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Caught On Camera: The Secret Inside Carly's Room · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

0:03
Speaker 1: Let me take you to a cold day in March
0:05
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four. Picture a mother, Ashley Smiley, She's
0:11
Speaker 1: a high school math teacher, getting news that no parent
0:14
Speaker 1: wants to hear. Something disturbing is happening in her very
0:18
Speaker 1: own home. A concerned student of hers who's also a
0:22
Speaker 1: close friend of her daughter, Carly, pulls her aside with
0:26
Speaker 1: a gut wrenching revelation. What Ashley found out that day
0:30
Speaker 1: set off a chain of events that no one could
0:32
Speaker 1: have seen coming. But trust me, this story is about
0:36
Speaker 1: to take a dark and shocking turn. It all began
0:48
Speaker 1: on March nineteenth, twenty twenty four, only hours before she
0:53
Speaker 1: was due to come home that evening, forty year old
0:56
Speaker 1: Ashley Smiley stood having a very difficult converse. Station in
1:01
Speaker 1: front of her was not only a student of Northeast
1:04
Speaker 1: rank And High School in Mississippi, the very same high
1:07
Speaker 1: school that Ashley worked in as a math teacher, but
1:10
Speaker 1: also he was one of her daughter's good friends. This
1:13
Speaker 1: fellow student and friend, full of concern over Ashley's daughter,
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Speaker 1: Carly Gregg, then proceeded to tell Ashley what he'd seen
1:21
Speaker 1: inside Carle's room. Ashley then shocked and more than likely
1:26
Speaker 1: incomplete disbelief, kept what she learned to herself until she
1:30
Speaker 1: got home from school that very same evening. She then
1:34
Speaker 1: went into Carly's room, only to discover that everything she'd
1:38
Speaker 1: heard that day had been the truth. Inside Carly's room
1:43
Speaker 1: was an extensive stash of marijuana, vape pins, and several
1:48
Speaker 1: burner phones. After seeing this same horde of questionable items
1:52
Speaker 1: for himself, her friend had become so concerned for Carle's
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Speaker 1: safety that he felt like he had to share it
1:59
Speaker 1: with her mother, Ashley, And now that Ashley had verified
2:03
Speaker 1: the story for herself, she had no choice but to
2:06
Speaker 1: confront her daughter and get to the bottom of the
2:08
Speaker 1: fact that Carly was quite possibly and potentially abusing drugs. Carly,
2:15
Speaker 1: now only fifteen years old, had long suffered with her
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Speaker 1: mental health. She was known to have frequent bounce with depression,
2:23
Speaker 1: but maybe more alarmingly, also, she was known to complain
2:27
Speaker 1: about hearing voices. According to some accounts, she'd received treatment
2:32
Speaker 1: for these auditory hallucinations as a child, and even had
2:36
Speaker 1: gone to equine assisted therapy, where specialists tried to help
2:40
Speaker 1: people work through their trauma with horses and horseback riding.
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Speaker 1: According to other sources. When Ashley questioned Carly over the
2:48
Speaker 1: stash in her room that day, Carly was on a
2:51
Speaker 1: new medication that left her feeling, in her own words, numb.
2:57
Speaker 1: Caught off guard, and with her secrets now now in
3:00
Speaker 1: the open, Carly took matters into her own hands in
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Speaker 1: Nanny Kam like footage. Video surveillance of the inside of
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Speaker 1: the house showed Carly walking around, being especially cautious to
3:13
Speaker 1: never turn her back on the cameras themselves. She knew
3:17
Speaker 1: the cameras were on and recording. Why she was doing
3:20
Speaker 1: this remained a mystery until Carly stormed into her mother's
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Speaker 1: room and did something shocking. Hidden behind Carly's back that
3:30
Speaker 1: evening was a gun, and when she burst into Ashley's room,
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Speaker 1: Carley opened fire. The footage then captures the shocking sound
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Speaker 1: of three gun shots, followed by the haunting screams of Ashley.
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Speaker 1: It turned out that even though at least one of
3:46
Speaker 1: those shots had hit Ashley directly in the face, she
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Speaker 1: did not instantly die. While her mother lay bleeding out
3:54
Speaker 1: and succumbing to her injuries, Carly can be seen returning
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Speaker 1: to the kitchen, the gun still hidden behind her back.
