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1:02

It was midnight when the bells of St.

1:05

MM Church began peeling wrong

1:07

and loud, ringing in

1:09

two thousand fourteen, and

1:11

all across the city of Charleston, glasses

1:14

clinked and revelers smooched.

1:16

Everybody wishing one another a grand

1:19

and glorious new year full of

1:21

hope and promise. Of

1:23

course, seasonal cheer was in short

1:25

supply over the El Cannon

1:27

detention center. It was

1:29

lights out at the county jail. Where

1:33

Aaron Wilkinson stared into the

1:35

darkness above MM, and listened

1:37

to the gutterous sounds of the sleeping men

1:39

around him and thought about the

1:41

trial to come that MM

1:44

keeping behind bars for a long,

1:46

long time. I guess I

1:48

was kind of angry

1:51

at at Godford. I'm just feeling

1:53

sorry for myself. In

1:55

the weeks after his arrest, Aaron

1:57

had climbed up. Instead

1:59

of being rewarded for exposing a

2:01

murder plot, Federal prosecutors

2:04

made it clear they wanted Aaron to

2:06

get serious prison time for

2:08

his role in the plot. He was

2:11

going to go to trial with everybody else.

2:13

If he wasn't looking at a gun

2:15

found in his car, he wouldn't have said anything. MM

2:18

like that upset Aaron, no

2:20

end. So now

2:22

the way Aaron saw it, no

2:24

MM, No testimony.

2:27

He'd recant, he told them. He'd say

2:29

his earlier statements to detectives had

2:31

been made while he was under the influence of heroin.

2:34

If you revealed everything and still got a long

2:37

sentence on the gun charge, just

2:40

no. thought Gary. He'd

2:42

take his chances in front of a jury. Thank

2:44

you very much.

2:46

What must Chris Layton and Wendy

2:48

Moore have been thinking? flying

2:51

in their separate wings of the big

2:53

county jail, sloughing

2:55

around on thin strips of foam over

2:57

cold concrete benches,

3:01

If

3:01

not for Aaron Wilkinson, they'd be snug

3:03

in their big beach house, comfy

3:05

on a fine thick mattress beneath

3:08

five hundred count linen sheets. drifting

3:11

off to the rhythmic pounding of the distant

3:13

surf.

3:16

But

3:16

no, here they were.

3:18

A banker and his executive assistant

3:21

jailed like common criminals. Their

3:23

reputations ruined their

3:25

future. In doubt,

3:28

In six weeks, they'd go on trial

3:30

for plotting murder.

3:32

Happy New Year. Oh,

3:34

no. Hardly.

3:39

In

3:39

this episode, you'll hear MM, the

3:41

former executive assistant, accused

3:44

of being the plots Mastermind.

3:47

It hurts my feelings sometimes, but

3:50

if

3:50

you know me, then

3:51

you you usually love me.

3:53

You'll hear from prosecutors convinced

3:56

the banker was behind it. I

3:58

think he felt like the

4:00

laws that apply to

4:02

people like Sam MM and Aaron Wilkinson

4:04

don't apply to, you know, rich

4:06

bankers. You'll hear MM

4:08

that MM belonged to a

4:11

dead man. If there wasn't some sort

4:13

of criminal plot against Nancy

4:15

Latham, it had to start and stop

4:17

with MM Yanwan. And you'll hear

4:19

about the

4:21

heart stopping moment because

4:24

what happens in court? isn't

4:26

always what you might expect. I

4:28

remember Chris kind of got this look

4:31

on his face like, yeah, we're getting

4:33

off. what

4:33

was going on here in your head. In

4:35

my head, I thought, oh my gosh, this is

4:37

not good. This is not good.

4:41

MM Keith Morrison, and this is

4:43

episode five of MM and

4:45

Magnolia's, a podcast

4:48

from Dateline.

4:57

The

4:57

L Canada Detention Center

4:59

is not much to look at. It's

5:01

a big boxy modern

5:03

looking thing with concrete slab

5:05

walls and all the utilitarian grace

5:07

of a Soviet or a part and block.

5:10

But

5:10

then, people don't go there

5:13

for the architecture? I

5:15

went there to see Wendy Moore.

5:18

The woman investigators MM was

5:20

at the center of a plot to kill the wife of

5:22

her former lover, Chris Latham.

5:25

While waiting

5:27

for the guards to check us in and

5:29

inspect our equipment, I reviewed

5:31

what I knew about Wendy Moore, which

5:33

in a nutshell was this. Wendy,

5:36

former wife of a killer, had

5:39

gone on to capture the heart of a

5:41

banker, and she was a mother

5:43

just like the woman she was accused of

5:45

plotting to kill. So many

5:47

contradictions and yet there

5:49

was one thing about the MM guards brought to be

5:51

this that was consistent with everything I'd

5:53

heard. At thirty eight,

5:56

Wendy Moore looked like a cover

5:59

long, blonde hair, big blue eyes,

6:01

a toothpaste MM smile.

