1 00:00:12,681 --> 00:00:16,400 [music playing] 2 00:00:18,312 --> 00:00:19,842 Imagine this. 3 00:00:19,946 --> 00:00:25,089 A husband moves a mistress into a family home, but guess what? 4 00:00:25,194 --> 00:00:27,384 His wife is there too. 5 00:00:27,488 --> 00:00:29,017 She's upstairs. 6 00:00:29,121 --> 00:00:30,581 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON VIDEO): She 7 00:00:30,685 --> 00:00:33,119 has [bleep] moved into my house with me and my five kids. 8 00:00:33,222 --> 00:00:35,656 The [bleep] should have stayed up in [bleep] Michigan. 9 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:37,151 She shouldn't have moved down here. 10 00:00:37,256 --> 00:00:38,507 She shouldn't have moved into my house. 11 00:00:38,611 --> 00:00:40,174 How could she have probably have thought 12 00:00:40,279 --> 00:00:43,129 that was going to go well? 13 00:00:43,234 --> 00:00:47,022 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: That's the voice of Ann Marie Anastasi 14 00:00:47,126 --> 00:00:49,595 who decides to do something about her cheating 15 00:00:49,699 --> 00:00:56,060 husband, Anthony, and his mistress, Jacqueline Riggs. 16 00:00:56,164 --> 00:00:59,257 The police department receives a 911 17 00:00:59,361 --> 00:01:07,356 call reporting that, my husband is not breathing. 18 00:01:07,460 --> 00:01:08,920 And it's just that. 19 00:01:09,024 --> 00:01:16,601 This mystery starts unraveling the minute 911 is called. 20 00:01:16,705 --> 00:01:19,278 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Who's done what? 21 00:01:19,382 --> 00:01:23,934 I'm Michelle Trachtenberg, and this is "Meet, Marry, Murder." 22 00:01:24,039 --> 00:01:27,514 [music playing] 23 00:01:37,004 --> 00:01:41,975 In 2015, Maryland, and the Anastasis 24 00:01:42,079 --> 00:01:44,129 look like a typical family. 25 00:01:44,234 --> 00:01:46,458 CAROLYN CANVILLE: Ann Marie and Anthony Anastasi 26 00:01:46,562 --> 00:01:48,961 had been married for 18 years. 27 00:01:49,065 --> 00:01:50,456 They had five kids. 28 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,306 They lived in a rented home in this little town 29 00:01:53,410 --> 00:01:54,731 called Lothian, Maryland. 30 00:01:54,835 --> 00:01:58,067 It's about less than an hour from Washington D.C. 31 00:01:58,171 --> 00:01:59,528 JASON KNIGHT: It's a nice house. 32 00:01:59,632 --> 00:02:02,135 I mean, it's a nice probably four, five-bedroom home 33 00:02:02,239 --> 00:02:06,549 on a sizable chunk of land in the southern part 34 00:02:06,653 --> 00:02:08,913 of the county, which is pretty rural. 35 00:02:09,017 --> 00:02:12,075 Nothing out of the ordinary, apparently. 36 00:02:12,179 --> 00:02:16,489 But things are not quite as they seemed. 37 00:02:16,593 --> 00:02:20,521 They had a rather unconventional marriage. 38 00:02:20,626 --> 00:02:22,502 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Unconventional? 39 00:02:22,606 --> 00:02:24,345 You got that right. 40 00:02:24,450 --> 00:02:26,221 Younger woman in the basement. 41 00:02:26,325 --> 00:02:31,192 She isn't the nanny, she isn't a relative or a friend. 42 00:02:31,296 --> 00:02:33,382 She's a lover. 43 00:02:36,927 --> 00:02:40,855 So when did the twosome become a threesome? 44 00:02:40,959 --> 00:02:45,547 It's a story which starts 700 miles away when Anthony 45 00:02:45,651 --> 00:02:48,988 first meets Jackie Riggs. 46 00:02:49,093 --> 00:02:54,097 The Anastasis lived in Saunt Ste Marie, Michigan, 47 00:02:54,201 --> 00:02:55,244 on the upper Peninsula. 48 00:02:55,349 --> 00:02:58,582 Anthony was a volunteer youth hockey coach. 49 00:02:58,685 --> 00:03:02,543 During his coaching he met Miss Riggs. 50 00:03:02,649 --> 00:03:04,560 CAROLYN CANVILLE: She's 25 years old. 51 00:03:04,664 --> 00:03:08,454 Now Ann Marie's 43, and her husband is a few years younger. 52 00:03:08,558 --> 00:03:11,372 And at some point along the way, 53 00:03:11,477 --> 00:03:13,389 some sort of romantic relationship 54 00:03:13,493 --> 00:03:18,185 developed that was extramarital to his relationship 55 00:03:18,290 --> 00:03:19,957 with Ann Anastasi. 56 00:03:20,062 --> 00:03:22,773 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: What do we know about Jackie? 57 00:03:22,877 --> 00:03:25,415 Everybody says she's a straight up woman-- 58 00:03:25,519 --> 00:03:26,805 loves kids. 59 00:03:26,909 --> 00:03:34,139 But she's a woman Ann Anastasi never wanted to see again. 60 00:03:34,243 --> 00:03:35,599 JASON KNIGHT: At some point in time 61 00:03:35,703 --> 00:03:39,353 the Anastasis left Michigan and moved as a family 62 00:03:39,457 --> 00:03:41,855 to Lothian, Maryland, in Anne Arundel County. 63 00:03:41,959 --> 00:03:44,810 Mrs. Anastasi believed at the time 64 00:03:44,914 --> 00:03:47,451 that that would be the end of Mr. 65 00:03:47,555 --> 00:03:51,517 Anastasi's extramarital relationship with Miss Riggs. 66 00:03:51,622 --> 00:03:55,585 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Ann and Anthony came from Maryland 67 00:03:55,689 --> 00:03:57,495 and want to go home. 68 00:03:57,600 --> 00:03:58,747 Why? 69 00:03:58,851 --> 00:04:04,413 Ann wants to put 700 miles between her and Jackie. 70 00:04:04,517 --> 00:04:08,966 JASON KNIGHT: Subsequent to the Anastasis moving to Maryland, 71 00:04:09,070 --> 00:04:13,486 Miss Riggs was moved by Mr. Anastasi from Michigan 72 00:04:13,589 --> 00:04:18,073 down to Maryland, and moved into the Anastasi's basement. 73 00:04:18,177 --> 00:04:19,394 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Anthony decides 74 00:04:19,498 --> 00:04:21,514 he wants to move Jacqueline into the house, 75 00:04:21,618 --> 00:04:23,357 let's have her live with us and we can 76 00:04:23,461 --> 00:04:24,782 all live happily ever after. 77 00:04:24,885 --> 00:04:25,999 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON VIDEO): She 78 00:04:26,102 --> 00:04:27,249 shouldn't have moved down here. 79 00:04:27,353 --> 00:04:28,466 She shouldn't have moved into my house. 80 00:04:28,569 --> 00:04:29,405 How could she possible have thought 81 00:04:29,509 --> 00:04:31,212 that was going to go well? 82 00:04:31,316 --> 00:04:34,514 Once she was there, she was-- 83 00:04:34,618 --> 00:04:37,921 maybe not quite a member of the family, but lived there. 84 00:04:38,025 --> 00:04:41,639 And Mrs. Anastasi, actually from what we understand, 85 00:04:41,744 --> 00:04:46,435 made dinner and Miss Riggs would join the entire family 86 00:04:46,540 --> 00:04:48,626 for dinner in the evenings. 87 00:04:48,730 --> 00:04:50,120 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Does Jackie Riggs 88 00:04:50,224 --> 00:04:52,101 know what she's getting into? 89 00:04:52,205 --> 00:04:55,821 She's 25 and moving in with a family as a lover 90 00:04:55,926 --> 00:04:58,149 to the dad and husband? 91 00:04:58,253 --> 00:04:59,991 Crazy, right? 92 00:05:00,096 --> 00:05:03,397 And it's no five-star hotel either. 93 00:05:03,502 --> 00:05:06,178 JASON KNIGHT: The physical environment in which Miss Riggs 94 00:05:06,283 --> 00:05:11,288 lived with the Anastasis did not objectively look very pleasant. 95 00:05:11,392 --> 00:05:16,014 Concrete floors, no walls, you know, no real privacy 96 00:05:16,119 --> 00:05:17,232 in the basement. 