The Shocking Murder of Cheryl Hooper | Killers Caught On Camera | Forensic Files

This time on Killers Caught on camera in the west of England, a mother's life is
stolen in a coldblooded execution. He's jealous. He doesn't want her life to move on without him. He shot her in
the head. And in New Mexico, a family argument ends in death. How's he doing? Is he all
right? Or is he? No, he's not. Just something didn't feel like it was adding up. You know why he hadn't called 911.
It just sounds like something bad is happening to her. We know what happened because the video tells us what
happened. I heard some gunshots. Drop it. Whatever it is, drop it. That does not prove that I killed my wife. The
camera doesn't lie. In the UK, in Shroptshire is the quiet farming town of Newport. But on a suburban street in
January 2018, the peace was shattered. from agency. There's a lady in the car next shot. That's everywhere.
Cheryl, her name. Cheryl. Cheryl, can you hear me? She's not moving. Just looking.
Emergency services responded. They were met by panicked neighbors. The police arrive at an extremely
chaotic and panicstricken scene. That's all he can do. He shot her in the head. The only
eyewitness is the daughter of Georgia. She's 14 at the time. Right. Okay, folks. They're they're
doing CPR at the moment on her. So, let the ambulance crew do what they need to do. You Is that your mom? Yeah. Well, we
don't know yet. We'll let the ambulance crew do what they need to do. All right.
They're going to be doing dead. Do what? Did you see what happened? Did you see anything?
[Music] The victim was Cheryl Hooper. She was seated in the driver's seat of her car,
which was parked outside the house that she was living in at the time. Andy, they're going to need to get her
out, mate. Cheryl was found with two shotgun injuries to her upper body caused by a
shotgun discharge. Paramedics tried to save Cheryl, but she was declared dead at the
scene. [Music] I want Georgia was initially hysterical, but when she'd calmed down a bit, she was
able to tell the officers who arrived uh in simple terms what had happened to her
mother and who was responsible. You um okay to talk to us right now and here. Okay.
[Music] My mom was incredibly outgoing, loud, talkative, bubbly. She's really, really well known
in Newport for being a nice, bubbly person. Cheryl was a single parent. Georgia, her only child.
Do you love mommy? Do you love me? Yes. Yeah. I love you, too. My mom was incredibly loving. She was all over me.
Very protective, very caring. Hello. My mom spent a lot of time with me. Being a single parent, she didn't really
have time for doing things that she wanted to do. She enjoyed going to church, anything
that got her out the house really. She'd spent a long time working in sales. It was something she really, really
enjoyed. She changed career several times and ended up as a manager of a dental practice. In 2010, Cheryl met a local
man, a farmer Andrew Hooper known as Jack. My mom and Jack met through friends. They were set up on a date. It wasn't
something that my mom usually did, but she was sort of encouraged to go and do it. Um, and that's how their
relationship started. The first time I met Jack was when we went to his farm. Morning, girl. She'll let you stroke
her. He was lovely. He was very charming. The farm seemed to be a successful business, and Jack put across
that it was really successful. He had a Range Rover. He made out that he was doing okay.
And Cheryl seemed happy in the relationship. I think she liked the fact that Jack had
his own farm. He was sensible. He was clever man and seemed really kind and caring. However, this wasn't always the
truth. Even from quite soon into the relationship, his attitude started to change. He didn't really like her being
around her friends. He did his best to isolate her away from them. Another issue was Cheryl's
full-time job. Jack expected my mom to be at home, be the housewife. She cooked all the
dinners. She did all the cleaning up. She did all the housework. Um, you know, it was a big farmhouse and she was
expected to do everything. He did not want to lift a finger. And if she wasn't home cooking dinner like he expected,
there would be repercussions. A lot of the time it was silent treatment. He wasn't he wasn't necessarily physically
abusive. He wasn't a shouty man. He would just ice you out completely. But it's really subtle
behavior and it's like dripfed. It's very slow and you don't realize that it's happening until it's too late.