6:05

Wearing a worn denim shirt and a

6:07

sweater over her jail scrubs, she

6:09

looked just like a soccer mom who

6:12

popped into a Starbucks. but

6:14

no. There was more to Wendy

6:16

more than that. And she was only

6:18

happy to tell me.

6:19

She've had a a long hard life. I

6:21

said I lived eighty years in my thirty

6:23

eight, so it's it's been a long

6:27

long road

6:28

The road for Wendy Moore began

6:30

in the Midwest, its

6:32

tortured backstory familiar to

6:34

all too many in this country, teenage

6:38

pregnancy, early marriage, early

6:40

divorce, sexual abuse.

6:42

As

6:43

a kid said, Wendy, she was constantly

6:45

being shuffled from one relative

6:48

to the next back and forth

6:50

across state lines, Ohio,

6:52

Indiana, Kentucky.

6:54

You're hopping around from town to town, school

6:57

to school -- Yeah. -- different people all the time.

6:59

There's no stability whatsoever. Well,

7:02

the only constant is God. He's the only

7:04

one that never leaves. You

7:06

tend to hear a lot of that sort

7:08

of talk during jailhouse interviews. But

7:10

Wendy was and said she

7:12

was of rather a special

7:14

case. Her relationship with

7:16

the almighty, she told me,

7:19

was

7:19

long standing. I

7:20

always joke and say a lot of

7:22

kids had imaginary friends and I had

7:24

Jesus, you know, like, they play with their imaginary

7:26

friends and I would talk to Jesus or play,

7:28

you

7:28

know, guess a lot of people get born again once they

7:30

get inside a place like this. Yeah.

7:32

No. I was in church MM life. I

7:35

was baptized when I was little, but then I redid

7:37

it when I was sixteen because I felt like

7:39

I really knew what it meant then.

7:41

Unlike her parents at Wendy, she

7:43

finished high school, was on her

7:45

way to college too, but then she

7:47

got sidetracked. Oops, I

7:49

got pregnant. And your own

7:51

beliefs would prevent you from

7:53

any of that pregnancy? Yeah.

7:54

I would not do that. That's not something

7:56

I was willing to do, but I also wasn't willing

7:58

to fight with someone for eighteen years. So

8:01

when my boyfriend said, you didn't wanna be strapped

8:03

with that? I said I'd do it on my own.

8:05

She

8:05

said she was living in a rented trailer

8:08

when she MM. Sammy yennewein.

8:11

He was one of the local tufts in the trailer

8:13

park, and he seemed to wanna

8:15

protect her.

8:16

Sonic is in her first couple dates.

8:18

Like, one of the things he said to me was,

8:20

well, you're such a good girl. And

8:22

I was like, well, yeah.

8:24

And he says, I know I do something

8:26

you don't like. And I was like,

8:28

what? And he said, I smoke. And

8:30

I said, yeah. I don't like

8:33

that. I had no idea he was talking about

8:35

marijuana, and he

8:35

didn't tell me after that either. Wendy

8:37

said she didn't do drugs, didn't

8:40

approve of Sammy doing drugs either.

8:42

but soon she was pregnant with her second

8:45

child. They got

8:47

married, they moved to a slightly

8:49

bigger trailer. This one

8:51

MM infested. And then,

8:53

Wendy got pregnant again.

8:55

Number three. I said,

8:57

Sam, we gotta move We gotta get out of here.

9:00

He said, you gotta get a job. I

9:02

said, we have three little kids.

9:04

I have a high school education and nothing

9:06

else. What am I supposed to do?

9:08

I said, I won't barely make enough to pay for day

9:10

care. I'll probably owe the day care money

9:12

before I get my paycheck. A lot of

9:14

young

9:14

couples face that problem. But

9:17

MM, The assembly had

9:19

a solution that most husbands

9:22

wouldn't consider. It's a

9:23

way you could you

9:25

could be a stripper, you could be an exotic dancer,

9:27

and you'd make a lot of money. And I was like, I was

9:29

crushed. I was like, how could

9:31

you love me and want me to do something

9:33

like that? And MM, he

9:37

was like, well, I mean, it'll get

9:39

us out of here, and I said, same lots

9:41

of sin. you

9:42

know, I that's a son. And he said

9:44

so is pride?

9:46

So is pride? Mhmm. Well, he's

9:48

got you there. Mhmm. He said it's just selfish

9:51

pride. keeping us here. And

9:52

so after weeks, you

9:55

know,

9:55

I'm dealing with this and and hearing over

9:57

and over, that I was sitting on the

9:59

gold MM, and I refused to use it.

