#554 - Murky Murder Motives - Fort Pierce, Florida

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hello everybody and welcome back to small town murder express yeah and choo choo oh yay indeed jimmy yay indeed my name is james petrogallo i'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman.
He is on it today. Look at that.
Thank you, folks, so much for joining us. Oh, my goodness.
All aboard the murder train. There it goes.
Pulling away from the station. We got a wild episode for you, as usual, on Express.
You know we will stuff a three-hour murder story in one hour, and it's going to be wild stuff. So check that out, definitely.
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There's a hint for you. For one of them.
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The end of the regular show anyway. So that said, I think it's time, everybody.
What do you say? I think it's time to clear the lungs. Let's all arms to the sky.
Let's all shout. Shut up and give me murder.

Let's do this, everybody.

Let's go on a trip.

Get on, yeah.

All right.

We are going to Florida.

Hell yeah.

Yes, which it is freezing right now, so it doesn't sound too, too terrible.

We're going to Fort Pierce, Florida.

Where's that at?

That is on the south. It's southeast.
It's palm beach opposite of fort myers i don't know i have i'm not good with my florida fort myers is just south of tampa on the west side on the west on the east this is on the east side yeah it's about yeah it's over it probably i would say yeah it's about two hours and 45 minutes to mi little out of a quarter. I bet it's directly across from Fort Myers.
I'd say about a quarter to a third of the way up the Florida line there. Yeah, it's about right.
About an hour 45 to Chilota, Florida, which was our last Florida episode. That was the webcam model madness.
That was the crazy guy with the upset. Yeah, that was a weird one, man.
This town, population here, 46,409. Median median household income here normally the rest of the country it's almost 70 000 here 40 000 323 what in the fuck is going on there i don't know what's happening down here maybe it's just super cheap maybe all the all the prices everything it's just stuck in the 90s everything it's 1995 when you go over there you don't need money no no they still have like dell computer stores over there gateway shops with the big cow yeah that was gateway yeah that took a minute to remember that was the compact for some oh yeah oh boy like aerodynamic like they were gonna be going down the freeway you needed like you were gonna use them in a truck bed as you went down the freeway 85 miles an hour economy? You had fuel economy with it.
Didn't want you to get too much drag? Why would they make it look like that? No idea. Median home price here, $274,000.
So not that high compared to the rest of the country, but high if you make $40,000. Sure is, yeah.
Not too great there. A little bit of history of this town.
The first permanent settlement of the current city was in the 1860s. It was

incorporated into a municipality

in 1901. It was the largest

city on Florida's Atlantic

coast between Daytona

Beach and West Palm Beach until

1970 when Melbourne

was bigger. So it had some

population here.

There's a neighborhood of Lincoln

Park, not in Chicago,

this one. It's the area

north of...ores Creek originated as Edgar Town. And so that was there.
And a couple reviews of this town here. There's some fun ones for this town.
I mean, you had to really, it's hard to go through them and pick them out. Here is five stars.
Fort

Pierce is a hidden gem. Is it?

By the way, every sentence has three exclamation

points after it, so they're very excited.

There is so much to do.

Okay. Wow, okay.
More than

any other town on the Treasure Coast.

Still has a small town

feel, and more people are realizing

what a beautiful place it is. Housing

is so much more affordable, too.

Brand new homes in the mid to high

200s. That's pretty good that's not bad yeah so there you go uh four stars great place to live besides gunshots sometimes sometimes besides you know besides the deadly projectiles flying through the air it's great great.
And then this is the best, too.

But that's most places.

Is it?

No, it's not.

It's really not.

From time to time, you're dodging bullets?

What are you talking about?

Everybody out there, is there constant gunshots around you?

There's areas I can tell you that have constant gunshots.

Mostly downtown areas. It's not everywhere.

No.

It's really not.

Rent used to be really cheap until recently. Yeah.
People are finding out that it's cheap there. I think that's why.
It's expensive other places. Go find somewhere cheap and don't tell anybody.
It won't be for long. It's going to go up before you know it.
It will. People find it.
Here is one star. Fort Pierce has to be one of the worst cities in Florida.
Yeah, there's gun shows. It's everywhere.
The city is the definition of crime, drugs, and gangs. There's 40,000 people here.
How many gangs can there be, really? That's a very stupid sentence. If I had the chance to move, I would.
If I could give it zero stars, I would. It is quite honestly a hell on earth.
Oh. Jesus Christ.
Goddamn. Fires burning.
Yeah. And poked in the ass with a trident.
That's rough. That's a rough one.
You're here for eternity? Oof. I can't get out.
Yeah. I do not feel safe out on my own.
Even in my neighborhood, which is one of the, quote, nicer ones, is terrible. Safety in numbers, man.
That's the way they said it. Go out with a friend.
Well, there's still gunshots flying around all over the place. My neighbor is constantly being arrested on drug charges.
That's a real personal thing. Yeah, sounds like he's probably doing a lot of drugs.
When he's home from jail, he's always selling or doing drugs and always goes on rampages outside. Okay.
I think this is just, maybe if you move to a different house, you might be better off here. Imagine living next to that.
It's terrifying. The entire city of Fort Pierce is terrifying.
Yeah. Jesus.
It sure sounds like it. They are scared of everything.
Things to do here. Okay.
The Fort Pierce Oyster and Sea Fest. Yeah.
I'm all about this shit. Sounds good.
This sounds great. It's along the waterfront in downtown Fort Pierce.
Sure. Two-day festival celebrating Fort Pierce waterfront and all of its bounty.
Right. With delicious oysters, tasty seafood dishes, landlubber foods.
Landlubber. Landlubber.
Live entertainment and a bevy of arts and craft and merchandise vendors. It free to come in good that's nice um we love pets but we ask that you please do not bring them with you oh okay that's better than no fucking dogs ever like some of them say we respect the shit out of them yeah somewheres else you got raw oysters steamed oysters fucking rockefeller italiano char-grilled oysters, fried oysters.
Oyster shooters with vodka or beer.

But the entertainment schedule that's what we're all about when you're when you're drunk with a belly full of oysters which by the way i've done before not recommended not not too drunk that feels real gross yeah if you've ever seen mad men there's a time when don draper sets roger sterling up to get sick yeah by pretending the elevators out after giving him lots of vodka and oysters and then he walked up a bunch of stars and threw up and threw up everywhere go exercise yep i did that in vegas one time and it was like 110 outside and that shit was fighting in there i was like oh god i gotta go sit down in the air conditioning this isn't good these oysters are boxing they are boxing the vodka and the vodka's winning i think so 2024 schedule here was scott benge or bengi b-e-n-g-e yeah i don't know he's playing the coveted 10 a.m slot which is the what all musicians really strive for is to get on at 10 a.m uh i'm done by lunch, babe. That's great.
You have a belly full of oysters. Oh, man.
Sweet Justice. Yeah.
Bamboo is playing at 4 o'clock. Keith Anthony Panman.
Nope. I the opposite of johnny paycheck but also the opposite of johnny debt like if you lost the hay the case with amber heard he'd be there He'd be Johnny Depp.
And then they're going to play more.

Johnny Depp.

Jupiter. If you lost the case with Amber Heard, he'd be there.
Amber Heard won. He'd be Johnny Depp.

And then they're going to play more.

Johnny Depp.

Jupiter Trailer Trash will be there at 2 o'clock.

I like that.

I'll bet that's a good band.

That's fun.

They seem funny.

