- FEMALE NARRATOR: They were a loving couple
trying to make it in America's heartland.
- They both had kinda had a hard life
and together they were able to make each other stronger.
- They were in love.
And they did have future plans to get married.
- NARRATOR: But their dreams are cut short by a horrific tragedy.
- They had been shot multiple times.
There was large amounts of blood.
- The scene was a slaughterhouse.
- NARRATOR: The investigation will force police
to re-visit atrocities from the past.
- Southern Illinois was one of the locations
for the railroad killer.
The community instantly was on alert.
- NARRATOR: The search for a suspect will lead detectives
on a cross-country manhunt...
and reveal a darker truth,
one culminating in the greatest act of betrayal
from a friend in need.
- Their plan was that they were going to
be together in eternity.
- These two young people's lives were thrown away for what?
Nothing.
Four people basically died that day.
- *
- [muffled scream, gasp]
- **
- NARRATOR: West Frankfort, Illinois is a quiet town
where residents value their slower pace of life.
- West Frankfurt is a small, tight knit, charming community.
The sort of place you'd want to raise a family.
- It used to be a big coal mining area.
Most people know each other there.
- NARRATOR: But on October 19th, 2009,
the town's laidback and friendly veneer is shattered...
when West Frankfort 911 dispatchers
receive a panicked call from a family member
of 32-year-old local resident Terri Seibeck.
- JEFF: Terri's aunt called to report that
she had spoken with Terri on the evening of the 18th
and was unable to get in contact with her on the 19th.
She had learned from Terri's employer that she did not
show up for work that day.
- NARRATOR: Terri's aunt tells dispatchers
that Terri's live-in girlfriend, 28-year-old Kandis Majors,
isn't responding to phone calls either.
- Kandis and Terri are living in Terri's aunt's property.
So, when they don't respond to her phone calls,
she grabs a spare key and heads to the house
to see what was going on.
- When she approached the house,
she noticed there was blood on the storm door.
- Then she notices that the doorknob is covered in blood,
and she doesn't even walk in. She just calls 911.
- NARRATOR: When responding officers arrive on the scene,
Terri's aunt gives them the key.
When they try to enter the front door,
the officers immediately encounter resistance.
- As I pushed the door open, approximately five, six inches,
toes came beneath the door,
and you can see the blood on them.
- I was able to push the door open a little further
to where I could squeeze my upper torso in and look,
and I could see a full body laid out,
perpendicular to the front door.
- The scene was a slaughterhouse.
- The officer observed a female body
that obviously had been shot multiple times,
some four to five times at least.
- NARRATOR: As police step into the room,
they quickly realize there's a second female victim.
- She was crumpled between the couch
and the coffee table of the residence.
There was large amounts of blood in the carpeting
and on the coffee table itself.
- NARRATOR: Police identify the victims as
Terri Seibeck and Kandis Majors.
- And we knew who resided there and who to expect
to be inside of that house.
Terri's aunt was on scene as we came out of the residence
and I think she saw it in my face when I came out.
- NARRATOR: As homicide detectives are called in,
questions remain.
Who killed this seemingly loving couple?
And why?
Since 2007, Terri Seibeck and Kandis Majors
had been supporting one another
both in life and in love.
Both single mothers, the women had faced adversity
growing up in small-town Illinois...
and had bonded over staying sober for nearly a decade.
- Kandis was a ball of life.
She was a very bright, intelligent girl.
Kandis had a beautiful smile
that lit up the room when she walked in.
She had so many positive things going for her,
but she got into meth really bad for a while
she would go out and start partying
and go on binges for three or four days.
- She would keep a job, lose a job, get another job,
kind of just like dead-end jobs.
Just really wasn't going anywhere
in her life with it.
- NARRATOR: After losing custody of her two children,
Kandis knew she needed to make a change.
That's when she met Terri Seibeck.
- JESSI: Terri was older and wanting to get
her life together at that point.
She was fighting to get custody back
of these children that she had lost.
She was just kind of down and out needing, needing help
and didn't really have anybody because most of her family
was passed away or not around.
- NARRATOR: When Kandis and Terri were introduced
by mutual friends,
they found a kindred spirit in one another.
- I think they needed each other
just because they both had issues with like past drugs,
addictions, trauma,
they both wanted to get on a better path
and do good for their kids
and get that love back that they lost.
