214: Erasing Laura Ackerson, Part 2

Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Southern Fried true crime covers cases thatare not suitable for young listeners, and
there may also be some explicit languageused. Today's episode is much more graphic
than usual listener discretion as strongly advised. Last week, I told you about

(00:22):
how Laura Akerson had been dealt areally shitty hand in life. Still,
she had the guts to move acrosscountry away from her parents to start over.
She was doing pretty good until shefell in love Grant Hayes was an
abusive narcissist. He didn't care aboutanything but himself and his laughable music career.

(00:47):
Her relationship with Grant didn't just fallapart. He blew it up spectacularly
when he married another woman without evenending things with Laura first, and then,
unbelievably, she lost custody of hertwo young sons to a musician who
drank and did drugs almost every day, who had never had a stable job.

(01:11):
Little Grant had just turned two yearsold and Gentle was only ten months
old. It was unthinkable, exceptI guess to the judge, since Grant
had a stable mother figure with himafter his QUICKI marriage to a woman named
Amanda, and he had an apartmentin his name, so I guess he
looked better on paper. But Laurajumped into action quickly. She fought back

(01:36):
in court but only got weekend custodyof her boys, but she was far
from done fighting. It's amazing howmuch Laura Akerson had changed her life in
one year. She didn't just finda stable job, but began a career,
opening her own business, something shecould personally be proud of, not

(01:57):
just something to satisfy the judge.She was making new friends too. Her
business partner, Chavin was a greatfriend to her, and she had started
attending Grace Fellowship Church in Kinston,joining evening Bible study classes. One of
the women she met there had agreedto be a character witness for her,

(02:20):
and her steadfast best friend, Heidi, was always there for her. When
Laura went missing one month before herimportant custody hearing, Heidi became frantic.
She later told a newspaper, Istarted bawling. They told me Laura was
missing and asked for any information Imight have. I knew she wasn't missing.

(02:46):
Welcome to episode two fourteen Erasing LauraAkerson, Part two. On Wednesday,
July thirteenth, twenty eleven, Laurahad a full day of meeting clients
for her ad agency. The lastone was a restaurant manager in Wilson.

(03:07):
She had been rushing around all dayexcited to get this last meeting finished because
Grant had emailed her the night beforeoffering another midweek visit. They had met
before at a place called Monkey Joe's, where Grant knew the manager, so
the kids could play and eat freepizza. The last time had gotten ugly

(03:30):
when Grant came to pick up thekids. He had rushed their goodbyes,
roughly pulling the boys away and takingthem to his car while they were still
crying. This scene led to roundsof more emails, where three cheers for
Laura. She told Grant he wasjust using Amanda too, that she was
his gravy train. That was toomuch for Grant. There weren't any more

(03:54):
midweek visits for a few weeks,so on July twelfth, Laura was surprised
to get the invitation. She eventold him in her email back that they
should set a start time and pickup time beforehand so there wouldn't be another
scene, which pissed Grant off.He defensively wrote that he only rushed their

(04:16):
goodbyes because Monkey Joe's was closing.Laura was desperately trying to be reasonable and
wanted to see her boys, soit's not like she was trying to anger
him. So she apologized, eventhough she had done nothing wrong except try
to avoid another fight or even misunderstandingif that's how he wanted to see it.

(04:39):
But in the end he seemed tocool off and Laura accepted the offer.
The next day, that Wednesday,the thirteenth, she was busy running
from meeting to meeting, but theywere all going well. She texted happily
with Chavn and sent Grant a textletting him know she might be running late.

(05:00):
While she was still meeting with therestaurant manager in Wilson. Grant texted
her at four oh eight pm andsaid, would you like to keep the
boys for the week until Sunday,the twenty fourth. According to court documents,
Laura responded at four twelve pm.She wrote, Okay, I'm leaving
Wilson now, I'll call you whenI get past the traffic. Where will

(05:24):
you be in an hour or so. Remember this was in the middle of
the week, not on her Fridaypick up day, and it was July
thirteenth, so he was now offeringher almost twelve days with her boys.
Of course, she responded as fastas possible. She was in Wilson,

(05:44):
where they were always supposed to meetat the public convenience store sheets, but
probably because of his offer of aweek and a half with the boys,
she was willing to go to hisapartment in Raleigh and pick them up.
I honestly think that's how he gother. She never would have gone there
otherwise. At four nineteen pm,she called an artist named Oxana Samarski,

(06:10):
who she was representing with her newagency. She had already helped sell one
of Oxana's paintings, and the tworeally liked each other and enjoyed working together.
Laura was supposed to meet Uxana thatevening, but she wasn't sure how
long she would be in Raleigh andjust wanted to warn her she might not
be able to see her at orbefore seven pm, as they had talked

(06:33):
about. Oxana missed her call becauseshe was in class, so Laura's voicemailt
to her was the last time anyoneheard from her other than Grant and Amanda
Hayes. Of course, later thatsame night, Laura's business partner, Chavin,
became worried. Laura was supposed tohave called Chavon at nine PM to

(06:58):
discuss several business items, but Lauranever called. Chavon knew Laura was supposed
to see Akxana, but she didnot know she was planning on going to
Grant's to pick up the boys.She probably would have been worried much sooner
if she had known Laura was goingto Grant's apartment. Then three days passed

(07:19):
and Chavonne still had not heard fromLaura. Aside from their business obligations,
she knew Laura was supposed to havepicked up her voice from Grant on Friday.
It was then that Chavon was certainsomething was wrong. Laura never messed
an opportunity to see her kids forthe weekend. She even called Grant's mom,

(07:41):
Patsy, to see if she hadheard from Laura. Patsy said she
had not. On Monday, Julyeighteenth, Chavon drove to Kinston to look
for Laura and maybe talk to themanager of her apartment. She saw that
her car wasn't in the garage.Now more worried than ever, she went
to the police station in Kenston andreported twenty seven year old Laura Jene Akerson

(08:07):
missing. Chavin was so upset shealso went to Raleigh and even the Wilson
police station, the last place sheknew for sure Laura had been, to
report her missing. I'm going topause now for a short commercial break.

(08:31):
The police took Laura's case seriously rightaway. She had been missing since the
thirteenth, five days by then,and she had missed picking up her boys.
Chavon was adamant she would not justnot pick up her kids. Investigators
first went to Laura's apartment to knockon the door. Then they talked to

(08:52):
management and went inside. Though theapartment was tidy, you could tell Laura
had been gone for a few days, if by nothing else. She had
potted plants that were almost dead fromnot being watered. Then they watched the
surveillance footage. The camera was rightoutside her door, so they could see

(09:13):
what she was wearing, a blacksleeveless top and khaki capri pants. She
was five foot eight inches tall andweighed one hundred and thirty five pounds.
She had brown hair and hazel eyes. This would be the description given to
the media on the show see noevil. The detectives said they could tell

(09:35):
from the footage it was just anormal day. She wasn't carrying any extra
bags, like she was going anywhereother than work. She didn't look distressed.
She had her phone in her hand, and she walked out the door
at eight ten am. They checkedher bank account. The last activity had

(09:56):
been July tenth. In ten days, she had not used her bank card
once. And now they had Laura'sday planner slash diary and on the twelfth
she had noted a problem with Grant. They would later find that in her
emails, but they didn't know thisthe first time they talked to Grant.
Hayes investigators called him and he confirmedLaura never showed up on Friday, the

(10:24):
court appointed day for custody exchange.He acted concerned, but never mentioned his
midweek offer to Laura. Of course, investigators checked out his story and got
surveillance footage from sheets the convenience storewhere Grant always meant to exchange the boys,
and there he was on the camerafootage at four thirty pm that Friday,

(10:46):
the fifteenth, with his two sons. He buys cigarettes and then hangs
out with the boys at the patiotables outside, looking like he's waiting.
You can see the footage on theepisode of Scene Evil. For Now,
Grant Hayes seemed to be truthful,but they were always mindful that the first

(11:07):
suspect is the husband or boyfriend,be they X or not. Oxana Smarski
came in to talk to the investigatorsand played the voicemail Laura had left her.
She was also worried for her friend. They were supposed to have met
that Wednesday evening at seven pm.Laura was letting her know she might be

(11:30):
late or even miss their appointment becauseshe was going to get her boys,
and asked Uxana to call her back. Detective Jerry Falk said that narrowing down
the timeline of between around four pointfifteen from the last text message and calls
to around seven pm when she nevershowed up really helped. Right around that

