Snapped: Women Who Murder - BONUS: Heather Kamp & Ethan Mack (Snapped Killer Couples)
Episode Date: November 16, 2023We are bringing you a special bonus episode featuring a case from Oxygen's hit series, “Buried in the Backyard.” The disappearance of a young socialite in Charleston prompts a ...team of private investigators to unearth a shocking betrayal at the hands of her two best friends, one of whom is a con-artist with a deadly secret. Season 16, Episode 03Originally aired: May 1, 2022 Watch full episodes of Killer Couples live or OnDemand for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/See 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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Bosh Legacy returns, now streaming.
Man, it's been taken.
Oh, God.
Nothing can stop a father.
Is he alive?
From doing what the law can't.
Have you ever do this the very way?
You have to.
I don't.
Bosh Legacy watch the new season, now streaming exclusively on FreeVee.
I'm Carrie Mulligan, the host of I Hear Fear,
a new anthology series of terror.
You and I know that the best scary stories are the ones we tell each other in the dark,
so turn off your lights and close your eyes.
Follow I Hear Fear on the Wondering app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hi Snap listeners, we are bringing you a special bonus episode today from Oxygen's hit series,
Killer Couples. You can also watch full episodes live or on demand on the free Oxygen app or on Peacock
by clicking the link in our description.
Enjoy.
They were a loving couple trying to make it in America's Heartland.
They both had kind of had a hard life and, they were able to make each other stronger.
They were in love, and they did have future plans
to get married.
But their dreams are cut short by a horrific tragedy.
They've been shot multiple times.
There was large amounts of blood.
The scene was a slaughterhouse.
The investigation will force police to revisit atrocities
from the past.
Southern Illinois was one of the locations for the railroad killer.
The community instantly was on alert.
The search for a suspect will lead detectives
on a cross-country manhunt and reveal a darker truth, one culminating
in the greatest act of betrayal from a friend in need.
She has no way, and I really don't have to have anybody.
We just do want to lose each other,
so we were going to do whatever it took.
Their plan was that they were going to be together
in eternity.
These two young people's lives were thrown away for what?
Nothing.
More people basically died that day.
I feel so terrible for what happened.
I know I should have stopped it.
I should have done so many other things. The West Frankfurt Illinois is a quiet town where residents value their slower pace of life.
West Frankfurt is a small, tightknit charming community. This sort of place you'd want to
raise a family. It used to be a big coal mining area. Most people know each other there.
But on October 19th 2009, the town's laid back and friendly veneer is shattered.
When West Frankfurt 911 dispatchers receive a panicked call
from a family member of 32-year-old local resident,
Terry C. Beck.
Terry's aunt called to report that she had spoken
with Terry on the evening of the 18th and was unable to get in contact
with her on the 19th.
She had learned from Terry's employer
that she did not show up for work that day.
Terry's aunt tells dispatchers that Terry's
live-in girlfriend, 28-year-old Candice Majors,
isn't responding to phone calls either.
Candice and Terry are living in Terry's aunt's property.
So when they don't respond to her phone calls,
she grabs a spare key and heads to the house to see what was going on.
When she approached the house, she noticed there was blood on the storm door.
When she approached the house, she noticed there was blood on the storm door. Then she notices that the door knob is covered in blood,
and she doesn't even walk in. She just calls 911.
When responding officers arrive on the scene,
Terry's aunt gives them the key.
When they try to enter the front door,
the officers immediately encounter resistance.
As I push the door open approximately five, six inches,
toes came beneath the door, and you can see the blood on them.
I was able to push the door open a little further
to where I could squeeze my upper torso in and look
and I could see full body laid out perpendicular
to the front door.
The scene was a slaughterhouse.
The officer observed a female body that obviously
had been shot multiple times, some four to five times
at least. observed a female body that obviously had been shot multiple times, some four to five
times at least.
As police step into the room, they quickly realize there's a second female victim.
Sheep was crumbled between the couch and the coffee table of the residents.
There was large amounts of blood in the carpeting on the coffee table of the residents. There was large amounts of blood in the carpeting
and on the coffee table itself.
Police identified the victims as Terry C. Beck
and Candice Majors.
And we knew who resided there and who
to expect to be inside of that house.
