True Crime Vault: Where Monsters Hide

Summary

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20/20 True Crime Vault: "Where Monsters Hide"

Podcast: 20/20
Host: ABC News
Date: May 5, 2026
Episode Theme:
A haunting investigation into the disappearance of Chris Reagan in Iron River, Michigan, and the chilling unraveling of the twisted secrets inside the Cochran household.

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode delves deeply into the baffling disappearance and eventual murder of Chris Reagan, a newcomer to the remote town of Iron River in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Through interviews, firsthand accounts, and police records, the episode reveals the tangled relationships, suspicious behaviors, and investigative breakthroughs that led to the conviction of Kelly Cochran in what became one of the region’s most infamous cases. The show exposes not just a grisly crime but also the darkness that can hide within a seemingly quiet community—and the people you least suspect.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Iron River and Chris Reagan’s Disappearance

• Atmospheric Introduction: The isolated, eerie backdrop of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is vividly painted—described as “a dark Hansel and Gretel kind of house” (00:44), a small town of 3,000 where people are tight-knit but wary of outsiders.
• Meet Chris Reagan: Former military, meticulous, reliable—a well-liked employee at Oldenburg Group, who moved to Iron River for love (04:13–05:12).
• Disappearance Unfolds: Chris vanishes in October 2014. His ex-girlfriend, Terry O’Donnell, is alarmed and reports him missing after no contact for weeks (06:46).
• Key Quote:

  “Something happened to him. I knew that in my heart, and I knew that in my gut.”
  —Terry O’Donnell (08:49)

2. Complex Relationships: Love Quadrangle and Suspicions

• Multiple Lovers: Initial theories focus on a “lover’s triangle” (01:47) but investigators soon realize it’s more of a “love quadrangle” (02:01)—with Chris, Terry, Kelly Cochran, and her husband Jason all entwined.
• Unraveling Alibis and Motives:
  • Chris was involved romantically with Kelly Cochran, a married co-worker. Jason, Kelly's husband, is aware of the affairs but stressed and emotionally unstable.
  • Investigation highlights jealousy and possible motives—Jason’s distress, text messages about infidelity, and marital breakdowns (21:24–21:58).
  • Police also focus on Eric Erickson, another employee romantically linked to Kelly—later cleared via polygraph and alibi (19:55–20:16).

3. The Cochran House: Search and Horrifying Discoveries

• Search Warrant Execution (28:32):
  • The team finds a house filled with weapons—“an arsenal you see in movies” (30:14), including swords, crossbows, daggers, axes, and firearms.
  • Discovery of suspicious stains—painted-over blood spatter on the ceiling confirmed with luminol testing (31:20–32:19).
  • A disturbing manuscript found: Jason's journal titled “Where Monsters Hide,” appearing to fantasize about hunting prey (35:42).
• Key Quote:

  “He had swords, crossbows everywhere you go. … That was a very eerie feeling.”
  —Jim McNeil, Private Investigator (30:17)

4. Flight and Tracking: The Cochrans Disappear

• After the search, Kelly and Jason flee Iron River (32:51–34:08).
• PIs track them via a GPS device secretly attached to their truck—leading police to Hobart, Indiana (36:48–38:05).
• Detectives coordinate across jurisdictions to continue the investigation (38:22–41:17).

5. Breakthrough: Interrogations, Confessions, and The Pact

• Detective Jeremy Ogden leads the charge in Indiana—expertly playing psychological “cat and mouse” (50:46–54:35).
• Manipulative Games:
  • Ogden employs unorthodox tactics: fake letters, tree carvings (“Chris is here”), and recorded undercover conversations to psychologically pressure Kelly (55:28–57:18).
• Kelly's Gradual Confession:
  • Kelly portrays herself as a victim, forced by Jason to help kill and dismember Chris—using euphemisms (“downsized him”) (58:53–59:04).
  • Reveals she pulled a bullet from Chris’s body with forceps (59:08).
• Shocking “Wedding Pact”:
  • Kelly claims she and Jason agreed on their wedding day: if one cheated, the other was responsible for killing the lover, or risk being killed themselves (66:28–66:42).
• Key Quote:

  “With her, it was like, lie, lie, lie, truth, lie, truth, lie, lie, lie, truth. You gotta figure it out.”
  —Laura Frizzo (62:58)

6. Closure: Discovery, Trial, and Verdict

• Locating the Remains:
  • After multiple attempts, Kelly leads investigators to Chris’s skull and other remains near Iron River (69:39–70:00).
• The Trial:
  • Despite her detailed confessions, Kelly pleads not guilty (70:30).
  • Prosecution and defense spar over Kelly’s credibility, her shifting stories, and the evidence (71:02–74:44).
• Conviction:
  • Kelly Cochran found guilty of five felonies, including first-degree premeditated murder, and sentenced to life without parole (76:20–77:00).
• Aftermath:
  • Later, Kelly also pleads guilty to murdering Jason Cochran and receives another 65 years (81:07–81:18).

7. Lingering Darkness and Unanswered Questions

• Dark Neighborhood Rumors:
  • Neighbors recall strange late-night noises and an unusually large amount of meat at a post-murder dinner, fueling rumors of cannibalism (77:55–78:28).
• Serial Killer Allegations:
  • Kelly suggests, then denies, that there are more victims—at one point referencing “nine total” (79:28).
  • Investigators and Kelly’s own family express horror and disbelief at her shifting stories (79:39–80:05).
  • Kelly later recants claims of other murders, denying having killed anyone but maintaining her story of being a coerced victim (82:04–82:38).

8. Emotional Toll and a Surprising Love Story

• Personal Costs:
  • Laura Frizzo, the dedicated police chief, loses her job following the investigation but finds new love with Detective Ogden—proving an unexpected bright spot amid the darkness (83:27–84:13).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On discovering Chris’s intentions to move, not run:

  “So not a guy who’s running away.”
  —Interviewer/Detective (08:07)

• On the love quadrangle:

  “Not a love triangle, but a love quadrangle.”
  —Narrator/Commentator (02:01)

• After luminol reveals blood in the Cochran house:

  “They got a positive reaction from that area above the doorway where it looked like something happened right under the door and kind of spread as it went back on the ceiling.”
  —Laura Frizzo (32:19)

• On the manuscript “Where Monsters Hide”:

  “He goes on to talking about being a hunter ... it’s kind of eerie, almost like he was writing about this situation.”
  —Laura Frizzo (35:42)

• Kelly’s shifting stories:

  “With her, it was like, lie, lie, lie, truth, lie, truth, lie, lie, lie, truth. You gotta figure it out.”
  —Laura Frizzo (62:58)

• Validation of the investigation upon discovering the burn barrel clues:

  “We found a saw blade, components to a pair of jeans … we felt confident ... this was likely their burn barrel.”
  —Laura Frizzo (47:15)

• On the alleged wedding pact:

  “From the time you were married … it’s your responsibility to kill off that person [if you cheated]. Or he would kill you. Vice versa.”
  —Detective Jeremy Ogden and Kelly Cochran (66:30–66:42)

• On the emotional impact for Chris’s family:

  “That was a very sobering moment ... the only bright spot ... they could link Kelly Cochran into his murder.”
  —Terry O’Donnell (70:00)

• Final words from Chris’s ex-girlfriend:

  “For me, it’s not going to change anything. You know, Chris is gone and what she did is just horrible. I hope she rots in hell.”
  —Terry O’Donnell (77:00)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:44 – First chills: Describing the “Hansel and Gretel” home
• 06:33 – Terry O’Donnell reports Chris missing
• 12:05 – Introduction of Kelly Cochran and her affair with Chris
• 28:32 – Execution of the search warrant at the Cochran home
• 31:20 – Discovery of blood evidence in house
• 32:51 & 34:00 – Cochrans skip town and are tracked
• 55:28 – The fake letter and tree carving tactics succeed in cracking Kelly
• 69:39 – Discovery of Chris Reagan’s remains
• 76:20 – Guilty verdict, sentencing
• 79:28 – Kelly’s suggestion of multiple victims, later recanted

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Conclusion & Aftermath

The Iron River case stands out for its disturbing blend of meticulous investigation and unsettling human psychology. The podcast uncovers how small-town facades can hide monstrous truths and how unrelenting determination uncovers them. Kelly Cochran and her husband sit at the dark heart of the story—a story punctuated by jealousy, obsession, and deceit. The episode closes with a hint of hope: the unlikely romance between two investigators forged in hardship, a small redemption following the case’s grim resolution.

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Transcript

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[Narrator/Host]

Step into the 2020 True Crime Vault. Listen to our most gripping stories.

