Deadly Mirage - Ep. 6: He Said, She Said

Speaker 1 Extra value meals are back. For just $5, get a savory and sweet sausage, egg, and cheese McGriddles, plus hash browns and a coffee.

Speaker 2 Only at McDonald's.

Speaker 4 For limited time only, prices and participation may vary.

Speaker 2 Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska, and California, and for delivery.

Speaker 5 Try angel stuff for your tushi.

Speaker 6 It's made by angels. Soft and strong, budget-friendly.

Speaker 6 The choice is simple. A roll that feels like paradise.
And always at a heavenly price.

Speaker 6 Angel Soft, Angel Soft. Soft and strong, so it's simple.

Speaker 5 Pick up a pack today. Angel Soft.

Speaker 6 Soft and strong, simple.

Speaker 2 It was Friday, January 6th, 2017, when Sabrina Lamone heard the knock at her door.

Speaker 2 When she answered, she saw a group of men standing there. One had a familiar face.
It was homicide detective Randall Meyer.

Speaker 2 Strong hands pulled Sabrina's arms behind her back, and handcuffs were snapped onto her wrists.

Speaker 2 As soon as Sabrina's sister Julie saw Detective Meyer, she dialed Sabrina's attorney, Richard Terry, in Bakersfield. He had assured Sabrina she had nothing to worry about.

Speaker 2 Now, the cops were at the door.

Speaker 8 Richard, her attorney, would tell her, live your life, Rina. There's nothing.

Speaker 9 They don't have anything.

Speaker 10 You didn't do this.

Speaker 2 Just as Sabrina was being placed in a patrol car, Julie says she heard the lawyer on the phone say,

Speaker 2 don't say anything.

Speaker 2 Within hours, secrets from Sabrina's past life were once again leading local newscasts.

Speaker 11 It is no coincidence that Sabrina Limon was arrested just days before her former lover was scheduled to go on trial for her husband's murder.

Speaker 2 That's right. Sabrina's lover had turned on her.
The plea deal was announced in open court a few days later.

Speaker 12 The defendant Jonathan Hearn will then plead guilty in return for his full and truthful testimony in court proceedings involving Sabrina Limon.

Speaker 2 In this episode, we'll take you inside the California courtroom, where two ex-lovers were brought together again for the first time in nearly three years.

Speaker 2 You'll hear what Sabrina and Jonathan had to say about each other and about the murder of Rob Lamon.

Speaker 15 I did express that I had done it and that everything was about to change.

Speaker 16 I never wanted to believe that Jonathan was the one that did this.

Speaker 15 Ever.

Speaker 2 Which one was telling the truth?

Speaker 17 When you evaluate the witnesses' statements, you are allowed to take into account if they lied about one thing, they might be lying about another thing.

Speaker 2 Who manipulated who?

Speaker 11 People thought she seduced him and used sex to make him kill her husband.

Speaker 2 And you'll hear what a jury of nine women and three men decided.

Speaker 11 The courtroom was absolutely packed. You have Rob's family and friends on one side, Sabrina's friends and family on the other side, and everyone, everyone in that room was very anxious.

Speaker 2 I'm Josh Mankiewicz, and this is Deadly Mirage, a podcast from Dateline.

Speaker 2 Episode 6.

Speaker 2 He said,

Speaker 2 She said.

Speaker 2 On September 11, 2017, the trial of Sabrina Lamone opened in the packed Bakersfield courtroom of Judge John R. Brownlee.

Speaker 11 She was facing first-degree murder, conspiracy, solicitation, the poisoning charge, attempted murder, and accessory after the fact.

Speaker 2 That's the voice of Olivia La Voice.

Speaker 2 She covered the trial for NBC affiliate KGET in Bakersfield, which also live streamed the trial online.

Speaker 11 People could not get enough. As soon as we started live streaming opening statements, I mean, we were blown away by literally thousands of people during the day, all day, were just glued to it.

Speaker 11 I mean, they wanted to see every single second of this. People who were typically watching soap operas now were watching watching this trial.

Speaker 2 Everyone, it seemed, wanted to see the two lovers face off in court to hear two versions of a story that had resulted in murder.

Speaker 2 For prosecutor Eric Smith, the case was about a conniving woman who conspired with her young lover to have her husband murdered in cold blood.

Speaker 4 Evidence will show that Robert Lamon was killed to replace him as the father to Liana and Robin. This was their plan.

Speaker 2 This was their purpose. For defense attorney Richard Terry, the case was about a confessed killer who was willing to lie about his mistress in order to avoid life without parole.

Speaker 10 Everything implicated him.

Speaker 19 All of his statement implicated him.

Speaker 9 The only thing that made it, now it's Sabrina, is, well, this was our plan.

Speaker 2 In his opening statement, the prosecutor told the jury the circumstantial case they were about to hear would leave no doubt about Sabrina Lamon's involvement in her husband's murder.

