November 28, 2025 • 31 mins
Discover the shocking true crime story of Kayla Murdoch, a single mother of four from Sanford, Florida, who was murdered in March 2022 after uncovering the dark secrets of the multi-level marketing company Glow Within Solutions™. Kayla, desperate to rebuild her life, became entangled in the MLM’s fraudulent schemes and was catfished by co-founder Vincent DeLuca, who posed as a fake investor named “Aaron Cole.” This gripping true crime case reveals betrayal, MLM scams, catfishing, and murder, as police investigated suspects including Kayla’s ex-boyfriend and brother before finally arresting Vincent. Follow the investigation, arrest, and high-profile trial in 2024, where justice was served, and learn how the fallout impacted Kayla’s family, her children, and the collapse of a predatory business. Perfect for fans of real-life crime stories, MLM investigations, true crime documentaries, and unsolved mystery cases.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's early March twenty twenty two in Sandford, Florida. The
azaleas along East twenty fifth Street have just started to bloom.
It's quiet, humid and still, but that calm will soon
shatter when a sanitation worker discovers the red set and
parked crookedly behind a shuttered nail salon and inside a
forifying scene that will expose greed, deception, and the dark
(00:22):
side of a so called empowerment business. The victim was
Kyla Murdoch, a thirty four year old single mother of
four from Sanford, Florida. Her children, Jasmine age twelve, Cody
and Chloe, the eight year old twins, and Marcus, four
were the center of her life. They each had a
different father, and Kayla often joked that her house was
(00:43):
one big, blended family. She lived with them in a small,
two bedroom duplex near the Sanford Airport. The home sat
on a narrow street lined with cracked sidewalks and magnolia trees.
Kayla kept fairy lights hanging on her porch all year,
saying they made her tiny house sparkle on sunny afternoons
sit outside while her kids drew chalk hearts and rainbows
across the driveway. Kayla's life hadn't been easy in her twenties.
(01:07):
She'd been arrested several times for check fraud and petty theft,
mostly when she was short on money and desperate to
keep the lights on. But in recent years she'd been
trying hard to rebuild her life. She stayed out of trouble,
kept up with her kids' school schedules, and dreamed of
one day owning a small business. Friends described her as funny, outgoing,
and always chasing hope even when things fell apart. She
(01:29):
wanted to prove to everyone that she could do better,
said her neighbor temic Eroodes, who often babbysat the twins
after school. By early March of twenty twenty two, Kayla
was working for a small company called Glow Within Solutions,
a women's wellness business that promised financial freedom through sales
of intimate health products. Kayla sold herbal suppositories, Yoni Pearls,
(01:51):
and probiotic gummies that claimed to balance feminine energy and
restore natural harmony. The company called its sellers wellness advocates,
and Kyla took the title seriously. She carried a pink
tote bag with the logo glow Within Solutions zem Empower
your Feminine journey. Wherever she went, Kayla was charismatic and
could talk to anyone. She loved posting motivational quotes on
(02:15):
Facebook and TikTok, often with a hashtag hashtag Bosmo Energy.
Most nights, after putting the kids to bed, she sat
in front of a ring light in her small kitchen,
filming live videos for her followers. If I can turn
my life around, so can you, she'd say, with a
bright smile, her hair pulled up in a mug of
camel mild tea beside her. She often talked about how
(02:35):
glow Within had given her purpose and taught her to
dream again. But behind the bright lights and positive talk,
Kayla was struggling. Her bills were piling up, and her
bank account was nearly empty. Investigators later found she had
spent almost nine thousand dollars on company inventory products she
never sold. The boxes of unsold wellness kits filled her
(02:57):
Haull closet, her card trunk, and even her kis's bedroom floor.
Still she refused to give up. In the days before
her death, she told a friend she was done pretending
everything was okay. But she also promised that she was
close to making it big. She had a meeting planned
with a new investor from Tampa, someone she thought could
change her life. For Kayla, March twenty twenty two was
(03:19):
supposed to be the start of something new. She didn't
know it would instead be the tragic end of her story.
It was a warm Monday morning March fourteen, twenty twenty two,
when Brian Cummings, thirty seven started his sanitation routed through
East twenty fifth Street in Sanford, Florida. The sun was
just coming up and the air was thick with the
smell of orange blossoms from nearby yards. He'd driven the
(03:42):
same route for almost five years, emptying dumpsters behind small businesses,
a barber shop of eight store, and a nail salon
that had closed during the pandemic and never reopened. Around
seven forty five am, Brian noticed something odd. A red
Seddin parked crookedly behind the shuttered nail salon, its back
tire slightly on the curb. The car looked out of place,
(04:03):
its windows were fogged, and the driver's seat was reclined.
At first, he thought someone might be sleeping inside, maybe
a homeless person or someone waiting for a friend. But
as he got closer, he caught a strong, sharp odor,
the heavy metallic scent of blood barely masked by a
citrus air freshener hanging from the mirror. Inside, he saw
(04:23):
a woman slumped over the steering wheel. Her hair was
matted and one high heel was still wedged against the
gas pedal. A cream colored tote bag hung from her shoulder,
with gold letters spelling Glow within solutions Empower your Feminine Journey.
A box of pink cap bottles had spilled across the
passenger seat, and a few probiotic gummies lay scattered on
(04:44):
the floorboard for a moment. Brian FROs He later told police,
I thought maybe she passed out, but then I saw
the blood on her blouse. That's when I knew. His
hands shook As he backed away from the car. He
grabbed his phone and dialed nine to one one. His
voice trem as he explained what he found. The dispatcher
told him to stay put until officers arrived. As he waited,
(05:06):
Brian paced near the dumpster, chain smoking and staring at
the car. He knew that car it was Kayla Murdoch's
He and Kayla had dated briefly the year before, after
meeting through Facebook marketplace. The relationship ended badly. According to friends.
Cayla had accused Brian of following her after the break up,
and even filed a police complaint for stalking two months
(05:27):
before her death. When the first patrol car pulled up,
Brian looked pale and sweaty. He told officers he was
just doing his route and that finding her like this
was a total shock, but police took note of his
history with Kayla. They separated him from the scene and
began questioning him right away. The area behind the nail
salon quickly filled with flashing lights and yellow tape. Curious
(05:49):
neighbors stepped outside to watch. A few workers from the
barber shop across the alley whispered among themselves as detectives arrived.
By eight ten am, it was clear to everyone this
was no accident. The young mother, known for her bright
smile and motivational videos, had been found murdered, and one
of the first people to see her body was a
man she once feared. The first patrol car from the
(06:12):
Sanford Police Department arrived at seven fifty one a m.
Only six minutes after the nine to one one call
came in. The flashing lights reflected off the faded windows
of the shuttered nail salon, throwing streaks of red and
blue across the cracked pavement. Lead Detective Maria Torres, forty two,
a fifteen year veteran of the department, stepped out wearing
plain clothes and latex bluffs. Beside her was Sergeant Daniel
(06:35):
Ricks fifty, a quiet, methodical officer known for his sharp
memory and no nonsense approach. Detective Torres took one look
inside the red seddin and knew they were dealing with
something serious. The smell inside the vehicle was overwhelming, a
mix of citrus air freshener, cheap perfume, and the unmistakable
metallic tang of blood. The car's driver's seat was reclined,
(06:59):
and the woman behind the wheel, later confirmed to be
thirty four year old Kayla Murdoch, was clearly beyond help.
