B (6:26)

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A (8:14)

So Kent had to start over, right? He's like, been shunned from the family. He moves to Tennessee where he started to work for a taxidermist. Yeah, okay. I mean, Tennessee taxidermist. That kind of makes sense. And while in Tennessee, Kent met a commercial fisherman who fished off the Gulf of Alaska. Kent kind of was like, intrigued by this he was like, oh, that sounds interesting. Okay. He kind of, he liked this idea. So it wasn't long after that Kent actually moved to Alaska to work as a commercial fisherman. Eventually, Kent's time in Alaska brought him to the Great Alaskan Busch Company, the strip club, you know, where he would meet Michelle. And he fell head over heels. But to him, it felt like the relationship was a little one sided. According to Michelle's roommate at the time, Michelle and Kent's relationship was not romantic. Kent was just obsessed with Michelle, and he showered her with expensive gifts. But she didn't really like him that much, allegedly. And then in 1996, two years after they had met, Kent proposed to Michelle. And despite later denying she accepted the proposal, Michelle had emailed Kent asking for $2,500 to buy a wedding dress. So based on that, it seems like she accepted the proposal. But yeah, you know, Kent and his family were able to like kind of rebuild their relationship throughout the years. So Kent was kind of like keeping his family in the loop about the engagement and about what was going on. Kent's family, they were iffy on this whole proposal thing, I guess. Kent's mom, her name was Betsy, she expressed doubts over Michelle's faithfulness. She never met her, so it's kind of rude, but whatever. And the family's concern for Kent's well being started to peak after a particular incident. So apparently Kent's dad went out to Anchorage and, you know, to visit and he actually was going to meet Michelle, right, his soon to be daughter in law. But she was nowhere to be found. So Kent kind of like left his dad behind and went to go look for her, believing that Michelle was at a cabin in Hope, Alaska, which was, I guess like a two hour drive away. But before Kent left for Hope, he mailed a letter to his family. The letter contained a second letter that they were told not to open unless something fishy happened to him. I would have opened it right away, right? I'd be like, okay, cute. I'm still gonna open it. So then it's the morning of May 2, 1996, and two electrical workers were servicing a remote communication tower in Hope when they stumbled upon a body. It was Kent's body. He had been shot three times. And when investigators got to the scene, they found several items on his body. He was carrying a checkbook from an account he shared with Michelle, as well as a change of beneficiary form for his life insurance policy. The form listed Kent's dad, mom, and his brother as the beneficiaries the beneficiary form that was found on him had a date on it, and the date was just one week earlier. Hmm. Kent also had several things relating to Scott, who Michelle was, like, kind of dating. He was carrying two of Scott's business cards, a luggage tag with Scott's name, a piece of paper with Scott's address in California, Scott's Social Security number, and a reservation in Scott's name for a hotel room where Scott and Michelle had, like, previously stayed at. Mm. To me, it's giving obvious plant. Right. Kent's body was, like. There was stuff all over him. Because also on his body, there was a copy of an email that he had received from Michelle. Yeah, this is all found on him, on his body. In the email, Michelle requested, Kent put $3,200 into her account, and she would explain later what the money was for. She also apologized for taking off and said that she couldn't find him. She wrote in this email that she was upset that Kent was smoking pot, taking pills, and drinking. And though Michelle wrote about Kent's drug and alcohol use, toxicology reports later showed that Kent had nothing in his system. He was totally clean. The autopsy also determined that Kent was indeed shot three times. First he was shot in the back, then in the chest. And literally, while Kent was laying on his back, he was shot again in the face. So investigators have lots of evidence on this body, Right? Well, they start with his checkbook, and they find an address that's listed on the checkbook that was found on Ken's body. So investigators then went to the address listed on the checkbook that was found on Ken's body. So when they go there, guess who's there? Michelle. Michelle's there with her other fiance, John Carlin. John Carlin was the one who gave that $11,000 engagement ring. So he's, like, the rich one, it seems. And also, John's teenage son was there. So the detectives, they have a back and forth with Michelle. They're like, like, what's going on? Right. She claimed to be engaged to Kent while also saying that she was not in a serious relationship with him. Michelle also told investigators that she's like, yeah, I have other boyfriends, though, so obviously it wasn't serious. Well, this is when investigators broke the news to her that Kentucky was dead. And they noted that Michelle began crying. But investigators felt something was off. And after further discussion, investigators learned that Michelle had been with Scott in Lake Tahoe. Scott's the other boyfriend. She's busy. But they learned that she had been with Scott in Lake Tahoe in California at the time of Kent's murder. So it seemed like she had an alibi. If I was an investigator, I'd be like, okay, so you were off with the Scott guy, and John's okay with that. Your current. Like, it's very confusing, right? Okay, well, that was her alibi. So a few days later, police, they go visit John Carlin again at his home, and turns out Michelle was there, too. They're like, dude, what are you doing here? Like, don't you. What are you doing here? And she tells investigators that she and Kent had actually been living with John while their house was undergoing construction. I don't know, girl. Your story doesn't make any sense. Right? When Kent's family learned of his death, they went back to the letter that they had received from him. You know, the one that said to only open if, like, Kent were to go missing in a fishy manner. The one that I would have opened on day one. Well, this second envelope contained several items. So in the envelope, there was paperwork about a loan Kent had got from his father, as well as documents showing the change in Kent's life insurance policy. And with it was a handwritten letter. So in this letter, Kent wrote that Michelle, John, or Scott probably killed him. It's like, damn it. Which one, though? Which one, Kent? Kent's letter urged his family to use this information to take Michelle down. The letter also mentioned a laptop that possibly had incriminating evidence on it. So, detectives, they actually go looking for this laptop, right? It's apparently Michelle's, but she told them that it was with her sister in Utah being fixed. Make it make sense, girl. Make it make sense. As news of Kent's murder hit the media, Brian Brunden, Kent's old attorney, alerted police to some troubling instances from Kent's life. Brian had helped Kent draw up his will, and he'd also helped Kent with loans for Kent and Michelle's business. The lawyer recalled that Kent and Michelle would argue, like, during the meetings. This attorney also told investigators that Kent had changed his will because Michelle had left and taken several of his things, including his car, his computer, some antique rugs, a bronze statue that was worth, like, $4,000, apparently. And coincidentally, several of these items were mentioned in the copy of Michelle's email that was found with Kent's body. And then about two months after Kent's death, Michelle's sister, her name was Melissa, she called the Alaska police and told them that she had info on Ken's murder. Melissa told investigators that she had received a laptop in the mail. Oh. So she wasn't lying. It arrived after Michelle and Scott had been visiting Melissa in Utah. And Melissa remembers Michelle and Scott arguing over the computer. Melissa told detectives that Michelle had asked her to reformat the hard drive so it would be, like, brand new, you know? Michelle had also talked to Melissa about Kent's murder. According to Melissa, Michelle said nobody liked him anyway and that he got what he deserved. That's enough information for me. Case closed. Lock her up. I say Justice Bailey.