And then Bobby G.

And then finally Bamboo will close it out there.

Yeah, it's Bobby G.

He plays a different horn.

He plays a trombo. It's real boring.
He plays a different horn. He plays a trombo.

It's real boring.

He plays an oboe when people are like.

Real annoying.

It's not really a solo instrument.

You know what I mean?

So that said, let's talk about some murder, shall we?

Let's do this here.

Bobby bassoon G.

He comes out with a big bassoon.

He's like, come on.

Like, this is not romantic at all. You're just playing the bass notes, man.
This is not the alto sax at all. We're just playing the bass line to Ranchero songs over and over again.
So, let's talk about a murderer. Let's talk about a man first.
Now, his name, he goes by Ashley. Okay, but I don't know if his name is ronald ashley or ashley ronald because in multiple places it's different so i'm not positive but he goes by ashley either way you can forget ronald ever existed ronald or ashley maybe his last name maybe his middle name oh one of them is his middle name one of them is his first but he goes by ashley either way so who gives a shit basically um ashley Polo is his last name.
P-O-L-L-O-W. Like pillow with an O.
He's born in 1952. He graduated from Castle Heights Military School in Lebanon, Tennessee in 1970.
And went to the University of Memphis and the University of Memphis Law School as well. That's a successful Southern man.
He's very successful. Yes, he's, well, not in all things.
We'll talk about this, but yeah, he's a tax attorney. That's what he does.
He's admitted to the Florida Bar in 1980. He's going to get married.
We'll talk all about that in more detail a little bit later and have four children as well and then get divorced also oh so damn it yeah he's uh he's interesting one of his daughters said well i guess he met his he met his wife at the at university of memphis and moved with her to florida there they got married and had kids so he started his law practice down there they later divorced his father his daughter told people that he was a very doting parent but he was something of a workaholic so i know how that goes and i guess if you're starting out a law practice yeah you probably panicked you got five mouths at home you gotta feed yeah you're probably and also student loan debts probably who knows what else so anyway yeah um heard his daughter said he did struggle with depression he had breakdown he had a breakdown, moved to Fort Pierce, and gave himself a fresh start. So I guess after college and law school and all that, he kind of— I bet a lot of lawyers do that at the beginning.
Probably crack. Like, how the fuck am I going to make it now? From what I hear, like law school, medical school, any kind of specialized graduate school is very stressful from what I understand.
And I guess it would be because you've put everything into this and you're at the tip of the arrow. At the end of it, there's a crescendo of like either a dissertation or you've got to take the bar exam.
Yeah. That is not easy.
That's a lot. Yeah.
That's a lot of stress, I guess, and your whole life depending on it and hinging on it. You've got yourself in all this debt.
A of it the nice part about the bar is a lot of very famous lawyers have failed it several times oh tons still passed tons that's crazy you can fail it a million times and come right back come right back it's like it's like a road test yeah now he's got it's like a road yeah i know people have failed their road test four or five times and it's like they let you just drive let's just keep going if you fail more than three times they should put like a special placard like your domino's pizza delivery person on top of your car failed a lot watch for him took him a while yeah he knows now but he didn't for a long time he knows just the minimum so uh his sister ashley's sister jackie described him as nice and kind. She said he's a very nonviolent person.
His disposition is very laid back. He's a lawyer.
Yes. So just keep that in mind.
Very nonviolent disposition, very laid back. Cut to 1999.
There is an article that is headlined, Lawyer Has Violent Past Records Show. Oh, violent past.
That's nice, yeah. Multiple.
Oh, yeah, yeah. He's got some stuff here.
This article goes on to say that Ashley Paolo's parents, ex-wife, and girlfriend had warned for years that his erratic and violent behavior would someday endanger his life or the lives of others, according to court records. Wow.
So, nonviolent, very laid back, apparently. To somebody.
There were psychological evaluations, restraining orders, threats, and bizarre behavior records show. What is going on? How many tax attorneys? Why is he so mad? Like, even like, I can see a criminal lawyer.
Yeah. You know, because they get the bombastic showmanship as part of it.
A tax lawyer is supposed to be pretty fucking buttoned up, right?

It's like the least worrisome of all the crimes.

Yeah. Yeah.
You wouldn't. It's crazy.

I mean, I guess you're I don't. And it depends on which side he's on.

Is he fixing things for people or ruining people?

Well, he's he's a lawyer, not for the IRS.

So he's helping people get out of tax problems.

Yeah. But one incident that could send the Boca Raton tax attorney to prison for life was a simple shove at a Boca Raton restaurant this summer.
Uh-oh. That's because Paolo, 47 at the time in 99, shoved Julius Melnick, 75.
Oh, Ashley. At the doorway of 2J's Gourmet Deli.
You're beating up old men at a deli? What the fuck are you doing? What an asshole. On August 2nd, Melnick fell against a wall and broke his hip as Paolo stood over him and yelled, what's your problem? I've got a broken hip.
My fucking hip is broken. My pelvis is shattered at the moment.
I might die now. That's why.
Well, let's see here. As a result, Apollo was charged with aggravated battery on a person 65 years or older, which in Florida, that's a lot of the population.
So those laws are strong. They're strict as fuck.
That carries a penalty of 30 years to life in prison. You don't fuck with old people.
I guess not. Not in Florida.
You don't fuck. There's so many of them.
They're like, let's put them away forever if they touch us. All right? We can do whatever we want.
We'll drive our golf carts shit-faced in front of them. Incredibly slow.
Anybody gets angry about it. 30 years to life.
We own this place. Holy shit.
I've worked my life away in Jersey for this. I did it.
Connecticut, you know how the taxes I paid outside of Greenwich. To drive this easy go.
Oh, my God. So Melnick then died on October 27th.
Oh, my God, he did? He died from pneumonia in a hospital due to complications. Complications from the hip? God damn it.
The medical examiner said were related to the incident. He killed him.
He killed boy that's not the murder by the way that's not the small town murder here uh because it's a bonus murder over some capical holy shit over an italian fucking combo what's happening wow because of the medical examiner's ruling that the death was a homicide boca raton police last week added a charge of third degree murder they They put homicide on the ticket because he did it. Wow.
They did, yep. That murder charge, however, is punishable by a maximum of 15 years in prison because of what the state's attorney's law office called an inherent flaw in the statute.
Yes, you let old people write the elderly law and it makes no sense with the rest of the laws. They're trying to protect themselves from ever getting shoved over a salami.

Good God. Mike Edmondson, spokesman for the state's attorney's office, said he'll lobby to have the laws changed so third-degree murder charges carries a harsher penalty than aggravated battery.
That seems logical. Yeah, murder battery.
It's different. Holy shit.
Now, they say that Ashley has one prior arrest in February of that year. Yeah.
To have 1999 for battery and violating a restraining order. He's a problem.
He really has a short temper. I guess so.
Despite the allegations of abuse against him, Paolo has never been disciplined by the Florida bar since being admitted to the bar in 1980. In 1998, court related, our court ordered psychiatric examination.
Paolo denied having the urge to hurt anyone and said he was under stress at work because he was trying to find more profitable cases. Well, people in tax trouble usually don't have the most money to pay.
If they had money, they'd pay their fucking tax bill. Drug dealers, that's who you should defend.
They have a lot of money. They pay in cash.
It's great. Paulo began exhibiting violent behavior shortly after meeting his wife in a psychiatric facility in Tarpon Springs more than two decades ago.

They met while they were both in the psych ward.

