These women are not getting along.
[woman 1] She had never wanted them to know
what was going on
'cause that's a way for them to use things against you.
It seemed to me that she was a manipulator.
[woman 2] She approaches the car
and is banging on the window,
asking Kadie to get off her property.
[man] This bad blood,
it just grows, it festers over time.
[woman 2] She is paranoid, jealous,
she is constantly watching.
And she wants her out of the picture.
[investigator speaking]
[man] " I'm tired of this drama between these women."
Well, where did that drama come from?
[pop-rock music playing]
[Casey] Princeton, Texas is a big small town.
It's about 25 miles north of Dallas.
Still has a really good 'hometown' feel.
[narrator] These tree-lined streets are full
of working moms and housewives.
But a few women are just plain bored.
And that's when the claws can come out.
[Casey] In small towns,
especially in Texas,
things go on beneath the surface.
There are jealousies,
there are allegiances.
People, for better or worse,
kind of know each other's business.
That can be good,
that can be bad.
Things can quickly move
from love to frenemies to hate in an instant.
[Angela] Growing up in a small town,
you'd think everybody is your friend
and you could trust everybody.
But you can't.
[Kayden] Gossip and rumors,
that's all Princeton is.
There's not much positive about Princeton
when it comes down to it.
I mean, they will drag somebody through the mud.
They feel that they can do whatever,
treat anybody however,
destroy people's lives...
[narrator] Kelli Underwood knows all about
the female dynamics of small town life.
The born and bred Texas girl grew up in a town
about 50 miles away called Mesquite.
I can't think of anybody I've known longer
than I have Kelli.
We were just friends in the neighborhood
and grew up with each other.
[Angela] We met in the 7th grade.
We had tennis class together.
Kelli always dressed well
and just looks like the typical '80s girl.
The guys all thought she was beautiful.
[narrator] But Mesquite High School
is full of girl drama.
Filled with cliques, backstabbing and betrayals.
[Angela] Some girls just like being mean.
Just like, they would try to pick on you,
and say things and start rumors.
[narrator] Kelli would fight fire with fire.
[Jason] Kelli had a lot of spirit,
had a lot of energy.
But I knew that if someone did approach her,
confronted her,
they probably wouldn't repeat that attempt.
They probably would... [chuckles]
...realize it might not have been that good of an idea.
[Angela] I had my incidents
with, you know, a few of the girls.
But it'd be tension in the hallways.
Or somebody was in somebody's business
all the time.
You always heard something was going on.
Some kinda rumble.
[Kayden] My mom, one thing
that she was always very adamant about
was, you know, like,
"Don't let girls ever have a one-up on you."
[Angela] She wouldn't let a bunch of girls run her over,
by any means.
[Jason] If Kelli was crossed by a friend,
and it was enough of a situation,
she would tell her piece,
and just be finished.
[narrator] Kelli wasn't one to start a fight,
but she could certainly finish one if provoked.
She was kicking ass and taking names
when it came down to it.
[narrator] One friend who never caused her drama
was her BFF Tiffany.
[Kayden] They were super, super close friends.
Tiffany, it was rough around the edges sometimes,
but she was also very charismatic,
how my mom was.
Always laughing.
They were loud, fun,
always smiling, always trying to have a good time.
[Casey] Kelli and Tiffany bonded, became friends.
Two good Texas girls
growing up facing life's challenges together.
[Kayden] Tiffany, that was somebody
that my mom really cared about.
And she didn't wanna lose that friendship.
[narrator] After graduation,
Tiffany says goodbye to Kelli and moves to Princeton.
In the years after high school,
the two besties take different paths.
[Kayden] Their friendship was kinda off-and-on
in their adult years.
They had stuff that happened
where, you know, you kinda have
to prioritize your family.
But the friendship was never...
like, it was never completely done.
[narrator] In 1996,
Tiffany marries successful business owner Ronnie Welborn.
And together, they raise her child
from a previous relationship.
Meanwhile, Kelli is unlucky in love.
Marriages end in divorce,
and Kelli is raising three children on her own.
[Angela] She loved those kids.
But being single and trying to raise these kids
is really hard, and she struggled.
I think it's just life in general
took its toll on her.
