Snapped: Women Who Murder - Rachel Kozloff

Episode Date: January 14, 2024

Detectives track down leads from rival biker clubs and scorned lovers to uncover the truth when a beloved biker is found shot to death in his Pennsylvania apartment.Season 29 Episode 10Origin...ally aired: June 6, 2021Watch 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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Starting point is 00:00:34 The lead starting 5, the sports news you need to start your day. He was a big man with even bigger ambitions. He had a dream of working for himself. He always wanted to be the best father he could be. He was the vice president of the Iron Wings, motorcycle club. But his gang can't protect him when shots ring out in his own home. when shots ring out in his own home. It was shocking, vital, and so violent. As the case unfolds, detectives will explore
Starting point is 00:01:14 the CD underbelly of gang rivalries. He enjoyed being fierce. Nobody messed with Big Mike. Big Mike was someone to be reckoned with. They got into kind of seeing who was the alpha club. The lifestyle that he led, people that he hung out with, you know, maybe it was some type of retaliation. Or is someone else in this tough biker's life out for revenge?
Starting point is 00:01:44 They fought nearly every day. when a else in this tough biker's life out for revenge. They fought nearly every day. The relationship was in a downward spiral. He's basically said, get lost. I'm done with you. I'm sick of your s***. It was such chaos. He like started yelling and telling me to get out. April 12, 2012, 10pm. It's a quiet night in Erie, Pennsylvania, as members of the leader
Starting point is 00:02:22 of Men Riding club are winding down for the night in their clubhouse. The leader of men riding club, they're motorcycle enthusiasts. They enjoy riding motorcycles, they have fundraisers, they have a band. The clubhouse is kind of like they're hanging out, they're meeting point. But the camaraderie is shattered when gunshots ring out overhead. So the duck and scatter in the clubhouse when the shots went off. Club members believe the sounds came from the apartment upstairs.
Starting point is 00:03:00 Michael Henry lives in an apartment above their clubhouse. Michael Henry lives in an apartment above their clubhouse. And he's a member of another motorcycle club, the Iron Wings, and he's a prominent member in that club. As the air grows quiet, leader of men, club member, Petey Miller calls Mike to find out what's going on. He called approximately five times. Michael Henry is not picking up his phone. Now he's getting concerned.
Starting point is 00:03:30 Now he's getting worried. It's dead silent up there. Pety reaches out to several of Mike's club members within minutes a small group of iron wings shows up. They bang on Mike's front door, which is the door in the middle of the building that exits out into the parking lot where everybody is parked. This door is locked. They go to the back door and they find that this door is
Starting point is 00:03:57 ratcheted close with an industrial ratchet. Fearing for Mike's safety, his club members kick in the exterior door. As two of the men walk cautiously up the stairs to Mike's apartment door, they're met with a horrific sight. He then sees Michael Henry sitting in there on the futon, slumped over to the side. There was a large amount of blood on the futon, slumped over to the side. There was a large amount of blood on the carpet.
Starting point is 00:04:29 There was a large amount of blood on the futon. P.D. Miller made the 911 initial call. He calls and says there had been a shooting. Officers arrive in minutes and are immediately taken aback by the gruesome scene. He was shot approximately four times. Who could have done this? Who would have had a motive to do something like this?
Starting point is 00:04:58 31-year-old, eerie native Michael J. Henry was known for his big stature and love of motorcycles. I kind of know him for pretty much all his life. Everybody just called him a big mic, because he was big. He always loved bikes, you know? He knew a lot about him. He was a mechanic, so he knew how to build them, too.
Starting point is 00:05:19 Mike actually started his own motorcycle club, called the Iron Wayne Club. They're very serious about their motorcycles. They're very serious about being bikers. It was just a bunch of guys that had regular jobs. They all hung out together a lot on the weekends and stuff like that. It was all about motorcycles. Mike was just as dedicated to the club as he was to running his own business.
Starting point is 00:05:47 He had a dream of working for himself. He wanted to start his own pilot company, kind of like you take these pallets and you kind of just pick them up from businesses and you recycle them. And eventually his idea was to take the pallets and make them another thing. Though Mike had big ambitions, he did have a checkered past. to take the pallets and make them another thing. Though Mike had big ambitions, he did have a checkered past. Mike had a short fuse. If he got something in his head, where it that kind of made him angry,
Starting point is 00:06:16 it wasn't so easy to calm him down. Mostly people appeared to be afraid of him. They were, he was known to start fights with people. Mike had served five years in prison for aggravated assault, where he beat a man into a coma. They were at a bar and someone was harassing the girl, so he kind of got a little brawl there and then it up in jail. little brawl there and then it up in jail.
