01x04 - Black Bart and the Bunny

[bunniefuu]

Carole Gold was really
a pioneer, being one of
the first Playboy Bunnies.

A Bunny in the 1960s
made great money...

...and we were like rockstars.

Playboy can give you
the taste of the high life...

...but that doesn't
last forever.

She just blew through
all the money
and one day woke up

and realized
there was nothing left.

Chuck said to Carole that
if she didn't back him up,

he was gonna divorce her.

She says she knew
she was paying
$75 a month into something,

but didn't really know what.

[Pat LaLama] Just
a few minutes

into his conversation
with detectives,

he realizes,
"Oh, wait a minute.

This is about a m*rder."

That was the beginning
of my worst nightmare.

[Briana Whitney] Police get
a call over the radio.

A woman had called 911
saying her husband
had been shot.

So they rush over.

They get there.

51-year-old Chuck Gold
was found dead and m*rder*d
inside his home.

We have an apparent homicide.

Mr. Gold expired from
multiple g*nsh*t wounds.

We were told he'd
been discovered
by his wife, Carole.

Carole Gold was 53 years old
when her husband, Chuck,
was found brutally m*rder*d.

It's a dramatic turn
in the life of woman who

just decades ago was
on a very different path...

...working as
a Playboy Bunny...

...experiencing this
glamorous lifestyle,

and making more money
than she ever
thought possible.

Carole was involved with
the Playboy company

at a very early stage
in the early 60s.

Back then, the magazine
looked very homemade,

cut and paste.
It wasn't, like, the glossy,

lavish thing that people saw
in decades later.

Hef started Playboy
when he was 27 years old.

He started HMH Publishing
at the same time.

HMH Publishing
is his initials,
Hugh Marston Hefner,

and he just started
that publishing company
to do Playboy.

The first issue came out
in December of 1953.

He didn't put a volume number
on the first issue,

because he wasn't sure
if there'd be a second one.

The first nude pictorial
inPlayboy

was a photo of Marilyn Monroe,

and that feature would
go on to become
the centerfold feature.

There really wasn't anything
likePlayboy at the time.

There were nude magazines,
but they were all
pretty down scale.

So, he wanted to do
something different.

ThePlayboy lifestyle
was supposed to be

an aspirational, upscale,
men's kind of
fantasy lifestyle.

[Whitney] Carole
was from Chicago,

and in 1955, she was model
in her teenage years.

She did a lot of magazines
and commercials
and things like that.

And so, that's kind of
how her life started
in the public eye.

And when Carole
was only 15 years old,

she had a friend who worked
nearby HMH Publishing.

And her friend thought,
"Hey, Carole, maybe
you can get a job there."

[Mitzi] Carole was
in a Catholic school,

And the Catholic priest
had to prove anybody

that wanted to work
a job outside of school,

and he approved it
because it was just
a publishing company.

He didn't understand that
HMH meant Hugh M. Hefner.

[Whitney] Carole meets
with an executive

who really, really
liked her at the time,

and he hires her on the spot.

[Madison] The very
first Playboy Club

opened in Chicago on
February 29, in 1960.

It was an upscale place
for men to go.

It was a private club.

You know, you could
have lunch or dinner

and see great entertainment.

And of course
the women were wearing

the Bunny costume,
which became very famous.

The Playboy Bunnies
were the hostesses
and waitresses

that worked at
the Playboy Club,

and they wore the very famous
skimpy outfit...

...which is basically
just a corset with tights.

The Bunny costume was based
on the Playboymascot,
which is a rabbit.

When Hef first
started the magazine,

he decided on the rabbit
as a symbol and a logo

because rabbits
are very playful animals
and they have a lot of sex.

This is my
Playboy Bunny picture.

This is from Chicago.

That was a really great job.

Definition of a Bunny
in the 1960s

was the girl next store,
but somebody that
was sexy and beautiful.

A Bunny in the 1960s
made great money...

...and we were like rockstars.

