Latest / The Mind of a Man / Killer Husband Realizes Wife Is Still Breathing

Transcript

Killer Husband Realizes Wife Is Still Breathing · The Mind of a Man

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Police department, police department.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Hello, help me!
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 0:12
  Speaker 4: This is 37-year-old Jimmy Allen. Jimmy just discovered his wife's
• 0:15
  Speaker 4: body in the basement of their Michigan home. 18 minutes earlier,
• 0:19
  Speaker 4: he placed this 911 call.
• 0:21
  Speaker 5: Okay, what's going on there?
• 0:22
  Speaker 6: She's in the basement.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Somebody call the police.
• 0:25
  Speaker 5: I tried to give her CPR. I pulled her out
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: of the basement.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: The dispatcher instructed Jimmy to continue giving Amy CPR while
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: several units rushed to the scene. Officer Ben J. Horn
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: was the first to arrive. Despite the desperation in Jimmy's
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: voice during the 911 call, it was eerily silent as
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: Officer Horn approached the residence. However, as soon as the
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: officer made himself known, Jimmy began crying out for help.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Police department! Police department!
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: Hello!
• 0:56
  Speaker 6: Help!
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Please!
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Please!
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: Jimmy was found in the basement sobbing over his unresponsive
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: wife's body as he grieved he continued performing cpr.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: How long she's been down do you have any idea
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: you have any idea it can't be more than about
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: 20 minutes.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: Okay Oddly enough, Amy didn't have any significant injuries, except
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: for a very faint mark near her jugular. By 8.57pm,
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: more officers arrived along with several EMTs. They piled into
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: the basement to take over Jimmy's life-saving efforts. Now that
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: Jimmy had a moment to process what was going on,
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: he dramatically ripped his shirt off and broke down on
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: the basement floor. He was able to quickly compose himself
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: and continued to observe the EMTs aiding Amy. Jimmy alternated
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: between complete composure and emotional outbursts several times.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: You want to come upstairs with me real quick?
• 1:56
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: As you can see, Jimmy seemed calm as he walked
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: up the basement stairs. But as he entered the kitchen,
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: he unleashed his wrath onto an unsuspecting bowl of potato chips.
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: The officers weren't sure what to make of this erratic behavior,
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: especially since they had no clue what led up to
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: the discovery of Amy's body.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Did she make any statements at all?
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: Jimmy gave the officers a quick summary of his and
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Amy's night. At around 6.30pm, the couple dropped their daughter
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: and her friend off at a nearby high school football
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: game and then headed downtown for some drinks. While at
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: a bar, they got into an argument and Amy ended
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: up walking home alone while Jimmy drove home in their car.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: When Amy got back home, the arguing continued, so he
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: left her alone to cool off. He went upstairs and
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: threw on the Jim Carrey film Ace Ventura. When it
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: was time to pick up their daughter, he went to
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: check on Amy again.
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: The officers found it strange that Amy would escalate things
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: to this degree out of nowhere. But nobody seemed as
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: shocked as Jimmy.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately for Jimmy.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: This was a nightmare that he wouldn't be waking up from.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: But suddenly, an EMT emerged from the basement with a
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: glimmer of hope.
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: The EMTs were able to re-establish a faint pulse, so
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: Amy was still clinging to light.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: But when Jimmy realized that his wife was still breathing,
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: he seemed frustrated by this promising news. His reaction immediately
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: set off red flags for the officers. Jimmy then left
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: the room momentarily to grab a new shirt, and when
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: he came back, he called his daughter Ashley to inform
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: her of the emergency.
• 3:58
  Speaker 6: We had an emergency. Don't go anywhere. There's an emergency. Just, I'll...
• 4:04
  Speaker 6: Don't go anywhere. I'll talk to you in a little bit.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: Jimmy didn't want Ashley to panic over the phone, so
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: he kept his composure and didn't share any details of
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: what had happened. But right after that phone call, he
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: called his parents and spilled his heart out.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Oh, I don't know what to do, Mom. I don't
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: know what to.
• 4:23
  Speaker 6: Do.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Oh, this is terrible.
