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He Wanted Another Woman For His Birthday_ The Strange Case of Cain _ Claire Wilkens _True Crime Doc · NO FILTER

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: On a cold winter night in January twenty eighteen, a
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: birthday party at an apartment complex in Denver, Colorado turned
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: deadly After the last guest left, neighbors were awoken by
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: a commotion, screaming and maybe adoor slamming. A young wife
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: and mother had been found dead in her bedroom. From
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the apartment emerged just one individual, the distraught husband. He
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: was confused and wailing. Had the noise heard across the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: building that night been an argument that preceded the murder
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: or the cries of a grieving and innocent husband. Hi there,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I'm Kevin, and welcome to just THT Lounge. Today's case
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: begins in a way we have seen many times before,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: suspicious circumstances, a hysterical husband, and unclear recollections from witnesses.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: But after that, this case does not follow the standard pattern.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: We uncover a surprise motive, contradictory physical evidence, and are
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: left asking how to make sense of possible clues that
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: have more than one explanation. Let's take a look. Heavy
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: snow was expected in the early morning hours of January
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: twenty first, twenty eighteen, when police were called out to
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the Albion Street apartment complex in Denver, Colorado. It was
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: just before three thirty am when officers arrived. They were
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: met by the woman who had placed the emergency call.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: She was a friend of a resident in the building.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Like an.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Officers were directed to unit one oh five on the
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: ground floor, where a thirty year old wife and mother
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: was shot on the bedroom floor. The caller explained briefly
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: to responding officers that she had been at a birthday
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: party at apartment one oh five earlier that night.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: And I was staying goodbye to him working with some
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: of his family, and came in.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: And his wife.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: After leaving, she was visiting her friend in the building
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: when the husband of the woman burst in hysterical, claiming
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: that his wife had been alone in the bedroom and
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the gun had gone off outside the apartment door. The
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: friend from the building pointed officers towards the inside of
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the home.
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: Where's the weapon, sir.
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: I don't have.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: You all'll have to find it.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Devastated in the apartment, officers discovered thirty year old Clarissa
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Wilkins on the bedroom floor. She appeared to have suffered
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: a gunshot wound to the right side of the head.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Clarissa's distraught husband was with her, holding her against him
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: as the officers entered. Paramedics rushed into the scene, though
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: it was unfortunately too late. Clarissa was declared dead at
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: three twenty eight am from the apartment. Officers escorted out
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: her husband, forty three year old Cain Wilkins. He was
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: taken into custody immediately due to his erratic behavior right
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: in here, his hysterical cries asking repeatedly after the welfare
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: of his wife went unanswered. There was a gun located
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: on the opposite side of the bed from Clarissa. It
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: was a fourty caliber high point handgun and sat directly
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: in front of a large gun safe. A key had
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: been inserted into the lock in the safe. Police recovered
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: two shotguns, a twenty two caliber rifle and a loaded
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: nine millimeter Smith and Wesson handgun. When police collected the
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Smith and Wesson, apparent blood was observed near the entrance
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: of the gun barrel. A spent nine millimeter shell casing
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: was located on the bedroom floor near the spot where
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Clariss's head had collapsed to the ground. Officers at the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: scene also observed potential signs of a scuffle in the
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: bedroom there was a broken pitcher frame in the northeast
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: corner of the room, and a laundry baskett and fan
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: tipped over in this same area. Cain was escorted from
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the back of a police cruiser to just inside the
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: doors of the building, where a swab was taken from
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: both of his hands to test for any traces of
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: gunpowder residue. Had he fired the gun and not washed
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: his hands, there would be traces of gunpowder present.
• 5:01
  Speaker 6: You tell me some answers, man, what the fuck is
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: going on with my wife?
• 5:08
  Speaker 7: I hear a pop and I run into the room
• 5:11
  Speaker 7: and I have to what the fuck is going on
• 5:15
  Speaker 7: with my wife? I got blood all over me. Hold on, yeah,
• 5:20
  Speaker 7: go ahead, here, there's my fingers all the way open.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: A blood alcohol test was also later administered. Caines BAC
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: was reported as well within an elevated range. His wife's
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: came back at point two ninety four, which is considered
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: very high at over three times the legal limit.
