Woody Overton (Real Life Real Crime Host) (31:02)
And then they looked over him and in he didn't have any. He didn't have any marks. And then they told him to take his pants off and he was not a happy camper. But it didn't matter. He had to do it anyway. Took his pants off and then they had him drop his underwear, his drawers, whatever y' all call them, and turn around, et cetera, and he just didn't have a mark on him. And then he puts his stuff back on, and he's pissed. I mean, he's red in the face by this point. And I was, you know, I was being nice to him during that point. I said, Mr. Boudreaux, you just cooperate with him. I mean, the sooner you do it, the sooner we get out of your hair. And it was like he was just shaking his head, etc. And I had been nice to him. I was nice to him the first time we interviewed him. There's no reason for me to go against his ass, go after him. But I'm tell you something, Mr. Kearney and Chuck were wearing him out, rightfully. So they were going for a confession, right? And they've been doing this forever. And he kept adamantly denying, and the search warrant wrapped up, and they were still going at him. And I always said, a good homicide interrogation doesn't really even begin to after, like, five hours of wearing on somebody that won't confess. Right? But we've been there, I don't know, a couple hours. And then they were going on. And Ms. Curry said, I'm gonna tell you something. You did this, and you either either some kind of accident, or you just a damn sexual monster. Said, your wife's been in the hospital for three weeks. What were y'? All. We got, man. And it got out of hand and she hit her head or something. He said, well, you know, you need to tell us what happened. He said, because I'll come back here. I'm coming back with a murder warrant. And you better pray to God she doesn't die. You better pray to God that she lives. And. And he said, are you praying, man? He said, yes, sir, I'm a praying man. I pray every night. He said, I don't go to church, but I pray and I read my Bible every night. Mr. Kearney said, well, you better pray to the Lord above that that girl gets a full recovery and can tell us that you didn't rape her or didn't murder her. Is it because when she dies, coming back with a murder warrant? And he finally, he had enough. He said, well, you know what? If y' all ever have everything you need, he said, you need to leave. And they. They didn't let up on his. Start asking more questions. He said, you know what? I want a lawyer. Boom. Shuts it down. And Mr. Kearney and we're like, that's fine, you know, when we come back, we'll come back, a murder warrant. And, you know, y' all get your stuff and let's go. Getting ready to go out the door. And Boudreaux sitting on the couch. I said, Mr. Kern, I'm going to have a just. I said, I just want to talk to Mr. Boudreaux for just a second. He said, he's already asked for the Lord. You can't talk, you can't ask me any questions, Ms. Kern. And I knew I was going to catch for it, but I had kind of an aha. I just wanted to run. But the. I knew he was going to catch for. But I said, I'm not going to ask him any questions, Ms. Kearney. I just want to talk to him. Human being. A human being for a minute. And he's like, what are you, some kind of pacifist? And then I think he kind of picked up on what I was going to do. So when he stepped outside, I said, Mr. Boudreaux, I said, listen, you already asked for a lawyer. So I sat down across from my handles. I said, I'm not going to ask you any questions. I said, but I said, I'm a huge, huge faithful person, and I'm a believer. I said, I saw the Bible on the side of your bed, and it looks well worn. I know you read it every night. And he shook his head, yeah, he was almost in tears at this point. And he had his head in his hands and was looking down, and I had my hand on his knee. And I said, well, you know what? I said, you need to pray to God. And I said, pray to God that he delivers Jackie or pray to God tonight. And I said, you get your lawyer, need to do it however you want to. I said, but you've got to come up with an explanation how she got so injured. I said, it was just you and her mama's been in the hospital. I said, I understand that you're saying you didn't have anything to do with it. I said, but if you took yourself out of this, let's say it's a criminal trial and you're sitting on a jury, and you look at the evidence that's presented and you look outside looking in. I said, what? I mean, it looks bad for you. And I said, what does it look like? And I said, no, no, don't answer this. I'm not asking you questions. I said, it looks horrible for you. I said, you would get convicted. I said, and even. Even if it never made it to a criminal trial. Mr. Boudreaux. I said, they don't have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to get