All community is rattled
When a missing grandmother turns up brutally murdered
Off a remote florida highway.
Both of the upper arms were cut around the shoulder areas.
[tod] the body had been dismembered.
Just the way that that was done was gruesome.
[narrator] the investigation will take authorities
Across state lines
As a complicated family history surfaces.
Our initial diagnosis was paranoid schizophrenic.
She had taken off in the middle of the night
Without any word.
[narrator] as police search for answers,
Suspicion will grow closer to home
And to a couple with desperate secrets of their own.
He snapped in every sense of the word.
You gotta be a little bit off in the mind
To do that type of thing.
If she didn't help, he was gonna dispose of two bodies.
That was rage uncontained.
[music]
[narrator] brevard county, florida, is an oasis
For residents and visitors alike.
[marlon] brevard county's known as the space coast.
Actually, many years ago,
They changed our area code to 321
Which is countdown related to the space center.
[j.D.] this is where we sent men to the moon.
It's also where we have all types of waterways,
Beautiful beaches, 72 miles of coastland.
[narrator] on may 14, 2013,
Authorities are alerted to a gruesome discovery
Along a remote highway.
A maintenance worker was going to service a cellphone tower
Out in micco.
Now, if you know anything about micco,
It's a vast rural land.
He looked down into a ditch line and saw
What he, at first, thought was possibly a deer or a hog.
As he looked closer, he actually noticed a skull.
And he knew right away that was a human skull.
[tod] at that point, he made a 911 call
Which came to the sheriff's office,
Deputies responded.
In that bottom area of the swale ditch
Were some plastic bags
And then the skeletal remains kind of spread out.
[marlon] appeared to just be the one body.
We saw trash bags containing some of these skeletal remains.
So we had a good idea we were dealing
With a homicide-type investigation.
This wasn't just a natural death where somebody was walking
In a wooded area, and fell, and no one found them.
It appeared someone went through great lengths
To discard these remains
And to hide them away from the general public
So that they'd possibly never be found.
We had really nothing but skeletal remains,
So there were some concerns as to "where do we start?
We don't have an identity and we just have a witness,
And we want to know why he was there."
Generally, the person that finds the body
Is, of course, the fist person we're gonna interview.
[narrator] the technician admits
He wasn't scheduled to be there at all.
There's a cellphone tower at the end of this road
And this man goes out to that tower every six months
And does preventative maintenance,
Makes sure that everything's working correctly
For the cellphone companies.
[marlon] as we continued to talk to him,
"when was the last time you serviced the tower?",
"was just three months ago."
"well, why now?"
[narrator] the technician is adamant
That he was only there to do his job.
He explained that he was actually on call-out
To check a tower that was actually south of our county.
He explained the route that he took.
He just decided he'd check this tower too
Since he was in the area.
As he was driving out to the cell site,
He realized that he had to use the bathroom,
So he thought this was a nice deserted area
Where he could stop
And use the restroom without being noticed.
We confirmed the company he worked for,
What their job function was,
What his position was in the company.
And the fact that he was called out
And the route that he takes,
Everything made sense as he explained it.
[narrator] while investigators finish processing
The crime scene,
The skeletal remains are sent in for testing.
The following morning, the medical examiner
Conducts an autopsy to determine more details
About the victim and cause of death.
[sajid] so first thing is that we took out the bones.
We x-rayed them, and after x-raying them,
Then examined every bag of the bones.
It was an advanced state of decomposition,
Mostly a skeletonized.
The medical examiner actually put together
The bones like a puzzle.
It was determined to be a female,
60 to 80 years old.
He was able to identify the fact
That there was blunt force trauma.
[sajid] most of the blunt force injuries
Were to the head area like egg shell fracture.
So looked like some kind of heavy object
Like a ball pin of a hammer.
Both of the upper arms were cut
Around the shoulder areas
And then the lower limbs, also.
It was his belief that the body had been dismembered,
That animals had not pulled it,
That it had actually been cut.
