Driven To Kill | “48 Hours" Full Episodes | Forensic Files

[Music] [Applause] [Music] 911, what's your emergency? He calls 911 and he's yelling into the
phone, "Help me! Help me! He shot me!" This is the actual transcript from the 911 call. Yes.
So, he's running through the vineyard. >> He is running through the vineyard and
the shooter is in the truck coming after him, shooting out the window. This is crazy. Crazy. Who are these
guys? These guys were a couple of rich, ambitious wine lovers who wanted to be in the business and own their own
vineyards. Look, I have pictures. Here's Emad. Emad Tofigh. He's a smart guy from
Silicon Valley who loved Hollywood, even financed a movie. And here's the other guy,
Robert Dahl, an operator who people said could make money grow on trees. Well, in
this case, vines. Take one, Emad. My name is Jonathan Kesselman. I'm a filmmaker. JIMMY FASTFOOD IS A
TERRORIST. I WAS directing a film and Emad was the principal investor in the film. Emad made his money in Silicon
Valley and then was looking for other things to invest in? Yeah, I think, you know, he he made a good living, wanted
to invest his money into things he was more passionate about, movies, wine. [Music]
Robert Dahl, did he come with a dream? Oh, definitely. He really did have the vision of having some form of a
winery. Robert made me feel like we'd been friends forever. Upon first meeting, you
felt that >> first No, within like the first 10 minutes. He was a very nice outgoing, hardworking
guy. So, it seemed like a good guy to partner up with. Absolutely. One time, I don't know how I ended up on
the back of his motorcycle and he looked out and he pointed at this mansion. I mean, he said, "You know what? Greg
and I are going to make so much money that he's going to be able to buy a house like this for you someday."
Everything seemed to be going great. Oh, it was It was awesome. Yeah, perfect. Until it all went wrong.
>> Yes. And this is over money. This is over money. $800,000 in a gym bag? Broken dreams. Broken dreams.
Who lives? Who dies? It's an incredible tale of wine, money, and murder. [Music]
[Music] 48 Hours: Grapes of Wrath. We have a male saying, "Help me! Help me!" He advised of something saying that he
has been shot again twice now. It was a showdown between two millionaires. Robert Dahl and Emad Tofigh.
Wild tales of a shocking murder in the Napa Valley. A bitter money dispute ends in an execution-style shooting. This all
started at Dahl Vineyards on Solano Avenue. The victim was [Music] I mean, just look at this place, Napa
Valley. Who wouldn't want a piece of this? That's what these two men wanted and they went for it, but it ended in
murder. So, we came here to figure out what happened. And what we discovered is really interesting. It turns out that no
less than four people thought that they could have ended up targets of the killer, too.
Could have been me running through the vineyard and ducking from flying bullets. I was probably number one on
his list to kill. My first thought was that could have very easily been Greg. What do you think would have happened if
you were there? I think he would have killed me. Hold on. Let's just slow down for a
second. How do you get from two ambitious guys trying to make it in the wine business to a murder mystery with
four or five other potential victims? Well, we found a guy who can explain it all.
Because his family has worked in these valleys for generations. And he says he could have been a victim
that day, too. So, is it customary if we visit to open a bottle of wine? >> way that you can visit. Sure.
>> Going to have some wine? [Music] So, cheers. Cheers. Meet Dominic Foppiano. Pretty close to
royalty around here. Me and my brother and two sisters were the fourth generation of our family to be involved.
I mean, our great-grandfather started doing this with grapes and making some wine in the early 1900s.
Now, he and his brother and sisters and friends run the Christopher Creek Winery. We've known each other for all
of our lives and so we are family above and beyond. Are there a lot of dreamers who come
here? Oh, yeah, big time. Tech tycoons, Wall Street guys, rock stars, movie people and they all want to come and
have a slice of this. And a lot of people see the the glamorous side of it without, you know, seeing the the hard
work that goes into it. The blood, sweat, and tears that it really takes to get to the point we're at right now of
drinking a great bottle. How tough is it to break in? It is very, very tough unless you're coming with a lot of
money. And then there's the matter of trust. Doing business in the wine country is
often very personal. You know, their word is their bond. Shake their hands, you look in their eye, and you're good.
You bond with a person and then maybe go into business with them. Absolutely. That's a huge, huge part of it. So, cuz
you need to know that you can you can trust that person. But, as we'll find out, watch out if that bond is broken
because the stakes are high. The money makes people crazy. Lou Perdue is a tech entrepreneur and the most respected wine
writer in Napa. Money is intoxicating and when you mix money and wine, I think you get intoxicated to the second or
third power. How often does it happen that somebody comes in with a lot of money and not so much knowledge about
wine, but just wants to be a part of this? Every day. Every day. Back in 2011, a guy named Robert Dahl
was about to get drunk on all that money. He decided to leave Minnesota, where he
had an unglamorous mold removal business, and become a Napa Valley wine entrepreneur.
He had a booming voice. He was always the loudest guy in the room. Just a big presence.
>> Yeah, big presence. Miles Davis is an electrician who worked for Dahl almost from the beginning of his time in Napa.
You were friends with him initially when he was doing what business? Selling and
buying grapes. Selling and buying grapes. That's one way of saying Dahl was in the lower end of the wine
business. He wasn't making fine wines. He was bottling no-name wine, making what they
call shiners. The shiner is a bottle that doesn't have a label and then he'd sell you that
fruit. You put your own label on it. Was he a good salesman? A great salesman. Oh, he could sell anyone. So, the wine
didn't even have to really be that good, he could sell it. Well, it never was really that good. And he talked a good
game. >> a great game. And you knew enough to know that he didn't know a lot. I knew
that he he had a good line of BS, which which is which is fine and it made him funnier. Was part of his charm that he
could BS? Yeah, I loved it about him. Dahl had moved to wine country with his wife and three children.
His family's amazing. They're just wonderful people. His wife's a very sweet, loving woman. The kids are
amazing. In fact, they call me their godfather. Within a couple of years, his bottling
business was a big success and Dahl liked to show it. He showed up in my office with $10,000 and said, "Let's buy
a Harley." I'm sorry? He showed up in my office and with $10,000 in cash and said, "We're
buying a Harley. You pay me back in the next few months or whenever." That's Robert. He was he was all about
stuff like that. Did he seem concerned about money? >> No. Never. So, it was in 2011 that Robert Dahl took
his next big step toward his dream of making it big in the wine business. He linked up with that prince of the
wine country, Dominic Foppiano. I had met some people from Asia who were looking into getting into importing
California wine. Foppiano was young. He didn't have his own personal vineyard yet and he needed more product. I
couldn't literally package wine fast enough cuz I didn't have my own facility. And so, I met Robert. He was very new to
this, but he was willing to to work really, really hard and he had a genuineness
that he could project that made you want to trust him, made you want to like him.
Over the next year, Foppoli and Doll became close. We got to dinner and and hang out. And as a friend, he was always
there. I could text him at 11:00 at night and he'd get back to me. Business was good, and one day Doll made him a
proposition. He called me up and said, "Hey, there's uh this place in your neck of the woods." They'd buy their own
vineyard. And so I came over and I met him here and I looked at this view in the vineyards and literally an hour
after sitting down with them, we drank a bottle of wine on this on this deck, I said, "I'm in. Let's do this."
Foppoli staked everything he had on this partnership, even his house. You know, I
said, "This is something I'm going to do. I'm going to have to go all in and I need you to be all in, too." And he
said, "I got you." Foppoli didn't think it would be a stretch for Robert Doll. I
assumed that this was a fun little side project for him. I never had any reason to doubt that he was
doing tremendously well. Did you feel like he had your back? Oh, completely. There was not I didn't doubt
for a second. But almost as soon as the vineyard deal with Foppoli was closed, Doll was
looking for the next big thing. Sharing ownership in a vineyard wasn't good enough. He wanted to be the boss. To do
that, he needed new partners. And then he found just the man he was looking for.
A man with connections to the bright lights of Hollywood. With a gym bag full of money.
[Music] I directed a film called Jimmy Vestvood American Hero. [Applause] Uh It's a comedy.
>> comedy starring a comic named Maz Jobrani. I'm Jimmy. Jimmy Vestvood. Like Clint Eastwood, but
Vestvood. Very funny film. Hello, is there a car? Director and screenwriter Jonathan Kesselman was
shooting the film's wedding scene when one of the extras struck up a conversation.
While we're sort of in between setups, we started talking. He said, "Hi, I'm Emad. I'm the investor in the film." And
just a really nice guy. We chatted. Emad Tofighbakhsh was a young businessman from Silicon Valley. What kind of actor
was he? Um He was a better humanitarian than an actor. Um He was a good extra. He was very good.
He He hit his marks. Emad was principal investor in the film. He put up about $200,000,
and Kesselman became friendly with him. He was like a business person in tech, and I think he was excited to be not a
corporate guy anymore. He had sort of made a lot of money, and he was tired of it and wanted to sort of explore other
things in his life, things that he had passion for. One of those passions was film. The
other was wine. Emad invited his new film director friend and his wife to the fancy home he owned near the wine
country. It was just, you know, "I love wine. You guys like wine? Let's go wine tasting." We He actually gave us his
bedroom. His bedroom was very flashy. Like his bathroom he had redone. Like there was a television inside the mirror
in the bathroom. Like he was very excited about his bathroom. But wine was more than a passion for
Emad. It was a driving ambition. In 2011, Emad Tofighbakhsh got to know Robert Doll.
And they talked about the dream they shared of making it big in the wine business.
But this story isn't just about wine, it's about cash. Close to a million dollars in cash. Now, if you're
wondering what that looks like, well, so are we. So we got some Hollywood prop money, which looks a lot and feels a lot
like the real thing. And this is how Robert Doll did his next deal. $800,000 in cash in a gym bag.
The money came from that movie investor, Emad Tofighbakhsh. In 2013, according to
Emad, Robert told him that returns on his investment would be big. And if he invested cash, he'd get better deals.
Emad was jumping into business with Robert Doll with both feet. It sounds like the perfect match.
Robert, who supposedly knows about wine but doesn't have the money, and then Emad, who doesn't know a lot about wine
but has the cash. >> Exactly. Remember, Doll had already started a vineyard business with Dominic Foppoli.
But that wasn't enough for him. Shortly after Doll's partnership with Foppoli began, it ended. There'd been
problems. Now, Doll wanted his own thing. He wanted his name on the bottle. Emad was going to make that happen. His
investment, which now totaled $1.2 million, would help launch Doll Vineyards. Emad
was finally a player, and Doll was center stage. Welcome to Doll Vineyards in lovely
Yountville, California. He's a salesman. It's a show. Did people seem like they were having a good time?
