- FEMALE NARRATOR: A peaceful beachside community is rocked...
when a beloved schoolteacher falls victim to a vicious crime.
- She was beaten over the head with a blunt object.
She suffered devastating injuries.
- FRANKLIN: I heard screams.
Just absolute screams from everywhere.
I instructed everyone just to call 911.
I wanted someone there, so I could go chase this guy.
- NARRATOR: As authorities race to track down
a dangerous criminal,
the investigation zeroes in on a business deal gone bad.
- She was getting money from a whole bunch of friends.
A lot of people were upset because they never got
any of their investment back.
- NARRATOR: The truth reveals a harrowing betrayal...
and a secret romance that emboldened deadly passions.
- FRANKLIN: As human beings, we always tend to lash out with
the people that we love the most.
- WILLIAM: I think those two feeding off of each other
came together to make this the perfect storm
that caused this crime.
- *
- [muffled scream]
[gasp]
- **
- NARRATOR: December 4, 2016.
The evening is winding down in Long Beach, New York,
a barrier island off of Long Island's south shore.
- STEFAN: It's a beach community, very family oriented,
very social.
The 2.1-mile boardwalk is our crown jewel.
You can find people every day,
even in the winter, exercising, enjoying it.
It consistently ranks in the top of the safety cities to live
in the United States.
- NARRATOR: On this night, however,
the usual calm of the beach community
is shattered at 10:30 p.m.
when local resident, Franklin Cusma,
witnesses something out of the ordinary.
- FRANKLIN: I was doing a normal Boardwalk workout,
and I noticed someone was walking into their foyer and
they were going home and someone kinda ran up behind them.
And all of a sudden, I heard lots of screams.
It was very dark.
You could see like, with a little silhouette shadow of
exactly what was happening.
Someone all of a sudden took out something really big and
started hitting them over the head with it.
I immediately started running towards the whole situation.
- NARRATOR: When the assailant notices Franklin approaching,
they take off running.
- I ran over to the scene, and I saw this woman on the ground.
She was really in bad shape.
She was completely unresponsive.
People started coming out of the apartment building
and I said, "You call 911."
I instructed everyone just to call 911.
I wanted someone there, so I could go chase this guy.
He was already a good 15, 20 seconds ahead of me.
So, I ran after him as fast as I could.
As I was catching up to him,
he kept looking back and I was gaining grounds.
I chased him a long way and as I was got close to him,
he went into a very dark alley.
It was so dark.
I was kind of like walking through the alley
with my hands above my head,
wondering when he was gonna try and hit me.
That's when I lost him
because it was extremely dark.
- NARRATOR: After losing the assailant's trail,
Franklin returns to check on the victim
and finds Long Beach police have already arrived on the scene.
- The initial responding officers found the victim
lying in the courtyard outside of an apartment
with heavy blunt force trauma injuries
about her head and face.
- She was in a pool of blood. She was beaten severely.
- STEFAN: The victim was unconscious and unresponsive.
And the fire department immediately gave medical aid.
- NARRATOR: Neighbors identify the woman
as 56-year-old Theresa Kiel...
a local schoolteacher who lives in the building
with her two adult children:
18-year-old Francesca and 24-year-old Vincent.
- ALEX: Around the same time, Vincent, her son,
shows up at the apartment building and sees the commotion
and says, you know, "That's my mother".
- STEFAN: Vincent told us that he had been out to dinner with
his mother earlier in the night.
When the attack occurred, a resident that lives in that
complex called Vincent right away and he came to the scene.
- ALEX: It was a miracle she was still alive
and they rushed her to the hospital.
- [siren wailing]
- WILLIAM: A crime scene was established.
They began to interview the neighbors to determine
who this woman was and what might've happened to her.
- *
- NARRATOR: Originally from neighboring
Queens County, New York,
Theresa Ann Albano had dedicated her life to children.
- Theresa was very loved by her community
especially the schools in which she taught.
She was the teacher that everybody wanted to have.
The kids loved her, the parents loved her,
and her colleagues loved her.
- THOMAS: Terri Kiel was just a wonderful woman
her husband had passed away in 2004.