[Narrator/Commentator]

From the outside, it honestly looks like a dark Hansel and Gretel kind of house

[Interviewer/Detective]

your dog. Okay, what do they mean, they're not friendly?

[Investigator/Assistant]

As soon as you walk into the house, the hair stands up on the back of your neck. It's pret creepy.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

It really was.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I've come to this remote part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It seems haunting, but maybe that's because this is where the mystery unfolds.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

There's more media attention to our missing person, Chris Reagan.

[Interviewer/Detective]

This doesn't look like Chris's apartment at all. It's all disheveled. He was always very neat. Everything was always put away. The suitcase start dropping,

and no signs of forced entry or chaos.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Absolutely not.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

Something happened to him. I knew that in my heart, and I knew that in my gut he had another side to him.

[Interviewer/Detective]

So immediately, this is a lover's triangle.

How many guys were you actually seeing

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

at the same time?

[Interviewer/Detective]

My husband Eric and Chris.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Not a love triangle, but a love quadrangle.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Tell me something, you guys.

[Narrator/Commentator]

What happened to Chris Reagan?

[Interviewer/Detective]

That's the stuff of horror movies.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

The Upper Peninsula is kind of its own little world.

[Narrator/Commentator]

The Upper Peninsula is also known as the Up. People are Yoopers.

[Local Expert/Resident]

Yoopers are unique people.

[Narrator/Commentator]

The Upper Peninsula is separated by the Mackinac Bridge from Lower Michigan.

It's in absolute rural, forested woodland

[Interviewer/Detective]

and

[Narrator/Commentator]

kind of terrifying in its isolation.

We can get wind chill readings 30 below zero in the wintertime.

It looks like the Arctic sometimes, and, you know, you can kind of feel lost.

One town in the Upper Peninsula is the small town of Iron river, which was named because of the local mining.

[Co-worker/Employer]

Iron River Michigan has a population of about 3,000 with one stoplight in their town.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

My name is Laura Frizzo, and I'm the former police chief of Iron river and also the first female police chief actually to serve in the entire Upper Peninsula. It was a lot of double takes when I first started with some of the old timers who were like, what's going on here? The people of Iron river are really good hearted people, accepting. But I think when someone new comes to the area, they're a little skeptical at first and they take their time to make sure that you're worthy of being included into their little circle.

[Narrator/Reporter]

One of those outsiders who came to live in iron river was 51 year old Chris Reagan.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

We had to actually go up and buy him all new clothes, what he called his duper clothes because he had city clothes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Terry o' Donnell was an old flame of Chris Reagan's, and the two had recently rekindled their romance.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

He decided that he was going to move to Iron river so that we could be closer together. It was a whirlwind. God, I was so in love with him. Christopher and I used to come down out Apple Blossom Trail and then walk around the river. We'd sit listening to the water, just enjoy time together.

[Narrator/Commentator]

So when Chris moved to Iron river, he got a job at a manufacturing company called the Oldenburg Group.

[Co-worker/Employer]

Chris was very meticulous about things. Probably one of our best team leaders that we had. He was actually holding people accountable.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Chris was former military and had a reputation as a reliable worker. So it came as a bit of a surprise when he didn't show up for his job. That was October 14th.

[Co-worker/Employer]

I sent a message to Chris, you know, we haven't heard from you. Is everything okay? Chris had missed two days. And one of my team leaders came forward and told me, laura, just so you know, Chris had applied for another position and he's moving to North Carolina.

[Narrator/Commentator]

You know, if he was doing long hours for a pretty demanding company, then maybe he just said, enough of that.

[Co-worker/Employer]

After three days, no call, no show is termination.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Remarkably, two whole weeks had gone by and no one had heard from Chris. That's when Terry decides to go to the police. By this time, the two had broken up, but they remained close friends and talked regularly.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I saw this vehicle pull up and park in front of the police department. And I saw this woman get out of the vehicle and she was crying and she said that her friend was missing.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

I was shaking. I had tears.

[Interviewer/Detective]

What was that interaction like when you first encountered Terry o'?

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

Donnell?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

She was very upset. You know, clearly she knew something wasn't right because she knew him very well.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Chief Frizzo sends Sergeant C. Cindy Barrett to investigate.

[Interviewer/Detective]

First stop, Chris Reagan's apartment.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Terry o' Donnell's parents are landlords to Chris Reagan. So Terry had access via key from her parents.

[Interviewer/Detective]

This doesn't look like Chris's apartment at all. It's all that he was. Oh, it's very neat. Everything was always put away.

[Narrator/Commentator]

It was evident that he was in the process of packing up to move to his new job. There was packing boxes, and on the bed, there were suitcases, And there was papers there for his new job.

[Interviewer/Detective]

This is his paperwork with. That's the position. It's not even sent yet. His calendar showed that he was going to resign on the 14th. He has the 23rd as his last day of work.

So not a guy who's running away.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Absolutely not.

[Interviewer/Detective]

And no signs of forced entry or chaos?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Not at all. In fact, he had a list started. You know, things that he wanted to get ready for his move.

[Interviewer/Detective]

I said, he has everything that he needs to do to move all of his notes.

[Narrator/Commentator]

And on the dining room table were legal pads with to do lists like, call the power company, shut the power up. It really started to bother me that something was very, very wrong.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

Now, was this window left open?

[Interviewer/Detective]

The windows were left open.

[Narrator/Commentator]

It appeared that he had left the apartment with full intentions of returning.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

Something happened to him. I knew that in my heart, and I knew that in my gut.

[Narrator/Commentator]

And I said, we're going to go out and we're going to check the car, and when we're done with that, I will enter Chris Reagan as a missing person in the national database.

From there, they went to the park and Ride, where Terry had seen Chris's car abandoned for days.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

Christopher's Hyundai Genesis. His vehicle was there, and that was his baby. He took such good care of it. And so it didn't make sense to me that it was at the park and Ride

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

when Sergeant Barrett went to take a look at the car. She found, you know, a couple things in the car, like his knee brace that he should have been wearing.

[Interviewer/Detective]

That. His knee brace? Yep. Does he normally wear the knee brace?

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

Yep.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Okay.

And I understand in the car, there was an intriguing post it note.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Yeah. She found, like, a post it note that was flipped upside down on the passenger side. We didn't know at first what was written on it and what it would come to mean later.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

Christopher always wrote things down on post its, and the post it note had directions on it. And I told her that wherever those directions went to, that was the last place he was.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This is believed to be the last known video of Chris Reagan. He's caught on a surveillance camera at a gas station on the afternoon of October 14, 2014. Leading up the investigation into Reagan's disappearance is a new Inexperienced Chief of Police Laura Frizzo.

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

She is a leader in a profession in the Upper Peninsula where there aren't a lot of female leaders.

[Narrator/Reporter]

How many people on the force?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Four full time.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

She truly cared and she truly wanted to solve this.

[Narrator/Reporter]

As Chief Frizzo investigates Chris Reagan's disappearance, she discovers that he had dated multiple women in his short time in Iron River. And some of those relationships overlapped.

[R (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

I dated Chris Regan back in 2013 from around May till the end of October for about six months. He would always send me a text weekly. He was very suave, very sweet, charismatic. Just kind of knew how to make you feel good.

[Narrator/Commentator]

As far as Terry o' Donnell knew, she thought that she was in an exclusive relationship with Chris. And this behavior came as a real shock to her.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

I asked him why, you know, he was doing that, and he said, well, you're going to be gone to Europe for three weeks. What happens if I get lonely? So sadly to say, I broke it off with him.

[Narrator/Reporter]

When Chief Frizzo digs deeper into Chris, she discovers another woman he'd been dating, a 33 year old co worker by

[Interviewer/Detective]

the name of Kelly Cochran.

Neither one of us were all in. It was never going to be because I was married.

[Narrator/Commentator]

She was an employee at Oldenburg. Chris was actually involved in her hiring. Kelly was also new to town and I think they bonded over that being two city folk in this small town.