>> always. He pours good wine, and he pours it well, and generously? generously. And
And it was it was a nice product. He did a nice job on that winery. And the business prospered so much that
Doll was soon able to repay Emad part of his investment. And that's the thing. Everything that
Robert Doll touched seemed to be turning out golden, and it was happening so fast. Now, armed with Emad
Tofighbakhsh's money, Doll was on his way to being everything he wanted to be, the big man in Napa.
Did he exude confidence? >> confidence. Oh my gosh, like nobody I've ever met before in my life.
That same year, Doll started up another brand new business with that Napa couple, Francine and Greg Knittel.
This is just an abstract vineyard scene. >> They'd been pursuing their passions in
Napa for years. Francine did her art. >> So Napa clearly inspires you. Yes, definitely. And Greg's construction
business. >> This is one of our custom remodels. Oh, this is beautiful. Built some of the
area's nicest homes and tasting rooms. Oh, look at the ceiling. It's like the Sistine Chapel.
Some of this stuff I feel like we can't show on television, but Life was good. Every time we come home, we just say to
each other, "Look at where we live. We're so blessed." And there was no hesitation when the new
guy, Robert Doll, came into their lives. He was very outgoing, charismatic, hard working.
>> Very hard working. So it seemed like a good guy to partner up with. Absolutely.
Oh, yeah. Doll and the Knittels started a craft beer brewery, a business that created
fancy handmade beers. Greg was a handy partner for Doll. His construction company built the brewery.
What did he promise you? Well, that we would have an operating a reputable business that
we would be able to hand off to our kids. And he pointed at this mansion that's right off Silverado Trail. And he
looked back at me and he said, "You know what? Greg and I are going to make so much money that he's going to be able to
buy a house like this for you someday." The business was off to a good start. They added a brewpub. I mean, we had
the best beer ever. Our restaurant was booming. The brewery was brew I mean, like within like three or four months.
Like it was incredible. It was incredible. Francine and Greg even became close friends with Doll and his
wife, Janelle. >> everything together for a year. And it was boot like it was going really well.
Like really, really well. He liked to live well. You know, he couldn't live in a 3,000 square foot
house. It had to be a 5,000 square foot house. It was all about looks. >> He didn't have to have one brand new
motorcycle. He had to have two brand new motorcycles. I'm sure that you'll play the video of
him at the after the Napa earthquake. In fact, I have that video right here. This was taken after the 2014 earthquake
in Napa. If an East Coaster's thinking about coming to Napa for harvest season to have some nice wine and have a few
dinners, is it time to call that vacation off? Oh, absolutely not. Everything is back going in wine
country. It's a great time to visit wine country, see some grapes being crushed,
taste some fresh juice, and really take in the wine lifestyle. Man, listening to him, it almost sounds
like he could be the mayor of Napa. But things aren't always exactly as they appear to be.
Remember Dominic Foppoli, Doll's former partner? Dominic had been running the winery, and
Doll was running the books. You know, we're selling a bunch of wine. I mean, the winery was a hit, but there wasn't
enough money to keep paying our bills, which I didn't understand. I didn't get. Where's the money going? Where's the
money going? Where's the money going? That was the question plenty more people in the wine country were about to start
asking. [Music] By 2014, the new Doll Vineyards seemed to be taking off. Robert Doll and Emad Tofighbakhsh, the
two ambitious entrepreneurs, were living their dreams. Robert himself running the
show. >> Greetings from Doll Vineyards. And Emad, silent partner, providing the money.
Enjoy. But what Emad didn't know was partnerships with Robert Doll had a way of turning sour.
Remember Robert's first vineyard, the one he shared with Dominic Foppoli? One day, Dominic got a phone call from
their lender. I'm starting foreclosure proceedings on you guys. Foreclosure proceedings?
>> Foreclosure? Yeah, cuz we had we had missed our our our first payment to him as far as the winery. So, I called
Robert and he said, "You shouldn't be worried about that. I've got all that covered." And I said, "Are you kidding
me?" Foppiano went ballistic. This is my dream and we were successful in everything we were doing. His life
savings and reputation were on the line. He had to get rid of Doll. So, my family
and and my partners my my brother and my my best friends and came around and said,
"We'll do whatever we need to do and and let's let's get this guy out." Foppiano
got control of the vineyard, but he had to pay Doll to go away. He was bitter. You know, I introduced him as my
partner, my friend. So, I brought him into that that circle of trust that we have here. Everybody opened welcomed him
with open arms because I vouched for him. I had never been burned before. I was I was naive. And it turns out
Foppiano wasn't the only one. No one that ever put money into something that he was doing was ever going to get
anything back. Steve Birch knows. He's a winemaker who worked for Doll. Back when Doll looked like he was the
golden boy of wine country, Birch introduced him to celebrities. For the comic and TV personality Adam Carolla,
>> much for enjoying this. he bottled a sangria called Mangria. We made money on
it, but I know that there was a significant amount of payment for that that Adam never
received. And there was the rapper E-40. You a loser? Nope. Winner? Yep. He had Doll package some
wines for his label, Earl Stevens Wines. >> We started his product and it went really well, but I know he wasn't he
wasn't paid either. Nope. And there was Birch himself. >> I left with him owing me a lot of money.
Can you give me a ballpark? Yeah, we'll say it was well over $10,000. The same thing happened to Doll's
friend, electrician Miles Davis. Doll owed him $15,000. Did you ever see that money? No.
But you were friends with him again? Yeah, cuz he's a great he Yeah, I'm fine with that. I mean, it
wasn't about the money. It was about you know, there was concerns that he was in
trouble. So, I I didn't feel like my little 15,000 was anything to worry about. Cuz he was
getting underwater. >> Yeah. Did you say anything? No. No. No. Did you figure he'd find a way
out of it? Yep. I hoped he would. And then there was Francine and Greg Knittel. Just a few months after the successful
debut of the brewery they started with Doll and a well-known brewmaster, the business started slipping. I got the
first inkling that Doll wasn't what he says he was because a friend of mine went to his brewery and I put quotes
around that because the friend of mine like craft beer and he wasn't making beer at his quote
unquote brewpub. Apparently, by the time Lou's friend stopped by for a drink, the brewery was
no longer making its own beer. He wasn't making beer at the brewery? No, he was buying uh kegs from somebody else.
And when this friend of mine came face to face and told him about that, he he just went ballistic. Like he'd been
found out. >> Like like he had been found out. Doll's partners, Francine and Greg, say
they didn't know what Doll was up to at the brewery and they were shocked when Doll came in one day and announced he
was shutting down the whole thing. Robert's sitting there and he goes, "Guys, the brewery's not making enough
money. I'm going to close the doors." Francine and Greg say they not only lost $250,000
of their own money, they'd encouraged friends to invest, too. And unlike Miles Davis, they felt personally betrayed by
their friend Robert Doll. What gets to you the most? Somebody that we trusted had this
capability, had this I mean, Robert knew the whole time going to pretty much screw us over.
But no one felt more ripped off than Emad Tofailis. He thought he'd invested more than a million dollars in a
vineyard. Instead, Doll diverted the cash, spending it on his lavish lifestyle, the brewery business, just
about anything else. Doll had stopped paying back the money he borrowed and Tofailis hired a lawyer.
He was angry. He wanted his money and he wanted to find out everything he could about Robert Doll.
You amassed a pile of information about Robert Doll. This is the pile of liens that Robert had against him. Civil
judgment from Ford Motor Company, 19,000. Allied Building Products Company, 61,000. 53,000. 7,900.
>> Oh my goodness. So, Emad hired Don King, who has her own special niche in Napa
Valley. Well, I'm a private investigator here in Napa and I was an FBI agent for
10 years. >> An FBI agent? >> Yes. So, you can smell a rat. Well, I like to put rats in prison, anyway.
Don started digging. So, he was just not paying his bills. I mean, he was just like, you know, charging credit cards.
Here's the Federal Credit Union, 53,000. And then you get into his lawsuits. A lot of what Don discovered happened back
in Minnesota during the years before Doll came to Napa, but to Don, it told a story. You know, this is the theft one
of his theft charges. One of his theft charges? >> had a he had two. This was the theft by
swindle. So, He actually was convicted of theft by swindle. He was. Thefts and swindles got Doll thrown into
jail not once, but twice back in Minnesota and left him a convicted felon. I mean, this guy was a criminal.
Now, here in the wine country, Doll seemed to be scamming again. Every time he'd get a business investment, the
money seemed to go right into his pocket. Was this kind of a a Ponzi scheme? Yeah, to some extent. I mean, except
that no one got paid. See, usually in a Ponzi scheme, the first people in get paid. But in this case, But no, no.
>> did. It was It right, Robert got paid, but Robert spent all the money. In 2014, wine reporter Lou Perdue began
to uncover the swindles Robert Doll was pulling right here in Napa Valley. He started blogging what he found and guess
who responded. >> And those are his comments. >> Robert Doll. Those are his his comments
and then he starts to rant paragraph >> Oh, I see this the caps in red. >> by paragraph Oh my goodness.
>> everything in big red capital letters just keeps coming. >> Oh my goodness. And it comes and it
comes and it comes and it comes just ranting and ranting and ranting. I think I measured this at
26 ft. And what did this say to you? This says to me the guy's was off his nut. Things were really heating up. Both
sides were suing and it looked as if things were headed for a showdown. Emad was just like so crazed and he was
becoming like a desperate man. Oh my gosh. I mean, I used to get 10 15 20 phone calls a day.
Emad Tofailis was angry, very angry. He wanted his whole investment back, but it
wasn't looking good. How desperate was Emad? He was a desperate man. On a scale from 1 to 10,
he was about a 9. He was not going to let someone like Robert Doll take advantage of him and bully him into
being submissive. Attorney David Wiseblood. Emad came to me saying, "I have this problem."
So, I looked at it and said, "Yeah, you have a problem." So, we devised a strategy. That strategy was to hammer
Robert Doll in court and force him to pay up. So, the strategy was file a lawsuit in Napa
to basically get control of the collateral and to prevent stuff from disappearing.
