All language subtitles for Pushed.to.Death.S01E07.A.Dose.of.Betrayal.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

A fatal fall
in a South Carolina mansion.

A life taken in a heartbeat.

I couldn't speak.

I had to hand
the phone to my husband

because I couldn't speak.

It was not news that I
was prepared to hear.

Was it simply
down to natural causes?

She had said that
he'd had a heart attack

and collapsed and died
at the bottom of the stairs.

Or murdered?

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
My brother,

Steven Del Valle Clayton,
was born on May 1st, 1954.

Steven was always the biggest
personality in the room.

He was just full of joy.

And Steven was just
extremely gregarious.

And he was the type of person
that when you meet him,

you automatically knew that
you were friends with him.

He was an accounting major
at Florida State University,

and from there, it became
an interesting avenue for him

to open physical therapy
centers inside of hospitals

and have them separately run.

And so he began to do
this with hospitals

all around the country.

My brother had great
success business wise.

His dream was to retire at 40,
but he was able to retire at 41

and start traveling
and doing all the things

that he wanted to do.

And what Steve
and Clayton wanted to do

was inspire others to success.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
After Steven retired,

Steven was a mentor
to many young people

and started out
in college mentoring

younger college grads.

And from there,
the mentorship relationship

grew through college
and then into business,

and Steve was with them all
the way into their success.

Steven also
liked to throw a party.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE: Steven
loved to entertain people,

and one of the days that
was very special for him was

the 4th of July
and he always had

something very
special planned, live

music at his house, fireworks.

He loved to entertain and he
loved to have fun with people.

And he's the kind
of man that was

always there for his friends.

Steven also cared
deeply for his family.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
My dad passed away 11 months

before William
and I got married,

and Steve not only
walked me down the aisle,

but he also served
as my husband's best man.

My dad told me
before he passed

to take care of my sister.

To honor you, and he
loved you very much.

Despite Steven's love
for his family and friends,

his own romantic life
was far from perfect.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE: He
was married six times,

and a lot of that was
because there was just

no Steven around to really keep
the relationships together,

because he was traveling
at least three weeks out

of every month, so it put
a little bit of a dent

in some of his
personal relationships,

his marriages, et cetera.

But in 2010,
Steven Clayton,

now living in North
Carolina, announced that he

had met someone special.

Steve said that
he had met someone called Lana

online through a dating app.

Lana worked as a nurse and was
originally from Oklahoma.

She had kids from
a previous relationship,

and she told Steve that she'd
been an Air Force veteran

and that she loved
the outdoors.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
He loved her so much, he

called her his Lana
Sue from Oklahoma,

and I think he wanted to make
this the rest of his life.

They were married
in November of 2013.

The wedding took place at
their house in North Carolina.

It was a beautiful ceremony
outdoors, surrounded

by Steve's beautiful gardens.

Steven was so excited
to be marrying Lana.

He felt that he had found
somebody, a small town

girl that he was going
to finally be able to settle in

with for the rest of his life.

Soon
after, the couple

moved to the banks
of Lake Wylie

in York County, South Carolina.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE: It's
a beautiful piece of property,

and it was right on the lake,
and the home itself was just--

it was very lovely,
very colonial style,

in the style of Mount Vernon.

It was the perfect
property for Steven to hold

his legendary July 4th party.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE: Every
time 4th of July came around,

Steven was just in his element,
and it was just going to be

as grand an event
as he always had every

time he got people together.

But after
one event in 2018,

Steven wasn't his
usual sprightly self.

Steve starts
to feel a little bit

under the weather.

He's just hosted all of these
big July 4th parties.

He's known for throwing these
really epic bashes for it,

but he's all
of a sudden bedbound,

feeling really dizzy, sick,
really, really unwell.

As he fell ill, he
even stopped communicating

with his beloved sister.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
The last time

that Steven actually
replied to a message

was on the 16th of July.

And on the 17th
of July, I texted

him and he didn't get right
back to me, which was very odd.

And then I started calling
and there was no answer.

It was going straight
to voicemail.

Despite not
hearing from Steven,

Rosie felt reassured that
Lana was by his side.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
Lana was a nurse,

and that was the thing that
made me feel the most confident

about them being together.

