Episode 276

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Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

Listen, I don't know what to do.

If I tell you this, well, I don't want to go to prison.

Hello, and welcome.

This is season 11, episode 276 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real.

Proposition 50 threatens what voters built.

California voters approved an independent commission that spent thousands of hours creating fair election districts where all people are represented.

Prop 50 destroys this good work.

Prop 50 is a direct attack on democracy, a dangerous idea that tears away the power of choice.

Protect your vote and democracy.

Vote no on Prop 50.

Add paid for by no on Prop 50.

Protect Voters First, sponsored by Hold Politicians Accountable.

Add Committee's top funder, Charles Munger Jr.

You ever take a road trip for a couple days or maybe even weeks?

I have.

Those days were fun, gotta admit.

Trading in the brand new sports car for an SUV so I could pack my dog Ollie with all of my worldly possessions and head north from South Florida.

One of the best things I've ever done in my life, to be quite honest.

One of the most rewarding, enjoyable times of my life.

And things happen on trips like that.

You run into delays like traffic jams, detours, bad weather.

I got stuck in a hurricane and had some shenanigans happen in a men's bathroom in northern Florida.

And no, it's not what you're thinking.

But the point is that all kinds of things happen.

Sometimes you lose your wallet or your keys or you lock yourself out of your car.

And pretty soon the trip you're on isn't even close to the one you've imagined in your head, in your cabessa.

Sure, you've met some cool people and even eaten at the dingy diner at the corner of nowhere.

Food was fucking great,

but you missed out on a few really important things too.

Because life just threw a few curveballs your way.

And everybody knows, everybody that's been on this earth for more than three seconds knows that shit happens.

But

it usually ends up okay

in the end.

Usually.

In a quaint South Carolinian town in the early 60s, the love story of a married couple named Carol and Reggie unfolded like a fairy tale.

Their tale began during high school when they were just 15 and started dating.

The classmates soon became the ideal couple, inseparable and deeply in love.

Nothing like that high school love.

It's life or death for some.

Graduation in 1962 was supposed to mark the beginning of their married life, but Reggie's call to military service disrupted their plans.

Somewhere in the midst of this, they took different roads and went their separate ways.

Carol, resilient and determined, found security in a job in the nearby Air Force base.

and briefly explored another marriage before eventually marrying a man named Richard.

Unfortunately, Richard's struggles with alcoholism cast a dark shadow over their relationship.

A domineering and abusive figure, he harbored an intense desire to keep Carol within his grasp.

Any hint of independence from her would trigger merciless beatings.

Regrettably, their young daughter saw a lot of the explosive scenes.

Her father's anger and chaos seemed to dominate their family home.

Carol mustered every fiber of strength she had and filed for divorce in 1987.

The late 90s brought another cruel twist of Carol's life with a diagnosis of liver cancer.

Her courageous battle left her a survivor, but one with a lifetime of daily medication and regular checkups.

What a consistent horror cancer is.

To accommodate her medical needs, she took a job at a call center answering phones for the local cable company, where she could continue to work in a way that wasn't physically demanding.

Reggie also had his share of life's challenges, including a marriage that eventually ended and a number of health problems of his own.

Years passed for both Carol and Reggie, until a fateful day in 2000.

Carol working at the call center received a call from a familiar voice.

Her body trembled at the sound because it was Reggie.

He had no idea he was speaking to Carol, but she recognized the voice belonging to the love of her life.

This mere phone call triggered a reconnection with her high school sweetheart after 38 years of separation.

Can you even imagine?

Their reunion was sweet and profound, leading to daily meetings, moving in together within weeks and exchanging vows in just a couple of months.

I mean, it's not like they didn't have years to think about what they were missing.

Rhonda, Carol's daughter, vividly remembered her mother's happiness that day and how the couple's love story came back to life.

Despite their challenging medical histories, they found solace in each other, creating a life filled with happiness and love and comfort.

They settled into Reggie's home in Charleston, partly to be near an ill friend who also needed their help.

Carol's daughter felt like she truly had a father and a loving family.

Carol and Reggie's love story, marked by tragedy and triumph, continued as they took each day as it came with gratitude for the love they had finally found in each other.

This is Reggie's brother talking about both him and his sister-in-law, Carol.

I would like to tell you about my brother and his wife, Carol.

Reggie and Carol were the most innocent, kind-hearted, and wonderful members of my family.

They were good neighbors, they were kind, and they were trustworthy.

They helped those that were in need

and they had to give the hospitality.

Reggie would give you the shirt off his back if you knew you needed it.

They were givers.

They were contributors to society.

We were raised in a large family.

Reggie was the life of the family.

He was a party of a family reunions.

He was always funny.

Telling jokes and keeping people happy was his trademark.

He would always insist on paying bills at a restaurant, and he had a habit of showing up at your door unannounced with goodies and cheers.

He was a wonderful brother.

Reggie had a rough growing up in a house of 11 brothers and sisters.

He was the seventh child of the Sumner family.

He was the baby.

Our father was killed in a motorcycle accident when Reggie was just six weeks old.

At 32, my mother was a widow with seven children.

She remarried and had four more children.

Mr.

Clark, our stepdad, passed away in 1953.

And as the older brothers and sisters were moving out, getting married, or joining the military, Reggie stepped up to the plate and became the father-like figure and helped raise the younger siblings.

He's been such a good leader.

He always set the wonderful example for everyone.

He was so loved by his siblings.

Reggie was retired from CSX Railroad and although he and Carol were in poor health, they loved each other.

They loved staying together.

In love and relationships many people, myself included, run through several partners trying to find the right one.

It's not easy.

I think that's pretty obvious.

You make a lot of mistakes along the way.

Often, circumstances, timing, or personal growth lead people to just settle.

Life has a habit of moving on and sometimes even getting in the way.

So sometimes it's just easier to find comfort, stability, and companionship in marriages that didn't start up or end up like Reggie or Carol's.

Unlike fairy tales, it's a rare couple who meet and marry in high school without divorcing just a few years later.

But rare and extraordinary love stories like theirs do exist.

I happen to know firsthand.

And yes, I know how lucky I am.

Two people who have been through it, marriage and divorce, and then rediscovered each other after decades, they become even more extraordinary when they stay together until their golden years of retirement.

Finally, they get to spend quality time with their loved ones, free from all the immaturity and the bullshit that goes with any relationship, at any point.

