Kimberly Hancock

Summary

Snapped: Women Who Murder

Episode Summary: Kimberly Hancock

Original Air Date: March 1, 2026 | Podcast Host: Oxygen
Case: The murder of Deborah “Debbie” Deans in Nash County, North Carolina

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Episode Overview

This episode investigates the shocking cold case of Deborah Deans, a missing mother of four from rural North Carolina whose remains were found 15 years after her disappearance. The episode focuses on the investigation that led to her former sister-in-law, Kimberly Hancock, and uncovers a pattern of violence, family secrets, and unresolved questions in a tight-knit community.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Cold Case Breakthrough

• Discovery of the Remains:
  • On October 24, 2019, an anonymous tip to a local crime-fighting group leads Nash County authorities to a shallow grave behind mobile homes owned by Kimberly Hancock and her daughter, Laura (04:49).
  • The site yields skeletal remains wrapped in carpet and tarp, immediately suspected to be Debbie (05:46).

“We probably dug less than a foot and hit something… we saw what we believe to be carpet… At that time is when we found the tarp.”
— Detective/Investigator (05:00)

2. Background: Debbie Deans’ Life

• Debbie’s Challenges:

  • A single mother of four, Debbie’s life was marked by financial hardships, relationship instability, and substance abuse (10:57).
  • After a stint in jail for fraud and larceny, she was released in January 2004, seeking a fresh start.

• Family Support:

  • Debbie’s mother, Elaine Deans, and her former sister-in-law, Kimberly Hancock, stepped in to care for Debbie’s children during her incarceration (12:12).

3. Debbie’s Disappearance and Cover-up

• Last Sighting:

  • Days after her release, Debbie vanished. Kimberly claimed Debbie left in a car, leaving her baby behind (13:48).

• Lack of Evidence:

  • The investigation initially stalled due to lack of leads and Kimberly’s misleading statements, which kept the case cold for 15 years (14:14, 21:48).

“The reason Debbie's case went cold, I think, is because of all the lies and fabricated information that Kimberly was giving to the police.”
— Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member (21:48)

4. Uncovering Motive and Suspect History

• Financial Motive:

  • While Debbie was in jail, Kimberly cashed Social Security checks intended for Debbie’s children. Debbie’s return threatened Kimberly’s illicit income, providing motive (19:53, 20:24).

• Suspect’s Criminal Past:

  • Investigators discover Kimberly had previously shot and killed her father at age 18, resulting in a plea deal for manslaughter based on allegations of abuse (22:04).

"This isn't an innocent mother... This is somebody who is capable of murder because they've done it before."
— Narrator (23:12)

5. Family Tensions and Further Accusations

• Confession to Daughter:

  • Kimberly's daughter, Laura Hancock, confides to police that her mother admitted to killing Debbie over Social Security money and planned to blame her missing brother, Kojak, and deceased brother, Robbie (25:54, 27:07).

• Missing Family Members:

  • The disappearance of Kimberly's brother "Kojak" years later raises suspicions of further foul play possibly linked to Kimberly (31:02, 38:12).

6. Kimberly’s Interrogation and Arrest

• Denial:
  • Despite mounting evidence, Kimberly denies any involvement and tries to deflect blame onto her brothers (28:04, 30:15).
  • Ultimately, when pressed, she asks to call her mother before being arrested (32:13).

"Y’all trying to make me feel bad. Baby, I can't feel bad because I didn't do nothing wrong."
— Kimberly Hancock (28:50)

• Arrest:
  • Officers arrest her for murder after her repeated denials and inconsistencies (32:21).

7. Evidence and Testimonies

• Forensics:

  • DNA extracted from the femur bone confirms the remains are Debbie’s, using a match with Elaine’s DNA (33:08, 33:21).

• Traumatized Witness:

  • David Hancock, Kimberly’s son, recalls (as a child) seeing his aunt Debbie tied up in a shed, a memory his mother told him to dismiss as a dream (34:19, 35:10).
  • He recounts Kimberly’s chilling threat: “You keep talking about this, you're going to end up with your aunt in the backyard.” (35:27)

8. Investigation Theory & Community Speculation

• Reconstruction of Events:

  • Investigators theorize that an argument over the checks turned deadly, with Kimberly shooting Debbie and burying her just 10 feet from her children’s play area (36:08, 36:32).

• Rumors of Help and More Deaths:

  • Community members suggest Kimberly may have had help disposing of the body, and speculate her missing brother Kojak may also be a victim (37:30, 38:12).

