1 00:00:03,870 --> 00:00:06,506 Some stories are unforgettable. 2 00:00:06,606 --> 00:00:08,541 This is one of them. 3 00:00:10,977 --> 00:00:13,980 I hear on the news that Desiree Sunford 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:15,915 had been found murdered. 5 00:00:16,015 --> 00:00:17,016 And I screamed. 6 00:00:18,217 --> 00:00:19,686 We were searching through the house 7 00:00:19,786 --> 00:00:23,122 and I could see Desiree on the floor. 8 00:00:23,222 --> 00:00:26,326 She was shot very violently. 9 00:00:26,426 --> 00:00:28,428 Scott was very talkative. 10 00:00:28,528 --> 00:00:30,296 I actually stayed with a friend. 11 00:00:30,396 --> 00:00:33,199 - What's the friend's name? - Oh, her name's Paige. 12 00:00:33,299 --> 00:00:35,001 You're wondering, "Who is Paige?" 13 00:00:35,101 --> 00:00:37,236 That's right. Is he having an affair? 14 00:00:37,337 --> 00:00:40,106 This case had a lot of players involved, 15 00:00:40,206 --> 00:00:41,741 a lot of tentacles. 16 00:00:41,841 --> 00:00:43,843 Every time police asked a question, 17 00:00:43,943 --> 00:00:47,080 it seemed another relationship surfaced. 18 00:00:47,180 --> 00:00:48,815 {\an8}Desiree and Paige and Scott 19 00:00:48,915 --> 00:00:50,383 {\an8}all knew each other well. - Yes. 20 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:55,722 Paige called this tip in. 21 00:00:55,822 --> 00:00:57,590 She says, "I know who the killer is." 22 00:00:57,690 --> 00:00:58,558 That's right. 23 00:00:58,658 --> 00:01:00,560 A name that had never come up before. 24 00:01:00,660 --> 00:01:01,794 {\an8}He asked me... 25 00:01:04,764 --> 00:01:07,066 In this case, there was a very thin line 26 00:01:07,166 --> 00:01:09,802 between truth telling and betrayal. 27 00:01:09,902 --> 00:01:10,803 {\an8}It made me ask, 28 00:01:10,903 --> 00:01:13,273 {\an8}how far should friends go for each other? 29 00:01:18,778 --> 00:01:20,847 This psycho squiggled her way 30 00:01:20,947 --> 00:01:25,051 into their life and created chaos. 31 00:01:25,151 --> 00:01:29,222 Talk about twists. I was completely blown away. 32 00:01:29,322 --> 00:01:34,160 I risked my life to do the right thing, 33 00:01:34,260 --> 00:01:35,862 and I'm being crucified. 34 00:01:42,101 --> 00:01:44,404 This is Dateline: Unforgettable. 35 00:01:44,504 --> 00:01:46,739 I'm Blayne Alexander with a fresh look at 36 00:01:46,839 --> 00:01:49,409 "Deadly Entanglement." 37 00:01:51,911 --> 00:01:54,681 We've all had that fear, 38 00:01:54,781 --> 00:01:56,916 that middle of the night, 39 00:01:57,016 --> 00:02:02,922 home alone in a dark, empty house kind of fear. 40 00:02:03,022 --> 00:02:05,291 I can't imagine what went through her mind. 41 00:02:05,391 --> 00:02:09,796 We hear a noise and the imagination runs wild. 42 00:02:12,865 --> 00:02:15,635 Of course, we usually just shrug it off, 43 00:02:15,735 --> 00:02:17,170 go back to sleep, 44 00:02:17,270 --> 00:02:20,039 and wake up the next morning perfectly fine. 45 00:02:22,075 --> 00:02:24,777 This is not that story. 46 00:02:26,746 --> 00:02:28,081 The woman in this story 47 00:02:28,181 --> 00:02:31,718 woke up alone to that very nightmare. 48 00:02:31,818 --> 00:02:34,220 It was around 3:30 AM. 49 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,023 Someone was in her house. 50 00:02:37,123 --> 00:02:38,191 Nobody there to help her. 51 00:02:38,291 --> 00:02:40,860 Nobody there to defend her. 52 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:45,098 Someone who was there only to kill. 53 00:02:45,198 --> 00:02:46,599 And it was pretty clear that this wasn't 54 00:02:46,699 --> 00:02:48,501 just a robbery gone wrong. 55 00:02:48,601 --> 00:02:49,769 That's correct. 56 00:02:50,970 --> 00:02:56,242 A diabolical plot born of sex and obsession, 57 00:02:56,342 --> 00:03:01,347 where the killer was as unexpected as the victim. 58 00:03:01,447 --> 00:03:03,950 Who would wanna kill Des? 59 00:03:04,050 --> 00:03:06,486 She had no enemies. 60 00:03:06,586 --> 00:03:08,421 And there was just no reason, 61 00:03:08,521 --> 00:03:10,523 no reason at all to kill her. 62 00:03:15,094 --> 00:03:17,397 One of the first questions we always ask 63 00:03:17,497 --> 00:03:20,099 when reporting for Dateline. Why? 64 00:03:20,199 --> 00:03:21,768 And in this case, I'll never forget 65 00:03:21,868 --> 00:03:24,804 just how twisted the motive turned out to be. 66 00:03:24,904 --> 00:03:27,373 Here, Desiree was in the one place 67 00:03:27,473 --> 00:03:30,043 she should have been the safest, her home. 68 00:03:30,143 --> 00:03:31,878 And that's where she was killed. 69 00:03:31,978 --> 00:03:34,180 As police dug into this investigation, 70 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,150 they uncovered a tangled web of relationships. 71 00:03:37,250 --> 00:03:39,986 And it would take a long time to unravel those 72 00:03:40,086 --> 00:03:42,488 to get to the truth. 73 00:03:42,589 --> 00:03:45,158 Yakima County, Washington, 74 00:03:45,258 --> 00:03:47,794 where a marriage of mountains and countryside 75 00:03:47,894 --> 00:03:50,296 creates a stunning backdrop. 76 00:03:50,396 --> 00:03:52,799 Picturesque, certainly. 77 00:03:52,899 --> 00:03:56,869 But people here are no strangers to crime. 78 00:03:56,970 --> 00:04:00,039 Retired Yakima County Sheriff's Deputy Ed Levesque 79 00:04:00,139 --> 00:04:03,643 has patrolled nearly every square mile of this county 80 00:04:03,743 --> 00:04:07,914 and seen everything from petty theft to homicide. 81 00:04:08,014 --> 00:04:10,316 It's been a ride. 82 00:04:10,416 --> 00:04:12,452 I've seen a lot, learned a lot. 83 00:04:12,552 --> 00:04:15,421 {\an8}So a late night call to report a possible break-in 84 00:04:15,521 --> 00:04:17,624 {\an8}wasn't rare. 85 00:04:17,724 --> 00:04:20,960 {\an8}Like that call on April 7, 2013. 86 00:04:22,595 --> 00:04:24,897 {\an8}Came out as like, a welfare check. 87 00:04:24,998 --> 00:04:26,566 {\an8}Sometimes they're absolutely nothing 88 00:04:26,666 --> 00:04:29,235 {\an8}and sometimes they're bad. 89 00:04:33,973 --> 00:04:36,476 {\an8}31 Year old Scott Sunford was driving home 90 00:04:36,576 --> 00:04:39,912 {\an8}to Yakima County when he saw a notification. 91 00:04:40,013 --> 00:04:42,248 {\an8}An alarm had gone off at his house 92 00:04:42,348 --> 00:04:44,984 {\an8}where his wife Desiree was home alone. 93 00:05:01,100 --> 00:05:03,136 {\an8}Deputies were dispatched to the scene, 94 00:05:03,236 --> 00:05:04,937 {\an8}but Scott got there first. 95 00:05:05,038 --> 00:05:07,307 {\an8}He called 911 again. 96 00:05:21,621 --> 00:05:23,690 Ed Levesque and two other sheriff's deputies 97 00:05:23,790 --> 00:05:25,858 raced to get to Scott. 98 00:05:25,959 --> 00:05:28,461 But the house was way out of town. 99 00:05:28,561 --> 00:05:29,696 You have to drive down 100 00:05:29,796 --> 00:05:32,832 a series of two lane county roads. 101 00:05:32,932 --> 00:05:35,401 There's no street lights out here. 102 00:05:35,501 --> 00:05:39,672 Further out you go, the less homes you'll see. 103 00:05:39,772 --> 00:05:42,508 {\an8}Scott was still on the line with 911. 104 00:05:46,346 --> 00:05:49,749 {\an8}He even gave the operator his wife's phone number to call. 105 00:05:51,651 --> 00:05:53,720 {\an8}It went straight to voicemail. 106 00:05:59,225 --> 00:06:02,562 When Deputy Levesque and his partners finally arrived, 107 00:06:02,662 --> 00:06:06,633 they saw a man standing outside pointing a gun 108 00:06:06,733 --> 00:06:09,702 and a spotlight at the house. 109 00:06:09,802 --> 00:06:11,137 My first thought was that there was 110 00:06:11,237 --> 00:06:14,707 a police officer already here. 111 00:06:14,807 --> 00:06:16,476 And as I approached, 112 00:06:16,576 --> 00:06:18,344 I could see that he was not a police officer. 113 00:06:18,444 --> 00:06:20,313 However, there was a guy standing just outside 114 00:06:20,413 --> 00:06:23,850 the driver's side of that door with the door open. 115 00:06:23,950 --> 00:06:27,887 And I saw that he had a pistol pointed at the house. 116 00:06:27,987 --> 00:06:29,722 It was Scott. 117 00:06:29,822 --> 00:06:31,824 I says, "What are you doing with the gun? 118 00:06:31,925 --> 00:06:33,660 Did you go inside the house and check on your wife?" 119 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:36,996 He says, "No. I don't know what I'm gonna find in there." 120 00:06:37,096 --> 00:06:39,732 Just steps into the dark house, 121 00:06:39,832 --> 00:06:44,570 the deputies found Desiree on the floor in her underwear, 122 00:06:44,671 --> 00:06:46,606 a bandage on her leg. 123 00:06:48,508 --> 00:06:50,710 I could see part of her body. 124 00:06:50,810 --> 00:06:52,211 And as I got closer, 125 00:06:52,312 --> 00:06:55,315 I could see that she had obviously suffered 126 00:06:55,415 --> 00:06:57,483 multiple gunshots. 127 00:06:57,584 --> 00:07:00,086 And I could see casings on the floor. 128 00:07:00,186 --> 00:07:02,689 I could see a lot of trauma, a lot of blood. 129 00:07:02,789 --> 00:07:06,960 And it was obvious that she was deceased. 130 00:07:07,060 --> 00:07:09,395 You know, I've been to quite a few homicides 131 00:07:09,495 --> 00:07:14,233 that involved firearms, but not like this. 132 00:07:16,035 --> 00:07:19,038 Looking at how many times she had been shot, 133 00:07:19,138 --> 00:07:20,673 it was obvious to me that person 134 00:07:20,773 --> 00:07:23,276 wanted to make sure she was dead. 135 00:07:23,376 --> 00:07:27,180 So it was that very moment in the middle of the night, 136 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:33,119 in the middle of nowhere that a wild mystery began. 137 00:07:33,219 --> 00:07:34,587 Are there parts of this case 138 00:07:34,687 --> 00:07:37,223 that still kind of linger in your mind, 139 00:07:37,323 --> 00:07:38,725 that still kind of bother you? 140 00:07:38,825 --> 00:07:39,692 There were some red flags 141 00:07:39,792 --> 00:07:42,996 that just didn't seem to add up. 142 00:07:43,096 --> 00:07:44,430 His attitude, his behavior, his demeanor. 143 00:07:44,530 --> 00:07:47,433 His actions were just gross. 144 00:07:47,533 --> 00:07:50,436 She just never seemed like she would be that person 145 00:07:50,536 --> 00:07:52,572 that would be willing to accept 146 00:07:52,672 --> 00:07:55,775 another person in her home. 147 00:07:55,875 --> 00:07:57,343 - In her marriage. - Mm-hmm. 148 00:07:57,443 --> 00:07:59,712 What were you thinking when you heard that name? 149 00:07:59,812 --> 00:08:01,447 My exact thought was, who the hell's that guy? 150 00:08:14,527 --> 00:08:15,695 All through the night, 151 00:08:15,795 --> 00:08:17,964 detectives and forensic techs 152 00:08:18,064 --> 00:08:20,266 arrived at Desiree Sunford's home, 153 00:08:20,366 --> 00:08:24,003 now a crime scene. 154 00:08:24,103 --> 00:08:27,140 Desiree's husband, Scott, remained outside the house, 155 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:29,676 no longer holding his gun. 156 00:08:29,776 --> 00:08:30,710 We secured the gun, 157 00:08:30,810 --> 00:08:32,312 and we put him in the back of the patrol car. 158 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,983 Meanwhile, local police broke the terrible news 159 00:08:37,083 --> 00:08:38,551 to Desiree's mother, 160 00:08:38,651 --> 00:08:40,153 who then called her son, 161 00:08:40,253 --> 00:08:42,422 Desiree's brother Casey. 162 00:08:42,522 --> 00:08:45,091 Desiree's dead. 163 00:08:45,191 --> 00:08:49,929 That's all she could say. 164 00:08:50,029 --> 00:08:51,864 I think I blacked out a little bit 165 00:08:51,965 --> 00:08:53,533 or something, 'cause I was-- 166 00:08:53,633 --> 00:08:55,435 Next thing I remember, I was on the floor, 167 00:08:55,535 --> 00:08:58,071 just talking to-- 168 00:08:58,171 --> 00:09:01,107 Crying into the phone with mom. 169 00:09:01,207 --> 00:09:04,777 This is always the hardest part of reporting a story. 170 00:09:04,877 --> 00:09:06,746 Asking someone's family and friends 171 00:09:06,846 --> 00:09:10,183 to go back to the moment they realized she was gone. 172 00:09:10,283 --> 00:09:13,152 It's so emotional, but so necessary 173 00:09:13,253 --> 00:09:16,089 because they know that life will never be the same. 174 00:09:16,189 --> 00:09:17,991 And it just speaks to the enormity 175 00:09:18,091 --> 00:09:21,694 of what the killer took from the world. 176 00:09:21,794 --> 00:09:23,997 Kayla Lewis was one of Desiree's closest 177 00:09:24,097 --> 00:09:26,432 and oldest friends. 178 00:09:26,532 --> 00:09:28,301 What stood out about Desiree? 179 00:09:28,401 --> 00:09:31,738 Desiree was... Are we allowed to cuss? 180 00:09:31,838 --> 00:09:34,140 - Sure. - Okay. I'm sorry. 181 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:36,075 Give me what you feel. 182 00:09:36,175 --> 00:09:38,878 She was just a badass. 183 00:09:38,978 --> 00:09:42,815 She rode her Harley and carried a sidearm, 184 00:09:42,915 --> 00:09:44,617 and she loved art. 185 00:09:44,717 --> 00:09:46,886 She did a lot of art herself, 186 00:09:46,986 --> 00:09:52,191 but she was just a good person all around. 187 00:09:52,292 --> 00:09:56,729 And Desiree loved cars, classic cars. 188 00:09:56,829 --> 00:09:58,932 Her dad taught her how to restore anything 189 00:09:59,032 --> 00:10:01,367 from a truck to a convertible. 190 00:10:01,467 --> 00:10:05,571 And even after he died from cancer when she was 12, 191 00:10:05,672 --> 00:10:08,875 she kept working under the hood. 192 00:10:08,975 --> 00:10:11,544 Oh, my God! 193 00:10:11,644 --> 00:10:15,148 We surprised her with her first car with the Chevelle 194 00:10:15,248 --> 00:10:17,116 for her 16th birthday. 195 00:10:17,216 --> 00:10:19,953 It was a special day. Very special day. 196 00:10:20,053 --> 00:10:21,487 Turn the key. 197 00:10:25,925 --> 00:10:29,429 Of course, at 16, she had another focus... 198 00:10:29,529 --> 00:10:32,332 Boys. One in particular, 199 00:10:32,432 --> 00:10:34,200 Scott Sunford. 200 00:10:34,300 --> 00:10:36,069 Her friend Kim O'Dell says 201 00:10:36,169 --> 00:10:39,839 Desiree got a kick out of Scott's goofy side. 202 00:10:39,939 --> 00:10:43,276 He was always the jokester, always the prankster, 203 00:10:43,376 --> 00:10:47,013 always having a good time. 204 00:10:47,113 --> 00:10:51,284 As long as I've known her, it's always been Desiree, 205 00:10:51,384 --> 00:10:54,187 her Chevy, and Scott. - Those three. 