Death of a Deacon - A Wife's Mission

Summary

---

Cold Case Files – "Death of a Deacon / A Wife's Mission"

A&E / PodcastOne | June 23, 2026
Host: Marisa Pinson

---

Episode Overview

This dual-case episode of Cold Case Files explores two haunting unsolved cases that turn on the tenacity of grieving families and the impact of technological advances in forensic science:

• Case 1: The 1992 murder of Deacon Phil Perry in California, a troubling story of faith betrayed, a love affair, and a years-long struggle by Perry’s family, especially his wife Christine and son Russ, to see justice done.
• Case 2: The 1996 home invasion, rape, and murder of J. Lopez in Florida, with his wife Lynn battling not only devastating loss and trauma but suspicion by police, before her own determination and DNA technology cleared her name years later.

The episode weaves together themes of loss, resilience, the persistence of families and detectives, and the evolving power of forensic evidence to break open cold cases.

---

Case 1: The Murder of Deacon Phil Perry

The Crime and Initial Investigation

• Setting: Rancho Cucamonga, CA, 1992.
• Victim: Phil Perry, local church deacon.
• Circumstances: Phil announces to his wife Christine Perry that he wants to end their marriage due to an affair ("He took his ring off and he put it on the counter, and I took mine off and put it on the counter. And we were just real quiet." - Christine Perry, 02:30).
• Phil disappears the next day.
• Christine receives a typed, oddly formal letter purportedly from Phil ("Phil wouldn't be that formal with me." - Christine Perry, 03:36).
• Phil’s car is found in Tijuana, Mexico—with his body inside, killed execution-style.

Key Moments & Quotes

• Christine’s Gut Reaction to Letter: “The content was just saying that he was going to be away for a while and get clear his head... Phil wouldn't be that formal with me.” (03:36)
• Detective Suspicion: “It just seemed too businesslike... a little bit too formal to be the way it was.” – Detective Bob Emerson (03:50)

Early Suspects and Dead Ends

• Carl Bragg (a.k.a. Carl D. Tommaso), husband of Lisa Bragg (Phil’s lover), emerges as a suspect.
• Carl's Jeep spotted crossing into Mexico the day of the murder, but he has an alibi—hospital visit with his sick child.
• Detective theory: Carl could have orchestrated the crime with help, possibly involving his stepsister, Liz Minor.

Notable Quotes

• On the Love Affair: "Phil denied everything...he said, no, it's not what you think. It's a sisterly, brotherly love of Christ." – Carl Bragg (06:25)
• Carl's Hurt: “I was hurt because I trusted this man a lot. Philip Perry and I were very close friends.” – Carl Bragg (06:46)

The Cold Case Breakthrough (2001)

• Phil’s son, Russ Perry, pushes for the case to be reopened. (“What happened to my dad? Ate at me over the years..." (08:22); Russ contacts Sgt. Bobby Dean (08:43)).
• Focus returns to Carl Bragg and new attention on Liz Minor, Carl’s stepsister and believed accomplice.
• Detectives tap phones, search houses, and catch Liz and her husband contradicting themselves during surveillance and questioning.

Key Breakthrough

• Liz Minor, under pressure, reveals she lured Perry from church at Carl’s behest ("He goes, I want to scare him... I just want to talk to him." – Liz Minor, 14:24).
• She admits driving with Scott Harrison (friend of Carl) to meet Phil, who is then abducted, bound, and killed ("Scott points the gun at me and says, get in the car. And then the next thing I know, I hear a loud bang..." – Liz Minor, 20:52; 21:41).

Arrests, Trials, and Justice

• Arrested: Liz Minor (pleads guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping, 11 years), Carl Bragg/D. Tommaso (second-degree murder: 15 years to life after trial), Scott Harrison (acquitted).
• Role of DNA: DNA on 'alibi letters' from both Carl and Scott becomes crucial evidence (27:01), but Harrison is ultimately acquitted due to suppressed statements and attack on witness credibility.

Powerful Reflections

• Carl Bragg’s Regret: “I never, ever wanted Phil Perry murdered, ever. I didn’t ask nobody, and I didn’t do it.” (28:27)
• Russ Perry’s Pain: “What my dad did was wrong...but certainly the punishment for that is not murder. It's not death.” (28:45)

Key Segment Timestamps

• 01:53 — Christine Perry’s confrontation in interrogation
• 06:46 — Carl Bragg confronts Phil about affair
• 08:22 — Russ Perry describes his pain and desire for justice
• 13:11 — Confessions unravel during police interview
• 21:41 — Liz describes the murder in detail
• 25:05 — Sentencing details for Liz Minor
• 27:46 — Russ Perry responds to Scott Harrison’s acquittal
• 28:45 — Russ Perry on the meaning of justice after his father’s murder

---

Case 2: The Murder of J. Lopez ("A Wife's Mission")

The Incident and Aftermath

• 1996, Tampa FL. Home of Jay and Lynn Lopez invaded at night.
• Jay Lopez is stabbed to death; Lynn is raped and forced to shower.
• The attacker torches the home.
• Lynn survives and gives a statement, cooperating fully ("I felt that the questions, as painful as they were, were what the questions I had to be asked to find the perpetrator." – Lynn Lopez, 34:28).

Trauma and Suspicion

• Investigators are suspicious due to lack of physical evidence matching Lynn's account; she fails a polygraph ("Deception. What kind of deception?" – Lynn Lopez, 36:50).
• No DNA matches in state databases; Lynn remains a person of interest for years, enduring public and personal suspicion.

Notable Quote

• "I was horrified...I had to secure an attorney to protect me from the people who are supposed to protect me." – Lynn Lopez (37:13)

A Family’s Determination Brings Change

• Seven years later, Lynn fights to reopen the case: "I am going to rattle this cage and I'm not going to stop. No matter if I end up in a psychiatric ward, I'm never stopping." (37:44)
• Detectives retrieve and re-examine evidence using new STR DNA testing.
• DNA profile finally matches Chatsi Yam Leoy, unknown to the Lopez family.

Memorable Moments

• Lynn identifies Leoy from a lineup with near-perfect accuracy, years after the attack: "I pointed and I said, this is the son of a bitch." (45:57)

Resolution and Aftermath

• Leoy is confronted, denies involvement but later confesses after spiritual crisis ("He basically told us that he had had a vision, that Jay...had kind of appeared to him and told him that the only way he could be free of this was to tell the truth." – Detective Harry Hoover, 48:37)
• Pleads guilty to first-degree homicide and sentenced to life in prison.

