[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Under cover of a southern storm's wrath...
- After hurricane katrina, it was just a wasteland.
- A man of god is gunned down.
♪ ♪
- The victim was lying on the stairs.
He had blood all over him.
That just really shocked me.
Who would want to kill a pastor?
- Shrouded by chaos, the killer roams free.
- The physical evidence was extremely limited.
- It was the perfect plot.
- Then a second murder with the same signature...
- His mother finds him dead, shot in his bed.
♪ ♪
- My first thought was that this is a serial killer.
- Reveals a web of lies, lust, and insatiable sin.
- Gluttonous, greedy.
Vicious.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- ♪ ooh, child ♪
♪ come home to the gallows pole ♪
[dramatic twangy music]
♪ ♪
- Down in louisiana,
Swaddled by swamplands and bayous,
The magical metropolis of new orleans
Beckons saints and sinners.
♪ ♪
- We're a pretty fun, freewheeling,
"devil may care" kind of city.
That's what people think of us.
They think we're just this crazy, wild city
That somehow exists in the american south.
- And nobody knows that better than new orleans
Cold case detective decynda chambers.
♪ ♪
She's seen it all, but nothing compares
To the one cold case she came across in 2013.
- At that time, I was working on other cold cases
When I was contacted by two individuals
Who had information about a homicide from 2006.
They said they knew the actual individual
Who pulled the trigger.
I did not know about the case,
But I instructed them to come
To new orleans police headquarters
And to bring any documents or any evidence that they had.
They came to the homicide office,
And they brought some paperwork.
I reviewed the documents, and I was baffled.
It's something out of a horror movie.
How could this happen in new orleans?
- Detective chambers learns
The victim's name is ernest smith,
And when she pulls the case file,
Finds this twisted tale began
In the wake of hurricane katrina.
♪ ♪
- That night, I was assigned to new orleans east.
Even in 2006, new orleans east was a ghost town.
There were no grocery stores, no fast food places.
- Post-katrina, it was just a wasteland.
- Around 10:20 pm, new orleans pd dispatch
Hollers at sergeant gant.
A man has just been gunned down
A few blocks yonder from her location.
[siren wailing]
- I got to the scene really quick.
When I pulled up, the apartment complex
Was really, really dark, very creepy.
I didn't want to be on the scene by myself,
Especially with a shooting and not knowing,
Is the perpetrator around here?
[tense music]
- But there's nary a soul to be seen.
- There still weren't very many streetlights,
So I had to use my flashlight leading up to the apartment.
But I knew the apartment it was,
Because when I arrived, the door was wide open.
♪ ♪
When I walked into the door, the first thing you see
Is a trail of blood that went up the stairs.
And then the victim was lying on the stairs.
He had been shot.
He had blood all over him, on his clothing, on the stairs.
He was clearly already deceased.
The reporting person, who was his wife,
She was the only person there, and she was crying.
Upon speaking with the victim's wife, who is emma smith,
I learned that the victim is ernest smith.
At this point in time, ems have arrived
And made the call that he is deceased,
And notifications have been made as far as the coroner.
- Waiting for homicide detectives to show,
Sergeant gant asks emma to give her the rundown
Of what happened that night.
- In new orleans, on Sunday nights,
They do drag racing.
And she said ernest had left for the night
With his best friend to go see the races.
She says, "I went upstairs, I took my bath,
And I went to bed."
She was awakened by the door opening,
Hearing that her husband was home.
Then, the next thing she heard was a loud pop.
[gunshot]
She said she ran down the stairs.
She saw her husband had just been shot,
Grabbed him, called 911.
And then she called ernest's best friend, ronald,
Asking ronald to come back.
And she was there holding ernest until I arrived.
Emma said, "I don't know anyone
"who would want to hurt my husband.
He's a pastor."
That just really shocked me, and I took it to heart.
I am like a woman of faith,
And I immediately thought,
"who would want to kill a pastor?"
♪ ♪
Emma said that he definitely did not have any enemies.
Everyone loved him, but he did have a very nice motorcycle.
And she says, the only thing I can see
Is someone must have tried to rob him.
♪ ♪
- Homicide detectives arrive and start searching
For more clues, eager to learn why anyone
Would want this hard-working, faithful pastor dead.