• 5:46
  Speaker 6: There's a nine millimeter SD nine vee inside the house.
• 5:53
  Speaker 6: We both have fingerprints on them.
• 5:55
  Speaker 8: Okay, Chap, there you go, Thank you.
• 5:58
  Speaker 6: Just did somebody tell me what's one on my wife?
• 6:05
  Speaker 6: Just a few minutes, okay, few minutes.
• 6:07
  Speaker 8: Yes, yeah, Then he goes, yeah, what kind of phone
• 6:17
  Speaker 8: do you have?
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: Because they found one there.
• 6:19
  Speaker 8: It's not sure, but yours or not in that manor
• 6:21
  Speaker 8: department or whatever. I want to know about my fucking wife.
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: What is your phone? I want to make sure you
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: get it back.
• 6:33
  Speaker 8: Okay, yeah, I want to make sure you get back
• 6:36
  Speaker 8: to my wife.
• 6:37
  Speaker 9: 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 two thousand
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: and six. Just a few years later, Claire met Caine Wilkins,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: who was thirteen years her senior. He was recently divorced
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: and father to a younger daughter. In twenty eleven, he
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and 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: Cain's birthday in January twenty eighteen, he was no longer working.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Claire worked full time managing a local dollar tree store.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: On the night her mother died, Claire's daughter, then four
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: years old, was staying at her grandmother's home just two
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: blocks away. A canvas of the neighbors was undertaken that night.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Witnesses reported hearing what they thought was a woman's voice
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: calling out no, no, no, followed by a man's voice
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: crying get in here now. The timing of these cries
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: was not exact, though most placed hearing the exchange around
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: three ten am, shortly before the nine to one one
• 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. Screaming and door slamming
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: in conjunction with a few items in disarray in the
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: bedroom suggested the shooting was preceded by an argument and
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: a struggle. This pointed to murder, though in the dead
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: of the night, neighbour's accounts of what they heard could
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: prove ambiguous. Cain Wilkins was screaming repeatedly in a high
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: pitched tone which neighbors admitted to never hearing before. Could
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: his voice have been confused for a woman's screaming no, no, no.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: After he found his wife, and this is what the
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: neighbors heard, The male voice calling get in here now
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: could well have been calls for help from Cain to
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: his friends. While the GSR test results were pending, there
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: was one other potential indicator as to who it fired
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: the gun. On Claire's blood stained right hand, there was
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: a blank spot on her palm, an area clear of
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: stating that presented a distinct outline consistent with the shape
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: and grip of a handgun. A good friend of the
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: couple who lived in their building had been at their
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: party earlier that night.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: Everybody getting long?
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Is it just like a regular party? Was there any problems?
• 10:14
  Speaker 10: Indeed, this does not make sense.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: How was Claire at the party?
• 10:22
  Speaker 10: Fine? We danced, This does not make sense.
• 10:27
  Speaker 11: Yes, yes, and having fun and smiling and laughing and
• 10:32
  Speaker 11: joking and having a wonderful time.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: What about Kane him too?
• 10:37
  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 10: Claire was still breathing.
• 10:52
  Speaker 11: And Kane had come back from my apartment and was
• 10:56
  Speaker 11: lying there screaming and now hollering on the hall And
• 10:59
  Speaker 11: I yelled at him for him to get his ass
• 11:01
  Speaker 11: up because she was still breathing.
• 11:03
  Speaker 10: He was, Yes, he was. He come back from my
• 11:06
  Speaker 10: apartment and like screaming in the hallway.
• 11:08
  Speaker 11: And I went over and Claire was still breathing, and
• 11:11
  Speaker 11: I told on the right hand side of the bed,
• 11:15
  Speaker 11: it would have been the north hand side of the bed,
• 11:18
  Speaker 11: and she was still breathing. And I screamed at him,
• 11:20
  Speaker 11: like just get your like trying to get I don't
• 11:23
  Speaker 11: need you to cry right now. I need you to
• 11:25
  Speaker 11: handle this.
• 11:26
  Speaker 10: Go handle Claire.
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: And I made sure, and I was.
