Witnessed: Fade to Black - Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

Word spreads that Diane McIver was worth millions when she died.  And now, multiple parties come forward to claim stake to her fortune. Binge all episodes of Deadly Fortune, ad-free today by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge Crimes on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘subscribe’ or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access.  The Binge – feed your true crime obsession. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do you love stories about con artists and scammers people pretending to be someone they're not I'm Javier Leiva The host of pretend the podcast where I interview real con artists and uncover why they do what they do Like the family who claimed that they were being stalked only to find out that the messages were coming from their own house Yeah, they were the stalkers their own house. Yeah, they were the stalkers. It's ridiculous when I get death threats about him wanting to go and blow my husband's head off and then I get accused of having a split personality and maybe you're doing it and you don't realize it. That's ridiculous. Or the true crime author accused of harassing the very same victims that she was writing

about. I am being honest with you. I am not. Fetish master. I don't know what to say, but I am being completely honest with you. I don't know what's going on. These are real people with real stories. If you love podcasts with a good twist, subscribe to Pretend wherever you're listening to right now. Pretend. Stories about real people pretending to be someone else. now. Pretend. Stories about real people pretending to be someone else. listen, The Binge, feature true crime obsession. I would meet Billy at the Downwinds restaurant there at Peachtree DeKalb Airport. And if you didn't know it was Billy

Corey, you thought it was a poor homeless man sitting at the table hoping somebody would buy him a cheeseburger. But once you got to know him and to know Diane as well, you could see they were very talented at making money. Billy would make money with Democrats, Republicans, independents. It didn't matter. This is J. Tom Morgan, who knew most of the circle of players in this story and who has his own strong opinions on how this

all played out. I met Billy Corey when I worked for a law firm in Atlanta and he was one of our clients and that's how I got to know Diane as well. I'm a professor here at Western Carolina University where I teach criminal law, criminal procedure and legal ethics to students. J Tom was there for the trial, watching each move by both sides like a hawk. And I sat through a good bit of the trial just as a curious observer, not for any particular person. The whole story, both sides, didn't make sense. The prosecution theory and the defense theory. Again, having known Diane,

and I didn't know Tetz, but I knew a lot of people who knew Tetz, their relationship, you know, seemed okay. Though when they bought their piece of property that, you know, in middle Georgia that Tetz liked to call a ranch, most of us from Georgia would call it a farm, but you know, Diane made sure that Tetz liked to call a ranch. Most of us from Georgia would call it a farm. But Diane made sure that Tetz gave her a promissory note for his part. That's not your typical marriage arrangement. I think it goes back to that Diane was the one who had the business sense. They did not have any children.

Tetz had children from a previous marriage. So I think Diane wanted to be careful with her assets, to be honest. I think Diane would take business over a marriage any day. If you were in Atlanta during the trial, you saw the reports each and every night on the local news. The fact that Tess, a prominent lawyer, had done this at all was shocking. But how it all played out in court was different than anything most of us had seen before, including Jay Tom. It is bizarre both from the legal, criminal, and the civil as well. So I was not terribly surprised to see that Tex MacGyver was found guilty of murder and

felony murder. Certainly felony murder. Eventually, the judge gets reversed not on the sufficiency of the evidence, but for the jury charge. The Supreme Court said he should have given a lesser included charge. Well, the jury is found guilty of the most serious charge and felony murder. Two very serious charges. In Jay Tom's opinion,

it didn't have to turn out this way. Well, I think this is really sloppiness on both the prosecutor and the judge in this case. As I tell prosecutors, and I tell my students, is that if the defense asks for a lesser charge, give it to them. Let the jury hear everything, because if they're going to be found guilty of a lesser charge, they're guilty of a lesser charge. In this case, I am 100% believe that had the judge given a lesser charge, he still would have been found guilty of murder and felony murder.

