The Murder of Anna Repkina | Full Episode

[Music] so right here in this general area is where the caretaker was living at when he went for a walk up this little Offroad when he found her [Music] initially now it wasn't even sure if it was real at first I thought it might be some kind of a prank you know actually I did reach down and touch her hand that feels like flesh and bone to me when we found Anna reina's body we were able to see that her feet were probably down in about this location and her head was pointed back towards the forest [Music] here one of the first things we noticed when we made it our way to this Landing is there's pieces of trash and there was garbage one of the biggest pieces of evidence that we found in this case was a KFC bag along the edge of that clear bag there was a receipt that had the date of the 14th so April 14th which is only a few days prior who was Anna rabkina Anna was 27 years old and she came from a good strong family in Russia she wanted somebody to love her wanted to have kids and so that's why she went on to the dating websites she happened to find will Hargrove he's always trying to make people laugh making sure that everybody else is happy trying to push them to become the better person that they can be he was complimentary to her uh he sent her flowers from the United States to Russia he paid attention to her with everything that he had explained to me everything he had told me Anna was the love of his life the sense that you got from Anna repkina was that she was in love this wasn't coming to the United States as some male order bride how does Michelle Chavez fit into this case well Michelle Chavez is the other woman she is that third part of the triangle he made me feel special he has a Charisma about him it's like everything he's saying he truly believes and you believe it he makes you believe it especially if you're in love and you want to believe it yeah and you were in love I was and it was always I choose you it was how much pressure was he getting from Michelle to end it with Anna I know for a fact that Michelle didn't want Anna even over here in the states he was basically given the ultimatum of one or the other and two days later on it was found dead [Music] [Music] this is outside of corval quite ways out in the AL area and up a remote Logging [Music] [Applause] Road Ryan Joselyn and Amy matus both Deputy district attorneys in Benton County Oregon received an urgent call that a body had been found on April 17th 2017 he and I were both on scene to take a look for ourselves it's so important in a prosecutor's role that you understand the scene not just from photos but having been there not too many people are going to be up in that area but Frank the fact that the body was discovered as quickly as it was uh was pretty extraordinary lead detective Lieutenant Chris duffett says a local caretaker happened to be out walking his dog that day when he came across the body the caller was walking on this road on a day and a time and a place that he really should have never been so we were very very lucky to find her body if it would have been any more time we might have never found her the victim was identified as 27-year-old Moscow native Anna repkina she had been shot she was smart intelligent she had an office job working for Ikea she loved cats she loved to travel Anna had a lot going for her a lot of people liked her so how did a Russian woman who had a seemingly happy life meet her end on a remote Logging Road nearly 5,500 miles from home she had broken up with her boyfriend of seven years and was really looking for that connection a year earlier newly single Anna started looking for love online and joined a Russian social networking site she found what she was looking for halfway across the world when she met 26-year-old Oregonian William Hargrove then they started really chatting they chatted a lot over Facebook then uh started video conferencing and that was happening on an almost daily basis Anna and will found that they had a lot in common they really bonded over music she very much loved music she'd like to go to rock concerts they would have discussions about bands she had a good sense of humor she would constantly send funny memes and she connected with her friends and her family that way will and Anna exchanged thousands of messages imagining their future together if Anna came to Oregon he definitely had the Gift of Gab The Gift of Gab he could talk a good game he could he could talk a very good game Will's friend and former roommate Jamie clz he and I had things in common cars he works on cars I work on cars I'm more Harry Potter he's more The Avengers kind of genre but we could nerd out on things like that he actually took me to see my first Avengers movie he was a likable guy a jokester he just liked to laugh and have fun I enjoyed being around him will worked as a mechanic at a local auto dealership in his free time he'd meet up with friends like Joseph Thompson at the peacock Bar and Grill we would play pool over there on Sunday nights and just basically ended up hanging out doing karaoke I don't know how many times me and him would be sitting there playing pool and he'd just have women walk up from the bar just sit there