[narrator] a hardworking army veteran
Is shot dead with no witnesses.
[jeremy] this was a complete whodunnit.
Your instant gut feeling is this is gonna be a tough one.
[narrator] but the victim's sons are convinced
They know exactly who's to blame.
She was hoping he would die in the hospital.
[william] we go back over there
And all of his 100,000 pieces worth of nascars and hot wheels,
Everything was gone.
And there's animal's feces
Everywhere through the whole house.
[henry] the urine smell was so strong.
She was gonna make sure it was unlivable.
[narrator] when investigators finally uncover the truth,
It reveals a plot even more bizarre...
He told detectives that he was a trained assassin.
She wanted to make sure that she got
What she felt like was owed to her.
[gunshot]
[theme music]
[narrator] in southern indiana,
Residents of scott county enjoy a peaceful lifestyle.
It's a rural community that's made up of
A lot of hardworking, blue-collar citizens.
It's got a small-town feel all the way around.
Everybody knows everybody.
[narrator] but on September 27th, 2015,
That sense of security is disrupted
By an alarming 911 call.
[narrator] the caller, leo butera,
Says he's a mechanic who came to the house
To work on a car.
[sirens wailing]
[chris] when first responders arrive to the scene,
There was a gravel driveway
That led kind of back off of the road behind another residence.
[jac] I saw a man lying behind a gate.
There was blood coming out of his nose and around his mouth.
As I approached, I knew immediately
That something was not right.
I waved my hand over the top of his eyes.
I saw no movement in the pupils.
And upon further investigation,
I can see that there was a, a hole in the side of his temple.
I checked for a pulse and didn't get a pulse.
And I was able to ascertain at that moment
That he was obviously deceased.
[jeremy] and the caller, leonard butera, was standing there,
Explaining to them what he seen.
He believed that subject to be bill reynolds
Because leonard was a friend of his.
[chris] and he was able to tell first responders
Who mr. Reynolds was and who his family members were
So that contact could be made with them.
On a call like this, you can never determine immediately
If it's a self-inflicted gunshot wound or not.
In this case, the location of the wound, it was a toss-up.
Crime scene tech from the indiana state police
Was summonsed.
He moved the body to see if there was a gun underneath.
Uh, there was no gun, no shell casing, nothing.
The indiana state police
Immediately consider this a homicide
And were full speed with their investigation.
We were going to figure out what happened to bill reynolds.
[narrator] bill reynolds was born in dayton, ohio
On July 28th, 1946.
He grew up in a broken home
And learned to fend for himself from a young age.
My dad didn't talk about his childhood a whole lot
Because I don't think it was the greatest.
When he was younger, he lived with his mother.
And as he got a little older and became a teenager,
He moved from ohio into indiana.
[william] he was a family man.
You know, he took real good care of his family,
His mom, his sisters.
[narrator] at 18, bill married his high school sweetheart,
Intending to start a family of his own.
Those plans were soon disrupted.
[henry] it wasn't long after they got married that he was
Drafted into the army.
And of course at that point, you know,
He, he had to go to, overseas to vietnam.
So I'm sure that that had somewhat of a strain,
You know, with my mother and my dad's marriage.
[narrator] while bill was overseas,
His wife gave birth to their first son.
But bill still had several more years left
On his tour of duty.
[william] he was over there about four years.
He got all kinds of medals.
[henry] my dad seen a lot of things over there
That he never talked to us about.
It was, you know, the way I understood it,
It was pretty dramatic, pretty traumatizing.
He was, he was ready to get out of there.
Dad came back from the service to indiana,
And then my mother got pregnant again with me.
Dad bought a small little house there, in blocher, indiana,
And that's where him and my mother lived
And began to raise their family.
Dad got a job.
He, uh, worked at the lumber mill
At that time for his brother.
And they seemed to be doing really well.
[william] my mother and my father was married
For about eight, nine years.
You know, they had a great relation.
And then I guess they finally just fell out of love,
And then they went their separate ways
When I was about seven.
[narrator] after his divorce,
Bill started working as a long-haul truck driver.
[henry] my dad was very adventurous.
The whole truck driving thing gave him the opportunity
To explore and do the things that he really liked to do,
And also get a paycheck for it.
[narrator] when he was home,
Bill spent his free time refurbishing cars.
