All language subtitles for Episode 01 Home Video Hit

This is the story
of an American family...

I spent ten years living a
lie.

Doing its best
to hide its secrets.

Say, "hi, mama."

She told me that Max
was an abuser,

that he would physically
and mentally abuse her.

Behind a facade
of weddings, baby showers,

and birthday parties...

Happy birthday to you
I was -- I was screaming.

Max?
And my mom was screaming.

Max.
He's not breathing.

Lurks a monster,
caught on video.

I couldn't believe
what was happening.

Video that's never
been seen in public...

Until now.

It's the fall of
1991

in north port, Florida.

It's hardly a full house
at the suncoast worship
center,

but it is a happy day

for Max Jones
and his bride, janeene.

When my mom

and dad were married,
she was very happy,

and she looked --
she looked beautiful.

The camera was always
on for special occasions.

They met,

and over the course
of a year, they fell in love.

Max is a carpenter,
janeene a corrections officer.

It's a typical middle-class
American wedding

from the early '90s,

right down to the clothes.

My -- my father, I think
he loved to dress to impress,

but seeing him in a white
tuxedo
is kind of odd.

The newlyweds
look over the moon,

and all is well... for now.

Eight months later,
it's the summer of 1992.

Heavily pregnant herself,
janeene

arrives at a friend's
baby shower...

Or so she thinks.

Mom had
a surprise baby shower.

Mom showed up
at her own baby shower

with a gift thinking
it was for somebody else.

She's so happy
to have that surprise.

And knowing that,

she welcomes people
with open arms.

Janeene is pregnant
with the couple's son, zak.

I know she loved
being the center of attention.

She would probably
get anybody's attention

just by being there.

And in the
background,
always present,

even at a ladies' baby shower,

husband Max.

He and janeene are
facing parenthood together,

every step of the way.

You guys are terrible!

Five weeks later...

My mom loved babies.

If she could have more
children,
she probably would've.

She was very motherly
with all of US.

My happiest memories
is with my father's...

Every time he'd have, like,
a side job,

I was able to go with him,

and it was always pretty cool
to see my dad in action.

I always
looked up to my father

and he was such a good man.

I would always go with my dad
just so I can be with him.

Max still works with
his hands at carpentry.

Hey.
Hey.

Hey, mom.
Hi.

Hey. Bye.

Janeene has her steady job
as a corrections officer.

Make sure you eat something
other than cereal today.

Bye.

To friends and family alike,

no red flags,

no sign of impending disaster.

Just an ordinary couple
starting a family.

Okay. Let's go.

Two years later,
in 1994,

baby Alex arrives,
a sister for zak.

The Jones family is complete.

Money is not plentiful,
but they are getting by.

Growing up, you know,
you see, you know,

a lot of families
going out to dinner

or having nice clothes

or having nice vehicles.

With money being tight,
you know, we'd probably go
out,

you know, twice a month.

But we still had enough money
to get through the day.

We lived in a two-bedroom
house.

So me and my brother
shared a room.

I'm sure mom wanted
a bigger house.

But she was quite content
with what we had.

I loved where I grew up.

I had a lot of friends.

A lot of neighbors that we
knew
that we grew up with.

They loved my parents.

No one outside this
family has seen these videos

since they were filmed,

nor would anyone
find them notable

until a few years later.

Max and janeene Jones

and their kids appear to be
an ordinary American family.

But after five years,

the marriage is under strain.

My dad, was a carpenter.

I think he liked working
with his hands mostly for,

working with the wood

and making sure
every little detail was
perfect.

My mom
worked in the jail.

She grew up
in a military family.

So she was kind of
forced to be strong.

She liked to be,
like, authority figure.

Money is tight,
which adds to the stress.

Dad seemed to, um, kind
of
stress about money a lot

and he would always be working
just to make ends meets.

Max's temper
grows worse and worse.

He's finding it harder
to make ends meet.

It drives him to the edge.

They started not really
having conversations.

They were arguing a lot.

And they just were distant
from each other.

My dad raised his voice a lot.

That's how he would
show his temper.

Janeene and Max
struggled to maintain the
image

of a happy couple
on the outside.

Max and janeene
are popular amongst friends

and very much a part
of the local church.

That's where they meet
plumber John Chamberlain.

I met them at a church.

Max was a free spirit.

He was, I mean,

he had a very good sense
of humor.

And he joked around.

He was a musician.

I'm going to shout
a little louder than before

let me sing now,
we love

he was -- he was just a fun
guy.

I liked janeene.

I'd say her and Max were not
your typical church people.

For ten years,
the joneses

are tight friends
with John Chamberlain.

You ready?
He and his

11-year-old daughter
are frequent visitors.