talk to him he was very charismatic he had the personality the presence was he a player no not necessarily will was such a good friend that Joseph called him his brother we were both in the military a lot of the training and stuff we had went through was similar and it helped pull us together what branch of the service were you in Army and will I believe he was Marines he said that he used to be stationed in Russia will seemed to have an affinity for all things Russian and his online relationship with Anna took off Anna decided to fly to the states to spend the holidays with Will in Oregon and see if their virtual love would feel the same in reality December of 2016 she traveled here and spent a couple weeks with um William harrove but the road to romance had an unexpected detour there was a problem when she first came out in December to see Mr harrove she mistakenly mixed up Portland Maine for Portland Oregon and she was stranded in Portland Maine amidst the chaos of flight changes Anna messaged will building the anticipation to finally be together Anna eventually made it to the right Portland and into the arms of will Hargrove during her visit she posted highlights of their Whirlwind romance including photos of their trips to the coast Will's cars and even a Christmas wish scrawled out to her family back home she came here for Love at the conclusion of this trip she actually became engaged to William harrove and they had plans to get married in the future Anna returned home to Russia after 10 days with a souvenir an engagement ring from Will and plans to pack up her her life in Russia and moved to Oregon with the promise of marriage she was excited about the wedding she was talking about um all the different style dresses and what she really wanted but there was going to be an obstacle in Anna's path to love I'm Michelle Chavez and I was Will hard Grove's [Music] girlfriend [Music] in 2015 33-year-old Michelle Chavez was living with her husband and two children in Albany Oregon unfortunately all was not right in the marriage our relationship at that point in time really wasn't one it was like roommates that just happened to be married slept in the same bed but that was about it didn't didn't really talk Michelle met will Hargrove while she was working as a cab driver was a kind of slow time in the summer and I was waiting at the bar waiting for people to call to go pick people up what was your first impression of him God he's short he's short yes God he's short yeah um he is short but that first impression gave way to something much more for Chavez who was so unhappy be at home he made you feel like you were in the sun when he talked to you he had a way of being able to look at me and I I felt like I was actually seen I felt beautiful I felt like I was wanted and so Michelle and will became much more than friends it wasn't a planned thing it wasn't like it went off in my head I was like I'm I'm going to have a relationship with him it just progressed that way this is one of him and our mutual friend Jamie he was willing to give her what she needed affection attention the following year 2016 the relationship grew to a new and somewhat unusual level with Will renting a spare bedroom in Michelle's house the same one she shared with her husband and kids though it's not clear what Michelle's husband knew about her relationship with will he only had to pay $300 a month and his own food unless he liked whatever it was we making at the time honestly pretty sweet deal Michelle even gave will her wedding ring a promise that she'd leave her husband soon but it wasn't enough for will if Will had this relationship with Michelle and was in love with Michelle why was he going on internet dating sites I think that it had to do with jealousy Michelle was going to leave her husband on her terms and it wasn't going fast enough if he could make her jealous then maybe it would speed things up which may explain why when Anna visited will over Christmas they stayed at Michelle's house under Michelle's nose it seems Anna knew nothing of Will's other relationship they were in his room most of the time on New Year's Eve they were getting ready to go out will was like oh maybe I should introduce you guys and then she shook my hand and she said her name was Anna I said it was nice to meet her but Michelle wouldn't be quite that welcoming when Anna returned a few months later on March 1st 2017 with the intention of becoming Will's wife I was like well she's not staying here she's not staying in my house so will and Anna rented an apartment in Corvalis a small college town not far from Michelle's home with Will working and without a job herself Anna spent time on her own even joining the local gym life wasn't as easy for Michelle what did you want simple just to be happy and you thought you'd found that with him I thought I had but you have to actually know somebody to find those things I think turns out actually knowing will was going to be a bit of a challenge for everyone even with his new fiance in America he split his nights between his two love interests he really continued to float between those two uh places back at Michelle's place and then back at the apartment with Hana with no clue as to why will kept