REOPENED: A Knock At The Door

Summary

Cold Case Files: "REOPENED: A Knock At The Door"

Host: Paula Barros
Episode Release Date: January 9, 2025
Duration: Approximately 32 minutes

Introduction

In the gripping episode titled "REOPENED: A Knock At The Door," Paula Barros delves into the harrowing story of Mona Lisa Abney, a case that remained unsolved for over four decades until advancements in DNA technology brought new evidence to light. Hosted by Paula Barros and featuring insights from detectives Steve Malewski and Bob Murphy of Fairfax County, Virginia, this episode exemplifies the meticulous work of cold case units in solving some of America’s most challenging unsolved murders.

The Original Crime Scene

The story begins in 1978 at the Tysons Corner Holiday Inn, where Mona Lisa Abney, a 25-year-old woman, was found brutally murdered in her hotel room. Detective Murphy recounts the grim details:

"She was nude, basically from the waist down, and she was kind of lying on her back. Automatically you would think she's been raped." (03:30)

Initial investigations suggested that Mona was both raped and strangled. However, the case quickly hit a dead end due to the limitations of forensic technology at the time. Fingerprints, hair samples, and blood evidence collected then couldn’t definitively link a suspect to the crime.

Initial Suspect: Wilbert Abney

Mona's husband, Wilbert Abney, emerged as the primary suspect early in the investigation. Several red flags pointed towards him:

1. Life Insurance Policy: Wilbert had taken out a significant life insurance policy just weeks before Mona’s death. Detective Malewski explains:

   "He was having an affair. When Jaeger interviews Abney's girlfriend, she recalls a phone call from Abney the morning Mona was found murdered." (07:55)

2. Financial Motive: Abney attempted to collect on the fraudulent insurance policy, despite not having his wife's signature on it, further implicating him in potential financial gain from her death.

3. Affair: Evidence surfaced that Abney was involved in an extramarital affair, adding a layer of personal motive to the case.

Despite these suspicions, Wilbert Abney maintained his innocence, passing a polygraph test and presenting DNA evidence that didn’t match the crime scene. This led investigators to seek other suspects, but months of investigation yielded little progress, and the case was relegated to Fairfax County’s cold case files.

Reopening the Case: Advancements in DNA Technology

Decades later, in 2004, detectives Malewski and Murphy revisited Mona’s case, spurred by relentless determination and the hope that modern forensic advancements could finally provide answers. Bill Curtis, an expert involved in the case, noted:

"From forensic technology we use now wasn't available to the original investigators." (00:36)

The cold case unit unearthed preserved evidence swabs from the original crime scene. These samples had been meticulously stored, allowing forensic scientists to extract viable DNA profiles years later.

Breakthrough Through DNA Evidence

Mary Greene, a forensic scientist at the state crime lab, successfully extracted a DNA profile from the preserved semen samples:

"I was able to attain a DNA profile, and it matched this, it was a very strong match." (19:49)

This breakthrough connected Wilbert Abney’s DNA to the crime scene, creating a new avenue for prosecutors. However, Abney’s physical appearance didn’t align with the original suspect sketch, leading detectives to initially eliminate Michael Grotto, who bore a resemblance to the maid’s description. Grotto was suspected after being identified by the maid during a live lineup, but DNA comparisons ultimately exonerated him.

Wilbert Abney's Evasive Behavior and Confrontation

As DNA evidence mounted against him, Wilbert Abney’s behavior grew increasingly suspicious. Detectives described his demeanor as unnervingly calm:

"His cold demeanor is startling to investigators. As well as to friends and family." (05:51)

In September 2005, cold case detectives paid a visit to Abney’s residence in Pennsylvania. Expecting cooperation, they were met with resistance and defiance:

"Abney balks at providing the sample until the current Mrs. Abney pulls her husband aside." (19:22)

After some persuasion, including intervention from his current wife, Wilbert agreed to provide a buccal swab. The DNA results were irrefutable, matching the semen found at the crime scene.