“All of this seems to fit a very concerning pattern that Kim has. First she kills her dad, then she kills Debbie, and now her brother is missing.”
— Narrator (38:12)

9. Conviction and Plea Deal

• Prosecution’s Challenges:

  • Without direct evidence tying Kimberly to the remains, and with the critical tipster refusing to testify, prosecutors fear a weak case (40:31).

• Alford Plea:

  • Kimberly agrees to an Alford plea, avoiding a full admission of guilt but accepting punishment—8 years, 8 months, and 10 days for aiding and abetting murder and concealing a death (41:20, 41:35).

“Kim's attorney… She ended up taking the Alford plea.”
— Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member (41:20)

10. Aftermath and Unanswered Questions

• Family’s Reaction:
  • Debbie’s family feels the punishment falls short of justice after years of trauma (41:57, 42:12).

“She got off really easy with everything that she had done.”
— Jessica Deans (41:57)

• Ongoing Mysteries:
  • Kimberly is scheduled for release in 2027. Her brother “Kojak” remains missing and rumors endure in the community (44:02).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• Debbie’s Life and Struggles:
  “She always wanted what was best for her kids.”
  — Elaine Deans (09:48)

• On Kimberly’s Motives:
  “Ms. Hancock was still receiving Debbie's monthly checks, but when she got out, she was confronted by Ms. Deans and an argument ensued. And I think that's when the idea went into Ms. Hancock to eliminate Ms. Deans.”
  — Forensic Expert/Investigator (26:35)

• Kimberly’s Denials:
  “I have not done nothing.”
  — Kimberly Hancock (28:27)

• Community’s Relief, Mixed with Sorrow:
  “The children all these years wondering where Debbie is and now she's found. But it's not the outcome that they were hoping.”
  — Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member (24:12)

• Investigator’s Sorrow:
  “My first thought in my brain was, oh, God, it must be time for me to die now.”
  — Elaine Deans (33:39)

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Important Timestamps

• Discovery of remains: 04:49–05:46
• Debbie’s background: 06:18–11:05
• Disappearance and initial investigation: 13:01–14:14
• Financial motive emerges: 20:12–21:01
• Kimberly’s confession to daughter: 25:54–26:08
• Kimberly denies involvement: 28:04–32:13
• DNA identification and family’s reaction: 33:08–33:53
• David recalls seeing Debbie tied up: 34:19–35:18
• Alford plea and sentencing: 41:20–41:48
• Release date and unresolved mysteries: 44:02

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Tone and Storytelling

The episode maintains an investigative, somber, and critical tone—balancing law enforcement perspective, victim family insight, and community rumor in a careful, narrative-driven true crime style. Testimony and memory are interwoven with procedural detail, giving gravity to the sense of loss and injustice experienced by the Deans family.

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Conclusion

Snapped: Women Who Murder’s episode on Kimberly Hancock provides a chilling account of betrayal, greed, and unresolved trauma. Despite the eventual charges and plea deal, the episode drives home the enduring pain of a family and community left with more questions than answers. The tragedy is compounded by the cold calculation of the perpetrator and the lingering mystery of missing family members, prompting ongoing hope for justice and closure.

Transcript

[Elaine Deans]

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[Narrator]

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[Investigator/Reporter]

In rural North Carolina, a long buried secret is finally unearthed.

[Detective/Investigator]

Women. Stop.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

Stop.

[Detective/Investigator]

I feel right there.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

Yes, in there.

[Investigator/Reporter]

The Discovery reopens a 15 year old missing persons case.

[Elaine Deans]

January 19th was the last time I'd saw her.

[Detective/Investigator]

She was getting into a car. She had left the baby sitting on the deck.

[Narrator]

As they pursue these lead, her disappearance really becomes kind of a cold case.

[Investigator/Reporter]

As a homicide investigation gets underway, shocking discoveries lead detectives back to one woman's doorstep.

[Elaine Deans]

She knew things about the wrong side of the law that normal people wouldn't even think of.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

When she was 18 years old, she shot and killed her father.

[Narrator]

And then there's also the question of her own brother who's been missing for years.

[Elaine Deans]

I can't grasp what kind of person would do that.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

We never would have foreseen how gruesome this case would have ended up.

[Kimberly Hancock]

I can't feel bad because I didn't do nothing wrong.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Nash County, North Carolina is a quiet community about an hour from the state's capital.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

Nash county is a rural area. It's very nice. It's up and coming. Had a lot of mom and pop businesses popping up here.

[Detective/Investigator]

Most people know their neighbors and just down to earth southern people.

[Investigator/Reporter]

But even a close knit area like this one has its own secrets. And on October 24, 2019, one of them is exposed.

