Original subtitles

[Elijah Waldroup] For a man to do what he has done,

it's not a man at all.

It's definitely a monster.

It's the worst of the worst.

[Dotchi Latham] Something bad was gonna happen.

I could feel it.

What I found out later...

...was way worse than anything I ever imagined.

I just try not to think about it

because it's, like, holy crap, that's horrible, that's evil.

What he did was, like, the epitome of evil.

[Elijah] I don't think people foresaw this thing coming.

But it was a perfect place.

People can't hear you for miles.

You can scream,

and nobody can hear you.

[woman screaming]

[birds chirping]

[Drew Robinson] Penny lived in Meigs County,

It's a very rural hamlet.

One or two traffic light kind of area.

[Latham] Penny and Brad met when they were teenagers.

I know that she got pregnant

and then they ended up getting married.

Had three more kids.

[Elijah] Everybody says he a man's man or whatever.

It's like that male role model.

I mean, I didn't have that.

My mom, without her, nothing in my life could have happened.

The area was pretty rural.

Not a lot of stuff to do.

It was just, like, me and my sisters.

Like, all we could do is just play outside.

Most people nowadays play on their phones, stuff like that.

We didn't have stuff like that.

So, it was just whatever we could get into pretty much as kids.

Chelsea's the oldest,

and then it goes Ashley then me then Emily.

I mean, three sisters, so, kind of the outcast,

but, I mean, it is what it is,

and it made, it made me definitely a better person.

It's, like, natural big brother instincts for a lot of things.

So, I mean, it's definitely played a part in my life a lot.

[Latham] Leslie would talk about Penny

as her best friend.

They've known each other for years,

ever since childhood.

[Elijah] She was a kind woman.

She was nice. She always looked after us.

She had a bunch of kids as well

so, I mean, we would always have fun over there.

Leslie's house was definitely our safe haven.

Hi, ladies!

-[Leslie] Pen! -How are y'all?

[Leslie] Good, it's so good to see you.

[Penny] You too, I've missed you.

[Leslie] Oh, I've missed you too.

-[Latham] Hello. -Hi, Dotchi.

[Latham] I met Penny through Leslie.

She just talked about her...

...in such high regard

that I was really curious and wanted to meet Penny.

And when I finally did, I was, like,

"Oh, man, she is so cool. She is, like, so sweet.

Such a wonderful person."

Like, she is so friendly, so kind, so caring,

so compassionate.

And you could tell that she loved her kids.

She took great care of them.

Penny had issues with Brad.

I had issues with my husband,

and our safe place to go was to Leslie's

and that's where we went to hang out together,

and just to get away.

[Leslie] Is Bradley on the drink again?

I don't wanna talk about it.

She was a fun person,

but you could also see the sadness in her eyes.

Like, I could feel the sadness sometimes.

She was going through a lot.

Brad seemed very domineering,

just, like, very angry all the time,

And he seemed mean,

very controlling.

He would tell Penny what to do, not ask her.

He would just, "Do as I say,"

and it was just, it was really creepy.

Leslie and I talked about it a little bit,

and she said that he had been abusive to Penny for quite a while.

You know you can come stay with me any time, right?

Brad ain't coming here.

I feel like Leslie wasn't really scared of my dad.

I feel like that's what's kind of, like,

uh, intimidated him a little bit.

'Cause it was, like,

somebody that's not going to, you know, cower away.

[Brad] Why are you staying here so long?

[Penny] I'm having dinner with my friends.

[Brad] Having dinner, huh? You didn't come home.

You need to come home now!

[Latham] One time when I was over at Leslie's house,

Penny was there because he had kicked her out.

And he showed up...

[Penny] Get your hands off me, Brad!

[Latham] Brad, stop it! You're gonna kill her!

...and all I heard was, um, yelling,

and when I went out there,

he was holding Penny down strangling her,

and poor Penny was turning purple

and couldn't really do anything about it

because he's so much stronger and bigger than she is.

