Celeste Carrington
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And welcome back to Sisters Who Kill. What would you do for the person you love, especially when you need to provide? Would you work harder or would you kill? Our players this week are Victor Esparza, our victim. Carolyn Gleason, our victim. Alan Marks, our victim. And Celeste Carrington, our murderess.

Celeste Simone Carrington was born in 1961 and she grew up in Philadelphia to a working class family. Her mom was only 16 when she had her and her dad wasn't really around in a very paternal way. He was an architect, so he worked full time. And when he came around, he was there, but he was never like there. She was the oldest of four children. Now, Celeste, she did grow up pretty rough.

Both her mom and her dad were alcoholics. They were both physically and verbally abusive to her. And on many occasions, the kids would be left alone with no access to food. Now Celeste, she is the oldest, so she would be going around asking neighbors for food, sometimes digging in dumpsters behind different restaurants trying to get food to feed herself and her siblings. There were even times where her and her siblings were locked out of the house while her parents were in a drunk rage and they had to basically fend for themselves.

One time they had a cousin that was living with the family and that cousin recalled, like, when I lived there for that short period of time, I maybe saw dad twice. And that was it. And it was two totally separate occasions. The times that her dad was around and especially all the time when her mom was around, they were constantly being beaten. And Celeste being the oldest girl was the brunt of most of their fours.

A neighbor said later on that the walls of their house were so thin and they were so close together that the neighbor constantly heard Celeste getting beatings by her mom. When her father was around, he was sexually abusive and Celeste was the person that was his number one victim. And because of all the abuse that she endured, she ended up being pregnant at the age of 14. Now, when she found out that she was pregnant, her parents quickly took her in to get an abortion. And between the ages of 7 and 14, she saw a psychiatrist, Dr. George Woods,

who determined that Celeste suffered from the abuse of her parents and because of that, she had profound depression. Now, shortly after this happened, Celeste's dad gets a new job offer in California, which means the whole family is now picking up their life from Philadelphia and moving to Cali with them.

This change in location did not deter them from the abuse that they were bringing upon Celeste. They were still sexually assaulting her. They were still beating on her. She just had a real rough childhood. By the 11th grade, she dropped out of high school, but ended up getting her diploma at a later date.

Now, when she turned 19, she finally left her family. She moved to Palo Alto and she was doing good on her own for a while. She was enrolled in community college at Cerritos College and she was doing good in school. She was making good grades. Not only that, but she was also getting into sports. She was on the school's track and field team doing mostly shot put.

But it was so good that she got to compete internationally in the Philippines and South Korea. Like, it's really out here living a whole new life. She had records in her city. And so she was in the local paper and stuff. But really, it was just a nice, positive time for her. Which I'm sure was a big deal for her, because if you don't get a chance to be exposed to sports, you never really learn about sports.

friendship or teamship. And it's a time where she was able to be selfish and she never got a chance to be selfish in her entire life. I feel like the same way because you went from like caring from all these kids to it's all about you. You're doing well at life. You're traveling. It is such a blessing and a privilege to be able to travel and see things outside of your city, outside of your state, outside of your country. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Celeste, she's doing well. She's taking care of her. So now she's experimenting with relationships. And Celeste was a very proud lesbian woman. But relationships were hard for her because she didn't have a positive example of what a good relationship looked like. She was always moving too fast and was going in and out of relationships. She would hurt herself, oftentimes hurting the women that she dated. But...

All this bickering and arguing didn't stop these grades. She was focused. She had a plan. Like you said, if you have no example of what a real relationship is, you think that a relationship means distance or abuse. You think that is love because that's how love was displayed. I find it so interesting to see people who have parents that have been married their whole life and are still together because...

Not even I didn't see that with my parents. I don't think I've ever seen a healthy, happy marriage. You know what I mean? I don't know anybody who's lasted. I'm thinking. If you know of a married couple? Yeah, I know one that I can think of off the top of my head and they're happy, but they also... Which is fairly new, right? Right. But I also, I know, you know, I personally think that people don't take marriage as seriously or...

There's toxicities that come with the seriousness of marriage that people try to put on you versus trying to be a marriage of the world and trying to please other people other than yourself. But it's hard to determine that. I've even seen marriages that last, but they don't look happy. You know what I mean? Was together till he died, but argued and was moving in and out the house. Yeah. I don't know about moving in and out of the house, but yeah, for sure.

Now, she eventually gets a job working as a janitor in some office buildings near campus. After about six years of doing it on her own, she finally got herself another apartment. She opened up a savings account, and she's like, she's worry-free. She got money. She spend money. She go to work. She go to school. She do what she got to do. Now, she's mostly single all this time, but after a few months in her new place, she gets a new neighbor who's kind of catching her eye.

