How a Son's Diabolical Plan to Kill His Mom was Exposed

February 1st 2019 a 77-year-old mother is minding her own business in her home in the rural County of daab Georgia but for this lady who had enjoyed a long career helping others and was now enjoying her retirement it would be her last on that Saturday evening two mysterious gunmen would burst into the home hold the lady Shirley Merritt and her 47-year-old son Richard hostage then one of the gunmen became agitated and stabbed Shirley to death a robber gone wrong or a complete fabrication this was the version of events given by Richard Meritt as to how his mother came to meet her end unfortunately for him though no one believed him and they were right to be suspicious we would like to send our best wishes to the friends and family of Shirley Merritt a devoted wife mother and grandmother whose life was cut short by the selfish spoiled actions of a person she should have been able to rely on in the early morning hours of the 2nd of February 2019 two men and a woman arrive at a property one of the men draws a gun and enters alone the property is eerily quiet cautiously step by step the man checks The Home Room by room spotting a door leading to the basement followed by a steep set of stairs he slowly makes his way down gun drawn not knowing what to expect no sooner had he taken two or three steps at the bottom of the dimly lit room he stops at a body at the bottom of the stairs at 9:30 the man calls 911 the scene is bloody the woman had clearly been there for some time and there was a small hole in the wall behind her where she had clearly Fallen with significant Force just to the side of the body lay a 35 lb dumbbell covered in blood used to Cave the lady's head in the elderly woman who had been dead for some hours never stood a chance even if she had been left alive she surely would have been too weak to stand up and get help Shirley Merritt the Widow of Robert Kenneth Ken Merritt she was 77 years old a devoted mother and grandmother with seemingly no enemies so who would want to attack her and why Shirley had been married to her husband Ken since the 1960s Robert was a military man who served in the US Air Force as an officer shortly after they were married Robert was posted to Germany and Shirley went out to join him giving up her job as an officer in the Jackson legal secretaries Association of course for the 1960s it was very common for the wife to follow the husband wherever his work took him especially military families Ken showed great aptitude in the military after serving in Germany he was quickly Talent spotted and ended up spending most of his career working at the Pentagon the couple had two children first there was Robert Jr and then 9 years later came Richard everyone who knew them liked the Merit family they were prominent in their local church and Robert Jr spoke of how his mother made every holiday season special for the family she would bake and decorate the house nothing was too much trouble for her especially her children who were made to feel as loved as possible at every opportunity after a few years the family made the move to Alabama but this didn't last long Ken was very keen to end his career in the best way possible which meant the family would have to move back to Virginia so he could spend his time once again at the Pentagon when Richard was 13 and Robert was approximately 22 Ken retired from the military after a long and distinguished career but he wasn't done with work he took a position with McDonald Douglas at the time it was a huge Aerospace company that worked mainly on government contracts it Suited him McDonald Douglas later merged with another company Boeing Ken's career did not suffer though he along with his family moved to Saudi Arabia for 2 years before returning to the US where he became the president of McDonald Douglas now working under the Boeing brand in 1995 Ken decided he had had enough of work he had managed to build quite a career for himself and would be able to live the rest of his life comfortably tragically though Ken would not be able to enjoy his retirement for long just 5 years later while he and his wife were on vacation in Asheville North Carolina Robert Merritt died of heart failure in November of 2000 despite the loss of the love of her life Shirley was not one to give up she still had a good family support unit around her and the love of her two sons who she adored Robert Jr was now making his own way in the world and had married his wife around the same time that his father had retired he was a very smart switched-on young man Richard Rich was also doing well for himself he was studying at law school but his life wasn't as stable as that of his brother he partied hard and had various flings but eventually did meet his future wife and married her after graduating from law school even though Richard was now in the legal profession he was still very keen to remain tied to his mother's Apron Strings Shirley gave Richard a substantial amount of money to buy his first home and also paid for him to be able to set up his own law firm in return surely got well not a lot not even really gratitude it has been said by family including Robert Jr that Richard was always manipulative and knew how to wrap his mother around his little finger a theme that clearly continued into later life when he should have been standing on his own two feet for whatever reason perhaps through resentment towards his brother or annoyance at his mother for being such a soft touch Robert Jr became completely estranged from his family cutting off all content with his mother's help Richard was