WEBVTT - Betrayal Weekly: EP 10 - Donielle, Part 2 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:03.440 The only way in and out was through a steel 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:06.080 trap door with a lock on the outside, in a 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:09.320 closet hidden under I think it was a dresser or something. 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.480 He walled it off with cement blocks and soundproofing. You 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:16.079 would only know it was there if you knew it 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:16.479 was there. 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.920 I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.919 the people we trust the most and the deceptions that 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:40.159 change everything. This is part two of Donnielle's story. If 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:42.400 you haven't heard part one, you should go back and 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.640 listen to that first. Donnielle Oliver Chauve woke up in 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.480 the middle of the night on February eighth, twenty seventeen, 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.360 to find her house swarmed with police and FBI agents. 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:57.240 Something's happening and I have no idea why there's state 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:00.520 police in my house with a gunpoint at me. So 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.520 I think at that point they were suspecting me. They 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:05.160 thought I was involved, but. 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:10.360 A suspect in what Danielle would soon find out. Chand Skipper, 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.440 her husband of nearly twenty years and the father of 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:17.520 their six children, hadn't come home that night. He said 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.000 he'd been renovating one of their rental properties. The police 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.720 were screaming questions at her about where Chad was, asking 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.760 if she had any hiding places in the house, and 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.759 most confusing of all, the police were asking about an 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:34.040 elderly couple who taught Sunday school at their church. 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:36.880 Why are you asking me questions about them? And where 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:37.640 is my husband? 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.039 The police wouldn't give her any information about what was 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.959 happening or why they were at her house, but it 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:47.960 was clear that whatever it was, it was urgent. The 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.800 police took her in and began a long interrogation. 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.240 I went into the interrogation room and they started asking 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:58.240 me questions. They asked me about this couple, and I 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:01.200 was thinking, that's a where question out of the blue. 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.440 Why would you ask me specifically about these people. Yeah, 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:06.440 we know them for sure, We've known them for a 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:07.000 long time. 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:11.760 They were also asking questions about the family's finances, questions 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.040 Donielle just didn't have the answers to. 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:19.680 I was shaking. I was just so confused, like why 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.239 are you asking me this? All I was worried about 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.320 was his safety, like if he was still alive. It 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:29.080 didn't even dawn on me that it could be what 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:29.480 it was. 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:33.480 After hours of interrogation, the police let Danielle go. She 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:35.760 went to a friend's house, where her kids were waiting 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.920 for her. She repeatedly tried to get in touch with 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.440 Chad without any reply. Then first thing the next morning, 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:45.919 her phone rang. It was Chad's father. 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.600 He asked me, do you know where Chad is? And 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:55.840 I said, no, do you? I said, I don't know anything. 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.200 If you know anything, just tell me what's going on, 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:00.440 because I need to know what's wrong with my husband 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.919 and where he is. And his dad just said there 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.960 was a rumor going around that this couple has been kidnapped, 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:15.200 and the rumor is also that Chad did it. My 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:20.520 brain was not registering. It was like, wait, what now, 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:24.120 that's impossible. This is Chad we're talking about? That rumor's 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:28.520 wrong And I was thinking, there's just no way that 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.840 it's actually my husband. I know my husband would never 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:34.600 do anything like this. That's not who he is. 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.120 Unbeknownst to anyone, that couple from their church had been 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.480 missing for three days. We're not saying their names because 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:50.200 Donielle wants to respect their privacy. Before this, they were friends, 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.520 and Donille believes that their story is their families to 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:57.280 tell just like her story is hers to tell, So 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:01.119 for this episode, she's going to call them his victims. 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.800 I had known them since I had met Chad. He 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.200 had known them since the time he was born because 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.480 they were part of his church. They were our Sunday 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.760 school teachers. We would often go over to their house 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.400 and sometimes it would have like a pool party. Sometimes 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:19.920 it would be a Bible study. So we knew them 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:21.599 really well. They were amazing people. 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:26.360 The day before police raided Danielle's house, a woman had 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.480 walked into a bank and asked for a cashier's check 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.920 for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars from her own 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.599 savings account. Before the teller cut the check, the woman 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.520 slipped her note she was being held for ransom. Her 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.039 captor was waiting down the block with her husband in 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:45.560 the trunk. If she didn't return to the car with 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.600 the check, her kidnapper said he would kill her husband. 