Mr. Ballin (0:00)

Hey prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app Today, on a night in 2013, a woman in her 30s named Erin heard loud banging on her front door. She opened it up and saw her best friend Robin standing there. And she could tell right away that Robin was terrified. She was shaking, tears were running down her face, and she had scratches all over her arms. Erin led Robin inside to the couch and asked her what was going on. Robyn told her that she had just been over at her ex husband's house to drop off their two daughters and everything seemed to be fine. But then her ex husband's new wife came into the room and had just started yelling at her. And before Robyn could even say anything, this woman ran across the room and attacked her. Robin said her ex husband had managed to pull them apart and at which point she had grabbed the kids and left. As Erin sat there listening to this wild story, she actually was not surprised because she knew the woman Robin had been fighting with. And when Robin was finished talking, Aaron told her to never be alone with that woman again. Because Aaron said that woman was the kind of crazy that will kill you. But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast. Because that's all we do. And we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So if that's of interest to you, the next time the follow button orders delivery, wait until their food is sitting on their porch and then run up and steal it. Okay, let's get into today's story.

Luke Lamanna (1:59)

You're pretty smart when people talk about you. Too smart comes up a lot. So why are you trying to prove them wrong? Why aren't you pushing the limits of science and powering the nuclear engines of the world's most powerful Navy? If you were born for it, isn't it time to make a smart choice? You can be smart or you can be nuke smart. Become a nuclear engineer@navy.com nukesmart America's Navy.

Mr. Ballin (2:25)

Forged by the Sea Declassified Mysteries is a new podcast hosted by me, Luke lamanna. Each week I dive into the hidden truths behind the world's most powerful institutions. From COVID government experiments to bizarre assassination attempts. Follow redacted on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. On the night of April 7, 2014, 32 year old Robin Spielbauer tucked her 10 year old daughter into bed in their house in Amarillo, Texas. Robin told her daughter that she loved her, said goodnight, and then walked out of the room. Robin could hear the TV on in the front room of the house and she began heading that way. But before she got there, she stopped to look in on her younger daughter. Robyn peeked into her bedroom and saw the little girl was already fast asleep. And as soon as she saw this, Robyn just felt this complete sense of calm come over her. As a single mother with two young kids, Robin's days could get busy and chaotic. But she was finally able to relax each night when she knew her daughters were safe and sound in their beds like they were right now. Robyn left the bedroom and walked down the hall into the front room of the house where she found her mom and dad watching tv. Robin took a seat on the couch with her parents, grabbed her phone out of her jeans pocket and quickly sent a text message. Robin's mom looked over and asked her daughter if everything was okay. She was fine, just making some plans. Robin knew her parents loved having her and the two girls in the house and they played a huge part in helping her take care of the kids. But Robyn thought in a perfect world, she would not be living with her parents in her early 30s. Because for many years before she wound up back at her parents house, Robyn had been living a life she loved on her own. When she was 22, she had fallen in love with a great guy named J.D. spielbauer. J.D. was a former United States Marine and had served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Robin's father had been in the military most of his life and so her parents had been really happy when Robin started dating a military veteran. Robin got pregnant just two months after they started dating. And so she and JD had their first daughter, then got married, and then they had their second daughter a few years later. And for Robyn, ever since she was young, all she had wanted was to be a mom. And so she didn't really care that she and JD Struggled with money sometimes or that raising kids really wasn't always easy. She and her husband loved each other and they had these two beautiful girls. That was more than enough to be grateful for. But in 2012, after she and JD had been together for almost 10 years, everything began to change. JD became distant and he started spending a lot of time away from home. And not long after that, Robin had discovered that JD Was cheating on her with a woman named Katie Phipps, who just happened to be one of Robin's friends from church. After Robyn had learned that her husband and friend were having this affair. She divorced JD Took the kids and moved back in with her parents. And not long after that, JD had married Katie Phipps, which really only added to the tension. Back