Episode 255

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is not intended for all
audiences. Listener discretion is advised. She's a little one hundred pound girl and
you're a killer, dude? Fuck you? No, fuck you? Fuck
you? What are you gonna do? Ask me in thirty years when you're
halfway through your sentence if you're a killer. We made it all the way
to season ten and the end of twenty twenty three, a year that I
thought was for sure going to kill me on a show called Sword and Scale
that proves that the worst monsters are real. Well, like I said,
it's been a hell of a year, and not in a good way.
Or we started out in a complete mess. The site has broken, the
app has broken. We worked really hard to fix it, and we're gonna
launch a new app and new website very soon. In twenty twenty four.
We're gonna take a short break because I'm gonna crack if I don't, and
you know, we'll be back really really soon as soon as we can with
some major surprises for you. I think you're gonna love them. When a
murder is committed, people usually want to know why, and oftentimes that answer
makes sense to us. We all know what it's like to be jealous,
angry, or want something we can't have. When a person kills for money
or revenge, we get it. We don't necessarily condone it. Kind of
like that Chris Rock joke, but it makes sense in some way. The
motivations are on some level relatable. But every once in a while a murderer
comes along with a motivation that is not quite so relatable, not quite so
easy to understand. They aren't driven by anger or jealousy. They don't seek
revenge or wealth. Instead, they are driven by something much more frightening.
All they want is to experience the planning and the crime itself. All there
really after is the thrill of the kill. In November of twenty fourteen,
on the morning after Thanksgiving, a young med school student was fast asleep in
his bed at the River Ranch Apartments in River Oaks, Texas, which is
about a ten minute drive from Fort Worth. As the student was sleeping off
his turkey dinner from the night before, he was suddenly awakened by a scream
that apparently had come from the apartment above his own. Do you remember doing
anything after six o'clock? What awakes you next it was the scream upstairs.
So at seven point thirty you heard screaming. I was laying in bed and
it wasn't I wouldn't call his aid blood curling hot page top at ladder,
you know, I wouldn't describe a scream like that. It's more of a
scream slash like yells why. And then that woke me up. So I'm
sitting there looking at the ceiling, and I'm racking my brain thinking, Okay,
what the heck is going on up there? Like johnnyn't go up there,
Like my first thought was she woke us up up for a nightmare.
And then like I heard, like the real loud pound on the ground.
After hearing the scream followed by a loud thud, this young man contemplated what
to do next. Eventually, he decided to get out of bed and inspect
his apartment. After he did, he found that everything seemed fine. So
I get up from bed, I go out, look at him, look
around in our apartment, and the cat's just sleep on the couch like nothing's
out of the ordinary. And I'm thinking, I'm like, okay, maybe
I should go up there. Like we're sitting a heart attack seze or something
like that I could save her or something. I look out the window and
that's when I told you. I saw that black are leaving hey minutes after
that my apartment. So I started going off, and that that alarm is
so different than the smoke alarm is so much louder, so that I didn't
hear anything after that. One just turns out everything okay. The carbon monoxide
alarm in the apartment started blaring soon after the fire suppression sprinkler system activated,
So the young man called nine one one. Yeah, Hi, I'm a
little bit of River Range Apartments, and I think there's a fire upstairs in
the apartment above me. And now the sprinklers are going on with the fire
apartment four card department. This is Kevin MAYOPI yeah, a little five River
Range Apartments. There's a fire above me forty seven five. Yeah, say
with me, I'll get someone in around. The River Ranch apartment complex is
a two story quadplex that only consists of four separate dwellings. Even so,
the medicool student wasn't the only person affected by the assumed fire that had broken
out in the apartment above them. Not long after this initial nine to one
one call was placed. More emergency calls were transferred to the Fort Worth Police
Department. Man, this is a Fort Worth police I don't know one the
other emergency. Yeah, okay, okay, okay, we have a fire
right now. Are you in towner of the apartment is on fire? Fires
got out? Okay, you just got out? Okay? Yeah, just
somebody hear them, but I can't. Please, do you think there's someone
other? Okay. Eventually emergency responders and Fort Worth firefighters arrived on the scene.
They found that one of the second floor apartments was on fire, and
they quickly began working to extinguish the flames. Meanwhile, a crowd of onlookers
began gathering around the complex, and news of the fire quickly reached friends and
family members of the River Ranch Apartment residents, Worth police, and five eight
one. We'll see I just we're calling about I'm extually can in regard to
fire. You guys are ran this morning. I'm not sure is the exact
address is It's my sister's address. One of her coworkers had called to tell
me that her apartment had caught on fires and that they are releasing any information
to anybody, but we're all out of town, so thank you, students.
So we're trying to figure out how we can get information on this.
She's okay, okay, what I'm going to do? You said it was
your sister, right, that's correct, Ashley Harris, that's your name.
Thirty one year old Ashley Harris lived with her golden retriever at the River Ranch
Apartments and worked full time as an assistant manager at American Eagle at the nearby
Hewlen Mall. Can you describe her gundy's as an assistant manager? Well,
her department responsibility because she was trying to get into store management. She had
just taken over visuals a few months back, which required her hours sometimes to
be a little longer, like later evenings doing like visual changes and other job
duties would be just running ourselves forward during mids hours. She was really big
into loss prevention. That was her track. She wouldn't eventually end up with
our loss prevention department, so she would help me out with a lot of
operational things that that's actually what she was strong as. That was just making
sure that you know, everybody was trained on procedures and make sure that everybody
was aware was going on in the store. As an assistant manager at American
Eagle, Ashley Harris worked long hours and was paying her dues in hopes of
eventually being promoted. Ashley wanted to be a loss prevention specialist. If you're
not familiar, many retailers employed these specialists to safeguard the company's assets and prevent
or minimize theft. So Ashley was working her way towards the position that she
ultimately wanted. She regularly posted videos of herself on social media while she was
at work. I'm extremely tired and this right here is not even helpy.
Look in my eyes. It's horrible for anyone who has ever had a retail
job. Unfortunately, raising my hand, you can probably relate to how demanding
and tiresome that kind of job can be. It was J C. Penny
for me, in case you're wondering. Despite the long hours and demands of
her job, Ashley maintained a good attitude and a healthy personal life. Again,
Ashley lived at the River Ranch Apartments, and she lived there with her
beloved golden retriever Nala. Sadly, in twenty fourteen, on the morning after
Thanksgiving, a large fire broke out inside Ashley's apartment. Fort Worth firefighters were
eventually called to the scene, and as they worked to extinguish the blaze,
many onlookers and can certain friends of Ashley watched as flames and black smoke billowed
out of Ashley's apartment. As many of these onlookers anxiously waited for news of
Ashley's well being, a few of them were questioned by police. The all,
okay, she went. She got home around the curry. I was
here next them, okay, And she got here and said she wake up
for the love talk. And then I know a little bent woke up.
And then I went in and I told her I was leaving, and I
left and I went home. What time was that? A four? When
I left here here? Was there anybody else in there with her? No?
