Latest / The Mind of a Man / He Wanted Another Woman For His Birthday_ The Strange Case of Cain _ Claire Wilkens _True Crime Doc

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He Wanted Another Woman For His Birthday_ The Strange Case of Cain _ Claire Wilkens _True Crime Doc · The Mind of a Man

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: On a cold winter night in January 2018, a birthday
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: party at an apartment complex in Denver, Colorado turned deadly.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: After the last guest left, neighbors were awoken by a commotion, screaming,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: and maybe a door slamming. A young wife and mother
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: had been found dead in her bedroom. From the apartment
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: emerged just one individual, the distraught husband. He was confused
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and wailing. Had the noise heard across the building that
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: night been an argument that preceded the murder, or the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: cries of a grieving and innocent husband? Hi there, I'm Kevin,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: and welcome to Just Thought Lounge. Today's case begins in
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a way we have seen many times before. Suspicious Circumstances
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: a hysterical husband, and unclear recollections from witnesses. But after that,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: this case does not follow the standard pattern. We uncover
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: a surprise motive, contradictory physical evidence, and are left asking
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: how to make sense of possible clues that have more
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: than one explanation. Let's take a look. Heavy snow was
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: expected in the early morning hours of January 21, 2018,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: when police were called out to the Albion Street apartment
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: complex in Denver, Colorado. It was just before 3.30 a.m.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: when officers arrived. They were met by the woman who
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: had placed the emergency call. She was a friend of
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: a resident in the building.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Did you see anything?
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Officers were directed to Unit 105 on the ground floor,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: where a 30-year-old wife and mother lie shot on the
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: bedroom floor. The caller explained briefly to responding officers that
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: she had been at a birthday party at Apartment 105
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: earlier that night.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: And I was saying goodbye.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: To him, listening to some of his family bits, and
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: he came in and said that.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: His wife After leaving, she was visiting her friend in
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: the building when the husband of the woman burst in, hysterical,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: claiming that his wife had been alone in the bedroom
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and the gun had gone off. Hey, what's going on?
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Outside the apartment door, the friend from the building pointed
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: officers towards the inside of the home.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Where's the weapon?
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Where's the weapon, sir?
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: I don't have, I have no idea. We haven't seen
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: it yet, but you won't have to find it because
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: it's devastating.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: In the apartment, officers discovered 30-year-old Clarissa Wilkins on the
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: bedroom floor. She appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: to the right side of the head. Clarissa's distraught husband
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: was with her, holding her against him as the officers entered.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Paramedics rushed into the scene, though it was unfortunately too late.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Clarissa was declared dead at 3.28 a.m. From the apartment,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: officers escorted out her husband, 43-year-old Kane Wilkins. He was
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: taken into custody immediately due to his erratic behavior. His
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: hysterical cries asking repeatedly after the welfare of his wife
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: went unanswered. There was a gun located on the opposite
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: side of the bed from Clarissa.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: It was a.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: 40 caliber high-point handgun and sat directly in front of
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: a large gun safe. A key had been inserted into
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: the lock. In the safe, police recovered two shotguns, a.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: 22 caliber rifle, and a loaded 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: When police collected the Smith & Wesson, apparent blood was
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: observed near the entrance of the gun barrel. A spent
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: 9mm shell casing was located on the bedroom floor. near
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the spot where Clarissa's head had collapsed to the ground.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Officers at the scene also observed potential signs of a
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: scuffle in the bedroom. There was a broken picture frame
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: in the northeast corner of the room, and a laundry
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: basket and fan tipped over in this same area. Kane
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: was escorted from the back of a police cruiser to
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: just inside the doors of the buildings. where a swab
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: was taken from both of his hands to test for
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: any traces of gunpowder residue. Had he fired the gun
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: and not washed his hands, there would be traces of
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: gunpowder present.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: You tell me some answers, man. What the fuck's going
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: on with my wife? I hear a pop and I
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: run into the room and I have to.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: What the fuck is going on with my wife? I
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: got blood all over me.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: Hold on, man.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, go ahead.