He had someone
by his side, who was

trained to help in any sort
of emergency situation.

So to me, not hearing from
him for a couple of days

wasn't something that I was
going to be concerned about.

On July 21,
five days since Rosie

had last heard
from her brother,

a motorcyclist was passing
by the Clayton's mansion

when all hell broke loose.

Within minutes,
emergency services

arrived on the scene
with body cams,

capturing shocking footage
that would eventually

be seen by South Carolina's
Chief Prosecutor for York

and Union County,
Solicitor Kevin Brackett.

At the bottom of the main
flight of stairs leading

from the second floor
down to the first,

they found the body
of Steven Clayton.

Given the position
they found him

in at the bottom of the stairs,
it's quite possible

that he fell some
distance down the stairs

and ended up at the foot
of the stairs.

In a situation like this,
the emergency responders

realized that heroic measures
to try to restore life

to Mr. Clayton would
be futile that he

had been deceased
for some time,

and there was no
bringing him back.

As her husband's
body lay in the Hall,

an officer tried to calm
a hysterical Lana.

When they asked
her about him,

she told them that he had been
sick for the last several days,

that he suffered from bouts
of vertigo, and that--

that he had been
bedridden, essentially, and

that at about 11
o'clock that morning,

she had left the house to go
outside to do some yard work.

And when she came back
an hour and a half,

an hour and 45 minutes
later, she found her husband

at the bottom of the stairs.

As officers
listened to Lana Clayton.

Stevens, police officer, nephew
Nick arrived at the house

after hearing of his
uncle's passing.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE: He heard
the address come over the radio

and immediately recognized it.

And so when he arrived there,
my brother had passed away.

He was dead on the floor
in front of the stairs.

The scene pointed
to a tragic accident.

The deputy coroner
arrived to figure out

exactly how Steven had died.

Initial
signs suggested

a fatal fall down the stairs.

But the deputy
coroner also noticed

that Steven's face
had a grayish pallor

and concluded his
probable cause of death.

Apparently, the coroner
had seen a discoloration

of his skin
and immediately thought

that it was a heart attack.

A simple matter of him
having a heart attack

and falling down the stairs.

When
the deputy coroner

offered to take
Steven Clayton's body

to the morgue
to run some tests,

Lana made a snap decision.

She
indicated that she did

not want an autopsy performed.

She wanted to have
him cremated,

so she asked that he be taken
to a local funeral home.

She gave them the name
of the funeral home

and the body was
removed at that point.

Although Steven's
body was already on its way

to the funeral home,
there was still

one close family
member who had not even

been informed of his death.

Nick
suggested and said,

why hasn't Chris got here yet?

And he came
to learn, Chris, who

was the nephew of Steven
and very, very close,

like a son to Steven,
had not even been called.

So he told Lana, we
need to call Chris.

He needs to know.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
And when he said that to Lana,

she went berserk.

She did not want
Christopher to be there.

She did not want
to notify Christopher.

That was an outrage
to Nick because he

knew of their closeness.

Even though Lena
was very insistent

that Christopher not be called.

Nick did the right
thing, and he called

Christopher immediately.

When Christopher
learned of Steven's death.

He relayed the sad
news to Rosie.

The first thing I heard
my nephew crying like a baby,

saying, Uncle Steve is
gone, Uncle Steve is gone.

And I couldn't speak.

I had to hand
the phone to my husband

because I couldn't speak.

It was not news that I
was prepared to hear.

He was a very good person,
and he was my best friend.

And every single
day I miss him.

After
informing Rosie and

the rest of Steven Clayton's
extended family in Florida

about his sudden death
from a heart attack, which

may have led to a fatal
fall down the stairs,

Steven's nephew Chris
went to the family's

South Carolina home to be
with his grieving family.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
Christopher

arrived at the house,
his wife met him there,

and so he was coming
to comfort Lana.

And Chris continued to try
to reassure her by saying,

you don't have to worry
about anything, Lana.

Uncle Steve has everything
written down in his will.

And she immediately told
him there is no will.

And this could not have
been further from the truth.

Not only did Christopher
know about the will,

Christopher had seen the will.