She turned on. It was just her home. But you were with
her until then you left. My left. I went well, I texted
her when I un figure in a lot among the onlookers was a young woman
that was well acquainted with Ashley. In fact, she and Ashley had been
on a few dates together. Her name was Alexis Torres, and Alexis claimed
that she was with Ashley just a few hours before the fire broke out.
I first met Ashley about a year year and a half ago, and you
know, we were just you know, like I guess Facebook friends at first.
We started really getting close, started hanging out just throughout every day.
She became one of my really, you know, best friends, and now
we started dating. As is usually the case for retail workers, Ashley Harris
had to work on Thanksgiving, and what has become the American custom, many
retailers opened their stores on Thanksgiving evening as an extension of an early start to
Black Friday. You're all consumers to tell you that it's the biggest single shopping
day in the United States every year and kind of sets the tone for the
whole Christmas shopping season. On this particular Thanksgiving day, Ashley was expected to
work an especially long overnight shift at her American Eagle store at the nearby Hewlen
Mall. Ashley was having to work for a Black Friday, so we had
a Thanksgiving at Tripe and carry House, which is another group of friend of
ours. But we had Thanksgiving around I guess blues two o'clock. She left
because she had to be at work, and she asked me to take care
of Nala, her dog. Well, Ashley was at work, Alexis looked
after her dog. Early the next morning, at around three am, unexhausted,
Ashley returned to her apartment. Was Ashley still wearing the same clothes that
she went to work in? Yeah, she was still wearing work clothes?
Can you describe those? She had on a red shirt, but remember what
it said, but all of her employees were wearing it. She had on
jeans and her boots. She still had her keys her see the keys anywhere?
She still had them on her belt loop. It was a pretty big
clip. She all was just putting around her belt loop, according to Alexis.
After Ashley came home, she and Alexis spent some time together before Alexis
said goodbye and left the apartment. And we talked for about about our hour
and a half. And I left her apartment at three forty I mean not
three four am, sorry four am. She walked me out. I opened
the door to the front door, I closed it and I heard her lock
the door behind me. And I text her at four fifty three and I
told her I was home. And I didn't get a response and just took
clarify know I had to asked you this before, but just so we can
put on the record, was there anybody that Ashley ever talked about having problems
with or that would want her harm Ashley? By all accounts, Ashley Harris
was an extremely well liked, caring, and personable young woman. She had
a lot of close friends, many of whom described her as having a magnetic
personality. People liked to be around Ashley, Even people that only briefly interacted
with her could easily recognize the overwhelming positivity that Ashley carried herself with. She
was extremely nice, extremely just positive. It is only for a couple seconds
we were walking our dogs and I just felt just her positive energy. As
the police investigated the fire at Ashley's apartment, one of the people they spoke
to was her boss at American Eagle. Not unlike Ashley's friends and acquaintances,
her boss had only good things to say about Ashley and couldn't imagine that anyone
would want to hurt her. What kind of employee was Ashley? Fantastic as
she just you know, tried to be as cordial to everybody as possible.
You couldn't ask for a more positive person. The associates all just kind of
attached themselves to her. She was like the mother of the store. She
was my right hand person and dependent on her for so much. Do you
know if Ashley was having problems or trouble with anyone? Oh, that's what
we're all beating ourselves up over. We just don't get it. Like she
didn't have an enemy in the world. Despite what everyone was saying about Ashley,
the chaos and her apartment suggested that she must have had at least one
enemy. Tragically, as fort Worth firefighters were working to extinguish the blaze,
they found a body among the flames. It was female. She was lying
face down and it was obvious that the fire didn't kill her. Ashley Harris
had been murdered and an apartment fire has turned into a potential murder mystery in
southwest ford Worth. On Friday, we told you about this. Firefighters discovered
the body of a young woman inside her burning apartment unit along Keen Ranch Road,
but investigators quickly determined the fire was not the cause of her death.
The rest ward Affiday would say, Harris was found with her ankles bound with
gray duck tape. Her hands were also bound with gray duck tape behind her
back, and that her body was partially burned. In the early morning hours
of Black Friday, someone or multiple people broke into Ashley Harris's apartment and attacked
her. They bound her arms and feet with duct tape. They pistol whipped
her and strangled her to death. Then they set her apartment on fire and
fled. Interestingly, as police process the scene, they determined that the only
thing missing from the apartment was Ashley's work key. For detectives, this was
bizarre. Why would someone only steal a set of keys? To American Eagle?
Was that all they wanted? What the detectives to know is that the
person behind all this mayhem had a plan, and part of that plan was
to murder Ashley Harris, But another part of the plan included gaining access to
the store where Ashley worked. Ultimately, it was those missing keys that would
help explain why someone wanted to commit this brutal crime and why a well liked
young woman that seemingly had no enemies was viciously attacked and murdered. In November
of twenty fourteen, fort Worth firefighters were called to a fire at the River
Ranch apartments in River Oaks, Texas. Inside one of the apartments, firefighters
found the dead body of thirty one year old Ashley Harris. Soon after,
fort Worth homicide detectives were called in to investigate, and they quickly determined that
Ashley had been murdered. Ashley's hands and feet were bound with duct tape,
and she had multiple lacerations and wounds all over her body. A medical examiner
later determined that Ashley must have been dead before the fire started because her aorta
blood tested negative for carbon monoxide. The medical examiner also found that Ashley's eyes
reflected strangulation. The cause of death was exphyxia and blunt forced trauma to the
head. There was no doubt that this was a homicide. As for the
fire, an arson investigator determined that rubbing alcohol was used as an accelerant and
the fire had multiple points of origin, including Ashley's bed, her closet,
and her body. In other words, someone viciously beat and murdered Ashley,
poured alcohol all over her body and her belongings, and then set the apartment
on fire before fleeing the scene. Thankfully, Ashley's dog survived. And you
were all going to worry about that, so I, you know, made
sure to tell you. Anyway, the pup was eventually adopted by Ashley's parents
and he's doing fine. During the subsequent investigation, though, homicide detectives interviewed
several people, one of which happened to be a former police officer that lived
in the same apartment complex as Ashley. Later on, maybe around seven or
so, you tell me I come back out in the vacame spot. It
was a car that I didn't recognize. So between seven and seven o five
you see a car in the spot next to Ashley that you recognized as not
belonging to that complex, correct, not a car that I had seen before.
And can you describe what you saw? What I believed to be a
black Infinity And did you see anybody coming or going from that vehicle? Okay,
so when you left for work at seven twenty, you sent the car
you meant the black infinished still partner to Ashley shrugged. According to Ashley's neighbor,
his typical morning routine included smoking a cigarette on his apartment's front balcony.
