- Female narrator: She was an ambitious young dancer.
- Greg: She was very alluring, you know, the whole bit.
And, uh, he was just smitten by her.
- Narrator: He was more than happy to bankroll
The lavish lifestyle she'd always dreamed of.
- He wanted to do anything that would please her.
- She was downtown chicago throwing champagne bottles
Out of the rolls royce.
- ♪
- Narrator: But the couple's high life comes crashing down
In a hail of gunfire.
- Neil: Spent casings all over. A body full of holes.
It looks like a war zone.
- It did look like somebody went--[imitates gunfire]--
Right up his midline.
- Narrator: The ensuing investigation will expose
A hidden secret.
- They started having an affair.
- There was money that had to be repaid.
- She thought it was a mob hit.
- Narrator: After a lengthy investigation,
Authorities are left wondering if the truth
Will ever be revealed.
- My immediate reaction was,
We're not getting the whole truth here.
- Richard: Someone conspired with one of his professionals
To change his insurance policy.
Was justice served? Not yet.
- Neil: Listen, the three things for murder, basic:
Money, sex, revenge. That's it.
Follow the money, as they say.
- [gunshot]
- ♪
- Narrator: June 9, 1982. Northbrook, illinois.
It's just after 4 a.M.,
And while most residents are sleeping soundly,
14-year-old eva hartmann is just closing out
A night on the town with her mother, vi kruse,
And her stepmother, debra hartmann.
- Eva: My mom and I went to have dinner with debra.
After dinner, um, debra was still with us
And wanted to go to a couple nightclubs to go dancing.
So, we tried to get into a couple clubs.
I was only 14, of course, I didn't have id.
So, we went to a couple of places 'til she finally
Knew someone and let us in,
And we stayed out, uh, dancing, 'til the morning.
- Narrator: After closing down the club,
Eva's mother drops her and debra off at their home
For the night.
- Eva: As we walked into the house,
The music was playing so loud-- my dad's music.
That was not normal.
That was a very eerier feeling, walking up those stairs.
- Narrator: As eva makes her way up to her father's bedroom,
She's stopped in her tracks.
- I found my dad's body...
Laying on the floor with bullet holes all in his body.
- Narrator: Eva quickly rushes to her 38-year-old father,
Werner hartmann.
- I'm like, you know,
"we've gotta call 911, we've gotta call 911."
All I remember is her grabbing my arm,
Us running down the stairs.
- They left at debra's suggestion,
She said, "come" to eva, "let's go talk to the police."
- Where my dad lived is a very small town
And they've never had a murder in this town.
My father was very well liked.
I was so shocked and the first thing in my mind is,
"who shot him?"
- Narrator: Born in 1944 in manheim, germany,
Werner hartmann arrived in america in the early 1960s,
When he was just 19 years old.
With just a few dollars in his pocket,
Werner set up a secondhand stall at a florida flea market.
- Everyone loved him. His laugh, his smile.
Beautiful blue eyes that just lit up the room.
Very sociable, very friendly.
- Narrator: There at the flea market,
Werner fell for 18-year-old vasiliki "vi" kruse.
- She seemed to be a very, very sweet lady.
Very nice, very warm.
Werner always spoke very highly of vi.
- Narrator: The couple married in 1964
And soon had a daughter, stephanie, in 1965.
- It got tougher to earn a living and, um, you know,
Support them in the way they want.
- Narrator: To support his family,
Werner traded his secondhand stall for a position
As a door-to-door electronics salesman.
In 1966, the hartmann family moved to chicago,
Where werner could finally realize his dream
Of owning his own store.
- Eva: He opened up his first store and got huge.
He put stereo equipment in private schools,
And police stations, and boats.
- Richard: Back when he was in business,
You couldn't go to best buy and have an incredible
Car stereo installed.
He was before his time, and I think that's why
He was so successful.
- Narrator: In 1967, werner and vi added
A new member to the family: Their second daughter, eva.
