Double Murder Over a Facebook Unfriending | Forensic Files

after texting you J I know you know today we're discussing a case where when it went to trial prosecutors told
the jury this is going to be the craziest thing you will ever hear in your life and after digging into this
case I think that is an understatement so buckle up I'm Olivia Lavo the Creator and host of the case File presents
Bakersfield 3 podcast Casey and I have hand selected some of case File most memorable cases to be featured here
where you'll have a visual Guide to the story today we're diving into case 180 Bill Payne and Billy Jean Hayworth
welcome to Mountain City a friendly Hometown that's the greeting you see on a large sign when you enter the tiny
Tennessee town where most residents own a pickup truck and a gun and are very friendly with their neighbors it was an
early dreary morning on January 31st 20 12 when a local man named Brad made his usual commute to pick up his friend and
coworker 36-year-old Bill pain but Bill wasn't waiting outside like usual and wasn't picking up his phone or opening
the door so Brad let himself in where he could immediately hear an alarm clock going off and what sounded like a baby
whimpering Brad called out for Bill and was met with silence so he figured bill must have already left for work and he
didn't want to disturb Bill's fiance Billy Jean so he quietly left a few hours later a neighbor arrived at the
home to collect some mail of his that was waiting at the house he let himself in and called out to Bill and Billy Jean
after getting no response he walked down the hallway and noticed what looked like
blood as he pushed open the door to the bedroom that bill Payne shared with Billy Jean he was met with a horrific
sight lying in bed was Bill Payne's bloody body his face was clearly badly beaten and his throat had been slashed
the neighbor ran outside and called out to his wife who was waiting in the car for him the couple went back into the
home and what was found in the next bedroom was even more horrific 23-year-old Billy Jean Hayworth
was lying in a pool of blood in her infant son's Nursery it appeared she died cradling her baby boy who was still
lying in her arms asleep his little onesie was caked in his mother's blood I'm due with my first baby soon and this
part of the story just really makes you wonder who could possibly do that in front of the baby and leaving the baby
there in his Dead Mother's arms anyhow both Bill and Billy Jean had been shot in the head in addition to Bill's
neck being slashed evidence suggested the couple had been attacked either while still asleep or shortly after
waking up as detectives began looking into the couple's life they discovered that bill and Billy Jean had met a few
years earlier at a textile plant where they both worked they fell for each other fast and hard and a couple years
into their relationship they were thrilled to find out they were expecting a baby but not everyone was happy for
the expecting parents after posting about their pregnancy nasty Anonymous comments about the pair started to
surface on a popular local online platform known as the Mountain City topics forum several people were
observed writing nasty comments including one directed towards the family that read [ __ ] them I hope they
die die die and that baby and Bill there were also a slew of derogatory comments
directed towards Billy Jean and two of her girlfriends calling them vile names and accusing them of being drug users
who were promiscuous and other perceived indiscretions so to speak in addition to
these nasty online comments detectives also heard from people about Bill Payne's cousin a man named Jamie kurd
Jamie and Bill were a year apart in age and they worked together at the plant Jamie struggled with a stutter and had
never had a girlfriend people said he was one to just blend in in the background Jamie's name had been brought
up specifically because people told investigators that the two cousins had recently had a pretty bad falling out
Jamie was asked to take a polygraph test and failed and detectives then asked him
if he was capable of shooting a woman who was begging for her life with her baby in her arms after testing you Jamie
I know you know who kill those baby how tell us the truth who sh he who who had the
gun the man Jamie was referring to was Marvin Potter Jr who friends called buddy buddy lived in Mountain City with
his wife and their adult daughter Janelle The Potters had a reputation for being odd so to speak buddy would talk
people's ears off about his time fighting in Vietnam before then going on to serve in the CIA he would gush about
all the awards he'd received including a Purple Heart Jamie Kurt and Buddy Potter
became acquainted after buddy had some computer issues and jimie offered to help fix them after Jamie had spent some
time at the potter house here and there he started to develop a friendship with the Potter's adult daughter Janelle a
short time later buddy and his wife Barbara discovered their daughter Janelle was in possession of a prepaid
phone that they had not purchased for her Janelle was 27 but due to a range of intellectual disability
she possessed the IQ of a fourth grader Janelle was completely dependent on her parents and unable to hold a job or
drive a car The Potters were not happy when they realized that this phone had come from Jamie kurd so he had a way of
secretly communicating with their daughter The Potters told jimie to back off anyhow back to the police interview
