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The Wamsley family murders [True Crime Documentary] · NO FILTER

0:00
Speaker 1: It was nearly Christmas time in the quiet suburb of Mansfield, Texas,
0:04
Speaker 1: when police responded to an open line nine one call.
0:07
Speaker 1: When they arrived, officers found the garage door already open,
0:11
Speaker 1: the side entrance to the house unlocked. Inside it was
0:15
Speaker 1: a shocking scene. Rick Walmsley, a well liked local accountant,
0:20
Speaker 1: and his cheerful wife Susy, murdered in their home in
0:23
Speaker 1: the dead of the night. Adding to the unsettling circumstances,
0:28
Speaker 1: it seemed that the murders had actually taken place long
0:31
Speaker 1: before the nine one one call was made, and the
0:36
Speaker 1: couple's nineteen year old son was nowhere to be found.
0:41
Speaker 2: Hi.
0:42
Speaker 1: Everyone, I'm Kevin, and welcome to Just Thought Lounge. Here
0:45
Speaker 1: at JTL, we deliver serious, well balanced coverage of the
0:48
Speaker 1: cases that really make you think. If that sounds like
0:51
Speaker 1: your type of true crime, then you've come to the
0:53
Speaker 1: right place. The case we're about to look at take
0:56
Speaker 1: some odd turns. There are many facts of this case
0:59
Speaker 1: that are not in dispute, but there are many others
1:02
Speaker 1: that are left open to quite a bit of interpretation.
1:07
Speaker 1: Let's take a look. Rick and Susie Walmsley had been
1:22
Speaker 1: friendly when they attended high school together in Oklahoma in
1:25
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies. They were not exactly high school sweethearts,
1:30
Speaker 1: but years later, when Rick was attending Oklahoma State University
1:34
Speaker 1: and Susie a State Christian college, the two reconnected and
1:37
Speaker 1: began dating. Marriage and children soon followed. Susie gave birth
1:42
Speaker 1: to their daughter, Sarah in nineteen seventy eight, then six
1:45
Speaker 1: years later welcomed a son, Andrew. Rick qualified as a
1:50
Speaker 1: chartered accountant and had success working in the oil and
1:53
Speaker 1: gas industry. The family moved several times over the years
1:56
Speaker 1: to follow Rick's career opportunities, eventually landing in Fort Worth, Texas. Here,
2:02
Speaker 1: Rick launched his own lucrative accounting practice from his home office.
2:06
Speaker 1: By two thousand and three, the Walmsleys were living in
2:09
Speaker 1: the upscale neighborhood of Mansfield. Sarah, twenty five years old,
2:14
Speaker 1: was a mother herself and had her own apartment. Nineteen
2:18
Speaker 1: year old Andrew had recently graduated high school. He was
2:21
Speaker 1: attending classes at junior college and working part time at
2:25
Speaker 1: a miniature golf course. Rick and Suzie had a very
2:30
Speaker 1: happy marriage. They had celebrated their twenty fifth wedding anniversary
2:34
Speaker 1: in July two thousand and three with friends and family.
2:38
Speaker 1: In December of that year, Susie was gearing up for
2:41
Speaker 1: what would have been their twenty fifth Christmas together. She
2:44
Speaker 1: had decorated the house inside and out. A large Christmas tree,
2:48
Speaker 1: lovingly covered in ornaments, was erected in the living room,
2:52
Speaker 1: gifts wrapped and situated on the floor surrounding it. It
2:55
Speaker 1: was a picturesque suburban holiday scene in Mansfield, that is,
3:00
Speaker 1: until a nine to one one call led police cruisers,
3:03
Speaker 1: emergency responders and crime scene investigators to descend upon the
3:08
Speaker 1: quiet neighborhood. At eleven forty one pm on the eleventh
3:14
Speaker 1: of December, a Mansfield nine to one one operator received
3:18
Speaker 1: a phone call place from the Womsley family home. There
3:21
Speaker 1: was nothing but silence on the other end of the line.