Tiffany and my mom, they would check in on each other.
My mom just needed somebody to talk to.
Tiffany was like, "Hey, why don't you
come out here and live with us?"
[Casey] Tiffany offered to help Kelli move to Princeton.
Smaller town, get a good, fresh start.
"You can stay with us for a while
while you get on your feet, look for a job."
[Casey] Her two older kids are now out of the house,
so Kelli and 15-year-old Kayden pack up
and head to Tiffany's place.
[Kayden] Tiffany was married to Ronnie Welborn.
Ronnie, super nice guy,
he's all about his family.
He was always trying to figure out
some kind of way to help
and make sure that I was comfortable,
my mom was comfortable.
Kelli was really happy living with Ronnie and Tiffany.
She was very grateful.
[Kayden] It definitely was, like, a family environment.
We would all kinda eat dinner together.
I did feel that those were my people
and if anything were to happen
or if I ever needed help or...
I could definitely run to any of them,
whether it be Tiffany, Ronnie,
whatever the case may be,
that they would always protect me.
[Casey] Ronnie ran a business.
Express Fabrication was a metal fabrication business there in Princeton.
And Ronnie offered Kelli a job.
[Kayden] They were riding to work together,
they were coming home together...
They were spending a lot of time together.
[narrator] Over the next year,
as she watches her husband and Kelli,
Tiffany starts to have nagging doubts
about her high school BFF.
[Calli] Tiffany has some suspicion
that perhaps more than a friendship,
more than employee-employer relationship
is starting to build
between Ronnie and Kelli.
[narrator] While Tiffany has no proof,
she becomes fixated on the idea
that Ronnie and Kelli are having an affair.
[Kayden] My mom, she ended up
distancing herself from Tiffany,
but Tiffany also distanced herself from my mom.
And within the month,
the friendship was just non-existent.
[narrator] Tiffany's suspicions
reach their breaking point.
[Kayden] I came home from school one day
and Tiffany was just packing all of her stuff up
and just all hellfire broke loose.
My mom was like, "What are you doing?"
Like, "This is your husband.
He takes care of you every day."
And Tiffany came out and made a comment
of like, "Well, if you're so worried about it
then why don't you take my place?"
And that's when my mom was like,
"I don't understand what you're saying."
'Cause they didn't have anything going on.
[Angela] When Tiffany accused Kelli
of having an affair with Ronnie,
she was very hurt
and very taken aback by it.
And she said she would never have done that to Tiffany,
especially with everything that Tiffany had done for her.
[Calli] But, you know, as women,
Tiffany had that suspicion,
and she just couldn't seem to let it go.
[narrator] Some of Tiffany's paranoia
comes from past experience.
Ronnie had cheated on her before.
[Kayden] Tiffany was making her accusations,
and she said Ronnie had stepped out of their marriage
on multiple occasions
and that she's just tired of it.
[Calli] When Tiffany moves out,
Kelli is still working at Express Fabrications.
And she moves from the laboring and the warehouse
to the office manager,
to doing the paperwork,
to helping with the bills.
[narrator] Ronnie tries to work things out with Tiffany,
but she files for divorce.
Meanwhile, Kelli and her daughter
stay put at Ronnie's.
[Kayden] Shortly after Tiffany left,
my mom started getting, like, little sticky notes
calling her a home wrecker...
The first note that was placed on her car
was on the outside of her door.
And then later on,
they were put in the inside of her car, like,
in the driver's seat.
And that's when she felt like she wasn't safe at that point.
[narrator] Kelli can't prove who wrote them,
but it's a wake-up call.
[Kayden] It just kind of creeped her out.
Played a huge role in my mom being like,
"Listen, we gotta leave.
Something's not right."
Within the month, we ended up moving
into the Bonnie View apartments.
She was just like, "Okay, I moved. I left.
I removed myself from that situation."
Even though she still worked with Ronnie.
[Calli] Ronnie would come over multiple times a week
to pick up paperwork...
And actually, ultimately, we found out that they had
a different relationship
than just employee and employer.
There were times that we'd be doing something
and she would lead on that,
"Yeah, my boss lets me do this,"
or, "I can do that."
