Going to Court - Talina Zar BONUS

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Tell me how it felt walking into the courtroom and then I saw your eyes go up when you saw her.

Just tell me about that moment of noticing when she entered the room.

She seems smaller,

older,

but kind of smug still.

I mean, I thought she looked kind of like

she thinks she's going to get away with it.

I don't know.

I thought she was looking at me.

I turned to you and I think she's looking at me.

I'm walking back from court with Jess Trevino, the internet sleuth who spent the past five years investigating the disappearance of Talina Czar and digging into the background of Corey Bomali, the woman accused of killing her.

Jess has longed to confront Corey and to see her held accountable for the crimes Jess believes she has committed.

And this hot summer day in Madison, Wisconsin is her very first taste of that.

To know what I know about her and then to see her, my heart quickened a little bit.

And then as I sat there, I just kept staring at her, waiting for her to turn, thinking, like, is she thinking about what's going to happen in Oklahoma?

From iHeart Podcasts, I'm Melissa Giltson, and this is a bonus episode of what happened to Talina Czar,

Corey's first day in court.

The case before us today is entitled The State of Wisconsin versus Corey Bomalee Adams.

It's Monday, June 23rd, 2025, and I'm in Madison, Wisconsin to cover a case you've heard about if you've followed this podcast.

This is not the trial for the murder of Talina Czar.

That's yet to take place.

Instead, it's Corey's trial for the attempted murder of Sherry and Mike Ziegler using homemade ricin back in 2014.

I'm here for a lot of reasons.

To report on the trial because it's connected to Talina's case, but also to meet some of the people I've written about over the years but haven't met in person.

Like two of the officers from Wagner, Oklahoma, they're here too.

Please state your name for the record spelling it.

Danny Elliott, D-A-N-N-Y,

E-L-L-I-O-T-T.

I am a lieutenant with the Wagner County Sheriff's Office in Oklahoma.

My name is Joel, J-O-E-L, Weber, W-E-B-E-R.

Okay, counsel, go ahead.

Jess and I are sitting in a windowless courtroom in the Dane County Courthouse, an austere eight-story building that makes me feel like we're waiting to update our driver's licenses rather than observe an attempted murder trial.

I have to say, for all our excitement and anticipation to be here, we're among only a handful of other people in the audience.

But importantly, sitting just in front of us are Sherry and Mike Ziegler, the victims at the center of this case.

I had spoken to Sherry earlier on the phone.

It's

been 10 years and it's taken the toll on us a little bit, you know,

to keep going through it over and over.

That's why it was hard for me to agree on a time to even talk to you about it.

The trial is expected to last about a week, and over the course of the next few days, Sherry and Mike Mike will have to rehash and relive the trauma that began almost a decade ago but only recently came into full focus

Sherry and Mike's testimony is barred from being recorded from our previous conversation I know she's been nervous about this case finally going to trial she both wants it to happen to put an end to this chapter of her life but is also dreading having to go through it.

We've told the story many, many times because there's a lot of people we met and

heard about it and want to hear all the gruesome details.

And

it's hard to talk about after a while.

Once the trial is over with, I will be so happy and done with.

And then

she goes back to Oklahoma, stands that trial, and hopefully spends the rest of her life in prison

or worse.

But until then, Sherry just has to sit and face the person who she believes tried to kill her.

Jess is also here in the courtroom.

She drove in from her home in Minnesota, a four and a half hour trek, leaving her family behind and taking off work to be here, to be in the same room with Corey, a person who has loomed large in Jess's world and this podcast.

I've had this image in my head of this,

not a literal monster, but

to just go through this whole thing and know the things she's done, I had just a different image of what she would still look like.

And it felt

kind of surreal, kind of intense for a little bit.

And I kept, I got a little nervous when she first came in.

I felt zero sympathy.

for her.

In fact, all I could think the whole time was I'm looking at her hair and I'm like, Corey and her fucking mullet.

