Speaker 1: This series is inspired by true events. The stories you're
Speaker 1: about to hear are fictional, and so are the characters
Speaker 1: who are played by actors.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, the fall in nineteen eighty six, we were
Speaker 2: finally seniors.
Speaker 1: Y yep, Ethan Rooney is still my boyfriend. It's been
Speaker 1: ten months and we're still going strong.
Speaker 2: It really felt like we've been through Helen back and
Speaker 2: there was finally some light at the end of that tunnel. Graduation,
Speaker 2: you know, something that felt like a normal part of life.
Speaker 1: I couldn't wait to graduate and go to college. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you'd been through what we'd been through, wouldn't you
Speaker 1: want to get out of this town?
Speaker 2: Honestly, the year was off to a really good start.
Speaker 2: At least, you know, that's what we have thought.
Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Clark. This is The Murder Years, Episode six.
Speaker 1: Mister Billingsley.
Speaker 3: Good morning, students, Principal Baalumbo Year. Today is November seventeenth.
Speaker 3: As you know, it's volunteer week and the sign up
Speaker 3: sheets are outside the main office. Let's show the community
Speaker 3: what great and giving young men and women you are.
Speaker 3: Let's give back to Mount Pine, Okay mountaineers.
Speaker 1: In between home room and first period I ran to
Speaker 1: the main office and sign up to volunteer at the
Speaker 1: women's shelter. My friend Tatiana signs up too.
Speaker 4: I wanted to volunteer at the hospital. I loved the
Speaker 4: idea of helping people, and I always wanted to be
Speaker 4: a candy striper. The outfit was so cute, right, Plus
Speaker 4: volunteering would look really good on college applications.
Speaker 1: The following week is Thanksgiving Week.
Speaker 4: And we have the whole week off.
Speaker 1: It's really a nice break for me, at least. Monday,
Speaker 1: December one, we're back at school. Carla, Tatiana, and I
Speaker 1: are in the same history class. I remember that Monday
Speaker 1: was a long first day back. Last period we all
Speaker 1: had us history senior year. That was the only class
Speaker 1: that we all had together. And that day we had
Speaker 1: a sub. Yep, we have a substitute and she makes
Speaker 1: us watch a history movie about the Native Americans. It's
Speaker 1: pretty interesting.
Speaker 4: Honestly, I was just happy to zone out and watch
Speaker 4: a movie. I didn't care what it was.
Speaker 1: The next day, school's pretty normal. Last period. I walk
Speaker 1: into class and that sub is back again. Why where's
Speaker 1: mister Billingsley.
Speaker 5: Nine one one?
Speaker 6: What's your emergency?
Speaker 3: I walked in the house to check on.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, sir, what is your emergency.
Speaker 3: I'm in his house.
Speaker 7: Oh my god, he's dead. Marcus Diffin.
Speaker 1: Around two pm, Mount Pine police arrive at seven twenty
Speaker 1: four Maple Lane, a red brick colonial style house located
Speaker 1: in the New subdivision near the brand new mall.
Speaker 7: What I got there, It was a hectic scene.
Speaker 1: Detective Tom Wallace is the lead on the case. By
Speaker 1: November of nineteen eighty six, he's worked three brutal murder cases,
Speaker 1: Lisa Anderson's in May of nineteen eighty four, Daniel Walters
Speaker 1: in February of nineteen eighty five, and Charlotte Murphy's later
Speaker 1: that year. And now he's got another one.
Speaker 7: Charles. Here we go again, right. I had to go
Speaker 7: get my notes and reports before talking to you about
Speaker 7: this one. When I arrived at the scene, I was
Speaker 7: briefed by the responding officer who told me the victim
Speaker 7: was a white male in his late thirties or early forties.
Speaker 7: When I entered the dwelling, I saw a victim lying
Speaker 7: on his stomach in the foyer on the threshold of
Speaker 7: the living room. His head was turned to the side.
Speaker 7: It looked like He'd been severely beaten in the face
Speaker 7: and on the back of his head. There was a
Speaker 7: Buddy shoeprint on the side of his face, and more
Speaker 7: prints trailed off down the hall. This guy was beaten
Speaker 7: to a pulp. He was wearing a thermal shirt and
Speaker 7: black sweats, and he was barefoot. He looked like he'd
Speaker 7: been dead and more at least a couple of days.