Speaker 4 She provided information about where the shop is located.

Speaker 2 She would also keep him informed of the days Robert worked in Tehachapi.

Speaker 2 According to Prosecutor Smith, the plot to kill Rob Lamone was about more than romantic bliss.

Speaker 2 It was also about money.

Speaker 2 Why?

Speaker 4 So she could get in excess of $300,000 in life insurance money, and also that she could get lifelong benefits from the railroad because Robert was killed while working at the railroad in Tehatchview.

Speaker 2 As with most murder trials, the prosecutor began his case with a series of foundational witnesses. Detectives and first responders described the crime scene.
and the evidence recovered.

Speaker 2 Other witnesses, such as Sabrina Lamone's former friends, Jason and Kelly Bernatine,

Speaker 2 told the jury what they knew about Sabrina's love affair with Jonathan Hearn.

Speaker 10 I told him to never contact the Lamones. Stay away from Sabrina.

Speaker 9 And

Speaker 17 yeah, I said a lot of things.

Speaker 12 Why did you speak with Detective Maher?

Speaker 5 Because someone killed my friend. They needed to pay for it.

Speaker 2 All of that, of course, was just the opening act. The main attraction, the reason why thousands were watching a live feed of the trial, was Jonathan Hearn, the confessed killer.

Speaker 20 Good morning, sir. Can you tell us your name and spell your first and last name for the record?

Speaker 15 Yes, sir. My name is Jonathan Hearn.

Speaker 15 Last name spelled H-E-A-R-N.

Speaker 2 For a few moments, there was silence in the courtroom as Jonathan Hearn stared intently at a spot on the floor about six feet in front of him.

Speaker 2 Sitting a few feet away, Sabrina Lamon's long blonde hair hid her face as she seemed to be studying the back of her hand.

Speaker 10 How old are you?

Speaker 15 27 years old.

Speaker 12 How old were you when you were arrested November 18, 2014?

Speaker 15 24 years old.

Speaker 12 How old were you when you met Sabrina Lamon?

Speaker 15 22 years old.

Speaker 2 The jury was about to hear a story, the prosecutor implied, about a young man in the clutches of an older woman.

Speaker 2 In the prosecution's telling, Jonathan Hearn had been inexperienced in the ways of the world until he met Sabrina Lamon.

Speaker 12 When you first met Miss Lamon, were you attracted to her?

Speaker 10 I was.

Speaker 12 At that point, had you had a steady girlfriend?

Speaker 15 No.

Speaker 2 According to Hearn, he and Sabrina met for trysts anywhere and anytime they could be together.

Speaker 2 And that wasn't all.

Speaker 12 Did Miss Lamon send you photographs where she was naked as well through your phone, or from her phone to your phone?

Speaker 3 Yes, sir.

Speaker 15 How regularly? I don't want to give an exact approximation, but I have direct recollection of having

Speaker 15 many.

Speaker 2 And so it went, month after month, the increasingly slippery slope. of infidelity.
When Rob Lamone discovered the affair in the spring of 2013, Hearn said they broke it off.

Speaker 2 That resolve did not last.

Speaker 12 Now, how deep was your relationship with Miss Lamon? Your connection in 2014?

Speaker 15 Very deep. We were planning to marry, so very deep.

Speaker 2 For Christmas 2013, Sabrina gave Jonathan an engraved snow globe. It captured an idyllic scene, much like the future they had imagined together.

Speaker 2 In the first few months of 2014, Jonathan said they had talked about Sabrina possibly divorcing Rob, but she did not like that option.

Speaker 15 She expressed that the loyalty of her family and friends would most likely be with Rob and she would be seen as the bad guy.

Speaker 15 As sad as this sounds, for Rob's sake, she expressed that he would honestly rather be dead than divorced.

Speaker 2 According to Hearn, talk about Rob Lamone's death had started in jest, as in, wouldn't our lives be simpler if Rob wasn't around?

Speaker 2 Then, by early 2014, he says, those late-night musings about Rob Lamone's demise had progressed from mere wishful thinking to a serious plan of action.

Speaker 4 Did you settle on a method to kill Robert initially?

Speaker 3 Yes, I did.

Speaker 12 What was the initial method that you decided upon?

Speaker 10 Poisoning.

Speaker 2 Hearn testified he and Sabrina had first planned to kill Rob with arsenic-laced banana pudding in April 2014.

Speaker 2 Jonathan said that attempt was called off when Sabrina began to fear their affair might be revealed if police retrieved her phone records.

Speaker 15 If the investigator was to query her phone records and see

Speaker 15 a substantial amount of communication with someone else,

Speaker 15 that would obviously be something pretty suspicious.

Speaker 2 So he said they decided together it was better to wait and put some time between Rob's murder and all that activity on their phones.

Speaker 2 Hearn said he bought Sabrina a burner phone and kept it loaded with prepaid minutes.