now doing okay not only because of her handouts in terms of his career he had attended what some call the fourth tier law school which was making it very difficult for him to become an attorney he had also failed his bar exams twice but did manage to pass on his third attempt in other words nobody would touch him which was why he was having to rely on the bank of mom to open his Law Firm the problem for Shirley was the more money she gave Richard the more more he seemed to expect it and the less she saw of him or his family by now Richard had two children a boy and a girl their little girl had cerebal paly but Richard's wife made sure that she had everything she could possibly want Richard on the other hand had little time for his daughter instead spending most of his time with the son he didn't want to settle down he enjoyed living an expensive Jet Set lifestyle a lifestyle he simply could not afford even with his mother subsidizing his life even his wife enjoyed the life that she thought they could afford but as we mentioned they could not afford this life Richard wasn't earning enough money so now he came up with more creative ways of earning this new Innovative way of making money was relatively simple he would take on a client take their claims to court and whenever he won and he received the money they were entitled to he would tell them that the case was still ongoing meanwhile he was spending their money to fund his millionaire lifestyle eventually complaints went into the bar association and Richard was suspended to make matters worse he was indicted on 34 counts of taking money fraudulently 17 counts of exploitation were added it was soon revealed that he had stolen over $450,000 from his clients he was disbarred and no longer able to practice law on January 31st 2018 Richard Merritt was was arrested and charged his wife despite taking part in the lifestyle now saw Richard for the fraudster he was she said she wouldn't stand by a boy who wasn't capable of telling the truth Richard may have been happy to spend the money that he had defrauded out of people on champagne and exclusive parties but he wasn't willing to put it into his family's life he hadn't paid any bills or even the mortgage for about 6 months on top of losing the family home and all of their possessions they lost their car which was used to transport the unwell daughter in her wheelchair in court Richard's wife said that her husband had squandered everything they had and that he should be sent to prison 5 days after his arrest he was served with divorce papers and on July the 20th 2018 after 19 years of marriage the divorce was finalized his wife though unlike Richard respected and appreciated everything that Shirley had done for them and although she didn't want to see her ex-husband again she did remain close to her ex-mother-in-law and given how important she knew family was to Shirley this was no doubt great comfort and joy for her there was a problem though she held a grudge against her former daughter-in-law for divorcing her son and regularly tried to get the two of them back together causing more friction between the two Shirley for her part had not given up on funding her son she posted Bond using her house as collateral moved him into that house and even bought Richard a new car while he awaited trial not to mention paying for a very expensive attorney to represent him on January the 18th 2019 Richard plad guilty to all of the charges as is often the case in America Richard cut a plea deal he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and further 15 he would serve on parole he then asked the court for a couple of weeks to get his Affairs in order before starting his sentence again Shirley had to come up with a cash Assurance until her son was sent to prison which of course she did what Richard had to organize in the meantime was a mystery he had no home no family no possessions so instead he spent his time drinking heavily and making passes at his ex-wife which were of course quickly rebuffed Shirley decided it would be too upsetting for her to drive her son to jail asking the cousin of her deceased husband to do it instead on his last day of Freedom the first February Richard went to see his ex-wife and children to say goodbye he even attended his daughter's medical appointment at 8:30 on that day something that he had seldom done in the past one of the last things he said to his ex-wife before leaving was I'll never let anyone else have you Richard was behaving strangely even to the point that the doctor noticed and as Richard's ex left with the children the doctor insisted on walking her to the car to make sure that she was okay according to the data from the ankle bracelet Richard returned home at 9:30 at 9:39 Mike Ken's cousin received a text message the message was from Shirley asking him to not come in the message Shirley had simply said that things weren't good and that she would drive Richard to the jail herself but the message simply didn't make sense it was Shirley who had reached out to Mike in the first place he was even going to spend the night with her to make sure that she wasn't upset and alone this was the last time they would hear from Shirley again or who they believed to be Shirley messaging them Mike received a second text message at 10:25 a.m. this time from Richard he thanked them for their concern but said they would be fine he then requested that they call Shirley the next weekend to check on her Richard stated that his mother had started making them lunch as usual they were allegedly worried about getting to the jail house at the correct time of 5:00 