now after Jamie kurd brought up buddy Potter being the shooter he then asked investigators is the CIA here is the CIA
here CIA oh no he explained he thought that they might be involved considering Buddy's past working for them he also
told investigators that he only participated in the double murder because he was afraid of Buddy and
thought he had no choice Jamie was asked to call Buddy and ask him questions that
would be incriminating when Jamie told buddy that investigators were poking around buddy replied oh Jiminy
Christmas budy told Jamie there was no reason for anyone to suspect him because the murders looked like a drug deal gone
bad you got rid of everything from day okay I make up there as instructed by the cops Jamie
asked you got rid of everything that was bills right uhhuh was Buddy's response it wasn't quite a confession but it was
enough police descended on the Potter residence and arrested buddy while in the home investigators heard a ripping
sound and noticed Buddy's wife Barbara had torn up a stack of papers a behavior that of course was immediately
suspicious the documents were printed out emails that included handed photos of Billy Jean and her girlfriends that
had been talked about on that online Forum the emails had subject lines like Billy [ __ ] detectives then found three
large garbage bags filled with shredded paper in buddy's truck now it turns out before Jamie kurd ever mentioned buddy
Potter as the shooter the Potter name had already come up in the investigation to the point where one of the
investigators had already been to the Potter home to question them apparently the Potters had conflict with numerous
residents in Mountain City but especially Bill and Billy Jean the feud started online but escalated to an
inperson dispute with Buddy admitting that he had confronted Bill Payne at his home in the past though he adamantly
denied being the one who killed him and Billy Jean according to town gossip shortly after The Potter's moved to
Mountain City Janelle Potter had become acquaintances with Bill Payne and his fiance Billy Jean Hayworth and had added
them on Facebook after bombarding Bill Billy Jean and several other friends with constant messages the couple
decided that the best course of action was to unfriend Janelle on the social media platform apparently this caused a
huge Rift between Janelle and other members of the social Circle and it escalated to serious conflict both
online and in person with different friends taking sides as the dispute continued things started to get quite
nasty which is where those messages I mentioned earlier began Janelle's profile was apparently hacked and fake
profiles started popping up using Janelle's photo The Potters believed it was Billy Jean and a couple of her
girlfriends behind the harassment though they suspected Bill Payne was also probably involved now after arresting
buddy Potter police asked him if he was a cold-hearted killer or just his family's protector buddy responded I'm a
protector of my family to start with but I did not do this as the hours wore on buddy became emotional and broke down
about how bad things had gotten between his family and Bill Payne and Billy Jean
ever since all this crap started I've been I've had my life threatened my wife has been threatened
they've threatened to take now cut her head off when you hear people plotting to take your catch your
daughter in a restroom and murder her they wanted to rape her because she's a virgin
and just so much Buddy started to sob and asked if he could call his wife Barbara yeah
before you find out from somebody else I want you to know I was involved in it I
did it some of it but Barbara Potter did not sound shocked instead she calmly responded to her husband that he could
not be the killer because he was at home with her at the time of the murders detectives weren't sure what to make of
it was this a loving wife trying to provide an alibi for her husband or was Buddy Potter innocent both buddy Potter
and Jaimie kurd were charged with first-degree murder but the investigation took a hit when Jaimie
suddenly recanted his confession nonetheless detectives remained certain that jimie and buddy had carried out the
murders and worked quickly on Gathering evidence to prove it one agent was tasked with literally piecing together
the shredded paper in the garbage bags found in buddy's truck literally piecing it together Shred by Shred the agent did
an astonishing job she managed to reconstruct around 100 pages that provided to be both enlightening and
confounding two weeks before the murders Barbara Potter had emailed herself two links one can God forgive a murderer and
questions about forgiveness and murder which certainly did not look good but most of the printed out paper were email
correspondence between buddy Potter's wife Barbara and a mysterious man named Chris now this is where it gets real
interesting Barbara referred to Chris as son and signed messages to him as Mom in
turn he ended his emails with I love you all your son Chris but the police were not aware of The Potters having a son
most of Barbara and Chris's conversations were about the harassment that her family was dealing with and
their Mutual hatred for Bill Payne Billy Jean Hayworth and Billy Jean's girlfriends Barbara and Chris were
particularly worried for how this was all affecting Janelle whom Chris referred to as his little sister now
investigators knew they had to figure out who this Chris person was that Barbara was messaging constantly despite