Starting point is 00:06:53 After his five-year prison sentence was complete, Mike worked to turn his life around. In addition to co-founding the Iron Wings and starting his own company, Mike found love in 2006 when an old friend walked back into his life. I didn't live here for like 10 years. He was actually at my brother's house. And I went over there and just kind of started talking to him because I was attracted to him. Single mother of three, Nicole Spinelli, had no problem seeing past Mike's tough exterior.
Starting point is 00:07:21 He was really funny. I mean, he could make me laugh, like, probably, I'd never laughed before. Which was interesting because everyone looks at him, like, this big, scary guy, because he was huge, you know, but he was actually just as softy, anyway. The two quickly fell head over heels. We had a lot of fun.
Starting point is 00:07:41 We would go motorcycle riding. We were together 24-7. It seemed like, I just kind't wait to always be with him. In 2010, after four years together, the couple found out they were expecting a baby. He talked about it all the time. You know, I was having a child, but I really didn't plan on having any more kids.
Starting point is 00:08:00 I think we were both kind of like shocked and excited. He always wanted to be the best father he could be. In May of 2011, the couple welcomed their son, Jackson. He longed to be a full-time father, that's for sure. That was really important to him. I think it's all stems from him not being around his father as much as he would have liked growing up. While things were great at first, Mike eventually slipped back into old habits.
Starting point is 00:08:33 He succumbed to the pressure of the club. You know, they were going out every night, you know, and they wouldn't come home. It was just kind of like a bad time. But it should have been a good time. Ultimately, the couple split in 2012. Neither one of us really knew what we were going to do. It was very confusing. I was going to do what I could to see if we could fix things. But before Mike and Nicole could work out their differences,
Starting point is 00:09:03 tragedy strikes when Mike's life is cut short on April 12, 2012. The police went to the place where 911 had directed them, which was an apartment over a motorcycle club. As officers begin clearing the apartment, they hear a faint cry coming from the next room. They discovered Mike's 10-month-old son in the crib. Just waking up, starting to cry.
Starting point is 00:09:36 Luckily, the child appears unharmed. You start to think, who would do this? Who would fire off four or five shots in apartment with a 10-month-old child within 15 feet of his father? It was shocking, vile, and so violent. Coming up, evidence suggests Mike may have been targeted. The person who murdered Mike wanted him dead was this homicide committed by a rival motorcycle glove
Starting point is 00:10:16 or was it something more personal. And a tangled love affair sparks suspicion. He had been seen other women. She knew that she was not his only girlfriend. On the night of April 12, 2012, Erie Pennsylvania police officers find 31-year-old Mike Henry shot to death in his apartment. Their first order of business is protecting Mike's 10-month-old son.
Starting point is 00:10:53 The thing that got everybody is that his son was sitting there and then whoever shot him, shot him, killed him, and left. And the son was still there. The child was OK and was removed and taken into custody by child protective services. I was very shocked when I found this out. My mom called me and told me, Mike's dead. And the first thing to my head is,
Starting point is 00:11:18 well, where's the baby? And the baby's fine. I mean, couldn't believe it. I was thankful that nothing happened to my son. A lot of thankfulness and tears of the same time. It was very hard time, though. It definitely was. As Mike's son is taken away, detectives
Starting point is 00:11:37 arrive on the scene and get to work. Mike Henry was shot four times. He was shot once in the leg, twice in the chest, and once in the head. We could tell that it didn't take long for him to pass. It would have been a matter of seconds. Thoughts were initially okay, was this homicide committed by a rival motorcycle club. Or was it something more personal. homicide committed by a rival motorcycle club,
Starting point is 00:12:07 or was it something more personal? Based on the positioning of the body and the location of the blood stains, detectives theorize about what may have happened. The individual walked up on him, while he had been laying in bed, and initially fired, and then upon him, getting up, continued the fire, and walked out of the apartment right after that. So it was almost like walking by, shooting
Starting point is 00:12:34 somebody and continued to walk out of the apartment. As detectives searched the scene, they recover four shell casings. The shell casings were 9-millimeter shell casings, which told us that a 9-millimeter handgun would have been used, and that it matched up with the number of shots that we believe were on my canary. Though detectives are able to determine the type of weapon used, they are unsure how the killer gained access to Mike's apartment.
