Speaker 1: Crazy and Love is the true crime podcast that tells
Speaker 1: love stories with a twist that he was still in
Speaker 1: love with his ex, but could kind of explain why
Speaker 1: he was hesitant to marry someone else. Sometimes. The twist
Speaker 1: of a knife police's theory is that he test her
Speaker 1: of the car so later he can go back to
Speaker 1: the lot, take the car, and then use that car
Speaker 1: to mow down Justine. Just because things start off with
Speaker 1: once upon a Time doesn't mean everyone lives happily ever after.
Speaker 1: This is Crazy and Love, the production of Katie Studios
Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio. I'm Courtney Armstrong, a true crime
Speaker 1: producer at Katie Studios, joined by fellow producers Stephanie Ledecker,
Speaker 1: Jeff Shane, and Beth Greenwalt. We've all worked for years
Speaker 1: on various crime podcasts and TV series, and as crime
Speaker 1: producers we talk murder all the time. One thing we've
Speaker 1: noticed is just how many of them stem from love.
Speaker 1: We're exploring the story of the good Samaritan, the lying husband,
Speaker 1: and the hit and run. In the rural town of
Speaker 1: Blue Ridge, Virginia, lived Justine Schwartz. She was a petite
Speaker 1: woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, and friends compared
Speaker 1: her to Barbie, but Justine never wanted to be a
Speaker 1: living doll. She was driven and focused on working hard
Speaker 1: in college. At the age of twenty one, while working
Speaker 1: as a cashier at Lows, she made Eric Abshire. Eric
Speaker 1: was a former marine who dreamt of owning his own
Speaker 1: construction business. At twenty six, he was still working to
Speaker 1: save money for his goal, and at the time he
Speaker 1: was the manager at the same Lows that Justine worked at.
Speaker 1: Justine was attracted to Eric immediately. She described him as strong, decisive,
Speaker 1: and determined. She told her friends that she respected him
Speaker 1: and that that was very important to her. Justine was
Speaker 1: the quintessential good girl, hard working and rarely drinking. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, Eric was a bad boy. He skipped
Speaker 1: college and admitted to picking fights in bars for fun.
Speaker 1: In the beginning, it seemed like Barbie had met her ken.
Speaker 1: After six years of dating, Eric proposed to Justine with
Speaker 1: a beautiful five thousand dollar diamond ring at the end
Speaker 1: of two thousand five. For a young couple who was
Speaker 1: trying to save money, the ring seemed outside their budget,
Speaker 1: but Justine loved it. On two thousand and six, the
Speaker 1: pair got married on top of a hill overlooking the
Speaker 1: vast Virginia landscape. It was a truly beautiful ceremony filled
Speaker 1: with family and friends. Here's Jeff. Our goal is always
Speaker 1: to shine a light on injustices and bring attention to
Speaker 1: stories that we feel need to be heard. In our work,
Speaker 1: we've noticed that many of these crimes stem from the
Speaker 1: same thing, love, and that's why we decided to call
Speaker 1: together some of the most egregious, shocking, and terrifying stories
Speaker 1: of relationships that took deadly turns. Our hope is to
Speaker 1: not only raise awareness about the victim and what happened
Speaker 1: to them, but also help listeners learned to look out
Speaker 1: for some of the warning signs in toxic situations that
Speaker 1: arise in their own lives. Justine and Eric dated for
Speaker 1: six years, and that might seem like a long time,
Speaker 1: but it's actually only a little bit longer than the average.
Speaker 1: We did a little research and I was surprised to
Speaker 1: learn that most couples date for almost five years before
Speaker 1: getting married. Yeah, that's longer than I would have expected.
Speaker 1: And I think in this particular relationship, it might have
Speaker 1: taken that amount of time for them to get married
Speaker 1: because Eric was adamant that he did not want to
Speaker 1: get married to Justine. He had previously been married and
Speaker 1: already had two kids, and so doing it again was
Speaker 1: really just not in his plan. Justine, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: really wanted to have kids. She always dreamt of being
Speaker 1: married and being a mother. The couple went back and
Speaker 1: forth about this issue in the relationship that even broke
Speaker 1: up a few times, until after six years of dating,
Speaker 1: Eric finally relented and proposed Beth. Do you know what
Speaker 1: the couple was up to as they were planning this wedding.
