All language subtitles for Killer couples - 14x06_track3_eng

‐ FEMALE NARRATOR: A mother
and son search for a new start.

‐ She loved being a mom.
That was the light of her life.

‐ NARRATOR:
But a violent intrusion

brings unspeakable heartbreak.

‐ The amount of blood.
This was a horrible crime scene.

‐ You don't take
a shotgun to somebody's face

that's a stranger.
It's too personal.

‐ NARRATOR: As the investigation
into a savage crime unfolds,

dark secrets are exposed.

‐ Could this possibly be someone

who had some kind of
retaliation against her work?

‐ NARRATOR: And buried beneath
it all is a twisted tale

of obsession and revenge.

‐ He's telling her
that if she doesn't do

exactly what he wants,
he's going to go to the police.

‐ It shocked me that
they had that much rage.

They wanted to make it personal.

‐ This is on a complete
other realm of evil.

It was two evil souls
meeting each other.

‐ [gunshot]

‐ ♪

‐ [muffled scream]

[gasps]

‐ ♪♪♪

‐ NARRATOR: Broken Arrow,
Oklahoma is the kind

of close‐knit community where
people take pride in their home

and their neighbors.

‐ Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
is Tulsa's largest suburb.

It's generally viewed
around Tulsa as being...

safe, quiet, a lot of families.

A lot of people here
know each other pretty well.

Everybody kind of
keeps an eye on each other.

‐ NARRATOR: But the town's
friendly charm is disturbed

on November 7th, 2016.

At around 4:30 in the afternoon,
911 dispatchers receive a call

from a concerned resident.

‐ WILLIAM: He goes
into the bedroom,

and then finds
his mom there, dead.

Immediately
he went out of the house

and to a neighbor to call 911.

‐ ♪

‐ NARRATOR: Born in 1977,
Debra Morgan first came

to Broken Arrow as a child in
the nation's foster care system.

She was formally adopted by
Carl and Cheryl Grace in 1988.

‐ CARL: We adopted Debbie
when she was 11 years old.

She was originally from
Buren, Washington, and, uh,

she came to Oklahoma about
a year before we adopted her.

‐ CHERYL: She got
interested in music

and started playing the flute.
She started to thrive.

She played that
through middle school.

‐ Band in our community
is a pretty big deal.

I played clarinet.

So we spent quite
a lot of time together.

She was just Debbie Grace,
the redheaded flute player

and, you know,
just fun to be around.

‐ NARRATOR: But Debra's thoughts
rarely strayed

from her foster care roots.

After graduating from
high school in 1995,

she enrolled in
Northeastern State University

with her eye on a
criminal justice degree.

‐ CHERYL: When she
went off to college,

she wanted to help children.

I think growing up
in the system,

being a foster child herself,

she could relate
to these children

kind of on a one‐on‐one basis,

and knew what
they were going through.

‐ NARRATOR: One year
into her studies,

Debra's plans were put on hold

when she and
her college boyfriend

found out they
were expecting a child.

‐ CARL: She was very excited.

She always wanted
children of her own.

They got married, uh,
her second year of college.

‐ NARRATOR: But the young
marriage was not built to last.

And two years after
the birth of their son,

Debra and her husband
decided to part ways.

‐ CARL: After Debra's divorce,
she got custody of their child,

and her ex‐husband
moved to Texas.

And that's when she
went back to school.

‐ NARRATOR: Debra's
life was back on track.

But it wasn't long before

she yearned for someone
to share it with.

In 2001, she turned to
a dating site for help.

That's where she met
a local computer engineer

named Richard Spaulding.

‐ After her divorce,
I think she was vulnerable,

and started a
relationship with him.

‐ CARL: She said that
he was very charming,

and that he was what
she needed at that time.

Rick was a musician,
and she loved her music,

so that‐‐she was
attracted to that.

‐ NARRATOR: Debra's chemistry
with Rick was undeniable.

And it wasn't long before
their casual romance grew

into something more serious.

One year into
their relationship,

Debra graduated from college

with her
criminal justice degree.

‐ CARL: When she graduated,

she applied with the
Department of Human Services,

which was her dream job.
She loved what she did.

‐ NARRATOR: Meanwhile, Debra's
own family continued to grow.

In December 2003, she and Rick
welcomed a beautiful baby boy.

‐ She loved being a mom.
She had two boys now.

So, that was kind of
the light of her life.

