Narrator: She's a senior citizen
with a feisty streak.
Fred: Mom had a heart as big as florida,
as long as you didn't cross her.
Narrator: But then she suddenly stops
communicating with her friends and family.
Det. Mark: Somebody doesn't normally just shut off
their life unless there's some big factor.
Fred: Oh, no. Something's dead wrong here.
Narrator: A twisted trail of clues.
Fred: Everybody said that she ran off and got married.
And they're on an extended honeymoon.
Nicole: And all of a sudden,
she was taking out a life insurance policy.
Narrator: Leads to a dark discovery.
Det. Mark: There's a body in this trash can.
Narrator: But no one knows what's really buried
in this florida backyard.
Det. Mark: So, what's to say there's not a second body
buried in the backyard?
[sirens wailing]
fred: We found something,
and he said it's not good.
Det. Mark: How much deeper does this rabbit hole go?
[♪♪]
narrator: Daytona beach can be a loud place.
It's known for auto racing, motorcycle rallies
and beaches that draw crowds of tourists,
both seeking a bit of peace and quiet.
[bird squawking]
narrator: Head to the southern edge of town.
Nicole: Daytona beach is a party central.
South daytona, it's a much more small,
quiet community.
Fred: It's a paradise.
It's just so relaxing.
That's why people flock here from up north all the time.
Narrator: But on a sweltering August evening in 2010,
things are stirring in normally sleepy south daytona.
A local woman has been missing for several weeks
and police have found her car.
[crickets chirping]
det. Mark: We found this car in the twin oaks
mobile home park.
We called a wrecker service to impound the car.
[♪♪]
narrator: As the night stretches on,
the humid air stands still.
And for those on the scene,
the faint smell of death lingers.
[indistinct radio chatters]
det. Mark: There was an odd smell
in the mobile home park,
they thought it was a dead animal
that's in the area.
But when a local wrecker service set the car up to, uh,
to be towed onto his flatbed truck,
he had his headlights on and they were pointing
into the wood line that was right next to the mobile homes.
They noticed something, which was out of the ordinary.
And when they got there, they looked into the trash can.
They realized there's a body in the trash can.
Narrator: Police secure the scene.
And at daybreak, a forensic team gets to work.
Det. Mark: So once they start taking the contents
of the trash can out and start eventually putting
it into a evidence bag, they don't know who it is.
They just know that they do have human remains.
One of the downfalls we have is our heat and the humidity.
It causes bodies to decompose much faster.
Narrator: There's no way of knowing
if this is the missing woman
whose vehicle was discovered nearby.
Investigators send the remains to the medical
examiner's office, hoping they'll find
something that can identify the victim.
Det. Mark: From the law enforcement's perspective,
this is a bigger crime scene.
How much deeper does this rabbit hole go?
[♪♪]
nicole: Retirees come to this part of florida
because it's warm, it's beautiful, it's safe.
Retirees, they're like this is the perfect place
that they can just set up and live the rest
of their lives.
Narrator: In the summer of 2010,
78-year-old goldie robinson
is one of the many retirees enjoying the good life
in south daytona.
But unlike most of her newly-arrived neighbors,
goldie has called florida home since 1973.
Nicole: Goldie robinson moved down from maryland
to florida because her son had asthma.
Fred: She come here for my brother's health.
My mom was a very giving person.
She absolutely loved her kids.
Stacia: She was always a strong woman.
She very rarely needed any help doing anything,
both physically and mentally.
She didn't have a whole lot of money,
you know, but she still wanted her own place
and that was pretty important to her.
Narrator: With two grown kids out on their own,
goldie saves up enough money to buy a place
at the twin oaks mobile home park.
[♪♪]
[birds chirping]
stacia: She had a really good circle around her.
There was no need to be concerned about
where she was going or what she was doing
or who she was talking to.
Narrator: To help sustain that peace of mind,
goldie's son fred who lives in baltimore buys his mom
a cell phone so she can make regular check-ins with family.
[♪♪]
narrator: But in early June of 2010,
this small gift leads to a big falling out.
