Murder With My Husband - 218. The Whitaker Family Murder

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

In this episode, Payton and Garrett dive into a family murder where the victim does the unthinkable! Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Case Sources -  Oxygen - https://www.oxygen.com/final-moments/crime-news/texas-bart-whitaker-hired-friends-murder-family CBS News - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bart-whitaker-sugar-land-texas-murders-father-fights-to-save-son-from-execution/  ABC News - https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=7470379&page=1  Texas District & County Attorneys Association - https://www.tdcaa.com/journal/a-most-unusual-suspect-3/  The Oprah Winfrey Network - https://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/the-gift-of-forgiveness_1/all  People - https://people.com/crime/people-magazine-investigates-whitaker-family-murders/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Written for the screen and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan. Let them see you. What are they doing? Applause. For you, Mina. The Watchers. Only in theaters June 7th. You're listening to an Ono Media Podcast. Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder With My Husband.

I'm Peyton Morland. And I'm Garrett Morland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. We don't really have any announcements besides thanks for listening, thanks for watching, we appreciate it, and we have our Patreon and Apple subscriptions if you want some ad free content. Alright, you got your 10 seconds.

I don't really have my 10 seconds ready, but I do have a hot take ready. Oh. Woo! Well I'm gonna say it anyways. I don't think it's too big of a hot take. I told Payton about this before so she's gonna know what it is. But I'm sorry I don't want to offend anyone. If you're offended, I'm sorry. But also, I still love you. Hey, I like those shoes. Thank you. Got some new shoes if you're watching on YouTube. They're cute.

I think what has become my pet peeve is when I'm driving and I see a Dodge Charger or I see a Ford Explorer driving and it's either black or white. If it's red green pink yellow blue orange Doesn't faze me. I don't care, but if you have a black or white Dodge Challenger or Ford Explorer annoying It's annoying because we know those the same cars that cops drive So anytime I see those cars and I know it's not just me because everyone does it on the road

We're all like is that a cop is that a cop do we know if that's a cop it's really hard to tell especially when they're white and there's nothing really on them why I guess why do we get those cars I get that I understand that so do the police but so to the police which is the issue anyways I guess it's don't know, maybe it's not that big of a deal. I guess it's just something that bothers me. Figured I'd throw it in my 10 seconds. I have some other options for you. Um, I can send some other options if you drive a Ford Explorer Dodge Charger.

I got some good options lined up. Maybe I'll post on my social media around the same price range. Still pretty cool cars. So I think we should just make a universal world that nobody drives Ford Explorers or Dodge Chargers except cops and then we always know that if we see one, it's a cop and we know what to do. I think I'll make that my 10 seconds too

because that was a little long. And again, I hope I didn't make anyone mad. I still love your car, you can still drive anyone mad. I still love your car. You can still drive it and I'll still be your friend. But he's cursing at you when he passes you just so you know. But I am cursing at you when I'm passing you and let's hop into today's case. For anyone watching on YouTube and anyone listening, Daisy is very confused and thinks this is OnlyFans today. I'm trying to block it out, but she's comfy.

So we're just gonna let her sit spread eagle to the camera as she should. Yes ma'am. All right, our sources for this episode are Oxygen, CBS News, ABC News, Texas District and County Attorneys Association, the Oprah WinFree Network and People. All right, so one of the hardest things

that anyone can do is forgive and people. All right, so one of the hardest things that anyone can do is forgive the people who hurt them, especially when we're talking about behavior that is incredibly harmful. It's hard to let go of all of that pain and heartache, and it can be tempting to want to hold a grudge. In fairness, some people have lines that cannot be crossed. They'll say, if you do this particular thing, it is unforgivable to me. For example, I cannot imagine that

anybody could really forgive someone who killed their entire family or tried to kill them. But that's what's going to happen in today's story. Okay. So let's get into it. It all began on the night of December 10th, 2003. And you know, we always are talking different years on this show, but I remember being in school in 2003 and thinking, this is a good year. Like, I don't know what it was about 2003, but that year really sticks out to me writing my little date on my page

and like just thinking, 2003 felt really good to me as a number. I don't remember anything about 2003. I just needed to throw that out there. I just remember every day being like, yes, 2003. We appreciate it. So it's December 10th, 2003, when a college student named Bart Whitaker called his family

