Death in the Driveway

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Speaker 4 I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline.

Speaker 13 He said, Ronnie, I gotta tell you something. Your father's dead.

Speaker 14 It was not a robbery gone bad, not a burglary gone bad. You had to really hone in on people that had a beef with him.

Speaker 15 He's known to have a little bit of a temper.

Speaker 16 He could definitely have a laundry list of people who would want to kill him.

Speaker 15 I had found out that Melvin had an argument with a female tenant.

Speaker 13 Jean worked for dad.

Speaker 17 Were they having issues though?

Speaker 13 They had been for a while.

Speaker 14 Her stories did not fit the physical evidence.

Speaker 15 It's unlike any other murder case that I've ever worked, just so over the top.

Speaker 16 This person is still on the loose. You know, are we safe?

Speaker 17 Someone's out there.

Speaker 18 Yes.

Speaker 17 Who got away with murder?

Speaker 18 Yes.

Speaker 13 I always say tick tock. Clock's ticking.

Speaker 17 You're coming.

Speaker 13 We're coming.

Speaker 4 Here's Andrea Canning with Death in the Driveway.

Speaker 17 York, South Carolina, a town steeped in American history and southern manners. Its charm as deeply embedded as the pride of the people who live here.

Speaker 15 It's a nice southern town. It's very quiet.

Speaker 17 It's not the sort of place you'd expect evil to come knocking.

Speaker 13 My life just changed. Forever.

Speaker 17 And these are not the sort of people you'd expect to be victims of a vicious crime.

Speaker 16 He's a prominent man in a small town.

Speaker 14 She's a good Christian woman, sweet southern bell.

Speaker 17 And in the end, what would forever haunt this peaceful place was the who and the why of it all.

Speaker 19 Shock.

Speaker 17 Complete shock.

Speaker 17 It all started around dinner time, February 4th, 2010, on the outskirts of town at the end of a long, winding driveway.

Speaker 20 Door County 911, do you need a place fire medical?

Speaker 17 It was 7:30 p.m. when the call came into police dispatch.

Speaker 20 Listen to this counsel. I dare you to be robbed.

Speaker 17 Between sobs, a female caller described her brutal attack. She begged for help.

Speaker 17 Police on duty raced through the rainy night, dashboard cam rolling, expecting to investigate a robbery. But what they found had Detective Billy Muma's phone ringing as he sat down to dinner.

Speaker 15 I was called at home and I was told that I needed to come in. There was a robbery that occurred.

Speaker 17 When the detective went up the driveway to the back of the house, he discovered a woman huddled in her car. She'd been bound in duct tape.

Speaker 15 I walked up to the car and I noticed that she had duct tape around her head.

Speaker 17 She also still had some duct tape around her wrists and not more than a few feet from this blue and white suburban police found a bloodied and lifeless gray-haired man it was a bit of a shock for detective newma the victim was someone he knew well

Speaker 17 it was uh pretty surreal the man on the ground was melvin roberts and everyone knew him he was a former mayor of york one of the town's wealthiest businessmen and a legendary defense attorney i'd had a few cases with him.

Speaker 15 Kind of a stern man, but always friendly.

Speaker 17 And the woman who called police to the scene was Julia Phillips, Melvin's longtime girlfriend.

Speaker 15 She was worried that Melvin was dead. She said she didn't know what had happened to him.

Speaker 17 Investigators at the scene told Julia the devastating news. Melvin had been murdered.
Is that a little jolt Melvin Roberts is the victim?

Speaker 15 Yeah, because Melvin's not the type of a person to be a victim of anything.

Speaker 17 Melvin was the longest practicing lawyer in South Carolina. He had defended both the rich and poor for 55 years.
He was so influential, the street where he lived was named after him, Roberts Avenue.

Speaker 17 A true Renaissance man, devoted to his family.

Speaker 13 He was everything to me. He was my best friend.
He was my mentor.

Speaker 17 Melvin had two sons, David and Ronnie.

Speaker 13 He was instrumental in making me into who I am.

Speaker 17 The three men shared an unusually unusually strong bond.

Speaker 13 Dad, David, and myself, it was our normal routine to have lunch every day.

Speaker 17 You all sound thick as thieves, the three of you. Absolutely.

Speaker 13 The last thing I did every day before I went home was I give dad a big hug and a kiss on the cheek and tell him I love him. And he told me the same thing every single day.

Speaker 16 He loved to take me out to the farm.

Speaker 17 Melvin's only grandchild, Emily Roberts, recalled how her granddad had a way of keeping his family close.

Speaker 16 We would always go vacationing in different countries, fishing in Costa Rica for my graduation from college or

Speaker 16 scuba diving in Bonaire and just really bonding together. It was quite an amazing relationship.