Intimate partner violence doesn't just involve physical attacks. When someone is ignoring you, ignoring your needs, is
making themselves emotionally unavailable, that can also be a form of intimate partner violence, especially if
it's used with the intention of making you feel bad. And so what we see here is a systematic use of things that aren't
physical violence, but are other forms of control and violence. Despite the warning signs, after 4 years
together, the couple decided to [Music] wed. The relationship was very much abusive by the time that he proposed to
mom. But he promised her that things would change and things would get better. And I think my mom was in a
position where she thought, "Oh, actually, okay, he is serious about this." And she said, "Yes."
Even with all his promises, Jack's relationship with Cheryl and Georgia got worse over
time. The farm was in debt. He was incredibly stressed over it. And it made him even more uncomfortable to be
around. You wouldn't know what you'd done wrong. You he just wouldn't speak to you. And sometimes it could it could
be as simple as like breathing wrong. There was no rhyme or reason for it a lot of the
time. After seven years together, the relationship had hit rock bottom. His abuse really reached a fever
pitch. He just became so nasty. He was drinking a lot more. He became a lot more aggressive. He was more degrading
to my mom and things just started to get a lot more severe. Jack had come home really drunk and I
could hear them shouting and I heard a loud bang. Jack had smashed the television. After
Cheryl went up to bed, he went to his gun cabinet. I could hear him at the bottom
of the staircase with his gun breaking the barrels and putting them back together again and break which is how
you would load a shotgun. [Music] He then stamped up the stairs really slowly and and in quite a a menacing
way. He flung the bedroom door open and and he didn't have the gun, but he led my mom to believe that he had the
gun. Cheryl was terrified. I've never seen somebody shake so much. All she could say to me
was, "I thought he had the gun and I thought he was going to shoot me." At at this point, I'd really realized what he
was capable of. And I said to her, "Enough's enough. We're leaving right now." Cheryl and Georgia left the farm and
went to stay with her parents near Newport. You're so vain, mother. Oh, showing my
No, it's so vain. You're always looking at yourself. Jack tried everything to get Cheryl to
return to him. following her, attempting to get her friends to change her mind, and ultimately threatening to kill
himself. She went round to the house and he was in the living room with a shotgun
between his legs. The only way that she really could think of of getting him to calm down was was essentially by putting
her head over the gun, too, and saying, you know, you you need to stop this because, I'm not going to let you take
your life. The kind interpretation of him saying, "I'm going to kill myself." is that this
is a man in desperate need of help, of support, and someone who is in fact suicidal. The other side of this is, or
is he a man who's using this as a form of manipulation to play into her fears and get her to do something for him that
she doesn't actually want to do? So, we need to be careful with interpreting this because obviously it's delicate
when we're talking about people's desires to kill themselves. Um, but I think here there's definitely
a piece of it that feels very manipulative. Once we'd moved into our house, I was becoming increasingly
concerned about his behavior. I was sat on the sofa and I heard a car engine and I thought,
"That's odd. That's right outside the house." And then my mom comes downstairs and goes, "My car's gone. It's not on
the drive. Jack had taken the car because it was registered to the farm business. A few days later, he returned
it. But from then on, he started to appear in the same places as Cheryl. Control room. Oh, hi there. Hello. Yes.
I wonder if you could help me. Right. Okay. What was the incident that happened? Um, it's it started with my my
husband sashing the TV and um and then different things of threatening to kill himself and
uh then he he took my car from my parents' house and I didn't know about it. He did sort of follow us around a
little bit uh over Christmas. We didn't see him, but he did ring up to say that he'd been looking for us. Right. Okay.
I suppose upset people and frustrated people just do silly things, don't they? In this call, she clearly needs help,
which is why she's making the call. But at the same time as she's describing really serious things said in a voice
that is very cautious and careful and downplaying and minimizing all of these very serious things she's talking about.
This to me feels like a woman who is in desperate need but is not used to asking
for help. In the wake of Jack's threatened suicide, the police decided to remove
his weapons. There was a genuine concern that he was a danger to himself. And in those
circumstances, the police can take and remove your firearms from you. It was a bodyb blow to him.
Definitely. Shortly after New Year's, Cheryl and a friend arranged to go for a drink. Cheryl arrives at the pub. You
see her walking in here with her friend. The beginnings of what is a rare night out for her. She's meeting up with
some other friends. There's about four or five of them. [Music] Not long after, the pub's CCTV captured
somebody else arriving. It was [Music] Jack. Fair to say that Cheryl is quite shocked. He's not expected to be there.
