Worst Ex Ever (2024) s01e04 Episode Script

1
[tense music playing]
[phone line ringing]
[male operator on phone]
[woman on phone]
[siren wailing]
[woman 2] People tell me all the time
it's not my fault.
I have heard hundreds of times,
"It's not your fault."
But I should have seen the red flags.
[woman on phone]
- [gunshots]
- [woman on phone]
[woman 2] I should have moved.
I should have been more careful.
I should've played it safe.
[woman on phone]
[woman on phone]
[music crescendoes]
[glitchy audio]
[tense music playing]
[woman 2] Had I known
that the most dangerous time
for a person in a domestic violence
relationship is when they try to leave,
had I known that,
I probably would've
done things differently.
[music fades]
[whimsical music playing]
I met Kevin in 2007 at Denny's. [laughs]
He was there with his friend
in the booth behind me.
And I was there with my friend, Ari.
[Ari] The story with Kevin and Amanda,
you would think was picture-perfect.
We were sitting in a booth eating nachos,
and Kevin came
and sat right in our booth next to Amanda.
[Amanda] He was flirting and smiling,
and I sort of, um,
was dismissive of him. [laughs]
[man] Kevin and I,
we were best friends in high school,
and Kevin was never shy around the women.
I think his way
of trying to flirt with them
was tell a joke, make them smile.
He was just a clown.
He told her,
"I wanna get to know you better."
"I want to take you out."
[Amanda] He had asked for my phone number.
I sort of just ignored him,
actually. [laughs]
The next weekend,
I ran into him in downtown Spokane.
There was an event,
and he made a joke about it being
meant to be that we ran into each other.
Just the charming way he spoke
drew my interest.
[Ari] He was in the military.
He had a great head on his shoulders,
and my dad was in the Air Force as well.
So I was like, "That's a great career.
It's very admirable."
She had big hopes
and dreams and aspirations,
so I thought that was a good fit.
[Amanda] He made it pretty clear
he wanted a relationship with me,
and I found his efforts to be attractive.
[intriguing music playing]
[man] Amanda is my oldest sister.
The first time I found out
that Amanda was seeing Kevin Lewis,
she had been living with me
shortly after college
and had mentioned to me that
a "friend" was going to stop by.
And I met him.
And he complimented me
on my broad shoulders.
He said I was a lot bigger
than he imagined
and kind of did this gesture,
and I immediately liked him.
[video game beeping]
I enjoyed being around him
because he was polite.
He was constantly trying to be my friend.
After seven months or so of dating,
we moved in together.
Kevin would hang out
with all of my siblings.
One time we went
and played a softball game.
My sister, Alisha, was there.
She had the nickname Punky.
Punky was very loving,
very big personality,
the type of person
that would do anything for her family.
[Mannie] Punky always had some problems
with any of our siblings'
boyfriends, girlfriend.
She thought Kevin was arrogant,
and I didn't see any of it.
Most of the things
that she said fell on deaf ears
because we just always
heard her talking her opinion.
So we would take it with a grain of salt
when it was negative.
I had already decided I liked him
and that he was a good fit for our family.
[Amanda] When the relationship
started to get serious,
he asked my dad's permission
for my hand in marriage.
[Mannie] Kevin promised my dad
that he would be
a good husband for my sister.
Apparently his dad wasn't a very good guy.
So my dad told him
that he would be like
a father to him in return.
And then from there,
it was kind of short engagement.
We were married in July 2009.
We had a pretty big wedding.
I think it was 200 guests.
And my three sisters were bridesmaids.
In my family,
my parents were still together,
my relatives, my cousins.
Everyone had these long-term marriages,
and we were all happy and excited.
[Mannie] I remember tearing up
as she was walking down the aisle.
Kevin didn't have much family of his own,
so we were ready to step in
and be his family.
[whimsical music continues]
[Amanda] I was 25 when I got pregnant
with my first child, Eliana.
Everyone was really excited about it.
First, I called up Punky, and I said,
"Do you wanna go by
Tía Punky or Tía Alisha?"
Of course, tía is aunt in Spanish.
And she was like, "What?" [laughs]
She just had a really, really big reaction
and was super excited.
