The Case Against Sandra Garner | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] 911 why is your emergency I need the police [Applause] I sry please I think you're still alive
he's making noises do work out got a telephone call from the Ellis County Sheriff's Office
saying hey we've had a shooting in your city her husband's been shot by an unknown male I believe that had broken
into the house police when I got there I met a deputy from Ellis County where you at the
bedroom please and we see the body on the th his name is John John what Barner excuse man back up on he's still
warm see no ma'am come on sweet come on you're going to get him you're going to get him
please did you see who did this man yes who I don't know who he came in here he came in the house
yes are we sure he's not here anymore Chief yeah may still be here huh don't know yet
[Music] did you find it no ma'am nobody's here they have me sitting on the couch
in the living room ma'am how you doing I'm Sergeant Carr I'm with MPR police department and I've
never dealt with police at all so I didn't know they even had video cameras on them let me get your name Sandra were
you able to see them I kept going over and over and over everything I saw about him trying to remember everything he was
white it was a white meal everything he had on he had blue jeans on the blue hoodie and a mask just still trying to
keep that memory going and I I looked at his face once but I was afraid if I looked
again he was going to kill me could I get you stand right there I have to pull my phone out get a real closeup here if
you don't mind okay and I started snapping pictures I'm going to get some pictures back
here Ro crime scene starting around these trees we started going ahead and securing the
scene most small cities like May per if they have a major crime I'm going to call Shane and let him know they will
call in sorry to wake you up a resource like Ellis County Sheriff's Office it was a little after 2 a.m. when
I drive hey good morning how you doing sir after I was brief immediately I knew that Sandra needed to be talked to she
was the last one to see him alive get out right there man we decided to take Sandra to the Sheriff's Office she was
very key our only witness it made me think that I was going to help him find the person that did this
[Music] [Music] you can bet this could be the last place Sandra Garner expected to find herself
yet here she was early in the morning of January 2nd 2018 at the Ellis County Sheriff's
Office in waak Texas not far from her home in May Pearl turn around just hours earlier she and her
husband John had celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary and now after a night of
unimaginable violence she was answering questions about his murder I didn't mind doing at all cuz I
wanted to help him as much as I could May Pearl's chief of police at the time Boyd Norton was in charge assisted by
Lieutenant Shane Thompson of the Sheriff's Office him first please it was all routine Sandra's hands were swabbed for
gunshot residue her clothes were collected and then the questioning began and I knew I had to
stay kind of calm to be able to tell them everything that happened did you wake up any before the incident happened
cuz I felt like if I just lit my emotions go that I would lose it all and I couldn't lose it I woke
up and then I heard gunshot you heard a gunshot I heard two gunshots and then somehow I ended up in
the floor beside the bed she says she saw a man holding a flashlight and a gun I was started screaming you know hoping
somebody would hear me he said shut up I said please don't kill me and he says what I came here to do is done I didn't
come here to shoot you you were having this conversation with the guy who just shot your husband well I said that and
he said it back to me yes she says he seemed to know both her and John who he blamed for destroying his life years
earlier my ass off and then he fir he says I lost my house I lost my wife I lost my kid he apparently didn't come
just to kill John he also wanted money he said your husband had always talked about how he keeps money in the house
and I need that money I think I earned that money she went into the closet and she got the lock box that closet has a
light that comes on when the door opens and Sandra says that's how she got a glimpse of the killer he had a mask on
all I could see was his eyes was he tall was he short he was taller than me you recognize the
voice no she handed him a pile of cash exactly how much remains a mystery I think it was $188,000 that's how much
was in there the last time I counted it $188,000 yes Sandra says when he left the killer gave her instructions that
were frightening and a little peculiar he told her toh sit down and count to 100 if he heard sirene he was going to
come back and kill her count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 that's how fast you count 100 yes 911 then she made that
call to 911 there was a man in here I him please help me investigators now had Sandra's story about Jon's death but
they needed to learn the story of the couple's life together Sandra was a twice divorced mother of two when she
met John they worked as managers at the same packaging company in Paris Texas she was 13 years older
