October 15, 2024 • 32 mins
Donna had a history of regular visits to the local hospital - those records uncover a completely new theory in her death. While trying to make contact with Clay, Tucker finally reaches Donna's spiritual counselor, and she doesn't hold back.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
>> Narrator (00:00):
The claims, views, and opinions expressed are those of the speaker
and do not represent those of But Media or its
partners. All subjects are innocent until proven
guilty. This is a podcast about
difficult topics, and it may not be suitable for all
audiences. Listener discretion is advised.
>> Demmie Rice (00:31):
What happened? Tucker is bugging me, and I was
thinking about my case and stuff, and I remembered it
was an old laptop, and I went
out, popped that bitch open. I found a
911 call and some notes.
>> Michelle Thomas (00:45):
The whole ambiance of
his demeanor was
eerie. I just felt like I was in the
presence of the devil, if you want to know the truth. He
ever comes to try to harm me, the Holy Ghost would
slap him ever. Which way but loose, so I'm not afraid of
him.
>> Demmie Rice (01:04):
Piece of the puzzle. I just feel bad that you're even having to put all
the puzzle pieces.
>> Michelle Thomas (01:08):
Together, because I know it's a lot.
>> Tucker Simmons (01:10):
That's what I do, though, so
I'm feeling heavy?
>> Michelle Thomas (01:21):
There's a pounding in my chest
the shadows hiding but I see the
silhouettes.
>> Tucker Simmons (01:29):
I fear lives in
the quiet whisper
I'm Tucker Simmons, and this is freeze
frame, an investigation into the
unsolved murder of Donna Arceneaux.
(02:06):
I've gotten a lot of questions about just how much I knew of
Donna's case before I began this investigation. And the
reality is, of course, I knew certain details about her
relationships, alleged abuse, and rumors about
her death. But I've made a concerted effort to approach
this investigation with no preconceived notions or
theories. I'm just following the evidence, wherever that
takes me. As I shared in episode one, that's
(02:29):
made for some uncomfortable situations and conversations with
family and lifelong friends.
One aspect of this story that I was well aware of long before
Donna's death is her troubled marriage to
Clay. He was employed by the
(02:49):
Franklinton police Department during their marriage, and when it came to
his work, he was notoriously strict. I
know this firsthand, actually, because when I was in high school, Clay
never missed a chance to write me a ticket.
According to Donna's sons and others who spent time in the
arsenal home, Donna and Clay's marriage was
intense. The highs were high, and the lows were
(03:09):
often unbearable. There were allegations of
domestic violence on both sides and at
least one incident involving the Franklinton Police Department where
Clay worked. Donna is alleged to have
slapped and thrown a boot at Clay over a cell phone dispute
during their separation. Sources at the Washington
Parish Sheriff's office claim there were multiple calls involving
disputes at the arsenal home, but all record requests have been
(03:32):
denied. Pending the open case.
I, bring this up. Because Clay was interviewed by investigators
and again by the state police, he remains a free man,
though still working as a police officer. So
despite what people think of him, there's either a huge lack
of evidence, or he's just innocent. The
following audio is an exact transcription of an
(03:53):
individual who was close to Donna and Clay during their
marriage. This person wished to remain anonymous.
>> Anonymous Source (04:02):
I don't want to blame anyone. All I can tell you is that after they
separated, Donna told anyone who would listen that
she was afraid of Clay. He didn't like the people she hung
out with. He didn't want their daughter around them. And
because of that, most people around her think he did it.
Now, again, I'm not taking a position on it,
but ask anyone around town, they'll tell you to look into
(04:22):
that cop she was married to.
>> Tucker Simmons (04:25):
Like I said, Clay has a reputation, and some say he thrives
on that tough cop image. But murdering the mother of
his daughter and then working alongside her family to seek
justice, at least for now, that just doesn't make
sense to me. Clay and his daughter moved to a
neighboring Parish shortly after Donna's death, which many
locals considered suspicious. I don't
(04:45):
necessarily see it that way, but it was only a matter of time before
I had to track him down. Before I
made contact with Clay, I needed more than just
speculation. Thankfully, Donna's
sister Sherry and her mom, Thelma, agreed to meet me at the
local hospital in Franklinton to sign for Donna's medical
records. They believe Donna was
admitted multiple times following domestic disputes throughout her
(05:08):
life. If there's anything in those records related to
Clay, I need to know what they are.
>> Michelle Thomas (05:15):
Hi, there.
>> Tucker Simmons (05:16):
Yes, ma'am. I'm Tucker. We're coming in for some medical records with Miss
Cheryl.
Okay, thank you.
Last name is Simmons. For the records, though, it's
Arceneaux
Sherry had just picked up Thelma to make a grocery run. They were
(05:36):
casually dressed, and the mood was pretty somber.
Thelma shuffled through her wallet with nervous
anticipation.
>> Michelle Thomas (05:44):
The id?
>> Tucker Simmons (05:46):
Yeah. This is her mom, Miss Thelma.
And this is the death certificate we brought for you.
>> Michelle Thomas (05:56):
All right, I need you to
initial date and put your
relationship.
All right. There you go. Thank you
so much.
>> Tucker Simmons (06:08):
Were you Cheryl?
No. Okay. Okay, well, tell her we said thank you.
>> Michelle Thomas (06:12):
We appreciate it.
>> Tucker Simmons (06:19):
This is gonna be helpful.
>> Demmie Rice (06:23):
I just feel bad that you're having to put all the puzzle pieces together, because
I know it's a lot.
>> Tucker Simmons (06:27):
Yeah, that's what I do, though. So.
Anyway, well, thank you all. I appreciate
it.
>> Demmie Rice (06:34):
Call me if you need me.
>> Tucker Simmons (06:35):
I will, for sure. Thank you, Miss Thelma
I do. Thank you. Y'all take care.
And call me if you have anything, questions or anything comes
up, please. I
welcome it.
We said our goodbyes and I sat in the parking lot for a while,
skimming through hundreds of pages of mundane medical
(06:56):
records.
Donna made multiple visits to Riverside Medical center
in the months leading up to her death. Records confirmed
Donna was being treated for complications with her kidneys.
As her cousin Tony suggested in episode.
>> Demmie Rice (07:12):
Two, Donna was having
health issues with her kidneys and everything, and
she wasn't being able to work as much,
but.
>> Tucker Simmons (07:21):
She was also consistently complaining of pain in her right
elbow and her left wrist and knee.
She told nurses it was from being a hairdresser and working a
lot. But at the time of these visits,
Donna wasn't working and hadn't been for quite some time.
It makes me wonder if those injuries could have been from something
else, and Donna just didn't want to say it.
