1 00:00:03,786 --> 00:00:05,179 Harlan, over here! 2 00:00:05,309 --> 00:00:07,224 Ladies and gentlemen, Harlan Coben. 3 00:00:09,313 --> 00:00:10,749 He's the greatest thriller writer. 4 00:00:10,836 --> 00:00:13,622 Oh. 5 00:00:13,709 --> 00:00:16,233 Coben's written over 30 New York Times Best Sellers. 6 00:00:16,364 --> 00:00:18,931 With over a dozen hit TV shows and movies. 7 00:00:21,717 --> 00:00:23,719 In all our stories, the same question: 8 00:00:23,806 --> 00:00:26,504 What made the killer cross that line? 9 00:00:34,208 --> 00:00:35,948 I'm Harlan Coben. 10 00:00:36,036 --> 00:00:39,256 Ideas for my mystery novels can come from anywhere-- 11 00:00:39,343 --> 00:00:43,739 a conversation with a friend, eavesdropping in a coffee shop, 12 00:00:43,826 --> 00:00:46,262 a story in the news-- anything, really. 13 00:00:46,263 --> 00:00:49,004 Now, when I hear about a true crime, I get obsessed. 14 00:00:49,005 --> 00:00:52,487 I have to follow the trail no matter where it takes me, 15 00:00:52,574 --> 00:00:55,359 like the mind-bending double homicide 16 00:00:55,490 --> 00:00:58,493 of two people named Billy. 17 00:00:58,580 --> 00:01:01,583 Terrible crimes often blossom out of something small-- 18 00:01:01,670 --> 00:01:06,587 in this case, just a routine friend request on social media. 19 00:01:06,588 --> 00:01:09,156 And that's where our mystery begins. 20 00:01:14,596 --> 00:01:15,292 How the hell did it get on? 21 00:01:15,423 --> 00:01:17,164 Oh. 22 00:01:17,294 --> 00:01:19,296 I'm just trying to figure out this camera. 23 00:01:21,385 --> 00:01:22,734 Billie Jean laughed at absolutely 24 00:01:22,865 --> 00:01:24,388 anything and everything. 25 00:01:27,043 --> 00:01:29,654 She found the joy in the little things. 26 00:01:29,741 --> 00:01:31,395 He's going down. 27 00:01:34,094 --> 00:01:38,359 Billy and Billie Jean met where they worked. 28 00:01:38,446 --> 00:01:41,404 Billy was always a lot of fun to be around. 29 00:01:43,625 --> 00:01:45,583 Say hi, honey. 30 00:01:47,324 --> 00:01:50,632 They just clicked together. 31 00:01:50,762 --> 00:01:53,330 Bill and Billie Jean had the same name. 32 00:01:53,417 --> 00:01:55,245 It was always a tongue-tie when we talked about them together. 33 00:01:55,332 --> 00:01:58,335 It was like, well, you guys were meant for each other. 34 00:01:58,466 --> 00:02:00,424 She then found out that she was pregnant, 35 00:02:00,555 --> 00:02:03,427 and that's all that they ever wanted. 36 00:02:03,514 --> 00:02:06,038 Say cheese, Mommy. 37 00:02:06,126 --> 00:02:09,129 Billie Jean, she was always holding her baby. 38 00:02:09,216 --> 00:02:10,826 She liked being a mom. 39 00:02:10,956 --> 00:02:13,002 Roll over. 40 00:02:13,133 --> 00:02:14,569 There you go. 41 00:02:17,789 --> 00:02:20,357 Billy was a good dad. 42 00:02:20,488 --> 00:02:22,272 Their baby was starting just to hit babbles. 43 00:02:22,359 --> 00:02:23,708 I just remember him making noises. 44 00:02:26,755 --> 00:02:28,365 Baby. 45 00:02:28,452 --> 00:02:30,498 They would have been such great parents. 46 00:02:30,585 --> 00:02:32,891 Mwah! 47 00:02:33,022 --> 00:02:37,243 Excuse me. 48 00:02:44,207 --> 00:02:45,208 Shut up! Shut up! 49 00:03:10,015 --> 00:03:11,278 Blood on his-- 50 00:03:15,238 --> 00:03:17,414 A crime happened here. 51 00:03:17,501 --> 00:03:20,591 The past isn't what it seemed. 52 00:03:20,678 --> 00:03:23,246 The story told turns out to be deception. 53 00:03:23,333 --> 00:03:25,553 And just when you're sure you have the answer-- 54 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:27,729 911, what is the address of your emergency? 55 00:03:27,816 --> 00:03:30,078 Hello? Anyone there? 56 00:03:30,079 --> 00:03:33,343 there's one final twist. 57 00:03:36,564 --> 00:03:39,306 Investigators describe it as a quiet neighborhood. 58 00:03:39,393 --> 00:03:41,438 The Johnson County community is the center 59 00:03:41,525 --> 00:03:43,397 of a double-murder investigation. 60 00:03:43,484 --> 00:03:45,441 Inside that home, deputies discovered 61 00:03:45,442 --> 00:03:48,532 Billy Payne Jr. with a gunshot wound to the head, 62 00:03:48,663 --> 00:03:50,578 and a cut on his throat. 63 00:03:50,708 --> 00:03:53,407 They also found Payne's girlfriend, Billie Hayworth, 64 00:03:53,494 --> 00:03:55,060 with a gunshot wound to the head, 65 00:03:55,147 --> 00:03:58,759 and found the couple's six-month-old baby uninjured 66 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:01,676 in his dead mother's arms. 67 00:04:04,809 --> 00:04:06,333 Who could hurt someone holding a child 68 00:04:06,463 --> 00:04:08,813 at point-blank range? 