Snapped: Women Who Murder - Angelina O'Mara

Episode Date: April 13, 2023

In the fall of 2011, homicide detectives located in towns over 300 kilometres apart link two separate murders to one ruthless killer.Season 24 Episode 03Originally aired: September 9, 2018Wat...ch 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.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wonder East Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. After a relationship that spanned more than a decade, a new love came calling. I think she wanted something more and something new. She met him online.
Starting point is 00:00:31 I think he was younger than her and decided to start a life with him. But a gruesome discovery threatens to destroy their dreams. He was being abusive and she needed some more to stay. Someone who came in and placed pills over him and shot him. If your mind could only forget what your eyes have seen. As the investigation heats up, detectives must decode a complicated love triangle. I had both of these guys really loving on me and it's confusing and hard. Rumors that they wanted to kill them, there were some threats. Before the pieces
Starting point is 00:01:10 fall into place, investigators will realize that love can have a dark side, where the best outcome is heartbreak. The Founda body was jammed next to the door. She said the hell's angels had burst into the hotel. There could potentially be more victims forthcoming. And he said, I'm gonna f*** Sock Rapids, Minnesota. It's just after 11 a.m. in this scenic community situated near the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Larry J. Cole, the caretaker of the colonial apartment complex,
Starting point is 00:02:07 is checking into an unusual complaint. I got a phone call. I said, something smelled funny. At first, I thought it was a mosa, it was a cat, or it was something, but it just got worse than it was horrendous. So then we called the landlord. And Larry come over. I thought maybe somebody left for the weekend or left their garbage by their door.
Starting point is 00:02:30 There was a little odor coming from the door. It's the door to apartment 10, the residence of 43-year-old James O'Mara. Jim was a good renter. As far as I know, his rent was always paid on time. Never had any noise complaints or any problem. Larry J. Cole knocks on the door, but James doesn't answer. So I used to key and open the door and I hollered.
Starting point is 00:02:57 TV was on pretty loud. He was laying on the couch. He had a pillow over the top of his head, and it's like I could smell right away. Something was wrong. As Larry approaches, it's clear that the man on the couch is dead. So then I backed out of the door and called to soccer app, it's police department. And I told him I had a dead body in the apartment.
Starting point is 00:03:22 I didn't see any blood. I didn't know if it was overdose or heart attack. Moments later, the first officers arrive at the scene. They quickly determine the likely cause of death. Jim Amara had been found in his apartment. He had been shot in the head with a small caliber weapon. While James Kelly O'Mara was living at the colonial apartments in sock rapids, he was known as the friendly Irishman next door.
Starting point is 00:04:00 This reputation as a buoyant, happy, go-lucky guy had been with James since he was a child growing up in Minneapolis. My brother's name is James Kelly Omira. We've called him Kelly since the day he was born, because he was an Irish little looking leprechaun with big blue eyes and had an Irish twinkle. We had a good life. My mom was a homemaker. As soon as James became an adult, and Irish Twinkle. We had a good life. My mom was a homemaker. As soon as James became an adult,
Starting point is 00:04:28 he was ready to start a family of his own. He got into a serious relationship with a woman named Carrie. And they didn't get married, but they were together for a while, and they had a son named Sean. He was such a proud dad. Unfortunately, his first attempt at love left James with a broken heart and a son living
Starting point is 00:04:48 out of state. That relationship dissolved when Sean was quite young and they moved to Iowa. It was really hard on him, not to be a full-time dad. Despite the heartbreak, James never lost faith that one day he'd find that special someone. And when James was 25 years old, that faith was rewarded when he met a striking young brunette named Angelina Luso. She was tall, pretty. She seemed like she had a lot in common with my brother.
Starting point is 00:05:19 Angelina Luso also grew up in Minnesota. But unlike James, Angelina's childhood wasn't marked by the memories of a loving family. She grew up in a broken home to her parents' got divorced when she was really young. And I know she was very insecure about guys because she didn't have a good relationship with her real father.
