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A businessman's death mystifies friends
and loved ones.

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His death generated a lot of surprise.

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This is a very healthy, vibrant young
man.

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His blood glucose level was 21, which
can cause your brain to swell.

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But we knew Michael Cochran was not
diabetic.

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But to his investors, the timing is
suspicious.

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A lawyer approached me about an
investment that he made.

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Just under $3 million.

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He seems to think that there's something
fishy going on with the company.

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People were giving up their entire
retirement savings.

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You're like, man, we just lost this
money and we're never getting it back.

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And when detectives uncover the truth,
it exposes more than anyone could have

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anticipated.

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In relatively short order.

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They were able to put together what was
going on.

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There was no business.

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It was just smoke and mirrors.

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They're like, okay, this movie truly is
planned out. This is true crime.

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A second autopsy was able to rule his
death a homicide.

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Open the fridge, and there's a bottle of
insulin sitting there. How many of us

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that don't have diabetics have insulin
in our refrigerators?

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February 6, 2019.

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A woman named Natalie Cochran parks
outside an emergency room in Beckley,

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West Virginia.

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With the help of a friend, she brings
her unconscious husband, 38-year-old

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Michael Cochran, inside.

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Michael had an unexplained medical event
at the home. He had collapsed, and

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she had summoned some folks to come and
help.

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Initial... Testing showed that his blood
glucose level was 21, which

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by all accounts is dire.

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In a healthy individual, that might be
60s, 70s.

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When a person's blood glucose drops
below a certain level, you can go into a

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coma, and that can cause loss of oxygen
to your brain.

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A very likely outcome is death.

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Brownlee General took the appropriate
medical action to raise that blood sugar

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level.

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He is immediately intubated and put on
the ventilator.

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When doctors ask Natalie what might have
caused this, she says she has no idea.

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Michael is an active father of two and
the picture of health.

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But despite their efforts, Michael's
condition continues to deteriorate.

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Mike stayed on a ventilator from the
time he was placed on one at Raleigh

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General Hospital until roughly five days
later.

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He was not waking up, no matter what
sort of treatment he received to reverse

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the low blood sugar.

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And ultimately, he was declared brain
dead.

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For Natalie, that means it's time to
consider the unthinkable.

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She told us that they've done the MRI.
He has no brain activity.

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She's got to make the decision to pull
him off the vent.

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Everyone comes in and says their
goodbyes, and ultimately he is

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transferred to hospice, where he is for
only a few hours before he passes away.

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It was a bad day for everybody that knew
Mike and loved Mike, and it just

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happened just so fast.

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Michael's loved ones are devastated by
the loss, but the way he died raises

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questions for several of them.

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Michael's death generated a lot of
surprise, again, because he was a very

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healthy, vibrant young man.

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What happened here to, you know, correct
this young man's life that was just so

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full of life?

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Michael Cochran was born in West
Virginia on December 23, 1980.

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Michael was raised by Donna, his mother,
and Eddie, his stepfather.

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They are just wonderful people.

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Mike has always been into sports.

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He was always an athlete in high school.

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He played football. He played baseball.

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Michael's interest in sports is what led
him to meeting his future wife, Natalie.

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Natalie worked at the sporting goods
store and Michael was always in there

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buying things.

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Her mother and father were both in the
school system there. He was an

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accountant and she was a school teacher.

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Had a pretty good life growing up. Never
really wanted for anything.

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Soon after they began dating, it became
clear they were meant for each other.

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Every time you saw Mike, you saw
Natalie.

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It's very seldom you ever saw them.

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She would always say we were high school
sweethearts. Then they went to WVU. She

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was planning to go to pharmacy school,
and he was doing computer science IT

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work. And they got engaged while they
were at college.

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They married young.

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After they finished school, they settled
in Daniels, West Virginia, and they had

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two kids.

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Mike, as a father, he was very, very
into his children.

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He was always coaching his son in
football there. His daughter was always

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there with him as well.

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Michael and Natalie both worked hard to
support their family.

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Michael owned an IT company. He
installed computer programs for

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different offices.

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Natalie was a pharmacist, and she worked
at various retail pharmacies in that

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area. They built a comfortable life
together, but had their sights set on

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something bigger.

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In 2017, Michael and Natalie formed a
company, Tactical Solutions Group.

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And the stated purpose of the company
was to deal in government contracts.

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People that got those government
contracts would make money by... buying

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and selling them.

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They would make a purchase and they
would get paid back from the government.

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Michael would research available
government contracts, but Natalie was

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the point person for the company. She
was the one that got the money.

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When people would come to Michael, he
would refer them to Natalie.

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Michael said that Natalie was the one
that had gotten that business going and

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she knew everything.

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The Cochrans found most of their
investors right there in Beckley.

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We did small amounts over a period of
time. We didn't do a lump sum because I

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was unsure about how this was working
and how it was going on.

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In time, it was around $17,000 total.

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And by all appearances, business was
booming.

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They were purchasing houses. They were
purchasing cars.

