Diane and Tex McIver

0:00 Hi. I'm Tina, and I'm Rich. And if there's one thing we've learned in over twenty years of marriage, it's that some days you'll feel like killing your wife, and some days you'll feel like killing your husband. Welcome to love, Mary Kill, Hey Tina, Oh, hey, Rich, how are you? It's sort of a little perkier that I feel. I'm great. It sounds so perfect that I felt like at the end of our intro I was a little flat. So maybe you and I are different, perfect, excellent. How are you today? I'm good? How are you good? I just got back from a trip, a business trip to San Diego. How did you get there? I flew's must be tired. I'd never get tired of that. I do too. Yeah, it's a good one though. Speaking of flying, there's a little bird right outside our window, a cute little morning dove, just looking in at us while we're recording, probably trying to listen. We should open the window for them. Probably.

1:12 Did your story today have anything to do about birds? No, but there is morning involved. Oh well, you got someone died unfortunately, how unusual for us? I know, I know. So how was your trip to Kelly? It was good? I did a little true crime you did, Yeah, it was tell everyone what you did. Well. I was right on the waterfront in San Diego, and I realized that the mansion where Rebecca's A Howe and Max Shacknai both unfortunately died, was right across the water on Coronado Island. So I thought, you know, I should go see the mansion. So I took a ferry over to the island and then I rented a bike and I rode to the other side of the island and I took a picture of the mansion and then it's really cool. Yeah, so it was a vacation. It wasn't really a word you told me. It was mostly work, just a little bit of true crime touring. But I think pretty soon all our vacations and ships are going to be centered around true crime. Well yeah, which I never would have thought that in a million years, But I think we're pretty serious about going to see the Lizzie boarding house, right, Yeah, I think we're going to do that in the fall. I need to figure that out. So the mansion that I saw it was it looked completely different from when the crime took place, which was I think did yeah, only like twelve years ago, so somebody like remodeled it completely. But it's an amazing place. It looked beautiful location, looked like a great location. Yeah, that was cool. Did you get any

2:43 weird vibes? No, you sent me someone was a proposal from the beach. Yeah, I went down the beach and there was a big Marymi sign and yeah, it was kind of that would have been hard to miss. It looked to you that was very cool too. Congret vigelations to the happy couple. Yeah. Yeah, Oh, we have a snack. We have a list a snack that our listeners sent in. That was so sweet. I know our sweet listener friend Allison sent us a box of chocolate. No doubt that this is going to be an amazing treat and snack and we know we're gonna like it before we even dive into it. But she sent us a box of Seas Chocolate from San Francisco. I didn't know they were based in San Francisco. I didn't either. I've heard of them, but I don't know if I've ever had Seas Chocolate. I don't definitely have. Have I not shared it with you? Probably wouldn't, wouldn't surprise me. No, Well, I don't. I'm surprised even sharing this. I well, I didn't want to. Uh, usually you can just sniff out chocolate.

3:45 Yeah, I have a I have a six sixth cents for chocolate. Yeah, you really do. What is in the house right now other than this lovely box of season, Well, there's some take five bars, and there's some chocolate covered almonds, and there are some Sanders caramel. I am gonna we're gonna taste those some day on a future episodes. Those are yeah, that's those are amazing. But well, those are things. So our daughter and I bought the almonds to hide from you and to take five bars. I was hiding from you for I know I shouldn't be making our son's lunch when he goes to work, but I make him a lot. Well, you're still his mom though, he's still his mom and he's still my baby.

4:31 And if I didn't make his lunch, he would just would literally he would be either starve or he would just like grab granola, barn and apple for and he's gone like twelve hours. So anyway, do you want to take a break and taste this lovely chocolate? Yeah, we'll be right back. So what did you think of the Sea's chocolate? Well, there's nothing not to like about it. I mean it's amazing and I think it's all dark, darker chocolate, which it's delicious. I wanted to try more, he ate like ten pieces. I tried two pieces. I should explain myself to the reason I hide things from you is because, well, do you want to tell everyone because I have no self control? Well, you do when it comes to chocolate. And I'm not a dainty person, but I can eat one piece of chocolate a day and I'm good where you are more prone to. And if you ever ask, if you ever say do you have any chocolate? I usually give you some? Right, Yeah, Okay, so we're not completely dysfunctional. But anyway, thank you Allison. That was a lovely surprise. Delicious. So yeah, Ce's chocolate see apostrophe s.

5:42 I think they've been a lot around for one hundred years or so. But good stuff and it makes a great gift, a fabulous gift. No one wouldn't want to receive that. I'm looking forward eating the rest of it. Okay, So something new we're going to try here is we're going to swap some promos with some of our podcast friends. Today we're going to introduce you too, who are friends out They Don't Stay Dead. Are cute, assy friends Alexa and Brett and if for no other reason, listen to them for their adorable Australian accents. Yeah, and if feel like a good ghost story, very entertaining, So yeah, they're a lot of fun. Check them up. Hey, Paranormies. I'm Brittany and I'm Alexa, and we're the hosts of They Don't Stay Dead. We're a paranormal podcast from Australia and we've made our mission to share with you all the real life ghost stories and haunted locations from our home, as well as encounters with supernatural beings and reports of unknown mysteries. From haunted asylums and ghost ships to big cat cryptids and alien encounters. There's something for everyone. We release new episodes every Thursday and you can find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

6:49 Be sure to check out our Instagram at They Don't Stay Dead for weekly updates. We get a little bit spooky and a lot silly, so join us some laughs and a tale of the unknown. Stay Spooky Paranormies. So I don't know if anyone can hear it, but our neighbors are mowing their law and which I like where we live. But on the weekends you can almost always hear someone mowing their lawn for like the whole day. It's actually not our neighbors, it's it's our lawn mowing people. So they may be mowing our lawns and they're mowing like the common area right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if they come over here. Yeah, we apologize, yea, All right, what are you going to tell us about today? Well, today's story is about Diane McIver, who died in twenty sixteen at the age of sixty three McIver mc iver, m I v R. There isn't any mystery about how Diane died. She was shot and killed by a gun held by her seventy three year old husband Texts as she sat in the front seat of their car. The only question is whether Techs pulled the trigger intentionally to kill Diane or whether it was just a tragic accident. And this story was recommended to us by one of our listeners, Susie, So thank you for the recommendation. We always appreciate that. Can I ask you a question?