3:24
Speaker 1: Airing on the side of caution, the dispatcher called police
3:28
Speaker 1: out to the house. Officer Patrick Notts of the Mansfield
3:32
Speaker 1: Police Department was the first to arrive. He was soon
3:35
Speaker 1: joined by several colleagues who walked the perimeter of the
3:38
Speaker 1: property and peered through the windows, receiving no response from
3:42
Speaker 1: the doorbell, but finding the side door through the garage
3:45
Speaker 1: had been left open. The officers entered the house. Inside,
3:51
Speaker 1: they walked through the kitchen and noted the telephone attached
3:54
Speaker 1: to the wall had been lifted off the hook and abandoned,
3:57
Speaker 1: laying on the counter. In the living room, they found Susie.
4:02
Speaker 1: She was on the couch, already cold to the touch,
4:06
Speaker 1: and the foyer, near to the front door, they discovered
4:09
Speaker 1: Rick collapsed in a bloody scene and also sadly beyond help.
4:15
Speaker 1: By twelve seventeen, the EMTs had arrived and confirmed that
4:19
Speaker 1: both Susie and Rick were deceased. The house was sealed
4:22
Speaker 1: off and the investigation began.
4:26
Speaker 2: When oscers arrived on scene, they found an open door
4:30
Speaker 2: and entered the residence. The officers found two deceased persons,
4:34
Speaker 2: a male and the female inside the residence.
4:36
Speaker 3: I was turning, you know when my wife told me first,
4:39
Speaker 3: I just do you just I don't think you expect
4:42
Speaker 3: to to hear those things.
4:46
Speaker 1: Autopsies revealed that Susie had died from a gunshot wound,
4:49
Speaker 1: but had also suffered seven stab wounds. These were thought
4:53
Speaker 1: to have been delivered after she had already passed. It
4:56
Speaker 1: appeared that Susie had been sleeping in the living room,
4:59
Speaker 1: perhaps watching the television when she was attacked next to
5:03
Speaker 1: the area rug near to the fireplace. In this room,
5:06
Speaker 1: detectives found two bloody handprints which could have been left
5:09
Speaker 1: by the killer. There. They also found a bullet, two
5:13
Speaker 1: pieces of a blue plastic hair comb clip, and yet
5:16
Speaker 1: another piece of plastic on the floor nearby. Rick had
5:19
Speaker 1: met a similar fate as his wife, though perhaps not
5:23
Speaker 1: as swiftly. Bullet holes in the headboard of the bed
5:26
Speaker 1: in the master bedroom suggested the attack on Rick began
5:30
Speaker 1: in that room before moving into the foyer. There was
5:33
Speaker 1: no blood in the bedroom. It was thought that Rick
5:36
Speaker 1: had awoken to the shots and either ran from the
5:38
Speaker 1: room or perhaps attacked the perpetrator outside of the bedroom.
5:43
Speaker 1: It appeared that Rick had put up a fight. A
5:45
Speaker 1: clump of hair in his left hand and more around
5:48
Speaker 1: his wrist told the story of his struggle and was
5:52
Speaker 1: a valuable clue. Rick had also been shot as well
5:55
Speaker 1: as stabbed roughly eleven times in the back.
6:00
Speaker 2: We don't want to miss anything, so we will look
6:02
Speaker 2: at everything, every room in the house, every carpet, every
6:06
Speaker 2: piece of furniture.
6:07
Speaker 1: The hair from Rick's wrist and the broken hair clip
6:10
Speaker 1: from the living room floor were swabbed for DNA. The
6:13
Speaker 1: house was dusted for prints, and every room was searched.
6:17
Speaker 1: Investigators looked for indications that the Walmsleys had been robbed.
6:21
Speaker 1: It was possible they had awoken to spook the burglar.
6:24
Speaker 1: This theory was dismissed, however, when nearly fifteen thousand dollars
6:28
Speaker 1: in cash was discovered inside the master bedroom. Even a
6:32
Speaker 1: cursory search by a burglar would have turned up the money.
6:35
Speaker 1: There did not appear to be any other items of
6:37
Speaker 1: value missing in the home either, nor were there any
6:40
Speaker 1: signs of forced entry.
6:43
Speaker 3: Very nice people, wonderful people. It's a tragedy because it's unexpected.
6:53
Speaker 3: They were just good friends and we would cheval of us.
6:57
Speaker 3: You know, we'd eat together, we'd have a good time together,
7:00
Speaker 3: and you know, gee, we'd been sad together, just like
7:04
Speaker 3: all friends do.
