338. The Double Wedding Killing - The Murder of Thad Reynolds

We're making a comparison.

“The biggest advantage of Shopify for me is that we don't need a technical advantage for people to know about it.”

We all know about the background and the background. And as soon as we start, we get the online shop. If you buy Shopify, then you'll get the platform, that's a real advantage. It's simply the main thing. Our whole business has been bought.

Now, let's start a new test on Shopify. You're listening to an ono media podcast. Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. This is murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Morlin.

I'm Garrett Morlin. And he's the husband. I'm a husband. We have some beef right now. We're jumping right into it.

Go ahead, babe. I just told Garrett, we were at a work lunch before this. I'm much meeting. I'm so mad right now. I don't even know what it was.

I couldn't understand anything. It happened so fast.

And Garrett's like talking.

And I look over. And I can see this like booker slowly. It was hard. It's hard. I can see it like slowly moving out of your nose.

And I'm like, oh, I'm going to tell him. But I'm going to wait from the finish talking. Obviously, because like everyone's looking at you. You just keep going. You just keep talking with so much passion.

Plump flags out of your notes. Not to the floor. That makes me so mad. Because listen, it bugs me when I'm talking to you. Or I'm talking to somebody.

And like, I have something on my teeth. And nobody tells me. That's me. I've mentioned this before. Or if I have a booker in my nose, tell me.

You're like, hey, dude, you got a booker in your nose. Hey, did you guess something in your teeth? I don't tell anyone. Because I just hate when I'm talking to someone. I'm like, wait, they're staring at something on me right now.

I can just tell. Well, he couldn't see it like. You, it was in my nostril view, not his. But when it flew out, then he could see it. It's all it.

I don't know. Did you see him look down passionately? You were like, bangles. Did you see it? Did you see him look down?

No. Oh, my gosh. And the worst part is I was like, whatever. Oh, that things like inch and out. I'm going to tell him.

“Why didn't you tap my leg and get your booker in your nose?”

Because you were like talking. Yeah. Anyways. Okay, that's fine. No big deal.

It was a crusty sucker. Yeah. Oh, back. Wait, what if it was a crusty and it flew out. I would've stuck to the table.

What if it flew my food? That's crazy. Oh, my sushi wasn't that great. But my chicken was. I just had chicken and rice, the use.

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I guess that's my 10 seconds. That's fine. Good 10 seconds.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Thank you for supporting us. Remind your bonus episodes. Remind your patents also.

Haven't a baby here pretty soon. Pretty soon. Technically us. I say pain, but it's us. Well, I'm having the baby.

I'm the father. And you're taking care of it. And you are not the father. You are the father. But I am the father.

I know. I've been working slowly to try to get ahead. But I can take a little bit of maternity leave. But I haven't made much progress over here on murder with my husband. No.

We really have it. You guys might be seeing me literally days after I give up. No, we're going to get ahead. Because pain needs a couple of pain needs a little bit off. I mean.

We're getting there. Everything else is going good. I hope you guys are doing well. Anything else you guys got for us? I got nothing for you.

Got anything for me. If you got nothing, then we're going to jump into this week's case. How we do it? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it.

Our sources for this episode are nbcnews.com. Newsbreak.com. The cinemaholic.com. Oxygen.com, WSBTV, WFMY News 2.com. That's life.com.au.

NorthWesh, Georgia News.com and Murderpedia. Sometimes life gives us second chances. An opportunity to turn things around, learn from our mistakes, and make better choices the next time around.

A lot of people see second chances as a gift, but I'm not so sure that's always the case.

Sometimes the universe steps in for a reason says, "Hey, maybe this wasn't meant to be. Don't take the second chance. Maybe it's time to move on."

“And when that happens, I think it's important to listen.”

Because there's usually a reason why things didn't turn out right the first time. Maybe we ignored the warning signs. Maybe we convinced ourselves things would be different. Maybe we told ourselves what hurt us once surely couldn't hurt us again. So now, a second chance doesn't always mean redemption.

Sometimes it's just giving the thing that hurt us, a chance to actually finish the job.

Did you think I was going to say Italy? Rome, Georgia.

“This is a town about 75 miles north of Atlanta.”

A little hub in the Bible Belt that centers heavily around strong family values and a dedication to the church. And it's in this little town of Rome that that Reynolds has dedicated his life to. He grew up in Rome. He spent all 36 years of his life so far here.

