True Crime with Kendall Rae - Michele Williams Can’t Keep Her Lies Straight: The Murder of Greg Williams

Episode Date: November 29, 2022

In 2011, Michele Williams shot and killed her husband Greg while he was sleeping. She was intending on cashing in on his large life insurance policy, and had a plan. During the subsequent investigatio...n, she would try to make a number of innocent people – including some mystery person who didn’t exist – take the fall for her. 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 - kendall@INFAgency.com

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Starting point is 00:00:24 Plus free shipping with the code SoldaGenero10. Hello everyone and welcome back. So happy to have you here with me to discuss another wild case. Yeah, we'll get into that in a sec. If you are new, welcome. Happy to have you here. Yeah, guys, this one is a wild one. We are going to be talking about Greg and Michelle Williams. And I want to just jump right into this one because there is a lot to go over. So we're going to start out by talking about Miss Michelle. Michelle Marie, a very interesting person to say the least. And from a young age, she seemed to set out on a path that was kind of bound for trouble. She and her little sister, Laura, were born and raised in Hearst, Texas, where they stayed for quite some time. And according to those who knew their family, their father was not the best person.
Starting point is 00:01:17 He's often described as a con artist, a shady character, and Michelle kind of picked up everything she knew from her dad. Michelle went to LD Bell High School, but dropped out at age 17 after she became pregnant for the first time. And even though the baby's father was a man named John Paul Ray, Michelle told another boy Kenneth O'Brien that the baby was his. So Kenneth married her, and Michelle and Kenneth began raising their child the best they could given their circumstances.
Starting point is 00:01:46 Kenneth ended up joining the military to earn money for their family and they moved around quite a bit to accommodate his work. But this was a short-lived relationship. Their marriage quickly fell apart after Michelle reconnected with a guy from middle school actually named Brandon Dixon. All those years later they reconnected in their 20s and really hit the ground running in their relationship. But just like her previous relationship with Kenneth, this one was also filled with problems. At first Brandon was kind of blinded by love and really couldn't see the manipulation that was happening right in front of him. There was a lot of distractions. They ended up having two children together themselves. But as time went on,
Starting point is 00:02:24 he began to see Michelle's true character. Michelle was kind of a professional liar in a way. She was very good at lying and lied to get pretty much everything in her life, and it turns out that right before these two were supposed to get married, he found out that she actually was still married to Kenneth legally, so that was a problem. And of course, a good liar knows how to try to wheeze a lot of their lies when they're caught. So she tried to make up a whole story to Brandon
Starting point is 00:02:52 that Kenneth was abusive to her. And because of that, she said she was too afraid to send him divorce papers and too embarrassed to tell anyone the truth. And of course, Brandon loved Michelle. So he tried to take her word for it and believe her, but he was suspicious about the whole thing. And at the time Michelle was employed as a dental assistant, but Brandon was very suss about how much she was actually working there. He was often
Starting point is 00:03:16 questioning, you know, where she was spending a lot of her time. But eventually she lets her family know that she has quit the dental assistant position because she has gotten a new job working nights as a telemarketer. But in reality, she was fired from her dental assistant job because she was caught stealing from them. So, and of course, now that she's working nights, Brandon's even more suspicious about what she's really doing when she's at work. So one day, he decides to ask her for the phone number for the telemarketing company, just in case he or the kids need her, you know, in an emergency situation. And she gave him a phone number.
Starting point is 00:03:51 Now you're probably guessing, it's gotta be a fake phone number because she probably didn't want him calling up this telemarketing company and figuring out when she was working when she wasn't. Well, it wasn't a fake number. It was a real number, but not to the telemarketing company.
Starting point is 00:04:04 It was to a topless bar, which was actually where she was really working at the time. So Brandon ends up going to the bar and confronts her there about lying to him about where she was working. And as you can imagine, it didn't go well. She was not happy. And he tells her that she can either leave the bar
Starting point is 00:04:22 and go with him home or stay and give up her family, essentially. So, because he was threatening to take her kids away, she left the bar and went home with her husband. But the charades were far from over. Over time, Brandon started to suspect that Michelle was cheating on him. So, he decides to try to catch her in the act. He sets up a tape recorder inside their house and he's hoping to pick something up. But not only was she cheating on him, she did so with two different men in their family home. Brandon found out about this and he was not happy, clearly. So he decides to tell Michelle that he wants a divorce.