Terry's aunt was on scene as we came out of the residents.
And I think she saw it in on scene as we came out of the residence,
and I think she saw it in my face when I came out.
As homicide detectives are called in, questions remain.
Who killed this seemingly loving couple?
And why?
Since 2007, Terry C. Beck and Candace majors had been supporting one another, both in life and in love.
Both single mothers, the women had faced adversity growing up in small town Illinois, and had bonded over staying sober for nearly a decade.
Candace was a ball of life. She was a very bright, intelligent girl.
Candace had a beautiful smile that lit up the room
when she walked in.
She has so many positive things going for her,
but she got into meth really bad for a while.
She would go out and start partying
and go on benches for three or four days.
She would keep a job, loseying and go on benches for three or four days.
She would keep a job, lose a job, get another job,
kind of just like dead-end jobs.
This really wasn't going anywhere in her life with it.
After losing custody of her two children,
Candice knew she needed to make a change.
That's when she met Terry C. Beck.
Terry was older and wanting to get her life together at that point.
She was fighting to get custody back of these children that she had lost.
She would just kind of down and out needing help,
and it really had anybody.
His most her family has passed away or not around.
When Candison Terry were introduced by mutual friends,
they found a kindred spirit in one another.
I think they needed each other just because they both had issues
with like past drug dedictions, trauma.
They both wanted to get on a better path and do good for their kids
and get that love back that they lost. They both had kind of had a hard life.
And I think they found a mutual bond with each other together.
They were able to make each other stronger.
Say 100% like hell each other accountable to always stay clean at that point.
So at the beginning of 2007, they became really close like right after that and moved in together.
Terry started the job painting with her father. Candace had gotten herself enrolled in school to be a radiologist.
She had had a job previously working in a nursing home, and she found that she loved that,
and that the residents of the home loved Candace,
and that kind of inspired her to want to do something
in some type of healthcare or to help people.
Candace Ateri had talked to me on many occasions
about how much love they were,
and they did have future plans to get married.
But now the couple has been found shot to death inside their home, and West
Frankfurt homicide detectives must determine what happened.
There is two women, one of which is laneed face-down right
by the front door, multiple gunshot wounds to both of the women's head and torso.
Terry was shot through her left eye.
There were shell casings all over the place.
We knew with the gun that we were looking for a 22-auto,
or semi-auto pistol, because the gun that we were looking for a 22-auto,
or semi-auto pistol, because the way that the brass
was ejected into the residence of the house after firing.
Detectives are unable to find a gun in the house,
ruling out the theory that it may have been a murder suicide.
The blood on the front door, on the storm door,
on the inside of the exterior door.
When you see that, there was a struggle.
Somebody was fighting to get in or get out.
It wasn't a case of somebody sat down
and committed suicide.
I've worked multiple homicide cases,
but the injuries to Candace and Terry are the worst that I've worked multiple homicide cases, but the injuries to Candace and Terry
are the worst that I've ever seen.
Coming up, clues from the crime scene
point police toward a serial killer from the past.
There had been a railroad killer that terrorized the area,
jumping from rail car to rail car and murdering people.
And the search for the truth will expose conflict
within the victim's home.
He did become kind of obsessed with her.
It was, I will do anything for this person, for them to love me.
In West Frankfurt, Illinois, police
have discovered the bullet-riddled bodies
of 32-year-old Terry C. Beck and her girlfriend,
28-year-old Candice Majors.
As they process the crime scene, detectives
try to figure out what the killer's motive might have been.
It began looking around to see if somebody might have gone in to rob them of valuables or drugs if they would have had those in their possession.
We had to cover every angle of who might have done this and why.
There were signs of robbery. Both of the victims' credit cards and IDs were missing.
According to Terry's aunt, Terry's gold Chevrolet Impala
is also missing from the driveway.
At this point, our biggest piece of evidence
that we're missing would be the vehicle.
And it's either going to contain items of evidentiary value or contain the killers.
And so that was our primary focus was to find that vehicle.
I instructed one of my investigators to start contacting gas stations,
starting with the ones that would have been open in the late hours.
If Terry's car was not full of gas,
and they were planning on fleeing the area,
and they needed fuel, let's check and see if they did.
While police tracked down surveillance footage,
detectives dig deeper into the crime scene
and find problems with the robbery theory.