- The bullet casings were near the front door
Of the residence.
And the keys were on the ground.
It appeared as though ernest was shot as he was unlocking
The door to the apartment and was trying
To get inside the house, trying to walk upstairs.
But that's where he collapsed, on the stairs.
I was not able to locate any witnesses.
And certainly, there were no cameras at all in the area.
- With no eyewitnesses, investigators want to speak
With the last person to see the 38-year-old pastor alive
And the first person emma called after dialing 911,
His best friend, ronald mason.
As they track him down, csi arrives
To tag and document the scene.
- They take pictures of the deceased body,
The inside of the house.
The casings they collect are tested and dusted
For fingerprints and dna.
The clothes that were on the victim's body--
Those are tested as well for the victim's blood dna,
But they're looking for another set of dna.
- Discovering fingerprints or a second set of dna
Could lead to a later match with the shooter.
But as crime scene investigators continue
Their sweep, a good look at ernest's body
Begets them a big clue.
- He had two shots to the chest.
So the working theory was that someone called out his name
Or something to get him to turn around
And then plugged him twice in the chest.
- Investigators can't rule out a random hit.
But first, knowing murders are often committed by people
Known to the victim, they look to find the fella emma called
Right after ernest was shot,
Hoping he knows something they don't.
And then, speak of the devil,
The man himself rolls up on his motorcycle.
- He was pulling up.
And I'm asking emma, "who's that?"
And she's like, "that's his best friend.
That's who he was with before he was shot, ronald mason."
- Coming up...
- No one else's dna or fingerprints
Came back to anyone.
- Ernest had warned him, stay away from his wife.
- To me, it's clear as day.
And I felt I had to put a case together that was tight.
- ♪ come home to the gallows pole ♪
- ♪ judgement day shall come ♪
[dramatic music]
- In the dead of night in desolate east new orleans,
38-year-old pastor ernest smith's life
Has come to an evil, cold-blooded end.
And the last person to see him alive
Has just pulled up to the crime scene.
- Ronald mason was an old friend of ernest smith,
And they had gone to a bike night on the night
Of mr. Smith's murder.
And he said emma called him from ernest smith's phone,
Saying that ernest was dead and asking him to come back.
- Detectives are keen to hear ronald's version
Of ernest's final moments.
- They go to bike night, they come home,
And they talk for about 20 minutes outside.
Then, according to ronald mason,
He leaves when he sees mr. Smith
Get his key into his door.
- Ronald said he had no inkling his friend was in
Any danger until he picked up emma's call.
- He believed that the killer saw him leave,
And maybe they were just waiting behind a building
For him to pull up to rob him,
And that the robbery must have gone wrong.
But ernest's wallet was located on him,
And the motorcycle was on the scene,
Which just really debunked the whole robbery story.
- Being that ronald was the last person to see ernest
Breathing, it's not far-fetched for police
To eyeball him suspiciously.
But in conversation, ronald relays,
He was at home with his wife when emma called,
And his story checks out.
- He was very shaken up.
He took it really, really hard.
- Finding no further clues, detectives delve
Into ernest's background.
- Was he involved in something shady?
Did he maybe owe someone money?
- But when investigators speak to emma that night,
She says her devoted and devout husband
Was as righteous as they come.
- ♪ when the saints go marching in ♪
- Ernest was orphaned at 10 years old
And was taken in by a church group.
They became his family.
And that helped him find his path
To become a minister himself.
He was driving a truck during the week
And then working as a minister on the weekends.
- He aspired to have his own church
And was trying to get his congregation going
And build something.
- While growing his flock, the divorced father of one
Began a budding romance with emma.
And on November 17, 1990, the two said, "I do."
- They lived together in a pretty small house
In a modest street in new orleans east.
- But when katrina hit in 2005,
They had no choice but to run for their lives.
- The two of them moved to texas
With their children, which would be
Her children from her first marriage that he had adopted.
But then, ernest got the opportunity to lead one
Of the atlanta megachurches.
So they came back to new orleans
Without their children,
Just as a brief stopover to pack the family up
And move to atlanta.
And within a week, he was dead.
- And when investigators view the good pastor's
Autopsy report two days after the murder,
They realized the killer made sure of it.