It was so large,
it was practically

the size of a ream of paper.

Lana continued
to insist that there

was no will, to the point
that she became

infuriated with Christopher.

It was
clear to them at that point

something was off.

This wasn't right, and this
needed to be looked at further.

You would imagine that having
been married for five years,

that Lana would be
aware of the existence

of a will, especially
when a husband is

financially very successful.

It does suggest a real
disconnect between the family

unit and Lana.

And that kind
of suggests either

that they're both receiving
different information,

or that there's something else
going on there that's kind

of hidden beneath the surface.

Thrown
by Lana Clayton's denial

of the existence of a will.

Steven's nephews went upstairs
to check out his bedroom,

where they found
a shocking scene.

In the bedroom, they

see the bed is in disarray.

The bed is filthy.

There's vomit on the bed.

The mattress is soaked
with urine, so soaked

that the urine has
actually started

to puddle beneath the mattress,
underneath the bed.

The thing you have
to know about Steven

is that he was an extremely
fastidious individual.

He was very clean.

He would sometimes
shower twice a day.

To be lying in a pool
of his own bodily fluids

is not only an undignified
situation for any human being,

but it is absolutely
not one that my brother

would find himself in.

The second
thing was they couldn't

find his phone anywhere.

It wasn't in the bedroom,
which also struck them as odd

because he was
glued to his phone,

and if he was bedridden
for several days,

his phone should have been
right there next to him,

but it wasn't.

So things
were really jumping

out to Nick at this point.

Why hadn't Lana
called 911 herself?

There were two phones
in the house at the time.

Why she had to run out
onto the street asking

someone else to call 911.

It was also really
strange that Lana

didn't give Steve CPR herself.

She was a nurse.

She was medically trained
to know how to do that.

This was really unusual.

Despite
Nick's misgivings,

the official verdict was
that Steven's fatal fall

was caused by a heart attack
and no foul play was involved.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
This was not

a suspicious enough situation.

They felt that they could
rely upon the coroner, and

the coroner's perspective that
because of his discoloration

in his face, that this
was clearly a heart attack

and that he had fallen
down the stairs.

So they had no reason
to look further into it.

Later that evening,
Steven's sister Rosie

called Lana to ask how
Steven had gotten so ill

and why she hadn't heard
from him in the days

leading up to his death.

I finally got
a return call from Lana

after having called
her numerous times,

and it was approximately
3 o'clock in the morning.

And she was inebriated.

She was angry, and she had
no empathy for the fact

that I had just
lost my brother.

She was livid that Steve's
family members were letting her

know that there was a will.

When she claimed that she knew
for a fact that there wasn't.

I asked her what was
going on prior to this,

and she told me that he
had been feeling ill,

and I asked her,
where were you?

And she said, I was
out mowing the lawn.

And I said,
but aren't you telling

me that he was violently ill.

If he was violently
ill, why were

you outside mowing the lawn?

And just as a knee
jerk reaction,

she said, because he
was being so needy.

When I asked her why
it was that I wasn't

able to hear from him when
I texted him or called him,

she said somewhat
nonchalantly, I'm not sure,

maybe it's at the bottom
of the lake.

That almost made my heart stop
because I knew that my brother

wouldn't be without a phone.

That was the moment when I felt
something was terribly wrong.

As the call
progressed,

Rosie became even
more shocked by what

Lana Clayton was saying.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE: Lana
tried to tell me that Steve

was a hardcore drug user.

I know my brother and he was
not a hardcore drug user.

The reason why
she started to say

what she said
about the drug use

is as an excuse to have him
cremated right away, so it

wouldn't be embarrassing
to his family

that they would find
hardcore drugs in his system.

There's now this accumulation
of unusual behaviors coming

from Lana around the
circumstances of this death,

and it is driving
this kind of wedge

between her and the family.

Later that day after
Rosie's early hours phone call,

Lana also spoke
to Steven's nephew,

Chris, banning him
and others from coming

to the family house.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE: She
said only her children

were allowed in the house.

She didn't want
family members there,

and she said that
there was going

to be a memorial
service at some point,

and that's when I could come.

Aside from keeping everybody
in the family away,

she immediately gave
away all of his clothes.

