Latest / Legally Brunette / Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - Teresa Sievers’ Murder For Hire
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Hi, guys, Welcome to an episode up Till Death Do
- 0:05Speaker 1: Us Part. Today we are going to be talking about
- 0:08Speaker 1: a case involving a husband and wife. What do you
- 0:12Speaker 1: think the husband kills the wife or the wife kills
- 0:15Speaker 1: the husband.
- 0:17Speaker 2: Well, the wives slowly kill the husband. Yeah, are you
- 0:21Speaker 2: talking about murder.
- 0:22Speaker 1: Though, yes, we're talking about murder.
- 0:24Speaker 2: Well, I think I know this one. He kills her? No,
- 0:28Speaker 2: you tell us.
- 0:29Speaker 1: Actually, I was wondering because we've done so many of
- 0:31Speaker 1: these cases until Death Do Us Part. Obviously we focus
- 0:35Speaker 1: on husbands who kill wives or wives who kill husbands.
- 0:38Speaker 1: But I haven't been keeping track of the score as
- 0:41Speaker 1: to whether it's well.
- 0:42Speaker 2: That's not a fair poll though. It's not like it's
- 0:45Speaker 2: a cross section of what's going on out there. It's
- 0:47Speaker 2: just the ones we pick, right, But you know, maybe
- 0:50Speaker 2: we should know that we should know which ones are
- 0:52Speaker 2: you picking.
- 0:52Speaker 1: I don't know, but I feel like I'm going to
- 0:53Speaker 1: do some little Google search and see the statistics as
- 0:57Speaker 1: to whether it's probably more husbands that kill wives wives
- 1:00Speaker 1: that kill a husbands. But we'll see. We'll get back
- 1:02Speaker 1: to you on that one.
- 1:03Speaker 2: I might look that up while you, uh, yeah, all right,
- 1:06Speaker 2: discuss some of the initials thoughts on this case.
- 1:08Speaker 1: All right, today we're going to be talking about doctor
- 1:10Speaker 1: Teresa Severs, who was a forty six year old doctor
- 1:13Speaker 1: in Benita Springs, Florida, who was found beaten to death
- 1:16Speaker 1: by a hammer in her home back in June of
- 1:19Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. Her husband, Mark Severs, and their two young
- 1:23Speaker 1: daughters were conveniently visiting family in Connecticut at the time
- 1:27Speaker 1: of the murder, leading investigators unclear as to who committed
- 1:31Speaker 1: the crime and why. But let's get into a little
- 1:35Speaker 1: bit of background on Teresa Severs. So from the time
- 1:38Speaker 1: Teresa was in the sixth grade, she knew that she
- 1:41Speaker 1: wanted to be a doctor. She was described by those
- 1:44Speaker 1: who knew her as driven, compassionate, and deeply dedicated to
- 1:49Speaker 1: her patients. How would you describe me?
- 1:55Speaker 2: Which day, what time of day?
- 1:58Speaker 1: What are you talking about?
- 2:00Speaker 2: Which personality do you want.
- 2:01Speaker 1: Me to help?
- 2:01Speaker 2: Oh?
- 2:01Speaker 1: My goodness. So if someone said, what's your wife like,
- 2:04Speaker 1: what would you say?
- 2:06Speaker 2: I would say, you just have to experience it.
- 2:08Speaker 1: Oh, it's just an experience, all right, Thank you for that.
- 2:10Speaker 1: Teresa had been previously married before meeting Mark Sievers, who
- 2:14Speaker 1: was the brother of one of her close friends. And
- 2:16Speaker 1: the two were married in two thousand and three. Together,
- 2:19Speaker 1: they had two daughters. In two thousand and six, the
- 2:23Speaker 1: family relocated to Benita Springs, Florida, where Teresa established her
- 2:27Speaker 1: own holistic medicine practice. It was called the Restorative Health
- 2:31Speaker 1: and Healing Center in a Stero. Mark Severs was a
- 2:35Speaker 1: licensed practical nurse who worked at the practice, but largely
- 2:40Speaker 1: in a supporting role. What do you think supporting role means.
- 2:44Speaker 2: In what in her holistic practices?
- 2:47Speaker 1: Yeah, he had a supporting role.
- 2:48Speaker 2: He just said, okay, dear, Yes, dear, that looks fine.
- 2:53Speaker 2: Glad that's working out.
- 2:53Speaker 1: He said, go make money, dear. Yes, keeping a doctor, dear, keeping.
- 2:59Speaker 2: The latting till. That was part. She had a catwalk
- 3:02Speaker 2: coaching business.
- 3:05Speaker 1: Yes, no, but she's a doctor, this woman.
- 3:09Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not saying it. I'm not saying it's hookyer.
- 3:11Speaker 1: They know. The last one we did was the Miss
- 3:14Speaker 1: Switzerland who was perade by her husband.
- 3:17Speaker 2: Yeah, but she had a cat walk yes, coaching class.
- 3:22Speaker 1: That was a lot of alliteration. A catwalk coaching class, Yeah,
- 3:26Speaker 1: she did. By twenty thirteen, the marriage was showing serious cracks.