97 00:05:17,335 --> 00:05:19,387 The basement was unfinished but it had 98 00:05:19,491 --> 00:05:21,402 a bed and some of the other-- 99 00:05:21,506 --> 00:05:23,801 some furniture that you would put in a place to make it 100 00:05:23,905 --> 00:05:25,991 look like a bedroom. 101 00:05:26,095 --> 00:05:29,744 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Anthony Anastasi has got it made. 102 00:05:29,848 --> 00:05:36,244 A young lover downstairs, the Mrs looking after the kids-- 103 00:05:36,348 --> 00:05:37,878 guess what? 104 00:05:37,982 --> 00:05:42,257 Ann Marie put up with it, but she hates it. 105 00:05:42,361 --> 00:05:47,054 She clearly hoped that the relationship terminated when 106 00:05:47,159 --> 00:05:48,757 they moved to Maryland, and was very 107 00:05:48,861 --> 00:05:51,085 disappointed when Miss Riggs moved 108 00:05:51,190 --> 00:05:53,901 back in with them subsequently. 109 00:05:54,005 --> 00:05:57,169 But there was-- we never saw anything 110 00:05:57,272 --> 00:05:59,740 where she put up some sort of resistance 111 00:05:59,845 --> 00:06:01,062 and tried to prevent it. 112 00:06:01,166 --> 00:06:02,696 Ann Marie may be disappointed-- 113 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,511 that doesn't stop her joining Jackie 114 00:06:05,615 --> 00:06:09,682 and Anthony for a literal three-way in the basement. 115 00:06:09,785 --> 00:06:12,115 JASON KNIGHT: The little bit that I know about it was 116 00:06:12,218 --> 00:06:17,050 that Mrs. Anastasi stated that at one point in time 117 00:06:17,154 --> 00:06:21,673 Mr. Anastasi had convinced her to engage in sexual activity 118 00:06:21,777 --> 00:06:25,253 with him and Miss Riggs, but Mrs. Anastasi said that only 119 00:06:25,358 --> 00:06:27,616 ever happened the one time, she didn't like it, 120 00:06:27,721 --> 00:06:30,746 and refused to participate in that ever again. 121 00:06:30,850 --> 00:06:32,240 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: And guess what? 122 00:06:32,344 --> 00:06:36,967 Anthony focuses on the 25-year-old downstairs. 123 00:06:37,072 --> 00:06:41,137 The mother of his kids, and his wife, 124 00:06:41,242 --> 00:06:43,675 she's out of the sexual picture. 125 00:06:43,779 --> 00:06:48,403 Now, suddenly, this threesome is becoming a twosome. 126 00:06:48,506 --> 00:06:52,955 It's like three's a crowd and Ann Marie isn't invited. 127 00:06:53,059 --> 00:06:57,369 Now, Anthony and Jacqueline are having sex more often 128 00:06:57,473 --> 00:07:00,498 and Ann Marie is on the outs. 129 00:07:00,603 --> 00:07:02,340 Pretty soon, before she knows it, 130 00:07:02,444 --> 00:07:06,755 Ann Marie's husband is basically living with this younger woman 131 00:07:06,859 --> 00:07:08,180 down in the basement. 132 00:07:08,285 --> 00:07:10,055 MAN (ON RECORDING): I have to ask this question in. 133 00:07:10,161 --> 00:07:12,176 Do you think that your husband and Jacqueline 134 00:07:12,281 --> 00:07:13,428 were messing around? 135 00:07:13,532 --> 00:07:14,297 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): 136 00:07:14,401 --> 00:07:15,339 Oh I know they were. 137 00:07:15,443 --> 00:07:16,382 MAN (ON RECORDING): They were? 138 00:07:16,486 --> 00:07:17,529 And how do you know they were? 139 00:07:17,633 --> 00:07:18,503 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): 140 00:07:18,607 --> 00:07:19,268 Because he'd spend most-- 141 00:07:19,372 --> 00:07:20,867 Well, not most. 142 00:07:20,970 --> 00:07:22,812 He spent a lot of nights down there with the doors locked. 143 00:07:22,917 --> 00:07:24,377 Like a lot of them. 144 00:07:24,482 --> 00:07:26,149 MAN (ON RECORDING): Did you ever confront them about it? 145 00:07:26,253 --> 00:07:27,609 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): 146 00:07:27,713 --> 00:07:30,181 I was told that, basically, to mind my own business. 147 00:07:30,286 --> 00:07:32,371 He's going to do what he wants to do, and if I don't like it 148 00:07:32,475 --> 00:07:34,908 I can get the [bleep] out of the house. 149 00:07:35,013 --> 00:07:37,237 And I'm not going to abandon my kids 150 00:07:37,341 --> 00:07:40,087 and leave them in that kind of situation. 151 00:07:40,191 --> 00:07:43,772 JASON KNIGHT: Mrs. Anastasi was questioned by the police 152 00:07:43,876 --> 00:07:46,587 in some detail, essentially along the lines 153 00:07:46,691 --> 00:07:51,522 of, you're a human, you cannot be OK with 154 00:07:51,627 --> 00:07:53,087 the behavior in which your husband 155 00:07:53,192 --> 00:07:54,547 was engaged with Miss Riggs. 156 00:07:54,651 --> 00:07:56,320 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: One day the cops are going 157 00:07:56,424 --> 00:07:58,266 to need to prove Ann doesn't like 158 00:07:58,369 --> 00:08:00,942 Anthony having sex with Jackie. 159 00:08:01,046 --> 00:08:05,391 This phone secret recording is going to help their case. 160 00:08:05,495 --> 00:08:06,538 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): 161 00:08:06,642 --> 00:08:08,727 Problem is, it's not only him. 162 00:08:08,832 --> 00:08:12,656 There's also a 24-year-old girl who is dead at my basement. 163 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:14,915 She's a [bleep] who moved into my house 164 00:08:15,019 --> 00:08:16,897 with me and my five kids. 165 00:08:17,001 --> 00:08:19,920 [bleep] should have stayed up in [bleep] Michigan. 166 00:08:20,025 --> 00:08:22,248 And Ann Marie is basically, my 18-year 167 00:08:22,352 --> 00:08:24,682 marriage is basically over. 168 00:08:24,786 --> 00:08:28,157 I've just lost him to this younger woman. 169 00:08:28,262 --> 00:08:30,731 The information we developed subsequently 170 00:08:30,834 --> 00:08:32,920 when we were listening to her phone calls 171 00:08:33,024 --> 00:08:35,144 while she was incarcerated certainly 172 00:08:35,248 --> 00:08:37,960 demonstrated that she was incredibly 173 00:08:38,065 --> 00:08:40,009 devastated emotionally, and that's what drove 174 00:08:40,115 --> 00:08:41,644 her to commit these crimes. 175 00:08:41,749 --> 00:08:45,953 Ann Marie wants her husband to stop cheating in her own home. 176 00:08:46,057 --> 00:08:47,797 Enough is enough. 177 00:08:47,901 --> 00:08:51,794 She elected to just become the judge, jury, and executioner 178 00:08:51,898 --> 00:08:55,652 on her own, and decided that Mr. Anastasi was going to die, 179 00:08:55,757 --> 00:08:57,249 and Miss Riggs was going to die. 180 00:08:57,353 --> 00:08:58,259 It's the planned. 181 00:08:58,362 --> 00:09:00,240 It's the blueprint for murder. 182 00:09:18,036 --> 00:09:21,094 Half of women killed are murdered by their partners. 183 00:09:21,198 --> 00:09:25,196 Honestly, we should be careful who we get into bed with. 184 00:09:25,300 --> 00:09:31,383 I'm Michelle Trachtenberg, and this is "Meet, Marry, Murder." 185 00:09:31,487 --> 00:09:34,580 Men can be victims too, like Anthony 186 00:09:34,684 --> 00:09:40,559 Anastasi, whose wife discovers he's been spending her cash. 187 00:09:40,663 --> 00:09:43,479 She had this million-dollar trust fund. 188 00:09:43,583 --> 00:09:45,668 They spend it all, and he's telling 189 00:09:45,772 --> 00:09:48,275 her to go back to her family and get even more money. 