[henry] he liked, you know, fast cars--
Corvettes, firebirds.
Whatever the, uh, new car was
That had the biggest motor and the fastest engine.
But as he got older, you know,
Car prices went from five thousand dollars
To forty, fifty, sixty, seventy thousand dollars.
So I think at that point,
He kind of transferred that over to watching nascar on tv
And collecting the nascar cars, the die cast cars.
He started picking his favorite drivers.
He felt like they're gonna be worth money someday,
So this is gonna be an investment for me.
[narrator] by the time he was in his fifties,
The kids were grown and bill was living a solitary life.
But he got another chance at love
When he met a single mother named dalene cates.
[william] he seen that she had some chihuahuas for sale.
So he went over and got a chihuahua.
[henry] he told me, "hey, I met someone, henry."
You know, "she has red hair
And she reminds me of reba mcintyre."
My dad always had kind of, like, a tv crush on reba.
So when he met dalene, he thought, this is the woman
That I've looked for my whole life.
[narrator] after only a few months together,
Bill asked dalene and her grandkids
To move in with him,
While dalene's daughter, johnetta, worked on the road.
[henry] johnetta lived out of state,
And she was also a truck driver.
On the road a lot, was never home.
[amaris] bill was an amazing papaw.
He was great.
Dalene mainly fell for bill because of the way he was
With my brother, michael.
It's very hard to find a man who is willing to take on
The responsibility of a handicapped child
Who requires 24-hour care.
It seemed like my dad and amaris had a,
Had a very good relationship.
[amaris] there was one time-- I was learning to drive,
And I might've accidentally busted the headlight.
Bill lied to my grandmother and said it was him who did it
So she wouldn't be mad at me.
[narrator] in 2013,
Bill decided to give marriage another try.
Dalene accepted his proposal,
But bill soon faced a new setback.
About two years after my dad and them got married,
He ended up with cancer on his throat.
Dad going through vietnam, you know, surviving,
Making it through all that, he's a pretty tough guy.
So he, he beat it. He made it.
You know, the surgery was a success
And he made it out okay. So, dad was excited.
He was ready to continue on with his life.
[narrator] less than a year after his recovery,
Bill is found dead in his driveway.
Evidence at the scene indicates bill was murdered.
The question for investigators is, why?
Any time you pull up to a crime scene with no witness,
No murder weapon, no physical evidence at the scene,
And a victim laying there in broad daylight
With nothing to go off of,
Your instant gut feeling is this is gonna be a tough one.
[don] we did search the residence.
At that time, we did not find any evidence
Or anything that lead us to believe
That anything had occurred inside.
[narrator] as the coroner prepares
To transport the body for an autopsy,
Bill's sons arrive at the scene.
And they have a strong feeling about who killed their father.
[don] henry reynolds and william reynolds
Could see their dad laying in the driveway.
And, um, they were very upset.
[william] the police officers, they telling me to back up
And I melted down.
And I was screaming, "they killed him.
They killed him. They killed him."
[narrator] coming up:
The prime suspect turns out to be someone close to home.
[henry] she was acting very odd and strange,
And he could just tell something's not right here.
[narrator] and the investigation gets stranger
At every turn.
[william] we walk into my dad's house
And there's animal's feces everywhere,
And everything was gone.
[theme music]
[narrator] the scott county sheriff's office
Is investigating the murder of 69-year-old bill reynolds,
Who was found shot in the driveway of his indiana home.
We had no weapon. We had no shell casings.
This was a complete whodunnit.
And we had no witnesses available to us.
[narrator] while the crime scene offers little explanation,
Bill's sons tell police they know someone
Who might have wanted him dead.
[jeremy] after the arrival of the family on the scene,
They were immediately interviewed by, by deputies.
[narrator] bill's sons explain
That their father's battle with cancer
Had caused a strain on his marriage.
And when bill managed to recover,
Dalene was anything but relieved
When he was ready to return home.
Me and my brother went down to pick him up from the hospital
To take him home over there.
[henry] dad goes back to the residence
And he starts noticing there's, uh,
Some pretty peculiar things going on.
A bunch of his clothes were packed up.
Dalene was acting very odd and strange,
And he could just tell something's not right here.
[william] he said, "I need some clean clothes."