Starting point is 00:13:10 We're looking, trying to figure out how would this individual get into the apartment without Mike Henry knowing. Being the size and everything in the position that he was in, he was surprised. Although detectives have many questions, there is one thing they know for sure. There's a TV there, there's appliances there, there's money located in a bedroom. It doesn't appear that burglary or robbery was the motive.
Starting point is 00:13:41 The fact that it looks like they got in there, shot them, and got out. That was the intent. It was the intent. It was to kill Mike Henry. Since there were no signs of forced entry, detectives suspect one of two things. Somebody either had a key or they knew how to get into the apartment
Starting point is 00:14:01 without having to kick in the door or pride open or anything like that. So everybody close to Mike was a suspect at first. As CSI continues processing the scene, witnesses are transferred to the station for interviews. Detectives first speak with leader of men motorcycle club member, Pety Miller. He's the one that made the 911 initial call. We learned that he heard an argument, some shuffling around, and then pop-pop,
Starting point is 00:14:39 some more muffled sounds, and then a pop-pop-pop. Pety says he hadn't called 911 right away because he didn't want to upset Mike. He said, if Mike was up there doing something himself, I didn't want him to get pissed off at me. I'm not going to get involved. I'm going to let his motorcycle club look into it. He was a biker and he lived the biker life.
Starting point is 00:15:07 Nobody messed with Big Mike. Pety says three weeks earlier, the Iron Wings and another club had gotten into a brawl. There was an incident involving Michael Henry in a fight out in a local bar called the Oasis, a couple weeks prior. So his initial thought was, could this be a continuation of that, and that motorcycle club was called the Lucky 13 motorcycle club.
Starting point is 00:15:39 The lifestyle that he led, people that he hung out with, you know, maybe it was some type of retaliation. Detectives ask Pety if someone else may have been angry with Mike. While he can't think of anyone, Pety admits Mike was very popular with the ladies. He was known through his hangouts as he was a ladies man. You know, he didn't, you know, stick with one girl very long. Armed with multiple leads, authorities next turn to Mike's heartbroken family
Starting point is 00:16:16 to learn more about his personal life. His mother and father said, even though he did have a past when his son was born, that was the turning point for him. And he was starting to turn his life around in better himself for not only him, but for his son as well. Mike's family says he had dated his son's mother, Nicole Spinelli, for years. But the two had recently split.
Starting point is 00:16:41 And within a couple of weeks, Mike started seeing a woman named Rachel Cosloff. When we were split up, Michael told me one day that he did meet a girl, Rachel was her name. So at that point, we're trying to gather as much information as we can about Rachel. A native of eerie, 30-year-old Rachel Cosloff was known for her lively, independent spirit. Rachel is a good person. She has a great personality. She has a great sense of humor. Despite her charismatic personality, Rachel had never been lucky in love.
Starting point is 00:17:21 Rachel had four children with four different fathers. Some of them she remained friendly with, but regardless, she had four men in her life that gave her children and nothing else and walked away. What her love life lacked, Rachel made up for in motherhood. My mom is a loving, caring, mama bear. She just wants the best for us and she tried her hardest. She's always been a shoulder to cry on, a year to listen, a mouth to give advice. She's always been there for all of us. Though raising four children was a financial struggle,
Starting point is 00:18:08 Rachel always found a way to make ends meet. She jumped around from job to job. She did a bunch of different things. She instilled a meet just to be an independent person. You don't need a man or woman to be there to help you do anything. By February of 2012, Rachel had all but given up on love until Mike Henry walked into her life.
Starting point is 00:18:39 I feel like Rachel was definitely trying something new in her life when it came to Mike because her other boyfriend weren't the same. They were more, I guess, mild compared to Mike. Though Mike seemed a bit rough around the edges, Rachel could see a future with him. He had been seeing other women.
