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- [00:00]
Peyton Moreland
Are you a professional pillow fighter or a 9 to 5 low cost time travel agent? Or maybe real estate sales on Mars is your profession? It doesn't matter. Whatever it is you do, however Complexplex or intricate, Monday.com can help you organize, orchestrate and make it more efficient. Monday.com is the one centralized platform for everything work related and with Monday.com work is just easier. Monday.com for whatever you run go to Monday.com to learn more. You know we've all tried those one size fits all weight loss plans that do not cut it. And that's why I'm excited to talk to you guys about noom. It is a program that builds a personalized plan just for you. NOOM considers your dietary restrictions, medical issues and personal needs and it's tailored to your life. I love how it doesn't restrict what I can eat or shame me for treating myself. Plus it it feels more sustainable than other more restrictive programs. Using the new map has actually been very eye opening for me. The daily lessons are great and I enjoy the coaching. It is so flexible and motivating. NOOM is also psychology and biology based which honestly the relationship you have with your body and food is a lot about psychology. So it's great they approach it in this way.
- [01:16]
Garrett Moreland
Today, Noom has helped over 5.2 million people lose weight by focusing on progress, not perfection. You can even enjoy your favorite foods without the guilt. So why not start focusing on what's important to you with Noom's approach? Sign up for your trial today at.
- [01:31]
Peyton Moreland
Noom.com youm're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland.
- [01:40]
Garrett Moreland
And I'm Garrett Moreland.
- [01:42]
Peyton Moreland
And he's the husband.
- [01:43]
Garrett Moreland
And I'm the husband.
- [01:44]
Peyton Moreland
And boy oh boy, do we have news for you. Because our merch is live for Black Friday. We've brought back a ton of our most requested designs. Yes, that means our basics. Yes, that means strangey dangey. Yes, that means into the dark merch. Honestly, we have it all. Links are going to be everywhere. Go check it out. Again, it's for Black Friday. So if you've missed something and you wanted to get it, now is the time to do so.
- [02:12]
Garrett Moreland
It's also all discounted as well. Go get your merch. Go check it out. We love you. Thank you for supporting us. And if you are watching on YouTube, yes, I look different. Yes, I buzzed my head. Yes, I bleached it. Well, Peyton bleached it live on our Twitch account. Live on our Twitch account. And it feels freeing to have a buzz cut. I've never buzzed my hair before.
- [02:36]
Peyton Moreland
Garrett is letting his hair down.
- [02:38]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, I'm honestly, it feels good. It feels good to have short hair. Um, Peyton and I are going on a trip for her birthday here soon, so we will be somewhere warm. So I'm excited about that as well.
- [02:50]
Peyton Moreland
Some prayers that we get all our recordings done in time.
- [02:53]
Garrett Moreland
We will. 100%. I don't know. Feeling pretty good. Let's go back from the gym. Been playing some pickleball. I have a pimple on the tip of my nose. And I woke up and it was white this morning. Holy crap. You guys ever have had to pop a white pimple on the tip of your nose? Pain, pain. Straight pain. I got it. It's okay. That's kind of what we got going on. We've just been working. We've been working on some other projects that hopefully we can announce soon as well. I hate being that person, but I am being that person. But we're excited for them. I think one of them will probably announce beginning of 2025, recording episodes, going out to eat, spending way too much money that we don't have. You know, just like everybody else in the world. No, I'm just kidding. But we love you all. Thank you for supporting us. And if you don't like my hair, I don't want to hear it in the comments. I mean, I guess freedom of speech, you can say whatever you want to say, but if I come at you for your appearance, then all I'm saying is freedom of speech. Love you all. And let's hop in to today's episode.
- [04:11]
Peyton Moreland
All right, our sources for this episode are CBS news.com kill or be killed on peacock.com tampabay.com lawncrime.com wfla.com thesun.com oxygen.com sportskeeda.com and sandhillsexpress.com okay, so I think it's fair to say that we all go through rough patches in life. That's why it's so important to have someone that you can really lean on and trust. It's a good support system, whether it's a partner, a parent, a sibling, a friend, even a therapist, a dog. We all need someone that we can confide in, someone who was looking out for our best interest, especially when those struggles are mental health related. And I know this sounds like a better help ad, but it's not. The point I'm trying to make is those lifelines are everything and when you trust someone with your deepest darkest secrets, you hope that at the bare minimum, they will never use those secrets you told them against you. Which is why you do have to be careful about who you open up to.
- [05:16]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah.
- [05:16]
Peyton Moreland
Who you trust in those dark times. Because in the wrong hands, our darkest moments could be weaponized against us. And in the event of today's case, could even be used to cover up murder. So let's hop not that far back to 2015. Actually, I just said that in 2015 is nine years ago. That's kind of far.
- [05:39]
Garrett Moreland
No, it's kind of far, but I.
- [05:40]
Peyton Moreland
Guess most of our cases are kind of like 90s, even 80s. So it's not that far. But 2015, why does that feel like three years ago?
- [05:48]
Garrett Moreland
Almost 10 years ago, basically.
- [05:49]
Peyton Moreland
So crazy. 22 year old Matthew Trussler has just moved to Florida from Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Now, Matthew's parents, Margaret and David, gave him and his older brother Sean a pretty great childhood in Massachusetts. This is from everything that I've read. But like a lot of kids in their teens, Matthew sort of lost his way for a little while. He had battled with some substance abuse in his earlier years. So when Sean, who is his older brother, mentioned that he would be moving to Florida to start his own construction business, well, Matthew thought it would be a good opportunity and a fresh start for him as well. So he packed up his things and followed his brother 1300 miles south to Tampa, where he actually worked as Sean's first employee at his new company. And that's when Sean noticed his little brother turn a corner. The sweet kid with a big heart resurfaced as Matt, who's now 22, embraced this new life for himself. Matthew even started thinking about settling down. He created a profile on Tinder, now in Florida, and began swiping. And eventually he came across one pretty face that caught his eye. A 24 year old girl who loved animals, who went to school for special effects and makeup. An artist who seemed bubbly and kind. Her name was Melissa Turner. The two met up and Melissa said she was immediately taken with Matthew.