She had been shot twice in the chest and once
in the face with what appeared to be a small
caliber handgun. There were no signs of struggle, no broken glass,
no torn clothing, and no visible bruising. Her seat belt
was still on. Detective Torres noted how precise the bullet
(07:23):
wounds were. Not Chaoti. She said to her partner, this
was in rage, This was control. The positioning of the
shots suggested the killer had been close, maybe even sitting
beside her. Torus crouched beside the car scanning the scene.
Kyle's phone was missing, but her sails behind her and
a box of glow Within Solutions products were scattered across
(07:43):
the passenger seat. Small bottles labeled Feminine Harmony probiotics and
pink sachets of Yony Balance burrels were splattered with blood.
A stack of order forms was smeared and torn, fluttering
in the warm march breeze. When the forensic steam arrived,
they dusted the doorhads and steering wheel for fingerprints. What
they found was odd. The surfaces had been wiped clean,
(08:05):
leaving behind faint, sticky traces of lemon scented hand sanitizer.
Investigators used luminal spray to check for hidden residue, and
the glow confirmed it. The killer had tried to erase evidence,
but missed a few small spots. Outside the car, the
ground was littered with small yellow evidence markers. Three shell
casings were found about a foot apart, lying near the
(08:27):
rear tire. No wallet, no phone, and no gun were
recovered at the scene. Detective Torres instructed officers to canvass
the area. They knocked on doors of nearby businesses, the
vake shop, the barber shop, a small Latin grocery, asking
if any one had seen or heard anything unusual the
night before. One shop owner reported hearing a car door
(08:47):
slam around two a m. But no gunshots. By mid morning,
a crowd had gathered behind the yellow tape. Some recognized
the car from Kala's Facebook posts, where she often filmed
glow within live streams from the driver's seat. Her ring
light and tripod were still in the back seat, covered
in blood spatter. Detective Torres stood quietly for a moment,
(09:07):
watching the forensics team photograph the scene. She knew this
wasn't random. The precision, the clean up, the missing phone.
It all pointed to a killer who was organized, deliberate,
and familiar with Kayla's routines. This wasn't a robbery gone wrong.
This was a message, and Torres intended to find out
exactly who sent it. The first major suspect in the
case was Derek Hall, thirty six years old Kayla Murdock's
(09:31):
ex boyfriend and the father of her third child, eight
year old Chloe. Derek worked as a shift manager at
Wendy's on French Avenue in Sandford. Coworkers described him as
strict and controlling, saying he ruled the fry station like
a drill sergeant. He was known to bark orders at
teenage employees and throw cold fries in the trash if
they weren't perfectly chrisp He took that job like it
(09:53):
was the Army. One coworker said. Derek and Kayla had
been in an on and off relationship for nearly six years.
At first, things seemed normal, but soon their relationship became
violent and full of jealousy. Police records showed a long
history of violence. Caylea had filed for a restraining order twice,
though both times she later dropped it, once after Derek
(10:14):
threatened to take Chloe away from her. One of the
most disturbing incidents happened in twenty nineteen, when Derek allegedly
forced Kayla to eat barf scraped from a trash ben
after accusing her of acting like a princess in front
of him. He was arrested but later released when Kyla
refused to testify. Friend said she was terrified of him
but couldn't fully break away because of their daughter. By
(10:36):
March of twenty twenty two, Kayla was trying to rebuild
her life. She told friends she wanted nothing to do
with Derek, but he still called and texted her almost
every day. He made fun of her job with Glow
Within Solutions, calling it a scam for dumb chicks who
thinks selling bleeping eggs makes them smart. Kayla usually ignored him,
but on March twelve, two days before her death, they
(10:59):
got into another other heated argument over child support. She
told a friend afterward, he gets so angry when he
thinks I'm talking to other men. I just want peace.
When police questioned Derek about his whereabouts the night Kayla
was killed, he said he'd been at home watching bad
grown up movies and fell asleep around midnight. He claimed
he hadn't spoken to her in days, but investigators quickly
(11:21):
learned his alibi didn't hold up. Neighbors from his apartment
complex told officers they heard his car start up around
twelve thirty am. The same timeframe when police believed Kayla
was shot. One neighbor said that car of his has
a bad engen. You can hear it clear across the lot.
Detectives brought Dereck in for questioning at the Sanford Police
Department on March fifteen, one day after Kayla's body was found.
(11:44):
Inside the interrogation room, he was angry and defensive from
the start. He cursed, rolled his eyes, and accused investigators
of trying to pin this on the black man. When
Detective Maria Torres asked if he still loved Kyla, he sneered,
I love my kid. Cat was trouble. She messed with
the wrong people. Police tested his hands and clothing for
gunshot residue, but the results came back negative. They also
(12:08):
checked traffic in store cameras near Kayla's last known location.
A security camera from a gas station on East twenty
fifth Street showed a dark gray Hondo Accord similar to
Derek's passing by around twelve forty am. The license plate
was too blurry to confirm. Without solid evidence, detectives had
no choice but to release him, but not before noting
(12:29):
his violent passed broke an alibi and deep resentment toward
Kayla's new empowerment lifestyle. As Detective Torres said later, he
was the kind of man who couldn't stand to see
her happy. If he didn't pull the trigger, he knew
who did. The next person police questioned was Jesse Murdoch,
Kayla's older brother. Aged thirty eight, Jesse worked as a
(12:50):
landscaper around Sanford, Florida. People whom knew him described him
as a guy who showed up late, but worked hard
once he got going, especially on days when he wasn't drink.
He drove an old green Ford Ranger with gardening tools
piled in the back and country music stickers on the bumper.
In March of twenty twenty two, his business had slowed
down because of heavy spring rains, leaving him short on cash.
(13:13):
Jess had always looked out for his little sister. He'd
helped Caylea pay her rent more than once when she
struggled to make ends meet as a single mom, but
their relationship had grown tense over the last year. Jesse
didn't like her glow within solutions in business and made
fun of her social media posts. He told friends Kayla's
work from home company was a fake business hustle for
board moms, and want of influencers. Police discovered a series
(13:36):
of angry text messages between the two siblings and the
weeks before Kayla's death. In one message, Jesse wrote, I'm
done bailing you out. You chose this crap. Another message,
sent three days before her murder said stop trying to
sell me tea in crystals, Get a real job. Jess
had a short temper and a record for dui. In
twenty eighteen, he'd been arrested after crashing his truck into
(13:58):
a mailbox following anuther at O'Malley's sports bar. Officers noted
he was cooperative, but belligerent and emotional despite his rough edges.
Neighbors said Jesse was the kind of person who'd mow
an elderly person's lawn for free or fix a leaky
fence without being asked. When investigators brought him in for
questioning on March fifteen, twenty twenty two, Jesse appeared tired
(14:20):
and nervous. He told detective Maria Torres he hadn't seen
KALs in Saturday, March twelfth, two days before she was
found dead. He said she had come by his small
rental house on South Maple Avenue that afternoon, trying to
sell them men's detoxte Jesse said he told her to
leave him alone. I told her I didn't want any
of that garbage, he said. She got mad, said I
(14:41):
didn't support her, then drove off. During the interview, Jesse
became emotional, wiping his eyes as he talked about his
sister's kids. She annoyed me sometimes, he said, but she
didn't deserve that. He denied owning a gun and allowed
police to search his home, truck, and phone without a warrant.
