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Classroom to Crime Scene: Pamela Smart's Deadly Plot · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Strikingly beautiful, some would say, and outrageously popular. Pamela Smart
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: just seemed to have it all, and that's just the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: way things that always been for her. She was born
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: on August sixteenth, nineteen sixty seven, in Coral Gables, Florida,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: but she and her family moved to Deary, New Hampshire
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: when Pamela was in the eighth grade. There she went
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to high school, where she became a ring leading cheerleader
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: with an always sunny disposition. Pamela was always surrounded by
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: friends and always seemed to be the center of attention,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and that's exactly how things were when she went to
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: college as well. Now studying communications at the University of Florida,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Pamela became the host of her very own radio program.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Pamela had gone from being the sweet and vivacious cheerleader
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: to the maiden of Metal. A huge Van Halen fan,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Pamela played their music all through her show and even
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: got a custom license plate for her car that simply
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: read Haylen. She was just as popular as ever, and
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: she was still very much the center of everyone's attention.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: But for Pamela, it still wasn't enough. She wanted something more.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: She wanted to be more. What Pamela really wanted was
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: to be on TV, and it was her big dream
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to become an anchor. Her degree in communications would set
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: her on the right track to do just that. But
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: when she had one year left to finish her studies,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: she came across a potential hiccup in that plan. Charming,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: long haired and handsome Greg Smart was a metalhead who
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: was just two years older than Pamela. Their paths crossed
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: in New Hampshire when pam was visiting her parents for
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the Christmas holidays, and that was that. It was one
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: of those instant connections, one of those love at first
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: sight and the consequences be damned sort of situations. But
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: her new relationship with Greg put Pamela at a crossroads.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: She still had to go back to Florida to finish
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: up her degree if she ever wanted to fulfill her
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: dreams of becoming a news anchor, but Greg was based
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: in New Hampshire. Could Pam really give up everything she'd
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: been working for just for the possibility that things would
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: work out with her new boyfriend. Lucky for Pam she
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: never had to find out. Finding himself at the same crossroads,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Greg picked up and moved to Florida rather than face
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the possibility of losing Pam. The young couple lived together
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: while Pam finished up her education, and then they got
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: married a year later. With their whole futures ahead of them,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Pam and Gregg then settled back down in New Hampshire
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: to work on building a life together. They bought a house,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Greg and Pam got a dog. She named it Haylen,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: after her favorite band. Greg then got a job at
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: his father's insurance company. He cut off his long hair
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: and wore a suit and tie to work every day,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: and Pam found herself in a situation where her husband
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: looked nothing like the man she'd married. Remember she still
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: the maiden of Metal, and the two started bickering all
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: the time. According to Pam, Gregg began cheating on her
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: during the first year they were married, but it's difficult
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: to say if that's true or not with any degree
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: of certainty. But what we do know is by months
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: seven of their marriage, Pam and Gregg's whirlwind romance had
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: hit the rocks. The two of them were still married,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: but growing further and further apart every day, trying to
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: make herself feel better, Pamela threw herself into her new job,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: where she was the media coordinator at Winneconnutt High School.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I feel like I mispronounced that, but let's keep moving.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: There she found herself the center of attention once again.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: The halls and corridors were filled with excited chatter as
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: people pushed and shoved to get to the front of
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: the crowds to talk to Pam. She was objectively beautiful.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: She was interesting and intelligent. She was a teacher who
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: liked the same kind of music that the students did,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: and the teenagers at the high school couldn't get enough
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: of her. Instead of spending her spare time with the
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: other teachers at the school, or even people her own age,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Pam was spending more and more time with her students.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Classes rolled over into break times and after school activities,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: and then she began volunteering in the evenings and on
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the weekends too. One student in particular stood out amongst
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the rest. Tall, lanky, and boasting a mane of long,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: dark hair, Billy Flynn went up several notches in Pam's
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: books just because his favorite band was also Van Halen.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: The next thing anyone knew. Billy and Pam were working
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: very closely together through the long winter nights making a
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: music video for school project. According to some accounts, one
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: day in February nineteen ninety, when Billy was still only
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: fifteen years old and Pamela was twenty two, she turned
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: around to him and asked, do you think about me?