That collateral was mostly the wine tanks and all the equipment used to make the wine. And what happened? Robert
didn't roll that well. What happened, I had in a 4-month period, 19 court appearances in the Napa court, which is
crazy. I mean, the short answer is the Napa court issued an injunction against Robert saying, "You can't sell
inventory," which in effect should have shut down his winemaking and wine selling operations. That all belongs to
Emad, basically. >> Right, pretty much. Even though Emad was winning in court, Robert Doll was doing
everything he could to cheat. He was even secretly taking equipment and trying to sell it off. Robert at that
point had started hiding equipment, hiding whatever he could. He started moving stuff.
But Robert Doll's attorneys, Jasmine Dwall and Kusha Berakhim, There's a lot more than the headlines. say Doll was a
clever businessman, but he was no crook. You think Robert's mindset was, "I'm going to take this, but I'll be able to
pay it back and everything's going to be okay." >> Absolutely. I think he had every
intention to pay back the entire loan. Robert got a hold Dahl's lawyers believed Dahl was a stand-up guy. That
classic all-American risk-taking entrepreneur who puts it all on the line and at the last minute comes out a hero.
The business was growing. And it was not a Ponzi scheme or a house of cards. I was shown a document
that says Robert Dahl was convicted of swindle in Minnesota. If you look at that document again, you will see that
that goes back to when he was about 19 or 21 years old or so. But still, people look at that and say once a con man,
always a con man. Robert definitely had his share of failed ventures before as well.
But you don't think that proves that he's a thief. Not at all. A thief takes money and runs with it. A thief doesn't
go to the court. He was a risk-taker and when you take risks, sometimes you end up harming other people as well. But our
system is set up for that. In the wine business, Dahl's lawyers say sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
And they insist Emad Tofilis was the real villain in this business deal. You think this was a scam for Emad?
Absolutely. How would one come up with that much cash and why? [Music] It's still a mystery where all that cash
came from. But Dahl's lawyers say Emad was so angry, he was determined to destroy
Robert Dahl's business. His barrels of wines were taken. His cars were taken. His brewing systems
were taken. He was in an impossible place. [Music] With no business to operate, Dahl
couldn't earn any money to pay off the debts he owed to Emad and others. [Music]
And then, surprisingly, there was a breakthrough. It looked as if Emad might get more of his money back.
The lawyers had come to a deal and Emad and Robert were going to get together to
hammer out the details. Robert wanted to meet here, at his vineyard. I went to my office Monday morning
and I got a phone call from Emad. David, you have decided to go to the winery. On that morning, I was on the phone and
Emad's attorney was on the phone. Emad and Robert were there in person. Their attorneys joined them on a conference
call. There was a definite agreement on what was going to be paid to Emad. It was just so eerily calm. It was eerily
calm. It was eerily calm. But then, Robert Dahl rocked the boat. And he said, well, I don't give an ass
what the lawyers negotiated. This is my offer. What seemed to be a nearly done deal
suddenly started unraveling. Which was several hundred thousand dollars less than what was agreed to.
The lawyers felt it was a breakdown that Emad and Robert should deal with themselves. They were both business
savvy and this was something that they both could have easily handled. So both lawyers got off the phone. Both expected
to hear right back from their clients. 20 minutes go by. We had no idea what was going on.
I don't hear from Emad. I was expecting a call. Then I got an email saying there was a
shooting. I got a call from Mr. Weissbluth. He said, Kusha, tell me this didn't really happen.
You thought Emad lost it. I thought Emad lost it. >> We both thought that. [Music]
That's the winery up at the end of the row. >> Yeah, up at the end of the row. On March
16th, 2015, Emad Tofilis and Robert Dahl had finally gotten together to try to settle their ugly dispute. They'd been
meeting one-on-one in a room inside that barn over there at Dahl Vineyard. The lawyers were on the phone on a
conference call. But just a few moments after everything started, they hit a snag.
[Music] Emad wanted to settle it and Dahl wanted to settle it. But something went wrong. Clearly, they
can't come to an agreement down there in the vineyard. Not only couldn't they come to an agreement,
all hell breaks loose. There's a burst of gunfire and evidence shows the men come tumbling out of the
barn. One has a gun. He's firing. The other man is wounded, running for his life
into the vines. They can't agree and suddenly one person takes off down down these rows like in between these grapes
here. >> Right. Running through here. Right. Emad and Robert both take off, one hunting the other. Running down the row,
being pursued by the other one who is shooting at the the guy who became the victim. He's shooting through these
grapes just as the guy's running. It's a wild chase, something out of a movie. The hunted man desperately dials 911.
>> He's calling 911 as he's running through the vineyard. >> He's still running even though he's been
shot. Right. >> So what does the shooter do? The the shooter knows he can't catch the the
victim. So he goes back to the winery, gets in his car and drives over hoping to cut the victim off as the
victim runs out. As the victim gets here, he tells 911 that he can see the deputies arriving here. So he's
saved. He can see the deputies. And the shooter comes around, gets out of his car and shoots the
victim in the head with a fatal shot as the police cars are arriving. So he the shooter gets out, stands basically
stands over the guy? Yes. Delivers the coup de grace. While the sheriff's deputies were right there. The
sheriff's deputies were arriving right at this corner. And this is where it all ended. The
winery these two men had dreamed of building together. Emad Tofilis was lying dead on the
ground, murdered by Robert Dahl. He knows it's all over. I mean, he knows that no matter what he does, he's been
caught. He can't talk his way out of it. So he gets in the the vehicle, drives up a terrible road here where
there are very few outlets and as the police are closing in on him, he shoots himself in the head and kills himself.
Kills himself. All over. The final bad life choice on a crooked life that's led all the way
back to Minnesota. It's hard to say what set Robert Dahl off that day. It certainly seems the
crime was premeditated. Dahl had brought a gun and remember he was a convicted felon and he wasn't allowed to own one.
And at that final meeting, he pulled out a bizarre document that he wanted Tofilis to sign, a document that seemed
almost insane. That was basically a manifesto that Emad was trying to ruin his life.
This was supposed to be a confession by Emad that it was all a hoax and it was all his fault.
>> So the idea is Robert pulls out this crazy manifesto and says, sign this. And he pulls out a gun and says, sign
this. There was evidence that Dahl may have been ready to kill more people. Duct
tape, flex cuffs, a tarp, gloves, and there was ammo, more than 750 rounds. A magnetic gun holder that goes on a car.
>> to hide the Yeah. To me, that is a murder kit. I mean, plain and simple. I think he was trying to figure out how to
kill the people that had brought him down. And that theory fits what we've discovered here in Napa. In the course
of our reporting, so many people told us they too could have been victims. There was Don King, the dirt-digging
private eye. Could have been me running through the vineyard. Could have been. Lou Purdue, the dogged wine journalist.
I think I was probably number one on his list to kill because I was the guy who blew the whistle on everything.
Francine and Greg Knittel who filed a criminal case against Dahl. My first thought was that could have very easily
been Greg. And Emad Tofilis' attorney, David Weissbluth. It certainly could have been me.
And I'm sure that it would have been. There was even that prince of the wine country, Dominic Foppoli. You think he
would have killed you, too? Oh, yeah. Finally, we were left with one more question. This month's wine club
shipment includes our How could Robert Dahl have convinced all these people to believe in him?
>> Robert Dahl was an Academy Award winning actor when it comes to convincing people
to trust him. How did he not get found out? Nobody checked. People like this, they keep Exactly.
>> moving. Destroy somebody else's life for their own good, their own benefit. Emad Tofangsazi's murder haunts almost
everyone he knew in the wine country. You think about this case every day? I do.
Yeah. Two years, two years pass? Dominic Foppoli says back when he and Doll were still partners, he tried to
warn Emad. I said, "I want to give you a heads-up I'm having all these issues with Robert."
>> You warned him? Yeah, we sat here on this deck and you know, and and talked. How did you hear about
what he did? Somebody pulled up their phone and and they they showed me the article of what had happened. I was just
in shock and immediately, I mean honestly, I started I started crying and and it was a mix of
guilt because I guess I didn't do enough to warn Emad about him. Jonathan Kesselman, the director, felt deeply
about Emad. He was a really sweet, kind, generous guy and and and I just felt I just felt I needed to say that, you
know, just so that it's on the record. You know, there's some some legacy of Emad where, you know, he was remembered.
He was a good person. As for Robert Doll, he may have showed up in Napa with a grand vision.
But in the end, he brought his dreams and those of so many around him crashing down. He wanted to be that guy that had
a vineyard and had wine with his name on it. He wanted to live the life of the big
fish. He was a little fish. This is not your typical wine story. No, it isn't. And one that we don't want to hear about
around here again, for sure. [Music] [Music] It was a beautiful wedding. We had a wonderful relationship.
I was very in love. Very in love. Very, very in love. [Music] Gary had a very big personality.
He was a big gambler and he loved it. When they first met, she claimed that Gary had told her
"I'm worth 10 million, 20 million." It was in the high millions. Gary Triano, he'd been a hugely successful financial
developer and entrepreneur. He was doing tribal gambling business. That money, which he got every month,
was big money. The tribe and himself did not agree on certain things. He was basically forced out of his gambling
connection. He was on a downward spiral financially and there were people who were upset with him.
Your husband, he owed a casino in Las Vegas several million dollars, 1.8 million to an ex-wife, $91,000 to an
attorney, hundreds of thousands of dollars to a group of Mexican investors who people said were involved in
criminal activity. Probably. November 1st, 1996 at the La Paloma Country Club. Yeah, so, you know, a luxury resort, spa
and a fantastic golf course. Gary Triano finishes playing a game of golf, walks to his car
and there's an explosion. There's some kind of an explosion in the country club parking lot. I'm not I
guess there's a massive fire. What kind of bomb are we talking about? We're talking about a pipe bomb.
An extremely large pipe bomb compared to what is normally out there. Was this survivable? No.
Gary Triano didn't have a chance. He was a dead man. I was absolutely hysterical.
And I'm thinking, "Oh my god, what am I going to do?" But you must have asked who could have killed Gary. I
immediately thought who is it that he hadn't paid. Before the bombing, Gary was totally in
fear. Going around with a gun? He had life threats. I had life threats. The children had life threats.
We're talking about Mexican mafia people you don't cross. There was serious, serious things going
on. I saw the list. It was titled a kill list and it had names and Gary Triano was at the top.
Did Pam ever talk to you about Gary's business associations with organized crime?
Never. Never. Never. She was one of your closest friends. No talk about mob-related people? Never.