on the couch, Robin's phone buzzed in her hand. She glanced down at the text, smiled, and got up. She told her parents she would have to run out for a bit and asked if they could watch the kids while she was gone. Her mom said of course, and then asked if Robyn was going out to meet her new boyfriend. Robin blushed a little but didn't respond. Then she just grabbed her purse, told her parents she wouldn't be gone too long, and walked out the front door. A few minutes later, at about 9:30pm Robin drove her black Chevy Tahoe out of town and turned onto Helium Road, which was a long, winding dirt road surrounded by farmland on both sides. As she drove, Robin cranked up the country music on the radio and looked out at the huge Texas night sky. The only light on the road came from her headlights and the moon, and this made Robin feel like she was out in the middle of nowhere. But that was perfect as far as she was concerned. In fact, that's why she'd chosen Helium Road for this meeting in the first place. She didn't want anyone to see what she was about to do. Eventually, Robin pulled her SUV over to the side of the road, put it in park and began to wait. And as she did, she listened to the radio and looked out the window. And then eventually she saw headlights coming down the road behind her. The following day at noon, almost 15 hours after Robin had left her house, a middle aged man drove his truck down Helium Road. The sun was bright and it was about 65 degrees Fahrenheit. It looked and felt like a perfect spring day. As the man was driving, he spotted something in the distance, so he slowed down and squinted and he was surprised by what he saw. Three young girls were running down the road right towards him and they were screaming. This part of Helium Road was usually pretty deserted and it wasn't really a place where kids played, so the man immediately hit his brakes, put his truck in park, and stepped outside to see what was going on. He walked over to the girls and asked if they were okay, and without breaking their stride, all three girls pointed behind them and started yelling, she's dead. She's dead. The man looked where the girls were pointing and he saw there was a black SUV parked on the side of the road. He told the girls to stay where they were and then he ran over to the suv, and when he got there, at first glance, it just looked like somebody had abandoned the vehicle. However, when he walked to the passenger side of the SUV and looked at the ground, he just froze. The man was in total shock at what he saw, and it horrified him that three young kids were clearly the first ones to have stumbled onto the scene. The man took a breath and steadied himself. Then he grabbed his phone and dialed 911. A little later that afternoon, Sergeant Alan Mongold of the Randall County Sheriff's Department sped down Helium Road. Up ahead, he saw there was an ambulance, cop cars, and a fire truck. And then behind him, driving as well, were more police cars. Sergeant Mongold could not think of a time ever when this spot on Helium Road, basically in the middle of all this farmland, had been so crowded. He eventually pulled over and parked his car not far from a black SUV and got out. And immediately an officer ran over to meet him and said he'd taken statements from the three young girls and the man who had been there when he arrived, but he'd arranged for the girls to be taken home, and he'd sent that man on his way. Mongold said that was fine. He would follow up with them if he needed to. And then he and the other officer walked around to the passenger side of this black suv, and they joined a group of paramedics who were already standing there. But as soon as Mongold looked at the ground just outside the car, it was clear the paramedics could not do anything, because lying there on the ground was a woman's body. And based on all the bugs crawling on her, Mongol knew she must have been dead for at least several hours. Mongol put on his gloves and crouched down next to the body. The woman was on her back, and immediately Mongol saw a deep, dark bruise on the left side of her head. And at first glance, this bruise did not appear to be something she got just from falling down or something. It looked like something had been smashed into the side of her head like a heavy object. And so at this point, Mongol felt confident he was very likely dealing with a murder. He reached into the woman's pockets, but found they were empty. So he told one of the officers on hand to run the plates of the suv, and then he and the others started to do a sweep of the area. Within minutes, Mongold saw the officer who had just run the plates waving him over. Mongol joined him, and the officer said that the SUV was registered to a woman whose name was Robin Spielbauer. And the image of Robin Spielbauer that popped up matched the victim. Pretty soon, members of the county's forensics team arrived, and Sergeant Mongold searched the area around Robin's body and her SUV again. And this time, a forensic tech saw something that seemed really strange. The back windshield of Robin's SUV had a small crack in it, and embedded in