Emale narrator] a tragic car accident sends ripples
Through the great smoky mountains national park.
There was a jeep, a black jeep over an embankment
Wedged on a tree.
[john] they learned he had driven off in a rage.
Was this a drunken driver who simply went over
The side of a mountain?
[narrator] as the investigation deepens,
Questions of foul play quickly materialize.
The injuries were more severe than what you would've normally
Seen in that type of a vehicular accident.
He was in the backseat, which defied all laws of physics.
We felt something was very wrong.
[narrator] secrets of infidelity and greed come to light,
As an unfathomable plot takes shape.
What he told us was this story of having an affair.
They would strip naked and have sex in the open air
Not knowing that they were being recorded.
He is willing to fall on the sword for her.
I just don't know how to wrap my head around
The thoughts of somebody that could do that.
That is cold beyond cold.
[theme music]
[narrator] sevier county, tennessee is the gateway
To the great smoky mountains national park.
[jamie] the thing about sevier county is
I can walk out my back door,
And I'm looking at the mountains.
It's a very small town kind of place.
People do tend, uh, to know each other.
Tourism is another biggie.
We bring in a lot of revenue for the state of tennessee.
[narrator] on November 6, 1994,
Two visitors are making their way
Along the scenic gatlinburg bypass
When they stop to admire the view.
[john] on Sunday morning, two tourists from missouri went
To this lookout site, which is quite well known in the area.
Gives a lovely view of the town of gatlinburg beneath them.
It's surrounded by thick forest.
It's part of the smoky mountains.
They walk to the edge, and one looked down and said,
"oh my goodness, someone has had an accident."
And there was a jeep, a black jeep over an embankment
Wedged on a tree.
They called 911.
[music]
A ranger showed up to investigate the accident
And immediately recognized the seriousness of the situation.
The terrain there, it's trees and shrubbery, and brush,
And things of that nature. It's rough.
Bears and rattlesnakes, and all kinds of stuff.
[robbie] it was ranger mcnutt who responded.
When she went down there, she saw a white male with injuries.
It had all the markings of an accident.
[john] she immediately noticed the smell of alcohol
When she opened the door.
The apparent driver was not in the front behind the wheel.
He was in the backseat.
Was this a drunken driver who simply went over
The side of a mountain?
[robbie] he was bleeding. He had lacerations, bruising.
She found that he was not alive,
Removed his wallet, tried to find out who he was.
[music]
It identified him as kelly lovera, a lecturer
In mathematics at nearby pellissippi state college
And a resident of sevierville.
[robbie] ranger mcnutt secured the scene.
Because of our interactions with the park and our relationship,
They had contacted us. We figured out where he lived.
His wife, shayne lovera had reported him missing
Earlier in the morning.
I said, "I know her. I watched her grow up."
She had moved back to the area with her husband,
Kelly lovera four years ago.
[narrator] originally from madison, wisconsin,
Kelly lovera was the quintessential all-american man
Kelly loved swimming. He loved to play music.
He loved to have fun and play cards and games,
And go riding on his motorcycle.
He just made the most of every second of his life.
[narrator] after graduating high school in 1979,
Kelly was accepted to the university of missouri
Where he worked towards a degree in mathematics.
[barbara] kelly was a wonderful mathematician.
He just was a wiz at it.
I mean, I think he was born with that talent.
[narrator] it was during his senior year
That kelly met the woman who would change his life forever.
Here name was shayne mills.
[barbara] he was at school in columbia
And shayne went to stephens college.
Kelly was an extremely good swimmer,
And he was a swimming coach as a side job
To get some extra money.
And shayne went to the pool. And that's how they met.
[narrator] vivacious and outgoing like kelly,
Shayne grew up in gatlinburg, tennessee.
[jamie] shayne had no relationship
With her birth father.
Shayne and her mother were what I would call
Kind of working poor.
You're living paycheck to paycheck, kind of thing.
[john] however, things took an interesting turn.
Shayne's mother, sandra, had good looks on her side
And she was soon dating, not just one of
The most prominent citizens in gatlinburg,
But the president of the bank, brent mills.
[jamie] she was about seven when he and her mother married.
Brent mills adopted her right away.
He was one of those people that you saw everywhere.
Everybody knew him, very gregarious.
[john] they soon produced another daughter,
A younger sister for shayne, kimmie.
