The Eastlake Conspiracy

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Speaker 5 Tonight on Dateline, a devoted dad of six, the target in a twisted plot to kill. Who would want him dead?

Speaker 7 You get a knock at your door that would change your life. Yeah, it was a pretty dark time.
This was real.

Speaker 8 She was shocked. The last thing that you expect to hear is a police officer telling you that somebody's trying to kill your husband.

Speaker 9 It's a murder for hire. It's very serious.

Speaker 10 He offered me the $50,000. I was not going to let this happen.

Speaker 7 You were an undercover officer?

Speaker 9 The undercover hitman. I had to totally change how I acted, talked, everything.

Speaker 11 You're sure you want this done? I'm positive. I am positive I want it.

Speaker 7 One mistake could blow this whole operation. Absolutely.

Speaker 8 The seconds are ticking away.

Speaker 12 It was all or nothing.

Speaker 7 This isn't a hardened criminal. This is a soccer mob.

Speaker 7 I mean, it was hell.

Speaker 7 It was hell.

Speaker 2 Here's Andrea Canning with the East Lake Conspiracy.

Speaker 7 Along the shores of majestic Lake Erie, not far from Cleveland, lies a little-known city named Eastlake, Ohio.

Speaker 2 It's more of a suburb.

Speaker 10 You got nice properties with decent-sized yards and gorgeous waterfront views.

Speaker 7 It's the kind of place folks settle to raise a family. Quiet and safe.

Speaker 10 You never hear about murders or stuff like that.

Speaker 7 But that wholesome image was about to be shattered.

Speaker 13 Basically, the gist of it was he wants this guy dead.

Speaker 7 Someone had murder on their mind and a deadly plot was brewing.

Speaker 14 It's one of the things that you see on TV.

Speaker 9 You have to be evil to want to murder somebody else.

Speaker 7 It It would all come crashing down on one family. I mean, it was hell.

Speaker 7 It was hell. But would those responsible slip through detectives' fingers?

Speaker 7 It all began Memorial Day weekend, 2011.

Speaker 13 Eastlake, please, Stephanie.

Speaker 7 It was a Friday evening when an unusual 911 call came into Dispatch.

Speaker 13 I was approached at the Captain's Club to murder somebody for $50,000. So I need somebody out here.

Speaker 7 A murder for hire in Eastlake? It was hard to believe.

Speaker 13 Okay, and what is your name? Patrick Sabo.

Speaker 7 The dispatcher recognized the caller's name.

Speaker 7 Patrick Sabo had lived in Eastlake for years, was a former Army Ranger, and was known to everyone at the station, including the chief of police, Larry Reich.

Speaker 7 How did you know the caller?

Speaker 14 He's been involved in a couple of minor incidents in our city. It was never a big problem.
He's just somebody that we had dealt with in the past and we knew him by face.

Speaker 7 So police were surprised about the reason Pat was calling. He wanted to report that someone was planning a murder.

Speaker 13 And they approached Sheriff Dana.

Speaker 13 It's the father of one of my high school friends.

Speaker 7 How bizarre is that for your police department to get a call like that?

Speaker 15 It's extremely bizarre.

Speaker 14 We're pretty surprised by it.

Speaker 7 This is the land of soccer moms and children and families and

Speaker 7 not something that you would expect.

Speaker 12 Correct.

Speaker 14 We don't deal with stuff like that on a normal basis.

Speaker 7 Did you believe it? Did you think that this was possible?

Speaker 15 Well, we definitely knew it was worth looking into.

Speaker 7 Police knew Pat well enough to know he wasn't lying. So the dispatcher wanted to know more about this man offering Pat money to kill someone.

Speaker 13 Money on my name, Patrick. I'm not sure of his first name, but his last name is Zombori.

Speaker 7 Zombori? Whoever he was, perhaps his desire to have someone killed was just a moment of anger or a crude joke taken wrong. But investigators needed to be sure.

Speaker 14 We definitely didn't want to ignore it and, God forbid, let something bad happen.

Speaker 7 That's no joke when you hear something like that on 911.

Speaker 9 No, it's not.

Speaker 7 Detective Christopher Bauersock, now retired, was assigned the case and he sprung into action. Police called Pat Sabo to come down to the station.

Speaker 9 And I interviewed him.

Speaker 13 All right, today's date is May 27th, 2011.

Speaker 7 Bauersock recorded the audio.

Speaker 13 All right, why don't you just tell me from the beginning how this all transpired?

Speaker 7 The detective wasn't sure what to expect, but it didn't take long to see that Patrick believed Zambori was serious about his offer.

Speaker 3 He

Speaker 13 flat out offered me money to kill him.