When Eliana was three months old,
I found out I was pregnant again. [laughs]
I have three children.
Two girls and a boy.
They're all very close in age.
[Mannie] Amanda's a great mother.
Cautious, nurturing.
And Kevin seemed enveloped as a father.
As soon as Eliana was born,
Kevin actually teared up.
He held her and loved her right away.
[baby mewling]
[Amanda] I was a little surprised.
You're shining that light on Eliana.
- [Amanda] It's not that bright.
- [Kevin] It is. Stop it.
Come on. Stop it.
It was a very rare occasion
for me to see him emotional.
[ambient music playing]
One of the big problems in the marriage
was his lack of affection.
When he would get upset,
he would try to put me down
and called me a lot of names.
When I was pregnant with my son,
he called me a crybaby and fat bitch.
I was just really like,
"Who did I marry? Who is this person?"
I think he had abandonment issues
from when he was young.
Kevin's dad did not claim him.
He said that that wasn't his son.
[gentle music playing]
I do think that that created
some emotional issues for Kevin.
I remember asking myself a couple of times
if I had made a mistake in marrying Kevin.
My dad's feedback was to make it work.
He was like, "This is a good guy."
"He doesn't drink. He doesn't gamble."
"He doesn't do drugs."
"He works a regular job."
But Kevin was emotionally abusive
throughout the marriage.
[Mannie] Divorce was not a topic
in my house growing up.
We just never thought
it would be a part of our family.
[Amanda] You know,
certainly after having kids,
I felt committed to try to make it work.
And so I tried to avoid
certain conversations
once I kind of learned
his trigger buttons.
[tense music playing]
After we had been married a couple years,
- Kevin really started to get controlling.
- [phone beeps]
He would check my phone
on a regular basis.
He wanted me to delete
all of my male contacts in my phone.
There were just numerous events
throughout the marriage
where he was upset
about something that I was wearing.
I remember being at a family reunion.
I was wearing a T-shirt,
and I had bent over
to pick up one of the toys for the kids,
and he got upset about that
because my breasts were showing
when I bent over.
He said, "Woman," in a stern voice,
and it was unsettling.
But I didn't know
the dynamic of the situation.
Just figured that
that was something that he did,
and I assumed she tolerated it.
[Amanda] I just was really taken aback
by his reaction when I'm with my family.
[Jason] I remember one time,
we were playing video games, Kevin and I,
and Amanda was in the back
doing something.
And as she came out
She had little shorts on.
He was like, "Don't be looking at her,"
and I was like,
"What are you talking about?"
I was shocked, so I looked at him,
and I said, "Are you serious? Like"
"Why would I look at her
in any type of way?"
It just threw me for a loop
because this is the first time
he was being aggressive with me,
and Kevin's demeanor around Amanda
was just kind of bossy for no reason,
like everything was on command.
She had tried everything that she could
with Kevin, and nothing was working.
And I think at that point,
Amanda's mental state
was more important than anything else
and having a good environment
for her children to be raised in.
Years of lack of affection
and what I now know is emotional abuse.
It was just too much damage done.
[tense music playing]
When I went to talk to Kevin
about wanting a divorce,
he was super upset about it
and seemed hurt.
I remember being surprised.
I really didn't think
he was going to care that much.
[music fades]
[intriguing music playing]
So once I had really decided
I wanted a divorce,
you know, finances were a concern,
and, like, how am I gonna afford
a different place?
[music continues]
I had sort of moved into the office,
so it wasn't too difficult
to avoid sharing the same space with him.
[clock ticking]
I was sleeping in the home.
He went into my room.
[door creaks open]
And he was kind of in a rage.
- [glitchy audio]
- He was upset,
wanting to look through my phone.
[tense music builds]
Throughout the marriage, he was checking
to see what I was saying to friends.
He would say, you know,
"I don't want anyone in our business,"
and just get really upset about that.
Somehow we had ended up in the closet.
He was holding me hostage there.
Kevin's 5'11", 185 pounds,
and he's a trained boxer.
He was jamming my fingers
into the fingerprint lock on my phone
trying to get it to unlock,
and it wasn't working.