When you've worked on yourself through trial and error for decades, and you finally meet someone else that has done the same thing, it's kind of magical.

This is how Carol and Reggie felt about each other.

Like, their love was the rarest in the world and they were the luckiest people on earth.

Reggie and Carol dated in high school and many years later they connected and got married.

They lived in Charleston and by this time

we lived in Jacksonville.

Carol was an easygoing person and a good cook.

She kept Reggie well fed and enjoyed the good food and the good cook.

She was the first time I visited them when they lived in Ladson, South Carolina.

I spent a couple nights with them on that trip.

There again, Reggie became the neighborhood big brother, dad, and friend.

Reggie and Carol were only married a few years.

A few years with Reggie already seemed like a blissful lifetime compared to what Carol had to put up with in her longest second marriage to Richard.

Being married to this tyrant made meeting Reggie all the sweeter.

One afternoon, back in the past, when Carol was at home with just her daughter Rhonda, Richard, who was now her ex,

had decided to carry out a bit of a nefarious plan.

You see, Richard was depressed and he didn't want to live anymore, so, you know, if he wasn't going to be on this earth anymore, then neither would his wife.

Carol.

So that afternoon, he entered the home, started an argument, and shot Carol multiple times in front of their 10-year-old daughter.

Gunshots shattered the tranquility of their home and the vicinity.

Neighbors knew something bad was happening, so they called police immediately.

Emergency responders rushed Carol to the hospital where her life hung in the balance.

Miraculously, she emerged from this whole ordeal, but her right eye bore the scars of the tragic incident.

For the next year, 10-year-old Rhonda was compelled to act as her mother's nurse, pulling her back from the brink of death.

After the trauma of her abusive marriage and nearly losing her life, Carol had strong doubts about getting involved with anyone ever again.

That is, until she reunited with Reggie, who brought a ray of light into her life.

It was like finding a favorite blanket tucked away in the closet.

One that you thought you had accidentally thrown away.

They already knew and trusted each other.

They already knew who they were.

They had known for decades.

Yet, as the years unfolded, an unforeseen tragedy loomed.

Little did they know that their love story would face yet another poignant poignant chapter.

A chapter that would include burying their love

forever.

Proposition 50 threatens what voters built.

California voters approved an independent commission that spent thousands of hours creating fair election districts where all people are represented.

Prop 50 destroys this good work.

Prop 50 is a direct attack on democracy, a dangerous idea that tears away the power of choice.

Protect your vote and democracy.

Vote no on Prop 50.

Add paid for by no on Prop 50.

Protect Voters First, sponsored by Hold Politicians Accountable, Ad Committee's top funder Charles Munger Jr.

In rural South Carolina during the 1960s, Carol and Reggie's teenage love was abruptly interrupted when Reggie answered the call of military service, leading them on separate paths.

Carol faced some pretty tough years, previously living through an abusive marriage to Richard, who mercilessly shot her numerous times in front of their 10-year-old daughter before ending his own life.

Such a horrible thing to experience.

Such a selfish prick you have to be to do that to someone you claim to love.

Carol's next challenge would be battling liver cancer in the late 1990s.

As life's winding path unfolded, Reggie too faced challenges, including the end of a marriage.

Remarkably, fate intervened in 2000, reuniting Carol and Reggie after 38 years.

They picked up right where they left off and were the happiest they'd ever been.

But fate was about to force the loving couple into a dark detour.

The couple were now living in Jacksonville, Florida, where they relocated to be near some of Reggie's family, while Carol's daughter remained in South Carolina.

Yes, I am in Charleston, South Carolina, and I need someone to go to my mother's home to

see if she is alive.

Is she there?

I can't reach her.

Does she have a health problem?

Yes, she's got liver cancer, and her husband is a severe diabetic.

2015

Reed Avenue.

I'm the last time we spoke with her.

Tuesday morning.

What's her name?

Her name is Carol Sumner.

She's a white female.

Yes.

And her husband is Reggie.

But

he's bedridden, so he walks into the door.

Rhonda had just embarked on a lengthy mission to locate her mom and stepdad, a long journey that was just beginning.

And I'll let you, I've left probably 12 messages today alone.

And they're both sort of of hard of hearing.

So I need somebody to really beat on the door.

I just feel something's wrong.

At that point, she was told she couldn't file a missing persons report over the phone and that she would need to call the Jacksonville police to make arrangements.

Can I help you?

Um, I well, I need to file a missing persons report, and I'm out of town.

Can I do it over the phone?

Okay, ma'am, who is missing?

I'm sorry, who is missing?

My mother and her husband.

Okay, and

why you said they're missing them?

What's going on?

Nobody has heard or seen from seen them or heard from them since Friday.

They are in very poor health.

And Officer Nelson spent several hours last night over at their home.

And he said that it was, you know, it looked like they had said his husband left, but they left the dog there.

And the dog is inside.

And something

something, something's wrong hasn't called me over a week

and um nobody the last time they were seen or heard from was uh friday

and officer nelson told me i needed to file a missing persons report but i'm in charleston south carolina okay is there anybody here that can file reports for them here in jacksonville uh no does anyone here have a key to their residence Yes, I do.

I mean here in Jacksonville.

No.

The door was unlocked.

Officer Nelson was in their house.

The door was unlocked.

Oh, he was inside their house.

Yeah.

Okay.

Why was the report filed last night?

I called Jacksonville Police Department last night to have an officer go to their house.

And why wasn't a report filed last night?

Exactly.

That's what Rhonda wanted to know.

Why wasn't a report filed?

They were both disabled, hadn't responded to calls for days, and left the dog alone.

Again, she was passed on to another dispatcher when she asked for Officer Nelson, the officer who actually entered the home and saw that her parents were gone.

Hello, ma'am.

Yes, this is Miss Francis.

Yes.

Okay, did you talk to the officer yesterday?

Yes, ma'am.

I talked to him numerous times last night.

He went to the house and he said the door was unlocked and the dog was still inside.

He got a little dog and he stayed there several hours trying to,

he found her address book and he called the sister-in-law to find out if anybody had heard of someone and the last time anybody has seen or heard from them was Friday and they are in very, she's being treated for liver cancer and he's a

diabetic.

So he went into the house.

Yes, he was in the house.

