Dec. 15, 2025

Kelley and Thomas Clayton

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Kelley Clayton, a 35-year-old mother of two, was brutally murdered in her Caton, New York home on September 28, 2015. The attack appeared staged as a home invasion, but nothing was stolen and there was no forced entry. One of Kelley’s children witnessed part of the horrific scene, helping lead investigators toward the truth. As evidence mounted, a murder-for-hire plot emerged involving her husband, Thomas Clayton, and a disgruntled former employee. The case revealed secret affairs, financial motives, shifting confessions, and a community devastated by the betrayal.

Today's snack: Brown butter pecan bars

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Sources:

  1. https://www.peacocktv.com/watch/playback/vod/GMO_00000000370107_01/729fee5a-798c-3471-94a0-53c2123df084 Dateline
  2. https://www.hulu.com/watch/8edeed6a-3d99-4170-8758-7ba222c2af90 20/20
  3. https://www.newspapers.com/image-view/131716630/?match=1&terms=%22Kelley%20Clayton%22
  4. https://www.hulu.com/watch/8edeed6a-3d99-4170-8758-7ba222c2af90
  5. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/star-gazette/name/kelley-clayton-obituary?id=21677715
  6. https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/public-safety/2017/01/20/clayton-trial-questions-over-poker-game-phone-call/96798910/
  7. https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/public-safety/2017/01/19/clayton-trial-alleged-accomplices-were-co-workers/96743388/
  8. https://www.newyorkupstate.com/sports/2017/04/upstate_ny_hockey_pro_gets_life_without_parole_for_killing_wife_murder_for_hire.html
  9. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4447978/Former-hockey-pro-sentenced-life-prison.html
  10. https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/public-safety/2017/04/17/blandford-get-3-6-years-role-clayton-murder/100565918/
  11. https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/public-safety/2018/11/01/thomas-clayton-kelley-clayton-murder-hire-motive-michael-beard/1836311002/
  12. https://www.newspapers.com/image/132584642/?match=1&terms=%22Kelley%20Clayton%22
  13. https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/local/2025/09/25/murder-of-kelley-clayton-still-stirs-strong-emotions-a-decade-later/85816556007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z119691p118050c118050d00----v119691d--57--b--57--&gca-ft=190&gca-ds=sophi
  14. https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/local/2025/09/25/murder-of-kelley-clayton-still-stirs-strong-emotions-a-decade-later/85816556007/
  15. https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/local/2025/09/25/kelly-stage-clayton-murder-case-timeline-of-events-trial-verdicts/86167110007/
  16. https://www.bumc.bu.edu/camed/2024/12/04/largest-study-of-cte-in-male-ice-hockey-players-finds-odds-increased-34-with-each-year-played/
WEBVTT

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Hi, I'm Tina and I'm Rich. If there's one thing

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we've learned and over twenty years of marriage, it's.

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That some days you'll feel like killing.

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Your wife, and some days you'll feel like killing your husband.

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Welcome to Love Mary Kill. Hey Rich, Hey Tina, how

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are you? I am good? How are you doing?

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I'm good? Are your arms tired?

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Yeah?

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Thank you? So just flew in last night.

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I love that joke. It's good.

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It's still adults still hold up.

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Yeah. Hey, if you don't want to listen to the

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next five minutes of snacks and banter, because some people don't,

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we have a just the Facts edition of Love Mary Kill,

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just in case you weren't aware. Just search for Love

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Mary Kill, Just the Facts wherever you listen, and you

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get right to the case. No opening banner, no closing banner.

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Some really small person must have come up with that

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idea of just the Facts Love Mary Kill.

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I can only imagine.

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I just wanted to remind everyone really quick that Love

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Mary Kill. Merchandise from Bonfire is on sale until December

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twenty second. You can find the link in our show notes.

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I don't think the items will get here. It definitely

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won't get here before Christmas. I think the ship date

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is around January first. Fifty percent of all proceeds from

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that sale will go to Saint Jude's. So as a

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Michigan fan, it's been a crazy week, and I wonder

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if you just want to talk about it for a minute,

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because I've had a few people reach out asking how

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Rich is doing. Just n Tina, I was Rich handelingdo.

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I am a died in the whole maze and blue

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University of Michigan fan, and you actually broke the news

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to me. I was in Las Vegas at for work

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and you texted me that the Michigan football head coach

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got fired, Sharon Moore, And all this stuff has come

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out since then, Like it was shocked, shocking appearance.

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Because we're so local, we're so close to it, right,

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you know, he was in Selene, and you know, Selene's

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just a couple of times over, and yeah, knew exactly

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where he was and where he was arrested, and yeah, at.

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First I was like, I don't know why he was fired.

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He's been doing pretty well. But it turns out all

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this scandalous stuff, like he was having a relationship with staffer.

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That worked for very young staffer, she got.

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Pregnant, all this stuff, and then after he got fired,

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he went to her apartment and harassed her and threatened

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her and he got arrested.

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Just yeah, insanity, A huge disappointment. Yeah, and embarrassing.

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It's embarrassing for them, like a lot of.

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People are still talking about the Jim Harbaugh scandal from

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was it last year or the year before that?

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Was a little before that, But yeah, it's just not

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good for the mission. Yeah, for sure.

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I do have a snack for you today. When you

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were in Las Vegas, one of my friends came over

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and we made a bunch of Christmas cookies to get

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on and she suggested that we make these brown butter

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pecan pie bars from Sally's latest cookbook.

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Okay, that sounds good.

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Would you like to try that?

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I would love to.

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What did you think of the pecan pie bars?

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I'm going to say they were pretty good. Oh really,

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it's just not mine.

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You're not a nut guy.

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I'm not. I like the brown butter flavor, but something

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about the nuts. I'm just not a nut in dessert

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guy in general. Although I love peanut butter, which is

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kind of like a nut.

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But Yeah, you're such a complicated person.

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I am. It's very difficult.

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I think they're great, and I think if you like

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pecan pie you would love it.

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Yes, you would definitely love it. If you like pecan pie.

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I'm going to give it a six out of ten.

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Oof, it's a little low. I would give them an

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eight and a half out of ten. I think most

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people would really enjoy these.

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You're probably right.

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But I want to give my friend Francia shout out.

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She is a very talented artist. She makes some beautiful,

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unique jewelry pieces. You can find her on Peach Mountain Designs,

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on Etsy or Instagram. She's the best. Before I tell

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you the case of Kelly and Thomas Clayton, we wanted

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to talk about what we're going to do at Love

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Mary Kill for the next couple of weeks over the

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Christmas holiday. We both could use a breather and we

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want to enjoy the holiday with her family. But we

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don't want to leave you without any new episodes.

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So we thought it might be fun to go back

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and revisit some of our very early episodes.

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The ones that make us cringe the hardest.

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Exactly when we first started, we had no idea what

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we were doing, we still don't, so be sure to

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join us for these special edition rewind episodes.

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Monday nights were poker nights for Thomas Clayton. He and

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his friends gathered each week at Linda and Greg Miller's home,

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and September twenty eighth, twenty fifteen was no different. Before

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heading out, he talked in his two young children, Charlie

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and Cullen, kissed his wife of nine years goodbye, and

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drove off for the game. Jomy returned home around twelve

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thirty a m. He immediately noticed the garage door was open,

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even though he was certain that he had closed it

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before leaving. The door leading from the garage into the

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house was open as well, adding to a growing sense

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that something wasn't right. Inside the house was unusually still.

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As Thomas walked into the kitchen, he found Kelly, thirty five,

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lying face down in a pool of her own blood,

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unresponsive and not breathing. He rushed to her side and

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checked for a pulse. Nothing. Panic surged through him as

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he tore up the stairs two at a time to

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check on his children. At the top of the landing,

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he saw the chaos that had ripped through the house.

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A jagged, gaping hole had been punched into the drywall.

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Shattered pictures lay scattered across the floor, and a trail

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of blood streaked across the hardwood and into the carpet

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leading toward the primary bedroom. A violent struggle had clearly unfolded,

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but the children were safe, huddled together in Cullen's room.

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Relieved yet frantic, Tom raced back downstairs and dialed nine

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one one. Help me my wife, He said, for you,

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look at you stand a line with me. How long

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has she been down? I don't know. I don't know why.

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You need to calm down so I can help you.

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She beyond CPR, Yes, sir, Can you tell me why

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you think she's beyond CPR? Docks be. Thomas gathered the

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children and rushed them to the neighbor's house, pounding on

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the door until he woke them. He left the kids

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with the wife, and he and the husband returned to

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his home to wait for the police. When the police arrived,

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they were shocked by the gruesome scene in the Clayton's kitchen.

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Kelly's face was bludgeoned beyond recognition. Thomas had an airtight

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alibi police were left baffled. Who would brutally attack this beautiful,

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full devoted mother of two. Do you think it's odd

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to have a Monday night poker game?

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Not really. I think you could play poker any night

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and it's fun. But I would guess some guys do

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it on Monday night football nights, like play poker, have

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the football game on. Yeah.

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Yeah, he said that they met at seven o'clock, so

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that makes sense. I know the clip was brief, but

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you have any opinions about the nine to one one call.

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The only thing that really struck me was the very

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beginning of the call, when he said help me, help

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me my wife's dad. It just seemed it sounded very

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I don't know, it didn't. It didn't sound very emotional.

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It just sounded like, help me helping my wife's like

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he had that planned that he was going to say it.

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And then when he said, well I just got home, yeah,

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already kind of laying I couldn't have been here.

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Yeah. But at the same time, I hate to read

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too much into a nine one one call because, as

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we always say, absolutely everyone's definitely to do it. Yeah.

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Kelly Elizabeth Stage was born on August first, nineteen eighty

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to Elizabeth and Howard's stage in Elmira, New York. Her

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father was the longtime FI chief, and Kelly grew up

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under the protective eye of the entire department. The youngest

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of three, she had an older brother, Leonard, and an

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older sister, Kimberly, who was ten years for a senior

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and fiercely protective of her. With her energetic spirit and bright,

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magnetic smile, Kelly drew people in wherever she went and

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made friends with ease. In high school, Kelly excelled both

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academically and athletically. She was an honor student, a cheerleader,

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and a softball player. But music was her passion. She

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loved to sing, dance, and attend country music concerts. She

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majored in education at the State University of New York

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at Oneonta. After graduating and starting her teaching career, she

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quickly realized it wasn't quite the right fit for her.

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Ready for a change and eager to see more than

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upstate New York, where she'd lived her entire life, Kelly

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decided to take a leap and moved to Las Vegas. Young,

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beautiful and energetic, Kelly loved living in the vibrant, fast

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paced city. It was a good match for her abuliant personality.

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She got a job as a cocktail waitress, not her

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dream job, but she was having fun and meeting lots

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of new people. But in December two thousand and three,

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while visiting her family in Elmira, a simple night out

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at a hometown hockey game would change Kelly's life forever. Almira,

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New York, is a small city in Upstate New York,

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tucked into the Southern Tier near the Pennsylvania border. Once

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a thriving industrial hub, Almera's economy was built on factories

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that produced everything from fire hydrants and precision machinery to

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glass bottles and textiles. Companies like Remington Rand, General Electric,

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American Bridge, and Westinghouse were once major employers, drawing thousands

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of workers to the area before closing or relocating in

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the late twentieth century. The departure left a deep economic

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imprint that the city still feels today.

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Now.

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Not all of Elmira's factories have disappeared. Kennedy Vlve hardened

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and the glass plant in nearby Elmira Heights continue to operate,

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serving as steady, smaller anchors of the local economy. What

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remains is a city shaped by both growth and loss,

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a mixture of revitalized blocks and aging industrial corridors, Victorian homes,

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and shuttered factories. With a population just under thirty thousand,

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Elmira has the close knit feel of a community where

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people know one another and violent crime is rare enough

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to unsettle the entire town when it happens.

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The only thing I know about Elmira is from the

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movie we're going to watch within the next couple of weeks.

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It's a wonderful life. That's where the bank examiners from Elmira. Oh, okay,

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a little fact for you.

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You could probably quote that entire movie.

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I could.

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Thomas Clayton was born in Binghampton, New York, in March

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nineteen seventy eight, to Phyllis and Scott Clayton. From a

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young age, his life life revolved around hockey. After he

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played four years of college hockey at Niagara University from

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nineteen ninety eight to two thousand and two, he moved

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into the professional ranks, well one step or maybe two

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steps below that. After playing at Niagara University, he moved

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an hour west to play with the minor League team,

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the Elmira Jackals, where he became a local favorite with

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the fans. The franchise ultimately folded in twenty seventeen, but

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his years with the team were some of the best

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years of his life. Thomas was known as the team's enforcer,

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the guy who stepped in when things got rough, the

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one who threw the hits, dropped his gloves, shoved the

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opposing team into the boards, and made sure no one

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took liberties with his teammates. His job wasn't to score goals,

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but to protect using hard hits or even a fight

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to keep opponents in line. Do you know anything about

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this position? Oh?

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Absolutely, I mean it's not an official position, but every

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team needs an in four.

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Yeah.

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It's kind of how things, you know, keep on the

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up and up in hockey, Like if you do something shape,

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really you're going to get punched by the enforcer. Not

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so much anymore.

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But that leads to my next point. Today, hockey rules

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have changed to make play safer and the enforcer role

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has been largely phased out.

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Yeah, I'm not sure if that's true. I think there

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is still a bit of that mental mild. Yeah, I

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just I haven't watched hockey as much in the past

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few years, but I think it's still part of the game.

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And does the enforcer tend to be a fan favorite a.

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Lot of times? Yeah, people love a good enforcer.