And he believed it was cut with some type of saw.
Just the way that that was done is gruesome.
[narrator] at this late stage of decomposition,
Identifying the victim will be difficult,
But the medical examiner notices an important clue.
[j.D.] so when the medical examiner looked at the bones,
What they found right around the rib cage
Was a pacemaker.
[sajid] the pacemaker is inserted
Under the skin but over the rib cage.
They are very specific to the patient
At the time of the insertion.
[tod] generally, anything that's implanted
In the human body is categorized
By serial number.
The company has to keep where it went,
What doctor got it,
And, eventually, what patient it was put into.
[marlon] we went to a local hospital
That gave us different companies
That the device could be from.
So we called those companies
And we were able to identify the company
That owned the device.
And the technician we spoke to,
We provided him with the serial numbers.
He was able to provide us with the name of the patient
As maureen riccio.
She was 70 years old.
[narrator] while the pacemaker is sent off for data analysis,
Investigators focus on tracking down
Maureen riccio's next of kin and last known address.
[tod] looking at electric records, water record,
We were able to determine that she was residing
In a house in the city of melbourne.
It was a rental.
Now, the first thing is you go to the landlord,
And talk to the landlord
And find out, what can they tell us?
They found out that maureen was actually staying
With her son, frank riccio,
His girlfriend, ilene, and their children.
[marlon] the landlord said they were decent tenants.
They had paid him for some time in advance
When they first rented the property.
But they moved back to new york in April,
Leaving the house vacant.
[narrator] so how had maureen ended up the victim
Of a brutal crime in florida?
If the remains weren't totally skeletonized,
They were pretty close,
And they'd probably been out there close to two months.
[michael] so the timing was off
Because law enforcement believes
That maureen was killed in March,
And the family moved back to new york in April.
Why hadn't the family reported her missing before that?
We need to speak with her family.
[narrator] coming up, investigators learn
Concerning details about their victim.
She just packed up, then walked out the door,
And they never saw her again.
[narrator] and new evidence will bring authorities closer
To her killer.
There was a pretty significant crime scene at that location.
[music]
[narrator] in brevard county, florida,
Authorities are investigating the murder and dismemberment
Of 70-year-old maureen riccio.
One week into the case,
Homicide investigators contact the new york police department
To track down maureen's son, frank, and his family
After learning they had moved to brooklyn
Nearly six weeks earlier.
We decided not to do a death notification
And just work it as someone else has reported her missing.
We wanted to reach out
To see what their response would be.
We're home. Frank and I were upstairs in our room,
And frankie, my son, happened to be downstairs
On the video game.
Doorbell rings, he goes to answer the door,
And it happens to be an nypd police officer.
I go to the front door.
The nypd officer, he goes,
"do you know anything
About the disappearance of maureen riccio?"
And I said, "what do you mean?"
[marlon] there were talking to ilene at the front door
And were inside the front foyer area of the home.
Frank eventually came out and entered the conversation.
[narrator] frank and ilene tell police
That maureen had been living with them in florida
Until she walked out after an argument
And said she wasn't coming back.
She just packed up and walked out the door,
And they never saw her again.
[narrator] born in 1942,
Maureen had always had a fiery personality.
My mother was afraid of nothing.
When she was younger, she [bleep] to people.
[narrator] when maureen was 18,
Her outgoing nature caught the attention
Of 37-year-old thomas riccio.
[ilene] they started dating.
They formed a relationship and they got married.
Shortly after they got married, christine was born,
July of 1961.
[narrator] six years later,
The couple welcomed their sun, frank,
But by 1970,
Thomas and maureen decided to separate.
Their father went to california.
He would send the money back on a weekly basis
For the care of christine and frank.
But maureen, actually, she didn't want
Frank or his siblings,
So she left.
She abandoned my father when he was a kid.
And so, my grandmother took care of my dad.
Frank was basically raised by his father's sister.
[ilene] frank was out of the house at 16.