and invited them out to a celebratory dinner with him. They all knew that he had been working hard at Sam Houston State University. And on the phone that day, Bart said he just finished taking his last final. He was about to graduate and he wanted to go do something special that night with his family. So his parents, Tricia and Kent, and his brother Kevin, all headed to a restaurant to meet up with him. Tricia and Kent, those are mom and dad, in particular were incredibly proud of their son. Not that there had ever been any question in their minds that Bart was going to graduate. He always got really good grades in high school. He was super smart and witty. He was always coming

up with these great zingers on the spot. And Bart's parents were completely supportive of him and his brother, Kevin. Tricia in particular loved being a mom more than almost anything else. And the younger brother, Kevin, was the sort of person who always wanted to make sure that everything was fair, he wouldn't relax or enjoy anything for himself until he was sure that everyone around him was also taken care of. So basically all this to say the Whitakers were kind of this picture of a happy healthy family. So they had a good time at the restaurant celebrating Bart's graduation and then Kent and Tricia, his parents, decide to give Bart a really family. So they had a good time at the restaurant celebrating Bart's graduation

and then Kent and Trisha, his parents, decide to give Bart a really special graduation gift this night. It was a Rolex watch that was worth $4,000. So after they finished their meal they all drove home together. Kent, Trisha, and Kevin lived in a nice house in Sugarland, Texas. And while Bart had his own apartment, he actually went back to the family house with them too. So they parked in the driveway, they walked up to the house, but before they could open the front door, Bart told his parents that he'd left his cell phone in the car, so he had to run back and grab it, but everyone else should just go inside without him.

And since he was only gonna be a few seconds, Kevin, the youngest, pulled the door open and stepped inside. He literally didn't have a chance to take his shoes or his jacket off before a loud crack echoed down the street. Someone inside the family's home had just shot Kevin as he opened the door. And I want to be clear, this happens very quickly. His mother Trisha didn't even have time to realize what had happened before she goes through the door and is shot too. Oh my... what? She is shot dead and she drops to

the ground. The father, Kent, witnesses both of these things and he's like, okay, I'm not gonna go inside, but he also needs to go check on his wife and son, make sure they're okay. So he stays on the porch, but he looks through the open doorway to see what's going on. So he just peeks through. The gunman must have been a pretty good shot because that peeking through was all it took for Kent to take a bullet to the chest too.

So this left Bart, our graduate. What the hell is happening? Who was still in the driveway getting his phone. Now reportedly he saw the rest of his family dropped to the ground. He heard the shots and he runs towards the house and somehow he makes it through the front door without getting hit. He sees the shooter. It's a man in dark clothing and a black ski mask. Now, Bart couldn't see the intruder's facial features, but he could see some skin around the eye holes.

He knew it was a white man, but he couldn't figure anything else out. According to a statement later given to the police, Bart tackled the man and they began to struggle with one another. So this guy has a gun and he's just shot three of his family members and Bart barges through this door and tackles the shooter.

Now, during this scuffle, the shooter's gun goes off and hits Bart in the shoulder. Now, it wasn't a life-threatening injury, but it did hurt Bart badly enough for him to let go and kind of stop fighting. According to him, that's when the home invader took his opportunity to run away. He made a clean escape.

So Bart managed to remain conscious long enough to call 911 and report the shooting. He wasn't the only one who was calling the police by this time. Obviously the neighborhood had heard the shots. Neighbors were calling. And a specific neighbor named Cliff Stanley, he lived with his parents right next door. He called police. He'd been on his computer when he heard the guns go off and he called the police right away and then grabbed his father, Brandon, and the two of them ran over to the Whitaker's house to see what was going on. And that decision would actually end up being a lifesaver because you'll remember that Kent, the father, never actually made it inside the house. He got shot while standing by the door looking inside.

So he was still lying right in front of the entrance, bleeding from his chest wound. And as soon as Brandon saw him, he did what he could to treat the wounds. Cliff, the son of the neighbor, went inside and saw that Tricia was still also alive, but badly hurt. And when Cliff asked her what had happened, all she could get out were the words, he shot us. And for Kevin, sadly, he was already beyond help. He was only 19 years old and he died before any first responders could arrive.

