Women Behind Bars in HD - Season 3, Episode 10 - Alice and Sarah - Full Episode | Forensic Files

NARRATOR: On this episode of Women Behind Bars, Alice Knestaut was sentenced to two life terms for her part
in the execution of two men. CARL KING: She was the director. The puppet master.
She was the one who controlled it. ALICE KNESTAUT: Do I deserve these murder charges?
No, I don't. I did not know a murder was going to take place. NARRATOR: Then Sarah Allen tells her story.
She claims she falsely admitted to a killing simply to earn a gang status symbol.
She seemed very flippant about the whole thing. SARAH ALLEN: The only reason I said those things
was to gain a teardrop tattoo. NARRATOR: -Two women, two brutal crimes. These are the stories of Alice Knestaut and Sarah Allen.
[THEME MUSIC] NARRATOR: On the night of January 12, 1994, drug dealers Alice Knestaut, Cruz Marta-Rodriguez,
and four of their associates gathered at Alice's trailer. Their plan was to stage a ripoff of 100 pounds of marijuana.
But when victims Rodrigo Miguel and Alfredo Garcia showed up without drugs or money, the plot turn deadly.
NICK COX: Cruz Rodriguez became very enraged, began the kicking them, smacking them.
The whole time Alice Knestaut was there urging them on. VIRGINIA CAMPBELL: Alice was coerced, scared, threatened,
afraid for her children. CHRISTOPHER NICHOLSON: The two victims were tied up, pillowcased, bound and gagged,
taken to their own car. FRANK DE LA GRANA: And they took them to this bridge in this really desolate area, and they executed both of them.
NARRATOR: After a four month investigation, police arrested Alice, Cruz, and their cohorts.
DET. JORGE FERNANDEZ: Alice orchestrated the whole situation. She got all the players involved.
She made the telephone calls to get the victims out to the house. ALICE KNESTAUT: The whole thing was not my idea.
They'd already let me know they would kill my children and my parents. NARRATOR: Was Alice Knestaut forced to take part in a drug
scam that resulted in a double homicide, or did she mastermind the entire operation?
ALICE KNESTAUT: I had a good childhood. I loved horses. I got into the horse shows, and show horses
several times in different circuits. ROXANNA MANN: She had very few friends. She was mostly around me and her parents.
They gave her everything she wanted. She was spoiled. NARRATOR: But Alice says her idyllic childhood
was shattered by her grandfather and a family friend. ALICE KNESTAUT: I was sexually molested.
I never told it when I was asked about it. I was just too ashamed to admit it. NARRATOR: When Alice was 12 her family relocated to Riverview,
Florida, outside of Tampa. But the pain from her childhood sexual abuse caused the teenager to bury her emotions.
ALICE KNESTAUT: I wore a mask that was covered up by drugs. Because I was a very hard drug addict.
I think it made me sexually promiscuous. I think I was addicted to sex just as much as I was
to the drugs, probably worse. NARRATOR: At 15, Alice became pregnant. She dropped out of school and gave
birth to a daughter in 1981. Under pressure from her parents, Alice married the baby's father.
ALICE KNESTAUT: We lived with my parents because we were young, we had no money.
We were divorced shortly later. She was just too young for the responsibility of being a wife.
And then having a baby, I just think it was too much. NARRATOR: I loved my little girl,
but my parents are the ones that took care of my daughter. NARRATOR:The teen mother cared more about fueling
her addictions, drugs and sex. ALICE KNESTAUT: I did quit drugs when I was pregnant,
but the minute I gave birth I was back at it again. NARRATOR: Two years later, Alice became pregnant again.
This time she gave the baby up for adoption. ALICE KNESTAUT: I almost died after my second child was born
from going out and snorting some cocaine within 24 hours after giving birth. I ended up hemorrhaging really bad because of the drugs.
DONNA BRAVO: She just went hog-wild and just went to this bar, that bar. Had sex with this guy, had sex with that guy.
And then she meant the new guy. NARRATOR: The new guy was 22-year-old construction worker
Clayton Knestaut whom Alice married in 1988. The newlyweds fixed up a trailer around the corner
from Alice's parents. DONNA BRAVO: Clayton was a good guy, you know. He settled her down, she didn't go to the bar.
She was sewing, she was cooking. She was doing everything, you know, to please him.
NARRATOR: Clayton and Alice welcome a son in December 1989. ALICE KNESTAUT: I finally grew up a little bit,
enough to be a mature mother. And I loved my kids. I worked at my mom and dad's ceramic shop.
She seemed happy. But she was high on cocaine a lot. And then she sold pot to support the cocaine habit.
ALICE KNESTAUT: I was trying to be a working mother. Trying to keep up with all my nightly activities.
