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Kelly Renee Gissendaner _ Dark Crimes _ True Crime Central · History Dark

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: In the backwoods of Georgia, a husband fails to return
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: home after visiting friends, sparking a mystery and a major manhunt. Soon,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: there are rumors of a love triangle, lust, lies, and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: deadly secrets, and a sensuous wicked attraction. Gwinnett County is
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: a growing suburb of Atlanta. For those who enjoy hiking,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: there are plenty of nature trails to explore here. The
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: dense woods are also popular with hunters and with those
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: who wish to dispose of unwanted items in secret. On
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: a brisk winter morning in 1997... Doug? Kelly Gissendanner knows
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: that something is wrong.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Doug?
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Doug?
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Her husband had left home to fix his car with
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: friends and should have returned during the night.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: Doug?
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: Hey.
• 1:46
  Speaker 6: Kelly called me and said, Pamela... Doug didn't come home
• 1:49
  Speaker 6: last night. I said, okay, let me get dressed and
• 1:52
  Speaker 6: I'll be right over there. The only thing that I
• 1:57
  Speaker 6: could think of was, you know, maybe he stopped on
• 2:01
  Speaker 6: the side of the road to help someone that broke
• 2:03
  Speaker 6: down because that's the type of person he was.
• 2:05
  Speaker 7: I don't know where he is or where he might
• 2:07
  Speaker 7: have gone.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Kelly spreads the word and contacts hospitals, but no one
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: knows anything. As the hours pass, Friends rally around her.
• 2:20
  Speaker 6: When friends and family got over, some of them were crying.
• 2:28
  Speaker 6: She started acting frantic. It was just an odd situation
• 2:33
  Speaker 6: to be in.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: The following morning, five miles away, Sergeant James Bell is
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: patrolling a private road often plagued by illegal hunters, dumpers,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and teens who enjoy racing over the bumpy terrain.
• 3:00
  Speaker 8: I come up on this cart on Luke Edwards Road.
• 3:03
  Speaker 8: The way it was burned, there's the trees on the side, scorched.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: There's a suspicious truck nearby.
• 3:12
  Speaker 9: Put the gun on the car. Put the gun on
• 3:18
  Speaker 9: the car.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: What's going on?
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: How you doing?
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: What are you doing here?
• 3:22
  Speaker 9: What's going on?
• 3:23
  Speaker 8: And I identified myself, told them who I was, and
• 3:26
  Speaker 8: asked them, did he have permission to be here?
• 3:28
  Speaker 9: You're not supposed to be here. I didn't know that.
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 3:30
  Speaker 9: Have you known anything suspicious out here, like that car
• 3:32
  Speaker 9: right there? Do you know anything about it?
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: None.
• 3:34
  Speaker 9: Nothing at all? It's not mine.
• 3:35
  Speaker 8: I don't know. I took all the information I needed
• 3:39
  Speaker 8: and sent him away.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: The sergeant turns his attention back to the charred vehicle.
• 3:46
  Speaker 8: There was no doubt that the car had been set
• 3:48
  Speaker 8: on fire purposely.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: He suspects it could be an attempt to file a
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: bogus insurance claim or that teenagers could have stolen the car.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: A license plate is badly burnt, but the VIN number
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: is intact. Police use it to trace the official owner.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: He reveals the car was sold for $ 500 a few
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: weeks earlier to the missing man, Doug Gissendaner. the police
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: arrive at Kelly's home to break the news.
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: Hi, Kelly.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Hi.
• 4:25
  Speaker 9: We've made a discovery. We have found Doug's vehicle burned
• 4:29
  Speaker 9: in the woods.
• 4:31
  Speaker 6: I'm thinking something really bad must have happened to Doug.
• 4:37
  Speaker 9: How were you and Doug getting along?
• 4:39
  Speaker 7: Fine.
• 4:41
  Speaker 9: I asked Kelly about their relationship.
• 4:44
  Speaker 10: She said they'd had a good marriage and they had
• 4:47
  Speaker 10: not any problems whatsoever.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: On the evening Doug vanished, Kelly reveals that she, too,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: had been out with friends while their three children slept
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: over at her mom's house.
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: We have a couple drinks. We sit and talk, and
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: then we decided we wanted to go dancing.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: But then Kelly's mood changed.
• 5:15
  Speaker 6: All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Kelly says, I
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: have a really bad feeling.
• 5:21
  Speaker 7: So we left.
• 5:25
  Speaker 9: She came home.
• 5:27
  Speaker 10: She took a pill which she thought was a pain pill,
• 5:30
  Speaker 10: but she said it was a sleeping pill.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Police take to the air using heat-seeking equipment. And on
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: the ground, search parties are quickly formed.
• 5:45
  Speaker 9: There was over.
• 5:46
  Speaker 8: 200 people came in from the churches, to help look
• 5:50
  Speaker 8: for him.