69 00:04:08,900 --> 00:04:11,120 Please come forward and confess to this, 70 00:04:11,251 --> 00:04:12,948 because this ain't fair. 71 00:04:13,035 --> 00:04:14,123 This ain't right. 72 00:04:14,254 --> 00:04:15,602 This ain't fair to him, 73 00:04:15,603 --> 00:04:18,606 to lose his mom and dad. 74 00:04:20,956 --> 00:04:22,130 The person who did this crime 75 00:04:22,131 --> 00:04:24,351 was a cold-blooded killer. 76 00:04:24,438 --> 00:04:26,221 My initial motivation was 77 00:04:26,222 --> 00:04:29,094 we're fighting for this little kid. 78 00:04:29,181 --> 00:04:31,618 The police was mainly asking, 79 00:04:31,619 --> 00:04:33,316 who do you think would have done this? 80 00:04:33,403 --> 00:04:35,927 Or why would somebody do this? 81 00:04:36,014 --> 00:04:39,540 And I didn't know what to tell them 'cause I had no clue. 82 00:04:40,628 --> 00:04:43,805 We thought it might be a professional hit. 83 00:04:43,892 --> 00:04:46,067 There was not a lot of physical evidence left behind, 84 00:04:46,068 --> 00:04:47,939 and not a lot of clues. 85 00:05:03,215 --> 00:05:05,740 Investigators have no real leads 86 00:05:05,827 --> 00:05:07,437 as they search for the person who murdered 87 00:05:07,568 --> 00:05:09,570 a couple near Mountain City. 88 00:05:12,399 --> 00:05:13,530 We come from a town that leaves 89 00:05:13,617 --> 00:05:15,880 their doors unlocked at night, 90 00:05:16,011 --> 00:05:20,624 so someone doing this was unfathomable. 91 00:05:20,755 --> 00:05:23,801 Investigators interviewed more than 150 people 92 00:05:23,888 --> 00:05:27,239 in the last seven days. 93 00:05:27,327 --> 00:05:28,806 - Have a seat there. - Have a seat there. 94 00:05:40,340 --> 00:05:41,906 Right. 95 00:05:51,394 --> 00:05:52,961 Nobody has a problem with this boy. 96 00:05:53,048 --> 00:05:55,441 Everybody liked him. Everybody got along. 97 00:06:13,764 --> 00:06:18,465 It's so common now that we live behind pictures. 98 00:06:18,595 --> 00:06:21,337 We live behind a persona 99 00:06:21,424 --> 00:06:23,774 online or on social media. 100 00:06:27,387 --> 00:06:29,432 There's a phrase that says 101 00:06:29,519 --> 00:06:32,130 a picture is worth a thousand words, 102 00:06:32,261 --> 00:06:35,612 but I believe that a picture can hide thousand words. 103 00:06:36,657 --> 00:06:38,789 Breaking news today-- 104 00:06:38,876 --> 00:06:43,054 Detectives reveal evidence of a social media conflict. 105 00:06:43,141 --> 00:06:46,056 online war that may have led to murder. 106 00:06:57,678 --> 00:07:00,115 Every house holds its own secrets. 107 00:07:00,202 --> 00:07:03,509 We can look at the facade and guess what's going on inside. 108 00:07:03,510 --> 00:07:05,425 But the truth is, no one really knows 109 00:07:05,512 --> 00:07:07,862 what's going on behind our front door, 110 00:07:07,949 --> 00:07:10,560 and we don't know what's going on behind theirs. 111 00:07:16,436 --> 00:07:18,046 We learned there was somewhat of a feud 112 00:07:18,133 --> 00:07:21,310 going on between the victims and this person 113 00:07:21,397 --> 00:07:23,791 called Jenelle Potter. 114 00:07:29,536 --> 00:07:32,103 At that time, you had an internet website, 115 00:07:32,234 --> 00:07:37,587 called Topix, where people could just trash each other. 116 00:07:37,674 --> 00:07:40,982 Just hateful, nasty things being written, 117 00:07:41,069 --> 00:07:43,898 and there was a lot of them against Jenelle Potter. 118 00:07:58,260 --> 00:07:59,566 Yeah. 119 00:08:14,058 --> 00:08:16,843 When I first met Jenelle, I worked at the pharmacy. 120 00:08:16,844 --> 00:08:19,063 And they were coming in, 121 00:08:19,194 --> 00:08:22,153 her and her mom and dad, to get her medicine, 122 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:23,938 and I started talking to her. 123 00:08:29,944 --> 00:08:33,600 Jenelle Potter was very engaging, very endearing. 124 00:08:33,687 --> 00:08:36,211 But she didn't have many friends, 125 00:08:36,298 --> 00:08:39,866 since she had just moved from Pennsylvania to Mountain City 126 00:08:39,867 --> 00:08:43,784 with her parents, Barbara and Marvin Potter. 127 00:08:47,091 --> 00:08:48,745 Jenelle was different. 128 00:08:48,876 --> 00:08:51,748 You can tell she hadn't been out hardly any at all. 129 00:08:51,835 --> 00:08:53,749 We started talking on the phone. 