01x01 - k*ller Obsession

[bunniefuu]

- ♪ - FEMALE NARRATOR:
In a Missouri Cemetery,

a single grave
could hold a secret.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: One that might
help solve two murders.

- ♪

- MALE REPORTER: It's probably
one of the strangest twists

you could ever think of.

- NARRATOR: Two young mothers
both found dead.

- These young women
should not have died.

- Obviously, somehow,
there's some foul play here.

- NARRATOR: Police relentlessly
chase down every lead.

- We need to do everything that
we can to bring justice

to both victims.

- NARRATOR: But is justice
buried underground?

- We had to exhume her body.

- ♪

- If this fails, you know,
what are we gonna do next?

- ♪

♪

- ♪

- NARRATOR: It's an early
September morning

in Joplin, Missouri, and
businesses are getting ready

to open their doors for the day.

- KEITH: Joplin is a fairly
large agency

in Southwest Missouri.

At that time, I was a corporal
out in the patrol bureau.

And there really was not a lot
of crime

in the business district
at that time.

- ♪

- That morning, an employee
of a paint store in Joplin

notices a car outside
that's unfamiliar.

- KEITH: It's certainly abnormal
for anybody to have their car

on the parking lot,

because the business was not
open yet at the time.

He noticed there was a female
sitting in the passenger seat.

- NARRATOR: The employee figures
the woman has just

fallen asleep in her car.

- [pounding]

- He did pound on the window and
door to try to get

her attention,
but she did not respond.

- At that time, he realizes
something's wrong.

- ♪

- DAVID T: The employee finds
that there's no pulse

and also that the body is cold.

- NARRATOR: Understandably
shocked that an ordinary day

at work has taken
such a tragic turn,

he makes a panicked call to 911.

- [siren wails]
- [indistinct police radio]

- NARRATOR: But there's nothing
first responders can do.

- The victim was deceased
in her vehicle.

The crime scene itself
looked pretty benign.

There was no apparent forced
entry.

But we investigate every case
as if it is a homicide

until you find other evidence
that tells you it's not.

- ♪

- When the victim was found,
there was a little bit of blood

under her nose.

There was a little bit of blood
on a hand,

as if that had been wiped away.

- KEITH:
How were those injuries caused

if she was alone?

And how did she end up in the
passenger seat

as opposed to being
behind the driver's seat?

It's very abnormal.

It's a disturbing thing to see
a deceased person,

especially when you have
a young person like that.

It was very unnerving, and I was
highly affected by that.

- NARRATOR: Is it a suicide?

A natural death?

Or something more sinister?

And first of all, who is she?

- DAVID T: They find a purse
with identification

that tells them the woman
in the seat

is 24-year-old Diana Kelley.

- NARRATOR: Investigators
immediately locate Diana's

next of kin... her parents,
siblings, and her husband...

And give them the terrible news.

- That really
just changed everything.

It was hard to imagine why.

There was just... there was
a lot of whys.

She was very giving,

going door to door on May Day
and putting flowers out,

or involvement in Girl Scouts.

She was just easy to know
and, um, easy to love.

- KEITH: For her to be found
deceased

was very shocking to the family.

And it really shocked them
to the core.

- NARRATOR:
Through the veil of their grief,

the family tells police that
Diana was with a friend

the previous evening.

Afterward, she was supposed to
meet her husband, Doyle,

around 9:00PM.

- But she did not
show up for the meeting.

- ♪

- GARY: Diana had not come back
to retrieve her son,

who my mom was watching
from the day before.

It was totally out of character
for Diana, of course.

- [phone ringing]

- KEITH: The morning that
Diana's body was found,

there was a missing person's
report called in by Doyle Kelley

that his wife was missing and
he was concerned about her.

- NARRATOR: Investigators learn
that Doyle and Diana were

married for five years and had
a four-year-old son together.

They'd recently separated,

but Doyle tells police
they were still friendly.

- Her family told us that she
was in very good spirits.

She was getting on with her
life.