My brother had a really
lovely collection of watches.

None of that was found.

My brother was a collector
of art and sculpture.

These things were also missing.

Imagine, my brother hadn't
even been dead for 24 hours,

and she's already getting
rid of all the clothes?

This doesn't make sense to me.

This doesn't make
any sense at all.

Steve's sister Rosie
was well within her right

to be upset and confused
by Lana selling off

all of his property so fast.

It is very unusual.

It's very fast,
and especially when

he has other family members
who might want to be

involved in that process.

On the other hand, you could
say that actually this behavior

is that of a traumatized
woman trying

to rid herself
of the reminders of her husband

that are surrounding her.

So there are explanations, but
it is still unusual behavior.

Suspicious
of Lana's behavior

and the state of Steven
Clayton's bedroom, his nephews

Nick and Chris
decided to take action

to find out if it was
just a tragic accident

or something more sinister.

Could he even have been pushed?

They wanted to get
to the truth.

They did not
believe that Steve

had died of natural
causes, and they

wanted to get a secret
autopsy done before Lana

got Steve cremated.

Nick, of his
own volition, went

to the York County
Sheriff's Office

and laid out his
concerns, told them

why he felt something was wrong
and asked for their assistance

in getting an autopsy.

The coroner listened
to their concerns

and agreed that this was a case
that merited further inquiry.

So she directed
that the body be

retrieved from the funeral
home, taken to the morgue,

and ordered an autopsy
to be performed on it.

But Nick had
one more request,

and that was to run toxicology
tests on Steve's blood.

A toxicologist
is a specific type of scientist

who examines bodily
fluids to determine

the presence
of foreign chemicals

or foreign agents that may have
also impacted or caused brought

about the death of someone.

So a toxicology was
ordered in this case,

and blood was sent
off to a toxicologist.

While they
waited for Steven's body

to be collected from the
funeral home for the autopsy,

his police officer
nephew Nick decided

to dig deeper
into the circumstances

surrounding his uncle's death.

My nephew felt that
it was imperative

that we have as much
information as possible and

as quickly as possible.

Nick called
some contacts in the police

department to try and get
them to investigate

what had happened,
but he hit a brick wall.

He then decided to hire
a private investigator

to look around into some
of the circumstances

surrounding Steve's death.

The investigator found
that Lana was trying

to liquidate Steve's assets.

They also found that she had
a fire pit in her garden,

and she had been burning
various documents

that belonged to Steve.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
Everything

that was in my brother's
filing cabinets

and there were two
large filing cabinets,

was all dumped
into the fire pit.

As the investigation
continued,

Steven Clayton's
autopsy results

were released to police,
including his nephew Nick.

Steve's autopsy
results came back and

showed that he had had
heart disease, which

supported the initial
theory that he

had died of natural causes.

But Steve's family
would have to wait

a lot longer for the toxicology
report, which takes

a lot longer to come back.

Meanwhile,
Steven's body was returned

to the funeral home for
cremation, and on August 4th,

two weeks after Steven died,
Lana held a private memorial

service at the family home.

There were a lot
of Steve's mentees there,

and Steve's closest
friends were there,

but there was just an air
of something bizarre.

Lana's behavior at the memorial
was very out of the ordinary.

She wore a red and white
dress, sundress.

She didn't act like a person
who had just lost somebody

that was dear to them.

She didn't interact much
with many of the guests.

She only interacted
with the neighbors.

There were many of us that
had a tremendous amount

of suspicion, but there
was absolutely

nothing that we could
do until the toxicology

reports came back.

About two weeks
after Stevens memorial,

the report was finally released
to Stevens nephews, Nick

and Chris.

It revealed that he had
the presence of a large amount

of tetrahydrozoline, which is
the active ingredient in Visine

in his system 68
nanograms per milliliter,

which was a lethal load
of tetrahydrozoline.

Visine is an eye
drop, but there

are many different products
that serve this purpose that

have tetrahydrozoline in them.

When you use eye drops to get
the red out of your eyes,

that's the thing in that eye
drop actually does the job.

It's a vasoconstrictor.

It takes blood vessels that are
expanded and narrows them down.