I mean, she's still rocking it and it's terrible.

Well, she probably doesn't have a hairdresser.

When she had one, it was terrible, which is small in comparison, right?

I'm not saying it's not.

I'm just...

Yeah.

The mullet, the jacket.

I'm nitpicking her, which I normally...

Okay, I'm not going to lie, I probably do nitpick people sometimes, but

I don't know.

I don't like anything about her, so I didn't feel any sympathy.

Corey is seated at a table with her two lawyers on the opposite side of the room from us.

She's wearing glasses and dressed in plain clothes, a blazer and blue-collared shirt.

I'd seen photos and heard about her physical presence from the Wagner neighbors.

She was described over and over as physically strong and capable.

a workhorse who easily erected fences, managed livestock, and fixed things around the house.

It's hard to square that description with the woman in front of us, who looks rather small and unremarkable.

Corey too has been waiting for this moment.

She's been incarcerated since her arrest for Talina's murder in January 2021.

In court, she's mostly quiet, occasionally whispering something to her attorneys.

And yet we all, Jess, the Zieglers, and me, can't help but stare.

What unfolds during the court proceedings are two versions of the same story.

The story told by the state, the prosecutors are Matthew Mosier and Jack Schneider, is probably pretty familiar to you by now.

It starts in 2014 when the Zieglers go on vacation and come home to a mess.

Weird powder sprinkled about their house.

And soon, they notice that things are missing.

A safe and also a credit card, which someone had been using.

The deputy who goes to the Ziegler's house testifies that by the time he looked into the robbery and the fraud, Sherry had done quite a bit of her own amateur sleuthing.

When you had contact with Sherry, did Sherry indicate to you if she had done anything herself to potentially investigate who had used this card?

She had done some groundwork on it based on the fraudulent credit card statement that they had.

I think she was able to view a picture or some video through one of the locations.

From the footage, Sherry could see exactly who was using her credit card.

Do you recall her indicating to you that the person she thought might have used the credit card was her neighbor who she knew is Deb?

Yes.

Did you ultimately follow up based on information Sharon Ziegler gave you and determined that the person she was calling Deb was Corey Corey Bonnelly Adams.

I did, yes.

Corey is ultimately convicted of using Sherry's credit card.

Wisconsin police never find the missing safe, and the strange debris is written off as a prank.

Sherry told me the deputy didn't even collect any of it for evidence.

I actually did show him the sample.

of that kitty litter stuff that we had collected and he goes yeah it looks like kitty litter, oil dry.

Yeah, I don't know what it is.

And just kind of brushed it off and

left.

You know, he just didn't do anything more.

On the stand, the prosecutor asks the deputy about this.

Tepdy Zach,

had you now learned that some of the powder left behind in the Ziegler residence test depositive for ricin?

I did.

Had you known it was potentially a toxic substance at the time, would you likely have sought to collect anything that was left?

Absolutely.

The jury hears that the investigation into the incident with the Zieglers is closed after Corey's conviction for credit card fraud.

That is, until 2020, when Corey comes in contact with police in Oklahoma.

All of a sudden, I get a phone call out of the blue from this gentleman asking questions about Corey.

And I was really hesitant to say too much about it because I didn't know if this was something that Corey was putting us up to to get slander on us or, you know, I mean, I just did not trust this woman.

I lost trust in a lot of people and a lot of things after that.

When you were watching Corey today,

How would you describe her demeanor while she was observing the court proceedings?

She seemed really calm to me.

I didn't notice any fidgeting or I noticed a lot of looking around just to see, but

I wanted to see if she looked at Sherry when she walked by, and I noticed that she kind of turned forward and didn't even make eye contact.

The trial moves along relatively slowly.

On day two, the police from Oklahoma are called to testify.

Important note here, the jury is never told that Corey is charged with murder in another case.

They are only told that in 2020, she came in contact with these authorities in Oklahoma who were investigating a different incident.