7:10
Speaker 1: There was tension in the Walmsley household, particularly with the
7:14
Speaker 1: two children. Sarah had been kicked out of the house
7:17
Speaker 1: in her teenage years for acting out. She had subsequently
7:21
Speaker 1: found herself pregnant at nineteen and in an unhealthy relationship
7:25
Speaker 1: with her daughter's father, a man named Todd Cleveland. She
7:30
Speaker 1: and younger brother Andrew also fought with each other, apparently constantly.
7:35
Speaker 1: According to an ex boyfriend of Sarah, the family was
7:38
Speaker 1: reportedly suspicious of outsiders and believed their friends only pretended
7:43
Speaker 1: to care for them because they wanted something from them.
7:47
Speaker 1: In this context, the growing wealth of the family seemed
7:50
Speaker 1: to be more of a hindrance to their happiness than
7:53
Speaker 1: a benefit to their lives. By some accounts, life at
7:57
Speaker 1: home was unstable and did not reflect a word appearances.
8:04
Speaker 1: There was an agreement in the Walmsley household if the
8:07
Speaker 1: kids stayed in college, they would be financially supported. That
8:11
Speaker 1: arrangement had not worked with Sarah, but Andrew took his
8:15
Speaker 1: parents up on the steal. He was gifted a new
8:18
Speaker 1: white Mustang, his insurance was covered, and he was given
8:22
Speaker 1: spending money from his parents. Andrew lived at the family
8:25
Speaker 1: house rent free. The only trouble was he had not
8:29
Speaker 1: held up his end of the agreement. Andrew also dropped
8:33
Speaker 1: out of college. When his parents eventually discovered this, they
8:37
Speaker 1: cut him off financially, but they didn't go so far
8:40
Speaker 1: as to throw him out of the house. While tensions
8:44
Speaker 1: remained at home, the nineteen year old chose to spend
8:47
Speaker 1: most of his free time with a group of friends
8:49
Speaker 1: at the local eyehop. It was there that his friend James,
8:53
Speaker 1: introduced him to his sister, seventeen year old Chelsea Richardson.
9:02
Speaker 1: Sarah Walmsley was delivered the news of her parents' death
9:05
Speaker 1: at four am on the morning that they were discovered.
9:08
Speaker 1: Younger brother, Andrew, however, was nowhere to be found. Police
9:12
Speaker 1: reached out to the media, calling for anyone in the
9:14
Speaker 1: public who had seen the teenager's Mustang to report the
9:18
Speaker 1: location to them.
9:20
Speaker 2: For a white nineteen ninety eight Mustang. The license played
9:24
Speaker 2: down that vehicle is C two three YDH. We're looking
9:30
Speaker 2: to identify the person that's in that vehicle who may
9:34
Speaker 2: have been a resident here.
9:36
Speaker 1: Then, as forensic teams continued to work on the scene,
9:40
Speaker 1: the mustang arrived. Emerging from the vehicle was Andrew Walmsley
9:44
Speaker 1: and his girlfriend, Chelsea Richardson. The two have been staying
9:48
Speaker 1: at Chelsea's for a few days. That morning, they had
9:51
Speaker 1: been watching the news and found out about the murders.
9:55
Speaker 1: The two aur at the house for no more than
9:56
Speaker 1: five minutes. Lead investigators stand A four requested that the
10:00
Speaker 1: young couple follow him to the station for a chat.
10:05
Speaker 1: Andrew's interview lasted about forty five minutes. He had not
10:09
Speaker 1: been at his house or in contact with his parents
10:11
Speaker 1: for days. He had been with Chelsea. Aside from a
10:15
Speaker 1: fresh scratch noted on one of Andrew's hands, there was
10:18
Speaker 1: nothing suspicious about his story. Andrew was free to leave,
10:22
Speaker 1: but before he did so, he signed a consent form
10:25
Speaker 1: allowing investigators access to search his mustang. Speaking with Sarah
10:30
Speaker 1: after the interview, Andrew said, they'll probably find our parents'
10:34
Speaker 1: blood in it. He told his sister that their mother
10:37
Speaker 1: had cut her finger and then for some reason, had
10:40
Speaker 1: driven the mustang around the block, so that will explain
10:44
Speaker 1: any blood, Andrew said. Chelsea Richardson's story to police aligned
10:52
Speaker 1: with Andrews. The two had spent the last two days together.
