WEBVTT - #494 Maggie Freleng with Annette Cahill 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:01.880 Hey, and Nett, it's Maggie. 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:04.240 Hi. It's nice to meet you. 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:06.120 Nice to meet you too. Can you hear me? 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:07.960 All right? I can? 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:08.799 Awesome. 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:11.520 It's a little lad on this end, and I apologize. 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:16.160 It's an open bay phone system, so it's going to 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.040 be noisy at times. It's the lun shower here. 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.960 Annette Cahill is the first person I have spoken with 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:31.720 who lived their entire life before being arrested, charged, and 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:34.840 convicted for a crime they say they did not commit. 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:39.560 I'm sorry, I'm just kind of cheerful. Hey, cry real eazy. 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:45.559 She's sixty one, has a husband, children, great grandchildren, and 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:50.280 five years ago that all got taken away. Tell me 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:52.639 about being in your sixties in prison. I mean, it's 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:54.960 not like you grew up there, you just stopped. 0:00:55.800 --> 0:01:03.720 So it is every day is culture fact, It really 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:09.720 truly is. There's nothing about prisons where I think I'm 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:13.280 going to get used to this someday. This is a nightmare. 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.319 And I know you've been painted a certain way in 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.400 the media, so I want to give you the opportunity 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:22.920 to talk about who you really are. 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:31.440 Okay, okay, yeah, that would be refreshing. My name is 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.679 Annett K. Hill and I have been wrongfully incarcerated for 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:41.280 almost exactly five years. It happened on September nineteenth, twenty nineteen. 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:47.440 This is wrongful conviction with Maggie Freeling today A net 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:54.800 K Hill. A net K Hill was born December twelfth, 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:56.040 nineteen sixty two. 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:59.960 I grew up in a little tiny town of let's 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:08.320 than four hundred people, Nichols, Iowa. And it was, oh gosh, 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:14.000 so dunk, itty bitty, And you know, it was the cliche. 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:17.280 We grew up so poor. We didn't know we were poor. 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.760 Money was tight raising seven kids. 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:26.800 It goes myself, Laurie, Renee, Denny, Charlie, Mike, and Tom. 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:32.360 And Renee and Denny were four years apart, but the 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.440 rest of us are all just two years apart. Wow, Yeah, 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:37.280 we're Catholic. 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:42.000 Did you guys grow up going to church? 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:47.520 We did until I think I was six when we 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:50.800 stopped going. I don't know if it was actually true 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:52.800 or not, but it was kind of family lare that 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.200 it had something to do with the dispute with the 0:02:56.280 --> 0:03:02.840 church about paying for a pew, a church fundraiser paying 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:06.680 for a few That's what we always heard, so we 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.560 quit going to church. Mom said I could, so I did. 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:13.480 A Net's mom stayed home raising the kids, and Annette's 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.040 dad spent most of his time working. 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:19.639 And it was a feed company, and then he farmed 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:20.640 on the side. 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:23.800 Annette rarely got to spend time with her dad, but 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:25.320 when she did, it. 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:28.840 Was always on Sundays. We would take a ride in 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:33.640 the truck and we would pick bluebells. And his mom 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.640 loved bluebell so we would pick her bouquets of bluebells 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.240 and take them to her, and that was just a 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:41.920 fun time. I think it was just to get out 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.720 of mom's hair that he would pick us rolls out. 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:48.800 It didn't cost a thing, it was just to spend time. 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.560 But Annette says her dad's main priority was to keep 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:53.720 food on the table. 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.160 He was just always working. And then he had a 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:01.480 stroke and my mom went to work then at a 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:05.000 company in West Liberty, West Liberty Oil. 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:08.520 And that says it was tough providing even just the 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:12.400 basics for seven kids on one parent income, So she 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:15.360 and her siblings would work in the fields sorting out 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:16.960 good corn from bad. 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.720 Corn what we used to call the roguan cut corn 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:25.279 out of beans in the summer and be castled and 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:31.080 not a steady job, but always doing something, always earning 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:31.919 money on the side. 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:34.839 And that was the youngest of the seven, so she 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:38.080 says she had it easier than her older siblings. 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:41.239 Being the youngest, it was almost like Mom got tired 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.040 and just let me do whatever I wanted. 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.280 And what she wanted was to be out causing mischief 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:48.320 with all the other kids. 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:52.320 We ran the town of Nickels, it was, and there 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:56.279 was nothing to do. There really wasn't. We didn't We 0:04:56.360 --> 0:05:00.880 didn't do anything horrible. We just did good things. We 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.960 stayed out late. We you know, we got on top 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.440 of the buildings downtown. We would climb the back of 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:12.880 buildings and watch traffic go by. Stupid things like that. 