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: Here.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: There's my fingers all the way open.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: A blood alcohol test was also later administered. Kane's BAC
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: was reported as well within an elevated range. His wife's
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: came back at. 294, which is considered very high at
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: over three times the legal limit.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: There's a nine millimeter SD9VE inside the house. We both
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: have fingerprints on them. Okay, turn up buddy.
• 5:57
  Speaker 7: There we go.
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Can somebody tell me what's going on with my wife?
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: Just a few minutes, okay?
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: Few minutes.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let me go sit out here in my fucking truck.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: We're going back to the car. What kind of phone
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: do you have because they found one there and they're
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: not sure if it's yours or not. In the manager's
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: department or whatever. I want to know about my fucking wife!
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: What color is your phone? I want to make sure
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: you get it back.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to make sure you get it back.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: I'm asking about my wife!
• 6:37
  Speaker 8: I know.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Clarissa Wilkins, who often went by Claire, grew up in Aurora, Colorado,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: where she graduated from Rangeview High School in 2006. Just
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: a few years later, Claire met Kane Wilkins, who was
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: 13 years her senior. He was recently divorced and father
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: to a son and younger daughter. In 2011, he and
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Claire married. They welcomed a baby girl two years later.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: According to friends, Claire lived to be a mother. and
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: it was a role that she excelled at. Both she
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: and her husband appeared pleased with their blended family. Shortly
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: after the birth of his daughter with Claire, Cain posted
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: to friends and family on Facebook, I am a blessed man.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I'm not rich. I'm not poor. We live check to
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: check as so many do. However, I have a rented roof,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: a full fridge. A wonderful job that kicks my butt
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: and leaves me eager to wake up and learn more
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: each day. My family is healthy. Thank God. May all
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: of you be as blessed as I feel every day.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Know that you all make me smile and strive to
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: be a good man every day. Love you all. By
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Kane's birthday in January 2018, he was no longer working.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Claire worked full-time managing a local Dollar Tree store. On
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: the night her mother died, Claire's daughter, then four years old,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: was staying at her grandmother's home just two blocks away.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: A canvas of the neighbors was undertaken that night. Witnesses
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: reported hearing what they thought was a woman's voice calling out, no, no, no,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: followed by a man's voice crying, get in here, now.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: The timing of these cries was not exact. though most
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: placed hearing the exchange around 3.10am, shortly before the 911
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: call was placed. One neighbor thought the yelling may have
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: been followed by a door being slammed shut. Another recalled
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: being awoken by a loud bang, which they assumed was
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: an object falling down the stairway. That resident went back
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: to sleep. The information gathered at the scene that night
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: appeared to paint a clear picture. loud screaming and door slamming,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: in conjunction with a few items in disarray in the bedroom,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: suggested the shooting was preceded by an argument and a struggle.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: This pointed to murder. Though in the dead of the night,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: neighbors' accounts of what they heard could prove ambiguous. Kane
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Wilkins was screaming repeatedly in a high-pitched tone, which neighbors
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: admitted to never hearing before. Could his voice have been
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: confused for a woman's screaming, no, no, no, after he
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: found his wife, and this is what the neighbors heard.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: The male voice calling, get in here now, could well
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: have been calls for help from Kane to his friends.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: While the GSR test results were pending, there was one
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: other potential indicator as to who had fired the gun.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: On Claire's blood-stained right hand, there was a blank spot
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: on her palm, an area clear of staining that presented
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: a distinct outline consistent with the shape and grip of
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: a handgun A good friend of the couple who lived
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: in their building had been at their party earlier that night.
• 10:06
  Speaker 9: Is everybody getting along?
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Is it just like a regular party? Was there any problems?
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: Dude, this does not make.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: How was Claire at the party?
• 10:22
  Speaker 8: Fine.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: We danced. This does not make sense.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Was Claire having drinks?
• 10:27
  Speaker 10: Yes.
• 10:28
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 10:29
  Speaker 9: And having fun and smiling and laughing and joking and
• 10:33
  Speaker 9: having a wonderful time.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: What about Kane?
• 10:36
  Speaker 8: Him too.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: After the party, he had returned to his apartment and
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: was listening to music with a friend when Kane burst
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: through his door screaming about Claire. The two friends followed
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Kane back to his unit, where they found her.
