April 28, 2025 • 50 mins
At the St. Charles County 911 dispatch centre, the holiday season had brought an unusually calm night on one of the final days of 2018. But just before midnight, that all changed. A frantic and desperate call came through. Screaming, loud pops in the background and then a single chilling phrase – “he has a gun.”
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I knew this wasn't going to be anything.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
That was just.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Walking into and seeing the good side of humanity.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Saint Charles and Missouri is a city with a rich past.
Founded in seventeen sixty nine by French fur trader Lewis Blanchett,
it was once a thriving frontier town, a gateway for
explorers heading west. In fact, it was here that Lewis
and Clark began their legendary expedition. Over the century, Saint
Charles grew from a small trading post into a thriving
(01:19):
suburban city. Today, its cobblestone streets and historic riverfront blend
seamlessly with modern shops, restaurants, and a vibrant community. It's
the kind of place where families settled down, where neighbors
know each other, where violent crime is rare. But in
December of two thousand and eighteen, something happened that shattered
(01:39):
that sense of security. Inside the Saint Charles County nine
one one dispatch center, the holiday season was in full swing.
Christmas decorations hung from cubicle walls, Twinkling lights flickered, and
festive music played softly in the background. It was the
kind of shift that despatchers looked forward to the calsa night.
(02:00):
We're routine reports of minor car accidents, noise complaints, and
the occasional medical emergency. Nothing unusual, nothing out of the ordinary.
But then at eleven fifty five pm, the mood inside
the dispatch center changed in an instant. A call came through.
The despatcher answered, expecting another routine emergency, but what came
(02:23):
next was anything.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
But I had a as where he addressed twice as
I can hear something was going on, and I didn't
catch the address right away, so I sort of repeated
there's a lot of screaming. I heard her say he
has a gun, and then moments later I heard pops,
and everything kind of went quiet.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Saint Charles and Zuri is a quiet suburban town where
families build their lives in peaceful neighborhoods, children playing backyards,
and doors are left unlocked without a second thought. It
was here that thirty nine year old Kate Caston carved
out of life with her two children, ten year old
Jonathan and eight year old Zoe. Kate had always been
(03:20):
family oriented. She grew up in a tight knit home
with her parents, Jane and Rick Mochel. When she was seven,
they adopted a little boy, Robert, and from that moment,
Dawn Kate embraced the role of big sister. She was
fiercely protective and nurturing. It was a dynamic that carried
on into her own family when she became a mother herself.
(03:41):
Jonathan and Zoe were more than just siblings. They were
the best of friends at Harris Elementary School. They had
a close knit circle of friends. They were both fun
loving and fearless, the kind of children who brought Ener
Jane laughter wherever they went. Jonathan could spend ours building
elaborate lego creations or battling it out on the xbox
with his friends. He was said to be the goofball
(04:04):
of the family. As for Zoe, she had been playing
field hockey since she was just three years old. She
was a trampoline expert, a natural athlete, and a creative soul.
He loved to craft. Despite their joy, the cast and
family had seen their fair share of heartbreak. Kate's husband, Corey,
the father of Jonathan and Zoe, passed away in twenty
(04:26):
seventeen after a six year battle with cancer. The loss
was absolutely devastating, Corey's aunt Diane said of Kate, she
was by his side every moment. She'd been such a
good wife to him. Kate was left to pick up
the pieces, raising two children on her own while carrying
the weight of grief. But Kate wasn't truly alone. Her mother,
(04:48):
Jane Michel, was a constant source of love and support.
Born in Saint Louis in nineteen fifty seven, Jane spent
her early years in Hannibal before settling in Brentwood, where
she graduated high school in nineteen seventy six. She attended
Fonbone College and built lifelong friendships along the way, the
first of many circles of friends she would collect throughout
(05:08):
her life. Jane had an extraordinary gift. She could make
anybody feel special. A natural communicator with an ability to
bring people together, she was said to be the glue
that held her extended family together. She spent most of
her career in retail, including working in her family's nursery
alongside her brother Chuck. There she cared for plants and flowers,
(05:31):
but more than that, she cultivated relationships. Later, Jane moved
into the cosmetics industry, where her warmth and charm made
her natural at connecting with people, but above all, Jane
cherished her children and grandchildren. To Jonathan and Zoe, she
was Mamma Jane, their greatest champion, their adventure partner, their
safe haven. Her face would always light up at the
(05:54):
sound of their voices, and her greatest joy was spending
time with them. Kate and Jane had an unbreakable bond,
one that was strengthened by both love and loss. Together
they kept their family tradition alive, summer vacations, their annual
stop at Graceland, festive Christmas gatherings. Throughout all of life's hardships,
(06:14):
they leaned on each other, bound by their family motto,
Big Love. Kate was determined to give her children the
life they deserved despite the pain that they had endured,
and for a while it seemed like they were doing
just that. The darkness has a way of creeping in
when you least expected. It was a quiet night in
(06:45):
the nine one one Dispatch Center in Saint Charles, Missouri,
on the twenty eighth of December twenty eighteen. The days
following Christmas were usually unpredictable. Some years brought a flurry
of domestic disturbances others in eerie cam On this particular night,
the latter seemed to be the case. Robert Higgins was
on duty. He'd worked as a dispatcher for years, long
(07:09):
enough to recognize the difference between a routine call and
something truly urgent. But just before midnight, the silence was shattered.
The voice on the other end of the line was
nearly unintelligible, hysterical, frantic, gasping for breath. It was an
older woman, and she was struggling to get the words out.
(07:30):
That woman was Jane Mokel. She had been staying at
her daughter Kate's home on Western Drive while recovering from surgery.
In the background, the sound of muffled scream sent a
chill through the dispatcher's spine. Jane relaid the address once
and then again, her voice rising in desperation. Seconds later,
(07:52):
she shouted, he has a gun. A series of sharp
pops then rang out over the line. Robert Higgins froze.
He'd handled the stress calls before, but this sounded different.
He knew that what he had just heard was the
unmistakable crack of gunfire, followed by a haunting silence. For
(08:12):
a moment, he heard nothing, then a faint voice in
the background. It sounded like somebody asking why why. Then
there was another voice, a meal He said, what did
you say to me? And then another shot. The line
then went silent. Robert Higgins didn't hesitate. He despatched units immediately,
(08:36):
relying what he had heard. In Rapid Fire detail, a
Crosstown officer, Zak Fisher, was sitting in his squad car
parked in the lot of a nearby church, finishing up
reports when the call came in over the radio. He
didn't need to be told twice. Fisher slammed his laptop shut,
threw the car into drive, and sped towards the scene. Later,
(08:58):
he would recall theway his hands tightened on the wheel,
the way he Scott told him this was going to
be bad. He wasn't the only one responding. As he arrived,
he saw other units racing in the same direction, sirens
lighting up the darkened streets of the neighborhood. Fisher didn't
pull up directly in front of the house. He parked
(09:19):
a few doors down. Years of training had taught him
that a gunman could still be inside waiting. He grabbed
his police issued rifle, took a breath to steady himself
and started towards the house. Then he saw a movement.
A pickup truck was idling in the driveway.
Speaker 6 (09:36):
Whenever I got particularly close to the residents that had
the pickup truck parked in it, observed the white male
exit the front door, turned around and locked the door,
and then walked to the pickup truck. Peary casually walked
to his vehicle to get inside of the vehicle and
back out like anyone normally would while they were driving
a car, and then start to drive down.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Wetstone out of the front door stepped him mind. He
appeared to be casual, as if a frantic nine one
one call hadn't just come from the very same home.
Officer Fisher slowed his pace, watching as the man turned
back towards the door, locked it, and then walked to
the truck. The officer's instincts flared. A man doesn't calmly
(10:19):
lock a door behind him if he's running away from danger,
and this man he wasn't running. He was leaving Officer
Fisher stead low, calling in the vehicles make model and
license plate, before watching the pickup roll out of the driveway.
It turned onto the street, driving away at a normal speed,
(10:41):
not too fast, not too slow, like nothing had happened.
But inside that house something had.
Speaker 7 (10:48):
If I knew this.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Wasn't going to be anything, that was just.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Walking into and saying the good.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Side of humanity, And when Officer Fisher finally still up
through the front door, he would find a nightmare waiting
for him. By the time Officer Zach Fisher stepped inside backup,
(11:19):
it arrived. More officers flooded the quiet street, their patrol
lights casting an ominous glow on the snow dusted pavement.
