Latest / Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast / A Little Less Mess [Louisiana] Corey Kitts

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A Little Less Mess [Louisiana] Corey Kitts · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

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Hey, everyone, welcome to bless Us Mess and the trick Rum Podcast.
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I'm karaj Kara. Welcome to a little Less Mess. It is all of
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our episodes minus all the banter and humor. So on this episodes, I
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just read what we have the story, and then that's it. So they
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us out a lot. All right, so let's get into this week's episode.
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We'll be going to Louisiana. Corey Carl Kitts was born September seventh,
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nineteen sixty nine and Plaquemine, Louisiana, to Michael and Patricia Kits. Corey
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would attend Plaquemine High School, where he was a member of the band.
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He would graduate in nineteen eighty seven, but would take his love a band
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with him to Southern University, where he was in the marching band. Corey
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would meet a woman and have a daughter, Courtney, but the relationship would
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not work out. Corey would go back to a woman he had known in
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high school, Monique, who he married and had two children, Dory and
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Corey Junior. Corey was described as hard working, kind and loving. He
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frequently joked around with his children. They said he was never down. He
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always seemed happy. Corey was working nights at Shintech Incorporated, where they produced
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polyvinyl chloride or PVC. Corey would also pick up construction jobs on the side
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to make extra money. His wife, Monique, she ran a daycare in
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town. The family lived in a very nice three thousand square foot home at
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three one two three River Landing Drive in Addis, Louisiana that they built in
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two thousand and five. On June ninth, twenty ten, Addis police department
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were called to the Kit's home due to a reported theft. When Corey came
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home from his night shift, he asked Monique to withdraw four thousand dollars cash
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from the bank for an upcoming family vacation. Monique says she will place it
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on the nightstand and Corey goes to sleep. He wakes up later and the
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four thousand dollars is not there. He begins looking for it, but it
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is nowhere to be found. He calls Monique and she says she placed it
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on the nightstand like he requested. Concerned someone stole the money, Corey calls
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nine one one and asked for an officer to come out to the house to
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investigate a potential break in. A police officer was dispatched, but when he
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arrived around seven forty pm, no one was home. About twenty minutes later,
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Monique arrives to speak to the officer. She tells him she left the
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money on the night stand next to her sleeping husband. The officer asked to
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come inside and see where the money had been stolen, but Monique would not
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let him in. She said she did not want to frighten her daughter,
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Dory, who was seventeen at the time, the officer asked her about a
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red car reportedly seen across the street in a vacant lot. Monique says she
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did see the vehicle and believed it was a Grand dam. The officer asked
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if he could speak to Cory, but Monique would not give his phone numb
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out. She told the officer she would have Cory call them, which he
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never did. It was later reported by Monique two police that the four thousand
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dollars was found in the washing machine, and the police closed the case.
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On July nine, twenty ten, one month after the incident with the four
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thousand dollars, Monique, Dorry and Corey Junior came home for lunch around twelve
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thirty pm. Upon entering the home, they see glass all over the ground
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and knew immediately something was wrong. They make their way to the bedroom looking
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for Corey because he is normally up by noon every day after working the night
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shift. They enter the bedroom and see Cory lying on the bed, not
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moving. They approach him and see blood all over the pillow. It is
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clear that Corey is dead. Monique calls nine on one and tells the dispatcher
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her husband is bleeding from the ear and you can hear the children screaming in
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the background. The operator was concerned that the intruder might still be in the
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house, so she tells them to lock themselves in the room and wait for
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police. Police arrive on scene and enter the home guns drawn. They enter
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the bedroom and move the kid's family out and work on clearing the rest of
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the home. It appears the intruder is no longer in the home. Detectives
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from both the Attis Police Department and the West Baton Parish Sheriff's Office arrive on
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scene to investigate. Upon entry, they noticed there is no apparent means of
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forced entry or exit. They also saw several items misplaced furniture as well as
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broken glass, coins, and many other items were all over the floor.
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They also see items of value, as well as a small amount of cash
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lying out in plain sight. This struck them as odd as it was suspected
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burglary gone wrong. They find shell casings in the bedroom. The way they
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were positioned, it appeared the shooter was standing when the shots were fired.
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An autopsy would later reveal that Corey was shot in the neck, face,
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and head. They did recover one gun from the home that was in a
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drawer. Monique confirmed it was Corey's gun. The shells and gun were taken
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for testing to see if it was the murder weapon. As words spread of
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the murder, news media arrived on scene, which drew attention from the neighbors.