So out of this poverty stricken, if you will background,
Shayne is suddenly elevated not just economically,
That is in an upper middle class family, but socially.
[jamie] I went to gatlinburg pittman high school with shayne.
And we worked together on the yearbook.
She was always smiling, laughing, cutting up.
When she walked in a room, she dominated it.
[john] she was president of the ski club.
She was the junior miss candidate.
She was miss everything in that high school.
[jamie] she was always talking about her daddy,
Or around her daddy. They were very close.
She had the run of gatlinburg.
Gatlinburg was her town, and she enjoyed that.
[narrator] but shayne's cinderella story
Came to an abrupt end in 1984
When her stepfather's bank came under federal scrutiny
For alleged fraud and money laundering.
The bank went broke. A criminal investigation took place.
[jamie] brent killed himself.
I just remember how shocking that was.
And it was just a few weeks before shayne's graduation.
[music]
Brent mills' suicide changed everything for shayne.
And I think that there was some measure of shame
Because of gossip and so, it was to no one's surprise
That she pretty quickly left gatlinburg.
[narrator] looking for a fresh start,
Shayne enrolled in the journalism program
At stephens college in columbia, missouri
Where she met kelly.
[john] when she spotted this handsome young man,
He had everything going for him.
Looks, personality, physique, talent, intelligence.
To kelly, shayne represented a very attractive, charming,
Young woman.
[narrator] the couple married in 1985.
Within five years, they were proud parents
To their son, cooper and daughter, casey.
She was a very devoted mother. A pretty devoted wife.
My dad loved his kids very, very much, me and my brother.
He was a good dad.
He was a really, really good guy.
[barbara] kelly was a teacher at first in missouri.
And then they moved to sevierville because
He loved the mountains and shayne was from sevierville.
And he furthered his career and got his master's at knoxville.
Upon graduation, after getting his degree,
Kelly obtained a position with pellissippi state college
Near knoxville, tennessee.
[casey] I remember walking the halls with him,
Holding his hand. He loved his job.
He loved his students.
His students talked about what a wonderful teacher he was
And he made learning fun.
[john] he was only a beginning professor, but it was a start.
They had two young children and a rather limited salary
To get by on, so they settled in a small apartment
In an area of sevierville known as frog alley.
[music]
[casey] I remember the tiny little apartment
Me, my mom, my dad, and my older brother lived in.
My parents liked to have get-togethers.
They used to have parties.
The complex is like a horseshoe.
And they would literally put their tables out in the middle
Of the horseshoe and, and eat and drink
And party and play cards, and just have a good time.
[narrator] in September of 1994, the lovera family was elated
When shayne convinced her siste to join them in frog alley.
Shayne's sister, kim, had moved into the apartment complex
Just two doors down from the unit shared by kelly and shayne.
[jamie] they had lots of friends and fun.
It looked like a pretty good life.
[music]
[narrator] but only four years after their move to sevierville
Kelly's life has been cut short in what appears to be
A tragic drink driving accident
As park rangers begin processing the wreckage,
They notice something strange.
[robbie] when the jeep was found, it was found with
The nose or the front end pointed downward.
Kelly had lacerations, bruising and different cuts on his body.
Obviously, he was bleeding.
The back of the jeep was simply metal.
But the blood trail was flowing in the wrong direction.
[john] its front end up against a large tree
And leaking out the back of the jeep is blood.
Now, how does that happen?
How does blood leak out the back end, the high end
Of a vehicle that's halfway down a mountain?
[david] the park rangers in gatlinburg call me
And the tennessee bureau of investigation said,
"we have a death. It is made to look like an accident.
But we don't think it's an accident. Would you please come
Over here and look at it and see what you think?"
We felt that this man has been killed and put here.
[narrator] coming up.
New evidence throws the acciden theory further into question.
[john] kelly lovera's blood alcohol level
Was below the legal limit of 0.08.
[robbie] you're looking at every possibility
And you're trying to eliminate 'em one by one.
[narrator] and rumors emerge as the investigation heats up.
It was kind of common knowledge that he was sneaking around.
[jamie] that was shocking. Here she is once again in
A position where there's a scandal following her.
[music]
[narrator] investigators in sevier county, tennesse
Are examining the death of 33-year-old kelly lovera
After his jeep was discovered crashed down a steep embankment
The blood was running backward from the front to the rear,
Which would indicate that whatever happened,
Happened prior to going off, over the embankment.
