Shownotes Transcript
Hey, listeners. It's Leon Nafok. I'm here to tell you about a brand new series from me and Prologue Projects, an Audible original series called Final Thoughts, Jerry Springer, the story of a television show that changed the world and the man who gave it his name. But did you know that before the Jerry Springer show made him notorious all over the world...
Springer was something else entirely. A respected Midwestern politician, the progressive mayor of a major Rust Belt city, a man many saw as a future leader in democratic politics. How did this idealistic rising star, with his lofty political ambitions, take a turn in such a radically different direction? You can find the whole series available now on Audible. Just search for Final Thoughts Jerry Springer on the Audible app or go to audible.com slash Springer.
If your dog could talk, they'd warn you about what's lurking in their bowl. Mass-produced kibble isn't just unappetizing. It could be a crime against canine health.
Mysterious byproducts, unpronounceable preservatives, and who knows what fillers. Sounds more like evidence from a crime scene than dinner. Ollie is here to crack the case on pet nutrition with fresh human-grade meals made with the highest quality ingredients. No mystery meats, no artificial junk, just real minimally processed food made in U.S. kitchens.
It's the kind of clean eating that keeps tails wagging and nose sniffing for more. With five fresh protein-first recipes like beef with sweet potatoes and turkey with blueberries, your pup won't have to wonder what's in their food ever again. Because when it comes to their health, the only mystery should be where you hide the treats.
Dogs deserve the best. And that means fresh, healthy food. Head to ollie.com slash Wondery. Tell them all about your dog and use code WONDERY to get 60% off your welcome kit when you subscribe today. Plus, they offer a happiness guarantee on the first box. So if you're not completely satisfied, you'll get your money back. That's O-L-L-I-E dot com slash WONDERY. And enter code WONDERY to get 60% off your first box. Take two.
A beloved father and pastor is gunned down in broad daylight. The father walked up there and discovered his son shot to death. It appeared he had surprised the people that were burglarizing the house and tried to flee. As the investigation takes shape, it reveals a life in turmoil. The post office had been tipped off that there was drugs coming in.
And a secret affair pushes this family to the brink. The affair was finally the straw that broke the camel's back, and he filed for divorce. His wife had left the state with his children in a really bad way. Then, a brave young voice comes forward. You got a 10-year-old laying there in a bed, pretending to be asleep, listening to them. That little girl is scarred.
And a killer willing to cash in on family bonds is unveiled. In that family, it's common knowledge that you won't be dead. You got to drop on him, to handcuff him, and start shooting him. It's like a dream, like a horror movie or a nightmare.
1997, Cosby, Tennessee. Quaint and quiet, the Campwright Acres Campground sits nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Campground is located in a very rural area. The campsites had full services. They had electricity, water, that kind of thing. My family managed the campground and ran the campground. There were a lot of campers up there. That campground was such a close-knit
family, if you will. They loved the family atmosphere. However, at 6:05 p.m. on July 23rd, the serene campground turns chaotic when a shocking call comes in to 911. I got a notification from the Sheriff's Department that they had received a 911 call that there had been a body found at Camp Wright Acres off of Cosby Highway that appeared to be gunshot.
The caller is Harry Smith. He owns the campground and says that he's just found his son, Aaron, and thinks he's been shot. Minutes later, Cocke County Sheriff's deputies arrive. They follow directions Harry gave the dispatcher to a cabin at the back of the property. The house was a one-story frame house that was the owner's home.
The body was about 13, 14 feet from the front door. The father walked up there and discovered he was very visibly upset. He just found his son shot to death. Harry Smith directs law enforcement up a walkway toward the cabin. He's lying face down in a pool of his own blood. He was shot in the ear, which is not life-threatening.
The second shot was a shot to the back. The fatal one was a shot to the back of the head. The deputies call for backup. Minutes later, Cocke County homicide detectives arrive, along with agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. For Aaron's death, it was a terrible, terrible heartache.
Everybody was actually naturally drawn to him just because of his personality. Everybody that knew him, they were traumatized so much because this was wrong. This wasn't supposed to happen.
