The Mystery at Ascot Estates

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Speaker 6 I was shocked. Things just didn't add up.

Speaker 8 It was the last place you'd expect to find a gruesome crime scene. The quiet neighborhood, the lovely home, this friendly couple.

Speaker 9 I think it's hard not to have loved Tammy.

Speaker 10 They were very happy. Very happy.

Speaker 8 It seemed to be a simple case of a robbery gone horribly wrong.

Speaker 12 He realized that she was dead or dying.

Speaker 8 But nothing about this case was simple. Not the marriage and not the murders.

Speaker 13 He just kept getting more red flags come up.

Speaker 8 The surprises just kept on coming.

Speaker 12 He said, you know, you can have to talk to you in private.

Speaker 8 What dark force claimed two lives?

Speaker 9 I feel like she's still there. I still feel her with me.

Speaker 18 Life seems to move just a little slower in South Carolina.

Speaker 19 Afternoons in Columbia can be spent on the meandering Saluda River or nearby Lake Murray.

Speaker 23 And tucked away inside this capital city is Ascot Estates, where old southern charm mingles with new money.

Speaker 26 Not much in the way of drama here.

Speaker 17 Until April 2012, Friday the 13th, when something sinister happened.

Speaker 9 I immediately turned on the news and saw that there had been double murder.

Speaker 31 You're totally confused because there is no way of knowing for sure what's going on.

Speaker 10 It was my husband who called me and said something terrible had happened.

Speaker 34 Then I said, what happened?

Speaker 16 What happened would become the center of a mystery.

Speaker 30 A whodunit that began with a frantic 911 call. Who shot your life?

Speaker 36 A friend of our prior.

Speaker 37 Is she still there?

Speaker 26 The call came from a most unusual place, the gracious home of well-liked husband and wife, Brett and Tammy Parker.

Speaker 25 The Parkers were a golden couple, each with their own special gifts.

Speaker 26 Tammy was raised in a small town near Columbia, but left to go into sales, where she was immediately successful.

Speaker 21 Best friend, Angela Leon.

Speaker 9 I think it's hard not to have loved Tammy. She's vibrant and outgoing and full of life, full of energy, always positive.

Speaker 41 Did she turn heads?

Speaker 9 Tammy was the kind of person that she didn't even notice that she was turning heads.

Speaker 29 During one of Tammy's sales calls, she met Columbia businessman Ben Staples. They became close friends.

Speaker 45 Could Tammy sell anything?

Speaker 46 She could sell anything. It's just her personality.

Speaker 3 Everyone liked her.

Speaker 16 And Tammy had something else that set her apart.

Speaker 49 talent.

Speaker 9 And I can't remember exactly the first time I heard her sing, but I was amazed. Amazed at how great she was.

Speaker 16 Tammy sang with a local band, Jumpstart.

Speaker 38 Woody Woodward was lead guitarist and one of her biggest fans.

Speaker 12 Voices like that are just gifts. Somebody gives you that from above.

Speaker 39 Friends thought she could take her talent big time, but Tammy seemed happy to remain in Columbia.

Speaker 54 One of her gigs was at her friend Ben Staples' annual barbecue. Is this Tammy's stage?

Speaker 46 Well, yeah, she enjoyed this. Tammy was an entertainer.
She didn't just stand up there and sing.

Speaker 44 Along the way, in 1996, Tammy met and married a local boy, Brett Parker, a medical supply salesman.

Speaker 26 He'd been a star athlete in high school.

Speaker 43 His aunt, Sandra Hunter, says he was always throwing some kind of ball.

Speaker 10 He played football and softball and baseball, and he was an all-American kid.

Speaker 50 An injury sidelined any thoughts of a career in professional sports, so Brett took up amateur softball.

Speaker 39 That's how he met one of his closest friends, friends, Howdy Bear.

Speaker 58 No doubt Brett was one of the best softball players I ever played with.

Speaker 43 When Tammy came into the picture, Bear knew his friend had found his match.

Speaker 59 Tammy, she was just precious, and I'll never forget that.

Speaker 59 But I knew they was going to get married. It was just a matter of time.

Speaker 7 Howdy and his wife tagged along with Brett to Tammy's singing gigs and saw a lucky man in love.

Speaker 13 They were fun to be around.

Speaker 59 No doubt in my mind he loved her.

Speaker 17 Both Tammy's friends and Brett's family agreed. The couple just clicked.

Speaker 7 Did they seem like a good fit for each other?

Speaker 9 They seemed to do well together. They seemed to have some of the same dreams and ambitions.

Speaker 34 Did you like Tammy? Oh, I loved her.

Speaker 57 They had two children, born eight years apart.

Speaker 44 And in the spring of 2012, the family in upscale Ascot Estates appeared to be living a charmed existence.

Speaker 62 Then came the afternoon of April 13th and that call to 911.

Speaker 57 It was Brett Parker.

