Unmasking The Mastermind

Speaker 1 Cold mornings, holiday hustle. You just want your wardrobe to be simple, sharp pieces that feel good and that you'll actually wear.
That's where Quince comes in.

Speaker 1 This season, Quince can make gifting so easy, with $50 Mongolian cashmere sweaters that feel like a treat every day, and wool coats that are stylish, durable, and made to last.

Speaker 1 They're denim, classic fit, all-day comfort, and way more affordable than you'd expect. Quince says they partner directly with ethical factories and top artisans, eliminating middlemen.

Speaker 1 And it's not just clothes. Quince has thoughtful gifts for the home, bath, kitchen, and travel.
Grab a few favorites for yourself and a few to wrap for friends.

Speaker 1 Give and get timeless holiday staples that last this season with Quince. Go to quince.com/slash 48Hours for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.
Now available in Canada, too.

Speaker 1 That's q-u-in-ce.com/slash slash forty-eight hours. Free shipping and 365-day returns.
Quince.com/slash 48 hours.

Speaker 3 If you ever worry about how safe your home really is, you need to hear about Simply Safe's early access Black Friday sale.

Speaker 3 Old school security systems typically only react after someone breaks in, but Simply Safe is different.

Speaker 3 Simply Safe's Active Guard Outdoor Protection uses AI-powered cameras that detect threats outside your home and alert real security agents.

Speaker 3 Those agents take action while the intruder is still outside, talking to them through the camera, triggering a siren or spotlight, and letting them know police are on the way.

Speaker 3 That's how you stop a crime before it starts. There are no long-term contracts or hidden fees, plus a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Simply Safe's been named best home security system by U.S.

Speaker 3 News and World Report five five years running. Don't miss out on Simply Safe's biggest sale of the year: 60% off.

Speaker 3 Right now, our listeners can save 60% off a Simply Safe home security system at simply safe.com/slash 48 hours. That's simply safe.com/slash 48 hours.
There's no safe like Simply Safe.

Speaker 2 48 Hours Mystery.

Speaker 5 He has a magnetism about him. He puts you under a spell.

Speaker 2 Garrett Wilson was known as a charming family man.

Speaker 5 He was a father who adored his little girl.

Speaker 2 But was it all just a lie?

Speaker 6 Garrett Wilson is a con artist, motivated by greed.

Speaker 2 There's little Garrett in here and he cute. His ex-wife insists he killed their baby.

Speaker 5 I screamed. Garrett, what did you do to him? Garrett killed the baby for insurance money.

Speaker 2 Is this grieving mother out for justice or revenge?

Speaker 6 If Garrett Wilson had never left Missy, this never would have come forward.

Speaker 5 I think that she became obsessed with his destruction.

Speaker 2 Peter Van Sant investigates. Is Garrett Wilson an adoring father or a cold-blooded killer? Are you absolutely convinced that Garrett is an innocent man?

Speaker 5 You can't be a murderer one day and a loving father the next day.

Speaker 2 What really happened to this little boy?

Speaker 5 Garrett murdered the baby.

Speaker 2 Dramatic new developments in the case while innocent slept a 48 hours mystery.

Speaker 5 I'm Leslie Stahl. Garrett Wilson seemed like the ideal family man, a devoted father, a man liked by other men and loved by women.

Speaker 5 But under the surface, there were hidden layers of a complex life and disturbing allegations involving passion, greed, violence, and death.

Speaker 5 Peter Van Sant reports on the search for answers as Garrett Wilson's ordinary life begins to unravel.

Speaker 5 I knew the kind of father that he was to my child.

Speaker 7 Smile for me, homie.

Speaker 5 He was a daddy.

Speaker 5 He was not just a father, he was a daddy.

Speaker 8 I love you.

Speaker 2 According to Vicki Wampler of Frostburg, Maryland, 45-year-old Garrett Wilson was more than just a daddy.

Speaker 5 He was a father who adored his little girl.

Speaker 2 He was the perfect father

Speaker 2 to their little girl, Marissa.

Speaker 5 He was just engrossed in raising his daughter. That was the most important thing in his life.

Speaker 2 A life that Garrett began in 1994 when he married Vicki, his fourth wife.

Speaker 5 It was like I'd found my soulmate and he felt the same way.

Speaker 2 Garrett was a successful salesman whose true passion was music.

Speaker 5 Garrett's musical ability is astounding. He has a remarkable ear and a remarkable natural ability.

Speaker 2 And he used that ability to sell high-ticket musical instruments.

Speaker 5 He's a dynamic personality. He has a magnetism about him.

Speaker 2 And you were building a great life together.

Speaker 5 As close to Ozzie and Harriet as any two people could be.

Speaker 2 An ideal family until Garrett Wilson's past caught up with him.

Speaker 2 And this ideal father stood accused of committing an unspeakable crime.

Speaker 6 Most people couldn't imagine doing it. And most people couldn't imagine somebody else.
being that diabolical.

Speaker 2 Montgomery County prosecutor Doug Gansler.

Speaker 6 Very few people would be able to do that. Garrett Wilson was.

Speaker 5 Has she talked to the police?

Speaker 2 In 1999, he set out to prove that Garrett Wilson was a killer.

Speaker 6 I think he is a cold-blooded, evil killer.

Speaker 2 Evil enough to kill his own child.