‐ NARRATOR: But Debra's life
wasn't immune from challenges.

Three years after the
birth of her second son,

her family became aware of a
noticeable change in Debra's

typically bright
and happy personality.

The once talkative
and outgoing 29‐year‐old

had suddenly grown more
withdrawn and secretive.

‐ CARL: It was a period of time

where we didn't hear
from Debbie at all.

No text, no calls.

We'd call her
and it'd go to voicemail.

And we‐‐we didn't really
know what was going on.

‐ NARRATOR: Finally, in 2006,
her family discovered the reason

for the sudden shift
in Debra's demeanor.

‐ CARL: She just called us
one night and said that, uh,

she'd like to bring
the boys down to see us.

And she did, and then, uh,

she explained that
she and Rick had separated.

‐ NARRATOR: At the time, Debra
had been tight‐lipped about

her reason for the breakup,

other than explaining
that after five years,

she and Rick
had reached a point

of irreconcilable differences.

While she and Rick continued

working out a custody
arrangement for their son,

Debra decided it would be best

if her oldest child
went to live with his father.

‐ She called her ex‐husband and
asked him to drive in from Texas

to pick up the oldest son,

just to get him away
from the situation.

‐ NARRATOR: In the meantime,
Debra focused all her energy

on providing a stable
environment

for her youngest son, Aiden.

She eventually settled
into a comfortable home

in the Tulsa suburb
of Broken Arrow.

‐ ANNE: Everything she did,
she did for her son, 150%.

So that was the
main goal in her life,

was to keep her son safe
and raise him right.

‐ ♪

‐ NARRATOR: But now, 39‐year‐old
Debra Morgan has been found dead

inside her home.

And Broken Arrow police

are trying to find out
what happened.

‐ Debra was alone until
her son found her.

And initially, the speculation

was that she had
committed suicide.

‐ WILLIAM: That was one option
that we were looking at.

However, we were not able

to find a gun
anywhere near the body.

That told us that
this was a homicide.

This was a horrible crime scene.
Debra was laying on her bed

and obviously had the
significant wound to her head,

indicating that this
was possibly a shotgun blast

that had, uh, caused this wound.

There was nothing to indicate
there was any signs of struggle.

It appeared that she had been
laying in her bed asleep,

someone walked up to her

and put a shotgun to her face
and pulled the trigger.

‐ KENNETH: There's no signs of
forced entry, no broken locks,

no broken windows.

Nothing was missing
from the house.

So that starts to
rule out a robbery.

‐ NARRATOR: The excessive
force used by the shooter

also suggests the crime was
likely personal in nature.

‐ You don't take a shotgun
to somebody's face

that's a stranger.
It's too personal.

‐ WILLIAM:
"Who could've done it?"

I don't know, but it's my job
to determine who did this

and the reason they did this.

‐ NARRATOR: Coming up: police
track down their first clue.

‐ NARRATOR: And a new discovery
from Debra's past

points to a potential suspect.

‐ WILLIAM: He was visibly upset.

We asked him what
happened with Debra.

‐ ♪

‐ ♪

‐ NARRATOR: Police in
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

are investigating the murder

of 39‐year‐old
single mother Debra Morgan...

after her 12‐year‐old son,
Aiden, returned home from school

and found her
shot to death in her bed.

‐ WILLIAM: From what we can tell
with‐‐this person probably was

clothed head to toe to
avoid, you know, leaving DNA.

We dusted the entire house
trying to find fingerprints,

but, uh, we were unsuccessful.

‐ NARRATOR: Police next
canvass Debra's neighborhood,

in search of anyone

who may have seen or heard
anything suspicious.

‐ WILLIAM: We did make contact
with a neighbor whose‐‐

their house backed up to
Debra's.

‐ KENNETH: She heard
a loud pop or bang,

which we believe to be
the‐‐the gunshot blast

coming from the direction
of Debra's house.

‐ WILLIAM: She was in her
bedroom sleeping at 3:00,

3:30 in the morning.
She heard what sounded like

someone walking
through the backyard.

Based on this information,
it would indicate that someone

had gone into Debra's house,
shot her with that shotgun

between 3:00 and 3:30,
and walked through that yard

to make their getaway.

‐ NARRATOR: Unfortunately,
no one got a look

at the individual.

And without any other
leads to follow,

homicide detectives turn

to the 911 call
with Debra's son, Aiden,

to see if there's any
additional information

to glean from it.

