True Crime with Kendall Rae - Her Lying Husband Paid Someone $10,000 To Kill Her: The Murder of Kelley Clayton

Episode Date: February 29, 2024

Kelley Stage was funny, kind, endearing, and goofy… qualities that made her loved by everyone she met, including local hockey star Thomas Clayton. After meeting in a bar, the two quickly began dating, and a year later, they were married and starting a family together. They had what many perceived to be the perfect life. That is until September 29th, 2015, when Thomas came home just after midnight from a poker game to find his wife brutally bludgeoned on their kitchen floor. He called 911, and within an hour, the place was swarming with police. Though he performed well, the officers weren’t buying his story that he wasn’t involved. So much so that that same day, he was arrested for her murder. Even though his alibi checked out, too much pointed to his involvement. All investigators had to do was figure out who did the actual killing. And he wasn’t hard to find. Michael Beard, a recently fired employee of Thomas, was brought in for questioning, and after several hours and a failed polygraph, he confessed to everything. Though he later tried to recant, a jury didn’t buy it. They didn’t buy Thomas’ pleas of innocence either. Both men were convicted of 1st and 2nd-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Check out Futures Without Violence: https://www.futureswithoutviolence.org/ Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign...  Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop This episode is sponsored by: Smalls - promo code: KENDALLRAE Nutrafol - promo code: KENDALLRAE Rocket Money Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. I am so happy to have you joining me as we discuss yet another case. And if you are new here, then welcome. So happy to have you as well. And be sure to subscribe. So today we're going to be looking at a case that, God, I have a lot to say about. This one is going to take you on a roller coaster of emotion. I mean, it's just, first of all, the case itself is crazy and how it all happened.

But when I started looking into this one, I was instantly seething with anger and just felt so bad for this victim, for her family, and what they all went through. It is truly unbelievable how evil some people can actually be. Today we're going to be talking about the murder of Kelly Clayton, and my heart truly goes out to her family, especially her two children who have gone through hell and back. Kelly Clayton and my heart truly goes out to her family, especially her two children who have gone through hell and back. Kelly Clayton was someone who truly deserved the best in life. She was an incredible person, an incredible mother, and she was robbed of the life that she was supposed to have by someone that she loved and trusted. There is a lot to go over here, so I want to go ahead and just jump in.

Before I do start, I want to let you guys know that I am pretty sick. I've been going through a pretty gnarly cold the last couple of days. I feel like it's pretty much passed at this point, but I'm just not feeling 100%. I know my voice is scratchy and I'm congested, so just wanted to let you know why if I sound a little off. But you guys are awesome, and I know you will understand if I don't seem like I'm at my best today. But I really wanted to talk about this case. I'm so fired up and so angry and it's just one that I think needs to be told. So Kelly Elizabeth Stage, her maiden name, was

born August 1st, 1980 in Elmira, New York to her parents Howard and Elizabeth. She was the youngest of three and had one older brother Lenny and a big sister named Kim and because Kim was 10 years older than Kelly She always felt very protective of her baby sister and as an older sister myself. I totally get that She was also very spontaneous and fun loving and had a major love of country music Which was a huge part of her identity while growing growing up, Kelly attended the Elmira Free Academy where she was not only an honor student, but also a star softball player and a cheerleader. She was someone who loved easily

and she herself was someone who was just easy to love. And her outgoing, fun loving personality was something that just really drew people into her. And I think that really comes across in photos of her. She was that kind of girl who was always lifting other people up and went into everything she did with a positive attitude. And even when things were tough

or she was going through major life changes, she seemed to remain optimistic, which is not easy to do. And I think a good example of this is when she graduated college from State University of New York, she originally planned to become a teacher, but she quickly came to realize that she didn't want to pursue that after all. So what did she do?

She decided to pack all her bags and move to Las Vegas to become a cocktail waitress and embark on a totally new adventure completely different from what she had planned for herself before. She just had this spontaneous outlook on life, was willing to take chances like that. And I think it's really good that she, you know, realized that she didn't want to become a teacher and decided to do something else because we really don't need teachers who don't actually want to be teachers. In fact, I was, I would just go to be a teacher as well.

And then my senior year, right before I started student teaching, I decided that it wasn't the right path for me and changed directions for my life. So I get where she was coming from with that. And I have no doubt that the people who were closest to her will continue to cherish those memories forever. Whether she was cocktail waitress singing in Vegas or singing her heart out at a Luke Bryan concert, you can guarantee that she was making the most

out of every moment. But at the heart of everything Kelly did was her family. out at a Luke Bryan concert, you can guarantee that she was making the most out of every moment. But at the heart of everything Kelly did was her family. And so in the early 2000s, during one of the holiday seasons, she decided to leave Las Vegas and go back to Elmira to spend time with her family. And on that trip is where she met her future husband. And that brings me to talking about future husband, Thomas Clayton. Now, as you can tell, I am not a fan of Thomas Clayton. In fact, I fucking hate this guy. And he is

such a dirtbag in so many ways, I can't even tell you, it just truly amazes me how bad a person can actually be. And I really shouldn't be amazed after all the cases I've covered, but still to this day, there are cases where I'm just like, wow, wow. And I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's keep going. So Thomas Clayton was born and raised in Binghamton, New York, but after graduating college in 1998, he made his way an hour west to Elmira. And when he was there, he quickly became a local hockey star. The Elmira Jackals were a professional minor league hockey team and because winters were so harsh and left people with such little to do, going to a Jackals game became a major

attraction. And as you probably guessed, it was at one of these games where Kelly first laid eyes on Thomas Clayton. But before I get more into how they met and how their relationship developed, there are a few things about him that you should know. The biggest thing being the fact that Thomas was known as the enforcer. And this was a new word for me. I actually learned about this position or position. It's kind of an unofficial position in hockey. Back when I was researching for another case on my other podcast, Myle Hire.

