Women Behind Bars in HD - Season 3, Episode 1 - Melissa and Angela - Full Episode | Forensic Files

NARRATOR: On this episode of "Women Behind Bars," one woman was convicted in the shooting deaths
of an 87-year-old grandmother and her caretaker. This lady is sitting in her wheelchair.
He's got a gun to her head and he kills her in front of me. And the question was, why?
The house wasn't torn up. There was no breaking and entering. They had nothing to steal.
NARRATOR: Then Angela Rocka tells her story. She allegedly robbed and sexually violated a 21-year-old woman and then
left her to die in a closet. That's when I come in and I choke her and cover her face with the pillow.
I don't know why I couldn't stop. As I'm trying to I sleep I begin to hear a female's voice
come from Leslie's apartment repeating the words why, why, why, over and over again.
NARRATOR: Two women, two brutal crimes. These are the stories of Melissa Harris and Angela Rocka.
[THEME MUSIC] NARRATOR: On the morning of November 16, 1995, police responded to a horrifying scene at a mobile home
after receiving a call from a concerned neighbor. They discovered the body of Mrs. Durfee lying on the floor.
She had been shot twice to the back of the head. Mrs. Bailey was in a chair. And she had been shot once in the back of the head.
NARRATOR: Detectives suspected that stealing a car from one of the victims could be a motive.
They could have taken the car and they would have been well out of the area before they would ever have been caught.
These two ladies died for no reason at all. NARRATOR: A few days later, 28-year-old Melissa Harris
and her 25-year-old boyfriend Earl Linebaugh were arrested when they tried to enter
Canada in the victim's car. He had escape charge and was really into the white supremacists movement.
He was all about that. I think Earl Linebaugh killed Mrs. Bailey and Mr. Durfee.
He then told or forced Melissa Harris to fire a second round into Mr. Durfee while she was already dead on the floor.
I did not shoot anybody in that mobile home. I was not armed. I had no gun. And I would not have hurt either one of those women.
NARRATOR: Was Melissa Harris a willing participant in a brutal double homicide or was she held hostage
by an abusive boyfriend? Tyler, Texas back then was a very small town. We didn't have much going on, maybe a movie theater.
I have one sister that I grew up with. She's seven years older than me. She was almost like a mother figure in a lot of ways.
Melissa was a sweet little girl. I called her the princess because it was like she could do no wrong.
She always had mom and dad's attention. And she was their little angel. We lived out on Tennessee Street.
We bought a house out there. And that's where Melissa was born. She had a very outgoing personality.
NARRATOR: But according to Melissa's sister Kim, the churchgoing family hid a dark secret.
To say we came from a dysfunctional family is putting it mildly. My grandfather abused me from the time I was 2.
And Melissa has claimed that he abused her too. Sexual abuse is something that she was raised seeing.
I was sexually abused by my grandfather. And that's a very painful memory. I've never talked about it.
Melissa never told the police about the abuse. But then again, she never told the family about the abuse.
We weren't raised really to go to the police a lot. NARRATOR: Despite her problems at home,
Melissa came into her own and excelled at school. I was freshman class officer. I also got in debate in the ninth grade.
I loved debate. I felt powerful and motivated. But then it kind of all fell apart later in high school.
Melissa was around 15 I think when she fell and she hit her back on the porch. I ruptured a disk.
And I was put on an open prescription of Tylenol four with codeine. We had a charge account at a drugstore.
And the prescription was always there, so anytime I wanted this medication to make me
feel better I went and got it. Coming from a heavyset family she was afraid of being fat.
She started taking the Mini Thins that you get at the supermarket and she became addicted to those.
I learned real quick that it made me feel better more than physically. It did more than take away that pain.
That anything emotional I didn't want to deal with I had it for that too. NARRATOR: In 1987, Melissa met a man named Dean.
Although she earned good grades, the young student quit school her senior year to follow her heart.
He became more important than anything else, my schooling, my dreams. Getting married and having children became my dream.