On the morning of the murder, and before the fire broke out, this
neighbor noticed a black car parked next to Ashley's truck. It was a car
that he did not recognize as usually being parked there. Don't you just love
neighbors. At the same time, Ashley's other neighbor, the young man that
lived below her, noticed a black car leaving the complex just before his carbon
monoxide alarm went off. I look out the window, and that's when I
told you I saw that black car leaving. Came in fashly that my carbon
monoxide started going off in that That alarm is so different than the smoke alarm
is so much louder, so easy that I didn't hear anything after that,
But the alarm just turns out everything. At this point in the investigation,
the cops had gathered a lot of information very quickly. They were trying to
put all the pieces together, but the one thing they knew right away was
that they needed to find that black Infinity and its driver. Somehow, the
news of that car spread among Ashley's friends and co workers, and it prompted
Ashley's boss to approach detectives. Now, from you understanding what kind of car
did Carter drive? I was told to Dave was a black It's like a
little black sports car two door four or I'm believe it was two door.
I never saw it in person, just that picture that I the board over
too. So now when you approached us that day, how did you put
two and two together? Because somebody, one of her friends, somebody had
mentioned it in the black car. And as soon as she said it,
yeah, as me and I looked at each other and we were like,
is that Carter like Ashley Harris, Twenty eight year old Carter Servantes was also
an assistant manager at American Eagle. Both women had worked at the same store,
and Carter happened to own and drive a two door black Infinity. On
the morning after the murder, the lead homicide detective on this case decided to
visit Carter's apartment, and when he arrived there, he found a black Infinity
parked in the driveway. Rather than approached the home and knock on the door,
the detective decided to sit, wait and watch. After a few hours,
he saw Carter leave her apartment and walk toward her car, but Carter
wasn't alone. Whether was a young black man that looked to be around eighteen
or nineteen years old. The detective watched as the young man got into the
driver's seat of the Infinity while Carter sat in the passenger seat. The couple
drove off, and the detective followed until they arrived at the Hewlen Mall Ewlen
Mall, where Ashley Harris used to work. The detective continued watching as Carter
stepped out of the passenger seat and walked into the mall. Meanwhile, the
young driver sat and waited in the parking lot. At this point, it
was around eight am and the doors to the mall were open, but many
of the stores inside were still closed, So the detective decided to follow Carter
into the mall as he called upon another detective to put eyes on the young
driver. Unfortunately, the detective in the mall lost sight of Carter and was
unable to find out where she went or why. The other detective, however,
decided to approach the Infinity and question the driver, who identified himself as
David Mallory. David explained that he had driven his girlfriend to the mall so
she could pick up some documents from her job at Arrow p Host Style.
Of course, that's not really where she worked, is it. This struck
detectives. It's strange because he knew that Carter didn't work there. What a
dumb lie. Some people are really bad at it. When the detective asked
David for his driver's license, he explained that he didn't have one, which
prompted the detective to arrest him. David was then taken to the police station
and questioned, where'd you guys leave for Thanksgiving? Oh? He could stayed
in watch movies. What did you guys have her career Thanksgiving? Oh?
Bunch of shit? I don't know. Yah? Yeah, baby bringing catro
techy. You got that friend number? No, did you guys ever leave
or or anything of the house Thursday. In questioning David, detectives learned that
he was Carter's living boyfriend, and according to him, he and Carter spent
their Thanksgiving at home together. He explained that all they did was cook,
eat, watch movies, and sleep. At this point, David had already
garnered some suspicion from detectives because when he was first approached at the mall,
he presumably lied about where Carter worked. So this morning, you got to
get up. What's going on? When you gotta talking about what you did?
I had to get up and I took her to the mall. She
said she needed some papers or some Okay, should be in and out,
move to the come probs. Wait in the parlem. Okay, okay,
what time is them all open? I'm not sure that she was going there
to put out paperwork and pick up paper. I believe she said to pick
up some papers we're at I'm not sure does she work there? He said
that she was just going to pick up some papers that you have to wear?
What paper you know? I mean, I wasn't too concerned about it.
Detectives seemed to believe that whatever was supposed to happen at the mall that
morning had been orchestrated by David's girlfriend. They also seemed to believe that David
knew all about her plan, and they wanted him to tell them what the
plan was. We know that you know she shouldn't work at her repossible dang
lighting out that even why your lines was about where she works. And I
don't think I used or something there. You know, she hadn't worked since
she had to marry Ingle was in American England. She hadn't worked her the
month, so here you had that you have your hoards about what was going
on this morning so what were you writing there at the lawgo what she told
me. I was just taking to getting these. She said, you be
in now. David maintained his story and claimed that all he had done that
morning was drive his girlfriend to the mall. At the same time, David
had some questions of his own. From his perspective, it was obvious that
something more was going on here. When someone is arrested for driving without a
license, they aren't typically questioned by multiple detectives, much less homicide detectives.
I do want to know about it. I don't told me that. Oh
it's you guys are wrote something at the mall, so he got you know,
we've gotten hips got information on a lot two days about when you guys
wrote two or was about having in this morning, So that's kind of what's
going on. And you're just bushitted me for about fifteen seconds. Do you
want to let me know what's going on? Because I mean, I would
really like to know. I'm in that's why you're here a middle coaching you
needed watch. I mean, we're not the one that are bullshitting here.
I mean, you don't do you don't go to it and linked VI and
hey, you're the smart guy you come with my we're here. I don't
know why the fuck where here, Why you're think you're smart, Why you're
going to do this to all your people who will do this a lot of
you for no driver's life. Again, the lock don't that you are a
smart guy. You have figured out you know what I did want to talk
to you. I do have an investigation going to I'm not I'm going to
be one hundreds with you. I am not going to show you my cards.
I'm not sure, but I know that. Hold yeah, hold on,
yeah, you're hiding something. Yeah, I've just told you. I'm
not. I'm telling you I'm not going to show you my cars. One
tool that I have to talk to you is to arrest you for an offense
that we see you commit, which is what we did. That's why you're
under arrest. I'm gonna tell you, quite honestly, one hundred percent,
what I think is happening here is a woman is taking you down a bad
path. The detectives traded questions and accusations with David, but by the end
of their conversation, neither side gave more than an inch. David never admitted
to anything and He was eventually booked, taken before it judge, and jailed
for driving without a license. Meanwhile, the cops had also tracked down Carter
and brought her in for questioning as well. Interestingly, they found Carter in
the laundry area of her apartment complex, which meant that after David dropped her
off at the mall, Carter must have made the long walk back to her
home. So whatever Carter had done that morning in the mall remained a mystery,
at least for the time being. Carter Carol Savantez, Yes, I
know you mentioned David is your boyfriend? Want? Have you guys been together
about a year and a half. How'd you guys meet? We worked?
Taylor an American Eagle briefly. Twenty eight year old Carter Servantes originally worked as
an assistant manager at an American Eagle store in Amarillo, Texas, which is
about four hundred miles north of Fort Worth. It was in Amarillo that Carter
met and again dating her co worker David Mallory. When the district manager became
aware of that situation, he gave Carter a choice. She would either resign
or be transferred to another store. Carter chose the latter. So how did
you look in Fort Work? I had a job opportunity with American New Authorors
that brought me here from Amarillo or love Look from Memorilla. I worked with
the company for about eight years. It was maybe about seven. I happened
some change and I was the store manager for them at Amarillo and they transferred
me down here to work at Hugh and Wall. Are you still there?