[Fighting Crime Representative]

Nash County Sheriff's office receive a tip from fighting crime, which is a nonprofit organization here that one lady basically runs and she has a Large following on social media.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

I own fighting crime news and what I do is I take tips from citizens that really don't want to talk to law enforcement and those tips are passed on to law enforcement. I work with multiple agencies and they work on the tips as I give them to them. And everything remains 100% anonymous.

[Fighting Crime Representative]

That's the reason fight and crime has been so successful in our area, because it's confidential information and other citizens don't know that they provided this information.

[Investigator/Reporter]

This time. The tip is about a cold case from 15 years ago.

[Narrator]

This was a missing mother of four, Deborah Dean's. There had been some attention that was paid to it in the past, but the case had grown cold.

[Investigator/Reporter]

According to the anonymous caller, Debra isn't missing. She's dead.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

I chatted for a few minutes, got the person's information and made contact with Nash county sheriff's office with Lieutenant Sherrod.

[Detective/Investigator]

The caller said that Bodi would be in a shallow grave behind a building and that it would be wrapped up in some kind of carpet.

[Fighting Crime Representative]

Our criminal investigation team is then notified and they're deployed out to do an investigation on Wylie Road, a very rural part of Nash County.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Police find the area described in a wooded property behind two mobile homes.

[Detective/Investigator]

I was one of the investigators with the shovel and we probably dug less than a foot and hit something. So we started carefully moving the dirt from the area and saw what we believe to be carpet. Your adrenaline starts pumping, you know, you're thinking this tip is true. We were able to pull that carpet back and at that time is when we found the tarp.

[Narrator]

Women. Women.

[Detective/Investigator]

Stop, Stop. I feel bones. Yeah, right there.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

Yeah, it's in there.

[Detective/Investigator]

I just felt bones.

[Elaine Deans]

Where's that little thing?

[Kimberly Hancock]

Somebody had it right.

[Detective/Investigator]

I got it right here. I got it right here.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Stop.

[Detective/Investigator]

There it is. We saw what we thought to be human remains. At that time, we stopped and went and tried to call the anthropologist to assist us with removing the body. Once we were able to uncover human bones, there was no doubt in my mind. Based off the information we had received from fighting crime, it was going to end up being Debbie.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Debbie Deans was born in Maryland on September 26, 1974.

[Elaine Deans]

She was a happy little girl. She was always happy. She was friendly and sweet and talented. She had a happy childhood. But her father was a long distance truck driver and he was older than I was and he could be difficult to be around. So we separated when Debbie was about 9, 10 years old.

[Investigator/Reporter]

After the divorce, Debbie's mother Elaine became the sole provider. She Was able to land a job in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. But the move wasn't easy for Debbie.

[Elaine Deans]

We moved when she was in eighth or ninth grade. She became bored and she wanted to quit because she said she would go and get her GED. They told her it would take her two years. I think it took her like 10 months. She was very smart. She did take college courses. She didn't graduate, but she went to the local college there. That's right in Rocky Mountain. Her first job was at a barbecue place in Rocky Mountain and she loved it. She was good with children and she just had that instinct to serve and be able to do it well. She was very people oriented, but she could be very hard headed and very independent.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Debbie longed for a family of her own. And at 18, she fell in love with a man named William.

[Elaine Deans]

She started dating William and I think it went much quicker than I would ever have wanted it to go. And then they moved in together.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Debbie soon announced that she was pregnant, but the relationship fell apart as quickly as it

[Elaine Deans]

was. I'm not exactly sure what transpired when she broke off with William. She called up and said, come get me. That's exactly what I did when I got there. I said, what do you want to do? She said, I want to go home with you.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Debbie gave birth to a little girl she named Jessica. Things might not have turned out quite the way she wanted, but that didn't stop her from trying again.

[Elaine Deans]

Debbie knew so many different people. She'd known Robbie for a long time, but it wasn't until two years after she had Jessica that she started talking to him. She married Robbie. It was an on again, off again relationship and she was back home with me when my grandson Robbie was born.

[Jessica Deans]

I vaguely remember what happened after they split up or why, but me and my brother Robbie, we were all still very close growing up. My mom was always a very happy person and we were really big on coloring together. She would always sit down and color pictures with us. Even when she wasn't around, she was sending us pictures that she had colored.

[Elaine Deans]

She blew me out of the water with some of the things that she would think of to teach her children. She always wanted what was best for her kids.

[Investigator/Reporter]

After her divorce, she moved on with a man named Thomas and was soon pregnant again. As Debbie struggled to balance being a single parent while making ends meet, she sought ways to escape.