190 00:09:48,380 --> 00:09:51,229 And whenever they get more money he spends it on himself, 191 00:09:51,334 --> 00:09:55,227 he buys himself flat screen TVs, and Harley-Davidson 192 00:09:55,332 --> 00:09:56,409 motorcycles. 193 00:09:56,513 --> 00:09:58,667 It's all about Anthony and what Anthony needs, 194 00:09:58,772 --> 00:09:59,814 what Anthony wants. 195 00:09:59,919 --> 00:10:01,171 JASON KNIGHT: She certainly seemed 196 00:10:01,275 --> 00:10:03,707 to be someone who was suffering from some sort 197 00:10:03,811 --> 00:10:05,342 of emotional abuse. 198 00:10:05,446 --> 00:10:07,914 What makes this so difficult is that she elected 199 00:10:08,019 --> 00:10:11,042 to not avail yourself of any resources whatsoever, 200 00:10:11,146 --> 00:10:12,467 to not seek help. 201 00:10:12,571 --> 00:10:16,394 She elected to just become the judge, jury, and executioner 202 00:10:16,498 --> 00:10:20,253 on her own, and decided that Mr. Anastasi was going to die, 203 00:10:20,358 --> 00:10:22,859 and Miss Riggs was going to die, and that 204 00:10:22,964 --> 00:10:26,475 was the only resolution to this problem. 205 00:10:26,579 --> 00:10:27,795 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Maybe she's 206 00:10:27,900 --> 00:10:30,541 happy to be judge and jury, but she isn't 207 00:10:30,646 --> 00:10:32,522 happy to pull the trigger. 208 00:10:32,626 --> 00:10:35,164 So Ann reaches out to her daughter. 209 00:10:39,126 --> 00:10:40,656 MAN (ON RECORDING): We got some records, 210 00:10:40,759 --> 00:10:45,417 and that night you and [bleep] talk to her for 582 seconds-- 211 00:10:45,521 --> 00:10:46,738 3:00 in the morning. 212 00:10:46,842 --> 00:10:47,885 That's about 10 minutes. 213 00:10:47,991 --> 00:10:49,032 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): 214 00:10:49,138 --> 00:10:50,353 That might have been a butt dial. 215 00:10:50,459 --> 00:10:51,917 MAN (ON RECORDING): That's not a butt dial, 216 00:10:52,021 --> 00:10:53,620 that's a long conversation. 217 00:10:53,725 --> 00:10:55,289 BRIAN HARRIS: Ann Marie convinced 218 00:10:55,394 --> 00:10:58,347 her daughter that Anthony was discarding 219 00:10:58,451 --> 00:11:01,407 Ann Marie as a piece of trash. 220 00:11:01,511 --> 00:11:03,804 She tells her 13-year-old daughter, 221 00:11:03,908 --> 00:11:06,620 your father has to die. 222 00:11:06,725 --> 00:11:08,462 Her mother talks her into this. 223 00:11:08,566 --> 00:11:11,313 She gets involved in this murder plot. 224 00:11:11,417 --> 00:11:16,491 She's a kid, and she's just trying to please her mother. 225 00:11:16,595 --> 00:11:19,793 The teenage girl has her own reasons to be angry. 226 00:11:19,898 --> 00:11:23,373 She overhears her father and Jackie talking about starting 227 00:11:23,478 --> 00:11:25,146 their own family. 228 00:11:25,251 --> 00:11:29,977 So now, his daughter faces seeing her dad having a baby 229 00:11:30,082 --> 00:11:35,851 with a woman young enough to be her sister, all while living 230 00:11:35,955 --> 00:11:37,590 in their house. 231 00:11:37,694 --> 00:11:41,065 Mother and daughter agree Anthony 232 00:11:41,169 --> 00:11:44,506 and Jacqueline should die, and they know 233 00:11:44,610 --> 00:11:47,287 someone who could do the job. 234 00:11:47,391 --> 00:11:49,895 Messages on Ann Marie's phone tell 235 00:11:49,999 --> 00:11:52,605 us who agreed to be the hitman. 236 00:11:52,709 --> 00:11:55,038 They examine Ann Marie's phone, 237 00:11:55,143 --> 00:12:00,113 and they find these text messages between Ann Marie, 238 00:12:00,217 --> 00:12:04,319 her 13-year-old daughter, Sarah, and Sarah's 18-year-old 239 00:12:04,422 --> 00:12:06,579 boyfriend, Gabriel Struss. 240 00:12:06,683 --> 00:12:11,827 In those text messages they're talking about a gun 241 00:12:11,930 --> 00:12:14,920 and the murder of two people. 242 00:12:15,024 --> 00:12:16,588 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: But what's in it for Gabriel? 243 00:12:16,692 --> 00:12:21,489 He has nothing against Anthony Anastasi and Jacqueline Riggs. 244 00:12:21,593 --> 00:12:23,713 But this is a kid with a past-- 245 00:12:23,817 --> 00:12:26,391 not a good one. 246 00:12:26,494 --> 00:12:29,483 JASON KNIGHT: Gabriel Struss was a young man who 247 00:12:29,587 --> 00:12:31,709 had a very difficult childhood. 248 00:12:31,813 --> 00:12:35,566 Now here's a guy who has no criminal record. 249 00:12:35,669 --> 00:12:39,146 He's basically sort of raised himself on the streets 250 00:12:39,250 --> 00:12:40,293 from the time he's seven. 251 00:12:40,397 --> 00:12:45,818 JASON KNIGHT: He was adopted as a young man, 252 00:12:45,924 --> 00:12:49,817 subsequently left his adoptive family to return 253 00:12:49,922 --> 00:12:51,624 to his biological family. 254 00:12:51,729 --> 00:12:55,552 He wound up at the time of the murder living 255 00:12:55,656 --> 00:13:00,939 in very unfortunate conditions a few miles away 256 00:13:01,044 --> 00:13:02,121 from the Anastasis. 257 00:13:02,226 --> 00:13:04,588 And he's basically raised himself, period. 258 00:13:04,693 --> 00:13:08,065 He really didn't have a great growing up life, 259 00:13:08,169 --> 00:13:09,697 basically kind of a homeless guy, 260 00:13:09,802 --> 00:13:11,923 and kind of a guy who could be led. 261 00:13:12,027 --> 00:13:13,348 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Ann Marie sees 262 00:13:13,452 --> 00:13:17,311 Gabriel Struss as a sucker, hers to boss around. 263 00:13:17,415 --> 00:13:18,875 CAROLYN CANVILLE: This young boy-- 264 00:13:18,979 --> 00:13:23,149 he's 18, but he's not terribly sophisticated, hasn't had 265 00:13:23,253 --> 00:13:24,610 a great upbringing, doesn't-- 266 00:13:24,714 --> 00:13:26,556 he's kind of gullible. 267 00:13:26,660 --> 00:13:29,510 JASON KNIGHT: Mr. Struss was uniquely 268 00:13:29,614 --> 00:13:36,289 positioned to fall victim to Mrs. Anastasi's manipulations. 269 00:13:36,393 --> 00:13:42,511 So now you have the story of this scorned wife who 270 00:13:42,615 --> 00:13:46,055 has convinced her daughter to join her in this plot, 271 00:13:46,159 --> 00:13:48,489 and, Oh, let's get your boyfriend 272 00:13:48,593 --> 00:13:51,025 to do the dirty work for us. 273 00:13:51,129 --> 00:13:53,807 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: The messaging between these three, 274 00:13:53,911 --> 00:13:56,067 don't think they're not going to be found. 275 00:13:56,171 --> 00:13:58,881 Cell phones break secrets. 276 00:13:58,985 --> 00:14:00,411 He was communicating over Kik-- 277 00:14:00,514 --> 00:14:02,739 it's one of those apps that if you use it it's supposed 278 00:14:02,843 --> 00:14:04,720 to delete after you used. 279 00:14:04,825 --> 00:14:07,571 Like so he was communicating with her over Kik and Snapchat, 280 00:14:07,676 --> 00:14:10,108 the things that teenagers do. 281 00:14:10,213 --> 00:14:12,993 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: The texts are a dead giveaway, 282 00:14:13,097 --> 00:14:14,626 a blueprint for murder. 283 00:14:14,730 --> 00:14:17,512 CAROLYN CANVILLE: In those text messages, 284 00:14:17,616 --> 00:14:22,447 they're talking about a gun and the murder of two people. 