She has no idea that he knows where she is. And it takes all of them by surprise.
[Music] In order not to create a scene, Cheryl and Jack stepped outside. He's seen her inside the pub with
others, including a male. He accusing her of betraying him, having started him a new relationship, which was not
true. He's jealous. He doesn't want her life to move on without him. This was the moment where Hooper
realized that the game was up in terms of his relationship. Her life had moved on and
that what for him may hopefully have been a temporary separation was something which in her mind was
permanent. After a brief conversation, Jack left. Cheryl was shaken but rejoined her
friends. I was at her friend's house and I got a text message from mom to say, "I think
Jack has tracked my car." I think that was really when the penny dropped. He had threatened to burn the
remaining of our belongings at his house. I was fed up of being voiceless and that I really felt like it was my
time to say something to him. It's over, Georgia. Yeah, I know it is. And it's your fault. No, it's not. Yes,
it is. I'm not being funny, Jack, but it is. If you hadn't treated us badly, it it wouldn't be over.
Well, if that's what you think, that's what you think, Georgia. That's what I know.
You're 14, you know. That's nice. This has been going on for a long time. It doesn't mean you have a right to
track the car. It doesn't mean you have a right to burn our stuff. She's clearly calling him out in this
phone call. And his reaction is initially to be sad and say, "Well, if that's what you think." But then
possibly because he's run out of real things to say that are excuses, good excuses. and even he realizes this
potentially at this point. He instead attacks her as a person and says, "Well, you don't know anything because you're
so young." And that's a pretty classic thing that people do when they're floundering and when they have nothing
left that they can use. And even they know that the only thing you can do is shoot low.
12 minutes after he left the pub, CCTV at the farm captured Jack arriving home. Here we have Mr. The hooper arriving at
the farmhouse, he leaves the pub clearly in a rage, clearly his mind set in some
sort of hostile direction as to exactly what he's planning to do. No one knows at this stage. And then a minute or two
later coming out of the house. And if you look closely at what he's holding. So there's his shoulders, his
arm slightly wider, and you see there an item consistent with a shotgun under some sort of wrapping.
He's highly emotional when he goes home and he gets this bundle, which is we can
assume in hindsight a weapon wrapped in a blanket. Probably because in his mind he has tried basically everything else
in terms of attempts at controlling his exartner and her child. And he's run out
of other things to try. And we can see this kind of escalation in intimate partner homicide cases commonly where
there's different things that are attempted and different different kinds of violence
that are elicited against someone and ultimately it culminates in murder. When she did pick me up, she was
on the phone to him. So I had to get in the car very quietly. As soon as the the
phone had been put down, I said to her, "I really want to ring the police now. I'm really worried. My mom said no. She
didn't want to phone the police and she wasn't concerned. And she said to me, "He won't hurt
us." As we pulled up on the driveway, it was dark outside and you can't really see a lot. And mom stopped and said, "Oh
my god, he's here." He had pulled up his truck behind our car, blocking us in. So mom could
not drive away. He's then started banging on the driver's side window and I could see a long object in
his hands which at that time looked to me like it may be a broken shovel or a piece of scaffolding
pole. I made the decision at this point to get out of the car and burn the police. I was going to go move him. I
was going to go and try and do something to get my mom out of the car. Unfortunately, before I was able to get
round to her, uh, he broke the glass and he shot her. He waited a few seconds and then I
watched him fire that next shot and watched my mom slump over in the car and I I knew she was dead.
He just turned on his heel and walked away and I chased after him and I grabbed him and he wouldn't stop and
speak to me. Police were at the scene within minutes. He shot her in the head. Georgia was extremely courageous. She
was screaming, shouting Jack, Jack, and she couldn't get out the car. I thought he had a spade or a sledge. I
didn't see it was a gun until I got around the car and he went like that. So, having learned the name of Cheryl's
attacker, there is an urgent concern to apprehend him. The police don't know whether or not he's still walking around
carrying a loaded weapon. They don't know what his next steps are going to be. Somebody there. Movement. Could our
police get your hands in the air? Move out to the open. We have the police arriving at Hooper's farm.