Then he just punched me.
Square in the face.
[dramatic music plays]
I just remember being in shock.
Like, "What just happened?"
He got a towel and started cleaning up
the blood off my face.
He hugged me.
And then he left for work.
[car starts]
[unsettling music playing]
[phone line ringing]
[Mannie] I called my dad.
As soon as he answered the phone,
he said, "Kevin assaulted Amanda."
What do you mean?
Like, how bad?
He said, "She is really messed up."
And I was furious.
Everything was a facade.
[Amanda] Punky was pissed.
She was just furious
that he would put his hands on me.
[Mannie] I don't think any of us knew
what kind of person he really was.
But Punky knew
that something was off with him.
She always knew.
[music crescendoes, fades]
[discordant music playing]
I quickly looked for places to rent
and found a spot.
I moved out of the house.
My dad thought I should call the police.
He thought I should report it.
But I was worried.
What will my children think
if later they learned that he has a record
or charges come out of it.
I was feeling guilty,
so ultimately, I did not report it.
The kids were very young,
two, four, and five.
At the time, I was still open
to sharing custody with him
because, honestly,
I wanted the kids to see their dad.
I really didn't want to have
any communication
except for things
related to the kids and childcare.
But Kevin was constantly trying
to convince me to come back.
[phone ringing]
He apologized all of the time.
He told me
that he wouldn't ever hit me again.
He would oscillate between
"I'm sorry. Please come home.
Let's work on this,"
and "Well, forget it. Screw you."
[tense music playing]
[phone ringing]
There were times where,
if I didn't pick up or respond,
he would just blow up my phone
and just call me incessantly back-to-back.
Sometimes I'd have 40 missed calls.
The fact that I didn't wanna be with him
just drove him insane.
At one point, Kevin said,
"Come home or else."
And I said, "Or else what?"
And he said,
"Or else I'm gonna file for
child support, alimony, and full custody."
"And if I don't get it,
I'm gonna kill you."
[music builds]
[tense music continues]
This is the place
that I moved into when I left Kevin.
I still didn't even really think
that the death threats were serious.
I really didn't think it's something
that he would go through with
or risk being caught
and losing his freedom.
[dramatic sting]
["This Ain't Love Vox"
by Robert Bagshaw playing]
You always try
To put your hands through my hair ♪
We're gonna
We're gonna dance tonight ♪
[Amanda] I had come home
from dance practice.
I parked my car in front of the garage.
[song ends]
I opened the door,
and as soon as I went to put my feet out
[ominous music playing]
I was hit over the head.
I was completely blindsided.
One after another hit over the head.
I'm in the driver's seat, feet out,
trying to kick back, block my face.
I had a bunch of blood in my eyes.
I start to panic. How am I gonna make it?
[music crescendoes, fades]
And then it just stopped.
And he he left.
My vision was really blurry,
and I'm trying not to pass out
'cause I'm like, "I have to call 911."
I got ahold of my phone, and I called 911.
[sirens wailing]
[glitchy audio]
I was terrified to learn
that she was assaulted,
beaten, left for dead,
and in a hospital.
[pensive music playing]
I was floored.
I couldn't believe
the severity of the attack.
[Amanda] My face is split open.
I can't move my arm.
I had broken teeth
and bruises on my legs and arms.
An officer came in,
and I said, "I've been assaulted."
"Kevin Lewis did this.
Here's his address."
"Here's what he looks like."
And then he asked me,
"Did you see his face?"
[glitchy audio]
"No, I don't think so
from having a bunch of blood in my eyes."
They said, "Did he say anything?"
"No."
And he said
they were unable to make an arrest
because I couldn't
positively identify him.
I know it was him.
Who else would want to do this?
Who's gonna hide in the bushes
outside of my driveway and harm me?
So I knew it was him,
but apparently that was not enough.
- [siren wailing]
- The police did go to his house.
And they see him
rolling in on his bicycle.
And it's, like, you know,
12-something a.m. after midnight.
And it was suspicious.
He's out on his bike super late at night.
No flashlight. No cell phone.
Dark clothing.
But that still wasn't enough.
It just blows my mind.