- The medical examiner's report talked about ernest smith
Being shot at close range with two 9-millimeter bullets
That killed him.
- The autopsy reveals the shots that killed ernest
Were fired from 2 feet or closer--
All but confirming investigators' initial hunch
That ernest's killing was no random crime.
Then the dna and fingerprint test results
Come back from the lab.
- No one else's dna or fingerprints came back
To anyone other than ernest.
- The physical evidence was extremely limited.
[dramatic music]
- As the weeks roll on, detectives discover
Ernest truly lived a noble life,
With no dark past to uncover.
Ronald is re-interviewed
But is not considered a suspect.
Investigators again speak with ernest's family,
Friends, and parishioners.
But all they find are dead ends.
- There was no one in the east.
That includes our police force.
It was running bare-bones.
There were no witnesses and no cops.
So the fact that the police didn't have
A lot to go on I don't think
Was really all that surprising.
- In new orleans east, by it being so desolate,
A good majority of crimes just went dead, like cold cases.
- Months go by, and ernest smith's case goes colder
Than moonlight on a tombstone.
Widowed and woebegone, emma moves back
To her home state of mississippi
And tries to rebuild her life.
Meantime, ernest's execution-style murder
Remains an unsolved mystery.
That is until seven years later,
When two men, enoch and william,
Contact cold case detective decynda chambers,
Compelled to share evidence they hold in ernest's killing,
Which they think may be related to a case of their own
That happened a little over one year ago.
- Their loved one also had been a victim of a murder.
And they said they knew who was responsible
For the homicide of mr. Ernest smith.
They wanted to tell their story,
And they just wanted a thorough investigation.
- Sounds like quite the southern soap opera,
Allegedly all set into motion
Before ernest's evil demise.
- Enoch and william said emma was having an affair
Prior to ernest smith dying
With their family member james raine.
Enoch is the brother of james, and william is their uncle.
Ernest was aware of the affair that emma
Was having with james and had warned james
To stay away from his wife.
- But soon enough, ernest was out of the picture.
- Two years after ernest smith was murdered,
Emma married james raine.
It was baffling to know she was that brazen.
I was taken back.
- In 2008, the newlyweds relocated to poplarville,
Mississippi, where james's son, jarico,
Would visit the lovebirds.
- Poplarville is small.
It has one red light, one grocery store.
Pretty much everybody knows everybody.
- They build a giant house with an extensive security system,
Including interior cameras.
They had luxury cars.
They had a boat.
- Some would describe it as a lavish lifestyle.
- But enoch tells detective chambers
That on October 21, 2011, just three years after emma
And james were married, all that high living
Came to an evil and eerily familiar halt.
- James' mother went to the residence.
She discovered him dead from two gunshot wounds to the head.
- When you start adding in dead husband after dead husband,
No one has that bad of luck.
- ♪ come home to the gallows pole ♪
- ♪ judgment day shall come ♪
[dramatic music]
- Ernest smith was shot and killed in new orleans.
And five years later, in 2011, his wife emma's new husband,
James raine, was found murdered in mississippi.
And now, according to james's kin, enoch and william,
These two murders are no coincidence.
They're connected.
♪ ♪
- Enoch and william informed me about the homicide
Of james raine and brought a copy
Of the bureau of mississippi police paperwork.
When the investigator arrived on the scene,
They took a statement from james' mother
To find out how she was notified that he'd been shot.
His mother said emma contacted her to go to their residence
Because she couldn't get him to answer the telephone.
- At the time, emma was out of town on business.
So she calls james' mother to see if she would please
Go over and check on him.
- And she went, and she discovered
Her own son mortally wounded.
And she called 911.
- But there wasn't much evidence--
Just a dead man in the bed.
♪ ♪
- We got in the car, and we started driving.
And my mom was like, you know, somebody shot my dad.
And I was like, "well, let's go see him."
And she was like, "we can't.
He died."
I was hurt.
But at the same time, I didn't believe it.
I never knew why--
Why any of it would happen.
- The murder of their beloved james
Made the family suspicious of emma,
Especially on account of the unsolved shooting
Of her prior husband.
And according to enoch and william,
On the day james was laid to rest,
A dark secret was unearthed, courtesy of
One of james's closest friends, terry everette.
- Terry everette and james raine
Considered each other brothers.
