Up next, two women in
love with the same man.
These two women
wanna spend time
with the bad boy,
I think he was a... kind of a
gigolo kind of guy.
One member of this
love triangle is m*rder*d.
They got to the point
where they completely
hated each other.
If anyone sh*t
in the back of the head
that's an execution.
Somebody wanted
that person dead.
But even after an arrest,
questions remain.
But even after an arrest,
questions remain.
Everything inside of me
had been sucked out.
Hope is gone.
Completely helpless.
Amarillo,
the largest city in the
Texas Panhandle
Amarillo,
the largest city in the
Texas Panhandle
was once known as
the helium capital
of the world.
It used to be one of the most
helium rich places
on the planet.
At one point helium
was much more important
in the manufacture
of lots of things,
including a lot of m*llitary
devices and weapons,
it doesn't play as crucial
a role now as it once did.
It doesn't play as crucial
a role now as it once did.
On an April morning in 2014,
local police were called
to the outskirts of town
to Helium Road.
The name harkening
back to Amarillo's former
role in helium production.
It's a dirt road, so a lot
of people would still use it
uh, for a shortcut to get to
where they're going.
A sheriff's officer
found the body of a young
woman lying next to an SUV.
The victim suffered
extensive trauma to the
back of her head.
She had no ID, no phone,
no wallet.
She had no ID, no phone,
no wallet.
But investigators were
able to trace her vehicle.
It belonged to 32 year old
Robin Spielbauer.
They informed us based
on a couple of pictures
that my wife had
that it in fact was Robin.
So we were going
through our mind of like okay,
what, who, why?
Um, all sorts of questions.
The crime scene
provided only a few answers.
Blood evidence showed
Robin had been k*lled
where she was found.
Blood evidence showed
Robin had been k*lled
where she was found.
Despite the massive blows
to the back of her head
that wasn't what k*lled her.
It was during the
autopsy that they
discovered that,
she'd actually been
sh*t as well with a
The oddest clue at
the scene was on one of the
windows of Robin's vehicle.
Their appeared to be
a slight damage to the
window itself, like a
like your windshield when
a rock hits it creates
a little star break.
Like your windshield when
a rock hits it creates
a little star break.
Uh, there were two or three
spots like that
and a pink substance
of some kind,
and it looked to be
associated with these, uh
small chips in the window.
Robin's m*rder
stunned her family
and friends.
Robin always had like
this here I am personality.
You know, and you knew
she was in the room when
she was there and
You know, and you knew
she was in the room when
she was there and
friendly with everybody.
Maybe not everybody.
Robin the mother of two young girls
had divorced the girl's father
JD Spielbauer just
JD and Robin began their
romance nearly a decade
before Robin's m*rder.
She was, I think
desperately in love with
with Mr. Spielbauer and
very desirous of spending
the rest of her life with him
and the two of them
uh, raising their children.
But JD strayed
repeatedly from the marriage.
After seven years together,
Robin finally called it quits
and took the kids with her.
JD denied any involvement
in her m*rder.
But even he couldn't deny
his place as a prime suspect
in his ex-wife's death.
The sheriff's
department, they ask him,
"Do you have any information
that will be of help to us?"
His response was, No, I don't
know of anything, I'm of no
help to you.
I just have no information.
I don't know anything.
When JD Spielbauer
and his future wife
Robin met in 2003
the relationship turned
red hot almost immediately.
They spend all their time
together and actually
got pregnant within
the first like four to
five weeks of them
starting dating.
So, it sped everything up
a lot faster.
Robin's parents
were both ex-m*llitary.
She grew up at times overseas,
as what some
call a m*llitary brat.
As what some
call a m*llitary brat.
JD told her he'd done
tours of duty in Iraq
and Afghanistan
He seemed a solid bet
as a responsible husband
and father.
She was more like,
wanted something stable.
And you know, down home,
she wanted a family and just...
the, uh, proverbial house
with a picket fence.
After the wedding
JD began carrying on
a couple of affairs
while Robin raised their
two young children.
While Robin raised their
two young children.
She wanted what her
parents had so bad,
that she thought she could
find a way to make him happy
to what he would stay.
But JD finally
crossed a line that even Robin
couldn't tolerate.
He had an affair with a woman
names Katie Phipps.
Why was this worse than
the others?
Because Katie was someone
Robin opened up to about
the troubles of her marriage.
Robin knew Katie
before JD did and,
Robin knew Katie
before JD did and,
as is always the case with
an affair and an unhappy
marriage, it eventually
resulted in divorce
by 2014.
And... And after that JD
had married Katie.
To make matters even worse,
JD and his new wife Katie
moved into a house very near
where Robin was raising
the children
she'd had with JD.
And the weird thing about
it was that it was two houses
down from our house.
This has an
inherently volatile situation,
This has an
inherently volatile situation,
especially with young children
being moved between
both houses day after day.