Speaker 7: The smell was unbearable. There was dried blood splatter on
Speaker 7: the walls and floors, and on the TV just about
Speaker 7: four feet away ransacked. My first thought was a robbery
Speaker 7: gone wrong. Maybe our victim surprised the robber. Maybe this
Speaker 7: was a drug deal gone bad. I walked back outside
Speaker 7: and learned that the man sitting in the backseat of
Speaker 7: one of the patrol cars was our nine one one caller.
Speaker 7: He was a middle aged guy, a few pounds overweight,
Speaker 7: with brown hair and glasses. He'd looked like he'd seen
Speaker 7: a ghost. Well, I guess, in a way, maybe he had.
Speaker 7: I was in state of shock.
Speaker 1: Back in November of nineteen eighty six. Mister Palombo, Eric
Speaker 1: Palumbo was our jovial high school principal.
Speaker 8: I told the detective we knew Mark wouldn't be back
Speaker 8: the Monday after Thanksgiving break.
Speaker 7: He was going to visit family out of state.
Speaker 1: Today. Mister Palumbo is eighty six and living with his
Speaker 1: wife in Sarasota, Florida.
Speaker 6: But when Mark didn't show up for work on Tuesday,
Speaker 6: that was odd. He would never just not call in.
Speaker 6: So we got a sub last.
Speaker 8: Minute and I decided to go to his house at
Speaker 8: lunch to check on him.
Speaker 7: I asked mister Plumbo if he knew of any troubles
Speaker 7: Mark was having. He said no. He said Mark was
Speaker 7: a great guy and a dedicated teacher. Mark would be
Speaker 7: the last person he could ever imagine this happening too.
Speaker 7: I let him know I may have more questions for
Speaker 7: him later, and I would probably want to come to
Speaker 7: the school and go through Mark's desk. Maybe there was
Speaker 7: something in there that could help our investigation.
Speaker 1: For hours, the police process the scene. They take photographs
Speaker 1: and desper prints. The shoe print on Billingsley's face and
Speaker 1: the ones down the hall appeared to be from a
Speaker 1: size nine and a half or ten tennis shoe.
Speaker 7: Blombo told me Billingsley's parents were no longer alive, but
Speaker 7: he had a younger sister with a family in another state.
Speaker 7: That's who he was visiting over Thanksgiving break. So when
Speaker 7: I got back to the station, I looked up his sister,
Speaker 7: Emily Sparks. I called the authorities there and asked them
Speaker 7: to make the death notification.
Speaker 1: Late Tuesday night, Detective Kurt Peters is tasked with going
Speaker 1: and interviewing Billingslee's sister. Detective Peters worked the Dawn Cartwright
Speaker 1: murder at the drive in a little over two years earlier.
Speaker 9: Here we go again, right, So yeah, I drove a
Speaker 9: long time. I think it was eight hours, and I
Speaker 9: got there pretty late. Miss Sparks was there waiting for
Speaker 9: me when I arrived.
Speaker 1: Back in nineteen eighty six, Emily Sparks is twenty eight
Speaker 1: years old, an elementary school teacher, married with a five
Speaker 1: year old daughter. Today she's sixty four.
Speaker 10: I remember, I just couldn't comprehend that my big other
Speaker 10: was dead.
Speaker 9: She was very, very upset, right LI, So I asked
Speaker 9: her about her relationship with her brother, if they were
Speaker 9: close or if they had any problems. She said she
Speaker 9: loved him. They had a good relationship, but didn't talk
Speaker 9: as often as they used to. You know, life was busy.
Speaker 9: Then I wanted to know how Thanksgiving was, how did
Speaker 9: her brother seem did Billingsley share anything that might help
Speaker 9: our cads? Did anything seem off about him? And when
Speaker 9: did he leave? That's when she said something, I mean,
Speaker 9: just stop me dead in my tracks.
Speaker 7: Thanksgiving?
Speaker 10: No, I told him Mark never came for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: Mount Pine Police detective Kurt Peters is interviewing Emily Sparks,
Speaker 1: Mark Billingsley's younger sister, and she just said something he
Speaker 1: was not expecting.