Oh, boy.

Him and his wife.

Yeah.

And then they said, let's have four kids.

Let's figure out life together.

Yep.

According to restraining orders and other Palm Beach County court orders gene duane paulo and ashley paulo what yeah his wife's name is gene duane gene duane that's his wife and his name is ronald ashley very confusing yeah they met in 1973 at anclote manor which is not a in Vail, where they were both being treated for behavioral disorders, quote unquote. Golly.
They fell in love, left Anclote without medical authorization, and got married. Which, when you go into a facility like that, they say, try to find someone and fall in love with them and run away and get married.
That's the best course of action for you, really.

The best treatment you can have.

Any rehab center will tell you that.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah.

Drug addicts.

You've got behavioral disorders.

According to the final divorce ruling there in 1997.

It didn't work out.

Didn't work out.

The lengthy and bitter divorce is peppered with dozens of allegations of abuse, including

an account of a beating that's alleged to have occurred within one week of their marriage. God damn.
This guy I met at the mental institution isn't the guy I thought he was. Weird, right? He beat me up.
Crazy. Strange.
Gene Palo said the beatings continued through their marriage, averaging two to three times per month. God, fuck.
Jesus Christ. Poor woman, that's fucked.
In 1995, she filed a restraining order against Ashley Paulo saying she and the children need a protection against his malicious, brutal, and violent temper. I would say so.
Oof. They wrote that Ashley had trouble with his temper, ego, and lack of maturity.
And at times he exhibited exhibits erratic behavior. That's from the evaluation.
Paulo was also accused of abuse by a girlfriend, of course, who filed a restraining order against him in January, calling him a, quote, psychotic alcoholic in court records. Very nice.
Shirley Powell, 40, said in court that she feared for her life when paolo powell and paolo got together terrific uh came home let's just rearrange those letters and make you mine what do you say uh came home one day in a rage and began kicking and hitting her like a maniac and foaming at the mouth whoa he has rabies now too what's his deal i don't know he's got a lot the a lot. The taxes will make you angry.
I guess. They're frustrating.
Those long forms are frustrating. They change laws every fucking year.
Who knows what's happening? You've got to keep reading. In June 1998 Paolo asked a judge to commit his son after he said Ashley Paolo destroyed everything in his house.
That's David Paolo asked that. Please commit my father because he wrecked the whole house.

He's losing it.

He just destroyed the whole house. It said his son in court record went on to say he will not talk to anyone, has not been to his office in a week, and has left his law practice unattended and has been drinking in excess.
Oh, boy. Complete meltdown is what that is.
One of his employees, Donald Murray, said in court records that Paolo's home was littered with food and beer bottles

and that he was acting incoherent as if he was hallucinating.

He goes, I'm just trying to acclimate myself to Fort Pierce, Florida.

Yeah.

I'm just getting comfy.

I'm getting comfy and no one will think I'm local if I act like this.

I'm going to do this and wear this Tommy Bahama shirt. Where is my oysters? I want shooters.
Wow. I want shooters.
A general master, a court officer who researches and mediates issues for judges, recommended that Ashley Paolo be evaluated at Fair Oaks Hospital in Boca Raton report show. And it said, quote, this is from the report, General Master's report,

the patient's behavior and history indicate mental illness.

Patient has recently demonstrated an active danger to others through violence and threats of harm,

as well as danger to himself exhibited by repeated auto accidents.

He's crashing cars, too.

He's a dude out of. He can't do anything safely.
Fucking control. Yeah.
Out of control. So that's 99.
Then in 2000, they dropped the murder charge against him. Okay.
Yeah. I don't know why.
He maintained that he accidentally bumped into the guy. Okay.
That's what he says. And a teenage cashier who witnessed the incident now says he doesn't think Paolo meant to harm him.
Oh, so he thinks he was. At first, he said he pushed him down.
And he said, I don't know. Maybe he didn't mean to harm him.
OK. So who knows? Well, that would explain why he said, what are you doing? Yeah.
What's your problem? He said. So the guy who died, he died from pneumonia and a blood infection, which were complications from a broken bone.
He went septic, man. Yeah, that's fucking brutal.

Fuck.

So then Ashley is pretty quiet for about 10 years.

Figured it out.

Or at least figured out how to not be in court documents constantly. Keep it quiet.
Yeah, keep it on the down low here. So January 2010, he resurfaces with the police and is arrested on charges including organized dealing in stolen property and second degree grand theft following allegations he traded another person's bobcat construction equipment to pay a debt he stole a bobcat and traded it because he gave it to someone he owed money to here Here you go.
Those are incredibly traceable.

Oh, God, yeah. They have VINs,

don't they? Yeah. Of course they do.

I don't know. He was like, here you go.

Got this heavy equipment. And guess what?

Arrested for it, stupid.

I would like to know who that debt was to.

But the original

charge was like...

Organized dealing

and stolen properly. Organized? Come on.
That makes it sound

like racketeering. He just stole one dude's

bobcat, unless there was a lot more.

I don't know. Original charge was like...
Organized dealing and stolen properly. Organized? Come on.
That makes it sound like racketeering. He just stole one dude's Bobcat, unless there was a lot more.
No, no, that was the tip of the iceberg. Yeah, I think there was more.
It's like racketeering, conspiracy to steal shit and sell it. Steal shit and...
Yeah, I think maybe that wasn't the first Bobcat. He's fencing.
He's drove off on. He's like, they leave the keys in these fucking things.
May 17th, 2010.

John Wilson. Let's talk about him here.
His girlfriend worked for Ashley. And Wilson was convinced the two were having an affair.
He thought they were having an affair. By the way, they weren't having an affair.
John is a little paranoid. Yeah, a little jealous.
so Wilson because he's so

enraged over this

alleged

affair John is a little paranoid. Yeah, a little jealous.
So Wilson, because he's so enraged over this alleged affair, he attacks his mother. Yeah? She has nothing.
Yeah, not what you expected me to say, right? Attacks his mother. It's a mad lib.
And stabbed her in the neck. Wow.
Stabbed his mother in the neck. Yeah, Florida's not crazy at all.
No, no, this is very normal behavior. This is totally, wait till you hear how this all ends.
It's even crazier. Then he went over to Ashley Paolo's house to kill him too.
He said, I'll kill this motherfucker. Well, if I already stabbed my mom, fuck this guy.
Going to jail anyway. Later on, Wilson said, quote, I completely lost my goddamn mind.
Clearly. There's of getting around it no at least he said it though he said it appears I've made a big mistake I completely lost my goddamn mind is that's he said that with this with a shrug like I don't even I have no idea hands up I am I'm whatever you want to judge me on it I don know.
I guess guilty. I mean, I lost my goddamn mind.
Wilson's assault on Paula was interrupted after a neighbor witnessed the fight and tried to intervene. Wow.
And then the cops came and, you know, it was a melee and they took this guy to jail. And later on, he said he completely lost his goddamn mind.
So, Ashley, at least for once, he's a victim and not a victim of violent crime.

Yeah, yeah.

No, nothing happened here.

So then Thanksgiving 2010 comes around.

Ashley, during Thanksgiving, he talks to some people.

He talks to his dad, talks to a friend of his.

Got to catch up and tell him about his goings, his dealings.

Pretty much, yeah.

I was attacked a couple weeks ago.

Guy tried to stab me.

Haven't been arrested recently.

That's good.

So you're in the mental hospital?

Nope.