• 4:27
  Speaker 6: I gotta talk to the cops.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: Although Jimmy was crying his heart out, the officers spotted
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: no moisture on his face at all. They decided to
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: have him wait outside, away from the crime scene. Shortly after,
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: Amy was placed on a stretcher and taken to the
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: back of an ambulance. They rushed her to the ProMedica
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: Herrick Hospital, just two minutes away. The EMTs were finished
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: in the basement, so the officers headed back inside to
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: do further investigation. Now that the dust had settled, they
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: immediately noticed something strange. The basement ceilings were very low,
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: so low that they began to question the logistics of
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: Jimmy's story. Amy was 5'6, and the basement ceiling wasn't
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: much higher, roughly 7 feet. But rather than jumping to conclusions,
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: the investigators decided to wrap things up for the night.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: The next morning, Officer Horn and his partner returned to
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: the Allen household to ask Jimmy some more questions. They
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: hoped to get a better understanding of what led up
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: to the incident. According to Jimmy, the family started their
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: day in high spirits by making breakfast together and getting
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: Ashley ready for school.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: At around 7.30am, Jimmy left for work and Ashley left
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: for school, while Amy stayed home.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Jimmy decided to leave work early, so around 12.30pm, he
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: came home and took a nap. Then, at 2.45pm, the
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: school day was over and it was time to pick
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: up Ashley.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: After a nice family dinner, everybody hopped in the car
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: and drove to the Tecumseh High School for the football game.
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: As mentioned before, Jimmy and Amy dropped off the girls
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: and decided to head downtown to go bar hopping. They
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: first went to Ember's Bar and Grill, then to JR's
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: Hometown Grill and Pub shortly after. Investigators would later confirm
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: this part of Jimmy's story by obtaining the security footage
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: from JR's. Apparently, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: Jimmy brought up the idea of selling their house and
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: moving down south. Since the family had just moved to
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: Michigan from Florida one year earlier, Amy was not fond
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: of this idea. She began texting someone on her phone
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: and became dismissive of Jimmy's comments.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: She said a couple of times that, oh, that's not
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: going to work. And she's normally positive and was sort
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: of down and negative. And we started to disagree about it.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: And she's like, you know, I hope that works out
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: for you.
• 6:54
  Speaker 6: And I'm like, what do you mean me?
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: I'm talking about our life.
• 6:58
  Speaker 6: Like, and this isn't.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Jimmy said that this comment sparked an argument between the two.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: By the time they left the bar, things were very tense.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: Amy decided that she would rather walk home than sit
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: with Jimmy any longer. This was also confirmed by this
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: surveillance footage, which captured Amy walking down the street, heading
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: in the direction of their house. Amy arrived home at 7.58pm.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: She grabbed an extension cord and then went down to
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: the basement. At 8.05pm, Jimmy decided to go check on her.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: She's petting Louie, one of our cats, and I'm like,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: what the.
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: Hell are you doing in the basement?
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: Apparently, Amy was angry at him for slamming the door
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: in her face as they left the bar. But according
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: to Jimmy, it was just an accident. He did forget
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: to hold the door for her, but he didn't slam
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: it intentionally. Amy didn't believe that it was an accident,
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: so she started throwing insults at him, and the two
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: proceeded to argue for about 10 minutes. Nothing good was
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: coming from this argument, so Jimmy went back upstairs, leaving
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: Amy in the basement with the extension cord. About 25
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: minutes later, at 8.40 p.m., Jimmy realized that it was
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: time to pick up Ashley from the football game. Before
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: he left, he went back to the basement to squash
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: the beef with Amy.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: And immediately do that and started, you know, check for
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: a pulse. When I glanced down there, I saw there
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: looked like a upturned kitty litter pail.
• 8:25
  Speaker 6: Huh.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Because I'm like, that's, like I said, it was just so, just.
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: Sure.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: The officer asked if there were any signs that something
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: like this might happen, but Jimmy said that he could
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: never have seen this coming.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: You know, I spent all night kind of thinking and
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: playing back what was, what triggered, what was... Has she
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: ever tried anything like this before? She's never had anything ever, like,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: we live a healthy lifestyle, we work out, we go
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: rock climbing three times a week in Ann Arbor. We, like,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: cook meals at home. We grow our own vegetables out here.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: We....