So, they have to keep their answers pretty vague.

The cats say they spent almost a year playing cat and mouse with Corey, trying to collect enough evidence to put her behind bars.

The jury is unaware of any of this.

You might recall that we previously used a voice actor to read statements by Detective Joel Weber, the lead investigator in the disappearance of Talina Czar.

Now, you can hear his actual voice as he's questioned by the prosecutor.

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Back in April of 2020, did you become involved in an investigation of Wagner County, Oklahoma that resulted in you having contact with the person

identified as Corey Bomaley Adams?

Yes.

Do you see Miss Bomaley Adams in court today?

I do.

Could you point her out and describe where she's sitting and what she's wearing?

Oh, to the right side of the table in front of me, and looks like a white blazer.

I guess the record reflects the identification.

The prosecutor brings up Weber's interview with Corey on May 9th, 2020, when he asked her about the circumstances surrounding the credit card fraud.

In episode four, you heard a recreation of that interview based on transcripts.

At trial, the state played the real version.

My neighbor, my male neighbor, and I were very good friends, and my husband and I spent every penny we had to move to Wisconsin.

And we went through a tough time where we didn't have much money.

He gave me this card to use.

His what card?

His wife's card.

Oh, his wife's card, okay.

To use and said, go get yourself some groceries, you know, go fill your tech with pass and it's what you can pay to that.

Well, the wife was jealous with him and I for no reason.

And she had a ten area and she pressed charges because I used her pride card.

He stood behind her.

I didn't, I still like the guy.

I still think he's a big guy.

I just like,

she's not a big person.

I'm sitting behind the Zieglers while this video from 2020 plays in court as they listen to Corey tell yet another version of the events of 2014.

Back then, Corey claimed in court she'd found the credit card on the ground and used it.

Of course, Sherry believes neither story is the truth.

I watch her shake her head in frustration, clench her jaw.

Another Wagner cop, Danny Elliott, testifies about finding castor beans, which can be used to make ricin, in a safe in Corey's possession.

Lieutenant Elliott, I'm showing you it's marked as Exhibit 38.

What do you recognize Exhibit 38 to be?

That is a small safe that was located in a bedroom closet.

I'd like to ask you some questions about this safe.

When this was located in Ms.

Bombly Adams' residence on May 29th, did she make any statements in your presence about this item?

Something to the effect of it's an old safe that she didn't even have the key to it anymore.

At some point, were you able to locate a key for the safe?

Yes, very quickly.

I'm next showing you what's been received in evidence exhibit 40.

Are these other items that were found inside that safe?

Yes, the mags of seeds.

The bag of castor beans.

The Wagner cops also bring up the recipe they found on Corey's computer on how to make ricin.

The prosecutors asked the Wagner police about a tip they received, a tip we mentioned briefly in the podcast, but was a significant piece of the investigator's puzzle.

At some point, also, had you or Deputy Weber received essentially some of the reports or information about the case from Alexander Adams?

I believe Investigator Weber did.

Yes.

Had you become aware that Alexander Adams was the ex-husband of Corey Bomley Adams during this case?

Yes.

You may remember Alexander Adams, Corey's ex, who goes by Alec.

He's a Celtic musician who first connected Corey and Talina at Gorefest.

In 2020, after Talina went missing, he contacted Wagner police and told them that Corey had previously admitted to him that she tried to poison their neighbors in Wisconsin.

At trial, Alec is a key witness for the prosecution.

On the stand, he's soft-spoken and wears a black suit jacket against a plum purple button-down shirt.

His hair is gray and thinning on top, and a long braid drapes over his shoulder.

The prosecutor asks Alec about the events of 2014 and why he didn't come forward at the time.

Mr.

Adams, in terms of when Ms.

Bomali disclosed the poisoning issue to you, did you have any concerns for whether you would be in trouble?

Yes.

Why was that?

