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[00:02]
Narrator
The following is a true story that happened in East Gillespie, Illinois, population 250. A town a lot like any other. A town a lot like yours.
[00:16]
Sheriff Sean Call
East Gillespie is a small, tight knit community and you think it's safe. You go out to mow your yard and this happens to you.
[00:29]
Detective Bronson Painter
Just knowing somebody could do that to another human was really disturbing. Especially you know, in the presence of a four year old.
[00:38]
Elissa Montano
He had a life that looked pretty picture perfect and then he had a life of after hours.
[00:44]
Carrie Pace
A guy called and said snitches get stitches.
[00:48]
Rick Finley
The murderer ran around town. As far as I know, it was my next door neighbor.
[00:53]
Debbie Harvey
Like if anything to change it, miss her so much. It's the nightmare that I can't wake up from.
[01:07]
Narrator
This is a story of Angela Lee, a teenage mom who had an on again, off again relationship with her son's dad. A woman who caught the eye of another man. A man with a checkered past. A woman who was working hard to build a life for herself and her family until she was brutally murdered while her four year old son was a few feet away in the bedroom. From ID and ample entertainment, this is murder in the heartland. On July 30, 2003, Detective Bronson painter of the McOpene County Sheriff's Department is enjoying a night off duty when at 9:30pm he hears words he never imagined hearing. In Gillespie, there had been a homicide.
[01:45]
Detective Bronson Painter
I grew up here in the Gillespie area and it's odd how some names stick in your brain and some names don't stick in your brain. You know, Angela Lee, I'll never forget that name. At the time of the Angela lee murder in 2003, I was a road deputy and I was off that night. But being a smaller department, being in a small rural area, word travels fast. Angela Lee was found in her house by her boyfriend Jason, her son's father. When he came home that evening from work, he had worked a little bit later than normal when he found her. She was laying in the dining room in a pool of blood with very traumatic injuries to her head and neck. Jason had said that he discovered his son in one of the bedrooms not far from the dining room watching television. Jason then contacted 911.
[02:49]
Sheriff Sean Call
I heard the squad cars go by, I made a phone call and was informed that we had a homicide murder down in East Gillespie. I was kind of shocked about it, you know, cuz we don't deal with a lot of murders in Makupin county on a regular basis.
[03:09]
Narrator
Sheriff Sean Call walked into Angela's home, set On a wide, bright lawn and flanked by two leafy trees. The outside is painted mossy green. The living room walls are covered in framed photos and collages. The largest wall has wooden letters spelling the word family hanging among the mounted photos.
[03:28]
Sheriff Sean Call
This was the residence in which Angela lived in. This is the first time I've been here since the murder happened. And it, you know, brings up a lot of. Lot of memories. This house is obviously a little different now, but what I can kind of remember was when we found Angela, she was probably, I'm gonna say, right in about. In this area. She was laying on her back with her. With her legs crossed. It was a very brutal crime scene. They felt like she was probably beat to death at that point in time. The whole thing is just brutal, you know, and such a terrible, terrible ordeal. But to think Angela's little boy, who was four years old, was at the house when this occurred. We were extremely relieved that he didn't harm her. Boy, being in law enforcement, you know, you see bad things. And this was at the top of the list as far as bad things happening to somebody. You know, it's hard to believe that somebody would ever do this.
[04:42]
Narrator
Sheriff call walks around the house and points to an area on the grass outside.
[04:47]
Sheriff Sean Call
The gun handle was found right here in the this area. Investigators believe that she was possibly beat with the gun.
[04:57]
Detective Bronson Painter
In cases like this, you always have to look at that person that they're in a relationship with. And so we talked to Angela's boyfriend, Jason. Because of the nature of this crime, it looked like it was somebody that was really angry with her. And a lot of times when crimes like this occur, they are crimes of passion, where you just. The emotions and the feelings get so overwhelming, you just don't stop.
[05:25]
Sheriff Sean Call
After canvasses the neighborhood, none of the neighbors really saw anything. Investigators did talk to an employee at the Cavallo bus lines who worked in the garage of the bus lines, which was right across the street. This gentleman had indicated that he did see Angela out mowing her yard somewhere around five in the afternoon. So that was really about the only witness we had of timeline, trying to figure out what happened that day.
[05:55]
Debbie Harvey
So this is my Angie. And my dad took all these pictures. He loved her so much. She was just the happiest baby. A waste of a beautiful life.
[06:12]
Narrator
Debbie Harvey is Angie's mother.
[06:15]
Debbie Harvey
July 30, 2003. I got a phone call from Angie's dad, and he just told me that I needed to get there immediately. Well, I had to know what was going on So I just kept asking and kept asking and he finally told me that Angie had been murdered. And I'm pretty sure I. I hit the ground. I don't think I can even describe what it's done to me. If anything to change this time does not heal all wounds. That doesn't happen. That's not true.
[07:04]
Sheriff Sean Call
The next day the investigators were still there processing. I was out just kind of walking the area just to make sure if anything was missed. I was over across the street where the Cavallo Bus Lines was.
[07:19]
Narrator
Directly across the street from Angie's property are two large warehouse like buildings where the Cavallo buses park and are serviced. There is a clear line of sight between Angie's house and the Cavallo bus property.
[07:32]
Sheriff Sean Call
And I was walking along the road and looked down in a ditch and saw that there was a blue rubber glove. I notified the investigators and then they came over and brought crime scene over and they photographed and collected the rubber glove over in the Cavallo parking lot. They were able to find some balloon ribbon that matched up to what was in Angela's garage. So we kind of had an idea that maybe it got stuck to the foot of the suspect and they walked towards Cavallo and it was recovered over in the Cavallo parking lot.
[08:11]
Narrator
Rick Finley is one of the people who worked at the Cavallo Bus Line property.
[08:17]
Rick Finley
As I was working at Cavallo Bus Line, I was a cleaner cleaning buses outside and in the hours were at nighttime, usually from about 5 at night till 3 or 4 in the morning. The day after the murder at Cavallo's was quiet. Nobody looked at anybody, Nobody would talk to anybody. They would just go on about their business. It was like a totally different world in there after that happened. The cops showed up to interview us. And it's a stressful thing to go through. It don't matter if you're getting pulled over for speeding or interviewed for. It's stressful. Every time I drove by Angie's house, I would feel sickness. Just that hair stands up on the back of your neck when you drive by there.
[09:06]
Narrator
Alyssa Rekhaert is one of Angie's childhood friends.
[09:09]
Elissa Montano
I met Angie in the third grade and she liked to do things other kids wouldn't like to do. She wasn't afraid to get messy or in the dirt. When I heard the details of how Angie was murdered, I threw up and stayed in bed for two days. My sister came and got me and took care of my kids. The last time I saw Angie, she had came to Our house. She was really excited. They had just gotten a new home, and she was excited to decorate it and just start making a home for her and Jason. Angie started dating Jason around the time of her freshman year of high school. He was quite a bit older than us. When Angie told me she was pregnant and she was 17, I was shocked. I think that her and Jason's relationship at that point was hard on her. Angie and Jason dated on again, off again for eight years. And in between that time, they would make up and break up and maybe date other people. And Brad Wolf came into the picture. Angie was dating Jason and kind of Brad in the same period. There was always that Brad and Jason drama. As a young man, there's only so many times that you're going to be chosen second. Whether it was Jason being chose second or Brad being chose second, Somebody was being chose second and pissed. So you'd have to ask if it was one of them.
[10:44]
Narrator
Jill Moon is a journalist in East Gillespie.
[10:47]
Carrie Pace
The media response to the Angela Lee
[10:50]
Elissa Montano
murder was shock and wondering, who is this person who would do such a
[10:56]
Carrie Pace
thing in our small town? And is anybody else in danger?
[11:02]
Narrator
Naturally, rumors and theories bubble up to try and explain why this happened.
[11:06]
Carrie Pace
After Angie's murder, there was a rumor going around that she owed someone lots of money and maybe that's why they did it.
[11:15]
Adam Marburger
My reaction was that she might have been involved with something because I had speculation that there were people doing things that they shouldn't be doing, like partying at the dealership. And I felt my gut was like, that made sense if there was a connection. That was my personal feeling on it.
[11:33]
Sheriff Sean Call
There was a lot of fear in the community when this happened. The chatter going around, the normal, well, did the boyfriend do it? Did the ex boyfriend do it? Anytime you have a homicide like this, your first is to look at the boyfriend, family members. I mean, that's just in police work. That's 101 and a homicide.
[11:57]
Narrator
On July 31, 2003, 18 hours after Angela Lee is found murdered, Sheriff Call's team begins interviewing Jason.
[12:05]
Sheriff Sean Call
The investigators interviewed Jason, Angela Lee's boyfriend, and tried to get a timeline from Jason as to what was going on. Jason said that normally he's home at around five from work, but in that particular day, he didn't get home until about 9 that night because he had to work overtime. Well, that's really like the first time that that's ever happened. So in our minds, you know, that throws up somewhat of a red flag. So obviously, you know, we got to track that Lead. We spoke with Jason's employer. They indicated that, yes, he was at a residence installing a satellite. But, you know, it was always in the back of our mind, did he, you know, have somebody else do this? When the investigators asked the question of who he thought murdered Angela, he thought that Brad Wolf was involved in the murder.
[13:05]
Debbie Harvey
So this used to be the dining room. This is now the Santa room. It just kind of blew up.
[13:15]
Narrator
Debbie, Angie's mom, shows us a room lined with shelves of red and white Santa figurines, plushies, and toys. There's so many Santas that in some places, they're stacked on top of each other or set in piles.
[13:28]
Debbie Harvey