No, I'm not. Before Carter made the move from Amarillo to Fort Worth,
she called the American Eagles store manager in Fort Worth and spoke to both
him and Ashley Harris. But it's not like she was transferred here because she
had ties to for work and wanted to No, no, no, she
didn't know anybody here. A matter of fact, whenever she was going to
move here, she had called and talked to me and to Ashley and asked,
like, what's an area that you know would be close to the store,
but kind of central? And actually I think it is the one that
I actually mentioned, the ben Brook area. Carter made her way to Fort
Worth and soon began working at American Eagle at the Hewlen Mall. While there
are things didn't go well for her, Carter struggled to get along with many
of her new coworkers, which happened to include Ashley Harris. Can you describe
the relationship between Ashley and Carter? They never clicked. I mean, Carter
never clicked with anybody in the store from my understanding, except for the sooship.
Do you know again? Carter kept everybody at arms leans She didn't,
you know, Carter everyone over to her partner to hang out or anything like
that. He did. Carter and Ashley were both assistant managers, but they
were pretty much also completely opposite people. They had conflicting personalities and approached their
positions an American Eagle in different ways, if that makes sense. While Ashley
was an upbeat and exceptionally personable worker, Carter usually kept to herself and maintained
a matter of fact attitude during her shifts. Meanwhile, back in Amarillo,
David Mallory stopped showing up for work and was eventually fired from his American Eagle
store. David's name was placed on the company's do not hire list, and
he soon moved to Fort Worth, where he reunited with Carter. Once there,
Carter used her position as an assistant manager to falsify some paperwork and hired
David to once again work alongside her at the Hewlen Mall American Eagle. Unsurprisingly,
both Carter and David were eventually fired, but not for the reasons you
may think. I was put on a suspended leave of absence the week before,
and then they decided to let me go. On September first, there
was a robbery at Human Mall and I had closed the night before. They
determined that I had left the store and secured, so they let me go.
Was that case ever sawd Did you ever speak to detectives about that case?
I was never questioned, and I did not leave the store. I
actually filed for unemployment and fought the company. So where are you currently working?
I'm not currently working. If you ask Carter why she was fired from
American Eagle, she will tell you that she was accused of leaving her store
unsecure. But if you ask your boss, you'll get a more detailed explanation.
I got a call one day while I was at church on a Sunday
morning, hard to pause that from the night before had been stolen. So
I went to the store. We have video in some of our store.
What had happened is the night before she scheduled I believe a two to ten
to be like the closing correct to be the closing manager to close down our
Redsters, and then Carter was scheduled to work I believe a three to midnight
or a four to midnight. Three months before Ashley Harris was murdered in August
of twenty fourteen, there was a robbery at the Helen Mall American Eagle.
On the night of that robbery, Ashley Harris had done a shift change with
Carter, and during that brief time that they were working together, Carter did
something unusual. Carter, around seven or seven thirty that night, told Asha
that she was going to take the trash out and as she thought it was
strange, it's something that Carter's you know, Carter was very hands off.
She didn't a lot of that stuff was beneath her. So either way,
she took uh. She took the trash out and left the back door unlocked.
A few hours later, Carter and a couple of other employees finished up
their shift close the store and left. So that night, I believe at
five or ten minutes after twelve, you can see on the camera Carter and
her team leave the building, lock down the front gate, and they leave.
At about one point fifteen in the morning, you see on the camera
a blackmail walk in from my back door onto my sales floor. He's he's
wearing like a black hoodie or a dark hoodie pulled up over his head,
wearing gloves. He walks over to into my cash and wrap area and bend's
down. He walks it directly to the safe, bends down, puts the
key in, unlocks it, and takes the deposit. It was a little
over eighteen thousand dollars deposit, and then takes that same path back out.
A masked thief dressed in black casually walked through the unlocked back door, reached
into the store safe, and left with about eighteen thousand dollars. Needless to
say, it was highly suspicious that this thief somehow knew that the back door
was unlocked. At the same time, this thief seemed to know exactly where
to go to get the money. These retail workers sure are smart. A
week went by after we're doing our investigation and I was told to contact Carter
and terminate her employment for policy violation for leaving the store unsecured, and then
as far as the theft, it was put in the hands of four PD
to kind of go from there. We were going to press charges, assuming
that it was moved forward on their end. After the robbery, Carter was
let go. It was assumed that she planned the robbery, but aside from
firing her and handing the investigation over to the police, there wasn't much else
that American Eagle could do at that point. Nobody at the store knew that
Carter was dating David Mallory. Didn't stop Ashley Harris from putting two and two
together. As soon as I walked in that Sunday morning and Ashley has a
play button, she goes, that's David Mallory. Okay, so what about
that? Do you know that's David Mallory. She goes, it's the way
he's walking, the way he carries himself, how skinny he is, and
that's David Mountain. Like without a doubt and watching the surveillance footage, Ashley
could easily tell that the mass thief was David Mallory. His mannerisms and lanky
frame gave him away. Even so, the managers at American Eagle were never
able to question David about the theft because after it happened, David just for
some reason never came back to work. So so curious, so so so
curious. Somehow he suspiciously just disappeared weird. And after that incident with the
theft, was David ever put back on this schedule? Was he fired?
We our policy that they have hat three consecutive no call, no shows,
so I'll put him on the schedule for three consecutive shifts. And he never
picked a schedule up, never showed up, so he terminated. So that
was shortly after afterd he ever come back. No Sir Ashley Harris believed that
Carter planned the robbery and David carried it out, and given that David never
came back to work, her assumption was all but confirmed. Even so,
the police investigation into this theft dragged on for months. David and Carter were
never even questioned by police about it. Carter took it very hard when she
was terminated, like she she was not going to go down without a fight,
but she took it extremely hard. But she also knows that Ashley is
the one that called and turned her in. Given the nature of Carter's departure
from American Eagle and her response to being fired, It wasn't unreasonable to suggest
that Carter may have had an axe to grind with both the store itself and
the very recently murdered Ashley Harris. When Carter was brought in for questioning,
the detectives were already highly suspicious of her, and as she was interviewed,
Carter didn't do herself any favors to sway those suspicions. In fact, she
really only made things worse. At one point during the interview, detectives briefly
left the room, but not before offering Carter something to eat or drink else.
Oh no, I'm fine, I don't need to I guess yes,
all right, we will be. Carter accepted a bottle of water from one
of the detectives who left the room after handing it to her. Carter opened
the bottle and took a sip. She then went for another sip, but
abruptly stopped before taking it. Then a look washed over her face that can
only be described as Oh shit, what have I done? Carter then put
the water bottle on a nearby table. She grabbed a tissue from a nearby
tissue box and used it to wipe down the water bottle. Huh, what
was she doing wiping away fingerprints from the water bottle? Wiping DNA? Maybe?
