The Case of Tracey Richter

[Music] hey you and welcome my name is mike and in this whole video we are talking tracy tracy richter you know those people who just kind of um make your skin crawl you just see them and you're just kind of like even though they seem like you know grand nice folk this is one of those it is too early iowa that we shall go i mean it's set in modern day the town's called early so you know and we will learn all about the character and she was quite the character that is still is tracy richter so do you like want to give it a good [Music] to early iowa we go and what can i say about early iowa not much it is a community of under 1 000 people mostly working in agriculture like you know like we recently talked about todd mullis same kind of same kind of stuff really mostly farmers and you know that kind of stuff everybody knowing each other's beeswax tight knit so then when on one evening in december 2001 shots rang out in the home of a family of five well um that tends to get noticed i think it would be noticed anywhere to be fair that's when you know the usually unlocked doors of the houses in early went house there had been a break-in shots fired and a body bag needed the home was of the roberts family made up of michael tracy maiden named richter bert from tracy's previous marriage and then boy noah and girl mason when the police and emts arrived they entered a scene of crying and screaming tracy and the children were safe thankfully the man of the house michael he happened to be out of town and well on the floor was a familiar face it was 20 year old dustin weedy a neighbor of the robert family he had been shot nine times and he was he was beyond saving at this stage tracy in shock was taken to the hospital for breathing difficulties but she was able to tell the police that she'd been attacked by intruders and that she'd been choked out with a pantyhose so like what that well does that he had a really good relationship with the roberts he would cut their grass for them they would go to church together so was he there to protect the roberts from intruders or was he one of the intruders the latter uh according to tracy from her hospital bed there were two men that broke in one was dustin and the other tracy you know didn't know him he was a stranger but she was able to give a description to the police and they never asked for money even though you know when they were choking her and attacking her there was expensive jewelry but 20 30 grand worth of jewelry all over the house they weren't interested tracy said to the police that it seemed like they were there for her she managed to grab a gun and shoot dustin in self-defense to protect her and her children's lives the other guy he he fled the scene and police put out warnings and tracy hero mama line you're prepared to defend her cubs kitty got claws what a brave woman you know tracy was discharged from hospital after a few days husband michael rushing back to her side and the family had had pre-organized the trip to australia where her husband michael was originally from so off they went we're still looking at several different areas again we still have no clue who that second party was uh in the house that night now why are there you know down under the investigation continued i mean they had tracy's story and it seems to kind of match up but they just needed to you know cross the t's dot the eyes and well you know a couple of things didn't exactly jive with uh self-defense really there were nine wounds on dustin's body like nine bullet holes from two different guns three of them were to the head and the angle was from above okay that's interesting but tracy she had her story and she was sticking to it her truth you know if you like that's my truth you better believe it sucker her truth not um the truth not long after the murder tracy went to visit the publisher of the storm lake times a local paper and was like alright i got a good one to tell you she was mad to tell her story to anyone and everyone who would listen you know i guess i am kind of a hero haven't i and she told exactly what happened [Music] on the 13th of december at 4 pm dustin popped over he lived very close by she said she never felt comfortable with him around but you know he was just hanging out she was saved by a friend not long after who arrived and then dustin left however the friend marie she was supposed to stay the night both her husbands were out of town on business but due to some problems and some baseball scheduling with her son bert blah blah blah her friend left then that same day the 13th at 6 pm tracy was bathing the youngest daughter mason she heard a noise downstairs she thought you know michael home early from his business trip you know maybe nope it was dustin and some other guy and they were pounding up the stairs she ran with a baby and managed to put all the kids in the same room and lock the door before she was dragged away by her ponytail they grabbed her and she tried to run to the gun safe but she was choked out by pantyhose and went unconscious she awoke to her kids screaming the two intruders outside trying to kick the door in tracy was [ __ ] hazy her specky's gone but then her richter sense kicked in and she cools the cucumber went to the gun safe you know tried to unlock it after failing multiple times and the two intruders obviously didn't give a [ __ ] then she managed to get the gun out whack whack she then got the other one have some of that she started blasting didn't take long dustin was dead on the floor the other guy led [Music] there's this person who's still out there and as a mother i have a natural instinct to want to protect my children and son bert backed up everything tracy said about what happened though as we will learn about bert he he loved his mother a lot got the bat out and i was holding it somebody ran my roof i put my bat up and they opened the door but it was my mom and i nearly hit her but we missed i mean i didn't i won't like she had like pain heels around her arms that was her story buy her a beer i mean that was her story kind of for a bit because maybe it'll change slightly let's learn a little bit more about t-dog tracy richter her backstory there's a lot in it and we will learn that the shooting of dustin weedy was just the latest in a long line of instances tracy she was just you know always up to no good tracy was born in may 1966 in chicago she grew into a pretty smart girl so much so that she got a scholarship to study radiography it was while studying that she met john pitman deterred in 1987 and john fell head over