‐ NARRATOR: In the call, Aiden
mentions that he had spent

the weekend with his dad,
Rick Spaulding...

but that Monday, as usual,

he took the bus to his
mom's house after school.

‐ WILLIAM: When he
got into the house,

it was sometime around 4:15
to 4:30, in that time range.

He didn't have his key
because he had lost it

at his dad's house,
uh, some time prior.

He used the keypad on the
garage to open the garage door.

As he made his way to the house,
he noticed that the door

that led from the garage
into the house was ajar.

‐ NARRATOR: To learn more
about Debra's relationships,

police reach out
to her next of kin,

who are devastated
to learn of her passing.

‐ They just said that‐‐that she
had been found dead and that,

uh...uh, they didn't know‐‐
at this point,

they‐‐they were
keeping the investigation

pretty much under wraps.

‐ We were in shock.
Uh, we were in disbelief.

‐ NARRATOR: When detectives
press them for information about

Debra's love life, they confirm
that she had in fact been dating

a man named Tony in the months
leading up to her murder.

‐ He had been friends
with Debra for a short time.

And they've kind of had

an on‐again and off‐again,
um, relationship.

We did make contact with him.

We asked him if he knew anything
about what happened with Debra.

Once we had informed him
that Debra had been killed,

he was visibly upset,
and, uh, it seemed to us

that he had no idea
what had taken place.

He explained to us that he had
just tried to call her, uh,

a few minutes before we had,
uh, made contact with him,

indicating that he wasn't
aware that she had been killed.

‐ NARRATOR:
Tony provides an alibi

for the night of the shooting
that police are able to verify.

Once he's cleared of any
connection to Debra's murder,

detectives ask if he had
witnessed any recent conflicts

in Debra's life.

That's when one particular
incident comes to mind.

‐ SAMANTHA:
Debra actually had a roommate

with whom she had
a disagreement.

And the roommate had moved out
pretty recently before she died.

‐ WILLIAM: The argument
ultimately ended up

with the roommate moving out.

This was something
that we needed to look at.

‐ NARRATOR: Later that day,
detectives meet with Debra's

former roommate at her
new residence across town.

‐ WILLIAM: From talking to her,
the falling out

was simply a verbal argument

over keeping the
house clean, and paying bills,

and typical things that
roommates argue about.

‐ NARRATOR: When an alibi
for the roommate checks out,

detectives are able to cross her
off the potential suspect list.

‐ She had an alibi, and, uh,
obviously from talking to her,

we could tell that
she did not do this

from the answers
that she gave us.

‐ SAMANTHA: Broken Arrow Police
Department didn't have a lot

of leads or information
to go off of.

Debra was not known as
a person who got in trouble,

either legally or otherwise.

‐ WILLIAM: Debra worked for
Child Protective Services.

One thought was could this
possibly be someone who had

some kind of retaliation
against Debra for, uh,

something she may have been
involved in with her work.

‐ NARRATOR: To follow
up on the theory,

detectives head
for Debra's Tulsa office

to meet with her coworkers...

who confirm that Debra's work

could occasionally put her
in intense situations.

‐ KERI: Debra was a Child
Welfare Specialist IV,

which is a supervisor.

They supervise field staff
who work cases

with families and children
who are in DHS custody.

‐ CARL: Debbie would interview
parents and children,

and sometimes she was actually
forced to remove children

from their parents
for a period of time.

‐ LAURA: Typically when kids
are removed from their parents,

it's for a variety of reasons.

It can be abuse.
It can be neglect.

It can be substance abuse.

Something that puts
them at imminent risk.

‐ Maybe taking a child
away from a family,

someone was
disgruntled about that.

‐ KERI: I don't know of
anyone that didn't like her.

She was a hard worker.
She always seemed happy.

‐ WILLIAM: If Debra had any
enemies, we couldn't find any.

It appeared that she
was very well liked, um,

with both friends and coworkers.

‐ NARRATOR: But when
investigators begin to ask

Debra's colleagues about
her life outside of work,

they have much more to say.

‐ KERI: When I heard
that her son found her,

I broke down crying.
And I just immediately thought,

"Oh, my gosh, where is he?
Where's‐‐where's her son?

I hope that he's not with Rick."

I just felt so strongly that

Rick had to have
something to do with it.