(11:52):
time, he got a call fromofficers that Laura's carr had been found.
Her Ford focus had been abandoned ina Raleigh apartment complex parking lot. This
parking lot was less than four hundredyards from Grant and Amanda's apartment. They
swabbed Laura's ford for DNA lifted Princeand collected a hairstrand, but nothing they

(12:16):
could go on. So now investigatorsknew from Maksana that Laura was supposed to
have gone to get the boys atGrant's that Wednesday, which of course was
not the story he had told them, and then her car was found that
close to his apartment. They calledGrant again and asked him to come in

(12:37):
and make a statement. He declined. He said he was moving and couldn't
come in at that time, buthe had emails with Lara he would be
happy to forward along with a writtenstatement as soon as he had good sell
service. Oh but he did nowremember that Lara had picked up the boys
Wednesday around five and brought them backaround nineth thirty pm, getting in a

(13:01):
dig saying she hadn't fed them dinnerand his wife had had to take them
to Chick fil A, And heeven vaguely mentioned they discussed a new custody
arrangement. But sure, Officer,he would send those emails as soon as
he could and hung up. Thedetective didn't hold his breath for the emails,

(13:22):
but obviously Grant didn't send anything,or call back or show up to
give his statement, and then HeidiSchumacher went to see the Raleigh investigators and
boy, if somebody could connect thedots, it was Heidi. If Chaven
had made them suspicious. Heidi madethis clear, this may actually be a

(13:43):
murder investigation. She gave them thecomplete history of Laura and Grant, the
abuse, his surprise wedding to Amanda, the custody battle, his continuing nastiness
and game playing, and his life. Amanda was just as bad. She

(14:03):
even came back later with all ofher emails with Laura since May on a
flash drive for the police. Heidiknew something had happened to her best friend.
She knew she was probably dead,not just missing. Heidi also gave
them a description of a tattoo onLaura's foot. They were already thinking grimly

(14:26):
that this might help identify her.Investigators put together from cell phone records that
her last known location was grant AnAmanda's Raleigh apartment, and they were finally
able to get a search warrant.On Wednesday, July twentieth, investigators searched
the Hayes apartment. They were noteven there. Officers had picked up Amanda's

(14:50):
adult daughter, Shay and she wasthere to witness the search. The odor
of bleach hit them as they walkedin the door. For the most part,
the apartment was empty, with somestuff still in boxes. Grant and
Amanda were moving out, but noteverything was gone yet. But the first
thing they saw when they walked inwas a three foot bleach stain in the

(15:13):
furrier of the apartment. There wasno getting around that it looked very suspicious.
I'll have a photo of this upon my social media. Detective Bobby
Latour also said on the show SeeNo Evil that the bathroom was suspiciously clean.
The shower curtain was missing, andthe tub was so clean you could

(15:35):
see it shining in places. Thebathroom also had a really strong smell of
bleach. Something had happened in thisbathroom, he intoned. They also found
a handwritten note, two paragraphs andtwo different handwritings. The beginning of the
note read, I, Laura jAkerson agree for the sum of twenty five

(16:00):
thousand dollars not to pursue custody ofthe two minor children. I am not
surrendering parental rights, but I doconsent to leaving them in the sole custody
of their father. For now.Further, I agree to drop all pending
litigation against their father in the LenoreCounty Family Court. The next part of

(16:22):
the note appears to be in Laura'shandwriting. I'm not sure if at this
point investigators already had samples, butit would be obvious later, well,
it would at least be obvious thatthis was a different person's handwriting. It
read by notifying Counsel John Sargent ofour arrangement lest the monetary compensation, I

(16:45):
understand that I will be able tosee my kids when I want, at
the discretion of their father. Itwas signed in tight cursive Laura Akerson,
dated seven thirteen eleven, although itwas a originally six thirteen eleven, and
the six was crossed out for theseven, with Laura's initials by it,

(17:07):
as if she was indicating she madethe change. John Sargent was Laura's attorney
in the custody case. If GrantHayes thought this note would throw investigators off,
he was sorely mistaken. It onlymade them even more suspicious. First
of all, this mother who jumpedat the chance to have twelve days with

(17:30):
her sons, then immediately pivoted andsigned away custody when she got there to
pick them up. From everything theyhad learned about Laura, including her vicious
fight for custody, they did notbelieve she would have done this for any
amount of money. Those who knewLaura also said this out of court settlement

(17:52):
situation was bullshit. Her friends andbrother were adamant that Laura would never have
taken such a trade. No amountof money would have made her give up
her children. But Laura's signature doesappear on that piece of paper. Later,
handwriting analyst testified that it was Laura'shandwriting. First of all, no

(18:15):
one witnessed her supposedly writing this excepther ex and his wife. Handwriting analysis
has often been criticized as pseudoscience,and there's no way of knowing if Laura
was forced to write her part ofthat note or sign under duress. Handwriting
analysis or graphology is admissible in courtunder the seven oh two rule of evidence,

(18:40):
as long as the expert has theright credentials. The problem is it's
ultimately subjective. It's literally someone lookingat the writing and comparing it with other
known examples. You're just looking atit and making the call. And so
if it is admitted in Core,you're usually going to have a battle of

(19:02):
the experts, but defense attorneys wouldactually never dispute this note. I have
photos of the note and Laura's signature, which I will post on my social
media. Zooming in on that signature. It looks so real, so tight
and perfect. It looks practiced,the way a woman signs her name in

(19:22):
cursive. Some of us practiced oursignatures for years, and we can do
it in our sleep. That's whatthis looks like. Laura's signature on this
paper looked like a strong, practicedsignature. It was actually the strongest part
of that note, in my opinion, But the expert actually refused to say

(19:45):
for sure it was Laura's signature,though they were willing to testify. The
other handwriting looked like Laura's. Ofcourse, I'm obviously not an expert,
but it all looks real to me, and the first paragraph, not in
her handwriting, looks like a man'shandwriting. The expert did testify that it

(20:07):
was Grant's, and I seriously doubtthat Grant and Amanda had that note already
forged and ready. It looks andfeels like it was Laura's handwriting. And
signature. It's that confident, practicedsignature, and the other writing is uniform,
not a jumble of different letter formationsthat you might see in a forgery.

(20:30):
I know I'm harping on this muchlike a harped on how Laura's wedding
could have been faked, But itbothers me. The reason to look at
this note over and over is notjust what the words say that she took
twenty five grand for her kids.It's that we don't believe she would do
that, and yet that is herhandwriting. It is neat, it doesn't

(20:55):
look rushed, and it looks likea well practiced signature. Why why in
the world would Laura sign that paper, much less write the additional paragraph.
I don't think we'll ever know.Maybe she did it trying to get safely
out of Grant's apartment, because aftershe got there something had happened. The

(21:19):
detectives also noticed that there was akitchen knife block in the apartment that was
missing knives. Maybe someone held aknife on her. Maybe they both did,
and she would not want to screamif her babies were in the room.
The presence of her children alone wouldhave probably made Laura cooperate investigators later

(21:41):
said they felt sure that Laura haddied where that bleach stain was by the
front door. Maybe she almost madeit out the door. That breaks my
heart, the thought that she wasthat close to an escape. I think
the handwriting puts it over the edgefor me for some reason. I can

(22:04):
just see her scared, just tryingto get out of there, calmly signing
her name without causing a scene infront of her son's just trying to leave
and get to safety. But shedidn't make it. I'm going to pause

(22:25):
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not a bank. Bank. Productsare issued by Evolve Bank and Trust
Member FDIC. The last few momentsof Laura's life will always be a mystery,
even though both Grant and Amanda hadtheir stories. However, based on
numerous court documents, surveillance footage,and eyewitness accounts, were at least able

(25:03):
to put together a fairly clear sequenceof events leading up to her death and
what happened afterwards. On Wednesday,July thirteenth, Laura drove to Raleigh from
Wilson to pick up her sons.We know this from the text messages between
her and Grant. Now, whatseemed like a friendly text from Grant was

(25:26):
seen for what it really was.He was luring her to his apartment.
She never went over there on theirvisitation exchanges, but telling her she could
keep her boys for twelve days wasenough to rule Laura in. She answered
his text within four minutes, tellinghim she was leaving right then and could

