- This was a brutal personal attack.
- There was a large amount of blood
on the floor, on the bed and on walls.
- She was stabbed over 60 times.
Whoever was stabbing was having
a very personal grudge against her.
- NARRATOR: To solve the crime,
investigators must wade through a slew of suspects.
- We had an, an open relationship.
- NARRATOR: As investigators inch closer to the truth,
a calculating suspect will emerge.
- They're clearly have been researching
how to murder someone.
- *
- NARRATOR: Though it's less than an hour from busy Portland,
Gresham, Oregon manages to steer clear
of most big city problems.
- It's kind of a smaller town center
and then it gets rural, uh, to the east of it.
Gresham has always, you know, reminded me of,
uh, of a city that, you know,
wants to make clear they're not Portland, right?
They're, they're their own small city.
- It's affordable.
It's a working-class neighborhood.
A good place to grow up and be close to the big city,
but, you know, not deal with the problems
that might happen in other parts of Portland.
- NARRATOR: But in the early morning hours of June 10, 2016,
a call comes into 911 that shakes this quiet suburb.
- At about 2:59 in the morning
a woman called 911 from her living room
in her apartment in the City of Gresham.
- NARRATOR: The woman identifies herself
as 34-year-old Annastasia Hester.
- It doesn't surprise me that, based on the injuries,
the time of day and just shock alone,
that she's unable to identify her attacker.
- NARRATOR: As dispatch works to get help,
Annastasia grows weaker by the second.
- NARRATOR: Six minutes after Annastasia makes the call,
first responders arrive at her apartment on Eastman Parkway.
- The stab wounds ranged in depth of penetration
from about half an inch to about eight inches.
The knives pierced all of the vital organs.
We need to get this person to the hospital
if there's any chance of saving her life at all,
which is our number one priority.
- NARRATOR: As Annastasia is rushed to the closest hospital,
it's unclear whether she will survive the brutal attack.
- She was stabbed over 60 times.
Whoever was stabbing was having
a very personal grudge against her.
- NARRATOR: While Annastasia fights for her life,
detectives arrive at her apartment
and are immediately troubled by what they find.
- We had an indication that there was a child,
but the child had not a been accounted for.
That was a huge concern.
That became a main objective was to, you know,
find, find the child and figure out, uh,
if they were all right.
- We believed by looking at the crime scene,
we have a mom and a daughter that live here,
but there was no daughter.
The crime scene was a bloody mess.
Annastasia was transported to the hospital
with life-threatening, critical injuries.
And that was what was on the thoughts
of everybody's mind.
- NARRATOR: Born on October 26, 1981,
Annastasia Holmes, or Ann, as she was known to friends,
always valued family.
- Ann was raised by her mom and dad.
They did split when she was fairly young,
and then her dad passed when she was a teenager.
She always stayed very close with her mom
and stepdad and her brother.
She did a little bit of college after high school.
- NARRATOR: When Ann wasn't working towards her future,
she loved to hang out at a local game shop
in Gresham called Interzone.
- She loved sitting around with the family in the evening
and playing games.
- Ann did a lot of tabletop role-playing
and playing "Magic: The Gathering."
- NARRATOR: In 2006, Ann met fellow gaming enthusiast
Matt Hester.
- Annastasia and Matthew met through their mutual interest
in board games, in sort of that nerdy pursuits
that a lot of people around here enjoy.
- He would just lose himself in video games
and fantasy and playing Magic.
And it was, games were his life.
- NARRATOR: Ann and Matt began dating,
and in 2008, decided to take their relationship
to the next level.
- She really loved him.
She really did.
She had every intention of when they got married,
that they'd be together the rest of her life.
- NARRATOR: In November 2011, Ann's dream of having a family
was realized when she gave birth to a daughter.
- She had every intention of
being a stay-at-home mom and wife.
- NARRATOR: But after the birth of their daughter,
the couple struggled to connect.