And she said, "they're outside on the porch."
He said, "what's my [bleep] doing outside on the porch?"
She just said, "I was cleaning."
And you know, he says, "cleaning,
"you don't vacuum seal people's clothes
And put them on the back porch."
She was boxing them up to get rid of them.
[narrator] they soon discovered
Dalene made some other changes as well.
[henry] he gave dalene the power of attorney.
So if he don't make it out,
She takes care of the belongings.
[william] when they was in the hospital,
She took all of his car titles
And put them all in her name.
Dalene had put the piece of property
In both of their names as well.
He kinda put two and two together
That she didn't think I was gonna make it through surgery.
She was hoping he would die in the hospital.
[narrator] the chilling realization
Led bill to end the marriage.
Once he filed for divorce, things got pretty heated.
She filed a restraining order against my dad.
And so, dad had to leave the residence.
And then, uh, dad went and lived with my brother.
[narrator] bill's sons say as soon as he moved out,
Dalene's daughter, johnetta hall, moved in.
Johnetta hall had come back to indiana
And was staying at the residence with dalene cates.
[amaris] dalene did not have many friends,
So she would talk about her and bill's arguments with johnetta
And vent to her, which in turn would make johnetta feel as if
She had to defend dalene.
Johnetta was very emotional, uh, and, and very upset.
[narrator] and the problems only got worse.
Any time you file for divorce,
You're, you're technically not supposed to
Touch any of the property or get rid of any of the property.
My dad felt like that dalene was,
Was hauling all the property off the premises.
So my dad, uh, talked my brother and I
Into taking a video camera
And videoing as much as we possibly could
Of what was there.
[william] he had probably had over
A hundred thousand pieces worth of nascars and hot wheels.
And he had a dale earnhardt jr. In his bathrooms
From the floor stacked all the way to the ceiling.
He had the gold series and the platinum series in the house.
They're worth quite a bit of money
'cause they're 24-carat gold cars.
[chris] the family had indicated to us
That the collection was worth
Probably in excess of $100,000.
[henry] we went and videoed the cars and everything was there.
He was just trying to protect himself
So at the end, it could be split evenly and fairly,
And that he wasn't gonna be taken advantage of.
[narrator] as divorce proceedings moved forward,
In August 2015, the court awarded bill
Possession of the residence.
The judge ordered dalene to vacate the property
By September 20th, just a week before bill was murdered.
[william] we go back over there,
And all of his nascars, everything was gone.
His truck was gone. Everything was gone.
She had chihuahuas.
We walk into the house
And there's animal's feces
Everywhere through the whole house.
The urine smell was so strong
That you couldn't even stand to be in there
More than five minutes.
I mean, we had to open up all the windows and all the doors.
She was that upset that she had to vacate the premises
That she was gonna make sure it was unlivable.
[narrator] dalene had also left behind
A thinly veiled threat.
When we went on to the living room,
In his chair set a can of remington gun oil.
Like, here you go.
And he kept saying, "they're gonna kill me.
They're gonna kill me. They're gonna kill me."
Dalene was extremely mad about the fact that she was not
Awarded the house.
She believed it was completely and utterly unfair to her.
She cussed, ranted, and raved about it
Multiple times a day.
[narrator] but despite his concerns,
Bill refused to be intimidated.
They had spent several days cleaning the house
To try to get it to the spot where it was livable.
And the night of September 27th, 2015
Was actually going to be bill reynolds' first night back
In his residence.
There was nothing left but, you know, the bare essentials.
The vehicles, was some of them was still there.
You couldn't start it or nothin'.
So that's when he had leo butera come over to his place,
So he could start it and drive it around.
But when they showed up there,
That's when they found him dead.
[don] william and henry reynolds believe
That dalene had murdered their father, bill reynolds,
Because they were going through a divorce
And she wanted to make sure that she got
What she felt like was owed to her.
[chris] given the information that had been provided by
The sons of bill reynolds,
Detectives decided it was imperative
To make contact with dalene cates.
[narrator] investigators call dalene
And set up a meeting with her
At her new residence later that night.
[jeremy] they sat down on the front porch,
And it was at that time that dalene was made aware
That bill was deceased.
Dalene seemed visibly upset at that news.