8:09 How are you? How are you getting things done? Like? How do you do it? You're working, you're traveling, You're an amazing father and husband. I don't, I don't know. I'm just I'm just that amazing. Seriously, I'm not even I'm not even yanking your chain. I'm just impressed all things. It's nice of you to see. We do a lot of things too. But you're just a thing. I know. But you're holding down a you know, a full time executive type job, So I don't. It's just we appreciate. I actually enjoy doing the podcasting stuff, so I find time to do it. But so your work is so you're slacking at work? Maybe yeah, a little carry on? All right, Well, let me start by reading Diane's obituary, as I think it does a nice job of painting a picture of who Diane was. Diane McIver, a brilliant and inspiring force of nature, died on September twenty six, twenty sixteen. She has survived by her beloved husband and life partner, C.

9:07 L. Texmagiver, Oh Okay, with whom she shared sixteen happy years in Atlanta at their Putnam County cattle ranch and on the golf courses of Reynolds Lake, Okaney. When not at work, they were always at each other's side. She epitomized love and loyalty and action and lived a life out loud. As such, she became an accomplished businesswoman in her almost forty three's. Forty three years of working for Billy Corey at his US Enterprises Incorporated. She loved the challenge of taking mister Corey's ideas and transforming them into thriving and profitable businesses, employing many. Her love and generosity for family and friends was unconditional and without limits. Because she was the sole survivor of her immediate Auburn, Alabama family, her surrogate family was huge, including friends across the globe and especially children. That family also included the Auburn University football program, where she was their greatest fan. One of her many god children was ten year old Austin schwal of Atlanta, who called her mommy die and whose wish was her command. With encouragement from her, he became a straight A student and all star athlete. She regularly demonstrated her role in his life as ardent fan tutor, disciplinarian, and pushover. He loved her for it. She was a health and fashion maven, with a hat collection which is legendary. She inspired those around her by example, always insisting there was more weight to be lost and new ways to look good when in public. She is best remembered for

10:39 refusing to complain, as she would regularly say, it is a waste of time. She clearly was too blessed and too busy to gripe about the day's aggravations. And there's more to the obituary, but I left out a little bit. But she sounds to me like someone who was like super vibrant, had a lot of energy, and really kind of commanded people's attention. Yeah, she sounds like a great lady who didn't deserve to die. Yeah. As mentioned, she was known for her fancy hats and for dressing fashionably, even on the golf course. After she died, there was an estate sale to auction off her wardrobe. That sale included more than two thousand items, including several Chanel handbags and shoes, one hundred and twenty one fur coats, hundreds of scarves, and more than five hundred pieces of Italian and French costume, jewelry. Wow. Yeah, people noticed her. She was outspoken, sometimes through the point of bluntness. There was kind of a bit of an allusion to this in the obituary, but friends say that she didn't have much of a filter. She might comment about a friend's weight gain, but then she would follow up by offering encouragement and support. M yeah, that's sure how I feel about that. I know, if you've gained weight, you know you do not need your friend to tell you. Diane grew up in Alabama in a modest, middle class family. I wasn't able to find much information about her family life other than that she was highly independent. She moved out when she was eighteen, and she was estranged from most of her family,

12:09 not speaking with her mother for the last fifteen years of her mother's life, not even attending her funeral. She was driven. She woke up at five most mornings for a workout, and also kept a set of weights in her office to work out there when she had a chance. She started out at US Enterprises answering phones at about twenty three years old, worked her way up to be president of a division of the company. She was known to be tough at work, but she was also incredibly generous. She never forgot a friend's birthday, and she sometimes took her friends on expensive trips, footing the bill on her own. Diane was married once before she met Tex. She had no children of her own, but was godmother to ten kids to whom she provided financial and personal support, including Austin schwal who was mentioned in the obituary. She was almost like another parent to Austin. Claude mc iver the third, better known as Tex, grew up in Texas. For the last forty plus years, he had lived in Atlanta, practicing labor and employment law as a partner at Fisher Phillips LLLC, one of the country's largest law firms focused on labor, employment, civil rights, employee benefits, and immigration law. Tex was known as a good producer and he managed a team of a dozen or so lawyers. Tex lived in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, which is an area known for its upscale shopping and art galleries. But Texa's heart was really ninety miles away on his ranch in Putnam County. This was an eighty plus acre property that Tex owned that he just referred to as the

13:43 ranch. It was valued at about two point two million dollars a few years ago. There he had a beautiful two story, three bedroom custom home with a wine cellar. There were guest houses, a private lake, a swimming pool, a horse riding ring, wooded areas, rolling pastures. That sounds like a lot for two million dollars. It does sound like a lot. Yeah. He loved spending his weekends there, as you could well imagine. In addition to his work life at the law firm, Tex was very active politically. He was a staunch conservative who supported many Republicans in Georgia. When the balance of power in Georgia shifted toward the Republican Party in the two thousands, Tex was rewarded by being appointed to the State Selection Board, where he served for twelve years until twenty sixteen. In two thousand and five, Governor Sonny Perdue appointed him to the Judicial Nominating Commission, which basically vets and recommends judges for vacant seats. Tex and Dianne met in two thousand. Diane had recently divorced, divorced and moved to a swanky condo in Buckhead which was the same It was swanky, the same one where Tex lived. Not long after she moved in, Tex slipped a note under her door welcome her to the building. Texts had been through a painful and contentious divorce himself about three years earlier. It was the end of a thirty year marriage. It cost him a lot of money and alimony and left him estranged from two of his three adult children. So they both are pretty wealthy. Yeah, they were both

15:20 very successful. So Texts hadn't really dated anyone in the years since his divorce, but he was very interested in Diane. Diane, however, wasn't interested at first in Texts. Her first marriage had been a mistake and she wasn't in any hurry to jump back into a relationship. But she finally agreed to join Texts for dinner in his apartment. The two began dating, and they quickly became inseparable. Rachel Styles, who worked as an assistant to Diane, said he was the perfect match for Diane. Diane was a very strong woman. She intimidated a lot of men. They just didn't want to compete with her. But Texts didn't want to compete with her. He was just infatuated with her. After dating for a while, Tex sublet his condo and rented the unit right next to Diane, and they eventually tore down the wall between the two units to create a supersized unit that they shared. The couple finally decided to get married after about five years of dating. Techs bought Diane a sixty thousand dollar engagement ring almost as nice as the one that I bought you.