So that was a name that by 36, basically everyone knew around town.

And that's because as he was growing up, he was really involved in sports and high school. When he wasn't golfing or wrestling, he was one of the star players on the local football team. He even caught the attention of girls at the competing high schools. Like a young, beautiful blonde cheerleader named Michelle Solins. Michelle couldn't keep her eyes off the boy in the number 15 jersey.

“When she ran into him at a school dance in the fall of 1985,”

the two were introduced formally and the rest was history. It was a match made in all American heaven. The cheerleader in the football player went on their first date at a tractor pole, a short while later in the small town. What is that? Oh, a tractor pole.

And even though that's whole entire family was there, this first date was one for the history books.

The two became known around Rome as Ken and Barbie. The couple everyone wanted to be. But while that had a solid home life with a loving and church-going family, Michelle, his girlfriend's life behind closed doors, was an exactly the object of envy. Michelle's parents separated when she was little and her father passed away when she was only 13 years old.

And as a way to get through it all, Michelle's now single mother turned to the church to help her through the difficult time.

“And Michelle at 13 turned to other people for a distraction.”

She loved to be the center of attention. It was like she knew from an early age just how far her looks could get her. She loved to be in the spotlight. She loved having her photo taken. And just knew that when she walked into a room, she kind of was the center of it. So it was no surprise when she became homecoming queen in 1986.

But even before that, it seemed like she really was just out to get everything she wanted. Her relationship with that moved quickly. A few short months after dating, in high school, Thad had given her his class ring to wear which in 1986. It's a pretty big deal. This is a sign that he was devoted to her and planned to stay committed.

The date was January 28, 1986, but not even an hour after putting that ring on Michelle's finger. The country was rocked by some devastating news. That day, this space shuttle Challenger had exploded only 73 seconds after launching, killing every single astronaut on board. And in some twisted way, it was a metaphor of what their relationship would later become after putting this ring on this same day.

But in the meantime, it seemed like smooth sailing for the young picture perfect couple. They went to prom together, Thad graduated. Michelle was still one more year to go, took home the title of homecoming queen. And after she graduated, the couple decided to make it official. They chose August 15th, 1987 to get married. Matching Thad's jersey and what they considered their shared lucky number.

So 15th, that was history's the number. This is their lucky number. They're getting married August 15th. In front of their loved ones, they tied the knot at the Hollywood Baptist Church, both of them just shy of 20 years old. And immediately after getting married, the two get to work, building their lives together. Thad found work at a grocery store.

He saved up for a house, vacations, family, and they got all of it.

Around 1992, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, they named Olivia.

But after six years of marriage for these high school sweethearts, things get to be a bit rocky. Both ended up stepping out and cheating on one another. The foundation was now broken, the trust seemed irreparable. It was at that point that Thad and Michelle realized, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe the challenger crash was a bad omen after all.

Thad moved out and got an apartment, Michelle got a job working at an office. She begins dating other people.

“But Thad, he was having a harder time getting back on the horse.”

So instead, he took this time after the divorce to strengthen his connection with God, which interestingly enough, him starting to focus on his connection with God, somehow leads him back to Michelle. Okay, so they're divorced. She's also now having a hard time in the dating scene. And apparently this time apart, it made her realize,

maybe Thad, her high school boyfriend and ex husband, was the one for her. So soon, they started spending holidays together again. And then they actually ended up going on family vacations.

And after some time, it was like the two had never even gotten divorced at all.

They went to couples counseling and then finally in 1997 after four years apart, they decided that's it. We really are soulmates. We are meant for each other. So they went back to that same church they were first married at, Hollywood Baptist. And in front of the same friends and family members, they exchanged their vows for a second time.

“And now this time, their daughter Olivia is looking on too.”

And I'm only, I know I have some like chuckling in my voice, but it's more of like, I'm a sucker for a love story. For a remarriage. Yes, like I'm not laughing in like this is ridiculous. I'm laughing in, I've actually heard of this happening before where people get divorced,

just to reconnect and like get remarried again. Yeah, I, I feel like I've heard of it happening a few times. Seems like quite a bit of trauma just to go through, you know, just to get there. But there we are. And for Olivia, this really felt like a kid's parent trap dream.