Starting point is 00:05:41 But Angelina eventually overcame her insecurities and blossomed into a vivacious, outgoing young woman. She was smart, she was an extrovert, she could easily talk to people who was easy for her. Still, when it came to relationships, Angelina always resisted commitment. She did get serious with one guy, but when he asked her to marry him and move to Alaska, Angelina recoiled. He wanted to get married and have kids and settle down and my mom was really young at the time and I don't think she wanted to. Angelina's attitude changed when she met James Kelly O'Mara. They were attracted to each other because they were both so fun out going down to earth people that just wanted to have fun with each other
Starting point is 00:06:26 and love each other. James also gave Angelina a sense of security that she had never felt before. He and raised by four older sisters. By the time he was able to date, he was the most kindest, softest loving man there was. He put Angelina on a pedestal. He always wanted her to be happy, no matter what.
Starting point is 00:06:47 Then, in 1997, Angelina became pregnant. She was thrilled by the news, as was James. I know that my parents were so excited to have me. My mom told me all the time and my dad how much of a blessing I was that I was like an angel from God. By 2006, the family had moved to the town of Rice, Minnesota, where James worked as a maintenance man, and Angelina took care of daughter Juliana
Starting point is 00:07:15 and tended bar on the side. While life together felt almost perfect, James believed there was still one thing missing. He wanted Angelina to be his bride. Angelina and Kelly were together for quite some time before they got married, then I know he was really excited to make it official when he asked for it. Angelina said yes, and the couple married in March of 2007. But what should have been some of their happiest years together slowly began to sour.
Starting point is 00:07:46 There was times that they got along and there was times that they would fight. Most of the fighting occurred when they were both drinking. So my parents they had a drinking problem and they started drinking heavily on weekends. My dad was a proud Irish guy so he loved to drink, loved to be around his friends but sometimes when he would drink, he would get a little lippy like any Irish man would. As the drinking and the arguing escalated, Angelina slowly withdrew.
Starting point is 00:08:15 She never wanted to spend with Kelly towards the end. She was always gone, seemed like she had a secret life. And to a certain extent, Angelina did have a secret life, at least online. She was meeting different men on the internet. And I think she wanted something more and something new. In 2010, Angelina met 35-year-old Michael Pies on a dating site.
Starting point is 00:08:44 She was instantly intrigued. Mike told her all these amazing things that he had a Mustang and that he had $10,000. It's like, he told her all of these things and wrapped her in. Before long, Angelina and Michael took their relationship from the chat room to the bedroom. At first, Angelina believed the affair was just a fling, a welcome break from the tension that filled her home life. But that all changed one weekend in the fall of 2010. Angelina had left that weekend, and she said she was going to be with her girlfriends,
Starting point is 00:09:18 and she came back on Sunday with Michael Pies in the car. And she said she was pregnant. My dad wanted to work out the relationship, but my mom didn't, and so she kicked my dad out of the house. James moved to a one-bedroom apartment in Sock Rapids. Angelina moved Michael in with her and gave birth to their daughter Graceland in April of 2011. Realizing Angelina had moved on,
Starting point is 00:09:46 James decided the best thing for everyone was for he and Angelina to be friends. He was trying to repair some things. And it was important for him. It didn't surprise me that Angelina was back in his life. By the fall of 2011, it seemed James and Angelina had truly managed to strike a new balance as friends and co-parents.
Starting point is 00:10:11 But on November 1st, the dynamic of the Omera family is forever altered by the gruesome discovery police have made inside James' apartment. James have been laying on the couch, pillows have been placed over James and James had been laying on the couch. Pillows have been placed over James' and James' had been shot. We had reason to be concerned. We felt that someone else could be in danger. Coming up, a troubling clue gives way to a manhunt
Starting point is 00:10:39 and fears of a killing spree. I heard rumors that they wanted to kill him. I was fearful for her life at that time, because nobody could find her, and nobody could find him. By the fall of 2011, James and Angelina O'Mara had put their messy separation, and Angelina O'Mara had put their messy separation and Angelina's affair with Michael Pies behind them and managed to forge a new friendship. My mom contacted my dad and my dad let her in because he still loved my mom.