The house was still lit up for Christmas. Twinkling lights
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(11:39):
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The officer swept the ground floor first, checking each room,
(14:37):
calling out commands into the silence. There was no movement.
Then they moved upstairs. In one of the bedrooms, a
nightmare unfolded before them. The door had been kicked in,
so it didn't take them long to see the blood.
There was so much that it had pulled across the carpet,
seeping into the fibers. Bodies lay motionless. Jane Mochal was
(15:03):
on the floor in the doorway as if she was
trying to barricade the door. A single gunshot had torn
through her face. Nearby were her two grandchildren, Zoey and Jonathan. Zoey,
just eight years old, had been shot once in the face. Jonathan,
just ten, had suffered even more. He had sustained three
(15:25):
gunshot wounds. There was one to the face and another
to his shoulder. In arm, the final fatal shot had
ripped through his arm and into his chest, finally killing him.
It was a massacre, and it must have taken mere seconds.
Officers stood frozen for a moment, taking in the horror,
(15:46):
their training clashing with their humanity. Even the most seasoned
among them struggled to process what lay before them. It
was clear that Jane, Jonathan, and Soey were far beyond saving,
but the search wasn't over. The officers heard a faint,
barely audible noise coming from somewhere else down the hallway.
(16:06):
They moved quickly with their weapons raised. The master bedroom
door creaked open, revealing another body on the floor. But
this one, this one was still alive. It was Kate.
She had been shot twice. One bullet had torn through
her shoulder and the other through her head. It had
entered the top of her head and then traveled straight
(16:28):
down her body, but somehow impossibly, Kit was still clinging
to life. Blood poured from her wounds. Standing the floor
beneath her, she had a clear.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Head injury, when weren't sure she had anything else at
that point, we were applying bandages.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
We didn't have any in depth medical equipment with us.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I had the improvise and used any sort of cotton
garment that was around. I ended up using a bleat
a T shirt from Lundy and one of the dressers
to apply to that I had checked at the remainder
of the rooms. In the other bedroom, I found the
grandmother and the two children as well, and they.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Were obviously diseased.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Officer Fisher grabbed a T shirt from nearby and pressed
it firmly to her head in a desperate attempt to
stem the bleeding. The officers tried to talk to Kate
to keep her awake. They asked her if she could
hear them and her had shot her. They didn't dare
tell her about what they had found in the bedroom
next door. Her eyes flickered, struggling to focus. She was
(17:35):
slipping in a out of consciousness. She couldn't speak. Time
was running out. Paramedics arrived and hurried Kate into the ambulance.
They sped off towards the hospital, but it was already
too late. Kate died on the way, just as officers
(18:04):
were discovering the horror inside the cast and home. Another
urgent call came through the radio. A vehicle marketing the
exact description of the one scene leaving the crime scene
had just been spotted. Two patrol cars quietly tailed the
pickup truck, waiting for the right moment to engage. The
driver wasn't speding, he wasn't trying to evade them. He
(18:27):
was driving as though nothing had happened, as if he
hadn't just left a house full of bodies in his wake.
After a couple of blocks, the officers activated their lights,
but the driver didn't stop. He didn't speed up either.
He simply kept driving, maintaining his normal pace until he
turned onto a dimlylit street, and then finally he pulled over.
(18:52):
The officers weren't taking any chances. They stepped out of
their cruisers with their weapons drawn and ordered the driver
to put his hands out of the window, but there
was no response. The driver just sat there. Then, without warning,
the driver door flung open. A barriage of bullets cut
through the night as the suspect fired directly at the officers.
(19:15):
Instinct kicked in the officer's dove for cover, taking shelter
behind their vehicles as bullets tore through the metal. And glass,
and just as suddenly as it had begun, the shooting stopped.
The officers gripped their weapons, racing for what was next.
Then they saw him. The suspect bolted, sprinting between two
(19:36):
houses before disappearing into the darkness of a wooded area.
The officers stood up unscathed, but rattled their patrol cars, however,
had taken the damage yet bullet holes pierced through the bodywork. However,
this man was He was willing to kill anybody who
got in his way. Inside the abandoned pickup truck, detectives
(19:59):
fawned a chilling or arsenal an, a R fifteen style rifle,
a duffel bag filled with loaded magazines, eight cartridges, four
hundred and fifty rounds of ammunition. This wasn't just an
escape attempt. This was a man who had been prepared
for war, and now the search was on. A massive
man hunt unfolded. Officers from multiple agencies flooded the area.
(20:24):
So what teams deployed drones scanned the tree line, and
a helicopter circled overhead, its searchlight slicing through the darkness.
The neighborhood was locked down, but were ordered to stay inside.
Some were out there in a cold Missouri night, was
a man with nothing left to lose. And then, just
when authorities thought the night couldn't get any worse, another
(20:47):
emergency call came in. On the other end of the
line was a woman frantic and in pain. She said
she had just left a Christmas party when she heard
footsteps running up behind her. Before she could react, a
man grabbed her, yanked open her car door, and attacked.
(21:12):
She fought back, but the man was desperate. I've got
to get out of here, he screamed. Then the woman
felt a searing pain in her stomach. The man plunged
a knife into her once, twice, seven times, but the
woman refused to give up, even as the blood soaked
through her dress. She pushed back, kicking, clawing, and fighting
(21:34):
for her life. Summoning every ounce of strength she had left,
she shoved the man away, slammed the car door shut,
and locked it. She then called nine one one as
the man simply turned and walked away, calm, casual, like
nothing had just happened. The young woman would survive the attack,
but not without seven stab wounds to the chest. Her
(21:58):
description of the suspect left note. It was him, the
same man who had just gone down an entire family
in the safety of their own home, the same man
who had opened fire on police, and now he was
still out there. For seven long hours, the man hunt continued.
(22:20):
Police scarred the streets, their searchlight beams slicing through the darkness.
Residents were left on the edge, locked in their homes,
watching the breaking news unfold. Somewhere out there, a killer
was lurking. Then, just as dawn was beginning to break,
another nine one one call came in. This time it
wasn't from a frightened resident, it wasn't from a survivor.
(22:45):
It was from an employee at a local convenience store.
The worker had been standing behind the counter when a
man walked in. His clothes were torn and blood soaked
through the fabric. The employee froze. He asked the man
they need an ambulance. Should I call nine one one?
The man simply nodded, Then, without another word, he turned
(23:07):
and walked straight to the bathroom. Within minutes, police stormed
into the store with their weapons raised. They approached the restroom.
A tense silence filled the air as they pushed open
the door, and there he was slumped against the wall,
bleeding from two gunshot wounds, one to the neck and
another to the hip. It was him, the same man
(23:30):
who had gunned down the cast and family, the same
man who had ambushed police, The same man who had
stabbed a woman seven times in a desperate bread to escape,
forty six year old Richard Emery. He was taken into
custody and rushed into the hospital. That's when his demeanor changed.
The man who had spent the night unleashing terror now
(23:53):
seemed remorseful, at least about some things lying in the
trauma room. He turned to an officer and asked, is
the woman I stabbed okay? She was Then another question,
are you the officers I shot at? The officer shook
his head, but he said that he was friends with
the officers. Emory said that he was sorry for shooting
(24:17):
at them, but that was all. There was no mention
of Kate Casten, no mention of Jane Mokel, no mention
of ten year old Jonathan or eight year old Zooey.
When asked about those murders, he refused to speak. The
only thing he did tell police was where they could
find the weapons he had used. He admitted to tossing
(24:39):
his nine millimeter on Moog Road after fleeing the scene.
Detectives found it exactly where he said it would be.
It was empty and caked in blood. As for the
knife he had used in the stabbing, he threw it
onto the grass at a car lot near the convenience store.
The pieces were all coming together, but the biggest question
remained why. What had led Darren Emory to massacre an
(25:04):
entire family, ambush police, and attack a stranger in the
dead of night, And, as detectives would soon uncover, the
truth was far darker than they could have ever imagined.
(25:26):
With Darren Emory behind bars, the investigation was only just beginning.
People were horrified, but that horror only intensified when they
learned who the suspect was. Darren Emory wasn't a stranger,
he wasn't some unknown intruder. He was Kate's living boyfriend.