- They both had kinda had a hard life
and I think they found a mutual bond with each other.
Together they were able to make each other stronger.
- JESSI: They 100% like held each other accountable
to always stay clean at that point.
At the beginning of 2007 they became really close
like right after that and moved in together.
- Terri started a job painting with her father.
Kandis had gotten herself enrolled in school
to be a radiologist.
She had, had a job previously working in a nursing home
and she found that she loved that
and that the residents of the home loved Kandis
and that kind of inspired her to wanna do something
in some type of health care or to help people.
- Kandis and Terri had talked to me on many occasions
about you know, how much in love they were,
and they did have future plans to get married.
- NARRATOR: But now the couple has been found shot to death
inside their home.
And West Frankfort homicide detectives
must determine what happened.
- There is two women, one of which is laying face down
right by the front door, um, multiple gunshot wounds
to both of the women's head and torso.
Terri was shot through her left eye.
There were shell casings all over the place.
- We knew with the gun that we were looking for a .22 auto
or semi auto pistol because of the way that the brass
was ejected into the residence of the house after firing.
- NARRATOR: Detectives are unable
to find a gun in the house. Ruling out the theory
that it may have been a murder-suicide.
- The blood on the front door, on the storm door
on the inside of the exterior door,
when you see that, there was a struggle.
Somebody was fighting to get in or get out.
It wasn't a case of somebody sat down and committed suicide.
- I've worked multiple homicide cases,
but the injuries to Kandis and Terri
are the worst that I've ever seen.
- NARRATOR: Coming up...
clues from the crime scene point police
toward a serial killer from the past.
- CHRISTEN: There had been a railroad killer
that terrorized the area
jumping from rail car to rail car
and murdering people.
- NARRATOR: And the search for the truth
will expose conflict within the victims' home.
- He did become kind of obsessed with her
it was, I will do anything for this person,
for them to love me.
- NARRATOR: In West Frankfort, Illinois,
police have discovered the bullet-riddled bodies
of 32-year-old Terri Seibeck and her girlfriend,
28-year-old Kandis Majors.
As they process the crime scene,
detectives try to figure out
what the killer's motive might have been.
- We began looking around to see if somebody might have
gone in to rob them of valuables or drugs,
if they woulda had those in their possession.
We had to cover every angle of
who might've done this and why.
- There were signs of a robbery.
Both of the victims' credit cards
and ids were missing.
- NARRATOR: According to Terri's aunt,
Terri's gold Chevrolet Impala is also missing from the driveway.
- At this point, our biggest piece of evidence
that we're missing would be the vehicle.
And it's either gonna contain items of evidentiary value
or contain the killers.
And so that was our primary focus
was to find that vehicle.
I instructed one of my investigators
to start contacting gas stations
starting with the ones that would've been open
in the late hours.
If Terri's car was not full of gas
and they were planning on fleeing the area
and they needed fuel, let's check and see if they did.
- NARRATOR: While police track down surveillance footage,
detectives dig deeper into the crime scene...
and find problems with the robbery theory.
- The house didn't seem to be ransacked.
It didn't look like people had
really torn it completely apart like they were searching
for a specific item or items of value.
- There was a stack of cash in the other room
that was seemingly untouched and there was some
expensive jewelry that was left alone as well.
There were no signs of forced entry into this home
which led investigators to believe that
Kandis and Terri let them in.
- NARRATOR: Detectives conclude that Kandis and Terri
likely knew the killer. The evidence of overkill
suggests a deeply personal crime.
- They'd been shot multiple times.
And we even found some live rounds
knowing that they must've had a jam with the gun
and had to clear that and reload.
- NARRATOR: With no clear evidence
pointing to who killed Kandis and Terri-- or why--
detectives contact their families
and break the devastating news.
- CINDY: I thought everything was going great.
They both were working.
You know, the car they had bought
was, you know, a nice car.
They were paying their bills, they were going to school,
you know, they were living the typical, normal life.
So, it was very much a shock.
I thought maybe drugs because whenever you deal
with certain people and drugs and things like that,
you know, things can go bad.
- CHRISTEN: Any time you're involved in
illegal drug activity
you're going to have some shady connections.
So, I think that's where most people's minds
went to first is that maybe this was a drug deal gone wrong.