I tried to warn her that any man that would let her throw her school education away there
was something wrong. But she needed to do what you needed to do. NARRATOR: Melissa went on to have three children with Dean,
Debbie, Amanda, and Douglas. But her love of over-the-counter drugs led to experimenting with harder street drugs.
With smoked pot almost on a daily basis. But later he enter introduced me to something called crank.
And I honestly, I fell in love with this drug. It made me feel invincible, like I could do anything.
NARRATOR: But the false sense of security faded away. And Melissa says she was left to deal
with an unraveling marriage. They had rented this apartment. And I went up there and she had a bruise on her arm.
Melissa started coming up with a black guy or a bruise on her arm. And when you asked about them she always had an excuse.
I would tell people I fell down. I would tell people I ran into walls or doors. They saw the bruises and I think they knew better.
But I'm not going to tell them I'm putting up with that kind of abuse. NARRATOR: Despite the alleged violence, the mother of three
was determined to make the relationship work. I was very much in love with Dean Harris,
but I also think I wanted an escape. I wanted my own family to be perfect. And so in my head and in my heart
I thought I could do that. NARRATOR: Finally, after nearly a decade of marriage,
28-year-old Melissa left her husband and returned home. She found a job cleaning homes and started
putting her life back together. When I left Dean I moved in with my parents and I had all three my kids.
I was feeling powerful. I felt like I could finally stand on my own two feet. And that's where I met her Earl.
He wasn't sir Galahad but no means. But he treated her with respect. His father was police chief of a very small town.
It just seemed like he had it all together. When we first started dating he was the kind of man that opened car doors and brought your flowers.
NARRATOR: But Earl Linebaugh had a complex and sinister past. Linebaugh was a bad man.
He left home when he was 18, 19 years of age, moved to Alabama. Was arrested for kidnapping and armed robbery.
Sentenced to prison. Ended up being put on probation. Melissa seems to be drawn to men who abuse
her, who want to control her. Maybe she has an inner need to be controlled. NARRATOR: The new couple rented a house by a lake next door
to her mother in Flint, Texas. But within a week, Melissa says her boyfriend's behavior changed for the worse.
Earl became very possessive. He started saying you're mine, these kids are mine.
You will not go next door, you have to stay here. Melissa, she couldn't go anywhere without him.
If he went to work or he went to the store he would tie her up. I'm scared of Earl.
I'm scared to leave Earl. I don't know what to do. He would hit me and slap me and shove me against the wall.
I couldn't do anything. NARRATOR: Melissa claims her continued use of painkillers left her numb.
Then the alleged brutality reached a point of no return in November, 1995. The man ties me up, he rapes me.
I can't even tell you everything he did to me that night in that house. The very next day, Earl put my son on the banister
of the staircase. And he puts a gun to his head and he says you leave Texas or I will kill him and I will kill you
and I will kill your whole family. That's the reason I left Texas with Earl Linebaugh.
NARRATOR: When "Women Behind Bars" continues-- Melissa sees Earl going back to the living
room with some sort of pillow. I hear this gunshot. And I freeze. I'm like, oh, my god.
What did he just do? NARRATOR: In November of 1995, 28-year-old Melissa Harris was living in Flint, Texas with her three children
and her 25-year-old ex-convict boyfriend, Earl Linebaugh. Soon into the relationship, Melissa
claims Earl started acting paranoid and threatened to kill her family if she left him.
Earl was in trouble with probation. He wanted to isolate us. So he tells me he's got this group of survivalists
that he knows in New Mexico. So this is where we have to go. Earl felt like he had been wronged by society.
And I think he was looking for acceptance from someone. One of the ways that he thought he could find that
was in this white supremacist group. NARRATOR: Melissa contends her drug use and fear of Earl
caused her to follow him. We were smoking marijuana and I was doing a lot of pills at the time.
I'm scared to leave Earl. I don't know what to do. So what do I do? I take too much medication.
NARRATOR: Contrary to Melissa's story, detectives believe she was in fact, a willing partner.
According to police reports, the couple then stole a credit card from Melissa's cousin.
They rented a trailer, hitched it to Earl's car and drove to Earl's father's house.