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Money trouble. No, I mean, we're... This is, like, the
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: pinnacle of, you know, best job I've ever had.
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: I make great money. She's a stay-at-home mom.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: She takes care of the five cats, the pool, and
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: is there for my daughter doing sports and activities.
• 9:21
  Speaker 7: Sure.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: The officer then asked if he and his partner could
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: do a more thorough search of the home, and Jimmy agreed.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: With the help of their new recruit, Louie, Jimmy's cat.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: The officers scoured every room in the household, hoping to
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: find any clues that could explain last night's incident. They
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: weren't able to find any bombshell evidence, but they did
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: collect several items that belonged to Amy, including her computer
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: and cell phone. Following their search, Officer Horn headed back
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: outside to speak with Ashley. She was visibly shaken up
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: by the incident, but the detectives needed to know if
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: Amy and Jimmy had a history of violent altercations.
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: Were your mom and dad fighting at all yesterday that
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: you recall?
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: No, everything was normal when I left.
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: When you left? Okay.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Is there a history of the fighting or arguing or
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: anything like that?
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: Nothing ever. Okay.
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: The officer also asked about Amy's state of mind. But
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: Ashley said that even though her mom was a deeply
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: introverted person, she had always been emotionally stable. This interview
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: wasn't as fruitful as the officers had hoped, but shortly after,
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: they were approached by several of Amy's family members. They
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: said that Jimmy waited 14 hours to tell them about
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: the incident. As soon as they heard the news, they
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: rushed over to the police department because they had an
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: abundance of useful information for the police. The investigators learned
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: that back in 1997, when Amy was just 13, she
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: had a son named Caleb. Her parents looked after Caleb
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: while she attended high school in Ocala, Florida. By the
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: end of high school, she began dating Jimmy, who had
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: no problem becoming a father figure to Caleb. When Amy
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: was 19, they had Ashley, and from that point on,
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: Amy stayed home to take care of the kids while
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: Jimmy worked. However, according to Amy's family, this wasn't her choice.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: They believed that Jimmy was a controlling husband who didn't
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: want Amy to become financially independent. He would monitor everything
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: the family did, from their social media activity to what
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: they were eating throughout the day. He would also discipline
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: the kids if he believed they were misbehaving, frequently taking
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: things too far. Whenever Amy stood up to Jimmy, her
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: opinion didn't seem to matter. Whatever Jimmy wanted, Jimmy got.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: So when Caleb turned 17, he left to stay with
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: his grandparents. Jimmy retaliated, telling Amy that she was no
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: longer allowed to speak with her family, including Caleb. One
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: of the last times Caleb saw her was at his
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: high school graduation a year before the incident. But other
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: than that, Amy had minimal involvement in Caleb's life. All
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: of this evidence was extremely damning for Jimmy. It wouldn't
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: be a surprise if an abusive and controlling husband tried
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: to murder his wife. But if the police wanted to
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: bulletproof their case against Jimmy, they needed to answer one
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: big question. What was Jimmy's motive? Unfortunately, before the investigators
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: could answer this question, they received tragic news. On September 17th, 2018,
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: after being unresponsive for three days, Amy was taken off
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: of life support and pronounced dead. With a possible homicide
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: now on their hands, the authorities pressed on with their investigation.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: They decided to look for answers in Amy's cell phone.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: In her text with Jimmy, his controlling behavior was on
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: full display. He had somehow been tracking Amy's every move.
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: He would frequently text Amy her exact location and ask
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: her why she was there. Despite all of Jimmy's torment,
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: Amy seemed completely fine in her other conversations. This evidence
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: strengthened the case against Jimmy, but the detectives still couldn't
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: pinpoint an exact motive. That was until they looked through
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: a conversation with a man named George. George was a
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: married man from the East Coast that Amy had met
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: online and had been texting for the past three years.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: Based on the explicit content of the messages, it was
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: clear that they were having an affair. Even on the
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: day of the incident, Amy and George were consistently texting
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: and calling each other. While Amy was having dinner with
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: her family at 5.07pm, George texted her saying, I wish
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: we could be together right now. At 5.29pm, Amy responded with,
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: I'm excited to see you again. And remember when Amy
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: began texting somebody during the argument at JR's Grill and Pub?