In 1960, Jonathan Aaron Smith was born to parents Harry and Cleta. They raised Aaron and his brother in the small town of Cleveland, Tennessee. Aaron's relationship with his mom and dad, I mean, was just like the loving all-American family. They were always cutting up together.
My dad and his brother grew up in church. I don't know of a time when they weren't going to church on Sundays. That was always a priority. He was very fun-loving and very adventurous, and he was the class clown. And he just had that happy, bubbly personality. He never met a stranger.
In 1981, 20-year-old Aaron was at a local Blockbuster video store when he struck up a conversation with the clerk, 20-year-old Denise Graham. He came in one night to rent a movie, and he flirted a little bit with her, and she smiled back at him. But yeah, he went into Blockbuster to rent a movie and came out with a girlfriend, apparently.
Denise was born in 1961 to Don and Linda Graham. But Denise didn't come into this world alone. Don and Linda were expecting. They didn't know it was twins until the girls were born. The surprised but happy new parents dedicated themselves to raising Denise and her sister, Debbie. They had a good upbringing. The girls never wanted for anything.
By the mid-1970s, Dawn landed a new job and the Graham family relocated to Cleveland, Tennessee. Denise was a very good student in high school. She played the flute in the band. She was very involved. She had a lot of friends in high school. But Debbie got in with the wrong crowd pretty early on. A lot of drug use, a lot of drinking. She didn't really show up for school. They were polar opposites. Debbie got brought home by the police more than once.
and Don would run to her rescue. Don was closer to Debbie for some reason. That really made a lot of resentment between Denise and Debbie. The girls would get in fist fights in high school, and they would have to be broken up by teachers. They absolutely hated each other. Shortly after graduating high school, Denise started a job at a local blockbuster and found her Prince Charming, Aaron Smith.
They dated for, I think it was about a year or so before they decided to get married. Following the wedding, tragedy struck when Denise's mother suddenly passed away. Linda suddenly died of a massive heart attack. Linda was the pillar that held that Graham family together.
With their mother gone, Denise and Debbie grew even further apart. Debbie drifted. She had a lot of problems. She ended up living in New York, and she and Denise rarely spoke or even saw each other. Denise threw herself into starting a family of her own. A couple years later, my parents had me. I was early, but I made it through.
And a couple years later, they had my brother who has Down syndrome. My dad couldn't have loved him anymore. He was just happy to have a son. When we were kids, we liked to always be outside. We would go hiking and we would stop and pick blackberries. And my dad would make a blackberry cobbler or a blackberry pie. In 1991, Erin's parents announced they'd found an investment opportunity while on vacation in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
They came across this campground for sale and they really liked it. My grandparents thought it would be a good addition to their retirement, so they just decided to buy that campground. There was a caretaker's home on the property that Aaron and Denise moved into and Aaron helped his dad build another home for him and Aaron's mom. The rest of the 38 acres was rented out to campers.
As Erin and Denise settled into their new home, Erin saw the opportunity to make a lifelong dream come true. Erin became an ordained minister and started a small church right there at the campground. Denise found work as a dental assistant 30 minutes away in Sevierville. She just wanted to meet people and have some friends, so he was all for her being happy.
But in 1995, after 13 years of marriage, Erin and Denise hit a rough patch. In the very beginning, it was all good. But as time passed, they began to venture farther apart, which was when she had the affair.
My dad found out about the affair. At that point, he realized that it was finally over. I think he saw it coming for a long time, but he was trying so hard to make things work to keep it together for me and my brother. So at that point is when he filed for divorce. And he went up the hill to live with his parents. That was a hard time for him. We were his pride and joy, and he would have done anything at any time for us, no matter what it was.
Until July 23, 1997, when the Smith family is left devastated after Harry Smith discovers his son shot dead in front of his home. We figure this happened sometime between 4:00 and 5:00 o'clock because he was found at 6:00 o'clock by his father. Based on the position of the body, investigators believe that Aaron's confrontation with his killer began inside the home.
It would appear that he had exited the house in an effort to get away from the house. He tried to run for his life, and the police shootin' at him fast. We went and checked in the house, and it looked like it had been ransacked. Items had been taken. The house was in disarray. The drawers opened and emptied. Furniture knocked over. It appeared that Aaron Smith had come home and surprised the people that were burgling and tried to flee.
