Snapped: Women Who Murder - Alaina Mercer

Episode Date: February 4, 2024

Devoted to raising her daughter's child, a loving grandmother is found executed in her own home; police unfold an ongoing custody battle which leads to suspicions towards those nearest to her grandchild.Season 22 Episode 04Originally aired: December 10, 2017Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WatchSnappedPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. One of six siblings, Elena Mercer, grew up surrounded by her loving family. Elena and I shared a room for almost half my life. They'd do their hair. My brother and I would play games with them. Her father was a military man. She was born nine months to the date after I'd come back from a deployment. Her mother, Lynn, was a nurse. Mom worked the same shifts at Washington Hospital Center for years.

Other nurses looked up to her and came to her for advice on questions. She had such a big heart. And she would go out of her way to help anyone, including Elena's girlfriend, Christina. Chris had a kind of difficult upbringing. She wasn't living in a stable home. Mom, being that nurturer, that caretaker, she offered Christina a place to stay. But was her generosity a dangerous mistake,

one that would cost Lynn her life. It was clear that she had been shot. Suspicion immediately turned to Christina. Christina, the whole entire time we were there, had almost a smirk on her face. But did that mean she was the killer, or did Elena have a dark secret? Elena had a really bad fit.

I was committed again. Mom tried to get Elena the best care that she could. And in the end, did a mother's love lead to an unthinkable betrayal? I didn't want to believe it, but you know, it was true. MUSIC MUSIC Spotsylvania County, Virginia, May 18, 2014. It was a quiet Sunday night in this peaceful suburban county, halfway between Richmond and the nation's capital.

It's a bedroom community for both Washington DC and Richmond, people who live here often commute one way or the other. Spotsylvania County is very quiet, very safe place to live and raise your family and children. And that would make what was coming even more frightening for the people who drove home to Spotsylvania every evening, normally leaving big city worries behind.

It started at 11.30 that evening when co-workers of a Spotsylvania woman named Lynn Mercer called the Sheriff's Department. On the evening of May 18, 2014, Lynn Mercer was scheduled to work at her job as a registered nurse in a hospital in Washington, D.C. But Lynn hadn't come in that night. It was very unusual for her to not show up to work on time or without calling to say that she would not be there or to be late.

Her co-workers called the Spotswainia Sheriff's Office in order to have a welfare check conducted on her at her home. Alerted by Lynn's coworkers, the department dispatched a deputy to Lynn's address on the western end of the county, well away from the I-95 corridor. This farmland out there, and several people have horse farms and cattle. This particular house was maybe a quarter of a mile off the hard road on a gravel road. It's kind of remote area,

which, you know, the neighbors are far apart. When the deputy arrived, Lynn's car was in the driveway, but was the 60-year-old nurse already in bed? There were no lights on in the house. I knocked on the door, received no answer, didn't hear anything inside except dogs barking.

There was no movement inside the house. No lights came on or anything. Then, after knocking again, the deputy tried the door. Actually reached out and grabbed the door knob, turned it and pushed on it, and the door opened up. But there was little that could prepare the deputy for what awaited him, because just inside the door, he found Lynn Mercer.

It was clear that she had been shot. They could see visible trauma to the body, at least two bloody areas on her chest. There had not been any struggle. It just appeared she had been ambushed. Although assassinated might have been more accurate. There were no signs of life. The shooting left Lynn's quiet suburban community terrified.

You have a middle-class white woman dated her home, what happened. So there was a lot of questions around this case in the community. But was it a random crime, one that threatened the whole community? Or was there something evil lurking within Lynn's family? MUSIC

Lynn Mercer was a mother of six. The two oldest were from her first marriage. She and my father were divorced when I was young. So most of my early memories are of mom being single. Melissa and her brother were still little when their mother met Bob Mercer. I met Lynn at a dinner party hosted by mutual friends. I thought she was very attractive.