Speaker 5 I'll never have what I thought I wanted to have out of my life, which was my son,

Speaker 5 my baby.

Speaker 2 Missy Anna Stasi was Garrett's third wife. She married him in 1986.
What's mad?

Speaker 5 I didn't think I needed to be afraid of him during the time of the baby's life.

Speaker 2 But she has no doubt now that back in 1987... Garrett murdered the baby.

Speaker 2 Garrett smothered their five-month-old baby boy, his own namesake. Garrett Michael.

Speaker 2 Garrett Michael.

Speaker 6 And this man had no reason other than money for doing it.

Speaker 2 Insurance money that that Gensler claims gave Garrett motive.

Speaker 6 Garrett Michael never had any health problems whatsoever. He was clearly energetic and playful.
I have children and think to myself, how could somebody do this?

Speaker 5 You're going to be three months old next week.

Speaker 5 Yes!

Speaker 5 You've done almost everything, haven't you?

Speaker 9 This is a story that boggles the imagination.

Speaker 6 But this is a true story.

Speaker 2 And it captured the attention of true crime writer Adrian Havill of Reston, Virginia.

Speaker 6 What is it about this story that appealed to you?

Speaker 9 We don't want to believe that a seemingly normal human being

Speaker 9 could commit

Speaker 9 the worst crime in the world.

Speaker 9 It's a mystery.

Speaker 2 In his book, While Innocents Slept, Havill set out to unravel that mystery.

Speaker 9 If you were meeting with Garrett Wilson for the first time and you looked into his eyes,

Speaker 9 you wouldn't see a murderer.

Speaker 8 I just can't believe that he could have done it.

Speaker 2 John Farley has known Garrett Wilson. We lived a block apart since they were both in high chairs.
It's the first buddy picture, huh? That's right. They are still best friends.

Speaker 8 We spend enough time together to be brothers, that's for sure.

Speaker 8 The Garrett I know is caring. He's loving.
He has this ability to make you feel like you're the most important person in the world.

Speaker 2 And John insists Garrett cherished his baby boy.

Speaker 8 With Garrett Michael, he had that opportunity to go through all of those things that he didn't have as a child. He very dearly loved Garrett Michael.

Speaker 2 You're sure he's innocent.

Speaker 8 I'm as sure as I can be.

Speaker 11 Look at that face.

Speaker 6 He would tell other people that he hated the baby. He wished the baby wasn't born.
This is a man who was willing to kill his own flesh and blood, his own infant.

Speaker 2 There's mom. There's a bad man.

Speaker 5 I wouldn't have known that this man that had cared for me the way he did.

Speaker 2 Where is he? Where is he?

Speaker 5 And pretended to care for the baby was planning to kill his child. I know that he's not capable of killing a child, so I can't be suspicious because I can't believe that he did it.
Hi, darling.

Speaker 2 For Vicki, be careful now. Their daughter Marissa, who is now nine, was proof that Garrett is innocent.

Speaker 5 He cannot be the the loving father that he was to Marissa and not be the same father to his son.

Speaker 2 Are you absolutely convinced that Garrett is an innocent man?

Speaker 5 I'm absolutely convinced. I know who he is.
I saw him as a father, as a husband, and he's truly a good person.

Speaker 2 What kind of a man is Garrett Wilson?

Speaker 5 He's not a man. He's just an evil being.

Speaker 5 You can't be two people.

Speaker 2 Appropriate for me, contradiction.

Speaker 5 You can't be a murderer one day and a loving father and a giving person the next day.

Speaker 2 But is Garrett Wilson capable of being both?

Speaker 2 That's next.

Speaker 5 I was in love with him. I thought he was wonderful.
He wanted to have a family. And I thought it would be great.

Speaker 2 Missy Anastasie of Rockville, Maryland, thought she had found her soulmate when she became Garrett Wilson's third wife in 1986.

Speaker 5 He was offering me the life that I thought I really wanted.

Speaker 2 A family life.

Speaker 5 I was very happy I was going to have a baby, and I had a wonderful husband.

Speaker 2 Garrett was a successful music store salesman. The perfect life.
I thought.

Speaker 2 I did. A life made perfect just a year after their wedding with the arrival of their baby.

Speaker 5 Dad can hold him. He seemed to be so excited to have the baby.
Definitely, it was never a question whether he wanted the child or not.

Speaker 2 A son. Daddy and Jr.
that Garrett proudly named after himself. There's little Garrett Jr., isn't he cute?

Speaker 5 In the hospital, he held the baby. He fed the baby in front of me.

Speaker 2 But when they brought their baby home, Missy claims Garrett showed little interest in his son.

Speaker 5 Where's your daddy? I said, Garrett, you seem really withdrawn from the baby lately. And he said, well, I want to make sure he's going to be around a while before I get close to him.

Speaker 5 And I thought, why is he thinking something is going to happen to this baby?

Speaker 2 But Missy chose to dismiss Garrett's odd behavior until early one morning. when their baby woke up crying.

Speaker 5 I jumped up like I always did to go and feed the baby. And Garrett literally dissuaded me, talked me out of getting up and going.
He said, I'll do it.

Speaker 2 Had Garrett ever fed the baby prior to that?

Speaker 5 Well, he didn't ever wake up in the middle of the night and be wide awake or in the early morning. And this particular morning, he was awake.

Speaker 2 So Missy stayed in bed while Garrett went into the baby's room.