referring to each other as mom and son it seemed that Chris and Barbara had only actually been in contact for about
a year it began with an email that Chris sent to Barbara where he revealed he had
been on the Mountain City topics forum and had seen the distain towards the potters and Chris said he wanted to help
end the conflict but things only escalated from there one day Janelle showed her mother an email that she had
supposedly received from one of Billy Jean's friends it read quote your ass is mine you're a [ __ ] [ __ ] remember
that I can get you and will your daddy can't do [ __ ] to me I'm above the law dumb [ __ ] [ __ ] wow following this
The Potters became regular visitors to the local police station where they filed numerous complaints about those
targeting Janelle police were also called to The Potter's home after a rock had been thrown through the house and it
apparently had Billy Payne written on one side and Billy Jean written on the other The Potters felt the police did
not take the feud seriously and really nothing was done when Barbara expressed her frustrations to Chris through email
he promised Barbara that if anyone harmed Janelle that he would quote do what he was trained to do now we it was
clear from the pair's discussions that Chris worked for the CIA and through this had connections to Buddy Potter
Chris mentioned shooting people in the line of duty and said I knew it was us or them so I had to kill but I love to
shoot now and killing does not bother me at all Chris expressed a desire to kill
the Mountain City residence that had caused the Potter so much grief but there was always a reason he had as to
why he couldn't carry out the slayings himself instead he would tell Barbara that if her husband buddy took matters
into his own hands he would be fine because the CIA would protect buddy and Barbara appeared to agree this was a
fine plan and told Chris that while buddy was a patient man he had been pushed too far for too long and was fed
up since buddy apparently didn't ever use a computer and I guess didn't know how to Barbara would print out emails
from Chris and give them to Buddy to read and then Shred the paper afterwards hence why there was all those shred up
emails now the emails were baffling to investigators because they were confident that whoever this Chris person
was he was not a real CIA agent so who was he on Janelle Potter's Myspace page she wrote about Chris and how he was
like a brother to her she said that he lived in Pennsylvania with his wife where he worked as a cop and then
investigators found saved photos of Chris on The Potter's computer that had a last name attached Chris Jaden was
very much a real person and he did have law enforcement experience but not in the CIA my name is Christopher
Jaden she was uh you know one of those kids that she's very strange and when detectives reached out to him and asked
him about his relationship with Janelle Potter he told them that he did go to high school with her and remembered her
as being someone who often threw tantrums and had a lot of issues with classmates they were not friends and
Chris certainly had never viewed her like a sister furthermore he had not had any interaction with her since
graduating high school 12 years prior and he had never met anyone in her family he told investigators he hadn't
even accepted a Facebook friend request that Janelle had sent him so why in the world was Barbara Potter referring to
him as a son whoever Barbara Potter had been emailing it was pretty clear that it was not the real Chris Jaden so who
was it based on the email address that this Chris character had been sending messages from
investigators had a prettyy good idea now remember Janelle Potter supposedly had an IQ of 72 which is approximately
equivalent to that of a fourth grader at 27 she was still living with her parents
didn't have a job or really any Independence so she sought soless on the internet she struggled to build
friendships face to face and people often felt that Janelle lacked social awareness and acted like knew them
really well when she didn't at all after being unfriended on Facebook by Bill and
Billy Jean Janelle was hurt by this and started venting about being dumped by her new friends on the Mountain City
topics forum and while she gained sympathy from some a lot of people around town knew that her version of
events was not totally accurate but Janelle maintained she was the victim and showed her parents messages that she
said were being sent to her such as one that read quote bill is going to kill you he has said that and I hope he does
none of us want you around nor living you're a waste of air and time for everyone you are
nothing now when the cops spoke with Bill Billy Jean and her friends about these messages they adamant denied
sending anything like this and said they just wanted Janelle to leave them alone Billy Jean and her two
close friends named Lindsay and Tara were both getting in excess of 20 calls a day from The Potter's home phone
number and when they would pick up they would either hear just breathing on the other end or Janelle would just start
screaming when The Potters reported a rock being thrown through their window with Bill and Billy Jean's names on it
police were highly skeptical that if the pair were going to do that that they would write their names literally on the
evidence and to law enforcement it seems that it was actually The Potters escalating things including a
