Episode list

When Ashley Laney fell for bodybuilder Tracey Humphrey, she knew he had a past. But when she decided to eliminate that past, things got ugly.

Larissa Schuster was a successful business woman whose divorce from her husband Timothy lead to a horrific end for him - dissolved in acid.

Cindy Sommer's relationship with her husband was a happy one. But three years after they wed, Todd collapsed and died. Was he poisoned?

Beautiful 33-year-old Mechele Linehan appeared to be the perfect wife and mother. She and husband Colin met as college students and married in 1998. The couple eventually settled down with their daughter in Olympia, Washington, where Colin practiced medicine and Mechele got her Master's degree in public administration. Mechele was a model of the suburban supermom: active in her daughter's PTA, teaching Sunday school, and volunteering at a rape crisis center. Her friends and neighbors were shocked when, in October of 2006, she was arrested, along with a man named John Carlin, for the 1996 murder of Kent Leppink near Anchorage, Alaska. They were even more shocked when court papers revealed that, in 1996, Mechele had danced at an Anchorage strip joint. It was there that she had met both Leppink and Carlin. She also became engaged to both men - at the same time. When Leppink was found shot to death, Mechele became a suspect. Although police found plenty of motive - Mechele had taken out a $1 million life insurance policy on Leppink just months before his death - they didn't have enough evidence to charge her with the crime. Shortly after the murder, Mechele moved to New Orleans, where she met her husband, and started a new life. But, the Alaska police didn't drop the investigation. In 2004, when a new cold case unit was formed, investigators took a fresh look at Leppink's murder. A break came in 2005, when investigators tracked down Carlin's son, who said he had seen his dad and Mechele cleaning off a gun around the time of the murder. Carlin went to trial in March 2007 and was found guilty. Eight months later, a jury also convicted Mechele of first- degree murder. Both were sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Beth Ann Carpenter was a classic overachiever. Brainy and self-assured, she got a degree in international law at a prestigious college in Washington, D.C. Back home in Connecticut, she landed a job with Haiman Clein, a powerful real estate attorney in New London. Beth's younger sister Kim, on the other hand, had been married and divorced by the age of 20, and had a young daughter she frequently pawned off on her parents while she partied with her latest deadbeat boyfriend. In 1993, Kim married Anson "Buzz" Clinton, a hard-partying local who worked odd jobs, but had recently become a male stripper. Not surprisingly, the Carpenter family was opposed to Kim and Buzz's marriage, especially when they learned that the couple was living in a converted tool shed behind Buzz's parents' house. Beth Carpenter went to court on behalf of her mother to win custody of Kim's daughter, but was shocked when Buzz, acting as Kim's lawyer, won the case. A few weeks later, on March 10, 1994, Buzz was found shot to death on a remote stretch of road off I-95. At first, police thought the killing was part of a drug deal gone bad. But, when a tip led them to a notorious drug dealer, he claimed he was a hit man working for local attorney named Haiman Clein. He told cops that Clein had ordered the hit at the request of his lover and employee, Beth Carpenter. The cops went to question Clein and Beth, but both had split town. Eventually, authorities tracked down Beth in Ireland, she gave up Haiman's whereabouts. Haiman confessed to being involved in the murder, but cut a deal in exchange for his testimony against Beth. Beth was apprehended in Ireland in January of 1999 and extradited back home. She finally went to trial for Buzz's murder in February, 2002. The prosecution's star witnesses were Clein and the hitman, but the defense told the jury that, by their own admission, Clein was a cocaine and sex-addicted crook and the hitman a Satan-worshiping drug dealer - not exactly pillars of truth. The defense's star witness was Beth herself. She claimed that Clein had seduced her, and had set up the hit on Buzz to impress her. But the jury took one look at the overweight, middle-aged Clein and the redheaded beauty, and decided Beth was the one who had done the seducing. She was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