As his family and his business grew,
Vi began helping with bookkeeping.
- My friend told me this guy was making money hand over fist.
It was just-- he was making big money.
- Adrienne: He got the money and wherewithal to start
Living a different kinda life, which he did.
- He liked to go to a nice restaurant, we would travel.
- Narrator: Werner moved his family to chicago's
Most exclusive suburb, northbrook,
And bought a ritzy home in one of the best neighborhoods.
- Leonard: You might call it ostentatious.
It was big and, you know, fairly impressive.
- Eva: He was very successful.
He would take us to nice restaurants,
Take us downtown chicago
And enjoy the food, and his friends.
- Narrator: While werner embraced
The nouveau riche lifestyle,
His humble wife, vi, felt out of place.
- One day they just told us that they were getting a divorce,
And the next thing you know, my mother and my sister and I
Moved out of the house and, um, got an apartment.
- Narrator: After an amicable split,
Vi and the girls moved to florida,
Leaving werner alone in his palatial chicago home.
Now single and wealthy, werner spent most of his nights
Out on the town.
- Greg: Werner would oftentimes go down to the stone park area.
Stone park is a--or was-- a community that the bars
Stayed open 23 hours a day.
Uh, they'd only close for one hour.
And it was well known for exotic dancers in the clubs.
- Narrator: In 1978, at one of the strip clubs,
Werner was dazzled by a 24-year-old dancer
Named debra stover.
- Debra, as I understand it,
Had--grew up in an abusive home,
And the father would beat her.
She quit high school at 15 to be--I will quote, "model."
And she would teach dancing.
- Eva: She looked a lot younger.
She had that smile.
Debra could charm men, she had a thing,
She was good at it, she knew how to do it.
- Narrator: For debra, werner was different
From the seedy men she usually met at the strip club.
- I would think that most women would love to meet
A successful, warm, nice, kind human being
That would love them and provide a--a great lifestyle.
- Narrator: The couple married just two months after meeting,
And debra's life changed forever.
- Eva: She, you know, grew up with nothing and now has money,
And drove the mercedes, and the fur coats and the jewelry.
- Narrator: After a year away, vi, eva and stephanie returned
To the chicago area, allowing for werner
To hopefully see more of his teenage daughters.
- My dad worked seven days a week,
On all the holidays, christmas, every single day,
So we didn't get to spend a lot of time with him unless
We went to the store to see him.
- One would presume that, you know, everything was great
From the outside.
What a perfect life, uh, how could things be any better?
Hey, this guy's got it made. He hit the american dream.
- Narrator: But that dream was short-lived.
On June 9, 1982, werner's wife and daughter
Rush into the northbrook police station
And tell officers that the 38-year-old local businessman
Has killed himself.
- I don't know how you got killing yourself
With bullet holes...
Laying in a pile of blood.
I was in--I was in shock.
We were together for a little bit
And then they separated us.
- Narrator: Moments later, officers arrive
At werner's home.
- Neil: You don't know what you're walking into.
So, we went into the home and we're on alert, obviously,
Had our guns drawn and, uh, we're looking around.
We cleared the first floor, we went up to the second floor,
And then we found werner hartmann, uh,
Laying on his back, obviously shot up,
Full of bullet holes.
It was very apparent that it was not a suicide.
- I would characterize it as resembling an assassination.
- Narrator: Coming up, was this wealthy businessman
Really what he seemed?
- Oh, my god, he owed everybody money.
- Narrator: And an unlikely suspect is revealed.
- They started having an affair.
- He couldn't help himself. He loved her.
- ♪
- Narrator: When officers arrive at the home
Of successful businessman werner hartmann
On June 9, 1982,
They are taken aback by the brutality of his death.
- You could see all the bullets--some missed,
Some didn't--that went into the room.
Spent casings all over. A body full of holes.
It looks like a war zone.
- Leonard: It would seem to me that he was totally caught
By surprise.
He came out of the bath and...Bang.