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Yeah. We've been to a few hockey games, and we

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actually did go to some minor league hockey games. Yeah,

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but I was always shocked at how violent the games

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were and how excited the crowd gets if blood is drawn.

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Yeah, definitely. It's it's sort of like part of the game,

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and some people really don't like that there's fighting hockey,

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but it really has been part of the game since

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it began, and it is a way of just keeping

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people in line.

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Is it like wrestling at all, where it's a little

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fake Not really? Okay, So it's really based on real

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testosterone and real anger.

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Yeah, I should say it's not necessarily based on anger.

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Sometimes it's strategic, but they are really fighting. It's not

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like play fighting or.

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Okay, that's what I was wondering. Thomas tried out twice

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for a spot with the Binghamton Senators, the AHL affiliate

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of the Ottawa Senators, and even scored a few goals

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in a practice session against Hall of fame goalie Dominic Hashik,

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who was rehabbing with the team at the time.

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It's my all time favorite goalie.

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Really, but despite glimpses of his raw talent, he never

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made it to the big league. In two thousand and six,

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Clayton was traded to the Quad City Mallards, where he

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played a single season before retiring due to an injury.

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Ending his career was a blow. He'd been an athlete

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and a standout one for as long as he could remember.

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When that identity was suddenly gone, he struggled to figure

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out who he was without the game. Clayton's five seasons

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with the Jackals from two thousand and one to two

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thousand and six gave him a certain visibility in the community,

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something that made the events that followed all the more shocking.

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Even after he stopped playing hockey, Tom was a local celebrity.

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He never had to pay for a drink at the bar.

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He was charismatic, good looking and athletic, confident bordering on cocky,

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and he knew women noticed him. In two thousand and three,

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Thomas had a brush with the law. He and a teammate,

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Brad Wingfield, were charged with public lewdness and harassment after

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the two were seen dancing nearly naked on a bar

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top in Elmira when four cadet police officers approached them.

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The situation escalated into a fight outside a bar on

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Waters Street. Wingfield faced an additional felony assault charge. Ultimately,

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both men pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of disorderly conduct.

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Well among us has not danced nearly naked on a

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bar top in Elmira.

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I have danced on a bartop, but not nearly naked. Later,

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after retiring from hockey, Clayton reflected on the transition in

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an interview with a local newspaper, quote, I got hurt,

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I got married. It was a different phase in my life.

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The Miners is not all the glory like the NHL.

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You're riding on buses many hours and many days. At

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that point in my life, I had to make a decision.

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Did I bounce around in the miners or start a

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family and focus on other things. I've never thought before

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about being a minor league player whatever sport you're playing in,

294
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but you really have to have a huge love of

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the game.

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Yeah, it's really not fun. I've read a lot about

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especially baseball minor league players. It's grueling. You make no

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money and you're hoping for this shot at the big leagues,

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and the vast majority of people never get there.

300
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Playing in the miners wasn't the windfall that playing in

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the NHL was, causing Tom to always be looking for

302
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a lucrative side hustle or an investment that would set

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him up financially. He eventually owned and operated a Pall

304
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Davis Emergency Services franchise, a company specializing in emergency home

305
00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:11.279
restoration for water, fire, mold, and storm damage. The business thrived,

306
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and Thomas came to see that he had a real

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talent for building and running a company, a success he

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attributed to both his charm and his work ethic. Later,

309
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he also took on a managerial role at a friend's

310
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restoration business until he later opened a Serve Pro franchise,

311
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But the identity crisis after retiring from hockey likely contributed

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to his decision to relocate to Charlotte, North Carolina in

313
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search of a new start. There, Thomas began a shuttle

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service for people who had been overserved. After he sold it,

315
00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:46.720
he began a real estate business with another retired Jackals

316
00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:51.039
player James Sheehan. After a couple of years in Charlotte,

317
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he and Kelly moved back to upstate New York to

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be close to family. But I've gotten ahead of myself.

319
00:16:57.519 --> 00:16:58.360
Let's backtrack.

320
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:02.919
Story between Kelly Stage and Thomas Clayton is a little

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00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:06.160
like a Hallmark movie. Kelly came home in December two

322
00:17:06.200 --> 00:17:09.000
thousand and three from Las Vegas for a visit. She

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went to a Jackals game with her mom and sister.

324
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They couldn't help but notice the handsome troublemaker on the ice,

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number eighteen. When Kelly and Thomas Clayton locked eyes during

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the game, she felt goosebumps erupt excited that he had

327
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noticed her. Kelly and her best friend, Andy Spirok later

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met up at a bar for drinks and dancing. Kelly's

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00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:32.599
jaw hit the floor when she saw the heart throb

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of the Jackals walk in. She was too shy to

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approach him, but Andy didn't have anything to lose. She

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walked up to Thomas and asked if he had a girlfriend.

333
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He said, who's asking the blonde? She's incredible. They fell

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in love quickly. Kelly even moved back to New York

335
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to be closer to him. They were married about two

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years later. They were a beautiful couple, both the life

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of the party. There were no indications, at least on

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the surface, that their marriage was unhappy or unraveling. Their daughter, Charlie,

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was born in May two thousand and eight, and their

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son cullin four years later. Kelly was mostly a stay

341
00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:13.680
at home mom, but worked one or two nights a

342
00:18:13.720 --> 00:18:16.880
week as a bartender at the Woodhouse Stadium grill for

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extra spending money. Friends described the Claytons as having a solid,

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happy marriage. Tom had a big personality, loud, energetic, sometimes inappropriate,

345
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the kind of guy who loved being the center of

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attention at times. He could be a little too friendly

347
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with other women, openly flirting in front of Kelly, but

348
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she brushed it off, insisting it was harmless. He just

349
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likes to have fun, she would say, defending him whenever

350
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friends or family raised an eyebrow.

351
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He was a bit of a and not even a

352
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bit of a cat. He was sleeping with a lot

353
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of women outside of his marriage. I don't think Kelly

354
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was aware of that.

355
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From the outside. Life seemed to be falling perfectly into

356
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place for the young couple. Tom's restoration business was thriving,

357
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giving them financial stability. They bought a house on five

358
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wooded acres they loved, and they had two beautiful children.

359
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They adored, a close knit circle of friends and a

360
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strong presence in their community. To many, the Claytons looked

361
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like a family on the rise, busy, successful, and deeply

362
00:19:19.960 --> 00:19:24.279
woven into their small town life. But beneath that polished exterior,

363
00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:27.720
there were cracks no one fully recognized until it was

364
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too late.

365
00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:32.240
Kelly was just stunning, and the children were just two

366
00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:34.160
of the cutest kids you've ever seen.

367
00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:38.680
Yeah. On Monday, September twenty eighth, twenty fifteen, at twelve

368
00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:42.240
thirty nine am, the Almira, New York Police received a

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nine to one one call from Thomas Clayton, who called

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00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:48.519
when he returned home after his weekly poker game. When

371
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officers arrived at twelve forty eight, they found thirty five

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00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:55.079
year old mother of two, Kelly, lying face down with

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catastrophic injuries to her face, already deceased. Here's a clip

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00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:08.319
from the officer's bodycam footage. Hida, what's going on, I'm

375
00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:10.039
in the neighbor. Okay came and got me.

376
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Out of bed.

377
00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:17.400
Anybody else in the house. Tom, just you Okay, where's

378
00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:17.759
she at?

379
00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:25.000
Ooh, okay.

380
00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:30.000
I got a female mid thirties, early forties. Her face

381
00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:33.480
is completely beaten in her there's blood all over. She's

382
00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:34.160
been dragged.

383
00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:37.759
Oh boy, that is it is hard scene.

384
00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:40.759
Yeah, you can just hear the officer's reaction the moment

385
00:20:40.839 --> 00:20:41.680
he sees her.

386
00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:43.039
Yeah.

387
00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:46.599
Tom was overwrought with emotion. He told police that his

388
00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:49.839
daughter said there was a robber in the house. Charlie

389
00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:53.119
and Cullin just seven and four, were both home that night.

390
00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.640
Charlie had woken up during the struggle with the intruder,

391
00:20:57.079 --> 00:21:01.519
witnessing the entire attack, but thankfully and slept through the ordeal.

392
00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:07.240
Investigators immediately searched the Clayton's five acre wooded property for evidence.

393
00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:10.400
Two divers were brought in to sweep the pond on

394
00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:14.079
the grounds, meticulously combing the water for anything that might

395
00:21:14.119 --> 00:21:17.480
shed light on what had happened to Kelly. After he

396
00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:20.599
called nine to one one, Tom called Kelly's sister Kim

397
00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:22.960
and told her she needed to come to the house

398
00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:26.759
that Kelly was dead. Kim picked up her mom, Liz,

399
00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:29.880
and drove over in a panic, and when she arrived

400
00:21:29.880 --> 00:21:33.640
at a chaotic, frenzied scene. She screamed to the police

401
00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:37.680
officers at the scene, where's my sister? When she learned

402
00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:40.519
her sister was gone, her cries of anguish tore through

403
00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:44.920
the night. Soon Andy, Kelly's best friend, was there too,

404
00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:47.240
equally shocked and anguished.

405
00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:51.519
It was just a truly heartbreaking scene. And knowing that

406
00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:54.200
little Charlie had witnessed the entire thing.

407
00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:56.279
Yeah, that's just awful to imagine.

408
00:21:57.559 --> 00:21:59.400
I can't even imagine.

409
00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:02.319
We're kid. We'll be back after a break.

410
00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:12.319
Twenty police vehicles lit up the night of the Clayton's

411
00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:16.240
home on Gnan Road as the investigation began. What stood

412
00:22:16.279 --> 00:22:20.119
out immediately to investigators was the lack of forest entry.

413
00:22:20.599 --> 00:22:23.759
The garage door leading into the laundry room and kitchen

414
00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.119
was wide open. Nothing in the house had been taken,

415
00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:30.039
and aside from the blood trail and signs of a struggle,

416
00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:33.559
nothing else was out of place. It didn't look like

417
00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:37.920
a robbery gone wrong. The level of violence suggested something

418
00:22:38.039 --> 00:22:42.920
far more personal. Investigators couldn't immediately determine what the murder

419
00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:46.799
weapon had been, but the severity of Kelly's wounds pointed

420
00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:51.279
to a blunt force object, while scent dogs searched the

421
00:22:51.319 --> 00:22:55.359
property for the murder weapon. Police pursued over seventy leads,

422
00:22:56.279 --> 00:22:59.720
but Tom's alibi was rock solid. He'd been at the

423
00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:02.880
poke game at his friend Greg Miller's house all night.

424
00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:07.000
He left at twelve fifteen AM, and there was absolutely

425
00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:09.000
no evidence tying him to the crime.

426
00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:12.160
Do we know what the time of death? Did they

427
00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:14.599
have an estimate of when she was killed?

428
00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:17.440
I think they sat around midnight? Okay, you know the

429
00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:19.039
blood hadn't cowaguly.

430
00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:22.359
Because there's no chance that she died before he left

431
00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:23.119
for the poker game.

432
00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:28.079
No, but some of Tom's behaviors were suspicious. In late

433
00:23:28.119 --> 00:23:31.680
twenty fourteen, he doubled Kelly's life insurance policy to one

434
00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:34.799
million dollars, but he had also increased his own to

435
00:23:34.839 --> 00:23:38.359
two million dollars, and on the night Kelly was killed,

436
00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:41.759
while at the Miller's house, Tom asked Linda to borrow

437
00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:45.759
her cell phone at ten fifty three pm, claiming he'd

438
00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:49.079
left his own in his truck, But another player later

439
00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:51.559
told police he'd seen Tom with his phone all night,

440
00:23:52.359 --> 00:23:56.480
a detail then immediately cast out on Tom's explanation.

441
00:23:56.759 --> 00:23:58.039
That sound very suspicious.

442
00:23:58.759 --> 00:24:02.160
The next morning, after learning of Kelly's murder, Linda told

443
00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:05.839
her husband about the strange request. Greg checked her call

444
00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:10.039
log and found no outgoing calls, but Linda insisted that

445
00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:13.519
she had heard Tom speaking to someone. It appeared the

446
00:24:13.559 --> 00:24:19.279
call had been deleted, but why. Concerned, Greg contacted Stu

447
00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:23.880
Ben County District Attorney Brooks Baker, an acquaintance, to report

448
00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:28.319
the odd behavior. Police quickly interviewed the couple, and although

449
00:24:28.359 --> 00:24:32.079
the call no longer appeared on Linda's phone, investigators were

450
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:35.359
able to retrieve the record from the carrier's billing information.

451
00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:39.079
That single call would become a key piece of evidence.

452
00:24:40.519 --> 00:24:43.319
Then there was the nine one one call. While on

453
00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:47.079
the phone with the dispatcher, Tom was nearly hysterical, but

454
00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:50.079
after he thought he'd hung up, he could be heard

455
00:24:50.119 --> 00:24:54.000
speaking to Charlie in a normal voice, asking if she'd

456
00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:57.240
seen a robber attacking mommy, almost as if he was

457
00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:00.839
planting an idea in her head. It's devastating to think

458
00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:04.240
about what seven year old Charlie had witnessed, but police

459
00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:09.200
needed to interview her. Charlie spoke bravely and confidently about

460
00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:12.200
what she'd witnessed. She said that there was a robber

461
00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:14.480
in the house that was hitting her mom with a pipe,

462
00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:18.119
and that there was blood everywhere. What did the robber

463
00:25:18.200 --> 00:25:22.480
look like, the interviewer asked. Charlie responded, he looked like

464
00:25:22.519 --> 00:25:26.440
my dad. The man was wearing jeans, a long sleeved

465
00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:29.319
t shirt, and a mask like the one her daddy wore,

466
00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:32.960
she said. When asked how she knew the attacker was

467
00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:36.039
a man, she said his eyes were like my daddy's.