Growing up on the streets of Memphis, Monique Johnson possessed a no- nonsense toughness that made her a perfect fit for her job as a corrections officer. But her job performance wasn't the only thing that earned the 40-year-old single mom the admiration of her peers. In 2005, she started dating Memphis police officer Tony Hayes. Hayes, estranged from his third wife, was known as a ladies' man, a reputation that led to a rocky relationship with Monique. In May of 2006, Hayes had even filed a police report accusing Monique, supposedly angry he'd gotten a phone call from another woman, of trashing his apartment and scratching obscenities on the hood of his car. But when Hayes disappeared that September, Monique seemed genuinely concerned, afraid her policeman lover had run afoul of some drug-dealer. Three days after Hayes disappeared, it was Monique who handed police a breakthrough - she led them to Tony's body, stuffed in the trunk of his white Lexus in a Memphis parking lot. Monique admitted she'd shot him, but claimed she'd been defending herself from an abusive boyfriend. But, as investigators looked deeper into Monique's background, they uncovered a history of troubled relationships. Charged with first-degree murder, at trial she claimed that, on the day of the murder, she'd confronted Tony about another woman. They'd started arguing and he attacked her, backing her into a closet. She'd grabbed a gun kept there and shot him. Prosecutors argued that it wasn't self-defense, because, of 6 shots she fired, four hit him in the back. The jury was unconvinced, however, setting aside first-degree charges and finding Monique guilty of reckless homicide. After sentencing, with credit for time served awaiting trial, she walked away with only probation, but in June 2008, Monique was arrested for violating the terms of her probation. She will be released in May 2009.

In 1984, Susan Grund had finally made good. With three failed marriages and a baby on the way, Susan had met and married a fellow native of Peru, Indiana: prosecutor turned defense attorney, James Grund. The 34-year old blond was Jimmy's second wife, and, as wife of the prominent attorney, she now hobnobbed with the town's social elite -- a far cry from the country upbringing of her childhood. Then, after dark on August 3, 1992, Susan called 911, claiming she had just returned home and found Jimmy on the sofa, with a drop of blood coming from his mouth. He was dead by the time police and EMTs arrived. Detectives found no sign of forced entry, and turned their investigation toward family members after the autopsy showed Jimmy was killed by a 9mm pistol - the same kind of gun that had been stolen from his 18-year-old son David's home a month earlier. Jimmy's will had also been amended just three weeks earlier to include Susan's son, Jacob. David, Susan's stepson, told investigators that he'd shown Susan where he hid the gun when she dropped off the permit to his house. Susan's sister, Darlene, came forward less than a month after Jimmy's death, claiming that Susan had confessed to the murder. Police set up a wire-tap to try to get her confession recorded, but it failed. But then, the forensics lab came back with results proving it had in fact been David's gun that had killed Jimmy. Susan was arrested for her husband's murder. About a month before the trial started, Nellie Sanders, Susan's mother, contacted police to report a suspicious tub of hers that someone had filled with cement. Underneath, was the 9mm that was used to kill Jim Grund. At the trial, prosecutors claimed Susan killed Jimmy to gain access to his estate, and that all the evidence pointed in her direction. Susan testified in her own defense, and told the jury that she had found the gun at the scene and picked it up. When she realized it had her fingerprints on it, she panicked and hid it. But the widow Grund had more surprises in store for the town of Peru. Susan testified that she was having an affair - with David Grund. She argued that he had killed his father out of jealousy. David denied having a relationship with his stepmother. The jurors, apparently, had their doubts. They deadlocked and Susan was released. Two years later, Susan once again stood trial for the murder of her husband. At the second trial, Susan's lawyers advised her not to testify about the alleged affair with her stepson. The strategy turned out to be a mistake. The second jury found her guilty. She was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

When Frank Black went missing, business rival Alan Mackerley and Lisa Costello were behind the grisly truth. Did they get away with it?

