True Crime with Kimbyr - A Dream Vacation Turns Deadly: Ocean City Horror: Part 3

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

As the story unfolds, Kimbyrleigha brings us to the climax of this chilling true crime case. In True Crime with Kimbyr, you’ll hear the shocking details of the fateful night that turned a summer getaway into a brutal tragedy. With her signature blend of empathy and analysis, Kimbyrleigha pieces together the suspects' motives and examines the impact on the community. Join us to uncover the final, devastating details of a case that haunts Ocean City to this day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He refused to say anything else. This wasn't his first rodeo. This man had been in military prison. He had been through conditioning to the extreme, possibly torture scenarios that taught him to hold his tongue before betraying his country. So simple questioning like this, no match.

He wasn't going to say a word. They just put him back in his cell and moved on to his wife. She was in the middle of a nervous breakdown, crying hysterically saying she was going to die if she couldn't see her husband. She was kicking and acting crazy. But finally, Bernal was able to get her to relax long enough for her to ask him if he wanted to make a deal.

She's like, I'll tell you about the missing couple if you drop the burglary charges. Well, that sounded like a plan, but Bernel was waiting for forensics to come back with more information on anything significant found at the rainbow condominiums so that he could use this as leverage against Erica. As the search was being carried out, it appeared that even though BJ and Erica were supposed to be on vacation, It looked like they were actually doing some remodeling of their unit. In the condo's main bathroom, you know, the one with the big nice tub. Instead of relaxing in there, it looked to detectives as though dry wall was being put up.

There was spackle on the wall. And the bathroom was like in pristine condition. It seems strange to them. Why would a couple spend their vacation doing this task? They began to wonder if they were trying to hide something. Was there something in the bathroom that they wanted to conceal? Oh, there was a lot. To the naked eye, the bathroom appeared to have nothing wrong with it.

But as the technicians go down low and look underneath the vanity, there is a literal blood mark on the underside, as though someone had been hiding underneath and clearly bleeding and put their hand on top. At that point, they were onto something. So they really started to look in that area and they pull out the drawers and sure enough, there's a drop of blood that had pulled between the back of the drawer. you can see it right here. So they fully remove the two drawers and more blood.

The baseboards have spray marks on them. It's a little hard to see against the black bottom section, but with certain lighting, you can see there's a lot of blood here. And if you look lower, it's in the cracks of the tile underneath the drawers, right in the grout, essentially dyeing it red. When they measure the side of the wall where they see this pooled blood, they can tell at one point it was an inch deep. before it was cleaned up.

Wow. The team was shocked by the sheer quantity of blood in this bathroom. It indicated that this crime was extreme. It was brutal. There was no doubt in their minds that something ominous had occurred in this bathroom. They took samples from the scene to be further investigated. They weren't done. They were now finding blood all over.

There was evidence of blood inside the jacuzzi tub and the drain. And after digging behind the freshly painted wall and drywall, the investigators find a bullet hole and a fragment. It went right through to the other side. You can see it right here. They dismantled the bathroom. They ripped out the vanity and they found even more evidence and dried blood flowing through the cracks underneath the sink.

There was a new door put on. When they took out the drain covers on the sink, they were covered in blood. When they were doing this, there was also a clump of hair. And they went to pick it up and they found out it was attached to a piece. of scalp. Unbelievable. The hot tub in this condo's bathroom, it overlooked the beach, and it's got these two glass panes, and they're covered with hamprints. It looked like someone had been trapped inside and desperately banging on the glass for help. Oh my God. This terrified

me so much because I can actually picture what could have happened in this bathroom, but why? Well, Bernal wants to find out, so he does what BJ told him to do. He asked Erica. He's like, sure we can come up with the deal. What happened? Why were you in Ocean City. Let's start there. Erica all of a sudden becomes a very talkative immediately. She explains why her and her husband had been there. She said that since their work life was so hectic, they hadn't been able to enjoy a proper honeymoon. Fortunately, Erica's father had come to the rescue and set them up in the suite at the Rando condominiums. And what about Josh and Jeannie? How did they fit into all of this? Bernel confronted Erica with Josh and Jeannie's pictures that they found

in her condo rental. At this point, she has no choice. but to admit that she and BJ had met them. You may have guessed it, but remember the couple that boarded the drunk bus, the ones without the exact change? That was Erica and BJ. Josh helped them that night. Erica told Bernal that they sat down next to them,

and introduced themselves, said, Hi, I'm Erica with a K. This is my husband, Bej, BJ. And Jeannie said, I'm Jeannie, and this is Josh. They were headed to secrets, where BJ had promised Josh and Jeannie a drink for their generosity. The line outside was long.

It took them over an hour to get in and Erica explained she was having very bad anxiety. She takes SanX to relax. She had some with her and she had been taking more than usual and drinking. Once they were inside, they were having a great time, they were dancing, they were hanging out until last call. They wanted to continue the party so Erica suggested they all go back to their Pan-house suite. That way they could take a dip in the hot tub, hang out, smoke some weed. She said she didn't smoke, but BJ did and Josh had mentioned that he had some back at his condo. So the plan was, stop by the Atlanta so that Jeannie and Josh could snag the weed, get their breathing suits, and then

go back to Erica and BJ's. They left, loaded into the bus together, and went up to Josh and Jeannie's unit. They hung out for a bit, while the couple gathered what they needed, they drink some wine, and then they get back on the bus once again and went to their suite. But Erica said something happened. You remember those two weird 911 calls? I'm telling you, this story is deep. It's twisted. It's all over the place. That's why I wanted to do it. Well, Erica explains that they arrive at their suite around 2.30 in the morning, and Jeannie and Josh, they're so impressed. They're like, wow, this place is so nice. Erica got some beers and everyone was just checking out the place.