468
00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:39.000
She said the man was the same size as her

469
00:25:39.079 --> 00:25:42.559
daddy and looked like him. She told the interviewer that

470
00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:46.279
the attacker didn't say a word. He probably didn't say

471
00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:49.160
anything because what if he was my daddy, we would

472
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:52.680
recognize his voice. But it couldn't be daddy because then

473
00:25:52.680 --> 00:25:54.119
who would take care of us?

474
00:25:54.119 --> 00:25:54.880
Oh?

475
00:25:54.920 --> 00:25:57.920
I know. Charlie went on to say that she saw

476
00:25:57.960 --> 00:26:00.920
her mom suffering. After the man left through the garage,

477
00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:03.839
Charlie tapped her mom with a hockey stick and then

478
00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:08.640
hugged her leg. Charlie later told investigators that during the attack,

479
00:26:08.759 --> 00:26:12.839
her mother screamed run, Charlie, run, but instead of fleeing,

480
00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:17.079
she followed her mother and witnessed her brutal assault. When

481
00:26:17.079 --> 00:26:19.880
the attacker left, she ran to her brother's room to

482
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:23.599
protect him. At the end of the interview, Charlie asked

483
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:27.519
the sheriff, but where is my mom at I watched

484
00:26:27.559 --> 00:26:30.000
an episode of twenty twenty where they played the interview,

485
00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:31.799
and I didn't want to because it just felt kind

486
00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:36.400
of nicky, But it was so devastating. She was so

487
00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:42.359
brave though. She spoke so clearly and confidently, and obviously

488
00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:46.880
she hadn't really processed what she had gone through yet,

489
00:26:46.920 --> 00:26:49.720
and she didn't realize that her mom wasn't coming back.

490
00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:52.440
Yeah, what at that age? It's really Yeah, it's a

491
00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:54.480
lot to ask to understand that.

492
00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:58.000
Kelly's final moments were an act of bravery and protection.

493
00:26:58.279 --> 00:27:00.160
When the attacker came for her in the middle of

494
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:02.920
the night, she didn't retreat toward her children's room. She

495
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:05.920
moved the other way into the kitchen, pulling the danger

496
00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:10.079
with her. She fought hard, outmatched but refusing to give in,

497
00:27:10.519 --> 00:27:14.119
doing everything she could to keep violence away from her kids.

498
00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:19.119
Police also interviewed Kelly's sixteen year old niece, Mollie, who

499
00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:22.839
worked part time at Servepro with Thomas. He told Molly

500
00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:26.240
that he'd had several affairs and wasn't happy in his marriage.

501
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:29.160
He was afraid if he'd divorce Kelly that she'd take

502
00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:32.640
everything he had. When police asked Molly who she thought

503
00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:35.319
could have killed her aunt, she gave them the name

504
00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:41.039
Michael Beard, a recently fired employee who tells their sixteen

505
00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:44.880
year old niece that, oh, I've had lots of affairs.

506
00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:47.359
And that is not good behavior.

507
00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:51.400
I mean, it's completely inappropriate, and poor Mollie probably she

508
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:56.000
hadn't no idea what to do with that information. Kelly's

509
00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:59.519
death shocked her friend's family and community. The day after

510
00:27:59.559 --> 00:28:02.160
her death, the front page of the Ithaca Journal read

511
00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:06.880
the whole town is just sad slain Stuben County woman

512
00:28:07.319 --> 00:28:11.440
known for her smile and infectious laugh. Kelly's college roommate

513
00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:14.519
said quote, the most important thing to not forget is

514
00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:17.920
to mention her laugh. You could hear her a mile away,

515
00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:23.079
and it was contagious. She did live life with joysest, excitement,

516
00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:27.160
and adventure. I'm going to read Kelly's obituary because it's

517
00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:29.119
very touching, and I think it does such a great

518
00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:33.160
job of describing who she was. Kelly Elizabeth Stage Clayton,

519
00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:37.319
thirty five of Elmira, New York, died unexpectedly on Tuesday,

520
00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:41.559
September twenty ninth, twenty fifteen. Kelly was born in Elmira,

521
00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:45.319
New York, to Howard and Elizabeth Stage. She graduated from

522
00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:49.319
Elmira Free Academy and the State University of New York.

523
00:28:49.720 --> 00:28:52.960
Moved to Las Vegas and worked at the Imperial Palace

524
00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:56.480
as a cocktail waitress. Kelly returned to Elmira in two

525
00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:59.000
thousand and four to be closer to family who she

526
00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:01.559
loved and adored, and she had been working at the

527
00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:04.400
wood House Stadium Grill in Corning for the past several years.

528
00:29:05.079 --> 00:29:08.160
Kelly was a gymnast, enjoying anything involving fashion, and for

529
00:29:08.200 --> 00:29:12.319
the past several years attended the Country Music Festival in Nashville,

530
00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:15.759
Tennessee with several of her close friends, a trip she

531
00:29:15.799 --> 00:29:18.960
truly enjoyed. Kelly's happy place was at the beach with

532
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:22.519
her family in Ocean City, New Jersey. Any One who

533
00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:25.960
came in contact with Kelly always knew where she stood.

534
00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:28.599
She was never one to mince words or hold back

535
00:29:28.599 --> 00:29:31.279
her thoughts. She was also the first one to offer

536
00:29:31.480 --> 00:29:34.759
kind and encouraging words and would give honest speed back

537
00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:37.720
and advice. While Kelly was the light of our lives.

538
00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:41.119
Her children were the light of hers. She graced us

539
00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:44.400
all with her big smile and infectious laughter, and she

540
00:29:44.519 --> 00:29:48.359
will be dearly missed. Kelly was predeceased by her father,

541
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:51.759
Howard Stage, the former West Almira fire chief, and her

542
00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:55.559
maternal and paternal grandparents. Kelly is survived by her husband

543
00:29:55.599 --> 00:29:59.960
of nine years, Thomas Clayton, and her two beautiful children, Charlie,

544
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:03.799
Emma and Crash just apparently what she must have called Cullen.

545
00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:07.680
She has also survived by her mother Elizabeth, her sister Kimberly,

546
00:30:08.279 --> 00:30:11.880
her brother Leonard. Kelly is also survived by her lifelong

547
00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:16.160
best friend Andrea Sparrock. Kelly's obituary closed with a quote

548
00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:18.839
from a song by Kip Moore. Life is a long

549
00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:22.200
and winding ride. Better have the right one by your side.

550
00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:25.039
I thought that was an interesting quote to include in

551
00:30:25.079 --> 00:30:27.440
her obituary, and I don't know if it might have

552
00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:30.359
been pointing to Thomas a little bit. Yeah, that's interesting,

553
00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:33.039
family might have been doubting him at this point. I

554
00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:34.960
also thought it was really nice that they mentioned her

555
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:38.920
best friend. Yeah soon, purple ribbons spring up all over

556
00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:43.119
the community, symbols of domestic violence awareness and a tribute

557
00:30:43.160 --> 00:30:46.799
to Kelly's memory. I'm not feeling one hundred percent today

558
00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:49.680
and I think it's making me a little more emotional

559
00:30:50.200 --> 00:30:51.160
even than usual.

560
00:30:51.559 --> 00:30:54.400
This is I mean, having the kids involved to me,

561
00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:57.119
that always makes it more emotional as well.

562
00:30:57.200 --> 00:31:00.279
Right, and Kelly was clearly like just this beautiful.

563
00:30:59.880 --> 00:31:04.079
A lovely, lovely person. When police spoke with Thomas the

564
00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:07.599
day after Kelly's death, several things about his behavior struck

565
00:31:07.640 --> 00:31:11.359
them as odd. He immediately suggested they checked the GPS

566
00:31:11.400 --> 00:31:14.119
in his work truck, claiming it would prove he wasn't

567
00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:17.920
home when Kelly was killed, an oddly specific detail to

568
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:22.400
volunteer so quickly. He had no explanation for why Charlie

569
00:31:22.440 --> 00:31:26.039
said the attacker looked like him. He repeatedly insisted he

570
00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:29.119
had nothing to do with the murder, yet showed almost

571
00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:32.000
no emotion as he talked about his wife's violent death.

572
00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:35.720
At the end of the interview, Thomas thirty seven, was

573
00:31:35.799 --> 00:31:38.319
arrested and charged with second degree murder.

574
00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:43.000
The second degree murder might seem inappropriate in this case,

575
00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:45.680
but in New York the charge of first degree murder

576
00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:49.160
is reserved for certain crimes, such as killing a judge,

577
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:53.160
killing a witness to prevent testimony killing during the commission

578
00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:57.799
of certain felonies terrorism or serial murder, so they reserved

579
00:31:57.839 --> 00:31:59.640
that first degree.

580
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.000
Really interesting. It's so weird how different states have different definitions.

581
00:32:04.039 --> 00:32:07.720
I wish it wasn't like that. He pleaded not guilty

582
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:11.039
at his arraignment, and although the judge initially denied bail,

583
00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:13.839
he was released a week later on a two hundred

584
00:32:13.880 --> 00:32:17.880
and fifty thousand dollars cash bond. The court was packed

585
00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:21.319
with Kelly's family and friends, many wearing purple t shirts

586
00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:26.400
reading Justice for Kelly. Thomas was re arrested shortly afterward

587
00:32:26.519 --> 00:32:30.200
for contacting Kelly's sister in violation of a court order.

588
00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:34.359
His bail was increased to five hundred thousand dollars, which

589
00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:38.200
he again posted, and he was released a second time.

590
00:32:38.599 --> 00:32:41.000
Set up before. And I'll say it again, I don't

591
00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:43.880
think that you should get bail if you've been accused

592
00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:46.880
of murder in Okay. Now I'm in a waffle. In

593
00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:48.400
most cases, yeah, I.

594
00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:51.599
Think it depends on circumstances, but in general, I agree

595
00:32:51.640 --> 00:32:56.039
with you. What stunned many was how quickly police arrested him.

596
00:32:56.559 --> 00:33:00.440
The arrest rested almost entirely on Charlie's initial statement, the

597
00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:02.960
frightened words of a seven year old who had witnessed

598
00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:06.680
something no child should ever see. There was no physical

599
00:33:06.759 --> 00:33:10.039
evidence tying Thomas to the scene, he had what appeared

600
00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:13.279
to be a solid alibi, and investigators had yet to

601
00:33:13.319 --> 00:33:17.440
identify a clear motive. To some, it seemed the police

602
00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:20.720
acted too fast, leaning heavily on the fragmented memory of

603
00:33:20.759 --> 00:33:26.440
a traumatized child rather than establishing strong probable cause. The

604
00:33:26.519 --> 00:33:29.640
decision to arrest him so swiftly would become one of

605
00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:33.720
the early controversial turning points in the case. It does

606
00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:36.200
seem just based on what I know so far, it

607
00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:38.960
does seem kind of premature. Usually they like to wait,

608
00:33:39.720 --> 00:33:42.319
and you know you've got time. Just get your ducks

609
00:33:42.359 --> 00:33:44.599
in a row, get the evidence, and then make the arrest.

610
00:33:45.079 --> 00:33:47.240
As far as I can tell, he was only interviewed

611
00:33:47.240 --> 00:33:51.279
once for a few hours and then he was arrested. Yeah,

612
00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:55.400
based largely on what I mean, almost entirely on what

613
00:33:55.519 --> 00:33:56.079
Charlie said.

614
00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:58.559
Yeah, it does seem pretty quick.

615
00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:02.799
But she was a very coning little witness. Yeah.

616
00:34:02.839 --> 00:34:06.000
Once released from jail, Thomas cleaned and repaired the house,

617
00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:10.280
his restoration skills serving him well. And he continued living

618
00:34:10.280 --> 00:34:13.440
there while awaiting trial, but you wouldn't know he'd just

619
00:34:13.480 --> 00:34:16.840
lost his wife. Instead of grieving, he was out dating

620
00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:20.719
a variety of women, hitting bars and gambling in Atlantic City,

621
00:34:21.239 --> 00:34:23.719
behaving less like a widower and more like a frat

622
00:34:23.719 --> 00:34:25.079
boy on a weekend bender.

623
00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:28.280
I mean, if you know Thomas, this isn't shocking.

624
00:34:28.440 --> 00:34:28.840
Mm hmm.

625
00:34:29.559 --> 00:34:32.440
But what was he telling these women? Because he was

626
00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:35.400
somewhat of a public figure and his picture was all

627
00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:39.360
over the newspapers. Yeah, I just questioned, why would you

628
00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:40.360
hook up with this guy?

629
00:34:40.519 --> 00:34:45.239
Yeah? I can't imagine. Thomas tried to repair his tarnished reputation,

630
00:34:45.880 --> 00:34:48.719
reaching out to friends and family, assuring them he had

631
00:34:48.760 --> 00:34:51.679
nothing to do with Kelly's murder. He loved his wife

632
00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:55.280
and was planning a second honeymoon, he insisted, but most

633
00:34:55.280 --> 00:34:59.400
people chose to keep their distance. Charlie and Cullen seven

634
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:03.119
and three were taken into custody by Child Protective Services,

635
00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:06.039
but soon placed with their aunt, Kim.

636
00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:08.840
I'm not sure if Thomas saw them during this time.

637
00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:09.199
What.

638
00:35:09.400 --> 00:35:10.679
I don't think he did.

639
00:35:10.840 --> 00:35:13.480
Well. It sounds like he was busy with other things.

640
00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:15.840
Sadly, that's that is the truth.