It does the same thing
when you ingest it

and your blood vessels
will constrict.

It can make you sick
by nauseating you.

It can make you dizzy.

It can make you pass out.

And ultimately,
it can kill you,

because your blood
vessels are too narrow

and your heart is
working too hard

to try to pump blood
through tubes that have

been narrowed by this drug.

Using eye drops
appropriately, you

would expect to find 0.38
nanograms per milliliter

in the body.

Steven had 68 nanograms
per milliliter,

which is 1,000 times more than
what you would normally find.

Now, the question arises,
how did that tetrahydrozoline

get into Mr. Clayton's body?

And that is not something
that would naturally occur.

So somebody must
have put it into him.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
The morning

that the toxicology
report became available,

the phone rang, and it
was my nephew Christopher,

and through fighting back
tears and anger, he screamed.

She did it.

She killed him.
She did it.

She killed him.

The report really said that
my brother had been murdered.

That he had been
intentionally poisoned.

I could barely
speak with anyone

because there was no way
that anyone would want

to cause that kind
of harm to someone as kind

and generous
and loving as Steven.

It was
initially believed

that Steven Clayton
had a heart attack

and potentially
fell to his death

at his South Carolina home.

But a toxicology
test on his blood

shockingly revealed
that he was actually

killed by a lethal overdose
of a chemical called

tetrahydrozoline,
also known as THZ

commonly found in eye drops.

THZ constricts blood vessels,
causing severe nausea.

Extremely low blood pressure,
and in Steven's case, death.

When that
toxicology report came back,

the police had
something definitive.

Up until that point,
they didn't have much.

But this report now showed
that Steve had been poisoned.

Police
were now dealing

with a potential murder.

But did the poison
alone kill Steven?

Or was he poisoned and then
pushed to his death?

Investigators were
determined to find out.

On August 17th,
2018, the York County

Sheriff's Office
launched an investigation

into Steve's death.

12 days later,
on August 29th, 2018,

just over one month
after Steven died,

his wife Lana Clayton
was called to the York

County Coroner's office.

The Coroner
and the Sheriff's office

agreed that the best way
to conduct the interview would

be just to bring her in for
the purpose of discussing

with the Coroner the results
of the autopsy and toxicology.

The Coroner
and the Sheriff's Office

did not want her to know
that the Sheriff's office

was involved at that point.

They didn't want
to arouse her suspicions.

So the police would
not be in the room

where the initial
interview was conducted.

They would be
in an adjacent room,

monitoring, and listening
to what was going on.

One of the most
interesting features

of the interview
with the Coroner

was the fact that
completely unsolicited,

Lana volunteered
that her husband used

to put a couple of drops
of Visine in his morning coffee

to help keep regular, that
he used that to help him

move his bowels each morning.

This was not responsive
to anything in particular.

At this point
in time, she didn't

even know that the toxicology
report revealed what it did.

In terms of human
behavior, if you're

volunteering information
before being asked about it,

it's often because you're
implying your innocence,

because you don't believe
this is information

that can implicate you.

So in this case where Lana
is volunteering information

about the eye
drops, that implies

that she's trying
to reassert her innocence and

the innocence of this chemical
being in Steve's system.

Not long
after Lana's admission,

detectives entered the room.

When the
investigators entered the room,

Lana barely flinched.

It was as though she had
been expecting them to come.

Detectives began to pick
holes in Lana's story.

How could Steve have been
putting these drops of Visine

into his coffee when
she alleged that he

was so sick and bedridden.

It was at this point that
Lana's tact totally changed.

She then started to blame Steve
and to attack his character.

In criminology,
there's a theory

called ideal victim
theory that basically

says that the more tarnished
someone's character is,

the less readily they're given
status as a legitimate victim,

basically meaning that
if someone has performed

negative X, the general
population have less

sympathy for them as a victim.

And so I think this is Lana's
attempt to basically reduce

public sympathy for Steve.

So people stop looking
into it so much

and stop asking
as many questions.

The information
she's providing

about his character
doesn't really

move the needle on whether
or not he was murdered

or how he was murdered.

All of that is irrelevant
to the central question

of how did that Visine, how
did that get into his system.