He had been a prominent dentist up in Glen Cove, Long Island,
she had basically raised her children singlehandedly.
That included Vincent, and her daughter, Francesca.
- STEFANIE: She was very dedicated to her two children.
She was always there for them when they needed her,
especially when their father passed away.
- NARRATOR: Despite their loss, Francesca and Vincent thrived
under their mother's care.
While Francesca shined academically,
Vincent excelled at sports.
- ALEX: He discovered he had a real knack for tennis.
Vincent went all the way up to tournament levels and was a bit
of a--a tennis phenom in the area.
In 2015, Francesca graduated from Long Beach High School.
She got a job waitressing and at the time,
her mother encouraged her to go to Nassau Community College
to help further her education
and open up more opportunities for her
and Francesca did.
And she started attending classes there.
Vincent was also coming into his own.
He was starting develop apps, and Theresa was 100% in support
and was a big champion for Vincent
in trying to help him push this forward
and get these things done.
- THOMAS: She had also earned her doctorate
while she was working.
She was just a great person.
- ALEX: Theresa had actually been working on creating
a tutoring program for the homeless in the area.
She was very friendly.
She was very willing to help you if you needed help.
- NARRATOR: But now, the 56-year-old schoolteacher
is clinging to life after a brutal assault.
And Long Beach police are trying to piece together what happened.
- STEFANIE: A review of the crime scene showed
that there was a deep gash in the wall
close to where Theresa Kiel's body was found,
indicating that whatever instrument was used
to injure Theresa Kiel, at some point,
missed her and struck the wall
and took a deep gouge out of the wall.
Her pocketbook was next to her,
nothing was taken from her pocketbook.
Her wallet was still in her pocketbook.
So, we knew this most likely wasn't a random attack because
nothing was missing.
The injuries to Theresa Kiel's head, in particular,
and the violence of the entire attack
led us to believe that this was a personal encounter.
- MIKE: This just spoke of rage.
Uh, uh, of somebody that had hatred and rage for this woman
for whatever reason.
- NARRATOR: Based on the evidence at the scene,
detectives believe Theresa likely knew the perpetrator.
But who had attacked her?
- MIKE: Often times you don't have an eyewitness to a crime.
But we were really fortunate to have Franklin Cusma be
the eyewitness who happened to be there
finishing a workout
and who was willing and courageous enough
to get involved and actually pursue a guy
who had just viciously attacked Theresa Kiel.
- He was um, I'd say about 6'4, maybe 6'3.
He was wearing a big hat.
He had on a vest and he had on, uh, something that covered his,
kind of like his bottom chin a little bit.
And you really couldn't make out who it was.
- When Franklin told us what had happened with chasing,
uh, this subject, we knew we had to broaden our search.
- STEFANIE: Long Beach police had canine and every officer
out there looking for the person
who committed this horrific assault,
because they wanted to make sure that if he was in the area
that they could apprehend him safely.
- STEFAN: After a period of time elapsed,
it appeared that perhaps
the person escaped our efforts to locate him
and officers begin combing the area for any type
of physical evidence now that we know the route that he took.
And in a back alley over a fence,
officers located the weapon.
They found the bar from a dumbbell.
It did have what appeared to be blood evidence on it
and that was preserved and secured by them.
- WILLIAM: The weapon was discovered in an alley
I went to that resident
and I discovered that there was video in the alley.
And found that the subject was captured on the video.
- NARRATOR: Coming up...
As the manhunt for the assailant intensifies,
police unearth evidence of a stalker.
- STEFANIE: The GPS tracker had to have been placed
on Theresa Kiel's car because the movement of the tracker
was predominantly between the places
where she spent the majority of her time.
- NARRATOR: In Long Beach, New York,
local middle school teacher Theresa Kiel
is in critical condition
after an assault outside her apartment.
In their search for the assailant,
detectives have discovered home security cameras in a back alley
near the crime scene.
- WILLIAM: I located the owner of the video
and downloaded the video.
And found that the subject was captured on the video,
but that for the LED bulbs
that light up the video at night were defective.
So, all we could get was a shadow of the individual.
- NARRATOR: Detectives secure more security footage
in the area...
and watch as their witness Franklin Cusma
chases the assailant down.