Speaker 17 And then there was Julia. She and Melvin started dating 10 years earlier.
He was divorced and she had recently been widowed. Did they quickly become a fixture around town?

Speaker 16 Yes, immediately.

Speaker 16 He adored her, and she adored him. She loves to travel.
She's spunky. She's fun.
What he thought was his perfect match.

Speaker 17 She fit right into this tight-knit family.

Speaker 22 She was bubbly.

Speaker 13 She was a good cook.

Speaker 21 That's quite.

Speaker 17 She made a man's heart.

Speaker 3 That's her honest stuff.

Speaker 17 They became a team. Melvin even helped Julia start her own business.

Speaker 16 He eventually bought her her own store so that she could sell her cosmetics and women's clothing.

Speaker 17 She opened the store in Gaffney, a nearby town where she had grown up. She called it Julia's.
So she started to become kind of part of the family.

Speaker 21 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 13 I mean, we were really happy for dad.

Speaker 17 But now everything had changed. As investigators worked the crime scene, York police captain Tommy Jenkins knocked on Ronnie's door.

Speaker 13 So he says, Ronnie,

Speaker 13 I got to tell you something. He said, your father's dead.
And I said, no, Tommy, that's not true. And he said, no, Ronnie, it's your father.
You know, I've known him most of my life and

Speaker 13 it's him ronnie and his brother david drove to their father's house hoping it was all a mistake as you round the curve you can see all the way up the street and it's just nothing but blue lights and that's when you know

Speaker 21 that ain't good

Speaker 17 As the news of Julia's attack and Melvin's murder spread, so too did fear. If it could happen to this prominent couple, who might be next?

Speaker 16 Someone came here with the intention to murder him. And then I'm thinking, this person is still on the loose.
You know, are we safe?

Speaker 4 When we come back,

Speaker 4 police had one thing going for them, a witness. Later that night, still wrapped in duct tape, Julia told detectives the story of Melvin's murder.
It appeared to be a robbery, gone bad.

Speaker 20 They pushed me back down on the ground and they said, if you say anything, I'll kill you.

Speaker 4 But there was a lot investigators didn't have. This wouldn't be an easy murder to solve.

Speaker 14 Everything was taken from the scene. There was no cutting instrument, no rolls of tape, no gun, nothing.
It was all gone.

Speaker 17 Detective Billy Mumoff stood on the driveway that cold February night trying to figure out who killed prominent lawyer Melvin Roberts and brutally attacked his girlfriend Julia Phillips.

Speaker 17 He got a close look at Melvin's body. Could you tell immediately what had happened?

Speaker 15 He had a couple of abrasions, one on top of his head, one on the side of his head next to his ear. And they were good licks.
I mean, somebody lit him up pretty good with some sort of metal object.

Speaker 17 The detective could also tell that Melvin had been shot at. The bullet had only grazed his ear, punching holes through the back of his jacket.
So what killed him?

Speaker 15 As I'm looking down at him, he also had a zip tie that was wrapped around his neck, and it was cinched down pretty good.

Speaker 17 79-year-old Melvin Roberts had been strangled.

Speaker 17 Police quickly searched the scene and spotted their first clue. For prosecutor Chris Hodge, who would handle the case, it was a big one.

Speaker 14 They were able to find footprints back to Mr. Roberts' house.
The footprints were in mud and muddy water, and they still had tread, so that tells us they're super fresh.

Speaker 17 Investigators believe the footprints most likely came from a man. They quickly called in the canine unit hoping dogs could track down the killer if he was still in the woods around Melvin's house.

Speaker 14 The dogs have picked up on fresh scent. They go out to an adjoining neighborhood where the dog then loses the scent, which implies the person got into a car and took off.

Speaker 17 And that's where the trail vanished, leaving little else for investigators.

Speaker 14 Everything was taken from the scene. There was no cutting instrument, no rolls of tape, no empty tape, certainly no zip ties, no gun, nothing.
It was all gone.

Speaker 17 But detectives did have a witness. Maybe she could help solve the crime.
Julia was gently escorted away, still wrapped in duct tape.

Speaker 24 How was the evil me, Miss Julie?

Speaker 17 She arrived at the police station.

Speaker 24 You okay, sweetheart?

Speaker 17 Cold and shaken,

Speaker 17 with cuts on her arm and elbow, and bruises on her hands and face. But despite all the trauma,

Speaker 17 Julia told investigators she was ready to help find Melvin's killer.

Speaker 17 She's your best witness at this point.

Speaker 15 Correct. And at this time, she's our only witness.
I can see that man.

Speaker 17 She took detectives through the details of the attack.

Speaker 17 It began here behind Melvin's house in the large circular driveway, surrounded by a red brick wall. She was getting groceries out of the back of her SUV when she realized she was not alone.