Katie and Robin, there
were a lot of hostility
between the two women
they both, cared about JD and
and, uh JD had been involved
with both and it was
a classic triangle.
Over the 2013
Thanksgiving holidays
The hostility between these
two romantic rivals
boiled over.
Robin walks into
the house to go upstairs
to get her girls
Robin walks into
the house to go upstairs
to get her girls
and Katie follows her in the
house grabs her by the hair,
pulls her down off the stairs
onto the floor,
and on top of her where
Robin in turn
kicked her off and kicked
her into the fire place.
I honestly told her, I said,
"She's the kind of crazy
that'll k*ll you."
No charges were
filed but this did nothing
to relieve the tension.
In fact both women were
convinced that JD was
sleeping which each of them
In fact both women were
convinced that JD was
sleeping which each of them
behind their backs.
Katie was livid about it
and made no secret about it.
She was just hammering on JD
everyday in text messages,
"I believe you're having
and affair with Robin."
JD would deny it,
but Katie wasn't buying it,
she was convinced
that he was seeing
Robin behind her back.
A search of Katie's
cellphone showed that
in the four days before Robin
was k*lled,
she sent more than 300
of these texts,
she sent more than 300
of these texts,
that's an of nearly average
of four texts every hour
on the hour
twenty four hours a day.
There were text messages
with Katie threatening
Robin, either directly
or indirectly.
When you read Katie's
text messages
she says that, uh
she can't do it anymore
and she's gonna finish it.
Does that mean m*rder someone
or simply divorce them?
When you see a text message
like that, it kind of points
When you see a text message
like that, it kind of points
more toward her being guilty.
Now, five
months after the
Thanksgiving altercation
Robin Spielbauer was
in a morgue with
a fatal b*llet wound.
Katie, her romantic rival,
clearly had a potential
motive to k*ll her.
But when brought in for
questioning her top priority
wasn't the m*rder.
Soon Katie had even more
things to be upset about.
Detectives located
the m*rder w*apon.
They also found this
photograph of Katie
holding what looked to be
that very same g*n.
When I first saw that picture
I was like, Oh my gosh she
did it.
When Katie Phipps emerged
as a possible suspect in the
m*rder of Robin Spielbauer
police searched the home
Katie shared with Robin's
ex-husband, JD.
During the search warrant
a 22 SIG Sauer Mosquito
a*t*matic p*stol
was recovered along with
several other firearms.
This 22 caliber
p*stol was a
distinctive w*apon
it had pink polymer
plating apparently a
marketing device.
With the pink casing
you'd automatically assume
it's a woman's g*n,
With the pink casing
you'd automatically assume
it's a woman's g*n,
misogynistic, yes probably but,
uh, that was one
of those things that
immediately pops into your head
The fact that it's pink,
fantastic, mine is purple.
It's nothing out of the normal
for you know, a lot of people
around here in Texas.
Investigators now
employed a rarely used
but simple forensic technique
called a physical fit.
But simple forensic technique
called a physical fit.
Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle
a shard of metal that chipped
off the g*n and was found
at the crime scene,
fit perfectly with the gap
left on the g*n itself.
And a test fire of the w*apon
confirmed what this evidence
already showed.
It was Katie's g*n, there were
pictures all over Facebook
of her sh**ting this strange
pink g*n.
So Katie owned the
m*rder w*apon and she clearly
had a motive.
Katie actually
requested polygraph
examination.
My lawyer told me,
"Do not do this. You are
going to fail it,
they want you to fail it.
They're going to tell you
that you failed it,
hoping that you're
going to confess."
Of course I failed it,
just like he told me I would.
Even worse, Katie did not have
a rock solid alibi
Even worse, Katie did not have
a rock solid alibi
for the night of the m*rder.
She said, she was at
a friend's house
close to Helium Road
and never saw Robin that night.
But she turned off
her cell phone,
so it couldn't be
used to track her.
And as an ex-husband,
JD had to be looked at
And as an ex-husband,
JD had to be looked at
as a possible suspect.
A background check revealed
that JD's claims to be w*r
veteran were all lies.
I'd rather pissed, 'cause
I mean that's uh,
to me it's something
you don't lie about.
It just, uh didn't sit well.
JD claimed that
he had no contact with his
ex-wife Robin
on the night she was m*rder*d.
But cellphone records
expose this as another lie.
In the text messages,
they discovered that
In the text messages,
they discovered that
Robin was communicating
with JD on the seventh,
several times and
making reference to a meeting
that was to take place,
with JD.
That meeting
was set for the night
Robin was k*lled.
When confronted with
this evidence JD
changed the story.
He admitted meeting Robin
at Helium Road
and said someone unexpected
showed up in that meeting.
But according to JD
Katie didn't follow.
He said the two women
continued yelling at
each other as he drove away.
The next day Robin
was found dead.
JD's story or stories were
changing by the hour.
