[Lori speaking]
[Angela] My mom liked to fix people.
The emotionally damaged people.
[Lori speaking]
[Miranda] I remember feeling vibes from Jeff
that were uncomfortable.
It was like the crazy was in his eyes that day.
[Jeff speaking]
He is thinking, if I can't have Lori, nobody can.
[investigator speaking]
I wish I could have seen what I see today
back then.
[Lori speaking]
-[Angela speaking] -[Lori speaking]
[narrator] It's Thanksgiving, 45-year-old Lori Roberts
introduces her new partner,
39-year-old Jeff Silvernail,
to the family for the first time.
[man speaking]
[Lori speaking]
[Angela] She had the biggest heart, she really embraced
family festivities.
[man speaking]
Jeff was more of a rugged looking man on the outside.
[Darian] Her attraction to Jeff probably was his appearance.
That old biker style kinda guy.
[Jeff speaking]
[Darian] My nana definitely had the nurturing side to her.
If she had a partner, she was definitely going to be willing
to help them through thick and thin,
My mom was born in Grass Valley, California.
Her and my dad had met.
He came and was doing some work on my grandmother's house.
My mother was 15
when my mom had gotten pregnant with my older sister.
Misty was born with Down syndrome.
Almost two years later, I was born.
We did everything together. We were inseparable.
[narrator] Five years later, Lori gives birth to a third daughter.
But when her relationship fails,
she's left to raise her children
with very little financial support.
[Angela] Money would be tight.
But no matter what, I absolutely believe
that our struggles brought us closer as a family.
When my grandfather passed away,
my mom received a quite large inheritance.
And with that, my mom decided to move to the Midwest.
Doran is located in Wilkin County, Minnesota.
It's occupied by 36 people.
Buying a house was huge.
Within months of moving here,
my mom had gotten her job at Primewood.
She came here for a new life,
and that's exactly what she achieved.
[Lori speaking]
[narrator] Not long after moving
Lori convinces the rest of her family
to join her in Minnesota.
-[Lori] Got around! -[man] Oh yeah!
[Lori speaking]
When I reflect back on my childhood
growing up in Doran it's almost euphoric.
It's like a dreamland,
where like the magic happens,
I think my nana was that magic.
[Lori speaking]
My nana was always making sure she was documenting holidays,
birthdays and stuff like that.
[Lori speaking]
[Lori chuckles]
She obviously knew at one point we're going to want this
to be able to look back on and have and cherish.
[Angela] My mom wanted to be in a relationship.
She wanted to find somebody
open and spontaneous,
you know just kind of had the same drive in life
that she had.
[Miranda] My mom and Jeff met at work.
[narrator] Jeff Silvernail is born in North Dakota
and has three children from a previous marriage.
[Lori speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
[Lori] Turn it off!
[narrator] The family celebrate
their fifth Thanksgiving since moving to Minnesota.
My mom had asked if she could bring a guest,
that she was dating somebody,
and so she had brought Jeff along.
[man speaking]
[indistinct chatter]
He seemed really easygoing.
He made my mom smile.
It was just a matter of trying to get to know him at that point.
[Miranda] There was a lot of laughter.
[all laughing]
Like everybody was having a really good time with him.
My mom and Jeff's relationship
progressed very quickly.
Once we met him that Thanksgiving, he was living with her.
I didn't know a lot about Jeff.
He never really talked about personal things.
[laughing]
[narrator] Lori learns that Jeff is grieving the loss
of his 2-year-old son
after a tragic accident.
[Angela] My mom told me that
there was a day where
Jeff was leaving, he was backing out of his driveway.
The little boy somehow ended up behind Jeff's truck,
and Jeff ran him over and ultimately,
the little boy, um, didn't make it.
Accidentally taking the life of your son,
I feel like would really, really tear a person down.
Tear him apart.
[Miranda] There was always a lot of hurt behind his eyes.
My mom just had a special way about her.
You know how she handled
broken people in broken situations.