‐ NARRATOR: Coming up: police
uncover dark secrets about

Debra's former relationship
with Rick Spaulding.

‐ Debra would talk about some
of the reasons why their son

wasn't safe at Rick's house.

‐ NARRATOR: And a new suspect
pops up on detectives' radar.

‐ Her and Rick had been
in a romantic relationship

in the past, and we weren't sure

exactly what she was
willing to do for Rick.

‐ ♪

‐ ♪

‐ NARRATOR: After 39‐year‐old
Debra Morgan is found

shot to death inside her home
in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma,

her coworkers
are convinced police

should be looking at her ex,
Rick Spaulding.

‐ We were still,
you know, just thinking

that Rick murdered Debra.

‐ WILLIAM: We learned
that there had been

a lengthy custody battle between

both Rick and Debra
over child custody,

and this had been going through
the courts for some time.

‐ NARRATOR: The bad blood
between the couple

had been deep‐rooted.

At the time of their break‐up,

Debra hadn't told anyone
why she'd left Rick.

But she had recently revealed
to both her parents

and a few of her closest friends

just how ugly things had gotten
before she decided to leave.

‐ She was in a domestic
violent relationship

with Rick in the past.

Physical abuse and
mental abuse, emotional abuse.

‐ Debra would talk about some
of the reasons why their son

wasn't safe at Rick's house.

Mostly because of the‐‐the
violence that she incurred.

She believed that her son just
wasn't safe to be around that.

‐ NARRATOR: For the timebeing,

Debra had full custody
of the couple's son.

But Rick had denied
the abuse claims

and was fighting her in court.

And the longer the
custody dispute dragged on,

the uglier things got.

‐ CHERYL: There was times
when she would just call us,

and she would just be,
you know, totally in tears.

Things were coming to such
a head that I don't think

emotionally she was able to
handle much more if he continued

to treat her in this way.

‐ Rick hadn't paid her child
support in a very long time.

She felt like Rick was trying to
regain custody of their child.

‐ EDWARD: He was $10,000
behind in child support.

I remember trying to
counsel him and say,

"You got every other weekend
and one night a week.

"Make the best of it
and let this stuff go.

Put it behind you."

And he just wouldn't
seem to do that.

‐ From the conversations that
Debra and I had was that Aiden

wasn't Rick's, um, priority.
The priority was to win.

The priority was
for Debra to lose.

‐ He kept accruing
more child support debt.

‐ KENNETH: At that
point in time,

the judge started to fine him
a‐‐a certain monetary amount

per day for his failure
to comply.

‐ KERI: About two weeks
before Debra died,

she came to my office
and was talking to me

about upcoming court hearings.

She was concerned
because she was told

that at the next court hearing,

he would either be
ordered to pay a certain amount

or he would go to jail.

‐ NARRATOR: Police learn
the next court date

was November 8th, one day
after Debra was found murdered.

The timing is too eerie
for detectives to ignore.

So they arrange for
Rick Spaulding to meet them

for a formal interview.

‐ WILLIAM: Rick described
his relationship with Debra

as being somewhat, uh, difficult

and that there had been
some issues from their past

that were ongoing with Rick.

‐ NARRATOR:
Outside of courtrooms,

Rick tells police he has

little to do
with Debra recently.

For the last year, he's been
happily seeing another woman:

34‐year‐old Sonia Weidenfelder.

‐ WILLIAM: Rick described
Sonia as his fiancée,

and they did live in
Sonia's house together.

‐ SAMANTHA: Sonia
was born in Tulsa.

When she turned 20,
she got married,

but divorced 10 years later,
and had a daughter.

Then she met Richard Spaulding,

who she had been dating
since 2015.

‐ NARRATOR: In fact, it was
plans with Sonia's daughter

that Rick says took up
much of his time

on the day Debra
had been murdered.

He, Sonia, and his son, Aiden,
had spent that afternoon driving

Sonia's daughter to her
father's home in Arkansas.

‐ Sonia's daughter had
stayed with them, uh,

on that Saturday night.

So they drove to Arkansas
to return Sonia's daughter

back home to her
dad's house on Sunday,

and then returned home sometime

between 9:00 and 10:00 o'clock
at night.

‐ NARRATOR: Rick tells police
he hadn't been home long

before an old friend called,

looking for help
with her computer.

‐ Rick went to visit
a woman named Kathy Trevino.