[Interviewer/Detective]

I would go over to Chris's and usually cook. And then, I mean, we were intimate. And then usually I would leave.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That post it note found inside Chris's car at this park and ride could have led to any one of his girlfriend's homes. Turns out it was Kelly Cochran's.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Chief Rizwood told me to go and interview Kelly Cochran to see if she had any information as to the whereabouts of Chris Reagan. And man came out. So I said, are you Kelly Cochran's husband? And he said, yes. I said, is Kelly home? And he says, no, Kelly's not home. I don't know where she is. And shortly thereafter, this woman comes out. I asked her, she, she was Kelly. She said, yes, I'm Kelly. It's not unusual for a husband or a wife to say, no, he's not here. That is very common. I was actually surprised she came out. So I says, your husband aware of your relationship with Chris Reagan? She says, oh yes, he's fine with it. Jason Cochran is standing there just stoically, not seeing, saying a word, just like a statue, no emotion. She says, I figured Chris left for North Carolina without Saying goodbye to me. So I told her, I said, we were wondering why the car is at the park and ride. And Kelly Cochran said in the past tense, he loved that car.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

And Sergeant Barrett called me afterwards and said, I found that you be very chilling and odd that she said past tense, he loved that car.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Because of her tiny department's limited resources, Chief Frizzo asked for help from the Michigan State Police. They sent two detectives who questioned the Cochrans the very next day.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

And I'll tell you guys in advance, I see a therapist for high anxiety.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I'm listening to Jason Cochran's interview with the detective. He immediately. I mean, there's no questions asked even yet. And he's like, I just want to let you know that I haven't been doing too well lately.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

I actually was institutionalized a little over a month ago, so. Okay, you know, I seem like I'm getting wound up. I do see a therapist for it. Lost a close friend that I've been depressed ever since.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Did you think that's what caused all your issues?

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

A huge part of it, yeah. And don't get me wrong, knowing that my marriage has fallen apart.

[Interviewer/Detective]

So you were very much aware of what Kelly was doing?

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

I either had to accept it or to let her go. So I decided that I could at least accept it for a little while and see if it's, you know, what she really wanted was to not be with me. Then I was gonna let her go.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Kelly, right? Yes. K, E L L Y.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

When Kelly came in for her interview, the one thing I noticed about her right out of the gate was her ability to control her body language.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Tell us everything you know about Chris. We actually got pretty close in the last four months. Okay. Like a best friend. Did you have an intimate relationship? Yes, we did. Okay. And obviously your husband knows. He knows. He knows.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

She was leaned forward, she had eye contact, and her voice was calm and collected the whole time.

[Interviewer/Detective]

When was the last time you saw Chris? I would say between the 12th and the 15th was last time I saw him. Where did you see him? I seen him at his apartment, I think. Was Jason upset about that? No. Kelly, she would be looking at Jason. I don't see why you would. Well, I'll tell you why. Because husbands get jealous. I understand that.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Who do you think would have hurt Chris?

[Interviewer/Detective]

I don't think anybody would hurt him. I would like to know what happened as well. That's why I'm willing to be here. I'm a good person.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Despite the love triangle between the Cochrans and Chris. Reagan. There's still no evidence of any crime being committed. But Chief Frizzo State still suspects that Reagan's disappearance might be the result of foul play.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Frizzo and her small team continued pressing on, and they quickly learn that Kelly also had multiple relationships, including a gentleman who also worked at the Oldenburg Group. Kelly was dating another employee there by the name of Eric Erickson.

[Co-worker/Employer]

Eric's supervisor was Chris Regan.

[Narrator/Commentator]

So now police are wondering, could Eric have been upset enough to have harmed Chris?

[Interviewer/Detective]

How would you feel about taking a polygraph test just to prove that you didn't have anything to do with Chris's parents?

[Narrator/Commentator]

As Chief Laura Frizzo is investigating the disappearance of Chris Reagan, she discovers evidence of not a love triangle, but a love quadrangle. Even though Kelly Cochran is married to Jason, she is having an affair with Chris and another co worker, Eric Erickson.

[Co-worker/Employer]

Eric Erickson was hired as military assembler. Eric was a good employee. He showed up. He was dependable.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Eric was a suspect. Could he have done something to Chris? Because he was angry and jealous and outraged. So it was important to eliminate him. There was a point, with the participation of the Michigan State Police detectives, where I think they wanted to take more of a lead in the case and handle it.

[Narrator/Commentator]

There was no warning. It was just basically like, hey, Laura said, they want to talk to you. And the next thing I know, they're coming at night, pulling up in my driveway, telling me, get in the car.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Thanks for coming. Did you also just got done with work? Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

She wanted me to go out with her a couple times, like at night. I think for me it was kind of fun, you know, at first, whatever. I had moved back here and I didn't know anybody, and having somebody give me some attention was. I liked it.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Right.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

This too.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

I still have the full text mess.

[Narrator/Commentator]

I said, yeah, here, take a look at my phone. This is our conversations that we've had.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

So

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

when I looked at his conversations with Kelly, there was a point in time where he got very irritated with her. And it was the week before Chris went missing.

[Narrator/Commentator]

There was a time where we went down to the lake and we were going to have just a couple beers while her phone was going off.

Right.

And I'm like, you know, somebody's really trying to get ahold of you. Who is it? And she said that it's Chris, you

[Interviewer/Detective]

know, so maybe he was the jealous lover.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Yes. And I did think that it could happen.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The next step for Erickson, a polygraph or a so called lie detector test.

[Interviewer/Detective]

How would you feel about taking a polygraph test just to prove that you didn't have anything to do with Christmas disappearance.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

Yep. I told him I would do that too.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I scheduled a polygraph for him. We went over everything.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

Yeah, I totally. I totally understand that.

[Narrator/Commentator]

All of a sudden, the door goes click in walks in, you know, the officer, and he goes, you passed. And I was like, I did so.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

And because of the alibi that he had did check out, I was able to put him to the side and focus more on the Cochrans as the suspects.

[Interviewer/Detective]

So as you're doing your sort of criminal profiles, what made Jason a potential suspect in your mind?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Jason really had motive. You know, he was the husband who was being cheated on.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

Our marriage has kind of been on rocky roads for a little while.

[Narrator/Commentator]

The story that I had gotten from Kelly was that they were separated. However, still living under the same rough.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

What I came to learn about this marriage was that it had been in trouble for a while. Kelly, you know, was living a life of a single person. She was constantly running around with different men.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

There were times when she came home about 1:30, didn't tell me where she was at, and I didn't really want to know. I hate to say it.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Do you kind of understand why you're here?

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

Yeah, I think so. You know what I mean? There's somebody that's missing. I'm gonna guess that I'm probably the jealous husband.

[Narrator/Reporter]

As police start going through Jason's text messages, they seem to reveal how Jason really feels about being cheated on. He doesn't seem happy at all. Texting her, I cannot take it. And you promised me you would stop. Was that a lie?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Also, it wasn't long before Chris went missing. Jason found himself down by Chris's body apartment. And telling her, don't go to those apartments again. You're a married woman.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The guy in the cast says, I was not the only guy trying to date you. Please don't go back to those apartments. You are married.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Your husband, did he confront you about the time when he said he was on a walk and he saw your truck parked by Chris's apartment? He had mentioned earlier. What did he say? He had seen my truck there.

Which sounds almost like stalking behavior, right?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

So I'm thinking, okay, he's now putting himself in a position where he's made contact with Chris Regan. I thought, you know, maybe he snapped.

[Defense Attorney Michael Schulke]

Things had boiled over, and Jason needed to go and get some help. Jason's admission to the mental Hospital was two days after Mr. Regan was. Went missing.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Chief Frizzo now has some serious suspicion that Jason Cochran's got something to do with Chris Reagan's disappearance.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

It started to get close to the holidays. Thanksgiving was approaching.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And then out of the blue, Chief Frizzo gets a phone call that takes her by complete surprise.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

And when I pick up the phone, the voice on the other end said, hi, this is Chris Reagan. And I almost dropped the phone said that. Where have you been?

[Narrator/Host]

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[Narrator/Reporter]

Winter is coming to the Upper Peninsula, and Chris Reagan is still missing. The investigation into his disappearance looks like it's growing cold, too. But Iron River Police Chief Flora Frizzo remains convinced that Reagan was the victim of foul play.

[Interviewer/Detective]

You thought maybe he's been murdered?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Yeah, I just thought, something's wrong.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

It seemed like everything was a dead end. I would stop in and check with Laura and just ask her how things are going, and then she'd say, I was thinking about you.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Laura was very dedicated to the case. She knew that Chris had sons who wanted closure, and she wanted to be able to get that closure for them.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I was in the office, and I got a phone call. And when I picked up the phone, the voice on the other end said, hi, this is Chris Reagan. And I almost dropped the phone because I thought, where have you been? And he said, junior, this is his son. And it was really sad for me to hear his voice. It was even harder for me meeting him in person.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Chris Jr. Is on his way to Iron river with his brother to clean out their father's apartment.

[Narrator/Commentator]

The first time I went to Iron

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

river to clean out his apartment and stuff like that was not fun.

[Defense Attorney Michael Schulke]

I didn't know what to do or,

[Narrator/Commentator]

like, where to start.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

It just was heartbreaking. They were young, they were lost. They didn't know what to do, where to go.

[Narrator/Commentator]

She knew that Chris was a veteran and that his military service was something he was really proud of. So she wanted to make sure that his son got his dog tags, which they recovered from his apartment.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I went to hand them to him, and he told me, I think you should just keep them with you. I carried those dog tags in my pocket every day.