• 5:52
  Speaker 6: The most awful thing we ever had to do, we backtracked.
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: We went down every street that he would have gone
• 6:02
  Speaker 6: down coming home. It was just long and grueling, not
• 6:11
  Speaker 6: knowing where to exactly search for. We just searched everywhere.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Investigators keep an open mind about what might have happened.
• 6:23
  Speaker 10: We were not for sure at this point if Doug
• 6:26
  Speaker 10: had just left or he committed suicide or someone had
• 6:31
  Speaker 10: harmed him in any way. We knew things were not
• 6:35
  Speaker 10: right about Doug.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Friends remain convinced that he simply wouldn't abandon his wife
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: and family.
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: It wasn't like Doug not to come home. He came
• 6:47
  Speaker 6: home every night. I mean, he was a family man.
• 6:52
  Speaker 6: He cared for his kids. And he loved Kelly. He
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: would have done anything for her.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: His father, Doug Sr., desperately traveled the roads and forest tracks.
• 7:07
  Speaker 11: The father was convinced that his son had been helping
• 7:13
  Speaker 11: somebody on the side of the road. and that the
• 7:16
  Speaker 11: person stole the car and ran off with the car,
• 7:20
  Speaker 11: and that he'd.
• 7:20
  Speaker 7: Be able to find his son.
• 7:22
  Speaker 11: Maybe he'd be beaten up or something, but he'd be
• 7:25
  Speaker 11: able to find him on the side.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: Of the road.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Doug Sr. also knows that his son's relationship with Kelly
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: had actually been volatile and full of incident, and urges
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: the police to dig deeper. Kelly has told the police
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: her marriage was strong, Kelly!
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Stop!
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: What?
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: But others have described it as stormy.
• 7:53
  Speaker 11: You're lying!
• 7:59
  Speaker 9: Doug Sr.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Revealed that Kelly squandered his son's money and had a
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: history of cheating on him.
• 8:06
  Speaker 10: He explained to me that things were not perfect between
• 8:09
  Speaker 10: Kelly and his son. That they'd had marital problems and
• 8:13
  Speaker 10: that Kelly had had an affair with some folks.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: The police soon learned the name of her latest lover.
• 8:24
  Speaker 10: Friends of Kelly told one of our investigators that Kelly
• 8:30
  Speaker 10: had seen a guy by the name of Greg.
• 8:33
  Speaker 9: That's the only thing they knew was Greg.
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: I learned that Kelly was cheating on Doug when she
• 8:38
  Speaker 6: asked me to take her to a motel so she
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: could spend the night with Greg.
• 8:43
  Speaker 7: Greg is fantastic.
• 8:45
  Speaker 9: But where does that leave Doug?
• 8:46
  Speaker 7: You're married.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: So?
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: I said, Kelly, you shouldn't do this. You know, why
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: are you doing it? I basically scolded her the whole
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: time we were driving there.
• 8:57
  Speaker 7: You're welcome.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: But Kelly has no time for a pep talk on morality.
• 9:05
  Speaker 6: It's basically none of my business. She's going to do
• 9:08
  Speaker 6: what she wants to do. She always did.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Pam can always tell when the lovers discreetly phone each other.
• 9:15
  Speaker 6: She was like a totally different person. She was more bubbly,
• 9:20
  Speaker 6: she was laughing, she was joking. It wasn't the normal,
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: typical Kelly.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Kelly had not disclosed details of the affair to investigators.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: So they confront her with the information.
• 9:35
  Speaker 10: I need you to talk with her again.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: She admits that she had started dating a man during
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: a separation from Doug, but says she hasn't seen him
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: for months, although they've spoken.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: I think I could.
• 9:55
  Speaker 10: She gave me the name Greg Owen. She told me
• 9:58
  Speaker 10: that they had dated at one time. and had broken up.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Kelly says her former lover had become obsessed with her,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: making death threats and calling her up to 130 times
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: a day. She says Greg had never threatened her husband.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: but had talked about paying her back one way or another,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: and she had just bought a gun to protect herself.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Kelly also mentions she and Doug had just met with
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: a life insurance agent about starting a new policy. Doug
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: worked at a spark plug factory, and a co-worker reveals
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: he had complained that Kelly's ex-boyfriend was giving him a
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: hard time. Friends, though, suggest her love affair with Greg
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: was far from over.
• 10:55
  Speaker 11: Kelly continued to see him even as she put on
• 10:58
  Speaker 11: this charade of going to church and being part of
• 11:02
  Speaker 11: a Sunday school class and making church friends.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Detectives trace Greg through a credit report and see his
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: only reported crime is an arrest for drunk driving two
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: years earlier. He agrees to answer questions.
• 11:19
  Speaker 10: He was not under arrest at that time or anything
• 11:21
  Speaker 10: like that. You were not with Kelly last night. When's
• 11:25
  Speaker 10: the last time you saw Kelly? He sat down and
• 11:27
  Speaker 10: talked with us freely. When you asked him a direct question,
• 11:32
  Speaker 10: he was the hardest person to answer.