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.159 She needed to walk out of that bank check in hand, 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:54.800 so they gave it to her and let her go, 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:57.080 and as soon as she walked out of the door, 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:00.280 the teller called the police. That call initiated had a 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:07.280 state wide search for the kidnapped couple and their captor. Immediately, 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.320 it became the top story on the local news. 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.800 It all started just before five pm on Wednesday, when 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:17.280 the Sheriff's office received a call from First Trust in 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:18.800 Savings Bank in Albany. 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:23.520 Investigators are working with the FBI, state Police at local agencies. 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.479 It's a case, they say, that will shock this community. 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:32.360 The morning after the raid, Danielle was still in the 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:36.080 dark about what was happening. She was reeling and desperately 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:39.240 trying to get in touch with her husband. She didn't 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.159 want to believe the wild theory that Chad could have 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.640 kidnapped this elderly couple. That was until she saw his 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:48.200 picture on the news. 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:53.839 My whole world got flipped upside down at that moment 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:57.040 when I saw his picture in the police update and 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:02.120 what he had done story. In Whiteside County. 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:05.840 Investigators say they've never seen anything quite like The. 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.760 Man accused of kidnapping a couple at gunpoint from Erie, 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:13.160 Illinois is facing four felony charges in connection to the kidnapping. 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:16.320 Chad Skipper handcuffed the couple to their bed and threatened 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:18.200 to shoot them with his gun if they didn't pay 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:21.200 him three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. At that point, 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:24.279 all I knew was that he abducted somebody. And that's 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.640 where I just broke down and started crying my eyes 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:34.640 out and fell to the floor and was just didn't 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:35.160 know what to do. 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:39.000 In that moment, she understood why the police woke her 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:40.400 up in the middle of the night. 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:43.800 When the police knocked down my door asking if I 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.920 had any hiding areas in the house. I'm sure they 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:51.120 were looking for the people that he abducted. They were 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:52.760 wanting to know if there was a place in that 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:57.400 house where they could be hidden. As far as they know, 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:04.080 I'm know where the kidnap victims are because I'm his wife. 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.760 I mean, most people would assume that the wife would know, 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:10.120 but I had no clue. 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:14.200 Over the following days and weeks, Danielle discovered the full 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:19.400 extent of her husband's horrifying crimes. This is what she learned. 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.080 A couple days before the police knocked down my door. 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:28.200 He must have gone to their home. I think that's 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.160 what the sledgehammer was for. To break into their home. 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:34.200 He had my daughter duct tape it with black duct 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.040 tape so that the yellow handle wouldn't be seen in 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.280 the dark. I heard that he had a voice changer 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.360 and that he was all dressed in black. And I 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.160 also heard that he broke into their home and sat 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:51.600 in their kitchen for several hours before going upstairs to 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:52.280 wake them. 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.840 He just sat in their kitchen for hours in the 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:59.320 middle of the night before he finally entered the bedroom 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:01.480 where the elderly couple was sleeping. 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:09.480 He tased the guy and threatened his wife and then 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:13.320 said where is your God now? And took them from 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.760 their home forcibly. They didn't even have a chance to 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:20.080 get their clothes on. And I know that he had 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:25.240 told them that it wasn't just him, like he threatened them, 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.880 that it was like a group of people who were 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:28.320 doing this. 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.160 After the police showed up at the bank, they called 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:35.480 in the FBI, who traced the cashier's check and found 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.680 the couple's names in address. When they searched their home, 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:43.000 they discovered signs of forced entry, evidence of a deployed taser, 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:47.200 and small drops of blood in the bedroom, but the 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:52.040 house was eerily quiet. No one was home. In fact, 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:55.160 by the time the police were alerted, no one had 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:57.439 heard from the couple In three days. 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:02.000 He had her call around and tell a false story 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:05.120 about them deciding to go on vacation. I think he 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:07.160 even took their car to the airport. 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:11.160 While Chad was committing this elaborate crime, Donielle was at 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:15.000 home taking care of their kids, going about her business 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:19.960 just as usual, completely unaware that her husband had violently 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:24.320 kidnapped their family friends and was holding them for ransom. 