And I don't remember,
it was some kinda corporate credit card or something,
and then I would just jokingly say,
"Wow. A boss that treats you that good,
how good is the employee treating the boss?"
[Kayden] It wasn't until Tiffany accused her
and moved out
that my mom kinda took a step back
and started realizing, like,
"Maybe there is feelings here with Ronnie
that I'm just not realizing until now."
[Angela] He was so nice to her.
And Ronnie would do a lot for Kelli.
I would say, "Kelli, why don't you go out with Ronnie?
I mean, he's divorced now.
I mean, everything's clear..."
[Kayden] And that's when she said to me, like,
"People are accusing me of it,
they've been doing it for a while now,
I may as well do it."
[narrator] Kayden observes her mother expressing
open affection for Ronnie.
I think that was the very first time
I had ever seen Ronnie kiss my mom.
She cared about Ronnie,
when it came down to it.
[narrator] But just as Kelli starts things up with Ronnie,
she gets a nagging suspicion
that there's another woman in the picture.
And it's not Tiffany.
[Kayden] My mom found out
that as soon as we moved out of the house,
when Tiffany left,
that he had moved Kadie in
within the week.
[Calli] Kadie Robinson was a young girl
in her mid-twenties.
She was working at an ENT,
an ear, nose and throat doctor at the time.
She was just kind of a Princeton local
who enjoyed the same hobbies as Ronnie did.
They seemed to share some interest
in this racing lifestyle
that they enjoyed on the weekends.
[narrator] Kadie is 18 years younger than Kelli.
But like her, she's headstrong
and knows how to get what she wants.
Kadie definitely had a strong personality
and she was a force to be reckoned with.
[narrator] And Ronnie seems to like having two women
in his love life.
Ronnie wouldn't quit seeing Kelli.
And they were still having an affair.
[Kayden] I think she knew
that there was obviously another woman,
but Ronnie would deny it.
Like, he would say that there was nobody else,
that it was only my mom.
[Calli] The timeline is not always clear
on who Ronnie is telling he loves at what time.
[Casey] You have Kelli, Tiffany, and now Kadie
in this dramatic setup.
Cheating, possible lies and deception.
It becomes a bigger, more complicated
human mess, for lack of a better word.
And it continues for years.
[Calli] On Wednesday, September 20th,
it had been a few days
since Kayden had heard from her mother.
And that's unusual.
[Kayden] Even if she was upset with me,
she always responded.
I remember pulling up to the house,
as soon as I put my car on park,
it was like something wasn't right.
I remember walking inside
and I called out to her on multiple occasions,
like, "Hey, where are you at?"
The kitchen was a mess.
There's no way that she would leave the house like this.
I remember going upstairs
and that's when, like, everything started hitting me.
And that's when I noticed that her feet
were very, very swollen.
I didn't even mean to touch her leg,
and she was just ice-cold.
[Bruce] So when I got the call
from the Princeton Police Department,
I remember I was at church with my family.
And so I had to go home, suit up,
and head to the scene as fast as I could.
[AJ] I was contacted by my division commander
on September 20th, 2017.
Got in contact with Ranger Sherman.
And I went into the house.
The room being in a state of disarray catches my eye.
Because of the fact of so much stuff knocked about
that indicates to me that there's a struggle.
[Bruce] Once we got in the kitchen,
there was still just drinks and food
out on the table and on the counter.
It just looked like there'd been company over
but nobody bothered to clean up.
I did collect the plates and the eating utensils.
to get some type of transfer evidence,
whether it be fingerprints or DNA of some sort.
[Calli] With the way that the food was left out,
and that the kitchen had not been cleaned up,
that also led investigators to believe
that she may have known her killer.
[Bruce] Then we lead our way up the staircase
to the bedrooms and the room ultimately
where Kelli's body was deceased.
Something really terrible
and violent had happened.
There was a lot of blood concentrated on Kelli.
The stab wounds to Kelli
were on her neck and her face and head,
while a lot of the gunshot wounds were spread out
from head to toe.
[AJ] It is unusual for a murder
to use two different types of weapons,
so it wouldn't be unreasonable
for us to look at the probability
of two people involved in her murder.
Absolutely, it seemed like a crime of rage.
Just evil.
[AJ] A sexual assault,
based upon the information I was provided,
it was ruled out.