‐ KENNETH: Rick had an
explanation for going over

to Kathy Trevino's,
about trying to help her

set up some computer thing.

Rick was good with
computers and technology.

‐ WILLIAM: He arrived there
sometime approximately at 10:45,

stayed for approximately 45
minutes, and then returned home.

On his way home, he did
stop at a gas station nearby

and went inside and paid.

‐ NARRATOR: After his
stop at the gas station,

Rick says he then returned
to Sonia's house in Tulsa,

where he says he remained
for the rest of the night.

‐ Rick says,
"I have no connection to this.

"I have nothing to hide.

You know, ask me what
questions you want."

‐ NARRATOR: Detectives know
that if Rick's alibi checks out,

it would've been impossible
for him to commit the crime.

But is Rick telling the truth?

In an effort to find out,
police turn their attention

to his fiancée,
Sonia Weidenfelder.

‐ Sonia did come in a few hours
after we had interviewed Rick

and spoke with us.

We began to ask her about
her relationship with Rick.

‐ NARRATOR: Sonia tells
detectives that she and Rick

had met the same way
he'd met Debra Morgan,

on an online dating site.

‐ KENNETH: It seems things
were‐‐were going well.

She said, you know, he was
very charming, very personable.

That their relationship
had moved pretty fast.

‐ SAMANTHA: She had a pretty
stable job in the medical field,

had a normal life.

But Rick, his employment
was less stable.

So the money that Sonia would
make would end up getting used

for...things related to Rick.

‐ NARRATOR: Sonia admits that
the biggest of these expenses

was the ongoing
custody battle with Debra.

‐ KENNETH: She was voluntarily
dedicating all of her funds

to try and to help Rick's legal
case, to keep him out of jail,

and to see if they could prevail
in the‐‐in the custody battles

with Debra Morgan.

Whatever it is that will
help Rick was Sonia's goal.

The way that Sonia
had described, you know,

the‐‐the custody battle itself
was entirely contrary

to what everyone had told us.
It was not that big of a deal.

"It's gonna be fine.
Our life is peachy."

‐ NARRATOR: But as detectives
press Sonia about

Rick's impending court date,

she eventually admits
that Rick was feeling stressed.

And she says he'd seemed
particularly anxious

on the night
of Debra's murder...

after he returned home from his
friend Kathy Trevino's house.

‐ WILLIAM: After Rick got
back home around midnight,

Sonia described Rick
as being agitated,

and he was pacing
back and forth.

She finally insisted that Rick
come to bed and go to sleep

because she had to go
to work the next day.

‐ NARRATOR: Detectives ask Sonia
if she left the house

at any point that night.

She admits she
did make one trip.

‐ WILLIAM: She stated sometime
around 4:00AM, she woke up,

realized that she didn't have
bread to fix school lunches

for tomorrow,

and got out of bed and went to
the convenience store

that was close by
to their house.

We thought this was odd that she
would leave the house at 4:00 AM

instead of just waiting until
she would normally get up

to start her day.

‐ NARRATOR: The timing is
especially interesting

given the witness testimony
that suggests

Debra Morgan had been
killed between 3:00 and 3:30AM.

Detectives can't help but
question if the store

wasn't Sonia's only stop.

‐ WILLIAM: We knew that someone
had made entry into the house

without forced entry.

And Debra's son had mentioned
that he had lost his key.

‐ SAMANTHA: So the police
in turn asked Sonia

if they were
able to find that key,

and she said she
found it in the laundry.

‐ KENNETH: Once you have
that piece of information,

it gives you the evidence that
Rick and Sonia had access

to a key which would
unlock the back door.

‐ NARRATOR: For detectives,
it's all too convenient.

But so far, the evidence
is only circumstantial.

Police will need
more to build a case

against either Sonia or Rick.

‐ WILLIAM: At this time, our job

was to eliminate
these persons of interest.

We did request a search warrant
for Rick Spaulding's cell phone.

‐ NARRATOR: As they wait for a
judge to approve the warrant,

detectives look into
Rick's alibi

for the night of the murder.

‐ WILLIAM: We met
with Kathy Trevino,

the person that
Rick had met with

the evening before
Debra was killed.

She stated that he arrived at
her house

sometime around
10:45 in the evening time

and was there for
approximately 45 minutes.

‐ NARRATOR: Kathy also tells
police that there was more

to her relationship with
Rick than he had let on.

