Patricia McMillion
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A hardworking family man vanishes into thin air. He didn't show up for work. He's not a person to miss work. My gut's telling me something's not right here. And a gruesome discovery in a Louisiana swamp exposes a suspect. We were notified by some fishermen there was a body in the canal. And my cell phone rang, and that's when I was informed that it was time to go to alligator country.

But an unlikely hero will bring the real killer down. I would never have guessed it. I went undercover to solve a murder. I'm not going to get any sleep tonight. I need to know that anything that's going to come up. I would have never dreamt in my Christian life that this would have ever happened. June 16, 2008, Luella, Texas.

Around 6.30 p.m., dispatchers at the Grayson County Sheriff's Department receive a phone call from 50-year-old Rhonda Hudson. She's worried about her friend, 53-year-old Kenneth McMillian. Rhonda and her husband were good friends, and she allowed Kenneth to stay with them while he was going through a divorce. She was wanting us to do a welfare check on Kenneth McMillian because he hadn't come home yet, and she hadn't been able to get a hold of him.

Not only that, Rhonda tells police that Kenneth hadn't shown up for his shift at the local Raytheon manufacturing plant. Raytheon advised that he didn't show up for work. That wasn't like Kenneth to do that. And that was really concerning to Rhonda. Rhonda says she last saw Kenneth when he was leaving to meet his ex-wife, 48-year-old Patricia McMillian, at the home they'd once shared.

Kenneth and Patricia McMillan had gone through a divorce. Ultimately, he had been awarded their house. She was well overdue for moving out. He was going out to the property, and he had not been heard from since he had went out there. There's all kinds of things that I'm sure go through officers' heads when they hear that someone is missing. The Sheriff's Office didn't disregard that. They immediately went to check on him.

Kenneth McMillian was born on June 20, 1954, to parents Leroy and Martha McMillian. Kenneth spent his childhood in Sherman, Texas. He grew up in the country. I think his high school had a class of 12 or total 12 in the school. After high school, he discovered there was a machine shop

where they did metal fab for various Texas Instruments programs, and he was able to get hired in into that machine shop. I worked with him and his brother several times. He was very well-mannered, shy, slow to speak. He just took things and did his job and was good at his job. It was in the late 1970s when he met his future wife, Patricia Dunlap.

She was born June 19, 1959, in Missouri. She always had her makeup done and always had her hair styled. She did have family in Sherman, but there was no real connection to the family. As far as feeling like she was a part of the family, I don't think she felt that way.

When Patricia met Kenneth McMillian in 1978, she found the lasting connection she'd always longed for. After three years together, they married in 1981. He would do just about anything it could to make her happy. I don't know of anything that he wouldn't have done for her. Not long after they got married, a plot of land, 15 acres, built a home.

And it was a big, beautiful home. And Patricia just loved to show off her home. She was very proud of what they had done. In 1988, Patricia gave birth to a daughter. They were a perfect couple. I mean, then you got your daughter. You just built the house. They were a happy-go-lucky family. Kenneth continued to work at the plant.

In between ball games and school functions, Patricia launched her own business on the side. She was a seamstress, loved to sew. She kept very, very busy with her business and trying to build it up and make it bigger. Patricia was generous with her time and skills. Patricia was very nice to me. She was always cordial and she would ask me how I was doing. She was reserved, but Patricia was very helpful.

She wanted to help me with the children's home that we did for Christmas time. And she helped with embroidering. She helped out every year. She was very pleasant. By 2007, after Patricia and Kenneth's daughter had entered adulthood, their once loving marriage had deteriorated. Kenneth and Patricia were married for 27 years. And once they became empty nesters, there was a shift in their relationship.

He was telling me certain things that had gone on and he was trying to figure out why all of a sudden she didn't like him no more. She had moved to a different room of the house. It's like they had turned into roommates instead of married partners. He was trying to figure out what he could do to not have to go through a divorce. But when he started working night shift, then he was gone all night. It pushed him further apart because she didn't want nothing to do with him anymore pretty much. He was ready for it to be over.