She had rented a new apartment.

- PAM: The Diana that I knew
through meetings and functions

and being around her, she was
way into changing her life.

- NARRATOR: But police wonder
whether Diana could have been

depressed enough about
her recent separation

to have taken her own life.

- It raised suspicions.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: They hope to find
more answers in the autopsy.

- The medical pathologist found
several areas of hemorrhaging

on Diana's face and on her back.

- And his conclusion was that
Diana had died

from respiratory failure,

which could have had
any number of causes,

including drug overdose or some
other form of natural death.

- So the cause of death
was undetermined.

- NARRATOR: That means they just
don't know

if there's foul play at work.

- Blood and other fluids are
taken from the body,

and they are sent out
to the crime lab, to toxicology,

while we continue
with the investigation.

- NARRATOR:
Eager to fill in the blanks,

investigators speak to anyone
who knew Diana.

- PAM: We were all very upset.

It was sad, it was tragic.

And all talking about what we
thought

could have happened to her.

- NARRATOR: Police get the break
they're looking for

from a friend of Diana's.

- While Diana and Doyle
were separated,

Diana had dated a man
by the name of Richard.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: Diana's friends say
Richard was obsessed with her.

- DAVID T: Almost to a person,
they describe him as weird,

creepy, he had this habit of
sort of projecting

the relationships into the
future.

- He saw himself and her being
together

for the rest of their lives.

- He was already looking to get
her a ring for her finger.

- NARRATOR: But friends tell
police,

Diana wasn't anywhere near
as interested in Richard.

- DAVID N: He was just
a casual acquaintance,

kind of on the peripheral edge
of Diana's life.

But friends said Richard was
very possessive of her

and had been bothering her.

- He would buy her gifts,

he would send her letters,
and that type of thing.

- NARRATOR: Diana's friends also
tell investigators about

one gift in particular that gets
their undivided attention.

- Richard, at some point, had
given Diana

a St. Christopher medal.

- ♪

- KEITH: He wanted her to wear
the medal at all times,

especially when she was with
him.

We felt that was his way
of having possession of her.

- And Diana,
I guess to appease him,

would wear that medal
whenever she saw Richard.

- She told at least
one friend that he got upset

if he saw her
and she wasn't wearing it.

- NARRATOR: The friend tells
police she saw Diana

wearing the necklace the night
before she was found.

Was Diana planning to see
Richard that night?

And if so, where's the necklace?

- ♪

- DAVID T: When her body was
found the next morning,

that medal was not on her neck.

It was nowhere to be found
within that vehicle.

- KEITH: This threw up
some red flags.

How did that St. Christopher
necklace become missing?

We thought: could have Richard
met up with Diana,

could he be responsible
for her death?

- That medal was a huge lead.

- NARRATOR: Could the missing
medal hold the key

to solving Diana's mysterious
death?

Coming up...

Investigators hone in
on Diana's obsessed ex.

- There's about a 20-minute
period of time that

he can't quite account for
around the time

that Diana's last seen alive.

- NARRATOR:
As the investigation deepens,

so does the mystery.

- DAVID: There were too many
unanswered questions,

so we had to exhume her body.

- ♪

- [camera shutter snaps]

- NARRATOR: While looking into
the suspicious death

of Diana Kelley, investigators
zero in on Richard,

a man who her friends say
was obsessed with Diana.

Richard meets investigators
at the Joplin Police Station.

- Richard was very disturbed.

He's... he was agitated.

- NARRATOR: At one point,

he lightly downplays
his involvement with her.

- He claimed he was
a casual friend of... of Diana's,

that they had had sex only once,

and that since that time,
they had just become friends.

- NARRATOR: Then,
he does a bizarre 180.

- He told investigators that
he wanted to commit suicide

so that he could be with Diana.

- ♪

- DAVID N: This was a very
strange and strange-acting

individual, so you had to take
it with some grain of salt.

- There was some concern
that this guy's

not quite in touch with reality.