confrontation when Barbara and Janel pulled up to Billy Jean at a gas station and screamed at her that she was white
trash and didn't deserve to be a mother Billy Jean reportedly told onlookers that the mother and daughter Duo
followed her around constantly and we always making horrible comments like that to her around this time buddy
Potter Janelle's dad was at a local grocery store where he supposedly told an employee that if he was given the
chance he was going to put a bullet through Bill Payne's head all the while as the feud went on Barbara Potter was
messaging with Chris about the issues the family was dealing with despite having never met him it was clear from
from their correspondents that Barbara was very trusting of whatever Chris said however when investigators were trying
to establish who Chris actually was they discovered that all of the emails from Chris were coming from one person's
email address Janelle Potters yet Barbara continued to believe whatever Chris was telling her in
including his explanation as to why his emails were coming from her daughter Janelle's email
account so think about this Chris told her that his emails had to come through Janelle's email account in order to
protect his CIA credentials and to Barbara that seemed perfectly reasonable now during this intense social media
Feud Janelle was was spending a lot of time using the family computer and when there was an issue with the computer
remember it was Jamie kurd who was called to come and assist with fixing it Barbara and Buddy Potter were clear with
Jamie that they wanted him to stay away from their daughter Janelle but despite this the two had developed a
relationship you might also remember that The Potters had discovered that Jamie had given Janelle a prepaid phone
so the two of them could secretly talk which they were Furious about well it turns out that it was Janelle's idea to
keep their relationship a secret not Jamie's Janelle made it clear that she didn't want her parents to know about
him and jimie who had never had a girlfriend before was fine to do really whatever she wanted slowly but surely
The Potters did end up accepting Jaimie more and more and inviting him over for dinner though apparently they still
didn't approve of him as a potential Suitor for Janelle who knows regardless he was
determined to stay in their good graces probably hoping that they would eventually be okay with him dating their
daughter and so when The Potters showed Jaimie the messages that Janelle had apparently been sent he was horrified
and immediately took their side essentially ending his once close relationship with his Cousin Bill Payne
but that wasn't quite good enough for Barbara Potter she started asking jimie questions like what was he going to do
to protect Janelle from these threats shortly after this Jamie also began receiving emails from the mysterious
Chris Chris told Jamie that he was concerned that Janelle would soon have to be hospitalized due to stress and
worried that she was suicidal and then Chris told Jamie that his life Jim's life was also in danger Chris said that
he had gotten Intel from the CIA that apparently Billy Jean was urging Billy Payne to kill Jamie kurd because he had
taken the Potter's side in their Feud and like Barbara Jamie also wasn't suspicious at all of the fact that
Chris's emails were coming from Janelle's email account meanwhile Bill Payne was
incredibly sick of the drama and had tried to smooth things over with the Potters numerous times and tell them
that Janelle was lying to them about these supposed threats that she said that his fiance and his friends sent her
he even gave buddy a massive folder of documents that he said would prove it was Janelle who was the aggressor in the
feud with Billy Jean and her friends he told buddy no one had hacked Janelle's account and there certainly was not a
bounty on the Potter family Bill even suggested that all of these Anonymous towns folks commenting about the feud
between Janelle and Billy Jean on the town's online Forum were really all Janelle just trying to drum up more
drama but the Potters believed their daughter and evidently along with with Chris and Jamie came to the conclusion
that the only way to put an end to Janelle's torment was to end the lives of Bill and Billy Jean on a cold January
night in 2012 Barbara Potter called Jamie over to the house for computer help but when he got there buddy greeted
him and asked him for a favor he said he needed a ride to Jaime's cousins Bill Payne's house early in the morning he
agreed and after jimie left the Potter home Janelle texted him to not bring his cell phone with him in the morning and
then the plan was in motion Jamie drove buddy to Bill Payne's home where buddy then handed Jamie a gun and told him to
guard the front door while buddy went inside Jamie heard gunshots and watched Billy Jean run from the bedroom to her
son's nursery and then more gunshots followed it's so horrible she definitely ran in the nursery to try to protect the
baby Jamie told police that he ran from the house and began vomiting and shortly
after received a text from The Potter's family friend agent Chris that said the problem was over now armed with this
testimony from jimie kurd investigators had the evidence they needed to charge Barbara and Janelle Potter as well with
first-degree murder and conspiracy and despite Janelle reportedly having a childlike IQ detectives believed that
she was The Mastermind behind all of it when police interviewed Jamie kurd buddy