10:01

And it was my selfish pride that was keeping my

10:03

family there. We will get your kids.

10:05

And you say, okay.

10:10

I'll

10:10

swallow my pride. how

10:13

to

10:13

feel to do that stuff. Horrible. You

10:17

can't burn a MM background anyway.

10:20

All

10:21

you're doing every single

10:23

time is reamusing yourself.

10:28

That's awful.

10:30

MM new seemed to work for them. The

10:32

enterprise set up their new enterprise in

10:35

an old two story house in

10:37

Louisville. The family lived

10:39

upstairs. The downstairs

10:41

was old business. That

10:44

was

10:44

me and a couple other girls, and

10:47

we just had high end clientele that

10:49

would pay to come in for

10:53

a private showing. you

10:54

know, this private strip show.

10:57

And

10:57

wherever else? No.

10:58

There was no sex. There was never any

11:01

sex.

11:01

Well, that's

11:03

not what Aaron Wilkinson heard

11:06

from Sammy himself. And

11:08

it's not what Wendy's second husband

11:11

one after Sammy told Nancy

11:13

Latham, the

11:14

story about filming unsuspecting

11:17

clients in the act. So

11:19

I asked Wendy, and

11:21

she said, never

11:23

happened. No

11:25

no no.

11:26

There's no videos. I wasn't a porn

11:29

star. I didn't do videos. I

11:31

That's

11:31

all made up stuff. Yeah. because

11:32

you know what? The Internet was brand new. I

11:34

mean, there was no online anything.

11:36

It was like a a the only

11:39

Internet part was it was like an advertisement

11:41

MM, and that's it. Here

11:42

here's where to call. Here's a couple of pictures.

11:45

What isn't disputed?

11:47

Is the fact that by the time Sami

11:50

and Wendy started their little business?

11:52

He was using and dealing drugs

11:55

hard drugs. Forty

11:57

Derek Wilkinson, MM was high

11:59

one night and killed the

12:02

man in his house Then

12:04

set the man's body on fire, burned

12:06

the house down with Wendy

12:08

and the kids inside, The

12:10

dead

12:10

MM, he'd been a

12:13

living bodyguard that savvy had MM to

12:15

keep Wendy's high end clientele

12:17

in line Here's Wendy's version

12:19

of what happened. Our

12:21

sleeping, Sam, heard

12:23

a

12:23

noise coming from the kids

12:26

room. And

12:27

so

12:28

he got up to

12:30

investigate. And when he did, he

12:32

saw a man from the downstairs

12:34

apartment. We had shared a

12:36

kitchen with coming

12:38

out of the room. And the guy had

12:40

called a knife out of the block. and

12:43

was fighting with the knife

12:45

with Sam and Sam grabbed

12:48

the knife by the blade. and

12:50

wrestled the knife from the man, and

12:52

I ended up killing the man. And

12:54

then

12:56

he took

12:58

off all of his clothes put

13:00

them in a pile and

13:02

burned them and got back in bed with

13:04

me and went to sleep.

13:07

Short sided. The doctors said it

13:09

was post traumatic stress. So he

13:11

wasn't convicted of murder or a

13:13

manslaughter, but he was convicted of marijuana.

13:15

Right. he was found it was found to be,

13:17

you know, self defense.

13:20

So

13:21

Sami went to jail where

13:23

he met Aaron Wilkinson.

13:25

Bleft its three kids

13:27

to raise on her own, Wendy,

13:30

divorced Sammy.

13:31

I sold the car ahead, sold that

13:33

trailer, used it as a down payment to buy my

13:35

house, buy myself,

13:37

bought the house, continue to work

13:39

from home, so that I could be there with

13:41

my kids. and I went to

13:44

Liberty University with their they have an

13:46

incredible online program. MM a

13:48

bachelor's of science in psychology and

13:50

started in the mass program for

13:52

management and leadership and actually got

13:54

that degree too. So all of that from

13:56

home -- Wow. -- while I was getting my

13:58

kids race, Along

14:01

the

14:01

way, Wendy married again

14:03

and moved to Charleston. That was

14:05

when she landed the job at US Trustor

14:08

branch of Bank of America that caters to

14:10

the bank's high rollers executive

14:13

assistance to one of the wealthiest

14:15

bankers in town was

14:18

what you had studied the

14:20

background for that or other working

14:22

spiritual one?

14:22

Yeah. Well, no, I had worked as an assistant

14:25

for a long time when I worked from home. So

14:27

I I had the

14:29

experience plus I had, you know, and

14:31

gosh when you work in an office. Psychology showed

14:33

us high end. And

14:35

No. Yes. It's easy to see how psychology

14:37

might come in handy when

14:39

dealing with her new boss.