(25:48):
be there within an hour. Additionally, Laura's cell phone, which she had
used to contact Grant as she madethe commute to Raleigh, pinged the appropriate
cell towers for from Wilson to Raleigh, so we know that Laura got to
Grant's apartment. Then later, Grantand Amanda admitted that Laura arrived at their

(26:11):
apartment, and according to them,she agreed to sign an out of court
custody settlement, which investigators found inthe apartment just like they had wanted them
to. But Grant, being themastermind criminal he was, had left behind
other papers, receipts, and otherstuff that looked like a mess on someone's

(26:32):
desk. I guess he thought thepolice would read that note and move on.
They found a receipt to an Applestore, where apparently Grant had gone
on July fourteenth, the evening afterLaura was last seen and bought a new
chord for his MacBook. Put thatin your back pocket for now. The

(26:52):
detectives also found a song Grant hadwritten scribbled on a piece of paper.
It was entitled Mankiller. According tocourt documents, Grant's lyrics described the first
person killing of a woman by makingher bleed and by strangulation. Here's an
excerpt. Give in to me.I want it all. I want your

(27:14):
scream and I want you to crawl. I'll make you bleed, fall to
the floor. Don't try to plead. That turns me on. I'm not
the one to make you scream.I'm just the one to make you bleed.
Don't raise your arms. You can'tstop me. I'll put my hands
on your throat and squeeze. Disgusting, but it's not like he's the first

(27:38):
musician to use that kind of language, and obviously still nothing concrete for an
arrest. Later. In contrast,detectives would watch a video for Amanda.
Grant posted a song on YouTube intribute to his wife and baby daughter soon
after she was born. Watching itmade me want to scream, and Grant's

(28:03):
mother wasn't exactly helping his cause publiclyOn July twentieth, she told ABC News
about her grandson's quote, they getover things a lot faster, and they
could probably not be affected by thingsas much as adults are, you know,
because they are small and they're veryresilient, so they probably figure they're
just staying with dad. Now,she didn't sound at all worried about the

(28:29):
mother of her grandchildren. Sounds tome like she already didn't think Laura was
coming back. To be fair,maybe she thought Laura had run off with
twenty five thousand, but that's hardto believe, considering Grant and his family
were having to move in with herbecause they couldn't afford rent. How would
they have paid Laura? Where didPatsy think she really was? I'll be

(28:53):
fair. We believe our children,at least we want to. But that's
as fair as I'll be about PatsyHayes. And that July twentieth date was
an interesting date for that story torun. Her son happened to get back
to town after a trip late thatnight and brought his wife and kids with

(29:15):
him to his mom's house. LikeI said, detectives by this time had
already picked up Shay Amanda's twenty twoyear old daughter. She appeared to cooperate
and even accompanied them to her mother'sapartment while they executed their search warrant,
but Shy didn't tell them much atthat time. She called her mom in

(29:37):
Texas, telling her that the policehad picked her up, but Amanda said
don't worry about it and that shewould be home soon. It wasn't until
after Grant and Amanda were arrested andShay went back to the apartment to pick
up stuff for the baby and theboys that she changed her mind. She

(29:57):
was there to get stuff to takeback to Patsy's, but she started rummaging
around. She found something she thoughtwas very alarming, an owner's manual for
a reciprocating saw. And then shethought of that immaculate main bathroom, the
usually messy bathroom everyone used, butespecially where the kids bathed and brushed their

(30:22):
teeth. Now you could eat dinneroff that tub. And by then there
was grisly news coming out of Texas, and Shay realized what she might have
found. This time, she didn'tstay quiet like a good daughter. She
took the reciprocating saw manual to theRaleigh police investigators checked around Raleigh to see

(30:47):
who may have sold that saw,and there was a wal Mart just three
miles from Grant and Amanda's apartment thatsold the saw. They went to this
Walmart and watched surveillance footage of GrantHayes the Third At about two thirty am
on Thursday, July fourteenth, almosteight hours after Laura had gotten to his

(31:11):
apartment, Walmart cameras caught Grant buyingseveral suspicious items goggles, trash bags,
plastic sheeting, a tarp, cleaningsupplies, and a reciprocating saw with extra
blades. He was easy to spot. It's not like he went in there

(31:32):
with a hat pulled down or hishoodie up, avoiding cameras. And this
fool repeatedly asked a store manager tohelp him at two thirty am. It's
not like there are a lot ofemployees wandering around and someone walked up to
him. No, Grant went lookingfor help. The manager remembered it because

(31:56):
he repeatedly came back asking more questions. He couldn't just look for these things
himself. He wanted her to tellhim where everything was. You can see
him even more clearly on the cameraabove the checkout lane where he paid cash
for his items, smart enough touse cash, but dumb enough not to

(32:19):
think of security cameras and to repeatedlyask an employee for help so he would
be remembered. Now, detectives feltsick. It seemed pretty clear what Grant
and Amanda had done with Laura Akerson. I'm going to pause now to hear
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police got a warrant for the HayesBank records and Grant had gone to Walmart

(36:24):
again. Two days later, onSaturday, July sixteenth, Grant went back
to the same damn Walmart at aroundseven am and purchased three large coolers like
you would use for camping. Healso bought six bags of ice. Detectives
again watched the footage and again Grantwas not in a disguise and he was

(36:46):
calm and looked like everything was fine. Then, according to the detectives interviewed
on c No Evil, they gota call from Shay with more information,
but I think there were compressing fortime on that show, Shae told the
truth after she found the manual tothe saw, but the detectives interviewed said

(37:07):
Shaye was upset and said that shedidn't want to get her mom in trouble,
but she had to get it offher chest. She said her mom
and Grant had rented a U haultrailer and gone to Texas just a few
days after Laura went missing. Toback up a little for Shay's account,

(37:27):
on July fourteenth, the day afterLaura disappeared, at around ten thirty am,
Amanda had called Shay and asked herto come and pick up the kids.
She and Grant needed them out ofthe apartment for a while. I
think we know why they needed thechildren out of there. Shay took the
boys to Monkey Joe's the same placecenter Laura used to meet Grant at.

(37:52):
It's unclear if she took her mom'smonth old baby or if the baby stayed
in that apartment with Amanda and Grant. A kind of doubt she took the
baby while she was wrangling a twoand three year old at a kid's pizza
Clay Palace, but it's sickening tothink of that baby in the apartment during
what we know they did to Lauraand that bathroom. Shay stayed at Monkey

(38:16):
Joe's with the kids until about fouro'clock in the afternoon. Then, as
she called her mom to say shewas bringing the kids back, Amanda said
she needed to borrow her vacuum.Shay brought it over to her mother and
Grant's apartment at about six o'clock thatevening, aggravated by rush hour traffic,
and that her mom had also askedher to stop and pick up dinner on

(38:39):
top of the damn vacuum. Thisafter babysitting for her all day. Despite
being pissed off at her mom orGrant or both, Shay still did whatever
her mom asked her to. InBitter Remains, Diane Fanning wrote that Shay
had wanted to go with them onthe trip to Texas. She loved her

(39:00):
aunt Karen, whom she had livedwith for a while when her mom ran
off to the Virgin Islands and shewanted to visit her aunt too, She
said her mother snapped at her,telling her it wasn't a good time,
there was no room in the carwith all the car seats or whatever.
Amanda also pointed out her mother hadjust died guilt tripping Shay, so whenever

(39:24):
it actually happened, I go withFannings version. After Shay brought in the
reciprocating saw Manuel, she told policethat her mom and Grant had taken an
unexpected trip to Richmond, Texas,twelve hundred miles away. At any other
time, this trip might seem ordinary. Amanda's older sister, Karen, did

(39:46):
live in Richmond, and again,their mother had recently passed away, but
not that recently, and not inlight of the fact that Laura, the
mother of Grant's two sons, wasmissing. Grant, Amanda, and the
kids left on July sixteenth, fourdays after Laura disappeared, and only one

(40:07):
day after she was reported missing.It's not like the cops had not already
talked to Grant either remember, hehad an extended phone call with a detective
while they thought he was still inNorth Carolina, but he was actually calling
from Texas. Then the family offive returned to Raleigh late on July twentieth.