Earl stole several guns from his dad's residence. His dad reports it right away to law enforcement.
And he takes those guns with him. The first time I realized how heavily armed he is,
is when he opens up the trunk of the car and there's just like all these guns. They go to school and take the kids out of the schools
that they're in and then they disappear. NARRATOR: Earl, Melissa, and her three children
headed west out of Texas. They go to Taos, New Mexico. They join the white supremacist gang.
They actually stop and pawn a gun while they're in route. NARRATOR: The couple then turned south and tried
to crossed the Mexican border. They're turned back by the Mexican authorities namely because Earl is not the father of the three children.
And at some point after that the car breaks down. NARRATOR: Melissa left her kids with Earl and rented a truck.
Melissa claimed throughout the whole thing that she was afraid of Earl, that Earl had
threatened her and her kids. Despite all of her assertions, she was determined to stay with.
I was not going to leave my kids behind and just take off to a police station when they were with him
and he's armed. No, I wasn't going to do that. The couple drove halfway across the country
to Melissa sister's house in Orlando, Florida. As Melissa tells it, she then wrote
a letter giving her sister custody of the three children. My main focus is I want out of that house
before he harms the kids, before he harms my sister. And if I have to leave with Earl to do that, so be it.
He takes a book bag and he puts clothes in it and guns. They get up onto the interstate and they start to hitchhike.
While she's hitchhiking a state police stop to pick her up. And I know if I say anything he's going to kill this man.
If it kills us both, Earl's not going to care. People don't understand this man was crazy.
He's got his hand on the gun the entire time we are in that car. NARRATOR: But Detective Proctor doesn't buy Melissa's story.
She's with a law enforcement officer. If she'd had a problem with Earl Linebaugh,
that would have been the opportune time for her to have brought it to his attention.
It was a real missed chance if you believe her story of how afraid she was of Earl.
NARRATOR: Melissa claims that when the state trooper dropped the couple of on the side of the highway
he did not ask them for any identification. They made their way north on foot into Pasco county Florida.
After not too long we're walking on the railroad tracks. We walked and we walked.
And they came across this remote area called Crystal Springs. It was basically a few mobile homes on a dusty road.
I got to the point where I couldn't walk any further. He takes us off the railroad tracks
into this residential area. Earl immediately starts saying we have to steal a car.
So at that point Earl says we're going into someone's home. He's going to tie them up and by the time
they get loose we'll be gone. NARRATOR: Melissa and Earl stopped at a secluded mobile home on Wise Road.
Inside were 84-year-old Maudeline Bailey and her 57-year-old caretaker Alice Durfee.
They went up to the door, asked to use the phone. Said that their car had broken down.
I pick up the phone and I dial a number. Earl's right behind me the whole time. I hang up the phone and we leave.
When they leave the residence, she describes walking down to an area with a lake.
Her and Earl sit there and they talk about what they're going to do. Earl says we're going back.
This is the house. NARRATOR: Earl and Melissa returned to the Bailey's mobile home.
Melissa claims Earl was the only one with a gun. I knocked on this door. And when Alice opened it he just
strong armed his way through. He had her lay face down on the ground. He starts screaming at me, Melissa, go
see what you can find. I run to the back of the house. He's screaming the whole time.
The two women are in the living room. Melissa goes to a back room and she sees Earl going back to the living
room with some sort of pillow. The woman on the floor says you don't have to kill us.
I'm in this kitchen and I hear this gunshot. And I freeze. I'm like oh, my god. What did he just do?
And then Melissa comes back out of the kitchen. She goes to the living room. This lady is sitting in her wheelchair.
He's got a gun to her head and he kills her in front of me. Earl's explanation of why both women were shot
was no witnesses, no crime. He did not have to kill these women. NARRATOR: The couple stole cash, credit
cards, and Mrs. Durfee's car. Then Melissa Harris and Earl Linebaugh disappeared.
The next day, police arrived at the mobile home after a neighbor called 911. They discovered the body of Mrs. Durfee lying on the floor.
She had been shot twice to the back of the head. Mrs. Bailey was sitting in the chair
and she had been shot once in the back of the head. And the question was why? Who?