4:02
Speaker 1: She then swipes up on her mother's phone and begins
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Speaker 1: to lay the trap for the next victim, Ashley and
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Speaker 1: Kevin Gregg, Carly's biological father, had been divorced for some
4:14
Speaker 1: time now, but Ashley and Carley both shared a home
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Speaker 1: with Ashley's new husband and Carly's stepfather, Heath Smiley. Heath
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Speaker 1: was currently at work, but Carly knew that she would
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Speaker 1: be caught the moment Heath came home and discovered what
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Speaker 1: she had done. The footage then shows Carley perched on
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Speaker 1: a stool in the kitchen, pretending to be her mother
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Speaker 1: as she sends Heath messages from Ashley's phone. When will
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Speaker 1: you be home honey, the text read, but Heath had
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Speaker 1: no idea that it was actually Carly on the other
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Speaker 1: end or what awaited him in his own home. In
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Speaker 1: the meantime, while Carly waited for Heath to get back
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Speaker 1: home from work, she did the unthinkable again. She lured
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Speaker 1: a friend to the house, claiming that there was emergency.
5:01
Speaker 1: The friend arrived only to be met with Carly at
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Speaker 1: the door, asking her if she was squeamish around dead bodies.
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Speaker 1: My mom is in there. She went on to explain,
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Speaker 1: it's unclear if that friend believed Carly's claims at the time,
5:16
Speaker 1: but she did manage to make it away from the
5:18
Speaker 1: scene unharmed. The same, however, could not be said for
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Speaker 1: Heath Smiley himself. As Heath arrived home, he found nothing unusual.
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Speaker 1: Everything seemed quiet at first until he got to the
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Speaker 1: front door, and all hell broke loose. The gun went
5:35
Speaker 1: off in my face before the door was open, he
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Speaker 1: later said, explaining what happened to him next. As soon
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Speaker 1: as Heath opened the door just a fraction, Carly pounced.
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Speaker 1: Heath was luckier than his wife Ashley had been only
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Speaker 1: an hour or two before him. Instead of hitting him
5:52
Speaker 1: in the head or the face, Heath was shot in
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Speaker 1: the shoulder. This gave him the opportunity to fight back
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Speaker 1: and defend himself. He was still injured and ambushed, but
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Speaker 1: he managed to wrestle the gun out of Carly's hands
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Speaker 1: and stop the attack. Now that she had lost the
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Speaker 1: advantage of surprise, Carly fled the scene. Footage from the
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Speaker 1: outside of the home shows her running away towards the street.
6:16
Speaker 1: While inside, Heath gathered his senses. In a few short moments,
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Speaker 1: he had looked around and figured out what happened she
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Speaker 1: killed her mom, he told the nine one one operator
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Speaker 1: as he fought back tears. Despatchers then sent law enforcement,
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Speaker 1: who managed to find and arrest Carly a short distance
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Speaker 1: away from her home. Almost unbelievably, Heath later stood by
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Speaker 1: Carly in court instead of turning on her for killing
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Speaker 1: his wife and her own mother. Heath testified that to him,
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Speaker 1: Carly had only ever been a sweet little girl. I
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Speaker 1: never seen anybody like that, even in movies. She was
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Speaker 1: not herself, and I do not believe that she recognized me.
7:01
Speaker 1: Is how he later described the moment that Carly attacked
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Speaker 1: him to the courts. He then went on to say
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Speaker 1: that her actions had not impacted their relationship. He claimed
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Speaker 1: that they still talked daily, and then he asked for mercy,
7:15
Speaker 1: saying that he believed that Carly had been ill at
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Speaker 1: the time of the murder. Psychiatrist doctor Andrew Clark also
7:22
Speaker 1: addressed the courts and coroborated Heath's testimony. He claimed that
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Speaker 1: Carly's mental health had severely declined because of the medication
7:31
Speaker 1: that she was on, and she had been at an
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Speaker 1: all time low on the day of the shooting. Quote,
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Speaker 1: and then her mother finds out she's smoking marijuana. He explained,
7:41
Speaker 1: for Carly in particular, she so cared about her mother's approval,
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Speaker 1: so for her this was a crisis. He then made
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Speaker 1: the argument that a breakdown in Carly's mental health had
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Speaker 1: led her to make the decisions she made that day.