B (17:57)

So I was at a family party, and someone started talking about life insurance. And I was like, uh, buzz kill, you know, can I get some mashed potatoes?

A (18:04)

I don't know.

B (18:04)

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A (19:20)

So, soon after getting this information, investigators served warrants on Michelle's house, car, and rv. She. Yeah, she had an rv. It had been at her sister's place. So they search it, and that's where they actually find the laptop. Investigators also summoned Scott, but, you know, they searched his home. They don't really find anything. Plus, on top of that, it seemed like Scott really had no idea about Kent's death. Plus, on top of that, remember, Michelle was saying she was with Scott in Tahoe during Kent's death. Well, investigators were able to confirm that they were indeed there at the time of Ken's death. Damn. Over the course of a few weeks, investigators conducted several more interviews. They had very few leads and almost no concrete evidence. But what they did get was a very interesting story from a woman named Laura, one of Michelle's friends who had worked with her as a dancer. So Laura described Michelle as a master manipulator who used men for money and gifts. You don't say. Oh, I am shocked. Laura also told police about how she and Michelle watched this movie called the Last Seduction. What movie's that? I don't know. I guess in this movie, the main character manipulates her lover into killing her husband for money. Mmm. Hold on. Let me Google this. Is this a Lifetime movie? So this movie came out in 1994. It got a 7 out of 10 rating. Just if you wanted to know, it's about a woman looking to escape her unhappy marriage, and then she manipulates her lover into killing her husband for money. So this Laura girl thought Michelle watched that movie and was like, hey, that's a good idea. I should do that. You know? So she went to police and was like, I just thought that was interesting, and you should probably know. Okay. So, I mean, that was like, it's helpful information. But by the fall of 1996, I mean, investigators, they didn't really have evidence to charge anyone, Just ideas, you know, and it seemed like the case was going cold. So in 1997, the year following Kent's murder, Michelle moved back to New Orleans. When she moved back to New Orleans, she enrolled in classes at the university there. Watch me butcher this name. Loyola. Loyola. Wait, Loyola. That word is really tripping me up. But it's a university in New Orleans. Okay, look, she went there because she wanted to become a veterinarian. And when she was studying, she ended up meeting another man. His name was Colin. Colin Lenahan. Colin was a young medical student. And he wasn't just like any medical student, you know, he also planned to join the army as well. Michelle and Colin, I guess they bonded over how much they had in common. Both, I guess, had moved around a lot, you know, as kids. Both had lost one of their parents when they were young. Both had largely supported themselves during their teenage years, and they bonded over that. So, of course, like many of the other men around Michelle, Colin fell in love, and he proposed to her, and the two of them actually got married in May of 1998. They waited until, like, Colin had graduated med school, and then they got married. So Michelle, after that, she dropped out of university to move to Maryland with Colin, where he began his residency. And then the following year, they welcomed their daughter Audrey. So after his residency, Colin was deployed at an army medical center in Washington close to his Hometown of Olympia. And then at one point, Colin was even deployed to Iraq. Michelle, she got a job. She got a job working as an administrative assistant for the Washington state executive ethics board. She also became active in the local Catholic church. Yeah, she's like, please. What are you saying? Confessionals. Dear Father, forgive me for I have sinned. She's probably, like, confessing a lot. She's like, I got a lot. I got a lot I got to say. Anyways, so neighbors said Michelle was sweet, she was helpful. She was a generous woman. Seem to love her. Listen, you remember John Carlin? John was the one who gave Michelle that $11,000 engagement ring. John Carlin moved to Elmer, New Jersey, and in 2000, in the year 2000, he married a Russian dentist. Remember how John had a son? Yeah. Are you following me, too? I'm getting confused myself. But John's son had bounced around from home to home and was still close with Michelle. And John's son had lived with Michelle at some point while Colin was deployed. Kind of. I'm raising an eyebrow. I don't know. Sketchy, weird, odd, but okay. It seemed that everyone, you know, had just moved on, forgotten about Ken's murder. Both Michelle and John, they had these new lives and had left the events surrounding Kent's death in the past. That was something that happened in Alaska a million years ago. They had totally forgotten about it. They were so far from it. That is, until 2004. Because this is when, like, technology, you know, starts. Starts coming into play, right? Investigators, they get new technology, and they are able to, like, review that laptop that supposedly had incriminating information on it. So there. Beep. And they were able to recover some files that were erased, you know, and it shed new light on the case. And after this, the case was reopened, and then the investigators, their next step was to chat. They wanted to have a little chat, a little discussion with John Carlin's son, who also, to add confusion to the story, his name is John Carlin iv. I guess that makes it really good. It's kind of easy to, like, if you have kids and they're all named after you, you could easily steal their identity if you wanted to. That. That's a benefit of having all the same names, right? I'm sure people don't do that, but I'm thinking, like, that makes sense. Just why would you want everyone to have the same name? That's so confusing. Okay, whatever. Anyways, at the time of the initial investigation, the younger John was a minor, and his father didn't let detectives Interview him. Right. But by 2004, John IV was, was no longer a minor. And detectives, they wanted to talk to him. So they find him and they talk with him. And John IV tells authorities his father had bought a gun right before Kent's murder. So now with this information and emails that they recovered from the laptop, investigators believe that they'd be able to pursue a conviction. And so on October 3, 2006, over 10 years since Kent's death, a grand jury indicted Michelle and the original John Carlin for murder.

B (26:51)

Sometimes your brain just needs a little help untangling the, the chaos, you know.

A (26:56)

Especially if you're like me and you.