But detectives, convinced
Katie was the k*ller, thought
there was a good reason.
We believe that JD Spielbauer,
was telling false stories
and the stories were changing
was telling false stories
and the stories were changing
because he was trying
to protect his wife, Katie.
Three days after
Robin's body was found
Katie was arrested and charged
with capital m*rder.
And I looked over
and there's my son
getting out of my
sister in-laws car.
And he watches them put
me on the ground at g*n point,
and handcuff me.
And I remember just looking
at my son like,
I'm not gonna see you
for a long time.
Katie Phipps
maintained from the
beginning that
she had problems with
Robin Spielbauer
but would never
resort to m*rder.
Detectives weren't buying it
and Katie remained
behind bars for more
than a year
while they built their case.
I spent my 29th
birthday in jail.
I lost my kids to CPS.
My ex-husband took all
of my stuff,
except for the little bit
of clothes he allowed my
brother to come pick up.
I lost everything.
JD Spielbauer's
cellphone put him at the
scene of the m*rder.
Since Katie's phone was off
it could not be used
to track her.
But then detectives
found out about a
relatively new way that
they could pin point
her location at the time
of the m*rder.
Mark Sedwick is a member
of the FBI's cellular analysis
survey team or CAST.
What we do, our biggest thing
if there's a kidnapping,
What we do, our biggest thing
if there's a kidnapping,
uh, we will do,
exploit any phone
social media type data
that gives us any location
to try and locate
that missing child.
This method targets
the cellphone's wireless
capacity or Wi-Fi
and can provide a nearly
exact location.
It doesn't rely on cell towers.
It goes directly to your phone.
You get a lot more
accurate readings and the GPS
is your GPS and it works
off the satellite
is your GPS and it works
off the satellite
uh, your satellite signals
that your phone's GPS
antenna saves.
Since Katie's phone
was off on the day
of Robin's m*rder
this wasn't an option
with her phone.
But she was seen at numerous
points at that day and night
with her eleven year old
son Diego.
And the Wi-Fi on his phone
was up and running
the whole time.
The targeting of that
phone left no doubt,
Katie was not at
Helium Road when
Robin Spielbauer was sh*t
at about 9:50 that night.
At about 9:50 that night.
We had three adult
eye witnesses who all agreed
Diego and Katie were
together all day.
She never left
or left him there, she never
left without Diego.
Katie could never
have k*lled Robin
she was never there,
she was never at
Helium Road that night.
Mr... said today
I am dismissing her case.
And I fell out the chair,
and I hit the ground,
and I cried and I cried
and I cried and I cried
and I don't know
how long I cried.
Following Katie's release,
JD Spielbauer found himself
a charge of facing
capital m*rder.
Prosecutors are convinced
JD planned the m*rder.
He lured Robin to
Helium Road and had
Katie's pink plated 22 caliber
in his trunk.
Robin had no idea
what awaited her.
In fact she also
wanted the meeting.
She was gonna meet
with JD and tell him
no more bully calls
She was gonna meet
with JD and tell him
no more bully calls
it's over she told several
other friends,
"I'm ending this
affair with JD."
From now on, I only
wanna see him if it
involves the girls
and I want all
of my child support.
The couple
while in Robin's SUV
started fighting.
JD apparently got out
of the SUV,
went back to his truck and
came back brandishing
the pink plated p*stol.
Robin hit a*t*matic lock
on all her car doors.
JD pounded the g*n
on the rear window.
Strike marks from
the plastic handle,
and the piece of metal
chipped of the g*n
related match back
to Katie's g*n.
Ultimately it appears
Robin exited her SUV.
Apparently, thinking JD
would never
actually sh**t her.
She was wrong.
He fired once hitting her
and intended to fire again.
But the g*n jammed.
It appears he walked
back to his truck
came back with
some type of tool,
possibly a tire iron and
made sure Robin was dead.
Possibly a tire iron and
made sure Robin was dead.
His attempt to frame Katie
for Robin's m*rder
almost worked,
after all the ballistics tied
the shell casing
back to Katie's pink p*stol.
But JD failed to realize,
cellphone evidence put him
at the sight of the m*rder
and showed Katie was not there.
To pull Arthur Conan Doyle
through the lips
of Sherlock Holmes
when you have eliminated
every other possibility
whatever is left
when you have eliminated
every other possibility
whatever is left
is the truth.
In January of 2018,
a jury found JD Spielbauer
guilty of first degree m*rder,
and sentenced
him to life in prison.
Katie, forever grateful for
the cellphone technology that
proved her innocence,
is now using her experience
on both sides of the law
as a criminal paralegal
near Dallas.
Cellphone records
are the new DNA.
It doesn't matter,
where you come from in life,
how much money you make
where you come from in life,
how much money you make
you have a cellphone,
and that cellphone is traceable.
If it wasn't for
today's technology
and all the advances
that we've made,
I would surely be spending
the rest of my life in prison.