The Smith Family Murder | Millionaire Murders | Forensic Files

[Music] the area where this occurred it's a very nice area the homes are kind of spread
out they're not on top of each other nice homes a higher end part of the community where this
occurred it's a very quiet neighborhood overall we don't respond to too many calls in this
area it did not appear to be the place that you would see a triple homicide and something with such
violence in July 2015 the Sheriff's Office responded to a 104 check or a welfare check at a local residence a
gentleman by the name of Richard Smith hadn't shown up for work for a couple of days and his boss had gone out to the
house he had been off for one day but he was off a second day unplanned and he's
supposed to be available 24 hours a day by phone and his supervisor was unable to reach him so it was highly unusual
and that's why his boss became concerned and went to his residence to try and check on
him he was a very well accomplished man he worked for the Department of Homeland
[Music] Security the family was well off they had significant Investments but you
wouldn't know it by looking at the family and and the way they lived his family had over a million
something dollars in the bank the circumstances of it were sufficient to cause enough worry that
they called the Sheriff's Office when law enforcement arrived at the home they did a walk around of the
perimeter they noticed at the front door there were a lot of packages in the mailbox there were a lot of mail and
newspapers there didn't appear to be any sort of broken windows or forced entry so by all means the outside of the home
looked [Music] normal the first individuals to arrive from the Sheriff's Office were the
patrol deputies at that point it was determined by the onse deputies to enter the
residence to see if they could locate anyone inside because they also could not get a response at the
door when law enforcement initially made entry into the home there was a very distinct smell that perhaps something
was a Miss they noticed that the home seemed to be cluttered there was a lot of just
living items from day-to-day life but it was what you would call maybe like a hoarding type of home
as we walked in there was like a den or a you know a sitting room I guess we enter this den area and there's a large
mass of clothes and blankets that are on the floor just in front of the TV and I
could see just the tip of a shoe sticking out from underneath all of these [Music]
blankets there was a pile on the couch that was inside of the den area there were two males inside of the
den area who were in their 40s we then backed out of that room and continued through the kitchen and into
the living room in the living room I observed some blood on the living room floor and and there were carpets or area
rugs down on the floor leading from the living room to the back bedrooms in one of the bedrooms there
was another large mound of clothes and there was a third victim buried underneath all of those
clothes it was noted that there was a female in one of the back bedrooms who was in her
70s this was obviously a triple homicide which is certainly very [Music] unusual a check of computer databases
and information from Richard Smith's employer revealed that there was a half brother that lived not too far away from
the home and he was contacted and agreed to come to the home he was able to identify his family members that lived
in the home Richard who was 49 John who was 47 and his mother Von seil who was [Music]
77 so we get into the victimology and we want to get a full profile of each victim so Von seal was in her late 7s
her husband had passed away um a few years earlier and he had been fairly successful life and had left a
significant amount of money initially looking in at the lifestyle of these three victims their
home was nice but it wasn't anything lavish however once law enforcement was able to look into their bank accounts
and their bank records it appeared that they did have a significant amount of money in different Investments all three
combines were just under a million dollars just in their CDs and and bank accounts and that did not include
obviously the value the home as well as any life insurance that they may have had on each
other over the years Miss Smith had become disabled she didn't leave the house much if at all and she typically
just sat there and uh watched TV and ordered things from you know QVC or the Home Shopping Network the younger
brother John who is 47 years old he had some uh disabilities he worked at a local wall Walmart he was pretty much
loved by all when we interviewed his uh co-workers everybody loved John he was going to be a hard worker he was fairly
quiet didn't really socialize a whole lot but was by all accounts a fantastic employee and just a a great guy to be
around Richard was a couple years older than John and after his father past he had taken on the role of really caring
for his mother and his brother he would drive his brother to work he would make sure that his mother was well
cared for and was fairly reclusive so the patrol officers that were on scene once they determined that
there was a homicide that occurred here at the residence they secured the scene to preserve the evidence and the
Integrity of the crime scene the investigators Tak an overall vanage point of the crime scene but the