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: It turns out that she was texting George, even with
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: Jimmy sitting directly beside her. From these findings, a new
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: theory emerged. Perhaps Jimmy had caught a glimpse of these
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: text conversations and was overcome with anger, which ultimately led
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: to him attacking Amy in the basement. The investigators were
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: eager to ask Jimmy some more questions, but they ran
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: into a small problem. Jimmy was nowhere to be found.
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: It turns out that just a few days after the incident,
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: Jimmy and Ashley packed their belongings, including their five cats,
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: and headed back to their hometown, Ocala, Florida, to stay
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: with family. Thankfully, the authorities were easily able to get
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: in touch with Jimmy to arrange another interview. He told
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: them that he would be back in Michigan in a
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: few weeks to grab some of his stuff. Since the
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: Tecumseh Police Department had limited personnel and resources, the Michigan
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: State Police had taken over the investigation, and Detective Larry
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: Rothman was put on the case. One month after Amy's death,
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: he met Jimmy at the station for a formal interview.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: During his stay in Florida, Jimmy had plenty of time
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: to reflect on his relationship with Amy, and he was
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: forthright with the detective about his shortcomings.
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: Well, and so... It's hard to believe this statement from Jimmy,
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: because moments later, when asked to describe himself, he gives
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: an awfully detailed answer. I would say I'm a type
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: A personality. I like structure, organization, I'm ambitious. always seeking
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: to improve myself and others around me. That's why all
• 15:15
  Speaker 6: this is so pressing to me is because, like, I
• 15:18
  Speaker 6: had really taken measures in the last couple of years to, like,
• 15:23
  Speaker 6: make sure that myself and my family were, like, mentally fit, like,
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: mentally healthy, like, pursuing things that not only got you physical, like,
• 15:34
  Speaker 6: but helping others.
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: Being kind, Without a doubt, Jimmy's obsession with creating the
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: perfect family was immensely toxic. However, Jimmy seemed to take
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: pride in this toxic behavior, framing it as a strength.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: He believed that his role in the family was to
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: hold them to a higher standard. No matter how much
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: Jimmy painted himself as an upstanding family man, the detectives
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: weren't buying it.
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: Looking back now, where you're at now, does anything pop
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: out at you.
• 16:07
  Speaker 6: As, oh yeah, I mean... My wife had some issues.
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: What kind of issues? She struggled from, like, social anxiety. Which,
• 16:24
  Speaker 6: she's been like that for years. She's just an extremely shy,
• 16:27
  Speaker 6: introverted person. She's never had, she never developed relationships anymore
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: with Ocala. She didn't have any friends. She was plain, like,
• 16:38
  Speaker 6: video games compulsively, that World of Warcraft thing.
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: I got.
• 16:42
  Speaker 6: Out of hand, and so she just sort of, sort
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: of isolating herself. And so I had taken measures when
• 16:51
  Speaker 6: we got up here to help her.
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: Break out of that.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: Jimmy is painting himself as a valiant savior, guiding his
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: wife away from her bad habits towards a healthy lifestyle.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: But as we mentioned earlier, everybody who was close to
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: Amy said that Jimmy was the main cause of her isolation.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: While asking Jimmy about infidelity in the relationship, he revealed
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: that Amy wasn't the only one cheating.
• 17:12
  Speaker 6: There was one time when I went to the aisle
• 17:15
  Speaker 6: of me and hooked over this chick. During.
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: Anytime during your marriage, do you know.
• 17:20
  Speaker 6: If he was unfaithful to you? I don't think that
• 17:22
  Speaker 6: would be possible. Why is that? She didn't seem to
• 17:25
  Speaker 6: have the capacity to, like, talk to people, man. I mean,
• 17:30
  Speaker 6: she was, like, incredibly introverted.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: Clearly, Jimmy underestimated Amy's charm. Later in the interview, the
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: detective set the record straight, bluntly telling Jimmy that Amy was,
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: in fact, having an affair.