(40:30):
Again, investigators found the U haullocation, watched the footage and talked
to the employee who helped Grant,and he remembered him. He said he
was going on a fishing trip andhad these big coolers for bait he was
taking, and in true Grant form, he put it under his name with
Hayes spelled h a z E.Detectives watched Grant hitched the trailer to his

(40:53):
Dodge Durango. That was about elevena m. On the same day,
the fourteenth, the day after Lauradisappeared. That night, a little after
eight pm, Grant went to atarget just a mile from his apartment.
He bought two more coolers on wheels, one seventy five courts, the other

(41:14):
fifty courts. He also bought morecleaning supplies. Then that Saturday night,
the sixteenth, Grant, Amanda,three year old Little Grant, two year
old Gentle, and the month oldbaby girl all got into that durango pulling
the U haul and left for Texas. It should be obvious by now that

(41:37):
Grant and probably Amanda, though shewould later deny it, had dismembered Laura's
body. Her remains were stored onice in those large coolers. The ice
chests were loaded into the U haul, just like she was fish bait.

(41:57):
North Carolina investigators traveled to Tech afterthey contacted the local Fort Ben County authorities
for assistance. The local sheriff's deputiesand Raleigh detectives met and together went to
Amanda's sister, Karen's house in Richmond. When they asked Karen if they could
talk to her, she asked themif she could pray first, They said,

(42:22):
of course. Then Karen Barry sanglike a canary. After confirming that
Amanda, Grant and the kids hadvisited and then left already, Detective Dexter
Gill asked, is Laura here?At this Karen began sobbing and said,
I'm afraid she is. You needto look across the street. Across the

(42:47):
street, less than one hundred yardsfrom Karen's home was Oyster Creek. Detectives
sent word back to North Carolina.And Grant and Amanda Hayes. We're arrested
for Laura Akerson's murder. I'm goingto pause now to hear another word from

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Try Fume fum dot com slash sftc. The operation to find Laura Akerson's

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remains was immense. The Gulf CoastWater Authority was contacted to close the dams
to reduce the flow of water.As crime scene investigators and detectives rode out
on a boat an Oyster Creek,it did not take long for them to
spot two white objects floating among apatch of lily pads. It was two

(46:09):
parts of a torso divers worked untilit was too dark to see anything that
night. They began again early thenext morning. On Tuesday, July twenty
sixth, the Richmond Fire Department andHouston Police Department c SI crews scoured Oyster

(46:29):
Creek for more of Laura's remains.They sent investigators, bloodhounds, and divers.
And remember this was Texas in July. It was one hundred degrees in
the open air and about ninety degreesunder the water. For reference, the
typical hot tub is give or takeone hundred degrees. Not to mention that

(46:54):
the creek water was full of brownsilled. The divers couldn't see anything.
They were searching on their hands andknees and what I should go ahead and
mention was known to be alligator infestedwaters. In the end, other than
the torso, divers found a portionof her leg which was stuck in a

(47:15):
patch of vines, and a shortdistance upstream they found Laura's decapitated head wrapped
in a sheet. Although they couldstill tell that it was Laura, they
had to use dental records to positivelyidentify her. For reasons I will explain
in just a bit, Laura's headwas more decomposed than the rest of the

(47:38):
body parts divers found. Due tothe decomposition and water damage, the Texas
Emmy could not determine Laura's exact causeof death. It was declared a homicide
by undetermined means. On August eleventh, the Gulf Coast Water Authority was cleaning

(47:59):
the watergate under bridges. At thegate, less than a mile from Karen's
house, they found a portion ofa leg. This part was carefully sent
to North Carolina to be buried withthe rest of her remains. The rest
of Laura's body was never recovered.Twenty seven year old Laura Jene Akerson's partial

(48:22):
remains were buried in Tuttle Cemetery inIonia, Michigan. On July thirtieth,
nearly one hundred people gathered at GraceFellowship Church in Kinston, North Carolina to
remember Laura at a memorial service.Remember, while Laura was building her new
life during her difficult and often lonelycustody battle, she had joined this church

(48:47):
and made many new friends. Oneof those friends had plans to testify as
a character witness at Laura's next custodyhearing. Gravestone epitaph reads, now my
day is over night is drawing nighshadows of the evening steal across the sky.

(49:08):
When the morning wakes, Then mayI first rise pure and fresh and
sinless in thy holy eyes, whichis beautiful. Then, for some reason,
on that gravestone, I just readyou. Amanda's daughter's name is included
along with Laura's sons, saying Iwill love you forever after their names.

(49:34):
As though Laura was saying that thereis also a photo of all three children
on that stone, across from aphoto of Laura. It's not my place
to judge, but I sincerely don'tunderstand this at all. I have nothing
against an innocent girl who had themisfortune to be born to two murderers,

(49:55):
but I don't understand how or whyshe is on Laura's gravestone. Maybe they
just felt sorry for what would surelynow be a motherless and fatherless baby.
For her sake, I hope shechanges her name. For that matter,
I hope Laura's sons do too.I would never have given Laura's sons names

(50:22):
if they had not already been sowidely published everywhere. It also feels important
that their names seem more to dowith Grant than Laura. Little Grant the
fourth carrying on the family tradition,and Gentle Rain, a g name with
rain spelled like a king's reign,not like the rain showers. That doesn't

(50:46):
sound like Laura. It sounds likeGrant. I could be wrong, but
it's just a feeling I can't shake. It makes more sense that Grant,
as we know, felt ownership overhis son, and he put his mark
on them in their names, andI was honestly floored to see Amanda's daughter's

(51:07):
name on Laura's gravestone. As lovinga woman as Laura Akerson was, I
don't believe she would have considered Amanda'sdaughter like her own. It's just so
crazy to me. Grant and Amandawere already in jail by the time of
Laura's memorial, so it's not likeher family didn't know. But grieving families

(51:31):
do things for all sorts of reasons, and it's not really my business.
Of course, maybe they simply didfeel sorry for that baby girl. I
just couldn't help but pointed out,it's not like the gravestone isn't easily found
online anyway. Let's move back tothe timeline, or actually back up a

(51:52):
little back still. On July twentysecond, Raleigh Investigators, which at that
point was a task force even beforeLaura's remains were found in Texas, went
to Kinston, North Carolina, lookingfor Grant and Amanda Hayes. They went
to the home of Grant Junior andPatsy Hayes and then sat there watching the

(52:15):
house, waiting for that Durango topull in the driveway. They were waiting
for search warrants for the Durango andGrant and Amanda's cell phones. As soon
as they got them, they knockedon the door and Grant answered. The
cops took both Grant and Amanda tothe station, but they returned back to

(52:36):
his parents' home by midnight. Thepolice later said Grant behaved nonchalantly the whole
time, like he had nothing tohide. His email and Facebook messages would
tell another story. At this point, Grant still had his MacBook. This
dummy was talking to every friend hecould think of, asking them to pray

(53:00):
for him, Amanda, and forLaura's safe return because the police had trashed
his home, which I guess washis official reason to these friends that he
was back at his parents now,and also, poor thing the cops had
taken his car and both of theircell phones. If Laura didn't turn up

(53:22):
soon, it would look bad forhim. He reminded many friends that he
was a black man who was fightinga white girl for custody, and now
that white girl was missing. Hewas even asking people if they remembered Laura,
ever, mentioning anything about just upand leaving anything about her past that

(53:42):
might help explain why she had justleft on her own. I'm going to
pause now for a short commercial break. Grant had reason to be worried.
Investigators found blood in the Durango whenthey sprayed luminol, and not just on

(54:05):
Grant's driver's side, but on thepassenger side, seat belt and door.
And wedged between the seats was doctorCalloway's voluminous psychological report on Grant and Laura.
There were many notes in the marginfrom Grant. No never things like
that. So he drove to Texaswith that report in the car with him,

(54:30):
And how did they come to thismacabre task driving Laura's remains to Texas.
There would be conflicting stories, naturally, though at first the Hayes were
a united front. Later, accordingto Grant, he left the room where
Laura was signing the settlement note,leaving her alone with Amanda. When Grant

(54:54):
returned, he claimed that Laura andAmanda were at the tail end of a
physical altercation. Amanda was unharmed,but Laura was on the floor. Grant
told investigators Laura died as a resultof the injuries from her and Amanda's fight.
In fact, he said it happenedin front of her two year old

(55:15):
son, But according to Amanda,that's not at all what happened. In
Amanda's version, all three adults engagedin a heated argument over custody. Obviously,
Laura was upset because she wanted thekids, and Grant was also upset,
But Amanda was concerned about where thistwenty five thousand dollars lump sum Grant

(55:40):
was offering Laura was supposed to comefrom. So far, Grant had already
sold a large amount of Amanda's prizedpossessions. She was upset trying to figure
out where the hell he would getthis money. Amanda also told a tell
that Laura became enraged when Amanda wouldn'tlet her hold the new baby. So

(56:06):
Laura began following Amanda around the apartment, and then the two women bumped into
each other due to how close Larawas following her, or maybe shoving her
was how Amanda made it seem.Then she claimed Laura tripped on the carpet.
Then Amanda said Grant quote stepped inafter Laura fell. She said that

(56:30):
Laura was injured, so Grant tookher into the bathroom presumably to stop bleeding,
I guess, and he sent Amandaand the children away. Grant didn't
want the two boys to see theirmother like that. This was part of
that Chick fil A story he hadalready been telling, And Amanda did leave

(56:50):
the apartment late that night, sometimebefore ten pm. Remember, the best
lies have a little bit of truthin them. So Amanda took the kids
on a drive while Grant was supposedto call nine one one and get ems
there. But when Amanda returned,Grant told her that Laura was fine.