Speaker 7 Kill who? Pat said he was given few details about the target.

Speaker 13 The subject that he once killed lives in Atlanta, Georgia. And his name is what? I don't know his name.

Speaker 7 No name, but he said Zombori did give him the target's photo and home address.

Speaker 13 Is he willing to pay for your travel expenses? He's paying for all expenses paid.

Speaker 7 Did you have any fears about

Speaker 7 telling the police?

Speaker 3 No.

Speaker 10 I fear no man on this earth. No woman, no creature.

Speaker 7 Was this a believable story he was telling you?

Speaker 9 Well, anybody is going to have a little bit of skepticism when you hear something like this.

Speaker 7 After all, Pat was a colorful character.

Speaker 14 Pretty hungry for money.

Speaker 7 But if detectives had any doubts about Pat's story, they didn't last long.

Speaker 10 As soon as I handed him the picture and the address, I said, this is how serious they are.

Speaker 12 The cop went, okay, now that changes things.

Speaker 7 To investigators, Pat's story was so detailed, it seemed clear this was no hoax. So they had to move fast.
A man's life could be in danger.

Speaker 14 If we delay our own investigation and it would be carried out by a third or fourth party, then

Speaker 14 it would just be tragic.

Speaker 7 You wanted to take control of the situation.

Speaker 14 Absolutely.

Speaker 7 And that meant finding the target before it was too late.

Speaker 16 Coming up.

Speaker 5 The first piece of the puzzle falls into place.

Speaker 9 We found out that he was a prominent businessman.

Speaker 2 Target identified.

Speaker 5 a devoted husband and dedicated dad of six.

Speaker 7 Just completely selfless.

Speaker 5 Why would anyone want him dead?

Speaker 3 Just spite, hate, venom, vitriol.

Speaker 7 East Lake police had reason to believe a man's life was at risk, but they needed more evidence to be sure.

Speaker 9 It's a murder for hire.

Speaker 9 It's very serious.

Speaker 7 Serious and also a puzzle. Investigators were missing key pieces about the target.

Speaker 13 I was never given his name or anything. He gave me a picture and his address.

Speaker 7 Detectives ran a background check, and they learned the person who lived at that address was named David Mehter. David was the target.

Speaker 9 We found out that he was a prominent businessman.

Speaker 7 A businessman who lived nearly a thousand miles away in Gwinnett County, Georgia. From what detectives could tell, David seemed to have it all.

Speaker 7 A good job, a nice house, and a happy marriage with a new wife. It was a small wedding, intimate wedding.

Speaker 7 Lonnie and David Meader had been married less than a year, but Lonnie already felt like she'd met her soulmate. Yeah, we had a

Speaker 7 really, really nice connection.

Speaker 7 It was a second marriage for both Lonnie and David, and they each had kids. David, four girls, Lonnie, a son and daughter.

Speaker 7 We are both in the six children club.

Speaker 7 Not always easy, but a lot of fun. Yeah, I'll tell you, it was super fun.

Speaker 7 I loved having kids. Lonnie described her life with David as wonderful, but says she never could have imagined the challenges they'd face together as a couple.
How did you meet David?

Speaker 7 We met at a work function. They both worked in the automotive industry and were attending a conference in Las Vegas when a mutual friend suggested they meet.
There was an instant connect.

Speaker 7 That was a bit shocking, I'll tell you.

Speaker 7 I had been on my own for just about two years and was pretty well settled in that. You knew early on that David could be the one.
Yes, I knew early on.

Speaker 7 Not to mention that I'm sure you must have found him handsome. Oh, super handsome.
Wasn't sure if I could talk about that. Yes, very much so.

Speaker 7 Great smile, great eyes,

Speaker 7 but just an instant, like instant soulmate. But once the conference ended, reality quickly set in.
You look at a map and you go, oh, you live in Baltimore and I live in Atlanta.

Speaker 7 You know, how does that work? David was also separated, going through a messy divorce. and figuring out a custody arrangement for his girls who still lived with his ex.

Speaker 7 You had been through a divorce yourself?

Speaker 3 I I had.

Speaker 7 Did that help in giving him David advice about how to navigate these waters? I think so. Early on in the friendship,

Speaker 7 I can remember encouraging him to

Speaker 7 try again, to do everything they could to fight for the marriage. But Lonnie says David assured her there was no hope for a reconciliation.

Speaker 7 So the next time he was in Atlanta for business, they went on their first date. We went to my church.
Wow, that's a very wholesome first date.

Speaker 7 Yeah, I knew that if that wasn't a connect, then it would be very difficult for us. It was a match made in heaven.
A year and a half later, David and Lonnie got engaged. My ring was very special.