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.359 But in a small town after a while, Annette says, 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:18.640 there's not much to do to help you stay out 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:19.159 of trouble. 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:24.160 We drank very early. We found, you know, found people 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:28.719 that would buy us beer, being young girls, and we 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:34.400 drank early, and we smoked. And I think the very 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:38.840 first time I got drunk, I seriously drunk. I was thirteen. 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:41.000 I could go to my brother Denny's house, and I 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:46.440 could drink anytime I wanted. Yeah, it was it became 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:47.800 a habit real quick after that. 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.080 When Annette was fifteen, she dropped out of school. 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:54.680 My mom did not make me go to school. I 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.680 was bored in school and I wanted to be out 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:00.440 having fun. 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.600 Anette got her ged at community college and continued her 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:08.200 party lifestyle. She started working in restaurants and bars. 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:10.200 You know, it was just an easy way for an 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.080 alcoholics to get free drinks. 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.600 Then at eighteen, she met a. 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:20.719 Boy and I got pregnant. So we got married and 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:22.000 we had two children. 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:31.640 My name is Leanne macrab and I am Anette Cahill's daughter. 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.520 Leanne is a Net's oldest daughter. She was born in 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:39.520 nineteen eighty two, and she remembers Anette struggling those early 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:40.800 years of parenthood. 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:44.360 Sometimes she'd work one job, sometimes she'd work two jobs. 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:49.240 Sometimes she couldn't get a job. There were times when 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:51.240 I'd have to get my brother up and get him 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:55.200 dressed and take him across town, which wasn't really very far, 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:58.320 but take him across town to my grandparents' house so 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:00.760 that we could eat breakfast. Because it never food in 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:06.520 the house. We wouldn't have electricity, things like that, you know, 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:12.800 we never were We never had any extra money to 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:13.440 do anything. 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:16.720 So, like her dad had done for her and her siblings, 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:19.520 Andette figured out how to have fun with her kids 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:20.960 without spending money. 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.239 We would still have you know, games in the dark, 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:31.000 or we would you know. We lived in Iowa, where 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:34.160 cans popcns were worth five cents. We would go looking 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.560 for cans and then we would go find the silliest 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:40.120 dinners for five cents per can, so we would buy 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:44.360 the silliest dinners from the gas station. She never let 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:48.000 us know how much we were struggling. 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:50.280 But they were. And Nette was a teen mom trying 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.040 to keep her life and her children's afloat. 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.200 I wasn't a bad mom. I just wasn't the best 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.760 mom I could be. Looking back, I was young and dumb, 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.800 and I could have been a much better mom. 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.880 Annett's marriage was also rocky. At twenty six, she got 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:10.040 divorced and her drinking and partying took over. 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:19.400 As we were divorcing, then I hit the bars and 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:20.680 that's when I met Corey. 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:22.640 Corey Winnicky. 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:28.480 He was funny, he was sweet, he was kind. He 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:30.840 was a sweetheart. He really was. 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.520 Corey had been the star football player in high school. Handsome, 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:39.080 charming and popular. 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:42.840 I'm trying to remember if the first time I met him. 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:46.360 I think I got called to the bar. I was 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:50.480 seeing someone and the person that I was seeing like 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:53.199 passed out at the bar, so I had to go 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.520 get him. And I think Corey was in there at 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:59.320 that time, so that I'm pretty sure that was the 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:00.760 very first time I met him. 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:05.240 The bar was called Winks, and Corey worked there. In fact, 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:09.040 his family owned it. Winks was a nickname for Winnicky, 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:11.920 and it was one of the two bars in the 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:13.720 tiny town of West Liberty. 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.640 Everybody hung out at Winks, Winks and Shenanigans. 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.040 Annette wound up working at Winks with Corey. 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:21.280 We just became really good friends and. 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.080 They spent all their time together. 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:24.640 I loved him so much. 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:26.840 Leanne remembers Corey. 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:30.240 We'd go to his bar, we'd playpool, He'd give us 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:32.960 bags of chips. We'd fall asleep in the in the 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:38.280 booths while mom was working. I mean, it was the eighties, 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:43.199 early nineties. It wasn't unheard of. It wasn't taboo back 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.520 then to have your kids in a bar. We'd hang out, playpool. 