Speaker 25 That's when that man came

Speaker 25 and he grabbed me, put his hand on my mouth,

Speaker 26 and shoved me to the back of the car and showed me at the gift bar.

Speaker 17 Then he made a demand.

Speaker 25 He kept saying money, money.

Speaker 17 The next thing she knew, he was tying her up with duct tape.

Speaker 25 And then he taped off my eyes, my mouth, put my hands together.

Speaker 17 She said he dragged her 60 feet to the back of the parking area behind the brick wall.

Speaker 25 He drugged me to the brick wall, and he pushed me down.

Speaker 17 Lying on the wet ground, she soon heard Melvin's car pull up.

Speaker 25 I could see Claude.

Speaker 25 And he pushed me back down on the ground. And he said, if you say anything, I'll kill you.

Speaker 17 A short time later, she heard a violent struggle.

Speaker 25 I thought I heard something like a pipe or something.

Speaker 25 Somebody somebody picked up.

Speaker 24 Why do you think you heard something that sounded like a pipe?

Speaker 25 I don't know because I heard it hit the ground.

Speaker 25 Okay.

Speaker 25 And then I heard a shot.

Speaker 24 You heard a shot?

Speaker 25 It had to have been a shot.

Speaker 17 After that, Julia didn't hear anything else. She stayed behind the brick wall, hoping the killer was gone, then made her escape.

Speaker 27 And if the tape hadn't got wet from the rain, I don't know if I'd have gotten it off.

Speaker 17 With the duct tape loose, she said she was able to use a key to break free.

Speaker 27 I never let go of my car key.

Speaker 17 Julia explained to police she wanted to get help for Melvin, but a part of her knew it was too late.

Speaker 25 He was laying on that concrete.

Speaker 20 And I knew that was him.

Speaker 20 And I knew with my heart that he wanted to laugh, but I didn't want to believe him.

Speaker 17 Still wet and muddy, she told the police she'd stay as long as they needed her. She was just grateful to be alive.

Speaker 28 I'm the type of person who's up at five o'clock in the mornings reading my Bible, and I honestly believe that God protected me from all that I was ever doing.

Speaker 15 She sat at the police station for a good bit into the night. I believe she left sometime one, two, three o'clock in the morning, something to that effect.

Speaker 17 A few days went by and the cops were no closer to finding the killer, so they did something unconventional.

Speaker 29 I'm driving home.

Speaker 17 Since Julia was ready and willing, they took her back to the crime scene.

Speaker 30 I'm pulling my car here.

Speaker 15 Well, we believe if we take her back to the scene, that we could get a more clear and concise picture of exactly what happened.

Speaker 17 They wanted Julia to show them where her assailant had thrown her in the mud.

Speaker 30 He puts me in a position like this.

Speaker 17 Maybe they'd missed clues behind the wall. They also wanted to revisit the sound of that pipe she heard.
Detectives asked her to close her eyes and just listen.

Speaker 17 They were hoping it might unlock any suppressed memories from that night. She did remember more details about her attacker's voice.

Speaker 17 Detective Muma continued to gently guide Julia through the crime scene, but she often became emotional.

Speaker 17 It all seemed to be taking a toll, and Melvin's family worried about her.

Speaker 13 I called Julia on several occasions to check on her, and she was shaken up a bit.

Speaker 17 She was worried that someone was still out there?

Speaker 13 Yes, to the point that at her store, they would leave the door locked and would not let anybody in until they saw who was at the door.

Speaker 17 So who could have done this to Julia and Melvin? Detectives were about to discover the number of possible suspects was daunting.

Speaker 4 Coming up, a man with a lot of friends and a lot of enemies.

Speaker 15 Put a list together.

Speaker 13 Anything that anyone could have had a conflict with dad about over whatever.

Speaker 17 How long was the list?

Speaker 13 There's at least 75 names.

Speaker 4 Was Melvin's killer on that list? When dateline continues.

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Speaker 17 The attack on Julia Phillips and the murder of her boyfriend Melvin Roberts looked like a robbery gone wrong.

Speaker 17 But once investigators took a closer look, look, the clues at the crime scene told a different story.

Speaker 15 No money was taken.

Speaker 15 The money bag that Julia had brought with her had roughly $80 in it. Also, Melvin, I believe he had in the neighborhood of $400 in his wallet still.

Speaker 17 Prosecutor Chris Hodge believed this was a premeditated hit.

Speaker 14 We had to figure out who would have any motive. So you had to really hone in on people that knew Melvin and anybody had a beef with him.

Speaker 17 That wouldn't be easy because Melvin was no ordinary man. As detectives started looking into Melvin's relationships with people around town, they learned he had two sides.

Speaker 17 While he could be incredibly kind and generous, he also had an edge.

Speaker 15 He had no problem telling you what he thought of you or what you should do or what you could do better. So

Speaker 15 he's known to, you know, have a little bit of a temper.