Was Kevin a monster all along
and I just didn't know it,
or did he become that way
because I tried to leave him?
[tense music playing]
[Mannie] Amanda was so fearless.
This was fuel for her fire.
She was putting her nose down
and ready to take down Kevin.
[Amanda] I wasn't scared of Kevin.
I actually made a Facebook post that said,
"If you want to hold me down,
you'll have to kill me."
I decided to file charges
for both assaults,
which I had documented,
and I had photographs.
Then I stated that, you know,
it was him. He was there.
I immediately went to courthouse
and tried to file the protection order.
Because of the nature of the incident,
the kids were automatically included
in the protection order.
[discordant music playing]
[woman] I was a nanny
for the Lewis family in 2017.
I found out through Facebook
that Amanda had gotten assaulted,
and I asked her if it was Kevin right away
and if there was a plan in place
to get the kids out.
It was a no-brainer
that he couldn't have contact.
[Amanda] When I got the protection order,
Kevin was supposed to be served
that Thursday
immediately when he got off work,
so I called up Abigail.
I said, "I got full custody of the kids,
and I'm going to pick them up."
[dramatic music playing]
The cops were able to serve him
with the no-contact order.
The protection order stated that
he wasn't to come near me or the children.
Kevin tried to file
for child support, full custody, alimony.
He wanted me to pay him, like,
8,000-something dollars a month,
and it it was just insane.
In August 2017,
we had a court hearing where
he was essentially denied
everything that he was requesting.
The custody remained with me.
And, in fact, the judge said,
"You have to pay some child support."
And he didn't get any alimony either.
And so that set him off.
He was very angry.
He did promise me
that if he didn't get those things,
he was going to kill me.
[Abigail] I was scared for her,
scared for the kids.
I was always nervous
just as an employee because
I wouldn't know what to do if, like,
something went wrong, I guess, so
[tense music playing]
When Amanda got full custody of the kids,
she was working full-time and overtime,
but I couldn't do
a full-time live-in situation.
So Alisha would be over at the house
constantly helping with the kids.
My kids loved her [laughs]
and Uncle Brad also.
They had just gotten married,
and she was looking forward
to having kids of her own.
[Abigail] Amanda and Alisha
were really close.
Like, you could tell there was just love
there and support for one another.
[pensive music playing]
[Amanda] At the time,
I was working at Providence Hospital.
I was the director of anesthesia
on the administration side.
I oversaw I think 80-something
physicians and nurse anesthetists.
And so it was a lot of people.
And then there was
a big conference in New York
where all of the directors
gathered and met there.
Alisha and Abigail were caring
for the kids while I was away.
[tense music playing]
[Abigail] It was a normal night.
We got the kids ready for bed.
Usually, I would stay up really late
binging TV shows,
and because Alisha
was staying on the couch,
I didn't want to impinge.
So I went to bed at midnight.
[Amanda] Punky and I were messaging.
It was really late,
like almost 3 a.m. in New York.
I'm here saying,
"I really need to get to bed." [laughs]
And, um, she said, "Okay. Love you."
[tense music playing]
[gunshots]
[Abigail] I woke up to two gunshots.
And then
[gunshots]
two more gunshots went off.
So I went down to investigate.
I turned the corner of the banister,
and I see
Alisha is lying in a stream of blood.
[heart beating]
[music crescendoes]
I got my phone and called 911.
[line ringing]
[male operator on phone]
[Abigail on phone]
[male operator on phone]
[Abigail on phone]
[male operator on phone]
[Abigail on phone]
They asked if she was still breathing,
but I knew she was gone.
The girls were trying
to come downstairs too.
And I'm yelling at them to stay upstairs.
[siren wailing in the distance]
The police got there.
The EMTs carried Eliana and Amaya down,
but they were shielding
their view of Alisha.
[tense music playing]
Isaiah was on the big couch.
He saw some of it. His eyes were so wide.
So I asked if I can pick Isaiah up
from the couch,
and he, like, wrapped his legs
so tight around me.
[sirens wailing]
[indistinct chatter on police radio]
The kids were asking
where Auntie Punky was.
They were asking who [sniffles]
the lady was lying on the floor.