The house didn't seem to be ransacked. It didn't look like people would really
corner completely apart like they were searching
for a specific item or items of value.
There was a stack of cash in the other room that
was seemingly untouched, and there
was some expensive jewelry that was left alone as well.
There were no signs of forced entry into this home,
which led investigators to believe
that Candace and Terry let them in.
Detectives conclude that Candace and Terry
likely knew the killer.
The evidence of overkill suggests a deeply personal crime.
They've been shot multiple times.
And then we even found some live rounds
knowing that they must have had a jam with the gun
and had to clear that and reload.
With no clear evidence pointing to who killed Candace and Terry or why,
detectives contact their families and break the devastating news.
I thought everything was going great. They both were working. You know, the car they had bought was, you know, a nice car.
They were paying their bills, they were going to school, you know, they were living the typical normal life.
So it was very much a shock.
I thought maybe drugs because whenever you deal with certain people
and drugs and things like that, you know, things can go bad.
Anytime you're involved in a legal drug activity, and drugs and things like that, you know, things can go bad.
Anytime you're involved in a legal drug activity,
you're gonna have some shady connections.
So I think that's where most people's minds went to first
is that maybe this was the drug deal gone wrong.
Maybe someone was getting revenge from something
a long time ago, or it was like something they owed money to,
and it was finally coming back to them.
And unfortunately, that's the first thing I thought
what happened.
Police immediately begin canvassing the couple's neighborhood
in the hopes someone may have noticed suspicious activity.
We started with neighbors to see what they had seen in the area,
and we find out a little bit of information
on Candace and Terry's residents.
While no one can offer any concrete information
to support the drug theory, detectives
do find a witness who offers a chilling tip.
One of the neighbors had seen a male subject
in the area of the residents of Terran-Candice's house
on the railroad tracks early in the morning of the 19th.
The tip sounds eerily familiar
to reports that law enforcement had received
several years earlier.
Southern Illinois was one of the locations for the railroad killer.
The man who jumped from rail car to rail car
and popped into communities and created heinous scenes
like this.
I remember being a child and being at home and being
absolutely terrified that the railroad killer was going
to come to my home.
Authorities know that the infamous railroad killer
had died three years earlier by lethal injection.
Police must now figure out, are they
dealing with a serial killer copycat?
I think that that might have been a concern for many people.
Was this another railroad killer?
The community instantly was on alert.
The citizens were wondering, are they still in our town?
The whole community was shaken wondering who could have
done something like this, because something like this
couldn't be done by anyone in this community, right?
We put a description of that subject out
over the radio.
Citizens listening to the scanner in town
found a subject towards the south end of our city
that matched that description.
Officers were dispatched to the area.
When police locate the man,
he appears confused by the claims.
With no solid alibi, however,
police bring him in for questioning.
The man claims he was only out for a nightly stroll,
and he had nothing to do with the murders of Candice
majors and Terry Sebeck.
It was just some guy that was on the tracks.
He was ultimately rolled out as having any involvement
in this crime.
As detectives continue digging into the couple's lives for clues, their friends offer police their first real lead.
They told us that Terry and Candace had a couple that they had allowed to stay with them because they had fallen on hard times and needed a place to stay and they had been residing with them for a couple months.
Friends identify the couple as 19-year-old,
Afton Ferris, and 29-year-old Michael Schallert.
We didn't find anything in the residence
at the initial search, you know, to state who they were,
you know, because their belongings were gone,
which was concerning.
But friends revealed that Afton and Michael
had moved out of Candison Terry's house on October 18th.
After conflict had developed between the two couples.
Afton and Michael Schallert had been accused of stealing
from Terry C. Beck and Candace Maiders,
and then they were asked to leave.
As police put out an APB for Often Ferris and Michael Schallert,
a witness comes forward to report another crime.
We had a subject that came forward and contacted the police department
to say that Mike and
Afton had been at his residence on the evening of the 18th.
They had left after he had gone to sleep, and when he awoke, he realized that a 22 pistol
was missing from his house.
Detectives realize it's the same caliber of weapon that was used in the murders of Candace and Terry.
And when we learned that the gun was missing from there
and Michael and I have to have been there the night before
the murders, I wasn't wasting any more resources,
you know, looking anywhere else.