Speaker 63 Okay, I need you to stay on the phone with me, okay?

Speaker 56 Tammy was dead.

Speaker 40 And there was more.

Speaker 16 Someone else lay dead in that house.

Speaker 52 It was a double murder, a cold-blooded crime that would look more chilling with each new detail.

Speaker 64 Coming up.

Speaker 8 Whose was the other body found inside that house? Police learned it was someone Brett and Tammy knew well.

Speaker 12 One of the first questions I asked him was, What was his relationship with this man? He said, You know, can I talk to you in private?

Speaker 14 When dateline continues,

Speaker 22 this bucolic southern town had suddenly become the scene of a deadly crime.

Speaker 37 Get somebody over here.

Speaker 63 Okay, I need you to stay on the phone with me, okay?

Speaker 18 Home security video shows Brett Parker calling 911 outside his house, collapsing on the ground as he describes what happened.

Speaker 20 A violent robbery that left his wife dead. Listen to me.

Speaker 37 I understand you are very upset, but is your wife?

Speaker 63 Is she breathing?

Speaker 37 No.

Speaker 40 And there was more to the story.

Speaker 29 Brett had killed the perpetrator in self-defense.

Speaker 36 I shot him. I think I killed him.

Speaker 57 Veteran investigator Stan Smith headed to the scene.

Speaker 45 What is your first interaction with Brett Parker?

Speaker 58 He was sort of heavy breathing. At one point in time, he lays down on his back

Speaker 12 as if he's suffering and almost pain.

Speaker 56 Inside, Stan Smith walked into a gruesome scene.

Speaker 30 The body of Brett's wife Tammy was in a bathroom.

Speaker 56 And lying nearby was a man named Brian Kappnerhurst, dead in an alcove not far from the safe where Brett kept his money.

Speaker 58 Started with Tammy Parker.

Speaker 12 It appeared that she was seated at the desk in this office area and that the shooter shot her from the back, half of her torso inside the bathroom and half their legs out into the office area.

Speaker 12 So she definitely fled, tried to flee. As far as Brian Kappenhurst, he was found slumped over

Speaker 12 on his right side. He was shot multiple times in the face, in the chest.
in the arm, in the side, in the legs, in the foot.

Speaker 57 The investigators were surprised when Brett Brett told them Brian Kappnerhurst, the man he had shot, was a family friend and frequent visitor to the house.

Speaker 27 In fact, Brett said he was in the bathroom when Brian arrived for a meeting and he told him to just go upstairs and wait.

Speaker 25 Suddenly, Brett heard shots.

Speaker 12 He ran upstairs and was greeted at the top of the stairs by Brian Kappnerhurst holding a gun on him and ordered him to the safe, which was in an alcove area in an attic.

Speaker 12 As he walked by the office, he saw his wife's legs and he surmised that she'd been shot.

Speaker 12 He was taken to this alcove area and on the way he realized or recalled that he had a gun hidden on the safe there in that area and he said he made a decision as he knelt at gunpoint to grab the gun and try to get to Kappenhurst before Kappenhurst shot him basically.

Speaker 58 So he turned around and caught Brian off guard.

Speaker 12 That's the way he explained it.

Speaker 69 By shooting him. Right.

Speaker 12 And he said he ran to check on his wife and realized that she was

Speaker 12 dead or dying. And then he went and called 911.

Speaker 57 Police recovered two guns from the scene.

Speaker 7 Brett's 410 revolver, the gun he kept on his safe and used to shoot Brian.

Speaker 30 In Brian's hand, police found a 9mm pistol that had been used to kill Tammy.

Speaker 26 Near Brian's body was his open gym bag with ammo and an empty magazine clip clearly visible on top.

Speaker 29 To investigators, it looked like Brett Parker had fought for his life, shot a man in self-defense, and had just lost his beautiful wife.

Speaker 44 The big question was why?

Speaker 19 Why would such a good friend turn on them?

Speaker 12 One of the first questions I asked him was what was his relationship with this man? He said, you know, can I talk to you in private? And that's when he told me that he was a sports bookie.

Speaker 47 Brett worked a day job as a full-time medical salesman, but on the side, he had been a sports bookie for years.

Speaker 59 Everybody knew that.

Speaker 45 Did it concern you or was it just...

Speaker 59 Every small town has a bookie.

Speaker 58 That's something I didn't even think about.

Speaker 57 And Brett was not the soprano's break-your-leg style bookie.

Speaker 45 Was Brett a gentle bookie?

Speaker 58 Oh, very, very.

Speaker 59 Everybody says that he delivered his money. Brett was good.

Speaker 58 He was a good bookie.

Speaker 44 Brett also told investigators that Brian Kappnerhurst, the man he had just shot and killed, was in the bookie business too.

Speaker 39 As a matter of fact, he worked for Brett.

Speaker 52 Brian was also an unlikely bookie.