And basically, as I understand it, the enforcer is someone who kind of stirs up the shit in the hockey world, who starts fights, who kind of rallies everybody up, because hockey is obviously a sport that's known for fighting. And because fights are not only common, but they're also really celebrated by hockey fans, Thomas ended up becoming sort of a local legend in the area. Sure, he was a bad guy, but the sort of bad guy that people just couldn't help but admire, even if he had once been charged with dancing naked at a bar and striking a police officer. Yeah, you heard me right on that one, Thomas was once arrested for dancing naked on top of a bar,

which I think tells you a lot about him, but especially at the time people loved him. And he was a big ladies man. He never had to pay for drinks at bars. Like other dudes even would buy him drinks. He was just like I said, really a local legend. And honestly, there is something about a bad boy that some women are drawn to. just like I said really a local legend and honestly there is something about a bad boy that

some women are drawn to and Kelly you know at no fault of her own was drawn to Thomas. So I am a true cat person and I'm proud of it. I've had cats my whole life and even though I have dogs and also rabbits I have to say above all else, I am just a cat person. I love my cats. I have three cats. I've had them all over 10 years now and they just mean the world to me. And so the very least I can do is feed them

the best possible food. And like I said, all my cats are over the age of 10 now. And when they hit that age, I wanted to make sure they were getting healthier cat food. My cats have historically only liked the junk. I have tried to upgrade them to healthier options and they just wouldn't eat it. They were very stuck in their ways, but then I found Smalls and I thought, you know what, why not just give it a try? And I was shocked. My cats love Smalls. And not only do they think

it's delicious, but it's also so good for them. Smalls cat food is protein packed recipes made with preservative free ingredients that you'll find in your fridge and it's delivered right to your door. And another thing I love about Smalls that I just have to say is I have a serious issue with cat food since I was a kid. I have had several times where I've tried to feed my cats and the smell of it just makes me throw up. I don't know what it is. I literally gag.

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they've served millions of meals to cats all around the world. And after making the switch to Smalls, 90% of cat owners reported overall health improvements, and that's a big deal. And the team at Smalls is so confident that your cat will love their product that you can try it risk-free. That means they will refund you if your cat won't eat their food. It's 2024, people. Are you still feeding your cats kibble?

Head to Smalls.com slash Kendall Ray and use promo code KEND Kendall Ray at checkout for 50% off your first order plus free shipping. That's the best offer you'll find, but you have to use my code Kendall Ray for 50% off your first order. And one last time that's promo code Kendall Ray for 50% off your first order plus free shipping. So like I said, she went to that game and saw him first with her sister, but later on that night actually she went to a bar and that's where the two of them actually ended up meeting.

But the funny thing is it ended up being her friend Andy that first approached Thomas. Andy asked him on Kelly's behalf of course if he had a girlfriend and Thomas wanted to know who was asking. So Andy motioned over to Kelly and what was his response? The blonde? She's incredible. And they hit it off fast. In fact from that moment on they were pretty much inseparable and they got married only

a year later in 2006. However, not long after they got married Thomas' hockey career came to an end because he ended up getting injured. And so it was obvious he had to find a new career path. Once his hockey career was officially over, he and Kelly ended up making the move to North Carolina. But after a few years in 2012, they bought a home in Caetano, New York, which is one town over from Kelly's hometown of Elmira. And it was there in Caetano that they would go on to have two children.

First a daughter named Charlie, and then a son named Cullen. Now Kelly was absolutely born to be a mother. She loved getting to be a mother to those two beautiful children. And I think her family would agree with me that she was just a natural caregiver and she loved her kids more than anything in the world In fact, she did everything that she could to give them the best life possible and to protect them Quite literally until her last breath Kelly's love and dedication to her children is just something I admire so much about her I mean being a mom is not easy. I've learned that in the last year and a half since I had my daughter. It's the best thing in the world, but it's hard and it really

takes someone who is fully dedicated to the role of being a mother and she absolutely was that person. And I think that's really one thing that we should all remember about her walking away from learning about this case is really what an incredible mother she was and how special that is. Those two kids meant everything to Kelly and it becomes even more clear as we go through the details of this case that she would have done anything to keep them safe. But getting back to the timeline here, like I said, Thomas was injured and couldn't play hockey anymore, so he had to find a more traditional job. And so he actually ended up going on to own a business franchise called Paul Davis Emergency Services of the Southern Tier,

which is a water and fire damage restoration company. Basically, they were the people that you would call to make repairs and to clean up after a fire or water emergency. And he did this for a little while and then eventually he went on to buy his own franchise of Serve Pro, which is also a water and fire cleanup and restoration company. And as for Kelly, she waited tables while also raising their children. And I can't stress enough how happy she seemed. And keyword seemed because we never really know obviously what's going on in someone's life. And Thomas, as you can imagine,

definitely had some characteristics that made people wary of him. Like the fact that he didn't have any kind of filter, and he would take jokes way too far, but honestly, Kelly loved some of that about him. In fact, she was known to stand up for him and defend him a lot of the time. She was convinced, and though I would argue

that she was tricked into believing that Thomas was deep down a good person. But the truth is, Thomas wasn't a good person. He isn't a good person. In fact, he's such a bad person that I have to really hold back on the words I would like to say about him because honestly some of you don't like my profanity and I'm just gonna have to control myself but he is, alright I'm just gonna say it, the dude is a fucking douchebag

to the nth degree. And honestly I don't think that's enough. I don't think that's enough. He is an evil, evil, evil person. And as I go through this case, you're gonna understand why. So let me explain how Kelly was murdered. And it all started on September 28th, 2015. It was a Monday night and Kelly stayed home with the kids

while Thomas went over to a friend's house to play poker. And that's one thing he really got to understand about Thomas is he was obsessed with money. And a lot of people say this started after he got injured and wasn't able to play hockey anymore because that was his whole identity and how he sort of built his ego. And when that was gone, he had to build his ego by flexing as much as he can and making money and spending money and being flashy with money was really became his whole identity. It really seems to me like his self-worth was just rooted in what he had to his name. So things like poker night with his friends were very common for Thomas.