Heartbreaking Epilogue

• "The love of my life was taken from me...Every morning when I wake up, I still think I'm back at home and my husband is next to me. And then my eyes open and I realize I am in hell. I am living in hell." – Lynn Lopez (49:47)

Key Segment Timestamps

• 29:13 — Lynn Lopez describes life after the murder
• 33:16 — Details of the attack from Lynn Lopez’s perspective
• 36:13 — DNA evidence does not match anyone in the database
• 37:44 — Lynn's determination to reopen her case
• 42:03 — Lynn reopens case with psychologist and detectives
• 44:44 — DNA matches suspect; Lynn identifies him
• 48:37 — Leoy's confession
• 49:47 — Lynn's reflection on lasting trauma

---

Notable Quotes

Christine Perry (On confronting her husband’s killer):

“You were just supposed to scare him... You weren't supposed to kill him.” (01:53)

Russ Perry (On the pain of the cold case):

"What happened to my dad? Ate at me over the years. ... What kept me going was hope that someday someone would have to pay for what they did." (08:22)

Lynn Lopez (On her grief and suspicion cast upon her):

“I was horrified. If I saw a police car, I would panic because I would think they're coming to get me. ... I couldn't fathom this.” (37:13)

Lynn Lopez (Finding her husband's killer):

“I pointed and I said, this is the son of a bitch.” (45:57)

Detective Harry Hoover (On confronting Leoy):

“He had shark eyes. They were black and empty." (47:10)

---

Summary & Takeaways

This episode powerfully chronicles not just the anguish and fallout from two brutal, seemingly unsolvable murders, but the crucial role loved ones play in driving justice forward—despite daunting odds and personal suffering.

On one hand, Russ Perry’s relentless hope eventually unearths a tangled plot involving his father’s church, acquaintances, and family, showing how collaborative police work and modern forensics can break even complex cases.

On the other, Lynn Lopez’s odyssey from victim to suspect to vindicated survivor underscores the collateral trauma of cold cases—and the life-changing relief that can come from perseverance and the truth, even when justice feels incomplete.

---

Cold Case Files continues to illuminate not only the darkness of unresolved crime but the possibility, however slim, that the truth can prevail—even years after the fact.

---

Transcript

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

Ever notice how life's best stories don't happen in your living room? They happen on the open road, out on the water, or parked under the stars. At Progressive, they get that you want to focus on the experience, not worry about the what ifs. That's why they offer quality insurance designed for your ride, whether That's a boat, RV or motorcycle adventure with confidence. Visit progressive.com and see how easy it is to protect your favorite way to get away. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Not available in D.C. prices vary based on how you buy.

[Progressive Insurance Promoter]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.

[Kiana (Shopify User)]

I'm Kiana and I leveled up my business with Shopify. Once I figured out that Shopify was a thing, I never turned back. I can create a site with my eyes closed. Shopify thinks ahead of us, you know, and it thinks about the customer more than anything. Every day I'm thinking about some other new business, but Shopify is doing it to me because it's so easy to use. It's like, I can't stop. I'm addicted.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

To start your free [e-mail] this program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. There are over 100,000 cold cases in America. Only 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories.

[Christine Perry]

I start screaming and yelling at him and telling him, this wasn't supposed to happen. You were just supposed to scare him. You were just supposed to tell him, don't mess with married women. You weren't supposed to kill him.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

In a San Bernardino interrogation room, police watch as a wife talks to her husband.

[Christine Perry]

And I told him if I ever said anything that he would kill you and kill the kids.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

The topic of conversation is murder.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Why the hell does people gonna do this to me?

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

It's a story that begins almost 10 years earlier with the end of a marriage.

[Christine Perry]

He took his ring off and he put it on the counter, and I took mine off and put it on the counter. And we were just real quiet.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

It's 1992 in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and Christine Perry's life is coming apart at the seams. Her husband, Phil Perry, a deacon at the local church, is having an affair with a member of his congregation, and now he wants a divorce.

[Christine Perry]

I laid Down. And I couldn't even talk. And he just laid down next to me. There was a quiet resolution. It's over. It's done. It's. It's done.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Phil Perry leaves the house the next morning. The day after that, Christine discovers her husband has vanished. And she talks to the police.

[Christine Perry]

The question specifically was, do you know where your husband is? Does he always tell you where he is? And I said, no, I don't always know. And the officer said, okay, that was enough. He got the message. He understood that things weren't okay.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Police generate a missing persons report. Then Christine finds a letter in the mailbox, supposedly from her husband.

[Christine Perry]

The content was just saying that he was going to be away for a while and get clear his head and he'd be okay. And he checked back later. He had signed it. And in the bottom then it said Phil Perry underneath it. Phil wouldn't be that formal with me.

[Detective Bob Emerson]

It just seemed too businesslike. Even with the subject matter that was there. It was just a little bit too formal to be the way it was.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Bob Emerson is a detective with the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department. He sits down with Christine and her son Russell and talks about what might have happened to Phil Perry.

[Detective Bob Emerson]

When we first started it's a missing person. You know, he'll be back in a couple days. And then when the letters started coming in and then the notification from San Diego is when it comes to really turned hard that there was more to it than what we had just thought it was a missing person.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

The call from San Diego is about a body found south of the border.

[Detective Bob Emerson]

But back then it was. It's still days worth of work.

[Detective Investigator]

This one right here in front of me is a picture of Mr. Perry's car parked along the sidewalk in the street in the city of Tijuana.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Three days after Phil Perry is reported missing, Detective Emerson drives south to Tijuana on a residential street. He finds an abandoned white Chrysler. In the backseat is the body of Phil Perry.

[Detective Investigator]

It appeared from the evidence that he had actually been pushed down and the gun went off or shot him in the back as he was being pushed down. The entry wound was into his back and it exited through his cheek area as if it was shot in a downward air trajectory. This document is from the US Customs. It's a border crossing.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Emerson asks customs to determine when Phil Perry's car crossed the border. He also requests that customs check on two people who might want Phil Perry dead. His rumored lover, Lisa Bragg, and her husband Carl.

[Detective Investigator]

I had the license plates numbers of Mr. Perry's car, also the Bragg's two cars. I asked and requested that all three be run. And the Jeep did come across the border on the date that I requested.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

According to customs, Carl Bragg's Jeep crossed the US Mexico border the day Phil Perry was reported missing. Emerson brings in Carl Bragg to ask him why.

