Small Town Murder - #15 - An Heiress & A Brutal Murder in Warrenton, Virginia

Episode Date: April 26, 2017

This week, we look into the affluent town of Warrenton, Virgina, where an heiress, and her Argentinian Polo player boyfriend's relationship turns sour, and leads to murder, among the horse farms, and large estates of the wealthy, and powerful.Along the way, we find out how the idle rich spend their time, how much it costs to field a country club polo team, and how much money you need to have to make jail similar to a Red Roof Inn!Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!!Please subscribe, rate, and review!Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!Head to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder!For merchandise: crimeinsports.threadless.comCheck out James and Jimmie's other show: Crime in Sports Follow us on social media!Facebook: facebook.com/smalltownpodInstagram: instagram.com/smalltownmurderTwitter: twitter.com/MurderSmall Contact the show: [e-mail] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening early and ad-free on Wondery Plus. What if you married the love of your life and then stood by them as they developed 21 new identities? What would you do? This Is Actually Happening is a weekly podcast that features extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. Listen to the newest season of This Is Actually Happening on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. This week, we look at Warrington, Virginia, where the relationship between an heiress and an Argentinian polo star turns deadly. Welcome to Small Town Murder. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder.

We're back. Yay! Hey, thank you. Thank you so much. My name is James Petrigal. I'm here with my co-host. I am Jimmy Wissman. We are excited as can be to be here today. Thank you so much for joining us. Before we get started, just want to thank everyone for their iTunes reviews this week. God, you guys are the best. Holy shit.

Honestly, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Like a cavalcade avalanche. It was ridiculous. It's the best. It helps us so much.

We can't even explain it to you. So thank you. Anybody who hasn't done that, please get on iTunes. Give us five stars. Say whatever you want. We don't care. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to me.

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That blows us away. And that's more than even the iTunes reviews. I can't even wrap my head around that. So thank you so much for that. If you haven't yet and you feel like donating, it's patreon.com slash crimeandsports. That's our other podcast, which you also should be listening to. Also, P.S. I hate this movie.

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It's amazing. If not, the iTunes reviews are fantastic. We appreciate the hell out of that. And if you don't want to do anything, just want to sit there like a lazy bastard and enjoy an interesting story and hear us talk shit about small towns and bumbling cops and dumb killers, then, hey, we're your people for that. You're in the right place. So do that. But thank you so much for everything, guys.

Really, the support is just phenomenal, and it means the world to us. So thank you so much. If you've chosen this as your first episode to listen to, if you're a new listener, you've chosen a doozy this week because it's as close as we can get to a soap opera type of story. Fantastic. It sounds made up. This story sounds made up. You would think I just went home and bullshitted out a story, but this actually happened. This is true.

It's insane. Olive skin Lothario involved, too. Absolutely. It's everything. You hit it on the head, Jimmy. It's so stupid. Olive skin Lothario. There's an heiress involved in everything, a billionaire heiress.

It's a wild story of murder and mayhem. Does she have like a jealous sister that's getting nothing? We'll get into this. We'll get into this. It's a twin that killed her and hit her in a cave. We'll get into it, the whole deal. There's no twin killing her in a cave, but there is a twin actually, which is insane. It couldn't be more of a soap opera.

Before we get started, just want to give a slight disclaimer, as we always do. This is a comedy podcast, also. The research is real. The facts are real. The stories are real. We do our best to be respectful to the victims, to the victims' families. So important. We never try to denigrate them or say anything.

I don't want to laugh at their expense. We try not to do anything at their expense. The jokes on this podcast come from we make fun of small towns because we're all from a small town and they're all worthy of being made fun of. They are. And also just general bumbling and fuckery involved in the process, whether it be a small town sheriff department messing up a crime scene or those are the best or a stupid killer leaving a bag of guns in the woods next to a hotel he just robbed like we had last week. The whole deal. You know what I mean? So anything like that.

But that's where the comedy comes from. It's never at the expense of the victims. Right. So anyway, if you like that, great. Welcome aboard. If you think that true crime and comedy should never go together, well, it's been nice to meet you. Have a good one. You probably shouldn't listen to this show.

Slow stroke it on down the road. Take a hike down the road. nice to meet you. Have a good one. You probably shouldn't listen to this show. Slow stroke it on down the road. Take a hike down the road. Thanks for trying us. Have a good one. And we're probably the only podcast out there that discourages you to listen right at the front. Hello. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you for everything you do for us. Please don't listen. Thank you. Okay. Now here is our story. Whoever's left, thanks for being there. Thanks for being around. And let's head to the town of Warrington, Virginia.

Oh. Warrington, Virginia. We're going here. It's in the northern part of the state. Virginia's kind of like a camel's hump, basically. It's kind of in the hump up toward the top there. Very weird shaped. It is.

You can tell there's some disputed lands there or something. Nobody just said, yeah, it's not like the west. Let's make a big square and that's your state. Big square unless there's a river. We'll make the river be the fucking divider. And that's what it is a lot in the East Coast, too. Virginia is all sorts of, you just dispute. You know there's dispute there.

It's in Fonqueir County. Fonqueir County. Okay. We're going to go with Fonqueir County we're going to go with. It's about an hour outside. We'll leave the hacky gay jokes out of that. Yeah, we don't need anything about that. There's enough jokes to go around in this without stooping to that level.

We're good. We're good. It's about an hour from Washington, D.C. So this is commutable to D.C. So you're outside of the political capital of the United States and the Western Hemisphere, but this is not there at all. This is a small town. You'd never know it was that close unless you found all the CIA agents that live there

and all that sort of thing. And they do because we'll get into that also. We have tons of stuff here. There's plenty of shit going on in D.C., but somehow they figured out how to get enough shitty crime in there. Just as shady of a town we got going on here and the corruption and everything else. Shitty crime in there. Just as shady of a town we got going on here and the corruption and everything else.

This is like the ultimate in money and small towns and how it can just corrupt everything. It's really, this is a wild story. I'm into it. Elevation of this town is 643 feet, so it's close to sea level. Zip code 20186, area code 540. They also have 703 and 541 in case you're getting a call from there. It might be one of these people, and you might want to let that go to voicemail. It's a fascinating area of the country, too, because in the wintertime, it fucking sucks. It's terrible.

And then in the summertime, it fucking sucks. Terrible. No, it's the worst. My father lived in North Carolina. It was 92 and humid in March, and it was snowing in the winter. I'm like, why are you here? This is horrible. This is Florida and Michigan mixed together.

Why are we here? Is that job that good? What are you doing? Yeah. No, it's never that good. Why are you there? God, this is a small town and area, four and a half square miles. It's a very small little town.

It's got like a nice old little village that we'll talk about with all the brick sidewalks and that sort of thing. It's a quaint place. Like I said, an hour from Washington, D.C., so it's right there. It's originally, the history of the place, it was originally just a crossroads. Nothing was there back in the 1700s. Eventually, a trading post popped up known as the Red Store in the 1700s. They figure they're going to get the business from both of those crossroads.

Yeah, people as they're coming through, the Red Store, that was marketing in the 1700s. We'll paint it red and call it the Red Store. Okay, very good. Very good Hezekiah. It's also a slight to the Native Americans that used to be there. I'm sure, I'm sure, yeah. Settlement of the area when people began moving in and living there began around the Revolutionary War, which if you're not from America,

is about 1776 areas when it started going through the 1780s, that whole time period. That whole fuck you Britain thing. Yeah. Sorry, UK. Yeah. This is we're going to bring up some some tough memories for you here. 1790, the courthouse was built. So that was kind of when they really got established.

Once there's a courthouse and a jail, once we have people, a place to lock up assholes. Yeah. That's where that's when things become organized in a town. It's like, all right, we need to find a place to lock up. If Jim screws up, we need to find a place to put him. That's it. We just always pick Jim or Bob. I have no other.