‐ WILLIAM: Kathy had told us
that her and Rick had been

in a romantic relationship
in the past.

Rick treated her as a confidante
and, uh, would confide in her,

which threw another wrench
into our investigation.

We weren't sure exactly what

Kathy was willing to do
for Rick.

‐ NARRATOR:
Coming up: a new admission

exposes a deadly conspiracy.

‐ She talks about she has a plan
that's real and it's permanent,

but she can't put it over text.

‐ NARRATOR: But will police
be able to make an arrest

before it's too late?

‐ We had concern that
they may try to run.

‐ ♪

‐ ♪

‐ NARRATOR: Oklahoma police
investigating the murder

of Debra Morgan have focused
on her ex, Rick Spaulding.

And they're hoping Rick's
ex‐girlfriend, Kathy Trevino,

can tell them more about
what Rick had been up to

on the night of Debra's murder.

‐ SAMANTHA: One of Rick's
ex‐girlfriends, Kathy,

sees him around 10:30PM
on November 6, 2016.

Kathy was aware
that Rick and Debra

didn't have
a very good relationship,

and that they had
a pretty lengthy custody battle

going on in court.

‐ NARRATOR: Contrary to what
Rick had told detectives,

Kathy says it was Rick who
wanted to meet that night.

‐ Rick had said he
wanted to come over and see her.

‐ SAMANTHA: During
this conversation,

he seems to concede that
he's gonna spend time in jail

for failure
to pay child support.

And so he asks her to look after

some guitars of his
while he's away.

‐ KENNETH: He also made some
comments about Kathy going

to school to pick up
his son, which was...

interesting, because it wasn't
his day to have the son.

She's never done this before.

So for some reason, Rick is now
involving her in the son's life.

‐ SAMANTHA: This worries her.

She thought that he
was possibly suicidal.

‐ NARRATOR: Despite her concern,
Kathy says she found it strange

that Rick contacted her
again when he got home.

‐ SAMANTHA: She gets
a text from Rick that says

that he's made it home safely.

And she thought that was unusual

because he didn't text her
that kind of thing.

‐ KENNETH: For us, it appears
to be this is the timeline

Rick was trying to
get himself an alibi,

for Rick to be able to say,
"Look, I was at her house.

I couldn't have done it."

‐ NARRATOR: Detectives are
growing more suspicious

of Rick Spaulding with
every new development.

And when they finally get
approval for their warrant

to subpoena Rick's
cell phone records,

they make an even more
startling discovery.

‐ On the initial, uh,
review of his cell phone,

we did find a screenshot
of a text message

that had been deleted.

We were able to retrieve
that deleted text message,

where this was
a thread of conversation

between Rick and Sonia.

Apparently they had been
in a lengthy argument.

‐ KENNETH: The argument was
about Rick not being polite

in the morning and
not getting out of bed.

And from that, he had spun
things out to Sonia about

how she's crazy and telling her

that if she doesn't do
exactly what he wants,

if she doesn't
come and apologize,

then he's going to
go to the police.

‐ NARRATOR: Rick never says
outright what reason

he would have to report
Sonia to the police.

But as detectives look farther
back in the phone records,

it's not too difficult
to read between the lines.

‐ Even in September,
before the murder,

whenever Rick is
very despondent,

Sonia talks about she has a plan
that's real and it's permanent,

but she can't put it over text.

And Rick's response is always
something to the tune

of, "It's a fantasy,
it's not reality."

Everything in writing
is her pushing this idea

and Rick trying
to talk her out of it.

‐ NARRATOR: Detectives quickly
obtain a search warrant

for Sonia's cell phone

and uncover even more
disturbing details.

‐ SAMANTHA:
Sonia had texted Rick

with an idea to poison Debra.

She also had over
a dozen Google searches

for photos of gunshot wounds
to the face.

Pretty consistent with the
injuries shown on Debra's face.

‐ NARRATOR: Arrest warrants
are issued for both

Richard Spaulding
and Sonia Weidenfelder.

From their review of
the couple's text messages,

detectives know there
is no time to waste.

‐ We had found text messages on
their phones where they had

spoken to each other about do
they need to activate their plan

or do they need to
circle their wagons,

which gave us some concern
that they may try to run

or that they had some kind
of‐‐of a plan to get away.

‐ NARRATOR:
The following morning,

detectives make their move.

‐ WILLIAM: We waited for
Rick and‐‐and Sonia to leave

that morning for their day
and followed them to the school,

where they
dropped off their son.