No, I'm doing all right.

That guy carved up his mom, too.

He did.

He cut her up good.

Hey, everybody.

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Now back to the show. So it's like a turkey on Thanksgiving.
So he talks to people on Thanksgiving, and then kind of after the 28th of November, he kind of just disappears, kind of. But that's not that unusual for him.
Yeah, the man's been in the psych ward. He's a little flaky when it comes to work stuff.
Sometimes he'll stay home and drink and that sort of thing. He's got a big case he's working on.
Yeah. So he's not the type, if he doesn't show up Monday morning, they don't immediately send the fire department.
They wait until Thursday afternoon to start calling him and knocking on his door and shit. So December 7th, one of his employees, a young woman, contacted police to request a welfare check on Ashley Paolo, saying he hadn't been to the office office in days and he had like an appointment for the last couple of days.
He usually doesn't miss that kind of thing. So it's like this is aberrant behavior even for him.
OK, so they said she said once. Well, once I left his workplace, I was still friends with some of the other people who worked there.
I tried to call Ashley and it just went straight to voicemail. She at the time didn't even work for him.
She just knew all the other employees because she used to work there. What does he usually do when he disappears? Yeah.
So she said, I'll call him and it went straight to voicemail. So that's what she did.
So that's why she called for a welfare check. So when investigators arrived, they noticed right away there's several packages on the doorstep.
Uh-oh. So it's 2010.
Everybody's got packages. Yeah.
So right away, you notice, okay, well, he probably hasn't been here in a few days. Yeah.
But who knows? Maybe. I mean, he's not using this door.
No. People could leave.
They can go play. He's an adult.
I go in and out my garage all day long. Oh, yeah.
If somebody leaves something on my door, I might not see it for a while. You might not see it for a minute.
Who knows? And also, he drinks a little bit. He might be...
Well, unreliable. Yeah, exactly.
So, I mean, whatever. So, they said there's no damage to the door or any kind.
It doesn't look like anybody was breaking in or anything like that. So, they said that from what they heard, that his home is normally in disarray.
So, it's going to be a mess. Everybody told them, it's going to be a mess in there.
Beer bottles. It's going to be hard to decipher if there's been a crime.
Half-eaten beef and sheddars and shit. It's going to be bad.
It's going to be hard. You're going to have to move some stuff to figure it out.
And they said they could tell it looked messy inside. One of the cops said one of the back doors was open.
The deputy freely walked in to check on his welfare yeah and that's uh that's what we hear is normal here the house is usually open oh so he leaves his back door open all the time here so they go in they don't see him he's not in there you expect me to go in there he was dead in the no he's he's gone okay he's not here nothing appears to be missing tv's in place any all valuables are all all the thick. No, he's gone.
They go, okay, he's not here. Nothing appears to be missing.

TV's in place.

All valuables are all there.

All the big stuff, it's still there.

Including his vehicle is in the driveway, and his keys are on the counter.

Well, where the hell would he go?

So that's strange.

So they talk to his family.

The cops get a hold of his family out of state, and they ask them, when's the last time you talked to him?

Maybe he's at home with his family or something. They said, no, we haven't talked to him since thanksgiving it's the last time he called so his family was very concerned too his sister said his car was there his keys were there i watched too much oxygen to know that when somebody goes missing it's not great she's just sitting there going my husband's gonna kill me my husband's gonna kill just fucking knife at her chest peering over at her husband waiting for him to make a wrong move i will stab you up don't you even worry about it every snapped twice so then they further they're like okay well he's not in the house his car's here no one's seen him he's not at work all the places he would go he's not at and hasn't been wow so they're like, okay, well, he's not in the house.
His car's here. No one's seen him.
He's not at work. All the places he would go, he's not at and hasn't been.
Wow. So they are like, all right, well, let's search the rest of the property for clues, basically.
So they search all in the backyard, and in the backyard, they find a custom hurricane shelter. Cool.
Yeah. So they're like, okay, well, we'd like to take a look in there.
And there's a lock on it, though. It's locked.
So they had to break it open. All right.
There. They break it open.
When they walk in, they immediately notice that there is Ashley. They found him.
He is laying inside. Oh.
Dead as can be. Oh.
Wrapped in a rug with a bag over his head. He didn't do that.
That's not a suicide. No.
No. His body was decomposing.

Padlocked in.

Yeah, padlocked in.

Body decomposing.

Because, I mean, it's December, but it's still Florida.

Right.

But it appeared his clothing had been burned, but not by fire.

By what?

That's the weird part here.

I'll read from the police report.

It says, was called out to the scene for the suspicious death.

Upon arrival, I was directed to the fallout hurricane shelter located on the northwest part of the property.

The shelter contained a white male lying face up.

The head was facing south and the left facing north and the feet facing north.

The body appeared to be decomposing.

Say again.

Body appeared to be.

No.

What?

The head facing what? The head facing south south the feet facing north wow what that means his head is on backwards what head facing south whichever way you're if you're laying down whichever way your head is facing your feet are facing the opposite way are they wait what aren't you aren't my feet what wait hold. If you lay down on the ground, your head, no matter what direction it is, your feet are the fucking opposite direction pointing because you're pointing in two separate directions.
Hmm. I'm confused.
Is that confused? Because I'm sitting here, my feet are facing north, my head's facing north. Because you're sitting up looking in the same direction.
If you were laying flat on the ground. Oh, it's on the ground.
It's not which way his eyes are looking. Oh.
What do you think he's standing there? I thought he was like wrapped in a rug standing in the corner. Propped up.
He's laying and lying face up. All right.
I'm like, wait, his head's on backwards? Am I confused? No, it's you. The body also had long pants pulled down and was on what appeared to be a piece of carpet.
The body appeared to have been placed in that location. The body was removed and transported to the medical examiner's office.
When the body was removed, and it was determined the body had also been burnt huh the due to the condition of the

body there was no immediate signs of trauma so um yes they figured out later on that it was he's

been burned with acid oh boy he's had acid poured all over him burned his chemical burn yeah burned

his clothes burned his body shit so that's fucking up the decomposition, too, making it happen faster. Sure, accelerating it.
So the autopsy here, the medical examiner performed the autopsy. They say the identity was verified due to fingerprints.
They say that Ashley died due to manual strangulation. The neck showed signs of bruising on the left side of the neck.
Under the skin, it also showed hemorrhaging in the same area. It was discovered that the bone in the voice box and the hyoid bone on the left side were broken.
Homicide. The body appeared to be burnt by radiant heat, not flame.
A state fire marshal investigator looked at the photos of Ashley's body and advised it appeared to have been burnt by indirect heat not of an open flame the detective conducted a search of a three-county area for recent structure fires but was not able to find any fires which matched the time frame of the homicide so like maybe there he was in a fire and they took him out and put him over here but no acid on that didn't work so by the way that employee that reported him missing they go back to her yeah they're like you seem to know shit about him so what do you know uh they spoke with her um she said oh fuck i didn't fucking do it they were like you're the one that called us she had a totally lock solid rock solid alibi so definitely wasn't her that killed him um she did though offer a potential lead she goes i know a guy who tried to kill him six months ago john wilson right maybe go see that guy um so they go all right well let's go find john wilson he's not in prison he's 29 years old turns out he's in jail right for killing his mother for fatally stabbing his 56 year old mother yeah he's definitely not they said definitely not him he's got the best alibi ever yeah they got him in prison yeah he said at first at first look there's no connection with that crime back in may with this one the police said so the investigation they asked whether ashley had had any known enemies. And they found out, quote, there's a lot of people that did vent for some frustration with the advice that he gave and the taxes that he completed for them that we are aware of.
I guess he gave the wrong advice to a lot of people in their affairs. Really? So they went around talking to people to see if anybody's mad at him.
And the clients clients and the clients were like oh good fuck that guy literally they were like i wish i would have fucking done it told me i could write off my summer home that dick god damn yeah i don't do any business out of it he should have known that the cop said we know that mr paulo was around for thanksgiving we know there was some interaction with him on thanksgiving day we just want anybody that saw him who he might have been with on Thanksgiving and the days following Thanksgiving, that's what we need help establishing, when he disappeared exactly. They say that he lived alone, worked out of his house a lot, which was messy.
They said, we know Mr. Paolo did taxes for people.
He did engage in legal advice to people. He interacted with a lot of people in our community, both on the side of law and against the law.