- [07:25]
Garrett Moreland
I don't know why, but this sounds familiar.
- [07:27]
Peyton Moreland
Really?
- [07:28]
Garrett Moreland
The name sounds familiar?
- [07:29]
Peyton Moreland
You might have seen it in the news. Okay, that.
- [07:33]
Garrett Moreland
Oh, wait, no, I didn't. I was not in the USA when this happened.
- [07:38]
Peyton Moreland
Yeah, but it would hit the news later. Okay, so Melissa said that Matthew, quote, drew her in, made her feel important. He was different from other guys she had dated in the past. One day turned into another and then another. And before long as the story Goes the couple was fully committed to one another. Matthew opened up to Melissa about his difficult past, his history with drinking and substance abuse. And Melissa told Matthew about her insecurities, how she had been overweight and bullied through a lot of her childhood, and how she worked hard to go from 250 pounds down to 150 pounds in her early twenties. Melissa had found her confidence through this fitness journey of hers and had really started to come into herself. When Matthew met Melissa, she was dreaming of becoming an actress. Was also, though, very into cosplay.
- [08:34]
Garrett Moreland
Keep a waitress. Cosplay is kind of cool. Not gonna lie.
- [08:37]
Peyton Moreland
She would dress up like Elvira, Misty from Pokemon, Velma from Scooby Doo, attend conventions, that sort of thing. And Matthew really did seem supportive of the entire thing. By 2019, the couple was engaged and looking to buy a house together. So they found a place in Riverview, a considerably safe residential suburb of Tampa. They were excited about starting their lives together, spending the weekends picking out paint colors and furniture for their new place. And everyone who knew them as a couple thought, these two are going to go on and live a long, fruitful life together. That was until the fall of that year. So we're now in 2019. Matthew and Melissa have moved in together in Florida. It was actually October 17, 2019. It started out like any other day for the couple. Matthew and Melissa ran errands together. They went down to Home Depot and then to a grocery store. Then they had lunch out near their Tampa home and then they spent the rest of the night in. Melissa said they ended up cooking dinner. They had a few cocktails, and around 11pm she got tired and went to sleep. She passed out, actually. She went to sleep on a big sofa like chair that she had in her office while she said Matthew was still up and kind of staying up late. But when she woke up the following morning at around 8:30am On October 18, 2019, Melissa found their house a complete disaster. The kitchen was completely trashed, there was blood everywhere. And Melissa said she was calling out for Matthew, but she couldn't find him. So she ran upstairs and searched their bedroom and the bathroom, but still there was no sign of Matthew, just the house bloody and a mess. So this is when she decides to go out into their backyard and look around. And lying on the patio by their pool was Matthew. He was unresponsive and covered in blood. So Melissa calls 911 and the operator told her to administer CPR. And a frantic Melissa seemingly followed those instructions because when EMTs arrived minutes later, she was also covered in blood herself. But it was clear to Melissa that there was no one who could help the situation because her fiance, 24 year old Matthew Trussler, was dead.
- [11:06]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [11:07]
Peyton Moreland
So now Melissa tells police that she honestly she was home, but she has no idea what happened. She said she just woke up and found him in this bloody mess. So police ask Melissa if they can search the house and she's like, yes, go right ahead. They have her sign a consent form and then they give her these latex gloves to wear, probably so she doesn't touch anything else in her home now that it's an active crime scene. And when they look inside, they find a lot of broken glass, including one piece that has a pretty good amount of blood on it. And they also discover a black switch blade that when flipped open, also has blood on the inside blade. And there's a ridiculous amount of blood in the kitchen. Like, one of the state prosecutors who was at the scene said it was the bloodiest crime scene she had ever witnessed in her career.
- [11:58]
Garrett Moreland
It like, is she not freaking out at this point? Well, I mean, I don't know. Interesting.
- [12:04]
Peyton Moreland
Well, detectives think that because of how much blood is inside the kitchen, they believe that Matthew probably mostly bled out inside the home and then ended up crawling out of the screen of the window out to the patio. So they're like following the blood and this is what they think has happened.
- [12:23]
Garrett Moreland
Yikes, man.
- [12:24]
Peyton Moreland
They also think this because the window appears to be pushed open, which is weird, obviously.
- [12:30]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah.
- [12:30]
Peyton Moreland
So police are wondering, was he trying to get away from someone? Like, why crawl outside if no one else is in the house? Why not crawl to a phone? Because it definitely looks like he was trying to get outside. So the wounds on Matthew's body become even more confusing to detectives. He has multiple lacerations all over him, but the one that looks fatal was actually a deep cut to his right arm, so.
- [12:56]
Garrett Moreland
Oh, interesting.
- [12:57]
Peyton Moreland
At this point, Melissa agrees to come down to the police station for questioning. This is obviously going to be normal as she is claiming to be at the crime scene at the time of the crime. And there she remains adamant that she has absolutely zero idea how this had all happened.
- [13:13]
Garrett Moreland
I'm just already getting a little. Obviously flags are going up because of how bloody it was. It seems like, I mean, he was obviously stabbed. You're going to hear it's going to be slice. There's going to be screaming, there's going to be so much noise. There is just no way. You don't hear anything. Granted. Never mind. I'm not going to say it because that's too much information about our personal house in life. But there's just no way. There's no. We shouldn't hear anything.