Speaker 17 Police wondered if that temper might have given someone a reason to kill. They also took a close look at Melvin's business dealings.

Speaker 17 Besides being a defense attorney, Melvin owned multiple rental properties and a used car lot.

Speaker 17 Police asked Melvin's sons, Ronnie and David, to come up with a list of potential suspects, anyone who might have a grudge.

Speaker 13 I had all the people that worked for Dad put a list together of

Speaker 13 clients that he had represented or had a case against him. Rental properties, evictions, repos,

Speaker 13 anything that anyone could have had a conflict with dad about over whatever.

Speaker 17 How long was the list?

Speaker 13 There's at least 75 names, at least. He's been an attorney for 55 years.
He has made people pay child support who may not want to pay child support.

Speaker 13 Lose their children,

Speaker 13 you know, in a divorce.

Speaker 17 There were people who may want to see harm to your dad, potentially.

Speaker 21 Potentially. Potentially.

Speaker 17 Working from that list, police began knocking on doors and bringing people in for questioning. Detectives also pursued a promising lead from their only witness, Melvin's girlfriend Julia.

Speaker 17 They focused on a key detail she'd given them, the killer's accent.

Speaker 27 Or if he just couldn't speak good English.

Speaker 15 One of the descriptions that Julia had given us was that it was an Indian type with an accent.

Speaker 17 That clicked with Detective Billy Muma. He'd learned about a couple who had rented a house from Melvin.
The husband had an Indian accent, and his wife had a nasty fight with Melvin.

Speaker 15 I had found out that about a week before that Melvin had an argument with a fairly large female tenant.

Speaker 17 She had complained that the floor was cracking near the kitchen sink.

Speaker 15 Melvin told her if she wasn't such a fat ass, that she wouldn't be breaking the floor.

Speaker 17 Those could be fighting words for someone.

Speaker 15 Pretty strong words for a husband to take, and I could see getting pretty upset with that and maybe going overboard.

Speaker 17 When the detective went to the the house to speak to the husband, the man told Muma he was at work at the time of the murder.

Speaker 17 Investigators set out to check his story.

Speaker 17 Police were also very interested in someone else, Melvin's handyman, Gene Moss. David said he walked in on his dad and Moss having an argument in the office conference room on the night of the murder.

Speaker 13 Dad had been having some issues with Gene.

Speaker 13 And so, you know, I thought they were in a private conversation. I looked in and told, you know, bye, dad, I'll see you tomorrow kind of thing.
And that was, I walked out the door.

Speaker 17 It was the last time David saw his dad alive.

Speaker 13 Gene wasn't doing what dad wanted him to.

Speaker 17 Was Gene about to get the boot?

Speaker 19 Yeah, I thought so.

Speaker 13 I thought dad was being a little bit too hard on Gene. You know, Dad, you ought to back it down maybe a notch or two.
If you're going to get rid of the guy, I want you to go and fire him.

Speaker 15 Gene was one of the main suspects that we were looking at.

Speaker 17 Meanwhile, police got a break. They discovered DNA on that zip tie found around Melvin's neck.
They immediately started swabbing suspects, hoping to find a match.

Speaker 15 I have over 80 DNA samples that I've collected from anybody and everybody connected to this case.

Speaker 17 Did you interview all those people as well?

Speaker 15 All those people had been interviewed by me or at least one of the other three to four or five detectives that had assisted with this case.

Speaker 17 80 people.

Speaker 17 Clearly, it would be a tough case to crack. Is it like finding a suspect in a haystack?

Speaker 15 In a stack of suspects, probably, yeah.

Speaker 17 But were they looking in the right haystack?

Speaker 31 Coming up,

Speaker 4 a secret kept in a bedroom.

Speaker 15 We found a lot of empty prescription pill bottles and a lot of pharmacy receipts.

Speaker 4 Had police also found the motive for Melvin's murder

Speaker 17 Four days after his murder, Melvin Roberts was laid to rest in the town he'd called home for the last 60 years. Did it feel like the whole town came to the funeral?

Speaker 16 It did. Yeah, everybody was there from all over.

Speaker 13 They used to go to guy in York. If you needed to figure something out or you needed help, or he wasn't afraid to take on anybody.
He never backed down.

Speaker 13 He always looked out for the little guy, you know, because I think he always saw himself as the little guy.

Speaker 17 But as hundreds gathered to say goodbye to Melvin, an odd feeling settled over the mourners. Was it fear? Was it suspicion? Could someone amongst them be the killer?

Speaker 17 Melvin's granddaughter, Emily, started looking over her shoulder.

Speaker 16 Who could this be? How could this have happened? Who would want him

Speaker 16 dead?

Speaker 17 Was it putting the town on edge?