In an attempt to save the marriage,
the two mutually agreed to a unique approach.
- Matt and her talked about opening their relationship.
- NARRATOR: But in order for this new "open" arrangement
to work, Ann had one rule: no sneaking around.
- They had an agreement that they would kinda communicate
back and forth to each other on what was going on,
and he started not to.
Ann found out that Matt had cheated on her at least once,
going outside those rules that they had set up.
And at that point, she started talking
about filing for divorce.
- NARRATOR: In 2012, the couple's four-year marriage
came to an end.
In order to provide for her daughter,
the now-single mom had to play both breadwinner
and caretaker.
- She worked at a call center in downtown Portland,
um, that did- they'd call on medical surveys.
- She mainly took the job at the call center
to be able to take care of her daughter.
They had a one-room apartment.
- Ann got full custody of her daughter.
And Matt had his scheduled weekends.
The one thing Ann did complain about Matt
was he was never good about paying his child support
because he kept constantly losing his job.
- NARRATOR: To help pay the bills, Matt took in a roommate:
single mother Angela McCraw and her three children.
- Matthew and Angela McCraw moved in together,
allegedly just as roommates.
But within a month, it was a romantic relationship.
- NARRATOR: In September 2014, Matt and Angela married.
His ex-wife, Ann, took the news in stride.
- Ann told me that after Matt and Angela got together,
that Matt was taking more of an interest
in what was going on with his daughter
and wanted more time with her.
- Ann really, really was hoping
that they could have at least a relationship
in such that they could communicate
and co-parent effectively.
- NARRATOR: But just two years later,
Ann is barely clinging to life
after being brutally stabbed inside her apartment.
- It was a large number of stabs.
EMS had transported her to the hospital
to try to save her life.
- NARRATOR: As detectives wait for word on Ann's condition,
they begin to process the bloody scene.
- It was readily apparent to us
that there's at least two people lived in this house.
Our victim, Annastasia, and then also the single bedroom
in this apartment was a child's room.
The initial responding officers and our sergeant,
uh, started making some phone calls
and trying to find this child.
- NARRATOR: Just as authorities launch a hunt
for the missing child, they receive some tragic news.
- I had been on scene about half an hour
and then my phone rang.
And it's the call that I hoped I wouldn't get, but I did.
And that was the call from the hospital
saying that Annastasia had died.
- Despite their best efforts, Annastasia was too far gone.
She had multiple perforations to her lungs, her internal organs
and the amount of blood on the walls and the carpet
put her in a situation that she could not survive.
- Now that we have a homicide investigation,
we've really stepped up our game
with the search for the child.
Where is the child at?
Do we have a murder and an abduction?
- NARRATOR: Coming up:
The truth of Ann's horrifying final moments
shocks this quiet community.
- There were lacerations down to the bone
in her hand and in her fingers
that told me she put up a fight.
- NARRATOR: And as the investigation begins,
detectives find a treasure trove of potential leads...
- NARRATOR: Detectives in Gresham, Oregon
are processing the scene of the brutal murder
of 34-year-old Annastasia "Ann" Hester.
But detectives fear Ann may not be their only victim...
- The fact that we had a young missing child
was, uh, was, uh, was concerning to all of us.
And, and so that was one of our first goals
was, you know, try to identify where this child is
and to make sure that the child is okay.
- We contacted our child services unit
and determined that the child has a biological father,
Matthew Hester, and he lives in Portland,
about ten miles or so away from where Annastasia lived.
- NARRATOR: Detectives immediately track down
Matt Hester.
- We were able to contact Matthew Hester
and determine that the child was with her father,
and this was a predetermined
child custody sharing arrangement.
- NARRATOR: Matt tells investigators
he had picked up his daughter from school
the day before and brought her back
to his home for their weekend together.
- It was his turn, uh, you know, for custody of the child.
He didn't know anything, you know, about what happened,
and he was cooperative.