[Narrator/Commentator]

This is. This is a complicated case, and the Iron River Police Department is small, just four people. And as a result of that, people offered their help.

[Private Investigator Jim McNeil]

So you think these profile questions are pretty good.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Jim McNeil and Molly Barron worked together as private investigators. And, you know, we got together after being introduced by a high school friend of mine who's like a mutual friend.

[Private Investigator Jim McNeil]

I feel it as a tight community where everybody seems to know each other, and especially if you have a missing person that's concerning to the community because

[Investigator/Assistant]

of where we're from. We just don't have missing people like that. We're not going to not do anything when somebody is missing.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

It was at this point where the prosecutor was ready to sign the search warrant for the company Cochran residence. So Molly and Jim show up at my office and I'm like, oh, well, as a matter of fact, I said I'm going to be doing a search warrant there tomorrow.

[Narrator/Reporter]

On March 16, 2015, Chief Frizzo goes to the Cochrans house with the long awaited search warrant, accompanied by those two private investigators.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Hi. Here's my little crazy dog.

[Investigator/Assistant]

The dogs were just going crazy in there, like just barking, barking, barking.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Skip two dogs.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Okay.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Are they mean? They're not friendly.

[Investigator/Assistant]

We were in the home and Kelly's home is pretty creepy.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

It really was that.

[Interviewer/Detective]

And what I have, Kelly, is I have a search warrant.

[Private Investigator Jim McNeil]

I think Molly and I brought, you know, a lot of experience there to her to assist her with a search warrant.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I've never worked with a PI like that before. That was my first experience.

[Interviewer/Detective]

This is a little unorthodox.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

It is. And I was kind of concerned about it when it first happened because I'm kind of a control freak and I didn't want anyone messing around. But it actually worked out to our advantage.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Hi, Jason. How you doing?

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

I'm hanging in there.

[Interviewer/Detective]

How are you? Okay.

[Private Investigator Jim McNeil]

One of the first things you want to be very careful of is weapons. Do you have any weapons in the home?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Not honor, but I wouldn't have weapons in the house.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Tell me where they are.

[Interviewer/Detective]

I've got a.22 under there. Should be able to reach right in and get it.

[Private Investigator Jim McNeil]

And you immediately go to these weapons and secure them.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Central 200 were secure and they had

[Investigator/Assistant]

all kinds of weapons that were like all over the place. But that's not illegal.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

You know, Jason had a fetish with knives, swords, things like that. And he had a lot of them that were found and collected during the search warrant.

[Narrator/Commentator]

It was the kind of arsenal you see in a movie.

[Private Investigator Jim McNeil]

He had swords, crossbows everywhere you go. And at home you can put your hands on something tangible and use it as a weapon. That was a very eerie feeling.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Do you want a jacket or something?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Typically, you don't allow the residents to stay in the house. They're gonna have to leave.

[Interviewer/Detective]

You guys aren't gonna turn the computer off, are you? No. Okay. Is there something on there you don't want to? No, no, he's working on something. Okay.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

It happened to be one of the coldest mornings of the winter, it was like zero.

[Investigator/Assistant]

As soon as you walk into the home, there's like a punch hole of some sort through the door.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

Door.

[Investigator/Assistant]

And the door frame was ay. It was cracked or something.

[Private Investigator Jim McNeil]

At that point, Laura calls the crime lab. Hey, let's get the crime lab here. And we're standing there for quite a while waiting for that crime lab.

[Investigator/Assistant]

So we're just standing there waiting.

[Interviewer/Detective]

And I looked up the tiles on the ceiling. Is that what you said? Yeah, the pain of it.

[Investigator/Assistant]

And something caught my eye and I looked at it again and I kind of stepped on and I looked at it again. The ceiling was white, but there was these certain spots up there. So I finally said something to Jim and then Jim looked up and looked at it and immediately was like, ooh.

[Narrator/Reporter]

To the private investigators, those spots on the ceiling look suspiciously like painted over blood.

[Investigator/Assistant]

It's like a splatter pattern.

[Interviewer/Detective]

And she said, yeah, we've done remodeling and replaced some ceiling tiles. That's probably where the cast off is. It could have happened right here.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It's already dark by the time the crime lab unit gets there.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Tell me something, you guys.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

Okay, well, I'm going to step in here. We got a positive reaction with the luminol on the ceiling here.

[Narrator/Commentator]

They bring in luminol, which is a chemical that detects the presence of blood right here.

[Interviewer/Detective]

And then there was something over here in this general area.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

They did get a positive reaction from that area above the doorway where it looked like something happened right under the door and kind of spread as it went back on the ceiling.

[Interviewer/Detective]

And they said that they got a

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

positive reaction from that.

[Interviewer/Detective]

I'm thrilled.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I'm thrilled.

[Interviewer/Detective]

I'm sorry.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

We had finished the search one at approximately 10 o' clock at night, so it's late.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Investigators think that they have uncovered a goldmine of evidence against the Cochrans until something shocking happens the next day.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I got a phone call from one of the neighbors in the morning and said, I just want to let you know that they totally loaded up their truck and skipped town.

[Narrator/Commentator]

The Cochrans have disappeared.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

Chief's here.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Tell me something, you guys. We found a couple areas of interest. Excellent.

[Narrator/Commentator]

When investigators get the warrant to search the Cochran's home, they find a litany of disturbing items, including battle axes, crossbows, daggers and knives. A shotgun, a.22 caliber pistol. But more important than that is what appears to be blood spout.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

We got a positive reaction with the luminol.

[Interviewer/Detective]

They're telling you that's blood, right? We haven't confirmed it yet.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

It was looking pretty good that they were going to get some positive results back.

[Narrator/Commentator]

At this point in the investigation, Chief Frizzo feels like she's got a lot of evidence on the Cochrans until the very next morning, she gets a call from one of the neighbors.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

And that neighbor calls in the morning and said, I just want to let you know that they totally loaded up their truck and skipped town. So I knew this was happening.

[Interviewer/Detective]

What was your reaction?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I was worried a little bit, just because I was the one that was kind of the thorn in their side. And so I wanted to be sure they weren't gonna, you know, look for me or come over and find me.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Todd and David Saylor, the neighbors who reported the Cochrans missing, are brought in for questioning. They tell police about another very interesting detail they say they observed around the time of Chris Reagan's disappearance.

[Narrator/Commentator]

According to David, the Cochran started renovating their house, but not during the day. He could hear them in their basement using power tools for multiple nights.

[Interviewer/Detective]

You guys had heard them using these sanding tools and stuff, and you figured that was when

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

October. Sanding away. Reciprocating. Reciprocating saws. Kill saws.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

And they were doing it at odd times.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Real odd, like two, three in the morning.

[Local Expert/Resident]

You heard them all night.

[Interviewer/Detective]

And so what went through your mind when you heard that?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

The worst thing imaginable. And I thought, you know, I can't. That can't be. But at the same time, with what they're telling me, it makes sense.

[Interviewer/Detective]

That's the stuff of horror movies.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Also seemingly out of a horror movie. A chilling discovery Chief Frizzo later makes inside the Cochran's basement. A journal written by Jason, and he

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

had titled it Where Monsters Hide. Then he goes on to talking about being a hunter and how the hunter hunts the prey and feels this tingle through their body. And it's kind of eerie, almost like he was writing about this situation.

[Interviewer/Detective]

It's almost like a thinly veiled confession.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Yes. It just, again, pointed in the direction of definitely this couple had something to do with his disappearance, and. And definitely Jason could have snapped.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Chief Frizzo is sure that the lab results from those blood samples taken from the house will prove that Chris was brutally murdered there. But she's in for a bitter disappointment

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

when they called me and said, you know, we didn't get anything. They weren't good samples or had been treated with chemicals or whatever that the case may be. And I remember just being so upset about that. You know, I was mentally Drained a lot.

[Narrator/Reporter]

With her main suspects now gone into the wind, the case seems to have hit a dead end. But then there's a break. It turns out that on the night before the Cochrans left town, those private investigators had put a tracking device on the Cochran's truck, which is legal for PIs to do in the state of Michigan. What made you put the GPS tracker on?

[Private Investigator Jim McNeil]

Well, we were hoping that they would go to where the body was.

[Investigator/Assistant]

That's one of the most dangerous moments in the whole investigation, I feel, is deploying the GPS unit because of the risk of danger.

[Interviewer/Detective]

What does that danger look like?

[Narrator/Reporter]

What does that feel like?

[Investigator/Assistant]

Somebody coming out with the shotgun and shooting us on the spot.

[Private Investigator Jim McNeil]

Okay, you ready?

