Husband Hires Hitman To Kill Wife | The New Detectives | Real Responders

paper was light gold in medieval times i want tobacco sugar [Music] that everything we thought we knew about the world might turn out to be completely wrong [Music] in north carolina a tragic car accident is blamed for the death of a 45 year old woman but a routine investigation raises more questions than answers [Music] and police soon learn that things aren't always as they appear to be a mother of six is found brutally murdered in her florida home the forensic evidence points detectives to a suspect but his whereabouts and the motive behind the murder remain a mystery for some killers murder can be a profitable business and when a victim has been targeted for death homicide investigators must look beyond the obvious to uncover a murder for hire [Music] on the morning of august 23 1995 a motorist summoned rescue workers and emergency personnel to a remote area off north carolina's blue ridge parkway while pulled over at a scenic overlook she had spotted a van that had plunged several hundred feet down the steep embankment there was no movement in the vehicle transylvania county rescue workers made their way down the cliff hopeful they would find survivors when the rescue worker entered the vehicle a piece of cinder block stained with blood fell out of the van [Music] a woman laid slumped across the front seat she had suffered massive head injuries there was no pulse the body was removed from the vehicle and sent to the morgue for examination [Music] north carolina state police began looking for clues to tell them how and why the vehicle went off the road no skid marks or any signs of sudden braking were found and there were no indications that the driver had swerved off the road it was likely that the woman had fallen asleep at the wheel or had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol the van was brought up the embankment for a more detailed evaluation [Music] a check on the vehicle's tags revealed that the van was registered to a man named edward kratzert whose address was several hundred miles away in bradenton florida after finding no obvious mechanical problems with the van technicians processed the vehicle reddish brown stains were found on the exterior of the driver's side door they tested positive for human blood inside they recovered a wallet and driver's license the driver was identified as 45 year old wendy kratzert the wife of the vehicle's owner blood was found throughout the van the back of an earring was located on the passenger seat floor unsure what to make of the findings investigators collected several items into evidence transylvania county authorities began trying to track down the victim's family to inform them of wendy's tragic death at autopsy medical examiner dr robert thompson looked to the victim for clues that could explain the crash he found no traces of drugs or alcohol in the victim's blood or tissue wendy's death had resulted from blunt force injuries to the head she had suffered five individual fractures to the top and back of her skull though wendy had not been wearing a seat belt for dr thompson the location and number of injuries were not typical of car crash victims usually injuries that we found with automobile accidents are those in the face areas where the face comes down and hits the dashboard so the injuries that i found were not really consistent with the automobile accident although conceivably it could have happened that way the autopsy results prompted investigators from the north carolina state bureau of investigation to take a closer look at wendy kratzer's accident special agent and blood spatter expert andy klein reviewed photographs taken at the scene he was immediately struck by the lack of blood found where the victim's body came to rest from the position that she came to rest in with her head in the passenger side floorboard and with the wound being to the the top and the back of her head i would have expected to see a larger pool of blood in that floorboard had she received that wound in the van more troubling however was the presence of the victim's blood on the vehicle's exterior running board there was several blood spatters that i noted on the running board portion of the vehicle that would have been protected had the door been shut so at some point the door was open and she bled on it all of the evidence suggested that wendy kratzer had been bleeding before she ever got into the van the routine death investigation had raised more questions than answers police learned that wendy and her husband owned a vacation home a few miles away from the scene of the accident later that night authorities went to the address no one appeared to be home then they discovered a large pool of blood [Music] tests later confirmed it had come from wendy kratzert an earring back identical to the one found inside the van was located a few inches away technicians concluded that no one could have survived such blood loss without immediate medical attention nearby investigators found the outline of an object its shape was similar to the blood-stained cinder block found inside the van for police there could be no doubt that wendy kratzert had been brutally murdered her death had been staged to appear as an accident after obtaining a warrant the team made their way into the residence unsure of what or who they might find [Music] no one was home and the residents showed no signs