WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: William Vick Part 3 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:09.805 School of Humans. 0:00:13.005 --> 0:00:16.725 On January twenty third, twenty twenty three, just six days 0:00:16.765 --> 0:00:19.405 after William Vick was found dead on his bedroom floor 0:00:19.405 --> 0:00:23.165 in Clarksville, Arkansas, police did a welfare check on his wife, 0:00:23.245 --> 0:00:27.685 Lorenda's mother, seventy two year old Martha MacLean. Martha lived 0:00:27.725 --> 0:00:30.525 in a detached house on the same property with William 0:00:30.565 --> 0:00:34.925 and Larenda. They found Martha struggling to breathe with drugs 0:00:35.045 --> 0:00:40.205 including leriiza, PAM, and morphine around her. Martha had overdosed 0:00:40.285 --> 0:00:44.565 and was close to death, but paramedics administered narcan, a 0:00:44.645 --> 0:00:47.125 drug that blocks opioids and can be used in the 0:00:47.165 --> 0:00:51.565 case of overdose. They administered that drug three times, so 0:00:51.685 --> 0:00:56.245 Martha's breathing improved and she survived. Matt Foster with the 0:00:56.325 --> 0:00:59.645 Arkansas State Police wrote in his report that when he 0:00:59.725 --> 0:01:03.565 found Martha, she had a pen and a partially handwritten note, 0:01:03.765 --> 0:01:07.085 and after he found her, he executed a search warrant 0:01:07.085 --> 0:01:07.725 for the property. 0:01:08.645 --> 0:01:11.365 That's when law enforcement found a second. 0:01:11.005 --> 0:01:14.725 Hand written note, and in that note, Martha confessed to 0:01:14.845 --> 0:01:18.925 tampering with her son in law William's medication and to 0:01:19.045 --> 0:01:24.485 killing him. But why why did Martha kill William and 0:01:24.605 --> 0:01:25.965 what really happened to her. 0:01:26.765 --> 0:01:27.845 I'm Catherine Townsend. 0:01:28.285 --> 0:01:31.125 Over the past five years of making my true crime podcast, 0:01:31.165 --> 0:01:33.965 Helen Gone, I've learned that there is no such thing 0:01:34.165 --> 0:01:37.165 as a small town where murder never happens. I have 0:01:37.245 --> 0:01:40.525 received hundreds of messages from people all around the country 0:01:40.565 --> 0:01:43.005 asking for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, 0:01:43.205 --> 0:01:46.725 their families, and their communities. If you have a case 0:01:46.725 --> 0:01:48.725 you'd like me and my team to look into, you 0:01:48.765 --> 0:01:50.885 can reach out to us at our Helen Gone murder 0:01:50.925 --> 0:01:54.005 Line at six seven eight seven four four six ' 0:01:54.005 --> 0:01:57.445 one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four 0:01:57.765 --> 0:02:00.525 six ' one four or five, or you can send 0:02:00.605 --> 0:02:05.045 us a message on Instagram at Helen gonpod. This is 0:02:05.085 --> 0:02:56.405 Helen go on murder Line. After Martha McLean overdosed, she 0:02:56.525 --> 0:02:59.685 was stabilized at Johnson County Hospital, where she remained for 0:02:59.725 --> 0:03:00.525 the next two weeks. 0:03:01.245 --> 0:03:03.725 Shortly after that, the prosecutor, Jeff. 0:03:03.525 --> 0:03:06.805 Phillips told William's family that he was getting ready to 0:03:06.845 --> 0:03:11.565 file murder charges against Martha. I've seen the affidavit for 0:03:11.645 --> 0:03:14.725 the warrant that was typed up. All the facts are there, 0:03:14.845 --> 0:03:17.565 but in the version I saw, it's not yet signed 0:03:17.685 --> 0:03:22.525 or dated. According to the affidavit, Martha was going to 0:03:22.525 --> 0:03:25.925 be charged with capital murder. So we asked last week, 0:03:26.565 --> 0:03:30.605 how exactly did Martha gain access to William's medicine and 0:03:31.245 --> 0:03:33.325 did she give it to him or did she tamper 0:03:33.365 --> 0:03:35.765 with it and then give it back to Laurinda. What 0:03:35.965 --> 0:03:39.485 was the exact sequence of events there? In the note 0:03:39.525 --> 0:03:43.805 she allegedly wrote, Martha said she had altered William's medication, 0:03:44.485 --> 0:03:48.045 and then she stated at a later date she injected 