-Trent was an amazing dad.
He absolutely loved those boys through and through.
-Trent wanted a family.
It didn't matter that marshall was not his.
He loved marshall like his own.
-Family man trent mallory's death is baffling
From the start.
-There was medications thrown out of the cabinet,
The guns, the ammunition.
-Trent was heavy into trading guns.
-Who could have done this?
-Had somebody felt like they got ripped off,
Is there some sort of retribution?
-All the money that they raised for marshall's
Medical bills is gone.
-And a closet full of secrets comes bursting open.
-She had to find an escape route.
She had to find a way out.
-It all ends...
-We were looking for any information
That would lead us to this person.
-...With a killer relationship.
♪♪
-Standing tall at 6'6",
Trent mallory is an imposing figure.
But anyone who meets him soon discovers
That his heart is just this big.
A dedicated family man,
Trent has built what appears to be a sweet,
Simple life with his fiancée amber
And their two young sons in northern michigan.
But the 35-year-old's story book life comes to an end
On a frigid winter morning in 2014,
When shots ring out.
[ dialing ]
[ ringing ]
[ sirens wailing ]
-That day was extremely cold.
We had had a heavy snowfall.
When I arrived on scene,
Our deputies were communicating with a female
That was very distraught, with her child crying, upset.
She had said that her fiancé, trent, was still sleeping.
She left the home at 7:05 a.M.,
And when she got home, she found the door open.
-She stated that it looked like
Somebody had thrown things around.
She did not see her fiancé, trent,
So she told her son carson to get back in the car.
-She let me know that she was concerned
Because it looked like somebody had broken into the house.
Our focus at that point is to clear the house,
Make sure nobody else was in the house,
Primarily the perpetrator.
-After moving amber and her son carson
To a safe area at the end of the driveway.
The investigators breach the family home.
-When I entered the home,
The door was open, and I looked into the kitchen,
And cupboards were open.
-There was medications that were thrown out of the cabinet
Under the counter.
There was some paperwork that had been shoveled around.
-Things were thrown on the floor.
It certainly looked like somebody was looking for
Something specific.
Adjacent to the kitchen is a small hallway.
In that hallway, you take a right, and that is the bedroom
Where amber said her fiancé was sleeping.
When I entered the room,
I noticed that trent was laying on his side,
Facing away from the door in the bed.
I saw a bullet wound to the back of the head.
It was pretty clear at that point we had a homicide.
-We have to do our victimology.
Who is trenton mallory, and why did his life and the way it did?
♪♪
-Trenton mallory is born September 30th, 1978,
In wayne, michigan.
And he's no average sized baby.
-He was wearing 2-t clothes at 9 months old.
We had a love-hate relationship.
I didn't want a little brother.
I tried to give him to the pizza man.
I hid him in the closet.
We'd fight like cats and dogs,
But nobody could mess with the other person.
-For trent, growing up in the wilds of michigan
As a young boy means spending lots of time outdoors.
-Trent, he loved hunting.
I mean, deer hunting was his thing.
It was kind of his place to go to not think about anything.
-As trent enters his teenage years, he begins to blossom.
-Trent was a big man on campus.
I mean, he was always tall. He was 6'6".
So like, all through high school, he was probably 6'1".
And he was just a sweet guy.
I mean, I think the girls kind of gravitated to him,
And he would do anything for anybody.
-After graduating high school,
Trent sets his mind on a full time job and a steady paycheck.
-He had got a merchandising job for coke
And he worked his butt off, and the next thing you know,
He was driving a truck.
And he made good money as a coke driver.
He was just looking for somebody to love,
Settle down, have kids.
That was his passion.
-At age 29, trent meets 21-year-old amber smith,
Who also happens to be a few months pregnant by a man
Who's no longer in the picture.
Despite the fact that the baby isn't trent's,
The two instantly feel a deep connection.
And by the time little marshall is born,
Trent has made up his mind.
-Trent told me, "I'm gonna be with amber."
It didn't matter that marshall was not his.
He loved marshall like his own.
-With a new child and a new relationship,
Trent and amber are in love
And waste no time growing their family.
-They found out that amber got pregnant.
Marshall was probably only 6 or 7 months,
So she got pregnant pretty quick.
Trent was excited. He wanted a family.