- At the services, enoch and william
Heard rumors that terry had information
About ernest smith's homicide.
So they got together and confronted terry.
And terry everette confessed that
He was hired for the sum of $10,000
To kill mr. Ernest smith.
- But if terry was just the hired gunman,
Who orchestrated the hit?
- Enoch and william told me terry everette
Was hired by james raine and emma smith
To murder mr. Ernest smith.
- Emma and james set up this murder.
- And enoch and william believed the proof lies
In the copy of ernest's life insurance policy
They brought with them, because in February 2006,
Just two months before ernest was killed,
That policy got revised.
- Emma changed the beneficiary to james raine.
And I started looking throughout the paperwork,
And james raine's name was the sole
Beneficiary on the $800,000 life insurance policy
For mr. Ernest smith.
[dramatic music]
- They were living in the home built by ernest smith's
Life insurance money, driving around in cars
Bought by ernest's money, and using a boat
Bought by ernest's money.
- If it's all to be believed,
Emma and james chose an opportune moment
To execute their wicked scheme.
- It was like the perfect plot, because the city was still
Under construction from the devastation
From hurricane katrina.
The police department members were displaced.
We were working with limited resources.
- There was more crimes and no cops.
And there weren't witnesses,
Because there weren't enough people in town.
- Then enoch and william drop another bombshell.
- They said after terry confessed to killing
Mr. Ernest smith, terry said he believed that james
Was killed by emma the same way she had ernest killed--
A murder for hire.
- Coming up...
- The statement that was given by emma smith
Did not corroborate.
- And then to learn that emma had potentially
Killed multiple husbands...
- She wants insurance money.
- I wanted emma brought to justice.
- ♪ come home to the gallows pole ♪
- ♪ judgment day shall come ♪
[dramatic music]
[bell rings]
♪ ♪
- According to enoch and william,
Not only did terry everette confess to them
That he killed pastor ernest smith
At the behest of james and emma raine,
But terry said he is pretty sure emma had her hand
In james's murder too.
- Terry initially advised enoch and william
That he was going to come to authorities, but he never did.
He packed up, left poplarville,
And moved to texas.
♪ ♪
- So enoch and william took it upon themselves
To do the right thing.
- They initially went to the law enforcement in poplarville
And the mississippi bureau of police.
But they could only investigate james' homicide.
They reached out to me because mr. Ernest smith
Was murdered in new orleans.
And they were seeking justice.
They wanted to tell their story,
And they just wanted a thorough investigation.
I could see the sincerity in their faces.
So I assured them that
I would definitely look into the case.
♪ ♪
- With that, detective chambers
Rolls up her sleeves and gets to work squaring the facts.
- After they left, I retrieved the ernest smith
Homicide case file,
And I reviewed the entire case file.
I was looking throughout the paperwork,
And I couldn't put it down.
Terry provided details to enoch and william
That only the killer would have known,
That ernest was shot twice in the chest
With a 9-millimeter handgun,
Which was not shared with the local media.
♪ ♪
- Confident she is working off good intel,
Detective chambers digs even deeper.
- The details of mr. Smith's homicide and the statement
That was given by emma smith--
They did not corroborate.
She said she'd hugged her husband,
And she cradled him in her arms
Until authorities arrived.
But the crime scene pictures really prove
That she was lying.
She had not one speck of blood on her,
And he was saturated in blood.
He'd expired inside of the residence
At the base of the stairs.
And again, her running down the stairs,
She would have crossed the body as well.
I also subpoenaed her cell phone records.
And immediately after ernest was shot, she hung up with 911.
She dialed james raine, who's her lover at the time.
- Emma's lover and, according to what trigger man
Terry everette told enoch and william,
Her partner in crime.
- I've never seen a homicide where
They report the incident to 911,
And then they immediately call the other suspect.
Never. This was the first.
- But that's nothing compared to what
Detective chambers uncovers next.
- I started doing some background investigation
On miss emma, and I learned that her first husband,
Mr. Evans, he'd been hit by a vehicle one night
On the road in vicksburg, mississippi.
And he became paralyzed as a result of that accident.
And he was home alone one night,
And his feeding tube mysteriously was removed,
So he suffocated.
- And emma was the last person with him.