Horrible, man. So when the police and EMTs got there, they tried to identify which family members could still be saved. Trisha, the mother mother was in bad enough condition that she had to be life flighted to the hospital in a helicopter. But sadly, she would not survive the trip.

She passed away while she was in the air. So that left Bart and Kent, both of whom did eventually recover from their injuries. I can't believe Kent survived. He got shot in the chest. Yep. So now we have two family members dead, two who are alive, and the police- This is like your worst nightmare.

Yeah. This is, I'm saying yours as in everybody listening, like this is horrible. Oh yeah. So police had to solve two murders and two attempted murders. And there was one thing that they were sure of right away. This was not a robbery gone wrong. But to all appearances, the killer had tried to make it look like that's what had happened. See, all through the house, drawers had been pulled open, but they were only open about two inches. So that's not far enough for anyone to even see what's inside, let alone take anything.

And they were all very neat and even, like someone had gently nudged the doors open in a like systematic way, but hadn't actually rummaged through them. If the intruder had been trying to steal from the Whitaker family, you'd expect the drawers to be messy, maybe uneven. And on top of that, the Whitaker family, you'd expect the drawers to be messy, maybe uneven. And on top of that, the Whitaker family was well off

and they did have plenty of valuables lying out in the open. Computers, jewelry, television, speakers, all of that had been untouched. The shooter did not take anything of value from the scene. Then there was the matter of the murder weapon. It was a gun that belonged to the younger son who had now passed, Kevin. His older brother Bart had given it to him as a gift and Kevin actually kept it in a safe in his bedroom. And it's not like this safe

was sitting on top of a bookshelf or out in the open. Basically to get to it, you'd have to climb into this hidden crawl space that Kevin had built into his room. Interesting. And I would assume put in a code or something. So there was no way a stranger would even know this crawl space existed unless someone had told them about it. And weirdly, even though Kevin also had ammunition in the safe, the shooter didn't use the ammunition from the gun. The gun was loaded with a different brand of bullets that to all appearances, Kevin had never used. So basically, the killer came into the house with bullets,

but no gun, then opened a bunch of drawers, but didn't actually go through them or take anything. The one exception was that they went into Kevin's bedroom, found his hidden crawl space, pried open the safe and got the gun. Red flags are going up all over the place right now. Then the intruder ignored the bullets that were also in the safe

and loaded it with bullets that they had brought. All right. So afterward, they then shot the entire Whitaker family, killing Trisha and Kevin. So this is all just completely bizarre. It's chaos, complete chaos. The police's assumption was that the killer must have broken into the Whitaker home specifically because they wanted to kill this family.

Someone must have described the home's layout to them, maybe told them where to find this gun. Then the killer opened all of those drawers, but didn't take anything in the hopes that this would throw police off their trail. I still don't understand how we got into the safe. You broke into it. Pried it open. Oh, okay. Well, I'm going to keep that in my next time I buy a safe that you when you can't just pry open. So the big question was who wanted this entire family dead? The detectives did a lot of digging into the family members trying

to figure out if anyone had any enemies, if anyone had any secrets that might be worth killing over. And on December 12th, this is just two days after the shooting, they uncovered something surprising about Bart's history. Now remember, Bart is the oldest son. The one that tackled him. Yes. A tipster contacted them and said that Bart was not enrolled at Sam Houston State University. Now remember, this entire case started because he'd invited his parents

and brother out that night to celebrate his college graduation. But according to this tipster Bart had flunked out way back during his freshman year, so three years ago. And apparently since then, he'd been lying to his parents about attending college. Man, this is kind of like that other case we did where she was lying to her family, but how do you lie to them for three years? Well, according to this person, he was acting like he was taking classes,

he was doing well, when in reality, who knew how he'd been spending all of his time? So this was a wild allegation, and of course the police did not just trust this person. So they reached out to the school and they asked to see Bart's transcripts. And the school administrators confirmed that this story was partially true. You can... I didn't know you could flunk out of college. Well...