Brad, stop! You're gonna kill her. Stop it!

Leslie actually jumped on him to get him to let go of her.

I had never seen her, like,

just straight-up attack somebody

to get them off of Penny.

I was surprised,

but not surprised at the same time

because she loved Penny very much.

[Elijah] She was very protective of my mom.

She didn't want her to get hurt.

Definitely the type of friend that you'd want to have.

[birds chirping]

[Brad] Sweetheart,

can we talk about this?

So, when somebody's being abused,

a lot of times,

the guy will treat them horribly,

but then come back and say, "I'm so sorry

and here's flowers, and I'll do better,"

and they'll say that they're going to improve,

and it's, like, "Hey, this isn't so bad

because of all these good times

and he really does love me

and, look, he gave me flowers

and he bought me a new shirt

and I'm feeling pretty good."

[Brad] I'll be better,

I promise.

[Latham] "He had a little bit of an episode,

but that's not really him."

And they don't see that that's also part of the abuse.

I was just drinking a lot is all, lately, and...

...I love you.

[Robinson] Like most people

involved in a relationship like that,

they want change.

They don't want to divorce. They have four children.

And they wanna try and make it work.

[Penny] It's okay, baby.

How would I explain this?

It's like when you get into a routine or something,

it makes things a little bit easier.

Even though it's messed up as it sounds,

it's, like, we were so used to it.

And like I said, during that time

it was, like, we didn't know any better.

I believe that she honestly did love him.

She put up with all that for so many years,

and was hoping he would change,

but of course, he didn't.

And he just got worse.

[Brad] Well, how's it I'm not getting better?

[Penny] What do you mean, Brad? You drank last night.

[Latham] One day, Penny had enough,

and she just decided that that was it

and she needed to leave, and she wanted a divorce.

Leslie was very supportive of that.

Helped her fill out the paperwork,

and get the paperwork,

and file for the divorce and everything.

Once she put her foot down, he ended up moving out

to his grandma's over on Kimsey Mountain.

[Robinson] I think she was just tired.

I think she had had enough.

And she was working,

she had bought a van,

she had saved her money.

She was just out and out tired of it.

[Elijah] It's really out there.

You could scream all day

and nobody would hear you out there.

[Latham] He was not happy about the divorce.

He was threatening her.

He would alternate between, "I'm gonna kill you"

and, "I'm gonna make your life a total living hell."

[Robinson] I think when domestic abuse

gets to the point where somebody hits the button and says,

"No, that's it, I'm going to get a divorce,"

I think that sends it to another stage,

and that's where I think this was.

[Robinson] They have an agreement

that they would do shared parenting.

They would do some sort of shared parenting,

and it was his weekend with the children.

What time do you think you'll be there?

About 6:30.

[Latham] Penny had to take the kids to Brad that weekend.

She was gonna drop them off,

but she was afraid to go by herself,

so Leslie told me that she felt like she had to.

Like, this was her fate, this is what she was here for,

and she wanted to go.

I really wish we didn't have to go up there.

We were all scared at that point

because we didn't know what he was gonna do.

We had heard that he was going to kill Penny,

and so we were pretty terrified.

And we couldn't go to the police

because the police wouldn't help.

They just said that's a civil problem.

[sighs] Do you have to go?

It'll be so much worse if I don't.

Shouldn't take us long. No more than an hour.

There's nothing to stress about, I promise.

Since Leslie was going with Penny,

she needed somebody to watch her kids,

and so I told her that I would come over.

[Penny] Thank you.

Both of you.

I really appreciate it.

[Latham] We got this.

She told me that she would call me

right before they turned off the highway, and I said, "Okay."

Then she said, "Because after we turn off the highway,

there's no cell-phone signal.

If we don't call back in, like,

30 minutes to an hour,

then go ahead and call the cops."

Penny knew she was going to a remote area.