I started collecting Santas when I lost Angie. She was more than my daughter. She was my best friend. I got pregnant with Angie in between my junior senior year. Having Angie at The age of 17 was difficult, but I wouldn't change a thing. The best thing about being a young mom was growing up with her. Angie was playing fast pitch softball, and she really was good. She excelled at that. But she outgrew the softball and became fond of boys, and that whole season of her life started. And then at some point, she met Jason. As the years went on, I found out things that were happening between him and Angie. I didn't like him quite so much. Neither of them were perfect. Nobody's perfect. Angie did date Brad Wolf during a period of time when her and Jason had split up. But I think she was a little bit afraid of him and his connections and people that he associated with she didn't want anything to do with. But he was border. I would say borderline obsessed with Angie. When I was told that she was murdered, I remember screaming, brad Wolf. I was sure it was him.
[15:05]
Narrator
Carey Pace is Angie's oldest and best friend.
[15:09]
Carrie Pace
Okay, so Angie's name I got. Nine days after she was killed, I got that tattoo. And the star, that's the eye. We always. We both would like. We both had an eye in our name, so we would dot it with a star. And I still do that to this day.
[15:22]
Narrator
Carrie shows a tattoo on her back of the name Angie with a star over the eye and angel wings on either side of the name.
[15:29]
Carrie Pace
I was Angie's best friend for pretty much our whole lives. She was like the person that if whatever it was, she would be the one I could call first.
[15:43]
Narrator
Carrie shows photos of the two of them. Both have straight blonde hair, blue eyes, and a slim frame. They look like they could be sisters.
[15:52]
Carrie Pace
This is the box that has the pictures that I have of Angie. So this is Angie, and I had gone with my cousins to a water park. And that's where we're at there. And this one is at our friend Melissa's house. And that's Brad Wolf in the background. Brad Wolf was just a very huge ego. He really thought that he was the man, but he didn't do anything to be the man. He was just given everything. After Angie was killed, I had heard that Brad basically bragged that he was the one that had done it and telling girlfriends of his. Pretty much if you don't do this, that or the other, that you'll end up just like Angie did. And so Brad Wolf was a suspect. But the thing is, what was so weird, like, several weeks before Angie was killed, she was let go from the dealership where she worked because of something to do with her not agreeing to whatever maybe possibly shady business they had going on there. And so then about a week later, a guy called a friend of mine in Angie's and said, literally used the term snitches get stitches, referring to Angie as if she had told on some weird thing they were doing. I don't. I don't know. So once Angie was killed, I thought for sure that has to be who did it, because who else would want to kill her? She's been murdered and we have somebody that has threatened her life a few weeks before. It's got to be from that, right?
[17:38]
Narrator
Detective Painter describes the police investigation of Brad Wolf.
[17:42]
Detective Bronson Painter
Brad Wolf was a suspect because of the past relationships that he had with Angelo. My experiences in contacts with Brad Wolf in the past started way back when I worked as a patrol deputy. He became this person that of interest that we knew was involved in illegal activity. But we can never really get somebody to turn on Brad because he had been connected in so many different ways because of this relationship that he had with law enforcement. Knowing that he was always a suspect that hadn't been caught or hadn't gotten caught yet was kind of a legend in his own mind. When the investigators talked to Brad about Angela Lee's murder, Brad had said that him and one of his friends went to a party the night before, didn't get back into town until around noonish, drove around town, which is something that they would normally do. And then around 5, his friend dropped him off at his parents house. The investigators did have Brad Wolf take a polygraph test and any questions that he had been asked, he answered, according to the calligrapher, as being truthful and honest.
[18:56]
Narrator
Sheriff Call believes the investigation is back to square one.
[19:00]
Sheriff Sean Call
Investigators were able to eliminate Brad, but just to the extent of her injuries, it seemed like it just had to be a personal thing. And so it was very difficult to clear the boyfriend, Jason. It was always, was he involved or was he not involved? That was the question.
[19:24]
Debbie Harvey
The police thought that the person who did this to Angie would have to be someone that she knew because it was considered a crime of passion. I mean, the brutality of it. So when Brad Wolf was eliminated, I was sure it was Jason. Whether he had done it himself or had somebody else do it, I was sure that he was involved in some way. I didn't talk to him until after the funeral. Jason started talking about the way Angie looked when he found her. He was sure that she had been shot. He said that he had seen wounds like that before and he said he was sure that somebody had shot her right here. Jason said this all very matter of fact. He did not act or have the emotion that you would expect after what he saw.
[20:33]
Narrator
On August 8, 2003, Angie's four year old son is brought in for an interview.
[20:39]
Detective Bronson Painter
When dealing with young children in crimes like this, you have to be careful as to not sway them into what to say. The Springfield Advocacy center was contacted and they have people that are experienced in forensic interviewing that were able to contact and talk to him about the crime itself.
[21:01]
Sheriff Sean Call
When they interviewed Angelee's son, he indicated that they had been outside mowing. When they got done mowing him and mommy went inside, he says that he remembers seeing a guy, the killer. Then the killer goes after mom and mom tells her son to run, run and hide. He indicated that the guy was the same color as his dad and indicated that it was a big ugly guy.
[21:38]
Detective Bronson Painter
At some point during the investigation, the interviewer asked if this was dad that had committed the crime and the son had said no.
[21:50]
Sheriff Sean Call
Unfortunately, you know the really the only thing he could tell us that he was just a big ugly man. So at that point in time, Jason was pretty much ruled out as a suspect in it. But you know, for a four year old to have to experience this, see this just, you know, it rips you right to the core.
[22:22]
Debbie Harvey
One of the first things he said to me was. He asked me why I didn't come get him. And I told him that I didn't know, I didn't know what had happened or I would have came and got him. It was terrible. I always say I'm so thankful that he wasn't hurt, but he really was and he still lives me is a grown man now. I feel like when I lost Angie, I lost him too. Like, if anything to change it,
[23:16]
Carrie Pace
anything.
[23:26]
Sheriff Sean Call
This is just one part of the Angela Lee file and there's numerous other boxes of evidence. That is here is how big the case was.
[23:37]
Narrator
At the police station, Sheriff call points to rows of banker's boxes stacked up to hip height.
[23:42]
Sheriff Sean Call
Working on this case, the most overwhelming aspect was the amount of people that we had talked to, interviewed. We took DNA from an ungodly amount of people.
[24:02]
Detective Bronson Painter
During the course of the investigation, investigators had ran DNA on some of the items that they had retrieved from Angela's house. And through DNA technology, Elias Montano, a local Gillespie man, had became a person of interest to talk to. His name was mentioned numerous times through different contacts that we had with different interviews. And his relationship with Angela Lee. In past employment with some of the car dealerships. And through DNA retrieved from the crime scene, investigators had determined that Montano's DNA was all over different places of the house.
[24:44]
Narrator
Elissa, Angie's friend from the third grade, talks about the investigator's next steps.
[24:50]
Elissa Montano
My husband Elias and Angie worked at the car dealership together. I didn't really think anything too much when they came and told us, you know, when they initially told us that people at the dealership were being spoke to and they came to my house and questioned me, it wasn't until the police came to our house the second time and took him to the police station that I started wondering how Elias had more to do with what was going on. The police officers told me that Elias's DNA and fingerprints was all over Angie's home. I was asking Elias, when were you in Angie and Jason's home? And he kept telling me he had never gone to their home. I did not believe him. At that point I started wondering, why would they think that my husband would do anything like that? Then you start questioning everything. Do I know this person? Am I sleeping next to a stranger?
[25:50]
Narrator
Adam Marburger is Angie's co worker at the car dealership.
[25:54]
Adam Marburger
This is our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy family martial arts and fitness. What I love about Jiu Jitsu is it's the most difficult thing I've ever done. It's very, very challenging. Not just physically, but mentally, but it provides a lot of joy and reward. Angie was a co worker with me at my dealership. I was the finance manager and she was the receptionist. The murder in the workplace really just kind of opened my eyes that things like that could happen anywhere, evils everywhere. There were some bad apples in our store. There were some people that, you know, that there were little cliques of people that I knew that partied. The work environment was very fast paced. It's just moving and shaking. Cause we moved a lot of cars out of that location. Elias, which I call him, Lee Montano, he was a sales consultant at the time. I took some salesmanship from him. Just kind of watching how he interacted with customers. He was very smooth. When I heard about Elias being a suspect, I was just kind of shocked. I never once thought that Keith could have done. Just seemed bizarre. It was so close to home.
[27:11]
Carrie Pace
The day that Angie was killed, Lee Montano went to the ER and had a broken wrist or hand. And supposedly Alyssa said that it was from punching something, I think because he was mad. I don't remember exactly, but I was suspicious of him. And I even went out with Alyssa and Lee just trying to get. And he's sitting there telling me about how he knew Angie and he would never kill anybody. He would never do this. And I'm just thinking, I never said you did or might have. Why are you trying to convince me you didn't do this? So it just really became suspicious.
[27:47]
Narrator
Detective Painter looks into Elias Montanto, also known as Lee, as a suspect.
[27:52]
Detective Bronson Painter
We looked into Lee Montano because his fingerprints were all over the furniture that was located in the house. When communicating with Mr. Montano, he would swear that he'd never been to Angela's house. He was very adamant that he had nothing to do with Angela's murder.
[28:14]
Elias Montano
The first time I met Angie was at the car dealership. She was hired to be a secretary. She seemed young, ambitious. She was an attractive girl. Her death was absolutely a shock to me.
[28:27]
Narrator
Elias Montanta was a large, imposing figure with a salt and pepper goatee and a buzz cut.
[28:32]
Elias Montano
I remember when I got to the car dealership, I noticed there was some police cars there. When I walked in, I was pulled aside and I was asked if I'd come down to the police station. I felt very nervous. You know, I'm just nervous around police officers in general. When I was at the police station and the police officers informed me that they had my fingerprints and DNA at Angie's house, I was very confused. So because I've never stepped foot in Angie's house. Police officers were implying that I absolutely knew something about her murder. My mind was wondering why they were pressing so hard about my DNA. They mentioned a couch. Then it clicked. Because we gave her the furniture because I was buying new furniture. That's why my DNA was there. That's why my fingerprints were There and why the police department pressed so hard on the fact of me being at her house and I knew where she lived.