Speaker 16 Yeah, there's a killer on the loose. We've got to figure out who this is.

Speaker 17 Detectives were working around the clock, trying to narrow down the long list of potential suspects.

Speaker 17 They learned that the angry tenant who fit the description of the man they were looking for couldn't possibly be the killer. He was at work, prosecutor Chris Hodge.

Speaker 14 You have to clock in and clock out, and his employer verified the time he was there and that he had not left and stayed until his shift was over, so he had an airtight alibi.

Speaker 17 Then there was the handyman, Gene Moss, who'd had an argument with Melvin shortly before the murder. When Detective Billy Muma questioned Moss, he said he was at home with his wife.

Speaker 17 That could be a shaky alibi, your wife.

Speaker 15 Yeah, there was a phone call that was made to him and by another fellow that I interviewed and he said that he had heard his wife in the background.

Speaker 17 On the home line?

Speaker 15 Correct. And that was just after

Speaker 15 the murder.

Speaker 17 Moss was crossed off the list. Detectives were running into nothing but dead ends.
They'd spent a lot of time delving into Melvin's life. Now detectives wanted to look for clues in Julia's background.

Speaker 17 They took a ride 40 minutes west to Gaffney to to check out her business. And as they poked around her store, things weren't exactly what they seemed.

Speaker 15 It started out as a big, fancy store, and then basically had just declined into a thrift store.

Speaker 17 Perhaps even more concerning to detectives was the reason Julia's store was failing. Investigators learned Julia had a problem with pills.

Speaker 14 She was taking money out of the till. She was buying prescription drugs off people off the street.

Speaker 15 We found a lot of prescription, empty prescription pill bottles and a lot of pharmacy receipts.

Speaker 17 This was a woman with a serious addiction.

Speaker 15 She was.

Speaker 17 But it turns out Julia's financial troubles and pill addiction were no secret. A few years earlier, Emily said her grandfather had even stepped in to help.

Speaker 16 He sent her to rehab and she willingly went? Correct.

Speaker 17 That must have made Melvin really happy.

Speaker 16 That he could help change her life and spin it around to be a positive, yeah.

Speaker 17 When word got out that cops were asking tough questions about Julia, many around town thought the police were wasting their time.

Speaker 16 Everybody thought there was an outside person. There's no way that Julia would kill Melvin.
He was the love of her life.

Speaker 17 And Julia said that was the case right up to Melvin's death. She told police she had planned a celebration for that night.
Turns out, it was her birthday, and Julia had a few surprises for Melvin.

Speaker 15 Melvin collected matchbook covers and she had gotten a few of those and gotten him a present for her birthday.

Speaker 17 She also bought Mike's hard lemonade and was wearing special Victoria's secret underwear. Julia painted a picture of two people in love.
How was you and Melvin's relationship?

Speaker 27 Great. It's sort of a private thing, but you know, Melvin, to be his age, was physically, you know, active

Speaker 27 in every way.

Speaker 17 Sure enough, detectives found evidence to back that up.

Speaker 15 During the investigation, we did locate locate a few items that suggested that their sex life was quite active

Speaker 17 still detective muma's radar was up he thought back to the first moment he saw julia huddled in her suv there was something about the way she'd been wrapped in that duct tape that didn't sit right the duct tape that went around her hands it basically looked like someone she had held her arms out

Speaker 15 And it all looked like it was placed on there with care as to not hurt her.

Speaker 17 So right away, you could just tell that that this wasn't a typical duct tape wrap.

Speaker 15 It was odd. The amount of duct tape that was around her feet did not match somebody who would be normally duct taped.
It just wasn't enough of it.

Speaker 17 This got the detective wondering, was there anything else about Julia's story on that fatal night that didn't make sense?

Speaker 31 Coming up.

Speaker 4 A strange reaction to a simple request.

Speaker 24 Can I get some pictures right quick while we're in the the warmth?

Speaker 26 Gonna use these for Playboy? No.

Speaker 14 Right there, boom. Like, no.

Speaker 17 There's, there was, that was totally inappropriate.

Speaker 4 Did Julia just reveal the naked truth? When Dateline continues.

Speaker 33 Hey, weirdos, I'm Elena, and I'm Ash, and we are the hosts of Morbid Podcast.

Speaker 32 Each week we dive into the dark and fascinating world of true crime, spooky history, and the unexplained.

Speaker 33 From infamous killers and unsolved mysteries to haunted places and strange legends, we cover it all with research, empathy, humor, and a few creative expletives.

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Speaker 32 Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.

Speaker 17 Yay! Woo!

Speaker 3 If you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason.

Speaker 5 But with Zen nicotine pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

Speaker 7 Zinn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand.

Speaker 9 Plus, Zen offers a robust rewards program.

Speaker 7 There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen. Check out Zen.com/slash find to find Zen at a store near you.