- Maybe someone was getting revenge
from something a long time ago.
Or it was like, something they owed money to.
And it was finally coming back, back to them.
And unfortunately, I-that's the first thing
I thought what happened.
- NARRATOR: Police immediately begin canvassing
the couple's neighborhood in the hopes
someone may have noticed suspicious activity.
- We started with n--neighbors
to see what they had seen in the area.
And we find out a little bit of information
on Kandis and Terri's residence.
- NARRATOR: While no one can offer any concrete information
to support the drug theory,
detectives do find a witness who offers a chilling tip.
- One of the neighbors had seen a male subject in the area
of the residence of Terri and Kandis's house
on the railroad tracks
early in the morning on the 19th.
- NARRATOR: The tip sounds eerily familiar to reports
that law enforcement had received several years earlier.
- Southern Illinois was one of the locations
for the railroad killer.
The man who jumped from rail car to rail car
and popped into communities
and created heinous scenes like this.
I remember being a child and being at home
and being absolutely terrified that the railroad killer
was going to come to my home.
- NARRATOR: Authorities know that
the infamous railroad killer
had died three years earlier by lethal injection.
Police must now figure out:
are they dealing with a serial killer copycat?
- I think that, that might have been a concern for many people.
Was this another railroad killer?
The community instantly was on alert.
- The citizens are wondering, are they still in our town?
- The whole community was shaken wondering who could have
done something like this because something like this
couldn't be done by anyone in this community, right?
- We put a description of that subject out over the radio.
Citizens listening to the scanner in town
found a subject towards the south end of our city,
that matched that description.
Officers were dispatched to the area.
- NARRATOR: When police locate the man,
he appears confused by the claims.
With no solid alibi, however,
police bring him in for questioning.
The main claims he was only out for a nightly stroll
and he had nothing to do with the murders
of Kandis Majors and Terri Seibeck.
- It was just some guy that was on the tracks.
He was ultimately ruled out
as having any involvement in this crime.
- NARRATOR: As detectives continue digging into
the couple's lives for clues,
their friends offer police their first real lead.
- They told us that... Terri and Kandis
had a couple that ha--they had allowed to stay with them
because they had fallen on hard times
and needed a place to stay. And they had been
residing with them for a couple months.
- NARRATOR: Friends identify the couple
as 19-year-old Afton Ferris and
29-year-old Michael Schallert.
- We didn't find anything in the residence
at the initial search to state who they were
because their belongings were gone.
Uh, which was concerning.
- NARRATOR: But friends reveal that Afton and Michael
had moved out of Kandis and Terri's house
on October 18th... after conflict had developed
between the two couples.
- Afton and Michael Schallert had been accused of stealing
from Terri Seibeck and Kandis Majors,
and then, they were asked to leave.
- NARRATOR: As police put out an APB
for Afton Ferris and Michael Schallert,
a witness comes forward to report another crime.
- We had a subject that came forward
and contacted the police department to say
that Mike and Afton had been at his residence
on the evening of the 18th
they had left after he had gone to sleep.
And when he awoke, he realized that
a .22 pistol was missing from his house.
- NARRATOR: Detectives realize it's the same caliber of weapon
that was used in the murders of Kandis and Terri.
- Then when we learned that the gun was missing from there
and Michael and Afton had been there,
the night before the murders. I wasn't wasting
any more resources, you know, looking anywhere else.
- NARRATOR: Coming up...
police face a race against the clock
to track down their suspects before it's too late.
- The vehicle had left the gas station.
Headed towards the interstate,
so, we were certain that they had fled our jurisdiction.
- NARRATOR: Less than 24 hours into their investigation,
police in West Frankfort, Illinois
are searching for 29-year-old Michael Schallert
and 19-year-old Afton Ferris
in connection with the murders of their friends
and former roommates, Terri Seibeck and Kandis Majors.
- We had learned Afton's driver's license
was issued out of the state of Wyoming.
And Michael Schallert had ties out in Colorado, Wyoming also.
So, we kind of suspected that, that would be
a familiar place for them that they would be fleeing to.
- NARRATOR: Detectives track down Michael's family
in Cheyenne, Wyoming, but they say
they haven't heard from him.
When detectives ask the family about Michael's connection
to Terri and Kandis, they learn Michael had been
close friends with Terri for years.