130 00:08:53,750 --> 00:08:56,753 I asked her if she wanted to go to my dad's with me 131 00:08:56,884 --> 00:08:59,800 because Dad always had a lot of people hanging out. 132 00:09:29,786 --> 00:09:31,483 I said, we gotta find her a boyfriend 133 00:09:31,571 --> 00:09:33,442 to get her out of the house. 134 00:09:33,529 --> 00:09:34,748 So Billy said, well, let's get her hooked up 135 00:09:34,835 --> 00:09:36,967 with our cousin Jamie. 136 00:09:37,054 --> 00:09:38,707 She was real excited, 137 00:09:38,708 --> 00:09:41,537 and Jamie was head over heels for her. 138 00:09:41,668 --> 00:09:44,148 I mean, they weren't dating two or three weeks, 139 00:09:44,279 --> 00:09:45,585 and they was wanting to get married. 140 00:09:47,543 --> 00:09:51,547 Jamie was not considered good enough to Jenelle's parents 141 00:09:51,634 --> 00:09:54,898 to be associated as a boyfriend. 142 00:09:54,985 --> 00:09:59,424 So that prompted the two to doing it underground, 143 00:09:59,511 --> 00:10:03,820 away from the prying eyes of Jenelle's parents. 144 00:10:18,530 --> 00:10:19,749 Being lied to is like 145 00:10:19,836 --> 00:10:22,403 an everyday thing for police officers, 146 00:10:22,404 --> 00:10:23,623 and one of the biggest reasons to lie 147 00:10:23,710 --> 00:10:26,060 is to protect people you care about. 148 00:10:27,278 --> 00:10:30,499 We're raised being told loyalty is everything. 149 00:10:30,586 --> 00:10:32,849 But as we get older, the real question is, 150 00:10:32,936 --> 00:10:35,765 who gets our loyalty and why? 151 00:10:35,896 --> 00:10:38,289 They say family comes first, 152 00:10:38,376 --> 00:10:41,162 until that special someone comes along 153 00:10:41,292 --> 00:10:43,381 and changes everything. 154 00:11:35,042 --> 00:11:36,826 Jenelle's friendship toward Bill 155 00:11:36,913 --> 00:11:39,176 seemed to have taken a turn once Bill 156 00:11:39,263 --> 00:11:41,265 became involved with Billie Jean 157 00:11:41,396 --> 00:11:45,052 in a romantic relationship. 158 00:11:45,139 --> 00:11:47,924 That's when Billie Jean started going online, 159 00:11:48,011 --> 00:11:51,058 saying mean things about Jenelle. 160 00:11:54,801 --> 00:11:56,585 We heard Billie Jean was bullying Jenelle 161 00:11:56,716 --> 00:11:59,936 and wouldn't leave her alone. 162 00:12:00,067 --> 00:12:01,982 Marvin Potter had actually visited the sheriff's 163 00:12:02,069 --> 00:12:06,116 department to complain about the online harassment 164 00:12:06,203 --> 00:12:08,117 of his daughter, Jenelle. 165 00:12:08,118 --> 00:12:10,164 The sheriff told him, the best thing you can do 166 00:12:10,251 --> 00:12:13,254 is take that computer of hers and throw it out the window. 167 00:12:19,434 --> 00:12:20,783 I felt bad for Jenelle. 168 00:12:22,959 --> 00:12:25,962 Jamie and Billy totally quit talking. 169 00:12:26,049 --> 00:12:28,312 I mean, they wasn't even looking at each other. 170 00:12:51,161 --> 00:12:52,859 I figured Jamie and Billy would get over it. 171 00:12:52,989 --> 00:12:55,644 You know, it was just over a girl. 172 00:12:55,775 --> 00:12:57,733 They'd get over it. 173 00:13:05,132 --> 00:13:07,047 What Jamie didn't know 174 00:13:07,134 --> 00:13:09,310 was that investigators had gotten a tip. 175 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:39,382 The more you study human behavior, 176 00:13:39,383 --> 00:13:42,169 the more you start to see patterns in the evidence. 177 00:13:42,256 --> 00:13:44,301 There's the person who did the deed 178 00:13:44,388 --> 00:13:47,087 and another person who put them up to it. 179 00:13:47,174 --> 00:13:48,958 Usually, one is more criminally minded, 180 00:13:49,089 --> 00:13:51,831 and the other is, well, more gullible, 181 00:13:51,918 --> 00:13:55,051 impressionable, easier to manipulate. 182 00:13:55,138 --> 00:13:58,141 That's usually the one who breaks first. 183 00:14:16,203 --> 00:14:19,684 Mike Hannon conducted the interrogation. 184 00:14:19,771 --> 00:14:22,818 His calm country demeanor is just 185 00:14:22,949 --> 00:14:25,299 devastating to someone who's got something to hide. 186 00:14:39,966 --> 00:14:41,880 We stayed persistent with that 187 00:14:41,881 --> 00:14:45,014 and didn't back off of Jamie Curd. 188 00:15:36,457 --> 00:15:38,676 When we asked him that question, 189 00:15:38,807 --> 00:15:41,418 he was closed in his body language. 190 00:15:41,505 --> 00:15:43,159 I mean, you could almost see that he was hiding something. 191 00:15:58,087 --> 00:15:59,132 When Jamie asked me that question, 192 00:15:59,262 --> 00:16:00,829 he said, the CIA is involved in this case? 193 00:16:00,916 --> 00:16:04,093 I was totally shocked. 