WEBVTT - S1: E22 – Bodies on the Bayou, Part 1 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.040 A talented New Orleans preacher got the job of a lifetime. 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:06.800 A week later, he was dead. 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:11.680 This case was one that immediately drew my attention because 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:14.400 it was not a typical murder case. 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:18.400 It happened in the Trine months following Hurricane Katrina. 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:22.480 Absent any eyewitness and given the circumstances and the resources 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.640 in the city, it simply just became a cold case. 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.560 But the killer would strike again. 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.240 Oh my god, another one. 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.920 One person had information that could stop the killer from 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:36.400 striking a third time. 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.839 He was sort of the last man standing who could 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:41.360 bring it to the authorities. 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:44.280 But could the police get to him before it was 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:44.840 too late. 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:47.480 This song is something you hear about on the TV 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.040 show you know, like you never think this was something 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.360 that would happen in real life. 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:57.080 Today, we're in New Orleans, Louisiana, for the tragic story 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:01.360 of an aspiring preacher named Ernest Smith. I'm Sloan Glass 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.679 and this is part one of Bodies on the Bayou 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.759 on American Homicide, And just a warning that this episode 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:10.160 contains some graphic content. 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:12.120 Please take care while listening. 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:17.800 I don't know if you've ever been to New Orleans, 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:22.080 but it's a very special place. The historic French Quarter 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:26.640 dates back to the seventeen hundreds. Today, the city's oldest 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:29.800 neighborhood is famous for its vibrant nightlife. 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:32.760 That is where you find Bourbon Street in many of 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:34.080 our most famous bars. 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.240 That's Laura Rodrigue, she worked with the New Orleans District 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:39.360 Attorney's Office. 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:41.279 We like to eat, we like to drink. 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:46.320 There are constantly events going on, or carnivals or parades. 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:48.600 We are a city that simply likes to party. 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.440 It's a city that lives by the motto let the 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:55.080 good times roll, and Bourbon Street plays host to many 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:56.680 of those parties. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.800 Whether it's the cuisine or the arts. So many different 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:04.760 opportunities here to explore, so many different things. 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.400 Where else in the world can you walk down the 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:09.760 street eating a poe boy in one hand with a 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:12.800 cocktail in the other while a jazz player strikes up 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:13.840 a song on the corner. 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.240 Having been somebody who has traveled elsewhere, I can say 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.440 that there really is no place like New Orleans Today. 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.600 Well over a million people from all different walks of 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:26.080 life make their home in the Big Easy. 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.359 There is a certain sense of camaraderie among the community. 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:31.560 They rally together. 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:34.080 They support one another, and they take a lot of 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:36.520 pride in saying that they're from New Orleans. 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:41.239 Let's look back at the summer of two thousand and 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.640 five as a test of that camaraderie. That's when Hurricane 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:48.919 Katrina made landfall and left nearly eighty percent of New 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:49.960 Orleans underwater. 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.360 Katrina slams into the Gulf willed us up to one 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:57.240 hundred and twenty miles reptiles that could kill you, stop 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.679 go literally ripped. 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:01.239 Off the side repper part of the roof. 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:04.959 Covering the Superdome where some ten thousand people at saw Gass. 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:06.880 Station, which is basically where we've sought safety. 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:08.760 It is slowly being ripped apart. 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:12.920 Before our The city lost more than eight hundred and 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:18.440 fifty thousand homes, three hundred thousand vehicles, and eighteen hundred lives, 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.760 making Katrina one of the deadliest hurricanes to hit the US. 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.000 It truly did devastate the city of New Orleans to 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:26.880 a large extent. 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:32.440 At the time, over half of its population relocated to 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:33.200 other cities. 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:34.920 After Katrina. 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.400 There were simply problems for everyone in the city in 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:42.120 terms of getting back into their homes. What was left 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:45.080 of the neighborhoods, So you might be living in a 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.520 home and you might be the only person on your block, 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:49.400 and that's scary. 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.240 It was scary, especially when things went wrong. 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.680 It really made law enforcements job a lot more difficult. 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.920 It wasn't like patrolling the street normally and knowing that 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.680 there were people also looking out for each other. You know, 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:05.520 it's pitch black and some of these neighborhoods where power 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:07.480 hasn't been turned on to some of the homes, if 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:09.200 the people haven't returned. 