[29:31]
Detective Bronson Painter
Investigators in the case that had talked to Montano, they had to be able to confirm what Montano was saying. So the investigators reached out to Jason and was able to confirm that they did receive this couch from Montano. And so the investigation hit another brick wall.
[29:55]
Elias Montano
After the interrogation at the police department, the buzz at the dealership wasn't the same. Sales started to go down. People were not being as personable. It was definitely impacted the dealership. My wife did ask me point blank if I did it, and obviously I said no. When she asked me that question, of course I was upset. There was definitely friction at home. And that was probably, you know, another log on the fire of why, you know, we got divorced.
[30:23]
Narrator
Shortly afterwards, Elissa, Angie's friend, starts to have doubts of her own.
[30:28]
Elissa Montano
Through the course of the investigation, the police told me that Elias had a double life. He had a life where he had a wife and children at home that looked pretty picture perfect. And then he had a life of after hours that was not so picture perfect. And so at the end of this investigation, I did not know who I had married. We divorced. I immediately filed for divorce.
[30:55]
Elias Montano
After all the interviews were done, after all the DNA was done, Angie's dad had it stuck in his head that either I did it or I knew who did it. Probably frustrating on Angie's dad's end, but it was just as frustrating on my end being accused of something that I had nothing to do with. But, yeah, my life was ruined all because I gave someone a couch.
[31:18]
Narrator
Without any new suspects or leads, the Angela Lee murder case goes cold for nearly four years. But in 2007, Sheriff Call takes the case in a new direction.
[31:29]
Rick Finley
Hi there.
[31:31]
Sheriff Sean Call
How you guys doing? In 2007, when we formulated this small task force to work on this case, I kind of knew we had to go a new direction. We had to look at other things. Cavallo Bus Lines was a lot of people employed from the Gillespie area and throughout central United States. It's really the only business in East Gillespie. Large business anyways, at that point in time. And it was right across the street from Angela's house. We needed to get the Cavallo employee list. And the Macoupin County State's Attorney at the time was able to get in touch with Cavallo and finally get us this list so we could run down the employees and try to figure out if anybody saw anything.
[32:18]
Narrator
Detective Bronson goes through the list of people to interview.
[32:22]
Detective Bronson Painter
It was binder after binder of information to go through. But the list was finally prepared to where the investigators were able to look at the employees that were there and go back and compare to whom who had originally been spoken to the day of the crime and into who still needed to be contacted.
[32:40]
Narrator
Rick Finley, a Cavallo employee, discloses a key piece of information.
[32:44]
Rick Finley
I was at work and got called home. Said there was two detectives there waiting on me. I'm like, man, what I do now? I get there, the state police are there, and I told the police that I seen. I was on the bus cleaning and the night before the murders, there was a mechanic parked on the side of the alley by the cornfield. And I looked up and I seen the car take off with a high rate of speed. No headlights headed out that way. It's unusual to see a mechanic at Caballos at 10 o' clock at night. Kind of made you wonder what he was doing.
[33:24]
Narrator
In April 2016, seven, nearly four years after Angie's murder, Rick's interview points police to the Cavallo mechanic who was on the property at an odd hour.
[33:33]
Rick Finley
When the cops spoke to me, I told the police the night before the murders, around 9:30, 10 o' clock at night, we were cleaning buses about right here. I heard a car door. I look up and it was Tony. Tony Ashby was a mechanic. And so I thought, what's he doing here? He shouldn't be here. The mechanics worked in the daytime. The cleaning crew was here at night. So it should only been cleaning crew here. Tony was parked over here. We noticed him taking off at a high rate of speed with no headlights. The fact that his headlights were off was really weird. About a week later, Tony had quit, but it wasn't anything, you know, Cavallo's was a turnaround. People come and go all the time. So didn't put two and two together.
[34:27]
Narrator
Sheriff call begins to look at Anthony as a suspect.
[34:33]
Sheriff Sean Call
At this point in time in the investigation, Anthony Ashby was never mentioned, never on our radar. We started doing the background on Anthony Ashby. He had a fairly clean record, but there was some sort of domestic disturbance that had occurred in Litchfield, Illinois. The Litchfield police department went to Anthony's residence. As they approached the door and they began knocking on the door, they heard a gun go off. They got the door open, rushed inside the house, took the individual down, which turned out to be Anthony Ashby, and recovered a gun that he had discharged inside the house. While they were outside the door, we went over to Litchfield Police Department to see if they still have the gun. They took me into one of their office areas, pulled the gun out. Grips were missing off the gun and the sight was missing.
[35:33]
Narrator
Detective Painter puts all the pieces together.
[35:35]
Detective Bronson Painter
Early on in the investigation, we had parts of a firearm and parts that were missing from Anthony's seized gun. And the parts that were collected as evidence at the crime scene matched everything linked together.
[35:52]
Narrator
On April 25, 2007, police interrogate Anthony.
[36:00]
Detective Bronson Painter
That's the hard part.
[36:01]
Sheriff Sean Call
Trying to get everyone in the thing here. We sent investigators to Anthony's workplace to interview him.
[36:10]
Narrator
What you were hearing is audio from the actual police interrogation of Anthony Ashby.
[36:15]
Sheriff Sean Call
Did you know her at all?
[36:17]
Adam Marburger
No, sir.
[36:18]
Detective Bronson Painter
And did you ever see her occasionally?
[36:22]
Sheriff Sean Call
She was outside during the interview. He was pretty quiet. He didn't seem agitated or anything.
[36:28]
Detective Bronson Painter
Were you ever over by that house at all?
[36:31]
Anthony Ashby
No, sir.
[36:32]
Elissa Montano
Had no reason.
[36:33]
Sheriff Sean Call
Ever go in the yard?
[36:35]
Elissa Montano
No.
[36:36]
Detective Bronson Painter
Never into the house, anything like that?
[36:39]
Rick Finley
What do you think should happen to
[36:40]
Detective Bronson Painter
somebody like is responsible for something like this?
[36:43]
Sheriff Sean Call
Can't do it.
[36:45]
Anthony Ashby
Killing it be damned. Same thing.
[36:49]
Sheriff Sean Call
What do you mean, same thing?
[36:51]
Anthony Ashby
Just be killed, too? Well, I mean, I'm married and I was brought up never to hit a woman, so, you know, I. I wouldn't. You know, as far as my wife, we get into arguments.
[37:04]
Sheriff Sean Call
Right.
[37:05]
Anthony Ashby
You know, I've never even thought about
[37:06]
Sheriff Sean Call
it, you know, sure.
[37:08]
Anthony Ashby
It is the way I was raised.
[37:10]
Sheriff Sean Call
Sure. During the course of the interview, Anthony was asked about the gun discharge.
[37:16]
Anthony Ashby
I got a little bit of trouble and I went. It was the deal where I got. There was a cop knocked on the door and God woke me out of a dead sleep and went and got up. I had the gun and dumbass, I go in, had to fit my thumb on it and it was pointed down at the ground and it went off. And the police officer was there. Yeah, that would be some drug. Yeah, Yeah. I never shot it, other than that.
[37:51]
Sheriff Sean Call
And he was asked, has it ever been out of his possession? And he indicated, no. So at that point in time, we knew that he had never gave this gun to anybody else and he'd always had this gun since. Since the murder happened.
[38:05]
Detective Bronson Painter
Did you ever go back a couple hours late? He said, oh, no, you never go
[38:09]
Sheriff Sean Call
back after doing any kind of work?
[38:11]
Anthony Ashby
No.
[38:12]
Elissa Montano
No reason to go back.
[38:14]
Sheriff Sean Call
People see you back home. Once we started pushing him, pressuring him, then he became more agitated.
[38:24]
Anthony Ashby
Sir, I had nothing to do with this. And I feel like if I'm not under arrest, then we can have a talk with the lawyer or Whatever. And I'm not my free to go. Well, am I free to go? Because this is ridiculous. I said I did not do it. And I feel like I'm being harassed right now.
[38:43]
Carrie Pace
You do?
[38:43]
Anthony Ashby
Yes, I do. Why do you feel like. Because you guys are hammering me. So are we done? Yeah, I think we can.
[38:52]
Sheriff Sean Call
We can turn the tape off then if you want to.
[38:55]
Anthony Ashby
Yeah. Because I had nothing to do with this. You know,
[38:59]
Detective Bronson Painter
with DNA on some of the items that they had retrieved from the gun that was in Anthony Ashby's possession, they had obtained DNA that, that matched Angela Lee's DNA that was the nail in Anthony's coffin.
[39:18]
Narrator
Anthony Ashby is charged with the murder of Angela Lee.
[39:21]
Rick Finley
When I first heard that Tony was arrested for the murder about crap my pants, I couldn't read it out of Tony that he was a violent person. Tony didn't show no violence.
[39:38]
Debbie Harvey
I cried and cried. I was happy and sad, relieved. A huge relief. Like the world lifted off my shoulders. It was very close to him not ever being caught. Very grateful.
[39:57]
Detective Bronson Painter
Ashby ended up killing Angela Lee. Most likely looking in the windows, had somehow fantasized about being with her, had tried to take that fantasy one step further and had gotten caught. At the point of him getting caught in some way in his mind, he felt that he could explain it away to her to make it okay. And when he found out that he couldn't make it okay, he had to kill her.
[40:25]
Narrator
On November 12, 2008, Anthony Ashby pleads guilty to the murder of Angela Lee. He is sentenced to 33 years in prison. He will be released in 2041.
[40:37]
Carrie Pace
When he took the 33 year plea, I felt cheated. I felt like Angie was cheated. I did not feel that was justice. He'll get out when he's 60 years old. I fear certain things, like when he gets out of jail, what if I did see him at a gas station or something? Just the thought of even running into. I can't even imagine. I don't know what that would be like.
[41:01]
Rick Finley
Angie's murder changed me by the way I look at people now, the way I trust people, the way I process through my head, are you the next killer that's coming around? And before that happened, I wouldn't look at you like that.
[41:15]
Sheriff Sean Call
This kind of affected me in a lot of ways. It has made me understand that you never give up, you never stop working on the case.
[41:25]
Debbie Harvey
My heart is so broken from losing my daughter. Not just losing her, but the way that I've lost her and I miss her. There's not a day that I don't wake up and realize she's not here. I'm never gonna see her. It's the nightmare that I can't wake up from.