And so I started talking with her. Soon, Lynn and Bob were dating, and before long, she brought him home to meet her two children. We really liked him, and so we were very happy that Mom got married. Together, Lynn and Bob would go on to have four more children. Although, since Bob was in the military, it wasn't entirely the end of Lynn's days raising her kids alone. We got married and three days later I deployed to Turkey for a

year. And he would be in and out of the country regularly for the next six years, including 1988, the year that Elena was born. She was born at Walter Reed Hospital, nine months to the date after I'd come back from a deployment. Although soon after, Elena's father was promoted to a desk job that allowed the family to settle in suburban D.C. We moved to Frederickburg, Virginia, and she spent the majority of her childhood in that house. It was a crowded house, too. Elise, the youngest of the six,

was born two and a half years after Elena. We always had a lot of family. My sister, Elena and I shared a room for almost half my life. As small children, we were pretty close. In fact, the whole family was close, especially once Lynn went back to school to pursue her nursing degree.

We had to help out a lot, take the kids on walks. We would do things, I'd do their hair, my brother and I would play games with them, et cetera. So it was just part of being the oldest kids. Fond over by her older siblings, Elena grew to be a beautiful little girl. She had that face of an angel. She was a very funny and sweet and adorable little girl.

And she was talented, too. Elena was, I'd say, gifted in terms of some of the arts. She sang very, very well. She played the piano. She loved to dance. That was a big thing around the house. She enjoyed ballet. But what Alayna loved most of all was an audience.

Early on, Lynn noticed that Alayna seeked more attention than the other children and tried to be center of attention. We were always in competition with each other. It was always a competition, who could be better with piano. It was always a competition, who could be better? With piano, it was, you know, who could be better? Who could win more awards? With ballet, it was, you know, who could do how many pirouettes?

Or it was just a constant battle between us for the attention. And for Alaina, one person's attention mattered more than anything else. Elena had to have mom's complete and total absolute attention. And she usually got it. She knew how to pull at my mother's heartstrings and just make my mother bend at her every whim.

It was a talent that would come in handy once Elena met 17-year-old Christina Brown in 2005. Born just two weeks after Elena, Christina had grown up in Washington, D.C. But where Elena's childhood had been filled with loving and supportive family, Christina's circumstances had been far different. Chris had a kind of difficult upbringing. She wasn't living in a stable home.

She didn't have the support that most young girls have. In fact, most of the support Christina got wasn't from her family. Christina was in foster care several times and in the District of Columbia. However, despite the differences in their backgrounds, the two teens bonded. In fact, they did more than that. Alina had fallen in love with Christina Brown.

The relationship took Alina's parents by surprise. She had flings with guys. I mean, when she was 16. That was the first boyfriend. There were a couple other ones that were very short lived. Elena's mother, Lynn was especially shocked to learn that her daughter had a girlfriend, but did her best to overcome it.

She was strict Catholic, but she thought she could help Christina. And she wanted to see Elena happy so she was accepting. In fact, Lynn did more than just accept Elena and Christina's relationship. When Christina turned 18 and aged out of foster care, Lynn welcomed Elena's girlfriend into the family's home. She needed a safe and reliable home.

Mom being that nurturer, that caretaker, offered Christina a place to stay. And that wasn't all Lynn ended up doing for her daughter's girlfriend. She had such a big heart. She wanted to help her better herself, helping her through college, giving her a car to drive,

helping her financially, letting her live in her house. Over the next few years, Christina lived with Elena and the Mercer's and took classes at a local community college. They had their own bedroom, and they were being supported, essentially, by my wife. Linkated to Elena, she always was trying to make her happy. Although even with her mother's acceptance and support,

there was plenty of drama in Alaina's relationship with Christina. They would break up and come back and break up and come back. And in 2010, it looked as if their tempestuous five-year relationship was finally over. They broke up and Alaina decided to go date guys again. Elena left Chris and basically stayed with a guy for two months until she was pregnant. However, upon discovering that she was pregnant, Elena realized that she didn't want to stay with the baby's father