So Monday, September 28th, he goes to play poker with his friends, Kelly's at home with the kids, and for several hours he's at his friend's house playing poker where he stayed till about 12 15 a.m. and after that he gets into his neon green serve-pro work truck and makes the 12-minute drive back home. He arrived back home around 12 30 and by that point it would have been September 29th technically and within a matter of minutes of walking in the door, he would be making a frantic 911 call because inside the house lying on the kitchen floor was Kelly's body and she had been badly, badly beaten. I mean to the point where it was obvious that no one could do anything to save her. 911. 911. Help me, help me, my wife. She's dead. Hurry.

Okay, just stay on the line with me. How long has she been down? I don't know. I don't know. I just got home. After he gets off this 911 call, he grabs the kids and runs to a neighbor's house and asks the wife to watch the kids and then asks her husband to come back over to the house with him.

Back at the house, this neighbor waited outside while Thomas re-entered the home, and it wasn't long after this that the responding officer arrived. Deputy Swan was the first to arrive at the crime scene, and he was immediately greeted by that neighbor who seemed very confused. He told him what little information he did know, but there was really not any time to waste, so he went ahead and entered the house not knowing the true horrors of what was inside. How you doing? What's going on? I'm in the neighbor. Okay, came and got me out of bed. Anybody else in the house town? Just you?

Okay, where's she at? Okay, where's she at? Oh, oh, okay. I got a female mid 30s, early 40s. Her face is completely beaten in. There's blood all over. She's been dragged. Just from Deputy Swan's reaction, you can tell how shocking the crime scene was and there was more to the crime scene than meets the eye.

Because what happened inside the home extended far beyond the kitchen where Kelly was found. And the crime scene is extensive and a little confusing, so I'm going to do my best to walk you through it. So investigators say that Kelly was first attacked upstairs in her bedroom. It's believed that she was struck here repeatedly before she made her way out of the room and down the hall. Based on the blood found on the door of her children's bedroom, it's believed that she ran here first and tried to barricade herself inside in an attempt to protect her children. But when she wasn't able to get away from her attacker at the door, she

just knew that she needed to get as far away from her kids as possible, therefore getting her attacker as far away from them as possible. Kelly yelled and screamed for the kids to run, but there wasn't anywhere for them to go, and this is when it's believed she was violently thrown from the top of the stairs. A giant hole in the wall at the bottom of the staircase shows where she've landed, and it's where investigators believe she sustained several of her injuries. And from that point, Kelly clearly tried to fight her attacker off in the kitchen and I know you guys know how this ends so I'm gonna spare you the details and just say that she died due to blunt force trauma and that she was beaten so badly that she was unrecognizable. Once emergency services

and other officers arrived and began processing the scene, I just described to you, Deputy Swan was then able to question Thomas further. And what he had to say instantly struck him as pretty odd and made him question Thomas' so-called lack of involvement. Now, Thomas definitely seems pretty hysterical when talking about his wife's death, which is obviously to be expected, both on the 911 call and when talking to Deputy Swan, and as he starts describing his alibi for the night. He said something like,

you'll know I didn't do it because I was driving my work truck, which has GPS and it will show I wasn't there. Now that's not obviously a direct quote, that's just me repeating what Deputy Swan has said, but that's pretty odd, don't you agree? To immediately start saying, you know it's not me because I have GPS on this work truck. It's just things started clicking for Deputy Swan right away. It's almost like he had to make sure that the deputy didn't think there was even a fraction of a doubt that he was responsible for his wife's murder.

He could have just said that he was out playing poker and most people in that moment wouldn't think to give all these extra details. I mean, what he said was just almost too descriptive. It was sort of like he was just immediately trying as hard as he could to convince him that he was not responsible when he wasn't even really being questioned about that at all. I mean this is right after his wife was murdered and he's already saying these things. It's incredibly weird. And there were other strange

things that he did that night too. Like for example, he was very cold towards Kelly's family when they arrived at the scene. He actually was the one that called her sister and let her know what happened. But once they got there, he seemed uninterested in even being near them. Plus, and this is a big one, when Thomas was talking to Deputy Swan, he said something that compared to the 911 call, was very suspicious. Let me explain. When Deputy Swan first arrived and entered the house, audio from his body cam recorded Thomas saying that his daughter said she saw a robber in the house.

Tom, where were you when that fall went down? I came home and my daughter said there was a robber in the house and she saw that. And I kind of alluded to this earlier, but here's the really suspicious part. When Thomas was done speaking with the 911 operator, he actually didn't hang up the phone and I'm not sure if he thought he hung up the phone or what, but it kept recording. Unfortunately, I'm not able to play the specific audio clip for you to hear for yourself, but I'll kind of describe it. Basically when he was on the phone with the dispatcher, he seems totally hysterical, panicked.

And then when he thinks, you know, no one's listening to him, he starts talking to his daughter Charlie and he seems very cheerful and calm, which of course, I think you could make the argument that he could have been putting on an act to keep his child calm. But many people, many experts think that this was very strange to be able to switch that quickly after such trauma. He can be heard saying, did you see mommy? Did you see a robber?

And I'm sure a lot of you are already thinking this, but the fact that he is saying this to his daughter, did you see a robber? And in this like, you know, cheerful tone, it seems like he is already planting this idea in his daughter's head. But what I haven't yet told you and I think is probably the most heartbreaking element of this case is that her daughter Charlie actually witnessed her mom's murder in its entirety at age seven. And not only did she witness her mother's murder, but she did see the person who did it. But yeah, it really seems like Thomas was trying to push this narrative into his daughter's

head knowing that she had seen the whole thing. This whole story of an unknown assailant who came into their house and killed his wife. But there was an immediate issue with this story. And that's the fact that investigators noted right away that there was no sign of forced entry into the house. And not just that, but nothing, and I mean nothing, was taken from the house at all. So robbery, robber, not making much sense. Plus, if this had been a robbery or a robbery gone wrong, the scene would have most likely been much different. In most cases of robbery gone wrong, it's a gunshot wound, not this very personal, brutal beating that Kelly got. It became very clear to investigators right off the bat that whoever did this did not

come into this home with the intention to rob this family. They came in with the intention to murder Kelly in a brutal, very personal way. So now it was up to them to figure out who and why. And like I said, Deputy Swan was already, I mean, immediately starting to have concerns that it was Thomas and that he was actually involved. But I need to talk about one more thing before I talk about how Thomas was eventually taken down. And that's the fact that his daughter