- NARRATOR: Matt and Angela agree to come to the station
for an interview later that day.
- Matthew obviously is, is important to talk with
because, you know, he's the ex-spouse.
It's important to get his timeline.
It's important to get that information
to either clear him as a suspect
or to identify if he is a possible suspect.
- NARRATOR: Meanwhile, investigators
turn their attention back to the crime scene
and piece together a theory of events.
- You can't go into a homicide investigation
with tunnel vision.
You have to keep an open mind.
We had to look around and try to take a totality
of our evidence that we had and our circumstances
and what best fits.
- We had observed that the, uh, air conditioner
had been removed and, uh, and then from outside
we could see that a, uh, what looked like a, uh,
a cinderblock had been placed.
- It appeared to us that the killer
used a cinderblock to step up on,
slid the window open, climbed in,
and that was how they made their point of entry.
- So you basically had the living room area
where she had her bed.
You had the blood located around the bed area,
and then kind of at the entry area.
- Based on the blood spatter analysis
and evidence at the scene
that Annastasia was likely laying in her bed
when that first attack occurred.
It appears that Annastasia got out of bed
after the first attack, tried to make her way
to the front door, and was met by the killer.
At that point, there was a second area of attack.
We know that based on heavy blood saturation on the floor.
- NARRATOR: On the blood-stained carpet,
detectives spot three potential murder weapons.
- There were two butcher knives.
There was a pocketknife.
The two butcher knives that were found on the floor
actually came from a knife block
within the victim's kitchen.
- Blood makes knives slippery.
It's very, very common for the assailant
to also cut themselves during a knife attack.
So in my mind, we probably have at least two sources
of DNA in this room--
one from the perpetrator and one from the victim.
- The importance of finding the knives
is obviously to look for fingerprints
and any possible DNA.
- NARRATOR: The murder weapon isn't
the only thing at the scene
that might help investigators find Ann's killer.
- We were able to identify, um, a shoeprint.
Somebody had stepped in the blood
as they were walking in or out.
It became important because Ann was barefoot.
- NARRATOR: Detectives set out to speak with Ann's neighbors,
hoping someone saw something
and they are shocked at what they find.
- There were several witnesses that heard a woman screaming,
but nobody called 911 except for the victim herself.
The first screams were heard at around 11:15 PM.
And the 911 call came in at 2:59 AM.
And Annastasia said that her attacker had just left.
So we're looking at, you know, almost a four-hour timeframe
for this to be perpetrated on Annastasia.
- NARRATOR: While canvassing the neighborhood,
investigators also search for surveillance video.
- The best video that we found
was the neighbor that was east of the entrance
of the apartment complex there.
- NARRATOR: Investigators head back to the station
to turn the footage over for processing.
When they arrive, Matt and Angela Hester
are waiting for them.
- Both of them were cooperative.
I actually interviewed Matt, and another detective
interviewed Angela.
- NARRATOR: Matt tells police that on the night
of Ann's murder, he was at home with his wife, Angela.
- He watched some television.
Then he went to bed and wasn't contacted by anybody
until the next morning.
- NARRATOR: Matt says that he has no reason
to want to hurt Ann.
In fact, they barely spoke.
- NARRATOR: Matt tells police
he does occasionally hear curious rumors
about Ann through mutual friends.
- We learned that people who live in the community,
adults, every day, that dress up like pirates,
talk like pirates.
They build pirate ships, and they take 'em
to pirate conventions.
And Annastasia was a part of this world.
- NARRATOR: According to Matt,
the man isn't Ann's only partner.
- We talk about polyamorous relationships.
When it comes to pirates, that is not something
that is abnormal to them.
- NARRATOR: After Matt's interview,
investigators receive word that they may have footage
of the suspect's vehicle.
- We got very lucky in this case.
We found video that shows a Mazda SUV
coming and going from the victim's home.
- NARRATOR: The vehicle looks eerily familiar
to one in the station parking lot right now.