Speaker 5 And I heard a padding noise over the monitor. monitor.
And then the next thing I heard was a...

Speaker 2 Who made that sound?

Speaker 5 I don't know what it was, but I know that it wasn't a good sound.

Speaker 2 Alarmed, Missy hurried out of bed.

Speaker 5 And I had two cats that had been jumping on me. So I gave them some food in a moment.

Speaker 2 And by the time she got to the baby, I failed him and he didn't feel right.

Speaker 5 And I screamed, Garrett, what did you do to him?

Speaker 2 Garrett had gone back to their bedroom.

Speaker 5 He opened the door and his face was as white as a sheet. And I'm screaming, call 911, and he never moved.

Speaker 2 Paramedics arrived and rushed the baby to the emergency room.

Speaker 5 So we went out to the car and Garrett stopped and took the time to unlock the car, pull the seats up, reach in the back and take the baby seat out.

Speaker 5 And I'm thinking, he knows the baby's not coming home. He's done something to him.

Speaker 2 Within the hour, five-month-old Garrett Michael was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Speaker 5 I wanted to die. I didn't think I could survive.

Speaker 2 Did you and Garrett ever have

Speaker 2 an emotional outpouring over the death of Garrett Michael?

Speaker 5 I was waiting for Garrett to say, this wasn't supposed to happen, to get some kind of a reaction from him. He never did that.

Speaker 2 What Garrett did several weeks later shocked Missy once again.

Speaker 5 He brought money home in a brown paper bag and threw it on the bed where I was sleeping. And I said, what is this? And he said, it's some insurance money.

Speaker 2 Did Garrett talk to you about life insurance for your new baby boy?

Speaker 5 One day he came home and just said, I bought life insurance on the baby today. But never in a million years at that point would I have ever thought that Garrett was planning to kill his child.

Speaker 2 But that's exactly what Missy suspected after Garrett Michael's death.

Speaker 8 And she asked me, would Garrett be capable of killing Garrett Michael?

Speaker 2 John Farley is Garrett's best friend.

Speaker 8 The Garrett that I know couldn't and wouldn't do that.

Speaker 2 It's an extraordinary question to ask, though,

Speaker 2 because who would ever even go there with that thought?

Speaker 8 I think she was just questioning anything she could question.

Speaker 2 But after the baby's autopsy, the medical examiner's conclusion helped put an end to Missy's questions.

Speaker 10 Garrett Michael had died as a result of sudden infant desk syndrome.

Speaker 2 Dr. Charles Kokas supervised the autopsy.

Speaker 10 This case was no different from dozens of others in that regard.

Speaker 2 Even when experts found swelling in Garrett Michael's brain, which can be evidence of foul play.

Speaker 10 Brain swelling by itself is not a suspicious finding. If you had a bruise to the side of the head, like a blow to the head,

Speaker 10 you could connect the two.

Speaker 2 But Garrett Michael showed no signs of injury. So you noted the brain swelling, but it was still consistent with sudden infant death syndrome.

Speaker 10 Yes, there were no other issues or findings that indicated this was anything other than a natural death.

Speaker 5 This was a classic case of sudden infant death syndrome.

Speaker 2 So Missy put her suspicions to rest and decided to stay with Garrett.

Speaker 5 I said, okay, these professionals are telling me this. Maybe there's something that I don't know.
I accepted at the moment that if there was an autopsy, there could be no foul play.

Speaker 2 And for the next seven years, Missy says she did everything she could to make her marriage to Garrett work.

Speaker 5 My personality has always been, you've been through this much, you see it through.

Speaker 2 But it wasn't easy. They lived apart for months at a time while Garrett moved from state to state, from one sales job to another.
Why did you stick with him during all of this?

Speaker 5 He still called. That was the most amazing thing.
I'm thinking in my mind, he has no reason to keep up with me, except that he cares about me, like he says he does.

Speaker 2 Then, in 1993, out of the blue, Missy learned that Garrett had secretly filed for divorce.

Speaker 5 And so

Speaker 5 I was divorced.

Speaker 2 But incredibly, Garrett told her that he regretted having divorced her and wanted to give their relationship a second chance.

Speaker 5 He put you under a spell.

Speaker 2 And a year later, Missy agreed to join him in Texas, where he had found a high-paying job.

Speaker 5 He told me two or three times he'd put money down on houses for us.

Speaker 2 But just weeks before her move.

Speaker 5 The phone rang, and this woman says, Missy, I hope you don't hang up before I tell you who I am.

Speaker 2 Coming up, the threatening phone call that made Missy realize this man is as horrible as I suspected. Garrett was capable of anything.

Speaker 5 He said, Missy, you'd be dead if you were here.

Speaker 2 That's next.

Speaker 3 You know, one of the things that always used to stress me out, even when I was trying to be mindful about my money, was the little financial headaches, overdraft fees, when the timing of a bill and a paycheck didn't quite match up, or feeling like I just couldn't get ahead no matter how much I tried to save.

Speaker 3 If this sounds familiar to you, you might wanna hear about QIIME. They understand that every single dollar counts.

Speaker 3 With QIIME, when you set up direct deposit, you get access to features designed to actually help you breathe a little easier.

Speaker 3 You can get paid up to two days early, and with qualifying direct deposits, you're eligible for free overdraft coverage, up to $200 on debit card purchases and cash withdrawals.