Starting point is 00:04:57 And when she hears this, she is also not happy. And to get revenge, Michelle goes to some very extreme measures. First, she decides to pour out and kill thousands of dollars, worth of salt water fish that Brandon collects, he has an aquarium, it's a big hobby of his, but not only that, she also poisons his Dalmatian. Brandon had a Dalmatian who he loved, named Domino, and she knew it would really hurt him if this dog died. So she poisons him, she brings him to the vet and convinces them that the dog needs to be put down and they do it. Now if that is not truly evil, I don't know what is. Kind of a personal tangent here but I just wanted to mention this because I think it is so insane when people mess with other people's pets for revenge. So my
Starting point is 00:05:40 uncle when I was growing up was married to this woman for just a few years and one time he went out of town for a business trip and she was very jealous of how much attention he gave his two little dogs. So she took them to a pound like three hours away and then called him on this business trip and was like, oh my God, the dogs got out. I'm trying to find them and he dropped everything and flew home to find his dogs.
Starting point is 00:06:03 I can't remember exactly how, but he tracked them down and found them at the pound, so luckily he got them back, but that's some real crazy bitch shit to another level. So that whole story tells us a lot about Michelle's character. As you can imagine, after that whole fiasco, the two of them were definitely done so, so Brandon Files for Divorce and Michelle kind of happily moves on at that point as well. So after this marriage fails, remember I told you that the first guy she was with Kenneth was not actually the father of her son. It was actually someone else named John. Well, she decides to reconnect with John, the real father of her child. Things are going pretty well with John until they were not going well. And John starts to figure out that Michelle is probably cheating on him as well, so he goes through her purse to find signs of infidelity. And when he looks through her purse, he finds a receipt for a dog collar, whipped cream, and cherries, and a note that says,
Starting point is 00:06:56 by Birthday Card for Greg. Now you're probably wondering who Greg is. Well, so was John. I'll tell you about Greg here in a sec. is. Well, so was John. I'll tell you about Greg here in a sec. Good sleep leads to less stress and less stress leads to better sleep. Natural melatonin gummies help you fall asleep faster so you get a good night's sleep, which is one of the best ways to help with occasional stress. Put an end to the sleep stress cycle. Shop now at natroll.com. Natural melatonin helps with occasional sleeplessness. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Starting point is 00:07:33 This product is not intended to diagnose treat cure or prevent diseases. She and John were reported to be an in common law marriage at this point for about eight years before they finally split, so she spent a decent chunk of time with him. But now it was over, and she was on to Greg. But of course, she has to ruin John's life a little bit before she goes, so one day he returned to their place to collect the rest of his belongings after they had split, and he found out that Michelle was having a garage sale to get rid of all his stuff. Pretty evil, but anyway, she was now already on to Greg.
Starting point is 00:08:10 So, Greg Williams had also been married two times and had a child before meeting Michelle. The two of them met in 2007 in an online BDSM community and they had quite an eventful first date. Michelle, Greg, and Greg's brother all end up going to sort of a swingers club. And things got very spicy there very quickly. And the night ended with Michelle performing sexual acts on Greg in front of everyone there, including his brother. Now this obviously isn't uncommon in the swinger community, and I'm definitely not trying to shame anyone's sexual
Starting point is 00:08:41 preference here. For the most part, those who partake in sex parties are informed, willing, consenting mature adults, and it is absolutely their right to do that. I see nothing wrong with it, but I just wanted to mention this because I think it's important when you look at Michelle's overall personality. Michelle was definitely a very sexual woman, but she often used that to get things that she wanted.
Starting point is 00:09:03 So Greg's ex-wife is named Kathy, and the two of them got along pretty well, despite being divorced. You know, they knew that they had to put all their differences aside to co-parent their child, who is named Taylor, and they did a pretty good job at that. Michelle seemed to be the one thing
Starting point is 00:09:19 that really came between them. And when Greg and Michelle got married, it was no secret that Kathy was not happy about it. She just knew that Michelle was trouble, but ultimately there was nothing that she could do about it. But what particularly angered Kathy is that Michelle was trying to drive a wedge between Greg and their daughter Taylor. Michelle hated how much time Greg was spending with his daughter, which would honestly be an attractive thing to most people, but anyway. Eventually Michelle decides to do something about it, so she makes up a story that this
Starting point is 00:09:48 12-year-old girl has a drug problem. Kathy and Greg, of course, both doubted this was true, but one day, Michelle ends up in the hospital due to opiate ingestion, and she claims that little 12-year-old Taylor drugged her coffee. So Michelle spent two days at Baylor Hospital and Taylor was sent to a drug rehab facility, even though there was no evidence to prove that she took drugs or even drugged Michelle.
