I watched him blossom into a guy
that felt like he had found something he needed.
He had an impact on a lot of people.
[Narrator] But a horrifying crime
would destroy his future and baffle police.
They found him in the bedroom
with a knife stuck in the side of his head.
It appeared that the body had been intentionally set on fire.
I had never seen a case like this in my career.
When we found out a second person was dead,
this turned into a big story.
[Narrator] As the body count rises,
detectives face a race against the clock
to unmask a dangerous killer.
It was imperative that we found him.
[Narrator] And extinguish a deadly combination
of passion and desperation.
People who are that cold and non-caring,
just unnerving.
[Connie] How could these people be so evil
that they would take advantage of two people
who were willing to give everything they could
to help someone?
[music]
[Narrator] Louisville, Kentucky,
is known for the glitz and glamour
of the famed Kentucky Derby.
[Connie] Churchill Downs is home
to the biggest, to the most exciting,
and to the most well-known horse race in the world.
The area around Churchill Downs
is the old Louisville area.
It is a pretty vibrant community.
[Narrator] On March 24, 2006,
a concerned member of the community
calls authorities to report a house fire
on Harlan Avenue.
[Bonita] It was about Midnight.
I've seen flashing lights outside the window.
And then I looked at the house next door.
There was smoke growing out of the top of the door.
About that time, the fire engines came
and they told me that I had to leave the house.
So I went across the street
and watched the flames lit towards my house.
That was enormous.
I was praying to God
that my house was not gonna catch on fire.
It seemed like the house burned forever.
[Narrator] After nearly 45 minutes,
the flames are suppressed
and arson investigators move in
to determine the source of the blaze.
[Leigh] The local fire department
and arson investigators
subsequently located a deceased subject
within the house.
They call us. We go in there,
do our scene investigation.
Crime Scene Unit comes and does their investigation.
[Leigh] We entered into the kitchen.
There was significant smoke and fire damage to the house.
We were directed to the bedroom
As soon as we walked in,
we could see the victim was laying face-up on the bed.
Although you couldn't determine facial features,
a lot of charring to the body.
And subsequently saw a knife handle
that was still embedded in the face of the victim.
It's one that sticks with me.
It takes a lot to put a knife into somebody's head.
I had never seen a case like this in my career.
You're the voice for the person who is laying there dead
and you gotta recreate all the events that led up to it.
It was very obvious that there was foul play involved.
Judging from the handle of the knife
that was in the face,
It looked like your standard kitchen knife
and not something like a hunting knife
or a pocket knife.
It was assumed by us
that the knife was taken from the victim's kitchen.
It didn't fit the MO
of a breaking and entering or a robbery.
It was a very brutal attack,
a very violent, a very emotionally-charged attack.
Crimes of passion tend to be in an overkill manner.
This appeared to be exactly that.
So my initial thoughts
were this was somebody that the victim knew
or had a relationship with, romantically, or otherwise.
[Narrator] Based on the extensive damage
around the victim,
arson investigators believe they know
where the fire originated.
It appeared that the fire had started in the bedroom
based on some of the things that we had seen about the bed.
Burnt sheets, comforter,
papers from books that had been torn out.
It wasn't just that they were trying to burn the body.
They were trying to burn the whole house
to conceal any and all evidence.
After discovering the body
and doing the initial investigation
within the bedroom, we make our way out
and try to identify the victim.
We looked for mail. We looked for pictures.
We looked for anything that might have a name
associated with the address.
We didn't see a lot. We didn't have anything
that identified who the victim was.
[music]
Then we start interviewing whoever's around,
who showed up at the scene.
[Leigh] As I walked out of the house,
I looked over and saw somebody
that I recognized, named Daryl Benzel.
Daryl was a friend of my brother and my dad.
I saw Leigh.
And we looked at each other like, "Wow, what's this about?"
[Leigh] I greeted Daryl.
You know, "Hi, Daryl. What are you doing here?"
[Daryl] I said, "Well, this is my house."
She's like, "Oh, my goodness."
[Narrator] Daryl tells detectives
that he had just received a frantic call from a neighbor.
[Daryl] Bonita, who lived next door,
let me know that our house was on fire.