Then Rick drove Sonia
to her place of employment,

and then we took them both
under arrest simultaneously.

‐ ANNE: I was ecstatic
that they were arrested.

It was like, "Finally. Finally,
some form of justice

is gonna start coming through."

‐ NARRATOR: The day
after the arrests,

police get another
big break in the case.

‐ WILLIAM: I was happening
to be driving down the street

when I got a call
from our dispatch.

A city street worker
had found a shotgun

down the street
from Debra's house.

So I immediately drove
to the stormwater drains

where they found a shotgun.

The shotgun was placed
there on the street.

And I observed it, and the
shotgun matched

what I had learned from
these text messages from Rick.

So at this point, I believe
this may be our murder weapon.

The shotgun was still loaded,

and there had been
a spent shell casing,

meaning a round that
had been fired, but not ejected,

still in the gun itself.

We determined that these rounds
were .12‐guage birdshot

that would be consistent with
what we found at the crime scene

and found both within Debra
Morgan's head and her pillow.

‐ NARRATOR: Detectives decide
to keep the discovery

of the shotgun out of
the media and under wraps.

But later that week,
they get a surprising call.

‐ Days after the shotgun was
found is when Rick Spaulding,

with his attorney, reached out
and wanted to make a statement.

What is it that Rick
is gonna try to tell us?

‐ NARRATOR: Coming up: Rick
makes a stunning confession.

‐ He had some type of epiphany.

‐ NARRATOR: But is
he telling the truth?

‐ I just thought,
"That's something

that just can't happen."

‐ ♪

‐ [gunshot]

‐ ♪

‐ ♪

‐ NARRATOR: Police
in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

have found a shotgun
they believe was used

in the murder of Debra Morgan.

Her incarcerated
ex, Rick Spaulding,

has no way of knowing
about the discovery

when he asks to speak to
investigators days later.

‐ WILLIAM: I went down
to the Tulsa County Jail

to speak with him
at his request.

He stated that he had
an opportunity to read

my affidavit for his arrest.

And within that,
he now has discovered

some of these internet searches

that Sonia had
conducted on her phone

that he was not aware of.

‐ NARRATOR: Rick maintains
that he is innocent.

But faced with the contents
of his fiancée's phone data,

Rick says he can longer
stay silent

about Sonia's involvement.

‐ WILLIAM: He had some type of
epiphany which made him realize

that Sonia was indeed the
person who did kill Debra.

He wanted to give us assistance
in investigating Sonia instead.

He then started to describe

how Sonia would
have used this shotgun.

‐ KENNETH: Rick was
trying to speculate

where that shotgun might be.

And it's like watching
a‐‐a toddler caught in a lie

as they try to theorize and
guess their way to where it was.

"Did you look in the
fields around the house?

"It might be in the field.
Or if not there,

"she might've thrown it down
a storm drain in the house.

You should check by there."

‐ WILLIAM: Rick had given me
a‐‐a very detailed description

of this gun.

He described the
ammunition perfectly to me,

the types of shell casings that
were in the gun, the birdshot.

And he even went to describe

where a screw would be
missing on that shotgun.

‐ That definitely
shows he was in the loop

as to what happened
and what transpired.

‐ NARRATOR: Even though
police are convinced

both Rick and Sonia
were involved in the crime,

prosecutors still
have an uphill battle

as they prepare for trial.

‐ KENNETH: When it comes
to looking at the evidence

left behind at the murder scene,
there were no fingerprints,

no DNA, no hair follicles,
no eyewitnesses,

and no electronic footprints
putting them at that residence.

‐ The state had a challenge
in the case

because it was
a circumstantial case.

‐ This is one of those few cases
to where the motive became

such a driving cause

that that was
a key piece of evidence for us.

‐ NARRATOR: And for prosecutors,
it's clear that

Rick's mounting troubles with
his unpaid child support

were the catalyst for both he
and Sonia

to commit coldblooded murder.

‐ Rick had a court
case coming up on the 8th,

which was the day
after we found Debra dead.

‐ LAURA: He was
gonna go to jail.

He was gonna have to
pay a lot of money.

He was gonna lose.

And I think that that
was the motivating thing.

‐ NARRATOR: On April 16th, 2018,

Sonia Weidenfelder's
trial begins.