- STEFANIE: The assailant who was seen
on the surveillance video was also carrying a duffle bag.
So, it's our belief that he changed clothes
and took the clothes that he wore
during the assault with him.
- NARRATOR: Unfortunately, detectives can't identify
the perp from the footage alone.
With little else to go on, detectives head to the hospital
to speak with Theresa's family.
There they learn Theresa's prognosis is grim.
- MIKE: Theresa suffered devastating injuries.
The right side of her skull was basically caved in.
- ALEX: She is entirely dependent on life support now.
She's, uh, she's in a vegetative state.
- STEFAN: I responded to the hospital
in the wee hours of the morning.
We spoke with Vincent Kiel at the hospital,
and we also spoke with Theresa's brother Michael.
- STEFANIE: Vincent and Theresa's brother were
extremely, extremely devastated
over what happened to Theresa Kiel.
- *
- NARRATOR: When detectives question Theresa's family
about the whereabouts of Theresa's daughter, Francesca,
Vincent tells them that they haven't been able
to get a hold of her.
According to Vincent, his sister had moved out 10 months earlier
following a dispute with their family.
- STEFANIE: Francesca had lost all touch with her family,
she did not speak to any of them including her mother.
She had no contact with the family whatsoever.
- NARRATOR: Suspicious of this new piece of information,
detectives ask Vincent to elaborate
on the family conflict.
He explains that the hostility stemmed
from Francesca's relationship
with his former friend, 26-year-old,
Ralph Keppler.
- STEFANIE: Ralph Keppler was
a New York City corrections officer.
He was also an entrepreneur.
He was very, very interested in starting new businesses
and making money off of those businesses.
- NARRATOR: As one of his ventures,
Ralph had invested in a dating app
that Vincent Kiel was developing.
- STEFANIE: Vincent and Ralph were very good friends
and based upon their friendship and entrepreneurial spirit
Ralph Keppler and his family invested
approximately $130,000 into the app.
- NARRATOR: Vincent tells police
that while they were working together on the app,
Ralph had also taken an interest
in his 18-year-old sister Francesca.
- She meets Ralph Keppler who was very handsome, very, uh,
well built, and older than her by a few years,
and, you know, this handsome older man
is lavishing her with attention.
- MIKE: They became romantically involved.
Francesca, by all accounts, fell pretty hard for him.
Uh, she was madly in love with him.
- NARRATOR: But according to Vincent,
the relationship had developed in secret...
leading to conflict in the Kiel family.
- STEFAN: Theresa and Vincent did not approve of
Francesca dating Ralph.
There was obviously a lot of bad blood.
- STEFANIE: Vincent and Ralph started to butt heads
and their friendship started to deteriorate.
- ALEX: The worst part according to Vincent,
was that Ralph and his anger
had turned Francesca against them.
- STEFANIE: The more involved with Ralph Keppler
that Francesca got,
the bigger the rift between Francesca and her mother.
And ultimately Francesca Kiel moved out of her mother's house
and moved in with Ralph, who lived with his grandfather
in a house in Lynbrook.
- NARRATOR: While Vincent doesn't think his sister is
capable of harming their mother,
detectives want to talk to her immediately.
- ALEX: The detectives from Long Beach drive up to Lynbrook,
to Francesca's home where she lives with Ralph.
It's about 1:30, 1:45 in the morning.
- NARRATOR: When detectives introduce themselves to
Francesca and Ralph, the couple appears surprised to see them.
- ALEX: They bring them to opposite sides of the house
and talk to them separately
to get their stories about what happened that night.
- We spoke to Francesca, I advised her that her mother
had been very seriously injured.
- ALEX: And Francesca was stunned into silence.
Then the detectives proceeded to ask her,
"What were you doing this night? Where were you?"
- STEFAN: She conveyed to me that she had been home
with Ralph all day, wrapping presents and watching football.
- NARRATOR: As proof, Francesca produces photos she and Ralph
took during the time Theresa was attacked.
- WILLIAM: She showed us a photo that was timestamped
and date-stamped,
seeming to show Ralph Keppler and Francesca Kiel
wrapping Christmas presents
within moments of the brutal assault on Theresa Kiel.
