- FEMALE NARRATOR: Barbara Burns spent most of her life
caring for her younger sister, Debbie.
- Debbie suffered a bunch of brain damage
and neurological damage.
- Barbara not only was the caretaker for her sister,
she also became the breadwinner of the family.
- NARRATOR: Then a surprising inheritance changes everything.
- She thought, oh, we're rich.
We've got all the money in the world.
- They had kind of a fantasy-type life.
- All of a sudden, they're traveling to California,
and then they're traveling to Australia
and taking a tour all around.
- NARRATOR: But dreams die hard when the money runs out.
- NARRATOR: A terrifying discovery reveals a dark secret.
- It had definitely been months that, that body had been rotting
under that shroud of sheets.
There were all kinds of air fresheners.
- There was bowls and potpourri.
Just anything you could think of to try to mask the smell
of a decomposing body.
- NARRATOR: What happens when a kind heart turns hateful?
- Sometimes circumstances create a devil.
- NARRATOR: And a confession so haunting
even the accused can't believe it.
- They told me that I killed my sister,
and I don't know what happened until this day.
- *
- NARRATOR: May 4th, 2005, St. Petersburg, Florida.
- St. Petersburg is a beautiful city.
It's on the water.
Um, there's many types of people from different areas
that live here.
They come from all over the country
to live in our beautiful city.
- It was kind of a sleepy little town for retirees.
In the last 10-to-15 years, downtown has exploded
with a bunch of new buildings.
It's become a lot more residential.
- NARRATOR: At 10:30 AM, independent contractor,
Jason McCain, and his son have been sent to a residence
on Yellow Pine Drive in a mobile home community
on the north side of town.
- The residence had been purchased
and had fell into foreclosure.
The finance company had hired a cleaning company to go in,
clean it all out.
- When they got there, the neighbor who lived
to the right-hand side to the south side said,
no one's been in that home in like eight, nine months.
- NARRATOR: Upon entering, the cleaning crew is met
with a foul odor.
- They assumed that the bad odor was rotting food
from the refrigerator.
- There was a Christmas tree half undecorated in the hall and
there were calendars and pieces of life left strewn about.
It didn't look like, um,
anything had been disturbed for months.
- Out on the screened-in, front porch,
there was a foosball table.
There was a pinball machine, and then there was Star Wars
memorabilia was again, more indicative
of a child being there.
- They just started going through the uh, trailer.
It was kind of odd because it looked like someone had
just picked up and left.
They began just going through their business.
They, uh photographed and started boxing things up.
- They saw all over the room
there's little cardboard air fresheners for cars.
There were stand up dial air fresheners all over the counters
and closets and the, uh, dressers and stuff.
- NARRATOR: As the cleaners make their way through the trailer,
the smell intensifies as they approach one of the bedrooms.
- They noticed an awful odor in one bedroom,
so they decided to do that bedroom last.
They started to clean out the entire residence,
loading it onto a couple of utility trailers
out in the front yard.
They did almost, probably three-fourths of the house
before they got to the last bedroom,
which that door was shut.
They went into the bedroom,
and that's when they came across the mattress with, um,
several blankets on top of the mattress.
- They start trying to gather up the sheets on the blankets,
and the guy can't lift it.
They realize that there's something in the blankets,
something like wrapped up in the blankets.
- So they pick it up and it sticks to the mattress.
He actually said that it felt like Velcro coming apart.
- And the whole time they're like trying not to throw up
because it smells so horrible in there.
- NARRATOR: What the men find next is unlike anything
they've encountered before.
- They pulled the bag up and tossed it to the floor,
so that they could take all the mattresses out.
And when the bag landed on the floor, it tore,
revealing a human leg and foot.
It was found inside a plastic bag.
It had been wrapped in towels and sheets.
- NARRATOR: When St. Petersburg police arrive,
they begin with trying to identify the body.
- Our deputies, they observed the foot coming out of the bag,
and they uh, knew that the person was deceased.