Threatening phone calls at the house? >> That's absurd. >> She felt unsafe. She felt her children
were under threat. No, I don't believe that ever happened. I think that's just completely made up. Do you believe Pam
would have done anything for money? Well, yeah. I'm Peter Van Sant. Tonight on 48 Hours,
the hit. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] It was back in the '90s and Pam Phillips
and her husband, Gary Triano, were living large. Here in the posh foothills of Tucson, they were rich. Gary was a
wheeler-dealer creating businesses, running Indian bingo, playing a lot of golf and some say Gary was rubbing
shoulders with wise guys. He was flamboyant in a way that I wouldn't normally fall for.
She sold commercial real estate. I was worth, I think, a million eight, two million in there. Made totally on my
own. They were socialites with connections. Connections like their celebrity pals,
Donald and Marla Trump. Marla, I love. Marla is like an angel and Donald I adore as well. And he is one of the
funniest people to be around you can imagine. Donald and Marla came and actually they
went to took them to a basketball game together. Laura Chapman was part of the gang, a
friend. We love our wildcats. We're big, huge wildcat fans. >> University of Arizona? Absolutely. And
it was in the paper the next day, you know, here's Gary and Pam walking down the steps with Donald and Marla.
Gary and Pam married in 1986. They had a couple of kids and settled into a comfortable life.
When she and Gary were married, Pam didn't even work. She lived a very pampered lifestyle and Gary provided
that for her. Tell me about going to Vegas with Gary and Pam. That was a trip. It was a lot of fun.
He had his own plane, so he would fly us in. What kind of plane? Just a It was just a a small jet. It was like a Just a
small jet? >> Just a small jet. Lifestyles of the rich and famous. Absolutely. But all that glitters is not, well, you
know the story and after seven years of marriage, things fell apart. Gary was pushed out of the Indian bingo
and his personal gambling debts skyrocketed. In 1993, Pam and Gary separated and
eventually divorced. She moved to Aspen. He stayed in Tucson. [Music] Until that day,
November 1st, 1996. The bomb was so powerful, it literally sent debris flying 200 yards into the
air. The windshield actually flew over these trees and into the swimming pool area.
Just five days before Gary's 53rd birthday. Gary definitely was a target. Jean Reedy
is a Pima County investigator. Gary suspected he was being followed and told people he was being followed by
individual that was driving a green Jeep-type SUV. Was that vehicle seen on the day Gary Triano was murdered? There
was a similar vehicle or the specific vehicle was seen up at La Paloma Resort. That's where the bomb went off? Where
the bombing happened, that's correct. [Music] We're on an explosives range in the
remote mountains of New Mexico. Over those hills, about 40 miles from here, is where they detonated the first atomic
bomb. These ATF agents Watch your strap. They worked the Triano bombing and came up
with some crucial clues. This is the exact location where the device was when it detonated and murdered Gary Triano.
Gary Triano had just finished 18 holes with a pal. He walked to his car. When he entered the car,
he leaned over and seen this unknown bag that was sitting here exactly where it's
at right now. And like anybody, he probably reached over and grabbed it, right? >> What's What's this? ATF bomb expert Tony
May. This is a reconstruction of the device. And special agent Tom Mangan. When you look at something this size you
say, "This is overkill." recreated the bomb at our request. [Music] I'm now getting into his car. Here we
go. Five, four, three, two, one. [Music] Lead the way. >> Yep. Let's check out the damage. Look at the
blast pressures, Tony. Yeah. Look at that. These little pieces from this last blast. Correct.
>> looking at here. >> Correct. >> But for you guys, this is all evidence. >> This is all evidence. But from here we
have to sort out what is car parts and what is bomb parts. >> Right. Come if you see anything from the
bomb. This is an end cap from the pipe bomb itself. Look at the frag pattern on this door. Frag pattern being these
holes. >> Frag pattern being these holes. Right now we're looking at the seat of the
explosion. And the explosion itself, right. And you see the fragmentation. Was this survivable? No.
It was quick, it was calculated, and it was murder. This is an exterior door panel that's
been blown off. There are people who look at this circumstance and say, "This looks like a classic mob hit." Right.
With the bombing, everybody looked at that and said, "That's a signature mob hit."
Detective James Gamber has been on the case from day one. I was 2 months into homicide. And you get one of the biggest
cases in Tucson history. We continued to work it for 18 years. 18 years of your life. Yes.
It took so long because it's been an unusually tangled story filled with endless leads and with curious
characters, many with their own theories. Characters like Dr. Lawrence D'Antonio. I'm a family physician here
in Tucson, Arizona. I've known Gary Triano since I was a little boy. He's also convinced mobsters killed Gary
Triano because he says Gary owed them money and wouldn't pay. He's a very flamboyant man and he's also
very good-looking, but he's rotten to the core. He was a con man. He was a thief
and he would rob or steal from anybody including his own family, his own wife. That's the way he was.
Dr. D'Antonio says Triano associated with known criminals like the infamous mafia boss Joe Bonanno who
retired in Tucson. Gary Triano's first business was financed by um Joseph Bonanno. Was Gary Triano living in a
dangerous lifestyle? Oh, absolutely. Gary carried a gun all the time. And Dr. D'Antonio says he has even seen proof
that Gary Triano was on a kill list. There were a lot of names on this list and some names would come and go, but
Gary Triano was always at the top. The minute the doctor heard about the bombing,
he was sure who did it. I was absolutely sure that Gary Triano had just been murdered by Neal McNeice.
You like the old gumshoe. You like to get out, talk one-on-one to people. I'm old style. I blend in, I fit in, I try
and make people comfortable. Investigator Gene Reedy was trying to help Pam Phillips finger the man who he
believed killed her ex. I'll tell you what I think happened. I think Gary really burned someone really good and
somebody was really upset and someone someone was going to kill him. He's got a pretty good idea of who that
someone was. This man here is the man that orchestrated this. Like Dr. D'Antonio, Reedy thinks the killer is a
man named Neal McNeice. When Neal McNeice was on drugs, he was a completely psychotic, insane guy. All I
ever met in his world, his entourage, was drug dealers, drug addicts, strippers, prostitutes, and bad guys. He
had a lot of bad guys that worked for him. McNeice was a rich kid. He'd inherited millions from his family's
uranium mining fortune. He also owned a piece of an Indy race car team. But Dr. D'Antonio, who once was
McNeice's personal physician, says his patient slipped into an even faster lane. He was heavily on drugs
and his drugs were cocaine and heroin. And that's when the trouble started. According to D'Antonio, the beef between
McNeice and Gary Triano was over a huge diamond ring. A gorgeous uh diamond wedding ring. And this thing
was magnificent and Gary said pitched it as a quarter of a million dollar ring. As the doc tells it, Triano needed cash.
So we offered up his wife's $250,000 wedding ring to McNeice as collateral for a loan.
But there was a problem. The diamond was a fake and when McNeice realized he'd been scammed, all hell broke loose. And
Neal went absolutely crazy. And he started to tell me, "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him." And he
said, "And when I kill Gary Triano, it will be spectacular. The whole world will know I killed him."
Gary Triano owed him a debt and I believe that's why Gary Triano was killed. Reedy says he's got it all figured out.
>> I'm taking you to where I believe the bomb was built. Let's go inside. [Music]
This place looks like a movie set. Thousands of parts, heavy machinery. He has everything here that could be used
to build a bomb. We found at least six pieces of the puzzle within this drawer right here. We found the shotgun shells,
we found bearings, the same type of powder that was used in the bomb. We found the RadioShack receipts. That
linked all this together. >> all this together. Reedy says the man who built the bomb right here in this
shop was a model airplane hobbyist named Jerry Cappuano. This is his bomb builder. He built the bomb. Reedy's
theory of the crime is this. The bad boy millionaire McNeice put together a whole
hit team to go after Gary Triano. It was a bunch of lowlifes. This is his bodyguard who orchestrated and got the
hit crew together with these two guys. And these two guys have a past criminal history. They're complete thugs. McNeice
and his bodyguard also had a criminal history. They were convicted of extortion for threatening another who
owed McNeice money. This is where Gary came to play his death. This is where Gary came to play
golf. Reedy says he has found a witness who saw that hit team right here in the parking lot. Directly next to Gary
Triano when the bomb went off, there was an individual in a vehicle who was sitting there reading a magazine. Now he
was looking in his mirror and he saw an individual back by the bushes. He also saw another individual straight ahead up
on this knoll directly in front of us that we're pulling around to. And you believe that person was doing what? I
believe those two people were involved involved in the bombing. So, to sum up this tangled story so far,
millionaire businessman Gary Triano gets in big trouble with mobsters and they kill him. Case closed, right? Well, not
really. That's just the opening scene of this mystery. Turns out lead detective James Gamber
doesn't buy Reedy's mob hit theory. They were all looked at and discounted. Police didn't believe the whole diamond
ring story. They didn't buy the bomb factory or the hit team and they didn't believe any of the other mob hit
theories either. The Mexican group, the financial group, discounted. Just a bad business deal. We
went and talked to the casinos and they said, "Yeah, we lose money all the time.
We don't go out and kill people for the money." But Tucson detective James Gamber had another lead. In December
1996, just weeks after Gary Triano's murder, his ex-wife Pam Phillips filed a life insurance claim. A big one. There
was a $2 million life insurance policy. $2 million dollars. More than enough reason for detective Gamber to travel to
Aspen where he spoke to Pam face-to-face. The money would go to Pam as the trustee. She's the only person
when you follow the money that benefited at all. There's nothing about me. Nothing about me that would ever harm a
person ever ever. There was no money motive. There was no insurance motive. Gamber questioned Pam. She told him she
divorced Gary Triano, escaped from Tucson, and fled to Aspen all because she was terrified.
>> There was things happening with him that I couldn't understand. He was off the
wall. Off the wall. And you moved because >> Because our lives were threatened. I
mean, our lives were threatened. Gary feared everything. Gary was a totally in fear. You going around with a gun?
But Pam's friend, Laura Chapman, has a different take. Why did things go wrong in their marriage?
>> When things started to go downward and the money was not going to be there anymore and that, you know, with the
rich and famous lifestyle was going to be evaporating, I think she saw the writing on the wall. And said, you know,
I don't think I want to be in this relationship anymore. Pam tells this story with such conviction that she'd
reached a point that where she had to leave Gary because of the people he was dealing with, the threats to her family.