She indicates that they'd had their trouble,
But she'd been with him a long time
And she did care about him.
[narrator] despite dalene's emotional reaction,
Police notice some red flags.
[chris] she had been cleaning and had cleaning supplies out.
Given the fact that they had just left the scene of,
Of a murder, it immediately raises suspicions
That someone's trying to clean up evidence.
[don] dalene was asked directly if she had shot bill reynolds.
And she said "[bleep] no."
It would be more personal to her.
She would use a knife or a bat.
She would not use a gun.
The reaction of hearing this, like,
Is she saying this right now?
[chris] she was asked whether or not she owned any weapons.
She told law enforcement that she owned a .410 shotgun
And a .38 special
That she had not seen for quite some time.
She indicated it could either be in storage
Or in some box somewhere from the move.
She was also asked if she'd been with anybody
To determine whether she was involved or not,
Or if she has a solid alibi.
[chris] ms. Cates indicated
That she had been cleaning her new residence
With her daughter, johnetta hall.
She indicated that ms. Hall left the residence
Around two o'clock to go get some groceries
In madison, indiana.
[chris] dalene was asked if she would provide her cell phone,
Because in that cell phone,
We can tell her gps location--
You know, where she was at at the time of the crime.
She expressed that she had nothing to hide
In this investigation
And she was willing to give her phone up.
[narrator] dalene remains a suspect,
But there's still someone else police want to talk to.
I needed to make contact with johnetta
To determine her whereabouts and any involvement, if any.
Chief deputy don campbell made me aware of
Some recent police involvement with johnetta hall.
The police had been called out there a couple times
For harassment calls or things of that nature.
He said johnetta was tough to deal with.
We're still left with questions, a lot of questions.
[theme music]
[narrator] after their interview with dalene cates,
Investigators follow up on her alibi
Involving her daughter, johnetta hall.
You have to work looking at every avenue, at every lead.
You cannot leave anything unturned.
[jeremy] it was decided that I was going to
Try to reach out to johnetta hall.
I was, I actually obtained her phone number
Through our dispatch, uh, from recent calls of service.
I placed a phone call to johnetta and she didn't answer.
I left a voicemail and explained
That I was an investigator with the sheriff's office
And that I needed to speak with her
In reference to an investigation.
[narrator] a few hours later, johnetta shows up in person.
[jeremy] around 8 pm the night of the murder,
Johnetta arrived at the sheriff's office,
And we conducted an interview with her.
She did not ask, you know, "oh my gosh, what happened?"
That was a red flag for us in this investigation.
[jeremy] when confronted with the fact
That she was not concerned,
Her explanation was that it wouldn't surprise her
If someone had killed him
Because that's just the way he had been dealing with people.
[jeremy] she had explained that there used to be
A great relationship between dalene and bill.
She blamed the change and things on cancer
And that, uh, after the treatments,
That it changed his personality.
He became a vindictive individual
And he was, uh, very rude and hard to deal with.
[don] I could tell that johnetta did not like bill reynolds.
It was, like, almost personal based on just her, her demeanor.
[narrator] johnetta's behavior shifts her
From being an alibi witness to a potential suspect.
[jeremy] she was asked the same questions dalene was asked.
Tell us a little bit about your day, how your day's went,
Where you been.
Um, we're tryin' to establish a baseline.
[chris] johnetta hall tells law enforcement
That she had been helping her mother clean
At the new residence,
But that she had left the residence
To take a rug to a storage unit.
She also says that after leaving the storage unit,
That she went to the circle k in austin, indiana to buy bread.
After leaving the circle k, she headed north,
And headed through the muscatatuck wildlife preserve.
[jeremy] that stuck out as odd to me, you know.
Uh, it was an odd statement.
Why are you tryin' to get lost?
[narrator] there was nobody to corroborate or verify
Where she was at when she claimed she was at these places.
So, with there not being' a witness,
We ask her for any evidence.
[chris] and she was eager to produce that receipt
To law enforcement to show where she had been
At the circle k, buying the bread.
[jeremy] she provided us with her cellular device
And her password to google
And gave us permission to explore that.
And in doing so, we were able to, um,
Extract gps coordinates locations
From a certain time frame before the murder,
After the murder, during the murder.
[narrator] to their surprise,
Investigators find out johnetta's telling the truth.