This is Jackie Fieldman. Now, Jackie was a single mom of three, and I guess she wasn't lesbian presenting. But that didn't stop Celeste from pursuing her. Jackie had actually just finalized her divorce and was coming off of a work-related injury that left her unable to work. She did some shit to her back and was fucked up on the couch.

which made her have to depend on her ex-husband and child support and government assistance to get by because she can't work the feet. She got three mouths to feed and that's not even including her own. But this didn't scare Celeste away. After a few days, Celeste asked Jackie out to dinner and Jackie says yes. The date went well.

They vibing. They decide to kick it up a notch. And Celeste eventually goes on to meet all three of her kids and kind of integrates into the family. She's como se dice the man of the house. And, okay, Tessie. And she, you know, taking care of them, making sure the bills are paid, making sure the groceries in the house. She's the provider. This was really fulfilling for her because she,

She had such a chaotic childhood. So to come in here and have this nice little family, she's really feeling fulfilled at this point. Yeah, most people want an instant family. That's not lesbian shit.

Now, by the time Celeste is 30, she has moved herself fully into Jackie's East Palo Alto apartment, her new baby mama, her new kids. And Celeste was determined to provide even if she was on a very modest budget. She worked nights as a janitor for a janitorial company that

contracted her out to different companies. And she did that to keep her head above water and give her lady and her new kids everything that they wanted. At first, everything was all peaches and cream between Jackie and Celeste. But about six months in, Jackie's financial needs and her wants started to really take a toll on Celeste. She was like, listen, all my kids in every single one of their rooms, they got anything on TV.

This purse, I need it, I want it, I must have it. These shoes, I need it, I want it, I must have it. Basically, she was like, you said you want to provide? Let me show you what providing looks like. And her hand was constantly in Celeste's pockets. Now, if you're depending on Celeste, and Celeste is working nice as a janitor, she don't have a whole heap of money. She's picking up more shifts than she can, and she's depleting her savings day by day. Because it ain't even just your expensive taste. You got three kids, and you ain't working. Right.

Three kids, and if you are shopping consistently on a budget, going to Aldi for all your grocery stores, you still won't be struggling a little bit, especially if you're on a nighttime janitor's pay salary. It was starting to seem really impossible for Celeste and

She wanted to provide. This is something that she wanted. So she started getting desperate, especially because, you know, it to her, it feels like her little family is the best thing that ever happened to her. So she's got to do everything to make it right. Yeah, I'm sleeping. I'm falling. I can't get up. While she's at work one night, instead of cleaning, Celeste is like, you know, let me see what I can find around here. So she starts snooping around the offices she cleans. And in one of these offices, she finds a blank check. She's like, oh, a blank check. And so she takes them.

And in her mind, she was like, listen, I got to do what I got to do to provide. You know what I'm saying? I got to be the gentle woman at his house, okay?

With these blank checks, she quickly goes to the bank to see how much she can withdraw. But instead of withdrawing money, she got arrested for forgery. And she was really lucky in this situation because the owner did not press charges against her. She was released out of police custody pretty quickly. Her job said, baby, you can't work here no more. So now she is broke, fresh out of jail, no job. And when Jackie hears this, Jackie is like, what you mean you ain't got no job?

How you gonna provide for me and my three kids that you say you love so much, but you ain't got no job? Now, at this point, Jackie, she's not happy with the lifestyle that she's living. And her ungrateful ass starts talking down to Celeste. You're worthless. You're pathetic. You're a terrible provider. What is this shit? And Celeste ain't taking too kindly to this. She supposed to have a partner in Jackie.

But this girl, she ain't got no job or no support. And this ain't really sit too well with Celeste. You ain't gonna work, nor you gonna support me through my hard time. Like, can we be down and out together? We supposed to have the highs and the lows. You know what I mean? You only want the highs. It don't work like that. You seem to love me now.

Would you love me if I was down and out? Would you still have love for me, girl? You seem to love me now. You love me if I was down and out. Would you still have love for me? Now this shit is eating Celeste up. She at home, gaining weight, don't want to go out. Stressed about the money, the bills keep piling up. She can't take it.

I'm sure half of you think, come on, Celeste. You was your best when you was only looking out for numero uno. Go back out, do your own thing, take care of you. Forget Jackie and her kids. But Celeste loves Jackie, and she gots to hold it down. That's her role, right? So she dig into her pocket all her money was spent. She just deep up was still coming up with Lent. So she starts her mission, leaves her residence, thinking how can she get some dead presidents?