It would not have made a difference, but it was a mistake. It was a mistake that didn't need to be made. The Supreme Court decision to overturn Texas' original murder conviction does not sit well with Jay Tom. I think the Supreme Court was second-guessing the jury here. And the Supreme Court did not see the case as much as I did. I think this was a good question for a jury. That's why we have juries.

Jurors decide issues of fact and law. And these 12 people, hearing all the facts, decided that he was guilty of murder. Is it something the Supreme Court shouldn't have reversed? I don't think in this case, I think the lesser charge failure to give it should have been a harmless error instead of a reversal. And the saga continues to spin in new and strange directions as questions arise as to who should receive Diane's fortune from both the insurance settlement and the additional assets she had that no one was

discussing, publicly at least. So here we go again and then now we end up with this civil case that is in the plea, the judge directs that part of the settlement go to the son of another Superior Court judge who is not an heir in this case, who doesn't have a fight in this case. That is where things really seem to go off the rails of common sense that we have a plea agreement between a prosecutor, a defense attorney, and a judge, taste all three. And part of that plea agreement is that the money from the wrongful death suit, not the rest of the estate, and

again the public doesn't know there's a few million in the rest of the state, all we know is that the proceeds from the wrongful death suit are going to this third party who has not filed a lawsuit. It's just we all agree that this third party somehow should get what, 1.5 million and go, how? So it's the craziest case I've ever seen in Georgia history. From Sony Music Entertainment and Waveland Road, You're listening to Deadly Fortune. This is episode 7, Extended Family. Oh Lord, she would not be happy. She would have a lot to say about it.

All of our ears would be burning if she had a chance to say her peace. And thank God she's in heaven and not having to worry about this. But yeah, she would not be happy. Through all of this, there's one thing Danny Jo does believe. Diane would have wanted Austin to have money, yes. Diane crossed all of her eyes and dotted all of her T's and she knew where every quarter of a penny was. So I don't know if not having anybody look at, I mean, with Craig and she would want it looked after to make sure that things happen like she thought they should.

J-Tom Morgan has a lot to say about how those close to Diane should have been told what was going on with the proceeds from her estate after she passed. I agree with Billy 100% because this plea deal took everybody involved. And you're not just sitting there getting 1.5 million without knowing what's going on. The Schwalz were friends with both Diane and Tetz, but you and I have a lot of friends that we're not going to get $1.5 million to for this deal to go through, and the judge gave his approval. Now, there's, I know Judge McBurney, I think he's extremely highly ethical, but at the

same time, you know, as I teach my students in ethics, the appearance of a conflict can be just as powerful as a real conflict. So for a judge to give his blessings to a plea deal that gives 1.5 million to the son of another Superior Court judge, we need to bring somebody else in. The Schwalls claims that the MacIvers wanted Austin to receive Diane's inheritance was not news. In fact, in March of 2018, Anne Schwall testified at Texas trial about Diane and Texas' wishes for Austin to have the ranch. Now, can you tell the jurors, with respect to the ranch ranch did Diana McIver ever tell you what she

wanted to do with the ranch when she died? Yes she she did tell me that she wanted Austin to have the ranch. Do you remember when she told you that? It was a time for entry? I don't know the exact year. It was a while ago. Austin was younger. It was not recent. And what did Diane say to you with respect to wanting Austin to have the ranch? She told me that she wanted Austin to have the ranch. She felt like this was a special place for them and she wanted Austin to have the ranch. She felt like this was a special place for them. And she wanted him to have it.

Can you tell the jury, after the death of Diane McGigar, did you have a conversation with the defendant about Diane's 2006 will? I did. Can you tell the jury jury what was the first time you would have had this conversation with him about Diane's 2006 will it was after her death think a couple of days a day a week a month it was a couple days after. Okay. And can you tell the jurors, what did you say to him about Diane's 2006 will? What did I say to him?

How did the conversation come up? It's probably a bad question. He told me that his biggest regret was that they did not get a chance to change their wills, update their wills. Think about this for a second. Austin Schwall, the godson to Tex and Diane McIver, was not named in Diane's will at the time of her passing.