We felt something uh, was very wrong.
[david] we all came to the scene,
But the driver was in the backseat.
So that was my first clue, maybe he wasn't driving the vehicle.
This defied all laws of physics. A vehicle striking a tree
At speed does not thrust the driver from the front seat
Into the backseat. It's just the opposite.
[david] we had to figure out what had happened to that
Young man, so after we got the jeep out, we impounded it
And, of course, removed the body for an autopsy.
[narrator] as kelly's body is transported to the
Medical examiner's office, csi search the jeep for evidence.
We called the lab to process the jeep
And we got enough samples of blood for forensic testing.
[music]
[narrator] after the samples are sent to the lab,
Investigators must next make the difficult visit
To kelly's home to notify his family about his death.
[robbie] I said, "let me go talk to shayne lovera,
Because I know her."
And so, I went up there to tell her that we had found kelly.
[music]
[david] we informed her that we had found her husband
Deceased in the smoky mountains in what appeared to be
An automobile accident. That's all we told her.
[john] at this stage the investigators had a good idea
That kelly had died as a result of foul play.
They didn't reveal this to shayne at the time
Because there was no hard evidence of it.
Shayne, when we notified her of the death of kelly,
She was, you know, just very much in shock.
[john] a young woman from just down from the next apartment
Came running up and asked, "what happened?"
And shayne turned to this woman who was her younger sister
And said, "kimmie, they found kelly dead."
[robbie] her sister came to console her.
And at that point, she--shayne became distraught.
[david] I don't believe the children really understood
What was happening.
And you know, all they knew was daddy hadn't come home.
[casey] it was four days after I turned six.
I have no recollection of the day, of a moment
That I was told my dad was dead. I have no memory of that.
[narrator] when investigators ask shayne
When she last saw her husband,
Shayne explains that she and kelly had hosted a party
In their apartment complex the night before.
[robbie] we're trying to establish the timeline
Of events. She said that they had been partying that night
And, obviously drinking. And shayne made a statement
That he had been drinking heavily
And had gone to sleep on the couch.
At some point during the night, she and a couple of others
Went to pick up some food. And came back.
According to her, she kind of closed down the event.
[narrator] shayne says an hour later, kelly woke up and
Began accusing her of flirting with a man at the party.
Shayne said they had, had an argument
In the middle of the night, and he had driven off in a rage.
[robbie] shayne said he had been inebriated.
And this was at 4:30 in the morning.
[david] she went to bed, got up in the morning
And he wasn't there.
[music]
[robbie] we learned that shayne lovera had contacted
The police department, and said her husband did not come home.
[music]
We started interviewing through the apartment complex,
Asking people if they had seen anything, heard anything.
We were trying to find out if anybody had seen the jeep
And/or kelly leaving at that time.
Most of 'em said, "no, we didn't hear anything,"
You know, or, "we may have heard 'em partying."
There was a water break very near the apartment that night.
We went out and found the guys who were repairing
The water leak and they were out there digging in the street
And a man who worked for the city water department
Saw the jeep leave. Now, they did not see who was in it,
But they did see the jeep leave.
And this was early in the morning, like 4:00 or 5:00.
[narrator] while investigators continue searching
For witnesses, they receive the results of kelly's autopsy.
[john] the medical examiner noted that kelly lovera's
Blood alcohol level was measured at 0.06,
Which was high enough to make it difficult perhaps
For him to drive the car as effectively as he should,
But was still slightly below the legal limit of 0.08.
[robbie] per the autopsy report,
The cause of death was blunt force trauma.
The injuries were more severe than what you would've normally
Seen in that type of a vehicular accident.
[david] he had suffered severe lacerations to the head
And wounds. It was a dozen or more strikes on his head.
This is definitely not an accident.
He had been beaten severely with a blunt object in the head,
Like someone had really took some type of tire iron,
Or bat, or club to him and just beat him senseless.
It was overkill. Somebody really wanted him dead
Because you can just feel that what happened to him
Was a personal thing.
Because of what we gathered from the scene
And looking at the body and getting a professional opinion
From the pathologist, we felt that ever what happened
To this man happened someplace else.
His injuries were too severe.
What happened did not occur in the jeep.