Speaker 1: Justine just got her dream job at an elementary school,
Speaker 1: you know, she was a kindergarten teacher. And Eric was
Speaker 1: really doing all this research to try and start up
Speaker 1: his construction business. So it kind of seems like Justine
Speaker 1: and all these plans for her life, get married, have kids,
Speaker 1: have this job, and Eric was acquiescing and giving her
Speaker 1: what she wanted, which was creating this dream life that
Speaker 1: she always planned. He had already been married, he already
Speaker 1: had two kids. You know, he didn't want to do
Speaker 1: it again, but she wanted more than anything else to
Speaker 1: have a family and to be a wife. So I
Speaker 1: think he realized he had given to keep her. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I read that when he proposed, he kind of had
Speaker 1: the ring box and he kind of just said, you win,
Speaker 1: let's do it romantic, but he seems like he was
Speaker 1: maybe really determined to make this work. He bought her
Speaker 1: this beautiful five thousand dollar engagement ring, and so he
Speaker 1: really went above and beyond and got her her dream ring,
Speaker 1: which speaks to maybe how serious he was about being
Speaker 1: married to her. May have been less about the actual
Speaker 1: wedding itself and getting married, and maybe more about the
Speaker 1: expense of having a full, blowing up wedding, which he
Speaker 1: maybe had had before. While for most couples, a wedding
Speaker 1: in the newlywed stage is supposed to be the happiest
Speaker 1: time of their lives, but for Justine and Eric, there
Speaker 1: were immediate cracks. Justine's parents remember that at the wedding
Speaker 1: she seemed removed and almost down. She certainly was not
Speaker 1: a blushing and giddy bride, and Eric didn't even invite
Speaker 1: his children to the wedding. Furthermore, following the reception, Eric
Speaker 1: left on his motorcycle, leaving his new bride to spend
Speaker 1: a night in the hotel suite alone. After they were married,
Speaker 1: Eric immediately made plans to start building a new home
Speaker 1: for Justine and him to live in. While building their
Speaker 1: new home, the pair rented a small center block house
Speaker 1: on Fredericksburg Road in Rutgersville, Virginia. It was nestled in
Speaker 1: a heavily wooded area. Justine's sister Lauren, said it felt
Speaker 1: like Justine was starting to pull away from her family
Speaker 1: and friends. She stopped calling them as much and didn't
Speaker 1: respond to text messages as often. She also wasn't going
Speaker 1: to as many family events as she used to. When
Speaker 1: Lauren confronted her sister about it, Justine assured her that
Speaker 1: everything was okay. She claims she was just very busy
Speaker 1: with work and building the new home with Eric. Here's Jeff.
Speaker 1: What it looks like is that this is a classic
Speaker 1: sign of Eric trying to isolate Justine, which is a
Speaker 1: telltale sign of domestic abuse, from removing her from family
Speaker 1: events to driving a wedge between people that she once loved.
Speaker 1: Justine's family said they never liked Eric because it seems
Speaker 1: like he wanted such different things out of life. Her
Speaker 1: mom also said that Eric never seemed like he was
Speaker 1: the one for Justine. According to loved ones, Eric was controlling.
Speaker 1: There was one time, when Justine even rejected it okay
Speaker 1: if Rosa's her friends had gotten her. Her explanation, Eric
Speaker 1: doesn't like when you give me gifts, but they were
Speaker 1: loving and supportive of Justine, so wanted to go along
Speaker 1: with the person that she loved, Yeah, Jeff. Her family
Speaker 1: felt adamant that Eric was bad news, but other family
Speaker 1: members felt the opposite. Justine's cousin remembered that Justine was
Speaker 1: always happy and smiling, and Eric's older brothers said that
Speaker 1: despite the cramped quarters of this home, they made it work.