Officer found nothing suspicious, no weapons, no traces of blood,
(15:04):
and no evidence tying him to the scene. Jesse also
passed a polygraph test, which detectives arranged the following day.
His timeline matched up with receipts showing he bought gas
and groceries around the time Kayla was believed to have
been killed. Although investigators kept him on their radar, Detective
Torres later said Jesse had his flaws, but nothing pointed
(15:24):
to him pulling that trigger. By the end of March
twenty twenty two, police were forced to look elsewhere for
answers and fast because the case was already drawing local
media attention. By the third week of March twenty twenty two,
the Sanford Police investigation had stalled. Detectives had interviewed Kayla's
ex boyfriend's relatives and co workers, but nothing fit. Then
(15:46):
on the afternoon of Friday, March eighteen, a new league
came in, one that would completely change the direction of
the case. At two thirty seven pm, Detective Maria Torres
received a call from Trina White, a friend of Kayla's
and a fellow sales repped for glow Within Solutions. Trina
sounded shaken. She told Torris she had been scrolling through
the company's internal train videos when she noticed something strange.
(16:10):
In one of the clips, a man's voice explained how
to build trust with vulnerable customers. The voice was smooth, calm,
and confident, the same voice Trina had heard many times
before on speakerphone when Kayla chatted late at night with
someone named Aaron cole Arin, as Kyla had told friends,
was a business mentor who helped her stay motivated. He'd
(16:30):
first contacted her through a private Facebook group for glow
Within sellers. Over the next few months, they talked almost
every night. Long conversations about success, faith and manifesting abundance.
Catle had even hinted that she might be falling for him,
but Trina's discovery changed everything. When she replayed the training
video and listened carefully, she was sure Erin and Vincent
(16:52):
de Luca that the co founder of blow Within Solutions
were the same person. Vincent forty one was a slick
entrepreneur based in Tampa, known for his big motivational speeches
and shiny blue tesla. He often described himself as a
feminine energy consultant, though critics online accused his company of
exploiting women with pyramid style sales tactics. That Evening detectives
(17:15):
pulled the video and confirmed Trena was right. The voice
matched perfectly. They also suppointed Kyla's text records, revealing a
heated exchange between her and an Erin or rather Vincent
in the hours before her death. The texts showed that
on March thirteen, around nine seven pm, Kayla confronted him,
you played me like a bleeping fool. I'm going to
(17:36):
the police and to the other bleeping girls. You're bleeping done,
you mother bleep. That was the last message Kayla ever sent.
The next morning, she was found dead in her red
seddin behind the abandoned nail salon detectives pieced together her
final hours. According to Fonpaningg's, Kyla's device had traveled from
her duplex near the Sanford Airport to a commercial area
(17:56):
off East twenty fifth Street between nine thirty pm and
ten zen fifteen pm. Investigators believed she might have gone
there to confront Vincent in person or to meet someone
connected to him. Her phone was never recovered. Inside her car,
police found several unsold glow Within products, her sales binder,
and a tote bag marked with the company logo. Everything
(18:17):
suggested her death was linked to her work and now
possibly to one of the company's founders. Detective Torres later
described that discovery as the moment the puzzles started to
make sense. Someone had been lying to Kayla, and when
she finally uncovered the truth, it had cost her life.
By late March twenty twenty two, detectives had turned their
attention to the de Luca brothers, Vincent forty one and
(18:41):
Marco thirty nine, the co founders of Glow Within Solution ZIM,
the company Kayla had worked for. On the surface, the
brothers sold Empowerment. Their Orlando based business promised to empower
women through intimate wellness, using soft pink branding and instagram
slogans about self love and finance, anchel freedom. But underneath
(19:01):
the glossy social media image, something darker was brewing. The
De Lucas ran their operation from a rented office suite
above a vague shop on Semmar and Boulevard. Inside, the
walls were lined with motivational posters Manifesture, Magic and Boss
Babe Energy. Only every Wednesday night, they hosted empowerment calls
on Zoom for hundreds of mostly female recruits across Florida
(19:24):
and Georgia. The calls followed a strict format, upbeat music,
group affirmations, and long speeches about breaking free from toxic mindsets.
Vincent was the polished face of the company. He called
himself a mindset coach and wore pastel suits, usually baby
blue or lavender, paired with shiny loafers. He quoted Tony Robbins,
(19:44):
preached abundance, and ended every call with the phrase glow
within and win. He had a habit of calling the
women queens and promised that anyone who worked hard enough
could earn six figures selling feminine health products. Marco, his
younger brother, was the opposite, quiet and reclusive. He handled logistics,
tracking orders, managing payments, and keeping the books. While Vincent
(20:08):
thrived in the spotlight, Marco stayed behind the computer, often
seen smoking outside the vake shop during lunch breaks, but
behind the slogans and pastel smiles. The business was rotten
to the core. When investigators sent the company's products herbal suppositories,
Yoni pearls, and probiotic gummies to a lab for testing,
(20:29):
the results were shocking. They contained cornstarch, essential oils, and
cheap perfume, but no medical ingredients at all. As detectives
dug deeper, they uncovered a disturbing connection between Kayla and Vincent.
Cell Phone records and witness interviews revealed that Vincent had
been caffishing Kyla for months, posing as a man named
(20:49):
Aaron Cole. Aaron, a supposed private investor from Tampa, had
promised to help Kyla build her downline and turn her
small business into a full time career. Two exchanged flirty
messages for weeks. Vincent, pretending to be Arin, sent voice
notes telling her she was special and not like the
other sellers, they met twice in person, both times at
(21:11):
public coffee shops in Sandford. Caleb believed she had finally
met someone who saw her potential, unaware that Aaron was
actually her boss in disguise. When police brought the DeLuca
brothers in for questioning, Vincent appeared calm, confident, and rehearsed.
He wore a salmon pink blazer and smiled as he
told detectives he had been a wellness seminar in Miami
(21:31):
the morning of the murder. Marco, on the other hand,
was visibly nervous. His hands shook as he answered questions.
Two days later, detectives obtained cell tower data showing Vincent's
phone had pinned near Sandford around six forty five am
the morning Kyla was found dead, nowhere near Miami. When confronted,
Marco cracked, He told detective Torres vin freaked out. He said,
(21:53):
if she talks, the empire collapses. That statement changed everything.
The brothers who built a fake empire selling empowerment to
women were now the prime suspects and the murder of
one of their own. By the third week of March
twenty twenty two, detectives from the Sanford Police Department were
closing in on their prime suspect, Vincent de Luca forty one,
(22:14):
the co founder of Glow Within Solutions. In the evidence
against him, had been building peace by peace, and now
it painted a chilling picture of premeditated murder. Investigators believed
Vincent had killed Kyla Murdoch to silence her before she
could expose both his fraudulent Nalin empire and his secret
caffishing scheme. Cell tower data showed Vincent's phone had pinned
(22:36):
near Sanford around six forty five am on March fourteen,
the same morning Kayla was found dead. This directly contradicted
his earlier claim that he had been attending a wellness
seminar in Miami, more than two hundred miles away. Detective
Maria Torres and surgeon Daniel Ricks reviewed every detail, from
phone records to security footage. Then came the turning point.