Starting point is 00:18:59 She knew that she was not his only girlfriend, but I think she thought that maybe they would have a relationship just the two of them one day. Rachel loved kids, you know, and maybe the combination of Mike having a son and that, you know, she saw that family unit, you know, and that kind of endeared her to Mike. Mike's family says, although he was in a relationship
Starting point is 00:19:26 with Rachel, he and Nicole still loved each other. We're like, say, it's so much confusion and do you want to let him go? Do you want to try to work it out? And so I was still together with him. According to Mike's family, in mid-March, Nicole had to leave unexpectedly for a family emergency and has been there ever since.
Starting point is 00:19:49 I was actually had to go to Ohio and I was going to be in Ohio for like a month, and it was unexpected, so while it was down there, he had Jackson at the time. After finishing up with Mike's family, detectives track down Nicole. This is informational in nature, and we just want to gather as much information as we can. We want to talk to everybody who may have been involved. Police confirmed Nicole was out of town at the time of Mike's murder,
Starting point is 00:20:21 eliminating her as a suspect. Next, detectives work to track down Mike's new girlfriend. We needed to speak with her immediately. Coming up, detectives come face-to-face with Mike's new lover. She was sobbing and breaking down. She either didn't do this, or she's the best actress in the world. And a chilling interview fuels the flames of a gang retaliation.
Starting point is 00:20:52 There was a pretty good stomping and beat down until someone fired shot. The only thing I know is that he was shot at other places. Him and this other motorcycle club had a beat. The holidays usually include hours on planes, cars, trains, flying baby next to you, put on those noise-counseling headphones. Mom and dad arguing about directions in the car, air pods in. No matter how you listen, we have the perfect headphones on distraction.
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Starting point is 00:23:16 of the brutal homicide of motorcycle club member Mike Henry, detectives have uncovered a number of leads. There was a fight involving Michael Henry and another member of the Lucky 13 motorcycle club. And it had a complicated love life. Mike's been in and out of relationships. Though detectives have verified the mother of Mike's son, Nicole Spinelli was in Ohio at the mother of Mike's son, Nicole Spinelli, was in Ohio at the time of Mike's murder.
Starting point is 00:23:47 They have yet to track down Mike's current girlfriend, 30-year-old Rachel Koslov. Luckily, it doesn't take long to find her. We were given information that Rachel Koslov had driven to the police department. She was downstairs and ready to be interviewed. Mike's club members had reached out to her and said, hey, the police want to speak with you. Come down to the station. Rachel did not indicate that she knew why she was there.
Starting point is 00:24:17 And we did not tell her. Detectives start by asking Rachel about her relationship with Mike Henry. We've been together to spend a small time and say, like, everything is good. We've literally had three disagreements. I'm in fights, just verbal disagreements. I ask her just to go through her day, her evening. Rachel says around 6.30 pm, she stopped by mics to have dinner, and
Starting point is 00:24:47 that's when things got intimate. Rachel says that when she goes over there, he asks her to pleasure him. I asked, is this something that you normally do? And she said, yes, this happens all the time. She said, but when I go to pleasure him, he smells of sex. Don't ask. He always tells me he doesn't f*** off. So apparently he did. OK.
Starting point is 00:25:16 Rachel says after Mike explained himself, the two were fine, and she left shortly after. But around 9 p.m., while she was out with a friend, so go be a sh**. Rachel explains that the texts were going nowhere, so she decided to return to Mike's apartment. She wanted to go there and see how he was doing and make up with him. According to Rachel, she arrived at Mike's around 9.30 p.m. and had to park in the adjacent
Starting point is 00:26:09 lot since the parking lot outside of Mike's building was full. She says that she walks around the building, goes in, and lets herself in because she has a key. And Waxen do his apartment and says, what's up? What's going on? So we sat there for a little bit and talked, and pretty much everything seemed fine then. Rachel says Mike then went to the bathroom.
Starting point is 00:26:35 And at that point, she sees a number on his phone that she doesn't recognize. So according to Rachel, she memorizes that number. According to Rachel, when Mike came back, he went into a rage. He likes our yelling, telling me to get out, and I was like, what's going on? You know, you were fine, you went to the bathroom now,
Starting point is 00:26:58 you're freaking out of me. Rachel says he grabs her by the arm, he pulls her off the futon, and he throws her under the wall. I'm like, well, I need my stuff. And apparently, me trying to get my stuff pissed him off more because then you open the door to the back and threw me down the steps. And then threw all my stuff with me.