• 17:43
  Speaker 6: What was your knowledge of her affair? She, I don't
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: think she had an affair. I have no idea. I
• 17:50
  Speaker 6: wouldn't think it was possible. There's a lot of stuff
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: that she had tried to delete there, but I mean,
• 17:56
  Speaker 6: we're talking, telling this other guy she loves him. I
• 18:00
  Speaker 6: think that you're bullshitting me, bud. I'm not. I'm not.
• 18:04
  Speaker 6: I'm not going to lie to you today, and I haven't.
• 18:06
  Speaker 6: I'll just tell you right now.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: Jimmy seemed to be in denial, so the detective printed
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: off some excerpts from Amy's conversations with George, some more
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: risque than others.
• 18:17
  Speaker 7: And then the.
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: Chat lead up to the 14th the same day that
• 18:19
  Speaker 6: this happened. Clearly there was something going on between these
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: two people.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: As someone who had a say in every aspect of
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: Amy's life, he seemed completely blindsided by her secret life
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: with George. He wanted more answers.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Can you pull phone records to see if there's any
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: numbers that I can see that I don't recognize?
• 18:37
  Speaker 6: In a last-ditch.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Effort to elicit a confession, the detective asked Jimmy if
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: he would take a polygraph test.
• 18:46
  Speaker 6: Jimmy agreed and maintained his innocence the entire time.
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: Ultimately, the test results were inconclusive. The detective wrapped up
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: the interview, less certain about Jimmy's involvement than before. Jimmy
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: was allowed to leave, and he went back to Florida
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: later that day. The police struggled to find any new leads,
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: so they had no choice but to wait for the
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: medical examiner to release Amy's autopsy report. That day finally came,
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: three months after Amy's death. It was confirmed that the
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: cause of death was strangulation asphyxiation, but the manner of
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: death was undetermined, requiring additional investigation. The ball was back
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: in Detective Rothman's court, but finding more evidence to determine
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: whether or not this was a homicide was easier said
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: than done. He meticulously looked through all of the evidence,
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: including the body cam footage. He stumbled upon the moment
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: that Officer Horn noticed how low the basement ceiling was,
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: and he suddenly had an idea. Rothman reached out to
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: a forensic engineering lab in Michigan and asked them to
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: recreate the scenario Jimmy had supposedly stumbled upon. After many
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: months of preparation, testing, and analyzing the results, the lab
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: determined that under the same circumstances, her feet would have
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: made contact with the ground. A different forensic pathologist reviewed
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: the same test results and they determined that her manner
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: of death must have been a homicide. On October 16th, 2020,
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: Jimmy was charged with one felony count of open murder.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: This meant that if the case went to trial, it
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: would be up to the jury to determine the degree
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: of homicide Jimmy is guilty of, anywhere from involuntary manslaughter
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: to first-degree murder. By this point in the investigation, it
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: appeared that Jimmy, who was still staying with his parents
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: in Florida, had moved on entirely. In fact, he even
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: had a new fiancée, and their wedding was just five
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: days away. But before they could tie the knot, Jimmy
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: was arrested and extradited back to Michigan. Once he was
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: booked into jail, he was brought into a room to
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: have his charges explained to him. When told that he
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: could contact the investigators if he had any questions, Jimmy
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: said something peculiar.
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: If you have any questions, feel free to give a
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: hold of us, or they can contact us. Okay? This
• 21:08
  Speaker 6: is how you sleep at night, sir. Well, I guess
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: I don't understand that question. Okay.
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: A few weeks later, at his arraignment hearing, Jimmy pled
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: not guilty. His bond was set at $ 10 million, and
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: he was put behind bars. Leading up to his trial,
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: his defense attorney Daniel Guerin released this statement. Mr. Allen
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: vehemently asserts his innocence in this case, as he had
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: absolutely nothing to do with Amy Allen's tragic death. He
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: cooperated with police throughout the two-year investigation and provided evidence
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: and statements showing his innocence from the very beginning. He
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: has been in jail for nearly a year for a
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: crime he did not commit, and he misses his family dearly.