The money we made
definitely was life-changing.

In Chicago,
we made more money.

There was more celebrities
that came to the Chicago club.

We met everybody and usually
would have 'em sign our cuffs.

[Madison] Carole started off
as a switchboard operator

in Playboy'sfirst offices.

[Diana] They used
Carole as a fit Bunny

in order to design
the original costume

that the girls wore
in the 1960s
when the club opened.

And then she became
a Bunny after that.

She was really a pioneer,
being one of
the first Bunnies.

This would have been
a very unique experience
for anyone,

but for somebody
who was coming from
a Catholic school background,

that just must have
been something
completely different

because at the time,
there was nothing like
the Playboy Club.

[Mitzi] Carole helped
supervise other bunnies
and private parties.

And she was always kind.

She was easy to work for.

And if you stepped off line,
she told you.

She was supervising
a get together.

Frank Sinatra and some
of his friends were there.

And Mr. Sinatra asked her,
"Well, who are you?"

And she said,
"May I get you something?"

And he goes, "Well, no,
I just want to know you are.
You can sit and talk to me."

And said, "Mr. Sinatra,
I'd absolutely love to,

and I think you're amazing,

but I have to take care
of everything here."

[Madison] The club
was definitely an introduction
to the good life for Carole,

and showed her
what was possible, you know,

you have all these
wealthy clients coming in.

I think Carole probably
got used to the money
and the lifestyle.

It's a very easy
thing to get used to

and, like, want for
the rest of your life.

While Carole was working
as a Playboy Bunny,

she also put herself
through School.

She became a teacher

and taught eighth grade
at a Catholic school.

It's so crazy that she was
a Catholic school teacher

by day and a Playboy Bunny
at night.

During this time,
she met an engineering student

named Kenny Cottini
and they got married.

Carole's at the Playboy Club
for five years

before she and Kenny
end up moving to
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin,

where they work
at horse stables.

That's when tragedy struck.

Kenny died shortly
after a riding accident.

I believe he was running
barrels at a horse show...

...and he slipped.
He fell out of his saddle

and never regained
consciousness.

[Whitney] Kenny's passing
not only left Carole
as a widow,

but she was taking care
of their daughter

and their newborn son,
who was born
in that same year.

Carole was busy
working at the stable

and raising to two kids
when she reconnected

with a childhood friend,
Chuck Gold.

Like Carole, Chuck
also had two kids.

[Stephanie] My relationship
with my dad in
my earlier years was...

...sporadic.

Um, my parents were
divorced before I was two,
they were separated.

My mother and I lived
with her parents,
my grandparents.

[Whitney] Chuck
and Carole start dating.

And that was in 1977.

About a year later,
they were off to Las Vegas
to get married.

She used her Playboy
connections to get them set up

at the Lake Geneva
Playboy resort.

The Lake Geneva Playboy Resort

was the very first
Playboy Resort.

An off-sh**t of
the Playboy Club,

kind of a bigger,
better experience.

And it was a very
modern establishment.

They had ski trails.
They had golf courses.
They had stables.

It was just this amazing,
huge retreat.

Carole loved horses,
and she and Chuck

went on to open
their own stable

at the Playboy Club,
Lake Geneva.

It was a huge deal.
I mean, if you're gonna
run a horse stable,

what better place than
at a luxury resort

with all these
wealthy customers?

[Stephanie] Carole
was very good for my father.

They had a really
great dynamic.

They worked well together.

They would ride together,
they would do all kinds
of things together.

By the summer of '82,
my father and Carole

knew that they were
gonna leave Lake Geneva.

The main reason for the move
was the winters were just

too much for everybody,

and they had decided
that Arizona was where
they wanted to be.

[Madison] Carole and Chuck
moved to Arizona
with Carole's children,

Her daughter, Alison,
and her son, Ashton.

The family settled into
running the stables

at Point Hilton Resort
at Tapatio Cliffs.