285 00:14:25,368 --> 00:14:29,260 Mr. Struss told us that the night of the murder he 286 00:14:29,364 --> 00:14:32,945 was picked up by Mrs. Anastasi in her car 287 00:14:33,048 --> 00:14:35,863 and driven to the Anastasi home. 288 00:14:35,968 --> 00:14:41,112 He got out of the car and hid in the yard for some amount 289 00:14:41,217 --> 00:14:43,719 of time that he could not specify, because he claimed 290 00:14:43,824 --> 00:14:46,361 to have actually gone to sleep out in the yard 291 00:14:46,465 --> 00:14:47,959 while he was out there. 292 00:14:48,063 --> 00:14:50,254 At some point in the middle of the night, 293 00:14:50,358 --> 00:14:52,234 he received a message on his phone 294 00:14:52,339 --> 00:14:54,390 calling him into the house. 295 00:14:54,494 --> 00:14:58,352 Gabriel Struss goes into the Anastasi house that night, 296 00:14:58,457 --> 00:15:00,611 and he's ready to kill. 297 00:15:00,716 --> 00:15:04,609 He's following the order of his girlfriend's mother. 298 00:15:04,713 --> 00:15:09,927 She knows that she has to make Jacqueline's death 299 00:15:10,031 --> 00:15:13,334 look like a crime of passion, of rage. 300 00:15:13,438 --> 00:15:18,930 It was a very, just brutal, gruesome scene in the basement. 301 00:15:34,639 --> 00:15:39,331 This is "Meet, Marry, Murder," and I'm Michelle Trachtenberg. 302 00:15:39,436 --> 00:15:43,573 We are in Lothian, Maryland, and an 18-year-old kid Gabriel 303 00:15:43,678 --> 00:15:45,971 Struss is following his girlfriend's mother's 304 00:15:46,075 --> 00:15:49,100 plan to kill Anthony Anastasi. 305 00:15:49,203 --> 00:15:52,193 He creeps into the family home. 306 00:15:52,297 --> 00:15:55,564 BRIAN HARRIS: On October 4, 2015, 307 00:15:55,668 --> 00:16:03,593 Ann Marie hands Gabriel the handgun and a knife. 308 00:16:03,697 --> 00:16:04,983 Why? 309 00:16:05,088 --> 00:16:07,695 You see, Ann Marie's already thinking. 310 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:13,186 She knows that she has to make Jacqueline's death 311 00:16:13,291 --> 00:16:16,280 look like a crime of passion, of rage. 312 00:16:16,385 --> 00:16:20,415 CAROLYN CANVILLE: So he meets Ann Marie in the kitchen 313 00:16:20,519 --> 00:16:23,858 of the home, she gives him a knife, 314 00:16:23,962 --> 00:16:27,681 and then that night Gabriel goes down 315 00:16:27,785 --> 00:16:32,233 the stairs to Jacqueline's bedroom where she's sleeping, 316 00:16:32,338 --> 00:16:33,450 and he attacks. 317 00:16:37,274 --> 00:16:40,054 JASON KNIGHT: Miss Riggs did not die 318 00:16:40,159 --> 00:16:43,913 right away from one stab wound. 319 00:16:44,017 --> 00:16:47,527 A common misperception is that-- from movies 320 00:16:47,632 --> 00:16:48,918 and TV-- is that if you stab someone 321 00:16:49,023 --> 00:16:51,177 once that they just die. 322 00:16:51,281 --> 00:16:56,773 But the reality is that Miss Riggs was stabbed and woke up, 323 00:16:56,877 --> 00:16:59,101 and fight or flight kicked in, and Miss Riggs started putting 324 00:16:59,205 --> 00:17:04,941 up quite a fight, and Mr. Struss had to stab her multiple times 325 00:17:05,046 --> 00:17:09,424 all over the chest, the head, the face, before he 326 00:17:09,528 --> 00:17:11,858 was able to actually kill her. 327 00:17:11,962 --> 00:17:15,472 And he stabs her 42 times. 328 00:17:15,576 --> 00:17:20,338 He just keeps stabbing her, and stabbing her, and stabbing her. 329 00:17:20,443 --> 00:17:22,841 And then when he's done she's not 330 00:17:22,946 --> 00:17:26,664 moving-- she's clearly dead. 331 00:17:26,768 --> 00:17:31,358 It was a very-- just brutal, gruesome scene in the basement 332 00:17:31,463 --> 00:17:32,747 with the amount of times he had to stab 333 00:17:32,851 --> 00:17:34,486 and the amount of force he had to use 334 00:17:34,590 --> 00:17:36,050 to actually kill Miss Riggs. 335 00:17:36,154 --> 00:17:39,177 She was fighting for her life and she did everything she 336 00:17:39,281 --> 00:17:43,210 could to ward off Mr. Struss. 337 00:17:43,315 --> 00:17:45,399 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Ann Marie has figured everything out, 338 00:17:45,503 --> 00:17:47,972 including her version of what's happened, 339 00:17:48,076 --> 00:17:51,170 down to the last detail. 340 00:17:51,274 --> 00:17:55,584 When the police come she wants them to think her husband 341 00:17:55,688 --> 00:18:01,006 has first killed Jackie and then himself. 342 00:18:01,111 --> 00:18:06,359 Once he had killed Miss Riggs, he went back upstairs. 343 00:18:06,464 --> 00:18:12,268 He then was given the . .380 handgun by Mrs. Anastasi. 344 00:18:12,372 --> 00:18:15,049 Gabriel Struss-- he's covered in the blood 345 00:18:15,153 --> 00:18:16,646 of Jacqueline Riggs. 346 00:18:16,752 --> 00:18:19,010 He heads up to the first floor to finish 347 00:18:19,114 --> 00:18:22,000 the job he had started. 348 00:18:22,104 --> 00:18:25,928 JASON KNIGHT: He then went upstairs and stood a couple 349 00:18:26,032 --> 00:18:29,229 of feet away from Mr. Anastasi's bed 350 00:18:29,333 --> 00:18:33,853 and fired the one round into Mr Anastasi's head. 351 00:18:38,301 --> 00:18:42,369 He then left the home and went back 352 00:18:42,473 --> 00:18:47,304 over to his home in the Annapolis area 353 00:18:47,408 --> 00:18:48,868 for the rest of the night. 354 00:18:48,972 --> 00:18:52,622 Miss Anastasi, from what we were able to gather, 355 00:18:52,726 --> 00:18:57,627 went and took the .45 caliber handgun that Mr. Anastasi 356 00:18:57,731 --> 00:19:00,477 had under his pillow at night out from under the pillow 357 00:19:00,582 --> 00:19:04,092 and put that into his hand to make it 358 00:19:04,196 --> 00:19:05,830 look as if he had shot himself. 359 00:19:05,934 --> 00:19:07,638 And then, according to the statement that she gave 360 00:19:07,741 --> 00:19:09,375 the police, she subsequently went 361 00:19:09,479 --> 00:19:12,816 and crawled in bed in a different room 362 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,083 and slept until the morning. 363 00:19:16,188 --> 00:19:17,544 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Nobody finds out 364 00:19:17,648 --> 00:19:21,992 what's happened in that big house on W Bay Front Rd. 365 00:19:22,097 --> 00:19:26,198 CAROLYN CANVILLE: It all looks normal until around lunchtime 366 00:19:26,302 --> 00:19:31,030 on October 5, 2015. 367 00:19:31,134 --> 00:19:35,965 The police department receives a 911 call. 368 00:19:36,070 --> 00:19:37,842 It's not a frantic call, but it's 369 00:19:37,947 --> 00:19:47,123 a 911 call reporting that, my husband is not breathing. 370 00:19:47,227 --> 00:19:48,652 And it's just that. 371 00:19:48,757 --> 00:19:52,579 This mystery, if one can call it that, 372 00:19:52,684 --> 00:19:56,993 starts unraveling the minute 9/11 is called. 373 00:19:57,098 --> 00:19:58,627 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): 374 00:19:58,732 --> 00:20:01,651 I just spent the day taking the kids to the dentist 375 00:20:01,756 --> 00:20:03,284 and then going grocery shopping. 376 00:20:03,389 --> 00:20:05,474 I'm supposed to be leaving to take my husband to a doctor's 377 00:20:05,579 --> 00:20:07,665 appointment right now. 378 00:20:07,769 --> 00:20:09,715 This 911 call-- 379 00:20:09,819 --> 00:20:12,879 what a bizarre call. 380 00:20:12,983 --> 00:20:17,987 The person is conversational, there's not a sense of panic, 381 00:20:18,093 --> 00:20:20,386 there's no heavy breathing. 