Get down on the floor. They're in the line of fire. Here is a man who is well acquainted with firearms. Cover the
buildings left and right. Cover the buildings. That's great. But as they get closer to him, what they're surprised to
see is that actually he has already shot himself. Someone get a med pack. I got a med
pack. You okay? He's blooded. He's clearly in a lot of pain. It's a grotesque scene. In layman's
terms, he's blown his face off. Get on your knees, buddy. Kneel down. We're here to help.
Jack was taken to the hospital and police recovered the weapon he'd used to shoot himself and presumably Cheryl.
It was a Victorian age shotgun hidden in the barn, which is what he picked up when he went back to the park. It was a
a shotgun that nobody knew about. It wasn't on his shotgun certificate, otherwise it would have been removed.
Jack Hooper's injuries were so terrible that doctors had to reconstruct his face
and police could not interview him for almost a year. Finally, in June 2019, his case
came to trial. It was really shocking to see his his injuries, especially going from
being quite a a burly man, a tall man. It was a massive contrast to see him looking frail and sat in a wheelchair.
Georgia was first to give evidence. The police did apply for special measures for me. So, if I wanted
to have a screen um so that I wouldn't have to be in in the main sort of court with him and see him um I had that
option. However, I decided that I didn't want to do that and I wanted to go in open court as normal and stand in the
box and give my evidence and for him to know that he hadn't broken me and that I
was going to do everything I could to make him pay for his actions. [Music] Jack's case was always that it was an
accident. He'd only meant to frighten Cheryl and that the use of the shotgun was to try and persuade her to come back
and he never meant to fire it. He never meant to hurt her. Utter rubbish. [Music]
Proving the case against Jack was done through the ballistics evidence, through the unlikelihood of him going with a
weapon loaded and cocked, and the extreme unlikeliness of the weapon accidentally going off once perhaps, but
twice, no way. He chose to go and find an antique gun. He chose to test it and make sure that
it worked. and he chose to track us and turn up to our property. He chose to load the gun. There are so many choices
that he made that show just how intent he was on killing my mom. The jury were not convinced by Jack's
defense. Jack Hooper received a sentence of 31 years imprisonment for the murder of
Cheryl. The evidence from Georgia was pivotal. And it wasn't just because she was an
eyewitness. It was the immediacy of the account that she gave and the bravery and courage with which
she gave it. It was a horrendous killing. It shows just how quickly a relatively normal traumatic yes abusive
familial relationship can turn into an absolute tragedy. No one could ever have predicted that he'd behave in the way he
did. And that's the frightening thing about it really. My mom wasn't someone that someone would
suspect to be in this coercively controlling relationship. She wasn't walking around covered in bruises from
him. And I think it's really important that people understand coercive control and just how dangerous it can be. It can
feel so helpless and like you are so trapped, but it is possible to get away and you can have a successful life. No
matter how dark or bad it has been, you can still recover. I would like to think that my
mom's proud of what I'm doing. I'm trying to focus on myself now, creating myself a good career, moving forward in
my life. And I think it's really important to remember that my mom was such a kind person who was so involved
in the community who gave so much for her family and for me her child and that she
was normal and friendly and loving and that she's not just a statistic for a murder case.
The heavy use of alcohol is known to cause short and long-term cognitive impairment. Research has shown a clear
link between drinking alcohol and engaging in violent crimes. But what's important to note here is that alcohol
does not make people violent. What alcohol does is it disinhibits you. In other words, if you already have violent
tendencies either towards somebody else or yourself and you drink, you are more likely to engage in bad
decision-m. And in the US, another family mourns a loved one lost to a deadly cocktail of alcohol and guns.
In southern New Mexico is the tiny community of Truth or Consequences. Truth or Consequences is a
small town in the southwestern part of New Mexico. It came about its name through Ralph Edwards doing a game show
production and a promo for his show in the ' 50s. He wanted a town that would take on the name of his game show. Hello
there. We've been waiting for you. It's time to play truth consequent. The town voted in favor of changing its
name from Hot Springs to Truth or Consequences and has subsequently celebrated the name change every year
since. Truth or Consequences is filled with just good-hearted people. It's filled with a lot of tourists who fall
in love and come back and make it their home. This little community was home to 75-year-old Vietnam vet Solomon Curtis
Hayhurst, also known as Butch. Solomon Hayhurst served his country in the armed forces for the United States.
