One night,
he had passed out from a stupor.
I had just went through beating.
I was tired of being hit and nobody listening,
nobody helping me.
And there was a knife that was probably about that long,
the blade -- I grabbed it, and I stood in the doorway,
and I stood there for a good
hour and a half, hour and 45 minutes,
contemplating if I'm gonna slit his throat.
If there's a magic genie in
the world that can grant me one wish,
just one, I would grant for those two hours back.
I would wish to go right back to that one moment where I had
the knife in my hand, and I would have taken his life.
I'm sorry.
I just wanted it to stop.
And I knew it wasn't going to.
And I was right.
It wasn't -- it wasn't stopping any time soon.
It was like being married to the Antichrist.
There's one thing acting evil,
but it's another thing to be completely born evil,
and I think he was born evil from the egg.
[The Paper Chase's "What's So Amazing About Grace?" plays]
[strings continue playing sinister tune]
[static crackling]
[knock at door] [creaking]
[banging on door]
[creaking]
[water dripping]
[banging on door] [creaking]
[sinister chord strikes]
The first time we met, it was just by chance.
I had met Edward Allen Covington in a bar in 1993.
I was bartending at the time.
He was just very polite and very kind.
We had a very strong connection,
but I was in a relationship with somebody,
and I didn't see Eddie for a very long time.
All of a sudden, seven years later,
he just walked right back into my bar.
I did a double take and looked at him again,
and it clicked who he was.
My whole body just got butterflies almost.
Holy crap. Eddie? Is that you?
- Cheri! Wow! - [laughs]
And with no warning, nothing, I jumped in his arms.
He knew exactly who I was.
And we just -- we just hugged for the longest time.
We never quit talking.
Like, we just picked up where we left off,
and it was like puzzle pieces
fitting together in a puzzle.
- Come let me get you a drink. - Okay.
I thought maybe God's trying to give me a sign.
Here's your second chance.
Cheers.
What I know now to what I knew back then,
I wish that relationships came warnings like medicine does
on a box.
I'm at work one night.
They had, like, a little back room
for their waitresses and bartenders and stuff
to use to get ready.
- Hey, Cheri. - Hey.
There's something I want to talk to you about.
And my friend, for some reason,
she just turned around and told me, "Look,
I don't like Eddie. Something is not right."
There's just something about him.
You know, there's something... wrong
in his eyes.
[laughs] What are you talking about?
And I looked at her
and I was like, "What do you mean?"
She goes, "Something just don't feel right."
Just something about him.
It was almost like she could see his true self.
I don't think moving in together was a good idea.
I had been dating him for a little bit now, you know,
we were living together, everything seemed to be
going okay.
She said that if I stayed with him, it was not gonna be good.
I don't think you guys should be serious.
CHERI: But he came from a good family.
He had a great job.
He was
a correctional officer in the prison.
He was such a fun and bright person.
You know, he had a spark in
his eye that made me feel real special.
Why can't you just let me enjoy this?
I chalked it up to her just being
jealous that I was gonna be happy.
You want me to be miserable? That it?
I'm sorry, I just -- I don't want to see you get hurt.
Over the years, I've kicked myself in the butt
so, so many times,
so many times, remembering that conversation me and her had.
My life would have really been
a lot different if I would have listened to her.
Before Eddie and I had met,
I had gotten into some trouble with the law.
I got a felony drug charge.
I was waiting for my conviction.
Eddie was a correctional officer.
So Eddie came to me and explained to me that if
me and him did not get married
that we could not see each other anymore.
But if we get married before my conviction,
there's nothing they could do about it.
I really did not want to get married.
Maybe we're rushing into this.
No!
We really wasn't together that long, really.
You know, just not even a year.
And he kept pushing.
It will be okay.
Just take a deep breath.
He goes, "Well, if you love me,
you'll marry me, because it has to be done this way."
- Are you ready? - Yep.
CHERI: Him and I were down at the county courthouse
getting married.