My mom was a person that liked to fix people,
the emotionally damaged people.
[Lori speaking]
-[Misty speaking] -[Lori speaking]
This is my nephew Matthew's birthday party.
[narrator] The whole family are at the pool to celebrate,
including Lori and Jeff,
who are one year into their relationship.
[Darian] Oh, it was so much fun.
We didn't have a care in the world,
nothing else mattered but being in that pool
and having fun and rough-housing and horsing around.
[man speaking]
[child] Grandma!
[Angela] Everybody's sitting down and eating cake.
My mom's the one wrangling the toddler.
She definitely could have used a helping hand that day.
Jeff sits there not lending a hand at all.
His chair's not even at the table.
[indistinct chatter]
[Angela speaking]
[woman] Oh, we got a lighter.
Jeff, once he was fully moved in, his attitude, he definitely got worse.
Jeff did treat the grandkids differently.
I do remember feeling vibes from Jeff
that were uncomfortable.
[Darian] He would definitely get on us more.
If there was something laying out or a toy,
he'd bark at us and tell us, "Go pick it up. Get it out of the way!"
It It was definitely an intimidating factor.
[Angela] We did not have enough time to
get to know Jeff before he moved in.
We knew nothing about him at all.
I wish I could have seen what I see today, back then.
[Angela] When my mom got into a relationship,
she got in with the intentions of it being the long haul.
[man speaking]
[narrator] Lori and Jeff are two years into their relationship,
and despite Jeff's moody behavior,
Lori sees they have potential together.
[Angela] She wanted him to engage
and be a part of the family.
[Lori speaking]
-[Misty speaking] -[Lori speaking]
Misty was always excited for holidays.
There was Mom amping it up
and getting the excitement before the day comes.
[Lori speaking]
-[Misty speaking] -[Lori speaking]
[Lori speaking]
[Angela] Being Down syndrome,
my mom always made sure Misty's needs were being met.
She was the number one person in Misty's life.
Jeff never helped my mom care for Misty at all.
[narrator] Easter 2007.
Lori, her daughters, all the grandchildren and Jeff
go to a hotel to celebrate the holiday.
[Lori speaking]
[indistinct chatter]
Where? Where's your...
We did an Easter egg hunt in the hotel room.
[Lori speaking]
[Misty speaking]
[Darian] Misty was right along there with us, too.
She would be running around finding eggs.
And, yeah, she didn't skip a beat.
[Lori speaking]
[kid speaking]
[Darian] The parents are up there. You know,
my nana was up there, but Jeff was nowhere to be found.
[Lori speaking]
I think Jeff was jealous
of the bond that my mom and Misty shared.
[Lori speaking]
[Angela] The way Jeff would withdraw himself
was very abnormal.
[Lori] Yeah!
I'm sure my mom,
you know, was thinking about it a lot.
[Lori speaking]
[Lori] Yeah?
But she definitely put on her happy face.
[Lori speaking]
[narrator] A week later,
Lori and Jeff host the grandchildren
for the remaining Easter holidays.
There'd be some times where my mom would drop me off
and I would spend a whole week at my nana's.
I was always excited to see her, but then there was always
that thought in the back of my head.
It was like man, well, Jeff is there.
No, I gotta see Jeff.
No, I gotta deal with Jeff.
We never really wanted to go to him
for anything or ask him for help
or ask him to do anything with us
just because I felt like we always got shot down.
[Miranda] Jeff had a very short fuse.
Us grandkids,
specifically, Darian and I had brought it to her attention
that we didn't like Jeff.
[narrator] It's spring break 2007.
Lori hosts her grandchildren for the weekend.
[Darian] My nana would have those talks with Jeff
after us complaining to her about how he was acting towards us.
And then him flipping a switch and trying to be overly nice and overly kind.
It felt a little weird.
Jeff was never spending time with us
unless he was forced to.
[Lori speaking]
[narrator] Lori captures Jeff in their backyard as he makes a rare appearance.
