127: The Belinda Temple Case, Part 1 - REMASTERED

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Southern Fried. True crime covers cases
that are not suitable for young listeners,

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and there may also be some explicit
language used. Listener discretion is advised.

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The phrase it's always the husband is
a popular trope in true crime. I've

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got an episode named that, the
case of Michael Morton, who is actually

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an innocent man. You see it
in memes, hear it on podcasts,

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and on shows like Dateline, and
even fictional shows like Dexter. It's a

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trope for a reason. Studies are
all over the place when percentages, but

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for women, only about ten percent
are killed by strangers. Of the women

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killed, Besson when they know,
anywhere from sixty to seventy five percent are

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killed by their husband, boyfriend,
or partner. And murder is the number

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one cause of death for pregnant women. It is when a woman is most

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vulnerable. It's sickening to think of
pregnancy as a motive, but we've seen

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it too many times to ignore it. I've covered at least three of these

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murders before. In today's episode,
Belinda Temple was about three weeks away from

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giving birth when she was murdered.
The respected and beloved teacher from Katie,

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Texas was married to the popular football
coach at another school, David Temple.

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They seemed like a wholesome power couple, people you can look up to,

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but there are always secrets, the
dark underbelly that is the intimacy of marriage.

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David had the age old motive of
an affair with another woman, a

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love triangle. He was obviously the
first suspect, but he wasn't the only

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one. He was just the one
the Harris County prosecutor decided to focus on.

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This is a complicated case. The
attorneys involved are famous, legendary even

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and the legal wranglings in this case
are too much to cover in one episode.

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So this is part one of the
Belinda Temple murder case. The husband

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David Temple, Episode one, twenty
seven. I want to apologize here at

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the beginning for making this episode a
two parter. To be honest, I

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hate two parters, and I know
some listeners do too, But trying to

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cram all the insane detail of this
case into one episode was stressing me out

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and it was not doing justice to
this case. It's one of the most

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infamous publicized cases in recent Texas history, or at least in Harris County.

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History notorious in its own right.
The famous attorneys involved for the prosecution and

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defense have to be given a closer
look, especially the prosecutor, Kelly Siegler,

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who went on to have her own
TV show, Cold Justice. A

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few journalists feel she used the Temple
case to propel her to TV stardom.

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Brady violations, Texas discovery laws,
and even the Michael Morton Act are important

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in this case. I covered Michael
Morton in episode one ten titled It's Always

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the Husband and to the Pearl Clutcher
and an iTunes review who yelled at me

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for that look up the definition of
irony or what tongue in cheek means.

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The whole episode was about an innocent
man railroaded by a prosecutor. For God's

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sake, anyway, I could have
used that title again for the Belinda Temple

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case, because whether it's true or
not, it was certainly the driving force

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for the investigation. Having said all
this, y'all know that I will never

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lose sight of the victims in this
case, and I think that's part of

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the problem with the publicity. Belinda
and her unborn baby girl are often steamrolled

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by the sensationalism I'll do my very
best to honor her and her family,

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and now on to the story.
Katie, Texas is a small city,

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a suburb about thirty miles west of
downtown Houston. A lot of residents who

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live in the friendly community commute to
Houston for work. Katie is part of

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the Greater Houston metropolitan area, and
you can actually have a Greater Katie postal

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address without living there. It sits
at a tripoint of Harris, Fort Bend,

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and Waller Counties. Old Town Katie
was a railroad town first founded in

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the eighteen nineties. It was originally
called Cane Island for the creek that ran

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through the area. The creek was
filled with tall cane perennial grasses with woody

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stalks, thought to have been planted
by the Krankoa indigenous tribes or Spanish explorers

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in the eighteen twenties. In eighteen
forty five, James J. Crawford received

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a land grant for the area,
but by eighteen seventy five only his family,

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two other white families, and the
families of two former enslaved men called

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Kane Island home. The climate and
hard clay soil made it hard to attract

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settlers to the area, but with
hard work, corn, peanuts, and

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cotton became the first successful crops before
Katie became known for its rice fields.

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On September eighth, nineteen hundred,
the Great Galveston Hurricane of nineteen hundred swept

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away almost the entire town. Only
two of the original Katie homes survived that

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Kane Island rebuilt and became incorporated as
the city of Katie in nineteen forty five.

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Today, it's known for its railroad, rice farms, and for being

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the waterfowl hunting capital of the world. And it's also known for its excellent

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school system, which is a big
reason why Houston commuters choose to live in

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Katie. It was an unseasonably warm
winter morning in Katie on January eleventh of

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nineteen ninety nine when Belinda Temple got
a call from her son's daycare. Three

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year old Evan wasn't feeling well and
was running a mild fever. Thirty year

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old Belinda was a special education teacher
at Katie High School. She was eight

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months pregnant, about three weeks from
her due date, but she was still

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working full time. She was happily
expecting a baby girl. Her name would

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be Aaron Ashley Temple. Evan and
Aaron I love that. I'm sure she

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did too. Belinda had a busy
day ahead of her, including an afternoon

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meeting that she couldn't reschedule. She
told the daycare that she would call her

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husband, David to pick Evan up, but David didn't pick up his phone.

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Belinda told one of her friends,
I don't know where he's at.

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He should be at work. I
can't get a hold of him. The

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friend later recalled that it was the
most frustrated she had ever seen the usually

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unflappable Belinda. Belinda rushed out and
went to get Evan, taking him to

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their home in the Simmerin subdivision in
Katie, and she kept calling David.

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She finally got him on the phone
at twelve thirty and explained that she had

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to get back to work, so
he had to come stay with Evan.

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Her colleague said she made it back
to work by one pm. She made

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her afternoon meeting, and then left
school for the day around three thirty pm.

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At three thirty two pm, she
called David at home. The call

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lasted thirty seconds. Belinda was on
her way to David's parents house to pick

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up some homemade soup for Evan before
she had head home. She left her

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in laws at around three fifty five
pm and was home not long after four

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pm. David and Belinda lived just
minutes from his parents' house. David later

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said Belinda was worn out. She
was tired and her feet were swollen.

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He said he told her to go
upstairs and lie down and he would take

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Evan out to run errands with him
while Belinda rested. The little boy was

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evidently feeling better. Since it was
a nice day and still light out,

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David said they would go to the
park first. He said they stopped at

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one park and then decided to go
to a bigger park, but on their

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way there, Evan said he was
thirsty, so they stopped to get drinks

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from a local grocer, Brookshire Brothers. Then they headed to home depot.

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David needed to get some brackets for
shelving in the new baby's room. He

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said they left home depot in time
to have dinner with Belinda before she left

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to play bunko with her friends.
At five thirty five pm, he pulled

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into the garage. He told Evan
he was going to let mommy know they

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were home and then come back and
watch him ride his bike. But when

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he went in the backyard, he
saw the gate was open and the window

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in the back door was broken.
Instead of going inside, David grabbed Evan

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from the garage and ran across the
street to his neighbors, Mike and Peggy

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Ruguierrero's house. He banged on the
door several times until Mike answered. According

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to Peggy, David just shoved Evan
at Mike and said call nine one one.