And she says, you know what? I used to clean all these places and they gave me a key to all these places. Either they never took the key back or she made copies of these keys and was looking out for future self. She decided she was going to go into these places that she used to work and clean at and steal whatever they had there. Checks, cash, something, right? So on January 7th of 1992, Jackie grabs a crowbar and heads over to Blacker Designs

and pulls the hinges off one of the doors. And she goes in and she steals one blank check. Now, company was on top of their business. They contacted the police like, hey, we've got a missing check out there. Now, either the same day or the next day, a company called Indian Enterprise was burglarized. They had two blank checks stolen. So now she's got these three blank checks and she's

Now she got to figure out what to do with them, right? So she hits up her friend, Christopher Maldino, and is like, listen, I got these checks, but I don't got an ID. Can I sign them over to you and you cash them for me? Now, that's what niggas do. You need to check cash. It's just, of course, sign it over to me. No problem. I'll do that for you. We're friends, right? So he goes and cashes a check for $2,000.

Now, this check is actually the check that came from Blackheart Design, the one check that she stole from them. But he goes, he cashes it on January 10th. Gives Celeste the money. Everybody's good, right? So Celeste goes back to the office buildings and now she's just stealing whatever shit she can find. Oh, maybe somebody's got some money or shit stashed somewhere.

But she's like, if I'm going to be pulling out these robberies, it's going to be safer for me if I have a gun. And she's like, I don't necessarily want to buy one off the street. She can be hot. I can get another charge for that. So she thinks back and is like, you know what? Such and such at the office used to keep a gun in his desk. I'm going to take that shit. So on January 17th, in Redwood City of California, Celeste breaks into a Dodge car dealership

Another place where she used to work and still had the keys. And she knew that the back door was often left unlocked. And she uses a crowbar to force in the interior doors. It goes in and steals a .357 Magnum revolver and five bullets. So now she's got this gun, right? And she asked her neighbor, she's like, oh, can I borrow your car? And her neighbor's like, okay, sure. You can borrow my car.

And on January 26, 1992, she goes to a shoe factory in San Carlos. She gets to the shoe factory that she used to clean as she uses her key to unlock the door. But when she walks in, the alarm goes off and she didn't know the code. Of course, they changed the code. But in there was another janitor, Victor Esparza.

And Victor comes around and surprises her. Now, Victor is a 34-year-old man. He's a husband. He's a father of two. And it was his job to be the janitor at that shoe factory in San Carlos. And Celeste lies to him and is like...

I'm just here to clean the building. Maybe we're supposed to be working together. And I set off the alarm. Here's my key. I just can't figure out the code. Do you mind putting it in? And Victor was like, oh, that should be fine. Here, why don't you use my phone? Call the building manager real quick. Let me get their number and they'll turn off the alarm. No biggie. Do what we got to do.

very friendly guy so he gives her his phone and he's like I know I have the building manager's probably my wallet and pulls out his wallet and digs through his wallet hands her the phone number as soon as he pulls out his wallet to dig for that phone number boom Celeste points the gun at his face demanding him give me all your money give me everything you got and he's like whoa whoa listen I'm sorry please don't shoot me he complies he gives her his wallet he's like listen

do not shoot me, please. I'm begging. I got kids. Like, please don't do this. And she's like, give me the pin code to your fucking debit cards. And he's like, okay, the pin code is whatever. And she writes it down and he's like, please, whatever you do, don't shoot me. Please don't shoot me. She starts to walk away and she's like,

The best witness is a dead witness. And so she turns around and she kills him at a point blank range. One bullet shot in the head. Now, Victor was begging for his life. But when he got hit by that bullet, his body did like a 180 and he fell to the ground on his back. She runs out to the car. She leaves the scene before any of the police can respond to the alarm. Because remember, the alarm for the building is going off at this time. She drives about five miles, decides to pull over to see exactly what her winnings were for this man.

And do you know that in that wallet was a whopping $45? And she's like, it's no matter. I got his debit cards. I got his PIN number. She goes to the ATM. He gave her the wrong PIN number. So she was not able to steal any more of his money. Now, feeling a little bit defeated, but also a little powerful because I just killed a man.

And it don't seem like the police are looking for me. So she goes home. She don't tell Jackie about this because Jackie needs more than $45. $45 don't mean nothing to Jackie. She wipe her butt with $45. But she's tuning in on the news, trying to see if they've got anything. But there's no evidence, right? They have no idea who this shooter could be. She's looking at the news to see if there's any leads. Now, they're begging people if they have any information to come forward.

So it's almost like she got away with it. And so this power is starting to really get to her like, oh, shit, like I did something for real. It's been five weeks since her first robbery. Right. And Celeste and Jackie, they're still struggling to get by. Jackie's still on the child support. She's still getting that government assistance. But it's doing what it's doing, but it ain't doing enough.

Celeste, feeling her back against the wall, she goes back to another building that she used to clean in an attempt to rob some people who were working late. I guess it's coming off the thrill of killing that person like she actually liked it. I think she liked that confrontation, that messy shit. On March 11th, 1992, she has her neighbor drop her off at an office building in Palo Alto. This time, she's thinking a little harder. She got gloves, she got a screwdriver, and she got the gun.