[jeremy] with her statement that
She was all up in the wildlife refuge,
We were able to find those points
And show that she indeed was up there driving around.
Officers were able to search johnetta hall's vehicle
And once again, they came up with no evidence.
It was kind of like a, a kick in the teeth.
It kind of set us back.
[chris] at the end of the initial interview
Of johnetta hall, detectives let her leave the sheriff's office.
And although she was free to go,
Officers seemed to have some suspicions
And didn't feel comfortable with the way that had gone.
So, they wanted to make sure they did
Some additional follow up to what they had learned.
[narrator] police talked to dalene's neighbors,
Who support her alibi.
It was confirmed that dalene had been at her residence
Or on that property for all of the day,
Had helped the neighbors clean some cabinets,
And according to the neighbors, she had not left.
Detectives ask them if dalene or johnetta
Had asked them to lie for them about their whereabouts
On the day of the murder.
They stated that they did not.
[narrator] investigators still feel like
The women aren't telling them the whole story.
[jeremy] it just didn't feel like
She was answering or questions truthfully
Or, or, or wholly, I should say.
Because of the history, the family history, that, uh...
Raised the hair on the back of your neck
That you might be on the right path,
There are some red flags that need to be followed up on
In this investigation.
[narrator] coming up:
A suspect's cover story comes under scrutiny.
Why did she lie?
Why did she say she was there by herself?
[narrator] and a murder plot unfolds.
He called him and said, "can you pick me up at my apartment?
Um, I got a job to do."
And he knew then that they were going to kill somebody.
[gunshot]
[theme music]
[narrator] with dalene and her daughter johnetta's whereabouts
Both accounted for,
It seems neither woman could have been
Bill reynolds' shooter.
But since they both have strong motives,
Investigators still believe they might have been involved.
[jeremy] sometimes people responsible for murder
Don't actually carry out the act.
They're responsible for potentially planning it,
Potentially aiding and assisting in the murder
By providing a murder weapon.
There's a whole list of things
That can include someone in a crime
That can't be ruled out just by, uh, a location alibi.
The next morning, an autopsy was performed
On bill reynolds sr.
There was a partial projectile
That was recovered in the .38-caliber range.
[chris] dalene indicated that she had a .38 revolver,
But she did not know where that gun was located.
[narrator] detectives wonder if johnetta
Might have had a reason to move the weapon.
[jeremy] we was able to obtain the surveillance footage
From the storage express facility
That johnetta had said that she had placed a rug in,
And also from the circle k gas station
Where she provided us with the receipt.
[chris] upon obtaining the surveillance videos,
It was learned that johnetta hall was, in fact,
At the storage express in austin, indiana
And at the circle k around the same timeframe.
[narrator] but despite her previous claims of solitude,
Johnetta was not alone.
[chris] the detectives noticed that johnetta hall
Was with two male individuals at both places.
And why did she say she was there by herself?
[jeremy] with the circle k surveillance footage,
You could see individuals,
But you couldn't really see facial features.
But we were able to get a license plate,
A picture of the license plate, on the vehicle
From the storage express' camera.
[chris] officers were able to run that plate.
It was a temporary plate
That was traced back to a male individual
By the name of jacob mathis.
None of our local law enforcement knew who they were.
It was important that investigators find out
Who jacob mathis is.
[jeremy] we were provided with a possible apartment
That he was staying at in clarksville, indiana.
[narrator] on September 28th,
The day after the murder,
Police locate jacob,
And he agrees to come in for an interview.
[jeremy] mathis, when asked, "do you know why you're here?"
Said, "I have a feeling that something bad has happened."
They knew then that they might have someone in front of them
That has knowledge of this murder.
They began explaining to jacob
That they were conducting a death investigation.
And jacob openly admitted that he, um,
Had went to scott county.
[chris] the day of the murder, September 27th,
He indicates that he and one of his roommates
Met a lady named johnetta at a storage facility
And obtained some nascar memorabilia.
He said that he and his roommate was going to start a business
Where that they would sell nascar memorabilia
Or other items on the internet.
[narrator] although he freely admits
His connection to johnetta,
Jacob denies that he or his roommate
Had any further involvement.
There are certain people he will give names to,
But certain individuals he won't say their name.