(22:57):
Forensic analysts compared samples taken from the crime scene with
items collected from Vincent's white Lexus as UV. They found
traces of the same lemon scented hand sanitizer on his
steering wheel, the same kind used to wipe down the
handles of Kayla's car. The brand Citruspar Clean Plus wasn't
sold in many stores, but a nearly empty bottle of
(23:18):
it sat in the cup holder of Vincent's vehicle. Days later,
another key piece of evidence surfaced. A city maintenance worker
cleaning near North Orange Avenue discovered a small caliber handbun
lodged in a storm drain just two blocks from Vincent's apartment.
The serial number had been filed off, but when ballistics
experts tested it, the bullets matched perfectly to the ones
(23:40):
recovered from Kayla's body, two in the chest, one in
the face. Detective Torres called the evidence tight, deliberate, and
impossible to ignore. When the findings came back from the
lat she and her team drove straight to Orlando with
an arrest warrant in hand. At nine forty two am
on March twenty one, officers found Vincent out outside his
office above the Vague Shop, dressed sharply in a powder
(24:03):
blue suit and holding a smoothie cup. Witnesses said he
looked confused but calm as police surrounded him. One of
his employees later recalled him murmuring, this can't be happening.
Inside the interrogation room, Vincent denied everything. He said someone
was setting him up and that he barely knew Kayla personally,
But the evidence told a different story, the phone records,
(24:25):
the sanitizer, the gun, and the cell data. Then the
final betrayal came from inside his own family. Under pressure,
Marco de Luca decided to talk. Shaking and tearful, he
told detective Toys that Vincent had panicked after receiving Kayla's
angry text messages the night before her death. Marco recalled
his brother, saying, if she talks, the empire collapses. Hours later,
(24:50):
Vincent was formally charged with first degree murder. When news
of his arrest reached Kayla's family, they cried openly outside
their small duplex near the airport. Her sister told reporters
she just wanted to believe in something, and he used
that against her. The empire Vincent built on lies had
finally fallen, and it collapsed on top of him. The
(25:11):
trial of Vincent de Luca began in June twenty twenty four,
more than two years after the murder of Kayla Murdoch.
By then, the heat of summer had settled over Orlando,
and reporters filled the courthouse steps each morning, waiting for
updates on the case that had once shocked Central Florida.
Inside the courtroom, the atmosphere was tense but orderly. Prosecutor
(25:32):
Angela Rouse forty five, a sharp, steady atturning known for
her calm but relentless questioning, led the state's case. She
laid out the evidence in clear methodical detail, the cell
tower data, the hand sanitizer residue, the ballistic match, and
most damning of all, Marco de Luca's testimony. Rose told
the jury that Vincent had built an empire on lies
(25:56):
and then murdered Kyla to keep her from revealing the truth.
She discre decribed Kayla as a struggling single mother who
wanted to believe in something good and was destroyed by
the man who sold her Pope. Photos of Kayla smiling
beside her four children were shown on the courtroom screen,
followed by grim images of the red seed in where
her life ended, but jurors listened in silence. Defense attorney
(26:18):
Peter Lang thirty nine, tried to turn the tables. Known
for his theatrical style and navy blue suits, Lang argued
that there was no direct evidence tying Vincent to the trigger.
He insisted that Marco, not Vincent, was the one with
secrets to hide. During the defense's opening statement, Vincent sat
stone faced beside Lang, occasionally whispering notes onto yellow legal pads.
(26:42):
When Vincent took the stand, his calm demeanor cracked for
the first time. He blamed his brother, claiming Marco had
stolen his identity to flirt with Kayla online and that
Marco was always jealous of him. Vincent told the jury,
I didn't kill anyone. My brother used my name, my car,
my phone of it. His words came fast and desperate,
(27:03):
but Ruis dismantled his claims. During cross examination, she played
recordings of the Aaron Coal voice messages, comparing them to
Vincent's speeches from glow Within training videos. The voice was identical.
The jury heard text records showing that Vincent's phone had
been in Sanford the morning of the killing, not Marco's.
Ruis ended her questioning with a single line, you didn't
(27:24):
lose control of your brother, mister de Luca, you lost
control of your lie. After two weeks of testimony, the
jury deliberated for just four hours. On June seventeenth, twenty
twenty four, they returned with their verdict guilty of first
degree murder. Judge Rosa Bell sentenced Vincent to life in
prison without parole. He showed little emotion as the sentence
(27:47):
was read, staring straight ahead. Kayla's family sat in the
front row. Her mother, Elaine Murdoch, clutched a framed photo
of Kayla holding her youngest son. Tears ran down her
face as she whispered, finally she can rest. Outside the courthouse,
reporters gathered around her. She said quietly. He took away
her hope, but today we got a little piece of
(28:08):
it back. For the first time since that March morning
in twenty twenty two, justice had caught up with the
man who had sold dreams and delivered death. In the
months following Vincent de Lucas's conviction in June twenty twenty four,
life in Sanford began to settle, though the shadow of
Cala Murdoch's death lingered. The glow within Solutions and Empire
(28:28):
that had promised empowerment and financial freedom collapsed almost overnight.
Its website went offline, offices above the Vague shop were emptied,
and all social media accounts were deleted. For former recruits,
many of whom had invested thousands of dollars. The loss
was both financial and emotional. Friends described feeling betrayed and embarrassed,
(28:48):
a stark reminder of how easily hoped can be exploited.
Marco de Luca, who had testified against his brother during
the trial, fully cooperated with investigators. He admitted to handling
company logistics in payments, but denied involvement in Kayla's murder.
Marco received a reduced sentence for fraud, and in June
twenty twenty four, it was released on supervised probation. He
(29:10):
now works construction under a new name and keeps a
low profile, having largely disappeared from the public eye. Detective
Maria Torres received a promotion to lieutenant for her work
on the case. Her office at the Sandford Police Department
is now lined with plaques and commendations, but on her
desk she still keeps a small framed photo of Keela.
Torres said it serves as a daily reminder of the
(29:32):
case that tested her skills and resolve and of the
family she helped bring justice for. Kayla's family tried to
rebuild their lives around the small comforts of routine. Jesse Murdoch,
her older brother, makes it a point to visit Kayla's
grave every Sunday with her children, walking them along the
shaded paths of the local cemetery and telling stories about
their mother. Derrick Hall, Kayla's ex boyfriend and father of
(29:55):
her third child, moved out of Sandford and regained custody
of his son, working to provide stability while grappling with
the complicated history he shared with Kayla. The emotional scars
for Kayla's friends and family remain, even as summer flowers
bloom along East twenty fifth Street and the sound of
airplanes echoes from the nearby Sanford Airport. Her children continue
(30:16):
to remember her through the chalkharts they draw on the
driveway and through the fairy lights she once strung across
the duplex porch. Vincent de Luca is now serving life
in prison without parole, his carefully curated image of empowerment
and success reduced to a cautionary tale. He had spent
the trial trying to shift plane, insisting that his brother
Marco had stolen his identity to sleep with Kayla and
(30:39):
that Marko was always jealous of him. The jury however,
rejected these claims, and the verdict reinforced the truth it
was Vincent who had acted out of desperation to protect
his fraudulent empire. Though justice was served in the court room,
the aftermath is a quiet reminder that exploitation leaves lasting effects,
and that rebuilding a life after tragedy to be is
(31:00):
a slow, ongoing process for those left behind. In a
world where people search for meaning, connection, and independence, Cayla
Murdoch believed she found empowerment. Instead, it led her into
the hands of a predator. Her story stands as a
warning that not every promise of success shines with truth,
and that some dreams, when built on lies, can turn deadly.