• 11:36
  Speaker 7: Watching television and drinking beer?
• 11:39
  Speaker 9: Very hard to interview or speak with.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: He says he was upset to lose Kelly, but is
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: adamant he would never hurt her. Greg claims he was
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: hanging out with a friend on the night Doug vanished.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: He says he didn't leave his home until the next
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: morning when his boss picked him up for work. Greg's
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: friend confirms his alibi. Meanwhile, investigators dig deeper into Kelly's past.
• 12:13
  Speaker 9: She was born in 1968 in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Both of her parents were heavy drinkers.
• 12:23
  Speaker 11: Kelly Gissendaner had a particularly difficult childhood. She came from
• 12:29
  Speaker 11: a family of abuse, a lot of drinking.
• 12:33
  Speaker 7: Just chaos all the time.
• 12:38
  Speaker 11: Then Kelly's parents divorced and her mother remarried.
• 12:41
  Speaker 6: What happened?
• 12:47
  Speaker 11: And the man that she married was equally abusive, alcoholic.
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: You promised you'd find a good man.
• 12:57
  Speaker 11: It was a cycle of violence that Kelly was exposed
• 13:00
  Speaker 11: to as a very young child.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Kelly claims time and again she witnessed her stepfather beat
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: her mother, and from the age of 10, he began
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: sexually assaulting her. A lonely child, she can't bring friends home.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: and is often told by her stepfather that she is
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: worthless and unwanted.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: That her childhood was a complete train wreck. There was
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: domestic violence, there was sexual abuse, there was all manner
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: of complications and learning how to relate to people, learning
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: how to manage her behavior and everything out of her
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: life issued from those early experiences.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: She learns that sex can be a powerful weapon.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: Sex is not about pleasure. Sex isn't about the relationship.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: It's about the power struggle. It's about power versus subordination.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: It's about boundary violations. It's about getting what you want.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: It is an instrument to achieve something else that you want.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Kelly graduates high school in 1986 and two weeks later
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: becomes a teenage mom. But the birth of her son
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: brings mixed emotions.
• 14:28
  Speaker 11: She wouldn't tell anybody who the father is.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: She marries a boy from school, but it doesn't last.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Kelly shares a cramped trailer with her mother, but is
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: convinced she deserves better.
• 14:49
  Speaker 11: Kelly certainly had that sense of entitlement. You know, the
• 14:53
  Speaker 11: world owes me something.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Kelly finds comfort in the arms of numerous men. Always brief,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: superficial relationships from which she remains emotionally detached. Then, in 1989,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: she meets her future husband, Doug Gissendatter.
• 15:15
  Speaker 11: Kelly and Doug met at a mutual friend's house one evening.
• 15:20
  Speaker 11: And it seemed to be instant love.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Her son, born in such difficult circumstances, binds their relationship.
• 15:31
  Speaker 11: Doug was particularly attracted to the fact that she had
• 15:33
  Speaker 11: a child.
• 15:35
  Speaker 7: Doug wanted that family.
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: Doug was the sweetest person I've ever met. He would
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: have done anything in the world for anybody. He would
• 15:44
  Speaker 6: have given you the shirt off his back if you
• 15:46
  Speaker 6: didn't have one.
• 15:48
  Speaker 11: Doug Gissendaner came from a very solid, middle-class, church-going family.
• 15:56
  Speaker 11: They were quite involved in this church. They would go
• 15:59
  Speaker 11: and do evangelism-type events.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: Doug probably represented to Kelly that thing that she didn't
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: have in her growing up years or to that point
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: in her adult life. Stability.
• 16:14
  Speaker 9: Stability.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: Security of material goods, an income stream, and somebody who
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: seemed really interested in her.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: They marry after just a few months of dating. It's
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: not long before Kelly's pregnant again. Doug enlists in the army.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: He gets posted to Germany, and Kelly and the children
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: join him on the base. But Doug is gone for
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: days or weeks at a time, leaving Kelly alone, bored,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: and in need of attention.
• 16:56
  Speaker 11: There was talk around town that Kelly had been involved
• 16:59
  Speaker 11: with other men while Doug was in the service.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: She plays by her own rules.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: Kelly could lure men because the usual social rules for
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: relationships are out the window. The number one rule is,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: how can I get what I want? And then almost
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: everything can be justified in pursuit of that objective.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: She ignores debts, blows Doug's paychecks on her own pleasures,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: and gains a reputation for having a short fuse. As
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: rumors spread, the base chaplain is asked to intervene. Doug,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: what would some of your major concerns be?
• 17:47
  Speaker 7: I do believe she is lying about a lot of things.
• 17:50
  Speaker 7: I'm not lying about anything. I've never lied to you.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: But even he can't rein in Kelly's rage. Don't stop
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: telling me to calm down!