He dropped out of high school and started working full-time.
He was stable. He had a full-time job.
He had his own apartment.
He did what he had to do. Always did.
[music]
[narrator] growing up without his biological mother,
Frank dreamed of building the strong family
He never had.
When he began dating ilene lazar
In 1994,
He knew he'd found
The future mother of his children.
[ilene] he said he sincerely loved me
And he knew that he wanted to spend my life with me,
And that he would always take care of me.
We did the wining, the dining, we did everything.
Oh, my gosh, he made me feel like a kid again.
He had a way of shutting the world around
And just making it all about me and him.
And eventually, I found out that I was pregnant with andrea.
[narrator] frank and ilene's daughter, andrea,
Was born in 1995,
Followed by their sons, frank jr. And thomas.
In 2006, the family of five relocated to florida.
Frank was always into
The buying, selling, and trading,
Which is how we established our home-based business.
Frank was in florida
Quite a few times over the course of the years
For business.
He goes, "we need a fresh start."
So we moved to florida.
[narrator] in 2012, frank and ilene learned
That frank's mother, maureen, had surfaced in new york,
Suffering from a myriad of health concerns.
Maureen was going back and forth
In assisted living facilities up in new york
And frank was becoming worried about that.
[narrator] despite maureen leaving frank as a child
Four decades earlier,
Frank forgave his mother
And invited her to move into their melbourne, florida home.
Maureen came to us right before christmas of 2012.
When she came into our life, she was a very elderly woman
Who just needed care and someone to be there for her.
Frank felt that, being that it was his biological mother,
That he owed it to her to go above and beyond,
And tried to make her as comfortable
And as welcoming as we could, which we did.
[francis] she was always trying to be like grandmother,
Offering drinks, food, watching tv with us in the living room.
[narrator] but the family quickly learned
That maureen's condition was more complicated
Than they'd anticipated.
Frank really didn't understand
What the severity of her diagnosis really was.
[ilene] her initial diagnosis was
Manic-depressive paranoid schizophrenic.
So she was on 12 medications 4 times a day.
Neither him or I
Have any experience, expertise,
In dealing with mental health issues.
[narrator] frank and ilene explained to the officer
That the situation had grown increasingly chaotic
Over the next three months.
She started having temper tantrums.
She started having outbursts.
It was like, literally, I felt like
I was dealing with another two-year-old.
[ilene] the couple says, despite their best effort,
Things only got worse.
When maureen walked out in March of 2013,
They let her go.
[ilene] I go to get her meds together
'cause she had to take her meds with food.
I go to hand her her dish and I put it down next to her.
She took the dish,
And freaking picked it up and flung it at me.
The dish broke and freaking splattered.
They said she got mad and left.
Maureen had taken off in the middle of the night
Without any word or any sign
Or any letter or anything.
That was just how maureen was.
Maureen was a fly-by-night kind of person
And a nomad, and she would go from one place to the other.
[tod] she was getting social security,
And she had a monthly check.
She could take care of herself, and I think they were
A little bit glad that she had left.
[narrator] a few weeks later,
Frank and his family decided to move back to new york as well,
Believing maureen would contact them
When she was ready to live with them again.
Frank explains that he had paid the landlord
Several months' rent for their florida home
In case his mother showed back up
After they left for new york.
He expected someone would actually call and say,
"hey, your mom just wandered back, she's home.
Can you come and take care of her?"
But he never received that call.
[ilene] and they asked, did we suspect any foul play?
And we both said, "no,
We don't suspect that there was foul play.
We both suspected that she was just being maureen."
That's just how she was.
[narrator] when the nypd relay frank and ilene's story
To brevard county,
Investigators decide it's time
To search the location maureen was last seen alive.
What investigators needed to find out
Was if what frank and ilene told them,
That maureen walked out of their house in March,
Was true.
[tod] at that point, when we secure a search warrant,
Signed by a judge, to go into that melbourne house
And to search it for evidence.