[Elaine Deans]

She was dating him and she moved in with him and she had a Michael. When she went to have Michael at the hospital, she had tested for positive for drugs and I really thought that putting Michael in foster care would be the wake up call that Debbie would need to get her life back on track. Sadly, it was not. And she kept on this downward spiral until she had Samantha.

[Investigator/Reporter]

By the age of 29, Debbie was a single mother struggling to take care of four children with unreliable fathers.

[Jessica Deans]

So I'm the oldest. Next is Robbie. He's probably about three years younger than me. They tried to hide a lot of the troubles from us.

[Elaine Deans]

William didn't have to pay child support. Robbie, on the other hand, he did pay child support. I think it was like $35 a week, but he paid it.

[Narrator]

She was trying to get by and really be there for her four kids. During that time, her mother kind of stepped in to help with the childcare. Kimberly Hancock had also stepped in to help.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Kimberly Hancock was Robbie's sister, Debbie's former sister in law, and she'd remained close to Debbie after the divorce. Her willingness to help was put to the test in 2003 when Debbie was convicted of fraud and larceny.

[Narrator]

It was clear that she had some financial issues. Here she was a single mother raising four kids on her own.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

Debbie went to jail for writing some bad checks. And while she was in jail, Kimberly had to help take care of the children.

[Elaine Deans]

Kim had Samantha, Michael was in foster care, and I had Robbie and Jessica.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Less than four months later. When Debbie was released in January 2004, she seemed determined to make up for her mistake.

[Elaine Deans]

When she got out, she knew that she needed to be a better mother and that she needed to straighten her life out.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Kimberly invited Debbie to live with her while she got back on her feet.

[Elaine Deans]

She was a very determined person when she set her mind on it. Once she had a goal in mind, she worked towards it. She wanted her kids back.

[Investigator/Reporter]

But within days of her release, Debbie mysteriously disappeared.

[Elaine Deans]

January 19th was the last time I'd saw Debbie. Really wasn't surprising. Kind of let it go and I thought, okay. Sometimes she gets mad at me and she ignores me. But when I didn't hear from her for Jessica's birthday, then I knew something was wrong.

[Investigator/Reporter]

On April 16, 2004, almost three months since Debbie was last seen, her mother finally decided to contact police. One of the first people they spoke to was Debbie's former sister in law, Kimberly, who also hadn't seen Debbie since January.

[Detective/Investigator]

Kimberly told Rocky Mount Police Department that Debbie had came to her house with the baby, Samantha, and they were inside the house and she heard a car drive up in the yard. When she looked outside the door, Debbie was Getting into a car, leaving, and she had left Samantha, the baby sitting on the deck.

[Investigator/Reporter]

The sheriff's office conducted an investigation but were unable to come up with any solid leads.

[Narrator]

As they pursue these leads, they just don't really get anywhere. The case is still on their radar, but as time passes, Debbie's disappearance really becomes kind of a cold case.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Debbie's two older children stayed with her mother while the two youngest went into foster care and were eventually adopted together. For the next 15 years, Elaine held out hope for her daughter's return.

[Elaine Deans]

I'm not a bible thumping person, but I do believe that in God and one of my prayers has always been that we would find Debbie.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Now, 15 years after her disappearance, hope has been extinguished with the discovery of what appears to be Debbie's remains. And investigators face a challenge.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

We never would have foreseen how gruesome this case would have ended up.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

She was in a very shallow grave, wrapped in carpet and just tossed out like trash

[Fighting Crime Representative]

the whole time, just suspects walking around.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Coming up, Debbie's mother makes a startling accusation.

[Elaine Deans]

Wasn't proof. It was just what my gut told me.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Leading detectives to a family member with a nefarious past.

[Narrator]

This is somebody who is capable of murder because they've done it before.

[Investigator/Reporter]

After a 15 year search, North Carolina police believe they've found the body of missing mother of four Deborah Deans. However, they can't be positive until they examine the remains.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

We had reason to believe that it was her, but in situations like this, because there was no actual flesh or DNA that was visible, we had to wait on the state to do their extensive research for us to come back with a positive identification.

[Detective/Investigator]

Once the medical examiner came, they slowly moved more dirt off the carpet and the tarp.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

The scene was processed. They were removing the dirt, the topsoil, the canvas, the carpet, the wire that was attached to it. They took photographs. Every step of the removal of the body was carefully detailed.

[Investigator/Reporter]

While the process continues, homicide detectives begin their investigation.

[Detective/Investigator]

We started out by trying to find out who the landowners were.

[Investigator/Reporter]

They're surprised to discover the two trailers are owned by Laura Hancock and her mother, Kimberly.