Then BJ, Jeannie and Josh were sitting at the round glass table and smoking some weed. Jeannie at one point wants to get in her bikini, so Erica directs her over to the main bathroom up the stairs to change. Erica said she was just doing her own thing because BJ and Josh were still smoking. she was just tidying up, you know, OCD and all that. She starts looking for her brown hooters bag. You know how she gets when she can't find something? She gets major anxiety. So then when she's looking, she sees her red purse.

Her beloved favorite coach purse, it was like a pet to her. She told Detective Bernal she loved coach. She said she was addicted to coach and that she even carries her pills in a little matching red coach pouch inside the bigger red coach purse. That's important. She goes on to explain the purse wasn't in the spot where she knows she put it. It had been moved and she freaked out. She knew if she hadn't touched it and there was people there that were drunk. So here she is. She's drunk on Xanax, who knows what else. And she's thinking someone stole the hooters bag and moved her purse. So she went to look around.

She was panicking. When she didn't see the smaller bag, that she keeps inside with all of her valuables, including a $10,000 ring that her grandma had given to her, in addition to $7,000 worth of other items, she was frantically trying to locate this bag. She said everyone was just laughing and hanging out, but she couldn't get past the fact that her things were missing. She started searching the place, her OCDs acting up,

and she thought, you know what? I don't know this couple. They could clearly be conning us. Maybe they stole it. Jeannie left their site to go, change. What if she'd taken Erica's things? That's when Erica said she went upstairs and made the first 911 call. She had shown Jeannie all of her stuff earlier in the night, including 200 Xanax pills, and now they're all gone.

It had to be her. She was convinced of it. So she made that call at 301 a.m. Erica explained that she was on the phone and she heard someone pick up the other line. Remember her saying that like, oh, I think someone's listening. She was paranoid. She asked the operator for a direct number and then she hung up. hung up. That's when she said, she heard footsteps. So she hid. I'm sitting here thinking you have a literal Navy seal husband and weapons. Why would you be hiding? But drugs. Remember I told you I was

watching Taylor Show business when I thought about this case again? Well, Erica says that sometime went by she calls 911 again and we know that either she hung up or the line went dead before the officers could be requested. She explained that Josh came upstairs. He was either going to change or to check on her. And he asked her if everything was okay. But then she claimed he started to flirt with her and even tried to kiss her. She kind of goes off saying, my stuff is missing. And Josh was like, what do you mean? Well, Erica says that she was angry and yelling. And that's when BJ heard. So BJ and Jeannie run upstairs. They're like, what's going on? And Erica tells the detective, I think BJ thought that Josh was trying to pull some moves on me because he's like,

what the F is going on. And that's when she relayed what had happened. Her valuable were missing. B.J. got right in Josh's face, yelling at him, where's my wife's stuff? Erica explained that B.J. was demanding that Josh and Jeannie take off their clothes to prove that they weren't stashing the item somewhere. In fear, they did what they were told to do. They were trembling. They were upset. Jeannie was almost in tears. It was clear they didn't have anything on them. And all of a sudden, Erica said that the couple just ran into the bathroom and locked the door.

Remember the handprints on the window? Perhaps this is when they were attempting to make a run for it, but BJ, now in a rage, wanted them out. And he kept pounding on the door to no avail. That's when BJ grabbed a gun. And he shot right through the door. Well, I guess that's why they had to remove it and replace it. Erica says BJ was aiming for the doorknob, but once the door was open, they realized that the bullet had accidentally hit Josh in the arm. He was now in more of a frantic mode. He was holding it with the towel to get it to stop bleeding, and Gene.

was terrified. She was screaming and hiding under the vanity. Erica said that BJ was just telling her to shut up, but she wouldn't. That's when Josh asked BJ, why are you doing this? And out of nowhere, to Erica's surprise, BJ replied, see you later, mother, before shooting Josh right in the head in front of his girlfriend. Jeannie was so fearful at this point. Erica recalled how terrified this poor woman was. She had just witnessed her boyfriend being executed right in front of her. She was trying to protect herself,

even using her boyfriend's body as a shield. She was trying to squeeze further and further back as far as she could into the tiniest space, whimpering like a little baby. That's what Erica said. And Erica, she was just frozen. She didn't know what to do. She said it was self-defense.

At that point, she's rummaging through the clothing that this couple had just removed from their bodies and she finds out the purse isn't there. She said she didn't actually know that Josh was dead. It was all a blur. When she turned around and realized what happened, she said she looked at BJ and said, what the F did you do?

She got a glimpse into the bathroom and saw that Josh was foaming at the mouth with blood. Erica said at that point, she peed her pants. When BJ saw it, he started to make fun of her. All of a sudden, Erica tells detectives that BJ turned the gun on Jeannie and tried to shoot.

shoot her, but he missed. That's the bullet that went through the wall. And then he went over there, walked up to her, point-blank range, and shot her in the left shoulder. Erica said there was blood everywhere. It was on the walls, the tub all over the floors. Bernel is still listening. But he's thinking a 357 magnum, which are where the bullets came from, that's the kind of gun. It wouldn't have caused such a huge amount of blood spatter.