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As the chaos of this crime scene was being processed and detectives were trying to make sense of what happened, it was at that point where they learned that Charlie had witnessed the whole thing and obviously I Can't even begin to put into words how Horrific that is how traumatizing it is as a seven-year-old to see your mother Murdered in such a brutal brutal way and even though it was still fresh Detectives had to talk to her right away because they knew she was the most

crucial witness to this. And what she had to say will absolutely break your heart. I mean, it truly broke mine. Charlie explained how there was a man in the house and that that man was hurting mommy. She said that her mom screamed for her to run away, but she couldn't. And she ended up following them down the stairs where she said she watched as he hit mommy with a stick. He asked her how she knew this person was a he and Charlie said she knew it was a he because his eyes looked just like daddy's. Yeah, what this poor child witnessed is something that no one at any age should ever have to witness but especially not as a seven year old. I mean, for your innocence to be broken in that way,

to see your own mother, it's so hard to talk about there, just, there aren't words. And the fact that she was only seven, it just truly breaks my heart. And it's why I said in the beginning of this video that it's going to take you on this roller coaster of emotion, because I'm sure

many of you can agree that that is just one of the most horrific things that I mean that I personally can possibly imagine. I mean I'm still having a hard time processing all of this. I can't imagine how a seven-year-old processes all of this. However, we do have a small amount of insight into how she was dealing with this and processing all of this. However, we do have a small amount of insight into how she was dealing with this and processing all of this because she was actually brought in for a formal interview. And I am no expert in psychology or child psychology,

but I think it's pretty clear to anyone seeing this footage that she really hadn't begun to process at all. I mean, this had just happened. She was able to pretty clearly explain what happened and pretty matter of fact, I mean, she's kind of doing it without the emotion you'd expect from someone who had just seen what she had seen. But again, I want to be really clear here that that is completely understandable and fairly normal at that age to witness something like that.

I mean, your brain is just catching up to what you had seen. So when you think about it like that, I mean, it all really makes sense about how she was able to talk about it so freely. And she starts telling the specialist some really dark things. She talks about how she saw someone coming into the house and hitting her mommy and how there was blood everywhere. That's one thing she kept bringing up. She even describes what the man was wearing.

And when she was asked what he looked like, she said again, that he looked like her daddy. And obviously that statement is huge for investigators. And I'm sure a lot of you are starting to have thoughts as well. However, there is more to explain here. She said, even though the man didn't talk, he was wearing jeans and a mask that she had seen her dad wear before. But then, ugh,

this absolutely breaks my heart for real. She also said that it couldn't have been her dad because if that was the case, who would take care of them? That's just a thought that no seven-year-old, no child should ever have to think about. In the middle of the night, this guy came and started hanging around with this pipe from me. Can you tell me more about that? There was blood everywhere. On my door, I was on floor, not on the carpet floor. What did you hear?

Thank you, my mom rang the door for me. Can you tell me what you look like? He was wearing jeans and black long-sleeved shirt in a van. Okay. What did the robber look like? He looked like my dad. And why do you say that? How did he look like your dad?

I saw the rocker like hitting her until she was on the ground. She was sort of suffering. Captured with the opposite. Come. And I held her leg. Seeing that footage and hearing what Charlie had to say just absolutely broke my heart. I'm sure many of you feel the same way. But it's important to this case.

And she ended up being an important part of this case. She really did. But there aren't any words to describe how horrible that is. I mean, there just aren't. But the only, and I mean the only thing that gives me and so many others comfort here in all of this is that Thomas didn't get away with it. And let me explain how.

On September 29th, the same day that everything went down, Thomas was brought into the station for questioning as well. And like you heard me say earlier, Deputy Swan had a hard time believing that this was a robbery gone wrong the way that Thomas was trying to paint it. And the rest of the investigators at the scene agreed. And their suspicions were only really confirmed after they spoke to him. He seemed not devastated, he seemed excited. Yeah. But there was the fact immediately that they knew he had an alibi, it was rock solid. They were able to confirm it. Even though all these red flags are jumping out at them and they

have Charlie's interview as well, you know, everything's pointing to Thomas being involved. But like I said, they were able to corroborate that alibi. They talked with his friends at Poker Night, confirmed that he was there the entire time. So he couldn't have been at the scene in the murder. Obviously, this pose is a huge problem for them and they're feeling pretty confused, but they feel there's got to be more to the story. But if Thomas didn't do it, who did? And asking if he knew who could have done this was totally useless because he said he couldn't think of anyone who would want to hurt his wife. But of course investigators were not convinced.

So much so that Thomas was actually arrested that same day on suspicion of second degree murder and interestingly his arrest was partially based on what Charlie had said, that the robber looked like her dad. But if investigators knew that the robber couldn't have possibly been her dad, considering he does have this alibi, they know he wasn't there, then why did they arrest him?

Well, it sounds like they had enough probable cause to assume that he was somehow involved, even if he wasn't the one to commit the murder himself. And as for Charlie saying that the man looked like him, it's believed that it was because it was dark and because this person was wearing things that she recognized and her brain made a connection that wasn't really there. And I want to be clear, that's not to say that she wasn't telling the truth, because she was telling the truth of what she thought she saw. It just, you know, wasn't the there. And I want to be clear, that's not to say that she wasn't telling the truth because she was telling the truth

of what she thought she saw. It just, you know, wasn't the full picture. And knowing this and knowing that Thomas had an airtight alibi, investigators had a lot more work cut out for them. Luckily though, they did have someone else on their radar. And that's because in the first few hours after 911 was called, Kelly's mom and sister

came to the scene and were interviewed by detectives. And they wanted to know if there was anyone they could think of that could possibly have wanted to do this to Kelly if there was anyone who may have been holding a grudge against her. And there was one name that kept coming up and that was Michael Beard. Now Michael Beard had known Thomas Clayton for about five years. He was said to have been his right hand man

when it came to work. He was first hired by Thomas when he owned the Paul Davis Restoration firm and he was rehired by Thomas when he made the jump to serve pro. Michael was known to be incredibly reliable, hardworking and willing to put an extra time when Thomas asked that of him.