Chuck Gold had a business
where they would do
gunfight re-enactments

at, um, some of
the high-end hotels

here in the valley
at the time.

He was known to
a lot of people as Black Bart.

The original Black Bart
was, uh, a gunslinger from,
like, the 1880s.

[Stephanie] My dad
is the personality.

My dad would bring people in.

And he'd be dressed
as Black Bart,

and people would just
get a kick out of it.

And Carole was the person
responsible for all of the,

the accounting
and paying the bills

and doing all of that stuff.
That was Carole's role.

[Mitzi] By 1992, cashflow was
not an issue at that stable.

They had a going business.

And that was without Chuck.

And I can imagine
when you add in

the gunfight shows
and the things that he did...

...they were doing quite well.

They have
this idyllic lifestyle.

You know, it could have
been a fairy tale life.

But it all changed on
the night of October 20th.

[g*nshots]

[Stephanie] Dad and Carole
were married in
December of '78.

They would have been
married 14 years
in December of '92,

when he was k*lled.

On October 20, 1992,

Carole Gold had been
at dinner with
her daughter, Alison.

And from there, they ended up
going back to Alison's house,

where they watched
some movies.

[Petrosino] Chuck Gold
was supposed to be
at a conference,

and at some point,
he had called

and said that he
was on his way home.

And then Carole decided
to go home.

And when she came
home around 10:30,

she walked into their house
and found Chuck

shot dead in their kitchen.

That's when she called 911.

[phone ringing]

[Stephanie] Got a phone call,

and it was Richard Feingold
on the other end of the call.

Richard was my dad's friend.

He goes...

..."Your dad's dead."

And I made him
repeat it three times.

And I went...

..."I don't understand."

And he said, "Your dad
was shot tonight...

...and that's all I know."

And I just...

...lost it.

That was the beginning
of my worst nightmare.

[Whitney] Chuck Gold
was bleeding from the head,

with eight .22 caliber
b*llet casings
surrounding his body.

I was assigned
the crime scene.

The scene is processed.

The front door was locked.

There was no sign
of a break-in.

I walked around and looked
at different things,

and I discovered that one of
the back doors is unlocked.

The back door should
be locked, and it's not.

Your first thought is is that,
"Well, maybe it's
a burglary gone bad."

If that's the case,
you'll normally see
things disturbed.

But none of that
appeared to be the case.

[Whitney] The lead detective
pulls Carole outside,

starts kind of asking
her about everything.

Carole tells detectives
that they had
a really good relationship,

that things were
going well for them.

[Petrosino] Carole indicated
that in the past,

Chuck had engaged in
extra-marital contact.

But that they
had gotten past it.

[Madison] It must have been
really difficult for Carole

because she was, you know,
a Playboy Bunny.

She was one of
the people to usher in
the Sexual Revolution,

and then to be
married later in life

and your partner's unfaithful,
it must have been hard.

Detectives went on their
search for information,

by going and talking
to everybody that

would have had some knowledge
of what was going on

in the Gold household...

...or the business.

One of the first people
the detectives reach out to

is Chuck's close friend,
Richard Feingold.

[Petrosino] Mr. Feingold,
uh, indicated that

Chuck could be
hard to get along with,

and he might have
a lot of enemies.

[Whitney] Richard also
tells the detective

that a number of years ago,

Chuck had been
in a relationship

with a woman who worked
at the horse stables
named Linda.

And the two were
very happy together.

The story was is that Chuck
was going to divorce Carole...

...and live with
or marry Linda

when the divorce was final.

There's information that
Linda lived in the house

at some period of time.

But for whatever reason,
Chuck ended the relationship.

[Stephanie] This was around
October of '91.

I knew that my father
had affairs.

I knew that Carole
knew about 'em.

I believe Carole had affairs,

and I'm sure that
my father knew about 'em.

I don't necessarily know that
I would call it unfaithful...

...because I think they knew,

'cause that was
just their dynamic.