[Carl Bragg (Carl D. Tommaso)]

And then he asked me a bunch of questions about, you know, Phil Perry and Lisa and did I know about his murder and his disappearance. And at that time, I was saying, no, I didn't know nothing.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Bragg's home and business are searched. Emerson finds a stash of love letters written from Phil Perry to Lisa Bragg. Carl admits to finding the letters and confronting his deacon about them.

[Carl Bragg (Carl D. Tommaso)]

Phil denied everything. Even when I told him I had the letters, he said, no, it's not what you think. It's a sisterly, brotherly love of Christ. It's not what you're thinking. You're thinking of the lust in the flesh. He says, and we got a spiritual love.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Carl, however, reads something different. In the letters, they mentioned that they

[Carl Bragg (Carl D. Tommaso)]

were in a hotel room and they made love. It was in detail. I was angry. I was hurt, mainly more hurt than angry. I was hurt because I trusted this man a lot. Philip Perry and I were very close friends. He was like a spiritual advisor for me. I could talk to them about anything.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Emerson wants to charge Bragg with murder, but he has a problem.

[Detective Investigator]

He had a bunch of alibis. Number one, he'd never been to Mexico in his life.

[Detective Bob Emerson]

Number two, he was busy that night.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Carl can prove he was at a hospital with a sick child the night Perry disappeared. Carl Bragg, it appears, could not have killed Phil Perry. Unless, of course, he had helped.

[Detective Investigator]

Right now we're behind the St. Joseph's Catholic Church in the city of Upland. This is where Mr. Perry was last seen after counseling session here in this building.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Detective Emerson returns to the church parking lot where Phil Perry was last seen alive.

[Rosetta Stone Sponsor]

He recalls a story about a woman

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

who claimed to have car trouble.

[Detective Investigator]

An unknown female, described as a short Hispanic female, needed a pair of jumper cables. Mr. Perry retrieved the jumper cables, went with her. She came back a short time later and delivered the jumper cables back. No one seemed to know the person. We asked the priest if he had ever seen her before. He stated that he had never seen her before, had no idea who she really was.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Emerson wonders if the woman might have acted as Carl Bragg's accomplice and somehow helped to kidnap Perry. He it's a theory that goes nowhere for more than a decade.

[Russ Perry]

What happened to my dad? Ate at me over the years. It just was eating me up inside. But what kept me going was hope that someday someone would have to pay for what they did.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Russ Perry was 18 at the time his father was killed. By 2001, he's 27, and the case is still cold.

[Russ Perry]

So I called the homicide unit in San Bernardino, and that's the first time I spoke to sergeant Bobby Dean.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

This is the sheriff's homicide detail, and the investigators offices are over on the side. And this is where they keep all the cold case files or the unsolved files that year.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Sergeant Bobby Dean of the San Bernardino sheriff's department opens up the Perry case file and begins to read one name immediately stands out. Carl Bragg was a member of Phil Perry's congregation and the husband of a woman rumored to be the deacon's lover. That makes Carl Bragg a person of interest once again.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

So definitely Carl was a suspect. But we knew from the investigation the Detectives did in 1992 that Carl was alibi'd up. So we knew Carl wasn't actually involved in the Knapp murder. We certainly suspected that he either paid or had someone kidnapped Mr. Perry.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Cold case detectives believe that someone might be a woman seen with Deacon Perry just before he disappeared.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

We knew that a lady had went to the church that night and asked for some jumper cables. Said her car broke down. And Philip complied with that and helped her out. And that was the last time we were seen. So who was that woman? It was a Hispanic female with dark hair, short, about 150 pounds. Have you set? And it matched Liz Minor 2.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Liz Minor is Carl Bragg's stepsister. Detectives decide to tap her phone and serve a search warrant. At the miner's home, Liz's husband Robert opens the door to Sergeant Chris Elvert.

[Detective Chris Elvert]

We walked in and introduced ourselves to Robert. He immediately started chain smoking. And as we kept searching around the house, he kept on following us around. What are you guys looking for? What are you doing? What's this? What's this about? And his big telling statement that I thought was critical in this case was, hey, you guys looked at this in 92 and you put it away. Why are you back?

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Bob Minor is scared and makes the mistake detectives were hoping for. He gets on the phone with his wife.

[Detective]

Liz.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

We got the sheriff's department here.

[Liz Minor]

Why that damn With Carl?

Joseph, you don't know nothing, right?

[Detective]

Mm mm.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Don't be nervous.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

All that.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

They can detect things, all right, kiddo?

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

Her demeanor and their attitude and the voice inflections. You can tell the first phone call Between Liz and Robert. Robert's stressed out. He knows the cops are on to him.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

They said that they want to talk

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

to me more tomorrow unless he's talked to other people. And that still seems thinking that telling them everything.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

Liz is starting to worry because she knows she has more involvement in the case in Roberta. So she's trying to obtain information from. He's trying to tell her what's going on. So there's a very strong dynamic going on there between them, and they're both worried, obviously.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Robert Minor is taken downtown for an interview, and Liz follows shortly after. They are placed in separate rooms. One will eventually be let go, but the other will be charged with murder.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

How are you doing?

[Liz Minor]

Fine.

[Christine Perry]

How are you?

[Detective Bobby Dean]

You're Elizabeth Minor. I'm Sergeant Deane.

[Liz Minor]

I'm.

[Rosetta Stone Sponsor]

My hands are just a little bit wet.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

Oh, I don't mind.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Cold case Detective Bobby Dean doesn't waste a lot of time with Liz Minor.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Liz, what do we know about the death of this Deacon?

[Liz Minor]

Just what my husband told me.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

With that, Liz Minor begins to tell a story that places her husband on the road to Mexico with Carl Bragg and a dead body.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

What did Bob tell you that he did?

[Liz Minor]

He just said that he drove to TJ With Carl. That Carl told him that if he took a ride with him, that he would disregard a debt that we had owed him.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

What'd he tell you? Drove.

[Liz Minor]

He said he drove the Jeep.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

The Jeep. He drove the Jeep down to Mexico.

[Liz Minor]

Right.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Was anybody in it?

[Liz Minor]

I believe he said Carl was in the Jeep. Guess Carl wanted to go to Mexico to leave Deacon Phil with the car in Mexico.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Is that what Bob told you?

[Liz Minor]

Well, that's. Yes.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

She tried to infer to us that the source of information was her husband because her husband had given her that information when we suspected all along that she was the person that lured Perry from the church so that she was directly involved in his kidnapping and the subsequent murder.