The house wasn't torn up. There was no breaking and entering. They had nothing to steal, no money, no jewelry.
The police had no suspects. Neither lady deserved to die. Linebaugh and Harris stole their lives.
While detectives scoured the scene for leads, Melissa and Earl were on the run. They drove to Georgia stopping only to sleep at a motel.
It is here, Melissa says, that Earl gave her a weapon. He gives me a gun. I didn't think it was loaded.
There's no way he would have gave me an operational weapon. I wrapped this gun up in tissue paper and I put it in my pants.
He tells me that we're linked forever and that I better have his back. NARRATOR: Coming up on "Women Behind Bars"--
They found actually in her vagina a semiautomatic pistol. NARRATOR: And later-- She had scratches over her body.
She had a bandana tied around her neck. And I said Leslie, are you OK? And she says, Will, I've been raped.
NARRATOR: In November of 1995, an execution style murder took the lives of two elderly women
in Crystal Springs, Florida. A few days later, 28-year-old Melissa Harris and 25-year-old
Earl Linebaugh were on the run. They drove west to North Dakota, using the victim's credit
card to fund their escape. From there we know that they made it to the border of Canada
where they were stopped by the Canadian officials and asked their purpose for coming into Canada.
NARRATOR: The border guards asked to search the car. They checked the trunk of the vehicle
and they don't find anything. They checked the passenger side and they find a 22 pistol in the front floor board
underneath a pair of shoes. Linebaugh immediately declares ownership of that weapon.
He says that he had it for protection. NARRATOR: Melissa was frisked and placed in a separate interview room.
Even though she was in police custody, she still did not ask for help or alert officials in any way.
After everything he had done to me, all I'm hearing is bullets travel through walls.
I'm going to get you. I'm going to get your family. And that's all I can hear and that's all I can see.
There's a $500 fine for bringing an unregistered gun into Canada. And when she is told that she pays the fine
on Miss Durfee's credit card. NARRATOR: The authorities contacted Florida police
and were referred to detective Proctor. He and his partner got on the next plane
to Canada to interview Melissa. Eventually she tells us that she's Melissa. Of course, she also tells us that she
doesn't want to talk right. She evokes her Fifth Amendment rights and chooses not to give a statement
at that point in time. The whole time I'm incarcerated I still have this gun that Earl gave me wrapped in tissue paper.
She was still basically dressed in the same clothing that she was detained in. When they start to transport her from this facility to a larger
facility they do a strip search. And they found in her vaginal area, actually in her vagina, a semi automatic pistol.
The gun was wrapped in tissue paper. There's no way it could have been inside me or anything
like that. It was just in the panties up against, up against me. NARRATOR: Melissa Harris and Earl Linebaugh
were taken back to Florida and charged with two counts of first degree murder. Melissa maintained that she never fired a gun
and offered to testify against Earl in exchange for a reduced sentence. She was trying to get a deal from the office of the State
Attorney, in turn, we requested that she take a polygraph test. And there's two target questions.
Did you shoot one of the ladies inside the residence? And have you been totally honest with law enforcement
about your involvement in the case? She failed both of those questions. As a result, the office of the State Attorney
was not willing to make any deals with her. NARRATOR: Melissa and Earl were tried separately.
Facing the death penalty, Melissa entered a plea of not guilty. They were very stone faced during the trial.
Neither one of them testified in there own defence, so it was hard to say how they would have reacted
as witnesses on the stand. NARRATOR: According to Melissa, it was her attorneys who
prevented her from testifying. I was told Earl's not on trial. So I couldn't tell anybody on the stand
what Earl Linebaugh did. My lawyers never cared. I had no defense. Before he's even met my sister, before he's
heard a word out of her mouth he says to me, and I quote him, "If I save your sister from the chair
I've done my job." NARRATOR: During the trial, a ballistics expert testified that the gun found in the car in Canada
matched the bullet used to kill Mrs. Bailey and was also used to shoot Mrs. Durfee.