Very limited cellular phone service.

So, you can be out of cellular service range

for, you know, an hour.

She expected to have a problem.

[Latham] I had a paper that I wrote down

both of their cellphone numbers,

the kids' names, the birth dates,

the vehicle, the make, model,

color, licence plate number,

anything that could identify them.

Just in case.

Penny and Leslie both said that they should be back,

by, like, 7:00, 7:30.

7:30 at the latest.

Thanks again, Dotchi.

We'll see you in a little bit.

Come on, kids, let's go!

[phone ringing]

[Latham] She called, and she was, like,

"Okay, we're at this point..."

That sounds good. I'll see you when you get back.

The part that kind of haunts me to this day,

is that one of the last phone calls

that I had with her,

she said, "If I get back."

We both knew that something bad was gonna happen.

[Robinson] When I was in private practice,

if there was gonna be a contentious exchange of children,

I would tell my clients

to take somebody with you.

Leslie was her best friend,

which is why she took Leslie.

Ugh. When are we gonna get there?

It's taking forever.

[Robinson] The area in Kimsey Mountain

is far from civilization,

and, you know, hindsight's 20-20.

Thinking about Penny, thinking about those kids,

and thinking about Leslie,

that's gotta be horrible to know

that I'm here, and there's nothing I can...

I can't scream,

there's nothing I can do.

I couldn't imagine at that age

witnessing what those kids witnessed.

[Elijah] After you leave the interstate on that trip

up there to his house...

Nothin'. Absolutely nothin'.

Just a bunch of windy back roads.

You can't go too fast down 'em.

There's just straight gravel, mud...

I remember when we pulled up, Mom was, like,

"All right, kids, go bring in the luggage," and stuff like that.

So, me and my sisters and everybody,

we started unpacking everything from the van.

Loaded it into the house.

Go on inside, kids.

I gotta chat with your mom for a few...

[Elijah] He was definitely a little impaired,

and he had a rifle.

He was pretty upset that day.

He was definitely drinkin'.

What's the gun for, Brad?

[Brad laughing]

Funny thing,

just found out we got a mama bear lurking around.

And I'm gonna shoot her in the face.

We've really got to get going.

Oh, is that so?

Just let it go, will you, Brad?

You know, I think you've been poisoning this marriage from the start.

Let's all just take a breath.

We really have to get going.

Just back off, will you?

[Robinson] Leslie was not afraid of him.

She was a friend to Penny.

She was a shoulder for Penny,

and she'd stick up for Penny.

Look, how about I come back Sunday morning just me,

and I'll make little cakes for everyone

and you and me will talk this whole thing out, okay?

[Brad] Is that right?

-Brad, stop, I have to get Leslie back to her kids. -[Brad] Oh, yeah?

-Oh, yeah? -[Penny] Stop!

[Brad shouting] Oh, yeah?

Hey?

[Elijah] I don't know why I looked out the window, honestly.

Uh, just bad timing.

Just my dad with the rifle raised.

Um, definitely upset.

Screaming.

Cussing.

And then,

bang.

[gunshot]

[Latham] They were gonna call me, like,

every 30 minutes to an hour.

And she called every 30 minutes to an hour,

and then when she didn't...

...I knew something was wrong.

I was getting ready to call the police...

...and I had this moment where

all of a sudden I wasn't there anymore.

Um...

...I was laying on the ground

looking underneath the vehicle,

and I felt like I couldn't breathe.

And all of a sudden, it just,

just everything started going dark,

and it just, kind of, like, went like this,

and just, poof, it was gone.

And then I was back on the porch, and I was, like...

...I knew that was Leslie.

Like, I felt it, and I knew that it was her.

But I didn't understand, like, what I was seeing.

And I was, like,

"Oh, my God, I did, that was Leslie.

She was sending me a message, I just know it."

Like, that was her way of getting me to call

because that's what prompted me to call the police.

Uh, yes, hello.