194 00:16:04,224 --> 00:16:06,269 When a suspect deflects, 195 00:16:06,356 --> 00:16:09,185 our first instinct is to assume deception. 196 00:16:09,272 --> 00:16:11,013 They're trying to hide something. 197 00:16:11,100 --> 00:16:13,842 We see it as a sign of guilt. 198 00:16:13,929 --> 00:16:16,845 But what if it's blind loyalty that's driving them-- 199 00:16:16,932 --> 00:16:19,717 the primitive desire to protect someone else? 200 00:16:19,804 --> 00:16:23,069 And maybe even the one pulling your strings? 201 00:16:49,486 --> 00:16:52,663 Jamie told us that he and the CIA agent 202 00:16:52,750 --> 00:16:55,536 they were sending emails back and forth. 203 00:17:00,845 --> 00:17:03,369 Chris would write what he was learning 204 00:17:03,370 --> 00:17:05,285 through his CIA methods-- 205 00:17:05,372 --> 00:17:09,593 that Bill and Billie Jean were plotting to harm Jenelle. 206 00:17:17,123 --> 00:17:19,473 The correspondence from Chris 207 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:21,910 was that he was prepared, 208 00:17:21,997 --> 00:17:26,915 ready, willing, and able to, "take care" of these people 209 00:17:27,002 --> 00:17:30,179 who were bullying Jenelle. 210 00:18:17,618 --> 00:18:20,273 At that point, Jamie wound up getting 211 00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:23,580 thrown off balance in the interrogation. 212 00:18:23,667 --> 00:18:26,279 The investigators could tell they were on to something 213 00:18:26,366 --> 00:18:28,411 and kept pressing him. 214 00:19:10,801 --> 00:19:13,891 Buddy is the nickname they call Marvin Potter, 215 00:19:14,022 --> 00:19:15,676 Jenelle Potter's father. 216 00:19:35,913 --> 00:19:38,829 When the world throws you off balance, there's always family. 217 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:40,962 They're the safe harbor, 218 00:19:41,049 --> 00:19:43,617 the ones who have your back. 219 00:19:43,704 --> 00:19:46,533 They'll protect you from the dangerous world outside-- 220 00:19:46,620 --> 00:19:48,926 sometimes so much so that you get sealed off 221 00:19:49,057 --> 00:19:51,451 from that world entirely. 222 00:19:51,538 --> 00:19:53,670 The problem is, without outside perspective, 223 00:19:53,757 --> 00:19:56,934 you might never notice when that very protection, 224 00:19:57,021 --> 00:19:58,893 that supposed safety, 225 00:19:58,980 --> 00:20:01,983 becomes the most dangerous thing of all. 226 00:20:06,857 --> 00:20:08,163 Whew! 227 00:20:22,351 --> 00:20:25,615 Marvin Potter had served his country as a Marine. 228 00:20:25,702 --> 00:20:27,617 But at this point, he's on disability. 229 00:20:27,704 --> 00:20:29,966 He has mobility issues. 230 00:20:29,967 --> 00:20:31,186 He was on oxygen. 231 00:20:58,866 --> 00:21:02,696 While Buddy's mobility issues were a concern 232 00:21:02,783 --> 00:21:06,352 for investigators, Buddy had a very strong motivation 233 00:21:06,439 --> 00:21:08,267 for killing the victims, because he believed 234 00:21:08,354 --> 00:21:10,878 his daughter was in danger. 235 00:21:27,503 --> 00:21:29,505 It was several hours. 236 00:21:29,592 --> 00:21:31,028 He denied, he denied, he denied. 237 00:21:31,115 --> 00:21:32,508 And really, he had nowhere else to go, but denial. 238 00:22:02,625 --> 00:22:04,323 On a recording. 239 00:22:06,194 --> 00:22:09,893 Investigators coached Jamie into getting 240 00:22:10,024 --> 00:22:13,201 a statement from Marvin to show that he had 241 00:22:13,288 --> 00:22:15,116 involvement with the crime. 242 00:22:44,754 --> 00:22:46,713 When we were playing the phone call to Buddy, 243 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,716 you could almost see the color drain out of his face. 244 00:22:49,846 --> 00:22:52,414 He was seriously concerned. 245 00:23:25,708 --> 00:23:27,535 At this point, he knows we're not bluffing. 246 00:23:27,536 --> 00:23:30,496 Yeah, let's see what you got to give. 247 00:23:47,991 --> 00:23:50,907 Mike Hannon finally found an angle with Buddy, 248 00:23:50,994 --> 00:23:53,256 that you're the protector of your family 249 00:23:53,257 --> 00:23:56,129 and trying to touch on the Marine background, 250 00:23:56,130 --> 00:23:58,480 because he's very proud of his service to his country. 251 00:24:54,928 --> 00:24:57,539 Johnson County investigators arrested Jamie Lynn Curd 252 00:24:57,626 --> 00:24:59,672 and Marvin Potter Jr. overnight, 253 00:24:59,759 --> 00:25:03,023 their charges, two counts of first-degree murder each 254 00:25:03,110 --> 00:25:05,895 in the shooting deaths of Billie Jean Hayworth 255 00:25:06,026 --> 00:25:08,549 and Curd's cousin, Billy Payne. 