[Christine Perry]

And I yelled at him. I said, what'd you go with Carl for? You know, what the were you thinking? What did you do?

[Liz Minor]

And he said he felt scared and intimidated. You've seen my husband.

[Christine Perry]

He said what?

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

It was time to cut to the chase. You know, she could tell us everything that Bob wanted. Bob had told her. We wanted to know directly what she knew and what she participated in in an attempt to roll her into a confession.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Bob also tells us something about going to see Phil than I disappeared.

[Detective]

Okay.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Cause you wanted to confront Phil about why he was having an affair with Lisa. This is the time to get truthful here, hon. This is where the hard questions are coming in. We've been doing this a long time.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

You're rolling the dice because you know she can, she's not in custody. She can say, hey, I'm leaving, which would have been, all right. She could have left. Or she could have said, I want an attorney and play that card. So we're hoping that she feels enough motivation of pressure.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Liz does feel the pressure and begins to give in. As police suspected, she did meet Phil Perry on the night he vanished. According to Liz, it was Carl Bragg who pushed her into the meeting.

[Liz Minor]

He goes, I want to talk to him. He goes, I want to scare him. He goes, I just want to talk to him. That's all I want to do. I just want to talk to him. I just want to tell him to leave my wife alone. And that's what was supposed to happen.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

What did happen?

[Rosetta Stone Sponsor]

I think a lot of us have tried learning a language at some point, maybe in school or right before a trip, and you pick up a few words, but then when it's time to actually have a conversation, it just doesn't quite come together. That's why Rosetta Stone Sapphire caught my attention. It's their new app and it's built to help you move from knowing phrases to. To actually speaking with confidence about things you care about. Rosetta Stone, the trusted leader in language Learning for over 30 years, just launched Rosetta Stone Sapphire, a new app that combines its proven immersion method with latest innovation in technology to help you learn faster, personalize your lessons, and have more fun along the way.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

What I like is that it's not

[Rosetta Stone Sponsor]

one size fits all with Sapphire, you can focus on topics you'd actually talk about, travel, work, hobbies. So it feels way more relevant. I've been using their new chat missions, which lets you practice real life conversations in a safe, interactive setting before you

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

use your skills in the real world.

[Rosetta Stone Sponsor]

Chat missions make learning feel like a game while giving you instant feedback on grammar, spelling, and sounding more natural. And because there's less pressure when I'm practicing, it makes everything feel more personal because I can talk about things I'm interested in instead of the same old conversations you get on other apps. If you want to take your language skills to the next level, don't wait to try. Rosetta Stone Sapphire Cold Case Files listeners can get 20% off their Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription when they sign up today. You'll get unlimited access to all 25 Rosetta Stone languages plus all the new Sapphire learning tools. Visit RosettaStone.com Coldcase to redeem your 20% off. That's RosettaStone.com Coldcase and start learning a language for real. Waiting is the worst. I mean truly waiting on hold, waiting for emails, waiting for your own money to hit your account. It's terrible. And that last one really gets me. That's what Earn in fixes. Earn in is an app, not a bank, that gives you access to money you've already earned. You can get up to $150 a day, and up to $1,000 between paychecks. And the structure actually makes sense. Tips are optional. Standard transfers take one to two business days with no mandatory fees. And if you need it, faster expedited transfers are just a few dollars. I've definitely had moments where it felt like traditional banking just slowed everything down, like you're doing everything right, but you're still stuck waiting. Earn in flips that. It lets you move on your own timeline, whether that's covering a bill, handling something unexpected, or just not stressing while you wait for payday. And it's working. Over 5 million people are already using it. It's one of those tools where time just feels a little different when you're not stuck waiting around. Download Earn in on the App Store or Google Play spelled like Earn ing money without the G. Type in Cold Case vows under Podcast when you sign up, it'll really help the show. Earn in is a financial technology company, not a bank. Access limits are based on your earnings and risk factors. Standard cash outs take one to two business days with no mandatory fees. Expedited transfer is available for a fee. Tips are voluntary and do not affect the service available in select states. Terms and restrictions apply. Visit Earnin.com for full details. Okay, so my husband is constantly losing his glasses or scratching them and doing that thing where he insists they're still fine when they absolutely are not. And replacing them somehow always turns into this whole production. You've got to book an appointment, go in, spend way too much, and then wait around. That's why Zenni Optical is such a relief. It's an online eyewear shop. Prescription glasses, sunglasses, blue light lenses, all starting under $30. You just go to Zenni.com, pick your frames, upload your prescription, and they ship them right to your door. And I'm not kidding, the last time we priced glasses in store, it was around $300. Zenni was under 50. Truly shocking. But the bigger shift is once you have them, you stop treating glasses like this big, precious purchase. You're not agonizing over one pair that has to do everything for the next two years. Now he has a pair he loves without scratches, a backup pair, and even a pair that's a little more fun. And the quality is fantastic. They're comfortable, they look great. And the virtual try on made it really easy to choose. It just makes buying glasses simple. If your glasses are overdue for a refresh, now is the time. Go to zenni.com podcast and use code podcast15 for 15 off your first order. The style sell out so don't sit on it. That's Z-E-N-N-I.com podcast promo code podcast15 hello

[Pluto TV Announcer]

and welcome to Pluto Foe. If you know the name of the movie you'd like to see, just stream it for free on Pluto tv where all your blockbuster fans favorites are landing all summer long. Catch. Anchorman, the Legend of Ron Burgundy.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Fantastic.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

Men in Black one through three.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

Mean girls.

[DNA Lab Technician / Narrator]

Shut up.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

Titanic.

[Liz Minor]

I'm the king of the world.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

And so much more. For Showtime's press, nothing. They're free 24. 7.

[Lynn Lopez]

That is so effective on Pluto TV.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

Stream now, pay never.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

For now, it's time to tell the truth about what happened to Phil that night.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Liz Miner's talk with police is not going well.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

You knew it was going to eventually come down eventually. There's too many people in your family that know all about this game.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

She has already implicated her stepbrother, Carl Bragg, in the abduction and shooting of a church deacon named Phil Perry. Sergeant Bobby Dean, however, wants more.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

We know you went to see Phil that night. People saw you. And there's another issue that took place that night that you're scared about, you're worried about, because you know that that issue can put you there that night.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

You're watching the body language and you're trying to watch her demeanor and her attitude and what expressions she's given off to see if she's ready to push that button and go all the way with it.

[Detective Chris Elvert]

And she did.

[Liz Minor]

Scott showed up at my house.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Scott Harrison, whatever.