In the early morning hours of June 6, 2001, 36-year-old casino employee Vol Dooley slipped out the back door of a Shreveport nightclub; it would be the last time he was seen alive in public. The son of a popular former parish sheriff, Vol was trying to avoid trouble with his estranged wife Jocelyn, who had been following him from club to club all evening. After four years and two kids, the Dooleys' marriage was a signature away from being dissolved, but 31-year-old Jocelyn couldn't seem to let Vol go. Their divorce should have been finalized a year earlier, but Jocelyn kept missing the court dates. That didn't stop her from getting a new boyfriend, a local bartender named Jeff Kosden. In fact, the day before Vol's disappearance, she and Kosden applied for a marriage license. And Jocelyn didn't seem to miss Vol after his disappearance - it was his family who reported him missing. Tracing Vol's last movements, police quickly discovered that Jocelyn was one of the last people to see and speak to him. When she was questioned, Jocelyn didn't deny it, and she even volunteered that she had tried to call him on her cell after leaving the club, but couldn't reach him. Detectives discovered Vol's truck in a neighboring parish, but found no trace of the missing man. The first break in the case came two weeks later, when one of Jocelyn's friends confessed that she had helped Jocelyn and Kosden get rid of Vol's body. The friend then led police to the burial site. Both Jocelyn and Kosden were arrested on second-degree murder charges, but when Kosden heard that Jocelyn had met another man, he agreed to testify against her in exchange for a lesser charge. At Jocelyn's trial, both her friend and former fiancé testified against her, describing in detail how she had called them in the wee hours of the morning, claiming she had shot Vol and needed their help. Jocelyn's defense claimed the friend was mentally ill, and Kosden was only testifying to get himself off the hook. Furthermore, according to the defense, forensic evidence pointed in another direction. A tissue with another woman's blood had been found at the crime scene. However, the prosecution pointed out that the blood belonged to Vol's teenage daughter, who was with her mother the night Vol disappeared. They also pointed out that, according to cell phone records, Jocelyn had lied to police when she said she called Vol the night of his disappearance. When Jocelyn took the stand in her own defense, she told the jury that she was innocent, and that she and Vol were actually reconciling when he disappeared. The jurors didn't buy it - it took only two hours for them to return with a guilty verdict. Jocelyn was sentenced to life without parole, and an additional 40 years for obstruction of justice.

When stripper Renee Poole left her husband Brent to move in with a customer, the relationship didn't end there. Renee came back - with murderous plans.

Adopted as an infant, 17-year-old Nikki Reynolds had a normal, happy childhood: she was active in church and sang in her high school choir. But, according to her adoptive father, Robert Reynolds, things changed in the 10th grade when Nikki began dating Carlos Infante. Both her grades and her relationship with her adoptive parents deteriorated. So did her credibility when, in 1996, Nikki told her parents she'd been raped by a stranger. The Reynolds immediately reported the incident to police, who determined that the entire thing was a fabrication. Confronted with the findings, Nikki admitted she'd made the whole thing up because she feared she was pregnant. For the next several months, Nikki and Carlos' relationship continued on and off until, in May of 1997, the school guidance counselor contacted Billie Jean Reynolds, Nikki's adoptive mother, and told her the school was buzzing with rumors that Nikki was pregnant. Mrs. Reynolds scheduled an appointment with the school guidance counselor for the morning of May 15th. She'd miss the meeting. On the evening of May 14th, not long after her father had left for church, Nikki called 911 and told the dispatcher she'd just killed her mother. When the cops arrived, they found a trail of blood leading throughout the house and, at its end, Billie Jean dead from multiple stab wounds. Nikki told the police that, shortly after her father left for church, she'd taken a 14-inch butcher knife and attacked Billie Jean. The two then ran around the house, Nikki stabbing her mother repeatedly until she collapsed. Then, according to Nikki, she'd asked her dying mother for forgiveness. And, after Billie Jean forgave her, Nikki stabbed her one last time in the chest, ending her agony. Asked why she'd done it, Nikki told the police "she must have been crazy." She was booked on murder charges. At her first trial, jurors couldn't reach a verdict. At her second trial, the defense pled insanity, claiming that Nikki was too emotionally disturbed to have formed clear intent to commit murder. They also claimed Nikki inherited severe depression and psychological problems from her biological mother. Then, to back up the claim, they put Nikki's biological mother on the stand to testify in the defense of a daughter she'd never known. Prosecutors, in closing, contended that Nikki had plotted to kill both her parents, while the defense stressed Nikki's disturbed emotional state. In 1999, a second jury found Nikki guilty of 2nd degree murder. The judge sentenced her to 34 years in prison. She'll be eligible for parole in 2015.

When prisoner George Hyatte charmed his wife Jennifer, they turned into a small Southern town's Bonnie and Clyde - and she wound up in prison.

Rhonda Orr's neighbours tried to help her and her husband when a fire started - but this fire was no accident.

When Erin met struggling teenager Sean and took him under her tutelage, they began an affair that would lead to her husband's murder.

Shannon Torrez was desperate for a baby - so much so that she was willing to kill. But the mom she tried to slay survived - and Shannon's in jail.

When Monique Turenne's husband David was bludgeoned to death, she played the grieving widow. But behind the façade lurked her true intentions...

The honeymoon ended abruptly for Kelly and Michael Forbes in 2007, when he was found with ligature marks around his neck. But who was to blame?

Professional poker player Bill "The Manipulator” Gustafik's bluff was called when his wife Jill's actions took a murderous turn.

