While on death row, Tim Hennis received an anonymous letter confessing to the murders. The note didn’t produce any leads. -CNN (July 17, 2014)
The star witness in Tim Hennis’ trial had doubts about whether Hennis committed the murders. -CNN (July 17, 2014)
A man tried three times for his life but is he a killer? Find out! Death Row Stories. -CNN (September 5, 2014)
The brutal murder of a U.S. Army wife and her two young daughters. One year later, a mountain of circumstantial evidence sent U.S. Army sergeant Timothy Hennis to death row for the crime, but the case later took a unique turn in legal history. -Timothy Hennis, Death Row Stories (S1,E7)
Victims:
Kathryn Eastburn, Cara Eastburn, and Erin Eastburn
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
SSgt Luis Walker, U.S. Air Force (Photo: Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News via AP)
Air Force SSgt. Luis Walker was a basic training instructor at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. After an investigation into allegations of improper relationships and abuse of power at the training facility in 2011, SSgt Walker was charged with sexual assault. One of his victims stated under sworn testimony that he had raped her. As a result of the court martial, he was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison as opposed to the original life sentence he was faced with. Shortly after the conviction, his wife spoke out publicly claiming that her husband was innocent and that he did not get a fair trial. SSgt Walker also echoed those sentiments when asked for a statement from the Air Force Times (see quote below). A few months later, one of the victims in the trial went public with her story. Virginia Messick shared that she was raped by SSgt Walker and that it was a harrowing experience. She also later reported that she was facing battles trying to get disability benefits for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from the Department of Veterans Affairs. SSgt Walker’s attempt to overturn the sexual assault conviction on appeal were eventually denied. It was only a few months later that he would be found dead in his cell at Fort Leavenworth from an apparent suicide.
“These setbacks have discouraged me and at times I have wanted to give up, but because of my family, I can not. I am a human being and an American, I deserve the right to a fair trial. There has been a lot of focus on the number of alleged victims in my case, instead of the charges against me, when in fact each charge should stand on its own.” -SSgt Luis Walker (USA Today, September 3, 2014)
Preview: The Ballad of Billi-Jo, True Crime with Aphrodite Jones (S4,E9)
On May 29, 2007, Billi Jo and Wayne Smallwood experienced a fire in their Fort Campbell, Kentucky home. They had three children living with them at the time of the fire: Sam, Rebekah, and Nevaeh. The neighbors ran outside to see what was going on only to find a chaotic scene. Wayne was on the ground with a broken ankle and Billi Jo was still on the roof attempting to escape the smoke and fire and screaming for help; she was holding her 14 month old Nevaeh. After passing the child down to firefighters, Billi Jo was reluctant to get off the roof because her other children were still in the home. Firefighters entered the burning home and found Rebekah but she was already dead and Sam was still alive when they carried him out of the house but he wasn’t stable enough to fly to the burn unit in Nashville. He died of his injuries at the local hospital. Billi Jo was airlifted to a Nashville hospital with second and third degree burns on her legs and one of her arms. Wayne arrived later in Nashville with a shattered ankle.
Before the fire, Wayne and Billi Jo had a pretty normal life. Wayne returned from his first deployment to Iraq nine months earlier. Like most military families, the Smallwood family struggled with their finances and the stresses of military life too. Both Billi Jo and Wayne had children from other relationships. Rebekah and Sam were Billi Jo’s kids and they stayed with her and Wayne’s son Cote lived with his mother. And just over a year before the fire, the couple had their own baby together: Nevaeh. Local authorities brought in federal authorities to investigate the burned out home. They found that one of the smoke detectors had been taken down and placed on a baby highchair. ATF also found a partly burned spout on a gasoline can. They brought in a working dog and the dog discovered an accelerant; the ATF believed gas had been used to start the fire and this was arson. They also found the Smallwood’s car had been vandalized, all the tires had been slashed, and someone left a threatening note keyed on the car.