of forced entry or ransacking investigators thoroughly photographed the scene they also collected numerous personal items and papers that belonged to the victim now investigators had to determine who had killed wendy and why transylvania county police were eager to question wendy's husband ed he was tracked down to his home in bradenton florida police there were contacted and asked to speak to the victim's husband ed kratzert couldn't believe his wife had been murdered [Music] he stated that since the couple's children graduated from high school wendy had been spending a lot of time at their vacation home in north carolina ed explained that he had recently suffered a heart attack and was at home at the time of the murder [Music] wendy had helped nurse him back to health and soon after she decided to return to north carolina by herself [Music] wendy enjoyed her independence she had even taken a part-time job as a waitress in north carolina ed couldn't think of anyone who might want to harm her florida police confirmed ed's alibi and soon after he was cleared as a suspect police and forensic examiners had exposed a tragic car accident as an elaborate attempt to conceal a brutal crime but with few leads and no obvious suspects it appeared that wendy kratzer's killer might get away with murder in transylvania county north carolina a routine traffic death investigation had exposed a brutal homicide 45 year old wendy kratzert had been savagely beaten to death her body placed in a van which was then pushed over a steep cliff [Music] frustrated by the lack of suspects or an obvious motive police in wendy's hometown of bradenton florida questioned the victim's friends and neighbors one close friend told police she could think of only one person who might want to harm wendy and that was her husband ed kratzert wendy had described him as ruthlessly controlling he watched over her every move and was extremely critical of her behavior wendy said he could also be physically abusive things had become even more strained after ed's heart attack [Music] the medical bills had left the couple in severe financial trouble just before her death wendy had talked about leaving her husband the findings were passed on to police in north carolina where wendy's murder took place [Music] following up on the information investigators learned that ed kratzert stood to gain a hundred thousand dollars from wendy's death but so far he had made no attempts to collect on his wife's insurance policy though ed had misrepresented his relationship with wendy he had a solid alibi and there was no motive connecting him to the crime desperate to identify wendy's killer detectives questioned her co-workers at the local restaurant where she worked part-time [Music] one recalled that just before her death wendy had been tired and irritable she said she had been dealing with unexpected house guests who had shown up from florida on a few occasions the co-worker didn't know the name of the visitors but it was clear to transylvania homicide detective rita smith that wendy was not happy to have them in her house wendy had been very uncomfortable with these people that they had smoked in her house that she felt that they had pilfered through her belongings looking to identify the house guests investigators scoured through the items collected from wendy's vacation home they found a potential clue the names tom and luanna harrison had been hand written on wendy's calendar and a records check revealed that the harrisons lived in the same bradenton florida neighborhood as wendy and her husband florida police were dispatched to the harrison's home to question the couple they admitted having visited wendy in north carolina a few weeks prior to her death [Music] tom explained that he and luanna were close friends of the kratzerts [Music] they spent a lot of time with the couple they hadn't noticed any problems between ed and wendy wendy invited them to come stay at their north carolina home whenever they wanted she even gave them a key to the house they took her up on the offer but that was weeks before her murder [Music] they hadn't been back since as a matter of routine the officer asked the couple their whereabouts at the time of wendy's murder [Music] tom harrison suddenly became agitated he felt he was being treated like a suspect he ended the interview and asked the officer to leave [Music] tom harrison's odd behavior led police to believe he was hiding something this timeline to find out what they subpoenaed his credit card statements for the weeks surrounding the murder they found that numerous charges had been made to hotels and car rental agencies throughout north carolina in fact the receipts put tom and luanna harrison near the scene of the crime in the days before and just after the murder tom harrison had been caught in a lie though police could find no motive the circumstantial evidence was pointing to the harrisons as wendy kratzer's killers agents from the florida department of law enforcement were contacted they were asked to take tom harrison and his wife luanna into custody as fdle special agent vince delacchio prepared to put his team together he received some startling news tom harrison was dead i'd come in in the morning and received a phone call from the manatee county sheriff's office the investigator there asked me if i had seen the front page of the morning paper the front headline was a local man dies in boating accident according