♪♪
[ woman laughs ]
Narrator: A work accident shatters a family.
I was about two when my dad fell.
Narrator: You struggle to make a better life.
Joy: It was tough to to think of the future
And what it was going to be like.
Narrator: A woman tries to find a second shot at happiness.
She finally was happy. I was excited for her.
Narrator: But sometimes it's the second shot,
That proves the deadliest.
[ siren wails ]
Wienmuller: She's pointing with her left hand,
And she said the bullet's right here.
Man #2: You just never know in a small community
What evil lurks just right next door to you.
♪♪
-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
Captions paid for by discovery communications
Narrator: It's christmas eve, 2004 in lindon, utah,
At fred lee and wife joy's house.
And 46-year-old joy is videotaping
A special christmas eve tradition with her grandsons.
Fred: Okay, riley.
Usually we let them open one present.
Most time we tried to make it be pajamas,
But yeah, we go ahead and open one present
Because they're all so excited about it.
Narrator: Six-year-old dakota can't contain his excitement.
Joy: It was fun to do that.
I tried to make holidays fun as possible.
Narrator: But not every gift is a hit with 10 year old riley.
That's joy's husband, 50-year-old fred.
Beside him is joy and fred's son-in-law, travis,
And their third grandson, jordan, aged nine.
But their daughter, jessica, isn't here.
Joy: Christmas that year with that video.
We didn't have jessica there.
That's why travis was there with the boys,
Is because jessica was in prison at that point.
Narrator: Jessica is in jail on drug-related charges.
It's the latest in a line of challenges
That joy and fred have faced.
Joy: Whoa.
Joy and fred have spent most of their lives living in
And around lindon, utah, brought up in the mormon faith.
They meet in high school when joy is 14 and fred is 18.
Joy: I was just a freshman and he was a senior.
And he asked me to go get a drink at the purple turtle,
And my mom actually let me go.
And it just kind of ended up being him mostly,
And I didn't really go out with a lot of other boys.
Narrator: Mormon high school sweethearts often get married young.
Joy: And he's like, "well, let's just get married,
We're gonna get married."
Two weeks after he finally said, he's going to marry me,
Then yeah, I found out I was pregnant.
Narrator: Joy's family aren't happy.
Joy: My parents weren't super thrilled with
With fred me dating him
Because he was older and they didn't really think
He was going to amount to a whole lot.
Narrator: But the young couple take it in its stride.
They have a traditional wedding in October of 1976.
Joy: My mother was really mad at me,
So she said she wasn't going to pay for our wedding.
So I bought the material and I made my wedding dress
And all my bridesmaid dresses
And fred's sister did all the flowers
And my uncle did the pictures and we did it at the church.
Narrator: And by 1978, they had two adorable little girls.
One-year-old jessica and baby nicole,
Born in July that year.
Fred gets a decent job in construction.
While joyce stays home with the girls.
In 1981, five years into their marriage, tragedy strikes.
I was about two when my dad fell.
He was building a water tank
And he was at the top of the scaffolding
And it just broke loose and he fell.
And he fell about 30 feet.
Narrator: He's rushed to the hospital with a fractured hip.
There he falls into a coma for a month.
I remember, as a kid, going in and seeing him
In the hospital a couple of times
And not recognizing him because his face was bruised up.
Narrator: By then, the 26-year-old fred has suffered some brain damage.
Joy: It was tough to to think of the future
And what it was going to be like.
It was hard to accept that he wasn't going to go back
To where he was and I was going to have to pick up the slack.
Narrator: The new fred is prone to confusion.
He has severe mood swings and can't hold down a job.
Joy: He would stay up like in his garage,
Like for two or three nights,
Like a couple of nights with no sleep,
Just stay out there like solitude.
And then he would come in and just crash for a couple of days,
Just be in bed.
You know then he's usually really grouchy
When he'd get up, he'd just be angry,
And want to break things.
Narrator: Fred loses his workers compensation for a time
Because he's out looking for work
And joy isn't sure how she's going to cope.
And then she learned she is pregnant with their third child,
Amanda, born in January 1982.
With three little ones
And an impaired husband to look after,
Joy knows she has to step up.
Joy: So I had started to go to work
Just doing stupid jobs like rolling hot dogs,
And I would have to leave my kids
And I still didn't have enough money to pay the bills.
Narrator: Because of fred's accident,
Joy has been holding the family together.