The Trial: Confronting the Truth

Facing undeniable DNA evidence, Wilbert Abney finally confessed to the murder, albeit with a twisted narrative:

"He said, I went into the room, we engaged in consensual intercourse and I choked her with my belt, which we did on occasion that she asked me to do." (28:27)

However, forensic evidence contradicted his account. The presence of a belt buckle mark on Mona's neck indicated excessive force, inconsistent with an accidental death. Furthermore, discrepancies in his stories and the absence of his wife's possessions raised further doubts about his innocence.

Katie Swart, the prosecuting attorney, emphasized the clarity of the evidence:

"In this case, you had the DNA that finally put this defendant, Mr. Abney, in the hotel room back in 1978. Because up to that point, he had denied being there having sex with her. He lied through his teeth back in 1978 that he hadn't been there, that he hadn't had sex with her." (30:29)

The jury found Wilbert Abney guilty after four days of deliberation, sentencing him to 28 years in prison. Although he filed an appeal in 2008, it was denied, and he was subsequently denied parole, with his release date set for August 24, 2023.

Impact and Reflections

Patricia Parker, a close friend of Mona Lisa Abney, shared her emotional response to the case's resolution:

"It was a Sunday evening, early Sunday evening, that we got the call from him… He was so relaxed when he said it. It was like, she's dead." (06:03)

The closure of Mona’s case brought justice for her and a sense of relief to those who had long awaited answers. However, Detective Murphy reflects on the broader implications for cold case units:

"For cold case detectives, the verdict means one more case is closed. One more picture can be taken off the wall. Unfortunately, too many faces remain watching and waiting for their day in court." (32:23)

Conclusion

"REOPENED: A Knock At The Door" serves as a poignant reminder of the perseverance required to solve cold cases. The episode highlights how technological advancements, combined with unwavering dedication, can bring justice to victims and their families even decades later. Through detailed storytelling and expert insights, Paula Barros effectively captures the complexities and emotional depth of reopening a decades-old murder case, making it an enlightening listen for both true crime enthusiasts and casual listeners alike.

---

Notable Quotes:

• "Any homicide detective will tell you they have their cases that are really at the top of their list of what they would like to solve." – Bill Curtis (02:17)
• "You have a question in your mind? Is the husband involved?" – Crime Scene Technician (06:52)
• "This is the only thing he could come up with, okay, I was there, okay? It is my DNA, because we had consensual intercourse." – Wilbert Abney (28:27)

Key Timestamps:

• 03:30 – Initial discovery of Mona Lisa Abney’s body.
• 07:55 – Detective Malewski discusses red flags surrounding Wilbert Abney.
• 19:49 – DNA profile match confirmed by Forensic Scientist Mary Greene.
• 28:27 – Wilbert Abney’s confession and subsequent trial.

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Follow-Up:

For more detailed accounts of similar cases and updates on the latest forensic advancements, listeners are encouraged to visit Cold Case Files.

Transcript

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[Brooke Giddings]

DNA, when used correctly, can be an extremely useful tool when it comes to matching a suspect to a crime. In many of the cases we've covered, the reason that it went cold was because the DNA technology we use now wasn't available to the original investigators. This is one of those cases. The original detectives used the investigative tools of the time, but they simply weren't able to connect the killer to the crime. Cold case units like the one in Fairfax County, Virginia, apply today's science to previously unsolved cases. From ae, this is Cold Case Files. I'm Brooke.

[Bill Curtis]

This is.

[Brooke Giddings]

And here's the impeccable Bill Curtis with a classic case, a knock at the door.

[Detective]

This is the cold case homicide office. It's part of the homicide squad in Fairfax county police. And this is the. Where we store a number of the cases that were.

[Detective Murphy]

Steve Malewski and Bob Murphy are cold case detectives for Fairfax County, Virginia.

[Detective]

These photographs only represent a small number.

[Detective Murphy]

And we were tacked to the wall of their squadroom the faces of some of their victims.