So he's already having doubts about this version of the story. But he continued to listen. Erica said both BJ and her were pacing in and out of the bathroom, trying to think, trying to figure out what they were going to do next. However, there was no sign of any blood outside that bathroom. There was a light colored carpet, no blood at all. At this point, she tells them she packed walkie-talkies, and BJ took one of them and she took the other,

and he left to go make sure that no cops had heard the gunshots. and she was looking for her items all over, and she ends up finding them under the bed. Well, he knows this is a lie, because he had pictures of the bed, and they also measured it. It was only like an inch from the floor. There's no way all of her items were underneath that bed.

That's when she tells BJ over the walkie-taki-taki, I found my purse. He comes back, and he tells her that the bodies are gonna start smelling really bad, so they have to get rid of them fast. She said she didn't know what to do. B.J. put a gun to her head and forth her to help him. Erica confessed to helping BJ dispose of Josh and Jeannie's body in the most

gruesome way. She said that they had to cut them into pieces, so they placed them in the jacuzzi tub, and they did exactly that, carefully separating their heads and their limbs. At one point, she said that BJ was butt naked with blood all over him and had a huge hard...that he was getting off on all this. Organs were floating in the bloody bathtub, and he He even wanted to cook one of the legs. Detective Brunel couldn't believe what he was hearing and he wanted to clarify if any human remains had been cooked. She said, no, not that she knew of.

That she didn't eat or cook anything, but she wouldn't give a definite answer on her husband's actions. She said she was sent out to the store to get garbage bags. So she did. Then they started placing the parts in separate bags, but Josh's torso wouldn't fit. So BJ told Erica to go get one of his military canvas bags. and that is where BJ placed the torso. They loaded the bags in the Jeep.

It was about 6 o'clock in the morning, and Erica said, she took a shower, and then they drove to a nearby dumpster and just threw the bodies in there. Erica admitted that both her and BJ they hadn't slept in over 24 hours at this point, and she was like in and out of sleeping

while BJ was driving around to dispose of the bags. And that the next day, they went to Home Depot and got all those supplies to fix everything and clean the bathroom. Wow, this is a lot for someone to take in. For someone that's so devoted to her husband, it's also very odd that she's just so easy to pin it all on him. But he was a Navy SEAL.

He was okay with killing people with his bare hands. He was a big guy on drugs, not to mention, when they were booking him, they took off his clothing to check his body and they noted he had a very large tattoo of a swastika right on his chest. Yeah. I'm sure that can say a lot of things about him, but for one, Bernel,

definitely thought it leaned towards him having a very violent nature. This man was strapped when they found him and Erica robbing the hooters. He was dishonorably discharged and spent time in prison. No doubt he was dangerous. Eric, on the other hand, was barely 100 pounds. She was thin, tiny, bubbly, flirtatious during the interview. Despite the gravity of the situation, she seemed to be in her own little world, not even taking it seriously. She appeared oblivious to the seriousness of what she just admitted to the detectives. She actually thanked them. She said she was so appreciative

that they caught them stealing so that she could break free of BJ's control. It did seem like Erica had got caught up in a very toxic relationship, but what was more important was finding Jeannie and Josh. So detectives went down to check the Rainbow Condo dumpsters. They were hoping that they would find the remains so that they could have them DNA tested.

Then they would have more confidence in Erica's story and also proof that they were indeed deceased. But they didn't find anything in those dumpsters. So they go back and they ask Erica for more information, which dumpster was it? And she agreed to show them. It's the mid-morning of June 1st by now. They're driving over to a beach in Delaware. She points them to a dumpster and she said, that's the one.

They search it and there's no bodies. However, there is carpet, drywall, things like that. But no bodies. She has them on a wild goose chase. They drive to a few more dumpsters in the area and still nothing. So they start to think, Erica is lying. How much is she lying about? So they turn up the heat.

They tell her, we don't believe you. And if you don't cooperate, then we're going to go ahead and charge you with murder. She's like, okay, I will tell you everything, but I need to have immunity. They want to find Jeannie and Josh, so they have no choice. They agree to give her immunity if she can tell them where the body. are. She tells them that they took them to all these different dumpsters all throughout Delaware and Maryland and beyond and that BJ used to work for grocery stores. Grocery store dumpsters were better because they get picked up more

frequently because of how much waste that they have with all the food going bad and they also smell so no one would suspect anything so they dumped them in grocery store dumpsters. When Erica's return to jail she gets her one phone call and of course she calls her daddy. Cookie and Mitch, they were at Memory Lane scrapbooking store, expecting Erica and BJ back that night, actually. Erica had told Cookie they were stopping by a reptile show and then heading back. When she saw the phone ring, she never expected to hear Erica screaming on the other end.

Mitch was outside of the time. He heard her scream, turned around, and realized it was his wife. She was standing there white as a ghost. He rushed back in, and he's like, what's wrong? She couldn't speak. She just handed him the phone. Erica's on the other line. and she's saying, please get here as fast as you can.