I'm trying to be very happy, you know?
But I just had this nagging feeling.
Something was trying to tell me don't do it.
And it was in the pit of my stomach.
I really felt like I was gonna get sick.
Cheri, do you take Edward to be your husband?
I didn't answer.
He asked me again.
I'm sorry. I'm not feeling very well.
CHERI: I told him I needed a minute.
It was like everything was going in slow-mo.
Every fiber of my being was telling me,
"Don't do this, don't do thi--
This is gonna be bad. Don't do this."
Can you give us a moment?
I told Eddie I wasn't feeling sure about it.
And he said, "Well, it's just cold feet.
It will be okay."
One of the things he told me is, "I'm here to stay.
"I'm not going anywhere.
"I love you with my whole being as
you love me with your whole being."
I promise everything is going to be fine.
You'll see.
CHERI: And part of my heart
was still saying, "It's all in your head.
"Just -- you're overthinking this, it's going to be fine.
He's the perfect guy."
- Okay. - Okay.
CHERI: That's what really got me
to calm down and actually say it.
Do you take Edward to be your lawfully wedded husband?
I do.
CHERI: People say that you should always trust your instincts
and your gut feelings, because 9 times out of 10,
your gut feeling is going to be honest with you.
That's a very true statement.
The minute I said, "I do," my life changed for
the rest of my life.
That was the beginning of the end for me.
One night, Eddie and I was laying in bed.
We were watching a movie or something, and there's a Russian
roulette scene, and the people were
passing the gun around, and he just jokingly said that
he had held a gun up to his sister's head.
[laughs] Come on, that never happened.
I started laughing, chuckling, because I was
like, "Man, you didn't do that.
There's no way you did that."
And he's like, "No, it really happened."
He was a teenager. He was, like, 15 years old.
He threw her up against the wall, held her by her neck,
and put a gun up to her head
and told her he would put a bullet in her head.
I seriously thought it was a joke.
I did not believe him.
You can't be that demented to pull
a gun on your family, on blood.
Nobody's that crazy.
Oh, please, like you would ever do that to your own sister.
You should ask her.
CHERI: I just dropped it and never talked about it again
until him and his sister were talking about it one time.
Eddie was like, "Hey, do you
"remember that time when we were teenagers
and I put a gun up to your head?"
And she said, "Yeah." And she was not laughing.
So I knew then that that was serious.
That's when I had that big sinking, sinking feeling saying,
what have I done?
In the beginning, he didn't hit me,
and I didn't see him get violent with women.
I didn't see him get violent at all.
You stupid bitch!
CHERI: One day, I don't remember exactly what it was,
But something set him off that I did, and he hit me in my jaw.
And then he punched me in the eye.
I swear to God, his eyes turned black when he would
get angry.
Eddie, stop. Please.
CHERI: In a half of a second, he changed that quick.
I've never seen anything like it in my life.
I've never seen that much anger in somebody so fast.
I said, "I'm calling the cops."
I'm not gonna let you keep doing this to me.
- CHERI: He laughed at me. - [chuckles]
He would always tell me, "You can call the cops,
but they're not gonna believe you."
Go ahead.
But see who they listen to.
[numbers dialing]
"They know me and my dad.
They're not gonna do anything to me," and they didn't.
His father used to work for the same
law enforcement agency,
and...
and he flashed his badge.
So you guys probably know my old man, right?
Covington? Yeah, sure.
I thought so.
He told them that I had cut the back of his head.
Not a mark on him, not one mark.
And then she just starts swinging.
I did not. He is lying.
I never touched him. Look at what he did to me.
I've already got a bruise on my jaw,
I've got a black eye, and you could tell that it is fresh,
and they didn't believe me, because I was a convicted felon,
and he was a correctional officer.
They told me to turn around and put my hands behind my back,
and they put me in handcuffs.
OFFICER: Ma'am, hands behind your back, please.
What are you doing? Are you serious? Are you --
They arrested me on the spot for domestic violence, saying
I hit a law enforcement officer and take me to jail.