- 3:33Speaker 1: Text messages were covered by investigators revealed that there was
- 3:36Speaker 1: growing tension and mutual resentment. That same year, Teresa reportedly
- 3:41Speaker 1: suggested opening the relationship to other sexual partners. I feel
- 3:45Speaker 1: like that's really when you go to your husband and
- 3:48Speaker 1: you say you'd really just like to have an open marriage,
- 3:52Speaker 1: I feel like that's probably the end.
- 3:54Speaker 2: Yeah, that's just dumb, Like.
- 3:56Speaker 1: Why don't you just get divorced at that point?
- 3:58Speaker 2: Yeah, that's called being roommates.
- 4:00Speaker 1: Right, So I'm just saying, why do people suggest things
- 4:03Speaker 1: like that? Why not just get divorced again? We know
- 4:07Speaker 1: how this is going to end, so we're going to
- 4:08Speaker 1: have to have the why don't you just get divorced
- 4:10Speaker 1: conversation again?
- 4:12Speaker 2: If one husband goes up to the wife says I
- 4:14Speaker 2: think it's marriage, I mean, what does that say.
- 4:17Speaker 1: I'm gonna if you said that to me, I either be.
- 4:20Speaker 2: The last words out of my mouth. Yeah, I'm saying,
- 4:22Speaker 2: what does that mean that? What does that say to me?
- 4:25Speaker 2: That means that's a that's a deal breaker. Well, yeah,
- 4:29Speaker 2: for normal marriages that would be a deal breaker.
- 4:31Speaker 1: But I feel like that says I'm too lazy to
- 4:35Speaker 1: actually go through with the process of a divorce. I
- 4:39Speaker 1: still want you to make me dinner so I still
- 4:41Speaker 1: want you to keep working as a doctor, and I'd
- 4:43Speaker 1: still like to live in this nice home we have,
- 4:45Speaker 1: but I'd like to have sex with other people. How
- 4:47Speaker 1: does that sound to you? That's what it sounds. Well.
- 4:51Speaker 1: She was the one, I guess that went to him
- 4:52Speaker 1: and suggested that they have more of an open relationship.
- 4:56Speaker 2: So she saw a divorce attorney realize, Hey, I'm gonna
- 4:58Speaker 2: have to pay him.
- 4:59Speaker 1: Right, it's right exactly.
- 5:01Speaker 2: I'll just pitch it, I'll twist it and give it,
- 5:04Speaker 2: deliver it as a open marriage.
- 5:06Speaker 1: Right. Financial stress compounded things even further, and by early
- 5:10Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, there's text messages between the couple had turned
- 5:15Speaker 1: cold and irritable. Oh, I'd hate for people to read
- 5:17Speaker 1: our text messages. What would people if they were investigating
- 5:22Speaker 1: and they read our text messages.
- 5:24Speaker 2: They'd be like, how many times does she get a
- 5:25Speaker 2: divorce out? That's what they would say.
- 5:29Speaker 1: Mark reportedly feared that Teresa was planning to leave him
- 5:32Speaker 1: and take their daughters. Given that Teresa was the breadwinner
- 5:36Speaker 1: of the family and the head of her practice, a
- 5:38Speaker 1: divorce would have been devastating for him financially. He felt
- 5:42Speaker 1: he couldn't afford a custody fight. Also, this is unbeknowns
- 5:48Speaker 1: to Teresa. What do you think Teresa doesn't know about.
- 5:51Speaker 2: About her night in shining Armor? Yeah?
- 5:53Speaker 1: What do you think he did? Because they're in financial distress?
- 5:56Speaker 1: Their finances are a problem. They're fighting over money. She's
- 6:00Speaker 1: the breadwinner.
- 6:01Speaker 2: Yeah, so what do you think he.
- 6:04Speaker 1: Decides to do that she doesn't know about?
- 6:06Speaker 2: Sleep around? Well, besides that, spend money. No, he takes
- 6:09Speaker 2: out life insurance policies.
- 6:11Speaker 1: D Yes, of.
- 6:12Speaker 2: Course he did.
- 6:14Speaker 1: He took out five life insurance policies on her, totaling
- 6:18Speaker 1: four point four million dollars.
- 6:20Speaker 2: How many would you have to take out a media
- 6:22Speaker 2: at four point four that you'd try to take out
- 6:23Speaker 2: like twenty or thirty? What are you talking about? That's
- 6:26Speaker 2: a lot of money. That means she's worth. She had
- 6:28Speaker 2: to get five policies in order to be worth four
- 6:32Speaker 2: and a half million dollars.
- 6:34Speaker 1: Well, maybe those other insurance companies do they all know
- 6:37Speaker 1: about each other?
- 6:38Speaker 2: I don't know, I should.
- 6:39Speaker 1: Isn't that kind of it sounds to me like it's
- 6:41Speaker 1: probably kind of fraudulent.
- 6:43Speaker 2: I don't think so. I don't think it is. It's
- 6:45Speaker 2: like I mean, no, I don't think I have.
- 6:46Speaker 1: A life insurance policy on you. How much is it for?
- 6:49Speaker 2: Not four point four million? You might need four or
- 6:52Speaker 2: five more to get there.
- 6:54Speaker 1: What are you talking about?
- 6:55Speaker 2: It's low enough that you don't kill me.
- 6:58Speaker 1: Oh, I say it was strategic.
- 7:00Speaker 2: Yes.