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Mike was worried about his neighbor going
back into the home alone, so

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he handed Evan over to Peggy and
chased after David. He was shouting weight

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up that David was already inside the
door of his house. Mike tried to

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follow, but Belinda and David's dogs, Shaka, who was in the backyard,

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wouldn't let him pass. David ran
upstairs to the master bedroom, where

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Belinda had been lying down. It
was there, inside the walking closet of

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the master bedroom that David found his
wife lying face down, crumpled up with

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a gunshot wound to the back of
her head. Belinda was fully clothed and

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still wearing her shoes and jewelry.
Her glasses were broken on the floor next

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to her, and a cordless phone
was near her hand. The last call

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made on that phone had been to
their neighbor, Mike Ruggiero. Belinda Tracy

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Lucas and her fraternal twin sister,
Brenda Terse were born on December thirtieth,

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nineteen sixty eight, in Ohio to
parents Tom and Carroll. The family moved

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down south to the city of Nacodochus, Texas not long after the girls were

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born. The Lucases had three sons, Brian, Barry, and Brent,

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and had just about given up on
a girl when Carol became pregnant with the

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twins, only they didn't know it. They thought she was about to deliver

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a big baby boy. When Brenda
came into the world, followed eight minutes

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later by Belinda, the Lucases were
shocked but elated. The girls were fraternal,

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with Brenda having dark hair while Belinda's
was more of a dark blonde or

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golden brown, and they were also
opposites in personality. Brenda was more shy

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and Belinda was very outgoing. The
youngest and the smallest of her family,

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Belinda was known to be scrappy and
feisty. Belinda was a happy child.

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Friends and family describe her as bubbly, smart, and funny. On end

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of her teen years, she didn't
seem to go through any awkward faces with

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all those brothers. The girls were
naturally tomboys. They played softball, and

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Belinda would go on to be a
basketball star, named All District player her

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senior year at Nakodoch's High School.
When she graduated in nineteen eighty seven,

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Belinda was voted the girl with the
most school spirit. She made friends easily,

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which made her not only popular,
but extremely close to family friends and

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later her colleagues. She made real
connections to the people in her life.

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As an adult, those qualities made
her a passionate and gifted educator. As

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a teacher at Katy High School,
she was called Sunshine Girl for her kindness

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and endless energy. Her husband,
David Mark Temple, was born on July

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nineteenth, nineteen sixty eight, in
Texas to parents Kenneth and Maureen. Kin

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had grown up somewhere else, but
Maureen's family had been in Katy for generations.

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David had an older brother named Darren, and a younger one named Kevin.

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While all three Temple brothers were athletic, it was David who became the

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football star of Katy, Texas.
The Temples were and still are a very

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tight knit family. David was known
as a charmer and jokester, but friends

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told author Catherine Kasey that his parents
quite obviously favored him and that they didn't

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want to hear about it when David
got into trouble. One friend said he

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was never held accountable. David played
football from a young age. He was

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held back a year in grade school, which gave him an even bigger advantage

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and size. Friends and teammates said
David didn't just play for fun, even

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in Little League. He played to
win, and they said he could be

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egotistical and had a dark side.
Even as a kid at Katie High School,

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he really excelled at football, becoming
somewhat of a local celebrity playing as

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the team's linebacker. His nickname on
the Katie Tigers team was the Temple of

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Doom. A Katie claimed to fame
and native actress Renee Zellwegger was a cheerleader

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at Katie High School when David played
football there. She was later voted the

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senior class dream date, while David
was named most athletic and his reputation at

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the school was that of a bully. He always got what he wanted and

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he only dated pretty athletic girls.
Though it didn't make any newspapers and isn't

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online much now, author Katherine Casey
reported in her books Shattered that David was

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actually arrested while in high school.
He was part of a gang of high

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school eyes breaking into cars though he
was eighteen. His father was well respected

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in Katie and managed to get it
knocked down to a Class A misdemeanor,

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one hundred dollars fine and three days
in jail. There were also whispers of

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steroids, and David definitely bulked up
in weightlifting, though he always denied drug

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use. Some people said the car
break ins were to get money for drugs,

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though this was mostly rumors. What
wasn't rumor were teachers who went on

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record about David to Catherine Casey.
They said he was feared even by staff,

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and one said they got sick of
Maureen Temple showing up to talk her

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son out of trouble all of the
time. But nothing ever seemed to stick

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to David except rumors and an unbalanced
reputation. On the one hand, he

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was the handsome, charming jock,
a bit of a snob, and one

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of the popular kids. On the
other, a hulking, intimidating young man

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with a volatile temper and a mean
streak. After graduation high school, David

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got a scholarship at Stephen F.
Austin University and Nakodochus, and he seemingly

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put these issues in his rearview mirror, at least in the beginning. On

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the SFA field, at five to
eleven and two hundred and thirty three pounds,

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he was a big, intimidating guy, and his college coach said he

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believed David was so good at football
because he felt the need to be in

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charge. Friends did say he was
as aggressive off the field as he was

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on, but he was still a
hometown hero and Katie and there were talks

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of his temper and bar fights,
and he had had a very tumultuous relationship

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with one girl who he evidently abruptly
dropped for Belinda Lucas. This girl would

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tell Katherine Casey that the whole Temple
family basically shunned her after they had a

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long relationship, and she had gotten
close to them all. I mean,

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ex girlfriends aren't always going to be
complimentary, but the comments about his family

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stood out. In nineteen eighty nine, David was the big man on campus.

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That year, he assisted the university
in winning its first ever conference championship.

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A native in Nakodoch's, Belinda Lucas
was also at SFA, where she

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was a great student and was very
athletic herself. She taught aerobics at a

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place called Ultra Fit, and she
also worked at a local grocery store to

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put herself through school. To hear
David's ex tell it, they met at

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the bar where she worked on her
night off. Her friends told her about

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David dancing with this Belinda Lucas.
She confronted him, He swore nothing happened

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and then basically ghosted her the next
day, and from then on he and

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Belinda Lucas were inseparable. David and
Belinda were a good looking couple, both

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Brunette's athletic fit and tan. They
were called a golden couple and they looked

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the part. Belinda had what people
would call a thousand one smile, and

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Catherine Casey's book shattered. There is
talk that Belinda's family had some issues.

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They were not as close as the
kids got older. Carol told the author

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quote, I don't know why we're
not closer. The kids just don't come

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around. And Tom said their door
was always open, but they just didn't

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00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:19.399
see them much. Of course,
these quotes were after the horror of losing

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Belinda and her unborn child, but
there is talk before that. Belinda would

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00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:29.799
later make a point of saying she
wanted her own career and independence. She

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00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:32.879
didn't want to be like her mom
dependent on her dad, who could be

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00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:37.399
a bit controlling. But for whatever
reason, by the time the kids were

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in college, the family had grown
a bit distant. Maybe that's why she

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00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:45.960
didn't only fall for David. The
Temple family took her un like she was

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00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:51.960
their own daughter. They adored her. She spent more and more time visiting

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Katie with David than seeing her own
parents in town. But she would probably

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later realize she ran with open arms
into exactly what she had tried to run

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00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:07.640
away from. A controlling man and
David's earlier serious relationship. He was domineering

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00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:15.160
and, according to his ex emotionally
abusive, if not somewhat physically abusive with

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Belinda, at least initially, he
treated her very well and even seemed to

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00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:23.640
grow up some. He took care
with his money. They seemed on equal

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00:17:23.640 --> 00:17:29.359
footing as a couple, but there
were some early problems beneath the veneer.

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00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:33.599
Brenda, her twin, noticed it
right away. Her sister seemed to lose

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00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:38.640
her normal self confidence around David,
and soon people heard David call the Lucas

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00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:44.720
family rednecks and white trash. While
they were dating, they rented a house

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together and then got a chow mixed
dog who they named Shaka. Neighbors came

225
00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:53.200
to fear the dog. She was
known to be vicious and aggressive, and

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00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:59.279
she was extremely protective of her owners. After dating for around a year,

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the young couple got engaged. David
proposed on their college football field on the

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fifty yard line. It was extremely
romantic, and Belinda was elated. Her

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00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:15.400
family had misgivings but held their tongues. Belinda was so happy, maybe it

230
00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:21.680
would work. Their romance had been
quick and storybook like. Belinda's friends said

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00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:26.519
David was very affectionate and that the
couple quote did everything the fairy tale way.