10:56
Speaker 1: They have been inseparable since they met and began dating
10:59
Speaker 1: in the autumn the previous year. The two would spend
11:02
Speaker 1: late nights, sometimes into the morning hours, at the ihop
11:06
Speaker 1: playing a game called Yugi Oh Master Duel. It is
11:10
Speaker 1: a Japanese collectible card game in which players use cards
11:13
Speaker 1: to duel each other in a mock battle of fantasy monsters.
11:17
Speaker 1: The central character is described as a childish and weak boy,
11:21
Speaker 1: but when he plays games, he becomes a hero bonding
11:25
Speaker 1: over their games, Andrew and Chelsea had become a serious item,
11:29
Speaker 1: even discussing marriage. Chelsea's mother, Celia, embraced the relationship and
11:34
Speaker 1: adored Andrew. Rick and Suzy Walmsley, however, were open about
11:38
Speaker 1: their disappointment with the relationship. They wanted a different type
11:42
Speaker 1: of girl for their son. The Richardsons lived in Everman,
11:50
Speaker 1: on the fringe of Fort Worth. It was known as
11:53
Speaker 1: a blue collar neighborhood and stood in stark contrast to
11:57
Speaker 1: the million dollar homes that lined the streets of Mansfield.
12:02
Speaker 1: Chelsea had suffered the unexpected loss of her beloved father
12:05
Speaker 1: a few years previous due to a heart attack. Celia
12:09
Speaker 1: had at times juggled three different jobs to keep the
12:14
Speaker 1: family afloat, but the Richardsons were nonetheless said to be
12:19
Speaker 1: generous people. Chelsea was an extroverted teenager and apparently quite
12:23
Speaker 1: popular at her school. Her gleeful personality had even earned
12:28
Speaker 1: her the nickname Bubbles. Her best friend, Susannah Toladano, was
12:32
Speaker 1: also a recipient of Chelsea Richardson's reportedly very generous nature.
12:38
Speaker 1: Finding herself on the outs with her own mother, Susanna
12:41
Speaker 1: had been welcomed into the Richardson home, where she had
12:44
Speaker 1: been living for several months. The three teenagers, Andrew, Chelsea,
12:51
Speaker 1: and Susannah were together on the night that Andrew's parents
12:54
Speaker 1: were murdered. An ex boyfriend of Chelsea's, Jeremy Lavender, confirmed
12:59
Speaker 1: that the group were at his house that night. Later,
13:03
Speaker 1: he spoke on the phone with Chelsea for hours, well
13:06
Speaker 1: past the time that gunshots rang out. At just past
13:10
Speaker 1: three twenty a m Sarah Walmsley told the police that
13:16
Speaker 1: she suspected that the father of her daughter, Todd, could
13:19
Speaker 1: have been connected to what happened to her parents. She
13:22
Speaker 1: had recently threatened him with a call to child Protective Services,
13:26
Speaker 1: and they fought frequently over custody. And there was one
13:30
Speaker 1: more thing, a suspicious incident that occurred the day after
13:33
Speaker 1: she made that threat, a month before the murders in
13:36
Speaker 1: early November, returning home from a horse riding session with
13:41
Speaker 1: her parents in her father's jeep Grand Cherokee, they were
13:45
Speaker 1: driving through a nearby town looking for a place to
13:47
Speaker 1: grab some lunch when the jeep was rocked by a
13:50
Speaker 1: propelled object. Rick thought that perhaps a large rock had
13:54
Speaker 1: been kicked up from the road at the vehicle, but
13:56
Speaker 1: when Rick pulled over to inspect his jeep. The family discovered,
14:00
Speaker 1: to their surprise that it was not a rock that
14:02
Speaker 1: had hit them. There was a bullet hole in the
14:05
Speaker 1: body of the vehicle. Frightened and confused, Susie promptly placed
14:10
Speaker 1: two phone calls. The first call was not to the police,
14:14
Speaker 1: but to her son Andrew. Where was he? It was
14:17
Speaker 1: odd that a vehicle following behind them from the ranch
14:21
Speaker 1: was a white Mustang. If Susie didn't know any better,
14:24
Speaker 1: she would have thought that her son was following them
14:27
Speaker 1: right up to the moment that the jeep was shot.
14:30
Speaker 1: The second call that Susie made was to the police.