- 7:02Speaker 1: In spring of twenty fifteen, Mark Severs attends the wedding
- 7:05Speaker 1: of his longtime childhood friend Curtis Wayne Wright in Missouri. Now,
- 7:10Speaker 1: can we just talk about what Curtis Wayne Wright looks like.
- 7:13Speaker 1: Curtis Wayne Wright is Mark Seavers's best friend, and they
- 7:16Speaker 1: look exactly the same.
- 7:18Speaker 2: They do. I saw a picture last night of them
- 7:22Speaker 2: facing each other, and I thought was a mirror it did?
- 7:24Speaker 1: It looked like it looked like they look identical to
- 7:27Speaker 1: each other.
- 7:27Speaker 2: A little creepy.
- 7:28Speaker 1: It is creepy. During the trip, Mark confided and his
- 7:32Speaker 1: friend Curtis Wayne Wright about his marital troubles. Wright's response,
- 7:37Speaker 1: according to prosecutors, was that the only way out is
- 7:40Speaker 1: for Teresa to die. Can you mention that conversation.
- 7:43Speaker 2: I've had many conversations with friends, yes, and they tell
- 7:46Speaker 2: me about like troubles. Yeah, no one has ever pitched murder.
- 7:51Speaker 2: I'm glad that's a solution.
- 7:53Speaker 1: I'm glad those are the type of friends that you
- 7:54Speaker 1: hang out with. I assume you've never pitched a murder
- 7:56Speaker 1: to them.
- 7:57Speaker 2: No, right, No, I'm not an advocate for no right.
- 8:02Speaker 1: This is Curtis Wayne Wright told Mark that he would
- 8:06Speaker 1: arrange in exchange for around one hundred thousand dollars a
- 8:11Speaker 1: plan to get rid of Teresa. However, without telling Mark
- 8:15Speaker 1: right then recruited a third man named Jimmy Ray Rogers
- 8:20Speaker 1: to assist him in the murder. So basically, Mark and
- 8:24Speaker 1: his friend Curtis come up with a plan together to
- 8:27Speaker 1: get rid of Teresa. Then the friend Curtis enlists another
- 8:32Speaker 1: friend who Mark doesn't know about to help you.
- 8:35Speaker 2: He subcontracted it out subcond yea, he subcontracted at keep.
- 8:41Speaker 2: Wait did they do? Is this for them to do
- 8:42Speaker 2: it together? Yeah?
- 8:44Speaker 1: So they end up like renting a car and traveling.
- 8:47Speaker 1: They drive from Missouri.
- 8:49Speaker 2: It'll be fun, like they go together, have a few laughs.
- 8:54Speaker 1: Right, And then I believe because I saw this, and
- 8:57Speaker 1: I've actually seen this story multiple times, you can it
- 9:00Speaker 1: pretty easily. I believe there's like a dateline or a
- 9:02Speaker 1: twenty twenty. I think there's a forty eight hours. There's
- 9:04Speaker 1: several episodes on this because it's pretty it's pretty interesting
- 9:08Speaker 1: with the doctor and the nurse dynamic and hired help
- 9:11Speaker 1: and yeah, and then he hires his best friend, and
- 9:13Speaker 1: then the best friend recruits somebody else and then and
- 9:15Speaker 1: they look alike and they look exactly the same. And
- 9:19Speaker 1: then he does give him, I believe, a check. I
- 9:21Speaker 1: can't remember if it's nine hundred dollars or six hundred
- 9:24Speaker 1: dollars out of like her.
- 9:26Speaker 2: Business and he gives them anything in the memo, No.
- 9:28Speaker 1: He gives him a business check for murder kit. Yeah.
- 9:31Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 9:31Speaker 1: And to pay for.
- 9:33Speaker 2: The expense for murder kits right for them.
- 9:37Speaker 1: To like rent a car and drive to Benita Springs
- 9:39Speaker 1: to kill her, that you have to give him some money.
- 9:41Speaker 1: They got to get snacks and gas and you know,
- 9:43Speaker 1: because they're going on a road trip.
- 9:44Speaker 2: Yeah, and cash is very traceable, so you want to
- 9:46Speaker 2: put it in the check.
- 9:47Speaker 1: For you definitely want to use a check. Yes, So
- 9:56Speaker 1: the actual murder takes place June twenty seventh to twenty
- 9:59Speaker 1: eighth of twenty fifteen. Mark orchestrated an alibi. He was
- 10:04Speaker 1: pretty good about orchestrating this alibi. He arranged for the
- 10:07Speaker 1: whole family, including himself, and both of their daughters, who
- 10:10Speaker 1: are aged eight and eleven at the time, to travel
- 10:13Speaker 1: to Connecticut to visit Teresa's family.
- 10:16Speaker 2: That's nice of him, well, to remove them from the
- 10:19Speaker 2: potential crime scene.
- 10:20Speaker 1: Well, he's removing everyone. But no, that's nice of him
- 10:23Speaker 1: to visit her family. He's like, Hey, that's how he
- 10:24Speaker 1: gets it. Ray, He's like, hey, let's go visit your family.
- 10:27Speaker 1: I would love to hang out with your.
- 10:29Speaker 2: Boh he went to Yeah, he went. He's creating an alibi.