Because I'm sure he need a report, but I don't know if it's a Mr.

Personal report.

Let me check.

He said he did not file a Mrs.

Carson's report, and that's what I'm calling to do now.

Okay, and where are you at?

I'm in Charleston, South Carolina, trying to get down there.

Are you driving now?

What do you mean by trying?

No, I'm trying to make a racist to get there.

I've got two small children, so I'm trying to make a racist to get down there.

I don't want to, if I get in at midnight, I don't want to,

you know, I'd like to get it filed as soon as possible because something's wrong.

My God.

Don't ever lose your disabled parents in another state, I guess.

He also was able to retrieve the license tag number of their car because their car was also missing.

They have a South Carolina driver's license and a South Carolina

license tag because they just moved to Florida.

And he was able to retrieve that information.

And he told me I needed to report the car stolen.

Okay, I'm thinking.

And they're not, are they, they're not going to hospice or anything like that?

No, I've called every, I've called probably nine hospitals in that area

and tried to see if they had admitted or treated and nobody,

nobody had them in their, in their system.

Officer Nelson was able to retrieve information about if an ambulance had transported them and that came up negative.

Well, you know what I mean?

The ambulance did not visit the house.

Right.

there's there's

not a sense that they are just and my mother and i are very close we talk every single day every day and i've not heard from her since monday

i'm sorry last tuesday last tuesday morning after the fourth of july she called me and i've not talked to her since then and i figured that maybe they were sleeping or or something and then when yesterday i called the police department to have an officer go over there and see right that they were dead i didn't know right

but the house

the house was unlocked.

The car was missing.

And who said that the house right next door

either yesterday or the day before had been burglarized.

And with me being a state and a half away, I'm very near.

So did he make contact with the neighbors?

He said he did, but I don't.

The last time he said

the neighbors saw a light on Friday.

That's what I'm saying.

The last time they were heard or seen was on Friday.

Foul play was becoming obvious.

You don't need a little badge for that.

The neighbors just had their house broken into.

Poor Rhonda knew something was really wrong, but found herself answering 20 questions with each operator she reached.

But the next question just seemed

silly.

She wanted to know if they had maybe just gotten in the car and gone on vacation no absolutely not not without calling me he's a diabetic he's his health is extremely poor he's got a broken leg um she has an ivy suture to her arm for her chemotherapy i mean it's not like they can just they're not bedridden but it's not like they can just get up and go

they're just they're she's got liver cancer they're extremely ill What um what's your last name, Miss Branson?

My last name is Branson.

what's your last name miss branson

give that just a second

do you get the joke yet

no

maybe you don't belong here then would i also file a missing the car missing with that part yeah if you have the you have the tag number and all that no officer nelson retrieved it from south carolina records or whatever but i don't know it can return that that can be added on later

but if somebody took them and and they're you know, dumped them somewhere and they've got the car, I mean, we might find the car before we find them.

Right, I see what you're saying, but I don't have any way to

he didn't make a note in the record.

No,

I don't see it.

Any idea when he'll be back on duty?

Uh, seven o'clock tonight.

We've all been there, right?

Stuck in a chat message loop or automated phone tree

or

pushed through from one person to the next.

You all have Comcast, right?

All for a simple question.

But this was about her missing parents, not about her cable bill.

Every passing second could be a crucial second.

Rhonda was desperately trying to make arrangements for her children so she could make the seven-hour drive to Jacksonville, Florida.

She asked for any officer to call her as soon as possible and what the address of the police department was so she could could go there herself.

But then she was directed to go straight to the house of her parents.

The next call you hear is the one Rhonda made once she reached Jacksonville.

Yes, I need to have an officer out.

Please don't need to file a missing persons report.

What's the address, ma'am?

2015

Reed Avenue.

Her computer's gone.

Okay, who's missing ma'am?

My mother, her husband.

What's your name?

Rhonda Branson.

Did you already fall in a report?

No, I haven't.

I called in a report.

I live in Charlton, South Carolina, and I just came into town, and I was told to call when I got here.

And I'm here, and I need an officer here, so I can file the report.

Every time she spoke with a new 911 operator, She was asked the same repetitive questions, leaving her caught in a whirlwind of frustration when all she wanted to do was locate her parents as quickly as possible.

What we're trying to do is we have your call in the system already.

I think like somebody said, oh, we've had you set up an officer to come talk to you.

We're trying to figure out your parents, if you were pointing both of them missing, your mother and her husband.

Yeah.

Okay.

How long have they been missing?

Since Friday, since Friday.

Were they in a car?

Yes, as far as I don't know.

I live in Charleston, South Carolina, and I.

Okay, they all have any other relatives there?

No.

Okay, you're in Jacksonville now?

I'm at their house.

Okay, Jackson.

You're at the house now?

Yes.

Okay, what's your okay, Picard?

What's your mother's name?

Carol Sumner.

Okay, how old is she?

She is 62, 62, you're a white or black female.

White, white, white female.

What's the husband's name?

James Reginald Sumner.

How old is it?

91843 is his birthday.

What kind of car were they lasting driving?

Blue Town car, Lincolntown car.

Blue Lincoln Town car.

Do you know the tag number on it?

Yeah, ma'am, is the officer going to come out and say, yes, ma'am, but I still need to put this information out so we bolo.

Can we please listen, Ms.

Branson?

You may be upset, but we are doing our job and this is what we have to do.

Because if they're missing that long and they're probably lost, we could have put a bolo out.

And if anybody's been somewhere else in the city, they can notify the officer that's on the way.

So that's why I'm getting this information.

I don't know the tag number.

Officer, if you don't know the tag number, go ahead.

Officer Nelson was able to retrieve the tag number from South Carolina.

I didn't get it from him.

He knows.

He got it.

Interesting that one of the reasons her parents had been missing for so long was that no one in the system was communicating with each other.

Every call she made to 911 or the police was like starting all over

again.

Entering a new ticket in your customer support system.

Ah, the efficiency of government.

And then this lady gets an attitude with her.

On top of everything.

By this time, Rhonda was exhausted.

Wouldn't you be that's when i wanted sheriff officer

um yeah i called one hour ago um a police officer says come out to the house i can call a um missing person report address

2015 reed avenue

2015 reed avenue yes

i'm on

see what's going on now

What they folks come out there, you know what they folks call you back over the phone.