What did you guys do for Thanksgiving? We were here for Thanksgiving?
It was just me and him. So did y'all go to dinner? Did
you go to I actually cooked. I made turkey and there was stuffing and
mashed potatoes and green bean castrole. Did anybody join you for dinner? No?
It was them. What time did you guys have dinner? We actually
ate all day. I made it as a lunch and we had ranted movies
on Whennesday night? Wednesday when you watched this? No Wednesday. We rented
those movies so we could stay in all day on Thursday and watch movies and
eat like David. Carter explained that she and David were at home on Thanksgiving.
She claimed that they cooked eight watched movies, and slept. She also
explained that on the following day, she and David briefly left Carter's apartment to
check on some Black Friday sales before returning home later the same evening. Naturally,
Carter never mentioned anything about going to Ashley's apartment. Committing murder, oh
yeah, and setting the place on fire. Okay, so that morning,
what time did you guys get up? I woke up about I don't know.
I guess it was about seven thirty, and talked to him for a
little while, and then I kind of fell back to sleep. Okay,
And I know what time did you wake up? I woke up about nine
fifteen, nine thirty. I put the laundry in and then I was waiting
for the office to open. When I'm play your detective, Carter told detectives
that on the morning that David got arrested in the mall parking lot, she
never left her apartment complex. She claimed that when she got out of bed,
David was just gone and she didn't know where he went. What Carter
didn't know was that the detective she was telling the story to had watched her
leave the apartment that morning and drive to the mall with David. I don't
know how I can put to see you, but I'm gonna stress to you
that you need to be completely honest with me because to this point, you
have not been one hundred percent with me, okay, And I'm telling you
that you're in a bad position right now, because we know what's going on.
We know what has happened over the last few days, okay, and
we knew what was gonna happen. Okay. Before revealing what he knew,
the detective gave Carter one last chance to revise her story, but she never
did. Carter stuck to her easily disprovable lies. All right, so let's
start with this morning. Okay, all right, this morning, okay,
what time do you get up? About seven? And then what happens then?
And then we talked and I went back to sleep when I woke up
to you wasn't there. I know that's a lie. No, it's no,
it's not you know what. I know it's a lie. Why do
you know it? Because I saw you come out of your apartment and get
him. The passengers see of that car, and I saw him drive out
of there. That's why I know it's a lie. You're lying to me.
I'm sorry you were in that vehicle. I saw you exit that vehicle.
I saw you get in that vehicle, and I saw you exit that
vehicle. Oh, I've done today is take the Well we're gonna start over
about what happened today. I'm sorry. I did not do anything that I
know. You didn't do anything this morning, but that before go take the
laundry, and you are lying, how did it happen? Right now?
You're making yourself seem like you're just a terrible person. You're a liar that
doesn't give a damn about your life. No, not at all. Why
can't you just be completely honest? I am being completely honest. Do you
understand what he's saying? He was there, Okay, he watched you,
he followed. I don't stop. He saw it with his own eyes.
It's not what someone told us. It's what he saw with his own eyes.
When you can't be honest about the little things, when we get to
the big things, nothing matters. Despite what the detective had seen, Carter
maintained her story. For whatever reason, she did not want to place herself
at the mall, and the cops wanted to know why. What exactly were
Carter and David planning to do that morning? I don't you know what a
You know what DNA is? Right? Do you have a problem with me
getting a sample of your DNA? Yes? I would have a problem with
that. Do I need an attorney? What am I doing under arrest.
What a buckle swab. I'd just like to do buckle swab inside your mount
and get a sample of your DNA. No, would you be willing for
us to consent a search to your residence? No? There a reason.
Yes, because I have rights and I'm an American citizen, and just because
you're the police doesn't make you the gest stoppo. Again, Carter had not
done herself any favors. She had presented herself as an uncooperative liar, and
for detectives that meant she must have been guilty of something. Whatever. That
something was involved the murder of Ashley Harris, the Hewlen Mall, and probably
American Eagle. For a time, several questions lingered over this case. Who
killed Ashley Harris, why did they do it? And what exactly did Carter
and David originally plan to do at the mall on the morning after the murder.
The cops already had the assumption that Carter was a terrible person and a
criminal, but as they began answering those big questions in this case, it
became clear that Carter was much more sinister and sociopathic than anyone could have ever
suspected. On November twenty eighth, twenty fourteen, the dead body of thirty
one year old Ashley Harris was discovered inside her apartment. Ashley had been beaten
and strangled to death, and her killer or killers set her apartment on fire
before fleeing this One witness saw a black two door Infinity leaving the apartment complex
just before the fire, set off smoke alarms and the building sprinkler system.
Fort Worth Police quickly learned that Ashley's former coworker, twenty eight year old Carter
Servantes, owned a black Infinity. Within a day of Ashley being murdered,
Carter was questioned by homicide detectives, as was her nineteen year old living boyfriend,
David Mallory. Carter and David had both worked alongside Ashley Harris at American
Eagle at the nearby Hewlen mall but Carter and David were both fired after eighteen
thousand dollars was suddenly stolen from the store. It was presumed by the store's
management staff, which included Ashley Harris, that Carter planned the robbery and David
carried it out. Three months after the robbery, Ashley Harris was founded in
her apartment thirty one year old Ashley Harris was murdered Friday, November twenty eighth,
Police say because she turned into coworkers for stealing almost twenty thousand dollars from
the American Eagle store where they all worked well Steve. Ashley. Harris's neighbors
at her apartment complex were awakened on that morning by fire and even water from
sprinklers leaking down through the ceiling of their apartments. Police say that they were
eventually led back to Harris's coworkers, who were suspected in that theft back in
August, but they weren't arrested for the murder until this weekend. During their
initial police interviews, neither David nor Carter admitted to any wrongdoing. They didn't
come clean about the robbery, and they certainly didn't come clean about the murder.
A few more weeks went by, which allowed police to gather more evidence.
Eventually, David and Carter were both arrested and charged with capital murder.