The way that Jeff is interacting with the kids,
that is very dangerous to be doing.
It looked like he was trying to run him over with the lawnmower.
And there was a couple of times where he came very, very close.
I thought he was going to hit him.
Why is he acting like this all of a sudden now?
When I sensed that my Nana and Jeff
were having issues in their relationship,
he would try harder.
[narrator] That same April, Jeff begins an ambitious
DIY project, hoping to win back Lori's respect.
[Lori speaking]
Jeff is building the deck
and placing the Jacuzzi for my mom.
[Lori speaking]
My mom suffered with arthritis in her spine,
which could be pretty severe at times.
Purchasing the Jacuzzi would help
alleviate some of the pain
associated with that, and also for the grandkids too.
[Lori speaking]
These kind of projects are the projects
that he would help out with.
But he started to change and become a lot more withdrawn.
Jeff spent a lot of time in a shed
that he had built at my nana's house.
I don't know what he did in there
for hours on end.
My nana actually had a button in the kitchen
that rang into the shed to let him know when supper was ready
because he wasn't coming inside.
[Angela] My mom would get very frustrated.
He was like a child needing to be taken care of.
And she was getting kind of tired of
being the only one pulling all of the weight.
When I found out that he wasn't contributing
to the household, I felt annoyed.
Jeff was out buying nice things for himself
while my mom paid for everything else.
If you're going to move into a woman's home,
you should be contributing financially as well.
Jeff was taking advantage of my mom.
He had a free ride for years.
You could definitely sense
she was just absolutely disgusted.
[Lori speaking]
[Angela] This is my mom and Jeff in Sturgis, South Dakota,
taking some time away from the bike rally to enjoy some nature.
My mom had planned little things
to try and repair a relationship
between her and Jeff that was beginning to fail.
[Lori speaking]
[Darian] I don't know what it is about the guy,
but he really didn't seem happy to be there.
[Angela] She did see that
everybody else was
starting to see things, you know, as they were.
[narrator] Lori and Jeff have been together for four years,
and the cracks are starting to show.
It was early 2009 that my mom had given Jeff an ultimatum
to form a better bond with her daughters...
[Misty squeaks]
[Angela] ...and her grandchildren
and supporting the household financially as well.
My understanding, Jeff wanted to change these things
that were tainting their relationship.
[narrator] In the hopes of saving their relationship,
Lori takes Jeff to the Great Lakes
for some time alone.
My mom had planned a trip for her and Jeff
to rekindle and rebuild their relationship
after she had given him that ultimatum.
But that's not what happened.
I don't know
what the argument was about
between my mom and Jeff that night.
But it was bad enough
that it made my mom
pack up all of her stuff in the middle of the night
and drive four hours home.
My mom decides
the relationship wasn't going to get better.
It wasn't going to work.
She was just done.
[Darian] She sat us down and she said,
"You guys don't have to worry anymore.
Jeff is going to be leaving.
We have broken up."
The feeling I got was relief.
[Lori speaking]
[narrator] Their relationship is over.
But Jeff still lives at Lori's house.
[Angela] It was a few weeks before Jeff was to move out,
and my mom told me that she had met somebody.
They were gonna start dating.
I was happy about it.
My mom deserved somebody that...
shared the same joy of life that she did.
[telephone ringing]
At this time,
I'm like seven and a half months pregnant,
and my mom had called me
and asked me if I could come and sit at her house
while she goes to work because Jeff is there
and she just told him about her new relationship.
I pull into the driveway...
and he's out there
and he's flipping out.
He's tearing up the garden.
It was like the crazy was in his eyes that day.
Jeff comes in the house...
and he's ripping the ceiling fan
and the conduit out of the walls.
It was scary.
Definitely being around him made me fearful.
My mom went out to her car at work...
and her tires were flat.
Slashed.
My mom thinks...
that he had done that out of retaliation.
I think my mom was afraid
something was going to happen to her.
I truly do think that.