[j.D.] the agents decided to use luminol
Which is a special chemical agent
That helps to pick up blood spatter
That isn't seen by the human eye.
What the agents find is that there's a lot of hidden blood
In that back bedroom.
[tod] there's a lot of blood and the blood is spread out
Within that room
Which is consistent with somebody being cut up.
[marlon] at that point, we determined
That that had to be our scene of the crime.
That was where maureen had her last breath.
[music]
[narrator] may 2013,
In the weeks after the dismembered remains
Of maureen riccio were found in brevard county, florida,
Investigators have uncovered the presence of blood
Inside the home she once shared with her son, frank riccio,
And his family.
There was a pretty significant crime scene
At that location.
In one of the bedrooms, it was a ceiling fan that was missing.
Some of the doorknobs were missing.
Some of the outlets were missing.
The walls had been repainted,
Which was interesting to us
Because that would cover up blood.
It wasn't a good paint job.
They had actually painted not only the walls
But some of the electric outlets and including the baseboards.
The floor was scrubbed and like, a new coat of wax.
'cause it was cleaner than the other parts.
[narrator] convinced they've discovered the location
Where maureen was killed,
Investigators conduct a neighborhood canvas
To determine if anyone has seen suspicious activity
In the six weeks since frank and ilene claimed
Maureen walked out.
There was one neighbor, I believe, that had
Had a little bit of contact with frank.
But for the most part, the neighbors
Really didn't know much
Other than they'd moved in, there was an older lady
And they had some kids.
None of them remembered strange people
Coming in and out of the house,
Just the people who lived there.
One neighbor actually saw frank moving things,
Packings in the back of his truck,
First week of April.
Based on our canvas of the neighborhood,
Some of the neighbors were able to identify the fact
That frank had a red pickup truck.
And we learned that the truck was sold.
Frank had put it, I believe it was, in craigslist at that time
And put it up for sale,
And eventually sold it to a person.
[narrator] as detectives continue
Canvassing the neighborhood,
They learn about one telling exchange
Frank had with his neighbor
Right before he and his family moved away.
Another neighbor had actually been approached by frank.
He was trying to figure out
How he could cash one of his mother's social security checks
Without having her present.
[narrator] investigators are beginning to shape the theory
That maureen's murder could be financially motivated.
[music]
[marlon] that information led us to reach out
To the social security administration
To see if we could find out
The status of her checks, both prior and current.
[michael] investigators learned
That when frank took maureen in,
It was a $17,000 stipend,
And then maureen was receiving $700 a month after that.
[marlon] if frank was to take custody of his mother,
He would gain financially, they could care for her,
With the money that they're being provided
Through her social security.
We found out there were still checks being issued
To the melbourne address.
[narrator] because maureen's body was found
Nearly 20 miles away from home,
Investigators know they'll need to track down
Any vehicle that could've transported her remains.
They start with the truck frank sold on craigslist.
[marlon] we were able to find the transfer of title
For the red pickup truck
And we found the person that had purchased it.
The pickup truck driver told him that frank
Gave him a story about having to sell that truck
Because it wasn't big enough.
We did seize the truck
And take the truck out to do some processing
To see if there was any evidence that we could recover.
[marlon] unfortunately, we didn't obtain any evidence
That would help us with our case.
[narrator] thankfully, investigators have better luck
When they receive the results from the data analysis
On maureen's pacemaker.
We were told by the company
The pacemaker is kind of a computer.
And it would be able to tell us
When certain things happened in the body.
[marlon] the technician from the pacemaker company,
He showed us where there was an anomaly
Where there was a spike in the heart rate
For a period of time
Before there was no longer a heart rate,
Which is pretty much what he believed to be
The time of death.
[narrator] based on the report,
Authorities now know maureen was killed
Sometime between March 20th and March 27th,
Raising suspicion's over frank and ilene's sudden move
Back to new york in April.
[tod] the original story, she just went missing.