Starting point is 00:10:12 Can you imagine ending up in that situation at age 12? Unreal. And Michelle did all that just to try to get some more attention from Greg, which he already was giving her plenty of attention, but she was jealous of his daughter. So again, tells you a lot about Michelle. So eventually, Greg and Michelle decide to have a baby together. They have a baby girl named Michaela, and she became the center of their worlds. Now they lived in a very affluent area on Jacob Ab in Keller, Texas, which is the kind of place
Starting point is 00:10:41 where kids could grow up safely, and crime was kind of a distant idea. It was one of those neighborhoods, date line, or whatever. Always says, was somewhere that crime never happened. So it was shocking to see what would unfold next, but it really was. And they were really live in the dream. They were doing very well financially. Michelle seemed to live as if she really had no budget. Neither of them could really afford how much she was spending, but she was constantly going out and buying herself expensive things, buying her daughter expensive things, like designer items, really pricey stuff. The two of them both had matching Mercedes-Benz, even though they were leasing them, they didn't own them. So their mansion became kind of the hotspot of the family. They would have many parties there and the two of them were just these, you know, super fun-loving people that had a lot of money.
Starting point is 00:11:30 And so of course, Michelle's other kids often would visit. But her two sons, honestly, they weren't that fond of her either, but they were really not fond of Greg. They thought he was kind of a bully, that he was arrogant, and I'm not sure if those things are true, but they were not big Greg fans. And when it came to their mother, of course they had love for her, but their relationship with her was not the normal mother-son relationship. She had, for the most part, moved on with her life and was constantly starting new as someone else who could offer her more, and she seemed to kind of forget about her past lives in the process. But now Michelle
Starting point is 00:12:05 was very happy in life. I mean, she was living lavishly thanks to Greg because he was pretty successful. He had started his own IT business called DFWITPRO where he was making kind of enough money to support their lifestyle but neither of them could truly afford the amount that she was putting on credit cards and spending every week. And Michelle was conveniently Greg's bookkeeper, so she had control of how much money he thought they had. And it turns out she was actually manipulating the numbers to make it look like they were much richer than they really were. When you close your eyes and think about wealth,
Starting point is 00:12:42 what comes to mind? Early T times? Giving back? Seeing your kids go further than you ever thought possible. The thing is, everyone has their own idea of wealth. So no matter what your idea of wealth looks like, our wealth management team is here to help make it a reality. Bank of Texas.
Starting point is 00:13:00 We go above, so you can go beyond. Bank of Texas is a trademark of the OKF and a number FDIC, Equal Housing Lender. So at one point Greg decides to buy her a little frozen yogurt shop as kind of a project to keep her busy. I mean, it's not really understood why she wanted this yogurt shop so bad. I mean, she didn't really spend a lot of time actually running it. It really
Starting point is 00:13:29 did seem like it was something to kind of keep her busy. The two of them also owned a weight training gym and they were both very passionate about fitness. And Michelle's passion for fitness was way beyond casual workouts. During one of the parties that they threw at their mansion, Michelle met a bodybuilder named Jean Wallace. Jean was a friend of one of her sons and was a lot younger than she was, but this did not stop her from wanting to be with this, you know, young, good-looking fitness expert. But from the outside, it didn't appear like things between Greg and Michelle were rocky, so if she was having this affair, like many suspects she was, Greg seemed to be none the wiser, and they had a lot that they were looking forward to together. On October 12, 2011, the two of them were about to close on this new house that they were building. Greg was extremely eager for this move, and had
Starting point is 00:14:16 already began to plan what renovations they wanted to do in this new home. He was really looking forward to building an aquarium. Hopefully this time Michelle wouldn't kill a fish. And also a pool for their daughter to play. This was going to be their dream house. And, you know, on paper, the two of them had the dream life. But the dream turned into a nightmare very quickly. Because on October 13, 2011, at 4.40am, the Keller Police Department received a frantic phone call from Michelle Williams who said that her husband had just been killed. So according to Michelle, the two of them had been up late that night. Talking about how they wanted their new house to look, what kind of renovations they wanted to do, she first told the officers that she ended up falling asleep on the couch that night
Starting point is 00:15:01 with her daughter, and then she was awoken by a loud sound coming from their bedroom. So she runs to the bedroom to see what happened, and when she gets there, she said she was immediately struck in the head with a metal wrench. She was knocked to the ground, but managed to see a man dressed in all black as he grabbed Greg's gun and shot him in the temple.