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I think this plays into that golden
couple myth you see about the couple

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00:18:30.039 --> 00:18:37.440
everywhere. They were married on January
fourth, nineteen ninety two. After graduating

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00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:41.000
from college, the newlyweds got their
first jobs. Belinda worked as a teacher

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and David as a coach. While
working, they continued going to school,

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both earning master's degrees in education.
Three years into their marriage, in nineteen

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ninety five, Belinda and David welcome
to their first child, a son named

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00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:00.920
Evan. The couple were known to
be devoted parents and seemingly happily married.

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00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:07.319
Following the arrival of their son,
Belinda and David moved to David's hometown of

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00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:12.119
Katy, Texas, just minutes from
his parents home. Belinda had gotten a

241
00:19:12.119 --> 00:19:17.480
new job in Katie. She was
a special education teacher at Katie High School,

242
00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:21.880
and David was a teacher and football
coach at Elif Hastings High School in

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00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:27.559
Houston. David and Belinda also joined
his family's Baptist church. Though they didn't

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00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:33.400
really attend regularly, they made quick
friends with their neighbors and were well known

245
00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:37.039
and liked in the community. For
the most part. As a coach,

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00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:41.799
David was described as the guy you
wouldn't want to piss off. He seemed

247
00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:45.240
to forget he was coaching high school
kids. He had to be reigned in

248
00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:48.680
a lot by his fellow coaches,
and Belinda, of course was known as

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00:19:48.759 --> 00:19:55.759
Sunshine Girl, the teacher everyone loved, the colleague everyone counted on. They

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00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:59.319
rented a house for a while,
saving up money, and then David kept

251
00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:02.160
pushing to buy a house, and
when they did, it was in a

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00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:06.799
much more upscale neighborhood, though still
a five minute drive from his parents' home.

253
00:20:07.240 --> 00:20:11.960
The new house was a two story
red brick colonial on a corner lot

254
00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:17.319
in the Cimarron subdivision, which is
south of I ten. It does look

255
00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:22.359
expensive in photos, and the house
was probably above their means as teachers.

256
00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:26.119
They didn't have enough for the down
payment, as Brenda, Belinda's twin sister,

257
00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:32.039
later revealed, so she loaned them
the money. But Belinda did love

258
00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:36.720
her new home and happily decorated Evan's
room in bright colors, and she again

259
00:20:36.839 --> 00:20:41.160
was really friendly with her neighbors,
while David was seen as more standoffish.

260
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In the summer of nineteen ninety eight, Belinda found out she was pregnant with

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a baby girl. She was due
in early nineteen ninety nine and had already

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00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:55.200
picked an am out Aaron Ashley.
She was ecstatic to have another baby,

263
00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:59.160
and she set up the nursery and
painted it yellow, all by herself.

264
00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:04.279
Appoint friends later made often she did
everything by herself, taking care of their

265
00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:10.079
home, while David just gave her
orders. Early in their relationship, they

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00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:14.000
were seen working in the yard together, going grocery shopping together, all the

267
00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:18.160
things close couples seemed to do.
But after a few years of marriage,

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00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:22.200
David seemed to be running the show, leaving all the work to his wife,

269
00:21:23.160 --> 00:21:27.319
and Belinda struggled with being a coach's
wife. She was alone alot with

270
00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:33.119
a new baby, who soon became
a rambunctious toddler, but she didn't complain

271
00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:37.200
much. She put on a happy
face. She made friends with other coaches

272
00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:47.440
wives enjoyed her career and motherhood.
After the discovery of Belinda's body, David

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00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:52.000
called nine one one at five thirty
eight pm. The dispatcher asked if Belinda

274
00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.599
had a pulse, and David said, no, she's dead. Oh God,

275
00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:02.279
oh Jesus Christ. Then the dispatcher
told to give Belinda CPR. She

276
00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:04.279
later said, come on We've got
to do it for that baby, and

277
00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:10.960
David replied, I can't. Her
head is just gone. Outside of the

278
00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:15.559
Temple home, neighbor Mike was holding
the back gate so Shaka kutn't escape.

279
00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:18.640
As police arrived, they were scared
to go through the backyard because of the

280
00:22:18.680 --> 00:22:23.559
dog, who was aggressively barking and
jumping up against the fence. Police considered

281
00:22:23.559 --> 00:22:27.160
shooting the dog in order to enter
the house, but at that point David

282
00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:32.200
came outside and calmly told police Belinda
had been shot and that she was dead.

283
00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:37.559
He said that he found Belinda all
bawled up in the master bedroom closet,

284
00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:40.279
but he pulled her legs out and
she was lying on her stomach.

285
00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:45.640
Much was made of this later as
if he moved the body intentionally, but

286
00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:48.319
if he was checking to see if
she was alive, he would have had

287
00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:52.599
to pull her out. Twenty aired
partial crime scene photos, and the top

288
00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:56.759
of Belinda's body was underneath the clothing
rack. According to court documents, the

289
00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:02.160
hanging clothes near Belinda's body had been
pushed to the side at some point after

290
00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:06.799
she was shot. Those clothes had
a significant amount of blood and brain matter,

291
00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:10.960
and they appeared to have shielded the
back wall of the closet. Most

292
00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:14.519
of the blood and matter was on
the lower rack where she had knelt down,

293
00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:18.759
possibly putting her head under the rack. If he didn't kill his wife

294
00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:22.160
when he pulled her legs out,
he would have seen that there was no

295
00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:27.000
hope, just as he told the
nine one one operator. After hanging up

296
00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:30.240
with nine to one one, he
walked back downstairs to meet the police.

297
00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:34.640
In order for the police to enter
the home, David put Shaka in the

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garage and then waited outside. During
this time, police later described him as

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00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:47.480
quiet and very calm. He wasn't
crying, but when he found out he

300
00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:52.880
needed to give police a statement,
he did become agitated. Police also noted

301
00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:56.960
that David had no blood on his
person at all, some saying that meant

302
00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:00.640
that he never attempted to perform CPR
to save Belinda's life. I think that

303
00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:03.759
was clear from the nine one one
call, and he did say he only

304
00:24:03.799 --> 00:24:10.480
pulled her legs out. It's ironic
because they also suspected he pulled her legs

305
00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:15.599
out to cover for any blood on
his hands or clothes. I think the

306
00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:19.319
police were all over the place on
David and his calm demeanor could have been

307
00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:26.240
shock. Everyone handles finding a horrific
scene like that differently. The autopsy later

308
00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:30.400
concluded that Belinda died from a twelve
gage shotgun shot to the back of her

309
00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:37.039
head. The shell used was a
reloaded DOUBLET buckshot used for deer hunting.