and came rushing back to Christina. The couple moved back in with Elena's parents and in November of 2010, Elena gave birth to a daughter, much to her mother's delight. My mother was preparing and caring for this baby and I think that's when my mother honestly was the happiest. It would only be temporary though. Alayna Christina and the baby eventually moved out got their own place in neighboring King George County and started building a life for themselves. Christina was employed by rental car agency in King George

as well as a local hotel. She worked 2 different jobs. And in 2012 the couple took another big step. They were married in District of Columbia. But even as Elena settled down with Christina, trouble was coming. A horrifying crime that would take her mother's life and put her daughter's future in jeopardy. Coming up is Elena's mother, the victim of a burglary

gone bad. It looked like somebody had gone through the house looking for something. Or was it an abduction? One of my first thoughts when I saw the kids' toys was, where's the child? MUSIC MUSIC Just before midnight on May 18, 2014,

a sheriff's deputy conducting a routine welfare check discovered the body of Lynn Mercer, dead in her Sponsylvania County, Virginia, home. We found the victim laying on the living room floor with no signs of life. She had been shot. But the 60 year old nurse's dead body wasn't the only disturbing thing the first responders found.

The front living room had child toys around. One of my first thoughts when I saw the kids toys was where's the child? The police frantically searched the house, hoping the child was merely hiding and not another victim. Closets under the bed anywhere a person could be. We went through the whole house like that until we were confident that the house was empty.

But did that mean that the child had been abducted? Or had Lynn's killers been after something else. The House had been ransacked, drawers were pulled out, clothing was laying everywhere, looked like somebody had had gone through the House looking for something. Was it possible Lynn inadvertently walked in on burglars while they were ransacking what they thought was an empty house.

Mom worked the same shifts at Washington Hospital Center for years, so she would go to work at 7, get home in the mornings. And Lynn's husband, Bob, was temporarily living near his job just outside D.C. in Alexandria, Virginia. Bob had just had back surgery, and he was living up north for convenience because you couldn't drive because it was back surgery. So thinking the house was empty, it appeared that Lynn had come home from work on Saturday morning and walked into an ambush. She was in the scrubs. All her belongings were around her. Looks like they just fell to the floor.

She had been shot a total of four times. Two of the wounds were to her back. One had passed through her back and came out her chest. And the other one had gone through her lower torso and had passed through her legs. That spun her around and she fell on her back on the floor. And then while Lynn lay bleeding on the floor, the killer came closer.

The perpetrator came over top of her, fired two additional rounds into her upper torso. However, despite four distinct bullet wounds in Lynn's body, the investigators could only find three shell casings at the crime scene. And we tore the house apart looked for that last case, and we weren't able to find it. Which made us believe that the gun had possibly

jammed after the last shot. And the fact that one was missing wasn't the only unusual thing about the shell casings, either. The shell casings were very specific. There were steel shell casings with red dots on the back. My 30 years, I've never run across them before. In addition to the unusual steel shell casings, the investigators did recover all four of the bullets

used in the crime. Two were found in the living room. One bullet had lodged in a couch. We were able to recover that bullet. A second bullet was found in the corner. And the two fired as the killer stood over Lynn, had passed through her body and into the floorboards beneath her.

One bullet head lodged in a four-joiced, and a fourth bullet was found underneath the home on the ground. Between them, the bullets and the casings could help the investigators identify the murder weapon. The ballistic evidence from the scene was sent for analysis. But whose hand had wielded the gun? The neighbors hadn't seen or heard anything.

This house is a very secluded. The nearest house was a couple hundred yards away. Most of the locks there are large lots, several acres in size. The neighbors were all horrified by the news that Lynn was dead. She was described as the probably the perfect friend. Everybody loved her. Well, almost everyone. According to the neighbors, there were two people that Lynn didn't get along with. Elena Mercer and Christina Brown's name came up immediately. And the reason their names came up had to do with how Elena and Christina had met in

the first place. Although a precocious child, Elena had also been temperamental. Elena was, once she turned around four, very volatile, very easy to anger, very vindictive. She would throw violent temper tantrums. Elena's parents put her in therapy, but their little girl's illness grew worse. They essentially diagnosed her as bipolar. She was in and out of psychiatric hospitals.

