[somber instrumental music plays]
[woman] I'm so sorry.
I wish I could change things and go back in time and...
just not have any guns in the house at all.
[music intensifies]
I hope someday that I can get out.
But I know that I took a life and I got to pay for that.
And um, I'm so sorry that I did it.
And uh, if I could bring him back, I would.
But I can't bring him back.
[music crescendos]
[eerie instrumental music plays]
[somber instrumental music plays]
Should my hair be behind me or in front of me?
I think it should be in front of you.
My name is Victoria Smith.
I was convicted of first-degree murder.
My sentence was, uh, life
plus 25 years.
[downbeat melodic music plays]
I grew up in, uh, Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
I have, uh, eight siblings.
Two have passed,
and uh, the main two I was close to was Roxie and Betty.
I'm really close to Betty.
She's my baby sister.
I was slow growing up.
Uh, like, learning disabilities.
I had learning disabilities
and I wasn't mentally right.
I've always had problems.
You know, I'm average or below average education.
My mom raised us on Social Security.
I don't know who my father was. My mother never told...
Well, she told me that it could have been a riverboat captain
or a man that worked on the riverboat,
but it was never confirmed.
But I felt my mom had a tough love.
I called it tough love,
and uh, it made me a stronger person.
I think that I wouldn't be as strong as I was
if it wasn't have been for my mother.
I don't like to put my mother down,
but she had a drinking problem when we was growing up,
and, uh, when she would drink, she would take everything out on me.
She would kick me and hit me with her fists,
and pull my hair and...
I mean, just physical abuse, you know.
It was at least two or three times a week.
That's pretty much how I was raised,
up until I was 15.
And then I went and moved to Louisiana with my older sister Goldie.
[music intensifies]
[melodic instrumental music plays]
He was a big baby.
He was 23.5 inches long.
He weighed 8 pounds, 10.5 ounces,
and I just thought he was the greatest thing.
He was just everything,
everything to me.
[birds and insects chirping]
His father, during the whole, I'd say he... He...
He abused me a lot.
He... He was an alcoholic too.
I mean, it was normal for me to be abused.
He would choke me and, you know, punch me.
And it seems like every relationship that I've ever been in, um,
it's been abuse.
There's been a lot of abuse...
[inhales sharply]
...and, um, it's hard.
It really was. It was hard.
[sniffles]
[moody melodic music plays]
I wanted to protect Kenny from the world.
And I definitely didn't want him to be abused or anything.
I wanted to make sure that he had a good life.
And he wouldn't have had that if I'd have stayed with his father.
I started working full-time,
and my mom started taking care of my son.
I liked to go out on the weekends. And, you know, I was a single person.
Because I went through a stage of a drinking problem too.
And uh, I should have been more at home with my son.
My mother thought that I could have been a better mother.
Uh, she, uh, made me sign a paper
saying that he... she was had full custody of him
or I could no long... we could no longer live with her.
It broke my heart.
It really did. It broke my heart.
It just made me feel like, uh...
I was losing my child.
I really lost it a little bit.
And, in my mind, um...
I started drinking more and, uh...
I started taking, uh, pills
and stuff that I shouldn't be doing.
[somber melodic music plays]
I was 34 years old, when me and Chris started dating. He was 30.
And, uh, it was a good relationship as we started out because he didn't drink.
He was pretty, pretty gentle at the beginning.
And he was a very good-looking man.
We had a lot of fun.
[birds chirp]
[melodic music plays]
Chris worked for a private company.
And, uh, he hurt his back from the, the labor that he had to do.
After that, he started taking opioids.
[grim music plays]
He changed.
He started becoming more aggressive.
There's times I had to go to the hospital,
where he had shoved me into, like, coffee tables and stuff like that.
And I had broken ribs.
Several times I had to call my sister
because I thought he... he was basically gonna kill me.
And I was always scared that something like that may happen.
[music intensifies]
[tense music plays]
I pretty much ran the household.
Paid the bills, cooked the meals.
And I couldn't do those things as well as I could.
I tried, but I was too weak.
[music intensifies]
Chris was mad because I couldn't do the things I used to do.
He got way more aggressive.
I mean, it was to the point where he was like a madman at times.
Between the medications
and the stress that I was under, and... from not sleeping,
Uh...
I was hallucinating.