I mean, she's like, oh my gosh, my parents are back together. Even the local newspapers reported on this about how this is strange couple actually now found once again. They're happy ending. And after that, they built a new house right next door to Thad's family. And over the years, they have three more daughters.

Meanwhile, Thad felt he owed this second chance to his faith.

And he made sure to pay it forward. He started volunteering as a deacon while Michelle homeschooled their four kids, and volunteered at the Hollywood Baptist Church as well. She helped organize some of their dance and theater productions. And that also got a pretty well paying job at the free to lay corporation.

And he began climbing the ladder over there. Oh my gosh, you know what I love? The freedom. The chili cheese fritos. Oh, I used to eat those. You don't eat those? And you're like, anymore?

I haven't had them in so long. That was very middle school. That's a good. That and hot cheetos. Oh, I can't eat hot cheetos anymore, those wreck me.

I'm too old for those.

“Low key in middle school, I think my fingertips were all these reds.”

Yeah, but the fritos, oh my gosh. Honestly, fritos are, I feel like kind of unaraded. They're pretty good. Anyways, thank you going. I have fritos at home with Daisy's paws. It's true.

That is a good point. But by 2004, that was so invested in the church. He was actually considering becoming a minister full time. And this is something that actually gave Michelle some cause for concern. Because this would mean a pretty big change in their lifestyle.

Since it would take that away from the family more for missionary trips. And it also meant less income to the family if he were to leave his job at Freetole. So a pretty big change. Not to mention, Michelle, after all these years, after going to this same church forever,

was starting to feel a little bit over the area of Rome, Georgia.

Her dreams weren't never really with the church.

That was mostly that. She wanted to move somewhere more remote like the Smoky Mountains and live in a cabin. Maybe open some sort of bed in breakfast. In fact, the Reynolds had already talked about it and even qualified for a place that was unfortunately scooped up before they could even officially put in an offer.

But between this, that's deeper commitment to the church and the overall grind of daily life. Michelle once again starts to feel restless in this marriage. She begins to tell her friends, she's feeling a little bit ignored by Thad. Second fiddle to the church and his duties there.

something happened that actually made the decision for them.

“So it's July 5th, 2004 now in our story.”

And that morning, Thad Reynolds wakes up after the holiday weekend to return to work. He gets to his job at the Freed Ole Warehouse around 6am. His friends said he actually liked to go there bright and early, so he could get his work done and then be home for the kids by early afternoon.

But that day, Thad never really gets to settle into his work day because a short while later,

his coworker finds Thad leading out on the floor of his office at the Freed Ole Warehouse. Okay. So this coworker immediately calls 911. He tells the operator that Thad appears to have been attacked, possibly stabbed to death. And so authorities rush over to the scene.

Now, Rome, Georgia, is not the kind of place that you would expect to see something like this. If they have two murders a year, that's considered a lot. Yeah.

“But what happened to Thad is clearly no accident when responders get there.”

Detective show up and they discover that Thad had been stabbed at least a dozen in his office. Well, I mean, there's obviously going to be cameras. You're in a very big company. Yeah. We're going to be cameras. We're going to know who it is. So curious to see what happens.

I realize I didn't say he had succumbed to his wounds by the time. Oh, yes, he's dead. Okay. His autopsy later counted 19 stabiles. Jesus, we don't want to come on.

And whoever did this really, they did a sloppy job because there is evidence all over this crime scene.

First starters, they find that the sheath of a hunting knife not far from where Thad's body is discovered.

There's also a pair of broken prescription glasses on the ground nearby. And they aren't Thads, but they do have his blood all over them. So, you know, they know it was part of the crime. And when they speak to witnesses, a few people say they think they actually saw the assailant rip out of the parking lot around the time the crime was committed.

Apparently, they were driving recklessly and driving a burgundy, reddish minivan.

“You have to keep in mind, like this isn't a public.”

I mean, yes, it's his private office. And earlier in the morning, but this is still a public place. Like, people, it's still a work day. Interesting. Yeah.

So detectives are thinking, well, this shouldn't be too hard to solve.

We have quite the assortment of clues here. And this doesn't seem like some random robbery. Nothing was taken from Thad. His wallet was still on his body. Plus, the warehouse wasn't the kind of place that left massive amounts of cashling around, like nothing really seems stolen.