- Narrator: Based on the pattern and number of shots,
Police suspect that werner was killed
With an automatic weapon.
- Neil: I knew it was a gun with a clip,
With at least 20 or 30.
It was a semi-automatic weapon that could, you know,
Obviously hold a lot of rounds.
We figured it was a mac-10.
- Leonard: Judging by the nature of the line
Of bullet holes up this guy,
It would be consistent with his mechanism of death.
It did look like somebody went-- [imitates gunfire]--
Right up his midline.
- Whoever did it wanted to make sure he was dead.
- Narrator: Detectives arrive on the scene
And quickly get up to speed.
- He was outside of the bathroom and heading for the bedroom,
Was sort of like, uh, a hallway-ish sort of area.
He was shot repeatedly from the front
And fell on to his back and was
Basically looking up at the ceiling.
- Neil: It was very obvious that there was not
A burglary that'd gone bad.
There was no forced entry. The house was not ransacked.
- I've never read about a robbery going bad where
Someone's shot 14 times.
This had to be personal.
- Narrator: While investigators examining the crime scene
Find no fingerprints, they do uncover clues
That suggest the glitz and glamour
The hartmanns outwardly displayed was a facade.
- In their house, I mean, it was a nice area,
But the house was really a dump inside.
There was piles and piles of late bills.
Bills on his desk, all over. I mean, the unpaid bills,
Gas, electric, mortgage, car payments.
- Narrator: After wrapping up at the crime scene,
Detectives head back to the station
To get more intel from werner's wife, debra,
And his daughter, eva.
- Eva: I'm in tears freaking out.
I'm besides myself, I am a total mess.
- Narrator: While eva collects herself,
Detectives sit down with debra for a formal interview.
- She did not seem defensive at all.
Uh, she did seem upset.
Her statements to us were that she was in love
With mr. Hartmann--with werner.
Uh, and that she was truly saddened by his death.
- Narrator: According to debra, she didn't have much to do
With her husband's business, but even she knew
That werner was struggling.
- Greg: He wasn't focusing on that business.
It was starting to go down the tubes.
You know, he had built this great thing,
And he wasn't being receptive, apparently, to customers.
- John: Mr. Hartmann and debra hartmann spent more
Than the business was bringing in.
- Narrator: Debra fears her husband may have turned
To one of his customers with ties to organized crime
For help.
- Neil: Her whole thing was they were in so much debt
That he must have got money from the mob,
He wasn't paying it back.
She thought it was a mob hit.
- I wouldn't be surprised if there were some links here.
That it was juice loans and maybe they were trying
To get back at werner.
- Narrator: With werner's failing business,
An easy loan from the mob would have seemed
Like the solution to all his problems,
But based on the crime scene,
Investigators immediately doubt that theory.
- Neil: First of all, if it was a mob hit,
It wouldn't be that messy.
A mob hit would be a stomach, heart, head.
Three shots, that's how they make sure you die.
Uh, secondly, mob guys are in business, right?
So, let's say werner did borrow money from the mob,
Alright, if they kill werner,
They're never gonna get any money.
None of that makes any sense.
- Fourteen shots, that's pretty personal.
You don't need that many shots to kill someone.
- Narrator: Convinced the murder is personal,
Police give eva and debra a gunshot residue test
Before releasing them.
While the results will take a few weeks to come back,
In the meantime, detectives call vi kruse,
Werner's ex-wife, to tell her the news.
- She was hysterical, and she just got in the car
And rushed to the police station and just couldn't believe it.
When they calmed her down and she verified the story,
That she had been with debra and her daughter dancing around,
Having a good ol' time out clubbing.
- Narrator: Vi says that after the divorce,
She made peace with werner and his new wife
Before moving to florida.
Then, a few months before werner's death,
Vi says he called her up and begged her for help
With the business.
- She came in and she was astounded to see the books
Showing all this debt.
Oh my god, he owed everybody money.
