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[man] The thing inside of me, it's like the appetite.
It's like a wolf that's gone to hunger.
[Sahni] Despite being law enforcement himself previously,
Clay Waller didn't bother to call dispatch
until he receives pressure from Jacque's family.
Waller's lack of concern or urgency for locating
his estranged wife, the mother of his triplets,
who are only five years old,
just makes his overall behavior suspicious.
What his son is starting to paint for us is a picture of
somebody with a parasitic lifestyle mix,
where you're using other people.
You're willing to live off of other people,
and there's no real sense of adult responsibility
or conscience to take care of yourself,
to have a sense of integrity.
[reporter] 39-year-old Jacque Waller, formerly of Cape Girardeau,
was last seen here on Woodland Drive in North Neal in Jackson.
Dozens of officers are now working this case.
No one believes that this mother of three
would just walk away from her children.
[Saraiya] "Wednesday, March 23rd, Clay called me at 7 a.m.
"He was threatening me and yelling at me.
"Met him at the airport.
"He told me that divorcing him was a death sentence.
"He would get me, and if he couldn't get to me,
"he would kill our kids."
So in this excerpt, you can see that there's just no regard for
his having any real genuine affection for his own children.
And just like all the characters in
a psychopath's life, they're not other people
who have feelings and interests and the ability to feel pain
or anything else.
They're simply characters in the story as they relate
to the psychopath,
and it's striking that even his young children,
that he later claims he cares so much about, actually appear
as just pawns for him to use as suits him
in a particular situation.
When we look at journal entries like this,
I think what this speaks to
is a pattern of coercive emotional abuse,
physical threats,
and he is doing what so many domestic abusers do.
When they can't get to their partner,
They use the children as a weapon, and they threaten
to harm the children.
\{reporter 2] A new development in the Jacque Waller case.
Investigators searching her estranged husband's rental
have discovered blood spatter on two walls
and that carpet had been removed.
[line clicks]
[dial tone]
[reporter] Clay Waller says the community's out to get him.
People spray painting "killer" on his truck.
I mean, it's been a hard time for us all.
Carpet and carpet pad hidden out of view
in the back of a crawl space.
One piece had a large blood stain that the crime lab
confirmed contained Jacque Waller's DNA.
Clay, do you have any comment?
He was arrested in Malden, Missouri
on charges not related to his estranged wife's disappearance.
He now faced a charge of stealing from a Cape Girardeau
company and also a harassment charge.
They haven't yet found enough evidence
to actually charge him with anything,
and in his mind, as former law enforcement, without a body,
what are they gonna charge him with?
So he just continues to taunt them.
It's quite possible that this cat and mouse game isn't just
Clay's hope to keep himself out of trouble.
There's a secondary euphoria he's getting
by thinking he's in charge, he's smarter than them.
I think his body language is telling.
He's almost, like, stretched out,
owning the entire interrogation room.
He wants to show, I'm in control.
You may think this is your interrogation, but really,
I'm the one who's deciding which way we go.
[Sahni] When he's confronted about the biological evidence,
he doesn't even miss a beat.
He doesn't hesitate to just insert another lie.
If she had a nosebleed, if she tripped and hurt herself,
why would you cut out the carpet in a rental?
And then on top of that, he very covertly hid it so that
it would be out of line of sight for anybody
if they came through the house.
Every step of the way, he has done what he can
to hide and obstruct the process.
His need for power and control
and his narcissistic views of things
far supercede any fear response he may have,
and that's something we do see oftentimes
in psychopathic individuals.
[reporter] On Thursday morning, Clay Waller appeared in court
regarding the alleged death threats he made to Jacque
Waller's sister, Cheryl Brenneke,
on the website Topics.
Jacque's sister got custody of the children, the triplets.
So I think that what this represents is that Jacque's
sister has basically become a proxy for Jacque.
The narcissistic traits in psychopaths, you know,
if they experience kind of anything that threatens
their feeling of mastery, it's going to trigger anger,
and they're prone to lash out with violence, with threats,
things like that.
This specific dynamic of someone is going to take
the children away from me, that sets him off,
and he directs thoughts of violence toward that person.
So for the longest time, it was Jacque.
Jacque's out of the picture.
This is a very kind of clear substitute.
[reporter] Clay Waller has not been charged
in connection with his wife's disappearance.
[Humphreys] She's still missing,
and our first and foremost priority is to find her.
Waller's parents just want their daughter found,
especially for the sake of her three children,
who turn six next month.
It's gone on so long,
we want there to be an end to it.
Because it's so hard not to know.
[Sahni] He's doing things to enjoy that arousal
of being in charge,
and particularly with somebody
who's a domestic violence perpetrator,
that need for control is far more intense
than it is for most of us,
and so it's important to realize that at this point,
Because we know after the fact that Clay has killed Jacque,
he's hidden her body, nobody knows where it is.
He's gotta get that thrill seeking,
that arousal, from somewhere.
So continuing to jerk the police around
is how he does that.
[reporter] Waller pleaded guilty to second degree murder,
a lesser charge.
You'll be remanded to the custody
of the Missouri Department of Corrections
to serve a term of 20 years of imprisonment.
[reporter] Clay Waller led investigators here to Devil's Island
in Alexander County, Illinois,
where they dug up Jacque Waller's remains.
In return, Mr. Waller had to provide the location
of Jacque Waller's body,
sit down, and give an accounting of how he killed Jacque Waller.
Essentially, he states that it was Jacque's fault
that she was killed.
He said, "I warned her,"
as if a threat that he acted on to kill her
is in any way valid.
But on top of that, he explains how he looked
her in the eye as he was killing her, and he just didn't
feel anything bad because he warned her,
and so he's absolved of any type of guilt
or responsibility.
He had just committed murder, and his wife is now dead.
The children that he has with her are now motherless,
and he's complaining about her body being too heavy.
Even then, he's saying it in such a way
that the only real emotion he shows is for himself.
While Waller is describing the details
of what actually happened the day he killed Jacque,
there are moments where he sounds like
it was this impulsive act, but he dug the hole before.
He knew she signed her death warrant
the minute she didn't back down on the divorce.
There's a complete disconnect from the terror
and coercive behavior that he engaged in
throughout their relationship.
Perpetrators of domestic violence have a very distorted
view of their role in the relationship,
how they behave, the motivations behind
the violence and aggression, who's to blame, as well as
a belief, perhaps, that these are actions of love.
Jacque wanted to leave and provide her children
a better life.
That was her riskiest point of safety, and she didn't make it.
[reporter] In May of 2016, Clay Waller was charged
with interstate domestic violence,
meaning Waller traveled back and forth
between Illinois and Missouri
with the intent to kill his wife.
Jacque Waller's sister
delivered the victim's impact statement.
Cheryl Brenneke now raising, along with her husband,
Clay and Jacque Waller's seven-year-old triplets.
They know you murdered their mother.
We had to tell them that.
Clay Waller's son, Maddox, also had a taped recording
for his dad.
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