That's all she could tell us, that the house was on fire
and the fire department was there.
So I got there as fast as I could,
all the time thinking, "What happened?"
[Leigh] He had asked me at that point
if there was anybody inside,
and I advised him that there was,
asked him if he knew who it was.
He said, "Well, yes, it's my tenant
and it's Eddie Poynter."
And at that point,
I took a step back
and my shoulders just dropped.
And I said, "I know that name. Wow."
And it's the first...
Well, it's the first and only homicide I ever had
where I had actually met the victim.
[music]
[Narrator] Born in the Bible Belt community
of Edmonton, Kentucky,
Eddie Poynter had moved to Louisville in the late '90s.
He came from a small town in Kentucky.
[Leigh] Eddie was gay and probably didn't have
a lot of, I guess, outlets for the gay community.
People outgrow their small tow,
and they wanna see a bigger cit
and socialize with people like themselves,
and where they can feel comfortable and accepted.
And I think Louisville was that for Eddie.
[Connie] Louisville is a very diverse city.
People can love who they want here.
And a lot of folks make it their home because of that.
[Narrator] In Louisville,
Eddie quickly found a community
where he felt accepted.
[Leigh] I didn't know Eddie well,
but my brother knew him.
I had met him while having lunch
with my brother one day,
and he was a waiter at a restaurant here in town.
My brother and I were dining there
and I just remember there was a bright smile
on both of their faces
and a very compassionate, welcoming greeting
to one another.
I remember my brother saying,
"Eddie's going through a tough time right now."
Eddie had a problem with alcohol.
He had battled that for some time.
Eddie did seek a program of recovery
and had met a lot of people,
and had an impact on a lot of people.
[music]
Eddie was fun and funny, but he was serious too.
He had a serious side.
He believed in being in recovery
and doing the best he could.
I watched him blossom into a gu
that felt like he had found something he needed.
I just loved him to death.
[Narrator] Eddie was trying to turn his life around
when he met Daryl Benzel
who offered him a place to live
on historic Harlan Avenue.
Eddie was several months' sober needin' a place to stay.
And he was a good tenant, he really was.
[Bonita] Eddie was a real nice guy.
He was friendly and cordial with me at all times.
[Narrator] But just eight months after moving into his new house
the life Eddie had worked so hard to build in Louisville
has gone up in flames,
and detectives are searching for clues as to what happened.
[Leigh] I always worked my hardest on theses cases,
but there was never really a personal attachment
to these victims until this case.
I just had a different connection.
[Narrator] Despite the damage caused by the fire,
detectives recover one clue from the ashes.
[Leigh] One of the fire arson investigators said,
"Hey, we uncovered this notebook.
There's a name Jennifer Smith in it."
If we could identify a Jennifer Smith,
that might've had some sort of tie to this residence.
It was worth investigating.
The likelihood of tracking down every Jennifer Smith
in the city of Louisville was a big task.
It could've just been a girl
that had been visiting
that was doodling her name when she visited
and had nothing to do with this.
Everything that could've caused a problem for me
in the beginning stages of any investigation was there.
We have no fingerprints.
We have very limited if any evidence at the scene
because of the fire,
and we have a crime of complete rage.
It was a little bit overwhelmin
to think that it would be solved.
Where do we start?
[Narrator] Coming up,
detectives search for clues among Eddie's inner circle.
We heard that they had had a relationship at one point.
There was about a 30-year age difference
between the two of them.
[Narrator] And the case is turned upside-down
when detectives discover Eddie's murder
may be connected to a larger crime spree,
one with a rising body count.
She called us and said,
"She's ready to talk
and clear things up for herself."
She said she may know where another body is.
[music]
ville, Kentucky,
homicide detectives are investigating
the stabbing death of 43-year-old Eddie Poynter.
To learn more about Eddie and those closest to him,
detectives must break the news of his death to this mother.
[Leigh] When you make a notification
on somebody's death,
I mean, it's the absolute hardest thing you do
in your career,
and that if never, ever gets easier.
It's heartbreaking.
She said, "I had a very close relationship."
She was heartbroken to hear that her son had died
and even more so that he had died in this manner.