- Jewelry, furs, rolls royces, luxury car, luxury home,
Prestigious suburb, that's not a cheap lifestyle.
- He was down to, like, nothing in money.
I mean from a guy who had-- we all thought millions.
And there was basically no money left.
- Narrator: Vi says that she told werner
That he needed to get his spending under control,
But the problem was debra.
- Eva: Debra, you know, would show up,
Come get money out of the cash register and then leave.
She went to new york with her girlfriends,
Spent thousands of dollars, started going out to nightclubs.
- She was spending his money.
They'd see her at downtown chicago throwing
Champagne bottles out of the rolls royce.
- Narrator: According to vi, werner confided
That debra's spending wasn't the only problem
In the relationship.
- She had a boyfriend. And his name was john korabik.
- Narrator: Vi says that 30-year-old john
Was an out-of-work pro tennis player
Who had come into werner's shop looking for a stereo
When he locked eyes with debra
About six months prior to the murder.
- He was a lot younger than werner. A lot younger.
He was sort of tall, seemed like a fairly good-looking guy.
Let's put it this way: He seemed more like her type
Than werner would've.
- He was a hunk. And, uh, werner was werner, you know,
He was a nice man who loved her passionately,
But, you know, she was young and they took a liking
To one another, shall we say,
And they started having an affair.
- Narrator: According to vi, debra lavished john
Like werner had lavished her.
- They were both driving convertibles, you know,
It was just, uh, like a scene from "magnum pi" or something.
- Narrator: Allegedly, werner put up with the affair,
Even allowing john to move into his new home with debra.
- John was staying there,
And my dad was sleeping on the couch.
That was like the most bizarre thing to me.
- John: There were various allegations of infidelity
And arguments regarding property.
So, uh, it--it w--was a conflicted relationship.
- Werner felt, though, that eventually,
Debra would get tired of john,
You know, and she'd come back to him.
- She had her hook in him deep. He couldn't help himself.
He loved her.
- Narrator: However, according to vi,
Werner's hope to reconcile his marriage began to waver.
It seemed debra had her sights set on john,
Leaving werner to make a difficult decision.
- Werner did file for divorce against debra
And tried to recover some of the property, you know,
He'd given her, the minks, the cars.
- That created a lot of tension. Fights. Big ones.
- There'd been some incidents at the house, um,
Where the police were called.
- Narrator: While investigators begin to look into debra's
Alleged relationship with john korabik,
On July 4, 1982, investigators get the results
From the gunshot residue analysis that was performed
On debra and her stepdaughter, eva hartmann.
- John: Debra's hands did not show any gunshot residue.
Eva's showed, uh, gunshot residue.
- Mine came out positive from the gun powders.
It was the most horrifying experience.
I just lost my dad, and on top of all that,
They thought I was involved.
- Narrator: Detectives are faced with the disturbing theory
That eva might be the killer,
Which makes her mother and stepmother
Potential accessories.
- Somebody would've had to cover for her if she did it.
Because she was with debra and/or, uh vi, all the time.
So she had an alibi.
Unless that alibi was also false.
Was vi, you know, providing a cover-up for her?
- Narrator: Detectives call eva to the station
For an interview.
When confronted with the results of the test,
Eva becomes hysterical, and swears she is innocent.
- She was very confused and delirious.
She was very traumatized.
She...Hadn't had sleep.
- John: Because she was upset, we felt that, perhaps she was
Unable to give us as much information as--as we thought
She might have.
- Narrator: Coming up, investigators pull out
All the stops to get to the truth.
- Sometimes people suppress things subconsciously
That they don't know about until they get hypnotized.
- We went into an office and they turned off the lights
And I just sat down, kind of like you see in the movies.
- ♪
♪ - narrator: It's been nearly a month since werner hartmann
Was murdered in his home,
And detectives are desperate to know if his daughter,
Eva hartmann, may be involved in his death.
- John: Anytime you fire a weapon,
Certain, uh, powders and elements are given off.