- [13:41]
Peyton Moreland
Well, she tells police. She's like, listen, I had a few drinks last night. I passed out, and then genuinely, I woke up and found Matthew in that state in the backyard.
- [13:50]
Garrett Moreland
What I was going to say is there's probably a spot in the room in our house where we can could scream and nobody else would hear it. Yeah, I'm not going to say anything that sounds horrible. It just. Whatever. Anyways, keep going.
- [14:01]
Peyton Moreland
Police are like, okay, yeah, we hear her story. But what was most suspicious to them is that this is a really gruesome crime scene. There were a lot of signs of struggle in the kitchen alone, broken glass. So how in the world did Melissa sleep through something like that?
- [14:19]
Garrett Moreland
No. Yeah. There's no way. There's no way.
- [14:21]
Peyton Moreland
And here's what else is strange. In the interview with police, Melissa comes in still wearing those latex gloves that they gave her earlier at the crime scene, which. Okay, police are like, hey, we're no longer at the crime scene. You know, you can take those gloves off now. Like, you don't have to wear those in here. And she's like, oh, no, it's fine. I'll just leave them on. Thanks. And so eventually, detectives are like, what? Okay. So they interview her with them on, and then they're like, we need to photograph you now, so you're going to have to remove the gloves. And so she takes the gloves off.
- [14:57]
Garrett Moreland
Oh, I know what you're going to say. Can I finish your sentence?
- [14:59]
Peyton Moreland
Sure.
- [15:00]
Garrett Moreland
There was cuts all over her hands.
- [15:02]
Peyton Moreland
Well, they realized that under the gloves, she was hiding a pretty big gash.
- [15:08]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah.
- [15:08]
Peyton Moreland
On her palm.
- [15:10]
Garrett Moreland
Yep.
- [15:10]
Peyton Moreland
Like a gash deep enough that it needed stitches. Like it was bloody. Like it needed stitches. And they're like, oh, why didn't you talk about that? What is that? And she says, no, it was just that before I called 911, I was in. I went in and I accidentally grabbed one of the broken glasses. But then, as police are kind of moving her around to take pictures of her, they discover that that's not her only injury. She also has a cut on her neck, too.
- [15:40]
Garrett Moreland
It's that time of year. The holidays are quickly approaching, and you might be stressing about gift shopping, because even if your kids have had their list ready all year, chances are good there are at least a few items on those lists that you know they'd love but that give you Pause.
- [15:56]
Peyton Moreland
And let's be honest, one of these might be a smartphone. It seems like kids are asking for these at a younger and younger age and like many parents, you probably have concerns about handing them the same kind of smartphone you use. With good reason. And guys, I think it's safe to say that we are starting to see the effects of younger kids having access to smartphones. And that's why I want to tell you about Gab's holiday sale.
- [16:20]
Garrett Moreland
Gab is the leader in safe phones and watches for kids, teens and tweens. With no social media apps, no Internet browser, and GPS tracking, Gab devices were built from the ground up specifically for kids and teens and are the way to keep your kids safely connected.
- [16:36]
Peyton Moreland
Kids also get unlimited talk and text with Gab messenger, the first messaging and video calling app designed with kids safety as the top priority.
- [16:43]
Garrett Moreland
Peyton, I talk about this all the time, especially because I have younger siblings and one of them actually uses Gab because of social media these days and just the Internet in general, it can be a very scary place. Gab still gives these kids the ability to have a phone and message and talk, but not have to deal with all the fluff around it, especially at a younger age.
- [17:04]
Peyton Moreland
And do it now because right now Gab is offering huge discounts on their phones and watches. And the best part is there's no contract required. Just go to gab.commwmh to get started. That's gab g a b b.commwmh gab.commwmh Terms and conditions apply. All right, we are getting into an ad and for all you parents out there that love the unbelievable comfort of me Undies as much as I do now your kids can join the club too. Meundies is actually launching Meundies Kids which as you might have guessed is their new super soft kids underwear line. Meundies Kids features four waist stretch fabric that feels three times softer than cotton. While most kids underwear brands are blah, boring and itchy on sensitive skin, Meundies Kids puts the fun back in underwear with all kinds of crazy prints and patterns and Meundies kids are kid tested and PA Karen approved. I do have a nephew that I suggested use ME undies and he's loving them so, so much, check out the.
- [18:05]
Garrett Moreland
Brand new MeUndies Kids line today. To get 20 off your first order plus free shipping, go to MeUndies.comMurder and enter promo code MURDER. That's MeUndies.comMurder code MURDER for 20 off plus free shipping. Me Undies comfort from the outside in.
- [18:21]
Peyton Moreland
So at this point, police are having a hard time buying Melissa's story.
- [18:26]
Garrett Moreland
So what the. They're like, so did you do.
- [18:29]
Peyton Moreland
You didn't hear it. You felt you were asleep for the entire crime. Yeah, but also you have a huge gash on your hand and then also on your neck. So they decide at this point to press her a little further. They were like, hey, did you guys as a couple ever fight? Did things ever get physical between you and Melissa's like, no, absolutely not. Things between us were great. But there was one thing Melissa said Matthew always tried to hide from her when he was sad or depressed, but he had on more than one occasion talked about self harm, according to Melissa. So they asked her, were you guys ever physically violent? She's like, no. But Matthew did hide kind of this violent towards himself side of him. She said he always feared he was going to quote, die young. So now police are considering this and they're like, okay, is she alluding that maybe this was suicide?
- [19:26]
Garrett Moreland
There's no way he could have. Okay, but I guess there's always a way.