[narrator] now investigators must determine who
Had the motive to kill kelly.
[robbie] was this a crime of passion?
Did he forget to pay somebody that he owed money?
We don't know until we start eliminating those things.
That's what we had to do.
[narrator] later that evening, investigators receive a call
From a local resident named jim burney.
[robbie] jim burney had called and said
That he had some information about the actual incident.
We learned that jim burney had been called early in the morning
By brett rae to come pick him up in gatlinburg.
[john] brett rae claimed to his friend that he had been
At a party at a motel and been left there,
And needed a ride home.
It was very early in the morning but his friend being a good,
Loyal friend got up, got dressed, went to pick up brett.
And he recognized immediately that
Brett was in pretty bad shape.
[robbie] his pants were dirty from the knees down,
Looked like he'd been running or walking through the woods.
And it looked like he had blood on his clothing.
Allegedly, brett rae told him that, quote,
"I did it, I did it. I got rid of kelly."
[music]
[narrator] 24 hours into the murder investigation
Of kelly lovera, a local man comes forward
And implicates 25-year-old brett rae in the crime.
[david] we started developing information quick that brett rae
Was picked up by jim burney just a short time before the jeep
Was found over the embankment.
And he took him to the apartment complex in frog alley.
[john] brett lived in frog alley, renting a spare room
From kim, the younger sister of kelly's wife, shayne.
[narrator] investigators begin delving into brett rae's past.
And learn he has deep ties to the community.
[john] brett rae was the youngest son of rick rae,
Who was the publisher of the mountain press,
The only newspaper published in the gatlinburg area.
[david] they had a nice home with a swimming pool
Over on the river.
And they were quite known in the community by all the locals.
[narrator] a former navy specialist in fire fighting
And vehicle repairs,
Brett had left home shortly after high school.
[john] he was having a pretty good career in the navy.
He sailed to the gulf war and back.
And he was actually made a junior officer,
But he threw it all away one day.
[david] he enlisted in the navy, and he stayed a few months,
And got in, uh, an altercation with a chief petty officer
And got a dishonorable discharge and came back home.
[music]
Brett returned because he simply loved tennessee.
His dad had hired him giving him a job at the newspaper.
I had worked with him.
And we were always crossing paths.
I always thought of him as the black sheep of the rae family
Because he had no ambition about things.
He liked being-- he liked being wild.
Having sex. Driving cars. Uh, and drinking.
And, you know, just having fun.
He was very young.
And he was not all that great about always showing up on time.
So the newspaper thing was just not working out.
[music]
[john] brett eventually picked up a job as a motor mechanic
In a nearby garage.
[jamie] brett was working at sevierville tire.
They did tires and service work on cars.
[robbie] kim, who was shayne's younger sister
Had placed an ad in the paper looking for a roommate.
And apparently brett showed up as a result of that ad.
[john] brett moved in with kim and eventually,
Brett became one of kelly's newest friends.
He helped kelly change the oil in his jeep.
And he took part in the parties at frog alley.
[music]
[narrator] according to jim, that's where brett
Began developing an illicit romance.
Shayne was having an affair with brett.
[robbie] shayne would crawl out the bedroom window,
Go down behind the apartments
And crawl in a window of brett rae.
Jim burney said brett was enamored with shayne.
[music]
[narrator] following his statement,
Jim directs investigators to a wooded area
Where brett had dumped his bloody clothes
And other evidence from the crime.
[david] we went back and we did the search.
We found plastic bags, men's trousers, a shirt,
And some other items of clothing that had blood stains.
[robbie] there was also a blue blanket with a
Picture of a unicorn on it.
We sent it all off to the tbi lab to do forensics.
[narrator] armed with an alleged confession,
Evidence of a potential motive, and possible physical evidence,
Authorities quickly track brett rae down at his apartment
And take him into custody.
[robbie] obviously, we questioned him,
And we asked him what his relationship was with shayne.
And he denied any sort of affiliation
Or association with her.
We obviously didn't believe that.
[david] brett explained that they were friends,
And they knew each other from the apartments.
He did not admit to having anything to do
With the death of kelly lovera.
He admitted being over there earlier that evening,
That they were at a gathering over there and were drinking
And partying and he was there along with some other people.
[narrator] when investigators press brett about his alleged
Confession to jim burney, brett asks for an attorney.