to reports authorities had discovered tom harrison's boat burning out of control in the gulf of mexico [Applause] after putting out the blaze rescue workers began a massive search to find the owner for several days efforts to find tom harrison turned up nothing [Music] soon after the search was called off [Music] the prime suspect in wendy kratzer's homicide was missing and presumed dead authorities in north carolina believed they had finally identified the killer of 45 year old wendy cratzert whose brutal murder had been staged to look like a car accident [Music] but as they prepared to make the arrest they learned that their prime suspect was missing and presumed dead after his boat was found burning in the gulf of mexico but authorities were convinced that tom harrison had staged his own death in an attempt to throw investigators off his trail lieutenant marty redmond of the florida fish and wildlife commission was asked to find out when i got to the scene and looked at the boat i saw a vessel approximately 25 feet long that used to be a cabin type boat the boat had burned completely to the water line accepting certain portions of the starboard bow in the starboard quarter fire marshals were able to quickly rule out electrical problems as the source of the blaze after carefully analyzing the burnt remains investigators found that some places on the boat had burned at a much higher temperature than others [Music] and wood marred with deep scaly scars referred to as alligator patterns was found next to wood that was nearly untouched by the fire there was only one explanation for the uneven burn patterns the fire marshal office determined that the fire was started with an accelerant and wear in the boat that it was started by indicators from burn patterns different melting points of certain materials and other items that they are skilled and looking for in charred ashes or chart remains of fires the fire had been intentionally set lieutenant and having found no traces of human remains among the debris investigators were certain that tom harrison had said it lieutenant redmond questioned tom harrison's wife luanna [Music] careful not to reveal that examiners had exposed arson he asked her about the circumstances surrounding her husband's mysterious death she claimed that on the night of the fire tom hadn't been feeling well after watching a late night football game he told her he wanted to go fishing [Music] concerned for his help she tried to stop him but there was little she could do tom packed up his fishing gear and left a short while later for investigators luanna did not appear to be the grieving widow who had just lost her husband of more than 20 years [Music] her only concerns were with quickly closing the investigation into tom's death police soon learned why in addition to being suspects in wendy kratzer's homicide the harrisons were in deep financial trouble and luanna stood to collect a large life insurance settlement as a result of tom's death florida department of law enforcement special agent vince delaccio but i knew at that point in time that thomas harrison was not dead and that this voting accident was was more than likely a staged event just to hide from the fact that he was a suspect in that case and probably more likely in knowing his situation that he was looking for some insurance money to test the theory authorities put 24-hour surveillance on the harrison's bradenton florida home months passed without a break but then police spotted tom harrison alive and well and it appeared that he and luanna were preparing to leave town [Music] [Applause] shortly after the couple hit the road police pulled them over [Music] tom harrison gave the officer a fake name and driver's license he and luanna were placed under arrest and charged with insurance fraud and arson but tom harrison was uncooperative and with no hard evidence tying him to the homicide investigators were still a long way from proving that he had murdered wendy kratzer for police the harrison's close ties with the victim's husband could no longer be ignored investigators began to theorize that ed kratzert unhappy in his marriage to wendy had hired the harrisons to kill her the time was right to re-contact ed crasser the husband of the victim and um attempt to conduct another interview with the fact that harrison had been arrested we felt as though that would open up the dialogue with mr cratcher pretzer was brought in for questioning and informed of harrison's arrest investigators confronted him with their murder for hire theory and insinuated they had evidence to back it up it was a bluff but it worked well ed cratzer decided to talk he confessed to taking part in the plot to murder his wife [Music] he insisted it wasn't his idea [Music] kratzer said that he was complaining to the harrisons about his marriage he knew wendy was planning to leave him no after his heart attack he was dreading the idea of a prolonged divorce and separation of assets tom harrison told him he could make his problem go away for a fee [Music] ed agreed the death was supposed to look like an accident the harrisons were never paid for the job as a result ed feared that tom harrison was plotting to kill him [Music] ed kratzert was placed under arrest and charged with conspiracy to commit murder police confronted tom harrison with the statements he refused to cooperate but it made no difference the credit card receipts that put him near the