disappearing Anna often had to resort to contacting his friends to find her own fiance and she's seeing him gone in the text messages she's reaching out to his friends do you know where he is what's going on she's becoming suspicious where is he going what is going on with this time as it happened Anna's instincts were right on the money this man was a fraud and relied heavily on Deception to convince other people he was the type of person person he wanted to be perceived as and he wanted to be something greater than he was he told a number of people he was in the armed forces he was never in the armed forces then there's the matter of a certain engagement ring Anna's ring or was it her and I had friended each other on Facebook and then I saw her wearing my wedding ring what yeah the ring that had been Michelle's wedding ring had been repurposed when will proposed to Anna will told Anna that this ring belonged to his grandmother and had sentimental value to him Anna had no idea she was wearing Michelle's ring and on March 22nd she was shocked to get a Facebook message from Michelle about sharing will at this point all Anna knows is that Michelle Chavez is the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend because that's what Will harrove has told her and so Anna says no way you get out of our Lives something about me being a [ __ ] I believe and I was like I'm just getting started at being [Music] one were you threatening her no just being mouthy I just meant that if you think I'm being [ __ ] now like just watch just 3 Days Later Anna and will headed to the Oregon coast for their wedding ceremony Anna brought a wedding dress with her from Russia she had her ring that William proposed to her with on the way will decided to stop at the local Walmart to buy their wedding bands leaving bride to be Anna in the car while he's in Walmart shopping for his wedding ring he is on the phone with Michelle Chavez and he is discussing their relationship and whether or not he's going to come see her that night and you had no clue when he said he was in Walmart that he was like headed to a wedding no no none at all but as it would turn out Anna and will were not headed to a wedding they go to the beach and the officient doesn't show up so he has a phone call in which he relays to both the witnesses and to Anna that the officient couldn't make it he was Ill something came up and William Haro was actually calling a couple video game stores to presumably pretend he was talking to a wedding official to show him how mad he was about this day he never arranged for an officient he never got a marriage license he didn't have anything set up sadly there'd be only one portrait of the Bride that day picking up some fast food the McDonald's drive-through video is the only video or photo taken on Anna rina's wedding day and you can actually see Anna repkina in her wedding dress uh in William haro's vehicle seemingly oblivious to Will's feelings for Michelle Anna set her heart on a rescheduled wedding date but Michelle had other plans so did you give him an ultimatum at one point I did told him it was he had to pick one I didn't want anything bad to happen to her I just didn't want her here so you pressured him to choose I [Music] [Music] did in April 2017 the relationship between Michelle and will hit a Crossroads with Michelle insisting will finally choose between her and Anna will told Michelle she was his choice so April 19th was the deadline right for both of you correct you were going to be done with your marriage and he was supposed to she was supposed to be gone or whatever he was going to leave her how much pressure did Michelle Put on Will to get rid of Anna a lot there was a lot of pressure there's a lot of back and forth in there between all the text messages where one minute it's like clean out your stuff and get out the next minute is I love you I want to be together but we can't do that if she's here there are texts between the two of you with you pressuring him to choose and at one point you told him to fix it yeah what do you mean by that in the general sense FES it in the sense that you would take care of it not take care of it like take somebody out you would end the relationship that you would be done will told Michelle he' tried to send Anna packing many times but she wouldn't go so Michelle perceived Anna as this girl who kind of never got the hint that she was being told to leave and she kept coming back although Anna never knew any of this is really [Music] happening on Saturday night April 15th Just 4 days shy of the deadline they'd set Michelle was supposed to have dinner at Will's apartment it wasn't until about 8:00 p.m. that night that William harrove tells Michelle Chavez that she actually can't come over that Anna showed back up danna's back again he'll take care of it what followed was yet another heated text conversation not a surprise according to Detective Chris Dale who says shelle and will exchanged more than 13,000 texts during their relationship constant checking in every morning to make sure that he's woken up on time uh to get to work didn't seem as if there was a an hour and a day that went by where they were not uh communicating but on that day there was one critical