[narrator] but after hours of questioning,
The pressure begins to take its toll.
[chris] he accidentally lets the name of his roommate,
Kerry heald, slip, uh, during conversation.
They're also able to determine that johnetta hall
Is the mother of his roommate's girlfriend, amaris.
They finally confront him and ask, you know,
About him being in scott county
And if he was at the residence of bill reynolds.
[narrator] at that point, jacob breaks down
And confesses to everything.
He stated that heald called him and said,
"can you pick me up at my apartment?
Um, I got a job to do."
And jacob stated that he knew then
They were going to kill somebody.
They drove about thirty to forty-five minutes
To a rural area, kerry backed the car up, kind of blocking,
He reported, the driveway and the fence.
He reported seeing that.
And, uh, jacob stated that kerry shot bill reynolds
In the driveway.
[gunshot]
[jeremy] and when they got back in the car,
Kerry handed, uh, jacob the gun and said, "wipe that off."
He says that he takes a shirt
Or some kind of cloth material from his vehicle
And wipes off the revolver,
Sticking it, I believe, in the passenger's side floorboard
Of his vehicle.
[jeremy] at that point in time,
Jacob just became involved in a murder.
[chris] he further indicated to police
That he had been involved with some meetings
Regarding the killing of the individual
Between johnetta hall,
Amaris bunyard, and kerry heald.
He told detectives that kerry heald
Had been hired by johnetta hall
Because he was a trained assassin,
And that jacob mathis was a master body disposal expert.
Officers did reach out to the homicide division
From louisville, kentucky,
And nothing ever came of that,
And there's no reason to believe that, that any of that
Was actually true.
[narrator] based on his statement,
Jacob is arrested for murder.
And investigators pick up the alleged shooter, kerry heald,
For questioning.
Heald initially stated that he was not in scott county
On September 27th, 2015, at all.
We quickly confronted him.
[jeremy] he initially pointed to mathis as the shooter,
But the further the interview progressed,
We started pointing out some inconsistencies with his story
And used some information from mathis' interview against him,
And, and he initially, um, turned around and confessed.
He stated that they, that he did kill bill reynolds,
That him and mathis were hired by johnetta hall
To carry out this murder,
And that johnetta hall provided them with the weapon to use.
And the agreement was that she was to be given the weapon back
And then, then she would dispose of it.
He took nascar memorabilia as payment for this crime.
[chris] kerry heald indicated that, at first,
He did not want to commit this murder,
But that johnetta hall had continued to tell him things
About bill reynolds to finally goad him into
Accepting this offer.
The straw that broke the camel's back was
She had indicated that bill reynolds
Had been sexually assaulting amaris bunyard.
[narrator] investigators immediately place kerry
Under arrest.
Kerry ray heald is my son.
It made no sense to me
That, um, kerry ray would ever do anything like that.
On the news, they-- kerry ray's mugshot
Is right there on the tv
And that he was arrested in um, a murder.
That's how I definitely found out about it.
I didn't believe for a second that he had done it.
[narrator] now detectives set their sights
On the remaining co-conspirators.
The next step in this investigation
Is going to be to interview amaris bunyard
And re-interview and potentially arrest johnetta hall
For the murder of bill reynolds.
[theme music]
Heme music] [narrator] armed with jacob mathis
And kerry heald's confessions,
Indiana police bring johnetta hall in
For another round of questioning.
[chris] at this point in the investigation,
We had the statements, her being that johnetta hall
Had hired kerry heald to commit the murder,
And the things that had been offered to him as payment.
When confronted with these things,
She decided that she didn't want to speak,
That she wanted to exercise her right to an attorney,
And she was placed under arrest by
The scott county sheriff's office.
[narrator] johnetta's daughter, amaris, is more forthcoming.
[jeremy] so, on September 29th, 2015,
A detective with the state police and myself
Interview amaris bunyard.
In my gut, the minute I saw them, I said I knew.
I knew I wouldn't be going home that night.
I was still very freaked out over the whole situation.
[jeremy] she stated that, that she was present
For several meetings,
And that they all were involved in conversations and planning
On murdering bill reynolds.
[chris] she further indicated
That during the move of dalene cates,
Johnetta hall took a handgun,
Slid it into the purse of amaris bunyard,
And told her to conceal it
So that dalene cates did not see it
Being removed from the residence
And to go out and give it to kerry heald.