[♪♪]
fred: I got her a little phone and what happened is,
well, she lost it.
She couldn't find it.
I said, "well, I'm going to turn it off
because I don't want somebody else getting it
and making calls on it."
and then she found it and it was turned off.
And that made her furious because
she couldn't make no calls with it now.
Uh, I don't know if she think I did it
maliciously to her, which I would never do anything,
but that was kind of her mindset at times.
So, she actually quit talking to me, period.
Mom had a heart as big as florida,
as long as you didn't cross her.
[♪♪]
narrator: Though phone service is restored,
goldie continues to give fred the cold shoulder.
He's relieved to learn that a friendly neighbor
is keeping an eye on his mom.
Fred: Her name was kimberly smith
and she was a registered nurse.
I'm a thousand miles away, and she was helping mom
out do things, making sure if she got
plenty of groceries, which made me feel good at heart
because there's somebody kind of looking after her.
[♪♪]
narrator: But a few months later,
fred receives a strange package in the mail.
It was addressed for my mom.
Opened the box up and there's this cell phone,
and it had in there a little note and it said,
"don't call me.
Goldie."
[♪♪]
fred: We hadn't spoken about six months.
After the cell phone was sent home,
I would call on the landline.
She won't pick up the phone.
I called, it rang and rang and rang and rang.
It was later part in August, I called my buddy
which is he lives a couple miles down
the street there from mom.
I said, "hey, look, john," I said,
"can you, uh, run down and check on mom?"
it wasn't 30 minutes later,
I got a phone call from him.
[♪♪]
fred: He said, "I could just see the outside
of the trailer is in disarray."
[♪♪]
fred: Something's wrong.
I didn't know more. I hang up the phone
and I got my suitcase packed,
told my wife I was going to daytona, and left.
[♪♪]
narrator: Fred drives through the night,
arriving at goldie's mobile home
early on the morning of August 22nd.
Fred: When I got there, the flowerbeds was at disarray,
weeds growing up everywhere, and, uh,
mom would not allow a weed anywhere in her flowerbed.
Tried to get in the trailer. I had the key.
Key wouldn't work. The locks was changed.
My mom was driving a ford taurus and it was gone.
[♪♪]
narrator: Knowing that something is very wrong,
fred phones the police for help.
When an officer arrives, he tells fred to wait outside
while he forces his way into the trailer.
Fred: He went in, looked all around.
He'd come out the front door.
So I go in and there's nothing,
absolutely nothing
that I could put my finger on that belonged to my mother.
[♪♪]
fred: The closet in my mother's room,
I opened it up
and all was in there was stuffed animals.
All of her knickknacks and stuff on the shelf was gone.
What in the heck is going on?
So that's when I started really getting concerned.
You know, something-- something's up.
Det. Mark: None of the articles that were in the residence
matched up to what he had told us about his mother.
Clearly, someone else has been living there for a while.
[♪♪]
det. Mark: At this point, the officers actually went
and started talking to the neighbors to find out
what they knew.
Fred: Everybody said that goldie had met
a multimillionaire
and she run off with him and got married.
And they're on an extended honeymoon.
Narrator: According to the interviews,
when goldie left, she signed her trailer over
to a neighbor and packed up just her essentials.
Fred: I was so confused.
I didn't believe it.
My mom was a down to earth
homegrown west virginia girl.
A life of a millionaire had no appeal to her whatsoever.
Oh, no.
Something's dead wrong here.
[♪♪]
fred: He went into the trailer.
He'd come out and his face was white.
Det. Mark: Are we gonna find another type of human remains
of somebody else who is missing?
Nicole: This was the biggest holy [bleep] moment
I ever had in my life.
[♪♪]
narrator: Seventy-eight-year-old
goldie robinson has vanished and her neighbors
in south daytona, florida tell police
she's eloped with a rich new boyfriend.
But her son, fred, isn't buying it.
Fred: If she's with this multimillionaire
down aruba, drinking margaritas
on the beach, I would cheer for her.
That'd be the greatest thing possible.