crime scene at the time of the murder coupled with ed kratzer's confession was all police needed to charge him with the homicide police believe that after showing up unexpectedly at wendy's north carolina vacation home tom harrison bludgeoned the unsuspecting woman to death after the kill the couple loaded wendy's body into her van and drove to a remote spot along the blue ridge parkway where they then attempted to stage her death as a car accident ed cretzert was found guilty of the first degree murder of his wife received a sentence of no less than 11 years tom harrison was sentenced to 20 years in exchange for her testimony luana harrison received three years probation the harrisons had tried to get away with murder by staging an elaborate accident but in 1995 in the suburbs of sarasota florida one killer made no attempt to cover up his actions on the afternoon of november 7th 13 year old stevie bellish returned home from school no one appeared to be home [Applause] but then she stumbled upon a horrifying scene her mother 35 year old sheila bellish lay dead on the kitchen floor panicked the young girl called 9-1-1 deputies and forensic technicians from the sarasota county sheriff's office were immediately dispatched to the home to prevent any contamination a single forensic technician was allowed to enter the residence and document the scene sheila bellish had been brutally murdered she had suffered a single gunshot wound to the cheek there were also indications that she had been viciously beaten her throat was so deeply cut she was almost decapitated [Music] as technicians began processing the crime scene the victim's husband jamie bellish arrived home what's going on detectives broke the news police assured him that his stepdaughter stevie and the couple's newly born quadruplets were all safe and unharmed the frantic husband was escorted away from the house and taken to the police station to answer questions technicians looked to the blood evidence to help them piece together the events that transpired inside the house based on the size and location of blood spatter patterns they determined that sheila bellish was initially shot near a door that led to the laundry room streaks of blood suggested she then attempted to crawl away from her attacker but she was only able to get a few feet away before her killer caught up with her and slashed her throat there was nothing to suggest that robbery was the motive in the laundry room adjacent to the kitchen technicians located a single 45-caliber shell casing a few feet away lay a white towel some of the fabric was covered with gunshot residue suggesting it had been used as a makeshift silencer but for some reason the killer only got off one shot before using a knife to finish the job evidence technician lisa lanham tried to make sense of the excessive violence inflicted on sheila bellish there are two possibilities of why he abandoned the gun one is that the gun is very loud in a small confined area and probably sounds even louder when you're the one shooting it and he may have feared that the neighbors would overhear the weapon the other possibility is that the towel got caught in the gun and then basically made the gun inoperable looking for any trace of the killer that may have been left behind technicians collected dozens of prints from throughout the residence including some found inches from the bullet casing [Music] all of the evidence was forwarded to the sarasota county crime lab [Music] homicide detective chris ayorio was assigned lead detective on the case all i know at that point was we did have a mother of six kids deceased in the kitchen head trauma most likely gunshot was involved and we took it from there investigators know from experience that their best opportunity to solve a murder falls within the first 24 hours with few clues and no obvious suspects they hoped an autopsy could point them to this brutal killer police in sarasota florida struggled to find answers in the death of 35 year old sheila bellish a mother of six found brutally murdered in her home at autopsy the medical examiner recovered a 45-caliber bullet that had been fired from close range into the victim's face it had shattered her jaw but it was not the cause of death a single knife wound had severed the victim's left and right jugular veins sheila bellish had bled to death there were no signs of sexual assault and no clues to the killer's identity were found the overkill observed at the crime scene led police to suspect that the killer was someone close to the victim sheila's husband jamie bellish was brought in to answer questions he described sheila as a dedicated mother and a loving wife jamie explained that he and sheila and her two children from a previous marriage had recently moved to florida from san antonio texas sheila had just been through a nasty divorce and when she and her new husband learned they were going to have quadruplets they decided to start their lives over in a new city [Music] the decision to move had not been an easy one but according to jamie sheila's ex-husband continued harassing her even after the divorce was finalized jaime said that at the time of the murder he was at work but homicide detective chris ayorio was taking nothing for granted at the beginning of the case jimmy bellish was our obvious suspect due to just his role in the family structure but within i'd say four or five hours after we responded we felt pretty sure that he was