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Because I think about you all the time. The seal
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: was broken, charged whispers turned into stolen moments, and about
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: two weeks later, Pam had taken Billy's virginity. She then
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: strung him along with more sexual favors and platitudes, But
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: shortly after that she began to tighten the reins. On
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: the one hand, she was giving Billy pictures of herself
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: posing in only her lingerie. On the other, she was
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: telling him that they had to end their relationship because
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: she was in love with their husband, Greg. Then, in
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: stolen moments filled with heated passion, she would tell Billy
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: that Greg abused her and that she feared the only
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: way they could ever be free of him would be
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: if someone killed him. If she tried to divorce Greg,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: he would take the house, the car, and maybe even
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: her dog, Halen, And then her life would be ruined.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: The trap was set. The only thing left to do
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: was to wait. On May first, nineteen ninety, just a
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: few months after Pam began sleeping with one of her students,
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  Speaker 1: she came home to find greg dead. Her home had
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: been ransacked, and lying face down in the foyer was
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: her husband. He'd been shot in the back of the head.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: What at first looked like in attempted burglary that had
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: ended in disaster quickly morphed into a murder investigation, and
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the heart of it was Pamela herself. Detective found her
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: cold and callous, not at all like a grieving widow
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  Speaker 1: who had just married her husband only about a year ago.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: But what they lacked was proof that Pam had anything
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: to do with it. Her alibi was air tight and
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: placed her across town at the time of the murder,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: and so the investigation stalled to a halt. That was
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: until a tip over the phone named a high school
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: student as a witness. Cecilia Pierce was in the inner
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: circle and allegedly knew about a murder plot to kill
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Gregory Smart, But before the investigators could interview her, they
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: found themselves chasing up another lead. Rumors about the murder
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: had been circling around the school like wildfire, and one
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: parent was more concerned about them than the others. Vance
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Latimer Junior, who usually just went by Junior, was very
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: good friends with Billy, and even though he didn't own
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: a gun himself, his father did. With the school absolutely
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: buzzing with rumors and speculations that Greg had been shot
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: in the back of the head, Jr's father went to
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: check his gun just to put his own mind at ease.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: He was shocked to find that his gun had been
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: cleaned within an inch of its life. Suspecting that he
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: was actually in possession of the murder weapon, Jr's father
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: took it down to the police station and handed it in.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: While the gun was in for processing, investigators closed in
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: on Cecilia. She was reluctant to speak at first. She
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: considered herself special to call herself friends with Pamela Smart,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: But with the threat of being arrested herself looming over
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: her head, Cecilia cracked. She confessed to knowing about a
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: murder plot to kill Greg Smart, and she was willing
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: to wear a wire to record her conversations with the
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: mastermind behind it. During these recordings, Pam can be heard
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: talking about the plan to kill her husband, and she
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: can be heard coaching Cecilia on what to say if
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: investigators approach her. You'd be better off just lying, she says.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: A few months later, Pam found herself in the car
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: park at the school and she was surrounded by officers.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: What's up, she asked one of them. Well, Pam, I
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: have some good news and I have some bad news.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: The good news is we've solved the murder of your husband.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: The bad news is you're under arrest. In court, Pam, Billy,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: and three other teenage boys, including Jr. Faced charges. Pam
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: admitted to having an affair with the miner, but claimed
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: she had no idea that Billy or anyone else had
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: been planning on killing her husband. The trial quickly derailed
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: into a case of he said, she said, but the
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: prosecution painted a clear picture in everyone's minds. Pam had
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: manipulated young and impressionable students, and she'd had them to
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: do her dirty work for her. She was found guilty
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: of being an accomplice to first degree murder. She was
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: given a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: possibility of parole. Her appeals process actually ran out in
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: March of twenty twenty three, when she lost her final appeal.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: She will now officially spend the rest of her life
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: behind bars. Billy Flynn was found guilty of second degree
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: murder and was sentenced to life without the possibility of
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: parole for forty years, but with the possibility that his
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: sentence could be deferred to twelve years if he maintained
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: good behavior. He was granted parole in March twenty fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: just a few days after the twenty fifth anniversary of
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Greg's murder. Another boy named Patrick Randall was found guilty
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: of the same charges and received a similar sentence with
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: a similar release date. Jr. Was found guilty of being
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: an accomplice to second degree murder, and he was released
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: from prison in two thousand and five. Raymond Fowler, who
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: waited in the car during the murder, was released in
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: two thousand and three. That is ten minute murder for
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• 12:02
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  Speaker 1: It's not really embarrassing. I guess a lot of us
• 12:09
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• 12:12
  Speaker 1: strangest things like today. Now, keep in mind, before I
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: say this, I'm not a dancer. I know that that
• 12:18
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• 12:22
  Speaker 1: not a dancer. But I watched the choreography for the
• 12:25
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• 12:29
  Speaker 1: if that's what the song is called. If I watched
• 12:33
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• 12:36
  Speaker 1: watched the original and I watch the behind the scenes
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: videos of Janet learning it, doing it on tour, and
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: then finally, like everyday people doing that same dance, and
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: I ended up with a guy that was just absolutely
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: killing it in the cold ale at the grocery store.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: And if you don't know what I'm talking about, just
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: google dance break in Janet Jackson's If you're gonna spend
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: some time watching that, probably you're welcome. But that's kind
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: of an answer. I hyperfixate on things, and I don't
• 13:02
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• 13:03
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• 13:06
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• 13:09
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• 13:11
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• 13:13
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• 13:17
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• 13:21
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