Women Behind Bars in HD - Season 3, Episode 11 - Virginia and Angela - Full Episode | Forensic Files

NARRATOR: On this episode of Women Behind Bars, Virginia Warden fatally stabs her 81-year-old employer
over a forged check. I remember reaching back and grabbing the knife off the counter and stabbing her one time.
And then trying to clean her up. One thing that sticks out the most for me is Clara lying on the floor, bloody, and a cat
sitting on an arm of a couch. NARRATOR: Then, Angela Ferguson is convicted of shooting her husband and recruiting her son and daughter
to help dispose of the body. She planned how to get rid of the body before she ever pulled the trigger.
She is one of the most cold hearted, callous, women I've ever talked to. I'm not this cold-blooded murderer
that they portray on TV. I love my husband. NARRATOR: Two women. Two brutal crimes.
These are the stories of Virginia Warden and Angela Ferguson. [THEME MUSIC] In the late afternoon of January 28, 1993,
former housekeeper Virginia Warden walked up to the home of her past employer, 81-year-old Clara Standen.
She had stolen a check from Clara a year prior and she was going to get more money.
She told my mother to shut the door, sit down, and write her a check. She started yelling at me and I got mad.
And I just kind of blanked out. All I remember is turning around, picking the knife off the counter,
and stabbing her one time. NARRATOR: Hiding in a nearby bedroom was Clara's housemate, Ivy Lau, a foreign exchange
student from Hong Kong. She heard stand in screams and called 911. Virginia fled the scene before police arrived
to find Clara dead, lying in a pool of blood on the floor in her living room. Virginia drove to Harborview Medical Center
and confessed what she had done. She had told me that Clara ruined her life. She was going to get back at her.
NARRATOR: Authorities charged the 42-year-old single mother with first degree murder, alleging she had either killed
Clara during a robbery attempt or planned the stabbing outright. But the defense maintained Virginia never intended
to harm the elderly woman. Virginia had a son who was very abusive to her. The son's abuse caused post traumatic stress disorder,
and that is the reason that she committed the crime. This is not an insanity defense,
this is diminished capacity. Virginia Warden had impaired mental capacity to formulate
the specific intent to murder. I didn't believe that she knew who she was killing.
I thought that I had done it to my son. When I realized what I had done, I couldn't believe I had done it.
NARRATOR: Did Virginia Warden fatally stab Clara Standen because she blamed her for being
arrested over forged check? Or did she lose control, believing she was attacking her abusive son?
I had a pretty normal childhood. My mom was a homemaker and my dad drove truck. We had no wants for anything.
NARRATOR: As a teenager, Virginia spent most of her free time reading. My grades were like 3.8 all through high school.
NARRATOR: While Virginia took some college courses, the 18-year-old was more interested in marrying
her high school sweetheart, Steve Spellman. He was a really good guy. The All-American high school football star.
I was bored with school and thought it would be a new adventure. NARRATOR: But according to Virginia,
the adventure soon turned into a nightmare, when her husband returned from serving in the Vietnam War:
In 1971, Virginia discovered she was pregnant, and says Steve became violent and started doing drugs.
He would not knock me down the stairs. And he'd disappear for days on end. And I was trying to maintain a job, maintain a household,
and be pregnant at the same time. NARRATOR: On July 26, 1972, the 21-year-old gave birth
to a baby boy named Chris. She divorced Steve and took a job at AT&T. It was scary having a baby and no husband.
If I had a date with somebody, he went with me. If they didn't like it then they weren't worth dating.
NARRATOR: Soon, Virginia started dating her co-worker, Russ Warden. I thought she was pretty exciting.
We started talking, we'd go out for drinks after work. And then we married and bought a house.
NARRATOR: But Russ says Virginia struggled to control her son, Chris. He ended up having temper tantrums quite a bit.
He had a way of persuading his mother, providing him with whatever he wanted. NARRATOR: According to her ex-husband,
Virginia's spending habits soon got out of hand. We had many credit cards maxed out.
She loved to spend money. My son was constantly wanting this and wanting that. And if I said no then it would be another problem.