Everyone was scared and she had to move to Aspen to save her children. That's absolutely ridiculous. That is
not why she moved to Aspen. Why she moved to Aspen? She, you know, she was looking for her next ATM, her
next bank. She was looking for somebody to provide her that lifestyle again. After her divorce, Pam Phillips' old
friend, Laura Chapman, says Pam was in the mood for love in Aspen. Once she got to Colorado,
what was Pam looking for in a man? Well, I think she was looking for to make sure
that he had a basically a net worth probably of at least 10 million or more. That was the aphrodisiac. That was the
attraction. >> Yeah, absolutely. It didn't really matter what they looked like, just as
long as they had a lot of money. Pam, as usual, gravitated to her people, the rich and famous.
She became a successful real estate agent and resumed her life as a socialite. But she had one friend who
didn't seem to fit the mold. His name was Ron Young. I met him at a party next door, the duplex next door to me. Very
tall. The guy is like a skyscraper. He was a business manager to people that were at this barbecue and I could use
some help with my business and so that's kind of what what ended up happening. Pam says Ron helped her with her
business interests and she paid him cash. Pam owned an online company called Star
Babies, making astrology charts for infants. I handwrote all the different uh planetary aspects to understand our
children and be a better parent. What was your relationship with Ron? Strictly business, pretty much. I mean, um doing
uh business plans. He helped on pretty much everything, you know. He helped a lot. But Pam's nanny in Aspen told
police that her relationship with Ron Young soon moved from the office to the bedroom. Now, you're here to tell me the
truth, right? >> I'm here to tell you the truth. Did your business relationship with Ron
turn into a romantic relationship? No, not really. >> Cuz it's been alleged that you were
lovers. Were you? No, we were not lovers. This is like embarrassing. Could we have
crashed out having wine, fully clothed, you know, on a couch or on a bed? That might have happened once or twice. Yeah,
we were not lovers, no. In the summer of 1996, Pam suddenly turned on her partner, accusing Ron
Young of fraud, using her credit cards. When she called the cops, Ron disappeared.
Several months later, in November of 1996, Gary Triano was blown up in his car. The
bomb blew off the roof and killed Triano only days before his 53rd birthday. And
in Aspen, a cop who dealt with Pam in the fraud case saw the bombing story on TV and called Tucson. Detective James
Gamber took the call. >> We get a call from Detective Crowley with the Aspen Police Department. And he
says, "Hey, I have a suspect in a fraud case up in Aspen. His name is Ron Young,
this gentleman right here." Turns out that Ron Young had a criminal record. This was a new, intriguing lead,
a link between Pam and a small-time crook. Where it becomes more interesting is when we actually interview Pamela
Phillips and we ask her, we say, "Who's Ron Young?" And she basically minimizes his
relationship to her. "Oh, he's somebody who did some financial work for me." She
doesn't talk about the fraud and she is basically shaken by the question. I mean, visibly shaken by the question.
It's a bad movie. It's a nightmare. I would never kill Gary, the father of my children.
Because he's thinking he can't even stand it. I'm not even going to go there. It's just not real.
[Music] Pam may have been shaken and detectives suspicious, but they didn't yet have a
case. What's worse, Ron Young was nowhere to be found. For 9 years, the case languished.
Uh another look at the frag pattern on this door. Then, in 2005, the case heated up. The bomb expert,
Tony May, and agent Tom Mangan of the ATF were reviewing cold cases. They took another look at the murder of Gary
Triano. Tell me what this bomb tells you about a potential suspect. >> Well, it it it tells me quite a bit,
actually, from the size of the battery to the fact that a remote control system was used. This is somebody that that
that was familiar with model boats, model airplanes. But they determined the bomb builder was an amateur. You have
sloppy solder points. In this case, the solder points are globbed on. How was this 17-in pipe bomb detonated?
>> Okay. He's using a remote control firing system. >> You can buy this at a hobby shop.
>> at any hobby shop. And when he sees Mr. Triano get into the vehicle and get close proximity to the bomb,
initiates the device. And boom. >> And boom. Looking at the holes in the roof. >> The experts were now sure. Because of
the sloppy workmanship, the bomb was probably not the work of a mob hitman. As far as the cops were concerned, that
took the gangster theory of the crime off the table for good. Whose handwriting is this?
>> As he studied the files, Tucson Detective James Gamber became more and more convinced the key to the case would
be the relationship between Pam Phillips and the vanished con man, Ron Young. Then, in 2005,
a break. Ron Young was arrested in Florida on fraud and gun charges. When police searched his apartment, they
discovered something amazing. Ron Young was an obsessive record keeper. Gamber learned that during the 1990s, Young had
received significant cash payments from a woman in Colorado. Usually between $1,800
and The woman sent hundreds of thousands of dollars. Her name, Pam Phillips. [Music]
Why did she pay Ron Young $400,000? You tell me. Because she was paying him for the
murder. The murder of Gary Triano? >> Of Gary Triano. >> Yes. This has nothing to do with me.
My children have to know this has nothing to do with me. I had nothing to do with the death of their father.
Absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. But investigators have said you had 2 million reasons. What? What?
$2 million in life insurance. >> even know that I had that. Well, she needed money and she wanted to get Gary
out of her life. So, she reaches out to Ron Young and basically, if you look at all the
evidence collectively, says, "If Gary dies, I get $2 million. If you kill him, I'll give you
$400,000." And for you, that's the motive of this crime. Correct. Ron Young didn't just keep extensive
financial records, he also recorded dozens of hours of telephone conversations. Listen to this.
About enough to live on for about a year. Well, how could you uh That's Ron Young talking to Pam.
If I ever found out that you copied my uh stuff for your benefit, that it'd be really unfortunate for you
because uh there's just plenty of stuff that uh I could literally dig out of the ground
and you're a fried duck. Then, investigators discovered this startling piece of audio
tape. >> Well, I tell you, you you're going to be very serious when you sit in a women's
prison for murder. I only know of one murder that Pam Phillips is associated with.
Finish your thought. That's Gary Triano. So, what murder could they be talking about?
For Detective Gamber, this case was becoming one of sex, lies, and audio tape. But it all came together when an
obscure police report from 1996 turned up. That was the same year Gary Triano was blown up.
Back then, a rented van was found abandoned in Southern California. No one knew it at the time, but that van would
contain some important circumstantial evidence. And guess who rented it? Ron Young. They find basically a map of
Tucson. As far as we know, Ron Young has no relationship to Tucson. There were several notes, one that lists out
people that are very close to Gary Tison. We find a receipt for a local hotel. We find where he stayed there for 18
days under the name of Philip Desmond. Then we find some of the divorce paperwork from
Pam and Gary's divorce. We find with >> With this new evidence that Young was in
Tucson prior to the bombing, stalking Triano, Gamberg now believed he had a case. And in October 2008, Ron Young was
charged with Gary Triano's murder. Pam Phillips was next in Gamberg's sights. [Music]
By 2008, Pam Phillips had moved to Europe. Switzerland mostly, to be with her daughter who was a
student there. Then, there was a revelation. It all came flooding back to me. It was
like, "Oh my gosh, she really did do it." Laura Chapman, Pam's old pal from Tucson, came forward to tell police a
story she says she was too frightened to tell for 15 years. Were you scared? Yeah, I was scared.
Laura says that back in 1993, shortly after the Trianos separated, Pam said Gary was acting crazy one
night, threatening her and waving a gun. She called me and she called another woman to come over to their home and she
said, you know, I should just hire someone and have him taken out. And you know, then I can collect on the
insurance policy. [Music] And for cops, Laura's story was the last piece of the puzzle.
In October 2008, Pam Phillips and Ron Young were indicted on the same day for conspiracy and murder.
It would take a year before Pam was tracked down in Europe, now in Austria, and arrested. It would be another year
before she was extradited to the US in 2010. So, we agree on 1.7 >> As all this was happening, Pam's
partner, Ron Young, stood trial. He denied everything and never implicated Pam. But in the end, those records and audio
tapes did him in. We the jury find the defendant, Ronald Kelly Young, guilty of the offense of first-degree murder.
And then, back in Arizona, in Division 27 of the Superior Court, >> it was Pam Phillips' turn. This is your
arraignment, those are your charges. But then, a major delay. Pam's lawyers claimed she was mentally
unfit to stand trial. Pam, is it true that you once believed that you had some sort of computer chip or brain implants
put in that was controlling your thoughts and actions? Let's just put it this way. I was a
mess. I was a mess. I was a mess. [Music] Finally, on February 19, 2014, This time
we're going to be hearing opening statements from the attorneys. 17 years after Gary Triano's murder, Tucson's
trial of the century began. It is time to hold Pamela Phillips responsible for her crimes.
It is time to find Pamela Phillips guilty. The prosecution case was straightforward. Pam was portrayed as a
financially desperate woman willing to kill her husband for that $2 million life insurance policy. The only person
who stood to gain any benefit from Gary Triano's death was Pamela Phillips. The prosecution's star witness was Laura
Chapman. I remember saying >> who told that damning story of Pam wanting to hire someone to take out her
husband. Is Pam looking at you while you are testifying? I don't know, Peter, because I never ever looked at her.
Pam was outraged by Laura's story. That she should just hire a hitman, have him have him to have him taken out. No.
I know. Those words would not come out of my mouth ever. Ever. Ever. And there's one more thing Pam wants
people to know about Laura Chapman, that she had a medical condition that affected her
memory. Poor girl, she had a she had a brain tumor, something happened to her medically. That's that is that is so
ridiculous. First of all, I didn't have a brain tumor when she told me this. That happened many years later.
It'll be 9 years this month. And it does not affect my memory one bit. My memory is perfect.
The leads that they dropped. The leads that they dropped >> Pam's defense was simple. Someone else
did it. Who killed Gary Triano? Neal McNeice, I believe. Pam's attorney, Paul Eckerstrom, says
the angry millionaire had the motive and the ability. He says that makes a lot more sense than the notion that Ron
Young built the bomb. Ron Young couldn't even fix a flashlight or a screw in a light bulb as far as I
can tell. We found out who did this. And we've got strong strong evidence of who did this. And it wasn't Pam and
it wasn't Ronald Young. It was people that were involved with organized crime. But the tapes recorded by Ron Young
himself haunted the defense. Well, I'll tell you, you're going to be very serious when you sit in a women's
prison for murder. The problems with this these tapes. They're spliced and diced, we believe.
They're they were never authenticated by any expert. The defense argues that if you listen to
the entire audio tape, it's obvious that Ron Young is talking about his own medical problems. And that if Pam didn't
give him money for treatment, she'd be murdering him. I'm the one that's dying. I have a need.