And, uh, it was really getting bad,
and I was ready to leave. I was ready. I was,
I was in the process of getting my things out of the home,
getting rid of what I didn't need,
and um, um...
when the incident happened.
[music crescendos]
[grim instrumental music plays]
This is what I remember.
I was laying down, but I was awake.
And I went to the kitchen.
I was gonna get... grab a pack of cigarettes, and um...
[music intensifies]
I didn't grab the cigarettes. I grabbed a pistol.
Something told me to end him.
[tense music plays]
Chris was sleeping. He was asleep on the couch.
The time I shot him.
[gunshots ringing]
[gunshots continue]
And that's the last I remember.
[somber instrumental music plays]
[sniffles]
[grim music plays]
[somber melodic music plays]
[woman 1] You and Chris used to ride that big, old tricycle
off the high side of that porch...
[man] Yeah, we'd jump 'em back here, though.
[woman 1] Yes, then you boys would be out there and get your boots
stuck in the cow patties.
[laughter]
[woman 2] I remember one time that I think Kenny and Millie saw her.
[woman 1] And even though Chris isn't here with us,
we've still got all of our good memories of him.
- [man] Yep. - [woman 1] He's living on through us, so...
[sniffles]
This is Chris whenever he was a baby,
and that's Kay, and Billy, and that's me. [sniffles]
[woman 2] We called him Kojak.
- Yes. He was bald-headed. - [man] Yeah. [laughs]
Is that how he got his name?
- Because of his bald head? - Yes.
- [woman 1] Didn't Daddy make that name up? - Yes.
[woman 1] He was a sweet little boy growing up.
He just loved everybody. He was just full of life.
[indistinct conversation]
I am Cathy Colbert, and Chris Isaac was my little brother.
There were eight of us all together.
Five girls and three boys.
[photos rustling]
Here's a graduation picture of him when he graduated from Puxico High School.
And, um, we were so proud to see him graduate
because Chris had learning disabilities.
And, um, for him to graduate,
it was just a really good day for all of us. [sniffles]
The best way to describe him is a big loving teddy bear
because that's what he was.
- Gentle. - Yes.
Yeah. Very gentle.
[Cathy] I was working at the time,
and, um, I had a phone call.
The gal out at the office came out and told me,
"Cathy, you need to come..."
I'm sorry.
[sniffles]
"You need to come take this phone call."
[sniffles]
"It's very important."
I said, "Well, what is it?" [sniffles]
She said, "I can't tell you." I said, "Is it...?"
[sniffles] "Is it bad?"
"Just tell me if it's bad."
[sniffles]
And she said, "Yeah."
[sniffles]
It was my sister Gina.
[sniffles] She said, um, "Chris is dead."
[sniffles]
"Vicky shot him."
[sniffles] I'm sorry.
[sniffles]
It didn't make any sense at all
because I knew they had...
they had some troubles, you know,
and most couples do have some troubles.
But, I mean, it just really blew my mind, you know, when,
when we found out she was the one who killed him.
I couldn't believe it.
That wasn't the Vicky we knew.
There's just so many unanswered questions, you know.
So many unanswered questions. [sniffles]
[woman 2] I felt like a double whammy that day
because I was so close to Vicky,
and still to this day, it breaks my heart,
because, I mean, I loved her like one of my sisters.
We all did.
I don't know what happened.
[sighs]
[sniffles]
[sighs]
[insects chirping]
[grim instrumental music plays]
[music intensifies]
[woman] There are no sure things,
especially with a criminal investigation.
You better make sure that you've looked in every corner
because you don't know what's hiding around it.
My name is Betty Frizzell.
I started out as a deputy sheriff
in a little county not too far from Poplar Bluff.
And then, eventually, became a chief of police.
I've been studying the Chris Isaac case for years,
probably since the day it happened.
I didn't work directly on the case.
'Cause I didn't want to get involved.
I wanted to live my nice little life in St. Louis.
But I became involved because I had reservations
that Victoria did the actual shooting.
I know when Victoria is lying.
Because I'm Victoria's sister.
[music intensifies]
This is the house that we bought,
and I was a grade-school girl and Vicky was a...
a teenager.
I had the back bedroom, and Vicky had the middle bedroom,
and Mom had the front bedroom.
[birds chirping]
It brings, like, a lot of feelings of sadness.
