02x06 - Twisted Twins

[bunniefuu]

On a blustery
South Dakota morning,

an elderly man takes his
last breath.

When I found out Walter had
passed away,

it kinda hit me hard.

This looked like a typical
elderly person who had

reached the end of his life.

But things aren't
always what they seem

at first glance.

I was quite sure that this
was foul circumstances.

I received a call
that an inmate was making

remarks about a m*rder in Lemmon.

As investigators dig deeper,

bizarre secrets are revealed.

They were together up there
in the house.

There's this love triangle
going on.

It was a crazy deal.

It's the talk of the town.
It's at every breakfast table.

And the next thing,
it just kind of snowballed.

It's a monstrous thing
to plan somebody's m*rder.

You've got three people
telling different stories.

We really needed some hard
evidence to confirm

exactly what took place.

Best way to do that was
to exhume the body.

There's a question.
Can we prove that this person

met their end by foul play.

We really needed to get
to the truth

and to the bottom of this.

Lemmon is a sleepy cattle town,

tucked away in the great plains
of South Dakota.

Lemmon, South Dakota is a town
of maybe 16 or 1,800 people.

It's in the far north central
part of South Dakota.

We have a ranching
culture, a farming culture.

Lemmon is a very close-knit
community,

uh, people know each other.

Back in 1990, uh, most people
were either the sons,

the grandsons of homesteaders
and had deep roots

into the community.

And in a small town like Lemmon,

when someone runs into trouble,
people take notice.

On the morning of
April 1st, 1990,

a frantic woman calls 911
to report a medical emergency

at a farmhouse on the
edge of town.

There was an elderly
gentleman that, uh,

was near death.
Upon receiving that call,

the Lemmon ambulance does what
they always do.

They respond.

At the house,
they are greeted by the caller,

who identifies herself as
45-year-old Darlene Phillips,

and says she lives there
with her ex-husband,

85-year-old, Walter Gibbs.

EMTs entered the home
to see Walter Gibbs

laying on a bed in the,
the living room, non responsive.

Darlene Phillips said
that Walter was kinda

declining in health and that
Mr. Gibbs also had a pacemaker.

To the Lemmon EMTs,
it looked like a heart attack.

While en route to the hospital,

EMTs performed CPR in an effort

to save Walter Gibbs' life.

When the physician assistant
at the hospital examined

Mr. Gibbs, there was no pulse.

And Walter Gibbs was
pronounced dead.

There was no indication
of any injuries.

Mr. Gibbs is 85 years old
with a significant

heart history, and he was
taking a lot of medication.

So the manner of death
was ruled natural,

and the cause of death
was probably myocardial infarc,

which is a heart attack.

Since there was no
foul play suspected,

no autopsy was performed.

As word of Walter Gibbs' passing

spreads through
the tiny town of Lemmon,

his friends and family
are left devastated.

Walter Gibbs was the
only child of Spanish American

w*r veteran, and was raised just
like all the rest

of those homestead kids.
Very reliable, very reliable.

He really was a nice guy.

As Walter grew
older, he took over

the family homestead while
caring for his ailing parents.

He had a pasture right
out east of where I used to live

and I looked out there one
bright, early, sunlit morning,

just barely light, and he's
out there checking his cattle.

And they're all gathered up
around him.

Walter Gibbs was my
grandfather's best friend.

Walter really enjoyed
playing the violin.

Him and my granddad would get
together and they would

play some music for
a few hours on end.

They'd always have a good time.

Walter was a very kind individual.

And he'd give you the shirt
off his back, that's Walter.

But when it came
to his relationships with women,

a more reserved Walter emerged.

When he was a young man,
I never, ever heard of him

having any romantic
entanglements with anybody.

I think he was really
afraid of women,

actually kinda shy about it.

But after his
parents passed away,

Walter's need for companionship
outweighed his shyness.

He needed people around him,
um, that he loved

and that loved him.

He was 50 something when he
married for the first time.

But married life
proved challenging for Walter.

This was a new thing for him.

It was kinda intimidating
to Walter.

Walter ended up
marrying five times.

Of all his marriages,

he had an especially strong bond
with one of his ex-wives,

Darlene Phillips.

Walter was in love with Darlene.

Darlene was outgoing.
When Darlene and Walter

got together, their relationship
was, it was kinda fun.

They'd come by the house
and I always just wanted

to listen to him tell jokes
and listen to him laugh.