[Detective]

It's sort of matter of respect to these people that they're here and it's our responsibility to find answers to their deaths.

[Bill Curtis]

Any homicide detective will tell you they have their cases that are really at the top of their list of what they would like to solve. One of those for me is this one. It's a double homicide of a couple here in Vienna, Virginia back in 1997. And this case is still open.

[Detective]

This little boy here was found dead, naked and dead in a. In a stream in Fairfax county in 1972, I believe it was. We have no idea who he is. Just a little boy. He's maybe 4 to 6 years old.

[Detective Murphy]

In the winter of 2004, Murphy and Malewski pull out the picture of another victim. Her name is Mona Lisa Abney and she was murdered in 1978.

[Detective]

That's Mona Lisa Abney, a beautiful woman, you know, and smart and everybody kind of person everybody likes, you know, just a sad case that she came up here to Northern Virginia and was killed in a hotel room.

[Crime Scene Technician]

It was called by the communications section that said that there was a homicide at the Tysons Corner Holiday Inn.

[Detective Murphy]

Scott Boatwright is a crime scene technician for the Fairfax county police. On January 28, he's called out to a murder.

[Crime Scene Technician]

Apparently a maid came in to clean the room in the morning. And when she entered the room, she.

[Detective Murphy]

Found the victim inside room 722. 25 year old Mona Lisa Abney lies dead on the floor.

[Crime Scene Technician]

She was nude, basically from the waist down, and she was kind of lying on their back. Automatically you would think she's been raped.

[Detective Murphy]

The room appears to be ransacked and Mona's cash, jewelry and credit cards are missing.

[Crime Scene Technician]

Main thing you're looking for is fingerprints because back then that was our DNA, was fingerprints. So the big emphasis, hair, fingerprints, blood.

[Detective Murphy]

Boatwright dusts for prints, bags the evidence and photographs the scene. Then it hits him. The ransacking is staged.

[Crime Scene Technician]

Chair was turned over, the lamps were just turned over, but not really damaged in any way. Maybe someone did this just to make it appear that there was a tremendous struggle. You've killed this woman and yet you don't want to break the lamp.

[Detective Murphy]

A medical examiner establishes the victim was raped and strangled. Semen is collected as well as an unknown Caucasian hare. Meanwhile, investigator Ron Yeager arrives at the Holiday Inn and begins to work the building room by room, person by person.

[Crime Scene Technician]

Well, everybody's a suspect from management right on down through the employees, guest, so on and so forth. We went through the entire roster of people that were there.

[Detective Murphy]

One of the people investigators talked to, a hotel maid who claims she let a man into Mona's hotel room an hour after she checked in.

[Crime Scene Technician]

She said she let him into Mona's room because he said he didn't have his key and he didn't want to wake her. Basically what she explained was a white male, about 6 foot or more brace, stocky build like a football player.

[Detective Murphy]

An artist works with the maid to develop a sketch of the men. Meanwhile, the phone in Mona's hotel room rings. At the other end of the line. A man named Wilbert Abney.

[Crime Scene Technician]

He mentioned who he was. He said he'd been trying to reach his wife and couldn't. And I said, Mr. Abney, I said, I can't tell you anything about it right now, but your wife is deceased. He wasn't emotional. It wasn't emotional or anything like that.

[Detective Murphy]

Abney drives two hours to Fairfax County. IDs his wife's body and gives a statement. His cold demeanor is startling to investigators. As well as to friends and family.

[Patricia Parker]

It was a Sunday evening, early Sunday evening, that we got the call from him.

[Detective Murphy]

Patricia Parker is Mona's friend.

[Patricia Parker]

And it was Wilbur. And I said, what's going on? What's wrong? He said, mona's dead. And I just lost it, you know. I said, you know, you've got to be kidding. No, no, I just lost it. And he said, no, Mona's dead. He was so relaxed when he said it. It was like, she's dead.