• 10:50
  Speaker 9: Claire was still breathing, and Kane had come back from
• 10:54
  Speaker 9: my apartment and.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: Was lying there screaming and.
• 10:57
  Speaker 9: Hollering on the hall, and I yelled at him for
• 11:00
  Speaker 9: him to get his ass up.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: Because she was still breathing. He was in the hallway?
• 11:04
  Speaker 9: Yes, he had come back from my apartment and went
• 11:07
  Speaker 9: screaming in the hallway, and I went over and Claire
• 11:10
  Speaker 9: was still breathing.
• 11:11
  Speaker 11: Claire was still breathing.
• 11:14
  Speaker 9: Right hand side of the bed it would have been
• 11:16
  Speaker 9: the north hand side of the bed and she was
• 11:18
  Speaker 9: still breathing and i screamed at him like just get
• 11:21
  Speaker 9: your leg trying to move get i.
• 11:23
  Speaker 11: Don't need you to cry right now i need you
• 11:25
  Speaker 11: to handle this go handle player and i made sure
• 11:28
  Speaker 11: and i and i was like where was king in
• 11:31
  Speaker 11: the hallway okay and i said you need to get
• 11:33
  Speaker 11: your ass up here get in here and take care
• 11:35
  Speaker 11: of your wife we're going to make sure we've got
• 11:37
  Speaker 11: the police on the way just do this do this
• 11:41
  Speaker 11: trying to move his consciousness, you know?
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: And then what happened? It didn't work. Did he go
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: back into the apartment? He stayed there until he arrived.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: He stayed where?
• 11:55
  Speaker 12: On the body.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Though Cain and Claire were known to have had issues
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: in their past, their mutual friend told the detective that
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: he believed the couple loved each other very much. He
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: also saw no signs that Claire had been depressed or
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: struggling emotionally.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: So, what do you think happened? I mean, you said clues.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: This makes no sense.
• 12:22
  Speaker 9: None.
• 12:23
  Speaker 8: What?
• 12:24
  Speaker 9: So.
• 12:24
  Speaker 6: Ever.
• 12:25
  Speaker 8: It doesn't.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Kane told the detective that after everyone left that night,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: he and Claire had been tidying up the apartment. As
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: he packed up food in the kitchen, Claire placed items
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: away elsewhere in the home. Meanwhile, they chatted about the evening.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Five or perhaps ten minutes passed before he claimed to
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: hear a pop from the bedroom. He ran from the
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: living room to find his wife on the floor, he said.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: He did not recall seeing a gun at that time
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: at all.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: I'm going to give you the floor here. Can you
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: tell me what happened tonight?
• 13:02
  Speaker 8: Um.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: We were having a great night.
• 13:08
  Speaker 8: Um.
• 13:09
  Speaker 14: We were hanging out with our friends.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: It was.
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: a week early from my birthday, and we were having
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: a birthday party.
• 13:17
  Speaker 13: Everybody had started to go home, and then I heard
• 13:25
  Speaker 13: a pop, and I ran into the back room at
• 13:28
  Speaker 13: what was the end of the party, and there was
• 13:33
  Speaker 13: my wife.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: What am I like?
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Early in the evening, when Claire's best friend and her
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: husband were the only guests, the two couples began discussing
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: gun ownership. The conversation led to the bedroom, where Kane
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: used his key to open the gun safe and remove
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: each of the firearms one by one. They then passed
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: each one around. Both he and Claire handled the 9mm
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: at that time. None of the guns were loaded.
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: We both handled the guns today, and we have witnesses
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: that will attest to that, that we are.
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: Showing, because they want to see the guns today.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: But you never shot the gun, right? We haven't shot
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: the guns in, I'd probably.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Say, six months.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Cain said there were no recent disagreements in their marriage,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: and he said they had not argued that night.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Disagreements?
• 14:36
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: Not tonight, no.
• 14:38
  Speaker 10: We haven't had a disagreement since last New Year's Eve.