Speaker 7 He and the kids all went to pick it out.

Speaker 7 There's six baguette diamonds around the center of it to represent each of the kids because this was not just a marriage for us, it was a marriage of our families.

Speaker 7 After they married, David and Lonnie moved in together in Georgia. David won custody of his oldest daughter, but his three other girls continued to live out of state with their mom.

Speaker 7 Visitation in general was difficult from day one. Things weren't easy with David's ex, but Lonnie says David flew to Ohio to see his daughters whenever he could.

Speaker 7 He still went for every school event,

Speaker 7 every weekend that he could get time with them. Did that make you fall in love with him more? His dedication to his children?

Speaker 3 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 7 Yeah, just completely selfless. And he was gonna do whatever it took to make sure that they were okay and that they were taken care of and supported and loved.

Speaker 7 Absolutely.

Speaker 7 Great father, loving husband, successful businessman. It all seemed ideal.
So why did David have a price on his head? That was a question the police were asking, and Patrick Sabo had the answers.

Speaker 7 He was about to tell detectives the rest of the story, including why the man named Zambori wanted David dead.

Speaker 10 Just spite, hate, venom, vitriol coming out of him.

Speaker 16 Coming up.

Speaker 10 He didn't care how I did it. He didn't care what it was going to cost.

Speaker 5 Who was this mysterious man named Zambori? And who else was in on this murderous plot?

Speaker 7 I mean, this isn't a thug. This isn't a hardened criminal.
This is a soccer mob.

Speaker 9 Yeah, she just wanted him dead.

Speaker 5 When Dateline continues.

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Speaker 7 Pat Sabo was in shock. He'd been asked to do the unthinkable and was still trying to wrap his head around it.

Speaker 10 I was like, I cannot believe this is going down.

Speaker 7 A man named Sambori had offered Pat $50,000 to fly to Georgia and kill David Mehter. But Pat Sabo was no hitman.

Speaker 10 I could not let anything happen to this man. They were serious.

Speaker 10 No, it wasn't going down like that.

Speaker 7 He says that's why he called the police.

Speaker 10 If I said nothing and did nothing and saw tomorrow David on the TV dead because I didn't do anything, that would be just as bad as me pulling the trigger.

Speaker 7 Pat wanted to save David Meader, not hurt him. And as he continued his interview with detectives, it was clear there was much more to his story, especially when it came to Zambori.

Speaker 10 I'd never met this man. There was no reason for me to meet this man.

Speaker 7 Nevertheless, Pat told detectives he'd agreed to the meeting as a favor to an old high school classmate named Chrissy.

Speaker 7 Al Zambori was her dad, a 76-year-old widower. In fact, Zambori lived with his daughter and her children.
How good of friends were you with Chrissy?

Speaker 10 Not very. We didn't run in the same groups.

Speaker 7 So it was no surprise when they lost touch after graduation. Pat joined the army and became a ranger, while Chrissy went to college, got married, and had children.

Speaker 7 She was

Speaker 7 fun. She had a contagious laugh.
She was just somebody that I wanted to be around.

Speaker 7 Karen Snyder was one of Chrissy's closest friends. For years, they lived on the same quaint cul-de-sac and raised their kids together.
How was Chrissy as a mom? She was awesome.

Speaker 7 And she was also a compassionate friend. Karen says Chrissy was a shoulder to cry on when her marriage fell apart.

Speaker 7 I would call her crying, she would come over, and she was just my rock through the whole thing.

Speaker 7 Chrissy, now a divorced mom of four girls, needed a rock of her own. So she reached out to Pat on Facebook.
It had been 20 years since they'd last seen each other.

Speaker 7 The Chrissy he talked to online seemed to be unraveling.

Speaker 10 It would always turn into a poor me pity party.

Speaker 7 Pat says she spent most of their chats venting about her ex.

Speaker 10 Every conversation would end up with her complaining about how much her ex abused her mentally, physically.

Speaker 7 Pat told detectives he didn't know much about the ex, but he did know Chrissy's married name, Christine Zambori Meader. Turns out, David Meader was her ex-husband.

Speaker 10 My advice to her was always move on, but she never wanted to listen.

Speaker 7 Pat says Chrissy's continuing bitterness started to grate on his nerves.

Speaker 10 My ex-husband this, my ex-husband that. He's this, he's that.

Speaker 15 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 10 Just in a joking manner, said, you know, save your money, hire a hit.

Speaker 7 You obviously have a unique sense of humor.

Speaker 3 A little bit.

Speaker 7 Pat assumed Chrissy got the joke. But hours later, she talked to Pat on Skype.
This time, she asked him to meet her father for lunch.