Then, they asked what he had
been doing the night before

Diana's body was found.

- NARRATOR: Richard's demeanor
shifts again as he launches into

a measured, methodical account
of what he did that night.

- He was able to give the police
a lot of detail

about where he had been
and what times.

- But Richard's alibi
raised some suspicion.

- There's about a 20-minute
period of time

that he can't quite account for.

And that's around the time
that Diana's last seen alive.

- ♪

- That certainly
contributed to the suspicion.

- NARRATOR: Police dig deeper,

but just can't find anything
more implicating Richard.

But investigators
try one last tactic.

- His credibility was suspect,

so the Joplin Police asked him
to take a polygraph.

- NARRATOR: To their
astonishment, he agrees.

About two weeks after Diana's
death,

Richard arrives to take
his polygraph exam.

- KEITH:
Did Richard met up with Diana?

Could he be responsible
for her death?

We need to get answers
to these questions.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: When it's over,
the results are plain as day.

- ♪

- He showed no sign of
deception.

So based upon all the
information that investigators

had, he was cleared
of any wrongdoing.

- NARRATOR: Frustration mounts

when no new suspects
come into focus.

Meanwhile, Diana Kelley
is laid to rest.

- The funeral itself
was... [coughs]... difficult.

Think of a chain with one link
gone.

She never got the chance to
prove

just how good a mother she is.

Never got the opportunity to
prove

what an incredible grandmother
she would have been.

- KEITH: As investigators,
we may hide our emotions,

uh, sometimes
it's difficult to do, but we,

uh... we feel that we are the ones
talking for the victims.

- NARRATOR: What they'll soon
learn

is Diana's not done
speaking for herself.

- ♪

- KEITH: On November 21st, 1990,

the Joplin Police Department
received the toxicology report

back on Diana Kelley.

- There were traces of drugs
in her system:

aspirin and marijuana.

But the amount of drugs
in her body

would not have been
fatal to her.

- NARRATOR: Police are now sure
this was no suicide.

- Since the drugs
didn't k*ll her,

it's obvious she was m*rder*d.

- There was a lot of gossip
going around

about what happened,
and one name kept coming up,

and that would be Doyle Kelley.

- ♪

- KEITH: Diana's father had
indicated that

the day before Diana's body was
found, she had had an argument

with her estranged husband
about 3:30PM.

- NARRATOR: Diana told her
father she was going to meet up

with Doyle later that night.

- But according to Doyle, she
hadn't shown up for the meeting

that they had arranged,
Diana hadn't been heard from.

- NARRATOR:
Police start wondering:

What if she did show up,

they argued,
and it got out of hand?

- ♪

- Doyle had a really bad temper,
was very controlling.

She was leaving him,
and he didn't like that at all.

- I think he viewed her strictly
a... as a possession,

she belonged to him.

- ♪

- DAVID T: But other friends
and family had a positive view

of their relationship.

I think there was a recognition
that they were each good parents

to the son, and they had managed
that pretty well when they were

together and also when
they were separated.

- NARRATOR: Investigators don't
have anything directly

tying Doyle to Diana's death.

With no other suspects
on the horizon,

the police are at a
standstill...

and the case goes cold.

- ♪

- We are trying to find justice
for the victim.

And so I take it personal when
I can't solve a case like that.

- Three years later, something
happened that really blew

the Diana Kelley case
wide open again.

- [phone rings]

- The Joplin Police Department
received a call from a sister

of a 21-year-old Joplin woman.

- She did not pick up her
daughter

when she was supposed
to pick her up.

- NARRATOR: So police
go to the residence.

- They knocked on the door,
but there's no response, and

eventually, they have to force
their way into the apartment.

The apartment is dark,
there's no lights on.

And they start to move their way
using their own flashlights

to find their way around.

- KEITH: Through the crack
in the bathroom door,

they observed a young woman
laying face down in the bathtub

inside the residence.

There was blood on the victim,

and it did appear to be
the scene of a homicide.