After these arrests were made, David was given another opportunity to speak to detectives,
and during this second interview, David got a taste of the overwhelming evidence
that cops had on both him and Carter, and although your phone was locked,
we were able to get into We were able to get into Carter's phone
or when we've covered from the car the day that we've got her. So
we've got a lot of stuff on her and we're just we've been able to
make sense of a lot of it. And I know there was a lot
of communication between you and her. There was some planning at one time in
Abilene when you were working up there. She wanted to basically hit a link
over at the American Eagle there. Some of the most damning evidence that the
cops found came from David and Carter's cell phones and reviewing their text messages,
detectives learned that before robbing the Fort Worth American Eagle store, Carter and David
planned to quote hit a lick in Abilene, Texas. For those of you
that aren't career criminals, the term hit a lick means basically to steal a
lot of money from a very easy target. There was some extensive surveillance done
by her, watching one specific manager and her car. The plan was basically
to disable her car and then continue with what she wanted to do. And
there's no doubt in our mind that you were aware of that, because when
we get your phone, all the corresponding test messages are there. Based on
Carter and David's texts, it was apparent that they had followed and surveilled an
American Eagles store manager in the Abilene Mall parking lot. They planned to disable
the store manager's car, incapacitate her, and steal her work keys. The
end goal was to break into the American Eagles store and rob it. We've
also got pictures which are pretty damaging, mostly to her about what she was
up to and what she was planning to do. And David, I think
Detective Peyton and I are both of the thinking that you know, she was
a mastermind behind the scene. And that's been our position the entire time that
we've been investigating this case, that she was a mastermind. She's a person
that likes to manipulate people, she's a sociopath, she likes to lie,
and she's going to stick to her lives. Given that Carter seemed to be
the mastermind of this criminal duo, detectives were hoping that they could get David
to flip. What they truly wanted was details about what happened inside Ashley Harris's
apartment on the night that she was murdered. Let's start with the Abilion situation.
Explain to us what was going on with that whole Ablion planning. I
don't know, man, She don't want to work. She kept trying to
get me to quit my job and trying to with them. So tell me
what her pan was. She didn't really just like this closed everything to me.
She just really told me that she wanted to hear that. For the
majority of this interview, David tried to maintain as much plausible deniability as possible,
which wasn't easy given everything the cops found on his cell phone. So
what was the plan? How was she going to get the keys from the
girl? She never told me? Mom, Daby, you gotta be honest.
Man, Man, I'm asking you because I already know. Do you
remember ever going into the Hewlean or to the Abilene mall and kind of scoping
out the American Eagle for her? Do you ever remember going in or snapping
pictures of the manager's schedules? Mm hmm is the reason why you're taking this
picture. So I'm getting that, David, I take that she took that,
she showed it to me, she sent it to you on your phone,
she sent it to you by text, she shut it from her phone,
from my phone to her phone, and stuff like this. David,
that this is stuff you need to be upfront about. I mean, this
is something you would have remembered. Despite the pretty clear cut evidence, David
maintained that when it came to any criminal activity, Carter was doing her own
thing. David claimed that he just kind of watched from the background, didn't
help with any of the planning, and wasn't privy to any of the details.
So explain to me exactly how it was was to go down in Ablue.
There wasn't really just like a shad plan. I mean she said she
wanted to get the keys. I mean that was the plan. She wanted
to get the keys from one of the managers. Yeah, okay, were
you guys going to follow her away? She never said. She just kept
saying that she was going to get the keys. But then you mentioned something
by a tire earlier. Yeah, I mean she said, well, maybe
I can pop retire or and she would just be in the park a lot.
Carter and David planned to attack an unsuspecting woman in a parking lot and
still her work keys. They exchange text messages as they surveiled the woman and
discussed each move as they went along, but in the end, David convinced
Carter to abandon this plan. This is from her to you, do you
think she parked to walk out of the movie theater doors? You respond,
yeah, she did, and then you respond, she's not too far from
over a park and then she says she has a purse, and then you
respond, so that's most likely where they would be. Then she asks you
which side is it on? And then you respond, I like it.
It all just doesn't seem peaceable. You're there, you're watching, You're talking
to Carter about what's about to happen. But then you kind of try to
back oun says, this doesn't seem peaceable, which kind of goes back to
what we're thinking. You're the smarter guy in the whole situation. She's trying
to make you do this, so when you're sitting here trying to lie to
us about what really happened, doesn't make sense to David. Eventually, David
explained that Carter had filled his head with fantasies. According to him. Carter
wanted the two of them to become cross country bandits. They could plan and
commit robberies in one state and then move right on to the next. America
was their oyster and they were going to be the next Bonnie and Clyde and
fuck manum nineteen. Who doesn't want who doesn't want? All that money?
I mean the fuck I come from the hood. Man. I've never seen
ten thousand dollars in my life. She said, I quit my job and
I could go help her go about wherever the hell she wanted to go.
She said, we can go anywhere. She said, I have this car
and I had low miles. We can go anywhere we can. We can
go anywhere. We have fifty states that we get you from. She wanted
to be Bonnie and Clyde, so she just continued, continued, can you.
I just kept bagging it and anyway, like, you need to come
on, You need to come on, You need to come on, You
need to hit the big and you need to come quin. You need to
quit the job. David and Carter abandoned their plan to rob American Eagle in
Abilene, but they followed through with their plan to rob the American Eagle in
Fort Worth and walked away with eighteen thousand dollars. This ultimately led to both
of them getting fired, but David and Carter weren't finished with the Fort Worth
location. After losing their jobs, they came up with a plan to hit
the store again, and that plan involved the person that identified them as thieves,
Ashley Harris. But if you had Ashley's keys, you could get in
back doors or no, no, no, no, I mean like we
entered it. We entered the front door to the gate. We just raise
it up a couple of feet going, and Ashley had keys to that gate,
correct, Okay, yes, sir, So if I had Ashley's keys,
I could get in there, and I could also get in the deposit
box. Absolutely. In the early morning hours of November twenty eighth, twenty
fourteen, Ashley Harris returned to her apartment after working a long and tiresome Black
Friday shift at American Eagle. Detectives theorized that shortly after arriving home, Carter
Servantes and David Mallory forced their way into Ashley's apartment and attacked her. They
bound her feet and hands with duct tape pistol whipped her and strangled her to
death. Then they stole her work keys and set her apartment on fire before
fleeing the scene. The next morning, Carter and David drove to the Hewlen
Mall and they planned to use Ashley's keys to break into American Eagle and rob
this store before it opened. Surveillance cameras captured a masked woman trying to unlock
the store's front gate. That woman was quite obviously Carter with Carter and David
didn't realize is that a homicide detective had followed them to the mall and Ashley's
keys were completely useless. Servantes and Mallory had been fired from their jobs at
American Eagle Outfitters at Hewlen Mall after they were suspected of stealing nearly eighteen thousand
dollars from the store safe in August. Harris had identified the pair as the
suspects. The police documents say Servants and Mallory plan to go back to American
Eagle to take forty to fifty thousand dollars in Black Friday shopping sales, but
they needed the keys from Harris. The day after Harris was killed, Servantes
was seen on mall security video the lease, saying she appears to be trying
to unlock the gate, but Servantes and Mallory didn't know the locks had already
been changed. The evidence that police had gathered in this case was overwhelming.
That's what happens when knitwitz commit crimes, lots of evidence. Despite this,
David maintained that he had never been to Ashley's apartment and that he had nothing
to do with the murder. Wasn't me, said David. He also claimed
that on the morning after the murder, when he dropped Carter off at the
mall, he didn't know what Carter was planning to do. Can I tell
you that I literally slept all like Thanksgiving? Okay, that's what happened.