Speaker 10 And when Zombori picked up Pat for the meeting, before we even get out of the parking lot, he looks me dead in the eye. And he says,

Speaker 10 if I could shoot straight, I'd have killed the son of a bitch myself already.

Speaker 7 And so why do you go forward?

Speaker 10 If there was any serious thought given to it because of what I said, well, I got to know.

Speaker 7 Pat told police his worst fears were confirmed at the restaurant when Zombori offered him money to kill David.

Speaker 10 He was nothing but spite. hate, venom, vitriol coming out of him.
He wanted him dead.

Speaker 10 He didn't care how I did it. He didn't care what it was going to cost.

Speaker 7 Did he bring up how you would be paid and how much?

Speaker 10 Yeah. He offered me the $50,000 to do this, and he offered it from the life insurance settlement that's payable to Chrissy upon his death.

Speaker 7 Did he say why you were the chosen one?

Speaker 10 They knew I was hurting for money.

Speaker 7 Did Chrissy know you were a former Army Ranger?

Speaker 10 Yeah, I was pretty proud of getting into the Rangers battalion. Most people knew.

Speaker 7 An Army Ranger is trained to kill. Do you think that Chrissy looked at your background and thought maybe this is the right guy?

Speaker 10 At least she knew I had the capabilities to do it.

Speaker 10 Her biggest mistake was thinking I would.

Speaker 7 I mean, this isn't a thug. This isn't a hardened criminal.
This is a soccer mom.

Speaker 9 Yeah, this is somebody who goes about their day like everybody else. She just wanted him dead.

Speaker 7 But the only proof police had was Pat's word. And that wasn't enough to arrest Chrissy or her dad.

Speaker 14 We didn't have enough evidence to go forward.

Speaker 7 So investigators came up with a clever plot to catch Chrissy and her dad conspiring to kill David. And they'd have to act fast.
The father and daughter wanted David killed right away.

Speaker 9 What we want to do is get a conversation on tape. That's the most important thing.

Speaker 7 But that could be difficult because Chrissy's dad wasn't just some guy angry with his ex-son-in-law. He'd spent 26 years in law enforcement.
He was a policeman.

Speaker 7 It must have been surprising to you to learn that he was a former police officer.

Speaker 9 Surprising is a good word, but

Speaker 9 a little bit worried because he could see through what other people couldn't see through.

Speaker 9 So we had to really be careful in how we handled the investigation.

Speaker 7 One mistake and the entire case could be ruined. Or worse, someone could get hurt.
Would detectives be able to pull this off?

Speaker 16 Coming up.

Speaker 5 A change in the script.

Speaker 2 A new hitman enters the scene.

Speaker 20 This guy, he's done this before.

Speaker 7 Who is the hitman going to be? The new hitman?

Speaker 9 That would be me. I had to totally change how I acted, talked, everything.

Speaker 7 East Lake detectives needed to catch Chrissy Meader and her dad on tape, planning the murder of her ex.

Speaker 7 And they knew the only person who could record that conversation was Pat Sabo.

Speaker 7 How important was Patrick Sabo to your plan?

Speaker 15 Patrick was instrumental.

Speaker 7 Was there a risk putting him in the middle of this?

Speaker 14 Absolutely. There's always a risk.

Speaker 7 But Pat made it clear to investigators, it was a risk he was willing to take.

Speaker 10 I've jumped out of planes.

Speaker 10 What's the difference?

Speaker 10 You know, you hop in your car, you got a danger of dying. At least this way, if I go during this, I went doing something pretty darn interesting.

Speaker 7 No longer just a concerned citizen calling 911, Pat was now a police informant. And his mission was clear.
With a recording device in hand, keep Chrissy and her dad talking about the murder plot.

Speaker 7 You need to record every word that is spoken.

Speaker 10 Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 7 And you're doing this on your own. Yeah.

Speaker 10 And then I just call them when I have a recording and they come pick it up.

Speaker 7 But before Patrick did anything, detectives needed to be sure David Meader was safe. So they asked police in Georgia to check on him.

Speaker 8 We had been contacted by the Eastlake Police Department and they had notified us that they were midway through an investigation.

Speaker 7 Major Stephen Shaw of the Gwinnett County Police Department sent officers to the house to observe from a distance. David was alive and well.

Speaker 7 But investigators didn't want him to know there was a threat against his life. Not yet, anyway.
They had more work to do.

Speaker 8 They were concerned that notification notification to the Mehta family would have at some point got back to Christy Meader and the case would have been concluded prematurely.

Speaker 7 So they didn't say a word and kept an eye on David.