I'm not very creative when it comes to names. It's a terrible thing. So this happens here. 1790, like I said, courthouse, jail, whole deal. A military academy opens up after the Revolutionary War, named after war hero General Joseph Warren. So Warren and Warrington, and there you go. And that's how the town became Warrington. Richard Henry Lee was a wealthy landowner here.

He donated land for the county seat. And in 1810, the town of Warranty was incorporated, which is cool. I love how the East Coast towns always have all this history. You know, we look at Ovando, Montana, and it's like late 1800s, people showed up, shot each other. There was a saloon. They stuck around.

Railroad didn't come, so they left. That was it. That's the town history. That's it. You don't get shit. Here, there's like a history of things. It's pretty interesting. People that couldn't afford a railroad ticket or couldn't find a train to jump onto just stayed.

Just stayed. Or they were like, this is a good place to fleece people and rob people. The inventor of the coffee percolator is from here. Is that right? Absolutely. A man named the inventor of the percolator is William Extra Billy Smith. Extra Billy. Extra Billy.

What? There was two Billys. How come I didn't know this? This guy's regular Billy and I'm Extra Billy. What? There was two Billys. How come I didn't know this? This guy's regular Billy and I'm Extra Billy. And he was the, this man you'd think, oh, what a crazy guy, coffee purse probably running around the woods. No, no, no. He was governor of Virginia. What?

Twice. Twice elected. They elected a man named Extra Billy twice in this state. Oh, you people. That'll tell you a little bit about what we're dealing with here. Extra Billy. No problem. Yeah, Extra Billy. That sounds tell you a little bit about what we're dealing with here. Extra Billy. No problem. Yeah, Extra Billy.

That sounds like a good idea. That's hilarious. God. In 1850s, the railroad came through, and as we always know, in all these tales, we've said when the railroad comes through, that's when shit starts popping off, or oil in your case, as you think. No oil here either, Jimmy. Sorry.

Listen to, I think it was episode 10 down in Monticello, Florida, when Jimmy thought that Florida was settled due to oil discovery. Now, at this point, it is thriving when the railroad comes through. It's thriving. There's businesses, churches, two schools, a newspaper. If you have a newspaper, you have a town back then. That's something. Like, this is an organized shit.

People are doing their thing. In 1860, there was 604 people there. That's not bad. That's building up some population. In 1860? 1860. We know 1860 is right before a pretty big event in our history, in American history. The Civil War started in 1861. Again, if you're not from America,

the whole South was tattered during the Civil War, including Virginia. We hated everybody. Yes. At this point, it is called in an article, quote, one of the richest towns in the whole South. This is a rich town. There's rich farmland. Wealthy people buy here.

There are a ton of wealthy people. Robert Duvall has an estate in this area currently. Really? Yeah, the actor Robert Duvall. Yeah. All sorts of famous political people, huge, just big industrial people, very rich people, basically. People with historic families. That wealth is built on the backs of slaves.

It's old money. Oh, yeah. It's old money, that sort of thing. Civil War really tore this place apart because there was battles all around it. So they were using their hospital facilities and they were using – everything became a hospital facility for soldiers and things were, you know, crops were taken to feed people. It was a crazy time. All hands on deck kind of a thing here. Now, in 1880, after the Civil War, obviously, this is a little bit later.

This is not such a quaint thing that went down here. A black man named Arthur Jordan eloped with his white employer's daughter. Uh-oh. Which was back in the South back then. Now, they fought a war and shit, but still, this was a fucking no-no to these people back then. This was just a no-no. You didn't do this.

Apparently, it wasn't allowed, and it would turn the people against you, and that's how it went down. This woman was named Elvira Corder. People were super pissed. A group of men hunted the couple down in Maryland. What? This is what I mean. They didn't just be like, oh, we don't like them anymore.

They would go hunt you down in another state. Crossed state lines to take out their... Their aggression on you. It's insane. Their civil justice. It's nuts. And brought Jordan back to the area. They found him and brought him back.

They found him, put him back, put him in jail. Oh, my God. And then while they're in jail, this is what happened a lot back then also, a group of hooded men, Klansmen, quote, broke into the jail. The lynch mob. This is what happened. Oh, you know. So embarrassing. It's insane. So a group of them, they broke into the jail, dragged him away, and he was hanged at the local cemetery. This is insane. At the cemetery. At the cemetery. He married this girl.

It's not like he raped her in the woods and left her for dead. Right. He married this poor girl. He's going to take care of her. They were in love. It's sad. And to save gas money, they did it where he's just going to be left anyway. Over here.

Awful. So they did that, and it was internationally covered, actually. I mean, all the way to Sydney, Australia, this was covered. So this was a huge deal. It was going on a lot, but this, for some reason, the blatant corruption of it all, I think, was a big deal. In 1909, a large fire destroys half the structures in town, which seems to be every town we cover. Yeah. From 1900 to 1910, most of it burned down.

I don't know what the hell was going on. Crazy arsonists running around or something. I know everything was made of wood, but still. That's where I was going. It's like the three little pigs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is the time when they were building shit out of sticks. That's the truth.

Old Town Warrington, which is the old town, little at the brick streets, I told you. It was named recently one of the prettiest painted places in america whatever that means by the quote paint quality institute which sounds completely made up that sounds like i want to see that trophy that's yeah that sounds like a woman with a cat on her lap just said i'm gonna start the paint quality institute and give out awards for prettiness you know it's like what the hell's going on here? It's an HOA reward. Yes, it totally is. It absolutely is. Now, the people in this town, population is 9,897. Oh, boy. So not a very big town at all.

It's up 48% since 2000. So this town has seen some growth recently, up 105% since 1990. Okay. So double the population since 1990. People with some money. Yeah, also D.C. got very dangerous in the 80s. That's right. And very expensive also.

So people moved to the burbs. Their governor's doing smack. Or was it just the mayor? Mayor. Just the mayor. Come on. Mayor, mayor. Yeah.

It wasn't extra billy or anything. More females than males, which is 54% female, which is higher than the 51% average. Median age is 41. It's about 37 and a half average. So that's on point. Average age groups, for the most part,. Median age is 41. It's about 37 and a half average, so that's on point. Average age groups, for the most part, more 10 to 20-year-olds than average, so more kids there. Kind of less 20 to 30-year-olds, though, than they leave, I guess.

And they could go to college. They could go wherever. I mean, it's probably, these are people that can afford to send their kids to college for the most part, so I think maybe that's what it is. Every group over the age of 65 is above average in population. So there's more old people, but there's also more kids. So it evens out to being about the median. Yeah, it's a weird thing.

Rather than everybody being about 37, there's like a bunch of people over 65 and a bunch of people under 20. It evens out in the middle. Average of married versus non-married, that sort of thing. Slightly more divorced than average, but nothing major. Almost double the widow average. So there you go with the old people. There's some old people there.

Race and religion, 73% white. 62% is the average. 11.3% black, which is about average. 1.47% Asian. Missing that 5% average. By a lot. Yeah, they like some restaurants, I figure, that sort of thing. That's about all they have. It's got to be. 10% Hispanic, which is that 5% average. By a lot. They like some restaurants, I figure, that sort of thing. That's about all they have. It's got to be.

10% Hispanic, which is lower than the average. 45% of the people are religious there, which is slightly less than average. You get your usuals, your 10% Catholic, 9% Baptist, 9% Methodist, just a mixture of people. 0.0% Jewish, 0.0% Muslim, of course, because it's

a small-town murder where there are never any Jews or Muslims. Politically, 39% Democrat, which is off from the 51% average in the country, 59% Republican, which in the affluent – this is an affluent town. It makes sense. Education-wise, they have more four-year college grads than most places, which I think maybe the government, the CIA being around there helps that. Twice the amount of master's degrees as normal. So, I mean, there's a highly educated place. Smart people. Yeah, twice the amount of doctorates.

They're wealthy people. I guess that's a very ignorant thing to say, that they're smart people. Because they're wealthy. I know some dumb people that have PhDs. They're wealthy. I'll say that much for them. About half the average of people making less than $35,000 a year as most places. About half that average.