And even if it wasn't directly related to work, he would still help him out. And the reason that Michael Beard worked so hard is because he was someone who was living paycheck to paycheck, really struggling in life, trying his best to support his girlfriend and their two children. Now, what's super important to note

is that Thomas had a lot of power over Michael because not only was he his employer, but he was also his landlord. Thomas actually owned a handful of properties and Michael was renting one of his units. So as you can imagine, the two of them were pretty intertwined in each other's lives. And just a few weeks before Kelly was murdered, Thomas actually fired Michael. That's right. And he did it because he claimed that Michael was drinking

on the job, which is something that Michael adamantly denies. Whether or not that is true, I don't know. And honestly, it doesn't really matter. But whether or not that was true. And why I bring this up is because, you know, Michael had lost his job and therefore he wasn't able to pay rent. And so what did Thomas do? He decides to evict him from his property. And so I'm sure you can imagine why investigators are starting to think that maybe this guy had a serious grudge out for this family. I mean, the timing just felt too recent. Michael was actually fired less than two weeks before Kelly was murdered. So, very fresh. There's a lot of anger still there. So, of course, they brought him in for questioning. And I'm sure you can guess where this is going, but

he completely denied any connection to Kelly's murder and said that he had been at home drinking the entire night. Which I think we can all agree is not too sturdy of an alibi and detectives agreed. But of course, their suspicion of his involvement wasn't enough to make an arrest. However, they did end up getting enough proof to make that arrest very quickly. As I mentioned, investigators spoke with people from Poker Night to confirm Thomas's alibi.

And as it turns out, one of those people suddenly remembered something. That night, Thomas asked one of the hosts, a woman named Lucky, to use her phone and when she gave it to him, he went into the other room to make a call. And in the moment, she really thought nothing of it, but when she remembered it later on, she decided to look back at her phone and see if maybe she recognized the number. But the thing is, that number and that call had been deleted from her call log. And when investigators heard that, obviously the alarm bells are going off big time.

I mean, first of all, who makes a call using someone else's phone when you have your own phone on you that works perfectly fine and then you delete the number? Okay, dude. And it turns out that that call was placed less than an hour before the murder took place, which led investigators to believe that Thomas was making the, you know, go-ahead call that whoever he spoke to was being told to go kill his wife. And I'm sure you can guess at this point who he was calling. Yep, he was calling Michael Beard. So it won't shock you to hear that he was brought in for questioning a second time, and this time they also brought in his girlfriend to see if the two of their stories matched, and surprise surprise, they did not. Michael first tried to deny any involvement and even agreed

to take a polygraph test, which he failed. Plus, like I said, his girlfriend's story didn't match his. She was honest with investigators and told them that Michael did in fact leave their house that night around 11.30 p.m. And that he didn't come home for another hour and a half. Where do you think he was? And obviously this leaves him with the perfect window

of time to have gone and committed this murder. And you know what? Shortly after this, Michael ends up making a full confession. Michael confessed to killing Kelly Clayton and said that he did so at the discretion of Thomas Clayton. He made and signed a full confession saying that he killed Kelly Clayton at the discretion of Thomas Clayton and that he did so because Thomas paid him $10,000. And not only that, he also admitted that Thomas had asked him to set the house on fire after he did it.

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Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Ray. That's rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Ray, rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Ray. But yeah, $10,000 to kill someone and set the house on fire. But we know that Michael was desperate for money and that Thomas was in a position of power. We will talk more about that in a sec. Let's actually jump to the house almost being set on fire. You know, the fact that Thomas wanted him to do that.

Well we know from Michael's confession that Thomas wanted the house and garage burned down so he could collect insurance money on the home and the cars. And I'm sure you're thinking about the fact that the kids would have been in that fire and would have likely died. However, we know from his confession that Michael was told that the kids would not be in the house,

that they weren't supposed to be home when the murder took place. Thomas had told him that kids would not be in the house, that they weren't supposed to be home when the murder took place. Thomas had told him that they would be with other family members and therefore they wouldn't see any of this or get hurt, but they were there when Michael got there. Which is why, according to Michael, he got so freaked out by the whole thing.

I mean, first he is committing this murder, which is bad enough. In front of these kids though, I mean, that, he is committing this murder, which is bad enough in front of these kids, though. I mean, that is adding a whole nother layer that he wasn't expecting. And then he is not about to set this house on fire. Luckily, he has some empathetic bone in his body to not then murder these children after they've witnessed this in their own home in a horrible fire. In his own words, he got scared and decided not to go through with setting the house on fire. But that was what

Thomas' plan was, which makes this whole thing that much more sinister. Thomas knew that his children were home. He knew that and he wanted the house set on fire still. He wanted his children to burn alive in their home. He knew that if Michael had committed the plan that he had laid out that his children would have died that night. And he was fine with it. In fact, he was over playing poker while all of this is going on. I mean, it is so hard to wrap your mind around this kind of evil that makes me so angry. And while I obviously do not condone a single action that Michael Beard took, dude is evil as well. At least he had a fraction of a brain cell to not set that house on fire and save those kids lives in a way. Oh my god, it's just also sick and hard to, it's hard to even think about. being said he was willing to kill their mother