Over the next several years, while Elena's father worked hard to support the struggling family, Elena's mother, Lynn, had done all that she could to support her daughter's battle with bipolar disorder. She tried to get Elena the best care that she could. She fought with insurance over and over and over to make sure that she could have stays long enough

to address the issues. If this one hospital wasn't working well enough, she would fight to get her transferred to another hospital. And in 2005, when Elena was 17, Lynn had checked her into a special residential program for troubled teens. Elena had a really bad fit was committed again.

And that was where Christina came into the picture. Elena and Chris had both suffered from mental illness and had both been institutionalized in a mental health facility. And that's where they met. When they were discharged, Lynn had welcomed Elena's girlfriend into her home. Lynn tried everything she could to make that child happy. Lynn provided them with food, paid the utilities. At that time, Elena was drawing disability, social security, and Chris was working at a car wash.

Together they had an income of probably $1,800 a month. And that's just bad for a couple that's living with no outside expenses. However, according to the family, Alaina and Christina had soon found something to spend their money on. They were doing copious amounts of drugs. According to the family, Elena and Christina had soon found something to spend their money on. They were doing copious amounts of drugs. They were using marijuana openly. They were using other drugs as well, but not just smoke and weed. And even with a baby to care for, Elena and Christina's drug use had continued. The baby was maybe six months, and and I come over with my 2 young

children. And I walk in and the House just reeks of marijuana. My mom what the heck and mom is like I told them that stop I can't what am I supposed to do. You know I was like call the cops. But Lynn as always has a hesitated to anger Elena. My sister honestly manipulated my mother

and made her so fearful that she honestly probably felt like she had no choice. And as the family explained to the investigators, Elena's temper wasn't the only one Lynn had to consider. According to Elena's father, Christina had a violent and criminal past. She had been a drug runner for a drug ring in Washington, DC. Together, Christina's tough attitude

and Elena's volatile nature had Lynn increasingly on edge. They were threatening her, telling her they were gonna push her down the stairs. Their threats just became increasingly more violent. And in June of 2012, the threats and intimidation escalated to the point that the police had gotten involved.

There was a big blow-up at the house involving Christina and Ms. Mercer and Melissa. There was a push-and-shelving match. Chris got physical, and I called the police. Chris attacked me in front of the police officers and the police had to drag Chris off of me. Elena's girlfriend spent the night in jail. Christina actually wanted to be arrested for domestic assault.

After the incident, Lynn finally found the strength to kick her daughter and Christina out of the house. They were evicted for the safety of my mother. Lynn also took out a restraining order against Elena and Christina. Lynn said she was scared to death of them. After more than a year of tension and threats,

Lynn was relieved to have Elena and Christina out of the house. But she also worried that her granddaughter wasn't growing up in the best environment. They would do sort of long-term rentals in hotels, stay at one place for a month, move, stayed at another hotel for a month, live on someone's couch for a while, move to another hotel all the while

dragging this child along with them. In August of 2012, concerned over the child's safety, Lynn went to court and filed for temporary custody of the 20-month-old. Lynn saw the situation as dangerous for the child because of the way they were living. And when Lynn's custody case went to court that November, the judge had agreed with Lynn. She went to court and was able to obtain custody of her granddaughter. It was only temporary until Elena and Christina

could get their lives in order. They had to have an acceptable living situation for the child, and they had to be stable, you know, overall stable. Spurred on by the custody situation, Elena and Christina had gotten married in October of 2012 and moved into an apartment in neighboring King George County.