John Chamberlain
is a long-time family friend

that we kind of grew up with,

spending time
with him at church

and his daughter.

They with really
the closest thing

that I had to family
down here in Florida.

John and Max
have a lot in common,

and they spend
more time together.

Max had a -- a
nice
setup in the backyard.

We'd be out there till 1:00,
2:00 in the morning.

And Max being a carpenter,

we had endless supply
of wood to burn.

I'm going to
get my head down.

On the outside,
all looks well,

but Max's temper
fuels a downward spiral

in the 20-year-old marriage.

19-year-old zak

is old enough to pick up
on the tension.

My mom and dad, they were
trying to keep everything,

all their marriage problems,

a secret and keep 'em away
from,

their kids.

Max and janeene's
relationship

just leave it!
Is out of control.

And Max is beginning
to lose his temper.

The marriage that began
with such promises

of love and fidelity
is already in trouble

when janeene does something
that shatters it.

She lost her job

after she had an affair
with one of the inmates.

Janeene's betrayal
sends their relationship

into meltdown.

My mom seemed
very vulnerable.

She was, I guess going
to any kind of men

that could... showed her
some kind of affection.

The affair pushes
Max over the edge.

It's Thanksgiving, 2011,
in north port, Florida.

Outside, the community's
parade
kicks off the holiday season,

but inside the Jones
household,

it's a season of tension.

Thanksgiving was --

wasn't really all that great.

My mom and dad,
they didn't really talk.

It didn't really seem
like they loved each other

that much.

Having to spend
the Thanksgiving holiday

with his cheating wife

is just too much
for Max to handle.

He hated her,
so to speak,

had some kind of resentment
toward her for all that.

Bob Glasgow
is a family friend.

Later, janeene
would tell him her side.

After I
got to know janeene,

she told me
that Max was an abuser,

that --

that he would physically
and mentally abuse her.

You betrayed me.
Just leave it!

Janeene
and Max argued a lot.

And the conversations

between them would escalate
the verbal yelling

back and forth.

If I ever talked
to my wife like that,

I would have probably been
pulling a frying pan

out of my face.

No one
in this tense household

is prepared

for what would happen
on November 27th, 2011.

I was on the computer.

My mom came in.

That sounds like your father.

Max? Max?

He was very clammy.

Max.
He's not breathing.

I noticed that his color
was not normal.

Ambulance, please.
Like, he looked very pale.

My husband's
not breathing.

So the operator
was like, "okay.

You need to get him
on the floor

and you you need to start
cpr."

Okay.

You're doing great.
The paramedics arrived

and they took over.

His name is Max.

One of the paramedics
had come out

and said, "I'm sorry.

There was nothing we could
do."

He had a heart attack.

And I lost it.

Janeene Jones'
husband, Max,

has died of a heart attack
just before Christmas.

And janeene
and her two children, zak,

now age 19, and Alex,

age 17,
must pick up the pieces

and carry on.

Three months
after my dad passed, my mom,

she was trying
to fill a void

that he had left.

Money is
tighter than ever

and janeene has lost her job.

The time is right for her
to start her own venture.

My mom, she started a
new,
real estate business.

She bought foreclosed houses,

would fix 'em up,
and then would rent 'em out.

I was pretty proud of her
for starting her own business

and going out on her own

and doing what she wanted to
do.

Amazingly,
by early summer,

janeene's a successful
businesswoman,

buying and renting out
foreclosed homes.

Being a realtor
is something she's good at.

Janeene has found her
vocation.

Hi, I'm janeene Jones,
and welcome to my company,

my retirement, llc.

I have lots of beautiful
and affordable homes

on my website.

I'd love to show you around.

Within six months
of Max's death,

janeene is finally in a decent
financial position.

With her business proving
more profitable every day,

she moves her family
into a new home.

So it's moving day.

Coming through the hallway

and into our beautiful
family lounge area.

Hello, Alex.
Great, she's getting that.

And look
at that gorgeous television.

We moved out of the
house

to get away from the
discomfort

and the bad memories
that were living there.

That's so nice.
Thank you.

And having money

isn't the only big change
in janeene's life.

She also has a new
love interest --

cable TV installer Matt Smith.

At 26, Matt is barely
half her age.

Some of janeene's friends

think Matt looks suspiciously
like a freeloader.

Hey, dude.
But janeene

sees him as simply the reward
for her newfound success.

Janeene looked at him
as a boy toy in the beginning.

I know that's what it was.

How could you fall in love
with somebody

who's 26 years old
and you're 49?

But for janeene,
liberated suddenly from Max,

life is good.

In July of 2012,
she invites friend Bob Glasgow

and his wife
over to the new place.

Hi.