- NARRATOR: The town of Joplin
now has its second m*rder

of a young woman.

Is there a connection?

Or could there be two K*llers
on the loose?

- ♪

- NARRATOR: In April of 1993,


is m*rder*d,

investigators are called out
to a suspicious death

of another Joplin woman.

- I was one of the first
investigators at the scene.

I observed that there was
a deceased female laying

face down in the bathtub.

It was upsetting to me
to see her like that.

This person is somebody's
daughter and granddaughter.

- NARRATOR: The crime scene
technicians are called in

as is Joplin's new Police Chief,
David Niebur.

- I had only been there
about six months,

and I was notified on all
homicides.

- NARRATOR: As they examine the
body more closely,

several things stand out.

- She had been in the water
for quite some time

based upon the wrinkles
on her fingers.

And I thought that the way that
her knees were positioned,

it wasn't likely
that she fell asleep.

- NARRATOR: The body is removed
from the tub, giving

the tech team a closer look
at the rest of the scene.

- [camera shutter clicks]

- And we observed a laceration
on her forehead

and injuries to her face.

- [camera shutter clicking]

- DAVID T: If that was somehow
caused by an accidental fall,

you would expect it to have
happened at the other end

of the tub, where the sharp
objects are,

but her head was facing away
from the faucets.

- KEITH: We had blood evidence
that was inside the bathtub,

so it was apparent that the
injuries

were received while she was
inside that bathtub.

- NARRATOR: Could she have
fallen and hit her head?

Or was something
more sinister at play?

- We observed that there was no
forced entry into the residence.

- NARRATOR: But what Chief
Niebur finds out next

really sends a shockwave
through the case.

- DAVID N: One of the veteran
officers came up to me and said,

"Chief, this woman's husband is
one of the unluckiest guys

that I know of."

I said, "What are you
talking about?"

He says, "Well his first wife
was found dead

in a suspicious manner."

- NARRATOR: He says the young
woman is named Christy Kelley.

She is married to Doyle Kelley,

whose first wife, Diana,
was also found dead.

- Well, it was
too much of a coincidence.

- MALE REPORTER: There are still
a lot of unanswered questions

surrounding the death of


of Joplin.

Police found her dead
in her apartment

on Empire Street late Sunday
night.

- Christy was the one that I
could call

at 2:00AM in the morning

and talk to about something
or talk to about nothing.

- It's just so sad... tragic.

She was so young
and so much ahead of her.

- NARRATOR:
According to friends,

Christy met Doyle Kelley
shortly after Diana's m*rder.

- PAULA: She felt that she could
be herself with Doyle

and he treated her well
and like a little princess.

- NARRATOR: In 1991,
they got married, but soon

Doyle's devotion started
to feel oppressive to Christy.

- He was constantly making
Christy feel like she couldn't

ever do anything for herself.

- PAULA: I knew that she
was unhappy

and not satisfied with the way
the marriage was going.

- She was wanting to find
herself and explore and blossom.

- NARRATOR: Christy decided to
move out with her young daughter

and start a new life on her own.

- Doyle told us that they had
agreed amicably to separate.

- Doyle said they were on good
terms, and that he was still

talking to Christy
and trying to help her out.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: Then, police learn
something else about

Christy's life
that makes them suspicious.

- PAULA: After Christy and Doyle
separated,

she did start seeing someone
else.

- She was actually dating her
landlord, a man named Mike.

- NARRATOR: This raises
instant alarm bells.

A landlord wouldn't have
to break in to k*ll her,

and there was no sign of
forced entry at the scene.

- I had never met him, and
Christy really hadn't talked

a whole lot about him
as far as their relationship.

- [knocking]

- Officers went to interview
Mike at his house.

- NARRATOR: He tells them he was
out of town

at the time of the m*rder.

- KEITH: We were able to
establish a timeline where

Michael would not have been able
to have committed the homicide.

- NARRATOR: Michael reveals that
Christy confided in him

a lot about Doyle.