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They were purchasing land.

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They were going on vacation.

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The Cochrans were coming into quite a
lot of money, and they were coming into

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it pretty quickly.

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They seemed to be doing great, and they
had everything.

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Now, Michael has unexpectedly passed
away.

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and his loved ones want to know why.

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Despite the unusual nature of his death,
doctors attribute it to a natural

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medical episode.

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Michael was, by all accounts, very
healthy.

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It was very strange that Michael passed
away so suddenly, but

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when a person passes away in hospice
care, there's not typically

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seemed to be an emergent need for an
autopsy.

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His cause of death was explained as
respiratory failure having to do

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with an anoxic brain injury.

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A month later, reports are trickling in
that the Cochran's business may not be

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all that it seems.

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A lawyer in Beckley had approached me
about an investment that he had made

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with Natalie Cochran.

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He was concerned that he wasn't going to
receive his money back.

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There was a local business owner who
came forward to another trooper

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kind of in confidence.

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He had entered into a business agreement
with Natalie Cochran, and he was...

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I guess to say at the end of his rope.

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He had previously contacted Natalie.

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He seems to think that there's something
fishy going on with the company.

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He was more or less looking to either
get her to complete the deal that he had

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entered into with the business, with
her, or return his money that he had

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invested, which was approximately
$40,000.

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This transaction was supposed to be
completed.

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Michael Cochran also suddenly died.

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When police begin researching Tactical
Solutions Group, they find several other

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investors in Beckley who are wondering
what happened to their money.

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People were giving up their entire
retirement.

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thinking they're going to be making
hundreds of thousands of dollars in

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return. There were all sorts of excuses
as to why those promises couldn't be

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fulfilled. Natalie would blame the bank
for not transferring the money as

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promised.

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To seasoned detectives, Natalie's
excuses sound like something else.

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We could not find any record of any
government contract that...

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the TSG business I'd ever engaged in.

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She's been orchestrating this
multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme right

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here at home.

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Ponzi scheme is, in basic terms, is when
they take the second person's money,

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give it back to the first person part of
it, and then they continue on down the

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line collecting money from all these
people. But eventually, the money's

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going to run out.

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And the timing is suspicious.

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The death of Michael in the midst of
what was clearly a fraud being

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perpetrated by Natalie had to raise some
major suspicions.

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Michael Cochran was a very healthy, fit,
38-year-old young man.

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For a person like Michael Cochran to
just suddenly die, yeah, that

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warranted a second look.

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And so the investigation also pursued
the potential unlawful death of Michael.

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She was running this Ponzi scheme, and
then her husband died.

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And it all just seemed a little too
convenient.

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They realized they had to talk to
Natalie about it.

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Coming up, friends paint a puzzling
picture.

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He said he will not go to the hospital.

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And he would be so mad if he woke up and
he was there.

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But Natalie tells investigators she
thinks his death was caused by a

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bodybuilding obsession.

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West Virginia State Police are dealing
with two possible crimes.

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The mysterious death of 38-year-old
Michael Cochran and the alleged Ponzi

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scheme his wife Natalie Cochran has been
accused of running.

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Right now, it's unclear if there's a
connection.

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There's unaccounted money out there. The
investors are upset. I think ultimately

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there was the loss.

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The FBI is tasked with handling the
financial crime while detectives focus

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on the possible homicide.

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They begin by speaking with the
Cochran's long-term friends and

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investors, John and Stephanie Hamilton,
who say this is the second tragedy to

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befall the family.

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Right around the time frame that I gave
her the first check for the investment

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in January of 2019, that same week,
actually, she told

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me that she had leukemia.

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I was devastated for her.

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She's young, we're the same age, and
she's got young kids.

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Everybody was just...

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trying to just do everything they could
for her because no one wants to battle

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cancer alone.

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I immediately was, how can I help them?
What can we do?

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The Hamiltons were so focused on
Natalie's health that it came as a

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surprise when a month later she called
to say that Michael had fallen sick as

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well.

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On February 6th that morning, Natalie
sent me a text saying that Mike had

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collapsed.

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and just wanted to know if I could come
by.

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Whenever I got there, Mike was laying on
their downstairs couch and appeared to

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be asleep.

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I asked Natalie what had happened, and
she said that he had a seizure and that

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she was going to let him sleep at all.

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I said, do you want me to call him an
ambulance?

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Do you want us to drive him to the
hospital?

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And she said, well, no, I'm just going
to let him sleep at all. This is what he

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does whenever he has seizures.

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You know, you're thinking, well, I
really don't think this is the best

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idea, but it's her husband.

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So what I did was I went and I called my
wife because my wife is a physician

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assistant.

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I said, you know, what's wrong?

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And he said, Michael's sick.

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And I said, okay. And he said, you need
to stop by here and see if you can talk

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her into taking him to the hospital.

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When I get to the house, I walk in.

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And Mike was laying on the couch, and
there's a blood pressure cuff on his

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arm. And I remember seeing the numbers
and the heart rate, and that was all

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good. And I said, what happened?