-When amber gives birth to their son carson,
Trent embraces being a father of two.
-Trent was an amazing dad.
He absolutely loved those boys through and through.
-When he talked, it wasn't marshall and carson,
It was "the boys."
He loved his family.
-Trent and amber very much seemed to love each other.
They never were officially married, but you'd have never
Known, looking in from the outside.
-They were planning a wedding. It was going to happen.
-But that wedding day will never come.
And now this growing family is without a father.
The investigators want to know why.
-To us, it looked like somebody had broke into the house.
There was a safe that items had been moved around in.
It looked like somebody was searching
The house looking for something.
-It is uncommon to have a home invasion in that area.
If it were to happen,
The primary focus would be money, drugs, or guns.
-When I entered trent's room, he had multiple guns
Throughout that room.
I noticed in the closet, there are boxes and boxes
Of ammunition.
That would be a prime item for a home invasion up in that area.
-Looking at the crime scene,
Trent is basically laying there in bed with the blankets
Up to his chin, as though he was sound asleep
When he was killed,
Which didn't really logically go along with somebody breaking in.
If you're going to break into a house,
Why doesn't trent wake up?
Right next to his bed, we actually had located
A .22 casing,
But no weapon that matched up with that .22 casing.
So the possibilities were that whoever committed this crime
Had removed the murder weapon from the scene.
Maybe somebody saw amber and the kids leave
And came into the house, and then discovered that there
Is actually somebody at home and ended up shooting trent.
Having somebody at large that is committing home invasions
Resulting in homicide obviously is something
That is of extreme concern to the public.
-At that point, everybody's a suspect.
-We learned that mark stayed at trent's home
But eventually was kicked out.
-Amber was looking to raise some funds for her son.
-We learned that they raised $10,000 to $15,000.
It was a significant amount of cash.
-That could have been a primary motive
For that breaking and entering.
-They could be looking for that money.
-Police in levering, michigan,
Are investigating the tragic murder
Of 35-year-old trent mallory,
Who was shot to death in his home while he slept.
The house was ransacked,
But it's not clear if anything was taken,
And the detectives don't know yet
If this was a random or targeted attack.
To gain more insight,
The investigators bring trent's fiancée
Amber in for an interview.
-[ sobbing ]
-I asked amber to come back to the department
To speak with me more formally.
We made arrangements for a family member to watch the kids.
At that point, we conducted the interview.
I needed to know her time line as far as what she had done
From the time she woke up
Because she was the last to see trent.
-Amber's statement was very specific.
She left for school about 7:05
And then proceeded to easy mart in pellston,
Which is right next to the school,
To pick up a snack for marshall's teacher.
From there, she proceeded to the school,
Dropped marshall off, dropped the snack off, and then left.
-Amber said she went to quick care in petoskey
Because carson had an ear infection.
She took carson, signed in.
She gave me the approximate time of 8:31.
-At that point, she went to walgreens
And got a medication for carson,
And from there, went to a gas station
Where she got some powerade.
She purchased some cigarettes for trent.
-She decided she was going to her sister amy's house.
-Amy wasn't there. So at that point, she left.
-We were able to verify where she was.
We were able to verify the receipts, the sign in cards.
So we knew that what she was telling us as far
As where she had been that day after leaving the home was true.
-Amber was appropriate in her responses.
She was emotional. She was upset.
The information provided seem consistent
And a good possibility that she wasn't even home
When this homicide had happened.
-[ sobbing ]
-As amber continues speaking with the investigators,
Trent's loved ones are learning of his tragic passing
For the first time.
-I was sitting there in my living room
And my dad come in, and I looked at my dad,
And I'm like, "what are you doing here?"
And he come over, and he put his hands on mine
And he says, "honey, your brother's gone."
And I'm like, "what?"
And he's like, "he's gone. He was shot and murdered today."
-I couldn't believe that trent was gone.
I'd spent time with him maybe a week or two before that.
He was such a nice person that I couldn't imagine
Why someone would ever do that to him.
-And there's something else to consider.
The family, and especially their son marshall,
Are well known in the area
Because of the 5-year-old's harrowing medical journey,
Starting when he was just 6 months old.
-Trent called me and said
They're life flighting marshall down to u of m.
I'm like, "why?"
And he's like, "we're not sure,
But there's something wrong with this heart.