- ♪

- Mike said that Christy was
concerned about

Doyle's behavior towards her.

And he said that Doyle had
actually threatened

to commit suicide if they
did not get back together.

- NARRATOR: Not only that,
but according to Michael,

Doyle came over in a rage
and banged up his front door.

This makes investigators wonder
if Doyle could have eventually

turned his jealous rage
against Christy?

Coming up...

The search for answers

in the death of Christy Kelley
intensifies.

- She had been held down in the
water by the back of her neck.

- NARRATOR: But soon a new clue
will take the investigation

in a whole new direction.

- KEITH:
It's one of those ah-ha moments.

That is major evidence,
and nobody knew about it before.

- NARRATOR: And it leads police

to search for justice
six feet under.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: Investigators want
to talk to Doyle Kelley

about the suspicious death
of his second wife, Christy.

- ♪

- Doyle Kelley was involved
in construction.

Myself and another investigator
went to contact him.

- Doyle told officers that he
had seen her around two o'clock,

and left to go to a pig roast.

- But he spent like three hours
looking for a pig roast,

and he got lost.

- NARRATOR: He claims
he never saw Christy

or went to her apartment
after that.

Police now head out to see
Christy's friend, Pam Giger,

who hosted the pig roast.

She's heartbroken
over Christy's death.

- PAM: She was
a little bitty thing.

She was, uh, real intelligent,
very kind.

She was also kind of a... I
wouldn't say spitfire,

but she had some drive,

and Christy was real excited
about changing her life.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: Pam goes on to paint
a very different picture

of Doyle and Christy's
relationship.

- It was all sweet and roses
in the very beginning,

and then he became more and more
controlling:

how she dressed, how she spent
money, what she did.

- NARRATOR: And things
only got worse from there.

- Doyle was so a*usive with
Christy verbally,

emotionally and physically.

She was trying to leave Doyle,

and she kind of wanted
a safe haven,

so she was sleeping on my couch
for a little bit.

And I thought,
"How courageous of you."

- NARRATOR: Doyle made it clear
that

he didn't like Pam interfering.

That's why she was so surprised
when he showed up

at the pig roast.

- And he pulled up
in front of my house, and he...

got out of his truck and he
started walking towards me,

and I'm like, "No, Doyle."

And I thought,
"This is way weird,

the pig roast is over."

- ♪

- Doyle told us that after
he left Christy at two o'clock,

that he went to the pig roast,
however, Doyle didn't arrive,

according to witnesses,
until around six o'clock.

It seemed like he was trying
to establish an alibi.

- ♪

- What the hell?

Trying to use me? Well,
you picked the wrong gal,

the wrong time,
you got there late.

- NARRATOR: While investigators
try to confirm his alibi,

the results of the autopsy
come in.

- Christy had blunt-force trauma
to the back of her skull

and to her head.

- She had been hit from
several different angles.

- An awful lot of bruising over

a large portion
of Christy's body.

- There were indications that
she had been held down

in the water
by the back of her neck.

- The forensic pathologist ruled
Christy Kelley's death

as a homicide by drowning.

- We now focused solely on
Doyle Kelley as the suspect

in this case.

- MALE REPORTER: It's probably
one of the strangest twists

you can ever think of
in a police investigation.

Christy Kelley's death is her
husband's second brush

with this type of tragedy.

- NARRATOR: Even though police
couldn't prove

Doyle m*rder*d Diana,
they're convinced

he's responsible
for the deaths of both wives.

- ♪

- I was suspicious immediately,
because it's very unusual

for anyone to lose two wives
in two and a half years.

We also found
a lot of similarities

between Diana and Christy
Kelley.

Doyle was controlling over
Christy,

just like he had been
with his first wife.

- He had both Diana and Christy
cut their hair

to the exact same length.

- And when he told Christy to
cut her hair, I'm like,

"Why would you do that?"

And then I thought, "Well, it
has to do with trying

to make the man happy,"

she was trying to make
him happy and get off her back.