206 00:10:54,287 --> 00:10:56,255 Those were-- those three things. 207 00:10:56,356 --> 00:10:59,092 When did they seriously start talking about marriage? 208 00:10:59,192 --> 00:11:01,761 She wanted to be done with school 209 00:11:01,861 --> 00:11:04,497 and then get married and then start having a family. 210 00:11:04,597 --> 00:11:06,099 That plan changed a little bit, though. 211 00:11:06,199 --> 00:11:09,569 It did because he was enlisted 212 00:11:09,669 --> 00:11:12,171 and then had to go to Iraq. 213 00:11:12,272 --> 00:11:15,208 Scott proposed in 2003. 214 00:11:15,308 --> 00:11:19,679 He was 22. She was 21. 215 00:11:19,779 --> 00:11:23,716 The wedding was just days before he deployed. 216 00:11:23,816 --> 00:11:25,351 Everybody seemed happy. 217 00:11:25,451 --> 00:11:27,553 Desiree and Scott seemed happy. 218 00:11:27,654 --> 00:11:30,590 While Scott was deployed, Desiree finished college 219 00:11:30,690 --> 00:11:33,259 and even earned a graduate degree. 220 00:11:33,359 --> 00:11:37,297 Eventually, she got her dream job as an art teacher 221 00:11:37,397 --> 00:11:40,867 at Wapato Middle School outside of Yakima. 222 00:11:40,967 --> 00:11:44,871 Michelle Howell and Desiree bonded as young teachers. 223 00:11:44,971 --> 00:11:47,573 It was nice to have somebody that was relatively my age 224 00:11:47,674 --> 00:11:48,675 that was right there. 225 00:11:48,775 --> 00:11:51,544 You know, every school has a cool teacher 226 00:11:51,644 --> 00:11:53,146 where you just wanna go and sit and eat your lunch, 227 00:11:53,246 --> 00:11:54,514 or just go and sit and just talk. 228 00:11:54,614 --> 00:11:55,648 It sounds like Desiree. 229 00:11:55,748 --> 00:11:56,849 - She was one of them. - Was the cool teacher. 230 00:11:56,950 --> 00:11:59,986 Yep, she was definitely one of them. 231 00:12:00,086 --> 00:12:03,656 By 2012, Scott was back in Washington 232 00:12:03,756 --> 00:12:06,793 working at a National Guard training center. 233 00:12:06,893 --> 00:12:10,697 The couple adopted a dog and named her Ada. 234 00:12:10,797 --> 00:12:13,733 They scraped together enough money to buy a home 235 00:12:13,833 --> 00:12:16,602 way out in the country. 236 00:12:16,703 --> 00:12:18,204 She's married her high school sweetheart. 237 00:12:18,304 --> 00:12:19,539 They have a home together. 238 00:12:19,639 --> 00:12:22,942 Yeah, and she was so proud of that. 239 00:12:23,042 --> 00:12:25,478 Desiree and Scott seemed well on their way 240 00:12:25,578 --> 00:12:29,949 to building a happy grown up life. 241 00:12:30,049 --> 00:12:31,918 But then on April 2, 242 00:12:32,018 --> 00:12:34,754 just five days before she was murdered, 243 00:12:34,854 --> 00:12:36,289 Desiree came home to find 244 00:12:36,389 --> 00:12:38,791 someone had broken into their house 245 00:12:38,891 --> 00:12:43,062 and stolen an iPad and a laptop. 246 00:12:43,162 --> 00:12:45,431 The burglary shook her up. 247 00:12:45,531 --> 00:12:49,302 Scott put up a plywood board over the broken back window. 248 00:12:49,402 --> 00:12:51,137 And to calm Desiree's fears, 249 00:12:51,237 --> 00:12:53,740 they installed an alarm system. 250 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,042 Did Desiree still feel comfortable inside her home? 251 00:12:56,142 --> 00:12:58,311 Once the board got up back on the back door, 252 00:12:58,411 --> 00:12:59,412 it wasn't the end of the world. 253 00:12:59,512 --> 00:13:00,613 She was like, she knew she had her alarm system. 254 00:13:00,713 --> 00:13:02,215 She knew that she could take care of herself, 255 00:13:02,315 --> 00:13:03,549 handle herself. 256 00:13:03,650 --> 00:13:05,985 Desiree owned firearms, too, 257 00:13:06,085 --> 00:13:09,689 and always kept a gun at her bedside. 258 00:13:09,789 --> 00:13:14,060 But neither the alarm nor her gun stopped her killer. 259 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:17,030 And now the terrible news of Desiree's death 260 00:13:17,130 --> 00:13:18,765 was everywhere. 261 00:13:18,865 --> 00:13:20,600 I was getting ready for work Monday morning, 262 00:13:20,700 --> 00:13:25,405 and I hear on the news that local art teacher 263 00:13:25,505 --> 00:13:29,842 Desiree Sunford had been found killed, or murdered. 264 00:13:29,942 --> 00:13:32,946 And I stopped... and I screamed. 265 00:13:33,046 --> 00:13:33,947 I'm like, "Tell me it's a lie. 266 00:13:34,047 --> 00:13:36,916 Tell me it's a lie. Tell me it's a lie." 267 00:13:37,016 --> 00:13:39,218 Now, down at the sheriff's office, 268 00:13:39,319 --> 00:13:41,921 investigators were digging into the case. 269 00:13:42,021 --> 00:13:43,690 Do I have your permission to keep recording? 270 00:13:43,790 --> 00:13:44,624 Absolutely. 271 00:13:44,724 --> 00:13:46,859 Starting with Scott Sunford. 272 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:47,961 You willing to keep talking to me now 273 00:13:48,061 --> 00:13:50,697 about what happened out at your house? 274 00:13:50,797 --> 00:13:52,198 Of course. 275 00:13:52,298 --> 00:13:55,468 Scott explained he had been out of town the day before 276 00:13:55,568 --> 00:13:58,771 at his aunt's funeral, when the weather got bad. 277 00:13:58,871 --> 00:14:00,573 He called Desiree. 278 00:14:00,673 --> 00:14:03,443 It was probably 11:00 or so. 279 00:14:03,543 --> 00:14:08,615 And I told her, you know, it's kind of rainy, 280 00:14:08,715 --> 00:14:11,851 it's windy, I'm tired as hell, long day, 281 00:14:11,951 --> 00:14:13,586 and they wanna do a breakfast get together 282 00:14:13,686 --> 00:14:15,154 in the morning. 283 00:14:15,255 --> 00:14:16,856 I'm gonna stay here for the night. 284 00:14:16,956 --> 00:14:18,791 He said he didn't start for home 285 00:14:18,891 --> 00:14:21,961 until 5:30 the next evening. 286 00:14:22,061 --> 00:14:22,895 All along the drive, 287 00:14:22,996 --> 00:14:24,998 I just kept calling her randomly, 288 00:14:25,098 --> 00:14:26,666 trying to get a hold of her, 289 00:14:26,766 --> 00:14:29,802 and, uh, just wasn't getting anything from her. 290 00:14:29,902 --> 00:14:32,338 And it was kind of freakin' me out. 291 00:14:32,438 --> 00:14:34,641 He checked his phone again. 292 00:14:34,741 --> 00:14:37,010 That's when he noticed the alarm had gone off 293 00:14:37,110 --> 00:14:39,946 hours earlier. 294 00:14:40,046 --> 00:14:42,615 {\an8}He made that first call to 911. 295 00:14:45,718 --> 00:14:47,387 Investigators were curious 296 00:14:47,487 --> 00:14:51,591 about Scott's last minute decision to stay overnight. 297 00:14:51,691 --> 00:14:54,093 They would become even more curious 298 00:14:54,193 --> 00:14:58,164 when he told them where he stayed. 299 00:14:58,264 --> 00:15:01,067 You stayed at your dad's in Kennewick? 300 00:15:01,167 --> 00:15:04,304 Uh, no, I actually stayed with a friend. 301 00:15:04,404 --> 00:15:06,339 What's the friend's name? 302 00:15:06,439 --> 00:15:09,208 Oh, her name's Paige. 303 00:15:09,309 --> 00:15:11,210 She's a mutual friend. 304 00:15:23,289 --> 00:15:25,158 When Desiree Sunford was shot to death 305 00:15:25,258 --> 00:15:28,027 during an apparent break-in at her home, 306 00:15:28,127 --> 00:15:30,663 deputies at the scene noticed right away. 307 00:15:30,763 --> 00:15:34,701 Her husband Scott seemed strangely calm. 308 00:15:34,801 --> 00:15:36,536 He had no emotion, whatsoever. 309 00:15:36,636 --> 00:15:38,805 None, whatsoever. 310 00:15:38,905 --> 00:15:41,140 It wasn't like he was trying to absorb bad news. 311 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:42,842 I don't believe he ever asked me questions 312 00:15:42,942 --> 00:15:44,811 about how his wife died. 313 00:15:44,911 --> 00:15:47,914 Now Scott was sitting in an interview room. 314 00:15:48,014 --> 00:15:51,517 I just didn't know what the hell was going on. 315 00:15:51,618 --> 00:15:52,785 And something about him 316 00:15:52,885 --> 00:15:55,521 didn't sit right with the detective either. 317 00:15:55,622 --> 00:15:59,525 He asked Scott why he stayed on with the 911 operator 318 00:15:59,626 --> 00:16:03,296 instead of rushing inside to see if his wife was okay. 319 00:16:03,396 --> 00:16:05,798 My stomach was churning. I was shaking. 320 00:16:05,898 --> 00:16:08,968 I had convinced myself by that point 321 00:16:09,068 --> 00:16:11,204 something had to be wrong. - Mm-hmm. 322 00:16:11,304 --> 00:16:15,008 Well, I'm just thinking you're a big guy, 323 00:16:15,108 --> 00:16:18,378 so if anyone's gonna be willing to go charging in the house 324 00:16:18,478 --> 00:16:19,812 and make sure their wife's okay, 325 00:16:19,912 --> 00:16:23,082 it would seem to me that it would be you. 326 00:16:23,182 --> 00:16:25,918 Well, it's not that I was afraid 327 00:16:26,019 --> 00:16:28,621 of anybody being in there. 328 00:16:28,721 --> 00:16:30,556 You know, I'll take on 100 people for her, 329 00:16:30,657 --> 00:16:31,758 that's fine. 330 00:16:31,858 --> 00:16:36,863 What did you think you might see if you went inside? 331 00:16:36,963 --> 00:16:38,164 Roll around a thousand of the worst things 332 00:16:38,264 --> 00:16:39,399 you could think of. 333 00:16:39,499 --> 00:16:42,969 It just was not the normal response for an individual 334 00:16:43,069 --> 00:16:45,738 thinking his wife was hurt or in danger. 335 00:16:45,838 --> 00:16:48,441 Yakima County Sheriff's Detective Dave Johnson, 336 00:16:48,541 --> 00:16:52,045 now retired, worked Desiree's case. 337 00:16:52,145 --> 00:16:53,846 And this is somebody who presumably 338 00:16:53,947 --> 00:16:55,114 could have handled a situation. 339 00:16:55,214 --> 00:16:57,116 He knows his way around a firearm. 340 00:16:57,216 --> 00:16:58,117 He's got a gun? 341 00:16:58,217 --> 00:16:59,986 Yes, he's... He's well-trained. 342 00:17:00,086 --> 00:17:02,121 He has served in combat. 343 00:17:02,221 --> 00:17:04,891 So he would be able to handle the situation, 344 00:17:04,991 --> 00:17:06,626 in our opinion. 345 00:17:06,726 --> 00:17:08,328 The detective interviewing Scott 346 00:17:08,428 --> 00:17:10,630 asked about his military service. 347 00:17:10,730 --> 00:17:13,766 Um, I got blown up a few times, 348 00:17:13,866 --> 00:17:16,369 but nothing really. 349 00:17:16,469 --> 00:17:18,605 Well, I got shot, too, but I was wearing body armor. 350 00:17:18,705 --> 00:17:21,107 How are you coping with that? 351 00:17:21,207 --> 00:17:22,375 Well, according to the military, 352 00:17:22,475 --> 00:17:24,577 I'm what they call mentally resilient. 353 00:17:24,677 --> 00:17:27,313 They said I deal with things quite well. 354 00:17:27,413 --> 00:17:30,616 The detective switched topics and asked Scott 355 00:17:30,717 --> 00:17:34,420 about spending the night away after his aunt's funeral. 356 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,490 You stayed at your dad's in Kennewick? 357 00:17:37,590 --> 00:17:40,059 Uh, no, I actually stayed with a friend. 358 00:17:40,159 --> 00:17:44,263 - What's the friend's name? - Oh, her name's Paige. 359 00:17:44,364 --> 00:17:45,865 At this point, you're wondering, 360 00:17:45,965 --> 00:17:48,201 "Who is Paige?" - That's right. 361 00:17:48,301 --> 00:17:50,370 It's not a normal event 362 00:17:50,470 --> 00:17:52,639 unless he's having an affair with this lady. 363 00:17:52,739 --> 00:17:55,074 She's a mutual friend? 364 00:17:55,174 --> 00:17:59,345 A mutual friend of his and Desiree's. 365 00:17:59,445 --> 00:18:02,281 Did Desiree know that you were going to Paige's? 366 00:18:03,883 --> 00:18:05,885 I don't know. Honestly. 367 00:18:05,985 --> 00:18:08,187 It's not something you had discussed with her? 368 00:18:08,288 --> 00:18:09,389 No. 369 00:18:09,489 --> 00:18:11,924 The red flags are just piling up on this guy 370 00:18:12,025 --> 00:18:13,226 at this point. - It is. 371 00:18:13,326 --> 00:18:14,761 There's more to this relationship 372 00:18:14,861 --> 00:18:16,729 than what he's telling us. 373 00:18:16,829 --> 00:18:19,599 Was it just a platonic friendship, 374 00:18:19,699 --> 00:18:20,867 or were you... 375 00:18:20,967 --> 00:18:23,636 Did you have a sexual relationship with Paige? 376 00:18:23,736 --> 00:18:24,871 You know, I shouldn't go there 377 00:18:24,971 --> 00:18:30,009 because it's kind of rude, but, uh, 378 00:18:30,109 --> 00:18:32,845 well, Des didn't want me to say anything to anybody. 379 00:18:32,945 --> 00:18:36,783 At one point, her and Paige had a little thing going 380 00:18:36,883 --> 00:18:39,852 for a while there, a little experiment. 381 00:18:39,953 --> 00:18:42,855 Okay, so it was Desiree and Paige 382 00:18:42,956 --> 00:18:44,190 who had the sexual relationship. 383 00:18:44,290 --> 00:18:46,960 - Yeah. - But not you and Paige. 384 00:18:47,060 --> 00:18:48,461 Or...? - We all did. 385 00:18:48,561 --> 00:18:49,596 Sometimes you and Paige, too? 386 00:18:49,696 --> 00:18:51,931 - Honestly, we all did. - Okay. 387 00:18:52,031 --> 00:18:54,267 I bet you didn't see that one coming. Did you? 388 00:18:54,367 --> 00:18:56,703 We did not, no. That was something-- 389 00:18:56,803 --> 00:18:58,504 Sometimes you think you heard everything 390 00:18:58,605 --> 00:19:01,307 and something new comes up. 391 00:19:01,407 --> 00:19:04,577 Did it seem as though he was trying to almost downplay 392 00:19:04,677 --> 00:19:06,879 his affair with Paige 393 00:19:06,980 --> 00:19:09,048 by saying that Desiree was involved? 394 00:19:09,148 --> 00:19:11,150 Desiree knew about it. She was good with all of it. 395 00:19:11,250 --> 00:19:13,753 Yeah. It was no big deal. 396 00:19:13,853 --> 00:19:16,422 We needed to find out as much as possible 397 00:19:16,522 --> 00:19:18,124 about their relationship. 398 00:19:18,224 --> 00:19:21,561 Was there a major jealousy going on? 399 00:19:21,661 --> 00:19:24,664 The detective asked Scott if he knew of anyone 400 00:19:24,764 --> 00:19:27,033 who had a problem with Desiree. 401 00:19:27,133 --> 00:19:29,302 Nothing. 402 00:19:29,402 --> 00:19:31,838 I mean, who hates an art teacher? 403 00:19:31,938 --> 00:19:33,106 It's an elective. 404 00:19:33,206 --> 00:19:35,975 The detective took a break and stepped out. 405 00:19:36,075 --> 00:19:37,910 {\an8}Just sit tight for a second. 406 00:19:42,715 --> 00:19:45,652 {\an8}And Scott kept the conversation going 407 00:19:45,752 --> 00:19:47,453 {\an8}with himself. 