Because we sold drugs, too. NARRATOR: Alice's lifestyle ultimately sabotaged her marriage, and the couple split in 1993.
She remained in the home close to her mom and dad, and continue down her self-destructive path.
ALICE KNESTAUT: My parents knew that I was using drugs; they didn't know the extent.
There wouldn't have been anything they could have done to have stopped it anyway.
NARRATOR: Now a single mother of two, Alice made her trailer party central. She quit her job working at her parents' pottery store
to deal marijuana full time. ALICE KNESTAUT: I was capable of selling drugs and surviving very lovely.
I was hauling it in from Mexico, and-- pounds, lots in pounds. That enabled me to even be a bigger drug addict,
to be able to afford more drugs. CARL KING: Alice enjoyed partying. She loved her kids but she didn't pay a lot of attention
to them whenever there was other people around. ALICE KNESTAUT: On the nights when the parties and everything
that was going on at my house, I would take my kids down my parents because they didn't want them involved
in that kind of environment. CARL KING: She would try to be responsible, but whenever you start getting inebriated it's not easy.
NARRATOR: After a New Year's Eve get-together in 1994, Alice met Cruz Marta-Rodriguez, a 24-year-old drug
dealer out of Wimauma, Florida. As Alice tells it, he barged his way into her life.
ALICE KNESTAUT: I'd had bad vibes, straight from the get-go. A few days later, there were some people in my house,
and Cruz ended up showing up at my home. He knew one of the guys that sold drugs for me.
CARL KING: The thing that really stands out about him what his loudness, his wanting
to be the center of attention all the time. He would be over there every day of the week.
He always carried a gun. CHRISTOPHER NICHOLSON: He had bigger deals than Alice did.
They hunt out a lot. They were boyfriend and girlfriend. ALICE KNESTAUT: But Alice claims her relationship with Cruz
did not turn intimate until later. She says that he forced her to use her connections to help
him recoup a recent drug loss. ALICE KNESTAUT: Cruz and his partner was robbed of 100 pounds of weed.
The people that robbed him were fake DEA agents. They had walkie talkies, the DEA jackets, the whole nine yards.
DET. JORGE FERNANDEZ: Cruz, he was desperate because the people that provided him with the drugs,
were looking for their money or their product. And since he couldn't produce either,
then he came up with this plan to rip off this drug dealer that Alice knew in order to try to get
his suppliers off his back. ALICE KNESTAUT: I wanted nothing to do with this. The Comments were made that it if I did not make the phone
call and assist in this, that it would be a shame if somebody went by and sprayed my mom
and dad's house with bullets. That it would be a shame if my children were playing
in the yard and got sprayed. NARRATOR: When Women Behind Bars continues. ALICE KNESTAUT: He was just totally crazy.
He put guns on people's heads. Everybody was terrified. CARL KING: Alice says, you've got to kill them.
and grabbed my [BEEP]. It seemed like she was trying to make it escalate, instead of calming it down.
NARRATOR: Alice Knestaut, a twice-divorced mother of two, lived in a trailer near her parents' Florida home.
The 28-year-old had been a drug addict for more than half her life, and was now pushing pot to support
our own cocaine and meth habit. ALICE KNESTAUT: I was so far involved in it by then that I didn't even work a regular job anymore.
I made very good money, but it was very dangerous. NARRATOR: In early January, 1994,
Alice met 24-year-old fellow dealer Cruz Marta-Rodriguez. Because of Alice's connections in the drug trade,
Cruz enlisted her to participate in a scam to steal marijuana that he owed to a supplier.
ALICE KNESTAUT: The whole thing was not my idea. I was pushed into making this phone call
and setting up this drug deal because I had a guy that used to come about every three months and pick
up 150, 200 pounds of weed. And they knew this. NARRATOR: According to Alice, Cruz
had threatened to kill her children and parents if she did not cooperate. Under duress, she contacted 22-year-old Rodrigo Miguel
and told him she was looking for 100 pounds of marijuana for a buyer. CARL KING: Alice spoke of our Rodrigo
as somebody she had known before. How he was selected, I think it was just luck of the draw.
It was real wild in that area back then. I mean, a lot of drugs, a lot of drug lords.
Rodrigo, he worked out in the fields with us. He had a girlfriend. He was going to propose to her.
Alice recruited some friends and called a meeting at her home to plan the fake drug deal.
Cruz, Luis Pecina, Serafin Licor, and brothers Carl King and Christopher Nicholson
were in attendance. It was supposed to be split with however many people were involved.
I was supposed to be a buyer from New York. CARL KING: Cruz was supposed to stay in a back bedroom
to hide his backup. Luis Pecina, Serafin, and me were supposed to be out back. ALICE KNESTAUT: Rodrigo was supposed
to sell Chris some drugs. The rest of the guys, they were supposed to bust into my house acting like they were DEA agents.