310
00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:42.599
The unborn baby girl inside of her, named Aaron Ashley, weighed six pounds

311
00:24:42.759 --> 00:24:48.799
and was eighteen inches long. Police
were unable to locate the murder weapon or

312
00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:52.119
the spent shotgun shell in the house. However, there in the closet where

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00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:56.880
Belinda was found, they did locate
two rifles, a thirty yacht six and

314
00:24:56.920 --> 00:25:03.119
a twenty two. During the autopsy, the medical examiner was unable to pinpoint

315
00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:07.599
a time of death. Police knew
that Belinda had been at David's parents house

316
00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:12.000
until around three fifty five PM,
and that David called nine one one at

317
00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:17.920
five thirty eight pm, so that
did narrow down the time frame. There

318
00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:22.680
was gunpowder residue within Belinda's wound,
so it is believed the end of the

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00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:26.079
gun was touching Belinda's head when it
was fired, and that Belinda was kneeling

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00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:30.960
when she was shot. That leaves
a chilling picture in your head. A

321
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:36.000
cordless phone was found near her body. Had she run in there to hide

322
00:25:36.359 --> 00:25:41.359
only to be found and executed,
or had she been marched to this closet

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00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:45.440
because it would have been the quietest
place in the house if you were trying

324
00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:48.920
to hide the sound of a gun
shot. The phone could have also been

325
00:25:48.920 --> 00:25:52.519
placed near her body to make it
look as though she ran upstairs trying to

326
00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:56.839
escape her killer. The medical examiner
said the shooter would definitely have had blood

327
00:25:56.839 --> 00:26:00.680
and tissue on them, along with
blow back on and in the barrel of

328
00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:07.240
the gun, and the amount depended
on multiple factors. Blowback was found on

329
00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:11.880
clothes in the closet, not just
blowback, but massive amounts of blood and

330
00:26:11.960 --> 00:26:17.079
brain matter. It was an absolutely
grisly scene, and while there could have

331
00:26:17.079 --> 00:26:19.960
been blowback on the shooter, it
wasn't for sure. The killer may have

332
00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:23.880
stuck her head into the clothes for
this reason, and if there was blowback

333
00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:27.680
on the killer, there weren't bloody
footprints coming out of the closet or anywhere

334
00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:33.400
else in the house. And while
Belinda did die in fear, her death

335
00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:38.400
was mercifully instant, according to the
medical examiner, and once her blood flow

336
00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:45.240
stopped. Her unborn baby died almost
immediately after her mother. When David's parents

337
00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:48.880
found out that Belinda had been killed, they called a defense attorney to come

338
00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:52.720
to the Temple House and meet with
David. David's parents later said they knew

339
00:26:52.759 --> 00:26:56.680
that the husband is always the first
suspect, so they found him an attorney

340
00:26:56.720 --> 00:27:02.960
as quickly as possible. That may
also seem suspicious to some people, but

341
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:07.000
let's be honest, they weren't wrong. They were being smart, and their

342
00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:11.640
instinct was right. David was taken
in for questioning the night Belinda was found.

343
00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:17.000
He didn't have any scratches or cuts
on him, and he was initially

344
00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:22.920
described as being cooperative. David explained
to police that he was taking care of

345
00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:26.079
their son, Evan, after he
had come home sick from daycare. He

346
00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:30.759
said he gave Evan a bath before
Belinda got home, which was some time

347
00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:34.920
before four o'clock. He told them
that when she got home, Belinda was

348
00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:38.519
tired and he told her to go
lie down upstairs. He said he took

349
00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:42.319
Evan to go to a park,
but on their way they stopped at Brookshire

350
00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:48.599
Brothers grocery store to grab a drink. Brookshire Brothers is around six miles north

351
00:27:48.680 --> 00:27:52.680
of the Temple home, a drive
that would take around twelve minutes, and

352
00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:56.640
police confirmed that David and Evan were
there on January eleventh because they were captured

353
00:27:56.640 --> 00:28:02.640
on video entering the store at four
thirty two pm and leaving six minutes later

354
00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:07.480
after buying drinks and cat food.
When asked, David acknowledged that there were

355
00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:11.960
other grocery stores closer to his home. He went on to explain how after

356
00:28:12.039 --> 00:28:15.839
leaving the store, he decided not
to go to the park and instead thought

357
00:28:15.880 --> 00:28:19.640
they would go home and have dinner
with Belinda before she went to her Bunco

358
00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:23.559
game. For any of you who
have never heard of it, Bunco is

359
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:29.680
a dice game popular in many places, but especially with Southern ladies. It's

360
00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:33.559
a chance to get out of the
house and the regular routine of cooking dinner

361
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:37.000
and getting the kids ready for bed. I imagine it was a bit of

362
00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:41.400
a relief voul for Belinda Temple.
There were varying reports in the state of

363
00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:47.200
their marriage initially, but everyone agreed
that Belinda had the brunt of home chores

364
00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:51.599
because of her life as a coach's
wife. But back to the timeline of

365
00:28:51.640 --> 00:28:55.880
that day. Before David and Evan
went home, they stopped at home Depot

366
00:28:55.960 --> 00:29:00.119
to look for shelving brackets for the
baby's room, because, according to David,

367
00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:03.680
he and Belinda had been there two
days earlier but had bought the wrong

368
00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:07.880
size. Only once at the store, he realized he didn't have the wrong

369
00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:11.240
brackets with him to return. They
were in Belinda's car, so he and

370
00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:17.000
Evan left and headed home. They
were seen on camera entering Home Depot at

371
00:29:15.960 --> 00:29:22.240
five fourteen pm, but their exit
wasn't caught on the video. The trip

372
00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:26.079
from Brookshire Grocery Store to Home Depot
would have taken ten to twenty minutes,

373
00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:29.799
but it took David thirty six minutes, which he told police was due to

374
00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:33.920
traffic, which is believable. When
I read about Katie, a realtor sight

375
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:37.400
warned me about the traffic if I
moved to the area. It is a

376
00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:41.759
suburb of Houston with a lot of
commuters on the road that time of day.

377
00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:47.160
David told investigators he and Evan got
home shortly after five thirty pm.

378
00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:51.599
He said he unbuckled Evan from his
car seat and helped him out of the

379
00:29:51.640 --> 00:29:53.640
truck, but he said He told
Evan to wait in the garage while he

380
00:29:53.720 --> 00:29:57.200
ran inside to tell Belinda they were
home. He said he'd be right back

381
00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:02.359
out to help Evan ride his bike. When David approached the back door,

382
00:30:02.519 --> 00:30:07.319
he saw that it was partially open
and the window was smashed. He immediately

383
00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:11.079
thought the house had been broken into, so he took Evan and ran across

384
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:15.359
the street to his neighbor's house.
At the Temple House, police found that

385
00:30:15.400 --> 00:30:18.839
the back door had a window.
The pain closest to the door knob had

386
00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:22.839
been smashed, probably with a small
tool. There were no primarks on the

387
00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:27.079
door and no damage to the interior
side of the door. Police began to

388
00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:33.759
think that Belinda had been murdered during
a burglary gone wrong, but soon the

389
00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:37.799
scene just seemed off to the officers. Drawers were opened, but not rummaged

390
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:42.759
through. There was a tray of
jewelry with David's wedding ring, his college

391
00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:48.200
championship ring, a gold necklace,
and his watch, which were all sitting

392
00:30:48.200 --> 00:30:53.279
out. Belinda's jewelry box wasn't touched
either. The jewelry on Belinda's body was

393
00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:57.119
also still there, a watch,
a bracelet, a necklace, and rings

394
00:30:57.200 --> 00:31:03.319
on both hands. Linda's purse was
found in a downstairs closet and nothing was

395
00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:07.960
missing from it. During their interview
with David, he told police that nothing

396
00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:11.839
was stolen. However, two days
later, David told his insurance company that

397
00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:17.440
ten pieces of women's jewelry were stolen, including three pairs of earrings, two

398
00:31:17.480 --> 00:31:22.079
necklaces, and two watches. David
said all the jewelry had once belonged to

399
00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:26.279
his mother. But David didn't tell
the detectives about the missing jewelry. They

400
00:31:26.359 --> 00:31:32.160
learned about it on the news.
After police found out about the stolen jewelry,

401
00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:36.119
they sent a list to local pawn
shops, but no items were recovered.