Starting point is 00:11:17 They were both trying to make things right. I thought she would eventually go back to him because she was starting to when he moved into the apartment in South Krab. It's going there, stay in the night. But on November 1st, things take a tragic turn when James is found shot to death in his apartment. Based on the level of decomposition, investigators believe that James has been dead at least two days. They also suspect the weapon used was a small caliber gun. It appeared as though a 22 caliber rifle had been shot through the pillow into his head, striking him and killing him.
Starting point is 00:11:55 Near the body, police find a few fast food wrappers and beer bottles. Aside from that, the apartment shows no signs of disarray. As far as there being something out of place, anything like that, there was nothing really out of place with the crime scene that looked that had been a struggle or anything like that. In fact, it appears James had been lying down
Starting point is 00:12:19 at the time he was shot, perhaps unaware that an intruder had entered his apartment. It appeared as though he had been asleep. The fact that James was shot while he was asleep suggests the shooting wasn't random. The door was fine. The locks weren't broke. Door jam would not kick the inner broken
Starting point is 00:12:41 so the door wasn't kicked in. Whoever killed James knew how to get into his apartment. But who would want to murder James in such cold-blooded fashion? According to apartment manager Larry J.Cole, James wasn't the kind of guy who made a lot of enemies. He lived in the clonial apartments at least a year, if not two years, so it wasn't like he just moved in
Starting point is 00:13:04 and all this trouble followed him. He'd been there for two years, never had any problems. Roxanne Huston, who lives next door, tells investigators that James was a wonderful neighbor. He's a very nice man. I don't know anybody that didn't get along with him in the apartment building. He was quiet. He worked nights.
Starting point is 00:13:25 So he any kept to himself. However, Roxanne also told police that she'd had a bizarre exchange with someone who claimed to know James on the morning of October 29th. She had came that morning, and she said that she had brought a burrito because he was going to be hung over. The woman told Roxanne that she couldn't get James to wake up and come to the door.
Starting point is 00:13:53 And then she asked if I had a butter knife she could get in the apartment. Roxanne loaned her the knife. A few minutes later, the woman returned and said it didn't work. She couldn't get in, and then she laughed. She just reminded me of somebody that had some problems, that she just wasn't all together, like mumbling to herself. Before they can find out more about this woman,
Starting point is 00:14:23 investigators reach out to James' sisters to inform them that the brother they affectionately called Kelly is gone. I'm crying. I'm just talking to myself all the way to my mom's. And I get there and the cops are there. I couldn't believe it that he was dead. Kelly was a loving, he was a people person. He got along good with everybody. When you hear somebody, like when you hear that your dad is murdered,
Starting point is 00:14:53 you don't know like word to start thinking or anything. I just started screaming. My brother was amazing. He had so much love. He had love for God. He had love for God. He had love for his mom, his children, his family, and family was number one important to him. Once James' sisters collect themselves, detectives ask them if there's anyone
Starting point is 00:15:19 who'd want to hurt James. From the moment I heard Kelly was dead, I always thought it was Michael Pies that murdered him. James's sisters explained that while their brother and his ex-wife Angelina had managed to patch things up, there was still bad blood between James and Angelina's new boyfriend, Michael Pies. Kelly was always telling my mom and me that Michael Pies was calling, threatening to kill him
Starting point is 00:15:48 if he didn't stop talking to Angelina. It was often like every day, almost. Michael Pies was threatening Kelly. I think there was some threats maybe, a text messaging in her cell phone. And so we were bothered by that. I just thought, you know, he just didn't want my brother in the picture, and my brother was going to be in the picture
Starting point is 00:16:08 because he's the father of Juliana. According to James' sisters, Michael Pies feared Angelina might rekindle her relationship with James, and that those fears had manifested themselves in the form of physical violence. Michael had tried to choke her and assault her. She had told Jim that he was being abusive and she needed some more to stay and Jim let her stay
Starting point is 00:16:36 at his apartment. He brought her into his home and started taking care of my mom. They seemed like they were happy, and they were going to get back together, and that my family was going to be back together again. According to his sisters, James was glad to have Angelina back in his life. I think he was looking for any hope to get back together with Angelina. Kelly loved Angelina unconditionally.