Coming up, police face a race against the clock
to track down their suspects before it's too late.
The vehicle left, the gas station headed towards the interstate, so we were certain that they had fled our jurisdiction.
I'm Rodney Barnes. All my life I've been collecting stories.
I don't mean sharing little bedtime stories of cute anecdotes about my childhood.
I'm talking about horror stories, cautionary tales that kind of stuff that keeps you up at
night.
I'm talking about rumors and folklore about grizzly murders.
From parts of the country you're not used to hearing about.
Creatures with unfinished earthly business that stalked the woods at night.
Spirits that possessed children.
Otherworldly phenomena capable of inducing madness.
These are the stories that haunt me when I'm alone.
And now, this is my chance to exercise them.
To get them out of my mind and into yours.
Ah!
Oh!
Welcome to RunFull.
New episodes come out every Tuesday.
Follow RunFull wherever you get your podcast.
Bosch Legacy returns. My name's Harry Bosch. I'm a private investigator. you get your podcast. I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, but I'm sorry, what I'm feeling right now. Harry, we haven't do this a bad way. You have to.
I don't.
Nowhere is my daughter.
Bosch Legacy.
Watch the new season, now streaming, exclusively unfreevy.
Less than 24 hours into their investigation, police and West Frankfurt, Illinois, are searching
for 29-year-old Michael Schallert and 19-year-old Afton Ferris in connection with the murders of
their friends and former roommates, Terry Sebeck and Candace majors. We had learned, Afton's driver's license
was issued out of the state of Wyoming,
and Michael Schallert
had ties out Colorado,
Wyoming also.
So we kind of suspected
that that would be a familiar place
for them that they would be fling to.
Detectives tracked down
Michael's family in Cheyenne, Wyoming,
but they say they haven't heard from him. When detectives tracked down Michael's family in Cheyenne, Wyoming, but they say they haven't heard from him.
When detectives asked the family about Michael's connection
to Terry and Candace, they learned Michael
had been close friends with Terry for years.
Friends had a hard time believing that Michael was capable
of doing anything violent, especially to Terry and Candace.
Michael is a kind and caring person.
He has always been the type to give,
you know, the shirt off his back for somebody else.
Michael Schallert is from a good family.
He's the oldest of two children born in 1979.
His friends describe him as kind-hearted and compassionate and a good guy who just happens
to fall in love really easily.
He had his first kid when he was 15 years old. That, in and of itself, kind of had a huge impact on the
trajectory of his life. He was barely able to have a work permit, let alone half to raise
a child.
Detectives learned that over the years, Michael had wandered state-to-state searching for stability.
Can you something of a drifter?
Someone who could not hold down a job?
Someone who was looking for someone to take care of them
in an emotional sense.
When he landed in West Frankfurt, Illinois,
he had quickly struck up a friendship with Terry Sebeck,
who offered him a place to stay.
She said she was trying to help get him back on his feet.
They were together, like, every day hanging out,
doing all the normal stuff that, you know, best friends do.
He seemed to be making a life,
and he seemed to be doing really, really good.
And then he came back to Shia.
After returning home to Wyoming in 2008, Michael met 18-year-old, Afton Ferris.
Like Michael, Afton had been searching for a place to call home.
Afton Ferris grew up in the foster system.
She was in and out of homes.
She ran away multiple times.
Despite all odds at the age of 18,
she became valid Victorian of her high school class.
But unfortunately, after she graduated,
she was unable to keep a steady job
and was unable to keep a home.
Michael met Afton when she was homeless.
She had been kind of going to bars and stuff.
Michael found out that she was homeless
in couch surfing, and he immediately offers to take her in,
and that's how the two start their romance.
Charlotte was incredibly nurturing towards Afton Ferris. and that's how the two start their romance. -♪
Charlotte was incredibly nurturing towards aft and ferris.
He displayed what appeared to be very sincere motives
on his part.
He did become kind of obsessed, you know, with aft and...
It wasn't necessarily an obsession, like a crazy obsession.
It was, I will do anything for this person,
for them to love me.
When Michael asked me if him and Afton could stay at my house,
I told him no.
I had just had a kid, and he was not even a year old yet.