Speaker 53 A former high school athlete, he was a family man who worked for a county recreation commission and coached kids sports teams.

Speaker 16 Tammy had spoken kindly of him.

Speaker 9 I think she thought he was a nice guy. I mean, I think she must have thought a lot because he was in her home with her children around.
And Tammy was very protective of her children.

Speaker 45 And I think he trusted her. Right.

Speaker 9 Right, exactly. I mean, Tammy had always looked out for him, you know, getting an extra lunch for him, taking care of him.

Speaker 22 But investigators found out there had been a problem in that bookie business, and it all boiled down to money.

Speaker 50 Brett owed Brian a good chunk of the profits, $20,000, and he'd been slow to pay up.

Speaker 12 Brian was going to go over there basically and tell Brett, look, I've had enough excuses. You know, I want my money.

Speaker 26 Smith learned that Brian Kafnerhurst had money problems, so it looked like he went to the Parkers to demand money he was owed and take whatever else was in the safe.

Speaker 26 Tammy had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Speaker 45 What do you miss most about Tammy?

Speaker 58 Her laugh.

Speaker 9 Just her being.

Speaker 65 She'd always call.

Speaker 9 She always made sure we had our girls' nights out. We haven't done that since she was killed.

Speaker 43 It was all so sad.

Speaker 16 The Parkers, with their children, had just returned from a family cruise, tanned and smiling.

Speaker 50 A relative on that cruise told Brett's aunt, Sandra Hunter, it had been a wonderful trip.

Speaker 10 She She said that it was, that that was the happiest that she had seen Brett and Tammy.

Speaker 26 And now Brett's friend saw a man in pain after losing his wife.

Speaker 59 He'd just break down crying, and he would cry all the time.

Speaker 26 As for shooting Brian, howdy believed his friend did what he had to do.

Speaker 59 He didn't have no choice. It was either, you know, him or Brian, and that's the way he told us.

Speaker 1 over and over, you know.

Speaker 56 To those grieving for Tammy, it seemed that at least there had been some terrible justice for Brian.

Speaker 9 People that love Tammy so much, you know,

Speaker 9 you couldn't help but feel

Speaker 9 that he maybe, maybe people thought he got what he deserved.

Speaker 40 Investigators told reporters the tragic deaths were the result of a robbery gone bad.

Speaker 16 It seemed like a cut-and-dried case.

Speaker 27 But things aren't always what they seem.

Speaker 64 Coming up.

Speaker 12 So there were a series of text messages that were with the young lady, and they were definitely of a sexual nature.

Speaker 14 When Dateline continues.

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Speaker 2 The Beast in Me is a riveting psychological cat and mouse story about guilt.

Speaker 4 and justice and doubt, now playing only on Netflix.

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Speaker 43 Police had announced the double murder in gracious Ascot Estates was a robbery gone very wrong.

Speaker 29 The unlikely intruder, the Parker's family friend, Brian Kafnerhurst.

Speaker 20 Brett Parker told the investigators that his friend Brian had shot his wife Tammy in a botched robbery attempt.

Speaker 56 Then Brett, in fear for his own life, killed his friend.

Speaker 16 It looked like self-defense.

Speaker 34 But Sheriff Leon Lott knew they couldn't close the case without thoroughly checking out Brett's story.

Speaker 13 It was three people there, two of them are dead. So we have to rely on him to explain to us what happened.
So we were listening to everything that he was saying, and then we'd go back and check it.

Speaker 26 Investigators went over Brett's account, starting with the moment Brian entered the house.

Speaker 50 Before long, something unusual came to their attention.

Speaker 22 Brett told police he was sitting on the downstairs toilet when he heard the shots ring out.

Speaker 57 But one of the female crime scene investigators noticed this.

Speaker 7 The toilet seat was up.

Speaker 12 Our CSI lieutenant is a female, and she made mention of that.

Speaker 58 That particularly bothered her.

Speaker 47 Of course, it takes a woman to notice that. Right.

Speaker 60 As they poured over crime scene photos, another small but important detail jumped out.

Speaker 34 Ryan's gym bag with ammunition and an empty magazine clip visible.

Speaker 12 The unusual thing about it was those items were found on top of the clothing and the other items in the bag.

Speaker 16 Unusual because of what they noticed on the home security video that captured Brian arriving at the house.

Speaker 12 And if you looked at the video, the way Brian nonchalantly threw that bag over his shoulder, you would feel like that those items would have gone to the lowest point or the end of the bag.

Speaker 12 So it was almost like those items had been placed there.

Speaker 7 And there was more that didn't seem to quite add up. Investigators took a hard look at the timeline of the crime as Brett described it.

Speaker 16 That home security video showed Brian arriving at Brett's home at 12.31 p.m.

Speaker 72 Brett called 911 to report having shot Brian at 12.42.

Speaker 37 What happened? Who shot your wife?

Speaker 36 A friend of mine, Brian.