And the brutality of the attack doesn't fit the M.O. for a, the free overlay warehouse robbery either. So that mode of just isn't adding up, which was why investigators felt despite being murdered in his office. This murder was actually very personal. Now later that day, the police have the unthinkable task of breaking the news to Thad's family. They show up at Michelle's home, knock on the door to tell her high.

Your husband's been found stabbed to death at work. Now, meanwhile, Thad's mother learns about it while she is still at work. So she and Thad's sister race over to Michelle's house to console one another. Be there for Michelle and his four daughters. And they say Michelle's totally in shock, like in a trance.

Okay. They end up calling for an emergency prayer group that night at the Hollywood Baptist Church. And meanwhile, the police are trying to dig deeper into who might have wanted that dead. The typical, we need to learn everything about him. So the following day, they ask the public for help.

They say the suspect they believe was spotted fleeing the scene in a red minivan. And if anyone noticed anything between the hours of 430 and 630 AM in the area, two police just give a call like nothing's too small. And somebody does. It's a man who works at the Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia.

He was stationed in the tech department and had the job of switching the company over to a new phone system. One day, not too long ago, he said he was working on the phone lines. When he overheard a colleague having an intimate conversation with someone who clearly was not his spouse.

And he said, this same colleague who I think I literally caught on the phone lines cheating on his wife.

“Well, he actually happens to drive a red minivan.”

Exactly like the one police on the news said they were searching for. I was going to say there can't be too many people there that have a red minivan. Right. And his name was Scott Harper. And it's not just the red minivan that makes this person call. He says I actually have more details about this because it's not just that I overheard Scott talking and he drives a red minivan.

The person that he was having that intimate conversation with with his wife was with the victims wife. Oh my gosh. Michelle Reynolds. So I mean, this is an insane tip. Like when he calls over and he's like, listen, it's my job.

I was working on the phone lines like this has nothing to do with the free delay warehouse. But it has everything to do with the victim because this guy, he drives a red minivan. And I definitely heard him having an intimate conversation with the victim. And why amount of cases that we cover where someone is murdered because of cheating or relationship or something along the lines. And it's insane and it just so many.

You know the other week when you were saying how many people out there do you think are capable of murder a lot.

“Unfortunately, if it comes to a love triangle sway more than I think we think I'm not saying that's what's happening here.”

I'm not saying that's happening here. This psychology behind having a connection to someone is so interesting because people freak out. Well, also betrayal. Like there's a whole other level to it, which is just betrayal is traumatizing. But I mean like people will kill for people that to have an affair.

Yes, that's what I mean. Like the psychology around that is just kind of mind blowing to me. Because I'm like, I don't want to kill anyone. Like Chris Watts murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters. But it happens so much. It sounds unbelievable.

But it happens all the time. Yeah. Like what is wrong with you guys? So let's talk. There's a lot of fish in the sea.

Yeah.

“Like and realistically there's a lot of fish in the sea.”

Move on. It is interesting. Yeah. Because whether it's that way or the other way of like you cheated on me and now I'm going to kill the girl or the guy. He was moving on.

Anyways.

So let's talk about Scott Harper for a second.

The guy, okay. He also happened to be a volunteer deacon at the church alongside that Reynolds. But he had since been promoted to family pastor. Nice. Now we have some church drama. And in many ways, he and his wife page actually lived pretty similar lives.

So he's married to. They also live next door to their parents in Rome, Georgia. They had three little girls and they were heavily involved in the Hollywood Baptist Church, which is where that is spending a lot of his time and where him and Michelle got married twice. Now like that, Scott also had another full time job after doing a tour in the Air Force with the combat communications unit. He got a job working in the telecommunications department at Floyd.

At Floyd Medical Center. Now outside of their jobs and civic duties, the two families were actually pretty close to. So it's not like that doesn't really know Scott.

They were always attending the same prayer groups together, the same barbeque use.

They had even gone on family camping trips together. But that didn't just see Scott as a good friend. Also saw him as a role model, someone who he genuinely admired. And whose trajectory within the church was worth modeling himself off of. However, their wives, page and Michelle never quite formed the same kind of bond as the husband's did.

Michelle always sensed that page was a bit jealous of her, especially when Michelle and Scott started working closer through their church programs. Michelle, as part of the church's theater program, started teaming up with Scott. Since he was the youth pastor at the time, that meant more meetings, phone calls, email exchanges. And that's also how Michelle learned that Scott actually went to the same high school as her.