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And she said, well, he was thrown up in
the sink.

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He had a seizure.

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Anybody that has a history of seizures
should go to the hospital immediately.

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She said he will not go to the hospital.

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And she said he would be so mad if he
woke up and he was there. I said, well,

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blame me.

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Tell him I was here.

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I said he had to go.

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And she said, well, I'm just going to
let him sleep it off.

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I had to leave.

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So I left, and she had promised when I
was leaving if he didn't wake up from

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his sleep.

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that she would take him to the hospital.

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I know that Steph, throughout the day,
she was getting updates on how Mike was.

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At one point, Natalie actually showed my
wife a photo of the way that he had been

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playing in the kitchen, and my wife once
again reiterated that, you know,

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Natalie, you probably need to take him
to the hospital just to get him checked,

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just to be sure.

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The Hamiltons say eight hours after she
initially called them, Natalie texted

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that she was taking Michael to the ER.

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Her friend and neighbor come by and
actually got Mike to the hospital that

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00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,160
night there. He was the only one that
could talk her into it finally.

235
00:17:38,580 --> 00:17:40,280
She did let me know they got there.

236
00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,920
They were working on him. The next thing
I get is a picture of him on the vent

237
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:48,180
and everything, and I thought, what in
the world is going on?

238
00:17:49,580 --> 00:17:54,800
The homicide investigators, the fact
that Natalie waited so long to get her

239
00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,340
husband medical attention is a potential
red flag.

240
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:04,420
Clearly he was in distress and she
didn't get him help when everybody could

241
00:18:04,420 --> 00:18:05,860
see that he needed help.

242
00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:12,340
As we talked to all these witnesses, I
was like, man, it seems like that she

243
00:18:12,340 --> 00:18:15,480
was delaying care for him.

244
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:19,140
Well, why would you do that?

245
00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:24,500
Then your gut sinks because you're
thinking, man, that's pretty cold

246
00:18:24,500 --> 00:18:25,500
-blooded.

247
00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:47,340
With questions regarding the sudden
death of Michael Cochran continuing to

248
00:18:47,340 --> 00:18:52,540
arise, detectives are left wondering why
an autopsy was not performed.

249
00:18:53,180 --> 00:18:59,900
It's very unusual for someone to die in
hospice care and have an autopsy.

250
00:18:59,940 --> 00:19:05,180
That's where people go to die with as
much comfort for them and their

251
00:19:05,180 --> 00:19:06,780
survivors as they can.

252
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:12,320
So that was certainly not unusual that
there was no autopsy at the time.

253
00:19:12,670 --> 00:19:18,630
But the investigation into the fraud
aspect messed with the suspicious death

254
00:19:18,630 --> 00:19:20,310
of a very healthy young man.

255
00:19:21,190 --> 00:19:25,850
The death certificate listed Michael's
death as natural causes.

256
00:19:26,710 --> 00:19:32,550
That is obviously a hurdle, but it's not
insurmountable. It doesn't mean that

257
00:19:32,550 --> 00:19:35,450
we're going to stop doing what we're
doing.

258
00:19:36,470 --> 00:19:41,180
But... It did take a really long time
from the time that Michael died in

259
00:19:41,180 --> 00:19:43,500
February of 2019 to gather evidence.

260
00:19:43,940 --> 00:19:46,580
There was so much talk in the community
about his death.

261
00:19:46,820 --> 00:19:53,480
So our office kept the information that
did not need to be public behind closed

262
00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:54,480
doors.

263
00:19:55,300 --> 00:20:00,180
At this point, Lieutenant Bledsoe needs
to know what Natalie knows about

264
00:20:00,180 --> 00:20:01,180
Michael's death.

265
00:20:01,660 --> 00:20:05,500
And she offered to come into the state
police detachment.

266
00:20:06,570 --> 00:20:11,750
On April 8th, two months after her
husband died, Natalie speaks to

267
00:20:11,750 --> 00:20:13,490
investigators in West Virginia.

268
00:20:14,270 --> 00:20:19,710
Like I told you, we're investigating,
you know, what caused or contributed to

269
00:20:19,710 --> 00:20:20,710
Michael's death.

270
00:20:20,770 --> 00:20:27,750
Natalie, just tell me how things
progressed, you know, with Michael.

271
00:20:34,990 --> 00:20:35,990
Okay.

272
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,840
Natalie says she doesn't think Michael's
death had anything to do with the

273
00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:06,840
seizures.

274
00:21:07,100 --> 00:21:10,320
She's convinced it was caused by
something else.

275
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:17,280
She stated that after Michael had passed
away, she found this

276
00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:23,020
bottle in a medicine cabinet, which was
labeled as enclomiphene citrate.

277
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,240
She didn't know what it was. She said he
got it on a trip to Mexico.

278
00:21:29,460 --> 00:21:32,840
During that time, he paid 34 supplements
a day. He was all good.