Speaker 10: I told the detective, my brother didn't come for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 10: He had plans too, but on Tuesday, it was two
Speaker 10: days before Thanksgiving, he said something came up and that
Speaker 10: he couldn't make it and he would just see us
Speaker 10: at Christmas.
Speaker 11: Well, that changed everything. I wanted to know what a
Speaker 11: game up?
Speaker 9: Did Mark say anything before about why he wasn't coming
Speaker 9: for Thanksgiving? She said she didn't know. He was vague
Speaker 9: and she didn't cry. She told him she was disappointed,
Speaker 9: but when he promised he'd come for Christmas, she'll let
Speaker 9: it go. I asked if Billingsley was dating anyone.
Speaker 11: She said no, did eating drugs?
Speaker 9: No? I then asked if there was anyone anyone at all?
Speaker 9: She could think of who would want to hurt her brother,
Speaker 9: and she said no, and an emphatic no.
Speaker 10: I couldn't think of anyone who would have wanted to
Speaker 10: hurt my brother, let alone kill him. I told Detective
Speaker 10: Peters it had to have been random. No one, no
Speaker 10: one who knew him, would ever want to hurt him.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, Emily couldn't help point detectives in any substantial direction.
Speaker 7: I remember thinking the ransacked house made it look like
Speaker 7: it was a robbery, but officers at the scene reported
Speaker 7: back that it didn't seem like anything had actually been stolen.
Speaker 7: The kitchen drawers and cupboards open and rifled through didn't
Speaker 7: make sense to me, So we were all scratching our
Speaker 7: heads and we considered maybe this was staged to look
Speaker 7: like a robbery.
Speaker 1: The next day, Detective Wallace says, the autopsy results come in.
Speaker 1: Mark Billingsley had multiple broken bones in his face, including
Speaker 1: all seven of his orbital bones. He had several skull fractures,
Speaker 1: had five teeth knocked out, his jaw had been broken,
Speaker 1: and his collarbone was shattered. His cause of death as
Speaker 1: a cerebral hemorrhage which led to a stroke, and the
Speaker 1: corner thinks It was done manually, meaning with hands and fists.
Speaker 1: The time of death was determined as Sunday night, around
Speaker 1: ten pm.
Speaker 7: It was a gruesome death.
Speaker 2: He was the coolest teacher as just a really kind person. Gosh,
Speaker 2: I remember I was I was so so sad.
Speaker 4: I felt like he cared about us, which was kind
Speaker 4: of rare, and it didn't make sense. We kept losing
Speaker 4: kids left and right, and then we lost a teacher. God,
Speaker 4: I mean, how much more were we supposed to take?
Speaker 3: Principal Columbo Here, I'm asking for all students and teachers
Speaker 3: to report to the gymnasium immediately for an assembly.
Speaker 1: We all file into the gym. Teachers are crying, kids
Speaker 1: are crying.
Speaker 7: I mean, we all loved mister Billingsley.
Speaker 1: Melanie, Tatiana and I find a spot and sit down together.
Speaker 3: Let's all take a moment of silence and remember mister Billingsley.
Speaker 4: The principal tells us they're a psychologist available to talk
Speaker 4: to us if we need it. But here's the thing.
Speaker 4: It wasn't just because of mister Billingsley's death. They knew
Speaker 4: we had been through so much shit, so much death
Speaker 4: those last couple of years, and so many of us
Speaker 4: were really screwed up trying to process it all.
Speaker 1: Detective Tom Wallace takes the lead on this case. He
Speaker 1: salved two other murders before this one, but he says
Speaker 1: this case was trickier.
Speaker 7: So yeah, I remember, we weren't able to get any
Speaker 7: clean fingerprints from the scene, so that was a dead end.
Speaker 7: It just didn't look like a robbery or a drug
Speaker 7: deal gone bad. I needed to know more about Billingsley's
Speaker 7: life in Mount Pine, so after school that day, mister
Speaker 7: Palumbo escorted me to his classroom and I looked through
Speaker 7: his desk, which didn't turn up anything useful, But Principal
Speaker 7: Palumbo told me that Billingsley's closest friend was a fellow
Speaker 7: teacher named Jesse Clayton. Turned out he was still at
Speaker 7: school and luckily was willing to talk back.
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty six, Jesse Clayton is the hot teacher.