And was just two years younger. So the reason the girls aren't besties is because Michelle is like she's jealous.

But again, like that in Michelle, Scott and Page were also having some rough patches in their marriage apparently.

“In fact, Scott had started going to that for marriage counseling and had even confided in him.”

Oh my gosh, this is horrible. This is ridiculous. This annoys me. Well, okay, so Scott goes to that, you know, for marriage counseling. He confides in that about something that leaves that a little unsettled. Scott tells that during marriage counseling,

I actually think your wife, Michelle, is the perfect wife. And I wish my wife, Page, was more like what is wrong with people. So when that is, when that's good old buddy friend comes to him and says, I'm unhappy with my marriage, I'm having troubles. And I actually just wish your wife was my wife or, you know, my wife was more like your wife. So then after this, that goes to Michelle.

And he's like, I know these are a couple friends. I know we go to church with them. I am not comfortable with you being around Scott. At least not alone because that no Scott just admitted this to him. And he's like, listen, I don't have any reason something just fills off.

“But Michelle, she couldn't avoid him forever.”

A lot of her work at the church required to be around Scott, have his input and help. And Page begins to sense that her husband, who she is having marital issues with, might also have some feelings for Michelle. Now, not too long before this, the couples had actually taken a rafting trip together. And Page felt on this trip, Michelle and Scott were being a little bit too flirty.

Turns out her instincts were right, and so was that. And by May 2004, things were heating up further. It was around this time that Michelle said she started to film neglected by that.

That she was second fiddle to the church.

So as Scott starts laying it on, according to Michelle, she realizes, I actually like the attention from him from there. The vacation flirting turns into emails and messages of the two complimenting each other. They go to church together. They're serving together things get sexier.

Things emails. Which I just want to let you know.

“Some of these emails they would send had positions they would like to try.”

Okay. Which? Good for them. Productive emails. Uh-huh.

Now, before long, the two are meeting up in the parking garage. Scott's work, getting in the back seat of his car together. And that was that. They are having a full blown affair. Okay.

Just taking the reality of this entire situation and everything that's happened. And apparently this affair was really intense. Scott was falling for Michelle hard. Part of him reliving the high school experience. He never got to have.

He's stilling the homecoming queen away from the star football player. Oh, gosh. That's it. Oh, it's so cringy. I'm not going to lie.

And what was it first? A once in a while, meet up turned into an everyday affair. They would tell their spouses they were going to the gym. And then they would meet up at a motel down the street from the church. Where Michelle and that got married.

Yes. If Scott and Michelle weren't together, they were emailing or on the phone with each other. After just a month together, they were already talking about leaving their spouses to run off with each other. Okay. I'm not talking about Portland, about moving there, starting a new life there.

But Michelle told Scott, I don't think I'm going to be able to leave that without the like a fight going down. After everything they'd been through, she's like, I don't think he's just going to walk away this time, especially now that he was a leading figure in their church.

And wanted to center his career around it. And I've heard of this before, but getting divorced once,

let alone a second time, would definitely go against church values and what he believed in and what he stood for.

And that's when Michelle made one memorable comment to Scott. She said, "If you want me as your bride, you're probably just going to have to outlive that." Okay. Now of course, Scott's coworker didn't have everything I just told you all of these juicy details to share with the police. But they figured out pretty quickly, I mentioned.

He had overheard one of those steamy phone calls at the height of the affair, obviously. So between that and Scott's red minivan and that being murdered,

Yeah.

I needed to call you and let, you know.

“And detectives are like, "Thank you, sir. This is a very reasonable lead."”

They keep digging into Scott to see if there's any connection between him and the crime scene. And what they find is, shortly after that was killed on July 5th. Scott went to the medical center where he worked with an injury on his right hand. They stitched him back up. But when his coworkers asked, "Yeah, the comment will do it what happened."

He said, "He had heard it at the gym that morning in a quote, "weightlifting accident." So the day his mistress's husband is murdered. He needs stitches at work. But that's not all.

Police also go to his place of work and discover all of the steamy emails that were exchanged

between he and Michelle, they're still on his account. And remember, it's 2004. So it's not like all of this was happening on a smartphone. And this is kind of ironic considering Scott works in IT. You would expect him to have deleted things off his computer and wiped it.