Knock us to the ground, cuff us, steal everything from us, and go. CARL KING: Alice was the one that was directing it.
She was the one to set the time schedule, who was going to be where and do what.
It was her place. Cruz was just kind of there as the enforcer, I guess. Just to make sure everybody was in line.
CARL KING: We probably started sometime around six o'clock. Drinking and smoking, and there was some cocaine.
NARRATOR: Alice paged Rodrigo to bring the marijuana to her home. He showed up around midnight, but he was not alone.
ALICE KNESTAUT: When they got there, they had another person. His name was Alfredo Garcia.
I told Cruz there was somebody sitting in the car, you've got to call this off. Cruz instructed me to invite Alfredo Garcia
into my home with Rodrigo. NICK COX: Alfredo Garcia was actually just along for the ride.
He wasn't there to take part in the drug deal. He had just come along with his friend Rodrigo.
ALICE KNESTAUT: The next thing I know, Cruz and Luis Pecina are coming in with no masks on, no DEA jacket on, and just said,
get down to ground. Everything just went haywire from there. Cruz started beating the crap out of Rodrigo, kicking him.
CHRISTOPHER NICHOLSON: Cruz showed his face, which he was never supposed to do. He was asking him where the dope was at.
Both of them said they didn't have it, and from there Cruz just progressively got more violent.
ALICE KNESTAUT: He had been drinking all day. He was just totally crazy. I mean, he pointed guns at Chris,
he pointed a gun at Carl. He was crazy. Everybody was terrified. CARL KING: Cruz had one of the codefendants come over
and duct-tie them. Put pillowcases over their head. CHRISTOPHER NICHOLSON: Cruz pretty much
had control of the situation, and telling everybody, do this, don't do that. Alice was pretty much by his side.
Running around the house, getting stuff that he told her to get. The Tape, or the pillowcase.
CARL KING: When it didn't seem like it was going anywhere, Alice stepped in and says, you've got to kill them.
and grabbed my [BEEP]. It caused more of a rage in Cruz. They couldn't have grabbed her.
It seemed like she was trying to make it escalate, instead of calming it down. NARRATOR: Alice denies encouraging Cruz
and claims she never said Rodrigo had grabbed her. ALICE KNESTAUT: I didn't know what to do.
You're not going to tell them "no" or you're going to be the next one lying on the ground dead.
I kept pacing, and leaving the room. Rodrigo had never done anything mean or inappropriate towards me.
For a drug dealer, he was a pretty good guy. NARRATOR: Next, according to witnesses,
Cruz ordered his cohorts to carry the two bound and shrouded victims to their car.
ALICE KNESTAUT: He put one in the trunk and one in the backseat. I had planned on staying at house.
Cruz pointed a gun at me. And he told me get in the car. He said he was going to take them out on this bridge
that we know way out in the woods, let them have the [BEEP] scared out of them. And maybe then they would be willing to tell
him where his drugs were. So I ended up getting in the car with Cruz. Chris and Serafin got into my car, and followed us out there.
CHRISTOPHER NICHOLSON: We drove out to a place called Picnic, and pulled up to a deserted bridge.
NICK COX: It's an eastern part of Hillsborough County. It's very desolate, very remote.
You could probably scream as loud as you wanted to and nobody would hear a thing.
ALICE KNESTAUT: Cruz went all the way to the far end of the bridge and told me to go back to the other end of the bridge
and stop Chris and Serafin. We sat down there and talked, and smoked some weed, and was just waiting on Cruz.
NARRATOR: Alice claims she was too far away to see what Cruz was doing to the victims, but witnesses said Alice was
at Cruz's side the entire time. CHRISTOPHER NICHOLSON: Alice was next to Cruz, speak to him.
Cruz pulled him out of the car. Led them side by side, and was yelling at them. Asking where the dope was at.
NICK COX: Alfredo Garcia in particular was basically pleading for his life. He was trying to explain to him that he had just
come with his friend Rodrigo, but at the same time, Rodrigo Miguel wasn't giving him information.
And Cruz just got madder and madder. NARRATOR: Police reports show that Cruz then shot Alfredo
in the chest and in the head in an effort to elicit information from Rodrigo. DET.
MICHAEL CONIGLIARO: Rodrigo couldn't understand that his friend was shot. Cruz is trying to convince him at that point
that he's serious about his request for the money and dope. And then takes Alfredo and puts him on top of Rodrigo.
CHRISTOPHER NICHOLSON: The guy told him, I don't have nothing for you, kill me. He finally shot him in the head and killed him.
And left both victims there. We heard the gun go off a few times. We honestly didn't think Cruz had shot them people.
If I had actually seen that happen, I really don't know if I could've lived with myself.
