat excited.

But in reality, they knew that she had to be panicking. And of course, once again, she calls surprised and somewhat excited. But in reality, they knew that she had to be panicking. And of course, once again, she calls up Jonathan right away. But what's wild is on this call, Jonathan says it's possible that they were being messed with. And he then explains to Sabrina how sometimes police can lie to you in order to get more information out of you. But for some reason, he must have dropped his suspicions because he continues to talk to her about the investigation and even says that he praised the situation will just go away. Literally, why would you say that unless you were responsible? Pretty telling. So then in another attempt to tickle the wire, the

lead investigator texts Sabrina while she's on the phone with Jonathan to let her know about a big break in the case. And he actually sends her a photo of the guy writing the motorcycle that they found on surveillance and said that they thought this was their guy. He also mentioned getting a tip about a guy named John. And I don't think you'll be surprised to hear that Sabrina says that she doesn't know

of anyone named John who would do something like this. And like I said, Sabrina's on the phone with Jonathan when these texts are coming in. And even though she didn't admit to anything, they could tell that she was shaken up by the way they spoke. In fact, when their call was wrapping up, it kind of sounded like they knew they were going to be arrested, like they were almost saying goodbye to each other. And they definitely weren't wrong. Because on November 18th, just three months after Robert Lamone was murdered, Jonathan and Sabrina were arrested. While

looking into Jonathan, investigators learned that despite not having a criminal record, he did own a gun that matched the type used to kill Rob, and he did have a motorcycle that matched the type seen on surveillance footage. And they even pulled additional surveillance footage along the route that Jonathan would have taken home after the murder, and hit the jackpot once again. Even though the person looked slightly different, they captured a motorcycleist riding up to a gas station and entering the convenience store to grab water. This was much clearer footage that helped investigators match Jonathan's motorcycle to the ones seen on both tapes. And the only reason he looked slightly

different in the second piece of footage is because he changed his clothes and he changed that piece on his motorcycle to try and disguise it. So with this, they had enough to make their arrest. And a search warrant conducted that same day confirmed that Jonathan owned all the things seen on camera. And of course, they searched Slebrina's house as well, and inside, they found BNSF financial records, and a life insurance statement for $300,000, as well as deposit slips from her bank that total $307,000. But even at this point, with all this evidence Sabrina still did not admit to what she had

done. While in questioning, she denied having anything to do with her husband's murder. Even though she admitted to the affair, she basically played dumb and stuck to her story that Jonathan did this all by himself and she had no idea. get its inches on, maybe remove the rock and picture. Why do you not think that? Because we've spoken after worse. You know, like that was kind of, and we were just like living, you know, just living in our, our, why was just living in that double life? And at some points, she can't even come up with answers so she just doesn't say anything. In the end, she only apologizes for being honest about the affair and nothing else. I'm not here to take into teeth probably today because of you. Make no mistakes about that.

That is something that you're going to have to live with for the rest of your life. That is something that your children are going to have to live with for the rest of their lives. But get this, she ended up being released after the DA decided there wasn't enough evidence linking her to the crime itself. So, charges for the woman accused of being part of a deadly love triangle. Prosecutors say they don't have enough evidence to prove she helped murder her husband. K-Cal 9 Stacy Butler is live in Realtaltto where she spoke with the victim's sister, Stacy. Also, this has been a horrific roller coaster ride for the victim's sister.

Tonight here in Realtto, she told me that she never dreamed that her sister-in-law would be arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to her own husband's murder. Tonight, she just wants answers. If she's innocent, then, you know, hopefully she's can move on with her life. But if she's guilty, it really breaks my heart that she brought this kind of brokenness to our family to her family. So in the aftermath of being released,

Sabrina and her children moved out of silver lakes. This is mainly because all of her friends decided that they believed she was involved in Rob's murder. And that was awkward, obviously, plus this is really sad, but the kids started being kind of harassed about it at school. So she pulled them out to homeschool them. So she and her kids end up moving in with her sister. As for Jonathan, he initially pled not guilty,

but remained behind bars as he approached his trial date. But little investigators know there would be no trial. Because after two years behind bars, Jonathan decided to take a plea deal. And by pleading guilty, he would have to turn on Sabrina, testify against her and implicate her in the murder of her husband. And in return, he would only face 25 years and four months in prison, rather than the life in prison sentence that he was going up against if he had gone to trial. So on January 6, 2017, just days before his trial was set to begin, Sabrina was arrested and transported back to Kern County. Once they got her there, she was charged with first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitating murder,

being an accessory after the fact, attempting murder and poisoning. And I know some of those charges are probably confusing to you. Hang tight, I will explain here in a sec. So Sabrina's trial began on September 11th, 2017, and went on for several weeks. And it was a long trial with a lot of information.