Yeah, there's just a new zero one

yes 2050

no 2015

2015

okay then i can't i called from the driveway the second i drove in

hold on just a second let me get this super five okay okay thank you

yes hello yes yes i'm i'm waiting on an officer to meet me at my mother's house so i can call a missing persons report i call at 340.

okay what's your address

2015 Regan Avenue.

Okay.

What Rhonda didn't know was that her parents' kindness and generosity had backfired on them.

As happens to good people from time to time, especially in the world we live in today.

It's always someone trying to take advantage of you.

in one way or another.

Just look around.

Just look at those plus prices, am I right?

Remember that the neighbor's home had just been robbed.

That was now becoming the assumption with Carol and Reggie.

Their disappearance was, in fact, tied to a burglary, but not by the same burglars who entered the neighbor's home.

Weird.

The couple had very recently moved to Jacksonville, Florida to be near relatives and also...

One of Reggie's closest friends who was dying of cancer.

This man was divorced because he'd been in in prison.

His daughter, Tiffany, was living with her mom at the time.

Tiffany was a good student, a cheerleader, and a band member.

But she also had a lot of demands at home, like basically raising her younger brother.

By the 10th grade, she had tired of all of this and was starting to hang with the wrong drug-using crowd.

When she discovered that her dad was ill and no one was around to help him, it was a win-win situation.

She would go stay with him, and she would escape her demanding life.

Within that time, she met the Sumners, Carol and Reggie.

They could see that she had a kind heart and a helpful mindset.

After all, she was supporting her dad in his time of need.

Despite having serious health conditions of their own, they had also been helping out their friend, Tiffany's dad in his struggles.

The Sumners, in their extreme generosity, knew that Tiffany needed a car, so they sold her their extra vehicle.

Not only did they give her a sweet deal, but they also let her make payments on the car with no interest.

During their conversations, the Sumners made the ultimate mistake of discussing their finances with the girl they thought they could trust.

The one that was doing drugs.

Tiffany returned to her South Carolina home after her father died months later, but she remembered that the Sumners extended an open invitation to their home anytime she'd like to come and stay.

She took them up on this directly after making the wrongest of wrong turns in her entire life.

hooking up with Michael Jackson at Myrtle Beach.

And while hooking up with Michael Jackson was always a bad idea, this is not the same Michael Jackson you're thinking of.

Apparently it's a pretty common name.

This one didn't have a glittery glove and a couple of weird dance moves, and also an affinity for children.

This one was

a little different, starting with the fact that he was white.

And this particular Michael Jackson was even shadier than the one you already know and love.

Because when he robbed her he stole her heart the girl was feeling me but i wasn't feeling her it wasn't like that i don't want to i don't want to be in the same room as how long you been hanging out with her

man i met that girl yeah i met this girl man

south carolina met this girl man i robbed the girl man that's how i met her man well i didn't even rob her man it was just like

yeah i robbed her but it wasn't like robbing her you know what i'm saying she had a little black box had coke in it weed in it and a bunch of money in it said i had to pick the box up walk walk off you know what i'm saying but i was in her room she didn't you know let me in the room so technically i stole it but i mean you know whatever is whatever and i mean you're not gonna call hey this man just stole my dope you know what i'm saying you ain't gonna call and say no shit like that i gave the coke away gave the weed away kept it like 800 and i kept 800 but i messed up because she had my cell phone number because me and her chill earlier that day and then she called me like that like bring my box back and i'm just clay i ain't talking to that girl i ain't even answering the phone texting me i'm gonna i'm gonna do this i'm gonna do this I'm just, man, what?

You don't even know me.

When was that, though?

I mean, how long have you known Tiffany?

Since May.

Since May.

And that, like I said, that shit started.

And a week later, she calls me, hey, I just want to talk to you.

I talked to her.

And then.

This is Tiffany's Dub you saw?

It was Tiffany's body.

He had Coke in it.

She thought she was a little drug dealer, man.

She had a little body with her.

She was on Tiffany's?

Yeah.

Yeah, it was like a half ounce of Coke, some hydro weed, and the cash.

I gave, like I said,

you can check my record.

I got no drug problem, no drug record, no nothing.

I was never in the drugs.

Everybody keep asking me, man, y'all must have been on crack or something, man.

I ain't never been in the drugs, man.

But no, I gave it up away and kept the money, and that was it.

And then, like I said, a week later, man, you're hanging up.

I know that's just crazy, ain't it?

It's just, I mean, it's ironic as hell, but and then, like I said, man,

when the whole thing started, this man, like I said, man, Tiffany knew these people, man.

She knew they had money.

True, Tiffany was making poor choices even before Michael Jackson came along.

But her infatuation with the stereotypical bad boy intensified matters.

Things escalated fast.

Whether she really wanted to take the money or was just trying to impress Michael, the result was the same.

How do you get from that to let's go get their money?

Because when somebody comes up to me and says, look,

there's over $100,000 at stake.

You know what I'm saying?

There's over $100,000.

Supposedly, they sold a townhouse for like 90-something thousand, and you know, this, this, and this.

And I'm just sitting there listening to this shit.

And it's first in my mind, it's like,

yeah, yeah, whatever.

But then again, at the same time, you ain't just gonna steal somebody's credit card and

jack them ninety thousand dollars.

You know what I'm saying?

Without a motherfucker picking up a phone and say, hey,

are you, are you credit card company gonna call and say, are you meaning to take this money off the, you know what I'm saying?

That's common sense.

So it's like,

nah, nah, nah, nah.

I can do this perfect.

You know what I'm saying?

They know me.

They trust me.

This, this, and this.

Hey, look, I'll do the credit card.

Y'all get the card?

I'm down with whatever.

You know what I'm saying?

I'll do the rest.

I got my computer.

I'll do the rest.

Y'all get the card?

Don't matter.

I'll go to the ATM.

I'll show my face.

I mean, come on, that's bold.

You know what I'm saying?

That's fucking bold.

You know what I'm saying?

So it's like, y'all do whatever.

I'll do the rest.

I mean, man, that's another thing.

A murder?

I'm not going to show my face.

Something.

Don't you already know they're dead?

Yes.

Okay.

Before you go to the ATM?

Yes.

Okay.

You already know they're dead.

No, no, no.

By the time Michael and Tiffany put the Sumners' money into their own hands, the couple was indeed dead.