p.m. because it was Super Bowl weekend Richard said there was a knock at the door which had startled him they weren't expecting any visitors he also claimed that Shirley was very nervous because she had been receiving prank calls and had even seen a strange car circling their neighborhood however nobody has since been able to prove that these phone calls ever took place nor did any of the family phone records match his version of events Richard said he wasn't sure about answering the door to the men but they said to him let us in well despite his concerns he did so would you answer the door if two strange men just said hey let me in allegedly the men started swearing at him and his mother before ordering both of them into the basement Richard's description of the men sounded more like a comedy duo than armed robbers Apparently one was 6'2 and athletically built the other was 6'9 and a little bit more overweight Richard and his mother were supposedly led to the basement at gunpoint suddenly Shirley let out a loud Yelp the shorter man who Richard said was escorting him then pushed Shirley down the stairs which would explain why there was a hole in the wall at the bottom of those stairs the pudgy man who was escorting Richard had still managed to push Shirley down the stairs had now moved back behind Richard he must have been rather athletic for a stocky man he was also quite annoyed that his more athletic colleague was standing around and just watching the events unfold but Richard's story now contradicted itself he later said the pudgy man pushed his p pistol tight into Richard's back while the athletic man was in the middle and pushing Shirley so which one was it sherley was now at the bottom of the stairs unable to move so the athletic man ran down the stairs found a 35lb dumbbell and hit Shirley around the head with it Richard was then made to sit next to the dumbbell explaining why his DNA was found on it but now the athletic man who must have been out of breath sprinted up the stairs again returning shortly with a kitchen knife which he used to stab Shirley repeatedly Richard said he was in shock and could not move because of the pistol in his back the men then allegedly turned on Richard but he managed to stop them from hurting him because he showed them pictures of his ex-wife and children so according to Richard these two ruthless men who had just stabbed an old lady to death for nothing also had a compassionate side according to Richard they turned to him and said if you say a single word your family are next they then supposedly left without touching a hair on Richard's head rather than checking on his mother calling the cops or even an ambulance Richard said he went back upstairs packed a bag and left town for Nashville taking with him his mother's cell phone and her Lexus Richard's version of events certainly Rings true at least in this part he was a very selfish individual and a narcissist who cared only for himself he wasn't overly concerned about his mother he didn't bother to warn his ex-wife that she and the children could now be in danger as always he just thought of number one Richard now drove towards the jailhouse where he had to be at 5:00 p.m. he said this was because he wanted the cops to think he was complying with them but instead at 4:21 he drove straight past stopping before getting onto the highway cutting off his ankle bracelet and disappearing in the direction of Tennessee allegedly he arrived in Nashville Bill around 10:00 that night Richard though thought he had gotten away from any possible Pursuit from law but like many criminals he made one big mistake he assumed the police were stupid and they aren't by 4:45 his ex-wife had a phone call from the police asking where Richard was of course she did not know she then called Ken's cousin Mike who was now back at home after turning around she informed him that Richard had cut off his ankle bracelet and had seemingly gone missing or On the Run Mike now very concerned tried to call Shirley repeatedly growing more concerned by the minute Mike now called the local police and asked them to conduct a welfare check police did go around to the property but because nothing was out of place or suspicious they did not go in they tried to gain entry without causing damage but failed after 2 hours they gave up and left the property still none the wiser that poor Shirley was still inside fortunately Richard's ex-wife had a key they arranged to meet her father and Mike at the property to find out what was going on for themselves it was shortly after that Mike made the gruesome Discovery the next family member to be contacted was the estranged son Robert giving the instant suspicion placed on Richard who had gone missing Robert Jr put out a statement to the Press saying that he needs to man up and face his actions Richard's ex-wife also became very very scared she cast her mind to the doctor's appointment how uncomfortable she felt and how strange Richard was behaving was she in danger if the doctor had not walked her to her car was she in danger now for all she knew Richard was waiting around the corner or could even be in her home waiting to pounce given his selfishness it is unlikely that he would think twice about hurting her or possibly his own children he's uh a deceitful immoral person but I never thought he would kill anybody the kids and I are scared and now that we know what he's capable of we are afraid that he's going to turn up police asked the family where Richard could have run to but each of them gave different answers Louisiana Mississippi Florida the fact is America is a vast country and police