(07:44):
This is just one more reason those sheriff's office records would be
helpful.
My eyes were glazing over as I reached the end of the giant
stack of papers in my lap and all over my front
seat. It didn't look like there were any definitive
leads, and there were no direct links to domestic violence in
the records until I reached
(08:06):
September 20, 2012
at, 02:05 p.m. on September 20,
2012, Donna arrived in police custody
to Riverside Medical center. These are direct
quotes from nurses notes.
>> Anonymous Source (08:21):
Chief complaint. Suicidal patient. Sent
texts to her husband suggestive of suicidal thoughts and
plans. Sent a picture holding a gun to her
head. Patient in apparent distress,
crying. Patient reports quote,
my husband is doing all these things because we are
separated and he is crazy. Patient
denies suicidal ideations and thoughts.
(08:44):
Abuse history. Patient reports physical abuse,
emotional abuse, and threats of violence by spouse against
patient healing wound of left knee.
Patient states, it's from my husband pushing me
down. About a month ago,
doctor Harlan speaking with Captain Justin Brown from
Franklinton Police Department. Captain Brown
(09:04):
revealed evidence that patient held a gun to her head.
>> Tucker Simmons (09:10):
Following the initial evaluation at Riverside Medical
Center, Donna was transferred to a nearby psychiatric
unit, where she was held for three days.
Many people in Donna's life don't believe she ever sent the
photo. They claim this was all a tactic by her
ex in the ongoing separation and custody
(09:30):
battle. I haven't seen the photo for myself,
and I'm definitely not ready to jump right into a conspiracy.
So I called Justin Brown. He's now Franklinton's chief
of police. After checking the
report, he texted me the next morning. There was
no arrest made, only a medical OPC. So
no formal case file exists. There was
(09:51):
no photo in his records. And if he did have it on one of his old
phones, those had been destroyed.
I've spoken with several people familiar with the incident, and they
all have the same theory. Even if Donna did send
the photo, she had no intention of actually harming herself.
It would have been a cry for help.
(10:15):
As you can imagine, my curiosity about Clay was
growing, and it was time to make contact.
He and Sherry have kept in touch throughout the years, and she was
confident he would talk to me.
>> Michelle Thomas (10:32):
Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message
system.
>> Tucker Simmons (10:35):
I left a voicemail explaining what I was working on,
waited a few minutes and tried again,
and I guess I'm blocked. I
sent a Facebook message explaining who I was and why I wanted to
talk. It didn't take long to be blocked there,
too.
Up to this point, I had a hard time seeing the motive for Clay to want
(10:57):
Donna dead. And I still do. But
Clays reaction to my outreach didn't sit well,
especially after Sherry vouched for me.
>> Demmie Rice (11:06):
I mean, I haven't talked to him about it in a while, but, I mean, the
last time I did talk to him, he said that he really just
wanted. He wanted Donna's killer to
be found. I do know that he works very
closely with Demmie so I wonder
if Demmie has told him not to talk
to the press or something.
(11:26):
We can't force him, but I will try to reach out
to him and see and basically tell
him that I sit down with you and that, you know, he
wants to talk to you too.
>> Michelle Thomas (11:41):
Tucker, please answer my call
immediately. I'm going through some
laptops I have.
>> Demmie Rice (11:48):
From my personal use and work,
and.
>> Michelle Thomas (11:51):
I found something very interesting. So call me
ASAP.
>> Tucker Simmons (11:59):
By the time my brother and I got back to cell reception that evening
and I listened to Demi's voicemail. It was after 09:00 p.m.
but it seemed too important not to call.
>> Demmie Rice (12:08):
What happened? Tucker is bugging me.
And I was thinking about back about
my case and stuff, and I. I,
Ha. I figured I had to have something somewhere. So I
went through one of my laptops. Cause I remember
bringing a lot of work home when I was
working on his phone doc.
(12:29):
And I started thinking. I said, wait a minute. And I
remembered it was a Dell laptop.
And I went off, popped that bitch open. I found
a 911 call and some notes.
You got time. You got time now?
>> Tucker Simmons (12:43):
Yeah, or tomorrow, you mean.
>> Demmie Rice (12:45):
No, I got time right now. It was
too hot for me today, so I nap. I
don't mind it. I'll just bring you truck on back
to the, like I tell you, behind that shed, because
that's a blind spot from either direction on the
road.
>> Tucker Simmons (13:01):
I'll text you when we leave.
>> Demmie Rice (13:03):
Okay, sweetie. All right.
>> Anonymous Source (13:04):
Okay.
>> Tucker Simmons (13:05):
All right, thanks. Bye.
We arrived at Demmie's house about an hour later, parked in the
blind spot like she told us, and she greeted us on the
porch. Two days earlier, I received
the 911 call audio from the Washington Parish
communications district, and it matched the audio that
Demmie had found. But we weren't there until after midnight
(13:25):
for a 911 call. The lengthy word
document she found was a treasure trove of notes on the
case. Shes pretty sure theres
more on another computer, but it needs repairing.
Until then, we dove into what she found.
I had worked for months to build a timeline, and it was becoming
more confusing every day. Demi's notes helped
(13:47):
fill in a lot of those gaps. I want to bring you up to speed
on the days leading up to the discovery of Donna's body,
so bear with me. It's a lot of information.
I asked our narrator to read portions of the timeline.
>> Anonymous Source (14:06):
on the morning of Wednesday, October 18,
2017, Donna and her spiritual counselor,
Michelle were getting dressed and doing their hair at Donna's
house. Donna confided in Michelle
that she was seeing another man and was planning to end her
relationship with Scott, her boyfriend, who had
recently purchased her home.
Michelle claims she looked through a doorway into the living room
(14:28):
and saw Scott's reflection in a mirror. He was
listening in on their conversation. Scott then made
himself visible to them both, clearly angry, and walked
away.
>> Tucker Simmons (14:42):
This was the first day of the Washington Parish free fair.
Donna and Michelle left to watch the parade, and not long
after, Scott showed up to where they were with an ice
chest. This is where the last known photo
of Donna was taken. I just posted it on the freeze
frame website, freezeframepodcast.com
dot. Friends of Donna claimed she
was openly telling people she was going through a breakup and had gotten
(15:05):
a restraining order, but was otherwise in good spirits at the
parade. Despite her claim, there is no
record of a restraining order. But if she was telling people
that, whether true or not, isn't that pretty good insight
into her state of mind? Donna was then
seen by several friends at the fair on Thursday and Friday.
Some saw her walking around with friends. Others saw her
(15:26):
with Scott and reported her demeanor as standoffish and
shy. When he was around as you heard in episode one,
Uncle Bubba saw her on Friday night hiding her face
in Scott's arm.