Summary5 min read

Podcast Summary: Mind of a Monster: The Hollywood Ripper

Episode: Your Next Listen: Murder in the Heartland

Date: July 16, 2026

Host: ID

Episode Overview

This gripping episode departs from Hollywood and brings listeners to the small, seemingly safe town of East Gillespie, Illinois. It tells the true story of Angela Lee—a young mother whose brutal 2003 murder devastated her family and rocked her tight-knit community. Through interviews with law enforcement, friends, coworkers, and family, the episode unpacks the investigation’s twists and the psychological trauma still haunting those involved. The narrative explores rural fear, broken trust, investigative misdirection, and the long journey to justice.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Small-Town Safety Shattered

The episode opens with reflections on the small town’s sense of security (00:16).
- Quote: “East Gillespie is a small, tight knit community and you think it’s safe. You go out to mow your yard and this happens to you.” — Sheriff Sean Call (00:16)
Law enforcement and community members describe the disbelief and fear after Angela’s murder.
- Quote: “Just knowing somebody could do that to another human was really disturbing. Especially… in the presence of a four year old.” — Detective Bronson Painter (00:28)

2. Angela Lee—Her Life & Relationships

Angela is depicted as a loving mother with challenging relationships, striving for stability (06:12–07:03).
- Quote: “She was more than my daughter. She was my best friend.” — Debbie Harvey, Angie's mother (13:28)
Complicated love triangle: Angela’s on-again, off-again relationship with her son’s father, Jason, and her involvement with Brad Wolf, considered “borderline obsessed” with her (09:08–15:05).

3. The Night of the Murder

Angela’s body found by her boyfriend Jason, her son watching TV in the next room (01:44–02:48).
First clues: police find a gun handle and balloon ribbon, possibly transferred from Angela’s garage to the Cavallo Bus Lines property opposite her house (04:42–07:18).

4. Community Rumors & Early Suspects

Investigation initially focuses on Jason and Brad due to relationship drama and history of threats (“snitches get stitches,” 15:51).
Past animosity and rumors of shady dealings at Angela's workplace clouded suspicion and invited community gossip (11:06–11:56).
- Quote: “Every time I drove by Angie’s house, I would feel sickness. Just that hair stands up on the back of your neck.” — Rick Finley (08:16)

5. False Leads & Dead Ends

Tension around Brad Wolf, who passed a polygraph test and was ultimately cleared (17:38–18:56).
Suspicion shifts to coworker Elias "Lee" Montano, after his DNA/fingerprints are found in Angela’s house—explained when it’s revealed he had given her a couch (24:01–29:31).
The emotional fallout strains friendships and marriages, with Elissa Montano reflecting on not knowing who she’d married after Elias is cleared (24:49–30:28).

6. Police Persistence & Breakthrough

The case runs cold until 2007, when a new review team starts from scratch (31:29).
Cavallo Bus Lines provides an exhaustive employee list, leading to a break when Rick Finley recalls seeing mechanic Tony Ashby at the property at an unusual hour before the murder—leaving in haste with headlights off (32:44–34:26).

7. Anthony (Tony) Ashby Becomes a Suspect

Background check uncovers Ashby’s “fairly clean record,” except for a domestic disturbance and gun discharge (34:32–35:32).
Police discover gun parts recovered from the murder scene matched Ashby’s own firearm (35:35).