But Michael and Tiffany weren't the only ones who benefited.

Two other players were in the mix.

Bruce Nixon and Alan Wade.

Alan Wade was 18 years old and living with his mom, who was doing the best she could to keep him out of trouble.

Here, she talks about a call she received from middle school when he was just a preteen.

He never got over me leaving his dad.

He never got over his dad leaving him.

He had missed so much school, even though I was dropping him off in the morning, that I either had to withdraw him from school or I was going to end up in jail.

That's what they told me.

So I withdrew him from school in the eighth grade.

A separate phone call resulted in even more dire consequences.

They said that he had

said he was going to commit suicide.

I drove out there immediately and

I talked to one of the counselors or a teacher or somebody.

And the police were there.

They were chasing him through the neighborhood because he had left the school grounds.

And when they finally found him, they baker acted him.

The Baker Act is a law that allows parents or authorities to place children in psychiatric facilities if they present harm to themselves or others.

Coming from South Florida, I know all about the Baker Act.

I know he thinks I didn't love him.

I tried.

I mean, I love him.

He doesn't understand that I depended on him to be the strong strong one, and that was wrong of me.

I threatened to kick him out, never dreaming that he would go.

I was thinking, okay, I threatened to kick him out.

He's going to say, I'm sorry, mommy, I'm sorry.

I'll behave.

I'll behave.

I did not want him to leave,

but he did.

Alan's dad wasn't in the picture.

And now his mom.

had cancer.

Because she had to have chemotherapy and radiation.

And my heart goes out to all of you who are listening right now and have cancer.

Some of you are in the audience right now listening to this.

Carol, I'm thinking about you.

The other Carol.

Shout out.

Stay healthy.

Anyway, yeah, cancer's a bitch.

But because she had to go through all this shit, the chemotherapy, the radiation, the just endless hospital visits,

Alan left and was taken in by a friend of his mother until she was able to be stronger and take care of him.

He was only 15 at the time.

Unfortunately, this woman who took care of Alan when he was 15,

she wasn't financially capable of taking care of him.

So she asked for compensation.

Embarrassed, Alan's mom didn't want to pay for someone to take care of her son.

According to her, she took him back because she didn't know what else to do.

He was her baby.

A year later, he met 23-year-old jobless Michael Jackson and started constantly hanging out with him, eventually moving into an apartment with Michael.

Michael seemed to be an intelligent kind of guy, friendly when I first met him, just talkative and just kind of on the showy side, you know, like he had a big personality.

He was very confident.

And I thought, well, you know, he's a little cocky, but, you know, he's a boy.

It was in the parking lot.

This is after I had learned about Michael's real personality.

I

was driving through the parking lot coming home, and I saw him sitting there on the back of a car.

And I said, Michael, do you know where Alan's at?

And he proceeded to tell me that that was none of my business.

He was taking care of Alan, and I

just just leave Alan alone.

He's my concern now.

And I said, is that a stolen car you're sitting on?

And he got right up in my face in the window and threatened me that you just stay out of my business and just go on if you don't want anything to happen to Alan.

Alan's mom knew immediately that Michael was bad news.

Moms know these sort of things, instinctually.

So she started apartment hunting for her and Alan and managed to find a two-bedroom place that she could barely afford.

When they moved in, she begged Alan not to tell Michael where they were living.

And I had told him, I said, I don't want Michael to know where I'm at because

I was afraid of Michael because of

he threatened me and I was afraid if I got in the middle of something, he would harm Alan.

And Michael came to my apartment and and I just exploded on him.

I just

went off on this boy and he sat there and looked me stone-faced in the eye the whole time I was yelling at him with a stupid smirk on his face.

He had no regard for my feelings, for Alan's feelings, for anybody.

And

he finally just when I finally stopped he got up and just said, I don't care what you think, and he walked away.

There was one more character in this gang of robbers.

It was 18-year-old Bruce Dixon.

Bruce was a follower, an NPC, if you will.

Someone with his own set of troubles and empty family life.

Bruce and Alan were longtime friends, and in fact, he would later state that he viewed Alan's mom as his own.

But Bruce was about to be a young dad and was stressed over not being able to provide a life for his child until he was introduced to Michael Jackson and Tiffany.

Michael and Tiffany were in Jacksonville partying together when the group met each other.

Tiffany would be heading back to South Carolina, but the couple wanted one more night in Florida.

The four came up with a plan to rob the Sumners, and it would start with Tiffany and and Michael spending a night or two with them.

She still needed to sign papers for the car title, and this would be a way to introduce them to her boyfriend, and of course, get a first-hand view of the home, the one they intended to rob.

On the evening of July 8th, Michael Jackson convinced Bruce, who just turned 18, to canvas the Sumner neighborhood for four shovels, one for each of the robbers.

They all took part in digging a four by six-foot hole in the woods nearby, and then returned to the Sumner home to collect.

Their accounts differed from one another in an effort to save their own lives, but the bare truth was that the Sumners were thrown into that hole.

One by one, the teens and young adults were interviewed, but not one confessed.

Going off what I was talking with Goodsch said, you didn't have anything to do with

anybody getting hooked.

Is that right?

I wasn't away from everything that was going on.

Tell me what happened.

What are you?

Yeah.

You said you were in the car waiting, and they called you to come around.

That's when I followed him out to the spot where no one else was.

I wanted Bruce.

Carolina, Bruce.

And Mike or David or why?

Caroline.

He was in the car with you.

So you were driving and he was in the passenger seat.

So

where's Reggie and Carol at that point?

He was in the trunk.

Both of them in the trunk?

Do you know if they were alive at that time?

I don't even know.

And it said when they went out to that spot, I see mine.

How did I see the

Let's be very clear here.

Carol and Reggie were alive in the trunk of that car.

Their mouths were duct taped, and they were embracing each other, crying, wondering how a girl they treated like their own daughter could have done this to them.

I want you to close your eyes and picture yourself in that situation.

What about when you left the house?

Who was driving?

Ellen.

Ellen?

And Bruce was in the what part of the car?

Adam.

At any time

were you in that car in the Lincoln?

But Mike was in the car at different points.

Not in the Lincoln.

Not in the Lincoln?

Well, when they got rid of the body, they all had to drive back out.

So Mike would have been in the Lincoln yeah.