[Narrator] Eddie's mother can't think of anyone
who would want to harm her son.
When detectives begin speaking to Eddie's friends,
they say the same.
He had a good network of friends,
both in the community of recovery
as well as the gay community
who were very close-knit.
[Cheryl] I was devastated.
I just couldn't figure out
how they could kill this sweet friend of mine.
[Narrator] Hoping for answers,
detectives request for an autopsy
to be done right away.
[Leigh] The autopsy revealed that there were
multiple stab wounds to the face as well as the torso
in excess of amount, probably, in the dozens.
[Jeff] He had numerous defensive wounds on his hands
that they're fighting for their life.
They're trying to stop what was coming at him.
[Leigh] It appeared that the body
had been intentionally set on fire
due to the nature of the severe burns
and the char marks that concealed his identity.
It's almost like someone wanted to erase
any trace of Eddie,
physically and emotionally.
[Connie] I remember coming in that day
and our assignment desk, sending myself
and a photographer out to the home.
[Reporter] Fire crews found 43-year-old
Eddie Poynter inside his burning home
on Harlan Street, early Friday morning.
Poynter's possessions charred and on his front lawn.
We have never felt like it was an unsafe neighborhood.
[Leigh] The news of Eddie's death was circulating.
So a lot of people were learning about it.
People would call the office and offer
to give information because they cared about Eddie.
And one of his best friends actually reached out to us
when he heard about Eddie's death,
and that was a man named Garry Perry.
It was a great phone call to get
because he's gonna be the person that probably knows Eddie
more than anybody does.
Garry indicated that Eddie predominantly hung out
either in AA meeting groups
or at a little, small, hole-in-the-wall bar
called Teddy Bears
that's in the heart of Old Louisville.
He was sober but he was always there,
drinking just Cokes and stuff
'cause that's where his friends were.
[Leigh] What I wanna know is,
did he have any romantic relationships?
Who were his closest friends?
Garry really indicated
that he didn't have any romantic relationships
that he was aware of.
He had very close friends.
And one of his best friends, and he used to live with,
this older gentleman
and his name was Blaine Thacker
There was about a 30-year age difference
between the two of them.
They were both in the restaurant industry.
And they were both part of the gay community.
And they just fell into a very deep friendship.
[Connie] Eddie and Blaine were seen together all the time
We heard that they had
had a relationship at one point, possibly,
but they were just friends more recently.
[Narrator] Armed with the knowledge
that Blaine was close with Eddie,
detectives must speak with him to rule out any involvement.
Gary said Blaine would be the one person
that probably knew Eddie the best.
He had just moved into an apartment
down in Old Louisville on Ormsby.
That was called the Mayflower Apartments.
He did not have a current phone number
for Blaine,
and he was gonna work on that for us to reach out to Blaine
to contact him to see
if he could be any help in this investigation as well.
[Narrator] Gary does know
Blaine's current place of employment,
so detectives decide to start there.
[Leigh] Blaine was a cook at Masterson's
which is a family-owned restaurant
and catering company here in Louisville.
[Sueanna] Blaine was just a character.
He would be yelling at someone one minute
and hugging them the next.
Blaine was a great guy.
He had a very, very kind heart and a strong work ethic.
He was just a rock.
He was always there. He was very dependable.
He always took the morning shift which was great
'cause it's hard to find people
to come in at 4:00 in the morning.
And he always showed up.
But Blaine didn't show up one day.
And we thought, "Well, anybody can misread a schedule."
And then the next day when he didn't show up
and nobody heard from him, we knew
that something was not right.
[Connie] Eddie and Blaine were seen together all the time
Eddie is stabbed to death in his home,
the home set on fire,
and Blaine is nowhere to be found.
So does Blaine have anything to do with this?
Once we learned that he hadn't been to work in two days,
it was concerning for us,
and it was imperative that we find him.
[music]
[Narrator] In Louisville, Kentucky,
detectives investigating the murder
of 43-year-old Eddie Poynter
are hoping to speak to his best friend, Blaine Thacker
but before detectives can locate Blaine,
they receive word that a possible witness
has arrived at Eddie's home.