641
00:35:16.760 --> 00:35:19.840
After stu Ben County District Attorney Brooks Baker and his

642
00:35:19.920 --> 00:35:23.679
team stepped aside. He had a personal connection to Kelly's family,

643
00:35:23.719 --> 00:35:26.960
which created a conflict of interest for him and his staff.

644
00:35:27.719 --> 00:35:31.320
Chemung County District Attorney Whedon Wetmore was brought in as

645
00:35:31.320 --> 00:35:32.559
a special prosecutor.

646
00:35:32.840 --> 00:35:36.280
I bet primary school was not easy for Wheedwtmore.

647
00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:39.039
That is quite a name. He agreed to take the

648
00:35:39.079 --> 00:35:41.639
case even though he knew it would be a challenge.

649
00:35:41.960 --> 00:35:45.320
There was no obvious smoking gun linking Thomas Clayton to

650
00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:50.000
the crime. His alibi was strong. After Kelly's niece Molly

651
00:35:50.079 --> 00:35:54.000
mentioned Michael Beard, a disgruntled employee Tom had recently fired,

652
00:35:54.559 --> 00:36:00.119
he quickly emerged as a far more plausible suspect. Michael Beard, forty,

653
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:04.280
had been a long time trusted employee, first at Paul

654
00:36:04.360 --> 00:36:08.960
Davis Restoration and later at Serve Pro. Tom often hired

655
00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:11.599
him to do odd jobs around his own home, and

656
00:36:11.679 --> 00:36:14.000
Beard lived in a house with his wife and child

657
00:36:14.199 --> 00:36:18.519
that Tom owned. That relationship soured when Beard was fired

658
00:36:18.559 --> 00:36:23.400
on September seventeenth, eleven days before Kelly's murder, for stealing

659
00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:25.199
from clients and drinking.

660
00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:27.599
On the job, which he vehemently denied.

661
00:36:28.599 --> 00:36:32.559
Michael lived paycheck to paycheck supporting his children in multiple states.

662
00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:36.079
After he lost his job, Beard fell behind on rent

663
00:36:36.119 --> 00:36:40.679
and Thomas started the eviction process. When investigators began to

664
00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:43.559
zero in on him, Beard insisted he had been home

665
00:36:43.639 --> 00:36:46.519
all night with his wife, but when his wife was

666
00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:50.159
interviewed separately, she admitted that he had slipped out around

667
00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:54.039
eleven o'clock after receiving a phone call and was gone

668
00:36:54.079 --> 00:36:58.599
for about two hours. Beard agreed to a polygraph. He failed.

669
00:36:58.599 --> 00:37:04.360
It is around the time that Thomas allegedly borrowed a

670
00:37:04.440 --> 00:37:06.599
phone and made a phone call from the poker game.

671
00:37:06.519 --> 00:37:08.800
Right, exactly, You're very perceptive.

672
00:37:10.280 --> 00:37:14.360
Under pressure in the interrogation room, Beard finally broke. The

673
00:37:14.440 --> 00:37:17.480
detective could sense he was nearing a confession when he

674
00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:22.480
could hear Beard's stomach making gurgling noises in trouble.

675
00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:25.519
Right, because it wasn't no, it wasn't hunger noises, it

676
00:37:25.599 --> 00:37:31.880
was upset stomach. I'm, you know, emotionally overwrought. The detective

677
00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:34.000
actually said, and I don't know if what was the

678
00:37:34.079 --> 00:37:36.599
dateliner of the twenty twenty I watched that that happens

679
00:37:36.639 --> 00:37:39.079
a lot. Oh really, and it's kind of a sign

680
00:37:39.239 --> 00:37:41.320
in his opinion that a confession might be coming.

681
00:37:41.559 --> 00:37:46.119
Yeah. Interesting. He confessed to killing Kelly for ten thousand dollars,

682
00:37:46.360 --> 00:37:49.119
money he said was promised by Thomas.

683
00:37:48.760 --> 00:37:50.280
Clayton and never paid.

684
00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:53.239
He also claimed he was supposed to set the house

685
00:37:53.280 --> 00:37:57.119
on fire afterward. According to him, Tom assured him that

686
00:37:57.239 --> 00:37:59.880
children wouldn't be on that night. They would be with

687
00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:03.000
their aunt Kim, but when he saw them inside, he

688
00:38:03.039 --> 00:38:05.440
said he couldn't go through with torching the house.

689
00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:10.159
Wow, I know how upset are you right now with

690
00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:11.480
Thomas that is.

691
00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:15.119
I can't even believe that, Like he would hire this

692
00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:17.880
guy and say burn the house down, knowing his kids

693
00:38:18.360 --> 00:38:19.360
were there in the house.

694
00:38:19.480 --> 00:38:24.400
Yeah. And like we said, Michael Beard had been in

695
00:38:24.440 --> 00:38:27.519
their home a lot, he knew the children, he knew Kim.

696
00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:28.039
Yeah.

697
00:38:28.119 --> 00:38:30.599
The fact that he would, you know, agree to do

698
00:38:30.679 --> 00:38:31.519
that to Kim.

699
00:38:32.079 --> 00:38:35.440
Is shocked right now, that that is really shocking.

700
00:38:35.519 --> 00:38:37.719
Well, something I need to mention too. Like Charlie knew

701
00:38:37.800 --> 00:38:42.239
him too, because he said Michael Beard said that sometimes

702
00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:44.159
Kim would be like, Hey, I need to run out

703
00:38:44.199 --> 00:38:46.519
and do this quick, errand will you stay with the kids.

704
00:38:47.639 --> 00:38:51.480
So Charlie knew him and remember Charlie said, Oh, it

705
00:38:51.519 --> 00:38:53.599
looked like my dad, and I should mention that Michael

706
00:38:53.599 --> 00:38:56.840
Beard is a black man. So I don't know if

707
00:38:57.000 --> 00:38:59.159
you know, her memories were just confused.

708
00:38:59.159 --> 00:39:02.039
But he was wearing a mask supposedly too.

709
00:39:03.039 --> 00:39:05.760
Oh, I never thought of that. I was assuming it

710
00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:08.440
was a mask that they used at work, like when

711
00:39:08.480 --> 00:39:11.199
they were utro chemists and.

712
00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:13.440
Things like that. But actually, as I think of it more,

713
00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:16.159
really goalies are the only players in hockey that wear

714
00:39:16.280 --> 00:39:19.039
like that full mask that covers your face. So Thomas

715
00:39:19.079 --> 00:39:21.960
wouldn't normally have worn a mask like that. But at

716
00:39:21.960 --> 00:39:23.239
the same time, I don't want to get too far

717
00:39:23.320 --> 00:39:25.559
ahead of myself and assume that this Michael Beard guy

718
00:39:25.599 --> 00:39:27.679
is telling the truth, because he could be lying as well.

719
00:39:29.480 --> 00:39:32.719
Beard said that as early as April Thomas confided in

720
00:39:32.840 --> 00:39:35.239
him that he was thinking of getting rid of his wife.

721
00:39:36.159 --> 00:39:39.079
The murder weapon was a wooden mall the yellow handle

722
00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:42.280
of a sledgehammer. Michael had thrown it out his car

723
00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:45.039
window into a weed choked ditch as he drove away

724
00:39:45.039 --> 00:39:49.199
from the Clayton's house. Police later recovered it. He had

725
00:39:49.199 --> 00:39:51.920
thrown his bloody clothes and the key Thomas had given

726
00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:55.960
him into a swampy area in Elmira Heights, which police

727
00:39:55.960 --> 00:39:59.760
were also able to recover. The clothing tested positive for

728
00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:04.239
these blood. He was arrested on October second, twenty fifteen.

729
00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:08.519
This murder weapon is really surprising to me. It sounds

730
00:40:08.559 --> 00:40:10.559
like he must not have come to the house prepared

731
00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:13.039
and he just found something in the garage, like this

732
00:40:13.119 --> 00:40:15.719
broken handle of a sledgehammer. Yeah, that is really and

733
00:40:16.360 --> 00:40:19.599
it's just horrific to think about how hard he must

734
00:40:19.599 --> 00:40:24.760
have been hitting Kelly, because the handle of a sledgehammer

735
00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:26.079
isn't that heavy and it was.

736
00:40:27.079 --> 00:40:29.719
Yeah, that is really. It's very odd to think of that.

737
00:40:29.760 --> 00:40:32.000
If you're a hit man, you don't show up.

738
00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:33.440
He's not a hit man, I know, but.

739
00:40:33.480 --> 00:40:35.880
I mean he is technically, but yeah, yeah, you don't

740
00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:39.079
show up to a house ready to murder someone without

741
00:40:39.480 --> 00:40:41.800
already having in mind the way you're going to do it.

742
00:40:42.320 --> 00:40:43.480
Yeah.

743
00:40:43.840 --> 00:40:47.519
Another man soon came forward, Mark Blandford, a friend of

744
00:40:47.559 --> 00:40:50.920
Michael Beard's. Blandford told police that on the night of

745
00:40:50.920 --> 00:40:54.039
September twenty eighth, Beard picked him up and offered him

746
00:40:54.079 --> 00:40:57.559
five hundred dollars to act as a lookout. Beard didn't

747
00:40:57.599 --> 00:40:59.920
say anything about a murder he claimed he had been

748
00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:03.840
hired to burn down the Clayton's home. According to Blandford,

749
00:41:03.880 --> 00:41:06.480
the plan was to set the house on fire. No

750
00:41:06.519 --> 00:41:09.440
one was supposed to be there. Tom was clear that

751
00:41:09.480 --> 00:41:12.519
he wanted the garage and vehicles destroyed as well to

752
00:41:12.639 --> 00:41:16.360
maximize the insurance payout. He said Tom had even left

753
00:41:16.360 --> 00:41:20.199
gas cans in the garage for Beard to use. Beard

754
00:41:20.239 --> 00:41:24.960
initially testified before a grand jury against Thomas. Without his testimony,

755
00:41:25.119 --> 00:41:27.400
there was no case against him.

756
00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:30.440
So we're still learning a lot about the legal system,

757
00:41:30.519 --> 00:41:33.760
and it surprised me that the grand jury met after

758
00:41:33.840 --> 00:41:37.800
his arrest. It might seem unusual that Thomas was arrested

759
00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:41.480
the very next day before a grand jury had ever convened,

760
00:41:41.480 --> 00:41:44.920
but legally that's completely normal. In cases of murder, police

761
00:41:44.920 --> 00:41:47.119
don't need a grand jury to make an arrest. They

762
00:41:47.119 --> 00:41:51.519
only need probable cause, meaning enough initial evidence to reasonably

763
00:41:51.559 --> 00:41:54.800
believe a suspect may have committed the crime. In the case,

764
00:41:55.519 --> 00:41:58.360
Charlie's statements, the lack of forest entry, and the early

765
00:41:58.440 --> 00:42:02.639
inconsistencies in thomas His account run enough for investigators to

766
00:42:02.719 --> 00:42:06.039
move forward with his arrest. The grand jury came later

767
00:42:06.199 --> 00:42:09.480
after the arrest, when the district attorney presented the case

768
00:42:09.519 --> 00:42:13.760
to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to formally charge

769
00:42:13.840 --> 00:42:17.440
or indict the suspect, so an arrest can happen quickly

770
00:42:17.519 --> 00:42:21.320
based on early clues, while the grand jury's job is

771
00:42:21.360 --> 00:42:23.800
to review the growing body of evidence afterward.

772
00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:25.199
Yeah, that makes sense, but.

773
00:42:25.280 --> 00:42:27.960
It still seems like they really jumped the gun.

774
00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:30.119
Oh yeah, it totally seems like they jumped the gun.

775
00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:33.880
But I know, I often get confused between like anrest,

776
00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:38.239
an arrest, an indictment, and arraignment, all these different things.

777
00:42:38.239 --> 00:42:40.719
They're all a little bit different, but they're all very

778
00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:41.519
closely related.

779
00:42:42.280 --> 00:42:45.440
Well, once Michael Beard, when they interviewed him and they

780
00:42:45.480 --> 00:42:48.800
saw that he was a black man, and Charlie said, oh,

781
00:42:48.880 --> 00:42:52.360
he looked with my dad. They must have been pretty nervous.

782
00:42:52.519 --> 00:42:56.800
Yeah, right, I'm sure. About a week before Thomas's trial

783
00:42:56.920 --> 00:43:01.280
was to begin in November twenty sixteen, Beer suddenly recanted

784
00:43:01.320 --> 00:43:04.519
his confession. He now claimed he had only been hired

785
00:43:04.519 --> 00:43:07.599
to burn down an empty house for insurance money, and

786
00:43:07.639 --> 00:43:10.480
that when he arrived he walked in on another man

787
00:43:10.599 --> 00:43:14.679
beating Kelly. It was a dramatic reversal, and one that

788
00:43:14.760 --> 00:43:19.440
directly conflicted with his earlier statements to police. Beard's sudden

789
00:43:19.480 --> 00:43:23.400
recantation threw a wrench into everything. With the trial just

790
00:43:23.480 --> 00:43:28.639
days away, Prosecutors had to pause and reassess. Hearings were scheduled,

791
00:43:28.880 --> 00:43:32.239
evidence was re reviewed, and the case was pushed back

792
00:43:32.280 --> 00:43:36.400
to January twenty seventeen so both sides could address Beard's

793
00:43:36.440 --> 00:43:38.760
new contradictory claim.

794
00:43:39.280 --> 00:43:43.880
Prosecutors must have just freaked out, Oh, totally have no

795
00:43:43.960 --> 00:43:44.519
case now.