[sobbing]
[telephone ringing]
[operator speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
[operator speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
[operator speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
[siren wailing]
[Deputy Nack] Dispatch put out a call just before nine o'clock.
The male who had called in
found his girlfriend on the floor with a gunshot wound.
That type of a call is not common for us to receive.
Initially you're thinking, is this self-inflicted?
[siren wailing]
[Deputy Nack] When I arrived on scene, I asked Jeff where she was at,
and he kind of pointed at the bedroom.
The room was very dark,
and the room looked very disturbed.
It looked like there had been some sort of struggle.
Lori was laying on the floor,
obviously deceased at that time.
I waited for Agent Baumann's arrival.
[Agent Baumann] Wilkin County has very little violent crime.
Between 1965 and 2009,
there was two homicides.
[Agent Baumann] Upon entry,
we did not see any signs of forced entry.
Lori Roberts was laying on her back near the foot of the bed.
The gunshot wound beneath her chin
was consistent with a suicide.
We rolled Lori's body on her side,
there was another gunshot wound on her back.
Immediately outside the bedroom,
officers found a footprint made from blood,
and with that,
we knew that we did not have a suicide.
[narrator] Agent Baumann interviews Jeff
at the Wilkin County Sheriff's Office.
At this point, Jeff is as much of a witness
as he is a suspect.
[Jeff speaking]
[Agent Baumann speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
He did not appear as taken back
by the murder of his girlfriend as I expected.
[Jeff speaking]
[Agent Baumann] He was at the residence until approximately
three o'clock in the morning.
And then left for his apartment.
[narrator] Jeff offers no witnesses to account for his whereabouts
on the night of Lori's death.
Jeff's alibi sucks.
But... we did not have enough to charge him.
[narrator] With no charges made, Jeff is free to leave.
[Angela] It was in the morning.
There's a knock on my door,
and there's a cop.
He said, "Are you the daughter of Lori Roberts?"
And I said, "What happened? Is she okay?"
And I don't even think he spoke.
He just shook his head.
I told him, my mom's not going to just die, what happened?
And he says, "I don't know."
[train horn blaring]
[narrator] Special Agent Dan Baumann returns to the house
to investigate the crime scene.
There was a lot of forensic evidence
that needed to be collected.
There's a lot of blood.
We collected his clothing.
We also took cell phones.
[narrator] In their search for a murder weapon,
the Crime Scene Unit come across a vital piece of evidence.
There were two bullets that were recovered.
Both of those bullets could have been fired
from a high-point nine millimeter.
Jeff Silvernail had a nine millimeter
that he had stored in a locked closet.
The crime scene team reported
that closet had been broken into
and they couldn't find that firearm.
It was our conclusion that the burglary
was staged.
[narrator] It's seven weeks since Lori's murder.
Armed with evidence from the crime scene
and Jeff's cell phone,
Agent Baumann prepares for another interview with Jeff.
[Agent Baumann] There was no forced entry.
There's no drawers that are open.
Her purse is on the dresser.
The only item missing was the firearm,
but that didn't make sense to us.
[Agent Baumann speaking]
When we received the cell phone records,
there was information that identified
that Jeff Silvernail knew about
a potential relationship
that Lori Roberts was having.
It was a huge piece of evidence.
The text message gives an indication
of potential motive for the homicide.
He is thinking, "If I can't have Lori, nobody can."
I knew that Jeff was our guy.
But we needed tangible evidence
that puts Jeff Silvernail in that scene.
He thought that he was going to walk free.
I wasn't going to let that happen.
[narrator] Without a confession or sufficient evidence for a charge,
Agent Baumann must release Jeff after the interview.
[Angela] I wasn't okay with
knowing that he was walking around
a free man with full capabilities
of being able to kill somebody.
It actually terrified me.
[narrator] May 2010,
seven months since the murder of Lori Roberts.
Jeff absolutely thought he was going to get away with it.
He thought enough time had passed
that we were just going to forget about it.