I guess I figured like if you paid, you could just retake the classes as many times as many times as you want I guess it also means that I never flunked out of college. So it's a good thing. But you know what I'm saying I mean, I think that you probably could I also think it depends on the university. That's true. I Didn't go to a right high enough University where I could flunk out I don't think at Harvard you could just keep failing and keep going. Yeah, that's true. Utah Valley University, do whatever you want. Maybe you can.

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they go back to Bart and they ask him, why'd you lie? Like, what, like, what is this about? Like we get this tip. Apparently you've been lying to your family, you told us that you guys were all celebrating your graduation, you clearly weren't, so what's going on? And Bart said, okay, yes, I had lied, but actually I had been honest with my mom. He said that he told her about his difficulties in school and she'd been helping him keep this a secret

from his father and brother. Now it's unclear why the two of them would choose to keep something like this to themselves for three years and of course with Trisha being dead there's no way for police to ask for her side of the story. So everything about this was just definitely a little strange but it wasn't really clear how it was related to the murders or if at all. That is until another tipster came forward. There's, there's always tips, man. I know. So this was on the 15th, another three days after the police learned that Bart had been lying about going to college. It was a man named Adam Hipp. He walked into the police department and said he had information about Trisha and Kevin Whitaker's murders. Now, Adam hadn't even been on the detective's

radar prior to this point. Nobody had asked him to come in or give a statement. He did this all on his own. But Adam told the investigators that he had gone to high school with Bart. So another tipster coming in to talk about Bart. They'd stayed in contact for several years after graduating high school and according to Adam in the spring of 2001, so about two and a half years before the murders, Bart had said something about how he just really wanted his parents to die. Oh. And he said if they both passed away, Bart would inherit their construction business, which was worth a lot of money. Now, Bart wasn't also just saying this in an idle way.

Like here's something that might happen one day. Like, Hey, if they died, I would inherit it. He actually said to his friend, Adam, that he eventually had a plan to murder his mom and dad. And he's like, I've got it all worked out. If anyone ever said that to me, I'd probably call them out on the podcast. Well get this. That's crazy. It gets worse because not only is he like, hey I'm gonna murder my mom and dad. He has this whole plan and this is what he tells Adam. One day I'm gonna take my parents out to dinner and when they were out of the house,

Adam, his friend, should break in. It wouldn't be hard to do because Bart would leave one of the doors open for him. He could just let himself inside and then Adam would stay in the house waiting. And when Bart and his parents came back, Adam could shoot all three of them and he'd aim to kill with Trisha and Kent,

but only hit Bart in the arm. I cannot believe that Adam is in on this. Well, so Bart's like, hey, if you shoot me, I look like a victim, and nobody would suspect him of being in on it. Now, this testimony was especially creepy because Bart's alleged plan with Adam was so similar to what happened the night Kevin and Trisha were killed. It was similar enough in fact, that at first the police thought maybe Adam

was telling this story to implicate Bart and throw suspicion off himself. Like when he comes in and he's like, hey, I had nothing to do with this, but two and a half years ago, Bart told me that this was gonna happen and that he was gonna do it and he asked me to be a part of it.

I wasn't a part of it. And police are like, okay, but are you sure? Like, are you sure you weren't a part of it? Maybe he was the one who'd shot Bart's whole family and now he was trying to frame Bart. But Adam had an alibi. He was at work at the time of the murders and he had the time sheets to prove it.

Which meant Adam really might have been telling the truth and he wasn't the real killer. The police still did not know who that could be, but Adam was willing to point them in the right direction. So Adam comes in, he says, hey, this is what's happened. And he says, when Bart told me two and a half years ago about this, there was someone else involved in the plot. Of course. And it was Bart's former college roommate, a man named Justin Peters. So police obviously bring Justin in at this point and he corroborated everything Adam had said.

Bart had tried to recruit him to commit the murders sometime back in the spring of 2001. But that wasn't the first time Justin and Bart had talked about doing something like this. According to Justin, months earlier in December of 2000, Justin had actually tried to kill Bart's family. So he comes in and he's like, oh, um... What? He's like, yeah, so this is true. Like what you know is true. Bart tried to recruit me and I actually did attempt to do it back in 2000. Bart tried to recruit me and I actually did attempt to do it back in 2000. But it didn't work out, obviously, as we know.

