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Katie Ring
Hi Crime House community. It's Katie looking for another Crime House original podcast to add to your rotation.
You will love Clues with Morgan Abshur and Kaylin Moore.
Every Wednesday, Morgan and Kaylin dig into.
The world's most notorious crimes, clue by clue. From serial killers to shocking murders. They follow the trail of clues, break down the evidence and debate the theories.
It's like hanging out with your smart and true crime obsessed friends. Listen to clues on Apple Podcasts, Spotify.
Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
This is Crime House.
Today we've got two stories with shocking twists. First, revelations of a teacher's abuse leads to the discovery of an alleged murder plot. Then, when a woman is on trial for the beheading of her ex husband, the court learns a surprising secret about who she's currently married to. Let's get into Seems like Elena Barton.
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Had a quiet and happy life. But Kentucky State Police say that Barden actually wanted to kill her husband and she tried to get a boy in juvenile detention that she sexually abused to do it for her.
Narrator/Investigator
Officials say the Investigation began on March 27 when the Adair Juvenile Detention center conducted a routine search of juveniles living units. During that search, letters and explicit materials allegedly sent by Barden, an Adair county schoolteacher assigned to the facility, were found in a male's juvenile's possession.
Courtroom Lawyer/Judge
A couple concerns I have about the case and about your conduct in this case.
First of all, you were an educator, okay? You were an educator of these kids. I mean, these are trouble kids. That, that's why they're there. I mean, you're there to set a better example.
Katie Ring
Hi, welcome to Crime House Daily.
I'm your host, Katie Ring. Here we follow the cases making headlines now where justice is still unfolding. Follow us wherever you're listening and if.
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Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on.
What'S publicly available at the time of.
Recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Katie Ring
In our first story, a 27 year old teacher in Kentucky was found guilty of multiple crimes against one of her students. When she was sentenced in November, many people were shocked to learn about the one thing she's not facing consequences for in 2020. Elena Barden was a young mother living in Columbia, Kentucky. She was married to a man named Michael who was about 20 years older than her and they had a five year old daughter together. Elena often posted pictures and videos on social media about having date night with her husband and sharing updates on their daughter's life. On paper, they seemed like a typical wholesome family, but Elena had another, much darker side to her life. She worked at a detention facility where she taught English classes, and that year Elena became extremely infatuated with one of the inmates, who we will refer to as ML since he is a minor. This wasn't the first time Elena had been accused of inappropriate activity with an inmate either. An earlier report of inappropriate contact involving her was submitted to Internal affairs investigator Dustin Brown. However, once that incident was investigated, Elena was found to be not at fault. But this seemed different, and Elena's co workers were getting concerned. Her supervisor, Kyosha Weisner, even had ML move to a different wing of the facility after noticing how much time he and Elena had been spending together. Shortly after, Kyosha pulled Elena aside and told her to end whatever was going on between her and Amel. And these people were right to be concerned because any sort of romantic or sexual relationship between a prison staff member or and an inmate is already extremely unethical considering the power imbalance. But that was especially true in Elena and ML's case because the facility where Elena worked was a juvenile facility and ML was only 17 years old. There was absolutely no way he could actually consent to anything happening between them. And looking back, Elena's peers who tried to intervene probably should have done a lot more because she didn't feel any shame. In fact, after she got called out and ML got moved, she doubled down on her behavior. She wrote two letters to Kyosha asking her to reconsider and move ML back to his original location. This was incriminating enough, but pretty soon other staffers would find evidence of just how much Elena had been taking advantage of ML. It started on March 27, 2025, when security guards performed a random search on his cell. That's when they discovered almost 200 explicit letters and photographs from Elena. The letters contain, among other things, nude selfies of Elena that she printed out, as well as details of essay she'd carried out against ML. It was clear in the letter that Elena saw this encounter as consensual, but again, that was legally impossible. Any adult in her position should have known better, but she clearly didn't or simply didn't care because she ended the letter by saying, quote, I hope you enjoyed that. But the guards didn't just find evidence of Elena's abuse. They found something else shocking, too. In some of her letters, she asked ML to put a hit out on her own husband. With this dash of horrifying evidence right there in front of authorities, Elena was quickly arrested. When officers confronted her at home and asked to speak with her outside, they couldn't help but notice Elena's odd behavior. She was totally relaxed, even leaning against her car nonchalantly while an arresting officer explained what was happening. And when they arrived at the jail, an officer told Elena that her husband had filed a protective order against her and she still seemed unbothered. Then, when police looked into things further, they discovered that Elena had gotten the nude photos printed at a local Walmart. They also found security footage from the facility showing her entering ML cell, which was completely against the rules in the first place.
And on April 3, 2025, she was.
Charged with first degree essay, distribution of obscene matter to a minor, and solicitation of murder. Shortly after that, three additional counts of unlawful transaction with a minor were added to the list. From there, a trial date was set for September 10, 2025. During the trial, Kyosha Wisner, Dustin Brown, and other employees at the detention facility testified about Elena's inappropriate obsession with ML. Prosecutors also showed all of her letters and photos to the jury. They believed Elena wanted to get out of her marriage without having to split any assets, and the only way she thought she could do that is if he died. However, Elena's defense was able to take control of one major part of her story.