(57:13):
She had gotten up and left onher own, no paramedics needed. None
of this makes any sense. We'resupposed to believe that Laura was going to
take a payout in exchange for hertwo sons, whom she loved more than
life itself, and that Laura wasso infuriated about not being allowed to hold

(57:34):
her ex's new wife's baby that shestarted following her around, even shoving her
bullshit. If anything, the LauraAkerson everyone knew, the Laura Akerson,
who was so polite and kind inall of her texts and emails with Amanda,
would have politely told Amanda her babywas beautiful, but she would not

(57:58):
be demanding to hold that baby.She was there to pick up her sons,
not coup over her ex's new baby. It's so ridiculous. At the
end of the day, Grant andAmanda can't both be right. One or
both of them was definitely in thatroom when Laura died. Someone is lying,

(58:22):
probably both of them, to certaindegrees, and we will probably never
know what really happened. Regardless ofthe exact details of the situation. Laura
was murdered. We don't know whodealt the final blow, or who held
the chord that strangled her, orif they did it together, But that

(58:45):
didn't matter on the evening of Wednesday, July thirteenth, twenty eleven. All
that mattered at this point was thatGrant and Amanda had a body to deal
with, and how they chose todo with Laura's body was, in no
uncertain terms, absolutely depraved. Whenthey were finished, they got on the

(59:08):
road to Texas. Then, afternineteen hours of driving, on the evening
of Sunday, July seventeenth, Grant, Amanda and the kids arrived with that
U haul trailer at her sister's homein Richmond. Later, during her own
court testimony, Amanda would claim thatshe had no clue that Laura's remains were

(59:30):
in the U haul. Amanda claimedshe had no part in dismembering Laura.
She claimed that she never even sawthe body. She supposedly thought she and
Grant were dropping off some of hermother's things at Karen's house. That's it,
and she and Grant had stopped ata self storage unit in Raleigh before

(59:52):
going to Texas to pick up apiece of furniture. But if Amanda's story
were to hold up, what wasshe doing in the apartment during the hours
when Grant was dismembering Laura's body.She wasn't at Monkey Joe's with Shay,
her baby, and her two stepsons. And there's no indication that Amanda

(01:00:13):
had any other alibi for this timeperiod. Maybe she had her headphones on
with music turned up really loud,or maybe Grant dismembered Laura at a different
location. It is strange that nota single trace of blood was ever found
in Grant and Amanda's apartment, andinvestigators tore that place up. They removed

(01:00:35):
the plumbing and ripped up the carpet, but naw that clean, shiny bathroom,
along with all the tarpus, plasticand other accessories all point to the
bathroom. My grizzly guess is thatthey put a tarp in the tub before
dismembering Laura. They didn't just washall the blood down the drain, because

(01:00:57):
typically when investigators remove all the plumbinglike that, they do usually find blood.
It's why they've learned to rip outall the plumbing no matter what,
which at that time meant tearing apartthe roof in the apartment below Grant and
Amanda's. But here's the thing.Once someone is dead and their heart stops

(01:01:19):
pumping, they don't bleed out.I'm not saying there wouldn't have been blood
even a mess, but I wouldsay the bleach stained by the front door
is where Laura did the most bleeding. By the time she was in that
bathtub, her heart had long stopped. Grant didn't even have the saw until

(01:01:39):
almost nine hours later, so ifthey used a tarp, there wouldn't have
been that much blood to wash downthe drain, if any. And of
course they would have poured bleach downthe drain to just in case. And
here's another way. I'll never understandhow smart and how stupid of a criminal

(01:02:00):
Grant was. Somehow no trace ofblood was found, but we have his
dumbass on surveillance footage at Walmart twice, Target, once U Haul, and
the home depot in Texas. Maybeit was Amanda who was smart about the
cleanup, but hey, maybe itwas Amanda who was the smart one period

(01:02:23):
who sent Grant out for those supplies. But maybe she forgot to warn him
about cameras and talking to people.I just don't know. We never will.
Ultimately, they did not testify againsteach other. On that Wednesday,
July twentieth, investigators had tried tocomb through garbage looking for any signs,

(01:02:47):
but the most recent dumpster pickup hadbeen on the fifteenth, two days after
Laura went missing. Employees with CityTrash had assured them that they would have
seen a body or even blood,and if they had not seen it,
they would have known the smell.And remember Amanda had gotten the kids out

(01:03:08):
of the house on the fourteenth,Maybe they would have noticed a body.
Who is to say about the blood, especially if the dumpsters were emptied that
soon after her murder, detectives foundout that about forty five trucks had dumped
at the same trash center, Sowhatever was in that particular dumpster was under

(01:03:30):
more than ten feet of trash bythe time they were questioning the city about
it. I've seen on documentaries wherepolice will go to dumps and search for
bodies. I'm not sure why theywouldn't have here, except all of this
was happening very fast, and Amandaand Grant Hayes had just rolled back into

(01:03:51):
town on the night of the twentieth. Maybe they thought they would get a
confession and find out where Laura was. Then they would, but not from
Grant or Amanda. It was fromKaren Barry, and she was the reason
why Laura's family and friends had abody to Lateter Rest. Five days after

(01:04:12):
the investigators were looking in Kinston dumpsters, Laura's remains were being found twelve hundred
miles away in a creek in Richmond, Texas. The investigators did actually go
through the trash and found many thingsthat helped, including Latex gloves with Laura's
DNA on them, But while theywere in Texas, it was all on

(01:04:35):
Amanda to get her sister's help.Karen Barry would testify at both trials.
Grant put it on Amanda to explainthings to Karen. Karen testified that her
sister said, I hurt Laura.I hurt her bad, and then she
said Laura is dead. She thencalled Grant over to join in the conversation.

(01:05:01):
Karen did point out that she laterasked Amanda if she was covering for
Grant, and her sister just nodded. After that was when she had a
conversation about the creek across from herhouse. They asked to borrow Karen's boat.
She claimed she didn't know for surewhat they were doing, but she

(01:05:24):
guessed. But on their first morningin Texas, Grant had a conversation with
Karen's son, Dalton. How deepis that creek? Up to thirteen feet
in some places? Was the answer? Are there alligators in the creek?
Yes? Was the answer. Later, Amanda questioned Karen's other son, Shelton,

(01:05:46):
do alligators eat people? She asked, Yeah, they're alligators, was
his answer. Then she asked abouthoggs. Shelton managed a business that caught
feral hoggs. What about hogs?Do they eat people? Shelton said,
yes, I have a search onmy computer now about this question, and

(01:06:10):
evidently they will eat people, butthey won't eat bones, teeth, or
even fingernails. I hate that Iknow this, and so I suppose this
is where the conversation turned to otherideas. Karen later characterized this as brainstorming.
They discussed disposing of Laura's remains byfeeding them to wild hogs. They

(01:06:32):
searched for a hole on the propertybig enough to bury Laura, but that
idea felled too. Then they consideredstoring Laura and Karen's septic tank. That
way, they could just wait forLaura to fully disintegrate, but the opening
to the septic tank was inaccessible.Whatever the outcome of this brainstorming, later

(01:06:55):
that morning, July nineteenth, Amandawent to an ATM and got cash,
and then Grant went to a localhome depot and again didn't know exactly what
he was looking for, so heasked for help with covering up an odor.
He said he wanted some kind ofacid, and even though the employee
said that wouldn't work on an odor, he sold Grant a couple of boxes