[Narrator/Commentator]

Yeah.

[Private Investigator Jim McNeil]

Right next to that spare tire is the back frame of the vehicle. And as I get closer, I just sucked it right out of my hand. And, you know, you hear the loud bang. It's an exciting moment. You know, you can feel your heart beating through your chest. There's a lot of things that could go wrong at that moment in time.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I Talked to Jim McNeil and he said, we put a GPS device on the truck, and I need to tell you that I immediately did a search warrant for their GPS information so that we knew where the Cochrans were and what was going on.

[Investigator/Assistant]

We monitored the GPS movement all through exiting the upper peninsula of Michigan, through the state of Wisconsin, the top part of Illinois there in Indiana, and then they ended up nearby within the Hobart area.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

And sure enough, you know, we located them. They were back at Kelly's parents house in Hobart.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Chief Frizzo wants to get DNA samples from Kelly and Jason Cochran, but they're no longer in her jurisdiction, so she contacts the Lake County Sheriff's Department in Indiana.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

When I spoke with her, we made a connection on the phone. She gave me all the reasons that she believed that this was a criminal case. And, yeah, I believed her. We told Jason that we had a search warrant for his DNA and we needed to transport him to the Hobart Police Department. He did not say a word the entire time. He was just sitting in the back of the car, shaking and sweating and, like, wringing his hands together.

[Narrator/Commentator]

He's sitting in a room waiting to give his DNA swab. And then he gets the surprise of a lifetime.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Jason, how are you doing?

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

I'm doing good.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Funny seeing me in Indiana.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Looked up at me and his face just started to turn red immediately. That was a shock to his system, I'm sure. And my whole plan was to try and give him the opportunity to be the Victim and to tell me what happened to Chris.

[Interviewer/Detective]

You were begging me, begging your wife to stop. You cheated on you. Do you remember telling her, if you ever loved me, you'd act like my wife? It says right in your messages, don't go back to those apartments. You're a married woman.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

Okay.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Do you remember saying that?

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

I don't really feel like answering any questions. I feel like you've violated my constitutional rights, and I want a lawyer.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Awesome.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Come in and get your DNA in the meantime. Actually, Kelly is just calling. She knows something's up. She's calling Jason's phone over and over again.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

When Kelly Cochran saw Laura Frizzo, you could tell that seemed to be her nemesis.

[Interviewer/Detective]

So Jason was here for quite a while. And it took a while, but Jason told us to stop. The problem with you, Kelly, is that, you know, I've taught you in so many lives that I'm trying to give you an opportunity now to just say, hey, you know, I up. I am asking for a lawyer. I'm done with the question. Okay? I'm assigned you in the DNA. I told you before I was fine doing the DNA. Okay, let's get this done.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

So as I started to leave the room to get to the technicians to take her DNA, she said, where's my husband?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Where's my husband?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

And I just kind of looked back at her because I had kind of fed her a line that, you know, Jason's already told us everything. We already know what happened.

[Narrator/Commentator]

What Laura effectively does is create distrust between the couple. And come February of 2016, that distrust is going to implode the Cochran household.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

Way County 911 Operator 17.

[Narrator/Commentator]

The 911 call from Kelly Cochran comes in. In that could unravel the mystery of what happened to Chris Reagan.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Yeah, my husband's not breathing. His face is like. Well, he's breathing, barely. I don't know what's wrong. I need an ambience right away.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Here we have one of the most sensational murders, but very few people have actually heard about this case. Some really heinous and atrocious crimes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So what made you call the FBI?

[Walt Ammerman (Friend of Jason)]

I found the flyer on Chris Regan

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

being missing on this call. My instincts were just yelling at me that something's not right with this scene.

[Interviewer/Detective]

What makes the Caspian Pit such an excellent place to hide evidence?

[Local Expert/Resident]

A burn barrel was actually found by the divers just offshore here and back in these woods.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And even more important, discovery.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to get somebody to tell you a secret that Only they know.

I told you before, you can be a witness, you can be a suspect.

[Interviewer/Detective]

It's almost like the two of them were having a chess game.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Absolutely.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Yeah.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I think she wanted to play the game.

[Interviewer/Detective]

You were basically having to convince Kelly that her dead husband was sending a message from beyond the grave.

What did you believe?

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I'm not sure. I'm not sure with you.

[Narrator/Commentator]

And the reason this case is so engaging, it's the amount of police video that's available. It's amazing.

The Kelly Cochran case just is the biggest case we've had maybe ever with her.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

It was like, lie, lie, lie, truth, lie, truth, lie, lie, lie, truth. You gotta figure it out.

[Investigator/Assistant]

The end of 2014, there was a missing man in the Iron river area. He wasn't found.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Chris Reagan is missing and it is a mystery. Police Chief Laura Frizzo discovers that Reagan is romantically tied to a married co worker, Kelly Cochran. She and her husband Jason are brought in for questioning.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Jason really had motive. You know, he was the husband who was being cheated on.

[Narrator/Commentator]

But as soon as he's in front of police, he falls apart. He's shaking, he's fumbling over his words.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

I actually was institutionalized a little over a month ago where I get, I guess, really flustered and so, okay.

[Narrator/Commentator]

When Laura and her team search the Cochrans home, they find a litany of weapons, from battle axes to shotguns. They find this blood spatter. And they find a manuscript written by Jason called Where Monsters Hide. The manuscript is this essentially fantasy driven tale of a overlooked man. And it has various accounts of him and his wife killing people and includes one that almost perfectly mirrors what happened with Chris Regan.

So at this point, investigators think that they have uncovered a gold mine of evidence against the Cochrans until something shocking happens the next day. The Cochrans have now disappeared.

[Narrator/Reporter]

When Jason and Kelly Cochran fled their home in Michigan's Upper Peninsula back In March of 2015, private investigators were were already tracking their movements using a hidden GPS device. The final destination, their hometown of Hobert, Indiana.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Kelly and Jason were neighbors.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

They lived next door to each other all their lives.

[Interviewer/Detective]

I was trying to do what I thought was the right thing. You go to school, you go to college, you get married.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Kelly wore the pants in the family,

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

so whatever she wanted, Jason did.

[Interviewer/Detective]

I got bored from getting married. It was okay in the start, but like all I did was work.

[Narrator/Commentator]

She was wanting to help get their business, you know, up and running and make more money.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Even though the Cochrans are now out of her jurisdiction, Chief Frizzo Continues to investigate Chris Reagan's disappearance. She's now focused on a place known as the Caspian Pit. She enlists the help of a former policeman, Investigator Michael Nyger.

[Interviewer/Detective]

What makes the Caspian Pit such an excellent place to hide evidence?

[Local Expert/Resident]

Well, it's deep and also it's within a couple hundred meters of where the Cochrans lived and be very easy to get to in the dark and drop something.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Were you able to dredge up a burn barrel? Was that here?

[Local Expert/Resident]

Yes. A burn barrel was actually found by the divers just offshore here.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

There was a clothesline attached to this burn barrel with a cement block to it to weight it down. We found cement blocks in the backyard of Cochrans and the actual clothesline, which was missing.

[Narrator/Commentator]

I think the implication was that perhaps Kelly and Jason were burning Chris's body or parts of it at least.

[Local Expert/Resident]

I was out in my garage and what in the hexa trip. And I walked across the street here, and she came running out of her yard and met me in the middle of the street. And I said, what the hell are you burning? And she said, I'm burning some brush out there. I said, look, I lived up here my whole life, and I never smelled nothing like that.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

The Cochrans had a fire pit, and there was a burn barrel that had been there. Once we sifted through that fire pit ash, we found a saw blade. We found the components to a pair of jeans, which was quite significant. We felt confident that this was likely their burn barrel. However, there was nothing in it, obviously. I mean, it was open in the pit, and anything that was in it would have washed out. Why did you need to get rid of it? So that was my validation, anyway, that we were on the right track.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But then, In February of 2016, back in Hobert, Indiana, there's a truly shocking development, development that's about to upend the entire case. A 911 call coming from the house where the Cochrans are living.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

My county 911 operator 17.

[Interviewer/Detective]

My husband, his face is like 12. He's bleeding, barely. I don't know what's wrong. He's throwing up these sweaties. I need an ambulance right away.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Kelly calls 911.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Kelly calls 911 and says, you know, I need the ambulance here. My husband. Husband's barely breathing.

[Interviewer/Detective]

You said he's breathing.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Difficulty breathing, really.

On this call, my instincts were just yelling at me that something's not right with this scene. She seemed to kind of conveniently get in our way a lot, and she just didn't seem to have the proper reaction to Finding her husband, you know, in cardiac arrest.