text so will harrove sent a message to Miss Chavez I will have this permanently fixed by 1800 tomorrow so he'll have the situation of Anar repkina handled by 6:00 p.m. uh the following day which was Easter Sunday that Assurance was not enough for Michelle she continued texting and calling will who turned off his phone as the hours passed with no reply Michelle's hope that will was truly fixing the problem with Anna vanished I guess you made your choice okay I'll let you [Music] be why I just want to know why all right [Music] be but I just [Applause] want the next morning Michelle headed to her mother's house for Easter Jamie was there as well she said that she'd spent the night ugly crying and even though I knew what the probable answer was going to be I still asked her like why and she looks at me and she goes why do you think and I said because of will meanwhile back at his apartment will was dealing with a very different but urgent problem his car insurance policy they've been sending him notices that if he doesn't have it paid by midnight on the 16th they're going to cancel his insurance he tells them that he knows this insurance lapses that evening and he needs to get it uh extended uh for free uh because if it doesn't he's going to lose his uh vehicle loan and they're going to repossess it immediately okay can you guys hold off until the 21st so I can get you paid um unfortunately once it is pending cancellation for non-payment we don't have the ability to move the dates at all um and this one yeah so it'll be effect canceled effective toight at midnight just after 4:30 p.m. Michelle's phone rang it was Will and what did he say that he had been out at the coast he was on his way back in and he almost had a deer he ran off the road and he had a flat tire and he needed help how did he sound shaken sad and so Michelle left her family's Easter celebration to go and meet will in the town of Alie he waited for her at a local convenience store you can see him walk to the uh cooler where he gets uh a Pepsi he goes and gets his candy bar and then he ultimately gets a pack of cigarettes about an hour later Michelle arrived she parks on the side of that store uh we see her get out of her Prius I asked him what what happened where have you been he told me that he after we had talked that they got into an argument and he said horrible mean things to her and that she had turned around and taken her suitcases and had walked out thinking Anna had finally left the apartment for good Michelle says she and will got into his car we drove for a little bit and we pulled off and we were talking for a few and then honestly we end up having sex in the front seat so you had make up sex essentially essentially make up sex in the front seat Michelle and will then went their separate ways with Michelle returning to her family's Easter celebration she came back back she was in a good mood she was smiling she was you know she was happy she looked total 180 from what she looked like in the morning will headed home but he made a few stops along the way first at an ATM where he withdrew money from Anna's bank account made a $200 withdrawal from this machine and then engaged in some conversation with some employees um at that gas station where he actually ended up hugging one of them and crying about the fact that his girlfriend Anna rapina uh had left him his girlfriend whose account he just took $200 from yes will then headed to a second ATM he goes to the Chase Bank and withdraws an additional $600 of Anna reina's money so now William hargo has $800 uh that he stole from ANA reina's bank account at about 9 9:30 p.m. on that same night he drives to another bank and he ends up depositing $160 of that cash uh into his bank account will had just one more chore to take care of that evening thank you for calling Progressive y should have a card on file for me and I need to make a payment please several hours earlier he has no money all good then everything's done yeah everything is taken care of you are insured as we're speaking excellent thank you very much ma'am my pleasure have a good night will all of a sudden he has money and he's taking it out of Honor reina's bank account who's found dead the next day on April 17th 2017 the day after Easter Sunday Anna repkina was found with a shotgun blast to the back of her head her body left like one more piece of garbage Anna was discarded in this Landing with the other trash fast food bags uh cigarette cartons candy wrappers uh that were that were here and at that point we don't know what's evidence and what's not because that could either be huge evidence in this case or it could be just trash while investigators hope to find a connection to Anna's killer will was sending on a text showing concern about her whereabouts after the fight he said they'd had the day before will also launched a bizarre Deep dive online researching time travel he is uh trying to ask for help in how to uh travel back in time back to April 16th in order to correct a horrible mistake his words correct a horrible mistake yes he even went so far as to message strangers on WhatsApp for advice to help someone he called his best friend will was apparently so desperate for this information he offered