Starting point is 00:16:59 At the end of the day that he just loved her and wanted to be with her. But after just a few days with James, Angelina patched things up with Michael. Armed with this new information, police are eager to speak with Angelina and Michael. There's just one problem. Michael Pies hadn't been heard from in a number of days, and he was last known to be with Angelina Omara.
Starting point is 00:17:25 Even more alarming is that Angelina's daughter, 12-year-old Juliana, had been left tending to the household alone. My mom just disappeared. Me and my sister, we had to go live with my best friend. When I told her that I've been living at my house in Cold Spring by myself, with my baby sister, she told her family, and they took me in. My dad's side, the family, tried calling my mom to tell her that my dad was dead,
Starting point is 00:17:50 and she didn't answer anybody's calls. I really had no idea where she was or what she was doing. I was scared. Did Michael kill James and go on the run? If so, has he taken Angelina with him against her will? I was thinking at the time, oh my God, Michael Pies did something with Angelina. Like, he heard her something like that. I was fearful for her life, because nobody could find her,
Starting point is 00:18:15 and nobody could find him. So I was thinking that Michael Pies maybe kidnapped her. Coming up, investigators catch wind of a potential lead. Oswars had been called because of a disturbance. And a fresh tip leads to another horrifying discovery. They could smell the odor, which is very distinct of a decaying body. Hey, listener, it is me, Jason Bateman. I want to tell you that we've struck podcast gold in our new episode with David Letterman available four weeks early on One Dree Plus. It's like a late- night talk show hangout,
Starting point is 00:19:06 but with a smart list twist. We are diving deep into David Letterman's incredible career in the moments that shaped him into the beloved icon he is today. Our interview with David Letterman was reported live in Brooklyn in front of thousands of our biggest fans from our smart list tour. This is the fourth of 10 interviews
Starting point is 00:19:22 with new episodes releasing every Thursday. We're talking with celebrities and icons like the Great, Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Mark Cuban, Jimmy Campbell, so many more. Join us for an unforgettable conversation that will have you laughing pondering and quite possibly contemplating growing a beard like Letterman's. I know I have. You can listen to these episodes four weeks early and add free on Wundry Plus, find Wundry Plus in the Wundry app or on Apple podcasts.
Starting point is 00:19:46 [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ It's been almost 24 hours since 43-year-old James O'Mara was found shot to death in Sock Rapids, Minnesota. Police have now discovered that James' ex-wife Angelina had recently been staying with James after an alleged domestic incident involving Angelina's new boyfriend, Michael Pies. Once James O'Mara was found and it was determined
Starting point is 00:20:14 it was a homicide, and then getting information that Angelina had a boyfriend and that boyfriend, we found out it was Michael Pies. Obviously, you would want to look at the boyfriend also in this case. Detectives believe Michael may be the trigger man, and that Angelina might also be in danger. It was important for us to locate Angelina as soon as possible to make sure that she herself was not a victim.
Starting point is 00:20:42 On November 2nd, 2011, investigators put out a nationwide APB on Angelina's SUV. When you're trying to find someone who may be in the win anywhere in the country, you put information to NCIC, National Crime Information Center, and that goes through all the states. It doesn't take long for the APB to yield results. An officer 200 miles away in Ashland, Wisconsin enters Angelina's tag number after responding to a disturbance call at a local motel. The Anderson motel is our little mom and pop motel
Starting point is 00:21:20 right on US2 on the west side of Ashland. Very low crime, very few calls for service there. Officers had been called because of a disturbance that was called in by the motel owner's daughters. Said this yet a suspicious female that was there arguing with her. She wanted to re-rent the room for the rest of the week and that the daughter was not re-rent the room to her. And the daughter was explaining that she can not shed a weight for her parents to get back and that the daughter was not re-rent the room to her. And the daughter was explaining that she cannot, she had to wait for her parents to get back, and that she had called because the parents were gone
Starting point is 00:21:49 and she had been insisting. When the responding officer engaged the woman in the motel parking lot, she identified herself as Angelina O'Mara. She was really agitated, really in a hurry, really push it. She got in her vehicle. She was by herself, and she left.