>> Demmie Rice (15:36):
That was the last time I saw her. No, I saw her the Friday
night of the fair, walking around with that
guy and she wouldn't even talk to me. She
stood behind him and would put her
face into his armpit area and stay
secluded.
>> Tucker Simmons (15:52):
Donna's body was found at approximately
11:45 p.m. on Monday night.
This is what we know so far about the two days prior.
>> Anonymous Source (16:02):
On Saturday, October 21, Donna and her
daughter visited an elderly friend's house to help in the
garden. The friend has since passed,
but her daughter confirmed nothing seemed off or strange
about Donna and that she was not in a suicidal
state. According to Scott's
statements to investigators, he and Donna had sex
Saturday evening and went to bed. They
(16:24):
woke up on Sunday morning, October 22, around 11:00
a.m. at Donna's. Scott asked Donna to get up
and help with breakfast. As they were cooking, a
conversation about their relationship went south
between 1230 and 01:00 p.m. on Sunday,
Scott left amid the argument and walked to his house
behind donnas. He claimed this is the
(16:45):
last time he saw Donna alive.
But during interviews with Scotts ex wife Alicia, the
mother of their two children, more details about
Sunday afternoon emerged, suggesting Scott was
at donnas long after 01:00 p.m.
at 02:00 p.m. alicia called their son to check in. As
usual, he told his mom that dad was at Donna's
(17:05):
cooking pork chops for dinner. At 04:00
p.m. alicia called her son again and Scott was still
at Donna's. Between 430 and
05:00 p.m. donna dropped off her daughter and their dog
to Clay's house, six minutes away. At the
time, Clay was a Franklinton police officer.
He and Donna were separated and going through a heated
(17:25):
divorce for more than a year. At 05:00
p.m. donna texted her friend George saying she
was coming over to visit. At 510
pm, Donna texted Georges sister, asking to
meet her there. She said she could use a hug.
At 616 pm, Donna posted an
emotional message on Facebook. She followed
(17:46):
up with two comments. Feeling very
sad, not one person
called to check on me. You wake up one morning
and realize that not one person gives a damn about
you and that everything that you've worked your whole life
for can be taken away at any minute
and the closest people to you are the people who will do
(18:07):
it. At 07:00 p.m.
alicia called her son again. He said Scott
and Donna had argued all day and never got around to cooking
their pork chops. He told her Scott had gone
to town to pick up sushi for dinner. Instead.
At 08:00 p.m. donna texted George again,
saying she was on her way over. By
(18:27):
09:30 p.m. donna hadn't made it to George's, so
he went to bed. Donna
texted George one last time at 10:00 p.m.
saying she was no longer coming over.
George was asleep and didn't see it until the next
morning. At approximately 11:00 p.m.
clay tells investigators that Donna called him while he was
(18:48):
in bed with his girlfriend. She wanted to tell him she
was grateful for what an amazing father he was.
At 12:47 a.m. on Monday morning, October
23, Scott texted Donna,
shooting a gun right outside my kid's bedroom window.
To which Donna responds, what are you talking
about? I'm, in bed. The last
(19:09):
communication from Donna's phone was around 02:00 a.m. monday
morning, when several of her friends and her sister Sherry
got a text reading, I love you.
>> Tucker Simmons (19:28):
I've spoken to the people who received those messages. I won't
reveal their names, but they all wonder if it was really
Donna. One in particular was in a
relationship, and Donna knew not to say things like that to
him. And if you recall from episode
one, Sherry also believes someone else sent those
messages after Donna was killed.
>> Anonymous Source (19:47):
We don't think it was.
>> Demmie Rice (19:48):
We think it was somebody used her phone. At that point, all it said
was, I love you. And that's not Donna. She
never wrote I love you, and it was always lowercase.
You know what I mean?
And this was capital I, capital L.
Ydeh.
>> Tucker Simmons (20:02):
Without having the case file or cell phone data or
geolocation pins, I can't determine whether Donna
was texting or not. I'm not even sure investigators
can. Because as Demmie recalls, Scott's house
was so close to Donna's, that location data from their
phones was no help. But what we do
know is that Scott was at Donna's for a significant amount of
time on Sunday. The only other person there was
(20:25):
Donna's daughter. I understand she was interviewed
by investigators, but she's still a minor, and I have not been
given permission to speak to her. What were they fighting
about all day? Did Scott leave between 1230
and 01:00 p.m. like he told investigators?
Or was he there until after 04:00 p.m. like his son told
Alicia? When Donna got home from dropping off her
(20:45):
daughter, where was Scott?
The other detail that's confusing is a post on Donna's
Facebook page. At 06:31 a.m. monday
morning, her spiritual counselor Michelle
(21:06):
wrote, quote, hang on, sweetie, I'm coming home
today. I assume that was in response to
Donna's feeling very sad post. But why not
just call her instead of a public Facebook post?
A lot of people around Washington Parish have strong feelings about
Michelle. No one really expresses why in
detail other than wild rumors. I won't repeat
(21:27):
here. Their go to line is always something like,
yeah, I know her. She's that crazy pastor lady. I don't
trust her. I got caught up in that
for a moment, but pretty quickly recognized the pattern.
Anyone who locals didn't grow up with or who's moved
away, or even just people who don't have a typical nine
to five, there's constant doubt cast upon them.
(21:48):
I couldn't let those opinions dictate my investigation.
I was told repeatedly that Michelle would never talk. She's
fearful of what she knows, and she just wants to move on.
Once I finally tracked her down, Michelle was at a bed and breakfast
in Texas preparing for a sermon. As you'll
hear, she didn't hold back.
>> Michelle Thomas (22:11):
I'm going to say, and I don't know you,
and as far as I know, you could be a friend of
scotch fishing for information. And I don't mean that
rude, but I just mean, The
whole situation was so sketchy.
And I'll just tell you my involvement. Donna
reached out to me because we had a mutual friend
and she wanted to have lunch one day.
(22:33):
We met there at the mexican restaurant. I think it was Don
Juan's still, maybe, I don't know. Hadn't been in the area in a couple
of years. And she began to tell me how
she had been in a real bad relationship. She was in
a relationship currently that was toxic
and it was draining her emotionally. He was very
jealous, and the ex husband had
done her, injured a lot of trauma from that
(22:55):
relationship. And she was very
suicidal. You know, issues from
growing up, issues with
relationships. She was tired. She was mentally wore
out.
>> Tucker Simmons (23:06):
So she expressed to you that she was suicidal and
depressed. So why are you
so adamantous that she didn't commit
suicide?
>> Michelle Thomas (23:17):
I can't say that I am. you had to have been there
that night, seeing where she was
positioned versus where
it should have happened.