Speaker 3 Plus, there are no monthly or maintenance fees, and you can access over 47,000 fee-free ATMs nationwide.

Speaker 3 Chime users often say that the biggest game changer has been seeing their paycheck arrive early.

Speaker 3 We all know how much that little buffer can make such a difference in staying grounded and avoiding stress. My younger self could have benefited from this.

Speaker 3 Work on your financial goals through Chime today. Open an account in two minutes at chime.com slash 48 hours.
That's chime.com/slash 48 hours. Chime feels like progress.

Speaker 12 Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and debit card provided by the Bank Corporation Bank NA or Stride Bank NA.
Members FDIC.

Speaker 12 Spot me eligibility requirements and overdraft limits apply. Timing depends on submission of payment file.
Fees apply at out-of-network ATMs, bank ranking, and number of ATMs, according to U.S.

Speaker 12 News and World Report 2023. Chime checking account required.

Speaker 13 Don't let the holidays derail your fitness. Stay on track with Hydro.
20 minutes rowing on a hydro targets 86% of your muscles as Olympians guide you from incredible locations worldwide.

Speaker 13 Running can't compete. That's why 90% stick with hydro a year later.
GQ named the Hydro Arc the best rower of 2025. And every hydro comes with free shipping, a 30-day trial, and warranty.

Speaker 13 Go to hydro.com code fit and save up to 600 bucks on your next hydro. Hydro.com code fit.

Speaker 5 I loved him as much as you think you can love anyone. He was exhilarating to be around.

Speaker 2 In 1994, Missy Anastasie was about to join her ex-husband, Garrett Wilson, in Texas, where he had promised they would start a new life together.

Speaker 5 He said, just give me three months to get established and you'll be out there.

Speaker 2 But just weeks before her move,

Speaker 5 the phone rang. And this woman says, Missy, I hope you don't hang up before I tell you who I am.
Vicki Wompler, she truly thought that she was moving to Texas.

Speaker 2 Was at the other end of the line.

Speaker 5 I wanted to call and say, it's time to move on.

Speaker 2 It was a shocking call that made Missy realize, everything that I've ever expected of Garrett is true. Her life with Garrett had been a sham.

Speaker 5 I was crying. I mean, I was devastated.
My whole life, again, it was turned upside down.

Speaker 2 Earlier that year, Garrett had married Vicki, his fourth wife, and they had settled into a comfortable life just outside Dallas.

Speaker 5 We were just a normal, everyday family.

Speaker 2 Complete

Speaker 2 with their then 10-month-old daughter, Marissa. So he'd had this entire other relationship.
Right. Gotten married, had a child,

Speaker 2 and you didn't know.

Speaker 5 Right, not only that, he called me on Mother's Day during that time when he had a young baby with another woman, saying he was thinking about Garrett Michael.

Speaker 2 Garrett Michael, their baby boy who had died seven years earlier of what doctors said was sudden infant death syndrome. But now, Missy wasn't so sure.

Speaker 5 I saw it repeated in my head. The baby's death.
He did it. He's responsible for it.
This man is as horrible as I suspected then.

Speaker 2 And when Garrett called Missy to explain his new marriage, she accused him of murdering their son.

Speaker 5 And I said, Garrett, now that I see what you're capable of doing to me, I know you killed my baby. And he said, Missy, you'd be dead if you were here.

Speaker 5 She said, oh no. Everything everyone told me, they're wrong.
I'm the one that's been right all along. Detective Dominic.

Speaker 2 Homicide detective Meredith Dominic.

Speaker 5 And she came to the police.

Speaker 2 Just how cold a case was this when you got it?

Speaker 5 This baby died in 1987. There was no police involvement.
Now I was dealing with seven years later. And I was thinking, what is up with this?

Speaker 5 She wasn't sure that it was going to go anywhere.

Speaker 2 But Missy was determined to push the case forward.

Speaker 5 I couldn't have not done something when a man has murdered my child.

Speaker 2 And she spent the next four years writing hundreds of letters to countless officials from Maryland asking them for help.

Speaker 5 I wrote to the governor. Then I decided to write to the Attorney General's office.

Speaker 6 She was absolutely relentless. She stayed after the police.

Speaker 2 Montgomery County Prosecutor Doug Gansler.

Speaker 6 If Garrett Wilson had never left Missy, this never never would have come forward before because she had locked stock and Beryl believed in him.

Speaker 5 It's when Missy realized what he was capable of and thought there was a life at stake.

Speaker 5 Missy told me that I needed to protect my daughter and said, You better get your kid out of there because I know he killed my baby.

Speaker 2 Maybe this woman had a real warning for you.

Speaker 5 He's just not capable of hurting a child.

Speaker 2 Vicki believes Missy went to the police not for justice, but for vengeance.

Speaker 5 This type of relationship had gone on for years. He moved, she followed pursuit.
When she realized that he wasn't coming back to her, I think that she became obsessed with his destruction.

Speaker 5 She would go to the ends of the earth and spend her entire life until she destroys him.

Speaker 2 Liz Ballman is yet another woman from Garrett's past. She encountered Missy back in 1985, before Garrett and Missy were married.
How would you describe Missy?

Speaker 5 Very vengeful, very angry, incredibly jealous.

Speaker 2 That summer, Liz recalls witnessing this jealousy when Missy caught her with Garrett on a date.