In August of 2007, Kenneth McMillan filed for divorce. During that time, he lived with Rhonda and her husband, Phil, in the spare room. In the months after Kenneth moved out, Patricia reconnected with a former co-worker and friend, Harold Ballard.

He and Patricia McMillan had worked together at a local factory, and that's how he knew her. And in some way, he found out that she was getting a divorce, and he had contacted her. Not long after that, that relationship became a romantic one. Kenneth and Patricia's divorce was finalized on April 17, 2008. Part of the deal is that she move out of the house.

and she was to get $110,000 for giving up the house. - He was awarded the home, but Kenneth did allow Patricia some time to get her things moved out. It did seem with the divorce finalized and the plans for Patricia to move out that they would be able to get a fresh start and go their separate ways amicably. - But just two months later on June 16th, Kenneth is reported missing by his friend, Rhonda Hudson.

Before Grayson County deputies head to the home Kenneth used to share with Patricia, they discover an incident report for the same address from earlier that morning. It was around 6:30, 7:00 in the morning. Patricia McMillian had contacted Kenneth by phone and was asking about a trailer that was on the property that she could not find and she thought it might be stolen.

and told Kenneth that he needed to come out there and make a police report, which he did. According to the report, when the deputy arrived at the home that morning, he found Patricia, Kenneth, and Patricia's love interest, 60-year-old Harold Ballard. Harold was helping her move out from 176 Knapp Road. During the meeting with deputies, there was word said between Kenneth McMillian and Harold Ballard

Kenneth didn't like the fact that Harold was there helping her. He thought he had a cocky attitude. Kenneth accused Patricia and Harold of stealing a trailer. Kenneth McMillian ordered Harold Ballard off his property, and he asked deputies to give a criminal trespass warning to him. The deputy told him he was trespassing and that he couldn't come back on the property. At the request of the deputies, Harold left. But he didn't go quietly.

Harold had made actual threats in the presence of a police officer against Kenneth, who was now missing. Eleven hours later, sheriff's deputies prepare to head back to the McMillian home. I made contact with Patricia, who was there, and explained, you know, I'm doing a welfare check. Nobody's heard from Kenneth. Patricia says that Kenneth left soon after the deputies escorted Harold off the property.

Patricia Mamillion said that Kenneth left around lunchtime saying he was going to get something to eat. She hadn't seen or heard from him since. I asked her for consent to walk through the house and she was with me the whole time. I'm looking to see is there anything, you know, to indicate that something happened here. Blood, overturned furniture in a room, any indication of a struggle.

Deputies don't find anything suspicious, but after leaving the residence, their concerns linger. I kind of started sounding the alarm with my supervisor that, hey, we don't really have anything concrete to say something happened yet, but my gut's telling me something's not right here. Coming up, intimate details of Kenneth's life come to light.

Rhonda was married, and his relationship with Rhonda was not purely platonic. They were romantically linked. From there, the secrets continue to unfold. The only thing I could suspect is that he's running around with her like he ran around with me.

After Kenneth McMillian is reported missing on June 16, 2008, Grayson County officials investigated an incident that took place that same day at the home Kenneth used to share with his ex-wife, Patricia. Patricia was there. Kenneth's car was nowhere inside. I didn't find him up at the house, and we hadn't been able to get a hold of him.

Investigators immediately contact Kenneth's boss at the manufacturing plant. He confirms that Kenneth never showed up for his shift.

His immediate boss had came by and asked me if I had heard from Kenneth or if I knew anything. And I told him that he didn't show up and people were concerned already. He said this was not like Kenneth to miss work. But when investigators speak with Kenneth's coworkers in the days following his disappearance, they learn something unexpected about Rhonda Hudson, the woman who reported Kenneth missing. ♪

One of Kenneth's coworkers shared that his relationship with Rhonda, who was married, was not purely platonic. They were romantically linked. A fact Rhonda didn't share when she made the call. Anytime someone isn't consistent with you, their stories begin to change. Red flags go up on that about...

What is it you're trying to hide? Is this simply maybe embarrassment, or is this significant in this investigation? With more questions than answers, investigators arrange an interview with Rhonda and her husband, Phil. With Rhonda and Phil, we're trying to just really understand what that relationship was.