I, just. I can't put those pieces
together. The puzzle don't fit there
for a couple of weeks. I would call her. I'd invite her to
(23:37):
church. I went and hung out with her a couple of
times. She'd do my hair. She loved people. She
just. When she found somebody that she kind of connected
with, she kind of clung to you. That's kind of how I felt. But
I'm very busy, so I didn't get a lot of time with
her. But I know that I was leaving for
Florida, and she called me,
and she said that Scott
(24:00):
was driving her crazy, that he was threatening to
take the home back, that she thought he had good
intentions of buying the home
so she could keep it. And he was kind of hanging
it over, being threatened with it. So you had that
whole ordeal going on, and then the ex husband was just a
cop, just was aggravating her. You know, it was a
(24:20):
power struggle between the little girl that they
shared. So she let me read
some letters, and
basically, you know, you're gonna be mine
regardless. I saw that with my own eyes.
I was in Florida preaching, and I
reached out to her a day or two before
(24:40):
I come home, because the plan was that I was to come
home and stay the night with her
that night. And we were gonna pray and just spend some time
together because she was depressed. She had been fighting
depression. She wanted out of the relationship with
Scott. Bottom line, she wanted out of
relationship and didn't feel she could because he was
controlling and very jealous, by the way.
(25:02):
So I go to Florida, I'm preaching,
and I get this strong urge to
reach out to her. Then I'm laying in the bed, just studying
and praying for that service that night. And I'm on Facebook,
just scrolling, you know, killing time. And I see
a post that she wrote. And I'm going to tell you, I don't
know if you are familiar with the prophetic
(25:23):
or people that see things in the realm of the Holy Ghost,
but I just. For some reason, I'm gonna be honest
with you, she put something like, I'm tired. I'm
tired of it all or something. And I
just felt immediately, Tucker, this
ain't her. Somebody has went on her
page and put this. And
(25:43):
I felt immediately it was
diversion. And I don't know why, but I said, I'm gonna reach out
to her. And I did. I left several voicemails. I said, dad,
I love you. I'll be home soon. We're going to
talk about this. We're going to work it out. We're going to
pray about it. She wouldn't respond to me.
And I tried to call her. Donna always
responded. She always answered my calls.
(26:05):
Listen, this was two days. This was
two days before I come home. I couldn't get her
to answer the phone, so Scott reaches out
to me and he says,
listen, I haven't heard from Donna, and
I'm worried about her. And, she's not
answering my calls. Something's wrong. He
(26:25):
said, when did you get home? I said, well,
I fly in late Saturday, Sunday,
night, or Monday night. Maybe it was a Monday. I said,
I fly in real late Monday night.
And I said, my plan was to come by there, but it's
so late. You know,
she's. And then he went on this long spill,
she's a diabetic, and she'll pass out. The
(26:47):
dogs had to wake her up. It was just
weird, the whole conversation. I felt I was being
invaded. I'm gonna be honest with you. I felt I was being
invaded. And I felt like whatever
had happened and God knows what, that
what has happened had already happened.
When he reached out to me, he said, I really need you to stop
by here and go with me to check on her. And I thought,
(27:10):
well, you live in her backyard. Have
the law go check on her. Why are you waiting for me to go check on her?
I. But regardless, I love Donna. And when I flew
in, I went straight there, and.
Oh, God, the feeling that
you got when you pulled up on the property
that night, it was very cold.
(27:30):
I pulled up, and the first thing I noticed is
her dog would bark bad when he would pull up.
The few times I had been there, he just would be in that
window barking obnoxious.
The first thing I noticed is the dog wasn't
barking. All the lights was out.
It was like, oh, my spirit
(27:50):
literally said, something's wrong. That this doesn't even
feel right. And so
from the backyard,
dressed like he was going to
dinner, fully dressed,
like he
knew there was fixing to be a thing and he wanted to be
fixed. Does that make sense? My hair's in a bun. I mean, I
(28:13):
got traveling clothes on. And you've been lounging
around, worried, and you're that fixed up. That was
my first clue. Then he walks around the
house, knocking on windows, and
it's like he has rehearsed this
in his mind. I'm just being honest. I'm not trying to accuse
him. he ever comes to try to harm
(28:33):
me, the Holy Ghost would slap him. Ever. Which way but loose. So I'm
not afraid of him, but I. The whole
ambiance of his
demeanor was eerie. I
just felt like I was in the presence of the devil, if
you want to know the truth. that was playing
me, and I believe now, he set me up to try
to have a alibi for whatever had
(28:54):
happened. But he acts like
he can't get her to the window. And I'm thinking, this is
odd. First of all, she don't go to bed early because she's
called me at the twelve 01:00, you know, fight
depression. We go in
and I'm standing in the kitchen. I
notice there was pork chops in the
(29:14):
sink. And the pork chops had not
only thawed out, but had been
thawed out a while. It's like she
was planning something. She was planning to
cook. it was weird. So the minute
I went in the house, I felt just this
overwhelming feeling of danger.
(29:35):
So I back up to the counter and I'll be
honest, you know, I just grabbed a little knife and
put it in my back skirt because I thought, the house is
dark. I really don't know this guy. And what I do know
about him has all been negative. Like,
I had met him one time at the fair, and you could
tell he's very controlling. You could tell he was very jealous of, her
(29:55):
time with me. I'm a preacher. I'm just trying to
encourage her.
>> Tucker Simmons (29:59):
Michelle goes on to explain that Scott didn't look around the
house in a natural way, whatever that means.
Instead, she remembers him walking straight to the
bedroom. And that's when she heard this.
>> Michelle Thomas (30:12):
She's dead. She's dead.
Well, how do you know? You ain't been in that 3 seconds. How
do you know she's dead? She could be passed out.
Not only that, he takes a key and
goes in the house. Why are you knocking on windows?
Why is the law there for you to go in there and check on
her?
>> Anonymous Source (30:51):
Something's staring back
at me. No
sound, can't look in your
eyes.
>> Tucker Simmons (31:00):
There's Something Strange in the air
tonight.
Thank you for sticking through so many dates and times. Is your brain
mush like mine? Coming up in episode four, well
hear more from Michelle and a lot more about the
(31:21):
suspects. Make sure you follow rate and review on
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening. It's a
huge help in spreading the word about Donna's case. Then head over to
Freezeframepodcast.com for behind the scenes details on
the investigation and follow us on socials at Freeze
Frame pod for exclusive content. Freeze
Frame is a. But why? Media production it's written and
produced by me, Tucker Simmons. Editing and
(31:44):
post production by Evan Desonnier. Narration
by Greg Geringer and Carrie Lauren and our
original music is Something Strange by Tabitha
Meeks.