Investigators ask Aaron's father to verify if any valuables are missing. Aaron Smith's father confirmed that there were pistols missing, a gold watch that was his, and jewelry that belonged to his wife. But it's what the perpetrators left behind that's truly puzzling. There were a pair of silver handcuffs that were found on the chair.
After processing the crime scene, investigators do a quick sweep of the campground.
We canvassed the area. There were several campers and people were at the campground because it was summertime. So we talked to them. Witnesses report seeing a white sedan driving through the campground around 5 p.m. We learned that there were two strangers that came in the campground and had sat in the commons area or a picnic area and were driving. They gave us a description of the vehicle and said that was the only strange people they'd seen at the campground that night.
After finishing their canvas, investigators sit down with Aaron's parents. They were traumatized. This was wrong. It's like a dream, like a horror movie or a nightmare. They tell investigators that not just anyone can gain access to the campground. That car only entered that gate because the person in the car knew the code.
Coming up, investigators learn of big trouble brewing in a marriage on the brink. There's a warrant out for her arrest, but they still have no idea where the kids are. I thought I was going on a trip. They never thought in a million years that she was gonna run and kidnap us. Tennessee investigators are at the Campwright Acres Campground, where minister and father of two Aaron Smith has just been found shot dead.
The investigators found a witness who had seen a white car at the house, the campground prior to the murder and also heard one or two gunshots. There's only one way in and one way out of the campground and that road is blocked by a gate. You have to know the code to open the gate. Detectives realize it's possible Aaron knew his killer and they ask his parents to shed some light on his background.
We learned from Harry that they had just went through a divorce and a custody battle over the two children. Harry says the marital trouble between Erin and Denise started shortly after they moved to the campground six years earlier. She did not enjoy the campground life. And that may be where, like, the first tinge of something's not right really started.
According to Harry, Denise's job at the dental office put even more distance between her and Aaron. That job in Sevierville was not a good thing for her. There were several women that worked there that were having affairs with patients, and Denise was right there with them. One day, she had some kind of a little wreck. My dad had to come pick her up. She was on her way to meet her boyfriend, and he found out about the affair.
He was very religious. He tried very hard to make that marriage work for a very long time. And I think the affair was finally the straw that broke the camel's back. The feelings that he had to go through knowing that his wife was cheating on him, knowing that he was going to have to go to court and get divorced. And this was extra rough because of the situation with the custody of the kids. According to Aaron's parents, it was after he filed for divorce that the real drama started.
Denise countersued, taking everyone by surprise when she came forward with allegations of abuse. She had made that allegation that Aaron Smith was abusive and that it struck her and also struck the children.
That was the first mention of any level of abuse ever toward her, toward us, period. They were still living in the house together, and things were relatively cordial up until that point. But as soon as she countersued, she had the police come escort him out of the house.
The divorce battle was ugly. Denise wanted to do anything and everything she could to hurt him and take whatever she could get. She tried to portray Aaron as a monster, a monster in which he was not. Denise remained in the family home with their 10- and 8-year-old children while Aaron moved in with his parents on the other side of the campground. When they separated,
He was supposed to get visitation every other weekend with us, and she would make it a point to not turn us over. Harry says that Denise presented the court with so-called proof that Aaron was abusive. There were some drawings that were presented at the divorce trial that Denise said I drew them. It allegedly depicted abuse.
Frankly, that was the only way she felt she had any chance of getting full custody of us. There were specific drawings of mad people with fierce-looking eyes. It was way too sophisticated for the child that it was attributed to. The judge determined those were drawn by Denise, not by me.
It appears that the judge didn't believe anything that Denise had said about her husband. Harry says just a week before the murder, Aaron was awarded full custody. But when Aaron went to retrieve his children later that day, he spotted them leaving in a car with Denise. I was 10. I thought I was going on a trip. Dad and Mamaw actually saw us leave.
the campground. Now, I don't think they could tell the vehicles were loaded as much as they were. He never thought in a million years that she was going to run and kidnap us. With no word from Denise for several days, Aaron reported the kidnapping. His wife had left the state with his children, didn't know where they were. It was suggested that they take out an arrest warrant for custodial interference.