Speaker 5 It was obvious that she was absolutely enraged.

Speaker 2 And at this beach along the Delaware coast, both women discovered that for months, Garrett had secretly been dating them simultaneously.

Speaker 5 I was angry. I was upset.
She was carrying her sandals and she hit him with the sandals several times. And I sort of tapped him on the shoulder and here came this woman to rescue the...

Speaker 2 Was it honestly, was it just a little tap?

Speaker 5 Well, I probably, you know, what would you do?

Speaker 2 What Liz remembers Missy doing next led to a high-speed car chase on this highway.

Speaker 5 Almost like a chase scene in a movie.

Speaker 2 Garrett and Liz had left the beach in separate cars, and Liz says Missy was following them in a third car.

Speaker 5 She started to try to come between the two cars

Speaker 5 and I saw him turn to her and he said she's crazy and I'm not crazy and I know I'm not crazy. So that really irritated me so I think we did a little ride down the highway.

Speaker 5 It's like she didn't even want his car anywhere near mine. It was very frightening.
I went off onto the shoulder several times.

Speaker 5 Jesus.

Speaker 2 No, I don't think so. No.

Speaker 5 I'm sure I didn't. I'm not violent.
I was very afraid of this woman.

Speaker 2 That day at the beach, Garrett told Liz that he had intended to end their relationship and be with Missy.

Speaker 2 But by sunset, he had changed his mind.

Speaker 5 Seeing the sight of her that he saw at the beach scared him. He didn't want any more to do with her.

Speaker 2 And you still stuck with him?

Speaker 5 It was a perfect relationship until that day.

Speaker 2 And a few months later, Garrett proposed to Liz.

Speaker 5 You can actually see the ring in that one.

Speaker 2 But shortly after their wedding invitations went out, Liz discovered that Garrett had already married Missy.

Speaker 5 The wedding of their daughter, Elizabeth Gardner, to Garrett Eldred Wilson will not take place. It was devastating.
It was painful.

Speaker 2 What was your last moment with Garrett?

Speaker 5 In the course of our relationship, I had accumulated about $3,000 in debt. In all of this, I said, you're going to pay me back.
And he said, absolutely.

Speaker 2 Garrett finished paying Liz soon after his baby boy died.

Speaker 6 Garrett Wilson is a con artist. He is motivated by greed, and the vehicle to get his greed is women.

Speaker 2 Women seem to be caught under his spell. Yes.
What was it about Garrett?

Speaker 5 He treated you like a queen, like you were the only person on earth that mattered.

Speaker 6 You would certainly prey on a particular type of woman, a needy woman, someone who would be sort of taken in by him. And they didn't want to believe the downside.

Speaker 6 They didn't want to believe the dark side.

Speaker 2 Today, after all the heartache and pain Garrett had caused her, Liz still insists.

Speaker 5 No, he's not capable of murder. Has he been a con man?

Speaker 5 Has he been a womanizer?

Speaker 5 I have no doubt.

Speaker 5 But that that doesn't make him a killer.

Speaker 2 But years of investigation led police to believe otherwise.

Speaker 5 We were moving forward. This was going to be a case.
This was a homicide case.

Speaker 2 And the evidence against Garrett Wilson sent chills down my spine. Was building.

Speaker 5 You're not going to believe it. There's not just one policy, there's two.

Speaker 2 Police found a second life insurance policy on his son.

Speaker 5 There were a lot of dots to connect. We were able to connect them.

Speaker 2 And a second baby from his past who had died mysteriously.

Speaker 5 And it painted a horrible picture.

Speaker 5 Garrett Wilson is a charmer. It makes him a good salesman, a reliable provider, and a magnet for women.

Speaker 5 When Wilson's son dies in his crib, it's officially called a case of sudden infant death syndrome.

Speaker 5 But his ex-wife, Missy, is convinced it's murder, a suspicion heightened when she learns about another baby from Wilson's secret past, who had also met a tragic fate.

Speaker 5 Peter Van Sand picks up the story as Garrett Wilson's charmed life is beginning to lose its magic touch.

Speaker 5 He had a love for money. He liked to show it.
He liked to flash it. He liked to spend it.
There was a passion about it.

Speaker 2 Homicide detective Meredith Dominic of Rockville, Maryland, says Garrett Wilson was driven by greed.

Speaker 5 Money was the object for him.

Speaker 2 Was he willing to commit murder? Yes. To get money.

Speaker 5 Yes.

Speaker 2 What investigators uncovered by 1997 sent chills down my spine.

Speaker 2 Convinced them that Garrett had murdered his own baby boy for insurance money.

Speaker 5 This was going to be a case. This was a homicide case.

Speaker 2 And Garrett himself handed police a critical piece of evidence when he revealed

Speaker 2 that he had taken out a second life insurance policy on his five-month-old, Garrett Michael, who had died in 1987 of what doctors said was sudden infant death syndrome.

Speaker 2 A $100,000 policy that you didn't know about until that moment.

Speaker 5 Absolutely. Missy didn't know about that second policy.

Speaker 2 Missy Anastasie, the baby's mother and Garrett's third wife.

Speaker 5 He was not going to walk in the next room and kill my son and get away with it for as long as I had a breath.

Speaker 2 She went to the police and accused Garrett of killing their son in 1994 after she discovered that her ex-husband had secretly married another woman and started a new family.