My name is Dotchi Latham.

I'm really worried about my friends.

Can you send somebody up to check on 'em?

They're up on Kimsey Mountain.

And the lady was, like,

"Oh, okay, we'll send somebody out eventually,

you know, once we have an officer available."

[Robinson] She had called and said,

"My friend said if I'm not back by 7:30,

to call you all to do a welfare check

or to go to see what's going on."

But they were not running sirens or running red lights,

'cause there would be no need to

'cause they didn't think the worst.

[coughing]

Leslie? Leslie, wake up.

Leslie?

Leslie!

She was definitely trying

to get her to get up and run with her.

Leslie, wake up! Get up!

Get up, we have to go. Leslie!

Penny realized that Leslie was not,

was not moving at all,

and realized there was a serious problem.

[Penny whimpering] Leslie, get up! We have to go.

And then my mom started running.

I remember he shot her in the back...

[gunshot]

[Elijah] ...and, uh, she fell.

I remember screaming and crying

and a bunch of emotions.

In the time, I think I was just terrified.

I was, like, "I don't want my mom to die."

[Latham] The closer it got

to when they were supposed to be home,

I started getting really anxious.

My stomach hurt from the stress.

Like, I feel helpless.

Like, I know that she's...

something bad has happened.

I would set the timer for 15 minutes,

and I would wait very anxiously.

[timer rings]

Then at the end of 15 minutes, I'd call Penny,

I'd call Leslie,

I'd call dispatch.

Um, yes, this is Dotchi Latham, again.

That's right, Kimsey Mountain.

Okay, well when can someone get out there?

And she said, "We'll send somebody out

when there's somebody available."

Okay.

I just kept waiting, like,

hoping that they would call me,

and that all of this was just

me worrying and being ridiculous.

[crickets chirping]

[distant gunshot]

[Brad panting]

[Robinson] When Penny fell,

she managed to get back up

and try to start running again.

She kept running, kept running...

[Penny panting]

[Elijah] She started running up the ridge line

from behind the house.

I remember that.

[Robinson] She would have never made it to the neighbors.

There's absolutely no way she'd have been able

to run that far

or get to within screaming range.

She was just trapped.

She was just trapped.

[gunshot]

[Elijah] He was still shooting her in the back.

Eventually he shot so many times that he ran out.

[Brad] Come here, honey.

[Elijah] There was a creek...

...on one side of the house.

I remember he drug her over there.

His rifle was empty, so, he went to his pocket knife.

He was tryin' to cut her throat.

I mean, this monster.

That's what he is.

[Penny whimpering]

[Brad groaning]

[Elijah] I remember...

...my dad pulled out a machete.

He was chopping up my mom with this just nasty blade.

[Penny screaming] No!

[machete thumping]

Seeing my sisters...

...all of them were crying, screaming.

I mean, I was the same way.

Crying, screaming,

I mean, we were just kids.

All of us kids thought that was the last time

that we were gonna see our mom.

[Penny screaming]

[Penny] I felt just kinda hopeless.

I was thinking, "I'm gonna die."

At that point, I kinda just

turned around and looked at him

and faced him,

and threw my hands up, like this...

...because he was hacking me up with a machete...

-Please! -[Brad grunting]

...and I just started begging him to stop.

And, um,

of course, he actually responded.

He stopped with the machete, he stopped,

and then...

...um, he knocked me down on the ground again,

and...

...he kicked me,

and then he grabbed me by the hair of the head,

and he drags me...

...to Leslie's body.

[Brad] Come on, what are you taking so long for, huh?

Now get up!

Now!

And he's like, "Look what you caused.

Look what she's caused."

And then he starts kicking Leslie's body...

...and then he hacked her in the back of the head

with the machete several times.

[Brad grunting]

[Penny] It enraged me.

I was filled with anger...

[Penny whimpering]

...then he dragged me inside the home.

And at that point,

um...