On an evening in December, Bart took his parents out to dinner while the Whittakers were out at the house. Justin and an accomplice drove up to their place. I'm not going to say the accomplice's name because there's a lot of names to keep track of in this story. I don't want to overload you and nothing ever comes of it. I feel like I want the name because I want to start calling people out, but yeah, it's fine. So the home was locked up when they arrived. And I'm not sure if Bart just forgot to leave one door open or if some of the details of the plot

kind of had to evolve over time. Either way, Justin and the other man knew the only way to get in was to go through a window. But as soon as they touched the glass, the security alarm on the house went off and it spooked them enough that they ran away and the whole entire murder plot fell apart. So Bart comes home expecting his family to be shot and nothing happens. But then Bart tries again. The second attempt was the one that Adam Hipp had

talked about to the police. He, Bart and Justin were going to attempt another break-in the night of April 5th, 2001, but someone overheard Bart and the others talking about their plan and they tipped off Kent and Tricia that they were in danger. Wait a second. Yes. You heard me right. Wait a second. So you're telling me they knew about this?

Kent and Tricia knew that their son had been talking to two other boys about killing them. I don't even know that. I don't know, I have a lot. Well, let me answer your question. Okay, you go first. So mother and father go to Bart, their son, who's in college but not actually in college. Because I don't, obviously I'm not trying

to victim blame at all, but that's cool. It's just insane that they knew about it. They say, hey, someone came to us and said that you were talking with these other boys about killing us. And Bart was like, what? No, no, no, no. It was just a bad joke.

He's like, no, you know, sometimes you're just like joking around, you know, shooting the breeze with your friends. You might start speculating on how to get away with murder. He's like, I wasn't planning on seriously hurting you or anyone. But he also said, you know, I was drinking, we were drunk. And apparently this was good enough for his parents. They believe he is evil.

They believed him. They were like, he doesn't really want to hurt us. And this was after he had already had a failed attempt to do it once. But this was now the second time that one of these plans fell through. Apparently at this point, Bart thought it was too risky to try again, so he, Justin, and Adam dropped the issue there. But given the similarity between this plan from years ago, the two failed attempts, and the actual murder that just happened in 2003, the police are now looking at Bart as their number one suspect. And so they are finding evidence to implicate him. Like

how he tried to bribe Adam to lie to the police about their plan. He literally told Adam he'd give him $20,000 to pretend that he'd never had anything to do with this plot. Like Adam and Justin had come up with everything on their own without Bart's involvement. Well Adam immediately told the police about the offer and they encouraged him to play along. So they are like, hey, if you're talking to Bart and you guys are discussing this entire thing, go with it.

I'd be like, I can play along, but it's going to cost you. Yeah. So he told Bart, he's like, well, he's paying me 20. So what are you guys paying me? So he told Bart he was willing to take him up on the offer and give him an address of where to send the check. The address actually was for a PO box that the detectives were monitoring. Unfortunately, the first payment that came through was in cash and the return address was fake. It said it was from K. Sauzai, a character from one of Bart's favorite movies.

So the police couldn't prove that Bart had sent it. But there's obviously this still doesn't look good, like twenty thousand dollars still showed up. They knew if they wanted to find a real smoking gun, they had to find Bart's actual co-conspirator. They needed to figure out who he had now brought on to kill his family this time. So the police got Adam to have a bunch of phone calls with Bart, where they talk about the murders. And Adam coaxed Bart to talk about how he'd done it. So he's like, hey, I know like we had these failed attempts last time, but like, how'd you do it? How'd you

go through with it this time? And more importantly, who he'd planned everything with. But Bart never really came right out and said who his collaborators were. He was very careful also not to incriminate himself. But there was one man who he mentioned quite a bit in these phone calls, and it was his roommate who also worked at the same company as him, a man named Chris Brasher.

I know there's already a lot of names to keep track of, so I'm just gonna recap very quickly. I'm trying to figure out how one person knows so many people that are willing to kill his family. Money. Because maybe I'm completely naive, but I feel like if I were to walk up to 50 of my friends and offer them $50,000 to kill my family, I would hope every single one of them would say no.

Yeah. So Bart Whitaker tried to have his whole family killed, but his father Kent had survived. The successful murders came after several failed plots with Adam and Justin. His friend now, who was also a coworker and a roommate, may have helped him with the actual killing this time, and his name is Chris. So the police questioned Chris, and of course he denied everything. He had an alibi on the night of the murder.