- ALEX: Ralph is also talking to the officers
on the other side of the house.
And he tells them the same things that Francesca told them.
That they were wrapping presents and they were watching football
and they have pictures of them wrapping presents to back it up.
- STEFANIE: He said the only time he left the house
"was earlier that morning at approximately 11 a.m.
and that was to go buy a lottery ticket for his grandfather.
- NARRATOR: With Ralph and Francesca cleared
as persons of interest,
detectives aim to gather more information
that might lead them to a new suspect.
They ask the couple about the recent tension with Theresa.
They don't deny it
and claim their anger is valid,
because Theresa had stolen
thousands of dollars from investors.
- ALEX: Theresa was soliciting money from people
to help fund Vincent's app.
She got tens of thousands of dollars,
and Francesca told the police
that a lot of people were upset because the app
never materialized.
- THOMAS: Ralph Keppler and his parents sued Vincent and Terri.
There were some other investors involved also,
and they wanted their money back.
- Francesca was point to that as a possible motive
for the attack on Theresa.
- NARRATOR: The oceanside community
of Long Beach, New York, is reeling
after news has spread that 56-year-old Theresa Kiel
was viciously assaulted outside of her apartment.
- THOMAS: Those injuries were
just so overpowering and so dramatic.
I just couldn't believe it, frankly.
I was just emotionally struck by it and I broke down frankly,
because, you know, it was just heartbreaking for me.
- NARRATOR: Detectives are speaking to
Theresa's daughter Francesca
and Francesca's boyfriend Ralph Keppler...
who believed that the attack may be the result of Theresa's
recent business dealings.
- ALEX: When they're interviewing Francesca,
they asked her, "Does anyone
have a reason to attack your mother?"
And Francesca tells them that some people are saying that
she's a crook who's stealing money from people
and using her son's app to line her own pockets.
- THOMAS: Ralph Keppler and his parents sued Vincent and Terri.
There were some other investors involved also,
so that's why she came to me.
- NARRATOR: Armed with this new information,
detectives begin tracking down investors
and question them about their dealings with Theresa Kiel.
- They start speaking to other people
who invested in the app,
just to see if any of them could possibly be part of it.
- NARRATOR: While detectives confirm that Theresa
had faced civil litigation,
the investors claim there was no basis for a lawsuit.
- The investors basically got their money back and that case,
of course, was dismissed.
- WILLIAM: There wasn't any sign of animosity
between the parties.
They were ruled out fairly rapid as--as being involved.
It was clear it wasn't them at that point.
The detectives do look at everybody that potentially
could be involved.
They look to see what activity's been in the area.
They look to see what offenders
might have been recently released.
Who might be doing these type of crimes.
But in Long Beach, being a very safe community -
there is not a whole lot of that type of activity.
The next step is look at phone records
and begin methodically plotting through the records.
The victim can't speak for herself,
so we have to ask her electronic devices
to speak for her.
Who might have threatened her?
What might have happened?
We hope that the phone
and the analysis of it can provide that information.
We found some contentious text between Ms. Kiel
and her daughter and her son
indicating that there were problems
in the family relationship.
Some of these problems appeared
to be related to business dealings.
- NARRATOR: Contrary to Francesca and Ralph's claims,
the animosity found in the text messages
leads investigators back to Ralph Keppler.
- ALEX: The person who was most angry over the whole money issue
was Ralph, and Ralph of everyone who had lost their money
to the app, Ralph was the most aggressive.
- STEFANIE: Theresa Kiel kind of managed the investment money.
Ralph Keppler was under the assumption
that the money was being misappropriated
and that's where the conflict started.
We saw a number of different text messages where he expressed
extreme hatred toward Theresa Kiel.
- Ralph Keppler was sort of blatant in his communications.
He was not only threatening them in emails and so forth
but in photographs and other communications.
- NARRATOR: As detectives continue digging
into Theresa's life,
they receive more information that Theresa
was scared of Ralph.
- ALEX: Friends of Theresa came forward to the police.
One of them had a text message from Theresa had sent her that
said that Francesca had moved in with a psychopath who wanted
to, quote, "Kill her and Vince."