The second bullet found in Ms. Durfee, however, remained a mystery. There were no real markings on one of the bullets that
was found inside Mrs. Durfee. The same ballistics expert testified that it could have
come from Linebaugh's gun, but it was just as likely that it could have come from the gun
that Melissa had when she was arrested in Canada. It was our theory that Mr. Linebaugh, after having shot
Mrs. Durfee and Mrs. Bailey turned to Miss Harris and told her now it's your turn.
It's called a marriage. Earl didn't think that she would testify against him if she actually put a bullet into the back
of Ms. Durfee's head. NARRATOR: The prosecution presented strong evidence. That pillow used to muffle gunshots and gruesome crime
scene photos. But Melissa was shocked by what she felt were personal attacks. The prosecution, he said all kinds
of things, horrific things. And that I went in this home knowing that Earl was going to kill these people.
I may not be perfect, but I would not have participated in a murder. NARRATOR: Melissa was transferred
to a maximum security prison in southern Florida. She still maintains her innocence.
I didn't use a weapon. I didn't kill anyone. I could have died too. And sometimes I think that may have been best.
Because we wouldn't me doing this now. My family wouldn't be suffering. NARRATOR: Melissa's mother raised Melissa's children,
some of whom now have children of their own, but have never met their grandmother.
It's been four or five years since I've seen my mom. I miss her a lot. NARRATOR: Myra Duato also suffered as a result
of her mother's death. She has also dealt with the guilt that she never told her father what really happened.
I said mother died of cancer in her sleep. I never told daddy that I lied to him.
I never ever told him the truth, because it was too much for me, and I knew it would be too much for him.
To the victim's family, I would just say I'm sorry. I wish I could have done something
to stop what happened. I'm just sorry that my fear put me in a state of inaction
rather than some kind of action. I should have let kill me before I ever knocked on that door.
NARRATOR: Next up on "Women Behind Bars," a woman is tortured and robbed for drug money.
There was absolutely no sense of humanity. This woman needed to be killed so she
could not talk at a later date. NARRATOR: For more information about "Women Behind Bars,"
go to WEtv.com. On May 29, 2000, police responded to a 911 call at an apartment complex in a Houston suburb.
A 21-year-old pre-med student named Leslie had been robbed and severely beaten. She had scratches over her body.
She said she had been raped. The victim stated that they took turns assaulting her.
One had a bandana around her throat and was strangling her. Another one was blindfolding her.
She'd been hit in the head with an iron. Then they tied the victim up and placed her in a closet
and left her for dead. NARRATOR: Leslie was taken to a nearby hospital where she described her attackers.
Police arrested Leslie's neighbors Angela Rocka, a 30-year-old habitual drug user,
and a 21-year-old Harold Umanzor. I believe it was planned by both Angela and Harold.
They knew what they were going to do. Once they had complete control of this victim
they did what they wanted. Angela was the one driving the violence and the rage.
What doesn't make sense is why she had to do what she had to do. I own up to my part of the robbery.
And I own up to my part of the assault. But she was never sexually assaulted by me or Harold.
NARRATOR: Was Angela Rocka a participant in a drug induced robbery and torture? Or was she the mastermind of a brutal assault and premeditated
act of sexual violence? Angela's birth mother, according to the defense, was a drug addict.
As a toddler, her mother would administer drugs to Angela so that when she would cry it would soothe
her and have her stop crying. I'm certain that her ingestion of drugs both us a prenatal and as a young child had
a significant influence on her. NARRATOR: Angela was given up for adoption to a couple in the suburbs who gave the little girl
a second chance. They prefer to remain anonymous. Even though they adopted me at an early age,
I think of them as my mom and dad. My brothers are my brothers. I was raised around them.
That's all I know. Any sports that was in season I would play. And they're real supportive.
They come every game, every practice. She had an outgoing personality, but I don't know as I would describe
her as a real happy person. NARRATOR: But from an early age, Angela felt that she didn't fit in.
My parents never made me feel out of place, just my brothers, because they were perfect
little angels and I wasn't. For the first 10 years of my life, I was out of place, completely.