So if I was to go through every bit of information with you here today, I would be here for weeks. So I'm going to do my best to explain it and walk you through the biggest arguments from each side. So let's start with Sabrina and the defense. According to the defense, Sabrina was a victim of Jonathan Hurn. They argued that Jonathan emotionally and spiritually manipulated Sabrina who was in an unhappy and abusive relationship with Rob. They said that he used the Bible

and Sabrina's relationship with God to get close to her. They claimed that he used this closeness to learn details about Rob that he later used to kill him all without her knowledge. Their strategy was to never deny the affair and to not paint Sabrina as a wonderful person. I mean, they didn't need to make her look like a saint. They just need to make it look like she wasn't a killer. Ultimately, the only evidence used against her, according to the defense, was Jonathan's word. And because he took a plea deal, they argued that he had incentive to lie.

The whole defense strategy was really just poor Sabrina. Jonathan knew how to play, he knew how to play his cards right, he knew how to, um, I knew how to looking back through all this. He knows what he's doing and everything that he does. He has a, I guess, an approach to get kind of what he wants. So Jonathan controlled me through carrying his Bible with him everywhere that he went and using that to guilt me, but also make me feel safe and secure and like I was doing right, I guess, even though I knew there were definite, definitely things I was doing wrong in my life. It was just a whole whole mix of ways that he went about controlling me. But if you want a sense for how Sabrina was doing after her husband's murder, I think her text messages to Jonathan really say it all.

One text sent after Rob was killed said how blessed she felt. And the other said, oh how I love you, I adore you Jonathan hern, you sexy guy. What was her explanation for this? She hadn't started grieving yet. And I mean, Jonathan started coming around her house, acting like everything was normal just two weeks after her husband died. And she was writing him these very intimate love letters. This one says,

My Jonathan, you are my love. My amazing blessing that God has given me. I want to love you in God's love, and live together in God's will. We have been blessed by God to have this chance to love you in God's love and live together in God's will. We have been blessed by God to have this chance to love each other. What a priceless gift I cherish you, our love and the blessings God has given us.

That is 19 days after your husband deceased, 13 days after his funeral. Oh, how I love you. I adore you, Jonathan Herne. Exclamation mark. You sexy guy. Did you write that? Well, apparently I did. Oh, how I love you even has, believe for, exclamation marks. So is this the period where you wanted him to stay away? And while we're on the topic of conversations, it turns out that during Sabrina's seven

attempts to call Rob the night of the murder, when she claimed she was worried that he hadn't come home yet, she was actually on the phone with Jonathan. She was using her burner phone to talk to her boyfriend while she was allegedly super worried that her husband didn't make it home from work. All of those phone calls made by you and your testimony to your husband's phone. Yes. We're done while you were on the phone with Jonathan, her.

Were they not? When I was trying to call Robert? Yes. 751 752 753 754 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 759 75, 753, 754, 759, 8 o'clock, and 801. That was during your 10-minute call with Jonathan Huron, we just saw from his records. And I was trying to call Robert. Do you recall being on the phone with Jonathan while making all of those calls? No. And according to Jonathan, when they were on that call, he was telling her that the job was done. Among the first things I remember is retrieving my phone, which had been left there at home. And I saw that I had a lot of missed calls

and from Sabrina. And so I called her. What did you tell her? What did you tell her? Well the conversation went something to the effect of that she was worried. She expressed that she was glad to hear from me. She was worried. She hadn't heard from either of us and had been trying to call both of us and referring to both me and Robert and was very worried because it had been a lot later than she'd anticipated that