402
00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:41.799
Police had also found Belinda's keys on
the stairs. Friends and family told

403
00:31:41.799 --> 00:31:45.960
police that Belinda usually put her purse
on the kitchen counter and kept her keys

404
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.880
next to her purse in a tray. I would think her husband might be

405
00:31:49.960 --> 00:31:55.119
more sure of where she kept her
purse, but who knows. David said

406
00:31:55.119 --> 00:31:57.640
she would put her purse in the
closet under the stairs and would drop her

407
00:31:57.720 --> 00:32:01.559
keys about a third of the way
up the stairs. Well, the purse

408
00:32:01.640 --> 00:32:05.759
was in the right spot, but
who drops their keys on the stairs?

409
00:32:06.279 --> 00:32:09.640
That is strange. Also, the
glass from the back door was to the

410
00:32:09.720 --> 00:32:13.960
left of the door, and there
weren't any glass shards on the couch,

411
00:32:14.079 --> 00:32:17.160
which was right by the door.
Police thought this could mean that the door

412
00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:22.720
was open when the glass was broken. Others have theorized that when David came

413
00:32:22.759 --> 00:32:27.160
barreling through the door in a panic, he scattered the glass. In the

414
00:32:27.160 --> 00:32:30.359
living room, the TV was still
plugged in and on its side on the

415
00:32:30.359 --> 00:32:34.240
floor. There were scrape marks like
the TV had just been moved across the

416
00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:38.759
stand and then put on the floor. Police didn't think this was something a

417
00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:43.920
burglar would do. I mean,
maybe the TV was just too heavy and

418
00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:47.960
they left it, But jewelry is
not heavy. And there was also just

419
00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:52.319
the sheer fact that the Temples lived
on a corner lot in a nice neighborhood.

420
00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:55.720
Why would someone try to rob a
house like that at such a busy

421
00:32:55.759 --> 00:33:00.720
time of day after four PMS,
when people are getting home from work in

422
00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:05.640
school, the kids are already off
the bus are close to it. Wouldn't

423
00:33:05.640 --> 00:33:08.400
a burglar have been seen by a
neighbor. It's not a typical time for

424
00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:15.359
a robbery. After their initial interview
with David and their growing suspicion that there

425
00:33:15.480 --> 00:33:19.599
wasn't a real break in at the
temple home, police had follow up questions

426
00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:23.440
to see if they could find more
holes in his story. David became irritated

427
00:33:23.480 --> 00:33:28.680
and aggressive when asked to answer more
questions, and according to police, he

428
00:33:28.680 --> 00:33:31.559
wouldn't look detectives in the eye and
would shake and balance in his chair.

429
00:33:32.440 --> 00:33:37.960
And though he was visibly irritated,
David never shed a tear during the questioning

430
00:33:37.319 --> 00:33:43.440
and was hesitant in many of his
answers. Detectives wanted to know for certain

431
00:33:43.480 --> 00:33:46.640
which park David took Evan to,
because he had originally claimed it was Peckham

432
00:33:46.680 --> 00:33:52.839
Park, but within seconds changed his
answer to Cimarron Park. When asked again,

433
00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:57.160
David said that after they left the
house, he and Evan drove a

434
00:33:57.200 --> 00:34:00.720
few minutes away to the neighborhood park
Cimarron, which was closer to their home,

435
00:34:01.240 --> 00:34:05.799
but according to David, shortly after
they arrived, they decided to go

436
00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:10.039
to a larger park instead. Peckham
Park, where they were headed to next,

437
00:34:10.280 --> 00:34:15.480
was several more miles away. It
was on their way to Peckham that

438
00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:19.039
Evans said he wanted a drink,
so they made a detour to the grocery

439
00:34:19.079 --> 00:34:23.159
store. Police later went to Cimarron
Park with photographs of David in his truck,

440
00:34:23.239 --> 00:34:29.719
but no one recognized them. The
other burning question investigators still had was

441
00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:34.320
just how did a burglar get into
the backyard with the temple's ferocious dog,

442
00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:39.119
Shaka standing guard. Shaka was known
to be fiercely protective of the temple family

443
00:34:39.199 --> 00:34:44.679
and home, and was basically trained
to attack strangers trying to enter their space.

444
00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:51.159
She was almost always chained up and
feared by neighbors. Families avoided even

445
00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:55.440
walking close to the fence around the
temple yard. The police had almost had

446
00:34:55.440 --> 00:35:00.119
to shoot her to gain entrance to
the house when they first arrived on scene.

447
00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:04.679
She was barking, growling, and
hurling herself at the fence before David

448
00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:07.920
locked her in the garage, but
David didn't have an answer for the police.

449
00:35:08.400 --> 00:35:12.599
He would later say that the dog
had been in the garage, their

450
00:35:12.599 --> 00:35:15.400
gait had been broken, and police
did find Shaka's bed and food bowls in

451
00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:19.079
there. But on the day of
the murder, she was in the back

452
00:35:19.159 --> 00:35:22.159
yard when Mike Rugierro, their neighbor, had chased David back to his house,

453
00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:28.480
and also when the police arrived,
but in theory, Shaka could have

454
00:35:28.559 --> 00:35:31.159
run out of the garage after her
master into the yard when he ran to

455
00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:36.880
the back door after seeing the broken
window pane. At the end of their

456
00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:40.559
questioning, detectives told David that he
could not be eliminated as a suspect.

457
00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:47.119
Although there were obvious inconsistencies with his
story, David wasn't arrested at the time

458
00:35:47.800 --> 00:35:53.639
there wasn't enough evidence this would not
be a slam dunk case. That night,

459
00:35:53.960 --> 00:35:58.760
David and Evan went to sleep at
his parents house. They never returned

460
00:35:58.760 --> 00:36:01.880
to the home where Belinda was murdered. They lived with David's parents for almost

461
00:36:01.880 --> 00:36:07.719
two years. The Temple family held
a visitation for Belinda in their home,

462
00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:14.119
and then Belinda and Aaron were laid
to rest in the Katie Magnolia Cemetery with

463
00:36:14.199 --> 00:36:20.280
a rose granite headstone that read we
feel the touch of Angel Wings. At

464
00:36:20.320 --> 00:36:23.880
the top is the name Temple.
Below reads Brenda Tracy with her birth and

465
00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:30.559
death dates, and then Aaron Ashley
with just one day January eleventh, nineteen

466
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:40.599
ninety nine. When police processed David's
vehicle, they found that David did not

467
00:36:40.679 --> 00:36:45.480
have a car seat in his truck, which was odd considering that he had

468
00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:50.639
taken Evan on those errands the day
of his wife's murder. When asked about

469
00:36:50.679 --> 00:36:53.000
it, David said he always put
Evan in a car seat and had no

470
00:36:53.119 --> 00:36:57.639
idea what happened to it. This
made police think that David was in a

471
00:36:57.679 --> 00:37:00.880
hurry to drive away from his house
didn't remember to install the car seat.