One of the reasons to test is to determine if that person
Had or had the opportunity to have a gun in their hand.
In eva's case, gunshot residue got on her hand.
- Narrator: Though eva is adamant she is innocent,
Detectives decide to take an unusual approach
To find the truth.
- If you lost all your aven--other avenues,
Sometimes people suppress things subconsciously,
I've s--you know, seen it, and sometimes it works.
Sometimes they see things, uh, or hear things that they,
You know, that they don't know about until they get hypnotized.
- Eva: At this point, I was willing to do anything.
So, I was very cooperative.
I did everything that they asked me to.
We went into an office and they turned off the lights
Where it was, you know, darkened,
And then the person who was hypnotizing me and I
Just sat down, kind of like you see in the movies,
And you kind of just had you relax.
- Narrator: When the psychologist questions eva
About werner's murder, it becomes obvious
That they have hit a wall.
- In spite of its, uh, abilities to relax people
And get people to remember things they might not
Otherwise remember, in this case, wasn't really
Generating the memories that we were wanting to know about.
- Greg: I mean, they had nothing.
There was basically nothing more to it.
She didn't seem like she was involved.
- I did everything, the hypnosis, the--
Everything they wanted me to do, go over, and at that point,
They said they finally had confirmed
I've been telling the truth.
- That 14-year-old girl didn't gun her father down, okay?
- Narrator: Detectives have to find another explanation
For the gunshot residue on eva's hands.
- If she saw him laying there, she might have stepped over
And grabbed him; you can get a transference.
And there was enough residue on that body, trust me.
- I had touched all the walls walking up, and my dad,
So that's how I had gunpowder on me.
- Narrator: Back at square one, detectives ask john korabik,
The boyfriend of werner's wife, debra hartmann,
To come to the station for an interview.
- He had no criminal record, that we knew of--that I knew of
At the time, he had never been arrested for anything.
- Adrienne: He had an alibi, he said he was having dinner
With his boss.
The boss and his wife corroborated that.
- Narrator: When john's alibi checks out,
Police have no choice but to release him.
- It's a perfect alibi, I mean, you just don't know
What you're looking for, but you--cover all your bases.
- Narrator: Detectives begin reaching out to those
Connected to werner,
Including his friend and attorney, richard colombik.
Richard details a disturbing conversation he shared
With werner just days before his murder.
- He called up, goes, "mr. Colombik, I'm scared."
And I'm like, "what? What--what are you scared of?"
He said, "I overheard my wife and her boyfriend talking.
"they didn't know I was there,
And they were talking about how to kill me."
And I said, "if you're at the house, leave the house.
Immediately go to the police or call the police."
And he said, "I'll do it, and I'm really scared."
- Narrator: Police have no record of werner filing
A report with them,
But the story finally gives them what they need:
A suspect.
- Richard: When someone calls you and says,
"my wife and boyfriend are plotting to kill me,"
And they subsequently get killed within a day or two,
It never occurred to me that anyone else could have done it.
- Narrator: Looking for a solid motive,
Detectives contact werner's insurance company
For details about his life insurance.
- Listen, the three things for murder, basic:
Money, sex, revenge.
That's it. Those are the three motives.
It's not rocket science, you just follow the money,
As they say.
- John: There were two insurance policies.
It was also discovered that there was a third
Insurance policy that apparently was issued
On mr. Hartman's life.
- Adrienne: I think it'd be almost a million
If you totaled up the policies.
And one of them, I believe, was, um, double indemnity.
If you died not from natural causes,
You get twice the proceeds.
- Narrator: If werner was drowning in debt
And considering divorce,
Detectives believe debra and john had only one option
To keep up their lavish lifestyle.
- There's your motive right there, you know, it's huge.
- We think now that she's involved and it's time to start
Focusing on her more than in the past.
- Narrator: Detectives contact debra for a second interview,
But they are directed to her newly hired lawyer instead.