So she rolled out sometime. You're in Thanksgiving where you were asleep? Yeah,
Like, I had no knowledge that she even left. I had no
knowledge that she came back. I never woke up and she wasn't there nothing.
I never went to sleep and she wasn't there. Every time I was
there, she was there. Okay, Well, we know that's not the
case. You knew what she went to the mall that day, that she
took over her to do that was part of her plan. You knew she
had the keys. Okay, maybe you don't want any part of it.
You know what you said, I'll drive you and that's your thing. She
got to be honest about that. I had about to have these cuts.
You're making a huge mistake. And I tell him us what we're asking.
You're not telling us the truth. You're not feeling in those pieces for us,
and you're gonna put me in the mix with her. I'm trying to,
man, I know what you're trying to. I'm trying to identify what
you did. Man, you didn't. At the very minimum, we know
that you were there, that you drove her there, We know that for
a fact. To where to the location where this happened to them all,
yes, ye y'all got me, young, got me and the night before.
No, no, hell no, you're saying that's a lie. Yeah,
that is a lie. Okay. Detectives knew, or at least strongly
suspected, that David went to Ashley's apartment with Carter and helped commit the murder,
but no matter how hard they pressed him, David simply wouldn't give it
up. What did she tell you say to you or show you reference the
death of Ashley Nothing, man, I had no idea nobody got killed.
Man. If I had knew somebody got killed, Man, I wouldn't have
helped him, I swear to God. So you're saying, if you had
known somebody gotten killed, you would not have helped her kill. No,
there's no way she could have done this for herself. Man. She was
one hundred pounds at the most way of that seen blood. There's absolutely no
way she would have done this by herself. I can admit, man,
I've done some bad things in my life. Man, but I've never ever
murdered somebody. But imagine this. You're sitting in a police interrogation room and
a homicide detective is accusing you of a murder that you didn't commit. Would
you just sit there and meekly say, I've never murdered somebody. Bro.
I get that everyone reacts to situations differently, But let's just say if that
were me and I were innocent, of course I'd be anocent. I wouldn't
murder anymore. But let's just say that for me, idn't be that casual.
In fact, my inner hispanic would probably be coming out, and I'd
be screaming at the detective, telling him that they have the wrong man.
They made a mistake, demanding a lawyer immediately before anything else comes out of
my mouth. In fact, in any case, these particular detectives kept pushing
David and dumb. David eventually offered to give them more information in exchange for
a deal. Basically, David was willing to tell the truth finally, if
and only if he could get something out of it. That is, yeah,
I need I need a guarantee, man, did shat on go river
me? Like her? I need a guarantee? And what kind of guarantee
you as? I don't know? Man? A document? I need something?
But we don't do that here. The ain't the time for document with
the document is when we tell the DA's office that we want to use you,
that's when the document to start coming in. I ain't going to do
that, man, I know y, I ain't going to do that.
What are you talking about? How are we going to railroad? Were trying
to? We're trying to. We're asking you what she did. This is
a capital case and I'm glad that that's finally slunk in your head. If
that's what this is again the evidence in this case was overwhelming. Not only
did detectives not have the authority to offer David any deals, but quite frankly,
they didn't need to offer him any deals. They had him dead to
write. Not really sure what that expression means. I just I've heard it
said before, so there it is dead to write. Not sure if I
even said it the right way. But besides that, the purpose of this
interview was really just to make the case even stronger and to more specifically determine
what Carter and David did on the morning of Ashley's murder. Okay, tell
us what you did, because we know that the very minimum you drove her
there. You may not have gone in and did what you did to this
girl, or she did they did to this girl, But the very minimum
you drove. And there's a difference somebody that just drives and somebody actually goes
in and does it. I didn't even drive there. I don't know we
had this to place. You driving. You just stay in the car,
and you were supposed to like honker something if something happened. Okay, but
you were at least there. I wasn't there telling you. You're not just
doing this for yourself. Man, you gotta do this for other people.
Man, I can't tell you I told you the lies that I told you,
and I told you the truth about them, the people that matter,
the jury. There's going to be people that aren't made aware of this interview,
and I want those people to know this truth. The only reason not
to tell the truth about all this is if you're a killer. If you
are a cold blooded, thieving, stealing killer, and stick to it because
you have nothing else. There is nothing redeemable about you. That is the
only reason to stick to the lies, because you can't swallow the peal of
being a killer. You're big enough to do it, but you're not big
enough to admit to it, and that makes you. That makes you nothing,
That makes you unredeemable, That makes you a liar, That makes you
a capital murder actor. After three hours of interrogation, detectives determined that they
weren't going to get anything else from David. He was sticking to his guns
and unwilling to admit that he took part in Ashley's murder, So detectives called
it quits, but not before getting in a few more well deserved jobs.
And let me tell you something. If we were sitting in different chairs and
you were accusing me of it, I'd be standing up, screaming, yelling,
stark, raving mad. If I was innocent, he had never been
that. You never will be that because you're guilty of killing Ashley Harris.
Fuck you, no, fuck you? Fuck you. You want to you
want to talk to me? What are you gonna do? Huh? Because
I'm gonna walk out of here. That's all you got, all you got
when I can fuck Ashley, when I confront you with the truth and get
in your face like a man, because you're nineteen now on your man.
When I confront you with the truth, all you can say is fuck you.
That doesn't hurt me, dude, because that doesn't affect me. That's
a kid's answer. That is the way of an ignorant child who has nothing
else could Everything you're telling every day is a lie. You've been confronted with
your actions, You've been confronted with your deeds and your reason. I termine
that you shut your bits as you're you're a man excu I'm done. I'm
done. You ain't finna sit here and cladden the road. Damn killed man.
That's the real day. You got me. Fuck, that's the one
I wanted to see right there, that's the one I wanted to see do
It had nothing to do with Carter. You're the thug from the hood who
killed her. She's a little one hundred pound girl, and you're a killer
dude killing Oh yeah, ask me in thirty years when you're halfway through your
sentence, if you're a killer, tell mes a county. Yeah, you're
going David made his choice. He was not going to cooperate with police,
and this interview came to an end, but not before one of the detectives
made a prediction. Unless we know exactly what you did that comes out of
your mouth, I'm not talking about Carter telling us because I'm guarantee you the
sooner or later she want to be sitting right here. She may not get
the opportunity, but I can guarantee you that she's going to try, and
we don't want her telling your story. This is your story, and like
I tell you the first time, you cannot afford somebody tell your story,
because I can guarantee you that she's going to make you the bad guy.