Is it possible? It's possible.
Is it plausible? No.
[narrator] coming up, police revisit frank and ilene,
Leading to a harrowing confession.
He just sat down and started rocking his knees,
And he's like, "I'm sorry. God forgive me.
I didn't mean it."
I couldn't believe. I didn't wanna believe it.
[music]
[narrator] two weeks into the murder investigation
Of maureen riccio,
Brevard county investigators have zeroed in
On frank riccio and ilene lazar
As their primary suspects.
We're trying to determine what the motive would be,
[tod] the financial motive is
Something they were contemplating
Because of the social security checks.
And we've seen it happen quite often
Where the death is not reported
And the social security checks continue to come in.
[narrator] before traveling to new york
To confront frank and ilene with the evidence,
Investigators reach out to friends and family
Who elaborate on frank's complicated relationship
With maureen.
Maureen could be very aggressive
And very abusive, verbally,
Emotionally, mentally, and physically.
I knew how my mom was
And I knew my brother had a temper.
[narrator] according to family, frank had tried
To bring maureen back to new york,
But the assisted living facility
Threatened to have him arrested for negligence.
They said, "you bring her back, you drop her off like that,"
He goes, "we're gonna charge you."
So at this time, frankie felt trapped.
[j.D.] he was at the end of his rope with his mother.
The relationship had soured long ago.
It was already troubled, but it was getting worse.
[narrator] with the evidence mounting,
Brevard county investigators
Decide it's time to make the trip to new york,
And question frank and ilene themselves.
On may 29, 2013,
The couple is brought in for questioning.
[marlon] we had frank and ilene separated.
They were both telling us basically the same storyline.
They were trying to appease maureen,
But she wasn't happy with anything they did,
And at some point,
She just decided that she didn't wanna be there
And she left.
At that point, we start to confront them with evidence,
Particularly with ilene,
Knowing she might be the weakest link.
Under the circumstances, I was scared.
I was afraid.
I was, my nerves were already shot at that time.
[tod] we ended up saying, "hey, the ending
That you're trying to sell is not the one
That's part of the movie.
[ilene] one detective pulled out photographs of her.
Very detailed images, very detailed photos.
He goes, "tell us what happened to maureen
Because," he goes, "we know what happened to maureen,
Which is why we're here."
And then he used the kid card on me.
"how much do you love your kids?"
And I said, "don't go there." I said, "please don't go there."
He goes, "do you wanna see your kids grow up?"
[narrator] eventually, ilene breaks down.
I said, "I did what I did for the sake of my kids."
"but," I said, "I didn't do it."
And then he goes, "well, what exactly did you do?"
Frank was getting to the point
That he would be out of the house all day,
And I would be behind with the kids.
He was thoroughly intoxicated.
He came in, saw us freaking going at it
Into the altercation,
Told me, "okay, don't worry. I'll take care of it."
Frank told ilene to get the kids and go in the room,
So she went in the room with the kids.
She says she turned the television up in the room
And frank had some type of altercation
With maureen outside of her sight.
Then he's telling her to shut up and shut up,
And "I can't take it and you're killing my family.
I don't know what else to do for you."
And she just kept getting louder and louder.
[narrator] ilene tells investigators
That the altercation seemed to end
As soon as it began.
And then that was it.
I didn't hear anything after that.
I just heard dead silence
Until I heard the door open and I heard the door shut.
And that's when he came into our room,
And I said, "are you okay?"
And he just sat down and started rocking his knees,
And he's like, "I'm sorry. God forgive me.
I didn't mean it."
And I said, "what didn't you mean?"
He's not looking at me,
And I literally got down on my knees,
Face-to-face with him.
I grabbed his cheeks and I said, "tell me what you did."
I said, "I can't help you if you don't tell me what you did."
He motioned for me to go into the room,
And so I did
Because I couldn't get nothing verbal out of him.
I turned on the light because it was dark.
It was bloodshed.