B (26:57)

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A (28:29)

So the next day, Michelle, with her lawyer present, she turned herself in. Michelle's arrest made headlines as the, quote, stripper turned sucker mom, end quote, who had evaded justice for 10 years, you know, made quite the story. Her mugshot went national and Michelle, who was still living in Washington state at the time, was sent back to Alaska. Michelle ended up pleading not guilty and was held on a $500,000 bail. But her lawyers were able to petition her bail to be lowered to $150,000. And because of that, she was able to make bail and was allowed to return to Olympia after agreeing to wear a monitoring device. John Carlin, the original one, on the other hand, he was not able to make bail and was forced to use a court appointed attorney. John's trial started on March 12, 2007. During the trial, the prosecution said that John had lured Kent to Hope, Alaska at Michelle's request. But the defense argued that there was no proof of this theory. But then the prosecution, they called John's son to testify against his dad. Damn. I know. And he did. During his testimony, the younger John said that he'd seen Michelle and his dad soaking a gun in what he claimed smelled like, like bleach. The younger John then said he never saw that gun again. But the gun in question was eventually traced to the original seller who confirmed it was a.44 Desert Eagle. So remember, John had married like a Russian dentist woman. Her name was Julia. So she ended up testifying against him as well. So Julia had since divorced John, but she was called by the prosecution because they learned that her, Julia, this Julia woman, she tried to sell a bronze statue that had Kent's name engraved on the bottom. Now, investigators concluded that this was the statue Kent had accused Michelle of stealing. On top of that, there were a ton of incriminating emails that came to light. These are emails between Kent j. John and Michelle in which John suggested he was going to take drastic action regarding Kent on Michelle's behalf. Though the emails never clearly stated what the drastic action was going to be, prosecutors used them to suggest John meant he was going to kill Kent. Meanwhile, the defense only called on two witnesses, an evidence technician and a state trooper. Both were meant to cast doubt on the evidence and its connection to John and all. Throughout the trial, John's defense team continued deflecting blame and suggesting that Michelle was more likely to have killed Kent. A part of the defense argument was that John would not have killed Kent because John did not want Michelle to receive Kent's insurance payout because if she would have, she probably would have left John and John didn't want that. The defense continued their closing arguments by saying it was possible John had helped Michelle cover up the murder by washing the gun. But they said that this would be a separate crime of evidence tampering, not murder. You know what I'm saying? The jury spent a day and a half deliberating. John was found guilty on April 3, 2007. He ended up being sentenced to 99 years in prison, the max for first degree murder. I mean, look, I think he Was definitely involved, whatever. But it's just insane that, like, in other stories or cases we do. It's like some of them do the worst stuff and they only get like 2 years, 3 years, 10 years. This guy got 99. They didn't even have, like, solid evidence. That's pretty wild. I'm not advocating for him. I'm just saying there's no consistency. Well, then it was Michelle's turn. Her trial took place a few months later in September. Well, because of all the media publicity she was receiving, it actually made the jury selection really difficult because it was hard to find jurors who were completely, like, unbiased. So eventually, though, they would find, like, a jury. And the defense asked the judge to rule that Michelle not be referred to as a stripper due to the negative connotations surrounding the term. Instead, they asked to use the term bar worker. The judge compromised, saying the court could use the term exotic dancer. The prosecution's case against Michelle was very similar to their case against John. They pointed to the emails and brought forth several witnesses to describe Michelle's relationship with both Kent and John. So remember Scott, the boyfriend or whatever? He was brought in as a witness. John's ex wife Julia was brought in as a witness. Julia said, or she told the court that Michelle had stayed in contact with John throughout the years. But the prosecution star witness turned out to be Michelle's