- 10:32Speaker 2: That's what he's doing, right, that's how he sent the kids.
- 10:34Speaker 1: No, he and Teresa and the two kids go to
- 10:37Speaker 1: visit her family in Connecticut.
- 10:39Speaker 2: However, if there's a time to get out of the house,
- 10:42Speaker 2: it's doing It might be when your spouse is going
- 10:44Speaker 2: to get murdered.
- 10:45Speaker 1: But he does it because he knows Teresa would have
- 10:47Speaker 1: to return home to Florida a day early to get
- 10:49Speaker 1: back to her patients. So he plans for him and
- 10:53Speaker 1: the kids to stay longer.
- 10:54Speaker 2: Oh, Connecticut, so they have a nice family trip, right,
- 10:58Speaker 2: visiting her family. Right, he probably was more than pleasant
- 11:02Speaker 2: to her, right, and he probably made sure he created
- 11:05Speaker 2: lots of trails to show how loving they are to
- 11:09Speaker 2: each other, right, and then he sends her back home
- 11:11Speaker 2: and stays with the kids. Right.
- 11:12Speaker 1: He knows that she has to go home to work
- 11:15Speaker 1: because she's the breadwinner, and he stays in Connecticut longer
- 11:19Speaker 1: with the kids.
- 11:20Speaker 2: That's why I'm saying, probably it's evil.
- 11:22Speaker 1: He probably pitches it to her like, let's go see your.
- 11:25Speaker 2: Family, right right, I thought you're talking about the kids.
- 11:28Speaker 2: But yeah, you already told her is why would she
- 11:30Speaker 2: say no? Right?
- 11:31Speaker 1: So they all end up going to Connecticut. She comes
- 11:33Speaker 1: home a day early. He's not even in the state
- 11:36Speaker 1: when this murder takes twice.
- 11:38Speaker 2: And oh, I guess he'll stay because it's the kids
- 11:40Speaker 2: can stay longer. Right.
- 11:41Speaker 1: On the morning of June twenty seventh of twenty fifteen,
- 11:44Speaker 1: Curtis Wayne Wright rents a car in Hillsboro, Missouri. He
- 11:47Speaker 1: picks up his friend Jimmy Ray Rogers, and the two
- 11:50Speaker 1: of them drive over one thousand miles south to Benita Springs, Florida.
- 11:55Speaker 1: Along the way, they stop at a Walmart. This is
- 11:59Speaker 1: what they need the money for.
- 12:00Speaker 2: Right. They don't ever go to a Walmart.
- 12:02Speaker 1: They always go to Walmart.
- 12:05Speaker 2: Well, I guess now it's Amazon, right now, A Coleburger.
- 12:07Speaker 2: Did he ordered his kit on Amazon?
- 12:09Speaker 1: Yeah, and so did David, that singer we talked about
- 12:11Speaker 1: that murdered the girl Celeste in the bathtub. Remember he ordered,
- 12:15Speaker 1: he ordered, well, he tried to use a different name.
- 12:18Speaker 1: He ordered chainsaws from Amazon Prime.
- 12:22Speaker 2: Right, got to do it right away.
- 12:23Speaker 1: So along the way, Curtis Wayne Wright and his buddy
- 12:27Speaker 1: Jimmy Ray Rogers stop at a Walmart and purchase Do
- 12:30Speaker 1: you want to guess what they purchase?
- 12:32Speaker 2: You want to just well, I don't know. Rope, doc tape,
- 12:36Speaker 2: body bag. Yes, they purchase rat poison. Well, they beat
- 12:42Speaker 2: her with a hammer.
- 12:44Speaker 1: They purchased trash bags, wet wipes, black towels, black shoes,
- 12:49Speaker 1: you know Walmart shoes.
- 12:50Speaker 2: Have an aisle with all these things. Kids, and then
- 12:53Speaker 2: everyone that goes there. At the end of the day,
- 12:54Speaker 2: they send the video to police officers the police station
- 12:58Speaker 2: and say, this is it tally of who walked down
- 13:01Speaker 2: his aisle?
- 13:01Speaker 1: Okay, they should just have a murder kit aisle. Yes, yeah,
- 13:04Speaker 1: and just with lots of security cameras on it.
- 13:06Speaker 2: No, no, pretend there's no security cameras. Say no cameras allowed, Oh,
- 13:10Speaker 2: no cameras, but really hide him in there.
- 13:11Speaker 1: Yeah, hidden cameras and the murder kit asle perfect. You
- 13:15Speaker 1: should pitch that.
- 13:16Speaker 2: So all the walmartd so it's genius, it's genius.
- 13:21Speaker 1: Okay. So they purchased trash bags, wet wipes, black towels,
- 13:24Speaker 1: black shoes, and a lock picking kit. Who sells a
- 13:28Speaker 1: lock picking Why don't they just get the key from him? No,
- 13:31Speaker 1: because he's not he doesn't want to be involved.
- 13:33Speaker 2: He's on vacation. Oh, he's like, I don't want to know.
- 13:35Speaker 1: He can't give him him a key.
- 13:38Speaker 2: He give him money in the form of a check.
- 13:41Speaker 1: Yeah, but I guess he was thinking that he he
- 13:43Speaker 1: what he was going to have some excuse for that,
- 13:45Speaker 1: like he owed him money. I don't know.