14:32
Speaker 1: She filed a report about the incident. Sarah called at
14:36
Speaker 1: the time she believed Todd may be at fault. Only
14:40
Speaker 1: later did she begin to question why her mother's first
14:42
Speaker 1: call had been to her younger brother. Sarah and Andrews
14:50
Speaker 1: stood to inherit one million dollars in life insurance from
14:53
Speaker 1: their father. The family home was thought to be worth
14:56
Speaker 1: approximately one point six million dollars, and there was also
14:59
Speaker 1: about one hundred thousand dollars in cash and other assets
15:02
Speaker 1: left by the Walmsleys. Investigators followed up on Sarah's suspicions
15:06
Speaker 1: and ultimately ruled out her ex partner Todd as a suspect.
15:11
Speaker 1: Considering the financial gains and the tensions within the family,
15:14
Speaker 1: both children remained of interest to investigators. DNA testing and fingerprinting, however,
15:21
Speaker 1: did not return a match to any family member. There
15:24
Speaker 1: was no indication that either child was connected to the
15:27
Speaker 1: crime scene. Forensic testing of Andrew's Mustang, however, confirmed the
15:32
Speaker 1: presence of blood in the back seat and on the headrests,
15:36
Speaker 1: but the vehicle had been thoroughly cleaned. Attempts to gather
15:39
Speaker 1: a viable DNA sample failed. Law enforcement was unable to
15:43
Speaker 1: even confirm whose blood had been left in the vehicle,
15:47
Speaker 1: and so after several months the investigation stalled. The DA's
15:52
Speaker 1: office needed more information. They opted to convene a grand
15:57
Speaker 1: jury and begin issuing subpoenas. Jeremy Lavender, Chelsea's ex boyfriend,
16:02
Speaker 1: testified under oath that Andrew and his friends were with
16:05
Speaker 1: him that night, providing a solid alibi. Chelsea's best friend, Susannah,
16:10
Speaker 1: said the same. After she testified, Susannah agreed to also
16:14
Speaker 1: provide a DNA sample. Her choice too, willingly have her
16:18
Speaker 1: DNA sample tested against evidence from the crime scene would
16:23
Speaker 1: prove to be the turning point in the investigation. Susannah
16:29
Speaker 1: Toladano was neither a popular student nor an academic, having
16:33
Speaker 1: moved to Texas from Illinois a few years earlier. She
16:36
Speaker 1: was alone at school, flunking her classes and arguing with
16:39
Speaker 1: her mother at home. Chelsea Richardson had become Susannah's lifeline.
16:45
Speaker 1: The two grew so close that Chelsea took out a
16:48
Speaker 1: page in their high school yearbook dedicated to their friendship.
16:51
Speaker 1: She even wrote a poem for them, entitled Friends Forever.
16:57
Speaker 1: So when investigators found that the clump of hair and
17:00
Speaker 1: Rick's palm, as well as the DNA taken from the
17:03
Speaker 1: broken hair clip at the murder scene, matched that of
17:06
Speaker 1: Susannah Talladano, they knew that there was much more to
17:10
Speaker 1: this story. Susannah, now physically linked to the crime scene,
17:16
Speaker 1: faced two capital murder charges. She was arrested in Chicago,
17:20
Speaker 1: where she was visiting her uncle. Susanna faced a possible
17:24
Speaker 1: death sentence unless a deal could be made with the
17:27
Speaker 1: district attorney, so Susannah started talking. Initially, Susannah told police
17:35
Speaker 1: that she was out with a friend on the night
17:37
Speaker 1: of the murder, A twenty five year old man named
17:40
Speaker 1: Lario Cardeniez. Alario had a gun with him and he
17:44
Speaker 1: needed money. He went into the Walmsley's home in the
17:47
Speaker 1: middle of the night on his own, leaving Susannah outside.
17:51
Speaker 1: From outside the house, she heard gunshots then rushed into
17:54
Speaker 1: the scene. Her hair was left inside the house after
17:57
Speaker 1: Rick pleaded with her to stop the attack, but she
18:00
Speaker 1: had no real part in it. She said, she had
18:02
Speaker 1: no means to stop what had happened. It was all Alario.
18:09
Speaker 1: So who was Alario Cardenas. Alario, it turns out, was
18:13
Speaker 1: a restaurant night manager at none other than the local ihop,
18:21
Speaker 1: father to a young daughter, and admittedly strapped for cash.