He was wounded in battle and then he came home. He worked as a New Mexico game and fish officer in law enforcement
for many years. Everyone who knew Saul liked Saul. He was a great guy, easy to get along with
and very friendly. He loved his job and loved his community and loved his friends. Saul had been with his wife Ka
for over five happy decades. They were longtime sweethearts. I believe even high school sweethearts.
And and they had a love that never failed. They leaned on each other in good times and bad.
They lived in King Canyon, which is in the rural part of Southern County, and they had a small, modest little
ranchstyle house there. Over the last few years, Solomon's days were spent as a caregiver.
Ka had been sick and Saul had spent most of his time recently taking care of Ka and she was incapacitated and sleeping
in a hospital bed in the living room. He was having to be the caretaker and provider.
Also living in the King Canyon property with Saul and Kea was their 48-year-old son,
Sam. Sam and Saul spent most of their time together and they were drinking buddies and they were friends. Sam
served his country, I believe, in the Navy. Then after that, he came home. He had had his struggles with alcohol and
was never really able to hold down employment. [Music] Hi. Security calling because we received
a fire alarm. The guy stated that he didn't need fire. He stated that he need EMS and the police. He stated that him
and his dad just got into an argument. His dad pulled a gun on him. They got into an argument. He had to defend
himself and he shot his father. Deputies were dispatched to the scene. 911 call handlers were then able to make
contact with the caller, Sam Hayhurst. Can you tell me what happened? My dad and I had a dispute and I ended up
Okay. Is How's he doing? Is he all right or is he No, no, he's not. Despite the remoteness of the house,
deputies were quickly on the scene. The first responding deputies made contact with Sam on the front porch of the
residence and they placed him in handcuffs. Once he was secured in the vehicle, we made entry into the
residence. They found Solomon Hayhurst on the living room floor. Solomon Hayhurst had a close-range
gunshot wound to the face. There were no signs of life. I did notice a semi-automatic
handgun next to his legs, so we left that in place for the forensic team to come in and
document. Ka Hayhurst was in the bed at that time. I didn't know her condition and there was a handgun laying on the
bed next to her. So, I moved that firearm so if she woke up with strangers in her house and and her husband on the
floor, she wouldn't be inclined to react to that. An ambulance took Kea to the hospital. She was still unaware that her
husband was dead. Later that night, Sam Hayhurst was interviewed at the sheriff's office.
When he was taken into custody, uh Sam did uh wreak the odor of of an alcoholic beverage and and did seem to be under
the influence at that time. He was just being detained. He was not under arrest. Should never have happened. I
was just defending myself. That's all I was doing. It's completely 100% self-defense.
He was after me with guns and he was highly intoxicated and he's a bad drunk, very
aggressive when he's drunk. He talked about his father being extremely intoxicated, threatening to
shoot him, um threatening harm and that uh he had to shoot him in self-defense. Had you guys been fighting
at all or arguing at all before the drinking? Not at all. Not at all. As a matter of fact, he was telling me he
goes, "I've really enjoyed talking to you tonight. I feel the same way." But then
we started drinking. Forensic psychologist Lissa Johnson has studied the case. He's calmer than one would expect, but
that's not necessarily indicative of guilt. We also have to factor in that he is uh slightly at least intoxicated, and
that could be playing a role here. What we do know is typically there might be a
level of anxiety or distress that's associated um with having just taken someone's life. And so, you would
typically expect to see that reflected in someone's speech. [Music] Anytime there's a murder in Sierra
County, though, news spreads quickly because it is such a tight-knit community. So, everyone knew very
quickly about Sam killing his dad. My instant thought went to KA knowing that she had just lost her
lifetime husband. It was heart-wrenching. Having spoken with Sam Hayhurst, investigators had no reason to doubt his
version of events. Sheriff Joshua Baker still had his suspicions. Something didn't feel like it was adding
up. You know, why he hadn't called 911. So, I was doing a secondary sweep around the living room area, looking for
any evidence we might have missed or might have been overlooked. And on the TV stand, I noticed a what appeared to
be an ADT camera. In today's age, video surveillance is a major part of any criminal investigation. Um, many homes
have surveillance video. Businesses have surveillance video. We have dash cams and body cams in law enforcement. It's
instrumental in everything we do in today's law enforcement. Baker returned to the sheriff's office
and spoke to Sam Hayhurst a second time. In the living room, there's a camera. Yeah. ADT camera. Do you know how that
camera system works? It doesn't. I tried to get it to work on my computer, but it's just never never worked.