Marshall needs a heart transplant."
-Baby marshall was put on life support
At the university of michigan medical center in ann arbor
While they waited for a donor heart.
Amber stayed by marshall's side
While trent made the 268 mile journey back and forth
From his job to be with amber and marshall on his days off.
-It was a lot.
Marshall was in the hospital for 10 months waiting for a heart.
They didn't know if marshall was going to get a heart or not,
And then lose him.
-At just a year and a half old,
Marshall undergoes a successful heart transplant surgery.
But over the years,
The ongoing cost of his medications
And medical care puts financial strain on the family.
-The first time I had heard of amber smith
Is we got a call into our tip line
That there was somebody
That was looking for assistance for a go fund me
Or to raise some funds for her son for some issues
That he had with his heart.
And it's right before christmas.
It was very sad to hear.
And our hearts went out to the family.
And so we wanted to do a fund raising story
About amber and her family.
-It was all experimental medicine.
So it was, you know, everything had to be paid for by us.
You know, insurance companies don't want to foot a bill
That isn't fda approved.
-Marshall was the sweetest little boy.
You would never imagine that he had gone through all
Of these medical issues.
-We learned just a few months prior to trent's death,
They raised $10,000 to $15,000,
Which is, you know, a fair amount of money
To help them out.
It was a significant amount of cash.
If somebody knew about that,
They could be looking for that money.
-With the possibility of cash in the home
And the safe being empty, that could have been
A primary motive for that breaking and entering.
-Immediately, the detectives think back
To their initial interview with amber.
-We learned that mark simpson had stayed at trent's home,
But eventually was kicked out by trent
Due to drugs, drug behavior,
And they didn't want that in their home with the kids.
-We knew mark was involved in various drug issues,
But just because it's drugs doesn't mean
That it can't escalate to another level.
Desperation finds its way, and sometimes that occurs.
-Mark had been thrown out of the house,
So we knew that there was some turmoil there.
-The fact that he was thrown out by trent
For trying to steal drugs indicates that, you know,
Maybe he has some intent to do something more.
I was thinking mark could have been involved
In the homicide of trenton mallory.
-After trent mallory is shot and killed in his own bed.
Sheriff's detectives question his fiancée, amber smith.
She recalls the time a year earlier
When trent kicked her stepfather, mark simpson,
Out of their house.
Then, just a day before a defenseless trent was murdered,
Amber got a curious phone call from mark,
Asking her about trent.
-Mark knew the intricacies of their household
And would have known about the fund raising event
That happened, you know, months prior,
And he would be appraised of what's going on in the house,
What kind of medications are there.
-So we immediately started looking for simpson
To try and get his time line
And to see his whereabouts during the time this occurred.
-Meanwhile, the detectives scour the area around trent's house
For any clues to his killer.
-We know that that morning,
Sometime between 7:05 and approximately 10:34 a.M.,
Somebody shot and killed trent.
-We canvass the area, speaking to neighbors
To see if they had seen anybody that was suspicious.
-The problem in this neighborhood is,
Is that houses are a little ways apart.
In this situation, there happened to be a house
That wasn't very far away
To the south of the mallory residence.
-The neighbor said that he had heard a .22 being shot,
But he hadn't seen any cars leaving,
Hadn't seen any cars coming.
-As the investigators continue to track down mark simpson,
The next morning,
Results of trent's autopsy come back from the medical examiner.
-The autopsy revealed that the cause of death
Was a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
The medical examiner said
That the murder weapon was a .22 rifle.
I knew that we did not locate a .22 in the home.
Therefore, I felt that that .22 was taken with the suspect.
-We needed to try and find that rifle.
-The search is on for the gun.
Meanwhile, the investigators have managed
To track down mark simpson, amber's stepfather.
-When he learned that there was a homicide going on,
It was trenton mallory,
His reactions were that he was surprised by it.
Mark said he was in emmet county at that time
And didn't have anything
To do with the homicide of trenton mallory.
-We were able to verify his location during that time,
So we were able to eliminate him as a suspect.
-With mark simpson off the list,
The police dig into trent's personal life to see
If there was anyone else
That might have had an issue with him.
-We learned that trent had a side business
That was called trader trent.
He really enjoyed buying stuff
And then selling it on craigslist
Or online at different locations.