actual crime scene work are done by the crime scene technicians and they're the ones that process the
scene they had to take a lot of photographs as they peeled the layers of the clothes back to make sure there was
no evidence in between the clothing that was on the [Applause] individuals because the crime scene was
so complicated with the different layers that were on top of the bodies it took some time for them to actually remove
all of the layers on top of each of the bodies to discover the injuries the medical examiner actually
came out to the scene right from the start we knew that this was a brutal crime and that all
three victims had died in a very violent manner all three victims likely had been
killed up close in personal by whoever had conflicted this Terror on them it was clear that John joh was killed in
the sofa where he was found there was a significant amount of blood spatter behind him and there was also some hair
and maybe brain matter that were on boxes behind him we discovered that he had blunt force trauma to the head and
also a knife wound or laceration to his neck side of his neck throat area Richard also appeared to be
murdered in the place where he was found on the floor because of the significant
amount of blood that was underneath him Richard had a gunshot wound to his right ear and also had a knife wound to
his neck and throat area what ultimately killed him was the knife wound to his neck to the artery that made him bleed
out the gunshot wound to his ear was not a fatal gunshot he would have survived that but the medical examiner said it
probably knocked him out or temporarily incapacitated him Von's body had been moved we noticed in
the living room area she sat in a particular chair and that chair was covered in
[Music] blood it was also determined that there was some drag marks down a hallway to
the room where her body was ultimately discovered Von seal the mother was also had blunt force trauma to the top of her
head as well and had a knife wound to her neck as well and also had one of her fingers her
pinky that was half cut off and at that point we weren't sure if it was a defensive wound or what that was
about Von seal the blunt force trauma to her head and also the knife W to her neck would have caused death either one
of those but both of them were ultimately the cause of her death and the same thing with John as well
when you see up close and personal injuries such as these of the three victims only Richard was shot and he
wasn't only shot he was shot and he was stabbed in the neck John and Von seal were hit multiple times with a blunt
object and they were also stabbed to hit somebody that many times and to stab that person
shows uh amount of Rage or amount of evil That You Don't See in a lot of scenes when someone shoots somebody a
lot of times you know it's distant I mean it's still evil but you know you shoot somebody from across a room it's
not up close and personal this was up close and personal [Music] even though the three main areas were
the den area the living room and the bedroom where Vil was found the kitchen area also became important because a
hammer was discovered so they had to collect and process that hammer and the sink itself
to see if there was any DNA evidence from the victims or the suspect there at the sink because the hammer had been
washed there was a trash can that was discovered close to the back door in a laundry room it had evidence of the
crime scene where it had been cleaned up as well as her purse there was cigarette
butts and items from John and Richard there as well and also in the kitchen uh Richard's checkbook and his binder that
he always carried were in there the police when they're investigating any crime they they look
for what possibilities are there they look to see if this was a for entry and in this case even though the
home was very cluttered it didn't appear to be ransacked and there were a number
of items of value around that could have been taken had this been tied to a theft
or a robbery Richard Smith's wallet was missing but pretty much everything else was there in the
home we're also looking at all possibilities which is why we went and talked to John's cooworker workers as
well and we found that really John didn't have an enemy in this world no one said a bad thing about him Von seal
or Richard for that matter they were just very well-respected [Music] individuals at this early point in the
investigation we don't really have a strong Theory we feel fairly confident that this was not a random attack but we
also don't know exact who to focus on at this point the obvious concern would be anybody close
to the family that may frequent the home and be welcome there but we still have to figure out who comes over that house
on a regular basis and that's going to take some Lake work when law enforcement went to the
neighbors they really didn't gain a whole lot of information the other investigators on scene did an
area Canvas OR neighborhood canvas you might call it where you go and knock on the doors of the neighbors to see if you
can find any information out about the individuals there at the home everybody we talked to in the
neighborhood they didn't know much about them they kind of knew their habits when
they came and left and stuff like that and thought it was odd that you know Richard's car was still there and he had