19% of the people make between $100,000 and $150,000. 12% of the people make between $150,000 and $200,000. This is all like doubling averages, by the way. 8% make more than $200,000. So the high end is very strong in this particular town. Average household income here is $73 thousand dollars. That is fifty three thousand is the average. I was just going to say that's really high. Yeah, that's one of the first towns we've done where it's it's excessively way above the average money in terms of in terms of terms

of average, because you can't imagine anybody that's living there is making much under that. You know, that's what I mean. It's and the housing'll get to, you're going to say, how would you? If you wanted to live there, you wouldn't be able to make much less than that. As far as the jobs, what people are doing, twice the education jobs, because there's education things there. It's about 13% of them. Three times the, quote, personal care jobs. I figure those are people wiping rich people's asses, I'm imagining, things like that.

Yeah, washing the royal penis and all that stuff. That sort of thing. Yeah, the royal penis penis and all that stuff. That sort of thing. Yeah, the royal penis is clean, your highness. Coming to America reference. God, it never fails for an 80s movie reference. It will never stop, I swear to God. Leave it to us. We don't plan it.

It just happens. Young people listening to this are like, I don't know what the fuck you just said. I don't know what you're talking about. Less than half the average of construction jobs are available, so it's more white collar. It's less blue collar. Yeah.

Average in legal, engineering, finance, all that stuff, all the white collar things. Cost of living. If we do 100 being the average, which is the basic, Warrington is a 134. Everything's slightly higher and housing is way higher at 196. Okay. It's about double. The average median home price here is $365,000. Jesus, that's a lot of money.

That's a lot. $185,000 is the average for the nation. Three what? $365,000. Like, above $350,000. That's crazy. That's wild. Like, I'm thinking about a $300,000 house that I know of.

Like, that's a nice house. It's a nice house. And there's a big difference between $300,000 and $350,000. The $350,000, like, that sets you up to something way better. And then $365,000, you're like, Jesus, all this marble. Unless you're in San Francisco, you're like, this is great. In San Francisco, it's a piece of shit. Yeah, you're not buying anything.

You're like, I have a crawl space above my attic or my garage if you want it. You can live like the Fonz, maybe. I've got $395,000. What can I get with this? You can buy two Escalades and go live in a parking lot. Back them up back to back and open the backs, open the trunks and just climb in. It's a double long. That's what that is. It's like a double wide, but the

opposite. $100,000 houses, under $100,000, only 2% of the homes are under $100,000. 2%. Yeah. 70% of the homes are between $200,000 and $500,000. My God.

It's expensive, basically. Nothing is vacant. There's no vacant properties, basically. There's a few for sale, but there's not like we've had these vacation rental towns the last couple. The Warrington housing report, if we've convinced you to move to Warrington, Virginia, a two-bedroom apartment there will cost you $1,200 a month. $1,027 is the average. If there's some houses, all expensive.

Four-bedroom, three-bath, 2,200-square-foot house for $349,000. A big, brick, stately, beautiful house here. Four-bedroom, four-bath, 4,500 square feet for $550,000. Plantation house. This is what we're looking at. If you use something affordable in the range of normal, a budget house would be the townhouse. You get a townhouse, two bedroom, two bath, 1,300 square feet for $179,000. That is terrible.

Yeah, and it doesn't look terrific either. If you just want to get a tent, pitch a tent and get in a lot here, it's a.65 acre lot for $79,000. That is garbage. It's garbage, yeah. That's terrible. You have to build on it, too. The lot I live on is about that size, and that's nothing. It's not worth it now. No. That's terrible. You have to build on it, too. The lot I live on is about that size, and that's nothing. It's not worth it now.

No, that's terrible. Things to do. April 29th this year, coming up, we have the Hoofin' It for the Homeless walk, which is a... Clever name. You're going to walk, and they're going to donate to the homeless based on your walking. In May, there's just all these wine releases. There's a lot of vineyards around there, as there are everywhere in these small towns.

And in late August, at the Warrington Horse Show Grounds is the 117th annual Warrington Horse Show. How about that? They're very into horses. 117th annual? Yeah, started in 1900. Wow. And they're very into horses and polo, as we're going to get into this episode, and a woman who's very into horses. The crime rates here, property crime, burglary, larceny, rape, or not rape, theft.

Rape is a violent crime. Burglary, larceny, theft. You know, just that petty rape. Property. Yeah, it's terrible. Jesus, sorry about that. That's hilarious. Slightly above average there.

Violent crime, murder, rape, robbery, assault is half the national average. So now you're in a nice, you're half as likely to be murdered or raped, but someone might steal your shit about the average level. Now, let's get into a resident who moved here in 1984. This is a woman named Susan Cummings. Now, it looks like Susan, but she is born in Monte Carlo, Monaco. That's how fancy schmancy she is. She's from Monaco, which is insane. We'll talk about how she became so rich.

But her name is pronounced Suzanne, even though it's Susan. Pronounced Suzanne. Her sister, she has a fraternal twin sister who also has an annoying pronunciation to her name, which doesn't look like it's spelling. An annoying pronunciation. I love that. It looks like Susan, S-U-S-A-N. It should be Susan. Suzanne. No, that's not it. You should have named her Suzanne. I'm that. Well, if it looks like Susan, S-U-S-A-N, it should be Susan. You know, okay, Suzanne. No, that's not it. You should have named her Suzanne. I'm sorry.

Never mind. Sorry. Moving on. So she's... You shut up. That's your problem, you know? I love that you're taking it out on her parents. I am. It's not necessarily... Her father's an asshole. I'll talk about it in a second. I'm just saying it's not necessarily their fault for like the way it's pronounced. Because when she grows up, she can tell anybody to pronounce her name any way she wants. And the way she's doing it now, she sounds like an asshole telling people to call her Suzanne. With her accent, that's just how it comes out, too, also. She's born August 19, 1959, over in Monte Carlo. She's the daughter of a billionaire ex-CIA operative, which we find out later he was, an international arms

dealer named Samuel Cummings, a legal international arms dealer. He's so politically connected and so wealthy that he is allowed to deal arms to some of the most interesting and far-reaching places we're going to talk about here in a second. The most dangerous people. Absolutely. He's known as the world's biggest small arms dealer. Okay. So no, you know, tank weaponry or artillery but i love that you were

gonna say bazooka i was gonna but that's what he actually has he actually has bazookas yeah what the yeah he has all that stuff if you can hold it in your arms he'll sell it to you it's crazy and you have a guerrilla movement also you need to have that going on um he once said and this is some cynical shit right here he once said quote the arms business is based on human folly and folly has yet to be measured nor its depths plumbed. So he's basically like, people will fuck up forever and they're going to need guns to shoot each other with, and I'll be

right there to supply them. Wow. Probably the most cynical thing I've ever heard. It's also like the most educated cynical thing to say. Well, he knows what the world is basically. He does a hundred million dollars a year in business for years with the company Interarms, which is where he's selling. Sold

arms to both sides of a Central American guerrilla war. Sold arms to both sides of the Cuban Revolution. Sold to Batista. Sold arms to Castro. That is incredible. Unreal. How do you do that? Just playing both sides of the fence. No problem. So they don't know who

he's getting his guns from? You know what I mean? No, they're just, we got guns. That's it. We got an American guy who's going to sell his guns. Great. They don't care if you sell them to the other side, there's even more reason to buy them for you.

They have them now. Now we need them. So I would imagine he's connected to the CIA. It's kind of an open secret that he's connected to the CIA to the point where he names one of his businesses Cummings Investment Associates as a joke because it's CIA. So he's just like, yeah, no, I'm not involved in the CIA at all. And he names his business that. My business is the CIA.

Yeah. He moves to Europe in the 1960s. He has a chateau in the Swiss Alps and a place in Monte Carlo for tax purposes, which is where his daughter is born. Susan and her fraternal twin sister. This is a soap opera. This is ridiculous. Diane, who is pronounced De-an, which is why.