[Narrator]

Kimberly Hancock, she's the one to have last seen Debbie Dean's alive.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

Kimberly had said that Debbie just left on the 19th of January and she hadn't seen her since.

[Narrator]

You have to imagine that authorities were pretty surprised, shocked even, that so close to where Debbie was last seen, that that's where her body had been all of these years.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Neither Kimberly nor Laura are home. While officers try to track them down, investigators notified Debbie's mother, Elaine.

[Elaine Deans]

When you have someone missing, it's not quite the same as when they died. And you've accepted the death. They're missing. You don't know where they are. There's still that sliver of hope in your heart.

[Investigator/Reporter]

But as Elaine grapples with the likelihood that the remains belong to Debbie, she tells detectives she's long suspected that Kimberly was involved in Debbie's disappearance.

[Narrator]

Kim told Elaine, Debbie's mom, that she had spoken with Debbie several times and that she's safe, she's with friends, she's out and about on her own. And so it sort of appeases Elaine initially. But then, as you know, the weeks and months go by. Elaine knows something is wrong.

[Elaine Deans]

I knew Kim. I didn't believe anything she ever said. Although Debbie may have went off and done something stupid and dumb, she would have been in contact with her children. Wasn't proof. It was just what my gut told me.

[Investigator/Reporter]

The information leads detectives to re examine the missing persons investigation from 2004.

[Detective/Investigator]

We get the old files from Rocky Mountain Police Department and see what they had done over the years.

[Investigator/Reporter]

15 years prior. In January of 2004, Debbie had moved in with Kimberly. After her release from prison. Kimberly claimed that only days later, on January 19, she saw Debbie get into a car with someone and drive away.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

No description of the person that she may have left with. So they really had nothing other than what Kimberly said.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Records also reveal a potential motive for Kimberly to want Debbie out of the picture.

[Narrator]

While Debbie was behind bars, Kimberly was caring for these kids. And because of that, there were some Social Security checks that were intended to. To help support these kids.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

The checks that were cashed by Ms. Hancock were payable to Ms. Deans. She took it upon herself to go to a local bank in Spring Hope and cash the checks. And I believe the checks were in the amount of $100 each.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Debbie's disappearance six days after her release didn't stop Kimberly from cashing those checks.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

About a year later, a check surfaced in the Spring Hope area where she was attempting to cash a check and forged her name for Ms. Deans's.

[Detective/Investigator]

And they arrested her. And that case ended up eventually getting dismissed in court because the state had no victim to come in and testify against Kimberly that it was forgery.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Despite the forgery, there was never concrete proof that Debbie's disappearance involved foul play.

[Narrator]

It's important to keep in mind that Debbie is an adult. She's allowed to go with her friends and, you know, leave her family if she chooses to, and Here we have Kimberly saying that's what happened.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Now, it seems to investigators that Kimberly may have known Debbie's body was in her backyard at the entire time.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

The reason Debbie's case went cold, I think, is because of all the lies and fabricated information that Kimberly was given to the police.

[Investigator/Reporter]

When investigators check Kimberly's record, they make another startling discovery.

[Detective/Investigator]

During our investigation, we learned that Kimberly had shot and killed her father,

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

Ms. Hancock, when she was 18 years old. She discharged one round with a.25 and was initially charged with murder of her father.

[Detective/Investigator]

She went to court, and she pled to a reduced sentence to manslaughter and got probation. But there was also allegations in the house that the father was abusing her. So I believe that she didn't go to jail for any amount of time.

[Narrator]

Kim goes on to have some relationships, to have two kids to befriend Debbie, and so she seems like she has a relatively normal life.

[Detective/Investigator]

Kimberly grew up around Nash county, outside of the springhop area. And it's my understanding that's where she's always lived. I know she got married at one time.

[Elaine Deans]

Kim didn't work. She had two children from two different fathers. I think that she got support for them.

[Narrator]

Definitely left investigators kind of wondering, you know, this isn't an innocent mother that they're dealing with. This is somebody who is capable of murder because they've done it before. What's to stop them from doing it again?

[Investigator/Reporter]

In Nash County, North Carolina, news of the unearthed remains believed to belong to Deborah Deans spreads like wildfire.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

When the body was found, it was big news. Several TV stations were there getting the story. It was really unbelievable. It was really unbelievable. And I think we all had a sense of relief then. It was also sadness. The children all these years wondering where Debbie is and now she's found. But it's not the outcome that they were hoping.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Her former sister in law, Kimberly Hancock, appears to be the prime suspect. While investigators work to track her down, police receive another call from the anonymous tipster who told them where to find the body.