Cruz came running back to the car, and we took off. CHRISTOPHER NICHOLSON: Cruz pointed a gun at everybody,
talking about, if y'all ever tell on me I'll kill you. And we drove back to Alice's house.
CARL KING: The car pulled up and just as we got to the door they were walking in.
Cruz had his beer in one hand and a gun in the other, blood from his waist down, all over shoes.
He was splattered. And he ran his finger across his neck. That was indication enough for me.
NARRATOR: Not long after returning home, Alice realized there was evidence at the scene that
would link her to the killings. She and Cruz drove back to the bridge. ALICE KNESTAUT: My phone number was on one
of the deceased's beeper. DET. MICHAEL CONIGLIARO: When they found that beeper, they took that opportunity to throw
it over here in the river. DET. JORGE FERNANDEZ: They also removed the pillowcases
at that time because the pillowcases had Alice's initials embroidered on the pillowcases,
and that would have been another direct link. ALICE KNESTAUT: Cruz put it in a bag
because he needed evidence to show to his drug dealer that he didn't get the drugs but he took their lives instead.
Then he made me go with him to do that. I was scared. I was in a total state of shock.
And the only thing I knew to do is what I've done all my life, was do more drugs.
NARRATOR: Coming up on Women Behind Bars. ALICE KNESTAUT: I wasn't going to jeopardize their lives.
I chose the path I lived, so I lied. CARL KING: She had all the participation. She was the director.
The puppet master. NARRATOR: And later. SARAH ALLEN: There was a recording of me saying that I
did this, but the only reason I said those things was to gain a teardrop tattoo.
NARRATOR: In the early morning hours of January 13, 1994, 28-year-old Alice Knestaut and 24-year-old Cruz
Marta-Rodriguez had planned a fake drug deal to rob one of Alice's contacts of 100 pounds of marijuana.
But when the victim showed up empty-handed, witnesses say Cruz became furious, beat the men,
and shot them point blank as Alice allegedly stood by. ALICE KNESTAUT: You're going to follow what
these crazy people are doing. Especially when you're high and on drugs. They'd already let me know they would kill
my children and my parents. That's all I had in life. NARRATOR: As the sun rose that morning,
some gardeners discovered two corpses lying side by side on the bridge, next to an abandoned vehicle.
There was a 911 call by a landscaping company. In the center of the bridge they had
seen the bodies and a vehicle. NARRATOR: Police identified the victims is 22-year-old Rodrigo Miguel and 38-year-old Alfredo Garcia.
Both victims were shot in the head. One was shot in the chest and in the head. And that's what we had to go with.
NARRATOR: As detectives began working the case, Alice found a bag of bloody items
that Cruz left in her trailer. ALICE KNESTAUT: I panicked. I called my father. I told him everything, and he helped me.
I was his kid. And he helped me destroy it. NARRATOR: The other accomplices, Luis Pecina, Serafin Licor,
Christopher Nicholson, and Carl King, were also growing uneasy. CARL KING: Alice and Cruz came by my house
only a couple days after the crime, and essentially told me not say anything to anybody.
As time progressed, the request turned into demands and threats. NARRATOR: Alice maintains she was being threatened as well.
ALICE KNESTAUT: My life was completely taken over by Luis Pecina and Cruz. I was always under guard, under watch.
One of my addictions was a sexual addiction, and that's when I became sexually involved with Cruz.
Because that was the only access I had to sex at that time. NARRATOR: Meanwhile, detectives located
one of the victim's girlfriends, who pointed them towards Alice. The day that the homicide actually occurred,
he drove by Alice's house with his girlfriend and told her that he had to go back by there
to do some business later on. That was our starting point, based on her identification
of the trailer. NARRATOR: Over the next several months, police conducted dozens of interviews.
You couldn't tell who was telling the truth and who was lying. But we knew we had the right circle of people.
Everybody was giving their own side of the story, and excluding theirself and their involvement in it.
NARRATOR: But one name came up in all the stories, Alice Knestaut. DET. MICHAEL CONIGLIARO: We had the opportunity to talk to Alice,
and tried to convince her to tell the truth in this matter. ALICE KNESTAUT: When I went in to give my statement,
Luis Pecina was in the car with my son. And Cruz was sitting outside waiting. I-- there was no way I could do it.
And I wasn't going to jeopardize their lives. I chose the path I lived. So I lied.
I had to. I cared about them more than I cared about myself. DET. MICHAEL CONIGLIARO: We would take bits and pieces
of information that everybody was providing, and through that process we were able to narrow our focus
and finally arrest the suspects. NARRATOR: In May 1994, after a four month investigation,
Cruz, Luis, Serafin, Carl, Christopher, and Alice were taken into custody. Being arrested was a relief.