• 11:31
  Speaker 11: In the hallway and I said, you need to get
• 11:33
  Speaker 11: your ass up here.
• 11:34
  Speaker 10: Get in here and take care of your wife. We're
• 11:36
  Speaker 10: going to make sure, we put the police on the way.
• 11:39
  Speaker 11: Just do this, do this, trying to move his consciousness,
• 11:43
  Speaker 11: you know, And then it didn't work.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Did he go back into the apartment.
• 11:52
  Speaker 10: He stayed there until you were He stayed were on
• 11:55
  Speaker 10: her body.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Though cait and Claire were known to have had issue
• 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 4: Absolutely funny.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: What what do you think happened?
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: I mean, he, I mean this you said clues makes
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: no sense?
• 12:23
  Speaker 10: What so ever, it doesn't.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Caine 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
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: said he did not recall seeing a gun at that
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: time at all.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: I'm going to give you before here, Idle, can you
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: tell me what happened.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: We were having a great nine We were hanging out
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: with our friends.
• 13:11
  Speaker 12: It was a week early for my birthday and we
• 13:15
  Speaker 12: were having a birthday party. Everybody had started to go home,
• 13:23
  Speaker 12: and then I heard a pop and I ran in
• 13:26
  Speaker 12: the back room at what was the end of the party,
• 13:32
  Speaker 12: and there was my wife.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Live my life.
• 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 Cain
• 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 nine
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: millimeter at that time. None of the guns were loaded.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: I've we both handled the guns today, and we have
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: witnesses that will attest that we are showing because they
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: want to see the guns today. But you never shot
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: the gun, right, We haven't shot the guns in I'd
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: probably say six months.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Caine 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 4: Disagreements, Yes, not tonight. Now, we haven't had.
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: A disagreement since last New Year's Eve. We had a
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: disagreement and since then never 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 it
• 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 Cain 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 Caine barricaded himself in the
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: bedroom with a loaded gun.
• 15:31
  Speaker 13: The day before they were supposed to get married, Kane
• 15:35
  Speaker 13: had chased Claire around the house of loaded gun and
• 15:38
  Speaker 13: her and I.
• 15:39
  Speaker 14: Stopped talking after that because that's.
• 15:41
  Speaker 13: Pretty were gone through with getting married to him. That
• 15:46
  Speaker 13: seemed like he kind of had a temper.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: So are you saying that that at that time she
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: had threatened to shoot her in the ends. And this
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: is according to Claire.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: This is according to.
• 15:59
  Speaker 14: My sister, But I know that he had done it
• 16:01
  Speaker 14: once before, the day before they got married. Okay, so
• 16:08
  Speaker 14: I'm sorry. All I'm saying is there's an anecdote where.
• 16:10
  Speaker 13: My sister was also hanging out Claire and they had
• 16:14
  Speaker 13: had a discussion.
• 16:15
  Speaker 14: Kine had threatened to shoot Claire, and that had done too.
• 16:18
  Speaker 13: And then I was saying several years prior, because they've
• 16:20
  Speaker 13: been married about sixty years now, the day before they
• 16:22
  Speaker 13: got married, I know that Kine had chased Claire around
• 16:25
  Speaker 13: the house.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Claire's friend spoke of the imbalance that she saw in
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: the marriage. Kine was older and appeared to be controlling,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: premising or her.
• 16:42
  Speaker 14: That's kind of what I hated. Was he just took over.
• 16:46
  Speaker 15: Yeah.
• 16:46
  Speaker 13: They were talking about this morning, how it was all
• 16:49
  Speaker 13: his stuff all over the walls, not hers anymore. She
• 16:53
  Speaker 13: had stopped painting for the most part. It was his music,
• 16:57
  Speaker 13: it wasn't hers, you know, like I grew up, but
• 17:00
  Speaker 13: they're like, we like the same kind of music. That
• 17:02
  Speaker 13: all listened to her after they got married, with his eighties, crap,
• 17:08
  Speaker 13: a lot of love for Yeah, that was that was
• 17:13
  Speaker 13: all his stuff, all over the walls. She got a
• 17:15
  Speaker 13: little corner and a couple of tasteful small friends.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: I can ask you this, whoa would you say if
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: I told you the neighbors heard before the gunshot they
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: heard argument coming from her apartment.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: Means 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 and I we always sit there. I'm a discipline
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: aran with my daughter, and whatever they heard, I asked
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: them what the fuck they heard?