Speaker 5 She was not going to allow him to move on in his life and be happy because she knew that he was happy.

Speaker 2 Vicki Wompler, Garrett's fourth wife and his strongest defender.

Speaker 5 Missy lost her husband and I see her as vindictive. This was vengeance.

Speaker 5 Learning about that second policy on Garrett Michael that Missy did not know about took away from the jilted woman. It took away from her being angry and I'll get you.

Speaker 2 Missy claims she knew of only one policy for $50,000 that Garrett had gotten just weeks after their baby's birth.

Speaker 5 He said, my dad had life insurance on me and that's how I bought my first car. It was drilled into his head.
If you have children, you must get life insurance.

Speaker 2 Who buys life insurance on a baby?

Speaker 5 A lot of people buy life insurance on babies. This is something that is sent to mothers of newborn babies.
It's to replace an income that's lost. That's the purpose of life insurance.

Speaker 5 What income is an infant going to give a parent?

Speaker 2 After Garrett Michael died, his father had an enormous payday from the life insurance companies: $150,000.

Speaker 6 He blew through the proceeds from Garrett Michael in three months.

Speaker 8 He just spent it all.

Speaker 2 Prosecutor Doug Gansler. This was blood money.

Speaker 6 It was blood money, and he went out, bought cars and furniture, and paid off some debts.

Speaker 2 Did Missy benefit as well? Did she spend any of that money?

Speaker 8 Oh, I believe so.

Speaker 2 John Farley has been friends with Garrett since childhood.

Speaker 8 They moved from a townhouse to a very large house, and she drove a soab. They were both living very well after Garrett Michael died.

Speaker 9 Missy didn't know or said she didn't even know that he had that much insurance on the baby, which always puzzled me.

Speaker 2 True crime writer Adrian Havill set out to solve this puzzle in his latest book, While Innocents Slept.

Speaker 9 I don't know where she thought all that money came from.

Speaker 5 Garrett told me when he was made a manager. The store made a million dollars worth of sales a year and he was paid a very high commission.

Speaker 2 That's what Missy says she believed they were spending. But today, she has no doubt.

Speaker 5 Garrett killed the baby for insurance money.

Speaker 8 I can't believe believe that someone could kill their babies. Not Garrett.

Speaker 6 Every other piece of evidence pointed inextricably toward Garrett Wilson being the murderer.

Speaker 2 And authorities were shocked to discover...

Speaker 5 He didn't just do this once, he did this twice. Not one baby died, but two babies died.

Speaker 2 Garrett Wilson had another baby who had died mysteriously. years before he met Missy.

Speaker 5 There were a lot of dots to connect. We were able to connect them, and it painted a horrible picture.

Speaker 2 Back in 1981, Garrett was only 24 and married to Debbie Oliver. The young couple had a baby girl together named Brandy Jean.

Speaker 5 Brandy was born in 1981 and also died in 1981.

Speaker 5 I think it was just very traumatic for Debbie.

Speaker 2 Brandy Jean was only two months old. And as in the case of Garrett Michael, officials ruled that she had died of sudden infant death syndrome.

Speaker 5 Both cases were so similar. There was this common thread.
And that thread was Garrett Wilson.

Speaker 2 In 1981, Garrett took out two life insurance policies on Brandi Gene, as he would later on his baby boy.

Speaker 7 Instead of me going out soliciting a sale, there's one that came to me.

Speaker 2 George Smith was was just starting out in the insurance business when he met Garrett weeks after Brandi Gene's birth.

Speaker 7 He asked for a $30,000 policy for Brandy.

Speaker 2 At the time, he had no idea Garrett had also gotten a $10,000 policy from another agent.

Speaker 7 When we first wrote this, I don't think Debbie even knew this was being written.

Speaker 2 And just hours after Brandi Gene was pronounced dead.

Speaker 9 He seemed very anxious to get the money.

Speaker 2 Garrett called George Smith.

Speaker 7 And to tell me, I didn't know who else to call.

Speaker 7 Seemed just out of line.

Speaker 2 After Brandy Gene dies, one of the first phone calls Garrett reportedly makes is not to you, his best friend,

Speaker 2 it's to his life insurance agent.

Speaker 8 I did not know that.

Speaker 8 Does it make you wonder?

Speaker 8 Makes me wonder.

Speaker 7 Something was wrong.

Speaker 2 I knew it.

Speaker 7 This little girl shouldn't have died.

Speaker 2 And his instincts told Smith to hold on to Brandi Gene's file.

Speaker 5 At least 15 years he'd held on to it. Way out of the norm of what an insurance agent holds on to these files.

Speaker 2 How many files had you set aside like this?

Speaker 11 Just this one?

Speaker 10 I just had that feeling that it was a wrongful death.

Speaker 6 It was our view that Garrett Wilson's murder of Brandi Jean

Speaker 6 was this horrible dress rehearsal, that he would then do it again to Garrett Michael.

Speaker 5 But in both cases, those two autopsy reports were a major stumbling block.

Speaker 2 Sudden infant death syndrome, SIDS, was the official cause of death.

Speaker 5 Garrett Michael died. He was murdered and they called it SIDS.
And it's covered it up for so many years. And a murderer murderer got away with it.
Until now.

Speaker 2 Coming up.

Speaker 6 We needed to make sure that they knew, in fact, it was not a Sid's death.

Speaker 2 A remarkable attempt.