- STEFANIE: Theresa Kiel knew how much Ralph hated her
and was concerned that ultimately,
he was going to harm her or her son
or possibly her daughter.
- NARRATOR: Detectives immediately secure
search warrants for Ralph Keppler
and Francesca Kiel's cell phones.
They look for any information that Ralph was involved...
and whether or not Francesca knew about it.
- MIKE: Detectives went through phone records--
uh, in particular Francesca Kiel's phone records.
One of the detectives actually researched every call that was
made in the months leading up to the attack on Theresa Kiel.
- STEFANIE: He came across a 1-800 number
and he looked into what that 1-800 number was
and he saw that it belonged to a company called "Spytec".
- MIKE: They're basically an outfit that sells among
other things, GPS tracking devices.
We were able to ask them to provide any information they had
uh, regarding any purchases
made by Ralph Keppler or Francesca Kiel.
Turns out that a purchase was made by Francesca
using her credit card of a GPS device.
- The receipt showed that it was delivered
by overnight or next-day mail
and turned on on November 25, 2016.
Once the detective learned that a GPS tracking device was
purchased by Francesca Kiel about two and a half weeks
before her mother's assault, we did a search warrant
and we asked the company for the GPS records.
When we got the GPS tracking device records
and we realized that the GPS tracker
had to have been placed on Theresa Kiel's car, because
the movement of the tracker was predominately between the places
where she spent the majority of her time.
- ALEX: The police using that information start going through
all of Francesca emails,
and they find--among them, they find alerts
from the company and the tracking device.
They realize that Francesca had set specific alerts so she would
know when her mother was either at home or at work.
- NARRATOR: Detectives have to wonder:
had Francesca betrayed her mother for her boyfriend?
Or is it possible Ralph had made the purchase
without Francesca's awareness?
- ALEX: Well, the only person besides Francesca who would
have access to her credit card, and her email,
and her passwords was Ralph, who she was living with.
- We applied for a warrant for the cell sites for
Ralph Keppler's phone and Francesca's phone.
We were given Theresa Kiel's cell sites,
and we had a warrant for the GPS for...
Spytec.
And we put the four cell sites together,
and we were able to simultaneously look at
the direction of travel on the car
and the other phone numbers associated
with Keppler and Francesca's phone.
- STEFANIE: It was our understanding, based upon
some detectives from the Nassau County electronics department,
that these GPS trackers have batteries,
but they don't last forever.
You have to take the batteries out and change them
every couple of days.
So, there were multiple times when
we saw Ralph and Francesca's phone meet up with the GPS
and it was our belief
that they were changing the batteries on the GPS
to make sure that it would continue to track
Theresa Kiel's movements.
This told us that Francesca, as well as Ralph, were tracking
Theresa's movements for weeks leading up to the assault.
- NARRATOR: Coming up--
As police build their case
to take down their primary suspects,
questions about the crime's true mastermind
begin to mount.
- The more involved she got with him,
the more dependent she got on him.
- WILLIAM: That was the perfect storm of personalities there,
and it turned out to be horrible.
- *
- NARRATOR: Nearly a month into their investigation,
Long Beach, New York, police
have zeroed in 18-year-old Francesca Kiel
and 26-year-old Ralph Keppler
as the primary suspects in the attack on Francesca's mother
Theresa Kiel...
after learning the couple had been tracking Theresa for weeks
prior to the assault.
- WILLIAM: Most investigations are methodical.
It's take a record, look it up. Find out about it.
Move on to the next step. This can go on for months.
Search warrant process and subpoena process takes time.
To apply to a judge for a warrant
is a very serious matter, they don't undertake it lightly.
So, the investigations slow down at this point
as we collect information.
- NARRATOR: Detectives continue digging into Francesca Kiel's
phone records and find more incriminating evidence.
- STEFAN: In additional to the call to the GPS company,
there was also a call placed to the Long Beach taxicab company,
right around the time of the attack.
- MIKE: Francesca wasn't in Long Beach at the time
when she made the call.
Her cell sites put her in Lynbrook where she lived with
Ralph Keppler.