But it's spelled Diane or Diana. I'm sorry. It's Deanna is how you say it. Moved to America in 1984. Their father buys them a 350-acre estate. This place is amazing. In 1984. Their father buys them a 350-acre estate. This place is amazing. In 1984. It's called Ashland Farm.

It's got a name. It's called, all of these have names. Jesus. Multi, hundreds of acres of states. They all have names. It's called Ashland Farm. None of these people around here like to call it an estate. They all call it a farm.

I feel like it makes them feel like they still have slaves. Right. They're trying to act humble. Yeah. No, I feel like. I feel like it makes them feel like they still have slaves. They're trying to act humble. Yeah. No, I feel like it's like that makes us feel like we still have slaves and that's we should because we're rich. So, you know, let's I feel like that's how these assholes think. I'm sorry. These really like old money society

estate assholes really piss me off. So if there's any of them out there, sorry, but go fuck yourself. It's actually they're not listening to us. If you are, donate patreon.com slash brandisworks. You can afford it. Because you need to they're not listening to us. If you are, donate patreon.com slash Travis Schwartz. You can afford it. Because you need to. So go on.

And you can afford it. And you can write it off. And you can write it off. It's great. I don't know if you can or not, guys. I'm sure you can. It's a donation. We're not accountants.

We're not accountants. Both sisters. It's a donation. We're not accountants. I don't know if that's true. We can't give tax advice on the Small Town Murder Show. We don't have time to Google that. You think oil is in Florida.

Don't give tax advice, please. This is not don't have time to Google that. You think oil is in Florida. You don't give tax advice, please. This is not going to be okay. I do my own taxes. How embarrassing is that? Oh, Jesus Christ. IRS. Why are you saying that? You're going to be audited hardcore next year.

I'm not scared. I got nothing. That's fine. Yeah, that's true. What are they going to take from us? Sisters both speak with French accents, so they're very European and fancy. They get very much into horses, and she even takes an interest in watching polo. Polo becomes a big part of her life here. In the early 90s, she has horses on the property all the

time. Tons of them. She'll just go buy a bunch of horses. She has caretakers for horses. Crazy names. I'm sure they do. Adopts several local dogs from the power dogs from the local pound she's got a heart she does she builds a big elaborate dog house she's also very bored she's a complete like bored rich girl you can hear hall and oats rich girl playing in the background as i'm reading the story the whole time like i wish we could just have that looping as i'm reading the story i love that you just said she built a giant dog house no she didn't no she paid somebody to build a very elaborate doghouse. She said, I want doghouse.

She said, that was it. You're like, yes, Suzanne. Yes, that's fine, Suzanne. Suzanne, Suzanne, whatever. We don't care. We'll build it. She would bounce from hobby to hobby. She didn't have many friends and had a hard time socially getting into this circle of,

I'm sure it's not the easiest thing to get into one of these society circles, no matter how much money you have. I'm sure they all want to talk shit about you for a while and keep you on the outskirts. Well, they're friends with you up front. And then when they find out your name's Suzanne, they're very nice to you. And then they're like, I want to write you a letter. And then they spell it. And they're like, fuck her. Fuck that woman.

What is her name? Does she spell it like that? Her name is Susan. No, this is bullshit. We're assuming these people are reasonable, which I don't think they are. She went from animals to art and back to animals and into this and that. She's got money and nothing to do. So what are you going to do?

Just into her whatever she desires that day. The bored rich girl syndrome is what it is, or rich woman, however you want to say it. I want that syndrome so bad. I do, too. I'd love to have that. Amy Worden, who was a caretaker for her horses from 1987 to 1994 on the property, said, quote, she always had plans, but she was definitely slow on the follow through. It seemed like every time I went out there, there was a new project.

She's just bored and just doing shit, just looking for something to stick on and stick to and feel like she's good at. Hey, everybody. Just going to take a quick break from the show to tell you about our new sponsor, Hunt a Killer. Oh, you got to check out Hunt a Killer. I just want to take a second to tell you about this new subscription box service. Maybe you've heard about it. A lot of people are obsessed with this thing, including me, including my whole household. Hunt a Killer sends a package to your home each month full of creepy correspondence from their killer curator.

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Then a package arrives on your door each month. Waiting is still the hardest part. They've been featured in BuzzFeed, Fast Company, and Bustle. Huntakiller is forming a cult-like community of web sleuths and amateur detectives. If you love poring over creepy codes, ciphers, and clues, Hunt a Killer is simply perfect. And if it's not for you, I have a feeling you know at least one person that would love to receive this as a gift. I cannot recommend this membership enough.

Seriously, it's so much fun. You've got to do it. To help support our show, Hunt a Killer has offered a 10% discount code for our listeners, which is tracked to this message. You can use the code TOWN, that's T-O-W-N, TOWN, to get 10% off. That's it. Just use the code TOWN, and you got it. And now back to the show. 1994, she begins hanging out at the Great Meadow Polo Club.

It's a new club that opens, and imagine the people that are going to the Great Meadow Polo Club in this area. Imagine what the dues per year are and shit like that. The amount of tied sweaters around necks has to be insane. They're all 80s movies villains, all of them. All of them. They all have short white shorts on. It's horrible. It's all the guys sitting in that country club in Trading Place.

That's it. That's those guys. Singing some dumb shit that they just made up. Yeah, that's what they're doing. Yeah, exactly. It's horrible. So at this point, we've got to introduce Roberto Villegas. Now, he's an Argentinian.

Here's your olive skin Lafayette. All right. Here he is, Roberto Villegas. This is a complete soap opera. We have a billionaire heiress who's got a CIA arms dealer father. She's got a fraternal twin sister. They both have French accents and pronounce their names like assholes. And now we're going to introduce an Argentinian lover into the scene.

She's bored out of her mind and she can't wait to find some olive skin fella to sweep her off her feet. And even his story is so – he was from a poor farming village in Argentina but became an amazing polo player. Started playing at 15 when he discovered his neighbors had horses and he discovered that he was an amazing horseman and he can ride and became a pro polo player. Listen, I'm

soaked right now. This is ridiculous. This is hot. He's a handsome guy too. Of course he is. He's super handsome too. Of course. It's just ridiculous. It's always that guy. This is Of course he is. He's super handsome, too. Of course. And it's just ridiculous. It's always that guy. This is such a soap opera. Like, you could just take these people and if someone filmed it, the documentary, they could have just cut it up into hours and put it on weekdays and let old people watch it.

It's just ridiculous. Old people. Every woman in America watch it. Yeah, and guys, too. Guys like soap operas, too. It's a secret. They do. I know a ton of guys who are like, man, I've got to watch my shit.

Like, it's weird. They watch wrestling, too, man. They love soap operas. Drama is incredible. Drama is drama, shit. It's weird. They watch wrestling, too, man. They love soap operas. Drama is incredible. Drama is drama, people. It's so much fun when it's somebody else's. We're not judging. No.

Now, by the 1990s here, he's in his mid-30s, and he's going around. He came to the U.S. at 20 with a polo pro, and he just stayed. He barely used to go. He didn't go much back to Argentina. He liked the U.S. He'd send money back home. Fuck yeah, he likes the U.S. But he likes the U.S.

He's a 20-year-old attractive Argentinian. And a great athlete. He's virile as fuck. Yes. And he's an athlete. And he would go around from polo club to polo club. And what they do- He's like a sailor.

This is what they do. They go around. He's a traveling pro. This is what they do. He'd play at winter clubs in Florida and then move north in the spring and summer and play up there. He'd go where the weather was. Basically people would hire them. He'd get hired out to wealthy amateur players that have their own teams in these little polo clubs, like the great meadow polo club. Each one of these rich idiots would put together their own little stupid team and they play each other on Friday nights. That's how the polo club was.

And so they would hire ringers like this. And these guys would be, the wealthy people who would hire people like this were known as patrons. They would like take care of the, they would pay and take care of their pros that would come in. Villegas would be hired by patrons to play on teams, coach the teams, train the horses. Sure. So basically, you guys run around and I'll score everything,

however the fuck you score in water polo or regular polo this is. And impress the hell out of your daughters in baseball. And that's it. Yeah, and I'm going to have sex with all your wives, and then I'll move on to another town. And then I'll blow out of town. And that's it. You'll have little olive-skinned children coming out in the next season.