Rick Mochel, Kate's father and Jane's ex husband, spoke to
(25:49):
the media. His voice was thick with shock as he said,
the big question is what the heck happened? That question
was on everyone's mind. Kate and Emory had been together
for over a year. They'd met through a mutual friend
at a Guns and Roses concert back in two thousand
and seventeen, and over the next eighteen months, things moved quickly.
(26:12):
To those who knew them, there had been no signs
of trouble, no warning signs. Rick himself had seen them
just days before he had dinner with the family on
the twenty third of December. Kate and Emory seemed happy, hugging, laughing,
and Emory had always been good with the kids he
helped with their homework. They adored him. Rick recalled, it's
(26:35):
hard to say something bad about Darren, but I can't
because there was never an indication something like this could happen.
He was supposed to be there to protect. But now
Kate was dead, Jane was dead, Jonathan and Zoe were dead.
Rick struggled to process it. He said, that mug shot,
(26:56):
that wasn't the man I knew. That looked like a
person with no soul, an angry, mean person. For Kate's friends,
it was devastating. She'd been rebuilding her life after the
loss of her husband, Corey. She'd just stepped back from
her part time job to spend more time with the children,
but now they were all gone. Prosecutor Tim Lomore didn't
(27:19):
mince his words when he said, what can possess somebody
to take the life of the child. It's beyond me.
I don't know how anyone could do such a thing.
And as for what punishment Emory could face, he stated,
it's premature for us to make any pronouncement about the
death penalty right now, but I can tell you this
thing looks and smells like a death penalty case. On
(27:44):
the thirtieth of December, Darren Emery was officially charged. There
were fifteen charges in total, among them first degree murder,
armed criminal action, and assault. The justice system was moving forward,
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Jonathan and Zoway, the healing had barely begun. Did you
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next day, the community came together. They gathered outside Harrison
Elementary School for a candlelight vigil. There was a sea
(31:03):
of flickering candlelight and faces stricked with tears. Among them
was Rick, Kate's father. Through his grief, he tried to
put words to the unimaginable. He said, I think that
I probably cried enough yesterday that I was maybe dehydrated
at the end of the day. What do you think,
What do you do? What do you say? I don't know.
(31:26):
There were no easy answers, but there was love and support.
Children took to the pavement, writing messages and chalk small
colorful tributes to Jonathan and Zoe. Some of them even spoke,
sharing stories of their friends, how funny Jonathan was, how
kind Zoe was. Kate's close friend Julie Shaeffer addressed the crowd.
(31:46):
Her voice wavered, but she spoke with certainty as she said,
this was mental illness. We were on the outside looking in,
and it looked fine. He took away precious people. She
also had a plea for everybody listening. If you know
someone who needs help, don't judge them. Rick, standing among
the mourners, took some solace in the vigil. It meant something,
(32:08):
a step, however small, towards healing. But the question still
haunted him. What caused this? If he ever does say
what it was, I'm sure he's going to try and
lay the blame on somebody else. The family's joint funeral
was held on the sixth of January at Saint John's
Lutheran Church. Their urns were carried in and placed at
the front. The children's uncle, Kenny Easter, wiped away tears
(32:32):
as he said, I got them started on the comic books.
I bought them their first ones. Jonathan was really into
the Flash. I just bought him the Flash versus Speed Buggy,
and I was planning on giving it to him this weekend.
As a matter of fact, I think we were all
supposed to get together yesterday. These were now missed moments,
(32:52):
memories that should have been made, stolen in an instant.
Their aunt Carrie spoke next. She said she wanted people
to remember them for who they were, not just how
they died. She stated, this is who they were. They
were superheroes and they lived it every day, and so
I'm here to represent that part of my family. In April,
(33:24):
prosecutors made their decision if convicted, Darren Emory would be
facing the death penalty. It was a harsh punishment, but
one they believed fit the brutality of the crime. Despite
the overwhelming evidence against him, Emory pleaded not guilty to
all of the charges he was going to trial. Outside
the courthouse, Rick was asked what he would say to
(33:45):
Emory have given the chance. His response was simple, what
were you thinking? You had it made. She would have
bought you anything you wanted and was doing that, and
then you do this. We've wrestled with why, but there's
no real reason, nothing to justify it. The trial had
originally been scheduled for early twenty and twenty one, but
(34:07):
COVID nineteen changed that. It was delayed again and again
four years past and for the family, for the entire community,
those years were spent in limbo, trying to heal and
trying to move forward and trying to understand what had
really happened that night. Jury' selection began on the sixth
(34:27):
of September twenty and twenty two. By the twentieth, the
jury was seated. The trial was finally ready to begin
at the Saint Charles County Courthouse, and as the prosecutor
laid out their case, it became clear just how senseless,
how horrific the murders really were. That night, Kate had
wanted a quiet evening at home with the family, but
(34:50):
Emory had other plans. Instead of staying in, he went
to the throwback bar and Grill in Saint Peter's for
a poker night. While he was there, he and Kate
text back and forth, so he suggested they have sex
when he got home. But when he returned around eleven
thirty pm that night, something changed. An argument broke out.
(35:13):
Evidence showed that it started in the bathroom and then
spilled into the bedroom. Kate wanted him to leave, Instead,
he reached for a gun. A struggle ensued. Two shots
were fired, but they hit the wall. Then he shot
Kate twice, first in the shoulder, then in the head.
The noise woke up Jonathan and Zoe. Terrified, they ran
(35:35):
into their grandmother's room, locking the door behind them. Jim
picked up the phone and called nine one one, but
it was already too late. Emory kicked the door down,
and one by one he executed them, Jane first, followed
by Zoe and then Jonathan. As he curled up on
the bed. The nine one one called recorded the moment
(35:56):
they died. It was a haunting, devastating piece of evidence.
Prosecutor Phil Greenwig told the jury Kate was the first
one shot and the last one to die. This is
not the result of disassociation or someone hallucinating. He literally
went from one room to another, one victim to another,
in order to kill them all. Then Emory's defense attorney,
(36:20):
Stephen Reynolds stood up in a stunning admission. He told
the jury that his client was indeed guilty of murder,
but he wasn't done. He argued that Emory wasn't guilty
of premeditated murder. Instead, he pushed for second degree murder,
hoping to remove the death penalty from the table. According
to Ranalds, his client suffered from borderline personality disorder, a
(36:43):
condition that he argued made him unable to regulate his motions.
Reynolds asked the jury what was going on inside of
his head for those forty five seconds, because that's the
question in this case. It was just an outpouring, an
explosion of pure emotion, rejection, loss, fear, and anger. It
was an argument built on mental instability. But would it
(37:06):
be enough to spare Emory's life. The trial got underway
and the first to take the witness stand was the
nine one one operator, Robert Higgins. His voice was steady,
but the weight of what he had heard that night
was unmistakable. As he said to the jury, I had
(37:28):
to ask for the address twice because I could hear
something was going on, and I didn't catch the address
right away, so I asked her to repeat it. Then
the courtroom listened, They heard the nine one one call.
They heard screaming followed by loud pops and then silence.
Higgins testified it just sounded like gunshots, and putting that
(37:49):
together with her saying he had a gun, I knew
something was wrong. Immediately after that, the jury was shown
police body camera footage the moment the office has arrived
at the cast and home, the moment they stepped inside,
the moment they realized they had just walked into a massacre.
One of the responding officers, Dean Alexander struggled to put
(38:12):
what he saw into words. He could only say the
worst of the worst. Then he added, this will always
haunt me for the rest of my life.
Speaker 7 (38:23):
I knew it not.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Even then, and Devous was with child Gothic. What if
if there's something I could even worth? There's a good
chance that I can. Did I see Colma home life
and to help his kids.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
Another officer, Kyle Schmidt, was new to the job. He
was a former combat veteran. This was his second career,
and it would soon be his second career lost to trauma.
He told the jury trauma following that pushed me out
of two careers. This was in downtown sleep Saint Charles,
not a RAQ. The prosecution wasn't just relying on testimony.