He was charged with first-degree murder
At that point.
[john] because of the affair with brett rae, the police began
Actively investigating shayne's involvement in the murder.
[narrator] while investigators continue to hold brett
In custody, kelly lovera's family and friends
Gather for his funeral
Where shayne's behavior catches their attention.
[barbara] she was talking and laughing like it was a party.
And she didn't talk to any of us.
She kind of ignored the whole lovera family.
I didn't see her crying.
I don't even remember seeing her to go the casket.
You would think somebody whose husband was dead,
Would be at the casket grieving. But there was no sign of it.
I just had this inner feeling she was involved.
[narrator] shortly after the funeral,
Investigators are contacted by a man
Claiming to be another of shayne's lovers.
[david] wade hill came and talked to us
And what he told us was this story
Of having an affair with shayne.
[robbie] wade lived directly across from kelly and shayne.
According to wade, shayne had asked him more or less
To help her kill her husband.
She told wade hill she wanted the children
And didn't want to divorce him.
Wade, being a smart man said no. But after kelly was killed,
Wade came forward and told us all this.
He told us she was looking at books on witchcraft,
Trying to find a poison that was not detectable in an autopsy.
[david] he was still in contact with shayne.
And as a matter of fact, the morning of his disappearance,
She had called him and asked if he'd seen kelly.
He thought she was probably trying to cover her tracks
And set up an alibi.
It was good information that we didn't have.
After this we knew that she was involved in killing her husband.
[music]
[narrator] coming up.
Investigators pinpoint the true location of kelly's murder.
Using luminol, it lit up like a christmas tree.
[narrator] and questions about the ultimate mastermind
Behind this plot continue to rise.
[jamie] she's pointing fingers at him from the get-go.
[music]
[narrator] on November 8, 1994,
Two days after kelly lovera was found murdered,
Investigators have learned that his wife, shayne
Had asked two of her lovers to kill her husband.
We went back to the apartment and spoke with shayne.
Police directly questioned shayne about her involvement
With brett rae.
[david] we confronted her and, of course, "oh no. Just friends,
We party together, we have, uh, parties a lot
In different apartments and, and we all know one another
And we all socialize."
When we were talking to her, we smelled clorox
And stuff like that.
That place had a real smell of cleaning utensils.
[robbie] it was a very small apartment,
Probably 6-800 square feet.
They had the normal things, the television, what have you.
But there was one thing, it was when you turned
Around to go out the door, on the left-hand side of the door
Was kelly's diploma from the university of tennessee.
[david] and we happened to glance at a diploma of kelly's
And there was a blood spatter on it.
[music]
It's almost like kelly was speaking out to us.
Said, "hey, look up here at my diploma."
So we figured, uh oh, we found out where mr. Lovera was killed
Right there in that apartment.
So at that point, we took everybody out of that house
Because from all the evidence now pointing to that
Something had happened in that house,
One of the agents puts his hand on the couch and it's wet.
He pulls his hand up and it's red with blood.
You could smell somebody tried to clean it up.
It was evident that the crime had actually been committed
On the couch.
[music]
We called in our lab techs to come up.
They have a system called a luminol test,
Which reacts with blood, so they luminoled that apartment.
It lit up like a christmas tree.
[robbie] it was amazing at what you saw.
We went through all the rooms and even out back
Where we thought the path of travel was.
[david] kelly lovera was dragged out of the apartment.
And you could actually see the drag pattern
Going from the couch, through the living area,
Through the children's room, through a window to an alleyway
Where the jeep was parked.
[music]
We didn't have dna back then. We had to type the blood.
The blood was his blood type, so we put it all together
And we presented it to the grand jury.
And they indicted brett rae and shayne lovera
For first-degree murder.
[music]
[narrator] on December 13th,
The tennessee bureau of investigation
Arrests shayne lovera for the murder of her husband,
Kelly lovera.
During questioning, shayne refuses to cooperate.
[david] she wasn't admitting to anything.
She lawyered up pretty quick.
[music]
[jamie] I was already hearing enough to make me think
That she might well have been involved.
And, I'll tell you that was shocking.
Here she is once again in a position
Where there's a scandal following her.
[barbara] I just don't know how to wrap my head around
The thoughts of somebody that could do that.
If you don't love somebody, just get a divorce.
[narrator] following their arrests,
Both shayne and brett post bail and are released on bond.