472
00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:07.400
Court transcripts said this was from police
photos. It's possible that Kennon Mariene Temple

473
00:37:07.480 --> 00:37:12.119
grabbed the car seat to take Evan
with them when David went to the station

474
00:37:12.159 --> 00:37:16.280
for questioning. Police also tested David's
shoes for blood and glass, but the

475
00:37:16.360 --> 00:37:21.440
results were negative. Belinda and David's
clothes from the day of the murder were

476
00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:25.199
sent to the FBI crime Lab for
more testing. Following the death of his

477
00:37:25.320 --> 00:37:30.960
mother, Evan was interviewed by child
psychiatrists. The psychiatrists found no evidence that

478
00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:37.079
Evan had witnessed anything traumatic that day. Police spoke with neighbors to see if

479
00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:42.440
they saw or heard anything that stood
out on that Monday afternoon. One neighbor

480
00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:46.039
told police she saw David get home
at around five twenty five pm and Evan

481
00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:51.719
was in the truck. With him. Michael and Peggy Ruggiero told police that

482
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:55.440
they saw an older model Baige four
door sedan speeding through the neighborhood at around

483
00:37:55.480 --> 00:38:00.000
four thirty five pm. They noticed
a couple of young men inside the car

484
00:38:00.199 --> 00:38:06.639
wearing baseball caps. Another set of
neighbors said that around four thirty pm,

485
00:38:06.800 --> 00:38:09.960
their dogs started running around the fence
and barking. When they looked outside,

486
00:38:10.199 --> 00:38:15.679
they noticed their shed door was open, which was unusual. On January fifteenth,

487
00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:21.440
four days after Belinda was murdered,
the police interviewed three kids the Roberts

488
00:38:21.480 --> 00:38:24.960
family, who lived in the house
behind the temples. The Roberts kids said

489
00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:29.760
they were watching Doctor Doolittle on TV
when they heard a big boom, like

490
00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:34.400
a gunshot. The kids were able
to tell police which scene they were watching

491
00:38:34.480 --> 00:38:37.480
when they heard the boom, and
with this information, police were able to

492
00:38:37.599 --> 00:38:44.000
estimate the time of the gun shot
as four thirty five pm. The Roberts

493
00:38:44.079 --> 00:38:46.360
kids were the only ones in the
neighborhood who reported to police that they heard

494
00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:51.679
a boom. Many neighbors were walking
in the neighborhood at the time and didn't

495
00:38:51.719 --> 00:38:55.880
hear anything. The Roberts kids dad
did say that this was the biggest thing

496
00:38:55.920 --> 00:38:59.920
that had happened in their lives.
It was almost like he thought they might

497
00:39:00.199 --> 00:39:04.199
be making it up or had imagined
it. But police now thought they had

498
00:39:04.199 --> 00:39:07.000
an approximate time of the gunshot.
But when they looked at the video from

499
00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:10.199
the grocery store that David and Evan
went to on the day of the murder,

500
00:39:10.719 --> 00:39:15.360
the time stamp was four thirty two
when they entered and four thirty eight

501
00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:20.679
when they left, the Roberts Kid's
story no longer fit their timeline. They

502
00:39:20.719 --> 00:39:25.000
would wind up being witnesses for the
defense instead, But police still kept looking

503
00:39:25.039 --> 00:39:29.719
at the grocery and how it fit
in. It was a twelve minute drive

504
00:39:29.800 --> 00:39:32.920
from the temple house to the grocery
store. If David left when Belinda got

505
00:39:32.920 --> 00:39:37.760
home at around four pm, that
still left eighteen minutes unaccounted four, not

506
00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:42.280
to mention the time it took David
to travel from the grocery store to home

507
00:39:42.360 --> 00:39:46.199
depot. A witness came forward who
told police that he saw David stopped at

508
00:39:46.199 --> 00:39:52.239
the intersection of Morton Ranch Road and
Katie Hockley cut Off at around four fifty

509
00:39:52.239 --> 00:39:55.880
pm or five pm. If that
was true, then David was heading from

510
00:39:55.880 --> 00:40:00.760
a location where his parents lived.
If David's store worry about where he had

511
00:40:00.800 --> 00:40:02.840
gone that day was true, he
wouldn't have been headed in that direction.

512
00:40:05.079 --> 00:40:08.079
This was suspicious to the police,
though David denied being at the intersection.

513
00:40:09.119 --> 00:40:15.119
Prosecutor Kelly Siegler would later speculate that
David was getting rid of the shotgun when

514
00:40:15.119 --> 00:40:20.599
this man had seen him. There
were several hunting fields around David's parents property.

515
00:40:21.039 --> 00:40:24.519
Police also interviewed Belinda's friends and family
and found out that she hadn't been

516
00:40:24.559 --> 00:40:30.320
her usual happy self lately. Belinda's
twin sister, Brenda, said that David

517
00:40:30.440 --> 00:40:36.800
was controlling. When she visited Belinda
after Christmas in nineteen ninety eight, she

518
00:40:36.960 --> 00:40:40.320
noticed that the couple was not getting
along. The twins thirtieth birthday was on

519
00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:45.960
December thirtieth, their golden birthday.
It was supposed to be a happy time,

520
00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:51.440
but the temples were arguing about Belinda's
pregnancy and how David wasn't happy about

521
00:40:51.480 --> 00:40:55.440
it. David kept making fun of
Belinda's big butt, and Brenda told Belinda

522
00:40:55.639 --> 00:41:00.239
that she needed to stand up for
herself. He also announced to his wife

523
00:41:00.280 --> 00:41:04.440
in front of Brenda, that he
was going on a hunting trip for New

524
00:41:04.519 --> 00:41:09.559
Year's he would be gone for two
days. Belinda was really hurt. It

525
00:41:09.639 --> 00:41:14.079
wasn't just that it was close to
her birthday or the holidays, but it

526
00:41:14.119 --> 00:41:16.760
was three days before their anniversary and
a month before she was due to give

527
00:41:16.840 --> 00:41:22.920
birth. All of this ugliness happened
in front of Belinda's twin sister, two

528
00:41:22.920 --> 00:41:27.960
weeks before her murder. Brenda may
have never liked David Temple, but that

529
00:41:28.039 --> 00:41:31.000
hunting trip story was true, well, at least as a cover story.

530
00:41:31.119 --> 00:41:37.280
It was. Tammy Harlan, Belinda's
close friend, said that she was a

531
00:41:37.320 --> 00:41:43.000
strong old woman who would become submissive
around her husband. Tammy said that David

532
00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:45.440
would put Belinda down in front of
other people. He called her fat and

533
00:41:45.599 --> 00:41:51.119
ugly, and he would insult her
family, who he called crazy and white

534
00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:55.400
trash. Tammy Harlan knew a lot
about the Temple marriage. Her husband,

535
00:41:55.440 --> 00:42:00.920
Quentin, was a football coach with
David, so Tammy and Linda were football

536
00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:07.000
wives and became close friends. While
plenty of family friends and colleagues had noticed

537
00:42:07.079 --> 00:42:10.760
problems, the Harlan saw actual fights
and knew much more about what was going

538
00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:16.320
on in the Temple marriage. Even
though Belinda still worked out constantly, still

539
00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:22.400
doing aerobics and even jogging while pushing
Evan stroller. Her weight was evidently a

540
00:42:22.440 --> 00:42:27.360
sore issue with David. She said
all the Temple men made comments about fat

541
00:42:27.400 --> 00:42:31.440
women. Tammy and Quinton witnessed David
calling his wife a fat ass, and

542
00:42:31.480 --> 00:42:37.440
they were embarrassed and hurt for Belinda. David also openly criticized how Belinda raised

543
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:42.559
Evan. He would grab his son
out of time out after Belinda scolded the

544
00:42:42.599 --> 00:42:45.239
little boy. It's not as though
she was harsh with the toddler. She

545
00:42:45.320 --> 00:42:50.679
adored her son, but she was
being a good parent. It was almost

546
00:42:50.719 --> 00:42:54.760
weirdly like how David's own parents had
favored him. He was David's little man

547
00:42:54.840 --> 00:43:00.360
and he wasn't going to be disciplined. He also didn't want Evan around Linda's

548
00:43:00.400 --> 00:43:04.800
family, whom he considered trash and
naturally often made fun of their weight.