>> Anonymous Source (32:09):
Something strange
you can hide forever
close.
The claims, views, and opinions expressed are those of the speaker
and do not represent those of But Media or its
partners. All subjects are innocent until proven
guilty. This is a podcast about
difficult topics, and it may not be suitable for all
audiences. Listener discretion is advised.
>> Demmie Rice (00:31):
What happened? Tucker is bugging me, and I was
thinking about my case and stuff, and I remembered it
was an old laptop, and I went
out, popped that bitch open. I found a
911 call and some notes.
>> Michelle Thomas (00:45):
The whole ambiance of
his demeanor was
eerie. I just felt like I was in the
presence of the devil, if you want to know the truth. He
ever comes to try to harm me, the Holy Ghost would
slap him ever. Which way but loose, so I'm not afraid of
him.
>> Demmie Rice (01:04):
Piece of the puzzle. I just feel bad that you're even having to put all
the puzzle pieces.
>> Michelle Thomas (01:08):
Together, because I know it's a lot.
>> Tucker Simmons (01:10):
That's what I do, though, so
I'm feeling heavy?
>> Michelle Thomas (01:21):
There's a pounding in my chest
the shadows hiding but I see the
silhouettes.
>> Tucker Simmons (01:29):
I fear lives in
the quiet whisper
I'm Tucker Simmons, and this is freeze
frame, an investigation into the
unsolved murder of Donna Arceneaux.
(02:06):
I've gotten a lot of questions about just how much I knew of
Donna's case before I began this investigation. And the
reality is, of course, I knew certain details about her
relationships, alleged abuse, and rumors about
her death. But I've made a concerted effort to approach
this investigation with no preconceived notions or
theories. I'm just following the evidence, wherever that
takes me. As I shared in episode one, that's
(02:29):
made for some uncomfortable situations and conversations with
family and lifelong friends.
One aspect of this story that I was well aware of long before
Donna's death is her troubled marriage to
Clay. He was employed by the
(02:49):
Franklinton police Department during their marriage, and when it came to
his work, he was notoriously strict. I
know this firsthand, actually, because when I was in high school, Clay
never missed a chance to write me a ticket.
According to Donna's sons and others who spent time in the
arsenal home, Donna and Clay's marriage was
intense. The highs were high, and the lows were
(03:09):
often unbearable. There were allegations of
domestic violence on both sides and at
least one incident involving the Franklinton Police Department where
Clay worked. Donna is alleged to have
slapped and thrown a boot at Clay over a cell phone dispute
during their separation. Sources at the Washington
Parish Sheriff's office claim there were multiple calls involving
disputes at the arsenal home, but all record requests have been
(03:32):
denied. Pending the open case.
I, bring this up. Because Clay was interviewed by investigators
and again by the state police, he remains a free man,
though still working as a police officer. So
despite what people think of him, there's either a huge lack
of evidence, or he's just innocent. The
following audio is an exact transcription of an
(03:53):
individual who was close to Donna and Clay during their
marriage. This person wished to remain anonymous.
>> Anonymous Source (04:02):
I don't want to blame anyone. All I can tell you is that after they
separated, Donna told anyone who would listen that
she was afraid of Clay. He didn't like the people she hung
out with. He didn't want their daughter around them. And
because of that, most people around her think he did it.
Now, again, I'm not taking a position on it,
but ask anyone around town, they'll tell you to look into
(04:22):
that cop she was married to.
>> Tucker Simmons (04:25):
Like I said, Clay has a reputation, and some say he thrives
on that tough cop image. But murdering the mother of
his daughter and then working alongside her family to seek
justice, at least for now, that just doesn't make
sense to me. Clay and his daughter moved to a
neighboring Parish shortly after Donna's death, which many
locals considered suspicious. I don't
(04:45):
necessarily see it that way, but it was only a matter of time before
I had to track him down. Before I
made contact with Clay, I needed more than just
speculation. Thankfully, Donna's
sister Sherry and her mom, Thelma, agreed to meet me at the
local hospital in Franklinton to sign for Donna's medical
records. They believe Donna was
admitted multiple times following domestic disputes throughout her
(05:08):
life. If there's anything in those records related to
Clay, I need to know what they are.
>> Michelle Thomas (05:15):
Hi, there.
>> Tucker Simmons (05:16):
Yes, ma'am. I'm Tucker. We're coming in for some medical records with Miss
Cheryl.
Okay, thank you.
Last name is Simmons. For the records, though, it's
Arceneaux
Sherry had just picked up Thelma to make a grocery run. They were
(05:36):
casually dressed, and the mood was pretty somber.
Thelma shuffled through her wallet with nervous
anticipation.
>> Michelle Thomas (05:44):
The id?
>> Tucker Simmons (05:46):
Yeah. This is her mom, Miss Thelma.
And this is the death certificate we brought for you.
>> Michelle Thomas (05:56):
All right, I need you to
initial date and put your
relationship.
All right. There you go. Thank you
so much.
>> Tucker Simmons (06:08):
Were you Cheryl?
No. Okay. Okay, well, tell her we said thank you.
>> Michelle Thomas (06:12):
We appreciate it.
>> Tucker Simmons (06:19):
This is gonna be helpful.
>> Demmie Rice (06:23):
I just feel bad that you're having to put all the puzzle pieces together, because
I know it's a lot.
>> Tucker Simmons (06:27):
Yeah, that's what I do, though. So.
Anyway, well, thank you all. I appreciate
it.
>> Demmie Rice (06:34):
Call me if you need me.
>> Tucker Simmons (06:35):
I will, for sure. Thank you, Miss Thelma
I do. Thank you. Y'all take care.
And call me if you have anything, questions or anything comes
up, please. I
welcome it.
We said our goodbyes and I sat in the parking lot for a while,
skimming through hundreds of pages of mundane medical
(06:56):
records.
Donna made multiple visits to Riverside Medical center
in the months leading up to her death. Records confirmed
Donna was being treated for complications with her kidneys.
As her cousin Tony suggested in episode.
>> Demmie Rice (07:12):
Two, Donna was having
health issues with her kidneys and everything, and
she wasn't being able to work as much,
but.
>> Tucker Simmons (07:21):
She was also consistently complaining of pain in her right
elbow and her left wrist and knee.
She told nurses it was from being a hairdresser and working a
lot. But at the time of these visits,
Donna wasn't working and hadn't been for quite some time.
It makes me wonder if those injuries could have been from something
else, and Donna just didn't want to say it.
(07:44):
This is just one more reason those sheriff's office records would be
helpful.