[Whitney] Detectives go on
to interview other employees

at the horse stables
and one them has a story

that Carole had
a 14-year-old grandson
named Ronnie.

That was Alison's son.

And at some point,
Ronnie was staying
with Chuck and Carole

because Carole's daughter,
Alison, was out of town.

[Petrosino] Chuck expected
Ronnie to do work
at the stables.

[Whitney] Ronnie
didn't want to.

He wanted to go
hang out with his girlfriend.

He had no plans of
going to the stables

[Petrosino] He allegedly
told Chuck, "Well,

I'm gonna be at
my girlfriend's house."

And Chuck said,
"Get to the stables."

He didn't get there.

[Whitney] And that made
Chuck really angry.

And Chuck went off...

...and he told him that
he wanted him gone.

He didn't want Ronnie
at the house anymore.

Stable hands at the resort
said they saw Chuck and Ronnie

arguing loudly
over the incident.

As a result, Ronnie ran away.

And this all took place
just a week before
Chuck's m*rder.

[Petrosino] There's some
information that Carole Gold's
grandson, Ronnie,

had had prior run-ins
or contacts with
the police department.

[Whitney] Ronnie was known
for having a bit of a temper.

Ultimately, investigators
find out that Ronnie

was with his girlfriend
at the time that Chuck
was m*rder*d.

He was at school the next day,

and he didn't even know
that Chuck was k*lled

until he was pulled
out of school.

Detectives also learn that
in the weeks leading up to

Chuck Gold's m*rder,
he was in a real duke out

with another guy,
and that happens to be
Ashton, Carole's son.

[Stephanie] Ashton was 20
and lived with
my dad and Carole.

He was always very quiet.

I think he was also
very resentful

because he resented
having to do any of
the work at the stables.

We found out that Ashton,
uh, had a history of abusing,
uh, hard drugs.

Ashton apparently got
hooked on an opioid...

...and owed people money
for, for drugs that
he allegedly bought.

Ashton was addicted to
a drug called Nubain.

And he was taking it,
I guess, to work out.

And it was some sort
of steroid that
helped him pump up.

And Dad told me that Ashton
had got caught

smoking weed at the stables.

I think that was
the final straw for my dad

and really pissed him off.

He was livid because
it was their livelihood.

And marijuana
wasn't legal then.

So, the though that
they could've lost

their contract with the resort

was first and forefront
in his mind.

One of my last conversations
with my dad,

we talked about Ashton

and that things were
getting complicated,

and that he didn't know
how much longer

it was gonna be able
to stay the way things were.

[Whitney] Chuck had
reached his breaking point
with Ashton

and decided it would be best
if he just kicked him
out of the house.

Knowing this information
that Ashton and Chuck

had had this big disagreement,

detectives go
and question Ashton,

who tells them that
they had smoothed things over.

It wasn't that big of a deal,
everything was fine.

[Petrosino] Ashton had
an alibi for that night.

He was with his girlfriend
somewhere in public.

And there were other people
that verified it.

[telephone ringing]

[Petrosino]
But detectives get a call
from a family member

who said that Ashton was out
looking at new Cadillacs.

And, uh, the family member
found something
wrong with that.

Chuck has been dead
two weeks, and now,

Carole's son is out there
looking at new cars.

So, two weeks
after the m*rder,

on November 5th of '92,

the detective goes back
and questions Carole.

When detectives
brought up Ashton

and supposedly, this fight,

she talked about the fact

that Ashton had been
abusing some drugs.

Chuck said to Carole that
if she didn't back him up

and get rid of Ashton
from the house...

...he was gonna divorce her.

But she believed that

Ashton and Chuck

had worked out
whatever upset him

and that everything was good
between Ashton and Chuck.

When asked about owing
people money for drugs,

Carole said that
they discovered

that he owed about
$1,200 to somebody.

And they just decided
to pay it for him.

And, uh, it was supposed
to be the end of it.

At some point
during the investigation

detectives get a call
from the insurance company,

which is not uncommon.