279
00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:36,580
Okay. I'd always been learning that this
stuff's not safe, it's not tested. It

280
00:21:36,580 --> 00:21:41,700
even came in a bottle that said for
animals only, not for human ingestion.

281
00:21:41,980 --> 00:21:45,320
And he was taking it. It was like a
steroid. Right. He was taking it to gain

282
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:47,980
mass. And he would suck that up.

283
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:52,300
Gotcha. And it also had an insulin
component in it, which bodybuilders can

284
00:21:52,300 --> 00:21:55,020
manipulate insulin to cut muscles.

285
00:21:55,620 --> 00:21:58,440
And so Mike was all about, you know, all
that stuff.

286
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,240
Michael was very athletic.

287
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:10,280
He lifted weights. He ran. He took some
supplements, but mainly just what seemed

288
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:15,540
to be your normal supplements that
healthy people take.

289
00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:22,000
She says that Michael definitely
overdosed on this alleged Mexican

290
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,120
supplement that he was using as part of
his workout regimen.

291
00:22:27,750 --> 00:22:31,150
Hospital records seem to confirm
Natalie's theory.

292
00:22:31,810 --> 00:22:36,110
When Michael got to the Raleigh General
Emergency Room, they took a sample of

293
00:22:36,110 --> 00:22:41,190
his blood, and his blood glucose level
was 21, which is essentially fatal.

294
00:22:42,130 --> 00:22:48,810
I want to see exactly what the effects
are of an insulin overdose on a non

295
00:22:48,810 --> 00:22:52,110
-diabetic patient, because we knew
Michael Cochran was not diabetic.

296
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:58,380
They discover that unnecessary insulin
intake can cause loss of brain function

297
00:22:58,380 --> 00:22:59,620
and comas.

298
00:23:00,140 --> 00:23:05,760
The first attending physician that we
interviewed, I asked him, can you even

299
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:07,560
overdose from insulin?

300
00:23:08,060 --> 00:23:14,380
He said, oh yeah, absolutely. He said,
if you let it go unattended, he said,

301
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:17,400
after a certain time it becomes
irreversible.

302
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,860
There was a substance that she said he
used, which was in clomiphene citrate.

303
00:23:23,620 --> 00:23:29,280
However, experts were able to determine
that there's no evidence that that could

304
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:31,620
have caused Michael's condition, even if
he was using it.

305
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:39,560
It was a substance that would certainly
not be fatal and certainly would not

306
00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:43,180
cause Michael Cochran to have a
hypoglycemic injury.

307
00:23:45,930 --> 00:23:49,890
Investigators find it unlikely that, as
a medical professional herself,

308
00:23:50,710 --> 00:23:52,690
Natalie would make such a mistake.

309
00:23:53,570 --> 00:23:57,510
At this point in the investigation,
Mike's death hasn't even been ruled a

310
00:23:57,510 --> 00:24:02,850
homicide. We have no idea what killed
him and we have no murder weapon at this

311
00:24:02,850 --> 00:24:08,790
point. And then Natalie brings up the
idea of insulin for bodybuilding

312
00:24:08,790 --> 00:24:09,790
purposes.

313
00:24:10,250 --> 00:24:12,850
Natalie Cochran is a diabetic educator.

314
00:24:14,060 --> 00:24:19,680
A pharmacist whose specialty is treating
people who have diabetes.

315
00:24:20,460 --> 00:24:25,600
Who would know it better? And more
importantly, not just know it, but who

316
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,120
would know how long it takes?

317
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:35,440
Police wonder if they've just been told
how Michael was killed by the person who

318
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:36,440
did it.

319
00:24:37,100 --> 00:24:42,180
We knew we had turned over the right
stone. It's just now, follow the

320
00:24:42,180 --> 00:24:43,180
evidence.

321
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:51,920
Coming up, the government's fraud case
reaches a conclusion.

322
00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:59,260
They found a contract where Natalie had
arranged to sell half of the business.

323
00:25:00,420 --> 00:25:04,740
But investigators find the homicide
trickier to prove.

324
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:07,960
There is no per se smoking gun.

325
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,380
So you're looking at why did this
happen?

326
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:34,080
Three months into the investigation of
Michael Cochran's death, West Virginia

327
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:38,300
police decide to prioritize getting an
arrest for the Ponzi scheme.

328
00:25:38,580 --> 00:25:43,080
So they ask federal agents pursuing the
fraud allegations for assistance.

329
00:25:44,100 --> 00:25:50,140
The officers that executed the search
warrant were state police, ATF, and the

330
00:25:50,140 --> 00:25:53,600
FBI, all engaged as a collaborative
search.

331
00:25:59,290 --> 00:26:03,530
Any number of things that could support
the theory that there was a Ponzi

332
00:26:03,530 --> 00:26:07,850
scheme. They're seizing papers, they're
seizing electronics.

333
00:26:09,410 --> 00:26:15,570
There were deposits being made, but the
payments coming out were all from

334
00:26:15,570 --> 00:26:21,630
those deposits of investors and none
from any true generation of business.