Speaker 1: He teaches creative writing in English. We used to joke
Speaker 1: that mister Billy was the robman to mister Clayton's batman.
Speaker 5: I was sick to my stomach that mark was gone.
Speaker 1: Today, Jesse is the principal at Mount Pine Middle School.
Speaker 1: He agrees to talk with me there.
Speaker 5: I mean, Mark Billingsley was like my best friend. He
Speaker 5: was definitely my best work friend. So I asked Clayton
Speaker 5: if he and Billingsley spent any time together outside of school.
Speaker 5: I told the detective that we did lots of stuff together.
Speaker 5: You know, we played soccer, we went to the movies,
Speaker 5: always action movies. We'd play pool at my house, we'd
Speaker 5: watch sports, you know. Sometimes we even went on double dates.
Speaker 7: I mean, the fact that he was dating was news
Speaker 7: to me. His sister said he wasn't seeing anyone. So
Speaker 7: who was he dating and was it serious?
Speaker 5: I told the detective. Her name was Colleen Mulligan. She
Speaker 5: was a little bit younger, twenty seven ish. She had
Speaker 5: a kid from another relationship. I told him they've been
Speaker 5: dating for six months or something like that, and Billingsley
Speaker 5: was completely crazy about her, but he kept it totally
Speaker 5: quiet for some reason. The relationship was a secret. In fact,
Speaker 5: Mark told me that it was Colleen who didn't want
Speaker 5: anybody to know about the relationship at all. And I
Speaker 5: think it was getting tumultuous between them.
Speaker 7: Interesting, the relationship was tumultuous, how, I wondered. I pressed
Speaker 7: Clayton some more. Told the detective.
Speaker 5: It seemed to me that Mark was way more in
Speaker 5: love with her than she was with him, and not
Speaker 5: long before he died, Mark told me that it felt
Speaker 5: to him like she was playing games or pulling away,
Speaker 5: but she didn't say why. He kept telling her how
Speaker 5: much he'd loved her and he adored her son, but
Speaker 5: she just kept getting more and more distant.
Speaker 1: Detective Wallace sets out to speak with Colleen Mulligan. Immediately,
Speaker 1: he leaves the school and goes directly to Blue Balloon
Speaker 1: Kids hair salon, where she works.
Speaker 10: I was surprised to see a detective at my job.
Speaker 10: That didn't happen every day.
Speaker 1: Colleen Mulligan agrees to talk with me about Mark Billingsley
Speaker 1: and everything that transpired back in nineteen eighty six. Today
Speaker 1: she owns her own hair salon in Mount Pine.
Speaker 10: Yeah. I was in the middle of a haircut when
Speaker 10: this detective asked me to go outside and talk.
Speaker 7: I remember she acted surprised, which didn't make sense to me,
Speaker 7: I mean, given the recent tragedy. So we went out
Speaker 7: to the back alley and that's when I told her
Speaker 7: that her boyfriend Mark was found dead. Well, she just
Speaker 7: lost it. How hadn't she known that her boyfriend was murdered.
Speaker 7: At this point, it was all over the news. She
Speaker 7: was acting like she's hearing it for the first time.
Speaker 7: I asked when she saw or talked to Mark last.
Speaker 10: I told him that Mark and I had talked on
Speaker 10: the phone a few days before, maybe maybe four days before,
Speaker 10: and well, everything sounded normal with him.
Speaker 7: I wanted to know specifics. I wanted to know what
Speaker 7: they talked about, and she said that Mark wanted to
Speaker 7: see her, but she was busy, and could she see
Speaker 7: him the following week. Then I asked her how their
Speaker 7: relationship was. I told her it had been described as tumultuous. Remember,
Speaker 7: she looked surprised. She said, sure, it had its ups
Speaker 7: and downs, like any relationship. It was her first relationship
Speaker 7: in a while. I'm going to read from my notes now,
Speaker 7: I wrote. See Colleen admitted that Mark wanted more of
Speaker 7: her time, but she had a son at school at work,
Speaker 7: so she wasn't always as available as Mark would have liked.
Speaker 7: She said she was a private person and wanted to
Speaker 7: keep the relationship between them, and he wanted to shout
Speaker 7: it from the rooftobs. Then I asked her about her
Speaker 7: son and her son's father.