8. Confrontation & Confession

Police interrogation reveals Ashby’s evasiveness, culminating in agitation and partial admissions (36:10–38:54).
- Quote: “I had nothing to do with this. You know, if I’m not under arrest, then we can have a talk with the lawyer… I feel like I’m being harassed right now.” — Anthony Ashby (38:24)
DNA evidence ties Ashby conclusively to the scene: “the nail in Anthony’s coffin” (38:59).

9. Resolution & Aftermath

Ashby pleads guilty to murder, sentenced to 33 years (to be released in 2041) (40:25).
Mixed feelings about justice among friends and family. Relief at resolution, but continued sense of loss and anxiety for the future (40:36–41:25).
- Quote: “When he took the 33 year plea, I felt cheated. I felt like Angie was cheated. I did not feel that was justice.” — Carrie Pace (40:36)
- Quote: “My heart is so broken from losing my daughter… It’s the nightmare that I can’t wake up from.” — Debbie Harvey (41:25)
The town’s collective trauma persists, with citizens and investigators altered by the case.

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

“A town a lot like yours.” — Narrator (00:02)
“She was laying on her back with her legs crossed. It was a very brutal crime scene.” — Sheriff Sean Call (03:28)
“She had a life that looked pretty picture perfect and then he had a life of after hours.” — Elissa Montano, on Elias (00:37, 30:28)
“I started collecting Santas when I lost Angie.” — Debbie Harvey (13:28)
“He really thought that he was the man, but… he didn’t do anything to be the man.” — Carrie Pace, on Brad Wolf (15:51)
“Do I know this person? Am I sleeping next to a stranger?” — Elissa Montano (24:49)
“My life was ruined all because I gave someone a couch.” — Elias Montano (30:55)
“It has made me understand that you never give up, you never stop working on the case.” — Sheriff Sean Call (41:14)

Major Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |--------------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:02–02:48 | Crime discovered; small-town shock | | 03:28–07:18 | Crime scene; mother’s and friends’ grief | | 08:10–13:04 | Rumors, suspects, early investigation | | 15:05–19:24 | Deepening suspicions on Brad and Jason | | 20:32–22:21 | Angela’s son’s trauma and interview | | 24:01–30:55 | DNA lead and the “couch”; Elias cleared; marital fallout | | 31:29–35:32 | Cold case reopened, new suspects from Cavallo employee list | | 35:35–38:59 | Interrogation of Ashby; DNA and gun evidence | | 40:25–41:25 | Sentencing, justice, and lingering trauma |

Tone & Style

The episode retains a somber, reflective tone throughout—matching the respectful, honest voices of the community. Family, friends, and law enforcement are candid, emotional, and often raw in their recollections.

Summary

This episode is a haunting exploration of the murder of Angela Lee and its aftermath. The relentless pursuit of the truth amidst false leads, rumors, and community pain paints a vivid picture of how violent crime rips through even the most unassuming towns. The journey from heartbreak and suspicion to the eventual unmasking of the true killer is marked by dogged police work, forensic breakthroughs, and emotional fallout that lasts for years.

For those new to the case or seeking to understand the personal side of criminal investigations, this episode offers a compelling, sometimes agonizing, but ultimately resolute account—reminding listeners that even in the smallest towns, “evil is everywhere,” but so, too, is the will to seek justice.