NARRATOR: Russ claims the money issues became too intense for the marriage, and the couple divorced in 1983.
Once again, Virginia was left alone to raise her son. She says the 13-year-old began lashing out.
He extorted money from her. If he said, I want a new pair of shoes, she'd better have them there that night.
She was terrified of him. NARRATOR: Still, Virginia says she tried to get Chris help through counseling and medication.
But she claims he refused treatment. According to court documents, Chris' aggressive behavior escalated.
He didn't want tacos for dinner. And so he got very upset and he threw a knife. He claimed he didn't mean to hit me,
but I ended up with 37 stitches in my side. Court said, he's your kid, he's your problem.
NARRATOR: Virginia's frustration turned to fear. She said she felt like a prisoner in her own home.
She was so afraid of him, she would sleep in the car at night. One minute, he could be really caring and loving,
and the next minute, he became very violent. I stood up to my son a few times, and that's when I got hurt.
NARRATOR: To make matters worse, Virginia lost her longstanding job in September, 1991.
VIRGINIA: I got laid off from AT&T after 18 years, nobody was paying that kind of money anymore.
NARRATOR: In January 1992, Virginia started cleaning the home of Clara Standen, an 81-year-old retired government worker.
She lived alone with her cats in a house near ours, in Shoreline. She loved to read, she loved classical music,
and she, for years, was the church organist. Mrs. Standen was a very nice and caring woman.
And she was kind of a collector of everything. She used a cane to help herself around.
And she had a kind of a friendly relationship with Virginia. NARRATOR: By the summer of 1992, the 41-year-old
was at a crossroad. Broke and at her wits end with her son, Virginia decided to steal from her client, Clara Standen.
I was desperate in need of money. I just the check out of her checkbook. I've never done anything like that.
She took pretty much the balance of my mom's checking account. NARRATOR: Within days, the bank discovered the check for $2,000
was fraudulent. They contacted Clara and asked her to look at the security footage to help identify the culprit.
When my mother reviewed the video at the bank, she knew right away that that was Virginia.
NARRATOR: On July 28, 1992, police arrested Virginia for forging the $2,000 check.
She pled guilty and was ordered to pay the money back and perform community service.
Getting caught with that check, everything went to pieces. I couldn't make ends meet, no matter what I did.
Virginia blamed Clara for turning her in and for ruining her life, and went back to the house
to get more money from her. I don't know what I was thinking. And the next thing I know, I was at Mrs. Staten's house.
And that's when she yelled at me, and that was it. I lost it. NARRATOR: When Women Behind Bars continues.
She walks in and she tells people that I just killed someone. NARRATOR: By January 1993, Virginia Warden,
a 42-year-old single mother, was running out of time and money. Six months earlier, she had pled guilty to forging a check
and stealing $2,000 from her former employer, Clara Standen. She was sentenced to community service
and required to pay back the funds. I was desperate and I figured I'd pay her back eventually.
I was not angry at Mrs. Staten, I was angry at myself and angry at my son. NARRATOR: According to Virginia, any income she earned
went to appeasing her son Chris. She claims the 19-year-old had been abusing her for more than six years.
There was at least one police report where he'd allegedly thrown a knife at her.
NARRATOR: As Virginia tells it, she couldn't say no to her son, and bound herself deeper in debt.
She took out an additional loan from her mom and dad. My mother was continuously, when are you gonna pay me back,
when are you gonna pay me back? Virginia called her mother, told her that she was going to bring the money she owed that night.
NARRATOR: Virginia claimed she had received stock dividends to pay back the debt to her parents.
But before heading to her mother's, she decided to make a quick stop. I drove to Mrs. Staten's house.
I wanted to tell her I was sorry, that everything's gone to hell. And I don't know why I even wanted to go tell her that.
NARRATOR: According to prosecutors, Virginia had a clear objective for visiting Clara Standen,
to steal more money. She parked her car down the street so that Clara wouldn't know she was there.
She disguised herself as a delivery person, by carrying a cardboard box up to Clara's door.