than he was he was just a very sweet man but he was known as a tough boss he loved firing people cuz if they weren't
doing their job right they didn't need to be working for him the fact that he had fired a lot of people we knew that
there were going to be people out there who didn't care for John John was kind of a wild crazy guy
he was prescribed anti depressants he took those frequently drank heavily very outgoing very blunt I mean he's he's out
there none of that mattered to Sandra 2 years after they met they got married on
New Year's Eve in Las Vegas we had an awesome relationship we loved each other so much we were
Partners we just did everything together John became a second father to Sandra's
son Wes but her daughter Andrea was not very fond of him until 2014 when Sandra was diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis I saw how much he loved her that's all that mattered he took care of
her he was her Rock the medicine made me sick a lot it also made her depressed she says she thought about suicide died
and Googled how to do it how do I kill myself in my sleep how do I take pills to kill myself or something like that
Sandra says she didn't want to become a burden to John well I told John one day you know I just you don't deserve this
I'm just going to kill myself and he said well if you do that I'm going to kill myself too that's when I knew I
couldn't do it as Sandra got sicker John became the sole bread winner and caretaker how reliant on him were you I
was very riing on him he was all I had it was just me and him in 2016 they moved to May
Pearl population just about 1,000 to be closer to their families John's father and stepmother
bought the house across the street and John and Sandra's backyard became the Gathering Place we were over
there all the time I mean our our family is just you don't knock on the door you walk in Jessica
Garner married John's cousin and she became close to Sandra I loved her she was family that was John's wife I mean
you love them they were super happy so the news that johon had been killed came out of the blue and I just started
screaming I'm like no no he's not it was a nightmare was just a nightmare several
hours after she arrived Sandra left the Sheriff's Office to be with the extended
Garner family which had gathered to comfort her police body cams captured the scene I'm like what happened what
what's going on and she told us the story did you believe her I did did everybody in the room believe her
[Music] no if you want come with me I'll love you back to put it mildly Sandra Garner
had had a bad night by the time she left the Ellis County Sheriff's Office and things were about to get worse her son
Wes showed up at the Sheriff's Office looking for her Wes is somebody that we wanted to speak with because he was the
last person John spoke to besides Sandra he agreed to talk to Lieutenant Shane Thompson so you were with John last
night that was just hours before the shooting Wes says he went home and didn't know anything was wrong until
John's family including Jessica Garner showed up at his apartment to give him the news John's been killed and he was
like what happened we're like we don't know and he was like how's my mom where's my mom Wes hadn't seen his
mother but what he had to say about her sure caught Lieutenant Thompson's attention Wes very early on had
suspicions about his mother being involved he seemed to be wondering if his own mother could be a killer
she understand what's your thoughts M [Music] man meanwhile at the crime scene investigators were busy collecting
evidence and taking photos we searched the entire house we searched all the cars and all of the out
buildings Sandra's Mustang was parked inside of a detached garage there was nothing there it took hours but the
police finally left and when they did Sandra went home to live in the house Sheriff's Office where less than 24
hours earlier her husband had been shot to death it was a little weird yes but I
knew I needed to be there why I just felt like that's where John would want me to be and I was really hoping that
the guy would come back you were so I could kill him investigators already had one
killing on their hands and they were going through all the evidence they took out of the Garner's home they were
particularly interested in the Garner's Electronics you can learn a lot about a person from their electronics and what
they learned from Sandra's iPad and cell phone seemed especially interesting few
days before the the murder she's searching um how to kill somebody in their sleep she had clicked on a link uh
16 ways to kill somebody and not get caught what was your reaction our reaction that sander just became more
and more of a suspect you have a gift for understatement but it would be hard to
understate how well the house was protected John had guns lots of guns even for Texas 49 pistols I'm sorry how
many 49 and there was probably 12 rifles he had them stashed everywhere cuz he wanted there be a gun if he needed it we
were able to account for all of the weapons except for one what kind of gun was that a 38 John was killed with a 38
and what's more Norton says the missing pistol belonged to Sandra John had given it to Sandra but
investigators couldn't find the gun on January 5th 3 days after JN was murdered investigators returned to the Garner