Speaker 1: Why were they living in such a small house anyways?
Speaker 1: The money was certainly an issue for the couple. We
Speaker 1: were doing research and it definitely shows that Justine and
Speaker 1: Eric were a bit underwater. Justine had some debt coming
Speaker 1: into the relationship from graduate school, but very quickly they
Speaker 1: hit troubled times financially. Justine had asked her dad for
Speaker 1: forty dollar loan. When she asked her dad for the loan,
Speaker 1: he said that he heard the desperation in her voice,
Speaker 1: but he couldn't do it. I looked into it, and
Speaker 1: Justine's parents were pretty successful. Her dad was a vice
Speaker 1: president for a telecommunications firm and her mother owned an
Speaker 1: upscale culinary boutique, so perhaps Eric thought they had enough
Speaker 1: money to loan out. Eric was having problems getting a
Speaker 1: bank loan. He said it was because of his divorce
Speaker 1: and issues with his ex wife and her credit debt.
Speaker 1: Justine's credit cards were completely maxed out and her checks
Speaker 1: were beginning to bounce, and she began withdrawing money from
Speaker 1: a retirement account that she had been saving. And it
Speaker 1: also turns out that Justine had to buy her own
Speaker 1: engagement ring, which is extremely significant. Wait, that beautiful five
Speaker 1: engagement ring that Eric gave her, she paid for. She
Speaker 1: purchased it herself. That's like insult to injury. It's like,
Speaker 1: you don't want to really marry her. He probably was like,
Speaker 1: get yourself a ring and I'll do it. It might
Speaker 1: be antiquated to look at it this way, but the
Speaker 1: man should pay for the engagement ring. That's just traditionally
Speaker 1: what happens. And so for someone who wanted this traditional
Speaker 1: life like Justine, that was probably a big blow and
Speaker 1: kind of embarrassing and also a bit of a tell
Speaker 1: because by all accounts, Justine had a very structured background,
Speaker 1: especially financially speaking, So for her to engage in something
Speaker 1: that was going to put her more in debt was
Speaker 1: also considered out of character. She also led to her
Speaker 1: family about it, which is very telling. On November two,
Speaker 1: two thousand and six, justine colleague said she looked distraught
Speaker 1: at school. According to them, Justine's eyes were swollen shut,
Speaker 1: her face was flushed, and it looked like she had
Speaker 1: been crying. Justine didn't seem like herself, wearing sunglasses inside,
Speaker 1: not talking to fellow teachers, and leaving right when the
Speaker 1: bell rang. Hours later. She would be dead early the
Speaker 1: following morning, on November third, two thousand and six, Eric
Speaker 1: spoke to the police in a panic. On November first,
Speaker 1: two thousand and six, Eric called the police in a panic.
Speaker 1: Justine had been hit by a car on a Desolate road.
Speaker 1: When officers arrived, Justine was dead. Eric filled an officials
Speaker 1: on how she ended up there. According to him, Eric
Speaker 1: came home that night and had a fight with Justine.
Speaker 1: She said she needed to cool off and went for
Speaker 1: a drive. She then called Eric with car troubles. He
Speaker 1: told her to wait there, that he would come and
Speaker 1: get her on his motorcycle. When he arrived ten minutes later,
Speaker 1: she was about two hundred yards from her car. Dead,
Speaker 1: Eric told police that, shocked, he picked up Justine's body
Speaker 1: and put her in his lap. According to him, Eric
Speaker 1: stayed with her like that for some period of time. Then,
Speaker 1: despite having a cell phone in his pocket, he ran
Speaker 1: to knock on doors, begging someone to call nine one.