Insurance companies
will often call investigators

on questionable deaths.

And their question is,

"Is anybody
in the family involved?

Because there's this $150,000,

uh, accidental
death insurance."

[Schmidt] I can't imagine
Carole wanting...

...him dead for money,
for the simple fact that

he was the one who helped
make the money.

It doesn't make sense.

[Gold] One of the stories
that Carole had told me

was when her
husband Kenny died,

there was money, and...

...that she just kinda
blew through all the money,

and she just one day
woke up and realized...

...there was nothing left.

So she pretty much
had to start over.

[Holly] A lot of Bunnies
talk about how the job

paid so much more
just from tips,

than they would've made
at any other job that

would've been available
to them in the early '60s.

I think it would've
been really difficult
for someone like Carole,

who at such a young age,

had such financial freedom.

And that's a very
hard lifestyle
to transition out of.

[Gold] When I went to Phoenix
after the funeral,

I looked at Ashton...

...and at that moment,
I realized that
Ashton was wearing...

...a ring and a bracelet
that were my grandfather's.

So I walked over
to Carole and I went,

"I noticed that Ashton
was wearing Grandpa's ring."

And she looked at me
and she said,

"Well, yeah, Dad said
he could have them."

And I said, "You're mistaken.

Because Dad and I
talked about it last time
I was here...

...that whatever was Grandpa's
would go to me.

So he would never have
let Ashton wear Grandpa's
ring and bracelet."

"Well, Stephy, he did."

"Well, no, Carole, he didn't."

I think that's the first time

I really thought about it,
and really...

...went, "Oh, my God.

Are they both involved?"

[reading] "Who are you?
It does not take long

before the answer
to that question
becomes complex.

When I was 25,
I could answer that

my name is Carole,
or Ms. Cottini.

I am the eighth grade teacher.

Or, 'Good evening,
I'm your Bunny, Carole.'

Can you imagine
my eighth graders
telling their parents

that their teacher
was a Playboy Bunny?

Neither could I."

[Whitney] The detective
ends up confronting Carole

about that accidental
death policy,

something that she hadn't
talked about at all

in that first interview.

And she says
to the detective that

she didn't know about it
until after Chuck died,

that Chuck was the one
who organized this.

She knew she was paying
$75 a month into something,

but didn't really know what,
and that's what that was.

[Petrosino] Every time
detectives find something that

undermines what
she said before,

she has to modify her story.

And she does that.

The one thing about
doing police investigations

is that if you get somebody
that's telling you the truth,

it doesn't change.

But there isn't anything that

detectives found at that point

that shows that...

...Carole actually did it.

In early November,

detectives went back
and made a second

contact with Ashton.

It's possible that
that drug problem

is connected to the m*rder.

[Whitney] The detective
comes up with this plan

to confront Ashton,

and kind of makes up
the fact that he knows

a drug dealer
that Ashton knows

is involved in this m*rder.

He doesn't actually
know that for sure,

but he thinks if he
brings that up to Ashton,

he might get more
information out of him.

[Petrosino] The trouble
with lying to suspects

or investigative leads

is that if you guess wrong,

then they know
you're just fishing.

[Whitney] The detective says,

"You know,
it'd be really helpful

if you could give us a name
of any of these drug dealers

that you're associated with
or have worked with."

[Petrosino] And Ashton
panicked a little bit.

And then he gives up...

...Bob Pryor.

[Gold] Bob Pryor
was Ashton's drug dealer.

And that's where he got
his Nubain from.

Bob was also a physical
trainer at a gym,

which Ashton joined.

[Petrosino] Bob Pryor
is one of those guys

that if you work
certain assignments,

his name probably
would've come up.

He would've been known
to the Phoenix
police department.

The detectives are very
familiar with Bob Pryor
and his rap sheet.

They have an informant
who knows about Bob Pryor.

[Petrosino] September of 1993,

the detective is able
to get in contact

with Dan Goddard,
who is, who is the CI.