NARRATOR: As Angela grew, the isolation she felt began to manifest in disturbing ways.
I've always had a real bad temper. When I was a kid my brothers would hit me or whatever,
and next thing I know I'm chasing them the hallway with a baseball bat. NARRATOR: By the time she was 12,
Angela claimed she had seen several therapists for treatment of her violent tendencies.
One psychiatrist decided to keep me in their hospital. I stayed a couple weeks. Next thing I know, hey, I am bipolar
and I'm taking medications. NARRATOR: Almost immediately, the young teen began to abuse her medication.
The pills would sit in the kitchen window sill. And I'm supposed to go take them at a certain time.
I would take them at a certain time. I would just take more than I was supposed to.
I felt like they were supposed to make me happy all the time. And they weren't, so I'd do more.
And it became addicting. NARRATOR: It wasn't long before Angela's self-medicating lead
to experimenting with a variety of street drugs. I started smoking pot with my friends.
I was aware of being abandoned. My mom left me, never came back to get me. Why? What I do?
And it stuck with me. Maybe I was escaping reality. I would mix my alcohol and my pills, smoke pot.
And then if there wasn't any pot left I would get some cocaine, crack. Drug use seemed to be consistent
throughout her entire life. This truly was a young lady that had significant psychological issues.
When I was high, I was happy. I had no problems. I didn't have to think about anything.
NARRATOR: Despite her difficulties with drugs, at age 17 Angela married and had a baby girl.
The young mom says it was the best time in her life. It was sheer blissfulness. I love being a mom.
I've always wanted to be a mom, always wanted to be settled down. NARRATOR: But the marriage didn't work out.
Angela focused on staying sober and had a son with another man. I had already quit drugs.
I was cleaning up real good. My structure is good, my foundation is good. Everything's like fairy tale.
She appeared to me to be a good mother. She enjoyed being with the children, doing things with them.
I remember reading to them and playing games with them. NARRATOR: Regrettably, the relationship with her son's
father was also short lived, as Angela struggled to curtail her on again off again drug habit.
A parent's not supposed to go looking for drugs while their child is at a babysitter.
My kids went to their dads and I went off on my own living with guys, boyfriends, friends.
NARRATOR: Estranged from her children and her parents, Angela finally sought help at a drug treatment center in 2000.
Using drugs took control of her life. In my opinion, she had to hit rock bottom before she realized that.
NARRATOR: But upon her release, Angela moved in with a man she met in rehab and went right back to her old ways.
We got out at the same day, went to his apartment, partied. He was real into coke and crack cocaine.
It was no good for me at all. But I didn't have anywhere to live so I stayed there.
That area is basically a suburb of Houston where people, ironically, go to escape crime and the dangers
of the inner city. It's considered a safe part of town. I didn't have a job so I didn't do anything
but go to the pool, lounge around. And that's how I met the people I met. NARRATOR: At the time, Harold Umanzor
was 21 years old and living with relatives a few doors down from Angela. I can't necessarily say I was actually in love with Angela,
but I was very, very attracted to her. We'd go to his brother's apartment, hang out there, watch TV, get high.
NARRATOR: In the same apartment complex lived a 21-year-old bartender named Leslie.
At the time of the offense she was a pre-med student. She was intelligent, she was full of life.
She was actually a remarkable young woman. Leslie was right across from me in my apartment.
We spoke on occasion and talked for a little while. She said if I ever need to use her phone,
she knew I didn't have a phone, that I could use her phone. NARRATOR: William Munoz is a Houston police officer
who lived next door to Leslie. I was still in uniform the first time I met Leslie.
She was moving in. She always had a smile on her face. I remember the last thing her mother
told me was make sure you take care of my daughter. NARRATOR: Broke, desperate, and in danger of being kicked out
of her boyfriend's apartment, Angela says she began a four day drug binge. The first two nights I was getting high with my boyfriend.
Snorting coke, smoking crack. Then the third night I was hanging out with Harold.
He had like 20 hits of acid. We split it. We just sat around coming up with this plot
that we're going to get some money. It was really kind of a spur of the moment thing.