• 17:59
  Speaker 11: She was causing all sorts of problems on the base,
• 18:02
  Speaker 11: mainly her temper, and the commanding officer told Doug he
• 18:06
  Speaker 11: had to send his wife home because she was a problem.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Kelly and Doug filed for divorce in 1992, but this
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: was far from the end of their troubled relationship. Twelve
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: days after Doug Gissendaner has been reported missing in 1997,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Sergeant James Bell remains convinced he's been murdered and continues
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: to search the woods for his body. He scours a
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: 10-mile radius from where the car was found.
• 18:36
  Speaker 8: I saw something. that looked like a trash bag. There
• 18:43
  Speaker 8: was a couple of flies running. And I realized then
• 18:48
  Speaker 8: that it was a body.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: From the position of the body, it looks like the
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: man was pleading for his life. But is it Doug Gissendaner?
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: And if it is, who was he pleading with? You
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: don't have to do this. Police in Gwinnett County, Georgia,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: have found a man's body in a remote area and
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: believe it's missing husband, Doug Gissendanner, who disappeared 12 days earlier.
• 19:16
  Speaker 8: His head's in the dirt, on his knees, and it
• 19:21
  Speaker 8: was almost like, you know, like somebody's trying to hide.
• 19:24
  Speaker 8: I didn't see any evidence of a struggle. What I
• 19:28
  Speaker 8: saw was looked like somebody who was begging for their life.
• 19:36
  Speaker 8: I thought about this family whose son had been taken
• 19:38
  Speaker 8: away from them, that they had been desperately trying to
• 19:43
  Speaker 8: find him. And, you know, his body has been at
• 19:48
  Speaker 8: least recovered. There's a relief there that at least the
• 19:55
  Speaker 8: body was found. And I knew that I had given
• 19:59
  Speaker 8: them that.
• 20:07
  Speaker 9: I'm afraid I have some bad news. We found Doug's body.
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: He's dead?
• 20:15
  Speaker 10: When I told Kelly, she didn't seem to be upset
• 20:18
  Speaker 10: at that time. She didn't act like she was really
• 20:22
  Speaker 10: surprised about the situation, about the body being located.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Back at the crime scene, the forensic investigator goes to work.
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: I make a 360 assessment of the area directly around
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: the body, noting any physical evidence that may be seen
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: by the naked eye. After that, then I move in
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: to make a closer examination.
• 21:00
  Speaker 9: Of the body.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Doug's wedding band and watch are missing, suggesting he might
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: have been robbed. Yet his wallet hasn't been touched. and
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: there's a debit card along with a driver's license. They
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: also recover his glasses and the old spark plugs he'd
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: removed from his vehicle that night.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: And then we're able to roll him over to where
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: we can check underneath. When we did that, we discovered
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: there was no weapons, no gun, no anything under him.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: There are also bite marks and flesh wounds from animals.
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: The right side of his neck that was exposed to
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: the elements. Once the animals were able to get the
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: scent of the blood, they would have attacked that one spot.
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: So in this case, we couldn't tell exactly how many
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: wounds we had.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: To experienced eyes, it's clear that Doug was stabbed several times.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: And we couldn't tell a lot about the weapon itself
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: because Most of the muscle and tissue around the primary
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: wound was gone.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: The autopsy provides a clearer insight into Doug's final moments.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: The dead tell the story of what happened. We look
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: for what clues they'll leave us, whether or not they
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: tried to defend themselves or not. It lets us know
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: a little bit of his state of mind, if you will.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: Closer examination showed what appeared to be stab wounds located
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: in the back and shoulder region.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Curiously, there's no evidence that the combat-experienced Army veteran fought back.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: The victim's hands showed no types of defensive moves. There
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: was no cuts or bruises, no holes, no abrasions.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: With the exception of one tiny nick on an index finger.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: Which would indicate that at one point there was a
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: defensive move where he put his hand to the neck
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: or the area where he was being stabbed. But just
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: the fact that there was only a single neck would
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: indicate that he died very quickly.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: The forensic investigator outlines his conclusions.
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: The assailant has simply put him on his knees and
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: stabbed him from behind.
• 23:42
  Speaker 9: He didn't see it coming.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Dental records provide the final confirmation that it is the
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: body of Doug Gissendaner. The cause of death is officially
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: recorded as stab wounds to the neck. The police still
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: have suspicions about Kelly and her lover, Greg Owen. but
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: nothing to link them to the murder. Greg Owen was
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: born in 1971 in Clinton, South Carolina, into a family
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: just as abusive as Kelly's.