The body was so decomposed, we could not tell if it was
male or female. You could not tell uh, the race.
- Police pretty quickly knew it had been months,
that it was so badly decomposed um, that it had not just been
a few days or weeks.
- We were able to check the county records,
the tax records for that residence.
And that confirms that Barbara Burns and Deborah Burns
did own that residence.
Two people with the same last name,
we suspect that they're sisters live at that residence.
At this point in the investigation, uh,
all we have is a deceased body.
The sisters were missing, and we have no idea, uh,
their location or their status.
- NARRATOR: Barbara Burns was born on June 4, 1951,
in Maryland to a blue-collar family.
While she was the third of five children,
she was the first girl.
- She grew up outside of Washington, DC.
Barbara's father worked nights. He was a printer.
Mr. and Mrs. Burns had four children within five years.
- She enjoyed certain movies.
She was very likable, very jolly,
has a wonderful personality.
- The Burns family would spend every summer at Virginia Beach.
These were the best times of Barbara's life.
Swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, running on the beach.
- NARRATOR: In 1964, when Barbara was 13 years old,
her youngest sister, Debbie, was born.
And while the family welcomed the addition,
Debbie had a rough start to life.
- When Debbie was two years of age,
she contracted scarlet fever.
- She suffered a bunch of brain damage and neurological damage,
and uh, became learning disabled to the point that she never
really matured beyond a six year old.
- Barbara's father died shortly after, and Mrs. Burns then
became the breadwinner for the family.
It was at that time that Barbara was asked to leave school--
to leave high school and help take care of Debbie.
- NARRATOR: At the age of 15, Barbara's life stopped,
and her sole focus was to care for Debbie.
- Little Barbara became her nursemaid, ah,
babysitter person, as well as her sister.
That's where everything changed.
- It's really hard to imagine what it must have been like
to be a high school student one day
and then a mother the next.
I can't imagine that responsibility.
- NARRATOR: By 1981, the older siblings left the nest,
and Margaret Burns and her two youngest daughters
moved from Maryland to a small apartment
near St. Petersburg, Florida.
To make ends meet,
Barbara found a minimum-wage job at a local restaurant.
- Barbara was a hard worker.
She was always on time,
always did what you asked her to do, anything extra.
She was a very good employee.
- NARRATOR: Soon after their move,
Barbara was put under even more pressure.
- Barbara's mother had arthritis and was eventually
unable to work.
Barbara not only was the caretaker for her sister,
she also became the breadwinner of the family.
- NARRATOR: Over the next decade,
Barbara continued to be the only source of income
and care for the trio, and her personal life was nonexistent.
- She kept to herself.
She didn't really talk about herself or home life.
- She worked from sun up until the dinner shift came in,
and then she would go home and make dinner for her sister
and her mom.
Uh, she also worked at the Bealls Outlet,
which is kind of like a Florida discount, you know,
dress slash department store.
- NARRATOR: After 19 years
of living with her mother and sister,
35-year-old Barbara had to make the difficult decision
to put her mother in a nursing home
due to advanced Alzheimer's.
Sadly, she passed away in November of 2000.
But the Burns family would suffer another tragedy
soon after.
- Not so long after the mother passed away,
their brother, John died.
- NARRATOR: Though they had been apart,
John never forgot his sisters
and decided to help them with a large inheritance.
Barbara could finally breathe a sigh of relief
from the constant financial stress she endured.
- When John died, he left $350,000 for the care of Debbie,
which sort of absolved Barbara from the financial burden,
because she'd been bearing that as well, you know,
working minimum-wage jobs, trying to support both of them.
- At that point, the two sisters had more money
than they'd ever dreamed of.
- Barbara quit her job, and they began taking lavish trips.
- All of a sudden, they're traveling to California,
and they're traveling to Australia
and taking a tour all around.
- NARRATOR: The sister's biggest purchase was a new mobile home.
After spending their lives struggling to get by,
Barbara and Debbie wanted a place to call their own.