You have my principal. I want a little bit of it so I can proceed. Eckerstrom says the true story behind
most of the tapes was extortion. Ron Young was just trying to get money out of Pam. What he had on Pam was the
fact that she had a reputation in Aspen to protect. It was a small town. She was
a real estate agent. She needed her reputation. According to the defense, Pam was afraid
that Ron would spread the news that she was being investigated in the death of her ex-husband. If Pam paid him, Ron
would keep his mouth shut. You're talking about a guy who's an extortionist. This is what he does. He's
squeezing Pam is what you're saying. Trying to get money out of Pam. with a minor in chemistry. Finally,
Pam's defense presented what they were convinced would be a knockout blow. Something discovered among the bomb
fragments. We found DNA on the bomb. DNA, the CSI moment. Would it work? [Music]
Five, four, three, two, one. [Music] In the end, the bomb which killed Gary Triano came back to center stage. I
thought once we had this, we won the case. The defense claimed they discovered dramatic new DNA evidence. This is one
of the places we found it, embedded in the wood. We excluded Ronald Young as the bomb maker.
And if Ron Young didn't do it, then Pam is innocent. So, this is a CSI moment as
far as you're concerned, right? >> Yeah. And you know, we don't have to prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that Pam's innocent. All we need to do is create a reasonable doubt.
[Music] After eight weeks of trial, You have to tell the state, "Don't charge somebody
with scant innuendo and insinuation." The defense had bottom line their case. Pam didn't do the crime, someone else
did. And that man was the drug-crazed millionaire who thought Triano cheated him. Neal McNeice. The defense has a
pretty simple theory. Neal McNeice is the killer. What do you say? That they don't have any foundation or
any solid factual basis to make that allegation. They claim McNeice had underworld ties,
he had a kill list, and Gary Triano was on the top of that list. Correct. And do
they have that list? No. They also didn't have McNeese. He died back in 2002 of a drug overdose.
And they didn't have the alleged bomb maker, Jerry Cappuano, either. He's dead, too.
It's rather convenient, yes. It's always It's always nice to accuse somebody who
can't defend themselves. Closing. As for star witness Laura Chapman and her story that Pam once talked about
hiring someone to kill Gary >> that she should just hire a hit man. The defense says
it never happened. There's a problem with your story in that the woman that was with you and Pam
that day in the bedroom says she doesn't remember Pam saying this. That is not true.
That is not true. I think she perjured herself. I think she knows exactly what was said.
If the state is required to prove that Of course, all of this was left up to the jury.
And after 13 hours of deliberation the jury spoke. Do you find the defendant, Pamela Ann Phillips, guilty
of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder as alleged in count one of the indictment?
When you heard the words guilty Okay. >> guilty of conspiracy, guilty of first-degree murder.
It's a complete frame. [Music] Here I stand. And I am innocent. And the people that killed Gary Tison
are out walking around. All right, let's go on the record in CR 2008 >> One month later back in court
>> Ms. Phillips, would you give us your full name, please? Pamela Ann Phillips. Pam is sentenced to life in prison with
no chance of parole. I just want everybody to know that I am innocent. I am innocent. I am innocent. I'm not that
person that >> that evil. >> And no, I wouldn't. >> greedy, money-grubbing person who would
even kill No, but I would never harm anybody. It's gut-wrenching for me. Because I
don't just think she's innocent, I know she is. Two juries have heard this evidence and
two juries have convicted Ron Young and Pam Phillips. Right. Aren't you the one who's wrong here?
No. You know why they were convicted? Juries believe that you're probably guilty
these days cuz the state would never have brought the case otherwise. That's the way they think.
Eckstrom also blames the media. He says because of pretrial publicity and what he calls inaccurate media reports he
thinks the jury probably made up its mind before trial. Pam didn't have a chance going in. We
had a thousand suspects. >> As for Detective Gamber, the man who spent 18 years trying to crack this case
>> This is wrong. >> it all came down to the hit man with an obsessive need to keep records of
everything. Do you think there would have been a conviction without those audio tapes? No.
So Ron, the con man, did himself in. He convicted both of them. This is a travesty of our whole judicial
system. This could happen to anybody. You feel like you've been railroaded. Totally.
Totally. I'm innocent. I am very, very, very innocent. Stephanie, close the door. Is it weird
to you the person that you socialized with, hung out with celebrities, Donald Trump
the travel, the fun, the parties, the balls, the fancy dress, the lifestyle is now a convicted murderer?
Yeah, it's hard to believe that somebody could stoop so low. [Music] In the end Pam Phillips will sit alone in a cell.
Her grown children didn't even come to her trial. There will be no more ski trips with the
Trumps or golf getaways or Vegas weekends. There is just the prospect of life in
prison alone with her belief that the system is rigged and that she is the innocent victim.
[Music] 48 Hours presents This is Officer the Houston Police Department Major Offenders Division
Career Criminals Squad. [Music] Hey, my name is Valerie McDaniel. I've always tried to be an honest, kind
person. I've tried to live the best life I can. Valerie wound up being the top of the
class. The valedictorian? >> The valedictorian in our 1987 high school graduating class. She sure did.
My name is Megan. She's my second cousin. She's generous and creative, smart nice and sweet.
She would always like take care of my dog. [Music] I wasn't sure if I should be a vet
anymore and Valerie brought that passion back. [Music] I know that Valerie made an audio
recording of all of her memorable moments in life. I met through friends a man named Mack McDaniel.
And I thought he was the cutest thing. Tall and skinny with his boots. [Applause]
Valerie and Mack lived a lavish lifestyle. A high-end life, you know, a a life of luxury, a life of beauty.
>> Great cars. Valerie had a Mercedes. Daughter went to a great school. They worked a lot. That was a big thing.
They'd both be working and But did they seem happy together? >> Yeah, yeah, seemed great.
[Music] One morning at work there was a a note on my desk that said Dr. McDaniel
call Ms. Brown. She said, "I've been your husband's lover." It tore up. Divorce is never an easy thing.
She met Leon. A medical doctor. He actually went to the same school I did. A little bit of ER, but then also like
like cardio and transplant. [Music] I looked at him and smiled and he smiled back and just a beautiful person.
Her face, her smile, she had this outwardly exuberance of energy that I really can't describe.
>> for Leon. She was madly in love with him. We were um planning on getting married.
[Music] Mack always wanted more, more, more at the detriment of their daughter. My name
is Moataz Azzi and Leon Jacob uh tried to hire me as a hit man. In the car, did he give you $2,500?
>> paid the $2,500. >> Yes, in cash. Right. >> And what did you see on his face?
Excitement. He was enjoying it. Like he actually was excited about the whole thing. I could
never hurt the man that my daughter loved so much. The male subject, he's gone. He's gone.
This has been a long, drawn-out story that's led to an unbelievable conclusion. When he came into my office
he shut the door. He said, "I'm Dr. Leon Jacob." I felt like I was talking to Satan
himself. [Music] [Music] 48 Hours Operation Murder reported by Peter Van Sant. [Music]
2453 2453 Yes, ma'am. It's going to be a major offenders investigation. It's 3:00 a.m. on Friday, March 10th,
2017. Houston police are making their way to the seventh-floor condo of beloved veterinarian Valerie McDaniel.
[Music] Bad doesn't begin to describe what's about to be revealed. [Music] Valerie's ex-husband Mack, police tell
her, was dead just 6 months after their divorce had become final. But how could Valerie's life have
arrived at this dreadful moment? Valerie earned her degree in veterinary medicine at Texas A&M.
It was during that time she met Mack McDaniel. Valerie's friend, Greg Holloway. My impression of Mack is that he was a
good man. He was a stand-up guy. Mack proposed, and Valerie had the man of her dreams, as she describes in that
recording of her memories. We did get married. We had a beautiful fairy tale wedding.
Moved into a house that my parents had bought for me to live in. Not long after that, Valerie decided to
open her own clinic. Valerie's cousin, Cody Bernard. I admired her. It sunk something inside
of me. I want to I want to do that one day. Something big, you know. Mack was her office manager, but even as
the vet clinic thrived, the two longed for something more. She said she couldn't have any children,
so the only option was to adopt. In 2008, the couple adopted a daughter when she was just 2 days old.
But as their new family came together, their marriage began to fall apart. It started, Valerie says, with a phone call
from a stranger. The woman who claimed to have been Mack's lover. But Valerie says that wasn't all. She gave me lists
of women that he had slept with. Valerie says she confronted Mack and forgave him, but claims it wasn't long
before Mack cheated again. And that was the first time I ever said the word divorce. And I yelled at him
outside, and I yelled it, and I yelled it. Valerie says she forgave Mack yet again,
but then a chance encounter would change the course of her life. Leon Jacob, the
son of Valerie's neighbor, Golda Jacob, stopped by. He ran up to me and stuck his hand out and introduced
himself. The cockiest mother ever met in my life. Valerie was in her mid-40s, but
she was stunning. Both inside and out. The attraction was mutual. You could tell he knew
how beautiful he was. And I was lonely. Leon Jacob was 8 years younger than Valerie and a doctor. What type of
surgeries have you done? All kinds of surgeries. I've assisted in heart, kidney, pancreas
transplants. [Music] With a strained home life and an attractive new friend, what happened
next may have been inevitable. And he sat across from me, and we had some wine, and I had my feet out on the chair
next to him. And just out of the blue, he reached out and just ran his finger up my
left foot. And that was it. It was like a movie moment. It's quite an interlude, according to
what she described. Yeah, compliments all around, I guess. In December 2014, Valerie filed for divorce, claiming Mack
committed adultery. Mack's attorneys told us Mack had no comment about the divorce petition and the claims Valerie
made in her audio diary. Between Mack's alleged cheating and Valerie's new love interest, both wanted
out of the marriage. The divorce was finalized in August 2016. Valerie and her daughter then moved into
this building in the upscale River Oaks section of Houston. Not long after, Leon joined them here.
Our relationship really blossomed quickly because we had been very close friends for so long. Dr. Britney King
worked alongside Valerie at the vet clinic. They seemed very much in love. Holding hands and and loving towards
each other. But there was one old problem in Valerie and Leon's new relationship, and his
name was Mack. [Music] There were multiple times in the clinic where she would just be in tears.
I'd say, "Everything okay?" And it was something surrounding her ex-husband. Mack had found out that Leon was staying
with me. There'd be arguments or stuff with the child or visitation. But Leon had his
own issues with past loves. One involving extreme mental cruelty, and another, assault and stalking charges.