(01:07:18):
of muriatic acid what would later beeight bottles. He also purchased gloves on
the advice of the employee, anda thirty two gallon trash can. The
acid did not work, but Itexplained the difference in decomposition from Laura's head
and the rest of the pieces theyhad found. It was most important to

(01:07:42):
try and dissolve her head because ofthe identifying features like her teeth. An
expert would later say they definitely triedbecause acid marks were found on Laura's teeth.
There would be another expert who wouldanalyzed the soil and the hog pen
where Shopton worked and found mariadic acidin that soil. I don't need to

(01:08:03):
connect the dots here, and Idon't want to. What is important is
after this, the plan was totake Karen's boat out on Oyster Creek that
night. Amanda later testified that shewould quote never forget how Grant revealed to
her that Laura's remains were in theU haul. She said that while they

(01:08:25):
were at her sister's house in Texas, quote, he was smoking a cigarette
and he was really calm, andhe told me, what would you do
if I told you Laura was dead? He told me he got scared that
he was a black man with adead white woman and no one was going
to believe him. When she testified, Amanda said that Grant was holding a

(01:08:45):
machete when he said these things,which scared her. She said she was
afraid of not cooperating with his plans. However, Amanda also testified that Grant
had never physically harmed her before.Security tapes showed Amanda pouring out those same
bottles of muriatic acid near Karen's home, and the discarded bottles were also recovered.

(01:09:12):
Incidentally, when Amanda was finally arrested, she had on the same clothes
and her mugshot that she had onin the video of her dumping out the
acid. That will be important later. On the evening of Tuesday, July
nineteenth, Grant and Amanda borrowed Karen'sboat and traveled along Oyster Creek. Over
the course of several hours, theydropped the portions of Laura's body into the

(01:09:36):
creek well. Amanda claimed that Grantdid this while she had her back turned
the whole time she helped row theboat, but never saw or touched any
part of Laura's body. She saidher husband did that she just heard the
water splashes as he dumped them inthe creek. After all of this,

(01:09:59):
they rushed to return the U haulat a location in Richmond, then jumped
on the road nineteen hours back,somehow making it back to Patsy Hayes's home
either late on the twentieth or inthe early morning hours of the twenty first.
Then, on the morning of Monday, July twenty fifth, twenty eleven,
thirty two year old Grant Hayes andthirty nine year old Amanda Hayes were

(01:10:21):
arrested for Laura's murder. They wereheld at the Wait County Detention Center without
bail. Investigators had not yet matchedDNA taken from Laura's hairbrush as well as
her son's, to the remains theyhad found. When they did, a
grand jury returned an indictment on Augustfifth. No charges were pressed against Amanda's

(01:10:45):
sister, Karen Barry, but that'sonly because she agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
She had already known she would haveto face her sister in court.
Now it was official going to pausefor a short commercial break. Craig Brady,

(01:11:08):
the Chief deputy for the Fort BenCounty Sheriff's Office, was baffled by
this crime. He told the Newsand Observer that it seemed strange that someone
would kill their victim, dismember them, and then drive more than one thousand
miles to dispose of the body withinone hundred yards of a known relative.
After passing through a lot of secludedareas on their way to Texas that were

(01:11:33):
better suited for a body, Bradysaid, So they drove through what five
or six states and over a fortymile wide swamp in Louisiana, all so
they could bring the body here.Fortunately, for police, criminals just aren't
very smart. The evidence against Grantand Amanda was insurmountable. Investigators had found

(01:11:58):
resperried or masked packaging and LATEX gloves. The DNA on the gloves matched Laura.
Grant had also been caught lying tothe police when they first called him
about Laura's missing person status. Granthad said he was in Raleigh when he
was actually in Richmond, Texas.As it turns out, Grant had lied

(01:12:20):
to law enforcement multiple times. Hehad given inconsistent stories regarding his whereabouts on
July thirteenth several times. In thefall of twenty eleven, law enforcement seized
Grant's email records. That's how theylearned that Grant had reached out to Laura
to invite her to another midweek visitwith her boys. It was just supposed

(01:12:45):
to be another visit to Monkey Joe's. He had not yet offered to let
her keep the boys until the twentyfourth. They also saw a few emails
he had sent on July fifteenth toLaura, again offering the extended time with
her boys and then complaining that shedidn't show up that Friday, which doesn't

(01:13:06):
make sense between the two anyway.He did this two days after she was
already dead. Originally, Grant andAmanda were to be tried together as co
defendants. However, Amanda's attorney accusedGrant of sending Amanda intimidating letters from the
Wake County jail. She alleged thatGrant threatened to kill Amanda and these letters,

(01:13:30):
so in April of twenty thirteen,Wake County Judge Donald Stevens ruled that
Grant and Amanda would be tried separately. On Monday, September TEWOD twenty thirteen,
jury's selection began for the trial ofthirty four year old Grant Hayes.
The prosecution's case was simple. Theyargued that Grant and Amanda wanted Laura out

(01:13:53):
of the way so they could havecustody of the two boys. With the
next custody related court date looming onthe horizon in August of twenty eleven,
they knew they had to act fast. As I told you in Part one,
they knew they were about to losecustody of Grant's sons, so Grant
and Amanda lured Laura to their apartment. They promised her that she would see

(01:14:17):
her kids for an unexpected midweek visitthat would last to the twenty fourth,
almost twelve full days, and aftershe got to their apartment, they were
going to offer Laura twenty five thousanddollars in exchange for full custody, or
they were really going to force Laurato sign a piece of paper, saying

(01:14:39):
that I believe it's doubtful that theyhad any intention of letting Laura walk out
of their regardless of what she signed. The state supported their theory with forty
seven witnesses and five hundred pieces ofevidence. Through the testimony of Laura's friends

(01:14:59):
and family, they proved that Grantwas abusive to her, and the prosecuting
attorneys called to the stand the psychologist, doctor Ginger Calloway, who had evaluated
both Laura and Grant for custody purposes. Doctor Calloway testified that Grant had a
history of illicit drug use, sufferedfrom a possible mental illness. He was

(01:15:24):
manipulative and a liar, He hada DWI, and he had literally told
her that he wanted to obliterate LauraAkerson. Remember, doctor Calloway's report was
in the Durango wedged, where Grantwould have sat to drive. That report
was a trigger. He was aboutto lose, and Grant Hayes didn't lose.

(01:15:49):
Grant Hayes had to win. SheltonKaren's son testified that he heard Grant
say to someone on the phone,I don't need an alibi. I was
with my family. Wonder who hewas talking to. My money is on
Patsy Hayes. The state said theimportance of that note with Laura's handwriting is

(01:16:14):
that it showed they, or atleast Grant, had intent to kill Laura
and that he had acted in acool state of mind. Heidie Schumacher's testimony,
as you can imagine, was notemotional. She had a spine of
steel and a great memory. Shedespised Grant Hayes, and no matter how

(01:16:35):
sad she was for Laura. Hercalm and collected demeanor on the stand was
a credit to her. It wasn'tjust an emotional friend who was guessing.
She knew dates, times, thewhole story. She testified approximately two months
before her death. She told meshe was very worried, and she said,

(01:16:57):
Heidi, if anything happens to me, if I come out suicide,
or if I go missing, orif I get into a car accident,
Grant did it. The state alsoput on Grant's jailhouse companion, a man
named Pablo Trinidad. I know,I know, jailhouse informants are not always
the best, but as the statewill later prove, Pablo had no way

(01:17:20):
of reading any articles about what happenedbefore he testified, because it wasn't coming
out in the papers or online untilafter he testified. And he humbly said
there were no promises made to himabout his sentence. He just hoped it
would look good for the parole board. Pablo was serving twenty one years for

(01:17:43):
conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and possessionof a firearm, so he was a
convicted felon, but not a murderer. Remember Pablo's twenty one year sentence by
the way, He and Grant werein the same housing area of the jail
for around one to two weeks.Pablo testified that one day the inmates were

(01:18:05):
watching Grant's case being covered on TV. Seeing what Grant was accused of the
other inmates were outraged. They wantedto jump Grant, but Pablo diffused the
situation. After this incident, Grantadmitted to Pablo that he called Laura and
convinced her to come to his apartmentunder false pretenses of settling the custody dispute.