- One of the things they did with that money
was put a deposit down on an $80,000 mobile home,
and were paying a mortgage on it.
- NARRATOR: But tragedy seems to have followed
the Burns sisters once again.
As detectives are examining a badly decomposed body
and are unsure if they are looking at one of the sisters.
- There was no way that you'd be able to identify the person.
Decomposition was too far advanced.
No one's reported anyone missing from this address.
- NARRATOR: Inside the residence,
the Pinellas County medical examiner
starts by cutting through the plastic encasing.
- It is wrapped in towels and sheets,
which are removed layer by layer and piece by piece.
The body's basically mummified.
- We could not observe any um, signs of a struggle
or any defensive marks.
- NARRATOR: Despite the extensive decomposition,
authorities discover a crucial piece of evidence.
- We learned at the crime scene with the medical examiner
that there was a single gunshot wound to the forehead.
And we knew that there was not an exit wound.
- Once it was a bullet hole in the forehead,
they knew it was a homicide.
They just didn't know who or why, or how, or when.
- NARRATOR: Coming up...
As police dig deeper into the sisters' lives,
they uncover a troubled relationship.
- Debbie began hitting Barbara
and actually picked up Barbara's beer
and dumped it over.
- NARRATOR: And once the victim is identified,
a shocking suspect is revealed.
- She's got some explaining to do as far as
why she's cashing her sister's checks in Virginia Beach.
- *
- NARRATOR: In May of 2005,
investigators in St. Petersburg, Florida,
find human remains inside the foreclosed home of sisters
Barbara and Debbie Burns.
- At this time, we don't even know
that it is one of the sisters.
Could the sisters have left and someone else
had lived at the residence like a renter
that wouldn't show up on records?
We don't know. We have to get that body identified.
That would give us a starting point.
- NARRATOR: Police believe they're dealing with a homicide,
but this clearly was not the result of a robbery.
- There were no items in the crime scene to suggest
that this was a home invasion or a burglary.
As items were left behind, a television, cameras.
- I looked at the crime scene with no forced entry
and you know, nothing really being disturbed.
We assumed it was somebody that was let into the house
or someone that was actually residing in the residence.
- NARRATOR: Authorities reason that the assailant was trying
to cover up what had happened in the home.
- There were all kinds of air fresheners, you know,
everything you could buy over the counter and plug-in and
the dial pop-up things and the car automotive ones
that you hang on the cardboard.
- There was boxes of baking soda open throughout the house.
There was bowls and potpourri.
Just anything you could think of to um, you know,
try to mask the smell of a decomposing body.
- The evidence just said
that this body has been in this house, and someone's been
trying to cover it up for a long, long time.
- NARRATOR: Detectives first priority
is to determine the identity of their victim.
While they wait for the autopsy results,
they start by trying to locate Barbara and Debbie Burns.
- There's no vehicles uh, belonging to Barbara or Deborah
at the scene.
After doing a records check, we did find out that Barbara
did have a van registered to her,
and at this time it was missing from the scene.
- We were able to track that car back to the dealership.
We made contact with the owner of the dealership.
We learned that uh, Barbara and Deborah Burns used to come
into the dealership to pay weekly on that vehicle.
- NARRATOR: The office manager remembers the sisters
all too well.
While they've been prompt with their payments for months,
recently the payments had stopped altogether.
- They would come in and make their monthly payments.
They even would bring cupcakes into her.
A few months later, they were no longer making payments
on the van.
They attempted to repo the vehicle at the residence.
However, the vehicle was no longer there.
Then, in January, the vehicle was located
at the Greyhound Bus Station down in St. Petersburg.
The dealership went and repossessed the vehicle,
and since then had resold it.
- NARRATOR: With the van apparently a dead end,
investigators hope that the residents of the community
might be able to generate a lead.
But neighbors explain that the sisters kept to themselves.
- Most of the neighbors said they'd seen them, you know
coming and going. They were there.