A CI is confidential
informant.

[Whitney]
The detective asks Goddard

if he knows Ashton.

And Goddard tells the officer

he had met Ashton once.

And there was a conversation
relayed to Dan Goddard

that Ashton had told Pryor

that he hated
his stepdad so much,

he was willing to pay
to get him k*lled.

[g*nshots]

[Whitney] The detective
asks Goddard

if he knows where
Bob Pryor was

on October 20th, 1992.

And Goddard says,
"Yeah, I was with him."

Goddard was driving
Bob Pryor around,

and he tells the detective
they stopped at a gas station,

which was conveniently
right around the corner
from the Gold's house.

[Petrosino] He said that Pryor
was wearing a heavy jacket...

...he's got a g*n.

Um, Mr. Goddard
talked about, uh, it being a,

a small-caliber p*stol or g*n,

uh, probably a .22.

And he talks about a sil*ncer.

[Whitney] Bob Pryor
got out of the car

with a .22 caliber g*n
under his jacket.

That g*n matches the casings

that were found around
Chuck Gold's body.

Dan Goddard
tells the detective

Bob Pryor disappeared
for a period of time

and he didn't know
where he went.

And suddenly,
Bob Pryor and Ashton

moved from investigative lead

to the suspect column

on your police report.

[LaLama] When detectives start
looking into Bob Pryor,

they find out
in an unrelated case,

police took $9,000 in cash

and a bunch of weapons
from his house.

Bob Pryor had been
complaining that he wants
that stuff back,

so this is the perfect ruse

to get him into
the police department.

[Petrosino] The decision was,
give him a call,

tell him we're giving him
his g*ns back,

uh, just have him
come on down, and...

He came down,
he didn't get his g*ns back.

But, uh, he did get
interviewed by detectives.

[LaLama] In just a few minutes

into his conversation
with detectives,

he realizes,
"Oh, wait a minute.

This is about a m*rder."

Now that detectives
have the attention
of Bob Pryor,

it's their chance
to say to him,

"So, uh, Bob, just how much

were you paid to carry out
a hit on Chuck Gold?"

[Whitney] And eventually,
he starts to crack.

Bob Pryor tells them
it was $9,000,

and the police had
seized that when they
took his g*ns and drugs.

Bob pretty much
gives himself up
almost immediately,

and admits he was
involved in this plan,

but he's got a lot more
to tell to detectives

when he says Carole Gold

was really the mastermind.

Carole Gold had it all when
she was a Playboy Bunny,
and she lost that.

She has this thriving
business with Chuck,

and there was
probably the fear
of losing that, too.

She wasn't gonna go through
losing it all again.

Faced with the threat
of Chuck divorcing her,

Carole was probably
scared and angry.

[Petrosino] During his
interview with detectives,

Bob Pryor gave some statements

that implicated
Carole and Ashton

as being the people
that had hired him

for, for $9,000

to k*ll Mr. Gold.

He'd also implicated them

in a prior separate
m*rder attempt on Chuck,

where Carole and Ashton

put rat poison in his dinner.

But he didn't die.

He didn't like
the way that it tasted

and threw it away.

[Whitney] With this
new information,

the detective heads back
over to the horse stables

and arrests both
Ashton and Carole

for m*rder, and conspiracy

to commit m*rder
on Chuck Gold.

[LaLama] Detectives bring
Carole back in,

they've got more
questions for her.

This time, she clams up.

Carole wants a lawyer.

[Petrosino] Carole's released.

There was no physical tie

to Carole.

But they charged
Ashton and Pryor

with conspiracy to commit
first-degree m*rder

and first-degree m*rder.

[Whitney] After Carole
was released,
the detective goes

to talk to John
and Sharon Novoselski,

who were good friends
of Carole and Chuck's.

He had talked to them before,
but he wanted to go back

just to see
if he could find out

any other information
that could help.

The Novoselskis end up
giving the detective

a piece of information

that gets him one step closer
to solving the case.