were now looking for a needle in a hay stack and each guest was as useless as the one that preceded it meanwhile Richard was in Nashville he had changed his name to Nick Malvo and even changed his date of birth making himself 3 years younger it seems the unjustified vanity and self-confidence did not leave him what was more interesting is that he even had a fake driver's license with that name on it that he had acquired some years earlier his driver's license claimed he was from Louisiana he changed Ed his hair and grew a mullet and claimed to have graduated from LSU even decorating his mother's car with LSU stickers soon after arriving he found a bartender's job at a small rundown bar called Betty's in West Nashville with the help of a dating app he had even managed to get himself a new girlfriend named Kelly who he had started dating in July he told Kelly that he had moved to Nashville in February but of course he wouldn't say why he was also living out of his stolen car which he also did not tell tell Kelly she believed he was just couch surfing with friends Richard or Nick as she knew him told her that he was an aspiring writer who was 140 pages into his first novel Kelly did like Richard but he was very full on he wanted the relationship to progress much faster than she did he frequently asked if he could move in with her but she didn't want that she did give him a key so he could spend time with her but after a while the visits became more frequent to the point that he basically didn't leave Richard also told Kelly that he was a successful marketing executive and had left his very well-paying job to write his book and that he would go back to his job when the book was finished Kelly believed this purely based on the fact that he drove a nice car not having the first idea of how he managed to get a hold of it by mid-september Kelly was getting very annoyed with him he had basically moved himself into her home ate her food drank her Dr drinks and did not offer to contribute to the upkeep of the property paying the rent shopping or bills on September the 26th Richard's lies began to unravel on the west side of Nashville there had been a Spate of cars broken into one of the cars was Richard's Lexus when police in Nashville tried to find the criminals they documented all the registration plates and the owners and of course you know what came up they quickly discovered that the Lexus belonged to Shirley Merritt it had been 8 months since Richard went on the run and he was finally caught because he was too stupid to change the plates on the car or perhaps he was just too lazy possibly even worse his vanity would not allow him to ditch the car that in his mind gave him some sort of shallow status when others looked on for Kelly the police gave her the one thing she craved they got rid of Richard from her home and her life as the police approached and arrested Richard they asked him to State his name he simply report replied you know who I am the game was up and he knew it charged with the murder of his mother he'd spent nearly eight months on the Run Joe Hani talked to US Marshals who went from hitting dead ends to making an arrest in just a couple of days thanks to an unrelated 911 call well Cheryl on Friday near Vanderbilt University in Nashville police investigated an unrelated report of a suspicious person pulling on car door handles when police arrived they started R running tag numbers for potential victims they found an SUV with a tag number that did not match US Marshals tell me it was a SUV Richard Merritt took from his mother's home back in February they had been searching for that vehicle ever since Marshall say they searched the vehicle and clues that led them to believe for at least the last couple of weeks Meritt had been living and staying in the nationville area Marshalls tell me they later found out he lived at an apartment with a woman unfamiliar with his criminal background Marshalls also learned Meritt frequented a local restaurant yesterday they staked out the restaurant they say Meritt walked past them and went into a thrift store inside the the store they arrested Meritt ending a nationwide search Richard was sent straight to jail it goes without saying that he had no chance of making Bond but he turned to the very people he had deceived and run away from his family he wrote and called constantly asking them to make bond for him and get him a good defense lawyer of course his letters and calls blamed everyone but himself his problems were everyone else's and not his and just like his mother had in the past he expect Ed to them to take care of him Richard's main target was his brother Robert Jr had received over 50 letters begging for something and over 200 phone calls funnily enough not once did he mention the two men breaking into the home he didn't talk about the crime at all but the family had had enough and Richard got no help at all the original plea bargain that Richard had negotiated was now null and void the 15 years parole was dependent on him abiding by the restrictions placed on him including his voluntary surrender Richard was now looking at 30 years in jail just for the financial crimes that's before the court considered any other charges the trial took a long time to start first there was a court backlog then there were the pre-trial hearings and the final nail in the coffin covid which suspended all jury trials but in May of 2023 Richard Merritt finally went on trial if truth be told the trial which had been highly anticipated was a bit of a damp rag it just lasted for 6 days the prosecutor did a great job of making Richard out to be nothing