Speaker 11 Warning, this product contains nicotine.

Speaker 12 Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 29 Dogs deserve the best, and that means fresh, healthy food. Unlike other brands, Ollie offers five flavors that are as nutritious as they are delicious, all made in U.S.

Speaker 29 kitchens without harmful fillers or preservatives. Head to Ollie.com, tell them all about your dog, and use code HappyPup to get 60% off your welcome kit with a bonus.

Speaker 29 You'll get a storage container for a mess-free experience. And it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee if your dog doesn't lick the bowl clean.

Speaker 17 On the night of the murder, Julia Phillips, the sassy southern bell, sat in the police station and was gently asked a routine question.

Speaker 24 I really don't want to ask it, but go ahead. Did you do anything to Malcolm?

Speaker 25 Absolutely not.

Speaker 17 Still, investigators were bothered by a few things. Besides the way Julia had been gingerly wrapped with duct tape, Detective Muma also wondered about the amount of mud on her clothes.

Speaker 17 During one interview, she said she had been dragged 60 feet and forced face down into the ground.

Speaker 25 He's taking my face and he's literally pushing it down into this mud.

Speaker 17 So you would expect mud like head to toe?

Speaker 21 Correct.

Speaker 15 And basically what we got was if she would have sat down in the grass, her butt and her pant legs at the bottom of the pant legs were muddy, like she would have sat down.

Speaker 17 The The police weren't the only ones growing suspicious. Melvin's granddaughter looked back on something that happened at the funeral home.
Julia, who was there with her son Hunter, approached Emily.

Speaker 16 Immediately, she wants to tell her story about what had happened that night.

Speaker 17 The timing was a bit inappropriate, Emily thought. But more disturbing, Julia's son knew the story better than she did.

Speaker 16 She tells us that she was, you know, her hands were bound from behind. And he goes, No, mama, your hands were bound in the front.

Speaker 17 It wasn't surprising that Julia might be confused about small details from that violent night. But when detectives went to verify one thing she was crystal clear on, alarm bells went off.

Speaker 17 Julia had told police she heard a gunshot and said she was nowhere near the gun. But forensic evidence told Muma a very different story.

Speaker 17 You did a gunshot residue test the moment, I would imagine, you got to the police department.

Speaker 21 Correct.

Speaker 15 Her hands come back negative.

Speaker 17 But you found it on her

Speaker 15 sleeves.

Speaker 17 If she's 60 feet away behind the wall

Speaker 17 and the assailant is shooting him.

Speaker 15 Gunshot residue is not going to travel 60 feet.

Speaker 17 An aha moment for the detective.

Speaker 17 When he added the gunshot residue on Julia's clothes to all the other parts of her story he found questionable, he was convinced Julia wasn't a victim, but the mastermind who arranged and helped carry out Melvin's murder.

Speaker 17 So three months after that cold, rainy night, police arrested Julia Phillips in the parking lot outside her store and charged her with murder.

Speaker 16 Probably the best day of my life. My dad called me and said, they got her.

Speaker 17 Police and prosecutors didn't think Julia actually killed Melvin, but that she hired someone else to do it.

Speaker 14 The fresh footprints.

Speaker 14 That was really how we knew that she absolutely had someone else.

Speaker 17 Their theory painted Julia as pure evil.

Speaker 17 The reason she was relatively dry, they surmised, was because she stood under an umbrella watching as her accomplice struck, shot, and strangled Melvin before carefully wrapping her in duct tape.

Speaker 14 We've always assumed that there was a second person assisting in the actual physical hands-on part of the murder.

Speaker 17 So who could it be? There was one person who police learned was close to her, had a criminal record, and, like Julia, had a drug problem. Her son, Hunter.

Speaker 15 Well, he was a suspect just for the simple fact that he's most likely to help her.

Speaker 17 Was he kind of a shady character?

Speaker 15 He was always involved with scams to get his pills.

Speaker 17 Drugs really drove him.

Speaker 21 Correct.

Speaker 17 But Hunter had a solid alibi. He was with a former cop at the time of the murder, 40 minutes away repairing his home computer.

Speaker 14 We could not put him. in York at the time of the murder.

Speaker 17 Hunter was never charged. In fact, investigators couldn't find anyone to charge, and the prosecutor worried that would make this murder for hire case a tough one to prove.

Speaker 17 There is no evidence whatsoever linking Julia to a hitman.

Speaker 14 That's right. Nothing.
We tracked her bank records. We saw no exchanges of any type.
She kept her phone clean. There were no odd calls.

Speaker 14 And that was the hurdle that I felt like we faced, having an empty chair. And you're trying Julia in the empty chair.

Speaker 17 After three and a half years working to build a case, in August 2013, Julia Phillips went on trial for murder. The once polished Belle of York was now a shell of her old self.