[Petrosino] John and Sharon
indicated that

it was a really,
really bad time

in Chuck
and Carole's marriage.

[Whitney] But probably
the biggest piece
of information

they tell the detective

is that they know
Chuck did not know

about any kind
of insurance policy.

[Petrosino] Chuck had been
denied insurance,

I'm assuming life insurance,

because of health issues.

The detective was
able to obtain

handwriting samples for Chuck

and other family members.

But the handwriting analysts

told him that, uh,
Chuck did not sign

the application
for the insurance.

And that, in fact,
his signature

was done by Carole.

The application
was fraudulent.

[Gold] And I later
found out that

Carole hired an attorney

to get the money,
and the police were trying

to not release the money,

because they still hadn't

cleared her from
being a suspect.

But they didn't have enough
to hold the insurance company
from not paying it.

[Whitney] In December of 1994,
the trial starts

for Ashton and Bob Pryor.

But it's a deadlocked jury
in the end,

and eventually it's declared
a mistrial in 1995.

[Schmidt]
They got a hung jury,
and that's probably

because they couldn't
connect the dots.

If I was having trouble
with sitting in the gallery,

I'm sure the jury was, too.

[LaLama] Not long after
Bob's mistrial,

he manages to get himself
into big trouble

on unrelated charges,
federal charges,

having to do
with drug distribution, so,

what he decides to do
is plead down his sentence

by promising to testify
in future trials

against Ashton
and his mom Carole.

[Petrosino] In 1995
on 2nd of August,

Ashton and Carole
are re-arrested

for m*rder and conspiracy
of Chuck.

[LaLama] I've covered so many

of these m*rder-for-hire cases

and it's usually
spouse-on-spouse,

and the spouse K*llers
think they're so clever.

But they always make
a stupid mistake.

[Petrosino]
Document scientists
determine that...

...Chuck hadn't filled out
the insurance paperwork
that Carole had.

Which undermined
her story that

she didn't have
any information about

the life insurance

or, or how much it was for.

It would be pretty hard
to explain that away.

[Whitney] After Carole's
second arrest,

the detective is hoping
she's going to come forward

with anything more
she did the first time.

So they pull her into a room

to interrogate her
one more time.

[Petrosino]
In the final interview,

Carole makes statements

admitting involvement
in the case,

and makes a statement,

"You're on the right track,

but the wrong train."

And she never clarifies
what she means by that.

I believe that

they conspired together,

Ashton and Carole,

with a third party
that was the trigger man.

[g*nshots]

[Gold] On the day that
she was arrested in '93,

I never heard from her again.

Not a single person
in the family ever
heard from her again.

She never called to say,
"It's not true.

I'll take care of it.
I'll explain it all."

Not once.

There's no betrayal
worse than that.

[Petrosino]
On August 4th of 1997,

the trial of Ashton
and Carole started.

During the course
of the trial,

Ashton pleads guilty
to conspiracy...

...and is later sentenced
to 18 years in prison.

And the trial proceeds
against his mother.

At the end of the trial,
the jury comes back with...

...guilty on two counts,

conspiracy and m*rder one.

She's sentence to 25 to life,

with the possibility
of receiving parole.

[Whitney] Thanks to the deal
that Bob Pryor had cut,

he was only
sentenced to 20 years

in a medium-security prison.

I felt my dad got
the justice he deserved.

[inhales]

It was tough...

...being in court every day.

The sentencing took place
a month later,

where I was able to give
my victim impact statement.

I apologized to the judge,

but I told Carole
to rot in Hell.

And that's one
of the hardest things
it's been for me,

because I loved her.

She was part of my family.

And she broke my heart.

[Holly] Carole's ultimate fear
was losing her wealth

and losing her share
of a thriving business.

Playboy and give you a taste
of the high life,

but that doesn't last forever.

And when Carole was afraid
she was going to lose

her marriage, her lifestyle,
her business,

she was prepared
to k*ll to make sure
that didn't happen.