The couple explains they took Kenneth in following his split from Patricia. Rhonda and her husband were friends of Kenneth and he allowed Kenneth to stay with them while Patricia moved all of her stuff out of the house. The arrangement had sparked a romance between longtime friends Kenneth and Rhonda. Kenneth and Rhonda, they were kind of dating basically even though she was still married.

He was staying at that house. Her husband still lived there, and I thought that was kind of an odd situation, but he seemed to be a happier person when he was around her. Phil tells investigators that he is aware of their relationship, and it is no surprise to him. Phil didn't seem to have any issue with Kenneth having a relationship with Rhonda, even under the same roof. It sounds like the three of them had a great relationship,

Rhonda and Phil actually seemed to agree that they were headed their own separate ways. There was no signs of deception, and she was forthcoming with information, and she helped us to put the pieces together. With no reason to suspect Phil or Rhonda were involved in Kenneth's disappearance, investigators wrap up their interviews.

Investigators ask Patricia to come into the sheriff's office and answer a few more questions while they attempt to locate Kenneth's vehicle, a 2006 Honda. We learned that Kenneth McMillian's vehicle has a GPS-based system on it. Law enforcement can hone in on the signal and it will lead them right to where the vehicle is located.

A hit quickly comes through, but the location comes as a surprise. It was located in Dallas, in the parking lot of the Million Dollar Saloon, which is a gentleman's club, as it were. As they make the hour drive to Dallas, investigators wonder, did Kenneth simply head out of town to blow off steam?

One of the reasons why we went there was Kenneth McMillian himself could be inside there. It's unknown what a person's thinking sometimes, and they might just want to get away. At the parking lot, investigators locate Kenneth's empty vehicle. We did not find anything of evidentiary value in the vehicle.

We went ahead and notified management who we were and asked them if they knew who owned the car or seen anybody park the car. We had pictures of Kenneth McMillian and we showed him, but they didn't recognize him. Even more puzzling is that footage from cameras inside the club also show no trace of Kenneth.

He did not drink, he did not party, he did not hang out at places like that, and nor would he if you'd invite him. He wouldn't do that. And for them to say his car was totally up there, I knew that wasn't him. Despite agreeing to answer questions, Patricia fails to show up at the station. Investigators track her down at a local storage unit she secured before moving out of the family home.

I'm sure you're busy. You got things you need to do. We need to follow up on some stuff. Okay. He was supposed to come up to the sheriff's office. He got tied up. Because I've been in here looking for Kenneth's references for his relatives. Well, I tell you what, we could probably wait on that. Okay. Where do you think Kenneth is? I have no idea. I said the only thing I could suspect is that he's running around with Rhonda. Like he ran around on me.

When we were still married, he would take off in his lead. Where would he go? I don't have any idea. And he would never tell me. Hoping to gain more background, investigators ask to continue their interview at the station. Would you feel comfortable coming up to the office? Yes, sir. Finally, at the station, law enforcement conducts an official interview with Patricia.

They start by asking her about the argument between Kenneth and Harold Ballard the morning Kenneth went missing. What was Harold's demeanor at that time? Was he a little pissed off? No. He wasn't? No, he wasn't. Did he say anything to Kenneth at that time? I'm thinking I'd be a little mad. He knew that Kenneth's wanting me out and he's been...

hounding me and harassing me to get me out. And then Kenneth throws him off the property, and then that leaves me high and dry. Harold was upset because he couldn't be there to help Patricia move. Patricia seems certain that Kenneth isn't really missing, that he left by choice. With nothing to hold her on, investigators are forced to let her go. We were concerned that he just didn't want to be found. People, sometimes they're unpredictable.

But before they can dive into that theory, investigators get a phone call with groundbreaking information. I got a phone call advising they had found Kenneth Mamillion's body in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

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June 19, 2008. Three days after the mysterious disappearance of Kenneth McMillian, authorities receive a shocking phone call. Kenneth's body has been found 450 miles away in the Louisiana swamp. Cameron Parrish, Sheriff's Office, been notified by some fishermen there was a body in the canal down there.