She's going to say it was David's plan. He's the one that hated this
girl. He's the one that needed money. She didn't put it on you,
David, I'm telling you Mann. Surprisingly, detectives turned out to be
completely right. In May of twenty sixteen, Carter Servantes took her case to
trial. She testified in her own defense, and her story was one that
we have heard many times before. I was very afraid to do over word
I had kill. According to Carter, David was violent, sexually abusive,
and controlling. Yes, of course she's going to claim these things after she's
caught red handed. As always, she claimed that their relationship had devolved to
the point where Carter was in fear for her life and that David had threatened
to kill her on multiple occasions. So naturally, Carter had no t voice
but to do exactly what David told her to do. How many times have
we heard that before? Do this telling me what to drink, what to
eat, and he maybe have sex with him in the movie. While on
the witness stand, Carter also claimed that, in order to keep her in
line, David enlisted the help of two of his friends to rape Carter.
Somebody pushed me down right when I got into the apartment to go out my
swell hats and pulled him down into my ankles and they raped me. Were
you yeah? String Carter spun quite a tail and was clearly hoping to garner
some sympathy from her jury. It all sort of reminds me of a certain
Aquaman actress. When prosecutors were given the chance to cross examine Carter, one
of the things they asked her about involved her police interview. They wanted to
know why Carter had wiped down the water bottle that the police had given her.
Carter's response was just as surprising as it was unbelievable. Carter claimed,
get this, that she wasn't trying to wipe away DNA or fingerprints. No,
no, no, no, that's that's silly she was. She was
just trying to wipe away the overwhelming smell of seamen because the water bottle reminded
her of being raped by David's friends. Iwe I swear to, I swear
to. I can't make this up. It's just swater swater. As for
the morning of the murder, carter story wasn't all that different from David's.
According to Carter, the murderer must have been carried out entirely by David Well
she was asleep at home. The next day, David drove Carter to the
Hewlen Mall, gave her Ashley's work keys, pointed a gun at her,
and demanded that Carter use those keys to rob the American Eagle store. Gave
me some clothes, told me to put along, and then he handed me
a set of American Eagle Peace and he said, go in and over the
gate, bring me that bad ass deposit. I shook my head, but
I wasn't going to do it, and he said, you don't understand.
There's somebody sitting outside your parents' house right now. If you don't go in
them, then to kill them, and then I'm going to kill you.
During Carter's trial, a lot of details about this case were revealed for starters.
When police searched Carter's car, they found a semi automatic pistol with Ashley
Harris's DNA on it. The prosecution theor is that this gun was initially used
to gain Ashley's compliance when David and Carter broke into her apartment, and was
later used to pistol whip her, which explains the bruising and abrasions on Ashley's
body. Also, Carter had clearly surveilled Ashley's apartment during the weeks leading up
to the murder, as there were several photos on her phone of Ashley's apartment
complex, Ashley's truck, and the stairwell leading up to Ashley's front door.
Just a quick pro tip, if you're thinking of murdering someone, don't take
pictures of their apartment beforehand. I know some of you are dumber than most,
but you know there it is. There's a tip for you. That
one's for you. Prosecutors also revealed that this wasn't a situation of a robbery
that incidentally turned into a deadly homicide. Now this was a murder. The
murder of Ashley Harris was always part of the plan. Also found on Carter's
phone or text messages with David that included map coordinates. These coordinates led police
to a shallow grave in a deserted area of Abilene, Texas, about one
hundred miles away from Ashley's apartment. Police also recovered a sales receipt and surveillance
footage of Carter purchasing gloves, a tarp, and two shovels. I mean,
you might as well just walk into the police station with the evidence at
this point, if you're that dumb. The prosecution theorized that Carter planned to
abduct Ashley, steal her work, keys, murder her, and then bury
Ashley in that shallow grave for whatever. There for a reason, and much
like the rest of Carter's plan, things didn't really play out as intended.
Instead of driving Ashley to her intended burial site, Carter and David must have
decided to leave her body in the apartment and burn the place down. Of
course, no thought or consideration was given to any of the other occupants of
the apartment complex. The thought that more people could be injured or killed didn't
even cross their minds. As for David, he also took his case to
trial and maintained the same story that he told detectives. His lawyers argued that
if Carter did go over to Ashley's apartment and murder her, David knew nothing
about it. In the end, both Carter and David were unsuccessful in convincing
their respective juries that their partner was solely responsible for the killing. They were
both convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In Carter's case, the jury deliberated for only two hours, which came
as no surprise because frankly, Carter was a shitty criminal. As for her
motivation, things aren't as simple as they may seem. Yeah, Carter had
an ax to grind. She was angry that Ashley accused her of robbing American
Eagle, she was angry that she got fired. And yes, Carter wanted
to steal a lot of money. But all of those things were just peripheral.
Carter's criminal acts were driven by something much more complicated and kaya that she
is. Do you do you know the word narcissistic? Okay? I think
she's one of the most narcissistic people I've ever come across. Just looking at
her pictures and stuff on her phone. Her world revolves around her. Her.
Her world is all about her. Have you ever seen her do something
for someone else. When detectives investigated this case, it didn't take them long
to understand Servantes. She obviously lacked empathy and remorse, and she had complete
disregard for the law. The woman was a textbook sociopath, and when it
comes to killers like her, the easily understood motivations for murder like anger,
revenge, or greed don't really apply. You see, Carter Servantes is what
is commonly referred to as a thrill killer. She wasn't seeking victory over Ashley
or revenge against American Eagle. What truly motivated Carter was something much more terrifying
to the average human being here on earth. What truly motivated Carter was the
agony of her past defeats. And like most thrill killers and sociopaths, the
only satisfaction that Carter could find was planning out and carrying out her crimes.
Any money or retribution that she gained as a result was just a bonus or
a cherry on top, if you will. Two years after the murder of
Ashley Harris, Carter took her case to trial and tried to lie her way
out of trouble. She demonstrated that she had not changed and will likely never
change. She knew every step of the way that what she was doing was
wrong, and she didn't care. She didn't care about the life she took
or the people she heard, and her only regret was that she got caught.
Well, it's hard not to get a little sentimental at the end of
the year, but I do want to say that I love you guys.
I know it's hard to hear that from another adult that you've never met through
a telephonic computer device, but I mean it. You guys have changed my
life so much for the better, and you've affected the lives of countless others
who work on this show every day. Try to bring you the content that
you appreciate, try to do it in a respectful and responsible way. All
of us here at Swords and especially I appreciate you so much. You guys
who are still here, actually see through the bullshit. You actually see what's
happening. You see that authenticity is no longer valued, that people value fake
fucks. Politician like fake fucks that'll tell them everything they want to hear.
And that's not me. That'll never be me. I just tell the truth
because that's all that I know how to do. So if you're still here
with us in twenty twenty four, thank you and stay safe. Hime night.
My name is Dominique and I'm in Houston and I just listened to US
episode one fifty three and it hits me off. I consider myself to be
pretty liberal, but I'm over all of these new as diagnoses for mental health
disorders. Give me a damn boing. Okay, this is what happens when
you bring an entire generation of athletes that get participation in trophies because they showed
up. Now they don't know how to take rejections, and when they get
told no, now you got to stab somebody. This is dumb, but
that's all great podcast that our listeners is like day three, It's amazing to
keep doing what you're doing and everybody else can kick around