not been to work but other than that it was just a family that kept to themselves and minded their own
business once I had observed the crime scene I really didn't know what to think there's thoughts of run through your
have why did this happen who might have done this obviously from just looking at
the crime scene it didn't appear to be a robbery at face value at that point you start wondering
who would want to do this to these individuals and why as the crime scene technicians are
processing the scene and the items that they collected investigators are going about contacting family members
contacting anyone who may know the family contacting neighbors and asking them what they saw or anything that
might have been out of the ordinary we found one neighbor in particular that was a very good witness
for us he tended to spend a lot of time out on his front porch and this particular neighborhood was a one-way in
One Way Out neighborhood and he was very observant with every vehicle that came into this neighborhood and he knew the
comings and goings of most of the people around his immediate home we also looked into Donald Hartong
as the half brother and his relationship with the family [Music] investigator ninger took Donald hardung
from the scene to the esami county sheriff's office to interview him initially the purpose of the interview
was simply to get some background information on the family members gather what information investigator could from
Donald hardung since he was the only family member that lived close by I was very close to my mother you know my
father left me when I was a baby she raised me and uh I was very very close to my mother
right and uh I just can't imagine not being able to see her Donald he seemed to be very
forthcoming about his family told me about him and his mother what type of woman she was that he grew up in brute
in Alabama when he was young his two brothers you know they were his half Brothers they had a different father
than he did what's your relationship with John and and Richard do you have good relationships with them or yeah we
have great relationships I mean do y'all do stuff together y'all get along well we don't
really do a whole lot together we all work all the time to hear Donald talk it was a very good relationship he had with
his family everything was fine according to Donald his family was last seen by him on the 28th of July so that was the
last time we could confirm that anyone had seen anyone of the family alive when was the last time you saw your family
Tuesday I went over I always go over on Tuesdays I got there probably about 1: or 1:30 I stayed pretty much out in the
yard playing with the dogs go in talk to Mama watch television together she loves
QVC she watches it all the time mhm and uh she puts it on the news you know and and I fix diner for them every Tuesday
so we had fried chicken green beans corn and biscuits and french fries okay is there any leftovers or anything
well yeah I always put RT's in the stove I always put his in the stove his is always in the stove when he gets home
from work cuz he don't sometimes he don't get in until 8 9:00 now was he there when you were there Tuesday no I
never saw RT most of the time I leave before he gets home okay normally we watch the national news in five at 5:30
and then I leave right after that and that's about what time I left was between I say between 5:30 and 6: right
in there okay there's always a possibility that something else could be involved however when investigator
infinger interviewed Donald Hartung his response to questions and his demeanor were very suspicious and so he obviously
was a suspect because he was a family member and he did live close by but his reaction to questions in the interview
raised some questions how does it make you feel to hear that your family was killed makes me feel pretty
bad I mean you don't seem well I upet I've got to control myself here so I've got to take care of
this and during the course of his interview it seemed clear that he had put a timeline together that would show
Law Enforcement that he was not involved because he was at home and and watching
TV his statements really seem to be rehearsed let's go over your timeline one more time okay that way I have it
all straight I got there about one when I finish cooking and I get it all ready I give Mama hers John comes
and he gets his I go outside I smoke a cigarette then I come back in and I've already got my plate ready I sit down
and eat that's what I do every every single week okay what time you think it was
when you left 6:00 at latest maybe 5:30 during Donald's first interview he said that he
left before Richard had gotten home we had a picture of Richard when he left work so we knew exactly what time he
left work and approximately how long it took him to get home investigators spoke with one
neighbor who indicated that Richard was home when Donald was home and that Donald left after Richard got home this
blew uh a hole in Donald hartung's story to investigators as to when he left and
when Richard got home every bit of evidence located by the investigators showed that this
homicide took place on the 28th on Tuesday after Richard had gotten home from work once investigators were able to
determine when this crime occurred the evidence at that point showed that Donald Hartung would have been the last