• 24:26
  Speaker 12: Our dad was very violent. He drank a lot. He
• 24:30
  Speaker 12: would beat our mother in front of us. I would
• 24:32
  Speaker 12: always have to, you know, grab Greg, grab our sister,
• 24:35
  Speaker 12: and run out of the house and go to the
• 24:37
  Speaker 12: neighbor's house and call the police because we never had
• 24:38
  Speaker 12: a phone.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: It got to the point where... He wouldn't bully me,
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: shove me around and choke me and stuff like that.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: But he never abused the children, you know, not physically.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: I would not have stood for that. We were terrified
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: of our dad, absolutely terrified.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: The children wear hand-me-downs, have few toys, and have nowhere
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: permanent to call home.
• 25:00
  Speaker 12: We moved a lot. We changed schools 18 times.
• 25:05
  Speaker 7: Greg did not do well in school.
• 25:15
  Speaker 11: He was beat up by kids because he was always
• 25:18
  Speaker 11: the smallest kid.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: His sister became his protector.
• 25:27
  Speaker 7: And he was afraid. Greg is very quiet.
• 25:31
  Speaker 12: He's very shy, very laid back, very reserved.
• 25:36
  Speaker 7: He was always a loner.
• 25:38
  Speaker 12: Never really had a lot of friends either.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: I kind of think maybe Greg couldn't find a place
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: that he belonged or that he wanted to be for
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: some reason.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: He works odd jobs and lives a transient lifestyle.
• 25:55
  Speaker 9: Hey.
• 25:56
  Speaker 11: Yeah, I am Greg.
• 25:58
  Speaker 9: I'm Kelly.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: When he meets Kelly, it seems he's finally found the
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: companionship he's craved his whole life.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: He experienced tremendous rejection, abuse, and apparent neglect. So Greg
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: is looking for someone with whom to connect. And there's Kelly.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: When her ex-husband moves back to Georgia, she decides to
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: try and rekindle their relationship. But wants the best of
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: both worlds.
• 26:34
  Speaker 7: She was trying to get Doug back.
• 26:38
  Speaker 11: And telling Greg he was the love of her life
• 26:41
  Speaker 11: and He was her soulmate, the one she'd always been
• 26:44
  Speaker 11: looking for, the connection that she missed every other time.
• 26:48
  Speaker 7: You know what to do, right?
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Investigators suspect that Kelly and Greg are involved in Doug
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Gissendaner's murder. But two weeks on, there's no hard evidence,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: unless one of them can be persuaded to talk. Investigators
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: in Gwinnett County, Georgia, suspect that Kelly Gissendaner and her lover,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Greg Owen, killed her husband. But they're struggling to prove it.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: In 1995, Doug returns from the army, and he and
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Kelly remarry, but soon separate yet again. She starts seeing Owen.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: then goes back to Doug once more, enticed by the
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: prospect of buying their first home together.
• 27:44
  Speaker 11: The idea that she could have a house and have
• 27:48
  Speaker 11: this security and stability was what attracted her back into
• 27:52
  Speaker 11: the relationship.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: While Kelly is outwardly playing the loyal wife, she's still
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: enjoying the thrill of her secret romance.
• 28:04
  Speaker 11: One Sunday morning, in fact, when Kelly was supposed to
• 28:07
  Speaker 11: be in church with her children and her husband, Kelly
• 28:10
  Speaker 11: went to an abandoned house and met Greg and had
• 28:14
  Speaker 11: sex with him in that house. It's not just your standard, well,
• 28:19
  Speaker 11: I'm having this affair and I'm sneaking out, but I'm
• 28:21
  Speaker 11: sending my children off to church with their father and
• 28:24
  Speaker 11: I'm going to go meet somebody and, you know, have
• 28:27
  Speaker 11: sex on plywood in an empty house.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: Kelly's behavior was marked substantially by her comfort level in excitement-seeking,
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: in risk-taking, the kind of risk that ordinary people would
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: be reluctant to take because of the fear of the consequence.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: While Doug remains oblivious to Kelly's deceit, she doesn't mind
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: that others know.
• 28:59
  Speaker 12: I did not like the fact that Kelly was cheating
• 29:01
  Speaker 12: on her husband with my brother.
• 29:04
  Speaker 7: Did not like it at all.
• 29:06
  Speaker 12: And very upset with myself for not doing what I
• 29:08
  Speaker 12: wanted to do, which was call Doug and tell him.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Three days after Doug's body is discovered, he is laid
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: to rest.
• 29:20
  Speaker 11: Kelly read a poem during the funeral that she had
• 29:24
  Speaker 11: written herself.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Her words seem like a veiled admission of guilt.
• 29:31
  Speaker 11: Almost like forgive me for what I've done kind of poem.
• 29:35
  Speaker 11: And the Gissendanners were really taken back by this.
• 29:37
  Speaker 7: They were shocked.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Doug's family traveled solemnly to the cemetery to bury their son.
• 29:45
  Speaker 11: And so they get to the graveside. Sue and Doug
• 29:49
  Speaker 11: Gissendanner are sitting there and then they wait. And Kelly
• 29:55
  Speaker 11: doesn't come.