382 00:20:20,490 --> 00:20:25,252 It's very matter of fact, hey, I came home and my husband's 383 00:20:25,356 --> 00:20:26,191 not breathing. 384 00:20:26,295 --> 00:20:27,512 He's laying on the bed. 385 00:20:27,615 --> 00:20:31,197 So he's not responding at all, and he's got his gun 386 00:20:31,301 --> 00:20:32,829 lying next to him in the bed. 387 00:20:32,933 --> 00:20:34,498 911 DISPATCHER (ON RECORDING): Do you think he shot himself? 388 00:20:34,602 --> 00:20:36,236 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): I don't know. 389 00:20:36,341 --> 00:20:37,695 I didn't turn the lights on in the room. 390 00:20:37,799 --> 00:20:40,095 Yeah, I think he killed himself. 391 00:20:40,198 --> 00:20:46,037 You know, just very nonchalant, matter of fact, conversational. 392 00:20:46,142 --> 00:20:47,498 Not panic. 393 00:20:47,601 --> 00:20:49,375 Where's that sheer panic? 394 00:20:49,479 --> 00:20:51,737 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: She may not have realized at the time, 395 00:20:51,842 --> 00:20:54,136 but from the very first moment she starts 396 00:20:54,241 --> 00:20:57,265 talking to the 911 dispatcher, Ann 397 00:20:57,369 --> 00:21:00,706 Marie is incriminating herself. 398 00:21:00,810 --> 00:21:03,277 BRIAN HARRIS: When the suspect themselves call 911, 399 00:21:03,381 --> 00:21:06,614 it's often in that first minute-- 400 00:21:06,719 --> 00:21:11,793 that first 2 minutes of that 911 call that either the motive 401 00:21:11,897 --> 00:21:14,713 will be revealed, or the alibi. 402 00:21:14,817 --> 00:21:16,694 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Brian Harris knows murder. 403 00:21:16,798 --> 00:21:19,788 He's investigated plenty as a homicide detective. 404 00:21:19,892 --> 00:21:25,279 They'll repeat over and over again what their alibi is. 405 00:21:25,383 --> 00:21:27,365 It's no different in this case. 406 00:21:27,469 --> 00:21:29,137 What's the alibi? 407 00:21:29,242 --> 00:21:34,491 Oh, I came home, was wondering where my husband was, 408 00:21:34,595 --> 00:21:36,715 and he's laying in the bed and he's not breathing. 409 00:21:36,819 --> 00:21:38,209 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): 410 00:21:38,314 --> 00:21:41,025 But he's not responding at all, and he's got his gun 411 00:21:41,130 --> 00:21:42,972 lying next to him in the bed. 412 00:21:43,076 --> 00:21:44,326 BRIAN HARRIS: So she clearly wants 413 00:21:44,430 --> 00:21:47,803 to establish that all these series of events 414 00:21:47,907 --> 00:21:49,785 that would take place in the home 415 00:21:49,888 --> 00:21:52,772 happened when she wasn't there. 416 00:21:52,877 --> 00:21:56,214 Now this emergency dispatcher is thinking, this is bizarre. 417 00:22:00,176 --> 00:22:02,261 JASON KNIGHT: So a couple of patrol officers 418 00:22:02,367 --> 00:22:03,930 from the Southern District of the Anne 419 00:22:04,034 --> 00:22:06,398 Arundel County Police Department responded to the scene. 420 00:22:06,502 --> 00:22:08,831 When they arrived at the Anastasi home, 421 00:22:08,935 --> 00:22:13,733 Mrs. Anastasi came outside and reported that her husband 422 00:22:13,837 --> 00:22:16,339 was dead inside. 423 00:22:16,443 --> 00:22:18,738 The police rush to this home and they 424 00:22:18,841 --> 00:22:22,561 see this, this charming house on the outside and they go inside 425 00:22:22,665 --> 00:22:25,412 and there's this house that is just filthy and full 426 00:22:25,516 --> 00:22:28,087 of clutter. 427 00:22:28,192 --> 00:22:31,528 When the officers get there and they go upstairs 428 00:22:31,633 --> 00:22:37,369 to the master bedroom, They find Mr. Anastasi lying on his back 429 00:22:37,473 --> 00:22:40,600 in his bed suffering from a single gunshot 430 00:22:40,705 --> 00:22:45,570 wound to the head with a pistol in his hand. 431 00:22:45,674 --> 00:22:47,795 CAROLYN CANVILLE: And Ann Marie says, well, 432 00:22:47,900 --> 00:22:49,603 you know, he was depressed. 433 00:22:49,708 --> 00:22:53,218 I mean-- so he obviously killed himself. 434 00:22:53,322 --> 00:23:00,169 So as a detective, if that's my scene I'm coming to, 435 00:23:00,273 --> 00:23:03,054 if somebody's trying to say it's suicide 436 00:23:03,158 --> 00:23:05,000 I'm going to look at that person's life. 437 00:23:05,104 --> 00:23:07,296 Sure Anthony's been depressed. 438 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:09,763 Sure Anthony's had some dark things 439 00:23:09,867 --> 00:23:13,204 going on in his life, kind of a bizarre lifestyle 440 00:23:13,308 --> 00:23:15,671 to begin with. 441 00:23:15,775 --> 00:23:19,945 But Anthony's own body would tell me a story. 442 00:23:20,050 --> 00:23:21,545 CAROLYN CANVILLE: Anthony is lying face 443 00:23:21,649 --> 00:23:24,222 up with a single bullet wound. 444 00:23:24,326 --> 00:23:27,489 He's dead, there's a gun lying next to him. 445 00:23:27,593 --> 00:23:30,827 You see, if there's suicide, you would have what's called 446 00:23:30,931 --> 00:23:36,075 stippling or tattooing from a close gunshot wound-- 447 00:23:36,178 --> 00:23:37,535 contact wound. 448 00:23:37,639 --> 00:23:41,740 Now, that bullet is hot, it's kind of like a branding iron. 449 00:23:41,844 --> 00:23:44,798 You have this huge explosion. 450 00:23:44,903 --> 00:23:48,831 Typically anywhere between 12 and 18 inches-- 451 00:23:48,935 --> 00:23:51,506 if I'm further away than that distance 452 00:23:51,611 --> 00:23:55,226 when I pull the trigger, the entry wound 453 00:23:55,330 --> 00:23:58,494 will be nice and clean. 454 00:23:58,598 --> 00:24:02,524 If I'm closer than that, I would expect to see what's 455 00:24:02,628 --> 00:24:04,437 called stippling or tattooing. 456 00:24:04,541 --> 00:24:07,808 That big explosion that comes out of the barrel of a gun, 457 00:24:07,912 --> 00:24:09,686 it has to go somewhere. 458 00:24:09,790 --> 00:24:12,188 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: The cops don't see what they expect. 459 00:24:12,293 --> 00:24:14,864 If it's a suicide they should see 460 00:24:14,967 --> 00:24:16,741 the stippling around the wound. 461 00:24:16,845 --> 00:24:21,538 From the minute they get in things aren't adding up. 462 00:24:21,642 --> 00:24:25,431 Now police aren't sure what they have on their hands. 463 00:24:25,536 --> 00:24:26,716 Is this a suicide? 464 00:24:26,820 --> 00:24:28,906 Is there anyone else living in the home? 465 00:24:29,011 --> 00:24:31,062 No, my kids aren't here, but, Oh, we have 466 00:24:31,165 --> 00:24:32,486 this woman who lives with us. 467 00:24:32,590 --> 00:24:34,781 She lives in the basement, but come to think of it 468 00:24:34,885 --> 00:24:37,630 I haven't heard from her today. 469 00:24:37,735 --> 00:24:40,412 Suspicion grows. 470 00:24:40,516 --> 00:24:43,505 BRIAN HARRIS: But again, it's very conversational. 471 00:24:43,611 --> 00:24:46,633 And so what are the officers do? 472 00:24:46,738 --> 00:24:48,754 They're sweeping that home going room 473 00:24:48,858 --> 00:24:50,839 to room looking for other bodies, 474 00:24:50,943 --> 00:24:52,785 perhaps maybe even suspect. 