[Narrator]

The tipster is able to tell them that after all these years, they just couldn't hold that information back anymore. It was something that had weighed on them, and so they wanted to get the information to the right people so that ultimately there would be some justice for Debbie. They say around the time that Debbie disappeared, suddenly Kim wanted to redo or redecorate her home. In going to Kim's home, they notice some small blood stains on certain items. So it kind of makes you wonder the timing of all this is very suspect.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

Remodeling her home right after that, probably destroying most of the evidence in the carpet where she wrapped her up.

[Investigator/Reporter]

After so many years, it's unlikely any evidence is left to support the claim. But detectives get a potential break when they're able to get in touch with Kimberly's daughter, Laura Hancock.

[Detective/Investigator]

We went and picked up Laura and asked her if she would speak with us about his case. When we got to the sheriff's office, Laura was kind of reluctant to begin with to talk to us. But then as the interview went on, Laura told us that she had just got through talking to Kimberly and that her mom had told her everything.

[Narrator]

Laura and her mother would appear to be close. They lived right next door. Laura says that Kim reached out to her and told her that she was going to prison.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

The daughter was like, what are you talking about? She's. They know. They know I did something to Debbie.

[Detective/Investigator]

Kimberly ended up telling Laura that she was buried in the backyard and that she was going to be wrapped in some kind of carpet.

[Narrator]

Laura tells them that this happened because of the checks.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

Ms. Hancock was still receiving Debbie's monthly checks, but when she got out, she was confronted by Ms. Deans and an argument ensued. And I think that's when the Idea went into Ms. Hancock to eliminate Ms. Deans.

[Investigator/Reporter]

But the revelations from Laura don't stop there. According to Laura, Kimberly is planning to pin the murder on her own family.

[Detective/Investigator]

Laura told us that she was going to say that it was her brother Roger, who we call Kojak, and her other brother named Robbie, who actually passed away from a health condition. During the interview with Laura, you could tell it was definitely hard on her. She would cry several times. She tussled with the idea of telling on her mom compared to giving her cousins and her other aunts and uncles the closure that they needed to be able to put this behind him.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Surprisingly, Kimberly appears at the property of her own volition.

[Detective/Investigator]

At that time. I approached Kimberly, told her I needed her to ride with me to the sheriff's office to speak with her, and she agreed.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

There's like a thousand questions we want to ask her, and she was pretty much non verbal and not reacting like a normal person should.

[Investigator/Reporter]

In the interview room, Kimberly denies any involvement and sticks to her original story, so investigators confront her with their recent discovery.

[Detective/Investigator]

We found what we believe to be human remains. In my mind, there's 100% chance that's going to be Debbie. Look, now's the time, okay?

[Elaine Deans]

We don't have this.

[Kimberly Hancock]

I have not Done nothing.

[Detective/Investigator]

You have to know what happened that's on your property. Nobody can go in your property and dig a hole and bury your body without you knowing about it. That just don't happen right at your shop. Right at your shop.

[Kimberly Hancock]

That was a hole.

[Detective/Investigator]

But you know about it. Now's the time you got a chance.

[Investigator/Reporter]

No.

[Kimberly Hancock]

Cause y' all dang on twisting everything around like I know everything. I don't know nothing. Y' all trying to make me feel bad. Baby, I can't feel bad because I didn't do nothing wrong.

[Detective/Investigator]

Nobody's trying to make you feel bad. All we want you to do is tell the truth. I am telling the truth. No.

[Jessica Deans]

You know,

[Narrator]

You have to think that she is just kind of full of it at this point. Here is a body that is found on her property behind her home. Her own daughter has said that she admitted to doing it. She was the last person to see Debbie alive. It seems very clear when you put all these pieces together that Kim was clearly involved.

[Detective/Investigator]

We just wanted to see if she would break and tell us what we needed to know so that we can give that family the closure they've been looking for 15 years.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Coming up, investigators turn up the heat.

[Detective/Investigator]

You can.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

Yes, you can.

[Detective/Investigator]

Yes, you can.

[Investigator/Reporter]

And a new witness comes forward.

[Narrator]

It's just dawning on him that what he saw was not a dream.

[Investigator/Reporter]

North Carolina detectives are interrogating Kimberly Hancock in connection to the murder of her former sister in law, Debbie Deems.

[Kimberly Hancock]

They tried to tell me when I got back from Florida, Kojak was living in my barn back there in my pack house. They said that something happened. And I said, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't want to know nothing.