Austin's parents, Craig and Anne Schwall, were also close to the MacGyvers, but they weren't blood relatives either. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a phone call audio and video of Anne, Craig and young Austin Schwal having a conversation with Tex MacGyver in prison before the start of his trial. In this audio, you can hear a young Austin talking to his DD Tex. Hey DD. I'm right here Austin, can you see me? I miss you a lot.

Well, I miss you. How you doing, Judge? Hang in there, you got a hearing on the 6th and the 8th. Yeah, they tell me the one on the 8th has been postponed because nobody's in town. But, um... My father's gonna be probate hearing. But you want to make sure it's not the next week, because that's when the boys will be gone with empty Europe.

Yeah. I just wanted the Vaughn hearing, you're gonna have one on the 6th. Yes, sir. But I support you a thousand percent, okay? I know you are. I can use it. I'm ready to come home, sir. I'm ready. Hang in there.

We'll be here, okay? I will. Thanks for coming, Judge. That means a lot. I'm going to let you talk to Austin. Okay, sir. Thank you. Fast forward to the present day, and now the Schwalls are asking for Diane's money to go

to Austin because they believe that's what Diane would have wanted. Craig Schwall is a Georgia Superior Court judge, as is Judge Robert McBurney, who presided over Texas' original trial and his eventual plea deal being accepted. We asked Judge McBurney about this. So judges have a responsibility to recuse if they believe that either they would have trouble being impartial or there's a reasonable appearance of partiality. So I might be convinced that I could be perfectly neutral in some civil matter involving my sister.

But the appearance would be, look, one of the parties is your sister, how can the other side think they're getting a fair shake? So I had to recuse. I ought not to require one of the lawyers to say, judge, you should step off that. It is just as powerful a principle of law that judges should not recuse from situations that don't create that either sense of partiality, I'm gonna have trouble being neutral, or an appearance of partiality, I'm going to have trouble being neutral, or an appearance of partiality. And I didn't for a moment feel like I had any difficulty being neutral in this case because the case wasn't state versus Schwal. He wasn't being prosecuted. His child wasn't a victim in the case. The victim in the case was the defendant's wife who was also a friend of Craig Schwal.

Second, when the case was assigned to me, I was unaware of the depth and breadth of the connection. I knew that three or four of my colleagues knew Tex called him friend, had benefited from his influence and maybe getting their judgeship. But that was it. So I was already knee deep in the case before it came to light that Craig Schwal and his family at one point had been particularly close with the MacGyvers. It also came out during the trial that Craig Sr., the judge, wasn't so close by the time the dust settled. that Craig Sr., the judge, wasn't so close by the time the dust settled.

So I don't think it's correct to say consistently and universally it's been a close situation. I think that relationship became very different and quite strained after the divorce and different people lined up behind different walls. different people lined up behind different Schwalls. But it's also important to explain that while I didn't see an issue, none of the lawyers involved did either. It would have been perfectly appropriate for any of the many lawyers, for Mr. MacGyver, any of the many prosecutors who would speak with

one voice for the state to say, oops, now that we're seeing more these connections, what I call the Schwal family, we think, and it wouldn't be just McBurney, it would be no judge in Fulton County should hear this because we're all colleagues. And so we need to bring in a judge from a different jurisdiction. And that didn't come up. It didn't come up because I didn't flag it because I didn't see it as an issue. It didn't affect my assessment of evidentiary rulings or whatnot, or the guilt or innocence of the accused. And it didn't rise to any level of concern for the lawyers to say, let's bring in a different judge.