- 13:47Speaker 2: Did he teach him how to pick a lock?
- 13:49Speaker 1: They have a lock picking kit. I'm sure they can
- 13:51Speaker 1: figure it out. There's probably directions, there's.
- 13:52Speaker 2: Well, there's no there's different I followed the lock picking
- 13:55Speaker 2: lawyer okay on YouTube you doo, yes, and there's different
- 13:59Speaker 2: ways to pick a lot. You have to learn how
- 14:00Speaker 2: to pick a lot. It's fascinating.
- 14:02Speaker 1: Actually, I learned something new about you every day. Picking
- 14:06Speaker 1: voice is so bizarre.
- 14:08Speaker 2: He's awesome. He sells. He sells lock picking kits, and
- 14:12Speaker 2: I was planning on getting one.
- 14:14Speaker 1: Really, yeah, and whose luck are you going to pick?
- 14:17Speaker 2: Whoever? Whosever I want?
- 14:19Speaker 1: I don't know, Oh my goodness. In the early morning
- 14:22Speaker 1: hours of June twenty eighth, the two men enter the
- 14:25Speaker 1: Severs home. They're actually waiting for her, so they know
- 14:28Speaker 1: what time. They obviously know what time. Right, They've been
- 14:30Speaker 1: communicating with Mark Sievers. And I'll tell you how they communicate.
- 14:34Speaker 1: They have burner phones. And the police end up finding
- 14:37Speaker 1: this out later.
- 14:38Speaker 2: See, that could be in the Walmart isle too.
- 14:40Speaker 1: You are still in that Walmart issle, aren't you. You
- 14:42Speaker 1: are just stalking it in your head right now. You're
- 14:44Speaker 1: thinking of all the things you're gonna What are you
- 14:46Speaker 1: gonna have? Their bleach and black trash bags, definitely a
- 14:50Speaker 1: mini plastic pool.
- 14:52Speaker 2: Chainsaws, Yeah, what else is it?
- 14:54Speaker 1: Loves? Oh, you need zip ties in that aisle.
- 14:58Speaker 2: Cable ties, cable ties right.
- 15:00Speaker 1: Anyway, the way that they had been communicating was they
- 15:02Speaker 1: had burner phones. And the police never did find the
- 15:06Speaker 1: burner phones, but they knew they had burner phones because
- 15:08Speaker 1: every time they switched when they were regular texting, and
- 15:11Speaker 1: they switched to the burner phones. They would always use
- 15:14Speaker 1: the keyword other, and then that's when they would switch
- 15:17Speaker 1: and start communicating on the burner phones.
- 15:19Speaker 2: And they probably said other like five hundred times, probably
- 15:21Speaker 2: like stop talking other. They should have add something more subtle,
- 15:27Speaker 2: like I need to go now, I need to take
- 15:29Speaker 2: my nap yeah, or my medicine. I have to take
- 15:32Speaker 2: my medicine now, wink wink.
- 15:34Speaker 1: And no, they just did other. So obviously they know
- 15:38Speaker 1: what time her flight lands. They know that she's supposed
- 15:41Speaker 1: to arrive home around midnight, so they're waiting for her
- 15:44Speaker 1: in the house. She pulls in after she comes back
- 15:46Speaker 1: from this trip. She goes into the garage.
- 15:48Speaker 2: Oh wait, this is returning from the trip.
- 15:50Speaker 1: Yeah, she's returning from the trip.
- 15:52Speaker 2: Okay, remember she comes home. But I thought maybe she
- 15:54Speaker 2: went to work or something. So she's just coming home
- 15:56Speaker 2: from trip.
- 15:57Speaker 1: Like, she has her luggage with her. She just landed.
- 15:59Speaker 1: There's actually security footage of her, and they found security
- 16:02Speaker 1: footage of her landing in the airport and walking through
- 16:05Speaker 1: the airport alone with her luggage. She drives home, she
- 16:09Speaker 1: knows she's alone. She enters the house and right when
- 16:12Speaker 1: she comes into the kitchen, they attack her with a hammer.
- 16:17Speaker 1: In the early morning hours of June twenty eighth, the
- 16:19Speaker 1: two men enter the sever's home. They beat Teresa to
- 16:21Speaker 1: death with a hammer, striking her seventeen times. Then they
- 16:25Speaker 1: leave and drive back to Missouri. Mark received a call down.
- 16:28Speaker 2: I don't mean to be gruesome, but if you're going
- 16:32Speaker 2: to kind of murder, why would you do it in
- 16:34Speaker 2: the way that leads the most amount of DNA throughout
- 16:36Speaker 2: the entire room.
- 16:37Speaker 1: Well, I don't think these two are very intelligent. They went,
- 16:39Speaker 1: they went to they rented a car, probably in their
- 16:42Speaker 1: own name. They use burner phones, and then they took
- 16:46Speaker 1: then they went to Walmart and they have them on
- 16:47Speaker 1: security camera, and they know what they purchased. I mean,
- 16:50Speaker 1: these are not brilliant, you know hitmen.
- 16:52Speaker 2: Well I figured out how to pick a lock.