She had coveralls on because she was concerned about Clara recognizing her and not
letting her in the house. What I was in was my work clothes for my job, and to me that wasn't a disguise, that
was just the way I dressed. I had some cat food in a box, it was just a habit of bring her some cans of cat food for her cats.
And I said, do you remember me? And she said yes. She started to say something and she started yelling at me.
NARRATOR: What Virginia didn't know was that Clara had recently taken in a foreign exchange student from Hong Kong, named Ivy Lau.
Ivy hid in a nearby bedroom. Ivy heard the words, sit down and write me the check.
Clara did not want to write her a check and said no, I'm not. The only thing I ever said to her about a check
was that I was sorry that I took her check. The more we talked, the more she yelled.
I just lost it. At that point, Virginia found a Mason jar on the kitchen counter and struck Clara over the head
with the Mason jar. Clara fell to the ground, screaming out in pain. I thought she was my son yelling at me.
I remember reaching back and grabbing the knife off the counter. Because I thought it was him.
I was going to protect myself. Virginia then knelt down beside Clara and plunged a knife into her heart.
I don't remember seeing much of anything except the scary face looking back at me.
First, I thought it was my son that I had hurt. I looked down and it wasn't him, it was her.
Virginia describes seeing Clara's life going away. Her eyes are open, she's not saying anything anymore,
and Clara takes for left hand and pulls the knife out of her chest and lays it down.
She tried to clean up the mess. She was crying and apologizing to my mother as my mother was dying.
Ivy heard the screaming and called 911. Virginia heard the sound down the hallway
and so she went to the room where Ivy was and started to push the door open. And I remember the 911 call was a chilling call.
Virginia was able to push the door open. I bet Ivy was a small person and it must have taken a deal of her strength
to push the door closed. NARRATOR: Virginia fled the scene just before police arrived at the residence.
The one thing that sticks out the most for me is seeing Clara lying on the floor bloody and a cat sitting
on an arm of a couch and another cat on the other side, sort of looking at her. Any time you use a knife to kill somebody,
it's a very personal and intimate type of killing. NARRATOR: The single stab wound severed Clara's aorta,
causing her to bleed to death. Her son, Jeremy, was shocked by the tragic news. I remember being very numb and shaken.
I mean, this is not the kind of thing that anybody expects. NARRATOR: Authorities searched the area
and question neighbors. Meanwhile, Virginia drove to a pay phone to call her son.
I told him I had hurt somebody. And he says, well then turn yourself in. And I said, I'm going to.
When she got to Harborview Medical Center, she walks in and she tells people that, I just killed someone.
NARRATOR: Detective Mike Hatch rushed to Harborview to question Virginia. She remembered very well what she had done with Clara.
And the steps that she had taken to get into the house. She told me her life was in ruins
and Clara was responsible for this. NARRATOR: The prosecution would later hone in on the fact
that Virginia never mentioned confusing Clara with her son in the confession. There is no blame, that she was killing her son.
She stabs Clara, she didn't stab her son. It was clear that she disguised herself and came
to get money from Clara. And when Clara wouldn't do it and started screaming, the only thing she could do was silence Clara.
NARRATOR: Detectives charge Virginia with first degree murder and took her to the county jail.
It was a sense of relief. I wanted to go someplace safe. NARRATOR: When Women Behind Bars continues.
It was kind of weird walking outside, not having barbed wire fence around or officers standing around.
NARRATOR: And later. She called me and said, Kristen, I'm so sorry. And I said, I really hope you are.
And she said, I guess I didn't watch enough CSI shows. NARRATOR: On January 28, 1993, Virginia Warden turned herself
into authorities and confessed to killing 81-year-old Clara Standen. Virginia had worked for Clara as a housekeeper
before pleading guilty to stealing and forging a check for $2,000. The prosecution theorized that Virginia
blamed the elderly woman for the conviction and went to her home seeking revenge.
Virginia was upset with Clara because she believed Clara had turned her in for the forgery.
That was crucial in our theory of the case that this was a premeditated murder. It wasn't premeditated, it wasn't even planned.