She gets in the office and she noticed that there are two cars in the parking lot and two janitors inside cleaning. She's thinking, all right, it's probably going to be best if I let them leave the building and then go inside to rob the place. Once they left, Celeste tries to use her key to get in. The shit ain't working. But fear not, we planned ahead. And she used that screwdriver to jimmy her way up in there.

So she gets in the building and she's, you know, taking her time, rifling through this shit. I just watched the last two people walk out of here. So, you know, I can take my time. I know I'm good. Right. But she coming up empty. Don't nobody here got shit. Right. Then she sees Carolyn Gleason walk into an office. Now, Carolyn was the property manager that worked in this office. And for whatever reason, she's working late. But I'm sure she's trying to hurry up and get back to her husband or whatever.

rushing around slate so carolyn didn't notice celeste at first and celeste is just rummaging away through these desks now eventually celeste and carolyn run into each other in the copy room now celeste she ain't with no bullshit she immediately gets in there and flashes her gun at carolyn and carolyn starts begging please don't shoot me please don't kill me please put the gun away put the gun away

According to Celeste, this is when Carolyn gets scared and they have a little tussle situation over the gun and it accidentally gets fired. Celeste says, I had no intention of killing Caroline, but we were fighting over the gun. I got nervous. I guess I pulled the trigger. But this was not the case because Celeste actually shot Carolyn while she was on her knees, as if she was begging and pleading for Celeste to spare her life.

So then, now that Carolyn is out the way, Celeste goes and rummages through her drawers. She comes up with about $400 and she finds Carolyn's car keys. So she leaves the office building, goes to Carolyn's car where she finds Carolyn's purse. And inside Carolyn's purse is Carolyn's bank card. And also inside the purse is the bank card information.

Celeste cranks up Carolyn's car and drives to the nearest ATM and tries to take some more money from Carolyn. The first bank she went to, things didn't work out. So she goes to an ATM at a local 7-Eleven and here she gets another $200. Then she goes to a different ATM and gets another $100.

After this, she ditches Carolyn's car at a hospital parking lot and she takes a cab back home. Now, usually when she comes home, she dealing with Jackie big ass mouth. But when Jackie gets a look at this $700 that Celeste brought home, the vibes are good. It's a happy home again. Maybe she'll get some pussy tonight. Right. Hey, we happy.

The next morning, Carolyn's co-workers come to work and they are greeted with Carolyn's lifeless body in their office. And I'm sure this is like, I came in here and I even have my morning cup of coffee and there is a dead woman on the floor.

Police are called and they start canvassing. But just like Victor's murder, they had no leads. And it was wild because this was the first murder in Palo Alto. Now, remember, Victor's murder was in a whole different city. They're very close, but still technically across their jurisdiction lines. So four days later, March 16th, 1992, Celeste plans to rob another building.

This time, it was a doctor's office that she used to clean as well. And this one, it was in Redwood City, California. About 30 minutes after the office was closed, so it was around 5.30 p.m., she enters the buildings. The doors weren't even locked yet, so she just walked her happy jack self right on in. And that was really good for her because none of her old keys worked.

Because she got lucky with the doors being unlocked, she noticed that people were still in the building. They were still closing up for the day. So she went into a closet and she hid in that closet for hours until she was sure that the coast was clear, which the patience on you.

Then she thinks that everybody is gone and she comes out of the closet. But oh, no, there was somebody still in there. It was Dr. Alan Marks. And he's a pediatrician. As he's leaving the office, he's like, OK, I guess I'm going to have to rob him. I'm going to have to kill him. So Dr. Marks, he says, you got to do what you got to do, right? Do what you got to do. When she pushes open the door, she like hits Dr. Marks and she starts going just crazy. And the two of them start struggling for the gun because, of course, she has the gun out. And Dr. Marks, he's a strong dude, you know what I'm saying? And so Celeste...

shoots the gun three times, one misfires, and two bullets hit Dr. Mark. Now, it seems like one of the bullets had two entry points because he was injured a total of three times in the shoulder, thumb, and forearm. So maybe his arms were up. He was then able to strong arm her, get her out of the office, and then call 911. Celeste tries to leave the building quickly, but before she leaves, she steals a whole bunch of painkillers because Jackie had back hurt.

And so if I'm going to come home with some money, I need to come home with some money, some pay kill or something. And she was able to flee the scene before the police arrived. Now, the police and the EMTs arrive on the scene. They take Dr. Marks into the hospital. But Dr. Marks recognized her because he remembers her from when she was a janitor there.

And he was able to give all the details that he needed to the police. With that information, police were able to contact the janitorial services that provide services to the office and were able to see the names of the people who were responsible for cleaning that building.