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: We had a disagreement, and since then, never.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: No problems? No, absolutely not.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: The picture that Kane painted of his marriage was disputed
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: by another party guest. Claire and her childhood best friend
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: had only recently reconnected. That friend and her husband had
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: been the first to attend the party that evening, and
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: had been shown all of the guns in the safe.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: The relationship history that this friend relayed to the detective
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: sounded very different from what Kane had shared. She said
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: that in one instance, prior to the birth of their daughter,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: an argument between the two had grown so heated that
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Claire had phoned police, while Kane barricaded himself in the
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: bedroom with a loaded gun.
• 15:31
  Speaker 8: The day before they were supposed to get married, Kane
• 15:35
  Speaker 8: had chased Claire around the house.
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: With a loaded gun.
• 15:38
  Speaker 8: And then her and I stopped talking after that because
• 15:40
  Speaker 8: I was pretty mad at her for going through with
• 15:45
  Speaker 8: getting married to him. It seemed like he kind of
• 15:49
  Speaker 8: had a temper.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: So were you saying that at that time, he had
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: threatened to shoot her in the head?
• 15:55
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: And this is according to Claire?
• 15:58
  Speaker 8: This is according to my sister. But I know that
• 16:00
  Speaker 8: he had done it once before, the day before they
• 16:03
  Speaker 8: got married.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: Okay, I guess I'm confused.
• 16:07
  Speaker 8: So I'm sorry, all I'm saying is there's an anecdote
• 16:09
  Speaker 8: where my sister was also hanging out with Claire.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: They had had a discussion.
• 16:15
  Speaker 8: Cain had threatened to shoot Claire in the head then too.
• 16:18
  Speaker 8: And then I'm saying several years prior, because they've been
• 16:20
  Speaker 8: married about six years now, the day before they got married,
• 16:23
  Speaker 8: I know that Cain had chased Claire.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Around the house with a loaded gun. Okay, so that's
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: two separations. It is, I'm sorry.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: Just to clarify that.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Claire's friend spoke of the imbalance that she saw in
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: the marriage. Kane was older and appeared to be controlling.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: How about the princely? Is that him or her? That's him.
• 16:42
  Speaker 8: That's kind of what I hated was he just took over.
• 16:46
  Speaker 8: You know, they were talking about this morning how it
• 16:48
  Speaker 8: was all his stuff all over the walls, not hers anymore.
• 16:53
  Speaker 8: She had stopped painting for the most part. It was
• 16:57
  Speaker 8: his music, it wasn't hers. You know, like I grew
• 16:59
  Speaker 8: up with her, like we liked the same kind of music,
• 17:02
  Speaker 8: but I listened to her. After they got married, it
• 17:05
  Speaker 8: was 80s crap that I didn't have a lot of
• 17:09
  Speaker 8: love for. Yeah, that was all his stuff all over
• 17:14
  Speaker 8: the walls. She got a little corner and a couple
• 17:17
  Speaker 8: of these tasteful skull prints.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: Can I ask you this?
• 17:21
  Speaker 7: What would you say if I told you the neighbors
• 17:25
  Speaker 7: heard before the gunshot? They heard arguing coming from your apartment.
• 17:31
  Speaker 7: They can say whatever they want to.
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: Then I would disagree because I didn't argue with my
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: wife tonight. We always sit there. I'm disciplinary with my daughter.
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: And whatever they heard, I'd ask them what the fuck
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: they heard. That's a fair answer.
• 17:51
  Speaker 13: Because I.
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: Am always a straightforward person. Everything I say. And I
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: will not lie because it doesn't give me any word in.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: This fucking life.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: When detectives sat down with the last witness, the female
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: partygoer who had placed the call to 911, the final
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: piece of the puzzle seemed to slip into place. This
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: witness had been the last to leave the birthday party
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: at around 3 a.m. She did not know Kane or Claire,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: but was friends with their neighbor whose apartment she went
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: to after leaving the party. Before she left, she had
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: been presented with an awkward invitation, one that she promptly declined.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: And I think this is very relevant as I'm sitting here. Um,
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: maybe I don't, I don't know, but I, I'm going
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: to vocalize it.
• 18:43
  Speaker 12: I was hit on by, by them to stay with
• 18:49
  Speaker 12: them this evening. I had to ask, and I don't
• 18:54
  Speaker 12: know her name. I want to say her name was
• 18:55
  Speaker 12: Marissa because she approached me and Kane was in the,
• 19:03
  Speaker 12: in the kitchen. I was really delicate, and I.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: Don't know how to say. I've never been approached. I'm
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: not like this.