[Detective Murphy]

For Parker, the grief runs deep. So too does the suspicion that somehow Wilbert Abney was involved.

[Patricia Parker]

It was no sadness, no, no sadness at all. Just as if he's calling to say, you know, it may rain tomorrow. And as upset as I was, something just didn't sound right to me.

[Crime Scene Technician]

You have a question in your mind? Is the husband involved? Things don't look necessary that way. But is he involved in having somebody else do the job for him?

[Detective Murphy]

But Abney looks nothing like the suspect sketch.

[Crime Scene Technician]

As you can see, it is nowhere close to this gentleman. Not a difference.

[Detective Murphy]

Still, Yeager's suspicions are heightened when Abneet tries to collect an insurance policy taken out just a few weeks earlier.

[Crime Scene Technician]

I think it was 100,000 double indentity which set him up very well. We learned who signed the policy. It was a forgery. His wife didn't sign the policy. Tells me we have more motive now.

[Detective Murphy]

Abney sues the insurance company for the funds, but loses the battle in court. Meanwhile, Jaeger unearths another red flag. Abney was having an affair. When Jaeger interviews Abney's girlfriend, she recalls a phone call from Abney the morning Mona was found murdered.

[Crime Scene Technician]

It was about 9:30 that morning that he called. The lady, had told her that his wife was deceased. About an hour later, I get the call from him. And that's when I tell him that she's deceased. So he has knowledge of her death before he ever talks to me. That's when I realized I said, that this man is my man. More and more fingers pointing in the right direction. But you can't put the man in the room. If you can't put him in the room, you can't charge him.

[Detective Murphy]

Abney passes a polygraph and provides prints and hair samples. None match up to the evidence.

[Crime Scene Technician]

So that's where we came up short all the time on things that would get a conviction.

[Detective Murphy]

Meanwhile, the hunt is on for the white male spotted entering Mona's hotel room.

[Crime Scene Technician]

We put out the information like the teletype and so forth. One of the guys on the police department worked homicide, came up with an individual and asked me, he said, might want to take a look at this guy.

[Detective Murphy]

This guy is Michael Grotto, a man being held in another county for assault charges and a man who looks eerily similar to the sketch.

[Crime Scene Technician]

Mainly the eyes. Very similar. Enough that be honest to say that this could be this.

[Detective Murphy]

During a live lineup, the maid fingers Grotto as the man she let into Mona's room. The trail is once again heating up. Detectives get a search warrant for Grotto's.

[Crime Scene Technician]

Hair, and that was sent to the lab in Virginia. And they said there was a lot of similarities, but not a match.

[Detective Murphy]

Grotto is eliminated as a suspect. Detectives are left with a lot of suspicions, but not a lot of answers. For Mona Lisa Abney.

[Crime Scene Technician]

A lot was taken other than just a life. You know, her future. Future that would have been probably a big asset to the family. I'm sure they're very proud of her. It's a shame. This lady would be a benefit to society.

[Patricia Parker]

Very, very frustrating, Very frustrating. I just felt that she was done a great injustice.

[Detective Murphy]

Mona Lisa Abney's murder is boxed up and shipped to the cold files, where it will stay for more than two decades until two cold case detectives pick up the case and catch a break.

[Bill Curtis]

I think we've got something to work with here. Forensically, they were perfectly preserved. They were dried. So the evidence from 1978 was still on those swabs. The evidence we needed was still on those swabs. Foreign.

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[Brooke Giddings]

Mona's husband Wilbert was the initial suspect the investigators focused on for her murder. He had taken out a life insurance policy on her just weeks before her death and he was having an affair. The thing was, he passed a polygraph and his fingerprints and hair samples didn't seem to match the ones at the scene. That was the science of the time. And the investigators had to let him go and look for a different suspect.

[Detective]

This is the police property room where we keep cold case evidence. There's rapes and murders and some other crimes.

[Detective Murphy]

Here in an old jail in Fairfax county, the ghosts come calling. Murder unsolved and sometimes forgotten. Items of evidence that speak of lives largely unlived.