Speaker 16 Police believe the confrontation should have only taken a couple of minutes.

Speaker 30 So why, they wondered, had Brett taken nine more minutes to call 911?

Speaker 65 Police were also curious why, with his wife shot inside, Brett had come outside to make that call.

Speaker 12 If it were me, I'd have been inside with my wife, you know, holding my wife. I'm trying to administer CPR and first aid to my wife.

Speaker 12 And he didn't appear to have any blood on him at all.

Speaker 43 Yeah, was that strange that he didn't have blood on him?

Speaker 65 It was.

Speaker 26 Investigators picked through every detail in Brett's account and found that while he'd been upfront about his illegal bookie business, he wasn't upfront about everything.

Speaker 12 We covered certain things for Brett, like had he been involved in any adulterous affairs, and he told us no. Within that first 24 hours, we found out that wasn't true.

Speaker 12 So there were a series of text messages that were with a young lady and they were definitely of a sexual nature, indicative of an affair.

Speaker 13 And they started looking at the evidence versus what he had said. And over a period of time, it just kept getting more red flags come up.

Speaker 16 Tammy's best friend, Angela Leon, didn't know anything about the investigation, but she had a gut feeling something wasn't right.

Speaker 16 She called up the sheriff's department to say she thought Brett was lying.

Speaker 9 I reached out to them and wanted to make sure they knew that there were people that had a different side of the story.

Speaker 44 Brett continued to insist it was self-defense, but within a week of the shooting, he had gotten a lawyer, David Fedor.

Speaker 45 The sheriff had told us he thought it was a little odd that Brett retained a defense attorney so quickly when he was saying he was the victim.

Speaker 4 Anybody in a situation like that that doesn't retain an attorney immediately needs psychiatric help.

Speaker 52 His attorney said Brett was no killer.

Speaker 16 He was just defending himself after Brian showed up to steal his money.

Speaker 4 Kappenhurst went over there specifically to rob the people. Tammy was there.
He shot her first, and we assumed he was going to shoot Brett. Brett got the drop on him instead.
What

Speaker 45 motive could he have to shoot her?

Speaker 4 The motive he would have to shoot her was getting the money out of the safe and have no witnesses.

Speaker 45 Why carry out a burglary when you know the wife is home?

Speaker 4 Your guess is as good as mine.

Speaker 55 I think some people just find that hard to believe.

Speaker 46 Sure they do.

Speaker 4 People find it hard to believe that airplanes fly, but

Speaker 4 it happens.

Speaker 53 Brett Parker met directly with Sheriff Leon Lott.

Speaker 29 He even invited the sheriff to the house to show him the crime scene.

Speaker 13 He wanted to walk me through the house. to demonstrate what had happened.
And after that meeting, we sat at his kitchen table.

Speaker 13 And at that point, it was the first time I told him I just didn't believe him.

Speaker 29 The sheriff was now convinced that Brett was no victim.

Speaker 17 He was the mastermind of a cruel and highly unusual plot to kill his wife and frame a friend.

Speaker 9 He'd gotten away with this gambling for so many years. What else is he going to get away with?

Speaker 26 Three months after the murders, there was startling news.

Speaker 80 The Richland County Sheriff's Department says Parker is lying.

Speaker 79 Brett Parker was charged with two murders.

Speaker 45 Why do you think it took so long?

Speaker 4 Because they didn't have a case.

Speaker 11 That's what I thought.

Speaker 49 As the case headed to trial, there were no witnesses, no video of the crime, and little forensic evidence pointing to either Brett or Brian as the real killer.

Speaker 4 It was a high-profile case, two killings, and in a small town, they wanted to make the most of it.

Speaker 8 Coming up, the trial opens with a bombshell.

Speaker 1 Not about him, but about her.

Speaker 75 Did your relationship become more intimate?

Speaker 14 When Dateline continues.

Speaker 16 In August of 2012, Columbia, South Carolina was reeling from the news that Brett Parker, the only survivor of a tragedy which left two people dead, had himself been charged as the cold-blooded killer who masterminded the whole plan.

Speaker 16 Brett's family and friends believed he was a man wrongly accused.

Speaker 59 He just wanted us to know that he was innocent. You know, every time he said, I am not, I did not do it.

Speaker 16 Even Tammy's close friend, former bandmate Woody Woodward, had a hard time believing Brett was guilty.

Speaker 45 You had no reason to doubt Brett, it sounds like.

Speaker 58 I believed him.

Speaker 12 They actually called me and wanted me to be a character witness, and I told them I'd be glad to, because I did not see him doing this

Speaker 16 when the trial began in may it was a courtroom divided on one side brett's family and friends including his and tammy's teenage daughter on the other side friends and family of tammy and brian sat together they wore blue tammy's favorite color as a show of unity against the man they believed murdered both victims there were shots fired in the home in her opening statement the prosecutor minced no words.