Johnetta kept saying things like,
"we don't want dalene to do something stupid."
So, we snuck all of these weapons out of the house.
I never thought in a million years
That kerry would actually do anything.
Who really accepts to kill somebody for nascar?
In my mind, that's just not a thing.
[narrator] but a few weeks later,
He proved amaris wrong.
[amaris] kerry told me while we were in the car,
He said, he said,
"I just came back from killing your grandfather."
He said, "I walked right up to him
And I put the pistol between his eyes and pulled the trigger."
They left him the driveway.
Just left him there.
[narrator] amaris's statement implicates her in the murder,
But also confirms dalene was not involved.
After only two days of investigation,
Three of the four suspects in bill reynolds' murder
Are now in custody.
In February of 2016,
Amaris bunyard joins her co-conspirators behind bars.
It was important that we get, in my opinion,
The two biggest players, which were
Johnetta hall and kerry heald.
Kerry heald being the shooter
And johnetta hall being the mastermind.
To do that, we needed the cooperation
Of the other people involved.
[narrator] rather than face a jury, kerry pleads guilty
In exchange for his cooperation with authorities.
Amaris and jacob take similar deals.
In September 2020, johnetta's trial begins.
[chris] in the prosecution of this case,
We had a lot of evidence,
But one key piece of evidence that we never ended up with
Was the murder weapon.
[narrator] although the prosecution's case
Is largely circumstantial,
They believe the motives speak for themselves.
[don] johnetta hall committed this crime
Because she thought that her mother
Was getting out of a relationship
And not going to get anything.
[jeremy] she was extremely upset that she did not get her way
And that bill won and was able to relinquish the property back.
[chris] I think the motive for amaris bunyard
To be involved in this
Was approval and love from her mother.
[amaris] I knew what type of person johnetta was.
I never honestly took this situation seriously
Until after the fact it had happened.
And I didn't do anything.
I'm a coward for that.
[chris] kerry heald's motive to conduct this murder
Was financial gain for him
From the things that had been promised him by johnetta hall.
[jeremy] I would label jacob mathis as a follower.
Heald showed him attention that I think that he needed,
And I think he would've followed kerry heald
Into the gates of hell if he'd led him.
[narrator] the defense argues
There is nothing to connect to johnetta
To bill reynolds' murder
Other than the word of his confessed killers.
But the jury doesn't agree.
After a, a trial that lasted almost two weeks,
Johnetta hall was found guilty of murder
And conspiracy to commit murder,
Was given life without parole.
[jeremy] I don't think it took too much for johnetta to snap,
Because in my opinion,
Johnetta is a monstrous, vile, and evil human being.
[don] she manipulated those kids.
She used them to do something that she couldn't do herself.
I kept pushing kerry, wanting him to tell me everything.
What would she have ever said you to,
To make you want to do this?
And he said, "she painted such a picture of such a monster."
And that's what he, you know, fell for.
[chris] johnetta hall had convinced him
To go through with this by telling him stories
About how mr. Reynolds had been abusive to her
And other family members.
However, with follow-up investigation,
Law enforcement was able to determine
That that was not accurate,
And that had not been occurring.
[valeri] she took my son's life, too.
She took him. She took him away.
[narrator] johnetta had been willing to say anything--
And sacrifice anyone--
To get what she wanted,
Including her own daughter.
I didn't think that I would be arrested.
While in county jail after I was arrested,
I did make contact with johnetta
In an attempt to find out why things had happened
The way they had happened
And why she was saying the things she was saying.
It made no sense to me.
[narrator] and amaris pays the price.
I eventually signed a plea deal for 30 years,
Suspend 10 of them,
Do 20, with a 75 percent time.
So, when all said and done,
Once I am released, I will do 15 years.
If I could turn everything around,
If I could change what I did and didn't do, I would.
I hate myself every day
For not being there for the one person who did love me.
[henry] even though myself and my family
Were very satisfied with johnetta
Getting life without parole,
There's still that void there.
[william] it still ain't right behind me.
I'm still dealing with it every day.
Like, I go down and put a new flag on my dad's graveyard.
He was a vietnam hero, and he took care of me and my brother,
And he'd just want to be remembered.
[music]