Original subtitles

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[man] The thing inside of me, it's like the appetite.

It's like a wolf that's gone to hunger.

[Sahni] Despite being law enforcement himself previously,

Clay Waller didn't bother to call dispatch

until he receives pressure from Jacque's family.

Waller's lack of concern or urgency for locating

his estranged wife, the mother of his triplets,

who are only five years old,

just makes his overall behavior suspicious.

What his son is starting to paint for us is a picture of

somebody with a parasitic lifestyle mix,

where you're using other people.

You're willing to live off of other people,

and there's no real sense of adult responsibility

or conscience to take care of yourself,

to have a sense of integrity.

[reporter] 39-year-old Jacque Waller, formerly of Cape Girardeau,

was last seen here on Woodland Drive in North Neal in Jackson.

Dozens of officers are now working this case.

No one believes that this mother of three

would just walk away from her children.

[Saraiya] "Wednesday, March 23rd, Clay called me at 7 a.m.

"He was threatening me and yelling at me.

"Met him at the airport.

"He told me that divorcing him was a death sentence.

"He would get me, and if he couldn't get to me,

"he would kill our kids."

So in this excerpt, you can see that there's just no regard for

his having any real genuine affection for his own children.

And just like all the characters in

a psychopath's life, they're not other people

who have feelings and interests and the ability to feel pain

or anything else.

They're simply characters in the story as they relate

to the psychopath,

and it's striking that even his young children,

that he later claims he cares so much about, actually appear

as just pawns for him to use as suits him

in a particular situation.

When we look at journal entries like this,

I think what this speaks to

is a pattern of coercive emotional abuse,

physical threats,

and he is doing what so many domestic abusers do.

When they can't get to their partner,

They use the children as a weapon, and they threaten

to harm the children.

\{reporter 2] A new development in the Jacque Waller case.

Investigators searching her estranged husband's rental

have discovered blood spatter on two walls

and that carpet had been removed.

[line clicks]

[dial tone]

[reporter] Clay Waller says the community's out to get him.

People spray painting "killer" on his truck.

I mean, it's been a hard time for us all.

Carpet and carpet pad hidden out of view

in the back of a crawl space.

One piece had a large blood stain that the crime lab

confirmed contained Jacque Waller's DNA.

Clay, do you have any comment?

He was arrested in Malden, Missouri

on charges not related to his estranged wife's disappearance.

He now faced a charge of stealing from a Cape Girardeau

company and also a harassment charge.

They haven't yet found enough evidence

to actually charge him with anything,

and in his mind, as former law enforcement, without a body,

what are they gonna charge him with?

So he just continues to taunt them.

It's quite possible that this cat and mouse game isn't just

Clay's hope to keep himself out of trouble.

There's a secondary euphoria he's getting

by thinking he's in charge, he's smarter than them.

I think his body language is telling.

He's almost, like, stretched out,

owning the entire interrogation room.

He wants to show, I'm in control.

You may think this is your interrogation, but really,

I'm the one who's deciding which way we go.

[Sahni] When he's confronted about the biological evidence,

he doesn't even miss a beat.

He doesn't hesitate to just insert another lie.

If she had a nosebleed, if she tripped and hurt herself,

why would you cut out the carpet in a rental?

And then on top of that, he very covertly hid it so that

it would be out of line of sight for anybody

if they came through the house.

Every step of the way, he has done what he can

to hide and obstruct the process.

His need for power and control

and his narcissistic views of things

far supercede any fear response he may have,

and that's something we do see oftentimes

in psychopathic individuals.

[reporter] On Thursday morning, Clay Waller appeared in court

regarding the alleged death threats he made to Jacque

Waller's sister, Cheryl Brenneke,

on the website Topics.

Jacque's sister got custody of the children, the triplets.

So I think that what this represents is that Jacque's

sister has basically become a proxy for Jacque.

The narcissistic traits in psychopaths, you know,

if they experience kind of anything that threatens

their feeling of mastery, it's going to trigger anger,

and they're prone to lash out with violence, with threats,

things like that.

This specific dynamic of someone is going to take

the children away from me, that sets him off,

and he directs thoughts of violence toward that person.

So for the longest time, it was Jacque.

Jacque's out of the picture.

This is a very kind of clear substitute.

[reporter] Clay Waller has not been charged

in connection with his wife's disappearance.

[Humphreys] She's still missing,

and our first and foremost priority is to find her.

Waller's parents just want their daughter found,

especially for the sake of her three children,

who turn six next month.

It's gone on so long,

we want there to be an end to it.

Because it's so hard not to know.

[Sahni] He's doing things to enjoy that arousal

of being in charge,

and particularly with somebody

who's a domestic violence perpetrator,

that need for control is far more intense

than it is for most of us,

and so it's important to realize that at this point,

Because we know after the fact that Clay has killed Jacque,

he's hidden her body, nobody knows where it is.

He's gotta get that thrill seeking,

that arousal, from somewhere.

So continuing to jerk the police around

is how he does that.

[reporter] Waller pleaded guilty to second degree murder,

a lesser charge.

You'll be remanded to the custody

of the Missouri Department of Corrections

to serve a term of 20 years of imprisonment.

[reporter] Clay Waller led investigators here to Devil's Island

in Alexander County, Illinois,

where they dug up Jacque Waller's remains.

In return, Mr. Waller had to provide the location

of Jacque Waller's body,

sit down, and give an accounting of how he killed Jacque Waller.

Essentially, he states that it was Jacque's fault

that she was killed.

He said, "I warned her,"

as if a threat that he acted on to kill her

is in any way valid.

But on top of that, he explains how he looked

her in the eye as he was killing her, and he just didn't

feel anything bad because he warned her,

and so he's absolved of any type of guilt

or responsibility.

He had just committed murder, and his wife is now dead.

The children that he has with her are now motherless,

and he's complaining about her body being too heavy.

Even then, he's saying it in such a way

that the only real emotion he shows is for himself.

While Waller is describing the details

of what actually happened the day he killed Jacque,

there are moments where he sounds like

it was this impulsive act, but he dug the hole before.

He knew she signed her death warrant

the minute she didn't back down on the divorce.

There's a complete disconnect from the terror

and coercive behavior that he engaged in

throughout their relationship.

Perpetrators of domestic violence have a very distorted

view of their role in the relationship,

how they behave, the motivations behind

the violence and aggression, who's to blame, as well as

a belief, perhaps, that these are actions of love.

Jacque wanted to leave and provide her children

a better life.

That was her riskiest point of safety, and she didn't make it.

[reporter] In May of 2016, Clay Waller was charged

with interstate domestic violence,

meaning Waller traveled back and forth

between Illinois and Missouri

with the intent to kill his wife.

Jacque Waller's sister

delivered the victim's impact statement.

Cheryl Brenneke now raising, along with her husband,

Clay and Jacque Waller's seven-year-old triplets.

They know you murdered their mother.

We had to tell them that.

Clay Waller's son, Maddox, also had a taped recording

for his dad.

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