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: So she seemed how to say, I don't know. I
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: was more sympathetic with her to tell her I appreciate it.
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: Thank you very much, because I asked her. I'm like,
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: I can't read in between lines, because I don't understand what.
• 19:30
  Speaker 13: You guys are.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to exit.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: I'm trying to leave.
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: I didn't understand what you were saying.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: I kept asking, like, are you okay?
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: What are you saying to me?
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: You know, what's going on?
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: And when I got, I put two and two together
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: because he was standing in the kitchen. He's like, we
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: want you to stay over. You stay for a while.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: I go, oh.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: And I looked at her, I go, oh.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: What is she saying though? But how is she saying it?
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: She's kind of whispering all delicately.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: Like, you know, like it's okay. Don't worry.
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: And I didn't understand what she was making me worry about.
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: Cause it didn't make any sense.
• 20:06
  Speaker 8: So.
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: When I heard his comment, I go, okay, I'm going
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: to read between the lines here. I'm going to put
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: two and two together. And I looked at both of
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: them and I said, thank you very much.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: And I touched her hand. Thank you very much. But
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: I'm not, this is, this is.
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: A, I'm trying, I don't know how to be diplomatic
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: with these people without insulting someone.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: I'm not that kind of a person. So I.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: Told him I was flattered at, But no, the answer
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: was no. He seemed irritated that he wasn't getting his
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: way because he made a comment. Well, it's really not
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: about her.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: And this is his wife. It's about me because of
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: my birthday. She understood. She said that was fine.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: She said that she understood that I'm not like that.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: I'm not bi-curious. And I told her I didn't want
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: to hurt her feelings.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: And Cain.
• 21:00
  Speaker 8: Cain kept.
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: invited me and I told him, no, I go, it
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: isn't like this.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: I thought this was a big conflict of interest. This,
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: this is not. And I go, I want to say
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: my good nights. I said, my good nights.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: The woman was very clear. The invitation to stay later
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: into the night offered by Claire was not only supported
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: by Cain, but he had been the insistent one. After
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Claire politely accepted the woman's decision, her husband persisted. It
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: was his birthday, he said. The night was about him.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: We want you to stay, or I want you to stay, or.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: He made a specific statement that it wasn't really about her,
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: it was about him.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 21:43
  Speaker 8: And....
• 21:45
  Speaker 15: And you just politely said, do not.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir, and got up and, yes, and gave her
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: a hug and thanked her, did the same to him.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: It was difficult to deduce exactly how many minutes passed
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: from the time this last-party attendee made her exit from
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: apartment 105 to the moment Claire was shot. The witness
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: believed she listened to no more than a handful of
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: songs at the neighboring apartment before Kane burst through the doors,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: screaming that his wife was dead.
• 22:15
  Speaker 7: Are you two strictly monogamous? Do you see other people
• 22:19
  Speaker 7: or anything like that?
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: We're monogamous unless.
• 22:24
  Speaker 10: Someone says it's okay, but unless, we've never done it.
• 22:30
  Speaker 10: We've always talked about having like a second female or something,
• 22:34
  Speaker 10: but nothing.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: Has ever happened.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: Will you talk about that tonight maybe?
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: Not that I remember, no.
• 22:42
  Speaker 8: No?
• 22:43
  Speaker 13: No.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: Not at all. Possibly with Clarissa?
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: If it was talked with, it was with Clarissa, not me.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: It's not about her. It's about me. It's my birthday.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: You were making a comment. I thought maybe the two
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: of you were coming on to her.
• 23:07
  Speaker 10: You know, we've come on to people before, but if
• 23:10
  Speaker 10: it was, we don't consciously know.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: I don't remember that. Is it out of the possibility
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: that you said that?
• 23:20
  Speaker 10: I'm not going to say no, but I'm not going
• 23:22
  Speaker 10: to say yes either because I don't remember apparently saying that.
