Kendall Rae (29:28)
It was so painfully obvious at this point that he was behind it all and they knew that he knew that they were on to him and he did exactly what they knew he was going to do because he has the resources. He tried to hightail it the out of there and he tried to charter a private plane actually, but the pilot knew that he was wanted so it didn't work out because the pilot was like, yeah buddy, I'm not flying you anywhere and then the pilot ended up reporting him to the police. But that wasn't going to stop Michael from trying to continue to hide from what he had done. And he was long gone by then. But they did thankfully end up finding him. On August 11, after a four day manhunt, he was captured at a motel in Slidell, Louisiana, where he was immediately taken into custody. And back at the motel that he was staying in, investigators found $10,000 in cash, several pizza boxes, and not surprisingly, illicit drugs. And this is wild, wildly stupid. But they also found a little to do list that Michael made for himself. And once they found that, it was really not looking good for him. And it's like a little checklist situation, burner phone, hair dye, new location, Internet, cash, and most importantly, finished job. And investigators, of course, they know that finished job means kill Shonda. Thankfully, though, he didn't get the chance. And now that he was apprehended, Chief finally felt safe enough to come home and be with her daughter. And honestly though, both her and Isabella weren't sure that the worst was behind them. Michael was someone who they had seen continuously get his way in life in whatever situation it was. And let's not forget, he's a multi millionaire, so it's a lot easier to get your way when you have lots of money. So that was a very real and very understandable fear that they had that he might somehow wiggle his way out of this situation. And Michael definitely tried, but the case against him was strong. After he was booked into jail, he was later indicted on several charges, including conspiracy to commit second degree murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, attempting second degree kidnapping, second degree kidnapping, and violation of a protective order. And mind you, all of these charges meant Michael was facing a sentence of life in prison. And despite all the evidence against him, and again, this is another non surprising thing, but he pleaded not guilty. And I guess his attorney was confident that there wasn't enough evidence for a conviction, which is interesting. It's extremely stupid considering his text messages to Shonda leading up to the event were pretty bad. She was getting texts from a random number saying things like, you are facing Armageddon and no court order will save you. We will take her first and let you suffer for a while before putting you out of your misery. And if you ignore us like usual, someone you love will suffer. And even if these messages were drug and alcohol fueled, which I'm sure they probably were, it doesn't excuse what he said and did. But his defense attorney, though of course, as they do he said that all of this had an explanation. According to him, Michael did rent a van for those two guys, but it wasn't to kidnap Shonda. It was to move some of his furniture. Of course. But then when these two dudes he hired saw how much money Michael had and how badly he wanted Shonda back, they went rogue and they kidnapped her to try and get him to pay her ransom. So that's why his attorney said that Michael didn't try to hide the fact that he rented the van, because he had nothing to hide. Oh, it's stupid. It's, like, just laughable. Now, as for those handcuffs, they were purchased by Michael to stage the fake kidnapping photo. And it turns out that for the last few months, he had been sending her these videos of him clearly in a bad headspace, begging her to take him back. And in one of those instances, he had sent her this photo of him with his face all bloody. And I guess maybe he thought that if she saw him hurting, suffering, that she would come back to him. And I. You know, the handcuffs were part of. Of his attempt to get her back. His attorney said he has a, quote, proclivity to stage things to get her sympathy. And maybe in some delusional world, these explanations would make sense. But what Shonda found next is, I'd say, almost impossible to explain away. Just when you think Michael can't get any dumber, he certainly does, because as the legal proceedings were underway, Shonda had gone to their property, one of their properties in Mississippi. And it's in a pretty remote location, and she was just there to get her belongings back. But while she was there, she ends up finding this Arlo security camera. And, boy, did that thing have some damning evidence on it. I don't know if he realized this, but this Arlo camera is one of those security cameras that starts recording as soon as you start moving it or detects motion. And, oh, it ended up capturing hours, hours of Michael speaking. And a lot of what he was saying pointed to his guilt. For starters, in one video taken two months before the abduction, he can be heard saying, I'm gonna kill her. I'm gonna kill her. And keep in mind, this is Michael just talking to himself, which is terrifying, that he's just walking around in his house in his delusional state of mind, being like, I'm gonna kill her. I'm gonna kill her. I mean, Michael is just such disgusting human, scary, just very scary. And it's very obvious who he is talking about. Here. He is talking about Shonda, and Then in another video that was taken before the abduction, Michael has seen on video, actually, this time with a friend of his at their property in Mississippi. And they're sort of just chatting about his issues with her. And at one point, he says very casually, just stands up and goes, and that's why she'll have to die. And I'm sure you're like, okay, so why didn't this friend do anything about it if he