475 00:24:52,889 --> 00:24:55,010 They take Ann Marie aside, they're going to take 476 00:24:55,114 --> 00:24:56,365 her downtown and question her. 477 00:24:56,469 --> 00:24:59,355 Meanwhile, officers are running down the stairs. 478 00:24:59,459 --> 00:25:01,579 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: She's casual and cool. 479 00:25:01,683 --> 00:25:05,855 So the officers are just not prepared for what 480 00:25:05,959 --> 00:25:07,835 they're about to see. 481 00:25:07,939 --> 00:25:12,215 As they creep down the stairs hands on their weapons, 482 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,064 who knows what is down there? 483 00:25:15,169 --> 00:25:16,629 What do they hear? 484 00:25:16,734 --> 00:25:17,638 Heavy metal music? 485 00:25:17,742 --> 00:25:20,035 [heavy metal music playing] 486 00:25:20,139 --> 00:25:21,843 Then they open the door. 487 00:25:21,947 --> 00:25:24,067 They go downstairs in the basement, 488 00:25:24,172 --> 00:25:28,308 they find Miss Riggs laying on the ground. 489 00:25:28,413 --> 00:25:31,436 And they open the bedroom door and it's like a scene 490 00:25:31,541 --> 00:25:33,591 from "Helter Skelter." 491 00:25:33,695 --> 00:25:37,901 BRIAN HARRIS: And it's a bloody, brutal scene that they find. 492 00:25:38,005 --> 00:25:42,420 They find the body of yet another victim, 493 00:25:42,524 --> 00:25:44,157 Jacqueline Riggs. 494 00:25:44,261 --> 00:25:46,278 CAROLYN CANVILLE: There is blood everywhere, 495 00:25:46,382 --> 00:25:49,857 and there is Jacqueline Riggs lying 496 00:25:49,961 --> 00:25:53,230 dead on this blood soaked rug. 497 00:25:53,334 --> 00:25:57,644 She's been stabbed 42 times. 498 00:25:57,748 --> 00:26:04,456 40 plus stab wounds all across your body. 499 00:26:04,561 --> 00:26:07,619 40 plus stab wounds, imagine that. 500 00:26:07,723 --> 00:26:17,525 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 501 00:26:17,629 --> 00:26:30,595 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 502 00:26:30,699 --> 00:26:41,265 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42. 503 00:26:41,370 --> 00:26:44,602 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Ann Marie is cooperating with the police. 504 00:26:44,707 --> 00:26:47,939 She is calm but the scene in the basement 505 00:26:48,043 --> 00:26:51,658 tells detectives of an out of control rage. 506 00:26:51,762 --> 00:26:54,544 It is chaos down there. 507 00:26:54,648 --> 00:26:57,914 And they ask themselves, where does Ann Marie 508 00:26:58,018 --> 00:27:01,042 Anastasi fit into all of this? 509 00:27:01,147 --> 00:27:03,268 Is she the killer? 510 00:27:03,372 --> 00:27:05,874 JASON KNIGHT: Mrs. Anastasi presented herself 511 00:27:05,978 --> 00:27:12,062 in her interviews to the police as the grieving widow who loved 512 00:27:12,166 --> 00:27:15,988 her family, loved her husband, was willing to tolerate 513 00:27:16,092 --> 00:27:17,796 his indiscretions. 514 00:27:17,900 --> 00:27:20,125 MAN (ON RECORDING): The gun that was found next to your husband 515 00:27:20,229 --> 00:27:21,550 was tested, OK? 516 00:27:21,654 --> 00:27:26,311 And compared to the bullet that was found in his skull, OK? 517 00:27:26,416 --> 00:27:29,649 There is no possible way that that weapon 518 00:27:29,752 --> 00:27:33,020 fired that bullet that was in your husband's head. 519 00:27:47,793 --> 00:27:50,920 We've got two blood-soaked bodies, 520 00:27:51,025 --> 00:27:54,848 Anthony Anastasi and Jackie Riggs, lying 521 00:27:54,953 --> 00:27:57,454 in the Anastasi family home. 522 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,521 The medical examiner arrives to remove them for the autopsy. 523 00:28:01,625 --> 00:28:02,668 CAROLYN CANVILLE: Meanwhile police 524 00:28:02,773 --> 00:28:05,310 are questioning Ann Marie. 525 00:28:05,415 --> 00:28:07,987 They've got her downtown and they're asking more questions, 526 00:28:08,091 --> 00:28:11,532 and Ann Marie keeps saying, my husband committed suicide. 527 00:28:11,637 --> 00:28:14,000 I know he was depressed. 528 00:28:14,104 --> 00:28:15,425 It was a suicide. 529 00:28:15,529 --> 00:28:17,928 And they said, well, what about the other woman? 530 00:28:18,033 --> 00:28:19,180 The what? 531 00:28:19,284 --> 00:28:21,890 What about Jacqueline Riggs? 532 00:28:21,994 --> 00:28:24,637 She's got 42 stab wounds. 533 00:28:24,740 --> 00:28:25,748 What! 534 00:28:25,852 --> 00:28:27,207 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Anne Marie 535 00:28:27,311 --> 00:28:29,745 seems shocked and distressed by what she's hearing 536 00:28:29,849 --> 00:28:32,978 from the detectives, but she gives 537 00:28:33,082 --> 00:28:36,314 them a ready made explanation. 538 00:28:36,419 --> 00:28:38,434 Mrs. Anastasi's initial statement to the police 539 00:28:38,539 --> 00:28:40,937 was that she had heard Mr. Anastasi and Miss 540 00:28:41,041 --> 00:28:43,093 Riggs engaged in a heated argument 541 00:28:43,198 --> 00:28:44,518 in the basement of the home. 542 00:28:44,622 --> 00:28:47,716 He then came upstairs to the master bedroom, 543 00:28:47,820 --> 00:28:51,399 kicked her out of the bedroom and then shut the door, 544 00:28:51,504 --> 00:28:55,848 and she never saw him alive again. 545 00:28:55,953 --> 00:28:58,942 Ann Marie-- when the cops are talking 546 00:28:59,046 --> 00:29:03,183 to her they want to know, what do you think happened? 547 00:29:03,287 --> 00:29:05,233 Which is a great question, What do 548 00:29:05,338 --> 00:29:06,833 you think happened Ann Marie? 549 00:29:06,937 --> 00:29:13,992 She buys into it and she says, I think that Anthony killed 550 00:29:14,096 --> 00:29:19,970 Jacqueline, that he went down, they have a relationship, 551 00:29:20,075 --> 00:29:24,907 he kills her, and he can't live with himself for what he did, 552 00:29:25,011 --> 00:29:29,112 and he's so remorseful that he shoots and kills himself. 553 00:29:32,171 --> 00:29:35,613 Miss Anastasi presented herself in her interviews 554 00:29:35,717 --> 00:29:41,765 to the police as the grieving widow who loved her family, 555 00:29:41,869 --> 00:29:45,831 loved her husband, was willing to tolerate his indiscretions, 556 00:29:45,935 --> 00:29:49,516 and was just devastated that this horrible event had 557 00:29:49,619 --> 00:29:51,670 befallen her and her family. 558 00:29:51,774 --> 00:29:54,174 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Is she going to get away with this? 559 00:29:54,278 --> 00:29:57,023 She's been living in a broken marriage with her husband 560 00:29:57,127 --> 00:30:00,256 and his mistress-- plenty of motive. 561 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:02,515 But some of the evidence might support 562 00:30:02,619 --> 00:30:05,504 her story of a murder-suicide. 563 00:30:05,608 --> 00:30:07,763 She could walk. 564 00:30:07,867 --> 00:30:10,161 Based on just what the officers found at the scene-- 565 00:30:10,265 --> 00:30:13,428 just by looking at it before they performed any sort 566 00:30:13,532 --> 00:30:16,940 of crime scene investigation, and based on that statement, it 567 00:30:17,043 --> 00:30:19,893 presented as a murder-suicide. 568 00:30:19,997 --> 00:30:22,117 Might be a viable story. 569 00:30:22,223 --> 00:30:27,192 But, you see, the evidence would show that that's 570 00:30:27,297 --> 00:30:28,896 completely different. 