Speaker 34 Brett Parker had committed a terrible crime, then elaborately covered it up.

Speaker 7 As you listen to the details of this case,

Speaker 48 you will be firmly convinced that it was Brett Parker who not only had the motive, but actually

Speaker 10 did kill Tammy Parker.

Speaker 10 And then Brian Kappnerhurst.

Speaker 26 Prosecutors wanted the jury to know that the Parker marriage wasn't what it seemed.

Speaker 60 Brett had strayed, once with an out-of-town woman and several times with a local bank teller.

Speaker 39 Lindsey Mullins testified that they met, they texted, and that he shared some confidences about his marriage.

Speaker 6 He said that he slept upstairs and they slept down. Or that she slept downstairs.

Speaker 70 But the Parkers had more problems than just Brett's affairs.

Speaker 16 They called Ben Staples to the stand, a Parker family friend.

Speaker 84 How did Tammy feel about her marriage?

Speaker 31 Well, as the years went by, she was unhappy.

Speaker 31 She had conversations. We had conversations regarding religion.
Brett did not believe

Speaker 31 in God and going to church. That was important to her.

Speaker 26 Then, Ben revealed another bit of evidence about the Parker shaky marriage.

Speaker 27 This one, a bombshell.

Speaker 75 Did your relationship become more intimate?

Speaker 31 Yes.

Speaker 81 Approximately how many years ago was that?

Speaker 31 About three years ago.

Speaker 75 And did that end?

Speaker 31 It did. It did not end our friendship.
We remained best friends until her murder.

Speaker 23 The public admission of the affair was a total shock, even to those closest to Tammy.

Speaker 45 So this was a secret she kept from her girlfriends?

Speaker 58 She did.

Speaker 9 We always felt like Ben probably loved Tammy,

Speaker 9 because how could you not love Tammy? And we weren't really, you know, we didn't know Ben that well.

Speaker 9 So we didn't think that that had happened.

Speaker 49 Your opinion?

Speaker 55 Lenny Gunter, an old friend and fellow bookie, testified that four months before the murders, Brett was talking about a separation.

Speaker 76 My advice to him, if he wanted it, was that being that it was coming up on the holidays for him to try to go home and work it out with Tammy and at least get through the holidays for the kids' sake.

Speaker 76 And then after the first of the year, for them to try to get back together. And if

Speaker 76 separating was their option then, then so be it.

Speaker 39 A bad marriage is one thing.

Speaker 74 Murder is another.

Speaker 54 So prosecutors turned to a different motive, money.

Speaker 74 Unbeknownst to Tammy, Brett was in deep debt.

Speaker 54 He had made the biggest mistake a bookie can make.

Speaker 29 He gambled gambled himself.

Speaker 10 And Brett wasn't too good at it.

Speaker 16 Gunter told an investigator Brett owed him big money.

Speaker 76 I just told him about the debt that Brett and I had individually, his only count,

Speaker 76 $100,000, $101,000.

Speaker 62 And this was not the first time Brett's gambling had been a serious issue.

Speaker 12 Brett had been caught several years before in a great amount of debt, and it nearly caused a divorce then. His father bailed him out.
It was about $100,000.

Speaker 44 The state tried to convince the jury that killing Tammy had been Brett's way out of a shaky marriage and his gambling debt. Tammy had taken out a life insurance policy.

Speaker 31 $868,000 was the ultimate amount.

Speaker 75 And who was the beneficiary of this development?

Speaker 58 Brett.

Speaker 43 Tammy also had close to $200,000 in a 401k.

Speaker 27 Combined with the insurance, nearly $1.1 million, all left to Brett.

Speaker 47 What kind of man sets up his friend to take the fall for murdering his wife and then he murders the friend and leaves him with the legacy of, you know, that he murdered somebody.

Speaker 12 He wanted to perpetuate this lifestyle. He wanted to continue to gamble.
He wanted to enjoy the girlfriends,

Speaker 12 and Tammy was a hindrance to him. He felt like this was his way out.

Speaker 28 In court, the ugly accusation seemed to get to Brett.

Speaker 55 As the medical examiner testified about Tammy's fatal injuries, Brett said he felt ill and was rushed to the hospital.

Speaker 54 Brett was back, however, the next day to hear the prosecution present evidence it said proved he planned the murders, framed his friend, and then covered it up. Here's how they said he did it.

Speaker 39 First, he shot and killed his wife in that upstairs office.

Speaker 16 Then, at 12.25 p.m., Brett's own home security camera catches someone peering through the blinds. Prosecutors believe it was Brett waiting for Brian to arrive for a meeting Brett himself had arranged.

Speaker 43 Gunshot residue was found on those blinds.

Speaker 12 Proof, the state said, that Brett had already fired a gun before brian even arrived at 1225 who's that picking out the blinds i mean that was somebody in our opinion who had just done this heinous thing and was nervously awaiting his his patsy or his fall guy to show up after killing brian his fall guy prosecutors said brett staged the crime scene and planted that gym bag in ammunition I guess the idea was that was supposed to be some kind of murder bag.