Speaker 2 It was while waiting for his next opportunity that Hearn said he had second thoughts about the idea of poisoning Rob.

Speaker 15 And thought that it might be better to just approach him directly

Speaker 15 for the killing.

Speaker 2 Few things are more direct than a.45-caliber slug at point-blank range.

Speaker 2 That became Jonathan Hearn's plan. He says he spent the next few months prepping for murder.
He cased the railroad shop where Rob worked in Tehachapi.

Speaker 2 He took photos and noted where the security cameras were located. He bought clothes and a mask to disguise himself and adhesive flashing to disguise his motorcycle.

Speaker 2 When Sabrina told him her husband would be working in Tehachapi on that Sunday in August 2014,

Speaker 2 Jonathan says he told her he was ready.

Speaker 15 She asked me if I could be detected, and so I explained that I didn't think I would be recognized.

Speaker 15 She asked me about the motorcycle, if that would be noticeable, because it did have custom lettering on it. And I explained that I was taking measures to disguise the motorcycle as well.

Speaker 2 On the day of the murder, Hearn said, he arrived in Tehachapi around mid-afternoon. After parking his motorcycle in a secluded spot, Hearn said he donned an old man mask.

Speaker 2 and set out on foot, walking with a limp.

Speaker 2 He was looking for the unmarked shop where Rob Lamone worked.

Speaker 12 And when you got off your bike, what items did you have with you?

Speaker 15 A backpack with a firearm.

Speaker 2 Unable to determine exactly which building Rob Lamone worked in, Jonathan said he was about to call it off and go home.

Speaker 2 Then he said he saw Rob Lamon pull up to one of those buildings in his service truck. and open the garage door.

Speaker 9 I began walking

Speaker 15 back down towards where I had seen Robert Park and where the garage door was still open.

Speaker 2 Hearn said his mind was filled with conflicting thoughts at that moment. One of those thoughts, he said, was, thou shalt not kill.

Speaker 2 And another,

Speaker 2 God's purpose. All that stuff he and Sabrina had been saying about God wanting them.
to be together.

Speaker 15 It was inevitable that Rob needed to die for

Speaker 15 Sabrina and I to move forward with our relationship.

Speaker 2 And so just before he stepped into that shop to murder his romantic rival, Jonathan Hearn said he paused to pray.

Speaker 15 I remember sort of praying about the conflict that arose out of

Speaker 15 that purpose, but

Speaker 15 essentially it felt like I was approaching something that inevitably had to be done.

Speaker 2 Rob Lamone was sitting in the office when Jonathan Hearn entered through the open garage door. Hearn told the court that when Rob Lamone saw him, he came out of the office to meet him.

Speaker 15 We briefly spoke. I don't have distinct recollection right now.

Speaker 12 What distance were you from Rob when you spoke?

Speaker 15 Within 10 feet.

Speaker 12 Were you wearing the mask at that time?

Speaker 15 I was.

Speaker 2 What must Rob Lamone have been thinking in that moment? A stranger standing in his railroad shop on a Sunday afternoon, wearing an old man mask.

Speaker 2 And that voice. Did it sound familiar? Did Rob know who he was talking to?

Speaker 2 We will never know.

Speaker 2 Just as we may never know what those two men said to each other in those final seconds.

Speaker 2 According to Jonathan Jonathan Hearn, Rob turned his back on the masked man and walked to the kitchenette area in the rear of the shop. He opened the fridge and grabbed a Gatorade.

Speaker 2 Hearn said he intended to shoot Rob then,

Speaker 2 but the silencer on his gun was wedged in the corner of his backpack and he could not get the gun out of the bag.

Speaker 15 At some point, he turned around.

Speaker 15 I fired the first shot from within the bag.

Speaker 12 At what angle did you fire the first shot?

Speaker 15 It was a very steep, upward directed shot, just because

Speaker 15 the trajectory was affected by the fact the end of the gun was still stuck in the corner of the bag that I was holding.

Speaker 12 After you fired the first shot, what happened to Robert?

Speaker 15 He fell, seemingly mortally wounded.

Speaker 2 Heard said he walked to the office and ransacked it. He also took a laptop in hopes of making investigators think Rob's death was the result of a robbery and that maybe Rob was collateral damage.

Speaker 2 As he was headed for the door, Hearn said an unsettling thought suddenly popped into his head. What if Rob Lamone was not dead?

Speaker 15 I really didn't want to leave him if he wasn't

Speaker 15 entirely dead, so I went back around the backside of the truck and quickly fired one more shot at him and then closed the garage door behind me and ran from the facility.

Speaker 2 As soon as he could, Hearn said, he found a place to change out of the clothes he'd been wearing and stripped the adhesive flashing from his motorcycle.

Speaker 12 Were you feeling happiness, elation, excitement?

Speaker 15 Immediately leaving,

Speaker 10 probably fear,

Speaker 10 regret.