To make enough money to support everyone,
She trains up as an x-ray technologist in 1986.
Then she qualifies as an ultrasound technologist,
Eventually starting her own business in 1994.
Joy: It was empowering. It did give me confidence
That I could do hard things and still keep it all together.
But to abandon that dream of being home with them
And doing all the stuff that mom's are supposed to do
Was hard when I had to realize that that wasn't going to happen
And I was going to be working full time.
Narrator: Fred isn't exactly the most disciplined stay-at-home dad.
The couple's teenage daughters are given free reign.
Persson: My dad was not strict.
I don't remember my dad ever saying "do your homework."
He let us get away with basically whatever we wanted.
Narrator: He struggles to control his mental illness,
Persson: He had medication that he would take
That would help him, but he'd also abuse it.
He would take too much of it
And he'd get kind of a like a high going.
Narrator: The girls begin acting out in school
And experimenting with drugs.
All three have run-ins with the law.
They don't have anybody to go to who would just love them
And and take care of them and protect them.
Even though I did everything I could to try
And make stuff normal, it still wasn't.
And they suffered for that. And I feel bad.
Narrator: Christmas 2004.
Just a few months before this video was filmed,
27-year-old jessica is jailed for drug-related charges.
Joy is left to organize the holidays
With son-in-law travis for jessica's three kids.
Joy: Jessica's boys are pretty cute kids.
So they were fun.
All those boys are just
Like my own boys because I've had them
Since they were babies.
Raised 'em.
They were rambunctious.
So they just were always wrestling and running
And chasing, all the time.
Narrator: This video is the only way
Jessica will see her kids for christmas.
Jessica: Actually, I think that's the second time I went to prison.
Of course, it's you know, it's hard being away
From your kids, you know, and especially being in prison,
But when I was in there, I went to school, took college classes,
So that when I got out, I'd be a better person.
Travis: Oh, oh. Okay.
Narrator: Despite the family's struggles,
Joy and fred seem to be doing okay.
23 years after his accident, fred has mellowed.
Narrator: Joy's strength is a wife, mother, and grandmother
Has brought her family through a lot of pain.
Jessica: My mom is a strong lady.
She took over the reins and took charge of the family.
She did what she had to do to keep us together
And keep our home and put food on the table.
And she's pretty amazing.
Narrator: With a bit of luck,
This could be the beginning of better times.
Narrator: Taking care of her husband', mental disabilities.
Her three grown daughters problems, and their kids,
Has left joy no time for herself.
In November 2005, she makes a huge decision.
I just couldn't stand to live like that anymore.
I didn't know what else to do. So I finally filed for divorce.
And I know fred was shocked,
He didn't think I would ask for divorce.
He thought that everything was wonderful
And I would stay forever
And I thought I would, but I couldn't do it anymore.
Joy doesn't make the decision to leave fred lightly.
Narrator: She has put her family first her whole life,
But she feels now is the right time
To prioritize herself.
It's now December of 2005.
And the newly single joy fills her new home.
A trailer on a construction site,
She still works as an ultrasound technologist.
But now she's also a real estate developer.
As she files for divorce,
Fred and joy come to a new living arrangement.
He keeps the house and she gets nearby a lot of land
Inherited from fred's father.
Joy plans to build two townhouses,
Each with three sellable condos,
As soon as it's possible
She'll move into one of the units herself.
Persson: My mom did a really good job managing the whole thing
And just kind of like my mom's, little project.
My mom's little baby that she was focusing on.
Narrator: Around this time,
While living in her trailer at the construction site...
Hi.
Joy befriends one of the contractors.
Mike sidwell.
A plumber named mike sidwell, or "sid" to his friends.
It's like you got your hands full here.
Yeah, that's an understatement.
Joy: So he come up and was talking to me,
And he is being really funny and cute.
So it was so nice just to have him work and do things
And not be angry and pout-y and just be fun to be around.
He was just fun.
I brought something with me.
Narrator: And soon, joy realizes mike is finding
All sorts of excuses to stop by and say hi.
[ laughs ]
But mike is 13 years younger than joy.
Grab a coffee together? Okay.
Joy: I kept telling him, like, "I'm old."
Like, "you're a lot younger than me,"
Like "and it's okay," he's like, "you know, you're my --"
He's always called me, "you're my sunshine."
"you're my little bundle of joy," is what he called me.