the crack were tiny pieces of hot pink plastic. Now, neither the forensics tech nor Sergeant Mongold had any idea what this pink plastic was from, but the tech said hopefully that would become clear. After they ran some tests, the investigative team spent hours searching up and down Helium Road, hoping to find a potential murder weapon or maybe Robin's cell phone. But other than those pink plastic flecks on the SUV windshield, there really wasn't much to go on. Mongold considered the possibility that this could have been a robbery gone wrong, that someone had gotten Robin to stop her car, attacked her, and had stolen her purse and her phone. But the idea that a carjacker would choose this road to try to rob someone where there wasn't a whole lot of traffic just didn't make a lot of sense to him. And so Mongold couldn't help but think that maybe Robin's killer was someone she knew. The following morning, April 9, Sergeant Mongold sat at his desk, reviewing the autopsy report. The report stated that Robin had most likely died the night before her body was found, and that her body had just laid outdoors on the side of the road overnight. And even more importantly, the autopsy report confirmed that Robin had been murdered because in addition to the blunt force trauma wound that Mongolt had found on the side of her head, the medical examiner had also discovered a gunshot wound from a.22 caliber pistol in the back of Robin's head. So that morning, Sergeant Mongold went to meet with Robin's friends and family to learn as much as he could about her, and also to see if anyone close to Robin owned a.22. Mongold had informed Robin's parents about the death of their daughter the previous night. And even without the results of the autopsy report, he had told them he believed there had been foul play. And so, through their complete shock and grief, Robin's parents had given Mongold a list of the few people who had been closest to Robin. And now Mongold decided to start with her new boyfriend, a bartender named Jared. But the conversation with Jared proved to be pretty uneventful. Jared said he'd been working at the VAR the night that Robin had died. He said she hadn't called him or texted him or anything. And Mongold was able to quickly track down multiple people at the bar who corroborated Jared's alibi. Now, the detective had no intention of crossing Jared off his list this early on, but Jared did not jump out as an obvious suspect. And so Mongold figured if Robin's current boyfriend didn't look like a major suspect, well, the next logical step was to talk to her ex husband, JD Spielbauer. Later that day, now, over 24 hours after Robin's body had been found, Sergeant Mongold knocked on the front door of JD's house. And as he knocked, Mongold felt a bit surprised by where he was standing because JD lived only a few houses away from Robin's parents house. The door opened and a woman who looked like she was in her late 20s with long brown hair and bright blue eyes was standing there. Mongold introduced himself. The woman said her name was Katie and that she was JD's wife. She said news had traveled fast, so she already knew about the murder and she assumed that's why Mongul was here to talk about it. Mongol nodded, but before he could say much more, a tall, thin man with a cropped military style haircut stepped outside. He introduced himself as J.D. spielbauer, but immediately his wife Katie snapped at him and told him to shut up because she was talking to the police. JD immediately hung his head and fell silent. Sergeant Mongold acted like he didn't notice any of that, but in reality he was taken aback. Married couples, even ones that didn't necessarily get along, rarely lashed out at each other in front of him, especially when they knew they could be potential suspects in a murder case. But Mongold remained calm and polite and asked them where they'd been the night that Robin died. Katie said that she and her son had been at a friend's house and they had come home around 10pm JD said he'd been home all night with his uncle who also lived in the house. They'd just been drinking beer and playing some pool. Other than Katie's quick outburst at jd, nothing the couple did after that seemed particularly strange. However, for some reason, Mongol just felt like there was a good chance both of these people were lying to his face. He talked to them for a bit longer and then as they wrapped up, he told them he would be in touch if he needed any more information. But as he walked back to his car, Mongold already knew he'd be calling JD and Katie down to the station soon. He just needed to be better prepared if he was really going to interview them. After leaving JD and Katie's house, Mongol drove a few minutes across town to Robyn's best friend Aaron's house. Robyn's parents had told Mongold that Robyn and Aaron were extremely close and shared basically everything with each other. So Mongold thought she'd be a great person to talk to to learn more about Robyn. But also he figured if anybody had inside information on Robyn's ex husband and his new wife, it might be Aaron. And as it would turn out, Aaron knew a whole