256 00:25:08,550 --> 00:25:12,206 But the investigation is not over yet. 257 00:25:12,293 --> 00:25:15,688 Both Jamie and Buddy were repeating information 258 00:25:15,818 --> 00:25:18,429 to the investigators that they had gotten 259 00:25:18,517 --> 00:25:22,172 from Chris, the CIA agent. 260 00:25:22,259 --> 00:25:24,086 They wanted to murder her, 261 00:25:24,087 --> 00:25:26,960 and they wanted to rape her because she's a virgin. 262 00:25:31,094 --> 00:25:33,749 Determining who Chris was, was very important 263 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,578 to determining who was responsible for 264 00:25:36,665 --> 00:25:40,190 trying to propel this crime forward. 265 00:25:40,277 --> 00:25:43,324 So while Marvin was being interrogated, 266 00:25:43,411 --> 00:25:46,806 the sheriff's department was conducting their own search 267 00:25:46,893 --> 00:25:51,331 of the Potter residence, which ultimately led 268 00:25:51,332 --> 00:25:54,204 to finding thousands of shredded emails 269 00:25:54,291 --> 00:25:58,731 from the CIA agent named Chris. 270 00:26:10,090 --> 00:26:12,875 It was obvious from the emails that Chris 271 00:26:12,962 --> 00:26:16,139 was very invested in the potential deaths 272 00:26:16,270 --> 00:26:18,359 of Bill and Billie Jean. 273 00:26:18,489 --> 00:26:19,882 And then in one message, 274 00:26:19,969 --> 00:26:23,407 I found a last name that popped out. 275 00:26:23,494 --> 00:26:25,758 It was Tjaden. 276 00:26:33,069 --> 00:26:35,419 We found him. 277 00:26:36,333 --> 00:26:38,901 Trial begins this morning for the 2012 killings 278 00:26:38,988 --> 00:26:42,252 of Billy Payne and Billie Jean Hayworth. 279 00:26:42,339 --> 00:26:45,255 My name is Christopher Tjaden. 280 00:26:45,342 --> 00:26:48,215 Have you ever been employed by the CIA? 281 00:26:48,345 --> 00:26:50,696 Never employed by the CIA. 282 00:26:50,783 --> 00:26:52,872 Have you ever emailed Jamie Curd? 283 00:26:52,959 --> 00:26:54,177 Never. 284 00:26:54,308 --> 00:26:56,919 I don't even know who Jamie Curd is. 285 00:26:57,006 --> 00:27:00,619 At that point, we knew this was a catfishing case. 286 00:27:12,761 --> 00:27:15,068 Often the more outlandish the story, 287 00:27:15,155 --> 00:27:17,113 the more effective the con. 288 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:18,680 Would you rather be part of a Hollywood 289 00:27:18,767 --> 00:27:20,377 cloak-and-dagger conspiracy 290 00:27:20,464 --> 00:27:22,858 or an amateur hit job? 291 00:27:26,296 --> 00:27:28,690 Chris Tjaden, the real Chris Tjaden, 292 00:27:28,821 --> 00:27:31,300 was a guy that had had his identity stolen 293 00:27:31,301 --> 00:27:34,391 in the course of this double homicide. 294 00:27:34,478 --> 00:27:35,915 He had been a cop, 295 00:27:36,002 --> 00:27:39,048 but he was not in the CIA. 296 00:27:39,179 --> 00:27:40,963 All these pictures of himself had been 297 00:27:41,094 --> 00:27:45,837 pulled off of his public Facebook profile. 298 00:27:45,838 --> 00:27:49,188 Investigators did an IP address search 299 00:27:49,189 --> 00:27:51,974 for where these Chris emails were coming from. 300 00:27:53,846 --> 00:27:56,326 In every instance, 301 00:27:56,457 --> 00:27:58,981 it was coming from the Potter household. 302 00:28:03,725 --> 00:28:05,944 We then had to prove who was Chris 303 00:28:05,945 --> 00:28:08,991 among the three people that were living there, 304 00:28:09,078 --> 00:28:13,300 so I got an expert in forensic linguistics 305 00:28:13,430 --> 00:28:15,345 to examine known writing samples 306 00:28:15,432 --> 00:28:18,827 from the Potter family. 307 00:28:18,914 --> 00:28:20,916 It was found that Jenelle would misspell 308 00:28:21,047 --> 00:28:23,919 certain words consistently. 309 00:28:24,006 --> 00:28:28,228 Like when she's supposed to take the E out before the -ing, 310 00:28:28,315 --> 00:28:30,142 she wouldn't do that. 311 00:28:30,143 --> 00:28:34,103 Then Chris, the CIA agent, would do the same thing. 312 00:28:34,190 --> 00:28:37,280 At that point, I felt, OK, I'm on to something. 313 00:28:46,594 --> 00:28:49,118 As I spent more and more time with Jenelle, 314 00:28:49,205 --> 00:28:53,121 it became apparent to me that she had 315 00:28:53,122 --> 00:28:56,038 a little crush on Billy Payne. 