[Narrator]

She tries to pass the blame to her two brothers, Robby and Kojak.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

Robbie passed away a couple years after Debbie went missing. Roger, everybody calls him Kojak. He went missing from the Castalia area.

[Detective/Investigator]

Kojak was last seen in July of 2009. It's very weird when a person like that goes missing that's well liked in

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

the community and hadn't been seen since.

[Narrator]

Kojak just vanished five years after Debbie's. So you have to wonder if there's some kind of connection there. One of her brothers is dead, another is missing. So there's no way for police to validate any of that information.

[Detective/Investigator]

She never alluded to us that what they were trying to tell her was that Debbie was in the backyard buried. But we knew that based on the information from Laura. It was just all bs, just a Story to get out from under it. I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but I don't believe that at all. You've known. Yes, you have. You've known for 15 years that that body's been behind your back.

[Kimberly Hancock]

No, I'm trying to tell you I did not harm her. I did not lay my hands on her. I did not do nothing to her.

[Detective/Investigator]

But then you need to tell us what did and not include your two

[Kimberly Hancock]

dead brothers, then arrest. Because I can't tell you no more. I don't know. I don't know. I was not there. I did not see anything. I did not do it.

[Detective/Investigator]

I'm through. I'm through.

[Kimberly Hancock]

Y' all gonna go on arrest me. Please let me call my mama and tell her how much I love her.

[Detective/Investigator]

We just cut interview off and told her she was under arrest for murder.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Following Kimberly's arrest, experts study the skeletal remains to confirm their identity.

[Detective/Investigator]

They lay it out on a table. They determine if there's any fragments broken. They learned that the cause of death was a gunshot went to the back

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

of the head in this situation, because there was no flesh, no hair or anything able to be pulled from the. They do what's called a forensic examination to try to positively identify her. They'll go into the bone marrow and try to extract some DNA.

[Detective/Investigator]

The medical examiner's office in Greenwood was able to extract DNA from the femur bone that we located. Then we went and got a sample from Ms. Elaine, who was Deborah's mom. We then sent that off to the crime lab in Raleigh.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

They were able to positively identify her because it was a match based on the DNA from Ms. Deans and her mother.

[Detective/Investigator]

My reaction to learning it was match just confirmed what I believed the whole time. I truly felt from the moment we found that first bone, it was going to be Debbie.

[Elaine Deans]

I had prayed, please don't let me die until we find her and I get these kids through this. My first thought in my brain was, oh, God, it must be time for me to die now.

[Jessica Deans]

I was relieved we finally had an answer. But not only am I losing my mind, but my daughter's never going to meet her grandmother. That was a hard time.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Although Kimberly has been charged with the crime, police still don't have any direct evidence she did it. But another witness comes forward, the girlfriend of Kimberly's son, David.

[Detective/Investigator]

The girlfriend said that David got a little intoxicated and told her that he remembered when he was a small kid that he saw his aunt Debbie tied up in the building. Behind the house.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

He was approximately about 7 or 8 years old.

[Narrator]

David actually went to his teacher and told him about what he had seen in the shop shed. That teacher then reaches out to Kim, his mom, to see what's going on. And that's when Kim tells them that obviously her son had a dream and made it all up.

[Investigator/Reporter]

When detectives ask David to come to the station, he agrees. He says his mother convinced him what he saw wasn't real. But now, 15 years later, he realizes that was a lie.

[Narrator]

He tells them, like it's just dawning on him that what he saw was not a dream.

[Investigator/Reporter]

The memory dredges up something else for David as well, A threat his mother made to keep him quiet.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

Ms. Hancock turned to him and said, you know, you keep talking about this, you're going to end up with your aunt in the backyard.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Very. The timing perfectly matches Debbie's disappearance. And combined with the rest of the facts, investigators form a theory of how the murder might have occurred.

[Narrator]

Debbie gets out from behind bars and realizes that being those Social Security checks intended for caring for that fourth child aren't going to the right place. And there's definitely some frustration and anger there that that money hadn't been used as it had been intended.

[Elaine Deans]

She was going to move away from Kim's. When she told Kim that Kim wasn't going to get that check anymore, that's what triggered what happened.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

I believe Kim snapped when she was confronted by Ms. Deans about the money, and they started arguing, and one thing led to another.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

Kimberly just pulled out a gun and shot Debbie.

[Detective/Investigator]

She wrapped her up with some carpet, the tarp, and just drug her 10ft. And nobody knew it was back there.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

She didn't think five steps ahead. I believe that Ms. Hancock just decided to move the body and keep it on the property.

[Elaine Deans]

Debbie's body wasn't 10ft away from an area in the yard where these kids ran around and played. She let her children play in this yard. She let her grandchildren play in this yard. I can't grasp what kind of person would do this.