[Liz Minor]

His

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Scott Harrison is a friend of Carl Bragg.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

Scott's an intelligent, real cool character. I think there's another person inside that individual and he's hidden it for many years.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

According to Liz, she and Scott Harrison drove to the church parking lot. There, Liz approached Phil Perry with a story about car trouble.

[Liz Minor]

We were standing by my truck talking, and the next thing I know, Scott is standing next to Phil. And I jumped because I got scared because I didn't see him Come out. And he told Phil to shut up. And he had a gun. Scott has some sort of tape or something, and he puts it over Phil's mouth and he forces Phil in the backseat. Scott points the gun at me and says, get in the car. And then the next thing I know, I hear a loud bang in the car. My ears are hurting, and I go, you know, and I jump. And he's all, just drive. And I'm like, you know, and I'm shaking and I don't know what to do. And I'm like, I need to go home.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

She was done at that point. Stuck a fork in her.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Liz Minor is booked on a charge of murder. Her husband Robert is released.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Okay, just relax. I'll be right back.

[Detective]

Well, Carl, where shall we start? It's up to you where you want to. Where you want to start.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Now, Carl Bragg is now known as Carl D. Tommaso. But his story hasn't changed.

[Carl Bragg (Carl D. Tommaso)]

You know, I did not kill him. And I'm not going to admit killing somebody when I didn't kill somebody.

[Detective Chris Elvert]

I'm sitting down below and this is Carl sitting here. And I'm still trying to convince to tell us the truth about some of the information that we obtained.

[Detective]

What did you think was going to

[Carl Bragg (Carl D. Tommaso)]

happen them to scare him?

[Detective]

How are they going to scare him?

[Carl Bragg (Carl D. Tommaso)]

I just, I mean, Scott was just supposed to tell him to stay away

[Detective Chris Elvert]

or else at this point, I'm getting close to him, trying to tell him, hey, what he's telling us does not make any sense and that he needs to come off of that story that he didn't know anything about it.

[Detective]

You already told me that you always know that Scott had a gun. So do you think he was probably going to bring that gun to scare, too? Pretty safe assumption, right?

[Carl Bragg (Carl D. Tommaso)]

It's probably safe assumption, but I don't think you'd ever.

[Detective]

I mean, I'm not saying you would know that he, he, he would do

[Detective Bobby Dean]

that, but I mean, I know, I

[Carl Bragg (Carl D. Tommaso)]

know for a fact Scott Harrison carried a gun with him at all times.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Okay?

[Detective Chris Elvert]

Carl knew that he was armed and basically admitted that he sent an armed guy over to go slap somebody around.

[Detective]

But what you're telling me is, is realistically, honestly is that you knew Scott was armed or always armed, and you told him, go slap around Phil.

[Detective Chris Elvert]

And this was very crucial part of the investigation and in the case was as finally he had admitted his involvement, that he, in fact, as we believed all along, has set this whole murder in motion.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Cold case detectives have the man they believe set up the hit on Deacon Perry and the woman who acted as bait.

[Rosetta Stone Sponsor]

They now set their sights on the

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

trigger man, Scott Harrison.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

When we first knocked at the door, he was pretty surprised. He was pale and we could see his pulse racing on his neck. He was quite concerned. Initially, he said he didn't know anything about Perry's death and had never driven a man down to Mexico in the backseat of a Chrysler. But after a few minutes of thought and reflection and convincing from his wife, he decided to tell us a different story.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

We are gonna go to Mexico. This driver, what? Colin Bob ran the Jeep and I'm in the white car. Any problems at the border customs, US Guys, Mexican guys and your hardcore. Just wish him tomorrow. All I saw was the body there anyplace. Yeah, there was. And you yourself didn't pull a trigger on that.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

For cold case detectives, the denial doesn't really matter. A murder charge is in Scott Harrison's future.

[District Attorney Mike Ramos]

We filed murder charges and special circumstances of lying in wait and kidnapping against Carl D' Atomaso and Scott Harrison and

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Elizabeth Minor in 2001. Mike Ramos is the district attorney assigned to the Perry murder. He focuses on Liz Minor, who takes a plea deal.

[District Attorney Mike Ramos]

She pled guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping and went to prison for 11 years.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Carl Bragg Di Tomaso opts for a trial.

[Carl Bragg (Carl D. Tommaso)]

I didn't want the man killed. I never ordered the man to be killed. I didn't kill him. I told somebody to go talk to him, not to kill him.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

That is essentially Di Tomasso's defense. District Attorney Mike Ramos tells a different story.

[District Attorney Mike Ramos]

They parked in a dark area. Scott Harrison was hiding in a dark area. They brought the tape to put over his mouth. He had a gun with him. When you bring those types of items to simply scare somebody, it doesn't make sense. No, they were there to lure him away and murder him.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

A jury finds the state's case persuasive and finds Carl D. Tomaso guilty of second degree murder. He is sentenced to 15 years to life. The next case is the murder charge against Scott Harrison.

[Deputy DA Cheryl Kersey]

Sometimes as a prosecutor, you know that somebody has committed a crime and that they're guilty, but your evidence might not be be, you know the best.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Deputy DA Cheryl Kersey works the Harrison prosecution with Mike Ramos. Almost immediately, the case runs into problems.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Carlos saying, we gotta cover that up.

[Liz Minor]

Yeah.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Yeah.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

In a pretrial motion, a judge rules that police failed to read Harrison his Miranda rights and therefore Harrison's statement is inadmissible. With that, the state's case implodes with

[Deputy DA Cheryl Kersey]

that exclusion of evidence, Mike Ramos made a decision at that time to dismiss Scott Harrison.

[District Attorney Mike Ramos]

I told Bobby Dean's team, keep working on that case, because since it's a murder, there's not a statute of limitations problems. We may be able to refile it in the future. And then they found some other evidence.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

The evidence consists of two letters signed Phil Perry and delivered the day after he was reported missing. DNA testing IDs, two male DNA profiles. The first on a stamp is Carl D. Tomaso's. The other on an envelope flap, belongs to Harrison.

[District Attorney Mike Ramos]

We said, okay, there it is. His DNA is now on the alibi letter. It puts him there.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

In July of 2005, Scott Harrison goes to trial. His defense attacks the credibility of two people who point the finger at Harrison. Carl D. Tomasso and Liz Minor. The defense works, and Scott Harrison is acquitted. In the courtroom that day is Phil Perry's son, Russ.