- [19:31]
Peyton Moreland
But, but also, it's not like he was stabbed. They were more slashes. And that wound on his arm wouldn't have made this impossible. Like you can definitely give yourself a fatal wound on your arm. Right. So when police run this scenario against other details found at the crime SC scene though, they're like, ah, it just doesn't add up because alongside some defensive looking wounds on Matthew's body, the medical examiner actually finds a stab wound in his back.
- [20:00]
Garrett Moreland
Oh, so sign sealed freaking delivered, man.
- [20:04]
Peyton Moreland
The medical examiner's like, eh, we don't think he could have stabbed himself in the back. And the evidence that this was actually a homicide keeps growing from here in the investigation. Remember that big sofa like chair that Melissa slept on in her office that night? Well, when police are still combing the crime scene, they find blood drops leading to that chair. Okay, that could have gotten there after Melissa walked around the house that morning. Sure. But detectives also find clues that say she actually wasn't sound asleep all night like she had initially told them. Because for starters, police collect all the data from Matthew's smartwatch and learn his exact time of death from his health app on there because it's obviously going to track when his heart stopped beating.
- [20:51]
Garrett Moreland
I think I need to start wearing an apple watch.
- [20:53]
Peyton Moreland
It registered that Matthew's heart stopped beating sometime close to 5am which lines up with another really chilling piece of evidence that police had collected while canvassing the neighborhood from one of Melissa and Matthew's neighbors.
- [21:10]
Garrett Moreland
It seems like there should be. Maybe it'd get a little too tricky, like if you're. If your heart actually stops beating, like if it recognizes it, call police. Besides, I mean, I, I get you can take. You take off the watch and stuff, but there's a way to differentiate the two.
- [21:25]
Peyton Moreland
Right?
- [21:26]
Garrett Moreland
And they can tell your heart actually stops beating and like it's still on you. Yeah, it should like send a notification to like the non emergency hot line or something like that. I don't know. I'm sure this has already been thought of. Okay, so don't come at me. But it would be really interesting.
- [21:42]
Peyton Moreland
It might actually exist.
- [21:43]
Garrett Moreland
It might. I bet you there's actually an app that like maybe automatically calls police or something.
- [21:49]
Peyton Moreland
Well, they have life alert.
- [21:50]
Garrett Moreland
You know, they do have life alert, babe. Is that what you want?
- [21:53]
Peyton Moreland
Yeah, button.
- [21:55]
Garrett Moreland
I'll get you one.
- [21:56]
Peyton Moreland
So it turns out that the people living across from Melissa and Matthew had a security camera that captured the couple's backyard.
- [22:08]
Garrett Moreland
Of course they did. That's what I'm talking about.
- [22:10]
Peyton Moreland
So it captures a piece of the backyard. Now the fence around Melissa and Matthew's property keeps you from seeing what's happening out there. But police are like, hey, he crawled out to the backyard. He's found dead in the backyard. Can we please see that footage? But those cameras also capture sound, so they're like, ah, we can't see anything. Wait, there's sound. So they turn it up and around 4am so an hour before his heart stopped beating on the morning of October 18th.
- [22:37]
Garrett Moreland
No way, man.
- [22:38]
Peyton Moreland
You can definitely hear banging on the neighbor's security camera coming from inside Matthew and Melissa's home. It sounds like objects are crashing inside the house, as if someone's throwing things around. And then over the next few minutes, voices start to appear on the security camera. Sound. And by 4:37am There is screaming coming from Matthew and Melissa's backyard.
- [23:07]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [23:18]
Peyton Moreland
Now I want to tell you, it almost sounds demonic. It's a woman shouting things like, I hate you. You're so effing arrogant. Go effing die. And then that's followed by more shouting and things like, get up, get up now. I hate you. Now. All of that screaming and crashing seems to go silent by 5:11am that morning, which does again line up with the data collected from Matthew's smartwatch. So the question of suicide is clearly no longer on the table for detectives because you can obviously hear that there is a woman threatened.
- [23:57]
Garrett Moreland
They can clearly hear there's two different voices. A woman. Yes, and a male.
- [24:00]
Peyton Moreland
Okay, now, question is, was that a third party yelling at Matthew while Melissa was asleep on that chair that had blood drips to it, or is it Melissa in the video?
- [24:11]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, obviously Melissa.
- [24:14]
Peyton Moreland
Now, I do want to tell you all that footage is actually reviewed while Melissa is still in the interrogation room. The. More like the day of the murder. So police are working fast on this case. Like, they go and talk to neighbors. They're like, pull it up right now. We need to see. Which reminds me of the Chris Watts case, where literally as soon as police respond, one officer, they go to the neighbor's house and look at his security.
- [24:39]
Garrett Moreland
How crazy would it be? She's sitting in there knowing. I mean, she's not knowing, but just being actively being caught because a neighbor has a security camera.
- [24:47]
Peyton Moreland
Right?
- [24:47]
Garrett Moreland
So cool.
- [24:48]
Peyton Moreland
So detectives go back into the interrogation room and they're like, listen, your neighbor has security footage. And we need you to tell us what happened around 4am this morning. And Melissa plays down for a while. She's like, what happened at 4:00? I don't know. I told you, I was sleeping. And they're like, the neighbor security camera can pick up on the noise. There was loud yelling and screaming coming from your home.
- [25:15]
Garrett Moreland
What do you say to get out of that? Nothing.
- [25:17]
Peyton Moreland
And Melissa's like, no, I was asleep. I don't remember. And detectives are like, melissa, please, Melissa girl. And eventually, Melissa seems to recall some new details.
- [25:29]
Garrett Moreland
Interesting.