0:03:48.125 --> 0:03:51.605 him with a drug that would cause paralysis. We know 0:03:52.005 --> 0:03:55.445 that William and Martha did not like each other. In fact, 0:03:55.765 --> 0:03:59.725 William's son will said that Martha hated his father. William's 0:03:59.725 --> 0:04:00.565 brother Ted. 0:04:00.525 --> 0:04:06.005 Confirmed that Martha supposedly hated Willie and had to kill 0:04:06.085 --> 0:04:10.525 him in the past. And you know, Lorenda's even posted 0:04:10.605 --> 0:04:14.125 on social media sides that, Yeah, my mother hated Willie 0:04:14.485 --> 0:04:16.645 and I had to take a gun from her not 0:04:16.805 --> 0:04:20.005 too long before that because she said she was going 0:04:20.045 --> 0:04:22.485 to shoot him, so I took her, took her gun 0:04:22.525 --> 0:04:27.605 away from her, give it at William Lorenda's house. It's 0:04:27.725 --> 0:04:33.765 all just unremarkably bizarre that it's too far fetched. 0:04:34.885 --> 0:04:38.885 So again we wondered if Martha gave him an injection. 0:04:39.805 --> 0:04:42.525 Is that something that could have been a realistic possibility, 0:04:43.125 --> 0:04:47.085 Is that something William would ever have allowed. Ted told 0:04:47.165 --> 0:04:50.005 us about what the prosecutor told him about the series 0:04:50.045 --> 0:04:53.685 of events that led to William getting that medicine. According 0:04:53.685 --> 0:04:56.725 to William's autopsy, he had a combination of drugs in 0:04:56.765 --> 0:05:01.485 his body. His cause of death was listed as mixed laurazapam, 0:05:01.565 --> 0:05:06.445 morphine and tramat all toxicity. But apparently William was prescribe 0:05:06.445 --> 0:05:09.965 some other drugs. Ted said the story that he was 0:05:10.005 --> 0:05:14.005 told by Larenda was that after William's surgery, William was 0:05:14.085 --> 0:05:18.565 prescribed steroids, but that Lrenda told investigators that William did 0:05:18.605 --> 0:05:19.605 not want to take them. 0:05:20.085 --> 0:05:22.485 I guess she went and got hit them up, came 0:05:22.525 --> 0:05:25.925 back home. Willly said no, I don't want to take them. 0:05:26.685 --> 0:05:30.525 Probably be fine, or actually she said he would probably 0:05:30.565 --> 0:05:34.965 be fine. And then from that's our understanding, and then 0:05:36.485 --> 0:05:41.165 later on that evening or at some point, he did say, okay, yeah, 0:05:41.165 --> 0:05:44.645 I think I probably need to take take those steroids. 0:05:45.965 --> 0:05:48.285 But she had already gave them away. He had already 0:05:48.285 --> 0:05:49.165 gave them to her mother. 0:05:49.845 --> 0:05:53.205 Apparently Lorenda's mother, Martha, had a lot of health problems. 0:05:53.885 --> 0:05:56.685 Lrenda said that Martha had throat cancer and was on 0:05:56.765 --> 0:06:02.045 hospice care, but Ted said Lrenda said that after Martha passed, 0:06:02.445 --> 0:06:05.485 so we're not exactly sure what Martha's diagnosis was. 0:06:05.645 --> 0:06:08.685 Was She's like, Willy didn't even know because I didn't 0:06:08.725 --> 0:06:12.205 tell him, But my mom's on hospice for froid. 0:06:12.445 --> 0:06:12.805 Answer. 0:06:13.565 --> 0:06:18.205 That's never been confirmed that her mom was ever on hospice, 0:06:19.165 --> 0:06:20.565 but that is what she told me. 0:06:21.565 --> 0:06:24.245 And I'm like, oh, okay, and she's like dad, but. 0:06:24.245 --> 0:06:27.525 Willie didn't know that. Nobody knew that my mom was sick. 0:06:28.245 --> 0:06:31.525 So she's like, so I whenever Willie decided he didn't 0:06:31.565 --> 0:06:35.165 want the steroids, I gave him to my mom, thinking 0:06:35.205 --> 0:06:37.685 they would help make her stronger on her week days. 0:06:38.765 --> 0:06:42.165 Lareenda said, since William didn't want to take the steroids, 0:06:42.485 --> 0:06:44.685 that she gave them to her mother in case her 0:06:44.685 --> 0:06:49.285 mother needed them, and then Ted said Larenda told investigators 0:06:49.645 --> 0:06:53.085 that William was apparently experiencing some pain, some side effects 0:06:53.085 --> 0:06:56.325 from the tom selectomy, and Lrenda told him that at 0:06:56.365 --> 0:06:59.365 some point William apparently decided that he did want his 0:06:59.445 --> 0:07:00.365 meds after all. 0:07:00.765 --> 0:07:03.325 And then sometime in the middle of the night. This 0:07:03.485 --> 0:07:07.365 is coming from investigators telling us they're around three three 0:07:07.365 --> 0:07:11.005 point thirty in the morning. She text her mom and said, 0:07:11.765 --> 0:07:13.805 you know, Willy said he wants to take the drugs. 