And I'll tell you, lawyers are not shy about doing that, especially if they feel like this isn't going well for us with this judge, because clearly his connection with X, Y, or Z, and so we need to get someone else. But it bears repeating, the case was not about the walls. It was, did Tex MacGyver, he admitted he shot his wife. Did he intentionally shoot his wife? And in the orbit of that was, look at all this money

and where's the money going? And maybe the money's not going to tax. And so that's a motive for him to shoot his wife. It's really the Schwal connection to the first trial. Hi, everyone. This is Jonathan Van Ness. Clean water, fresh air, our health. Electricity, honey.

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Freedom without favor and equality without exception. Learn more and get involved at au.org slash curious. How does a guy working for a fire department go out and snuff out a fucking mobster in front of 300 people and go home the next morning and feel good about himself? Well, you got to understand this people. All you civilians out there. These people are evil garbage. The world is a better place without them.

You have no idea what these people have done and will continue to fucking do, not unless their lives are snatched from them. So, did I feel bad? No, not one fucking bit. It was just a normal fucking kill. That's all. Because I really believe I did the world a favor.

I don't know what else to fucking tell you. And if you can't live with that, grill the fuck up. Welcome to Crook County, available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's possible that Austin Schwal's receipt of Diane's fortune might be a more straightforward exercise if it wasn't for a slew of Diane's cousins coming forward once word got out about the money. As we now know, they're Diane's heirs who are getting ready to file a lawsuit under our

Georgia Slayer statute. We've got a defendant in a criminal case who may or may not be entitled to even have access to this money, directing that this money go to this third party. To the possible surprise of everyone, on May 20, 2024, Mary Margaret Oliver, the state-appointed estate executor for Diane McIver, files a lawsuit into Cabb County challenging the distribution of Diane's wrongful death settlement and the remainder of her estate even though she apparently condoned it as part of Texas plea deal. Lead prosecutor Adam Abbate said Mary Margaret Oliver condoned the

condition of allowing Tex to direct the insurance settlement money to his godson's. Should he have done that? Mary Margaret is a tremendous trust in the state's lawyer. I've known her for 40 years. I don't think she saw that the Slayer statute would come into play from these other persons. I can't second guess what Mary Margaret's doing. If I needed a trust in a state's lawyer, I would probably go to Mary Margaret. But at the same time, she is caught up too, I think, in this plea deal in a criminal case. Let's talk about that a little bit. As a veteran attorney who's seen it all, where should this money go?

What's the path for the 1.4 million? What's the path for the residual 3 million? That's where the Slayer statute kicks in. You should not inherit if you cause the death feloniously, according to George Law, which means murder, felony murder, and voluntary manslaughter. So any of those would stop you from inheriting. So we have a group of heirs out there. They may be distant heirs. They may not even know Diane.

That doesn't matter. They are entitled under George Law to be an heir of the estate if Tess McIver is feloniously guilty. How do you prove that? One is a criminal case, as was done in this case. The second is a civil case. Those heirs have the right to sue, and everybody knew that they were out there. And so they should have been brought in, in this criminal case, but they weren't.

And Oliver's filing notifies nearly two dozen of Diane MacGyver's first cousins that as blood relatives, they have a right to stake a claim to Diane's estate. Remember, our circle was surprised by the turn of events that happened with this money. But imagine what blood relatives thought when they were not notified as to Texas upcoming plea deal and therefore had no say in the disbursement

of the wrongful death funds that were OK'd at Tex McIver's plea deal January 26, 2024. Things, it seems, are now only getting messier as the news starts to travel. My name is Francis Carl Schenck, and my last name is spelled S-C-H-E-N-C-K. She has 21 first cousins. Frank's deceased wife Sandy and Diane were close cousins as kids.

They grew up together. They were the best friends for years before they got out of high school and then they kind of went separate ways. But then up to then, they were together all the time. Their mothers were sisters. Frank lives in Peachtree City, Georgia, about an hour outside of Atlanta, and is an attorney. And he's kept a sharp eye on these recent developments. It's my understanding that the money is still sitting in the account of an appointed administrator and it's not going to be distributed until

the question of his entitlement to it has been resolved. I certainly don't think he's entitled to any of it, but there are factual and legal questions that need to be resolved before that money can be distributed. As a moral issue, I certainly don't think he's entitled to a penny of it. What makes it so complicated is that he was found guilty of murder and they set that aside so everything went back to square one. And so the question that had been resolved by the finding that he was a murderer being set aside and then entering into a settlement, a plea bargain agreement that meant that the state didn't have to retry the case, did not resolve the civil issues that are still pending.