- Friends had a hard time believing that Michael
was capable of doing anything violent.
Especially to Terri and Kandis.
- Michael is a kind and caring person.
He has always been the type to give, you know,
the shirt off his back for somebody else.
- Michael Schallert is from a good family.
He's the oldest of two children, born in 1979.
His friends describe him as kindhearted and compassionate
and a good guy
who just happens to fall in love really easily.
- He had his first kid when he was fifteen years old.
That in and of itself kind of
had a huge impact on the trajectory of his life.
He was barely able to have a work permit
let alone have to raise a child.
- NARRATOR: Detectives learn that over the years,
Michael had wandered state to state
searching for stability.
- He was something of a drifter,
someone who could not hold down a job,
someone who was looking
for someone to take care of him in an emotional sense.
- NARRATOR: When he landed in West Frankfort, Illinois,
he had quickly struck up a friendship with Terri Seibeck
who offered him a place to stay.
- She said she was trying to help get him back on his feet.
They were together like every day hanging out,
doing all the normal stuff that, you know, best friends do.
- He seemed to be making a life
and he seemed to be doing really, really good
and then he came back to Cheyenne.
- NARRATOR: After returning home to Wyoming in 2008,
Michael met 18-year-old Afton Ferris.
Like Michael, Afton had been searching
for a place to call home.
- Afton Ferris grew up in the foster system.
She was in and out of homes. She ran away multiple times.
Despite all odds, at the age of 18,
she became valedictorian of her high school class.
But unfortunately, after she graduated,
she was unable to keep a steady job
and was unable to keep a home.
- SHAUNA: Michael met Afton when she was homeless,
she had been kind of going to bars and stuff.
- Michael found out that she was homeless and couch surfing,
and he immediately offers to take her in.
And that's how the two start their romance.
- Schallert was incredibly nurturing towards Afton Ferris.
He displayed what appeared to be
very sincere motives on his part.
- SHAUNA: He did become kind of obsessed,
you know, with Afton.
It wasn't necessarily an obsession like,
a crazy obsession, it was,
I will do anything for this person
for them to love me.
When Michael asked me if him and Afton
could stay at my house. I told him no
I had just had, had a kid
and he was not even a year old yet.
I'm not gonna allow some girl that I didn't even know
to stay in my house.
- An angered Michael decides to move to West Frankfort
where he had been happy and has a strong group of friends.
One of those friends happens to be Terri Seibeck.
- NARRATOR: Terri welcomed her old friend
and his new girlfriend into her and Kandis Majors' home.
- They, you know, took my brother in
when he needed a place to stay
and that was pretty nice of them to do that.
- NARRATOR: But police learn that it wasn't long
before tensions erupted between the two couples.
- About a month after they had moved in,
I'd spoke with Terri on the phone
and she just seemed really frustrated,
saying some of their things had came up missing.
Small articles, um, I think it was probably like
some pieces of jewelry or money.
It was just small things.
She told me that no one else had been in the house.
- Terri and Kandis believed that this couple
has began stealing items from them
and that they were gonna ask them
to move out of their house.
- Eventually they packed up Afton and Michael's things
and put them on the front porch
and asked them to come pick them up.
- I know how Kandis is. She's hot headed,
and if she was angry 'cause she pinpointed
what they did, she would push 'em right out.
That's just how she was.
She would give you one chance and she was done with you.
And I don't, I wouldn't blame her.
- NARRATOR: Less than 24 hours later,
Kandis and Terri were found murdered.
Police know they need to track down
Afton and Michael immediately.
Less than 48 hours into their investigation,
police get a tip that Terri Seibeck's
missing Chevy Impala has been spotted
on a gas station security camera.
- CHRISTEN: Gas station footage near the crime scene
revealed the stolen vehicle pulling up to the pump
near the interstate.
And guess who happens to walk out?
Michael Schallert, to pump gas.
- JEFF: There was a person in the vehicle
that remained in the front passenger seat of the vehicle.
From her body style it looked like
it appeared to be a female.
- While the blonde, sitting in the passenger seat,
doesn't ever get out,
she does match the description of Afton Ferris.
- It's a valuable piece of information
'cause the vehicle left the gas station.
We could watch it as it left on the roadway
headed towards the interstate,
which was only like a block and a half from the interstate.