Starting point is 00:22:06 That's when detectives back in sock rapids explained to the officers in Wisconsin the reason for their inquiry. They find and formed him what was going on, why they were looking for Michael Pies. That's when they went back and did a welfare check at the motel. When Ashland police arrive at the motel,
Starting point is 00:22:23 they speak to the owner who informs them that Angelina checked into room 12 on October 29th. He said when Angelina came to check in, she came in by herself with a mail that we described as Michael Pies sitting in her vehicle out in the parking lot. If Angelina arrived with Michael, but left alone, where is he? And where is Angelina now? Officers asked to see room 12.
Starting point is 00:22:50 The officers responded to that particular room and knocked on the room door. Did not receive any answer. The door, however, was unlocked. They could smell the odor, very distinct of a decaying body. And upon trying to make entry into the room, they found a body that was jammed next to the door. The body was covered up with some blankets, an up pillow,
Starting point is 00:23:18 and it was jammed between the bed and the front wall next to the door. But we did not know who the deceased was. We did not know if it was a male or a female. Careful not to disturb the crime scene, investigators managed to move the body far enough away from the door to gain entry. Upon making further entry into the room
Starting point is 00:23:42 and upon examining the deceased, we were able to determine that it was Michael Pies. It was hard to tell initially what the cause of death was. A lot of decaying had set in, a lot of discoloration, a lot of blood stains on the bed. After examining his body for some time, we were able to figure out that he had suffered a gunshot wound to his head.
Starting point is 00:24:10 There was some garbage, food containers, things of that nature, so it was cigarette bites. Nothing I had, nothing broken, nothing turned over. It didn't appear to be any struggle. We didn't believe that this was a robbery, because Michael Pies, Wallet, and identification were still present on the nightstand. There's nothing in the crimes that suggest anything
Starting point is 00:24:29 other than the execution. We have Michael Pies in a room with Angelina Amara. He shot in the head while he's sleeping with a 22. And James Amara, who has ties with Angelina, his shot in the head in his residence while he's sleeping. Very similar methods, very similar crime scenes. That night, investigators notify Michael Pies' father of his son's death. It's in that conversation,
Starting point is 00:25:00 investigators learn a disturbing new detail about Angelina and Michael's relationship. Talking to Michael Pi's father, it said that he had met her on the internet. And that, um, since he meeting her, he kind of went sideways. I just remember that Mike and my mom had two big things of boxes full of pills, and they would just take them all the time. of boxes full of pills, and they would just take them all the time. She didn't look healthy, and I couldn't fathom it, but I knew something terrible and awful was going on.
Starting point is 00:25:33 The revelation of Michael and Angelina's alleged pill addiction presents a slew of possible scenarios. Either she had something to do with this, the death of Michael Pies, or she was also a victim as well, and was now being held captive in one way or another. So it was very important to locate her as soon as possible, to number one, ensure that she was safe, or number two, find out what had actually transpired in that motel room with Michael Pies. Investigators release another nationwide APB for Angelina and her 1996 GMC.
Starting point is 00:26:13 Within 24 hours, some 450 miles away in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, police receive a 911 call made by a truck driver who just had a bizarre encounter with a woman driving a 1996 GMC SUV. Apparently she had stopped at a truck stop, had met with a truck driver, and asked him to help her load the 22 caliber rifle, which is a pretty odd thing to do, and kind of prompt him to send her on her way and call the police. Local police responded to the call only to find
Starting point is 00:26:47 the woman had vanished and her GMC abandoned. When they run the license plate, they determined the vehicle is in fact registered to Angelina O'Mara. Her vehicle broke down in Sioux Falls, and she tried to hitch a ride with a trucker heading toward Washington. According to the trucker, Angelina's mission
Starting point is 00:27:11 was to track down a person from her past. She's trying to head to Seattle and then get to Alaska to see her other ex. For detectives, the trucker's statement strikes a chord of panic. Maybe Angelina's not on the run from a drug dealer. Maybe she's on a killing spree. Our concern as investigators was she was heading there to possibly kill him also, because the two other men in her life were deceased.