571 00:30:29,001 --> 00:30:32,719 As a detective, I often warn other detectives, 572 00:30:32,823 --> 00:30:35,917 don't judge people on the way that they grieve. 573 00:30:36,021 --> 00:30:41,931 However, when you look at the behavior of Ann Marie, 574 00:30:42,035 --> 00:30:49,959 is it just bizarre behavior and she's in shock, 575 00:30:50,063 --> 00:30:54,931 or is this well thought of responses to questions? 576 00:30:57,398 --> 00:30:59,796 JASON KNIGHT: During the course of Mrs. Anastasi's 577 00:30:59,900 --> 00:31:02,680 first interview with the police, they advised her 578 00:31:02,785 --> 00:31:06,852 that they discovered Miss Riggs's body in the basement, 579 00:31:06,957 --> 00:31:09,563 and that she had also been murdered. 580 00:31:09,667 --> 00:31:15,368 Mrs. Anastasi hardly registered any response or emotion at all. 581 00:31:17,975 --> 00:31:21,520 CAROLYN CANVILLE: Police discover that the gun lying 582 00:31:21,624 --> 00:31:25,448 next to Anthony doesn't match the bullet 583 00:31:25,552 --> 00:31:27,081 that came from his body. 584 00:31:27,185 --> 00:31:31,217 There's no way that that bullet could have come from that gun. 585 00:31:31,322 --> 00:31:33,998 JASON KNIGHT: Mr Anastasi had a .45 caliber semi-automatic 586 00:31:34,103 --> 00:31:35,110 pistol in his hand. 587 00:31:35,215 --> 00:31:37,856 Police could not find a .45 caliber 588 00:31:37,961 --> 00:31:40,915 shell casing in the bedroom. 589 00:31:41,019 --> 00:31:45,711 They subsequently were able to find a .380 caliber shell 590 00:31:45,815 --> 00:31:50,716 casing in the bedroom that was subsequently analyzed 591 00:31:50,820 --> 00:31:53,985 by the firearms examiner for the Anne Arundel County Police 592 00:31:54,089 --> 00:31:56,521 Department, who gave a definitive conclusion 593 00:31:56,625 --> 00:31:59,963 that you could not fire a .380 bullet 594 00:32:00,067 --> 00:32:02,673 from the .45 caliber handgun. 595 00:32:02,777 --> 00:32:04,794 Ann Marie didn't count on that. 596 00:32:07,783 --> 00:32:11,015 Mr. Anastasi's autopsy came back 597 00:32:11,119 --> 00:32:13,622 to reveal that the round in his head 598 00:32:13,726 --> 00:32:16,716 was, in fact, a .380 caliber bullet. 599 00:32:16,820 --> 00:32:19,219 Once you know Mr. Anastasi was killed by the .380 caliber 600 00:32:19,323 --> 00:32:22,555 bullet, they knew that the .45 caliber 601 00:32:22,659 --> 00:32:24,779 handgun that was in Mr. Anastasi's hand 602 00:32:24,885 --> 00:32:26,413 was not the murder weapon. 603 00:32:26,518 --> 00:32:28,673 MAN (ON RECORDING): The gun that was found next to your husband 604 00:32:28,777 --> 00:32:30,098 was tested, OK? 605 00:32:30,203 --> 00:32:34,860 And compared to the bullet that was found in his skull, OK? 606 00:32:34,964 --> 00:32:38,196 There is no possible way that that weapon 607 00:32:38,300 --> 00:32:43,514 fired that bullet that was in your husband's head. 608 00:32:43,618 --> 00:32:47,998 It's a completely different weapon, so that means somebody 609 00:32:48,104 --> 00:32:49,944 planted that weapon there. 610 00:32:50,048 --> 00:32:54,532 This is murder-- has murder written all over it. 611 00:32:54,637 --> 00:32:57,278 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: The detectives make a breakthrough. 612 00:32:57,382 --> 00:32:59,156 But does Ann Marie fold? 613 00:32:59,260 --> 00:33:00,268 No. 614 00:33:00,373 --> 00:33:03,674 She's unemotional, even a little detached. 615 00:33:03,778 --> 00:33:05,064 What does she care? 616 00:33:05,169 --> 00:33:07,115 She's got nothing to do with it. 617 00:33:07,218 --> 00:33:08,574 INTERVIEWER (ON RECORDING): Two people 618 00:33:08,679 --> 00:33:10,209 were murdered in your home-- 619 00:33:10,313 --> 00:33:12,225 brutally murdered, OK? 620 00:33:12,329 --> 00:33:13,719 And you didn't know what happened. 621 00:33:13,823 --> 00:33:15,387 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): No. 622 00:33:15,492 --> 00:33:16,916 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: But the evidence is building. 623 00:33:17,021 --> 00:33:22,478 The cops can prove this is murder, not murder-suicide. 624 00:33:22,582 --> 00:33:25,779 It is not looking good for Ann Marie. 625 00:33:25,884 --> 00:33:30,056 And any murder scene, one of the basic things you 626 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,810 would do if there's gunshots that are involved-- 627 00:33:33,914 --> 00:33:39,509 we would do what's called a GSR test, a gunshot residue test. 628 00:33:39,614 --> 00:33:44,063 She consented to having her hands and her clothing 629 00:33:44,167 --> 00:33:46,705 tested for the presence of gunshot residue, 630 00:33:46,810 --> 00:33:49,277 so she voluntarily gave up her clothes. 631 00:33:49,380 --> 00:33:50,944 MAN (ON RECORDING): There's a couple of things 632 00:33:51,049 --> 00:33:52,370 I need to clear up real quick. 633 00:33:52,475 --> 00:33:53,830 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): Certainly. 634 00:33:53,935 --> 00:33:55,047 MAN (ON RECORDING): The tests that they 635 00:33:55,151 --> 00:33:56,680 took from your clothes and your hands-- 636 00:33:56,785 --> 00:33:58,139 well, they were all sent off. 637 00:33:58,243 --> 00:33:59,565 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): 638 00:33:59,669 --> 00:34:01,337 How, they probably found lots of cat milk on there. 639 00:34:01,442 --> 00:34:02,310 MAN (ON RECORDING): Well, we found a lot of gunshot residue 640 00:34:02,414 --> 00:34:03,597 on you and on the clothes. 641 00:34:03,701 --> 00:34:05,161 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): Really? 642 00:34:05,265 --> 00:34:06,586 MAN (ON RECORDING): Yeah. 643 00:34:06,692 --> 00:34:08,602 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): That's weird. 644 00:34:08,706 --> 00:34:11,070 She's got a lot of explaining to do. 645 00:34:11,175 --> 00:34:14,441 So now you have a gun that's not matching up, 646 00:34:14,545 --> 00:34:16,214 you've got two people dead, you've 647 00:34:16,318 --> 00:34:21,844 got gunshot residue on the wife, and what 648 00:34:21,948 --> 00:34:23,201 do they have on their hands? 649 00:34:23,305 --> 00:34:26,642 Now this is clearly not just a murder-suicide. 650 00:34:30,187 --> 00:34:31,647 JASON KNIGHT: They also took her-- 651 00:34:31,751 --> 00:34:34,185 while she was at the police station on the first night, 652 00:34:34,289 --> 00:34:39,259 and she agreed to undergo a polygraph examination. 653 00:34:39,362 --> 00:34:41,032 MAN (ON RECORDING): You have a failed polygraph. 654 00:34:41,136 --> 00:34:43,742 You've not just failed it, you flunked the hell out of it. 655 00:34:43,846 --> 00:34:45,167 POLYGRAPH EXAMINER (ON RECORDING): 656 00:34:45,273 --> 00:34:47,392 Have you been untruthful during this investigation? 657 00:34:47,497 --> 00:34:48,852 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): No. 658 00:34:48,957 --> 00:34:49,998 POLYGRAPH EXAMINER (ON RECORDING): 659 00:34:50,103 --> 00:34:51,251 Did you shoot your husband? 660 00:34:51,355 --> 00:34:52,849 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): No. 661 00:34:52,955 --> 00:34:55,040 During the course of the polygraph examination 662 00:34:55,143 --> 00:35:00,080 she did poorly on questions regarding what happened, 663 00:35:00,184 --> 00:35:02,616 and the exact details whether she was involved, 664 00:35:02,721 --> 00:35:04,146 if she knew what happened. 