I'm not gonna allow some girl
that I didn't even know to stay in my house.
An angered Michael decides to move to West Frankfurt
where he had been happy and has a strong group of friends.
One of those friends happens to be Terry Sebeck.
Terry welcomed her old friend and his new girlfriend into her and Candice majors home.
They, you know, took my brother in when he needed a place to stay and that was pretty nice of them to do that.
But police learned that it wasn't long before tensions erupted between the two couples.
learned that it wasn't long before tensions erupted between the two couples.
About a month after they had moved in,
I'd spoke with Terry on the phone,
and she'd just seem really frustrated,
saying some of those things had came up missing.
Small articles, I think it was probably like some
piece of jewelry or money.
It was just small things.
She told me that no one else had been in the house.
Terry and Candice believed that this couple
has began stealing items from them
and that they were going to ask them to move out of their house.
Eventually, they packed up, often, and Michael's things
and put them on the front porch and asked them to come pick them up.
I know how Candace is.
She's hot-headed, and if she was angry,
because she pinpointed what they did,
she would push them right out.
That's just how she was.
She would give you one chance
and she was done with you.
And I wouldn't blame her.
Less than 24 hours later,
Candace and Terry
were found murdered.
Police know they need to track down
Afton and Michael immediately.
Less than 48 hours into their investigation,
police get a tip that Terry C-Bex missing Chevy Impala
has been spotted on a gas station security camera.
Gas station footage near the crime scene
revealed the stolen vehicle pulling up to the pump
near the interstate.
And guess who happens to walk out?
Michael Schaller to pump gas.
There was a person in the vehicle that
remained in the front passenger seat of the vehicle.
From her body style, it looked like it appeared to be a female.
While the blonde sitting in the passenger seat doesn't ever get out, she does match the description of the Afton Ferris.
It's a valuable piece of information because the vehicle left the gas station, we could watch it as it left on the roadway,
headed towards the interstate,
which is only like a block and a half from the interstate.
So we were certain that they had fled our jurisdiction.
Detectives, speak to gas station employees
to see if they have any additional information on the couple.
The clerk remembered, shallardaller coming in the night before.
They remember he was in a hurry,
and he used a credit card that was in the name of Candice Majors,
but actually signed his own name on the ticket.
Detectives subpoena records for the stolen credit cards, hoping to track the missing couple.
The police are able to watch Michael and Afton travel out west by the credit card transactions
on one of the stolen victim's credit cards.
Sooner or later, they're going to not use the card, But as long as they're using it, that's great for us.
On October 21st, two days after the bodies of Candace and Terry
were discovered, the credit card activity
stops in Laramor County, Colorado.
When detectives ask Michael's family
if Michael has any connections there, they catch a break.
The marshals, then Laramor County Colorado
had learned that Michael Schallard had a friend
who resided in the trailer park in Fort Collins, Colorado.
A surveillance on that residence identified a Chevy Impala,
which is the type of vehicle that Terry Sebeck owned.
Now that we see that what we're pretty certain
would be the vehicle in this
trailer park, those departments establish a surveillance in there to make sure that
Michael and Afton are at this residence. It's a kind of a complicated surveillance because
you're in a tight-knit community where the same people come and go daily, and they know who should be there and who shouldn't be.
The homes are in such close proximity to each other.
It makes it really hard for police to go unseeing.
Coming up, as authorities take their positions outside the trailer,
they brace themselves for a standoff with two desperate killers willing to do anything
to remain free.
This is a double homicide, and they're
taking no chances with these individuals who
are believed to be armed and dangerous.
Authorities have tracked suspected killers, Michael Schallert, and Afton Ferris to Larimer
County, Colorado.
After staking out the trailer park, police visually identified their targets two days
after Candice Majors and Terry Sebeck were discovered murdered.
The surveillance team was able to recognize Afton come out of the residence, go to Terry's vehicle,
along with Michael, and remove items from the vehicle,
and place them in a trash bag.
Michael then took the trash bag over and placed it in a trash receptacle
outside of the trailer.
That's when the police orchestrated a takedown.
police orchestrate a takedown.
The SWAT team uses a stun grenade to temporarily disorient Michael and Afton.
They made their approach and took both of them into custody.