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Speaker 1: In court, Carly faced charges of murder, attempted murder, and
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Speaker 1: tampering with evidence. She faced a potential sentence of life
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Speaker 1: in prison, but it already turned down a plea deal
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Speaker 1: where she would receive a lesser sentence. Instead, she chose
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Speaker 1: to argue that she was not guilty by reason of insanity. However,
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Speaker 1: the jury disagreed with her claims that she was insane
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Speaker 1: the evening that she killed her mother on September twentieth,
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Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. She was sentenced to life in prison
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Speaker 1: without the possibility of parole, but her defense lawyers immediately
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Speaker 1: put in an appeal. In a nine page motion, they
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Speaker 1: detailed over a dozen reasons why Carly should be granted
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Speaker 1: a new trial. They claimed that new evidence and material
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Speaker 1: has been recently discovered, which probably would produce a different
8:47
Speaker 1: result in a new trial. Her lawyers also argue that
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Speaker 1: Carly is too young to fully understand the charges against
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Speaker 1: her to make an educated decision on whether to take
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Speaker 1: a plea deal or not. They argue that this is
9:00
Speaker 1: something that the state of Mississippi recognizes itself by only
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Speaker 1: allowing people who are over the age of twenty one
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Speaker 1: to serve on a jury, even though they can vote
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Speaker 1: when they turn eighteen. We'll have to wait to see
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Speaker 1: how the results of Carly's appeals pan out, But one
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Speaker 1: person who believes that justice was actually served that day
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Speaker 1: was Carly's very own biological father, Kevin Gregg. That girl
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Speaker 1: knew right from wrong. He told the press that girl
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Speaker 1: is not insane. That was a very dumb defense if
9:31
Speaker 1: you ask me, But I wasn't involved. Nobody ever called me.
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Speaker 1: He believes that Carly is exactly where she should be,
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Speaker 1: behind bars at the Youthful Offender Unit at the Mississippi
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Speaker 1: Correctional Facility in Pearl, Mississippi. If she loses her appeals,
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Speaker 1: that is very likely where she will stay until she
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Speaker 1: turns eighteen, and then she will be moved to a stricter,
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Speaker 1: more severe prison for adults for the rest of her life.
10:08
Speaker 1: That's ten minute murder for today, brief and bingeable true crime.
10:12
Speaker 1: I'm Joe I'm the host, and thank you for listening
10:15
Speaker 1: to the podcast. If you are a brand new listener,
10:18
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10:21
Speaker 1: on social media, great me too. Make sure you follow
10:25
Speaker 1: the podcast links or in the show notes of this episode,
10:28
Speaker 1: or you can go to ten minute Murder dot com
10:31
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10:33
Speaker 1: all kinds of other cool things as it relates to
10:35
Speaker 1: the podcast, including how you can get in touch with me,
10:38
Speaker 1: which is Joe at ten minute murder dot com. And
10:43
Speaker 1: I've been reading some of your emails and I don't
10:46
Speaker 1: understand why you all like for me to talk about
10:50
Speaker 1: my pet peeves. And it's never anything serious. I mean,
10:53
Speaker 1: at least probably to you, they're not serious, but in
10:55
Speaker 1: my own mind it's a big deal, and you all,
10:58
Speaker 1: for some reason like for me to talk about that
11:00
Speaker 1: during this time in the podcast. So okay, here are
11:04
Speaker 1: a couple more things that bother me. If you go
11:07
Speaker 1: to a carnival and you get one of those big
11:10
Speaker 1: turkey legs, you see people walking around with the big
11:12
Speaker 1: turkey legs, they're looking smell delicious. That's not turkey, and
11:16
Speaker 1: that bothers me. I don't know if this is breaking
11:18
Speaker 1: news to you, but that is ham. If you don't
11:21
Speaker 1: eat ham, don't order the turkey leg at a carnival
11:23
Speaker 1: because it's probably ham. That's something I did not know.
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Speaker 1: You'll know as soon as you take a big bite
11:29
Speaker 1: of it and you'll say, this doesn't taste like any
11:31
Speaker 1: kind of turkey I've ever had. That's because it's not turkey.
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Speaker 1: It's ham. That bothers me. Something else that bothers me quickly.
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Speaker 1: People that rate things using a decimal point. Okay, you
11:41
Speaker 1: can say a half or point five. I'll give you that.
11:44
Speaker 1: If you say, well, this piece of pizza is a
11:47
Speaker 1: seven point five or it's an eight point five, I'll
11:50
Speaker 1: give you the point five. But if you hit me
11:52
Speaker 1: with a this is an eight point three, this pizza
11:56
Speaker 1: is okay, it's a six point two. What is this
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Speaker 1: scientific scale that none of us know about that you're
12:02
Speaker 1: rating things on that you think it needs to be
12:04
Speaker 1: a point one, a point nine. I don't understand. It's
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Speaker 1: a whole number or it's a half. That's it. The
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Speaker 1: pizza can't be a seven point three, be for real
12:15
Speaker 1: right now? That bothers me, all right, And that's it.
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Speaker 1: That is your episode for today. Thank you so much
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Speaker 1: for listening to ten minute Murder