[Russ Perry]

A jury of 12 people heard the evidence and felt that the case didn't meet the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt. But their verdict also frees him from jail, from the fear of ever having to serve any custody time.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Carl Di Tomaso is not happy with Harrison's acquittal either.

[Carl Bragg (Carl D. Tommaso)]

I don't understand. I really don't understand how the judicial system could allow him to walk and give me 15 to life.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

15 years to life will provide Di Tommaso with plenty of opportunity to reflect on his role in the death of Deacon Phil Perry.

[Carl Bragg (Carl D. Tommaso)]

I like to say that I'm very sorry to the Perry family. I wish them, you know, my condolences go out to them. I'm very sorry for the pain and suffering that they've all had to go through. But I do want them to understand that I never, ever wanted Phil Perry murdered, ever. I didn't ask nobody, and I didn't do it.

[Russ Perry]

You know, what my dad did was wrong. I don't think there's a person that would sit there and say that, you know, having an affair with a married person is right, but certainly the punishment for that is not murder. It's not death. My dad was a good man, and he might have made some mistakes, but he certainly didn't deserve to die. And he didn't deserve to die the way he did.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

As for Scott Harrison, the jury has spoken, and he is innocent in the eyes of the law.

[Lynn Lopez]

I never look at this album. I can't. It's in my room. And it's odd to have something in your room that you're afraid of. I have not gone this far in years, I would say.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

In Tampa, Florida, in August 2005, Lynn Lopez opens up a photo album and looks into her past.

[Lynn Lopez]

Every Christmas, my husband was the thing that you put bows on. You can see my husband so playful, so happy. It's very painful and it almost makes me feel like it really never happened.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

But it did happen almost 10 years earlier. A handful of moments that changed Lynn Lopez's life forever. 91 1, what is your emergency?

[Christine Perry]

Fire, rape, possibly murder.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Around 4am on November 13, 1996, Hillsborough County Deputy Steve Donaldson responds to a call and finds a home in flames.

[Deputy Steve Donaldson]

Before I could even get out of my car, the man ran up to me and he goes, he's still inside. He's, he's still inside. And I said, well who, who's inside? And he said, you know, the owner, Mr. Lopez.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Donaldson enters the Lopez home. He finds the living room engulfed in flames and 42 year old J. Lopez on the bedroom floor.

[Deputy Steve Donaldson]

I could see Mr. Lopez lying on his back. He was covered in blood and he had multiple stab wounds and he wasn't moving.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Firefighters extinguish the blaze and police examine the body. Meanwhile, Donaldson approaches a survivor of the fire, Lynn Lopez.

[Deputy Steve Donaldson]

She was standing there on the lawn and she approached me, probably just about as calm as I am right now, and asked me, is my husband okay? And I just thought that was remarkable considering how she had been terrorized over the last few hours.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Lynn tells police she had been sexually assaulted by an intruder and then forced to shower as he set fire to the home. It's an account that leaves Donaldson scratching his head.

[Deputy Steve Donaldson]

Why did he leave you alive? Why would he stab your husband, murder him, commit this just heinous act, terrorize you over the course of three and four hours and leave you as a witness? If he has that much of a demon inside him, how much more would have it been for him to just kill her as well?

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Lynn is taken to the hospital where a rape kit is taken and semen recovered. Inside the home, investigators collect blood stained blankets and bedding, all of which is sent to the state crime lab for testing. Meanwhile, detectives turn to their best piece of evidence, Lynn Lopez.

[Detective / Analyst]

It was important that we talked to Lynn that same day because she was the only eyewitness that we had. She was the only one that could put provide us some details.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Just hours after learning her husband has been killed, Lynn Lopez sits down with detectives.

[Detective]

I believe it was between maybe 2 and 2:30 this morning and all I remember is all of a sudden hearing my husband yell something like look out or something.

[Lynn Lopez]

I remember I let out a scream that was so blood curdling to me in horror.

[Detective]

And I jumped up and I saw a man in the doorway of my bedroom holding a knife. And my husband and him started fighting.

[Lynn Lopez]

And I don't know if I'm seeing what I'm really seeing. Is it a dream? Did I jump up and am I imagining this?

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

According to Lopez, she watches as her husband tries to fend off the attacker with a baseball bat and is stabbed.

[Lynn Lopez]

My husband lets out an exhale, breath, and quietly, he just crumbles down in the corner of the room to the floor.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Then the attacker turns to Lynn.

[Lynn Lopez]

He said, well, I'm probably going to get the electric chair for this, so I might as well enjoy you.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Lynn Lopez tells detectives she was raped repeatedly. Then the attacker led her to the bathroom.

[Detective]

He took me into the shower and he made me face the wall. I didn't use soap or anything because I didn't want to wash anything away.

[Lynn Lopez]

Because I heard about that. I knew that you're not supposed to wash away the evidence. And I immediately shut the water because I wanted to hear what he was doing out there. He said, I have two things left to do. One of them is to kill you and the other is to torch the house. Those are the exact words. He laughed in this demonic laugh and like kind of hit the door and laughed and said, nah, I don't think I'm going to kill you.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

According to Lopez, her attacker set the living room on fire and left. Now, sitting in a police interview room, Lynn hopes her account will help find her husband's killer.

[Lynn Lopez]

I felt that the questions, as painful as they were, were what the questions I had to be asked to find the perpetrator.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Let's describe this man.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

He's a white male.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

White male. He's approximately how old?

[Detective]

I'm gonna say in his mid-30s.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

About how tall, maybe six feet. And what type of hair?

[Detective]

Very frizzy. It seemed like it must have been in a ponytail.

[Detective / Analyst]

And the word she used was like a Michael Bolton haircut, which she he had pulled back in a ponytail.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

A composite sketch is developed, but it leads nowhere. Instead, all paths and questions lead back to Lynn Lopez.

[Detective / Analyst]

This is a fight that she's describing that took place between two grown men, pretty good sized men based on their descriptions. With a baseball bat, you can see that nothing appears to be disturbed on the bed. There's nothing broken.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

After taking Lopez's statement, Detective Jorge Fernandez reviews the evidence and comes to a difficult conclusion. Lynn Lopez might be lying the story

[Detective / Analyst]

that she was providing about how the attack took place not just on her, but on her husband didn't seem to match the evidence that we were seeing at the crime scene.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Police questioned Lynn several more times.

[Lynn Lopez]

I remember the detective kept saying to me, we have nothing. We have nothing.

[Detective / Analyst]

You have to wonder if there's. Is there something else involved? Was there something else going on?