one to have seen them all these things are starting to add up and paint a timeline of Donald
being the last one with his family he cooks some dinner they eat it they they don't digest it so Donald is looking
more and more like a suspect at this point we brought Donald back down to the Sheriff's office again so during that
interview kind of went over his story again just to lock him into something and at that point got a little more
forceful with Donald just kind of accused him of probably killing his family stuff like that and he still
showed no emotion let me tell you if my whole family was murder I would be sh a little bit
more emotional than you do D okay be showing plenty of emotion believe me have already already showed
some emotion to well not to not not to many people but I've got my way of handling things
how do you handle things I'll hold it inside I don't want so the first day when I talked to him
his demeanor was strange but the second day insinuating to him and accusing him of killing his mother and brothers and
still not getting angry or upset at that point it was very strange to me were there things going on in your family and
you've held it in for so long that finally you had enough there was angry nothing going on in my family
nothing at all and killed your mom I did not kill my mother and then killed your
brother I would never kill my mom or my brother either one of my brothers I mean do I look like kind of a
broom and maniac to you people through our entire investigation we never found anybody that had actually
been to the home other than the other half brother in the family which was Donald
Harton there were no friends or family from work that had ever gone to the home to visit or have dinner they really
didn't socialize a whole [Music] lot once there were some holes that were punched into Donald's timeline and his
story about when he had last been at the home and when he had last seen Richard the focus obviously became a little bit
more onto him as the suspect for these homicides law enforcement then got a search warrant for his home to search
for anything that could be of interest in relation to the homicides and it was that point they discovered in Donald's
home that he had a room set up that appeared to be unusual there were some braids of hair that were hanging on the
wall walls there were some books related to the Wiccan religion and Witchcraft there was a Ouija board inside this room
and it appeared to be dedicated to these different artifacts and very different items when I asked Donald about the
wiccan stuff in his home he said that he was just kind of by himself a Wiccan didn't participate in a cult and just
kind of practiced it on his own I do have Ouija board I have a prayer room are you do you are you a Wiccan or yeah
I'm a Wiccan you are I've been a Wiccan for about 3 years have you yeah what is that it's a Pagan religion does it have
to do with like uh moon phases and stuff like that yes it does has a lot to do with moon
phases I asked him if he offered up sacrifices or anything anything of that nature what exactly wiccans do cuz I
didn't know no no there's no sacrifices in Wick really no and some of these wicked things in July and August when
there's two full moons sometimes they'll uh offer a sacrifice yeah well I don't offer
sacrifices ever they drain the blood out of their sacrifice and hit them in the head I don't know anything about that
cover then they cover them to keep them warm I don't know anything about that I mean I I've never sacrifice I wouldn't
hurt a chicken that's the same way your family was [Music] killed that's the same way my family was
killed mhm you went over there and you killed your mother and you killed your brother
and then you waited and RT got home and you killed him okay yes sir and you killed them all
the same way stabing them stabbing them they were stabbed mhm my God I thought you said they were shot in
the head I did tell you that last time I don't do animal sacrifices and I sure did sacrifice my family if you think
Wick's got something to do with this your way out there I would never hurt anything
never I sure wouldn't he said he just was a solo practitioner wasn't a member of any occult and just it was his own
thing that he did so don't you think it's pretty much a coincidence that you're a Wiccan in your family killed
like a Wiccan sacrifice I don't know anything about Wiccan sacrifices I don't know a thing about
anything like that if you know about the Blue Moon and all that kind of stuff you
do well I know about the Blue Moon I know it's two full moons but I mean it's been all over the
radio once Donald's house was searched it became of interest to investigations to look into the Wiccan religion to see
if perhaps this was some sort of religious ceremony or to see if it had some type of involvement in the
homicides of the victims when it was put out to the media it kind of blew up that it could have
possibly been a ritualistic killing because it occurred when there was a blue moon in our area this homicide
gained national news because of this assertion that perhaps it was a a blue moon homicide or related to Witchcraft
or the Wiccan religion but but it also offended people that are members of the Wiccan religion and we also learned that