house to search again they wanted that gun and they looked everywhere we searched all the vehicles
again and they wanted to look inside Sandra's Mustang but this time they couldn't the Mustang was still inside of
the detached garage but it was locked what did you make of that well we wanted to know why it was
locked Wes went across the street where the family was gathered to get Sandra's Keys Wes walked in and said hey Mom they
want the keys to your Mustang she threw down the fork that was in her hand and said no you can tell them to off and I
just remember looking at her like I was pissed because I knew they were looking at me for it she says she
learned police were looking at her as a suspect just that morning from Wes I told him no he said yes they are
you scared no cuz I didn't do it she was not going to let us in that Mustang when
she knew that we were getting in that vehicle one way or another he stepped back out there for me please I got to
get some pictures she ended up producing the key when police open open the car they found a plastic bag under the front
seat and inside wrapped in wet towels was a rusty gun a 38 caliber pistol with no fingerprints or DNA it is awfully odd
that it wasn't there one day and then 3 days later there it was very odd yes got
any ideas how that happened Sandra put it there Jessica remembers Wes coming back across the
street he said um they found the gun in her car I just looked at him and I mean like
I'm getting Goosebumps now you just you're like what what did that mean to you at
that point just everything changes at that point she killed John how could she kill
John why did she kill John Sandra was brought back to the Ellis County Sheriff's Office and this time Thompson
was assisted by Texas Ranger Adam sweene I need you to be honest I'm trying I swear I'm trying to be honest with you I
don't you don't think I'm being honest and this was not a friendly conversation it was more confrontational
something happened what Happ I did not kill my husband that's when they started hey we
know you did this we know you did this no I didn't yeah we know you did we want you to tell us that's what we're here
for to tell you what you want me to say that I did it when I didn't we want you to tell us the truth that's it I told
you the truth you're not telling us the truth and they questioned her about her gun when did you put that gun in your
car you not a gun in my car I serious I didn't put a gun in my car y'all I swear
where was there a gun in my car she stuck to her story she claimed she had no idea how the gun got there no you're
trying to get me to admit something I didn't do yes yes and I'm done talking to you I
was upset cuz they didn't believe what I was telling them you know why would they not believe it that
might be because 5 days later when the ballistics test came back they showed the gun in the Mustang was the one used
to kill John and with that just a few hours later when Sandra pulled into her driveway police were waiting I just got
out of the car and I said we're arresting you it was horrible the Garner family was watching from across the
street as the woman who had been so close to all of them okay let's get her out of here was hauled off in
handcuffs I'll be completely honest we cheered you cheered we cheered and I know that's horrible to
say but it was just a little piece of Justice at that moment for [Music] John after police arrested Sandra Garner
her bond was set at $2 million there was no way she could pay that they made her
sit in jail for a year and a half and that should have never happened Sandra's attorney Tom papis she's not the kind of
person that would do that to John in September of 2019 Sandra Garner aged by prison got to tell her story to a new
audience good morning everyone in front of a jury when she went on trial in waah
hatchee Texas are the attorneys ready for the jury to come in for murdering her husband John were you prepared for
what that was going to be like no I didn't know what all was going to be said I was hopeful
they didn't have anything to prove absolutely that I did it mhm so I was confident but prosecutors Lindy batty
and Ricky cypes believed they had a strong case against her the murder weapon was Sandra Garner's gun anybody
you tell the story to says who comes to commit a murder and doesn't bring their own weapon batty ridiculed Sandra's
story about a killer coming in but using Sandra's gun damn it I forgot the gun at times she acted out
the role of the killer I wore my trusty mask so no one would know who I was but I'm going to have a 10-minute
conversation with Sandra about who I am and why I'm doing this and there were those ghoulish searches on Sandra's iPad
about killing someone and not getting caught big deal and we did make a big deal about these prosecutors could well
have considered this case a slam dunk sounds good for us right we sometimes we don't get that much but this was a hard
case we knew we had a mountain of hurdles to overcome in this trial make no mistake she didn't shoot John the
prosecution's biggest hurdles may have been the result of poor police work Sheriff's Office especially May Pearl
police chief Boyd Norton's lack of experience leading an investigation obviously I had been to
many murder scenes but as as far as being the investigator on the scene this was my first he had enough experience to