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: That's a fair answer because I am always a straightforward
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: person everything I say.
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: And I I will not lie because it's doesn't give
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: me any word in 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 nine one one,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the final piece of the puzzle seemed to slip into place.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: This witness had been the last to leave the birthday
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: party at around three am. She did not know kin
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: or Claire, but was friends with their neighbor, whose apartment
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: she went to after leaving the party. Before she left,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: she had been presented with an awkward invitation one that
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: she promptly declined.
• 18:35
  Speaker 15: And I think this is very relative as I'm sitting here.
• 18:39
  Speaker 15: Maybe I don't know, but I'm going to vocalize it.
• 18:43
  Speaker 15: I was hit on by by them to stay with
• 18:49
  Speaker 15: them this evening. I had to ask, and I don't
• 18:54
  Speaker 15: know her name. I want to say her name is Merrissa,
• 18:57
  Speaker 15: because she approached me, came was in the.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: In the kitchen.
• 19:05
  Speaker 16: I was really delicate, and I don't know how to say.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I never been approached.
• 19:11
  Speaker 16: I'm not like this, so she seemed how to say.
• 19:21
  Speaker 6: I don't know.
• 19:23
  Speaker 9: I was more sympathetic with her to tell her I
• 19:26
  Speaker 9: appreciate it, thank you very much. Because I asked her,
• 19:28
  Speaker 9: I like, I didn't read in between minds because I
• 19:30
  Speaker 9: don't understand what you guys are. I'm trying to exit.
• 19:32
  Speaker 9: I'm trying to leave, and I didn't understand what you
• 19:34
  Speaker 9: were saying.
• 19:35
  Speaker 14: I kept asking, like, are you okay?
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: What are you saying to me?
• 19:38
  Speaker 10: You know what's going on?
• 19:40
  Speaker 9: And when I got I put two and two together
• 19:43
  Speaker 9: because he was standing in the kitchen and he's like,
• 19:46
  Speaker 9: we want you to stay over.
• 19:47
  Speaker 16: You stay for a while.
• 19:49
  Speaker 6: I go oh, And I looked at her, I go, oh,
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: what but how.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Is she saying.
• 19:55
  Speaker 9: She's kind of whispering all delicately, like you know, like
• 19:59
  Speaker 9: it's okay, don't worry. And I didn't understand what she
• 20:02
  Speaker 9: was making me worry about because it didn't make any sense.
• 20:06
  Speaker 9: So when I heard his comment, I go, okay, I'm
• 20:09
  Speaker 9: gonna read between the lines here. I'm gonna put two
• 20:11
  Speaker 9: and two together. And I looked at both of them
• 20:14
  Speaker 9: and I said, thank you very much, and I touched
• 20:16
  Speaker 9: her head and thank you very much. But I'm not
• 20:19
  Speaker 9: this is this is a I'm trying. I don't know
• 20:23
  Speaker 9: how to be diplomatic with these people without insulting someone.
• 20:26
  Speaker 16: I'm not that kind of a person. So I told
• 20:31
  Speaker 16: him I was flattered, but no. The answer was no.
• 20:37
  Speaker 16: He seemed irritated that he wasn't getting his way because
• 20:40
  Speaker 16: he made a comment.
• 20:41
  Speaker 9: Well, it's really not about her and this is his wife.
• 20:44
  Speaker 9: It's about me because of my birthday.
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: She understood.
• 20:48
  Speaker 9: She said that was fine, She said that she understood
• 20:51
  Speaker 9: that I'm not like that. I'm not by curious, and
• 20:54
  Speaker 9: I told her I didn't want to hurt her feelings.
• 20:57
  Speaker 16: And cain and invited me and I told no, I go,
• 21:05
  Speaker 16: it isn't like this. This is a big conflict of interest.
• 21:08
  Speaker 16: This this is not And though I want to say
• 21:11
  Speaker 16: my good nights, I said my good night.