Despite Sam's insistence that the camera didn't work, ADT were able to confirm that in actual fact, the camera in the
living room was recording video. When we learned that there was actually video footage on that camera, we were
pretty excited. It showed the entire living room and the entry to the hallway where Solomon
Hayhurst had been shot. The footage had no audio, but investigators were now able to piece
together what happened in the Hayhurst residence. This video is from earlier in the
evening. This is Solomon Hayhurst and this is Sam sitting in the chair next to Kea who's in the bed.
And you can see Solomon coming over and appears to be consoling Sam, patting him
on the [Music] shoulder. Appears to be a normal family [Music] evening. This video clips from later on
in the evening. You can see Sam sitting in the chair. The living room light is on. Solomon's sitting here next to Ka.
And Sam has some papers in his hand. and seems to be agitated about something, but Solomon seems to be sitting in his
chair quietly listening. In the next clip, Sam walks out from the hallway with two handguns,
one in each hand, and walks up to Solomon and just hands him the two firearms and turns around and walks out
of the room. You can see he seems somewhat surprised. Immediately sets one on the bed and then
begins to check to see if the other one is loaded. When I first saw this video, it
explained where the firearms came from and how Solomon came in possession of the firearm that was by him, which
contradicted Sam's statements that Solomon had retrieved the firearm. And this was the first evidence we had that
Sam's story was not honest. Then Solomon walked out the front door and there was a camera
outside the front door as well. It did not shoot video, but it took an image of Solomon on the front porch with the
firearm. The next video clip showed him walking back into the house and he was now
holding the firearm with the grip reversed in his hand. So, not in a firing [Music]
grip. What they saw next shocked investigators. Solomon comes in, stops abruptly in the
doorway to the hallway, appears to be talking, shows the weapon that he's holding it backwards in his hand, his
arms clearly bent below waist level as he's talking, and then he's shot and falls to the floor.
[Music] It's clear in the video that Solomon was was not acting aggressive. He didn't
come back in the house in a threatening manner. He wasn't even holding the firearm in a firing position. It was
facing backwards in his hand. You can see him quickly retreat back using the doorway kind of as protection and
putting his right arm up in a defensive posture. When we moved the body of Solomon
Hayhurst, we found that firearm had a loaded magazine but an empty chamber, but there was a loose bullet uh under
his body as well. So, that was very indicative that he had gone outside and removed the bullet from the chamber of
that weapon and had it in his hand whenever he was shot. In Sam's interview, he said that he knew
his dad was coming to hurt him and he had to defend himself. U the video clearly shows that was not the case, but
he was in fact laying in wait with his shotgun for his father to walk around that corner.
What Sam did next only deepened their suspicions. It shows Sam walking right over the
deceased body of his father, right past his mother in the bed and walking outside. Doesn't stop to check on his
father. Doesn't try to render aid. Just walks right outside like nothing. After seeing the video footage
of what had transpired, I was absolutely convinced that this was a cold-blooded premeditated murder.
Now armed with the video evidence, Sam Hayhurst was interviewed for a third time.
All right, Mr. Hayhurst, you still doing okay? Just exhausted. Besides tired, you have
any back with the cameras? Well, a little bit. What happened? We again got him to reaffirm his original
story. Do you know where he got the guns from? I I was racking my brain about that. He
must have gone. I was thinking maybe he had them in the his recliner in one of the like the
sleeves. Uhhuh. Or he must have went out to his room to get them. We slowly eased
into the fact that we did have the video surveillance and that we had seen what occurred.