But I told the police, "okay. Look, lead the way,
you got to find her.
Until you talk to her face to face,
I'm gonna stand right here in the street and scream."
det. Mark: To fred, being a concerned family member
and actually caring about his mother
got the ball rolling for us to investigate this case.
[♪♪]
det. Mark: We had to canvass the neighborhood.
Uh, get as many statements as we could from the witnesses.
Nicole: Neighbors were still saying that goldie
was on a honeymoon, that she had went to tennessee
with her new love of her life.
And so they didn't really think she was missing.
Narrator: Goldie's neighbors say all they know
about the groom is that his name is rusty.
No one seems to know the man but they provide the police
with evidence of the wedding.
Det. Mark: The officers were being shown photographs
of goldie that she is now married and moved on.
And, uh, that was their proof of this marriage.
Narrator: The date on the wedding announcement
is July 29th, a few weeks after neighbors
last remember seeing goldie.
Fred: But I didn't believe it.
I knew mom was missing.
[♪♪]
det. Mark: When we were initially listening
to the story of goldie's life,
it didn't sound like she needed that big change.
She wanted a simple life, but it's quite possible
that sure, she would want a companion.
[♪♪]
det. Mark: All the neighbors seem to have the same story
that she was out of the area and she had moved on.
Nicole: So it wasn't so farfetched
that she could be potentially be on her honeymoon.
Det. Mark: If she did marry this individual rusty,
obviously there would be some type
of documentation to prove that they got married.
So we had to research that through the--
the court documents.
[♪♪]
narrator: As investigators pour through court records
across florida hoping to identify goldie's mysterious
new husband, fred seeks the help of the local media.
He hopes the story will prompt someone to come forward
with information on his mother that he still fears is missing.
Fred: I was happy to do interviews
with anybody that would put me on the news.
My mom was even on a big billboard put up
in norman right on route 40.
[♪♪]
stacia: I always thought it's either one way
or the other.
It's gonna be huge misunderstanding
and she's gonna show up and she's gonna be pissed
at everybody because we've made such a big stink about it.
Or it's going to be traumatic and we're going
to find her dead somewhere.
[♪♪]
narrator: As the investigation moves into the second day
with no sign of goldie, concerns mount for a senior
who could be at risk.
Det. Mark: We did exhaust all of our avenues
when it came to the, uh, marriage documentation.
And there was nothing.
There was no documentation whatsoever anywhere
that proved that she had been married.
At this point, "are we gonna find goldie?
Where's the next clue at?"
someone doesn't normally just shut off their life unless,
you know, there's-- there's some big factor.
Narrator: Police are eager to speak with kimberly smith.
The helpful neighbor fred mentioned
was keeping an eye on goldie.
Det. Mark: We needed to contact mrs. Smith,
because she seemed to take care of goldie on a regular basis.
She's the one with the most information.
[♪♪]
det. Mark: But she was not at home.
Narrator: It's not long before detectives
learn why it's been difficult to track her down.
Det. Mark: She was at the orange county branch jail.
Narrator: Investigators learned that kimberly
is being held on a parole violation
on an old fraud charge
for bouncing checks.
She was being held in orlando.
And our detectives and investigators
went to speak with her. To see what she could tell us.
Narrator: Detectives are alarmed to find goldie's
dependable caretaker behind bars.
But kimberly has an explanation.
Her lawyer had misfiled some paperwork
with her parole officer.
She didn't even know there was a problem
until she tried to renew her driver's license
and was told there was a warrant out for her arrest.
She had violated her probation unrelated
to this-- this incident.
Nicole: Kimberly smith confirms that goldie
and this rusty guy, they got married.
They're on their honeymoon.
But she can't tell them any more about rusty.
Narrator: Kimberly says that goldie told her
she was in love and wanted a new life.
But when asked why goldie might have wanted to get away,
she remembers something that might be concerning.
While goldie was living in her home,
she did have a roommate for many years, elaine.
Fred: Elaine moved with my mom
in '73, maybe.
And they got along great.