- Matt and Angela drove, uh, a Mazda SUV.
- NARRATOR: Detectives confront Matt with the new evidence.
- NARRATOR: Coming up:
Detectives up the pressure on their prime suspect.
- NARRATOR: But does someone else
hold the keys to solving this case?
- NARRATOR: Detectives investigating the murder
of 34-year-old Ann Hester have just discovered footage
of a familiar car outside her home on the night
of her brutal attack.
- They're not able to see who's inside the car.
They're not able to pull the license plate
off some of these blurry footage from a very dark night.
But it matched the description of Matthew and Angela's vehicle.
- NARRATOR: After getting shut down by Matt,
investigators turn to his wife, Angela McCraw-Hester,
who is candid about the couple's struggles with Ann.
- NARRATOR: Like Matt, Angela claims
that it couldn't be their car on the video.
- NARRATOR: Detectives shift gears and ask Angela
about her activities the night before.
- Angela said that she woke up
about 3:00 in the morning.
She, uh, went to let the dogs out.
- NARRATOR: After letting her dogs outside,
Angela says she began to feel ill.
- She actually said that she puked all over herself
because she had been sick.
And she says that Matt got out of bed,
and took a shower with her, and helped her get cleaned up,
and then brought her back to bed.
- NARRATOR: Investigators find it odd that Matt
hadn't mentioned this occurrence.
- You know, that is a pretty significant event
that Matt just didn't tell us in his story
when he relayed his events for the evening.
Matt saying he remained in bed the whole time.
Those were the inconsistencies that stuck out to me.
- NARRATOR: Despite the discrepancies,
investigators are forced to let Angela and Matt go.
- The video was enough to show us that
the vehicle departed.
Unfortunately, it didn't tell us who was in that car.
It's great evidence, but just not enough at that point.
- NARRATOR: Leaving no stone unturned,
investigators take a closer look
at the pirate roleplay community.
- We looked through Annastasia's phone call logs
and we found, uh, a friend of hers
living down in Springfield, I believe.
And we sent some detectives down there,
and it was there that we learned
that the lady in Springfield and her husband--
boyfriend at the time, I believe--
were partners of Annastasia's.
- I had a relationship with Ann.
We were dating, as in boyfriend and girlfriend,
but we were in what is known as a polyamorous relationship.
So, we had an open relationship.
She was also seeing my fiancée at the time,
which is my wife now.
The three of us were together.
- She was a woman I really expected
would become my wife one day.
We had every intention, the three of us,
of being life partners.
- NARRATOR: But investigators wonder
if the couple's relationship with Ann had taken a turn.
- They asked, of course, where I was at the time.
I told them I was in the hospital with-
there having knee surgery.
They asked if my wife could have done it,
due to the oddity of our relationship.
I told them, "No, we both loved Ann too much for that.
She was with me the whole night."
- NARRATOR: While Brianne and James
insist that no one in the pirate community
would hurt Ann, they know who might.
And the names are all too familiar to investigators.
- I brought up Matt and Angela
because they'd just gone through
a pretty bitter custody case.
The custody case between Matt and Ann
had only wrapped up maybe a couple months
before she was killed.
- NARRATOR: According to James and Brianne,
following Matt's marriage to Angela,
the newlyweds tried to get full custody
of Matt and Ann's daughter, sparking a months-long dispute.
- They filed for full custody,
claiming that Ann was an unfit mother.
- NARRATOR: In order to make a determination,
the judge ordered a caseworker
to perform independent evaluations
of the two households.
- They had a one-room apartment.
Ann set up the living room as a bedroom for her,
where her daughter had the full bedroom
with her toys and all of her stuff and that.
- She had sacrificed her own bedroom so that her daughter
could have somewhere safe to be at night.
That's not the case for, uh, Angela and Matthew.
They lived a very disorderly, chaotic, messy life.
Their house was not a safe space.