He's not a cop, he's a prison guard -- are you serious?
He actually chuckled with me in handcuffs,
and he said, "I told you."
After that, I had no way out, because every time I'd try
to leave, every time,
he would start a fight, black my eye,
break my arm, and call the cops and had me arrested
for domestic violence.
He never, never had a mark on his body that came from me.
But who are they gonna believe?
A correctional officer or convicted drug felon?
It really hurt me
that most of my family didn't believe me.
You expect that from the cops, not from family.
There was one time, he hit me.
I'm trying to ice it down,
trying to keep the swelling down,
and I'm talking to my mom.
I think I want to come stay with you for a few days.
CHERI: I was on the phone with her, and he told me
to get off, and of course, I did...
Give me the phone.
because I don't want my other side busted.
Hey, sorry.
CHERI: And he's telling my mom that I did it myself
and I threatened to call
the cops on him and tell 'em that he beat me.
Cheri's been out of control recently.
You know I'd never do a thing like that.
He'd sit there and go, "Well, you know how she is.
"She's crazy. It's all in her head.
"She did that to herself.
"She's just doing this to get attention.
"She's lashing out at me trying to get
me in trouble for something I didn't do."
OVER PHONE: Why? What's the matter?
CHERI: And I can hear her saying, "Well, you know
how she is, Eddie."
AS CHERI'S MOM: I'm not surprised.
She's always causing trouble.
Yeah, she can be a handful.
CHERI: He had my mom 100% believing I was
the aggressor, and I was a crazy one.
I was crying, and it wasn't from being hit.
I was crying because my heart was
breaking as I heard her agree with him.
AS CHERI'S MOM: I'm sorry, Eddie.
Ah, don't worry about me, I'll be fine.
CHERI: He was a master manipulator.
I had nobody to turn to -- The cops
didn't believe me, my family didn't believe me,
my friends didn't believe me.
I had nowhere to go.
He knew that he could do literally anything
he wanted to me and get away with it.
[sniffles]
His sexual desires became so much more demeaning.
He loved to have people watch him have sex.
And he was also bisexual.
There was a swingers club out in Brandon, Florida.
Eddie asked me to have a threesome with another man.
Come on, let's go on back -- He's waiting for us.
It scared me.
I did not want to do it at all.
Do we really have to do this?
I couldn't believe that he even took me there.
But he said "Cheri, you say you love me
"so much and you would do anything for me.
"Well, I want this to happen.
And if you love me, you'll do it."
Oh, so you'd rather be selfish than make me happy.
CHERI: I thought to myself, "Well, if you love me,
why are you making me do this?"
And he had made it very, very clear to me that
if I did not do it,
and we left, he was not even gonna wait until we got home,
he was just gonna pull into a dark parking lot and beat me.
You know what? We can stay. We can.
Let me just get another drink first, okay?
CHERI: He just liked to see me suffer.
He liked to see the pain go across my face.
He thrived on it, to see exactly how far
he could push me.
The only way to get out of that
situation was to make myself get physically ill.
Okay? Let's go.
CHERI: What I did is I went up to the bar, and I bought
a shot of tequila, because
I do not like tequila, and I chugged it, and it made me
nauseous and made me want to get sick.
I got very sick
to where I did not have to do it,
and we left, but he still ended up hitting me that night.
I'd rather deal with that than to deal with
having to give a part of me to somebody
I did not know -- Bruises and beatings heal,
but your self pride and self respect is all you have.
And if you cannot protect that,
then you're completely gone.
I tried to leave him a couple of times,
and he threatened to kill me.
He told me he would break into wherever I was,
he would find me, and he would kill me.
One time, something set him off that I did.
He blacked my eye, again.
He called the cops -- I left before the cops got there,
and I called my friend, and I went to her house.
I was looking out the window.
He finally figured out where I went.
He would pull up, and he would not even be secretive about it.
He would literally pull right in front of their yard or
across the street, and you could see him.