I was thinking I was dead.

You know, that he was really gonna kill me.

You know, like, he had me.

I remember, um...

[exhaling deeply]

...when Mom came into the house

she was all bloodied.

[Penny breathing heavily]

[sobbing] No!

[sobbing]

[Elijah] She had cuts like all down her arms.

Her head was bleeding.

She...

...looked like something straight from a horror movie.

Seeing Mom like that,

like, all mangled, it was messed up.

Um, even to this day...

...thinking about that, it's...

...no one should ever see their mom like that.

No one should see anybody like that.

[Penny sobbing]

It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.

I love you.

He told me to tell the children, "Get back."

I was allowed to give them a hug...

...and tell the children that I loved them.

That was the very, um...

...scary and hard part...

...because I didn't know

if that was going to be my last time seeing my children.

I had so many different

thoughts going through my head.

[Elijah] Everybody was just kind of giving up hope at that point.

I knew that we were...

...that it was going to be it for us.

Uh, 100% without a shadow of doubt in my mind,

I knew he was gonna kill us all.

There in that room and then himself.

So, everybody anticipated it to happen at any point.

[Penny] It's okay, it's okay!

I love you.

Okay? It's okay.

[Brad shouting] That's enough!

You've said your goodbyes.

[Penny] It's okay.

[whimpering]

[crying] Why is Daddy being so mean?

I am Satan, kids.

[Elijah] My Dad is 100% evil.

Things that he said that night.

I wouldn't say I'm the most religious person,

but that was...

...that was something straight from, like,

you know, down there, uh, it was...

...just crazy.

[Penny] He said he was the devil,

and he was here to do the devil's work.

A very chilling thing to say to a 10-year-old.

[daughter] Daddy, please!

I'm not your dad anymore.

My children was the main thing that kept me going...

...because I knew that I had to get them out of there.

Mom.

Kids, it's okay, let's go to your room.

-Please! -[Penny] Mommy and Daddy are gonna,

Mommy and Daddy are gonna talk for a little bit.

Mom, don't go.

[Penny] I'll be right there.

[breathing heavily]

[whispering] Baby.

You're not the devil, baby.

You're not the devil.

You're not the devil, baby.

I looked at him and I was, like...

"...What led you to this?

Like, I don't understand.

You know, you say you love me,

but you're wanting to kill me?"

And I was, like, so confused, you know,

and in my mind I was thinking,

"If I could just talk to him,

and get him to start conversation with me,

then maybe it would de-escalate him and distract him."

And 'cause in the back of my mind,

I knew at some point,

Dotchi was gonna call 911.

[timer rings]

[Latham] I called the dispatcher repeatedly.

[officer on phone] Polk County Sheriff's Department.

What is going?

[officer] Ma'am, someone will be out there--

Someone needs to get over there.

[officer] Ma'am, we'll have someone out there

for a welfare check as soon as an officer becomes available.

He's dangerous, okay?

I understand that there's only so much that they can do,

but just... I knew how urgent it was,

and it just felt like I was being dismissed.

Like "Oh, it'll be fine,

we'll send somebody out in a minute."

You know, I'm just like, "No, like, this is urgent.

Like, they haven't come back,

and she hasn't called,

and I'm very worried,

and I really need you to, like, go check on them."

Okay, please, all right, she could be in danger.

Okay, he beats her.

[officer] Yes, ma'am, I understand,

-we'll have someone-- -[flip phone closing]

[Latham] But at that point, I was like,

"Oh, they're getting irritated with me.

They're tired of me calling."

But I'm going to stop calling because those are my friends,

and I want to make sure they're okay.

I knew that something bad had happened.

It was the not knowing,

and not knowing how bad it was

that hurt the most.

Um...

...the wondering.

You're not the devil, baby.

You don't know me.

None of you know me.

[Penny] Come on, I know you.

I know you better than anyone.

I was just, in my mind, I was just trying anything

to keep him from getting more angry.