As the interview progressed,
Lana became more and more aware

that she was the focus
of the interview

and she was an object
of suspicion.

And the interview there
at the Coroner's office

terminated when she invoked
her right to counsel

and said she did not wish
to answer any further questions

without an attorney present.

Later that
day, investigators

searched the Claytons
home looking for eye drops

containing THZ.

They would
be looking for anything that

had any Visine residue in it.

Glasses, cups,
anything like that,

that would help inform
the investigation

on the circumstances
of this man's death.

The police were able to find
some Visine in the house.

Not unusual amounts
but the bulk of the items

seized revolved around digital
evidence that would help

have a better understanding
of what had taken place.

At about 6:15.

Detective Moats, who had
been at the Coroner's office,

arrived at the house,
and the search was

concluding at about that time.

Shortly thereafter, while
he was at the house,

he was approached
by Lana, who asked

him if she could speak to him.

He started a recorder
and recorded the conversation

that took place.

Lana admitted that she
had, in fact, administered

the Visine to her
husband, Steven,

that she had been the one
who gave it to him.

It was very helpful that
she admitted this first,

because it resolved the issue
of who gave him the THZ,

but secondly, because it did
so in a recorded fashion that

would be incontrovertible
in court.

At that point, we had
enough information

and evidence to file
murder charges against her.

The police were set to arrest
Lana for Steve's murder,

but then they receive a call
from one of her neighbors

saying that Lana had
been found unconscious.

When the police go there,
the gas has been left on

and Lana is surrounded
by sleeping tablets.

After going
to Lana Clayton's home

to arrest her for the murder
of her husband Steven,

and finding her unconscious
after an apparent suicide

attempt, police
rushed to save her.

When they arrived
at the house,

they found her upstairs
in the bed, unresponsive.

They found suicide notes
apologizing for her behavior.

They were able to get
her to the hospital.

She was treated there.

She was not
in serious condition.

After a few hours, they were
able to take her to the jail

and book her in.

Dr. HONOR DORO
Lana's attempt

at taking her own
life really implies

different things based
on whether she's guilty or not.

If she's innocent,
then this is a woman

who has experienced significant
trauma, but if she's guilty,

then this is someone perhaps
trying to escape from the mess

that they've created and don't
seem that they can get out of.

On August 31st,
Lana was taken to York County

Detention Center, where she was
then charged with murder and

tampering with a food or drug.

News
of Lana's arrest spread

to Steven Clayton's
family and friends.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
If you ask me

how I felt at that
moment, for me,

all the questions just kept
getting bigger and bigger.

Because at that moment she
became a real live monster,

a monster capable
of taking away

a person who had represented
so much good in my life

and so much good in the lives
of so many people.

After her arrest, Lana
continued to disparage Steven.

She continued to paint
a picture of an abusive person

and make herself out to be
the victim of his abuse.

She claimed that
Steve had been

emotionally
and physically abusive

to her, that he was
a heavy drug user.

And that he had viewed
child abuse images.

But the toxicology
report only showed

that he had a small amount
of marijuana and prescription

temazepam in his system.

And when investigators
checked his computer,

there was no
evidence to support

Lana's allegations that
he had child abuse images.

She
started accusing him

of being an abusive husband.

So one of the things
we wanted to find out

was what the other women
he had been married to

had experienced.

None of the wives that he had
previously been married to ever

indicated that he was abusive.

They characterized him
as a loving, caring husband,

and they said their time
with him was some

of the best in their lives.

She said that he was
abusive, but at the same time

she would send me text messages
saying how very much in love

they were.

So I think she was
grasping at any sympathy

that she could get from
any person, and none of it

made sense.

With Lana
in custody awaiting trial.

Police check through
their records

for any previously reported
incidents at the Clayton home.

There was only one
when we did that.

One incident that the police
had been called out

to the Clayton
household, and when

we researched that
incident report and read

through it, the already bizarre
case became even more unusual.

What we came to learn after
reading this incident report

was that Lana shot
Steven in the back

of the head with a crossbow
in 2016 at about 3 o'clock

in the morning while
he lay in bed asleep.

Luckily,
it only grazed him when

she was probed about this.