know he had to look into all those people John had fired over the years we interviewed probably a couple of dozen
people who had been terminated and we were not coming up with any suspects but Norton is more open and more honest than
most people would be about the mistakes he made at various stages of the investigation was the crime scene
secured in your view you quickly enough to preserve the all the evidence no I probably should have taken her out of
the house and put her in a car I probably should have bagged her hands and I should have done some other things
police might have made a huge mistake by not bagging Sandra's hands gunshot residue was discovered on her but it was
only a tiny amount that could have an innocent explanation says the defense sander was lying right next to John when
he was shot she pulled the body off the bed and she did chest compression the fact that there are only three specs on
her left arm uh wasn't consistent with her firing the weapon investigators believe if Sandra's hands had been
bagged they might have found a lot more gunshot residue enough to prove she did fire that gun he's in the bedroom right
there police might also have failed to preserve the crime scene well enough First Responders came in and out a lot
ran in the bedroom when I was still there which I thought was strange because that's where it happened so why
run and mess up everything that could be evidence and important evidence was lost
by the police themselves body cam footage shows Chief Norton taking photos of the scene right when he arrived a lot
of them and they all inexplicably disappeared from his cell phone how did you feel when you realized
that the these photos were missing well I felt bad I had evidence that should have been with the case and it wasn't
there so yeah I was embarrassed problem for the case yes sir instead the prosecution had to use photos taken by
the Ellis County Sheriff's crime scene investigator 8 hours after the murder the investigation was messed up mishap
with the photos seemed like a gift to defense attorney Tom papis what did you think think when you heard that these
photos had been lost I think we're going to win do you regret not handing this whole thing over to Ellis County right
away I do I do when did you realize that that was a mistake probably about a week into it
law enforcement poured their heart and their soul into this investigation it may not have been perfect and
prosecutors knew the chief's inexperience would not play well in front of the jury did Chief Boyd Norton
fill you with confidence no no prosecutors found themselves having to explain among other
things why the police didn't fingerprint the door handle of the Mustang where the
gun was found papa says police might well have found a fingerprint that belonged to another suspect as
prosecutors we want them to do everything possible that they could do I believe that it should have been done
you know I told you up front that we'd made some mistakes in this case should we have taken the car and impounded and
process it maybe but we didn't papus attacked every phase of the investigation the police searched that
house and they screwed a lot of stuff up where you ated he wanted to know why it
took police so long to get to the crime scene in the first place you get a 911 call from a lady
who's hysterical that says there was an intruder and my husband's been shot and it takes him 30 40 minutes to get to the
scene well Chief Norton says that he was there in 15 minutes even 15 minutes is crazy prosecutors had one other huge
problem proving a motive why would Sandra want to kill her husband who was her caretaker we did not have one set
motive here is the motive this is the reason why she killed him in Texas prosecutors don't have to prove motive
but as a human being everybody wants to know why but papa says there was one person who was close to Jon and may well
have had a motive to kill him and what's more at every turn in the case he was there Sandra's son Wes we knew Wes was
going to be a problem from the get-go what I say to you were you going to play it back to my mom Wes does look bad
[Music] Wes should have been a suspect defense attorney Tom papis says the police made
one of their biggest mistakes when they ruled out one suspect so let's talk about Wes Sandra's own son Wes his
conduct when you really look at it objectively and look at Sandra objectively is more suspicious than hers
[Music] everything Wes did was kind of suspicious prosecutor Lindy batty I did have a lot of heartburn over it when we
were going through case preparation and we knew Wes was going to be an absolute train wreck and he
was Wes was involved in this case early on just hours after JN was killed Wes was the one who pointed the finger at
his mother put your thoughts than M man and he kept at it questioning details of her story dog big
dog the dogs how the so and so knew how to get in and for somebody to sneak up on them
like that one of the hardest things about the case was the magnitude of Wes's disloyalty to her and the things he was
doing to try to get her blamed for this she has never acted like this before just jumped out at
youart Sandra now says she has come to believe the worst thing a mother could believe about her child who do you think