lot about Robin's ex and his new wife. She told him that at one point she, Robin, JD and Katie had all been friends. But then JD and Katie had an affair and things got ugly. She said Robyn constantly worried about the kids and wondered if she and JD should really be trying to co parent them. Aaron also said that JD talked a lot about suffering from PTSD because of his time in combat as a Marine. Mongold took notes on everything Aron was telling him. An affair, a divorce, and a potential custody battle could all be motives for murder. And while Mongold did not believe that all military vets suffering from PTSD were inherently violent, JD's condition was still something he had to consider. But Aron would tell Mongold something else that would instantly make him rethink his entire approach to JD and Katie. Aaron said Late last year, Robyn had gone over to JD and Katie's house to drop off the kids. However, when Katie had come in and seen her husband and Robin talking, she screamed, grabbed Robin, slammed her into the fireplace, and threatened to ruin her life. That evening, Sergeant Mongold led JD into an interview room at the sheriff's station, and then he sat down next to him at a small round table that was pushed up against the wall. JD was wearing a T shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap that he kept messing with like he was nervous. Mongold had spent most of the previous night trying to learn as much as possible about Robin, JD and Katie's relationship, and he had worked with the phone company to secure a copy of text messages sent to and from Robin's cell phone. Mongold started the interview by asking JD to give him an overview of what he'd been doing on the night Robin died. JD spoke in a slow Texas drawl. He was polite and addressed Mongold as sir, and he said basically the same thing he'd told Mongold when they met at the house. He'd been hanging out with his uncle at home, drinking and shooting pool. Mongold nodded and asked if he'd seen Robin at all on that day. But JD shook his head and said he had not seen or talked to her. Sergeant Mongold reached down and grabbed a file folder out of a briefcase. He opened the folder and pulled out a piece of paper. Then he turned to JD and said he wanted to help him because clearly JD was having trouble remembering things. Clearly. Mongold told JD that this piece of paper was a record of all the text messages Robin had sent and received on the night she died. And her final text Exchange was with JD just before 9:30pm and it was clear from this text that the two of them had been planning to meet up that night. JD immediately took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. He apologized for lying, and then as he tried to explain himself, he started to stammer. Finally, he got out that Robin was supposed to meet him that night at his house to talk about a standardized test their older daughter was supposed to take. However, JD said Robin never showed up. At this point, Mongold really began to press jd. He asked him if Robin had never showed up, why hadn't he reached out to her? And JD really struggled to come up with an answer. He remained polite and kept calling Mongold sir. But as he was doing that, Mongold got the impression that this was not a man who planned things out or who could easily organize his thoughts. And so eventually Mongold told JD that he could assume only one of two things. JD had lied because he was the one who murdered Robin, or he had lied to cover for someone else. JD just shook his head and said he would never hurt Robin. But Mongol snapped back and said, well, if you didn't kill her, who did? JD went quiet for a second, and then he looked up at Mongold and just said, I have suspicions. Now. During this interview, JD did not come out and actually say who he suspected, but Mongold thought it was pretty clear. In fact, Mongold had the same suspicion since he talked to Robin's friend Aaron. So Mongold didn't waste any time. He let JD go and then had JD's wife Katie brought to the station and into the same small interview room. Katie was wearing a sweatshirt with a pink camouflage pattern on it, and while her husband JD had looked very nervous when he came in, Katie, on the other hand, just looked mad. But before Sergeant Mongold could even ask her a question, she said she needed him Mongold to tell her something. She said she needed to know if JD was having an affair with his ex wife, Robyn. Mongold said he didn't know if that was the case, but he did know that JD And Robin had planned to see each other on the night that Robin died. After hearing this, Katie broke down sobbing and put her face in her hands. She said she knew it. She knew Robyn had been trying to tear her marriage apart because Robyn had never gotten over J.D. after the divorce. But despite all the obvious anger Katie felt towards Robyn, she insisted that she had nothing to do with Robyn's murder. However, despite what Katie and JD Said during their interviews, Sergeant Mongold still decided to secure search warrants for their house and their cell phones, and he felt sure he would soon be able to arrest one or both of them.