She explained that she had been booked for burglary. Mitch is an utter disbelief. The first thought he had was, wow, BJ really effed up his daughter's life. As soon as he hung up, he hopped on a private jet and started calling lawyers on his way to Ocean City with his wife. What would you do if this was your kid? I like asking his questions, I'm just wondering. He called around and he was referred to a man named Archangelio to Manali.

The guy was highly recommended. Mitch had no idea what Erica was looking at as far as the charges were concerned. But it became crystal clear when the lawyer started to dig in. This was more than burglary. The news was already out that Erica and her husband were suspected to be the killers in a double murder and dismemberment of a missing vacationing couple. And that it happened at the Rainbow Condominium, the place that Mitch's friend owned. It was all too much. Mitch knew this much to be true.

He told the lawyer, this was all because of BJ. He knew from the moment he met him that he was trouble. Prison was no place for his little girl, and he was going to do whatever it took to get her back home. Detectives contact the sanitation department telling them what is going on, wanting to figure out the garbage routes. Luckily, the waste management industry is very organized. They basically know all of the routes where each dumpster goes

in which section of this huge, huge landfill that the trash would be located. The only thing is they need to know specifics on when the bodies were actually deposited into the receptacles. That matters in figuring out where they would be now in the landfill. This is a lot of work.

It takes until afternoon, June 3rd, to narrow down where this trash would be. The landfill was about 45 minutes away, and if you had never smelled hot garbage, I don't know, just imagine the worst smell, vomit, rotten meat, dead animal, Now combine all of that with 100 degree weather and you'd be close to what it was like at that landfill. Bernal arrived around 4.30. It was humid, rancid smelling. There were seagulls, rotten food,

bugs, hornets flying around, and it was vast. Look at it. These are the actual police photos. This place is massive. They had backhose out there. They had detectives wearing protective gear. They were diligently sifting through mounds of rotting garbage. It was nasty. It smelled so bad that even cadaver dogs They're dogs couldn't do their job because they couldn't tell the difference between a dead body and just garbage. But about an hour into the search, that's when they spot something. It looked like a leg. I am going to be blurring it here, but you can still see how it stands out among the trash. Once this was discovered, everything stood still.

It was unbelievable. They know that it must be Jeannie or Josh, and it intensifies this search. But hours pass, and they still haven't found anything. But finally, they didn't. Next part, a human arm. Then another arm with a hand attached. And when they give it a closer look, they realize it has a tattoo on it. And yes, it's the karate logo. It's Josh's arm. Later, they locate the canvas duffel bag. It's five feet in length. And inside was Josh's torso wrapped up in blankets that came from the rainbow condominium unit. It's obvious that they have found Josh and Jeannie are what's left

of them. But they still had to officially confirm it with DNA analysis. So the remains were sent for testing. They continued to search, but they could not go into a second day. It was unbearable. They had enough to know that they could charge BJ and Erica with murder. It's so sad. They wanted to continue. They really did. Bernal felt awful. He wondered if they kept going. Would they find everything? He wanted to for Jeannie and Josh's family's sake. But it wasn't possible. was the prosecuting attorney on the case. He was very experienced, he was knowledgeable, a veteran lawyer, and on Monday, June 3rd was the day that BJ and Erica were going to be at their first hearing in front of a judge. The search of the rainbow condominium was still going, and this case

was about to really intensify. I know it already seems like we know exactly what happened, a domineering evil crazy ex-navice, drug-induced, rage husband, killed two people, but just wait. Because it's worse. Here's the thing. BJ wasn't talking, Erica was. He had a court-appointed attorney. She had the best that her daddy could afford. Erica's attorney made a deal.

If she was telling the truth, which they would confirm via polygraph, then she would not be held for the murders. Only charged with gun possession, illegal disposal of bodies, but neither one of them were getting out on bond. That's for sure. Meanwhile, Mitch is working with a lawyer. He's trying to make sure that Erica didn't have to see the inside of a prison. It was decided by the prosecutor after deals were discussed and circumstances were discussed

that BJ and Erica would be tried separately in two trials. Erica would testify against BJ in return for lesser charges. Now they had to build cases against them. This was a request by Josh and Jeannie's family. Speaking of their families, they were beyond devastated. Poor little Zach? His mom didn't know how to tell him. his father was never coming home.

His mom and his stepdad, they sat him down, they told him, your dad is gone, and he was speechless. He walked out of the house. He went to his little tire swing, and he was just swinging in the yard for hours, not saying a word. This poor family had lost two people in two years. Both were murdered and dismembered.

No justice in either case. It was a lot to take in. The autopsies were being conducted on the remains, and the pathologist discovered a bullet fragment still stuck inside Josh's torso near the shoulder area. That was it. They determined he died as a result of homicide. Forensic evidence for Jeannie was scarce. They only had one of her legs. However, in order to get it to be homicide, the pathologist determined that her leg had been removed from her body

and the bleeding would not have stopped unless medical attention was given. Therefore, she died as a result of a homicide. Erica had not stopped talking since the arrest. She had given detectives a lot of of information about her and VJ's relationship. She explained that once they got together was a constant party, that he introduced her to drugs, to snorting her anxiety drugs, instead of just taking them the way they were prescribed. This was the beginning of what she said became a full-blown addiction, that her life just spiraled out of control because she wanted to appease her controlling husband, and that all of this in the beginning had to do with him cheating. It's when he had to live in Arkansas for a few weeks after they were married. She found

emails on his computer, going back and forth with some girl. It was October of 1999. This is what she said sent her into the deepest depression. She was obsessed with making sure BJ wasn't with another woman. She followed him. She listened to his phone call. She snooped in all of his stuff. And finally, she even spoke to the woman herself. And she confirmed it was true. She had slept with BJ. She was able to provide information that only someone would know if they had actually been with him. Erica said this caused her to go into clinical depression. She was taking Xanax and Valium. And then of course at some point, BJ told her to snort it and to drink alcohol.