(39:05):
They also had DNA evidence. An expert testified that DNA
from blood found on the gun matched Richard Emery. The
probability that someone else could have had that same DNA
was one in non ilien. That's a one, followed by
thirty zeros. It was a refutable. Emory had his own
story to tell. When he took to the witness stand,
(39:27):
he told the jury his version of what happened that night,
he recalled. Coming home from throw Back Bar and Grill
at around eleven PM, Jonathan was in the kitchen excited
to show him a Lego set that he had built.
It was a Christmas gift from Emory. A Star Wars
X Wing Fighter. Star Wars was something that they had
both bonded over.
Speaker 7 (39:48):
Ah, he was so excited to show me. Now it
was cool. I mean he's he's ten, and in less
than four hours he did a seven hundred and fifty
(40:10):
piece Lego said by himself.
Speaker 5 (40:13):
Just.
Speaker 7 (40:15):
Like, it's no big deal. It would take me a week.
Speaker 5 (40:19):
Did you talk to Jonathan in the kitchen?
Speaker 7 (40:22):
I did, but I think it was just just briefly.
Speaker 5 (40:27):
What did you get after that?
Speaker 7 (40:29):
I went upstairs to let Kate know I was home.
I mean she probably already knew, but.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
I don't remember where.
Speaker 7 (40:39):
She was or where I just wanted to let her out.
When I was home.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
Emory went upstairs and got into the shore. When he
came over, and he claimed the kids started arguing with him.
Speaker 7 (40:51):
She's like in my face, but not like literally in
my face, and she said something about, you know, that
little boy is really hurt that you didn't he acknowledge
his his legos enough or something like that, like it
(41:13):
just felt like her sole purpose to go when there
was was to pick a fight. It's throwing off.
Speaker 6 (41:22):
Do you remember?
Speaker 8 (41:23):
You know what you said?
Speaker 6 (41:24):
Next?
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Something? Wait, you gotta be kidding.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
He said that they argued back and forth. He said
he told her something like I can't do anything right
or no matter what I do, it's never good enough.
That's when, according to Emory, kid slapped him. Then he said,
things escalated. He pushed her on the stairs, and at
some point he didn't know when he went to the
(41:51):
safe deposit box and grabbed a gun. He claimed, it
went off. You don't understand what's going on. How did
it get over there? We were in the bathroom, we
were struggling. It didn't make sense. He insisted that he
didn't deliberately shoot Kate or Jonathan, or Zoe or Jane,
(42:11):
but the bullets had found their targets. Anyway, he told
the jury this whole process, I don't know what's happening.
I mean, I'm there, but I'm not there. He said
he must have shot Jane before the children, but he
couldn't recall doing it. What he could remember, however, was
shooting Zoe and Jonathan. He recalled Jonathan curled up on
(42:33):
a ball in the bed, and then he pulled the trigger.
As he testified, he broke down and sobbed. He likened
the entire thing to being inside of a video game.
But then his actions took an even colder turn. He
told the jury that after the murders, he went back
into the master bedroom, he stepped over Kate, and he
(42:55):
changed his clothing. Under cross examination, the prosecution pressed him.
They wanted to show that he was a hot head
who was prone to violence. They brought up a twenty
sixteen golf game in which he threatened to shoot a
member of the forsome. Emory said that the man in
their group was being laud and obnoxious. He said that
the others had asked him to stop, but he wouldn't.
(43:18):
Near the end of the row, and Emory undid the
straps on the back of his golf cart so that
the clubs would fall out when he drove away. At
the end of the game, Emory was in the parking
lot when the man approached him and asked if he
was responsible. Emory said he was, and he told the
court that the man punched him in the face. Emory
said that he staggered back, but he didn't retaliate. He
(43:39):
said he went to his truck to put his clubs away,
and that's when the man approached him again. Emory said
he thought he was coming back to attack him once more,
so he grabbed his pistol and warned the man he
would shoot him if he came any closer. There was
also another incident where he threatened somebody else with a gun,
and prosecutor said he was pepper spread in jail for
not listening to it jail guard and flipping a food tray.
(44:03):
The prosecutors then asked if he thought what had happened
was Kate's fault. He shook his head and responded, it's
nobody's fault. It's my fault. I'm a screw I'm apparently sick.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (44:16):
They didn't deserve me. He then added, the best thing
that happened to me, and as usual, I'm a screw up.
I should have been the one to die, not them.
After the defense and prosecution rested, it was time for
(44:36):
closing arguments. The prosecution had one final opportunity to drive
their point home. Richard Emery knew exactly what he was doing.
The prosecutor stood before the jury and told them each
shot was an opportunity to reflect on what he was doing,
and he rejected that opportunity each time. Then he pointed
(44:58):
that throughout the massacre, Emory had made a choice. He'd
shot Kate, he'd shot her mother Jane, He'd shot her children,
Jonathan and Zoway. But there was one living thing inside
that house. He had not harmed his dog. The prosecution
argued that this simple fact proved that he was in
a clear mindset, that he wasn't out of control, that
(45:20):
he was making decisions, and those decisions were to kill.
This is about him not wanting to take responsibility, the
prosecutor said. The defense, meanwhile, pleaded for the jury to
see the bigger picture, to consider the trauma that had
shaped Emory's life, his alleged fear of abandonment, his supposed
loss of control. They urged the jury to convict him
(45:44):
of second degree murder, but the jury didn't need much time.
Just two hours later they were back with a verdict.
They found Richard Emory guilty on four counts of first
degree murder. And now that same jury had another decision
to make Would Richard Emery live or would he die?
(46:04):
The sentencing phase began the next week, and the prosecution
made it clear they were seeking the death penalty. The
defense begged for leniency. They painted a picture of a
man that was shipped by trauma, a man whose childhood
experiences of abandonment sexual abuse led to a diagnosis of
borderline personality disorder. They argued that Kate breaking up with
(46:26):
him that night had triggered an emotional response that he
couldn't control, that he must have been in a disassociated state.
The jury heard from those that were left behind. Officer
Zachary Fisher described the aftermath. It was just hard to say,
he said, imagining the thoughts that were going through their
heads as their lives were taken. And then Kate's father,
(46:50):
Rick spoke. He described the pride he had felt when
she graduated, the moment he first held his grandchildren in
his arms. They had been his joy. His voice cracked
as he said, they were totally, absolutely enjoying life. You
keep hoping your wake up from this bad dream, but
it's not a dream, it's real. The defense called Emory's
(47:12):
friends and family to speak on his behalf. His friend
Aaron Klasser said that he struggled with what had happened.
Speaker 8 (47:19):
My brain tries to do conspiracy theories and come up
with a different like coming up with excuses for him,
and that alone speaks to me about his character. And
I can't in good conscience sit by and let somebody
that I thought that that I felt was a good
person get sentenced to death.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
Emory's mother, a Laura Jurou, pleaded for her son's life.
To this day, I can't believe it. It's so far
from my son, she said. His father, Richard also said,
I hate that this happened, but he's my son and
I love him, always have, always will. But in the
(48:01):
end it wasn't enough. The jury returned their final verdict
Richard Emory deserved to die for his crimes. Outside of court,
prosecutor Tim Lomore addressed the media and said it was
a clear disregard for human life. It was vile. The
crime scene spoke for itself to commit these murders within
(48:21):
a matter of moments, but we can clearly establish that
there was plenty of time for kull reflection between each
full of that trigger. For me, those are the things
that stood out to us and I think ultimately to
the jury as well. In November, Judge Michael Fagris made
it official and he sentenced Richard Emory to death. In
(48:43):
handing the sentence down, he said, this is a difficult
decision to make and I don't take that lightly from court.
Richard Emory was transported to death row at the Potassi
Correctional Center and there he will remain until the State
of Missouri takes his life. Well, Bessie's that is it
(49:25):
for this episode of Morbidology. As always, thank you so
much for listening, and I'd like to say a massive
thank you to my newest supporters up on pedron erin
Kaylee and Christina. The link to pedron is in the
show notes if you'd like to join. As you all know,
Morbidology is a one woman podcast, so the support up
on their seriously goes such a long way and helps
to defray the costs that come with running a podcast.
(49:47):
I uplod adree and early release episodes behind the scenes,
and I also send out merch and handwritten thank you card.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
I also do.
Speaker 4 (49:54):
Bonus episodes of Morbidology, plus they're on on the regular
podcast platforms. Remember to check us out at morbidology dot
com for more information about this episode and to read
some true crime articles. Until next time, take care of yourselves,
stay safe, and have an amazing week.