796
00:43:44.679 --> 00:43:47.920
Yeah, that is wild, and it just seems like ridiculous

797
00:43:47.920 --> 00:43:51.119
that he's claiming he didn't do this, like he told

798
00:43:51.159 --> 00:43:55.119
them where to find the murder weapons exactly. Beard's recantation

799
00:43:55.400 --> 00:43:58.400
was especially absurd because it didn't align with any of

800
00:43:58.400 --> 00:44:02.000
the physical evidence. Kelly's blood was found on his clothing,

801
00:44:02.480 --> 00:44:07.159
and the pattern showed direct contact, not accidental transfer. His

802
00:44:07.280 --> 00:44:10.719
DNA was recovered from a bloody fingerprint inside the house,

803
00:44:11.199 --> 00:44:14.559
placing him at the scene during the attack, not afterward

804
00:44:14.639 --> 00:44:18.679
as a startled bystander. Investigators also found that he had

805
00:44:18.679 --> 00:44:21.480
ditched the murder weapon, the keys to the house, and

806
00:44:21.559 --> 00:44:24.159
the clothes he wore that night along a back road.

807
00:44:24.920 --> 00:44:27.880
None of that fits with his claim that he innocently

808
00:44:27.920 --> 00:44:30.199
walked in on someone else killing Kelly.

809
00:44:30.320 --> 00:44:33.320
But he said, you know, if I were to call

810
00:44:33.400 --> 00:44:36.400
the police, they would have thought I was a suspect anyway.

811
00:44:36.440 --> 00:44:38.599
So I gathered the evidence and got rid of it

812
00:44:38.719 --> 00:44:41.000
because as a black man, you know, I would have

813
00:44:41.039 --> 00:44:42.800
been arrested anyway.

814
00:44:42.920 --> 00:44:47.760
Yeah. Taken together the scientific evidence, the discarded items, and

815
00:44:47.840 --> 00:44:51.719
his earlier detailed confession made his last minute story not

816
00:44:51.840 --> 00:44:54.360
just unbelievable but impossible.

817
00:44:55.559 --> 00:44:59.320
So once he recanted his confession, there was no plea

818
00:44:59.400 --> 00:45:01.840
deal and he was sent to trial.

819
00:45:02.039 --> 00:45:04.800
Yeah. Seems like a really bad move on his part

820
00:45:04.920 --> 00:45:07.239
because now he's not going to get any kind of break.

821
00:45:07.039 --> 00:45:08.119
Or it doesn't make sense.

822
00:45:09.239 --> 00:45:12.719
In February twenty seventeen, at his seven week trial, Beard

823
00:45:12.840 --> 00:45:15.920
was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and second

824
00:45:15.960 --> 00:45:19.199
degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without

825
00:45:19.239 --> 00:45:23.440
the possibility of parole. Mark Blandford claimed he had no

826
00:45:23.519 --> 00:45:26.719
idea Beard intended to kill Kelly, and believed the plan

827
00:45:26.880 --> 00:45:31.119
was only to burn down the Clayton's house After the murder, however,

828
00:45:31.199 --> 00:45:35.239
he helped Beard dispose of evidence. In April twenty seventeen,

829
00:45:35.400 --> 00:45:39.000
he pleaded guilty to second degree manslaughter and received a

830
00:45:39.039 --> 00:45:41.519
three to six year sentence as part of a plea

831
00:45:41.559 --> 00:45:46.599
agreement in exchange for testifying against Thomas Clayton. He expressed

832
00:45:46.679 --> 00:45:50.119
remorse to the court for his part in the murder quote,

833
00:45:50.360 --> 00:45:53.079
I want to apologize to the family of Kelly Clayton

834
00:45:53.159 --> 00:45:55.480
for my role. If I could do it all over,

835
00:45:55.719 --> 00:45:59.000
I never would have gotten into that car. We'll be

836
00:45:59.079 --> 00:46:00.000
back after a break.

837
00:46:06.920 --> 00:46:08.599
So how do you think this trial is going to

838
00:46:08.639 --> 00:46:11.000
go down without Michael Beard's testimony.

839
00:46:11.199 --> 00:46:13.440
I don't feel like it's going to go down very well.

840
00:46:14.480 --> 00:46:18.599
So Thomas Clayton's trial began in January twenty seventeen. A

841
00:46:18.639 --> 00:46:21.519
woman who worked for State Farm Insurance testify that she

842
00:46:21.599 --> 00:46:25.199
met Tom through her professional dealings with him at Serve pro.

843
00:46:25.880 --> 00:46:29.000
He stopped by, often lingering to Chad and sometimes confided

844
00:46:29.079 --> 00:46:31.800
that he was unhappy in his marriage but couldn't divorce

845
00:46:31.880 --> 00:46:35.440
Kelly because she would get everything. I haven't talked about

846
00:46:35.440 --> 00:46:39.280
this up to this point, but Thomas was obsessed with money.

847
00:46:39.320 --> 00:46:43.119
He really liked money. He liked the prestige that you

848
00:46:43.159 --> 00:46:46.119
know he had, you know, being a wealthy business owner,

849
00:46:46.119 --> 00:46:50.480
but just also he just wanted more. The woman described

850
00:46:50.519 --> 00:46:53.400
their interactions as flirtatious and said that she and her

851
00:46:53.480 --> 00:46:56.760
friend once had sex with Tom at her home, and

852
00:46:56.840 --> 00:46:59.480
that she and Tom met up other times as well,

853
00:47:00.079 --> 00:47:03.400
that it was casual, nothing serious, but she also remembered

854
00:47:03.440 --> 00:47:07.239
Tom asking about increasing Kelly's life insurance policy from five

855
00:47:07.280 --> 00:47:10.159
hundred thousand dollars to one million dollars, but like I

856
00:47:10.199 --> 00:47:15.719
said before, he increased his own substantially. Kelly's best friend

857
00:47:15.800 --> 00:47:19.880
Andrea Spurrock testified that after hosting Kelly's thirty fifth birthday

858
00:47:19.920 --> 00:47:23.000
party at the Clayton's home just two months before the murder,

859
00:47:23.159 --> 00:47:25.960
Tom came on to her when they were outside talking

860
00:47:25.960 --> 00:47:28.760
about a problem she was having with her boyfriend Helen,

861
00:47:29.039 --> 00:47:32.000
leaned in and tried to kiss her twice. She said

862
00:47:32.039 --> 00:47:35.000
he also complained about his sex life with Kelly and

863
00:47:35.079 --> 00:47:38.199
told her that he was no longer happy in his marriage.

864
00:47:38.559 --> 00:47:41.800
This is Kelly's lifelong best friend that he's talking to.

865
00:47:42.360 --> 00:47:47.480
Moron Schamuon County District Attorney Whedon Wetmore later said it

866
00:47:47.559 --> 00:47:50.599
was one of the most demanding investigations his office had

867
00:47:50.639 --> 00:47:55.639
ever handled. After Michael Beard recanted his confession, prosecutors had

868
00:47:55.679 --> 00:47:58.599
to hustle to come up with an entirely new plan.

869
00:47:59.519 --> 00:48:03.400
Detective executed countless search warrants for cell phone records and

870
00:48:03.480 --> 00:48:07.880
Google geolocation data, ultimately gathering so much material that it

871
00:48:07.920 --> 00:48:12.360
filled an entire storage closet. Wetmore noted that without the

872
00:48:12.440 --> 00:48:16.840
digital evidence and that technology used to interpret the confusing data,

873
00:48:17.199 --> 00:48:20.440
building a case against Thomas Clayton would have been much

874
00:48:20.480 --> 00:48:24.760
more difficult, if not impossible. A key figure in the

875
00:48:24.800 --> 00:48:29.559
prosecution's case was ci Ray, a former police officer turned

876
00:48:29.880 --> 00:48:35.000
software developer. Ray founded ZX, an Arizona based company that

877
00:48:35.079 --> 00:48:40.159
specializes in translating complex cell phone and geolocation data into

878
00:48:40.239 --> 00:48:44.880
clear maps and visuals that jurors can easily understand. In

879
00:48:44.920 --> 00:48:49.039
this case, zx's analysis showed that after Beard received the

880
00:48:49.079 --> 00:48:52.920
call from Thomas on Linda's phone, he immediately left his house.

881
00:48:53.719 --> 00:48:58.559
The software helped untangle some confusing evidence surrounding a complex

882
00:48:58.679 --> 00:49:02.960
vehicle switch. Michael Beard didn't own a car, which raised

883
00:49:03.000 --> 00:49:05.960
the obvious question, how did he get to the Clayton's

884
00:49:06.000 --> 00:49:10.480
home that night. The answer unfolded the weekend before the murder,

885
00:49:10.559 --> 00:49:14.880
when one of Thomas's employees, Luke Tetreaux, asked to borrow

886
00:49:14.960 --> 00:49:18.320
his four wheeler. When Luke offered to return the four

887
00:49:18.360 --> 00:49:22.719
wheeler on Monday, Thomas suggested a simpler plan. They could

888
00:49:22.719 --> 00:49:25.559
just swap trucks at work, sparing Luke a trip to

889
00:49:25.599 --> 00:49:29.079
his house. Tom would use the red truck for the night,

890
00:49:29.519 --> 00:49:32.440
unload the four wheeler at home, and then the next

891
00:49:32.440 --> 00:49:35.360
morning they would switch vehicles at work. You understand it's

892
00:49:35.719 --> 00:49:38.920
a little loss. So this employee, Luke asked to borrow.

893
00:49:38.679 --> 00:49:41.920
Tom's four wheel tombs four wheeler okay, and he said,

894
00:49:41.920 --> 00:49:45.159
you can use my truck while I borrow your four wheeler.

895
00:49:45.840 --> 00:49:49.280
When he was returning the four wheeler, he said, I'll

896
00:49:49.360 --> 00:49:51.079
just you don't have to drive all the way to

897
00:49:51.159 --> 00:49:53.280
my house with the four wheeler. Let me just take

898
00:49:53.320 --> 00:49:55.599
your truck back to my house for the night. I'll

899
00:49:55.639 --> 00:49:57.840
unload the load the four wheeler, and then the next

900
00:49:57.880 --> 00:50:00.599
morning I'll drive it to work. And you've and He's

901
00:50:00.679 --> 00:50:05.480
had Thomas's truck the nighttcha to get it. It was

902
00:50:05.519 --> 00:50:10.280
just really saving Luke this trip to Thomas's house. At

903
00:50:10.280 --> 00:50:13.000
the time, it seemed like a harmless accommodation, but after

904
00:50:13.079 --> 00:50:18.280
Kelly's murder, investigators began to see it differently. Digital evidence,

905
00:50:18.360 --> 00:50:22.400
combined with surveillance footage, showed that the swap was far

906
00:50:22.440 --> 00:50:26.719
more orchestrated than it initially appeared. Here's what actually happened.

907
00:50:27.480 --> 00:50:31.079
Tom brought the four wheeler home, then drove Luke's red

908
00:50:31.119 --> 00:50:35.880
truck back to Serve Pro, which surveillance cameras captured. He

909
00:50:36.079 --> 00:50:38.800
left the red truck at Serve Pro, then took a

910
00:50:38.880 --> 00:50:42.400
different work truck to the Miller's house for the poker game.

911
00:50:43.280 --> 00:50:46.760
Tom had purchased a bicycle for Michael Beard on September

912
00:50:46.800 --> 00:50:51.000
twenty first. Beard rode the bike to Serve Pro. After

913
00:50:51.079 --> 00:50:54.159
eleven PM on September twenty eighth, picked up the red

914
00:50:54.199 --> 00:50:56.800
truck and drove it to the Clayton's home to carry

915
00:50:56.800 --> 00:51:00.239
out the murder. Later, he dropped the truck back off

916
00:51:00.280 --> 00:51:04.440
at Serve Pro. On Greeny surveillance camera footage, Beard could

917
00:51:04.440 --> 00:51:07.159
be seen riding off into the night on his bike.

918
00:51:07.920 --> 00:51:11.199
So the vehicle switch with Luke suddenly wasn't a favor.

919
00:51:11.360 --> 00:51:15.119
It was a logistical setup. It put Thomas in one truck,

920
00:51:15.280 --> 00:51:18.079
Beard in another, and made Beard's rout of the house

921
00:51:18.599 --> 00:51:23.320
both possible and traceable once investigators mapped the digital evidence.

922
00:51:23.599 --> 00:51:26.400
That's a pretty fairly elaborate plan, and this Luke guy

923
00:51:26.599 --> 00:51:29.719
wasn't involved at all. He knew, but he was the

924
00:51:29.760 --> 00:51:31.440
one who asked to use toime.

925
00:51:31.519 --> 00:51:33.480
Yeah, can I borrow your four? As far as we know,

926
00:51:33.719 --> 00:51:35.079
that wasn't part of the plan, So.

927
00:51:35.079 --> 00:51:36.800
Thomas maybe saw that as an opportunity.

928
00:51:37.440 --> 00:51:41.360
Okay, what more joke that CYRAE and ZX was his

929
00:51:41.480 --> 00:51:45.440
Christmas present? Because Ray's testimony clearly laid out for the

930
00:51:45.519 --> 00:51:48.400
jury how the cell phone movements of both Clayton and

931
00:51:48.440 --> 00:51:51.400
Beard in the days before Kelly's death aligned with the

932
00:51:51.440 --> 00:51:54.880
prosecution's theory that the two men worked together to plan

933
00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:55.760
Kelly's murder.

934
00:51:55.840 --> 00:51:59.039
When you talked about this business, ZEDX, I thought immediately,

935
00:51:59.119 --> 00:52:02.400
this is a great idea because in these cases that

936
00:52:02.480 --> 00:52:06.719
rely really heavily on digital forensic evidence, it's so confusing

937
00:52:06.800 --> 00:52:07.440
to a jury.