335
00:26:23,250 --> 00:26:25,490
They found a contract.

336
00:26:26,270 --> 00:26:31,690
in that search warrant where Natalie had
arranged to sell half of the business to

337
00:26:31,690 --> 00:26:35,330
a local business person for a
significant amount of money.

338
00:26:37,010 --> 00:26:42,690
They were going to pay $4.9 million for
a business that was absolutely

339
00:26:42,690 --> 00:26:44,570
worthless. There was no business.

340
00:26:44,870 --> 00:26:46,470
It was just smoke and mirrors.

341
00:26:47,150 --> 00:26:51,810
The contract proved to federal
investigators that Natalie knew the

342
00:26:51,810 --> 00:26:53,430
scheme couldn't last forever.

343
00:26:54,430 --> 00:26:58,270
She was going to sell it to someone else
and have them take the fall for her.

344
00:26:59,390 --> 00:27:02,270
And then she would have been out of it.
She would have been free and clear.

345
00:27:04,010 --> 00:27:08,590
But homicide detectives are looking for
something else, a murder weapon.

346
00:27:09,970 --> 00:27:11,070
I opened the fridge.

347
00:27:12,130 --> 00:27:18,030
In the door, there were shelves, and
there was a sack of candy bars. I moved

348
00:27:18,030 --> 00:27:21,950
those out of the way, and when I did,
there was a bottle of insulin sitting

349
00:27:21,950 --> 00:27:22,950
there.

350
00:27:24,170 --> 00:27:29,070
There was a single puncture. Someone had
stuck a needle in that bottle and

351
00:27:29,070 --> 00:27:32,390
extracted some quantity of insulin out
of it.

352
00:27:35,270 --> 00:27:41,450
At this point in the case, it's really
significant that investigators are able

353
00:27:41,450 --> 00:27:43,430
to find a bottle of insulin in the
Cochran residence.

354
00:27:43,970 --> 00:27:47,910
One, because no one in the residence is
diabetic, so there's really no reason

355
00:27:47,910 --> 00:27:48,910
for insulin to be there.

356
00:27:50,050 --> 00:27:53,430
Two, in her interview with Lieutenant
Bledsoe, Natalie has...

357
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,220
brought up the idea of insulin use.

358
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:02,760
You just can't believe that someone who
is not a diabetic does not use insulin

359
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,780
because it could put you in a diabetic
shock.

360
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:11,920
How many of us that don't have diabetics
have insulin in our refrigerators? Not

361
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:12,920
many, I dare say.

362
00:28:17,140 --> 00:28:21,200
Whenever the officers execute a search
warrant, they're required by law.

363
00:28:21,790 --> 00:28:24,890
to give the owner a receipt.

364
00:28:25,690 --> 00:28:31,010
She gets to the insulin, and she's
packing the paper. She says, this right

365
00:28:31,010 --> 00:28:36,450
here, this is for a neighbor's child who
has diabetes, and I keep that insulin

366
00:28:36,450 --> 00:28:37,450
here for him.

367
00:28:39,290 --> 00:28:41,070
I pick out that one thing.

368
00:28:41,450 --> 00:28:45,630
That's going to get any competent
investigator, that's going to get his

369
00:28:45,630 --> 00:28:46,630
attention.

370
00:28:47,180 --> 00:28:51,300
When investigators ask the neighbor
whether she gave Natalie the insulin,

371
00:28:51,540 --> 00:28:55,940
she says she did, but not for the reason
Natalie claimed.

372
00:28:56,700 --> 00:29:02,400
The morning that Mike gets sick, Natalie
texts her friend and neighbor and

373
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:08,400
tells her that she's going to have to
start taking small shots of insulin to

374
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:12,180
regulate her blood sugar because it's
been elevated due to her cancer

375
00:29:12,180 --> 00:29:13,180
treatment.

376
00:29:14,510 --> 00:29:19,270
And around 10.30 that morning, Keith
actually drops the insulin off at the

377
00:29:19,270 --> 00:29:20,270
Cochran residence.

378
00:29:24,490 --> 00:29:30,850
We obtained Natalie's medical records
from the places that she said she was

379
00:29:30,850 --> 00:29:32,230
getting treatment for her leukemia.

380
00:29:33,350 --> 00:29:38,310
And there was never any indication that
she had received treatment for any kind

381
00:29:38,310 --> 00:29:39,310
of cancer.

382
00:29:41,490 --> 00:29:42,950
Who lies about that?

383
00:29:43,530 --> 00:29:48,170
If you're capable of lying about that,
is it hard to believe that you're

384
00:29:48,170 --> 00:29:49,550
capable of killing your husband?

385
00:29:51,250 --> 00:29:55,470
Natalie asked for a bottle of insulin
the morning that Mike gets sick and

386
00:29:55,470 --> 00:29:56,970
suddenly his blood sugar is 21.

387
00:29:57,290 --> 00:30:02,750
So they're really starting to get a
clearer image of who Natalie Cochran is

388
00:30:02,750 --> 00:30:03,750
at this point.