When police officer Wayne Irby didn't show up for work on December 10, 2004, a couple of fellow cops went to Wayne's home to check on him. Inside, they found Wayne lying dead in his hallway, shot in the head. And on the kitchen counter, they discovered a note from Wayne's girlfriend, Denise Miller. The note said, "I did it. I took our lives." But Denise was not lying dead alongside Wayne. In fact, she seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. The next day, the front desk at a hotel in another town received a call from a guest, saying she had fallen and needed help. When hotel workers opened the door, they found Denise inside, lying on the floor with two guns nearby. They immediately called police. The cops discovered that Denise had tried to shoot herself in the head. They also discovered a suicide note, in which she confessed to accidentally killing Wayne. Denise was rushed to a hospital, then arrested upon her release 38 days later. Investigators tried to figure out what prompted the shooting, but Denise, now paralyzed on one side, said she couldn't remember anything about what happened. Wayne's family and friends revealed said Denise was so jealous and possessive that Wayne had decided to end their relationship. At Denise's trial, the prosecutor told the jury this was a classic case of "If I can't have you, no one can." Jurors didn't hear from the wheelchair-bound Denise, since her attorneys said she still had amnesia about the day of the shooting. However, they pointed out that, in her notes, Denise may have admitted to shooting Wayne, but she also said it was accidental. And they said the very fact that she tried to commit suicide proved that she was remorseful. The jury didn't buy it. They found her guilty murder, and sentenced her to 62 years.

The British public was riveted when 27-year-old Tracie Andrews' made her television debut. On December 3, 1996, with a bruised and tear-stained face, she appeared at a news conference to describe a road rage attack on her fiancé, Lee Harvey, and herself two nights earlier. Tracie described how, as she and Lee were driving home from a local pub, a car came out of nowhere and started following them. When Lee pulled over on the dark country lane, so did the other driver. According to Tracie, a man got out of the other car and began stabbing Lee, punching Tracie when she tried to help. By the time police and emergency workers arrived, the other car was long gone and Lee was dead. Over the next week, police put up roadblocks, stopping over 600 cars and questioning friends, family and potential witnesses. Tracie gained even more sympathy when she was hospitalized after taking an overdose of sleeping pills. But, unbeknownst to the public, the sympathy of the investigators was turning to suspicion. A witness came forward who claimed he had seen Lee and Tracie's car on the road just prior to the murder, and that there was no car chasing them. Forensic evidence also seemed to contradict Tracie's account. On December 7, Tracie was arrested as she left the hospital and charged with murder. At her trial in July 1997, the jury heard that Lee and Tracie had a history of violent arguments, and that witnesses had heard them fighting earlier on the day Lee was killed. When Tracie took the stand, she adamantly denied killing Lee, and stuck by her road rage story. She didn't deny that she and Lee had a volatile relationship, but said they loved each other deeply. She described the ups and downs of the relationship, including an abortion during a breakup, and how Lee bought her breast implants to cheer her up once they reconciled. But the jury weren't impressed with her tears or her story. She was found guilty and sentenced to life, with the possibility of parole in 14 years. Two years after her conviction, she admitted she had stabbed Lee, but only after he attacked her. Recently, she has made trips outside of prison, to prepare her for her release in 2011.

On the evening of June 10, 2007, the tight-knit community of Darby, Montana, learned that craftsman and builder Bill Stout was dead. Bill's wife Anne said she came home from running errands and found her husband's bloodied and lifeless body in the couple's bed. When police arrived on the scene, they discovered Bill dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. Anne told investigators Bill had no enemies in Darby, but suggested that her husband was the target of a former lover turned stalker. The woman, Barbara Miller, lived in Arkansas. She and Bill had reunited at an old friend's wedding, and had a brief fling. But after Bill broke off the relationship, he received a barrage of threatening emails and letters with Barbara's signature. It looked like a tragic case of "Fatal Attraction." But as police continued to investigate, their sympathy for Anne turned to suspicion. They found a gun hidden in the saddlebag of Bill's motorcycle, and a rubber glove buried in a clothes hamper. Anne claimed she could never harm the father of her two sons, but the Ravalli County Sheriff's Office wasn't buying it. They arrested Anne, and charged her with her husband's murder. Friends and family rallied around Anne, who appeared to be a grief stricken widow. But prosecutors saw no sorrow in Anne's eyes. Instead, they uncovered evidence of a person consumed with rage over her husband's two-year-old affair with Barbara Miller. And, at trial in the summer of 2008, they presented a chilling case against Anne. There was the murder weapon: Bill's handgun that had been reported stolen just weeks before the killing. And, that wasn't all. The most damaging evidence showed that Anne tried to frame Bill's former mistress Barbara, creating phony emails and letters-and making phone calls from a local pay phone. It was starting to look like an open and shut case against Anne. But the defense argued, if Anne was clever enough to fabricate emails and letters, why did she leave a rubber glove with DNA evidence and the murder weapon at the scene? But jurors weren't swayed by the defense argument. Their verdict: guilty. Anne's case remains on appeal while she serves a life sentence in the Montana Women's Prison, with little chance of parole.