Starting point is 00:15:21 Obviously, a team of officers were dispatched to the scene, and when they got to the house, they found Michelle crying on her front porch. And because she told them that an intruder had been in their home, they of course began by doing a thorough sweep of the property and the backyard, where she told him the killer had escaped to. And within an hour, their whole house was filled
Starting point is 00:15:39 with police, detectives, and forensic analysts. Inside the home, they found her daughter still sleeping on the couch and Greg lying motionless in their bed. So Michelle and Greg's bedroom had a door that led to their backyard and right outside this door. Police found a 45 caliber gun, a shell casing, and the wrench that she was hit with. But what they didn't find was any sign of forced entry or any evidence that anything had been stolen. However, the back door had clearly been scratched at, but the bolt-in-lock
Starting point is 00:16:09 were in perfect condition, almost as if someone tried to make it look like there was a break-in. So it's already looking like the story Michelle has told the police is not matching with the crime scene, but then detectives find an empty bottle of Chlorox wipes, and they realized that whatever they had been told that night was probably not the truth. So after this, Michelle is brought in for questioning at the Keller Police Department, and it's early morning at this point. And at the time, she was not considered a suspect, and she was allowed to leave at any point during questioning which went on for five hours.
Starting point is 00:16:42 And everything that she initially told police does not align with what they found at her house. And on top of that, they immediately determined that there were no fingerprints on the gun, the wrench, or the door where Michelle said the intruder came in from. There were no fingerprints anywhere. So it was very obvious that those Clurox wipes had been used to clean everything.
Starting point is 00:17:04 Also, they started looking at all the neighbor's security cameras, and there is no footage of any new vehicles in that area. The only quote, new person who drove through was a pizza delivery person who was quickly cleared. But for the first few hours of questioning, Michelle stuck to her story that an intruder came into their home, but the detective questioning her definitely didn't believe a word she was saying. And at the end of the day, crime scenes don't lie. And the detectives started asking her questions like, how an intruder would have even gotten into their house if they clearly didn't break down the door or go through a window or something like that,
Starting point is 00:17:38 there was just no evidence of anything like that happening. And as the hours went by, chatting with Michelle, the detective eventually seemed to have enough, and he said he couldn't accept anything that Michelle was saying. And he says that he has a theory about what actually happened that night, and he presents it to Michelle. He tells Michelle about how one time he worked a case where the husband had committed suicide and the wife cleaned up the evidence to make it look like he was killed so that she could collect on his life insurance policy.
Starting point is 00:18:20 And then he asks Michelle if that is what happened in this situation. And at first she denies it. She sticks to her story that there was an intruder. I did not tell anything. I did nothing to do with whatever happens in there. You either did it yourself or something. So you need to tell me. If he's something to put to it, you need to tell me. I mean, this is it. I don't, you know, we're getting to Wednesday and you've got to be honest with him.
Starting point is 00:18:59 So if he did it, you covered it up. Just tell me. But eventually, she changes her story and she tells the officer that he was right. Now I might be completely wrong and I'm certainly no expert, but it seems like a strange tactic to present someone with a story they could go with. That's what he really did. He gave her an alternative story, she ends up running with it, doesn't seem like such a great plan to me, but what do I know?