Despite the good
times with Darlene,

about a year into the marriage,
they started to have problems.

She started to take a lot
more control

and that's where things
went bad.

It wasn't long after they
were married that he

divorced Darlene.

Then a few years later,
he ended up marrying her again.

The love birds
remarried in September of 1983.

But it was very short-lived
and they got divorced again.

But even when the
spark fizzled out,

Darlene stayed devoted
to Walter.

Probably about one year
before Walter's death,

Darlene ended up coming up
to take care of him

in his house.

Darlene's twin
sister, Delores Christian son,

also moved in to help out.

Darlene and Delores,
to me, were two of the same.

They seemed like nice,
little ladies.

And Delores's daughter was
also living there.

Delores's daughter,
Robin, was a very sweet girl.

She really enjoyed Walter.
She liked having him around.

You know, Robin really
felt that Walter was a

grandfather type figure to her.

The loss of Walter
left a big hole

in the lives
of Walter's loved ones.

Walter was a big part
of our lives.

We all loved Walter.
He was just a great guy.

When I found out from my dad
that Walter had passed away,

it kinda hit me hard.

I'm kinda gonna miss
him. I like Walter.

That was a sad ending
to a pretty good man.

In April of 1990,
Walter Gibbs is laid to rest

in a simple plot outside of town

under the expansive
South Dakota sky.

Darlene was very emotional
about Walter's death.

Walter's good
friend, Jim Hartwell,

is heartbroken
But also a bit unsettled.

I felt there was something
messed up about Walter's death.

His health was okay.
I mean, he could get around.

So it was kinda shocking that
he went so quick like that

The unexpected
death leaves the community

of Lemmon wondering,
is Walter Gibbs taking

a secret to his grave?

Sometimes things are not
as they appear on first look.

On December 8th of 1990...

...I received a call
from the chief

of the Lemmon Police Department

He'd advised me that he'd
been contacted by

the South Dakota
penitentiary in Springfield.

An inmate there was

making remarks to a
fellow inmate

about a m*rder in Lemmon.

What agent Overturf learns next

stops him in his tracks.

The inmate that had
forwarded the information

to Captain Dually
at the penitentiary

was Gail Baskin.

Baskin was a notorious k*ller

who was serving time
on a manslaughter charge

for the death of her
foster child.

My thought process
at the time was,

I don't know what
Gale Baskin's motive is,

but it definitely
warrants follow-up.

So I traveled to Springfield,
South Dakota

to the penitentiary there
and met with Gale Baskins.

She told me that she and
a fellow inmate had been

confiding in each other
quite a bit

about their personal situations.

The person had talked to Gale
about this homicide

that took place in Lemmon.

She had confided that
she had m*rder*d someone

in Lemmon, South Dakota, and
that she felt remorseful

and had to, uh,
get right with God.

The m*rder victim
was Walter Gibbs.

Coming up...

This is a story about an
elderly mad who was married

to twins, twice.

Darlene said that she had since
married a gentleman,

Jerry Phillips.

He was a big, strange-looking
man and he didn't look like

he was terribly stable.

There was a lot of rumors
around the community

about what was going on.

Darlene told me that
Jerry Phillips had

forced her to do this

She'd claimed that he had
made threats against her.

At this point, it was
very important

to figure out who was
telling the truth.

In a jailhouse interview,

notorious convict, Gale Baskin,

reveals her suspicions that
Walter Gibbs's death

was a homicide

Gale Baskins identifies
the person that had talked

to her about this homicide
that took place in Lemmon.

It was Darlene Phillips.

Darlene Phillips was
Walter Gibbs's ex-wife.

Darlene had been
taking care of Walter

at the time of his passing.
But now she was facing

a far different reality.

Darlene Phillips was serving
a 50-year sentence

at the penitentiary
for previous arson

that had occurred
in Lemmon, South Dakota.

Darlene was sent
to prison in August of 1990,

four months after
Walter Gibbs's death.

According to EMT records,
she was the same woman

who called 911 the morning
Walter Gibbs died.

With no evidence of foul play
surrounding Walter's death,

Agent Overturf has to wonder,
is Baskin telling the truth?

After completing my
interview with Gale Baskins,

I needed to talk to
Darlene Phillips.

When I first met Darlene
at the penitentiary,

she was a short, stocky lady.

Darlene informed me that she'd
been married to Walter Gibbs

on two occasions, and lived
with him in Lemmon, South Dakota

with her twin sister, Delores.