408 00:20:05,905 --> 00:20:08,541 This moment immediately stood out to me, 409 00:20:08,641 --> 00:20:10,276 watching Scott talk to himself 410 00:20:10,376 --> 00:20:12,178 in the interrogation room. 411 00:20:12,278 --> 00:20:14,180 Of course, no one knows how they would act 412 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:16,082 under that kind of pressure. 413 00:20:16,182 --> 00:20:18,785 A loved one killed and police asking questions, 414 00:20:18,885 --> 00:20:21,454 and hopefully we never find out. 415 00:20:21,554 --> 00:20:23,489 But if you hadn't done anything wrong, 416 00:20:23,589 --> 00:20:25,892 you wouldn't expect to have to coach yourself 417 00:20:25,992 --> 00:20:27,327 to stay calm. 418 00:20:27,427 --> 00:20:29,429 Scott's interview felt rehearsed, 419 00:20:29,529 --> 00:20:31,197 almost like a performance. 420 00:20:31,297 --> 00:20:33,333 And that's what investigators saw as well. 421 00:20:37,770 --> 00:20:40,039 All the suspects I've interviewed over the years, 422 00:20:40,139 --> 00:20:43,176 that's one of the first times I've seen that. 423 00:20:43,276 --> 00:20:45,478 He was just like, he's really psyching himself up, 424 00:20:45,578 --> 00:20:50,283 that he wanted to have his emotions in control. 425 00:20:50,383 --> 00:20:52,352 Was that suspicious to you? 426 00:20:52,452 --> 00:20:55,388 Very suspicious. Very suspicious. 427 00:20:55,488 --> 00:20:59,425 Meanwhile, investigators had been gathering evidence. 428 00:20:59,525 --> 00:21:02,462 There was some DNA under Desiree's fingernails. 429 00:21:02,562 --> 00:21:05,365 That's correct. That was sent to the lab. 430 00:21:05,465 --> 00:21:08,034 There was also a shoe print on the carpet 431 00:21:08,134 --> 00:21:11,170 a few feet from Desiree's body. 432 00:21:11,270 --> 00:21:12,705 The person who made that print 433 00:21:12,805 --> 00:21:14,140 had stepped in some blood. 434 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:16,476 You were wearing those shoes. 435 00:21:16,576 --> 00:21:19,312 - Yeah. - When you went to the house. 436 00:21:19,412 --> 00:21:22,181 How important was that piece of evidence? 437 00:21:22,281 --> 00:21:24,217 If we found the correct shoe, that would match that, 438 00:21:24,317 --> 00:21:27,153 that would be very huge. 439 00:21:27,253 --> 00:21:30,523 They also collected security video from the area 440 00:21:30,623 --> 00:21:32,659 looking for Scott's car. 441 00:21:32,759 --> 00:21:34,494 And they took his phone. 442 00:21:34,594 --> 00:21:36,562 Then they let him go. 443 00:21:36,663 --> 00:21:39,198 So we can about wrap it up here. 444 00:21:39,299 --> 00:21:41,401 There was nothing that we could, uh, 445 00:21:41,501 --> 00:21:44,871 even come remotely close to charging him 446 00:21:44,971 --> 00:21:46,906 with the murder of his wife, 447 00:21:47,006 --> 00:21:49,776 um, just because he- He was acting funny. 448 00:21:49,876 --> 00:21:52,879 But by the time he walked out of the sheriff's office, 449 00:21:52,979 --> 00:21:56,716 detectives weren't the only ones wondering about Scott. 450 00:21:59,252 --> 00:22:00,620 - After Iraq... - Mm-hmm. 451 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:01,821 ...he was a different Scott. 452 00:22:01,921 --> 00:22:02,789 Different. 453 00:22:15,602 --> 00:22:17,770 The students at Wapato Middle School 454 00:22:17,870 --> 00:22:19,672 were struggling. 455 00:22:19,772 --> 00:22:21,007 Desiree Sunford, 456 00:22:21,107 --> 00:22:26,079 the cool art teacher in room 147, was gone. 457 00:22:26,179 --> 00:22:27,547 When kids started finding out, 458 00:22:27,647 --> 00:22:29,515 those were tough conversations. 459 00:22:29,615 --> 00:22:31,184 How were they taking it? 460 00:22:31,284 --> 00:22:34,954 We had a couple kiddos get really angry, really angry. 461 00:22:35,054 --> 00:22:36,723 Fellow teacher Michelle Howell 462 00:22:36,823 --> 00:22:40,693 was heartbroken too, but she put on a brave face. 463 00:22:40,793 --> 00:22:42,662 In education, you can't think about yourself. 464 00:22:42,762 --> 00:22:44,163 You gotta think about your kids. 465 00:22:44,263 --> 00:22:48,768 Still, she realized just how raw her emotions were 466 00:22:48,868 --> 00:22:52,171 when a student came up to her during lunch break. 467 00:22:52,271 --> 00:22:54,574 And she goes, "I'm sorry that your heart hurts." 468 00:22:54,674 --> 00:22:56,009 And I just broke down. 469 00:22:56,109 --> 00:22:57,577 And she goes, "I'm gonna let you cry." 470 00:22:57,677 --> 00:22:58,778 Sure. 471 00:22:58,878 --> 00:23:01,781 But the commentary that swirled about what happened 472 00:23:01,881 --> 00:23:03,850 and how it happened and who did it... 473 00:23:03,950 --> 00:23:07,487 - Mm-hmm. - That's where the tininess of this valley 474 00:23:07,587 --> 00:23:08,988 starts to really play in. 475 00:23:09,088 --> 00:23:11,090 So there were all sorts of wild theories flying around. 476 00:23:11,190 --> 00:23:12,959 Oh, stupid theories. 477 00:23:13,059 --> 00:23:16,529 There were supposedly that one of our kids had done it, 478 00:23:16,629 --> 00:23:18,598 and then an angry parent had done it. 479 00:23:18,698 --> 00:23:20,099 You just wanted to put cotton in your ears 480 00:23:20,199 --> 00:23:21,234 so you don't listen. 481 00:23:21,334 --> 00:23:24,904 Who would wanna kill Des? Nobody. 482 00:23:25,004 --> 00:23:27,507 At first, Kayla thought it could have been related 483 00:23:27,607 --> 00:23:30,476 to the burglary that happened a week earlier. 484 00:23:30,576 --> 00:23:32,812 Did you think the person came back? 485 00:23:32,912 --> 00:23:34,781 Yeah. I mean, that would be, 486 00:23:34,881 --> 00:23:39,686 I mean, a logical explanation. 487 00:23:39,786 --> 00:23:43,056 When Kayla checked in with Desiree's mother, Connie, 488 00:23:43,156 --> 00:23:45,959 she learned about Scott's strange behavior 489 00:23:46,059 --> 00:23:47,827 at the crime scene. 490 00:23:47,927 --> 00:23:50,129 She told me that Scott called the police 491 00:23:50,229 --> 00:23:52,932 because he didn't wanna go in. 492 00:23:53,032 --> 00:23:58,504 And she was very upset about it because 493 00:23:58,605 --> 00:24:01,941 he, you know, he's military, he had a weapon, 494 00:24:02,041 --> 00:24:04,477 but he wouldn't go in to see if his wife was okay. 495 00:24:04,577 --> 00:24:05,645 I remember thinking 496 00:24:05,745 --> 00:24:08,615 most spouses would charge into that house 497 00:24:08,715 --> 00:24:11,284 trying to see what's happening with their loved one. 498 00:24:11,384 --> 00:24:14,020 And yet, Scott stayed outside. 499 00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:16,789 That decision had raised questions for police, too. 500 00:24:16,889 --> 00:24:20,093 But others wondered if his calm wasn't guilt at all, 501 00:24:20,193 --> 00:24:21,828 but conditioning. 502 00:24:21,928 --> 00:24:23,930 Maybe years of military service, 503 00:24:24,030 --> 00:24:27,600 combat, and trauma made him naturally stoic. 504 00:24:27,700 --> 00:24:29,669 Was his behavior a defense mechanism 505 00:24:29,769 --> 00:24:31,504 or a red flag? 506 00:24:31,604 --> 00:24:33,272 It was a question that stayed with me. 507 00:24:34,540 --> 00:24:38,478 Kayla wasn't surprised that Scott seemed unemotional 508 00:24:38,578 --> 00:24:40,146 at the crime scene. 509 00:24:40,246 --> 00:24:41,114 For the Scott that, you know, 510 00:24:41,214 --> 00:24:42,582 that's not outside of his character. 511 00:24:42,682 --> 00:24:43,816 Correct. 512 00:24:43,916 --> 00:24:45,652 He was not an emotional person. 513 00:24:45,752 --> 00:24:46,653 Mm-hmm. 514 00:24:46,753 --> 00:24:49,322 So it wasn't out of character for him. 515 00:24:49,422 --> 00:24:53,259 Michelle wasn't willing to give Scott that pass. 516 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,663 You could not pay me enough to stand outside 517 00:24:56,763 --> 00:24:58,298 if I thought that someone I loved 518 00:24:58,398 --> 00:24:59,832 or someone that I cared about 519 00:24:59,933 --> 00:25:03,236 was hurt, or dying, or dead inside anywhere. 520 00:25:03,336 --> 00:25:06,306 So when you heard that, what did that make you think? 521 00:25:06,406 --> 00:25:08,041 I was super confused. 522 00:25:08,141 --> 00:25:09,475 I was really confused. 523 00:25:09,575 --> 00:25:11,244 Why would you wait? 524 00:25:11,344 --> 00:25:13,079 Like, why-- What would stop you? 525 00:25:13,179 --> 00:25:15,615 Like, what if she was still alive? 526 00:25:15,715 --> 00:25:17,216 Desiree's brother Casey, 527 00:25:17,317 --> 00:25:21,120 wondered if Scott knew more than he was letting on. 528 00:25:21,220 --> 00:25:24,190 I never told mom this. 529 00:25:24,290 --> 00:25:25,525 I never told anybody. 530 00:25:25,625 --> 00:25:27,694 And I kept saying to myself, 531 00:25:27,794 --> 00:25:30,296 if Scott had anything to do with this. 532 00:25:30,396 --> 00:25:35,401 It's one of those gut feelings that there was... 533 00:25:35,501 --> 00:25:38,338 something he wasn't saying, telling us. 534 00:25:38,438 --> 00:25:41,107 Kim O'Dell had the same gut feeling. 535 00:25:41,207 --> 00:25:43,543 She had known Scott since middle school, 536 00:25:43,643 --> 00:25:46,179 and she saw how much his time in the Army 537 00:25:46,279 --> 00:25:48,281 had changed him. 538 00:25:48,381 --> 00:25:49,816 After Iraq... - Mm-hmm. 539 00:25:49,916 --> 00:25:51,117 ...he was a different Scott. 540 00:25:51,217 --> 00:25:52,552 - Different. - How? 541 00:25:52,652 --> 00:25:53,786 Completely different. 542 00:25:53,886 --> 00:25:58,291 Um, just a darker sense of humor about things. 543 00:25:58,391 --> 00:26:00,893 Did Desiree ever say anything about it? 544 00:26:00,994 --> 00:26:03,062 A little bit here and there. 545 00:26:03,162 --> 00:26:04,263 So, she noticed a shift, too? 546 00:26:04,364 --> 00:26:06,432 She did. I think we all did, 547 00:26:06,532 --> 00:26:09,669 especially those of us that were, um, 548 00:26:09,769 --> 00:26:11,504 that were close before and after. 549 00:26:12,305 --> 00:26:13,606 People in Desiree's life 550 00:26:13,706 --> 00:26:17,944 noticed Scott seemed more detached, less loving. 551 00:26:18,044 --> 00:26:19,579 And there was another reason 552 00:26:19,679 --> 00:26:23,249 their marriage may not have been rock solid. 553 00:26:23,349 --> 00:26:26,119 Had you heard that Desiree was stepping out on Scott? 554 00:26:26,219 --> 00:26:27,720 I did. 555 00:26:27,820 --> 00:26:29,055 Years earlier, 556 00:26:29,155 --> 00:26:31,891 Kim found out Desiree had cheated on Scott 557 00:26:31,991 --> 00:26:34,394 before they were married. 558 00:26:34,494 --> 00:26:36,262 Did she ever tell Scott about this? 559 00:26:36,362 --> 00:26:37,363 She did. 560 00:26:37,463 --> 00:26:39,198 Did they have to try and patch things up? 561 00:26:39,299 --> 00:26:40,667 What did that look like? 562 00:26:40,767 --> 00:26:44,203 I think that there was a lot of trust lost in that, 563 00:26:44,304 --> 00:26:49,142 and I think that it was slowly them trying to rebuild. 564 00:26:49,242 --> 00:26:51,311 Between Desiree's infidelity 565 00:26:51,411 --> 00:26:53,579 and the change she saw in Scott, 566 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:57,350 Kim wondered if Scott had just snapped. 567 00:26:57,450 --> 00:27:00,286 I thought Scott lost his mind. 568 00:27:00,386 --> 00:27:03,890 Scott found out about things that had happened in the past, 569 00:27:03,990 --> 00:27:05,858 and he lost his mind. 570 00:27:05,959 --> 00:27:09,262 {\an8}Desiree's loved ones were grasping for answers. 571 00:27:09,362 --> 00:27:10,897 {\an8}But what they didn't know 572 00:27:10,997 --> 00:27:14,634 {\an8}was detectives thought they might already have one 573 00:27:14,734 --> 00:27:16,502 {\an8}in Paige Blades, 574 00:27:16,603 --> 00:27:20,006 {\an8}who was about to tell investigators her story. 575 00:27:43,730 --> 00:27:47,467 Detectives wasted no time in contacting the other woman 576 00:27:47,567 --> 00:27:51,037 in Scott's and maybe Desiree's life. 577 00:27:51,137 --> 00:27:53,172 Paige Blades. 578 00:27:53,272 --> 00:27:55,008 How quickly did you go see her? 579 00:27:55,108 --> 00:27:56,309 It was later that morning. 580 00:27:56,409 --> 00:27:59,579 It was around 8, 9 o'clock that morning. 581 00:28:00,813 --> 00:28:03,182 Paige said she didn't have money for gas, 582 00:28:03,283 --> 00:28:06,052 so detectives drove almost two hours to her house. 583 00:28:08,721 --> 00:28:09,822 {\an8}She was 23, 584 00:28:09,923 --> 00:28:12,191 {\an8}shared a young son with an ex-boyfriend, 585 00:28:12,292 --> 00:28:13,993 {\an8}and she worked at a food processing plant 586 00:28:14,093 --> 00:28:16,696 {\an8}in Moses Lake, Desiree's hometown. 587 00:28:25,605 --> 00:28:27,307 How long did you talk with her? 588 00:28:27,407 --> 00:28:29,509 We probably talked with her an hour, hour and a half. 589 00:28:29,609 --> 00:28:32,178 How did she come across to you in that conversation? 590 00:28:32,278 --> 00:28:34,514 {\an8}Didn't seem to be too concerned. 591 00:29:15,555 --> 00:29:19,492 {\an8}Paige said she and Scott soon became more than friends. 592 00:29:56,429 --> 00:29:57,931 {\an8}Just as Scott had told them, 593 00:29:58,031 --> 00:30:00,333 {\an8}Paige said it was all good, 594 00:30:00,433 --> 00:30:02,969 {\an8}that Desiree was perfectly comfortable 595 00:30:03,069 --> 00:30:06,139 {\an8}with the arrangement until she wasn't. 596 00:30:06,239 --> 00:30:09,242 {\an8}That was about seven months before her murder. 597 00:30:28,194 --> 00:30:30,496 So now you're getting a different picture, perhaps, 598 00:30:30,596 --> 00:30:32,031 of this relationship, 599 00:30:32,131 --> 00:30:34,100 than the one that Scott was portraying, 600 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:36,436 that Desiree wasn't completely onboard 601 00:30:36,536 --> 00:30:38,504 with their dealings. 602 00:30:38,605 --> 00:30:40,406 That's correct. 603 00:30:40,506 --> 00:30:44,744 {\an8}Paige said her relationship with Desiree may have cooled, 604 00:30:44,844 --> 00:30:48,047 {\an8}but the affair with Scott continued, 605 00:30:48,147 --> 00:30:51,084 {\an8}right up until the night of Desiree's murder. 606 00:31:03,763 --> 00:31:05,665 So once we learn about Paige Blades 607 00:31:05,765 --> 00:31:07,367 and hear her side of the story, 608 00:31:07,467 --> 00:31:10,570 this adds a whole new level of complexity. 