I don't even know why I went there originally. NARRATOR: While preparing for trial,
prosecutors felt they had a strong case against the former cleaning lady. We had good, solid evidence, we had an eyewitness
and we had a full confession from Virginia Warden. It was looking pretty hopeless for a while.
Virginia was so psychologically damaged and so wounded as a human being that we originally talked to Doctor
Leibert to go see her. I was a psychiatric consultant for the Ted Bundy case, so I know what a killer is.
And I don't put her in that class. I don't think she knew why she went to her house.
You have to understand why a person does things in order to prove that there was intent.
NARRATOR: After two lengthy interviews with Virginia, Doctor Leibert diagnosed her with post traumatic stress
disorder due to the years of alleged abuse from her 20-year-old son, Chris. The very nature of post traumatic stress disorder
is the loss of the sense of the present. And he says to us, I am absolutely sure that she was having a dissociative experience.
And that is when we had a defense. The issue was diminished capacity. Could Virginia form the intent to commit the crime of murder?
When the defense came up with the theory that she had had this dissociative episode,
we thought it was a clever defense given the evidence, but we thought it was ridiculous.
He pleaded me not guilty even though I told him I was guilty. I didn't even really want to go to trial
and he insisted that I go. NARRATOR: Focusing on her abusive past, the defense called her son to testify.
We wanted the jury to see this guy. Have some appreciation for what Virginia had to deal with.
He didn't have any sympathy for his mother. It really played well into the defense theory.
Nobody liked Christopher. NARRATOR: Doctor Leibert also testified that Clara's screams
were a trigger that caused Virginia to see the face of her abusive son. I tried to get Virginia to remember, what did you see?
And that's when she drew this grotesque image of her son who terrorized her. It was sort of a devilish picture.
Leibert immediately thought that to be an example of diminished capacity. I could not swallow the theory that she
went into a dissociative state and thought that she was stabbing her son. I think that was very cheesy and phony.
I felt that it was ridiculous, particularly in light of the fact that, immediately following the murder,
she said nothing about killing her son. She fully admitted to killing Clara and she did it because she was upset and sad.
I got what I deserved. But I knew I had done what I had done myself and nobody else was to be punished for it.
I was hoping that it would be first degree. But it's [INAUDIBLE], I was satisfied
that justice had been done. NARRATOR: Virginia was transferred to the Washington
Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor to fulfill her 20 year sentence. I've learned a lot in prison.
I've gone to school, I've taking up learning how to knit, and it's peaceful. Right now, my job is a unit janitor.
NARRATOR: Although she has not had any formal therapy since entering prison, Virginia says she will
no longer be a victim of abuse. I'm ready to go out and be out in the free world.
After more than 16 years behind bars, Virginia was released from prison for good behavior
on October 14, 2009. She moved to a work release program in Seattle, Washington.
It's a date I'll never forget. Because it was the date of actual starting of freedom.
I was a little petrified walking outside, not having barbed wire fence around or officers standing around.
She expressed anxieties about having to relearn the bus system, get used to technology.
Things have changed so much for her. Everybody's got a cell phone stuck to one ear and these little things called iPods.
And someone says that you listen to music on it, and I'm going, OK, sure. NARRATOR: After only a month out of prison,
Virginia got a job processing crab for a seafood company an hour from Seattle. I was scared to death of people asking about my crime.
But they looked at the date and said, oh, that's too old to consider. I love it.
It's a very physical, demanding job. NARRATOR: On February 11, 2010, Virginia moved to a halfway house in Auburn, Washington.
She's on probation for two years and plans to work until she can collect her pension.
My hopes for the future is to get my own apartment and take up my love of knitting.
And to keep reading books. And maybe get a cellphone. NARRATOR: Since her conviction, Virginia
has had no contact with her parents and very little with her son. It used to make me feel bad, but now, like everybody's
convinced me it's their loss. I will not put myself in a position where it's just my son and I.
I don't wish any ill for Virginia. I know that Virginia has suffered a lot in her life.