not involved detective iorio contacted authorities in san antonio texas and asked them to speak with sheila's ex-husband about the murder what should i keep all my records alan blackthorne a wealthy businessman admitted that his divorce from sheila had been bitter but he insisted he never would have harmed the mother of his children at the time of the murder he was on a golfing trip in arizona and he had the receipts and documents to prove it and did anybody travel with you on this flight with no suspects and no obvious motive for the killing sarasota police turned to the physical evidence for clues examiners found a fingerprint that did not match any of the bellish family members and it had been found just inches away from the spent bullet casing the evidence put investigators one step closer to identifying sheila's killer now they needed to find out who had left that print detectives returned to the bellish neighborhood to question residents about the day of the murder one recalled seeing a hispanic man dressed in military camouflage getting out of a white car and walking through the neighborhood the neighbor didn't get a good look at the man's face but was able to recall a few numbers from the license plate we heard about the hispanic male walking through the neighborhood in camouflage we knew that most likely he didn't belong to that neighborhood it was mostly a retirement community and nobody wears camouflage in his heat and uh evidently it was a long sleeve shirt long pants and that just stood out a description of the man and details of the homicide were released through area newspapers a short while later police got a tip a clerk who worked at a convenience store a few miles from the crime scene told police that he also saw the hispanic man dressed in camouflage around the time of sheila's murder the man had come in looking for directions in fact he was trying to locate the neighborhood where the young mother was found murdered the clerk handed the man his laminated map of the area [Music] he added that the stranger got into a white car and drove off officers collected the laminated map hopeful the suspect had left his prince behind at the crime lab examiners located several prints on the map evidence technician lisa lanham then compared them to the suspect's prints that were recovered from the crime scene she found a match [Music] police had identified a suspect and had evidence that could tie him to the crime scene now they needed to know his name all they had was a partial license plate number from his vehicle it wasn't much to go on we initially ran a tag out of florida i mean it leads the lead you have to try and it came back to nothing and then we decided since the bellishes were from texas that'd be the next state to try and when we got that tag the information back it was registered to somebody in texas so we had to follow up that lead investigators traced the white vehicle to a 21 year old austin texas resident named jose joey del toro we ran a background check on jose del toro as soon as we got his name we did find out that he had a he had a criminal history but not nothing that would make you believe he was a murderer but that was a conclusion forensic scientists would have to make joey del toro's fingerprint card was forwarded to the sarasota county crime lab there examiners compared his prints to those recovered from the bellish home after careful scrutiny they concluded that joey del toro had left the print a warrant was issued for his arrest police in del toro's hometown of austin texas were unable to track down the suspect however they did manage to locate his white vehicle armed with a warrant investigators processed the car inside a bag they collected a colt 45-caliber semi-automatic handgun it was the same type of weapon used to shoot sheila bellish to nail their case against joey del toro investigators forwarded the weapon to ballistics experts at the florida department of law enforcement crime lab first the weapon was fired into a water tank the water slows the bullet's flight without distorting the unique marks left behind as it passes through the gun barrel the rounds collected from the water tank could then be compared to the bullet recovered from sheila bellish's cheek under a comparison microscope examiners found that the striation marks that are unique to each gun were identical on both bullets all of the forensic analysis left investigators with no doubt that joey del toro had murdered the young mother of six but having found no obvious connection between the killer and the victim the motive behind the savage slaying was as mysterious as the killer's whereabouts police in sarasota florida had finally linked a suspect to the murder of 35 year old mother of six sheila bellish found brutally beaten shot and stabbed in her home all of the evidence suggested that 21 year old joey del toro committed the murder and then fled to texas [Music] but so far all efforts to locate him had gone unsuccessful then police got a tip that the fugitive was staying with relatives in san antonio [Music] for help florida police contacted the texas rangers stationed there but authorities there had no luck finding the suspect however they managed to track down his cousin a man named sami gonzalez he agreed to come in and answer questions texas rangers lieutenant gary delos santos conducted the interview sammy gonzalez claimed he had no idea where his cousin joey del toro might be but