-Trent would go on facebook marketplace
And he'd buy something for cheap.
Guns, hunting, archery, bullets,
And then he'd turn around and flip it,
And that was bringing an extra income for them.
They called him trader trent.
-So with him having this side business,
It definitely opened the door to a lot of potential suspects.
Has he ripped somebody off?
Has somebody felt like they got ripped off?
You know, is there some sort of retribution there against him
For some reason that we haven't explored yet?
There was definitely a need to identify those last people
That he had, you know, sold things to,
Or maybe purchased guns or sold guns.
We had learned through the trenton's family
That there was some postings just within days
Of trent's death of a 10/22, a ruger rifle,
Basically, that shot this same kind of ammunition
Used to kill trent.
-My husband took screen shots of it, and it was a cool .22.
It was rare. It was a weird .22.
-The detectives turn back to amber smith to see if
She could help them identify the most recent seller of the gun.
-Amber was cooperative.
She was always willing to come in and do that next interview.
In an amber statement, a subject brought this
10/22 ruger over, and it was $100.
-It was such a good deal that trent wanted to buy it,
But wasn't going to buy it till the next day,
And the subject basically left with the rifle.
They thought they could at least double their money,
So they posted it on a number of sites on the internet
To try and sell this weapon.
-She was extremely vague.
The interesting part about it was,
Is that she could name other names,
But could never name that person.
-Amber told us that there was not a sale at that point,
And this person took the .22 with him and left the home.
That was very important to us.
-Obviously, the somebody that brought this weapon
Into the household was of interest.
Maybe this person actually saw there was a number of weapons
In the house, and that was motivation or reason
To break into their house.
-We were looking for any information that
Would lead us to this person.
-After trent mallory is murdered,
The michigan state police are looking for a man
Who tried to sell trent a .22 caliber rifle,
The same caliber gun that was used to kill him.
The question is, did this mysterious man and trent
Have unfinished business?
-Amber told us that there was a guy
That was actually trying to sell trent a .22,
And had brought it to their home,
But amber was unable to provide us with information
That would lead us to this person.
-Amber couldn't provide really anything
Except a general description.
-It appears amber doesn't know anything that can help them I.D.
The mystery gun seller.
So they approach trent's family,
Hoping maybe one of them might be able to help.
But instead of clues to his identity,
They pick up on something unexpected.
-Trent's family had provided us with a lot
Of information about their relationship.
-Towards the end of their relationship,
I want to say four or five months, I could see
There was something wrong with trent.
The fun loving, fun going person trent was
Had started to dwindle to where he kept himself more isolated.
We still talked on the phone and whatever,
But he was always working, and to me, I didn't understand
Why he had to work so hard.
-One of the things that first popped up
Was their house had been under foreclosure.
They had credit card debt,
And they had marshall's medical condition.
So we knew that their financial situation was
A strain in their family.
-There was $10,500 in loans on trent's name
Using his social security number.
We learned that there was a loan
That was taken out in trent's name,
And that the company was actively trying to find trent.
-The detectives reach out to the collection agency
That spoke with trent about the loan.
-The collection agency called trent.
We eventually got the recording of that call.
Trent had told them that he had no idea
That there was a loan out there and was very upset
That a loan was actually taken out in his name.
-And this is only a few days prior to his death.
-So if trent did not take out that loan, who did?
The most likely person
That would have access to the information needed to apply
For a loan would be his fiancée, amber.
So they call her in for questioning once again.
-She just denies or says nothing.
-But when detectives dig deeper
Into ambers financial records,
Her phone bill provides a big clue.
-Amber liked to gamble on her phone,
So she had a bunch of itunes purchases,
And she was ringing up several thousand dollars
In different kinds of gambling apps and things.
-Then, as we dug deeper, it turns out that she's
Not only gambling on her phone, she's gambling at the casino.
Amber was spending over $25,000 at the casino
Within a year or so of the murder.
-She had this whole underworld of gambling
Going on outside of trent's knowledge.
She was basically a stay at home mom.
She did some catering and cake decorating at home,
But he was the sole source of income.
-We later learn that it was amber posing as trent
On phone calls that were made to get these loans,
And trent was becoming more
And more aware of their financial situation.
He was learning about loans that were unpaid.
So he's starting to piece this together.
-All the debt that they had was in trenton's name.