[Leigh] Another detective was out there
doing a neighborhood canvas.
And there was a car that pulled up to the crime scene tape
and he said, "I'm trying to go
to this house on Harlan Avenue."
He said, "My friend is in there."
"Well, who's your friend."
And he said, "It's Dale Moneypenny."
It was at that point that he wanted to know
if we had identified Dale Moneypenny
as the victim in the house.
This was a bombshell.
We knew Dale Moneypenny was not the victim in this case.
[Narrator] According to the witness,
he had gone to the Harlan Avenue home
the day before the fire
to see his friend, Dale.
[Leigh] Dale's friend said
Dale Moneypenny was there, covered in blood,
and there was a girl in there.
And she had blood on her clothes.
He got freaked out and left.
And then saw the crime scene tape up.
Peaked his interest, and he went back over there
to find out that the house had been burned.
That was a huge break in this investigation
because not only did he give us a name,
he put him at the crime scene
with a female.
Both of them had blood on their clothing
within hours of the fire being set.
[Narrator] The witness doesn't know Eddie Poynter,
but he claims that Dale had been living in the house
for two days.
[Leigh] He didn't know this girl with Dale.
She was unfamiliar to him.
But he was able to give us a description.
Who the hell were those two people staying with him?
That's what we needed to figure out.
[Narrator] Detectives prioritize this new lead
and put a hold on tracking down Blaine Thacker
[Leigh] It's very unusual to get the name of a suspect
within 24 hours of your investigation.
So going from a place of "Where do we begin?"
to "We may have a suspect"
was unexpected and exciting.
All we needed to do was a little bit of research
and the search was on.
We were able to locate criminal records.
We knew very little about Dale Moneypenny
other than a general description of him
as a white male, blonde hair, blue eyes,
originating from Ashland, Kentucky,
which is far-eastern Kentucky.
We did have knowledge that he was driving
a black Honda.
And we got the plate.
So we put out a BOLO
which is a be-on-the-lookout for this plate and this vehicle,
if you see it, call the police.
At that point, we just took the name Dale Moneypenny,
and did a search through our arrest records,
and found that Dale had spent some time in prison
and had a fairly lengthy criminal history
for a young male in his twenties.
Dale liked to assault people.
He liked to steal things.
I believe there was an escape charge at one point
and some drug use in his history.
[Narrator] Determined to locate Dale
and learn more about his connection to Eddie,
detectives begin reaching out to his relatives.
While no one has seen Dale,
family members tell police
they're not surprised to hear from them.
Dale always had his fair share of trouble,
not wanting to listen and just doing his own thing.
So it's not Dale's first rodeo.
[Narrator] According to Dale's family,
his downward spiral into a life of crime
developed after the tragic murder
of his mother when he was just a teenager.
[Andrew] When my Aunt Karen died,
it was, it hit everybody pretty hard,
but it hit Dale especially hard
'cause that was the only family
he really had for himself.
He was on his own.
He had nowhere else to go.
[music]
Dale was already way into partying at that age
and he was a ladies' man.
He knew how to talk to people.
He knew how to get what he wanted.
And he fed off of that.
He'd feed into your needs to get to his needs.
He grew up in a drug world and alcohol and all that.
But it takes a toll on a person after a while.
He had a temper.
And you add drugs and alcohol with that,
that's a bomb waiting to go off.
[Narrator] Following a stint in prison in 2000,
family members say Dale left home for good.
I knew Dale had took off to Louisville, Kentucky.
And he ended up with this girl out there.
[Narrator] Detectives have a theory
for who Dale's girlfriend may be.
We knew one name at that point.
Jennifer Smith.
[Narrator] Detectives release Dale's mugshot
and ask the public for help identifying Jennifer Smith.
Shortly after, they get a call
from the mother of a Jennifer Smith
in southern Indiana.
[Leigh] We went to her house.
She said she hadn't seen Jennifer.
But she knew that we were looking for her
because she had seen the news.
Jennifer's a young 20-somethin,
had been going to college.
She didn't really have a residence that she lived at.
She would hop from place to place.
[Narrator] Jennifer's mother confirms
that her daughter has been dating Dale Moneypenny
for two weeks.