They were home a lot, but nobody really knew them.
- They'd wave to them and maybe say hi to them and talk
about the weather, but it was very limited on any type of
conversation they had with the owners of the house.
- There've been numerous months since the last time they saw
Debbie or Barbara Burns, according to the neighbor.
- NARRATOR: While neighbors didn't know much
about the Burns sisters,
they did offer some crucial information
that could help identify the victim.
- The neighbor said that Debbie only had three teeth
and also had scoliosis and walked with a distinct limp.
- NARRATOR: Investigators passed this information along
to the Pinellas County medical examiner.
- In observation of the body, we learned that the subject
only had three teeth and a twisted spine.
- At autopsy, they're going to take bone tissue for
mitochondrial DNA testing.
- NARRATOR: After reviewing the DNA results,
police are now able to ID the body
as 40-year-old Debbie Burns,
the youngest Burns sister.
And what's more, they determine the bullet that struck her
is a .38 caliber.
- Once we have her identified as Deborah Burns,
now we want to know
where's Barbara Burns? What's her status?
Is she alive? Um, where is she located at?
And she would go to the top of the list as being a person
that we need to speak to about this murder.
- NARRATOR: In order to track down Barbara,
detectives seek assistance from her former employer.
- During our investigation, we were able to identify
coworkers at the various places of employment
that Barbara Burns had.
One of those was Linda Ware, that worked with Barbara
at a clothing department store.
- The investigator called me and asked me if I knew
a Barbara Burns, and I proceeded to tell him
she was an ex-employee.
- NARRATOR: Linda Ware was Barbara's boss at a retail store
called Bealls Outlet several years earlier.
- He asked me if I knew Debbie, and I said, yes, I did.
And he proceeded to tell me that they had found Debbie dead
and asked me to come in for questioning.
- Linda Ware tells us Barbara Burns worked,
and then she took care of her special-needs sister.
She basically didn't have a life, a social life
outside of the relationship she had with her sister.
They were together 24/7, whenever she wasn't at work.
- My first impression of Barbara was that she was a hard worker.
She was dependable.
She had a very good personality, very likable, very energetic.
I believe a very sincere person.
- NARRATOR: Linda tells investigators that when it came
to Debbie's care, Barbara had made incredible sacrifices.
- Debbie needed to be constantly supervised
and was not able to live independently.
- Linda explained to us that Deborah did not treat
Barbara very well at all.
Deborah was very demanding, very disrespectful,
very rude to Barbara.
- She was bossy to Barbara and mean to Barbara.
I seen the mean side when we all went out.
I think it was our Christmas party.
And while we were out, Debbie wanted to go home.
She didn't want to stay any longer,
and Barbara was having a good time
and wanted to stay a little bit longer.
And Debbie began hitting Barbara
and actually picked up Barbara's beer and dumped it over.
And so, Barbara left before anybody else because
Debbie wanted to go home. She was like a child.
I don't think Debbie understood things in life.
She couldn't understand that she couldn't have what she wanted.
She couldn't understand that it wasn't all about Debbie.
- NARRATOR: Coming up...
Tensions boil over when the money runs out.
- Within three years, they blew through $350,000.
- NARRATOR: And is one sister's first shot at love
too good to be true?
- Debbie had a relationship with somebody that she thought
was going to marry her.
- Barbara was concerned that she may have been um,
being taken advantage of.
- NARRATOR: 24 hours after the remains of Debbie Burns
are discovered in her home, Pinellas County investigators
are learning about the relationship between Debbie
and her sister, Barbara.
Barbara's former boss explains that the trouble began in 2001
when Debbie and Barbara's brother died
and left the sisters a large inheritance.
- That's when Barbara quit working for me.
She came in and told me that her sister had inherited
quite a bit of money and that they were going to travel,
and that she would have to give me a two-week notice.
- NARRATOR: Linda Ware explains that Barbara didn't know how
to say no to Debbie,
and when Debbie wanted something,
Barbara gave it to her to keep her pacified.