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: He is looking forward to the evidence finally being shown
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: to a jury of his peers so they can see
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: clearly that he is innocent and did absolutely nothing wrong.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: In September of 2021, three years after Amy's death, his
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: trial began. Prosecutor Angie Borders kicked off the opening statements.
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: She said that her team was confident that the evidence
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: would point the jury to a guilty verdict. Defense attorney
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: Daniel Guerin delivered the defense's opening statement, saying that there
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: was no substantial evidence to support the prosecution's theories. And
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: their case did not add up.
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: The people want you to believe that Jimmy Allen, for
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: reasons nobody explains or guesses or understands why, snaps after
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: 15 years of marriage, brutally kills his wife, goes up
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: into cover-up mode, does all of this cover-up, and then
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: gets the police there at 8.52 to start showing them
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: evidence of this hanging.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: They also pointed to Jimmy's search history that night, suggesting
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: that murder was the last thing on Jimmy's mind.
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: The phone searches they get from Jimmy's phone shows that
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: he's looking at searches for Jim Carrey movies and other
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: Showtime shows, the exact shows that he had told police
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: that night that he had watched.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: One of the key witnesses for the prosecution was Amy's son, Caleb.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: He told the court about an altercation with Jimmy while
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: he still lived at home.
• 23:03
  Speaker 8: I stood up, pushed him against the wall, and there
• 23:06
  Speaker 8: was a second of fear that came over me, and
• 23:10
  Speaker 8: I realized what I was doing, and I let up,
• 23:13
  Speaker 8: and then I was spun around or maybe I turned
• 23:17
  Speaker 8: around and then I was choked from behind on the
• 23:21
  Speaker 8: floor for multiple seconds. It felt like forever during the incident.
• 23:26
  Speaker 8: And I was gasping for air, grabbing for anything, trying
• 23:29
  Speaker 8: to get away from him.
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: This story suggested that Jimmy had a history of choking
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: people when he got angry. If he was willing to
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: choke Caleb, it's reasonable to assume that he was willing
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: to choke Amy as well. Several witnesses that were at
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: the scene that night were also called to the stand,
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: including first responders and neighbors. They all testified that Jimmy's
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: over-the-top reactions seemed like he was putting on an act.
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: Jimmy's behavior throughout the body cam footage supported this. There
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: were several moments where he would be sobbing uncontrollably, but
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: would instantly compose himself to answer the officer's questions.
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: I gotta talk to the cops.
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: On top of Jimmy's questionable behavior, Officer Horn also noted
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: that Amy's injuries did not align with Jimmy's story.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: I was definitely looking for any injuries, whether it be
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: from a hang or otherwise, and I really didn't see
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: any sort of. Typical injuries that I normally would have
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: seen in a hanging, so I definitely took.
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: Note of that.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: Later in the trial, a hospital staff member that treated
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: Amy agreed with Officer Horn's observations, saying that the lack
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: of external injuries suggested foul play.
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: No visible injuries.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: No visible injuries.
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: Is that strike you as odd?
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: It was a red flag.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: One witness that nobody expected was none other than Mystery
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: Man George.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: And was there an occasion where you came to know
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: a person like Amy.
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: Allen on the internet? Yes.
• 24:56
  Speaker 7: We spoke online often. We talked about life. We also,
• 25:02
  Speaker 7: there was a little bit of sexual content. That's what
• 25:06
  Speaker 7: we talked about.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: For the most part, George and Amy communicated through text
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: and video calls. But the more they got to know
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: each other, the more eager they were to see each
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: other in person. Now, had you ever met Amy in person?
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: Yes, twice.
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: The first time the two met up was in spring
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: of 2017 to grab some coffee. The second time was
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: several months later when Amy met George in a hotel room.
• 25:29
  Speaker 7: I was here for work and she had some free time,
• 25:32
  Speaker 7: so she came to the hotel.
• 25:34
  Speaker 6: So you're at a hotel? Yes. Did things that happened
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: at a hotel happen at that hotel? Some things, yes.