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Dory called her older half sister, Courtney, and told her that their
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father was dead. Courtney was in disbelief and emiliately went to the home where
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she saw the police, which confirmed her worst nightmare. As the family is
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grieving, police began canvassing the neighborhood. The neighbor across the street noticed a
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silver SUV backed up into the Kit's yard around eight thirty a m. That
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day, and by nine a m. That vehicle was gone. Police bring
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Monique in to question her about the events of that morning. She tells investigators
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that Corey came home around five thirty a m. From his night shift.
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She left around six thirty a m. To meet Cory's sister to walk at
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the local ballfield. She returned home round seven thirty, where she saw Cory
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sleeping. She took a shower, got dressed, and headed out to go
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to the daycare. Corey was still asleep when she left for the day.
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She arrived at the daycare around eight thirty a m. And was there until
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she returned home with her children around twelve thirty. When she finds Corey.
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They do bring both children in. Dorry was seventeen and Corey Junior was eleven
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at the time of the murder. Dory seemed nervous while speaking to police,
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like she was holding something back. She finally admits that her boyfriend had spent
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the night on the day of the murder. She snuck him in and then
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snuck him out that morning. Dorry said that her father did not like her
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boyfriend. Police were wondering if there was some confrontation between Corey and the boyfriend.
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They bring him in for questioning and he agrees to a polygraph test,
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which he passes. They let the boyfriend go and move on to others that
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might have wanted to hurt Corey. They start asking friends and family about the
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marriage of Corey and Monique. They quickly learned that Corey had cheated on Monique
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numerous times, with up to six women in just the past year. This
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took a lot of man hours for police to clear all of these women and
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confirm their alibies. None of the women seemed to be involved with Corey's murder.
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They continued to speak to other family members, including Corey's sister, whom
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Corey was very close. She says that she saw Monique at the store two
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days before the murder, where she invited her to go on one of her
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daily walks at Alexander Park. Monique agrees and they meet up the next day.
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Monique opens up to her sister in law that she knows Corey is cheating
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on her, but they do plan to work it out. She tells her
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they are planning a family vacation to Disney World. She seemed to be hopeful
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about the marriage. The next day, the day of the murder, Monique
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meets her sister in law again, but this time she is very distracted during
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their walk, hardly talking and constantly on her phone. Please take interest in
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this and subpoena Monique's phone records to see who she was texting. They knew
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it was not Corey as they had his phone already which showed him texting one
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of his mistresses that morning. When reviewing the phone records, they find that
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she had frequently been in contact with one number in particular on the morning of
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the murder, as well as the months leading up to the murder. They
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look up the number and find it belongs to David Ray Johnson. When looking
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into the connection between Johnson and Monique, they find that Johnson drives for Climb
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Peter Farms Dairy and one of the stops on his route was Monique's daycare.
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They run Johnson's name and find he has a criminal past. He was convicted
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of sexual assault against a miner and had spent time in jail for the offense.
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With this information, they bring Monique back in for questioning. They ask
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her how she knows Johnson, and she says they were just friends. However,
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they were close enough friends for her to have brought him around her children
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more than once. This is very concerning based on his criminal past. They
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now bring in Johnson and question him about the relationship. He tells police him
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and Monique were just friends and that he had nothing to do with Corey's murder.
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Without any further evidence, they let him go with no more leeds.
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They go back to the crime scene and see if they have missed anything.
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Looking at the photos of the crime scene again, they are sure this was
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a staged burglary. Nothing was taken in the furniture and tables overturned looked like
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they had been placed in a manner to look as if they had been thrown
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around. They start looking at the crime as a hit job rather than a
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burglary gone wrong. They start digging into the kids's finances and find that they
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had made good money. Corey was bringing in around ninety thousand dollars at his
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plant job, as well as working the construction on the side. The daycare
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Monique ran was making money as well. They did find a five hundred thousand
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dollars life insurance policy on Corey, which piqued police interest. They subpoenaed the
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bank records and find that the Kits have odd habits with their money. They
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make large deposits at the beginning of the month, around eight thousand dollars,
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then quickly withdraw most of the cash, leaving no trace where they spend the
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money. They also found in searching that Monique had an apartment in her name
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that no one was aware of. They find that the person actually staying there
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is her friend, David Ray Johnson. Now, after digging through email records,
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they find that Johnson is more than a friend to Monique. Starting all
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the way back in December of two thousand and six, Monique was emailing Johnson
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sexually charged emails and telling him they would one day be together, just the
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two of them. They went back and spoke to family and friends about the
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relationship and found that there were rumors that Corey's daughter Courtney, had seen Monique
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in Johnson's fan She refrained from telling her father as she did not want to
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start an issue if it was something innocent. They find that Monique and Johnson
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were going to the apartment together as well as meeting up at the daycare.