She would come and have dinner with mom
and it was-- it was a good relationship.
Narrator: But at some point, kimberly
explains the close friendship was torn apart.
[♪♪]
nicole: All of a sudden, elaine was taking out
a life insurance policy on goldie.
It was just very odd and obviously
didn't set well with goldie.
Det. Mark: And goldie actually became upset
when she found out that she had a life insurance policy
taken out by her friend on her.
She didn't know anything about this.
Nicole: It created a divide
and at the end of it,
elaine, she ended up moving out.
[♪♪]
narrator: Now investigators must ask if elaine
took out an insurance policy behind goldie's back,
could it be the motive behind goldie's disappearance?
Det. Mark: Elaine was definitely an avenue
for law enforcement.
That was just an immediate red flag.
[♪♪]
narrator: Investigators looking for goldie robinson
have discovered that her former roommate
elaine may have had a motive
for wanting goldie to disappear.
[♪♪]
nicole: Elaine was one of her best friends
and elaine allegedly took out this life insurance policy
on goldie.
Det. Mark: Now it was upsetting to goldie because she felt
she had crossed that line.
Narrator: It was shortly after elaine moved out
of goldie's house that goldie vanished.
So police obviously wanna speak with elaine.
[♪♪]
narrator: Days into the investigation,
detectives locate goldie's former roommate elaine
in nearby ormond beach.
Det. Mark: Elaine explained it that she got upset
because she supposedly had taken out
a life insurance policy on goldie.
Narrator: Elaine denies taking out the life insurance policy.
But she does confirm that she and goldie
had a fight and that she moved out.
She claimed she hasn't seen goldie since.
While investigators still have their suspicions,
there's no direct evidence connecting elaine
to goldie's disappearance.
[♪♪]
nicole: The problem is that nobody knows
the exact day that goldie went missing.
And so it was hard for police
to talk to elaine
about her alibi.
Det. Mark: We're trying to get that timeline.
So when we talk to neighbors, they'd seen goldie a couple
of weeks earlier, which was around July 4th.
So it kind of made it difficult to narrow that down.
Narrator: Detectives will keep an eye on elaine.
As they consider their next move,
there's a strange development
in goldie robinson's neighborhood.
Det. Mark: One of the neighbors recognizes goldie's car
and trolling through the neighborhood rather slowly.
So they call law enforcement.
We get there and the officers immediately pulled
the vehicle over and inside are two gentlemen.
They said that they had acquired the car by purchasing it
from a male individual several days earlier.
And the men were upset because they couldn't register it.
So they had come back to that area looking
for the gentleman who sold them the car
to get their money back.
Nicole: And they find out adam smith,
kimberly smith's son sold them goldie's car.
[♪♪]
narrator: When investigators confront adam,
he explains that the car had been a gift from goldie,
who left it behind when she went on her honeymoon.
Unable to confirm his claims,
officers call in a tow truck
to haul the car away so it can be processed for evidence.
Fred: The detectives are there.
There was-- there were uniformed officers there.
And a tow truck driver is there getting ready
to hook up my mom's car.
Nicole: And he notices something in that nearby yard.
And it is a garbage pail.
Det. Mark: It's just not normal to see a trash can in the woods
that looks like it's been recently placed there.
So the officers that were there on scene
walked into the area
and shined their flashlight into the trash can.
Nicole: And they see something so gruesome.
A limb sticking out of that trash pail.
[♪♪]
det. Mark: There's a body in this trash can.
Fred: When I got there the next morning,
I'm standing there facing the trailer across the street.
And, uh, I looked coming out of this grownup area
over there is a detective.
I walked over towards him and he met me halfway.
He said, "fred, we found something."
and he said, "it's not good."
[♪♪]
fred: I just knew it was mom.
Where else is she at?
I know that's her.
Nicole: We felt so bad for the family
thinking, "this has to be goldie.
This has to be her."
but of course the medical examiner
was going to have to identify the body.
Det. Mark: The contents of the trash can
were transported out to the medical examiner's office
to be processed.