[Bill Curtis]

We've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 open cases and they go back, you know, back to the late 60s.

[Detective]

This bicycle here belonged to a little girl. I think she was about 10 years old, right? This little girl's body was found, I think under a bush and she had died of suffocation and her bicycle had been found several days earlier. And it's just extremely sad every time I see that bicycle, you know, I think of her.

[Bill Curtis]

A lot of these boxes we've touched, you know, like this case right here. All these boxes represent a family that was killed in 1999. There was a triple murder in 1999 of an entire family. A husband, a wife and their 16 year old son. For every one of these boxes, you know, there's a human tragedy, there's a story here to be told with all these boxes. And that's our job, that's what we do. If we can resolve these and hopefully one day move these boxes out of here, ultimately that's our goal.

[Detective Murphy]

In January of 2004, Murphy and Malewski pull out a box from 1978 with the name Mona Lisa Abney scrawled on the side.

[Detective]

Right. She was a young woman in her mid-20s, came up to Washington D.C. area to do some shopping at the Tysons Corner Mall. And she was found strangled to death in her room by a maid.

[Detective Murphy]

Detectives dig through the evidence looking for a lead.

[Detective]

Here's some documents it looks like that they collected in the room. They're probably documents that were in Mona Lisa's handbag. Or found on the bed.

[Bill Curtis]

Here's your hair slides.

[Detective Murphy]

When detectives pull out a rape kit, they know they're in luck.

[Bill Curtis]

Think we've got something to work with here. Forensically they were perfectly preserved. They were dried. So the evidence from 1978 was still on those swabs. The evidence we needed was still on those swabs.

[Forensic Scientist]

This is the main examination room that we have here in our forensic laboratory.

[Detective Murphy]

The swabs are sent to Mary Greene at the state crime lab.

[Forensic Scientist]

Yeah, there was no mold, there was no indication that there was, you know, degradation visually on the sample. So it seemed hopeful.

[Detective Murphy]

Green detects a presence of semen and is able to extract a DNA profile. Cold case detectives have their first break. Now they need a suspect to match up with their profile.

[Detective]

Every police department has these police reports, but they don't tell you the, the heart and soul of the cases. You have to go back sometimes to the, the detectives original notes and you go back to his, you know, their notebook that they took the day the case occurred and you get some of their thoughts and what they were, where they were headed with this case.

[Bill Curtis]

Yeah, this is one of the cases, like many when we got it, it kind of had a built in suspect, a white guy.

[Detective Murphy]

That guy Michael Grotto, he fit the description.

[Bill Curtis]

He was known to hang out at the Holiday Inn and he was eventually identified by a witness as being there in the hotel that night. So we thought this guy's perfect. And he had a long history, he had a long criminal history of, you know, forcible rapes and crimes like that.

[Detective Murphy]

Grotto goes to the top of the detective suspect list. There is however, a problem.

[Bill Curtis]

We found out he had committed suicide, you know, several years back. So we were able to go back and we found some of the original hairs that the original detectives pulled from Grotto. So we resubmitted the hairs and they still had root follicles. So they were able to do nuclear DNA on that hair, Hoping for a.

[Detective Murphy]

DNA match and a quick resolution to the case. Cold case detectives send out the hairs to the crime lab. The results come back as a shock.

[Forensic Scientist]

Yeah, I called Detective Molesky and told him that he was eliminated. I think they were surprised.

[Bill Curtis]

We thought it would be Grotto. Obviously it wasn't.

[Detective Murphy]

As for the white man seen entering Mona's room, cold case detectives suspect the maid was simply mistaken.

[Detective]

Oh no, I don't think there was ever a white man led into Mona's room. I think she let a man into another room.

[Detective Murphy]

It's back to the drawing board. For cold case detectives took a turn.

[Bill Curtis]

You know, then it became a wide open investigation, you know, and that led us eventually to Abney.