It's early March twenty twenty two in Sandford, Florida. The
azaleas along East twenty fifth Street have just started to bloom.
It's quiet, humid and still, but that calm will soon
shatter when a sanitation worker discovers the red set and
parked crookedly behind a shuttered nail salon and inside a
forifying scene that will expose greed, deception, and the dark
(00:22):
side of a so called empowerment business. The victim was
Kyla Murdoch, a thirty four year old single mother of
four from Sanford, Florida. Her children, Jasmine age twelve, Cody
and Chloe, the eight year old twins, and Marcus, four
were the center of her life. They each had a
different father, and Kayla often joked that her house was
(00:43):
one big, blended family. She lived with them in a small,
two bedroom duplex near the Sanford Airport. The home sat
on a narrow street lined with cracked sidewalks and magnolia trees.
Kayla kept fairy lights hanging on her porch all year,
saying they made her tiny house sparkle on sunny afternoons
sit outside while her kids drew chalk hearts and rainbows
across the driveway. Kayla's life hadn't been easy in her twenties.
(01:07):
She'd been arrested several times for check fraud and petty theft,
mostly when she was short on money and desperate to
keep the lights on. But in recent years she'd been
trying hard to rebuild her life. She stayed out of trouble,
kept up with her kids' school schedules, and dreamed of
one day owning a small business. Friends described her as funny, outgoing,
and always chasing hope even when things fell apart. She
(01:29):
wanted to prove to everyone that she could do better,
said her neighbor temic Eroodes, who often babbysat the twins
after school. By early March of twenty twenty two, Kayla
was working for a small company called Glow Within Solutions,
a women's wellness business that promised financial freedom through sales
of intimate health products. Kayla sold herbal suppositories, Yoni Pearls,
(01:51):
and probiotic gummies that claimed to balance feminine energy and
restore natural harmony. The company called its sellers wellness advocates,
and Kyla took the title seriously. She carried a pink
tote bag with the logo glow Within Solutions zem Empower
your Feminine journey. Wherever she went, Kayla was charismatic and
could talk to anyone. She loved posting motivational quotes on
(02:15):
Facebook and TikTok, often with a hashtag hashtag Bosmo Energy.
Most nights, after putting the kids to bed, she sat
in front of a ring light in her small kitchen,
filming live videos for her followers. If I can turn
my life around, so can you, she'd say, with a
bright smile, her hair pulled up in a mug of
camel mild tea beside her. She often talked about how
(02:35):
glow Within had given her purpose and taught her to
dream again. But behind the bright lights and positive talk,
Kayla was struggling. Her bills were piling up, and her
bank account was nearly empty. Investigators later found she had
spent almost nine thousand dollars on company inventory products she
never sold. The boxes of unsold wellness kits filled her
(02:57):
Haull closet, her card trunk, and even her kis's bedroom floor.
Still she refused to give up. In the days before
her death, she told a friend she was done pretending
everything was okay. But she also promised that she was
close to making it big. She had a meeting planned
with a new investor from Tampa, someone she thought could
change her life. For Kayla, March twenty twenty two was
(03:19):
supposed to be the start of something new. She didn't
know it would instead be the tragic end of her story.
It was a warm Monday morning March fourteen, twenty twenty two,
when Brian Cummings, thirty seven started his sanitation routed through
East twenty fifth Street in Sanford, Florida. The sun was
just coming up and the air was thick with the
smell of orange blossoms from nearby yards. He'd driven the
(03:42):
same route for almost five years, emptying dumpsters behind small businesses,
a barber shop of eight store, and a nail salon
that had closed during the pandemic and never reopened. Around
seven forty five am, Brian noticed something odd. A red
Seddin parked crookedly behind the shuttered nail salon, its back
tire slightly on the curb. The car looked out of place,
(04:03):
its windows were fogged, and the driver's seat was reclined.
At first, he thought someone might be sleeping inside, maybe
a homeless person or someone waiting for a friend. But
as he got closer, he caught a strong, sharp odor,
the heavy metallic scent of blood barely masked by a
citrus air freshener hanging from the mirror. Inside, he saw
(04:23):
a woman slumped over the steering wheel. Her hair was
matted and one high heel was still wedged against the
gas pedal. A cream colored tote bag hung from her shoulder,
with gold letters spelling Glow within solutions Empower your Feminine Journey.
A box of pink cap bottles had spilled across the
passenger seat, and a few probiotic gummies lay scattered on
(04:44):
the floorboard for a moment. Brian FROs He later told police,
I thought maybe she passed out, but then I saw
the blood on her blouse. That's when I knew. His
hands shook As he backed away from the car. He
grabbed his phone and dialed nine to one one. His
voice trem as he explained what he found. The dispatcher
told him to stay put until officers arrived. As he waited,
(05:06):
Brian paced near the dumpster, chain smoking and staring at
the car. He knew that car it was Kayla Murdoch's
He and Kayla had dated briefly the year before, after
meeting through Facebook marketplace. The relationship ended badly. According to friends.
Cayla had accused Brian of following her after the break up,
and even filed a police complaint for stalking two months
(05:27):
before her death. When the first patrol car pulled up,
Brian looked pale and sweaty. He told officers he was
just doing his route and that finding her like this
was a total shock, but police took note of his
history with Kayla. They separated him from the scene and
began questioning him right away. The area behind the nail
salon quickly filled with flashing lights and yellow tape. Curious
(05:49):
neighbors stepped outside to watch. A few workers from the
barber shop across the alley whispered among themselves as detectives arrived.
By eight ten am, it was clear to everyone this
was no accident. The young mother, known for her bright
smile and motivational videos, had been found murdered, and one
of the first people to see her body was a
man she once feared. The first patrol car from the
(06:12):
Sanford Police Department arrived at seven fifty one a m.
Only six minutes after the nine to one one call
came in. The flashing lights reflected off the faded windows
of the shuttered nail salon, throwing streaks of red and
blue across the cracked pavement. Lead Detective Maria Torres, forty two,
a fifteen year veteran of the department, stepped out wearing
plain clothes and latex bluffs. Beside her was Sergeant Daniel
(06:35):
Ricks fifty, a quiet, methodical officer known for his sharp
memory and no nonsense approach. Detective Torres took one look
inside the red seddin and knew they were dealing with
something serious. The smell inside the vehicle was overwhelming, a
mix of citrus air freshener, cheap perfume, and the unmistakable
metallic tang of blood. The car's driver's seat was reclined,
(06:59):
and the woman behind the wheel, later confirmed to be
thirty four year old Kayla Murdoch, was clearly beyond help.
She had been shot twice in the chest and once
in the face with what appeared to be a small
caliber handgun. There were no signs of struggle, no broken glass,
no torn clothing, and no visible bruising. Her seat belt
was still on. Detective Torres noted how precise the bullet
(07:23):
wounds were. Not Chaoti. She said to her partner, this
was in rage, This was control. The positioning of the
shots suggested the killer had been close, maybe even sitting
beside her. Torus crouched beside the car scanning the scene.