- This was exacerbated by the fact that now the sisters
had a large amount of money.
Debbie didn't have the impulse control
you would expect from someone that age.
She wanted it all, and she wanted it now.
- NARRATOR: Eventually, Debbie demanded her own credit card,
and with the boom of online shopping,
Debbie was like a kid in a candy store.
- I went to Barbara's trailer a few months after
she had quit the store, and it was filled with toys.
It was filled with Star Wars characters, Star Wars games,
Star Wars pinball machines. I mean, more than a collector.
I believe that they spent their money on whatever Debbie wanted,
whatever she insisted on having.
- They never had money before.
They bought that house on Yellow Pine Street,
and Debbie was spending the money just daily
buying trinkets and stuff.
- I told her that she should put the money in a trust
and have someone take care of it for them and maybe give them a
monthly sum, but she never did.
- NARRATOR: Linda says in 2003, Debbie started venturing
into online chat rooms where she met a man from Miami.
- Debbie would get online and meet men, and uh,
I guess she had a relationship with uh, somebody
that she thought was going to marry her.
- Deborah had met a man online. Uh, he was living in Miami.
Deborah was mailing expensive gifts down to him in Miami.
Barbara was concerned that she may have been um,
being taken advantage of.
- Barbara had told me that Debbie had intended on this
gentleman coming to their house and meeting her
and then getting married.
- NARRATOR: Linda says the internet romance
was just a fantasy, and that Debbie's Miami connection
seemed to be going nowhere as the money continued to run out.
- They converse back and forth.
She said she had a lot of money, and he saw a cash cow,
and then when the money was gone,
he never talked to her again.
- NARRATOR: The stories Linda tells police raise red flags.
Digging into Barbara and Debbie's financial statements
for clues, investigators make a startling discovery.
- Within three years, they blew through $350,000.
- NARRATOR: By 2004, the inheritance was gone.
While the bank records show
that Debbie received monthly Social Security checks,
it was not enough to keep the sister's bills paid,
so their home went into foreclosure.
Investigators discover that even though Debbie is deceased,
someone has been withdrawing cash from her account
on a regular basis.
- During our investigation of her bank records,
we learned that Deborah's Social Security disability
checks were being sent to a bank in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
I think it was $651.00 a month.
Once learning that the money was being taken out at an ATM,
surveillance video was obtained.
- NARRATOR: And detectives finally locate
their star suspect.
- The person cashing that check uh, each month
was identified as Barbara Burns.
So now we know Barbara Burns is alive and well,
living in another state, cashing her sister's checks.
- NARRATOR: Bank records also show that Barbara's been
depositing checks into the same account from a 7-Eleven.
- We made contact with uh, 7-Eleven Corporation
and found out that Barbara was indeed employed
at the 7-Eleven in Virginia Beach
and had recently gave her two-week notice.
- She's got some explaining to do as far as
why she's cashing her sister's checks in Virginia Beach.
Why would her sister's corpse be left for so many months,
you know, in a residence that she used to own?
We decide that we want to speak to her.
We want to interview her as soon as possible.
My partner and I then fly up to Virginia Beach.
- We drove to the 7-Eleven and conducted the surveillance
until we observed her behind the counter working.
- We knew that she got off at seven in the morning.
So we waited for her to make contact with her
at the end of her shift.
- NARRATOR: After finding such a violent scene at her home,
detectives aren't sure what to expect when they are finally
face-to-face with Barbara Burns.
- I was just about getting ready to go home.
And these two officers was outside waiting for me.
And they go, are you Barbara Burns?
And I said, yes, I am.
- We introduced ourself to her.
We explained to her that um, if she was willing to,
we'd like to bring her back to the Virginia Beach
police department, so we could talk to her in a room.
- I went with them, no arguing or nothing like that.
And I did what-- exactly what they wanted.
- Barbara did not seem to be concerned by us approaching her.
She did not appear to be worried.