heels for her john was studying to be a doctor and the two hit it off so well that they soon were engaged the couple moved to denver where jon started his residency and the pittman family lived nearby too tracy was just everything that john was looking for you know in a woman kind of weirdly so to be honest she was sharing all the interests john had but as soon as the i do's were exchanged in 1988 tracy changed and she changed uh john to an extent see what happened was see john's parents they lived nearby and when one day both of his parents uh their credit cards were stolen right and thousands thousands were spent well you know investigating all signs pointed to tracy but john no way jose which then led to him kind of being separated divided from the rest of his own family john was then all tracees all tracy's when he was around he was a doctor he worked about 120 hours a week which in turn then led to fractures between him and tracy out and fights erupted all the time one time they had a fight that escalated to the point where tracy went upstairs got a handgun walked downstairs pointed at john john said [ __ ] this and he ran outside while outside he heard a single gunshot and then tracy walked out apologized and said she had tried to kill herself john then called the police you know just to be on the safe side tracy was charged with the discharge of a firearm and sent for a six-month psychological treatment not long after the couple had a band-aid baby bert born in 1990 hoping this would this would help the marriage but but nope nothing really changed for poor john and poor bert but john he had a feeling tracy wanted to increase his life insurance policy [Music] okay odd and he worked long errors so tracy would be you know she could be up to anything when he was not around so john hired a private investigator to uh have a gooder tracy was busy she she just liked dudes like a lot like a lot of dudes some uh you know we're up to no good in 1992 john eventually moved to family again this time to chicago tracy was off the walls at this point during the process of the move their tree dogs and four cats somehow got sold to an experimental lab tracy was responsible for organizing the pet moving and then the last straw broke the camel's hump this is some scary [ __ ] one day while at work john got a call from tracy she was like listen i need to talk to you let's meet uh the apartment john said okay not long after that he got a call from the private detective who was tailing uh tracy john tells the private detective tracy wants to meet up and the pi says that's not a very good smart you're a doctor idea because their apartment was on the east side and the pi was tailing tracy west john wisely didn't go back to the apartment even when tracy called him saying i'm here now you know where are you after that the marriage was over who knows what was waiting for john uh back in his apartment maybe a lollipop the divorce was finalized in 1996 but the [ __ ] storm was not over the custody battle for young bert was on tracy would accuse john pittman of sexual abuse child abuse all that the accusations were you know found to be what they were false and it was also learned that tracy had forged john's signature on the life insurance document so hey in the end though tracy got bert and john had to pay her thousands of dollars per month in child support not long after tracy met someone online aussie entrepreneur michael roberts they hit it off i mean like really really hit it off 18 days after they first met face to face they were married michael would move from australia to america permanently because he was just he was just cracky about tracy you can probably tell where this is gonna go a few months in trouble was once again brewing tracy cheated however he stuck with her and stood by her through the custody battles with john michael roberts said only you know one opinion of john pittman an opinion molded by tracy around the same time tracy was busy she was she was always up to something she also managed to accuse a dentist a former boyfriend joseph laspisa of sexual assaults she accused him that one time while she was under you know he was uh doing all that basically she woke up and he was wanking on top of her and she she she tried to assume for 150 000 even at this early stage tracy proved to be not the most believable person but this still cost him his livelihood so right eventually michael and tracy the roberts they moved to the town of early iowa why in 1998 the last um decade really pretty busy for tracy she didn't uh she didn't really like wasting much time so i guess when they moved maybe michael was hoping well maybe you know there's not much she can get up to in early maybe that'll hammer down boy was he wrong soon after the move they welcomed their first child together a boy and then in 2000 a girl they set up their own business an i.t company and became part of the community and the church they were well liked by the people of early everything was picturesque on the surface anyway and then came that fatal evening of december the 13th 2001 when tracy richter tracy roberts became a hero she became a hero for killing neighborhood boy dustin weedy now dustin was a quiet kid loved computers he was a loner gentle but not you know not someone you would think would do what he had done so now we're back to late 2001. michael as i said he rushed back to be at tracy's side he even offered a ten thousand dollar reward for information on who who you know tracy who was this other guy who broke into the house with dustin but michael he was shocked that this happened he considered dustin a friend why would why would he do this tracy said you know that this didn't seem like it was about money that that seemed like they were there for her this was just murder but why you know maybe there really just is nothing to do in early or maybe somebody put them up to it what if dustin had been hired to kill her this was a contract killing he mentioned this to tracy what about that dentist you know joseph spisa you know there was a court case coming up about her accusing him of sexual assault maybe he wanted her gone tracy said that's good but i got one better i know who this was i know who put dustin up to this ex-husband john pittman her nemesis see dustin's car had been parked outside the richter home he was just you know popping into killer just take a second inside dustin's car they found a pink notebook in the notebook dustin wrote of a mysterious fellow who named john pittman who had hired him to kill tracy and eleven-year-old bert now it was written in