In the Downland Bridge.

How did Mike get back from where they were?

Because they drove back out the nurse.

That's where the car was.

Right, but did they drive Mike back to the car?

Mike came walking out first, and then they come out with the car.

So Mike, I guess, had to leave them through the woods or whatever.

I don't exactly know how that happened, but Mike came walking out first.

And then they came out with the car.

At any point, did they talk about

Hurt, Reggie, or Carol confronting you?

They just wait, nothing like that.

I'm going to mean...

When did you first hear them talk about

duct tape

or last?

Nothing they was in the house talk about what they were going to do.

I went out when I heard over the radio today as they hit the button and they would say, come in, like, where's the duct tape or something like that?

You know what I'm saying?

I guess they're keeping them together or whatever.

When you left the Summers house, said Mike was with you, and they, uh,

Alan's driving, Bruce's best seat, and they're like, you following them?

Okay.

You guys talking on the phone back and forth at that point?

Well, Mike wasn't.

My wife talking about, I mean, I would just drive, you know what I'm saying, still just kind of like,

I don't know, I was in my own little world behind them, you know what I'm saying?

What are you thinking at this point?

Well, you get all this stuff and and you got thunderstorms in

front of you i thought i mean i don't even know

i was kind of freaking out in my you know saying not trying to be

totally obvious about it you know saying but at the same time one you know this is not this is not a set of an idea you know what i'm saying this is not you guys talked about robbery though i mean you're gonna go get the stuff

but you didn't

Didn't count on the

end result there.

Is that pretty much...

I'm not, I don't want to put words in your mouth, okay?

But I meant pretty much you were going to go get stuff.

That was it, where it's supposed to end.

Tiffany was a liar, and she knew exactly how to manipulate others.

The scheme began with the exploitation of two elderly souls, kind friends.

who had stood by her father's side during his darkest hours.

Despite dealing with their own serious problems, they were happy to give a helping hand simply because they

were happy and wanted to give back.

Their altruism reached beyond their own relatives, extending directly to Tiffany's father and Tiffany herself.

Yet, beneath the pretense of Tiffany's gratitude lurked a treacherous plot that she had masterfully orchestrated.

She understood the horrible beginning and the inevitable conclusion.

Next, Michael was brought to the station after waiting his turn in jail.

Michael, the oldest, may or may not have been the sharpest of the four, but he sure thought he was.

He thought he was so smart, in fact, that he believed he'd be able to wiggle out of previous incriminating statements and somehow bargain himself out of life in prison.

Plain and simple, bluntly.

What do I got to do?

What do I got to say?

I don't care what I got to write, say, do, point this, this, and this.

My biggest thing, man, is I'm trying to push this thing a little bit faster.

If I got to do this, this, and this, and I'm trying to go home.

Probably, you know, you should start by telling the truth.

You already said that.

I showed some sort of remorse about what happened.

So,

there ain't no way to, like, get a lesser charge.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, because I already know.

You know, like petty theft or something?

No, no, no.

Because I already know y'all got all of us on the same indictment.

That right there is pushing for conspiracy.

I exactly

tell me, tell me something about Alan, Bruce, or Tiffany that you think we don't know.

Shit, I don't know what y'all don't know.

Well, let's start at the beginning then:

murder, on robbery, kidnapping.

My biggest thing: how do y'all charge me?

It sounds really good and all, except for I think you told us something about

tell us something about the Graves

Graves or the

hole

yeah

you told us they were pre-dug

You told us that the the where they put that the hole was pre-dug you told us it was to scare them and then you told us you held the flashlight while they shove dirt onto it.

Oh, I don't even want to say that a lot of shit that night.

You told the trouble that night.

You hoped that would be enough to get you out of there that night because you didn't have direct involvement in your mind in dealing with any of this.

Okay?

But there ain't no damn way.

You got dropped off somewhere else and you were not even there.

You were smoking with somebody else while everybody else just disappeared, took care of all this stuff that you had no idea.

No, everybody disappeared.

Tiffany was there.

Tiffany was there with me and Jacob.

Matter of fact.

It is physically impossible to dig that hole

for two people to dig that hole in that amount of time span.

It was not going to happen.

They can't.

You had to have a backhoe.

Yeah.

Because we had to have a backhoe.

To get them out.

You can't even say that because, I mean, I don't know what the hole looked like.

I didn't see Marines, man, digging 6x6, man, in 20 minutes.

I mean,

just because mentally.

You know what I'm saying?

Are you, Tiffany, Allen, or Bruce, Marines?

Oh, nah.

Okay, y'all probably ain't digging a little 6x6.

Okay, and they ain't digging that deep hole.

You just killed two people.

In your mind, you digging a hole?

Shit, man.

You gonna be like lightning, man.

You gonna feel like you just did an ounce of coke.

Shit.

Why would there be four shovels?

Like I said, run prints, man.

Run forensics.

Run everything, man.

Damn, that.

I ain't burying no people.

I ain't touching the people.

Michael was shameless, trying every angle he could think of to escape or minimize charges.

Next, he attempted the old quid pro quo.

Remember that?

Quid pro quo?

We all learned what that meant at the same time, I think.

I give you something, you give me something back.

You know, politics.

He began telling the detectives that he knew the whereabouts of another criminal they were after.

And he would tell them his secret.

Ooh.

I know where to do that right now.

I don't know anything about that.

Do you?

No, I mean, if y'all can look it up, I mean, it'll come back accurate.

He's been in the most wonderful for a minute now.

I mean, not only that, it says, I'm trying to figure out something, man, where

I can get a bond.

Something.

Okay, I can tell you right now.

I ain't trying to go nowhere.

I mean, I won't be straight up with you, okay?

Because

we've been pretty much straight up from the get-go.

We ain't getting a bond, okay?

It ain't going to happen.

I'm going to not get a bond.

Okay.

Because this is a capital murder, okay?

And the capital murder offense has a no bond in the state of Florida.

You're not getting out.

Okay.

There's no opportunity whatsoever.

I mean, you can tell me right now where Hoffa's buried, who helped, you know, whoever shooted Kennedy.

It's not going to matter.

You're not going to get out.

Okay.

Finally, after hours of arguing his case, Michael gave the detective some linear information, but he still blamed everyone but himself.

So anyway,

it's already been laid out.

Tiffany is going to go in the house.