Speaker 10: I remember being thrown by that question, you know, like
Speaker 10: why was he even asking about my son?
Speaker 7: And this is very clear in my memory. She got
Speaker 7: very defensive, which of course made me suspicious. She hammed
Speaker 7: an awe, then said her ex was not a good guy.
Speaker 7: Then she started to shake and cry.
Speaker 10: Look, I was afraid my ex was a scary guy,
Speaker 10: or he used to be a scary guy back in
Speaker 10: like eighty four. He used to hit me. I actually
Speaker 10: spent some time at the woman's chilter because of him,
Speaker 10: and he did some time for it. But then early
Speaker 10: around eighty five he got out and he changed. He
Speaker 10: was in counseling and anger management for a few days
Speaker 10: a week, and then he stopped drinking. And we were
Speaker 10: trying to have a better coparent relationship, you know, for
Speaker 10: our son, although he could only see him during court visits,
Speaker 10: supervise visits.
Speaker 7: I asked her if her ex knew she was dating.
Speaker 7: She paused.
Speaker 10: I told the detective yes, yes, and that he hated
Speaker 10: Mark with everything he had.
Speaker 1: It's Thursday, December fourth, nineteen eighty six, and Detective Tom
Speaker 1: Wallace is talking with Colleen Mulligan in the alley behind
Speaker 1: the hair salon where she works. She just told him
Speaker 1: she's afraid of her abusive ex boyfriend.
Speaker 7: Colleen said her ex didn't know Mark personally, all that
Speaker 7: mattered was that he found out she was dating, and
Speaker 7: she said her ex was especially jealous that Mark was
Speaker 7: spending time with his son. Then I'm just going to
Speaker 7: read this right from my notes, I wrote. She got
Speaker 7: this look on her face like oh no. She collapsed
Speaker 7: against the dumpster and started crying. I asked Colleen her
Speaker 7: ex's name in between her sobs. She said Darren mcmay.
Speaker 1: Detective Wallace asks where Darren McVeigh lives. Colleen tells him
Speaker 1: he lives at the rain Tree apartment complex near the
Speaker 1: Inner State. Detective Wallace calls for a backup, but when
Speaker 1: they arrive, Darren mcveigh's not there.
Speaker 7: Colleen also told me that McVeigh did some odd jobs
Speaker 7: over at Pinewood Farm.
Speaker 1: So Detective Wallace and the patrol cars drive to the
Speaker 1: other side of town to Pinewood Farm. When they pull up,
Speaker 1: they see four guys standing next to a tractor armed
Speaker 1: with his mugshot. Detective Wallace walks right up to the
Speaker 1: man in the middle. He stands face to face with
Speaker 1: Darren McVeigh.
Speaker 7: And I remember he seemed completely unfazed we were there.
Speaker 7: I asked him if he'd be willing to come to
Speaker 7: the station with us and answer a few questions, and
Speaker 7: he said he would.
Speaker 1: At the station Detective's Wallace Peter's interview Darren.
Speaker 9: McVeigh, Yeah, I remember how cool he was acting.
Speaker 11: How odd that seemed to me.
Speaker 7: I asked him about his relationship with Colleen. I had
Speaker 7: some anger issues in the past that I took out
Speaker 7: on her, but the past is the past.
Speaker 11: I did my time.
Speaker 7: I'm in a much better place with her and myself.
Speaker 7: I asked him about being on probation now after being
Speaker 7: convicted on domestic battery charges last year. He brushed it
Speaker 7: off as nothing again. I'm just gonna read to you
Speaker 7: from my notes, let's see, I wrote. I noticed some
Speaker 7: small cuts and bruises on his knuckles. When I asked
Speaker 7: him how he got them, he said it was from
Speaker 7: working on his truck and at the farm. He couldn't
Speaker 7: remember exactly. Then I asked him his shoe size. They
Speaker 7: were ten, the bloody shoe prints where a nine were
Speaker 7: a ten. I asked him what he was doing on
Speaker 7: Sunday night. He was vague and said quote, I don't
Speaker 7: know what this is about, but I know I was
Speaker 7: around and people can vouch for me. Then I asked
Speaker 7: how he felt about Colleen dating Mark Billingsley, and.
Speaker 9: I swear in that moment his face changed, right before
Speaker 9: our eyes.