Kyle's phone was missing, but her sails behind her and
a box of glow Within Solutions products were scattered across
(07:43):
the passenger seat. Small bottles labeled Feminine Harmony probiotics and
pink sachets of Yony Balance burrels were splattered with blood.
A stack of order forms was smeared and torn, fluttering
in the warm march breeze. When the forensic steam arrived,
they dusted the doorhads and steering wheel for fingerprints. What
they found was odd. The surfaces had been wiped clean,
(08:05):
leaving behind faint, sticky traces of lemon scented hand sanitizer.
Investigators used luminal spray to check for hidden residue, and
the glow confirmed it. The killer had tried to erase evidence,
but missed a few small spots. Outside the car, the
ground was littered with small yellow evidence markers. Three shell
casings were found about a foot apart, lying near the
(08:27):
rear tire. No wallet, no phone, and no gun were
recovered at the scene. Detective Torres instructed officers to canvass
the area. They knocked on doors of nearby businesses, the
vake shop, the barber shop, a small Latin grocery, asking
if any one had seen or heard anything unusual the
night before. One shop owner reported hearing a car door
(08:47):
slam around two a m. But no gunshots. By mid morning,
a crowd had gathered behind the yellow tape. Some recognized
the car from Kala's Facebook posts, where she often filmed
glow within live streams from the driver's seat. Her ring
light and tripod were still in the back seat, covered
in blood spatter. Detective Torres stood quietly for a moment,
(09:07):
watching the forensics team photograph the scene. She knew this
wasn't random. The precision, the clean up, the missing phone.
It all pointed to a killer who was organized, deliberate,
and familiar with Kayla's routines. This wasn't a robbery gone wrong.
This was a message, and Torres intended to find out
exactly who sent it. The first major suspect in the
case was Derek Hall, thirty six years old Kayla Murdock's
(09:31):
ex boyfriend and the father of her third child, eight
year old Chloe. Derek worked as a shift manager at
Wendy's on French Avenue in Sandford. Coworkers described him as
strict and controlling, saying he ruled the fry station like
a drill sergeant. He was known to bark orders at
teenage employees and throw cold fries in the trash if
they weren't perfectly chrisp He took that job like it
(09:53):
was the Army. One coworker said. Derek and Kayla had
been in an on and off relationship for nearly six years.
At first, things seemed normal, but soon their relationship became
violent and full of jealousy. Police records showed a long
history of violence. Caylea had filed for a restraining order twice,
though both times she later dropped it, once after Derek
(10:14):
threatened to take Chloe away from her. One of the
most disturbing incidents happened in twenty nineteen, when Derek allegedly
forced Kayla to eat barf scraped from a trash ben
after accusing her of acting like a princess in front
of him. He was arrested but later released when Kyla
refused to testify. Friend said she was terrified of him
but couldn't fully break away because of their daughter. By
(10:36):
March of twenty twenty two, Kayla was trying to rebuild
her life. She told friends she wanted nothing to do
with Derek, but he still called and texted her almost
every day. He made fun of her job with Glow
Within Solutions, calling it a scam for dumb chicks who
thinks selling bleeping eggs makes them smart. Kayla usually ignored him,
but on March twelve, two days before her death, they
(10:59):
got into another other heated argument over child support. She
told a friend afterward, he gets so angry when he
thinks I'm talking to other men. I just want peace.
When police questioned Derek about his whereabouts the night Kayla
was killed, he said he'd been at home watching bad
grown up movies and fell asleep around midnight. He claimed
he hadn't spoken to her in days, but investigators quickly
(11:21):
learned his alibi didn't hold up. Neighbors from his apartment
complex told officers they heard his car start up around
twelve thirty am. The same timeframe when police believed Kayla
was shot. One neighbor said that car of his has
a bad engen. You can hear it clear across the lot.
Detectives brought Dereck in for questioning at the Sanford Police
Department on March fifteen, one day after Kayla's body was found.
(11:44):
Inside the interrogation room, he was angry and defensive from
the start. He cursed, rolled his eyes, and accused investigators
of trying to pin this on the black man. When
Detective Maria Torres asked if he still loved Kyla, he sneered,
I love my kid. Cat was trouble. She messed with
the wrong people. Police tested his hands and clothing for
gunshot residue, but the results came back negative. They also
(12:08):
checked traffic in store cameras near Kayla's last known location.
A security camera from a gas station on East twenty
fifth Street showed a dark gray Hondo Accord similar to
Derek's passing by around twelve forty am. The license plate
was too blurry to confirm. Without solid evidence, detectives had
no choice but to release him, but not before noting
(12:29):
his violent passed broke an alibi and deep resentment toward
Kayla's new empowerment lifestyle. As Detective Torres said later, he
was the kind of man who couldn't stand to see
her happy. If he didn't pull the trigger, he knew
who did. The next person police questioned was Jesse Murdoch,
Kayla's older brother. Aged thirty eight, Jesse worked as a
(12:50):
landscaper around Sanford, Florida. People whom knew him described him
as a guy who showed up late, but worked hard
once he got going, especially on days when he wasn't drink.
He drove an old green Ford Ranger with gardening tools
piled in the back and country music stickers on the bumper.
In March of twenty twenty two, his business had slowed
down because of heavy spring rains, leaving him short on cash.
(13:13):
Jess had always looked out for his little sister. He'd
helped Caylea pay her rent more than once when she
struggled to make ends meet as a single mom, but
their relationship had grown tense over the last year. Jesse
didn't like her glow within solutions in business and made
fun of her social media posts. He told friends Kayla's
work from home company was a fake business hustle for
board moms, and want of influencers. Police discovered a series
(13:36):
of angry text messages between the two siblings and the
weeks before Kayla's death. In one message, Jesse wrote, I'm
done bailing you out. You chose this crap. Another message,
sent three days before her murder said stop trying to
sell me tea in crystals, Get a real job. Jess
had a short temper and a record for dui. In
twenty eighteen, he'd been arrested after crashing his truck into
(13:58):
a mailbox following anuther at O'Malley's sports bar. Officers noted
he was cooperative, but belligerent and emotional despite his rough edges.
Neighbors said Jesse was the kind of person who'd mow
an elderly person's lawn for free or fix a leaky
fence without being asked. When investigators brought him in for
questioning on March fifteen, twenty twenty two, Jesse appeared tired
(14:20):
and nervous. He told detective Maria Torres he hadn't seen
KALs in Saturday, March twelfth, two days before she was
found dead. He said she had come by his small
rental house on South Maple Avenue that afternoon, trying to
sell them men's detoxte Jesse said he told her to
leave him alone. I told her I didn't want any
of that garbage, he said. She got mad, said I
(14:41):
didn't support her, then drove off. During the interview, Jesse
became emotional, wiping his eyes as he talked about his
sister's kids. She annoyed me sometimes, he said, but she
didn't deserve that. He denied owning a gun and allowed
police to search his home, truck, and phone without a warrant.
Officer found nothing suspicious, no weapons, no traces of blood,
(15:04):
and no evidence tying him to the scene. Jesse also
passed a polygraph test, which detectives arranged the following day.