They invite US
over for a few drinks

to get to know the family.

Hi.
It is then,

in front of her friends
and children,

that janeene
will drop a bombshell.

He's like, "you know,

there's something
we're going to tell Alex.

She doesn't know yet,

and, you know,
we don't want to shock her.

We're glad you're here."

Hey, everybody.
We're very excited.

Matt and I have some news.

They just came right
out there and said,

"we got married in Vegas."

My wife and I,

we glanced at each other,
stared
and said, "what is going on?"

Janeene's children,
Alex and zak, are
flabbergasted.

Their dad, Max, has only
been dead for six months.

I didn't really like him.

I never really...

I never liked him.
I --

I don't know why she decided
to have this guy so soon

after my dad's passing
in her life.

It was very
heartbreaking.

I felt angry
at her for doing that.

Still grieving,
awash in happy memories

of their dead dad,
zak

and Alex cannot accept
the strange new world

their mother
has created with Matt.

It was very odd.

And I tried to distance myself
from my mom and Matt.

It was uncomfortable to be
home.

And I was... I thought it was not right.

He was trying to be
a father to me,

even though I'm basically
the same age as him.

I was, like,
"I don't really like it."

I don't want him
to be my father.

I don't need a father.

Hey, dude.
I have one.

Matt has gone
from cable guy

to husband
to business partner.

He and janeene
run the business together,

buying and renting out houses
faster than ever.

Soon they have more work
than they can handle.

They turn to janeene's
long-time friend,

John Chamberlain.

Janeene knew
that I was a plumber.

And so she asked me
if I would be interested

in doing the work
on these -- these homes.

She told me
that she would actually rent
me

one of these houses.

In exchange for rent money,

I would perform
plumbing services for her

on these rental properties.

But the more John

works inside janeene's rapidly
expanding real estate empire,

the less sense it all makes.

Until one day, a bombshell.

There was
the one tenant.

She called me up one day

and she said, "you're not
going to believe this."

Okay, 'Kay, 'Kay.
She answered the door

and that the people
on the other side of the door

wanted to know
who she was

and what she was doing
in their house.

Okay, 'Kay, 'Kay.
Just,

hang on for an hour
or so. Yeah.

Let me see what I can
find out from jan.

Okay.

John has worked out
that janeene, with Matt,

is simply breaking
into unoccupied houses

she doesn't own

and renting them out
as if she did.

The entire business is a
fraud,

with John
the unsuspecting accomplice.

What have you
gotten me into?

Just calm yourself down,
John.

Everything's fine.

Something strange
is going on here.

And I said, "it's something
that I don't want to

have my name on
or be any part of."

With that,
John quits,

his next stop,
north port police department.

John's been
drilling locks

to gain access to empty
houses.

Now it all makes sense why.

I mean,
I understand keys get lost,

maybe -- maybe on one house,

but to have two
and three in a row,

that -- that was --
that was definitely a red
flag.

For John,
it's a bitter betrayal.

Smile,
you're on candid camera.

Investigators set to
work unraveling the fraud.

North port
police department

began pulling all of the deeds
from those homes

that were suspected to be
rented out fraudulently.

And what he learned was
that there was --

there were deeds
that were forged.

Without John Chamberlain's
tip,
I don't know

if north port pd would have
ever
learned of this scheme.

Janeene Jones is now
under police investigation,

and John Chamberlain is the
one
who turned her in.

But what he's about to
tell police next

could mean he's in danger.

John Chamberlain
has told police

that janeene Jones

and husband Matt's
real estate business is a
fraud.

And there's something else
that
doesn't make sense to John --

the death of
janeene's husband, Max.

My mom had
my father cremated,

um, a couple of days
since his passing.

There actually was not
any exam done.

After Max died,
janeene came to my house.

She asked me

if I would hold on
to Max's ashes

because she just didn't feel
like dealing with them

and she thought
it would be better

if I held on to them.

And I just thought
that that was very odd.

Max's death
and hasty cremation

is most suspicious,

especially because it seems
janeene wasted little time

in mourning.

The information
that I had is after his death,

janeene Jones' behavior
was unusual.

She did receive $1 million
of a life insurance policy

after Max died.

And right after he died,
she started getting things

like plastic surgery,
breast augmentation.

She had young boyfriends.

She was buying things.

She was spending money.

I think her own behavior
made people start to wonder

what really happened to Max

and -- and why, you know,
she was behaving like that

and not behaving like a --
a grieving widow.

It seems
janeene wanted to

dispose of Max's body quickly.

You know,
once he's cremated,

the case is significantly
lost.

There's a lot of evidence
that's been lost.

Aaah!
Aaah!

To prove a crime without a
body is extremely difficult.