14:42

particularly one who happened to be going

14:44

through a nasty divorce.

14:46

In two thousand twelve,

14:48

Wendy, divorced her second husband,

14:51

and started keeping steady

14:53

company with Chris Latham.

14:55

Well, you know, we started hanging out and I

14:58

really got to know him as a person. and

15:00

how, I don't

15:02

know, how sweet he was.

15:05

Well, it

15:05

was just a natural

15:08

progression of you

15:09

know, two

15:11

people who, you know, I

15:13

was divorced. He was we thought he would

15:15

be divorced any MM.

15:16

And, you know It got pretty

15:18

ugly. His divorce. His

15:20

divorce, I get very ugly. So ramped

15:22

up? It did. No.

15:25

Yes. Ramped up to the point where somebody

15:27

hired a team of hitmen.

15:29

But in Wendy's telling, Nancy

15:31

was the dangerous one. Cars

15:34

belonging to her to Wendy

15:36

and Chris were sabotaged,

15:39

tires were slashed, lug

15:41

bolts loosened, brake lines

15:43

tampered with. As we were worried, We

15:45

were scared. We wanted the divorce to

15:47

hurry up and get over with. And then this

15:49

other thing pops up. Suddenly,

15:51

Aaron is talking to the boys. Oh, boy.

15:54

but not only is he talking to the police, he showed them

15:56

that. Hit PAC.

15:58

Where would that material come from?

15:59

I'm not gonna discuss any that. I'm

16:02

not willing to discuss the case. What

16:04

can you say about any of that

16:06

stuff that

16:07

would help understand it. I

16:10

can say that I would never do

16:12

anyone harm. I would not want any

16:14

harm to come to her at all. Nancy,

16:16

of course, denies all those

16:19

allegations of sabotage. So

16:22

she said she said?

16:25

No. None of that really mattered

16:27

now. The MM divorce was

16:29

history. Five MM serious for

16:31

Wendy Moore and her lover, Chris

16:33

Latham, was the murder for a

16:35

higher case that would be going to

16:37

try out

16:42

soon.

16:49

Introducing the first TV brand streaming

16:51

Xbox games, Samsung Neil QLED

16:53

and OLED with MM hub. With

16:55

MM MiO QLED and OLED TV, you

16:57

can stream your favorite game straight to your TV.

16:59

No console required. All you need is

17:01

a compatible controller and Internet. play

17:03

hundreds games from the biggest streaming services, including NVIDIA,

17:05

GeForce NOW, Luna, Nutomix, and

17:07

Xbox app. There's always something to play

17:10

in to discover with thousands of

17:12

new and classic game titles. Gain access to

17:14

games in seconds without worrying about purchasing

17:16

new hardware, downloads, or storage limits. all you

17:18

need is an Internet connection and a compatible

17:20

controller. There is a special promotion going through the

17:22

end of the year. Purchase a twenty twenty two

17:24

Samsung Neo QLED or OLED,

17:26

and you get your first three months MM box game

17:28

pass ultimate and an x box controller

17:30

on Samsung. Disclosure through twelve thirty

17:32

one while supplies last purchased a twenty twenty two

17:34

new QLEDQN85D or

17:36

above for S95 via retailers. For terms and

17:38

conditions, including redemption instructions, c controller

17:40

redemption dot com or c retailer, controller color, may

17:42

vary. After getting passed trial, you will automatically be

17:44

charged unless cancel limit

17:46

MM, terms xbox dot com slash MM

17:48

terms. Nancy

17:54

had been waiting all morning for the MM to

17:57

ring. As she glanced at

17:58

her kitchen window at the bare

17:59

trees swaying in the January breeze,

18:02

her thoughts were on Aaron

18:05

Wilkins son. The man she credited was

18:07

saving her life. I was at

18:08

home and I was expecting

18:11

him to

18:11

take a plea deal.

18:14

That's what I'd been told by the US

18:16

attorneys. And they said, so you you'll

18:18

probably wanna come down for

18:20

that. It

18:20

had been almost nine months to the day

18:23

since NASA first laid eyes on Aaron. That

18:25

was at his bond hearing. Shortly

18:27

after Aaron had exposed the plot

18:29

to have her killed. When

18:32

she closed her eyes, she could still picture

18:34

him standing before the judge, shaved

18:38

head, shackled, so tall, he

18:40

seemed to tower over his court

18:42

appointed lawyer. And as he was

18:43

turning to leave, I could see him

18:46

searching the faces of everyone in

18:48

the audience and landed on

18:50

mine, and he mouthed the words, I'm

18:52

sorry. And when he mouthed the words,

18:54

I'm sorry, it was so

18:56

palpable coming from him. I mean, I felt that I felt

18:58

that he was genuinely remorseful.