- She wouldn't make any statement, and at that point,
Nobody was making a statement against her.
- The police couldn't find enough evidence
That could stand up in court.
There were no eyewitnesses to the murder.
They really didn't have enough to go on.
- Narrator: After months of running down evidence,
Leads begin to fizzle, and the case grows cold.
Debra collects her insurance, and she and john part ways.
- Adrienne: Debra stayed in the house for a while,
But she couldn't, uh, afford it, you know,
And so she moved to a much more modest place
In an adjoining suburb: Deerfield.
- Greg: Nobody had been charged and everybody assumed
That they were--this two did it,
And I think it was just so outrageous
That nothing had happened.
- Narrator: However, after two long years, in 1984,
Authorities finally catch a break.
In a seemingly unrelated case, atf agents arrest gunrunner,
58-year-old ken kaenal,
Who was trying to sell undercover agents illegal guns.
- It was this career criminal.
The guy lived in jail-- in and out a jail.
It was no big thing to him.
- Narrator: In one of the many undercover recorded
Conversations with ken,
He mentions firing a unique gun in his basement: A mac-10.
The same kind of gun used to kill werner hartmann.
- A friend of his started working in a gun store--
The gun shop--and he was very knowledgeable about guns,
So they gave him this mac-10, I believe.
Ken, in his basement, tried it out.
And it just kept firing.
It was very rare and, um, you didn't see them very often.
- Another state policeman goes, "wow, that's the same kind
Of gun that was used in werner's murder."
- Narrator: As detectives work to connect ken
To werner hartmann's murder, they make a shocking discovery
That changes the course of the investigation.
- Ken kaenel was john's former roommate.
- Narrator: Coming up, detectives get an unlikely ally.
- He was very crafty and a seasoned criminal,
"oh, what am I gonna get out of this?"
- Narrator: But can he be trusted to deliver?
- He was supposed to incriminate the others.
She'd left him a little gift of $3,000.
- ♪
- narrator: Three years after businessman
Werner hartmann was gunned down in his home,
Investigators suspect that convicted gunrunner,
Ken kaenel may be tied to werner's unsolved murder.
On may 9, 1986,
Detectives arrange for an interview with ken.
- They said to him, "oh, so what do you know about
Warner hartmann?" and he was a little startled.
And he was like, "whoa, they know about that?"
- Narrator: Ken's reaction convinces police that they are
On the right track, but ken isn't the type to talk.
- He was very crafty and a seasoned criminal,
"oh, what am I gonna get out a this?"
So he was willing to help as he saw it.
- Narrator: Officers say that nothing ken says
Will be used against him if he tells them
What he knows about werner. Ken agrees.
- Adrienne: He said john and debra contacted him
And they asked him if he'd kill werner for them.
- Leonard: I think it was a .380 caliber automatic pistol
And the promise of a large sum of money
If he would shoot the husband.
- Adrienne: And he said yes at first.
So they gave him this mac-10, I believe,
And ken, in his basement, tried it out.
- Leonard: He crawled into a crawl space under his house,
Test-fired the gun, which, according to him was rigged
That when you pull the trigger, it went full auto
And the entire magazine emptied at once.
- Adrienne: It wouldn't stop spewing bullets and he thought,
"I don't wanna work with something like that."
He said, "forget it."
- He got cold feet, gave 'em the gun back and said,
"nah, it's not a job for me."
- Narrator: Before the interview with ken is over,
Investigators ask him to pay debra a visit
While wearing a wire.
- We say, "if you wear the wire and do what we ask,
Then your sentence will be lighter."
- So he agreed to wear a wire and go talk to debra.
- Narrator: In may of 1986, ken visits his old friend debra
At her home in deerfield, illinois.
- They were hoping they'd incriminate her
And that would be really good for any case.
But somehow, they didn't trust ken.
I mean, you know, he was kind of a slippery type,
And they went to the house-- debra's house--
And they saw him go in.
He was supposed to be getting her to incriminate the others.