Well, after the cheating, Erica could not be away from BJ. She said she just didn't trust him so she became obsessed about where he was going, what he was doing, and that's why she would show up at his steel trainings. She knew that he had a violent nature because at one point, to stop her from doing this, BJ emails the mistress. And he says, quote, Hey, bitch, you better tell my wife I never effed you. And if you don't call her and tell her that it was all lie, I'll drive down to Arkansas. amputate your bastard kids with a butter knife and then I'll board up the windows and doors and torture house. He signed it your worst enemy, BJ. Erica also explained that she wanted to please

BJ so that he wouldn't have reasons to cheat. So she went along with everything that turned him on. It wasn't sex anymore. It was getting in trouble. He would deliberately try to get cops to chase him. He had that souped up car. He would pull up and taunt officers. He would be going over a hundred miles an hour and Erica said you even peed her pants once. That's what got him revved up for sex. Then they graduated to cocaine and ecstasy. She said that they were doing it every night of the week. She told the detectives how he made her get an abortion after he tricked her. First he said, I want to have kids. So they weren't being careful on purpose. Eric ends up getting pregnant. She's excited to tell him and he says, I don't want kids.

You better remove it or I'll remove it with a coat hanger. She felt like she had no choice. and after she went through with it, he praised her, and he said that having this procedure showed her loyalty. He was testing her. He wanted her to get pregnant on purpose just to see if she would get rid of the baby for him. Erica explains that she got a cross tattoo on her abdomen to remember the baby. He was also obsessed with Hitler and the swastika tattoo was because he believed in everything Hitler stood for. He even named one of their snakes after him, and he liked snakes because they were the devil's creature. The other ones were named HIV and Bonnie and Clyde.

Recall that picture. Here they are. Bonnie and Clyde settling in. She was referring to the snakes. She said that he was very racist. He would call her the N-word because of her hair. It was kinky-curly. He would also yell racist comments

out the window at random people and threaten to shoot them. Even saying that if he killed them, no one would miss them because, essentially, they weren't white. Wow. That is sick. That is sick. All of this is.

He would also attack her weight. She was rail thin because BJ apparently would call her a fat ass and tell her she was overweight. That fueled her need to constantly use drugs because it helped her to stay thin. She was so into this addiction. Remember that South America trip that her dad funded? Well, they picked Chile for a reason

because they brought back a cooler full of pills. Xanax and value more only $90 for a dollar. And to fund their habit, stealing. It was the best of both. It would turn BJ on and pay for them to continue their sex, drugs, and partying. He was also a locksmith in the past and he could pick any lock. So first it began with breaking into ATMs. It started small, but then it escalated to different stores, and since it was making BJ happy, she went along with it.

Then it was the threesomes. She explained that BJ insisted that in order to be the cool wife, she had to let him go to strip clubs and bring other girls into the bedroom. They had rules, she said. And one of the reasons they started to go to Hooters was so that she could pick out girls for them. This evolved into selling the merchandise on their eBay business. But then ultimately, they began stealing the Hooters' clothes, and they hit up a number of these stores without getting caught. Then she found out that BJ had cheated on her again, and it was another downward spiral. She wanted his love and approval all the time. She felt like no one else would ever love her, and that's why she stayed.

Things had gotten mundane lately before their trip to Ocean City. She persuaded her dad to get them a place so that she could get away. She said BJ didn't want to have sex with her for months. He needed a thrill. New places, new people, new hooters to steal from. Then, about the killings. It was all BJ. Erica said she had no idea he was going to do that,

but he became an animal. After he cut them up, he held both of their heads in his hands and wanted Erica to take a picture of him. She said she saw him there standing over this blood-filled tub. blood-filled tub and she vomited. Just an evil man, right? It seems like it. When the bullet fragment that was located inside Josh's torso was tested, it matched Erica's 357 revolver. That gun was found on her when she was robbing the Hooters restaurant. This was the first of many clues that Erica may have way more to do with Josh and Jeannie's murder than she was letting on. BJ had his own weapons.

Yes, he could have used her handgun in the spur of the moment, like Erica said, it just happened out of nowhere. But there was more, a lot more. They'd collected so much evidence, and it was telling a very different story than Erica's. First of all, when they were going through all the photographs that had been taken, they put them in chronological order. As they looked closely, they realized that Josh's dragon ring, it can clearly be seen in this photo on his finger, from when Jeannie and him were at the secrets point.