NARRATOR: The prosecution believes Angela had an additional motive for the crime.
Angela was crashing at someone else's apartment. And we believed that she was jealous of Leslie.
Angela stated that she was jealous of the victim because the victim had a life, had a job, had family.
Angela came to Leslie's door, knocking and asking to use the phone. Leslie says sure and invites her in.
And then Leslie hears the door open again. At that point, Umanzor walks in with a gun in his hand.
And he says surprise, surprise. And that's when the crime begins. NARRATOR: When "Women Behind Bars" continues--
Angela grabbed an iron and bashed Leslie over the head several times. And they left her for dead.
NARRATOR: In May of 2000, 30-year-old Angela Rocka had recently left a drug rehab center.
She quickly relapsed with her friend Harold Umanzor and went on a four day drug binge.
Hungry and broke, the two devised a desperate scheme to rob her 21-year-old neighbor, Leslie.
We came up with this plan to go see Leslie and take her money from her and her credit cards
so we could be OK. NARRATOR: Once inside, Angela claims that Harold tried to subdue Leslie.
He was trying to contain her, keep her still. But she fought back. At that point, they turned up the radio to drown
out Leslie's cries for help. I thought to myself, if I can just hit her on the back of the neck hard enough
it will make her pass out. But that wasn't what happened. NARRATOR: Both Harold and Angela blame each other for bringing
Leslie into the bedroom. I threw her on the bed, but I just couldn't get her to-- you know what
I'm saying, to just stay still. I ended up trying to tie her up so she wouldn't move.
They tied a bandana around her neck to choke her. They tied bandanas around her wrist to tie her to the bed.
NARRATOR: But Angela denies that Leslie was bound in any way. She wasn't tied up.
There was no need. You know, there was the both of us. NARRATOR: Angela says she then left the bedroom to search
the apartment for money. When she returned moments later, she began her own furious attack.
That's when I come in and choke her and covered her face with the pillow. I don't know why I couldn't stop.
It seemed like she really had a lot of anger inside of her. It seemed like she was really taking that out on Leslie.
I think maybe I was a little envious. Her bills were paid monthly. She always had something to eat.
You know, she had a job, she had a good family. It was just all bottled up. NARRATOR: According to the prosecution,
both Angela and Harold then blindfolded and allegedly raped Leslie. They apparently were inserting various objects
in her genitalia. She realized from the difference of the hands and such that they were taking turns assaulting her.
It was all about causing pain and submission and overpowering a young woman NARRATOR: But Angela denies the attack ever turned sexual.
I never sexually assaulted my victim. Leslie was never sexually assaulted in that house.
NARRATOR: The torture continued with Leslie slipping in and out of consciousness.
It definitely got to the point to where we had reached the point of no return. At some point towards the end, Angela takes an iron
and hits her a couple times upside the head. There was absolutely no sense of humanity.
This woman needed to be killed so she could not talk at a later date. In addition, they stomp on her neck, fracturing vertebrae.
I believe she did kick on her neck a couple times. Leslie had urinated on her shelf
and had also defecated on herself and apparently was quite the mess. The only thing we could come up with
was just to put her in the closet. I really don't even know what I wanted her in that closet.
I don't know. It was my idea. So she's left in that closet with her own blood, her own urine, fecal matter.
I just thought she was gone. I thought she had passed away. NARRATOR: As Leslie lay dying, Harold fled the scene.
Angela stole some jewels and cash and met up with Harold at a fast food restaurant.
The two then went home. When she finally came to she was able to sort of crawl up to the door
and open the closet door where she just fell out. NARRATOR: Leslie's neighbor, Officer
William Munoz had just come home after working the night shift. The wall for her bedroom and my bedroom were adjacent.
And as I'm trying to go to sleep I begin to hear a banging noise and then a female's voice come from Leslie's
apartment repeating the words why, why, why over and over again. NARRATOR: Officer Munoz crawled through Leslie's bedroom window
and found her lying on the floor. He then called 911. She had scratches over her body.
She had a bandana tied around her neck. And I said, Leslie, are you OK? And she says, Will, I've been raped.