[Leigh] Jennifer's mom did see her with Dale
and saw that she had a very strong attachment
to this guy.
[Jeff] She didn't really like him or trust him.
She made him get out of the house
'cause he was there, trying to manipulate
and take money and do stuff that way.
And so Jennifer just went and stayed with him.
[Narrator] Jennifer's mother believes
that her daughter's life is in danger.
She was scared for her daughter
because the way Moneypenny was manipulating
and preying on Jennifer.
[Leigh] I know she cared about he daughter.
She wanted her back home.
[Narrator] With no clear indication
where Jennifer and Dale are no,
detectives fear they may have skipped town.
But just a few hours after speaking with Jennifer's mom,
police get another call.
[Leigh] A short time later, she called us and said,
"Jennifer's back and she's ready
to talk to you guys
and clear things up for herself."
We picked up Jennifer and something was eating at her.
Something was bothering her.
It was until we pressed her for a little bit more
that she came clean.
[Narrator] Jennifer admits that her boyfriend,
Dale Moneypenny, is responsible
for Eddie Poynter's death,
but Eddie is not the only victim.
She says she may know where another body is.
[Leigh] She drops a bomb.
She tells us that she didn't know
that Dale was gonna kill the other guy.
And I said, "What other guy?"
And she said, "The guy
that lived at the Mayflower Apartments."
Immediately, I said, "It's Blaine Thacker."
[music]
[Narrator] Less than 48 hours
after Eddie Poynter was found stabbed to death
inside his burned-out home,
23-year-old Jennifer Smith has revealed
that her boyfriend, Dale Moneypenny,
killed Eddie's friend, Blaine Thacker.
While Jennifer is taken to the station
to await further questioning,
detectives race to Blaine's apartment.
[Jeff] Detective Seabolt and I went
to the building and met with the management there.
And they let us into the apartment.
We walked in and his feet were sticking out,
covered up with blankets.
Blaine had multiple stab wounds to his chest and torso area
as a result of a knife, a kitchen knife.
There was no fire at Blaine Thacker's house.
Although, there were signs
that there had been things that had been knocked over
and appeared to have been removed from the home.
[Narrator] After processing the scene,
detectives return to the statio
and press Jennifer for answers.
[Jeff] We read her rights and then we just started
to have a conversation with he.
You just basically build rapport with them.
You try to get them to trust you.
[Detective] Okay.
I thought she was a young, meek, very mild-mannered,
lost young lady.
[Narrator] Jennifer tells detectives
that she didn't know Dale was violent
when she first met him.
[Leigh] Dale Moneypenny and Jennifer Smith
had really only known each othe
for about 10 days.
She stated that she had met Dale through some friends
that were in the party scene.
And she was attracted to him immediately.
[Jeff] Very infatuated.
Basically puppy love.
He was blonde with blue eyes.
He carried himself well.
He was very charismatic.
He seemed to say the right thing
at the right time.
[Andrew] When you first meet Dale,
you're gonna get a side of Dale
you think is just a very good person.
Dale was fun to be around at times.
He knew how to get Jennifer.
They began to just run around together
for a period of seven days,
staying from one place to another
without separating from another.
[Jeff] They, technically, were homeless.
Jennifer's mom booted them out.
[Leigh] Her mom just wasn't willing
to accept the lifestyle that she was living
at the time with Dale.
[Narrator] According to Jennifer,
while grabbing a drink at Teddy Bears bar,
the couch-surfing couple
had the good fortune of meeting Eddie Poynter.
He hit if off with them.
Offered them a place to stay, felt bad for them
because they really didn't have a permanent place to stay.
And Eddie was kind to them.
[Connie] He was just a good guy and he wanted to help people.
He had also had a rough time in life
and had been down on his luck.
In his recovery, he sought to help other people.
[Andrew] Eddie took a big chance by inviting them into his home.
Eddie didn't know what he was in for.
Eddie didn't know who Dale really was.
Okay.
[Narrator] Jennifer says that only a couple of nights
into their stay,
on the night of March 23rd,
it was clear they had overstaye their welcome.
Her story was that she and Dale
were having sex in Eddie's bed
and Eddie walked in.