Leon Jacob is a predator. He's scary. Samantha Connect is a Harris County assistant district attorney. He wants
what he wants, and he'll stop at nothing to get it. Could there be more to Valerie's new
love than she can imagine? He has no problem using women. In fact, I I think he enjoys it.
Valerie McDaniel's new live-in boyfriend grew up in a Texas-sized world of beauty, opulence, and opportunity. I
always wanted to be a doctor my whole life, ever since I was about three or four.
As he pursued his degrees, Leon met and married his college sweetheart. They had two boys.
We had a happy, loving family. I got two great kids, two boys. They're the most important things to me
in my life. A good family, and now with an MD after his name, Leon was well on his way.
[Music] But Leon's picture-perfect life disguised a troubled relationship. After 12 years of marriage, his wife
filed for divorce, citing extreme mental cruelty. And 1 year later, Leon was arrested for
stalking his now ex. Leon has to be in control. When his ex-wife went to end their
relationship, he wasn't going to have it. And he wasn't going to go down without a fight. Leon, isn't it true
that you've had brushes with the law involving stalking, cyberstalking, intimidation,
physical harassment, assault? Aren't all those true? I pled guilty to a attempted cyberharassment charge that
was stemming from an acrimonious divorce that I went through with my previous wife. Leon admits that he called often,
but he claims it was simply to speak with his boys. I tried desperately to connect my kids over and over and over
again, and I'm not going to apologize for that. Leon finally moved on to a new residency
and was living in Pittsburgh, where he met this woman, 33-year-old Megan Veracos. I met Megan in a hotel in
Pittsburgh. She was the assistant general manager there. The new couple moved to Houston.
There were lavish vacations, family get-togethers, and yet another residency, Leon's seventh. He's a failed doctor.
He's been kicked out of every residency program he's ever been a part of. And what's the problem? What was the basis
of these dismissals? Do you know? The belief that he was the smartest guy in the room, inability to get along with
people, inability to get along with patients. And in fact, one of the records that we
found said that they believed that he was a danger to patients and that he would be a liability for them to keep
around. 3 years into their relationship, Megan Veracos thought Leon was a threat to
her, too. Megan kicked Leon out of their apartment, later accusing him of assaulting her.
She wanted me to move all my stuff out. She came there and was very hostile. The
police were called. There was no violence of any kind. And a day later, she claimed that I had hit
her. And that you'd put your hand over her mouth. >> Yeah, which is not true. Leon is about
Leon. Smile, Megan. Smile. It frustrated him to no end that Megan Veracos would not forgive him. And the fact that he
couldn't get Megan back frustrated him and angered him. Leon was arrested in February 2017
for assault and stalking. You can charge anybody with anything. It doesn't mean that you're guilty of that.
The DA's office has been on this case since its inception. We helped Prosecutors are convinced that Leon knew
his future as a doctor would be destroyed if Megan testified against him. So, they believe he planned a little
operation to make his pain go away. He feels like if Megan disappears, if she goes away, that his criminal case will
go away and he can resume his career as this beloved surgeon that he thinks that
he is. Prosecutors claim Leon decided what he needed was a hitman. And he thought he'd found one. Taz,
are you a hitman? No. Were you ever willing to murder anyone for money? No. No. No. No. I
would never do something like that. Taz Ezzat was introduced to Leon by a mutual
acquaintance. Did Leon ever tell you how he wanted his ex-girlfriend to be killed?
>> Yes, he he actually offered suggestions. One of them was a syringe to the heart
with potassium would give her a heart attack and that would actually kill her. Taz is a decorated former US Army
soldier who saw Leon's deadly demand as an opportunity to save a life. I saw somebody in danger and I knew that I can
do something about it. And I did something about it. Leon knew Taz by the code name Zach.
He says Leon wanted him to kidnap Megan first to talk her into taking him back and if that didn't work, leaving town.
But that wasn't all. If she doesn't leave, what are you going to do? And he was like, I want you to kill her. I'm
not going to comment on any of this. This is just ridiculous. Taz says Leon paid him $9,000
which he happily spent. To be honest, I don't feel bad that I spent Jacob's money. In fact, I feel really good I
spent his money. Then the man Leon knew as Zach vanished. Leon Jacob was one of the most unique
individuals I'd ever met. Bail bondsman Michael Kubosh. This guy was focused. He
was very intimidating. Didn't shake my hand. Just wanted to know one thing. I want Zach's number.
He said, I've paid Zach a lot of money to take care of this. I felt like I was talking to the devil
himself. [Music] Tucked away on a side street in Houston is perhaps the most colorful bail
bondsman in all of Texas. Having hung out a bit with you, you are the Elvis of bail bondsmen. You have such His name is
Michael Kubosh. These are people that we're looking for, fugitives. And he understands the criminal mind. I deal
with the nicest, the kindest and the meanest people on the face of the earth. I've bonded out judges, prostitutes,
preachers, missionaries. He's also a larger-than-life member of the Houston City Council
who helped save lives during Hurricane Harvey. I can see you were really working hard. I know all the major law
enforcement people in in the whole county. Leon had stormed into Kubosh's office.
He said, I've paid Zach a lot of money to take care of this. Said, take care of what? He said,
I want her out of the picture. And and and I she can't be testifying against me.
>> Out of the picture? Out of the picture. I believe that he meant ill toward this
woman and that's why I called the chief. The chief of The chief of police in Houston, Texas.
A search for the mysterious Zach was triggered and investigators quickly learned his real name, Taz Ezzat. A name
that Kubosh did recognize as a former military man who was facing a misdemeanor theft charge for stealing
from his roommate. He was on bond with me. He was STILL FREE. IT TOOK HOUSTON POLICE about a week to
find Taz and that's when things got really interesting. To me, Taz seemed genuinely concerned
for Megan. This man is an undercover officer with the Houston Police Department who goes by the name
Detective Javier. He didn't want to see her hurt. So Taz agreed to participate in a sting operation to help catch Leon
Jacob in the act of soliciting a murder. Hello? Hey, what's up, man? How you doing, buddy? Taz told Leon that
he felt he had grown too close to him and Valerie and thought it best to hire another hitman. And he knew just the
right guy. Can you meet me tomorrow? Yeah, I'll I'll I'll clear my schedule. No problem.
The next day, Taz would introduce Leon to his new hitman, undercover Detective Javier.
But before Taz could hang up, Leon dropped a bomb. And we're taking care of both problems? What both problems?
Both of the individuals that we're talking about. Uh okay. Valerie McDaniel, Leon's new girlfriend,
the mild-mannered veterinarian who friends had described as an angel, wanted her ex-husband murdered. Valerie
wants to talk to you about what you want she wants to do with her ex-husband. Okay, that's good. All right, just bring
her with you tomorrow. The next day, Leon and Valerie met with Taz and Detective Javier at this Olive
Garden to discuss the fate of both their exes over lunch. The entire operation was recorded. The
meeting lasted nearly 2 hours and began with Leon's target, Megan. I don't want her hurt,
but I want her to go. He told me that he wanted me to run her off the road and threaten her,
but then he would say to me, if she does not understand that, then you do what you have to do.
Those options don't work, [Music] I don't know. Then you got to do what you got to do.
There was no doubt in my mind that Leon wanted Megan killed. The subject then turned to Valerie's
target, her ex-husband Mack. So if if something were to happen to him, would it be like a car wreck
It could be a car wreck. It could be a robbery gone wrong. She was under the belief that I was
going to carjack him and I was going to put a bullet in his head, which is exactly what I told her I was going to
do. What you need to need to go ahead. I don't have my kids. Go ahead. I don't have my kids. What am I going to
do? He's going to take my daughter. The next day, March 9th, 2017, Detective Javier called Leon to say he had good
news that he insisted on delivering in person. Are you my friend? He went to their home where he informed
them Mack was dead. Neither wanted to see this photo, which seemed to show Mack with a gunshot
to the head. When Valerie got the news that her husband was dead, was she emotional
about it? Did she say, oh my god, I never wanted to go this far? >> She did not show that.
What they didn't know is that Mack was alive and well. He'd posed for those photos as part of this elaborate sting
operation. Believing Mack was dead, Leon set his sights on Megan. So you're going to snatch her and you're
going to bring her somewhere and talk to her. That's the plan. If I need to show up, you call me.
Later that night, these staged photographs of Megan were texted to Leon and he was told she was
so out of control, she had to be killed. She's dead. She's gone. I don't want to know anything.
On that scale of good to evil, in your mind, what is Leon Jacob? Leon is a very evil person. He was
willing to do whatever he needed to do to survive. [Music] It was probably around 2:00 or 3:00 in
the morning. On March 10th, 2017, Valerie McDaniel and her live-in boyfriend Leon Jacob get a wake-up call
from Sergeant Frank Quinn that will soon lead to an Oscar-winning performance. What's going on?
She lets them inside, but she feigns surprise. She can't understand why they're there. Remember, just hours
before, Detective Javier, posing as a hitman, had told her that Mack was dead. But now Valerie has to convince police
she is hearing it for the first time. So you don't have to tell me who who you heard from him recently. She
pretends to be upset. She puts her head in her hands. She sits down and she acts
like she's completely shocked and surprised that her ex-husband is dead. And is here with you?
You think you could kind of be a little help to us tonight? This surreal scene, caught by the body
cameras of Houston police, is about to reach its climax. We were hoping you could help us. We
have to deliver some bad news to you right now. Your ex-husband has been found today to
be deceased. Oh my god. It looks like uh might have been a robbery gone wrong. But the cause is
If anybody knows anything or No, we I don't really have a witness. Are you okay, baby?
We've been here all night. You were here all day with with your your daughter. We watched
movies. We haven't been out of the house all day except for Then the cops decide to call
cut on all this bad acting. Right now, we're going to read you your rights. You guys both of you have been arrested for
solicitation of capital murder. It is only then that the couple learns that both their intended targets are alive
and well. I don't know why I'm being arrested. Leon is led out. Can I get a sweatshirt? I'm already
cold. And Valerie has a much bigger concern. Her daughter, who's been asleep in the
apartment this whole time. Although not caught on camera, Mack arrives to pick up their 8-year-old.
And what did Valerie say to her? You know, something along the lines of I'm just, you know, taking you to your
daddy's outside and he's going to take you. And it was very benign and you know, just normal as could be.
And so, all of a sudden on the news media came the arrest of two doctors. A Houston woman and her boyfriend were
charged with trying to have their exes killed. And I'm laying there thinking, that's
not the Valerie I know. And they show the film of her going up for her arraignment.