- And wouldn't you know it, emma's first husband
Had a life insurance policy, too.
- His life insurance was only for $25,000.
But if a death was ruled accidental, it doubled.
And his death was deemed accidental,
And she received $50,000 for that death.
- It's apparent we have a true black widow.
[dramatic music]
- ♪ come home to the gallows pole ♪
- ♪ judgment day shall come ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- New orleans pd detective decynda chambers
Has seen her fair share of wickedness.
But when she delves into emma raine,
The evidence is such that emma takes the cake.
- Her first husband, mr. Evans,
Mysteriously suffocated.
Her second husband, ernest smith, was murdered.
And her third husband, mr. Raine, was also murdered.
I couldn't believe that one woman had
Three husbands that were killed.
It was just so evident.
Out of the three husbands,
The one that really stuck with me
Was james raine.
He conspired with emma to kill ernest smith,
So he knew what she was capable of.
I don't understand why he would think that
It would not happen to him as well.
- Detective chambers is determined
To put a stop to this black widow's killing spree
Once and for all.
And since ernest smith's case is the only one that
Falls under her jurisdiction, that's the murder
She's got to nail emma on.
- For me, it's clear as day.
The motive for the murder for hire scheme
Was the insurance proceeds.
And I felt I had to put a case together
That was tight that was going to lead to a conviction.
- Decynda said, "do you remember a case, ernest smith?
You would have written the report."
I said, "I absolutely remember it."
She was telling me that she believed
That he was killed by emma.
And I said, "really?"
And then to learn that emma had potentially
Killed multiple husbands--
That is the definition of a serial killer.
♪ ♪
So I was glad decynda had the case
Because I knew she was not going to stop
Until she had solved it.
- I contacted everybody that I thought
Had any knowledge regarding mr. Smith's homicide.
And I even went to poplarville, mississippi,
Where the third husband, james raine, was murdered,
And met with several residents there.
They said that she'd always wanted to be rich,
And she would do anything at any cost
To live her life dream of being rich.
- When I contacted the mississippi
Bureau of police investigator,
He informed me that emma and her daughter,
Keisha, were listed as the suspects
In his case for insurance fraud
For the insurance policy of ernest smith.
- When emma and ernest got married,
He had a life insurance policy.
$100,000.
And beneficiaries were to be emma
And his biological daughter, quentine.
That was too modest of a policy for his wife.
So over the course of their marriage,
It steadily increased.
It went from $100,000 to $300,000.
Finally, only four months before his murder,
It was increased to $800,000.
And emma somehow persuaded her biological daughter, keisha--
Who, remember, had been adopted by ernest--
To appear and forge the documents,
Pretending to be quentine, renouncing
Her portion of the life insurance
In favor of naming james raine.
- The forgery did take place in poplarville, mississippi.
Keisha had been arrested and pled guilty
To her part in the forgery.
But emma had skipped town.
- As detective chambers and her mississippi counterpart
Continued to compare notes on emma,
He also divulges some damning information
About james raine's murder.
- He told me the last person inside
Of the residence with mr. Raine
Before he was shot was emma smith.
And she disconnected the video surveillance that they had.
- It all seems very coincidental
That emma is seen turning off the cameras,
And then she leaves for the weekend on a business trip.
Then she's the one who calls james' mother
To say she can't reach him.
And then his mother goes to the house and finds him dead,
Shot in his bed.
- Detective chambers also discovers that
Just over a year after james raine is murdered,
Emma had jumped back in the saddle again.
- I learned she'd married her fourth husband.
And we felt as though he was going to be the next victim.
So I compiled a arrest warrant for terry everette
Because he was the actual trigger man
In ernest smith's homicide.
And I also prepared an arrest warrant
And application for miss emma smith
For principal to second-degree murder.
- In July of 2013, four months after
First hearing of the case from enoch and william,
Detective chambers locates and arrests
Terry everette in galveston, texas,
Where she eyes him for the first time.
- I advised him of his miranda rights, and he cried.
And it was a cry of, wow, I've been caught.
But he didn't talk about the case.
- Detective chambers waits on bringing in emma,
Giving terry time to confess.
But terry's not talking.
One month later, emma is arrested in missouri
For the murder of ernest smith and extradited
Back to new orleans.