Starting point is 00:19:25 But it happened, and because of it, Michelle was able to quickly run with this new version of events. I knew I had to make it like a suicide with the barbarism. So Michelle's new story was that she and Greg stayed up late talking about the new house and then around 1am she decided it was time for bed, although Greg stayed awake. She said she saw him take at least three Tylenol P.M. pills before she went to sleep and then two hours later she was woken up by her daughter. And after she woke up, Michelle says she took her daughter to the living room where they eventually fell asleep together on the couch. And she says that Greg is still awake around 3am when
Starting point is 00:20:09 this happens. Then she tells the officer that she asked Greg if he needed anything while she was awake. But according to her, all he wanted was to be left alone because he didn't feel good. Then she goes back to where her daughter is sleeping on the couch, falls asleep, and then she's awoken by a sound in their bedroom. and she said she immediately thought it was the sound of a gunshot, and when she ran into the room, she sees that Greg has shot himself in the head, and she immediately panics. She then claims that she doesn't want her daughter to see that her father had killed himself.
Starting point is 00:20:42 So she needs to convince everyone that he actually was murdered for the sake of her daughter. So she decides to stage the crime scene in order to make it look like an intruder came in and killed Greg. So Michelle says the first thing she did was wipe Greg's hands down with those chlorox wipes and then dried them off with toilet paper. Obviously, this is too attempt to get rid of any gunshot residue. Then she says she takes more chlorox wipes, wipes down the gun and neatly places it on the floor by the back door. And that's obviously the weird thing here is this gun was found just casually placed next to the back door. I mean who's going to come into the house,
Starting point is 00:21:23 do nothing, commit a murder, leave the murder weapon, and then neatly leave without even showing a sign that they entered? Obviously, investigators think this is all bullshit from the beginning. What is that? My mortgage rate detector. I made it out of an old altimeter alarm. With Navy Federal Credit Unions no refi-rate drop option, we could get a lower rate without refinancing our mortgage, so I'm keeping a close eye on mortgage rates. They're dropping! Call Navy Federal!
Starting point is 00:21:54 Buy a home and if rates drop, you could lower your rate and save thousands. Navy Federal Credit Union. Our members are the mission. In short, by NCUA Terms and Conditions apply equal housing lender loan subject to approval and eligibility requirements, learn more at NavyFederal.org. And she claims that she did all this as quickly as she could because she was hoping maybe there is enough time for first responders to get there and
Starting point is 00:22:17 actually save Greg's life. So the next thing she does is call 911. After that, she explains that while she's waiting for emergency services to get there, she decides to take a screwdriver and make scratches on the door to make it look like someone broken. And then after that, she claims that she grabbed a wrench from her laundry room and hit herself across her right cheek so hard that it would bruise and appear as if an intruder struck her. And while all this is going down, Michelle claims that her daughter is just sleeping peacefully on the couch. And after this new confession, Michelle is red her Miranda rights
Starting point is 00:22:52 and arrested for filing a false police report. Something still seemed off about the way she was acting. However, this story aligned with what they had learned from the crime scene. So until they learned more from Greg's autopsy, they kinda had to just go with the suicide story for now. So when it got out to his friends and family that Greg had committed suicide,
Starting point is 00:23:11 they did not buy it, especially his mother and his ex-wife, Kathy. They said that they just didn't think he would do this and they brought up the fact that a year prior in 2010, one of Greg's best friends committed suicide and he was crushed. He was devastated about the whole thing and it just, you know, really put him in a dark place for a little while and one thing that he would always say, and it's kind of messed up, but he would say that suicide
Starting point is 00:23:37 is a chicken way to go. So they just felt like he wouldn't have done that. Plus, there was nothing in his personal life that pointed to him struggling with depression or any other mental health disorder. There was nothing going wrong as far as people knew. So outside of not really believing that Greg did this, people were extremely confused by Michelle's behavior following his death. The day after he died, Michelle went over to her sister's house and she didn't even bring Greg up. She barely spoke about him. This was the day after. Her sister said that she was crying every once in a while on and off briefly, but she never had any actual tears coming out. And then after spending the day with her sister, she decides to spend the night there. And her sister said she woke up eager the next morning
Starting point is 00:24:20 to go to IHOP. Obviously, that's very weird. If your husband had just committed suicide the day before, and this was really just the beginning of her strange behavior, actually one of the first things that she did was contact her lawyer and write an $18,000 check from Greg's business account to pay their attorney fees. And she immediately started selling off their assets, including the Bros. and Yogurt Shop blueberries. She sold it on Craigslist for $50,000.