So there's a lot of people that could kill this guy, basically.

The suspect pool is huge.

So his family, his mother offers a reward.

His mother was 81 at the time.

Pearl Paulo here.

She's got reward money, huh?

81-year-old named Pearl. And there is father, David, who's 86 at the time.
Pearl Paulo here. She's got reward money, huh? 81-year-old named Pearl.
And there's his father, David, who's 86 at the time. Jesus.
They put up a $50,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction. They want this shit solved.
They want. Yeah, that's big time.
David, dad, said he sounded like he was fine when he talked to him the day before Thanksgiving. He said he cracked a joke or two.
So they're looking around. These sheriff's officials, they're looking into everything, finances, anything that could be.
I mean, they're just, they have no clues. So then they learned that back on December 3rd, one of his employees tried to cash a $1,250 check at a SunTrust bank, but the bank wouldn't cash it because the signature wasn't consistent with Ashley Paolo's signature card.
So they said they did a search of his records. It was found that checks were cashed by a Michelle Lockridge, an employee of Ashley Paolo on 12-3-10.
Lockridge attempted to cash the $1,250 check.

They said, interviewed bank teller Gerba Amil at SunTrust Bank here. Gerba Amil told me that

on or about December 3rd, Michelle Lockridge attempted to cash a check on the account of

Ashley Paolo for the amount of $1,250. Gerba Amil told detective that she has had many dealings ashley paolo's accounts and stated the signature on the check did not look correct and appeared to be forged uh-oh she told the detective that she compared the signature on the check against his signature card and said the signatures did not match they also said that she called um the clerk here the the whatever the fuck, the teller, called Ashley's cell phone,

but there was no answer, which she said was very odd for Ashley not to answer the phone for the bank.

If she calls him, he answers.

So Michelle Lockridge, who the fuck is that?

I want to know.

Michelle Lee Lockridge is her name.

She's 40 years old. She works for him, and so does does her boyfriend live-in boyfriend thomas barnard who is 34 so these two both work for him um barnard does handyman type work yeah and um lockridge does clerical shit okay for his law shit now they're in a they live together romantically involved they said they last saw pauloolo on Saturday, December 27th, dropping off his car because he had gotten too drunk the night before at a dinner to drive himself home, which doesn't sound like him.
Sounds like he'd give it a whirl. He'd give that a shot.
He's like, I think I can get there. I'll be all right.
So Barnard said the two went to work on Monday, November 29th, him and his girlfriend, but Ashley Paula wasn't there. But then Lockridge claimed, she said that he was there, but it was just locked in his room.
So their stories together don't match up with each other, which is weird. So that's strange.
Um, then they look into them a little bit bit more barnard and lockridge both have in pretty extensive criminal history lockridge a really good history really she's the worst oh yeah she recently served 10 years in prison god damn stemming from charges of fraud and was currently on probation now it's serious this is this is a lot and she's got some fraud going on all sorts of shit, dude. She is fucked right now.
So now they're really looking at her pretty hard. So they sit him down and say, let's do some interviews.
Because that was just casual. They showed up at their house.
Hey, have you talked to him? And they got conflicting stories. So now they sit him down.
They interview Michelle first. She said she went to work 1129 but didn't see Ashley.
She said she thought he was at a court hearing for the day. Now, the first time they talked to her, she said he was locked in his room.
She said that when she left that day, she locked up the house. She said she went to work on 1130 the next day, but the doors were locked and Ashley Powell wasn't home.
So Michelle told the police that she tried to call Ashley's cell phone several times, but he wouldn't answer. Lockridge was asked how she was paid.
She said it was once a week. She was then asked how she was paid on 12-3 if she stopped working for him on 11-30.
If you haven't seen him to that, how'd you get paid on 12-3? She she was paid in advance on 11 26 on November 26th asked if the check was for the amount of $1,250. She said, yes.
So then they asked Michelle, if she went to Ashley's house to ask him why the check wouldn't cash. She said, no, she just went home.
Huh? Okay. Now at that point they began to point out some inconsistencies in her story and she quote became angered and wanted to leave you're not believing me i want to go i'm done with this so then they go let's bring thomas in since these two don't coordinate shit so they interview him um he said he spent friday night 11 26 with ashley paulo yeah and he that he went out.
They went out to eat and have drinks. Barnard said Ashley Paolo was too impaired to drive home.
So he drove Ashley's car, dropped it off at his house, and drove home. Everybody's just driving places and getting shit-faced and being like, now what? Now what do we do? Drop this off.
I'll go over there. You don't do some fucking planning before you go out? No, fuck no.
This is Florida drinking. We just drink.
Barnard said that on November 27th, the next day, he returned the car around noon. He said he hung out and smoked some weed and had some drinks with Ashley, leaving at about three o'clock in the afternoon.
So from noon to three, he was drinking and smoking, crossfading. He's a tax lawyer.
A fucking 2 p.m. crossfade.
That is some shit. He said that Barnard said he was called on 11-28, so November 28th by Ashley.
So he said, Ashley, call me on the 28th. Thomas Barnard said Ashley was wanting him to purchase some crack cocaine for him.
Oh, Ashley gets after him. Ashley likes to party.
My God. Iard said he would usually get it for him, but he was working on his relationship with his girlfriend, Michelle, and did not want to leave the house.
They're having a little pow-out chit-chat. Not right now, we're doing some team building.
Yeah, we're doing some stuff. We're doing a fucking joint therapy session over the phone here.
Figuring out our love languages.

I'll be over with the crack later.

Yeah, maybe a little later.

Barnard said he went to work on Monday, 1129,

and Ashley Paolo wasn't home.

Thomas Barnard said that Ashley Paolo's bedroom door

was deadbolted as if he left the house.

Barnard said they worked the rest of the day,

locked up the house, and left.

He said they returned on November 30th, but the house was still locked up and Ashley wouldn't answer the phone. Um, Barnard said he already had a job lined up and he was upset with Ashley Paulo because he's done similar things in the past.
So he's like, I don't even care. I got another job lined up.
Fuck that guy. Fucking my day and I'm not going to deal with it.
So because of the inconsistencies with Michelle's story, they go,'s let's talk to her let's bring her back a second time she's fun see if we can get her to you know say anything let's get her pissed let's get her well let's see if maybe she thinks about it let's get her good and mad let's see if maybe she'll spit something out at us here so she said that again she said that she and thomas went to his home ashley's home on on November 28th in the morning. Or she said she went there by herself and got a call from Thomas.
Oh. And he told her that, quote, something bad happened to Apollo.
Oh, there's a crack. That's something bad.
She said that Thomas returned to their Vero Beach home, but because Thomas wouldn't tell her what happened, she just went to Ashley's house. Okay.
So they said that apparently this, by the way, Michelle initiated this. She called them and said, I'd like to talk to you about this.
She then said that Michelle said that Thomas admitted to killing Ashley on Sunday, November 28th.