They must have been terrified.
And then after that, the detective brought
the kids to Amanda's parents' farm.
The next day,
I was in meetings all morning,
and I remember my phone ringing.
[phone ringing]
It was my dad.
And then he tried to call again.
[phone ringing]
Which was not abnormal.
My dad always calls and then calls again.
But then the phone rang a third time.
That's odd 'cause that's not normal.
So I answered the call,
and he said, "Amanda," and the
The voice instantly was like
Something's wrong.
And he said
"He killed her."
"He killed Punky."
[inhales deeply]
[exhales]
[pensive music playing]
After that is a little bit of a blur.
I threw my stuff in a in a suitcase
and got on the first flight out of there.
It was just so shocking.
I didn't know what was going on.
I didn't know where my kids were,
but I knew right away
that it was Kevin.
I just knew he was trying to kill me.
Those bullets were meant for me.
[Mannie] I'd only been to sleep
for a few hours.
[cell phone buzzing]
My alarm is going off.
[continues buzzing]
And then I realize it's not my alarm.
It's a phone call.
It's my dad.
And he says,
"Son, I need you to get ready."
"I need you to wake up.
I need you to listen to me."
"Your sister is dead."
Dad said I would not stop screaming,
"No," for the next two minutes.
I will never forget that moment.
It was the worst moment of my life.
I got up, stopped sobbing,
and drove to my parents' house
and sat with my mom and we just cried.
We knew that Kevin,
for some reason, had killed Punky.
But why would he shoot Punky?
He's our brother-in-law.
He would know that Punky is not Amanda.
It doesn't make sense.
[tense music playing]
[man] I'm a deputy prosecuting attorney
with the Snohomish County
prosecuting attorney's office.
When I became involved in the case,
I was aware
that the homicide had occurred.
It did not appear
that Alisha Canales-McGuire
had completely opened the door.
There was no sign of entry
into the residence at that point,
so the initial thought was,
while they felt it was
potentially a random act,
it didn't seem that way.
[woman] Law enforcement,
they start to narrow down
and run down
all of these significant others.
So they did initially talk
to Alisha's husband Bradley,
and they ruled Bradley out pretty quickly.
There was some indication
of a domestic violence history
between Amanda Canales and Mr. Lewis
due to reports from deputies who had
responded to the residence in the past.
Detectives actually went
to talk to Kevin Lewis.
He didn't give
a whole lot of information at the time,
but he indicated
that he had been home during the night
and hadn't left the residence.
Although there was a belief
that Mr. Lewis was somehow involved,
what his involvement was,
we just weren't sure
at that point in time.
[Mannie] We were all constantly waiting
for that phone call
to find out that the police
are doing something about it,
but they can't prove it was him.
Kevin had made a mistake.
The wrong person had died.
"He's coming back to do it again,"
was our next thought.
And are they going to kill
the right person the next time?
Does it matter?
I didn't go outside
unless I had a weapon on me.
[tense music playing]
[Amanda] The funeral is
another frustration
because Kevin is out on the loose.
And we had to keep the time and date
of the funeral a secret
because it would be
an obvious known location for me.
I had family members, cousins, and uncles,
outside standing guard
that that didn't even come in
because they were
on the lookout for Kevin,
and I just felt like it's really unfair
that we couldn't even grieve properly.
Everyone in the family was devastated,
but, as hurt as I was,
I knew that the pain
her husband Brad felt was tenfold.
They had known each other
their whole lives,
and they did everything together.
They really were each other's best friend.
Watching him say goodbye to her
before they closed the casket
was one of the hardest things
I've ever witnessed.
[sighs]
[exhales]
[reporter] Police found a woman
who appears to be in her twenties
dead from a gunshot wound.
No suspect is in custody right now,
but investigators are still trying
to figure out who pulled the trigger.
[reporter 2] The sheriff's spokeswoman
says there were no eyewitnesses
when the shots were fired.
We're still following up on leads.
This is an active homicide investigation.
[Amanda] The detectives were very obscure
with their updates. [laughs]
They really weren't getting
a lot of new information,
and days turned into weeks,
and weeks turned into months.