He was a little bit younger than her, and at first I didn't
Really think it was anything that was going to take off,
But their relationship got closer.
And mike, he was he was a great guy.
He he loved my mom.
I was excited for her. She finally was happy, you know.
Narrator: By the spring of 2006, they're inseparable.
[ laughter ]
Mike knows how to bring out joy's fun side.
Like, during this camping trip the couple takes that summer.
We went 4-wheeling and camping
And kind of about an hour and a half away out in the desert,
There was a big creek that ran through, and it was really cool.
Was like six acres.
He was just so cute all the time
And he just had nice body,
I mean his pictures were nice looking.
So I wanted to get some pictures of him.
Kind of surprised that a cute guy would like me, you know,
So, you know, just kind of still surprised at the whole thing.
Narrator: But as things seem to be falling into place for joy.
She still has issues with her grown-up daughters.
24-year-old amanda is convicted and jailed on drug charges.
And to make matters worse,
Fred has been dragging his heels over finalizing the divorce.
[ cell phone ringing ] oh, god it's fred!
Although joy is doing nothing wrong,
He accuses her
Of improperly capitalizing on the lot of land,
She got in their initial agreement.
You're laughing at me every day.
Joy: He made it difficult because he was still in love with me.
And I did everything for him, you know, so when I left,
Nobody was making his meals or cleaning his house
And paying the bills,
Mike enjoy trying not to let fred get in the way
Of their new life...
Or their family.
It's the fall of 2006,
And it's a special day for joy's daughter, amanda,
Who is receiving her ged.
Joy: She was in jail at the time.
And so she got her diploma in jail,
Which was was great that she got it.
So I was excited that she had done it.
She was proud of herself that she got her diploma.
She was my baby and she was born in a hard time,
And I was glad that she did that,
She did the incentive to finish that there.
I loved her to death.
[ applause ]
Narrator: It's 2007.
And while joy's youngest daughter is
In and out of jail on drug charges...
...She and mike are ready to move in together,
But they won't be living alone for long.
Because by August 2008, amanda has a baby
And is arrested again soon after.
So joy feels compelled to take-in her daughter nia.
I'd always had kids from 18 to when I got divorced,
You know, like 30 years later.
And so it's the first time in my life
Since 18 I didn't have children to take care of.
And then nia was kind of thrown into that.
Narrator: To joy's relief mike is more than happy with the idea.
Joy: He was so good with her.
He never, not one time, ever complained about having her.
Narrator: He missed out on raising his own daughter, aubree.
Who lived with her mother when she was young.
Barnes: I met my dad, mike, for the first time.
I was probably like three or four.
I lived with my mom for majority of my life
And I would come up to northern utah to visit my dad.
Narrator: So now he seems to be enjoying
This second chance at fatherhood.
Barnes: My dad, he never got the chance
To be a part of my younger years.
And so he did get that second chance with nia
To help raise her and become her father figure.
Joy: He would get up with her in the middle of the night
If she was sick, he'd watch her if I needed
To go do something for a minute.
He just rolled with it and turned into
This father figure. That was wonderful.
Narrator: Before long, nia is turning two.
Let's dance.
Narrator: And then three.
And soon, mike, joy, and little nia
Are an inseparable and happy family unit.
My mom taking taking nia in,
And raising her
Was the best thing that could have happened for nia.
Nia needed like a good, stable home environment.
And and my mom and sid were giving it to her.
Narrator: After four years of hassle,
Joy's divorce to fred is finally settled.
And so, in February 2011, mike has a surprise for joy.
Joy: He'd come home and he just kind of
Walked in the kitchen and got down on his knee
And just said, "I can't wait any longer.
You know, I could ask you right now,
You know, will you marry me?"
And then he had a ring and he put it on my finger
And and I cried because I didn't --
I wasn't expecting that.
I was just kind of come out of the blue.
Narrator: With everything going so well for the happy couple.
It's easy to forget joy's troubled past
And her troubled ex-husband, fred.
Persson: After a few years of them being separated,
It seemed my dad was having such a hard time
Adjusting still and adapting,
It was still so just obsessed with my mom.
Narrator: And his behavior towards joy has escalated.
Fred is becoming more than just a nuisance,
He has started stalking joy,
Who has concerns for the safety of her family.
He stalked me on purpose because he knew it scared me
And he thought it was funny that he could scare me.