While investigators continue
Building their case against them.
You're looking for a motive, and the proverbial why.
[david] robbie had a detective assigned to follow her for that
Very reason to see if they were still having a relationship,
Which they did.
[john] they had to do this carefully.
One of their favorite tactics was to drive to the top of a
Local mountain in a public area.
There they would strip naked and have sex in the open air,
Not knowing that they were being viewed, recorded, and
Essentially observed by various law officers in the area.
They would meet, have intercourse,
And then she would go on her way, and he would go on his.
We had all that documented and videoed as evidence.
[music]
[narrator] investigators also delve
Into the lovera's financial records.
[david] we always thought one of the motives was money.
They were having financial difficulties.
Shayne liked to spend money and she overextended kelly too.
And it was also a life insurance policy.
[david] we gathered later on that shayne had called
Pellissippi state and asked how much insurance
That kelly had on him.
[john] kelly's life insurance was basically for only $30,000.
Although it paid double if his death
Was a result of an accident.
[robbie] in '94 that was quite a bit of money.
[david] if she inherited some money from an accidental death,
She probably would've been able to recover what she owed
And get out of her current situation.
[narrator] when investigators receive the results
Of the forensic testing from th items recovered in the woods,
Their case is seemingly solidified.
[david] all the blood testing from the blanket, the clothing,
Et cetera, went back to the victim.
[robbie] the unicorn blanket came from shayne and kelly's
Home. That was missing from the house and found near the scene.
We all always thought that they might have wrapped him in that
Blanket to get him outside.
Also, they found brett rae's blood type in the jeep,
Which was another nail in the coffin.
[narrator] investigators feel confident
They have a strong case as they head to trial,
But on January 22, 1996,
13 months after brett was released on bond,
Authorities receive word that his bondsman
Is unable to locate him.
[john] he was to report to his bail bondsman who had put up
The $50,000 bail.
The bondsman realized he had a runner. Told the police.
And then went looking for brett rae.
[music]
[narrator] authorities are on the hunt for brett rae
After he skips bail in sevier county, tennessee
Weeks before his trial is set to begin.
I'm concerned, you know, because I want to know
That justice is gonna be served.
[narrator] on January 26, 1996, authorities surveilling shayne
Discover that the fugitive has made contact with her.
We received word that brett had skipped town to mexico.
He managed to contact shayne. He talked her into finding
Enough money to pay for an airline ticket
Back into the u.S.
Shayne wired the money to brett.
And just two days later brett was on a flight to miami.
As soon as he stepped off the plane,
He was spotted by officials who knew he was being sought.
And within 50 steps, he was arrested, handcuffed,
And flown back to knoxville.
He came back because he had no money.
He had nothing to keep him in mexico.
He figured he had better face the music.
[male reporter] rae jumped bond and fled to mexico,
Where alicia shayne lovera admittedly wired him money.
Rae was arrested re-entering the country.
Both were put back in jail with a higher bond.
[music]
[narrator] with the evidence stacked against him,
Brett rae decides to cut a deal and come clean about his
Involvement in kelly's murder on November 6, 1994.
[john] brett's story was that he had come in after the party
To check on shayne who has been sleeping in her bedroom.
He simply touched her to see if she was all right.
And as he was leaving, kelly who had left early
In a fit of rage, returned.
Seeing brett step out of his wife's bedroom,
He became furious and began attacking brett.
Brett told the story that kelly had knocked him down.
[john] at some point, brett, in his own defense,
Beat kelly with the bat.
He said he got into kelly's car, drove around to the back
Of the complex, put his body in the jeep
And drove off to dump the car and kelly over the mountain.
[narrator] despite pressure from investigators,
Brett refuses to implicate shayne in any way.
[robbie] it would've taken more than one person
Getting kelly out of the apartment.
He was taking the fall for her.
[music]
[narrator] authorities know they aren't getting
The full story from brett, so they refuse to cut him a deal.
He wanted to take the plea and say, "she didn't have
Nothing to do with it and I'll take anything you all give me."
And the district attorney said,
"no, we're going to try you both."
[music]
Through the evidence that we collected,
I believe kelly lovera was asleep on the couch.
Brett rae comes in with a ball bat
And starts beating him around the head.
[music]
His body had been dragged from the living room
Into the kids' bedroom.