[Calli] It was very clear
to the field agents that responded
that she had been deceased for probably a number of days.
The bullet evidence,
the bullet casings and fragments
they collected were .22 caliber.
[narrator] There are eight bullet wounds
found on Kelli's body.
No gun or knife is left at the scene.
[Bruce] Kayden met me
at the Princeton Police Department
on my request.
She was trying to process, I think.
Not only that her mother was deceased,
but also what she just saw.
[Kayden] Bruce came in.
Didn't want to, like, make me feel uncomfortable.
And he was like, "Well, tell me what happened.
Like, step-by-step, tell me everything."
[Bruce] She knew her mom
better than anybody on the planet.
And so, her being able to identify the people
that not only her mom knew well,
but the people that her mom had been around recently,
was very helpful.
One of the first people Kayden told me about
was Ronnie Welborn.
[Bruce speaking in tape]
[Kayden speaking on tape]
Okay.
[Bruce] When I talked with Kayden,
she identified Tiffany.
But also Ronnie's most recent girlfriend, Kadie.
And it seemed like there was probably some bad blood
or a rocky relationship
between Kadie and Kelli.
Ultimately, if there was anybody that knew Kelli better than Kayden,
may have been Ronnie.
[narrator] Ronnie says the last time he saw Kelli
was when he dropped off some paperwork at her house.
The murder occurred probably early Sunday morning,
like, after midnight on Saturday.
And last time he saw her was on the Friday.
[narrator] But Ronnie admits another woman
has caused issues between him and Kelli.
While Ronnie was having an affair with Kelli,
he also was living with the mother
of his most recent child.
[narrator] Kadie's baby had come as a bombshell to Kelli.
[Kayden] That was New Year's
of 2016, when she was out with Angie.
[Angela] 2016 New Year's Eve
we ran into a couple there that Ronnie knew
and that Kelli knew.
They had told Kelli
that Ronnie got his girlfriend pregnant.
And from what I understand,
Kelli never thought it was a serious thing.
I can remember her being a little shocked about it.
And Kelli kinda said, "I gotta go to the bathroom."
And she got up and went to the bathroom.
I vaguely remember my mom calling me,
and she was very frantic.
My mom knew nothing of it.
She told me, she was like, "I'm so upset,
like, I'm shaking..."
And you could hear in her voice,
'cause like, this is something very, very big to lie about.
This is a child
that is now coming into play.
Ronnie was definitely lying to the both of them.
He was living a double life.
[Bruce] As soon as I found out about Kadie, I contacted her
and she drove up to the Princeton Police Department
to visit with me as well.
When I talked to Kadie,
she seemed uninvolved
compared to Kayden and Ronnie.
And she didn't seem to have any information
and know about the affair between Ronnie and Kelli.
[narrator] As detectives dig deeper into Kelli's
complicated love life,
a neighborhood canvas
suddenly points them in a new direction.
[Casey] Some of the neighbors noticed a truck
with an out-of-state license plate,
Illinois,
was there at Kelli's house that weekend.
And so it's actually when they're talking
to Ronnie Welborn the night of the murder
that they ask him, you know,
"Hey, do you know anything
about this truck with an Illinois license plate?
Like, is that your truck?"
And Ronnie immediately was able to respond,
"No, the truck with the Illinois license plate,
that's Robert Veal's."
[narrator] Police discover
that Veal once worked for Express Fabrication
and had been friendly with both Kelli
and Ronnie for years.
He hadn't had any brushes with the law.
[Casey] Investigators tracked down Robert Veal
and interviewed him about a week after the murder.
[Bruce] When we met with Robert Veal,
he was open that he had been at Kelli's house a lot.
He admitted that he was there
with the intent to install an above-ground pool.
We did collect DNA from Robert Veal.
But when we asked Robert for consent
to search his phone,
and he denied it,
he starts tampering with his phone.
And so it became pretty evident to us
he was trying to destroy evidence.
And so at that time, we seized the phone.
So, he was certainly a person of interest.
We had no idea what the motive could be.
[narrator] Kelli's best friends from home
are just learning about her murder.
[Angela] I was at work
when I found out about the murder.
My friend had called me.
I was so distraught.