I knew this wasn't going to be anything.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
That was just.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Walking into and seeing the good side of humanity.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Saint Charles and Missouri is a city with a rich past.
Founded in seventeen sixty nine by French fur trader Lewis Blanchett,
it was once a thriving frontier town, a gateway for
explorers heading west. In fact, it was here that Lewis
and Clark began their legendary expedition. Over the century, Saint
Charles grew from a small trading post into a thriving
(01:19):
suburban city. Today, its cobblestone streets and historic riverfront blend
seamlessly with modern shops, restaurants, and a vibrant community. It's
the kind of place where families settled down, where neighbors
know each other, where violent crime is rare. But in
December of two thousand and eighteen, something happened that shattered
(01:39):
that sense of security. Inside the Saint Charles County nine
one one dispatch center, the holiday season was in full swing.
Christmas decorations hung from cubicle walls, Twinkling lights flickered, and
festive music played softly in the background. It was the
kind of shift that despatchers looked forward to the calsa night.
(02:00):
We're routine reports of minor car accidents, noise complaints, and
the occasional medical emergency. Nothing unusual, nothing out of the ordinary.
But then at eleven fifty five pm, the mood inside
the dispatch center changed in an instant. A call came through.
The despatcher answered, expecting another routine emergency, but what came
(02:23):
next was anything.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
But I had a as where he addressed twice as
I can hear something was going on, and I didn't
catch the address right away, so I sort of repeated
there's a lot of screaming. I heard her say he
has a gun, and then moments later I heard pops,
and everything kind of went quiet.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Saint Charles and Zuri is a quiet suburban town where
families build their lives in peaceful neighborhoods, children playing backyards,
and doors are left unlocked without a second thought. It
was here that thirty nine year old Kate Caston carved
out of life with her two children, ten year old
Jonathan and eight year old Zoe. Kate had always been
(03:20):
family oriented. She grew up in a tight knit home
with her parents, Jane and Rick Mochel. When she was seven,
they adopted a little boy, Robert, and from that moment,
Dawn Kate embraced the role of big sister. She was
fiercely protective and nurturing. It was a dynamic that carried
on into her own family when she became a mother herself.
(03:41):
Jonathan and Zoe were more than just siblings. They were
the best of friends at Harris Elementary School. They had
a close knit circle of friends. They were both fun
loving and fearless, the kind of children who brought Ener
Jane laughter wherever they went. Jonathan could spend ours building
elaborate lego creations or battling it out on the xbox
with his friends. He was said to be the goofball
(04:04):
of the family. As for Zoe, she had been playing
field hockey since she was just three years old. She
was a trampoline expert, a natural athlete, and a creative soul.
He loved to craft. Despite their joy, the cast and
family had seen their fair share of heartbreak. Kate's husband, Corey,
the father of Jonathan and Zoe, passed away in twenty
(04:26):
seventeen after a six year battle with cancer. The loss
was absolutely devastating, Corey's aunt Diane said of Kate, she
was by his side every moment. She'd been such a
good wife to him. Kate was left to pick up
the pieces, raising two children on her own while carrying
the weight of grief. But Kate wasn't truly alone. Her mother,
(04:48):
Jane Michel, was a constant source of love and support.
Born in Saint Louis in nineteen fifty seven, Jane spent
her early years in Hannibal before settling in Brentwood, where
she graduated high school in nineteen seventy six. She attended
Fonbone College and built lifelong friendships along the way, the
first of many circles of friends she would collect throughout
(05:08):
her life. Jane had an extraordinary gift. She could make
anybody feel special. A natural communicator with an ability to
bring people together, she was said to be the glue
that held her extended family together. She spent most of
her career in retail, including working in her family's nursery
alongside her brother Chuck. There she cared for plants and flowers,
(05:31):
but more than that, she cultivated relationships. Later, Jane moved
into the cosmetics industry, where her warmth and charm made
her natural at connecting with people, but above all, Jane
cherished her children and grandchildren. To Jonathan and Zoe, she
was Mamma Jane, their greatest champion, their adventure partner, their
safe haven. Her face would always light up at the
(05:54):
sound of their voices, and her greatest joy was spending
time with them. Kate and Jane had an unbreakable bond,
one that was strengthened by both love and loss. Together
they kept their family tradition alive, summer vacations, their annual
stop at Graceland, festive Christmas gatherings. Throughout all of life's hardships,
(06:14):
they leaned on each other, bound by their family motto,
Big Love. Kate was determined to give her children the
life they deserved despite the pain that they had endured,
and for a while it seemed like they were doing
just that. The darkness has a way of creeping in
when you least expected. It was a quiet night in
(06:45):
the nine one one Dispatch Center in Saint Charles, Missouri,
on the twenty eighth of December twenty eighteen. The days
following Christmas were usually unpredictable. Some years brought a flurry
of domestic disturbances others in eerie cam On this particular night,
the latter seemed to be the case. Robert Higgins was
on duty. He'd worked as a dispatcher for years, long
(07:09):
enough to recognize the difference between a routine call and
something truly urgent. But just before midnight, the silence was shattered.
The voice on the other end of the line was
nearly unintelligible, hysterical, frantic, gasping for breath. It was an
older woman, and she was struggling to get the words out.
(07:30):
That woman was Jane Mokel. She had been staying at
her daughter Kate's home on Western Drive while recovering from surgery.
In the background, the sound of muffled scream sent a
chill through the dispatcher's spine. Jane relaid the address once
and then again, her voice rising in desperation. Seconds later,
(07:52):
she shouted, he has a gun. A series of sharp
pops then rang out over the line. Robert Higgins froze.
He'd handled the stress calls before, but this sounded different.
He knew that what he had just heard was the
unmistakable crack of gunfire, followed by a haunting silence. For
(08:12):
a moment, he heard nothing, then a faint voice in
the background. It sounded like somebody asking why why. Then
there was another voice, a meal He said, what did
you say to me? And then another shot. The line
then went silent. Robert Higgins didn't hesitate. He despatched units immediately,
(08:36):
relying what he had heard. In Rapid Fire detail, a
Crosstown officer, Zak Fisher, was sitting in his squad car
parked in the lot of a nearby church, finishing up
reports when the call came in over the radio. He
didn't need to be told twice. Fisher slammed his laptop shut,
threw the car into drive, and sped towards the scene. Later,
(08:58):
he would recall theway his hands tightened on the wheel,
the way he Scott told him this was going to
be bad. He wasn't the only one responding. As he arrived,
he saw other units racing in the same direction, sirens
lighting up the darkened streets of the neighborhood. Fisher didn't
pull up directly in front of the house. He parked
(09:19):
a few doors down. Years of training had taught him
that a gunman could still be inside waiting. He grabbed
his police issued rifle, took a breath to steady himself
and started towards the house. Then he saw a movement.
A pickup truck was idling in the driveway.
Speaker 6 (09:36):
Whenever I got particularly close to the residents that had
the pickup truck parked in it, observed the white male
exit the front door, turned around and locked the door,
and then walked to the pickup truck. Peary casually walked
to his vehicle to get inside of the vehicle and
back out like anyone normally would while they were driving
a car, and then start to drive down.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Wetstone out of the front door stepped him mind. He
appeared to be casual, as if a frantic nine one
one call hadn't just come from the very same home.
Officer Fisher slowed his pace, watching as the man turned
back towards the door, locked it, and then walked to
the truck. The officer's instincts flared. A man doesn't calmly
(10:19):
lock a door behind him if he's running away from danger,
and this man he wasn't running. He was leaving Officer
Fisher stead low, calling in the vehicles make model and
license plate, before watching the pickup roll out of the driveway.
It turned onto the street, driving away at a normal speed,
(10:41):
not too fast, not too slow, like nothing had happened.
But inside that house something had.
Speaker 7 (10:48):
If I knew this.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Wasn't going to be anything, that was just.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Walking into and saying the good.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Side of humanity, And when Officer Fisher finally still up
through the front door, he would find a nightmare waiting
for him. By the time Officer Zach Fisher stepped inside backup,
(11:19):
it arrived. More officers flooded the quiet street, their patrol
lights casting an ominous glow on the snow dusted pavement.
The house was still lit up for Christmas. Twinkling lights
lined the living room, and stockings hung neatly on the fireplace.