My eyes were glazing over as I reached the end of the giant
stack of papers in my lap and all over my front
seat. It didn't look like there were any definitive
leads, and there were no direct links to domestic violence in
the records until I reached
(08:06):
September 20, 2012
at, 02:05 p.m. on September 20,
2012, Donna arrived in police custody
to Riverside Medical center. These are direct
quotes from nurses notes.
>> Anonymous Source (08:21):
Chief complaint. Suicidal patient. Sent
texts to her husband suggestive of suicidal thoughts and
plans. Sent a picture holding a gun to her
head. Patient in apparent distress,
crying. Patient reports quote,
my husband is doing all these things because we are
separated and he is crazy. Patient
denies suicidal ideations and thoughts.
(08:44):
Abuse history. Patient reports physical abuse,
emotional abuse, and threats of violence by spouse against
patient healing wound of left knee.
Patient states, it's from my husband pushing me
down. About a month ago,
doctor Harlan speaking with Captain Justin Brown from
Franklinton Police Department. Captain Brown
(09:04):
revealed evidence that patient held a gun to her head.
>> Tucker Simmons (09:10):
Following the initial evaluation at Riverside Medical
Center, Donna was transferred to a nearby psychiatric
unit, where she was held for three days.
Many people in Donna's life don't believe she ever sent the
photo. They claim this was all a tactic by her
ex in the ongoing separation and custody
(09:30):
battle. I haven't seen the photo for myself,
and I'm definitely not ready to jump right into a conspiracy.
So I called Justin Brown. He's now Franklinton's chief
of police. After checking the
report, he texted me the next morning. There was
no arrest made, only a medical OPC. So
no formal case file exists. There was
(09:51):
no photo in his records. And if he did have it on one of his old
phones, those had been destroyed.
I've spoken with several people familiar with the incident, and they
all have the same theory. Even if Donna did send
the photo, she had no intention of actually harming herself.
It would have been a cry for help.
(10:15):
As you can imagine, my curiosity about Clay was
growing, and it was time to make contact.
He and Sherry have kept in touch throughout the years, and she was
confident he would talk to me.
>> Michelle Thomas (10:32):
Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message
system.
>> Tucker Simmons (10:35):
I left a voicemail explaining what I was working on,
waited a few minutes and tried again,
and I guess I'm blocked. I
sent a Facebook message explaining who I was and why I wanted to
talk. It didn't take long to be blocked there,
too.
Up to this point, I had a hard time seeing the motive for Clay to want
(10:57):
Donna dead. And I still do. But
Clays reaction to my outreach didn't sit well,
especially after Sherry vouched for me.
>> Demmie Rice (11:06):
I mean, I haven't talked to him about it in a while, but, I mean, the
last time I did talk to him, he said that he really just
wanted. He wanted Donna's killer to
be found. I do know that he works very
closely with Demmie so I wonder
if Demmie has told him not to talk
to the press or something.
(11:26):
We can't force him, but I will try to reach out
to him and see and basically tell
him that I sit down with you and that, you know, he
wants to talk to you too.
>> Michelle Thomas (11:41):
Tucker, please answer my call
immediately. I'm going through some
laptops I have.
>> Demmie Rice (11:48):
From my personal use and work,
and.
>> Michelle Thomas (11:51):
I found something very interesting. So call me
ASAP.
>> Tucker Simmons (11:59):
By the time my brother and I got back to cell reception that evening
and I listened to Demi's voicemail. It was after 09:00 p.m.
but it seemed too important not to call.
>> Demmie Rice (12:08):
What happened? Tucker is bugging me.
And I was thinking about back about
my case and stuff, and I. I,
Ha. I figured I had to have something somewhere. So I
went through one of my laptops. Cause I remember
bringing a lot of work home when I was
working on his phone doc.
(12:29):
And I started thinking. I said, wait a minute. And I
remembered it was a Dell laptop.
And I went off, popped that bitch open. I found
a 911 call and some notes.
You got time. You got time now?
>> Tucker Simmons (12:43):
Yeah, or tomorrow, you mean.
>> Demmie Rice (12:45):
No, I got time right now. It was
too hot for me today, so I nap. I
don't mind it. I'll just bring you truck on back
to the, like I tell you, behind that shed, because
that's a blind spot from either direction on the
road.
>> Tucker Simmons (13:01):
I'll text you when we leave.
>> Demmie Rice (13:03):
Okay, sweetie. All right.
>> Anonymous Source (13:04):
Okay.
>> Tucker Simmons (13:05):
All right, thanks. Bye.
We arrived at Demmie's house about an hour later, parked in the
blind spot like she told us, and she greeted us on the
porch. Two days earlier, I received
the 911 call audio from the Washington Parish
communications district, and it matched the audio that
Demmie had found. But we weren't there until after midnight
(13:25):
for a 911 call. The lengthy word
document she found was a treasure trove of notes on the
case. Shes pretty sure theres
more on another computer, but it needs repairing.
Until then, we dove into what she found.
I had worked for months to build a timeline, and it was becoming
more confusing every day. Demi's notes helped
(13:47):
fill in a lot of those gaps. I want to bring you up to speed
on the days leading up to the discovery of Donna's body,
so bear with me. It's a lot of information.
I asked our narrator to read portions of the timeline.
>> Anonymous Source (14:06):
on the morning of Wednesday, October 18,
2017, Donna and her spiritual counselor,
Michelle were getting dressed and doing their hair at Donna's
house. Donna confided in Michelle
that she was seeing another man and was planning to end her
relationship with Scott, her boyfriend, who had
recently purchased her home.
Michelle claims she looked through a doorway into the living room
(14:28):
and saw Scott's reflection in a mirror. He was
listening in on their conversation. Scott then made
himself visible to them both, clearly angry, and walked
away.
>> Tucker Simmons (14:42):
This was the first day of the Washington Parish free fair.
Donna and Michelle left to watch the parade, and not long
after, Scott showed up to where they were with an ice
chest. This is where the last known photo
of Donna was taken. I just posted it on the freeze
frame website, freezeframepodcast.com
dot. Friends of Donna claimed she
was openly telling people she was going through a breakup and had gotten
(15:05):
a restraining order, but was otherwise in good spirits at the
parade. Despite her claim, there is no
record of a restraining order. But if she was telling people
that, whether true or not, isn't that pretty good insight
into her state of mind? Donna was then
seen by several friends at the fair on Thursday and Friday.
Some saw her walking around with friends. Others saw her
(15:26):
with Scott and reported her demeanor as standoffish and
shy. When he was around as you heard in episode one,
Uncle Bubba saw her on Friday night hiding her face
in Scott's arm.
