Ex's mother targets pregnant woman and her husband

Wednesday night at the shopping mall in Waldorf Maryland a middle-class suburb of about 30 miles away from Washington DC it was primetime hours quietly sitting in their car in the mall parking lot newlyweds Krystle and Robert mangie Krystle is a devoted mom to one child with Robert and one all the way she also has two children from a previous relationship with a man named Richard Conway a respected cop who had majority custody of the children the dad and his kids live with Grandma who watched the children when her son worked he had what 10 days on four days off correct that's a lot of custody for two young children to go to a father yeah Richard was the primary resident on that fateful day Krystle and Robert are waiting in the parking lot to pick up her kids as part of the custody deal with her axe they're sitting there it's about 5:45 the meeting place and the time is 6 o'clock and it's been that for I don't know a year and a half ever long the first visitation schedule was set up but the children never arrived and all hell is about to break loose suddenly bullets are flying through the crowded parking lot frantic people run for safety but Robert and Krystal are sitting ducks one woman saw their shooter shoot Robert come around the car shoot Krystal and then return and shoot Robert again while he's on the ground and then walk away were they the targets of an attempted carjacking an armed robbery or was this something far more personal this is a like a mad gunman running around yeah from the witness's account it seemed very calculated crystal and Robert are blindsided when the crate shooter suddenly jumps in the backseat at that point Robert and crystal look at each other they have this silent communication that while I was gonna go for this gun this is within a matter of seconds yes but Robert can't get to the gun before the shooter in the backseat opens fire Robert goes out the driver's side door and falls to the pavement he doesn't move looks like he was hit at least one time while he was in the car getting out of the car the attacker jumps out of the car stands directly over Robert like an assassin pumping bullets into his chest then coldly walks around to the passenger side and shoots his pregnant wife crystal in the stomach she's hiding cowering on the other side finds her shoots at her two or three times hits her I think one time looking across at her husband from under the Jeep crystal could see he was fading away I mean this is a woman who's seven months pregnant I can't imagine her somebody going through that she was liver laying on one side of it was a jeep where she got shot Robert who was basically executed on the other side of the Jeep he was just laying there emergency crews arrived and desperately try to save Robert tragically it's too late the emergency medical folks worked and worked and worked but from the very moment that he was there they didn't have a pulse aura or a heartbeat but they worked on trying to bring him back for about 10 or 15 minutes Robert died not knowing if his wife and unborn child were still alive the shooter flees leaving behind death destruction but also an unexpected eyewitness she identified the shooter as she was being taken to the hospital that eyewitness crystal miraculously both she and her unborn baby survived after crystal took a bullet to the belly and the young mob knows exactly who shot them she was obviously rushed to the hospital as quickly as possible correct and she even identified her shooter two police officers who arrived at scene so who does crystal say shot her she says it's my ex's mom Caroline Conway she's the one who shot me that's right the shooter is her ex mother-in-law Caroline Conway but why would Caroline a seemingly sweet grandmother want to rub out the mother of her own grandchildren there was some inexplicable obsession on the part of Caroline Conway she one of those children with her cops are about to learn Caroline Conway's son is their brother in blue an officer of the law did she use his service weapon on ambush unfolds in a mall parking lot a crazed gun-toting killer seems to be on the loose people were terrified if Liam but this is no random shooting the targets are newlyweds Krystal and Robert Nanji the attacker assassinates Roberts shooting him several times in the chest then pumps a bullet into crystals belly who was carrying a baby she was shot seven months pregnant in her abdomen tragically Robert died at the scene but crystal and her unborn baby survived as paramedics take her to the hospital crystal identifies the cold-blooded killer and it's a shocker the shooter is Crystal's ex mother-in-law Caroline Conway Krystal lived there for a couple of years so she obviously knows who it is knows the voice and everything uninjured and hysterical Krystal is also able to give investigators even more like the address where the 53 year old grandmother lives along with her son a patrol officer with the Prince George's County Police Department Sheriff's Office went directly to the house and they set up a perimeter they had the emergency services team which is basically a SWAT team they were geared up and at the comley's house but when they descend on the house Caroline is nowhere to be found and neither is her son Richard so there was an all-out search to find this mother and son correct what cops do soon locate is this surveillance video from near the mall parking lot in the moments after the murder spree it shows the grandma casually walking away from the terror zone she crosses that Highway she crosses right at a Dunkin Donuts and