The apartment they had, it was the first stable housing they had had in maybe years, and it was all part of their efforts to get custody of this grandchild back. But would it be enough to convince the court? Or had they decided on a more direct approach? custody of this grandchild back. But would it be enough to convince the court? Or had they decided on a more direct approach? Coming up, Elena appears surprised by news of her mother's

death. Elena was visibly upset she did go to her knees. And the investigators uncover a crucial piece of evidence. As soon as I looked down. I saw the red dot. There it is. a brilliant scholarship student who has to quickly adapt to her newfound eat-or-be-eaten world. Ava's ambitions take hold and her small-town values break in hopes of becoming the first scholarship student to make the list. Bishop Gray is all coveted academic top 10, curated by the headmaster himself.

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Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, host of Wondery's Podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history, presidential lies, corruption in sports, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we go to Baltimore, where in the spring of 2017, a police corruption scandal shocked the city. At the heart of it was an elite plainclothes unit called the Gun Trace Task Force. It was supposed to be the Baltimore Police Department's best of the best, a group of highly decorated detectives who excelled at getting drugs and guns off the streets. But they operated with little oversight,

creating an environment where criminal cops could flourish by falsifying evidence and robbing suspects. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge American Scandal, police corruption, and Baltimore early and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus. right now on Wondery Plus. By mid-morning of May 19, 2014, it had been less than 24 hours since Sheriff's deputies found 60-year-old Lynn Mercer murdered in her Sponsylvania County, Virginia, home. It appeared that Ms. Mercer had been ambushed. The perpetrator stepped out and shot her down,

and then stepped over and shot two more rounds into her upper torso. Lynn's family believe that her 25-year-old daughter, Alaina, and Alaina's wife, Christina Brown, were behind the murder. Lynn and Alaina and Christina had been locked in a long-running child custody battle over Alaina's daughter. At first, it had appeared that Alaina might get her daughter back. Christina and Alaina had tried to stabilize their living situation

in order to help them succeed in the custody case. But in April of 2014, a month before her mother's murder, Alaina's attempt to win custody of her three-year-old daughter had suffered a serious setback. In the days leading up to what was supposed to be the final custody hearing for these folks, Elena was arrested for prostitution. It was hard on the family, learning the lengths

that Elena would go to in order to feed her drug habit. You always have a father's love for your children. At the same time, I'm looking at a person that I know is dysfunctional, entirely dysfunctional. The judge agreed with her father's assessment, too. And as a result, the custody hearing did not go well for Olena. Olena lost the last Circuit court appeal in April 2014,

and mom was killed in May of 2014. That timing led the family to the horrifying conclusion that Alaina and Christina had killed Lynn in order to get Alaina's daughter back. I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to think possible that evil of them, despite our troubles. But, you know, it was true.

We knew it was Elena and Chris just because of all the issues that had gone on. Or was it possible that after so many years of dealing with Elena's issues, that her family was jumping to conclusions? On the morning of May 19th, Sposylvania County Sheriff's knock on the door of Elena and Christina's apartment in neighboring King George County.

We're plain clothes detectives, so we requested a uniform deputy to respond with us. We were greeted by Christina and welcomed into the home. And what they saw inside solved at least one mystery. The detectives found that the child was okay and unharmed. The child is happy, healthy, running around the house. And according to Elena, they'd had her since Lynn went to work on Friday night. They had visitations with her from Saturday until Monday morning at 10.

In fact, Elena said that when the investigators knocked on her door, she had been in the process of gathering her daughter's things. Alaina was supposed to be meeting back with her mother to return the child. Contrary to what her family believed, was it possible Alaina didn't know? We at that time proceeded to sit down at the table and tell Alaina that her mother had been killed.

Elena was visibly upset she did go to her knees. She made the sounds of somebody that was crying. But Christina had a very different reaction. People handle, you know, certainly handle information like this different. But Christina, the whole entire time we were there, had almost a smirk on her face. Suspicious of Christina, the investigators asked if she or Elena had been anywhere near Lynn's house in the last few days. The last time Elena and Christine said that they were there was in 2012. They hadn't even been there to pick up or drop off Elena's three year old.