- NARRATOR: There was one even
more chilling similarity.

- After they had determined
they were gonna leave Doyle,

Diana and Christy, that that is
when they both were k*lled.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: The parallels
are uncanny.

But investigators
need something more concrete

connecting Doyle
to Christy's m*rder.

- We needed to prove that
Doyle Kelley was at

the scene of the crime at
approximate the time of death.

So we immediately started
a neighborhood

door-to-door canvass.

- NARRATOR: And it pays off.

- Investigators were able to
identify a witness that actually

saw Doyle Kelley
at Christy's house

on the day that her body was
found.

- DAVID N: We uncovered that
several people had seen Doyle

and Christy in the front yard
of her apartment

as late as five o'clock,

and also identified Doyle's
truck by photo.

- ♪

- KEITH: It pokes a hole in
Doyle's story that he had

seen her around two o'clock,

but he had not been over at the
residence after that.

- NARRATOR: The eyewitness
testimony

destroys Doyle's alibi.

- But this was yet not enough
to arrest Doyle,

according to the prosecutor.

- NARRATOR:
They need physical evidence.

Police wonder, "Is there
something from Diana's case

that can seal the deal?"

- DAVID N: I immediately told
the assistant chief

that I wanted to read that file
right away.

There were too many
unanswered questions

in the death
of Doyle's first wife.

- I went back and started to
re-interview family and friends

to find out if they had
any other information.

An individual said the day
after Diana's body was found,

they were over
at Doyle Kelley's house.

- This witness observed Doyle
with that St. Christopher medal

that Richard had given Diana.

- ♪

- And she saw Doyle Kelley
with an anvil and a sledgehammer

smashing
the St. Christopher's necklace.

- ♪

- The St. Christopher medal was
a huge red flag,

because it wasn't found.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: According
to Diana's friends, she was

wearing that necklace the night
before she was found dead.

Police immediately approach
Doyle

to ask him about the medal.

- He stated that someone at the
funeral home or the morgue

or the police had given it to
him.

- NARRATOR: Police don't
remember it from the scene.

Could they have missed
something?

- Investigators obtained
an inventory list of what was

taken from the mortuary,

and a St. Christopher's medal
was not part of that property.

- Nor was it in her car.

- NARRATOR: Doyle didn't just
lie about Christy's death,

he also lied about Diana's.

- KEITH: It's one of those ah-ha
moments in law enforcement.

That is major evidence,
and nobody knew about it before.

- NARRATOR: But there's still
one big hurdle they have

to overcome before bringing
Doyle in.

- For Diana Kelley,

we had a cause of death
that was undetermined.

- NARRATOR: It's tough to file
m*rder charges unless homicide

is ruled
as the official cause of death.

So Chief Nieber makes a
difficult, but what he thinks,

is a necessary decision.

- We had to exhume Diana's body,

have a forensic autopsy

and find out the real cause of
death for her.

- NARRATOR: But Diana's been
in the ground for three years.

- Not knowing the condition
of Diana's body,

not knowing the condition
of the casket, we were

concerned about, you know,
"What would we really find?"

- ♪

- MALE REPORTER: Jasper County
officials

are running into problems

trying to get state permission
to exhume Diana Kelley's body.

Both women were married
to Doyle Kelley.

He does not want Diana's body
dug up.

- NARRATOR: In Missouri,

a body can be exhumed
if a family member consents.

- Either Doyle gave us
permission or the immediate

family, in this case,
her mother and father.

- Well, as you might expect,
Doyle would not approve

of exhuming Diana's body.

- We were told as a family that
he would fight it, and maybe,

he would just take his son
and move away.

We had already lost Diana,
we did not want to lose her son.

- I told Diana's father that
without the exhumation

of the body, Doyle was probably
going to get away with m*rder.

- NARRATOR: Diana's family
decides to give permission.

- In my career, I've probably
investigated 60 homicides,

but I certainly had not been
involved in an exhumation.