(01:18:30):
Pablo testified that Grant told him shewas an unfit mother and that they'd
been having a custody battle for someyears now, going back and forth,
and he was just tired of it, so he said that he placed a
call to her and lured her tohis apartment, and that's when him and
his wife subdued her and strangled her. And the famous doctor Deborah Radish from

(01:18:54):
the Michael Peterson case testified that Laura'snext sustained wound consistent with stabbing or strangulation.
There was no way to be surewhich, but she was sure the
wound was not from the dismemberment.Laura had suffered the injury to her fourth

(01:19:15):
cervical vertebra, as well as damageto certain tissue and thyroid cartilage. So
it's very possible she was strangled.Remember that apple power cord you have in
your back pocket. Doctor Radish agreedthat was a possibility. She also said
it was very possible it was aknife wound. Remember there were missing knives

(01:19:38):
from the kitchen block. If Ihad to guess, they tried to use
the apple cord first, and shestruggled too much, so someone lost their
temper and used the knife. Ormaybe strangling was taking too long it's not
how it looks in the movies.Or maybe Laura fought like hell for her

(01:19:59):
life she knew she had to andwas making too much noise, so they
used the knife. Whatever happened,it's very clear that a great deal of
blood was spilled near that front door, Like I said, as Laura was
almost making her escape. I've mentionedDiane's Fanning's book It remains several times.

(01:20:23):
It is an amazing read, andif for no other reason than to get
her idea of those last moments,I may not actually believe that is how
it happened, but I like howshe wanted to think it did. Grant's
defense team took one definitive stance.Yes, Grant had helped get rid of

(01:20:43):
Laura's body, but he hadn't killedLaura. His wife, Amanda was entirely
responsible for that. They repeated thestory I told you earlier, how Grant
left the room for a short periodof time, then when he returned,
Laura was somehow dead by Amanda's hands. The defense was vague on how she

(01:21:05):
died, but they claimed that itwas an accidental death, not an orchestrated
murder scheme. Amanda and Laura hadsimply gotten into a fight that went wrong.
The defense's first witness was Amanda's sister, Karen. Karen testified about how
Amanda came in and told her thatshe had quote hurt Laura and hurt her

(01:21:29):
bad. Grant's attorneys leaned heavily onthis statement, and Grant's defense attorney said
in opening statements, the evidence willshow that the death of the victim happened
in a spontaneous, unpredictable way atthe hands of Amanda Hayes. The defendant
helped clean up the evidence and disposeof the body. That's a serious thing.

(01:21:51):
That's a terrible thing, but it'snot murder. No, he just
dismembered the mother of his children witha reciprocating saul, drove her remains across
country and tried to feed her toalligators. And we're supposed to believe he
did all of that even though hedidn't kill Laura. As Becky Holt,

(01:22:15):
a prosecutor, would say in closingarguments, he robbed her of her life
and he robbed her of her dignity. In closing arguments, the state played
a song Grant wrote and performed aboutLaura when he first went to New York.
It was called Broomstick Writer. Thewords were my baby's mama, don't

(01:22:39):
talk to me, don't want yourdrama. I got two kids by you.
I can't take any more from you. I put a price tag on
your head. You must have toldyour attorney I got intentions of killing you.
And the worst part, Grant bouncedin his seat as the prosecution played
this song for the court. Heliterally sat there, dancing in his seat,

(01:23:01):
mouthing the words. The state,after calling forty seven witnesses and introducing
more than five hundred pieces of evidenceover the last two weeks, was finally
finished. The jury of four menand eight women listened and then watched as
Grant Hayes jammed along in his seatto his song Broomstick Rider that was probably

(01:23:25):
more effective than anything they said andclosing. The trial lasted nearly two weeks,
and on Monday, September sixteenth,twenty thirteen, after ninety minutes of
deliberation, the jury found Grant Hayesthe third guilty of first degree murder.
He was automatically sentenced to life inprison without parole at the advice of his

(01:23:48):
counsel. Grant had not testified athis own trial. Later he would say
that he wished he had testified.He felt he was misled by his lawyers.
Grant firm believed that from the verybeginning his trial was rigged. Yeah.
Right. The presiding judge, DonaldStevens said it best to quote,

(01:24:10):
I think that a jury verdict ina case like this in an hour and
a half probably speaks louder than anythinganyone could say about this case. Right
away, Grant's attorneys announced their intentionsto appeal. He didn't testify on his
own behalf, but he was happyto give a jailhouse interview and continue to

(01:24:30):
throw Amanda under the bus. Speakingwith ABC eleven, Grant Hayes claimed he
didn't kill Laura. He said Amandakilled her in an act of self defense.
Quote. As Amanda was walking away, Laura snatched her back by her
hair after telling her she was goingto take her child from her, and
Amanda told me that she forcefully hither in the throat with her elbow.

(01:24:57):
Grant said when he came back intothe room, Laura was lying on the
floor bleeding from her nose and Amandawas screaming. It does not dawn on
me in any way that she mightbe mortally wounded at all. I mean
I was gone out of the roomless than a minute, literally, and
uh, Laura died in front ofme and my son, little Grant.

(01:25:18):
Of course, he couldn't deny whathe did with that saw in his bathroom,
but it's like he feels sorry forhimself. It's awful, he said.
It's something you never want to experienceor know what it's like. It's
haunting. This mother trucker said itwas haunting for him. He went on

(01:25:41):
to say, I need to extendmy condolences to Laura's family and friends and
to my family as well. ButI didn't kill Laura. And as bad
of a crime as desecrating a corpseis, it's a worse crime to sentence
a man to life without giving hima fair trial. Hey, buddy,
your attorney can't stop you from testifying. They can't help it if you're stupid,

(01:26:05):
and they were smart to advise youto stay off the stand. You
were your own worst enemy. Intwenty fifteen, Grant did appeal, but
nothing came of it. Today,forty four year old Grant Hayes is in
the Eastern Correctional Institution in Marey,North Carolina. He will never be released.

(01:26:29):
I'm going to pause now for afinal commercial break. By the time
Amanda's trial came around, this wasa highly publicized case. Camera crews from
Inside Edition and other national media outletswere staking out seats in the courtroom.

(01:26:50):
Nancy Grace, NBC's Dateline, andnumerous other court TV shows were also following
the case. In January of twentyfourteen, three years after Laura was murdered,
forty one year old Amanda Hayes's jurytrial finally began. The prosecution presented
basically the same case they had againstGrant, he and Amanda were both equally

(01:27:15):
responsible for Laura's murder. It wason purpose, and it was to avoid
a bitter custody battle. Amanda's defensecounsel also took a similar approach to Grant's
attorneys during his trial. They arguedthat Grant had killed Laura, not Amanda.
After she fell or hurt herself,Grant told Amanda to take the kids

(01:27:38):
and leave, and he took Laurainto the bathroom. Amanda had only helped
with the body disposal when she realizedthat Laura's remains were in the U haul
they had towed to Texas. Amanda'slawyers painted Grant as an intimidating figure who
had pressured Amanda into her role inthe crime. So we are supposed to

(01:28:00):
believe that Amanda didn't know Laura wasin the main bathroom of that apartment,
the bathroom the kids used for fourdays. She got to their apartment on
the thirteenth, They left for Texason the night of the sixteenth. Four
days. It took them to dismemberLaura and sneak her out in coolers to

(01:28:21):
the U haul, but Amanda hadno idea sure, the defense said Grant
was a sociopath and had the nerveto call Laura and Amanda both victims.
Amanda's team described Grant as seeming verycharming, witty, and very talented while

(01:28:41):
actually being controlling, manipulative, anddeceitful, which was true, but those
last three words were perfect for Amanda. Hayes two. Amanda did testify on
her own behalf. I bet therewas no talking her out of it.
Little miss actress thought she had this. During her testimony, Amanda said she

(01:29:04):
wanted to leave Grant as soon asshe found out that he had murdered Laura,
but she couldn't because she thought hewould hurt her newborn daughter or her
older daughter, Shay. I watchedher testimony on YouTube. She sits there
in her pink dress, in herlittle girl voice, saying no, ma'am,
no, ma'am, over and overwhen Prosecutor Becky holt asks her repeatedly

(01:29:30):
about seeing Laura's body, about helpingdump Laura's body. We are to believe
she turned her back while on thatboat in Oyster Creek and didn't help her
husband bullshit. Her wide eyed littlegirl routine was sickening. The prosecution called
Amanda a liar. One attorney saidher statements were so ridiculous compared to the

