This is one weird and sad story. Jessica Smith is accusing of killing her 2-year old daughter and injuring her teenage daughter after which she fled leaving the children behind.
In the video above, Jessica smiles and winks at the judge.
This could be because she suffers from some form of mental illness, but we cannot rule out that she might want us to believe she is mentally ill as well.
Strange behavior to say the least.
When I watched Ann Bender on 48 Hours, several things troubled me, and I have admit, I do not trust her. We have a lot of pieces that when added up paint a picture and I don’t believe that picture is what Ann is telling us.
The first thing I notice with Ann is a lack of oblique eyebrows indicating true sadness. This really stood out to me throughout the entire story. The second thing I noticed was that she said her husband wanted to die, he was suicidal, but oddly she had no concern when he brought a gun to bed.
She said, “It was the last thing I expected him to be doing, even though I knew that he was suicidal.”
What?
If your loved one was suicidal and brought a gun to bed, would you be able to drift off to sleep? I don’t think so. Ann’s statement doesn’t make any sense.
Ann says, “I opened my eyes and I saw the outline of the trigger of the gun … and he had it pointed at his head … at himself…”
What troubles me about this statement according to the forensics is that if John was shot in the back of the head behind his right ear, how could she see the gun shadow if she was laying behind him in bed, and he was in bed with his head on his pillow? Her eyes wouldn’t have likely been underneath the gun to see through it. It’s possible, but highly unlikely. In the re-enactment, they had John sleeping with three pillows in a very unnatural position.
I am also troubled by the ear plugs, the pillow with the gunshot tear, and the spent cartridge being 15 feet away.
Who wears ear plugs when they are going to kill themselves? You would actually want to be alert, I would think, to hear what your loved one is doing so they don’t stop you, if you are intent on getting the job done!
I am also troubled with what Ann says.
The first account Ann says:
“I got up on my knees and reared towards him and I tried to grab the gun.”
[“Were you able to get it?”]
“No. I was able to get my hands around his and the gun slipped and it went off,” she replied.
This troubles me. The gun just went off? I’m not buying it.
The next time she says:
“I lunged forward towards him with my hands. I fell towards the center of the bed … and the gun went off.”
This time she doesn’t even reach John’s hands, ironically.
And another time she says:
“That evening I had no indication of what was going to happen…after the shot, I don’t remember exactly what happened.”
And now another time she doesn’t remember?
Nonsense!
I don’t think Ann killed John for money, but I do think he was very determined and headstrong, and he was taking her down in his spiraling depression with him. And Ann knew it and didn’t know how to get away from him, or perhaps she didn’t want to give up their “dream” of the sanctuary. I think she knew she was going to die with him if something didn’t change and John wasn’t open to do anything. I suspect Ann didn’t know how to get away because he’d seek her out, too, and around him she knew she wasn’t as strong as he was. She was the weaker of the two. I suspect Ann couldn’t take it anymore and felt this was her only way out. She wanted to survive and this is what she believed she had to do to get away.
But just because Ann was weaker than John in standing up against him, do not assume that I believe Ann is a weak or meek person. I do not think that. She is actually quite strong. She isn’t letting her time in prison deter her. She is on a mission to get out, and she isn’t going to give up any time soon, if you ask me.
Did you catch the intriguing mystery on 48 Hours this week? It’s the story of genius John Bender and his wife, Ann, who moved to the rain forests of Costa Rica to live an eccentric life perched in a 50,000 square foot wall-and-window-free home on top a mountain.
It tragically didn’t end well. John allegedly committed suicide.
What do you think happened? Share your vote.
I will share my opinion later this week.
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Michele Williams is on trial for killing her wealthy husband, Gregory Williams, in what prosecutors believe was an attempt to get her hands on his $600,000 life insurance policy. First, she told police that an intruder killed her husband, and when that didn’t seem to work, well, she said he committed suicide.
I love watching chronic liars throw stories up in the air as if doing so will cause one version to stick like bubble gum. They sure do hope when they get desperate, don’t they?
In this video, you get to hear Michele’s fake whining cry, and you get to hear her make the most ridiculous statement. Who wants to point it out?
It’s laughable.
Ironically, a well known new source misquoted the statement I speak about above, because I suspect, it was just too weird to conceive the words she actually used. I suspect the person getting the quote in written form subconsciously edited it and wrote it how most people naturally process it.
I honestly think the jury will see this case clearly and Michele will get the time behind bars she deserves!
She is one scary woman–Jodi Arias scary. It would be interesting to put these two women in the same cell!
Did you catch Dateline this week? It profiled the strange and bizarre story of Chris and Nancy Latham. The two were in the mist of a divorce in South Carolina. Chris was a well-to-do banker for Bank of America and a well respect man in the community.
One night on the bad side of town, a patrol officer pulled over a car that had turned off its lights in while still driving. Yes, the cops were on to something, but much more than they realized.
The driver inside was 39-year old Aaron Wilkinson, and he was with his wife and dog. They were from out-of-town. Wilkinson admits that he was looking to buy drugs, but when the cops searched his vehicle, they found a loaded gun. Oddly, Wilkinson confessed to being pulled into a murder-for-hire plot. The plan, he said, was for him to kill Nancy Latham. That’s why he was in town. He had a “hit” file, if you will, which detailed everything about Nancy’s life. It caught everyone’s attention that this was a very serious and urgent matter as Wilkinson said.
The story then takes some incredible twists and turns.
Wilkinson says he didn’t want to do it, but he was being put up to it by his friend Samuel Yenawine who was at one time his cellmate in a Kentucky prison. He said he feared Yenawine, who had already killed someone.
We find out the Chris Latham’s new live-in girlfriend and secretary at Bank of America, Wendy Moore, was married to Samuel Yenawine. And Moore met with Wilkinson and Yenawine to give them the important documents to carry out the hit. She also gave them three separate payments–two under her name and one under an alias.
Wendy’s story? She said she was just giving Yenawine money to purchase a vehicle for their children, who resided with Yenawine.
This was an intriguing case of “whodunnit”.
Who was telling the truth? Who was the real mastermind behind it all?
I believe Aaron Wilkinson told the truth for the most part that Samuel Yenawine roped him into the situation and that he was afraid of Yenawine. Yenawine was truly someone to fear. I also believe he didn’t want to kill Nancy Latham. I believe that. He had a conscience. He was a troubled man, but a smart man.
I don’t believe Wendy Moore at all nor do I believe Chris Latham. Wendy Moore wants us to believe she is this sweet poor soul who did nothing wrong. It was absurd. And Chris Latham is a smart guy. He knew exactly who to use to get things done and keep his distance.
When I listen to the jailhouse tapes, the one who seems to be controlling the situation between Wendy and Chris is Chris. I believe he was ultimately the mastermind behind the murder for hire plot, but I don’t believe Wendy was innocent in this either. She clearly took an active part by choice.
I went back and read the news reports on the story, and Nancy Latham believes that when she discovered Chris’s affair with Wendy, had she disclosed it and testified about it in court, it would have cost Chris his job because an affair was against company policy. Furthermore, she believes that with the expensive divorce, removing her from the equation would have eliminated a lot of financial burden for Chris as well. This makes complete sense.
Thank goodness for Nancy that Aaron Wilkinson confessed and everything unfolded like it did.