[reporter 3] Alisha Canales-McGuire
was murdered five months ago.
The killer was there for me
and not my sister.
She just was in the wrong place
at the wrong time.
[Martha] It kind of hit
a cold place at a time
where they had their suspicions,
and we knew what Amanda thought
but didn't have enough
to tie it to Kevin at that point.
[Amanda] There was nothing
to move forward with any murder charges.
Meanwhile, Kevin is going about
his normal daily life.
I had to live kind of
looking over my shoulder
for for quite a while.
And, of course, my home
was turned into a bloody crime scene,
so I couldn't go back there
and certainly not with my kids
and all the trauma that had just happened.
So I moved into a shelter with the kids
until I could find secure housing
that was private and safe.
[music builds, fades]
[Jarett] While law enforcement
had no leads,
I was reviewing all of the assault cases
that Amanda had filed.
[Amanda] After the second assault
had taken place,
I was trying to get him charged
with the assault.
But there was all this back and forth
on which department to file it with,
and it wasn't until the murder
that things started moving forward
with the assault charges,
which is just another thing
that's frustrating
'cause if he had been locked up,
this couldn't have happened.
[Jarett] I filed two counts
of second-degree assault,
both felony charges.
[Amanda] A year after the murder,
a year of him being out and about
and me essentially being in hiding,
he was found guilty
on both of those felony assaults.
Finally, he was incarcerated.
[gavel bangs]
You're kind of looking for
this big relief
that Kevin's behind bars,
but it was a three-year sentence.
Eventually, he'd be back.
I lost a lot of faith that
my sister's murder was gonna be solved.
[pensive music playing]
[horn blaring]
[Jarett] We were kind of at a dead end
until there was a tip call
that came into
the sheriff's office, uh, months later.
[dance music playing]
At a party in Spokane, Washington,
a female named Angelica
was making comments about
how she and her boyfriend killed someone.
We were able to determine that Angelica
was someone named Alexis Hale.
[tense music playing]
This was really the break
that we were looking for.
[Martha] And there were things
that Alexis was bragging about
that hadn't been released,
that weren't part of the public record,
which made the tip credible.
[Jarett] As the case went on,
there was a determination
that her boyfriend was
a male named Jerradon Phelps.
[Martha] And then they determined
Jerradon Phelps was Kevin Lewis's cousin.
And that's the tip
that kind of broke everything open.
[Jarett] Law enforcement started
to look into Miss Hale's phone
and Mr. Phelps's social media.
They found videos on the night
the actual homicide was carried out.
The information from the warrants
uncovered some of the Snapchat time stamps
and metadata related
to Jerradon Phelps's selfies,
which included when something was posted.
[Jarett] Snapchat, for a while,
everybody believed
the minute it was deleted
from your Snapchat account,
it was gone
and that information disappears.
It doesn't necessarily
disappear right away.
Snapchat showed Alexis Hale
and Jerradon Phelps together
on the night of the homicide.
[Martha] The cell phone data put Alexis
and Jerradon in the car together.
Their cell phones were
pinging off the same towers
at the same times on the same drive.
[Jarett] Mr. Phelps's
and Miss Hale's phones
were tracked from Spokane to Everett.
[dance music playing]
Videos from Miss Hale's phone
showed them on Interstate 405
moving towards Everett.
In fact, there was indications that
they had stopped at Mr. Lewis's home
on the way
to the location of the homicide.
[indistinct chatter on police radio]
The next steps really were
to arrest Miss Hale and Mr. Phelps
and find out if they were wanting
to talk to law enforcement or not.
[detective] Uh, Jay, this is a moment
that you've been probably thinking about
for a very long time.
- It's here. I'm not bullshitting you.
- [Jerradon] Mm-hmm.
I've been in your phone.
I've been in your social media.
I I know a lot of things
that you don't know that I know.
- [Jerradon] Mm.
- I know you pretty well by now
from what you put out
on your social media.
I didn't come here
on a fishing expedition.
This this is the real deal.
Okay? So I need you to tell me
how you got suckered into this
in the first place.
Jerradon Phelps was reluctant
at first to provide information.