Well,

when she told me she'd done this, I looked at her and I said, that's attempted murder and I am not good with that.

Her reply was, you can't say anything about it because both of us will be arrested and the animals put to sleep.

At the time, we had 50, almost 50, maybe a few more, rescue animals.

How did that affect you in terms of that statement being made to you by Miss Pomalie Adams?

That was terrifying and

very,

very successful in

silencing me.

Alec goes on to say he also reached out directly to the Zieglers in 2020, an act he didn't feel he could have done earlier for fear of retribution from Corey.

What was the purpose of you contacting the Zieglers?

I

thought at that

time that I might have, I might be safe to at least

let them know that

if

they had found any of that powder in the house, if they still had some, I told them to get it checked because it it could very well be rice and

I just thought they should know

in case anything might have come up, like, you know, kidney trouble or something like that.

And I thought at least this way, you know, they could maybe do something.

As Alex speaks, my eyes drift back over to Corey.

I'm curious if I'll see some sort of reaction, a furrow of a brow, or maybe a wince.

And she's staring him down, silent, but intense.

During Danny Elliott's testimony, he explains that after getting the tip from Alec and finding the caster beans, They too felt compelled to reach out to Sherry Ziegler in the summer of 2020.

What was the reason for contacting the Zieglers?

Well,

it was curiosity at first.

We had got the reports that there was some white substance that was spread during the burglary of the Zieglers.

We'd found the castor beans.

I know eventually the computer showed the recipe for the ricin.

So I was very curious to find out if that substance could have possibly been, and based on what Alexander was saying, if it was possibly ricin.

She said that she didn't have any of the substance.

A short time later, she contacted me back

directly and said that she had went through, I believe it's her socks and underwear drawer and shook everything out and sure enough, found a sample of it.

Did you have any discussion with Ms.

Siegler about her sending you that substance?

Yeah.

I told her at that point, and I didn't really know what to do with it, but I said, told her to put some gloves on, put it in a Ziploc bag, and overnight it to me.

With the benefit of hindsight, how would you evaluate that decision?

Yeah, that wasn't my finest thought process.

We don't deal with a lot of rice in Oagrene County.

I try not to laugh.

It's a brief moment of levity in otherwise somber proceedings.

The jury hears that the sample Sherry sent to Danny Elliott tests positive for ricin, as do subsequent subsequent samples taken from the Ziegler house.

And that's pretty much the sum of the state's case, that in 2014, Corey entered the Ziegler house, stole the credit card, and left homemade ricin strewn about with the intention of killing her neighbors.

Attempted homicide is you tried your best, and it didn't work.

No one is putting ricin in someone's bed, in their sock drawer, in their office if you're not trying to kill them.

You're not trying to have them consume a tiny amount just to get sick.

There's no conceivable reason to put ricin in someone's house other than to cause their death.

The bulk of the evidence the prosecutors present is the stuff the Oklahoma cops gathered.

The recipes for ricin found on Corey's computers, the castor beans found in a safe, along with a receipt that proved Corey bought them years before the Ziegler incident.

Honestly, we really didn't learn any new information that we didn't already know.

But the defense had a different story to tell.

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With Sherry,

they're really good people.

And it was weird, you know, at first telling people, I'm going to go stay with Sherry and Mike.

And they're like, in their house?

Like, do you even know them that well?

And

I've talked to Sherry for five years on and off the phone, and

I felt okay.

I don't know.

I'm

goes back to the intrusive and impulsive part that I guess we talked about.

Jess is staying with the Zieglers for the trial, which is exciting for her.

She's part of the inner circle, gets the inside scoop.

But also, it's a lot.

Long hours in court, followed by emotional nights.

The uncertainty weighs heavy on all of them.

Eventually, it's the defense's turn.

We're all wondering if we will get to hear from Corey directly.

Will she testify, tell her story in her own words?

We learn as the judge questions Corey, the answer is no.

I have some questions for you,

Miss Bomley Adams.