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.160 Everyone knew who we were, and we knew that Corey 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:51.000 was her best friend. 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:54.760 But Annette and Corey's relationship was more than platonic. 0:09:55.200 --> 0:10:01.560 It was a sexual relationship with the friendship could. We 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.079 would be at the bar tall closing, We'd make sure 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.280 everybody was gone, and we would either stay at the 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.320 bar or we would spend a lot of afternoons together. 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:13.240 You know, we'd find another person to bartend and we'd 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:17.320 both take off right. You know, we just spent every 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:18.400 minute we did together. 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:20.439 But it was complicated. 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:22.520 He had a fiance, a fiance. 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:27.080 Corey was engaged to his high school sweetheart, Jody Hats. 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.120 But it wasn't just Jody he was. 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:33.839 With, you know. It was a standing joke that he 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:37.240 had relationships with everybody in Mescatine County. 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:44.000 Did his fiance know? Yes. Eventually, a friend of Jody's 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.600 would tell the press that she knew of Corey's affairs, 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.959 and back in nineteen ninety two, Annette knew as well 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:52.760 about his affairs and his fiance. 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:58.320 Yeah, it was I knew it, and I really didn't care. 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:00.760 Well, it sounds like he didn't care either. 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:03.760 He didn't care at all. I did care, I just 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:09.800 didn't care enough. It was I just didn't care enough. 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:12.600 It was very hurtful and I know that now. 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:16.680 But you know, it's interesting just thinking about this small 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:22.760 town and it sounds like everyone was hooking up with everyone. 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:26.640 Yeah, it was. It really truly was it was. We 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:27.880 ust call it Peyton Place. 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:29.360 What's that? 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.960 I don't know. If you don't remember Peyton Place, I'm sorry. 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:36.360 You'll have to look that one up on the YouTube. 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.120 Okay, A nineteen sixty four drama, got it. 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.120 It was a soap operas, That's basically what it was. 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.000 And Nett says everyone was partying and hooking up with 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.400 each other. She was also seeing other people. 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.960 It wasn't exclusive in any way, shape or form. It 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:53.240 was never going to be. 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.040 And and Nette says she had bigger worries at the 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.720 time as her alcohol and drug use started to get 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.280 out of control. Here's Leanne again. 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.600 I saw the drinking. I saw her being passed out 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:06.640 on the couch. I knew what it was from. I 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:08.280 knew that there was drugs involved. 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:13.080 I did cocaine, that was that was my drug of choice. 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.400 So there were times when she could not be a 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.240 mom and I was aware of that. 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:24.120 Do you remember when your dad took custody of you guys. 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:29.520 Yes, I was ten, my brother was eight. I remember 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:35.840 it was it was really rough. We didn't want it 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:44.320 to happen, and I remember my mom telling us it 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:49.400 was temporary and she didn't want it to happen either. 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:57.199 It was a very emotional time. 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.440 Still, Linn says she's glad her mom made the decision 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:03.880 to have someone else care for them for a while. 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:07.920 Because it probably saved us from having to go into 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:15.600 state's care. Because I do remember times where the state 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:16.440 did show up. 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:21.080 Lean says one time Child Protective Services came knocking. 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:25.320 And we had to hide, and she kept us very quiet, 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:28.200 and she kept us hidden so that we couldn't answer 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:33.079 the door. We couldn't make any noise, and I remember 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.199 that and that's something that I won't ever forget. 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:39.199 So instead of foster care, Leanne and her brother went 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.560 to live with their father in Colorado. But that wasn't 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:43.240 easy either. 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:49.480 My dad was probably a worse parent, and I held 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:53.280 my mom. I was angrier at my mom for that, 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:58.559 for putting me in that worse situation, and I went 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.360 through a lot of therapy and I realized it was 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:02.679 not my mom's fault that she could not be a parent. 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:11.640 At that time, Annette's life was spiraling. On October twelfth, 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:15.120 nineteen ninety two, Annette and Corey were enjoying their usual 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:16.720 night of partying at the bar. 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:20.040 So I got stupid, I got drunk, stupid. 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.640 A heated argument ensued between Annette and Corey about another 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:26.840 girl Corey had wanted to take home, but Annette says 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.800 they eventually made up and he drove her home. At 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:31.880 the time, she was living with her brother and his 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:33.160 wife in a farmhouse. 