a murder warrant that says that you killed her if she dies, that you killed her. I said, all that we have to have to get a warrant is probable cause. I said, do you know what the definition probable cause is? I said, don't answer that because I can't ask you any questions. I said, but I'm going to tell you the definition of Probable cause is 50% plus one. I said, and there's way more than if you just take the circumstances, you being here and the way you called and said she's dead, and the way that she said the blanket was to her neck and you check it on her. I said, everything adds up. I said, that's without any DNA coming back on her or anything like that. I said, Mr. Boudreaux, you touch that girl, you got to come up with an explanation, you know? I said, it's. The investigation is going to go where it's going to go. And I promise you, those guys want you, and they want. They want to d. And I look and I said, let me tell you something. Jackie's beautiful. And he was shaking his head, and I said, I know that. And they know this. And, you know, if it goes before a jury and it's presented like this and they look at you. I said, no offense, but then they look at Jackie. I said, it's going to be bad for you, man. I said, listen, I'm begging you, pray tonight and come up with an explanation, and whether you want to give it to your lawyer or whatever, just come up with something. I said, because the dog that you're hunting with right now, he's not hunting. It just doesn't make any sense. And he started crying. I think the shot came back to the door and said, come on, what do we got to go? Kerman wants to go. And I. Sorry. So I said, it's just Mr. Boudreau. I said, just remembering what I told you. And I left. We go outside and. And Colonel's like, what did you do? I said, I just played the Jesus angle on him. I said, he had a big Bible by his bed and crosses throughout. And I said, just, you know, pray that for miraculous healing and that Jesus gives you some insight on what happened, whatever. And they. They kind of shrug, right? And then not. Not thinking that it had a chance in hell working. So Mr. Carney left and went home, and we went. We went back to. Well, no, actually, before we left, we were standing there in the deal to get a game plan together. Because remember, now it's after hours. And we had the night shift detectives, which were Brian Paul Smith, like I told you about. And I think. I think it was Kim McMorris was his partner on nights and then. But everybody else that was there was on overtime, and they were like, okay, what's the plan? Really didn't have one, right. I said, but, you know, I said, I'd like to go interview the mother. And Kearney said, good, good. He said, you go. And he said, take you and Brian Paul go together. He said, let Ken stay in the parish in case they have any detective calls that come in. But y' all go to Baton Rouge and interview her, see what she says in them. We'll talk about it tomorrow in the office. And so I had to get tagged evidence from the search warrant, y'. All. It has to be placed in evidence, and we have to write a search warrant, return to the judge listing what items that we took, et cetera. And then we had to serve him back with a copy. So we had a lot more work to do. But Chuck went home, and again, that's. That's that old school mentality. I mean, you know, let them. Let them run and go do it. How many people can interview the mom, right? And it's after quitting time for them, and they've been doing it 25 years. And Mr. Kearney actually didn't live far from where Boudreaux lived. So I think that's probably was one of the reasons that he actually went on that search warrant, other than he was pissed that we didn't get the information we needed at the hospital, but maybe worried that it's going to turn into a shit show media or whatever or. Or might miss out on homicide investigation. Anyway, so Mr. Kearney went home, Chuck goes home, and Brian Paul and I first went to the sheriff's office, and I tagged all the evidence and submitted it and did the search warrant return. And then we drive to Baton Rouge. I rode him actually to Baton Rouge to the Baton Rouge General Hospital. And we badged our way in to the burn unit and asked to speak to Jackie's mom. And the charge nurse said, I asked, first of all, I said, you know, can we hear? I said, her daughter is in the intensive care unit in North Oak. She said, really? She said, nobody's been to see her. Nobody's. We hadn't heard anything about it. And she said, look, she's pretty messed up and Talking about the mom, she's pretty messed up. Her, I mean her legs are very severely burned. She's on morphine and different pain medicines every four hours. I said she may be awake to talk to you, she may not. I said. She said let me go call her doctor because I don't even know if we want you going in