Starting point is 00:27:40 If Angelina is on a cross-country quest to take out all of her former lovers, the question is. If Angelina is on a cross-country quest to take out all of her former lovers, the question is, why? There could potentially be more victims forthcoming, so it was important that we locate Angelina as soon as possible. Coming up, police receive a tip that adds another bizarre
Starting point is 00:28:06 layer to the case. The hell's angels, they had burst into the motel room, kicked the door open. They pulled the gun out, and we're going to kill Angelina. In the span of less than 48 hours, authorities in two states had discovered the bodies of Angelina O'Mara's estranged husband, James O'Mara, and her new boyfriend, Michael Pies. Jim O'Mara had been shot in the head, Michael Pies. Jim Omira had been shot in the head. Michael Pies, he had also been shot in the head with a very small caliber weapon.
Starting point is 00:28:51 When we realized that Angelina was a suspect in not one, but two homicides in two different states and not knowing where she was anymore, we had reason to be concerned. After receiving a tip from a trucker that Angelina was headed to Alaska to find an ex, police fear that she might be on a killing spree. Authorities in Sioux Falls issue a bolo
Starting point is 00:29:17 for Angelina to all of their officers. At 2am on November 3rd, one patrol officer spots a woman fitting Angelina's description. What's your name? Angel? Well, we're looking for something to take a look at, as long as you check out to not be here, everything's going to be alright. We're her ID at Angel.
Starting point is 00:29:37 I don't know. Do you have anything on you with the name on it? No. I'm being on it. Angelina Omar. I've got a little bottle with her here on it. And Elena Omar, I've got killed bottled with her in a moment. Opia is paying killers and muscle relaxers and stuff like that. She had good amount of bottles in her purse with her maiden name, her married name. Police immediately take Angelina into custody and notify the authorities in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Starting point is 00:30:06 We had agents from the Minnesota BCA. I believe detectives from Sioux Falls, PD had gone there. And then my supervisor from the Ashton Police Department went down to interview her. All right, round the back of the car and towards that door. Had investigators halted a potential killing spree? When they asked why she was heading to Alaska and she was just going to be there. All right, round the back of the car and towards that door. Had investigators halted a potential killing spree? When they asked why she was heading to Alaska,
Starting point is 00:30:29 Angelina denies any intention of going there to see her other ex. She was asked about that. Angelina was and she never admitted that that was why. She was heading that way. Angelina is transported to the Sioux Falls Police Department. The next morning, detectives ask Angelina to paste them through the events of the last few days.
Starting point is 00:30:55 Angelina says that it all began on a romantic getaway with her boyfriend, Michael Pies. She just wanted to get away with Michael and take a few days off, and they started driving. There wasn't a set location that they were headed to and just chose Ashland, Wisconsin. They end up in Ashland, they find a hotel room, and that's where they end up staying.
Starting point is 00:31:29 What Angelina says next throws investigators for a loop. She said Hell's Angels had burst into the motel room, kicked the door open, and shot him. But she was able to escape. Investigators are skeptical. Why would the Hell's Angels come after Michael? According to Angelina, they were hired. James told him that he knew the Hells Angels and he was going to have him killed.
Starting point is 00:31:57 Who was going to have who killed? James was going to have... Michael? Michael killed. Because this has been going on for months. She was explaining to me that James and Michael did not like each other. She explained it was James wanted Michael deceased. That's when detectives tell Angelina it wasn't possible for James to hire the hell's angels to kill Michael
Starting point is 00:32:26 Is James okay? James I don't think is okay. It's all in one way is James not okay. Well, what I heard James is dead my husband Have you run No Okay When I told her James James was deceased, she paused. And I believed he'd up a little bit and wanted a minute.
Starting point is 00:32:55 Despite Angelina's tears, investigators aren't buying the idea she had no knowledge of James' murder. Nor do they believe her story that the hell's angels killed Michael. There was nothing substantial. She was reaching pretty hard. I was talking with her. She said, well, tell the truth. I wanted to lay it all out and put it out there.