Do you understand that you have both a constitutional right to testify as well as the right to not testify?

Yes.

Have you had the opportunity to discuss your decision on whether to testify with your lawyers?

Yes.

Have you had enough time to discuss your decision with your lawyers?

Yes.

Have you made a decision as to whether you will or will not testify?

Yes, Your Honor.

And what is that decision?

I will not testify.

Those dozen or so words are pretty much all we hear from Corey.

And as her attorneys lay out their case, there's not much about Corey at all.

And for the defense attorneys, we have Kathleen Chung and Luis Cuevas.

They don't contest that Ricin was found inside the Ziegler's house, but they do question who placed the Ricin there and if the jury can ever really know for sure.

She's been wrongly charged.

She's been wrongly accused of this.

She did not

try to poison the Zieglers.

They suggest that Corey's then-husband, Alexander Adams, had just as much access and opportunity to poison their neighbors as Corey did.

The prosecution says that Corey Bomelli Adams is the only one who could have put ricin in the Ziegler's home.

That is just not true.

Every piece of evidence that they say points at my client points at Alexander Adams also.

They say

computer searches show you

that my client did a lot of searches.

They don't know who created those documents that the detective told you that.

They don't know who visited those websites.

They don't know who made bookmarks or had cookies.

When asked, the district attorney said, Corey's computers.

But the detective doesn't know who owns them.

He doesn't know where they've been.

He doesn't know who's been on them.

He only knows where they were from at one moment in time.

All of the rest of the information

comes from Alexander Adams.

Corey's lawyers focus on one specific event that they see as damning.

According to emails that came out during discovery, Wisconsin had once offered Alec immunity from prosecution for his cooperation.

I don't know what kinds of potential charges could even be brought against Alec, but the defense suggests that to free himself from such a liability, he might say anything now.

Still, there's no evidence there was was ever a formal immunity agreement between Alec and the state.

Nothing was ever signed.

Alexander is bent on this, and he has pursued this from 2020 to today.

And he has repeatedly told many people that Corey confessed.

This is the key to this case, Alexander's report of my client's alleged confession, the central allegation here.

It is the only evidence at all

that puts my client in the house.

Only Alexander Adams says that the substance that my client possessed was ricin.

He's the only one who says that my client knew how to make ricin and that she had it and she did make it.

That's only him.

He's the only one who says Corey

intended attempted murder and he couldn't stop saying that.

In closing arguments, Corey's attorneys remind the jury that the burden is on the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Corey committed this crime, a threshold that they do not believe has been met.

The state must prove that

Ms.

Corgomeley Bonnelly had an intent to murder

Michael and Sharon Siegler

and that she

put that rising in acts

toward the commission of murder.

There is no proof of any of that.

The judge will define reasonable doubt for you.

This is a completely doubtful case.

Would you even buy a car from Alexander Adams?

Much less a house?

Or trust him in a decision about something serious?

This entire case depends on Alexander Adams' credibility.

They can't prove she was in the house ever.

They can't prove she's ever had ricin.

The only person who says she's brewing ricin is Alexander.

They can't even prove she disliked Zebler's much.

They also bring up the question of motive.

Why in the world would she want to do this?

Of course there's an obvious reason to steal.

She wanted money.

And apparently she lied about it when she was in Oklahoma.

She lied about it here and she lied about it there.

So I think it's fairly clear that there's some evidence here that she's a thief.

And it seems that she, that card, she clearly used it without permission.

And then she lied about it.

I don't know how we get from that to murder.

That is a huge leap.

On Friday, after four and a half days of testimony, the state and defense rest and the jury enters deliberations.

It only took them two hours.

Has the jury reached a verdict?

Yes.

All right, please pass the verdict envelope to the bailiff.

Verdict, count one.

We, the jury, find the defendant, Corey Bombley Adams, guilty of attempted first-degree intentional homicide as charged in count one of the information.