So she knew this the last time that she talked to the cops.

Oh, fuck yeah, absolutely.

What has changed that she now wants to say?

Yeah, well, she's got other charges and everything else.

She just did 10 years, so she's doing more fraudulent shit.

She's never getting out.

Yeah, so I guess Thomas had told her that he choked Ashley Paolo in the front office,

which is located inside the residence of his home at 6405 Oleander Avenue. Michelle told the police that Thomas took Ashley's cell phone and kept the phone in his vehicle until a search warrant was served on their residence, at which time he disposed of the phone.
so basically his phone and that's perfect for the cops because now you can have Thomas' phone

and this guy's phone in the same place as him move pinging every tower so you know he had the phone which is interesting cell site locations on both of ashley's phones confirmed they were transmitting at the same tower and indian river and saint lucy counties at separate times so one of his phones was with him and one of his phones wasn't. This fact indicates simultaneous movement of both cell phones and proximity to the particular cell towers.
Not bad. Interesting.
Michelle then told us that she went to Ashley Paolo's home on Monday, November 29th, and saw what she believed to be Ashley's body rolled up in a blanket. She told us that her daughter saw Thomas Barnard hide something at the base of a tree on the property of the child's babysitter.
He hid something to do with this murder under their babysitter's tree. That's weird.
Well, no one will look there, I guess. Michelle Lockridge then told the cops that she believed Thomas was hiding drugs and searched the area described by her daughter.
Michelle told us she found two master keys and a key to a deadbolt. She took the cops to the location where the keys were recovered, were there, and two master lock keys and a deadbolt key wrapped in cellophane were found.
The items were taken to the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office where the master keys were matched with the master padlock found on the Hurricane's Jeltsin.
That's not good. Not good at all.
Michelle, although she knows where all this stuff is. Right.
That's the thing. Michelle also told the cops that she returned to Ashley Paolo's residence on the 30th there,

and Ashley Paolo's office was in disarray

as if a struggle occurred in it.

Michelle said that the desk chair was on its side

and Ashley's vitamins were scattered about.

Michelle said there was a dried, thick red substance

on the carpet next to Ashley Paolo's desk.

She then described the substance

as looking like dried makeup.

No.

Yeah, I don't think so.

Not even close.

She cleaned up the red substance with OxyClean.

That's a good commercial.

That's a good commercial for OxyClean.

It'll get dried blood up.

Billy Mays.

Billy Mays, who's dead as fuck.

She said that she found Ashley's body wrapped in a blanket with a plastic bag covering his face in a bedroom closet.

She said she was very upset and sat crying next to the body.

Why would you do that?

You would run away and go cry in another room.

You wouldn't sit next to him.

It's not your mother.

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In the early hours of December 4th, 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of Midtown Manhattan. This assailant starts firing at him.
And the suspect. He has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione.
Became one of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history. I was meant to sow terror.
He's awoken the people to a true issue. Listen to Law and Crimes Luigi exclusively on Wondery Plus.
You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. In the early hours of December 4th, 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of Midtown Manhattan.
This assailant pulls out a weapon and starts firing at him. We're talking about the CEO of the biggest private health insurance corporation in the world.
And the suspect. He has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione.
Became one of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history. I was targeted, premeditated, and meant to sow terror.
I'm Jesse Weber, host of Luigi, produced by Law & Crime and Twist. This is more than a true crime investigation.
We explore a uniquely American moment that could change the country forever. He's awoken the people to a true issue.
Finally, maybe this would lead rich and powerful people to acknowledge the barbaric nature of our health care system. Listen to Law and Crimes Luigi exclusively on Wondery Plus.
You can join Wondery Plus on the Wondery app, Spotify or Apple podcasts. So she said it's your boss.
She said she tried to lift his body, but couldn't. She said she called Thomas and said they needed to call rescue or tell somebody.
I'm sure she was so distraught. But Thomas told her no.
Thomas, she said, told her that she would be blamed for his death and that somebody else did this. Somebody else.
Just wild. Who? they you know they they are always doing shit the vaguest of answers anybody else anybody so after michelle returned to her house thomas reportedly agreed to go back to ashley's home when they went back they argued over calling for assistance so then they went back to their house in Vero Beach.
The next day, they returned to Ashley's house,

where she said Thomas moved his body to the storm shelter.

She told Thomas to be careful, but didn't help carry the body, she said.

She said she pushed Paolo down the steps,

or she said Thomas pushed Paolo down the steps into the shelter

and poured

liquid lightning drain cleaner on

him. Whoa.
Yeah.

That's what he burned him with? That's what he

burned him with. Liquid lightning drain

cleaner. Which is

I mean it'll fucking eat hair.

Imagine what it does.

It eats all kinds of scum.

It'll eat whatever's in that pipe. That is

something right there to pour on someone.

She said that Thomas told her he

was protecting her by pouring the drain

I'm going to go ahead and get some more information. It eats all kinds of scum.
It'll eat whatever's in that pipe. That is something right there to pour on someone.

She said that Thomas told her he was protecting her by pouring the drain cleaner on the body. Yeah.
So she didn't get in trouble. She said that Thomas said authorities would blame her for the death because she had a criminal record.
And she knows all about it. You're a criminal, stupid.
Yeah. So they go to Ashley's house.
the family give permission and the police go in and they do a search again with black lights and luminol and all that kind of shit. And on the carpet by the desk, they find a stain consistent with the one that Michelle described to make up carpet removed.
And there's a stain all the way down to the concrete floor. Wow.
And that tests positive for blood. Oh, so that's a problem.
So much for Maybelline,elle yeah it's it's maybe it's maybelline maybe not don't think so maybe it's fucking viscera oh so on the next day they interview a guy named christopher higgins he's a co-worker of thomas and has known him professionally for two years it's weird to say thomas does professional things professionally he's his work friend yeah who crack. Who gets crack for his boss.
Christopher Higgins told the detectives that he and Thomas had worked together from August 2008 to June 16th, 2009. Christopher Higgins said he spoke to Thomas Barnard sometime before Thanksgiving and Thomas was inquiring about a job.
Thomas called Christopher Higgins on the Monday after Thanksgiving and said he needed to make some money to feed his family. Okay.
Christopher Higgins assisted Thomas J. Barnard in gaining employment at J&L Tax Group in Vero Beach.
Christopher Higgins told detectives that on either Tuesday, January 18th, 2011, or Thursday, January 20th, 2010, both he, meaning Higgins, and Thomas went to lunch together at Chili's in Vero Beach. It's very Florida.
Oh yeah. The conversation during lunch and after lunch on the drive back to their office included a discussion about O.J.
Simpson and his book If I Did It, which I've read and it's stupid. Did it come out then? Yeah, it's dumb.
stupid come out then yeah it's dumb yeah it was a big deal at that point that's the one where he puts a hypothetical description of the murders it's talking about that over a over a plate of fucking southwest oh my god those are gross by the way yeah those corn and your egg roll nice Those for your fucking spicy buffalo chicken fingers.