And that's when the black widow comes
Face to face with the woman who refuses
To let her get away with murder.
- And her question to me was, "what husband?"
She wanted to know which husband she was
Actually finally being arrested for--
Which one of the homicides.
It's like, wow, this lady is a piece of work.
- Emma pleads not guilty to second-degree murder.
To fortify their case against her,
New orleans parish prosecutors approached
Terry everette with a deal.
- I was terry's defense attorney.
The prosecution wanted someone to put emma away.
And they were making an offer to reduce it
To manslaughter, 40 years, if he would flip on emma.
But the only way you can flip is if you're admitting
You had something to do with it.
Terry never admitted he had anything to do with it.
He had nothing to say, and he turned that down,
And I supported him in that.
- But terry's roll of the dice doesn't pay off.
His confession to enoch and william seals his fate.
- That is literally all there was.
Unfortunately, in louisiana,
The law says testimonial evidence is enough to convict.
- On December 6, 2015, a jury finds him guilty
Of second-degree murder, and he's sentenced to life
In prison without parole.
Now the new orleans parish da's office has one goal.
- They wanted emma, and they wanted
To get her in prison for life.
- Behind bars in the weeks leading up to her trial,
Emma does have someone she can lean on.
- Husband number 4, john golston,
Stood by her side, proclaiming her innocence.
- But is the evidence against the alleged black widow
Too substantial to deny?
- Would emma tell us the full and complete truth?
[dramatic music]
- ♪ come home to the gallows pole ♪
- ♪ judgment day shall come ♪
[dramatic music]
- In August of 2016, emma raine goes
On trial for the murder of her second husband, ernest smith.
- From the moment the 911 call came in until the confession,
It all added up-- the perfect, perfect
Murder for hire, murder for greed.
I wanted emma brought to justice.
- Jurors also get an earful about one
Of emma's alleged other crimes.
- They decided to leave out the part about the first husband
Because there were no witnesses.
But they were able to introduce a lot of evidence
About the james raine murder in the ernest smith murder.
And that's the narrative that was presented at her trial,
Was that this was somebody who can't
Get enough of killing their husbands
For the insurance money.
- Throughout her trial, emma remains indignant.
- I was testifying how she had no blood on her.
And I remember looking at emma, and she was like,
You know, like, just seemed angry and kind of
Rolling her eyes at me.
In my opinion, emma had gotten away with it for so long,
I don't think she ever thought she was going to be caught.
- But when it comes time to plead her innocence,
Emma remains seated.
Instead, she allows her attorney
To do all the talking.
- The defense for emma raine was that james raine
Put her up to it, and got her all worked up
With romance and promises,
And that he was the "snake in the grass."
His name is on the insurance policy,
So it had to be him doing it.
And now it was emma raine sort of being blamed for it.
- But the jury doesn't buy it.
On August 12, 2016, emma is found guilty
Of second-degree murder and sentenced
To life without parole.
- It was a pleasure to bring justice for mr. Smith
And to bring justice for his daughter.
She was in disbelief.
She was disheartened to know that emma
Was the individual responsible for her father's death.
- But to this day, emma has never
Been charged in connection with the deaths
Of her first husband, leroy evans,
Or her third husband, james raine.
- Yeah, I feel like justice was served for mr. Ernest,
But I also feel like that my dad's case
Still have more justice to do.
- I don't believe that emma will
Ever be held accountable for the murder
Of james and mr. Evans.
Louisiana has emma in prison for life.
She's not getting out.
What more can they do to her?
- I keep in contact with the raine family as well.
Someday, another detective is going to come along,
And they're going to put it together.
- Meanwhile, emma's got plenty of time
Behind bars to contemplate her sins and their lasting effect.
- There are two children that she's left behind.
It's a struggle to go
And see your mother behind bars.
♪ ♪
- But what of her fourth husband, john golston?
- I know he did manage to divorce her.
He at least survived his marriage.
- And all these years later, the tale
Of this southern black widow's web of greed and depravity
Still leaves folks shaking their heads.
♪ ♪
- She was gluttonous, she was greedy,
And she was vicious, and finally caught.
- But mr. Smith, the life that he lived was one of love,
One of compassion, one of bravery.
And I'm quite sure his living was not in vain.
♪ ♪