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Katie Ring
Elena Barden's defense attorney flipped the script offered by the prosecution in the courtroom regarding the allegation that Elena had tried to get her husband killed. According to them, it was just a joke. ML himself took the stand to say that he thought Elena was serious, but that he never would have actually done it. After that, Elena's lawyer pointed out that she knew ML never could have pulled it off anyway. Since all of his mail is monitored and he is only allowed one supervised phone call a week, Elena herself didn't take the stand. Ultimately, the jury deliberated for one day before finding Elena guilty of first degree essay, unlawful transaction with a minor, and distribution of obscene material to a minor. Of the almost 200 letters that Elena sent to ML, there was just one that convinced the jury to find her guilty of SA. In that letter, Elena had specifically mentioned having intercourse with the 17 year old. However, the jury found Elena not guilty of the most serious charge, solicitation of murder. They seemed to agree with the defense's claim that Elena wasn't serious about having her husband killed. After the verdicts were read, her sentencing was scheduled for November 13, 2025. During that hearing, the judge told Elena that as a teacher charged with the responsibility of caring for young people, she should have known better and, quote, set a better example. He also reminded her that multiple people she worked with had warned her about her behavior when they noticed her spending too much time with ML. The judge also pointed out that in the letters he'd received from people close to Elena, multiple people mentioned that she'd long struggled with her mental health and may have suffered from bipolar disorder. And while he expressed sympathy, the judge also said that Elena's letters showed a clear presence of mind. And for that reason, he agreed with the jury's Recommendation. Sentence of 14 years. She got 4 years for the SA conviction and 10 years for the unlawful transaction to be served consecutively. She also got 12 months for distribution of obscene material to be served concurrently with the other two. Finally, Elena Barden will be forced to register as a sex offender for the next 20 years.
As always at Crime House Daily, we.
Will keep you updated with any future developments. In August of 2023, a man named Jonathan Willette was found dead and decapitated in his Las Vegas home. Investigators quickly zeroed in on Jonathan's ex wife and current girlfriend, Devin Michaels as the killer. This case seems straightforward from there, but pretty soon some shocking discoveries turned everything upside down. Let's get into it. In the summer of 2023, Jonathan Willette was 46 years old. He'd just been granted sole custody of his two kids, who he shared with his ex wife, 45 year old Devin Michaels, a realtor and former adult film actress. She's gone by other names in the past, but we're going to keep using Devin. Jonathan and Devin divorced back in 2018. But at this point they were seeing each other again and Devin was even making plans to move back in with him and their kids. It was a complicated situation to say the least, but for the most part it seemed like they were trying to make things work. At this time, Jonathan was living in the basement of his mom Yoko's house in Henderson, Nevada. And on the night of August 6, 2023, he and Devin arrived at Yoko's house around 10pm After a night out. Yoko stayed up after they went to bed and while she was doing the dishes, Devin came back around 1am and went into the kitchen. The two women chatted for a while before Yoko went to bed. When Yoko woke up the next morning. Devin wasn't there, and it seemed like Jonathan was still in bed. But then Yoko noticed a strong odor coming from his bedroom, and it smelled like chemicals. Yoko got concerned and opened the door, and that's when she saw a horrifying sight. Jonathan's body was on top of his bed, wrapped in blankets, completely bloodied and decapitated. The body was also doused in so many chemicals, there were fumes rising from it. Yoko immediately called the police, who arrived at 8:40am they did a thorough search of the home, but they didn't find Jonathan's head. Investigators quickly started looking into Devin, and right away they searched her home and found some pretty damning evidence, including Jonathan's wallet, keys, Social Security card, and phone, which had blood on it and was confirmed to be Jonathan's. Authorities also looked into the phone's location data and confirmed that Devin had taken it with her from Jonathan's house back to her house on the night of the 6th. And then, based on data from Devin's phone as well as her car, she'd apparently gone between her house and Jonathan's house multiple times the day after the murder. They thought that she'd taken Jonathan's head and brought it back to her house, where she likely disposed of it in the garbage. Police interviewed Devin about a week later, on August 15, and submitted her to a polygraph test. They asked her about Jonathan's murder, and when she denied knowing anything, they. The polygraph started to spike hard when police followed up on results. Later on, Devin finally admitted to killing Jonathan. However, she said she had an explanation. She told detectives that Jonathan was abusive towards her and their kids, so she wanted to hurt him badly enough to land him in the hospital, giving her enough time to take the kids and flee to safety. She said she found her opportunity on the night of August 6, when she and Jonathan were in bed. Devin claimed that she had been rubbing Jonathan's back when he tried to force her to do something sexual that she didn't want to do. So she grabbed a wooden stick and hit him in the head. But then he went limp and unresponsive, and instead of calling 91 1, she wrapped his body in a blanket and went upstairs, where she chatted with Jonathan's mother for a little while. As for the decapitation, Devin allegedly refused to acknowledge it. Investigators asked Devin what she did after yoga, went to bed, and before she left the house, but Devin couldn't say. To the detectives, Devin's story seemed like a complete fabrication. They knew there was something big she wasn't telling them. Like how Jonathan ended up without his head and with so much evidence pointing towards her as Jonathan's killer. She was placed under arrest for over a year. Devin's attorneys hashed out the case with prosecutors and and in the fall of 2024, Devin was offered a plea deal. If she pleaded guilty to second degree murder, she'd be eligible for parole after 15 years. Devin agreed and a court date for her to formally enter her plea was scheduled for July 2025. When that date rolled around, everyone expected things to go as planned, but instead, Devin withdrew her guilty plea and said she was innocent. All of the sudden, Devin's lawyers needed to come up with a not guilty defense in just a matter of weeks. In an effort to sow reasonable doubt, they settled on a new potential suspect, Jonathan's 29 year old son from a different relationship, Devier. The evidence in their favor is shaky at best. But Devin's lawyers do have one thing going for them. Devier isn't just Jonathan's son, he's also Devin's husband.