0:07:14.365 --> 0:07:17.965 He wants to take the steroids. And I guess the 0:07:18.005 --> 0:07:22.005 mom supposedly text back and said, they'll be on your porch. 0:07:22.925 --> 0:07:25.805 So supposedly she left the drugs on the porch. Lorenda 0:07:25.805 --> 0:07:31.605 got them, gave them to Willie, and they were laced 0:07:31.685 --> 0:07:36.965 with tremodol, morphine, and larazaphim high doses of all three 0:07:37.005 --> 0:07:40.285 of those. And then he appears to have passed out 0:07:40.285 --> 0:07:44.125 and you know, maybe coming out of the bathroom. And 0:07:44.165 --> 0:07:48.085 then according to Martha in her confession letter, she said, 0:07:48.885 --> 0:07:52.885 then she injected Willy with a drug called such methanonium. 0:07:53.445 --> 0:07:56.965 That is a drug that they use in an er room. 0:07:57.605 --> 0:08:00.045 Only it is not a drug that gets you know, 0:08:00.085 --> 0:08:02.765 put on the streets for you know, drug abusers or 0:08:02.765 --> 0:08:05.925 anything like that. It's literally the drug that they use 0:08:06.005 --> 0:08:10.365 for they COVID patients or people who they just totally 0:08:10.405 --> 0:08:13.725 put under and incubated. It basically collapses your lungs and 0:08:13.765 --> 0:08:17.805 then they're breathing for you. That's like an antesthesiologists, medicine 0:08:17.885 --> 0:08:21.725 for when they put you totally under. Martha took the 0:08:21.845 --> 0:08:25.805 rap for it all. She said that in her confession letter, 0:08:26.045 --> 0:08:32.765 supposedly Martha went upstairs and injected Willie with the messmonium 0:08:33.125 --> 0:08:38.045 in his left side lower extremities. I believe, which would 0:08:38.045 --> 0:08:42.725 be pretty accurate because where he fell and they found him, 0:08:43.005 --> 0:08:46.005 when you walk up the stairs to his bedroom, his 0:08:46.165 --> 0:08:49.805 left side would be facing that stair line, so that stairway, 0:08:50.645 --> 0:08:53.525 so it would be that would be you know, sounds 0:08:53.565 --> 0:08:55.605 plausible that someone would stab him there. 0:09:01.965 --> 0:09:05.645 William's family was bothered by Lorenda's actions right out after 0:09:05.685 --> 0:09:10.085 William died. Remember William's daughter Ashley said that she was 0:09:10.165 --> 0:09:13.085 shocked to get the call when her father had already 0:09:13.125 --> 0:09:16.965 been dead for two days. Ted said that Ashley wasn't alone. 0:09:17.645 --> 0:09:21.445 Ted said that after William died, to his knowledge, Lareenda 0:09:21.565 --> 0:09:23.445 didn't call anyone in William's family. 0:09:23.965 --> 0:09:27.365 Not only was that, but Lareinda didn't call any family, 0:09:27.765 --> 0:09:31.485 not even my brother's children, not even my niece or nephew. 0:09:32.045 --> 0:09:34.965 She waited my niece and nephew didn't find out that 0:09:35.045 --> 0:09:39.245 their father had been murdered for two days and the 0:09:39.285 --> 0:09:43.285 second they found out. Of course, they call Lareenda and 0:09:43.365 --> 0:09:46.925 she was like, yeah, yeah, he's dead. 0:09:47.925 --> 0:09:51.605 After receiving the shocking news that William was dead, his 0:09:51.725 --> 0:09:53.725 family at first thought that it might have been a 0:09:53.725 --> 0:09:55.605 complication from his recent surgery. 0:09:56.205 --> 0:09:58.645 The first thing that goes through our minds is, you know, 0:09:58.765 --> 0:10:03.285 maybe a you know, a possible tom selectomy, something went wrong. 0:10:04.445 --> 0:10:06.485 But we just it was to believe because my brother 0:10:06.605 --> 0:10:09.805 was in this was in very good shape. He was 0:10:09.845 --> 0:10:13.525 put together well, he was you know, he was muffled up. 0:10:13.565 --> 0:10:15.685 He was in good shape. He wasn't in poor health. 