609 00:31:10,670 --> 00:31:13,239 Unlike Scott, Paige said that Desiree 610 00:31:13,339 --> 00:31:14,941 wasn't completely onboard 611 00:31:15,041 --> 00:31:17,210 with their cozy little throuple. 612 00:31:17,310 --> 00:31:19,545 And it appeared Desiree may not have known 613 00:31:19,646 --> 00:31:20,480 the full truth 614 00:31:20,580 --> 00:31:22,682 of Scott's involvement with Paige. 615 00:31:22,782 --> 00:31:25,585 That gap between what one person believes 616 00:31:25,685 --> 00:31:27,654 and what another is actually doing 617 00:31:27,754 --> 00:31:29,122 can be dangerous. 618 00:31:29,222 --> 00:31:30,857 And it's why investigators told me 619 00:31:30,957 --> 00:31:33,760 they had to take a much closer look at Paige. 620 00:31:35,395 --> 00:31:36,529 As she talked, 621 00:31:36,629 --> 00:31:40,366 detectives thought she sounded a little too practiced. 622 00:31:56,883 --> 00:32:00,920 {\an8}We asked her if Scott had told her to give him an alibi, 623 00:32:01,020 --> 00:32:03,656 {\an8}or tell her what to tell the police, 624 00:32:03,756 --> 00:32:05,658 {\an8}or anything like that, she said no. 625 00:32:05,758 --> 00:32:08,194 {\an8}He never talked to her 626 00:32:08,294 --> 00:32:11,898 {\an8}other than he notified her that Desiree had been killed. 627 00:32:28,514 --> 00:32:30,984 Did she come across as believable to you? 628 00:32:31,084 --> 00:32:32,418 For the most part, yes. 629 00:32:32,518 --> 00:32:36,289 But there was still a bit of doubt there somewhere. 630 00:32:36,389 --> 00:32:37,523 There was. 631 00:32:37,624 --> 00:32:40,593 We weren't sure if she was really telling us the truth. 632 00:32:40,693 --> 00:32:43,296 Do you kinda put a bookmark next to her name, 633 00:32:43,396 --> 00:32:44,564 thinking, 634 00:32:44,664 --> 00:32:46,866 she's somebody we're gonna have to dig further into. 635 00:32:46,966 --> 00:32:48,601 {\an8}Yeah. We need to find out 636 00:32:48,701 --> 00:32:51,070 {\an8}how deep a relationship they have. 637 00:32:51,170 --> 00:32:53,406 {\an8}Did they see each other more than what she was telling us, 638 00:32:53,506 --> 00:32:55,375 {\an8}or what Scott was telling us? 639 00:33:00,980 --> 00:33:04,717 Later, when detectives spoke to those close to Desiree, 640 00:33:04,817 --> 00:33:07,353 Paige's and Scott's stories of a lovely, 641 00:33:07,453 --> 00:33:11,190 amicable three-way didn't seem plausible. 642 00:33:11,291 --> 00:33:14,694 Kim said she'd never heard of Paige. 643 00:33:14,794 --> 00:33:16,429 Desiree never mentioned her as a friend? 644 00:33:16,529 --> 00:33:17,630 No. 645 00:33:17,730 --> 00:33:20,266 When you first hear about her 646 00:33:20,366 --> 00:33:23,636 and kind of her connection in their world, 647 00:33:23,736 --> 00:33:24,771 what did you think? 648 00:33:24,871 --> 00:33:28,174 It just seemed an odd situation. 649 00:33:28,274 --> 00:33:30,810 Like, as far as them having a relationship, 650 00:33:30,910 --> 00:33:36,015 the three of them, I didn't ever see it from her. 651 00:33:36,115 --> 00:33:39,252 I just didn't see that she would ever 652 00:33:39,352 --> 00:33:40,820 venture into that. 653 00:33:41,988 --> 00:33:45,058 Kayla hadn't heard of Paige either. 654 00:33:45,158 --> 00:33:47,560 Never heard of her name before. 655 00:33:47,660 --> 00:33:51,564 She also didn't buy the idea of a three-way affair. 656 00:33:51,664 --> 00:33:54,067 Oh, my gosh. 657 00:33:54,167 --> 00:33:57,637 It's like one of those crazy movies. 658 00:33:57,737 --> 00:34:00,873 The things you only see in movies. 659 00:34:00,974 --> 00:34:04,877 But could Desiree have hidden such an affair? 660 00:34:04,978 --> 00:34:07,780 To detectives, anything seemed possible. 661 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,450 In a case that would be loaded with secrets. 662 00:34:10,550 --> 00:34:13,152 You get a tip that Paige was pregnant 663 00:34:13,253 --> 00:34:16,322 with Scott's baby when the murder happened. 664 00:34:29,402 --> 00:34:31,804 Two weeks after Desiree was killed, 665 00:34:31,904 --> 00:34:34,774 her family and friends gathered for a funeral 666 00:34:34,874 --> 00:34:37,910 as unique as the woman herself. 667 00:34:38,011 --> 00:34:42,015 They had her Harley in there and... 668 00:34:42,115 --> 00:34:46,052 - Inside the church. - Yeah. 669 00:34:46,152 --> 00:34:49,922 There was a beautiful poem that I don't know who read, 670 00:34:50,023 --> 00:34:54,427 but it was The Dash. - Mm-hmm. 671 00:34:54,527 --> 00:34:57,230 And it was basically talking about, 672 00:34:57,330 --> 00:34:59,265 you know, the day you're born, 673 00:34:59,365 --> 00:35:02,402 and then the dash, and then the day you die, 674 00:35:02,502 --> 00:35:05,371 and they wanna focus on the dash, 675 00:35:05,471 --> 00:35:06,472 that time. 676 00:35:06,572 --> 00:35:09,842 When you think about that poem with Desiree, 677 00:35:09,943 --> 00:35:12,011 did you feel that she lived that dash to the fullest? 678 00:35:12,111 --> 00:35:15,882 - Oh, yeah. - Yeah. 679 00:35:15,982 --> 00:35:21,054 What other Harley drivin', gun slingin', 680 00:35:21,154 --> 00:35:24,223 art teacher... - Car restoring. 681 00:35:24,324 --> 00:35:26,693 - Yeah. - She did it all. 682 00:35:26,793 --> 00:35:29,596 She did. 683 00:35:29,696 --> 00:35:32,398 Scott was there at the funeral, of course, 684 00:35:32,498 --> 00:35:33,900 but for Michelle, 685 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,070 that memory is not a pleasant one. 686 00:35:37,170 --> 00:35:38,638 If I lost my spouse, 687 00:35:38,738 --> 00:35:39,539 if I lost someone that I loved 688 00:35:39,639 --> 00:35:40,707 and someone that I cared about, 689 00:35:40,807 --> 00:35:42,775 I sure as hell wouldn't be smiling at their funeral. 690 00:35:42,875 --> 00:35:44,811 - Scott was smiling? - Mm-hmm. 691 00:35:44,911 --> 00:35:45,845 Multiple occasions. 692 00:35:45,945 --> 00:35:47,747 We watched him on his phone walk outside, 693 00:35:47,847 --> 00:35:50,249 because the back part of the church that we were in, 694 00:35:50,350 --> 00:35:53,052 this open venue, there was a wall of windows, 695 00:35:53,152 --> 00:35:55,622 and he's on his phone smoking a cigarette outside 696 00:35:55,722 --> 00:35:57,056 with a smile on his face. 697 00:35:57,156 --> 00:36:00,360 By now, we know there are no rules to grief. 698 00:36:00,460 --> 00:36:03,096 It simply doesn't look the same on everyone. 699 00:36:03,196 --> 00:36:05,965 And that's always part of my approach in an interview. 700 00:36:06,065 --> 00:36:07,700 Could this just be someone's way 701 00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:10,036 of coping with immense pain? 702 00:36:10,136 --> 00:36:11,804 But when does that cross the line 703 00:36:11,904 --> 00:36:16,009 from grieving differently, to being downright suspicious? 704 00:36:16,109 --> 00:36:17,510 One can't help looking at this 705 00:36:17,610 --> 00:36:19,545 and thinking, at the very least, 706 00:36:19,646 --> 00:36:21,714 Scott knows more about his wife's death 707 00:36:21,814 --> 00:36:23,016 than he's letting on. 708 00:36:24,684 --> 00:36:27,220 Detective Johnson was hearing similar stories 709 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:31,090 that Scott didn't seem like the grieving spouse. 710 00:36:31,190 --> 00:36:32,925 Just a couple days after the funeral, 711 00:36:33,026 --> 00:36:35,695 he was talking to a young lady 712 00:36:35,795 --> 00:36:38,865 at a motorcycle dealership. 713 00:36:38,965 --> 00:36:41,167 He asked for a hug, which is kind of normal 714 00:36:41,267 --> 00:36:44,170 and, you know, need a little emotional support. 715 00:36:44,270 --> 00:36:45,972 But then he asked her out to dinner. 716 00:36:46,072 --> 00:36:47,674 - Like, on a date? - Yeah. 717 00:36:47,774 --> 00:36:49,876 It just didn't seem to add up 718 00:36:49,976 --> 00:36:52,578 that he was really devastated 719 00:36:52,679 --> 00:36:55,281 by the death of Desiree. 720 00:36:55,381 --> 00:36:57,183 But their suspicions were based on 721 00:36:57,283 --> 00:36:59,285 more than his demeanor. 722 00:36:59,385 --> 00:37:01,421 About two months after the murder, 723 00:37:01,521 --> 00:37:04,023 investigators got what sounded like, 724 00:37:04,123 --> 00:37:06,192 explosive news. 725 00:37:06,292 --> 00:37:10,229 You get a tip that Paige was pregnant with Scott's baby 726 00:37:10,330 --> 00:37:12,098 when the murder happened. 727 00:37:12,198 --> 00:37:14,000 What did you think when you heard that? 728 00:37:14,100 --> 00:37:16,202 That definitely would be a motive 729 00:37:16,302 --> 00:37:18,237 to get Desiree out of the picture? 730 00:37:18,338 --> 00:37:20,673 Does that change this picture for you at all? 731 00:37:20,773 --> 00:37:22,742 It makes us work harder 732 00:37:22,842 --> 00:37:24,711 to find out if there's any connection 733 00:37:24,811 --> 00:37:27,880 that would-- did Paige commit this crime, 734 00:37:27,981 --> 00:37:31,951 um, or did Scott have Paige do it for him? 735 00:37:32,051 --> 00:37:34,787 It was just more unanswered questions 736 00:37:34,887 --> 00:37:36,990 for the investigation. 737 00:37:37,090 --> 00:37:39,559 But then some questions were answered 738 00:37:39,659 --> 00:37:41,828 when the lab results came back. 739 00:37:41,928 --> 00:37:44,264 The DNA found under Desiree's fingernails 740 00:37:44,364 --> 00:37:47,600 was male DNA, but... 741 00:37:47,700 --> 00:37:49,068 wasn't Scott's DNA. 742 00:37:49,168 --> 00:37:50,403 It was not. 743 00:37:50,503 --> 00:37:53,673 Results on the bloody shoe print also came in. 744 00:37:53,773 --> 00:37:56,042 No connection to Scott. 745 00:37:56,142 --> 00:37:58,344 We had nothing in the house that matched 746 00:37:58,444 --> 00:38:01,681 any type of shoes that he had in the house. 747 00:38:01,781 --> 00:38:03,783 And the evidence from his phone... 748 00:38:03,883 --> 00:38:06,019 When you were going through that cell phone data, 749 00:38:06,119 --> 00:38:09,055 did it tell you where Scott and Paige were 750 00:38:09,155 --> 00:38:10,390 at the time of the killing? 751 00:38:10,490 --> 00:38:13,526 It showed that he was in the Tri Cities area 752 00:38:13,626 --> 00:38:14,927 during those times. 753 00:38:15,028 --> 00:38:17,063 It was on the route that he would take, 754 00:38:17,163 --> 00:38:19,699 so nothing was suspicious. 755 00:38:19,799 --> 00:38:21,301 They confirmed that Scott's phone 756 00:38:21,401 --> 00:38:23,569 wasn't at the scene of the crime. 757 00:38:23,670 --> 00:38:25,538 Neither was Paige's. 758 00:38:25,638 --> 00:38:29,309 And all those gas station security cameras they checked, 759 00:38:29,409 --> 00:38:32,445 there was no sign of Scott's car near his home 760 00:38:32,545 --> 00:38:34,213 at the time of the murder. 761 00:38:34,314 --> 00:38:35,715 It's like you've got a lot of shiny pennies, 762 00:38:35,815 --> 00:38:38,785 but they're not adding up to much at this point. 763 00:38:38,885 --> 00:38:42,055 Does your investigation start to go cold? 764 00:38:42,155 --> 00:38:44,157 Oh, yes. 765 00:38:44,257 --> 00:38:47,060 Months passed without an arrest. 766 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:48,428 How hard was that time for you? 767 00:38:48,528 --> 00:38:50,163 It was awful. 768 00:38:50,263 --> 00:38:51,631 It was awful. 769 00:38:51,731 --> 00:38:53,399 There was all the other headlines, 770 00:38:53,499 --> 00:38:58,871 all the other things going on, and she was forgotten. 771 00:39:00,573 --> 00:39:02,642 But her students didn't forget, 772 00:39:02,742 --> 00:39:04,944 and they still wanted answers. 773 00:39:05,044 --> 00:39:05,778 When they became eighth graders, 774 00:39:05,878 --> 00:39:06,746 they were like, 775 00:39:06,846 --> 00:39:08,081 "Whatever happened to that teacher?" 776 00:39:08,181 --> 00:39:10,750 Like, "Did they ever figure out who did it?" 777 00:39:10,850 --> 00:39:12,552 And I would just say, "I don't know," 778 00:39:12,652 --> 00:39:14,387 and I would move on. 779 00:39:14,487 --> 00:39:15,455 It's not really a conversation you wanna have 780 00:39:15,555 --> 00:39:16,789 with a 13 or 14 year old. 781 00:39:16,889 --> 00:39:18,191 Sure. 782 00:39:18,291 --> 00:39:20,026 Michelle thought an art project 783 00:39:20,126 --> 00:39:23,062 dedicated to Desiree might help. 784 00:39:23,162 --> 00:39:26,666 We spent a Saturday creating this piece of artwork 785 00:39:26,766 --> 00:39:29,135 that is up in our library. 786 00:39:29,235 --> 00:39:31,204 We invaded her classroom and used all of her pastels 787 00:39:31,304 --> 00:39:33,773 and just built this thing. 788 00:39:33,873 --> 00:39:34,907 And then I took it to my classroom 789 00:39:35,008 --> 00:39:36,209 and any of the kids who wanted to come in 790 00:39:36,309 --> 00:39:39,712 and be part of that and put their artwork on there for her 791 00:39:39,812 --> 00:39:41,114 and create a tile of their own for her 792 00:39:41,214 --> 00:39:43,282 is what we called it. And they did. 793 00:39:43,383 --> 00:39:46,352 That's beautiful. 794 00:39:46,452 --> 00:39:49,422 Meanwhile, investigators were taking a harder look 795 00:39:49,522 --> 00:39:50,923 at Paige Blades, 796 00:39:51,024 --> 00:39:53,593 the third wheel in the Sunfords marriage. 797 00:39:53,693 --> 00:39:56,963 Turns out there was another man in Paige's orbit. 798 00:39:57,063 --> 00:39:58,598 She'd brought him up in her interview 799 00:39:58,698 --> 00:40:00,099 with the detectives. 800 00:40:51,517 --> 00:40:53,953 Detectives learned Paige's ex boyfriend Dylan 801 00:40:54,053 --> 00:40:56,556 had actually been involved in a shooting death 802 00:40:56,656 --> 00:40:58,324 two years earlier. 803 00:40:58,424 --> 00:41:00,793 He told officers two men came to his home 804 00:41:00,893 --> 00:41:03,229 in Moses Lake and assaulted him. 805 00:41:03,329 --> 00:41:05,999 So he shot one of them in self-defense. 806 00:41:06,099 --> 00:41:09,135 It was ruled a justifiable homicide. 807 00:41:09,235 --> 00:41:11,437 You did bring Dylan in to talk to him, correct? 808 00:41:11,537 --> 00:41:12,472 Oh, certainly. 809 00:41:12,572 --> 00:41:14,240 We wanted to find out the relationship 810 00:41:14,340 --> 00:41:16,242 that he had with Paige. 811 00:41:16,342 --> 00:41:18,311 Did he know anything about the relationship 812 00:41:18,411 --> 00:41:20,113 between Scott and Paige, 813 00:41:20,213 --> 00:41:22,248 did he know anything about Desiree? 814 00:41:22,348 --> 00:41:23,216 Did you ask him where he was 815 00:41:23,316 --> 00:41:24,684 the night that Desiree was killed? 