[Brad] Let's get this over with.

[Penny whimpering] It doesn't have to end like this.

No?

[Penny] It doesn't have to be like this.

[scoffing]

Remember everything we've been through.

I would bring up the good times.

Nights when we would dance in the kitchen together, you know.

Then I was like, "We still have that,

that's still there."

You know, I would say stuff like that to him.

I'll always love you.

We always get back together.

[Robinson] She used her wits

in communicating with Brad, in talking to him,

throughout this whole process,

and she did a lot of things to stall for time.

[Penny] I definitely was running on adrenaline.

I was in total survival mode.

Started feeling, like, really weak...

...and dizzy-like

because where I was losing so much blood.

And things went black.

So, I kind of passed out.

Whenever I come to,

he would be standing over me,

and laughing, and he's, like,

"That's what I want to see is you die slowly."

He, um, at one point

said he was going to keep me alive for a whole weekend,

um, just to see me suffer.

[Brad] How about one last time before you go, huh?

[Penny] He decided that...

...he was going to

take me into the bedroom and have sex with me.

[Brad grunts]

[Penny] I didn't fight with him.

I was really weak, and I was dizzy,

and I was kinda wobbly walking.

And so he shoves me down on the bed...

...and he takes my shirt off of me...

...and starts to go kissing on me.

At the moment when he was kissing me,

I was enraged.

Not only was I angry, but I was disgusted.

And then I just, I felt such anger

going through me, like, I just wanted to hit him.

Like, I just wanted to fight him, physically fight him.

But I was scared.

And I felt like I was frozen.

[daughter] Mommy! Mommy!

And that's when Chelsea yells, and says,

"Mom, there's someone here.

There's headlights."

So, Brad gets up off of me,

and goes into the living room,

and starts looking out the window.

And Brad had the shotgun...

...in his hands,

and then he opens the front door up,

looks out and I looked at the gun,

and I looked at him,

and then I barged through that door...

...and I took off running.

Help me! Help me!

I ran so hard.

And the closer I got to the headlights,

that's when I realized it was the police.

[Penny screaming]

Oh, my God.

[Elijah] I remember the officer.

I guess he was in shock, too,

'cause I don't remember his pistol drawn or anything.

I just remember him just in shock.

[Penny] Help me!

-Help me! -Get in the back, get in the back.

-In the back. -[Penny] My husband,

-he's on, he's... -What's going on?

[Robinson] He was a relatively new officer,

and he was the first officer on the scene,

and he came without backup

because he was just doing a welfare check.

This is Officer Price requesting backup at Kimsey Mountain.

[sobbing] He's home, my husband.

And I started telling the officer, I was, like,

"He has a gun, he killed Leslie."

You know, I started running through it.

I'm gonna get you to the hospital as fast as I can.

Oh, no, no, my children!

My children, my children are inside.

We have to go back.

[Price whispering] Oh, my God.

[Penny] And he's, like, "I need to get backup,"

and then I was, like, "But you're my only hope.

If we leave, he might kill the kids."

[panting]

[Price] Officer requesting assistance.

One armed suspect.

[Penny screaming]

I had so many thoughts going through my head.

I thought, "Oh, my gosh, if he kills this officer..."

I was so scared.

[thud]

[Elijah] He just gave up.

He knew that...

...he was about to go away for a long time.

[Penny] I kinda just curled up in a ball.

And then other people started coming.

[distant police sirens]

[Penny] I couldn't really make out everything

that was being said,

and then after what seemed like forever,

finally someone comes to the cop car

and opens the door,

and they helped me to the ambulance.

The pictures of Penny

in the condition she was in,

that will always stick in my mind.

She was wrapped in a towel that had blood all over it,

and she was just staring into space

with a look that I had never seen before, like,

vacant, her eyes, she was in shock.

She was still in shock, I'm sure.

[Brad] Penny!

It's not over.