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:28.080 But where was Chad and where was he holding the couple? 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:33.200 Donielle had no idea. When the police were finally alerted, 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.240 they knew time was of the essence. They relied on 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.840 the FBI and state police to use all resources possible 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.679 to find the missing couple. Ransom kidnapping cases like this 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:49.599 often end in tragedy, especially considering the money was already exchanged. 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:54.280 They were running out of time. With each passing hour, 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:58.480 the search grew increasingly urgent. Then the FBI got a 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.680 tip about a car match the description of the one 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:05.200 scene leaving the bank with the kidnap victims, a silver 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:10.120 nineteen ninety Chevy Caprice. But Donielle didn't know anything about 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:15.520 a Chevy Caprice, so maybe they had the wrong guy. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.520 The police tracked the car down, but when they went 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:23.679 to pull it over, the driver sped up. It was 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:25.360 all over the local news. 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:29.600 Around four thirty am, the car crashed here outside Port Byron. 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.280 We tried to effect a stop on that vehicle and 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:34.720 they took up at had rate of speed. The police 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:38.680 approached the crash vehicle and found that the driver was 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:43.560 indeed Chad Skipper. He was injured but alive and arrested 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:48.120 on the spot in connection with the kidnapping. Law enforcement 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:51.240 was hoping to find the victims with Chad alive in 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.800 the trunk of his car, but no one else was 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:58.720 with him. Instead, the police found clear plastic painters, tarps, 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:06.600 a saw tape, and a shovel. Now that Chad was arrested, 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:10.520 the only priority was finding the missing couple. There were 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:14.719 still a few places the police hadn't searched Chad's rental properties. 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.120 After he was arrested, Chad gave police the address where 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:21.560 he said the couple was being held. 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.679 When he was arrested, I thought that house was still rented, 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:28.520 like I thought people were in the house renting it 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:28.959 from us. 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.080 When police showed up, it looked like a construction zone. 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.600 The services were covered in sawdust and power tools. The 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.280 doors were taking off their hinges, and there was a 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:42.960 ladder in the middle of the living room, but it 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:46.960 also looked like someone had been squatting there. There was 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:51.720 trash everywhere, plates of half eaten food, electronic wires and 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:56.040 cables dangled from the outlets. Police searched every room, but 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.640 no one seemed to be in the house. Then they 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.840 double checked the bedroom, where they took a closer look 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:06.240 at a computer monitor laying on the floor. It appeared 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:10.200 to show a surveillance feed six live feed images of 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.600 a windowless room where two figures were lying on a 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:18.120 mattress covered by blankets. On the wall next to them 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:25.960 were hooks and shackles. There was a secret room somewhere 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:43.240 in this house, and Chad's victims were in there. The 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.480 night of Chad's arrest, police began searching one of his 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:50.040 rental properties for a secret room, a dungeon where he 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.959 was holding two people captive. From what they could see 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.200 on the surveillance feed, it was a windowless room somewhere 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:01.400 in the house. The couple was lying motionless on a mattress. 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:06.160 It wasn't clear if they were alive, but then one 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.439 of the FBI agents moved a dresser in the closet 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:13.040 and lifted up a piece of carpeting to reveal a 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.120 locked steel hatch. 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:20.960 And the only entry and exit to that dungeon room 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:23.320 was through a steel trap door with a lock on 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:27.520 the outside in a closet hidden under the dresser or something. 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:33.000 He walled it off with cement blocks and soundproofing. You 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:34.600 would only know it was there if you knew it 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:34.960 was there. 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.520 Police used boltcutters to open the door. They found an 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:42.000 eight foot drop into a dark, windowless room, and they 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:47.600 went in. That's where they discovered the couple, miraculously still alive. 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:53.320 They had been tortured and chained. Chad said he had 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:57.280 people watching their kids and grandkids, so if they tried 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.000 to escape or get help, he would kill them. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:05.120 They were in that dungeon for a couple of days. 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.800 I can't even imagine thinking that you're going to die, 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:15.400 thinking that your children are going to die, hooked up 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:19.160 on this thing, your hands up in the air for 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:23.480 so many hours that you're basically shaking and can't even stand, 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:26.960 and having their kids and grandkids threatened. 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:31.240 Once he got the money, he was planning to kill them. 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.080 I mean, what's he going to do? Go? Oh, I'm 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:37.960 going to let you go now, forgive me. Everything's fine. 