- 16:54Speaker 1: Yeah, they did. They picked the lock to get in. Actually,
- 16:58Speaker 1: it's actually when I watched the document on it, they
- 17:00Speaker 1: said that the door was left unlocked and so they
- 17:03Speaker 1: could just walk in. So I don't know if they
- 17:05Speaker 1: had to pick a I don't know if that was inaccurate,
- 17:07Speaker 1: or they had to pick the lock, or maybe they
- 17:09Speaker 1: thought they had to pick a lock, but it ended
- 17:10Speaker 1: up being that they just were able to walk into
- 17:12Speaker 1: the house like a side door.
- 17:14Speaker 2: It's terrible.
- 17:15Speaker 1: Mark received a call that morning telling him that his
- 17:18Speaker 1: wife had been found dead. He and the girls flew
- 17:20Speaker 1: home from Connecticut. Initially, investigators found no obvious suspect. Mark
- 17:26Speaker 1: had a seemingly airtight alibi, and when they questioned him,
- 17:30Speaker 1: he put on a show of emotions. Have you seen this.
- 17:33Speaker 2: I walked into the room when you were watching, Oh
- 17:35Speaker 2: my gosh, and and the way he was reacting. I
- 17:38Speaker 2: thought like it was his reaction because he got caught
- 17:42Speaker 2: or something. Oh, it's I can't he hold on. I
- 17:45Speaker 2: saw him. I walked in and he was in like
- 17:47Speaker 2: an interrogation.
- 17:47Speaker 1: Room, right, they bring him into it.
- 17:48Speaker 2: And he was physical. He was oh like slamming the table,
- 17:53Speaker 2: grazing his fist, he was, and hands on his head
- 17:58Speaker 2: and just like almost like he wanted to be eat
- 18:00Speaker 2: someone up. And I was like, I thought, didn't I
- 18:02Speaker 2: say something like oh, yeah, like you know, he's regretting
- 18:05Speaker 2: the murder, so he's like suffering, right, And then you're like,
- 18:08Speaker 2: you know it's an act. He's faking it. Yeah, he
- 18:11Speaker 2: didn't commit the murder. Well, he did, well, not at
- 18:14Speaker 2: his own with his own hands.
- 18:15Speaker 1: No, but he he no, he in this in this room.
- 18:19Speaker 1: They have him recorded and they show him when he
- 18:21Speaker 1: finds out that you know that his wife has a murder,
- 18:23Speaker 1: and they bring him in to question him. It's ridiculous.
- 18:27Speaker 2: I mean, well they leave him, right they do? They
- 18:30Speaker 2: leave him. See what he'll do?
- 18:31Speaker 1: Yeah, Well he's just like why, Theresa, why And he's like, oh,
- 18:36Speaker 1: he's so over the time.
- 18:37Speaker 2: I couldn't have come home the same been me.
- 18:41Speaker 1: He's so he's like pounding his fist and he's like,
- 18:44Speaker 1: god no, it's just so dramatic and the top. I
- 18:47Speaker 1: can't even I couldn't even think.
- 18:49Speaker 2: I went to the room to tell you to turn
- 18:50Speaker 2: it down because he was so obnoxious.
- 18:52Speaker 1: It was obnoxious. The breakthrough came with a phone tip
- 19:03Speaker 1: and GPS data. Police found an old GPS device and
- 19:07Speaker 1: the rental car connected to Wright, who someone suggested they
- 19:11Speaker 1: look into. So I guess someone suggests that they look
- 19:13Speaker 1: into his friend, Curtis Wright.
- 19:14Speaker 2: That's random though, because it's like, hey, she has a
- 19:16Speaker 2: friend one thousand miles away.
- 19:18Speaker 1: It looks just like him.
- 19:18Speaker 2: Yeah, you might want to look into him.
- 19:21Speaker 1: So then they find the rental car that was connected
- 19:24Speaker 1: to them that they rented, and then they find the
- 19:26Speaker 1: GPS data on the rental car. Forensic analysts recovered deleted
- 19:31Speaker 1: route data from the device, which showed a round trip
- 19:34Speaker 1: from Missouri directly to the sever's home in Benita Springs.
- 19:38Speaker 1: The GPS was linked to an email account connected to
- 19:41Speaker 1: Jimmy Ray Rogers.
- 19:42Speaker 2: These are not They also opted in the rental agreement
- 19:45Speaker 2: for a dash cam.
- 19:47Speaker 1: These are not bright murderers by any stretch of the imagination.
- 19:53Speaker 1: They did try to delete the GPS information though, well
- 19:56Speaker 1: I don't know. It said it was deleted, but it
- 19:58Speaker 1: said they found they found it, so.
- 20:00Speaker 2: They did delete it. It's just it wasn't Yeah, it's
- 20:02Speaker 2: still it's like.
- 20:03Speaker 1: It's like every time you have a case where people
- 20:05Speaker 1: go through their cell phone, they're trying to delete.
- 20:06Speaker 2: Remember we did a case even worse when you deleted
- 20:08Speaker 2: it because it's like, oh, you didn't want someone to
- 20:10Speaker 2: see this. I mean, when they hook up a phone
- 20:12Speaker 2: to look search it, I bet the first thing they
- 20:15Speaker 2: do is going to the deleted files.