And that's the reason that the money shouldn't be distributed to anyone until the civil issues that are still pending. And that's the reason that the money shouldn't be distributed to anyone until the civil questions have been resolved. At the end of the day, who should get the proceeds? Tex, his god-sons, or the cousins? Well, the god-sons aren't entitled to it at all. They don't have a say. The only two options are Tex and the heirs, which are the first cousins in the case.

Tex can only get it if he's not barred by the Slayer Statute. The parties that entered into the plea bargain agreement can't do an end run around the Slayer Statute or try to avoid the Slayer Statute simply by him making some kind of an agreement as to what he did or didn't do. They're trying to give the money to, They can't give it to the godsons. If it's MacGyver's money, he can give it to the godsons, but in my mind, he doesn't have anything to give because he doesn't have any interest in the money,

at least at this point. Until that fact question has been resolved as to whether the Slayer Statute applies, he's not entitled to any of the money that's being held by the administrator of the estate. The prosecutor told Diane's loved ones that there was only about $70,000 left in the estate and it would be gobbled up by the attorneys. And today we know that it's at least $3 million, not including the settlement.

Is that just an oversight? Hardly. I don't see how that could possibly be an oversight. It appears to me that they were trying to rush something through behind the scenes in order to make this whole thing go away and put the money in Tex MacGyver's pocket so that he could pay his attorneys. The DA wouldn't have to try the case. The administrator could get the money out of her

escrow account and be done with the matter and then everybody would go home. But nobody said anything to the heirs about what do youth people think about this. I didn't even know that. I mean, I knew that Tex was the executor and that he couldn't do anything because the court appointed an administrator because of the Slayer statute. His attorneys were trying to get him out of jail and decided to enter into the plea bargain agreement.

That whole thing doesn't, in my mind, doesn't pass the Smelt Test. That whole plea bargain agreement and what they were trying to do there without some of the interested parties. I don't even know if Mary Margaret Oliver was involved in it. And she's the one that was holding out of the money at the behest of the state. So, what is Frank Schink looking for in this case? Well, I want the matter to be resolved in accordance with the laws of the state of Georgia. Either Texas is entitled to it because they find that the Slayer statute doesn't apply,

which reinstates him as the executor, which gives her at least the residual of the estate. But the separate issue still remains in my mind as to who's entitled to the proceeds of the wrongful death action, because it involved the heirs suing him as the wrongdoer, as the cause of her death. And so to say that he can now step into the shoes of the heirs and take the money that they won because he killed her doesn't make sense to me. I mean, as I told you, I don't see

how anybody could conclude from everything that I know that he didn't pull the trigger on purpose. After our interview, Frank has temporarily withdrawn from the Mary Margaret Oliver suit without prejudice pending the outcome of the judge's decision. Let me take a minute to put all of this into perspective. The man who killed his wife is now in line to not only inherit her $3 million estate, but also the $1.4 million insurance settlement his dead wife's estate won against him. And according to Diane's cousins, in order to make it smell better,

he stands up in court and announces he's directing that tax-free insurance money to the sons of a superior court judge who happens to be a friend and colleague of the judge who is agreeing to make this all happen. If the phrase you can't make this stuff up doesn't apply here, I don't know when it ever would. From the team that brought you Up and Vanished comes an all new podcast that brings you a weekly dose of true crime cases. She's in an unknown area. Do you know if she's here now or was she released?