316 00:28:58,258 --> 00:29:02,262 Billy Payne was a dynamic and charismatic individual, 317 00:29:02,349 --> 00:29:05,613 and Jenelle was taken by him. 318 00:29:05,744 --> 00:29:07,919 Bill knew Jenelle had a crush on him. 319 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:10,139 But he didn't feel the same, 320 00:29:10,226 --> 00:29:12,620 so he tried to set her up with his cousin Jamie 321 00:29:12,707 --> 00:29:15,491 to take the pressure off. 322 00:29:15,492 --> 00:29:19,322 Jenelle ran with it and used Jamie to stay close to Bill. 323 00:29:22,021 --> 00:29:26,373 But when Billy Payne got with Billie Jean Hayworth, 324 00:29:26,503 --> 00:29:27,896 Jenelle became jealous. 325 00:29:29,942 --> 00:29:33,510 Jenelle was in love with Billy 326 00:29:33,597 --> 00:29:35,382 and knew that she couldn't have him, 327 00:29:35,469 --> 00:29:38,211 so she didn't want Billie Jean to have him either. 328 00:29:41,170 --> 00:29:42,781 Star-crossed lovers, you know, 329 00:29:42,868 --> 00:29:45,871 something she can't have, she's upset about it. 330 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,528 Jenelle's anger was palpable, 331 00:29:51,615 --> 00:29:54,749 and it all came out online. 332 00:29:54,836 --> 00:29:58,405 We discovered that Jenelle had this regular habit 333 00:29:58,492 --> 00:30:03,149 of going on anonymous internet chat boards on Topix, 334 00:30:03,236 --> 00:30:07,109 and now she was posing as Billie Jean online, 335 00:30:07,196 --> 00:30:10,417 attacking herself. 336 00:30:10,504 --> 00:30:14,073 And then Jenelle would pose as other people defending her. 337 00:30:18,164 --> 00:30:20,949 Really weird. Really weird. 338 00:30:23,604 --> 00:30:27,390 Jenelle had a very unassuming demeanor about herself, 339 00:30:27,477 --> 00:30:30,350 but when her fingers were on a keyboard 340 00:30:30,437 --> 00:30:32,655 pretending to be other people, 341 00:30:32,656 --> 00:30:34,136 she would be a lot meaner, 342 00:30:34,267 --> 00:30:37,748 a lot nastier than anything you'd ever see visually. 343 00:30:40,229 --> 00:30:42,362 At the beginning, Bill and Billie Jean 344 00:30:42,449 --> 00:30:46,018 tried to completely stay out of it. 345 00:30:46,105 --> 00:30:49,456 They were just trying to start a life together. 346 00:30:49,543 --> 00:30:53,547 But it got real bad when Billie Jean got pregnant. 347 00:30:53,634 --> 00:30:56,332 It's like Jenelle turned into somebody else. 348 00:31:14,437 --> 00:31:16,962 Billy had tried multiple times to get Jenelle 349 00:31:17,049 --> 00:31:20,095 to leave him and Billie Jean alone, but it's just like 350 00:31:20,182 --> 00:31:22,924 the more he tried, the worse it got. 351 00:32:07,838 --> 00:32:11,930 The need for attention can become a toxic addiction. 352 00:32:12,060 --> 00:32:15,324 It needs to be fed constantly. 353 00:32:15,411 --> 00:32:18,762 And like any addiction, eventually, over time, 354 00:32:18,893 --> 00:32:22,810 we need higher and higher doses to get our fix. 355 00:32:28,424 --> 00:32:32,124 Jenelle Potter craved attention and love. 356 00:32:32,211 --> 00:32:36,476 By creating this drama and pretending to be a victim, 357 00:32:36,563 --> 00:32:39,696 it brought loving attention from her parents, 358 00:32:39,783 --> 00:32:43,135 and eventually it spiraled into something else. 359 00:32:44,353 --> 00:32:47,400 Jenelle was sending her mother emails as Chris, 360 00:32:47,487 --> 00:32:49,967 the CIA agent. 361 00:32:49,968 --> 00:32:52,144 Jenelle, posing as Chris, 362 00:32:52,231 --> 00:32:53,972 would tell Barbara 363 00:32:54,102 --> 00:32:56,104 that Bill and Billie Jean 364 00:32:56,191 --> 00:32:59,412 were plotting to kill Jenelle, 365 00:32:59,499 --> 00:33:02,154 and Barbara Potter believed her. 366 00:33:08,421 --> 00:33:11,685 It was clear through the voluminous amount 367 00:33:11,772 --> 00:33:15,123 of electronic evidence that Barbara Potter was the one 368 00:33:15,210 --> 00:33:17,212 that directed Marvin and Jamie 369 00:33:17,343 --> 00:33:19,388 to put the hit on these two victims. 370 00:33:30,573 --> 00:33:33,968 Barbara believed Jenelle was endangered. 371 00:33:37,363 --> 00:33:40,627 And that triggers in Barbara the mama bear. 372 00:33:57,383 --> 00:33:59,602 Barbara confided in Chris. 373 00:33:59,733 --> 00:34:03,128 She trusted him. She would want to see him. 374 00:34:03,215 --> 00:34:07,045 Of course, he'd be busy. He couldn't meet. 375 00:34:07,175 --> 00:34:10,961 In reality, it was Jenelle behind those emails. 376 00:34:11,049 --> 00:34:14,052 Jenelle is the one convincing Barbara 377 00:34:14,182 --> 00:34:17,011 to bring in Buddy, her father. 