It really was. I didn't have these people surrounding my life anymore. No more threats.
I was safe. My parents were safe, my kids were safe. NICK COX: She was indicted by the grand jury
of Hillsborough County. Two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed kidnapping.
Carl King, Chris Nicholson, Luis Pecina, Serafin Licor, they believed they were basically
getting into a drug ripoff. Aside from Cruz and Alice, none of them believed that this was going to result in a murder.
NARRATOR: In January 1995, Cruz Marta-Rodriguez was the first to face trial. He was convicted of two counts each of first degree murder,
armed kidnapping, and attempted robbery. NICK COX: After the trial, Chris Nicholson
decided he wanted to talk to us about making a plea deal. I took my 30 years. But Carl never copped to a plea bargain
because he felt like his involvement in it was minimal, and felt like he could win it at trial.
CARL KING: I have one life sentence without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
I should have taken the plea bargain. NARRATOR: Still at hand with the fate of Alice Knestaut,
and to what degree she was involved in the killings. She faced a jury in April 1995.
FRANK DE LA GRANA: It was important that we try to prove and show that she was really not
a willing participate in this, and it was her fear of Cruz that she did participate, and for that reason only.
They had threatened to kill the whole family. And she was scared for her life. NARRATOR: The prosecution didn't buy Alice's victim stance.
They maintained she was very much in control, and was in fact calling the shots.
Everybody else involved in the case had made it clear that she was directing this thing.
She wasn't some shrinking violet. Cruz was smitten with her. She'd tell him what to do and he's carry it out.
The only evidence that she was under duress and scared of him was Alice. Just didn't fly.
She was the director, the puppet master. She was a nice lady. She did a lot of kind things.
But when this crime happened, she was the one who controlled it. ALICE KNESTAUT: Do I deserve these murder charges,
do I deserve all this time? no, I don't. I accept my responsibility. I was an accessory before, and I was
an accessory after the fact. Even though I did not know a murder was going to take place.
NARRATOR: Alice is serving her life sentences at a maximum security prison in Florida.
In 2001, she says she made the choice to become sober. ALICE KNESTAUT: When I first came
to prison, for quite a few years I was still doing drugs in here. And I was really sick and tired of being sick and tired.
And really truly happy for the first time in my life. NARRATOR: Alice has used her time
behind bars to reflect on her life, and the consequences of her choices. ALICE KNESTAUT: If I could go back,
I would never ever touch drugs. And Rodrigo and Alfredo would be alive. And I'd be home.
DONNA BRAVO: Rodrigo, he was a fine young man. He worked very hard. And Alfredo, his baby never got to know his father.
And they were victims of greed, and lies, and lust. NARRATOR: In 2007, Alice experienced a tragic loss
of her own with the news that both her parents had committed suicide. ALICE KNESTAUT: It was devastating.
They were the only ones that loved me unconditionally. I don't hear from my kids no more.
Only since I've been sober have I been responsible enough to own up to me. That's the only way I can get over it.
NARRATOR: Next up on Women Behind Bars, Sarah Allen confesses to a murder to earn a teardrop tattoo.
Every day I wake up know that I did not commit this crime. Sarah Allen did commit the murder.
Her motive was definitely status in the gang. NARRATOR: For more information about Women
Behind Bars go do WETV.com NARRATOR: In the early morning hours of July 9, 1996,
40-year-old drifter Gregory "Rooster" Slaght was gunned down outside a low-rent motel.
DET. MICHAEL KAHL: Some of the residents found the victim lying on the ground bleeding.
He was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital where he died a short time later. NARRATOR: A local man was arrested for the crime,
but five months later, detectives were contacted by Southside Mafia gang leader Charles Virgil.
He said the killing was actually done by a member of his own group, 18-year-old Sarah Allen.
In an undercover operation, Allen confessed to a police officer posing as a gang superior.
Sarah claims she took credit for the shooting because Virgil had promised her a coveted teardrop
tattoo, a symbol of honor in the game world that its wearer had taken a life. SARAH ALLEN: I did not commit this crime.
The only reason I said those things was to gain a teardrop tattoo. MARTHA ALLEN: Charles Virgil, he deliberately framed her.
DET. MICHAEL KAHL: Sarah Allen did commit the murder. Her motive was definitely status in the gang.
NARRATOR: Did Sarah Allen kill Gregory Slaght to earn street cred in her gang, or was she manipulated
into taking the fall by the leader she trust? MARTHA ALLEN: She was always a very
obedient, very compliant child. Stephen was her older brother, and they were very close.
Their father was full Blackfoot Indian, and their grandmother was black. SARAH ALLEN: I really didn't even think
of him because he was absent. And then we came down to Florida, and moved in with my grandparents.