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: We thought maybe she got lost on the way to
• 30:00
  Speaker 6: the funeral. I was a little angry about that.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: In reality, Kelly is anything but lost.
• 30:08
  Speaker 7: She had stopped on the way down to have lunch.
• 30:15
  Speaker 11: And then shopped around, leaving her in-laws there waiting for
• 30:24
  Speaker 11: an hour.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: Through that, Kelly is telling us that she's number one
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: in her own constellation and everything else and everyone else
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: is subordinate to that.
• 30:40
  Speaker 7: Even to the point of the loss of their lives.
• 30:45
  Speaker 11: Finally Kelly shows up and she comes in and she
• 30:49
  Speaker 11: throws herself on the casket she's emotionally you know just unglued.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: And it took attention away from her dead husband and
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: focused the spotlight on her. Completely self-focused, self-absorbed conduct.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: After the burial, she produces one of her son's toy
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: cars to be buried alongside her murdered husband. Then, more
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: shocking behavior.
• 31:28
  Speaker 6: She was literally stepping on the freshly laid dirt. I
• 31:36
  Speaker 6: couldn't believe it.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: But as cold as Kelly's behavior may be, without any
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: hard evidence, she's untouchable. Doug Davis and his team decide
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: to pick up and re-interview Greg Owen and his friend Lee,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: who claimed he'd been drinking with Owen on the night
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: of the murder. Lee eventually admits he lied.
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: He didn't want to be charged with a crime, so
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: he changed his story.
• 32:04
  Speaker 10: He told us that he was covering for Greg, that
• 32:06
  Speaker 10: Greg was actually not there after 6 p.m.
• 32:09
  Speaker 9: In the afternoon.
• 32:10
  Speaker 10: Greg had walked down the driveway and someone had picked
• 32:12
  Speaker 10: him up. He did not know who. He was assuming
• 32:15
  Speaker 10: that it was Kelly.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Detectives escort Owen back into the station and demand the truth.
• 32:23
  Speaker 9: All right. I'll tell you what happened.
• 32:28
  Speaker 10: Greg finally wanted to sit down. I think he wanted
• 32:31
  Speaker 10: to get this off of his mind, off his chest.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: He realized that law enforcement and prosecution were going to
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: be a much more powerful force in his life than
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: Kelly first represented.
• 32:44
  Speaker 7: And he figured out how to cut his losses.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: He is offered a plea deal to avoid a potential
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: death sentence.
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: We felt like we needed his testimony, and obviously I
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: don't believe we would have gotten his testimony had we
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: made the decision to go for the death penalty in
• 33:04
  Speaker 5: his case.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: In exchange for a lesser sentence, Owen agrees to tell all.
• 33:10
  Speaker 9: She made me do it.
• 33:14
  Speaker 10: Greg says that Kelly wanted someone to get rid of
• 33:18
  Speaker 10: Doug Gissendaner for him.
• 33:20
  Speaker 6: You're always away.
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: What am I supposed.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: To do about that?
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: She.
• 33:24
  Speaker 7: was tired of Doug. She was tired of his church-going ways.
• 33:29
  Speaker 11: She felt like the only way to really get him
• 33:33
  Speaker 11: out of her life.
• 33:36
  Speaker 7: Was for him to be dead.
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: When she first told me that she wanted him dead,
• 33:41
  Speaker 5: I laughed about it.
• 33:42
  Speaker 7: But then I could see that she was serious. You know,
• 33:49
  Speaker 7: we're in this time together.
• 33:53
  Speaker 11: My husband ran away. Kelly believed that if Doug had
• 33:57
  Speaker 11: some kind of accidental death, that they would be set
• 33:59
  Speaker 11: for life if this insurance money came through.
• 34:02
  Speaker 9: What are you talking about?
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: Greg, it seems, did not necessarily want something from the murder.
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: What he wanted primarily was to do Kelly's bidding as
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: a way of ingratiating her to him so he could
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: enjoy that relationship.
• 34:22
  Speaker 7: But they just had this one problem, this one guy.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: Owen agrees to Gissendaner's deadly plot. She arms him with
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: a hunting knife and nightstick and heads out for the
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: evening with her girlfriends, ensuring she has an alibi with
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: witnesses present and that when Doug returns home, the only
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: person waiting for him would be his killer.
• 35:02
  Speaker 7: She made me do it. I thought she was just joking.
• 35:07
  Speaker 9: She just.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Greg Owen has been revealing to the police that while
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: his lover was out partying with friends, he lay in
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: wait for her husband to return home.
• 35:18
  Speaker 10: Somewhere between 10 and 10.30, 11 o'clock, Doug comes in.
• 35:26
  Speaker 10: And Greg comes up hunting with a knife. and forces
• 35:31
  Speaker 10: him into Doug's car.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: They drive to a secluded spot in the forest. You
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: don't have to do this. Keep walking and shut up!
• 35:47
  Speaker 5: Once they got out there, he told him to walk
• 35:50
  Speaker 5: up the hill, and he was walking behind him.