19:01

Now, Nancy

19:01

got dressed for court again. This

19:05

time, she hoped to watch a legal formality,

19:07

MM taking a plea

19:10

deal. Hate spend time in

19:12

prison though somewhat then he might

19:14

have an in exchange he would agree to testify

19:16

against Kristen Wendy. Their

19:18

trial was

19:19

less than a month away.

19:21

But as Nancy

19:24

prepared for the trip to the downtown courthouse,

19:27

her phone rang, it

19:29

was the prosecutor with

19:32

bad news.

19:33

NICE, don't come down. He's not

19:35

gonna take a deal. They said

19:38

we're sorry. we we tried everything we could. He's just not

19:40

gonna take a plea deal. And

19:43

Okay. I got

19:45

off the phone and I was

19:47

a little bit disheartened. But

19:49

I kind of continued, you know,

19:51

getting getting right for my day and

19:54

I felt a push

19:56

something was telling

19:58

me to go

19:59

downtown, to

20:00

just go downtown anyway, go

20:03

downtown. It doesn't matter what they

20:05

said, get in the car and go downtown. And

20:07

I did. She

20:08

was crossing the bridge into Charleston. She

20:11

said, When a strange feeling came over

20:14

her, a feeling so

20:16

overwhelming, she started

20:19

to cry. I

20:20

was just sobbing. I just started

20:23

sobbing. And I thought, oh my MM. Why

20:25

why am I sobbing? And it wasn't a

20:27

sad cry. It was just water

20:29

pouring out of my eyes and it

20:32

hit me like a ton of bricks

20:34

that the presence of god was in

20:36

the car with me. and

20:38

I know to some people

20:40

that's gonna sound like

20:42

lunacy. But I felt

20:44

the presence of God with

20:47

me.

20:48

Nancy

20:49

Cannon had spent a lot of time at the

20:51

federal courthouse over the past

20:54

few months So when she

20:54

opened the front door,

20:56

the guards at the metal detectors

20:59

instantly knew who she was. They

21:01

urged her to go MM. But

21:03

Nancy insisted on going to the

21:05

courtroom anyway. It's where Aaron would have

21:07

entered his plea, would have,

21:10

but wasn't going to now. The judge's

21:12

clerk told Nancy she wouldn't be allowed

21:14

in the courtroom. So she

21:17

was led to a small MM room across

21:19

the hall And there

21:21

she waited. I had been

21:22

there well over an hour, perhaps,

21:25

to when there was a knock at the

21:27

door. And the two

21:29

US attorneys on my case opened the door,

21:31

and they said, and Aaron's attorney would

21:33

like to meet with MM. And I said, yeah.

21:35

Okay. Yes. I'll do it. when

21:37

they brought her in and She said miss Cannon, I would

21:39

like to tell you what Aaron and I said,

21:41

no, no, before you

21:43

say anything to me.

21:46

anything.

21:46

I need you to know this.

21:48

The very first time I saw Aaron

21:50

and the court ring, I saw him

21:52

turn around and searched

21:54

the courtroom until he found me. And when he

21:56

did, he mouthed the words, I'm

21:58

sorry. And I said in that moment,

22:00

I felt that he truly was asked

22:03

asking for my forgiveness and I gave it to

22:05

him. And I said, I don't care what the US

22:07

attorney say. At the end of

22:10

the day, Aaron saved

22:11

my life. So if I can

22:13

speak on behalf of him to

22:15

the judge when it's time for his hearing

22:17

or sentencing even if he doesn't

22:19

take the plea deal. I said, I'll do it.

22:22

With

22:22

that, the public defender

22:24

left the room. And

22:26

five minutes later, She returned

22:28

with a

22:29

message from Aaron.

22:31

She said

22:32

Aaron's gonna take the play deal. He

22:34

just wanted to know that you would forgive him.

22:36

is nothing. It was awesome.

22:37

And so Anne and myself and

22:39

the two US attorneys were walking

22:42

out into the hallway, and Anne

22:44

looked at me and said, I

22:46

know this is gonna sound crazy, but I've never

22:48

felt the presence of God in

22:51

anything like I have in this moment.

22:53

And I said, I know I picked him up on the bridge MM I

22:55

brought him here. He's been with us

22:57

the whole time.

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24:10

It was

24:12

about nine thirty on a Chile

24:14

morning in February that US district judge Richard

24:17

Gurgle took his seat and

24:19

gabbled the full courtroom to

24:21

order. as he surveyed the ornate

24:24

courtroom. He would have seen the jury to

24:26

his left beyond that, the

24:28

prosecutor's table. In

24:30

the first row, he would have seen Nancy

24:33

surrounded by her family and friends.