a reward his [Music] soul in addition to his strange internet search will went on a shopping spree spend ending more of that cash he stole from Anna buying candy video games and toys he bought aund and something dollar Set of Legos from a Walmart will reached out to a friend named Kevin Thomas saying that he's spending money he shouldn't trying to distract himself on Wednesday April 19th investigators struck a lead with the trash found next to Anna's body a KFC receipt from 3 days earlier with a crucial Tim stamp was there a name on the receipt so on the receipt there was no name KFC told us that there was uh actually a car that pulled up on that Friday uh and there was two purchases made from that car there was one made with a debit card that came back to Kevin Thomas and another uh purchase that was made with cash with only one name to work with investigators headed to Kevin's Corvalis home was trying to put some pieces together their case um the garbage we found was I think something you bought last week from KFC okay do you know about that yeah me and my brother go to KFC go to KFC on Fridays what's your brother's name Kevin uh will harrove Kevin and will became Pals at the peacock Bar and Grill Kevin like Joseph Thompson called will his brother police continued talking to Kevin at the Sheriff's Office where he offered a revelation a few weeks earlier will had asked to borrow something that belonged to Kevin his shotgun did you say why you wanted to borrow it just said he was going to go up and go shooting in the woods and just kind of blow off some steam what's more Kevin told police that will had yet to return the gun with this new information investigators headed straight to Michelle's house where will was staying to question him he answered the door we're here fallowing up on a case we working and uh uh your name came across and want to talk to you okay will then lied to investigators telling them that he and Michelle drove up to Alie together on Easter Sunday drove into Elsie stopped at the little market there picked up a pack of cigarettes and drove back did you dump some trash there when you were there yeah I did on the side of the building on the side of the general storm but that trash that will claimed to have left at the store was the very same that was found next to Anna's body investig vators asked will to come to the Sheriff's Office while will was getting ready to leave he texted Michelle to ensure their stories matched at the Sheriff's Office investigators got to the question of Anna what do you know about her almost nothing how' you how' you guys meet matter downtown Coral just walking around yeah Will played down their relationship even calling Anna psychotic we went on two dates and then decide I I told her it wasn't going to be anything more than that and I was happy to keep hanging out with her but that was all it was going to be how long ago was that uh last time I saw her was middle of March middle of March cut it off because she decided to put on Facebook that we were engaged she posted that yeah after two days oh yeah and it brought hell down upon from who Lieutenant duffett turned up the heat on will and got right to the point so will your trash was found where somebody was killed I'm s to what okay that's what we're talking about here you guys are looking at me for this your trash like my partner said was found there and your your stuff was found at a scene where somebody died yeah okay talking to you there's a lot of inconsistencies with your story about what what happened that's when will stopped talking and asked for a lawyer no offense guys you've been really kind and I'd like you and I don't mind that but the moment that you say somebody was killed out there that no I it's just no okay so uh William harrove I need you to stand up and put your hands behind your back you're under the arrest for the murder of Anna Reina will Hargrove was placed under arrest but did police have the right person in custody if anyone on the face of it looks like they have a motive to kill Anna it's the other woman it's Michelle how can you be so sure that she had nothing to do with Anna's murder how credible is Will Hargrove during the police interview see more of the evidence at 48 [Music] hours.com just hours after will Hargrove was arrested for Anor reina's murder to go over it at this point Michelle Chavez was brought in for questioning about what she was doing Easter Sunday can you tell me what this is about though she starts out on the wrong foot telling police what will had texted her to say that they driven to Alie together and he picked you up at your mom's house at that time he did okay take his immediately Michelle reverses herself admitting what she had just stated was false that's a little bit of a ly he called me he was going to pick me up and then he did it why did you lie to them honestly I wasn't thinking and I don't have a good answer I want you to know right now the Will's under arrest for murder okay okay investigators say Michelle didn't seem at all surprised when they told her will had just been arrested for killing Anna how are you not extremely upset right now to know that the person who you were romantically involved with I am very upset right now