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:37.360 We went back to the farm and we had sex. 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:42.840 He left, I passed out and that was the last 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:43.520 time I saw him. 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.040 The next evening, a Nette remembers being at home when 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.200 two of her coworkers came to the door. 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:54.000 They said, you need to come to the bar. Grandma 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:57.720 made you to ten bar. Corey is sick and I said, yeah, 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.000 well right, I said, he's got the brown bottles. 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:02.800 Annette says she thought she had to cover for Corey 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.560 because he had a hangover, but when she got to 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:07.080 work she found out the truth. 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:12.040 A coworker told her he said he's dead in that 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:14.520 and I just lost it. 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.520 Anette's best friend, her love, twenty two year old Corey 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:25.400 Winnekey was dead. Annette couldn't believe it. She had just 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.880 been with Corey the night before. That morning, she had 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.720 even gone to Corey's house to apologize for the argument 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.480 they'd gotten in the night before. She says, she was 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:36.480 on her way to run Errand's in Iowa City with 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.480 her sister in law, Jackie, and they swung by his house, 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.520 but Corey didn't answer, so they went about their day. 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:46.440 At first, Annette says, everyone in town thought Corey had 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:47.000 been shot. 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.920 We thought someone broke in and shotted until it was 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:53.440 on the news. I don't know a day or two 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:58.280 later that he had been bludgend He. 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:01.880 Is found dead on the floor of his bedroom by 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:06.720 his living girlfriend fiancee, Jodi, and he has been beaten 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:07.160 to death. 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.160 This is Erica Nichols Cook. She's the director of the 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.640 Wrongful Conviction Unit at the Iowa State Public Defender's Office. 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:22.440 There's no apparent weapon or breaking or known motive. He's 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:26.640 in his underwear next to his bed, So the state 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:27.720 has a. 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:28.920 Theory that. 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:33.920 Someone that he knew came into the house, was mad 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:36.720 at him and beat him to death. 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:40.440 When you found out he was bludgeoned, what did you think. 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:52.120 I thought angry husband or boyfriend? H that was my 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:53.000 very first thought. 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.120 At least one of the women Corey was seeing had 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:59.080 a husband. One woman even had his baby. 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.560 He had a really ship with another woman in town, Wendy, 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.080 and they had a child together, but a child that 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:07.080 he didn't acknowledge. 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:09.760 There were also drug related rumors. 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:14.960 There was speculation about drug dealing, whether he owed a 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:19.680 drug debt, and they did like parlays and gambling at 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.560 the bar, and whether gambling could have been a motive 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:26.960 for someone to want to kill Corey. 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:29.800 Being one of the lovers, and Nett was also questioned 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:30.760 about the murder. 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:32.480 I was obviously suspect. 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:37.119 Annette and her sister in law Jackie, voluntarily went to 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:42.040 the police department because the earlier in that day before 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.119 his body is found, they had stopped at his house. 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:48.159 She and Corey had had a fight the night before 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:52.959 before having makeup sex and she just wanted to, you know, 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.160 touch base with them, see him. He didn't answer the door. 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:59.360 They had to leave for a doctor's appointment, but they 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:01.719 had been there and they wanted to help solve it. 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:07.960 So Annette took a lie detective test told she passed. 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:15.760 They didn't have any other suspects that really they could 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:21.160 place at Corey's house that day, and the investigation kind 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:22.080 of just goes cold. 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:28.240 Leanne remembers trying to have a relationship with her mom 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:30.280 long distance after Corey's death. 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:37.520 I wasn't there to see the aftermath or the devastation 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.840 or the big depression that happened after. I was only 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:47.560 there to over the phone to hear it. I remember 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.760 the tears, the constant tears, and I remember the lack 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:55.119 of the phone calls. I remember the phone calls just 0:18:55.160 --> 0:19:01.040 being just weeping when we did talk to her, which 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:05.080 was heartbreaking because you know, I was ten years old, 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:08.560 eleven years old. It was real hard to hear my 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:09.320 mom like that. 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:11.960 Once again. Annett was a. 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:16.960 Mess, just stupid, drunk. I was drinking, I was doing drugs. 