Speaker 17 The years since her arrest had taken a toll. But Hodge urged the jury not to be fooled by the frail woman in the courtroom.

Speaker 17 If you believe that the defendant is guilty of doing one thing, just one thing, on the night Melvin Roberts was murdered, to aid in that murder then she is guilty have a seat for me miss miss Julie the prosecutor began by showing the jurors Julia's interviews with police Hodge wanted them to hear one of the first things Julia said on the night of the murder there you go they put a blanket on her and ask if they can take some photographs Can I get some pictures right quick while we're in the warmth?

Speaker 26 Are we gonna use these for Playboy?

Speaker 17 No.

Speaker 14 The first thing the woman says, are these gonna be used for Playboy?

Speaker 14 Right there, boom. I'm like, no.

Speaker 14 That was totally inappropriate.

Speaker 17 Hodge built her case, leading to one main question most jurors want answered. What was the motive? Melvin's granddaughter thought she knew the answer to that one.
It could be found in Melvin's will.

Speaker 17 What did he leave her?

Speaker 16 The building and any car that she wanted from his car lot.

Speaker 17 The building was worth about $150,000. It housed her store, Julia's.
In South Carolina, in a small community, that would take you far. $150,000? Mm-hmm.

Speaker 17 The state believed Julia was worried she was never going to see that money. The reason? The relationship between Julia and Melvin was over, said prosecutors, and she knew it.

Speaker 17 They put a friend of Melvin's on the stand to back up their claim.

Speaker 34 He wasn't paying her bills anymore. And that he wasn't having anything to do with her.
He wouldn't even touch her.

Speaker 17 And in what prosecutors believed was the final straw, that witness told the jury Melvin had let Julia know he had booked a cruise with another woman. That must have really gotten under Julia's skin.

Speaker 13 I don't think. He made it very clear to her she was being replaced.

Speaker 17 And it was no coincidence, the prosecutor argued, that Julia had Melvin killed on her birthday. Do you think there's a possibility that this was Julia's birthday present to Julia?

Speaker 14 Absolutely.

Speaker 17 Melvin's family now thought so too. Ronnie and David sat in the courtroom every day hoping for one thing.

Speaker 21 I wanted to hear one word.

Speaker 13 And I thought, you know, three and a half years of work comes down to hearing one word.

Speaker 17 Guilty.

Speaker 13 Guilty.

Speaker 17 But would they get their wish? Now it was the defense's turn. They had an explanation for the duct tape, the mud, the gunshot residue.
In the end, they said the state's case was all smoke and mirrors.

Speaker 4 Coming up, Julia's lawyer takes his best shot, and so does Julia.

Speaker 17 Right, now.

Speaker 4 And another twist: authorities wonder: was there one murder or two?

Speaker 23 There was enough suspicion presented to me that I wanted the body exhibits.

Speaker 17 The trial of Julia Phillips had people talking and had Melvin's sons worried. Could Julia's defense team convince the jury she had nothing to do with the murder of her longtime love?

Speaker 17 Her attorney, Bobby Frederick, and his wife Joy, a paralegal on the case, said they had no doubt Julia was innocent.

Speaker 18 We believed in Julia from the beginning. She is kind and caring, and there is no question in my mind that she was in love with Melvin.

Speaker 17 The defense set out to show the jury a very different version of Julia. Her comments that seemed inappropriate, they argued, were just part of her quirky personality.

Speaker 26 We're gonna use these for Playboy? No.

Speaker 17 After the man you love just died, you're gonna be making jokes about Playboy.

Speaker 18 I can tell you that she was traumatized. It's just how she is and it's how she talks.

Speaker 17 They even told the jury that Julia was weird.

Speaker 35 Her conversation style is unlike most people. Weird was something to open the jury up to

Speaker 35 she might be weird, she might be inconsistent, but look, you know, she's not a killer.

Speaker 17 The defense also reminded the jury Julia was a victim. She'd been attacked.
And as she told police, there was a perfectly good reason why that duct tape was loose.

Speaker 27 And if the tape hadn't got wet in the rain, I don't know if I'd have gotten it off.

Speaker 17 But wouldn't it have still pulled some skin or some hair? It was raining the night of the incident.

Speaker 35 So as it's raining, it's getting wet. It's not sticking as much as it usually does.

Speaker 17 And since it was raining that night, the prosecution had asked, why wasn't Julia wet and muddy? Easy, the defense said. She was.

Speaker 35 On the video, you can see her jeans are soaking wet. She's not dry.
She's got mud all over her pants, which was from the rain and the dirt.

Speaker 17 The defense also addressed the gunshot residue found on Julia's clothes, which seemed to undermine her story that she was behind a wall 60 feet away from where the gun went off.