16:22 I wouldn't tage mind for anything now, and they tied the knot at the Ranch in two thousand and five. With Texas political connections and Diane's wealth and successful business career, the two were really a power couple. They threw frequent parties at the Ranch that included many of Atlanta's rich and powerful people. Diane was the life of the party. She was the boss who took charge of everything, while tex was more reserved and was known as the consummate gentleman. No one ever saw him and Diane quarrel. People thought of them as the perfect couple. Most of their weekends were spent at the ranch. Diane loved it there as much as Tex. They would spend their time golfing or just relaxing at the lake. The day that Dianne was shot and killed was a Sunday like many others. September twenty fifth, twenty sixteen, Tex and Diane were at the ranch along with Diane's longtime friend Danny Joe Carter. That morning, Tex woke up and made sausage biscuits for the ladies, and then Tex and Diane spent the afternoon on the golf course, even though it was ninety three degrees that day, while Danny stayed at the ranch to do some horseback riding. After golfing, Tex and Diane swung back by the ranch to pick up Danny, and the three of them headed back toward Buckhead in their Ford expedition. A little past the halfway point of the normally ninety minute drive, they stopped for dinner at a Longhorn steakhouse in Kanyer's, Georgia. Tex and Diane both had a little wine with dinner, and so when they got

17:52 back on the road, Danny, who didn't drink, got behind the wheel. Diane sat in the front passenger seat, while Tech sat behind her in the back seat. At some point, Tex, who was seventy three and had been out in the sun golfing all afternoon and had had a glass or two of wine, at dinner, fell asleep in the back seat. About seven miles or so from Buckhead, they hit some really bad traffic, a virtual parking lot, as Danny would later describe it. Danny and Diane decided it would make sense to get off the freeway and find an alternate route to get back home. They exited onto Edgewood Avenue and Diane said, Tex, wake up and look at ways. Texts. Woke up at that point, and, seeing that they were off the freeway and in a neighborhood that he apparently considered a little Dicey said, I think this is a bad idea, ladies. It's a dangerous area, and then he asked Diane to hand him his gun. Diane said it was a small revolver, a Smith and Wesson thirty eight caliber revolver. Diane said, text, I don't even know where your gun is. He told her it was in the center console. He kept the revolver there, wrapped up in a grocery bags one does. Of course. Apparently he had heard that there were some car break ins where the thieves were just looking to steal guns, and so he kept it wrapped in the grocery bag, hoping to fool it. I know you would never know, right, So Dane handed him the bag with the gun in it.

19:19 Tech says that he put the gun on his lap and fell back to sleep. Danny continued driving for another five to ten minutes while she and Diane kept chatting. Danny stopped at a red light and suddenly she hears boom. Her first instinct was that another car hit hit theirs, but as she turned, she saw Tech put the gun down and he said something about having fallen asleep and asking if everyone was okay. Danny Joe said yes, but Danne said I've been shot. At first, Danny thought Diane was joking, but then she turned to see that she was breathing funny, and she seemed to pass out. The bullet had gone directly through the back seat, passing right through Diane's body. Text leaned forward from the back seat and cradled Diane's head, saying, either Darling, Darling, or possibly Diane Diane. Danny's instinct was to drive to Piedmont Hospital, but she wasn't sure how to get there.

20:17 Text told her instead to drive to Emory University Hospital on the Emory campus, which turned out to not be a great choice. Here's what Danny Joe said to the police that night, I'll thinkable where you collegers. So, as it turns out, Piedmont Hospital was actually much closer, and in fact, there were three hospitals that were closer than the one on Emory's campus, including Grady Hospital, which operated one of the country's best Level one trauma centers. Was that well known though, you know, I've seen quotes from people in Atlanta that said, oh, everybody in Atlanta knows that Grady Hospital is really well known for that. But then I've seen other quotes that says, well, Grady Hospital isn't in a great neighborhood, and so if you were someone who was, you know, fairly well off, you would probably think, oh, I wouldn't want to go to Grady. It's kind of in a bad area. So hard to say, I don't know what hospital near us is best with gunshot wounds, yeah exactly. Text later said that he knew Emery because they were a client of his firm, and that was just the thing that came to mind first, which makes sense. As Danny Joe drove to Emory, Texts told her to be careful because there might be people walking with baby carriages, which seems like a really odd comment to make. Oh, it really does. Yeah, when it's a it's ten o'clock at night, be your wife has just been shot and is possibly dying in the front seat. Yeah, it makes no sense. You said they had drinks at dinner. How do you know how many? I'm not sure. I don't

21:48 think it was a lot. I think they had a bottle of wine, and I read somewhere I think that maybe Diane had two glasses and techs had one or two, so they didn't finish the bottle of wine. Okay, gotcha. In any case, despite text saying to slow down and watch out for baby carriages, Danny Joe says that she didn't slow down. Poor Danny Joe having to take the wheel with her friend probably bleeding out next to her, and crazy text in the backseat given her bad advice. Yeah, for sure. So they got to Emory University Hospital just after ten pm. From the hospital's security camp footage, we can see workers wheeling Diane in in a wheelchair from the car into the ear with texts alongside. Doctor Suzanne Hardy treated Diane that night. She says that Diane's blood pressure barely even registered. When she got there. They put Diane on her ivy and then she spoke to doctor Hardy, saying her husband had been holding the gun behind her back and that the shooting was an accident. So she was able to speak. That's crazy, yeah, she did. As Hardy prepared to intubate Diane before taking her to the OAR, she asked, would you like to see her husband?