He was at a restaurant with a friend, Stephen Champagne. The police, though, they don't believe Chris's story. When he comes in and he's like, ah I was you know at dinner with my friend Stephen, they're like no you weren't. They managed to get some kind of sample from him and gave it to their dogs so they could get his scent. And when the dogs searched the Whitaker home again, they signaled that Chris had touched the drawers, the gun safe, and some other evidence. It was pretty clear that Chris had touched the drawers, the gun safe, and some other evidence. It was pretty clear that Chris probably was the gunman.

So next, the detectives went back to that friend who'd corroborated Chris's alibi, Steven. They're like, okay, we're pretty sure there's probably three people involved because the other two attempts had three people involved. So we know that Chris was involved, and now Chris is saying he has an alibi, and it's with Steven. So if there's another person that we think is

involved it's probably the alibi Stephen. So he was the one who said yeah yeah yeah we'd been at the restaurant that night. Well right away Stephen cracks under pressure to police and he tells police that Bart and Chris had asked him to drive a getaway car on the night of the murders when Bart had this entire plot to kill his family. Of course he's, he didn't know what they were doing inside that night. He's like, I was just driving around. I was just cluelessly taking Chris to and from the crime scene. And when the police tested that by giving Stephen a polygraph test, he fails. And after he fails, they're like, Hey hey buddy you got to tell us the truth and he's like okay I'm gonna give you a full confession. Steven admitted

that he, Chris, and Bart were all in on this from the beginning. They had all helped Bart commit the murders. So finally this was the information that the police needed to arrest Bart and the odds looked good in terms of getting a conviction. The officials got Adam, Justin and Justin's other collaborator to agree to testify against Bart in court. What? So what's the dad doing this entire time?

We'll get there. Like he's got to be freaking out. He's got to be pissed off. I can't even imagine the emotions that are going through his head. Well, I think what's even crazier is that I just said the prosecution brings in three other men who have basically attempted to also help kill this family and says, hey, if you guys testify and say, hey, this was like a continuous pattern, we have already tried to do this once. None of them would be charged with attempted murder. Because they want Bart.

Because they want Bart. Because they want Bart so bad. Chris and Stephen as well, the people who actually committed the murders. And as for Chris, who'd actually pulled the trigger and Stephen, the getaway driver, both were charged with capital murder, but the police would not pursue the death penalty for either of them. Again, this was an exchange for their cooperation and an agreement to testify against Bart be completely honest at trial.

And now it's just a matter of bringing Bart in. But before they could catch him, some detectives located his car, which was abandoned a little ways away from where he worked his day job. So as crap starts to hit the fan, Bart is like, girl, I gotta get out of here. It was still running. The car was when officers found it, but the police had no idea what had happened to Bart. He was clearly on the run and no one knew where he'd gone. So the police offered a large reward for any information that might lead to his arrest. And another one of Bart's

collaborators came forward to collect the money. This ad was expressly recorded to create a sense of simplicity. Just a few simple sounds. No complexity. Like neutral. Made with just vodka, soda, and natural flavor. Neutral. Refreshingly simple. What if we told you you're already off to a great start with so many ways to squeeze

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So this is how Bart got away. I still can't believe how many friends were in on this. So Bart gave the guy the 3, 3000 and then used his name and information to cross the border into Mexico. Wow, okay. Now that police knew what identity Bart was using though, they were able to figure out where he was living. He was unemployed, so Mexican police officers set up a trap.

Bart had been applying for a bunch of jobs in Mexico and the detectives lied and said they were from one of the companies that he'd applied to and they needed to come in for a job interview. And when Bart showed up in Mexico to talk about his resume and his experience, they handcuffed him and extradited him back to America. He was probably like, wait, I'm in Mexico, you can't do this.

Yeah, so Bart was charged with capital murder and his trial began on March 3rd, 2007, four years after the murders. Now, even Bart's lawyers realized right away that they would not have a strong case. He pleaded not guilty, but the evidence against him was overwhelming. So they adopted a very risky strategy.