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:39.720 How else could it end? 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:43.880 And judging by the contents of his car, it seemed 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:48.640 like he meant it. This what if still haunts Danielle. 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:54.680 Chad was charged with felony home invasion, aggravated kidnapping, an 0:14:54.760 --> 0:15:01.760 unlawful restraint. His bail was set at a million dollars overnight. 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.480 Danielle had to reckon with the fact that her husband 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.640 of nearly two decades and the father of her children 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:12.240 was capable of a violent crime. In addition to processing 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:16.280 that shock, she didn't understand why was it all for 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:17.360 the money. 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.840 I didn't know that we were having financial trouble. I'm 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:24.160 a penny pincher, so I don't know where all the 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:26.360 money was going, and I don't know why he needed that. 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:32.800 To answer that question, Donielle started looking through Chad's basement office. There, 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:37.680 she made a series of shocking discoveries. First, why he 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:39.280 targeted the people he did. 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:45.880 He had gotten a hold of their finances and knew 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:50.040 how much they had in the bank because he had 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:53.800 asked them to be clients of his for his fake 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:54.800 financial business. 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:59.320 His fake financial business. She also found out that he 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:03.840 was never actually a certified financial advisor or planner, so 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.720 what did he do for a living? From what she 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:10.680 gathered in his office, he charmed elderly people into letting 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.880 him be their financial advisor, where he would skim from 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:18.000 their accounts for years. In fact, after he was arrested, 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.960 his own parents suited him for stealing over four hundred 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:26.080 thousand dollars while he claimed to serve as their financial advisor. 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.400 But not only did he steal from his own parents, 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.120 he also stole from his grandmother. 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.800 It was around that same amount, something like three hundred thousand. 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.240 Maybe he felt like he needed to steal that from 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.040 his victims in order to repay the money that he 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:48.520 had stolen from his grandma. 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.400 He never confessed to this, but it added up for Danielle. 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:56.400 What never made sense, though, was the construction of the dungeon. 0:16:56.760 --> 0:17:00.000 I found the plans and bills from it in his office. 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.600 Chad had been hiring a contractor to build the dungeon 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:06.440 piece by piece over the past two years. 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:12.000 I can't even imagine how much that cost. It had 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:14.479 it been thousands upon thousands, and I don't think the 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:16.000 person who did it ever got paid. 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:20.560 Honestly, the shocking fact that he built a dungeon to 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.159 hold the kidnapping victims kept the story in the headlines 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:24.760 for months. 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:29.080 Internewsad exclusive Tonight investigative reporter Chris Miner shows us a 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.159 photo of that actual room where it's believed the couple 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:33.600 was held against their will. 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.520 Danielle never slept another night in the big house that 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.240 she and Chad had shared with their kids. 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:45.480 I did not want the kids to be back in 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:49.560 the house, knowing that he had done that, knowing that 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.760 he was capable of kidnapping people that he's known for 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.480 his whole life. I didn't want them back into that house, 0:17:57.600 --> 0:17:59.200 and I didn't want to live in that house anymore. 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:02.760 She and her kids moved into her parents' home while 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.480 she got her bearings. For the first few months after 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.960 Chad's arrest, Danielle's dad would accompany her to the old 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:14.359 house to continue excavating Chad's office. The police had already 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.159 collected the evidence they needed, and she was left to 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:18.080 clean up the rest. 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:20.280 Every day that we went into his office, there was 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:24.000 another thing. Oh he lied about this next day. Oh 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:28.200 he lied about that too. I remember at one point 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:30.160 we were both looking at each other on our way 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:32.919 to the house, thinking, I wonder what else we're going 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.000 to find in his office today? What else could there be? 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:39.600 There was insurance fraud. 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:42.000 One of the things we found in his office was 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:45.479 that he actually claimed that my wedding ring was lost 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:50.640 and took insurance out for it. So even our wedding 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:52.440 ring he lied about. 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:55.159 There was credit card fraud. 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:59.840 He had fraudulently signed credit cards in his dad's name. 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:03.560 You've gotten credit cards in my name. He had forged 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:04.000 my name. 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:09.360 She also found lies about herself, stories she'd never heard before. 