killed John I think it was Wesley papa says those chilling Google searches on Sandra's iPad and iPhone
could have been done by Wes he says Wes had access to the devices that did not require a password there's one thing
everybody said about Sanda and John it's they went to bed at 9:30 those web searches were done between 11: and
midnight just 4 days before the murder and papa says on that same night Wes was at their house he's the one that did the
website not her went searching for 16 ways 16 ways to kill you don't know that for sure but go ahead he he's well we I
don't know who else it could have been I don't think it was John West wouldn't answer our questions but he always
seemed willing to answer investigators questions especially about his mother and her gun think a revolver she used to
keep it her purse that I understand underne her car that's where the last time she kept
it he's being a little bit too helpful with the police saying hey you know look here after the police searched and
failed to find the gun lieutenant Shane Thompson talked to Wes again somebody said that your mom owned a 38
revolver she does have a revolver but I thought it was in her Mustang and she says she never put in
her Mustang and if she did it'll be underneath the seat underneath the seat the next day police searched for
the gun one more time where do they find it they find it under the sea those things really did cause some
concern Wes does look bad it began to look like someone was setting her up I don't know the West did that but it sure
looks suspicious and and his conduct was just unexplainable papis believes Wes might have more of a motive to kill JN
than Sandra did he says Wes needed money and mistakenly believed he was in Jon's
will was he ever a suspect in this no he wasn't my suspect after all Wes told Chief Boyd Norton he had an alibi for
the time John was murdered I went back home drun sixpack of beer and watch Netflix and Netflix and phone records
seem to help corroborate his story at least for a while there was a record that he'd been on Netflix up until about
12 12:30 there was some phone calls that were made oh my God it's perfect like he's got an alibi this is fantastic
until we look at the records and we're like no no that that's not the right time prosecutors discovered
investigators had made a mistake the times on those records weren't recorded in Central Standard Time the local time
which means there was actually no evidence that Wes was watching Netflix or on the phone at the time John was
killed didn't look good that the cops didn't know which time zone they were dealing with no it did not I would
imagine it did not help your case they didn't look at Wes they didn't understand that he didn't have an alibi
and that's an example of where they just gloss over stuff they thought they had a
rock solid Alibi for West and in fact that was not the case how's floored that the prosecutors insist even though
they say Wes looks suspicious at times and he has no alibi they are confident he is not the killer once you meet Wes
it's over if you just talk to him for any length of time you know he is just not capable of committing this type of
crime he's just not smart enough honestly and she says his stomach isn't strong enough there's no way that guy
can go put a bullet in some guy's head that he loves sees some blood and there not be a vomit Trail you know all the
way back home and if Wes did break into the house that night and have a conversation with Sandra batty wonders
how could Sandra not recognize him my God people if it was was Wes Miller she would know her own son there's no way
she doesn't know if it's him there's no way wouldn't recognize his voice I would think I would
recognize his voice but after hearing shot just all the drama I can see why I didn't recognize
it your own son yes pardon me for saying this but it it it's hard to believe I don't know I just I didn't recognize
it there are a lot of questions for Sandra and unlike most defendants in murder cases she decided to take the
stand cameras were not allowed in the courtroom for her testimony I felt like if it went wrong for me if I didn't
testify what if I could have saved it were you comfortable putting her up no of course not you're never comfortable
when your client takes a witness stand Sandra had trouble on the stand she struggled to answer some of the
questions during a lengthy cross-examination I think there were some questions about the website
searches and the searches surrounding that that were that were difficult and she simply didn't remember stuff and
they were able to make some points I thought that we were able to show that she was a
liar as the case goes to the jury Sandra should know soon if taking the stand was
the smart move move whatever happened I had to deal with [Applause] it it took one month 27 Witnesses and
more than 400 pieces of evidence for the case against Sandra Garner to finally go
to the jury and when it did neither side was very confident I think I was probably 50/50 at the end of it I felt
like we ended well so I was hopeful I was extremely confident one minute and just distraught the next the jurors
however seemed very clear about their views they came back with a verdict in just 3 hours God I was nervous cuz it