Starting point is 00:24:47 And then, and this is really weird, Michelle sells Craigs IT business, which was very successful. He had a lot of clients he was doing well. She sold it for $8,000. Then she hopped into Craigs BMW with her daughter and took a week long vacation where she was spotted at several sports bars
Starting point is 00:25:04 and shopping for Halloween costumes. So clearly Michelle was not behaving like you would think a grieving wife would, and of course I know grief does look different on everyone, but everyone felt like there was something more to this story after seeing the way Michelle was behaving. So during this very strange week of vacation, Michelle gets in contact with one of her sons, Andrew. And completely surprised him when she said that her original story about Greg dying as the result of an intruder was the truth.
Starting point is 00:25:32 She tells him that the only reason she told police that he actually took his own life was because that's what they wanted to believe. And Andrew believed her. I mean, he really didn't have a reason not to. I mean, Greg wasn't his father. Michelle was his mother. And even though they had sort of a rocky relationship, he really didn't have a reason not to. I mean, Greg wasn't his father. Michelle was his mother. And even though they had sort of a rocky relationship, he believed her.
Starting point is 00:25:49 I mean, he trusted her. But then of course, things start taking a wild turn because Michelle tells her son that she wants him to round up a few friends and help his mommy frame her husband's ex-wife for his murder. But she tells Andrew that she actually does think that Kathy is responsible for Greg's death, but she doesn't have any way
Starting point is 00:26:10 to prove it, so she needs to create some proof with his help. So she tells him that he needs to go buy an Excel sweatshirt and then he needs to wear it while firing a gun so that gunshot residue ends up on it. And then she wants him to stuff it under Kathy's car seat. So obviously that means that Andrew and his friends would need to break into her car and then plant the evidence under the driver's seat. And then after they plant the evidence, Michelle wants them to call the police on a pay phone with an anonymous tip about the sweatshirt being in Kathy's car. The police find it and then, you know, she'll end up being convicted for his murder. No problem. She clearly thinks this is a brilliant idea, but luckily Andrew
Starting point is 00:26:55 disagrees. He knows that this is stupid and illegal and he does not want to partake. And when he doesn't go along with the plan, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Dr. Rick here, another sign you're becoming your parents is getting particular about details that don't matter. The craziest thing happened when we got tacos the other day. Was it Wednesday or Thursday we got tacos? I know it wasn't Tuesday because that's when I went to my hairdresser. Shoot. What day was it?
Starting point is 00:27:28 See how we all lost interest there? Progressive can't help you from becoming your parents, but we can help you compare rates on home insurance with home-coded explorer. Progressive casualty insurance company affiliates and third party insurers comparison rates not available in all states or situations, prices very based on how you buy. And for whatever reason Andrew doesn't tell police about his mother's plan, and she doesn't end up
Starting point is 00:27:50 going through it anyway, so it doesn't really matter. But what she does start doing is taking the necessary steps to collect on Greg's life insurance policies. Now, in order to collect on someone's life insurance, you obviously need to explain the cause of death, because certain deaths can disqualify someone from their policy. So when Michelle reported Greg's death,
Starting point is 00:28:08 she put the cause of death down as homicide, even though police had a written statement from Michelle saying that his cause of death was suicide. So the clerk who reviewed her submission, obviously doesn't know that, but of course, reading that Greg was killed sparked an interest. So they decided to Google Greg and Michelle and try to learn more.
Starting point is 00:28:25 And something about the whole thing seemed a little fishy to him. So he ends up calling police and lets them know that Michelle has inquired about getting her husband's life insurance money. And in total, Greg had three policies with three different life insurance companies. One policy with Gerber life insurance for $150,000, one policy with garden life insurance for about $150,000, and a policy with Gerber life insurance for $150,000, one policy with garden life insurance for about $150,000, and a policy with Pavania for about $500,000. And each of these life insurance policies has a suicide clause written into them, stating that if the person holding the policy
Starting point is 00:28:56 died by suicide within two years of obtaining the policy, no money would be rewarded to the policy's recipient, and all of Greg's policies were less than two years old. So obviously there were many questions looming in the days and weeks following Greg's death. But finally, on November 3rd, 2011, the medical examiner finished the autopsy, and I'm sure nobody here will be surprised to hear that the results were not consistent with suicide. A report from the Tarant County Medical Examiner's office stated that Greg's cause of death was a single gun shot wound to the temple, and the manner of death was homicide.