You're going, where did that happen? That's what's going to happen here. They're ringers. That's all it is. Imagine this, too. You know that each person who had these teams thought of that guy as like happen that's what's gonna happen here uh they're they're ringers it's all it is imagine this too like they're they're you know that each person who had these teams thought of that guy is like they're like you know hey muffy look look at the dirty south american i brought in isn't he adorable look at him you know what i mean you know they were i brought that filthy one what did you bring

oh look at him watch them play polo yeah you know they fucking did that these people i have a real resentment for these people. Like, you can say all you want. And Muffy's just sitting there going, yeah, he's a real scoundrel. And then she goes in her room and diddles herself thinking about him. People have said to us that we talk shit about hillbillies and rednecks and all that. We don't have any. No.

We don't have any. Everybody's fair game. We don't have any. These people I hate, though. I don't hate any of those people. I hate these rich assholes. You did say white trash is better. White trash is.

That's right. In a crime and sports episode. Here's why white trash is better. Better than rich hoity-toity people, I was saying. Not better than other forms of trash. That's my favorite premise of all time. That's so funny. It's the truth in that.

You've got to listen to crime and sports. A woman named Kelly Lane, an Australian water polo player. White trash. She was very wealthy and white trash at the same time. That is right. Yeah, she was wealthy. She was very wealthy. Now, Roberto here, Vegas, is working for a patron named Bill Yelifskav.

He's a wealthy Chicago businessman who has his own little polo team down there. Bill says about polo, the businessman, he says, quote, I've always said it's an addictive game. People never give it up unless they die or go broke. That sounds like a rich asshole. It can cost over a million dollars a year to have one of these polo teams. Wow. Because you're having to deal with horses. You know, expensive horses are.

Oh my God, to kill one is crazy. When they break their leg, when you've got to put them down. It's worse to kill them than it is to feed them their entire life. Just to train, clean out of the training, they have to hire all the caretakers. They have to hire a guy. Farriers come in every week. Yeah, you have to hire a South American to come in and teach it shit.

It's crazy. Villegas was his star, though. Roberto was his star. Richard Varga, who was the Great Meadow president, the Great Meadow Polo Club president, said of Villegas, quote, he was our star, our best arena player. He could ride like the wind. He was an unbelievable horseman. He could ride the horse that nobody else could ride. Yeah, no other inbred, pasty, white fucking shitheads could ride the horse.

Yeah, of course not. He's 60 years old, this guy, too. He's impressed with his ride. Yeah, he's a 35-year-old dude who's been doing this your whole life. You're a pasty dude who's been sitting in an office. He's from Argentina. He's an Argentinian. He's 60 years old, this guy, too. He's impressed with his ride. Yeah, he's a 35-year-old dude who's been doing this your whole life. You're a pasty dude who's been sitting in an office. He's from Argentina. He's an Argentinian that probably rode these as transportation. He doesn't have a Ford down there.

No. He has a fucking horse. He doesn't have a limo and a chauffeur like these assholes. He has to go find transportation, and it eats things. That's right. So now arena polo, we just said arena. I've got to explain the difference between arena and regular polo quick here. Arena polo, which is what they play, is played on a field the size of a football field, which is small compared to regular polo.

Field polo, as they call it, is about six football fields in size. Wow. So that's huge. And it requires more horses because you have to change them out all the time, more equipment, more people. It's an undertaking. So this is like a little club-level deal. That's why they need all that land for their estate. That's what it is.

And actually, that's the thing. Cummings, in 1995, Susan, she's very into polo, and she joins the club, and she wants to start her own team, and she pledges to build a field on her property for club members to play games. Or she'll finance the building of it. Go on. Yeah, I don't think she's going to be out there with a backhoe, you know, digging it out. She's not that goddamn bored.

No, I'm mowing here. I marked out down there and there. You got that? Muffy, you going to get that end? No, that's not happening. No. They hire Argentinians for that, too, I'm sure. She sees Villegas play on Friday nights, and he's the star, and he's attractive, and she's

kind of attracted to him. Well, but? She's like two years younger than him. You know, She's in her mid-30s. He's in his mid-30s, about the same age. His play, too, is like attracts the crowds. They said like 300 people, as much as 300 people. But to

watch a bunch of wasps run around trying to hit a polo ball. In a town of 8,000, that's pretty impressive. That's a good draw right there. He's a good draw, you could say. He draws better than some headliners at comedy clubs. It's not bad. So he does. Now they meet, and she hires him, and they begin dating.

She hires him to be, you know, she's going to be his patron now on her team. They begin dating, though. They get very, very close. He moves into the estate with her. She brings him in the estate. So now he's an Argentinian farm boy that's living in an estate with a name in an old money suburb. He's made it. Yeah, I would say so.

This is it. This is the dream. This is good. Winter comes and he doesn't go down to Florida like he usually does. She has him stick around. She buys his horse trailer and all of – he has like a half dozen ponies and a horse trailer that he goes around with that are like his special horses. She buys them from him so he'll have money. Well, from him.

He owns them and he brings them from place to place. And she buys them from him so he has money basically during the winter. But he gets to keep them because they're right there. That's on the property, yeah, but this is so he has money because he sends money back to Argentina all the time. They get very, very serious. They're really getting in there. Viegas' very serious. They're really getting in there. Villegas' best friend.

He's really getting in there. He's getting in. He's getting in. She's in love with him now. Villegas' best friend, Omar Cepeda, said, quote, they plan to get married and have children. He had big plans with her. So he was ready to settle down, which I don't blame the guy. Jesus, I mean, for this guy, better life.

For this kind of thing, this sounds amazing. This sounds like a woman is taking care of everything you need, and she's extremely loaded. That's the thing. And you don't need to work. You just take care of her and make her happy. Just go out and play polo. That makes her happy, I feel like. Yeah, just go out there and glisten in the sun, and she will be thrilled.

Be Olive. That's your job. Be Olive and muscular and know how to ride any horse. That's the one right there. You're in. Done. Yahtzee. Yahtzee.

Viegas still works part-time in an orchard also, so he has extra money. He's not mooching off of her. That's why he sold her the horses and stuff. The hell of a dude. Yeah. He's out working. He lives on an Ashland farm. It's a huge estate, and he's going down the street to work on an orchard.

He's going to go pick some oranges. Migrant farm workers to make a few extra bucks. At one point, he brings a saddle to be repaired at a shop in Warrington. And the owner of the shop, I have to say his name because it's better than extra billy. Really? His name is Edward Skeeter Hembree. Oh, boy. So Skeeter over here says that it's going to cost, it's $400 to fix the.

The founder of Skeeter Speedboats. Skeeter Speedboats. Says it's going to cost $400 to fix the saddle. And Villegas said he can't afford it, so never mind. And he leaves, and then Cummings finds out about it, and she calls up Skeeter and tells him to fix the saddle, and she'll pay for it as a surprise for him on his birthday. That's sweet. So that's what I mean. They have a sweet kind of a relationship. This is great.

It's nice so far, right? I love this story. It's going to really change fast. What I really like is that he's just not being a dick and taking advantage of her. It's going to really change fast. What I really like is that he's just not being a dick and taking advantage of her. You hear those stories all the time where guys marry rich girls or girls marry rich guys. And they just take advantage of them and get whatever they want.

And he's like, no, no, no. $400 is ridiculous. I'll just keep the saddle. He's like, I can't afford it is what it was. I sent my money back home and it's all right. He didn't go to her and say, can you pay for it or anything like that? He just went home and she found out, hey, what happened with your saddle? And he goes, I don't know, nothing. And then she looked into it.

She's great. Basically, if they had a hoity-toity, you know, rich fucktard prom, they'd be the king and queen. That's the king and queen of the fucktard prom. I want that banner. Like, no stupid themes. Just rich fucktard prom. And they all show up.