549
00:43:05.920 --> 00:43:08.920
Both of her parents were heavy set, and I can only imagine how hurtful

550
00:43:08.960 --> 00:43:14.679
this was for Belinda, and she
did avoid her parents home, But she

551
00:43:14.800 --> 00:43:19.760
also didn't like having to spend every
weekend at David's parents home either. Timmy

552
00:43:19.800 --> 00:43:23.079
Harland often encouraged her friend to stand
up for herself, but she also held

553
00:43:23.119 --> 00:43:28.519
things back. She knew from her
husband Quintin, that David was often out

554
00:43:28.519 --> 00:43:31.960
at bars and strip clubs and went
home with other women. She would later

555
00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:37.559
say she just couldn't bring herself to
tell Belinda, but Belinda was not stupid.

556
00:43:37.760 --> 00:43:40.800
She saw the trips to bars and
clubs on their credit card bills.

557
00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:46.559
Timmy told author Katherine Casey that Belinda
called her upset about what she had found,

558
00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:52.360
and Timmy still didn't tell her about
David cheating, but she did mention

559
00:43:52.400 --> 00:43:55.239
the call to Quentintin, who told
David he had better start opening the bills

560
00:43:55.280 --> 00:44:00.719
before his wife did. This evidently
caused a huge, huge blowout. Belinda

561
00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:05.960
must have confronted her husband. Tammy
said she called her the next day crying

562
00:44:06.039 --> 00:44:09.679
and said, don't ever tell Quinton
anything I say about David again. After

563
00:44:09.760 --> 00:44:15.400
that, David stopped speaking to Belinda
for six weeks. They participated in normal

564
00:44:15.440 --> 00:44:21.280
family functions and acted fine in public, but at home it was icy and

565
00:44:21.320 --> 00:44:25.360
they slept apart. She did confide
in other friends about this. Tammy wasn't

566
00:44:25.400 --> 00:44:30.960
the only one who knew what was
going on. Tammy later said she was

567
00:44:30.039 --> 00:44:35.559
proud Belinda was standing her ground,
but she told author Katherine Casey that the

568
00:44:35.639 --> 00:44:40.639
fight, or silent war as Casey
called it, ended rather suddenly. Belinda

569
00:44:40.719 --> 00:44:45.280
asked her husband if he still loved
her out of the blue one night,

570
00:44:45.679 --> 00:44:49.199
as he walked past her door where
she was reading, he said, I

571
00:44:49.239 --> 00:44:53.960
don't know. Belinda was crushed and
thought her marriage was over. But a

572
00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:58.400
couple of days later, as she
was putting Evan to bed, David came

573
00:44:58.480 --> 00:45:00.960
up behind her, embraced her and
said, I love you, and just

574
00:45:01.119 --> 00:45:06.599
like that, it was over.
She happily told friends they had reconciled,

575
00:45:07.760 --> 00:45:10.639
but this time Tammy said she was
through with the dramatics. She told Catherine

576
00:45:10.679 --> 00:45:15.800
Casey it was causing fights in her
own marriage, and she distanced herself from

577
00:45:15.840 --> 00:45:22.719
Belinda. And then it was barely
weeks later when Belinda announced her new pregnancy

578
00:45:22.760 --> 00:45:27.199
to friends. She was so excited. Friends and family, of course,

579
00:45:27.440 --> 00:45:31.000
suspected this baby was an attempt to
repair their marriage, a band aid baby,

580
00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:36.159
so to speak, but they were
happy if it worked out. They

581
00:45:36.199 --> 00:45:40.719
loved Belinda and this was what she
wanted. Tammy Harland also loosened up towards

582
00:45:40.760 --> 00:45:45.000
her friend with the news. She
too, hoped the new baby was what

583
00:45:45.079 --> 00:45:50.960
the couple needed, and especially hoped
that David would become faithful again. After

584
00:45:51.039 --> 00:45:54.559
that rough summer, Belinda happily returned
to school with her wonderful pregnancy news.

585
00:45:55.800 --> 00:46:00.880
There were still some visible cracks in
the marriage, but others saw them as

586
00:46:00.880 --> 00:46:07.119
a great couple, affectionate and loving. It just proves that sometimes you show

587
00:46:07.159 --> 00:46:12.320
your best face to people, and
it also shows that sometimes people see what

588
00:46:12.360 --> 00:46:15.920
they want to see. David was
also having an exciting return to school that

589
00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:21.639
fall. Hastings High had decided to
put ninth graders in their own NX building.

590
00:46:22.719 --> 00:46:27.039
David and Quinton were both moved to
that building. I never have read

591
00:46:27.079 --> 00:46:30.039
exactly what subject either man taught,
but I'm assuming, like most coaches in

592
00:46:30.119 --> 00:46:35.480
my schools, it was health or
driver'st No offense to any coaches who might

593
00:46:35.519 --> 00:46:39.119
be listening. There were also some
new hires to accommodate the new building and

594
00:46:39.199 --> 00:46:45.119
overflow of students. One was a
pretty young English teacher, blonde, trim

595
00:46:45.159 --> 00:46:52.320
and what Nancy Grace would later sarcastically
call the new trophy at school. All

596
00:46:52.360 --> 00:46:55.440
the men hit on her, including
Quinton and David. Her name was Heather

597
00:46:55.519 --> 00:47:00.159
Scott, and she had moved there
from Kansas. Quentin would later claim that

598
00:47:00.159 --> 00:47:05.320
the flirtation started with him, but, as Tammy put it, those men

599
00:47:05.320 --> 00:47:10.480
were competitive about everything, and that
soon included Heather. David and Heather started

600
00:47:10.519 --> 00:47:15.480
going to happy hours together and hanging
out after work. Their flirtation soon turned

601
00:47:15.480 --> 00:47:21.599
into a full blown affair. According
to Heather's statements to police, she felt

602
00:47:21.599 --> 00:47:25.599
bad about dating a married man.
On January fifth, nineteen ninety nine,

603
00:47:25.760 --> 00:47:30.639
Heather told David she didn't want their
relationship to continue the way it had been.

604
00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:35.840
On January eighth, David told Heather, I have totally fallen in love

605
00:47:35.920 --> 00:47:39.400
with you. I guess she had
needed some kind of declaration, because Heather

606
00:47:39.480 --> 00:47:45.840
replied, I feel the same way. That was only three days before Belinda

607
00:47:45.920 --> 00:47:51.039
Temple's head was blown off with a
twelve gage shotgun. Quintin Harland said that

608
00:47:51.119 --> 00:47:54.639
on January thirteenth, nineteen ninety nine, the night David's parents held a visitation

609
00:47:54.679 --> 00:48:00.320
for Belinda at their home, Quintin
and Tammy went to the visitation. As

610
00:48:00.360 --> 00:48:04.320
soon as he and David were alone, David asked Quinton how Heather was doing.

611
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:07.599
He also said he was sorry that
Heather had to go through this,

612
00:48:07.239 --> 00:48:12.239
and he asked Quinton to tell Heather
he was sorry at his wife's visitation.