Speaker 9 It was very important for us to get the information and at the right time make contact with him.

Speaker 7 Before they launched their sting, detectives felt there was still one thing they had to do. replace Pat Sabo as the hitman.
Police wanted one of their own on the inside, working undercover.

Speaker 7 And who is the hitman going to be? The new hitman? Me. That would be me.
So detective and

Speaker 7 playing the role of hitman.

Speaker 3 Yes.

Speaker 7 Detective Bauersock would play the role of Vincent, a hitman with mob affiliations. It's like a movie script.

Speaker 9 It is a movie script.

Speaker 9 Everything has to be laid out. You know, you have to know what you're going to say before you say it.

Speaker 7 One mistake could blow this whole operation.

Speaker 9 Absolutely. Something said wrong, an action done done wrong, anything that makes you look like a policeman.
I had to totally change everything and

Speaker 9 how I acted, talked, all my mannerisms, everything.

Speaker 7 It was now up to Pat to convince Chrissy and her dad to outsource this murder to a professional hitman.

Speaker 7 Armed with a recording device, Pat says he Skyped Chrissy and told her all about Vincent and his fee.

Speaker 10 So it really implicated her.

Speaker 7 But when he handed the recording over to Detective Bauersock, there was a problem.

Speaker 10 I forgot to hit record.

Speaker 3 Oops.

Speaker 7 It was a disappointing setback, but Pat rallied and called again the very next day.

Speaker 7 Chrissy.

Speaker 7 Okay.

Speaker 22 Remember that guy I told you about?

Speaker 22 Yeah. Okay.
Well, I talked to him, so it's now it's no longer a hypothetical situation. It's a real situation.

Speaker 22 Okay.

Speaker 7 Chrissy seemed unfazed by the idea of a new hitman. And when Pat mentioned Vince wanted to meet her elderly dad, that seemed fine, too.

Speaker 22 All right, so dad's still going to call me tonight at like

Speaker 22 or he's going to Skype me?

Speaker 22 Yeah, it'll have to be him Skyping you. Okay, we'll Skype later and I'll talk to him and we'll set something up to meet me and Vince.
Okay.

Speaker 7 Later that night, Pat spoke with Chrissy's dad and played up all the reasons Vince was the perfect choice to carry out the plan.

Speaker 4 This guy, Vince,

Speaker 20 he's uh

Speaker 20 he's done this. He's done this before, Al.

Speaker 22 Okay, that's it.

Speaker 20 I mean, he spent time in prison in California. He's put it this way.

Speaker 20 This dude scares the piss out of me. I told Chrissy, you know, this guy wants to meet tomorrow.
Okay?

Speaker 20 Okay.

Speaker 7 And just like that, Vince was in. They discussed his retainer.

Speaker 20 I told Chrissy

Speaker 20 Um, well, how much could you get tomorrow?

Speaker 20 Tomorrow?

Speaker 20 I probably could get 3,000 tomorrow if I had to.

Speaker 7 So far, everything was going according to plan. Detective Bauersock was about to meet Chrissy's dad face to face as Vince, the hitman.
Everything had to be realistic, even Bauersock's appearance.

Speaker 7 You look very nice and clean-cut right now. How did you look?

Speaker 9 I was in,

Speaker 9 you know, a Harley-Davidson t-shirt, pair of jeans.

Speaker 7 You look the part of a hitman.

Speaker 9 Yeah, I think I was pretty convincing on my look.

Speaker 7 Bauersak needed to convince Chrissy's dad. Enough for Zambori to implicate himself on tape.
The pressure was on.

Speaker 23 All right, all right. So, what's going on

Speaker 16 Coming up.

Speaker 24 Are you sure you want this done? This is a father of your grandchildren. You understand?

Speaker 25 I understand.

Speaker 25 Fully. Okay.
You've got the money.

Speaker 23 God bless.

Speaker 25 Have fun.

Speaker 7 He's saying have fun?

Speaker 9 Basically, yeah. He just wanted to have me do it.

Speaker 5 When Dateline continues.

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Speaker 7 Detective Chris Bauersock had set the stage for his undercover operation.

Speaker 7 He was about to meet Chrissy's dad for the first time, posing as Vince, the hitman. And he needed two things to happen.

Speaker 9 The first element was the meet with Al Zombori to make the hire for the hit. The second one was the

Speaker 9 transfer of money to me to solidify the deal.

Speaker 7 The meeting was in Detective Bauersaux's car, which was wired and parked in an empty lot.

Speaker 24 I'm meeting with suspect S.

Speaker 27 Al Zambori on a motor for hire.