>> Demmie Rice (15:36):
That was the last time I saw her. No, I saw her the Friday
night of the fair, walking around with that
guy and she wouldn't even talk to me. She
stood behind him and would put her
face into his armpit area and stay
secluded.
>> Tucker Simmons (15:52):
Donna's body was found at approximately
11:45 p.m. on Monday night.
This is what we know so far about the two days prior.
>> Anonymous Source (16:02):
On Saturday, October 21, Donna and her
daughter visited an elderly friend's house to help in the
garden. The friend has since passed,
but her daughter confirmed nothing seemed off or strange
about Donna and that she was not in a suicidal
state. According to Scott's
statements to investigators, he and Donna had sex
Saturday evening and went to bed. They
(16:24):
woke up on Sunday morning, October 22, around 11:00
a.m. at Donna's. Scott asked Donna to get up
and help with breakfast. As they were cooking, a
conversation about their relationship went south
between 1230 and 01:00 p.m. on Sunday,
Scott left amid the argument and walked to his house
behind donnas. He claimed this is the
(16:45):
last time he saw Donna alive.
But during interviews with Scotts ex wife Alicia, the
mother of their two children, more details about
Sunday afternoon emerged, suggesting Scott was
at donnas long after 01:00 p.m.
at 02:00 p.m. alicia called their son to check in. As
usual, he told his mom that dad was at Donna's
(17:05):
cooking pork chops for dinner. At 04:00
p.m. alicia called her son again and Scott was still
at Donna's. Between 430 and
05:00 p.m. donna dropped off her daughter and their dog
to Clay's house, six minutes away. At the
time, Clay was a Franklinton police officer.
He and Donna were separated and going through a heated
(17:25):
divorce for more than a year. At 05:00
p.m. donna texted her friend George saying she
was coming over to visit. At 510
pm, Donna texted Georges sister, asking to
meet her there. She said she could use a hug.
At 616 pm, Donna posted an
emotional message on Facebook. She followed
(17:46):
up with two comments. Feeling very
sad, not one person
called to check on me. You wake up one morning
and realize that not one person gives a damn about
you and that everything that you've worked your whole life
for can be taken away at any minute
and the closest people to you are the people who will do
(18:07):
it. At 07:00 p.m.
alicia called her son again. He said Scott
and Donna had argued all day and never got around to cooking
their pork chops. He told her Scott had gone
to town to pick up sushi for dinner. Instead.
At 08:00 p.m. donna texted George again,
saying she was on her way over. By
(18:27):
09:30 p.m. donna hadn't made it to George's, so
he went to bed. Donna
texted George one last time at 10:00 p.m.
saying she was no longer coming over.
George was asleep and didn't see it until the next
morning. At approximately 11:00 p.m.
clay tells investigators that Donna called him while he was
(18:48):
in bed with his girlfriend. She wanted to tell him she
was grateful for what an amazing father he was.
At 12:47 a.m. on Monday morning, October
23, Scott texted Donna,
shooting a gun right outside my kid's bedroom window.
To which Donna responds, what are you talking
about? I'm, in bed. The last
(19:09):
communication from Donna's phone was around 02:00 a.m. monday
morning, when several of her friends and her sister Sherry
got a text reading, I love you.
>> Tucker Simmons (19:28):
I've spoken to the people who received those messages. I won't
reveal their names, but they all wonder if it was really
Donna. One in particular was in a
relationship, and Donna knew not to say things like that to
him. And if you recall from episode
one, Sherry also believes someone else sent those
messages after Donna was killed.
>> Anonymous Source (19:47):
We don't think it was.
>> Demmie Rice (19:48):
We think it was somebody used her phone. At that point, all it said
was, I love you. And that's not Donna. She
never wrote I love you, and it was always lowercase.
You know what I mean?
And this was capital I, capital L.
Ydeh.
>> Tucker Simmons (20:02):
Without having the case file or cell phone data or
geolocation pins, I can't determine whether Donna
was texting or not. I'm not even sure investigators
can. Because as Demmie recalls, Scott's house
was so close to Donna's, that location data from their
phones was no help. But what we do
know is that Scott was at Donna's for a significant amount of
time on Sunday. The only other person there was
(20:25):
Donna's daughter. I understand she was interviewed
by investigators, but she's still a minor, and I have not been
given permission to speak to her. What were they fighting
about all day? Did Scott leave between 1230
and 01:00 p.m. like he told investigators?
Or was he there until after 04:00 p.m. like his son told
Alicia? When Donna got home from dropping off her
(20:45):
daughter, where was Scott?
The other detail that's confusing is a post on Donna's
Facebook page. At 06:31 a.m. monday
morning, her spiritual counselor Michelle
(21:06):
wrote, quote, hang on, sweetie, I'm coming home
today. I assume that was in response to
Donna's feeling very sad post. But why not
just call her instead of a public Facebook post?
A lot of people around Washington Parish have strong feelings about
Michelle. No one really expresses why in
detail other than wild rumors. I won't repeat
(21:27):
here. Their go to line is always something like,
yeah, I know her. She's that crazy pastor lady. I don't
trust her. I got caught up in that
for a moment, but pretty quickly recognized the pattern.
Anyone who locals didn't grow up with or who's moved
away, or even just people who don't have a typical nine
to five, there's constant doubt cast upon them.
(21:48):
I couldn't let those opinions dictate my investigation.
I was told repeatedly that Michelle would never talk. She's
fearful of what she knows, and she just wants to move on.
Once I finally tracked her down, Michelle was at a bed and breakfast
in Texas preparing for a sermon. As you'll
hear, she didn't hold back.
>> Michelle Thomas (22:11):
I'm going to say, and I don't know you,
and as far as I know, you could be a friend of
scotch fishing for information. And I don't mean that
rude, but I just mean, The
whole situation was so sketchy.
And I'll just tell you my involvement. Donna
reached out to me because we had a mutual friend
and she wanted to have lunch one day.
(22:33):
We met there at the mexican restaurant. I think it was Don
Juan's still, maybe, I don't know. Hadn't been in the area in a couple
of years. And she began to tell me how
she had been in a real bad relationship. She was in
a relationship currently that was toxic
and it was draining her emotionally. He was very
jealous, and the ex husband had
done her, injured a lot of trauma from that
(22:55):
relationship. And she was very
suicidal. You know, issues from
growing up, issues with
relationships. She was tired. She was mentally wore
out.
>> Tucker Simmons (23:06):
So she expressed to you that she was suicidal and
depressed. So why are you
so adamantous that she didn't commit
suicide?
>> Michelle Thomas (23:17):
I can't say that I am. you had to have been there
that night, seeing where she was
positioned versus where
it should have happened.