816 00:41:24,784 --> 00:41:26,052 Certainly. 817 00:41:26,152 --> 00:41:27,120 What did he tell you? 818 00:41:27,220 --> 00:41:30,657 He was home in Moses Lake area. 819 00:41:30,757 --> 00:41:32,258 At the time of Desiree's murder. 820 00:41:32,358 --> 00:41:35,862 He had two firearms registered in his name, 821 00:41:35,962 --> 00:41:37,730 but neither was the same caliber 822 00:41:37,830 --> 00:41:40,934 as the gun that killed Desiree. 823 00:41:41,034 --> 00:41:43,870 And his alibi checked out. 824 00:41:43,970 --> 00:41:45,038 What's more, 825 00:41:45,138 --> 00:41:47,707 when Paige gave birth toward the end of the year, 826 00:41:47,807 --> 00:41:50,610 Dylan asked for a paternity test. 827 00:41:50,710 --> 00:41:55,615 It showed the baby was his, not Scott's. 828 00:41:55,715 --> 00:41:59,452 So in the end, Paige's baby didn't matter to the case. 829 00:41:59,552 --> 00:42:02,422 But that didn't mean there weren't serious problems 830 00:42:02,522 --> 00:42:04,991 between Paige, Scott and Desiree 831 00:42:05,091 --> 00:42:07,226 in the months before the murder. 832 00:42:07,327 --> 00:42:10,229 Investigators learned a whole lot about that 833 00:42:10,330 --> 00:42:13,499 when the digital evidence finally came back. 834 00:42:13,599 --> 00:42:17,070 There it was, a trove of eye-opening texts 835 00:42:17,170 --> 00:42:18,871 between Desiree and Paige 836 00:42:18,972 --> 00:42:21,140 that told a dramatically new story 837 00:42:21,240 --> 00:42:24,277 about the two women and Scott. 838 00:42:24,377 --> 00:42:26,212 He was not being very honest with us. 839 00:42:36,689 --> 00:42:39,259 As detectives searched for Desiree Sunford's killer, 840 00:42:39,359 --> 00:42:41,594 they uncovered text messages between Desiree 841 00:42:41,694 --> 00:42:43,463 and Paige Blades. 842 00:42:43,563 --> 00:42:45,765 Messages that were raised new questions 843 00:42:45,865 --> 00:42:49,369 about what Scott Sunford had been telling police. 844 00:42:49,469 --> 00:42:51,838 He was not being very honest with us. 845 00:42:51,938 --> 00:42:54,407 He was not being forthright about his relationship 846 00:42:54,507 --> 00:42:55,508 with his wife, 847 00:42:55,608 --> 00:42:58,945 or it really isn't relationship with Paige. 848 00:42:59,045 --> 00:43:01,948 The texts began more than a year before the murder 849 00:43:02,048 --> 00:43:04,384 and early on showed a close friendship 850 00:43:04,484 --> 00:43:05,952 between the two women. 851 00:43:06,052 --> 00:43:07,220 Desiree wrote... 852 00:43:10,156 --> 00:43:11,524 Paige answered... 853 00:43:18,464 --> 00:43:22,568 They alluded to one night that wasn't strictly platonic. 854 00:43:22,669 --> 00:43:24,170 Desiree wrote... 855 00:43:30,910 --> 00:43:32,111 Paige responded... 856 00:43:35,615 --> 00:43:37,350 But there was no evidence that they were engaged 857 00:43:37,450 --> 00:43:39,786 in an ongoing affair. 858 00:43:39,886 --> 00:43:42,588 In fact, about three weeks later, 859 00:43:42,689 --> 00:43:44,991 the texts showed Desiree getting tired 860 00:43:45,091 --> 00:43:47,093 of Paige living in her home. 861 00:43:47,193 --> 00:43:50,129 She wanted more privacy with Scott. 862 00:43:50,229 --> 00:43:51,965 Desiree wrote... 863 00:44:01,975 --> 00:44:03,509 Paige responded... 864 00:44:10,383 --> 00:44:11,584 Desiree wrote... 865 00:44:19,392 --> 00:44:22,795 What does this tell you about Paige and Desiree 866 00:44:22,895 --> 00:44:24,998 and their relationship? - It was deteriorating. 867 00:44:25,098 --> 00:44:28,534 They weren't the friends that they started out to be 868 00:44:28,635 --> 00:44:32,238 and that there was becoming a wedge in Scott 869 00:44:32,338 --> 00:44:34,941 and Desiree's relationship, 870 00:44:35,041 --> 00:44:38,878 that Desiree was becoming more jealous of Paige 871 00:44:38,978 --> 00:44:42,282 and just did not want, uh, her involved in their, um-- 872 00:44:42,382 --> 00:44:44,083 in their-- at their home. 873 00:44:44,183 --> 00:44:45,785 I remember the first time I learned 874 00:44:45,885 --> 00:44:47,553 about these text messages, 875 00:44:47,654 --> 00:44:50,690 and I knew, okay, this is a turning point. 876 00:44:50,790 --> 00:44:53,559 These days, there is always a digital footprint, 877 00:44:53,660 --> 00:44:56,162 and oftentimes it can cut through the murkiness 878 00:44:56,262 --> 00:44:57,697 of competing stories. 879 00:44:57,797 --> 00:45:00,333 Through these texts, we finally hear Desiree 880 00:45:00,433 --> 00:45:02,101 in her own words. 881 00:45:02,201 --> 00:45:04,103 What she knew, what she didn't, 882 00:45:04,203 --> 00:45:06,940 and most importantly, just how uncomfortable 883 00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:08,308 she had become. 884 00:45:08,408 --> 00:45:11,878 And they reveal a rather sharp, angry side of Paige 885 00:45:11,978 --> 00:45:15,581 that investigators previously hadn't seen. 886 00:45:17,150 --> 00:45:19,252 The texts also revealed something else. 887 00:45:19,352 --> 00:45:21,120 Not only was Desiree unhappy, 888 00:45:21,220 --> 00:45:25,391 she had no idea Scott and Paige were intimate. 889 00:45:25,491 --> 00:45:26,659 She texted Paige... 890 00:45:31,698 --> 00:45:32,966 Paige answered... 891 00:45:37,537 --> 00:45:38,938 In her messages, it doesn't seem 892 00:45:39,038 --> 00:45:41,407 that Desiree has any knowledge or thought 893 00:45:41,507 --> 00:45:45,645 that Paige and Scott are intimate at all. 894 00:45:45,745 --> 00:45:48,548 As far as we can tell that Desiree did not know 895 00:45:48,648 --> 00:45:50,583 that this affair was going on. 896 00:45:51,985 --> 00:45:54,520 From the texts, it's clear that Desiree was worried 897 00:45:54,621 --> 00:45:56,022 about her marriage, 898 00:45:56,122 --> 00:45:58,524 and Paige was making it worse. 899 00:45:58,625 --> 00:46:02,328 In some exchanges, she was downright brutal. 900 00:46:02,428 --> 00:46:06,065 There was one where Paige texted Desiree and said, 901 00:46:06,165 --> 00:46:08,201 "I'm fairly convinced that in the event 902 00:46:08,301 --> 00:46:11,037 "of your demise, I would be the chosen one." 903 00:46:11,137 --> 00:46:12,872 Oh, my gosh. 904 00:46:12,972 --> 00:46:16,409 Desiree says, "Huh?" And Paige goes on to say, 905 00:46:16,509 --> 00:46:19,545 "If you ever die, and he needs a wife, 906 00:46:19,646 --> 00:46:21,981 "I'm half convinced that would be me." 907 00:46:24,017 --> 00:46:25,251 Even just watching you, 908 00:46:25,351 --> 00:46:26,953 I can see that still upsets you. 909 00:46:27,053 --> 00:46:28,087 Yes, it does. 910 00:46:28,187 --> 00:46:30,723 Like, why-why would you even say that? 911 00:46:30,823 --> 00:46:33,893 After that, Desiree finally pushed back, 912 00:46:33,993 --> 00:46:38,131 telling Paige to stay away for good, texting... 913 00:46:45,405 --> 00:46:47,307 Paige's response... 914 00:46:52,078 --> 00:46:56,549 And then she hurled a couple of obscenities at Desiree. 915 00:46:56,649 --> 00:46:58,985 I would imagine this is an important detail 916 00:46:59,085 --> 00:47:00,486 in your investigation. 917 00:47:00,586 --> 00:47:03,823 It gave us an indication that maybe there was a motive, 918 00:47:03,923 --> 00:47:06,926 that they wanted Desiree out of their relationship 919 00:47:07,026 --> 00:47:11,364 so Scott and and Paige to move on with their life. 920 00:47:12,498 --> 00:47:14,701 As provocative as the texts were, 921 00:47:14,801 --> 00:47:17,437 they didn't reveal a murder plot. 922 00:47:17,537 --> 00:47:21,674 But another call to the tip line was about to change everything. 923 00:47:22,909 --> 00:47:25,144 Well, that gives us a new spark in our investigation. 924 00:47:25,244 --> 00:47:26,980 Now we have a name. 925 00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:31,484 A name and a wild story about a stranger 926 00:47:31,584 --> 00:47:34,520 with a strange obsession. 927 00:47:43,630 --> 00:47:47,567 Almost 14 months had passed since Desiree Sunford's murder, 928 00:47:47,667 --> 00:47:50,737 when out of nowhere, a woman called 929 00:47:50,837 --> 00:47:54,741 the Yakima Sheriff's tip line and left a message. 930 00:47:54,841 --> 00:47:56,042 What did the caller say? 931 00:47:56,142 --> 00:47:59,512 It said that the person that killed Desiree Sunford 932 00:47:59,612 --> 00:48:02,248 was a Marty Grismer. - And that's it? 933 00:48:02,348 --> 00:48:03,449 No other details? 934 00:48:03,549 --> 00:48:04,384 No other details. 935 00:48:04,484 --> 00:48:06,486 It's just a name that had never come up 936 00:48:06,586 --> 00:48:08,554 in the investigation before. 937 00:48:08,655 --> 00:48:09,889 And that just breathes new life 938 00:48:09,989 --> 00:48:11,658 into this investigation. 939 00:48:11,758 --> 00:48:13,726 Now, we got-- We got somebody to-- 940 00:48:13,826 --> 00:48:15,528 to go after. 941 00:48:15,628 --> 00:48:17,597 Who was Marty Grismer? 942 00:48:17,697 --> 00:48:20,033 To figure that out, job number one 943 00:48:20,133 --> 00:48:22,502 was to find the tipster. 944 00:48:22,602 --> 00:48:25,204 So we had to do some tracking to find out 945 00:48:25,305 --> 00:48:27,206 who called that tip in. 946 00:48:27,307 --> 00:48:28,841 They traced the phone call, 947 00:48:28,942 --> 00:48:30,810 and when they got their answer, 948 00:48:30,910 --> 00:48:33,179 they couldn't believe it. 949 00:48:33,279 --> 00:48:34,314 Who was it? 950 00:48:34,414 --> 00:48:36,215 It was Paige Blades. 951 00:48:36,316 --> 00:48:38,951 You've not spoken to her in months, but now suddenly, 952 00:48:39,052 --> 00:48:42,588 she's saying she knows who the killer is. 953 00:48:42,689 --> 00:48:44,090 Where did that come from? 954 00:48:44,190 --> 00:48:45,959 It came out of the blue. 955 00:48:46,059 --> 00:48:48,061 {\an8}Well, I really appreciate you coming forward 956 00:48:48,161 --> 00:48:49,696 {\an8}with this information. 957 00:48:49,796 --> 00:48:51,564 {\an8}We brought Paige to Yakima. 958 00:48:51,664 --> 00:48:54,033 We sat down and-- and, okay. 959 00:48:54,133 --> 00:48:55,835 You just can't drop this bomb on us. 960 00:48:55,935 --> 00:48:57,303 How do you know this? 961 00:48:57,403 --> 00:48:59,205 Tell us everything that you know about this, 962 00:48:59,305 --> 00:49:01,341 uh, Marty Grismer. 963 00:49:01,441 --> 00:49:04,110 {\an8}What does he do for a living? 964 00:49:04,210 --> 00:49:06,346 {\an8}He's a team lead at the plant that I work at. 965 00:49:06,446 --> 00:49:07,780 You guys dated for a short time. 966 00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:10,149 Right. Very, very briefly. 967 00:49:10,250 --> 00:49:12,719 Marty had recently gotten married. 968 00:49:12,819 --> 00:49:16,956 Still, Paige said he kept asking her for sex 969 00:49:17,056 --> 00:49:19,359 and would hit on her at work. 970 00:49:19,459 --> 00:49:22,462 She let him know that wasn't happening, ever. 971 00:49:22,562 --> 00:49:25,965 But he was a friend, a really good friend. 972 00:49:26,065 --> 00:49:27,233 {\an8}He's the one that got me the house. 973 00:49:27,333 --> 00:49:30,770 {\an8}He bought my car outright with cash. 974 00:49:30,870 --> 00:49:32,672 {\an8}I still haven't paid him back for it. 975 00:49:32,772 --> 00:49:33,940 {\an8}He pays my insurance. 976 00:49:34,040 --> 00:49:36,409 {\an8}He's done my grocery shopping. 977 00:49:36,509 --> 00:49:39,312 {\an8}He's taken very well care of me. 978 00:49:39,412 --> 00:49:41,714 He was like her fixer, she said, 979 00:49:41,814 --> 00:49:44,083 would do anything for her, 980 00:49:44,183 --> 00:49:48,421 something she suggested he took too far. 981 00:49:48,521 --> 00:49:52,158 {\an8}We had just found out about three weeks before the shooting 982 00:49:52,258 --> 00:49:54,494 {\an8}that I was pregnant. 983 00:49:54,594 --> 00:49:57,997 {\an8}Marty was one of the first people that I told. 984 00:49:58,097 --> 00:50:01,301 {\an8}And apparently he decided 985 00:50:01,401 --> 00:50:05,705 {\an8}that if the baby was Scott's like it was supposed to be, 986 00:50:05,805 --> 00:50:08,408 {\an8}then Desiree would cause issues. 987 00:50:08,508 --> 00:50:11,311 And Paige claimed Marty recently told her 988 00:50:11,411 --> 00:50:14,013 he took care of those issues. 989 00:50:14,113 --> 00:50:15,481 Let me make sure I understand. 990 00:50:15,581 --> 00:50:17,583 {\an8}He believed that-- 991 00:50:17,684 --> 00:50:19,185 {\an8}well, you were pregnant. 992 00:50:19,285 --> 00:50:22,322 {\an8}At that time, you thought it was Scott's baby? 993 00:50:22,422 --> 00:50:24,791 {\an8}He believed it was Scott's baby. 994 00:50:24,891 --> 00:50:26,526 {\an8}He thought that Desiree was going to make problems 995 00:50:26,626 --> 00:50:28,528 {\an8}for the two of you, 996 00:50:28,628 --> 00:50:31,230 {\an8}and so he decided the best way to fix that problem 997 00:50:31,331 --> 00:50:35,134 {\an8}was to eliminate her so that you could be happy. 998 00:50:35,234 --> 00:50:38,104 {\an8}So that we could move forward. Yes. 999 00:50:38,204 --> 00:50:41,074 The baby wasn't Scott's, of course. 1000 00:50:41,174 --> 00:50:43,943 Paige insisted Marty didn't make this confession 1001 00:50:44,043 --> 00:50:48,414 until more than a year after Desiree's murder. 1002 00:50:48,514 --> 00:50:51,417 She said she was shocked when Marty told her, 1003 00:50:51,517 --> 00:50:54,253 especially since her relationship with Scott 1004 00:50:54,354 --> 00:50:56,089 had cooled, 1005 00:50:56,189 --> 00:50:59,425 and Scott was with another woman. 1006 00:50:59,525 --> 00:51:03,429 {\an8}She said Marty offered to take care of that, too. 1007 00:51:03,529 --> 00:51:06,599 {\an8}I was explaining to him what was going on. 1008 00:51:06,699 --> 00:51:08,935 {\an8}Um... - With you and Scott? 1009 00:51:09,035 --> 00:51:11,804 {\an8}Yeah. 1010 00:51:11,904 --> 00:51:14,574 {\an8}And that he just-- He asked me... 1011 00:51:17,510 --> 00:51:18,845 {\an8}And that, she said, 1012 00:51:18,945 --> 00:51:22,448 {\an8}is when she decided to call the tip line. 1013 00:51:22,548 --> 00:51:25,818 I have to say, this may be one of the strangest motives 1014 00:51:25,918 --> 00:51:27,787 for murder I've ever heard. 1015 00:51:27,887 --> 00:51:30,857 Paige says Marty didn't kill to be with her. 1016 00:51:30,957 --> 00:51:34,861 Rather, he killed so she could be happy with someone else. 1017 00:51:34,961 --> 00:51:38,064 That's not jealousy as we typically think of it. 1018 00:51:38,164 --> 00:51:40,300 It's a sort of twisted devotion. 