24:35

And behind them, the

24:37

assembled faces of reporters and spectators. To

24:40

the judge's

24:40

rights at the defendants, Chris

24:43

Latham and Wendy Moore, and

24:45

their attorneys. After

24:47

both sides made their opening arguments,

24:49

the

24:49

prosecutors called a procession of

24:52

witnesses.

24:52

Beginning with the cops and investigators who'd

24:55

first heard Aaron Wilkinson's astounding

24:58

revelation that a plot to kill Nessie was in

25:00

the works.

25:01

For corroboration, they

25:04

offered up the hit packet,

25:06

chock full of photos of Nancy in

25:08

her car, in her and

25:10

maps MM lists of places where she

25:12

might be picked up and followed

25:14

or even ambushed. When you

25:16

look

25:16

at those papers, know, they're

25:18

clearly designed for finding

25:21

someone. That's the voice of assistant US

25:23

attorney Nathan MM. the

25:25

maps

25:25

aren't just maps MM maps of wooden areas where

25:27

you can park pictures of back

25:30

porches, descriptions of people's

25:32

path of travels. then

25:33

they played that recorded phone

25:36

call. MM asks

25:39

if Aaron is going to be able to finish the

25:41

job as planned. Erin says

25:43

he will. How are you wearing

25:45

them? I mean, they're they're talking about

25:48

getting rid of guns, how to kill

25:50

someone, where it should happen,

25:52

We had this hit packet. So if you

25:54

look at those documents and listen

25:56

to that phone call, it's clear

25:59

there was a murder

25:59

for hire going on not only was there a

26:02

murder for hire going on,

26:04

but investigators testified they had

26:06

clear evidence of who had paid the

26:08

would be assassins. and

26:10

who handed them the hit

26:12

packet and that was none

26:14

other than Wendy Moore. The

26:17

religiously devout Mother of three,

26:19

she'd rented a hotel room

26:21

for Sam Yanawein. What was the

26:23

best supporting evidence to show that Wendy

26:25

was actually deeply involved in the pot

26:27

So she

26:28

rents a hotel MM.

26:29

She

26:30

purchases a drop phone, meaning a phone

26:33

that

26:33

has no subscriber

26:35

information to it. And then she uses that

26:37

phone exclusively to

26:39

talk with

26:40

MM I. So there's

26:42

constant communication with Sam Myanmar.

26:45

She clearly had met with

26:47

him several times MM phone tower

26:49

information we had showed then

26:51

meeting up in Sullivan's Island. Most

26:53

damning of all perhaps

26:55

was that printer logs at Bank

26:57

of America showed much of the information

26:59

in the hit packet had been searched

27:01

for and printed

27:03

from Wendy's computer. That

27:05

hid packet is clearly on its face

27:08

designed for this

27:08

murder for hire? There's no way

27:10

she prints that up for some other reasons. The

27:13

case

27:13

against Chris Latham rested in

27:15

large part on his close relationship

27:18

to Wendy. But in truth,

27:20

the information on Nancy's movements

27:22

and shopping habits, all that

27:24

insider knowledge in the hit packet, could

27:26

only have come from Chris the photos have

27:28

been taken with his phone.

27:31

We

27:31

found on Latham's

27:34

iPhone five pictures that he

27:37

took

27:37

secretly of his estranged wife,

27:39

Nancy, at a at a Trustpass hearing. That

27:42

is federal prosecutor,RET De

27:44

Hart. She was sitting a couple of rows

27:46

behind MM, and he had pulled

27:48

out his iPhone over his

27:51

shoulder, unbeknownst to her. He

27:53

was taken pictures of her. The prosecutors argued

27:55

that Chris took those photos

27:57

because he wanted Wendy to have

28:00

a fresh picture of Nancy descend to the hit

28:02

team, which MM thought

28:04

was it down that day. For me,

28:06

that was sort of a Tiffany once

28:09

we found those photos

28:12

on his iPhone of

28:14

Nancy Latham, where it's clear, she doesn't know she's

28:16

being photographed. He's he's doing

28:18

it secretly. from

28:19

me that removed any doubt that he

28:21

was guilty. There was

28:22

one other thing prosecutors wanted

28:25

the jury to know. They

28:28

had and hours of Chris and

28:30

Wendy's phone calls

28:32

recorded in the months after she

28:35

was arrested, and wait to ravish you

28:37

when I get home. I

28:39

can't remember that. It

28:41

was through those calls. that

28:43

prosecutors learned Chris had arranged to pay the

28:46

attorneys for both Wendy and her

28:48

ex husband, Sammy, and bank

28:50

records confirmed it. We

28:52

had evidence that he had been not only paying

28:54

for Wendy Moore's lawyer and coordinating

28:57

payment for Yanowind's lawyer, but he was

28:59

disguising the source of of

29:01

those funds. But

29:03

the trial's star witness was,

29:05

of course, Aaron Wilkinson, the

29:08

man who'd revealed all to the police

29:10

We're going to Charleston to kill a

29:13

woman. Weeks earlier, Wilkinson

29:15

had also been a defendant

29:17

in the case. In the eyes of the prosecutors just as

29:20

guilty of conspiracy as Sammy

29:22

and Wendy and Chris, he

29:24

certainly

29:24

was con wiring and involved in a murder

29:26

for hire. Nathan Williams again.