I don't think anyone felt
regret for doing this,

but we need to do everything
that we can

to bring justice to both
victims.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: As they begin
to move forward,

Doyle strikes back.

- He had his attorney
go into court, and try to get

a court order to prohibit us
from exhuming the body.

He claimed that his wife
deserved to rest in peace,

that this would
disturb her remains.

- GARY: He could not agree
to an exhumation.

It went against everything
he believed in, religiously.

This is a man who probably
the only time

he was ever in a church
was to burglarize it.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: The case makes its
way through the courts.

- MALE REPORTER: Diana Kelley's
father took the stand today,

asking the judge to let
authorities exhume

his daughter's body.

- NARRATOR: After a ferocious,
three-month legal battle,

the ruling comes down.

The exhumation can move forward.

- It would be very painful
for the family,

that always is, but I...

My hopes was that they would
maybe find some evidence.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: On August 25, 1993,


a small group meets at
the cemetery for the exhumation.

- ♪

- As it is, my last image
in my mind of my sister

was at the funeral.

And the thought of
her exhumation was daunting.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: Although
they support the exhumation,

Diana's family can't bear
the thought of attending.

- We did it at four in the
morning to preclude

a great number of onlookers

and, perhaps,
Doyle trying to stop us.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: As the vault
rises out of the ground,

the small crowd waits anxiously.

The stakes couldn't be higher.

- Being in law enforcement for


too many deaths that go
unpunished,

many murderers go free.

- It's important that we follow
up on these type

of investigations and ensure

that we get justice
for the victims.

- ♪

- [machine whirs]

- NARRATOR:
And for Diana and Christy,

justice depends on finding
evidence inside.

- ♪

- KEITH: I remember standing by
Diana's gravesite,

and as they removed the cover
off the concrete vault,

the casket was actually
floating in water.

I was really concerned that
the water may have seeped

inside the casket, which would
have led

to the deterioration
of Diana's body.

The pressure is that,
if this fails,

you know,
what are we going to do next?

- ♪

- KEITH: When Diana's body was
taken to Parker's Funeral Home,

I remember standing there
when the casket was opened.

And immediately, I noticed
that there was

a strong odor of formaldehyde.

- We observed that the water had
just edged in to the bottom

of the casket,

touching the bottom
of Diana's arms,

but the rest of her body
was very well preserved

for having been in the ground
for three years.

- KEITH: Diana looked pretty
much the same as the day

that she went into, uh,
the casket.

- NARRATOR:
It's an encouraging sight.

As the pathologist begins,
she immediately sees there

are contusions
to her face and nose

and large
areas of bruising on her back.

Then she takes a closer look at
Diana's neck.

- She immediately said
that this woman was m*rder*d.

- ♪

- There were indications around
Diana's neck

showing that she was strangled.

- It was emotional
to see bruising on her neck.

- She also found a disconnect
on the hyoid bone in the throat.

This is often an indicator
of strangulation

with a soft ligature,
like a towel.

- ♪

- That provided
the last piece of the puzzle.

- KEITH:
Because of this exhumation,

we were able to prove
that Diana was m*rder*d.

- Here it was, in writing,
the real truth.

- It's emotional too,

to know that we were going
to have justice in this case.

- NARRATOR: With proof that
Doyle's two ex-wives

were m*rder*d, police have
enough to arrest Doyle

and bring him in for
questioning.

On a September day in 1993,
police head

to the construction site
where Doyle Kelley is working.

- KEITH: I ordered him
off of the backhoe

and told him that he was
under arrest for homicide.

- ♪

- DAVID N: I'll never forget
the look on Doyle's face

when we did arrest him. Never.

There was a great frown.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: After his arrest,

Doyle is brought to the station
and questioned.

- DAVID N: He told us that
we had the wrong guy,

and then he said, "I have
nothing else to say."

That's about what I expected,

because I think he knew
that he had finally been caught.

- NARRATOR: Doyle immediately
asks for a lawyer,

but Diana now has a chance
to speak from the grave.