Uh, so we were certain that they had fled our jurisdiction.
- NARRATOR: Detectives speak to gas station employees to see
if they have any additional information on the couple.
- The clerk remembered Schallert coming in the night before.
They remember he was in a hurry,
and he used a credit card
that was in the name of Kandis Majors,
but actually signed his own name on the ticket.
- NARRATOR: Detectives subpoena records
for the stolen credit cards,
hoping to track the missing couple.
- The police are able to watch Michael and Afton
travel out west by the credit card transactions
on one of the stolen victim's credit cards.
- Sooner or later they're gonna not use the card.
But as long as they're using it, that's great for us.
- NARRATOR: On October 21st, 2 days after
the bodies of Kandis and Terri were discovered,
the credit card activity stops in Larimer County, Colorado.
When detectives ask Michael's family
if Michael has any connections there,
they catch a break.
- The marshals in Larimer County, Colorado
had learned that Michael Schallert had a friend
who resided in the trailer park in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Surveillance on that residence identified a Chevy Impala
which is the type of vehicle that Terri Seibeck owned.
Now that we see what we're pretty certain
would be the vehicle in this trailer park
those departments establish surveillance in there
to make sure that Michael and Afton are at this residence.
This is kind of a complicated surveillance
because you're in a tight knit community
where the same people come and go daily,
and they know who should be there
and who shouldn't be.
- The homes are in such close proximity to each other,
it makes it really hard for police to go unseen.
- NARRATOR: Coming up.
As authorities take their positions
outside the trailer, they brace themselves
for a standoff with two desperate killers
willing to do anything to remain free.
- This is a double homicide, and they're taking no chances
with these individuals who are believed to be
armed and dangerous.
- NARRATOR: Authorities have tracked suspected killers
Michael Schallert and Afton Ferris
to Larimer County, Colorado.
After staking out the trailer park,
police visually identify their targets
two days after Kandis Majors and Terri Seibeck
were discovered murdered.
- The surveillance team was able to recognize Afton
come out of the residence go to Terri's vehicle
along with Michael and remove items
from the vehicle and place them in a trash bag.
Michael then took the trash bag over
and placed it in a trash receptacle
outside of the trailer.
- That's when the police orchestrate a takedown.
- NARRATOR: The SWAT team uses a stun grenade
to temporarily disorient Michael and Afton.
- They made their approach and took both of them into custody.
- NARRATOR: While Afton and Michael
are transported to the local station for questioning,
law enforcement conducts a search of the premises
and Terri Seibeck's vehicle.
- During the execution of the search warrant
in the trash bag they located bloody clothing
that had been worn by Afton Ferris.
- They also find the remaining stolen credit cards
along with both Kandis's and Terri's ID.
- In the execution of the search warrant on the trailer
they found a black purse that was Afton's purse
and inside the purse they found a
black Ruger .22 semi-auto pistol.
This was the same weapon that had been reported stolen
to our police department.
- In the car they find a handwritten poem by Afton,
seemingly to describe the crime
and their life on the run as criminals.
The poem was titled "Bullets and Weed."
They find two more handwritten letters from Afton,
that seem to be suicide notes.
- NARRATOR: Hoping for a confession,
detectives decide to confront Afton first.
- NARRATOR: When detectives confront Afton
about the murders, she immediately breaks down
and explains Terri and Kandis
had been accusing her and Michael of theft.
- Afton told us that on the night of the 18th
they had been told by Terri and Kandis
that they were being kicked out of the house.
They went to a friend's house, had some drinks, played cards,
knew that this friend had a pistol in his house.
The friend passed out. They stole the pistol
from the house and ammunition, and they left.
- NARRATOR: According to Afton, she and Michael
walked the few miles back to Terri and Kandis's house.
...While they devised a plan to rob the women and flee.
They quickly realized it wasn't that simple.
- NARRATOR: Afton admits when they arrived,
they convinced the women they wanted to make amends.
- Afton stated that she noticed Kandis was at the door
and was using her cell phone to call the sheriff's department.
Afton said she grabbed ahold of Kandis
and drug her back into the residence
and Michael shot her some more.
- With both women now dead, they take the women's IDs,
their credit cards, a small amount of cash,
some cigarettes, and they hit the road.