He did not try to hide it.
And he would sit there and watch the whole time
I would be there.
[phone buzzing]
And he blew my phone up
every 5 to 15 minutes, nonstop.
He goes, "I know you're there. I seen you in the window."
I'm shaking. I thought he was gonna come into her house
and hurt me, because it was just me and her there.
There was nobody else there.
He could have really hurt both of us,
and I didn't want that to happen to her.
So I went out her back door.
I literally hopped a fence.
I'm looking over my shoulder, I'm thinking,
"Oh, my gosh, he's gonna hear me.
He's gonna see me or something," you know?
He never did.
I hopped the fence, and I went home,
and he sat in front of her house for
two days and did not move from the parking spot.
He was angry at me for that, because he did not
know how I got out of that house.
He thought that he had fell asleep,
and I snuck out.
He goes, "Why wouldn't you just get in the car?
"I was only there to protect you,
to make sure you made it home okay."
Not only did I know that I couldn't leave,
but I also knew that he was never gonna let me leave.
The beatings were getting bad.
I knew the next time that he got me under his fist,
he was never gonna stop.
I told him I was done.
I'm tired of it. I'm tired of the abuse.
I said, "I'm packing my stuff, and I'm leaving," and I did.
I packed several bags, and I had
a couple of friends that helped me get away.
They all helped me pull myself out.
I knew that he wasn't gonna beat me up going out the door,
because my friends were there,
because they could witness everything, and I told
Eddie, "I'll be back to get the cats."
And he goes, "Fine."
You sure you want to do this?
I am.
I knew when I left there,
I said, "Something's gonna happen tonight,"
and my friend said,
"You're crazy, nothing's gonna happen."
I went to work that day, and I wasn't there
but two hours maybe.
[phone buzzing]
And then I get a call from
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on my cellphone,
and the cops said, "Well, we just had to break
"into your home, bust the door down.
"And Eddie is in ICU
at St. Joseph's hospital."
God, is he okay?
CHERI: I said, "What happened?"
- And they said he ODed. - Wait, what?
They said he was flailing in the middle of the floor,
screaming, "I just took
a handful of pills, and I drank a bottle of alcohol."
This does not sound like Eddie.
CHERI: I knew him better than that.
Something in me told me that something else happened.
And that's when the cops said, "How many cats did you have?"
And when he asked me that, it clicked.
I knew immediately what had happened.
I said, "How many of my cats are dead?"
He goes, "Ma'am, we don't know,
"because you can't even count them.
There's parts all over the place."
He dismembered them completely.
He did what to them?
I was so devastated.
It shattered me.
You can't explain that away.
The only way you can do that is to, like he did, fake
a suicide
and drew all that attention from what he did to my animals
onto him, because everybody was so worried that he was going
to die.
Are you okay?
CHERI: The cops forgot about the cats.
There was never even a police report on it.
I have to go.
CHERI: That was his only way to make a point to me.
This is what I am capable of,
and if you do not fall in line,
this is what's gonna happen to you.
I woke up one day, and it was my birthday.
I noticed that there was an orchid sitting
right by the bed, and there was no note.
No nothing.
And I picked the orchid up, and I walked into my mom's room.
Mom, this is beautiful. Thank you.
And she looked at me. She says,
"I didn't get you an orchid."
That's not from me.
I don't understand.
It was right next to my bed.
My whole body tensed up.
I said, "Well, if you didn't get it for me,
where'd you come from?"
[suspenseful music]
I...
immediately dropped the orchid, and it crashed to
the ground, because I knew it was Eddie.
In that moment,
I realized that Eddie had been sneaking
into the house while I slept at night.
He did it only to let me know that there is nothing
I was gonna be able to do to keep him away from me.
He will always be able to get to me.
And if he can get in there and do that,
what else can he do?
CHERI: He had been given a protection order
to stay away from me.
The locks got changed on the door a couple of times,
but it didn't matter -- He was gonna do and keep doing
what he wanted to do.