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: Did I get out of hand with alcohol tonight? No,
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: I was okay.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Kane Wilkins was released early that morning and was able
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: to collect his daughter and sleep for several hours before
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: he was asked to return to the station and speak
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: with detectives once more. Investigators had since confirmed that the
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: gun that was used to shoot Claire was not the.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: 40 caliber handgun that was sitting on the floor when
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: officers arrived, but rather the 9mm handgun that had found
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: its way to the back of the gun safe, slightly
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: bloodied and loaded. In addition, the GSR test results found
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: two particles of gunshot residue on each of Kane's hands.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: No gunshot residue was found on Claire's. Kane insisted that
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: any GSR on his hands must have been the result
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: of the show-and-tell session with the guns from earlier that night.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Gunpowder particles, however, are only dispersed upon firing. It was
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: possible that the particles on his hands could have been
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: from a transfer from holding Claire. More likely, thought detectives,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Kane was in close proximity to the handgun when the
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: trigger was pulled. Or he was the one who pulled it.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: In addition, the autopsy had found that the young mother
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: had died from a single shot behind her right ear.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: The medical examiner did not observe soot or stippling at
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the wound site, which would likely have been present had
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: the shot been delivered at close range. The few hours
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: away from the station had brought some clarity to Kane's
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: version of events. He no longer denied that he and
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Claire had invited the other witness to stay the night
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: with them. though he recalled that it was a casual
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: refusal with no hard feelings. He and Claire joked around
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: about it while cleaning the apartment.
• 25:17
  Speaker 14: Felt like maybe you and your wife had hit on her?
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: Well, my wife's bisexual.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: And she had been wanting for a lot of years
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: to have a menage a trois, the three of us.
• 25:28
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: And we talked, I think, to her about things like that,
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: but she had said something about just the girl, and
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: I said, well, that's where we stop, because... As a team,
• 25:39
  Speaker 6: this is how we discussed it because we always felt comfortable.
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: If this scenario ever happened, this is how it would happen.
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: And if one person said no or both people were involved,
• 25:49
  Speaker 6: then it would not happen at all.
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: And so in this particular case?
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: We had said something, and I think she had just
• 25:59
  Speaker 6: wanted to be the girls. And I said, well, this
• 26:01
  Speaker 6: is where we stop. I said, we have an agreement.
• 26:03
  Speaker 6: And Claire's like, yeah, we have an agreement.
• 26:05
  Speaker 10: Okay.
• 26:06
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 26:07
  Speaker 6: If one of us says no, then that means cease
• 26:09
  Speaker 6: and desist.
• 26:10
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: And Claire told her that? Yeah.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: If I remember correctly, because it was brought up. One
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: of us was like, we didn't go any.
• 26:18
  Speaker 8: Further with this.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: So kind of a team thing or nothing?
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, mutual.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: It's a mutual thing. Okay. So you love that a
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: woman's touched her?
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So anyway, getting back, you guys are cleaning up.
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: You tell her, hey, if you want her, go get her.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: that's what I remember.
• 26:38
  Speaker 6: Saying jokingly, but you know, this is what is hazy
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: in my mind is what happened between them.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: Cause I don't really remember when did them, I sort.
• 26:46
  Speaker 6: Of waved and I was trying to get stuff cleaned
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: up because some of the meat stuff was not cheap
• 26:51
  Speaker 6: and I didn't want him to spoil.
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: I've been sitting out for probably four or five hours
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: as was.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: Okay. Um, and what does she tell you when you're
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: joking and tell her that?
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: Oh, fuck you.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: You know, sort of that thing.
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: Cause we always joke together.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: And it'd be, fuck you or kiss my ass. And
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: we did that all the time. You know, you could
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: ask anybody else.
• 27:13
  Speaker 6: We constantly talked to each other like that because, I
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: don't know, just it was our pet way of saying
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: I love you, you know.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: The detective began to present Kane with what they had
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: uncovered in the apartment. The broken picture frame and displaced
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: items that showed signs of a struggle. The location of
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: the gun in the safe and the results of the autopsy.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: It was just a piece of paper and it's a
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: cheap black frame. Okay. So that picture was broken. Do
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: you know why that picture was broken? No.
• 27:48
  Speaker 6: There was no glass on it, but.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there was a glass. Not in that one.