- Physically, her voice was
silenced, but she wasn't.

- NARRATOR: But without physical
evidence, there's no telling

whether a jury will see Doyle as
an unlucky husband,

or a man who allegedly
k*lled two wives.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: Finally in 1994,
Doyle Kelley stands trial

for the murders
of both his wives:

Diana in 1990,
and Christy in 1993.

The murders
will be tried together.

- PAULA: That was big news
for Joplin, Missouri.

Both of his wives had died, um,
horrific deaths.

There was a lot of people
who believed he did it,

and there was a lot of people
who believed he didn't.

- I was sure it was Doyle.

I was absolutely positive.

- NARRATOR: In the months
leading up to the trial,

as the prosecution
prepares their case,

they get an unexpected call.

- Lonnie Bell was an inmate
in the Jasper County Jail.

He's somebody who had been in
prison

for most of his adult life.

- NARRATOR: At one time,
Bell was housed

in the same part of the jail
as Doyle Kelley.

- DAVID T: He contacted the
prosecuting attorney's office

saying Doyle Kelley had said
some things to him

about the murders.

So as to Christy, Doyle had told
him that they had been

in a fight, that he had hit her,
and he had choked her,

and he had left her in the
bathroom.

And he said Doyle had told him
that he had used a towel

to strangle, uh, Diana.

Lonnie Bell had information that
he could not have known

unless he was talking with
the person who was responsible

for the killings of these two
women.

- NARRATOR: Lonnie Bell is added
to the witness list.

In October of 1994, Doyle Kelley
goes on trial

for the first-degree murders
of Diana and Christy Kelley.

- I was a little apprehensive
when I testified, but I felt

like I was speaking for Christy,
and I was speaking for Diana.

Of course,
I didn't know everything,

but I knew enough to know
that she was in danger.

I'm losing words here,
because of feelings.

- ♪

- NARRATOR: Diana's friend
testifies about

the St. Christopher medal from
Richard

that she was wearing the night
before her body was found.

- We have it on her neck
before she goes off

and is never seen alive again.

Then a few days afterwards, it's
in Doyle Kelley's possession.

- ♪

- If he couldn't have her,
no one would.

- NARRATOR: But the science
and the exhumation

are truly
the backbone of the case.

- In Christy's case,
the conclusions about her death

being caused by drowning,
but also by homicide.

- And that the bruising on
her neck was consistent

with someone holding her head
under the water.

- ♪

- DAVID T: With respect
to Diana's homicide,

the examination
in the second autopsy

and the findings
were absolutely essential.

- NARRATOR: Without the second
autopsy by

a forensic pathologist, no one
would know that Diana

was strangled with a soft
ligature.

But that didn't stop the defense
from telling a different story,

claiming both were accidental
deaths.

Doyle takes the stand
in his own defense.

- The jury was visibly, uh,

nervous about him.

The look in his eyes
sent a chill down my spine.

- NARRATOR: Doyle repeats
what he told police:

that Diana never showed up
to meet him the day before

she was found dead.

He also admits he saw Christy,
but only briefly,

the day she died.

He denies k*lling
either of his wives.

Then on October 28, 1994,

the jury reaches a verdict.

- GARY: They were unanimous.

He was guilty on both murders.

- ♪

- DAVID T: The judge imposed
life, uh, imprisonment

without the possibility of
parole

on each of these two counts.

- KEITH: It's emotional,
because these young women

should not have died.

They should not
have been m*rder*d.

And to bring some sense of
justice is important,

because that brings at least
some level of closure

to the family, but also brings
level of closure

to all the law enforcement there
involved.

- PAULA: The exhumation of Diana

was the piece of the puzzle
that brought justice

for both Christy and Diana.

- The reality is, is that
without the exhumation

in this case, Doyle Kelley would
have walked free.

- NARRATOR: Beyond the sadness,
Christy and Diana's loved ones

take comfort in their memories.

- Christy did inspire me
to be a better woman,

a better person,
and a better mother.