It was not well-maintained, unkempt you could say.
- Annastasia works full time.
And Matt and Angela are not employed.
- They figure out how to get by
on multiple different government assistance checks
and they just have no drive to do anything.
- Matt explained that his children
have different disabilities and get Social Security benefits
or payouts from the state.
So, he lives off of the proceeds
of his kids' disabilities.
- NARRATOR: According to James,
less than a month before Ann's murder,
the judge released his decision
granting Ann full custody, while allowing Matt
weekend visitation.
- With the custody dispute settled,
the court ordered Angela and Matthew
to pay Annastasia back child support,
now that Annastasia was going to have full custody
of her daughter.
- The court found that Matt owed $29,000
in lawyer's fees, and then an additional $13,000
in back owed child support.
- NARRATOR: The ruling did not sit well
with Matt and Angela.
- Angela and Matthew had no income
other than those government checks,
and those were only about $1500 a month.
There was really no way that they could pay off that money.
- NARRATOR: On June 16th, less than a week after Ann's death,
detectives get a phone call from a local insurance agent
that fuels their suspicions of Matt and Angela.
- The agent tells them that Matthew Hester
has just rung them up and asked a lot of questions
about Annastasia's $100,000 life insurance policy.
- He's already calling, trying to collect the money.
That was highly suspicious to me.
- NARRATOR: Coming up:
To nail a killer, investigators must rely on clues left behind.
- There were two profiles found on the knife block.
- NARRATOR: And a long wait pays off.
- These DNA results finally come back, and it's a surprise.
- NARRATOR: Less than a week after single mother
Ann Hester was stabbed over 60 times in her apartment,
all eyes are on her ex-husband, Matt.
- Matt lost custody of his daughter,
and Annastasia got custody of her daughter.
So, that upset Matt.
And all of that was kind of coming to a head
in the two weeks prior to this murder.
- NARRATOR: On June 22nd, 12 days after the murder,
detectives hear from the forensic scientist
tasked with identifying a bloody shoeprint
from the crime scene.
- We're able to identify pretty quickly
it's a size 9 1/2 women's Airwalk.
We contact the manufacturer.
They told us the shoe sole pattern
was used on an Airwalk Myra boot.
And I made some phone calls
and we found that our Clackamas County
Payless Shoe Store is the only ones
that distribute those shoes in the area.
- NARRATOR: Detectives immediately head to the store
and start combing through their purchase records,
looking for anyone with a possible connection to Ann.
- We checked their point-of-sale system,
for a pair of shoes that are size 9 1/2 Airwalks.
We get to one that were sold on November 8th
to a person using a credit card
at about 11:30 in the morning.
And when we ran the credit card records,
the credit card holder was Angela McCraw-Hester.
Our attention definitely shifted
more towards Angela as far as the actual person
inside the crime scene committing the murder.
- NARRATOR: Investigators begin taking a closer look
at Angela.
Twice divorced with three kids,
Angela had seen her fair share of tough times.
- I don't know much about my biological dad
or their relationship.
I just got told what she told me
and what I heard from other family members,
which was he wasn't a good person.
- NARRATOR: Angela found more stability
in her second marriage to Aaron McCraw in 2006.
- When we started dating, it was great.
We got pregnant with our son,
and we got pregnant with our other son.
And it was just the happiest time of her life.
- NARRATOR: But by 2012, Angela's marriage to Aaron
started to unravel when she began making odd claims
about her children.
- Angela was convinced that all of her children
were sick and had some sort of mental disorder.
- I don't remember much except her making me
see a counselor when I was younger.
She would basically tell him stuff
about how I was supposedly acting at home
that related to this disorder.
And she somehow got said doctor
to prescribe some kind of medication to handle it.
- NARRATOR: Based on Angela's stories,
her other children were also diagnosed
and prescribed medication.
- We had OCD, bipolar, autism and another bipolar.