gas station and at this point grandma's getaway plan takes action investigators say there is video of her son Richard circling the parking lot cops clean Caroline seen here moments after the shootings calls him from a burner phone a prepaid thrown-away phone that can be difficult for police to trace she uses it to tell Richard to pick her up from there they go to the house of some family friends the Gaels there police say Caroline changes her shirt so Richard receives these phone calls picks up his mother they go to the Gaels house it's a family about 15 20 minutes away she takes a shirt from their house and puts that shirt on which I believe it was yellow but the quick change would soon become attempted buried evidence richard is seen putting the gun and clothes in a trash bag you can't necessarily make out a gun on the video but the Gaels tell you that's what was there did they confide in the Gaels Caroline when she got there first thing out of her mouth was I shot him I shot him both she said that to mom and they have no idea what she's talking about that's what they said yeah and she said she shot him investigators find more damning surveillance video here Caroline can be seen wearing what looks like a yellow shirt getting into a car with her son and two kids detectives say after leaving the Gaels house they head to La Plata the next location in the duo's twisted plan where were they they were attempting to live out the alibi that Caroline had set up for them which was and Caroline got into the car and put them put crystal at gunpoint she forced her to call Richard to change the custody drop-off to 7:30 at the will plate a courthouse which was you know hours after she was supposed to meet at the McDonald's Caroline and Richard thought their ruse was airtight the plan to meet crystal at the courthouse as if they didn't know she was dead but there's one small hitch they don't know that crystal is alive they just don't know so they can say that Caroline didn't make it to the McDonald's the phone records would show that she didn't go over to the McDonald's but crystal mange is live she can identify her but for some reason they never make it to the courthouse where the handover for the kids was supposed to take place and go to a Target store instead where does she go in in the target thanks went into the bathroom then left and went home but home sweet home is anything but it's now swarming with cops the neighborhood completely cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape when they arrived they were in the crowd of onlookers so the police have blocked off this section of the street Richard and his mom joined the neighborhood onlookers trying to blend in acting like they have no idea what's going on but while standing in the crowd Richard gets a call from his supervisors they want to talk to him there's a problem there's a problem he's been getting calls and texts and he's been ignoring them he finally answers the phone and she says where are you he goes why he goes Charles County Sheriff's Office needs to talk to you but Richard finally goes ahead and goes over to the sheriff's officer and says hey I'm Richard Conway I'm told I need to make contact with you they ask him where's your mother and he says oh she's right over there and she's standing over there in the crowd as well just standing there as if she were like waiting to get to her room but as if nothing was happening but something was definitely happening caroline is immediately arrested on the spot and Richard is brought in for questioning is a cooperative yes yes at the police station both Caroline and Richard sing like birds talking for hours to detectives even without a lawyer present why as a police officer would you do that I guess he was trying to clear his name you know he thought he could talk his way out of it what about Caroline Conway is she cooperative to a certain certain degree I mean if by cooperative you meant that she gave a statement yeah she gave a statement they tell the same story at first the same story of with the kids driving around looking at homes that's that's what they're saying that the time frame was and that the call the call from crystal that changed the location place they say they were out just driving around looking at house but cops weren't buying her story and investigators had enough evidence to hold caroline in jail charging her with first-degree murder richard was released but it wasn't long before Prince George's County police came back knocking on his door cuffing him after they receive a phone call and video from the Conway's friends two old family friends came forward and told police that the comley's had actually come by their house after shooting their captured on home surveillance video and they're both seen handling a white trash bag and the man who owned the house he said that he saw a gun in there now son and mother face murder charges she says I have amnesia yep and an eyewitness who they thought was dead he's very much alive a young mother crystal mangie and her husband Robert are gunned down in a busy parking lot in broad daylight unbelievably the shooter is crystals own ex mother-in-law we're here today in the Charles County Detention Center you have agreed to sit down with the crime watch daily to tell your side of the story why is this important to you because I need people to know what happened to truth now in an exclusive jailhouse interview that shooter Caroline Conway is talking publicly about that terrible day for the first time so as far as the actual shooting do you take responsibility for that I know they said it happened and