938
00:52:07.559 --> 00:52:10.000
Right, well, we can attest to that, it's really hard

939
00:52:10.360 --> 00:52:11.239
to figure it out.

940
00:52:11.400 --> 00:52:11.719
Yeah.

941
00:52:12.559 --> 00:52:15.880
Over the course of the trial, prosecutors introduced more than

942
00:52:15.920 --> 00:52:18.679
four hundred pieces of evidence and called fifty two witnesses.

943
00:52:19.239 --> 00:52:22.239
Several were women who said they had affairs with Thomas,

944
00:52:22.599 --> 00:52:26.000
including one who was under age at the time. Their

945
00:52:26.039 --> 00:52:29.760
stories shared the same disturbing message. Tom referred to Kelly

946
00:52:29.840 --> 00:52:34.880
as lazy and ungrateful, complained she wasn't sexually fulfilling, and

947
00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:40.079
repeatedly portrayed himself as trapped in an unhappy marriage. The

948
00:52:40.159 --> 00:52:43.199
prosecution used this testimony to build a portrait of a

949
00:52:43.199 --> 00:52:46.119
man who wanted out but didn't want a divorce that

950
00:52:46.159 --> 00:52:50.239
would cost him financially. They argued that Tom's affairs, resentment,

951
00:52:50.320 --> 00:52:54.079
and fixation on money, combined with the life insurance inquiries

952
00:52:54.159 --> 00:53:01.320
and an elaborate vehicle swich, demonstrated motive intent and planning. Meanwhile,

953
00:53:01.360 --> 00:53:04.000
the defense tried to cast Beard as a liar and

954
00:53:04.039 --> 00:53:08.800
the sole perpetrator, clinging to Beard's last minute recantation, but

955
00:53:08.920 --> 00:53:12.639
the mountain of digital data, blood evidence, and Beard's earlier

956
00:53:12.679 --> 00:53:18.000
detailed confession made that strategy an uphill battle. So what

957
00:53:18.039 --> 00:53:21.119
do you think is that enough evidence to get a conviction?

958
00:53:22.400 --> 00:53:25.000
I don't know. It's really hard, I think with just

959
00:53:25.159 --> 00:53:28.559
that kind of relying so heavily on the digital forensic evidence.

960
00:53:28.559 --> 00:53:32.400
But at the same time, Beard's explanation makes no sense

961
00:53:32.480 --> 00:53:34.719
without him being hired by someone.

962
00:53:35.599 --> 00:53:39.840
His initial confession matched up perfectly with all of the

963
00:53:39.920 --> 00:53:41.199
digital data too.

964
00:53:41.159 --> 00:53:43.960
And they could use that confession here in the trial

965
00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:44.880
as well, I'm sure.

966
00:53:45.880 --> 00:53:49.360
On February twenty third, twenty seventeen. The jury deliberated just

967
00:53:49.440 --> 00:53:52.840
six hours after a nearly seven week trial. They found

968
00:53:52.880 --> 00:53:56.480
Thomas Clayton guilty. There were no tears in the courtroom,

969
00:53:56.519 --> 00:53:59.760
only tears. Thomas was sentenced to life in prison, with

970
00:53:59.800 --> 00:54:02.920
the US the possibility of her role. At his sentencing,

971
00:54:02.960 --> 00:54:07.559
Andy Spurrock spoke September twenty ninth, twenty fifteen. The music

972
00:54:07.599 --> 00:54:11.639
stopped and everything froze. I asked for the maximum sentence,

973
00:54:11.679 --> 00:54:14.559
so no one else will ever be hurt by this

974
00:54:14.719 --> 00:54:19.360
despicable man. The most heartbreaking moment came when the judge

975
00:54:19.360 --> 00:54:22.840
heard a written statement from Charlie Clayton. According to the

976
00:54:22.880 --> 00:54:26.960
Elmris Stargazette, she wrote, I feel my dad as a

977
00:54:27.000 --> 00:54:30.800
coward because he asked Michael Beard to kill my mom.

978
00:54:31.320 --> 00:54:34.119
Kim added her own words, refusing to call her former

979
00:54:34.159 --> 00:54:38.320
brother in law by name. The defendant is a skilled sociopath.

980
00:54:38.599 --> 00:54:42.599
The defendant's actions speak volumes. When he was released from jail,

981
00:54:42.719 --> 00:54:45.880
he immediately went to be with another woman. He was

982
00:54:45.920 --> 00:54:51.280
living large while we were barely hanging on. Thomas Clayton

983
00:54:51.320 --> 00:54:54.400
broke his long silence with a strange and emotional statement.

984
00:54:54.559 --> 00:54:57.239
When the judge allowed him to speak, he spoke for

985
00:54:57.280 --> 00:55:01.760
twenty minutes, delivering a blistering tirade. He began by thanking

986
00:55:01.840 --> 00:55:05.159
Kelly's family for caring for his children until I get

987
00:55:05.159 --> 00:55:08.599
them back, he said. Then he abruptly turned on them,

988
00:55:08.679 --> 00:55:13.199
shouting obscenities. He insisted he was innocent, at one point

989
00:55:13.239 --> 00:55:16.239
facing the gallery and yelling that he had nothing to

990
00:55:16.280 --> 00:55:20.679
do with Kelly's murder one hundred percent. He also made

991
00:55:20.760 --> 00:55:23.559
unusual claims, including that a woman he spent time with

992
00:55:23.599 --> 00:55:26.840
the previous summer was not a girlfriend but a seer

993
00:55:27.400 --> 00:55:31.320
who helped him experience visions of Kelly. He accused law

994
00:55:31.400 --> 00:55:35.159
enforcement of framing him, and alleged that detectives tried to

995
00:55:35.199 --> 00:55:38.639
extort money from Michael Beard's wife. He even said that

996
00:55:38.800 --> 00:55:42.840
District Attorney Whedon Wetmore should get the cell next to

997
00:55:42.880 --> 00:55:47.800
me for supposedly mishandling the case. I couldn't find the

998
00:55:48.000 --> 00:55:51.719
exactly what he said, but it must have been completely unhinged.

999
00:55:51.840 --> 00:55:54.960
Yeah it is. It must have made people feel pretty

1000
00:55:55.039 --> 00:55:56.760
confident that they got the right person.

1001
00:55:57.039 --> 00:56:00.639
Yeah. So, after the verdict was Announcedcott clan and Tom's

1002
00:56:00.679 --> 00:56:04.159
father said, I am extremely proud and honored to call

1003
00:56:04.199 --> 00:56:07.639
Thomas my son. I will hold my head high and

1004
00:56:07.719 --> 00:56:11.239
not be ashamed. He has carried himself well in spite

1005
00:56:11.280 --> 00:56:15.199
of the huge miscarriage of justice that has come his way.

1006
00:56:15.480 --> 00:56:18.559
He has devoted himself to proving his son's innocence, poring

1007
00:56:18.599 --> 00:56:22.440
over court transcripts and challenging the investigation at every turn.

1008
00:56:23.199 --> 00:56:25.840
The family believes Beard went to the Clayton home on

1009
00:56:25.880 --> 00:56:29.519
September twenty eighth with the intent to rob it, pointing

1010
00:56:29.559 --> 00:56:33.599
to a missing cash box as evidence. Scott told the

1011
00:56:33.639 --> 00:56:37.239
Star Gazette that there was not one shread a physical

1012
00:56:37.280 --> 00:56:40.840
forensic evidence that pointed to Thomas. It was all circumstantial,

1013
00:56:41.400 --> 00:56:45.000
arguing that jurors had to make leaps to find him guilty.

1014
00:56:45.800 --> 00:56:49.119
He also accused law enforcement of tunnel vision, saying that

1015
00:56:49.199 --> 00:56:53.199
once investigators decided Thomas was their suspect, they do anything

1016
00:56:53.239 --> 00:56:55.840
in their power to sway the evidence in that direction.

1017
00:56:56.960 --> 00:57:00.000
Tom's family cites body camerau footage in which a deputy

1018
00:57:00.320 --> 00:57:03.679
can be heard suggesting the case was a domestic incident,

1019
00:57:04.119 --> 00:57:07.280
using it as an example of how quickly police settled

1020
00:57:07.280 --> 00:57:11.440
on Thomas. They maintained that the investigation was mishandled. The

1021
00:57:11.599 --> 00:57:15.320
key leads were overlooked, including unknown DNA found on Kelly

1022
00:57:15.679 --> 00:57:18.599
and that Thomas was targeted too early and too narrowly.

1023
00:57:19.719 --> 00:57:23.039
Both Thomas Clayton and Michael Beard have since exhausted all

1024
00:57:23.079 --> 00:57:26.400
of their appeals and remain in jail. We played just

1025
00:57:26.440 --> 00:57:29.639
a brief snippet of the body camera footage, but that

1026
00:57:29.760 --> 00:57:32.800
deputy did you know ask several people like, oh, do

1027
00:57:32.840 --> 00:57:36.079
you think was their unhappiness in the marriage, and you know,

1028
00:57:36.239 --> 00:57:38.480
do you think Thomas had anything to do with it?

1029
00:57:38.519 --> 00:57:41.320
And at that point, like the neighbor for example, was like,

1030
00:57:41.360 --> 00:57:43.159
I don't know, I think they were happy.

1031
00:57:44.480 --> 00:57:47.239
They did definitely seem to rush to judgment pretty quickly,

1032
00:57:47.320 --> 00:57:49.480
but at the same time, it's pretty natural that you

1033
00:57:49.480 --> 00:57:52.000
would those would be the first things they would ask.

1034
00:57:51.880 --> 00:57:55.960
About, right. So the children have both dealt with PTSD

1035
00:57:56.079 --> 00:57:59.599
since losing their mother. Kelly's sister Kim and her husband

1036
00:57:59.599 --> 00:58:02.400
Corey adopted Charlie and Cullen and have phraised them as

1037
00:58:02.440 --> 00:58:05.599
their own along with their two children, and they're said

1038
00:58:05.639 --> 00:58:08.719
to be thriving, and I think that's exactly where Kelly

1039
00:58:08.719 --> 00:58:12.239
would want her children to be. This past September marked

1040
00:58:12.280 --> 00:58:16.599
ten years since Kelly's murder. Her family remains heartbroken. Kim

1041
00:58:16.639 --> 00:58:19.000
told the starga is at quote. I will never be

1042
00:58:19.039 --> 00:58:21.440
able to put into words what was going through my

1043
00:58:21.480 --> 00:58:26.599
mind when I found out Kelly was murdered. Shock, disbelief, devastation, rage.

1044
00:58:27.079 --> 00:58:30.719
There is no normal. There is nothing normal about your sister, mother,

1045
00:58:30.920 --> 00:58:33.840
daughter being murdered. I am not the same person I

1046
00:58:33.920 --> 00:58:37.000
was ten years ago. None of us are. Time does

1047
00:58:37.039 --> 00:58:40.400
not lessen the pain. It actually hurts worse some days.

1048
00:58:41.000 --> 00:58:43.800
There have been so many milestones in her children's lives

1049
00:58:43.800 --> 00:58:46.800
that she has missed. We talk about her all the time.

1050
00:58:47.079 --> 00:58:49.679
I see so much of her and both of them.

1051
00:58:50.320 --> 00:58:52.960
They are the best parts of her that are still

1052
00:58:53.000 --> 00:58:56.920
here with us today. Kelly's words just made me think

1053
00:58:56.960 --> 00:58:59.800
about how hard it must be to balance the present

1054
00:58:59.800 --> 00:59:02.880
way the past, Like you want the kids to move

1055
00:59:02.920 --> 00:59:06.000
on and accept this new you know, their new mom,

1056
00:59:06.119 --> 00:59:09.840
which their aunt. It's just such a tricky balance.

1057
00:59:09.679 --> 00:59:11.719
It really is. But yeah, of course you want to

1058
00:59:11.800 --> 00:59:15.119
honor their mother and make sure that they remember her

1059
00:59:15.159 --> 00:59:16.199
as well at the same time.

1060
00:59:16.880 --> 00:59:20.239
In closing, I'm going to read Kim's words. For those

1061
00:59:20.280 --> 00:59:22.400
that have never had the privilege of knowing Kelly, I

1062
00:59:22.400 --> 00:59:24.480
would tell you that she is as bright as the sun,

1063
00:59:25.239 --> 00:59:28.599
funny bold, sassy, loyal. She had the best smile and

1064
00:59:28.639 --> 00:59:32.360
absolutely adored her babies. They were the light of her

1065
00:59:32.400 --> 00:59:35.280
life and they too shine as bright as the sun.

1066
00:59:36.239 --> 00:59:39.639
Rest in peace, Kelly. I just wanted to mention one

1067
00:59:39.719 --> 00:59:42.639
last thing. And researching this case, I thought back to

1068
00:59:42.679 --> 00:59:47.400
the Chris Benoa case and CTE, and I remember that

1069
00:59:47.760 --> 00:59:52.000
hockey players and soccer players other athletes also experience a

1070
00:59:52.119 --> 00:59:57.320
high level of ctely and it maybe wonder, not excusing anything,

1071
00:59:57.639 --> 01:00:00.639
if maybe Thomas could have affected by that?

1072
01:00:01.039 --> 01:00:01.760
Does wonder?

1073
01:00:02.920 --> 01:00:06.800
A December twenty twenty four article in jama Network Open

1074
01:00:06.960 --> 01:00:11.440
reported on a major study from the Boston University CTE Center,

1075
01:00:11.679 --> 01:00:15.920
the largest ever conducted on male ice hockey players. Researchers

1076
01:00:15.960 --> 01:00:19.039
examined the brains of seventy seven deceased players and found

1077
01:00:19.199 --> 01:00:22.599
a striking link between the length of a player's career

1078
01:00:23.039 --> 01:00:28.800
and the risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE.