Just wait and see.

Just wait and see!

When they were loading me up in the ambulance,

he was screaming that he would be back for me.

His words, I believe him.

[Latham] The last time I called them,

and understand I had been calling them every 15 minutes

up to this point...

...I was like, "Look, would you just tell me something?"

And she said, "There's an officer at the scene,

and somebody will be there to talk to you shortly."

[voice breaking] At that moment,

pretty much all of the inner denial of,

"No, everything's gonna be fine..."

...was kind of crushed.

Pretty much all of my hope had been dashed.

Once I found out that Penny was alive,

it was such a relief...

...and, uh...

...that was really hard.

[Robinson] She was shot numerous times.

Cuts, had her finger sliced off by a machete.

It was just, it was just total carnage.

[Latham] Seeing her wrapped up in bandages...

...kind of made it all real.

I remember when I went in,

I sat down and I tried to hold her hand,

but I was afraid to touch her because she's just, like,

bandaged and bloody,

and I didn't want to wake her up either,

so, I just kind of, like, sat there until she woke up.

She looked at me,

and I will remember this until the day I die,

she looked at me with these very sad eyes,

like, you could see the pain in her eyes.

[sobbing]

[Penny] I remember her

telling me that it was okay,

you know, and we cried.

And she's, like, "I'm just glad that you survived

and your children survived."

She was crying and she's, like,

"I just wish I could've saved her, too."

[Latham] She said she would've given up,

but she knew that somebody would was gonna be there eventually

because she knew that I was calling...

...and that kind of made me feel better.

[Penny] She was definitely my hero that day.

If she had not had called 911, I would not be here.

[Elijah] That night, all of us kids,

we spent the night over at the county jail.

I remember the blood on my hands.

Uh, looking down and seeing 'em.

I remember washing my hands,

just so much blood.

It was a lot of trauma.

More than just physical,

it's a lot of mental trauma, too.

[footsteps]

[Elijah] I remember hearing my dad come in.

Like, through the back of the county jail...

[sniffling] ...and was screaming...

[Brad shouting] This isn't over, I'm gonna kill all of you.

You just wait and see!

[Robinson] I've tried a number of murder cases since then,

and this was probably

the most gruesome case that I had ever seen.

At trial,

they came up with the warrior gene defense,

which was kind of novel, it was new.

It said that certain males

have this gene...

...and therefore they have a propensity toward violence

with the least provocation.

"He couldn't help himself."

And that's, basically, what that defense is.

"He couldn't help himself."

Based on the verdict,

the jury may have bought a lot of that.

But the voluntary manslaughter

of Leslie Bradshaw

was the portion of the verdict

that astounded me.

I don't see how you can call that

a voluntary manslaughter.

Leslie's family was very, very upset

with the voluntary manslaughter charge.

[Latham] It makes me so angry.

It's, like, he deserved to stay in prison forever.

[Elijah] My dad, he messed up the life of nine kids.

Five of Leslie's,

and me and my sisters.

His sentence is way too light.

I'm gonna live a lot longer

than he's going to be, like, in prison.

And I'm going to be living with what he did forever.

[Penny] I am terrified of him...

...getting out.

I think that the day that he is released from incarceration

that society is in trouble.

Leslie was more than just my best friend,

she was like my family, she was my sister.

She was my support,

she was my go to.

He took that away.

There's a part of me wants to think

that's the reason why he did that.

Because he knows that would hurt me more than anything.

It's, um, a really deep hurt...

...that I cannot explain.

Knowing that she lost her life

because she was my friend.

I created Leslie Helping Hands

in remembrance of Leslie,

and it's to fill in the gaps

for domestic violence victims.

I've helped people get to shelters,

to get furniture, beddings,

you name it.

It's really rewarding to see that.

And it's more rewarding to know that they're safe.

I named it after her

because in remembrance of her

because I know Leslie, she would've wanted that.

She was about giving and helping.