Investigators interviewed Billi Jo and Wayne Smallwood in the hospital. Billi Jo told them earlier in the day they had driven back from Georgia after visiting Wayne’s family. On this day, Wayne was being especially nice to Sam which was atypical because he was usually pretty hard on him. According to Billi Jo, when they returned home, Wayne took the last of the cash and headed down to a bar on base to drink with his friends; the couple struggled financially. Billi Jo claims that while Wayne was gone, a man called the house threatening to harm Wayne. Billi Jo called the military police to report the threatening phone call, then she called Wayne at the bar. Instead of rushing home to check on his family, Wayne stayed at the bar. The MP’s checked in with Billi Jo but they told her soldier’s quite often played pranks on one another. Eventually, Billi Jo fell asleep with Nevaeh and Wayne fell asleep with Rebekah. When Billi Jo realized the house was on fire, she grabbed Nevaeh so they could get to safety yet Wayne jumped from the second story floor without any of the children.
ATF Agents interviewed the Smallwood’s small circle of family and friends to see if they could find anyone who had a reason to commit this crime. They learned that Wayne was embroiled in a contentious custody battle with his ex-wife. According to Billi Jo, Wayne had recently met with his ex-wife about their son and it lead to an argument; the two fought often. In the meantime, arson investigators determined that because all the locks were engaged downstairs, someone from inside the house had to have started the fire. Agents scrutinized both Billi Jo and Wayne looking for any inconsistencies. Billi Jo told them she went to Wal-Mart earlier in the evening to pick up some items for the baby but when they checked surveillance footage, there was no sign of Billi Jo at the Wal-Mart. When investigators questioned her about the inconsistency, she told them that it was a K-Mart, not Wal-Mart. The second time Billi Jo told the investigators what she bought, it included a gas can. This was a disturbing revelation but Billi Jo’s explanation was simple: military members are fined if they don’t mow the grass.
Billi Jo Smallwood
Samuel Fagan (9)
Rebekah Smallwood (2)
Prosecutors wanted to prove that Billi Jo torched her home on base in an effort to kill her husband Wayne and collect the $400,000 life insurance pay-out. When constructing their arguments, they noted that the Smallwood’s already had a couple gas cans in the back yard therefore Billi Jo didn’t need to purchase another one. Billi Jo said she forgot to bring a gas can with her when she ran errands and it was easier to just buy another one. ATF Agents visited K-Mart and learned that BJ had in fact visited the store that day. They also learned that the the nozzle on the gas can she bought matched the one found in the fire. And although Billi Jo said she needed to mow the grass, it had not been mowed that day. Federal investigators suspected someone who lived in the house started the fire so they interviewed Wayne and gave him a polygraph; he passed. In a separate interview, Billi Jo admitted she saw blue flames and this was a moment of revelation for the investigators because you are only going to see blue flame when the fire is first lit.
Billi Jo and Wayne argued a lot and Billi Jo testified that Wayne had a violent side too. Billi Jo admitted to confronting Wayne numerous times about his inability to manage money; Wayne’s gambling caused problems too. Investigators theorized Billi Jo had enough of Wayne and this was her motive. On the same night as the fire, the Smallwood’s were overdrawn on their bank account and Wayne had spent the last of their money on alcohol. If Wayne died in the fire, Billi Jo would receive $400,000. Hoping to find out who made the threatening phone calls, prosecutors subpoenaed the telephone records and found no threatening call had been made. Billi Jo says there was a phone call but the phone company said their records are almost 99% accurate. Prosecutors believe everything that comes out of Billi Jo’s mouth is a lie. Billi Jo’s injuries to the legs and one arm were also suspicious. They believed these burns were caused when a fire was ignited in front of her; they believe she was kneeling when she lit the fire.
In preparation for trial, the remains of the Smallwood’s home were removed and taken to a crime lab. It was at this time that forensic experts found overlooked evidence. They determined that the dining room window had been up about 6-8 inches at the time of the fire. This information damaged the prosecution’s theory to an extent because Billi-Jo believed a stranger entered the home and started the fire. The investigators believed either Wayne or Billi Jo started the fire because the house was locked up. Prosecutors moved forward with Billi Jo as their prime suspect because of her connection to a gas can and a financial motive to kill her husband. The prosecution took a look at the intruder theory and couldn’t understand how an adult got through the window and didn’t break or knock anything over. Investigators deduced it was highly unlikely that an intruder would enter the home and not alert the family dog.