Members of the jury, as to count one, is this your verdict?

If it is, say yes.

If it is not, say no.

Verdict.

Count two.

We, the jury, find the defendant, Corey Bomley Adams, guilty of attempted first-degree intentional homicide as charged in count two of the information.

Corey is convicted of two counts of attempted murder in the first degree, one for Sherry, one for Mike.

But Jess isn't there in the courtroom to to witness it.

She had left Wisconsin the night before after sitting through four days of trial.

She was exhausted.

She told me she needed to get back to her family.

After the verdict, I called her as quickly as I could.

Tell me what just happened.

So I get a call from somebody at the courtroom that said verdict in guilty of all charges.

I am so psyched.

I was a little worried after some of the testimony I heard, but like, I'm really excited.

I'm so happy.

Are you disappointed you weren't there to see it?

Extremely, like, extremely, I'm so mad at myself for going home.

I got home yesterday at like two in the morning.

So I'm sad, but happy.

I mean, it kind of, I mean, I guess the verdict was all that mattered.

I just wish I could have looked at her, but from reports of people there, she was just like a statue, no emotion when the verdict was read at all, just completely blank.

My phone is currently blowing up with people, guilty, guilty, guilty.

I was like, yes, I know.

Literally, as I'm talking to you, I have one, two, three, four, five, six messages all coming through.

So just trying to get back to people.

And there's people in different states waiting to hear.

And

yeah, I'm super excited.

This really worked out.

I'm glad.

I feel like we got some.

It's like our first step in getting justice for Telena.

This is really like the first part of it.

I feel like this is like the beginning steps of it, so it makes me happy.

I reached out to Sherry Ziegler, too, to ask if she wanted to share her reaction to Corey's guilty verdict.

But she passed.

She said the verdict is what she hoped for, and now she just wants to put this experience behind her.

Meanwhile, Jess keeps looking forward.

Corey's sentencing hearing is scheduled for August.

She faces up to 60 years per charge.

And then, if all goes as planned, Corey will be sent back to Oklahoma to stand trial for the murder of Talina Czar.

It's not that I'm not invested in sharing Mike's case, because I am, but the Talina case is where I think my heart is kind of at.

I think that one's going to be a lot more...

Oh my god, this is finally happening than this one is.

Jess had always planned on going going to Oklahoma to attend the murder trial, but she's wavered recently, having a bit of a crisis of confidence.

In the month since the final episode of the podcast came out, Jess told me she'd been affected by some of the negative comments she'd read online.

I don't want to get emotional, but

I struggle with some of the Reddit stuff and some of the shitty comments people are saying that I'm intrusive and narcissistic.

And because I second guess, I'm self-aware.

I know sometimes it doesn't sound like it here, but I am.

But because of the podcast, Jess also recently connected with Talina's sister, Cheryl.

Over the phone, Cheryl told Jess she was grateful for all of her work and she passed along a similar message from Talina's mom.

Knowing that they think it's okay

made this better for me.

I was actually

after reading some of that stuff.

I'm like, I should just stop doing this, like, finish recording with Melissa and just drop everything and never talk about it again.

And when she was like, no, never stop talking about it, I was like,

then

I'll do it for them and for her.

What Happened to Talenazar is a production of iHeart Podcasts.

It's written, reported, and hosted by me, Melissa Geltson, with writing and story editing by Lauren Hansen.

Our executive producer is Ryan Murdoch.

For iHeart Podcasts, executive producers are Jason English and Carl Cadel.

Zoe Denkla is our associate producer.

Jeremy Thal is our editor.

Original music by Aaron Kaufman with additional music by Jeremy Thal and Gideon Crevichet.

Additional sound recording by Nicholas Bartel and Tony Bublitz.

Special thanks to the staff at the Dane County Courthouse.

Episodes are mixed and mastered by Carl Cadel.

Our logo is designed by Ido Moore.

Thanks so much for listening.

This is an iHeart podcast.