NARRATOR: In 1985, the family settled in Longboat Key in Sarasota. During her school years, Sarah struggled to fit in.
Her multi-racial background caused confusion in the young girl. SARAH ALLEN: I got picked on because they always said,
what are you? And I used to always say I was white. Growing up with my grandparents, I really thought I was white.
And I just have a really nice tan. I felt like I had to make myself fit in. So I was a bully.
And I used to pick on kids in school. NARRATOR: When Sarah was in junior high, Sarah's mom and the kids moved into their own apartment
in a tough area of Sarasota. SARAH ALLEN: When we moved to the projects, my mom was like the only white person.
They accepted me more, but it was like, you're half-breed this, half-breed that.
She went through a period of time where she rejected most whites, including her mother.
And she pretty much just associated with the black community. SARAH ALLEN: I started drinking and smoking
marijuana when I was 13. And once I started, I had to do it every day. The alcohol and the marijuana, it made
me feel better about myself. NARRATOR: Still, the teenager yearned to fill the void left by her absentee father,
and she hung around with older men. MARTHA ALLEN: She didn't have much respect for herself.
I think at this point she had very low self-esteem. SARAH ALLEN: I didn't want to go to school.
I just wanted to party. I want to do whatever was for them to accept me. NARRATOR: At 15, Sarah dropped out of school.
She got an apartment with a friend, and worked at a fast food restaurant. Her brother Stephen joined a gang,
and Sarah wanted to follow in his footsteps. SARAH ALLEN: I saw that he fit in, and it was something that I was looking for.
They said, why do you want to be involved? And I said, because I'm looking for a family.
NARRATOR: Because her brother was already a member, Sarah says they went easy on her initiation.
SARAH ALLEN: It was basically a beat down. You know, had to fight back. But it wasn't as bad as it probably should have them.
NARRATOR: The following year, Sarah met 22-year-old Charles Virgil, AKA G-Wiz, the leader of a 20-member Manatee County gang
called Southside Mafia. Sarah's group merged into his gang. SARAH ALLEN: He was older.
He had this confidence about him. We clicked right away. To me, he was like a bad boy.
And it was, I guess, what I was looking for at the time. DET. CHARLES BRITT: Virgil was a local boy here.
A wannabe police officer for a long time. And kind of went down the wrong path in life.
CHRISTOPHER COSDEN: Sarah was pretty easily led, so that made her, essentially, cannon fodder
for somebody like Virgil, who was smart, and who was very manipulative. NARRATOR: Sarah adopted the street name "Lady"
and became close friends with Loca, 15-year-old Melissa Apple. SARAH ALLEN: We stuck together like glue.
She was my sister at the time. NARRATOR: The 17-year-old had finally found what she was looking for, and she
easily adapted to gang life. SARAH ALLEN: We had a little place, and we called it the Palace.
And we had our little gang meetings, and we'd have to pay a tithe. G Wiz got the money.
But we never had to buy alcohol, marijuana, anything like that. It was always there.
Everything was paid through the gang. We knew that they were involved in small scale
sale narcotics, marijuana, cocaine, those type of things. They were involved in burglaries.
SARAH ALLEN: I was willing to do a lot for G Wiz. I committed robberies, I broke into houses.
What made me feel like I could do anything that they could do. Between the drugs-- which, by that time
I had started doing acid, and any kind of alcohol, and every day I was high. My mind was so fogged up that I was numb.
NARRATOR: Sarah continued to seek respect from the gang, and thought she could earn it by getting a highly prized tattoo.
DET. CHARLES BRITT: The teardrop tattoo signifies that you have killed someone. And the importance of that within the gang
is to gain status or power. SARAH ALLEN: G Wiz said that I wouldn't even have to do anything, that he could authorize
me getting a teardrop tattoo. So of course I was like, oh, that'll make me feel important.
I'll be somebody in the gang if I could get one. NARRATOR: 13 Miles south, in a dangerous section of Sarasota,
guests at the Maple Leaf Motel reported hearing two gunshots. DET. MICHAEL KAHL: The residents went outside, and found the victim
lying on the ground bleeding. He had a gunshot to his chest, and one gunshot to the left ear.
NARRATOR: The victim was Gregory "Rooster" Slaght, a 40-year-old drifter. DET. MICHAEL KAHL: Not too much was known about him.
He was a transient, a day laborer. He had one drug possession arrest from maybe a year or two prior.
GREGORY MOSIER: He was friendly. Five worked with him on two different occasions.
He was a very good carpenter. CHRISTOPHER COSDEN: He had been sitting on a couch that
was located outdoors, and another person apparently tried to rob him. And shot him twice.
DET. MICHAEL KAHL: Rooster was able to get up off the couch and stagger several feet, where he eventually collapsed
in the front of room 7. GREGORY MOSIER: I woke to a banging on my door. I looked out the peephole.