[Detective Murphy]

Abney is Wilbert Abney, Mona's husband and former murder suspect.

[Detective]

And it's clear that he had at least one girlfriend and may have been cultivating a second during the time that he was still married to Mona Lisa Abney. He had just bought a new insurance policy on his wife.

[Detective Murphy]

Cold case detectives decide they want a word with Abney and perhaps a swab of his DNA.

[Detective]

He's in Pennsylvania, in a small town outside of Philadelphia. He lived with his mother, who was an elderly woman, and he lived with his new wife.

[Detective Murphy]

On September 29, cold case detectives find Wilbert Abney at home living a quiet life. That, however, is all about to change.

[Bill Curtis]

We knocked on his door, and he answered immediately. And Steve tells him what we're doing. You know, we're cold case homicide detectives. We're going to reinvestigate the murder of his wife from 28 years ago. Typically, we expect to see a reaction of relief or someone that's actually glad that we're doing this. You're thanking us for doing this. And we got exactly the opposite from Abney. His reaction was, well, why would you do that? Why would you go back and work on a murder from 28 years ago? If some bells and whistles started going.

[Detective]

Off in our heads, what an inappropriate reaction for somebody, you know, who's reinvestigating your wife's murder.

[Detective Murphy]

In 1978, Abney told police he had never been inside the hotel where Mona was killed and had not had sex with his wife in three weeks. Cold case detectives ask for a sample of his DNA to confirm the story.

[Detective]

He refused. He said he didn't think he wanted to do that at first. He said he wanted to call a lawyer.

[Detective Murphy]

Abney balks at providing the sample until the current Mrs. Abney pulls her husband aside.

[Detective]

Well, Mrs. Abney stepped in. His current wife stepped in and said, can we talk in private?

[Bill Curtis]

And they're in the kitchen talking for a few minutes, and I know what happened in that kitchen. I know. She told him, look, you had nothing to do with this. You're innocent. Give him the buccal swabs and help them. So the pressure really was on him at that point. So he came back in and he said, okay, I'll give it to you.

[Detective Murphy]

Back at the crime lab, Mary Greene begins the comparison.

[Forensic Scientist]

I did the same DNA process on that swab, and I was able to attain a DNA profile, and it matched this, it was a very strong match. The numbers were greater than the world population. Population are greater than 6 billion individuals.

[Detective Murphy]

The pieces of murder are starting to come together and it's clear that the.

[Detective]

Original detectives thought that Abney was involved. They just couldn't put Abney in Northern Virginia during the time that Mona was killed. And that's what DNA gave us. We had the scientific advantage that they never had.

[Detective Murphy]

DNA lays the foundation. But cold case detectives need more. In the Abney murder book, they find it. A person no one has talked to in more than 25 years.

[Michael Clark]

He reaches in his pocket and pulls out something that looks like latex gloves, rolls down the window and throws him out of the vehicle, over the railing, into the river.

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[Michael Clark]

I was shocked because I didn't think there was any such thing as cold cases. That was just a TV show.

[Detective Murphy]

In January of 2005, a man named Michael Clark entertains a knock on his door. On the other side, two homicide detectives looking for information about Clark's former neighbor, Wilbert Abney.

[Bill Curtis]

So we walk up to the door and knock on the door. And sure enough, he opens the door and he says, I'm Michael Clark.

[Detective]

And he said something to the effect, where you guys been? I've been waiting to talk to law enforcement for 20 some years now. You think, man, you can't beat this.

[Detective Murphy]

Murphy and Malewski are working the 1978 murder of Mona Lisa Abney. DNA has linked her husband, Wilbert Abney to the crime scene.

[Michael Clark]

The phone rang early one Saturday morning. It was Abney. He said to me, they have found Mona dead. Will you go with me to identify the body? Well, he picks me up in this little white Corvette and, and he asked me to drive and I agreed to do that. And before we got a mile from my home, I had a very uncomfortable feeling. But what I remember distinctly was his spending the life insurance proceeds from his wife's death. I remember specifically his Talking about buying 12 custom tailored suits, about buying a new Rolls Royce and a big house.