He bought this other car, a mach 1,
And he put "stalker" on the back of the car,
He wrote "stalker" on it. He thought it was funny.
And he came to the bank I was at.
And the bank president walked me out the back door
So I wouldn't have to talk to him,
That he still came up to the car and tried to take nia.
Narrator: Joy has to get a protective order against fred.
But is determined not to let him
Get in the way of her happiness.
April 30, 2011.
And mike and joy are tying the knot.
Joy: It was his first wedding and so my second one,
But, you know, my first one was a lot different
And so I wanted to be a fun wedding and everybody to come
And just enjoy theirself.
So it was that it and it was really fun.
Narrator: Joy's grandchildren help walk her down the aisle.
And their friends and family film their special day.
♪♪
Jessica: You know, it was the next step in their relationship,
You know, because they were was happy
And everything was just falling into place for their,
You know, their new life, they was going to begin you know?
Narrator: Mike's daughter, aubree,
Is also one of joy's bridesmaids.
My dad sent me a picture of the ring that he bought for joy
And told me that he was going to marry her.
She is what made him happy.
So I was like, "okay, let's do this."
Narrator: It's been a long time coming,
But mike has finally secured his joy.
And the couple has filed to get permanent custody of nia.
I wanted her to have that father for eternity.
I wanted her to be in my family and be part of it.
♪♪
Narrator: It's Thursday, July 3, 2014. And the sidwells are preparing
For the start of a holiday weekend.
So we were just going to play out in the yard and in the pool
And have a barbecue
And the next day would watch fireworks.
Awoo!
Narrator: Five-year-old nia
Is out visiting her aunt jessica for the day.
Jessica: I was living with my dad at that time
And I had asked my mom
If I could take nia for the day,
And she said, yeah, I could take her,
But she didn't want nia to go around my dad.
But I felt sympathy for my dad. So I took nia over
To spend some time with my dad while I was there.
And I, I lied to my mom that day.
Hey, jess. -That afternoon,
Jessica calls and asks if she can keep nia a little longer.
Joy has a business appointment at 7:30 that evening anyway,
So they agree that jessica will drop nia off with mike later on.
Joy leaves mike at home alone, ready for nia's arrival.
Sid was being cute and had this pull all blown up
And ready for her to play in when jessica dropped her off.
And so he was still trying to be that good dad.
Narrator: That evening, at 8:15, joy gets a call.
[ cell phone rings ]
-Hello? -Grandma.
Narrator: It's her grandson, jessica's son, riley.
He's calling to let her know that he and jessica
Have dropped nia off with mike.
I'm kind of in the middle of something.
-This might sound weird... -But there's something else.
Riley said, "we just dropped nia off and we seen fred
Hiding behind the van."
Are you sure it was him?
Narrator: The protective order means
Fred isn't allowed to be anywhere near joy's house.
And so I immediately just ran out the door
And started calling mike, and he didn't answer.
[ quietly ] come on, mike.
♪♪
Let's going 100 on the freeway with the flashers on.
I was just going as fast as I could go to get there.
Because I was, like, 20 minutes away.
Narrator: The caller is joy and mike's neighbor.
Police from all over the county respond.
[ sirens wail ]
Adams: I would say that an active shooter situation
Is probably about the highest priority thing
That we can respond to.
Everybody kind of dropping what they're doing to as quickly
And effectively stop that activity from continuing on.
[ sirens wail ]
[ radio chatter ]
I pulled up and I retrieved my, my patrol rifle from my vehicle.
Narrator: Heavily-armed officers make their way across the complex.
Adams: I remember in the back of my mind
Thinking "we're probably screwed here."
It would be very easy to be ambushed.
♪♪
We were probably only about 20 feet away
When he came around the corner.
He kept yelling at us to kill him.
He started to reach inside of his coveralls
And what was going through my mind
Was that he's he's about to pull out a gun.
We paused milliseconds long enough to not pull triggers,
That intuition saved fred's life
As he came out of his bibs with an empty hand.
And he went to the ground.
We were able to handcuff him.
♪♪
Narrator: With fred in custody,
Officers begin to search the housing complex.
They find weapons on the lawn in front of joy and mike's unit
Laid out on the grass are a 12-gauge shotgun.
And a nine millimeter handgun.
The door to the unit is smashed in.
Adams: We did not know where joy was.