There's a warrant out for her arrest. They still have no idea where the kids are, so this was a big cause for concern. It's now been six days since Denise vanished with the kids. As investigators absorb this new insight into Erin's situation, Harry's phone suddenly rings. I'm sitting there talking to Mr. Smith and Denise Collins.
My papa, he just hands the phone to one of the investigators. I got to talk to her and I told her she needed to get herself back to Tennessee so we could talk to her about her husband's death. When the investigator told her that he was dead, he said he got no response out of her. She just listened. He started questioning her about where she was and where the children were. She said she was in Florida and said that she would come back.
Ten days after Denise disappeared with the children and four days after Aaron's murder, investigators finally get word that Denise is back in Tennessee, alone, and she decides to turn herself in. She traveled to Tennessee. She did not bring the children. She was taken into custody on the custodial interference report.
I wouldn't say she was cooperating. She wouldn't advise where the children were. She wouldn't talk about Aaron's death. But we had our suspicion that she was involved, the cause of the force and custody battle and how rancorous it had been. She said she didn't know what had happened to them. She took the kids to Florida and that was her alibi.
She held out for a couple of days, but they wouldn't let her post bond until she turned us in. She called her aunt and uncle where we were staying and told them to bring us back. The children were returned. They came and went to live with Aaron's parents. With no concrete evidence against her, investigators released Denise on bond and focus on Aaron's movements in the days before his murder.
It doesn't take long to find something suspicious. We had received a tip that the Postal Service was looking into Mr. Aaronsmith. On July 15, 1997, I received a call from the Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Post Office that an express mail envelope had come into that office concurrently with a phone call that said that that particular package contained illegal drugs.
But there were several unusual things about this particular package. Coming up, detectives look into a nefarious claim. There was a written statement that said, to Aaron Smith, next time the price goes up. And a surprising witness turns the case upside down. They walked over to the little table and said, well, it's done. We heard him pretty bad.
Summer's here and we're all chasing something. A break, a goal, a vibe. So let's not let bad blisters ruin it. Bombas make socks and now even slides and seamless essentials that keep up with whatever your summer shakes out to be. Whether you're running a marathon or just running a few errands. You know that one song that amps you up and makes you run faster? Bombas running socks are like that for me.
They wick sweat, help you keep cool, and fight blisters. They're also great for other sports and travel too, but I also adore the way that they look. I love Bombas compression socks for longer flights or days after long runs. They help me recover faster and curb aches in my calves. It's my must-have travel essential, and I leave for the airport with them on every time. That's not all. Bombas doesn't just feel good, they do good. One Bombas purchase equals one Bombas item donated to somebody in need.
Head over to bombas.com slash snapped and use code snap for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash snapped. Code snapped at checkout. Bombas dot com slash snapped and use code snapped.
Chipping away at debt can feel like chipping away at an iceberg, impossible and isolating. Between overdraft fees, missed payments, or lack of income to cover rising costs, everything just feels like it's against you sometimes. Chime understands that every dollar counts. That's why when you set up direct deposit through Chime, you get access to fee-free features like overdraft coverage, getting paid up to two days earlier with direct deposit, and more.
Tools like daily balance updates or real-time transaction alerts help shape my spending habits because the little things really do add up. Chime is banking done right. You can open a checking account with no monthly fees and no maintenance fees. Not to mention, you get access to over 50,000 fee-free ATMs, more than the top three national banks combined. Work on your financial goals today with Chime. Open an account in two minutes at chime.com slash snapped.
That's Chime.com slash snapped. Chime feels like progress. Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and debit card provided by the Bancorp Bank N.A. or Stride Bank N.A. Members FDIC. Spot me eligibility requirements and overdraft limits apply. Timing depends on submission of payment file. Fees apply at out-of-network ATMs. Bank ranking and number of ATMs according to U.S. News and World Report 2023. Chime checking account required. Tennessee investigators have just learned that eight days prior to Aaron Smith's death, the U.S. Postal Service received a tip saying,
that Aaron was expecting a package containing illegal substances. The address on the package was to him. The return address was a fictitious address in Atlanta, but the package was actually mailed from Miami. When the inspector intercepted the package, his suspicions grew.