it actually had nothing to do with the murder of these three individuals while we certainly understand that the
investigators need to look into every aspect of a homicide and they did their research on you know this Wiccan
religion in the blue moon for the state attorney's office and for the prosecutors it was really just kind of a
distraction for us we were more interested in just getting down to the facts of the case the motive for the
homicides and for getting jus for this [Music] family at this point in the investigation we're becoming fairly
focused on Donald Hartung as our suspect you have the right to remain silent anything you said can be us evidence
against you in there were some definite discrepancies in his interview with the sheriff's office he didn't appear to be
truthful about the time that he left the home he didn't appear to be truthful about the exact relationship with his
brother [Music] others Donald was the half brother to Richard and John they had vonal the
mother in common but different fathers Donald was a child by Von Seal's first marriage and John and Richard were from
her second marriage the family Dynamics showed a strained relationship between particularly Richard and Donald some of
Richard's co-workers would would tell us that he wasn't very keen on spending time with Donald that Donald made him
somewhat uncomfortable and that Richard would work late on Tuesday nights uh so he didn't have to go home and see Donald
because he knew that Tuesday nights were when Don was going to be there cooking for the family so there's definitely a
strange relationship between the the brothers as far as I'm concerned me and my mama and my brothers we were close do
same like Mom love your half Brothers more than she loved you no never it never seemed like my mom loved my
brothers more than she she loved all of us although Donald Tung represented to investigators that he was very close to
his family that they had a great relationship and that they were all very close there were some out of town family
members that were contacted who gave quite a different story they told us that in fact Donald was kind of the
black sheep of the family so we spoke to some of the family members up from brutin they were Von Seal's kin folks
and they gave us a little different Outlook of the relationship between Donald and the
family Donald was not as financially well off as his brothers Donald had a kind of a low-end menial job he lived by
himself in a smaller somewhat unkempt home whereas the Smith family was financially very well off the bank
accounts between Richard John and vonal combined totaled nearly a million dollars in liquid
assets Donald he worked as a security guard at uh Sacred Heart Hospital here in Pensacola he basically didn't own
anything other than his car and worked paycheck to paycheck where as his family they had plenty of money now they lived
a very simple life they didn't live extravagant where you would know they had a lot of money if you saw them but
they had over a million something dollars in the bank so Donald I think was a little jealous of
that after the deaths of the Smith family some family members came in and were cleaning out the home and they came
across a will in a filing cabinet that had not been filed they took it to a local attorney and asked that it be
filed and we subsequently interviewed that attorney and family members and it was discovered that Donald Haron had
been written out of the will Von seal had left the entire estate valued it over a million dollars to
Richard and John the only way that Donald was ever going to get any part of that estate was if not just his mother
but if his mother and both brothers were also dead so Donald really is our Prime
Suspect but we still don't have any direct evidence that ties Donald Hartong to this crime I mean he's the last one
that we can prove saw his family alive but we don't have the proverbial Smoking Gun we we need some hard forensic
evidence in order to advance this entire investigation the physical evidence coming from the lab took some time it
took until October for the DNA evidence to start to be processed and the results
to start to come in and this was a big turning point in the case in the investigation when a suspect is a friend
or family member of a victim and they're welcome in the home where the victims are found it's entirely expected that we
will find their DNA in that home the difference is where we find that DNA if we found the DNA on a tap for the
kitchen sink or something it really wouldn't mean much but having DNA on the latch of Von Seal's purse that is in
between cigarette butts with Donald hartung's DNA top and bottom that's significant Donald hartung's DNA was
also found on a computer bag belonging to Richard Smith Richard was known to carry that computer case with him just
what everywhere he went and he had that computer case with him when he went to work that day there really would be no
reason for Donald hardung to touch that computer bag that bag was subsequently found on the kitchen counter in a
completely different room from where Richard's body was found therefore it was significant that Donald hartung's
DNA was on both his mother's purse and his brother's computer bag the other place that we subsequently
found a it was very telling was on the inside of Richard's belt loop his belt itself Richard's belt had been pulled