But instead, he said to her...
So that was the end of that.
They never got her to incriminate herself
And then they knew he was not the best witness to have
'cause he was willing to try to help his friends.
- Narrator: Without ken's testimony,
The investigation stalls yet again.
That is, until 1988, when detectives decide
To take a second look at the paperwork
For werner's life insurance policies.
- Adrienne: They had an expert look at it,
And the technician could say that wasn't
Werner hartmann's signature.
- Narrator: If the documents had been forged
Without werner's knowledge,
Detectives suspect that debra must have had help.
- We believe debra conspired with one of his professionals
To change his insurance policy,
And we didn't know which one it was.
- Adrienne: They looked at phone records
And they found evidence that, uh,
She had been making a series of calls just prior
To the murder to, uh, john, of course,
And then the insurance agent, harvey loochtan.
- Narrator: Detectives confront 52-year-old harvey loochtan
At his office.
- Harvey collapsed immediately and dissolved and agreed
He'd been part of this scheme.
- Narrator: Harvey tells police that werner had contacted him
In March of 1982 to tell him that he was divorcing debra
And wanted to take her off his life insurance.
- He said, "I am changing them to my daughters,
They will be the sole beneficiaries."
- Narrator: Not long after, harvey says he received
A visit from debra, who was dressed to the nines.
- She saddled up to him and said very--you know,
Very sexily, "I'd like you to change this one policy
And just have me as the sole beneficiary."
She'd left him a little gift of $3,000,
And she had also, kind of, you know,
Had been very suggestive and sexy, and he was getting
All kinds of allusions about
The time he could spend with debra.
- Narrator: Harvey says that everything went smoothly
Until he received a phone call from werner in early June.
- Werner got some notice that his policy was changed.
And then he called up, you know and said,
"hey you gotta change this."
- He said, "I want my daughters, eva and stephanie,
To be the sole beneficiaries."
And loochtan promised he'd change it.
- Narrator: Instead, harvey says he called debra
To warn her that her husband was catching on.
- If you look at the totality of the situation,
It appears that she was instrumental
In trying to plan his murder.
- I think if he never would've changed the policy,
My dad never would've been murdered.
- Narrator: Coming up, detectives call in the big guns
To close the case.
- Neil: When the federal government
Comes after you, they don't lose.
- Narrator: And a long-awaited trial makes front-page news.
- It was headlines. It was big.
- Neil: She's dressed up like she's a little schoolgirl.
You know, "I didn't do anything, you can't prove anything."
- ♪
- narrator: In January 1989,
Nearly 7 years after the murder of werner hartmann,
Police have zeroed in on his wife, debra hartmann,
As the crime's mastermind.
- Eva: There was just not enough proof because
They cleaned up so well, and obviously this was
A planned murder
And they did a really good job at covering it up.
It just went stagnant.
- It took a long time, it took, uh, seven years
For them to finally pull it together.
They're trying to pull together enough threads
To have a case that'll stand up in court,
But they really didn't have enough to go on.
- Narrator: Though state prosecutors don't have
Enough evidence to bring murder charges,
Federal prosecutors, on the other hand,
Do find a reason to become involved.
- Fbi only get involved if a federal law has been violated.
Illinois state police stepped in when it appeared
That it was an insurance fraud, which,
If the mails are used, can become a federal crime,
That's when the feds got involved.
- They got them for mail fraud, 'cause they mailed
The fraudulent document in the mail.
Uh, they forged the life insurance policy.
When the federal government comes after you
Or puts you under their microscope or investigates you,
They don't lose.
They got the money, and the time and the resources.
- Greg: The federal case had to do with the actual
Insurance policies,
That's really what it centered on, okay?
And the fraud that took place
In both obtaining the insurance policy
And paying on the insurance policy.
It becomes a federal crime because of the fact
It's crossed state lines.
- Richard: I understood the fact that law enforcement
And the prosecutors, of course, wanted to prove everything,
But you have to go with your strongest case
'cause you're not gonna get a second shot at it.