Because of the length of time
a deceased had been in-- in that garbage can,
the identification process was much more difficult.
Narrator: When the autopsy report
is delivered, the findings are unexpected.
Stacia: They had called us into the police station
to let us know.
They'd say to us,
"the body we found wasn't goldie."
it wasn't her.
Det. Mark: To our surprise, there was a male body
inside the trash can.
Nicole: It was a bombshell.
This was the biggest holy [bleep] moment
I ever had in my life.
Stacia: You can't help but think, "who is it?"
"who's looking for them?"
"and where's goldie?"
[♪♪]
narrator: After a three-day search,
police looking for missing
78-year-old goldie robinson
have discovered a body near her home
in south daytona, florida.
But the gruesome find cannot answer any questions
about what's happened to goldie.
Det. Mark: The human remains were of a male.
So now we've got to take this information
and see where it leads us
down into the detail and identify
who this person actually is
and how they're connected to goldie.
[♪♪]
fred: I was glad that it wasn't my mom.
But I was sad for this gentleman.
But if I wouldn't have had my daughter with me,
I would have been a puddle in the street.
Nicole: It was hard to process that this was the body of a man
because there wasn't a man missing.
So who could this be?
Narrator: Investigators soon get an answer
when the news prompts a woman to come forward
wondering whether the john doe could be her father.
The dna sample she provides confirms it.
Det. Mark: His name was arthur sheldon.
[♪♪]
det. Mark: He was a south daytona resident
who was 68 years of age.
Narrator: Arthur's daughter tells detectives
the story of goldie robinson disappearing
after supposedly getting married is eerily familiar.
Arthur had also recently tied the knot,
but it's clear from his photo that arthur
is not goldie's mysterious groom, rusty.
Det. Mark: No one had seen him since 2009,
roughly a year earlier.
Narrator: Arthur's daughter explains
that she received a strange email from her father
saying he'd left the state to marry his nurse.
He never returned, and her attempts to find him
and his new bride were unsuccessful.
Nicole: We're just thinking, "who is arthur sheldon?"
we mentioned the name to goldie's family
and they had no idea.
They've never heard of him.
Neighbors nearby had never heard of him.
So it was just a mystery.
Why is the body in twin oaks mobile home park?
Narrator: More urgently, police now wanna know
whether the discovery of his body is connected
to goldie robinson's disappearance
or just a bizarre coincidence.
Det. Mark: Now we have a whole different individual
we've got to do research on.
So detectives start to look into arthur sheldon's case.
What happened there?
Narrator: Any hopes that an autopsy
will tell detectives how arthur died
are quickly dashed.
Det. Mark: Because arthur has been deceased
for such a long period of time,
it's hard to determine if he didn't die
of natural causes or if somebody killed him.
Narrator: The haphazard disposal of arthur's body
seems like a clear indication of foul play.
But with no scientific evidence available,
investigators must rely on old school police work.
They begin at arthur's last known residence,
a mobile home park just a few miles away.
Det. Mark: Now officers spoke
with some of the neighbors there
and they said that arthur had a heart condition
and that he needed some, uh, living assistants.
So he had a live-in nurse by the name of dawn.
Narrator: No one can tell the detectives
dawn's last name or how to get in touch with her.
But it becomes clear to the investigators
that finding dawn could be the key to learning
what happened to arthur and possibly to goldie, too.
Nicole: Through their investigation,
police find that arthur
had cashed in a cd of $90,000
before he went missing.
Det. Mark: The live-in caretaker had told him
that she needed access to his bank accounts.
And arthur being a trusting willing individual
gave her that access.
She was taking advantage of him.
Everything kept pointing back at dawn.
Nicole: Police started following the money.
They found that dawn was withdrawing
hundreds of dollars out of his bank accounts.
[♪♪]
narrator: Although arthur has been dead for months,
his bank accounts are very much in use.
And when investigators review bank surveillance images,
they see a familiar face.
Det. Mark: It was kimberly smith,
goldie robinson's neighbor.