said that to him? Well, this friend claims that he didn't hear Michael say that. And it's possible. I mean, there's nothing that can prove or disprove whether or not he heard it. Plus, Michael was standing up at this moment and walking away. So I think it's possible to believe that this other guy didn't just ignore this very concerning threat. And that's not even the worst of it. Two weeks before the kidnapping went down, Michael was seen on that camera with none other than Sylvester Bracey. As a reminder, this is one of the guys who attempted to kidnap Shonda. And they could be heard discussing how this place was the perfect location to take her and torture her. He can specifically be heard saying, it's almost impossible for anyone to get in here. To which Sylvester responded, and it'll be impossible for her to get out. So, yeah, at this point, investigators are pretty confident they had this dude. I mean, he's cooked at this point. Right? Right. And here's something that is so wild to me. Even though Michael was behind bars at this point in time, he still managed to contact Shonda. He continuously harassed her through phone calls and letters, which understandably made her feel nervous. I mean, really nervous is an understatement, because if he had access to contacting her in prison, where and when would she ever feel safe? Not to mention that the defense. And this is, again, not surprising. We see this kind of thing a lot. But they were actively trying to get him out of jail and put him in a mental health facility instead. In October of 2017, he changed his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. And his attorney was trying to get him transferred to a place where they say he could receive treatment for his mental health. But those facilities aren't nearly as secure as a prison. So it makes total sense why Shonda absolutely did not want that to happen. Been the risk of him coming after her was just way too high, and it felt, you know, way greater if he was anywhere but in a prison. So they had two psychiatrists evaluate him, and it was found that he suffered from bipolar disorder as well. As substance abuse. But the judge ultimately ruled, thankfully, that he was competent to stand trial, which of course means that this not guilty by insanity plea was. Was thrown out. And now things were really trending favorably for the prosecution. And In March of 2018, the divorce was officially finalized, and Shonda was awarded all of their assets, which, in theory would be great, of course, but she quickly learned that that all of the money that Michael seemed to have, yeah, it was gone. Apparently, Michael was anti cash. He had converted all their money into gold bars, which seems very on brand for him, in my opinion. And I'm pretty sure that that's what he had offered the kidnappers in their agreement. One of the gold bars or several of the gold bars, I don't know. But here's the thing. The gold was also missing. Michael must have hid it somewhere. And to be honest, I'm not sure if they ever found it, despite even using a metal detector throughout the property. And on top of that, and this is just so heartbreaking, but Shonda found out that Michael was $750,000 in debt, and she was responsible for paying it since they'd been married when he incurred that debt. And I just feel so bad for her. I mean, it was really like one thing after the next. And this was supposed to be a time where things were really starting to look up, that justice was right around the corner. And then get this. During the divorce settlement proceedings, her attorney, Christine, got Michael to agree to a deposition, which his attorney, of course, was very nervous about. Now, it took place for 10 hours across a three day span, and she was able to ask him a lot of questions about the kidnapping. And despite the overwhelming amount of evidence against him, he stuck to his original story that he hired these men to move some furniture and they went rogue in order to get him him to pay ransom for Shonda. He even said that they called him after the kidnapping, and they told him that they had his, quote, mother, wife, which he said felt like a punch to the gut. And watching the video of him say that in court, oh, my God, it's just ridiculous. But when it came to a lot of the specific questions, like how he met Sylvester, All Michael could say was, I don't know, I don't know this, I don't know that. I don't recall. All because he was high on meth. But one thing he said he did remember, though, is that he certainly never would have orchestrated it. He cried because of course he did, and said how much he loved her and would never do anything like this. And it was just a lot of emotional manipulation and just outright bullshit, in my opinion. And no one was falling for it. I mean, truly. And my personal favorite moment was when Christine played him that Arlo security footage of him clearly plotting with Sylvester. I mean, I truly have to say that is one of the most bonehead moves ever to accidentally record yourself plotting a kidnapping on your own camera in your own property. Like, good job, dude. Genius, genius work. And so in court, they're asking him, okay, what kind of movers say things like that? He goes, well, people tell me all sorts of things like, dude, what does that even mean? He's so stupid. So at this point, Michael is just barreling towards a guilty conviction. I mean, there's. There's not a lot of hope for him left. And I think his defense attorney knew that that was the case and could sense that Michael started to realize that was the case, too. Because hours before the trial was set to start, Michael ended up agreeing to a plea deal, of course. So in exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of second degree kidnapping and one count of attempted second degree kidnapping, they would take the life in prison sentence off the table, and instead, he would face between 15 and 35 years. Now, ultimately, the decision was