Then Darlene told the
investigator that what

he had heard was true,
that Walter didn't die

from natural causes.

Walter Gibbs was k*lled.

What she says next
takes Agent Overturf

completely by surprise

She claims her sister Delores
was involved in Walter's m*rder,

and that Delores is also
his ex-wife.

Delores had also been
married to Walter Gibbs twice.

And divorced twice.

It just seemed a bit strange.

As Darlene keeps talking,

he learns that her sister
Delores was actually married

to Walter first,
nearly 30 years earlier.

Walter met Delores when he
hired her to take care

of his mother.
And then Walter's mother died.

And then, all of a sudden,
we're married.

Walter and Delores
first tied the knot

on January 1st, 1964.

Walter enjoyed having a
companion, but she was

very controlling of Walter
She wouldn't allow my granddad

even in the house anymore.

The biggest concern was Walter.
What was he getting himself

into with this young lady?

Ten years into the marriage,

Delores grew tired of her
mundane life with Walter.

She found one of those guys,
we called 'em the hay shakers

The combiners came up
from Oklahoma

and she just ran away with him.

Walter and
Delores divorced in 1974.

But a few years later,
Delores found herself

in trouble in Kansas.

When Walter found out
where she was,

he headed for Kansas
and brought her home.

He took her back mainly
to save her because she was

in a bad situation
That's just Walter being Walter,

wanting to make sure that
she was okay.

Delores and Walter
remarried in 1977,

but sadly, the love affair
quickly fizzled out.

Darlene says that after her
sister and Walter called

it quits for good,
that's when she ended up

getting involved with Walter.

After Walter divorced Delores,
a little while later

he ended up marrying Darlene.
That was weird.

The marriage took
place on October 24, 1979.

I'm gonna guess the reason
he married Darlene

was mainly just lonely.
And she gave him attention.

So well, we'll just switch.

Don't ask me.

I have no idea how the...
what the thought processes

were that were going
on up there.

It was just like, whoa,
that's out there.

The arrangement
didn't seem to bother Walter

or the twins.

There was no fighting.
There was no in fighting,

or backstabbing or anything

They didn't have a problem
with it either way.

Like her sister before her,

Darlene's two marriages
to Walter didn't last either.

But despite their
turbulent relationship,

Walter still loved the twins.

He was happy
to let them live in his house.

And since Darlene
and Delores had been married,

uh, to Walter at different
times, to them that seemed

like the logical place to be.

Then Agent Overturf
learns that the

living arrangements got
even stranger in the months

leading up to Walter's death.

Darlene said she had since
married a gentleman

in Lemmon, Jerry Phillips,
and that he was also living

with Walter Gibbs at the
Walter Gibbs residence

and helping to take care
of Walter.

Investigators know
the name, Jerry Phillips,

short for Jerome Phillips.

Jerry Phillips was
a convicted felon

that served time
in the penitentiary

Jerry Phillips was a
sheep rustler,

a hog rustler.
He was, uh, well over six feet.

He's like 270, 300 pounds.
He was a big guy.

It wasn't beyond him
to break a law.

Jerry and Darlene had met
in prison.

They married a short time later,

and in February of 1989,
Jerry also moved

into Walter's house until
he could get back

on his feet after prison.

Walter didn't get a choice
in the matter.

The girls invited Jerry along.

I didn't like
to be around Jerry.

He was a big, strange-looking
man and he didn't

look like he was
terribly stable.

According to
Darlene, when Jerry moved in,

that's when trouble
started brewing.

She said that Jerry didn't
think much of Walter,

didn't have a high opinion
of him.

Darlene told me that Jerry
was tired

of taking care of the old man
and that Walter Gibbs

was basically in the way
and an encumbrance on them.

And then the wheels
started turning.

He came up with the idea
to m*rder Walter Gibbs.

Just to get him out of the way.

According to Darlene,

as Jerry laid the groundwork
for m*rder,

he had a willing participant
in his plot.

Then, Darlene implicated
her sister, Delores.

In a jailhouse
interview with Darlene Phillips,

Agent Overturf learns more
about the heartless plan

to m*rder Walter Gibbs.

According to Darlene,
Delores and Jerry had a plan

that would increase his
over-the-counter

and prescription medications,
trying to, uh,

overdose him with nitroglycerin,
sleeping pills,

which they put in his
milk of magnesia.

They actually tried
several times.