Speaker 8 It's absolutely, categorically, a homicide.

Speaker 2 To reverse two autopsies.

Speaker 6 This was a child who was just snuffed out.

Speaker 2 That's next.

Speaker 14 Here for the Lowe's early Black Friday deals?

Speaker 16 You're You're right on time for some of our biggest savings. We're talking up to 50% off select major appliances, plus up to an extra 25% off when you bundle select major appliances.

Speaker 16 Holiday lights going up soon? Select ladders are up to 50% off right now. Get Black Friday prices without the Black Friday crowds.
Lowe's, we help. You save.
Valid through 1119.

Speaker 16 Selection varies by location. Select locations only.
While supplies last. See Lowe's.com for more details.

Speaker 17 Hey there, we're Corinne Vienne and Sabrina DeAnaroga here to introduce our newest podcast, Crimes of, a Crimehouse Original.

Speaker 18 Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season, from Crimes of the Paranormal, Unsolved Murders, and more.

Speaker 18 Our first season is Crimes of Infamy, the true crime stories behind Hollywood's most iconic horror villains.

Speaker 17 Listen to and follow Crimes of available now wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 20 Spectrum Business has a new offer that could be a game changer for small and medium-sized businesses. Are you ready for this?

Speaker 20 You could get free internet for life when you sign up for four mobile lines.

Speaker 20 Spectrum Business keeps businesses of all sizes connected seamlessly with fast, reliable business internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, and mobile services.

Speaker 20 Manage reservations, process orders, entertain customers. Spectrum Business solutions are designed with your business needs in mind.

Speaker 20 Power all aspects of your business with free internet forever from Spectrum Business. Visit spectrum.com spectrum.com/slash free for life to learn more.

Speaker 20 Restrictions apply, services not available in all areas.

Speaker 5 Garrett Michael died.

Speaker 5 He was murdered, and they called it Siz, and it's covered it up for so many years. And a murderer got away with it.
Until now.

Speaker 2 In 1998, Missy Anastasia of Rockville, Maryland was about to get what she believed was justice.

Speaker 2 After four long years of investigation, police finally arrested her ex-husband, Garrett Wilson, and charged him with the murder of their baby boy, Garrett Michael.

Speaker 6 The case was unable to go forward until the chief medical examiner of the state reclassified the case as a homicide.

Speaker 2 Montgomery County prosecutor Doug Gansler.

Speaker 6 It was not a Sid's death.

Speaker 15 They were wrong back then.

Speaker 2 Back in 1987, after five-month-old Garrett Michael died, it didn't look like a murder.

Speaker 2 Dr. Charles Kokas supervised the original autopsy.

Speaker 10 Garrett Michael had died as a result of sudden infant death syndrome. But more than a decade later, I have changed my opinion regarding the cause and manner of his death.

Speaker 2 Prosecutors from Maryland asked him to re-examine the case.

Speaker 10 Findings clearly indicate the manner of death was homicide.

Speaker 2 What information were you given that you didn't know when you did the first autopsy?

Speaker 10 That this was not the first sudden infant death syndrome in this family in association with father Garrett Wilson.

Speaker 2 In 1981, Garrett's baby girl, two-month-old Brandi Jean, had died of what experts also said was sudden infant death syndrome. What are the odds of a second SIDS death involving the same parent?

Speaker 10 They're pretty much astronomically high. Lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place.

Speaker 15 The chance of that would be one in four million.

Speaker 2 Dr. Linda Norton of Dallas is an expert on SIDS.
The prosecution approached her to review their case. Is sudden infant death syndrome genetic?

Speaker 15 No. We recognize that there was no genetic component.

Speaker 6 If two or more children die in the same family, purportedly of SIDS, then there's a murderer in the family.

Speaker 6 And Garrett Wilson was that murderer.

Speaker 2 And in 1999, Gansler set out to prove it at trial.

Speaker 6 The trial was for the death of Garrett Michael.

Speaker 2 But the deaths of both babies were vital to his case.

Speaker 6 We put the 17 factors that were completely consistent together. There were so many similarities between the two deaths.
We needed both cases.

Speaker 15 I think both of these children were smothered to death and they were smothered to death by their father.

Speaker 2 According to Dr.

Speaker 15 Norton, that pattern to see it right smack dab in the middle of her face was striking. He basically took the child, put her in the crib, face down, and just pressed.

Speaker 2 Dr. Kokas believes Garrett Michael likely suffered a similar fate.

Speaker 10 I think this would be considered a cruel death by anyone's anyone's definition.

Speaker 11 In my opinion, it can't be proved as murder.

Speaker 2 Dr. Miles Jones is a forensic pathologist from Kansas City who testified for the defense.

Speaker 11 In the case of Brandy Gene, I believe the most appropriate cause of death is sudden infant death syndrome. Garrett Michael suffered from cerebral edema.

Speaker 2 Brain swelling.

Speaker 10 That's correct.

Speaker 11 Therefore, the cause of death is undetermined.

Speaker 10 Garrett Michael had sustained some sort of global brain injury from a lack of oxygen delivery.

Speaker 2 Dr. Kokas believes that brain swelling is evidence of suffocation.

Speaker 10 Brain swelling, as a finding in sudden infant death syndrome, is

Speaker 2 rare.

Speaker 10 That's something that wasn't known in 1987.