I've learned a lot in the last 17 years about forgiveness. Virginia, you're now free, you have
the rest of your life ahead of you, please make the most of it. NARRATOR: Next up on Women Behind Bars, a woman
pulls the trigger on her husband during a fight over their daughter. For more information about Women Behind Bars, go to WETV.com.
On March 22, 2006, Angela Ferguson, a 39-year-old mother of five, grabbed a gun during an argument
with her husband, Randy. She looked at Randy and pointed it at Randy's head, and Randy said that you don't have the guts.
And she said that she just happened to pull the trigger. My mom came in screaming and crying,
saying, Claude, it was an accident, I didn't mean to, we've got to move him. NARRATOR: Angela convinced her 19-year-old son
to help drag his stepfather's 280 pound body to the trunk of his car. The next day, she abandoned the vehicle
down an embankment 25 miles from their home and reported Randy missing. The car ended up right around where this tree is.
It was nose down and Randy was inside the trunk. He was shot twice in the head. [INAUDIBLE] had been poured over portions of his body.
It appeared that he didn't have the opportunity to defend himself. NARRATOR: After a rigorous investigation,
detectives discovered Angela had been sleeping with a co-worker for months and wanted out of her marriage.
They arrested her for first degree murder, alleging she had planned the killing for weeks.
She finally confessed to shooting Randy, however, she said she just meant to scare him.
You don't accidentally shoot somebody twice, at point-blank range, in the head. I was in the wrong for a lot of things, but not what people
think. She wanted the house. She wanted my sister. She wanted everything. And Randy wasn't willing to give it to her.
She had been going around asking people to kill Randy. I don't think she woke up that day saying,
I'm going to kill him. He pushed her to the point she snapped. NARRATOR: Did Angela Ferguson plan
her husband's murder to get custody of their young daughter? Or did she shoot him by accident and then
try to cover her tracks? Angela Ferguson and her twin sister were born into a military family.
The oldest of four girls, she says they were constantly on the move. By 1980, Angela's parents settled into a home
near Fort Lewis, Washington. The teenager attended Lincoln High School and met a classmate, Claude Waltz.
They were best friends in high school, got pregnant with me, and then went on from there.
NARRATOR: The young couple had three more children, twins Kristen and Claude, and a baby boy named Burrell.
To support their growing family, the two worked at the Tacoma Dome Sports Arena.
Although Angela planned to marry Claude, they never tied the knot. On their wedding day, Burrell, my youngest brother,
was diagnosed with leukemia. After that, it was a lot of fighting. My mom was at the hospital a lot.
So it was hard trying to rekindle the relationship. NARRATOR: After battling the cancer
for more than four years, Burrell went into remission. But the good news wasn't enough to save
the couple's relationship. The two split up when Angela started dating her boss, Rick.
The 28-year-old took her four children and followed her new boyfriend across the country.
Rick was a car dealership person, so we moved a couple times. He was very abusive.
NARRATOR: Angela's children also claim their mother was on welfare and often smoked pot with her boyfriend.
I think she realized this is not OK. NARRATOR: The single mother cleaned up her act
and studied to become a nurse. In 2000, she befriended her neighbor, Lisa Moore.
She lived down the street and I thought she was hardworking. She said she was an RN.
NARRATOR: Soon after, Lisa arranged for Angela to meet her brother, Randy Ferguson,
a 45-year-old machinist for Boeing. I was leery about it because of her having four other children
and Randy didn't have any. She seemed nice and put together. And before I knew it, I just knew I had made
the hugest mistake of my life. They went on a walk and then they came back and they were boyfriend and girlfriend.
Everything was just a whirlwind after that. NARRATOR: Eager to start a family with Angela,
Randy dipped into his life savings to purchase a home. He also invited her teenage kids to move in.
He was a good guy. He never judged my mom for having four kids. He was always nice to us, gave us a place to live with our mom
and stuff. NARRATOR: Within months, Randy and Angela were engaged and expecting a child of their own.
But Randy's sister, Lisa, says she became skeptical of her brother's new-found romance.
We were worried about how quickly it was moving. So I just started looking into things
and learned that everything that she told us was basically a lie. Her occupation, where she went to school.
Not so much lies as, she's very manipulative and very intelligent in a way that nobody could understand.