18:24
Speaker 1: Susanna said Alario narrowed in on the Walmsleys after befriending
18:29
Speaker 1: Andrew and becoming aware of the family's wealth. When questioned,
18:33
Speaker 1: Alario denied being present at the murder obviously. He did, however,
18:38
Speaker 1: admit to acquiring a gun for the price of two
18:41
Speaker 1: hundred dollars at the request of Andrew Walmsley. Andrew, Chelsea
18:48
Speaker 1: and Susannah wanted it for target practice at a friend's farm.
18:52
Speaker 1: The night manager insisted that he had no part in
18:55
Speaker 1: the murders. Investigators sought confirmation of a Lario's story. They
19:01
Speaker 1: began with the owner of the farm where the teenagers
19:04
Speaker 1: had allegedly practiced with the handgun. The friend in question,
19:07
Speaker 1: a woman named Ruth Brustram, knew Chelsea through her mother,
19:11
Speaker 1: and she did in fact confirm what Alario had stated.
19:15
Speaker 1: Beginning months before the murder, the teens Andrew, Chelsea, and
19:19
Speaker 1: Susannah would drive out to her roughly three acre estate
19:23
Speaker 1: and spend time at what they called target practice. Taking turns,
19:27
Speaker 1: they would fire rounds across a small pond. She had
19:31
Speaker 1: never seen or heard of. Alario Cardenas, who subsequently also
19:35
Speaker 1: gained credibility with police after passing a polygraph test. The
19:40
Speaker 1: pond at Ruth's property was drained, forensic teams collected bullets
19:44
Speaker 1: from the pond floor. Investigators concluded that what Alario stated
19:49
Speaker 1: was true. The three teenagers had been practicing their aim
19:53
Speaker 1: in preparation for the murders for months. Susanna's initials story
20:00
Speaker 1: pinning the murders on Alario had fallen apart under scrutiny,
20:04
Speaker 1: but she was given another chance to tell the truth
20:07
Speaker 1: and to directly implicate her best friend, and this time,
20:11
Speaker 1: the story she told was more elaborate. Night after night
20:15
Speaker 1: at the iehop, the three teenagers schemed. They estimated that
20:19
Speaker 1: with Rick and Susie dead, Andrews stood to inherit over
20:22
Speaker 1: a million dollars, it would set them up for life.
20:26
Speaker 1: They would all live together, Susannah could quit the minimum
20:29
Speaker 1: wage job that she hated, and she would get a
20:31
Speaker 1: brand new car. So they convinced the night manager to
20:36
Speaker 1: purchase them a gun. Then, after target practice at Ruth's farm,
20:41
Speaker 1: the teenagers determined that Susannah was the best shot, so
20:45
Speaker 1: they set in motion their first plan to fire a
20:48
Speaker 1: single shot at the gas tank of Rick's jeep Cherokee.
20:52
Speaker 1: If they hit it, the jeep would explode, they assumed.
20:57
Speaker 1: When Susannah, riding with Andrew and his Mustang, fired at
21:00
Speaker 1: the jeep and it failed to explode, they moved on
21:03
Speaker 1: to plan b break into the house in the middle
21:06
Speaker 1: of the night. They thought it would look like a robbery.
21:11
Speaker 1: After Susannah failed to blow up the jeep Cherokee, she
21:14
Speaker 1: reported that Chelsea was furious with her. The couple placed
21:18
Speaker 1: the failure of their first murder plot on her and
21:21
Speaker 1: pressured her to finish the job on one occasion, they
21:24
Speaker 1: brought her to the house, hid her in Andrew's bedroom
21:27
Speaker 1: closet with the gun, and encouraged her to do the
21:29
Speaker 1: deed quickly so they could go home. Susanna hid in
21:33
Speaker 1: the closet for hours before leaving, admitting to Chelsea and
21:36
Speaker 1: Andrew that she just couldn't go through with it. But
21:40
Speaker 1: in the early morning hours of the eleventh of December,
21:43
Speaker 1: they tried again. This time there was no backing out.
21:47
Speaker 2: We're very happy that this is there coming to an
21:50
Speaker 2: end with this. We've the investigations turned this up. We're
21:53
Speaker 2: very happy with it.