(01:29:54):
physical evidence that she made zero sense. They also pointed to her background as
an actress. Prosecutor Bob Zellinger saidshe has given the performance of her life.
The state also pointed out the testimonyof Amanda's cellmate. That cellmate said
Amanda told them Laura died during akitchen accident in Amanda's apartment, which really

(01:30:18):
goes against the whole I wasn't evenin the apartment at the time story that
Amanda's defense counsel was peddling a kitchenaccident is also interesting with the knife theory
and the huge bleach stain by thefront door Laura bled there, so like
Pablo before. In Grant's trial,Lara's cellmate's story rang true. She also

(01:30:44):
testified that she was not promised anythingfor her testimony and the defense could not
prove otherwise. Plus, the prosecutionpointed out that Amanda had continued to correspond
with Grant even after they were incarcerated. She would write letters to Grant's mother,
who would then relay them to Grant. Patsy Hayes wasted no time bringing

(01:31:06):
them to the prosecutor to make herdaughter in law look bad. In the
letters, Amanda told Grant how muchshe loved him and thought about him every
day. While the nuances of adomestically violent relationship could allow this to happen,
it does make you wonder how canshe still love a man who blamed

(01:31:29):
it all on her to save himself. And let's not forget. She also
testified that he had never harmed her. Doctor Callaway testified that the Hayeses wanted
full custody of the two and threeyear old boys and that their wishes,
comments and actions suggested that they wouldquote effectively erase Laura as the children's mother.

(01:31:55):
There was a collective insensitivity to thechildren's needs for their mother. Although
Grant declined to testify for Amanda,how could he since he blamed her and
he couldn't risk being cross examined forhis own appeal, But he did give
that Jeilhouse interview and supported his wifequote, my wife is not guilty of

(01:32:17):
murder in any sense of the word. What she did was a reflex,
and the injury sustained as a resultof her defending herself and her child led
to her death. Grant Hayes thenactually said Laura got herself killed. The
trial had more than ten days oftestimony and over fifty witnesses. On Wednesday,

(01:32:41):
February nineteenth, twenty fourteen, afterninety minutes of deliberation, the jury
convicted forty one year old Amanda Hayesof second degree murder. She was sentenced
to thirteen to sixteen years in prison. Pablo Trinidad got twenty one years for
cocaine and fire possession. Let thatsink in. This was obviously a disappointment

(01:33:06):
to Minny, as the jury couldhave sentenced her to first degree murder.
Then Amanda would have been automatically sentencedto life in prison without parole, just
like Grant. Laura's father, Roger, who sat through every day of the
trial, said of Amanda, she'sa manipulator, She's a liar. She

(01:33:26):
uses that sing songy voice when shewants to get something from you that doesn't
work with me. I don't thinkit was the pink dress, or Amanda's
testimony or her voice. I dojust think the jury believed Grant was the
murderer and Amanda was his accomplice.That's what most people believe. But since

(01:33:47):
Amanda had not received as harsh ofa sentence as Grant. North Carolina prosecutors
called Texas prosecutors and gave them theheads up prosecute Amanda Hayes in Texas for
the disposal of Laura's body. Shehad now admitted to being there an open
court. She knew Laura was dead. She knew she was at the very

(01:34:09):
least helping Grant. In twenty eighteen, forty six year old Amanda was tried
for tampering with evidence, in thiscase a corpse in Texas. They had
that dear hunter's video of her dumpingthe acid, and she was wearing the
exact same clothes in her booking photoin North Carolina. Amanda was convicted and

(01:34:32):
given the maximum. She was sentencedto an additional twenty years in prison,
which was the maximum amount she couldhave received. Amanda's sentences will be served
consecutively, so once she finishes hertime in the Antsign Correctional Institute in Polkton,
North Carolina, they'll cart her assstraight to Texas. If Amanda ever

(01:34:57):
gets out of prison, she'll bein her seventies. Today she is fifty
one years old. I saw onone documentary a Texas prosecutor say that it
wasn't unusual to hear from other prosecutorswithin their state, but the call from
North Carolina was a first and theywere happy to oblige. Amanda and Grant

(01:35:19):
have since divorced, and as faras my research could find, Amanda has
never appealed, which might seem odd, but author Diane Fanning explained it pretty
well in an interview with WRL Newspromoting her book Bitter Remains. She's not

(01:35:39):
a stupid woman. Fanning said aboutAmanda going on, she knows that if
she went for a new trial,there's a strong possibility that this time the
jury wouldn't be convinced that she waspartially a victim. It appears that Grant
and Laura's two sons are being raisedby grant aunt's mother, Patsy. In

(01:36:01):
early August of twenty eleven, Laura'sfather filed for custody of the young boys.
However, three years later, inFebruary twenty fourteen, grant'smother, Patsy,
was still their primary guardian. RogerAkerson later died in twenty twenty one
at the age of seventy five.He is buried near his daughter as far

(01:36:25):
as we can tell, Brenda,Laura's mother evidently still lives in Michigan and
her married name is now Brooks.I have found no indication that she came
to the trial or was in anyway interested in what happened to her daughter.
Incidentally, Patsy Hayes lost her daycareas a result of the bad publicity.

(01:36:45):
Two thirds of her children dropped outuntil there wasn't much use in continuing
on. I don't feel at allsorry for her, except that as guardian
of Laura's children, I would havewanted her to be financial stable. Of
course, so it's hard for meto sneer at Patsy losing her business,
even if she did deserve to.Laura Akerson's sons are now fifteen and fourteen

(01:37:12):
years old, soon to be sixteenand fifteen. I cannot even imagine how
their lives have been. A doubtthey would even remember the warm, loving
mother who fought so desperately to getcustody of them back from her abusive X
their father. Laura's phone and hertape recorder, along with her purse,

(01:37:33):
were never found, while the statecould subpoena her text and email records.
Whatever was recorded on that phone,and that tape recorder was lost forever.
There's no doubt in my mind therecordings would have buried Grant in the custody
case. Their poor mother, whohad always been too smart, to be

(01:37:57):
alone with Grant Hayes again until heoffered her something he knew she couldn't resist,
twelve solid straight days with her boysafter a year of weekends. Only
that lure was just too strong.As one of the state's prosecutors said,
he couldn't control her in life,so now he has to control her in

(01:38:21):
death. As the other prosecutor said, he wanted to erase Laura from his
life. He wanted to have afamily without Laura in it. This has
been one of the most horrific casesI've ever covered, But like almost every

(01:38:41):
domestic violence case that ends in murder, it was about control. Grant Hayes
had lost control of Laura Akerson,so he could not let her live.
Southern Fried True Crime is hosted andproduced by me Erica Kelly. I'm sorry

(01:39:05):
the creek did rise with almost thirteenthousand words more, and I couldn't bear
to split this into three parts,even though there were two trials. Today's
episode was written by me Erica Kellyand was researched by me and Andrea Marshbak.
Southern Fred's original music is by RobHarrison of Gamma Radio and the original
graphic artist by Coley Horner. Today'sepisode was edited and mixed by Brendan Schecksnier

(01:39:30):
of Southern Gothic and Erica Kelly.As I said, an excellent read for
this case is Diane Fannings's Bitter Remains, a custody battle, a gruesome crime,
and the mother who paid the ultimateprice. It was a very helpful
source and of course covers way moreground than I could ever in two episodes.
If you have any case suggestions,please go to my website Southernfred True

(01:39:53):
Crime dot com and click on thelistener suggestion to app or email SFTC Research
at gmail dot com. Please rememberthat I do not accept suggestions on social
media private messages, but please rememberto come join our Facebook group, Southern
Fred True Crime Fans Discussion Group,where we swap recipes, worship Dolly Parton,
and share memes. We do,of course discuss true crime, not

(01:40:13):
just Southern fraud, but all kinds, but it is still very much a
Southern Lifestyle Group. Our group isa safe and fun corner of Facebook,
and by God, we mean itwhen we say no shit ass is allowed.
It's not just a motto, it'show we run the group. If
you enjoy today's show, don't forgetto subscribe and please tell a friend or
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(01:40:34):
Amazon, Audible, and YouTube.Until next time, thanks so much for
listening. Y'all. Take care

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214: Erasing Laura Ackerson, Part 2

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