It was our belief that she was calling uh for a getaway car for
Ralph Keppler after the attack.
- We're able to determine the license number
and the taxi number of the taxi
and we're able to get records from the taxi company.
- STEFAN: We did find a cab driver who picked up a male,
matching Ralph Keppler's description.
She said he jumped into the back row, ducked down.
She described him as acting, uh, very suspicious,
very--very paranoid, looking around quite a bit.
Told her, "Take me to the rail," and then paid her, I think it
was, $18 or $19 for a $5 fare and jumped out right next to
the, uh, train station.
- NARRATOR: To solidify their case,
detectives track down more surveillance footage from
the night of the attack.
- WILLIAM: From the initial videos,
we could see that this subject was a large, stocky individual.
Appeared to be very muscular, very strong,
but he was very quick.
- STEFANIE: Ralph Keppler has a very specific body type.
He is extremely well built, and he's very boxy.
He's tall, he's big, but he is also very square.
So, when you saw the assailant running down the road,
there's almost no question
that it could be anybody other than Ralph Keppler.
- NARRATOR: On January 24, 2018,
more than a year after the attack on Theresa Kiel,
detectives take Ralph Keppler into custody.
- STEFANIE: Long Beach Police Department detectives arrested
Ralph Keppler at his job
as a corrections officer at Rikers Island.
- MIKE: Ralph Keppler was arrested and charged with
the attempted murder of Theresa Kiel.
- STEFANIE: Now that Ralph was under arrest,
we were able to get a court order for a swab of his cheek
and that's what we did.
- NARRATOR: The DNA sample is sent to the lab to compare with
DNA on the bloody barbell found near the scene of the crime.
Meanwhile, detectives attempt to speak with Ralph.
Unfortunately, he is unwilling to cooperate any further.
- STEFANIE: At that point, he was brought to court
and arraigned on those charges.
My office asked that he remain incarcerated during the pendency
of the criminal case.
The judge did set bail in the amount of $500,000.
Ralph Keppler ultimately posted that bail.
- NARRATOR: Despite their belief that Francesca played a role
in the crime, authorities don't
have enough evidence to arrest her.
But Francesca's friends offer detectives insight
into a relationship they claim had turned toxic.
- STEFANIE: Initially, when Ralph and Francesca
started to date,
Francesca was still close with her family
and very close with her mother.
But the more she became involved with Ralph Keppler,
the more she started to be pulled away from her family.
Ralph would tell her things, that her family was against her,
that they did not have her best interest at heart,
that they were going to take her money.
She had an inheritance from her father who passed away,
and Ralph made her believe that
her family was going to take that inheritance from her.
- MIKE: Francesca's mother worked hard to try to get her
back into the family.
And I think this caused Ralph Keppler to push even harder
to control Francesca.
To get her away from, uh, the family,
basically so he could have complete control of her,
uh, for himself.
She was addicted to Ralph Keppler.
She was completely under his control, uh,
completely submissive to him.
And I think Ralph Keppler in the end had Francesca convinced that
her mother was a monster.
- NARRATOR: Finally, in November 2018,
detectives receive the results from the crime lab.
- STEFANIE: After the barbell was recovered,
it was processed by the lab and it was determined
that Theresa Kiel's blood was in fact on that barbell.
There were other profiles,
other male profiles that were unknown at the time.
So, after Ralph was arrested that swab was taken,
his DNA profiles was compared and he matched.
At that point, my office along with the police department
completed over 24 search warrants for social media,
electronic devices, cellphone evidence, computer evidence,
just trying to see how deeply Francesca was involved.
We were able to retrieve some internet searches that were done
under Francesca Kiel's username
and as soon as we read those internet searches
it--it was game over.
There were searches about: how reliable is DNA evidence?
We found searches about single hit death blows,
weakest part of the skull, strongest part of the skull,
brain death, how to kill someone and get away with it.
There were a tremendous amount of searches.
- NARRATOR: Then, nearly two years after the attack,
authorities receive tragic news.
- STEFAN: On November 10, 2018,
we were notified that, uh, Theresa Kiel had passed away.
- MIKE: She was beaten severely over the head and really never
recovered, uh, from those injuries.