378 00:34:31,982 --> 00:34:34,028 When it came down to it, 379 00:34:34,115 --> 00:34:36,378 Marvin did what Barbara told him to do. 380 00:34:37,684 --> 00:34:41,992 But Marvin was a disabled vet who had limited mobility, 381 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:46,344 and he'd be entering that home trying to kill people 382 00:34:46,345 --> 00:34:48,825 who were much younger and more mobile than him, 383 00:34:48,956 --> 00:34:51,698 and he needed help. 384 00:34:58,531 --> 00:35:01,447 Barbara did not approve of Jamie for her daughter. 385 00:35:01,534 --> 00:35:04,667 But then once Jenelle, in the guise of Chris, 386 00:35:04,754 --> 00:35:09,237 convinces her that Jamie is a potential help to Marvin, 387 00:35:09,324 --> 00:35:11,457 she then takes a different tact with Jamie 388 00:35:11,587 --> 00:35:14,808 and starts being loving and motherly towards him. 389 00:35:23,251 --> 00:35:25,034 Jamie wanted Barbara's approval because he wanted 390 00:35:25,035 --> 00:35:27,429 a relationship with Jenelle. 391 00:36:08,731 --> 00:36:10,646 Jenelle Potter and Barbara Potter were both 392 00:36:10,733 --> 00:36:12,560 charged with conspiracy to commit 393 00:36:12,561 --> 00:36:14,388 premeditated first-degree murder. 394 00:36:14,389 --> 00:36:17,740 There is nothing in your lives 395 00:36:17,827 --> 00:36:20,569 that has prepared you 396 00:36:20,656 --> 00:36:23,659 to understand the Potter family. 397 00:36:23,746 --> 00:36:26,357 You have never seen anyone like them. 398 00:36:26,358 --> 00:36:29,143 This wasn't a clear-cut criminal case. 399 00:36:29,230 --> 00:36:32,973 In all those TV shows, it's always just one person 400 00:36:33,103 --> 00:36:34,583 catfishing one person. 401 00:36:34,714 --> 00:36:37,760 Here I had one person conning two. 402 00:36:37,891 --> 00:36:41,546 Both Jamie and Barbara were catfished 403 00:36:41,547 --> 00:36:44,376 by Jenelle posing as Chris. 404 00:36:44,506 --> 00:36:46,334 Did you go to high school with Jenelle Potter? 405 00:36:46,465 --> 00:36:48,031 I did. 406 00:36:48,162 --> 00:36:49,554 I can't remember the last time I talked to her. 407 00:36:49,555 --> 00:36:52,645 She was, uh, you know, one of those kids that-- 408 00:36:52,732 --> 00:36:54,603 just very strange. 409 00:36:54,690 --> 00:36:56,257 Chris wasn't just a name 410 00:36:56,344 --> 00:36:58,999 that she came up with at random. 411 00:36:59,086 --> 00:37:02,524 This was a person that she knew back in school, 412 00:37:02,611 --> 00:37:04,831 probably had a crush on at some point. 413 00:37:04,961 --> 00:37:06,615 He tried to be friendly to her, 414 00:37:06,746 --> 00:37:09,531 and she probably took it the wrong way. 415 00:37:09,618 --> 00:37:11,925 Jenelle was always kind of a loner. 416 00:37:12,012 --> 00:37:14,275 She was peculiar, like somebody 417 00:37:14,406 --> 00:37:16,234 that wasn't in their right mind, fully. 418 00:37:18,279 --> 00:37:22,022 Social media to Jenelle was her lifeline. 419 00:37:22,152 --> 00:37:24,372 It's attention-seeking. 420 00:37:24,503 --> 00:37:26,592 It's fantasyland. 421 00:37:26,722 --> 00:37:30,160 Jenelle operated as a child. 422 00:37:30,248 --> 00:37:33,425 We had experts come in and test her. 423 00:37:33,555 --> 00:37:35,253 Although she was in her early 30s, 424 00:37:35,340 --> 00:37:37,951 she operated at the level of someone 425 00:37:38,038 --> 00:37:40,910 who was in their early teens. 426 00:37:40,997 --> 00:37:44,392 Her IQ was 72. 427 00:37:44,479 --> 00:37:49,049 She was incapable of masterminding these crimes. 428 00:37:50,398 --> 00:37:52,095 This mastermind, the general that 429 00:37:52,226 --> 00:37:53,532 draws up the battle plans-- 430 00:37:53,619 --> 00:37:55,621 no, that's not her. 431 00:37:55,708 --> 00:38:00,016 She has no idea how to effectuate a hit on a person. 432 00:38:00,147 --> 00:38:02,192 That was Barbara. 433 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:05,108 If mastermind means going in and killing two people, 434 00:38:05,195 --> 00:38:08,373 that's probably Marvin Potter. 435 00:38:08,460 --> 00:38:13,987 Marvin was the shooter and Jamie was the watchman. 436 00:38:15,293 --> 00:38:18,121 Today, we've learned Jamie Curd has reached a plea deal 437 00:38:18,208 --> 00:38:20,254 in exchange for his testimony. 438 00:38:20,385 --> 00:38:22,691 Looking back on it, do you feel like 439 00:38:22,822 --> 00:38:25,433 you've been manipulated in any way by the Potter family? 