29:29

He talks about not wanting

29:31

to do anything. You know, if that's true.

29:33

He don't need to bring a

29:34

gun to South Carolina. That hit packet should have

29:36

been in the first dumpster he passed MM his way

29:38

out of Louisville. Aaron was a flawed

29:40

witness to be sure.

29:42

He was an ex con, a

29:44

drug addict, and a liar.

29:47

But time and again, he insisted

29:49

the core facts of his story

29:52

were true. there

29:52

had been a plot to kill

29:55

Nancy.

29:55

Wendy Ward given MM Yanowind

29:58

cash in a hit packet with

30:00

detailed instructions. all

30:02

of that had been independently corroborated

30:04

by the feds. The evidence

30:06

against Chris Latham and Wendy Moore

30:08

and Eric Wilkinson and Samiano Wine

30:10

is all physical evidence. I don't think we

30:13

ever asked the jury to convict

30:15

anyone based on Eric Wilkinson, but he

30:17

was very good for furthering our

30:19

investigation. Certainly, when he gave that

30:21

led us to the computer searches.

30:23

Once Aaron Wilkinson

30:24

finished his testimony, prosecutors

30:27

called Nancy Cannon, the target of the murder

30:29

plot MM her daughter Emily

30:31

to the stand. Nancy

30:34

was tearful. as she

30:36

described her disintegrating marriage MM the

30:38

months and months of terror

30:40

after learning she'd been marked for death.

30:44

Emily was stoic when she

30:46

talked about her relationship with her

30:48

father both in the

30:50

courtroom MM later when

30:52

she spoke with me.

30:53

I think people are really capable

30:55

of anything. That's the voice

30:57

of Emily Latham. And

31:00

and it Anyone

31:02

who wants something,

31:04

genuinely wants something, a

31:06

lot of

31:06

times they're willing to do anything to get

31:09

it. And I

31:11

think he really didn't

31:13

want my mom around MM, and

31:15

he was willing to do anything to get that

31:17

done. The

31:18

defense did little fute

31:20

to physical evidence. The recorded

31:23

phone call that Aaron made to

31:25

Sammy clearly show they were up to

31:27

no good. the drop

31:29

phones, the hit packet, the

31:31

cyber footprints that implicated

31:33

Chris and Wendy, they were

31:35

what they were. No,

31:37

the defense would argue there was still

31:40

room for doubt. If

31:42

you squinted and looked at

31:44

the evidence, and just the right

31:46

light. Take the hit

31:48

packet for instance. They were

31:50

able to connect it to a printer and a

31:52

computer that she used. don't think there was ever

31:54

a way that they could technically directly connect it

31:56

to her. That's the voice

31:58

of David Ailer, Wendy's lawyer. I

32:01

mean, is there another meaning or is there another way

32:03

that connected to something else. Because you

32:05

never did see anything that came out through any

32:07

of the testimony beyond, of course,

32:10

Aaron Wilkinson's testimony that there was

32:12

ever an actual murder plan. Possible? Yeah.

32:15

Perhaps. But about as

32:17

probable as I mean, both Chris

32:19

and Wendy's printers somehow

32:22

vanish days after

32:24

ATF agents knocked on her

32:26

door. As for the five

32:28

thousand dollars, Wendy gave to MM Yanowind

32:30

before the plot was exposed. Well, according

32:33

to Aylar, that was just

32:35

another one of those things, open to

32:37

interpretation. Perhaps he

32:40

suggested that Sammy was going to buy a

32:42

car for one of the yellow wine kids

32:44

with that money. They had

32:46

children together. They, of course, had exchanged

32:48

monies several times over the

32:50

years And that hotel room, Wendy, rented for

32:52

MM? Well, renting

32:55

a room for a family member and a lot situations

32:57

is fairly normal, particularly if it's an ex family

32:59

member that you don't want at your home. When

33:01

it came to Chris Latham's defense,

33:04

his attorney argued Chris

33:06

had no motives to harm his

33:08

ex wife and had no

33:10

connection with anyone who

33:12

did. there was zero evidence

33:14

that he even knew Sami MM or

33:17

ever communicated with him. In

33:19

my opinion, the evidence that

33:21

they had against was weak. That's the voice of

33:24

Stephen Schmutz, Chris Latham's

33:26

attorney. Chris Latham had

33:28

every idea that

33:30

not only was he not gonna be damaged

33:32

in the divorce, that he was gonna

33:34

vindicate himself in

33:35

the divorce.