• 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 Kane, 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 2: You want you to stay, or I want you to stay, or.
• 21:38
  Speaker 16: He made a specific statement that it wasn't really about her,
• 21:41
  Speaker 16: it was about him, Okay, And.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: You just politely said yes.
• 21:48
  Speaker 9: Sir, I got up and yes the day, gave her
• 21:50
  Speaker 9: home 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 the party attendee made her
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: exit from apartment one oh five to the moment Claire
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: was shot. The witness believed she listened to no more
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: than a handful of songs at the neighboring apartment before
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Cain burst through the doors, screaming that his wife was dead.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Too strictly even ougamous or do you see other people
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: or anything like that.
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: We're monogamous unless someone says it's okay, but unless we've
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: never done it. We've we've always talked about having like
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: a second female or something, but nothing has ever happened.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Okay, Will there talk about that tonight?
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: Maybe not that I remember now?
• 22:42
  Speaker 14: No, No, not at all.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: Possibly if it was talked with that, it was with Clarissa,
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: not me.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: It's not about her, It's about me. It's my birthday.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: Are you making a comment? Maybe maybe the two of
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: you were coming under her, and.
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: You know we've come on to people before. But if
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: it was, we don't consciously though, I don't remember that.
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: Is it the possibility that you said that. I'm not
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: going to say no, But I'm not going to say
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: yes either, because I don't remember coherently saying that.
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: Did I get out of hand with alcohol tonight?
• 23:29
  Speaker 13: No?
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: I was okay.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Caine Wilkins was released early that morning and was able
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: to collect his daughter and sleep for several hours before
• 23:39
  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: forty caliber handgun that was sitting on the floor when
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: officers arrived, but rather the nine millimeter handgun that had
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: found its way to the back of the gun safe,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: slightly bloodied, and loaded. In addition, the GSR test results
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: found two particles of gunshot residue on each of Kane's hands.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: No gunshot residue was found on Clayre's. Cain insisted that
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: any GSR in his hands must have been the result
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: of the show intel session with the guns from earlier
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: that night. Gunpowder particles, however, are only dispersed upon firing.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: It was possible that the particles on his hands could
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: have been from a transfer from holding Claire. More likely,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: thought detectives, Cain was in close proximity to the handgun
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: when the trigger was pulled, or he was the one
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: who pulled it. In addition, the autopsy had found that
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: the young mother had died from a single shot behind
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: her right ear. The medical examiner did not observe soot
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: or stippling at the wound site, which would likely have
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: been present had the shot been delivered at close range.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: The few hours away from the station had brought s
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: clarity to Kane's version of events. He no longer denied
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: that he and Claire had invited the other witness to
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: stay the night with them, though he recalled that it
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: was a casual refusal with no hard feelings. He and
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Claire joked around about it while cleaning the apartment.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Felt like, maybe you and your life had hit on her.
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: Well, my wife's bisexual, okay, and she had been wanting
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: for a lot of years to have a minagoa the
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: three of us, okay, And.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: We talked, I think, to her about things like that.
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: But she had said something about just the girl, and
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: I said, well, that's where we stopped, because as a team,
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: this is how we discussed it, because we always felt
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: comfortable if this scenario ever happened, this is how it
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: would happen, okay, And if we didn't one person said
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: now or post people were involved.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: That it would not happen at all, okay. And so
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: in this particular case.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: We had said something and I think she had just
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: wanted to be the girl. And I said, well, this
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: is where we stop. I said, we have an agreement,
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: and Claire's like, yeah, we have an agreement. If one
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: of us says no, then that.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Means seasoned desist okay. And Claire told her that yeah, okay.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: If I remember correctly, because it was brought up. One
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: of us was like, we didn't we needn't go any
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: further with so kind of teen thing or yeah, mutual,
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: it's a mutual thing.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Okay, wos touched there?
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 26:26
  Speaker 17: Yeah, So anyway, getting back you, you guys are cleaning up.
• 26:31
  Speaker 17: You tell her, hey, if you want her, you get her.