It's very unusual to have someone last seen in Sherman, Texas, car found in Dallas, Texas, body found 450 miles away in Louisiana. And so everybody's wondering what happened, who did it. The body was found face down in the marsh. He wasn't wearing a shirt. He had ropes tied around his feet and it appeared to be a gunshot wound to his back.

He had been tied down with blocks, but not well tied, so it had floated up. A person don't normally tie, send their blocks to themselves and then jump in the water. It's hard to shoot yourself in the back. So they knew there was foul play involved. They were able to identify Kenneth through the use of an orthopedic insert in his shoe. The pathologists were able to recover a .22 round from his back.

So now we knew what kind of weapon was used, meaning caliber. Somebody had shot Mr. McGlian and then dumped his body in Louisiana. Grayson County deputies pay a visit to Patricia to deliver the news. We told her that Kenneth's body had been found. I asked Patricia, was there anybody that might hurt Kenneth or did he have any enemies? And she couldn't come up with any.

Patricia also has no idea why Kenneth would have been in Louisiana, nor does anyone else who knew him. He never talked about taking a trip to Louisiana or anything like that. And he wouldn't have gone by himself. That was totally odd. Kenny would not do that. He very straight-laced, go to work, go home, go to work, go home.

With nothing else to go on, investigators follow up on the only lead they have left, Patricia's new flame, Harold Ballard. We had already had our suspicion about Harold Ballard because he had a confrontation with him. When I interviewed Harold Ballard, the body had already been found, and I didn't let him know. I wanted to get him locked into a statement.

Harold admits there was tension between himself and Kenneth the morning Kenneth went missing. He decided he was going to put his finger in my chest. Did he actually make contact with you? Oh, yeah, he did. And what did you do? I told him not to do it. But Harold insists that he wasn't there to fight with Kenneth. He was there to help Patricia. And I know if somebody sticks their finger in my chest, I'm not going to be happy. Well, I wasn't happy, but nevertheless, I wasn't there to cause trouble.

They asked Harold what he did that morning after he left the McMillian home. He said, hey, after that confrontation, I needed to get out of town. So Harold Bowder claimed that he had gone to Turner Falls, Oklahoma, and decided to spend the night. He slept on the side of the road and stuff like that? Yeah, I sure did. Okay. And did you make contact with anybody on your trip? I didn't talk to anyone.

Investigators take a break from questioning Harold and leave the room. Without more evidence, investigators have to let Harold go.

and they start checking his alibi. On this day and time, one of the best ways to tell where people are is where their phone is. Once we got those records on an emergency type situation, his phone pinged down in Louisiana the night that he said he was in Oklahoma. So we immediately knew Harold wasn't shooting straight with us. His phone was pinging off a tower 20 miles away from where the body was found.

We had his statements, his phone records, the fact that he had had conflict with Kenneth and the fact that he was one of the last persons to see Mr. McMillian alive. On June 20th, investigators place Harold under arrest for the murder of Kenneth McMillian. Harold and Patricia was out there and they were playing dominoes, I believe. When we approached him, we advised him he was under arrest.

Patricia's reaction attracts attention. Patricia didn't appear to be emotional at all. Wasn't surprised at all, didn't appear to upset. Investigators are certain they have the right man, but they wonder, did he work alone? It would be very difficult for one person to dispose of this body, drive it all the way to Louisiana, 400 miles away, and place the car at the Dallas Strip Club.

At the same time as the arrest, investigators seize Harold's truck. We had had a search warrant for his pickup truck. And when we seized Harold, we seized his vehicle as well. They could not find the gun itself, but they did find .22 ammunition in Harold's truck. And they knew it was a .22 that had been fired into Kenneth McMillian's back.

But before investigators can question Harold about the bullets, Harold's lawyer reaches out to them. Well, Harold's lawyer contacted us, said that he wanted to talk. At that point, he realized that he was in pretty deep, and it was time to come clean. Coming up, an unlikely individual helps investigators with a high-stakes sting. Can I tell you this in confidence? Yes.

And loyalties begin to crumble. Neither one of us said anything. We just drove in silence. I regret till today that I didn't see how desperate she had gotten. On June 20, 2008, investigators arrested Harold Ballard for the shooting death of Kenneth McMillian. After three weeks behind bars, Harold's claims of innocence appear to waver.