She voluntarily said she would be glad to come back with us,
at which time we put her in our vehicle
and we drove back to the PD.
- NARRATOR: While Barbara is forthcoming
about her financial struggles,
it's not long before investigators
are met with deception.
- We asked her about the residence that she owned
on Yellow Pine Street. And then she said,
I never owned a residence on Yellow Pine Street.
- We're shocked that she took us down a road that we never
thought we were even going to cross.
We realized that Barbara knew why we were there,
and she was going to try to
probably start to try to deceive us.
- NARRATOR: Coming up...
Police are met with a complicated web of lies.
- NARRATOR: But would the truth be too hard to handle?
- I said, is Debbie okay?
And then they said, no, Debbie's dead.
And they said, you killed her.
- *
- NARRATOR: Detectives investigating the murder
of 40-year-old Debbie Burns have located her sister Barbara,
who bizarrely claims that she has no siblings at all.
- NARRATOR: As detectives continue to press Barbara
about her murdered sister, she eventually breaks down.
- Barbara was becoming emotional,
and she began to tear up.
At which time she finally told us that she did have a sister.
- I said, is Debbie okay?
And then said, no, Debbie's dead.
And they said, you killed her. And I said, I killed her?
And I told them, no, I didn't.
Debbie and I had a great relationship.
- Barbara Burns was saying, well, when I left the residence,
I waved goodbye to my sister.
And my partner was saying, well, you couldn't have waved goodbye
to your sister because she was deceased.
Then the interview started to change.
This is when she started to show emotional response.
- That's when they got me on a tape saying that I killed her.
- NARRATOR: According to Barbara,
after their brother left Debbie $350,000 in his will,
their lives were supposed to get easier.
But the good times didn't last long.
- One day I woke up and the money's gone.
And I asked Debbie what happened?
And then Debbie says, she bought a lot of things online.
Debbie and I always argue about money.
My brother, he left the money for Debbie,
so that left Debbie to be the boss of the money.
- Debbie didn't understand how the money could be gone,
because she thought, oh, we're rich.
You know, we've got all the money in the world.
- They were not even able to make the payment
on the double-wide trailer that they lived in.
They had gone from having--
basically having it all to having nothing.
- Barbara realized she had to go back to work,
back to making minimum wage.
- NARRATOR: The sister's co-dependent relationship
fell back into a familiar pattern.
- Debbie wanted more money.
I told Debbie, you get Social Security once a month.
And Debbie said, I want more money every time.
It was very hard 'cause Debbie was more controlling then.
Debbie and I had never got a break.
You know, I needed a break from Debbie.
- NARRATOR: Barbara brings investigators back
to August 14th, Debbie's 40th birthday.
- Barbara had taken her to a restaurant,
and while at the restaurant, Deborah became upset
because Barbara was talking about
their financial problems once again.
- NARRATOR: Upon returning home,
Barbara says their argument went from bad to worse.
- So Debbie and I had a very, very bad fight, fist fighting.
- Their heads were almost touching when they slept
at night, and they fell asleep listening to each other breathe.
- Barbara explained to us that when she went to bed that night,
laying in bed listening to her sister snore,
she knew that once her sister woke up that morning,
it was going to start all over again.
And Barbara explained to us that she just was not ready
to go through that again. She had, had it.
- She went to the dresser where they had a gun
that she had bought for protection of her and Debbie.
And she went and placed the gun by Debbie's head.
- NARRATOR: And that's when Barbara reveals to investigators
the shocking truth.
- [gun fires]
- NARRATOR: Despite her recorded confession to police,
Barbara Burns now claims she can't explain
what transpired that night.
- It hurts. It hurts really bad.
I'm still hurting, you know?
I don't know what happened.
I don't know. To this day, I still don't know.
I still can't remember.
- It appeared that Barbara had just been pushed
one step too far
and she just could no longer handle being
the sole caretaker for Deborah and could not handle
taking care of a person that was not respectful
or thankful for everything that she was doing.