- [25:30]
Peyton Moreland
She says, well, we might have gotten into an argument, actually, yeah, but we weren't like, screaming at each other. And if we were, it really wasn't a big deal. So by this point, Melissa's admitted that she's awake at 4am and that she is arguing with Matthew, which means there was no one else at the house with them. I mean, if there was someone else, she would have said, oh, no, that was someone else. I woke up, there was someone else, right? No, she's saying, no, it was us. There was no one with us. And when they corner her on that, they're like, okay, Melissa, you do understand that if he died at 5 and there was no third party in your home and you were awake, who killed him? And she's like, actually, as you're saying, this more is coming to my memory. She's like, wait, I do remember something. She says, Matthew was still up at 4 in the morning and was being super loud and woke me up. And so we got into a fight about it. And when they ask her why she was screaming at him to get up, get up. She says, oh well. Matthew was clearly not sober on that evening, even though he had been battling with his sobriety for years. And when he got to that state of drunkenness, he would often fall down and have a hard time composing himself.
- [26:46]
Garrett Moreland
Which they could double check if they do a. What's it called? I was a colonoscopy. Autopsy, which they could double check if they do an autopsy.
- [26:55]
Peyton Moreland
Autopsy, Autopsy. Autopsy.
- [27:04]
Garrett Moreland
Which they could double check if they do an autopsy.
- [27:09]
Peyton Moreland
Topsy.
- [27:11]
Garrett Moreland
Autopsy. If they do an autopsy report.
- [27:14]
Peyton Moreland
Autopsy report. Autopsy report, which they already did.
- [27:17]
Garrett Moreland
Autopsy report.
- [27:18]
Peyton Moreland
No autopsy.
- [27:20]
Garrett Moreland
Which did the autopsy report say?
- [27:26]
Peyton Moreland
But I do want to point out before all this, Melissa was using the fact that Matthew had struggled with his mental health as a way that this could possibly be suicide. Right. Like maybe the police would think it's suicide if she mentions that he sometimes talked about self harm or really struggled.
- [27:44]
Garrett Moreland
She kept, she kept going along these lines of self harm. Drugs, alcohol.
- [27:49]
Peyton Moreland
Right, Right.
- [27:49]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah.
- [27:49]
Peyton Moreland
Well, no, when that doesn't work. Now all of a sudden she's weaponizing his addiction, Right. She's like, well he would just get super drunk and he wouldn't be able to stand up. And so then they're like, okay, whenever we're trying to ask you something, you just like revert to like somehow it's.
- [28:03]
Garrett Moreland
Matthew's fault, which I mean, if she killed them, obviously.
- [28:07]
Peyton Moreland
So now they're like, okay, now that we've gotten her to kind of like reframe her story, change her story already. They say, okay, now can you tell us how you actually got that cut on your hand? And Melissa finally gives in and she's like, fine, I did murder Matthew, but it was in self defense. So now she's officially.
- [28:27]
Garrett Moreland
Does she have an attorney at this point? Like, no. She just straight, just no.
- [28:31]
Peyton Moreland
And we're still day one and she is confessing to the murder of Matthew. But now the first time she's saying it, I mean her story has changed a thousand times. Yeah, but now it's self defense. And this is how her confession goes. Melissa says when Matthew woke her up at 4am because he was being too loud, it did turn into a pretty ugly argument. She said when Matthew got to this point of intoxication, he was also known to bring out knives. Now again, she sort of returns to the first bogus theory she pitched because she says that Matthew was known to turn the knives on himself when they were arguing. And so that evening the two of them fought over the knife. Presumably this is the black switchblade that was Found at the crime scene.
- [29:14]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [29:14]
Peyton Moreland
Basically she says she tried to take it away from Matthew when he grabbed her by the neck and started strangling her.
- [29:22]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [29:22]
Peyton Moreland
So Melissa said she thought Matthew was going to kill her at that moment. And so she grabbed the knife that's now in her possession and stabbed him in the back. Gently though she says I gently stabbed him so that, so that she can try and get him off her.
- [29:38]
Garrett Moreland
No way. Did she really say gently? Yeah, she said I gently stabbed him.
- [29:43]
Peyton Moreland
And I stabbed him lightly in the back just to get him off of me.
- [29:47]
Garrett Moreland
You can't, you can't gently stab someone also.
- [29:50]
Peyton Moreland
That sounds way more painful to be honest, to be gently stabbed.
- [29:53]
Garrett Moreland
You just can't. It is not possible to gently stab somebody.
- [29:57]
Peyton Moreland
So after this she said, Matthew, you slammed her head into the counter. And that's when she recalled vaguely stumbling back to her office where she collapsed in the chair because she now has a head injury until around 8am the next morning. And then Melissa says when she came to she was certain Matthew was still alive cuz she didn't think that gentle stab wound would be fatal. Mind you, Melissa doesn't really seem to make mention of any of the other wounds covering Matthew's body as you remember. But she does say however, that this wasn't an uncommon occurrence between them, that she had lied earlier and there was a lot of physical abuse. After all, the couple did fight, especially when it came to the addiction that Matthew struggled with with alcohol. But after this, Melissa actually doubles down on this story and comes up with something pretty wild and disturbing and she says so yeah, not to mention we were there was physical abuse, but also Matthew saw demons that sometimes in their relationship he would stare off into corners of the house and tell her the evil entities were watching them.
- [31:06]
Garrett Moreland
I just don't really know what to think because I mean Matthew's obviously dead, he can't defend himself and she's just saying all this stuff. Granted like some of the stuff maybe could be true like other people this stuff happens to, but like she's just saying stuff and he can't defend himself, you know what I'm saying?
- [31:24]
Peyton Moreland
Well, I'm just like she's just going.
- [31:25]
Garrett Moreland
Off, like she's just going off and saying anything and everything possible to make herself look better.
- [31:30]
Peyton Moreland
Wake up in the morning, call 911, say we got in a fight last night, he slammed my head on the counter. I ended up passing out and now he's dead. Like it was physical. I don't know what happened. It was self defense. Like, she's. You don't call and be like, I don't know what happened? I have no idea.