22:53 And Diane answered no. Shortly after she was intubated, Diane went into car each arrest. They were able to start her heart again and took her into the r but Dane's internal injuries were too grave. The bullet had gone through her diaphragm, severed of Vane and artery andrew spleen, also hitting her kidney and her stomach. Oh boy, she was pronounced dad on the operating table at twelve forty nine am. So how much time elapsed between the time that she was shot in the time that they arrived at the hospital. That's a great question. I don't know exactly, but maybe like ten minutes. Oh, it wasn't long, I don't think. Meanwhile, as Danny, Joe, Carter, and Tex sat in the waiting room, Tex said to her quote, I don't trust these guys, Danny Joe. I hate to get I hate to see you get wrapped up in this. I've seen how these things can go down. You just need to say you came out here as a friend of the family, Carter said. She responded Text, I just drove you into the emergency room. Text apparently then said to her, well, they don't know that. Danny Joe was bonded by saying I can't lie, and Tech said, oh, I'm not asking you to do that.

24:04 I'm not sure then what he was asking her to do. Here's a short clip of Danny Joe telling the police about this particular conversation that night. Are you trying to get me allowed? Supposedly to protect me from getting all wrapped up at this? So, yeah, it seems very strange. Later, Texas lawyer was talking about well, Texts just didn't want there was a media firestorm, and there was like, well there wasn't yet, there was nothing. You know, the media didn't even know about this yet. So well, Text is an attorney, so maybe he's just super careful. Yeah, exactly, And along those same lines, while they were in the waiting room, Text made a call on his cell phone to a criminal lawyer.

24:48 Danny Joe heard text say I know this doesn't look good, and shortly after that call, his criminal attorney came to join them in the waiting room. I know again, your wife is in the operating room fighting for her life, and the first thing you think is you're going to call your criminal attorney. The er nurse, a woman named Terry Sullivan, said that she saw Maples, his attorney, huddled with Tex and Danny Joe in the waiting room and she overheard the attorney say, this is what you're going to tell them. She didn't hear any more of the conversation, but it struck her as a little bit odd, I'll say. So, it seems like right away, you know, even before Diane was pronounced Dad, Tex was thinking about the legal trouble he might be in and getting it ahead of it. And again, you know, he's a lawyer, So maybe that's just if you're a lawyer, you jump to that earlier than other people. But it just seems very strange. Well, what would his motive be to shoot his wife in the backseat of a car with a friend there. We will talk about that. In fact, I think that's you know, the central question of this whole case is there's no question about how and died, right she was shot in the back by her husband. But it's really a question of whether this was just an accident or whether Texts had some reason and took the opportunity to kill Diane. So I think to get into that, there are three things we need to look at. Okay, First is Texas history with guns?

26:18 Is he experienced? Does he have a history of being careless? How easy or difficult would it be for the gun to go off accidentally? Second, as you mentioned, did he have motive to kill Diane? Everyone said they were the perfect couple, so why would he want Diane out of the way? And third, we need to look at Texas behavior. We've already talked about a couple of things that he did that seem a little bit odd, but we should look at everything that he did, you know, the night that Diane was shot, but also in the days after. So let's start with the guns. Tex was no stranger to guns. In fact, he had a lot of guns at the ranch. At the ranch alone, he had at least thirty five guns, including rifles, handguns, and an aar fifteen, and at his condo in Buckhead he had at least four pistols and one rifle. Tex was in the military in his younger days, so we can assume that he had some formal training on using firearms and that he knew how they worked. There are a couple of past incidents that I think are relevant. First, some twenty five years before he shot Diane, in nineteen ninety, Tex was charged with firing a gun at a car that had three teenagers in it. There isn't a lot of information available about this particular incident, but apparently Tex arrived home and he saw a Ford Mustang sitting in his cul de sac. Apparently there had been some burglaries recently, and Tex thought the car looked suspicious for some reason, and so he went into the

27:48 house and he got his gun. He came back out and fired two shots into the air, and then he fired two shots at the car. I know, I just don't understand that thinking at all. I really don't either. It's a car, No what's going on here? But I'm gonna shoot at it? Yeah, I mean, he's lucky and the teenagers were lucky that none of the bullets hit the kids one of the One of the shots actually hit the gas tank of the car, but the teens drove off as he started shooting, and they escaped uninjured. Does Texts have children? I don't think you said yes. He I did mention that. I think he had three children, two of them he was estranged from after his divorce.

28:29 I'm not sure why exactly, but yeah, I don't think he had a relationship with at least two of them. So Texts at first denied firing his weapon in this incident, saying that he just chased the teens away on foot, but he was indicted for aggravated assault, criminal damage to property, and possession of a firearm during commission of a crime. Texas attorney claimed it was self defense and that Texts had been fearful for his safety. Before the case went to trial, the three teens decided not to press charges, and X paid restitution of close to three thousand dollars. That's it. Yeah, it seems like a seems like a bar guy. That's ridiculous. Yeah. The other incident that I want to share regarding Techs and his history with firearms is more recent. It happened four or five years before Diane was killed. A neighbor from across the hall was over visiting with tex and Diane. Their godson Austin was also over. He was six or seven at the time. The neighbor was telling them about how she saw a big old buzzard on her balcony, and while they were hanging out, sure enough, the same buzzard landed on Techs and Diane's balcony. Tech said, well, we can scare him, and he went and got his pistol, which he proceeded to fire at the buzzard through the screen door. He missed the buzzard. That is a flashback from my child When I read that, I thought of your childhood.