Right in front of one of them while both of them are home. So I mean So in the end it's just extremely fucking sick no matter what way you slice it even if he Spared the two of their lives if you can even call it that but I'm just getting really emotional and angry here So let's try to get back to the actual investigation here and back to Michael's confession because he did tell them some other important things as well. And it turns out that Thomas approached him as early as April, 2015. And to be clear, Thomas didn't mention murder

specifically back then, but he asked Michael if he was willing to help him with something that could potentially result in prison time. Nothing obviously came of it then, but we do know that after Michael was fired, he suddenly became desperate for money, and that's when Thomas came to him again, and this time he was specific about what he wanted him to do. And considering he just lost his job, I guess he felt like he wasn't in a position to say no. Now I want to be so fucking clear here that he absolutely could have said no and

should have said no, but it does make you think about the power dynamic here. I really want to know what you guys think. Is it possible that Thomas fired him knowing what a desperate situation he would be in? You know, whether or not Michael was drinking on the job, we don't know, but he claims he didn't, although can't trust the dude as far as you could throw him, right? But is it possible that that was made up by Thomas so that he could fire him and then have this leverage over him to convince him to commit this murder for him because he didn't know anyone else in his life that would be willing to do that? And he knew that Michael was desperate, that he was paycheck to paycheck, that he had kids

to take care of and a girlfriend. knew that Michael was desperate, that he was paycheck to paycheck, that he had kids to take care of and a girlfriend, did he know that that would lead him to making this decision to move forward with it because he felt like he had no other choice. And the confession didn't end there because after explaining to investigators what he did and why he did it, he also agreed to take them directly to the murder weapon. Now the murder weapon was a wooden mall, which I learned is the wooden handle on a sludge hammer or an axe, and Thomas explained that he had tossed it from the vehicle he was driving after fleeing the scene.

Luckily it didn't take investigators long to recover it from the weeds and bushes where it had landed. Michael also took them to a Swampy Creek area behind an Elmira motel where he had tossed a bag of his bloody clothes and to the creek where he had thrown the house keys that Thomas had given him. And the recovery of these items would obviously end up being super, super crucial, and I imagine it would have been nearly impossible to have found any of these without Michael's guidance. And so, on October 2nd, 2015, Michael Beard was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. But, turns out he wasn't alone that night. After Michael's arrest, a man named Mark

Blandford came forward saying that he had been with Michael Beard on the night of September 28th and that he was promised $500 to act as his lookout. Again, whether you can trust what this guy says is hundred dollars to act as his lookout. Again, whether you can trust what this guy says is certainly up for a debate, but he was told by Michael that he was being paid $3,000 to burn a house down for insurance money, but he also mentioned to him that he had to kill a bitch as well. Once they arrived at the house, Mark said he waited in the car for about 20 minutes and remembered that when Michael came back out, he said something along the lines of, the kids weren't supposed to be there. They were supposed to be at their grandmothers.

Now, despite all of this, Mark denies knowing that a murder had taken place that night. However, he helped Michael dispose of evidence. So, the math just ain't math in there. So he was also arrested and without jumping too far ahead, Mark did end up pleading guilty for his role in Kelly's murder and received a sentence of three to six years. But let's go back to our two main suspects here, Thomas and Michael, because as open and shut

as this case is starting to seem, there were several bumps in the road on the way to justice, so let's go through all of that. The biggest and most shocking hurdle here was that Michael Beard ended up recanting his entire confession, which as we've gone over was very involved, very detailed. He even brought them to the murder weapon. So extremely frustrating for investigators, even though Michael had made and signed that full confession and even testified in front of a grand jury

that what he said was the truth, he ended up recanting the entire thing just weeks before the trial was set to begin. And then what he had to say about what really happened is absolutely wild. Michael says that, sure, Thomas did offer me $10,000, but killing his wife had nothing

to do with it. He's now changing his story to he was offered $10,000 to burn the house down for insurance money, but no one was supposed to be home when he did it. And then it gets even crazier because Michael tries to sell them this story that he goes over to the house to burn the house down for insurance money, thinking no one's gonna be home. But when he gets there, obviously Kelly and the kids are home, but someone else was there. And that someone was Kelly's killer.

And he just happened to walk in on her murder. He says he not only saw this person kill her, but that the two of them practically came in direct contact with one another as the killer left the house. And because someone had killed Kelly and because it was clear the kids were also home, Michael said he got scared and left. And I'm sure you're thinking, okay, bro, if that really is the truth,

why wouldn't you have at least called 911? Well, he said that it was none of his business. He said that he would have looked bad in that situation. He knew how it would have looked to the police and he didn't want to be involved, so he left. ["The Police"] Obviously, this is a big load of bullshit. No one believed it.

I'm sure none of you believe it either, considering he knew where the bloody clothes were, he knew where the murder weapon was, et cetera. You know, I mean, it's pretty obvious that he's lying. I think even he knows how obvious it is at this point. He just provided way too much information early on to have anyone believe this, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying. But he claims that the investigators made up his entire confession and that he just went along with it because he didn't want them to go after his family. And he says that Thomas never approached him about committing a murder. Never. Not ever. And even though this is clearly a bunch of bullshit,

if your mind is taking you where my mind took me when I first started researching this, you're realizing that this is a big problem because it means that Michael cannot testify against Thomas during his trial. If he's now saying that Thomas never hired him to kill his wife, well, that's a huge problem because that is what the prosecution was banking on to get Thomas convicted. That was their smoking gun. I mean, who better to say that Thomas was involved in the person that he hired to do the killing? And now that that was off the table, investigators had to go back to the drawing board for both of their future trials.

And because Michael recanted his confession and therefore would not be pleading guilty, the trial was set for late October of 2016. He was charged with first and second degree murder and he maintained his innocence over the course of his two week trial. And I'm just going to boil down one of the defense's main arguments because if I went over everything from this trial, we'd be here for hours

and it's honestly not worth wasting our time on a bunch of lies. But one of the biggest argument that the defense made stemmed from the fact that there was a second set of DNA found on Kelly's body and because of that They argued that this second intruder theory was in fact plausible and it's not like they had to say who that DNA Belonged to they just had to cast reasonable doubt But the prosecution wasn't having any of it and understandably so and sure there was one set of unknown DNA found on Kelly

And sure, there was one set of unknown DNA found on Kelly. But Michael's DNA was also found at the crime scene and not just anywhere. Michael's DNA was found mixed in with Kelly's blood on the upstairs door as she grabbed onto it while trying to fight him off. And there's really no other reasonable explanation for how it could have gotten there besides the explanation that he was responsible. Plus, we can't forget the fact that he literally took investigators to the murder weapon, to a pair of clothes covered in Kelly's blood, and to a set of house keys that belonged to the Claytons. I mean, come on, dude, really? Thankfully, though, the jury ultimately sided with the prosecution and found Michael guilty of one count of first degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder. On February 27th, 2017,

he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the first-degree murder charge plus an additional 25 years for each of the second-degree murder charges. And he will serve his sentence at the Clinton Correctional Facility and to this day, Michael maintains his innocence. I mean the impact that it's had on my sister's children, Charlie and Colin is irreversible. They'll never get their mother back, ever. I'm really disappointed that he's still up until this point won't accept responsibility for his actions. That was the message Kelly Clayton sister, Kim Bourgeois had for the man who took her sister's life.