- [31:47]
Garrett Moreland
Well, I don't know. It's just kind of frustrating.
- [31:50]
Peyton Moreland
So she says that when all of this happened the night of his murder, Melissa claims that something had switched in Matthew and that it didn't seem like she was even fighting him during this physical altercation. That as things escalated, according to Melissa, he started talking to her in a weird voice and saying, what's the matter, little girl? Are you scared because Matt's not here anymore? He just had this little smile on.
- [32:21]
Garrett Moreland
His face and he said, what's the matter, little girl?
- [32:23]
Peyton Moreland
Are you scared because Matt's not here anymore? Now, I know it might seem like days have passed at this point, but I'm trying to tell you all of these story changes and evidence and new things she keeps bringing up happened literally within hours.
- [32:36]
Garrett Moreland
What in the world is happening?
- [32:40]
Peyton Moreland
So by 2pm that day, remember, she calls police. She wakes up at 8am it's now 2pm and all of this has happened. Melissa is like, shoot, I should ask for a lawyer. So they let her leave for the night because she now asks for a lawyer, so they can't keep interviewing her. And they're like, we'll let her leave and we'll compile more evidence. And so they decide to speak with Matthew's friends and family next. Right. Like this is normally what happens in investigation. It's just that they already have a confession.
- [33:08]
Garrett Moreland
Also, they'll easily know because if she's saying all this stuff and no friends or family know.
- [33:14]
Peyton Moreland
I've heard about it.
- [33:15]
Garrett Moreland
The likelihood of this being true is like 1%.
- [33:19]
Peyton Moreland
Right. I mean, there's.
- [33:20]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah.
- [33:21]
Peyton Moreland
If you are struggling with mental health.
- [33:23]
Garrett Moreland
Usually family, to this severe of seeing demons, usually somebody else knows. Usually it's not just the spouse, therapist, family, somebody.
- [33:31]
Peyton Moreland
Somebody. Not always, but usually, yes. So they start interviewing friends and family. They're like, hey, we need. Tell us everything you know about Melissa and Matthew. And to them, it's becoming more and more clear that Melissa's story is likely a bunch of crap.
- [33:44]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah.
- [33:45]
Peyton Moreland
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- [34:08]
Garrett Moreland
Actually, it's really, let's say, funny but amazing. We had a few people come to us and say they use American Home Shield warranty and that they absolutely love it. Some of them were customers, some of them were people who work through Home Shield warranty to fix other people's broken things. Check it out. Choose a plan that works for you and your budget and then it's simple. When a covered item in your home breaks, contact American Home Shield and their trusted and qualified pros will fix or replace it based on the coverage limits in your agreement. Right now you can take 20 off. Go to ahs.comhusband now to save 20%. That's ahs.comhusband for 20 off any plan American Home Shield don't worry. Be warranty the ahs.com contract for coverage details including limit amounts, fees, limitations and exclusive have you thought about a gift for yourself this year? One that has the power to help you grow, learn and become a better version of you. Give yourself the gift of language by.
- [35:07]
Peyton Moreland
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- [35:46]
Garrett Moreland
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- [36:01]
Peyton Moreland
And here's a special holiday deal for our listeners right now. Get up to 60% off your babel subscription but only for our listeners@babbel.com husband get up to 60% off@babbel.com husband spelled b a b b e l.com husband rules and restrictions may apply now. Not only do police learn, there's actually no evidence that Matthew has ever considered or tried to self harm. And when Matthew's brother Sean and his parents hear about his murder, they literally tell police Melissa killed him and it wasn't an accident. It was intentional.
- [36:41]
Garrett Moreland
Holy crap.
- [36:41]
Peyton Moreland
Which is A major red flag if the family or like, first things first, is that she killed him and it was on purpose.
- [36:48]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, take Melissa down.
- [36:49]
Peyton Moreland
There's no question in their mind because they say Melissa, quote, took Maddie long before she took him forever. Like they, they. She took Matt from them long before she killed him. I guess Matthew had cut off his family sometime prior to his death, which was likely at her demands. Even Sean, his boss and his brother, said that six months prior to the murder, he himself had gotten into a fight with Melissa, Matthew's girl. And from what I can tell, it had to do with how many hours Matthew was working for Sean. So she actually got him to quit. And Matthew and Sean hadn't really been speaking much since. So she says he's working too much, and then he quits his job that he had with his brother.
- [37:37]
Garrett Moreland
She sounds diabolical.
- [37:39]
Peyton Moreland
But there was more to the story. According to Matthew's parents, apparently Matthew had gotten involved in Melissa's business, one that caused him to slip into old habits and threatened his sobriety. Because remember how I mentioned Melissa was really into cosplay? Well, what I didn't tell you was that was actually how she made a lot of her money. She would dress up like characters and then film sexually explicit content as these characters.