She was essentially in a vegetative state until,
ultimately, she succumbed to her injuries.
- WILLIAM: It was a slow and painful way to die.
It took years.
- STEFAN: When Theresa passed away,
after the medical examiner issued their findings
in cooperation with the DAs office
it was determined that we would
rearrest Ralph Keppler for murder,
and we would also arrest Francesca Kiel for murder.
- *
- MIKE: Unfortunately, when she was arrested,
she decided against speaking with the police.
She had a right to remain silent.
She was advised of those rights.
She decided to exercise those rights.
- NARRATOR: Coming up--
As the case heads to trial, investigators hope that
Francesca Kiel and Ralph Keppler might turn on one another.
- At this point, both sides have articulated bad blood
between each other.
We have to keep our focus very wide
and look for anything that may come up.
- NARRATOR: Two years after the attack that left Theresa Kiel
on life support, the 56-year-old schoolteacher has died...
and her daughter Francesca Kiel and Francesca's boyfriend
Ralph Keppler have been indicted for her murder.
- ALEX: Ralph had managed to apparently turn Francesca
from, you know, a devoted daughter into a cold murderer.
- THOMAS: That is just over the top insane.
Just over the top insane.
How do you convince a daughter to kill her mother?
- NARRATOR: Prosecutors theorize
that on the night of December 4, 2016,
Francesca tracked her mother's movements to the diner
where she would have her last meal with Vincent.
- WILLIAM: She would've got a GEO alert when they got there.
But they would've known when she left the diner as well,
because the car's tracked continuously.
- ALEX: So, knowing that she was there,
and that Theresa would soon be going home,
Francesca ordered the cab to take Ralph to the apartment
where he would lie and wait for Theresa and then attack her.
- *
- NARRATOR: At the same time, Francesca used both her and
Ralph's phones to establish an alibi.
- JOE: What we think happened was that they had taken
a picture in a social media platform
and left it up in, say, the cloud.
And then what happened was right after the incident,
Francesca would have taken those pictures
from that social media platform,
taken it down to both phones,
and saved the picture to the camera roll.
I believe that there were burner phones involved and that one had
called the other from these burner phones.
During that time after he said whatever he said to her,
whatever it said, a code or he said he did it, I don't know.
She then took her phone and his phone
and downloaded these pictures from this third-party cloud app
and then saved them on to both phones at the same time.
She sat there and waited for the moment
when her mom was going to die to create an alibi.
She had an opportunity to pick up a phone.
She had an opportunity to stop him.
She had an opportunity to say, "Don't do this to my mother."
She elected not to do any of those things and to provide
an alibi for her boyfriend.
She's 100% part of this crime.
- NARRATOR: In December 2019, the state meets with Ralph's
defense team to discuss a plea agreement.
- STEFANIE: The detectives found those extremely important
internet searches, it was my job to make sure
that the defense attorney knew about them right away
and as soon as we went to court,
and I informed the court as well as the defense attorney
as to the amount of and the content of the internet searches
that is when shortly thereafter
Ralph had agreed to plead guilty.
- MIKE: Ralph accepted a sentence of 22 years to life.
The maximum sentence for murder in the second degree in New York
would be 25 to life.
In exchange for his agreement to plead guilty, the judge, uh,
gave him a commitment that he would basically save 3 years
and be sentenced to 22 years to life.
He will have to do at least 22 years behind bars and could
potentially, uh, spend the rest of his life behind bars.
- STEFANIE: My office ultimately offered Francesca
a plea to manslaughter in the first degree
as long as it was conditioned
upon her serving 13 years in jail.
And once we made that offer
to Francesca, she accepted it soon thereafter.
- MIKE: It was shocking to me that it got to the point where
Francesca was willing to serve her own mother up
on a silver platter to Ralph Keppler.
- STEFANIE: Their hatred for this woman,
somebody who was well-loved by the community,
someone who was well-loved by her family,
someone who was well-loved by the children that she taught.
That's what ultimately led to her violent death.
- She was just a great person, she really was,
and did not deserve to die.
- STEFANIE: If those two never got together,
if they never dated, Theresa Kiel would be alive today.
- *