Just the sign, rich fucktard prom. I like that. And they play every rich fucktard song in history. I would love it. No, it's just the Hall & Oates Rich Girl over and over again. It's on loop. They actually hire Hall & Oates to just play that song over and over again. One, two, three.

It's over and over again. Second song, same as the first. Same as the first. Here we go. Here we go now. Three, two, one, boom. They got Skeeter on the tambourine. Everybody's happy.

The worst prom ever. So now there's contradictory tales of both being less than kind after a while. This goes on. They start dating into 96, 97. Some friends say that Susan grows jealous of him. And any time he's out, begins telling him who he can play polo with, where he can play polo, who he's allowed to be around. She gets very, very jealous. And this is her friend saying this, of him any time he talks to other women.

But there's also rumors that he's not exactly real monogamous either. He's, you know. Of course. He's very like, you know, well, you know, the girls. I like the girls. He didn't like, I mean mean he liked the girls before. But when he got in the relationship, he was thrilled about just staying with one. But the second she started nagging and being a jerk to him –

Well, not even nagging. Just being – having a normal life and a normal relationship. He's like, well, this is very boring. I must have sex with all the other socialites. So now he's being kind of a dick here. If that's true, we don't know. That's the thing. We'll never know what happens here exactly.

This is he said, she said, or other people said, she said. I'm just judging off my own relationship. When the wife starts judging you for your behavior, it's like, you know what? Go fuck yourself. I'm not going to call you when I go somewhere. Well, this is good. I'll skip over it. We'll keep going.

There's a polo match announcer here named Tom Monaco, which sounds like a fake name. I'm from Monaco, like she is. He said, quote, they were always together. They seem so happy. It's past tense always here, too, which isn't great. Now, late August, first week of September in 1997, friends recall seeing the couple argue about whether or not to play in a fundraising polo match in Pittsburgh on September 6th. They say that's the only time they can think of even them arguing over anything.

And then on September 6th, it's a Saturday of 1997, they attend the Pittsburgh polo match. All the friends say they looked happy, had a good time. Everything was fine. The argument was about going. Also, they had talked about in front of people that they were going to Montana pretty soon to look at. They're going together to look at a 2000 acre property that Cummings is in the process of purchasing. Yeah. Hopefully it's not Nero Vando or last week thing because rich people that move there get killed by drifters. We know that slow stroke takes them out. Oh, it's not good.

So what the friends did not know was that two weeks earlier, prior to this September 6th thing here in Pittsburgh, Cummings had gone to a county investigator, like a police officer sort of deal, to talk to him about her fear of Viegas. OK, she tells him that she broke up with him and but she fears him and wants him out of her home. She says she she doesn't take any action at this point, but sets a meeting, another meeting for Monday, September 8th. This is two days after the Pittsburgh fundraising polo game to discuss a possible restraining order. Now, if you're fearful of someone and you have the resources, get a

restraining order, or you can just go to Monaco for a while. And there's a lot of options here, but she says in the report, let's get through the report here. She says that, quote, that Vegas was, quote, overpowering, short fused and, quote, the crazy type. She says that she wants to break up, but he refused to let go. She said, quote, in, quote, in the last month, he's begin to show signs of aggression. She also said in the report, quote, I will that he said to her, quote, I will put a bullet in your head and hang you upside down.

Oh, my God. Blood pour. Oh, my God. Holy God. That's a threat. She threatened to field dress her. So that's not the other question. The question that I have now is like, if that's your report. Yes. Yeah, sure. We don't know that it's true. It's in your report. Yes. Fucking file a file. Get your restraining order. Yeah. Well, she has. Yes, she says. That's what I mean. If she's if she's someone threatening to field dress's in your report. Yes. Fucking file. File or file. And get your restraining order, dear. Yeah, well, she says, that's what I mean. If she's someone threatening to field dress you in your bedroom, you can probably do that. Especially, she has every resource on earth.

Her father, she could have this guy murdered, tied up, put up in a tarp and buried in the woods by CIA agents if she felt like it. Forgotten and disappeared. Tons of options here. So, we get to Sunday morning. He's not even a citizen. He's off the grid. That's what I mean.

He's off the grid living on a farm doing polo shit and working in an orchard. You can make that guy disappear in a second. Sunday morning, September 7th, the next day after the Pittsburgh thing, September 7th, 1987. Cummings calls 911. And she says to the operator, quote, I need to report a man shot and he's dead. So now now we're getting into some intrigue here. She tells the dispatcher that he tried to kill her while on the phone.

Her sister Deanna comes Deanna comes toward the kitchen. But Susan tells her, quote, don't go in the kitchen. Roberto is dead. The cops are coming right away. Deanna sit down, sit down. She's the calm one. Yeah, she's she's the calm one. Calming her sister down. Her sister heard a shot 10 minutes before that, heard gunshots, and then came in because

the estate's so big she probably had to get lost on the way there. She had to jump on a horse to get over there. I got lost in the third library. I don't know where I was. My horse got lost in the third library. So, Sergeant, this is amazing. Sergeant Kuno Anderson arrives on the scene, and this guy is your – you can't get – his statement here is the most redneck sheriff statement ever. And I have to read it, and I'm going to read it in a dumb southern accent because you know it was said in a dumb southern accent.

Not that all southern accents are dumb, but his was dumb. You know it is. He arrives on the scene. Susan leads him to the body in the kitchen. They find Roberto dead with four gunshot wounds and a big kitchen knife under his body sticking out. So he's been stabbed? No, no, no. It's just laying there.

Oh, okay. I got you. I got you. He's got a lot of gunshot wounds. Four. Now, the sisters begin speaking French to each other. So Sergeant Anderson says, quote, they were speaking in a foreign language and I didn't understand. I told them to stop.

That if they were going to talk, they had to do it in English. That's his quote. Speak American. Speak American. I don't understand you. Unbelievable. They find Susan has superficial cuts on her arm. Very light superficial cuts that we'll talk about in a moment here.

She's arrested at this point because she said, I just shot him a whole bunch. They got to arrest her to sort this out here. But she's released on bail. She's arrested for murder and she's released on bail the next day. Seventy five thousand dollar bond. This is a woman who has unlimited money and I assume multiple foreign passports and probably dual citizenship. And seventy five hundred dollars gets her out of jail. That's it. She's claiming self-defense. She's claiming that she's saying she was in fear for her life. She's claiming that he thought he was attacking her with a kitchen knife. In Virginia, the law is that you do not have to retreat before using deadly force in your

own home. Stand your own ground law. It's stand your ground, especially in your home. You can do that. In Florida, it's just everywhere. You can be at the movie theater and you're like, I don't like the way that- You can stand your ground. He was chewing popcorn a little loud, so I shot him.

I felt threatened. I told him, stop. He didn't. I stood my... You just stand your ground. He was chewing popcorn a little loud, so I shot him. I felt threatened. I told him, stop. He didn't. I stood my ground. I stood my ground. Now, she hires a lawyer. Now, you think she's just going to hire some shithead lawyer? No.

She hires a man named Blair Howard, who is the... A man named Blair. A man named Blair. He's the gentleman who defended Lorena Bobbitt. Oh, wow. Now, if you don't remember who Lorena Bobbitt is, it's a very famous story in the 90s of a woman who cut her husband's dick off and threw it out the window in. Now, if you don't remember who Lorena Bobbitt is, it's a very famous story in the 90s of a woman who cut her husband's dick off and threw it out the window in the car

in the field and then didn't go to jail for it, basically. But they found it. They found it, reattached it, and then he did porno. We cannot make this show. That really happened. It's a great story. This is the same attorney. He says that Suzanne had grown increasingly more fearful of him

and was in fear for her life at the time. And that's why she did it. Understandable. Now, winter 97, she is awaiting trial for murder. Murder. This is not, she didn't, you know, have two DUIs. This is murder. The court allows her to travel to Monaco to see her sick father.