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:13.160 Like all city services in New Orleans after Katrina, the 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.080 police department struggled to keep up. 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:17.920 In certain neighborhoods. 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:20.600 You didn't know how long it would take and whether 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:22.760 it was even worth it to get the police involved. 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:25.560 And that's when violent crime soared. 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:29.680 Hurricane Katrina chased away more than two hundred thousand people 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.839 in New Orleans, but criminals are coming back. Police department 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.679 figures show the number of murders has gone up every 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:42.479 month since the storm. 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:46.159 So now here is our story. In April of two 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.279 thousand and six, thirty eight year old Ernest Smith was 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:51.600 a preacher who had just moved back. 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:53.000 To his home in New Orleans. 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.680 Let's talk about Ernest's life before that move. 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.920 Ernest was always when never usaw he could walk into 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:02.400 a room and the first thing he has on his 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:03.240 face as a smile. 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:08.599 Caroline Jackson and her husband Apostle Jackson were ministers who 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:09.600 mentored Ernest. 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:16.280 Ernest was special. He was the real deal. Ministry was 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:20.680 his heartbeat. Ministry was what he was about. 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.920 It ain't loved to preach. I think he would woke 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:26.719 up with a value of a microphone, be born one. 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.280 He was truly a man of God. 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.520 Life was a tough climb for Ernest, who lost both 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:36.240 of his parents at a very young age. Although he 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:40.320 was later adopted, he was always plagued by that desire 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.880 to fit in and belong to us. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:44.880 He was a son, and I think he felt like 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:46.200 we went on in parents he had. 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:51.440 The church became that place where Ernest felt like he belonged. 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:55.040 But the downside of being a preacher was it didn't 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:59.640 pay his bills, so Ernest supplemented his income by working 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.440 as a truck driver. The money was good, but he 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.880 was often on the road and away from his wife 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:09.520 and daughter. To no one's surprise, his marriage ended up 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:13.560 in a divorce. And not long after that, a single 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:16.680 mom named Emma walked into his life. 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:21.360 She met him by going to his ministry when he 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:25.680 was preaching that song, Well, a man loves a woman, 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.000 That's what's Ernest's song. He really loved it, this walkman. 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:33.800 Emma and Ernest married in nineteen ninety five. 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:40.240 Emma was a perfect pastor's wife. She did everything to 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:44.279 help the church. She did whatever was necessary to make 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:46.960 sure his ministry was functioned and running. 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:51.520 Emma was also busy outside of church. She prepared taxes, 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:54.960 dabbled in real estate. She even sold beauty supplies. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:58.599 She so whigs and all of the other things that 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:00.800 make you look girly. Yes, she would say she was 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:01.880 a jack of all trades. 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.599 More than that, Emma was a go getter. 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.000 She grew up poor and always dreamed of living the 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:09.120 glamorous life. 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:12.240 She wanted to have nice things, so she went after 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:13.160 the business world. 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:15.520 She was busy and it paid off. 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:19.280 Every year or so, Ernest and Emma would upgrade homes 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:21.800 and move into a place that was a little bigger 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.880 and nicer. But when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.120 two thousand and five, it forced Ernest and Emma to 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.800 temporarily relocate to Arlington, Texas. 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:37.160 Emma came back to New Orleans. She came back because 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.600 she needed to get back to her business, so Ernest stayed. 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:42.360 After she moved back here, they didn't come back together. 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:44.480 Ernest liked Arlington. 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:47.920 He wanted to stay because he had plans to build 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:48.720 a church there. 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.040 She wanted him to come back, but he was saying 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:53.200 that he didn't want to come back. 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.240 The battle over where to live put a strain on 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:57.040 their marriage. 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:00.480 Call us up, anyone to talk to us about the marriage. 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.160 I think that's when we found out that someone was 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:04.160 really going on. 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.240 Apostle wondered whether there was more to the story, but 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.000 he did what any preacher would do. 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:14.800 I convinced him that he needed to get his marriage 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:15.640 another chance. 