[Bill Curtis]

Abney is saying, I'm going to be a rich man. I've got all these life insurance policies. I'm going to be rich.

[Michael Clark]

My gut says this guy smells there's something very, very wrong. And I was very uncomfortable being in the vehicle with him.

[Detective]

You know, Mr. Clark said his mouth was just hanging open. Hanging open. He couldn't believe that this man was talking about this. Clearly was not the, the, the demeanor of a man who just lost his wife.

[Michael Clark]

At this point, we're about ready to enter the mouth of the boulevard bridge going south to north.

[Detective Murphy]

Clark and Abney drive over the bridge on their way to ID the body. When Wilbert Abney rolls down a window in the car.

[Michael Clark]

We're approaching being over the water just as we got over up to about this point. As soon as we got over water, Abney rolled that window down, took out what appeared to be latex glove and tossed him over that railing. If Abney is able to do this to his wife, then my family, I'm feeling that perhaps my family's being threatened. If he's able to do that, what else is he capable of doing?

[Detective]

We just can't believe our good luck. We just can't believe that we stumbled into a witness of this importance.

[Detective Murphy]

More than two months after taking Clark's statement, cold case detectives walk into Wilbert Abney's house and begin to ask some hard questions.

[Bill Curtis]

So we go back and we sit in the living room and Steve tells him we got the DNA results and he just looked at us and Steve said, it's your DNA. He started lying. He started telling us some things that we knew were not true. He's really a very narcissistic person. I think he feels like he can control the situation. He can manage it.

[Detective Murphy]

Abney denies killing his wife, but offers no explanation for the DNA match. Then he agrees to a polygraph.

[Bill Curtis]

So from there, we went over to the local district attorney's office and he took the polygraph and failed it miserably.

[Detective Murphy]

Cold case detectives returned to Virginia and contemplate a possible murder charge against Abney. Before they get too far, however, the phone rings.

[Bill Curtis]

Homicide Detective Murphy. Detective Murphy, this is Will Abney.

[Detective Murphy]

Wilbur.

[Bill Curtis]

How you doing this morning?

[Detective Murphy]

Two days after failing his polygraph, Wilbert Abney calls police.

[Bill Curtis]

What would be the most time I'd be looking at in your estimate? Well, you know, the. The most high, the absolute most high you could do is while he's in prison. Basically he's saying, you know, look, I'm not saying I did this, but if I did, what would I be charged with and how much time would I get? So it became, you know, kind of a cat and mouse thing with him. A negotiation, if you will. Was this an accident? It could have been. I'm trying to understand.

[Detective Murphy]

During five separate phone calls, Abney fishes for information.

[Bill Curtis]

What would be the range on manslaughter? I think one to 10. Manslaughter. They gave me 10 years. I'd have to do two and a half under 1978 guidelines. I think it's something like that, yes. This, to me, this is a person that did this crime. And he's looking for a way to negotiate a resolution to it in his best interest. He's trying to manage this whole situation. And it really goes to his arrogance that he thinks he can manage the situation.

[Detective]

Where would I do my time?

[Bill Curtis]

Well, somewhere in Virginia. But there are a number of facilities in Virginia. I mean, there's minimum security facilities. I wouldn't get minimum security.

[Detective Murphy]

After a month of back and forth, Abney tells detectives he's ready to tell his story, what really happened that night at the Holiday Inn?

[Bill Curtis]

He said, I went there, I went to the hotel that night. So now we're getting a totally different story that we haven't heard before. I went into the room, we engaged in consensual intercourse and I choked her with my belt, which we did on occasion that she asked me to do.

[Detective Murphy]

According to Abney, Mona liked rough sex and asked to be choked. This time, however, she accidentally died.

[Detective]

There's the mark of the belt buckle on her neck. I mean, that's how, that's how much force was used, was that there was a belt buckle mark left on her neck. So clearly this wasn't an accident.