- [38:04]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [38:04]
Peyton Moreland
And apparently she got Matthew to star in these videos alongside her. Melissa actually started this sexual cosplay blog years prior, and it was supposed to be temporary, a way for her to pay the bills while she found her footing as either an actress or a special effects or makeup artist. But over time, Melissa developed a pretty hefty fan base. People who were willing to pay a lot of money to see their favorite fictional character come to life and engage in sexual acts, which meant more people willing to pay for her content as well. Now, I'm not sure if this was, like, an only fan thing, but I know this cam girl job actually helped her buy that home that they lived in in Tampa. But even long before she met Matthew and recruited him to participate in her videos, people saw a change in the Melissa they once knew. So, before Matt's even in the picture, people who knew Melissa were starting to feel weird. An ex boyfriend of Melissa said once she started to see some real growth and success from her cosplay business, the more unhinged she became, if you will. In fact, he said, Melissa became so obsessed with her business that it consumed every corner of her life. All she thought about was how to make more and more money, and she was willing to do anything to make that happen. It Was almost like something switched inside of Melissa, almost like she became manic, unpredictable. Now a former roommate of Matthews even comes forward to say, look, he did live with an alcohol addiction, yes, okay? But Matthew was never violent. When he was drunk, friends and family come forward and they were like, I've lived with him, I've seen him, I partied with him. He was not a violent drunk. However, it did make Melissa pretty angry, according to friends and family, when Matthew got too intoxicated to the point where multiple people said they had seen her be the aggressor. Got it on more than one occasion. So Matthew's family has a different theory for police. They think at first, Matthew might have been into the idea of helping Melissa out with her cosplay stuff, that the cut and the money he would make was probably enticing, and if he didn't work for his brother, he could work for her. But over time, he might have gotten uncomfortable with it or suggested that he wanted out. And they believe that that was the conversation that might have sparked their argument on October 18th. They also wonder if Melissa was actually looking for a partner for her business when she found Matthew on Tinder. Like, Matthew was in shape, he was handsome, he fit the mold of a good looking actor. So maybe Melissa had kind of recruited him in a way to help her out with this content. Of course, this is just the family's theory, but I think it makes sense. I mean, a family does know the nuances of a relationship better than we as people just researching this and the journalism might. And when police hear all of this, they seem to think it kind of makes sense too. They, the family brings it forward enough evidence of this theory that they start to buy it. Particularly reflecting back on one thing Melissa said in that interview, and it was that Matthew claimed to be possessed by demons. Now, Melissa is a cosplay model and actress, and a lot of the stuff she does is horror and fantasy related. So they have to wonder, is this like a script for Melissa? Is she creating her own narrative here? And is she giving the performance of her life while doing so? Possibly. Because not a day later, on October 19, 2019, Melissa is arrested for second degree murder with a weapon.
- [41:50]
Garrett Moreland
I'm just trying to figure out why. Like, I'm still trying. I know we're talking through this.
- [41:54]
Peyton Moreland
I mean, do we really need a why?
- [41:56]
Garrett Moreland
With domestic violence, we never need a why. But you do a court. You do in court. Like, where's the motive? What's the motive? Why? Why would you do this? I mean, you do need A why? To an extent, because then you said prove first degree murder, not prove second degree murder. Like where, where are we? Yes, where are we on this journey of murder?
- [42:18]
Peyton Moreland
I don't know. Either way, she is arrested fairly fast and a judge sets her bond for half million dollars. And Melissa puts that home she shared with Matthew up as collateral to get out million dollars.
- [42:29]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [42:30]
Peyton Moreland
Finally, on November 7, 2019, the autopsy report comes back with some interesting information. It says that the stab wounds on Matthew's back were in fact superficial, which was going to be tough for the prosecution because it suggested that maybe Melissa was telling the truth about trying to get Matthew off her, that the stab was gentle, if you will. They also discover that Matthew's blood alcohol level was, and this was in quotes in some sources, astronomical.
- [43:01]
Garrett Moreland
Okay. So I was going to ask what the medical examiner had found with his blood alcohol level.
- [43:07]
Peyton Moreland
Well, it was actually five times over the lethal limit for Florida.
- [43:11]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [43:12]
Peyton Moreland
However, what.
- [43:13]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [43:13]
Peyton Moreland
Police never checked Melissa's blood alcohol level, so there's no telling if she was equally as incapacitated during this fight. Ultimately, they find that the cut to Matthew's right bicep severed an artery that led to his real cause of death, which was from blood loss. Which means if Melissa had just called 911 at the time of the fight, they might have been able to stop the bleeding and save Matthew's life. So because of COVID it takes two and a half years for Melissa to end up in court. But before. There are several attempts by both the defense and the state to make some sort of plea deal, but Melissa maintains it was self defense. So when the state says 25 years in a state Florida prison for her plea, her attorneys are like, absolutely not. We will plead for five years. And the state's like, no way. So on Valentine's Day 2022, it is time for a jury to decide whether Melissa acted in self defense or not, because it's not question of whether she killed him.
- [44:15]
Garrett Moreland
So after hearing some of this, I still think she. Let me say my opinion. I don't think it was in self defense, but I don't know how that can be proven. So I think she's going to get off. Because after hearing the evidence you have, unless there's more while we go into trial, I just don't. I don't see how she gets convicted.
- [44:35]
Peyton Moreland
Let me tell you a little bit, a little bit about the trial. Okay, here's what's interesting. The judge did not allow any mention of Melissa's cosplay career to enter the courtroom?
- [44:46]
Garrett Moreland
Why?
- [44:47]
Peyton Moreland
According to them, it wasn't relevant to the case.
- [44:51]
Garrett Moreland
I always find it interesting when a judge says this isn't relevant. It's like everything is relevant. Right.
- [44:56]
Peyton Moreland
I. Well, okay, I understand that, like, the jury might look at her differently if they knew what she did for a.
- [45:03]
Garrett Moreland
Living, but that's part of the case.
- [45:05]
Peyton Moreland
Well. Well or no, I mean, it doesn't really technically tie into the killings at.
- [45:11]
Garrett Moreland
Night, so he's just worried about the preconceived ideas around it.
- [45:15]
Peyton Moreland
I mean, I think the family thinks it does because the family thinks he was leaving and that's what bothered her. But I think it could be helpful for the jury to know that this woman is technically an actress. Like, she's an aspiring actress.