But, we were holding out
on some of the forensic evidence.
Specifically, his clothing.
On the 20th of May, we received a forensic report.
It identifies blood that was located
on Jeff Silvernail's jeans
as being the blood of Lori Roberts.
When we got that report back,
I just recall being incredibly relieved.
An arrest warrant was prepared.
[narrator] Jeff lives in North Dakota,
outside their agency's jurisdiction.
Agent Baumann persuades him to return to Minnesota
for another voluntary interview.
[Agent Baumann speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
[Agent Baumann speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
[Agent Baumann speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
[Agent Baumann speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
[Agent Baumann speaking]
Jeff Silvernail has not identified
how he might have gotten blood on his jeans.
I think he was shocked.
He was shocked that he was being arrested.
[Agent Baumann] Jeff was jailed
and remained there until trial time.
[narrator] Jeff pleads not guilty to Lori's murder,
and in September 2011,
he stands trial in Wilkin County District Court.
[Eric Schieferdecker] The blood evidence on Jeff's pants
wasn't especially significant
because there was so much blood evidence in the bedroom.
It's a very circumstantial case that we've got.
[Eric] I was nervous
because we didn't have any eyewitnesses.
We did not have a firearm.
We had to connect dots.
And then explain how those dots were important.
[Eric] We had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt
that there sits the killer.
I attended the trial every day.
Jeff didn't have any emotion whatsoever.
I see nothing but emptiness in his eyes.
In my opinion, it's just proof that the devil's all too real.
[Eric] As we look at the most probable sequence of events,
Jeff wanted to confront her
about the new relationship.
He was losing a place to live.
He was losing the financial support that she provided to him.
And he was no longer in control of that relationship.
That loss of control angered him.
Jeff shot Lori while she was on the bed.
[gunshot]
That first bullet did not hit any major arteries.
She crawled to the end of the bed.
Eventually she does collapse.
[gunshot]
And that's when the fatal shot is fired.
He killed her to make sure that no one would ever have her
if he wasn't going to have her.
[narrator] Jeff doesn't take the stand or make a statement in court.
But an unlikely witness claims Jeff has already made
an incriminating confession while in jail awaiting trial.
[telephone ringing]
[Eric] The county attorney notified me
that a witness came forward
that had been in the same cell with Jeff Silvernail,
and he came forward with information that Jeff had described
about killing Lori Roberts.
[narrator] The prosecution presents the cellmate's statement
as direct evidence in court.
I believe that his testimony was huge.
It's far stronger than anything forensically that we had.
He talked about how he had
staged the scene to look like a burglary.
Law enforcement would never find the firearm or the shoes.
He had encased them in cement and thrown them in a river.
You could feel the momentum really switch.
[Agent Baumann] The jury deliberated for approximately four hours.
They had come back with a guilty verdict
on first-degree murder.
Premeditated.
[narrator] Jeff Silvernail is sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility of parole.
You know, my first feeling was finally.
Finally, we got justice for my mom.
This has been
the hardest thing I've ever had to overcome in my life.
I never thought that I would be sitting here without my mom.
After I had moved out to Doran,
I was sorting through my mom's stuff.
I came across a note that was in her purse.
It's almost like a list,
you know, pros and cons...
of my mom and Jeff's relationship.
And number one was, "He hits me."
But, yeah...
I wish I had have known.
He is, you know, a monster for the things that he did.
He took so much from so many people, I don't think he really understands.
[Lori speaking]
[Darian] Ever since my nana was murdered,
Misty lost a huge, huge part in her life.
[Lori laughing]
[Lori speaking]
Misty passed away on February 11th, 2022.
She passed away of dementia.
We had waited until the springtime
to bury my sister,
and we chose my mom's birthday.
Everybody who knew or remembers her,
knows what a beautiful person she was
and what she brought to this world.
I felt like he was good for her.
I felt like they were good for each other.
We were kept in the dark about all of it.
This is not adding up to be a suicide.
♪♪