- 20:17Speaker 1: Right like just bypass everything else, you go right to
- 20:19Speaker 1: the deleted files. It reminds me of when this was
- 20:22Speaker 1: until Death Do Us Part Episode where we did. It
- 20:25Speaker 1: wasn't the milkshake murder. It was the root beer murder.
- 20:27Speaker 1: I remember. It was the mom and the daughter and
- 20:29Speaker 1: they were plotting to poison because the.
- 20:33Speaker 2: Daughter already killed her husband, we think, right, So she's
- 20:35Speaker 2: telling them mom how to do it right, and they.
- 20:37Speaker 1: Were doing it with they were gonna make root beer floats,
- 20:39Speaker 1: and they were putting the poison and the root beer floats.
- 20:41Speaker 1: And remember when they she was deleting like while the
- 20:44Speaker 1: police were I believe they were questioning her in the
- 20:46Speaker 1: investigation room. She's like going through her phone and deleting
- 20:49Speaker 1: her text messages with the daughter. But we're just like,
- 20:51Speaker 1: you know, you can pull up deleted messaging, you.
- 20:54Speaker 2: Can smash the phone. It's probably recovera it's just more work.
- 20:59Speaker 1: Surveillance footage filled in more gaps. The two men were
- 21:02Speaker 1: captured on camera at a gas station and at the
- 21:05Speaker 1: walmart where they bought their supplies. The final nail in
- 21:08Speaker 1: the coffin came when the investigators spoke to Roger's girlfriend.
- 21:12Speaker 1: This is Jimmy Ray Rodgers. This was the This is
- 21:14Speaker 1: the second second hired person who revealed that he had
- 21:19Speaker 1: confessed to her that he had killed someone in Florida
- 21:22Speaker 1: with a hammer. He had also made her throw his
- 21:25Speaker 1: coveralls out of a moving car window. She actually remembered
- 21:29Speaker 1: exactly where it was on the side of the road,
- 21:31Speaker 1: and she took investigators to the exact spot and they
- 21:35Speaker 1: recovered the coveralls and there were fibers and fabrics coveralls.
- 21:41Speaker 1: They probably put those suits like.
- 21:45Speaker 2: Suit yeah and so, but then he took it off
- 21:49Speaker 2: after they murdered her.
- 21:50Speaker 1: Right, well, they murdered her with a hammer. Can you
- 21:51Speaker 1: imagine how much blood splash? Like?
- 21:54Speaker 2: Their choice of murder was not ideal.
- 21:56Speaker 1: No, they didn't even stabbing.
- 21:59Speaker 2: I feel like would be us strangling.
- 22:02Speaker 1: I don't know. But they chose a hammer. Can you imagine?
- 22:04Speaker 1: Just and they've hit her seventeen times. I mean they
- 22:07Speaker 1: had they were probably covered in blood. So they had
- 22:09Speaker 1: these cover all things on. So then he takes it
- 22:12Speaker 1: off and throws it on the side of the road.
- 22:14Speaker 1: The girlfriend remembers exactly where it was and takes investigators
- 22:18Speaker 1: to it. The fabric match material found on Teresa's body.
- 22:22Speaker 1: In August of twenty fifteen, both Wright and Rogers were
- 22:26Speaker 1: arrested in Missouri. All Right, Curtis Wayne Wright, this is
- 22:30Speaker 1: the friend of.
- 22:30Speaker 2: My so, but for that person saying look at Curtis,
- 22:33Speaker 2: it probably wouldn't have been traced back to them. I mean,
- 22:38Speaker 2: we don't maybe, but there was nothing else leading to
- 22:40Speaker 2: them though they witness name.
- 22:41Speaker 1: It right, right. So there was someone that came forward
- 22:44Speaker 1: that said look into Curtis. So that was the first tip.
- 22:47Speaker 1: Then when they look into Curtis, they find the rental car,
- 22:51Speaker 1: which obviously he rented in his own name. Then they
- 22:54Speaker 1: find the GPS evidence. They know they have the burner phones,
- 22:57Speaker 1: but they never recovered the actual burner phones Curtis. Wayne
- 23:00Speaker 1: Wright ends up flipping on his friend Mark and told
- 23:04Speaker 1: investigators that the entire murder had been orchestrated by his
- 23:07Speaker 1: childhood best friend, Mark Severs. He said Mark had approached
- 23:11Speaker 1: him at a wedding in Missouri and confided in him
- 23:14Speaker 1: to his marital problems and paid him to have Teresa killed.
- 23:20Speaker 1: I guess he claimed that he was going to pay
- 23:21Speaker 1: him one hundred thousand dollars, but I know the defense
- 23:24Speaker 1: uses this as an argument and trial and says, well,
- 23:27Speaker 1: if he was going to pay him a hundred thousand dollars,
- 23:28Speaker 1: there was fifty thousand dollars in cash in the house.
- 23:31Speaker 1: In a safe and he never told him to take
- 23:34Speaker 1: that fifty thousand dollars in cash. I think what he did.
- 23:39Speaker 1: I think what he did was say, once he got
- 23:41Speaker 1: the insurance money from her death.
- 23:43Speaker 2: I'll cut you, yeah, that he would get another check.
- 23:46Speaker 1: All right, you a check from our business account.
- 23:48Speaker 2: Yeah, so I can expense it, he said. So.
- 23:52Speaker 1: Wright's testimony became the backbone. This is Curtis Wayne Wright.