I didn't see anybody there. He had just collapsed right in front of our front door.
DET. MICHAEL KAHL: Slaght died very soon after arrival at the hospital. So this was a murder case from the very beginning.
The question, of course, was who did it. NARRATOR: There was little physical evidence at the scene
to tie to a suspect, but police spoke to an eyewitness, Melanie Hayden, who claimed she saw
a black male pull the trigger. DET. MICHAEL KAHL: She was basically a street person,
prostitute, a drug user. Melanie Hayden identified Nick Doula as being responsible for the shooting.
NARRATOR: A 19-year-old father, Nick Doula, was arrested for the murder, and sent to jail.
But five months later, in December 1996, detective Charles Britt got a call from Southside Mafia leader Charles Virgil, who said he had
information about the shooting. Unbeknownst to his gang members, Virgil moonlighted
as a police informant. He said the Sarasota Police Department had arrested the wrong person. DET.
MICHAEL KAHL: And Virgil told him that Sarah Allen and Melissa Apple confessed to him that they shot and robbed
a guy at a motel in Sarasota. DET. CHARLES BRITT: We thought that we had a viable, alternate suspect, and we
wanted to investigate it. NARRATOR: When Women Behind Bars continues. NARRATOR: By 1996, 18-year-old Sarah Allen
had graded high school for membership in the Southside Mafia gang in Bradenton, Florida.
She embraced her new surrogate family, and a life of drugs and crime. In her 23-year-old gang leader, Charles Virgil, AKA G-Wiz,
Sarah found the authority figure she longed for her entire life. SARAH ALLEN: I wanted to be accepted.
And the violence, it really didn't affect me. I didn't even think I was going to live much longer
because of the lifestyle. NARRATOR: That December, Virgil, who secretly doubled as a police informant, told detectives
that Sarah and her friend, Melissa Apple, were responsible for the July murder of transient Gregory Slaght.
Following up on Virgil's tip, police arranged for an undercover detective to elicit a confession from Sarah.
They knew she desired a teardrop tattoo, a gang status symbol. DET. MICHAEL KAHL: I was going to be posing as a gang leader
from Louisville, Kentucky. She was going to tell me about what she had done, and that if it met my approval then
I would give the authorization for Virgil to go ahead and give her her teardrop tattoo.
NARRATOR: According to Sarah, Virgil prepped her for their meeting with the gang higher-up.
Sarah jumped at the chance to gain acceptance from the other members, and agreed
to take credit for the murder at the Maple Leaf. SARAH ALLEN: He said, I have a way for you to get it.
Once you tell him the story, you're going to get a teardrop tattoo. People are going to look at you with respect.
NARRATOR: On New Year's Eve, Britt and Virgil drove to Sarah's residence. They offered to give her a life to her job at a restaurant.
DET. MICHAEL KAHL: We had an old undercover beat up car. And the car was wired, I was wired.
SARAH ALLEN: G-Wiz said, this is Chuck, he's from Kentucky. So I told him, I said that me and Melissa went to the hotel.
Somebody was laying on the couch. DET. MICHAEL KAHL: There was one part during the operation where
Detective Britt told Sarah Allen that somebody was already in jail for this. NARRATOR: Three weeks after her conversation with Britt,
the Sarasota Police Department brought Sarah downtown for an interview. DET. MICHAEL KAHL: We asked her what she knew about this homicide
at the Maple Leaf Motel, and at first she denied knowing anything about it. She also denied talking to anybody about it.
As the interview progressed, she finally said she did talk about it with somebody,
but she made it up after reading about it in the newspaper. NARRATOR: Detectives then played the recording of Sarah's
confession, but she still did not realize that Chuck was an undercover cop. SARAH ALLEN: They played a recording for me.
And they said, you don't think that we're going to bug a gang leader coming from Kentucky?
So I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I wonder if G-Wiz knew this man was bugged. So I went through all these different stories
that I made up. DET. MICHAEL KAHL: She told us that she and Melissa Apple went to the motel to visit a friend.
As they were leaving, a black male showed up, and they observed the black male shoot and rob the victim.
So it went from a point of her not knowing anything to her observing someone else
did the homicide. NARRATOR: Although she never admitted it to police, Sarah says the shooter was actually her own gang
leader, Charles Virgil. SARAH ALLEN: G-Wiz walked up there, and he roughed up the man.
He said, give me your money. And he had a gun. And the man got up, and lunged at him.
And he ended up shooting him. And came back to the car, and said, go, go, go. So we left.
NARRATOR: Two days after Sarah's interview, the charges against Nick Doula were dropped,
and he was released from jail. Police then tracked down 16-year-old Melissa Apple, who had left the gang and moved to Michigan.