29:52 He look, I should probably tell me growing up, I was pretty young. My dad is an avid hunter, and he had a lot of guns, and we lived in the country and we had like a nice it was a lovely backyard, a pond and a river, and we had a lot of deer running through the backyard. And one morning we were eating breakfast and my dad grabbed a rifle and didn't shoot through the window, but he did shoot through the screen door at the deer, and I believe he missed. If I recall I can't even imagine. I mean, you've fount my dad. Well, yeah, knowing your dad, I can't imagine. So the buzzard flew off, he missed it while Austin, Diane, and the neighbor all all laughed. The gun that Tex was holding that ended up killing Diane was, as I mentioned, a Smith and Wesson thirty eight caliber revolver.

30:47 There are two possible ways to fire this gun, what is referred to as single action or double action. Single action is when the person holding the gun pulls the hammerback first, which rotates the cylinder and puts a new round into the into the chamber. Once you've done that, it doesn't take much pressure on the trigger to fire the gun, only about two pounds of pressure. A responsible gun owner would not cock the hammer unless they were serious about using the gun and wanted to be absolutely ready. Okay, Can I just say, is it possible that he was like wearing a bad neighborhood and maybe I need to be ready? I think that's what he would say. Yeah, that's what he wants me to believe, right. How bad was the neighborhood?

31:30 I don't think it was that bad from what I read it was like, well, maybe twenty years ago it might have been kind of bad, but you know, not really that bad today. What kind of car were they driving? A Ford Expedition. Okay, And normally people, even in bad neighborhoods, don't randomly shoot at vehicles, right, So this particular gun could also work as a double action gun. Double action means that you just pull the trigger without cocking the hammer. When you're using double action, pulling the trigger does everything else for you. It automatically pulls the hammer back, it rotates the cylinder and fires. But when you're using double action, it takes a lot more pressure to pull the trigger. That's a safety measure.

32:10 It takes about twelve pounds of pressure compared to about two pounds with single action. So if you're going to fire the gun, you have to really mean it. I stuck my finger on our kitchen scale and try to apply twelve pounds. It's not easy. I mean, that's that's all like two pounds of pressure. How how sensitive a touch is that that's not hard to do. I mean you could you could definitely see it going off accidentally with two pounds of pressure by just bumping it or something like that. But again, if you're a responsible gun owner, there's no there's no reason you would, you know, cock the gun and have it ready to go. And Text was he was like dozing in the backseat as well, so he shouldn't have you been ready to fire the gun. Was he really dozing or was he playing possum? And that's a good question. We really only have his word for that. After the shooting, Text was unable to say whether the gun was in single action or double action. If it was in single action, meaning he pulled back the hammer in order to be ready to shoot, that would be really incredibly irresponsible. If it was in double action, there's really no way that I can see that he pulled the trigger on accident, and there's no way of knowing. There's no way to know. Oh frustrating.

33:30 Do you think the gun was in double or single action? I think it was probably in single action. I think he probably pulled back the hammer on the gun. Whether he did that because he thought they were in danger and he needed to be ready, or whether he did that because he was intentionally trying to kill her, I think that's the only thing that really makes sense. So the second thing to look at is motive. As we mentioned upfront, did Tex have a motive to kill Diane? And the only motive that really makes sense here is money. So when Tex and Diane got married, they decided to keep their finances completely separate. Both of them had money, and both of them had been through divorces, so it just made sense to keep everything separate. However, their finances definitely ended up getting entangled. Diane wanted to build a fancy guest house on the ranch. Text was sort of about the idea and he said, well, if Dianne, if you want to build it, then you should pay for it, and she was fine with that. The guest house sort of turned into the party house on the ranch and they ended up calling it the Saloon. Shortly after Dane's death, it came out that Diane had loaned Techs three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which was supposed to be paid back with interest but wasn't. The loan would have theoretically given Diane the ability to foreclose on the ranch and take ownership of it, but she never did that. Tech said that the money was Diane's contribution to the guest house, and that for tax purposes, Dianne wanted it

35:00 to look like a loan, but never intended it to be paid back. But there was like paperwork, and they did this formally. It wasn't just like she wrote him a check and you know, said pay me back at some point. Interesting. There was also evidence that tex was having financial problems and was living way beyond his means. For the first seven years of Tex and Dianne's marriage, Texas income at the law firm averaged five hundred and seventy thousand dollars a year. In twenty thirteen, his income dropped to four hundred and thirty six thousand, and then in twenty fourteen it dropped again to three hundred and fifty thousand, which would be plenty of money to live off of. Yeah, but if you've got you know, a big, big old ranch to maintain, and you know, the light that the level that they were living at I think was you know, pretty pretty pretty high. He's in his seventies, so I would I would assume he was probably slowing down.

35:52 Yes, he was planning to retire at some point fairly soon. The year that Diane died in twenty sixteen's income was only two hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. So he had actually been demoted from being an equity partner in the firm to being what was called an income partner in twenty fourteen, and that meant that he no longer got a percentage of the firm's profits. I don't really know why he was demoted. I'm not sure what the reason behind that was. But when they did the analysis of his finances, his regular salary was less than half of what would be needed just for basic upkeep on the ranch. For the first nine months of twenty sixteen, he spent sixty three thousand dollars more than he brought in, and from twenty thirteen to twenty sixteen, that deficit was estimated to be more than two hundred and forty five thousand dollars. In June of twenty sixteen, Texts sent an email to Diane about his financial troubles. He wrote, quote, I am seriously trying to reduce my monthly expenses. Debt is my biggest obstacle right now. Plan on hitting the lotto sometime this week. Diane replied with a joke about him getting a job as a caretaker at the ranch, and then Tex replied back to that with a joke about going back to being a jiggilo. Texa's net worth at the time of Diane's death was about one point seven million dollars, which may seem like a lot, but it really isn't, especially given the lifestyle that he was living. His income just couldn't support it. With Diane's death,

37:24 tex stood to inherit between three point six million and four point six million dollars from her. Diane's will, which had been filed in two thousand and six shortly after the couple married and ten years before her death, left pretty much everything to Texts, but five years later, Diane apparently wanted to make changes in order to leave much of her estate to her godson, Austin Schwal. Diane and text went back and forth about the new will, but it's unclear if it was ever completed. We know that as of twenty fourteen, at least the couple was still talking about it. In October of that year, Texts emailed Diane saying this would be such a good week to complete our wills, and she replied, I agree, Let's get it done. Diane told at least five people, including Anne Schwal Austin's mother that she was leaving her share of the ranch and pretty much everything else she had to Austin.