NARRATOR: Leslie was rushed to nearby Northwest Medical Center where she was interviewed by detectives.
She told us what had happened and told us that she had recognized Angela. She'd also seen Angela around the apartment
with the male suspect. She is seen by sexual assault nurse that does a full blown examination.
NARRATOR: According to newspaper reports, the nurse called the attack one of the worst sexual assaults
she had ever seen. Three days after the crime, Angela was arrested on an outstanding traffic warrant
and questioned by police. She gave us a statement admitting that she'd gone into the victim's apartment.
But she's trying to put all the blame on the male suspect, Harold. She wouldn't admit to anything at that time.
Angela was adamant that a sexual assault did not take place. She was adamant that there was no gun used.
It's not uncommon for a criminal to not admit everything they did. But perhaps it's even more difficult for a woman
to admit to brutally raping another woman. NARRATOR: When Harold was arrested the next day
he also claimed there was no sexual assault. I've been denying that since day one.
I'm sorry, but it never happened. The state's case was all centered around Leslie.
And Leslie was very clear that she was sexually assaulted and she was left for dead.
That's what the state presented, the truth. The nurse was one of the first witnesses who took the stand
and testified that this was one of the worst sexual assault cases that she had ever seen.
NARRATOR: But the defense refuted the allegations. The only physical evidence on Leslie
was the swelling in the genital area. And that could certainly be attributed to long term exposure to the urine and feces
that she was discovered in. In essence, diaper rash, not necessarily a sexual assault.
No hairs were found. No saliva, nothing sexually to link either Harold or Angela
to a sexual assault on Leslie. When Leslie took the stand that was definitely the most
emotional part of the trial. She said Angela's stuck one finger into my vagina and another finger into my anus.
Then she said now [BLEEP], you're going to get what you deserve. And she pinched.
And Leslie thought she was going to rip at that moment. NARRATOR: Angela testified in her own defense.
She admitted assaulting Leslie, but denied raping and beating her with an iron. But once on the witness stand, unfortunately Angela
didn't come across very well. It just made me out to be one of Charles Manson's followers,
when I was really just a drug user and off my medication. Ultimately, there's going to be 12 citizens of Harris County
who determined who they believed, whether it was Leslie or Angela. When they handed me the sentence I was shocked.
I felt like someone just took my life. NARRATOR: But the final tragic footnote to Leslie's story
came five years after Angela's conviction. I received a call from Leslie's sister
who regrettably told me that Leslie decided to take her own life. I knew that she had not survived in the sense
of putting that horrible, horrible crime behind her. Angela Rocka was still in the forefront
of her life and her mind. They took away her lively spirit, all of all her dreams.
If you don't have any of that left as a person, you probably don't feel like living anymore.
NARRATOR: Angela Rocka will be eligible for parole in 2031. I am still, after a decade, real remorseful.
I still carry a lot of guilt. With Leslie, I just wanted to talk to her, let her know
it wasn't anything personal. I kind of wish she would have stayed around so I could have told her that.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

One woman was convicted of killing two people and the other woman allegedly sexually violated and robbed a woman and then left her to die.

Brief Summary

Melissa Harris and Angela Rocka commit brutal crimes, including a double homicide and a violent assault, revealing their troubled pasts and complex motivations.

Key points

Brutal Crimes Unveiled. Two women, two brutal crimes: the shocking stories of Melissa Harris and Angela Rocka.
The Dark Secrets of Melissa's Past. Melissa's family history reveals a painful legacy of abuse and dysfunction.
A Relationship Turned Deadly. Melissa's relationship with Earl Linebaugh spirals into violence and control.
Caught in a Web of Lies. Melissa's conflicting stories raise questions about her involvement in the murders.
The Execution Style Murders. In November 1995, two elderly women were murdered in a shocking crime.
Melissa's Innocence. Melissa maintains her innocence despite being transferred to a maximum security prison.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I don't know why I couldn't stop.

Melissa reflects on her inability to halt the violence.

0:44WatchSep 23, 2014

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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