I was getting home. She wanted to make sure I was okay and I did express that I don't remember the exact words that I used, but that I had done it and that everything was about to change. Now one thing that stood out to me and I'm sure stood out to you is that Sabrina would call Jonathan anytime she learned anything about the investigation. While the prosecution would say that she did this because she was keeping him in the loop to make sure that they weren't caught. But that's not what she said in her testimony. She said that Jonathan asked her to stay in touch with him about the murder

investigation not because he had anything to do with it but because he cared about her and wanted to know that the police were going to catch the guy. But think back to those calls they talked about, where they were praying together and clearly worried about being caught. It just doesn't fit her narrative. But don't worry, she has an explanation for that too. That was just her worried that they would find out about the affair. Okay, now let's get into what the prosecution was arguing, which I think will give you

a better picture for what was actually happening. They argued that Sabrina and Jonathan conspired to kill Robert in order to obtain his $300,000 life insurance policy, and also, of course, so they could be together. And if it wasn't already clear, their case was largely dependent on Jonathan's testimony. And on the stand, he explained how the two of the men at Costco and how their spiritual relationship turned into a sexual one. This went on for quite some time and even continued after Rob found out about the affair. Jonathan says that he knew what he was doing was wrong

but there was something about Sabrina that just kept pulling him back in. And when he was asked about how they came up with the idea to actually kill Rob, Jonathan said it actually started out as somewhat of a joke. He said that he tried to convince Sabrina to just divorce Rob,

but she told him that Rob would rather be dead than divorced. And then this joke, which to be clear is not funny, somehow snowballed into a plan to kill Rob. Now, I'm sure you caught this earlier when I was reading off Sabrina's charges, but one of them was poisoning, and I'm sure you're wondering what that's about. Well, according to Jonathan, the two of them first attempted to murder Rob by putting arsenic into some of his homemade banana pudding. But Jonathan said that on the day that Sabrina packed the pudding in Rob's lunch, she check-in-dap.

She ends up calling him and tells him that the bananas went bad and that he shouldn't eat it. Now we don't know if this actually happened. Sabrina completely denied it while on the stand, although she did deny everything else as well. But when it came to the plan that they actually went through with, Jonathan claims that Sabrina

gave him all the details that he would need to pull it off. This included where Rob would be, the layout of the BNSF office and more. He explained how he purchased clothes at Salvation Army to change into after the murder and how he purposely disguised his motorcycle. He even said that he made his own silencer for his gun. Jonathan walked through how he shot Rob and how he actually was worried that he wasn't dead after staging the scene because he heard some type of sound that may have come from him, so he shot him again, just to be sure. And the whole trial went on 15 days with countless witness testimony.

So, Brina's sister testified that she wholeheartedly believed her sister would not be capable of doing something like this, and she stands by that position to this day. Kelly and Jason also testified, and despite once being best friends with Sabrina, they fully believed that she was involved. So at the end, when everything was said and done, Sabrina Lamone was found guilty on four of the six charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, solicitation of murder, and

conspiracy. First count. We the Jerry and Panel to try the above and title cause. Find the defendant Sabrina LeMone, guilty of a felony to wait. Murder, a Robert LeMone, and violation of section 187, sub of the penal code as charged in the

first count of the information and do hereby fix the degree as murder in the first degree. The jury did not find her guilty for the whole putting poisoning thing could improve it and it only took the jury five hours to come back with her verdict. She was later sentenced to 25 years to life in prison and is serving at the California institution for women in Chino, California. Sabrina did attempt to get her conviction thrown out and asked for a retrial, claiming that her first attorney failed her by putting her on the stand. Not surprisingly, her original conviction was upheld. She even tried to appeal again this time at the Supreme Court,

but once again was denied. Sabrina and her new lawyer feel that Jonathan's testimony was never corroborated, but it doesn't seem like she's anywhere close to getting a retrial. As for Jonathan, he was sentenced to 25 years and four months in prison and is serving his time at the Ironwood State Prison. He was only 24 years old when he murdered Robert Lomone and is expected to be released before he turns 50. As for Rob and Sabrina's children, they are now in the custody of Sabrina's family, and I hope that they are, you know, loved and supported. I can't imagine the trauma that the two of them have been through losing both their parents

in very different ways. These cases where people murder their spouses are so frustrating to me. And I'm sure you guys feel the same. Actually, I know you do, because I always see your comments saying, why didn't they just get a divorce? Why? I just, I don't get it.

I'll never get it. Just get a divorce. It's insane. Rob seemed like a really good guy. It's incredibly sad what happened to him and so unnecessary. My God. That is gonna be it for me today, guys. It's incredibly sad what happened to him and so unnecessary, my God.

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