[Detective] Okay.
[Narrator] Jennifer claims that she left the room
to avoid confrontation,
but Dale grew enraged at Eddie's treatment
of his girlfriend.
[Leigh] Jennifer said, at that point,
he grabbed a knife from the kitchen.
Dale went in and approached Eddie,
and an argument ensued,
at which time, he came out a few minutes later
and he was covered in blood.
And he said, "We gotta get out of here."
[Leigh] She said Dale set the fire to the house.
And they, then, got whatever they could that belonged to them
and they left,
and they walked about 45 minute
to the apartment belonging to Blaine Thacker.
[Narrator] According to Jennifer,
she and Dale didn't really know Blaine that well,
having met him through Eddie only once.
[Connie] They told Blaine that, oh, they needed
a place to spend the night,
never letting him know what had just happened.
[Leigh] Blaine allowed them into his apartment
because he knew them as having stayed with Eddie
and told them
that they were welcome to stay there for the night
if they needed a place,
and to help themselves to something to eat
if they needed to,
and that he was gonna be going to bed.
[Narrator] According to Jennifer,
she fell asleep on the couch.
But at 4:30 AM,
she awoke to a horrifying sigh.
She heard Dale come out from Blaine's bedroom,
again, covered in blood,
and him stating, "We need to get out of here."
This time, they just threw blankets on top of him.
[Leigh] According to Jennifer, she did not know
Dale was gonna kill Blaine.
The picture is that Dale is on a violent rampage,
and she's just there, going along,
and it just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
She tried to separate herself from it as much as she could.
[Leigh] It didn't seem feasible
that a person that was completely innocent
would not try to get help
or separate herself from somebody
who's seemingly in a killing spree.
So it was time to call her out on it.
[Narrator] Jennifer claims that she and Dale
drove to Indiana
and stayed with a friend before Dale decided
to flee the state.
He said, "I will get back in contact with you."
So I think, with him saying that,
she felt reassured
that they would be together once again.
[Narrator] Following her confession,
detectives charge Jennifer
with two counts of murder,
one count of robbery, two counts of arson,
and tampering with physical evidence.
They next set their sights on locating Dale.
Only thing she knew was that he had said
that he had always wanted to go to Miami
and that he was probably on his way to Florida.
So we contacted Miami-Dade County.
We had a grand jury indictment of Dale Moneypenny
and a felony warrant for his arrest.
So should Dale be stopped,
they would be alerted no matter where he was located
in the United States
that he was wanted for two counts of murder and arson
here in Louisville.
[Jeff] Now we had to get him off the street
'cause if you're gonna have remorse
for the two deaths he's already committed,
why wouldn't he kill others?
And it was very high-pressure, the stakes were very high.
Dale wasn't gonna stop,
and I think it was concerning for anybody
that encountered him on his path.
We're desperate to find him.
[Narrator] Coming up,
as the search for Dale Moneypenny intensified
authorities fear he'll stop at nothing
to stay a free man.
There's no way to say he'd never do it again.
[Leigh] The only way he knew how to survive
was to steal and kill people.
[music]
[Narrator] In March, 2006,
Jennifer Smith and Dale Moneypenny
have been implicated in the brutal murders
of two beloved members of the Louisville community.
[Reporter] Residents are trying to make sense of two murders,
the first on Harlan Avenue,
home to 43-year-old Charles Edward Poynter
who was the first to die last week.
The second, 73-year-old Blaine Thacker Jr.
wasn't discovered until Jennifer Smith
was arrested late Saturday nigh
and started talking to police.
[Connie] When we found out a second person was dead,
not too far from Eddie's house,
this turned into a big story
and a lot of people were upset.
[Narrator] Jennifer Smith has confessed
that her boyfriend, 26-year-old Dale Moneypenny,
is responsible,
And now Dale has been on the ru for more than two weeks.
[Leigh] We really didn't know where Dale was going.
He could've been lying to Jennifer.
He could've been going to Colorado for all we know,
which is why we had him in our national database
as a wanted felon.
[Narrator] On April 16th,
detectives receive the news they have been waiting for.
[Leigh] We got a hit.