1079
01:00:29.760 --> 01:00:33.480
According to the study, the odds of having CTE increased

1080
01:00:33.519 --> 01:00:37.559
by thirty four percent for every additional year played, and

1081
01:00:37.719 --> 01:00:41.599
eighteen of the nineteen NHL players included in the sample

1082
01:00:42.000 --> 01:00:47.320
showed evidence of the disease. Researchers found CTE in ninety

1083
01:00:47.360 --> 01:00:51.880
six percent of the professional players, forty six percent of

1084
01:00:52.079 --> 01:00:55.639
junior college and semi pro players, and ten percent of

1085
01:00:55.760 --> 01:01:00.440
youth and high school players. Importantly, while in four urcers

1086
01:01:00.480 --> 01:01:03.840
have long been the focus of CTE concern, the studies

1087
01:01:03.880 --> 01:01:08.239
showed that both enforcers and non enforcers are at significant risk,

1088
01:01:08.679 --> 01:01:12.559
and once researchers accounted for years played, the difference between

1089
01:01:12.599 --> 01:01:16.719
the two groups was not statistically significant. In other words,

1090
01:01:16.800 --> 01:01:21.559
repetitive head impacts from checking, falls and collisions put all

1091
01:01:21.679 --> 01:01:25.960
male hockey players at risk, not just the fighters. The

1092
01:01:26.039 --> 01:01:30.559
study also emphasized that its sample may over represent symptomatic

1093
01:01:30.639 --> 01:01:35.000
athletes because families dealing with concerning symptoms are more likely

1094
01:01:35.079 --> 01:01:39.679
to donate their loved one's brain. Ice hockey now joins

1095
01:01:39.679 --> 01:01:44.199
American football and rugby as sports with clear dose response

1096
01:01:44.280 --> 01:01:49.760
relationship between years of participation and CTE risk. Researchers noted

1097
01:01:49.800 --> 01:01:53.679
that these findings apply to male players only because women's

1098
01:01:53.719 --> 01:01:57.400
hockey has different roles regarding checking. The risks to female

1099
01:01:57.400 --> 01:02:01.559
players remains unknown well, of course, because females are never

1100
01:02:01.639 --> 01:02:04.599
given the same amount of scientific study as males. But

1101
01:02:04.719 --> 01:02:05.519
what do you think of that?

1102
01:02:06.039 --> 01:02:08.760
It's disturbing? It really is disturbing. Every time I hear

1103
01:02:08.800 --> 01:02:13.320
these facts about CT, primarily about football, it just it

1104
01:02:13.320 --> 01:02:16.480
it's very sad and disturbing.

1105
01:02:17.199 --> 01:02:21.440
Yeah, I don't know if Thomas really showed signs of it.

1106
01:02:21.480 --> 01:02:25.400
There were no stories of him being violent with his

1107
01:02:25.480 --> 01:02:31.639
wife or anyone else. Really, he was narcissistic and sociopathic potentially.

1108
01:02:31.440 --> 01:02:35.559
Sort of his unhinged behavior at the trial during his statements.

1109
01:02:35.159 --> 01:02:37.440
Right, that might be slightly indicative, feels a little bit

1110
01:02:37.519 --> 01:02:37.760
like it.

1111
01:02:37.800 --> 01:02:41.079
But yeah, it's hard to They can't. There's not testing

1112
01:02:41.119 --> 01:02:43.920
they can do on living players that I know of.

1113
01:02:44.000 --> 01:02:45.639
But that's a good question.

1114
01:02:45.719 --> 01:02:49.719
Yeah, I'm just curious, but that's who knows. But like

1115
01:02:49.760 --> 01:02:52.400
you said at the beginning, it doesn't excuse his behavior.

1116
01:02:52.519 --> 01:02:56.719
But right, we never know what goes on behind closed doors.

1117
01:02:56.760 --> 01:02:59.280
And maybe Kelly really just didn't talk about any of

1118
01:02:59.320 --> 01:03:02.679
the violence that we happening in their home. To me,

1119
01:03:02.840 --> 01:03:06.119
these cases when the man has no prior history of

1120
01:03:06.199 --> 01:03:10.119
domestic violence are the most chilling. Like a seemingly normal

1121
01:03:10.199 --> 01:03:12.960
guy and all of a sudden he wants to kill

1122
01:03:13.000 --> 01:03:15.199
his wife. Right, Well, I should act like, do you

1123
01:03:15.280 --> 01:03:16.800
have any reasonable doubt?

1124
01:03:17.559 --> 01:03:20.679
I don't. I do wish that the evidence that there

1125
01:03:20.760 --> 01:03:23.760
was more evidence to make it more clear, but obviously

1126
01:03:23.760 --> 01:03:26.559
it must have been enough for a jury to convict him.

1127
01:03:26.960 --> 01:03:31.280
But I believe there's no other explanation than he contracted

1128
01:03:31.519 --> 01:03:33.760
Michael Beard to carry this out.

1129
01:03:34.079 --> 01:03:37.920
The Michael Beard argument is compelling because he kind of

1130
01:03:37.960 --> 01:03:40.639
had motive because he was fired and he was being evicted.

1131
01:03:41.519 --> 01:03:44.280
But the phone calls, I think are pretty damning. Yes,

1132
01:03:44.360 --> 01:03:47.599
for sure, the purchase of the bicycle after he'd been fired, yep.

1133
01:03:47.599 --> 01:03:49.639
Yeah, that was I thought the same thing at first.

1134
01:03:49.639 --> 01:03:51.800
And oh he got fired not long before. Maybe he

1135
01:03:51.880 --> 01:03:55.079
was disgruntled and just you know, decided to do this

1136
01:03:55.159 --> 01:03:56.840
on his own. But I think yet with all that

1137
01:03:56.920 --> 01:03:59.039
other evidence, that doesn't make sense.

1138
01:03:59.599 --> 01:04:03.840
What kind of monster leaves their children home alone in

1139
01:04:03.840 --> 01:04:04.599
this situation?

1140
01:04:05.119 --> 01:04:06.280
I mean, it's so it.

1141
01:04:06.159 --> 01:04:08.239
Reminds me of a case we did not that long ago.

1142
01:04:08.320 --> 01:04:10.360
It was Nancy and Brad Cooper. Do you remember, like

1143
01:04:10.639 --> 01:04:12.599
how he'd stayed in the hotel and was able to

1144
01:04:12.679 --> 01:04:15.039
drive back and he left I think she was two

1145
01:04:15.119 --> 01:04:17.280
at the time, his two year old alone.

1146
01:04:17.159 --> 01:04:21.800
So so disturbing, well, and apparently wanted Michael Beard to

1147
01:04:21.840 --> 01:04:22.639
burn the house down.

1148
01:04:23.000 --> 01:04:25.840
Even worse, Well, that leads to my next question. Do

1149
01:04:25.960 --> 01:04:28.239
you believe that that's the case or do you think

1150
01:04:28.280 --> 01:04:31.280
that Beard made that up? We know that Beard has lied.

1151
01:04:31.719 --> 01:04:34.519
Yeah, I don't know why would he Why would he

1152
01:04:34.559 --> 01:04:36.679
make that up? Though? I don't I don't know, well

1153
01:04:36.719 --> 01:04:40.159
because I don't like to think that any person could

1154
01:04:40.239 --> 01:04:43.360
be that evil, right, but you never know. There are

1155
01:04:43.719 --> 01:04:47.280
people out there who are horrible and evil and terrible people.

1156
01:04:47.440 --> 01:04:50.480
Yeah, so this thought just breaks my heart and I

1157
01:04:50.480 --> 01:04:53.480
think about it all the time. The victim's final minutes.

1158
01:04:54.079 --> 01:04:56.320
Do you think that Kelly, I mean, Kelly knew Michael,

1159
01:04:56.599 --> 01:04:59.519
so she knew that he's chasing her around the house,

1160
01:04:59.559 --> 01:05:03.159
he's trying kill her. Yeah, does she piece together that

1161
01:05:03.360 --> 01:05:04.519
Thomas is behind it?

1162
01:05:04.679 --> 01:05:07.920
I bet she did. It is so heartbreaking to think

1163
01:05:07.920 --> 01:05:10.519
about that. But I think she would have had.

1164
01:05:10.400 --> 01:05:13.400
To have known, and she didn't know if her children

1165
01:05:13.440 --> 01:05:16.599
would survive the attack, right, Yeah, that's so devastating to

1166
01:05:16.599 --> 01:05:19.920
think about, Like her final moments were just yeah, just

1167
01:05:19.960 --> 01:05:23.920
so sad. Do you think insurance companies like you should

1168
01:05:23.920 --> 01:05:26.159
be able to ensure increase your insurance?

1169
01:05:26.360 --> 01:05:26.519
Sure?

1170
01:05:26.719 --> 01:05:29.800
But should it be flagged? Should there be a I

1171
01:05:29.840 --> 01:05:31.480
don't know, I don't know what the answer is, but

1172
01:05:31.519 --> 01:05:33.079
this happens so really good.

1173
01:05:33.039 --> 01:05:35.599
Question, And I don't know the answer either, because yeah,

1174
01:05:35.599 --> 01:05:38.400
you should be free to buy insurance. But yeah, it

1175
01:05:38.400 --> 01:05:42.320
does seem like it happens so often that there should

1176
01:05:42.360 --> 01:05:45.519
be some flags, some kind of red flag or something.

1177
01:05:45.559 --> 01:05:47.679
But I mean, it would be impossible to investigate, you know,

1178
01:05:47.760 --> 01:05:51.239
or I don't know what the answer is. But yeah,

1179
01:05:51.280 --> 01:05:54.079
but in this case, I'm not sure how much Thomas's

1180
01:05:54.079 --> 01:05:59.280
motivation was financial other than he just wanted out of

1181
01:05:59.320 --> 01:05:59.960
the marriage.

1182
01:06:00.199 --> 01:06:01.760
If he wanted out of the marriage, he could have

1183
01:06:01.760 --> 01:06:02.519
gotten a divorce.

1184
01:06:02.599 --> 01:06:05.039
So it sounds like the Remember he kept telling people,

1185
01:06:05.840 --> 01:06:08.480
I can't get divorced because Kelly will get everything right.

1186
01:06:08.559 --> 01:06:10.559
So that's why I say it's financial in that way

1187
01:06:10.559 --> 01:06:12.760
that he knew he would lose half of, you know,

1188
01:06:12.800 --> 01:06:15.480
what he had. So I don't know.

1189
01:06:15.920 --> 01:06:19.239
Do you think that Michael Beard was manipulated by Thomas

1190
01:06:20.199 --> 01:06:24.440
because he was living paycheck to paycheck. He had at

1191
01:06:24.519 --> 01:06:27.280
least three kids that I know of, to support, and

1192
01:06:27.599 --> 01:06:29.280
he was hit, you know, just having a hard time

1193
01:06:29.320 --> 01:06:35.000
making ends meet, and his relationship with Thomas, he gave

1194
01:06:35.079 --> 01:06:36.840
him a lot of odd jobs. You know, he worked

1195
01:06:36.880 --> 01:06:39.719
for him at Serve Pro he lived in his house.

1196
01:06:40.840 --> 01:06:43.840
Do you think he used his position of authority over him?

1197
01:06:43.960 --> 01:06:46.360
It sure seems like, yeah, he's in a position where

1198
01:06:46.400 --> 01:06:50.199
he's basically supporting this guy's life, and could you know,

1199
01:06:50.639 --> 01:06:53.719
manipulate him into doing something like this if he wanted to.

1200
01:06:54.000 --> 01:06:57.880
The attack was so brutal on Kelly, it's hard, like

1201
01:06:57.920 --> 01:07:01.840
there's no excusing that. Why do you think he recanted

1202
01:07:01.880 --> 01:07:02.599
his confession?

1203
01:07:03.320 --> 01:07:04.840
That boggles my mind?

1204
01:07:04.960 --> 01:07:08.519
Think Thomas could again have been pressuring him like you know,

1205
01:07:08.599 --> 01:07:11.000
I'll go after your family or.

1206
01:07:11.760 --> 01:07:14.559
I don't know, there's no explanation for it. Like I'm

1207
01:07:14.599 --> 01:07:16.960
sure he had a lawyer, even a public defender is

1208
01:07:16.960 --> 01:07:19.760
going to tell him this is a really bad idea,

1209
01:07:19.920 --> 01:07:24.480
because at least with his confession and agreement to testify

1210
01:07:24.599 --> 01:07:27.480
against Thomas, I'm sure he could have gotten some deal

1211
01:07:27.519 --> 01:07:30.800
where he could have gotten out of prison eventually. And

1212
01:07:30.880 --> 01:07:33.840
as it is, they had so much evidence against Michael

1213
01:07:33.840 --> 01:07:36.000
Beard that there was no way he was going to

1214
01:07:36.000 --> 01:07:37.559
get out of getting convicted.

1215
01:07:37.679 --> 01:07:42.519
So he was interviewed on twenty twenty and still it

1216
01:07:42.639 --> 01:07:46.880
was an older episode, but he still is maintaining really

1217
01:07:46.960 --> 01:07:47.719
this story that.

1218
01:07:47.960 --> 01:07:50.800
Showed up there to rob the house, and it's just

1219
01:07:50.840 --> 01:07:51.960
such a ridiculous story.

1220
01:07:51.960 --> 01:07:54.440
I don't know it is, Yeah, I don't know. And

1221
01:07:54.519 --> 01:07:56.920
what do you think of using a child's account as

1222
01:07:57.000 --> 01:07:58.880
evidence against someone?