• 26:37
  Speaker 17: That's what I remember saying jokingly.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: But you know, this is what is hazy in my mind,
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: is what happened between them, because I don't really remember
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: when to them. I sort of waved and I was
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: trying to get stuff cleaned up because some of the
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: meat stuff was not cheap and I didn't want him
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: to spoil. Been sitting out for probably four or five.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Hours as it was so okay. And what does she
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: tell you when you joking each.
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: Other that I'll fuck you? You know, sort of that
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: thing because we always joked together and be bucky or
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: kiss my ass, and we did that all the time.
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: You know, you did ask anybody else when constantly talk
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: to each other like that, because I don't know, it
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: just is our pet wave saying 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 12: There's it was just a.
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: Piece of paper and it's a cheap black frame.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, so that picture was broken. Do you know why
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: that picture was broken?
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: No, there was no glass on it.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: But yeah, there was a glass, not in that one.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: There was never glass in the one with my son.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: Not that I saw. Maybe I'm describing the one.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: There's a void in the powi wall where the closet
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: pictures are, and it looked like that picture went there,
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: and there was a picture of an African American gentleman sitting.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: And you in it. And so anyway, it's it's broken
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: in that room. Do you know when it's broken?
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: No, I don't because it was fine all evening and
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't break a picture of my son and I.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: You know that makes sense, okay?
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: And overall the departments very neat and tidy, and then
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: it looks like everything has its place. We also found
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: that there were a couple of other things knocked over
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: in the room.
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: Okay, do you know what that I don't know what
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: was no, not at all, and what was knocked down?
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: I have no idea because I didn't hear anything, any
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: commotions or.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: Anything, you know. Okay.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: For one, if you don't remember, you don't remember, correct,
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: I do not remember one the stand up fan was
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: knocked over.
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: That could have been when I went running in I
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: don't know, okay. And also there was a laundry basket
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: that was knocked over, laundry basket which was next to
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: the to the to the white freezer, and it was
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: stacked up pretty high because we hadn't done laundering.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: In a couple of weeks. So could you remember that
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: being knocked over?
• 29:22
  Speaker 14: Now?
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: And that's in the same area where.
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: The picture frame was knocked over, I want to know, okay, Well,
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: she shot in the back of the head, in the
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: back of the head, in the back of the head, I.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Don't match, which caused a little bit of a problem.
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: What where in the back of the head?
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: In the back of the head? Well, where in the
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: back of the head.
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: You gotta be joking, not joking.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: So that's the problem, Wilkins, Oh Jesus Christ. That I
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: have a problem with is where the gun was found.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: Where is that found. Well, you were the only one
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: in the apartment.
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: I don't know where it was, but we agree you're
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: the only one in the apartment.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: Yes, we were the only two. Okay. It was found
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: nowhere near.
• 30:22
  Speaker 12: Jesus.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: So that's where we have a problem, mister Wilkins.
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: Well, you guys obviously have an opinion that I did
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: this or something.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: To my Why That's why I'm asking. That's why I
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: asked my second interview is because I want these blanks
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: build in.
• 30:34
  Speaker 6: And I wanted to come in.
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: I don't when I told you that, I only remember
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: diving across that bed, holding her or seeing her, and
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: then running for help. I can't remember anything else. I
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: can't remember what I could if I knocked over a fan,
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: if I did anything running in there.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Kid. And so you know that GSR test that we do, yes, okay,
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: do you know what that's about? Or do you know
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: how I do that gunshot residue?
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: And so what they did is they dab your hands
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: and I think they dab your face, and they determined
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: whether or not you were in an environment where a gunshot. Wish,
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: we're a good one, okay. And so those tests are
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: going to show if you were in the room at
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: that time of the shooting.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: Okay, And and how do you think those tests are
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: going to come back? I don't know.
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: You know. The only thing I did that I remember
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: is actually handling the guns.
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: Early, right, well, gunshot. Who doesn't go around corners to
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: down the hallway into the living room. I'm telling you that, Okay,
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: I understand that.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: After roughly an hour of questioning, King began to doubt
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: his own version of events. Perhaps he wasn't in the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: living room when the shot was fired, after all, Maybe
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: he was coming and going from the bedroom.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: Are you certain.