One night, I woke up to hear my mom screaming.
AS CHERI'S MOM: Get out! What are you doing here?
I shot up out of bed,
and I look up, and he was standing,
I mean, an arm length away from me.
- It's okay. - AS CHERI'S MOM: Eddie, get out!
CHERI: And she's screaming, "Eddie, how did you get in my house?
How did you get in here? What are you doing here?"
And he goes, "I was worried I hadn't heard from her.
"I was worried about her, because nobody's answering
my calls."
He says, "I just wanted to make
"sure you're okay, because I love you.
"I always want you to know,
"I'm always thinking about you, wondering what you're doing
and if you're okay."
My mom knew that was a lie.
My mom knew right then and there how much trouble I was in.
Get out! Right now.
CHERI: He's like, "I want us to work our lives out.
I want us to make our marriage work."
I am not giving up on us.
And he goes, "Oh, there's this
woman I'm living with. We're roommates."
He goes, um, "She is so overbearing.
"She's just too much. She suffocates me.
I don't know how to get rid of her or her kids."
He goes, "I wish I could just get rid of 'em."
That was the first time I heard the name Lisa.
AS CHERI'S MOM: I am calling the cops, Eddie.
CHERI: My mom was grabbing the phone to call the cops.
He would get this smile on his face
that was so evil.
He had accomplished terrorizing me.
He loved it.
And he calmly turned around and walked out the door.
Didn't say sorry, didn't say nothing.
The cops came out, and their exact words
to me and my family was, "He's not here now.
"There's nothing we can do.
It's your word against his."
There was one night my friend dropped me off,
and as he was pulling out,
Eddie comes racing up my mom's street.
- Hey, mom. - Hey, Cheri.
What the hell's going on here?
- Who was that? - Eddie!
He just starts going off.
"Who are you with? Who is that guy?
Why are you in that car?"
I said, "It's nothing.
He's just a friend."
All of a sudden, he pulls out his father's
service revolver and starts pointing it at me
and my mom.
- Eddie, I think... - He goes,
"I could take you out right here, and there ain't nothing
anybody's gonna do."
And then he pointed it at my mom,
he goes, "After I'm done with you, I'm gonna take her out.
I'm gonna take your mom out, as well."
- AS CHERI'S MOM: Don't. - He called the cops.
He had 911 on the phone, saying,
"She's hitting me.
Please hurry. She's hitting me."
Please send help right away.
What are you doing?
He gets to my doorway -- He slams his nose
into the door jamb.
And I heard his nose, I heard pop.
His nose start pouring down blood.
He goes, "She won't stop hitting me, make her stop.
She won't stop hitting me."
And he's banging his face into the door jamb.
She won't stop!
The cops get there.
The cop comes up and starts talking to him.
- Sir. What's going on? - She hit me.
And says, "We hear that you pulled a gun out on
"this woman and her daughter.
Is that true?"
And he goes, "I don't know what they're talking about.
"I'm in law enforcement.
I work in the prison system."
He showed them that badge.
We didn't touch him! I didn't...
He did that to himself. She's innocent!
CHERI: And telling the cop, "I don't know why she keeps doing this.
"I tried to be good to her.
"I'm trying to reconcile my differences with my wife,
and she continuously treats me like this."
God, he was good.
I mean, he had them eating out the palm of his hand.
[indistinct radio chatter]
I'm in the back seat, handcuffed.
Eddie got to go home.
Eddie went home after he gave a statement.
As he was walking past me,
he was flicking me off, gave me the bird, mouthing,
"I told you. I told you."
I had court orders to tell him to stay away,
and he didn't follow it.
He didn't have to -- he knew he can get away with it.
The rules never applied to him.
I sat in the back of a police car for almost three hours.
My mom had to beg them to release me.
I realized that he was willing to hurt
anyone or anything in the process to keeping me.
I told the cop that the next time he gets called up there,
he is going to kill me,
and the cop just said,
"Don't worry about it. No.