0:10:15.725 --> 0:10:17.125 He didn't drink and in smoke. 0:10:18.045 --> 0:10:20.685 Ted told us up front he hadn't talked to his 0:10:20.765 --> 0:10:23.725 brother in over four years. They got into an argument 0:10:23.805 --> 0:10:27.165 after Ted alleges that William began to take money out 0:10:27.165 --> 0:10:31.165 of their parents' accounts that William had access to. Because 0:10:31.205 --> 0:10:34.405 of that, they were estranged at the time of William's death. 0:10:35.205 --> 0:10:38.525 So it wasn't until later that Ted learned that William's 0:10:38.525 --> 0:10:41.685 body was in rigor mortis when he was found. According 0:10:41.725 --> 0:10:45.045 to the autopsy report, the rigor mortis was fixed in 0:10:45.045 --> 0:10:45.765 the extremities. 0:10:46.725 --> 0:10:47.725 Obviously, as we. 0:10:47.685 --> 0:10:51.565 Have discussed many times on this podcast, estimating time of 0:10:51.605 --> 0:10:54.525 death is very difficult and depends on a lot of factors, 0:10:55.165 --> 0:10:59.125 but in general, fixed rigor mortis and extremities means that 0:10:59.205 --> 0:11:01.645 the body would have been lying there for several hours 0:11:02.605 --> 0:11:07.405 as a very general estimate, possibly between six and twelve hours. 0:11:07.885 --> 0:11:11.845 Because of that, Ted believes that Lreinda was trying to 0:11:11.845 --> 0:11:14.685 create a narrative to explain why she waited so long 0:11:14.725 --> 0:11:18.565 to check on William. As we said last week, Lreinda 0:11:18.605 --> 0:11:20.965 explained that she had not checked on William in several 0:11:20.965 --> 0:11:24.245 hours because she was letting him rest. She also told 0:11:24.245 --> 0:11:27.365 investigators that she was staying in her own room, separate 0:11:27.365 --> 0:11:30.525 from William because she was feeling sick and worried that 0:11:30.605 --> 0:11:31.485 she might have COVID. 0:11:32.005 --> 0:11:34.405 Well, things weren't adding up, and then all of a sudden, 0:11:34.485 --> 0:11:36.845 you know, Lorenda, we hadn't talked to in years. She 0:11:37.045 --> 0:11:40.885 calls my wife Michelle, and she starts talking. And we're 0:11:40.925 --> 0:11:44.125 sitting there and I'm being quiet because if I talked, 0:11:44.125 --> 0:11:47.445 she's probably going to hang up. But that already pretty 0:11:47.485 --> 0:11:51.565 much suspected something really weird. But she just started saying 0:11:51.605 --> 0:11:55.285 things that weren't adding up. I mean, she was like, yeah, 0:11:55.845 --> 0:11:58.125 me and Willie both didn't feel well. I thought I 0:11:58.205 --> 0:12:03.565 had COVID. We were sitting on the couch and then 0:12:04.045 --> 0:12:07.485 we went upstairs to try to get and sleep, and 0:12:07.485 --> 0:12:10.885 then she's like, I couldn't sleep, so I came back downstairs. 0:12:11.805 --> 0:12:16.245 I decided to go get my mom and still grocery shopping. 0:12:16.885 --> 0:12:18.525 You know, I don't know who's going to go get 0:12:18.565 --> 0:12:22.005 their seventy two year old mother when you think you 0:12:22.085 --> 0:12:26.685 have COVID and go grocery shopping with her. And she's 0:12:26.725 --> 0:12:29.245 a nurse, so it snows damn well. She probably should 0:12:29.325 --> 0:12:32.965 stay quarantined for a bit. And during that phone call, 0:12:33.085 --> 0:12:36.205 she told us that nobody knew this, and my brother 0:12:36.285 --> 0:12:39.565 didn't supposedly even know that. Supposedly her mother was on 0:12:39.845 --> 0:12:44.765 hospice at that time, and then supposedly when she came back, 0:12:45.285 --> 0:12:48.325 he didn't go upstairs to check on my brother at all. 0:12:49.325 --> 0:12:53.525 She just mealed around the house. Supposedly ended up going 0:12:53.565 --> 0:12:58.765 into a room downstairs and trying to go to sleep, arrest, 0:12:59.165 --> 0:13:02.485 take a nap. Bill didn't go check on my brother, 0:13:03.485 --> 0:13:07.045 didn't check on until about eleven thirty that night, twelve 0:13:07.205 --> 0:13:09.645 fifteen hours later, probably. 