I realized by the weight of the envelope there could only be a very minute amount of controlled substances in the envelope.
Inspectors devised a plan and on July 15th, they put it into motion. I was going to pose as a postal carrier, deliver the package, and then if the package was accepted by the intended recipient, we'd see what this whole situation was about. Aaron signed for the package and was immediately confronted by law enforcement. Aaron having no idea
that there's drugs in the box, willingly open this box in front of the officials. It was a minute quantity of drugs, of what was determined to be cocaine based. There was a written statement said to Aaron Smith, next time the price goes up. Aaron Smith immediately said, I've been set up.
which seemed a little bit reasonable at that point. He was very cooperative. He did not have any drug record. This didn't look right. You don't send cocaine to somebody and then tip somebody off about it, unless there's some other motive. So we sent the express mail piece to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Crime Laboratory in Memphis to see if we could get any fingerprints.
Investigators question if Aaron's killer may have been behind the drug setup. We had with the investigation into who sent the package into high gear because we knew it could be critical. Before they get answers about the envelope, investigators receive their biggest break yet from an unexpected source. Brittany Smith, the daughter of Denise Aaron Smith, started to divulge things to her grandparents.
and they're the ones that alerted law enforcement. Investigators arranged to meet with the 10-year-old at her grandparents' house. They weren't asking me anything. They were just letting me talk. I don't think I understood the depth of all of it. Brittany tells investigators that two days after her father was awarded custody, her mother, Denise, and her grandfather, Don, said they were going on a trip.
We got on the interstate and they drove all night. We get to Miami and I was like, "Hey, this is just a vacation." We were out playing on the beach. Britney reports they met up at a motel with Denise's twin sister, Debbie, who had flown in to meet them from New York, as well as Debbie's boyfriend, Alex.
Brittany was able to tell us her mother had rented a car and that Deborah and Alex had left Miami and took off in the car. The next day, Debbie and Alex got back. We were in the hotel. It was late at night. Alex actually stepped on me and woke me up. He didn't know I was awake. So I heard their conversation. Alex looks like he had been sort of in a fight.
They walked over to the little table that Don and Denise were sitting at. And Debbie said, "Well, it's done. We hurt him pretty bad." And Alex said, "No, we killed him." And Denise said, "Was it easy?" And Alex just kind of chuckled. They thought that Brittany and her brother was asleep. And Brittany played it cool. That little girl is scarred for life. It's just devastating for her.
Investigators ask Brittany if there's any other details she can recall. She says that before Debbie and Alex left, she saw something in Alex's pocket that caught her attention. She had seen him with a pair of handcuffs. When Debbie and Alex got back, he did not have the pair of handcuffs in his pocket that he had when he left. However, they did not come back empty-handed.
I noticed Alex had on a watch that I recognized as my papa's gold nugget watch. And Debbie had on a ring that I recognized as my grandmother's pink ice ring. And they definitely didn't have them when they left. It's amazing to me that a 10-year-old girl, one, would have to go through this, but number two, could have a very good recollection.
Investigators focus on finding evidence to corroborate Brittany's testimony against her family. We did a background on Denise. We checked on her bank records. And when detectives look at her credit card purchases, they learn that on July 21, 1997, only two days before the murder, Denise rented a white Buick in Miami.
Not only does this discovery of the rental car records back up what Brittany said, it's the same color and makeup car that people in the campground reported seeing shortly around the time of the murder. When investigators run the plates on the rental car, they get another lead. The day of the murder, he got a speeding ticket south of where the murder happened outside of Gatlinburg. Speeding ticket with them in the vicinity of the murder.
From the speeding ticket, investigators learn Alex's full name, Alejandro Rivera, as well as his current address. Alejandro Rivera was living in Miami, very close to the Miami post office that the parcel had originated from. With Brittany's help, investigators are closing in.