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.160 Ernest took that advice and he took Emma on a 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:23.160 cruise to help rekindle their relationship and put their marriage 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:26.600 back on track. And he started looking for a full 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.280 time pastor job so he could spend more time at home. 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:34.600 Then Kime a miracle and opening at a mega church 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:35.360 in Atlanta. 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:38.280 Ernest interviewed and landed the job. 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.640 Him and her was going to move to Atlanta. She 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:43.640 was going to be first lady and he was gonna 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:44.199 be pastor. 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.400 On the evening of April twelfth, two thousand and six, 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:51.280 Ernest called Apostle with the good news. 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:56.119 He was already excited, like he had found a treasure. 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.480 It was a much needed step forward for Ernest and 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:03.240 Emma's marriage and a huge boost for his career. 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.440 This would have been the first time in his ministry 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.800 that he'd have had a ready made family ready for him. 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.320 I mean, if you ever wanted a pastor, he would 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.000 have been the one. He was just that gifted. 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:22.440 So they have that conversation on April twelfth, and that night, 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.680 Ernest and Emma took a break from packing up for 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:30.360 their big move. Emma wasn't feeling well, so Ernest planned 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:32.480 to go out for a ride on his motorcycle. 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.600 I said, I'll be careful out there, said I hung up. 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:42.839 Then five hours later we get the news that he's dead. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.680 We will sleep and we have a good phone call 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:53.480 from Emma and she tells me. She says, Ernest is gone. 0:09:53.920 --> 0:10:00.920 It's gone where And she said he's dead. That told 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:02.120 my heart up. 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.880 Emma was a mess. In between crying, she explained that 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.600 Ernest took his motorcycle for a ride and returned around 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.880 eleven pm. That's when someone ambushed him. 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.080 She said, Well, I heard three bang bang bangs, she said, 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:18.600 but I thought it was a car bag fire. 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.800 Emma said she was in bed with a bad toothache 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.760 and had taken some pain medication to help her sleep. 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:28.840 She woke up to the sound of her husband's cries 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:30.080 from downstairs. 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:33.440 He woke her up out of her sleep. He said, Babe, 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:35.120 that I've been shot. 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:39.240 When Emma came downstairs, she found Ernest collapsed on the 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:42.760 front steps of their home. His red shirt was completely 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:43.560 covered in blood. 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:45.440 So she tells us, She says, well, somebody was trying 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.760 to rob Ernest still his motorcycle. Somebody was trying to 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.080 take his bike from him. She called the police, called 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:52.640 the amber. She said, well, y'all know we living in 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:54.959 the noise. You know how long they take to get here. 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.720 So by the time they got here, he was already gone. 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:01.920 Ernest Smith, the gifted preacher, who was just days away 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:05.520 from being installed at a church in Atlanta, was now 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:09.160 a casualty of the post Katrina crime wave in New Orleans. 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:14.080 At the time of Ernest Smith's death. The city was 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:17.080 still very much suffering after Hurricane Katrina. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:21.200 Laura Roderig worked with the New Orleans District Attorney's office. 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:25.000 The place where they were living was largely abandoned. In fact, 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:28.839 they were the only people living in that apartment complex. 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:32.280 It was almost a scary place to live because you 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:35.480 had nobody around you. There weren't lights on anywhere. 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:38.760 Ernest was shot twice in the chest with a nine 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:39.800 millimeter weapon. 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:42.800 There were no witnesses and no known motive. 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:47.439 His motorcycle was right there on the scene next to him. 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.840 The keys to the motorcycle were found in the grass 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:56.000 right nearby. Absent any eyewitness and given the circumstances and 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.200 the resources in the city, it simply just became a 0:11:59.240 --> 0:11:59.920 cold case. 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:04.520 It seemed like a senseless crime that would go unsolved. 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:10.280 Then five years later, another murder in a neighboring state. 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:12.040 Brought this case. 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:23.199 Back to life. 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.200 In two thousand and six, Ernest Smith was about to 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:29.720 begin his dream job as a pastor of an Atlanta church, 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:33.000 but a few days before he and his wife, Emma 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.720 moved there, he was gunned down in front of his 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:40.640 New Orleans home. His mentor Apostle Jackson performed his eulogy. 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:45.440 The funeral was wall the wall peoples. He was standing up. 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:49.480 At the request of his devastated widow. Apostle did something 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:52.840 at the funeral he had never done before. He used 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:55.520 his eulogy to urge anyone who knew what happened to 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:57.440 Ernest to come forward. 