Though, shockingly, this isn't even the worst of it. As investigators dug deeper, they found that four days before the murder on July 1st, 2004. Scott had actually made a stop at a local Kmart.

“If you're listening this, do you still have Kmart where you are?”

Is that still a thing? Kmart, yeah, Kmart is. I thought they were still open in some places, but I don't know. I guess I haven't seen a Kmart in a long time. That place kind of feels like the back room is a little bit.

A little bit. Yeah. I can see that. So anyways, so four days before the murder, Scott apparently had gone to Kmart. And do you know what he bought a hunting knife?

Matching the sheath that was left at the crime scene. And this is something that is confirmed on Kmart's security footage as well.

“So police are pretty sure they have their guy, right?”

On July 7th, the tech devs have Scott come down to the station for an interview. They didn't show all their cards immediately after getting this tip.

They did some investigating first so that they would have something under their belt when they finally did interrogate him.

And one of the first things they ask him is, hey, where's your glasses? Don't you usually wear prescription lenses like eyeglasses? And Scott doesn't have a good answer for this because his prescription glasses are sitting bloodied up in an evidence locker after being found at the crime scene. Okay. And the police also end up impounding Scott's red minivan and taking it in for processing.

Yeah. I mean, I feel like it's going to be pretty open and shut. So they do interrogate him. They don't arrest him that night. They let him go home, but a day later, they do get their warrant. And Scott is arrested for the murder of that Reynolds motive being that he wanted to be with dad's wife. And shockingly, after getting arrested, he confesses.

He admits to police that he stabbed that Reynolds in 19 times, even saying quote, I want what you got right before he did it. So when he's stabbing that right before killing him, he said, I want what you got talking about Michelle. But he insisted to police listen, I know where you're going next. Michelle had nothing to do with this.

He said she had no idea how he was going to do this. She had no idea how he was going to kill her husband. But the police aren't so sure that this is the case because the emails they found seemed to tell a little bit more detailed story. Now, when Michelle is brought in for questioning, she does admit to the affair, but she's like, I had no idea he was going to kill my husband. However, there were a few people who said, they found Michelle's behavior rather suspicious after she learned about the news of the murder

and not like quote, oh, she wasn't crying. That was weird. No, apparently Michelle was cracking jokes and just kind of saying some weirdly inappropriate things after hearing the news of her husband's death. That night, she allegedly even pulled out a brand new black dress from her closet that she had recently bought and told people, this is what I'm going to wear to his funeral. Which people are like, that's just so like you just found out, but I don't judge. I mean, I feel like I do judge. So anyways, I judge because

I mean, if I found out you died, the last thing I would be thinking about is what I'm wearing to your funeral. Well, also, it's like she would have, I don't know, I feel like she probably knew that I was him, that did it. I think it wasn't dies. Like, you don't go, oh my gosh, who killed my husband? Oh, the guy you're probably sleeping with.

Exactly. I come on. Yeah.

“Yeah, that is the other thing. Do you think she, say in, no, she knew I, she knew 100% right away, she knew.”

Hypothetically, she has no idea that Scott is going to kill thought.

You know, this second, she finds out that Scott's thing that comes into your mind is, oh, does she immediately call him?

I mean, I don't know if she calls him, but I think she knows. And that's only if she didn't know beforehand. Yeah, correct. So this is obviously just the opinions of those who are round Michelle after she got the news, the truth. And what she was really feeling about that's death. Well, police find some of that information tucked away in messages to Scott turns out as they're reading through these messages emails. They realized that Scott and Michelle were referencing their partners as quote, "nats" for some time. So obviously, that's not like, that's they're like annoying little pesky.

They're obviously not being very thoughtful of their partners. And from there, things escalated as Michelle joked with Scott on how she might be able to get rid of that. She's like, maybe I can induce a heart attack by slathering extra butter on his food or make him a pasta dinner one night and poison the sauce. So she's openly having these conversations with Scott and little by little, police notice in these emails that these conversations seemed to go from some type of weird twisted fantasy to a possible reality,

“especially after Michelle told Scott, "Listen, the only way we're going to ever be together is if you outlive my husband."”