Starting point is 00:33:14 And these come out. This time around, Angelina states that it all started on the morning of October 29th, when she visited her estranged husband James at his apartment in Sock Rapids. If James went out to have drinks or something like that she always brought him over Burger King in the morning and checked on him. I brought him Burger King he was laying him coach. Okay. He drank a lot that made me four and couldn't get in. She went back to the apartment, asked a neighbor for a butter knife to get in
Starting point is 00:33:49 because James was sleeping and went wake up. You couldn't get in. How did you know he was laying on the couch? So I opened up the window and he was laying there and then I just put it on the coffee table. At that point, when I asked her, how did he look? And she said he looked fine. According to Angelina, she dropped off the fast food and left the apartment. But when she returned home to Michael later that day,
Starting point is 00:34:18 he was irate to learn where she had been. Michael Pies was jealous of the time she was spending with Jim O'Meara, and he did not appreciate that. She said, Michael goes over to James's at five in the morning, Saturday morning, and comes back and says, I blew James's head off. Angelina tells police she didn't believe him. She went to call to anybody, because she
Starting point is 00:34:43 did not really believe what he was saying was true. Thinking Michael was just trying to frighten her, Angelina suggested that the two of them make up by getting out of town for a few days. Michael agreed. But according to Angelina, once they arrived at the hotel in Ashland, it was clear that Michael was still upset.
Starting point is 00:35:04 Michael was drinking in the hotel, and they got into an argument, and Michael then pulled the gun out, and said that he was gonna kill Angelina. So what happened during that show? He pulled out the gun, and said, was really angry about me spending time with my ex. OK.
Starting point is 00:35:29 And he said, I'm going to f***ing shoot you two bitch. We were struggling with the gun. And then I took the gun from him and then I went bang up and hit him. Angelina admits to shooting Michael Pies, but claims that was an accident. When I asked Angelina if she had, you know, bothered to check to see if Michael Pies was still alive,
Starting point is 00:35:58 she said no. I asked her if she felt for a pulse. She said no. I asked her if she called repulsed. She said no. I asked her if she called 911. She said no. She just laid down on the bed next to him and went to sleep. The next day when she was ready to leave,
Starting point is 00:36:13 she tried to move the body. At that time, it slid off the bed and a small space between the wall and the where the bed was. Even though she swears she's telling the truth, investigators aren't buying Angelina's new story either. Michael Pies, he was a very big man that I believe could have easily overpowered Angelina. And she's telling me that she was able to wrestle
Starting point is 00:36:39 this long rifle weapon away from him in that small motel room. And there was no indication whatsoever that a struggle had even taken place. Her stories just weren't adding up. Coming up, investigators tried to catch Angelina in a lie. She'd basically told a few truths, a lot of obvious lies. And friends and family doubt if justice will ever be served. Probably anyone's natural reaction.
Starting point is 00:37:14 I hate her. 38-year-old mother of two, Angelina O'Mara, is being questioned about the murders of her estranged husband, James O'Mara, and her current lover, Michael Pies. While she has confessed to killing Michael in an act of self-defense, she still maintains that she is not responsible for James's death. But when investigators ask Angelina to again walk them through the timeline of events, she gets tricked up in the details. Michael had told her that he was mad at James
Starting point is 00:37:58 and that he had killed James five in the morning on Saturday. Angelina had went over to James' apartment, however, after five in the morning with the Burger King, says he looks fine with everything else that she's saying. That story did not make any sense to me. Investigators press Angelina to explain what she did with the gun after she shot Michael. She had taken the gun, wrapped it in the blanket,
Starting point is 00:38:24 drove it out, and wrapped it in the blanket, drove it out, and threw it in an area which she couldn't describe. She had to have a map to see it. And she'd previously stated that, but it was false. When we searched, there was nothing found in any areas. She basically told a few truths, a lot of obvious lies. She gave me enough of a confession that I believed our prosecutor would charge her
Starting point is 00:38:49 with first degree intentional homicide. On November 3rd, Angelina is charged with the first degree murder of Michael Pies and the second degree murder of James O'Mara. Word of her arrest makes its way back to Minnesota. The detective called and said that they had apprehended her. Her name was almost a sigh of relief not knowing if she's gonna kill another person.