Speaker 15 Later on, I guess a feeling of relief that what had been in the works for so long was finally done.

Speaker 2 Hearn told the court that by the time he got to the Four Corners intersection at Kramer's Junction, his motorcycle was running on fumes.

Speaker 2 He had to stop for gas. Of course, the prosecutor knew that part of the story well.
He had it on video and played it for the jury.

Speaker 12 Do you recognize the motorcycle entering to the gas pumps?

Speaker 15 I do.

Speaker 3 Who's on the motorcycle?

Speaker 9 I am.

Speaker 10 What are you wearing?

Speaker 15 Shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt.

Speaker 2 Jonathan Hearn said he hadn't taken his cell phone on that trip to Tehachapi because he didn't want investigators looking at the GPS tracking feature and learning where he'd gone.

Speaker 2 According to Hearn, he called Sabrina as soon as he got home.

Speaker 12 What did you tell her?

Speaker 15 She was worried she hadn't heard from either of us

Speaker 15 and and uh had been trying to call both of us

Speaker 15 and uh referring to both me and robert and uh she wanted to make sure i was okay

Speaker 15 and i did express that i had done it and that

Speaker 15 everything was about to change

Speaker 2 everything was about to change

Speaker 2 That might very well have been the truest thing Jonathan Hearn has ever said.

Speaker 2 As the trial entered its third week, its focus changed as well. This would be Sabrina Lamone's turn to take the stand.

Speaker 5 Some stories never make national headlines, but stories from small towns and coastal communities deserve recognition too.

Speaker 5 I'm Kylie Lowe, host of Dark Down East, a true crime podcast that gives voice to victims through investigative journalism and powerful storytelling.

Speaker 5 Set in my home state of Maine and the greater New England area, it's my goal to dig through the archives to bring the stories of the people at the heart of these cases to light.

Speaker 5 Listen to Dark Down East, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 3 Hey, everybody, Ted Danson here to tell you about my podcast with my longtime friend and sometimes co-host Woody Harrelson.

Speaker 3 It's called Where Everybody Knows Your Name and We're Back for Another Season.

Speaker 3 I'm so excited to be joined this season by friends like John Mulaney, David Spade, Sarah Silverman, Ed Helms, and many more. You don't want to miss it.

Speaker 3 Listen to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with me, Ted Danson, and Woody Harrison sometimes, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 7 Hey, everybody, it's Babs. You know, one thing that makes the holiday season so magical is the traditions we share year after year.
And that's why I'm so excited to tell you about Birch Lane.

Speaker 7 Their classic furniture and festive decor is carefully crafted to bring joy to every seasonal celebration. Plus, it's delivered fast and free so you can start spreading the holiday cheer.

Speaker 7 Shop my handpicked Birch Lane collection and more classic styles at birchlane.com.

Speaker 2 For the better part of three weeks, Defense Attorney Richard Terry sat beside Sabrina Lamone and listened to the prosecution's case.

Speaker 2 It had been brutal. Photos of his client hugging her now-dead husband.

Speaker 2 Intimate details about their marriage.

Speaker 2 Hours of cringeworthy phone conversations between Sabrina and her lover.

Speaker 22 I love you. I love you.
I love you.

Speaker 2 All of it topped off by Jonathan Hearn's assertion that she had been his partner in crime.

Speaker 12 What did Sabrina tell you she wanted you to do?

Speaker 15 With respect to Rob to kill him?

Speaker 9 When you hear Jonathan's statement, what do you think?

Speaker 10 Basically, it sounded like a load of crap, to put it mildly.

Speaker 2 That's Sabrina Lamone's attorney, Richard Terry.

Speaker 9 She was nowhere involved in the murder of her husband.

Speaker 10 It was a deal that he cut. to get himself out from underneath being convicted in life without the possibility of parole.

Speaker 2 Terry saw it this way. Jonathan was at the rail yard.
Jonathan had his hand on the gun, Jonathan's gun. Jonathan admits being the murderer.

Speaker 2 And there's absolutely nothing on the wiretaps where Sabrina admits to knowing about or taking part in Jonathan's plan to kill her husband. So then,

Speaker 2 how does Jonathan get the deal? And Sabrina is looking at maybe life in prison. The way Attorney Terry saw it, Sabrina Lamone was a victim of circumstance.
A high school dropout who'd married young.

Speaker 2 A people pleaser who went with the flow.

Speaker 2 And when her husband suggested sex with other couples, well,

Speaker 2 she'd always been a teen player.

Speaker 19 She just doesn't make waves and she kind of goes with it. And I think with Jonathan, he fulfilled a need that was missing in her relationship with her husband.

Speaker 23 In other words, it was fun to have this open marriage, but it was also nice to have somebody who was totally devoted to you and not dating anybody else.

Speaker 2 In many ways, Richard Terry's defense began with his cross-examination of those who had turned on Sabrina, like Jason and Kelly Bernatine.