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: You were in the living room when your wife you
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: hear the shock? Are you certain you're in the living
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: room and not in the room?
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know. Then, how can you
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: say that you were in the living room.
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: I remember that's where I was previously. I was getting
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: ready to start getting stuff because I was like, I'm
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: putting the fucking food away, and I don't know if
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: I was going. I know we were sort of back
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: and forth in between the rooms. I don't know how
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: long I was in between there. I guess at that
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: time when I when i'd been drinking. I have no idea.
• 32:39
  Speaker 18: I'm not going to sit here and say, yeah, it
• 32:41
  Speaker 18: was five ten minutes. I thought you were a pretty
• 32:43
  Speaker 18: certain issues that you were in the living room. I
• 32:46
  Speaker 18: was going back and forth, and I'm pretty certain that's
• 32:48
  Speaker 18: 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. Cain Wilkins was arrested following the second
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: interview and charged with first degree murder. In early February
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, Kine stood trial for murder in a Denver
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: court room. The state argued that he killed Claire because
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: he was jealous of her connection with a female party
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: guest and angry that his wife had been unable to
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: convince her to participate in a threesome for his birthday.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Caine's defense team asserted that his intoxication that night prevented
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: him from recalling specific details, including how the gun had
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: been placed back into the gun safe. They pointed to
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: statements that the couple had been getting along well earlier
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: in the evening, that the screaming overheard from neighbors could
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: have been his reaction to the shooting and not an
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: argument beforehand, that gunshot residue can transfer from one object
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: to another and from one person to another, that Claire
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: had stress in her life, some depression in her youth,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: and an extremely high BAC level when she died. After
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: a five day trial, Cain Wilkins was convicted of second
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: degree murder. He was handed a sentence of forty eight
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: years in prison. Caine's defense team filed an appeal on
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: the basis of prosecutorial misconduct. In their closing statement, an
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: unnamed prosecutor called upon the jury to do their duty
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: to convict Caine Wilkins because they owed it to Claire's
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: young daughter. They had stated, the person who pulled that
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: trigger put the gun away, and we know beyond any
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: doubt the only other person in that room, the only
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: other person in that apartment, was Cain Wilkins. Find him
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: guilty of first degree murder, hold him accountable for what
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: he did for the orphan he made their child. This
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: appeal to emotion was found to be legally inappropriate. In
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: September twenty twenty two, the Colorado Court of Appeals overturned
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: Caine Wilkins conviction. The decision stated that, in the judge's view,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: it was a very close case. The evidence was characterized
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: as conflicting and inconclusive. Specifically, judges posed the following questions.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: Was the shouting that was overheard by other residents from
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: before or after the shooting? Did Kin put the gun
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: used to kill his wife into the safe as a
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: means in his drunken state of hiding evidence or of
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: removing a dangerous weapon from the vicinity so no one
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: else would be injured? And ultimately, did Kane shoot Claire
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: as the gunshot residue on his hand might suggest, or
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: was Claire holding the gun as the outline on her
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: hand suggested. The photograph of Claire Wilkins's bloodstained hand with
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: a blank spot on her palm and the shape of
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: a pistol grip was added as an appendix to their decision.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: In August twenty twenty three, Kine Wilkins was granted a
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: new trial, though it was not immediately scheduled. Cain was
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: released from prison while he awaits the retrial if a
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: date for one is ever set. Claire is remembered as
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: a great friend, a dedicated stepmom, and loving mother to
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: her daughter. And that was the tragic case of Clarissa Wilkins.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me, and a special thank you
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: this week to Jennifer Masachuk, Sasha Clark, Enoch Rayne, si
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Zev Nitegi and Camille for becoming Sherlock Holmes members. Welcome
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: to the Lounge. Your extra support is really appreciated, and
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: if you haven't done until already, don't forget to find
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: us on Spotify Video, where we also publish our documentaries
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: every week. I'm Kevin, It's just Thought Lounge and I'll
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: see in the next one.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: Like that, it was like the whole world crime. Watch
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: him on a run, but it's not a race. Really
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: hard to dis append without a race. Sure, Lock Holmes
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: with it.
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: I'm got you in your placek Pipes fully right or cracking?
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: Does the case like