1019 00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:42,502 So it presented an interesting problem 1020 00:51:42,602 --> 00:51:43,903 for investigators. 1021 00:51:44,003 --> 00:51:46,072 Was Marty's motive just too bizarre 1022 00:51:46,172 --> 00:51:47,707 to be taken seriously, 1023 00:51:47,807 --> 00:51:51,544 or was it so strange it could actually be true? 1024 00:51:51,644 --> 00:51:55,882 Have you ever heard a motive like that? 1025 00:51:55,982 --> 00:51:57,583 No, I've never had a case like that before. 1026 00:51:57,684 --> 00:52:00,853 {\an8}That just didn't make sense. 1027 00:52:00,954 --> 00:52:04,924 {\an8}Paige said Marty described Desiree's murder in detail. 1028 00:52:05,024 --> 00:52:07,927 {\an8}She said Marty had been to the house before 1029 00:52:08,027 --> 00:52:11,898 and knew there was a key hidden near the front door. 1030 00:52:32,218 --> 00:52:34,988 These were very specific details about this crime. 1031 00:52:35,088 --> 00:52:36,422 That's correct. 1032 00:52:36,522 --> 00:52:39,759 Details that only the killer or somebody there 1033 00:52:39,859 --> 00:52:41,995 would have known. - Right. 1034 00:52:42,095 --> 00:52:44,998 And those details were gruesome. 1035 00:52:52,038 --> 00:52:55,008 He, uh, made it look like a burglary. 1036 00:52:55,108 --> 00:52:57,777 He took the, uh, board off the door 1037 00:52:57,877 --> 00:53:01,447 and, um, make it look like that's how the entry was. 1038 00:53:01,547 --> 00:53:03,149 {\an8}He went back inside again, 1039 00:53:03,249 --> 00:53:05,418 {\an8}grabbed a jewelry box off of her dresser. 1040 00:53:05,518 --> 00:53:06,719 {\an8}He left. 1041 00:53:06,819 --> 00:53:08,488 Locked the door, 1042 00:53:08,588 --> 00:53:11,591 put the key back where it was hiding. 1043 00:53:11,691 --> 00:53:14,527 And this all happened around 3, 3:30 that morning. 1044 00:53:14,627 --> 00:53:18,631 {\an8}He even told her the type of gun he used. 1045 00:53:18,731 --> 00:53:20,566 {\an8}Marty said it was a 9 millimeter. 1046 00:53:20,667 --> 00:53:23,970 {\an8}Did he say what kind of-- what brand? 1047 00:53:25,905 --> 00:53:28,408 {\an8}I don't think he mentioned the brand. 1048 00:53:29,108 --> 00:53:31,411 It all lined up with what detectives found 1049 00:53:31,511 --> 00:53:33,780 at the crime scene. 1050 00:53:33,880 --> 00:53:36,582 Paige said Marty told her he headed home 1051 00:53:36,683 --> 00:53:38,785 and got rid of the evidence. 1052 00:53:49,562 --> 00:53:52,165 What was her demeanor when she sat down 1053 00:53:52,265 --> 00:53:54,334 and told you what Marty had said? 1054 00:53:54,434 --> 00:53:56,903 Did she seem scared? - Very emotional. 1055 00:53:57,003 --> 00:53:59,138 She broke down and cried. 1056 00:53:59,238 --> 00:54:00,640 Just, uh-- she just couldn't believe 1057 00:54:00,740 --> 00:54:03,610 that he would do such a thing. 1058 00:54:03,710 --> 00:54:04,978 Did you believe her? 1059 00:54:05,078 --> 00:54:06,446 We didn't have any reason not to believe her 1060 00:54:06,546 --> 00:54:07,814 at this point. 1061 00:54:07,914 --> 00:54:09,449 She certainly brought Marty 1062 00:54:09,549 --> 00:54:11,517 to the front of the investigation, 1063 00:54:11,618 --> 00:54:14,687 and we needed to do as much research 1064 00:54:14,787 --> 00:54:18,658 and investigating how he would be involved. 1065 00:54:18,758 --> 00:54:23,329 And they had an idea of how to find those answers. 1066 00:54:40,813 --> 00:54:43,516 But Marty wouldn't make it easy. 1067 00:54:56,496 --> 00:54:59,265 Paige Blades had just told Yakima detectives 1068 00:54:59,365 --> 00:55:00,833 that Marty Grismer, 1069 00:55:00,934 --> 00:55:03,970 her co worker and sometimes fixer, 1070 00:55:04,070 --> 00:55:07,507 had confessed to murdering Desiree Sunford. 1071 00:55:07,607 --> 00:55:10,176 What did you think as you're listening to this? 1072 00:55:10,276 --> 00:55:13,780 We were wanting to believe her, 1073 00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:16,516 that this was the suspect that was involved. 1074 00:55:16,616 --> 00:55:20,620 We were also, um, wanting her to maybe 1075 00:55:20,720 --> 00:55:23,156 get him to tell this story again. 1076 00:55:23,256 --> 00:55:26,793 Ideally, they'd record that conversation. 1077 00:55:26,893 --> 00:55:30,296 So they asked Paige to meet Marty again, 1078 00:55:30,396 --> 00:55:33,066 this time wearing a wire. 1079 00:55:36,736 --> 00:55:39,639 Eight days later, she and Marty got together 1080 00:55:39,739 --> 00:55:41,574 at a Starbucks near work. 1081 00:55:46,779 --> 00:55:49,382 We had a team of undercover officers. 1082 00:55:49,482 --> 00:55:50,817 We were hoping to actually hear 1083 00:55:50,917 --> 00:55:52,919 what Marty had to say about it, 1084 00:55:53,019 --> 00:55:54,621 in his own words. 1085 00:55:54,721 --> 00:55:57,924 If Marty was a killer, this was risky, 1086 00:55:58,024 --> 00:56:00,193 both for Paige and for police. 1087 00:56:00,293 --> 00:56:02,395 Asking Paige to wear a wire meant 1088 00:56:02,495 --> 00:56:05,331 putting her face to face with the same man 1089 00:56:05,431 --> 00:56:07,367 she said was obsessed with her. 1090 00:56:07,467 --> 00:56:09,502 But she seemed to want proof 1091 00:56:09,602 --> 00:56:11,537 to show she was telling the truth, 1092 00:56:11,638 --> 00:56:16,042 even if it meant possibly endangering herself to do it. 1093 00:56:16,142 --> 00:56:19,279 Paige tried to coax the story out of Marty. 1094 00:56:43,036 --> 00:56:46,306 But it did not go as we planned. 1095 00:56:46,406 --> 00:56:48,341 Marty seemed to be, uh, looking around 1096 00:56:48,441 --> 00:56:50,343 like he was being set up. 1097 00:56:50,443 --> 00:56:51,611 Kinda like he was on to you. 1098 00:56:51,711 --> 00:56:52,578 Maybe. 1099 00:56:52,679 --> 00:56:54,213 Maybe he caught a glimpse of somebody 1100 00:56:54,314 --> 00:56:59,552 or Paige was hinky about how she was trying to ask him. 1101 00:56:59,652 --> 00:57:01,988 As undercover officers snapped photos 1102 00:57:02,088 --> 00:57:04,791 of Paige and Marty leaving the coffee shop, 1103 00:57:04,891 --> 00:57:06,626 Paige persisted. 1104 00:57:22,108 --> 00:57:24,644 The conversation ended there. 1105 00:57:24,744 --> 00:57:26,112 We didn't get anything. He was just-- 1106 00:57:26,212 --> 00:57:28,648 he was acting suspiciously, 1107 00:57:28,748 --> 00:57:31,985 but you can't take that into court. 1108 00:57:32,085 --> 00:57:34,988 - Disappointing for you? - It was. 1109 00:57:35,088 --> 00:57:38,324 We thought, uh, he would tell her everything again, 1110 00:57:38,424 --> 00:57:40,126 but that just didn't happen. 1111 00:57:40,226 --> 00:57:42,695 Marty had no criminal history. 1112 00:57:42,795 --> 00:57:45,231 His DNA wasn't in the system. 1113 00:57:45,331 --> 00:57:48,067 So they scoured every other part of his life 1114 00:57:48,167 --> 00:57:50,837 and took a closer look at his family. 1115 00:57:50,937 --> 00:57:55,008 He wasn't gonna get any type of relationship with Paige. 1116 00:57:55,108 --> 00:57:57,410 So he married this other woman. 1117 00:57:57,510 --> 00:57:58,378 Um... - Beth. 1118 00:57:58,478 --> 00:57:59,746 Yes. 1119 00:57:59,846 --> 00:58:02,081 He was just moving on with his life. 1120 00:58:02,181 --> 00:58:04,417 This is Beth Maxwell. 1121 00:58:04,517 --> 00:58:08,688 She met Marty on a dating site in May 2013, 1122 00:58:08,788 --> 00:58:11,457 a month after Desiree's murder. 1123 00:58:11,557 --> 00:58:13,693 What was it about Marty that caught your eye? 1124 00:58:13,793 --> 00:58:16,329 He didn't judge me, like-- 'cause I'm a bigger girl, 1125 00:58:16,429 --> 00:58:19,499 so, you know, it's something that I get judged for a lot. 1126 00:58:19,599 --> 00:58:22,201 He just accepted me for who I was. 1127 00:58:22,302 --> 00:58:24,103 The polite man she met online 1128 00:58:24,203 --> 00:58:27,707 seemed like a true gentleman in person. 1129 00:58:27,807 --> 00:58:29,475 He just was a charmer, kind of. 1130 00:58:29,575 --> 00:58:32,645 He was what I wanted, what I've always wanted. 1131 00:58:32,745 --> 00:58:34,714 He opened the car door for me. 1132 00:58:34,814 --> 00:58:37,984 And Marty quickly fit into Beth's life, 1133 00:58:38,084 --> 00:58:40,820 becoming a father figure to her young son. 1134 00:58:40,920 --> 00:58:42,021 He was amazing. 1135 00:58:42,121 --> 00:58:45,124 He was the dad that I've always wanted my son to have. 1136 00:58:45,224 --> 00:58:47,260 Was that a big factor in you saying, hey, 1137 00:58:47,360 --> 00:58:49,529 this guy's the one? - Yeah, it was. 1138 00:58:49,629 --> 00:58:51,597 And my son picked up on it right away, too. 1139 00:58:51,698 --> 00:58:53,466 Like, he's like, that's-- That's my Marty dad. 1140 00:58:53,566 --> 00:58:54,867 That's what he called him. 1141 00:58:54,968 --> 00:58:56,936 It was a whirlwind romance. 1142 00:58:57,036 --> 00:59:00,206 After just four months together, they got married. 1143 00:59:00,306 --> 00:59:02,875 But it all seemed too good to be true. 1144 00:59:02,976 --> 00:59:05,345 So much so that Beth felt blindsided 1145 00:59:05,445 --> 00:59:08,014 by Marty's choice of a best man. 1146 00:59:08,114 --> 00:59:10,917 His best friend, Paige. 1147 00:59:11,017 --> 00:59:12,552 I want to make sure I'm getting this right. 1148 00:59:12,652 --> 00:59:14,988 Marty's best man... - ...was Paige. 1149 00:59:15,088 --> 00:59:16,956 - A woman. - Yes. 1150 00:59:17,056 --> 00:59:18,558 How did that sit with you? 1151 00:59:18,658 --> 00:59:20,727 Uh, it didn't sit great with me. 1152 00:59:20,827 --> 00:59:23,062 Beth met Paige for the first time 1153 00:59:23,162 --> 00:59:25,131 on their wedding day. 1154 00:59:25,231 --> 00:59:27,667 She wanted to dress exactly like Marty. 1155 00:59:27,767 --> 00:59:29,002 It was a big fight. 1156 00:59:29,102 --> 00:59:31,037 She seemed very controlling, 1157 00:59:31,137 --> 00:59:32,872 like this is what she wanted done, 1158 00:59:32,972 --> 00:59:34,440 so he had to do it her way. 1159 00:59:34,540 --> 00:59:37,210 The honeymoon phase was short. 1160 00:59:37,310 --> 00:59:40,313 Beth noticed that Marty prioritized Paige 1161 00:59:40,413 --> 00:59:43,616 above all else, including her. 1162 00:59:43,716 --> 00:59:46,019 I found out that he had bought her car, 1163 00:59:46,119 --> 00:59:48,454 was paying her rent. - Had he bought you a car? 1164 00:59:48,554 --> 00:59:49,922 No, he never bought me a car. 1165 00:59:50,023 --> 00:59:51,024 He bought her food a lot of times. 1166 00:59:51,124 --> 00:59:52,592 - Bought her food? - Like, groceries and stuff. 1167 00:59:52,692 --> 00:59:54,027 Yeah. - That's a love language. 1168 00:59:54,127 --> 00:59:55,094 Mm-hmm. 1169 00:59:55,194 --> 00:59:58,131 You were married to a man who was seemingly 1170 00:59:58,231 --> 01:00:00,800 completely devoted to another woman. 1171 01:00:00,900 --> 01:00:02,068 Yeah. 1172 01:00:02,168 --> 01:00:04,437 You believed that Paige had feelings for your husband? 1173 01:00:04,537 --> 01:00:06,039 I think so, mm-hmm. 1174 01:00:06,139 --> 01:00:07,874 And that he had feelings for her. 1175 01:00:07,974 --> 01:00:08,841 Yeah, definitely. 1176 01:00:08,942 --> 01:00:10,176 I started really having issues with it, 1177 01:00:10,276 --> 01:00:11,778 because I'm like, why is the best friend 1178 01:00:11,878 --> 01:00:13,680 getting treated better than the wife? 1179 01:00:13,780 --> 01:00:16,549 In fact, one of Beth's friends told her 1180 01:00:16,649 --> 01:00:20,453 Paige had bragged about her power over Marty. 1181 01:00:20,553 --> 01:00:21,654 She actually told my best friend 1182 01:00:21,754 --> 01:00:23,456 that she could steal Marty away. 1183 01:00:23,556 --> 01:00:26,459 Did you believe that she had some control over him 1184 01:00:26,559 --> 01:00:27,560 in some way? 1185 01:00:27,660 --> 01:00:29,462 He was just that obsessed over her, 1186 01:00:29,562 --> 01:00:32,532 and there was just no changing it, 1187 01:00:32,632 --> 01:00:33,967 like, at all. 1188 01:00:34,067 --> 01:00:36,336 Beth was wondering just what 1189 01:00:36,436 --> 01:00:39,172 she'd gotten herself into, when... 1190 01:00:39,272 --> 01:00:40,273 There's a knock at the door. 1191 01:00:40,373 --> 01:00:43,443 And there's six to seven people at my door. 1192 01:00:43,543 --> 01:00:45,311 - Police officers. - Police officers, yeah. 1193 01:00:45,411 --> 01:00:46,746 Detectives. 1194 01:00:56,089 --> 01:00:58,491 Nineteen months after Desiree's murder, 1195 01:00:58,591 --> 01:01:02,762 police and sheriff's deputies were at Marty Grismer's door. 1196 01:01:02,862 --> 01:01:03,930 What did you say to him 1197 01:01:04,030 --> 01:01:05,531 to convince him to come with you? 1198 01:01:05,632 --> 01:01:07,200 We just told him that we're investigating 1199 01:01:07,300 --> 01:01:09,402 the death of Desiree Sunford. 1200 01:01:09,502 --> 01:01:11,004 He said, "No problem. I'll--" 1201 01:01:11,104 --> 01:01:14,107 He got a shirt, got dressed, 1202 01:01:14,207 --> 01:01:17,076 came down to the office. He didn't lawyer up. 1203 01:01:19,779 --> 01:01:21,381 They started out easy. 1204 01:01:37,030 --> 01:01:41,601 Marty said Paige told him all about her affair with Scott. 1205 01:02:43,363 --> 01:02:46,232 As you're listening to him, what are you thinking? 1206 01:02:46,332 --> 01:02:48,868 This is your first time that you're face to face with Marty. 1207 01:02:48,968 --> 01:02:51,704 Okay, Marty, if-if you didn't do it, 1208 01:02:51,804 --> 01:02:55,241 and Paige or Scott did it, you're covering it for them. 1209 01:02:55,942 --> 01:02:59,512 Whatever happened with Scott and Desiree and Paige, 1210 01:02:59,612 --> 01:03:02,715 Marty said he was an impartial observer, 1211 01:03:02,815 --> 01:03:04,717 and only that. 1212 01:03:04,817 --> 01:03:07,320 And all through that first part of that interview, 1213 01:03:07,420 --> 01:03:09,088 his guard is pretty much down. 1214 01:03:09,188 --> 01:03:10,356 Correct. He was-- 1215 01:03:10,456 --> 01:03:13,026 He didn't seem to be under too much stress at that point. 1216 01:03:13,126 --> 01:03:16,629 Detectives listened to Marty for about half an hour, 1217 01:03:16,729 --> 01:03:20,767 and now the softball portion of the interview was over. 1218 01:03:33,813 --> 01:03:37,350 They told Marty they'd been doing some research about him, 1219 01:03:37,450 --> 01:03:39,319 had gotten a call from his boss. 1220 01:03:53,466 --> 01:03:55,535 Marty was kind of a gun nut. 1221 01:03:55,635 --> 01:04:00,606 He liked to buy guns and-and buy gun parts. 