His defense attorney said, "My guy wants to talk with y'all." Patricia, she was a sweet person from the beginning, but it was a whole different person 20 years later, though. I regret till today that I didn't see how desperate she had gotten. It was kind of like the bridge had kind of started to burn because a real friend would not let another friend take the rap for something they knew they did.

On July 11th, Harold meets with investigators. He says that on June 16th, he got a call from Patricia just after 9 a.m. A cell phone rang, and that's when I was informed that it was time to go to Alligator Country. Calling cell phone. When she said we're going to Alligator Country, did you know what she was talking about? Well, she had talked about she had gotten to the point where she didn't know how much more she could take.

Okay, but how would you relate Alligator Country to what she said, though? I mean, had she talked about doing something like this prior to that? You know, offhand, I think she did. Harold said that she had mentioned once before about it'd be nice if Kenneth disappeared and the alligators ate him. And what did Patricia say over the phone happen? She said he was dead. Harold immediately drove to the home on Snap Road.

I saw that his car was still there and it kind of made me kind of leery. I just stopped about maybe two or three feet away and just looked. And when I looked towards the house, she was standing in the window. I knocked on the door. I asked her where he was. She said he was around there to the south of the house. I walked around to see him and he was sure he was laying face up. Did she say what happened? She never did say.

After looking at him, I gathered that she shot him. Harold said they hatched a plan for him to return at night to move Kenneth's body. We wrapped his body up in some toxic heavy plastic, put it in the back of my truck that night. This is around Christmas time, so they covered the back of the pickup truck with Christmas decorations, ornaments, I think a tree. I convinced myself that I was doing the right thing for a friend. But it sounded like

"Oh, you should know better." But I just saw a friend who reached out to me. With Patricia driving Kenneth's Honda and Harold in the truck, they set out for Dallas. They went up to the Million Dollar Saloon. And after she dropped the vehicle off at the Million Dollar Saloon, that she got in the truck with him, and they drove to Louisiana.

They hastily shoved Kenneth's body into the water and headed back to Texas.

This whole time, did Patricia talk or say anything? I mean, she just committed murder. No, she didn't. Didn't say nothing. Matter of fact, neither one of us said anything. We just drove in silence. I know that now that I shouldn't have done what I done, but I had nothing to do with Mr. McMillan's death. That's an honest God's truth.

Harold tells them that after sitting in jail for several weeks, he realized Patricia would gladly let him take the fall. Investigators believe Harold's story, but in order to arrest Patricia, they will need more.

The evidence is starting to be real strong, but Harold Ballard is a co-conspirator. It's his word that she's the one that committed the murder. Then, on July 17th, investigators have a chance meeting with Harold's brother, Joe. I came down one day to visit Harold and one of the detectives on the case. Wanted to know if I had a few moments for him to talk with me.

We tell him the truth, that we had taken Harold to Louisiana. He had confessed to his part and asked him if he had made contact with Patricia. Joe said that, "Yeah, she's actually trying to get a hold of me, and she wants to meet up with me." I knew Patricia through my brother. And they said, "Well, the only way that we cannot charge your brother for murder is if we get a confession from Patricia."

Authorities ask Joe if he would be willing to help his brother out by meeting up with Patricia and wearing a wire. He agrees. I would never guess that I went undercover to solve a murder, but life has a lot of twists and turns to it. And you never know what you're going to be asked to do or what you're going to need to do to help someone that you love.

Joe arranges to meet up with Patricia on the evening of July 19th. Police survey the sting from nearby, but stay out of sight. So I get there, pull in, she gets in on the passenger side. Of course, everything is going through my mind as far as, you know, is there anybody else here with her or are we alone?

I'm getting a little nervous, but sweating a little bit. I'm in now. I can't... There's nothing I can do now. And I know that the detectives and the Texas Rangers, they are nowhere in sight. I'm on my own. So I...

kind of turned to her and we just start talking. You can talk to me. Harold is my brother. I love him to death. And I'm here as your friend. He has shared that he's concerned with the gun itself. It's gone. It won't be found? I went and dumped it in Lake Texoma. They have no case. As long as Harold sits over there quiet as a church mouse, they don't have a case.