389
00:30:03,810 --> 00:30:09,070
But to prosecute Natalie for murder,
they first need to prove Michael's death

390
00:30:09,070 --> 00:30:10,070
was a homicide.

391
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:16,760
In September, seven months after
Michael's death, police obtain a court

392
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:18,900
order to exhume his body.

393
00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:25,040
He undergoes his first autopsy. At that
point, Michael was already pretty

394
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,580
severely decayed.

395
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:33,300
His cause and manner of death were ruled
undetermined and undeterminable.

396
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:38,680
That autopsy had no forensic value
whatsoever. It didn't enlighten anybody

397
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:39,820
as to anything.

398
00:30:41,290 --> 00:30:46,250
For now, the only thing Natalie can be
charged with is financial crime.

399
00:30:46,790 --> 00:30:53,450
A couple weeks after Michael's autopsy
occurred, Natalie Cochran is arrested on

400
00:30:53,450 --> 00:30:58,270
26 federal counts of wire fraud and
money laundering.

401
00:31:01,130 --> 00:31:06,230
I called Bledsoe, the detective,
Detective Bledsoe. I said, someone tell

402
00:31:06,230 --> 00:31:07,650
me this is a Ponzi scheme.

403
00:31:07,970 --> 00:31:08,990
Is this true?

404
00:31:09,210 --> 00:31:11,780
And he says, Yeah, I'm afraid it's true.

405
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:16,380
You're like, man, it's like we just lost
this money. We're never getting it back.

406
00:31:17,380 --> 00:31:18,380
It's devastating.

407
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:26,380
And not just about the money, but the
betrayal

408
00:31:26,380 --> 00:31:28,160
was so deep.

409
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:34,740
That level of betrayal, that was much
deeper than the money.

410
00:31:35,820 --> 00:31:39,520
When Natalie was finally arrested
towards the end of September, what ran

411
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:44,020
through my mind is that she finally was
going to get what she deserved.

412
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,960
Homicide investigators are finding it
difficult to build a case against

413
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:13,920
Natalie Cochran, but the federal crimes
she's been charged with eventually lead

414
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:15,000
to jail time.

415
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:22,680
About a year after her initial arrest
for the money laundering and wire

416
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:27,940
fraud charges, Natalie Cochran actually
pled guilty to some of those charges and

417
00:32:27,940 --> 00:32:30,860
was sentenced to 11 years in the federal
penitentiary.

418
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:34,020
The federal Ponzi scheme side of it?

419
00:32:34,430 --> 00:32:38,870
That's pretty easy. There's tons of
evidence as to what transpired here.

420
00:32:39,470 --> 00:32:41,450
The murder was the hard part.

421
00:32:42,290 --> 00:32:47,210
When you look at circumstantial cases,
there is no per se smoke and gun.

422
00:32:47,450 --> 00:32:51,190
So you're looking at why did this
happen?

423
00:32:51,830 --> 00:32:56,090
People don't just get up out of bed and
decide to murder their spouse.

424
00:32:57,550 --> 00:33:00,970
Believing Natalie's motive is the key to
cracking the case.

425
00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:05,340
Detectives search her phone, which was
seized during the federal fraud

426
00:33:05,340 --> 00:33:06,340
investigation.

427
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:14,220
Natalie's phone contains thousands of
text message exchanges, e

428
00:33:14,220 --> 00:33:20,440
-mails, all really showing she was not
only telling investors

429
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:26,480
certain excuses and explanations for why
they're not getting their money, but

430
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:30,160
that she's also telling Michael the same
things.

431
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:38,160
That also applied between Michael and
Natalie. I read about 1,600 pages

432
00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:43,800
that covered about an 18-month time
period, and he was telling Michael the

433
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,600
exact same lies he was telling the
investors.

434
00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:52,200
There was no evidence that Michael knew
about the Ponzi scheme. He really

435
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:56,060
thought they had a successful business
going, and they had banker problems.

436
00:33:57,230 --> 00:34:01,810
But it seems Michael slowly began to
realize something was wrong.

437
00:34:02,670 --> 00:34:06,710
Speaking to bank officials, police
learned that he asked for a full

438
00:34:06,710 --> 00:34:09,770
accounting from them in February 2019.

439
00:34:10,909 --> 00:34:17,870
The night before Michael collapsed, he
was getting so outraged

440
00:34:17,870 --> 00:34:22,449
that the money was not coming because
Natalie had been telling him that they

441
00:34:22,449 --> 00:34:24,750
have hundreds of millions of dollars.

442
00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:32,639
So Michael's going to straighten us out,
and he directs Natalie to arrange to fly

443
00:34:32,639 --> 00:34:39,600
down to the local branch in Virginia
that Michael thinks is stopping up the

444
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:41,219
money supply to their investors.

445
00:34:42,060 --> 00:34:48,260
She and Michael were supposed to take a
flight the morning of February 6th in

446
00:34:48,260 --> 00:34:50,920
order to determine why money was not
hitting their bank account.