Speaker 7 Pat Sabo arrived with Zambori to make the introduction, then stepped away to let the two men talk alone.

Speaker 23 All right, so what's going on here?

Speaker 24 He gives me a picture of some

Speaker 24 guy named David Meter.

Speaker 23 He divorced my daughter

Speaker 23 and he is pulling some real

Speaker 23 on her.

Speaker 25 Okay,

Speaker 23 he took one kid.

Speaker 25 Okay,

Speaker 23 he's threatening to take the rest of them.

Speaker 7 Zombori's only focus was finalizing the contract on David Meader's life.

Speaker 24 I got three grand here. Are you sure you want this done?

Speaker 23 Why don't you give it to me?

Speaker 24 This is a this is a father of your uh

Speaker 23 of your grandchildren.

Speaker 24 Yes, yeah, but this is a father of your grandchildren. You understand?

Speaker 25 I understand.

Speaker 3 Fully.

Speaker 23 More so than you think.

Speaker 24 What made you think of killing this guy? What made me? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Why not?

Speaker 27 That's the only answer I have.

Speaker 3 He's such a scumbag. Okay, is that it? That's it.

Speaker 25 You've got the money.

Speaker 23 Not less.

Speaker 25 Have fun.

Speaker 7 The father of his grandchildren, and he's saying, have fun?

Speaker 9 Basically, yeah. He just wanted to have me do it.

Speaker 7 Why not arrest him right then and there?

Speaker 9 The case wasn't as solid as I wanted it. I wanted Chrissy because Chrissy's the one that set this up.

Speaker 7 You believe Chrissy was the mastermind?

Speaker 9 Oh, there's no doubt in my mind.

Speaker 7 But the time to prove it was running out. Chrissy and her dad wanted David killed in the next few days.
Both had agreed to meet with Vince once it was done.

Speaker 8 They had to establish proof that Mr. Meader had been killed and that that contract had been completed.

Speaker 7 Detectives knew there was only one person who could make that happen. David Meader himself.

Speaker 7 Eastlake police sent Major Shaw of Gwinnett County to the Meadow home to finally break the news that there was a price on David's head. But there was a problem.

Speaker 7 I said, I'm sorry he's out of town.

Speaker 7 He's gone to Florida for business.

Speaker 8 At that point, we were forced to loop her in as to what was going on in order for her to make contact with David Forrest.

Speaker 7 Lonnie called David immediately and told him the horrifying story, and it was horrifying. Just ask, David.

Speaker 21 Why would my ex-wife ever do this? I know that she hates me, but I can't imagine being hated so much that something like this

Speaker 21 could be real.

Speaker 7 David's 17-year marriage to Chrissy flashed before his eyes. A once-happy household that had turned so bitter.

Speaker 21 Where we started

Speaker 21 to falter was when my career started really taking

Speaker 21 shape and I had opportunities to leave Ohio.

Speaker 7 Chrissy hated living far from her parents and the marriage eventually fell apart. David says they separated and that's when things turned ugly.

Speaker 21 I immediately became

Speaker 21 a wife beater, a child beater,

Speaker 21 and pretty much anything else that

Speaker 21 Chrissy could accuse me of.

Speaker 7 David says her accusations against him are completely untrue. According to David, Chrissy was the one who tormented him.

Speaker 7 He recalls a phone call from her at the height of their divorce and custody battle. It's a call that still haunts him to this day.

Speaker 21 I was living in this apartment building that I was up on the 10th floor. I remember the words that came out of her mouth during this conversation.

Speaker 12 We don't miss you.

Speaker 21 Girls don't need you. And you're worth more to us dead than you are alive.
You should just jump. Wow.
I fell to my knees. I remember praying and hoping for something to change.

Speaker 7 David remarried. By then, Chrissy had moved back to Ohio with the kids.
But David says the problems with his ex got worse, especially between Chrissy and their daughters.

Speaker 7 So he and Lonnie decided to fight for primary custody.

Speaker 21 I told her that there was a high likelihood that I was going to get the girls.

Speaker 7 Now, David was left to wonder, was this murder for hire some sort of custody revenge? With the clock ticking, there was no time to process it all.

Speaker 7 Major Shaw needed David to do something crazy, stage his own death.

Speaker 21 The detective gets on the phone and his words were, I need you to take pictures of yourself.

Speaker 7 Pictures the police planned to Photoshop to make it look like David had been shot in the head. He wants you to pretend that you're dead.

Speaker 21 Right. I'm thinking to myself, I can't make these believable.
How do I act dead? I'm not sure what I would look like dead.

Speaker 8 We needed to expose certain parts of his head in order to place the gunshot wound on it.