more than a bratty child who had never grown up or taken responsibility for his actions it wasn't that difficult a case to make the defense tried their best to convince the jury there wasn't any forensic evidence linking Richard to his mother's murder but there had been DNA found on the kitchen knife and on the dumbbell and of course they tried to explain this away by saying that he lived there so naturally his DNA would be all around the home the only slightly credible argument the defense found was the fact that none of Richard's blood was found around the crime scene then again why would there be he was not the attacked he was the attacker in a desperate bid to prove Richard was telling the truth they tried to break anyone who testified against him Richard's ex-wife gave testimony of his character how rude he was to his mother how he had lied then ruined her and her children's lives the defense went very hard on her trying to call her a money grabber who only left Richard when the money ran out she did however manage to keep her calm she did not react to the defense's aggressive questioning only increasing her credibility with the judge and jury Merritt did testify in a limited capacity but in truth he had nothing meaningful to say the most meaningful contribution to the proceedings was an apology that he read to the court your honor I realize that words aren't going to adequately convey what has occurred throughout the past week and the previous several years I was raised right by two very good people Beautiful People my mother and father I had a beautiful family that I've lost I've long since lost them I've lost them in the cob County case things were never the same after the arrest I had as I said a beautiful family beautiful children a beautiful wife inside and out all of them the world was was truly our oyer and I blew it I just fell victim to the ultimate drug there is and that's the green drug money and it led to just bad behavior and bad choice places the statement was more of a catalog of excuses than a sincere apology and it cut little ice with anyone given the evidence stacked up against Richard not to mention the fact that he had gone on the run for 8 months the verdict was never really in doubt in the superior court of Decap County state of Georgia state of Georgia versus Richard Vincent Meritt defendant indictment number 1 19 CR 2141 D4 judge Courtney L Johnson verdict form as of count one malice murder we the jury find the defendant guilty as of count two felony murder we the jury find the defendant guilty as of count three felony murder we the jury find a defendant guilty as of count for aggravated assault we the jury find the defendant guilty in every case the defense and prosecution look for one Telltale sign that might indicate they've won for the defense they want the jury to be out deliberating for a long time this means they may have argued so well that the jurors were unable to come to a decision the prosecution on the other hand wants the jury to come back into court quickly from there perspective this would mean that they had argued so well that the decision was reached in no time in this instance perhaps surprisingly the jury returned a very quick verdict now it was the turn of the judge to hand down the sentence she saw fit and she would not go easy on him Mr may as to count one malice murder I do sentence you to life without the possibility of parole counts to 2 and three will be vacated as a matter of law counts four and five will merge with count one as to count six possession of a knife during the commission of a felony I do Senate sh to 5 years to serve consecutive to the senate in count one for a total sentence of life without parole plus 5 years Richard was given life plus 5 years without the chance of parole he would never walk the streets a free man again the judge did give him a small Lifeline by highlighting that he had the right to appeal within 4 weeks is this case a warning for all parents is it really wise to subsidize your child's lives as they become adults and should be standing on their own two feet we have seen here how the unwavering devotion of one mother was used by her son to manipulate her to Simply use her as a cash machine then finally when his luck had run out he blamed the very person who had always stood by him lashing out in such a violent way that he killed his own mother one has to come to the conclusion that he turned on his mother because he believed once again that she should be doing something to get him out of trouble by this time maybe for the first time this spoiled brat could not turn to his mother he had gone too far at 77 years old and in good health surely still had much more living to do but that had been taken away the family have been left devastated by her loss her son Robert will never see his mother again the grandchildren will never see their grandma again we can only hope that the family will never forget Shirley and that the grandchildren are reminded of what a wonderful grandmother she was rest in peace surely Merit if you found this case compelling don't forget to like the video comment down below your take on it and please subscribe to the channel also hit the notification Bell in order to stay up toate each time we reveal a new shocking case until next time stay safe and keep your eyes peeled you never know what's lurking in the shadows

Channel: Beyond Evil Podcast

Views: 291,818

Keywords: Shirley Merritt, Robert Merritt, true crime documentary, murder documentary, crime scene

Id: wVGH7IVE8Xc

Length: 30min 14sec (1814 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 15 2023