But Darlene told the
investigators, it didn't work,

so they had to step it up.

Darlene had also
indicated that she had overheard

Delores and Jerry Phillips
discussing the night

before Walter's death
expediting his death

by possibly placing a pillow
over his face while he slept.

On April 1st,
they set their plan in motion.

According to Darlene,
it was in the living room

where Jerry placed a pillow
over Walter's face...

and k*lled him.

Then Darlene makes
a shocking revelation.

She held Walter's arms down.

Darlene told me she was
an unwilling participant.

She never wanted Walter
to pass away,

but Jerry Phillips had forced
her to do this.

She was afraid of Jerry Phillips
and that it was intimidating.

He'd claimed that he had
made threats against her.

Based on the first
initial interview with Darlene,

she's, uh, pointing the
finger at Jerry Phillips

as the ringleader
in this matter.

Also, Darlene said that
Delores was just as involved,

that she was just as
responsible in the planning.

Darlene also reveals
to Special Agent Overturf

the motive for this m*rder plot.

Walter had cousins
in Nebraska that were

the primary beneficiaries
of his original will.

And they would have
gained everything had

Walter passed away with
that original will.

Darlene said Jerry wanted
Walter to create a new will

naming Delores as
the sole beneficiary,

and that Delores, Jerry Phillips
and Darlene would

share in those proceeds.

As Walter's first love,

Delores always held a
special place in his heart

Delores had had a closer
relationship with Walter,

so she was able to
essentially convince Walter

to change his will.

Now, Delores is the
primary beneficiary

of Walter Gibbs's estate.

In an attempt to corroborate

Darlene's statements,
Special Agent Overturf

meets with local police
to gain more information

about the twins' background.

The twins' history, uh,
locally is, I think,

was fairly well-known.

The twins were odd,
shall we say?

They were pretty much raised
in poverty.

They were troubled children
from the get-go.

They engaged in what might
be called some maybe

erratic behavior locally.

I also learned that Delores
had been convicted for theft

and had gone to the
penitentiary as well.

I learned in Darlene's
criminal history,

that she'd been convicted
of arson on two occasions

Delores and Darlene
are very well-known

in the community for
starting fires.

Everybody was afraid of 'em.

To the locals, the twins are

dangerous arsonists.
But could they

be capable of worse?

They're real small-time
criminals.

Nothing in their past would
indicate that they

would be murderers.

Before going any
further, Overturf needs

to speak to Delores
to get her side of the story.

Delores was actually in the
state penitentiary

in Springfield on a
cattle rustling charge.

After giving Delores her
Miranda warnings,

she agreed to speak with me.

Surprisingly,
Delores doesn't deny there was

a plot to m*rder Walter.
But she has a very

different version of events.

She shifted the blame
to Jerry and Darlene as being

the primary brains
behind the plan.

According to Delores,
Darlene wasn't being coerced

or forced by Jerry
to do what she did.

Delores, uh, owned up
to kinda knowing what

was going on.

But she said that she stayed
in the kitchen as Darlene

held Walter's arms down and
Jerry suffocated him

with a pillow.

Delores was sitting at
the table,

maybe 15 or 20 feet away
from the bed.

You know, Delores tried
top minimize her part.

Delores indicated that she
was intimidated by Jerry

as well as Darlene.

The twins are telling two very

different stories,
each is pointing the finger

at the other, leaving
Agent Overturf to wonder,

what is really going on here?

At that point in the investigation,

I needed to develop additional
corroborating evidence

to determine which of the twins
was telling the truth.

Identical twin sisters,

Darlene Phillips and
Delores Christian son have each

accused the other of
conspiring with

Darlene's current husband,
Jerome "Jerry" Phillips

to m*rder Walter Gibbs.

The twins' accusations against
each other are surprising,

since according to folks
in Lemmon, the sisters

had a close relationship.

When they came out to the
farm and did some stuff,

they seemed like they were
always getting along.

I tried to piece together
the complicated relationships

between Walter, Darlene,
and Delores.

Agent Overturf
presses Delores and soon learns

their falling out is rooted
in an emotions as old as time

Betrayal.

Jerry was married to Darlene,
but he was in love with Delores.

Delores had indicated that
since Darlene had gone

to prison, that she had
struck up a

romantic relationship with
Jerry Phillips while

at the Gibbs' residence.

Could that be the
reason Darlene blew

the whistle on Walter's m*rder
and accused her sister

and Jerry of being the culprits?