Rhonda Glover and Jimmy Joste met in 1989 and there was an immediate attraction between the two. Rhonda was a former beauty queen who had started her own staffing business. Jimmy, 15 years her senior, was a Texas trust fund baby who'd made millions in the oil industry. It wasn't long before the two began dating and moved in together. While the couple was raking in the money hand over fist, they were spending it almost as quickly. Together, the two were high society regulars in the Texas oil crowd. In 1994, the couple had a child together, yet they continued on their wild ride working their way through Jimmy's fortune. He bought her a house in Austin, and even once wrote her a check for $1 million to use for spending money. But, life wasn't quite the fairytale it appeared for the beauty queen and the oilman. Jimmy had a tendency toward violence when he drank, and Rhonda had erratic mood swings. Together their arguments were legendary, bringing in the police on more than a dozen occasions. But, by the end of 2003, the money was dwindling and the relationship was on the rocks. Even worse, the couple's regular fighting and occasional drug use led Rhonda's mom to seek and win custody of the couple's child. On July 26, 2004, Jimmy was found dead in their Austin home, shot 10 times. Police found casings from a Glock pistol scattered near his body. Had an oil deal gone bad? As police investigated all possibilities they learned about the tumultuous relationship between Jimmy and Rhonda, and discovered Rhonda had recently purchased a Glock 9mm Pistol: the same type of weapon used in the murder. However, when they sought out Rhonda for questioning, she was nowhere to be found. Over the next few days they traced her cell phone records to eventually find her and the couple's son in a rented RV in Kansas. Rhonda confessed to killing Jimmy, but insisted she had shot him in self-defense. When the case went to trial, the prosecution claimed that Rhonda had carefully planned and executed the murder, having grown sick of Jimmy after spending all his money, and planning to cash in on a lucrative insurance policy. Rhonda's defense, however, argued Rhonda had been a victim of abuse, and finally had fought back. The jury believed the prosecution. They found Rhonda guilty and sentenced her to 46 years in prison.

Karen and Lynne were best friends. But Karen's husband John was to pay a price for their friendship when he was killed by Karen, Lynne and another man.

The Duchess of York's former aide Jane Andrews killed her lover, millionaire businessman Tom Cressman, as he slept. What happened next?

The Flemings seemed like the perfect American family - until Chuck died and Diane recouped a healthy insurance payout. Did she do it?

A young widow blames depression, but was her husband's death more sinister than a suicide?

Elicia Hughes is suspected of shooting her husband, Brian, in their home in June 2004 after learning of his infidelity.

When Michelle Hall called 911, saying her husband had shot himself, it was quickly clear that her story was not credible.

When Joshua Mlllager received an unexpected phone call from police telling him there was a plot on his life, his doctor ex-wife Esther was to blame.

Stacey Castor's family had a habit of dying - until her daughter Ashley survived a 'suicide attempt' which was, in fact, attempted murder by Stacey.

When Keyon Pittman found his pregnant fiance Avis dead, the finger pointed at his lover, Carla. Did she do it, it or did he?

When Thad Reynolds was discovered dead, his close friend Scott was involved - but so was his wife, Michelle, who'd been having an affair with Scott.

When Martha Pineda's toyboy Ilya left her for a younger model, she took her revenge - and he wound up dead. What happened to her?

When Jim Cannon died, his ex-wife Kelley was immediately implicated. She was convicted of murder and handed a life sentence.

Shannon Crawley's affair with Jermeir Jackson Stroud ended tragically when she murdered his long term girlfriend, Denita.

When care owner Karen Grauber called 911 and admitted killing her husband, she said it was self defence. Was she telling the truth?

When Eric Goodridge's mutilated body was discovered, his daughter Brigitte was responsible - but what were the reasons behind her actions?