[Interviewer/Detective]

I'm panicking, like I'm trying to. To be of some use. As much as I didn't want him in my life, I didn't want him dead.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Jason Cochran unfortunately was pronounced dead in the emergency room at St. Mary's

[Investigator/Assistant]

after

[Narrator/Commentator]

Jason died, Kelly reached out to his friend Walt to let him know that Jason had passed. And Walt was immediately concerned. Kelly's tone was very strange. Everything about it felt abrupt and staged. And with encouragement from his wife, Walt called the FBI.

[Interviewer/Detective]

So what made you call the FBI?

[Walt Ammerman (Friend of Jason)]

I found the flyer on Chris Regan being missing, and it had two numbers on there. The Iron River Police and the FBI. So I figured somebody should know that Jason's dead.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Do you remember what you told the FBI?

[Walt Ammerman (Friend of Jason)]

I told them that I have some friends that lived in the U.P. they told me they're suspects, and one of them died Saturday.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The FBI routes the call to the proper jurisdiction, and it lands on the desk of Hobart Detective Sergeant Jeremy Ogden.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Jeremy Ogden had a reputation as an amazing investigator. Jeremy was known as a master interviewer.

I've never received a call like that before. I knew that I needed to make sure that Jason wasn't being taken to a funeral home rather than going for an autopsy.

[Interviewer/Detective]

It's not every day that a detective attends an autopsy. And so what did you learn in that particular one?

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I learned that, you know, Jason had petechial hemorrhaging around his eyes within the whites of his pupils.

[Interviewer/Detective]

And what does that point to?

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Pressure and suffocation.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The autopsy results lead Ogden to take a deep dive into Kelly. Copy Cochran's background and Chris Reagan's disappearance. So he connects with Chief Laura Frizzo from Iron River.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

And then ultimately, Laura sent me all of the documents and the videos.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Immediately, I knew that this was gonna work out well because he was on the same page. His thoughts, his words. It was like, oh, my gosh, somebody else gets it. He gets it. He's thinking like I do, and that that's rare.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What follows is a cat and mouse game between Detective Ogden and Kelly Cochran.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

I just wish we had something.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I didn't say you did anything.

[Narrator/Reporter]

As Ogden hatches a truly bizarre scheme to get Kelly to open up about what really happened to Chris Reagan, he

[Narrator/Commentator]

decides to make a carving on the tree that will really freak her out.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Once she sees it, I thought maybe she would see it as a sign from the dead or maybe even something supernatural.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Focus features in Blumhouse Obsession.

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

When I have a crush on a

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

guy no one knows be Careful. I wish Nikki love me more than

[Neighbor]

anyone in the entire world.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Who you wish for? Obsession is 96% fresh on rotten tomatoes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I love you so, so, so, so much.

[Narrator/Commentator]

It's blood soaked nightmare fuel.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

What kind of spills you put on her?

[Narrator/Commentator]

You have been warned. Obsession. Rated R under 17, animated without parent only theaters May 15 with special engagements in Dolby.

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[Narrator/Reporter]

At this point, Jeremy Ogden is now leading the investigation into the Cochrans.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I'm running the case and I'm doing all the things that I think are necessary.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Detective Ogden has what will be the first of many interrogations with Kelly Cochran at the Hobart police station following her husband Jason's death.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

How you doing? It's not an easy thing to go through.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Kelly has a lot to do say about what happened to Jason. But when the conversation turns to Chris Reagan, not so much.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I'm not trying to push you. I'm not. Not at all. I just don't take a while.

[Interviewer/Detective]

I just pushed me to say something I didn't do.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I didn't say you did anything.

I said, by the time this is done, you'll tell me what happened to Chris.

She always sat here and drink a whole iced tea before you got.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Detective Ogden starts talking with Kelly and building a relationship with her.

That relationship building involves several conversations that Jeremy recorded undercover, including at a local restaurant.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

You can begin the next chapter of your life. There's only one way for you to do this, though, and that's 100% awesome.

I think she wanted to see whether or not I was going to be a worthy adversary. And I think she wanted to play the game.

And I don't want to make a permanent decision on that temporary thought feeling on the way I feel now because

[Interviewer/Detective]

that's not fair to me or whoever else it would have been.

It's almost like the two of them were having a chess game.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to get somebody to tell you a secret that only they know. And I come up with this idea about a fake letter.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Detective Ogden calls Jason's friend Walt Ammerman and tells him he wants him to be part of this plan to catch Kelly Cochran.

[Narrator/Commentator]

What he wanted Walt to do was become an actor. They were going to have him call Kelly from a parked car to talk about this letter.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

It is March 12, 2016, at 4:38pm he's going to be calling Kelly Cochran.

[Walt Ammerman (Friend of Jason)]

He wanted me to call her and tell her that I had a letter that Jason had mailed me.

[Narrator/Commentator]

But it's not true. There is no letter. This is all made up. Made up for one purpose. To see what Kelly Cochran's reaction would be.

[Walt Ammerman (Friend of Jason)]

I got a letter like January 4th or 5th or something like that from him.

[Interviewer/Detective]

You were basically having to convince Kelly that her dead husband was sending a message from beyond the grave that he

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

felt or knew that she likely was gonna do something to him.

[Walt Ammerman (Friend of Jason)]

The note says, if something were to happen to me, please send this in a few weeks to the Iron River Police Department. It's like I'm supposed to mail this, but I just wanted to tell you.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Please don't.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Please don't. She says, please don't mail it.

[Walt Ammerman (Friend of Jason)]

I don't know.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

And right then, I knew. Like, he got her.

[Walt Ammerman (Friend of Jason)]

Yeah. Hook, line, and sinker.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And what did that tell you?

[Walt Ammerman (Friend of Jason)]

Told me I did the right thing.

[Interviewer/Detective]

But that wasn't your only chess move. You had another trick up your sleeve, which was a tree and a carving.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Yeah,

[Interviewer/Detective]

the tree's over there.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Yeah, the tree's right over there. And I had watched her several times there.

[Narrator/Commentator]

He's actually been following Kelly Cochran. She doesn't know this. And Detective Ogden knows that Kelly goes to this one park all the time and is by a certain tree.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

She would just come and she would sit on that log, and there was a couple times where I thought she was even crying.

[Narrator/Commentator]

So he decides to make a carving on the tree that will really freak her out when she sees it. And what he carves into the tree is Chris is here.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I thought maybe she would see it as a sign from the dead or maybe even something supernatural and just generate her to talk to me even more.

[Interviewer/Detective]

It's not exactly the way they teach at the police academy.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

No. All I saw were her running through the woods. And then all of a sudden, the truck backed out and she took off. That's the night that she decides to tell me everything.

You watched him die, right? Where did he shoot him? In his body? You don't know? Not really. You caught Chris in your arms.

[Narrator/Commentator]

This is huge. For the first time, Kelly is admitting Chris was murdered.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Chris is lying in your house, shot. You told me this and that he died quickly. Correct.

She says that Jason shot Chris. Her portion is being forced to help clean up.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I'm the victim. My husband was abusive. I had no choice. I couldn't tell anybody or he'd kill me, too.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

What happened to Chris? What?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Damnation.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

What do you mean by downsize? What did he do with Chris?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Cut him up.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I remember her words being he downsized him, and it just made my stomach turn.

[Interviewer/Detective]

That was the first time she admitted not only had Chris been murdered, but that he'd been dismembered.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Correct.

[Narrator/Commentator]

And she goes on to give a very specific detail that will come into play later. She claims that Jason for forced her to pull the bullet out of Chris's body with a pair of forceps.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Why not arrest her?

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

You have to understand, I put her in a position to play the victim. She had to do all of these things under duress. And that's how she's going to be able to disclose other information so that we can recover Chris Reagan.

But you know where he put pieces. Yes. You're gonna go with me. Okay? We're gonna go.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

He says, we're going to Michigan. You're gonna show us where the body is.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Detective Ogden and Kelly drive all night. He is counting on her to help him.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

But will she with her? It was like, lie, lie, lie, truth, lie, truth, lie, lie, lie, truth.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It's the middle of the night. Kelly Cochran is driving with Detective Jeremy Ogden back to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to show him where she and her husband Jason buried Chris's remains.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Driving up there with her, it was interesting. I mean, she did what most people do after they tell you their deepest, darkest secret. She slept.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

They drive all night. They leave at, like, midnight. They get to Iron river, you know, at, like, seven in the morning.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

It's just miles and miles of trees and rolling hills. You could literally go to a place here where nobody else had ever been.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Pretty easy to hide a body.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Yeah. It's weird how beautiful it is and at the same time, eerie.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

So as I'm following them, they, you know, go down to this one particular area.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

We're just, like, on a flat, straight spot in the road, and she's like, it's right here.