Speaker 2 And when your husband Jason was present, he got them to admit that, yes, they too had had sex with Rob and Sabrina.

Speaker 2 Here's how Terry's cross-examination of Kelly Bernatine went.

Speaker 24 Did you

Speaker 25 and Ms.

Speaker 13 Lamon and her husband and your husband engage in sexual activity together?

Speaker 11 Yes, we did.

Speaker 18 Okay.

Speaker 13 Now, when your husband wasn't present,

Speaker 24 how often were you having sexual relations with Robert Lamon?

Speaker 8 I was not.

Speaker 25 Did you ever have sexual relations with Robert Lamon or it was just the two of you?

Speaker 24 No. Is there some reason in particular that you really want to get Sabrina?

Speaker 7 Because she killed Rob.

Speaker 10 Well, she didn't kill anyone, did she?

Speaker 5 I believe she did.

Speaker 25 And because of that feeling, you want to get Sabrina.

Speaker 5 I believe she should pay for his murder.

Speaker 10 Because you believe she was involved.

Speaker 5 Yes.

Speaker 25 And that's because you care about her husband.

Speaker 2 so deeply, right?

Speaker 5 I believe I cared about him more than she did.

Speaker 2 When cross-examining Jonathan Hearn, Richard Terry questioned his religious sincerity.

Speaker 26 You previously testified that you didn't really believe

Speaker 14 or you really weren't a true Christian. Is that right?

Speaker 9 Yes, sir.

Speaker 14 In other words, you mouthed the words.

Speaker 2 Is that right?

Speaker 15 That would be a good characterization.

Speaker 2 Was all that religiosity intended to fool Sabrina into thinking of him as more virtuous than her husband. With regards to your faith, were you using that to deceive Ms.

Speaker 3 Lamon also?

Speaker 15 Ms. Lamon had the distinction of knowing that I was involved in an extramarital affair, so

Speaker 15 perhaps she was less deceived.

Speaker 27 Well, the whole time during the course of your relationship, you were constantly making references, biblical references, were you not?

Speaker 15 Sir, in the time that we've had

Speaker 15 these wiretaps was a pretty narrow perspective of our relationship, which went all the way back to 2012. I think back in 2012 and 13, you would have heard less references to God.

Speaker 2 Though Jonathan testified he and Sabrina had emailed with each other about their plan to kill Rob, Richard Terry questioned why investigators had found no evidence of that.

Speaker 2 After all, they'd recovered his internet searches on arsenic poisoning and on railroad death benefit payouts.

Speaker 21 I would assume, since they did so much work to get those web searches, that they would have turned over these emails you deleted, right?

Speaker 15 If you would like to assume that.

Speaker 9 Well,

Speaker 10 wouldn't that make sense to you if they actually existed?

Speaker 17 That they would present them here?

Speaker 10 Yes, sir.

Speaker 15 That would seem reasonable.

Speaker 2 After calling several of her family members to vouch for Sabrina's good character, Richard Terry then made a bold but risky move.

Speaker 25 You aren't this man's best to call Sabrina Lamon to the stand.

Speaker 2 The defense attorney's gamble was that given the chance to compare Sabrina's story with Jonathan's, at least one juror might find Sabrina's version more credible, more sympathetic.

Speaker 2 So he called his client to the stand.

Speaker 22 You can solve me state that the testimony you shall make with this madden shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing through so helping out.

Speaker 2 Richard Terry started by leading Sabrina through a brief review of her life with Rob Lamone.

Speaker 21 Did you have a group of friends that you regularly

Speaker 9 partied with?

Speaker 16 Yes.

Speaker 26 Were these groups of friends that you went on adult-only vacations with?

Speaker 16 Yes.

Speaker 4 Were Jason and Kelly Bernatine

Speaker 20 one of these couples?

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 2 As the years passed, Sabrina said she felt less special to the man she'd married. Rob kind of got

Speaker 25 hooked on watching porn on the computer.

Speaker 9 Yes.

Speaker 21 Did you feel like

Speaker 10 at that point in your marriage with Rob that had become kind of overly fixated with sex, in your opinion?

Speaker 16 Yes.

Speaker 25 Let me ask you this. Were you?

Speaker 9 Yes.

Speaker 2 Nevertheless, Sabrina said she felt trapped and controlled by the swinging lifestyle. Her marriage, she said, had become emotionally unsatisfying.
Then came Costco. and the day she met Jonathan Hurd.

Speaker 2 Jonathan was something different, she said. A straight-arrow arrow type, smart and curious, the kind of guy who could talk about anything.

Speaker 16 He was like nobody I'd ever

Speaker 16 met before. He was very, very intelligent.
I felt like I was with a human dictionary.

Speaker 10 Did he talk about his faith a lot to you during those time periods that you were talking to?

Speaker 16 You know,

Speaker 16 not in the beginning, no.

Speaker 3 Well, let me ask you this.