The police station just where all the exchanges were done. They have video cameras there. So it would have been a safe place for her to drop her daughter off. But if they hadn't been to Lynn's house, where had they been? Neither Elena nor Christina hesitated to answer. They said that they had been home watching her child watching movies and they had gone up to DC to Christina's family the following day. Roughly in the morning so they basically had each other as a

as an alibi. Alibis that they were able to back up, too. Sitting on the kitchen table, there was a stack of receipts, places that they had gone that the day in question. And they had the dates and the times on them that they provided to us. They even allowed the investigators to look through their cell phones. Their phones were clean. There weren't very many messages.

There weren't any pictures. And there was that strange smirk on Christina's face when the investigators told her that Lynn was dead. It was an unusual reaction, given that Lynn was basically the mother to both of these girls. And that left the investigators wondering if they could provoke Christina into a more telling reaction.

We asked Elena and Christina to come in to the Sheriff's Office to take a polygraph. Both Elena and Christina agreed. They were cooperative throughout the whole process. But did that mean Christina had nothing to hide? Hoping to make her sweat a little, The investigators had Elena take the polygraph first. I wasn't part of the interview, but we get to watch the interview. And what they saw validated all the Mercer family's suspicions.

The polygrapher was looking through a two-way mirror, and you could tell from his eyes, you know, he's like, jeez. Apparently, the test wasn't going well for Alaina. She showed deception in the polygraph process. And after Alaina failed the test, Christina refused to take it. She said, if everybody hears it, she goes, well, she failed. I'm going to fail.

The failed polygraph wasn't enough for an arrest, and they had to release both women. A polygraph cannot be used against them in a court process. We all gather back up in the office after that and the polygraph looked at me and goes, you're on the right track, she gotta keep pushing. Alayna wasn't under arrest, but despite her mother's death, she wouldn't get to keep her daughter either.

We filed an emergency custody hearing. I had to go and face my sister and Christina and essentially take custody of their child from them. And considering the circumstances, it was a terrifying experience. My sister, she was very angry. She told me, you will not get away with this. Immediately after the custody hearing,

I went and filed a restraining order, which of course is only good for, you know, a couple days. Although before those few days were up, the investigators would get the break they needed. It started when a man from neighboring King George County called the Spotsylvania Crime Stoppers line. We had a tip that came in from somebody in King George that sold Christina and Elena a gun.

According to the seller, the weapon was a 9-millimeter pistol, the same caliber as the gun that killed Lynn. But that wasn't the only thing he told the investigators about the gun. The gentleman who sold the gun said there was a problem with the weapon, that he could never fire more than four shots through it consecutively without causing the gun to jam.

He said, if you fired that weapon four times, you would leave four bullets wherever you were shooting, three shell casings on the ground, and you would have a shell casing jammed in the, if you fired that weapon four times, you would leave four bullets wherever you were shooting. Three shell casings on the ground, and you would have a shell casing jammed in the gun when you left. Exactly consistent with the evidence in this case. And thanks to the seller, the investigators might be able to prove that the gun he'd sold Elena

and Christina was the same one that killed Elena's mother. He told them that before he saw them in the gun, he actually took the gun out in his backyard and test-fired it. And from that, they were able to pick up casings. And the casings weren't brass. They were steel. I said, I'll look down. I saw the red dot.

There it is. We matched those cartridge cases back to the cartridge cases, found at the scene. Just to be sure, they sent the casings from the crime scene and the test firing to the state crime lab for ballistics testing. The firearm section was able to compare those two sets

of cartridge cases and conclude that they were fired from the same weapon. And when the results came back on May 30th, the investigators went back to Elena and Christina's apartment with an arrest warrant. We went out there in full force to find them. But Elena and Christina were gone, and they had apparently left in a hurry.

The door was actually open. Keys, their phones, and they were sitting left in a hurry. The door was actually open. Keys, their phones, and everything were sitting on the table. So they're close. They're somewhere close. We feel that somebody must alerted them when we turned into the subdivision. And after two hours of door knocking,

the investigators finally found the fugitives, hiding in a friend's house nearby. Started getting a lot of finger point. That's where they were. When I confronted the homeowner, he basically opened the door. He said, y'all come on out. And when they did, we took him in the custody. Coming up, will Elena finally reveal the truth?