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:00.440 I was trying to convince them that somebody need to 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:04.160 go to the police and try to find out what happened. 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:08.520 It was heartbreaking for everyone, including Emma, who struggled to 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.679 afford the proper funeral she felt her husband deserved. 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:15.600 She was grieving. She had to borrow the money from 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:18.480 me to bury him, and when she got the insurance money, 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:19.800 she did get me my money back. 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.680 Even with Apostles plea at Ernest's funeral, no new leads 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:30.760 came in and his murder remained unsolved. A year later, 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:35.720 Emma started over. She moved to the tiny city of Poplarville, Mississippi, 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:39.520 which is about an hour north of New Orleans, and 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.679 built a home in the rural countryside. 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.400 That's one of the most beautiful houses I ever seen 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:49.920 in my life. I was a TV in every room. 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:55.720 I'm talking a big screen TV. In the bathroom. It 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:56.719 was just beautiful. 0:13:57.360 --> 0:13:59.800 It is a lot less expensive to live in poplar 0:13:59.880 --> 0:14:02.600 Ville than it is to live in New Orleans. But 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:06.120 when Apostle and Carolyn visited Emma in her new home, 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:08.120 they were in awe. 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:09.720 The house had. 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:13.600 A swimming pool, a pond, and a boat, even a 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:17.480 state of the art security system. It was the perfect 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:21.160 home on a street called Emma Lane. But even with 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.880 the new house, they could still sense a lot of 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:27.760 pain with Emma. Grief can do many things to a person. 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:32.320 An Apostle's wife, Carolyn, was concerned with how thin Emma looked. 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:35.920 This is our first time seeing her at the been 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:38.800 a while, and we look at us a wow. You know, 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:40.840 she had lost a lot, a lot away. 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:45.000 There was also something else different about her. Emma Smith 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:49.640 proudly announced she was now Emma Rain. A few months earlier, 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:53.520 she had quietly married James Rain, a former military buddy 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:58.000 of her late husband. Much like Ernest, James Rain was adopted, 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:01.480 drove a truck, and was a few years younger than Emma. 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.720 James said he looked up to Ernest almost like a 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:08.760 big brother, and with Ernest gone, James seemed like the 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:10.600 perfect person for Emma. 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:13.520 She and I had an opportunity to just sit out 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:15.360 on the front porch, and I told her, I said, well, 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:18.600 this is it. This is what Ernest always dreamed of. 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:21.520 This is what he wanted. They had a boat, the house, 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.560 and the big pond. You had the big elaborates house 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.760 on the inside, you know, so you got everything. She said, Yeah, 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:31.360 she's telling me how she missed him. You know, she 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:33.160 wished that he was there to enjoy all of that. 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:34.720 I said, I wish he was here too. 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.760 Emma finally had the life she'd always hope to have 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.880 with Ernest, but it would only last a short time. 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:45.440 Five years later, in twenty eleven, Carolyn an Apostle turned 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.479 on the nightly news and were left speechless. 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:50.520 James had got killed. 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.160 I'm a call, she said. She was out of town 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:56.640 on the business trip, and then that's when they found 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:01.280 him deceased. I'm like, oh my god, you know, another one. 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:05.400 It's too much. It was just too much to deal with. 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:10.840 It was unbelievable. One week before James Rain's thirty eighth birthday, 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:14.280 someone broke in and shot him while he was in bed. 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:17.640 So this is like whoa, this is like way too 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:21.000 much and it's way crazy that all these husbands are dying. 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:24.560 How could someone lose their husband not just once, but 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.800 twice in such a cruel manner. 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:32.160 That's crazy, That's crazy. Laurad El Mercy. 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.800 Laura Rodriig worked for the New Orleans District Attorney's office. 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.920 The police come out and essentially start trying to piece 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:43.880 together what happened. They learned Demo was away on a 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.000 business trip in Arkansas and the last she heard from 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:51.400 her husband, James, was sometime around midnight. By eleven AM, 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:52.480 she was worried. 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:58.040 Emma Rain calls James's mother and says, I can't get 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.000 a hold of James. Can you go check on him? 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:05.200 So James's mother goes to the home. She goes upstairs, 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.520 finds him shot in the head and in the neck 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:08.320 in the bed. 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:09.600 She calls the police. 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:13.359 There was nothing missing from the house. It appeared to 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:15.640 be a targeted shooting, but. 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.800 Why it was a vacant area, There were no eyewitnesses 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:21.080 to the murder. 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:23.119 There wasn't a motive that was clear. 