Despite the evidence
against her,

Sonia's lawyers maintain that
Rick Spaulding was the only one

responsible for
Debra Morgan's murder.

‐ Sonia's theory at trial
was this was clearly Rick.

Rick was the one
with the motive.

Rick was out to get her.
Rick set her up.

This was all his doing.

‐ NARRATOR: But prosecutors
counter by unveiling

new incriminating evidence
discovered on Sonia's phone

the night before
the trial began.

‐ KENNETH: It's late at night
on that first Monday

that I'm still trying to go
through and just make sure,

one last check, that
we didn't miss something.

And so I was listening to
some audio files on the phone,

and we find one
that is Rick and Sonia

apparently talking
about the murder.

‐ WILLIAM:
They were arguing again,

and Rick was giving
her an ultimatum again,

that she needed to do something

or he would tell the police
basically what she had done.

She would spend the
rest of her life in prison.

‐ KENNETH: And he starts talking
about how he and his son

are going through this problem
because of her and what she did.

Her response to that was,
"I did this for you.

I did this for both of you."

‐ NARRATOR: Prosecutors theorize
that while Rick had likely been

the mastermind behind the plot,
Sonia had been the executioner.

‐ KENNETH:
Looking at their personalities,

it's our opinion that Sonia
was the one who was either

supposed to pull the trigger

or who did in fact pull
the trigger to kill Debra,

because it seems the
entire theory from Rick was,

"They're never
gonna suspect you.

They're always gonna
suspect me."

And he was trying to
give himself an alibi.

‐ KERI: I think Sonia was
so entranced by Rick

that she was concerned

about what would happen
if she lost Rick.

If she did this to stop Debra

from causing problems,
then she would be okay,

and everything would be
fine with them,

and they can get married
and‐‐and have their family.

‐ ♪

‐ [gunshot]

‐ ♪

‐ NARRATOR: After four
hours of deliberation,

the jury returns their verdict.

‐ CHERYL: Sonia Weidenfelder
was found guilty

of murder in the first degree.

Life in prison with the
possibility of parole.

‐ ANNE: It is shocking as a mom,

to know that she didn't
think twice about it,

um, because I couldn't‐‐
I couldn't imagine

putting another child through

what Debra's son
has gone through.

I mean, it just‐‐you know,

it absolutely
breaks my heart for her son.

‐ NARRATOR: Three months later,

Richard Spaulding's
trial begins.

‐ His defense was,
"Sonia's the killer."

There's nothing showing that

he was pushing
this death or this murder.

But we tried to show the jury,

when you take a step back
and you look at everything,

it clearly shows that not only
did he know what happened,

but it showed the
manipulation that he used.

‐ CARL: Richard Spaulding
is‐‐is very controlling.

He controlled Debbie
for a long time.

And it seemed he had a talent
for picking women

that‐‐that he could control.

Anybody that opposed him or keep
him from getting what he wanted,

uh, he would go after them.

‐ KENNETH: Leading
up to the murder,

you have these conversations
between Rick and Sonia

that get more and more
desperate.

It is a ticking clock, because
Rick is about to go to jail.

When you look at
all of that together,

he clearly was setting her up.

‐ NARRATOR: On June 7th, 2018,

Richard Spaulding is found
guilty of first‐degree murder.

Like Sonia Weidenfelder, he is
also sentenced to life in prison

with the possibility of parole.

‐ CARL: After the
brutality of what they did,

we‐‐we felt life without parole
would‐‐was what we wanted.

But they're
essentially gonna spend

the rest of their life
in prison.

‐ ♪

‐ CARL: It's never gonna
be the same without Debbie.

Their son,
he's been through so much.

First with the custody disputes,

and‐‐and now
he's lost his mother.

‐ Some days are easier.
Some days I still lay in bed

and think about
that night for Debbie.

‐ ANNE: I don't think I'm ever
gonna make sense of what he did.

What he did was just‐‐just
wrong and‐‐and on so many levels

just‐‐just so evil.

You just‐‐you don't know people.

You don't know what
they're capable of.

So the best thing you can do

is protect yourself
as well as you can.

‐ KERI: I'll never forget
the conversations that we had

prior to her death, and the
things that Debra told me,

and, you know, the knowledge

of what
domestic violence looks like.

What kind of monster
would do this to someone?

‐ ♪

‐ NARRATOR: For more
information, go to Oxygen.com.

‐ ♪

‐ [scritch‐scratch]