Six months after the fire, Billi Jo reported that Wayne was acting erratically and in November 2007, he attacked Billi Jo with a knife. He was convicted of assault and spent eleven months in jail. Billi Jo and Nevaeh move to Georgia with her mother. Two weeks after Wayne was released from jail, Billi Jo was arrested for setting the fire that killed her two children Sam and Rebekah. Five years after the fire that killed Sam and Rebekah, Billi Jo went to trial. The prosecution claimed Billi Jo’s motive was to kill her husband for the life insurance money but the plan backfired and she accidentally killed two of her children. In court, the defense attacked the prosecution’s circumstantial evidence but the jury wasn’t buying it. Billi Jo Smallwood was found guilty and sentenced to twenty-five years in federal prison. Billi Jo’s mother believes she is innocent and that someone out there knows something.
Source: The Ballad of Billi-Jo, True Crime with Aphrodite Jones
Investigation Discovery:
ID Go: When a house fire takes the lives of Wayne and Billi Jo Smallwood’s two young children, everyone on the Fort Campbell military base is grief-stricken for them. But when it turns out the fire was intentionally set – grief turns to outrage. -The Ballad of Billi-Jo, True Crime with Aphrodite Jones (S4,E9)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch all of the Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. Download the ID Go app and binge away. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $2.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict.
The U.S. military is grappling with a disturbing trend—soldiers are killing themselves at an alarming rate. So far this year, an average of one soldier a day is committing suicide. The suicide rate is outpacing the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year by some 50-percent. -Fox 31 Denver
DENVER – The U.S. military is grappling with a disturbing trend—soldiers are killing themselves at an alarming rate. So far this year, an average of one soldier a day is committing suicide.
The suicide rate is outpacing the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year by some 50-percent. And there have been high-profile cases here in Colorado.
It’s gotten so bad, that the defense department has even set up a suicide prevention office. Soldiers we talk to say the reasons for their life-threatening depression are many.
Brittany Killgore, a civilian married to a man serving in the US Marine Corps, was initially reported missing on April 14, 2012 but was later found dead near Lake Skinner in California in 2012. Her husband was deployed at the time she went missing. They were stationed at Camp Pendleton and Brittany was in the process of getting a divorce and moving out of her home. On her last night at Camp Pendleton, another Marine named Sgt Louis Perez, offered to not only help her move but asked her to go out one last time before she left. Brittany was acquaintances with Perez, his live in girlfriend Dorothy Maraglino, and another woman named Jessica Lopez, who also lived at the residence of Maraglino.
After a lengthy investigation by civilian police in San Diego, it was determined that Louis Perez lured Brittany and eventually took her to his home where he and his girlfriend (Maraglino) lived. Perez, Maraglino, and Jessica Lopez all engaged in what is referred to as BDSM and they decided that Brittany would join them whether she wanted to or not. In the course of sexually abusing and torturing Brittany, Louis Perez strangled her to death. Maraglino and Perez decided that Jessica Lopez needed to take the fall for her death and they coerced Jessica into not only admitting to the murder but also to take her own life. She was found near death in a hotel room after a failed suicide attempt. In 2015, Perez, Maraglino, and Lopez were all sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The search for a young missing military wife takes NCIS agents into the dark world of master and slave role playing where they uncover the dual life of a Marine sergeant. -A Date with Evil, 48 Hours NCIS
Tonight’s episode of “48 Hours: NCIS” takes you inside the real-life investigation into a missing Marine wife. “A Date with Evil” follows an agent as he pursues the truth behind her disappearance. -48 Hours NCIS
When the battered corpse of a young woman turns up on the outskirts of Fallbrook, California, detectives unravel a secret world where dominance, sadomasochism, and manipulation reign. -Murder Among Friends, Investigation Discovery
Brittany Killgore’s mother’s first thought is always, “Brittany should have been here. Watch episodes of In Ice Cold Blood, only on Oxygen. -Oxygen Media (April 12, 2018)
Army Staff Sgt. William Wilson III, 27, was the victim of an insider attack perpetrated by a local Afghanistan policeman in Paktika province, Afghanistan on March 26, 2012. Staff Sgt. Wilson was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom on behalf of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade in Grafenwoehr, Germany. According to Department of Defense, “His death was originally reported by the International Security Assistance Force, which characterized it as the result of gunshot wounds inflicted by an alleged member of the Afghan Local Police. ”
According to early reports by media, Afghanistan citizens reported that on March 11, 2012 multiple US military members were involved in what is now referred to as The Kandahar Massacre. This was considered the worst war crime ever committed by a US soldier since Vietnam. First the media claimed that 17 then 16 Afghanistan civilians were murdered in their homes in the middle of the night. Shortly after military authorities learned of the murders, SSG Robert Bales was swiftly flown back to the United States despite protest by Afghanistan citizens who wanted him tried in Afghanistan. They wanted him to hang. The US Army transferred SSG Bales to Fort Leavenworth two days after arriving back in the US. They eventually charged SSG Bales with the murder of 16 Afghanistan civilians and announced that they were seeking the death penalty.