he believed he had information about the murder he said that a few months back an acquaintance of his a golf hustler named danny rocha had tried to hire him to beat somebody up sammy was interested in the job but when he saw the intended victim he declined but he knew someone else who might be interested in the job sammy admitted to us that he was approached by danny rocha and was asked to beat up a girl once sammy realized there was a woman he refused to do it but he brought up the joey his cousin joy del toro that maybe he would be willing to do it sammy claimed that he didn't know if his cousin had taken the job and he didn't ask why the woman had been targeted unsure what to make of the information investigators began digging into the golf hustler's background they were surprised by what they found danny rocha was a close associate of sheila bellish's wealthy ex-husband suddenly investigators had to consider that they had exposed a murder-for-hire scheme police knew that sheila's divorce had been bitter but had it led to murder one friend who knew the couple well thought so [Music] sheila had described her ex-husband alan blackthorne as obsessive and controlling during their divorce he had demanded that sheila sign over custody of their children when she refused blackthorne had her falsely arrested for child abuse the charges were ultimately dismissed and sheila was awarded custody of the children [Music] alan blackthorne allegedly said that he would get even according to the friend sheila took the threat seriously when sheila and her new family moved to florida they kept an unlisted phone number and took pains to keep their new address a secret [Music] now investigators look for proof that the victim's ex-husband had orchestrated her murder danny rocha the person police believe had hired the hitman was brought in for questioning under advice of his attorney he refused to answer any questions before letting him go however lieutenant delos santos asked rocha to pose for a photograph with him he agreed the following day sammy gonzalez was brought in for another interview police were convinced he knew more about the murder plot than he claimed when shown the photograph sammy became convinced that danny rocha was cooperating with authorities fearing he had been implicated in the murder he decided to talk [Music] now he admitted that he had accepted fourteen thousand dollars from danny rocha to murder sheila bellish a short while later he hired his cousin to actually carry out the homicide sammy believed that sheila bellish's ex-husband alan blackthorne had ordered and financed the murder he also told investigators where they could find the hitman joey del toro [Music] soon after del toro was tracked down to a motel in mexico he was placed under arrest and after extensive legal wrangling extradited back to the united states to stand trial for murder [Music] authorities had now exposed three conspirators in the murder of sheila bellish but the alleged mastermind alan blackthorne was still a free man looking to find evidence linking him to the murder investigators subpoenaed his phone records for the months prior to the homicide one number that continually popped up was traced to the bail bondsmen who had helped sheila get out of jail when she was falsely arrested the bondsman said he recorded all of his phone conversations police realized that he would have been one of the few people to have a record of sheila bellish's most current address once we've got those recordings that's when you hear alan blackburn and there's a person calling it pretending to be somebody else and trying to ascertain sheila's address investigators confirmed that just before the murder allen successfully located sheila's florida address [Music] the evidence along with the testimony of the other conspirators was enough to arrest the wealthy businessman [Music] on january 4 2000 alan blackthorne was taken into custody and charged with conspiracy to commit murder at trial police learned that soon after his divorce from sheila alan blackthorne began plotting to kill her while on a golfing trip blackthorne told his associate danny rocha that his ex-wife was an abusive mother and he wanted it stopped even if it meant killing her danny rocha agreed to set it up after acquiring sheila's address in florida the hitman drove from texas to the bellish home joey del toro broke into the residence and waited for his opportunity he caught the unsuspecting mother completely off guard for their role in the murder joey del toro and danny rocha each received life sentences sammy gonzalez was sentenced to 19 years alan blackthorne was found guilty of orchestrating his wife's death and sentenced to life in prison for some money is motive enough to commit murder when there are no obvious connections between killer and victim detectives turn to forensic examiners to expose the mastermind behind a murder for hire

Channel: Real Responders

Views: 302,474

Keywords: Real Responders, crime scene forensics, criminal case studies, criminal evidence collection, criminal investigations, detective work, forensic analysis techniques, forensic evidence analysis, homicide cases, homicide detectives, murder evidence, murder mysteries, police interrogation, real crime stories, solving crime mysteries, solving crimes, solving murder cases, true crime stories

Id: 7IMsz6FmsYc

Length: 49min 4sec (2944 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 26 2021