His timeline matched up with receipts showing he bought gas
and groceries around the time Kayla was believed to have
been killed. Although investigators kept him on their radar, Detective
Torres later said Jesse had his flaws, but nothing pointed
(15:24):
to him pulling that trigger. By the end of March
twenty twenty two, police were forced to look elsewhere for
answers and fast because the case was already drawing local
media attention. By the third week of March twenty twenty two,
the Sanford Police investigation had stalled. Detectives had interviewed Kayla's
ex boyfriend's relatives and co workers, but nothing fit. Then
(15:46):
on the afternoon of Friday, March eighteen, a new league
came in, one that would completely change the direction of
the case. At two thirty seven pm, Detective Maria Torres
received a call from Trina White, a friend of Kayla's
and a fellow sales repped for glow Within Solutions. Trina
sounded shaken. She told Torris she had been scrolling through
the company's internal train videos when she noticed something strange.
(16:10):
In one of the clips, a man's voice explained how
to build trust with vulnerable customers. The voice was smooth, calm,
and confident, the same voice Trina had heard many times
before on speakerphone when Kayla chatted late at night with
someone named Aaron cole Arin, as Kyla had told friends,
was a business mentor who helped her stay motivated. He'd
(16:30):
first contacted her through a private Facebook group for glow
Within sellers. Over the next few months, they talked almost
every night. Long conversations about success, faith and manifesting abundance.
Catle had even hinted that she might be falling for him,
but Trina's discovery changed everything. When she replayed the training
video and listened carefully, she was sure Erin and Vincent
(16:52):
de Luca that the co founder of blow Within Solutions
were the same person. Vincent forty one was a slick
entrepreneur based in Tampa, known for his big motivational speeches
and shiny blue tesla. He often described himself as a
feminine energy consultant, though critics online accused his company of
exploiting women with pyramid style sales tactics. That Evening detectives
(17:15):
pulled the video and confirmed Trena was right. The voice
matched perfectly. They also suppointed Kyla's text records, revealing a
heated exchange between her and an Erin or rather Vincent
in the hours before her death. The texts showed that
on March thirteen, around nine seven pm, Kayla confronted him,
you played me like a bleeping fool. I'm going to
(17:36):
the police and to the other bleeping girls. You're bleeping done,
you mother bleep. That was the last message Kayla ever sent.
The next morning, she was found dead in her red
seddin behind the abandoned nail salon detectives pieced together her
final hours. According to Fonpaningg's, Kyla's device had traveled from
her duplex near the Sanford Airport to a commercial area
(17:56):
off East twenty fifth Street between nine thirty pm and
ten zen fifteen pm. Investigators believed she might have gone
there to confront Vincent in person or to meet someone
connected to him. Her phone was never recovered. Inside her car,
police found several unsold glow Within products, her sales binder,
and a tote bag marked with the company logo. Everything
(18:17):
suggested her death was linked to her work and now
possibly to one of the company's founders. Detective Torres later
described that discovery as the moment the puzzles started to
make sense. Someone had been lying to Kayla, and when
she finally uncovered the truth, it had cost her life.
By late March twenty twenty two, detectives had turned their
attention to the de Luca brothers, Vincent forty one and
(18:41):
Marco thirty nine, the co founders of Glow Within Solution ZIM,
the company Kayla had worked for. On the surface, the
brothers sold Empowerment. Their Orlando based business promised to empower
women through intimate wellness, using soft pink branding and instagram
slogans about self love and finance, anchel freedom. But underneath
(19:01):
the glossy social media image, something darker was brewing. The
De Lucas ran their operation from a rented office suite
above a vague shop on Semmar and Boulevard. Inside, the
walls were lined with motivational posters Manifesture, Magic and Boss
Babe Energy. Only every Wednesday night, they hosted empowerment calls
on Zoom for hundreds of mostly female recruits across Florida
(19:24):
and Georgia. The calls followed a strict format, upbeat music,
group affirmations, and long speeches about breaking free from toxic mindsets.
Vincent was the polished face of the company. He called
himself a mindset coach and wore pastel suits, usually baby
blue or lavender, paired with shiny loafers. He quoted Tony Robbins,
(19:44):
preached abundance, and ended every call with the phrase glow
within and win. He had a habit of calling the
women queens and promised that anyone who worked hard enough
could earn six figures selling feminine health products. Marco, his
younger brother, was the opposite, quiet and reclusive. He handled logistics,
tracking orders, managing payments, and keeping the books. While Vincent
(20:08):
thrived in the spotlight, Marco stayed behind the computer, often
seen smoking outside the vake shop during lunch breaks, but
behind the slogans and pastel smiles. The business was rotten
to the core. When investigators sent the company's products herbal suppositories,
Yoni pearls, and probiotic gummies to a lab for testing,
(20:29):
the results were shocking. They contained cornstarch, essential oils, and
cheap perfume, but no medical ingredients at all. As detectives
dug deeper, they uncovered a disturbing connection between Kayla and Vincent.
Cell Phone records and witness interviews revealed that Vincent had
been caffishing Kyla for months, posing as a man named
(20:49):
Aaron Cole. Aaron, a supposed private investor from Tampa, had
promised to help Kyla build her downline and turn her
small business into a full time career. Two exchanged flirty
messages for weeks. Vincent, pretending to be Arin, sent voice
notes telling her she was special and not like the
other sellers, they met twice in person, both times at
(21:11):
public coffee shops in Sandford. Caleb believed she had finally
met someone who saw her potential, unaware that Aaron was
actually her boss in disguise. When police brought the DeLuca
brothers in for questioning, Vincent appeared calm, confident, and rehearsed.
He wore a salmon pink blazer and smiled as he
told detectives he had been a wellness seminar in Miami
(21:31):
the morning of the murder. Marco, on the other hand,
was visibly nervous. His hands shook as he answered questions.
Two days later, detectives obtained cell tower data showing Vincent's
phone had pinned near Sandford around six forty five am
the morning Kyla was found dead, nowhere near Miami. When confronted,
Marco cracked, He told detective Torres vin freaked out. He said,
(21:53):
if she talks, the empire collapses. That statement changed everything.
The brothers who built a fake empire selling empowerment to
women were now the prime suspects and the murder of
one of their own. By the third week of March
twenty twenty two, detectives from the Sanford Police Department were
closing in on their prime suspect, Vincent de Luca forty one,
(22:14):
the co founder of Glow Within Solutions. In the evidence
against him, had been building peace by peace, and now
it painted a chilling picture of premeditated murder. Investigators believed
Vincent had killed Kyla Murdoch to silence her before she
could expose both his fraudulent Nalin empire and his secret
caffishing scheme. Cell tower data showed Vincent's phone had pinned
(22:36):
near Sanford around six forty five am on March fourteen,
the same morning Kayla was found dead. This directly contradicted
his earlier claim that he had been attending a wellness
seminar in Miami, more than two hundred miles away. Detective
Maria Torres and surgeon Daniel Ricks reviewed every detail, from
phone records to security footage. Then came the turning point.
(22:57):
Forensic analysts compared samples taken from the crime scene with
items collected from Vincent's white Lexus as UV. They found
traces of the same lemon scented hand sanitizer on his
steering wheel, the same kind used to wipe down the
handles of Kayla's car. The brand Citruspar Clean Plus wasn't
sold in many stores, but a nearly empty bottle of
(23:18):
it sat in the cup holder of Vincent's vehicle. Days later,
another key piece of evidence surfaced. A city maintenance worker
cleaning near North Orange Avenue discovered a small caliber handbun
lodged in a storm drain just two blocks from Vincent's apartment.