• 35:52
  Speaker 10: Don't look at me.
• 35:54
  Speaker 9: Don't make a sound. Get on your feet.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: Get on your knees.
• 35:56
  Speaker 6: Look that way.
• 35:57
  Speaker 11: Give me your watch.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Why are you doing this?
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: Don't look at me.
• 36:00
  Speaker 9: Give me your watch and your ring.
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: Greg said that Doug basically was begging for his life
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: and that he hit him over the back of the
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: head or.
• 36:08
  Speaker 9: The back of the neck.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: And when he went down, he then took.
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: A knife and stabbed him up in the upper back
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: neck area three or four times. He and Kelly had
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: a prearranged signal And she had a beeper at that time,
• 36:29
  Speaker 5: and that he was going to beep in the numbers 1, 2, 3.
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: Between them, it meant that the killing had been done.
• 36:41
  Speaker 12: No, guys, I just want to go home.
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: I have a really bad feeling.
• 36:44
  Speaker 7: Can we please just.
• 36:45
  Speaker 5: And that Kelly was to come out there and pick
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: him up.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: When Gissendanner arrives, she makes sure her lover has completed
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: his deadly mission.
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: Where is he?
• 37:05
  Speaker 7: He's in there. Take me to him. I'm not going
• 37:10
  Speaker 7: back in there.
• 37:13
  Speaker 5: She wanted to go see for herself that Doug was dead.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: People need proof when they lack trust and faith. And
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: her life had been a series of relationships absent trust.
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: So she wanted to see with her own eyes that
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: the deed had been done.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: There's still one last task ahead of them.
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: Kelly had brought gas out there and that Greg then
• 37:48
  Speaker 5: poured gas inside it on fire. Greg disposed of the
• 37:57
  Speaker 5: clothes he had on at a dumpster. The knife never
• 38:04
  Speaker 5: was found.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: Detectives checked Owen's pager and phone records to confirm his story.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: In the days leading up to the murder, Gissendanner paged
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: him 18 times, and had 47 phone conversations with him.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: They also recover part of a tracksuit that he had kept.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: It has blood on it, which DNA tests confirm is
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: from both Owen and Doug. 18 days after Doug's murder,
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: police finally arrest his wife.
• 38:40
  Speaker 10: Her demeanor was very nonchalant. She didn't seem to be
• 38:44
  Speaker 10: that very upset to me.
• 38:46
  Speaker 7: Greg's such a liar.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: He'll say anything Kelly has a new version of events.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: She claims Owen asked her to pick him up that night,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: admitted he had beaten Doug, and would kill her if
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: she said anything. Investigators don't believe her. Both are charged
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: with murder, felony murder, and possession of a knife during
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: the commission of a felony. In December 1997, Greg Owen
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: pleads guilty to all charges and receives a sentence of
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: 25 years to life.
• 39:26
  Speaker 5: He was obviously willing to do anything for Kelly. to
• 39:31
  Speaker 5: set up a life of their own without Doug in
• 39:33
  Speaker 5: the picture. Obviously, he was willing to kill Doug to
• 39:37
  Speaker 5: do that. And I think that was the entire reason
• 39:42
  Speaker 5: he did it was for love.
• 39:45
  Speaker 12: For what he said he did, I think that life was.
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: That's what he deserved.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: Kelly Gissendaner is offered the same plea deal, but decides
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: to take her chances. In November 1998, she goes on
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: trial in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: The defendant in this case has proved to be a desperate,
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: evil woman.
• 40:11
  Speaker 9: That's what evil looks like.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: It's an unusual case for local prosecutors.
• 40:17
  Speaker 9: We've never.
• 40:18
  Speaker 5: tried a case like that where we were going after
• 40:22
  Speaker 5: a person who wasn't the one.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: That carried out the killing itself. Kelly's friend, Pamela Kogut,
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: is due to testify against her. Kelly hatches a plot
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: to try to stop that from happening.
• 40:39
  Speaker 5: We found out that Kelly Gissendaner was willing to pay
• 40:42
  Speaker 5: a certain amount of money to have Pamela Kogut.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: Killed so that she couldn't testify.
• 40:52
  Speaker 6: The night that I was to testify, Mr. Wiley had
• 40:57
  Speaker 6: told me that she had put a contract out on
• 41:03
  Speaker 6: my life. That's the most devastating and scariest thing that
• 41:09
  Speaker 6: you could ever hear in your whole entire life.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: That Kelly had a list of people against whom she
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: wanted to seek some sort of revenge is just a
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: continuation of the pattern of her anger and rage when
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: other people or other circumstances got between Kelly and what
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: Kelly wanted. And it also is part of that pattern
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: in her life of relationships where they don't really matter
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: that much. And if they get in the way they
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: can be disposed of.
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: Pamela's most damning testimony relates to a phone conversation with
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: Kelly following her arrest.