- NARRATOR: But according to Afton,
her and Michael's dreams to ride off
into the sunset together quickly faded.
- Afton says that Michael's been an emotional mess
ever since the murders, and that the plan was
to just commit suicide, that they just wanted to be together,
whether that was in life, or in the ground.
From the moment she walks into the room,
she has no remorse and takes no responsibility
for what was done.
- NARRATOR: With Afton's confession in tow,
police sit down with Michael Schallert.
- Michael's demeanor is very different from Afton's.
He tells law enforcement that he never intended to kill anyone,
that he just wanted to rob them.
- Michael says he and Afton needed the money
so they could be together, and that they had
no other choice but to do what they did.
- They felt like this was their best opportunity
to start a new life together.
- NARRATOR: Following their confessions,
Michael Schallert and Afton Ferris
are both charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
News of their arrests stuns those who knew both couples.
- I was sick. I was mad,
I was ev-, every emotion you could have.
It makes no sense. There was no reason for it.
- I mean it was surreal
it's something that, you know, you see on TV
like you don't,
you don't think that would ever happen in real life.
- NARRATOR: Both Michael and Afton plead not guilty,
hoping a trial will save them from a possible death sentence.
- At the time, when they were charged in Illinois,
the killing of two people
made you eligible for the death sentence.
- Knowing that the murders
were possible death penalty
it was like the moment that I knew
that life wasn't gonna be the same.
- NARRATOR: Coming up...
as one narrative begins to shift,
prosecutors question whether justice will be served.
- She was trying to make it sound like
she didn't wanna go against what his wishes were.
- NARRATOR: And Michael Schallert
tells his story in an exclusive prison interview.
- NARRATOR: In West Frankfort, Illinois,
Michael Schallert and Afton Ferris
are awaiting trial for the double murder
of their friends and former roommates,
Terri Seibeck and Kandis Majors.
Then, in 2011,
just before their trials are set to begin,
the unexpected happens.
- As they awaited trial, the state of Illinois' Governor
had imposed a moratorium on capital punishment.
- Governor Pat Quinn actually makes the death penalty illegal.
With the threat of the death penalty off the table,
Michael tells his attorney,
he wants to plead guilty and avoid the trial.
- He decided he wanted to change his plea to guilty
to the two counts of first-degree murder,
and he did so.
- SHAUNA: Nobody knew that he was gonna go in there
and just plead guilty
but his reasoning for doing that
was so that the victim's family
didn't have to go through any more than
what they had already been through.
- So, I mean, he was showing remorse at least.
Like I would think human beings would.
- At the end of the day Michael Schallert
was sentenced to life in prison.
- NARRATOR: In July 2011, two years after the murders
of Terri and Kandis,
Afton Ferris's murder trial begins.
- The prosecution painted Afton as a cold-hearted killer.
The defense tries to lay the blame
completely at the feet of Michael Schallert.
- NARRATOR: When Afton takes the stand to testify,
she paints a much different picture than the one
she had described in an interrogation room.
- Afton says that she looked on in horror
as Schallert killed her friends,
and that she originally lied in her confession tape
to protect the man that she loved.
- Afton blamed everything on him.
- She was trying to make it sound like
she didn't wanna go against what his wishes were.
- She was very stoic, no sign of much emotion at all,
even when she attempted to muster some up
and really couldn't.
- NARRATOR: The jury ultimately sides with the prosecution.
- Afton Ferris was found guilty of both murders.
She was also found guilty of armed robbery and home invasion.
And she was sentenced to life in prison plus 120 years.
- I was relieved. But I was sad,
because... these two young people's lives
were thrown away for what? Nothing.
Four people basically died that day.
- If I, could you know turn back time eleven years,
I mean maybe I would've allowed my brother to stay in my house.
Maybe it wouldn't have happened.
- I believe that if the two of them
hadn't gotten together that Kandis and Terry
would still be alive.
- CINDY: I would want to say, I am disappointed
that I have not got the chance to see
what Kandis might have become.
I guess I'd want to tell Afton and Michael that...
I don't understand what you did.
You threw your life away
but I'm not gonna let that dominate my life.
I have to keep going and
just cherish the memories I do have.
- NARRATOR: From his prison cell,
Michael remembers Afton 10 years later...
and how their all-consuming romance
triggered a deadly betrayal among friends.
- *