And apparently there were only two people that were assigned to that building throughout the lifetime of that contract. And Celeste was one of them. So this happened on the 16th. And lo and behold, on the 16th, they also were trying to figure out those old checks. And they caught up with Christopher for cash in that $2,000 check. They knock on Christopher's door. They're like, sir, you need to come down here for cash in back checks. And Christopher is like, what did I do? I did what now?

That check from January? No, let me tell you what happened. And he tells them the story about Celeste saying she had no ID. So she wrote the check over to him and he was just doing something for her friend. And so the police were like, oh, you know, the person that is actually responsible for this. How about you give her a call and see if she'll say anything? And he's like, sure, whatever you want. Don't arrest me. I didn't do it. So Celeste

He calls Celeste on the phone and she confesses, yes, the checks were stolen. I'm so sorry that you got caught up in that. And she even says, quote, the checks were always accessible to me. So I just helped myself to one. And this is crazy.

Crazy, right? The detectives, they were also able to link all three of the shootings using the ballistics from the bullets found from the last doctor's office. And this was enough evidence to secure an arrest warrant for Celeste. If we remember, Celeste has attacked three different people in three different cities. This is three different police precincts. You have Los Altos, you have Palo Alto, and you have Redwood City.

The first search was conducted by the Los Altos Police Department, right? The Los Altos people are there looking to connect her to the robberies that she committed in their cities. But while they're there, they find evidence in plain view, not digging or anything, but in plain view, they find evidence that connects Celeste to Carolyn's murder. They call up the Palo Alto crew and it's like, hey, you know, there's something you might want to see here. Then Palo Alto gets a search warrant.

to go look through her apartment. And now they seize any potential evidence linking her to the murder, right? We're at three days after her last robbery. It's March 20th, right? And so the police go to Jackie and Celeste's house and they arrest Celeste. They're like, listen, we've got you. They've got you. It's going downhill fast.

And what's even worse is right before she's taken into custody, they find evidence in their apartment that directly links Celeste to three armed robberies. They find the keys to the dealership. They find the gun that was used to kill Victor and Carolyn. They find Carolyn's purse and pager.

They find a petty cash box from Carolyn's office, a piece of paper with Carolyn's PIN number on it, keys to some other building, the doctor's drug kits from Dr. Mark's medical building. It's evidence on evidence, right? So Jackie, she's like, I got to get my children out of here. So she takes them to the neighbor's house and she's following Celeste down the stairs and to the police station.

Jackie, she's going down there. She's like, what's happening? Why y'all taking my girl or whatever? And the cops run it down for her. She robbed and killed this person. Robbed and killed that person. Robbed and shot this person. And Jackie's like, oh, hell no. I got three kids. I can't be tied up in this shit. Surprised, shocked, guffawful she was.

She's done with Celeste. Now that Celeste realized all hope is lost, she allows a taped interview to go on. You want somebody on the outside holding you down? I am not your girl. And during this taped interview, she goes over her crime spree for the last two months. This interview, they are going at her and going at, they're like rotating out the police departments.

grilling you about this, grilling you about that, going even like they're just going at her. I think she was interrogated a total of nine hours or whatever. Now, in her interview, she tells the detectives that she did mean to kill Victor. Now, the detective who interviewed her, Sergeant Steve Blount, was baffled by her sense of pride that she had when she was telling him how much power that she felt when she pulled the trigger to kill somebody.

She also admits to the Redwood City Police Department that she did, in fact, kill Carolyn. That's when they went to continue their search warrant to get evidence to tie all of this together. And the detectives are really pressing Celeste. Listen, girl, things are going downhill for you real, real fast, right? It's not a chance in hell you're not going to jail, right? But maybe if you tell us what happened...

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rocketmoney.com slash sisters. You won't serve as much time. And maybe Carolyn dying was an accident. Maybe that's what happened. So we just need you to clear these things up for us. And so, you know, Celeste is like, okay, I'm getting a vibe that if I say what happened, I at least have some sort of a chance, right? So she goes on to give a taped interview. And

All three police departments are coming at her. I think she was interviewed a total of nine hours. And they're just like rotating. Here's Los Altos. Here's Palo Alto. Here's Redwood. Like,

stay on her ass. In these interviews, she admits to how she actually did intend on killing Victor and how it made her feel, quote, powerful and excited. And even the Sergeant Steve Blanc, that's who interviewed her, he said that she had a sense of pride when she told him what she did. Like she had so much power when she would pull

pull the trigger and kill someone. She ended up getting charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, and burglary, amongst a few other charges, all coming up to a total of 14 charges. Before the trial started, Celeste's defense filed a motion to suppress the evidence found in these three searches and her confession saying that this is all forbidden fruit, right? They said, quote, "'Fruits of the assertedly illegal initial entry and search.'"