and Barbara Potter it was apparent that they genuinely believed Chris was real and they never once suspected that Chris
was really just Janelle Janelle had successfully catfished her own parents and boyfriend for well over a year and
she did so pretty flawlessly with her main target being her mother Barbara knowing that her mom would talk her
father and ultimately her boyfriend Jamie into carrying out the double murder Chris AKA Janelle was also the
one who repeatedly told the potters and Jamie that bill and Billy Jean wanted to
kill Janette and they believed it and what was remarkable to investigators was Janelle
never actually had to ask her parents or her boyfriend to kill for her as herself
Janelle had only asked that through her madeup online Persona of Chris and as they kept digging detectives discovered
that bill Payne had been right those horrific threats made against Chanelle were created by none other than Janelle
herself all of those comments weighing in on the feud on the Mountain City online Forum they had all been made by
accounts created by Janelle for someone who supposedly had the IQ of a fourth grader she had orchestrated what was a
very intricate web of deat where she painted herself as quite the sympathetic victim now buddy Potter was the first
defendant to be charged for the double murder of Bill and Billy Jean during which prosecutors exposed that buddy was
never in the CIA or even in the military like his daughter he was an amazing liar
and had convinced his wife Barbara and Janelle his daughter of this completely madeup career that he never actually had
Budd he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison and Jamie kurd who remembered was Bill Payne's own cousin
he took a plea deal as part of his cooperation with police for his role in the murder and was sentenced to just 7
and A2 years in prison before being eligible for parole of which he was granted in April
2024 now when it came to try Janelle and Barbara Potter the prosecutors opened the trial by telling jurors quote there
is nothing in your lives or background that has prepared you to understand the Potter family you have never seen anyone
like them Janelle's defense attorney definitely hit hard on her low IQ suggesting it just wasn't possible for
someone like her to concoct such an intricate scheme in an A&E documentary about the case Janelle's attorney said
quote she doesn't have the mental capacity to have orchestrated these crimes I've defended criminal
masterminds and this is not a criminal mastermind the defense attorney also called a psychologist as a witness for
Janelle's defense who testified that Janelle was essentially operating as a child though in response to this the
prosecutor asked the psychologist well can a 9-year-old be manipulative to which the psychologist replied well of
course 9-year-olds manipulate their parents all the time perhaps the most insightful witness during Janelle's
trial was her estranged older sister christe Christy talked about how Janelle's social issues during their
childhood dominated most of her parents attention Christy also said that Janelle
would make up health issues and claimed that Janelle had once lied about having cancer she also gave little examples of
Janelle's Behavior saying how at school Janelle would pretend to collapse in the
hallway and would just lay there until someone would notice and make a fuss over her and as it pertained to her
social issues apparently in Middle School Janelle had conflict with another girl in her class that ended up in court
really wish we knew more about that it's wild anyhow over time Christine said she
came to believe that her sister's disabilities weren't actually nearly as bad as everyone around her said they
were and she felt that Janelle was very good at manipulating others particularly
her parents ultimately both Barbara and Janelle Potter were found guilty on all charges and each given two life
sentences Bill Payne's mother told the media we are still hurting and we will always be hurting she also had a comment
for Barbara Potter referring to one of the emails that had been read out loud in court whater youing to know you're
going to H yeah you're going to hell and if I have to forgive any of viance Stay
Out of Hell I'll see you there shortly after the trial 2020 covered the case and titled the episode
unfriended both Barbara and Janelle who were serving their sentences in the same
prison were interviewed on camera and they continued to deny any involvement in the murders Barbara said that Jamie
kurd had authored all those damning emails using her name okay that's a new Theory now agent Scott
lot an investigator who worked relentlessly on the case was also interviewed and he said he did not
believe that these murders occurred because Janelle was unfriended on Facebook by Billy Jean and her friends
he believed that the true motive was one as old as time jealousy he and other law
enforcement believed that Janelle Potter had an allc consuming crush on Bill Payne and was Furious that it hadn't
been reciprocated the agent told 2020 it wasn't defriending on Facebook it was a
jealousy issue and someone with too much time on their hands I truly don't know that I have heard of a case with this
many layers of Deceit where in the end you have two murders that are so so senseless so pointless two new parents
who were killed for what it's unreal I know I always say this but this is one that I would really love to hear
your comments about until next time thank you for watching