[Narrator/Commentator]

And there are other police officers there to search the area, but they find nothing. So the question is, did Kelly get the spot wrong, or is Kelly lying? Detective Ogden then asked Kelly to show him around her house where the murder happened.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I wanted her to explain to me what happened to Chris and how he died. And then we'll go upstairs and we're gonna work our way down, all right? And for it to all be on film. She started to take me upstairs. This was your room, Kelly?

[Co-worker/Employer]

Yes.

[Interviewer/Detective]

She told you basically that they had had sex upstairs.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Right. There was some kind of sex involved. You and him ended up up here in this room, and that's what way on the 14th you did. You know, it's like you can see her mind working. Whatever story she was going to tell me was going to have to match the physical evidence that we may or may not discover.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

She takes him back downstairs and says, you know, actually, it happened out here in the hallway, in this back hallway.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

You were having sex right here. Okay. So she says that once they're done, Chris starts to walk up the stairs into the kitchen, and Jason, unbeknownst to her, shoots him from the basement. You're telling me that Jason shot him from behind and that Chris falls back on her and that they both tumbled down the stairs? Is he still on top of you when you get to the bottom? Is he. Are you actually under him?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Yeah.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Okay.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

With her, it was like, lie, lie, lie, truth, lie, truth, lie, lie, lie, truth. You got to figure it out.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

What's Jason say to you?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Nothing. It's so tiny.

[Narrator/Commentator]

As incriminating as all this is, Detective Ogden is sure she isn't telling the whole truth.

[Interviewer/Detective]

You continue that conversation back in Indiana? Yeah. Hours and hours of conversation.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Yeah. There's over 100 hours.

What don't you believe?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Again, it's all recorded undercover.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

What don't I believe? I'm not sure. I'm not sure with you.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

His communication with her really picked up speed back in Indiana because he's now

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

determined, I'll meet her at a park. I've sat down at a restaurant with her.

I only have one goal. It's to bring Chris home.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Detective Ogden believes that the more they talk, the more likely Kelly is to. To slip up. And if she slips up, she may just lead them to Chris Regan's body.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Honestly, I don't care if you believe me or not. He's not in the ground. I know he's not in the ground. Give you my word.

[Narrator/Commentator]

It seemed like Kelly kind of wanted to be playing with Detective Ogden, this sort of cat and mouse game.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

You have to understand that there are things that you've said throughout this that would cause concern. Okay. And changes and variations of your story.

[Interviewer/Detective]

She continues to maintain throughout all these hundreds of hours that she's the victim.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

It's always, my husband forced me to do this.

You have said that you're the victim when it comes to Chris, that you were put in this bad position, Right?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Yes.

At one point you put your foot down and say, stop lying.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

No more of this crap. Lying to me. No more. No. All the. I've been back and forth with you all.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What brought that on?

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Frustration, probably.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ogden thinks Kelly realizes he is losing his patience and might finally just arrest her. It was all about to come to a head. Soon after, Detective Ogden gets a misspelled text from Kelly. Ever been to the West Coast? I was driving last night. Sure enough, she skipped town.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Except she didn't head west after all. The police tracked her as she fled south to Kentucky.

[Local Expert/Resident]

33 year old Kelly Cochran was arrested in Graves County, Kentucky, after a tip to the US Marshals. Cochran was wanted in Michigan.

[Interviewer/Detective]

And so when you interview her in Kentucky, in many ways it was a breakthrough confession.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Yes.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Things are different.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Why are they different?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Because I'm here.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I interviewed her all day that day and then I interviewed her for a portion of the day the next day.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Now Kelly drops another bombshell.

[Interviewer/Detective]

If she would be my responsibility, regardless if he helped or not.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Her new story. She now claims she knew in advance that Jason was going to kill Chris Reagan the night she invited him to their home.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

You took part in the planning of it. You allowed it to occur when you didn't have to allow it to occur.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And she tells Ogden she knew this

[Interviewer/Detective]

because they had an agreement.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

When does that agreement occur?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Wedding day.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

And your agreement from the time you were married was that you had the affair. It's your responsibility to kill off that person.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Or he'd kill me.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Or he would kill you. Vice versa.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Right.

[Narrator/Commentator]

If either spouse were to cheat during the course of the marriage, the cheating spouse would have to either kill their lover or be killed by this other spouse.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You heard that right? And yet that bizarre alleged wedding day pact is just the stuff start of what she reveals.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I'm going to get emotional. I can't I wait one second because it still gets me every time.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Now in jail in Michigan, charged with murder, Kelly Cochran is taken out of her cell to go on what cops are calling a field trip.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

This is just, you know, giving consent

[Interviewer/Detective]

to go to your house with you.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Kelly had agreed that she would take me to Chris's remains where she left them. She wanted to do the right thing.

[Interviewer/Detective]

See where it starts to curve to the left. I'd park there.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

She takes her a little further east than she took her on the first day.

[Interviewer/Detective]

What would the biggest piece of bone be that you. I mean, the Torso. And that was here. So then we should find ribs. And I think that generally the skull should be the biggest, though as she's

[Private Investigator Jim McNeil]

talking, she has no guilt at all. So carefree, like, no big deal.

[Narrator/Commentator]

This was not exactly a somber day for her.

[Interviewer/Detective]

I smoked dinner.

[Narrator/Commentator]

She had a lot of cigarettes,

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

and

[Narrator/Commentator]

then she asked for a cheese pizza for lunch.

[Interviewer/Detective]

How do you cheese pizza? Just cheese. Maybe a soda. Can you bring pizza?

[Narrator/Reporter]

While the searching continue continues, Chief Frizzo takes her to the house.

[Interviewer/Detective]

You say that, you know, he. Jason pulled him into here, and that's where he cut him out, and she's

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

eating a piece of pizza. Of course, when we're doing this,

[Interviewer/Detective]

then

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Kelly also is just nonchalantly walking past the kitchen sink and says, oh, there's the forceps.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

You said something about forceps. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, There you go.

[Interviewer/Detective]

You're saying you use the those?

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Yep.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

It had been sitting there the whole time, and I said, are you saying you use those to try and get the bullet out of Chris's head? And she said, yep, just like that.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was critical evidence matching what Kelly had said in that early interrogation when

[Interviewer/Detective]

she first admitted that Chris had been murdered. But back in these woods, an even more important discovery.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Chris Regan's skull itself.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I'm gonna get emotional. I can't wait one second, because it still gets me every time. I just said to myself, I finally found you. I just literally, like, said that to myself, you know? So

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

that was a very sobering moment. And the only bright spot on that is they could link Kelly Cochran into his murder, and that got things going so that she would go to trial.

[Narrator/Commentator]

The Kelly Cochran case just is the biggest case we've had locally, maybe ever.

[Defense Attorney Michael Schulke]

Kelly's life was riding on the trial.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Despite all that she's admitted in those interrogations. Kelly Cochran pleads not guilty.

[R (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

I was definitely afraid that she was gonna get off.

[Narrator/Commentator]

You never know how a jury's going to go.

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

Ladies and gentlemen, Kelly and Jason Cochran were bonded in blood.

[Narrator/Commentator]

The case was prosecuted by Iron county prosecutor Melissa Powell.

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

We were pretty confident going into trial that we could convict her of being an aider and abettor. Kelly Cochran was a willing participant, and because of that, she's just as guilty as he is.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Michael Schulke was the defense attorney for Kelly Cochran.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

The only evidence that the people have

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

to get to their burden is the word of Ms. Cochran.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

What's her word worth? She's a liar.

[Defense Attorney Michael Schulke]

We believe that Jason acted alone because he was not into this open marriage. And was jealous and angry that Kelly was involved with another man.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Please be seated.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The trial would last almost three weeks.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

She has already admitted that she knew what was gonna happen.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And though There were some 60 witnesses, the case pretty much boiled down to just one. Kelly Cochran herself.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Kelly testified about the abuse that she claims she suffered in her marriage.

[Interviewer/Detective]

There was a lot of times where you would grab me and push me, shove me. You came very jealous, very angry. There was times where he had threatened me in the house, outside of the house, throwing stuff at me.

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

Kelly Cochran testified for several days. I don't think she helped herself at all. You never told people that he was abusive until this case came about, did you?

[Narrator/Commentator]

Until after.

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

And you never told people that he

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

threatened you until this case came about, right?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Until after.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

When I saw Kelly in person,

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

couldn't believe Christopher would have had a sexual relationship with her. She looked like the devil. Her eyes were blank.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I don't know if I would have

[Interviewer/Detective]

been capable to shoot him or even do anything about it.

[R (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

There's nothing that comes out of her mouth that I would ever believe.