A lot of times, you know, you get information that you believe is good, but then they corroborate it. But this, get this information from a 10-year-old girl, and corroborate every bit of it, I'm just glad it turned out that way. But their work isn't finished just yet. Investigators still need to prove Denise's connection to the murder. She paid for the rental car. She knew what happened. Did she put Alex and her sister up to it?
Coming up, investigators zero in on Denise. She had bragged that he was not going to get those children. She had seen that. And an important piece of evidence is recovered. There were five fingerprints on the outside label of the envelope.
Investigators looking into the murder of Aaron Smith believe his ex-wife Denise worked with her sister Debbie, their father Don, and Debbie's boyfriend Alex to carry out the deadly plan. They know Denise was involved, but they need more. As investigators talk to Denise's friends, it's clear that Denise didn't hide her intentions when it came to her ex-husband.
We interviewed some people that she worked with, etc., and they said that she had asked if they knew anybody that would kill her husband because of the abortion, because of the custody battle with the children. She had bragged at a beauty shop to several people that he was not going to get those children. She had seen that.
As investigators continue to gather more background on Denise, they get an update from the Postal Inspection Crime Laboratory. The results from the envelope of cocaine are in. Our latent fingerprint examiner had come back with a report and said that there were five fingerprints on the outside label of the express mail envelope.
The important thing is you have to have the fingerprints of any suspects for comparison purposes. We had the fingerprints of Denise and Debbie in the system. The fingerprints were from Deborah Graham. Investigators believe that the drugs were Denise's first attempt to take Aaron down.
The package was delivered to him on July 15th. The child custody hearings on the 17th. They might have thought that they would get him arrested prior to the child custody decision. And then of course the 18th the decision was made and then the 23rd he was killed. So a very short time period and all these things happened.
They were after him to discredit him in the community and before that judge. When that didn't work, authorities believe Denise went back to her family to devise a more sinister strategy.
She contacted the sister, the sister contacted Alex and her boyfriend. They devised a plan, making it look like a robbery, burglary gone bad, and they shot and killed him at the behest of Denise Smith. By August 1997, investigators have enough evidence to obtain arrest warrants for Denise, Debbie, and Alex.
Authorities locate Denise Smith in Cosby and place her under arrest. She denied any involvement. Her story was that she took the kids to Florida and that's where she was when that happened and she didn't know what happened to them. Then she loggered up. We were told Debbie was living with a felon who was her new boyfriend up in New York who was a bouncer at a strip club in New York City and sold a little hair for them.
On August 22nd, 1997, Tennessee investigators, with the help of NYPD, head to the address. They sent a plainclothes detective in there. The entry team went through the front of the apartment and apprehended her. After taking Debbie into custody, investigators search her belongings.
A lot of our information came from her new boyfriend who was living with her in that apartment in Queens. He told us that she had discussed the burglary and that Aaron had died. She showed him jewelry that had come from the break-in. In New York, investigators confront Debbie with the evidence against her.
First, she said, "You don't want me, you want my sister. I've got a twin sister. You've made a mistake. She's the one you want." I said, "We want both of them." Debbie admits to making the trip with Alex. Deborah admitted to being there, but she didn't admit to being involved in the robbery and the killing. There was more to this, yes, I went with Alex, but he took me back to the motel, and I don't know what happened.
With Debbie and Denise in custody, authorities turned their attention to finding Alex. One of the investigators checked some flight records and determined that Alex had flown from Miami to New York. Alex was moving around a lot, changed his location. He was at different addresses in the city. And agents in New York finally located him. About a year later, New York authorities arrested him.
Authorities attempt to interview Alex, but like Denise and Debbie, he doesn't want to talk.
Alex didn't give any kind of statement for or against anyone, other than to say he didn't know what we were talking about and he wasn't involved in anything like that. When confronted with the ticket, he had to admit that he had been in Tennessee. And when confronted with the information about the white car that had been seen there at the time that the gunshots were heard,
He said, oh yeah, it was there, but I don't want to scare him. He was alive when they left. That just doesn't apply. It's obvious that he went there with the intention to kill. Investigators say Debbie and Alex ambushed Aaron inside his parents' house. They went in, got the drop on him, they handcuffed him. He got out of the handcuffs and Alex started shooting at him and shot at him at least three times.