21:54
Speaker 1: Susanna admitted to entering the home one final time. In
21:58
Speaker 1: her version of events, she carried the gun while Andrew
22:01
Speaker 1: and Chelsea held knives. It was Susannah that found Susie
22:04
Speaker 1: on the couch and fired, then led into the bedroom
22:08
Speaker 1: by Andrew, she fired at Rick, but she missed. Bullets
22:13
Speaker 1: struck the headboard and awoke the forty six year old accountant.
22:16
Speaker 1: A struggle ensued when he attacked Susannah. It was Andrew
22:20
Speaker 1: that took control of the encounter. Susannah claimed to have
22:23
Speaker 1: been instructed at that time by Andrew, who was attempting
22:26
Speaker 1: to overpower his father and Chelsea, who had appeared in
22:30
Speaker 1: the doorway to leave the gun and check on Susie.
22:33
Speaker 1: She took a knife and left the gun. Before she
22:37
Speaker 1: left the foyer, Susannah heard Rick Walmsley, already on his knees,
22:41
Speaker 1: ask his son's girlfriend why because I'm pregnant was Chelsea's response.
22:47
Speaker 1: We can help you, Rick stated, we will help you.
22:51
Speaker 1: Susannah told police that she did not know which of
22:53
Speaker 1: her friends had fired the shots that killed Rick, nor
22:56
Speaker 1: which one of them was responsible for his stab wounds.
23:00
Speaker 1: At the time he was killed, she was back in
23:02
Speaker 1: the living room as instructed, ensuring Susie Walmsley met the
23:06
Speaker 1: same fate as her husband.
23:12
Speaker 4: Next thing, I know, there's all these people and I'm
23:15
Speaker 4: under rist and I can't figure out why Why am
23:19
Speaker 4: I here? You know, you don't understand what in the
23:23
Speaker 4: world happened here? You know.
23:26
Speaker 1: In exchange for her testimony at both Chelsea and Andrews trials,
23:30
Speaker 1: Susannah Toledano was saved from lethal injection, a fate that
23:34
Speaker 1: still threatened her two former friends.
23:38
Speaker 4: But he's not a murderer, and I'm here on behalf
23:42
Speaker 4: of the whole family, and we're all praying for him
23:45
Speaker 4: that he'll be set free because he's not. He's not
23:49
Speaker 4: capable of it.
23:50
Speaker 2: People do unfortunate things. People think that they know people,
23:53
Speaker 2: and then unfortunate things happen. People make choices, okay, and
23:57
Speaker 2: they get involved in things that they shouldn't be getting.
24:02
Speaker 1: The former roommate and best friend's testimony formed the foundation
24:06
Speaker 1: of the case against both Chelsea and Andrew, despite her
24:09
Speaker 1: having lied to law enforcement multiple times before landing on
24:13
Speaker 1: her final version of events, but Chelsea inadvertently did what
24:17
Speaker 1: she could to strengthen the state's case against her. Many
24:21
Speaker 1: of the witnesses for the state prosecution at Chelsea's trial
24:24
Speaker 1: were jailhouse informants, each testifying that she either bragged to
24:29
Speaker 1: them about taking part in the murder or that she
24:31
Speaker 1: attempted to convince them to create an alibi for her.
24:35
Speaker 1: Her original alibi, provided by Jeremy Lavender had been recanted.
24:42
Speaker 1: Jeremy was described as a simple young man who had
24:45
Speaker 1: been easily manipulated into believing that Chelsea Richardson had been
24:49
Speaker 1: his girlfriend and that he should subsequently lie to a
24:52
Speaker 1: grand jury to protect her. He too changed his story,
24:56
Speaker 1: admitting that he was not with the teenagers that night.
24:59
Speaker 1: After After all, Chelsea, the once bubbly high schooler, was
25:06
Speaker 1: painted as a kind of mastermind of the operation. The
25:10
Speaker 1: state argued that she convinced Andrew that he was better
25:13
Speaker 1: off without his family, and convinced her best friend, who
25:16
Speaker 1: was also malleable and easily manipulated, to kill for her.
25:22
Speaker 1: The jury was presented with a handwritten note from Chelsea
25:25
Speaker 1: to Susannah, composed shortly after Susanna's arrest. In it, Chelsea
25:30
Speaker 1: pleaded with her friend to place the blame on Alario.