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:19.960 But then she met Bill Cahill. 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.240 I met him in a bar well and I didn't 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.120 meet him at a bar. I saw him in a bar. 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.200 Bill was a friend of her brother Denny's, so she'd 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:28.919 see him around. 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:34.040 Never thought another thing about him until you know, we 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:40.399 talked and caught up a little bit. He's just a 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:47.240 good guy. He's he's just smart, and he's funny, and 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.280 he's more loyal than the day is long. 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:55.440 And Annette says he was good for her. 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:59.480 Our days weren't based on alcohol. We started going out 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:06.000 and the rest is history. We married in December of 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:10.840 ninety three and we've we're still married. There's the thing 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:15.120 about Bill. In thirty two years of knowing each other, 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:16.200 we've never had a fight. 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:19.960 Well, they do argue over classic rock. 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:24.120 He loves Phoebe ray Vaughn. I'm not a big fan. 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:31.920 So it's little tiny things like that. That's basically our disagreements. 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:35.800 We absolutely agreed how to raise the kids. 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:39.160 Three kids, and Nett got her life straight, and Bill 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:41.880 took in Leanne and her brother as his own. They 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:43.280 even had another child. 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:46.479 My mom did a total one eighty totally grew up 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:51.160 as a parent, grew up as an adult. My brother 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:59.160 got museums as field trips. He got nutritional meals and 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:07.440 museums and the zoo and brand new school clothes and 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:13.480 never went without a meal. So by the time my 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:23.040 children came along, my children got the best grandma my grandkids. 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:29.200 Okay, so my youngest grandson was born in twenty fourteen 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:34.600 and my oldest granddaughter was born in two thousand. 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:38.119 Like Annette, Leanne had her first kid young at seventeen. 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:44.440 My kids get this grandma who wanted to bake with them, 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:47.520 and wanted to cook with them, and wanted to teach 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:52.639 them all her recipes and wanted to fill up the 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:55.680 pool in the backyard and go splash around with them. 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:59.720 She created this thing called the Phenomenal Bags with them. 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:02.360 Whenever they were good, they'd get to a pick out 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:06.280 a dollar store prize out of these bags. So she 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:08.840 taught them the word phenomenal and what it meant, and 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:12.760 then she'd reward them for the silliest things. And like 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:18.480 it was just it was so neat to see that 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:21.880 that was the mom that I was so proud to have. 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:25.160 And I'm going to tear up while I'm saying this, 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:29.200 because because that was the mom that I was so 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:33.360 proud to see with my kids. That was the mom 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:35.600 that I wanted my kids to see that I had, 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:39.840 and they love her. 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:46.920 Finally, Annette Cahill was living her best life an adoring husband, grandkids, 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:50.879 baking and playtime. She also had a steady job. She 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:53.639 worked as a proofreader and in customer service at the 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:57.400 police Law institute, which does online training for law enforcement. 0:22:58.119 --> 0:23:02.560 It was a far cry from her previous life, but 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:05.480 she still thought about Corey. She'd even check in with 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:07.200 the police for updates. 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:11.480 Through the years. I called them all the time, all 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:15.640 the time, and as for updates, you know, please, what's 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:17.480 going on? Do you have anything new? 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:21.439 Did you think calling would make you look suspicious? Like 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:23.840 when you were calling, what were you thinking? 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:28.960 Just that, you know, God, maybe they have something new. 0:23:29.520 --> 0:23:33.239 And sometimes they did, every so often or every you know, 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:36.000 a few years, something would come up, or they would 0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:39.520 have an agent working on cold cases. They visited a 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:43.560 psychic at one point about several other cold cases in 0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:49.200 the region and tried to get information and leads. They 0:23:49.640 --> 0:23:52.919 had received some information that a group called the Clan, 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:57.920 who was selling drugs in that area at the time, 0:23:58.160 --> 0:24:02.439 were involved. You know, somebody's girlfriend would come forward and 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:06.600 say they bragged about breaking into this guy's house and 0:24:06.680 --> 0:24:08.399 you know, killing him with the baseball bat. 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:13.240 A baseball bat was the presumed murder weapon. Investigators searched 0:24:13.240 --> 0:24:16.000 the ditches on the rural road near Corey's house but 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:19.960 found nothing until a news reporter covering the story spotted 0:24:20.000 --> 0:24:23.960 a bloody aluminum bat on the road. Police were able 0:24:24.000 --> 0:24:26.600 to match the blood on the bat to Corey's blood type, 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:30.760 but that was it. Despite the leads, nothing panned out 0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:31.720 for decades. 0:24:32.480 --> 0:24:36.119 It was just in insane. At that point, I had 0:24:37.119 --> 0:24:42.080 pretty much convinced myself that I was going to die 0:24:42.160 --> 0:24:46.640