Starting point is 00:27:18 Racial claims she has no idea what caused Mike's sudden outburst. So she thinks, I'm going to call that phone number, because it's got to be something that's going on. Why is acting like this? She says, a woman answers on the other end of the phone. According to Rachel, the woman identified herself as Josie Noble, an ex-girlfriend of mics. She asked me who I was, and I told her, and I'm like, you know, what's going on. And she's, I don't know if she thought I was accusing her or something, because she first started, you know, well, nothing, we're just friends. Hours later, Rachel says she received an ambiguous text
Starting point is 00:28:08 from one of Mike's friends. Yes, I mean, if I was a friend, I said, no, you know, I lost him. And then I kind of didn't hear anything, so I texted him. I was like, so what's going on? He's like, nobody knows anything. Yeah, cops here need to talk to you, please come. Detectives ask Rachel if she owns a gun. Um, I did.
Starting point is 00:28:30 Yeah, I had a, uh, a block that I haven't been able to find it. And... I lost it to her out of the Oasis couple weeks ago. She tells us she lost her gun. She's not sure where it's at. The last time she saw it was in Michael Hennie's center console in his truck. The Rachel appears genuine. Detectives can't help but think she's hiding something. At this point in the interview, I thought I would let her know
Starting point is 00:29:01 why she was actually there at the police department. Rachel, I am sorry to tell you that, um, like is deceased. I'm sorry. There is Rachel Coslov immediately sobbing and breaking down. And we both looked at each other and said, she either didn't do this or she's the best actress in the world. I know this has been a sound insensitive,
Starting point is 00:29:39 but do you know what happened? No. The only thing I know is that he was shot at other races. He was shot at anything was. Yeah, it's not working well. Him and this other motorcycle club had a beef. Rachel says last month, a physical fight broke out between the members of Mike's club and the Lucky 13 club. It was such chaos we got to the door,
Starting point is 00:30:12 and that's when the other people started shooting at him, and that's when we all tried to get the hell out of there. Oh, God. Before concluding Rachel's interview, detectives assess her injuries. On her right arm, I did not notice any visible injuries. When I examined her right ankle, I did, however, note that it was a little puffy and there was a scrape
Starting point is 00:30:40 on the side of her ankle. Rachel willingly turns over her phone, car, and clothing for analysis. As Rachel's items are sent to the crime lab, detectives call in one of Mike's fellow club members and ask if Mike's murder could have been the rival gang coming back to finish the job. They had them in misunderstanding
Starting point is 00:31:04 and then they were kind of seeing who, you know, who was the Alpha Club. He told police that the Lucky 13 and the Iron Wings were at peace. Investigators worked quickly to confirm this claim. We learned there hadn't been any issues with Lucky 13 in the past several weeks after the oasis incident Once our criminal investigation detectives had time to talk with their club members
Starting point is 00:31:34 We ruled out that it could be a rival gang that did describe They were all extremely upset and concerned about Mike and They were all extremely upset and concerned about Mike. And it did not appear to us that they were responsible for his shooting. Coming up, a new witness turns the investigation on its head. She was threatening. She was rude. She attacked her.
Starting point is 00:32:03 It was not civil at all. And investigators turn up the heat. What? I don't care. I know what I did and didn't do. You need to start telling the truth. Well, I'm done. I have the truth. It's been two days since the shooting death of Mike Henry.
Starting point is 00:32:28 After eliminating a rival motorcycle club for Mike's murder, detectives decide to track down Josie Noble. The woman Mike's girlfriend Rachel Kosloff claims was in contact with Mike on the night of his death. She's a friend of Mike and a former ex of Mike's. She said that Mike had reached out to her. She hadn't heard from him in months. He subsequently sent a picture of his son to her.
Starting point is 00:32:54 And she responded back, cordially, oh, he's cute. How are you? And that was the extent of that conversation. Josie says later that night, she got an alarming phone call. On the other end, was a woman that said, who are you? And of course, Josie said she responded, well, who are you? As in, who is this woman yelling in the phone, asking me who I am?