Speaker 1: When later asked why he didn't use his own phone
Speaker 1: to make the call, Eric told police he was stressed
Speaker 1: and forgot he had it. The crash was being looked
Speaker 1: at as a hit and run. Justine was very close
Speaker 1: with her parents, and when they got a call notifying
Speaker 1: them that Justine was dead, they were devastated. However, that
Speaker 1: sorrow turned to confusion as they learned more about the
Speaker 1: circumstances surrounding her death. The way Justine died just didn't
Speaker 1: make sense for variety of reasons, the first being why
Speaker 1: was Justine out so late, walking on a desolate road
Speaker 1: by herself? The teacher was afraid of the dark, so
Speaker 1: afraid that her parents had one said, she was scared
Speaker 1: of her own shadow. The idea that she would be
Speaker 1: on this dark, twisty road, let alone get out of
Speaker 1: her car on that freezing called night, just made no sense. Furthermore,
Speaker 1: Justine's keys, cellphone, purse, and even a flashlight were found
Speaker 1: on her two thousand and two Mustang. Why would she
Speaker 1: not have brought those with her when she left the car.
Speaker 1: The community of Blue Ridge, Virginia, a buzz with the
Speaker 1: tragic story, was starting to cast a shadow of doubt
Speaker 1: on the so called hit and run. Two days after
Speaker 1: Justine's memorial service, her mother was eating at a local
Speaker 1: diner when a waitress cryptically told her that Justine was
Speaker 1: not killed in a hit and run. The waitress told
Speaker 1: Justine's mom that she was murdered and Eric was the
Speaker 1: prime suspect, while the waitress had no way of knowing
Speaker 1: for sure. It was this type of gossip that quickly spread. However,
Speaker 1: police did not have enough evidence to charge Eric with
Speaker 1: any crime, so for a time, it was just small
Speaker 1: town chatter. According to the autopsy, Justine died of blood
Speaker 1: forced trauma and severe blood loss. She had a d
Speaker 1: thirteen external injuries on her body. However, there were some
Speaker 1: clear inconsistencies. According to the lead pathologist of the State
Speaker 1: Medical Examiner, there was no gravel, sand, grit or debris
Speaker 1: in any of Justine's wounds. Also, the fractures in her
Speaker 1: legs were not consistent with being hit by a car.
Speaker 1: On top of that, the injuries to her chest, head,
Speaker 1: and pelvis would be very unusual to find in someone
Speaker 1: struck by a car. Officials noted that Justine's injuries, particularly
Speaker 1: her scalp and facial lacerations, would have caused profuse bleeding,
Speaker 1: leaving lots of blood at the location where Justine was killed,
Speaker 1: but police found just a small amount of blood at
Speaker 1: the scene. Eric shared his concerns to the police about
Speaker 1: catching the driver. Here's a portion of the audio. Whoever
Speaker 1: did captive breasts away from Wow. So Eric knew right
Speaker 1: away that there wasn't a lot of evidence in the
Speaker 1: so called hit and run and was worried that it
Speaker 1: would hinder the investigation. I feel like you could take
Speaker 1: this two ways. The first thing that he was interested
Speaker 1: in finding the killer. The other interpretation is that he
Speaker 1: was just checking to see how much police actually knew,
Speaker 1: hoping that the lack of evidence would stall their efforts
Speaker 1: to catch the killer because maybe he was involved. We're
Speaker 1: going to take a quick break. We'll be back in
Speaker 1: just a moment. Here's Beth. Police had Justine's car checked
Speaker 1: out by several independent technicians, and all of them said
Speaker 1: the same thing. They were unable to find anything wrong
Speaker 1: with it. And I believe one of the officers at
Speaker 1: the scene even said that he put the key and
Speaker 1: started and put into gear and it was operating just fine.
Speaker 1: It had gas in the tank and again it quickly
Speaker 1: started several times. Battery was fully charged. There weren't any
Speaker 1: loose spark plugs or connections, and according to the mechanics,
Speaker 1: Justine's car had no mechanical defects which would have caused
Speaker 1: it to break down, So it didn't really make sense.
Speaker 1: That seems like a major lie. He told the police
Speaker 1: that she said the car was broken down, but the
Speaker 1: car is not broken down. He's building an alibi. You
Speaker 1: also have inconsistencies to her injuries, and now you have
Speaker 1: inconsistencies to the story because the car was fully functioning.