33:36

MM the prospect of losing half his

33:39

assets and paying his ex wife nearly

33:41

eight thousand a month for life

33:43

be motive for murder? No

33:45

such much. MM. No. No. What

33:47

does that add up to? Out of

33:49

its six hundred and fifty thousand dollars?

33:52

And also, It's not really eight

33:54

thousand. When you do the taxes, it comes to

33:56

about four thousand. The property

33:58

settlement MM it fifty

34:00

fifty. That was already gone. he

34:03

had absolutely no motive. And

34:06

according to Schmutz, Chris Natham had no

34:08

need to fear damage to his

34:10

professional reputation.

34:12

what if the divorce trial exposed his affair with his

34:14

executive assistant? Remember, this

34:16

was well before the me MM

34:20

reckoning that brought down so many rich and powerful men.

34:22

We put witnesses on the stand. Bank

34:24

of America MM. They just said that

34:27

Chris Latham being fired because of

34:30

an affair with Wendy Moore was

34:32

absurd. There was even an

34:34

employee that

34:36

stated there'd be a lot of people fired here if that

34:38

were the case. That was just not

34:40

going to be the case. Chris Latham was

34:42

not going to be fired. because

34:45

of his relationship with Wendy Moore. The defense argued

34:47

that the only true criminals in this

34:49

case were Sam Yanowind and

34:52

Aaron Wilkinson, They

34:54

were the ex cons who plotted the murder, and

34:56

why would they do that? Now

34:58

who knew the workings of

35:01

the criminal mind? Sammy was

35:04

dead, couldn't ask him.

35:06

And

35:06

Aaron Wilkinson, well,

35:08

he was a liar. He was a

35:10

man who lied to the police from the get

35:12

go. about

35:13

the gun, about why he was even in Charleston,

35:14

and it somewhat surprises

35:18

me that Aaron Wilkinson got on

35:20

that stand after

35:22

after telling

35:24

the government four or

35:27

five different stories. MM

35:30

somewhat surprising. It took the better part of

35:31

three weeks to hear all the witnesses and present

35:33

all the evidence. Then the

35:36

attorney summed

35:37

up their cases and

35:39

told the jurors what they thought a just verdict

35:41

would be. And

35:43

everyone in the courtroom,

35:45

including Nancy Cannon, settled

35:47

in for a long

35:50

wait. Well,

35:50

when it went to the jury, I felt

35:53

quite confident. And the jury came back

35:55

early on and asked the

35:58

question, does

35:59

the conspiracy

36:02

have to meet criteria. And when they ask

36:05

the judge, does the conspiracy have to meet

36:07

every single criteria to be found

36:09

guilty? A watch as

36:12

Wendy turned around and smirk to

36:15

her family MM, yeah,

36:17

we're gonna get

36:18

off. they're not meeting all the

36:20

criteria. And I remember Chris kind of

36:22

got this look on his face like, you

36:24

know, it was

36:25

kind of a knot of his head

36:27

and a little yeah. We're getting off. What was going on

36:29

here at your head?

36:30

I thought, oh my gosh, this is

36:32

not good. This is not good.

36:36

And we went back to the room, which was one

36:38

floor below where we were

36:40

huddling. And I

36:42

just started stopping profuse like, I couldn't stop.

36:44

I could

36:46

not stop.

36:50

Next, on murder

36:52

MM Magnolia's, the

36:54

jury decides. Anika,

36:57

we'll just

36:57

worry gosh. Is there a

37:00

chance that there could just be one whole hour and we have

37:02

to try this case over again? We

37:04

couldn't understand why some of them

37:06

didn't feel the same way as the

37:08

others fell. murder

37:12

and MM is

37:16

production of Dateline and NBC

37:18

News. Tim Beacham is the

37:20

producer. Brian Drew is the

37:22

audio editor.

37:24

Thomas Chemin is assistant audio editor.

37:26

Kiani Reed and Reese

37:28

Washington are associate producers

37:30

Susan Nall, a senior producer

37:34

Adam Gorsein, his co executive

37:36

producer, Liz Cole, his

37:38

executive producer, and

37:40

David CorVel, is senior

37:42

executive producer. From

37:43

NBC News Audio, Bryson

37:46

Barnes is technical director,

37:48

MM mixing by Bob Mallory.

37:50

Nina Bizano is associate producer.

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