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Transcript136 lines

[00:02]
Narrator
The following is a true story that happened in East Gillespie, Illinois, population 250. A town a lot like any other. A town a lot like yours.
[00:16]
Sheriff Sean Call
East Gillespie is a small, tight knit community and you think it's safe. You go out to mow your yard and this happens to you.
[00:29]
Detective Bronson Painter
Just knowing somebody could do that to another human was really disturbing. Especially you know, in the presence of a four year old.
[00:38]
Elissa Montano
He had a life that looked pretty picture perfect and then he had a life of after hours.
[00:44]
Carrie Pace
A guy called and said snitches get stitches.
[00:48]
Rick Finley
The murderer ran around town. As far as I know, it was my next door neighbor.
[00:53]
Debbie Harvey
Like if anything to change it, miss her so much. It's the nightmare that I can't wake up from.
[01:07]
Narrator
This is a story of Angela Lee, a teenage mom who had an on again, off again relationship with her son's dad. A woman who caught the eye of another man. A man with a checkered past. A woman who was working hard to build a life for herself and her family until she was brutally murdered while her four year old son was a few feet away in the bedroom. From ID and ample entertainment, this is murder in the heartland. On July 30, 2003, Detective Bronson painter of the McOpene County Sheriff's Department is enjoying a night off duty when at 9:30pm he hears words he never imagined hearing. In Gillespie, there had been a homicide.
[01:45]
Detective Bronson Painter
I grew up here in the Gillespie area and it's odd how some names stick in your brain and some names don't stick in your brain. You know, Angela Lee, I'll never forget that name. At the time of the Angela lee murder in 2003, I was a road deputy and I was off that night. But being a smaller department, being in a small rural area, word travels fast. Angela Lee was found in her house by her boyfriend Jason, her son's father. When he came home that evening from work, he had worked a little bit later than normal when he found her. She was laying in the dining room in a pool of blood with very traumatic injuries to her head and neck. Jason had said that he discovered his son in one of the bedrooms not far from the dining room watching television. Jason then contacted 911.
[02:49]
Sheriff Sean Call
I heard the squad cars go by, I made a phone call and was informed that we had a homicide murder down in East Gillespie. I was kind of shocked about it, you know, cuz we don't deal with a lot of murders in Makupin county on a regular basis.
[03:09]
Narrator
Sheriff Sean Call walked into Angela's home, set On a wide, bright lawn and flanked by two leafy trees. The outside is painted mossy green. The living room walls are covered in framed photos and collages. The largest wall has wooden letters spelling the word family hanging among the mounted photos.
[03:28]
Sheriff Sean Call
This was the residence in which Angela lived in. This is the first time I've been here since the murder happened. And it, you know, brings up a lot of. Lot of memories. This house is obviously a little different now, but what I can kind of remember was when we found Angela, she was probably, I'm gonna say, right in about. In this area. She was laying on her back with her. With her legs crossed. It was a very brutal crime scene. They felt like she was probably beat to death at that point in time. The whole thing is just brutal, you know, and such a terrible, terrible ordeal. But to think Angela's little boy, who was four years old, was at the house when this occurred. We were extremely relieved that he didn't harm her. Boy, being in law enforcement, you know, you see bad things. And this was at the top of the list as far as bad things happening to somebody. You know, it's hard to believe that somebody would ever do this.
[04:42]
Narrator
Sheriff call walks around the house and points to an area on the grass outside.
[04:47]
Sheriff Sean Call
The gun handle was found right here in the this area. Investigators believe that she was possibly beat with the gun.
[04:57]
Detective Bronson Painter
In cases like this, you always have to look at that person that they're in a relationship with. And so we talked to Angela's boyfriend, Jason. Because of the nature of this crime, it looked like it was somebody that was really angry with her. And a lot of times when crimes like this occur, they are crimes of passion, where you just. The emotions and the feelings get so overwhelming, you just don't stop.
[05:25]
Sheriff Sean Call
After canvasses the neighborhood, none of the neighbors really saw anything. Investigators did talk to an employee at the Cavallo bus lines who worked in the garage of the bus lines, which was right across the street. This gentleman had indicated that he did see Angela out mowing her yard somewhere around five in the afternoon. So that was really about the only witness we had of timeline, trying to figure out what happened that day.
[05:55]
Debbie Harvey
So this is my Angie. And my dad took all these pictures. He loved her so much. She was just the happiest baby. A waste of a beautiful life.
[06:12]
Narrator
Debbie Harvey is Angie's mother.
[06:15]
Debbie Harvey
July 30, 2003. I got a phone call from Angie's dad, and he just told me that I needed to get there immediately. Well, I had to know what was going on So I just kept asking and kept asking and he finally told me that Angie had been murdered. And I'm pretty sure I. I hit the ground. I don't think I can even describe what it's done to me. If anything to change this time does not heal all wounds. That doesn't happen. That's not true.
[07:04]
Sheriff Sean Call
The next day the investigators were still there processing. I was out just kind of walking the area just to make sure if anything was missed. I was over across the street where the Cavallo Bus Lines was.
[07:19]
Narrator
Directly across the street from Angie's property are two large warehouse like buildings where the Cavallo buses park and are serviced. There is a clear line of sight between Angie's house and the Cavallo bus property.
[07:32]
Sheriff Sean Call
And I was walking along the road and looked down in a ditch and saw that there was a blue rubber glove. I notified the investigators and then they came over and brought crime scene over and they photographed and collected the rubber glove over in the Cavallo parking lot. They were able to find some balloon ribbon that matched up to what was in Angela's garage. So we kind of had an idea that maybe it got stuck to the foot of the suspect and they walked towards Cavallo and it was recovered over in the Cavallo parking lot.
[08:11]
Narrator
Rick Finley is one of the people who worked at the Cavallo Bus Line property.
[08:17]
Rick Finley
As I was working at Cavallo Bus Line, I was a cleaner cleaning buses outside and in the hours were at nighttime, usually from about 5 at night till 3 or 4 in the morning. The day after the murder at Cavallo's was quiet. Nobody looked at anybody, Nobody would talk to anybody. They would just go on about their business. It was like a totally different world in there after that happened. The cops showed up to interview us. And it's a stressful thing to go through. It don't matter if you're getting pulled over for speeding or interviewed for. It's stressful. Every time I drove by Angie's house, I would feel sickness. Just that hair stands up on the back of your neck when you drive by there.
[09:06]
Narrator
Alyssa Rekhaert is one of Angie's childhood friends.
[09:09]
Elissa Montano
I met Angie in the third grade and she liked to do things other kids wouldn't like to do. She wasn't afraid to get messy or in the dirt. When I heard the details of how Angie was murdered, I threw up and stayed in bed for two days. My sister came and got me and took care of my kids. The last time I saw Angie, she had came to Our house. She was really excited. They had just gotten a new home, and she was excited to decorate it and just start making a home for her and Jason. Angie started dating Jason around the time of her freshman year of high school. He was quite a bit older than us. When Angie told me she was pregnant and she was 17, I was shocked. I think that her and Jason's relationship at that point was hard on her. Angie and Jason dated on again, off again for eight years. And in between that time, they would make up and break up and maybe date other people. And Brad Wolf came into the picture. Angie was dating Jason and kind of Brad in the same period. There was always that Brad and Jason drama. As a young man, there's only so many times that you're going to be chosen second. Whether it was Jason being chose second or Brad being chose second, Somebody was being chose second and pissed. So you'd have to ask if it was one of them.
[10:44]
Narrator
Jill Moon is a journalist in East Gillespie.
[10:47]
Carrie Pace
The media response to the Angela Lee
[10:50]
Elissa Montano
murder was shock and wondering, who is this person who would do such a
[10:56]
Carrie Pace
thing in our small town? And is anybody else in danger?
[11:02]
Narrator
Naturally, rumors and theories bubble up to try and explain why this happened.
[11:06]
Carrie Pace
After Angie's murder, there was a rumor going around that she owed someone lots of money and maybe that's why they did it.
[11:15]
Adam Marburger
My reaction was that she might have been involved with something because I had speculation that there were people doing things that they shouldn't be doing, like partying at the dealership. And I felt my gut was like, that made sense if there was a connection. That was my personal feeling on it.
[11:33]
Sheriff Sean Call
There was a lot of fear in the community when this happened. The chatter going around, the normal, well, did the boyfriend do it? Did the ex boyfriend do it? Anytime you have a homicide like this, your first is to look at the boyfriend, family members. I mean, that's just in police work. That's 101 and a homicide.
[11:57]
Narrator
On July 31, 2003, 18 hours after Angela Lee is found murdered, Sheriff Call's team begins interviewing Jason.
[12:05]
Sheriff Sean Call
The investigators interviewed Jason, Angela Lee's boyfriend, and tried to get a timeline from Jason as to what was going on. Jason said that normally he's home at around five from work, but in that particular day, he didn't get home until about 9 that night because he had to work overtime. Well, that's really like the first time that that's ever happened. So in our minds, you know, that throws up somewhat of a red flag. So obviously, you know, we got to track that Lead. We spoke with Jason's employer. They indicated that, yes, he was at a residence installing a satellite. But, you know, it was always in the back of our mind, did he, you know, have somebody else do this? When the investigators asked the question of who he thought murdered Angela, he thought that Brad Wolf was involved in the murder.
[13:05]
Debbie Harvey
So this used to be the dining room. This is now the Santa room. It just kind of blew up.
[13:15]
Narrator
Debbie, Angie's mom, shows us a room lined with shelves of red and white Santa figurines, plushies, and toys. There's so many Santas that in some places, they're stacked on top of each other or set in piles.
[13:28]
Debbie Harvey