Speaker 1: I would imagine that would immediately point the finger at
Speaker 1: Eric as at least a person of interest. Additionally, as
Speaker 1: detectives looked into the couples financial situation, it turns out
Speaker 1: it was much worse than anyone ever thought. And it
Speaker 1: wasn't just a few credit cards here and there that
Speaker 1: were maxed out. It was literally every credit card that
Speaker 1: the couple had. And furthermore, Eric was actually eighty five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in debt and for someone who is supposed
Speaker 1: to be sponsible, which is one of the things Justine
Speaker 1: loved about him, this is egregious. He's trying to start
Speaker 1: a business, he's trying to start a life, and he's
Speaker 1: almost a hundred dollars in debt. That doesn't add up,
Speaker 1: and that also was a bit of a red flag
Speaker 1: to authorities. So police began looking into Eric's movements basically
Speaker 1: everywhere he had been prior to Justine's death, and his
Speaker 1: ex the woman he had been married to and had
Speaker 1: two children with. Her name is Allison. That's when she
Speaker 1: came into the picture because she told officials that in
Speaker 1: the days leading up to the death, Eric had called
Speaker 1: Allison forty three times and on one call, specifically, at
Speaker 1: eleven forty six pm the night of Justine's death, Eric
Speaker 1: of course called Allison, and on that call, she claims
Speaker 1: that he asked her if she would ever be with
Speaker 1: him again, and she responded by saying definitely not, not
Speaker 1: as long as you're married. And then seventy minutes later,
Speaker 1: Justine was dead. So It's like he has a fair
Speaker 1: amount of motive, you know, between financial problems and maybe
Speaker 1: being in love with his ex wife. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of reasons why Eric would want Justine dead on the
Speaker 1: side of the road. And according to research by the FBI,
Speaker 1: money is actually one of the top motives to murder.
Speaker 1: And if he was pining for his X and it
Speaker 1: was the only woman he was married to, it could
Speaker 1: kind of explain why he was hesitant to marry someone
Speaker 1: else if he was still in love with his ex.
Speaker 1: Right back, you mentioned that Justine had asked her dad
Speaker 1: for a loan, and now when you know that Eric's
Speaker 1: eight dollars in debt, that request now kind of you
Speaker 1: can look at that in a different light, like, was
Speaker 1: she being put up by her husband to ask her
Speaker 1: dad for that? And then when he said no? Did
Speaker 1: Eric start to get desperate? If she was no longer
Speaker 1: an a t M, if she was no longer providing
Speaker 1: resources for him to open up his construction business, maybe
Speaker 1: she wasn't abuse to him anymore. I wonder if he
Speaker 1: stood to gain financially off of her death. Police continued
Speaker 1: to look into Eric's life and discovered that he stood
Speaker 1: to profit greatly off of his wife's death. Following their wedding,
Speaker 1: Eric took out insurance policies on Justine that totaled one
Speaker 1: point five million. He was the sole beneficiary. One of
Speaker 1: the policies specifically granted a payout if there is an
Speaker 1: accident involving an uninsured motorist. A hit and run would
Speaker 1: fall under this umbrella. Detectives also found an insurance policy
Speaker 1: on Justine that they believe had a forged signature in
Speaker 1: Justine's name. While the case against Eric began to build,
Speaker 1: it wasn't enough to make an arrest, but the more
Speaker 1: police learned about Eric, the more he looked less like
Speaker 1: a grieving husband and more like a conniving killer, adding
Speaker 1: to their suspicion. Eric was not at all helpful during
Speaker 1: the investigation. Here's a portion of a recording of him
Speaker 1: being interviewed by police. The question, is any reasoning for that?
Speaker 1: You know? They're at pointless to take forward. In this interrogation,
Speaker 1: the police officer asks Eric if they needed it, would
Speaker 1: he take a polygraph? Eric says no. That police officer
Speaker 1: asks why, and he says, because they're inadmissible in court,
Speaker 1: so it's pointless to even do one. He's not wrong.