all comes down to this you're thanking God please have done the right thing please found Justice for this
family Sandra's daughter Andrea was holding her breath the longest 3 hours of my
life what did the quick verdict mean all right it was anyone's guess I did not think it was good for us yes I didn't
feel that they had gone through all of the evidence again oh my heart must have stopped this is bad it's not good at all
trying to say that so Sandra wouldn't hear please be s in front of a packed courtroom get on the record the judge
read the decision if the defendant please stand the last thing I remember is the
juror handing the paper to the BFF and I look down I could not look I wasn't ready for a guilty verdict we the
jury find a defendant Sandra Louise Garner not [Music] guilty not guilty and just like that
Sandra Garner was a free woman after 21 months in jail I felt wonderful I turned
to Tom and was say yay yay and we hugged each other I get to go home think those are the sweetest words
I've ever heard in my life it was like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders they had been carrying for
nearly 2 years I gu gave her the biggest hug I could I was so happy for her I I tear up
just thinking about it I mean she's she's got a chance to try to get some of her life
back of course like every verdict this one was not universally popular I just remember thinking they got that wrong
what there's no way there's no way I don't want to watch this there's no happy ending to this this isn't happy at
all she unless of course you are Sandra [Music] Garner we caught up with her the moment
she was released from jail feels wonderful feels wonderful I was just praying to God my
husband and my daddy just to help them say not guilty please Sandra was eager to get back home
to the same house where her husband was murdered and I love my house and I know it's hard and I know people think I'm
crazy for one to be here but I just want to be as close to him as I can living here will mean living across
the street from John's parents who still are convinced Sandra is a murderess who
killed their son and whose family is still grieving John should still alive we should still be a family that was
taken from us there should be Justice for his killer there's not there never will be
none of us have talked to her none of us want to talk to her Andrea Miller is worried about her
mother one of the most important pieces of her life isn't here and she has to live with that on a daily basis [ __ ]
come here I'm scared that something's going to happen to her baby I give you copy Sandra's attorney Tom
papis is also worried about her safety there's a murderer that hasn't been arrested that's still out there she s
part of Sandra's U I'm tearing up now part of Sandra's well let me you ask why you tearing up tell me about her because
I care about her I care what happens to her I care what happens to the people around her whatever happens to Sandra it
likely will happen without her son Wes prosecutors and police believe they tried the right person and don't
consider Wes a suspect but Sandra and Andrea are no longer speaking to him he does not deserve to be part of my
mother's life anymore as far as I'm concerned I don't have a brother anymore this is a tough question do you
still love your son not like I used to now I I have not spoke to him at all he did me really wrong
and what toll is that taken on you it's very hurtful but he chose that I didn't Sandra Garner is now free to
spend time with what remains of her family she knows others still see her as a killer who got away with it in the
eyes of the law she is not guilty and the case against her is forever closed under the law you cannot be
charged chared with this crime again um even if you say you did it so let me ask you did you kill your
husband no man was a ling my life could told you he was all I had he was going to take
care of me for the rest of my life without him I have nobody no I didn't kill my husband
[Music] 48 hours to miss it would be a crime were you at all prepared for what happened in this case
[Music]

A rare look inside a murder case where virtually everything from the first moments of the investigation through the verdict are captured on camera. "48 Hours" correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "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

Sandra Garner is acquitted of murdering her husband John, despite evidence and family tensions surrounding the case.

Key points

A Night of Violence. Sandra Garner's husband John is shot dead in their home, leaving her in shock.
The Investigation Begins. Police arrive at the scene and start gathering evidence, questioning Sandra.
Suspicion Falls on Sandra. As details emerge, investigators begin to suspect Sandra may be involved in John's murder.
The Missing Gun. A gun linked to the murder is found in Sandra's car, raising further suspicion.
Trial and Tension. Sandra's trial begins, with prosecutors claiming she had motive and means to kill John.
Sandra's Verdict. After 21 months in jail, Sandra Garner is found not guilty, bringing her relief.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I didn't come here to shoot you.

The killer's chilling words to Sandra.

6:03WatchMar 25, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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