I know the evidence says that I did it but I don't remember it and so you're saying to me here today you do not remember no ma'am I do know she doesn't remember this is the same woman who used a burner phone and arranged for a pickup with her son just moments after shooting her ex-daughter-in-law and her new husband let's be real for just a second here okay I mean there's no question there's no question in anybody's mind the Caroline Conway jumped in that Jeep ended up shooting those two people there's no but Conway's attorneys say there's no way anyone in their right mind would have designed such a flawed murder blueprint this is not the not the mind of a sane person at all that would literally think not only could you commit a shooting in broad daylight with no mask on but that you would walk away from it afterwards she claims the shooting is a blur but Caroline Conway is crystal clear on what triggered her murderous rage and it's a shocker we believe your grandchildren are still in trouble today I believe they're with their molesters still today yes yes you heard her right Caroline Conway is now claiming she thought her grandchildren were molested while staying at their mother's homes do you believe that why good my grandson told me and we have evidence crime watch daily reached out to the Virginia Department of Social Services and they issued this statement in part the only circumstances under which VDS s would be able to share information around an investigation would be in the case of a child fatality we do not have records of any of those individuals being investigated under that particular criteria but prosecutors take it one step further claiming the grandmother was grasping for straws looking for a defense evidence shows what well the evidence shows there's no abuse the charges that were leveled allegations were found to be what they call home unfounded she just kept ratcheting up ratcheting it up I'll say this see if this works I'll say something worse see if that works I'll say something even worse and see if that works but Conway insists a friend of Robert and crystal a man named Montana nicknamed Tana was sexually abusing the children even though she had no evidence to prove it my son was showing signs of being molested he started telling me things he confided in her more than anybody else so when he told her Caroline yaaaaah to him he says yeah these things are happening to me she believed him Caroline also claimed that when her grandchildren returned from their mother's house they were filthy and showed signs of neglect then Gracie came back with they blood-stained pampers blood-stained Pampers raw Pampers like it was all raw like I don't know it was just really bad when we took it a doctor he was like be a bad rash in fact Caroline's lawyer claims one of the reasons she snapped came when grandma was flooded with her own bad memories this crime and as far as I'm concerned goes back years and years and years some fifty years to when she was a small child defense attorney James farmer says Caroline claims she was the victim of horrible sex crimes as a child when Caroline was 2 years old some friends would sexually abuse and rape Caroline it's something that she has suppressed she had suppressed foredeck that did not come up even in her twenty thirty year relationship with her husband did Caroline Conway ever admit to actually pulling the trigger she did not because of her psychological disorders she does not have a concrete memory and not remembering what happened is just one defense Conway's attorney took to the jurors both Caroline and Richard Conway faced separate trials on murder charges she does not remember squeezing the trigger the prosecution says memory loss is a crackpot theory and that Caroline and her son simply wanted Krystle out of the picture so they could have full custody they can come up with any other move that they want to but that was the real motive behind this they wanted the children with them all the time exactly in court attorneys picked apart the case like Crowes the defense honed in on text messages between Krystle and Montana they say the texts show Montana lived in the home with the couple and therefore had access to the kids and so in this child this young child alleges that Montana was in fact the person who may have been allegedly touching him that's right the state investigation never found any sexual abuse in Crystal's home and Montana was totally cleared the prosecution argued they could point to premeditated murder first the burner phone that Caroline used to call her son after the shooting was purchased about a month before the incident Richard got a young man at 16 17 years old I think he was at the time he gave him some ridiculous story about he needed a burner phone because as a police officer he was working this huge narcotics case with some New Yorkers and he didn't want to use his own phone but Richard drove him over to the Walmart and sent the kid in there with cash he got the phone brought it back out gave it to Richard and that was that and that was the phone that Caroline used as she's walking away from the scene to call Richard twice in order to pick her up those phone records match absolutely also under the microscope damning surveillance tape how important were all the video elements in this case for you um they're critical one you know video corroborates people's testimony in Crystal's testimony was corroborated it's the video from the gales house it's extremely important remember the gales were the Conway's friends who gave detectives surveillance footage showing Richard trying to discard the