Speaker 26 Did you go to church on a regular basis not at that time no

Speaker 2 as the relationship progressed becoming sexual sabrina said she and jonathan also became more spiritual they coped with their guilt over the cheating she said with prayer

Speaker 2 jonathan quoted the bible to her encouraged her to memorize certain verses sabrina was all in with that.

Speaker 2 Though in hindsight, she said, Jonathan used religion to manipulate her.

Speaker 16 He knows what he's doing and everything that he does.

Speaker 16 Jonathan controlled me through carrying his Bible with him everywhere that he went and using that to guilt me, but also make me feel safe and secure and like I was doing right, I guess.

Speaker 16 Even though I knew there were

Speaker 16 definitely things I was doing wrong in my life.

Speaker 2 To hear Sabrina tell it, she was satisfied with the double life she was leading with two different men. And she saw no reason to change that.

Speaker 26 Did you and he discuss having a future together?

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 5 I played into

Speaker 16 dreams and

Speaker 8 life with this guy, but

Speaker 16 had a life of my own as well. So it's hard to explain today, that's for sure.

Speaker 20 In your mind, the best of both worlds?

Speaker 16 Yes, I had the best of both worlds, but not really.

Speaker 26 Did you discuss leaving Rob with Jonathan?

Speaker 16 Yes.

Speaker 16 I guess I did, yes.

Speaker 25 Was that part of the

Speaker 26 playing into the fantasies?

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 26 Were you at any time seriously really considering leaving Rob?

Speaker 16 No.

Speaker 14 Why not?

Speaker 16 I couldn't imagine my life without Rob.

Speaker 9 Why?

Speaker 16 Because I loved him.

Speaker 2 Sabrina said she'd been devastated when Rob died. In those darkest of days, she said, she felt Jonathan was her rock.
Somebody she could cling to. Someone who would take care of her and the children.

Speaker 2 Now,

Speaker 26 when Detective Meyer contacted you, he asked you

Speaker 25 if you...

Speaker 26 or Rob were involved in any extramarital affairs.

Speaker 10 Is that right?

Speaker 16 Yes, he did.

Speaker 3 And you told him no.

Speaker 9 Is that right?

Speaker 5 Yes.

Speaker 22 Why?

Speaker 16 Because I was embarrassed, and I just felt like that was

Speaker 16 embarrassing, personal, private lifestyle that I didn't want known.

Speaker 26 Well, were you trying to protect your husband's reputation somewhere?

Speaker 16 Yes.

Speaker 22 Why?

Speaker 9 Along with my own.

Speaker 16 Because that's not how I wanted Rob to be known at all.

Speaker 2 Sabrina said she not only lied to investigators about her lifestyle, she said she had lied about her affair because Jonathan had told her they'd both be in for a world of hurt if investigators ever found out about it.

Speaker 16 He had told me that, you know, just the dangers of what could happen

Speaker 16 when an affair is exposed, how the police think and how they work. So he kind of just started scaring me, I guess, with how it could be portrayed.

Speaker 27 Lead back to him, you?

Speaker 16 Yes, him and I.

Speaker 2 According to Sabrina, she never discussed killing Rob with Jonathan. There'd never been any poison pudding plot.

Speaker 2 And she had never imagined Jonathan would ever want to harm Rob.

Speaker 2 Yes, she admitted, She had told Jonathan where Rob worked, but only in passing, as a small part of a larger conversation. And yes, she had told Jonathan Rob would be working in Tehachapi that day.

Speaker 2 And that was only because Tehachapi days were long days for Rob, and typically a time when she and Jonathan could meet up.

Speaker 2 Her defense against all those accusations was a familiar one to any follower of true crime.

Speaker 2 Yes, I lied to my husband about the affair. Yes, I lied to police about it, too.
But murder? I never thought of it.

Speaker 2 And you can trust me on that.

Speaker 2 Even after investigators told her they suspected Jonathan of killing her husband, Sabrina said she didn't believe it.

Speaker 26 When you were talking to Detective Meyer, you still continued to not believe that Jonathan was the one who killed Robert. Why were you still denying that Jonathan could have done this?

Speaker 16 I guess my

Speaker 16 guilt of being in a relationship with him, I didn't want it to be him at all.

Speaker 9 I don't know.

Speaker 2 According to Sabrina, Jonathan Hearn had used the shame she'd felt for her days as a swinger to manipulate her. During his cross-examination, prosecutor Eric Smith questioned that.

Speaker 27 Jonathan Hearn controlled you.

Speaker 3 That was your testimony yesterday.

Speaker 16 No, Jonathan Hearn was controlling.

Speaker 3 Okay. Now your husband controls you.
That's your testimony today.

Speaker 16 No, my husband was my husband.

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 4 Do you make decisions on your own at any point?

Speaker 2 Um

Speaker 16 yes, I sure do

Speaker 16 apparently many bad ones

Speaker 5 Some stories never make national headlines, but stories from small towns and coastal communities deserve recognition too.