It was a scene that was frozen in time, as
(11:39):
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The officer swept the ground floor first, checking each room,
(14:37):
calling out commands into the silence. There was no movement.
Then they moved upstairs. In one of the bedrooms, a
nightmare unfolded before them. The door had been kicked in,
so it didn't take them long to see the blood.
There was so much that it had pulled across the carpet,
seeping into the fibers. Bodies lay motionless. Jane Mochal was
(15:03):
on the floor in the doorway as if she was
trying to barricade the door. A single gunshot had torn
through her face. Nearby were her two grandchildren, Zoey and Jonathan. Zoey,
just eight years old, had been shot once in the face. Jonathan,
just ten, had suffered even more. He had sustained three
(15:25):
gunshot wounds. There was one to the face and another
to his shoulder. In arm, the final fatal shot had
ripped through his arm and into his chest, finally killing him.
It was a massacre, and it must have taken mere seconds.
Officers stood frozen for a moment, taking in the horror,
(15:46):
their training clashing with their humanity. Even the most seasoned
among them struggled to process what lay before them. It
was clear that Jane, Jonathan, and Soey were far beyond saving,
but the search wasn't over. The officers heard a faint,
barely audible noise coming from somewhere else down the hallway.
(16:06):
They moved quickly with their weapons raised. The master bedroom
door creaked open, revealing another body on the floor. But
this one, this one was still alive. It was Kate.
She had been shot twice. One bullet had torn through
her shoulder and the other through her head. It had
entered the top of her head and then traveled straight
(16:28):
down her body, but somehow impossibly, Kit was still clinging
to life. Blood poured from her wounds. Standing the floor
beneath her, she had a clear.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Head injury, when weren't sure she had anything else at
that point, we were applying bandages.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
We didn't have any in depth medical equipment with us.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I had the improvise and used any sort of cotton
garment that was around. I ended up using a bleat
a T shirt from Lundy and one of the dressers
to apply to that I had checked at the remainder
of the rooms. In the other bedroom, I found the
grandmother and the two children as well, and they.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Were obviously diseased.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Officer Fisher grabbed a T shirt from nearby and pressed
it firmly to her head in a desperate attempt to
stem the bleeding. The officers tried to talk to Kate
to keep her awake. They asked her if she could
hear them and her had shot her. They didn't dare
tell her about what they had found in the bedroom
next door. Her eyes flickered, struggling to focus. She was
(17:35):
slipping in a out of consciousness. She couldn't speak. Time
was running out. Paramedics arrived and hurried Kate into the ambulance.
They sped off towards the hospital, but it was already
too late. Kate died on the way, just as officers
(18:04):
were discovering the horror inside the cast and home. Another
urgent call came through the radio. A vehicle marketing the
exact description of the one scene leaving the crime scene
had just been spotted. Two patrol cars quietly tailed the
pickup truck, waiting for the right moment to engage. The
driver wasn't speding, he wasn't trying to evade them. He
(18:27):
was driving as though nothing had happened, as if he
hadn't just left a house full of bodies in his wake.
After a couple of blocks, the officers activated their lights,
but the driver didn't stop. He didn't speed up either.
He simply kept driving, maintaining his normal pace until he
turned onto a dimlylit street, and then finally he pulled over.
(18:52):
The officers weren't taking any chances. They stepped out of
their cruisers with their weapons drawn and ordered the driver
to put his hands out of the window, but there
was no response. The driver just sat there. Then, without warning,
the driver door flung open. A barriage of bullets cut
through the night as the suspect fired directly at the officers.
(19:15):
Instinct kicked in the officer's dove for cover, taking shelter
behind their vehicles as bullets tore through the metal. And glass,
and just as suddenly as it had begun, the shooting stopped.
The officers gripped their weapons, racing for what was next.
Then they saw him. The suspect bolted, sprinting between two
(19:36):
houses before disappearing into the darkness of a wooded area.
The officers stood up unscathed, but rattled their patrol cars, however,
had taken the damage yet bullet holes pierced through the bodywork. However,
this man was He was willing to kill anybody who
got in his way. Inside the abandoned pickup truck, detectives
(19:59):
fawned a chilling or arsenal an, a R fifteen style rifle,
a duffel bag filled with loaded magazines, eight cartridges, four
hundred and fifty rounds of ammunition. This wasn't just an
escape attempt. This was a man who had been prepared
for war, and now the search was on. A massive
man hunt unfolded. Officers from multiple agencies flooded the area.
(20:24):
So what teams deployed drones scanned the tree line, and
a helicopter circled overhead, its searchlight slicing through the darkness.
The neighborhood was locked down, but were ordered to stay inside.
Some were out there in a cold Missouri night, was
a man with nothing left to lose. And then, just
when authorities thought the night couldn't get any worse, another
(20:47):
emergency call came in. On the other end of the
line was a woman frantic and in pain. She said
she had just left a Christmas party when she heard
footsteps running up behind her. Before she could react, a
man grabbed her, yanked open her car door, and attacked.
(21:12):
She fought back, but the man was desperate. I've got
to get out of here, he screamed. Then the woman
felt a searing pain in her stomach. The man plunged
a knife into her once, twice, seven times, but the
woman refused to give up, even as the blood soaked
through her dress. She pushed back, kicking, clawing, and fighting
(21:34):
for her life. Summoning every ounce of strength she had left,
she shoved the man away, slammed the car door shut,
and locked it. She then called nine one one as
the man simply turned and walked away, calm, casual, like
nothing had just happened. The young woman would survive the attack,
but not without seven stab wounds to the chest. Her
(21:58):
description of the suspect left note. It was him, the
same man who had just gone down an entire family
in the safety of their own home, the same man
who had opened fire on police, and now he was
still out there. For seven long hours, the man hunt continued.
(22:20):
Police scarred the streets, their searchlight beams slicing through the darkness.
Residents were left on the edge, locked in their homes,
watching the breaking news unfold. Somewhere out there, a killer
was lurking. Then, just as dawn was beginning to break,
another nine one one call came in. This time it
wasn't from a frightened resident, it wasn't from a survivor.
(22:45):
It was from an employee at a local convenience store.
The worker had been standing behind the counter when a
man walked in. His clothes were torn and blood soaked
through the fabric. The employee froze. He asked the man
they need an ambulance. Should I call nine one one?
The man simply nodded, Then, without another word, he turned
(23:07):
and walked straight to the bathroom. Within minutes, police stormed
into the store with their weapons raised. They approached the restroom.
A tense silence filled the air as they pushed open
the door, and there he was slumped against the wall,
bleeding from two gunshot wounds, one to the neck and
another to the hip. It was him, the same man
(23:30):
who had gunned down the cast and family, the same
man who had ambushed police, The same man who had
stabbed a woman seven times in a desperate bread to escape,
forty six year old Richard Emery. He was taken into
custody and rushed into the hospital. That's when his demeanor changed.
The man who had spent the night unleashing terror now
(23:53):
seemed remorseful, at least about some things lying in the
trauma room. He turned to an officer and asked, is
the woman I stabbed okay? She was Then another question,
are you the officers I shot at? The officer shook
his head, but he said that he was friends with
the officers. Emory said that he was sorry for shooting
(24:17):
at them, but that was all. There was no mention
of Kate Casten, no mention of Jane Mokel, no mention
of ten year old Jonathan or eight year old Zooey.
When asked about those murders, he refused to speak. The
only thing he did tell police was where they could
find the weapons he had used. He admitted to tossing
(24:39):
his nine millimeter on Moog Road after fleeing the scene.
Detectives found it exactly where he said it would be.
It was empty and caked in blood. As for the
knife he had used in the stabbing, he threw it
onto the grass at a car lot near the convenience store.
The pieces were all coming together, but the biggest question
remained why. What had led Darren Emory to massacre an
(25:04):
entire family, ambush police, and attack a stranger in the
dead of night, And, as detectives would soon uncover, the
truth was far darker than they could have ever imagined.
(25:26):
With Darren Emory behind bars, the investigation was only just beginning.
People were horrified, but that horror only intensified when they
learned who the suspect was. Darren Emory wasn't a stranger,
he wasn't some unknown intruder. He was Kate's living boyfriend.