Speaker 7 David needed to hurry. Chrissy and her dad were supposed to meet the hitman, Vince, in a few hours.
So David snapped some photos in his hotel room on his phone and sent them to Major Shaw.

Speaker 7 It was then up to his CSI tech to make the images believable.

Speaker 8 We have a crime intelligence analyst that was fairly proficient at Photoshop.

Speaker 7 The tech added a fake gunshot wound and blood spatter to the pictures, but they were far from perfect. It was a rushed job after all.
Major Shaw sent them off to East Lake Police.

Speaker 7 Were they happy with it?

Speaker 8 I don't really know if they had a choice. They were scheduled to meet.

Speaker 7 Back in Ohio, adrenaline was high as detectives prepared for their final undercover sting.

Speaker 7 This was high stakes. This had to work.

Speaker 3 Yes, this had to work.

Speaker 7 But Bauer Sox says Chrissy suddenly got cold feet. She told Pat she wanted to back out of the meeting.

Speaker 10 There's a huge problem. My job is to make sure she's there.

Speaker 10 Now she doesn't want to be there.

Speaker 7 What kind of guidance do you give him to get things back on track, to get Chrissy there?

Speaker 9 To make her believe that once she hired somebody to kill somebody who just did.

Speaker 9 And this killer is telling her she better show up.

Speaker 10 I put the fear of Jesus in her. Well, I put the fear of Vinny in her.
And she's like, yeah, you're right.

Speaker 7 The plan was back on track.

Speaker 7 Unmarked cars were stationed near the parking lot.

Speaker 7 Ready to swoop in if needed. And it's all coming down to this moment.

Speaker 9 One moment. I was holding my breath in the car.

Speaker 7 Would Chrissy show or would she slip through detectives' fingers?

Speaker 16 Coming up.

Speaker 2 Does Does it look like an accident? The big photo finish with this picture convince anyone.

Speaker 7 Do you worry that he's going to look at this and say, uh-uh?

Speaker 9 Well, yeah, he's seen crime scenes before.

Speaker 25 Just let me see it.

Speaker 7 It was the moment of truth for East Lake detectives. The final undercover meeting with Chrissy Meader and Al Zambori.

Speaker 7 Detectives had plenty of evidence on Chrissy's dad, but in order to get Chrissy, they needed her to show up, too.

Speaker 9 I was holding my breath in the car

Speaker 9 when they were showing up and making sure that I could see three heads in the car.

Speaker 7 Father and daughter had already been told David was dead, and they arrived at the parking lot with Pat to see the proof. That doctored photo of David.

Speaker 10 As we pull in, I say, well, I'm going to go over there. You guys do what you got to do.

Speaker 7 Chrissy and her dad got into Bowersock's car. It was the first time the detective was meeting her.
How are you guys doing?

Speaker 7 Good morning. Good morning.

Speaker 7 Police needed Chrissy to admit that she was the one who would pay the rest of the hitman's fee. So right off the bat, Bauersak asked her about the life insurance policy she had on David.

Speaker 27 How much is the policy for?

Speaker 19 One and a half.

Speaker 24 One and a half million? Yeah.

Speaker 27 I'm just kind of curious. What? Especially for you.
This is your father. This is a father of your kids.
I went over this with your dad.

Speaker 25 He beat me. He beat my kid.

Speaker 25 Okay. Stolen everything from us.

Speaker 23 Just let me see it.

Speaker 7 Al Zombori wanted to see the photo, the proof that David Meader was dead. Do you worry that he's going to look at this and say, uh-uh?

Speaker 9 Well, yeah, he's seen crime scenes before, so I did it as quick as I possibly could.

Speaker 7 Okay.

Speaker 7 The photo worked. Zambori believed his former son-in-law was dead.
He didn't want his daughter to look at the picture. Chrissy was interested in the details of the murder.

Speaker 7 Does it look like an accident?

Speaker 26 No, I don't know. I mean, does it look like he was mugged?

Speaker 4 No, no, no, don't do it.

Speaker 11 Don't even bring it up.

Speaker 11 She doesn't want to see it.

Speaker 4 I shot him in the head like you guys wanted me to do.

Speaker 11 He's done.

Speaker 7 He's done. And with those two words, the sting was over and the cavalry rushed in.

Speaker 3 Put your hands in here! Put your hands in here! You're both dead! What did you guys do? We did nothing. Did you set me up? No, no, I know.

Speaker 7 Chrissy and her dad were handcuffed and taken to the station. And when they sat down with investigators, Al Zombori started talking.

Speaker 28 You're here for conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.

Speaker 28 Oh.

Speaker 7 What do you mean who?

Speaker 28 You're saying you got everything figured out. Ooh.