Monaco's another fucking country on another continent. You do not. How often are murder suspects allowed to leave the continent? Ever? Never. Not even suspects. She's arrested. She's in jail.

She's awaiting trial. A murder arrestee. Unbelievable, man. Special treatment. Like, great. Yeah. Pasty shitheads. I hate them all.

So. Where's the equality? Where's the equality? Oh, she has to put her $2 three million dollar estate up as a bond. But who cares? She's a billionaire. She can leave that behind. She doesn't.

She comes back. But April 29th, 1998, Samuel, her father, who was sick, who she went to see, ends up dying in Monaco. Oh, no. Yeah. Who? Maybe he's not. He's probably a CIA ghost and he's spying on you right now.

Now, the evidence for this case, when we get to trial, Prince William County crime scene specialist Sergeant Robert C. Zinn. Dude, if you have that long of a title, you don't need a middle initial. No. Your title is like eight words. Robert Zinn. Robert Zinn. And shorten Robert to Rob or Bob.

Bob. Bob Zinn. Extra Bob for all I care. I don't care. He said there was almost no blood on the knife found under Roberto, so it was very unlikely he was holding it when shot. He said, quote, we have all this wet blood everywhere and none of it on the knife found under Roberto, so it was very unlikely he was holding it when shot. He said, quote, we have all this wet blood everywhere and none of it on the knife. That just wouldn't happen. He also testifies that the spatter on the walls and the spatter on Roberto's pants proved that Roberto was actually seated at the table when he was shot.

Oh, shit. Wasn't even coming near her at all. Also, too, the holster for her gun. This is a.357, by the way. It's a heavy gun. This is a no-shit gun. It's a lot of gun, yeah. At a close range, this guy was destroyed.

I mean, it's a hand cannon. The exit wounds are crazy. There is blood spatter. There would be blood on fucking everything. I mean everything. I shot an empty can with one of those before and I sawed it in half. That's what I mean. It doesn't even go through it.

There would be blood everywhere from close range. The holster for this gun and an open box of bullets are in her bedroom at the time. So she had to go there to get it. Everywhere from close range. The holster for this gun is and an open box of bullets are in her bedroom at the time. So she had to go there to get it. Yeah, so she had it with her on purpose. She didn't just keep it in the kitchen. It stays upstairs. Prosecutors said, quote, we have a holster that was made for the murder weapon in her bedroom. At some point,

Ms. Cummings retrieved the murder weapon. There's no evidence to support her claim that he tried to kill her during all four shots. Mr. Villegas was seated in his chair. So that's a rough. That's not great. No, she takes the stand. Really?

Yeah. Because she has to plead her case. She has to be sympathetic. She has to get up there and say that she was in fear of her life. And this is the thing, too, that I have to say this right now, because there are and I don't even know how to get into this. There is we're not saying that women, if you're a victim of domestic violence that that's no big deal and you should.

We're not saying that like there are people that kill their husbands or their boyfriends who are trying to hurt them and trying to kill them and there are genuinely in fear of their life and those people they do what they have to fucking do. And if you won't stop beating on somebody and you get them to the point where they're in fear of their life in their own home you deserve to get fucking shot four times. No doubt. I absolutely believe that. Definitely.

But when you're a billionaire and there is no fucking evidence of this, it's a different goddamn story. And you likely do not have a.357 strapped to your thigh every moment. That's the thing. Yeah. So whatever. She takes the stand and she says, quote, I saw his face, mostly his expression. I grabbed for the gun.

I would feel safer if I had a pistol. I need to get this man out of my life. That's what she was thinking. She says that he made the cuts on her arm very methodically, and then she walked back to the sink, and then she thought she heard him coming at her, so she whirled around and shot him four times, which sounds like a soap opera scene, doesn't it? That sounds like a Robert Zinn story. Yeah.

That's just, or Blair. It's Blair. Blair Howard made that one up, yeah. Because Blair put Lorena Bobbitt on the stand, too, and she testified to all kinds of terrible shit. So she says that now the prosecution and every medical expert they can find all say that these cuts are self-inflicted. Oh.

All of them are self-inflicted. They said they're the exact same cuts that mental patients have when they self-inflict cuts when they're cutters. Right. Across the arm. They're superficial. They're not deep. They're just scratches.

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A better way to cook. And now back to the show. She testifies that in July he punched her and tried to pull her out of a car when she wanted to go home alone and not have sex with him. If this was true, horrible. Guess what she should have done? Gone to the hospital, got it documented, called the police. Right. She's not a woman, not a person.

She's not a person who's like, I don't want to go live in the shelter. You know what I mean? She's not going to. Yeah. She's not a person who's like, I don't want to go live in the shelter. You know what I mean? She's not going to. Yeah, she's not a poor. That's what I mean. I feel so bad if it's some woman in a trailer park somewhere and she has nowhere to go and she doesn't know any resources or anything like that. She has every resource on earth. Or some asshole moves her to some shithole town that he's from and surrounded by all

his friends. This is not that case. This isn't that. This is not that at all. She said that when she suggested in August that he leave, he put a horse's leading rope around her neck and said, quote, I'll put you out of your misery. I'll kill you. I'll never leave you. That's her claim there, which is pretty strong if it's true.

But like I said, there's no documentation. She didn't tell anyone. She didn't even tell her sister about this. She told nobody about this, which I get that if that happens. But I don't feel like it's that with this person. It's hard to say, like, to blame a victim. Yes. Because you want to say, like, if this stuff really happened, like, you need to call the fucking police.

But the point is it probably didn't happen. That's the thing. Yeah. She also said, quote, he wanted to get married. He wanted to have children. I said I had no intention of having his children. He said if I didn't agree, he would kill me. That's her quote

there. And then she said after he slashed her arm, like I said, she thought she heard him get up. She said, quote, I felt in fear of my life. I thought, this is it. This man is going to kill me. And she turned around and shot him. That's her story. Now, May 13th, 1998, this goes to the jury. She's charged with murder, and then there's lesser

counts also that they can find her guilty of just in case. They're pedging their bets, the prosecution. Now, after eight hours of deliberation, the jury comes back with a verdict of guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Oh. Okay, lesser charge. This could carry up to 10 years of a sentence.

It's up to the jury to dole out the sentence. This could be 10 years. Wow. You could get up to 10 years for this, for murder, which is still pretty goddamn light for killing somebody. That's what I'm saying. That's pretty impressive to get. I mean, impressive, what a shitty word, but that's an easy sentence to do for killing

somebody. That's not even close to easy because she is actually sentenced by the jury that day and they sentence her to 60 days in jail. What? 60 days in jail. So? 60 days in jail. So they believed her. Oh, wait, and a $2,500 fine. Wow.

And 25, because, you know, that'll hurt her. That's going to get her where it hurts right there. She doesn't have 25, 60 days in jail she has to serve. They believed her. They believed her. Now, a jury, a juror they talked to said, quote, we tried to view everything. We went over all the evidence over and over. Yeah.

Which, I don't know how, but whatever. Yeah. It's not even the evidence. They believed her. You either believed her or you didn't. And they believed her, which is fine.

I mean, she might have had powerful testimony. Blair did a great job. And Blair Howard says, quote, all of us have a breaking point. We all make mistakes. That doesn't mean

she's a bad person. That doesn't mean she belongs in the state penitentiary. That's a pretty big fucking mistake. Yeah. That's not a little mistake. You killed a guy hard with four shots.

It wasn't even an accident. She didn't turn around and like wing him and he bled out. This was very intentional. This is bad. This is worse than running a stop sign because you didn't see it and you killed an eight-year-old. That's an accident. That's an accident. Yeah.

The prosecutor says, quote, the justice system worked. Ms. Cummings is a convicted felon. Big deal. Yeah, yeah. The prosecutor says, quote, the justice system worked. Ms. Cummings is a convicted felon. Big deal. Yeah, right. That was the jury's province to decide after hearing all the evidence. Obviously, they thought that spending time in jail wouldn't do her any good in this case. Well, clearly not. And what she does in jail, the special treatment she's given in jail is unreal also.