[Bill Curtis]

We had finally backed him into a corner where he realized he couldn't maneuver anymore and he had to come up with some kind of an explanation. This is the only thing he could come up with, okay, I was there, okay? It is my DNA, because we had consensual intercourse. And yes, I did call my wife's death, but it was an accident.

[Detective Murphy]

When detectives start asking questions, Abney realizes he hasn't covered all his bases.

[Bill Curtis]

What about the fact that her credit cards were missing, her ring was missing, her keys were missing, her cash was missing, you, things like that? What did he do with those things? And he'd forgotten about those. And he just had that deer in the headlights look like, oh, I didn't cover that one. He, he was in the hot seat at that point and yeah, we had him, we had him.

[Forensic Scientist]

56 year old Wilbert Abney Jr. Seen.

[Bill Curtis]

Here last year, will take the witness stand tomorrow in his first degree murder trial.

[Detective Murphy]

Wilbert Abney never gets the deal he angled so hard for. Instead, he is indicted for murder and faces a potential life stretch in prison.

[Forensic Scientist]

He planned to kill his wife. He did it for the insurance money and he did it because he had a girlfriend.

[Detective Murphy]

Katie Swart prosecutes the case against Wilbert Abney.

[Forensic Scientist]

In this case, you had the DNA that finally put this defendant, Mr. Abney, in the hotel room back in 1978. Because up to that point, he had denied being there having sex with her. He lied through his teeth back in 1978 that he hadn't been there, that he hadn't had sex with her. And so he lied back then. Why do you lie? Because you're covering something up.

[Detective Murphy]

At trial, Abney sticks to his story. Mona's death was an accident.

[Forensic Scientist]

He came up with the story of the erotic sex where they were having this kinky sort of sex and it was an accidental Strangulation, the fact that in her back of the neck, you could see the belt buckle, and it was like, that's not giving anybody pleasure to leave such an impression.

[Detective Murphy]

The jury doesn't buy Abney's story.

[Forensic Scientist]

Unfortunately for Mr. Abney, he had told different stories, you know, at various points in this case. And then I think his credibility just didn't weigh much with the jury.

[Detective Murphy]

After four days of trial, he is found guilty and sentenced to 28 years in prison.

[Patricia Parker]

Everything came right back to me, but it brought back quite a few memories and some pain and some. Some of the heartache he needed to pay for this. You know, he took her life. She was a young, beautiful woman who had everything going for herself. And for her life to be taken like that, it's not, not fair, not right.

[Detective Murphy]

For cold case detectives, the verdict means one more case is closed. One more picture can be taken off the wall. Unfortunately, too many faces remain watching and waiting for their day in court.

[Bill Curtis]

There's really no big celebration or big defining moment that ends the investigation. It's just, okay, you got all these others sitting here that need to be worked on, you know, demanding to be worked on.

[Brooke Giddings]

Wilbert Amney filed an appeal in 2008. It was denied, and he was additionally denied parole. His release date is scheduled for August 24, 2023. He'll be 73 years old. Cold Case Files the podcast is hosted by Brooke giddings, produced by McCamey Lynn and Steve Delamater. Our associate producer is Julie Magruder. Our executive producer is Ted Butler. Our music was created by Blake Maples. This podcast is distributed by Podcast one. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and is hosted by Bill Curtis. You can find me on Twitter Brooke Giddings or Instagram Brooke the Podcaster. Check out more Cold case [e-mail] or learn more about cases like this one by visiting the AE realcrime [e-mail] realcrime.

[Stassi Schroeder]

Hi, I'm Stassi Schroeder. On my podcast, I share candid updates from my personal life, chat with some of my best friends friends about what's going on in our lives, give commentary on the latest pop culture headlines, and sometimes deep dive into random topics. I'm obsessed with, like, human design. It's a bit all over the place, but that's how I like it. And you will too. Listen to my podcast Dossi. Wherever you get your podcasts.