It was found among the jewelry that was collected and it was indexed. It was also analyzed for DNA and it had Josh's blood on that ring. Still on the ring after it was taken from Erica's necklace. Erica was wearing this bloody ring around her neck on a necklace when she was arrested. As they look closer at the pictures in the timeline order, they discover a horrifying fact. Erica is wearing Josh's blood-covered ring on her necklace after they were reported missing. This was a trophy to her. She was a collector and she was dawning a dead man's ring. Then there's the knife, the one that was found on her

at Hooters. It tested positive for Jeannie and Josh's DNA. There was still human tissue stuck on the serrated blade. It was her 357 handgun that was used in connection to this crime. She had the obsession with Hooters merch. It was her wearing Hooter's shirts in almost every picture, but not only that. She documented everything in her and BJ's life. Since the day they got together and she kept documenting everything, even BJ standing in front of the Home Depot getting the supplies that they were going to use to cover up their crime. She collected Jeannie and Josh's ID. She kept them as tokens to remember their crime spree. It was her purse that the couple supposedly stole that caused this whole situation to

escalate. It seemed like more of a plan than unfortunate circumstances. But Erica was willing to take that polygraph, and she was going to testify against her husband. She just had to take the pre-polygraph interview, where they ask you a bunch of questions that are already prepared to prepare you for the actual test. Well, they thought this was only going to be about an hour or so since they already went over and agreed upon the questions. It took four hours. And when the administrator came back out, she said she couldn't go forward with the test.

Erica, apparently being afraid of getting caught in a lie, admitted she helped in the killings. Even orchestrated them. Her lawyer was floored. Erica was extremely nervous. She was afraid. She didn't want the truth to be revealed in this polygraph exam. So she changed her story again. Oh, and this went on. She changed her story several times. But during this interview, Erica relayed a chilling tale of what happened after BJ shot Jeannie. She said that he ordered her to make sure that Jeannie. was dead. And without even checking for a pulse, Erica stabbed her and slit her throat. When she was recounting the event, Erica said she was shocked at how much pressure it took

to pierce through Jeannie's skin. Then she admitted to stabbing Jeannie in the chest, all while she was trying to hide underneath that vanity. The deal was off the table. She and BJ would be tried for murder and separate trials. BJ's was first. April 2003. Now that the deal was off, Erica wasn't going to be able to be able to be able to do.

to be allowed to testify against her husband. BJ never talked. It was all Erica. He never admitted to a thing. As a matter of fact, all he ever said was, if you want to know what happened, ask my wife. His public defender pinned it all on her. The prosecution had a difficult time making their case

because there wasn't that much concrete evidence against BJ. It was all circumstantial. But there was a lot more direct evidence against Erica. The biggest shock was when BJ took the stand and saw spoke for the first time. His version of events were a lot different. Most importantly, he explained he didn't kill Jeannie and Josh. His wife did. He said when they left secrets, he decided he hadn't slept in a while. He was really tired. He was going to go take a nap while Erica and Josh and

Jeannie went back to the other condo to get their bikinis and the weed and then they were going to bring it back over to the Rainbow Condos. Well, he goes back alone as Erica heads over to the Alanis and he realizes when he gets to the door, he doesn't have the key. He's pissed, he's too tired to deal with it. So he goes into the Jeep and he passes out. The next thing he knows, there's banging on the window and it's his wife. He doesn't remember what time it was. At this point, she's just telling him, we need to leave. She said, we have a problem and she needs his help. He said he is half asleep at this point, still coming off drugs and alcohol. She was saying all kinds of things, but it was clear to him that she had hurt someone.

He followed her up to the condo and into the bathroom, and that is when he saw the two people that they had met earlier on the bus. He is a trained medic. He said his first instinct was to check their pulses, and he did, and they were deceased. And he realized that his wife had done this, and he's sitting on the bed with his head in his hands

and not knowing what to do. He didn't know what happened. He didn't witness anything. He didn't know if she snapped, if there was a reason why all this happened, but he was loyal to his wife. And he knew, that he had to help her. He admitted it, that it was his idea to cut up and dispose of the bodies

in different dumpsters. It wasn't his gun. He didn't collect or save any tokens like Erica did, and he never admitted to anything. The jury ends up clearing him on all charges against Josh, but they can't rule out his involvement in Jeannie's death because no one knows how she died. He is convicted on second-degree murder and first-degree assault for Jeannie's death, sentenced to 38 years in prison with the possibility of parole. While Josh's family was not okay with this, his brother Mark was interviewed by the press, almost in tears. He stated that there is no justice, that they took away a good brother.

But Erica's trial was next. June 3, 2003. In addition to her confession to stabbing Jeannie, there was a wealth of evidence that the state had to ensure a conviction in this double murder trial. Forensic evidence that the crime scene linked Erica to this crime and the couple's stolen credit cards and the property she had in her possession. But Erica attempted to convince the detectives that she was an abused spouse. But those that were close to Erica and BJ, hmm.

They painted a much different picture of their marriage. According to those aware of the couple's relationship, Erica wasn't the victim. She was the aggressor. The pictures of Erica and BJ that they took in Ocean City before the murder of Josh and Jeannie, It was of a happy couple enjoying their vacation. And then after the murders, they still took photos. The same type of photos of them enjoying their vacation. Like nothing happened.