LISA MOORE: He would make excuses for her lies. NARRATOR: Despite his sister's protests,
Randy and Angela married in the summer of 2001, just one year after they had met.
The wedding was very sad for me. This was not what I wanted for him. But he was blinded.
NARRATOR: On February 2, 2002, the couple welcomed their baby daughter, Alison, into the world.
He was very excited. This is what he wanted his whole life. He would have done anything for her.
NARRATOR: At first, the family thrived. But after the excitement wore off, Angela and Randy's relationship began to unravel.
She started working after so many years of being a stay-at-home mom. And he didn't like her working.
They started fighting a lot. My mom does not let things go. And Randy got to the point where he
was just so tired he just started saying stuff back to her. NARRATOR: According to Randy's family,
Angela was also draining his bank account. We watched him, every Sunday, come here and talk about her
ordering things online. We used to tell him, she's going to leave you on the doorstep
in your underwear. They talked about divorce but she didn't want a divorce because he would take my sister.
He would always just tell her that she wasn't getting custody of her, that he was keeping her.
NARRATOR: By February, 2006, Angela's marriage was hanging by a thread. She turned to co-worker Lamont Bush.
My mom met him at her new job when she was unloading trucks. I think Lamont give her the attention that she wanted.
I don't think it was love, I think it was more of a lust. She started lying to us.
She started being sneaky. Randy went to Superbowl, and Lamont spent the weekend while he was away.
He was told by Angela that Randy had moved out and had a new girlfriend, and so he was allowed to actually move
some things into the garage. NARRATOR: The prosecution would later contend Angela then started to devise a scheme
to eliminate her husband. Claude said that she had asked him whether he would be willing to kill Randy.
He had basically told her no and didn't think she was serious about it. I didn't think my mom was the type to kill anybody,
so I didn't really think anything of it. She planned how to get rid of the body before she ever pulled the trigger.
Did her research, got a gun, enlisted other people to help her, and she didn't think
she was going to get caught. NARRATOR: When Women Behind Bars continues. My mom said, we've got to hide him so I don't get in trouble.
NARRATOR: By March, 2006, 39-year-old Angela Ferguson and her husband Randy were
on the brink of separation. Her teenage kids from a previous relationship claim the couple constantly fought
about the future of their four-year-old daughter, Alison. They say Angela worried about the consequences of a divorce.
She knew that Randy wasn't giving up the house nor my sister, so I think that they were just
kind of holding on for that. NARRATOR: According to police reports, the mother of five
had been having an affair with her coworker, Lamont Bush, for more than a month.
Lamont was under the assumption that Angela and Randy were separating. Angela invited him into her home.
He had moved some of his belongings into their garage. She had been arguing with Randy regarding her daughter.
He was sitting at his computer desk and she had went upstairs with a gun. She said that she never intended to shoot him,
she was waving the gun to just scare him and it went off and struck him in the head.
She kind of described it almost as being an accident. NARRATOR: Angela's four-year-old daughter, Alison,
was watching TV downstairs. Also home at the time was her 19-year-old son, Claude.
She called for her son, who was sleeping in the bedroom nearby. She had tears in her face and she told
me that she actually shot him. Randy was leaned back in his chair and there was a puddle of blood.
He said there was blood coming out of his eyes and his ears, and there was blood all over.
I broke down in tears, and my mom told me everything was going to be OK. She's like, we've got to hide him so I don't get in trouble.
I didn't want nothing to happen to her. So she asked me to help her and I did. Claude and Angela tried to get Randy downstairs.
They actually left him in the chair. As they were doing this, the chair broke. We ended up having to drag him through my mom's house,
through the kitchen, through the living room, and then out into the garage. He was put in the trunk of his car.
My brother drove my mom's car with my little sister, Alison, in the back seat. And my mom drove Randy's car with his body in the trunk.
And they dropped it off in an apartment complex. NARRATOR: The next night, detectives
believe Angela and her daughter, Lisa, dumped the vehicle in an embankment, 30 minutes
from her home. She just got out of the car and it was in drive, and she just turned the wheel and let it roll off the road.