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:27.679 The police department in the quaint town of Poplarville Canvas 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:29.160 the neighborhood to find a lead. 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:34.480 Poplarville is sort of a small town where everybody kind 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.320 of knows everybody through a relative, a cousin, a friend, 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:42.520 somebody you work with. They were getting a lot of statements, 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.800 trying to navigate and piece together what could have happened here. 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.119 If there's one thing about small towns, it's that people 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:54.760 usually know everyone else's business, and the people of Pomplarville 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:56.600 knew some dirt about James Rain. 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.160 The detectives learned that there had been issues of infidelity 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.480 with James Rain. The two of them had engaged in 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:09.040 a physical relationship for some time before Ernest Smith had 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:09.560 been killed. 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:14.080 Keep in mind, they were military buddies and they stayed friends. 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.160 The police learned James used to socialize with Ernest and Emma. 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:22.360 James Rain and him had become friends during the military, 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:24.040 and that's how they knew each other. 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:26.360 In fact, James almost. 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:29.880 Looked up to Ernest Smith like a mentor, somebody who 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.440 he respected and would go to for advice. 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:35.880 But that friendship ended when Ernest learned what they were 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:37.040 doing behind his back. 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:41.239 He had confronted James Rain in the past and was 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:44.080 just determined to really fight for his marriage and to 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:44.840 make it work. 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:47.680 Ernest had been trying for a pastor job in Atlanta, 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:50.520 and he knew no church would hire him if his 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:54.280 marriage was on the rocks. So up until his death, 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:56.399 he was trying to fix things with Emma. 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.320 He was fiercely loyal to Emma Rain. He just did 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:02.920 not want to give up on their marriage. In fact, 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:06.120 he had just gotten her a dozen roses right before 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:06.920 the murder. 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:12.720 So let's break this down. Emma was fooling around with 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:15.960 James while she was married to Ernest. Ernest knew about 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:20.800 the affair and confronted James. Then Ernest mysteriously got killed. 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:25.359 A year later, Emma marries James, and then five years later, 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.119 James was also mysteriously killed. 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:32.480 It was certainly a strange set of facts. 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:35.480 And while detectives tried to make sense of what was happening, 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:39.680 the estates that James and Emma had built in Poplarville, Mississippi, 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:44.359 burned to the ground. Luckily no one was injured, but 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:48.960 investigators rule that that fire was arson what was going on, 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:54.720 So that again is very suspicious, very strange. This is 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:59.760 a whole different ballgame. With two dead husbands and one 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:04.280 down house, Emma Rain's life hit rock bottom in search 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:08.160 of another clean start. She left Poplar Villain headed to Missouri, 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:23.240 where her luck was about to change. By twenty twelve, 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.320 Emma Rain had buried two husbands and even lost her 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.280 home to a fire. Police couldn't make sense of it. 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:34.840 Across the two homicides, there were no suspects, no arrests, 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:38.360 not even so much as a lead prosecutor, Laura rod 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:39.480 Reg investigated. 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:44.879 This case was one that immediately drew my attention because 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.159 it was not a typical murder case. There were no 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:52.760 eyewitnesses to either murder. Nothing was adding up. There wasn't 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:55.600 a motive that was clear, other than the fact that 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:59.720 we knew this woman's last two husbands were also found 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:03.119 dead in sort of mysterious circumstances. 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:07.520 The first case had gone cold, and investigators did not 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:10.800 want James Rain's murder to reach a similar fate. 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:13.200 If they aren't. 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.040 Able to develop a suspect or get a lead within 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:19.200 the first couple of weeks, it's almost never going to 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:21.119 be easy to find one quickly after that. 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:25.800 But shortly after James Rain's murder, things would take a turn. 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:30.480 Late one night, James's brother received a mysterious phone call, 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:34.240 a woman's voice he did not recognize told him to 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:39.120 walk outside and check his mailbox. As cryptic as that sounded, 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:43.919 he wanted answers. James's brother went to the mailbox and 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:48.480 found a thick envelope filled with documents. These documents contain 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:53.240 information about a lawsuit Ernest Smith's life insurance company had 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:57.520 filed to prevent Emma from obtaining the insurance proceeds from 0:21:57.600 --> 0:21:58.600 Ernest's policy. 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:02.240 She had the insurance policy on Ernest Smith, and it 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:06.400 started at one hundred thousand, the money increasing from year 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:08.879 to year from one hundred to two point fifty all 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:11.600