She broke down and cried and told us what Christina had done. Or is she lying to protect herself? Christina told us story that was very similar except for one important detail. On May 30th, 2014, Spotsylvania County Virginia's sheriff's investigators placed Elena Mercer and Christina Brown under arrest for murder. I heard they had ran from their apartment into another, and apparently were hiding underneath the bed, like the cowards they are.

The 225-year-olds were suspects in the murder of Elena's mother, 60-year-old Lynn Mercer. Lynn Mercer had previously obtained custody of her granddaughter, which was Elena's daughter. Once in custody, both Elena and Christina refused to answer any more questions. They both lawyered up so there was no further speaking with them. Indicted for murder they were held without bond at the

spots of any county jail. They sat in jail for over a year and a half we were able to keep them apart the best that we could being at the same facility, but it was important for us to be able to keep them apart. Not only to keep Elena and Christina from colluding on a story, but also to drive a wedge between the couple, which, as the weeks and months wore on, appeared to be working. We had information that Alaina had several relationships

with other females in the jail, and that Christina was upset about it. But would it be enough to turn Christina and Elena against one another? As they prepped for trial, the prosecutors hoped that was the case. Despite all the investigation that went on in this case, there was always one concern, and that was that we were never

able to place any one person as the trigger woman in the case. Technically, the prosecutors didn't have to prove whether Elena or Christina had pulled the trigger. We specifically charged that. They were either acting in concert with each other or that they each planned and took steps in furtherance to this in advance. And the prosecutors were confident

they could prove that much. We were able to make a really compelling case because the forensics matched up so that we put the weapon that did the murder in the hands of the people who are alleged to have committed it. But would that be enough for the jury? The prosecutor wasn't sure.

I spoke with the defense attorneys and I told them, look, my case is strong, but it could be stronger. I would like to know who the trigger woman is and I will be happy to receive whichever one of you gets to my office first to tell me what happened. Would it work? No promises were made. No deals offered.

Elena's attorney approached us and said she wanted to speak to us. Detective Shorten and I went and met with her at the local jail. We spoke with Elena at length about what had happened. And over the course of her statement, Alaina not only tried to explain just what had happened, she also pointed out just who was to blame.

She broke down and cried and told us what Christina had done. Alaina said that in the time leading up to April of 2014, Christina had become frustrated with the ongoing custody case and started to voice threatening language towards Lynn. Threats that Christina had eventually turned to reality, according to Elena. Elena told us that Christina had made elaborate plans regarding killing Lynn. She went into a few details that kind of matched up what we had on the crime scene. details that kind of matched up what we had on the crime scene.

Elena knew the details, but she also said that she had tried to talk Christina out of killing her mother. Elena told us that she was initially not okay with the plan to kill her mother. However, she claimed that her tougher, streetwise wife had eventually bullied her into going along. It was always a dominant, submissive relationship. Chris was the dominant. Elena was very, very submissive to her. Although as far as her part in the plan went, Elena said that on the day of the murder, all she did was stay with her daughter

and establish Christina's alibi. She executed the plan to hold both of their phones did was stay with her daughter and establish Christina's alibi. She executed the plan to hold both of their phones so that it appeared that they were both in King George County. Everything else, according to Elena, was Christina's doing. Elena said that Christina went out, was gone for an appropriate amount of time, and came back and just said, it's done. I watched her take her last breath.

But was it the truth? Once Elena came forward, the prosecutor's office immediately passed that information along to Christina's attorney. Immediately, Christina's lawyer said, hey, she wants to talk. Christina and her attorney also spoke with Detective Shorten. During that debriefing, Christina

told a story that was very similar to what Elena had said except for one important detail, which was that Elena was the person who went and shot her own mother. She said she woke up one day. Elena wasn't there. And when she came home, she said it was done. Other than the name of the shooter,

the two stories were almost identical. Although Christina did add one new piece to the puzzle, what had become of the gun? Christina's version of it was a lady that came in and told her that she had tossed the gun. Could the police finally recover the murder weapon? We basically launched a huge search along 301, walking for about eight and a half miles,

side by side, looking for anything. And we did that within 10 hours of talking to Christina, and we didn't find anything. The weapon was never located during our investigation. Which meant that despite two confessions, the prosecutors were right back where they started. Coming up, tensions explode in the courtroom. I asked if you both deserve a special place in hell.