She's going to be like, look, I'm going to go in there.

I'm going to get them all comfortable, relaxed.

They're going to, you know, feel normal.

I'm in here.

It ain't going to be no worries.

Next thing, you know, y'all gonna come up.

Bam, bam, bam, bam.

And can I use the telephone?

Call me to use the telephone.

And then

let me get that.

You know what I'm saying?

Next thing I know, I'm just, you know what I'm saying?

What, Tiffany's in the house?

What do you mean?

No, this was the plan now.

This ain't what happened.

This is the plan.

Okay.

Okay.

I'm just sitting there like, yeah, damn, that's that's just

not like it'll work.

You know what I'm saying?

And you're right.

In my mind, I'm sitting there thinking, I'm about to get paid off of this shit.

You know what I'm saying?

These fools are going to be dumbasses.

And I'm going to get some money out of of there.

You know what I'm saying?

So

it might as well go for it.

You know what I'm saying?

I'll be a fool not to.

I mean, I'm damn near clean.

I'm not putting my hands on nothing.

But then again, I'm sitting there thinking, I still don't know why I just walked up to the ATM machine.

Oh, yeah, I know it.

No, actually, I don't.

You did it for the money.

Nah, but still, at the same time, why am I going to walk up face showing?

You know what I'm saying?

I still run that in my head.

That's why I said, man, it was like some of this shit was retarded, man.

Okay.

So y'all got a plan.

So, okay, yeah, okay.

How How did y'all act on the plan?

No, I'm gonna tell you that now.

The night of the plan is supposed to unfold.

We go all the way into these people's house.

You know what I'm saying?

We go to their house.

All four of y'all in the Mazda.

Yeah, all four of us in the Mazda.

Drop me off in the park.

I don't want to be nowhere near this house.

I don't want to see shit.

You just heard him say that the other three in the group dropped him off at the park.

And he wasn't anywhere near the house.

He was claiming that he was basically just given the ATM card after the Sumners were robbed and killed for some reason.

Yeah, that really really makes sense.

Sure.

Does anybody buy this shit?

Let me explain something to you, okay?

By law in Florida,

if, and this is really far-fetched if, because we've talked in pretty good detail about what happened and everything else in the past, okay?

If nothing else happened other than what you told us, that you were there and you said Alan and Bruce did all this stuff, but you were there and you had knowledge of it, you can be charged with everything.

you're just as guilty as they are.

Hey, what if I wasn't there, though?

What if I just, you know, knew about it?

That's the thing.

What if I actually was not there?

I just kind of knew about it when I was saying that I was there, and I'm telling you this, this, and that.

So, you know what I'm saying?

I'm hoping I can go home right there.

It sounds really good and all, except for I think you told us something about

something about the graves

graves or the

home,

yeah.

You have a problem with that.

Whoa.

What about the hole?

You told us they were pre-dug.

You told us that where they put the hole was pre-dug.

You told us it was to scare them, and then you told us you held the flashlight while they shoved the dirt onto it.

Oh, I don't even

know if you told the truth that night.

You hoped that would be enough to get you out of there that night because you didn't have direct involvement in your mind in dealing with any of this.

Okay?

But there ain't no damn way.

You got dropped off somewhere else and you were not even there.

You were smoking with somebody else while everybody else just disappeared, took care of all this stuff that you had no idea.

No, everybody disappeared.

Tiffany was there.

Tiffany was there with me and Jacob.

It is physically impossible to dig that hole

for two people to dig that hole in that amount of time span.

It's not going to happen.

During the interview with Michael, he had already said some things that placed him at the hole.

For instance, saying that Carol and Reggie managed to get the duct tape off their mouths and hands while they were in the trunk,

like admitting that he heard them praying together and confessing their love to each other, and like coldly telling how Carol was moaning when they put her in the hole.

She was moaning because she and Reggie were buried

alive.

They died by inhaling the dirt from their early grave.

Proposition 50 threatens what voters built.

California voters approved an independent commission that spent thousands of hours creating fair election districts where all people are represented.

Prop 50 destroys this good work.

Prop 50 is a direct attack on democracy, a dangerous idea that tears away the power of choice.

Protect your vote and democracy.

Vote no on Prop 50.

And paid for by no on Prop 50.

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After 38 years, the Sumners rekindled their high school romance.

Carol had already suffered in an abusive marriage that ended in her husband shooting her in the face and then killing himself.

And currently, Carol and Reggie both had significant health issues that they were struggling with.

Yet, they were living their dream, a life together in sunny Florida.

When their good friend fell ill, they nursed him in his dying days and rewarded his daughter for her help with their altruism and ultimately their lives.

On July 8th, 2005, Tiffany and three male acquaintances robbed the Sumners

when two of them entered the home and bound them with tape while they pointed a realistic-looking toy gun at them.

Carol and Reggie both pleaded, saying They would give the intruders all the money they had.

Michael and Tiffany waited in a car outside because Michael had given the order that he didn't want the Sumners to see his or Tiffany's face.

According to Michael, he was going to inject them with a lethal dose of medicine and wait until they died to bury them.

But that is not what happened.

The couple was alive when the dirt was piled on top of them.

Think for just just a second of the horror of that.

The sounds you would hear.

And then

silence and darkness.

By the time Michael's last interview occurred, it was too late for him.

Tiffany and Alan weren't saying where the bodies were, but Bruce Nixon was.

Bruce was terrified.

Just tell us where they're at, okay?

Let's just tell us where they're at.

If you want to start looking at that terrible major mistake right now.

You're old enough to make that decision for yourself, Bruce.

Oh, God.

I know.

I can't do that for you, man.

I'm telling you,

I'm not allowed to make that decision for you.

Okay?

Now, you want me to be straight up?

That's straight up.

I got to be straight up with you, too.

We need to know where those bodies are.

If you don't want to tell us anything else, tell us where those bodies are.

I want to tell y'all.

I'm just.

Bruce.

Look at me.

I want to tell you.

Bruce.

Bruce.

I'm looking at this.

When I walked in here, I saw this.

It's killing you, man.

I know it is, man.

Hey, if you don't want to.

I'm not going to kill me in prison, dude.

If you don't want to tell us anything else, just tell us where these folks are at, Bruce.

I'm going straight to prison.

Bruce, just tell us where these folks are at, Bruce.