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

The DNA results come back from the Florida crime lab. A male profile is developed from the rape kit and some blood on the bedding, but it isn't from J. Lopez or anyone else in the state's DNA database.

[Detective / Analyst]

Was it somebody that Mr. And Mrs. Lopez invited into their house? And then once they were in the house, you know, the situation became out of control and escalated to the point where someone was murdered and the house was set on fire? She may not want to incriminate someone if it was a friend of the family or something like that.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Detectives, ask Lynn to take a polygraph test.

[Lynn Lopez]

Of course I'll take a polygraph. I'll tell you everything.

[Detective / Analyst]

What I look for are reactions in all three components. The breathing, the heart rate, and the amount of sweat, moisture that's on the hands.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Lynn Lopez takes her polygraph in November of 1996 and promptly fails it.

[Lynn Lopez]

I completely lost it. Deception. What kind of deception?

[Detective / Analyst]

So I didn't know if she was being completely truthful about the information that she was provided that took place in her house or if she failed to polygraph simply because of the emotions involved.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Emotions aside, police need to take a harder look at Lynn and Lopez feels the pressure.

[Lynn Lopez]

I was horrified. If I saw a police car, I would panic because I would think they're coming to get me. So I had to secure an attorney to protect me from the people who are supposed to protect me. I couldn't fathom this.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Although no charges are ever filed, a shadow of suspicion hangs over Lynn Lopez and stays there for seven years until one day when she decides to take matters into her own hands.

[Lynn Lopez]

I knew from that minute I am going to rattle this cage and I'm not going to stop. No matter if I end up in a psychiatric ward, I'm never stopping.

[Rosetta Stone Sponsor]

It feels like every week there's a new diet, a new routine, a new piece of advice. And it's honestly hard to know what's actually worth your time when it comes to weight loss. That's one of the reasons hers stands out to me. They offer access to an affordable range of FDA approved GLP1 medications, including the Wegovy pill and the WeGovy pen with WeGovy through hers, people can lose up to 20% or more of their body weight when it's combined with diet and exercise. It works by helping regulate your appetite so you feel fuller, eat less and keep the weight off. And there's even a pill option now so no needles are needed. Everything is 100% online, which makes it so convenient. You connect with a licensed provider, they figure out if it's right for you, and if it is, it's delivered straight to your door. No insurance necessary. And it's not just the medication.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

You also get access to a care

[Rosetta Stone Sponsor]

team and tons of in app nutrition tips, recipes and fitness content, things that actually help you build habits that stick. And with a range of affordable GLP1 options, hers makes it simple to find an approach that fits your needs and your budget. If eligible, it's weight loss designed to work with your life. Are you ready to reach your goals? Visit forhers.comccf to get personalized, affordable care that gets you that's f o r h e r s.comccf fourhers.com CCF weight loss by hers is not available in all 50 states. WeGovy is the registered trademark of Novo Nordisk as to get started and learn more, including important safety information, WeGovy clinical study information and restrictions, visit fourhers.com youm know what drives me crazy when I

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

put fresh sheets on my bed and

[Rosetta Stone Sponsor]

they're smooth and tight. But by morning the corners have slipped off and I'm tangled up in sheets that don't fit anymore. It's funny, most of us hang onto our bedding way longer than we should and it wears down so gradually you don't even clock it until you finally upgrade. And a lot of people think they need a new mattress. But the biggest difference usually comes from what touches you every night. That's why we upgraded our bed with bowl and branch. They make everything signature organic cotton sheets, pillows, blankets, comforters. All breathable, super soft, and they actually get better over time. We started with the signature sheets, added their waffle blanket, and now the whole bed just feels amazing. Before, my sheets were pilling, corners popping off and I'd wake up too warm the first night with Bol and Branch, I could feel the difference right away. The sheets fit just as well in the morning as when I put them on the day before. No more loose sheets to get tangled in. Plus they're cooler, softer and just more comfortable. And after a few washes, they feel even better. Sleep cooler this summer with Bole and Branch during their annual summer event. For a limited time, get 20% off site [e-mail] Coldcase files with code coldcase files that's Boland branch B O L L a n d branch.com Coldcase files code Coldcase files to take 20% off bolandbranch.com Coldcase files code ColdCase files Exclusions apply at Marathon Gas stations Every stop is the start of fun, like the awesome fuel savings you can get with Marathon Rewards. Join Marathon Rewards today and start earning rewards on every gallon of gas. You can redeem rewards at any time, saving up to $1 per gallon. And don't forget, Marathon stations are packed with all the conveniences you need to stock up and live life on the Go Marathon, where fun runs on full Available at participating Marathon locations. Terms and conditions apply. See marathonrewards.com for details. Cold Case Files is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. Process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.

[Lynn Lopez]

This is my psychologist's office, Dr. Cohen, where two years ago I reopened the case.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

The case is that of her husband, Jay, who was stabbed in front of her in 1996. It's a loss she's dealt with for the past six years in private and in therapy, and this is where she asks for a meeting with detectives.

[Lynn Lopez]

I felt safe because my doctor was here and there was a trust issue. I wasn't comfortable with the detectives at that time.

[Detective Harry Hoover]

She had gotten to the point where she was ready for something to happen, and I think you could see that in her demeanor and in her eyes that it was time for something to happen with this case.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

For six years, Lynn Lopez herself has been considered a person of interest in her husband's murder. Now she is determined to clear her own name and find her husband's killer.

[Detective Harry Hoover]

She wanted us to find the person who did this to her husband and to herself. I know it took a lot for you to come in here and talk to us.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Detective Harry Hoover promises to give the case another look and hopefully give Lynn Lopez a second chance.

[Detective Harry Hoover]

This is our evidence room for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Amidst the hundreds of boxes lining the evidence shelves in the Hillsborough county evidence Room, Harry Hoover pulls materials from the J. Lopez case.

[Detective Harry Hoover]

This would have been all the evidence that was originally secured from the crime scene back in 1996. We have the bedspread blanket, a bedspread

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

and a blanket stained in blood and taken from the crime scene more than six years earlier. Hoover sends the items out for DNA testing.

[DNA Lab Technician / Narrator]

We're at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the DNA extraction laboratory. We're going to be entering the area where we actually extract the DNA profiles.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Melissa Sudeth works the Lopez case.

[DNA Lab Technician / Narrator]

Samples were re ran to generate an STR DNA profile. It's a highly discriminating test, and it's the current standard for databasing profiles in the United States.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Developing an STR profile is a prerequisite for access to codis, the DNA database of more than one and a half million convicted felons throughout the United States. Sudeth begins with blood found on the blanket.