It didn't show her being scared. Actually, she appeared to be more relaxed, not living in fear of her husband at all. It depicted a woman who was content and happy to be on the beach with her husband. Then a witness came forward. Her name is Melissa Seeley. It was Tuesday in the middle of the night on May 28th,

a few days after Josh and Gene met up with Erica and BJ. Melissa looks at her phone because it keeps ringing and she realizes she has 16 missed calls from her friend Todd. He is wasted. He's begging Melissa to please come meet him and his friends out in Ocean City. They got a flat tire and they need help. She's in Delaware 30 minutes away, but she agrees.

She pulls up. She sees the blue jeep on a jack and she fixes the tire. She's introduced to BJ and Erica. Erica seemed completely out of it. But then all of a sudden, she snapped out of that and said, I'm so thankful, can we buy you a drink? But something about the way she looked seemed weird to Melissa. She's like, you know what?

I'd rather not. But the three of them, it was like three against one, they convinced Melissa just have one drink. So they went to a close-by bar. It was called Fish Tales. There are pictures of Melissa and them at this bar. Melissa explained to the jury, she didn't want to take photos. They were complete strangers.

But it was Erica who kept on insisting that she had photos with her. Later on, Melissa wanted to leave again, and she was trying to. But Erica kept insisting to come back to their condo. She was making all sorts of excuses. Can you please drive us? Because we don't want a drunk drive, and she was just desperate in begging them. That's when Melissa hears BJ say something under his breath, something like, I can't control my wife.

And he said something like, I listen to her because she's got a gun and she'll kill a cop. Melissa wants to get out of there. She's with these strangers that are totally out of their minds. this point totally drunk wasted on drugs she doesn't know what's going on but she agrees that her and Todd can follow them back to their condo to make sure they're there safely it's only a few minutes away when she gets there BJ is banging on her window saying please please you got to help Erica's passed out I need help getting her up to the room really she's like a hundred pounds you can't carry her himself

anyway they get inside of the penthouse and it's like Erica snapped out of it she's like do you want a tour she's being all nice to Melissa of course Melissa's pretty impressed by the building. Erica's bragging that her dad built it, and she's taking her on a tour. And the guys were getting a beer. Listen to what happens next. All of a sudden, Erica is like, I want to show you this ring that my grandma gave me. Oh, no, I can't find my purse.

The same thing again. Melissa's like, she was frantically looking around saying, I need it now. It's so important. Melissa jumped into action. She's trying to help. She's hoping that the stranger will come. down. That's when she noticed the door to the bathroom was not on the hinges. It was leaning up against the door frame and it looked like it had a bullet hole through it. So she makes her

way back to the living room. She wants to get out of there. And that's when Erica starts insinuating that Melissa stole her purse. She's yelling to BJ saying, this lady's trying to run some con on us. She took all of our valuables, all of our drugs. I don't know this woman. Melissa's just sitting there insisting she did not take her purse. At this point, BJ, pulls out a gun and he says I've already killed two people and I'm not afraid to do it again. However, in the midst of all of this going on, BJ lifts up a couch cushion and there's Erica's purse. All of a sudden, she snaps out of it. She's like, oh my gosh, thank you so much for finding my purse. Does this make sense now? It's a ruse. Erica was hiding her own purse.

It's all coming together. Hide your purse, get your husband riled up, somebody stole it, kill people. There was so much more. Witness after witness ripped Erica apart. It didn't seem like she just had OCD. It was more like borderline personality disorder with psychosis, drug-induced as well. There were stories of how Erica could not accept rejection. To the point where remember her boyfriend that left her right before she met BJ?

She was at a club, and she slammed her head into a brick wall repeatedly until it cracked open and was bleeding. It was for attention. Once she had BJ in her claws, she would not let him do anything. She controlled his every move. We threatened to hurt herself if he didn't come home. It was her plan to get him kicked out of the military,

constantly making a scene, barging into his meetings, finding out where he was at confidential assignments and ruining his career so that he would have no choice but to be with her 24-7. She didn't want him to get an honorable discharge because that would take too long.

With every one of her threats, B.J. got more and more caught in the middle. He wanted his career, but he also didn't want to walk in and find his wife dead on the floor because he wouldn't leave in that instant to be by her side. Because it was always something. Another Navy SEAL wife came forward, and she said that BJ was not a violent person. She was a former friend that knew him before Erica. Her hubby was one of his SEAL buddies. She said, B.J. was shy.

Erica changed everything. She was obsessed with him. She told this woman not to look at BJ and never to talk to him. This was after a normal interaction with BJ, someone that she had known for years, and Erica just came into his life. One time, he was only 10 minutes late from coming home from hanging out with a friend. Erica stormed in to this other Navy SEALs apartment, screaming at him and his wife, throwing food on the floor and saying, where is he? They were like, calm the F down. He's about to pull up. She would constantly call his phone over and over again, 20 times back to back in amount of minutes.

So much so he had to shut his phone off. This woman also confirmed that it was Erica's idea to get an abortion because she was doing so many drugs. She thought that the child would turn on having issues and that her therapist even agreed. BJ's mom took the stand. She talked about how Erica pulled a gun on her when she was trying to come to her son's rescue when he was imprisoned in the military. She did that.

She said her son was a changed person ever since Erica came into his life. There was so much evidence against this woman. So much evidence. For example, remember the glass windows near the hot tub? I told you there were handprints on the inside. Well, there were handprints on the outside as well. well. Why is this important? Because they believe that with walkie-talkies, Erica was outside directing BJ to where Jeannie and Josh were in the bathroom. She was his eyes. They did this.