After the arrests, investigators speak with Denise's father, Don. The investigators believe Don was there in the motel with them in Miami. It was obvious he wasn't going to cooperate, though. He's not in the hotel if he's involved. With Denise, Debbie, and Alex behind bars, investigators hand the case over to prosecutors.
But without a confession, the case hinges on one thing, the testimony of a 10-year-old girl. Coming up, a daughter faces her mother in the courtroom. It's amazing to me that a 10-year-old would have to go through this, especially considering that her father had been killed. Very courageous little girl.
Prosecutors attempt to explain a desperate bond. Debbie wanted Denise's approval so bad that she would do or say just about anything. By the summer of 1999, Denise Smith, her twin sister Debbie, and Alex Rivera are all awaiting trial for the murder of Denise's ex-husband, Aaron Smith.
Prosecutors make the decision to try Denise and Debbie together. We were concerned that if we tried them separately, that Debbie would try to put it on to Denise, and then we tried Denise, that Denise would say, "No, it was Debbie," and that we would not be able to convict them both. The trial begins in June. The prosecution calls their star witness to the stand, Denise and Aaron's daughter, Brittany.
I was 12 when Denise and Debbie's trial took place. It's hard to sit there on the witness stand and to tell them these terrible, miserable, horrible things about your mother, and she's sitting there staring at you like she could absolutely run through me. And Debbie's sitting on the other side of the table. That was really hard. We could not have prosecuted the case without Brittany's testimony. We had-- like I say, we had circumstantial evidence.
The direct proof basically came from Brittany's statement. Prosecutors argue that Denise was motivated by rage and driven by a desire for control. When she didn't get custody, she was going to make sure she had custody. And the one way to do that was to kill Aaron or have it done. She wanted to be the one in control.
make the decisions. It was our belief that there was no limit to what she needed to do to gain control and keep control. Debbie's motive, on the other hand, is more complicated. Debbie wanted Denise's approval so bad that she would do or say just about anything to get Denise to pay her attention in a positive way.
And Denise knew that. And she would manipulate and use that to her advantage any chance that she got. So I think Debbie agreed to do it because Denise was giving her the time of day as long as she was going along with it. Despite the evidence against them, Denise and Debbie don't waver. Both Denise and Debbie maintained their innocence throughout the trial. Neither one testified.
In June of 1999, the trial concludes and the jury returns a verdict. Denise and Debbie are both found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. They both got life with parole, meaning they have to serve 51 years before they're parole eligible. Two years later, Alex Rivera goes to trial for first-degree murder. Brittany also testified about Alex.
pointed him out, said it was him. That was in the motel room in Florida. Then left with her Aunt Debbie and came back and talked about harming Aaron Smith or killing him. Alex is also sentenced to life in prison. Don Graham, father to Debbie and Denise, escapes charges related to the murder. We kept investigating, trying to develop some evidence that he was a part of the murder.
He was charged with being an accessory to the custodial interference and was convicted of that, but really received no punishment other than probation.
Since her conviction, Denise has made several unsuccessful requests for early release. Denise has tried twice now to get out on clemency or to get her sentence commuted on commutation. I think she deserves to be in there because she killed my dad. And I am very fearful of what any one of the three of them would do if they got out. Alex said that he would come after me if he ever got out.
If he could walk through that door right now, I have no doubt in my mind that he would walk through that door, come up, put his arm around me, and say, "Would you pray with me now?" I grieve for the childhood I didn't get to have. I think I still grieve for the things that I know that he missed out on. You know, prom, high school graduation, major life events that he would have loved to be a part of.
Aaron's parents, Harry and Kalita, were granted full custody of Brittany and her brother. Denise Smith and Debbie Graham remain in prison. They will be eligible for parole in 2048 at the age of 86. Alex Rivera will be eligible for parole in 2049 at the age of 86. It was over 30 years ago that Clifford Olson first called me.
Secret phone calls from Canada's most notorious serial killer. I knew I was killing the children, but I couldn't stop myself. Now it's time to unearth the tapes, because I believe there are still answers to be found. I'm Arlene Bynum from CBC's Uncover. Calls from a killer. Available now.