1222 01:04:00,707 --> 01:04:04,010 Except he seemed to have forgotten how he got 1223 01:04:04,110 --> 01:04:06,012 this particular gun barrel. 1224 01:04:12,318 --> 01:04:16,055 The fact is, detectives knew all about the gun barrel. 1225 01:04:16,155 --> 01:04:18,391 They'd gotten it from Marty's boss 1226 01:04:18,491 --> 01:04:20,860 and had rushed it to the lab. 1227 01:04:20,960 --> 01:04:22,929 And what do you know? 1228 01:04:23,029 --> 01:04:26,466 The lab came back that the barrel that we found, 1229 01:04:26,566 --> 01:04:29,302 that barrel was used to kill Desiree. 1230 01:04:29,402 --> 01:04:31,004 So now you've got hard evidence 1231 01:04:31,104 --> 01:04:32,405 linking him to this crime. 1232 01:04:32,505 --> 01:04:33,306 That's correct. 1233 01:04:33,406 --> 01:04:36,376 That is the smoking gun, so to speak. 1234 01:04:36,476 --> 01:04:39,212 - Almost exactly that. - Exactly. 1235 01:04:39,312 --> 01:04:42,515 Marty seemed to realize this interview was going 1236 01:04:42,615 --> 01:04:44,917 in a very bad direction. 1237 01:04:45,018 --> 01:04:47,854 There's a vein in the side of his head 1238 01:04:47,954 --> 01:04:50,356 that just was really protruding. 1239 01:04:50,456 --> 01:04:54,927 He was under a great deal of stress during this interview, 1240 01:04:55,028 --> 01:04:58,131 and you could tell by his eyes, and-- 1241 01:04:58,231 --> 01:05:03,069 that he was just trying to think before he spoke. 1242 01:05:03,169 --> 01:05:05,004 He was in hyper stress. 1243 01:05:05,104 --> 01:05:07,006 And that was only going to get worse 1244 01:05:07,106 --> 01:05:09,642 as detectives got to the point. 1245 01:06:01,728 --> 01:06:04,597 His emotions were all over the page to a point 1246 01:06:04,697 --> 01:06:06,766 where he was almost physically sick. 1247 01:06:06,866 --> 01:06:08,301 Like getting ready to vomit? 1248 01:06:08,401 --> 01:06:10,837 Yeah, he said he was about ready to get sick. 1249 01:06:10,937 --> 01:06:13,840 And then, he said, he remembered something. 1250 01:06:13,940 --> 01:06:16,409 He said Paige did have his gun, 1251 01:06:16,509 --> 01:06:20,079 fitted with that barrel, at the time of the murder. 1252 01:06:27,320 --> 01:06:31,057 Until May, he said, well after the murder. 1253 01:06:31,157 --> 01:06:35,161 And then Marty turned the tables on Paige 1254 01:06:35,261 --> 01:06:39,299 and said he had long suspected she had something to do 1255 01:06:39,399 --> 01:06:40,633 with Desiree's murder. 1256 01:07:06,259 --> 01:07:08,594 The detectives weren't buying it. 1257 01:07:08,695 --> 01:07:10,863 It was his gun barrel. 1258 01:07:10,964 --> 01:07:13,433 And they found it right where he left it. 1259 01:07:31,084 --> 01:07:33,820 And that is what they did. 1260 01:07:33,920 --> 01:07:35,688 He just couldn't believe that he was being charged 1261 01:07:35,788 --> 01:07:37,023 with murder. 1262 01:07:37,123 --> 01:07:40,727 But two other people remained on the detective's radar. 1263 01:07:40,827 --> 01:07:43,096 Scott and Paige. 1264 01:07:43,196 --> 01:07:45,498 It was just that thought in the back of our head 1265 01:07:45,598 --> 01:07:47,266 that still she's got to be involved 1266 01:07:47,367 --> 01:07:48,835 and Scott's got to be involved. 1267 01:07:48,935 --> 01:07:52,138 We still have nothing to tie them, 1268 01:07:52,238 --> 01:07:56,142 other than this relationship that they were all involved in. 1269 01:07:56,242 --> 01:07:59,512 We also had a few questions for Paige. 1270 01:07:59,612 --> 01:08:04,117 Did you and Scott conspire with Marty to have her killed? 1271 01:08:13,993 --> 01:08:16,796 November 13, 2014. 1272 01:08:16,896 --> 01:08:19,232 Nineteen months after Desiree Sunford 1273 01:08:19,332 --> 01:08:21,668 was found shot to death in her home. 1274 01:08:21,768 --> 01:08:25,238 Marty Grismer was charged with her murder. 1275 01:08:25,338 --> 01:08:28,041 Desiree's friend Kayla thought someone else 1276 01:08:28,141 --> 01:08:30,743 should have been locked up along with him. 1277 01:08:30,843 --> 01:08:32,612 Paige Blades. 1278 01:08:32,712 --> 01:08:36,416 I am thinking this psycho biatch 1279 01:08:36,516 --> 01:08:40,053 squiggled her way into their life 1280 01:08:40,153 --> 01:08:43,289 and created chaos. 1281 01:08:43,389 --> 01:08:45,725 And now my friend is dead over it. 1282 01:08:45,825 --> 01:08:48,428 A needless death. 1283 01:08:48,528 --> 01:08:52,498 I just... It's unreal. 1284 01:08:52,599 --> 01:08:57,370 I honestly think that she asked Marty to do what he did. 1285 01:08:57,470 --> 01:08:59,605 Even after Marty's arrest. 1286 01:08:59,706 --> 01:09:01,774 Paige's role in the Sunfords' marriage 1287 01:09:01,874 --> 01:09:04,143 remained something of a mystery 1288 01:09:04,243 --> 01:09:06,446 to Desiree's family and friends, 1289 01:09:06,546 --> 01:09:09,182 and to investigators, too. 1290 01:09:09,282 --> 01:09:10,483 You were still looking at her. 1291 01:09:10,583 --> 01:09:12,552 You still didn't think her hands were completely clean here. 1292 01:09:12,652 --> 01:09:14,520 It was just that thought in the back of our head 1293 01:09:14,621 --> 01:09:16,222 that still, she's got to be involved, 1294 01:09:16,322 --> 01:09:20,460 but we still have nothing to tie them, 1295 01:09:20,560 --> 01:09:22,295 other than this relationship 1296 01:09:22,395 --> 01:09:24,931 that they were all involved in. 1297 01:09:25,031 --> 01:09:26,032 Do you think that there are things 1298 01:09:26,132 --> 01:09:28,668 that people get wrong about you? 1299 01:09:28,768 --> 01:09:32,605 There are a lot of things that people get wrong about me. 1300 01:09:32,705 --> 01:09:35,475 There are a lot of assumptions. 1301 01:09:35,575 --> 01:09:37,176 When we last spoke to Paige Blades, 1302 01:09:37,277 --> 01:09:40,213 she was 35 years old, the mother of four kids. 1303 01:09:40,313 --> 01:09:42,081 She worked in customer relations, 1304 01:09:42,181 --> 01:09:44,917 and she said she still had strong feelings for 1305 01:09:45,018 --> 01:09:47,887 and about Desiree Sunford. 1306 01:09:47,987 --> 01:09:49,989 I love Des, 1307 01:09:50,089 --> 01:09:52,292 and I don't say that past tense. 1308 01:09:52,392 --> 01:09:54,360 She's still special to me. 1309 01:09:54,460 --> 01:09:55,962 There's no part of me that ever wanted 1310 01:09:56,062 --> 01:09:59,365 anything bad to happen to her. 1311 01:09:59,465 --> 01:10:02,168 It had been more than a decade since Paige's entanglement 1312 01:10:02,268 --> 01:10:04,737 with Desiree, Scott, and Marty. 1313 01:10:04,837 --> 01:10:07,573 Do you feel like you're a different person now? 1314 01:10:07,674 --> 01:10:09,542 Oh, absolutely. 1315 01:10:09,642 --> 01:10:13,579 I am a completely different person. 1316 01:10:15,048 --> 01:10:18,151 Paige says she's worked hard to battle addiction, 1317 01:10:18,251 --> 01:10:20,086 money problems, and the ghosts 1318 01:10:20,186 --> 01:10:23,356 of a turbulent, abusive childhood. 1319 01:10:23,456 --> 01:10:26,426 She admits to a pattern of troubled relationships, 1320 01:10:26,526 --> 01:10:29,996 like what she had with Scott and Desiree. 1321 01:10:30,096 --> 01:10:31,931 We became very good friends 1322 01:10:32,031 --> 01:10:34,867 and eventually friends with benefits, 1323 01:10:34,968 --> 01:10:40,006 and eventually we didn't have a relationship anymore. 1324 01:10:40,106 --> 01:10:43,009 She met Scott in early 2011. 1325 01:10:43,109 --> 01:10:45,311 They were partying, hanging out. 1326 01:10:45,411 --> 01:10:48,181 Paige says when she finally met Desiree, 1327 01:10:48,281 --> 01:10:50,550 they became fast friends. 1328 01:10:50,650 --> 01:10:53,586 And in fact, it was Desiree's idea for her 1329 01:10:53,686 --> 01:10:55,255 to stay with them. 1330 01:10:55,355 --> 01:10:58,024 They were in a one bedroom apartment, 1331 01:10:58,124 --> 01:11:00,260 and they had a California king bed, 1332 01:11:00,360 --> 01:11:02,895 and she was like, "There's plenty of room." 1333 01:11:02,996 --> 01:11:04,530 All three of us shared the bed. 1334 01:11:04,631 --> 01:11:05,999 So she invited you into the bed? 1335 01:11:06,099 --> 01:11:07,066 Mm-hmm. 1336 01:11:07,166 --> 01:11:09,869 And she's the one who put Scott in the middle. 1337 01:11:09,969 --> 01:11:13,406 During that bed arrangement, 1338 01:11:13,506 --> 01:11:15,475 were you all sexually active? 1339 01:11:15,575 --> 01:11:16,809 Yeah. 1340 01:11:16,909 --> 01:11:18,778 Everybody with each other? 1341 01:11:18,878 --> 01:11:21,481 Not all together, 1342 01:11:21,581 --> 01:11:23,449 but I was sexually active with Scott 1343 01:11:23,549 --> 01:11:26,486 and I was sexually active with Des. 1344 01:11:26,586 --> 01:11:29,055 In those text messages, Paige and Desiree 1345 01:11:29,155 --> 01:11:31,457 carried on flirty exchanges. 1346 01:11:31,557 --> 01:11:32,892 But in other messages, 1347 01:11:32,992 --> 01:11:35,595 it seems Paige wasn't being honest 1348 01:11:35,695 --> 01:11:38,431 about her relationship with Scott. 1349 01:11:38,531 --> 01:11:40,533 At one point, Desiree texted you, 1350 01:11:40,633 --> 01:11:44,137 "I still have to say that you two doing anything sexual 1351 01:11:44,237 --> 01:11:45,338 "would bother me." 1352 01:11:45,438 --> 01:11:48,841 And you responded, "Yeah, he and I doing anything sexual 1353 01:11:48,942 --> 01:11:50,910 "is out of the question." 1354 01:11:51,010 --> 01:11:53,846 Was that true? 1355 01:11:53,947 --> 01:11:57,150 I honestly don't remember that conversation. 1356 01:11:57,250 --> 01:12:00,386 Did you ever mislead Desiree into thinking 1357 01:12:00,486 --> 01:12:03,856 that you and Scott weren't sexually active? 1358 01:12:03,957 --> 01:12:06,693 Not as far as I know or remember. 1359 01:12:06,793 --> 01:12:09,295 Paige says she does remember 1360 01:12:09,395 --> 01:12:13,466 when Desiree's patience reached the breaking point. 1361 01:12:13,566 --> 01:12:14,667 She writes this. 1362 01:12:14,767 --> 01:12:17,203 "I'm done with the drama and the BS. 1363 01:12:17,303 --> 01:12:19,539 "I'm going to ask nicely for you to distance yourself 1364 01:12:19,639 --> 01:12:22,642 "from me, my home, and my family." 1365 01:12:22,742 --> 01:12:25,345 And you respond, in part, "Not a problem. 1366 01:12:25,445 --> 01:12:29,115 "I've been wanting to do away with you for quite a while now," 1367 01:12:29,215 --> 01:12:30,883 and then go on to call her some names 1368 01:12:30,984 --> 01:12:33,119 that I can't repeat on TV. 1369 01:12:33,219 --> 01:12:34,954 It sounds like you didn't take too kindly 1370 01:12:35,054 --> 01:12:37,156 to her telling you to stay away. 1371 01:12:37,256 --> 01:12:40,693 That was the big fight. 1372 01:12:40,793 --> 01:12:43,830 I know that I was out of line with how I responded to her. 1373 01:12:43,930 --> 01:12:46,866 There were a lot of other things that were going on in my life 1374 01:12:46,966 --> 01:12:51,104 at the time that were compounding stress. 1375 01:12:51,204 --> 01:12:55,308 Paige moved out, but she kept seeing Scott. 1376 01:12:55,408 --> 01:12:56,709 There are people who would look at this 1377 01:12:56,809 --> 01:12:59,379 and say that you came into their marriage 1378 01:12:59,479 --> 01:13:01,214 and basically just tore it apart. 1379 01:13:01,314 --> 01:13:04,651 No, I definitely wasn't there to destroy their marriage. 1380 01:13:04,751 --> 01:13:06,486 Did you want to be with him? 1381 01:13:06,586 --> 01:13:08,121 No. 1382 01:13:08,221 --> 01:13:09,489 Would you have wanted to be his wife, 1383 01:13:09,589 --> 01:13:12,592 have a relationship with him, solely? 1384 01:13:12,692 --> 01:13:14,093 No. Him, solely? 1385 01:13:14,193 --> 01:13:15,328 No. 1386 01:13:15,428 --> 01:13:18,898 I want to get you to respond to one more text thread 1387 01:13:18,998 --> 01:13:20,300 between you and Desiree. 1388 01:13:20,400 --> 01:13:22,035 You write, "I'm fairly convinced 1389 01:13:22,135 --> 01:13:23,870 "that in the event of your demise, 1390 01:13:23,970 --> 01:13:25,438 "I would be the chosen one." 1391 01:13:25,538 --> 01:13:26,939 Desiree says, "Huh?" 1392 01:13:27,040 --> 01:13:29,876 And you say, "If you ever die and he needs a wife, 1393 01:13:29,976 --> 01:13:33,112 "I'm half convinced that would be me." 1394 01:13:33,212 --> 01:13:36,482 What was that about? 1395 01:13:37,617 --> 01:13:40,720 I still don't remember. 1396 01:13:40,820 --> 01:13:43,723 And that one's come up quite a few times, too. 1397 01:13:43,823 --> 01:13:45,625 I walked into that interview with Paige 1398 01:13:45,725 --> 01:13:47,827 not knowing what she would tell me, 1399 01:13:47,927 --> 01:13:50,663 but I did know I was going to push her. 1400 01:13:50,763 --> 01:13:53,666 There'd been some very hefty allegations made against her, 1401 01:13:53,766 --> 01:13:56,569 so I wanted her to have every opportunity 1402 01:13:56,669 --> 01:13:58,104 to defend herself. 1403 01:13:58,204 --> 01:14:01,307 Anytime someone tells me they don't remember a detail 1404 01:14:01,407 --> 01:14:04,277 that seems important, it does give me pause. 1405 01:14:04,377 --> 01:14:07,380 And as we kept talking, one thing became clear. 1406 01:14:07,480 --> 01:14:10,984 To understand Paige, you had to understand her relationship 1407 01:14:11,084 --> 01:14:13,886 with the man she says was obsessed with her, 1408 01:14:13,987 --> 01:14:15,888 Marty Grismer. 1409 01:14:15,989 --> 01:14:18,224 He was my rock for a little while. 1410 01:14:18,324 --> 01:14:20,860 He would go on a grocery run for me if I needed, 1411 01:14:20,960 --> 01:14:23,296 or if I needed to borrow gas money, 1412 01:14:23,396 --> 01:14:25,164 then I would get it from him. 1413 01:14:25,265 --> 01:14:29,068 He was the only person that I had that I could turn to 1414 01:14:29,168 --> 01:14:31,270 if I had a struggle. 1415 01:14:31,371 --> 01:14:35,041 Why was Marty doing all of these things for you? 1416 01:14:35,141 --> 01:14:36,609 I assume that it had something to do 1417 01:14:36,709 --> 01:14:41,748 with his undying love for me, as he would say. 1418 01:14:41,848 --> 01:14:45,952 Paige says she told Marty all about her rift with Desiree, 1419 01:14:46,052 --> 01:14:51,090 that she was still seeing Scott and pregnant with his child. 