0:13:10.645 --> 0:13:14.485 When Loreinda went to check on William at around eleven PM, 0:13:14.525 --> 0:13:17.645 that night she found him dead on the bedroom floor, 0:13:18.565 --> 0:13:22.285 and then as we discussed, she called the corner. Something 0:13:22.325 --> 0:13:24.805 else that Ted funds strange is with the layout of 0:13:24.805 --> 0:13:25.205 the house. 0:13:25.965 --> 0:13:27.325 He said, the bedroom where. 0:13:27.205 --> 0:13:29.605 William was found was upstairs and it was an open loft. 0:13:30.085 --> 0:13:32.885 Ted believed that it would have been difficult for Lrenda 0:13:33.165 --> 0:13:36.445 or anyone else to miss signs of his brother being 0:13:36.485 --> 0:13:37.085 in distress. 0:13:37.565 --> 0:13:42.645 His house was very small, and his bedroom was not 0:13:42.845 --> 0:13:47.445 a typical bedroom. It was more of a lost and 0:13:47.645 --> 0:13:51.925 open loft was like a mezzanine. There was no wall divided. 0:13:52.725 --> 0:13:57.045 You know, if he was upstairs just talking normal, anybody 0:13:57.125 --> 0:14:01.645 downstairs could hear him. So she, you know, her claiming that, 0:14:02.245 --> 0:14:04.365 I mean, if my brother was to have went up 0:14:04.365 --> 0:14:07.685 there and collapse, first of all, she would have heard 0:14:07.765 --> 0:14:10.845 him fall. Thing of all, I highly doubt if he 0:14:10.885 --> 0:14:12.605 didn't make any noises. You know. 0:14:13.325 --> 0:14:15.965 At the time, Lorenda had a friend named Linda who 0:14:16.005 --> 0:14:19.245 was visiting her, but the friend wasn't staying with William 0:14:19.285 --> 0:14:23.445 and Lrenda. She was staying in a hotel. So supposedly, 0:14:23.685 --> 0:14:27.645 on Sunday, January twenty second, Lrenda's mother, Martha, confessed to 0:14:27.725 --> 0:14:30.725 Larinda and her friend and gave both of them a 0:14:30.765 --> 0:14:35.885 handwritten confession letter. Ted wonders why they didn't immediately take 0:14:35.925 --> 0:14:38.885 that letter to police. He said, they did not show 0:14:38.885 --> 0:14:42.245 that letter to anyone until the next day, Monday, January 0:14:42.245 --> 0:14:42.805 twenty third. 0:14:43.485 --> 0:14:47.205 Lorenda had a friend come down on a Saturday or Sunday, 0:14:47.445 --> 0:14:52.205 and sometime during Sunday, Lrenda's mom confessed to both of 0:14:52.285 --> 0:14:55.805 them gave them the letter of confession. Well, they said 0:14:55.845 --> 0:14:59.125 on that letter all Sunday night, they didn't call the police. 0:14:59.125 --> 0:15:03.525 They didn't call nine one one allegedly the next day, 0:15:04.045 --> 0:15:07.485 and I say, allegedly it's in it's in a Statement's 0:15:07.485 --> 0:15:14.045 in statements. They get in a vehicle, Linda and Larenda, 0:15:14.805 --> 0:15:19.165 and they go to an attorney. It's not said what attorney. 0:15:19.885 --> 0:15:23.005 It's not said where, whether it was in Clarksville where 0:15:23.045 --> 0:15:26.845 he was killed, or whether it's Russellville where the Colk 0:15:26.925 --> 0:15:31.765 County Prosecutor Jeff Phillip's office is. Nonetheless, that attorney advises 0:15:31.805 --> 0:15:34.765 them to take it to the prosecutor's office. So at 0:15:34.805 --> 0:15:38.485 that point Larinda decides, I don't want to go. So 0:15:38.725 --> 0:15:42.645 the friend drops Larinda off at a hotel, which we 0:15:42.965 --> 0:15:46.125 are assuming it's the hotel of the friends. Because she's 0:15:46.205 --> 0:15:50.605 in town. You stay in town to support Larenda. So 0:15:50.685 --> 0:15:54.005 Linda drops off Lrenda at the hotel. Linda takes this 0:15:54.365 --> 0:15:58.125 note into the prosecuting Attorney's office. Again, don't know if 0:15:58.125 --> 0:16:02.165 it's in Clarksville because his office isn't in Clarksville, or 0:16:02.205 --> 0:16:04.925 if it's in the Russville department, but it does get 0:16:04.965 --> 0:16:06.525 to just up somehow. 0:16:07.125 --> 0:16:11.205 Eventually Agent Foster talked to Larinda, but Lrenda said she 0:16:11.325 --> 0:16:14.125 hadn't been able to reach her mother, Martha. She said 0:16:14.125 --> 0:16:17.845 that Martha was not answering phone calls. She wanted officers 0:16:17.845 --> 0:16:19.605 to do a welfare check on Martha. 