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Katie Ring
Greasy pizza?
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Katie Ring
Devin Michaels was about to stand trial for the murder of her ex husband and father of her children, Jonathan Willette, after being accused of killing and decapitating him. But when court convened on November 5, 2025, Devin's lawyers dropped a bombshell argument that Jonathan's son Deer had killed him out of jealousy. Because it turned out Deere and Devin were married. There's no official confirmation of when exactly they got married, but when Deere was on the stand, he said his relationship with Devin began 10 years earlier, when he was just 19. The defense also presented intimate messages and photos that the two had exchanged going back to 2016. For obvious reasons, members of the court were dumbfounded. When Devier had first talked to investigators, they apparently knew about his marriage to Devin, but he told them it was purely for insurance purposes and not romantic or sexual at all. They'd also ruled Devere out as a suspect based on the fact that there was no evidence tying him to the crime scene. But in the time since, investigators had discovered that Devere and Devin maintained their romantic relationship even after Devin and Jonathan tried to work things out, Devier said he initially helped Devin care for her children, who were also his half siblings. Over time, however, their relationship became intimate. However, investigators later discovered the two had carried on an affair for years while Devin was dating Deere's father. And now that revelation seemed to back up the defense's claim of Deere's jealousy towards his dad. However, there still wasn't any forensic evidence to back up the claim that Deere was behind the killing. And according to a detective who'd interviewed Devin, she had confessed. According to him, she'd admitted to removing Jonathan's head, though she didn't say how, before placing it in a laundry basket, then disposing of it in a public trash bin on the other side of town. There were still two problems, though. Number one, Jonathan's head had never been found, and number two, Devin had made this confession after she had requested a lawyer. But since the lawyer wasn't there before she said it. The judge now ruled it inadmissible. So for the next seven days, both sides battled it out. The defense pointed out that Devier knew how to disable Jonathan's home alarm system and could have snuck in to commit the murder. They claimed that Devon had only agreed to the initial plea deal to take the fall for dead. After that, prosecutors reminded the jury of all of the concrete evidence against Devin, plus the fact that she did admit to hitting Jonathan, a part of her story that had been deemed admissible. From there, they claimed that Devin decapitated Jonathan, wrapped his body in blankets, and then doused it with chemicals before returning later on to retrieve his head. And while the weapon used to decapitate the victim was never recovered, the prosecution did point to another key piece of evidence, Yoko's testimony. Yoko said that when she was cleaning up the day after the murder, she noticed a butcher's knife was missing. While that knife has also never been found, the prosecution made the case that Devin likely disposed of it too. In the end, the jury deliberated for less than two hours before finding Devin guilty of murder. She's now due to be sentenced on January 8, 2026. While prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, she is still facing life in prison with or without parole. As always, we will keep you updated with any new developments.
What did you think of today's cases?
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Katie Ring
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Katie Ring
Massachusetts Looking for your next Crime House?
Listen, don't miss Clues with Morgan Absher and Kaylin Moore.
Every Wednesday, Morgan and Kaylin take you.
Deep into the world of the most notorious crimes ever. Clue by clue.
It's like hanging out with your smart true crime obsessed friends. Listen to clues on Apple podcasts, Spotify.
Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Courtroom Lawyer/Judge
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Host: Katie Ring
Date: December 5, 2025
In this gripping First Watch episode, host Katie Ring presents two shocking cases making headlines:
Crime House Daily delivers concise, well-researched updates—reminding listeners that all details reflect what is publicly available at the time of recording and that all parties are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Initial Crime (13:13)
Investigation
Devin’s Confession (15:57)
Plea and Surprising Reversal
Legal Proceedings (22:45)
Outcome (24:27)
Katie Ring reminds listeners that both cases will be followed as new developments arise. She encourages community engagement:
"What did you think of today's cases? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments." (24:41 – Katie Ring)
For further updates, follow Crime House Daily on your preferred podcast app and on social media @crimehouse24.7.