- Barbara had taken her minivan to a Greyhound bus station,
and boarded a bus and gone to Virginia Beach,
the last and only place
that Barbara had fond memories of growing up.
- NARRATOR: Coming up...
Barbara Burns tragic confession continues.
- I've been a reporter for 20-something years.
I've never heard of anybody living with a corpse
for that long.
- NARRATOR: But would a jury see her side of the story?
- He said, Barbara, you're looking at death row.
- NARRATOR: On May 9, 2005, Barbara Burns confesses on tape
to killing her sister Debbie.
While clearly traumatized by her own actions,
detectives press Barbara to understand
the lengths she went to, to cover up the crime.
- The air fresheners said weeks, if not months
of someone trying to mask a terrible smell.
They were everywhere, everywhere, everywhere
in the room where the body was found, and they were also
in another bedroom and bathroom where apparently someone else
had been sleeping afterwards.
- NARRATOR: Based on when Barbara began cashing
Debbie's checks, investigators believe she left
in the beginning of October.
If Debbie died on August 14th, Barbara continued to live
in the same house as her dead sister for six weeks.
- I've been a reporter for 20-something years.
I've never heard of anybody living with a corpse
for that long.
I mean, was she in denial that Debbie was just in there
asleep and everything was going to go on as normal?
Was she trying to hide it or cover it up?
- NARRATOR: On May 9, 2005,
Barbara Burns is charged with murder
and extradited back to Florida.
As she sits behind bars,
detectives look to corroborate her confession.
- She was very apologetic about the gun.
She told us that she hid it.
She unloaded all the bullets, and she hid the bullet
that she used in the middle of the case of the 50 rounds.
And she put that in one of the drawers,
and she put the gun in another drawer in the dresser.
- A Detective that was back at our evidence and property room,
looked in the dresser and found the gun
exactly where she said it was at.
- My lawyer said, Barbara, you're looking at death row.
He said they're saying that you shot Debbie.
And I, I told him, no, I didn't.
I know I didn't because I feel it down deep inside.
And then he said, well, I'm gonna talk to the judge
and see if we can't lower it.
- We approached the state attorney's office
to see if we could reach a plea agreement.
We were able to show that Barbara Burns
was not a risk to the public.
We were able to show that Barbara Burns,
after 40 years of being the sole caretaker
of her sister, 24/7, for decades,
had just snapped.
- NARRATOR: The state offers Barbara a deal.
A 15-year sentence if she pleads guilty to manslaughter.
I said, yeah, I'll take it.
And we went right to court right then and there.
The newspaper people were all over the place,
and they were taking pictures and all that.
And then the judge said, well, this is your lucky day.
- I can understand, you know, you have to worry about the jury
hearing all the facts and circumstances
and coming to the conclusion that Barbara was this sweet lady
who just snapped and deserves a second chance.
So I see that side of it, but again,
this is cold-blooded murder.
- After Barbara pled guilty, she was sent to prison.
By all accounts, she managed well in prison.
She did not get in trouble.
For the first time in her life, someone else cooked for Barbara.
She was free from the responsibilities
that were hers and hers alone for 40 years.
I'll remember this case forever
as the epitome of a good person
that did a very, very bad thing.
- Sometimes circumstances create a devil.
They create the breaking point.
I don't think Barbara did it
because she wanted anything from Debbie.
I think she did it because she was pushed to the limits.
- NARRATOR: With time off for good behavior,
Barbara is released after 12 years.
And in 2018, she moves back to St. Petersburg.
But her return is met with mixed reactions.
- It was hard at first
'cause people started asking me questions and--
And I couldn't answer because I didn't know how to explain it.
They told me that I killed my sister
and I didn't want to get in a argument with them
or anything like that,
so I just left it alone. I miss Debbie a lot,
and I wish she was still alive. I really do.
I loved her and I miss her.
And I wish this never happened to her.
Every day when I wake up, I just wanted to see her face.
That's what I miss the most.
- *