447
00:34:52,620 --> 00:34:57,460
Had that flight taken place and the
Cochran's talked to the banker, Michael

448
00:34:57,460 --> 00:35:00,720
would know this whole thing is a fraud.

449
00:35:01,300 --> 00:35:05,900
And at that point, the Ponzi scheme
ends. Natalie could never let that

450
00:35:05,900 --> 00:35:09,580
happen. She had to do anything she could
to prevent the meeting.

451
00:35:10,300 --> 00:35:12,620
She was a cornered animal.

452
00:35:13,380 --> 00:35:15,140
That's exactly what she was.

453
00:35:16,700 --> 00:35:18,220
It's not crystal clear.

454
00:35:19,050 --> 00:35:22,330
as to what plane they were going to
take, but they did have one available.

455
00:35:22,790 --> 00:35:28,730
At 6.30 in the morning on the day that
Michael collapses, Natalie texts the

456
00:35:28,730 --> 00:35:35,370
pilot and says, she's been up all night,
she's sick, she can't go, they'll have

457
00:35:35,370 --> 00:35:36,370
to reschedule.

458
00:35:36,650 --> 00:35:38,210
So the flight is off.

459
00:35:38,650 --> 00:35:39,650
She snapped.

460
00:35:40,770 --> 00:35:43,110
She called that day to get the insulin.

461
00:35:44,410 --> 00:35:48,910
Police know that the insulin was dropped
off by 10.30 a.m.

462
00:35:49,570 --> 00:35:51,770
Natalie's weapon of choice was insulin.

463
00:35:52,070 --> 00:35:56,990
She was a pharmacist by training in
trade, so she knew exactly what she was

464
00:35:56,990 --> 00:35:57,990
doing.

465
00:36:00,550 --> 00:36:04,710
Circumstantially, there's only one
explanation for why Michael Cochran

466
00:36:04,710 --> 00:36:05,710
died.

467
00:36:09,350 --> 00:36:14,400
Throughout the day, while Michael's
unconscious on the couch, Natalie is

468
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:19,260
sending some of his vital signs via text
message to friends, sending his

469
00:36:19,260 --> 00:36:21,100
purported blood glucose levels.

470
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:23,660
The numbers that she was sending were
always high.

471
00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:29,920
And given what we know now and how low
his blood sugar was when he actually got

472
00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:32,720
treatment, those couldn't have been
accurate.

473
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:38,800
Once you hit blood glucose levels that
low, the effects become more and more

474
00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,340
irreversible as time goes by.

475
00:36:42,270 --> 00:36:47,450
He had laid there for about eight hours,
and there was no indicator that she had

476
00:36:47,450 --> 00:36:51,570
any intentions on letting him go
anywhere other than that couch until her

477
00:36:51,570 --> 00:36:54,230
friend showed up. She would have let him
lay there until he died.

478
00:36:57,770 --> 00:37:04,270
In May 2021, two years and three months
after Michael's death, investigators

479
00:37:04,270 --> 00:37:09,510
pay Natalie a visit in federal prison
and give her a chance to come clean.

480
00:37:12,150 --> 00:37:16,690
Obviously, you know, we've been
conducting an investigation into

481
00:37:16,690 --> 00:37:18,130
Michael's death for some time now.

482
00:37:18,690 --> 00:37:21,530
And, you know, we're bringing that to a
conclusion.

483
00:37:21,810 --> 00:37:25,370
I did not do anything in. I feel like
I've led enough for the two of us

484
00:37:25,370 --> 00:37:29,390
already. Because I took the fall for
something that he was responsible for

485
00:37:29,390 --> 00:37:30,890
too. That's not true.

486
00:37:31,270 --> 00:37:32,270
It's true.

487
00:37:34,790 --> 00:37:36,910
In November 2021...

488
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:43,440
Six months into her prison term, Natalie
Cochran is indicted again, this time for

489
00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:44,440
murder.

490
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:50,280
But prosecutors are concerned they won't
be able to convince a jury of her guilt

491
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:51,760
without more evidence.

492
00:37:53,780 --> 00:37:57,820
The street wisdom was we were going to
get our butts kicked, and this should

493
00:37:57,820 --> 00:38:00,380
never go to trial. Why are we wasting
our time?

494
00:38:00,940 --> 00:38:05,220
And it's because of the lack of the
usual indicators in a murder case.

495
00:38:05,770 --> 00:38:10,950
The medical examiner never reached a
conclusion that there was a homicide.

496
00:38:11,990 --> 00:38:15,070
A second autopsy is ordered by the
former prosecutor.

497
00:38:16,110 --> 00:38:21,490
This pathologist also had the benefit of
reviewing all of Michael's medical

498
00:38:21,490 --> 00:38:27,230
records. And from both those records,
his review of the initial autopsy report

499
00:38:27,230 --> 00:38:33,230
and his own autopsy, he was able to rule
Michael's death a homicide.