[Investigator/Reporter]

However, members of the online crime fighting community have their own theories.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

Kimberly is a small person like me, so it's hard to believe that she done that by herself. In my opinion, a roller carpet weighs a good bit, a good bit by itself. And then you have Debbie on top of that. So I really think she had some help. Rumors have been speculating that maybe kojak had helped her over the years between 2004 and 2009, he was possibly threatening her and telling her, well, I'm gonna tell that you killed Debbie. And rumor is that she may have done something to Kojak to keep him quiet.

[Narrator]

All of this seems to fit a very concerning pattern that Kim has. First she kills her dad, then she kills Debbie, and now her brother is missing. I mean, what's the likelihood all these people go missing? I mean, it just seems at some point that there might have been some foul play involving Kojak's disappearance and that Kim, again might be behind him.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Now prosecutors face convincing a jury of her involvement.

[Narrator]

After all this time, there was no DNA or no specific evidence actually tying Kim to Debbie's remains. So there's that possibility that the jury won't convict. And then Kim walks.

[Investigator/Reporter]

After a month long investigation, Kimberly Hancock is in jail for the murder of Debbie Deans. But prosecutors aren't convinced they have enough to go to trial.

[Detective/Investigator]

It's the sheriff's office's responsibility to make sure we can make the best case we can for the district attorney to take it to trial. I believe that we did that. What district attorneys do and what defense attorneys do is basically not our call.

[Investigator/Reporter]

They continue to build their case, searching for the murder weapon or any other physical evidence linking Kimberly to the crime. Then, in August 2022, three years after Kimberly's arrest, a new witness steps forward.

[Detective/Investigator]

I received a letter from a inmate in the Nash county jail. She had talked to Kimberly and asked her why she was in jail. And Kimberly had made the comment that, you remember the girl that was buried in the backyard? Well, that was me. And she had also made the comment that the only person that could hurt her was assumed dead, which would be Kojak.

[Investigator/Reporter]

According to the informant, Kimberly implied she got rid of her brother as well.

[Detective/Investigator]

She made the comment that she didn't have to worry about Kojak because Kojak may have been taken to the hogshead and the hogs ate him.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Unfortunately, the allegations are impossible to prove. And prosecutors have another problem. The caller who originally told them where to find Debbie's body refuses to testify.

[Detective/Investigator]

You always run into that with witnesses in court. They want you to have the information and they want you to tell. But they're not willing to go to court and stand in front of 12 jurors and the person that they told on to give a statement.

[Narrator]

The tipster was so clear and strong about remaining anonymous and didn't want to testify, you would assume that would greatly weaken the prosecutor's case.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Ultimately, the prosecution and defense teams agree to a plea deal.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

Kim's attorney kept bringing up the fact that she was Moved around from jail to jail and had some health issues. She ended up taking the Alfred plea.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

An Alford plea is you don't really admit to the crimes, but you don't contest it.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

When Kimberly took the Alford plea, the Judge gave her eight years, eight months and 10 days for aiding and abetting murder and for concealing a death.

[Investigator/Reporter]

For Debbie's loved ones and those involved in the investigation, the outcome doesn't feel like justice.

[Jessica Deans]

We went through years and years of emotional trauma, and it wasn't met with what she got. She got off really easy with everything that she had done.

[Forensic Expert/Investigator]

I believe Kim should have gotten at least 20 years. She has deprived a family of a daughter, a mother of children.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

I think that was just a slap in the face. She killed Debbie. She kept living her life and put her in the backyard and just kept going.

[Elaine Deans]

Debbie counted Kim as a friend. I don't think Kim ever counted anyone as a friend. I think she counted people as who she could use.

[Narrator]

Kim has very little value for human life. The fact that she murdered her father while he was sleeping, that she would kill her sister in law. And then there's the question of her own brother who's been missing for years.

[Anonymous Tipster/Crime Community Member]

There's just been so many rumors out there. But what I need is the same kind of tip that I got with Debbie to. To bring me to where Kojak is and what really happened to him. The family deserves closure on that.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Two decades after Debbie's murder, questions still linger. But her family is doing their best to move on.

[Elaine Deans]

Debbie would not have told you she was perfect. I'm just grateful that her children know where she is right now.

[Jessica Deans]

My mom had four of us. We're all still very, very close. We joke on my youngest sister all the time that she is the spitting image of my mom. So I feel like she's living on everybody that's around us.

[Narrator]

Kimberly Hancock is scheduled for release in 2027. Her brother Roger Kojak Iscu is still missing.