When the bodies of Bill Payne and Billie-Jean Hayworth were discovered in their Mountain City, Tennessee home on January 30 2012, many questions were raised. The young couple had recently been the victims of nasty comments online, and while many residents came to Bill and Billie-Jean’s defence, others had embraced the online vitriol being directed at them. What followed was an unbelievable case involving a CIA agent, a secret relationship, and an impressionable local man named Jamie Curd. At the centre of the chaos was the Potter family: ‘Buddy’, Barbara, and their daughter, Jenelle.

Based on Case 180: Bill Payne & Billie-Jean Hayworth https://casefilepodcast.com/case-180-bill-payne-billie-jean-hayworth/

CREDITS Anonymous Host - narration Eileen Ormsby - research, writing Mike Migas - production, music Andrew D.B. Joslyn - music Milly Raso - creative direction

----- Olivia LaVoice

The Bakersfield Three https://casefilepresents.com/the-bakersfield-three/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/olivia_lavoice/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/olivialavoiceQ13

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@olivialavoice

----- Casefile True Crime Podcast

Website https://www.casefilepodcast.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/casefile

Twitter https://x.com/case_file

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/casefilepodcast/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@casefilepodcast

Patreon https://www.patreon.com/casefile

Casefile Presents https://casefilepresents.com

----- #TrueCrime, #MountainCityMurders, #BillPayne, #BillieJeanHayworth, #PotterFamily, #JamieCurd, #OnlineHarassment, #TrueCrimeCommunity, #MysteryCase, #UnbelievableStories, #CrimeInvestigation, #RealLifeCrime, #DarkWebOfLies, #CrimeDocumentary, #JusticeForVictims

Brief Summary

A double murder in Tennessee reveals a web of jealousy, manipulation, and online harassment involving the victims and their neighbors.

Key points

The Craziest Case Ever. The case begins with a shocking introduction, setting the tone for a chilling story.
A Horrific Discovery. A neighbor finds the bloody bodies of Bill Payne and Billy Jean Hayworth, leading to a chilling investigation.
The Online Feud. Detectives uncover a nasty online feud that escalated to violence, revealing deep community tensions.
The Confession. Buddy Potter admits involvement in the murders, but his wife's response raises questions about his innocence.
The Mystery of Chris. Investigators discover that the mysterious Chris, who Barbara Potter communicated with, is not who he claims to be.
The Double Murder Plot. Janelle and her family concoct a deadly plan against Bill and Billy Jean Payne.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is going to be the craziest thing you will ever hear in your life.

Introduction to the case.

0:09WatchDec 30, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from Casefile

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.