Speaker 1: According to the Virginia state law, polygraph tests cannot be
Speaker 1: used as evidence in court. They are inadmissible in court,
Speaker 1: but they also are viewed as a real indication of
Speaker 1: a person's desire to be helpful to authorities, and although
Speaker 1: they're not admissible, the findings are helpful for authorities at
Speaker 1: the bare minimum. If you know you didn't do it,
Speaker 1: taking a polygraph and passing it would probably take you
Speaker 1: out of the line of fire for authorities to be
Speaker 1: investigating you, so you would, of course do it. Polygraph
Speaker 1: society just doesn't seem like he was really being of
Speaker 1: assistance or have a driver or a passion to figure
Speaker 1: out what happened to her, And that to me is
Speaker 1: really strange. You lose the person that you know to death,
Speaker 1: do us part. She died under such a horrific circumstances,
Speaker 1: wouldn't Eric want to know what happened to her? And
Speaker 1: that's a real tell about his character in fact, to
Speaker 1: your point, bath after Justine's death, her friends and family
Speaker 1: began comparing stories, and these stories they referred to as
Speaker 1: quote violent Eric stories, and one family member remembers a
Speaker 1: story about Eric storming into the apartment and he apparently
Speaker 1: shoved Justine against Wall. Her other friends said that before
Speaker 1: the wedding, Justine actually told her that she was afraid
Speaker 1: of Eric, which is really hard to do. And there
Speaker 1: were also always these rumors that Eric was actually cheating
Speaker 1: on Justine. We also did some digging and found that
Speaker 1: in two thousand and two, Eric had been charged with
Speaker 1: malicious wounding. Malicious wounding basically means causing someone serious physical injury.
Speaker 1: The charges stemmed from an issue that Eric had had
Speaker 1: with his ax Alison. He claimed that it was in
Speaker 1: self defense, but police clearly didn't see it that way.
Speaker 1: The malicious wounding charge from July two and two was
Speaker 1: certified to a grand jury before it was eventually dropped
Speaker 1: after the victim moved away and left no forwarding address.
Speaker 1: It's also important to note that Justine's parents found out
Speaker 1: about these charges just one day after their daughter died.
Speaker 1: The abuse wasn't just physical. Justine's close friend also remembered
Speaker 1: a time when they visited Eric while he was working
Speaker 1: at a local best buy. During the visit, he called
Speaker 1: Justine quote stupid and dumb multiple times. Eric also had
Speaker 1: a terrible nickname for his loving life. The thing so
Speaker 1: Aside from this, there was also some other things that
Speaker 1: started to come out that would make it look pretty
Speaker 1: bad for Eric. About two weeks after Justine was killed,
Speaker 1: a potential new clue surface. Apparently a black Ford Expedition
Speaker 1: STV was reported stolen from a local car dealership. The
Speaker 1: car was reported stolen on October, just five days before
Speaker 1: Justine's fatal hit and run. And now this might seem irrelevant,
Speaker 1: but it comes back into play because on November eleven,
Speaker 1: almost two weeks after Justine's death, that stolen SUV was
Speaker 1: found in an empty storage unit located in the same
Speaker 1: storage facility where Eric was renting a unit. That storage
Speaker 1: facility is located also just a mile from the spot
Speaker 1: where Justine was found dead. When the police found the car,
Speaker 1: they immediately went to the dealership and questioned who had
Speaker 1: the car and how did the car get stolen? And
Speaker 1: according to the dealership's records, the last person to test
Speaker 1: drive the car before it was stolen was Eric Abshire
Speaker 1: on October. The dealership officials told police that he took
Speaker 1: the car for a test drive and after he returned
Speaker 1: back to the dealership, he said that he lost the key.