We did not know if there were other people in the home
Or if fred was acting alone
Narrator: And there's no sign of 5-year-old nia.
[ nia speaking indistinctly ]
[ siren wails ]
Narrator: As officers search joy and mike sidwell's home,
They make a terrible discovery...
[ camera shutter clicks ]
...The body of mike sidwell.
But there's no sign of nia.
Just before 9:00 p.M.,
Joy arrives back at her home, now a crime scene.
Joy: All I could do, when I got there was just stand out
In the road and stare and. And not know what's going on in.
And they said that fred killed mike.
Like that in my brain, it's like that's not possible.
He can't have been killed, he can't have been killed by him.
[ echoes ] my granddaughter!
And they didn't know where nia was at.
I'm like, "you got to find nia nia's there. He took her."
He took her."
Wienmuller: Once I got to the scene
And I learned that nia, a 5-year-old
Was in the house at the time that the incident occurred.
So we were very concerned for her safety.
Nia!
Joy: I didn't know if he had done something to her to hurt her
Or hold her hostage or something like, but --
Or if he had killed her. I did. I didn't know.
Officer: We'll find your granddaughter.
[ cries ]
Grandma!
Narrator: Joy is overwhelmed when she sees nia emerge
From a house across the street.
When she seen me she just you know,
She just clung to me, just clung to me.
And I was just so happy to see her that she was okay.
So I was happy she was okay and she was happy that I was okay.
And she's just little, you know,
So she -- just -- she's hanging on me, you know?
And then he was looking... Narrator: Nia is terrified.
But describes what she saw.
She said that fred had shot "siddy" in the nose
And then she pointed with her left hand
And she said the bullet's right here.
Narrator: Nia, I was able to get herself to safety.
Wienmuller: She went out the door,
Then she contacted the neighbor there, which I'm so grateful
That they answered the door at that time
For that 5-year-old little girl.
Narrator: After nia has told police what she saw her grandpa do,
Lindon city detectives start questioning fred.
My role was just to let fred kind of tell his story,
Which happened very easily. In this case.
I think fred was almost a little proud of what he'd done.
I don't believe in any of the interview
He ever said he was sorry for going over there
To try to take joy's life.
Narrator: He begins to tell detectives exactly what happened.
Gray: Fred was very calm and collected during the interview.
I had to keep telling myself this individual
Just killed somebody.
♪♪
He was able to push the door in and make access
And he said right then he saw nia.
It was probably less than a half an hour before that
She was at fred's house, spending time with him
And now she's over having to witness this.
I can only speculate to the irreparable damage
That that probably does to the child's psyche.
Narrator: But fred is still on a rampage, determined to find joy.
While he searches upstairs, nia makes her escape.
Running to a neighbor's house.
With no luck finding joy,
Fred heads outside to continue his search.
And begins shooting at the other condos.
Eventually, finding neighbor ron mabe at home.
Gray: His mission was not yet complete.
So I do believe that anybody
That stood in fred's way at that point,
Would have been a potential victim in this case.
Narrator: Ron has already alerted the police and within minutes
The squad cars are approaching.
Running out of ammo, fred leaves his weapons on the lawn.
Gray: I don't know that I've stared maybe a pure evil down before.
That's kind of what came across to me.
Narrator: Fred lee is charged with aggravated murder,
Assault, and burglary, attempted murder,
Stalking, and unlawful possession of firearms.
He makes a legal deal and pleads guilty to murder,
Aggravated burglary, stalking, and domestic violence
In the presence of a child.
He is sentenced to 21 years to life.
Joy: The last day in court before he got sentenced,
All he could say was, "I wish joy would have been more understanding."
I mean, he just.
He never was sorry for it.
Gray: You just never know, I guess, in a small community
What evil lurks just right next door to you.
Narrator: His daughters struggle to comprehend what he did.
Jessica: Do I forgive him? Probably not.
Mostly because not only did he kill sid,
But he he took himself out of our life.
We needed him.
Narrator: Saying goodbye to mike is the hardest thing of all.
Barnes: He won't ever be able to be a grandpa.
He will never be able to, like, walk me down the aisle.
He won't ever be able to, like, see my failures or my successes.
And like, that's what sucks the most.
You dad's supposed to be like your number one fan.
And he's he is, but he's my guardian angel.
Joy: I miss him every day, I miss his happiness,
His fun, he's taken care of me,
And I feel like I don't have any dreams left.