I'm very upset right now I don't understand how that can be a person that I have spent the last year and a half with that was numb it didn't make sense over a year later in July 2018 will was formally indicted for Anna's murder the defense would go on to spin an entirely different theory of the crime one that had Michelle pulling the trigger at after arriving from her family's Easter celebration according to them the defendant had taken Michelle Chavez up to the location to have a conversation with Anna and the shelle had taken the gun out from him and shot Anna a few pieces of evidence had given investigators cause for concern for one thing Michelle mysteriously ended up in possession of Anna's phone Michelle blames will I didn't realize realiz it was hers he had given it to me I guess the night before he got arrested Michelle's own cell phone records showed that a month before Anna's body was found Michelle had visited that exact spot on the Logging Road Michelle claims that's only because will brought her there but could she have been scouting the location the defense says that will loved Anna that he was starting a life with her that you're the one with all the reasons to kill her what do you say to that I had no reason to want her dead no reason to kill [Music] her I do get how it looks but her being dead is nothing I ever wanted I wanted to go home did you ever tell Will to kill Anna no days after Will's arrest his friend Kevin's shotgun was recovered from the back of Will's vehicle evidence supports there had only been one killer will harro's fingerprint was on the shotgun Michelle Chavez's DNA was never on that shotgun Michelle Chavez's fingerprints were never on that [Music] shotgun piecing together various security cameras investigators tracked Will's drive with Anna to Alie we see the defendant's car that's distinct for various reasons traveling along a certain path and gave us location as well as time frames but it was GPS tracking that gave police an even bigger piece of the puzzle with Will's phone pinging from the murder site from 435 to 4:48 that afternoon the reason we have that is because he called Michelle Chavez Michelle Chavez who was still at her mother's house at that Easter celebration we don't have any forensic data or or information that was left at that crime scene to suggest that Michelle was at the crime scene on that day and remember that video of will shopping at the alc convenience store as he waited for Michelle to arrive towards the top of his bald head you can see what appears to be smaller black dots raising the question could it have been blood spatter we can't tell you if that was blood we can't tell you what that was but we can tell you it was there before he met Michelle Chavez subsequent photo comparison afterwards showed that those spots weren't moles they weren't anything that was there [Music] permanently there was one more heartwrenching piece of evidence found in the trash alongside Anna's body from another fast food drive-thru a receipt from McDonald's uh in Newport Oregon dated on March 25th of 2017 March 25th the day that should have been on his wedding [Music] day Will's trial got underway in October 2019 the original witness list was 131 people eventually I believe close to 70 people testified the trial took a month will Hargrove was found guilty of Anna's murder as well as identity theft and two counts of second deegree theft for stealing that money from Anna's bank account I want to talk about honor Rina for a minute and I placed her photo on the witness stand to remind everyone of a life that was lost contrary to specul will sentencing was held in January 2020 she came here with hopes and dreams to find somebody that was loving her and start a family she doesn't have that anymore the defendant very nearly got away with this crime it was his own trash that betrayed him uh you were receiving a sense of life imprisonment will received a life sentence with a possibility of parole after 25 years Michelle says living under the scrutiny of people in town wondering what she knew or didn't know became all too much how bad did it get for you bad enough bad bad she had an incident uh in which she couldn't take the stress uh anymore um and uh almost didn't get the police there in time Michelle says that in June 2018 she tried to take her own life I tried to die I'm still here it didn't work as for the young Moscow native who flew to the US with the promise of love I think you have to remember Anna as the sweet loving caring person who put herself out there to be loved because Anna was loved she was loved alive and she was loved [Music] after Anna reina's ashes were flown back to Russia will Hargrove is filed an [Music] appeal she killed her partner I don't believe Chris abused her she was a very good actress murder or self-defense there were many people who saw her with black eyes with bruises she was afraid for her life 48 hours Saturday at 109 Central on [Music] CBS

Channel: 48 Hours

Views: 1,640,634

Keywords: 48 hours, cbs news, anna repkina, william hargrove, russia, michelle chavez, love triangle, Oregon, murder, Moscow, shooting death

Id: wMXlLbyBzjc

Length: 42min 26sec (2546 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2024