0:16:19.885 --> 0:16:24.405 Yeah, whichever office, whether it was Farceville prosecuting office or Russaville, 0:16:24.725 --> 0:16:27.965 Larenda just shut it down and said, I want a 0:16:28.005 --> 0:16:30.965 health and welfare on my mother. So she pretty much 0:16:31.005 --> 0:16:34.525 refused to talk until she had a health and welfare 0:16:34.565 --> 0:16:38.605 on her mother. So they're like, okay, So the state 0:16:38.685 --> 0:16:42.845 police goes out to my brother's property. Martha isn't opening 0:16:42.845 --> 0:16:45.125 the door. They kick in the door. They find her 0:16:45.205 --> 0:16:48.125 laying down, laying on the floor with a pen in 0:16:48.165 --> 0:16:51.605 her hand. Supposedly that's what the affidavit says from Matt Foster, 0:16:51.725 --> 0:16:57.485 the investigator, a note and the confession letter. Another confession letter. 0:16:57.605 --> 0:17:00.245 I suppose she wasn't dead, she was alive. 0:17:00.885 --> 0:17:04.125 Martha was in the hospital for two weeks. Eventually she 0:17:04.365 --> 0:17:07.885 was stable enough to be trained. Ted says that that's 0:17:07.925 --> 0:17:11.045 when the family got another call from the prosecutor's office. 0:17:11.365 --> 0:17:14.045 Well, it got to the point where Jeff Phillips calls us. 0:17:14.685 --> 0:17:17.645 We have a family meeting and it's about an hour long, 0:17:17.845 --> 0:17:21.085 and we do have it recorded. He tells us that 0:17:21.725 --> 0:17:24.845 Martha confessed to it in a letter. He tells us 0:17:24.845 --> 0:17:29.165 that he has to release Martha to somebody. We're like, 0:17:29.245 --> 0:17:35.165 what she confessed? Why can't you arrest her? And he said, 0:17:35.205 --> 0:17:39.165 we don't have the facilities to keep her. And he says, 0:17:39.165 --> 0:17:41.445 so we have to release her to somebody. My niece 0:17:41.485 --> 0:17:43.165 literally is like, well, or at least her to me. 0:17:43.845 --> 0:17:45.845 He's like, it has to be family. He's like, oh, 0:17:46.045 --> 0:17:48.045 She's like, well, I'm family. He's like, no, that'd be 0:17:48.045 --> 0:17:52.725 a conflict. Okay. So he's like, I think I have 0:17:52.845 --> 0:17:57.165 to release her to Lorenda. I said, wait a minute, 0:17:57.485 --> 0:18:02.485 you're going to release Martha to confessed murderer to Lrenda, 0:18:02.805 --> 0:18:06.725 who he told us in that family meeting that he 0:18:06.885 --> 0:18:11.965 suspensed Larnda as the prime suspect, as the mastermind, literally 0:18:12.085 --> 0:18:15.565 nicknamed her the black widow. So he tells us that 0:18:15.645 --> 0:18:19.605 he's going to release Martha to Lorenda. I said, Jeff, 0:18:20.845 --> 0:18:26.245 she won't live the weekend. That was a Friday, I believe, Yeah, 0:18:26.285 --> 0:18:28.205 I don't know, but he said that he was going 0:18:28.245 --> 0:18:30.405 out of town, but he would ride up and arrest 0:18:30.485 --> 0:18:34.325 Affid David and have her arrested, and he didn't need 0:18:34.365 --> 0:18:36.325 to be in town, that they could just go arrest her. 0:18:36.365 --> 0:18:40.565 Once he wrote up his affidavit, he released her to Larinda. 0:18:40.845 --> 0:18:42.645 She was dead like five hours later. 0:18:43.765 --> 0:18:47.885 According to Ted, Martha's cause of death was drug overdose. 0:18:48.405 --> 0:18:52.165 We don't have access to Martha's autopsy report, but Ted 0:18:52.285 --> 0:18:54.885 says he's been told that the manner of death in 0:18:54.965 --> 0:19:03.525 Martha's case is listed is undetermined. The prosecutor announced that 0:19:03.565 --> 0:19:07.325 he was pursuing murder charges. It's William's mother, seventy two 0:19:07.365 --> 0:19:11.605 year old Martha McLean, But then Martha McLean died very suddenly. 