Speaker 1: They accepted this and let him go on his way,
Speaker 1: but a few days later that STV was stolen up
Speaker 1: the lot. Police began to believe that this expedition was
Speaker 1: the same car that killed Justine. He actually was plotting
Speaker 1: this and he stole the car. Police's theory is that
Speaker 1: he tested her of the car to steal the key
Speaker 1: so later he could go back to the lot, take
Speaker 1: the car, stash it at his storage unit, and then
Speaker 1: use that car to mow down Justine. What don't that
Speaker 1: be a real tell to police, or at least a
Speaker 1: starting place to look into this. If they have identified
Speaker 1: him as the last person to have driven that car,
Speaker 1: wouldn't they just go straight to his house and do
Speaker 1: an investigation. It seems like a lot of circumstantial evidence
Speaker 1: and nothing concrete at this point, but the police would
Speaker 1: eventually get something that was much more concrete. Let's stop
Speaker 1: here for another quick break. A major break in the
Speaker 1: case came in April two, nine, five months after the
Speaker 1: night Justine was killed. A man named Cecil Roebuck was
Speaker 1: watching the news and remembered something that could possibly help
Speaker 1: the police. The story is kind of confusing, so I'll
Speaker 1: try to keep it on both Cecil recalled that on
Speaker 1: the night Justine died, he was lost on an unfamiliar,
Speaker 1: dark country road. He was turning around in a driveway when,
Speaker 1: according to him, out of nowhere man flagged him down
Speaker 1: asking for help. The man told Cecil that his car
Speaker 1: was about to run out of gas and asked him
Speaker 1: if he could follow him to a gas station in
Speaker 1: case he ran out of gas on the way. Cecil
Speaker 1: was lost, so this was great because the gas station
Speaker 1: was on the main road, so he could help the
Speaker 1: man but also get himself back on track. Cecil pulled
Speaker 1: out and began to follow the car. A few miles
Speaker 1: down the road, the man he was following pulled over
Speaker 1: and said that his car ran out of gas. He
Speaker 1: asked Cecil if he could just drive him home instead.
Speaker 1: Cecil told the man he didn't mind taking him to
Speaker 1: get gas and then bringing him back to his car,
Speaker 1: but the man insisted his house was so close by.
Speaker 1: Cecil then told police that he dropped the man off
Speaker 1: at a small cinder block house on Fredericksburg Road. He
Speaker 1: was also able to positively identify the man as Eric Abshire,
Speaker 1: so it seems like Eric was driving two or from
Speaker 1: the scene of the crime and needed to ditch one
Speaker 1: of the cars and you, Cecil do it. It's really
Speaker 1: wild to think that Eric would have this whole plan
Speaker 1: to kill his wife, and part of that plan would
Speaker 1: be to rely on the idea that a stranger would
Speaker 1: come by and help him finish the job. The way
Speaker 1: I justified that in my head is that the original
Speaker 1: plan was for Eric to just do everything on foot,
Speaker 1: but he got tired, perhaps his adrenaline was running out,
Speaker 1: and he saw cecilso just decided to get a ride
Speaker 1: and make the whole name much easier. The defense argued
Speaker 1: that the prosecution star witness had a reason to lie.
Speaker 1: There was a fifty dollar reward for information offered by
Speaker 1: Justine's parents, and that Cecil needed money and was also
Speaker 1: hoping to receive favorable treatment from prosecutors in connection with
Speaker 1: two charges he was facing for a different matter. However,
Speaker 1: Cecil testified that he didn't seek or receive any special
Speaker 1: treatment for his tip about Eric. Such a weird move, though,
Speaker 1: if you're a killer, to actually have somebody a be
Speaker 1: able to identify you and also be able to identify
Speaker 1: you in and your home. But he's also spent so
Speaker 1: much of his life lying, you know, he lied to Justine.
Speaker 1: He lied to his acts. He's a liar and so
Speaker 1: he probably thought they'll just believe this one other lot.
Speaker 1: And you know, he's gotten away with it so far,
Speaker 1: so why wouldn't he continue to get away with everything?
Speaker 1: He says. Finally, police also looked at Eric's cell phone
Speaker 1: records to herman his whereabouts the night of Justine's death.