Officer said, had
you had an argument?

She said no,
everything was fine.

Steve was just asleep.

He corroborated that,
said it was just

an accident,
so the case was closed.

Steve's reaction
to the crossbow incident

throws into question
Lana's account

of him being
violent towards her,

the fact that he was so readily
happy to let that slide.

A really serious
and significant incident.

But then,
on the other hand, you

do have to wonder if it
was kind of representative

of an extreme level
of violence that

was becoming quite normalized
in their relationship.

We were very shocked to find
out that this had occurred

a couple of years prior.

The fact that we now knew
that she had been doing this

well prior to what she
did to take his life

was just another reason to feel
sick in the middle of our gut,

because there were just
too many situations where

I would get a phone
call from my brother

after having tried to reach
him for a day or two,

and he'd call me
and say, you're

not going to believe this.

I was asleep for two days.

I had the worst sunstroke.

But now looking back,
she was checking

to see what was the dose that
was going to take his life.

The prosecution
now had a very strong

case against Lana Clayton.

They had the toxicology
report that

showed those fatal amounts of
Visine in Steve's bloodstream.

They had been administered
to him against his will.

They then also had
the fact that Steve

had been bedridden for so long,
and his mobile phone

had just gone missing.

So the question becomes,
why did she do this?

Well, every woman that he'd
ever been married to he

had a prenuptial
agreement with.

He was a very wealthy man.

So we believe one existed
with Lana as well,

but that it was destroyed
by Lana after he

died along with the will.

If there's no will
in South Carolina

and you die without
a will, everything

you have goes to your spouse.

She's the one who stood to
benefit because she was going

to be the sole
beneficiary of his estate,

and that's why she
did what she did.

Our options at this
point was proceed

on a murder charge, which,
if that was going to happen,

she would go to trial.

And then the only
other option was

try to come to some
sort of agreement

with the defense
that would expose her

to what was
the equivalent of life

without having to go to trial.

And we would spare the victim's
family, the rigors of trial,

the trauma of going through
this detailed description

of what their loved
one went through.

We were not going to let
this monster go free.

And there was a great
chance that she could have.

We took the wise counsel of
the people in the solicitor's

office and decided
that we would

go ahead and accept a plea
for voluntary manslaughter.

By accepting a guilty plea,
even of a lower level offense.

That means the family
have secured that there

will be some form of justice.

Whereas, going to trial
on a no guilty plea

on a circumstantial
evidence case

means that they'd run the risk
of there not being any

justice served.

On January
16th, 2020,

Lana Clayton pleaded guilty
to voluntary manslaughter and

tampering with a food or drug.

Our objective was

to secure a sentence that
was tantamount to life,

and ultimately,
the judge concluded

that a 25 year no parole
sentence was appropriate,

so she will remain in jail
until she's 73 years old.

We'll never know for sure
what took place in that house,

but I believe that
Steven Clayton was

poisoned over several days.

It was clear that
she had basically

held him hostage, captive,
using this chemical, before he

finally succumbed to the poison
that was in his system

and collapsed, perhaps falling
down the last few stairs,

landing at the foot of the
stairs where he was found.

This was a prolonged, torturous
experience for Steven Clayton,

and a horrible one that--

that she was the mastermind
and architect

for and wholly responsible.

At court,
Rosie and other members

of Steven's family
were given the chance

to read out their victim
impact statements

in front of the now convicted
murderer, Lana Clayton.

ROSIE CLAYTON-LESLIE:
There was a lot of pain

and at the same time, there
was a feeling of such betrayal

that I could have trusted
somebody with the life

of someone so dear to me.

It was a ruse.

The fact that she was a person
trained in life savings,

she used her training
to cause another person harm.

She stole him from me.

And my heart pities, the agony
that she must have to face.

Not just in this world, but
in whatever world is to come.

But from my own brother,
I learned to forgive.

And I think that that's
the only place that I've

been able to find peace.

Steve is going to be remembered
by everyone who loved him

for his joy and his laughter.

Steve wasn't happy unless he
was making someone else happy.

And that joy is my brother's
greatest legacy.

The joy that he brought to so
many people, and all of them

think about him
and pay that forward.