Starting point is 00:33:23 Josie's depiction of the encounter greatly differs from the one Rachel Cosloff described. It was the exact opposite of what Rachel said. She was threatening. She was rude. She attacked her. It was not civil at all. Following her interview,
Starting point is 00:33:41 Josie was subsequently ruled out as a suspect. her interview, Josie was subsequently ruled out as a suspect. With Rachel's cell phone already in hand, detectives poor over her phone records and find a different type of relationship with Mike than the one she had portrayed. They didn't just fight. Literally only three times. They fought nearly every day. The final text exchange between the couple suggests that on the night of April 12th,
Starting point is 00:34:10 Mike was ending the relationship for good. He's basically told her, get lost. I'm done with you. I'm sick of your s***. So she sends out a text to Michael Henry. Sleep tight. I'll talk to you tomorrow. She in turn goes and drives over to Michael Henry's apartment, unannounced. But that's not all the text reveal.
Starting point is 00:34:35 April 10th, just two days before the murder, we have a text conversation between her and Mike, asking her if he wanted her to bring her gun over to the apartment. So this dispels her initial story that she lost her gun. Evidence continues to pile up when detectives dig up surveillance videos from Mike's building and catch Rachel in a myriad of lies. The lot was not full. She instead parked one street over in an effort
Starting point is 00:35:12 that her vehicle, we theorized her vehicle would not be spotted by Mike Henry because the parking lot was right beneath his window. She stated in her first interview that she exited and left after being thrown down the stairs the same way she came in. We could not find out in the video, which means she left another way.
Starting point is 00:35:36 That only left one other door that she could have gone out without being caught on camera, and that was the door down through the vacant apartment down to the street. On April 16, detectives confront Rachel with the discrepancies they have found. Okay, so you pulled up, so I was told why was the look full? Because everybody was downstairs, so we had our men. And what did you say happened to your dad? My son, I saw it was Leo Aces, Parfait. What do you think was like March 25th or something
Starting point is 00:36:09 was in his truck? You have no idea where that got it? No. No, I'm still up and down. You know, Rachel, I've been doing this a long time. Okay. Mm-hmm. And your story has enough inconsistency in it.
Starting point is 00:36:26 A few things aren't made in sense. Like, what? I told you exactly how everything happened. I mean, if you just got through a known step, would you go back up somewhere? If I had a gun, I would burst away. Yeah, I know. Detectives ask Rachel once again how she got in and out of Mike's apartment.
Starting point is 00:36:49 She stated she had gone right to the back door because she had a key and that's the door she went into. I watched the video, Rachel. You walked up the front stairwell. No, I didn't. So I'm video. Um, I didn't. So I'm video. Um, I didn't. What is up? I don't care. I know what I did and didn't do. You need to start telling the truth. Well, I'm done. I told the truth.
Starting point is 00:37:18 She denied no less than 17 times that she had shot and killed Michael Henry. She had lied about what she was wearing, what door she had gone in and out of. All the discrepancies continued to mount. And that based on the evidence that we had, we decided that we were going to arrest her. Our theory of the case was that this was a very possessive woman, a possessive of her boyfriend. Rachel Koslov was charged with primal homicide murder,
Starting point is 00:37:54 aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and possessing instruments of a crime. Rachel's family is shocked to learn of her crime. Rachel's family is shocked to learn of her arrest. I was devastated. I was like, no. You know, she would never do that. She would never do that. I think I had a lot of emotions, anger, worry, like what's going to happen to her,
Starting point is 00:38:23 what's going to happen to her, what's going to happen to the kids. [♪eerie she shoot him and stop him from attacking her, or he was going to kill her. In November of 2012, prosecutors in Erie County are working hard to secure their case against 31-year-old Rachel Koslov for the murder of 31-year-old Mike Henry. There was not any direct evidence at that point in time that Rachel Koslov had committed the murder. And time and time again, she denied and denied and denied.
Starting point is 00:39:21 Then, three weeks before the trial is set to begin, they receive a game-changing piece of evidence from the crime lab. What we learned was her pants had G.S.R. residue on them. Empowered by this new evidence, when Rachel's trial begins on December 3, prosecutors come out swinging, asserting that Rachel killed Mike Henry in cold blood.