As Detective Betts
builds rapport with him
[Betts] How have you been treated
so far today?
- [Jerradon] Good.
- [Betts] Great.
he began to open up more
and provide more information.
[detective] You were communicating
with Kevin via Snapchat?
Yep.
[detective] Were those all related
to this shooting?
[Jerradon] Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think he had reached out to me
about having someone else do it.
He was, uh, asked if I knew
any OGs that would do it.
And I said I would do it.
[Jarett] Mr. Phelps said
that he'd been contacted by Mr. Lewis
basically saying he was looking
for a person to carry out a murder.
And then we talked again
a separate time when I did find a gun,
and I think I just
That's when I had planned
we had planned a date or whenever.
[Betts] The first place you went to
after you came
into Snohomish County was where?
- To his house.
- To his house.
[Jarett] Initially, Kevin Lewis
had indicated
that he had been home during the night
and hadn't left the residence.
But when you start looking
at the Ring cameras
from the surrounding neighborhoods,
you see Kevin Lewis out of his house
in the early morning hours,
which are consistent with the time frame
on the cell phone data
from Jerradon Phelps and Alexis Hale
at the time
that they're there meeting with Kevin.
[Betts] When you approached the house,
did he tell you to approach a certain way?
- No.
- Okay.
[detective] Is there a conversation
with him and you guys at all?
[Jerradon] Alexis had asked
if there was gonna be kids or whatever.
[detective] When she asked that question,
what answer does Kevin give?
[Jerradon] Yeah,
there will be kids in the house.
[Betts] How'd that make you feel
when you heard that?
I know that it didn't change my mind
on the decision.
I took a brief look at the picture.
He showed me a picture.
[detective] He showed you a photo
of the person he wants you to kill?
- [Jerradon] Correct.
- [detective] Okay.
And the best that you can tell
when the female answers the door
Yeah. Whoever whoever was
opening the door was getting shot.
[detective] Okay. So looking at the photo
didn't really matter.
Didn't.
There were videos of the vehicle
that had been used
to carry out the murder.
The video that came from Marijuanaclub99
catches the vehicle driving
towards Amanda's residence on York Road,
and you can see in the video
this tire that has
a very black distinctive look to it
that is different than
the other wheels on the car.
Detective Betts looked
at a picture of Mr. Phelps's car.
It was missing a hubcap
that was on
the right front passenger side.
[Martha] So they drove to Amanda's house
where they could effectuate
what Kevin Lewis wanted,
which was killing Amanda.
They just had the wrong person
in the house that night.
[detective] Was there some sort of
discussion with you and her
as to what's gonna happen by who?
Do you know she's gonna knock on the door
or does that just kinda happen?
Yeah, I think Yeah,
we had already talked about it. I think.
Yeah, she had planned on knocking
for sure.
Yep.
And while she knocked,
she knew that you were gonna shoot
whoever opened the door.
Correct.
[Martha] Alexis Hale was
more of an instigator.
When Jerradon Phelps brought
Kevin Lewis's offer to kill Amanda,
this wasn't someone
who was saying, "That's a bad idea."
"We shouldn't."
This is someone
who's saying, "Yeah, let's do it."
[knocking at door]
The role she played was instrumental.
Alisha was not going to open the door
for a young male with his hood up.
But opening the door
for a young, panicked 15-year-old?
It's a little bit of a ruse.
[unsettling music playing]
[Jarett] When Alisha Canales-McGuire
answered the door
- [door opens]
- [shots fired]
is when the initial shots were taken.
Mr. Phelps then
approached the door closer.
[Betts] Was there a pause
between the first shots
and the second batch of shots?
Or was this all continuous
as you're walking up
or how'd that work?
The shots all came out
within the time that the door is open.
She walked away.
- [Betts] Lexi?
- Yes.
And I didn't advance onto the porch
until she closed the door.
She had fell down
and was leaning against the door.
[Betts] When you pushed the door open,
what happened again?
Uh, two more shots.
[Betts] Two more shots?
What happened immediately after that?
[Jerradon] We ran off.
[Betts] Okay. Got in your car?
Drove home.
There were also videos after the homicide
of Mr. Phelps fanning money
and comments that indicated
that he had done something
to obtain that money.