I couldn't even work the rest of the day.
The entire thing was rough,
because here I knew Kelli from...
my earliest memories in life.
Angie and I were both dumbfounded.
We arranged a time to meet.
Talking about how we were suspect of something going on.
What could it have been?
[Angela] Jason and I were trying to figure out
who knew Kelli enough
to wanna do something like this.
And the only person was Tiffany.
I thought, "Maybe we need to tell the police."
[Casey] This murder shocked
all of Kelli's family and friends.
Some of Kelli's friends reached out
and contacted the Princeton Police
about Tiffany,
knowing the history.
And said, "Hey, you're looking
for people that were mad at Kelli
and angry at Kelli,
Tiffany is one of these people."
[Jason] I asked to talk to an investigator
involved with Kelli's murder.
I left my information, name, number,
and was gonna leave the ball in their court
to determine if she may have been part of it or not.
[narrator] But the idea that Tiffany
could be connected to the crime
makes no sense to some people.
[Kayden] Tiffany, she was, she was nice.
If my mom worked late,
she would pick me up from school
and she would help me with whatever I needed,
or if she could tell that, you know,
kinda life was getting too hard,
she'd be like, "Hey, let's go for a drive."
It was hard for me to believe that Tiffany
had any involvement in it.
[narrator] Although she's still living in Princeton,
it's been over three years
since Tiffany moved out
and moved on from Ronnie.
Investigators come to the same conclusion.
[Bruce] Based on witness interviews
and information that we had,
she wasn't one of those people
that was intimately involved in Kelli's life.
Based on all the evidence,
Tiffany just wasn't relevant to the investigation.
[Kayden] After my mom's death,
Ronnie called me on several occasions.
Would check up on me,
see if, you know, investigators had called me,
gave me any new details.
But also, another person that reached out to me
was Kadie.
She reached out to me on Facebook
and asked how I was doing.
And said that she had lost her mom
and she kinda knew the feeling,
like, how it felt,
and that if I needed anything
that she would be there for me.
And I was like, "Oh, wow.
I can kind of relate to this lady
because I've just lost my mom."
[narrator] As the investigation continues,
with no suspects identified,
Kayden calls investigators for updates.
Every time I would call, there was nothing.
And I was like, "All right, I'm going stir crazy over here.
I can't sleep, I can't eat,
I can't do anything."
[Bruce] Kayden was very motivated
to figure out who killed her mom.
And so she did her own canvassing of the neighborhood.
[Calli] And so, in speaking to some neighbors
actually directly across the street
from Kelli's townhome,
a man provided information to Kayden
that he had seen somebody
by the name "D," who he knew,
over at Kelli's house
that Saturday afternoon.
[narrator] Kayden reaches out to a friend
who knows just about everyone in town
to find out more about "D."
[Kayden] I had told her
the information I had found out.
And she was like, "I know who that is."
And she told me his full name.
Delvin Powell.
Kayden was very helpful
in helping us identify who "D" was.
And we found out he had a warrant for his arrest
for a previous offense
for choking his girlfriend.
[Calli] So, the Texas Rangers,
with the help of the Collin County Sheriff's Office
and Princeton Police Department
ultimately find Delvin Powell
hiding in a motel in Allen,
not far from the city of Princeton.
[Bruce] We searched the hotel room
he was staying in,
as well as the vehicle in the parking lot.
And there were .22 bullets,
the same caliber which was used
for the murder weapon for Kelli.
As well as several knives
that were found in the hotel room.
[Calli] And they arrest Delvin Powell
for his outstanding domestic violence warrant
on September 27th.
So, just seven days after Kelli was found.
[Kayden] None of it made sense to me.
Because it... it just didn't.
Nothing was adding up.
[Jason] About two weeks after Kelli's murder,
I was invited to go over to help
with her property estate.
On the sidewalk, there was graffiti.
Someone had written,
"Whore lives here."
And it was recent
because one rain would have washed that off.
And it was there plain as day.
And I just thought,
"Why would somebody went over there
and put graffiti on her sidewalk
knowing that she'd been murdered?"
Someone was still pissed at her.
[narrator] As police wait for DNA results
in connection with the murder of Kelli Underwood,
another piece of evidence comes through.