Speaker 8 Somebody's son-in-law. How does that sound?

Speaker 28 Well, he should be murdered.

Speaker 7 The interview quickly ended after Zambori asked for a lawyer. And when it was Chrissy's turn, she acted oblivious to it all.

Speaker 28 You understand the charge against her?

Speaker 9 So I'm being charged.

Speaker 28 With conspiracy to commit a neighborhood and murder.

Speaker 8 Very serious charge, finally first degree.

Speaker 28 I understand.

Speaker 7 Is David alive?

Speaker 28 I'm not privileged to tell you anything.

Speaker 7 But seven months later, when it came time for Chrissy's trial, her defense strategy was simple. Chrissy blamed her father.
Judge Eugene Lucci presided over the trial.

Speaker 12 The defense tried to show that this was all Al Zambori's doing. He snooped in

Speaker 12 Christine Mehter's

Speaker 12 unsecured laptop.

Speaker 7 The defense said Zambori saw that Facebook conversation between Chrissy and Pat, the one where Pat joked about hiring a hitman. They said it was Zambori who wanted to arrange the meeting with Pat.

Speaker 12 Christine said she didn't know the purpose of the meeting and all she was doing was her father's bidding.

Speaker 7 Chrissy took the stand to tell the jurors exactly that and that she never wanted to meet the hitman but was pressured by Pat Sabo.

Speaker 29 It was him telling me to do something that I did not want to do. He was getting forceful with it,

Speaker 29 telling me Vince knew where I lived.

Speaker 7 If Chrissy sounded guilty in that undercover recording, she said she was playing along out of fear of what Vince might do.

Speaker 29 I started getting

Speaker 29 scared that this man was going to show up at my door, that this man

Speaker 29 will kill, that this man will hurt my children. Would you want David better killed? Never.

Speaker 7 But prosecutors said Chrissy knew exactly what she was doing. They said the proof was in that undercover recording from the final sting.

Speaker 7 Does it look like an accident?

Speaker 7 No, I don't know. What does Kenny tell him?

Speaker 29 I shot him in the head like you wanted me to. What does this woman say?

Speaker 29 Okay.

Speaker 7 The state closed with this. Killing David was a win-win for Chrissy.
She would get the proceeds of his insurance policy and something else. Custody.
She'd get to keep her four girls.

Speaker 7 Were you concerned that there was a chance that Chrissy would be found not guilty? We were still both very anxious. After weeks of testimony, the jury started deliberations.

Speaker 7 And in just a few hours, the verdict was in.

Speaker 8 We, the jury, find the defendant guilty.

Speaker 7 Guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. What is that moment like for you after everything that you've been through?

Speaker 21 It was vindication.

Speaker 7 Relief. She scared us, and she wasn't going to be able to do that for

Speaker 3 a long time.

Speaker 7 Nor was Al Zombori. He took a plea deal and died in prison after serving five years.

Speaker 7 Chrissy declined our request for an interview, but in a statement that unexpectedly read like a confession, she wrote in part, I was very wrong in my actions and I'm paying dearly.

Speaker 7 Anyone who has been through a divorce that never ends can understand I was at the end of my rope. Chrissy was sentenced to 10 years.
Her approaching release date seemed to weigh on David and Lonnie.

Speaker 21 My hope is the prison system has done its job and she'll try to be reacclimated into a normal life.

Speaker 7 Lonnie, you're getting upset just talking about it. Yeah.

Speaker 7 I don't think that she's learned anything from this experience. Chrissy was released from prison in 2021.
But Lonnie and David aren't dwelling on this chapter of their past.

Speaker 7 They know the challenges they've faced are unusual, but they use their story to counsel other couples facing obstacles. And they say they are stronger today as a couple and a family.

Speaker 21 When you talk with each one of the girls,

Speaker 21 their mother is Lonnie.

Speaker 7 After the trial, David had Chrissy's parental rights terminated.

Speaker 7 Lonnie, you go on to adopt these girls and welcome them into your heart with open arms. Yeah, I mean, you know, I always actually wanted a lot of kids, and

Speaker 7 here I get to have four more.

Speaker 7 David and Lonnie say this chapter of their lives may not have been possible without Pat.

Speaker 21 I think the best way that I can show thanks to Patrick

Speaker 21 is

Speaker 21 to show how our family has risen far above this from a moment in time

Speaker 21 that

Speaker 21 he had control of.

Speaker 10 I've seen the beauty of these two people, especially Lonnie. She adopted those girls.
Good people.

Speaker 10 Does my heart good to see that? Know I did the right thing.

Speaker 2 That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt.
Thanks for joining us.

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