Speaker 11: I saw rage. Then he said I want a lawyer.
Speaker 11: Interview was over.
Speaker 7: At that point. We had enough to hold him for
Speaker 7: forty eight hours, so we did, and then we reached
Speaker 7: out to Prosecutor Ben Blythe to see if we could
Speaker 7: get a search warrant for mcveigh's apartment and vehicle.
Speaker 1: Early Friday morning, the judge signs the warrant.
Speaker 7: Now we're in business. We went to Darren mcday's place
Speaker 7: and searched a small, one drew apartment. I remember I
Speaker 7: fill his like three hours to go through everything. We
Speaker 7: went through his drawers and closets, his garbage, he can
Speaker 7: cut open his mattress. We searched his garage space which
Speaker 7: had a small storage area, and we searched his pickup truck. Nothing,
Speaker 7: no bloody clothes, nothing. This was disappointing.
Speaker 1: If Darren McVeigh did kill mister Billingsley, he could have
Speaker 1: disposed of all the incriminating evidence in the last few
Speaker 1: days and they may never find it. So the detectives
Speaker 1: asked Prosecutor Ben Blythe to go back and try and
Speaker 1: get a search warrant for Pinewood Farm, where McVeigh works.
Speaker 1: The judge signs the warrant, but with conditions.
Speaker 7: We were only allowed to search the areas Darren McVeigh
Speaker 7: had regular access to, so we searched the WORKSHD, the barns,
Speaker 7: and the garage where they housed the farm equipment. Again,
Speaker 7: we found nothing.
Speaker 1: When forty eight hours are up, they let Darren McVeigh go,
Speaker 1: but out of concern for Colleen and her son's safety
Speaker 1: and in case McVeigh tries to run, they put a
Speaker 1: surveillance team on him and one week later it pays off.
Speaker 7: It was around one am one of our undercover officers
Speaker 7: who'd been watching McVeigh saw him come out of his
Speaker 7: house with a duffel bag. He then put it in
Speaker 7: his truck and drove off. The undercover followed him to
Speaker 7: a storage facility just outside Mountain Pie. He watched McVay
Speaker 7: as he went into a storage unit. When he returned,
Speaker 7: he was empty headed.
Speaker 1: Detective Wallace calls the owner of the storage Facility and
Speaker 1: Learns storage unit number B one seven to one was
Speaker 1: being rented by Darren mcvay's brother, Thomas. An hour later,
Speaker 1: Detective Kurt Peters is at Thomas mcvay's house asking if
Speaker 1: he would be willing to open up the unit to police.
Speaker 11: He agreed, so Thomas is there.
Speaker 9: There are several officers, Me and Detective Wallace arrives soon
Speaker 9: after the search begins. It was an eight or twelve
Speaker 9: unit and it was pretty packed, lots of Foxes, kids stuff,
Speaker 9: old cough clubs, electronic equipment.
Speaker 11: We pulled everything out.
Speaker 9: And went through everything meticulously. Towards the back was a
Speaker 9: big tool storage cabinet. It was on wheels, so we
Speaker 9: were able to wheel it out pretty easily. When we
Speaker 9: opened it, there it was the Duffel bag. I remember.
Speaker 9: We all just looked at each other like, oh shit.
Speaker 9: And when we opened the Duffel bag, inside was a
Speaker 9: black plastic bag full of blood splattered clothes and shoes.
Speaker 7: Bingo. We got him.
Speaker 1: Later that same day, officers arrest Darren McVeigh as he's
Speaker 1: walking into an appointment with his probation officer. He's on
Speaker 1: probation after being convicted of domestic battery charges the year before.
Speaker 1: Because proving premeditation might be hard. McVeigh is charged with
Speaker 1: second degree murder, as well as weapons and probation violation charges.
Speaker 7: I'm telling you it felt good. Yeah, it felt real
Speaker 7: good to get him off the streets.
Speaker 1: In the weeks that follow police are able to confirm
Speaker 1: the clothes found in the storage unit were, in fact
Speaker 1: Darren mcveigh's. The blood on them matched Mark Billingsley's blood type,
Speaker 1: and the shoes a size ten tennis shoe matched the
Speaker 1: impression on Mark's face and in the house. Mark's girlfriend,
Speaker 1: Colleen says she feels responsible.