That's what, uh, the divorce came to the fact that I wanted
to make sure my kids weren't getting poison
and drugs in their body that they didn't need.
- NARRATOR: Once she married Matt,
Angela became convinced that his daughter was bipolar,
a claim Ann fought and doctors dismissed.
- The caseworkers who were assigned to this custody dispute
were well aware that Angela was pathologizing
normal behavior.
- NARRATOR: Instead, Ann believed Angela and Matt
were using her daughter in a greedy scheme.
- Matt and Angela both claimed that their children
were diagnosed with different ailments
by doctors, and as a result,
received disability benefits from the state.
- NARRATOR: Though the behavior is suspicious,
detectives still don't have enough for an arrest warrant.
But they do have one last hope: DNA.
- We got to a point where we had tested
pretty much all of the evidence that we could test
and we're coming up with no results.
But it was about that time
that the Oregon State Police Crime Lab
got new technology and a new way of testing DNA.
All of this stuff takes weeks, months, sometimes years
to get the results back.
- NARRATOR: Finally, in August 2017,
over a year after Ann was murdered,
detectives get the news they've been waiting for.
- These DNA results finally come back, and it's a surprise.
- There were two profiles found on the knife block.
The most DNA evidence belonged
to the victim in this case, Annastasia.
The minor profile was female DNA.
And that source is Angela.
And Angela is responsible for murder.
- NARRATOR: On October 4, 2017,
investigators track down Angela and Matt.
- But Matthew doesn't go down willingly.
He's throwing up his elbows. He's saying, don't touch me.
Police have to cuff him, take him into custody
on a resisting arrest charge.
- NARRATOR: At the police station in Pocatello,
investigators are eager to find out
if Angela is ready to come clean.
- She's a whimpering mess
and can barely look these people in the eye.
- NARRATOR: Getting nowhere with Angela,
police turn their attention to Matt,
who now has a new story to tell.
- Matthew says that Angela hated Annastasia,
and that Angela talked all the time about Annastasia
being dead or someone killing her.
- NARRATOR: Matt claims he didn't believe Angela
would make good on her threats against Ann
until she returned home in the early morning hours
of June 10th, waking him from sleep
and asking for his help.
- He said that she was covered in blood,
and that she was panicked,
and that she wanted help from him.
He got in the shower with her,
and he helped her wash blood out of her hair.
He says that he never asked her what happened
or why she was injured.
- Eventually, they get him to admit
that he thinks she probably did kill Annastasia.
And they realize they have enough to charge Angela
with the murder of Annastasia.
But they don't have enough to charge Matthew.
- NARRATOR: Detectives need more evidence
in order to bring charges against Matt
and to make the charges against Angela
stand up in court.
- We issued a search warrant for all of Angela's,
uh, Google records.
And part of those records
are her Google Maps or Google Tracks,
which are essentially a breadcrumb trail
in Google as to everywhere she goes.
- NARRATOR: Investigators quickly notice some movement
out of the couple's normal routine
in the days surrounding the murder.
- Angela and Matt have the same activity,
kind of a routine.
They go to the school. They go to the store.
They go to McDonald's. They go to Taco Bell.
Uh, and that is pretty much a daily activity for them.
When we saw that Google Track
that went out to the Mount Hood National Forest
and then came back, it was an outlier.
It was unique.
We have to look into that.
- NARRATOR: Coming up:
Detectives strike gold in the Oregon woods.
They found a boot caught in a log jam across this creek.
- NARRATOR: And Angela faces a life-changing choice.
- I remember just telling her she needs to take the deal.
- NARRATOR: Over a year after Ann Hester
was stabbed to death inside her apartment,
police finally have Angela McCraw-Hester
in custody for the brutal slaying.
But they're eager to connect the victim's ex-husband,
Matt Hester, to the crime as well.
- We try to interview Matt a couple of times, uh,
about their roles.
Matt doesn't want to tell us the truth.