38:20 In twenty fifteen, Diane asked her assistant Rachel, to make copies of some papers that she said were confidential. Rachel didn't look at the papers, but she said that when she gave them back to Diane, she told her that this was her new will. Unfortunately, though her new will has never been found and so it's unclear what happened to it. So that's motive. Let's move on to the third thing, and that's Texas behavior. First, leading up to Diane's death, was there any sign of tension or discord in the marriage? And the answer to that from everything I've read is no, we don't know of any affairs. They never fought in public. At least. The only thing might be texts money troubles that might have caused stress. But just based on the emails I read earlier, it seems like they were kind of joking about it. But the day of Diane's death and after, text definitely did some things that raised eyebrows. First, as we talked about already directing Danny to Emory University Hospital, when there were three other hospitals that were closer, and especially the one that you know specialized in dealing with life threatening trauma. Also telling Danny to slow down because he worried that there were people walking with baby carriages at ten pm. Both of those things could be completely innocent, you know, poor judgment in an emergency, but it could also be read as he was trying to delay getting Diane to the hospital. Next, when they were in the waiting room, he asked Danny Joe to lie about being there, which was very odd, and then calling the criminal defense

39:52 attorney as we've talked about as well. So just some strange things. So Danny is obviously a key witness in this whole thing because she was there at the shooting and at first she thought that this was an accident. Here's what she said to detectives on the night of the shooting. Is a doubt it was true quickly one of the trouble accidents. The audio is a little muffled if you couldn't pick up on that. What she said was there is not a doubt in my mind that it was completely one of the most horrible accidents. But four months later she seemed to change her mind, she felt like Tex was trying to manipulate her. A few days after the shooting, Tex set up a meeting with two reporters and arranged for Danny Joe to show up and make a public statement in support of Text, saying that the shooting was an accident. But Danny Joe apparently had misgivings and she didn't show up to the meeting and she stopped taking Texas calls. Text left this voicemail for Danny's husband, Sir, just plain dam absolutely please please. So yeah, maybe a little bit muffled, but basically he was saying to Danny's husband that Danny

41:22 is going to send me to prison because you know, she's not supporting me. Her husband's supposed to do about it, I know. And then and then also asking him to delete the voicemail. I thought was interesting to be very text thing to do, isn't it. Yeah yeah, which obviously Danny's husband did not delete the voicemail. Less than two days after Dan died, two of her colleagues went to see Texts to offer their condolences. Both said that Text was asking them about whether he could start collecting her social Security checks and also complaining about his salary being cut and how expensive it was to maintain the ranch. As the one colleague said quote, I expect did at that point in time he would tell me how sorry he was and how it was a terrible tragic accident, and say how much he loved Diane. But I never heard that. Also, just two months after Diane's death, Text held multiple auctions to sell off all of her expensive clothes, jewelry, hats, and accessories. Do you know how much he received from the auction. I don't know that, but I'm sure it was significant. I mean, I've seen pictures of like the auction. It's like it's like you're at like Nordstrum's or you know, a department store. There's just so much stuff. It's Nordstrum. Not sorry, sorry about that Nordstrum. When they did the auctions, they were even advertised as being Diane's stuff, Like the case was obviously in the news a lot at that time, and so to attract more buyers, they actually advertised it as you know, Dianne Mciver's things. That is nuts to me that she had I think you said one hundred and thirty two

42:52 for you know, I know, I mean, there's only three hundred and sixty five days a year. So what I said to myself the last time we were moving and I had like, I'm not going to say the number of shoes that I had. I was like, there's only you know, it's just ridiculous, it is. It is so text took a lot of criticism about this auction and the fact that it was so soon after her death. According to him, Diane had left money to a number of friends and colleagues in her will, and so as the executor of her estate, he had to sell her stuff in order to pay them. But again it didn't look great. Diane's body was cremated, but it took Texts forty two days to pick up her ashes from the crematorium, and after he did pick them up, he tucked them into the back of a closet in the cardboard box that they came in. He probably had other things on his mind, but friends of Diane's were pretty appalled when they heard about this. Lastly, Texa's story changed regarding the shooting. First, he said they had hit a bump in the road and that caused him to pull the trigger. Later, he said he had been asleep and was jolted awake and that's when the gun went off. According to Danny Joe, though, there was no bump and the gun went off when the car was sitting still at a traffic light. So we've gone over guns in Texas history, with guns, possible motive, his behavior around the time of the shooting and afterwards. So what do you think at this point? Well, I just have one question really quick. Is

44:24 there any traffic camera footage? Not that I've seen though, Okay, I mean, I don't think I have enough evidence to convict him. It seems like it could be an accident in my opinion. Yeah, I think that's a fair fair opinion for sure. Do we not have a resolution? Okay, we're gonna get into it. I just wanted to get your opinion before I kind of jove into it. Kind of the same. I think that the reason being is I don't know why he would shoot her in the car in front of a friend. Yeah, that seems really to me a little bit. But maybe he just saw the opportunity and thought, well, you know, this will be a great opportunity to do this. And the shot itself, like if you looked at the where it was in the back seat.