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:16.359 We found several papers that had conversations written down on 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:19.719 them that had lies about me as far as like 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:25.800 I had to go have a brain surgery in Minnesota 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.119 or somewhere. It just, you know, lies like that in 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.399 order to gain control or gain sympathy from the people 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:35.880 that he was talking to. There were just like conversations 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:38.200 written down on a piece of paper. Some of them 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.840 were to credit card companies because it was with credit 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:45.880 card stuff. Some of it was two different potential clients 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:46.840 that he was going to have. 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:51.840 And some things she discovered were just suspicious. 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.760 Hiking boots that he never wore, a wet suit that 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:00.480 was still wet and had a little bit of on 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:05.119 the cuff, and it's like, he didn't never go scuba diving, 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:08.840 so why does he have a wetsuits? And where would 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:13.800 he have used the wetsuit in the Mississippi River. You know, 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:17.399 just strange things that we never found an answer to. 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:22.520 One of the most haunting things she found in his 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:26.200 office was a set of life insurance policies on everyone 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:30.000 in their family, policies she never knew existed. 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:34.240 He had life insurance policies out on me and the kids. 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:37.320 I think mine was a million and I think my 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.959 kids were a quarter of a million each. It messes 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:44.280 with your mind really hard. I never felt like I 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:46.280 was threatened or my kids were threatened for our lives. 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:49.200 It was only after his arrest and when we started 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:52.280 going through the stuff in his office that I was like, 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:56.480 WHOA If I had confronted him about any of this stuff, 0:20:56.520 --> 0:20:59.320 if I had known about it, I don't think I 0:20:59.320 --> 0:20:59.920 would be here. 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:06.000 Donielle didn't want his explanations. She cooperated with the police 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:09.320 and prosecutors and gave them any evidence they needed. 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:11.960 One of the things that the police told me is 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:15.000 that in all of their cases they said they have 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:17.639 never come across a case that was so kind of ride. 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:22.000 With the amount of evidence for this guy, I was like, wow, 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:23.840 and he thought he was so smart. 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:27.480 She sent him one letter in jail where she said 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:29.880 she would be praying for him but needed to. 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:30.840 Cut off communication. 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:36.320 After that, she filed for divorce, but letters from Chad 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:40.600 never stopped coming. Every few weeks there'd be that distinctive 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:42.080 envelope in their mailbox. 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:45.160 Every time I got a letter from him, my whole 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:49.520 body would just shake. I would get sweaty palms, hard 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:51.920 to breathe. But as soon as I saw that envelope, 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:54.040 I'm like, not another one. 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:58.240 She never replied, hoping his letters would finally stop coming. 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:01.199 But one day she got a letter that was different 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:02.600 from the others. 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:06.639 On the outside of the envelope, it was not addressed 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:11.280 as him. It was addressed as Eloisa May. And that 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:13.639 threw me because I'm like, well, this is definitely a 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:17.240 letter from that jail, but Eloisa May is kind of weird. 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:19.720 I don't know in Eloisa May, and there was no 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:23.639 like return address, it was just the name. And so 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:26.280 when I opened it and it wasn't in his writing either, 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:29.359 I was thinking, Okay, that's weird too. There's something off. 0:22:30.040 --> 0:22:34.200 The whole letter is written in this weird southern accent. 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:38.200 I felt like I was reading Huckleberry Finn. 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:40.679 This is how the letter began. 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:43.760 How do you there, missye? My name is Eloise and May. 0:22:44.640 --> 0:22:47.240 You don't know me, honey child, but maybe we can 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:49.399 remedy that with this here letter. 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:08.200 While Chad sat in jail, Danielle was trying to rebuild 0:23:08.240 --> 0:23:11.359 her life. That's when she began to get strange letters 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:14.600 in the mail. The return address just said the name 0:23:15.000 --> 0:23:15.639 Eloise A. 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:15.880 May. 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:18.480 This is what the letters were about. 0:23:19.000 --> 0:23:23.520 If this fake character who supposedly lives I think in 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:28.040 Arkansas or something, but she moved to Illinois because her 0:23:28.119 --> 0:23:30.600 daughter is in Illinois. She had a stroke and so 0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:33.359 now she's in the hospital and she came across my 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:38.560 story and she starts telling me how her husband was 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:43.760 an alcoholic and at one point he physically abused her, 0:23:43.800 --> 0:23:45.600 and so she left him and went to live with 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:46.200 his parents. 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:51.960 Finally, Chad or Eloisa May got to the point. 0:23:52.040 --> 0:23:55.520 She ended up deciding to get a divorce because you know, 0:23:55.560 --> 0:23:59.200 she didn't want to do with his abusive, addictive issues. 0:23:59.800 --> 0:24:03.600 He ended up killing himself and because of her decision 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:05.960 to get a divorce, her daughter and son are having 0:24:06.080 --> 0:24:09.439 issues in their lives and they take the blame for 0:24:09.520 --> 0:24:13.719 him dying. I felt like it was a threat. If 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:15.639 you divorce me, I'm going to kill myself, and your 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:19.760 kids are gonna feel like it was their fault. That's 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:21.120