While Afton and Michael are transported to the local station
for questioning, law enforcement
conducts a search of the premises and Terry Siebeck's vehicle.
During the execution of the search warrant and the trash bag,
they located bloody clothing that had been worn by Afton Ferris.
They also find the remaining stolen credit cards,
along with both Candace's and Terry's ID.
In the execution of the search warrant on the trailer,
they found a black purse that was Afton's purse.
And inside the purse, they found a black
rouger 22 semi-auto pistol.
This was the same weapon that had been reported stolen
to our police department.
In the car, they find a hand-written poem by Afton seemingly
to describe the crime and their life on the run as criminals.
The poem was titled Bullets and Wheat.
They find two more handwritten letters from often
that seem to be suicide notes.
Hoping for a confession, detectives
decide to confront Afton first.
After my name's Judge Art, are from the chief of police.
And Westfrancker don't know anything.
If this is Captain Mike, then Westfrancker
police department.
I'll tell you everything.
This is a hangout in second.
Can you at least just tell me how you guys found out?
We found us so fast.
When detectives confront Afton about the murders,
she immediately breaks down. and explains Terry and Candace
had been accusing her and Michael of theft.
They're like, well, we just kicked you out
because we don't trust you anymore.
And we just, we don't have anywhere to go.
I've got no family. We've got no family.
I often told us that on the night of the 18th,
they had been told by Terry and Candace
that they were being kicked out of the house.
They went to a friend's house, had some drinks, played cards,
knew that this friend had a pistol in his house.
The friend passed out, they stole the pistol from the house
and ammunition, and they'd left.
According to Afton, she and Michael walked the few miles back to Terry and Candace's house
while they devised a plan to rob the women and flee.
They quickly realized it wasn't that simple. We didn't have any other choice.
Any other choice than what?
Doing that and getting a cart in me?
To go in and kill them and get what you could
and taking their car.
That was the only option that you guys allowed.
We have the option.
We have.
After admits, when they arrived,
they convinced the women they wanted to make amends.
And we asked it, can we come inside, you know, to apologize, and we were sitting there, and Terry was sitting next to me on the couch.
Just before I mean the house.
Yeah, there's a couch right here, and he had to just sit on this couch right here, and I was sitting next to Terry on this couch, and Michael was sitting on the chair.
And they were telling us how we were stealing and stuff, and how they went through our room, and found the C.
He's in a was so trash, and they're
Michael in the room, saying, well, I'm
going to need to go see if there's anything else.
And he came back out, and Candace was bitching.
He's like, you know what, mother f***ing really shot her.
And she went backwards, and then he shot Terry.
And she hit the coffee table.
She had the coffee table.
Often stated that she noticed Candace was at the door
and was using her cell phone to call the sheriff's department.
Often said she grabbed a hold of Candace
and drug her back into the residence
and Michael shot her some more.
Terry, she was moaning and groaning, and I told him to give me the gun.
I shot her in her left eye.
With both women now dead, they take the women's IDs,
their credit cards, a small amount of cash,
some cigarettes, and they hit the road.
their credit cards, a small amount of cash, some cigarettes, and they hit the road. But according to Afton, her and Michael's dreams to ride off into the sunset together quickly
faded.
Afton says that Michael's been an emotional mess ever since the murders and that the plan
was to just commit suicide, that they just wanted to be together, whether that was in life or in the ground.
From the moment she walks into the room,
she has no remorse and takes no responsibility
for what was done.
The reason why I did this is my life has been fucked up.
And just there's nothing for me to live.
I've got no fucking family.
I know friends.
It's just Michael.
And it's just, I've got nothing to live for, you know.
With Afton's confession in tow, police sit down
with Michael Schallert.
Michael's demeanor is very different from Afton.
He tells law enforcement that he never intended to kill anyone
that he just wanted to rob them.
I'm not the type person to any people like that.
I've never heard anybody's life.
She said nowhere to go.
I'm trying to do a fucking thing.
We just walked in and she started blaming Afton for it. I'm sorry, I just... I'm sorry you don't fucking go on my own.
We just walked in and she started blaming her for stealing some CDs.
And...
And me for a tank top shirt.
And I just couldn't take no more than I had that gun.
I just pulled it to you.
I didn't know how many times...
that it got jammed.