Rick Mochel, Kate's father and Jane's ex husband, spoke to
(25:49):
the media. His voice was thick with shock as he said,
the big question is what the heck happened? That question
was on everyone's mind. Kate and Emory had been together
for over a year. They'd met through a mutual friend
at a Guns and Roses concert back in two thousand
and seventeen, and over the next eighteen months, things moved quickly.
(26:12):
To those who knew them, there had been no signs
of trouble, no warning signs. Rick himself had seen them
just days before he had dinner with the family on
the twenty third of December. Kate and Emory seemed happy, hugging, laughing,
and Emory had always been good with the kids he
helped with their homework. They adored him. Rick recalled, it's
(26:35):
hard to say something bad about Darren, but I can't
because there was never an indication something like this could happen.
He was supposed to be there to protect. But now
Kate was dead, Jane was dead, Jonathan and Zoe were dead.
Rick struggled to process it. He said, that mug shot,
(26:56):
that wasn't the man I knew. That looked like a
person with no soul, an angry, mean person. For Kate's friends,
it was devastating. She'd been rebuilding her life after the
loss of her husband, Corey. She'd just stepped back from
her part time job to spend more time with the children,
but now they were all gone. Prosecutor Tim Lomore didn't
(27:19):
mince his words when he said, what can possess somebody
to take the life of the child. It's beyond me.
I don't know how anyone could do such a thing.
And as for what punishment Emory could face, he stated,
it's premature for us to make any pronouncement about the
death penalty right now, but I can tell you this
thing looks and smells like a death penalty case. On
(27:44):
the thirtieth of December, Darren Emery was officially charged. There
were fifteen charges in total, among them first degree murder,
armed criminal action, and assault. The justice system was moving forward,
but for the community, for the people who love Kate, Jane,
Jonathan and Zoway, the healing had barely begun. Did you
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(29:35):
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next day, the community came together. They gathered outside Harrison
Elementary School for a candlelight vigil. There was a sea
(31:03):
of flickering candlelight and faces stricked with tears. Among them
was Rick, Kate's father. Through his grief, he tried to
put words to the unimaginable. He said, I think that
I probably cried enough yesterday that I was maybe dehydrated
at the end of the day. What do you think,
What do you do? What do you say? I don't know.
(31:26):
There were no easy answers, but there was love and support.
Children took to the pavement, writing messages and chalk small
colorful tributes to Jonathan and Zoe. Some of them even spoke,
sharing stories of their friends, how funny Jonathan was, how
kind Zoe was. Kate's close friend Julie Shaeffer addressed the crowd.
(31:46):
Her voice wavered, but she spoke with certainty as she said,
this was mental illness. We were on the outside looking in,
and it looked fine. He took away precious people. She
also had a plea for everybody listening. If you know
someone who needs help, don't judge them. Rick, standing among
the mourners, took some solace in the vigil. It meant something,
(32:08):
a step, however small, towards healing. But the question still
haunted him. What caused this? If he ever does say
what it was, I'm sure he's going to try and
lay the blame on somebody else. The family's joint funeral
was held on the sixth of January at Saint John's
Lutheran Church. Their urns were carried in and placed at
the front. The children's uncle, Kenny Easter, wiped away tears
(32:32):
as he said, I got them started on the comic books.
I bought them their first ones. Jonathan was really into
the Flash. I just bought him the Flash versus Speed Buggy,
and I was planning on giving it to him this weekend.
As a matter of fact, I think we were all
supposed to get together yesterday. These were now missed moments,
(32:52):
memories that should have been made, stolen in an instant.
Their aunt Carrie spoke next. She said she wanted people
to remember them for who they were, not just how
they died. She stated, this is who they were. They
were superheroes and they lived it every day, and so
I'm here to represent that part of my family. In April,
(33:24):
prosecutors made their decision if convicted, Darren Emory would be
facing the death penalty. It was a harsh punishment, but
one they believed fit the brutality of the crime. Despite
the overwhelming evidence against him, Emory pleaded not guilty to
all of the charges he was going to trial. Outside
the courthouse, Rick was asked what he would say to
(33:45):
Emory have given the chance. His response was simple, what
were you thinking? You had it made. She would have
bought you anything you wanted and was doing that, and
then you do this. We've wrestled with why, but there's
no real reason, nothing to justify it. The trial had
originally been scheduled for early twenty and twenty one, but
(34:07):
COVID nineteen changed that. It was delayed again and again
four years past and for the family, for the entire community,
those years were spent in limbo, trying to heal and
trying to move forward and trying to understand what had
really happened that night. Jury' selection began on the sixth
(34:27):
of September twenty and twenty two. By the twentieth, the
jury was seated. The trial was finally ready to begin
at the Saint Charles County Courthouse, and as the prosecutor
laid out their case, it became clear just how senseless,
how horrific the murders really were. That night, Kate had
wanted a quiet evening at home with the family, but
(34:50):
Emory had other plans. Instead of staying in, he went
to the throwback bar and Grill in Saint Peter's for
a poker night. While he was there, he and Kate
text back and forth, so he suggested they have sex
when he got home. But when he returned around eleven
thirty pm that night, something changed. An argument broke out.
(35:13):
Evidence showed that it started in the bathroom and then
spilled into the bedroom. Kate wanted him to leave, Instead,
he reached for a gun. A struggle ensued. Two shots
were fired, but they hit the wall. Then he shot
Kate twice, first in the shoulder, then in the head.
The noise woke up Jonathan and Zoe. Terrified, they ran
(35:35):
into their grandmother's room, locking the door behind them. Jim
picked up the phone and called nine one one, but
it was already too late. Emory kicked the door down,
and one by one he executed them, Jane first, followed
by Zoe and then Jonathan. As he curled up on
the bed. The nine one one called recorded the moment
(35:56):
they died. It was a haunting, devastating piece of evidence.
Prosecutor Phil Greenwig told the jury Kate was the first
one shot and the last one to die. This is
not the result of disassociation or someone hallucinating. He literally
went from one room to another, one victim to another,
in order to kill them all. Then Emory's defense attorney,
(36:20):
Stephen Reynolds stood up in a stunning admission. He told
the jury that his client was indeed guilty of murder,
but he wasn't done. He argued that Emory wasn't guilty
of premeditated murder. Instead, he pushed for second degree murder,
hoping to remove the death penalty from the table. According
to Ranalds, his client suffered from borderline personality disorder, a
(36:43):
condition that he argued made him unable to regulate his motions.
Reynolds asked the jury what was going on inside of
his head for those forty five seconds, because that's the
question in this case. It was just an outpouring, an
explosion of pure emotion, rejection, loss, fear, and anger. It
was an argument built on mental instability. But would it
(37:06):
be enough to spare Emory's life. The trial got underway
and the first to take the witness stand was the
nine one one operator, Robert Higgins. His voice was steady,
but the weight of what he had heard that night
was unmistakable. As he said to the jury, I had
(37:28):
to ask for the address twice because I could hear
something was going on, and I didn't catch the address
right away, so I asked her to repeat it. Then
the courtroom listened, They heard the nine one one call.
They heard screaming followed by loud pops and then silence.
Higgins testified it just sounded like gunshots, and putting that
(37:49):
together with her saying he had a gun, I knew
something was wrong. Immediately after that, the jury was shown
police body camera footage the moment the office has arrived
at the cast and home, the moment they stepped inside,
the moment they realized they had just walked into a massacre.
One of the responding officers, Dean Alexander struggled to put
(38:12):
what he saw into words. He could only say the
worst of the worst. Then he added, this will always
haunt me for the rest of my life.
Speaker 7 (38:23):
I knew it not.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Even then, and Devous was with child Gothic. What if
if there's something I could even worth? There's a good
chance that I can. Did I see Colma home life
and to help his kids.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
Another officer, Kyle Schmidt, was new to the job. He
was a former combat veteran. This was his second career,
and it would soon be his second career lost to trauma.
He told the jury trauma following that pushed me out
of two careers. This was in downtown sleep Saint Charles,
not a RAQ. The prosecution wasn't just relying on testimony.
(39:05):
They also had DNA evidence. An expert testified that DNA
from blood found on the gun matched Richard Emery. The
probability that someone else could have had that same DNA
was one in non ilien. That's a one, followed by
thirty zeros. It was a refutable. Emory had his own
story to tell. When he took to the witness stand,
(39:27):
he told the jury his version of what happened that night,
he recalled. Coming home from throw Back Bar and Grill
at around eleven PM, Jonathan was in the kitchen excited
to show him a Lego set that he had built.