• 27:53
  Speaker 6: There was never glass in the one with my son.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: Not that I.
• 27:58
  Speaker 14: So maybe I'm describing the one. There's a big void
• 28:00
  Speaker 14: in the hallway wall where the collage of pictures are.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:04
  Speaker 8: And.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: It looked like that picture went there, and it was
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: a picture of an African-American gentleman. Yeah, sitting there holding
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: his diploma. And you in it. Yeah.
• 28:14
  Speaker 14: So anyway, it's broken in that room. Do you know
• 28:18
  Speaker 14: why it's broken?
• 28:20
  Speaker 6: No, I don't, because it was fine all evening, and
• 28:25
  Speaker 6: I wouldn't break a picture of my son and I.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: No, that doesn't make sense at all. Okay. Overall, the
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: apartment's very neat and tidy. It looks like everything has
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: its place.
• 28:34
  Speaker 13: Yeah.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: Um, we also found that there were a couple of
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: other things knocked over in the room.
• 28:42
  Speaker 13: Okay.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: Do you know what that?
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: No, not at all.
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: And what was knocked down? I have no idea. Cause
• 28:49
  Speaker 6: I didn't hear anything, any commotions.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: Or anything, you know?
• 28:52
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: Um, for one, if you don't remember, you don't remember.
• 28:58
  Speaker 6: Correct.
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: I do not remember. For one, the standup fan was
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: knocked over.
• 29:04
  Speaker 6: That could have been when I went running in.
• 29:05
  Speaker 12: I don't know.
• 29:06
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: And then also the, there was a laundry basket that
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: was knocked over.
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: Laundry basket, which was next to the, to the, to
• 29:15
  Speaker 5: the white freezer.
• 29:16
  Speaker 6: It was stacked up pretty high because we hadn't done
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: laundry in a couple of weeks.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: Could you remember that being knocked over?
• 29:22
  Speaker 6: No, I didn't.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: And that's in the same area where the picture.
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: Frame was found, knocked over.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: I want to know.
• 29:27
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: Well, she shot in the back of the head. In
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: the back of the head? In the back of the head.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Which caused a little bit of a problem.
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: What?
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: Where in the back of the head? In the back
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: of the head.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Well, where?
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: In the back of the head. You've got to be
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: joking me. No, I'm not joking you. So that's the problem, Mr.
• 30:00
  Speaker 8: Wilkins.
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: Oh, Jesus Christ. What I have a problem with is
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: where the gun was found. Where was that found? Well,
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: you were the only one in the apartment.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: I don't know where it was.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: Okay, but we agree you were the only one in
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: the apartment. Yes, we were the only two. Okay, it
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: was found nowhere near. So that's where we have a problem, Mr.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Wilkins.
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: Well, you guys obviously have an opinion that I did
• 30:28
  Speaker 6: this or something to my wife.
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: That's why I'm asking. That's why I asked for a
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: second interview is because I want these blanks filled in.
• 30:34
  Speaker 6: And I wanted to come in. When I told you
• 30:38
  Speaker 6: that I only remember diving across that bed, holding her,
• 30:42
  Speaker 6: seeing her, and then running for help.
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: I can't remember anything else. I can't remember what I did.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: If I knocked over a fan, if I did anything
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: running in there. And so you know that GSR test
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: that we do?
• 30:55
  Speaker 8: Yes. Okay.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: Do you know what that's about? Do you know how
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: to do that? Gun residue. Gunshot residue.
• 31:03
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 31:03
  Speaker 15: Okay, and so what they did is they dab your hands,
• 31:05
  Speaker 15: and I think they dab your face, and they determined
• 31:09
  Speaker 15: whether or not you were in an environment.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: Where a gunshot was shot, where a gun went off. Okay?
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: And so those tests are going to show After roughly
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: an hour of questioning, Kane began to doubt his own
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: version of events.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Perhaps he wasn't in the living room when the shot
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: was fired after all. Maybe he was coming and going
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: from the bedroom.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: Are you certain you were in the living room when
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: your wife, you hear the shot, are you certain you're
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: in the living room and not in the room? I
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: don't know. I don't know. Then how can you say
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: that you were in the living room? I remember that's
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: where I was. Previously, I was getting ready to start
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: getting stuff because I was like.