[Bruce] About two weeks after the murder,
we finally get some records back
for Kelli's cell phone.
[narrator] The texts will hopefully reveal a connection
between Delvin Powell, Robert Veal, and Kelli Underwood.
But instead, the records expose
a secret history of mean girl conflict.
[Bailey] Kadie reaches out to Kelli.
She messages her and asks like,
"Hey, you know, I know we haven't always been close.
I know we're not the best of friends,
but I'm about to have a baby with this man
and I really just need to know the truth.
Is there something going on?"
Once my mom had found out
that they were having the baby,
she like, cut the relationship with Ronnie off.
[narrator] But Ronnie was still going over
to Kelli's home several times a week for work related issues.
[Sherman] Kelli replied to Kadie's question
about the affair between her and Ronnie,
and let her know that nothing was going on between the two of them.
[Bailey] Kadie has the baby in the summer of 2017
and I think it's after that she has the baby
that her suspicions just heighten.
She is paranoid, jealous.
She is constantly watching the house over at Kelli's house.
[narrator] With good reason.
After the baby is born, Ronnie and Kelli rekindle their affair.
He tells her he's going to break it off with Kadie.
[Graham] My mom tried to cut it off,
but Ronnie was not having it at all.
And I knew my mom knew better
than what she was participating in.
And she deserved more
than being this, you know, other woman.
It didn't make sense. None of it did.
[narrator] Investigators learned from Kayden
that the situation boiled over in early July.
[Graham] Ronnie showed up to my mom's house to drop off a check.
And him and my mom were inside talking.
[tense music playing]
[Bailey] Kadie sees Ronnie's truck at Kelli's house.
So she goes over there and she starts looking through Ronnie's truck.
[Graham] My mom went outside
and saw that Kadie was in Ronnie's truck.
[Bailey] Kelli actually approaches the car that Kadie is in.
Kelli is banging on the window,
asking Kadie to get off her property.
[Sherman] This struggle between Kadie and Kelli,
it just grows. It festers over time.
On July 18th, Kadie sent Kelli a text message that said, you know...
[reading]
[narrator] But Kadie isn't the only person texting Kelli.
[Bailey] On August 6, 2017, Ronnie's texting Kelli.
You know... [reading]
But Kelli's response to that that day is, you know,
"F you. Stop calling me. Don't text me."
One of the last text messages we found in Kelli's phone from Ronnie was,
"I love you and I can't wait for you to be Mrs. Welborn."
[narrator] Investigators are unsure
what Kadie knows about any of this.
But a new piece of evidence suggests she's a lot less innocent than she claims.
A very interesting and helpful piece of information that investigators get.
There is a friend of Kadie's who wants to remain anonymous.
Kadie admitted to this anonymous friend
that they had planned to try to plant drugs
in Kelli's car and get Kelli arrested.
[Sherman] This plan hadn't worked.
They were going to have to take some additional steps
in eliminating Kelli from being in their life.
The information was vital in the next step
to help bring Kadie and Ronnie back in for another interview.
The interview with Kadie...
she did initially deny any involvement
in hurting Kelli or killing her.
I confronted her and told her that that wasn't the truth.
And this was a great opportunity for her to set it straight
and tell me what happened.
[suspenseful music playing]
We had come a long ways in the investigation
since the first time I talked with Kadie.
I came to this interview with the full deck of cards.
This time I was able to confront her with some evidence.
[Miller] As investigators pressed Kadie for more information,
she starts to throw Ronnie under the bus.
Kadie says that Ronnie needed to get Kelli out of his life
because she was a problem at the business.
That he couldn't trust her. That she was always volatile.
[Sherman] When I interviewed Kadie, we get to a point
where I thought she was lying.
[narrator] Kadie admits she knew about Delvin Powell and Robert Veal.
From Kadie's confession, she absolutely knew
that Ronnie had hired Robert to get the job done
and that Robert had Delvin facilitate with him the murder of Kelli.
[narrator] Kadie claims Ronnie was calling all the shots
as she passively stayed out of it.
Immediately after Kadie left the interview room,
Ronnie came in for an interview.
[narrator] Ronnie, who arrives voluntarily, is caught off guard
by what comes next.