- 23:55Speaker 1: His testimony became the backbone of the case against Mark.
- 23:59Speaker 1: In December of two, twenty fifteen, Mark Severs was arrested
- 24:02Speaker 1: and charged with first degree murder as the mastermind behind
- 24:06Speaker 1: Teresa's Sever's death. A Curtis Wayne Wright cooperated with prosecutors
- 24:12Speaker 1: and pleaded guilty. He took a plea deal obviously obviously right, Yeah,
- 24:16Speaker 1: in exchange for his testimony against Rogers and Mark Severs.
- 24:20Speaker 1: He received a twenty five year prison sentence. If it's
- 24:23Speaker 1: twenty five years, that means he'll be eligible for pearl
- 24:25Speaker 1: probably in half that time.
- 24:27Speaker 2: No, in twenty five years. That's why it's twenty five
- 24:30Speaker 2: to life.
- 24:31Speaker 1: But he didn't get twenty five to life. He got
- 24:33Speaker 1: twenty five years. Oh, so I'm saying probability. So then
- 24:39Speaker 1: he's well, it's a felony, so then he's probably eligible
- 24:41Speaker 1: for parol when he's served eighty five percent of the
- 24:43Speaker 1: twenty five years. Jimmy Ray Rodgers went to trial in
- 24:47Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, maintaining his innocence. The jury convicted him of
- 24:51Speaker 1: first degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.
- 24:55Speaker 1: He has since claimed innocence and sought a new trial.
- 24:59Speaker 1: Oh Jimmy, like, just give it up. Mark Sievers went
- 25:04Speaker 1: to trial on October of twenty nineteen. Curtis Wright, his
- 25:08Speaker 1: best friend, testified against him as the key cooperating witness.
- 25:12Speaker 1: On October twenty third of twenty nineteen, the jury found
- 25:16Speaker 1: Mark guilty of first degree murder and unanimously recommended the
- 25:20Speaker 1: death penalty. You know, he maintained his innocence through the
- 25:23Speaker 1: whole thing. He was even kind of cocky in court.
- 25:25Speaker 2: I felt like, so they recommend death penalty and then
- 25:29Speaker 2: it's the judge. Yeah, that then sends him death if
- 25:33Speaker 2: he hears she still chooses right.
- 25:34Speaker 1: So on January third of twenty twenty, Judge Bruce Kyle
- 25:38Speaker 1: formally sentenced Mark Sievers to death, so he's on death row.
- 25:42Speaker 1: In twenty twenty two, Mark Severs appealed his conviction and
- 25:45Speaker 1: death sentence to the Florida Supreme Court. The court upheld
- 25:49Speaker 1: both the conviction and the sentence. Mark Sievers remains on
- 25:53Speaker 1: death row where he deserves to be well.
- 25:58Speaker 2: He to be six feet under.
- 25:59Speaker 1: Yeah, for coordinating the.
- 26:02Speaker 2: Death, because he did not do anything physically. He coordinated it,
- 26:08Speaker 2: clearly he wanted it, but he did not do anything
- 26:12Speaker 2: no to actually facilitate the actual physical murder.
- 26:16Speaker 1: Yeah. The thing is when you have a witness that
- 26:18Speaker 1: lied initially, then you have to convince the jury that
- 26:21Speaker 1: he's not lying now right.
- 26:23Speaker 2: Right, and he's not lying. Oh yeah, I know, we
- 26:25Speaker 2: gave him a lighter sentence, but he's not lying right exactly.
- 26:28Speaker 2: It's tough.
- 26:28Speaker 1: Also, the defense used they claimed that the best friend
- 26:33Speaker 1: Curtis Wayne Right, that he was in love with Mark
- 26:36Speaker 1: Severs and that there was some kind of sexual relationship
- 26:40Speaker 1: or of infatuation and that's why he wanted to get
- 26:43Speaker 1: rid of Teresa. That was a defense that they used
- 26:45Speaker 1: that it wasn't that Mark wasn't involved in that that
- 26:47Speaker 1: like Curtis Waynwright was like it.
- 26:49Speaker 2: Was having a long distance affair.
- 26:51Speaker 1: Yeah, so there was that argument as well. Obviously it
- 26:54Speaker 1: didn't fly. So Mark Severs is where he should be
- 26:57Speaker 1: on death row again. What is the moral of the story.
- 27:02Speaker 2: That you should file for divorce instead of killing each
- 27:05Speaker 2: other again?
- 27:07Speaker 1: The public service announcement that we would.
- 27:09Speaker 2: Like to make is divorce over death.
- 27:12Speaker 1: Divorce over death. I do know that getting divorced and
- 27:15Speaker 1: dividing assets and custody and all those things people just
- 27:19Speaker 1: want to avoid it.
- 27:20Speaker 2: I feel like it's messy, but not as messy as
- 27:23Speaker 2: blood everywhere.
- 27:24Speaker 1: All right, thank you guys for listening. As always, please
- 27:26Speaker 1: follow Legally Brunette wherever you listen to podcasts, and be
- 27:30Speaker 1: sure to tell your friends and family. And also, if
- 27:32Speaker 1: you get the opportunity, please leave us a review. We'd
- 27:35Speaker 1: love to read them. Thanks for listening.