500
00:38:34,090 --> 00:38:38,310
and that he had been killed by someone
else giving him insulin.

501
00:38:41,210 --> 00:38:47,530
Having that conclusive finding, I think
that really sealed the deal and gave us

502
00:38:47,530 --> 00:38:48,830
what we needed to prosecute her.

503
00:39:04,910 --> 00:39:10,870
In January 2025, five years and 11
months after the death of Michael

504
00:39:10,870 --> 00:39:14,890
Cochran, his wife Natalie Cochran goes
on trial.

505
00:39:16,290 --> 00:39:20,950
Prosecutors are now armed with the
results of the second autopsy, but know

506
00:39:20,950 --> 00:39:23,630
the process may be an uphill battle.

507
00:39:24,230 --> 00:39:29,890
There were a number of events that
transpired between the time that Michael

508
00:39:29,890 --> 00:39:32,430
died and the time that we were actually
able to try this case.

509
00:39:33,130 --> 00:39:36,470
There was definitely a lot of moving
parts, but I think ultimately this was

510
00:39:36,470 --> 00:39:38,310
tried when it was meant to be tried.

511
00:39:40,610 --> 00:39:47,470
During the trial, Natalie is very smug,
honestly. I think she is

512
00:39:47,470 --> 00:39:50,910
convinced that no jury is going to find
her guilty.

513
00:39:51,350 --> 00:39:55,990
I could hear her constantly talking to
her lawyers at every time out where you

514
00:39:55,990 --> 00:39:59,810
could see what she was doing. She was
writing them notes and passing them to

515
00:39:59,810 --> 00:40:02,170
them. This was the Natalie Cochran show.

516
00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:08,060
The prosecution's case against Natalie
remains largely circumstantial.

517
00:40:08,580 --> 00:40:15,460
No jury pool anywhere are so used to
seeing on television direct

518
00:40:15,460 --> 00:40:16,460
evidence.

519
00:40:17,700 --> 00:40:24,700
They're used to seeing DNA evidence. And
in a case like this, there would be

520
00:40:24,700 --> 00:40:26,300
no way for us to have any of that.

521
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:32,160
But instead of attacking the state's
lack of physical evidence, Natalie's

522
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:33,880
attorneys take a different approach.

523
00:40:35,380 --> 00:40:39,480
The defense in this case was somewhat
schizophrenic.

524
00:40:39,720 --> 00:40:44,640
One of the defenses was she couldn't
have injected him because he would just

525
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:45,640
bite her off.

526
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:51,600
Simultaneously, they said Michael
Cochran was a sickly guy.

527
00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:53,980
He had so many medical problems.

528
00:40:54,500 --> 00:40:56,900
Hell, he was going to die any minute
anyhow.

529
00:40:57,160 --> 00:40:59,840
So his death shouldn't be a surprise to
anybody.

530
00:41:00,910 --> 00:41:05,750
It was defense du jour, and the trial
went on for three weeks.

531
00:41:07,110 --> 00:41:11,150
Surprisingly, Natalie never takes the
stand in her own defense.

532
00:41:13,410 --> 00:41:19,070
When the jury is sent to deliberate, it
only takes them two hours to reach a

533
00:41:19,070 --> 00:41:20,070
decision.

534
00:41:20,770 --> 00:41:26,430
The judge receives the verdict from the
jury foreperson, and he says,

535
00:41:26,590 --> 00:41:28,790
we the jury.

536
00:41:29,290 --> 00:41:32,930
Find the defendant, Natalie Cochran,
guilty of first-degree murder.

537
00:41:35,870 --> 00:41:40,790
Natalie Cochran is sentenced to life in
prison without the possibility of

538
00:41:40,790 --> 00:41:41,790
parole.

539
00:41:42,770 --> 00:41:47,570
Nothing will ever bring back Michael,
but the jury spoke for him.

540
00:41:48,530 --> 00:41:53,910
And I was just, you know, it was kind of
like a thought of relief, like evil

541
00:41:53,910 --> 00:41:54,970
lost.

542
00:41:58,030 --> 00:41:59,070
And the truth won.

543
00:42:00,150 --> 00:42:01,350
And that's how I felt.

544
00:42:02,190 --> 00:42:06,730
You know, there's always going to be
that certain scar there.

545
00:42:07,210 --> 00:42:12,210
But everybody's just trying to get their
head up and go on and move on about

546
00:42:12,210 --> 00:42:13,210
their lives.

547
00:42:13,810 --> 00:42:15,230
I used to trust everyone.

548
00:42:16,530 --> 00:42:23,530
And I always thought, and I still think,
everyone has a good side.

549
00:42:24,250 --> 00:42:25,610
They're good in everyone.

550
00:42:27,850 --> 00:42:29,550
But I'm not so trusted anymore.

551
00:42:30,310 --> 00:42:35,230
To keep Michael's memory alive, we try
to get his story out, just what we're

552
00:42:35,230 --> 00:42:36,230
doing here.

553
00:42:36,870 --> 00:42:40,210
He deserves to be remembered.