But they denied her motion. So basically, she's trying to say, like, this police department got this evidence because y'all was in here and y'all were not supposed to be looking for these things. But they were like, it was in plain sight. We didn't have to look. It was just there.

And they went and they were like, and we didn't touch it. We went back and got a warrant to get it. Yeah. So the judge was like, no dice. We're allowing it. Now, while she was in jail and awaiting trial, she was like, you know what? I need to get the fuck out of here. So she decided to devise a little bit of a plan.

She goes to another inmate and this inmate's name is Cindy Kashmiri. And Cindy worked in food and she was like, yo, Cindy, let me get a knife. She was like a knife. So, yeah, let me get a metal knife. So it was like, I can't get you a metal knife, but I can get you one of the hard plastic knives. Now, the inmates use soft plastic knives and the hard plastic knives are what the CEOs use.

So she's like, all right, bet I can get you one of those. She thinks, okay, can I get some aluminum foil too? She's like, okay, girl, what you got going on? And she's like, I'm going to try to escape. And she was like, well, you know, the COs don't carry guns. Whatever. So Celeste, she goes to the front desk where they can borrow scissors to cut their hair. And her whole thing was that she was going to go there, try to get, she was going to get the scissors. She was going to put them up to an inmate's neck and basically let me go or she goes too. Right.

Cindy then decided that she was going to tell the COs what she had heard because, I don't know why she did, but she decided that she was going to report it. And because of this, they ended up searching Cindy's room.

Didn't find anything. They also decided to keep a closer eye on Celeste because of that testimony and they said that they were going to keep Cindy in their back pocket to testify against Celeste during trial. Now, with all of this evidence and a nine-hour confession, seven hours of it taped, Celeste still decides to plead not guilty.

Girl. Yeah. So we thought that the episode would end here. No, it does not. The district attorney was like, OK, I mean, if you want to go to trial, then we're going to seek the death penalty. The choice is yours. And according to court documents, quote, the defense presented no evidence at the guilty phase of the trial. So.

Basically, there was no defense. Like, she just wanted to go to trial. So y'all probably heard of the word microdosing, right? If not, let's talk about it. You know that just right feeling where your mind and body are really in sync? Like, right after a workout and a nice long shower, you're relaxed, you're focused, you're energized, you're in the zone.

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Microdose.com, code K-I-L-L for 30% off. The medical examiner, Peter Benson, testified on his autopsy.

of victor and carolyn victor was shot and died from the gunshot wound to the head that was in very close range and he said he couldn't say explicitly if victor was standing or kneeling but we could tell that the shot was about six inches away and carolyn's autopsy also showed of course that she was killed from a close range gunshot wound to the head but he could tell that she was on her knees

Now, the criminologist, she said that she thinks that based on his clothes, the pools of blood, the abrasions, that he was probably on his knees, hands raised in a defensive position, and he likely fell forward and rotated on his back. She also testified to Carolyn's crime scene. She said that based on, quote, the height of the blood spatter, the angles of the gunshot wound, and the presence of gunshot residue on Gleason's sleeves, the victim was kneeling and she had tried to cover her face with her hand,

when she was shot. Dr. Marks was well and recovering well from his injuries and he testified on the trial and he told everything that was his version of events of what happened that night. He said that he was about to leave work when he encountered Celeste and she was barreling through about her pushing him to the side about him recognizing her about three shots one misfire three wounds and

And about him basically strong-arming her out of the door until she ran out when he shut the door, locked it, and called 911. In the closing arguments, Celeste's defensive team agreed that the crimes occurred just as Celeste had described them in her interview. But they argued these were not executions. Everybody's trying to say that she was, like, she executed execution style. But they were just murders. Just murder. Not an execution. Just murder. Yeah.

And they were asking the jury to seek a verdict for a lesser charge of offense with a firearm for the murder of Carolyn, an attempted murder of Dr. Marks. At the penalty phase of her trial, the prosecution, they read victim impact statements from the family members. Victor's sister and aunt, who he lived with, testified about the type of person that he was.

His mom and dad and another sister and his brother who lived in Mexico at the time, they all testified to his character. Carolyn, her two brother-in-laws testified about how much her death was affecting the family. Her husband, who was their brother, was just going through it.

During the trial, Carolyn's mom dies and her dad was in the hospital. They're so grief stricken. It's affecting their health. Now, they tried to get Cindy out here to testify because you remember Cindy was talking about, oh, I think Celeste trying to get me to hold one of these inmates hostage so she can escape. So they put her up there.