Speaker 19 And placed the gun he'd used to kill his wife in Brian's hand.

Speaker 39 There's no way Brian brought that gun to Brutt's house, a friend testified.

Speaker 10 Did you know whether Brian had a gun?

Speaker 86 Not no, but heck no, he did not have a gun. Brian was scared of guns.

Speaker 86 There is no way on this earth

Speaker 86 that Brian Kappnerhurst had a pistol. None.

Speaker 87 Zero.

Speaker 86 It did not happen.

Speaker 17 And there was something else.

Speaker 67 That gunshot to the forearm.

Speaker 33 Brian Kappnerhurst had suffered a major gunshot wound to his arm, but he was still clutching the gun as he lay dead on the floor.

Speaker 16 A medical examiner testified it's unlikely the gun would have stayed in his hand.

Speaker 80 In my medical opinion, based on the shots

Speaker 80 to the forearm and falling over, I believe that the gun

Speaker 82 fell out of his hand.

Speaker 13 The gun had been placed in his hand.

Speaker 23 The prosecution had made its case.

Speaker 44 Now it was time for the defense to fight back.

Speaker 4 They had no proof whatsoever that he shot his wife. It was completely circumstantial.

Speaker 15 The defense was about to tell the jury that Brian Kappnerhurst, not Brett Parker, was the real villain.

Speaker 8 Coming up, Brett's team produces a powerful witness to back up his story, his teenage daughter.

Speaker 11 I remember.

Speaker 14 When Dateline continues.

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Speaker 16 Brett Parker had declared a resounding not guilty to the murder of his wife Tammy and friend Brian Kappnerhurst.

Speaker 16 From the day it happened to this moment in court, he insisted that he was the innocent victim of a robbery gone bad.

Speaker 37 And who shot your wife?

Speaker 36 A friend of mine, Brian.

Speaker 37 Is he still there?

Speaker 36 I shot him. I think I killed him.

Speaker 26 Defense attorney David Fedor said the accusation that Brett plotted to kill his wife and then framed his friend was too far-fetched to believe.

Speaker 4 I think Brett is a fine young man. He's not a genius.
It would have taken an Einstein to set this thing up.

Speaker 45 Would it take a genius, though, to concoct a plan like that?

Speaker 4 I think I'm fairly bright, and I'll be damned if I could have thought it up.

Speaker 77 Brian Kappnerhurst fired that handgun.

Speaker 38 In court, Brett Parker's attorneys said Brian Kappnerhurst was a desperate man with far more motive for murder.

Speaker 3 A man that was at the end of his rope,

Speaker 1 who had a desire for money

Speaker 24 and a plan for violence.

Speaker 67 And the evidence in this case is going to prove it.

Speaker 16 Still, the defense thought it had an uphill battle.

Speaker 33 Fedor knew it didn't help his case that his client was an unfaithful husband and gambler.

Speaker 4 They showed he was a bad man because he gambled. He had an affair.
They

Speaker 4 said that was another thing that showed he was a murderer. It was just ludicrous.

Speaker 29 From the start, Fedor and co-counsel Mark Whitlark wanted the jury to know that, okay, sure, Brett, a gambler himself, was deep in debt, but he was in debt to an old friend he'd known since he was 15.

Speaker 48 And you weren't worried about that, were you?

Speaker 76 I've never been worried about Brett.

Speaker 66 As a matter of fact, if he had called you and said, look, I'm having a a problem, you would have wiped the whole thing clean for it, would you?

Speaker 67 We would have worked something out, yes, sir.

Speaker 82 Sure, sure.

Speaker 66 And you never put any pressure on him, or if you called him up, I'm going to come get you or something, right?

Speaker 22 And that life insurance policy the prosecution suggested was a smoking gun.

Speaker 16 The insurance agent testified Brett wasn't even all that interested in a policy on Tammy.

Speaker 4 Did you attempt to sell him insurance on his wife?

Speaker 37 Yes, Tammy.

Speaker 4 Were you successful in selling him insurance to his fly?

Speaker 11 I was not.

Speaker 27 Tammy had taken out the insurance on her own, and instead of claiming a dime for himself, Brett had already signed the insurance money over to his kids.

Speaker 4 Did he tell you directly, Mr. Spell, that he wanted this money to go to the children?

Speaker 11 Yes.

Speaker 56 And remember those downstairs blinds?

Speaker 16 The ones with the gunshot residue the prosecution said had been left by Brett before Brian even arrived?

Speaker 45 Proof that he killed Tammy ahead of time and then looked through the blinds to see Brian coming.

Speaker 4 They stated that, but they didn't prove that.

Speaker 16 A defense expert suggested the fine particles had merely drifted to that blind even days later.