[Betts] Do you remember
how much money you got paid?
- Yep.
- How much?
- About 24.
- About 2,400.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
How much did Lexi get out of this?
Two hundred bucks.
[Martha] Snapchat records
show him flashing cash
at a time that was consistent with
when he would've gotten it from Kevin.
[detective] How did he give you the money?
- Envelope.
- [detective] An envelope?
What did the envelope look like?
A bank envelope.
[detective] Do you remember
the name of the bank?
- [Jerradon] Bank of America.
- [detective] Bank of America?
[Martha] Kevin Lewis's
financial statements
corroborated that he had access
to that exact amount
that Jerradon Phelps had said
that he was paid for the murder.
Fresh out of the bank.
Ultimately, Mr. Lewis is really
the mastermind behind the entire event.
He is the one who hired Jerradon Phelps
for $2,400 to carry out the homicide.
[Martha] We had enough to charge
at that point,
and so Kevin Lewis was charged
with aggravated first-degree murder.
[dramatic sting]
[Mannie] We always knew
that Kevin was the person,
but to find out that there was
another person who pulled the trigger
Finally, we could make sense of things.
Because this whole thing
was so confusing from the beginning.
We just couldn't imagine
Kevin shooting the wrong person.
[Amanda] Kevin was already
serving time from the assaults,
so he'd already done a few months in jail
when the murder charges came in.
It was a relief at that point
to finally have some answers
and some charges.
We were all happy and excited,
but we know
we've still got a long road ahead.
You know, charges are one thing.
Then we've got to get through a trial.
[Jarett] Miss Hale and Mr. Phelps
both pleaded guilty.
Miss Hale ended up receiving
15 years in prison.
Jerradon Phelps received almost 32 years.
[Martha] Kevin Lewis pled not guilty.
The defense argued
that the state hadn't proved
that he was involved
beyond a reasonable doubt,
and they sought to cast this as
Kevin venting his frustrations
about his divorce with Amanda.
Jerradon Phelps taking it upon himself
to rectify a family member's problems.
[Amanda] The trial was four weeks long.
Jay's testimony was
one of the most difficult parts.
How Punky was hanging on to the doorknob
and trying to protect my kids
and used her last breath
trying to do that.
[Ari] Kevin showed zero remorse.
I think that he really thought that
he was going to get away with all of it.
[Martha] Kevin Lewis appeared nonchalant.
He kind of sat
and leaned back in his chair.
He seemed almost disinterested,
but the jury found Kevin Lewis guilty
of aggravated first-degree murder.
[melancholy music playing]
[Amanda] The trial went
as well as it could go.
But nothing can equate for what he did.
No punishment will make it just.
And she's still gone, and [sighs]
it doesn't right that wrong.
People tell me all the time
it's not my fault.
I understand that.
Logically, I I understand that.
He did what he chose to do.
But it's always gonna be there. It's just
I was the link between them.
[Abigail] There's not a day that goes by
that, like, I don't think of her
and what she did
to not only save the kids but to save me
because I could have
just as easily been behind that door.
But I know how important it is
to move forward for her.
[Amanda] We all miss Punky,
and we feel it at every holiday
and family gathering and every birthday.
[Mannie] I think about Punky all the time.
She was always there for me.
Any time I needed somebody
as support person, if you will,
she was there.
I got a commemorative tattoo
for her on my shoulder.
It just reminds me of her, makes me smile,
and I think about all the fun
that we have every time I see it.
[Amanda] I'm always going to have guilt.
But I deal with it
by trying to spread awareness
in terms of domestic violence,
so awareness and advocacy.
And I worked on getting a bill passed
to redefine domestic violence
to include coercive control.
Coercive control is separate
from physical harm.
It's things that abusers do
to manipulate and control their victim.
That law passed.
I have had dozens of people
reach out to me
and say that because of this,
they've had the courage to leave,
and I know that it's saved someone,
and so that helps a little bit.
And Alisha would want that.
And I, in a way,
feel like I have to live my life,
but I have to live hers too.
And so
I just do my best.
[music fades]
[dark percussive music playing]
[music ends]