A lot of broken dreams.
It's like a... a monument to Vicky's life.
[quavers] Tries to look pretty, but it's still very damaged.
[somber instrumental music plays]
My earliest memory is Vicky getting in trouble...
[inhales]
...and my mom was mad a lot,
especially if she'd been drinking.
Vicky had a slower intellect
and didn't know how to control her behavior.
[swallows]
Vicky was the first time I ever seen anything bleed.
[inhales]
And it was not just
a... a spanking.
It was fist, and it was hair-pulling and kicking.
Just like if she was getting in a bar fight,
but with this little, 11-year-old girl.
Vicky would take every bit of beating that my mom would throw out.
If my mom was hitting me, Vicky would try to make her mad
so that she would deflect her attention onto her.
She protected me because she wanted me to have the life that I have now.
[sobs]
[sniffles]
I think Vicky's one of the most self-sacrificing people I've ever met.
[eerie music plays]
I don't believe Victoria killed Chris.
I believe it was somebody else.
[music intensifies]
I believe it was my nephew Kenny.
[music intensifies]
This is not just an open and shut case of two opioid addicts,
that one decided to kill the other.
I believe the police fell into the trap of tunnel vision.
"She said she did it. Case closed."
I've worked many cases where people made false confessions.
People make false confessions all the time.
[grim instrumental music plays]
[muffled police radio chatter]
[officer] You wanna make sure your investigation's done properly
because a lot of times, it's not as simple as it looks.
But in this case, it was.
[music intensifies]
My name's Andrew Holden.
I am currently the Chief Deputy at Stoddard County Sheriff's Department.
I was one of the investigators in this homicide investigation.
Everything we looked at,
all the evidence, all the interviews that we done,
led right back to that initial 911 call.
[phone speed dialing]
[ringing]
[operator] 911, what is your emergency?
[Victoria] I'm at 365 North Church Street. I just killed my husband.
[operator] You just killed your husband?
[Victoria] Yeah, I shot him six times, and 12 times in the head.
My name's Victoria Isaac.
[operator] What... What's the address?
She called and said that she had shot her husband,
and when we walked in and seen that,
it was pretty obvious that's what had happened.
[music intensifies]
[cryptic instrumental music plays]
The spatter on her face was visible.
I mean, you could walk up to her and see the little specks of blood.
It wasn't anything you really had to search for.
It was obvious.
We collected what was called GSR,
which is gunshot residue.
And that's... that's normal to collect
in any... any shooting you have.
Victoria tested positive for gunshot residue.
[music intensifies]
Another piece of evidence we found was a piece of paper
that was Victoria's last will and testament,
where she was basically giving her possessions away to other people.
So that appeared that she did intend on killing herself.
I really believe the ultimate plan, in this case,
was a murder-suicide,
but something changed her mind, uh, to keep her from killing herself.
[muffled recording plays]
I don't know why she killed him for certain.
That's one of the questions that we'd like to answer if we can.
[officer] Can you put your hands out again for me, please? Thank you.
[Andrew] I personally never got that "why" answered.
[officer] Can you turn them over for me? Thank you.
Because the case is really so simple.
[blues-style music plays]
[Betty] Some police say they did a good job and might believe they did.
Maybe they can go home at night and sleep with that, but I can't.
Because I took an oath a long time ago to uphold justice.
And my sister did not get served justice in this.
I was surprised when Victoria told me
that Kenny was moving in with her and Chris.
[grim music plays]
They have had such a tumultuous relationship.
Vicky always wanted to be his mom.
He saw her more as a big sister.
Then when she married Chris, Kenny didn't see him as a stepfather.
So you had these eschewed relationships to begin with.
Kenny always exhibited some behavior that was not rational.
A short time before the murder,
Chris and Kenny had got into a physical altercation,
where Kenny ended up having a black eye.
I knew Kenny's personality.
Kenny didn't let anybody get anything over on him.
My mom had instilled that in his mind.
How dare someone who's inferior, such as Chris,
punch him and leave a black eye on him?
How dare he?
Revenge was the motive for this murder.
I believe what happened,
Kenny sees Chris laying there on the couch, defenseless,
goes and finds the old 22mm gun,
loads it and starts shooting Chris.