0:19:12.805 --> 0:19:17.365 After Martha's death, the prosecutor's office released a statement. It 0:19:17.565 --> 0:19:21.565 said that before official charges could be filed Martha McLean 0:19:21.725 --> 0:19:25.485 had died in hospice care. Ted said that he was 0:19:25.525 --> 0:19:28.925 outraged after Martha died. He said that he spoke to 0:19:29.005 --> 0:19:31.885 Jeff Phillips after the fact and that the prosecutor told 0:19:31.965 --> 0:19:35.205 him he was not aware of how serious Martha's medical 0:19:35.245 --> 0:19:38.605 issues were. But Ted said he has trouble reconciling that. 0:19:39.205 --> 0:19:42.365 He pointed out that even if Martha was more physically 0:19:42.405 --> 0:19:46.405 capable than some people believed, that Martha had admitted to 0:19:46.485 --> 0:19:49.805 attempting to take her own life. So Ted believed that 0:19:49.965 --> 0:19:52.685 was a sign that she obviously had mental health issues, 0:19:53.085 --> 0:19:56.325 and he also questioned the prosecutor's logic of releasing the 0:19:56.405 --> 0:19:59.965 suspect in a murder investigation to someone whom Jeff Phillips 0:19:59.965 --> 0:20:03.165 had allegedly implied could be a co defendant in future. 0:20:04.245 --> 0:20:08.125 Another question I had, why would Martha have so many 0:20:08.205 --> 0:20:11.165 drugs in her home, so much access to them, and 0:20:11.245 --> 0:20:14.245 so much knowledge about how they worked, enough to be 0:20:14.285 --> 0:20:18.565 able to tamper with someone else's medication. Ted started posting 0:20:18.605 --> 0:20:22.685 information on a Facebook page, Justice for William Vick. Some 0:20:22.725 --> 0:20:26.005 people have commented online and said that Martha apparently considered 0:20:26.005 --> 0:20:30.205 herself some kind of amateur veterinarian, so for that reason, 0:20:30.405 --> 0:20:32.965 they said she kept drugs around so she could perform 0:20:33.085 --> 0:20:38.925 veterinary surgeries on animals, including one commenter claimed de skunking skunks. 0:20:39.485 --> 0:20:42.445 We also know that Martha did have various health issues, 0:20:43.085 --> 0:20:44.965 though we don't know if she was terminal or not. 0:20:45.245 --> 0:20:48.725 Either way, her being seventy two years old and having 0:20:48.765 --> 0:20:51.925 issues could explain why she had certain drugs in her home. 0:20:52.605 --> 0:20:55.925 Because William's family felt the legal system wasn't making progress 0:20:55.965 --> 0:20:58.725 on murder charges, they started to take a look at 0:20:58.765 --> 0:20:59.485 the fraud angle. 0:20:59.925 --> 0:21:01.405 They started following the money. 0:21:02.125 --> 0:21:04.565 As I often say in my other podcast, Red Collar, 0:21:04.725 --> 0:21:06.925 where I cover the fraud cases that lead to murder. 0:21:07.525 --> 0:21:11.525 When someone dies and there's a suspicious death, one question 0:21:11.645 --> 0:21:15.245 investigators should ask themselves, in my opinion, is who stands 0:21:15.285 --> 0:21:18.405 to profit from this person's death. In the case of 0:21:18.445 --> 0:21:24.125 William Vick Ted believes that the answer is Laurinda. We 0:21:24.205 --> 0:21:27.365 talked about William's life insurance policies. He had taken out 0:21:27.365 --> 0:21:29.765 two policies before his death, for a total of eight 0:21:29.885 --> 0:21:32.765 hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So I'm going to go 0:21:32.805 --> 0:21:35.565 back just a minute and take a closer look at 0:21:35.605 --> 0:21:39.805 that series of events. On September nineteenth, twenty twenty, William 0:21:39.845 --> 0:21:43.645 applied for a life insurance policy through Farmers and in 0:21:43.685 --> 0:21:46.645 that first policy, which was for five hundred thousand dollars, 0:21:47.125 --> 0:21:50.605 in the event of William's death, Lrenda would receive fifty 0:21:50.645 --> 0:21:54.205 percent of that policy, and each of William's children, will 0:21:54.445 --> 0:21:58.605 and Ashley would get twenty five percent each. Ashley told 0:21:58.685 --> 0:22:00.445 us that her father had talked to her about that 0:22:00.485 --> 0:22:04.605 life insurance policy before he died. Then, on February twenty third, 0:22:04.645 --> 0:22:08.805 twenty twenty two, William submitted another application for a second 0:22:08.885 --> 0:22:12.285 life insurance policy, this time for three hundred and fifty 0:22:12.325 --> 0:22:15.685 thousand dollars, again with the same