45:13 It was directly like you know, threw her back and it was like you had you almost had to be like aiming it there, you know, for that to be such a perfect shot to go right through her abdomen where it's going to cause a lot of damage and he would probably know where to shoot someone probably. I hope you're saving some of those bloopers for the bloopers. I don't. I don't do bloopers. What are you talking about. I mean, they're few and far between. But every time I say something, I just you get this look at your face, and I can tell you're like saving the file. And when you make a mistake, because you are the one who's recording, I think you just delete it. I am doing some more bloopers today. But you're right, Oh, all right, I'll try to do better, a better job of state my blueopers. All right. Back to the story, though, So, this case became a big story in Atlanta, partly because of Tex and Diane's wealth and status in the community, but also because of some remarks that TeX's friend and spokesman Bill Crane made four days after the shooting. Crane was talking to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and he said mc iver asked for his gun because he was quote alarmed about recent unrest surrounding several Black Lives Matter protests in the area and fearing a carjacking unquote. Yeah, So suddenly race was injected into the conversation and public opinion turned against Techs. Many members of the black community were outraged that Tex equated Black Lives Matter protesters with carjackers, and they saw this as a

46:45 typical blame the black man defense. As the investigation dragged on and Texts still hadn't faced any consequences, there were growing concerns that, as a wealthy white man, Tex was being treated differently than a black man would have been. Former Atlanta City Council member Derek Boseman said, quote, if I, as a black man, had given an explanation like that, I would be arrested and there would be calls for a murder indictment by the DA. Well, not just being a white man, but being a lawyer too. I think lawyers get a lot of special treat well connected, also very active politically, you know, being appointed by the governor a different things. So, yeah, Text later tried to get his friend Bill Crane to claim that Tex hadn't actually said that, but Crane refused to change his story, saying that Tex had definitely agreed to that specific statement. Texas lawyers later told a different story, saying that tex was quote not thinking of black lives matter or anything racial when he decided to get his revolver out. He just saw some people milling about in the area and took the gun out as a precautionary measure. Three months after Dan's death, the Atlanta Police Department concluded their investigation and determined that the shooting was not intentional, but that Text had been and holding the gun in a careless and reckless manner, and so they charged him with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct. But now that the case was in the hands of the DA's office, they decided to launch their own investigation, and they eventually decided

48:15 to file charges for malice murder, which basically means there was intent to murder, and felony murder, which does not require intent. So they went against the recommendation of the Atlanta Police Department, which made for an interesting situation. So like the main investigator from the Atlanta PD, for example, would end up testifying for the defense about their conclusion that it was an accident. Tex was released on bond, but four months later, the DA decided to search his apartment for the updated will that Diane's friends had all talked about. When they searched the apartment, they didn't find the will, but they did find a gun in texas sock drawer, which violated terms of his bail because he had been required to turn all of his guns over. Oh wow. Text claimed the gun must have been planted, but it was in his sock drawer, so you know he had in his sock drawer. I go in my sock dwer every day. There's no way I wouldn't notice that. Again, I'm not defending again. Well, I think Text had so many weapons and was used to seeing them that it was would be possible that he would forget about one. Well, his claim was that the gun had been planted, but the judge wasn't buying that, so his bond was actually revoked and he spent the next eight months in prison. Oh yeah. Eventually he did get a new lawyer who was able to get him released on house arrest until his trial. So Texas trial began on March thirteenth of twenty nineteen. The state's basic argument was that tex was in financial trouble. He wanted to maintain the

49:49 image of wealth and status that he had cultivated and was willing to go to any lengths to do that. On September twenty fifth of twenty sixteen, he saw an opportunity and he seized it, footing Diane through the back. It wasn't premeditated, but it was definitely cold blooded. Here's a clip from the opening argument by prosecutor Seleida Griffin talking about Texas motivation and some of his financial problems. Now, this is a case about maintaining an image of wealth and power that the defendant created for himself and the links that he went through to keep it. September twenty fifty, two thousand and sixteen, the day that the defendant shot his wife in the back, his life was spinning out of control. The partnership that he had in two thousand and five at Fisher and Phillips was gone. He lost his partnership in two thousand and fourteen and was planning on retiring in December of two thousand and seventeen, and over the three year period, his salary dropped fifty four percent. He had become dependent upon Diane, and over a three year period from two thousand and thirteen and two thousand and sixteen, our financial expert, mister Dan driscoll was testified that he received one hundred and ninety eight thousand dollars from Diane mcgiver. In addition to

51:20 the one hundred and ninety eight thousand dollars that she that he received from her, She gave him a loan for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars in two thousand and eleven. This wasn't a hey, you can pay me back whenever you get the money. This wasn't actual loan with a promissory note, and the loan was secured by the ranchild in Putnam County, and based on his financial condition, the defendant would not be able to repay this loan. In fact, the evidence will show that in two thousand and eleven, when she gave him the loan, it was due in two thousand and fourteen and he hadn't paid it, so she renewed it. So they will be doing the samer of two seventeen and the evidence will show that over that period he made interest only payments and never paid any money on a principle, so the defense, of course, argued that it was just a tragic accident. They also had an expert witness who claimed that Tex had some type of sleep disorder that he had been diagnosed with the years earlier, and that might explain why he pulled the trigger, but didn't know why. They also argued that Tex was not in financial straits, that he was worth one point seven million dollars at the time of Diane's death, and they pointed out that on the evening of the shooting, both Danny and Diane herself before she died, said that it was an accident. However, in my mind that doesn't like the fact that Diane said it was an accident. I don't know how much weight that really carries because she you know, she was just sitting there. Well, she

52:51 wasn't driving, she was in the passenger seat, Diane I'm talking about. Oh yeah, But Danny, the same thing with Danny, Joe, Like, both of them said it was an accident, but how would they how would they know if he did if he pulled the trigger on purpose or not? True. The trial lasted twenty days. The jury deliberated for twenty nine hours, including a field trip to sit in the back of the car where Tex had sat and holding the gun that he had held. Pretty that's pretty long, I know. After four days of deliberating, they sent a note to the judge saying that they were deadlocked and didn't see any path to a verdict. You didn't let me give a prediction because that was going to be my prediction. Well, the story is not over yet. So they sent a note to the judge saying they were deadlocked. The judge told them to keep trying, and just two hours later they actually did reach over, isn't it Well, you know, after twenty nine hours of deliberating and then they're like, we can't, can't do it. The judge says, try again, and two hours later, we did it. Ye. So before I tell you the verdict, the jury essentially had three options, right, They could find him guilty of malice murder, which means that he intended to kill her, felony murder, which doesn't require in tent, or they could find him not guilty. So what do you what do you think? Well, I didn't sit there for twenty days. I don't I really don't know.