Everything was red, the walls, the blinds,
The ceiling fan,
The bedspread, everything.
There wasn't a drop of white anywhere,
The vents from the ac.
Maureen was on the floor.
I looked at her head and she had one gaping hole
I kneeled down to her and I held her hand.
She took one final gasp.
I went back into my room
And frank is still sitting on the couch,
Rocking back and forth.
I was thinking, "maybe if we go to bed,
It'll just all be over in the morning.
It'll just be a bad dream."
[narrator] ilene insists frank left her no option
But to participate in the cover up.
[ilene] thought that was going through my mind
Was, "I'm gonna lose my kids."
The kids had no idea what had transpired.
We just told them that she's sleeping.
She slept like 12 to 15, if not more, hours a day
And, plus, she liked being locked in her room,
So they didn't think anything of it.
[marlon] frank and ilene decided
That they're gonna get the kids off to school
And then figure out
What the next plan of action would be.
[ilene] we knew that we had to get rid of her.
Frank seemed like he had all the answers
And we went to the store.
They had bought a circular saw, some tape,
Bags, even some cleaning solution.
[j.D.] she got back to the house
And they laid out plastic.
They put the body there.
And they began using the saw
To chop his mother into pieces.
[ilene] he blindfolded my eyes
So I wouldn't see anything.
He didn't want me visibly seeing anything,
But it doesn't matter.
I'm still tormented by the sounds.
I could already hear the saw.
I got splattered with the bone-- with the bone chips.
I think that's what haunts me
More than the actual scene itself.
That's when it became surreal,
That a human being could actually do this
To another...
[narrator] ilene tells investigators
She helped frank clean up the scene
And load everything into his truck.
[j.D.] he rolled it up to the window.
And they began pushing the bags into the pickup truck,
Along with the bloody mattress and other material.
And that's when he decided
To go ahead and just take it,
And drive a short time later to micco to dump the body.
I don't wanna hear details.
I didn't wanna know what was gonna take place.
I wanted--I wanted to forget that it ever happened.
[narrator] it's a harrowing story,
But is ilene telling the truth?
We believed she wasn't involved in the actual act of murder,
But some of the things she did afterwards,
You gotta be a little bit off in the mind
To do that type of thing.
[narrator] now investigators must determine,
Had frank committed an impulsive act of passion
Or did frank and ilene conspire together
To get maureen's money.
[tod] you can deny, deny, deny, but at some point,
We're gonna catch you on it.
[narrator] coming up,
Investigators confront frank riccio
And attempt to prove ilene's true involvement.
[ilene] I basically told him, I said,
"I'm gonna do whatever I have to do
To get home as soon as I can."
[music]
[music] york city,
Ilene lazar has admitted
To helping the father of her children, frank riccio,
Dismember his 70-year-old mother maureen's body
Inside their melbourne, florida, home.
Armed with ilene's confession,
Investigators confront frank.
[j.D.] at some point, he gave in.
And right there, frank confirms everything
That ilene had said, that frank killed his mother.
[marlon] frank, when he tells us,
He didn't get as emotional as ilene.
He was just basically telling it
Like, "okay, this is what happened.
It wasn't planned.
It just got to a point that I couldn't take it anymore."
[narrator] frank insists his girlfriend ilene
Had nothing to do with it.
[marlon] he wanted to take full responsibility.
He gets remorseful about it
And didn't wanna see her get charged with anything at all.
[ilene] he told them whatever he was gonna face,
He was gonna face
But to go as easy on me as possible,
Being that I've never been in trouble.
[narrator] according to frank,
Killing maureen riccio was the tragic result
Of an impulsive decision fueled by anger.
[j.D.] that was rage uncontained.
There is an emotional component to this particular case
That you can't avoid.
This is a person that was dealing with a mom, a mother,
That had ran off and left him, abandoned him.
She wouldn't take her medication.
The children were afraid of her.
Ilene was afraid of her.