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: Apparently, George and Amy's love for each other only grew
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: as time went on. Even on the day of her death,
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: Amy showed no signs of wanting to slow down.
• 25:49
  Speaker 6: I wrote, I love you. And I wrote, I want
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: more of you.
• 25:53
  Speaker 7: And she wrote, I love you too.
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: I'm ready to spend.
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: Time with you in person.
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: And I wrote, good. Let's do it.
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: And then she wrote, end of October. And I wrote,
• 26:05
  Speaker 7: I'm in. Dr.
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: Elizabeth Buck also played a crucial role in the prosecution's case.
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: During her testimony, she took the jury through the extension
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: court experiment we mentioned earlier.
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: The first question that Detective Rothman asked was, can an
• 26:20
  Speaker 7: extension cord suspend 140 pounds?
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: The testing was performed. The answer is no.
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: According to the prosecution, the results of her tests were
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: more than enough to debunk Jimmy's story. When it was
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: the defense's turn to call witnesses, they had Jimmy's father testify.
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: According to him, Jimmy didn't flee the state because he
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: was guilty. It was because Jimmy's family urged him to
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: stay with them in Florida.
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: He seemed... Ashley also testified on her father's behalf. The
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: day after the incident, she had said that her mother
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: had always been stable.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: But now, three years later, her story had completely changed.
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: Did you notice anything from your vantage point that was
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: a problem, behaviors or issues that you saw when your
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: mom was drinking alcohol?
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: Two things, yes. My mother overindulged in alcohol frequently, and
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: she became intoxicated very easily and frequently as well, which
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: would cause her to be not herself at all. She
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: would be meaner and more violent sometimes.
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: When Amy was placed under intensive care, her blood alcohol
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: content was recorded at 0.09%, likely caused by the two
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: or three drinks that she consumed at the bars that night.
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: The defense said that this was proof of Amy's drinking
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: problem and that she wasn't as chipper as the prosecution
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: had suggested. They also questioned the forensic pathologist who claimed
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: that this was a homicide. To dispute this notion, the
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: defense had actually reached out to their own expert, Dr.
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: Francisco J. Diaz. According to Dr. Diaz, since there was
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: minimal bleeding to the strap muscles of the neck, no petechiae,
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: and no evidence of defensive type injuries. He believed that
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: Amy's death was not the result of somebody else's actions.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: The defense had called all of their witnesses, but they
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: had a lot more to say in their closing arguments.
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: They said that the prosecution's case was utter speculation, and
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: the fact that Jimmy had zero defensive marks on him
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: was proof of that.
• 28:32
  Speaker 5: They also said that even though Amy and George's relationship
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: seemed to be flourishing, it was actually just a fantasy,
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: an escape from the dejected state of mind that plagued
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: Amy's life. Three years, and they have three years to meet,
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: and they meet one time for two hours. She was
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: not talking to her family. She was isolated. She didn't
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: have a job. She was socially anxious. And that is
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: not to beat up Amy Allen. It is to tell
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: you that she was living sort of a double parallel life.
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: And we believe the fuse was lit. And we had, unfortunately, isolation, drinking,
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: odd behavior, the guilt of a very graphic and long-term affair,
• 29:21
  Speaker 5: unbeknownst to Jimmy and his daughter. That ultimately led to
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: her very sad and tragic death on Friday, September 14th
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: of 2018.
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: Both sides rested their case. Jimmy's fate was now in
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: the hands of the jury. After about six hours of deliberations,
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: they had their verdict.
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: You do say upon your oaths that you've a defendant
• 29:41
  Speaker 5: guilty of the lesser offense of second-degree murder.
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: After this verdict, Jimmy didn't seem to know what to
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: do with himself. He wandered aimlessly for a bit. And
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: when it was time to be booked into the jail,
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: he bashfully waved goodbye to his family. On October 21st, 2021,
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: Jimmy was sentenced to 20 to 45 years in prison
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: in the Michigan Department of Corrections. He currently resides at
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: the St. Louis Correctional Facility and will be eligible for
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: parole in the year 2040.
• 30:34
  Speaker 6: Thank you.