So Thomas told Christopher Higgins he had to get something off his chest and proceeded to give a detailed account of how he killed his former employer, Ashley Paula. O.J.
Simpson precipitated this. Yep.
They said, let me tell I got it if I did it, too. Let me tell you this.
Thomas told Christopher that he and his girlfriend Michelle had been planning to kill Ashley Paulo and take over Paulo's clients for some time. Are you lawyers? How? The fuck are you talking about? You are.
What? You're a fucking sprinkler repair guy. How the fuck does that work? You installed the ceiling fan.
And she does clerical work. She's not even a paralegal.
Never mind a fucking lawyer. Thomas told Christopher that he and Michelle had joked about how Ashley had nobody and they could kill him and continue his business without anyone knowing.
How? Wow. Thomas told Christopher Higgins that he killed Ashley Paolo on Saturday, November 27th.
Paolo had accused Michelle of using his credit cards and stealing from him.omas told christopher higgins that he told michelle about ashley's accusations and michelle told thomas to kill him he is accusing us of this and she said kill him meaning are they are they on drugs what yes everyone here is on drugs what the fuck are they talking about i think everyone's on drugs in this story except maybe higgins i'm not sure they're so fucked up they don't know what reality is. That is, yeah, that's what I mean.
Go ahead and kill him. So Thomas told Christopher Higgins he first attacked Ashley Paolo by striking him in the face, hence the blood, because you don't usually bleed from being strangled.
He then grabbed him from behind in a choke hold. Thomas told Christopher he then finished him off by strangling Ashley Paolo from the front with his hands around Ashley Paolo's neck while Paolo's body was on the floor.
Thomas told Christopher Higgins it took eight minutes to choke him to death. Jesus Christ, cold-blooded, man.
Thomas told Christopher Higgins there was some blood, and Thomas wrapped a plastic bag around his head to help contain the blood. Thomas also told Higgins that he and Lockridge returned to Ashley's residence on Sunday, November 28th, to dispose of the body, and he had purchased four bags of acid from a Publix located somewhere between Vero Beach and Fort Pierce.
First of all, acid comes in a bag? Yeah, what? Four plastic bags of acid he purchased. I guess.
Like a Zi bag i don't know in the parking lot was this in the store or like is it in like a box did a guy open a trench coat and sell that to you like what happened there is it packaged like fucking franzia wine like canadian milk i'm not sure how this works um i don't know maybe it comes in a nice box thomas told christopher higgins he put Ashley's body in the storm cellar, poured the acid over his face, hands, and neck to erase any evidence of the attack. The acid was already starting to burn the body and created a large amount of smoke.
What? Smoke. That's how nasty this liquid lightning is.
That's a good ad for liquid lightning if you want to clear your drain out. When Thomas closed the door to the Star Room Cellar, he traveled to the Publix on Oslo Road and 43rd Avenue and found only one item on the shelves that fit the description of the acid that he had.
So the cop went there to check it out. The item was called Liquid Lightning Drain Cleaner, manufactured by High Tech Laboratories.
Liquid lightning is contained in a plastic bottle within a clear plastic bag. So that's how it works.
Okay. Product information on the liquid lightning bottle says it contains virgin sulfuric acid, which is very corrosive and will cause severe burns to the skin.
It needs double fucking plastic barriers to contain it. Fuck.
Two of them. then they ended up finding that they purchased, where he purchased it.
His cell phone records matched up with being on that store at the same time the purchases took place. They got cleared out.
They only got one left. Yep.
That's it right there. And also, video surveillance from a Walgreens parking lot located south of there.
The video showed a vehicle matching Thomas' vehicle exiting the Walgreens parking lot driving toward the Prima Vista Crossings Plaza where the public store is located at the same time shit was purchased. Yes, the water found in the storm cellar was examined at the crime scene and had a zero pH factor indicating a strong presence of acid in the water.
Wow. Fuck, that is wild.
They also got video from a Home Depot in St. Lucie here, St.
Lucie West, where they find Thomas buying a chain and padlock to secure the body in the storm's bunker. Earlier in the day, they'd watch the video.
They're like, well, there he is. They even show him receiving his change, leaving the store, checking his receipt.
Making sure he was charged correctly. Making sure he wasn't screwed over here.
So they arrest Michelle for bank fraud. Yeah, because she definitely stole that money.
Yep. She does that.
She did everything there. She's in jail.
jail and she I guess at one point

had told Thomas she would take the fall

for him if he would take care of her kids

but she needed to know exactly

how he did it this is how she got him

to admit the whole thing

she said listen I'll take the fall

you take care of my kids I'll take the fall

you just have to tell me exactly how you did it

on this phone call

so my confession matches up with that

so she said Thomas told her

and then she went to police

Thank you. take the fall you just have to tell me exactly how you did it on this phone call so my confession matches up with that so that she said thomas told her and then she went to police and said this is exactly what happened okay now they uh yeah that's interesting now the charges she faces a charge of accessory after the fact and we don't know yeah they said the reason thomas barnard gave for killing ashley paula was that Paula was that Ashley Paula was going to report Michelle Lockridge to the authorities for stealing from him.

Thomas Barnard also stated he and his girlfriend wanted to take over the business and that would be a great way to do it. Then they said they were suspects from the first week of the investigation, which they were.
so at trial for him they present nine witnesses

against him including a pathologist

Dr. Roger Middleman who told the jurors

that Paulo died from asphyxiation and all that kind of thing. They also saw a series of horribly gruesome autopsy photos.
I cannot imagine. Gross.
As you can imagine. They said red dots found in his eyes indicated he'd been deprived of air.
This is a case of asphyxia. Yep, petechia, exactly.
And they said it's consistent with manual strangulation. Okay.
Now, will he testify? He has to. He said, quote, I will not testify.
What? Not going to testify. Dude, you have to talk.
You have to refute her story. She said this and this happened.
What the fuck? You're just going to say, well, she's the only one that knows. You're going to hear from me and he must be a real idiot where the judges, the lawyers are like, don't send him up there.
That's going to be bad. Yeah.
Yeah. If you do testify, that gives them the opportunity to talk to you.
To talk to. Go into.
Oh, that's when character shit can come up. Hey, so 1998.
This is somebody. Yeah.
So you know how to get crack? Yeah. Where do you get crack?

Can you get me some crack?

They said, is that your decision?

He said, yes, sir.

Not going to testify.

There's a bit of a little fight over whether a cellmate will be able to testify.

See, they guess.

Apparently, this is the defense attorneys tried to get a cellmate of Michelle's to testify.

And the cellmate said they had a story, but the judge would not let the cellmate testify. The cellmate was going to tell the jury that while incarcerated together, Michelle confessed that she had been having an affair with Ashley and accidentally choked him to death during rough sex.
That's some rough ass sex. To choke.
It took eight minutes for a grown man to choke another grown man to death.

You couldn't come in eight minutes?

That's what I mean.

Until he died?

If you die before you come, that is a problem.

So the judge said that the potential witness was a six-time felon

and ruled that her testimony was not trustworthy enough to allow.

Nor is that story physically impossible.

It's the whole thing. It didn't happen.
Silly. It's physically impossible.
So during closing arguments, the assistant attorney general here told the jurors that Ashley was known to be an erratic but brilliant tax lawyer. I didn't hear brilliant anywhere.
No, I heard a lot of people are mad.

A lot of people are mad that he gave them bad advice.

That's what the cop said.

Book could be erratic and unstable and difficult to work for.

So the prosecutor said, so what was his fate?