• 32:26
  Speaker 5: I'm putting the fucking food away.
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: And I don't know if I was going. I know
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: we were sort of back and forth in between the rooms.
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: I don't know how long I was in between there.
• 32:35
  Speaker 6: I guess at that time when I'd been drinking, I
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: have no idea.
• 32:39
  Speaker 14: I'm not going to sit here and say, yeah, it
• 32:41
  Speaker 14: was five, ten minutes.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: Well, you were.
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: Pretty certain initially that you were in the living room.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: I was going back and forth. And I'm pretty certain
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: that's where I was.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: The source of Kane's memory loss was unclear. He was
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: questioned as to whether it could have been the trauma
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: of the situation, or maybe it was the amount that
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: he had to drink that caused what seemed to be
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: a convenient gap in his recollection. He was unable to
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: offer an explanation. Kane Wilkins was arrested following the second
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: interview and charged with first-degree murder. In early February 2019,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Kane stood trial for murder in a Denver courtroom. The
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: state argued that he killed Claire because he was jealous
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: of her connection with a female party guest and angry
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: that his wife had been unable to convince her to
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: participate in a threesome for his birthday. Kane's defense team
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: asserted that his intoxication that night prevented him from recalling
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: specific details, including how the gun had been placed back
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: into the gun safe. They pointed to statements that the
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: couple had been getting along well earlier in the evening.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: That the screaming overheard from neighbors could have been his
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: reaction to the shooting and not an argument beforehand. That
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: gunshot residue can transfer from one object to another and
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: from one person to another. That Claire had stress in
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: her life, some depression in her youth, and an extremely
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: high BAC level when she died. After a five-day trial,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Kane Wilkins was convicted of second-degree murder. He was handed
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: a sentence of 48 years. in prison. Kane's defense team
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: filed an appeal on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct. In
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: their closing statement, an unnamed prosecutor called upon the jury
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: to do their duty to convict Kane Wilkins because they
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: owed it to Claire's young daughter. They had stated, the
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: person who pulled that trigger put the gun away, and
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: we know beyond any doubt the only other person in
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: that room, the only other person in that apartment... was
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Kane Wilkins. Find him guilty of first-degree murder. Hold him
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: accountable for what he did. For the orphan, he made
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: their child. This appeal to a motion was found to
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: be legally inappropriate. In September 2022, the Colorado Court of
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Appeals overturned Kane Wilkins' conviction. The decision stated that, in
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: the judge's view, it was a very close case. the
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: evidence was characterized as conflicting and inconclusive. Specifically, judges posed
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: the following questions. Was the shouting that was overheard by
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: other residents from before or after the shooting? Did Kane
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: put the gun used to kill his wife into the
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: safe as a means in his drunken state of hiding
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: evidence or of removing a dangerous weapon from the vicinity
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: so no one else would be injured? And ultimately, did
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: Kane shoot Claire as the gunshot residue on his hand
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: might suggest, or was Claire holding the gun as the
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: outline on her hand suggested? The photograph of Claire Wilkins'
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: bloodstained hand with a blank spot on her palm in
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: the shape of a pistol grip was added as an
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: appendix to their decision. In August 2023, Kane Wilkins was
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: granted a new trial. though it was not immediately scheduled.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: Kane was released from prison while he awaits the retrial,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: if a date for one is ever set. Claire is
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: remembered as a great friend, a dedicated stepmom, and a
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: loving mother to her daughter. And that was the tragic
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: case of Clarissa Wilkins. Thank you for joining me, and
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: a special thank you this week to Jennifer Mosachuk, Sasha Clark,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Enoch Rain, CZiv, Natei G, and Camille for becoming Sherlock
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: Holmes members. Welcome to the lounge. Your extra support is
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: really appreciated. And if you haven't done so already, don't
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: forget to find us on Spotify Video, where we also
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: publish our documentaries every week. I'm Kevin, this is Just
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Thought Lounge, and I'll see you in the next one.
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: I need that feeling that you brought.
• 37:18
  Speaker 8: Who learned the lesson that you taught?
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: To make a kill is what they saw.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: Thank you.