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Monique was also giving Johnson money and helping him fraud the government through his taxes.
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They bring Johnson back in to interview him and he will not talk.
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After some time and seeing this whole thing could be penned on him, he
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does start talking. He tells police that Monique first began joking about how she
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would be better off with her husband dead, all the way back in two
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thousand and six. The jokes eventually became serious and she asked Johnson to kill
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him. She began giving him small amounts of money, a thousand dollars here
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and there. After a while, Johnson still had not followed through a Monique's
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request and she was getting aunty. Johnson claims he was just trying to milk
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her for as much money as he could, and she was having sex with
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him as well, so he was getting the best of both worlds. Two
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thousand and eight, with Monique growing frustrated, she asked Johnson if a man
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named Carl Howard, who Monique had done his taxes, would do it.
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Johnson said he might, and she gave him a thousand dollars and asked him
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to reach out to him about it. Johnson never did and just pocketed the
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money. Monique eventually reached out to him herself. They began sexting and also
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calling each other several times a day. Monique began sending suspicious miss messages,
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including ones of the layout of her home. Now, please go to speak
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to Howard, and he pulls up in a red car just like the one
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that was seen across the street from the kid's home on the morning that the
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four thousand dollars went missing. They began speaking to him, and he is
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not talking. He is very cocky and knows they don't have enough to charge
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him. They let him go and continue to search for evidence, which comes
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in the form of cell phone tower data. They subpoena for the cell phone
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records and trace Howard's movements. The first time Howard is traced to the kid's
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home is back on June ninth, the day Corey saw the red Grandam.
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They then look at data from July ninth, the day Cory was killed,
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and the same same movements were observed. The only other loose end that they
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had was the neighbor seeing a silver suv the morning of the murders. Their
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review Howard's cell phone activity when he would come to Addis and every time he
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contacted three people, Monique Johnson and a man named Cory Knox. They look
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in a Knox and find that his mother owns a similar suv. They asked
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a neighbor to look at the car and he says that was the car he
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saw that morning. They bring a Knox to question him, but he is
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not talking. He asked to call his mother, so police oblige and leave
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him to make the call. Unbeknownst to Knox, there is a recording device
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and they hear him tell his mom that Howard got him involved with the murder
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when he had to drive him around. Police jump on this statement. They
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now had some one saying that Howard was involved with the murder. In March
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of two thousand thirteen, Monique and Howard are finally indicted on secondary murder and
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conspiracy to commit murder. To get out being charged, Johnson turned on Monique
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and Knox pled down to accessory to murder. During the trial, prosecutors laid
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out their case. Monique left that morning, putting herself away from the scene,
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going on a walk with Corey's sister. Howard then entered the home through
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an unlocked door while Knox waited outside in the getaway car, which was the
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silver SUV. Howard killed a sleeping Corry and then staged at burglary. Then
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Howard and Knox drove away. They believe Cory was already dead when Monique came
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back to shower and go to work. She planned for her own children to
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find their father dead so she would have an alibi. Her motive was the
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five hundred thousand dollar life insurance policy, according to the prosecution. On November
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twentieth, twenty fourteen, a jury found both Monique and Howard guilty. The
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judge later sent its boat to life in prison without the eligibility for Pearl.
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They both uphelled their cases and were denied. Monique is currently in l d
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o C, which is Louisiana Partment of Corrections and Baton Rouge and Howard is
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in the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. Dorry and Corey Junior believe their mother
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is innocent, while Courtney believes she had killed him. Courtney received the entire
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state of corries, which included that five hundred thousand dollars life insurance policy.
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And that's our episode out of Louisiana. So if you enjoyed this, go
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back and check out the other ones that we have like this. If you
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want some opinions like how I feel about Monique wanting her children to find their
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father dead, go check out our regular episodes and I guess yeah. Check
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out Instagram, Facebook, like us, review us all the good things,
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check out the Patreon, and I guess we will see you next time.
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By everyone. By SUPERSTI really hurting and I'm sick on its working. By the Cambridge