54:07 I would think. I think I would come up with not guilty. Yeah. Well, they found him guilty of felony murder, so they felt like he had shot Diane without malice a forethought, but with intent to do bodily harm. Interestingly, both malice murder and felony murder carry a mandatory life sentence, so it doesn't really matter much to prosecutors. In fact, in Atlanta, that's why prosecutors really like the felony murder charge because it's easier to prove, but it carries the same punishment. In addition to the felony murder charge, Text was also found guilty on charges of possession of a firearm during commission of a felony and for influencing witnesses, specifically Danny Joe Carter, her husband Tom Carter, and his friend Bill Crane. The question following the guilty verdict was what would happen to Diane's estate? Because he was convicted of felony murder, Text no longer had the right to her estate. We know that it was Diane's wish to leave the estate to her god's son, Austin, but it's unclear what will happen to it or what has happened to it since then.

55:17 This story isn't quite over yet, though, because in July of twenty twenty two, the Georgia State Supreme Court overturned Texas conviction. They said that the trial court aired by not allowing the jury the option of finding for involuntary manslaughter, which is what the Atlanta Police Department had originally recommended. They also overturned the possession of a firearm conviction, but they upheld the conviction for influencing the witnesses. Yeah, I think I could get to involuntary manslaughter rather than murderer. Yeah. So, Texts had almost finalized his time for that last charge, the influencing the witness charge, but even after he completed that sentence, the judge denied him bond while he's waiting for his new trial, saying that as a man of means, there's a reasonable risk that he would choose to disappear. So tex is like eighty now right, Yeah, Yeah, he's in prison still. So his new trial is actually scheduled to start on September twentieth of this year, twenty twenty three. All right, we'll keep our eye on that. Yeah, we'll definitely keep keep you updated on what's going on, but I do have some questions for you. Yeah, go for it. So when he shot the gun, was it still in the bag? Yes? Okay? And that worth one point seven million dollars?

56:38 How is that tabulated? Does that in just is that his property? That's I mean, that would be all of his assets, you know, minus his law property would be worth I would think at least two million dollars, right, but I don't know if he still had a mortgage on that. Also, the fact that Diane had kind of a stake in the property now because of the loan that she had given him. So yeah, it seemed to me that most of his wealth was probably based on that property. So what was he was going to retire? How was what was he going to live off of? Was he going to sell the branch and downsize, which is what he should have done, yeah, than kill his wife? Yeah? I don't know. I mean that I think that the motive, the possible motive of money, makes a lot of sense. I think he definitely had that motive because he had this lifestyle he was living, he didn't want to lose it, and he was kind of getting desperate like he didn't have another way to keep maintaining his lifestyle. Yeah, but I feel the same way you did though that I don't know if I could have convicted him of murder like I think involuntary manslaughter, yes, but it's so hard to prove that he did it intentionally. That's how I feel, like, I don't see the evidence. Yeah, I think he may have, but again the reasonable doubt. I definitely would have some reasonable doubt whether he did it on purpose or not. Same. So what Diane she would she she would have shared the money if she knew who was broke, wouldn't she. They liked each other, they had a good marriage. Yeah, but at the same

58:08 time, I mean, they chose to keep everything separate. She did loan him money, but she also wanted to change her will. According to a lot of people, she wanted to change her will to give almost everything she had to her godson, Austin. So but if she knew her husband was financially struggling, I think she did know though, I mean, yeah, I mean there were emails back. I think if she knew who she was he was going to kill her, she would have been like, all right, well, yeah, we'll forget about that loan. You would, you would think so, but yeah, I don't. I don't know. Otherwise they were, they seemed to be happy, that's what everyone said. Yeah, it's it's hard. I just hate hearing these stories. And it seems like we've had a lot of stories recently about older couples. Yeah, you're right, You're right. Just seems like you would just grin and bear and bear. Well, again, I think in this case, it wasn't like he was unhappy with her. If he did it on purpose, it was because of money, which again, it's a horrible reason to kill somebody, but you know, it happens. It happens all the time. I I like money, but I'm this not My primary motivation in life is to have more stuff and more money. Yeah, I'd be okay with downsizing. Yeah, well, in either case, rest in peace. Diane definitely did not deserve to die. And yeah, we'll update you on what happens when text goes back on trial. I said this before, but I just I'm very curious what it's like to be in prison when you're eighty years old. Yeah,

59:40 just seems and as it should be a really miserable way to leave the world true. All right, well, the great job. It was a good story. And who recommended that again? That was our listener, Susie. Thanks Susie. That was a good case. Yeah, and thanks to Allison for the lovely box of chocolates. You probably didn't see that. I eight half of them when you were when you were delivering. That's why I kept saying, because I couldn't talk because I was like to get stuck in my key. Nice. Well, thank you Alison. That was awesome. It was really sweet. Yeah. I just wanted to give a shout out to a podcast, Scamanda. I posted about it on Instagram, but I'm just really enjoying it. It's very it's very good. Cool Yeah, Scamanda sc A m A n DA. It's about a horrible woman who may or may not be faking cancer. Oh so this is like a long form podcast, like multiple episodes. About six episodes, so I'm guessing there could be eight to ten episodes, but oh, I'm going to shake it out story.

1:00:43 Yeah, it's a it's a I think it's well done. Cool. Well, as I always, thank you all so much for listening. We're so grateful for each and every download. Yeah, follow us on Instagram or Facebook at Love Mary Kill or on Twitter at LMK pod. We love to hear from you. Send us your feedback or case suggestions or snack suggestions or snack suggestions. Email us at Love Mary Kill at gmail dot com, or you can find lots of good stuff in our link tree, which is in the bios of our social media and if you like what we're doing, give us a rating, a review and subscribe. That really helps us a lot. Thanks again for listening, and remember don't kill your husband, and don't kill your wife even if you're poor and you need the money, because she'd rather live exactly be compelling the