Speaker 10: When I learned that my was arrested for killing Mark, well,
Speaker 10: I just wanted to die. I felt so hopeful, and
Speaker 10: I felt like it was all my fault.
Speaker 1: Five months later, the trial begins. Prosecutor Ben Blythe feels
Speaker 1: confident in the state's case.
Speaker 8: I had absolutely no doubt in Darren mcvay's guilt and
Speaker 8: the case we were going to present. We had the
Speaker 8: physical evidence, the bloody clothes and shoes, we had the
Speaker 8: plastic bag, and we were going to argue his motive
Speaker 8: was blind rage and jealousy.
Speaker 1: Colleen Mulligan, Mark Billingsley's girlfriend and the ex girlfriend of
Speaker 1: the accused. Darren McVeigh, is the star witness for the prosecution.
Speaker 10: I remember it was beyond scary to be on the
Speaker 10: stand with my ex boyfriend Darren caring at me. I mean,
Speaker 10: he was literally on trial for killing Mark. I was shaking.
Speaker 10: I was so worried he was going to jump, run
Speaker 10: up and just jump me or something, you know. But
Speaker 10: I did what I had to do and I told
Speaker 10: him everything. Darren and my relationship started out great.
Speaker 9: You know.
Speaker 10: We met at a bar, we were both out with friends,
Speaker 10: and well, we fell for each other pretty quickly, and
Speaker 10: he moved in with me. After five months. Things started
Speaker 10: to just change for me though, when he became almost
Speaker 10: too invested in me in our relationship. He was kind
Speaker 10: of obsessed with being with me and buying me things,
Speaker 10: and he wanted me to only spend time with him.
Speaker 10: And then things got way worse when I got pregnant,
Speaker 10: and of course as I started to tell him about
Speaker 10: these concerns that I had, the more upset and so
Speaker 10: cure and aggressive he got. So we split for the
Speaker 10: first time when I was six Yeah, I think he
Speaker 10: was six months pregnant and then we got back together
Speaker 10: a few weeks later, and the next time we split
Speaker 10: was right before my due date. He slapped me across
Speaker 10: the face and he pushed me up against the wall,
Speaker 10: so we broke up again. But you know, when I
Speaker 10: went into labor, I mean I I was scared. I
Speaker 10: was so scared, so I called.
Speaker 1: Him, Colleen says. Shortly after the birth of their son,
Speaker 1: things started to go downhill again fast. The next time
Speaker 1: Darren hits her, it's pretty bad. He punches her in
Speaker 1: the chest, knocks her to the ground, and pins her there.
Speaker 1: When he finally gets up and leaves to go drinking,
Speaker 1: she packs some things for herself and her son and
Speaker 1: goes to the woman's shelter. Once she's safe, she calls
Speaker 1: police and they arrest him at the bar. Darren is
Speaker 1: convicted of domestic battery and sentenced to a year in
Speaker 1: county jail.
Speaker 10: When he got out, he was mandated to go to
Speaker 10: anger management classes and counseling and atten AA meetings and
Speaker 10: all of which he did, and it seemed like he
Speaker 10: was doing better, I mean for a while anyway.
Speaker 7: Until.
Speaker 1: Until Darren finds out she's dating Mark.
Speaker 4: Shit.
Speaker 10: When he found out, it was just a few weeks
Speaker 10: before the I saw some of the old Darren back.
Speaker 10: He was acting angry and jealous. It was one of
Speaker 10: the reasons I was distancing myself from Mark only I
Speaker 10: thought that he would do something to me. I never
Speaker 10: thought that he would do something to Mark, and I
Speaker 10: never told Mark. I never warned Mark, and now I
Speaker 10: know I should have. He had no idea.
Speaker 1: Colleen says she doesn't know why Mark didn't go to
Speaker 1: his sisters for Thanksgiving, but she wishes he had.
Speaker 10: He called me wanting to get together over the break
Speaker 10: that I had said that I had too much going
Speaker 10: on and that I would just see him the next week. God,
Speaker 10: I really really wish Mark had gone to his sisters. No,
Speaker 10: I wish I had broken up with him just to
Speaker 10: spare him, and maybe this would have never happened.