Did you about fall out of your chair? >> Yeah, I almost rolled out of the bed. Because Leon has those other pending
charges related to Megan, he doesn't make bail. But Valerie does. Valerie was rushed out the jail alongside family
after >> And goes home to wait for the legal process to play out. I remember texting
her throughout the week and calling her and constantly sending her I love you, you
know, you can get through this. So happy you're out. Valerie's veterinary license got
suspended because of the charges. Brittany says Valerie was weighed down by her arrest and the prospect she
wouldn't be seeing her daughter for a long, long time. [Music] She visited Valerie at her high-rise
condo. But I remember giving her a hug goodbye and I just felt the life in the eyes was
not there. [Music] It's weird things. It wasn't like bam, bam, bam, a progression. Things just
gradually happened. Two weeks after the shock and shame of being charged with solicitation of
capital murder, Valerie McDaniel used her iPad March 25th, it's been a few days. to record her side of the story. I
didn't wake up one day and just say hey, I want to kill my ex-husband. For Valerie, everything she loved was
slipping away. I want to talk to my daughter. I want to talk to Leon. [Music] I just I'm just not responding.
I wish I were. I just can't do it. I just can't do it. Two days after her final recording
on March 27th, 2017 Valerie, who once seemed unstoppable, did the unthinkable. She climbed over this very railing
and jumped seven stories to her death. She wanted me to be home with her and we were going to get through this. And it
was devastating and shocking. [Music] I think that she was in a very vulnerable position when she met Leon
Jacob. But I think he influenced her and brainwashed her. I'm innocent. And um as a human being and as a physician
that thought of killing somebody else is just goes against everything in my my nature. It really depends on what they
find. Leon has hired one of the top defense attorneys in Texas, George Parnham, who says Valerie McDaniel was
the one calling all the shots. I'm sorry for her demise, but I believe that Valerie
uh is and was responsible for this entire scenario. That she was the driver. She
was the financier of all of this. That that's my understanding. The question now, what will a jury
think? On March 20th, 2018, a week before the first anniversary of Valerie's suicide
This is the state of Texas versus Leon Philip Jacob. Leon alone stands trial on two counts of solicitation of capital
murder. One of the things you learn about Leon Jacob is he has to be in control.
Mack was going to die and Megan was going to die. Cameron Callaghan is Samantha Connect's co-prosecutor. He
says Leon's motive was clear. There was two obstacles to the defendant's new life with Valerie McDaniel. It was Mack
and it was Megan. Mack could keep Valerie away from him by making Valerie choose between the defendant and her
daughter. And Megan could make them end up in prison. George Parnham's co-counsel, Matthew
Pospisil, claims that it was the undercover officer, whose identity we're protecting by calling Detective Javier,
who pushed Valerie and Leon to make a deadly choice. It was not for officer trying to make this into a television
story and force his own narrative. Leon would not be forced here today to tell his story.
All right, thank you all. Please be seated. Let's continue. Testimony begins with some of the early stops on this
long road to justice, starting with Megan. He didn't want her to testify against him and he had paid somebody a
lot of money to make sure that she wouldn't be here to testify against him. He actually wanted me to um
make her disappear. Uh basically, he wanted her gone like that. Call your next witness, please. Before the trial
concludes, two potential victims will rise from the dead to take the stand. Would you please introduce yourself to
the members of our jury? And the jury will hear from Leon, who says he's only guilty of being a
Casanova. I have no problem sitting here and saying that I slept with Valerie 7 days after Megan and I broke up. But I'm
not on trial for being a womanizer. I'm on trial for solicitation of capital murder. So you can assassinate my
character all you want up here. It doesn't make me guilty of what you've charged me with.
[Music] One of the prosecution's strongest witnesses, Megan Veracos, Leon's ex-girlfriend, who had filed assault
charges against him in January 2017 takes the stand. It was a long time coming. Um I tried to leave several
times. She recalls Leon coming to the house where she was staying just after the alleged incident. I obviously
didn't want to be near him, so I hid in a closet. Why did you hide in a closet? Because I
was afraid of Leon. He came in and was screaming and yelling and he said, I know that that [ __ ] is
here. Megan says Leon kept pursuing her. When she was at work He was in the bushes outside
um on a cell phone um waiting for me. And when she drove to her new home At that point, I called 911
to let them know um that, you know, my ex-boyfriend who assaulted me was um in a car behind me.
And then at some point, Leon had gotten out of his vehicle in front of mine, just yelling and waving his hands
saying, you know, just talk to me, just talk to me, I need to talk to you. Leon was arrested a second time on
stalking charges on February 16th, 2017. Less than 10 days after that, Megan was
contacted by police and warned her life could be in danger. She fled to her hometown of Pittsburgh, but police soon
called her to return to Houston to be part of that sting operation. >> Um I sat in a chair in a warehouse and
um they zip tied my hands and my feet um and put duct tape around my mouth to make me look as if I had been kidnapped.
I was crying and really upset. Next, it was Valerie's ex-husband, Mack McDaniel's turn. We were married for 17
years and divorced and uh 2016. He recalled finding out his ex-wife was living with Leon. What was your initial
reaction to that? My initial reaction was not good. And why was that? Because I was aware
of his history, his criminal history. >> Did you convey to Valerie that you did not want the defendant around your
daughter on the weeks that she had custody? >> Yes, ma'am. And did she agree to that?
>> She did. At some point, did you learn that she was not abiding by the agreement?
>> I did. Mack tells the jury he too was notified he was the target of a murder plot. Then the prosecution shows the
jury that photo. Can you describe for the members of the jury what you're doing here? Staging my own death. Did
they pour blood on you? Pig's blood. Three days into the five-day long trial, it's the defense's turn. They call their
star witness. I never asked anybody to kill anybody. Does the word kill, hurt, harm in any
way, shape, or form appear in any of those recorded conversations? Not on my behalf.
Except for maybe exclude them from things I want done. I never asked to have anybody hurt,
killed, harmed, um kidnapped, or I never asked for anybody to be in any way physically hurt. But the
prosecution says that's not true. She's dead. She's gone. I don't want to know anything.
And they claim those undercover tapes back that up. Did you not want anybody hurt when you said, "Inject her with
potassium chloride, stop her heart, untraceable"? I said that was a something you could
do. I didn't say that for him to do that. Did you recall telling the undercover officer, "If those options don't work, I
don't give a [ __ ] And you've got to do what you got to do because my survival is more important"?
Yes. Leon's own words come back to haunt him regarding Mack as well. After the undercover officer proposed a
fatal carjacking, Leon offered $10,000 in four weekly installments. So you're agreeing to give him $2,500
just after he tells you, "I'm going to put a bullet in his head and throw him on the street"?
If that's what you say. Well, that's in the recording. It's not what I say. It's what Javier and you
said, right? I guess. Leon and the defense team tried to make their point that the undercover officer
was pressuring them into making deadly decisions. I kept on telling them I didn't want anybody hurt, and they kept
on going back to the theme of killing people. I felt a lot of pressure from them to
sort of commit to this idea of killing people, and that was never my intent. Were you
asking them just to threaten people? Essentially, yes. Did you actually want any harm to come to anybody? No.
But the prosecution points out that when Leon thought Megan was tied up and refusing to cooperate, he did nothing to
stop the lethal final step. You'd agree with me that you never said, "No. No, I don't want you to do anything. Stop
this." You didn't say anything like that, did you? No. The jury gets the case >> Has the jury reached a unanimous
verdict? >> and takes just an hour and 15 minutes before returning to the courtroom.
Will the jury find the defendant Leon Philip Jacob guilty of solicitation of capital murder as charged in the
indictment? Leon is found guilty on both counts of conspiring to have Megan and Mack
killed. The trial moves to the sentencing phase. The same jury that found Leon guilty
will decide his punishment. New testimony begins. I have no sense of trust. Um Just constantly afraid that something
else is going to happen. The only thing that might impact Leon's sentence more than the words of his ex-girlfriend
may end up being the words of his ex-wife. The state calls Annie Morrison. Annie Morrison has flown in from Chicago
to testify. Yes, there was a time that we gotten to a fight and he pulled a knife on me. There was one time he
pushed my head down onto the counter and and bruised my face near my eye. Annie recounts an incident she says
occurred when she was 7 months pregnant with their second child. He threatened to punch me in the
stomach. Um he kicked my legs. I remember I remember bringing my legs up as far as
I could toward my chest to try to protect my stomach. He threatened that if I ever left, that
he would kill me. He said that nobody would ever find my body because he was a doctor
and he had access to chemicals that would that would dissolve my body. Annie did leave, moving to her parents'
home in Chicago. That's when Leon started threatening her parents. Thank you, Judge. May I publish state's
exhibit number 81 to the jury? As the jury heard in this recording Annie made of a phone call with Leon.
Will the defendant please stand? The jury took just 1 hour to decide Leon Jacob's sentence.
Life in prison on each count. Solicitation of capital murder for Megan Verikas and Mack McDaniel.
Victim impact statement, please. In Texas, the victim impact statements come after the sentence. Megan takes the
stand one last time. You will never see your children grow up. You will not be a part of their lives,
and they will be better for it. You destroyed me financially and took away my sense of security, but you can
do that no more. While you sit in jail, I hope you think of me, the girl that you called poor and
uneducated, because it's because of me you will be in prison for life. [Music] [Music]

“48 Hours" reports on the reasons why some are driven to kill. Watch the YouTube mini-marathon, which includes "Grapes of Wrath," "The Hit" and "Operation Murder."

00:00 Grapes of Wrath 42:06 The Hit 1:24:29 Operation Murder

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Emad Tofighbakhsh is murdered by Robert Dahl over a financial dispute in Napa Valley's wine industry.

Key points

The Dark Side of Wine Country. Exploring the tension between ambition and trust in Napa Valley's wine business.
The Brewing Scandal. Robert Doll's brewery was not making its own beer, leading to shocking revelations.
Emad's Betrayal. Emad Tofailis felt personally betrayed by his friend Robert Doll after losing his investment.
The Final Bad Choice. Robert Dahl, cornered by his actions, took his own life after murdering Emad Tofailis.
The Glamorous Life of Gary and Pam Triano. Gary and Pam lived a lavish lifestyle, mingling with celebrities like Donald Trump.
Pam's Life Insurance Claim. Pam Phillips filed a $2 million life insurance claim shortly after Gary's murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Who lives? Who dies? It's an incredible tale of wine, money, and murder.

Setting the stage for a dramatic story.

2:47WatchOct 13, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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