up to Shonda whether or not she wanted to agree to this, and she ended up deciding that she did. And I think it's sometimes hard for people to understand why a victim would make a decision like this, but it is just so traumatic to go through the trial process. I mean, it would be a lot of pain and trauma that she would have to relive by going through trial. She knew that the evidence was strong, but ultimately, the toll that it was going to potentially take on her and on her daughter, too, just didn't seem worth it. Also, not to mention, there was a chance, a very small chance, that he would have been found not guilty. So accepting this plea felt like the safest option all around. What would be best for everyone involved. So In March of 2022, Michael was back in court for his sentencing hearing. And by this point, it had been four and a half years since the kidnapping. And I can only imagine how ready Shonda was to just put this. Shonda and Isabella were in the courtroom that day, and I wasn't able to find any courtroom footage, but from what I've heard, they both gave very powerful victim impact statements. And they talked about how difficult this has made their lives. Shonda also talked about how Michael wrecked what was once a really good thing. And not surprisingly, they both wanted him to receive the maximum sentence of 35 years. Michael, on the other hand, now had a brand new story. He explained that that he actually did hire those guys, but his intention was never for her to get hurt. He wanted to instead swoop in, be the hero, and maybe she would take him back. Basically, he explained he was planning to save her from a kidnapping setup that he arranged himself. I mean, it really makes no sense. It's ridiculous. Obviously. Basically, at this point, it was just laughable. I mean, everything he tried to do except for just take accountability. And luckily, the judge saw straight through his bullshit. So in the end, Michael was sentenced to 35 years in prison. However, he did receive credit for time served, which is so annoying. The judge said he considered several factors in his decision and he mentioned that Michael's continued harassment, even behind bars, was something that influenced why he got the max sentence. But still, Michael will be out of prison when he is 79 years old. And understandably, that is a day that Shonda is is very fearful of. She believes that he will find a way to get to her again, whether that's when he's free or even when he is still behind bars. But what's amazing to me about Shonda is even after everything that she's gone through, she hasn't let this stop her from living her life. I mean, there's no doubt that the fear is still there. Very much there still exists. And that impacts her often. But just listen to what she has done. In the aftermath of her kidnapping, she has opened two sober living homes that are dedicated to helping women get back on their feet. It's called the Destiny Sober Living in Lafayette. And on the website she writes, Destiny Sober Living was born out of my desire to create a place where we are all able to walk together in encouragement, support, and accountability. And the mission statement reads in part, our mission at Destiny Sober Living is to provide an affordable, safe sober living environment designed to encourage and support long term recovery from alcohol and drugs, drugs. We set high standards for our residents and provide a structured environment where they can best learn the necessary life skills required for the successful transition to a healthy lifestyle. Here at Destiny Sober Living, we are big believers that we can do together that which we are unable to do alone. And I just think it speaks so highly of Shonda's character and really her strength and resilience that she is channeling her time and resources into something that's going to help others, something that our country desperately needs. And really, this isn't new for Shonda. She has always been a charitable person. At one point, she and Michael ran the Handley Family foundation, which hosted fundraising events to support a variety of causes. So I think it's safe to say that giving back is just in her nature and really always has been. And the world is very, very lucky to still have her in it. As time has gone by, Shonda has had the opportunity to thank Chad, the officer who saved her life. And. And there was a clip of this in an episode of 48 Hours, I believe, and it was just so beautiful. I mean, truly, what a surreal moment. And obviously I wish this just never happened in the first place, but I think it is a miracle, really. I'm so thankful that Chad was in the right place at the right time and was being so vigilant, especially when he was off duty. It's so impressive. It's really because of him that Shonda is still here and that Isabella has her mom now. Michael has tried, of course, to appeal his conviction by saying that he wasn't informed of his rights when he pled guilty and that his sentence was too harsh. But it sounds like a last ditch effort if you ask me. I really don't think he's gonna go very far with that. Michael 100 deserves to be in jail, and I hope it remains that way for as long as possible. I wish that he got a much harsher sentence than he did. I really enjoyed learning about Shonda's story at as horrific as it is, just her ability to bounce back from it all and to stay strong and still have moments where she's laughing and smiling even in her interviews. It's so impressive to me. And I don't know, stories about survivors always leave me feeling so, so inspired. And I'd love to know if you guys are interested in hearing more stories about survivors, because there are a few I'm really interested in covering and I'd love to hear your feedback on that. And Shonda, if you happen to see this, I just wanted to say that I am so, so inspired by you. I'm so grateful that you are here today to continue the amazing work that you're doing. Like I said, it is so, so.