1420 01:14:51,190 --> 01:14:55,261 Paige insists she never thought his moral support 1421 01:14:55,361 --> 01:14:56,896 would turn to murder, 1422 01:14:56,996 --> 01:15:00,967 and was shocked when Marty confessed to killing Desiree. 1423 01:15:01,067 --> 01:15:04,037 He went into excruciating detail 1424 01:15:04,137 --> 01:15:06,239 of what he did to Desiree. 1425 01:15:06,339 --> 01:15:08,174 This was somebody who was your friend. 1426 01:15:08,274 --> 01:15:10,543 How hard was this for you to listen to? 1427 01:15:10,643 --> 01:15:16,282 It was not just hard. It was a devastating blow. 1428 01:15:16,382 --> 01:15:21,054 Who was this person that I had let into my life? 1429 01:15:21,154 --> 01:15:22,588 So some people would look at this and say 1430 01:15:22,689 --> 01:15:27,026 you had to have planted some sort of seed in his mind 1431 01:15:27,126 --> 01:15:28,361 by talking about Scott, 1432 01:15:28,461 --> 01:15:30,596 by talking about the fact that you believed 1433 01:15:30,697 --> 01:15:32,198 you were pregnant with his baby. 1434 01:15:32,298 --> 01:15:35,735 That would make him think, if I get rid of Desiree, 1435 01:15:35,835 --> 01:15:37,870 I'm making Paige happy. 1436 01:15:37,971 --> 01:15:40,506 I honestly don't know. 1437 01:15:40,606 --> 01:15:44,777 I don't know or understand how Marty's mind works. 1438 01:15:44,877 --> 01:15:47,747 I honestly never have. 1439 01:15:47,847 --> 01:15:49,582 There are many people who believe 1440 01:15:49,682 --> 01:15:51,451 that you conspired with Marty, 1441 01:15:51,551 --> 01:15:53,453 that you wanted Desiree out of the picture 1442 01:15:53,553 --> 01:15:55,355 so that you could be with Scott, 1443 01:15:55,455 --> 01:15:59,959 and that you essentially put Marty up to killing her. 1444 01:16:00,059 --> 01:16:01,828 Never. 1445 01:16:01,928 --> 01:16:05,531 - No truth to that? - None, whatsoever. 1446 01:16:05,632 --> 01:16:07,500 I... 1447 01:16:09,636 --> 01:16:12,205 I've heard that quite a few times, 1448 01:16:12,305 --> 01:16:15,541 but never in a million years. 1449 01:16:15,642 --> 01:16:20,546 There-there was never any reason for that to happen. 1450 01:16:20,647 --> 01:16:24,017 Did you and Scott conspire with Marty 1451 01:16:24,117 --> 01:16:27,787 to have her killed? - No. Absolutely not. 1452 01:16:27,887 --> 01:16:29,188 Her friends would say, 1453 01:16:29,289 --> 01:16:31,090 if you hadn't been in the picture, 1454 01:16:31,190 --> 01:16:32,392 if it weren't for you, 1455 01:16:32,492 --> 01:16:34,560 Desiree would have never gotten killed, 1456 01:16:34,661 --> 01:16:36,896 that she would still be alive today. 1457 01:16:36,996 --> 01:16:39,098 How do you respond to that? 1458 01:16:39,198 --> 01:16:41,334 I don't think that's fair. 1459 01:16:43,503 --> 01:16:48,775 I believe that if Marty hadn't been in my life, 1460 01:16:48,875 --> 01:16:50,743 Des would still be alive. 1461 01:16:50,843 --> 01:16:54,280 I understand that to a lot of people, 1462 01:16:54,380 --> 01:16:57,216 it probably seems like and feels like 1463 01:16:57,317 --> 01:17:02,221 I am central to everything, 1464 01:17:02,322 --> 01:17:06,859 but from my own side, I'm on the outside looking in. 1465 01:17:07,827 --> 01:17:12,665 I didn't feel like I was the one in the center. 1466 01:17:12,765 --> 01:17:14,067 Maybe not. 1467 01:17:14,167 --> 01:17:18,204 But her testimony would be key to the case against Marty. 1468 01:17:18,304 --> 01:17:20,073 Prosecutors had to worry, 1469 01:17:20,173 --> 01:17:23,042 whose case would she actually help, 1470 01:17:23,142 --> 01:17:26,012 theirs or the defense's? 1471 01:17:26,112 --> 01:17:30,316 This case and investigation raised a lot of questions, 1472 01:17:30,416 --> 01:17:34,187 uh, and some of those questions will never be answered. 1473 01:17:43,830 --> 01:17:46,699 Paige Blades may have turned Marty in, 1474 01:17:46,799 --> 01:17:51,004 but no one close to Desiree saw that as a selfless act. 1475 01:17:51,104 --> 01:17:53,172 You buy the trying to do the right thing? 1476 01:17:53,273 --> 01:17:54,807 No. 1477 01:17:54,907 --> 01:17:57,710 No, I believe she was feeling the guilt, 1478 01:17:57,810 --> 01:18:00,480 and I don't think there was-- 1479 01:18:00,580 --> 01:18:03,116 "I'm gonna be the one to solve it." I don't. 1480 01:18:03,216 --> 01:18:05,485 I think it was a guilty conscience. 1481 01:18:05,585 --> 01:18:08,321 But there's no denying it was Paige's tip 1482 01:18:08,421 --> 01:18:10,323 that got them to Marty. 1483 01:18:10,423 --> 01:18:13,159 Still, it wasn't an easy case. 1484 01:18:13,259 --> 01:18:16,162 There was no crime scene DNA matching Marty, 1485 01:18:16,262 --> 01:18:19,499 no shoe of his that matched the bloody shoe print, 1486 01:18:19,599 --> 01:18:23,269 and no video of him in that area at the time of the murder. 1487 01:18:23,369 --> 01:18:27,440 Then, as Marty sat in jail awaiting trial, 1488 01:18:27,540 --> 01:18:29,876 a call came in from the plant manager 1489 01:18:29,976 --> 01:18:31,611 at Marty's job. 1490 01:18:31,711 --> 01:18:33,546 They were cleaning out a dumpster, 1491 01:18:33,646 --> 01:18:36,549 and they found the jewelry box. 1492 01:18:36,649 --> 01:18:40,153 They found the laptop and the iPad. 1493 01:18:40,253 --> 01:18:43,389 The stolen laptop and iPad, 1494 01:18:43,489 --> 01:18:45,425 taken from Desiree and Scott's house 1495 01:18:45,525 --> 01:18:49,495 when it was burglarized five days before the murder. 1496 01:18:49,595 --> 01:18:51,931 But that jewelry box was key. 1497 01:18:52,031 --> 01:18:54,600 It connected Marty directly to the murder. 1498 01:18:54,701 --> 01:18:58,371 Page had told investigators that Marty said he took it 1499 01:18:58,471 --> 01:19:00,740 the night he killed Desiree. 1500 01:19:00,840 --> 01:19:03,509 It was all found, along with a big clue 1501 01:19:03,609 --> 01:19:05,612 as to who left it there. 1502 01:19:05,712 --> 01:19:08,648 A receipt with the name Marty Grismer. 1503 01:19:08,748 --> 01:19:10,717 - That's big. - That's huge. 1504 01:19:10,817 --> 01:19:12,852 Marty must have done the first burglary, too, 1505 01:19:12,952 --> 01:19:14,621 and he didn't get rid of anything. 1506 01:19:14,721 --> 01:19:17,924 It was not very bright to keep all this stuff 1507 01:19:18,024 --> 01:19:22,395 involved in a-- in a burglary and a homicide. 1508 01:19:22,495 --> 01:19:23,663 A month later, 1509 01:19:23,763 --> 01:19:27,266 detectives got a call from Marty's cellmate at the jail. 1510 01:19:27,367 --> 01:19:29,636 And he's had some interesting conversations with Marty. 1511 01:19:29,736 --> 01:19:33,640 Yeah, Marty's talking about the evidence that's against him. 1512 01:19:33,740 --> 01:19:36,676 And he was also talking about Paige. 1513 01:19:36,776 --> 01:19:40,279 The cellmate said Marty was furious with her. 1514 01:19:45,351 --> 01:19:46,920 She had turned him in. 1515 01:19:47,020 --> 01:19:50,923 Paige would be the star witness against him at his trial. 1516 01:19:51,024 --> 01:19:53,393 So Marty suggested a way his cellmate 1517 01:19:53,493 --> 01:19:55,595 could solve his problem. 1518 01:19:55,695 --> 01:19:58,598 Kill Paige and a friend of hers. 1519 01:20:06,039 --> 01:20:07,807 That's quite a swing. 1520 01:20:07,907 --> 01:20:11,711 Going from doing anything for Paige, obsessed with her, 1521 01:20:11,811 --> 01:20:15,148 will kill for her, to, according to the cellmate, 1522 01:20:15,248 --> 01:20:17,383 wanting to put out a hit to get rid of her. 1523 01:20:17,483 --> 01:20:20,587 Yeah, he's trying to save his own skin at this point. 1524 01:20:20,687 --> 01:20:24,457 No hit ever happened, and the cellmate got cold feet 1525 01:20:24,557 --> 01:20:28,194 and refused to testify, which didn't help prosecutors, 1526 01:20:28,294 --> 01:20:32,098 who were already dealing with a difficult circumstantial case 1527 01:20:32,198 --> 01:20:35,268 full of imperfect evidence and maybe worse, 1528 01:20:35,368 --> 01:20:38,338 two possible alternate suspects. 1529 01:20:38,438 --> 01:20:40,907 You had wondered about Scott and Paige's involvement 1530 01:20:41,007 --> 01:20:42,709 from the very beginning. 1531 01:20:42,809 --> 01:20:44,978 Were you concerned that the defense might try 1532 01:20:45,078 --> 01:20:47,113 and use that as an alternate theory? 1533 01:20:47,213 --> 01:20:50,416 Certainly, it, uh-- it could easily been used. 1534 01:20:50,516 --> 01:20:52,919 That's why we-we offered the plea. 1535 01:20:53,019 --> 01:20:58,157 This case and investigation raised a lot of questions, 1536 01:20:58,257 --> 01:21:02,629 and some of those questions will never be answered. 1537 01:21:02,729 --> 01:21:04,631 In December of 2017, 1538 01:21:04,731 --> 01:21:07,333 Marty Grismer was offered a deal. 1539 01:21:07,433 --> 01:21:10,837 His first degree murder charge would be reduced to second 1540 01:21:10,937 --> 01:21:13,873 if he took what's called an Alford plea, 1541 01:21:13,973 --> 01:21:16,442 admitting there's enough evidence to convict 1542 01:21:16,542 --> 01:21:19,779 without actually admitting guilt. 1543 01:21:19,879 --> 01:21:23,082 Desiree's brother felt there was no choice. 1544 01:21:23,182 --> 01:21:26,786 Prosecutor told us he'll at least get something 1545 01:21:26,886 --> 01:21:30,423 if he-- if he takes this plea. 1546 01:21:30,523 --> 01:21:33,693 And we're like, well, we've gotta at least... 1547 01:21:35,662 --> 01:21:38,164 give him something. 1548 01:21:38,264 --> 01:21:42,135 We can't run the risk of him just walking free. 1549 01:21:42,235 --> 01:21:44,370 Kasey attended the sentencing hearing 1550 01:21:44,470 --> 01:21:46,205 with his mother, Connie. 1551 01:21:46,306 --> 01:21:48,441 She spoke to the court. 1552 01:21:48,541 --> 01:21:50,910 Your honor, I can only speak to you 1553 01:21:51,010 --> 01:21:53,880 about one thing at this point. 1554 01:21:53,980 --> 01:21:57,016 Sentence this evil being to the harshest prison 1555 01:21:57,116 --> 01:21:59,185 in our system. 1556 01:21:59,285 --> 01:22:02,088 He deserves to be among other evil. 1557 01:22:02,188 --> 01:22:04,691 In the end, Marty Grismer was sentenced 1558 01:22:04,791 --> 01:22:08,027 to just 15 years in prison. 1559 01:22:08,127 --> 01:22:12,298 He's scheduled to be released in 2029. 1560 01:22:13,099 --> 01:22:15,835 Desiree's friends and family were angry. 1561 01:22:15,935 --> 01:22:18,871 They didn't think Desiree got justice. 1562 01:22:18,972 --> 01:22:20,306 Was that good enough? 1563 01:22:20,406 --> 01:22:23,409 No, it's not good enough, 1564 01:22:23,509 --> 01:22:26,245 because he's still not admitting any guilt, 1565 01:22:26,346 --> 01:22:29,115 and he's only getting 15 years. 1566 01:22:29,215 --> 01:22:31,884 They also remain angry at Scott. 1567 01:22:31,985 --> 01:22:34,253 While he was never charged in the case, 1568 01:22:34,354 --> 01:22:36,556 they're certain his affair with Paige 1569 01:22:36,656 --> 01:22:38,891 led to Desiree's murder. 1570 01:22:38,992 --> 01:22:41,794 The bottom line is that Desiree 1571 01:22:41,894 --> 01:22:46,099 would still be alive today if Scott had been faithful. 1572 01:22:46,199 --> 01:22:48,968 Scott moved away after Desiree died. 1573 01:22:49,068 --> 01:22:51,204 He's now remarried. 1574 01:22:51,304 --> 01:22:54,507 As for Paige, she was never charged either. 1575 01:22:54,607 --> 01:22:58,378 But still, Desiree's loved ones cannot shake the idea 1576 01:22:58,478 --> 01:23:00,380 that she was involved. 1577 01:23:00,480 --> 01:23:02,348 There are many people who believe 1578 01:23:02,448 --> 01:23:04,183 that you got away with murder, 1579 01:23:04,284 --> 01:23:06,619 that you should be in prison, too. 1580 01:23:06,719 --> 01:23:08,421 I've heard that. 1581 01:23:08,521 --> 01:23:10,723 What would you say to them? 1582 01:23:10,823 --> 01:23:13,059 I had nothing to do with it. 1583 01:23:13,159 --> 01:23:19,265 It's incredibly unfair that I risked my life 1584 01:23:19,365 --> 01:23:20,934 to do the right thing, 1585 01:23:21,034 --> 01:23:26,406 and I'm being crucified for existing. 1586 01:23:27,907 --> 01:23:31,110 Still, the people who loved Desiree say 1587 01:23:31,210 --> 01:23:34,514 they try not to dwell on Scott or Paige. 1588 01:23:34,614 --> 01:23:36,683 They want to focus on the good. 1589 01:23:36,783 --> 01:23:37,984 On Desiree. 1590 01:23:38,084 --> 01:23:40,186 If you were lucky enough to get to know Des, 1591 01:23:40,286 --> 01:23:42,889 you'd want everybody else to know it, too. 1592 01:23:44,791 --> 01:23:46,392 Desiree's mother, Connie, 1593 01:23:46,492 --> 01:23:49,228 had to sell her daughter's beloved Chevelle 1594 01:23:49,329 --> 01:23:51,965 to pay for her headstone. 1595 01:23:52,065 --> 01:23:54,534 Hey, Des. 1596 01:23:54,634 --> 01:23:56,769 It's been a while. 1597 01:23:56,869 --> 01:23:59,339 Connie died before it was installed. 1598 01:23:59,439 --> 01:24:01,941 She's buried next to her daughter. 1599 01:24:02,041 --> 01:24:04,210 It's a beautiful headstone. 1600 01:24:04,310 --> 01:24:05,745 Yeah. 1601 01:24:05,845 --> 01:24:07,880 She loved the dolphins. 1602 01:24:07,981 --> 01:24:09,916 And she did love roses. 1603 01:24:10,016 --> 01:24:15,255 That's her Chevy, her little Tweety bird. 1604 01:24:15,355 --> 01:24:18,391 - She loved Tweety. - Yeah. 1605 01:24:18,491 --> 01:24:21,494 Spending time with the people who loved Desiree, 1606 01:24:21,594 --> 01:24:24,464 you really start to feel what was taken. 1607 01:24:24,564 --> 01:24:27,734 She was the kind of art teacher kids connected with. 1608 01:24:27,834 --> 01:24:30,436 My heart aches for the students who lost her 1609 01:24:30,536 --> 01:24:32,672 and for the ones who will never get the chance 1610 01:24:32,772 --> 01:24:34,274 to learn from her. 1611 01:24:34,374 --> 01:24:36,709 I also feel so badly for Desiree. 1612 01:24:36,809 --> 01:24:39,779 Caught in the middle of these twisted relationships 1613 01:24:39,879 --> 01:24:43,016 and an obsession that turned into senseless violence. 1614 01:24:43,116 --> 01:24:45,051 Visiting her gravestone that day, 1615 01:24:45,151 --> 01:24:49,022 I felt just how deeply she's missed by so many. 1616 01:24:49,122 --> 01:24:51,090 It just makes everything so real 1617 01:24:51,190 --> 01:24:52,659 when you come here and see it. 1618 01:24:52,759 --> 01:24:54,661 Sure, sure. 1619 01:24:54,761 --> 01:24:57,664 That she's not going to just show up 1620 01:24:57,764 --> 01:24:59,599 {\an8}in your driveway on a Harley.