Starting point is 00:39:15 My reaction to Angelina being charged with murder was probably anyone's natural reaction. I hate her. I was shocked because I was like, was probably anyone's natural reaction. I hate her. I was shocked because I was like, why are they arresting my mom? I don't feel like my mom could have killed my dad, and that was probably the hardest thing never go through. Though detectives are fairly certain Angelina killed both men,
Starting point is 00:39:41 they need more evidence to ensure a conviction. both men, they need more evidence to ensure a conviction. Two weeks later, that evidence lands in the lap of Ashland investigator Gerald Kachka. I get his phone call from the jail where she's being held. And it says, Angelina Amara, I want to talk with you. Angelina, it seems, has reached a breaking point. Sheeps us. I shot him. We'll ask him where you're alone.
Starting point is 00:40:09 Yes, I was by myself. So she crawled through window, went in while you were sleeping and shot him. Angelina also admits that she shot Michael Pies in a similar fashion, not in self-defense as she'd originally claimed. She went in detail and talked about how she waited from the fall asleep.
Starting point is 00:40:27 She and Michael were in the room, eating food, drinking some beer, and then when he fell asleep, she executed him. Shot him in the head with a 22-gallon rifle. I used to sleep. And then I asked her, so why did you kill Michael? Why did you kill James? She was, I'm not going to tell you.
Starting point is 00:40:41 So why did you kill Michael? Why did you kill James? She was, I'm not going to tell you. With her latest most believable confession in hand, prosecutors in Minnesota have what they need to take Angelina's case to trial. The trial was held in Benton County, which is in Minnesota. They were showing videos when pictures of things that they found and the evidence that they found
Starting point is 00:41:06 and some pretty gruesome stuff came up. In pretrial motions, Angelina's lawyers had sought to throw out her prior confession, but the judge overruled them. And Angelina's confessions are played in court. What shocked me the most when I saw the interrogation was first and foremost, she acted like she didn't know about it. She was just shocked to hear my brother was dead.
Starting point is 00:41:29 And immediately went into hell's angels. She blamed all kinds of people. That was really hard to see. You're just shocked by those answers. Even more anticipated that Angelina's confession is the hope that her motive will finally be revealed. But before Angelina can take the stand, her attorneys make an unexpected announcement. When all the witnesses in, we're in the waiting room waiting to get sequestered, getting her
Starting point is 00:41:55 recalled in. And right in the middle, she please guilty. My mom still had probably a couple more days or maybe even weeks left of her trial. And as soon as my grandmother died her mom, she was fighting cancer. She just pleaded guilty because that was my mom's only support system. The evidence was overwhelming. The stories that she had initially told. We were able to fill full of holes. Angelina came to the realization of what she had done.
Starting point is 00:42:28 She had pled guilty to the case in Minnesota, and that she was also going to plead guilty to the case in Wisconsin. Angelina was sentenced to serve life without parole. However, as part of her plea deal, Angelina doesn't have to explain her motive for murdering either James or Michael. What could Jim Olmara and Michael Pies have done to her to drive her to actually kill both of them? I was never able to get that answer. To this day, I will reflect back on that case and still wonder why she did what she did. Those who knew Angelina believe that her rapid descent
Starting point is 00:43:15 into addiction certainly played a factor. I'm sure that attributed greatly to whatever was going on in her life and the decisions that she made. Family and friends also wonder if Angelina's addiction put the custody of her children in jeopardy as well. She was afraid that Michael was gonna go after custody for Gracie and that James was gonna go after custody for Juliano. They were gonna take their kids away
Starting point is 00:43:40 because it seemed like a better place for them. I think also her depression and anxiety just all built up and I think she just went crazy one day. She's an evil person as far as I'm concerned and she knows what she's doing and maybe she may not relate to everything. It's not crazy, that's cunning. That's why this whole story is so sad because I had the perfect family and it just doesn't make sense.
Starting point is 00:44:01 But I do believe that she deserves to be in there because she did take two innocent people's lives. Angelina is serving her life sentence at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shackupy, Minnesota. The divorce between Angelina and James O'Mara was never finalized. finalized.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.