I believe that
janeene killed Max Jones

and I believe that that is
an unsolved homicide.

There's more
to janeene's behavior

to raise suspicions.

She's got a new friend
named Becky.

Becky is a hard-partying girl
with a past.

Janeene falls in
with Becky fast,

experimenting with cocaine
and partying till all hours.

New husband Matt has already
taken a back seat in her life.

The police have
no physical evidence

linking janeene to
her late husband Max's death,

but what they do have

is John's tip-off
about her fraudulent business.

Police put janeene
under surveillance.

February 20th, 2013.

At the sweet tomatoes
restaurant, north port,

janeene and her friend Becky
go to lunch.

That's when police
get the full picture

of why janeene
is so taken with Becky.

Like John Chamberlain,

Becky can do some
handiwork for janeene.

But she's no plumber.

Instead, she's told janeene

she can put her in touch
with a hitman.

But Becky is actually
working with police,

who are suspicious of the
death
of janeene's husband, Max.

And today, Becky
is wearing a hidden camera,

trying to learn the identity

of janeene's intended target.

It was at
a sweet tomatoes restaurant.

I was in the car.

So during the meeting,

while Becky and janeene
are inside the restaurant,

I can hear the audio.

Then,
between bites of salad,

janeene announces
the target for the hit.

Her long-time friend John,

who knows all about her scam,

is top of the hit list.

She gave Becky a physical
description of John
Chamberlain.

She gave the address.

And she wrote the, um,

a diagram of his actual house.

And she even wrote on the side

about pets in the house
and the 11-year-old daughter.

And she wrote some details
out on that napkin for Becky.

The further this case went

and the more that
janeene Jones talked

and the more evidence we had,

and especially if she wanted
John Chamberlain murdered...

Janeene wants the
hit
to take place

while she's out of town.

The wheels are in motion.

Now, all janeene needs to do

is make sure
her alibi is airtight.

There's no room for mistakes.

Janeene talked
to Becky about,

that she would be going
on a cruise in the future

and that it would be great
if this could be accomplished

while she was on this cruise
to establish her alibi.

So she would be out of town.

I think she's actually
very intelligent.

I think she's calculated.

I just think she thought she
was
going to get away with it.

The police investigation
has suddenly gone from fraud

to a potential murder.

But talking about hiring
a hitman isn't enough.

Police need more evidence,

and are about to get it.

Businesswoman
and mother janeene Jones

is hiring a hitman

to kill her one-time friend,
John Chamberlain,

who told police

about her real estate fraud.

The police have janeene
under surveillance,

first while friend Becky
is waiting for her

in a car with the hitman.

Becky has arranged

for janeene to meet
the hitman face-to-face.

But what janeene doesn't know

is that Becky
is setting her up

and the hitman
she's about to meet is, in
fact,

an undercover officer,

officer Harris
of north port police.

When I first
saw janeene,

I was like, "my god."

She looks just like
a normal person.

A normal person.

Until she started talking.

But normal appearance,
she looked

like she wouldn't hurt a --
hurt a fly.

Okay.

Okay, and so I won't...

Janeene shows
a picture of her target,

John Chamberlain,
and announces that if

John's daughter
is hurt in the process,

that's fine with her.

Janeene, um, talked about
the 11-year-old

daughter of the victim.

And she straight-up said

that she didn't care or
anything
about the -- the victim.

That if she got in the way,

she wanted me to kill
an 11-year-old girl.

Janeene
wants to make sure

the hitman knows everything
about John Chamberlain,

including where he lives.

Okay.

That's when
janeene ups the ante

and asks for a two-for-one
deal.

She wants a second hit,

someone named Matt.

She's ordered a second hit
on her new husband,

Matt Smith.

She had an insurance
policy on Matt.

So she wanted to
do the two-for-one.

It was financially based.

For now,
it's all talk.

It will become
a murder solicitation

when she hands over money.

Police!
On the ground!

Now!

On your knees!

She looked
really mad.

Um, she had a very mean look
on her face.

She was not happy.

She, you know,
urinated in her shorts.

She was still
wearing sunglasses.

Um, but she looked very mad.

It made me think that
she was living a double life.

From, you know,
the mother that I knew

to this person
that I was seeing.

I had no clue
what was going on.

It just didn't hit me that jan
could do this kind of stuff.

I actually confronted
her
about my dad's death.

And I had asked her,

"did you have anything
to do with dad's death?"

And she looked at me

and she said,
"I can't tell you that."

And when she said that,
I just cried.

I didn't want to believe it.

Janeene Jones is
sentenced to life in prison

for solicitation
to murder Matthew Smith

and John Chamberlain.

Max Jones' death
remains unsolved.

Hey, mama.