[Defense Attorney Michael Schulke]

I think the jury wanted to hear from her and how she was going to explain away hundreds of hours of previous statements.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Remember, her story changed in all those recorded interrogations from I know nothing to Jason forced me to help kill Chris.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

When does that agreement occur?

[Interviewer/Detective]

The wedding night to.

[Narrator/Commentator]

We had a wedding pact, and I was part of the murder.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

And also, I'm lying because every time

[Interviewer/Detective]

I had an interview or an interrogation with him, everything I said was wrong. What do you mean, everything said was wrong? He would question me until I said what was supposed to be said.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What was it like watching Kelly on the stand?

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Excruciating.

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

So it's your testimony today that you

[Interviewer/Detective]

had no plans to kill. I've never wanted.

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

And you lied to Detective Ogden when you said there was a plan, Correct?

[Narrator/Commentator]

Correct.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She swears this testimony is no lie.

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

Today you're telling the truth to these

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

12 or 14 strangers?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Yes, ma'. Am.

[Narrator/Commentator]

With Kelly admitting so many lies, the defense asked the jury, how can they believe one story versus any other?

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Why is she truthful when she says

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

she is acting with Jason versus times

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

that she said he acted alone? What makes her more truthful then?

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

I think at that point in time, she's overwhelmed. She's made so many statements. She's told so many lies. It's time to tell the truth. People disclose the truth in bits and pieces when they're ready and when they're caught. The defendants in this matter were bonded in blood. Chris Regan was bathed in it. And at this time I'm asking you

[Interviewer/Detective]

to wash away the blood.

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

Find the defending guilty of all counts.

[Defense Attorney Michael Schulke]

There is reasonable doubt here. People fail to meet their burden and

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

if you believe that, you have to acquit. Kelly had made the comment before trial, you don't think I can turn just one juror. I was concerned that there might be one juror that buys her story.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And as those jurors start to deliberate, there is something else. What is it that they haven't heard?

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[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

All rise.

[Narrator/Commentator]

The jury deliberated for about three hours which considering it was a two and a half week long trial, wasn't very long at all.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

The jury comes, comes back in and as they're standing in the jury box, I felt confident because you know, a couple of them did look over and smile, just kind of give a look. Count number one, open murder. Guilty of first degree premeditated murder.

[Interviewer/Detective]

Eating and abetting.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Everybody just cried and Chris's family was sitting right behind me and the first thing I did is just, just turn around and hug them.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Kelly was just straight faced during the reading of the verdict. I didn't notice any changes in her at all.

[Defense Attorney Michael Schulke]

Unfortunately, the jury bought the story that the prosecution put forth.

[Interviewer/Detective]

35 year old Kelly Cochran will never again walk free.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Guilty of five total felony counts.

Kelly was convicted on first degree premeditated murder which carries a mandatory life sentence in Michigan. And without the possibility of parole.

[R (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

For me it's not going to change anything. You know, Chris is gone and what she did is just horrible. I hope she rots in hell.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Kelly Cochran is convicted and sentenced. But there is much more to her case than what was presented in court. Dark and twisted allegations that the jurors never heard.

[Narrator/Commentator]

These are some really disturbing allegations that were brought forth by the neighbors of the Cochrans, who said they heard these weird construction noises coming from Kelly and Jason's house late at night.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

It's reciprocating. Reciprocating saw, the one with the real long blade goes back and forth

[Interviewer/Detective]

and

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

cut through wood and nails and everything at the same time with it.

[Neighbor]

Kelly and Jason asked me if I want to come over for dinner one night. I was like, yeah, sure. And this was, like, two days after Chris was missing. It's, like, mind boggling how much meat they had.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

So we were always wondering about that.

[Neighbor]

What if they were that kind of people and.

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

And actually did kill a guy and then butchered him up and had us over for dinner?

[Neighbor]

I think they hacked him up and

[Jason Cochran (Kelly's husband)]

said, dude to us. Don't even say that.

[Neighbor]

I'm like, oh, God. Oh, God. Like, no. When I realized that I might have ate the dude, I didn't want to believe. Changed me. It changed me 100%.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

It was a theory that they came to a conclusion on their own. That wasn't something that we ever even brought into the case investigation. It's not that I didn't think it could happen, but it wasn't significant at the time.

[Narrator/Commentator]

But one thing investigators took very seriously was the allegation that there could be other murder victims out there. Kelly's own brother told Detective Ogden that Kelly said herself that there were more

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

victims, and the more is coming from her. She's telling you guys correct. And how many more bodies did she tell you? Mostly there's nine total.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Police were recording all of Kelly Cochran's phone conversations while she was behind bar. And you can hear her own mother asking her, is it true? Are there other murder victims?

[Interviewer/Detective]

Hi, Kel. What's going on? Kelly, what the hell is wrong? I mean, where did all this come from? You didn't see this coming? I see this coming after it all happened, but I didn't know that you guys killed people before all this. Do you have a conscience? Has this, like. I mean, have you always felt this way? I've always been like this, ma.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

Kelly actually told me that she was born the way she is. She's never had emotions. She's never had sympathy.

[Defense Attorney Michael Schulke]

There is no evidence that has been brought forth that would indicate that any stories that were told by Kelly of being involved in murders of other people are true. There are no bodies Coming from out of the woodwork that are tied to Kelly Cochran.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But what does Kelly Cochran herself now say about the allegations that she's a serial killer? You had told police that you had

[Interviewer/Detective]

killed others in the past.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Is there truth to that? And in a case where they uncovered so much darkness and evil, there would be a surprising light at the end of the tunnel for the two lead investigators.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

Following the guilty verdict, Kelly is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Chris Reagan.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Eleven months later, Kelly pleads guilty to murdering her husband, Jason Cochran in Indiana and is sentenced to an additional 65 years in prison.

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I believe that the idea behind this evil and her, I mean, it's the purest form of evil that you're gonna get.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I spoke to Kelly Cochran from her prison in Michigan, where she's serving out her life sentence. You told police that you had killed

[Interviewer/Detective]

others in the past.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Is there truth to that?

[Interviewer/Detective]

No, I've never killed anybody.

Then why would you tell investigators you had and lead them on wild goose chases?

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

I don't know.

[Interviewer/Detective]

They said they spoke to neighbors who lived down the street from you who were convinced that they had a barbecue that consisted of human remains.

I heard about that. Here's the thing. I never had a barbecue with anybody. Nobody was ever cooked. Nobody was barbecued.

I've spoken to investigators, Kelly, who said that when they talked about to you and heard your story, that it made them believe in pure evil. What would you say to that?

I believe that's because I'm not a bad person. I was raised by good people. I've never harmed anybody.

And so in your view, what did happen that night when Chris died?

My husband disabled the man and cut him up in front of me.

And you just stood there doing nothing.

What are you talking about?

You didn't call the police. You didn't.

I was tied up.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

This is the first I'm hearing of her ever saying she'd been tied up. This is a game. She's going to continue this game as long as she can, and she's not done with it yet.

[Terry O'Donnell (Chris Reagan's ex-girlfriend)]

There probably is not a punishment on this earth that can match what she did to Christopher. I can feel Christopher with me when I'm around Apple blossom trail. Feeling warm, enjoy a happiness because it was a good place for us.

[Narrator/Reporter]

For Laura Frizzo, the case had a bittersweet outcome. Although she was able to help bring justice for Chris Reagan's murder, she was fired from her job as police chief.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

After Kelly's arrest, I started to have some issues with my boss at work and those issues kind of got heated.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But while Laura may have lost her job, she found romance in an unlikely place.

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

I felt immediately connected to him just because of the person he was.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And so you kind of made the first move.

[Prosecutor Melissa Powell]

What happened?

[Laura Frizzo (Iron River Police Chief)]

One day text him and I said, do you want to kiss me? I was like, why did I send that? Because there was like dead air. Just no response for a long time,

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

you know, the answer was yes right out of the gate as soon as I read it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So you asked for the first kiss. Who asked for whose hand in marriage?

[Narrator/Commentator]

I did.

[Interviewer/Detective]

How'd that go, big guy?

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

It went well.

[Narrator/Commentator]

She accepted right away.

[Interviewer/Detective]

What's the future for both of you?

[Detective Jeremy Ogden]

We own a piece of land that Laura picked in the up right on a lake. And one day I'm going to build her a dream house there.

[Local Expert/Resident]

And of course, we wish them the best as they now plan their next chapter together, away from their work. That is our program for tonight. Thanks so much for watching. I'm David Muir. And from all of us here at 2020 in ABC News, good night.

[Narrator/Host]

Thanks for listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. We hope you'll join us Friday nights at 9 on ABC for all new broadcast episodes. See you then.

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