[♪♪]
nicole: So police start digging and they also find out
that kimberly smith was also going by dawn
at some point in her life.
Kimberly's middle name is dawn.
Kimberly smith and dawn are the same people.
Kimberly dawn smith.
When we found out that arthur sheldon
knew dawn, who was also a caregiver
for goldie robinson, it just was mind-blowing.
Narrator: Investigators immediately head back
to kimberly's property
at the twin oaks mobile home park.
Goldie's son, fred, watches as a detective
enters kimberly's home.
Fred: He went into the trailer
and he'd come out and his face was white.
And he looked at me right in the eyes,
got right in my face, and said, "rusty,
the man your mom was supposed to marry,
the multimillionaire
is sitting in there on the couch."
[♪♪]
narrator: Florida detectives are focusing on kimberly smith.
After discovering that she is the common thread
in the death of arthur sheldon
and the disappearance of goldie robinson.
Nicole: They go to kimberly smith's home
and while they're there, they find a man inside her home.
And it is the man
in the honeymoon photograph next to goldie.
Narrator: Investigators quickly determine the man's name
is russell ryback, rusty to his friends.
They invite him outside to talk further.
Det. Mark: They started asking rusty,
"hey, who are you?"
you know, "what are you doing here?"
"do you know goldie?"
fred: He said he didn't know goldie that well,
but he knew she was the lady across the street.
Det. Mark: And he said he was living there in,
uh, kim's residence
and she was taking care of her.
He said kimberly had taken some photographs of him,
but as far as being in that photograph with goldie,
he was unaware of it.
[♪♪]
narrator: It's clear that goldie's marriage was a ruse.
One that rusty had no idea his caretaker kimberly smith
had made him part of.
She is now a potential suspect in both a murder
and a disappearance.
Detectives begin a deep dive into her background.
Det. Mark: We discovered kim had aliases all over the state.
Nicole: She spent some time in prison.
She has charges for writing bad checks, stealing ids.
Det. Mark: One of the other things we discovered
was that kimberly had no nursing credential.
Narrator: As the pieces of the puzzle
start coming together,
investigators' next step
is to confront kimberly.
Finding her is easy.
[♪♪]
det. Mark: Kim was back at the orange county branch jail.
She had violated her probation on a case that she had
when she was cashing some fraudulent checks.
Nicoleshe stands by her story that goldie and this rusty guy,
they got married, and that's what happened.
Narrator: As detectives work to build a case connecting kim
to goldie's disappearance,
another troubling detail emerges.
The family now living in goldie's house
is not just any family.
Nicole: Kimberly smith's son and his girlfriend
are now living in goldie robinson's home
and kimberly smith tells people
the reason that they're living there
is that goldie gave it to him as a gift.
Det. Mark: They live there with their children.
Narrator: Adam smith is the same man
who sold goldie's ford taurus.
Though investigators still hope to find goldie alive,
they realize the odds of that are growing slimmer.
Det. Mark: Kim lived in a mobile home
that's close to the wood line
where we found arthur's body.
What's to say there's not a second body
buried in the backyard?
[♪♪]
narrator: On the morning of September 3rd, 2010,
authorities returned to the area
where arthur sheldon's body was discovered
nine days earlier.
Det. Mark: The dogs hit on the initial spot
where arthur was.
But then a short distance away from that,
the dogs then hit on a new area,
which gave a clear indication
that there was another body buried there
very close to kim's trailer.
Is it gonna be goldie or are we gonna find
another set of human remains of somebody else who's missing?
Nicole: And they started brushing away the debris,
lining that area out
so that they could start the dig.
And it's hot and muggy
and we're just waiting and waiting and waiting
to see what they found.
Narrator: After hours of painstaking digging,
the technicians make the dreaded discovery.
I'm standing there in the middle of the road again.
I've seen several men back there.
I heard these dogs barking.
They're barking, barking.
And this detective approached me
and they told me that they had found a body
four feet under the surface in a shallow grave.
They didn't know if it was male or female.
Det. Mark: We removed more human remains
and more garbage bags.