I, just. I can't put those pieces
together. The puzzle don't fit there
for a couple of weeks. I would call her. I'd invite her to
(23:37):
church. I went and hung out with her a couple of
times. She'd do my hair. She loved people. She
just. When she found somebody that she kind of connected
with, she kind of clung to you. That's kind of how I felt. But
I'm very busy, so I didn't get a lot of time with
her. But I know that I was leaving for
Florida, and she called me,
and she said that Scott
(24:00):
was driving her crazy, that he was threatening to
take the home back, that she thought he had good
intentions of buying the home
so she could keep it. And he was kind of hanging
it over, being threatened with it. So you had that
whole ordeal going on, and then the ex husband was just a
cop, just was aggravating her. You know, it was a
(24:20):
power struggle between the little girl that they
shared. So she let me read
some letters, and
basically, you know, you're gonna be mine
regardless. I saw that with my own eyes.
I was in Florida preaching, and I
reached out to her a day or two before
(24:40):
I come home, because the plan was that I was to come
home and stay the night with her
that night. And we were gonna pray and just spend some time
together because she was depressed. She had been fighting
depression. She wanted out of the relationship with
Scott. Bottom line, she wanted out of
relationship and didn't feel she could because he was
controlling and very jealous, by the way.
(25:02):
So I go to Florida, I'm preaching,
and I get this strong urge to
reach out to her. Then I'm laying in the bed, just studying
and praying for that service that night. And I'm on Facebook,
just scrolling, you know, killing time. And I see
a post that she wrote. And I'm going to tell you, I don't
know if you are familiar with the prophetic
(25:23):
or people that see things in the realm of the Holy Ghost,
but I just. For some reason, I'm gonna be honest
with you, she put something like, I'm tired. I'm
tired of it all or something. And I
just felt immediately, Tucker, this
ain't her. Somebody has went on her
page and put this. And
(25:43):
I felt immediately it was
diversion. And I don't know why, but I said, I'm gonna reach out
to her. And I did. I left several voicemails. I said, dad,
I love you. I'll be home soon. We're going to
talk about this. We're going to work it out. We're going to
pray about it. She wouldn't respond to me.
And I tried to call her. Donna always
responded. She always answered my calls.
(26:05):
Listen, this was two days. This was
two days before I come home. I couldn't get her
to answer the phone, so Scott reaches out
to me and he says,
listen, I haven't heard from Donna, and
I'm worried about her. And, she's not
answering my calls. Something's wrong. He
(26:25):
said, when did you get home? I said, well,
I fly in late Saturday, Sunday,
night, or Monday night. Maybe it was a Monday. I said,
I fly in real late Monday night.
And I said, my plan was to come by there, but it's
so late. You know,
she's. And then he went on this long spill,
she's a diabetic, and she'll pass out. The
(26:47):
dogs had to wake her up. It was just
weird, the whole conversation. I felt I was being
invaded. I'm gonna be honest with you. I felt I was being
invaded. And I felt like whatever
had happened and God knows what, that
what has happened had already happened.
When he reached out to me, he said, I really need you to stop
by here and go with me to check on her. And I thought,
(27:10):
well, you live in her backyard. Have
the law go check on her. Why are you waiting for me to go check on her?
I. But regardless, I love Donna. And when I flew
in, I went straight there, and.
Oh, God, the feeling that
you got when you pulled up on the property
that night, it was very cold.
(27:30):
I pulled up, and the first thing I noticed is
her dog would bark bad when he would pull up.
The few times I had been there, he just would be in that
window barking obnoxious.
The first thing I noticed is the dog wasn't
barking. All the lights was out.
It was like, oh, my spirit
(27:50):
literally said, something's wrong. That this doesn't even
feel right. And so
from the backyard,
dressed like he was going to
dinner, fully dressed,
like he
knew there was fixing to be a thing and he wanted to be
fixed. Does that make sense? My hair's in a bun. I mean, I
(28:13):
got traveling clothes on. And you've been lounging
around, worried, and you're that fixed up. That was
my first clue. Then he walks around the
house, knocking on windows, and
it's like he has rehearsed this
in his mind. I'm just being honest. I'm not trying to accuse
him. he ever comes to try to harm
(28:33):
me, the Holy Ghost would slap him. Ever. Which way but loose. So I'm
not afraid of him, but I. The whole
ambiance of his
demeanor was eerie. I
just felt like I was in the presence of the devil, if
you want to know the truth. that was playing
me, and I believe now, he set me up to try
to have a alibi for whatever had
(28:54):
happened. But he acts like
he can't get her to the window. And I'm thinking, this is
odd. First of all, she don't go to bed early because she's
called me at the twelve 01:00, you know, fight
depression. We go in
and I'm standing in the kitchen. I
notice there was pork chops in the
(29:14):
sink. And the pork chops had not
only thawed out, but had been
thawed out a while. It's like she
was planning something. She was planning to
cook. it was weird. So the minute
I went in the house, I felt just this
overwhelming feeling of danger.
(29:35):
So I back up to the counter and I'll be
honest, you know, I just grabbed a little knife and
put it in my back skirt because I thought, the house is
dark. I really don't know this guy. And what I do know
about him has all been negative. Like,
I had met him one time at the fair, and you could
tell he's very controlling. You could tell he was very jealous of, her
(29:55):
time with me. I'm a preacher. I'm just trying to
encourage her.
>> Tucker Simmons (29:59):
Michelle goes on to explain that Scott didn't look around the
house in a natural way, whatever that means.
Instead, she remembers him walking straight to the
bedroom. And that's when she heard this.
>> Michelle Thomas (30:12):
She's dead. She's dead.
Well, how do you know? You ain't been in that 3 seconds. How
do you know she's dead? She could be passed out.
Not only that, he takes a key and
goes in the house. Why are you knocking on windows?
Why is the law there for you to go in there and check on
her?
>> Anonymous Source (30:51):
Something's staring back
at me. No
sound, can't look in your
eyes.
>> Tucker Simmons (31:00):
There's Something Strange in the air
tonight.
Thank you for sticking through so many dates and times. Is your brain
mush like mine? Coming up in episode four, well
hear more from Michelle and a lot more about the
(31:21):
suspects. Make sure you follow rate and review on
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening. It's a
huge help in spreading the word about Donna's case. Then head over to
Freezeframepodcast.com for behind the scenes details on
the investigation and follow us on socials at Freeze
Frame pod for exclusive content. Freeze
Frame is a. But why? Media production it's written and
produced by me, Tucker Simmons. Editing and
(31:44):
post production by Evan Desonnier. Narration
by Greg Geringer and Carrie Lauren and our
original music is Something Strange by Tabitha
Meeks.
>> Anonymous Source (32:09):
Something strange
you can hide forever
close.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.