there and telling her her daughter is a death store whatever. So she called the doctor and, and actually got on the phone. I told the doctor, I said look, if she doesn't know, she needs to know. I said this, her daughter's not going to live. And he said well I don't know what to tell you. He said she's not, you know, going to have a heart attack or anything, I don't think. And he says, so go ahead and tell her. So anyway, we got into the room, Brian Paul and I did and the lady was. I mean it was kind of burnt flesh is kind of just. It's just bad. And I've dealt with a lot of times in the career but seeing it like that with all the ointments and stuff and it's not covered up I guess because they want the air to heal, help heal it. I don't know. This woman was burnt to shit from like ankles up to the lower part of her thighs. I mean it's bad and it has smell that you really don't forget about. But anyway, so we go in and she's hooked up to, you know, the pain machines and the mantras and all that. And we had to introduce ourselves and she was like why are you here? I don't understand. And she was kind of loopy, but she wasn't that loopy. And I told her, I said listen again, I'm not going to say the family name because I don't know whatever happened to the kid. Let me tell you all this. The some people commented about what happened to the kid. I should have said that on the first one. And I did ask Boudreaux that the first day when we were there about the baby, where's the baby now? And there was a family friend that lived close by who would keep the kid. And she had came and picked the baby up, the toddler up and the toddler was still there at this time with that family. So anyway, told the mom, said listen, you know it's bad news for you. Said Jackie is in very serious condition in the intensive care unit in Hammond. And she was like I don't understand what happened. I don't understand. I mean shit, y' all this is what, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. This is Tuesday night. Tuesday or Wednesday? I don't know. It's been several days. Right before we heard back from the icu and we did everything. So anyway, she was like, what happened? And we told her that Boudreaux called. 91 1, et cetera. She said, that son of a bitch never told me anything. And I. Da, da, da. I said, well, y'. All. Are y' all on speaking terms? She said, yeah, we're on speaking terms. I said, have you talked to him since Sunday? She said, yeah, I talk to him on the phone a couple times. And she said, I know he works a lot, but, I mean, why wouldn't he tell me? I said, I'd like to know that myself. I said, can you tell me about Boudreaux and Jackie's relationship? And she said, what do you mean? I said, I'm like, did they get along? She said, yes. She said, he adores her. He said he puts her on a pedestal. And, you know, he said, just. Just cherishes her. And I'm thinking, yeah, I bet he does. And so we're kind of kid gloving it. And without telling her about all, she said, I know you got to tell me more. And I said, I told her so. The doctor said originally he thought it was a drug overdose and that he told her she wasn't going to make it. And. And that was it. And then we come to find out they put her in intensive care and come to find out that she had a lot of injuries to her. And she said, what do you mean injuries? I said, a lot of bruises and scratches. I said, at that time, we started working it as a criminal investigation, and, you know, it's an ongoing deal. And I said, but we served a search warrant on your residence today looking for evidence. I said, boudreaux burned Jackie's com. Jackie's comforter and pillow, and all, you know, all her stuff that was in. In the bedroom on the floor when we were there on Sunday. And she said, I don't know why he would do that. I said, you have a wash machine and dryer? I said, I saw it. I said, does he not know how to wash clothes? She said, he washes his work clothes every other day. And so, you know, I'm gleaning information from y', all, if you will. And then I asked her, I said, let me ask you, miss so and so. I said, can what happened to you? And then she came kind of standoffish a little bit. She said, what do you mean what happened? I said, well, I mean, obviously you've been in a burn unit for three weeks. I mean, you've got bad injuries here. I mean, I can see them looking at them. And she said, well, I was in the backyard and I was just messing with the burn pile and spilled a can of gas and I got burned up. And then she cut it off. And I'm just like, I'm not really here questioning about a crime to her. But that didn't add up. I mean, because she was burned up. I just. Anyway, I left it alone. So we talked to her about it. We locked her into a tape statement about Boudreaux cherishing Jackie and doting on her and, you know, all the love and attention