Speaker 6 The scientific evidence was critical. This was our hurdle to be able to convince a jury that somebody would really be able to kill their own children.

Speaker 9 I hope I never have to serve on a jury in a case like this because I don't know what I do.

Speaker 2 True crime writer Adrian Havill sat through the trial.

Speaker 9 We were all sitting there saying, well, it'll be a hung jury.

Speaker 2 But the jury.

Speaker 8 I just didn't want to believe that a person could be capable of this.

Speaker 2 Took just two hours to come back with a verdict. Guilty.

Speaker 5 There was no doubt in my mind.

Speaker 2 Juror Cheryl Frizzell.

Speaker 5 After we found him guilty, I slept like a baby.

Speaker 2 But it wasn't the medical testimony that impressed the jury most. What was the single most important factor in you determining that he was guilty?

Speaker 5 Missy, when she got on that stand, she was adamant.

Speaker 2 How important was this moment for you?

Speaker 2 Unbelievable.

Speaker 5 Because I couldn't bring baby back, but the least I could do was the person responsible put him where he belonged.

Speaker 2 Twelve years after Garrett Michael was murdered, Garrett Wilson was sentenced to life in prison without any possibility of parole.

Speaker 5 What Missy took from my daughter is

Speaker 5 she took her father.

Speaker 2 Vicki Wompler, Garrett's fourth wife and the mother of their daughter, Marissa.

Speaker 5 I told her that her daddy was not coming home, that he was never coming home.

Speaker 5 The case against Garrett Wilson is about to take another startling turn. Coming up, the dramatic development that just might set him free.

Speaker 4 Waking up hot and sweaty, poor sleep can impact your health. That's why the team at Perfectly Snug created the Smart Topper.
It's like air conditioning for your bed.

Speaker 4 Perfectly Snug fits right on top of any mattress and uses active airflow to cool you down. Sensors and dual zone controls allow you and your partner to sleep at your perfect temperature every night.

Speaker 4 Control it with built-in buttons or with the app. Shop our biggest sales event of the year now and save up to $330.

Speaker 4 Just use code Black Friday. FSA HSA payment options available.
Visit perfectly snug.com.

Speaker 19 Looking for the perfect gift this holiday season? Make it something they'll actually use and love. Primely Pure's limited edition bundles are ready to wrap, toxin-free, and intentionally crafted.

Speaker 19 From tallow body butters and natural deodorant to cozy, festive seasonal scents, these these products are made exclusively for the most wonderful time of year. Skip the stress of last-minute shopping.

Speaker 19 These small batch beyond sustainable skincare sets make gifting easy and intentional. Give more than a gift.
Give a ritual that nurtures skin, body, and mind beyond the season.

Speaker 19 Get a head start on the season with Primely Pure and bring warmth, wellness, and nostalgic joy into your home with non-toxic rituals everyone will love.

Speaker 9 You don't see the monster in Garrett Wilson. If you didn't know what he had been accused of, you wouldn't see a murderer.

Speaker 2 For four years, the man a jury was convinced murdered his baby boy has been serving out his life sentence at a Maryland state prison. Author Adrienne Havill says there has been a dramatic development.

Speaker 9 In August of 2002,

Speaker 9 the Maryland Appeals Court overturned his conviction.

Speaker 2 The appeals court ruled that prosecution experts should not have been allowed to testify on the odds of two SIDS deaths occurring in the same family.

Speaker 15 The chance of that would be one in four million.

Speaker 2 Those odds, which Dr. Linda Norton testified to at trial, were based on the premise that SIDS is not genetic.

Speaker 9 New research shows that indeed

Speaker 2 SIDS may be genetic.

Speaker 9 And there's new medical evidence on that, which the Maryland Court of Appeals cited. So they overturned the conviction.

Speaker 9 Garrett Wilson is technically an innocent man, although he's still in a maximum security prison.

Speaker 2 What was Garrett's reaction?

Speaker 9 When I spoke with him, he was elated, of course, and he

Speaker 9 believes that it's just a matter of time before he's going to walk out of that prison a free man.

Speaker 2 Do you believe today that there is reasonable doubt as to whether or not he committed these murders?

Speaker 9 Boy, that's a tough one. Did he go into that room, that little baby's room with the mobiles hanging up above it, and smother his only son?

Speaker 2 In 2004, Garrett Wilson was retried and again found guilty of the murder of Garrett Michael. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Speaker 2 Now streaming.

Speaker 16 Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery.

Speaker 12 We don't know what we're looking for.

Speaker 21 Their bodies are the scene of the crime. No symptoms and history are clues.

Speaker 12 You saved her life.

Speaker 21 We're doctors and we're detectives.

Speaker 4 I kind of of love it if I'm being honest.

Speaker 21 Solve the puzzle, save the patient.

Speaker 14 Watson.

Speaker 16 All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus.

Speaker 21 This November, action is free on Pluto TV. Go on the run with Jack Reacher.
Every suspect was a train killer. Then buckle up for drive.
World War Z. Every human being we saved is one of us fights.

Speaker 21 And Charlie's angels.

Speaker 4 Damn, I hate hate to fly.

Speaker 21 Launch into sci-fi adventure with the fifth element and laugh through the mayhem in Tropic Thunder. What is going on here?

Speaker 14 All the thrills, all for free. Pluto TV.

Speaker 21 Stream now.

Speaker 14 Hey, never.