Speaker 1: He had previously told police that he was visiting his
Speaker 1: mother in the hospital until about PM before coming home. However,
Speaker 1: his phone didn't ping off any tower near the hospital.
Speaker 1: In fact, according to the records, he was in the
Speaker 1: vicinity of his home and the scene of the crime. Also,
Speaker 1: detectives found that between November two and November three, Eric
Speaker 1: made three phone calls. Just to note, the average person
Speaker 1: makes around five phone calls a day. Eric clearly talked
Speaker 1: on the phone a lot, but in between twelve o
Speaker 1: eight am and one nine am on November three, he
Speaker 1: didn't use his cell phone at all. Now, in a
Speaker 1: normal circumstance that might not seem weird, but for Eric,
Speaker 1: who was on the phone all the time, it was strange.
Speaker 1: This time period was right when Justine died. Police surmised
Speaker 1: that he couldn't be on his phone because he was
Speaker 1: busy killing her. Also, remember Eric told police it took
Speaker 1: him a while to call nine on one because he
Speaker 1: was running around trying to find someone who could call
Speaker 1: for him. He had supposedly forgotten his cellphone was in
Speaker 1: his pocket. To someone who uses their phone three ninety
Speaker 1: seven times in one day just suddenly forget they have one.
Speaker 1: As we also know, cell phone records are so often
Speaker 1: a lynch pin and nailing a suspect, and as we
Speaker 1: see here, Eric Abshar was no different. Cell Towers and
Speaker 1: collogues don't lie. It's impossible for even the most skilled
Speaker 1: liar to get around them. With all of the pieces
Speaker 1: in place, officials arrested Eric and charged him with murder.
Speaker 1: This was nearly four years after Justine Abshire's death. The
Speaker 1: prosecution laid out their theory. Eric beat Justine to within
Speaker 1: an inch of her life. He then drove her to
Speaker 1: a desolate road in her car. From there, he ran
Speaker 1: a mile to the storage unit and got the stolen expedition,
Speaker 1: which he used to run Justine over. He then drove
Speaker 1: the car back to the storage unit and on his
Speaker 1: way home, hitched a ride with Cecil Roebuck Once he
Speaker 1: was home, Eric drove back to the scene on his
Speaker 1: motorcycle and called on one one. The case was built
Speaker 1: around the idea that Eric murdered Justine for monetary gain.
Speaker 1: He ended up filing for bankruptcy in two thousand and nine.
Speaker 1: The jury also heard how in the months leading up
Speaker 1: to the fatal night, Justine had changed. She had once
Speaker 1: been kind and loving, but became with John and a
Speaker 1: shell of her former self. She was under Eric's abusive
Speaker 1: and controlling spell. Additionally, the prosecution had an expert testified
Speaker 1: that Justine's cause of death was not from being hit
Speaker 1: by a car, but rather being strangled to death. At
Speaker 1: five pm Tuesday, October two thousand and eight, a jury
Speaker 1: of eight women and four men found Eric Abshei are
Speaker 1: guilty of first degree murder. He was sentenced to life
Speaker 1: in prison, with their daughter's killer finally behind bars. Justine's
Speaker 1: parents have urged domestic violence victims to come forward before
Speaker 1: it's too late. If you're enjoying Crazy in Love, listen
Speaker 1: to seasons one and two of the piked in Massacre,
Speaker 1: another Katie Studio's production, and follow us on Instagram at
Speaker 1: Katie Underscore Studios. Crazy in Love is produced by Stephanie
Speaker 1: lie Decker, Beth Greenwald, Chris Graves, Lisa d Giovine, Jeff Shayne,
Speaker 1: Tim Hamilton, and me Courtney Armstrong. Editing and sound designed
Speaker 1: by Jeff Tis. Additional editing by Davy Cooper Wasser. Crazy
Speaker 1: in Love is a production of I Heart Radio and
Speaker 1: Katie Studios. For more podcasts from I Heeart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.