Speaker 87 If you have an air handling system like we have in most buildings and houses, Over a period of time, it will be sucked through the intakes and distributed fairly evenly through a place.

Speaker 16 And that curious matter of the toilet seat being up when logically it should have been down.

Speaker 73 And that's the bathroom that the defendant indicated he was at. Yes.

Speaker 66 The objects in the arm would have that strictly.

Speaker 56 When the prosecution tried to enter that as evidence in court, the defense successfully objected.

Speaker 17 Brett's attorney told us it was just a family habit to leave the toilet seat up to make things easier for their young son.

Speaker 4 He has a six-year-old child. Every time the child comes in from school or anyplace else, he runs to the bathroom right away.
Brett and his wife always put the seat up.

Speaker 45 He hears shots fired in his house and he's going to think about putting the toilet seat up?

Speaker 4 It's an automatic reaction if you do it every day.

Speaker 26 It was explainable behavior.

Speaker 16 The motive was flimsy, said the defense. Now it attacked the state's forensic evidence.

Speaker 20 The defense used the amount of gunshot residue found on Brett's hands to undermine the theory that Brett had shot his wife with one gun and his friend with another, arguing there just wasn't enough gun residue on his hands to have fired both weapons.

Speaker 87 If he fired both the 9mm and the 410 revolver in combination, I would expect his levels to be very high.

Speaker 66 All right, well, what did you find in this case, sir?

Speaker 87 Well, his levels are consistent with someone who has fired a firearm, certainly, but they're not extremely high.

Speaker 16 And the defense argued that that Brian did have gunshot residue on his hands, proving he could have killed Tammy.

Speaker 87 Certainly, that's not the only way in which gunshot residue can be had, but it is consistent with firing a gun.

Speaker 16 And there was the prosecution's theory that the gun in Brian's hand had been placed there after his death, that he could never have held on to it after being shot himself.

Speaker 45 The state claims that it would have been impossible for Brian to have that gun in his hand, given that the severe injury that he sustained to his arm.

Speaker 4 That was hogwash.

Speaker 4 Many, many people

Speaker 4 have a death grip.

Speaker 4 If you're shot and you've got something in your hand, you squeeze it tighter.

Speaker 53 And the idea that Brian would never have had a gun?

Speaker 43 A friend of Brett's, Robert Bauer, says that's just not true.

Speaker 71 He wasn't asked to tell this story in court, but says that a month before the killings, he was at the Parker home and saw Brian handling one of Brett's guns with ease

Speaker 89 he took all the bullets out and handed the clip and handed me that one and then he handed me a revolver which he had took the bullets out but and then i hear his friends say that he would never touch a gun brett told investigators he'd given brian that nine millimeter handgun for protection and in a dramatic move the defense brought in a witness to confirm that brett and tammy's 14 year old daughter brooke brian and my dad were discussing a gun that my dad had

Speaker 84 and

Speaker 84 they were just talking about how they thought it was good for him to have safety at his house

Speaker 84 and to protect Brian's family.

Speaker 66 You were talking about Mr. Catherine Hurst.

Speaker 6 Yes, sir.

Speaker 26 Having young Brooke Parker testify was controversial, but Brett's aunt knew Brooke believed her father was innocent and wanted to take the stand.

Speaker 10 She had some information that needed to be given and

Speaker 10 she did what she felt like she needed to do.

Speaker 23 She wanted the jury to hear her story, no matter how difficult it was to tell.

Speaker 6 I witnessed them talking about how he was giving a gun to Brian.

Speaker 11 I'm not lying about that. I was there, and I remember.

Speaker 19 It was a tragedy that had stirred up the quiet waters of this Carolina community, and soon a jury would have to decide who was to blame.

Speaker 16 But before they did, the defense wanted them to hear from the only person alive who really knew what happened in the house that day.

Speaker 29 Brett Parker himself.

Speaker 64 Coming up.

Speaker 4 Did you ever have a plan

Speaker 4 to shoot and kill your wife?

Speaker 11 Never hurt her.

Speaker 11 I would never hurt Tim.

Speaker 8 But would the jury believe him?

Speaker 73 As to the charge of the murder of Tammy Parker, we the jury unanimously find the defendant when dateline continues.

Speaker 18 What really happened inside that Ascot Estates home?

Speaker 16 In court, Brett Parker confidently took the stand, eager to tell his version of events.

Speaker 51 First, he wanted the jury to know his marriage was hardly the wreck the prosecution made it out to be.

Speaker 3 Me and Tammy got along fine.

Speaker 82 We put our kids before everything.

Speaker 82 I know that's why I could never go to her and ask for separation, because it would just destroy our kids.

Speaker 16 And he explained his initial reticence to tell police about his affairs or reveal his own massive gambling debts had nothing to do with the murders.

Speaker 82 When they asked me about the affair, and I admitted it to them that next day. And as far as the gambling goes, if you know bookmakers, it's not something you just talk about.