[narrator] after questioning frank,
Investigators speak with his children
And learn the person they fear most
Is not maureen.
[tod] the kids eventually admit
They've been tasked into a story too,
Probably provided to them by frank,
And they remember some things
As far as what happened that night.
[francis] my room was next to maureen's.
He left the door open
And, literally, I could see everything.
He just, he kept beating her and hitting her.
And my dad has fists two to three times bigger than mine.
And she was just a small old lady.
It was just merciless.
It was a bloodbath.
I was scared. I was with my sister
And we ran to the other side of the house
'cause we were like, "are we next?"
My dad's 6'4".
It's like 300 pounds, and he's just a brute.
[narrator] the couple's children
Believe their mother had no choice
In the aftermath of maureen's death.
I know my dad.
If she didn't help, he was gonna dispose of two bodies.
[narrator] florida police decide to charge frank
With first-degree murder.
Was it premeditated? I don't believe so.
I believe he was angered and he made a poor decision.
He snapped in every sense of the word.
[marlon] at that point, we weren't sure
How we wanted to approach ilene.
Obviously, the kids were a factor.
So ilene was returned home
To be with her children.
[narrator] but as authorities continue building their case,
Evidence surfaces
That suggests ilene may be more culpable
Than she or frank have led them to believe.
Our investigative analysts
Were able to look up some databases and found
Where ilene had actually pawned some items
Over several different days,
And one of those items, in particular,
Was a circular saw.
So, of course, people have questions
About her involvement.
[marlon] once I presented all the evidence
To the state attorney's office and everything was reviewed,
The decision was made to charge her
As part of the full package of the case.
[narrator] on June 10th, 2013,
Ilene is charged with accessory to murder.
The kids, I sat all three of them down
Downstairs in the living room.
They knew something was not right.
And I basically told them that "I love you.
I don't know if I'm able to see you.
But I'm gonna do whatever I have to do
To get home as soon as I can."
[narrator] the state offers ilene a plea deal
In exchange for her testimony against frank at trial.
She agrees, but the case never makes it in front of a jury.
[marlon] frank plead to the charges that were presented
And he was sentenced to 25 years, florida state prison.
I was looking at the max that florida can issue you,
Which is five years.
Was four years and seven months that I was in.
[marlon] I believe justice was served.
She showed remorse
And was very upset at what happened.
I think, if the family component wasn't at risk,
She probably would've came forward right away.
But it's that mother nature,
Protect the family at all costs.
[christine] I feel sorry for the kids
Because they're the ones getting the raw deal.
No child should go through that.
No child, no adult, no nobody.
[j.D.] frank and ilene, they loved each other.
Ilene was by his side.
And thick and thin, whatever the case may be,
She decided to stick with him
And follow through with his horrific plan
To dispose of the body of his mother.
[christine] I'm pretty sure my brother
Was not in his right mind
'cause anybody who does this
Could not be in their right mind.
I just couldn't picture my brother killing my mom.
I didn't wanna believe it.
Nobody deserves to die the way she died.
My mom is back in my life
And I missed the hell out of her.
So I'm happy about that.
It does affect me sometimes not having a dad.
I just hope that he gets whatever help he needs
While he's incarcerated.
And one day, my dad will come home, hopefully.
He'll never be forgiven, ever, ever.
This is already over 10 years ago.
Our lives are completely different.
We're just trying to move on with everything.
We're doing better now than we ever were before.
We're more functional now that we ever were before.
For the first time in my life,
And the kids', we have stability.
We have a foundation.
We know where we're going.
And that's everything.
[francis] I've always loved my mom.
Mm, sorry.
My mom's an angel and she always will be.
She was just a pawn in a [bleep] game.
She can look past it,
Be greater in life than what she can ever imagine.
I believe in it.
[ilene] I've been to hell and back.
It took me going through what I went through
To prove to myself that, "yeah,
I'm gonna be okay. I've got this.
I'm strong. I'm stronger than I ever thought I was
And will be."