- [45:26]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [45:27]
Peyton Moreland
She acts in these videos. There's a chance she could cry on demand because right away she goes on to give the jury her sob story about how she thought she was going to die that night and she had no choice but to act in self defense. She never intended to kill Matthew. And yes, she does take the stand during her own trial. Frankly, the defense had a pretty good chance, like Garrett said, at getting these charges dismissed. Between the superficial stab wounds, the extremely high blood alcohol content, they argued that could make someone hallucinate and see demons. Like her story could be true. And Melissa painting Matthew as an abusive alcoholic who exhibited unsettling past behavior.
- [46:08]
Garrett Moreland
That's a hard case to fight.
- [46:09]
Peyton Moreland
Yeah, it is. And maybe one of the most interesting things that kind of helped her case was in regards to that security footage from the neighbor's home. And I know you would think it would be the opposite. This is the one where you can hear Melissa screaming obscenities at Matthew and telling him to die. Well, the defense actually calls a former FBI audio expert to the stand, and they say they're pretty sure sections of the audio have been edited and the volume enhanced at trial to make Melissa sound loud. And Matthew was practically inaudible. Now, I don't know if this is true, obviously, like an FBI experts is testifying to it. I don't know if the audio was edited. What I do know, though, is that it's very obvious on that audio that Melissa is telling Matthew to die. Okay, that's not.
- [47:04]
Garrett Moreland
You can't edit that.
- [47:05]
Peyton Moreland
You can't edit that. And that is the truth. And also, I mean, this also could just be the reality of the situation. In the audio, Melissa was the aggressor. Matthew could have been stabbed. He could have been trying to calm things down, or he was already so injured at the point that he couldn't scream. I mean, ultimately, it was up to the jury to sift through this massive pile of fact and fiction. But I want to say it didn't take long for one thing to become clear, and that was that Melissa wasn't that good of an actress after all. I explained my side and why I did what I did. You're crying right now. Is that. Is that what's happening? Are you crying right now? Do you know what tears look like? Jurors saw right through the tears. Melissa tried to cry on the stand. One minute on the stand, she would be, like, really angry and then just, like, flip a switch and be devastatingly sad. And this really made the jurors feel uncomfortable. But that was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to proving Melissa's guilt, because the prosecution brought up another questionable point in Melissa's story. Remember when she said Matthew had hit her head on the counter and that's when she stumbled and passed out? Well, when she was examined at the crime scene that day, a tech determined that she had zero signs of head injury. And if that was the case, why didn't she report it right away to the police? Well, the answer to that question seemed to come with one final smoking gun. It was another piece of tape that was shown to the jury from inside the couple's home on the night of the attack.
- [48:45]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [48:46]
Peyton Moreland
It's from an ADT surveillance camera pointed at the couple's foyer. So they had a camera inside the house. It's at 3:46.
- [48:53]
Garrett Moreland
Did she not realize that?
- [48:54]
Peyton Moreland
And you can see Matthew walking through their foyer pretty calmly. Everything about his demeanor is pretty normal. And then Melissa is trailing behind him in this footage, and she's hunched over. She looks irate. She's disheveled. She's very intoxicated. She's almost like, creepily, like, stalking Matthew into the kitchen, where, according to the timeline, their fight begins less than 20 minutes later. And then at 4:08am, Melissa returns into frame. And she's standing in the foyer just staring at the wall for a moment. And in that clip, you can see that her right hand is covered in blood.
- [49:36]
Garrett Moreland
Okay?
- [49:37]
Peyton Moreland
And then Melissa turns back and walks back into the kitchen. Now, there's so many alarm bells going off with these tapes, but one of the biggest.
- [49:44]
Garrett Moreland
This is insane.
- [49:45]
Peyton Moreland
It. One of the biggest things the prosecutors point out at trial is, okay, if she's in self defense, right? And she's in distress. She feels like her life is on the line here, like she's claiming, why would you get out of the kitchen where the fight is happening and then go back in and then like calmly and then run back in? Why would you run back towards your aggressor? Yeah, the person who's trying to kill you. I think it's pretty clear to say that Melissa probably did not get hit into the head and stumble into her office and that she could have easily called 911 in that moment if her life was in danger. But she was either so drunk she couldn't comprehend what was happening or she chose not to. So after less than a week of testimony, the jury came back on February 18, 2022 with a verdict. The 29 year old Melissa Turner was found guilty. Guilty of second degree murder.
- [50:35]
Garrett Moreland
Good, good, good.
- [50:36]
Peyton Moreland
She was later sentenced to 20 and a half years behind bars. But the damage Melissa did to Matthew's family and his memory.
- [50:44]
Garrett Moreland
Unrepairable.
- [50:45]
Peyton Moreland
Unrepairable. Matthew's mother pointed out how Melissa not only isolated him from them in the final, she killed him. Months of his life, she created this narrative of abuse about him. She slaughtered his name after killing him.
- [50:59]
Garrett Moreland
Which is what I was saying earlier. She just made all this crap up.
- [51:03]
Peyton Moreland
I mean, she used Matthew's hardest battles, his alcoholism, his addiction as a way to try and throw him under the bus, to shield herself, to protect herself, to cover up the fact that she did murder him and according to the state, willingly did it as second degree murder. When I think in reality Melissa was probably the threat all along.
- [51:28]
Garrett Moreland
100%.
- [51:28]
Peyton Moreland
If you're basing it off of what everyone in their life has said, yeah, it feels like pretty cut and dry behavior. Isolate someone from their family, isolate them from their job, completely cut them off, make them reliable on you. That feels like aggressor predatory behavior to me. That's like what we see, right?
- [51:47]
Garrett Moreland
It's pretty wild.
- [51:48]
Peyton Moreland
And that, honestly is the case of Matthew Trussler and where it's sitting right now. All right, you guys, that was our case for this week's episode and we will see you next time with another one. I love it and I hate it. Goodbye. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at progressive. Com, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.