Now, by June, again, the murder happened in July, Michelle's emails to Scott had shifted. She started to tell him where that was going to be and at what times he would be there. However, Michelle claimed this was just so that Scott could show up and finally tell that about the affair. Like when police confront her about this, she's like, "No, I just wanted him to go tell him we were having an affair, but police obviously suspect there's more to it than that that they were probably over the phone talking about killing him and then in emails,

like following up the conversation without like specifically writing details, but it gets worse. I mean, as the weeks passed, nothing seemed to be done about that.

Scott never showed up to tell him about the affair and the emails show that Michelle is starting to get frustrated.

By July 4th the weekend, she in emails claims she's ready to cut things off with Scott because he hasn't confronted that. But she gave him one more chance. She said, "Listen, I'm telling you right now, that will show up to work the next morning at this time." And the night before, Scott then sent her something along the lines of quote, "I'm ready for tomorrow. Stop me if you have any hesitation."

“And Michelle responded back, "No hesitation, I'm ready. Please be observant of your surroundings and be careful. I do want to spend time with you. I want to be your wife."”

And then less than 24 hours later. This is like a movie. Her husband was dead. That isn't saying.

Now, obviously these emails aren't going, "Please go kill my husband."

Yeah. There's obviously phone calls happening in between these, but please be observant of your surroundings when you're just having your boyfriend go tell your husband that he's your boyfriend. Yeah, I mean, I could see both sides and that. I don't have to be honest, like, because I don't want a lot of people hearing what you're saying. Like, I don't know if I necessarily would say it means "kill."

But it literally fits for both. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stop me if you have any hesitation. Yeah. Be careful.

So, apparently that night, Scott called Michelle and told her what he had done. He said on this phone call, he wanted to confess it to the police, but Michelle told him to wait until after that's funeral, which she doesn't end up making it to, by the way. Because the same day that Scott Harper was arrested for murder, so was Michelle Reynolds. And now they were both basing the possibility of the death penalty. So the cops, the detectives, the DA, the state, they were like,

"We think we have enough to prove that she was somehow involved." Interesting, I don't think they do. Despire. Despire. He was saying, "No, she didn't."

And her saying, "No, I didn't." Like, this looks bad for me, but it really was just supposed to be him going to confront him. I had no idea he was going to murder him.

Now, while they had a confession from Scott, obviously prosecutors knew Michelle's case was going to be a lot harder to try.

Mainly because there was nowhere in these emails that Michelle explicitly talked seriously about murdering her husband. She joked about poisoning him. She joked about trying to give him a heart attack.

“She never said, "You should go stab him."”

Now, from the way everything was written, it really did seem like she could have just been pressuring Scott to confront that with the truth instead. Like we said, however, her behavior behind bars didn't exactly show a woman who, number one, just unknowingly lost her husband to murder, and number two was blindsided by her lover who committed that murder. In fact, Scott and Michelle keep in touch, and they continue on with the relationship behind bars. In recorded conversations, Michelle and Scott were asking each other what the other was wearing,

Michelle jokingly said orange. At one point, she said, "I don't believe that I've ever been loved as much by somebody as I have by you, and I mean that." So despite both being arrested for murdering her husband, it's not stopping this in factuation. That isn't surprised me. They even were still talking about ending up in Portland one day, as if he's not going to prison for life.

Yeah, but like he confessed, but there was one thing missing from every one of these conversations, and it was any proclamation of their innocence or admission of guilt from Michelle.

So like they never addressed the subject of her knowing or not knowing.

“However, there was one other clue detectives uncovered after her arrest is suggested, maybe she wasn't oblivious to Scott's plans after all.”

Turns out she had an insurance policy on that one that would have given Michelle a $250,000 payout, however, sources don't indicate when that policy was initiated or how close it was. Who's death, and it's really not that unusual for people to have life insurance policies on their spouses. But prosecutors add it to the pile anyways, and meanwhile, the detectives are trying to find more ammunition against Scott turns out another employee in his IT department led detectives to a server room where they said Scott had been seen hiding some stuff.

And after removing one of the floor tiles at his work, okay, in the server room, they discover a treasure trove of evidence. From the crime scene. Inside an old JC Penny's bag where the bloody clothes and shoes Scott had been wearing during the murder. And the knife, the murder weapon, and a receipt for the murder weapon. Now with this, this is obviously very open and shut with a confession in all of this being found.

The prosecution comes up with another plan.

One that might help them finally uncover Michelle's true role in all of this.