dustin's handwriting so okay it was him but like what dustin and john you know would never have met like and even if they had somehow met why would john pittman hire dustin a 20 year old loner computer kid to kill his ex-wife doesn't make sense at all the police taught the story smelt like [ __ ] but uh tracy she was sticking to that story tracy was happily pointing the finger at her ex-husband john pittman and everybody laughed that of the media she even appeared on the montel williams show unfortunately don't have a clip well the police just thought everything was very fishy and none of this added up eventually though you know there wasn't really enough to go on and it was closed as a a self-defense um shooting you know case closed tracy stayed married to michael and life went on but as you know you've seen so far in the story it won't stay boring for very long roughly a year after the shooting on thanksgiving day 2002 a man was discovered unresponsive at a graveyard near early it was brett weedy dustin weedy's father he had shot himself by his son's final resting place he left a note saying his heart was broken after dustin's death and he cried every day more tragedy for the wedi family well they wouldn't roll over in late 2003 they filed a wrongful death suit against tracy it was dismissed however in 2005. in the meantime michael and tracy's marriage went south tracy had more affairs they fought same old story she kicked and punched holes in the walls of course michael you know would be the one ending up in police custody after these fights where tracy tracy would come to his rescue you know taking him back from the police taking him home where the cycle can continue again michael after time believed his time was running out as long as he was with tracy he thought on multiple times she came very close to ending him around that same time michael began to severely doubt tracy's version of events during the dust and weedy shooting and he went to speak with the investigators he said that we had no idea other than her statement no indication that there ever was a second guy um haven't you got forensics to back that up yeah really absolutely okay i don't know where this lead you guys are not um they ran fingerprints no straight fingerprints to indicate a second guy in 2004 michael like john had enough he filed for divorce in the meantime tracy of course accused him of abuse of child abuse of being just a horrible person she's not even original like this is exactly what she accused john of doing and being but this time tracy had another trick up her sleeve the attack tracy went to the police oh you know it actually it wasn't john behind the attack it was michael michael who just so happened to be out of town when it happened what more do you need tracy told the police that michael he talks in his sleep get a load of this and he he just spilled the beans he told her everything you know while he was asleep there you go he confessed she would tell anybody who would listen that michael was responsible for the attack he's the one who put dustin and this other intruder up to it and that he was he was a crazy person he was crazy in 2007 the divorce was finalized tracy despite michael's best efforts got the kids from there tracy took the kids to omaha nebraska michael he moved not too far away you know to try and be close to his children he would end up needing a restraining order against tracy see tracy was gonna ride him the entire way she she went to the sheriff right in 2009 and i had a picture of dustin's body and she said michael planted it in her car he was trying to he was trying to drive her crazy now michael was cleared the sheriff's office found no supporting anything against michael and they thought that she was that tracy richter was trying to make reports against them because there was upcoming child support uh like proceedings they were looming and she was basis trying to screw him over tracy you know seeing that the police weren't interested in basically nailing michael roberts to the wall she told the lead detective that he had and i quote made her list so better watch out around this time she would also get convicted of welfare fraud and get probation now this is kind of a weird part uh but bear with me around this time talking about 2010 tracy richter changed her name from tracy rector to sofia therese corina baroni edwards she was living under that name her business was under that name and she also went around town with a british accent which i'm sure was hilarious just bizarre so while she was you know busy trying to frame ex-husband number two michael roberts for anything and everything she absolutely could fuckershaw kennedy you know a new prosecutor enter the picture and reopened the shooting of dustin weedy new things were discovered namely dustin had been shot in the back of the head while laying on the floor this was not self-defense this was murder also there were no signs of forced entry the roberts unlike neighbors they did lock their doors but their doors weren't busted in they also entered without weapons this entire scene didn't make sense and on the 27th of july 2011 tracy richter was arrested for the murder of dustin weedy yesterday iowa law enforcement arrested 45 year old tracy and victor roberts for the 2001 death of 20 year old dustin weedy in early highs richter roberts is charged with murder in the first degree of class a felony and she is currently being held in the douglas county jail in omaha nebraska mother of three is jailed for murder tonight in omaha for a shooting that happened a decade ago in central iowa take a look at tracy richter roberts her ex-husband gave us this picture in 2001 she told investigators that she shot a home invader well now the sac county sheriff's office says new evidence proves otherwise investigators believe the shooting was premeditated murder she's a divorced mother of three recently engaged now tracy richter roberts is a murder suspect ten years ago she told authorities she killed dustin wheaty in self-defense at her home in early iowa now investigators believe she planned the killing herself it was obvious that she she made every attempt to think think things out and was very calculating and how she handled all her affairs the arrest complaint says richter roberts deliberately shot 20-year-old dustin wheaty with two separate handguns and that a piece of evidence was found in wheatie's car following the murder investigators believe she manufactured and planted that same evidence in wheaty's car to make him look like a home invader the sheriff says only investigators