[Sherman] Once I let Ronnie know the gig's up,
here is the evidence we have,
it's supported by Kadie's confession,
um, Ronnie's quick to take the rap.
Ronnie states that Ronnie alone planned this and thought of it
and hired Robert Veal and paid him $8,000 to do the job.
[Sherman] He takes responsibility for setting it all up,
but he certainly was trying to distance Kadie from any involvement
in conspiring to kill Kelli.
[narrator] Ronnie and Kadie appear to be in agreement.
He's the one who chose to take out Kelli.
But that claim is quickly exposed as another lie.
[Bailey] Law enforcement gets a search warrant
for both Kadie and Ronnie's phone
at the time following these interviews.
And the texts seem to tell a different story.
We see over the month between August 18th and September 18th
that Kadie continues to push Ronnie.
"Why is she still in our lives?
Why is she not gone?"
[narrator] She can play innocent all she wants,
but Kadie's texts show exactly who wanted Kelli gone.
[Sherman] I think Kadie's primary motive for having Kelli murdered
or out of her life stemmed from jealousy.
She's ready to get her life on and building a family with her new baby and Ronnie.
And that doesn't involve Kelli.
The text messages between Kadie and Ronnie
those evolved and changed
as the time got closer to the murder of Kelli.
She tells Ronnie, "I will give you one month.
You have until September 18th to get Kelli out of our lives
or I'm gone with your child."
I think that's when Ronnie felt that
he was in a rock and a hard place
because he didn't want to lose his child.
[narrator] Ronnie, feeling he has no choice
but to give Kadie what she wants, puts the plan into place.
[Bailey] We find the text message
between Delvin Powell and Robert Veal that says, "Here's the plan.
I'm gonna roll up. We're gonna turn the music up.
I'm gonna go upstairs, do what needs to be done."
[narrator] Veal takes advantage
of his long work friendship with Kelli.
[Sherman] Being in her house over time,
he and Delvin Powell built rapport and trust with Kelli.
And they ate dinner with her,
they had disabled the camera system,
amped up the music to cover up any kind of sound.
And that's where it starts.
And she probably fled up the stairs
to the second floor into that craft room,
maybe looking for some scissors or something to defend herself.
I believe she fought her hardest that she could,
but she was overpowered by two individuals.
I believe Delvin Powell had the knife
and I believe Robert Veal had the firearm.
Robert Veal sent Ronnie a text message around 2 or 3 a.m.
early in the morning of September 17th
that said, "It's done."
[Graham] It was very, very hard for me
to wrap my head around Ronnie.
He did a number on me. Really. He broke my heart to pieces.
But Kadie Robinson is a narcissistic pathological liar.
I ended up finding out her mother had never passed away.
Her mom is still alive.
So that was another kind of like, stab to the heart
because not only did she take part in killing my mom,
but she also lied
trying to kind of, I guess, get in good with me.
[narrator] On November 16, 2017,
Ronnie Welborn, Kadie Robinson,
Robert Veal and Delvin Powell are arrested for capital murder.
[Sherman] Delvin Powell and Robert Veal,
they were both found guilty for capital murder
and received life sentences
without the possibility of parole.
After Robert Veal's trial, we were confronted by Ronnie Welborn's attorney
that he did not want to go to trial.
He did want to plead guilty.
And so, our only offer to him in accepting that guilty plea was a life sentence.
[Graham] He did the right thing by doing that.
I felt that he kind of maybe felt a little remorse
for what he did by doing that.
On November 3, 2020, Kadie pled guilty to murder,
was sentenced to 30 years
with the possibility of parole.
[Sherman] I think if you eliminate Kadie's piece of the puzzle from this,
Kelli is still alive today.
[Graham] I do believe that Kadie Robinson was the mastermind
of this whole situation.
To me, I feel like Kadie should have been
one of the main ones to get a life sentence.
She's still gonna be able to live somewhat of a life.
My mom's never gonna get that.
[narrator] Growing up in Mesquite,
Kelli Underwood knew how to handle high school mean girls.
But in the real world, she couldn't overcome the deadly drama.
And I think about it every day what her life could have been if she would have never,
you know, honestly replied to Tiffany's letters.
If I could go back in time, I would definitely make that decision