Prior to the courts martial, Bales lawyer negotiated with the prosecution and asked that they take the death penalty off the table in exchange for Bales pleading guilty to the crimes. It was accepted and Bales was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Since then the media has examined the court documents and deduced that the Army missed the warning signs. Bales was on his fourth deployment when this incident occurred. There were previous concerns about his mental health but no real follow up. Others noticed that his behavior was erratic. And Afghanistan officials were concerned that the Army was not monitoring their personnel and equipment. And after examining all the media accounts, one can’t help wonder if SSG Bales was a lone gunman or a scapegoat. In response to this case, the Army announced in 2015 they came up with a new plan to help soldiers with PTSD.
On January 13, 2012, Shannon O’Roark of Texas drove 250 miles to Missouri to kill her estranged husband’s mistress fourty-six year old Dr. Irina Puscariu. Shannon O’Roark Griffin was an aeronautical engineer who worked for NASA training astronauts until she experienced a seizure that put her on definite sick leave. Shannon’s husband was a Colonel in the Air Force who decided he wasn’t ready to retire. Shannon and Col. Roscoe Griffin had been living separately for quite some time and discussed divorce but it appeared Shannon did not want a divorce after twenty years of marriage. Meanwhile, Col. Griffin lost a fellow service member to suicide and it devastated him.
Col. Griffin began seeing Dr. Irina Puscariu, a Veterans Affairs psychiatrist, for help. The professional relationship evolved into a romantic relationship, which is strictly forbidden in the world of psychiatry. Dr. Puscariu put her own career at risk when she chose to date Col. Griffin. Shannon found out thru social media that her husband was seeing Dr. Puscariu when he posted a picture with Irina on Facebook. Col. Griffin also changed his relationship status to “it’s complicated” which to Shannon was rejection, and rejection was the trigger. Col. Roscoe Griffin had no idea what was in store for him when someone is dumped and dangerous.
Shannon may have felt like the post meant the last twenty years were horrible and now I am going to replace you. Shannon asked Col. Griffin to go to a counseling appointment with her one last time in an effort to save the relationship. It would be here she would learn her husband of twenty years loved Dr. Puscariu and wanted to continue to see her. After this counseling session is when Shannon decided to go to Missouri and kill Dr. Puscariu. She wanted to obliterate Dr. Puscariu from her life so the problem would go away. She drove 250 miles to Irina’ home in Missouri and shot and killed her four times in front of her own mother, the last shot was to her face.
Shannon then fled the scene back to Texas and was held in custody until she could be extradited back to Missouri for a murder charge. Shannon plead guilty to second degree murder to avoid a trial. She was sentenced to twenty years for second degree murder and twenty years for armed criminal action. Investigators noted that before this incident Shannon had zero criminal history or violent behavior, she didn’t even have a speeding ticket. But when she got rejected by her husband Col. Roscoe Griffin, it would be jealousy and revenge that would drive her to murder the woman who stole her life.
A woman charged in the slaying of a Gladstone psychiatrist will be coming back to Missouri to face first-degree murder charges. -KMBC 9 (January 17, 2012)
Shannon O’Roark-Griffin, charged in the slaying of a Gladstone doctor, returns to Missouri for the first time since her arrest last week. -KMBC 9 (January 19, 2012)
A former NASA training specialist from Texas allegedly drove to Missouri and gunned down her husbandâs mistress after he admitted in therapy that he was not willing to give up the affair. -HLN (December 3, 2012)
Investigation Discovery:
When their love life goes sour these Deadly Women take lethal revenge. They are “Dumped and Dangerous.” -Dumped and Dangerous, Deadly Women (S11,E13)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 