• 41:53
  Speaker 6: She called me from jail and she said, Pamela, I
• 41:56
  Speaker 6: did it. I said, what? And she said, I did it.
• 41:59
  Speaker 6: I said, no, you didn't. No, you didn't. She said, yes,
• 42:03
  Speaker 6: I did. And then she said, I can't talk anymore.
• 42:06
  Speaker 6: The phones are bugged.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: Finally, the star witness, Greg Owen, tells the jury how
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: he killed at her command. Kelly's defense team tries to
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: lay all the blame on Greg.
• 42:25
  Speaker 10: Greg Owen took it on himself on the spur of
• 42:28
  Speaker 10: the moment.
• 42:30
  Speaker 9: Until Doug gets him down.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: They question how he was able to overpower Doug a
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: bigger man with military training.
• 42:41
  Speaker 5: We figured the defense was going to raise it, and
• 42:43
  Speaker 5: they did. They questioned numerous witnesses. There was even, I guess,
• 42:48
  Speaker 5: suggestions made by the defense that there was a third
• 42:51
  Speaker 5: party involved in this. The bottom line is, Greg stuck
• 42:57
  Speaker 5: to his guns that there was no one else involved
• 43:00
  Speaker 5: in this, and without him saying there was, there was
• 43:04
  Speaker 5: no evidence whatsoever that would prove that anybody else was
• 43:12
  Speaker 5: involved in this.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: Jurors wait to hear if Kelly will testify in her
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: own defense.
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: And have you personally then decided that you do not
• 43:24
  Speaker 4: wish to take the stand and testify in this case.
• 43:27
  Speaker 9: After consultation with your attorney?
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: No, I do not.
• 43:30
  Speaker 9: You do not wish to testify?
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: No, sir.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: It takes the jury just two hours to find Kelly
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: Gissendaner guilty First-degree murder. Wiley and his team try to
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: obtain the first death sentence for a woman in Georgia
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: in half a century.
• 43:51
  Speaker 5: Kelly Gissendaner was not the one who physically killed Doug Gissendaner,
• 43:56
  Speaker 5: but we sought the death penalty because we felt like
• 44:00
  Speaker 5: she was the moving force. Greg would not have killed
• 44:02
  Speaker 5: Doug but for Kelly Gissendaner. You never know what a
• 44:05
  Speaker 5: jury's going to do with a death penalty case.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: Her defense team hopes the jury will spare her life
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: if they believe she's a loving mom to her three children.
• 44:17
  Speaker 5: Part of the evidence that the defense put up was
• 44:20
  Speaker 5: a poster board type thing with a lot of family
• 44:24
  Speaker 5: pictures on it of Kelly, of her kids.
• 44:28
  Speaker 9: Ladies and gentlemen, who's missing from these photos?
• 44:33
  Speaker 5: And that was Doug Gissendaner.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: After just two hours of deliberation and on her youngest
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: son's fifth birthday, the jury decides she should face the
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: electric chair.
• 44:48
  Speaker 5: I know I was expecting a lot more emotion.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: I was expecting to see tears.
• 44:54
  Speaker 5: That even more went to the fact that she was
• 44:58
  Speaker 5: such a cold person and that she was capable of
• 45:01
  Speaker 5: carrying out this crime.
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: The loss of life for Callie is probably not measured
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: by the same yardstick it is for people in general.
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: Kelly Gissendanner is the only woman on George's death row.
• 45:18
  Speaker 6: Kelly's getting what she deserved. She's hurt too many people
• 45:22
  Speaker 6: that want to be present at her execution. I want
• 45:26
  Speaker 6: her to know that what she did was wrong. And
• 45:32
  Speaker 6: for her to see me look at heard the same
• 45:37
  Speaker 6: way she looked at me during the trial.
• 45:41
  Speaker 10: The Gissendanners had lost a precious son to them. Three
• 45:45
  Speaker 10: kids had lost their father, a loving father.
• 45:48
  Speaker 9: I think justice was served.
• 45:53
  Speaker 10: I think Kelly Gissendanner is in the right place that
• 45:56
  Speaker 10: she needs to be.
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: The Gissendanner family says they are still tormented by Doug's murder.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: which they call maliciously planned and executed. They remember Doug
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: as a true, genuine person who always helped his family
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: and neighbors and did not deserve to die.
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: The wicked attraction between Greg and Kelly. Kelly saw Greg
• 46:27
  Speaker 3: as somebody who was going to help her achieve her
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: own end, someone she could manipulate, somebody who wasn't going
• 46:34
  Speaker 3: to hold her accountable. For Greg, the attraction was, hey,
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: here's somebody with whom I can be in a relationship.
• 46:43
  Speaker 3: Now we have to do some peculiar things to make.
• 46:47
  Speaker 9: The glue of the relationship.
• 46:50
  Speaker 7: Hey, but why not?
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: Because life is full of risks anyway.