Speaker 16 Then, struggling to keep his emotions in check,

Speaker 41 he recounted the day of the shooting.

Speaker 82 Brian was standing there with a gun, pointed at me,

Speaker 59 and

Speaker 80 told me to go to the safe.

Speaker 59 And

Speaker 82 I walked up the steps. I mean, I didn't know what was going on.

Speaker 1 I was

Speaker 58 panicked.

Speaker 82 I kept asking, why?

Speaker 11 What are you doing?

Speaker 82 And as we walked by by the office, I could see,

Speaker 82 I could see Tammy's feet sticking out of the bathroom.

Speaker 37 And

Speaker 82 then I knew something was wrong, bad,

Speaker 13 that he had

Speaker 82 probably shot her.

Speaker 4 When you shot Happenhurst, did you have any fear in your mind at that time?

Speaker 3 Yeah, I'm scared.

Speaker 82 Yeah, but when I got to that safe, I made a decision right then that it's going to be me or him.

Speaker 16 Ultimately, the defense wanted the jury to see that while a flawed man, Brett Parker was no killer.

Speaker 4 Did you shoot in self-defense

Speaker 4 captain hurts?

Speaker 82 Yes, I did.

Speaker 4 Did you ever have a plan,

Speaker 4 a premeditated plan,

Speaker 4 to shoot and kill your wife?

Speaker 55 No, that wasn't.

Speaker 62 Under cross-examination, Brett held firm, sticking to the story he first told investigators.

Speaker 81 Did you think it was important to tell the police the truth?

Speaker 82 I did tell them the truth. I've told them what's happened in that house, and that is the truth.
And I believe, as I see it, the evidence proves it.

Speaker 16 And when the prosecutor pressed him about his infidelities, Brett insisted his feelings for Tammy never wavered.

Speaker 57 You testified you love Tammy. You still love her to this day.

Speaker 13 I do. I'll love her to this day.

Speaker 11 I will.

Speaker 56 Despite their troubles, Brett said the love for Tammy was always there.

Speaker 45 But you would never do anything to hurt her.

Speaker 37 Never hurt her.

Speaker 58 I would never hurt Tammy.

Speaker 37 Never had.

Speaker 26 It was time for closing arguments in the case of the people versus Brett Parker.

Speaker 4 I ask you, with all my heart and all the love and faith I have in our jury system

Speaker 4 to send Brett back to his family.

Speaker 4 don't let this injustice continue.

Speaker 74 Brett Parker is no victim.

Speaker 54 He is a greedy, selfish, entitled, and while yes, maybe even charming, at times, manipulative killer.

Speaker 16 Then the case was in the hands of the jury.

Speaker 45 What's the mood like?

Speaker 4 I told my wife, I said, if it's short, I said, I don't, I'm not going to feel good. I said, unless they take a while.

Speaker 57 In just three hours, they were back. In the divided courtroom, the families of Tammy, Brian, and Brett prepared to hear Brett's fate.

Speaker 73 As to the charge of the murder of Tammy Parker, we the jury unanimously find the defendant guilty.

Speaker 73 As to the charge of the murder of Brian Kappenhurst, we the jury unanimously find the

Speaker 73 defendant guilty.

Speaker 41 When you heard the word guilty, what were you thinking?

Speaker 69 Thank God.

Speaker 10 It's sad.

Speaker 9 It's not the outcome any of us wanted. Tammy's not back.
Now Brooke has no father.

Speaker 9 But thank God he didn't get away with it.

Speaker 28 Brett's sentence, read immediately, was life behind bars.

Speaker 8 It just was like,

Speaker 59 God,

Speaker 59 I've lost a friend. You know, I've lost one of my best friends.

Speaker 11 It's

Speaker 58 very emotional.

Speaker 41 Does that weigh heavy on you, knowing he'll be behind bars for life?

Speaker 4 Well, certainly it weighs heavily on me. I'm an Irishman.
Anything weighs heavily on me. But that and especially because I've defended many people that I knew were guilty.

Speaker 4 This is one I thought was not guilty.

Speaker 56 Tammy's friends keep her memory alive in part through her music.

Speaker 16 In the fall of 2012, Ben Staples held his annual barbecue as a tribute to Tammy.

Speaker 45 Will it ever be the same without her?

Speaker 31 We will continue, but it obviously won't be the same without Tammy Joe.

Speaker 43 Things are settling down again here in this quiet southern town.

Speaker 29 The healing has begun for the families and friends of both victims.

Speaker 9 I know Tammy's in heaven. She was very strong in her convictions, and she always said that.
She always said to us. I don't know about Brett, but I know I'll be in heaven.

Speaker 9 I feel like she's around. I feel her presence.

Speaker 9 I can hear her. She's still there.
I still feel her with me.

Speaker 11 I dream about her a lot.

Speaker 8 That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt.
Thanks for joining us.

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