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Register by March 15th. Additional terms apply. Learn more at Wealthsimple.com slash match. In an effort to add clarity to the situation, Judge McBurney shared what he did and did not know during the plea agreement from conversations with the prosecution and defense. In any negotiated plea, the agreement is between the two sides, state and defendant, and however many lawyers are involved. They then present a proposal to the judge who can accept it, reject it, modify it.

It may be that a defendant is allowed to withdraw his plea if the judge rejects what has been negotiated. But the important thing to keep in mind is that the agreement is not with the judge, is not binding on the judge, but the judge is limited in knowing whatever is included in that agreement. In terms of keeping members of Diane McGivers' family apprised of how this would unfold,

that responsibility falls on the district attorney's office. What was relayed to me when this plea was presented was that Mr. MacGyver would be pleading guilty to certain crimes, reduce crimes, and would be agreeing to a certain number of years to serve with credit for time served, but that number was greater than the time he had already served. So he would remain in custody. And that there were certain financial resolutions that, um, the insurance settlement would go one way and that the residual of Diane McGyver's estate,

which was represented to me to be under $100,000 would also be distributed in a certain way, but it, because it was so small, it was effectively legal fees. That's what I heard. I heard, was presented with no objections from any family members. In fact, I don't know that it was ever introduced ever to a family member. Mr. Corey, I got to know quite well,

and other members of what I'll call the Corey family. So these would have been work colleagues of Ms. MacGyver. But I don't believe I was ever introduced to a blood relative of Ms. MacGyver. If that should have happened, that would have been the state's obligation to say, here's a cousin, here's an uncle, here's a whatever the relationship might be. But I wasn't presented with any of that input might be. But I wasn't presented with any of that input at the plea hearing. Should a man who pled guilty to taking her life, even though it was through recklessness, through the plea, but a jury found that it was intentional, the shooting was intentional, benefit in any way financially? And that's how I'd cast it more as benefiting as opposed to maybe actually

some of that money was his, I don't know that he should lose his money. I think everyone would agree. You shouldn't benefit. You shouldn't be able to write a book or make money off a podcast because you were involved in killing your wife. Um, that's not how this plea was structured as it was presented to me. It was not a financially advantageous plea for Tex MacGyver. In my conversation with Tex's defense attorney from the trial, Don Samuel, I asked him about

how the plea agreement conditions evolved. Paul Howard told us that the original plea agreement restricted Tex from getting her estate, the one offered before trial. Yeah, the only offer we had before trial was that he would plead guilty to murder with a very reduced sentence, which is an odd feature of Georgia law. Because it was murder, you can't collect. That's the Slayer statute. Involuntary manslaughter, you can because it's not an intentional killing. Did you know that the state offered us five years back then? Yes.

A total of five years. What did Billy think about that? I'm curious. You know, I didn't think that was an unreasonable offer because I thought we were likely to get convicted of involuntary manslaughter, which could get you 10. The way it was... If I can just finish. The way that's a little bit complicated is the 10 years was probable, the five would not be. So it was a close call and tech said, no, I'm not pleading guilty to murder.

If the Slayer statute was removed by statute, then how did the court have the authority to accept Mr. MacGyver waiving the 2.5 million insurance settlement? Well, that's different than that. As I said, there's more to this than I can explain, which is why we hired a lawyer to deal with the estate issues with two lawyers. And Mary Margaret Oliver is a very fine lawyer who I've known since the day I set foot in Georgia 50 years ago. And, you know, as I said, there's the life insurance prong, there's the wrongful death benefits, however much they were, there's the estate, there's the property, there's the jewelry and the furs that were sold.

All of those came under different provisions of law that governed what goes to the heirs and who are the heirs. So they're gonna be litigating that until Texas is in his grave. Texas already received $420,000. I have no idea. I have no idea. I'm not sure that's true. You may be right. I'll accept what you're telling me. But if you were just told that, I'd want to find out.