Starting point is 00:29:30 The medical firearms examiner determined that Greg could not have shot himself because the gun was fired at a distance of at least 6 inches away from his head. As most of us know, when someone tries to take their own life with a gun, most of the time the weapon is placed directly against their skin. And the autopsy also revealed that Greg had a sedative in his system when he passed. And this sedative was not the Tylenol PM that Michelle claimed he took. As for evidence found in Michelle, a trace examiner found gunshot residue on the cuffs and sleeves of the jacket that she wore that night. Now this isn't entirely surprising because Michelle did say she cleaned up most of the evidence that night with Chlorox wipes. And gunshot residue can be transferred from person to person if they are in close proximity after the gun is fired.
Starting point is 00:30:17 But they said the amount of gunshot residue on her clothing was overwhelming. And so they became certain that Michelle was responsible for her husband's murder. They just needed a little bit more time to build their case against her. And apparently it didn't take long for them to build that because on January 9th, 2012, she was walking into lifetime fitness in Flower Mound, Texas
Starting point is 00:30:38 when she was arrested on three charges. Murder, tampering with evidence, and filing a false police report. And her bond was originally set to $520,000, but it quickly dropped to $82,000, and she was bailed out after eight days. And while she was awaiting her trial, Michelle wasted no time moving on with her new life and her new man. Remember Jean Wallace, the one who was 15 years younger than her? Yes, he became her boyfriend, and she moved in with him,
Starting point is 00:31:05 and they opened up a kettlebell fitness business. Also, at this time, she changes her name to Shelley Williams. And what's pretty wild is, despite the story of Greg's death being pretty big news in the area, no one seemed to make the connection that Shelley was actually Michelle, who was still awaiting trial for his murder.
Starting point is 00:31:23 The kettlebell workouts have been around since 1704. The Russian military started with the restraints they were at. It's used for lots of sports specific workouts, personal trainer and I've been teaching kettlebell with other routines. We're in a group atmosphere so it pushes you more and you push yourself, especially with the type of instruction that you get for Shelly. So that brings us to the trial, which finally starts on October 9th, 2013, which is almost two years after Greg was murdered. And I'm assuming Michelle did not feel very confident about her chances.
Starting point is 00:31:56 So instead of rolling the dice with a jury, Michelle accepted a plea deal where she would serve 18 years for deadly conduct and tampering with evidence. But being the liar that she is, Michelle figured out a way to delay her sentencing and she decides to tell the judge that she is pregnant with twins. So the judge allows her to remain on house arrest until after she gave birth. And it was estimated that she would give birth sometime in April 2014
Starting point is 00:32:22 and her sentencing hearing would be scheduled after that. And in the meantime, Michelle would wear a GPS monitor to track all of her movement while she was on house arrest. So during this time, she is supposedly at home and pregnant with twins awaiting her scheduled hearing. However, that is all exposed on January 30th, 2014, when she has a show up at court and she's not pregnant. But of course, Michelle has an excuse. She says that she suffered a show up at court and she's not pregnant. But of course, Michelle has an excuse.
Starting point is 00:32:46 She says that she suffered a miscarriage around Christmas time. And whether you believe that or not is up to you, it seems like a lot of people don't, given her track record. However, it's possible that she really did go through that. But now that they knew that she wasn't pregnant, Michelle was put in jail, and they scheduled her sentencing hearing. Although
Starting point is 00:33:06 it wasn't long after that she would stir up even more controversy in her case. On February 4, 2014, Michelle sat down with the Fort Worth star telegram newspaper and talked about the plea deal that she took. With a plea deal I'm looking at a couple years before I'm out for parole. I say if you make first parole, I'll make first parole. Walking a straight line, anything they tell me to do, I'm going to do it. It's a set, guaranteed time for this terrible under the end. If I win, yeah, I win big.
Starting point is 00:33:39 It's a gamble. It's a huge gamble. It's a good to death. Deficiting. a gamble. It's a huge gamble. It's a scary death. I'm devastated. I'm trying. I'm trying to get there. You know, right now, while I'm here, some people think a private cell would be awful and scary. It's the safest feeling you could possibly imagine because I'm not a criminal and the fear of being in with people who are, and I'm not saying they're all criminals,
Starting point is 00:34:16 but in the unit that I'm in, it's much safer feeling to be inside that little cell by yourself. But the hours go so slow. You're sitting there looking at four calls thinking about your friends and family. And knowing that you're going to really send up for years. So actually, if you could say looking forward to getting a sentencing over with so I can start moving towards the end of this hell.