And then pitched out a window.
I don't care if the kids are asleep.
That is cold beyond cold.
[robbie] the murder happened in her home.
And she had to have known about it.
There was no way for her to get around that.
Because of the cleaning and the luminol being sprayed,
The luminol brought the blood up to the surface.
So we believe that shayne was cleaning up
While brett took kelly to the national park.
[music]
[narrator] on March 26, 1996,
The joint trial of brett rae and shayne lovera
Begins in a sevier county court room.
[john] the prosecution claimed that both brett and shayne
Were responsible for kelly lovera's death.
Shayne's motivation, they claim, was the insurance money.
But shayne needed someone to help her murder her husband.
[david] shayne was unhappy in her marriage,
And they were living not the way she was used to living.
[john] shayne wanted the money,
And she wanted custody of the children
And brett was her means of getting both.
Brett thought she walked on water.
And anything that shayne wanted brett would give
Because he was so focused on her.
Shayne's defense was that kelly lovera had indeed
Been murdered by brett rae,
But that shayne had nothing to do with the death.
They claimed brett rae was caught up in a rather
Childish romanticism and he wanted to be with her.
[narrator] when shayne takes the stand,
She continues to claim innocence,
But admits that brett had told her he killed kelly
After the murder.
My son's baseball bat was in the living room.
And, um, he said he just picked it up and swung at him
To get him away from him. And he said he didn't back off.
That he had hit him...
I don't know how many times.
And, um, he finally fell back onto the couch.
[jamie] shayne's defense was that she was asleep
And had no idea that crazy brett
Was gonna go and kill her husband.
It was very apparent that if her lips were moving, she was lying.
[narrator] shayne admits that after brett told her
He had killed kelly,
She continued their affair out of fear.
[john] she was not aware, of course,
That they had been recorded having sex while out on bond.
[narrator] when it's their turn, brett's defense team
Chooses not to call any witnesses.
[robbie] brett's attorney had made the statement that
His client did not want to present any sort of defense
In this particular case.
[jamie] brett is willing to fall on the sword for her.
He's going to take the blame.
And she's pointing fingers at him from the get-go.
[narrator] after only a two-day trial,
The jury retires to deliberate.
It only takes an hour and a hal before they reach their verdict
The jury came back very quickly. And they found both of them
Guilty of first-degree murder. And that meant they
Were staring down the barrel of life without parole.
After the jury's already ruled,
Shayne and brett change their plea to guilty.
What they were bartering for was
Life with the possibility of parole.
The sentence that they both got was life with the possibility
Of parole at 25 years.
[barbara] I don't know that there truly is justice.
I mean, if she was truly remorseful or sorry,
Maybe I could agree to what she got, but she wasn't.
[casey] I don't feel like she's ever expressed any remorse.
Am I sure she's remorseful? I hope so.
[narrator] 14 years into shayne's incarceration,
Casey lovera attempts to reconcile the relationship
With her mother.
I was very, very mad at her for a very, very long time.
Lots of anger. I had to let go of that.
I was 22. It was christmas day. We were at my meemaw's,
Which is her mom's house in tennessee.
She had never called me, but she was calling her mom,
And she knew I was there. And I just decided that,
"if I'm gonna talk to you, it's not gonna be fake.
I need you to admit to your guilt, or there's no point
In this for me." so I asked yes or no questions.
"you admit that you are guilty?" and she said, "yes."
"you admit that you had a part in my dad's death?"
And she said, "yes."
It just felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders.
[music]
[narrator] after serving 25 years,
Shayne lovera is granted parole and released from prison
In January 2022.
[barbara] she's walking around free and clear.
But kelly's still dead. He'll always be gone.
We won't ever have that joy of having him around.
[casey] I wish I could tell my dad how much I love him.
I really wish he could see me be a mom.
And I know he does see me being a mom.
I wish he could be a grandpa.
I wish my kids could meet him.
I missed out on having a best friend.
I just imagine him being there for me
Through all the ups and downs. Um...
It's hard to think about.
I think, maybe it would be the opposite of the life I had
Where I was very, very alone.
So it's hard,
But I--I just hope that I'm making him proud now.
[barbara] kelly's kids lost something precious.
They're not ever able to know the man
That they could have had in their life.
He's in here and will always be in here.
And that's the main thing. The memories, the love.
[music]