[music crescendos]
Vicky wakes up and hears this,
and then the last four rounds,
she's either struggling with Kenny with that gun,
or she talks Kenny out of it and throws the gun.
[music intensifies]
I don't believe Victoria shot any of those bullets.
Victoria, she's a protector of the people she loves.
She called 911 and confessed, and stuck to that story.
[music intensifies]
This is a way of paying penance for being a bad mom.
And I think that's what she's guilty of.
Being a bad mom, maybe, but not being a murderer.
[music crescendos]
[eerie music plays]
I admit there's no physical evidence to prove Kenny did this.
But if someone's washed up,
or if somebody has changed clothes and washed up,
there's not gonna be any.
[music intensifies]
However, there is tons of circumstantial evidence
that proves my theory.
I've tried to talk to the police before, and I've been shut down numerous times.
I've been told to stay in St. Louis, mind my own business.
I've been threatened with arrest
just for telling the prosecutor that we're gonna appeal Victoria's case.
But I'm a woman of faith, and I'll just keep trying.
[blues-style music plays]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter continues]
[muffled conversation]
Rosanna...
- Okay. - Yorker.
Okay.
[indistinct chatter]
What spurred me to write the book was the injustice,
the lack of competent police work,
and just my need for the truth.
[indistinct chatter continues]
My ultimate goal is for Victoria to stop perpetuating this lie
that she's told herself,
stop protecting someone who didn't protect her,
and just start moving towards
telling the truth of what really happened that day.
[indistinct conversation]
It's all about my sister. She's, uh, serving life plus 25 years,
um, for a murder that she may or may not have committed.
Now, this...
She has her, uh, version of the story, and this is my version.
So I'd like you to read it and tell me what you think.
What do you think?
[chuckles] You know what I think.
[chuckling]
[indistinct conversation]
Maybe this book would also get the police to look at this case again.
If Vicky would tell really what happened that day
and provide more evidence to what really went on,
maybe it would be reopened.
Maybe she would have a chance to actually have another... a real trial,
not just a plea deal.
[cryptic music plays]
[music intensifies]
[indistinct chatter]
Some people might just think that I am making this up
or don't want to believe that my sister committed this crime,
but there's a 911 call days prior to this murder
in which Kenny tells his intent to kill Chris,
and Vicky, and then himself.
That 911 call, to me, really is the biggest piece of evidence
that proves that he did this.
[music intensifies]
[phone speed dials]
[operator] 911. What is your emergency?
[Kenny] Yeah, ma'am. I need an ambulance. I'm having suicidal, homicidal thoughts.
I'm at the end of my rope. I'm... I'm outside pacing right now.
[operator] All right. Is there anybody there with you?
[Kenny] Yeah, Mom and stepdad. I...
I was having thoughts of killing both, and then myself.
[operator] Okay, I completely... I can understand.
[Kenny] I can't take no more.
[static hum]
My name is Russ Oliver.
I was the prosecuting attorney
in the case of the homicide of Chris Isaac,
perpetrated by his wife, Victoria Isaac.
On May 7, a week before the homicide, uh,
Kenneth Smith did call, um, 911
and told them that he was suicidal and homicidal.
I mean, that, that wasn't anything that we ignored.
That was definitely something that we'd go, "Oh."
"Well, let's pay attention to that." All right?
And, and even with that... knowing that,
we still had, had no evidence that pointed that Kenny did anything here.
[cryptic music plays]
The evidence is that Victoria was covered in Chris's blood.
And blood spatter is not something that you can just recreate, right?
Kenneth didn't have any blood spatter.
[music intensifies]
And he didn't have any gunshot residue on his hands.
To say that Kenny did this,
I mean, there is no evidence to support that whatsoever.
I will not be reading Betty's book.
I don't have a lot of spare time,
and I certainly won't be spending my time reading what Betty has to say.
Is it for attention?
Is it, uh...
uh, to get sympathy for her sister?
I... I don't know,
but her sister's not going anywhere.
Her sister shot her husband ten times in the head execution-style.
She's never leaving prison.
What this lady is saying is just rote accusations,
um...
rote speculation
with absolutely no evidence to back it up.
And not even the person who's in prison saying that's what's happened.
That should be a big indication
of how much credibility this should be given.
I do feel for the Isaac family.
What Betty is saying is probably pretty upsetting to them, I'm sure.
They don't deserve any of this.