There was nothing in her name.
So if trenton was out of the picture,
It was a clean slate for her.
-We are starting to see
Why this murder could have possibly occurred.
-The investigators are confident they found a motive
For murder, but they're nowhere close to making an arrest.
As the detectives continue their investigation into amber,
She and trent's loved ones gather
To say their final goodbyes.
-It was just so devastating.
Like we were all just numb.
-Carson and marshall were up near where they had trent,
And they hugged each other and hugged trent's mom and dad.
And, you know,
You could tell that they had understood that dad was gone.
I just remember amber just sitting a couple rows away
And just staring, you know, off into space.
It was just kind of odd.
-I can read people, and I know when something ain't right.
It's like an intuition to me.
And I looked at my dad, and I said, "she did it."
And he goes, "we can't say that, ange."
And I said, "the f I can't say that." I said, "she did it."
-Trent's family had told us that they felt
That amber is the one that committed the homicide.
At this stage in the investigation,
We're piecing together,
But we're piecing together with circumstantial evidence.
I knew amber had committed this crime.
I was upset for the family.
So those emotions start to play with you.
-We need to find that weapon.
I knew that she had posted the weapon for sale
I knew that she had possession of this weapon.
And I knew that it was missing for a reason.
And I suspected that if we could find this weapon,
It was going to be linked to the homicide.
-Weeks pass, and with no murder weapon,
The case begins to stall.
But it gets a much needed jump start
One month after the murder,
When the detectives receive an unexpected call.
-On the evening of April 8th, I was at home,
And I received a phone call from amy, amber's sister.
I could tell she was upset, and I asked her what was going on,
What was wrong,
And she immediately said that you need to come here.
And I'm like, "what's going on?"
And she was silent.
She goes, "you just need to come here."
And I said, "is it the gun?"
And she said yes.
-My mom said, "I'm worried that your aunt amber
May have been the one to hurt trent."
-You literally can see her head turn on the video.
Basically looking for the weapon as she's driving by.
-We had her at that point.
-A month into the investigation
Of trent mallory's violent death,
The detectives and trent's family
Are both suspicious of trent's fiancée, amber smith.
The problem is, her alibi seems air tight,
And the murder weapon is nowhere to be found.
But a rare michigan thaw changes everything.
-When I got to amy's house that night,
She told me that she was looking for a shovel
That they had lost in the snowbank.
And at that point, the snow was melting.
And as she was looking for the shovel,
Thought that this was the handle of her shovel.
And in fact, she learned that it was a .22.
-A .22 caliber rifle sticking out of the snow,
The same caliber that was used to murder trent,
And the same type of gun in the picture taken at
Trent's house just days before he was shot.
-I have a million emotions going through me at that point,
But I immediately contacted 911,
And I wanted to make sure that our deputies go to that scene
And rope off that scene immediately.
-There was a lot of snow there.
The fact that it was concealed in amy's snowbank
Made sense to me, based on amber's alibi,
Describing how she just randomly stopped there
The morning of trent's homicide.
-There's just no coincidence that
The a .22 rifle is sticking out of a snowbank at amy's house.
-It was really relieving the fact
That we actually had it in our possession
And could now do the ballistics and forensics to figure out,
Is this our murder weapon?
Is this the weapon that we've been looking for all this time?
-And there's another critical question.
Did amber handle the weapon?
To answer that, the detectives make a risky move.
They set up a phone call between amy and amber,
Asking amy to wear a wire.
-My mom had called me and said to not talk to amber at all,
And I was like, "okay, you know, what's what's going on?"
She said, "well,
We saw the gun sticking out of our snowbank today.
I'm worried that your aunt amber
May have been the one to hurt trent."
My mom was just distraught. She loved trent.
She loved amber. She loved the boys.
It was really hard on my mom.
-Our plan going into amy's phone call with amber was to try
And get amber back to the scene.
[ ringing ]
-Amy, she did an excellent job.
We were able to now have a story behind the gun
Through amber's words.
-For amy, even the thought of her sister killing trent
Is too hard to bear.
-At that point, we got permission from amy
That we could do a stakeout inside her home,
And we waited for amber's arrival.
-Eventually, then we were going to confront her.
That was the plan.
About a half hour later, amber did arrive.
I was videotaping while mark was standing at the door.