Starting point is 00:39:52 Rachel Kauslov would not accept the fact that the relationship was in a downward spiral and he essentially was kicking her to the curb. I think that she suspected he might be seeing somebody else. So the night that she went there, she saw that strange number and called it and got a woman on the other end. That just sent her to the next level. Prosecutors bolster their claim through text messages,
Starting point is 00:40:23 video surveillance, and the gunshot residue found on Rachel's clothing. The evidence pointed right to Rachel. She was the person that had been lying throughout this entire process. Everything just all led back to Rachel every time. When it's the defense's turn, they finally admit that Rachel shot Mike Henry, but argue it wasn't premeditated.
Starting point is 00:40:54 The defense says that it was self-defense that Rachel was in fear for her life during the altercation in Mike's apartment that night. To support their claim, Rachel takes the stand and gives a shocking new version of events. She stated that she was pushed down the stairs, violently. Bye-bye.
Starting point is 00:41:17 Rachel then testified that she gathered herself in her belongings at the bottom of the stairs. When Mike came back down and dragged her up the stairs back to the apartment where the fatal fight ensued at that point. It was either she shoot him and stop him from attacking her or he was going to kill her. It wasn't that she wanted to do it. It's that she had to do it.
Starting point is 00:41:53 Prosecutors counter by noting the evidence simply does not support Rachel's new version, even if she did have a slightly swollen ankle when she was interviewed by police. This is just my theory that she stumbled and fell and was trying to get in and around and get out of there as quick as she could. Because there was no indication that Mike had thrown her or her purse down the stairwell. He wasn't a monster like she described.
Starting point is 00:42:22 As far as like, you know, beating up women women I don't think that was his style at all. On December 7th 2012 the jury breaks for deliberations. The verdict did not take long for the jury to completely dismiss Rachel Coslov's story of self-defense. The jury's unanimous verdict was that she was guilty of third-degree murder. I pretty much gave her every opportunity to tell me, hey, it's obvious from your guy's text that you've had problems.
Starting point is 00:43:00 You know, please, let me help you. Tell me what happened. If it's a crime of passion, it's a crime of passion. What should be nine? Denied. Denied. Her story just seemed to change. I think the fact that the baby was there when it happened
Starting point is 00:43:18 was maybe the most disturbing part for the jurors. On January 29, 2013, Rachel is sentenced to 18 to 40 years. I was in shock. I just still can't believe that she would go to that level, you know, and kill him. It changed everybody's lives. It was devastating for our family. You know, my wife and I, the kids, I mean, they lost their mom. She does feel very remorseful about, you know, what she did and how it impacted, you know, so many people.
Starting point is 00:44:01 I believe in all my heart when she pulled that trigger. She was defending herself and her family. And, unfortunately, once she started to tell the truth, it just didn't matter. Though Rachel still maintains her actions were that of self-defense, many believe she was just a woman that had been pushed too far. I believe that on the night of the homicide, it was just one rejection to many. I think Rachel snapped.
Starting point is 00:44:38 We're really never going to know what happened the night of April 12th between Mike and Rachel. She had proven herself to be a liar, which is sad in her case because if he did really physically abuse her, we're never going to know if that's true or not. Though justice has been served in the eyes of the law, the events of April 12, 2012 have a lasting impact. Our family broke up after that.
Starting point is 00:45:12 My parents got divorced. We all went our separate ways. My mom's now in Florida. My dad has all three of the boys. The daughters with her dad and her stepmom. We're all split up. I think the biggest tragedy is Mike's, you know, not here just to grow up with his son. Because at the end of the day,
Starting point is 00:45:31 that's what he really, really wanted. He would have been an amazing father, I know it. Rachel Kausloff is serving her sentence in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. She will be eligible for parole in 2031 at the age of 50. Let's say you love sports, but you're also a busy person. Maybe you missed last night's games and you want to catch up on what happened. If we're talking about you right now, then you need to check out the lead starting five.
Starting point is 00:46:03 The Daily Sports Podcast from Wundery, hosted by me, Sarah Kazelle, and me, Zhang Zalas, along with our other co-hosts, Matt Strout and Tipo Shinsky. Every weekday, we break down the five biggest stories of the day in about 10 minutes, whether it's LeBron James, Defying Father Time yet again.
Starting point is 00:46:19 New details on Shohei Otoni's record smashing contract, or the latest Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey updates. You will hear about all of it on Starting Five. The show is perfect for a morning commute where a trip to the gym, put it in your podcast rotation, and we'll let it stays there. You can listen to the lead starting five
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