Moments before Esteban County judge sentenced Michael Beard to life in prison without the possibility of parole. We still gotta go over Thomas' trial and there were quite a few things that came to light during that as well. Like I mentioned earlier, Thomas was also facing the same

first and second degree murder charges that Michael faced. His trial began in January of 2017 and lasted nearly seven weeks. Unlike Michael's trial, however, which had a several smoking guns, so to speak, there was unfortunately nothing like that for Thomas. There was nothing concrete to say that he had conspired with Michael Beard. There was no text messages, no written agreement, nothing. And so that means investigators had to find enough circumstantial evidence to make a conviction possible. And they did. So let's talk about what they found. Even though Thomas and Michael didn't explicitly text about killing Kelly, investigators looked into their communication history and noticed an unusual amount of activity in the week leading up to the murder.

And keep in mind, Michael had just been fired, so that communication couldn't be written off as, you know, discussing work. Investigators decided to bring in a geolocation analyst and expert and what he found was damning. This expert specializes in analyzing data from a software that combines the data points of several different sources. Basically what this means is that it's a software that will run the data points of phone records, GPS data, and cell phone tower info and more, and then spits out a map of all the overlapping points.

And while I'm certainly not an expert on this, I can explain to you some of what it found. In one example, this expert learned that sometime shortly before the murder, Michael's phone received a call from an auto dealer, which seems pretty normal, right? Well, no, it doesn't because it turns out Michael didn't have a car. In fact, this was a whole issue going on. There was a time where Michael didn't have a car and couldn't get to the jobs that Thomas was having him work. So he told Thomas that he couldn't afford to keep paying for

Ubers or cabs or whatever he was using to get to work. And so Michael gave him a bike and that's kind of besides the point. But anyway, why was an auto dealer calling him if he didn't have a car? Well, it turns out that it wasn't actually someone from an auto dealer calling him, it was Thomas. The expert used GPS data to place Thomas at this very auto dealership at the exact time that the call was placed. Clearly dude thought he was being sneaky. And what reason would he have to call him from there unless he was trying to hide something?

Another example is the call from the night of the murder. As I explained earlier, Thomas had borrowed someone's phone at the poker night, a woman named Lucky. He takes her phone, makes this call, and then he deleted the call from her call log. While surprise surprise, we find out because of this expert that that call was made to Michael and that Michael headed out as soon as the call ended to go and commit the murder.

And while we're on the subject of cars, we do need to talk about the truck that Michael had taken to murder Kelly because like I said, Michael didn't own a car. Now bear with me because this whole part of it does get a little complicated, but a few days before the murder, a former coworker of Thomas', a guy named Luke,

asked him if he could borrow his four-wheeler. Thomas agreed and loaded it into the back of his white truck and then gave that truck, with the four-wheeler loaded into it, to Luke. And in exchange, now Thomas had Luke's red truck. And to boil it down in the most simplified way, prosecutors argued that Thomas then gave Michael the keys to Luke's red truck, which is what they say he drove on the night that Kelly was murdered. And prosecutors say that he did this for two reasons, which are pretty obvious. One, because Thomas knew that no one

in the area that they lived would recognize this red truck. And second of all, because clearly Michael didn't have his own car, so he needed some form of transportation to commit the murder. Now, if Luke had Thomas' truck and Michael had Luke's truck, then what did Thomas have? He had his green Serv Pro truck, and if light bulbs aren't already going off for you, like crazy, let me remind you of the fact that Thomas was extremely vocal about driving his work truck that night.

Like as soon as he was questioned by investigators at the scene of the crime, he was going on and on about how it couldn't have been me because I took my work truck and it has GPS to prove it and just really sell on the story right off the bat. And if you're unsure or not convinced about the truck swapping, then listen to this. As I just talked about earlier very briefly, there was a whole incident where Michael

was given a bike by Thomas. And what I didn't mention then was that this was just days before the murder which seems pretty innocent Right like Michael was just given this bike because Thomas wanted to help him out to get to work. Well Maybe it's not so innocent It's believed that this bike was purchased so Michael had a mode of transportation to get to the red truck and then back home After he dropped it off following the murder. And how do we know this? Good old surveillance cameras.

There is literally footage that shows Thomas leaving the ServPro parking lot on September 28th in his green work truck and moments later, Michael leaves the same parking lot in Luke's red truck. Then hours later, the red truck is seen returning into the parking lot after 1AM followed by someone riding a bike out of the parking lot. And obviously that's pretty hard evidence to ignore and luckily the jury agreed.

But before getting to the outcome, I want to talk about the why here, which I'm sure many of you are already starting to ask. Why did Thomas want his wife murdered? Here, Thomas had this beautiful wife, Kelly Clayton, who is known to so many as such an incredible person, such a fun-loving life of the party, kind, generous soul who was loved by so many, who was a wonderful mother who gave him to beautiful children. What reason could he possibly have for wanting to end her life? Well, the prosecution argued it was for the reasons that we see so often in so many cases. Basically, because he wanted money and because he wanted someone else.