-Amber comes in the driveway in her vehicle,
And you literally can see her head turn on the video,
Basically looking for the weapon as she's driving by.
-She eventually parked her car and went to the gun's location.
-She actually was pawing in the snow and kicking in the snow
And trying to find the gun.
-Amber was physically attempting to find
This rifle that clearly is not in the snow anymore.
-She didn't see it because we had taken it for evidence.
There was a smile on my face. [ chuckles ]
-As she's trying to leave, I confront her in the driveway.
-I anticipated her finally giving up,
But that was not the case.
-Amber totally downplays it. Just denies being involved.
-We were astonished that, um,
You know, she can try and uphold this story,
Knowing that we have her.
-We got her.
-Five weeks after trenton mallory is
Shot to death, the michigan state police
Pull off a daring sting.
With cameras rolling, they catch amber smith,
Seemingly looking for the rifle they believe
Was used to kill her fiancé.
-Once the gun was found and once we had her on tape
Admitting putting it there, at that point,
It became clear to all of us that she needed to be charged.
-On April 21st of 2014,
It was decided that she would be arrested.
-Amber was placed in handcuffs for the murder of trent.
I can't express how it felt
Because it was kind of euphoria.
-And then may 30, 2014, we received a lab report
From the michigan state police crime lab.
They had done the forensics
And ballistic comparisons from the casing
That was found on the floor in the bedroom,
And compare that to the ruger 10/22
That was recovered from the snowbank
At amy sullivan's residence.
-Michigan state police crime lab were able to determine
That the casing did belong to that gun
That was found in the snowbank.
There was an actual fingerprint located on the .22,
Despite it being in the snowbank for over a month.
That print also belonged to amber.
-Seven months after her arrest,
Amber smith stands trial for first degree murder
Of her fiancé, trent mallory.
-This was obviously a very big case.
The gallery was full.
There was trent's family, there was amber's family.
And of course it's a small community,
So everybody's hurting.
-It was really hard at trial, to sit there
And look at her, and no emotion, nothing, just straight faced.
-Looking at all the evidence that we had to put it together,
I think probably the best theory is the morning trent was killed,
She put the kids in the car
And then had to run back in the house under some pretense,
That she forgot something, and killed him right then and there,
As he lay in bed.
On the way out of the house, make it look like a burglary.
Wouldn't have taken very long at all.
-She just pulled things out of cupboards.
She pulled things out of the safe,
She overturned things in the bathroom.
-Then she gets back in the car.
Probably throws the gun on the way back
Where the kids can't see it.
And then after she drops the one child off and does some errands,
She stops at her sister's house and hides the gun in a snowbank.
-It's now clear how amber killed trent.
But why?
-The financial issues,
You know, that she was compounding outside
Of trent's knowledge made this situation more
And more volatile for her,
That she had to find an escape route.
She had to find a way out.
-I honestly think that trent probably told
Her the night he died.
You know, "amber, it's time you get your crap and get out,
And the boys aren't going anywhere with you."
She didn't want the community to know that all the money
That they raised for her son marshall is gone.
And if trent goes away,
Then nobody needs to find out about that stuff.
-Amber smith is one of the coldest,
Most calculating sociopaths I've ever prosecuted.
She's right up there in the top 1%.
-After just three days of testimony,
Jury deliberation begins.
-The jury was only out for about an hour.
And then we got the call
That they had come back with the verdict.
-The jury came back guilty
Of the most serious crime in michigan.
First degree murder in michigan, we don't have the death penalty.
So that means mandatory life in prison.
You will die in prison. You will never be paroled.
-I'm like, "thank god, thank you."
Because I could finally rest,
And I knew trent could finally rest.
I cried, and I looked at her to see if she even --
She -- nothing.
She just sat there stone cold faced.
-The fact that her fiancé is dead and gone, and now her kids,
You know, don't have a father, she didn't seem to really care.
-Trent's parents now have guardianship
Of trent and amber's children, marshall and carson.
-My parents became parents again, you know?
Every time I see my nephews, I see trent.
It's like he's growing up again right in front of me.
I am really trying really hard to make them
Into respectable young men.
And they are going to be like their father.
-Trent mallory was a loving fiancé
And a doting father who always put his family first.
But amber smith put the love of money before anything else,
Ultimately trapping trent in a killer relationship.