weapon used in the shooting into a white trash bag and in a dramatic courtroom moment Caroline took the stand in her own defense she explained what she could recall of the day and what was going on with the children but the jury didn't buy the long list of Defense's after a two-week trial grandma Conway was found guilty on first-degree murder her son Richard also guilty both will spend the rest of their lives behind bars will she ever see the light of day I believe that everybody who's convicted by jury a first-degree murder should stay in jail for the rest of their life because they have taken somebody from this planet and you cannot bring him back ever and from behind bars grandma Conway still adamantly stands by her story that her grandchildren were in grave danger she's determined to keep fighting to you in your heart really honestly believe your grandchild or grandchildren we're touched inappropriately as I do they told me they hurt her but nobody listened Caroline calmly and her son Richard are sitting behind bars both convicted of murder after Caroline cold-bloodedly shot her ex-daughter-in-law crystal and executed her new husband Robert Maggie and a shopping mall parking lot all over our custody battle and allegations of sexual abuse my son was showing signs of being molested he started telling me things he said to her things of a sexual nature when they were bathing him after hearing the stories are horrified Caroline sent her grandson to a therapist one day the therapist goes through bad touch good touching a confusing touch your private area and it says at Mama's house I'll be hurt if I tell the therapist reported the alleged abuse to the Virginia Department of Social Services who did not find evidence to support the claim I need to know here specifically what your grandson told you about what he said was happening to him but he said that they made it go into the bathroom city the tub with no water in it because Robyn and Montana would come in there naked and make them touch them and they would rub themselves on him Montana the friend of Krystle and Robert was never called to testify in court both he and crystal were totally cleared of any wrongdoing by the Department of Social Services but Montana came to us to set the record straight once and for all claiming that he never touched either of Krystal's children and he's appalled by the allegations why do you think Caroline Conway said said these things about you they're grasping at straws because they knew that they were going to be losing the child custody case and they thought that if they had accused Krystle Robert and I of sexually assaulting the children then they'd be a slam dunk no one would really look into it much we asked Montana a former naval officer whether he lived with Krystal and Robert a big point of contention in court which would suggest he had access to the kids and so would you classify yourself as a roommate it's hard to distinguish simply because I had my own place I lived on base on what's called ppb some would say well why are you spending so much time over there because rob was my best friend in the Navy we shared everything we'd spent a lot of time when we were out to sea togethers but as far as spending time with the children you definitely did that mm-hmm by yourself and with them with them the majority of the time every now and then you know it'd be a hey we're running to the store or something can you keep an eye on the kids yeah during that time did anything ever inappropriate happen no never I would did you ever give the children a bath without water god no anything else that they are claiming no that you did no I wouldn't I would never lay a hand on a child like that that's that is ridiculous I've never touched the children in any way shape or form like that I I hate people like that and like it just fills me with rage knowing that somebody would go that far to try to ruin someone else's life Montana recalls the moment he heard the devastating news that his best friend Robert was killed my friend was gone there was nothing that I could do to bring him back and sorry okay and I just I lost it and Montana says he wishes he had the chance to confront the conway's face-to-face did you want to testify I wanted to look at the people in the eye that had took one of my best friends away from me and let them know that what they did was wrong and that they didn't need to take it that far and I wanted to make sure that they had the book thrown at them since the sentencing crystal moved with the kids leaving Caroline's daughters who want to remain anonymous to pick up the pieces are you angry with your mom a little I don't want to say angry more upset or and disappointed because it's like you almost took that from us and our families what are we supposed to say when we have kids and they asked about let me ask about like Grandma you know like that's not just like your life it's like our lives in our family's lives and even though the book is now closed on the dark till the conway's the 53 year old grandmother says she still can't remember pulling the trigger but she will live with the consequences for the rest of her life my family's been broken up had been torn apart of his whole situation do you have for that I regret that I have I feel tremendous guilt for that because it's wrong but I honestly can't remember doing this

Channel: True Crime Daily

Views: 2,070,963

Rating: 4.7211008 out of 5

Keywords: Caroline Conway, Richard Conway, True Crime Daily, Crime Watch Daily

Id: d3SrlezrcNE

Length: 25min 2sec (1502 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 16 2019