setup. In the event 0:22:15.725 --> 0:22:17.845 of his death, Larenda gets fifty percent, each of the 0:22:17.925 --> 0:22:21.205 kids get twenty five That policy was issued in March 0:22:21.245 --> 0:22:24.925 of twenty twenty two, but there was a change in 0:22:24.965 --> 0:22:28.925 those life insurance policies, a big change. On July seventh, 0:22:28.925 --> 0:22:32.645 twenty twenty two, Farmers got a form asking that the 0:22:32.685 --> 0:22:37.045 insurance policy beneficiaries be changed, and the same thing happened 0:22:37.045 --> 0:22:41.405 with the second policy, So in a nutshell, after those 0:22:41.405 --> 0:22:45.365 policy change forms were filed, this meant that Laarnda would 0:22:45.405 --> 0:22:49.525 receive one hundred percent of both policies the entire eight 0:22:49.645 --> 0:22:53.165 hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Ashley and William were listed 0:22:53.165 --> 0:22:57.725 as fifty percent contingent beneficiaries, meaning that if Larenda was 0:22:57.805 --> 0:23:00.965 unable to accept the insurance for some reason, like she 0:23:01.125 --> 0:23:03.805 died or turned it down, that is the only way 0:23:03.845 --> 0:23:08.525 they would see any of that money. After William's death, 0:23:09.085 --> 0:23:12.085 the insurance company had a problem because in Arkansas, as 0:23:12.125 --> 0:23:15.565 in many states, there's something called the slayer law. What 0:23:15.605 --> 0:23:18.525 it means is that if someone dies and their suspicion 0:23:18.525 --> 0:23:21.525 that a beneficiary of the life insurance policy could have 0:23:21.565 --> 0:23:25.285 been involved, the insurer will pay out the policy, but 0:23:25.405 --> 0:23:27.845 normally they leave the money with the court until the 0:23:27.885 --> 0:23:31.405 state decides what to do. According to court documents, that's 0:23:31.445 --> 0:23:34.685 what happened here. Farmers wanted to pay out the policy, 0:23:35.325 --> 0:23:38.085 but they said the decedent's manner of death has been 0:23:38.085 --> 0:23:43.085 determined to be homicide and upond information and belief Lrenda 0:23:43.245 --> 0:23:46.445 is a suspect in the decendent's homicide. That is straight 0:23:46.445 --> 0:23:49.605 from court papers. So the insurance company seemed to be 0:23:49.685 --> 0:23:52.245 saying they could not pay out the claim due to 0:23:52.285 --> 0:23:56.685 the Arkansas slayer law. According to court papers, Farmers was 0:23:56.725 --> 0:24:01.045 claiming the case wasn't adjudicated, so they actually couldn't figure 0:24:01.045 --> 0:24:04.045 out whether the Arkansas slayer law meant Larenda couldn't receive 0:24:04.045 --> 0:24:06.965 the benefits or not. And because they couldn't figure out 0:24:06.965 --> 0:24:09.565 if Lrenda could get the money, therefore they could not 0:24:09.645 --> 0:24:12.205 figure out whether Ashley or William would get a payout. 0:24:13.165 --> 0:24:16.565 So Farmer's New World Life Insurance Company filed an unopposed 0:24:16.565 --> 0:24:20.245 motion to interplead the proceeds of the two life insurance policies. 0:24:20.725 --> 0:24:24.205 In other words, they wanted to combine them together and say, hey, 0:24:24.325 --> 0:24:28.485 we're out of this. So the insurance company wanted to 0:24:28.525 --> 0:24:31.045 pay out the eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars minus 0:24:31.085 --> 0:24:34.125 six thousand to cover their attorney fees and deposit the 0:24:34.165 --> 0:24:35.965 rest of it in the registry of the court. 0:24:36.005 --> 0:24:37.405 And that's exactly what happened. 0:24:38.325 --> 0:24:40.925 Now that money eight hundred and forty four thousand dollars 0:24:41.405 --> 0:24:43.845 is with the Clerk of Court in the Western District 0:24:43.845 --> 0:24:47.925 of Arkansas. It's frozen there for now in a disputed 0:24:47.965 --> 0:24:53.405 ownership funds account. This is a situation that happens a 0:24:53.445 --> 0:24:56.445 lot to families. It's actually something I never thought about 0:24:56.485 --> 0:25:00.125 that much until I started investigating suspicious deaths and started 0:25:00.125 --> 0:25:01.085