Speaker 17 Julia's lawyer argued that there wasn't enough residue found on Julia to do an accurate test.

Speaker 18 If this had been the FBI lab, any of our military labs, they could not have testified there was gunshot residue because the number of particles found did not meet the threshold.

Speaker 17 Julia's defense team continued to pound home the notion that there was no physical evidence linking her to the murder. And if this was a murder for hire, they asked, where was the killer?

Speaker 18 They built the case based on motive, not evidence.

Speaker 30 They want to say to you, we have no idea what happened, but we want you to guess and convict her.

Speaker 18 That is not how it works.

Speaker 17 Finally, the defense had to counter the heart of the prosecution's case, motive. The state claimed Julia feared she was about to be dumped and written out of Melvin's will.

Speaker 17 But her lawyer said they were still a happy couple. Just look at the lingerie Julia was wearing and the booze she brought with her that night.

Speaker 18 She picked up Mike's hard lemonade and went to meet Melvin at the house on her birthday.

Speaker 17 This was supposed to be a hot and steamy night.

Speaker 17 And the idea that Julia was broke and needed Melvin's money, also not true, said the defense. Julia's lawyer argued her family had plenty of money and was willing to spend it.

Speaker 18 Her family came and paid substantial attorney fees.

Speaker 35 Her family is paying her medical bills. Her family is bringing her food, taking care of her, taking her where she needs to go.

Speaker 17 In the end, the defense decided not to call Julia to testify. Now in her 70s, they said she was suffering from dementia.

Speaker 17 And if her behavior towards reporters outside the courthouse was any indication of how she'd be on the stand, you know that right

Speaker 20 now.

Speaker 17 It was too big a gamble.

Speaker 17 After seven days of testimony, both sides rested.

Speaker 14 By the end of the trial, the question was not, is she involved, but how could she not be involved?

Speaker 17 The jury took less than four hours to reach a verdict.

Speaker 13 We're all sitting around and everybody's kind of, you know, just killing time. Then bailiff comes out and he says a verdict's been reached.

Speaker 17 Did you hurt, though, just kind of...

Speaker 3 I thought I was going to throw up.

Speaker 13 I was almost hyperventilating.

Speaker 17 Melvin's granddaughter granddaughter wasn't in the courtroom with the rest of her family when the verdict was read. Her dad called her with the news.

Speaker 16 He called me. He said, she's guilty.
Murder.

Speaker 17 Julia Phillips, the Belle of York, was now a convicted killer.

Speaker 16 I was jumping up and down. I remember waking up the next morning and there was double rainbows.
And I just thought,

Speaker 16 this is awesome.

Speaker 17 Julia has been called an ice queen, a femme fatale, cunning, greedy, murderous woman.

Speaker 21 Yes.

Speaker 17 It's not really what comes to mind when you just look at her.

Speaker 14 Right. When you look at her, you think, oh, she's an attractive older lady.
Then she opens her mouth

Speaker 14 and you can see what's really in there.

Speaker 17 Julia's arrest for Melvin Roberts' murder triggered more legal questions for the Southern Bell.

Speaker 17 Julia's stepdaughters from a previous marriage believe she didn't just murder one man, but two.

Speaker 17 My father's not here because of her as well. The daughters insist their father, Bryant Phillips, didn't die of a heart attack.
They think Julia poisoned him.

Speaker 17 When the daughters heard about Julia's arrest, they took their suspicions to county coroner Dennis Fowler.

Speaker 23 There was enough suspicion that was presented to me that I'll order the body exhumed.

Speaker 17 Were there concerns revolving around Julia Phillips?

Speaker 23 There were concerns.

Speaker 17 Julia denied she killed him and was not charged in that case. Three years after her conviction, in 2016, Julia died in prison.
She was 72. For the family, that wasn't the end.

Speaker 17 Ronnie says the investigation is far from closed.

Speaker 13 Now, we got to go after the next one.

Speaker 17 The family believes there's a hitman still out there and is offering a $10,000 reward to help catch him. Lieutenant Rich Cadell headed up a new investigation team that took a fresh look at the case.

Speaker 19 We're confident it's going to be cracked one of two ways.

Speaker 19 Either someone is going to tell us something finally, or it's going to be through digital evidence, via phone records, computer records, or something like that.

Speaker 17 Do you feel like you're getting close?

Speaker 19 I feel like we're closer than we have been.

Speaker 17 For Melvin's family, only partial justice has been served.

Speaker 13 I will not give up until we know everybody that was involved.

Speaker 13 And what that son of a bitch needs to understand is it's going to be a lot easier on them if they come forward instead of police having to find them.

Speaker 13 I always say tick tock. Clock's ticking.

Speaker 17 You're coming?

Speaker 13 We're coming.

Speaker 13 And we ain't giving up.

Speaker 4 That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt.
Thanks for joining us.

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