And this is not going to shock you, but it turns out that a year before Kelly was murdered, Thomas doubled her life insurance policy. He changed it from half a million to a million dollars. They argued that this is when he began planning her murder. And believe it or not, September 28th was not the first attempt. Without going into a super long deep dive on that, it is believed that he originally wanted to

have her murdered five days before he actually did and I want to briefly touch on that. On September 23rd, Thomas parked his white truck close but not too close to where Michael was living and then drove his green work truck out of town to Ohio for some type of work training. The belief is that this training was supposed to be his alibi and that Michael was supposed to drive Thomas's personal truck the following night to go kill Kelly. But we do know that he didn't end up going through with it. And we know this because Michael's co-worker, the guy named Larry, testified that on September 24th, he was with Michael in the middle of the night and that the two of them went to

Thomas's house together. Turns out Larry also worked for Thomas and identified the truck as belonging to him and testified that they drove the truck to his home and when they got there Michael was gone for about 30 minutes. And if this sounds kind of like Mark Blandford's story that's because they are very similar except in Larry's version nothing ended up actually happening that night. So why didn't Michael go through with it then? We don't actually really know. Prosecutors believe that he basically got scared and just chickened out, which is wild, I know, but let's go back

to the motive because it does get even more upsetting if you can believe it. In total, there were over 75 witnesses who testified during Thomas' trial and among those 75 were several women, all who claimed to have been having an affair with Thomas. And of course, it's not totally shocking to find out that this dickbag was cheating on Kelly with several different women, including one who was underage when they met, which is even more disturbing. And get this, one of these women was the life insurance agent that Thomas was working with to raise

Kelly's policy. How fucking sick is that? And all of these women had quite a bit to say. They all said that Thomas had pretty nasty things to say about his wife Kelly. They said he was constantly calling her bitch, calling her lazy, saying that she just wanted to go to concerts all the time and only worked one day a week, constantly sounding like he wanted nothing to do with her. And all of this just makes me so incredibly angry and sad. I'm sure many of you are feeling the same way, especially when he was talking about

his wife, who others describe as this incredible woman, the mother of his children, who he wanted to have burned in a fire that night as well. I mean, this guy is next level evil. And so the other pretty obvious part of the motive here is that he didn't want to be in a relationship with Kelly anymore, but he didn't want to get a divorce. He had actually told someone that he was worried she was going to clean him out financially. Because obviously he's gonna have to pay alimony, they're gonna go through divorce

court and all of that. He didn't want to deal with any of that. He thought the best way out was to just kill her so that he could go on and have these relationships sleep with other women. I mean, what some men will do for sex. I mean, but this is next level. This is fucking next level. And I know I'm getting really crazy with the profanity here. I know some of you really don't like that. I do have quite a potty mouth that I tried my best not to use as much on my channel these days, but I just think in cases like this, it's necessary that there are no better words. I don't know. Sorry, not sorry. I gotta say what I gotta say about this guy.

Now, what was really frustrating to me in this case is they did decide against prosecuting him for the attempted murder of his children, which I just don't understand. Clearly he was completely fine with them dying in the fire that night. Of course, I wish they did, but I don't know what difference

it really would have made because on February 23rd 2017 Thomas Clayton Thank God was found guilty on both charges and on April 24th He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and he has tried many times to appeal his conviction And has been denied every step of the way. In fact, he's out of attempts his conviction and has been denied every step of the way. In fact, he's out of attempts. Him and Michael are out of attempts, so the two of them are in prison the rest of their lives.

What also really blew my mind is that in the end of this, there were interviews from his parents saying that they fully back him that, I mean, they were just heartbroken, crying, believing his innocence. Which I'm like, did you guys listen to the trial? Did you listen to the evidence? God, even defending your kid after all that.

Alright. Thomas Clayton has been described by many as being a narcissist and in my opinion, which I can't make a diagnosis of course, but he certainly seems like a narcissist to me. So I don't know if he's even capable of feeling remorse, but it does give me peace knowing that he will be behind bars until he takes his last breath. Now, before I wrap up, I want to share that following the death of their mom, Charlie and Cullen, their beautiful children, went into the care of Kelly's sister, Kim, and she has been raising them in an extremely loving home. And I just wanted to say from what I've seen of Kim, she seems like such an amazing woman. She was such an incredible sister and just fought

so hard. I mean, this whole family did, you know, they made it their mission to get justice for Kelly. And I was really impressed with their strength through all of this. Now, I don't know specifically how the children are doing in regards to what happened, but I do feel strongly that Kim is who Kelly would have wanted to be there for them in this position. They've also been extremely vocal about the dangers of domestic violence and have chosen the Purple Heart to be a symbol for Kelly and her story and as I'm sure many of you know the Purple Heart is the color for domestic violence awareness and following this tragedy the town of Elmira was covered in purple hearts in her honor. I was so moved by Kim and

her family's efforts to honor Kelly and to spread awareness about domestic violence that I wanted to make a donation this week to Futures Without Violence. Futures Without Violence is a health and social justice nonprofit with the mission to heal those who have been traumatized by violence and to create healthy families and communities free of violence for the future. As part of their efforts, they train professionals and advocates as well as work with policy makers to help build communities where people are educated

about domestic violence and have the tools to combat domestic violence and can work towards a future without domestic violence. I believe the work that they're doing is so incredibly important because domestic violence isn't always something that you can see. The more education there is, the more that we can help ourselves and also help those in our lives who may be suffering possibly in silence. I wish so badly that Kelly could have been saved from the monster that she married, but it does make me feel

good to know that her family has really made it their mission to help others who could be in a similar situation as her. Especially after all that they have gone through it just it shows a lot of character. And I love when families do this to kind of honor their loved one in that way and make sure that their death isn't in vain. And I'm just so glad that Thomas and Michael are being held fully accountable for what they did because there are so many cases

where people get away with these things or they are given such light sentences that it truly blows my mind. So to see them get, you know, life in prison and just suffer the rest of their lives just makes me so happy. My heart truly goes out to Kelly's family. What an unbearable unnecessary tragic loss. I cannot imagine going through something like that myself or losing my loved one or my sister in that way.

It's just hard to even wrap your mind around. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"]