I started collecting Santas when I lost Angie. She was more than my daughter. She was my best friend. I got pregnant with Angie in between my junior senior year. Having Angie at The age of 17 was difficult, but I wouldn't change a thing. The best thing about being a young mom was growing up with her. Angie was playing fast pitch softball, and she really was good. She excelled at that. But she outgrew the softball and became fond of boys, and that whole season of her life started. And then at some point, she met Jason. As the years went on, I found out things that were happening between him and Angie. I didn't like him quite so much. Neither of them were perfect. Nobody's perfect. Angie did date Brad Wolf during a period of time when her and Jason had split up. But I think she was a little bit afraid of him and his connections and people that he associated with she didn't want anything to do with. But he was border. I would say borderline obsessed with Angie. When I was told that she was murdered, I remember screaming, brad Wolf. I was sure it was him.
[15:05]
Narrator
Carey Pace is Angie's oldest and best friend.
[15:09]
Carrie Pace
Okay, so Angie's name I got. Nine days after she was killed, I got that tattoo. And the star, that's the eye. We always. We both would like. We both had an eye in our name, so we would dot it with a star. And I still do that to this day.
[15:22]
Narrator
Carrie shows a tattoo on her back of the name Angie with a star over the eye and angel wings on either side of the name.
[15:29]
Carrie Pace
I was Angie's best friend for pretty much our whole lives. She was like the person that if whatever it was, she would be the one I could call first.
[15:43]
Narrator
Carrie shows photos of the two of them. Both have straight blonde hair, blue eyes, and a slim frame. They look like they could be sisters.
[15:52]
Carrie Pace
This is the box that has the pictures that I have of Angie. So this is Angie, and I had gone with my cousins to a water park. And that's where we're at there. And this one is at our friend Melissa's house. And that's Brad Wolf in the background. Brad Wolf was just a very huge ego. He really thought that he was the man, but he didn't do anything to be the man. He was just given everything. After Angie was killed, I had heard that Brad basically bragged that he was the one that had done it and telling girlfriends of his. Pretty much if you don't do this, that or the other, that you'll end up just like Angie did. And so Brad Wolf was a suspect. But the thing is, what was so weird, like, several weeks before Angie was killed, she was let go from the dealership where she worked because of something to do with her not agreeing to whatever maybe possibly shady business they had going on there. And so then about a week later, a guy called a friend of mine in Angie's and said, literally used the term snitches get stitches, referring to Angie as if she had told on some weird thing they were doing. I don't. I don't know. So once Angie was killed, I thought for sure that has to be who did it, because who else would want to kill her? She's been murdered and we have somebody that has threatened her life a few weeks before. It's got to be from that, right?
[17:38]
Narrator
Detective Painter describes the police investigation of Brad Wolf.
[17:42]
Detective Bronson Painter
Brad Wolf was a suspect because of the past relationships that he had with Angelo. My experiences in contacts with Brad Wolf in the past started way back when I worked as a patrol deputy. He became this person that of interest that we knew was involved in illegal activity. But we can never really get somebody to turn on Brad because he had been connected in so many different ways because of this relationship that he had with law enforcement. Knowing that he was always a suspect that hadn't been caught or hadn't gotten caught yet was kind of a legend in his own mind. When the investigators talked to Brad about Angela Lee's murder, Brad had said that him and one of his friends went to a party the night before, didn't get back into town until around noonish, drove around town, which is something that they would normally do. And then around 5, his friend dropped him off at his parents house. The investigators did have Brad Wolf take a polygraph test and any questions that he had been asked, he answered, according to the calligrapher, as being truthful and honest.
[18:56]
Narrator
Sheriff Call believes the investigation is back to square one.
[19:00]
Sheriff Sean Call
Investigators were able to eliminate Brad, but just to the extent of her injuries, it seemed like it just had to be a personal thing. And so it was very difficult to clear the boyfriend, Jason. It was always, was he involved or was he not involved? That was the question.
[19:24]
Debbie Harvey
The police thought that the person who did this to Angie would have to be someone that she knew because it was considered a crime of passion. I mean, the brutality of it. So when Brad Wolf was eliminated, I was sure it was Jason. Whether he had done it himself or had somebody else do it, I was sure that he was involved in some way. I didn't talk to him until after the funeral. Jason started talking about the way Angie looked when he found her. He was sure that she had been shot. He said that he had seen wounds like that before and he said he was sure that somebody had shot her right here. Jason said this all very matter of fact. He did not act or have the emotion that you would expect after what he saw.
[20:33]
Narrator
On August 8, 2003, Angie's four year old son is brought in for an interview.
[20:39]
Detective Bronson Painter
When dealing with young children in crimes like this, you have to be careful as to not sway them into what to say. The Springfield Advocacy center was contacted and they have people that are experienced in forensic interviewing that were able to contact and talk to him about the crime itself.
[21:01]
Sheriff Sean Call
When they interviewed Angelee's son, he indicated that they had been outside mowing. When they got done mowing him and mommy went inside, he says that he remembers seeing a guy, the killer. Then the killer goes after mom and mom tells her son to run, run and hide. He indicated that the guy was the same color as his dad and indicated that it was a big ugly guy.
[21:38]
Detective Bronson Painter
At some point during the investigation, the interviewer asked if this was dad that had committed the crime and the son had said no.
[21:50]
Sheriff Sean Call
Unfortunately, you know the really the only thing he could tell us that he was just a big ugly man. So at that point in time, Jason was pretty much ruled out as a suspect in it. But you know, for a four year old to have to experience this, see this just, you know, it rips you right to the core.
[22:22]
Debbie Harvey
One of the first things he said to me was. He asked me why I didn't come get him. And I told him that I didn't know, I didn't know what had happened or I would have came and got him. It was terrible. I always say I'm so thankful that he wasn't hurt, but he really was and he still lives me is a grown man now. I feel like when I lost Angie, I lost him too. Like, if anything to change it,
[23:16]
Carrie Pace
anything.
[23:26]
Sheriff Sean Call
This is just one part of the Angela Lee file and there's numerous other boxes of evidence. That is here is how big the case was.
[23:37]
Narrator
At the police station, Sheriff call points to rows of banker's boxes stacked up to hip height.
[23:42]
Sheriff Sean Call
Working on this case, the most overwhelming aspect was the amount of people that we had talked to, interviewed. We took DNA from an ungodly amount of people.
[24:02]
Detective Bronson Painter
During the course of the investigation, investigators had ran DNA on some of the items that they had retrieved from Angela's house. And through DNA technology, Elias Montano, a local Gillespie man, had became a person of interest to talk to. His name was mentioned numerous times through different contacts that we had with different interviews. And his relationship with Angela Lee. In past employment with some of the car dealerships. And through DNA retrieved from the crime scene, investigators had determined that Montano's DNA was all over different places of the house.
[24:44]
Narrator
Elissa, Angie's friend from the third grade, talks about the investigator's next steps.
[24:50]
Elissa Montano
My husband Elias and Angie worked at the car dealership together. I didn't really think anything too much when they came and told us, you know, when they initially told us that people at the dealership were being spoke to and they came to my house and questioned me, it wasn't until the police came to our house the second time and took him to the police station that I started wondering how Elias had more to do with what was going on. The police officers told me that Elias's DNA and fingerprints was all over Angie's home. I was asking Elias, when were you in Angie and Jason's home? And he kept telling me he had never gone to their home. I did not believe him. At that point I started wondering, why would they think that my husband would do anything like that? Then you start questioning everything. Do I know this person? Am I sleeping next to a stranger?
[25:50]
Narrator
Adam Marburger is Angie's co worker at the car dealership.
[25:54]
Adam Marburger
This is our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy family martial arts and fitness. What I love about Jiu Jitsu is it's the most difficult thing I've ever done. It's very, very challenging. Not just physically, but mentally, but it provides a lot of joy and reward. Angie was a co worker with me at my dealership. I was the finance manager and she was the receptionist. The murder in the workplace really just kind of opened my eyes that things like that could happen anywhere, evils everywhere. There were some bad apples in our store. There were some people that, you know, that there were little cliques of people that I knew that partied. The work environment was very fast paced. It's just moving and shaking. Cause we moved a lot of cars out of that location. Elias, which I call him, Lee Montano, he was a sales consultant at the time. I took some salesmanship from him. Just kind of watching how he interacted with customers. He was very smooth. When I heard about Elias being a suspect, I was just kind of shocked. I never once thought that Keith could have done. Just seemed bizarre. It was so close to home.
[27:11]
Carrie Pace
The day that Angie was killed, Lee Montano went to the ER and had a broken wrist or hand. And supposedly Alyssa said that it was from punching something, I think because he was mad. I don't remember exactly, but I was suspicious of him. And I even went out with Alyssa and Lee just trying to get. And he's sitting there telling me about how he knew Angie and he would never kill anybody. He would never do this. And I'm just thinking, I never said you did or might have. Why are you trying to convince me you didn't do this? So it just really became suspicious.
[27:47]
Narrator
Detective Painter looks into Elias Montanto, also known as Lee, as a suspect.
[27:52]
Detective Bronson Painter
We looked into Lee Montano because his fingerprints were all over the furniture that was located in the house. When communicating with Mr. Montano, he would swear that he'd never been to Angela's house. He was very adamant that he had nothing to do with Angela's murder.
[28:14]
Elias Montano
The first time I met Angie was at the car dealership. She was hired to be a secretary. She seemed young, ambitious. She was an attractive girl. Her death was absolutely a shock to me.
[28:27]
Narrator
Elias Montanta was a large, imposing figure with a salt and pepper goatee and a buzz cut.
[28:32]
Elias Montano
I remember when I got to the car dealership, I noticed there was some police cars there. When I walked in, I was pulled aside and I was asked if I'd come down to the police station. I felt very nervous. You know, I'm just nervous around police officers in general. When I was at the police station and the police officers informed me that they had my fingerprints and DNA at Angie's house, I was very confused. So because I've never stepped foot in Angie's house. Police officers were implying that I absolutely knew something about her murder. My mind was wondering why they were pressing so hard about my DNA. They mentioned a couch. Then it clicked. Because we gave her the furniture because I was buying new furniture. That's why my DNA was there. That's why my fingerprints were There and why the police department pressed so hard on the fact of me being at her house and I knew where she lived.