This guy who was hard to work for.

Well, he was brutally murdered and stuffed down into a storm shelter on his own property by someone who worked for him.

And the defense lawyer, what do you even say here? Yeah.

He was a man. brutally murdered and stuffed down into a storm shelter on his own property by someone who worked for him.
And the defense lawyer, what do you even say here? He told jurors that the prosecutors were pinning the murder on the wrong person. Is that right? He said Michelle committed the murder during an angry rage.
Not sexual. Now it's angry.
She said that Thomas is only guilty of helping his girlfriend dispose of the body and clean up the scene. The lawyer admitted to the jury that, yes, it was my client in that video you saw from the Home Depot buying the chain and padlock.
That's all it is. He said that Barnard also, yes, sure, he did buy the sulfuric acid that burned his body.
but he said that barnard also yes sure he did buy the sulfuric acid that burned his body but he said that barnard's only crime was helping his distraught girlfriend destroy evidence and hide the corpse and once in a while buying crack but that's a different he's not on trial for that ladies and gentlemen he said there's no evidence that Tom committed murder. That's all on Michelle Lockridge.
Okay. Now, the rebuttal from the prosecutor at the closing, they said that it's a great theory until you evaluate the evidence.
Right. The defendant is guilty as he was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder.
There you go. The verdict comes in.
Six hours it took them. Oh, it's over for you.
Six hours. they find him guilty as shit yeah super super guilty yeah um here the um this is ashley's sister the one who said he was non-violent said she was very pleased with the verdict she said it was tough but in a way it wasn't tough i wanted to see justice i was here to see justice and it was worth it but but it was painful to get through.
You got to see autopsy photos and all that.

So during sentencing here, his sister wrote a letter on behalf of the family, including, you know, his children, parents and all that called Thomas, a cold blooded murderer who robbed them of a kind and gentle man.

He said this brutal murderer took our beloved Ashley from our midst without a care or concern. His premeditated acts are those of an animal.
Okay. For the rest of the days of our lives, we'll remember and honor our beloved Ashley and as we do, we'll remember the pain that we continue to suffer as a result of his untimely death at the hands of this killer.
Monster, yeah. So the judge says, you, sir, may fuck off life without parole oh it's over for you goodbye 35 holy dunzo right through the whole thing away all of it for what liquid lightning babe for what for what that's i mean you didn't even get anything you were gonna get nothing anyway what twelve1,250? Was that the, they think that like Ashley wouldn't be around and they just keep continuing to cash checks and clients would pay.
Where's money going to come from if he's not doing services? That's what I mean. Well, they were going to do them.
They can't. What was the plan here? This is a crack plan is what they had.
Yeah, that is a very cracky plan. So Michelle takes a plea deal.
Has to. Yeah, because this was part of her testimony and all that.
So they tell her, you, ma'am, may fuck off. 25.
30 years in prison for her as well, because it's also she's fraud. She's on probation.
You can't participate in a murder when you're on probation. I'm sorry.
Can't do it. You just got out.
So the prosecutor afterwards said the jury, the five women and seven men, made the right call. He said, I'm very pleased for the family of Ashley Polo.
Some have traveled a long way for the trial. I think the evidence was overwhelming that the defendant committed this murder.
And indeed, the jury saw it our way. They took a while to do it.
And it was a case with over 100 pieces of evidence. So I don't blame them for taking their time sorting through it.
Six hours that's not that long at all go in there and sign it yeah people work longer shifts at gas stations fucking part-time is longer so um his attorney though uh thomas's attorney

said that he plans to appeal and he says he's obviously very hopeful of the appeal but accepting

of his situation so thomas at this particular moment is at the tom, but accepting of his situation. So Thomas, at this particular moment, is at the Tomoka Correctional Institute, Tomoka Correctional Institute down there in Florida.
He doesn't look like he's doing too great. I think he's going to be there forever.
And Michelle is at the Homestead Correctional Institute, and her current release date shows as 8 26 2039 whoa they gave her the whole thing yeah by the way she has like 20 aliases under her alias really so many fucking aliases yeah it's a lot damn this is all rolled into her crime her uh grand theft too because that her probation that got tacked on she's a bad person she's not a good's not a good person. We'll talk about her family too because it's What? Yeah, I got about two minutes to talk about this.
Ronald is buried here at the Baron Hirsch Cemetery in Memphis. I assume he was his family.
He was 58 years old. 2016, Michelle's in prison.
Her son, Frederick Matthew Lockridge, is 15 years old. He is ordered to be held on $500,000 bond after being waived up to adult court in connection with the death of his 10-year-old sister.
Her body was found Sunday afternoon in a white dress behind their fountain home where investigators said Lockridge placed her shortly after shooting her twice with a rifle. Oh, boy.

Her whole family is destroyed because of her. The shit rolls downhill.
And her father. I'm sure their father's not a great guy.
If Thomas is a guy she goes out with, the father's probably similar. Lockridge pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, despite allegedly confessing to three different accounts of how his sister died.
He was arrested Sunday after search crews found Isabella's lifeless body covered in towels in an abandoned bus behind their home. Oh, boy.
They reported she'd been cleaned and dressed in a white sundress after being shot twice, and they believe Lockridge sexually battered his sister. Dude.
Gross. Not a scruple to be found.
Is that Florida too? Absolutely. Yeah.
Yeah, are you kidding me? When questioned, Lockridge confessed to killing Isabella at about 3 a.m. Claiming he mistook her for a deer.
In the house. In the house.
There's a deer in the house. Shit.
And it's a 10-year-old girl. Oh.
There's a deer in the house. I better shoot it and it and rape it yeah because that's what i do when there's a deer in my house i rape it what the fuck good christ the teen later told police he mistakenly shot isabella because he saw someone attacking her uh okay who's aiming at somebody else then in his third statement he said he accidentally shot her in the chest while showing her how to use a .22 caliber rifle, which is where he should have started.
Right. Those are.
That's the most believable one. They're all still bad stories.
Ugh, they're terrible stories. You don't show somebody how to use a gun by putting it in their chest.
Here, let me. Here you go.
He said she started making gurgling noises. That's what he said.
I did not know. I did not know exactly how to deal with it, So I shot her again.
Oh, my God. I didn't call 9-1-1.
I shot her again. The other story is real.
The deer one's unbelievable. That's I shot her because somebody was raping her and putting my jizz in her.
That's crazy. Accidentally hit her.
I'm not a great shot. Never said I was.
Wow. After the incident, he allegedly stashed the firearm in an abandoned home where the authorities later found it.
The siblings were two of four children living in the house. Isabella and Lockridge had different fathers but were related through their stupid shit mother who's currently serving 30 years in prison.
Holy shit. He'll be prosecuted as an adult by the way.
he was and then he ends up in january of 2017 he pleads no contest to first degree murder in the shooting death of his sister he is sentenced to at 15 years old you young man may fuck off 50 years in prison best of luck plus 10 years of probation oh that's a that's gonna be a great kid when we release oh He's going to be he's gonna be doing fun he's going right he won't have ss tattoos on his face or anything i'm sure that's to survive in florida prison he's gonna do terrific down there so that everybody is fort pierce florida what a terrible wow there's not a redeeming person in 10 pounds of murder in a two pound bag is a lot to say here it's like a folded up tent. Wow.
There's not a redeeming person in it. 10 pounds of murder in a two-pound bag is a lot to say here.
It's like a folded up tent. Wow.
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