and richter roberts know the details of that evidence richter roberts accused her ex-husband and father of her children of planting a crime scene photo from that iowa murder in her car she said to make her look bad at a custody hearing while the whole story raised red flags for investigators he just had a hunch that you know that there was just something not right richter roberts family including her brother who's a police detective in chicago stand by her story that two intruders almost beat her to death we know what happened we love her very much she defended her family how do you set that up i mean it just sounds ridiculous funnily enough and weirdly enough when they arrested her tracy had in her possession a more more name change like documents she was going to change her name again this time it would be heidi joanna frospaka right unusual name interesting where's where'd that come from i hear your back and big dog so get a little of this right heidi frostbakker just so happened to be the same name as michael roberts his new wife so what are the odds [Music] [Music] the trial of tracy richter began on the 24th of october 2011. this is what the prosecution said happened the evidence in this case will show that the defendant did not want to lose physical custody dr to dr pittman will show that the defendant did not like dr kitten she had a strong dislike for dr pitt so the defendant came up with a plan to make it look like dr pittman was involved in hiring dustin weedy to hurt her dustin wheatie was at her house on december 13th [Music] there is a paint spiral notebook that is writing it the pink spiral notebook will contain information it appears to make it look like a journal although there's no dates and in the information that pink spiral notebook it will show that he dustin's writing dustin claims that dr pittman had hired dustin to either kill the defendant and their son bert or to make it look like it was a murder suicide that the defendant killed her and then herself dr pittman will tell you he didn't even know dustin weed tracy richter bought the pink notebook she lured dustin over that day her friend turned up so she had to make up an excuse for them to leave then when dustin came back over later that day she held him at gunpoint and forced him to write all that stuff in the journal saying he had been hired by john pittman then she killed him and planted the book in his car dustin was shot in the head for the last time 10 minutes after the previous shot tracy wanted to make sure he was dead before the police arrived tracy said she was choked out by patios yet that didn't match her injuries she just made up everything ready for number one we the jury find the defendant tracy and richter guilty of the crime of murder in the first year [Music] the defense counsel wish to uh over you think it'd be over right when she was found guilty on the 4th of november 2011. nope she's got more [ __ ] up her sleeve on the 5th of december 2011 tracy was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole i've gone through every what if in my head in every possible scenario how things maybe could have ended up differently i do believe that you deserve justice i really do but i didn't murder your son in prison she became best buds a pen pals with a convicted child rapist named jim landa they wrote creepy creepy letters to each other and in one letter she sent him she gave him enough information to be able to find michael roberts and her own two kids and was basically like well if something happens you know wink wink she also tried like from prison to destroy the reputations of those she said wronged her there was a site called rip off reports it doesn't doesn't seem to exist anymore but basically a person can publish a complaint which then stays up if the accused person wants the complaint to be removed a 2 000 non-refundable fee has to be paid and the evidence of the falseness of this complaint has to be presented so basically anybody can post anything about anyone and make shite of your reputation john pittman and michael roberts were both highly impacted by this tracy's son bert it seems she you know had quite a lot of control over him she used him as a pawn then to get information about john and michael as for michael roberts back in 2011 he got full custody of the children and moved to california with him his plan was to move back to australia but the plan was shattered when tracy was convicted and it was ruled that she had visitation rights with the children then in 2014 after another long battle michael and his family successfully moved back to brisbane australia they are now you know safe from tracy they got away not everybody was that fortunate december of 2000 i tracey assaulted me physically assaulted me and i told her at that point i was going to file for divorce and uh 45 minutes later i was in handcuffs she attempted to murder me several times how did she do that i had been systematically drugged over a period of time i think maybe a minimum of a week maybe a little bit more and i thought i was having some sort of breakdown i was off with the fairies i did not know whether i was in reality or a dream state and uh she said she wanted to do a trust exercise with me and i thought that's like fall over backwards she'll catch me and i'm like whatever whatever is going to save this marriage and she had rolled me up in a king-sized cotton sheets and when i woke up i was in a like a cocoon state and she was sitting on top of me and i had a plastic bag over my head she asked me to take deep breaths until i pass out she would then take the bag off my head i would wake up and i would trust her forever because i would know that she could have killed me and yet she didn't now there is a movement albeit small uh that says tracy is innocent she is wrongfully convicted that michael must have told dustin about john pittman and dustin really did try and kill her this is led by bert pitman now bert richter there's also another man some have said you know could have been the second intruder but he was cleared by the police and i don't believe she's been wrongfully convicted she destroyed absolutely destroyed the lives of many people entire families her own family even and ultimately destroyed her own life as well by bringing it all upon herself so i guess you kind of could say right this has a happy ending [Music] thank you so much for watching i appreciate it and i appreciate you for taking the time to watch this whole video uh listen i'll see you as always real soon in the next one till then please look after yourselves [Music] okay you