former friend and colleague, Laura, the one who mentioned the Last Seduction movie, Remember? So during her testimony, Laura told the court that the parallels between the movie and the real life murder of Kent were very similar because the main character in the movie had her husband killed and let her lover take the fall. Laura also said that Michelle had expressed admiration for the main character and that she wanted to be just like her. But during cross examination, the defense brought in Laura's diary, like her own diary. So in Laura's diary, she had listed the different movies that she'd watch, watched with Michelle. Now, shockingly, the Last Seduction was not on that list. So in Laura's diary, she wrote that she watched the movie the Last Seduction with her husband, not Michelle. So that's weird, right? Maybe she was confused. Was she making it up? I don't know. So the prosecution then called John's son again as a witness. But Michelle's defense focused on the inconsistencies in younger John's account of the gun washing. And then finally, the prosecution brought in Kent's mother, Betsy, to testify against Michelle. The key piece of evidence from Betsy's testimony was the letter Kent wrote Remember where he kind of was pointing the finger at Michelle and John and Slash or Scott for his death if it happened? Confusing. And while the prosecution had a long line of witnesses, Michelle's defense did, too, including one of Kent's own brothers and Michelle's husband, Colin. I guess they just came to, like, stand by her side. The defense also played a recording of when investigators first told Michelle of Kent's murder. Through the recording, the jury all heard Michelle crying loudly. And at the news of Ken's death, I guess, you know, just proving that she was innocent. Cause look, she's crying. You can hear it. Yep, she's innocent. I'm not sure what happened with the whole Tahoe alibi. Just saying that. After 20 hours of deliberations, the jury found Michelle guilty of murder in the first degree. At sentencing, Michelle also received 99 years in prison. Following the trials, both Michelle and John maintained their innocence. And John later theorized that Kent had hired someone to put him out of his misery and that Kent wanted his death to be pinned on Michelle as revenge for her involvement with other men. Hmm. Almost immediately after sentencing, Michelle hired new attorneys to file an appeal. And the appeals attorneys focused their case on two key pieces of evidence that they argued should not have been admitted in court. The first was Laura's testimony regarding the last seduction. And the second was the letter Kent had sent his family. Michelle's new defense team argued that Laura's account of watching the movie with Michelle was inaccurate and reminded the court that Laura's diary showed she watched the movie with her husband. As for Kent's letter, the defense once again argued it was not conclusive evidence because it had been written as speculation before the murder even occurred. And that including Kent's letter as evidence violated Michelle's constitutional rights. Because the defense could not question Kent, the appeals attorney also claimed that referring to Michelle as an exotic dancer had biased the jury against her. And so, in February 2010, three years after the original trial, the appeals court overturned Michelle's guilty conviction on the basis of faulty evidence, and a new trial was ordered. Michelle was then released on bond, and prosecutors asked for time to consider whether or not to re indict Michelle. But upon further investigation, the prosecutors learned that there had been suspicion surrounding Kent's father, Kenneth. What? Yes. So Kenneth possibly had a motive to kill his own son because Kent had. Remember, he had, like, embezzled a bunch of money from the family. And apparently there were several more pieces of evidence that pointed towards Kent's father, including that Kent had recently enlisted Kenneth as the Primary beneficiary to his life insurance, and that Kenneth had been in the area around the time of the murder. Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. Wait, is it. Prosecutors also learned the lead detective on the case had been writing a book about it during the trial and was attempting to sell it to a publisher. So everything's kind of fishy, huh? Probably. Prosecutors believe the potential book deal incentivized the detective to want Michelle to be found guilty. Oh, this is a hot mess, isn't it? Damn. Poor Kent. Okay, so they have all of these. This new evidence. Right. So prosecutors decided not to prosecute Michelle again.