But will Elena get the last word? The people in the courtroom were horrified. MUSIC On June 2, 2016, Elena Mercer and Christina Brown stood in a Sponsylvania County, Virginia courtroom. The two 27-year-olds had spent the last two years in jail, awaiting trial for the murder of Lynn Mercer, Elena's mother, over the custody of Elena's daughter. Frustration in the custody case ultimately became the seed

that grew into the plot to kill Lynn Mercer. However, the prosecution couldn't prove whether it was Elena or Christina, who actually pulled the trigger. They both implicated each other. There was no single piece of evidence that tipped me one way or the other as to who actually was the trigger. They both implicated each other. There was no single piece of evidence that tipped me one way or the other as to who actually was the shooter.

And ultimately, no one would ever know because Elena and Christina weren't in court to stand trial. After consulting with the family, we made them a plea offer in the case. The charge was first degree murder, accessory before the fact. Both Elena and Christina took the case. The charge was first degree murder, accessory before the fact. Both Elena and Christina took the deal.

They admitted to having involvement, whether it was covering up or actually plotting it, the purchase of the weapon. And as far as the prosecutors were concerned, that was good enough. As long as we had a life sentence on the table, I would be able to argue sufficiently to get a sentence that was appropriate for them.

But what was appropriate? Elena's father didn't hold back when he spoke at the sentencing hearing. I said, you know, I know that you are my child. I hope that they give you a life sentence from this crime. And Alaina's half-sister Melissa agreed. I want them to rot in jail. Whoever pulled the trigger, I don't care. They both planned it.

They're both equally responsible. Although for Alaina's younger sister Elise, even life in prison wasn't enough. I said, only God in law can judge you, and you both deserve a special place in hell. When it was their turn to speak, Christina chose to remain silent, but not Elena. My sister had some long, drawn-out statement of how it is all my family's fault

and that she is simply the product of being raised in mental institutions. The people in the courtroom were, uh, horrified. Including the judge who sentenced both Elena and Christina to 60 years in prison. They're not going to get out of prison until they're in their late 70s if they get out at all. And according to her sister, it's what Elena deserves, not only for what she did to her mother, but for what she did to her daughter too.

I had to tell her, well, baby, grandma so loves you, but she just she can't come see you. And then I had to deal with the question, why isn't my mommy coming to pick me up? Elena Mercer and Christina Brown eventually divorced. Elena's daughter is now in the custody of the child's father. The Mercer family retains visitation rights.

of the child's father. The Mercer family retains visitation rights. It's been eight years since Sabine laid eyes on her college sweetheart Wyatt. Back then, he was the most sensitive boyfriend, but her family persuaded her to end things and she's moved on. Kinda. They're about to cross paths in an A-list wedding in the picturesque French countryside and she's suffering from major butterflies. But that won't stop a social climber like Sabine from getting what she wants. Influence, Meekute's newest podcast available exclusively on Wondery Plus, is the modern day interpretation of Jane Austen's persuasion about an influencer at a star-studded wedding who won't stop until she has it all. The wedding's guest list is a who's who of insiders. Sabine's social media following

is in the millions. Wyatt's at the top of his game too, having become the most in-demand photographer in LA. Then there's Hollywood's Ick Girl, Henrietta Louise Musgrove, who immediately hits it off with Sabine. But there's a catch. Henrietta has eyes for sweet, sweet Wyatt, and she needs Sabine's help to capture his heart. This is a story about the power of persuasion, rekindled love, and sliding into DMs. Listen to influence exclusively on the Wendery app or wherever you get your podcasts.