he showed to her, etc. And that he had not called her or they. That they had talked, but he hadn't told her anything about Jackie's being in the intensive care unit or even. Because he didn't know until we showed up that she was in ICU like that. But even that, he had to call 911 and he found her dead in his own words. So we locked her into all that and that's it. And we wrapped it up with Left Hunt. You know, Ryan Paul said, man, doesn't look good, right? I said, nope. I said, well, you think that she's been in the hospital for three weeks. Maybe they Boudreaux trying to play house with her. He said, I don't know, man. He said, it sure is interesting that, you know. So that night I go home. I have ocd, extreme ocd, but my OCD is not where, you know, I'm washing my hands a thousand times a day or checking locks and shit like that. Mine is. My brain gets a hold of something. I can't turn it off. I can't let it go. I fixate on it and goes over and over and over and over. And I think that's what partly makes me so successful or made me so successful as an investigator and detective, especially in cold cases, is. And when you run it over in your head a million times, you're going to come up with ideas and things that maybe other people that don't come up with because you run it through your head so many times. But anyway, that I didn't sleep that night. And I just kept thinking about it over and over again. I wanted to get back at Boudreaux. I said, I just wanted to go be able to sit down. Because when I came at him soft, after they had been at him Hard for so long, he started crying. And when I did the Jesus, the, you know, believe in God angle, he jumped all over that, right? And I said, man, if I could just get back to him and tell him that God gave me a dream tonight. God told me, came to me in a dream. Yeah. And. But I couldn't go. He's. He's got a. He's got a lawyer, right? He lorried up. So the next morning, I get dressed, I drive into the sheriff's office in the Texas. Office was upstairs. I'll go in and Mr. Norris was in. And he always got there early in the morning. He's drinking his coffee. He said, hey, Book, you and I gotta go down to Kearney's office. I said, oh, fuck, here we go. He said he wants talk to you. And. All right. And I'm like, here we go, going on the carpet again. And I'm getting my ass reamed yesterday for going back in and trying to talk to Boudreaux or whatever. And in Norris, he was so cool, man. I mean, you didn't know if you were in trouble or not. I mean, he certainly didn't take anything personal or whatever. And I'll tell you some other stories. I'm put up some stories on Patreon about it where we really screwed some stuff up. Being like, Brian Paul and I did a case one time, probably should have got fired over, but we did it in good faith. Anyway, Mr. Norris is just a smooth cat, but. So we go down. I'm thinking I'm about to get ring from one end to the other. He's gonna tear me up, shoot me up, spit me out. We go in and he had a little secretary's office outside that you had to walk through. And then you go in. Actually, I think his secretary's name was Ms. Jackie, also Ms. Jackie Lockhart. But you go into his office, they say, y' all come in and shut the door. And he leaned back in his chair and he steepled his fingers under his chin. He said. He said, woody, he said, tell me again what you said to Boudreaux yesterday. I said, Mr. Kearney, I'm doing the search of the residence. I noticed the crosses. I noticed the only thing he had on his bedside table was the Bible. It was well worn there for decorations. And, you know, I said, well, went back in. I asked him, did he believe in God. He jumped all over it. I said, you need to pray to God. God tells you, et cetera. I ran it down to him and I said, I know, he asked for an attorney. I said, there was a couple times I started to ask him a question, and I told him. I said, nope, don't answer that. Said, I can't ask you any questions. I said, basically, I was just trying to get the juice out of him. Mr. Kearney. I said, in the. Using the things that I saw and observed in the residence, et cetera. And I suppose y'. All. Y' all been digging in his ass. And he kind of smiled and chuckled a little bit about that, and that's in. He said, well, whatever you did, you did something right. I was like, what are you talking about? He said, boudreaux called this morning and told the sheriff that he wanted to talk to Woody Overton and Woody Overton only. And he said, I just wanted to know what you said. And I said, well, all I did was I went at him soft after y' all had been grinding on him. And he said, now this hugely important that we talk about what you do when you go back out there. He said, I want you to have a recorder turned on from the time you walk up to the door. I want you to confirm with him that he called the