Speaker 5 I'm Kylie Lowe, host of Dark Down East, a true crime podcast that gives voice to victims through investigative journalism and powerful storytelling.

Speaker 5 Set in my home state of Maine and the greater New England area, it's my goal to dig through the archives to bring the stories of the people at the heart of these cases to light.

Speaker 5 Listen to Dark Down East, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 28 Hey, everybody, it's Rob Lowe here.

Speaker 2 If you haven't heard, I have a podcast that's called Literally with Rob Lowe.

Speaker 28 And basically, it's conversations I've had that really make you feel like you're pulling up a chair at an intimate dinner between myself and people that I admire, like Aaron Sorkin or Tiffany Haddish, Demi Moore, Chris Pratt, Michael J.

Speaker 28 Fox.

Speaker 28 There are new episodes out every Thursday. So subscribe, please, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 18 Hey, neighbor. this holiday season, Birch Lane is here to help you celebrate with friends and family.

Speaker 18 From guest-ready dining tables to cozy sofas that fit the whole crew, our classic furniture and decor are crafted to last.

Speaker 18 And with fast-free delivery, you can be ready for holiday hosting in days, not weeks. So you can spend time on what matters most.
It's classic style for joyful living.

Speaker 18 Shop Birch Lane, a Wayfair specialty brand at birchlane.com.

Speaker 2 On the morning of October 3rd, the jury got the case.

Speaker 2 They had spent the better part of three weeks listening to testimony, and they had heard the confessional testimony of Jonathan Hearn, the man who murdered Rob Lamone in cold blood.

Speaker 2 And they had seen the dead man's widow up close.

Speaker 2 At mid-morning, they sent a head-scratching note to the judge. Jurors wanted to see that sparkling snow globe Sabrina had given Jonathan for Christmas, nine months before Rob's murder.

Speaker 17 It puzzled me then and puzzles me now, except that clearly the jury saw the snow globe as a symbol.

Speaker 2 That's Michael Fleman, the true crime reporter who would later write a book about the case titled Better Off Dead.

Speaker 17 But the jury seemed to fix on the snow globes.

Speaker 15 Why would she give him this present?

Speaker 17 Why? It was inscribed. It was a Christmas present.
It sat at his house for months.

Speaker 17 If she was being played by him, you know, if she was the victim here, she was the damsel in distress, and he was the puppet master, why would she give him this nice present?

Speaker 17 You know, that's all I can think.

Speaker 2 A few hours later, another note, this one asking if the attempted murder count in the list of charges pertained to the poison pudding plot.

Speaker 2 Yes, the judge replied, it did.

Speaker 2 Then, a little after 4 p.m., the jury sent one last note.

Speaker 2 They had reached a verdict.

Speaker 17 Yeah, I was surprised at how quick the verdict was.

Speaker 17 At the very least, I would have thought the jury would have gone through the wiretaps a little more carefully, but no, it was essentially a one-day deliberation.

Speaker 2 Because it was late in the day, The judge delayed announcing the verdict until the next morning.

Speaker 20 Good morning, everyone.

Speaker 9 Good morning.

Speaker 20 Nice to see you all back.

Speaker 27 You received a note yesterday at 4.10 p.m. that we have completed all of the verdict forms.
Madam Foreman, is that correct?

Speaker 22 That's correct.

Speaker 20 Verdic form does appear to be in order.

Speaker 9 Madam Clerk, please.

Speaker 29 The people of the state of California, plaintiff versus Sabrina Limon, defendant.

Speaker 7 First count.

Speaker 29 We, the jury, find the defendant, Sabrina Limon, guilty of murder in the first degree.

Speaker 2 Sabrina Lamone dropped her head as the clerk read the remainder of the verdict form.

Speaker 2 Guilty of premeditation. Guilty of conspiracy.
Guilty of accessory.

Speaker 2 But on the attempted murder charge in the poison pudding plot, the jury found her not guilty. There had been no physical evidence presented.

Speaker 2 that would have supported Jonathan Hearn's claim that Sabrina Lamone had put arsenic-laced pudding in her husband's lunch.

Speaker 27 Madam Foreman, is that your true and correct verdict of SH Count?

Speaker 2 After the jury was dismissed, Sabrina Lamone cried softly as she was shackled and led away.

Speaker 2 Outside the courthouse, family and friends of Rob Lamone gathered and spoke with the assembled media.

Speaker 8 I have to thank the 12 jurors for listening to the evidence.

Speaker 2 That's Rob Lamon's sister, Chris Wilson.

Speaker 8 I'm excited.

Speaker 8 I'm relieved.

Speaker 8 It's just been a long three years.

Speaker 22 It'll never bring my brother back,

Speaker 8 but it'll bring justice.

Speaker 2 It was an emotional moment for the sisters, who had not only lost a brother and a sister-in-law, They had also lost contact with their niece and nephew, who were living with Sabrina's sister, Julie.