To think that there's this
love triangle going on

in Lemmon with these twins,
I mean, that's why you

can't sensationalize this case.
You can't.

It's just right there.

Now that he knows
why the sisters turned

on each other, Agent Overturf
needs to determine who

is telling the truth.

As the investigation proceeds, I
travel to Lemmon, South Dakota.

He finds Lemmon
buzzing with gossip.

A story like this hits
the state wires.

It's the talk of the town.
It's in every...

it's in every coffee shop,
it's at every breakfast table.

There was a lot of rumors
around Walter's death,

and that got the
neighborhood in an uproar.

I was quite sure that this
was foul circumstances,

let's put it that way.

Both of those girls are crazy.

In December of 1990
while in Lemmon,

Agent Overturf pays a visit
to Delores's daughter, Robin.

Robin stated that the
morning that Walter Gibbs died,

she was asked to go walk
the dog by Darlene.

She was in Lemmon, uh,
walking for awhile,

when she was picked up
by Jerry Phillips and told

that Walter Gibbs was
at the hospital,

and they went straight
to the hospital.

Robin said that at the
emergency room, the twins

were somewhat, uh, distraught, upset.

This is corroborated
by hospital staff.

But they have a different take
on the grieving trio.

The nurse practitioner there
told me that he noticed

some odd behavior on the part
of Delores, Darlene,

and Jerry in the waiting room.

He described the behavior as
being rather hysterical,

emotional, but he noticed that
there seemed to be

no tears being shed.

Detective Overturf's
own suspicions

are raised even further when he
looks closely

at Walter's estate.

In 1989, Walter Gibbs ex*cuted
a will so that the house

he owned in Lemmon was
left to Delores Christian son,

and the remainder of his estate
would go

to his cousins in Nebraska.

Then, just 10 weeks
before his death,

Walter called his friend,
Jim Hartwell

with an alarming request.

Mr. Hartwell had been asked
to sign Walter's recent

change of his will.

Walter explained to me Delores
was gonna get everything,

and I just
needed to sign as a witness.

And I told him that I really
didn't feel comfortable with it.

I felt that Walter was being
pressed into renewing his will

by Delores, Darlene, and Jerry.

I was worried that something was
gonna happen to Walter.

And he pretty much pleaded
with me.

James Hartwell
reluctantly agrees

to sign the new will
as a witness.

I was really concerned.
I told everybody that if

anything other than
natural causes happens

to Walter, that I will
protest my signature.

I called the state's attorney
several times after

Walter died because I didn't
feel that Walter actually

died of natural causes.
I felt something

happened to him.

They wouldn't give me a lot
of information other than

according to the doctor,
it was natural causes.

That's all I ever got.

Hoping to uncover the truth,

agents need to speak to the
third member

of the alleged m*rder plot.

I still needed to
speak with Jerry Phillips.

He was located at the
South Dakota penitentiary

in Sioux Falls.

He didn't appear to know why
I was there

when I began the interview
with him, but quickly,

he did figure out, uh,
the nature of my inquiries.

When Overturf presses him

about Walter's death
Jerry doesn't hesitate

to offer up yet another angle.

Jerry had expressed that
Walter didn't

wanna live anymore,
that he was failing in health.

Walter just wanted to die
and that he wanted

Jerry to help him.

Jerry said it was almost
an assisted suicide

type of situation.

With all three suspects telling

different stories about
Walter's death,

agent Overturf is battled.

Both twins admit to m*rder,

but their stories don't
match up.

Darlene pointed the finger
at the other two,

then Delores pointed the
finger at Darlene,

and to some degree, Jerry.
And so it was very hard

to discern which finger was
pointing at the correct person.

During a prison interview,

Jerome, also known
as Jerry Phillips,

reveals to Agent Overturf
that Walter Gibbs

wanted to die.

He told him initially that
this was a mercy k*lling.

Walter was in bad shape and
they were gonna help him die.

The plan was to
ultimately k*ll Walter

by giving him sleeping pills
along with other medications

that he was already on.

But investigators aren't buying

the mercy k*lling excuse
and push harder.

At this point, Jerry admitted
to participating

to some degree in
smothering Walter,

but he portrayed the
ringleader in the plot

to k*ll Walter Gibbs as Darlene.

And Jerry basically said that
Darlene wanted this to happen.

Jerry's admission is shocking.

Could the woman that first
came forward about the m*rder