This is what I mean. They're all like blown away. She's a billionaire. For 60 days. She doesn't even go to prison. She goes to county jail. And what they do is they transfer out all the other prisoners. They're all like blown away. She's a billionaire. For 60 days. She doesn't even go to prison. She goes to county jail. And what they do is they transfer out all the other prisoners. They make it her private jail.

They put them in prison. They transfer out all the other prisoners to another county at a cost of $40 per prisoner per day to the county. She doesn't even have to pay that to other jails because they're afraid other prisoners will be mad at her because they have steeper sentences for lesser crimes. I'm mad at her. Yeah. A police official said, quote, when you have a situation where a woman is serving 60 days after killing someone next to people serving two year sentences for bad check writing and forgery, it's understandable that she might not be their favorite person.

And a lot of these people are not the polite realm of our society. Yeah. Neither is she. She's a fucking murderer. This is that's what jail is. You get put in with other shitty people like I don't want to be. And they might fucking murderer. That's what jail is. You get put in with other shitty people. Like, I don't want to be in. They might.

Yeah, that's what fucking jail is. They're not the polite realm of society. What is she? She shot a guy four times. They'd be mad when she had her tea time at 10 a.m. And anybody who's mad at us for being a little upset with her, go back to whenever a guy does anything to his wife. We fucking skewer him and we're happy that he gets the death penalty. I also hate OJ Simpson.

Yes, that's the thing. Jesus Christ. Interested in it a lot, OJ, but not like him at all. So she has the whole jail to herself. She has a dorm-style room, they call it, in her cell. She has a telephone in her cell. She's just, it's just like a shitty hotel. Basically, they're like, we're going to put you in a red roof for 60 days.

That's what it is, man. That place sucks so bad. So prisoners are usually – That's actually quite the prison. That would be horrible. So gross. Prisoners are usually only allowed three visitors, no more than three visitors a week and no longer than a total of 30 minutes per visit and only on weekend days. They're strict with visiting policy.

And it's for a visit and only on weekend days. They're strict with visiting policy. Major David Floor, who administers the jail, he said that Susan gets multiple visitors for hours each day. Also, that she's allowed to eat food brought in by her family when regulations are that you're only allowed to have jail food. She's allowed to have whatever she wants. She's having a blast. Yeah. Major Floor, his statement on this is, quote, this is so like, it ain't me. This is a goddamn sheriff.

He said, quote, all I can say is that I work for Sheriff Higgs and follow his orders. Like, I didn't fucking do it. Don't look at me. Don't be mad at me. Because you know why? Sheriffs are elected in this country. Oh, yeah. Sheriffs are elected. And who pays for political campaigns?

Oh, rich people. That's right. And guess who all his donors are? My wonder. And guess who major general whatever the fuck. Guess who. And guess who? Major General whatever the fuck. Guess who he doesn't like. Yeah. Because it's pretty obvious he doesn't like that sheriff.

No, because he's like, this is bullshit, basically. I do whatever that dick says. Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, David C. Magnum, which is a tough big dick name that is. That's a good name. He said, quote, that's not right. She should be treated like other prisoners. Well, no shit.

Blair Howard, the attorney, said that he made no special requests. He said, quote, let me tell you, anything they're doing down there, that's a decision of the jail. He's like, I don't, on me. Everyone's like, I don't know, because everyone's pissed off at this, except for other rich people, I'm sure. That sheriff got a shitload of political donations from that family.

You know it. You know it. Now, the county attorney, when they go to him, what do you think? You were trying her for murder. What do you think? He says, quote, while in jail, the conditions or privileges are entirely up to the sheriff i can't second guess the sheriff as to how he runs runs his jail it's neither here nor there as far as i'm concerned so more political no it's right there it's right it's more political bullshit though it's so it's so much uh this is small town murder right here this is corrupt small town bullshit uh now regular people in town are fucking pissed.

They hear about this and they're like, oh, if you're an heiress, blah, blah, blah. So we have a resident, just a regular lady. She's a clerk at some store near the jail. Her name is Nancy Grant. And she says, quote, I'm outraged. That's just not fair. It's because she's an heiress. I think if it was anyone else, we would definitely not be getting the preferential treatment.

No shit. So that's what you're getting now. I'd like to see those prisoners get treated a little bit worse. A little bit. These ones, yeah. So she's released after 51 days in prison. Good behavior. And that's her whole sentence.

She's not. So it's not parole. She was only scheduled. She's scot-free. She got two and a half months. Water under the fucking bridge right now. It's like one of her hobbies that she just does for a couple months and then quits and all of her friends and her family come and visit her bring her food every day she's not in jail it's not jail she just can't leave that's

the only thing uh lawyers for viegas his son vegas has a 10 year old son at this point he wasn't even 10 he was five when he was murdered vegas in 2002 the lawyers for his now 10 year old son, Justin Bonnell, file a civil suit against Suzanne for 15.35 million dollars for wrongful death, for wrongful death because she was convicted of manslaughter. So they're like, hey, let's get on this. Now, January 15, 2003, that trial is going to start. And those civil trials are a bitch. Yeah, they are.

Look at the OJ one. They made him do a deposition. He had to talk that You have to testify. There's no shit in that one. There's no you don't take the stand. I mean, granted, she would do it anyway. Yeah, but still, this is like. You're not getting out of it.

No. That's the reason that he had to pay. I mean, he was acquitted and he still had to pay. Still had to pay. Exactly. So on January 15, 2003, the jury selection for this begins. Right before jury selection begins, Susan settles the suit with the son for an undisclosed amount. But rumors have it that the settlement was around one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Oh, what a scumbag. Fifty one days and one hundred and fifty two thousand five hundred dollars. And you have to give some of that money. That's it. To his lawyer. I'm sure. That's the worst part. Now, we don't know if that number is true, but that's the rumor from Blair Howard.

Okay. So if it's small like that, and I could see Blair Howard being like, the family didn't even think we did it. We just did it to take care of the boy. Some shit like that. And so she's got free. In 2004, her and her sister, Deanna, sell Ashland Farm for $4.9 million, which is all her money, their money.

And they moved to a 450-acre farm, an even bigger one called LeBaron Farm in Virginia. It sounds amazing. And they live a wonderful life with horses and do whatever they want. It's all behind them. All behind them. Now, if you can't get enough of this story and you need to find out, I'm sure, I don't know what other details, but whatever. You want to go to the farm and actually take a tour you can read

on amazon.com there's a book that sounds highly salacious and probably like an episode of inside edition it's called a woman scorned the shocking real life case of billionaire killer Susan Cummings by Lisa Pulitzer that sounds very inflammatory and just

it's used for $1.99 on Amazon from $1.99, $7.99 on Kindle. And that is Warrington, Virginia. Wow. Wow is right. Unbelievable. Yeah, I don't even – that's a soap opera. That sucks.

We just listened to an episode of The Young and the Restless or Days of Our Lives or something. That was nuts. I don't remember being this mad after a story. I do. Do you? Yeah, several times. Yeah, Hawkins, Texas. He's raping and I do. Do you? Yeah, several times. Yeah, Hawkins, Texas, he's raping and killing teenagers. But justice was served in that one.

That's true. This, it feels like justice was not served. That's why I'm mad. I feel like there's no closure for this. Yeah, this is the only one where we've had so far where- No, I mean, I'm mad for the victims and all the other stories, but this- It's not more mad for this victim. This, I'm so fucking mad.

More mad for the result of this one. Yeah, I'm fucking mad for that town. I'm mad for the regular- I am mad for the result of this one. Yeah, I'm fucking mad for that town. I'm mad for the regular. I'm mad for the people who are serving two years for small things and getting moved to another jail and treated like a real prisoner. And this fucking asshole gets to do whatever she wants and then go to the fucktard prom afterwards. So that's that. If you like that, please get on iTunes. Give us the five stars.

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Download the Amazon Music app today. Or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched.

He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great.

A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother f***er lied. Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal, or you love

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