Now, tell me the load...
We're reloaded.
It just shall come to life.
I'm not afraid of going. She should have come back. We're going to go away.
Michael says he and Afton needed the money so they could be together
and that they had no other choice but to do what they did.
I didn't want to lose Afton because that's all we've had.
She has no way and I've really had to have anybody.
And we just didn't want to lose each other.
So we were going to do whatever it took.
They felt like this was their best opportunity
to start a new life together.
Following their confessions, Michael,
Charlotte, and Afton Ferris are both charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
News of their arrest stuns those who knew both couples.
I was sick. I was mad. I was...
Every emotion you could have makes no sense. There was no reason for it. I mean, it was surreal.
It's something that, you know, you see on TV, like, you don't...
You don't think that would ever happen in real life.
Both Michael and Afton plead not guilty.
Hoping a trial will save them from a possible death sentence.
At the time when they were charged in Illinois,
the killing of two people made you eligible for the death sentence.
Knowing that the murders were possible death penalty,
it was like the moment that I knew life wasn't going to be the same.
Coming up, as one narrative begins to shift,
prosecutors question whether justice will be served.
She was trying to make it sound like she didn't want to go against what his wishes were.
And Michael Schallert tells his story
in an exclusive prison interview.
This whole thing started because I
fell in love with somebody they didn't deserve
if they were my friends.
In West Frankfurt, Illinois, Michael Schallert and Afton
Ferris are awaiting trial for the double murder
of their friends and former roommates, Terry C. Beck
and Candice Majors.
Then, in 2011, just before their trials are set to begin,
the unexpected happens.
As they awaited trial, the state of Illinois's governor
had imposed a mortuary amount, capital punishment.
Governor Pat Quinn actually makes the death penalty illegal.
With the threat of the death penalty off the table,
Michael tells his attorney he wants to bleed guilty and avoid the trial.
He decided he wanted to change his plea to guilty
to the two counts of first degree murder, and he did so.
Nobody knew that he was going to go in there
and just plead guilty.
But his reasoning for doing that was so that the victim's family didn't have to go through any more than what they had already been through.
So I mean, he was showing remorse, at least.
Like, I would think human beings would.
At the end of the day, Michael Schallert
was sentenced to life in prison.
At the end of the day, Michael Schallert was sentenced to life in prison.
In July 2011, two years after the murders of Terry and Candace,
Afton Ferris' murder trial begins.
The prosecution painted Afton as a cold-hearted killer.
The defense tries to lay the blame completely at the feet of Michael Schallard.
When Afton takes the stand to testify,
she paints a much different picture
than the one she had described in an interrogation room.
Afton says that she looked on in horror
as Schallard killed her friends,
and that she originally on in horror as Charlotte killed her friends, and that she originally lied
in her confession tape to protect the man that she loved.
Aftern blamed everything on him.
She was trying to make it sound like she didn't want
to go against what his wishes were.
She was very stoic, no sign of much emotion at all, even when
she attempted to muster some up and really couldn't.
The jury ultimately sides with the prosecution.
After Ferris was found guilty of both murders,
she was also found guilty of arbor robbery and home invasion, and she was sentenced to life in prison plus 120 years.
I was relieved, but I was sad because these two young people's lives were thrown away for what?
Nothing. Four people basically died that day.
If I could, you know, turn back time 11 years,
I mean, maybe I would have allowed my brother to stay
in my house, maybe it wouldn't have happened.
I believe that if the two of them hadn't got together,
the Candace and Terry would still be alive.
I would want to say I am disappointed
that I have not got the chance to see
what Candace might have become.
I guess I would want to tell Afton
and Michael that I don't understand
what you did through your life away but I'm not going to let that dominate my life.
I have to keep going and just cherish the memories I do have.
From his prison cell, Michael remembers often 10 years later
and how their all-consuming romance triggered a deadly betrayal among friends.
This whole thing started because I fell in love with somebody. It was like love at first
night. And every day I just got more and more obsessed with her. I mean there's always going to be
something in my heart for her. She was a big part of my life, you know, and that was the most intense love that I ever had.
I feel so terrible for what happened.
I just, I think about it every day, you know,
that, you know, I accept all the responsibility for my part.
They didn't deserve it.
They were my friend.
you