It was a Christmas gift from Emory. A Star Wars
X Wing Fighter. Star Wars was something that they had
both bonded over.
Speaker 7 (39:48):
Ah, he was so excited to show me. Now it
was cool. I mean he's he's ten, and in less
than four hours he did a seven hundred and fifty
(40:10):
piece Lego said by himself.
Speaker 5 (40:13):
Just.
Speaker 7 (40:15):
Like, it's no big deal. It would take me a week.
Speaker 5 (40:19):
Did you talk to Jonathan in the kitchen?
Speaker 7 (40:22):
I did, but I think it was just just briefly.
Speaker 5 (40:27):
What did you get after that?
Speaker 7 (40:29):
I went upstairs to let Kate know I was home.
I mean she probably already knew, but.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
I don't remember where.
Speaker 7 (40:39):
She was or where I just wanted to let her out.
When I was home.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
Emory went upstairs and got into the shore. When he
came over, and he claimed the kids started arguing with him.
Speaker 7 (40:51):
She's like in my face, but not like literally in
my face, and she said something about, you know, that
little boy is really hurt that you didn't he acknowledge
his his legos enough or something like that, like it
(41:13):
just felt like her sole purpose to go when there
was was to pick a fight. It's throwing off.
Speaker 6 (41:22):
Do you remember?
Speaker 8 (41:23):
You know what you said?
Speaker 6 (41:24):
Next?
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Something? Wait, you gotta be kidding.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
He said that they argued back and forth. He said
he told her something like I can't do anything right
or no matter what I do, it's never good enough.
That's when, according to Emory, kid slapped him. Then he said,
things escalated. He pushed her on the stairs, and at
some point he didn't know when he went to the
(41:51):
safe deposit box and grabbed a gun. He claimed, it
went off. You don't understand what's going on. How did
it get over there? We were in the bathroom, we
were struggling. It didn't make sense. He insisted that he
didn't deliberately shoot Kate or Jonathan, or Zoe or Jane,
(42:11):
but the bullets had found their targets. Anyway, he told
the jury this whole process, I don't know what's happening.
I mean, I'm there, but I'm not there. He said
he must have shot Jane before the children, but he
couldn't recall doing it. What he could remember, however, was
shooting Zoe and Jonathan. He recalled Jonathan curled up on
(42:33):
a ball in the bed, and then he pulled the trigger.
As he testified, he broke down and sobbed. He likened
the entire thing to being inside of a video game.
But then his actions took an even colder turn. He
told the jury that after the murders, he went back
into the master bedroom, he stepped over Kate, and he
(42:55):
changed his clothing. Under cross examination, the prosecution pressed him.
They wanted to show that he was a hot head
who was prone to violence. They brought up a twenty
sixteen golf game in which he threatened to shoot a
member of the forsome. Emory said that the man in
their group was being laud and obnoxious. He said that
the others had asked him to stop, but he wouldn't.
(43:18):
Near the end of the row, and Emory undid the
straps on the back of his golf cart so that
the clubs would fall out when he drove away. At
the end of the game, Emory was in the parking
lot when the man approached him and asked if he
was responsible. Emory said he was, and he told the
court that the man punched him in the face. Emory
said that he staggered back, but he didn't retaliate. He
(43:39):
said he went to his truck to put his clubs away,
and that's when the man approached him again. Emory said
he thought he was coming back to attack him once more,
so he grabbed his pistol and warned the man he
would shoot him if he came any closer. There was
also another incident where he threatened somebody else with a gun,
and prosecutor said he was pepper spread in jail for
not listening to it jail guard and flipping a food tray.
(44:03):
The prosecutors then asked if he thought what had happened
was Kate's fault. He shook his head and responded, it's
nobody's fault. It's my fault. I'm a screw I'm apparently sick.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (44:16):
They didn't deserve me. He then added, the best thing
that happened to me, and as usual, I'm a screw up.
I should have been the one to die, not them.
After the defense and prosecution rested, it was time for
(44:36):
closing arguments. The prosecution had one final opportunity to drive
their point home. Richard Emery knew exactly what he was doing.
The prosecutor stood before the jury and told them each
shot was an opportunity to reflect on what he was doing,
and he rejected that opportunity each time. Then he pointed
(44:58):
that throughout the massacre, Emory had made a choice. He'd
shot Kate, he'd shot her mother Jane, He'd shot her children,
Jonathan and Zoway. But there was one living thing inside
that house. He had not harmed his dog. The prosecution
argued that this simple fact proved that he was in
a clear mindset, that he wasn't out of control, that
(45:20):
he was making decisions, and those decisions were to kill.
This is about him not wanting to take responsibility, the
prosecutor said. The defense, meanwhile, pleaded for the jury to
see the bigger picture, to consider the trauma that had
shaped Emory's life, his alleged fear of abandonment, his supposed
loss of control. They urged the jury to convict him
(45:44):
of second degree murder, but the jury didn't need much time.
Just two hours later they were back with a verdict.
They found Richard Emory guilty on four counts of first
degree murder. And now that same jury had another decision
to make Would Richard Emery live or would he die?
(46:04):
The sentencing phase began the next week, and the prosecution
made it clear they were seeking the death penalty. The
defense begged for leniency. They painted a picture of a
man that was shipped by trauma, a man whose childhood
experiences of abandonment sexual abuse led to a diagnosis of
borderline personality disorder. They argued that Kate breaking up with
(46:26):
him that night had triggered an emotional response that he
couldn't control, that he must have been in a disassociated state.
The jury heard from those that were left behind. Officer
Zachary Fisher described the aftermath. It was just hard to say,
he said, imagining the thoughts that were going through their
heads as their lives were taken. And then Kate's father,
(46:50):
Rick spoke. He described the pride he had felt when
she graduated, the moment he first held his grandchildren in
his arms. They had been his joy. His voice cracked
as he said, they were totally, absolutely enjoying life. You
keep hoping your wake up from this bad dream, but
it's not a dream, it's real. The defense called Emory's
(47:12):
friends and family to speak on his behalf. His friend
Aaron Klasser said that he struggled with what had happened.
Speaker 8 (47:19):
My brain tries to do conspiracy theories and come up
with a different like coming up with excuses for him,
and that alone speaks to me about his character. And
I can't in good conscience sit by and let somebody
that I thought that that I felt was a good
person get sentenced to death.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
Emory's mother, a Laura Jurou, pleaded for her son's life.
To this day, I can't believe it. It's so far
from my son, she said. His father, Richard also said,
I hate that this happened, but he's my son and
I love him, always have, always will. But in the
(48:01):
end it wasn't enough. The jury returned their final verdict
Richard Emory deserved to die for his crimes. Outside of court,
prosecutor Tim Lomore addressed the media and said it was
a clear disregard for human life. It was vile. The
crime scene spoke for itself to commit these murders within
(48:21):
a matter of moments, but we can clearly establish that
there was plenty of time for kull reflection between each
full of that trigger. For me, those are the things
that stood out to us and I think ultimately to
the jury as well. In November, Judge Michael Fagris made
it official and he sentenced Richard Emory to death. In
(48:43):
handing the sentence down, he said, this is a difficult
decision to make and I don't take that lightly from court.
Richard Emory was transported to death row at the Potassi
Correctional Center and there he will remain until the State
of Missouri takes his life. Well, Bessie's that is it
(49:25):
for this episode of Morbidology. As always, thank you so
much for listening, and I'd like to say a massive
thank you to my newest supporters up on pedron erin
Kaylee and Christina. The link to pedron is in the
show notes if you'd like to join. As you all know,
Morbidology is a one woman podcast, so the support up
on their seriously goes such a long way and helps
to defray the costs that come with running a podcast.
(49:47):
I uplod adree and early release episodes behind the scenes,
and I also send out merch and handwritten thank you card.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
I also do.
Speaker 4 (49:54):
Bonus episodes of Morbidology, plus they're on on the regular
podcast platforms. Remember to check us out at morbidology dot
com for more information about this episode and to read
some true crime articles. Until next time, take care of yourselves,
stay safe, and have an amazing week.
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