Fred: Then another detective come out and said,
"fred, we need a dna sample."
it didn't sound good to me at all
when they asked me for dna.
Narrator: Two months in the florida heat
have taken a toll on the body.
Although the remains are badly decomposed,
the medical examiner is able to lift a single fingerprint.
A few days later, the identity is confirmed.
Fred: I got the call.
The call you never wanna take.
Told me they had a positive id on my mom.
And of course, I--
at that point, I could even hardly stand up.
Narrator: With two bodies now recovered
from this florida neighborhood,
investigators wonder whether they've discovered
a serial predator's burial ground.
But will police have enough evidence
to prove their suspicions?
Det. Mark: Anytime you discover a body,
you wanna know what the cause of death was.
But with our summer heat,
it acts very harshly on human remains.
Knowing exactly how goldie and arthur died,
it's not an exact science.
Nicole: How are they gonna charge murder charges
without that evidence of, were they even murdered?
Narrator: Florida detectives believe kimberly smith
may be involved in two homicides.
Though the bodies of goldie robinson
and arthur sheldon were found on her property,
investigators will still need direct evidence
to prove a murder actually took place.
Nicole: So the investigators' hands were tied.
Fred: The death on the death certificate
is listed as homicide
but the cause of death is undetermined.
And there's no murder charges.
Stacia: I was extremely angry that they didn't know how
and quite honestly they didn't know who.
Nicole: Even if they died from natural causes,
the bodies were not buried and placed there by themselves.
Narrator: Kimberly smith was a caregiver
for both goldie and arthur.
While their homicide case against her is crumbling
due to lack of evidence, prosecutors are determined
to get justice somehow.
Det. Mark: We may not be able to get kimberly with a homicide
but we could definitely charge her with fraud.
Narrator: So the investigators get to work
building a strong fraud case.
Det. Mark: We discovered kimberly has this bank card
that she was using to acquire those funds
that belonged to arthur.
And also she was using that same method
to acquire funds that belonged to goldie.
Narrator: Police find evidence that among the things
kimberly purchased were a trash can and a shovel.
Investigators discover that kimberly also began
siphoning social security payments.
Nicole: If a senior citizen is getting social security,
they have an option of having it on a credit card.
And then you can then spend that money that way.
So police find out after arthur sheldon is missing,
that option was changed to the credit card option.
Narrator: The investigation reveals that kimberly
was netting more than $2,000 a month
from goldie and arthur.
To protect her scam, prosecutors say
she began driving a wedge between goldie and her family.
Who returned goldie's phone to her son fred
with a note telling him never to call her.
Det. Mark: The son adam and his wife crystal
had a working knowledge of what kim was doing.
And it was clearly evident
because they had taken possession
of goldie's residence.
They had possession of her cars
and a lot of her property.
So they had to have had knowledge
that something wasn't right.
They were accessories to the incident.
Narrator: In December of 2010, kimberly smith,
along with adam and crystal smith,
are charged with multiple counts of fraud and forgery.
Prosecutors believe their case is solid,
but they realize the risk they take bringing it to trial.
Kimberly has two elderly people currently in her care.
If she's acquitted, prosecutors fear
their lives could be at risk.
Fred: I would do anything in this world
to get my mom back.
There's nothing I can do.
She's gone.
I'll never get another one.
But if I can save one person,
somebody's mom, somebody's dad,
we'll do a plea bargain.
Narrator: In August 2012, prosecutors offer kimberly
the plea deal for the fraud she committed
against goldie robinson and arthur sheldon.
Nicole: Kimberly smith decides to agree
to a plea agreement with prosecutors.
She was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Kim's son adam smith and his wife crystal
both pleaded no contest
and they were sentenced to three years in prison.
Narrator: For the family members
who waited so long to find justice,
the final outcome is bittersweet.
Stacia: I want kimberly smith, adam smith, and crystal
to all understand that I forgive them,
because that's what goldie would want.
Fred: If I could talk to mom, I would say this.
Thank you for all you've done for me.
You did a great job raising me.
I love you.
[♪♪]