She's like, I ain't say that. What? No, that's not what I meant. No, this was just, we was just kiki and took all that shit back. The defense, they have Dr. Myla Young testify on behalf of Celeste. She did a psychological evaluation on Celeste's brain scans and said that even though she had an average IQ and did very well in school,

including her time in technical college, that the evidence showed that she had brain abnormalities and learning disorders. She couldn't identify the causes of the abnormalities, but like she couldn't tell if it was genetic or trauma or illness.

But she said that the abnormalities affected the left side of her brain, which interfered with her ability to see the bigger picture, to think ahead and plan, to be able to recognize and change behavior that is unsuccessful. These are the things that she struggled with due to these abnormalities in her brain. She stated that she also suffered from longstanding depression and bipolar disorder.

Celeste's family and friends also testified about her harsh upbringing in Philadelphia and how she was subjected to abuse from both of her parents. Her childhood psychiatrist testified about her environmental difficulties. They're really laying it on thick from both sides, right? Now, she was found guilty on 14 different charges and she was found guilty on June 16th, 1994.

And the jury was out for one day and they said that she was only eligible for death for the death penalty because of special circumstances like the fact that she killed more than one person and the crimes were premeditated, which both made her eligible for the death penalty. And on August 2nd, 1994, they did come back with the death penalty as her punishment.

Now, this was pretty significant because she was the first woman in Northern California to be sentenced to death since 1941. She does file an appeal because, of course, death penalty, you always get an automatic appeal. And some of her appeals said Jackie's apartment was searched illegally. If the search warrant is for one police officer's jurisdiction, then only they should be there, even if the other officers didn't touch nothing.

They're not allowed to be in there at all. They also said that the confession was invalid. So they're saying, if you help us solve this murder, it's like in her mind, she really thought that I'm going to help them solve these crimes. And they were saying, maybe if you help us solve these crimes, maybe we can do X, Y, and Z. And she was like, they said that they would do X, Y, and Z. And they were like, no, they said maybe. And she was like, what implied that maybe I could do it? And they were like, key word there, maybe.

She appealed on Grand Jury Vineyard. She said that anybody who was over the age of 70 were excluded systematically and that violated her rights to have a grand jury from a cross-section of her community. She appealed on venue in San Mateo County for Carolyn's death. She said that she did not feel like it should have been

in San Mateo County because that's not where she killed her. But they were like, but that's where you planned and prepared to kill her. So you did a part of the crime here. We can do you here. She appealed the evidence of robbery. She was like, there's no proof that she

She was planning to commit a murder as opposed to burglary or theft at the time. How can you even say what my intent was when you don't know what my intent was, right? Did the same thing for the burglary of the ATMs. She felt like they didn't give proper instruction when they had to speak on consciousness of guilt.

She felt like they didn't give proper instruction when they gave the victim impact evidence. She challenged the capital sentencing period, basically saying it's cruel and unusual punishment. It goes against my constitutional rights. And they said nothing.

They've tried it before and we're still not buying it. So they denied that. She put a motion to modify the verdict. She also didn't agree with their instruction of firearm use enhancements. She felt like they weren't explaining these things properly to the jury for them to make a proper decision on how to sentence her. They did end up dropping charges.

the fire harm enhancements and the aggravated factor of attempted escape because homegirl recanted her statement. But they was like, you can keep all the rest of it, girl, and it don't make a difference in your life sentencing. She's now one of five women on death row in the Chowchilla prison. And she has not gotten her death date yet because California has put a pause. They haven't commuted anybody's sentences, but they have stopped

setting death dates. I guess that's their middle line. So it's like you're still sentenced to death, but they're probably not going to kill you. Yes, you've just been sitting there this whole time, just waiting. Yeah, and that is the story of Celeste Carrington. Life is hard, ain't it? Everybody around with their hand out for some money somewhere. Rent, insurance, kids. But we make it work, right?

then bam life happens your car breaks down a pipe bust your dog somehow manages to get the raw high bone stuck on his bottom jaw now you gotta pay a vet $300 to saw it off and you got the money to fix it just not until next week when you get paid well with earnin you can access that money now like right now earnin is an app that gives you access to your pay as you work up to $100 per day or up to $750 per pay period just download the earnin app and verify your paycheck then

You access $100 a day as you work with the option to leave a tip. And the money you access plus the tips are automatically repaid from your paycheck. So you don't even have to think about it. So don't worry about having to ask your baby daddy if he can spare some extra money because you already know he ain't got it. Instead, download Earn In today. That's E-A-R-N-I-N in the Google Play or the Apple App Store. When you download the Earn In app, type in Sisters Who Kill under podcast when you sign up because it'll really help the show.

That's sisters who kill under podcast. Now the money you receive is subject to your available earnings, location, daily work max and pay period max. See earnin.com slash TOS for details. Earnin is a financial technology company, not a bank. Bank products are issued by Evolve Bank and Trust member FDIC. All right, y'all. It's time for... Well, I'm not black. I'm OJ.