Facing her own charges, Apple told police Sarah Allen was responsible for the shooting.
NARRATOR: Armed with Melissa's interview and Sarah's taped confession, police arrested
Sarah on February 3, 1997. The 18-year-old was charged with first degree murder and armed robbery.
SARAH ALLEN: When I was arrested, it came out that G-Wiz is the one who actually set me up.
He was a confidential informant. I was devastated. I felt like the family that I had had abandoned me.
I felt like a fool. DET. MICHAEL KAHL: The state was proceeding on the confession
and on Melissa Apple's testimony. Sarah had been lured into falsely confessing to a murder.
SARAH ALLEN: There is a recording of me saying that I did this. But the only reason I said those things
was to gain a teardrop tattoo. NARRATOR: When Melissa Apple took the stand, she testified that Sarah killed Gregory Slaght.
DET. MICHAEL KAHL: Melissa Apple had every reason to lie because she had a pending prosecution for the same crime.
There is no way that Rooster could have been shot in the way that Melissa Apple said he was shot.
First, because the blood was in the wrong place. Second, because the bullet wound was in the wrong place.
NARRATOR: Eye-witness Melanie Hayden still maintained that a black male had committed the crime.
Two others testified that Virgil had bragged to them about getting away with murder
by pinning it on Sarah. While witnesses for the prosecution came across as credible to jurors,
the testimony for the defense did not. DET. MICHAEL KAHL: Ms. Hayden's reputation was
as a prostitute and a druggie. The testimony that Ms. Hayden gave was perhaps of questionable reliability.
DET. MICHAEL KAHL: They were saying, yeah he has bragged of it. All of those people certainly did
have motive covering for Sarah and what she had done. NARRATOR: On July 21, after just two hours of deliberation,
the jury found Sarah guilty of both charges. SARAH ALLEN: They portrayed me as a murderous gang member.
Not to say that I wasn't a bad person, but to rely on the fact that I was a gang member to reach a guilty verdict,
I don't think that was fair. 18-years-old, my whole life gone. I mean, what, 60 years in prison?
70 years in prison? I couldn't even imagine. DET. MICHAEL KAHL: She was not guilty,
and it was a very, very grave miscarriage of justice. I think it was Charles Virgil.
I can't prove that, but the evidence is at least as good as the evidence that Sarah Allen did it. DET.
CHARLES BRITT: I don't think that she's taken the fall for someone else. Unfortunately I think she made a tremendous mistake
at a young age for a tremendously silly reason, but I think she did do it. NARRATOR: Sarah Allen entered a maximum security facility
to serve the rest of her life. SARAH ALLEN: When I first came to prison, I was very depressed.
Then I realized that while I'm here, I might as well do something with my life, right.
So every program they have, I've done it. I never realized that you could do anything without being high.
And it's sad to say that I had to come to prison to learn who I am, to be proud of myself,
but that's exactly what happened. NARRATOR: Although Sarah still proclaims her innocence,
she regrets her actions the night Gregory Slaght was murdered. SARAH ALLEN: I think about him every day.
I don't know what was going through G-Wiz's mind. But it's like, I might as well have pulled the trigger.
I don't know if I could have done anything to stop it, but I didn't try. DET. CHARLES BRITT: In all honor to the victim's family,
that seems to be an appropriate sentence. A life for a life. But enough time has been wasted.
And really, what are we going to do, warehouse her for the rest of her life? If I were to be asked about clemency,
I wouldn't have any problem with it. SARAH ALLEN: Every day I wake up knowing that I
did not commit this crime. Hopefully one day G-Wiz will wake up, and be like, Oh,
I want to tell them the truth. That's what I live for.

Alice was convicted and received two life sentences for her role in the slaying of two men in a drug robbery gone wrong. Sarah was convicted of the 1996 murder of a 40-year old drifter in Sarasota, Florida.

Brief Summary

Alice Knestaut orchestrated a double homicide; Sarah Allen falsely confessed to murder for gang status.

Key points

Alice Knestaut: The Puppet Master. Alice Knestaut orchestrated a drug deal that turned deadly, leading to two murders.
Sarah Allen's Gang Status. Sarah Allen admits to falsely confessing to a murder for gang recognition.
The Deadly Drug Deal. A staged drug deal leads to a violent confrontation and two murders.
Alice's Troubling Childhood. Alice reveals her traumatic past and its impact on her life choices.
Threats and Coercion. Alice claims she was forced into the drug deal under threat to her family.
Cruz's Arrest. After months of investigation, Cruz and others were arrested, bringing relief to the victims' families.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I was sexually molested. I never told it when I was asked about it.

Alice reveals her childhood trauma.

2:56WatchSep 23, 2014

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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