So they went to Scott with all of the evidence and told him, hey, there's a good chance you're going to get the death penalty like this is open and shut.

“But if you agree to a plea deal and testify in court against Michelle telling us the truth about if she knew about this, we will take the death penalty off the table.”

Interesting, it's so interesting because it's a great tactic. But we know nowadays death penalty hardly ever goes through. It's still scary. So it's scary I get, but it's like it won't work anymore. It's a tactic.

But also like they're not saying hey, tell us the truth and we'll take the death penalty off. They're saying hey, tell us that she was involved. Yeah. Which is also hard, right? Because it doesn't have to be the truth.

But what do you think, what do you think he did? Oh, I don't think he did it. I think he's obsessed with her. This is all it took for Scott to betray. Really?

Wow. Okay. Okay. In Scott's taped confession, he admitted to a conversation between him and Michelle where she said, quote, "When you talk with that, what if it gets ugly?"

And when he asked her what she meant by that, she replied, "I love you as long as I end up with you. I can deal with just about anything." Now Scott said he took that to mean. She was willing to see that dead if it meant they could go on together.

Which isn't exactly telling him to kill him, but also it doesn't look great either. He also claimed that after he told Michelle that he killed that, he heard relief in her voice like this is what she wanted all along. Once Michelle got word that Scott was going to testify for the prosecution against her,

She agreed to 10 years for voluntary manslaughter, and another 10 years for being party to a crime of burglary for the fact that Scott entered the Fredalay warehouse that day to commit the crime. Scott was ultimately sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. And I hate to tell you this, but Michelle still maintains to this day

that she never helped plan this.

She never thought he was going to kill him. She thought he was going there to confront him about their affair. And she's like, "I'm serving time for a crime. I didn't even know what's going to happen." And Scott himself has said, "Well, she didn't explicitly tell me to do it,

but she definitely felt like it was alluding to it." I'm actually a little surprised she got convicted. She took a plea deal. Yeah, I'm kind of surprised that I don't know. But she didn't just try her luck at trial.

Yeah. I think it's scary, right? But I will say, despite the fact that she has now said, "I'm serving time for a crime. I didn't commit."

She still says she deserves this sentence anyway for simply having had the affair and like leading to this murder. Fairly. She claims if she didn't even have the relationship with Scott, that would most likely still be here today.

Oh, a door.

“And so she's like, "That's why I think I should serve time”

because I'm the root cause of this." And Scott, he kind of backs her up. After accepting the plea deal, he went back on his confession. So he accepts the plea deal to not get the death penalty. And then he comes out and says, "Oh, yeah.

I just said that so I wouldn't get the death penalty." She literally didn't know about the murder at all. Okay. He said instead, he acted alone. He went to bed that night with plans to confront that

about the affair the next morning. But when he approached that outside the warehouse, he asked him what he was doing there and Scott replied, "I want what you got." He then pulled out the knife and stopped that without even thinking. He said he just did it over and over 19 times.

And then left that there to bleed out on his office floor. Oh, my God. I mean, it's horrible like screw the guy.

But also, here's the thing.

He deserves to rot in prison. If you're going there not planning to kill him.

“Why did you buy the murder weapon four days before?”

Yeah, I know I agree. You bought it. It's not like you just brought it. You bought it and brought it. Yeah.

That feels premeditated. The double B man. So anyways, he says his employees find him later and Scott said he didn't think it over. He says he just fled the scene and a panic went to the ER to patch up his hand since that did fight back.

And then he called Michelle and told her what he had done. But unlike Michelle and that's relationship, Scott won't be getting any second chances. Not at all. And not with Michelle.

She's since written him off and chances are the two will never recindle the romance that literally cost someone's life.

Yeah. And that is the murder of that Reynolds.

“And isn't that always something we see in these cases where when they do murder for love and then they get to trial?”

They don't even end up together anyways. They don't even end up just crazy. Could you imagine just throwing away your entire life, your freedoms everything? Just gone. Just gone.

He's going to sit and sit and present for the rest of his life. And what about Paige? His wife? I know. Who's like, huh?

Not only was my husband having an affair, but he murdered a good friend of ours who also went to church with us. And sane. Like the amount of people the kids that this affected. That's crazy. It's crazy.

Anyways, you guys, that was our story for today. Thank you for listening or watching to another one of our episodes and we will see you next time. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.