They didn't try to argue that Bart was innocent or that he didn't do it. Self-defense. Well, they also didn't try to argue that Bart was innocent or that he didn't do it. Self-defense? Well they also didn't try to argue that he was legally insane or anything like that. Instead they fully acknowledged that Bart was responsible for the murders and completely at fault. But they argued that the court should go easy on him because he'd changed while he was on the run in Mexico. Oh, that's gotta be one of the worst defenses I've ever heard in my life. So according to them, during his time in Mexico, Bart had begun attending church.

He'd worked a humble job. Oh, get the F out of here, Bart. In a furniture store where he did thankless tasks with a smile and an upbeat attitude. He actually had a steady girlfriend. He was generally well liked. I can't. Everyone in Mexico, according to the defense attorneys, agreed that Bart was nice and treated people well.

And this was evidence that he'd reformed already. I wonder how many defense attorneys, if any listened to this podcast, I'm not saying I hate you, I like you, but sometimes I hate you, I like you, but sometimes I hate you. I just, I get it, it's her job. Someone's gotta, I mean.

I get it, someone has to do it, but it's just, I don't know. I don't know. It does get a little crazy. I feel like lines are so foggy when it comes to to being a defense attorney in those situations. I think it gets a little crazy when you start lying. That's what I mean.

But I don't know. I don't know where that line is. I know they would say they're not lying, but come on, man. You and I both know you're lying, and that's okay. I mean, I get it. That's your job, but I know you're lying. So after only two hours in deliberation,

they ruled that Bart was guilty of the murders, and given the seriousness of the charges, Bart was now facing the death penalty. Yeah. So during his sentencing hearing, Bart tried to make the same kinds of arguments that hadn't worked during his trial, that he changed. He just, he wasn't the violent, murderous person that he'd been before. Bart said while he was in Mexico He'd found God his family had always been religious They all went to church every Sunday and he said he never really believed in it growing up

But now he did now at this point I want to come back to Kent the father Garrett asked about him earlier and this is where I want to bring him in because You would think if there was anyone who could see through Bart's lies And recognize that he was manipulating people. I mean he manipulated all of his friends to getting involved He's now trying to manipulate people Also, I just thought why would he kill his own sibling? I don't think he cares. I think he's evil Dude, what a freaking psycho. I'm sorry, but I just that's insane to me

What a freaking psycho. I'm sorry, but that's insane to me. So Kent is the lone survivor of the murder attempt. He lost his wife and his only other son to Bart. But when Kent got a chance to speak at his son's sentencing hearing, he said he forgave Bart. Like I said, this whole family was very devout and Christianity teaches that you're supposed to forgive your enemies. So it was a principle that Kent took very seriously. And on top of that, Kent told the judge that Bart was the only family member he had left.

Sure Bart had created that situation by killing the rest of the family, but Kent still wanted his son to live. So this is a very sticky situation. Bart seemed like a major threat to society. He clearly killed two other people, tried to kill a third, and possibly threatened an assistant DA and his family during trial.

He was like, I'm gonna kill the, I mean, he didn't really come out and say it, but he kind of alluded to it. Kent's a better man than I am. So depending on what you believed about his testimony, he might not have even felt bad about any of this. But on the other hand, his one surviving victim was begging for mercy.

So no one could really predict where the judge would come down with all of that. But after deliberating for 10 hours, the judge sentenced Bart to be executed. So as for Bart's collaborators, Chris the shooter got life in prison and Stephen the getaway driver got 15 years. Bart was the only conspirator to head to death row.

Now when Bart's father Kent had testified that he didn't want to lose his last son, he really meant it. He fought hard to get Bart's death penalty sentence overturned. He reached out to government officials, filed for every appeal he could. He gave countless interviews to the press and so did Bart, presumably in the hopes that people would hear his story and be moved to advocate for him. But it was like nobody was listening or nobody cared. What a surprise Bart, what a freaking surprise. Bart was supposed to be executed via lethal injection on February 22nd, 2018.