But it was BJ's testimony that sealed her fate. He told the same story that he told at his own trial, that he had nothing to do with the murders, but he went into way more detail this time. Here are some of the things that came out. He wasn't allowed to talk to anyone, not even his own family. They weren't allowed to have the color purple on anything in their house, anywhere or nothing, because one of his ex-girlfriends loved the color purple. Erica wasn't skinny because he would force her not to eat. It was because she would refuse to eat if he wouldn't come home.

She would literally starve herself until he came back. BJ also said that Erica stabbed Jeannie in the side, in the exact same place where Erica got a tattoo a couple days after the killing. A tattoo to remember the murder just like she got after the abortion. This time it was a cobra. She also literally broke off a piece of the bathroom door and brought it with her to the hardware store and told the lady that was helping them. This is all that's left of our door this weekend.

She wanted to match the paint. They ended up getting an entire new door, but she was bragging. She kept the IDs, the ring, the shell casings, all to document her crimes. He told the jury that despite the smiling in the pictures he took with her, he wasn't a happy person. He knew what he did was wrong.

He shouldn't have helped her dispose of the bodies. The prosecution made a point to say that the only reason Melissa and Todd were alive is because BJ wasn't passed out in the Jeep this time, that Erica was playing her same ruse, losing her purse, and BJ was the one that found it. If he wouldn't have been there, they don't know what would have happened.

Erica probably would have killed them like she had done before. In closing, the prosecutor showed a slideshow of the pictures of Erica eating crab legs right after the murders and the ring on her neck as a token of what she was proud that she had done. A picture of her fixing the bathroom, going to Home Depot. She was documenting her little fantasy of being Bonnie and Clyde, the name that she picked for her pythons. She was evil, calculated, controlling,

and guilty. She was the mastermind. She was the puppet master. According to Erica's defense team, though, she only participated in the murders out of fear as a woman under her husband's control. However, the physical evidence and Erica's own admissions contradicted this claim. The jury ultimately found Erica guilty on both counts of first-agree murder for the deaths of Jeannie and Josh. The judge sentenced her to life plus 20 years. Two years after Erica BJ were convicted, Eugene McCollum was arrested for several murders, and he was named the most likely suspect in the murder of Josh's niece, Kelly. He was convicted of two murders and sentenced to life in prison. However, just like in BJ's case with Josh, this murderer was never charged

for Kelly's murder, or any of the other countless ones he could have committed. In his years of experience, the lead detective, Scott Burnell, had never encountered individuals as as BJ and Erica, even now. He still remembers the shock and disgust that he felt when he was looking at that crime scene. The amount of violence and disregard for human life was too much to bear. I want to tell you something that's very important.

But before I do, I want to say, to me, both of them did this. I think they were in a toxic relationship and they fed off each other and they were on drugs. And this is why the Taylorship Business case reminded me so much of this. the dismemberment, the drugs, just the craziness of everything, these people that just don't even seem like they're human,

they're animals. But they knew what they were doing, and they wanted to do it. And I truly believe that Erica was just a girl that got whatever she wanted. And when she didn't get it, she also got what she wanted because she would force it to happen. Well, after all of this, I have some good news. Zachary Ford, Josh's son, life was so difficult without his dad. He couldn't say his dad's name for years

because it would just instantly bring him to do that. It brought me to tears listening to him say this. He had a passion for sports. He dreamed of becoming a professional athlete in Boston. But when his father was murdered, that changed. He decided to pursue a path of justice and honor instead. He wanted to become a criminal prosecutor so that he could make sure that his father's death was not in vain.

He wanted to ensure that those who commit such heinous crimes are brought to justice. In 2002, BJ was up for parole, but Zachary Ford was determined to keep him behind bars. It was the 20th anniversary of the murders of Joshua and Jeannie, and Zachary was going to make sure that justice was served. He attended the parole hearing, and he did everything he could to make sure that BJ remained behind bars. From testifying to speaking to the media, his efforts were successful, and BJ was denied parole. His next hearing is in 2030, but there's a chance that he'll be released before then.

Meanwhile, little Miss Erica will be eligible for parole next year. Zach still has his dad's dragon ring that Josh used to wear that he was wearing when he was murdered. And it's a daily reminder that his life has been changed forever. But he cherishes that ring. Whenever he needs a reminder of his father, he just holds onto it. And that keeps his memory alive. The tragic deaths of Joshua Ford and Jeannie Crutchley marked the end of two remarkable lives. Joshua helped anyone, regardless of their situation. And on that fateful night in May of 2002, Josh saw a couple in need on that bus.

And he decided to help them. Neither he nor Jeannie knew that these people had malicious intentions. Zachary even looks back on his wedding day with a heavy heart, knowing his father couldn't be present. It's difficult to bear that his father will never meet his children or his grandchildren, and he'll do everything in his power to ensure his father's legacy lives on. I know this has been a very long video. It highlights some of the most depraved hearts and minds. Senseless crimes committed for some sick pleasure.

I don't even like doing these kind of cases. I had an evil minds playlist and I stopped doing it after like three videos because it's a lot. All of these cases are evil, but there's a certain type of... of evil. That's all. That's all I have for you today. Thank you for watching. I'll see you in my next video. Bye.