- NARRATOR: But a trace of the couple's phones
may be the key to connecting Matt
to the murder once and for all.
- About three days after the homicide,
they have a breadcrumb trail, or a Track,
that shoots about 35 miles out into
the Mount Hood National Forest.
That was not a pattern of behavior
that they had engaged in,
and that outlier was suspicious to us.
Detectives actually went out to that exact location
in the middle of the national forest.
And when they walked into the woods
about a hundred yards, the detectives found
a boot caught in a log jam across this creek.
The shoe tread pattern matched the shoe treads
from the crime scene.
It was an Airwalk Myra size 9 1/2--
the same as the shoes that Angela purchased
on November 8th.
- NARRATOR: Investigators seize the couple's computers
looking for further evidence tying them to the crime.
- Angela actually Googled how to make homemade chloroform.
- The Google search history from Angela
and Matthew is incriminating.
It turns up these wild searches,
basically, everything from switch blades
to chloroform to how to improvise a firearm.
They're--clearly have been researching
how to murder someone.
Matthew had been searching for everything having to do
with life insurance, custody,
and what happens after someone dies,
who gets the money.
- NARRATOR: On June 19, 2019,
Matt is arrested and charged with hindering prosecution
and conspiracy to commit murder.
- I, from day one, said Matt was involved.
The only thing in Ann's life that was volatile at all
was the situation with Matt.
- NARRATOR: In November 2020,
Angela's defense attorneys reveal
that she is ready to make a deal.
- I remember just telling her she needs to take the deal.
Telling her that there's already so much evidence against her.
- Angela never provided a narrative
as to what she did that night.
She just simply pled guilty in court.
- NARRATOR: Without a confession,
detectives must theorize what took place that fateful night.
- On June 9th at about 10:35, 10:36 PM,
Angela Hester left her house in East Portland
and drove to Annastasia's house in Gresham.
Angela went to the back of Annastasia's apartment,
uh, set a cinder block up against the wall,
removed the air conditioning unit,
slid open the rear slider window,
and stepped into Annastasia's daughter's bedroom.
From there, Angela went into the front living room.
Annastasia was lying in bed when Angela
started attacking her with a pocket knife.
- From about 11:15 PM 'til about 3:00 AM,
something very, very violent
and tragic occurred inside that apartment.
The victim was absolutely tortured
during those three hours.
- NARRATOR: Investigators say the pocket knife
was enough to incapacitate Ann, but not to kill her.
- Angela discarded the pocket knife alongside the bed.
Angela went into the kitchen area,
to the knife block, where she selected two knives.
She returned into the living room
to find Annastasia trying to escape the house
and make her way towards the front door.
A second attack occurred.
- Angela had the choice to turn back at any time,
but she didn't.
She continued to stab and stab and stab
Annastasia over and over for multiple hours.
- NARRATOR: And with Ann out of the picture,
Angela could be in control of her family.
- Angela wanted what she wanted,
and she wanted Ann gone.
- I think that she didn't know how to share.
She did not want to share custody of Matthew's daughter.
She did not want to share Matthew.
- NARRATOR: Angela is sentenced to life in prison
with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
- I don't even know how to put it together in words.
She's not the kind of person
you would ever want around your kids
or to have kids.
I don't want anything to do with my mother.
I don't need her hearing about my life,
you know, what's going on, you know, how I am.
That's none of her business, and that she lost that right.
- NARRATOR: Matt quickly follows suit
in August 2021 and pleads guilty to all charges.
- Matthew was sentenced to 56 months in prison.
- NARRATOR: Even with Angela and Matt in jail,
Ann's family and community will forever struggle
to come to terms with the loss of one of their own.
- I see the world a little bit of a darker place.
When you lose somebody that you care for that much,
it's kinda hard to see the bright side
of things all the time.
- She had the biggest heart in the world
and that's the part of her that all of us will always remember.
It's that heart and that love she had for everyone.
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