And with less than 24 hours to go it was not looking good the night before Bart was supposed to die Kent visited him in prison They couldn't even sit in the same room Kent pressed a palm against a glass Partition and Bart put his hand up on the other side It was the closest thing they'd get to touching and Kent told Bart all the things he'd never get to say to him again They're both emotional probably as you can imagine. I can't. It's just hard. Yeah. This is just weird. Yeah. So the next day Bart stepped out of his cell and got

strapped down on a gurney. They transported him to the chamber where he would lose his life and then just 40 minutes before Bart was scheduled to die in 2018, they heard from Texas's governor, Greg Abbott. I feel like I remembered this. He'd waited practically for the last second. I remember this. But he'd decided to commute Bart's sentence to life in prison. Apparently, he was moved by Kent's pleas. It's unclear why he waited so long to make the call, but either way Bart's

life was spared as he was literally sitting in the room he was about to die in. So he was transferred off of death row and into solitary confinement. So even though Bart gets to live, he wasn't having a great time in prison. For almost a year Bart didn't have the legal right to see his father or speak to him on the phone. He couldn't be around any other inmates. He couldn't make friends. The prison said this was all just a safety matter.

Given Bart's history of manipulating other people to commit horrific crimes, he couldn't be trusted. They didn't wanna see him talking to anybody else. But Bart's quality of life was still pretty poor. And once again, his father tried advocating for a change and it's hard to tell how it all worked out as there wasn't much press coverage on the case after Bart's execution was canceled. Now I did find an interview that Kent did with the Oprah network and in it,

Kent said that forgiving Bart was a necessary first step on the road to healing. He presented it as this beautiful emotional thing that a lot of people aren't capable of doing. But Kent found meaning and purpose in letting go of any grudges he might hold against his son. And that's one way of interpreting this story. That Kent had an almost superhuman ability to let go of his pain and heartache.

I know you're going to say next. And that his reconciliation with Bart was a touching wonderful development. I know exactly what you're gonna say next. Alternatively, maybe this just speaks of how talented Bart was at manipulation. Oh. Yeah, I knew that you didn't know where I was going. Never mind, I didn't know where you were going. And that's crazy, Gar. That's crazy where your head was going. You don't know what I was thinking. I do know. where you were going. And that's crazy, Gar. That's crazy where your head was going. You don't know what I was thinking. I do know. You have no idea.

No one knows what I was thinking. I plead the fifth. Other people think that maybe Bart even had his own victim fooled into thinking that he wasn't that bad of a person. Which could be. It's hard to say for sure. Nobody really knows what the dynamic looks like between Kent and Bart.

Even they might not totally understand what it is. But I think it's safe to end by saying forgiveness can be a beautiful thing. It just shouldn't come at the expense of anyone's safety or life. And that is the story of Kevin and Trisha Whittaker. Insane, absolutely, probably one of the craziest cases we've covered.

I just don't know how there's been two attempts on their life. I know, I'm not. I refuse and maybe I'm a bad person. I'm not, like if someone does that to my family I'm I'm not forgiving you and I feel like I understand people talk about healing in different ways I mean good for him if that's what helped him. That's fantastic But I think what would help me is

Not forgiving. I think every person is different and every person's different, but I just Do someone killed you I will say I did listen to a podcast called The Letter Once, season one, The Letter. I'm too mean. Listen, it's about a family whose daughter was murdered and years later they become friends with her murderer and forgive him and have a relationship with him. But they interview, they interview the family and you hear this mother, it might've been

the guy killed her son, not her daughter. I can't remember the details. Either way, they killed her child. And it's just astonishing. It's astonishing to hear someone talk about their child's murderer, talk to their child's murderer talk to their child's murder Oh my it's it it was definitely this is got me all riled up It was a podcast that that I really really appreciated

Just the no dichotomy between it. I could you I don't know I don't know but listening to her talk had me in tears, but you could you could do it like you could forget someone I don't think so. I don't know. I don't know, but listening to her talk had me in tears. But you could do it? Like you could forgive someone? I don't think so. I don't think so. Like I, I'm not. I can barely forgive people for doing nothing. Like I'm just not capable of that.

I just don't know. I don't know. But also babe, grief is weird and sometimes people have to do what they have to do to grieve I think that you don't know until you're in the situation yeah I don't think there's any right or wrong way I know exactly what I would do you know what I'm saying? wink? wink? alright you guys that was our episode for this week and we will see you next time with another one I love it and I hate it

goodbye next time with another one. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.