665 00:35:04,251 --> 00:35:08,281 It's a tense time for Anne Arundel County detectives. 666 00:35:08,385 --> 00:35:10,367 They know she did it, but do they 667 00:35:10,472 --> 00:35:13,877 have enough to charge Ann Marie Anastasi 668 00:35:13,982 --> 00:35:15,789 with a double homicide? 669 00:35:15,894 --> 00:35:20,065 The combination of the failed polygraph, 670 00:35:20,169 --> 00:35:24,479 Mrs. Anastasi's story not being completely logical, 671 00:35:24,583 --> 00:35:29,519 and the subsequent evidence that the police developed regarding 672 00:35:29,623 --> 00:35:31,951 the firearm, regarding the gunshot 673 00:35:32,056 --> 00:35:34,802 residue, that all led to identifying 674 00:35:34,907 --> 00:35:37,269 her as the prime suspect. 675 00:35:37,374 --> 00:35:39,529 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Ann Marie refuses to talk. 676 00:35:39,633 --> 00:35:44,117 But when the cops track down 18-year-old Gabriel Struss, 677 00:35:44,221 --> 00:35:45,994 he crumbles. 678 00:35:46,098 --> 00:35:50,617 Gabriel, when he's confronted, a rock could 679 00:35:50,721 --> 00:35:52,042 have taken his confession. 680 00:35:52,146 --> 00:35:56,526 Gabriel right away, freely, starts 681 00:35:56,630 --> 00:36:00,593 flowing with the story of what took place, takes 682 00:36:00,697 --> 00:36:06,015 responsibility, lays it all out, and explains 683 00:36:06,119 --> 00:36:08,169 exactly what happened. 684 00:36:08,274 --> 00:36:12,515 When they go to Gabriel Struss he confesses right away, 685 00:36:12,620 --> 00:36:13,453 I did it. 686 00:36:13,557 --> 00:36:15,053 I'm involved. 687 00:36:15,157 --> 00:36:20,926 Yes, I killed them, but I'm not the one who masterminded it. 688 00:36:21,031 --> 00:36:22,942 It was her idea. 689 00:36:23,046 --> 00:36:26,175 And then the story starts coming out. 690 00:36:26,279 --> 00:36:27,913 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Gabriel can't stop talking, 691 00:36:28,016 --> 00:36:31,804 so investigators piece together Ann Marie's plan for murder 692 00:36:31,909 --> 00:36:35,038 and how she intended to get away with it. 693 00:36:35,143 --> 00:36:36,811 JASON KNIGHT: Mrs. Anastasi got up in the morning, 694 00:36:36,915 --> 00:36:38,932 went through her family's normal routine, 695 00:36:39,036 --> 00:36:43,310 got the children off to school, she subsequently had a doctor's 696 00:36:43,414 --> 00:36:46,057 appointment, and then she went to a grocery store, 697 00:36:46,161 --> 00:36:49,567 she came back to the home, and somewhere in the 12 or 1 698 00:36:49,671 --> 00:36:52,765 o'clock hour called 911 want to report 699 00:36:52,870 --> 00:36:55,892 that Mr Anastasia was dead. 700 00:36:55,997 --> 00:36:58,291 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Turns out as plans go, 701 00:36:58,396 --> 00:37:00,342 this one isn't good. 702 00:37:00,446 --> 00:37:01,836 ANN MARIE ANASTASI (ON RECORDING): 703 00:37:01,940 --> 00:37:04,756 But he's not responding at all, and he's, got his gun 704 00:37:04,861 --> 00:37:06,390 lying next to him in the bed. 705 00:37:06,495 --> 00:37:08,371 911 DISPATCHER (ON RECORDING): Do you think he shot himself? 706 00:37:08,475 --> 00:37:12,612 JASON KNIGHT: Her actions after both Mr. Anastasi and Miss 707 00:37:12,717 --> 00:37:17,618 Riggs were dead were exactly that of someone who had a plan. 708 00:37:17,722 --> 00:37:20,641 And that's one of the main things we relied on 709 00:37:20,745 --> 00:37:23,978 in determining to charge her with first degree 710 00:37:24,083 --> 00:37:25,402 premeditated murder. 711 00:37:25,506 --> 00:37:28,705 Because, you know, obviously, she had this plan leading up 712 00:37:28,810 --> 00:37:31,415 to Mr. Anastasi and Mrs. Riggs's death, 713 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:34,648 but then she clearly had thought through the entire crime, 714 00:37:34,752 --> 00:37:36,976 not just how to commit it, but then she 715 00:37:37,081 --> 00:37:39,201 had a plan for after it was committed for how 716 00:37:39,305 --> 00:37:40,836 to try to get away with it. 717 00:37:40,940 --> 00:37:43,928 MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: Gabriel Struss get 60 years in prison. 718 00:37:44,033 --> 00:37:47,544 He tells Jacqueline Riggs's family that he wishes he could 719 00:37:47,648 --> 00:37:49,698 take back what he had done. 720 00:37:49,802 --> 00:37:52,757 The prosecutors say he was just a puppet. 721 00:37:52,861 --> 00:37:56,059 It was the angry wife who planned everything, 722 00:37:56,163 --> 00:37:58,457 but Ann Marie won't accept blame for her part 723 00:37:58,562 --> 00:38:02,802 in the killing of her husband and his lover. 724 00:38:02,905 --> 00:38:04,679 Anne Marie takes this special plea, 725 00:38:04,783 --> 00:38:09,859 this Alford deal, that allows her to avoid saying I did it. 726 00:38:09,963 --> 00:38:11,492 She never has to admit it. 727 00:38:11,596 --> 00:38:13,611 She doesn't take responsibility for it. 728 00:38:13,716 --> 00:38:18,269 What it tells me has a fellow human being, as a homicide 729 00:38:18,375 --> 00:38:21,503 detective, Ann Marie-- 730 00:38:21,606 --> 00:38:24,561 she never accepts responsibility, 731 00:38:24,666 --> 00:38:27,341 never shows any remorse. 732 00:38:27,446 --> 00:38:30,539 There's never an opportunity to see 733 00:38:30,644 --> 00:38:36,414 any kind of human side human emotional side of Ann Marie. 734 00:38:36,519 --> 00:38:39,159 What kind of a mother does this? 735 00:38:39,263 --> 00:38:43,504 She's so angry at her husband, she's feeling so betrayed 736 00:38:43,608 --> 00:38:48,092 because he's left her and her 18-year marriage is over 737 00:38:48,196 --> 00:38:50,421 with because of this woman-- this younger 738 00:38:50,525 --> 00:38:53,863 woman, where you are so mad you want them gone, 739 00:38:53,967 --> 00:38:55,356 but you can't do it. 740 00:38:55,460 --> 00:38:59,771 So you actually get your young daughter 741 00:38:59,875 --> 00:39:04,637 involved in this murder plot, and get her boyfriend 742 00:39:04,742 --> 00:39:06,687 involved in this murder plot. 743 00:39:06,792 --> 00:39:08,877 How can a mother live with herself? 744 00:39:08,982 --> 00:39:10,998 How can a mother do this and then 745 00:39:11,102 --> 00:39:16,421 never accept responsibility for it, and never show any remorse? 746 00:39:16,524 --> 00:39:19,339 The havoc she left behind, and she could still 747 00:39:19,444 --> 00:39:21,599 never take full responsibility. 748 00:39:21,703 --> 00:39:25,665 But she also receives a 60-year sentence, 749 00:39:25,770 --> 00:39:28,690 as if she was the one that pulled the trigger, 750 00:39:28,794 --> 00:39:31,748 as if she was the one who plunged the knife 751 00:39:31,852 --> 00:39:37,483 42 times into Jacqueline Riggs. 752 00:39:37,587 --> 00:39:39,220 Crazy story, right? 753 00:39:39,326 --> 00:39:43,287 Remember, the person most likely to kill you could 754 00:39:43,391 --> 00:39:45,582 be the person you married. 755 00:39:45,686 --> 00:39:49,127 I'm Michelle Trachtenberg and I'll see you next time 756 00:39:49,231 --> 00:39:51,073 on "Meet, Marry, Murder." 757 00:39:51,179 --> 00:39:54,758 [music playing]