The serial number had been filed off, but when ballistics
experts tested it, the bullets matched perfectly to the ones
(23:40):
recovered from Kayla's body, two in the chest, one in
the face. Detective Torres called the evidence tight, deliberate, and
impossible to ignore. When the findings came back from the
lat she and her team drove straight to Orlando with
an arrest warrant in hand. At nine forty two am
on March twenty one, officers found Vincent out outside his
office above the Vague Shop, dressed sharply in a powder
(24:03):
blue suit and holding a smoothie cup. Witnesses said he
looked confused but calm as police surrounded him. One of
his employees later recalled him murmuring, this can't be happening.
Inside the interrogation room, Vincent denied everything. He said someone
was setting him up and that he barely knew Kayla personally,
But the evidence told a different story, the phone records,
(24:25):
the sanitizer, the gun, and the cell data. Then the
final betrayal came from inside his own family. Under pressure,
Marco de Luca decided to talk. Shaking and tearful, he
told detective Toys that Vincent had panicked after receiving Kayla's
angry text messages the night before her death. Marco recalled
his brother, saying, if she talks, the empire collapses. Hours later,
(24:50):
Vincent was formally charged with first degree murder. When news
of his arrest reached Kayla's family, they cried openly outside
their small duplex near the airport. Her sister told reporters
she just wanted to believe in something, and he used
that against her. The empire Vincent built on lies had
finally fallen, and it collapsed on top of him. The
(25:11):
trial of Vincent de Luca began in June twenty twenty four,
more than two years after the murder of Kayla Murdoch.
By then, the heat of summer had settled over Orlando,
and reporters filled the courthouse steps each morning, waiting for
updates on the case that had once shocked Central Florida.
Inside the courtroom, the atmosphere was tense but orderly. Prosecutor
(25:32):
Angela Rouse forty five, a sharp, steady atturning known for
her calm but relentless questioning, led the state's case. She
laid out the evidence in clear methodical detail, the cell
tower data, the hand sanitizer residue, the ballistic match, and
most damning of all, Marco de Luca's testimony. Rose told
the jury that Vincent had built an empire on lies
(25:56):
and then murdered Kyla to keep her from revealing the truth.
She discre decribed Kayla as a struggling single mother who
wanted to believe in something good and was destroyed by
the man who sold her Pope. Photos of Kayla smiling
beside her four children were shown on the courtroom screen,
followed by grim images of the red seed in where
her life ended, but jurors listened in silence. Defense attorney
(26:18):
Peter Lang thirty nine, tried to turn the tables. Known
for his theatrical style and navy blue suits, Lang argued
that there was no direct evidence tying Vincent to the trigger.
He insisted that Marco, not Vincent, was the one with
secrets to hide. During the defense's opening statement, Vincent sat
stone faced beside Lang, occasionally whispering notes onto yellow legal pads.
(26:42):
When Vincent took the stand, his calm demeanor cracked for
the first time. He blamed his brother, claiming Marco had
stolen his identity to flirt with Kayla online and that
Marco was always jealous of him. Vincent told the jury,
I didn't kill anyone. My brother used my name, my car,
my phone of it. His words came fast and desperate,
(27:03):
but Ruis dismantled his claims. During cross examination, she played
recordings of the Aaron Coal voice messages, comparing them to
Vincent's speeches from glow Within training videos. The voice was identical.
The jury heard text records showing that Vincent's phone had
been in Sanford the morning of the killing, not Marco's.
Ruis ended her questioning with a single line, you didn't
(27:24):
lose control of your brother, mister de Luca, you lost
control of your lie. After two weeks of testimony, the
jury deliberated for just four hours. On June seventeenth, twenty
twenty four, they returned with their verdict guilty of first
degree murder. Judge Rosa Bell sentenced Vincent to life in
prison without parole. He showed little emotion as the sentence
(27:47):
was read, staring straight ahead. Kayla's family sat in the
front row. Her mother, Elaine Murdoch, clutched a framed photo
of Kayla holding her youngest son. Tears ran down her
face as she whispered, finally she can rest. Outside the courthouse,
reporters gathered around her. She said quietly. He took away
her hope, but today we got a little piece of
(28:08):
it back. For the first time since that March morning
in twenty twenty two, justice had caught up with the
man who had sold dreams and delivered death. In the
months following Vincent de Lucas's conviction in June twenty twenty four,
life in Sanford began to settle, though the shadow of
Cala Murdoch's death lingered. The glow within Solutions and Empire
(28:28):
that had promised empowerment and financial freedom collapsed almost overnight.
Its website went offline, offices above the Vague shop were emptied,
and all social media accounts were deleted. For former recruits,
many of whom had invested thousands of dollars. The loss
was both financial and emotional. Friends described feeling betrayed and embarrassed,
(28:48):
a stark reminder of how easily hoped can be exploited.
Marco de Luca, who had testified against his brother during
the trial, fully cooperated with investigators. He admitted to handling
company logistics in payments, but denied involvement in Kayla's murder.
Marco received a reduced sentence for fraud, and in June
twenty twenty four, it was released on supervised probation. He
(29:10):
now works construction under a new name and keeps a
low profile, having largely disappeared from the public eye. Detective
Maria Torres received a promotion to lieutenant for her work
on the case. Her office at the Sandford Police Department
is now lined with plaques and commendations, but on her
desk she still keeps a small framed photo of Keela.
Torres said it serves as a daily reminder of the
(29:32):
case that tested her skills and resolve and of the
family she helped bring justice for. Kayla's family tried to
rebuild their lives around the small comforts of routine. Jesse Murdoch,
her older brother, makes it a point to visit Kayla's
grave every Sunday with her children, walking them along the
shaded paths of the local cemetery and telling stories about
their mother. Derrick Hall, Kayla's ex boyfriend and father of
(29:55):
her third child, moved out of Sandford and regained custody
of his son, working to provide stability while grappling with
the complicated history he shared with Kayla. The emotional scars
for Kayla's friends and family remain, even as summer flowers
bloom along East twenty fifth Street and the sound of
airplanes echoes from the nearby Sanford Airport. Her children continue
(30:16):
to remember her through the chalkharts they draw on the
driveway and through the fairy lights she once strung across
the duplex porch. Vincent de Luca is now serving life
in prison without parole, his carefully curated image of empowerment
and success reduced to a cautionary tale. He had spent
the trial trying to shift plane, insisting that his brother
Marco had stolen his identity to sleep with Kayla and
(30:39):
that Marko was always jealous of him. The jury however,
rejected these claims, and the verdict reinforced the truth it
was Vincent who had acted out of desperation to protect
his fraudulent empire. Though justice was served in the court room,
the aftermath is a quiet reminder that exploitation leaves lasting effects,
and that rebuilding a life after tragedy to be is
(31:00):
a slow, ongoing process for those left behind. In a
world where people search for meaning, connection, and independence, Cayla
Murdoch believed she found empowerment. Instead, it led her into
the hands of a predator. Her story stands as a
warning that not every promise of success shines with truth,
and that some dreams, when built on lies, can turn deadly.
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