B (39:10)

What?

A (39:11)

What? Okay, okay. Michelle returned to Olympia and continued to live the life of a Peter GTA mom. John Carlin had also planned to appeal the case, but before he could do so, he was beaten to death in prison in October of 2008. Oh, my God. So his estate later appealed on his behalf after his death, and John Carlin's conviction was overturned in 2015. His son would later regret his decision to testify against his father. The two of them actually became close after the trial. You know, they resumed their father son relationship. Yeah, at first it was, like, not great. But then after some time, they were able to get close again. He would later regret testifying against his father. But, I mean, was he telling the truth? Because if he's telling the truth, I mean, he shouldn't. Well, that's rough. Okay. And look, at the end of the day, nobody knows what really happened to Kent Lepink. Was it his father? Was it Michelle? Was it John? Was it Scott? Was it Laura? What happened and what, like, what? Nobody knows. Oh, well, I'm sure you have a theory of your own. Maybe you don't. Maybe you're like me. Nobody knows, I think, for sure, Michelle, I don't know, because the father. But then why would the father want to come in and, like, take. Maybe it was the father. Kent's father. I don't know, you guys. This one is a real mystery. I think at the end of the day, it's sad. Like, poor Kent, his. His murder. Like, what happened. Maybe you have some theories of your own for me. I will keep digging around until I find an answer because I have more questions now. Actually, after this, I have more questions. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I'm gonna do some sniffing around. I don't know. I don't know. All right, well, thank you for hanging out with me today. I hope you have a good day. You make good choices. Sorry to give you a case with no closure. They are my least favorite to do. I need closure. Okay. But other than that, I hope you have a good rest of your day and I will be talking to you very soon. Oh, don't forget to make good choices. Please, please make good choices. Okay, I'll be talking to you guys later. Goodbye.