Sunny Isles Police Department,
which is very close to Miami,
called our office and said,
"We just arrested Dale Moneypenny
and we understand you're looking for him."
And we said, "Yes, indeed."
At the time that Dale was stopped,
he was in a stolen vehicle. Which was not a surprise.
[Narrator] Detectives learn that, on March 30th,
Dale stopped at a bar in Daytona Beach
and charmed a 75-year-old man
into buying him a hotel room.
[Jeff] It's the same thing he was doing.
He was preying upon the gay male population.
That's his way of doing it,
'cause he's able to manipulate people.
[Narrator] When they walked into the hotel room,
Dale pulled a knife on the man.
Dale said, "I don't know how to tell you this,
but I'm going to kill you and take your money."
And the man said, "You can have it.
You can have my wallet. You can have my keys.
Just don't hurt me."
Hotel managers had seen Dale
go outside and they saw Dale
trying to get into several different cars,
and ultimately leave in this man's car.
They then went to the hotel roo
and checked on him,
and he was saved.
[Jeff] The hotel called the police
and then the police found Dale
and they realized who he was.
[Narrator] Detectives extradite Dale Moneypenny
back to Louisville where he agrees to talk.
[Leigh] Dale was a fairly easy interview
because he wanted to talk
and you didn't have to ask a lot from Dale.
Dale wanted to talk and he talked freely.
[Narrator] Dale confirms Jennifer's story
that Eddie Poynter had tried to kick them out of his house.
And Dale admits he wasn't willing to comply
with the request.
If you've been around Dale long enough,
you know his temper.
Dale's never really been one
to accept the word no.
He don't want to be told no.
[Leigh] He went into a rage at that point.
And there was an argument that ensued.
And he grabbed a knife and attacked Eddie
because he had lost control.
After he killed Eddie, he knew he was in trouble
and he had to cover his tracks.
So he asked Jennifer to help him.
They took a few belongings that they thought were valuable.
It was a crime of opportunity
because they were living for free.
[Narrator] Dale says that after they set fire
to Eddie's house,
they headed for Blaine Thacker's.
[Leigh] Blaine had opened the door for them,
told them to help themselves to whatever food there was
in the apartment.
He went to bed.
He had no idea that they had just murdered
his best friend.
[Narrator] Dale claims that he became
increasingly paranoid
that Blaine would realize what happened to Eddie.
He eventually went into Blaine's bedroom
and stabbed him multiple times.
[Leigh] Dale said he needed some of Blaine's valuables
so that he could pawn them
to continue on his way out of town.
Dale basically took the blame himself
and admitted that he was responsible
for both the death
of Eddie Poynter and Blaine Thacker,
and Jennifer was pretty much just along for the ride.
[Narrator] Following Dale's confession,
he is charged with two counts of murder
as well as first-degree arson and robbery.
[Connie] Once Dale Moneypenny
was informed that he was looking
at possibly the death penalty,
he decided to make a deal.
[Jeff] He's in prison for life without parole.
I think life without parole is wonderful 'cause
he's still got many years to live.
[Narrator] On September 30, 2008,
Jennifer Smith pleads guilty
to complicity to commit murder and arson,
and is sentenced to 10 years in prison.
[music]
[Connie] How could these two people
be so evil
that they would take advantage of two people
who were willing to give everything they could
to help someone?
[Jeff] It shows no remorse, no feelings.
People who are that cold and non-caring just unnerve you.
They had no reason to die like that.
Just 'cause of Dale and Jennifer.
Dale was the catalyst for the whole thing.
[Andrew] I've always looked up to Dale
and Dale's always been family.
But Dale had no remorse for what he did.
He's exactly where he needs to be
'cause if he got out,
there's no way to say he'd never do it again.
[Sueanna] I felt just such a deep sadness
that Blaine was gone,
and to never see Blaine again.
It just didn't seem real.
I never got any kind of closure.
[Cheryl] Eddie was shy
but had an underlying sweetness about him.
You could just see it deep down
You didn't have to really look for it.
It was him.
That was who he was.
He had the best smile.
He gave the best hugs.
He meant something to me.
I'm sure he meant something to other people.
And I'll miss him. Yeah.
[music]