out from the back of his pants it just kind of had a little Arch to it and Donald hartung's DNA was found on that
belt it seemed to me to be a natural grab point if someone was to try to slide a body over or you you could grab
that belt and kind of get your fingers up underneath it and pull the body away and again why would Donald Tong's DNA be
on the back of his brother's belt and on his brother's computer case and on his mother's purse this is all painting a
very compelling picture that Donald Haron is our guy this trash can almost appeared to be
a timeline of Donald's day in the house on July 28th of 2015 and once the Witnesses were contacted and then the
forensics came back that showed DNA in places where it should not have been Donald's timeline of his events on July
28th were discredited during my interview with Donald I asked him if he had ever touched anything of Richards
and he said no I never touched anything of Richard's personal belongings well we
got some DNA back off of Richard's checkbook which was inside Richard's binder so there's no way Donald's DNA
would have gotten there just him being in the house on something that was inside Richard's binder so he had to
touch it and that puts him there when he's killed because we knew when Richard had left work and when he was killed cuz
he was wearing the same clothes when he left work that he was found in so we knew then that Donald was our
[Music] guy we were able finally to get a warrant uh for Don arrest for three counts of first deegree premeditated
murder and Donald was ultimately arrested on October the 27th of 2015 once the arrest is made it's at
that point that the state prosecutors step in and really put the case together with a fine tooth comb we make sure that
all of our eyes are dotted and our tees are crossed because at that point our burden of proof is beyond a reasonable
doubt while Donald Hartung was in jail while awaiting his trial there was a cellmate of his who reached out to our
investigator and he provided very pertinent information that we felt helped seal the case on May 4th of
2016 I went and spoke with an inmate U Marlin Purifoy and he was a cmate with uh
Donald in the Escambia County Jail and during that interview he told us things that no one would have known unless
Donald told him because we I wasn't even aware of it the information provided by the
cellmate was the fact that Donald Hartung knew that his mother had a will he knew that he had been excluded from
the will over a million dollars of his family's estate he was very angry about that he had planned this homicide for
some time and he also provided information to the inmate about some of the family dynamics that were not known
to anybody the other thing this informant told us was that all of these clothes and
blankets and everything were piled on the victims that was an attempt to throw off the investigation by keeping the
body heat in and making it more difficult for investigators to determine an actual time of death I mean Hartong
knew that it would become apparent through the investigation that he was only at that residence on
Tuesdays if he could keep the body iies warm and make it appear that they were killed sometime later in the week than
Tuesday it would give him more of an alibi it's always risky using a jailhouse informant you wonder about
their credibility you wonder that they're always trying to look out for themselves but in this case the jail
house informant the information he had was what made him credible it coincided with the scene and other evidence that
we had plain and simple he was after the money he thought that he could take out
the the family and he'd be the only one left and set to inherit all the money Donald being the only living relative if
he would have gotten away with this he would have inherited you know approximately over $2
[Music] million in between the time that Donald was arrested and the time we went to
trial took a pretty significant amount of time it was several years partially because it was a very complicated case
we had three bodies there was a very complicated crime scene there were depositions that were being taken there
were motions that were being filed but also the state was seeking the death penalty and when the state seeks the
death penalty that puts a lot of work on the state and the defense to get ready for
[Music] trial the actual first day of the trial is filled with some sense of a little
bit of anxiety because here we are going on this major triple homicide case that
had got gotten so much media coverage so there is a level of nervousness but there's also a level of relief that
we're finally here so what we're trying to do at the very beginning of the trial is just
explain to the jurors how the process worked from the beginning to the end so we start with the First Responders we
start with the crime scene technicians we start with forensics and just kind of lay it out in chronological order we
presented evidence of video footage showing the last time Richard left his job we showed video footage of the last
time John left his job again just trying to show the jurors the chronological order of evidence and when these victims
were last seen on day three we presented evidence that focused on Donald Hartung
and the victims we presented Witnesses who talked about the victims and what their Lifestyles were like what their