Re-dealing with all of this.
[blues-style music plays]
[host] Welcome to Let's have a Chat.
So for this episode, I am joined by perhaps one of the most interesting guests
that we have had in our 16 months of shows, Betty Frizzell.
I want folks to read the book.
- I don't want to spoil major details. - [Betty] Okay.
But... Uh, but simply put, you make a pretty strong case
that Kenny and not Vicky, uh, killed Vicky's husband, Chris.
[Betty] I've worked for some small cities, I've worked for some small counties, but...
I've never seen this kind of, you know, unprofessionalism.
It was a comedy of errors. Just because they had a confession that this lady,
you know, supposedly killed her husband and...
What a damn lie.
That's the biggest crock of bullcrap I've ever heard in my life.
[host] Uh, has there been any movement since the book?
It's been out for, what, about close to a month now?
[Betty] No. And as you know...
[Cathy] She needs to let it rest.
She needs to think about what it's doing to our family.
[somber music plays]
It's opening up old wounds.
Vicky did it.
Without a doubt in my mind, I think Vicky did it.
She wrote out a statement and confessed to it.
Betty didn't live in this area,
and, um, she wasn't around Vicky that much either
for her to write all the stuff in that book.
I don't know where she come up with all of that stuff.
[Betty] ...but I couldn't save Vicky.
I think Betty is crazy,
and I think she's seeking attention.
I don't know how anybody could try to pin a murder
on somebody else,
and it... it makes me sick to my stomach.
[music intensifies]
[grim instrumental music plays]
[indistinct police radio chatter]
[radio chatter continues]
[beeping]
[Andrew] I don't think Betty necessarily is lying.
But I think sometimes your judgment becomes clouded,
um, even with a law enforcement background or whoever you are
when you're trying to look into a crime that your sibling has committed.
[somber melodic music plays]
I can absolutely understand why Betty would make those claims.
Trying to cast doubt out there,
trying to get her sister out of prison.
And it's not uncommon for family members to, um,
not believe a law enforcement investigation.
And this is true in this case.
At the end of the day,
it doesn't matter what I think, it doesn't matter what Betty thinks.
Until there's new evidence that comes to light
or someone makes a claim or,
or a new statement,
uh, there's really nothing gonna change in this case.
[grim instrumental music plays]
[Victoria] Last time I saw my son was at the courthouse,
and I haven't seen him since or talked to him.
And it hurts. It hurts every day that I can't.
He's in my thoughts daily.
[music intensifies]
Would you mind...?
Yep. I'm fine.
[Victoria] My sister Betty's been there for me when nobody else has.
She's so encouraging.
I feel better after I talk to my sister.
I don't feel so alone.
I've read the book.
Um...
Yes, I'm... I'm, uh, I'm aware of what...
what's been said.
[music intensifies]
You know, whether it's true or false, I can't... I can't tell you that,
because, uh, for the simple fact of court matters,
and I could be going back into court someday,
and that...
that could damage what...
what, you know, what, uh, the judge would see.
And that's... You know, I really can't go any further.
[interviewer] In the first interview, you told me you did do it.
Do you want to tell me again, like, who pulled the trigger on that morning?
I could not be accurate on telling you what actually happened
because of the medications.
You know, I was, uh...
That day, I was out of it.
But that...
That's all I got to say about that.
[music intensifies]
[interviewer] Can you tell me if Kenny shot Chris?
Hm...
I don't know. I don't know. I mean, did... I... I don't know.
Did you talk to him, or did somebody talk to him about this?
He was there, I was there,
and, uh...
Everybody's got their own opinion.
And I was in a haze, and...
Uh...
Both me and my son, both know how to...
It was my mother's, uh, gun,
and both of us know, uh, how to use it.
There's a lot of people, not just my sister,
that think my son done it.
Uh...
I can't dispute it, but I can't tell you that he did it.
[interviewer] Do you think it might be upsetting for Kenny
if he is protesting his innocence?
I don't, I don't believe he would be upset, uh,
because he...
He knows the detective side in his aunt.
And, uh, when you have a...
a relative that's in law enforcement,
you know that they're gonna look at every angle. They're gonna dig.
So he's... He...
I assume he's just thinking that it's his aunt's detective in her.
You know, making sure.
[music intensifies]
[eerie instrumental music plays]