The reality is they didn't have the evidence necessary
To prove who committed the murder.
- Narrator: On January 20, 1989,
Debra hartmann, her ex-boyfriend, john korabik,
John's former roommate, ken kaenel,
And werner's insurance agent, harvey loochtan,
Are arrested and charged with wire and mail fraud.
- I got a phone call and it was like--
It was the happiest news ever because I just thought
That they were gonna, you know, that they got away
With--with murder and nothing's gonna happen,
And there was just nothing we could really do.
They did not have a murder charge, yes,
But at the same time, you have to look at the good.
- Narrator: In November 1989,
John and debra are tried together.
Though they aren't on trial for murder,
Evidence from that night is allowed to be presented
As the motive for the fraud.
Prosecutors start by saying that debra was a gold-digger
Who risked losing her meal ticket in a divorce.
- Debra did not wanna go back to the life
That she was once doing.
Now she's different, she has everything,
She wasn't willing to give all that up.
It was enough motive to murder my father.
- She was in it for the money, and when the money was gone,
She had to come up with something.
His insurance policies were there and that was her payday.
- Narrator: Prosecutors believe that after john's
Former roommate ken backed out of being the triggerman,
John agreed to do the shooting himself.
- She knew how to attract men and ensnare them
And use her powers in that way.
- Greg: I think john was smitten with her just like werner was,
And he--and he went along with the program just to make sure
That, you know, she got her money
And they could be together.
- Narrator: Prosecutors allege that on June 8, 1982,
Debra went out with werner's daughter and ex-wife,
While john snuck into werner's home with a mac-10 machine gun.
- Adrienne: He was shot 14 times
In his head and throughout his body.
- [gunshots]
- Adrienne: And then, while the body is lying there,
He then drilled him again.
- [gunshot]
- Narrator: Prosecutors say that john then fled the scene
To solidify his alibi,
Allowing debra to return home and play the shocked widow.
- You stuck a 14-year-old child,
You had her walk up the stairs when you knew that body
Was around the corner.
You knew I was going to find my dead--
My dad dead...Body.
That is a cruel, sick person.
- Narrator: After the prosecutors' powerful argument,
Defense attorneys remind jurors that although
There is evidence that john and debra benefited
From werner's death,
There is no evidence that they actually killed him.
- They were sitting there, and she's dressed up like,
You know, like she's some little schoolgirl.
You know, "I didn't do anything; you can't prove anything."
- Eva: Debra was still like, you know, playing,
"oh I--I didn't do it."
She had on her long mink coat, her hair done up,
Her face, her makeup.
- You can't prove who the murderer was,
Who shot whom, uh, where's the gun?
They could never find the gun.
- Narrator: After a three-week trial, the jury returns
With a verdict on December 15, 1989.
- I think she was very astounded when they found them guilty.
The jury only took like three hours to come up
With the verdict.
So, those ten women and, uh, the two gentlemen,
I think, saw through things very quickly.
- Narrator: John is sentenced to 16 years in prison.
And on March 12, 1990, debra receives her sentence.
- Debra was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
- Eva: I really think that debra was more shocked than anybody
Because she just thought, "I'm gonna get away with this."
- Narrator: Although debra isn't found guilty of murder,
There is hope that one day she will be held accountable
For the crimes that many believe she orchestrated.
- Was justice served? Not yet.
And maybe one day it'll get the break they need
To bring the rest of the case.
- Neil: She should be in prison for life
For the murder of her husband.
She was the author, the producer.
It was all done because of her.
He married the devil, he just didn't know it.
Poor guy.
- Debra was a user, and this guy was, you know,
Just wanted affection, and it led him to his death.
- I'm sorry that you went so soon, dad, you were so young.
And I love you and I miss you and...
I wish that you were still here with us,
And I wish that you could've met your grandchildren.
You have five of 'em.
We love you, dad.
- ♪