Starting point is 00:34:47 And then the following day, February 5, Michelle sat down with the crew from 48 hours and completely changed her story. During her interview, Michelle said that she wasn't guilty of any of the crimes that she had been accused of. And because of this, her plea deal was thrown out and she'd have to await her fate at the hands of a jury. Then on March 6th, Michelle attended a bond hearing to determine if she would be waiting out the murder trial in jail or at home.
Starting point is 00:35:14 And at that hearing, the prosecutor revealed evidence that while Michelle was previously on house arrest, while she was allegedly pregnant, she tampered with her GPS monitoring device. It turns out Michelle had asked for the device to be a little loose because she was allegedly pregnant, she tampered with her GPS monitoring device. It turns out Michelle had asked for the device to be a little loose because she was pregnant and there's a lot of swelling in balls. Believe me, I know.
Starting point is 00:35:31 They agreed and they loosened the device. Just loose enough that Michelle was able to slip right out of it. After reviewing the data, prosecutors found out that 26 out of the three days that Michelle was being monitored, there was no movement, whatsoever, for the monitors. So for it to pick up absolutely nothing she would have had to be completely sitting still for 26 days. Obviously that is just not possible. And I was just for
Starting point is 00:35:55 November. She also had 23 out of 30 days with no activity in December. So obviously they realized that Michelle had removed the device herself. And it was confirmed that during November and December, Michelle was working at a strip club and sports cafe in Hearst, Texas. And on top of this, there was also no data to suggest that she ever visited a doctor after seeing she was pregnant. And when they asked her about it, she couldn't name a doctor that she was seeing for her pregnancy. So after this hearing, a judge decided that Michelle would be held at the Tarant County jail without bond until her trial. So that brings us to September 23rd, 2014, the trial begins.
Starting point is 00:36:32 And one of the many people that testified against Michelle was her son Andrew. And it was then that he came forward and told the whole court that his mother had tried to coerce him to help him frame Kathy. He also stated that he believed that she was going to pin the whole thing on his brother, her other son, Lee. He explained how back in January of 2013, Michelle contacted Andrew and told him that she believed Lee could have been the one to kill Greg. He couldn't believe that she even went there and at that point he said he had to cut his mother off because there was just no coming back from trying to frame your son for a murder you committed.
Starting point is 00:37:11 And Lee himself also testified against his mother, and he explained that one time when he visited her while she was on house arrest, she bragged to him about how she was able to slip the ankle wounder on and off. So, and another main component during this trial was the interrogation video of Michelle in the hours after Greg's murder, and the jury was able to see for themselves how she changed her story not once, not twice, but
Starting point is 00:37:32 six different times. Her defense team did try to get the interrogation video thrown out of evidence, obviously, because it was not looking good for them, and they argued that it should be thrown out because she hadn't been read her Miranda rights when she was brought in thrown out because she hadn't been read her Miranda rights when she was brought in. But ultimately she wasn't being interrogated as a suspect and was allowed to leave it any point. She just chose not to do so.
Starting point is 00:37:53 So the trial went on for six days and finally on September 29th, 2014, after seven hours of deliberation, a jury came back and convicted Michelle on one count of murder and one count of tampering with evidence. Michelle ended up being sentenced to 60 years in prison and she won't even be eligible for a parole hearing until she completes the first 30 years. It's very sad that Greg got involved with Michelle not knowing what this woman was capable
Starting point is 00:38:22 of. She's clearly just honestly an evil person and selfish to an extreme extent. I mean, trying to throw an innocent woman under the bus is bad enough, but then also trying to throw your son under that bus too. Wow. That is gonna be it for me today, guys.
Starting point is 00:38:42 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 From joyful occasions to the unexpected, first Franklin financial makes loans for living, offering fixed rates and flexible terms on loans up to $15,000. The next time you're looking for some extra cash to help make ends meet, come see the friendly Franklin folks, or visit us at 1ffc.com to learn more.
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