[DNA Lab Technician / Narrator]

Out of all of the stained areas, there was only one particular stain that actually showed profile that was different from the two victims involved in the case. And that was this one stain that was located here in the bottom corner of the blanket.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

That profile matches the profile developed from Lynn Lopez's rape kit. When uploaded into the DNA database, the profile generates a hit to chatsiam Adam Leoy, a name that does not appear in the old case file. Detectives dig into Leoy's criminal history and find a photo of their suspect.

[Detective Harry Hoover]

Lynn's initial description of the guy was almost perfect to what he was the long, frizzy hair.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Hoover asks Lynn almost seven years later to try to ID the man who raped her and killed her husband.

[Lynn Lopez]

I knew that I could not pick these out until I put myself mentally back in that room that night.

[Detective]

I jumped up and I saw a man holding a knife.

[Lynn Lopez]

I needed to be there. It was excruciating, but I knew I couldn't pick that picture unless I got that image of what he looked like.

[Detective]

Yes.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

What type of hair?

[Detective]

Very frizzy.

[Lynn Lopez]

I was in there. There was nobody else there. I was in there.

[Detective]

It seemed like it must have been in a ponytail.

[Lynn Lopez]

I pointed and I said, this is the son of a bitch.

[Detective Harry Hoover]

That's the one she identified, and that's the one that DNA placed in her home the night of this crime.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Before detectives can put Leo in handcuffs, they have one more loose end to tie up.

[Detective]

The next step we wanted to do is make sure he had no affiliation with Lynn.

[Detective Harry Hoover]

So we came up with the concept of doing a missing persons alert, putting a picture of Lynn that would have been taken around the time this occurred, Putting her picture on a flyer and then going door to door specifically to Mr. Leoy and asking him specifically if he had ever seen this woman, did he know this woman? Which he denied ever seeing her, ever knowing her.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Leoy's statement convinces detectives their suspect acted alone and removes the last hint of suspicion surrounding Lynn Lopez. Leoy is arrested and charged with the murder of J. Lopez.

[Detective]

This is the interview room at our office where Chastity and Leo was brought in.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

In an interrogation room, detectives Harry Hoover and Frank Losat sit down with their suspect to talk about a murder seven years cold.

[Detective Harry Hoover]

It was interesting to sit across the table from Chat Siam Leoy and look into his eyes. He had shark eyes. They were black and empty.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

Basically, what we're going to do is

[Detective]

we're going to go back and discuss a homicide that occurred back in 1996. It was November 13th of 1960.

1996.

Okay. Any. Any recollection of that?

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

No.

[Detective]

We started throwing out little bits and pieces of the crime scene and things we had, and he still kept denying it at that point.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

This is not sounding very good to me.

[Detective]

Well, I told you up front, it's a serious, serious situation we're dealing with. Okay? But we. We put you there. We. We can put you in that house. We can put you in that bedroom.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

I know that, too.

[Detective]

Those rooms in that house. You left a whole bunch of DNA behind. And guess what? We have it all. And then she even IDs you. And here you sit. Those seven years we've been working on a case. It didn't go away. Didn't go away, Chad. Both of us, we didn't fall off the truck yesterday.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Leo shrugs off the DNA match and sticks to. To his story.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

This was not done in my hands.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Detectives, send Leroy back to his jail cell. Within minutes, however, he has a change of heart.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

I remember everything. Okay? I can remember every single detail.

[Detective Harry Hoover]

He basically told us that he had had a vision, that Jay, the victim in this crime, had kind of appeared to him and told him that the only way he could be free of this was to tell the truth.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

Killing Jay was an accident.

[Detective Bobby Dean]

It was the other.

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

What I did with her slapped me with life. Slapped me with everything. Because that was me, right? I did that. Nobody could say anything different. I did that.

[Detective Harry Hoover]

Anything you would like to say to

[Detective]

the victim in this?

[Sergeant Bobby Dean]

There's nothing I can tell her that would make it any better. I've been as she has been, living with this all this time myself, and there's not a date I went by that I did not think about her and Jake and about what I did to them.

[Lynn Lopez]

He could never be dead enough for me. They could put him in the electric chair 50 times. It's never going to be enough for me.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Chatsyam Leoi pleads guilty to a charge of first degree homicide and receives a term of life in prison. For Lynn Lopez, the conviction offers little relief.

[Lynn Lopez]

The love of my life was taken from me. Sixteen years of a marriage that was a dream come true was taken in about two hours. Every morning when I wake up, I still think I'm back at home and my husband is next to me. And then my eyes open and I realize I am in hell. I am living in hell.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

Hello and welcome to Plutofo. If you knew the name of the movie you'd like to see, just stream it for free on Pluto tv, where all your blockbuster favorites are landing all summer long. Catch Anchorman, the Legend of Ron Burgundy.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

Fantastic.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

Men in Black one through three.

[Narrator / Cold Case Files Host]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

Mean Girls.

[DNA Lab Technician / Narrator]

Shut up.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

Titanic.

[Liz Minor]

I'm the king of the world.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

And so much more. For showtimes, press nothing. They're free 24. 7.

[Lynn Lopez]

That is so fast on Pluto TV.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

Stream now. Pay Never.

[Progressive Insurance Promoter]

You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you might not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates national average 12 month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.

[Liz Minor]

The Colonels cooked up a new $10 bucket of the day just for you. Monday 24 nuggets for $10 Tuesday 8 piece fried chicken for $10 Wednesday 10 wings for $10 Thursday 8 tenders for $10 Friday 24 nuggets for. Oh, you guessed it, didn't you? $10 the $10 bucket of the day deal every weekday only at KFC. See it's finger licking goo Prices and participation.

[Deputy Steve Donaldson]

Variable supplies last not available on third party ordering platforms.

[DNA Lab Technician / Narrator]

Tax extra.

[Blue Lizard Sunscreen Announcer]

Be fearless in the sun with Blue Lizard Australian Sunscreen Whether you're diving into ocean waves or simply chasing your kids around the backyard, Blue Lizard has you covered so you can enjoy every moment worry free. Designed for your whole family and free from fragrances, parabens and phthalates, Blue Lizard is your go to Mineral Scent Sunscreen, trusted by dermatologists, pediatricians and parents. Shop now on Amazon.com and be fearless in the sun with Blue Lizard Australian Sunscreen.