I ain't do it, but if I did, this is how I would have got away with it. I ain't do it, but if I did, if I'm killing, I'm not killing for somebody that ain't going to hold me down when I go to prison for killing for you. Let's start there. I ain't do it, but if I did, I'm going to stick to robbing the businesses. If I got to go out like that, I'm going to stick to robbing the businesses. Once you start involving people, shit done got messy. The charges done went up. It's too much. Right. Right.

I knew it. But if I did, if I wanted to rob businesses, you also have a mindset of these businesses are pretty lax with their checks. I wouldn't have gone back to businesses that I worked for. That's too many linkages to you. Like at the other place, at the pediatrics office, they were like, OK, we hired this janitorial service. The janitorial service knows that it's one of two people that from their company that has worked in this building. So they're easily going to be able to find you. It's too easy. Yeah.

You're making it way too easy, girl. I ain't do it, but if I did, I would have just been trying to take care of me. You spent your whole life taking care of your siblings, being traumatized by your parents, and now you're in a relationship where she's traumatizing you and you want to take care of these kids. Fuck them kids. They're not yours. They're not yours. And people will be like, oh, well, you know, I got really close with the kids. And that's fine. But at the end of the day, her husband didn't stay with her.

And she got the kids with him. Just because you're close with the kids don't mean you need to stay in a toxic-ass relationship, especially if they're not your kids. It don't matter. I don't care if the kid, oh, so-and-so cried for you last night. Let them cry. They'll forget that I existed in a couple months. Or not. Doesn't matter. Not your kid. Not your kid. Not your problem. I ain't do it, but if I did, why was all the evidence they needed in plain sight?

Girl, yes. And they said that. They were like, if those checks have not been used, they're probably sitting around somewhere. And there they were. I probably would have pawned the gun and got a new gun. I don't know what the gun laws are in California. But yeah, I would have pawned the gun and got a whole new gun. There's a lot going on with this case, to be completely honest. Oh, there is a lot. You was doing too much too fast. A lot going on. And you wasn't really making real money.

You killing people for $400 and $200. The first one was $45. You know what I mean? Was it worth it? Would you do it again? Apparently, yes, but I'm going to have to be bringing home the big bucks for that. You got to at least cover my bills for the month. Like, damn. I should have one month at least at bare minimum. They ain't got to worry about shit. It's just, you killing over petty money. Petty money.

I could see if you had a big score, but petty money. And these places were way too close to each other. Didn't started not separating out the date to your crime. One day I killed this person, had to go to work the next day and killed this person. No, no, girl. So this was just it was poorly executed. I just feel if you ain't got no money, I feel like murder should not be it. Why you ain't try to go get another job? Because you had stealing on your record. That's hard.

It's hard to get a job when their last job says, oh, yeah, she stole from us. Right. I think that's it for me. That's it for me, too. Parole or no parole? I am inclined when somebody starts to talk about the joy and pleasure that they get from killing. I'm inclined to no parole, yo ass. Oh, I thought she was about to say inclined to parole. And I was about to say, Tassie, let's have a real conversation, right? Y'all can keep her. Yeah, she, yeah, we're going to have to keep her.

Keep her tucked away nice and safe. I'm with you. No parole on that, baby girl. It seems like the way that Kelly's moving, you're probably going to get commuted to a life sentence. Great. But...

You stay there. So let's read some reviews. If you'd like to leave us a review, please do anywhere that you can. Apple, Audible, Facebook, Spotify, anywhere. Do it. Follow the podcast so you can get automatic downloads and updates for each episode. I will read a review. This one says, love y'all. Five stars from Laney D. Says, love this podcast. That baby daddy math had me cackling all night. That was funny. Baby daddy math be like. That was it? That's the review? Yeah.

Love that. There's somebody that this is not people were talking about the baby daddy math and the discussion group while you're looking. And somebody said baby daddy math is he's never met his child in 15 years. He's twenty two thousand dollars behind in child support. He wants the case dismissed. Yes. Oh, yeah. And he never showed up for any of the DNA test. Yes. That is baby daddy math. This one says best crime podcast. Man, I love y'all. Came across a tick tock.

video hella long ago and been hooked since look I was straight binging then boom I was all caught up I for sure skipped a few weeks so I could listen to more than one at work also please keep being great

We love what you're doing. We appreciate the time and effort you guys give rocking with my sisters right all the way from the Bay Area. Thank you so much. Thank you. Great. If you want to keep up with us, do it. You can keep up with us on Twitter, Sis Who Kill, TikTok, Sis Who Kill Podcast, Instagram, Sis Who Kill Pod, Facebook, Sis Who Kill. And there's also a private discussion group. You must answer the questions to get in. And we hope to see you there. Anything else, Tassie? Talk to us. We talk back.

Bye. Bye.