Ms. Oliver filed a... A declaratory judgment action? Yes. And she said, we're going to acquiesce $420,000 of this. I don't know whether she did or not, but okay. I've seen the declaratory judgment action. So... Remember, we're not making up these numbers. Mary Margaret Oliver's filing shows the trail of money that is already flowing. It says in part, the partial distribution agreement contemplates the sum of $420,191.13

to be paid to Tex McGyver for the three items referenced above, condominium, wedding rings, and condominium personality. This in addition to the $323,000 of Dian's estate Tex had already spent before the state charged him with killing her, bringing the total to over $743,000. And this is while Tex is still in prison. What does Don Samuel think of Tex potentially becoming a millionaire when he gets out? I'm not sure he's becoming a millionaire. I mean, no, I think that's an odd way to phrase

it. She died as a result of an accident. He was negligent. You know, the fact that he recovers the real estate that they own together, that he collects that, that there was life insurance that has to pay. You know, I guess, you know, what he wanted to do? He should tell the life insurance company, give it to charity, give it to Billy Corey. You want the money? I mean, what do you do with a life insurance policy where you're the beneficiary? Tell the life insurance company, give it to an orphanage in Ethiopia. It is an odd situation. Yeah, I mean, I think that's unfair.

I don't know, if you posed it to him, he'd probably say, the only thing that matters to me is I've lost my wife. You know, so. Don, you've had a lot of cases under your belt. Is this the strangest one? Well, there's different kinds, but this is certainly one that I will remember forever. And I doubt my epitaph will have the names of cases, but if it did, this would be one of them.

And maybe a tragedy all around? Yeah, but that's not often. That's often the case. It's often the case. Whether it's a, you know, a murder case or even, you know, vehicle homicide cases are unbelievably tragic. It's likely that no one would have ever known how much money was involved in this had Ken Rickert not been the trustee of Dianne's estate. No one would have ever known how much was left in the pot.

I don't know. So it's not, that was not my job. My job was to get, you know, a disposition. I consulted with those lawyers. I said, you know, if we plead the involuntary, is that going to, you know, have an impact on the money? And they said, no, that's not going to impact it. But that wasn't...I told Tex a long time ago, if we can get the prosecution to give you involuntary, to sentence you to involuntary. And that wasn't any deception on the part of Adam Abadi.

If that sounds confusing, we agree. We've interviewed multiple people about this story, and each has a different version of the events. I mean, this was meeting with Fonny Willis. This was not some secret deal done, you know, in the closet with Adam. Fonny Willis spent a long time talking to us repeatedly. Me and my partner, Amanda Clark Palmer, met with Fonny repeatedly to talk about, you know, this case and the prosecution laid out to her.

She became our jury as to what the settlement would be. And I know she met with Billy too. So maybe Billy was unhappy with her. But you know, it is a case that's odd, you know? Yeah. Odd maybe is an understatement. Next time on Deadly Fortune. I mean it was hell waiting on the school bus to come home and tell him. He was 10. To your knowledge, did Judge Swall and Tex ever discuss this insurance settlement and

the remaining money in the estate? I enjoy the conflict. So I'm in a solitary cell and it gets a little lonely sometimes. Look at you now, you son of a bitch. Unlock all episodes of Deadly Fortune ad-free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Not only will you immediately unlock all episodes of this show, but you'll get binge access to an entire network of other great true crime and investigative podcasts, all ad-free. Plus on the first of every month, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series. That's all episodes, all at once.

Search for The Binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on Apple? to get access wherever you listen. Deadly Fortune is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and Waveland Road. I'm your host and reporter, Dale Cardwell. Jason Hoke wrote and produced the series. Our associate producer is Marnie Zambri. Production support provided by Tim Millard, audio engineering by Shane Freeman. The original score for Deadly Fortune is by Thomas Avery.

Jason Hoke is the executive producer on behalf of Waveland Road. Executive producers for Sony Music Entertainment are Jonathan Hirsch and Catherine St. Louis. If you love the show, tell your friends and don't forget to leave a review. Thanks for listening. you