Right when I tell you, I'm going to

get handcuffed and I'm going to be here for a while.

I'm about to get to see my baby or nothing.

I'm not gonna get finished cool.

I'm not gonna get rushed.

We can't change what's happening, but.

I didn't kill him.

That's what we need.

That's what we need.

We ask you to be honest about the accused.

I'll tell you, I'll prove the truth.

If you tell me lies, I can't prove lies.

You promised me you'll be here, my lad, the whole time.

I go through it.

I will.

You promised you'll write over the paper and tell me.

I'll tell you right now to your face.

I'll walk you through this whole thing.

This whole thing.

And you'll be on my side if I tell you the truth about it.

I'm right here with you, man.

It breaks my heart to be in here that you're going through all this, but I'll be right here.

If nobody will be right here with you, I'll be here.

Alright?

Can you draw better or can you tell us?

I know you're kind of upset.

Yeah.

Alright.

Okay, hold on.

Just get this here.

Thank you, sir.

I'll tell you, but this is what happened.

Okay.

Alright.

Alan told me that we were gonna rob some people and own them with some money and stuff.

Didn't even know these people?

They all knew they were in the house and stuff.

Okay.

Go ahead.

I needed money because I ain't got a family.

I ain't nobody.

I know, nobody

was

and nobody.

So after we got out of the family,

we went to the house.

We went down planned, I go up there,

and

we were gonna go up to the house and

I was gonna go up to the house and we were just gonna tell them for money and stuff and get their A-Team cars

and

get all their numbers and stuff.

Tell the world

if you have to tape out their mouth and stuff.

What's that?

We tape out their mouth their eyes.

And

see what they wouldn't tell us.

I mean, they wouldn't tell us, oh, they're bait over or nothing.

But that dude,

whatever his name, Michael Salt, I don't know his name, told us to put him,

take him up and put him in the trunk.

We're winning.

He never said we're gonna kill him.

He never said I probably

said that.

He told us we were gonna bring him out there

where that was, but they had a hole down there.

And then

he said that he was just gonna scare them into telling them the numbers.

And then

when he was doing that, I walked away

to the car,

the RX8.

And I was walking up there, and then about 30 minutes later, they walked back and asked where I wanted it, so they took care of them.

Where were y'all at, Bruce?

I'll be there the whole time.

Those moments in the interview were particularly emotional.

Not just because young Bruce Nixon was terrified and heading for a death sentence or lifetime in prison, but because the detective had a son the same age as Bruce.

When he saw the boy trembling and crying, he moved his chair a little closer, threw his arms around him, and held him for what seemed like a very, very long time.

During a 2007 week-long trial, Tiffany Cole received a guilty verdict for first-degree murder.

The jury's vote 9-3 recommended the death penalty after seeing incriminating evidence such as photographs capturing Tiffany and the two co-defendants reveling in a limousine, toasting with champagne and clutching wads of cash, the Sumner's cash.

Five months later, A judge issued dual death sentences for the murders, accompanied by a life sentence for the kidnappings.

Alan Wade and Michael Jackson also received death sentences.

But Bruce Nixon, because he cooperated with law enforcement, because he talked and he was guilty and he had something to offer, he got off with a little less, put it that way.

Bruce had taken law enforcement to the locations where the bodies were buried.

and testified against the others.

He entered a guilty plea for second-degree murder, earning him a 45-year prison sentence instead of life.

But fate would intervene 10 years later.

It was Tiffany Cole who was the familiar face that Carol and Reggie Sumner invited into their home in July of 2005.

She and two other friends used that friendship to plan their crime, asking for a place to stay during a long trip.

News for Jax brought updates to the community every step of the way.

A neighbor tells family that she remembers seeing a strange car come and go from the Sumners house, and family says that they think that Carol and Reggie probably were just being nice, allowing the group to stay overnight so they didn't have to make the trip to and from Charleston all in one day.

The Sumners' bodies were found days later in a shallow grave in Charlton County, Georgia.

They had been buried alive.

Evidence technicians showing the shovels and crime scene photos at trial.

The three were convicted in separate trials.

Tiffany Cole always pleaded to have her life life spared.

At her sentencing hearing, Cole begged for a life sentence so she could help others.

Ultimately, that hearing ended in tears for Cole.

She was sentenced to death in a 9-3 decision, something that's now unconstitutional after a Supreme Court ruling last year that found death penalty decisions need to be unanimous.

Now, Cole will get a new sentencing hearing, and it's likely the two others who were convicted in the murders of the Summoners will also get new hearings because their death sentences were also not unanimous.

At the re-sentencing, Alan Wade was given life due to mitigating circumstances newly introduced.

But Michael Jackson was again sentenced to death with a unanimous vote.

At the end of the road, as we all eventually will turn back and look behind us, we'll be able to finally see how some of the winding and narrow detours came back together on a straight, wide highway to our destination.

We can make sense of the map, sometimes.

Carol and Reggie experienced some treacherous turns, but they found each other through it all.

They,

in a way, were both the luckiest people on Earth and the unluckiest.

That's how life is.

That's how fate works in unpredictable ways.

Yet the same fate that reunited these lovers for a second chance also brought with it tormented figures from their past, with their own darkness and their own unresolved issues.

Fate was about to step in yet again and claim the lives of the killers as well.

But yet another turn at the last second occurred and their lives were spared.

None of it really makes any sense.

Sometimes life

doesn't make any sense.

Carol and Reggie may have met a dead end, so to speak, but at least they were able to go out knowing they tried to do some good in the world.

They tried.

And life's ultimate surprise was allowing them one final embrace with each other in their last moments

on earth.

That does it for another one.

Thank you so much for joining us.

If you like the show, Sword and Scale Television is available for you right now.

There's seven episodes available and many more coming soon.

We're going to start doing two a month pretty soon.

So, great time to sign up.

Swordandscale.com.

Stay safe.

Proposition 50 threatens what voters built.

California voters approved an independent commission that spent thousands of hours creating fair election districts where all people are represented.

Prop 50 destroys this good work.

Prop 50 is a direct attack on democracy, a dangerous idea that tears away the power of choice.

Protect your vote and democracy.

Vote no on Prop 50.

Add paid for by no on Prop 50, Protect Voters First, sponsored by Hold Politicians Accountable, Ad Committee's top funder, Charles Munger Jr.