sheriff and asked to speak with you directly. And then I want you to confirm with him that he does not want a lawyer, that you didn't force him or coerce him, and to give him the statement or call him back, et cetera, et cetera. And I was like, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And meanwhile, I'm pumped, right? I'm like, holy shit. The. I mean, I thought about it all night long, and if I could just have one more shot at him, I just know I could do something. So I go back out there, and he. I knock on the door. He opens the door, same clothing description. This time, he's like, come on in, Mr. Way. Come on, Mr. Willie. I said. I said, Mr. Boudreaux. I said, just call me Woody. I said. He said, you know, I said, I'm gonna call you sir because it's the way I was raised. I said, but, you know, I appreciate you. You calling me out here. I said, but the. I said, you're waiving your rights. A lawyer? I said, you said yesterday, you want a lawyer? He said, I wanted a lawyer for them other assholes. He said, I want to talk to you. You were good to me. You were good to me on Sunday. You were good to me yesterday. You took the time to talk to me and talk to me about God. And he said. And I said, I want to talk to you. I said, I understand that. I said, but I need to advise you your rights. And so I did it. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be just against you to court law. You have a right to an attorney prior to a question. Can't afford one court. 114. Do you understand? He said, yes, I understand my rights. I said, you know, I said, I didn't do anything to coerce you to calling the sheriff. He said, I called the sheriff on my own. He said, I told him that I wanted to talk to you because you were good to me. And I remember something. I said, okay. I said, and you don't want a lawyer? No, I don't want a lawyer. I said, I threatened you. I promised you anything. No, you haven't. I said, all right, so let's go out on the back porch. And he said, you want some iced tea? And I said, sure. So he went in the kitchen, made us some iced tea like we're buds, right? And he comes out, there's two rocking chairs on the back porch which look out towards that shed in the burn pile in the woods on either side. And we sit down and he starts rocking back and forth a little bit. And he's taking a sip of his tea. And I'm just sitting there. I'm waiting on him to talk. I'm not going to start it. And he said, well, he said, Mr. Woody. I said, now you just call me Woody. Mr. Boudreaux said, Woody. He said, I thought about it all night last night. I said, I thought about it too, Mr. Boudreaux. And he said, well, I know how she got those injuries. I said, yes, sir. And tell me how. He said, well, you see, that night she called me, being that Saturday night, she called me and asked me because she had friends over for a party. And I told her no. So she was mad at me. I said, okay. And he said, I believe she went out there in the woods over there and was. Was getting some limbs out of a tree to start a fire because she liked to be around fire. And I'm thinking, what is a fucking family of pyromaniacs? You know, moms burn up and shit. And then he burns up the potential evidence. And now he's saying, jackie like fires also. But anyway, he said, so she went out there and got a hold of this big limb that's hanging in a tree, and it fell on her, and that's what caused all those bruises and scratches. And he kind of looks at me, he's sitting to my left and we're facing forward right. He's looking at me to the right. I'm kind of looking at him and I'm looking at his big glasses and I'm rocking. And I said, well, Mr. Boudreau, I said, you and I both know that's not true. He's like, no, I could take you out there and show you the limb. I said, no, I don't need to go see the limb. He said, why not? I said, well, guess what? I said I prayed last night before I went to sleep. I said, God came to me in my sleep. I said, it gives me goosebumps right now. Mr. Boudreaux, I said, you will not believe this because I telling you, God came to me in my sleep and told me that you were going to call for me to come out here today. And he told me that you were going to try to lie to me. And he told me that you were going to tell me the truth. And he said not to accept your first lie, that that would you be in self preservation and denial of of whatever sin it is that you need to confess. And he was. His eyes got kind of big. I said, mister, I'm not lying to you. I said, I'm telling you the truth. I know God told you to call for me. I said I didn't know how I was going to get back out here because you had a lawyer. I said, I get to the office and they call me down. I think I'm in trouble. And guess what it is. You call the sheriff to bring me out here to talk to you. I said, that's exactly what God told me in my dream.