It's all in your head."
[phone ringing]
Eddie would call me,
I don't know, 30, 40 times a day.
It was, "Why won't you talk to me?
"Can't we just be friends?
"I'm a changed man.
"I'm sorry, you just know how much I love you.
"I love you so much.
It kills me not being able to see you."
[phone ringing]
For that whole year,
I probably went through 11 different numbers.
Every time he called, my skin would cringe.
It would feel like my skin was crawling, and the hairs
on my neck would start standing up
every time he would call, because I knew
what was in store.
[phone ringing]
I thought it was just a normal day.
I started receiving numerous calls.
Two hours later, I got these five gentlemen walking in,
three of them in suits, couple of police officers.
And they wanted to speak to me.
I told the officers,
I said, if this is about Eddie,
I don't have time for it, because
I'm at work -- Contact me after work.
I thought he had contacted the police again and told them
that I either hit him or -- Or I did something to him.
Whatever he told you I did this time,
he's lying again.
The officer told me, "Ma'am, we really need to speak
with you. It's important."
And he told me that they had found
three bodies, and they could not identify
what parts went where.
Eddie had killed his girlfriend and her two kids.
When the cops came in, they opened the door,
the little girl's body was kind of barricading the door.
They went further into the trailer,
and I think Lisa was in the hallway.
They went into the little boy's room.
I thought back to when he said, "She's my roommate,
"and I'm just trying to find a way to get rid of them.
"She's just won't leave me alone,
her and her kids. I'm trying to get rid of 'em."
They had found Eddie in the daughter's closet.
I think it was her closet.
They had found him in there in his shorts,
his boxer shorts or whatever he was wearing,
and nothing else.
He was mumbling.
He said, "I finally killed Cheri.
That bitch. She's finally dead."
I was the one that he was seeing
when he murdered his girlfriend and her two children.
They took him out of the closet and walked him out,
and he had stepped on his girlfriend.
Didn't step over her -- He stepped on her.
Every time I talk about this,
I see the photos, and it just kills me.
It was the Fourth of July.
My mother and I were sitting on the bed talking and stuff,
and she was telling me she loved me
and how she wished that
she would've believed me sooner.
She didn't realize exactly what I was going through.
I never would have let you stay there
if I would've known.
CHERI: She told me she was sorry, and she asked me,
she goes, "Will you ever be able to forgive me
for what has happened?"
I'm sorry.
I know.
My mom went to bed and did not wake up the next morning.
She had passed away.
I think that the guilt and the stress did push her very
much over the edge, and I think she just wanted it to end.
Like, she just wanted the world to go quiet.
And she didn't wake up the next morning.
She was gone.
I forgive her,
and I wanted to apologize to her for not
telling her I forgave her when she was alive.
And I know she's my guardian angel,
and she knows I do.
I don't agree with that decision.
With all the pain and suffering that he has caused,
death is absolutely too easy for him.
He needs to be in there for
life without parole, because he's 48 years old.
So he still has a lot of life left.
Death is so final.
He will never have to suffer
or live with what he has done.
But I would attend his execution 100 percent,
because then I want him to look me in my eye.
I want him to see how much stronger I am today
than what I was from the time that he met me.
I want him to see
how I'm not scared of him anymore.
I know he can't hurt me anymore.
He can't hurt anybody anymore.
Ever again.
I wish it would have been me and not them.
I wish it would have been me.
I will never forgive him for what he did.
I carry a lot, a lot of guilt,
because I knew what it was like,
but nobody believed me.
Nobody protected me,
and I did the same thing to her, in a way,
because I didn't warn her.
I really, really wish I would have warned her.
He destroyed more than one family.
He destroyed me for the rest of my life.
I don't even get close to anybody anymore.
It don't keep friends near me.
I don't keep my family near me.
I haven't healed.
I do try, though,
to, um...
live at least a happy life.
I do try every day.
I wake up in the morning saying we're gonna try to
have a good day today.