[29:31]
Detective Bronson Painter
Investigators in the case that had talked to Montano, they had to be able to confirm what Montano was saying. So the investigators reached out to Jason and was able to confirm that they did receive this couch from Montano. And so the investigation hit another brick wall.
[29:55]
Elias Montano
After the interrogation at the police department, the buzz at the dealership wasn't the same. Sales started to go down. People were not being as personable. It was definitely impacted the dealership. My wife did ask me point blank if I did it, and obviously I said no. When she asked me that question, of course I was upset. There was definitely friction at home. And that was probably, you know, another log on the fire of why, you know, we got divorced.
[30:23]
Narrator
Shortly afterwards, Elissa, Angie's friend, starts to have doubts of her own.
[30:28]
Elissa Montano
Through the course of the investigation, the police told me that Elias had a double life. He had a life where he had a wife and children at home that looked pretty picture perfect. And then he had a life of after hours that was not so picture perfect. And so at the end of this investigation, I did not know who I had married. We divorced. I immediately filed for divorce.
[30:55]
Elias Montano
After all the interviews were done, after all the DNA was done, Angie's dad had it stuck in his head that either I did it or I knew who did it. Probably frustrating on Angie's dad's end, but it was just as frustrating on my end being accused of something that I had nothing to do with. But, yeah, my life was ruined all because I gave someone a couch.
[31:18]
Narrator
Without any new suspects or leads, the Angela Lee murder case goes cold for nearly four years. But in 2007, Sheriff Call takes the case in a new direction.
[31:29]
Rick Finley
Hi there.
[31:31]
Sheriff Sean Call
How you guys doing? In 2007, when we formulated this small task force to work on this case, I kind of knew we had to go a new direction. We had to look at other things. Cavallo Bus Lines was a lot of people employed from the Gillespie area and throughout central United States. It's really the only business in East Gillespie. Large business anyways, at that point in time. And it was right across the street from Angela's house. We needed to get the Cavallo employee list. And the Macoupin County State's Attorney at the time was able to get in touch with Cavallo and finally get us this list so we could run down the employees and try to figure out if anybody saw anything.
[32:18]
Narrator
Detective Bronson goes through the list of people to interview.
[32:22]
Detective Bronson Painter
It was binder after binder of information to go through. But the list was finally prepared to where the investigators were able to look at the employees that were there and go back and compare to whom who had originally been spoken to the day of the crime and into who still needed to be contacted.
[32:40]
Narrator
Rick Finley, a Cavallo employee, discloses a key piece of information.
[32:44]
Rick Finley
I was at work and got called home. Said there was two detectives there waiting on me. I'm like, man, what I do now? I get there, the state police are there, and I told the police that I seen. I was on the bus cleaning and the night before the murders, there was a mechanic parked on the side of the alley by the cornfield. And I looked up and I seen the car take off with a high rate of speed. No headlights headed out that way. It's unusual to see a mechanic at Caballos at 10 o' clock at night. Kind of made you wonder what he was doing.
[33:24]
Narrator
In April 2016, seven, nearly four years after Angie's murder, Rick's interview points police to the Cavallo mechanic who was on the property at an odd hour.
[33:33]
Rick Finley
When the cops spoke to me, I told the police the night before the murders, around 9:30, 10 o' clock at night, we were cleaning buses about right here. I heard a car door. I look up and it was Tony. Tony Ashby was a mechanic. And so I thought, what's he doing here? He shouldn't be here. The mechanics worked in the daytime. The cleaning crew was here at night. So it should only been cleaning crew here. Tony was parked over here. We noticed him taking off at a high rate of speed with no headlights. The fact that his headlights were off was really weird. About a week later, Tony had quit, but it wasn't anything, you know, Cavallo's was a turnaround. People come and go all the time. So didn't put two and two together.
[34:27]
Narrator
Sheriff call begins to look at Anthony as a suspect.
[34:33]
Sheriff Sean Call
At this point in time in the investigation, Anthony Ashby was never mentioned, never on our radar. We started doing the background on Anthony Ashby. He had a fairly clean record, but there was some sort of domestic disturbance that had occurred in Litchfield, Illinois. The Litchfield police department went to Anthony's residence. As they approached the door and they began knocking on the door, they heard a gun go off. They got the door open, rushed inside the house, took the individual down, which turned out to be Anthony Ashby, and recovered a gun that he had discharged inside the house. While they were outside the door, we went over to Litchfield Police Department to see if they still have the gun. They took me into one of their office areas, pulled the gun out. Grips were missing off the gun and the sight was missing.
[35:33]
Narrator
Detective Painter puts all the pieces together.
[35:35]
Detective Bronson Painter
Early on in the investigation, we had parts of a firearm and parts that were missing from Anthony's seized gun. And the parts that were collected as evidence at the crime scene matched everything linked together.
[35:52]
Narrator
On April 25, 2007, police interrogate Anthony.
[36:00]
Detective Bronson Painter
That's the hard part.
[36:01]
Sheriff Sean Call
Trying to get everyone in the thing here. We sent investigators to Anthony's workplace to interview him.
[36:10]
Narrator
What you were hearing is audio from the actual police interrogation of Anthony Ashby.
[36:15]
Sheriff Sean Call
Did you know her at all?
[36:17]
Adam Marburger
No, sir.
[36:18]
Detective Bronson Painter
And did you ever see her occasionally?
[36:22]
Sheriff Sean Call
She was outside during the interview. He was pretty quiet. He didn't seem agitated or anything.
[36:28]
Detective Bronson Painter
Were you ever over by that house at all?
[36:31]
Anthony Ashby
No, sir.
[36:32]
Elissa Montano
Had no reason.
[36:33]
Sheriff Sean Call
Ever go in the yard?
[36:35]
Elissa Montano
No.
[36:36]
Detective Bronson Painter
Never into the house, anything like that?
[36:39]
Rick Finley
What do you think should happen to
[36:40]
Detective Bronson Painter
somebody like is responsible for something like this?
[36:43]
Sheriff Sean Call
Can't do it.
[36:45]
Anthony Ashby
Killing it be damned. Same thing.
[36:49]
Sheriff Sean Call
What do you mean, same thing?
[36:51]
Anthony Ashby
Just be killed, too? Well, I mean, I'm married and I was brought up never to hit a woman, so, you know, I. I wouldn't. You know, as far as my wife, we get into arguments.
[37:04]
Sheriff Sean Call
Right.
[37:05]
Anthony Ashby
You know, I've never even thought about
[37:06]
Sheriff Sean Call
it, you know, sure.
[37:08]
Anthony Ashby
It is the way I was raised.
[37:10]
Sheriff Sean Call
Sure. During the course of the interview, Anthony was asked about the gun discharge.
[37:16]
Anthony Ashby
I got a little bit of trouble and I went. It was the deal where I got. There was a cop knocked on the door and God woke me out of a dead sleep and went and got up. I had the gun and dumbass, I go in, had to fit my thumb on it and it was pointed down at the ground and it went off. And the police officer was there. Yeah, that would be some drug. Yeah, Yeah. I never shot it, other than that.
[37:51]
Sheriff Sean Call
And he was asked, has it ever been out of his possession? And he indicated, no. So at that point in time, we knew that he had never gave this gun to anybody else and he'd always had this gun since. Since the murder happened.
[38:05]
Detective Bronson Painter
Did you ever go back a couple hours late? He said, oh, no, you never go
[38:09]
Sheriff Sean Call
back after doing any kind of work?
[38:11]
Anthony Ashby
No.
[38:12]
Elissa Montano
No reason to go back.
[38:14]
Sheriff Sean Call
People see you back home. Once we started pushing him, pressuring him, then he became more agitated.
[38:24]
Anthony Ashby
Sir, I had nothing to do with this. And I feel like if I'm not under arrest, then we can have a talk with the lawyer or Whatever. And I'm not my free to go. Well, am I free to go? Because this is ridiculous. I said I did not do it. And I feel like I'm being harassed right now.
[38:43]
Carrie Pace
You do?
[38:43]
Anthony Ashby
Yes, I do. Why do you feel like. Because you guys are hammering me. So are we done? Yeah, I think we can.
[38:52]
Sheriff Sean Call
We can turn the tape off then if you want to.
[38:55]
Anthony Ashby
Yeah. Because I had nothing to do with this. You know,
[38:59]
Detective Bronson Painter
with DNA on some of the items that they had retrieved from the gun that was in Anthony Ashby's possession, they had obtained DNA that, that matched Angela Lee's DNA that was the nail in Anthony's coffin.
[39:18]
Narrator
Anthony Ashby is charged with the murder of Angela Lee.
[39:21]
Rick Finley
When I first heard that Tony was arrested for the murder about crap my pants, I couldn't read it out of Tony that he was a violent person. Tony didn't show no violence.
[39:38]
Debbie Harvey
I cried and cried. I was happy and sad, relieved. A huge relief. Like the world lifted off my shoulders. It was very close to him not ever being caught. Very grateful.
[39:57]
Detective Bronson Painter
Ashby ended up killing Angela Lee. Most likely looking in the windows, had somehow fantasized about being with her, had tried to take that fantasy one step further and had gotten caught. At the point of him getting caught in some way in his mind, he felt that he could explain it away to her to make it okay. And when he found out that he couldn't make it okay, he had to kill her.
[40:25]
Narrator
On November 12, 2008, Anthony Ashby pleads guilty to the murder of Angela Lee. He is sentenced to 33 years in prison. He will be released in 2041.
[40:37]
Carrie Pace
When he took the 33 year plea, I felt cheated. I felt like Angie was cheated. I did not feel that was justice. He'll get out when he's 60 years old. I fear certain things, like when he gets out of jail, what if I did see him at a gas station or something? Just the thought of even running into. I can't even imagine. I don't know what that would be like.
[41:01]
Rick Finley
Angie's murder changed me by the way I look at people now, the way I trust people, the way I process through my head, are you the next killer that's coming around? And before that happened, I wouldn't look at you like that.
[41:15]
Sheriff Sean Call
This kind of affected me in a lot of ways. It has made me understand that you never give up, you never stop working on the case.
[41:25]
Debbie Harvey
My heart is so broken from losing my daughter. Not just losing her, but the way that I've lost her and I miss her. There's not a day that I don't wake up and realize she's not here. I'm never gonna see her. It's the nightmare that I can't wake up from.