1223
01:07:58.920 --> 01:08:02.000
Oh, I think it's perfect reasonable, But obviously you have

1224
01:08:02.079 --> 01:08:05.199
to take it, take the context around it, and you

1225
01:08:05.280 --> 01:08:08.760
have to understand that children, especially like seven years old,

1226
01:08:08.800 --> 01:08:12.639
they're going to remember things differently and not necessarily well.

1227
01:08:12.599 --> 01:08:14.320
They perceive the world differently too.

1228
01:08:14.400 --> 01:08:17.560
Yeah, exactly, so you just have to I think it's

1229
01:08:18.359 --> 01:08:20.800
makes perfect sense that you would ask the children what

1230
01:08:20.880 --> 01:08:23.880
happened and you would take that into account, but you

1231
01:08:24.199 --> 01:08:26.680
can't necessarily I don't think you can't rely on anyway

1232
01:08:26.960 --> 01:08:29.520
this test of already one hundred percent, right. We've always

1233
01:08:29.560 --> 01:08:31.279
talked about the fact that that is one of the

1234
01:08:31.319 --> 01:08:35.359
most unreliable forms of evidence, but probably even a little

1235
01:08:35.359 --> 01:08:36.520
bit more so for a child.

1236
01:08:36.880 --> 01:08:40.199
Yeah. Well, that is the story of Kelly and Thomas Clayton.

1237
01:08:40.680 --> 01:08:43.520
I recommend watching the twenty twenty episode if you want

1238
01:08:43.560 --> 01:08:47.800
to see more of Charlie's interview or some of the investigation.

1239
01:08:48.279 --> 01:08:52.960
And the sheriff was really touching in this story. So, yeah,

1240
01:08:52.960 --> 01:08:56.800
there was a dayline episode, but I didn't it wasn't

1241
01:08:56.840 --> 01:08:58.800
as in depth as in the twenty twenty episode one.

1242
01:08:58.840 --> 01:09:01.800
It's always good to see the people involved and actually

1243
01:09:01.840 --> 01:09:03.399
hear what they have to say on these shows.

1244
01:09:03.640 --> 01:09:12.199
Definitely all right, before we go, I have a question

1245
01:09:12.279 --> 01:09:15.159
for you. Do you know what people are absolutely obsessed

1246
01:09:15.199 --> 01:09:17.039
with right now in the world of hockey.

1247
01:09:17.399 --> 01:09:19.920
I really don't. I don't follow hockey very closely.

1248
01:09:20.199 --> 01:09:22.800
Okay, well, the hottest thing in hockey right now is

1249
01:09:22.920 --> 01:09:24.479
gay hockey romance.

1250
01:09:24.720 --> 01:09:27.399
Oh, I see, I did see on Netflix the other

1251
01:09:27.479 --> 01:09:30.680
day there is some. Okay, you're right, it was HBO.

1252
01:09:30.880 --> 01:09:31.680
I did see some.

1253
01:09:31.960 --> 01:09:33.760
So you watched it when you're in Las Vegas. No,

1254
01:09:33.840 --> 01:09:38.439
I watched Heated Rivalry, the new series out. So this

1255
01:09:38.600 --> 01:09:42.880
genre is having a full blown breakout moment. Forget shootouts,

1256
01:09:42.880 --> 01:09:46.920
it's all about slow burns. Forget hat tricks. It's emotional breakthroughs.

1257
01:09:47.279 --> 01:09:52.520
Suddenly the enforcerer isn't dropping gloves, He's dropping his drawers.

1258
01:09:54.279 --> 01:09:57.159
I do have a friend who you know that I

1259
01:09:57.159 --> 01:09:58.359
am friends with on Good Read.

1260
01:09:58.439 --> 01:09:59.479
Yes, I am friends with her.

1261
01:10:00.079 --> 01:10:04.159
Years ago she started getting into gay hockey romance novels.

1262
01:10:04.239 --> 01:10:08.319
I was like, wow, are there so many gay hockey genre?

1263
01:10:08.520 --> 01:10:14.119
It's a huge genre. So straight women, queer readers, book talk, Bookstagram.

1264
01:10:14.159 --> 01:10:17.920
Basically anyone who loves big feelings and bigger biceps. They're

1265
01:10:17.920 --> 01:10:21.720
inhaling these stories like their oxygen on the bench during overtime.

1266
01:10:21.880 --> 01:10:24.279
You know we should do we should start a gay

1267
01:10:24.359 --> 01:10:26.479
hockey romance Hallmark Channel.

1268
01:10:27.199 --> 01:10:33.800
Okay, okay, well, so, just because I'm an I'm a scientist,

1269
01:10:33.880 --> 01:10:37.960
I'm a journalist, I'm an investigator. I'm really curious woman.

1270
01:10:38.479 --> 01:10:43.119
I watched an episode of Heated Rivalry. What did you

1271
01:10:43.479 --> 01:10:45.720
I didn't dislike it. I'm not gonna say a whole

1272
01:10:45.760 --> 01:10:50.039
lot about it, but you know it's it's enticing. I

1273
01:10:50.159 --> 01:10:53.920
see the appeal. It's not for everyone. I think it's

1274
01:10:53.960 --> 01:10:56.880
really funny though, that straight women are really embracing gay

1275
01:10:56.880 --> 01:10:57.720
hockey romances.

1276
01:10:57.760 --> 01:10:57.960
Yeah.

1277
01:10:58.199 --> 01:11:00.399
Yeah, so yeah check it out. Let us know what

1278
01:11:00.479 --> 01:11:04.119
you think. I thought that Heated Rivalry was pretty sat

1279
01:11:06.039 --> 01:11:11.000
I will probably I will definitely actually watch more. So

1280
01:11:11.039 --> 01:11:13.199
are you going to check out he should we watch

1281
01:11:13.239 --> 01:11:14.720
it together? I watched one episode.

1282
01:11:14.760 --> 01:11:16.039
Can you recommend it? I'll watch it?

1283
01:11:16.479 --> 01:11:16.800
Really?

1284
01:11:17.039 --> 01:11:17.239
Yeah?

1285
01:11:17.399 --> 01:11:20.920
Sure? Did you like how I tied that all in together?

1286
01:11:21.600 --> 01:11:22.439
Very well done?

1287
01:11:22.560 --> 01:11:25.359
Well, I have one more quick thing before we go. Okay,

1288
01:11:25.680 --> 01:11:29.159
two truths and a lie ready? Oh sure, Okay, two

1289
01:11:29.239 --> 01:11:31.439
truths and one lie, So tell me which is the lie.

1290
01:11:32.239 --> 01:11:35.640
A Pennsylvania man was arrested after choking a higher driver

1291
01:11:36.039 --> 01:11:40.680
who refused to stop singing Christmas songs. In March, a

1292
01:11:40.760 --> 01:11:44.479
twenty five year old man, Clayton Thomas, became enraged at

1293
01:11:44.479 --> 01:11:47.800
the driver singing and reached around the seat and began

1294
01:11:47.920 --> 01:11:51.239
choking him. A state trooper discovered the incident after being

1295
01:11:51.279 --> 01:11:55.720
flagged down for a possible roadside medical emergency. The driver

1296
01:11:55.800 --> 01:11:58.920
had red marks on his neck and bloodshot eyes. No

1297
01:11:59.119 --> 01:12:03.720
major injury injuries, gratefully were reported. Authorities have not disclosed

1298
01:12:03.760 --> 01:12:06.239
which Christmas song prompted the attack.

1299
01:12:06.680 --> 01:12:10.359
Wait, the man's name was Clayton Thomas, Yeah, why.

1300
01:12:10.239 --> 01:12:15.039
Is that weird? A Minnesota man reportedly called nine to

1301
01:12:15.079 --> 01:12:18.760
one one to report a burglary in progress, only for

1302
01:12:18.880 --> 01:12:21.840
police to discover he was upset because his neighbors put

1303
01:12:21.880 --> 01:12:26.640
their Christmas tree lights up before Thanksgiving and he insisted

1304
01:12:26.760 --> 01:12:30.800
it was illegal. He demanded officers to force them to

1305
01:12:30.800 --> 01:12:34.319
take the lights down, and he was warned not to

1306
01:12:34.840 --> 01:12:39.800
misuse nine one one again. Number three. A Florida woman

1307
01:12:39.960 --> 01:12:43.520
was arrested after attacking her boyfriend with a miniature Christmas

1308
01:12:43.520 --> 01:12:46.840
tree because he turned off the TV during her favorite

1309
01:12:46.880 --> 01:12:50.840
holiday movie, A Christmas Story. Police said she struck him

1310
01:12:50.880 --> 01:12:54.920
repeatedly with the tiny tree and threw ornaments at his head.

1311
01:12:55.159 --> 01:12:58.800
Wow, Christmas Story. You're not as big of a fan

1312
01:12:58.840 --> 01:12:59.680
of it as I am.

1313
01:13:00.039 --> 01:13:01.560
I mean, I like it, but yeah, I think it's

1314
01:13:01.600 --> 01:13:03.600
a little it's just maybe too absurd from me, just.

1315
01:13:03.640 --> 01:13:06.880
A little bit dated, maybe over the years. But those

1316
01:13:06.920 --> 01:13:10.560
all sound fairly plausible, Yes, But I am going to

1317
01:13:10.560 --> 01:13:13.720
say the first one definitely sounds plausible. The name has

1318
01:13:13.800 --> 01:13:16.359
thrown me off, though I don't know. It just seems

1319
01:13:16.479 --> 01:13:20.279
very coincidental that the person has the same name in

1320
01:13:20.359 --> 01:13:24.800
reverse as our case subject today. But I'm gonna the

1321
01:13:24.840 --> 01:13:27.159
second one seems the least plausible to me, Like, I

1322
01:13:27.199 --> 01:13:28.439
can't imagine you would do that.

1323
01:13:29.119 --> 01:13:31.479
You really don't think someone would do that.

1324
01:13:31.760 --> 01:13:35.039
I mean I would be I might be upset about it, like, yeah,

1325
01:13:35.159 --> 01:13:37.239
you don't put your lights up that early, and it's stupid,

1326
01:13:37.279 --> 01:13:38.680
but you don't call nine one one.

1327
01:13:38.920 --> 01:13:43.279
Yeah, you're right, you are correct. The first one is

1328
01:13:43.279 --> 01:13:46.600
funny because you don't have We love newspapers dot com,

1329
01:13:46.800 --> 01:13:48.920
even though we pay kind of a lot for it.

1330
01:13:50.279 --> 01:13:54.039
But I was researching this story and that's how I

1331
01:13:54.079 --> 01:13:56.560
found that story, and I just made laugh and so

1332
01:13:56.640 --> 01:13:58.159
I thought, well, I'm going to make a little game

1333
01:13:58.159 --> 01:14:01.359
out of that. Because his name was Clayton Thomas.

1334
01:14:01.079 --> 01:14:04.199
I could totally see attacking someone for singing.

1335
01:14:03.960 --> 01:14:07.680
Christmas Christmas humes in March. We shouldn't laugh. But no

1336
01:14:07.720 --> 01:14:09.720
one was really injured, yea.

1337
01:14:09.840 --> 01:14:12.520
And I wouldn't really attack anyone for that, but I

1338
01:14:12.560 --> 01:14:15.000
could see my blood start boiling a little bit. Why

1339
01:14:15.119 --> 01:14:19.199
is this person singing, Oh, Christmas tree over?

1340
01:14:19.479 --> 01:14:21.359
I guess which song would you say? I would say

1341
01:14:21.439 --> 01:14:23.319
jingle Balls because there's not a lot to it.

1342
01:14:23.560 --> 01:14:24.680
Yeah, that's probably a.

1343
01:14:24.640 --> 01:14:27.359
Good guest, think so. And remember like when our kids

1344
01:14:27.359 --> 01:14:29.079
were little, you know, like they would sing that all

1345
01:14:29.119 --> 01:14:32.960
the time. It's like yeah, kids, yeah, yeah.

1346
01:14:32.960 --> 01:14:35.960
Thank you all so much for listening. We truly truly

1347
01:14:36.039 --> 01:14:36.840
appreciate it.

1348
01:14:37.079 --> 01:14:39.399
We wish you all just if this is the last

1349
01:14:39.399 --> 01:14:43.600
episode you listened to before the holidays, whatever holiday you're celebrating,

1350
01:14:43.800 --> 01:14:46.800
wherever you are, we appreciate you, We love you, and

1351
01:14:46.880 --> 01:14:49.920
we wish you all the warmth and happiness and joy

1352
01:14:50.039 --> 01:14:51.520
and peace of the holiday season.

1353
01:14:52.279 --> 01:14:55.920
Please rate, review, follow, and subscribe. Find us on social

1354
01:14:55.960 --> 01:14:59.479
media or send us an email at Lovemrykill at gmail

1355
01:14:59.520 --> 01:15:03.600
dot com. Consider supporting us on Patreon dot com slash

1356
01:15:03.640 --> 01:15:06.880
love Mary Kill. We have one tier five dollars a

1357
01:15:06.880 --> 01:15:09.600
month and you get early ad free access plus a

1358
01:15:09.640 --> 01:15:10.880
monthly bonus episode.

1359
01:15:11.359 --> 01:15:15.159
And don't forget to find us on YouTube and subscribe

1360
01:15:15.159 --> 01:15:20.119
to our poor little, slowly growing YouTube channel until next time.

1361
01:15:20.319 --> 01:16:08.399
Don't kill your wife and don't kill your husband. It's

1362
01:16:08.439 --> 01:16:11.600
a little low. I think most people would really enjoy these.

1363
01:16:12.000 --> 01:16:16.760
I'm going to give them an eight fund. Oh my god,

1364
01:16:17.239 --> 01:16:20.199
I am going to do it again. Okay, one more time.