So we know where he got the guns. You walked in there and gave them to him. No kidding. Yes, sir. I don't remember
that at all. Yeah, that's that's pretty clear on video. His demeanor did change.
I could see his stress uh levels going up. Like I said, he was screaming and cursing at me. Mhm. And I knew he had a
gun. At least one gun. When he came back inside, slammed the door, and I knew he
was coming after me. I I just knew it. That's when I got my shotgun. I could see the blood vessel in his
neck. I could see his pulse in it. Sam, I'm going to be honest with you. Your dad can be seen in that video. And he
never levels that gun off at you. He started to, Sam. He never does. As a matter of fact, that gun is is pointed
down here at the ground the whole time he's in that doorway. And as we pressed him harder, he had
some sort of medical episode. What were y'all arguing about on those papers? Sam, I I know you're holding back
telling me what it was, but [ __ ] Breathe, Sam. Breathe. Sam, breathe. I think he's having a seizure. I'm not
sure 100% if if it was a legitimate medical episode or or if he was faking it. But either way, we had to treat it
as if it was a real medical episode and call emergency services. Investigators now had enough evidence to
prove Sam Hayhurst murdered his father. The trial took place 2 years after the murder happened. The defense
side was working to show that it was a case of self-defense and not a case of murder.
Sam plead not guilty in court. The district attorney's office did offer him a plea deal prior to going to trial. He
refused it um and insisted on going to trial. Given the video evidence, I was a little bit surprised that he chose to go
to trial um maintaining a self-defense claim, but he did. A clue to the likely motivation for this
murder could be found in the video recordings. Soul and Ka had two children, Sam and
Carrie. Carrie had a daughter. They raised their granddaughter for 10 years of her life, and they were very happy
doing so. They were happy to be able to share their love and their knowledge in their home with
her. It appeared as though Sam had issue with the will and their intent to leave
the goods from the family to their granddaughter and not to Sam. Sam did not want their granddaughter's name to
be listed in the will. He felt that he should be inheriting the items and the family goods instead of the
granddaughter. In the field of forensic psychology, when we are evaluating risk of violence, particularly risk of future
violence, we can focus on what we call the 3Ds. Drivers, destabilizers, and disinhibitors. In Sam's case, a driver
might be financial uncertainty or financial dependence. A destabilizer might be ongoing father-son conflict and
a disinhibitor might be alcohol. So when we combine heavy drinking with the circumstances that Sam Hayhurst was in,
so this is losing job opportunities, ongoing stress, potential ongoing familial conflict. This creates kind of
a toxic cocktail. It leads to a pressure buildup within this small home environment. And then there's nowhere
for this pressure to go. Sam was convicted for first-degree murder and received a life sentence in
the state of New Mexico. Without the video evidence, I don't think we would have ever charged
Sam with homicide because I don't think we could have ever disproved his account
of the events. The video evidence made this whole case. Any murder is a tragedy. However,
this one has completely destroyed the Hayhurst family. Saul didn't get to see his wife to the end. And they moved Ka
to a nearby nursing home where she finished out her days passing away just a short time after the murder.
[Music] It's an extremely brutal case mainly because of how things transpired. Sam
shooting and killing his father who was a great man, a great father, a great grandfather and had a lot of loving
family and he took that away from them. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

A mother is fatally shot while sitting inside her parked car. A Vietnam veteran is shot by his own son, who claims self-defense.

Brief Summary

Cheryl Hooper and Solomon Hayhurst were murdered by their partners in two tragic cases of domestic violence and family conflict.

Key points

Cheryl's Tragic Death. A mother’s life is stolen in a coldblooded execution by her jealous partner.
Georgia's Courage. Cheryl's daughter bravely recounts the horrific moment she witnessed her mother's murder.
Jack Hooper's Sentence. Jack Hooper received 31 years imprisonment for the murder of Cheryl.
The Dangers of Coercive Control. Understanding the subtlety and danger of coercive control in relationships.
The Tragic Murder of Solomon Hayhurst. A loving father and husband is shot by his son in a tragic incident.
Video Evidence Changes Everything. Surveillance footage reveals the truth behind the murder, contradicting Sam's claims.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The camera doesn’t lie.

0:51WatchJun 19, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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