613
00:48:13.559 --> 00:48:17.239
As the months passed, investigators working
Belinda's case continued to look into David,

614
00:48:17.480 --> 00:48:22.639
who was their main suspect, but
they just had no proof other than the

615
00:48:22.679 --> 00:48:27.840
affair. In April, Quinton and
Tammy Harlan had to testify at a grand

616
00:48:27.880 --> 00:48:31.320
jury hearing. Following the hearing,
they received a call from David. Tammy

617
00:48:31.400 --> 00:48:37.480
answered, and David asked what they
said at the hearing. Tammy told David

618
00:48:37.480 --> 00:48:40.199
they weren't allowed to talk about it
and gave the phone to Quinton. David

619
00:48:40.199 --> 00:48:45.599
asked Quinton the same question, and
Quinton simply said he told the truth.

620
00:48:45.199 --> 00:48:50.159
David told Quinton, you know you
need to keep your mouth shut. Not

621
00:48:50.280 --> 00:48:53.400
long after this phone call, according
to Quinton and Tammy, David kept up

622
00:48:53.400 --> 00:48:58.320
his intimidation efforts. One day,
while Quinton was driving, he noticed that

623
00:48:58.400 --> 00:49:01.800
David was following him. When they
came to a stop, David got out

624
00:49:01.800 --> 00:49:06.559
of his truck and asked Quinton what
he was telling the police. Quinton once

625
00:49:06.599 --> 00:49:09.559
again said he was just telling the
truth. David said, keep your damn

626
00:49:09.559 --> 00:49:15.760
mouth shut. Tammy also claimed he
followed her to work, but the grand

627
00:49:15.800 --> 00:49:22.039
jury fell to indict David Temple.
Despite these alleged threats, his inconsistent stories,

628
00:49:22.079 --> 00:49:27.599
and the affair, David was not
arrested. By spring, Belinda's murder

629
00:49:27.639 --> 00:49:32.280
investigation had officially gone cold, and
David and Heather Scott were now openly dating.

630
00:49:34.360 --> 00:49:37.719
David had sent flowers to Heather on
Valentine's Day, a month after Belinda's

631
00:49:37.760 --> 00:49:43.239
murder, and they were seeing each
other again by March, two months after

632
00:49:43.280 --> 00:49:46.559
the murder. Even David's family was
angry about this, and you know,

633
00:49:46.880 --> 00:49:52.840
they usually thought their golden boy could
do no wrong. David and Heather were

634
00:49:52.920 --> 00:49:57.920
engaged by January of two thousand one, exactly two years after Belinda's murder,

635
00:49:58.440 --> 00:50:02.920
and they married on June night,
two thousand and one, nearly five years

636
00:50:02.960 --> 00:50:08.800
after Belinda was murdered. The FBI
crime lab gunshot residue test results on Belinda

637
00:50:08.880 --> 00:50:15.440
and David's clothes came back. The
investigators had been waiting on these results literally

638
00:50:15.519 --> 00:50:20.360
for years, and now they finally
had their answers. There was matching gunshot

639
00:50:20.400 --> 00:50:25.199
residue on both Belinda and David's clothing. Finally, the police had enough to

640
00:50:25.320 --> 00:50:30.360
arrest David, and on November thirtieth, two thousand and four, they took

641
00:50:30.400 --> 00:50:36.480
him into custody for the record.
A lieutenant with the Harris County Sheriff's Department

642
00:50:36.559 --> 00:50:39.119
told The Daily Sentinel that there was
no new evidence in the case, but

643
00:50:39.920 --> 00:50:45.679
increased work and totality of the evidence
was enough to bring charges against David.

644
00:50:46.159 --> 00:50:51.639
You'll want to keep that in your
back pocket for the next episode. The

645
00:50:51.760 --> 00:50:58.599
Lucas's Belinda's family had always believed that
David was her killer, and David also

646
00:50:58.679 --> 00:51:02.599
kept Evan from them for all those
years. Can you imagine losing your daughter

647
00:51:02.760 --> 00:51:07.760
and such a horrific murder, and
then never being allowed to see your grandson

648
00:51:07.800 --> 00:51:14.400
again. Tom and Carol Lucas had
joined the organization Parents of Murdered Children to

649
00:51:14.440 --> 00:51:17.360
try and get through their grief with
the support group. It was also a

650
00:51:17.400 --> 00:51:22.800
comfort to them since they had been
estranged from their grandson, something that unfortunately

651
00:51:23.039 --> 00:51:29.400
isn't unusual in these situations. When
Tom spoke with a local news reporter,

652
00:51:29.800 --> 00:51:35.000
his thoughts were with his grandson.
He said, he's nine now and I

653
00:51:35.039 --> 00:51:38.360
don't know where he is or what's
happening to him. I'm concerned as to

654
00:51:38.400 --> 00:51:45.280
how he could be affected by all
this. Evan Temple had lost his mother

655
00:51:45.480 --> 00:51:50.039
before he was even old enough to
remember her. He only knew Heather Scott

656
00:51:50.039 --> 00:51:53.800
as his mother, and he always
believed in his father's innocence. He does

657
00:51:53.880 --> 00:52:01.320
to this day. Southern Friday True
Crime is produced by me Erica Kelly.

658
00:52:01.400 --> 00:52:07.119
Today's episode was researched by Haley Gray
and written by Hannah Newcomb and myself.

659
00:52:07.199 --> 00:52:10.599
Part two will be out next Friday, and let me tell y'all, it

660
00:52:10.639 --> 00:52:15.880
will be a doozy Texas justice at
its finest. This episode was edited by

661
00:52:15.880 --> 00:52:22.440
Resonant Recordings. Southern Fried's original music
is by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio and

662
00:52:22.480 --> 00:52:25.360
the original graphic art is by Kohley
Horner. As some of you already know,

663
00:52:25.519 --> 00:52:30.480
Facebook shut down our original discussion group, but search for the new one,

664
00:52:30.800 --> 00:52:36.519
Southern Fried Truecrime Fans discussion group.
We still worship our patron, Saint

665
00:52:36.599 --> 00:52:40.760
Dolly Parton, share fun memes and
delicious recipes. Our group is a safe

666
00:52:40.760 --> 00:52:45.199
and fun corner of Facebook, and
by God, we mean it when we

667
00:52:45.280 --> 00:52:49.239
say no shitass is allowed. It's
not just a motto, it's how we

668
00:52:49.360 --> 00:52:53.159
run the group. Please submit case
suggestions to Southern Fried Truecrime at gmail dot

669
00:52:53.199 --> 00:52:59.480
com. I do not accept suggestions
on social media, and I apologize if

670
00:52:59.519 --> 00:53:02.599
I am able to answer your email. I get dozens of suggestions a week

671
00:53:04.000 --> 00:53:07.519
and it takes time to go through
and check out each case. I will

672
00:53:07.559 --> 00:53:10.800
definitely contact you if I plan to
use the case you submit to see if

673
00:53:10.840 --> 00:53:15.360
you would like to be credited on
the episode. Thank you all so much

674
00:53:15.400 --> 00:53:20.000
for sending in these cases. I
truly get my most interesting cases from listeners

675
00:53:20.039 --> 00:53:23.519
suggestions, so keep them coming.
If you enjoy today's show, don't forget

676
00:53:23.559 --> 00:53:28.920
to subscribe, and please tell a
friend or rate interview on iTunes. I'm

677
00:53:28.960 --> 00:53:34.119
also on most large platforms like Stitcher
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678
00:53:34.239 --> 00:53:37.840
where you can listen add free until
next time. Thanks so much for

679
00:53:37.880 --> 00:53:39.800
listening, y'all. Take care,