Channel: That Chapter

Views: 1,858,603

Rating: 4.9243336 out of 5

Keywords: that chapter, tracey richter

Id: 7KcYqzYhiJE

Length: 33min 40sec (2020 seconds)

Published: Tue May 11 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/nicotinethesenuts]

She's a psychopath. She spent her entire life trying to ruin other people's lives for personal gain or revenge. Just... Wild. Also, her son? The one who stuck around? There's something sus there.

[u/diardiar]

I feel so terrible for dustins father. Ended his life not knowing the truth about what happened to his son and now he never will.

[u/Musicalmoses]

I’m going through a divorce and I’m terrified of my ex doing stuff like this.

[u/joelom]

Bert’s not too happy with our boy… haha

https://imgur.com/a/H7JXFTG

[u/FryinGosling]

There is no doubt in my mind that this woman is a clinical psychopath on the same level as Bundy, Dahmer, and Gacy. What an absolutely horrible person she is. She devoted her entire existence to hurting everyone around her as much as possible, for no other reason than she's insane. She killed that kid, literally ended someone's life (with 9 bullets!) as a vehicle for an attempt to frame her ex-husband because she didn't want to lose custody of her kids. I mean what the fuck..

I'd bet that her capacity for empathy is completely non-existent and that her only desire in life was the thrill she got out of making people suffer. Hell she's even trying to get her ex-husbands, and the 'people who wronged her' killed from prison. So many people will never be safe until this woman is in the ground.

Just wow @ this one. And great video, Mike.

EDIT I forgot she also sold the family's dogs and cats to an animal testing facility without telling anyone in her family aka the people who actually loved those animals.. What the fuck is wrong with this woman? I'm actually infuriated that someone like her exists.

[u/itswolveslol]

She the kind of woman that makes wish that men should have a fair fight for there kids

[u/trynabe12]

Shawty look toxic asf .

[u/bonezbonez]

This one was a WILD ride

[u/GuerillaYourDreams]

Hey Mike!! Don’t worry about any criticism. The taller you stand, the more people will throw rocks at your head. You’re really great!