Speaker 1: The prosecution also calls to the stand detectives Wallace and Peters,
Speaker 1: Darren mcveay's probation officer, a pathologist, and psychologists, as well
Speaker 1: as some coworkers at the farm.
Speaker 8: We had four days of testimony and a pretty rock
Speaker 8: solid case. We believe Darren went to Billingsley House with
Speaker 8: the intention of warning him to stay away from Colleen
Speaker 8: and his son. A fight ensued and mister McVeigh beat
Speaker 8: Mark to death.
Speaker 7: We didn't think we could prove premeditation.
Speaker 8: We had nothing to prove McVeigh went there with intent
Speaker 8: of killing Billingsley. The one thing we could never figure
Speaker 8: out was where mister McVeigh hit the Duffel bag of
Speaker 8: bloody clothes and shoes before taking it to the storage.
Speaker 1: The jury deliberates for seventy eight minutes, then comes back
Speaker 1: with the verdict of guilty. Darren McVeigh is sentenced to
Speaker 1: twenty five years to life. Mister Billingsley's sister feels justice
Speaker 1: was served, but she's still angry.
Speaker 10: Oh never forgive that piece of shit for taking my
Speaker 10: brother from me. But I'll also never forgive myself for
Speaker 10: not being more involved in Mark's life. I just didn't
Speaker 10: know what was going on. I guess he didn't know either.
Speaker 10: I just should have been more involved. But I got
Speaker 10: to say I felt so bad for our family, but
Speaker 10: I also felt so bad for Mark's students. They loved him.
Speaker 12: After school that day McVeigh was found guilty, the whole
Speaker 12: student body went to the courthouse and just sat on
Speaker 12: the steps. Everyone held hands, cried, and shared memories of
Speaker 12: mister Billingsley. I would say it was nice, but it
Speaker 12: was really so sad.
Speaker 5: As a teacher at Mount Pine and as Mark's best friend,
Speaker 5: I didn't know what to say anymore to comfort the kids,
Speaker 5: to comfort myself. We were like a bunch of zombies
Speaker 5: walking through the hallways. We didn't know what to do
Speaker 5: or say. We just wanted it to be over, Like,
Speaker 5: could we just put all these tragedies behind us? It
Speaker 5: was killing us.
Speaker 1: No, we couldn't. Next time on The Murder Years, nine
Speaker 1: one one, what's your emergency?
Speaker 7: Look my god?
Speaker 9: Yeah, so we'll just broke into the house city, hang
Speaker 9: up the phone.
Speaker 3: Now we're out.
Speaker 1: A new killer as all of Mount Pine fearing for
Speaker 1: their lives. The Murder Years is a production of AYR
Speaker 1: Media and iHeartMedia Executive producer Eliza Rosen for AYR Media
Speaker 1: co executive producer Paulina Williams. Written by Leah Rothman, directed
Speaker 1: by Michael Seltich. Original concept developed in partnership with Anne,
Speaker 1: Margaret Johns and Greg Spring. Casting by Eisenberg, Bean's Casting
Speaker 1: Senior Associate producer Eric Newman, Associate producer Jill Pushesnik, editing
Speaker 1: and sound design by Tristan Bankston, mastering by Cameron Taggie,
Speaker 1: audio engineering by Matt Jacobson, Studio engineering by Jay Brannan.
Speaker 1: Music by Nathan Bankston. Legal Council for a y R Media,
Speaker 1: Gianni Douglas, Executive producer for iHeartMedia, Maya Howard. Performances for
Speaker 1: this episode by Gabrielle Carteris as Nancy Clark, Kelly Deadman
Speaker 1: as Tatiana, Orla Cassivi as Melanie, Maricilda Garcia as Carla,
Speaker 1: Charles Carroll as Principal Palumbo, Charles Carroll as Prosecutor Blythe
Speaker 1: Dathan B. Williams as Detective Peters. Desiree Rodriguez is nine
Speaker 1: one one Operator h Richard Greene as Detective Wallace, James B.
Speaker 1: Kennedy as Ethan Rooney, James B. Kennedy as Young Principal Colombo,
Speaker 1: James Donahower as Jesse Clayton, Jesse Hendricks as Lauren Collins,
Speaker 1: Julie Frankel as Colleen Mulligan. Julie Frankel is Emily Sparks.
Speaker 1: Additional voices by Alex Salem