Speaker 2 Here's Rob's sister, Lydia Marrero.

Speaker 9 I love my niece and nephew.

Speaker 8 Send out my love to them.

Speaker 9 We hope to see them.

Speaker 8 We hope to see them one day and tell them all the great stories we have of their father.

Speaker 11 I could not imagine Sabrina's family and Robert's family being on even remotely good terms.

Speaker 2 That's crime reporter Olivia La Voice again.

Speaker 11 I think

Speaker 11 so much of what went down in this case had to do with

Speaker 11 what Rob Lamone's family wanted. And to them,

Speaker 11 Jonathan Hearn wasn't the one who betrayed them and Rob Lamone, right? The betrayal for them was with Sabrina. So if you're Sabrina's family,

Speaker 11 You could imagine how they might look at Robert's family and think,

Speaker 11 yeah, you guys are a huge part of why she's in there.

Speaker 2 On November 16th, 2017,

Speaker 2 almost two years to the day after he was arrested and charged with murder, Jonathan Hearn was back in court for his sentencing.

Speaker 26 The defendant does qualify for punishment in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Speaker 2 With Rob Lamone's sisters sitting just a few feet away, Hearn read a long statement he'd composed while waiting for his sentence to be handed down.

Speaker 2 The calm and unflappable demeanor he had worn like a coat of armor at trial was gone.

Speaker 13 I have evoked God's name and yet behaved exactly opposite of his dictates.

Speaker 13 I have sinned.

Speaker 2 In comments addressed to the court, to Rob Lamon's family, to his own family, and also Sabrina's family, Jonathan Hearn begged for forgiveness.

Speaker 13 I am aware that for my crimes, anything short of death is really merciful.

Speaker 13 Yet for my sin, I truly do deserve much worse. I have wept and struggled searching for adequate words to express my repentance.

Speaker 13 It seems like saying I'm sorry to you all will never be enough.

Speaker 13 And so speaking on borrowed and undeserved breath, I offer you my broken-hearted and genuine apology,

Speaker 13 knowing that it cannot compare to the grief that I've caused all of you.

Speaker 13 To Robert's family and his dear friends, I'm so sorry.

Speaker 12 I'm sorry for stealing your brother, your friend,

Speaker 13 your beloved relative, and taking your joy from you.

Speaker 2 When all was said and done, the judge sentenced Jonathan Hearn to the agreed-upon 25 years and four months.

Speaker 2 However, not long after Jonathan began serving his sentence, the California legislature passed a new law giving youthful offenders the opportunity for early parole.

Speaker 2 In Jonathan Hearn's case, that means he could be released from prison before his 40th birthday.

Speaker 11 Essentially, the law says if you are under the age of 26 at the time of your offense, you are eligible for parole after serving a full 14 years.

Speaker 2 Olivia Lavois.

Speaker 11 It's possible he'll be denied parole, but

Speaker 11 based on everything that we know about what they're looking for at parole hearings, he's checking all the boxes for being a model inmate.

Speaker 2 In February 2018, Sabrina Lamon was sentenced to 25 years to life for her role in her husband's murder. An appellate court upheld her conviction in 2022.

Speaker 2 And last year, the California Supreme Court denied her petition for review of the case.

Speaker 2 Neither Sabrina nor Jonathan responded to our requests for an interview for this podcast.

Speaker 2 So ends a story that began more than a dozen years ago in a busy shopping aisle at Costco.

Speaker 2 An ordinary day, except for the fateful meeting of two strangers.

Speaker 2 If not for the unique makeup of those two people and the astounding number of bad choices they made, their story might well have ended right there.

Speaker 2 A closer reading of the Bible might have been useful back then.

Speaker 2 It's the book of Hosea that talks about how mistakes from the past past can cause those who made them to reap the whirlwind.

Speaker 2 Sometimes the lessons from scripture and from real life

Speaker 2 are one and the same.

Speaker 2 Deadly Mirage is a production of Dateline and NBC News. Tim Beacham is the producer.
Brian Drew, Kelly Laudine, and Marshall Hausfeld are audio editors. Carson Cummins is associate producer.

Speaker 2 Adam Gorfane is co-executive producer. Paul Ryan is executive producer.
And Liz Cole is senior executive producer.

Speaker 2 From NBC News Audio, Soundmixing by Katie Lau, Bryson Barnes is head of audio production.

Speaker 3 Hey everybody, Ted Danson here to tell you about my podcast with my longtime friend and sometimes co-host Woody Harrison. It's called Where Everybody Knows Your Name and we're back for another season.

Speaker 3 I'm so excited to be joined this season by friends like John Mulaney, David Spade, Sarah Silverman, Ed Helms, and many more. You don't want to miss it.

Speaker 3 Listen to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with me, Ted Danson, and Woody Harrison sometimes, wherever you get your podcasts.