personalities were like what they did on a day-to-day basis and we also presented
testimony and evidence from Donald hartung's home with the inside of his home looked like where he lived his room
that was dedicated to you know the wiccan books and the Witchcraft and things of those Natures just so that the
jurors could see all told there were almost 30 Witnesses called by the state to prove
this case and each one of them was a piece of the puzzle to show the picture that Donald Haron was guilty although
the case was mostly circumstantial we certainly felt like once all of the pieces were put together we had a pretty
strong case to present to to the jury you obviously never know what a jury's going to do so we didn't want to walk in
overconfident or cocky but we certainly felt comfortable that we could put it all together in a way that would show
the jurors that Donald Hartung was guilty after taking almost 5 years to to get this case to trial after almost a
month of of trial this case came down to the jury and when they go out after closings it's out of our hands we've
done all the work we could do and and it's up to them to see what the true verdict should
[Music] be when we transition to the Penalty phase the pace doesn't stop it is still
Full Speed Ahead for the prosecution there's no sitting back and and celebrating at this point we are still
pushing forward as we still have a job to do the jury is making the determination as to whether Mr Hong
should spend the rest of his life in prison or be sentenced to death the evidence presented in the penalty
phase consisted of not only the evidence that they heard at trial but also Victim
Impact statements where family members got to give statements as to what the family members meant to them and what
their deaths had meant to the family in the State of Florida there are only two punishments for first-degree
murder that's either life in state prison or the death penalty and for the death penalty to be imposed the jury has
to be unanimous in recommending that after a month's worth of trial and about 4 hours worth of deliberation the jury
came back guilty is charged for first-degree murder for all three counts after the verdict Donald Hartung
was sentenced to three life sentences and again zero emotion no emotion [Music] although this case generated a lot of
publicity for different various reasons this case came down to one thing and that was money it was greed it was
Donald hardung thinking he could kill his whole family and inherit money what made this case so difficult
as well is that these were what we would consider true victims they were three family members that just took care of
each other they worked they didn't do anything illegal they were just there to look after one another they had built
you know a sum of money so that they could you know protect each other and all of their lives were taken in cases
like this there are no real winners we still have three citizens that have been brutally murdered but it does bring
satisfaction to bring Justice to the community and to the remaining family members in this
case yeah looking back on this case it sticks out in my career because these were three
true victims of a crime they weren't out committing crime selling drugs or anything like that you know they were
just minding their own business and ultimately killed by one of their own family members it was very tragic
[Music] incident I've learned one thing in my years of doing this law enforcement work
most people are good but there's a small percentage of people that are capable of
truly evil acts and regardless of the motivation of this this was a truly evil act and it
was really important for us to find who did it prove who did it and hold him accountable professionally all homicide
cases are important and significant this case sticks out though for the greed that took place one person to wipe out
his entire family for for one reason and and that's money [Music] [Music]

In 2015, the Smith family were found murdered in their Pensacola, Florida home. Donald Hartung, a relative to the family, is a leading suspect who stood to inherit the family’s fortune.

Greed, jealousy, revenge, lust, anger — any and all are motives for murder. When there's cash involved, the stakes are even higher. Explore a new case in each episode of Millionaire Murders.

Brief Summary

A triple homicide investigation reveals greed and betrayal by the victims' half-brother, Donald Hartung, leading to his conviction.

Key points

Triple Homicide Shock. A quiet neighborhood becomes the scene of a shocking triple homicide.
Brutal Crime Scene Revealed. Investigators uncover a gruesome crime scene with multiple victims.
Unusual Findings in Donald's Home. A search warrant reveals strange artifacts in the suspect's home.
The Ouija Board Discovery. A Ouija board found in Donald's home raises questions about his beliefs.
Wiccan Practices Explained. Donald clarifies his Wiccan beliefs, denying any sacrifices.
Donald Hartung's Arrest. Donald is arrested for the murder of his family after a lengthy investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This was obviously a triple homicide.

Describing the crime scene's shocking nature.

5:00WatchApr 4, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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