So you know I'm not going to get any sleep tonight. But now I got to wrestle with this. I need to know, is there anything that's going to come up? Can I tell you this in confidence? Yes. Kenneth was just there by himself with me. I willed him. I shalled him. I would have never dreamt that I would even go this far. I would have never dreamt in my Christian life that this would have ever happened.

Joe Ballard was able to steer the conversation toward what he knew that we had to have in that recording, and that was that she pulled the trigger and that Harold wasn't there. Coming up, authorities are ready to make their move. We set up all night, making sure that she didn't leave.

But will Patricia's shocking accusations derail the case? She was afraid for her life. There was some sort of a scuffle. A little over a month after Kenneth McMillian disappeared, investigators are finally ready to arrest his ex-wife, Patricia McMillian, for his murder. After the wiretap, we knew that she had went back to

Snap Road. And we set up all night making sure that she didn't leave. Typing warrants, it takes a lot of time. We wanted everything right. We arrested her the very next day. Patricia's daughter started off with us somewhat resistant to the idea that her mother had killed her father. But ultimately the evidence was overwhelming to the point where she understood

In June of 2009, the case goes to trial. Prosecutors paint Patricia as a murderer driven by rage. Patricia didn't like the outcome of the divorce. She was still bitter that she had to move out of the house. I think that it was simply anger and a woman who felt like she needed to get even. But Patricia takes the stand and counters with an explosive claim.

Patricia gave testimony that she had suffered abuse from Kenneth McMillan. Verbal abuse, she felt he was controlling, she even alleged physical abuse. Patricia claims that on the morning of the murder, she and Kenneth got into an argument that turned physical. She painted the picture that she was afraid for her life, that she had the .22, and that there was some sort of a scuffle.

Prosecutors asked Patricia to demonstrate how the incident led to her shooting Kenneth in the back. I had a toy gun that I had bought, and I gave her the toy gun and got her down off the stand. Said, "I want you to take the jury through how this murder went down." And we actually got down on the floor with her kind of on top of me, and she stuck that gun in my back and started pulling the trigger. Click, click, click.

And it was pretty riveting to see her in the courtroom well, wrestling with the prosecutor and ultimately showing her made-up version of how she shot Kenneth. It was riveting but unconvincing. Patricia's defense unravels. Not only did she shoot him in the back at fairly close range, then when you go hauling the body down like they did in dumping it, most people who act in self-defense don't do that.

The daughter testified there was not abuse going on in the home. No one else indicated any abuse. No co-workers ever saw any bruises on her, heard her complain about the husband. So her claim that this was necessary to prevent further domestic violence was simply false. On June 10, 2009, the jury returns a verdict.

Well, the jury listened to this evidence and they were not convinced of Patricia's self-defense story. And they convicted her and sentenced her to 80 years in prison. In August 2009, Harold takes a plea deal. He receives a reduced sentence, 10 years of probation in exchange for helping prosecutors. The truth will set you free. Even though I make some dumb mistakes, if I could rewrite the part of that life, I would write it a whole lot different.

Definitely do it a lot different, that's for sure. The judge said, I sentence you to seven years in prison. I'm going to probate or suspend that to 10 years probation. But if he messed up his probation and we revoked him, he could get up to seven years in prison. For Kenneth's friends and family, the end of the trial marks the beginning of a different but still painful era. There was no closure yet.

for the friends, the family, anybody who knew Kenneth McMillan. Why didn't she just plain walk away? That wasn't the Patricia I knew. That was a woman that was full of hate, and only God knows why. She was very much controlling Kenneth most of his life.

And I think that him making a choice to take his life in a different direction broke that control that she had over him. And I don't think she knew how to handle that. The number one victim is their daughter. Not only did she lose a father, she's lost her mother. Kenneth was just an overall good person. So the world lost that goodness. That is sad.

because the world could be much better with more people like him in the world. Patricia McMillian is serving an 80-year sentence at Carroll Young Complex in Texas.

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