440 00:38:25,564 --> 00:38:27,783 Yes. 441 00:38:27,870 --> 00:38:31,787 With Buddy, we had the confession, 442 00:38:31,874 --> 00:38:36,705 so he was found guilty of killing Bill and Billie Jean. 443 00:38:38,141 --> 00:38:42,624 The involvement of Barbara and Jenelle Potter in this, 444 00:38:42,711 --> 00:38:45,279 you're criminally responsible if you aided a crime 445 00:38:45,366 --> 00:38:46,976 committed by someone else. 446 00:38:47,063 --> 00:38:50,502 You can't imagine this case without these two women. 447 00:38:50,589 --> 00:38:52,503 They didn't have guns. They didn't do it. 448 00:38:52,504 --> 00:38:56,072 But it wouldn't have happened without them. 449 00:38:56,159 --> 00:38:59,815 I told the jury, I want you to close your eyes 450 00:38:59,902 --> 00:39:02,035 and imagine this crime happening 451 00:39:02,165 --> 00:39:04,907 without Barbara Potter. 452 00:39:04,994 --> 00:39:06,735 Do the same for Jenelle Potter. 453 00:39:06,822 --> 00:39:09,695 If you can't imagine it, you know what your verdict is. 454 00:39:09,782 --> 00:39:12,088 They just kept making that snowball 455 00:39:12,175 --> 00:39:14,264 get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger 456 00:39:14,352 --> 00:39:16,484 until men acted on their behalf. 457 00:39:18,573 --> 00:39:19,531 Are you going to hell? 458 00:39:19,618 --> 00:39:21,271 Yeah, you're going to hell. 459 00:39:21,359 --> 00:39:22,534 And if I have to forgive any 460 00:39:22,664 --> 00:39:24,971 of you'uns, stay out of hell, 461 00:39:25,101 --> 00:39:26,102 I'll see you there. 462 00:39:28,235 --> 00:39:30,063 It is all up to the jury. 463 00:39:30,150 --> 00:39:31,978 They will now decide the fate of a mother and daughter 464 00:39:32,065 --> 00:39:34,154 accused in a double murder. 465 00:39:36,199 --> 00:39:38,158 Bring the jury in, please. 466 00:39:40,813 --> 00:39:43,989 We, the jury, find the defendant, Barbara Mae Potter, 467 00:39:43,990 --> 00:39:46,208 guilty of first-degree murder. 468 00:39:46,209 --> 00:39:48,037 We, the jury, find the defendant, 469 00:39:48,124 --> 00:39:52,607 Jenelle L. Potter, guilty of first-degree murder. 470 00:39:52,738 --> 00:39:58,091 Jenelle and Barbara were both given two life sentences. 471 00:39:58,178 --> 00:40:00,310 I burst into tears. 472 00:40:00,398 --> 00:40:02,094 I've tried a lot of murder cases. 473 00:40:02,095 --> 00:40:04,750 It's the only time I've ever had that kind of reaction. 474 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:06,795 It was finally over, 475 00:40:06,926 --> 00:40:10,408 and we'd gotten justice for Bill and Billie Jean. 476 00:40:14,716 --> 00:40:17,110 It was awesome. 477 00:40:17,197 --> 00:40:19,155 But then, it still don't bring them back. 478 00:40:22,768 --> 00:40:27,163 I felt like if I had never wanted to be her friend, 479 00:40:27,250 --> 00:40:29,601 then it wouldn't have happened. 480 00:40:30,471 --> 00:40:31,994 OK. Now sing, Bill. 481 00:40:32,081 --> 00:40:33,953 ♪ Well, it's not-- ♪ 482 00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:35,737 There's not a day that don't go by 483 00:40:35,824 --> 00:40:38,784 that I don't think about him. 484 00:40:38,871 --> 00:40:42,570 It was a relief that Tyler came out alive, 485 00:40:42,657 --> 00:40:46,182 but now he doesn't get to grow up with a mother or father. 486 00:40:46,313 --> 00:40:49,010 I'm gonna get you! 487 00:40:50,578 --> 00:40:53,712 I just hope that he knows that they loved him. 488 00:40:53,799 --> 00:40:55,627 They would have supported him. 489 00:40:55,757 --> 00:40:57,542 And, uh, I wish that, you know, 490 00:40:57,629 --> 00:41:00,240 we would have gotten to see how beautiful 491 00:41:00,327 --> 00:41:01,676 their family would have become. 492 00:41:03,809 --> 00:41:05,332 Telling Billie Jean and Bill's story, 493 00:41:05,419 --> 00:41:07,856 it's keeping them alive. 494 00:41:07,987 --> 00:41:10,555 That's what Bill and Billie Jean would have wanted. 495 00:41:15,821 --> 00:41:17,605 There was never a spy in this town, 496 00:41:17,736 --> 00:41:20,086 no deep-state conspiracy, 497 00:41:20,216 --> 00:41:22,218 just a family with an internet signal 498 00:41:22,305 --> 00:41:24,612 and a few too many secrets. 499 00:41:24,743 --> 00:41:26,918 In a world where digital deception 500 00:41:26,919 --> 00:41:29,921 moves faster than fact, doesn't take a novel 501 00:41:29,922 --> 00:41:32,577 for fiction to become the motive for murder. 502 00:41:32,664 --> 00:41:35,405 I'm Harlan Coben. Good night.