25:34
Speaker 1: She also claimed to be pregnant with Andrew's baby. All
25:40
Speaker 1: you have to do is tell them that we had
25:42
Speaker 1: nothing to do with it. Tell them that Alario needed
25:44
Speaker 1: the money so he robbed Andrew's family. If not for me,
25:48
Speaker 1: do it for the baby, so it has a life,
25:51
Speaker 1: a chance, and a mummy and daddy. She signed the
25:55
Speaker 1: note Friends Forever. Bubbles. Asked on the stand whether she
26:01
Speaker 1: believed that Chelsea was in fact pregnant, Susanna said no,
26:05
Speaker 1: she knew that was clearly a lie intended to further
26:09
Speaker 1: manipulate her. There was no physical evidence linking Chelsea or
26:14
Speaker 1: Andrew to the crime. Susanna's testimony was the only reason
26:18
Speaker 1: to believe that either one of them had taken an
26:21
Speaker 1: active role in the murder or had even entered the
26:23
Speaker 1: house that night, But the testimony of their former friend
26:27
Speaker 1: proved ruinous to the defense teams of both alleged conspirators.
26:32
Speaker 1: Jurors believed Susanna's story. The jury in Chelsea's trial took
26:37
Speaker 1: less than four hours to convict the twenty one year
26:40
Speaker 1: old of the murders. Deliberations at Andrew's trial took half
26:44
Speaker 1: that time.
26:46
Speaker 4: I mean a lot of things were said that weren't
26:48
Speaker 4: true at my trial.
26:50
Speaker 2: That people lied a lot.
26:54
Speaker 1: Chelsea Richardson was sentenced to death by lethal injection. Walmsley's
27:00
Speaker 1: legal team managed to convince the jury to keep him
27:03
Speaker 1: off of death row. They argued he suffered from a
27:06
Speaker 1: schizoid personality disorder that made him unlikely to be violent
27:10
Speaker 1: in the future. Defense witnesses during the sentencing phase presented
27:15
Speaker 1: Andrew's life as a sad and empty one. He was
27:18
Speaker 1: characterized as a young man without the normal human ability
27:22
Speaker 1: to understand love or affection in his relationships. His defense
27:27
Speaker 1: was further hampered, according to his attorney, by the fact
27:30
Speaker 1: that not one member of his family would assist or
27:33
Speaker 1: support him in any way. Andrew Walmsley, at the age
27:37
Speaker 1: of twenty three, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a
27:41
Speaker 1: possibility of parole after two thousand and forty four. After
27:47
Speaker 1: the many long nights spent scheming at the local IHOP,
27:50
Speaker 1: Alario Cardenas was found to be complicit in the plans
27:53
Speaker 1: to kill the Walmsleys, though he did not take part
27:55
Speaker 1: in the act. When the time came, Alario was indicted
27:59
Speaker 1: on the lesser charge of conspiracy to commit capital murder
28:02
Speaker 1: and was sentenced to fifty years in prison. He will
28:05
Speaker 1: be eligible for parole after serving a third of his sentence,
28:09
Speaker 1: which is in twenty twenty three. Chelsea Richardson, the apparent
28:13
Speaker 1: mastermind of the operation, spent just over ten years on
28:17
Speaker 1: death row in Texas. In early twenty twelve, her legal
28:21
Speaker 1: team successfully argued that her sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.
28:26
Speaker 1: They prove that evidence had been withheld by the state
28:29
Speaker 1: from her defense team at trial. This included an assessment
28:32
Speaker 1: by a psychologist which concluded that Susannah Talladano was the
28:36
Speaker 1: mastermind behind the plot, not Chelsea. The assessment included statements
28:42
Speaker 1: made by Susanna admitting that she was more guilty for
28:45
Speaker 1: the murders than anyone else involved, and that she could
28:50
Speaker 1: have prevented the killings. Susannah Tladano is currently incarcerated in
28:56
Speaker 1: Falls County, Texas. She will be eligible for parole in
29:00
Speaker 1: the spring of two thousand and thirty four. And that
29:07
Speaker 1: was the story of the Walmsley family murders. Thanks for watching.
29:11
Speaker 1: I'm Kevin. This is just thought lounge and I'll see
29:14
Speaker 1: in the next one.