My mom said that she had called, and I went and picked her up. I couldn't tell you if I did, I couldn't tell if I didn't.
I was going through my party stage. I don't remember. NARRATOR: Angela then went to the Sheriff's office
and reported Randy missing. She told investigators he took off during a fight about their daughter.
ANGELA (ON RECORDING): He was just pissed about everything, you know? And I was bitching at him and hollering
at him because he wasn't helping me with her hair. And he said he was going to leave,
and I told him to go ahead. She put up some flyers with his photograph. She was calling family members, trying to act like she
was upset and distraught. I didn't tell the cops or anybody about what I did because I was ashamed of myself.
I didn't want to go to jail so I just kept my mouth shut. Somebody had been jogging by and seen this car
and they called the police. The car was running. It did not appear to be a high speed impact on the vehicle,
very little damage. We found Randy's body in the trunk. There was bleach stains on his jeans.
We were just beyond ourself with grief. I mean, the trunk of a car, how inhumane.
NARRATOR: Authorities determined Randy suffered two gunshot wounds to the head. They questioned Angela, but she stuck to her story
that Randy disappeared. She wanted people to believe that she was this great wife
that loved him, and I think she thought she was going to get away with it. I think she just really started to believe that he went missing
and that nothing ever happened. She is one of the most cold hearted, callous women
I've ever talked to. She said there wasn't any problems at all in their marriage.
We canvassed Randy's neighborhood and found out that Angela had a boyfriend, Lamont.
NARRATOR: Police took Lamont into custody. We believe that Lamont was totally oblivious to everything
that was going on. NARRATOR: Based on her lies, police took a closer look at Angela.
Detectives searched her home and discovered traces of blood and a shell casing. And with that information, we were able to confront Angela.
And she admitted she shot Randy. She would only admit to firing one shot. She was confronted with the fact that he had been shot twice.
NARRATOR: Police also interviewed Claude, and learned Angela was plotting Randy's death weeks before.
I just assumed she was just venting again. And I thought it was just a joke. NARRATOR: On March 28, 2006, authorities arrested Angela
and charged her with murder. And after she went to jail, she called me and said, Kristen,
I'm so sorry. And I said, I really hope you are. And she said, I guess I didn't watch enough CSI shows.
Which is the hardest thing I ever had to hear in my life. NARRATOR: Angela's children, Claude and Lisa,
were also arrested, and charged with rendering criminal assistance for helping their mother move Randy's body.
I didn't have no involvement whatsoever. I think my mom told them that it was my gun.
And she said I picked her up. They were trying to get more out of somebody else.
I was freaking out. It was the worst feeling ever. All of the neighbors were coming out, watching me.
I didn't think I was ever going to come back. NARRATOR: While preparing for trial,
prosecutors felt they had a strong case. You've got a shot on either side of the head.
Good evidence that she wanted to kill this person. The fact that she's moving her boyfriend in,
the fact that she talked to Claude about it, were certainly good evidence of premeditation.
She was going to go to trial. She wanted to plead insanity or crime of passion. But she decided not to drag everybody through the mud.
I was outraged by that. I believe that she should have gotten life because she took a life.
I'm not this cold blooded murder that they portray on TV. I love my husband and I love Alison.
I was in the wrong for a lot of things but not what people think. Still, to this day, it's kind of a mystery
what exactly happened. But I do think, in a way, it was planned. NARRATOR: In November, 2007, 21-year-old Lisa
and 19-year-old Claude agreed to plea bargains. They received one year of probation and 10 days
on a county work crew. The current law states that if you are a relative of the person that commits a murder,
you can only be charged with a gross misdemeanor because that person has influence over you.
There is currently no age limit on this law and I am outraged by that. At age 18 you are an adult.
I'm happy with the not going to jail. I helped my mom just for the fact that she's my mom.
I am completely sorry for what I did. If it was anybody else, not related, they would have been in significant more trouble.
But just the fact the he's her son makes this a much lesser crime. I just couldn't believe that there was
a law like this on the books. And for the last four years, I've been fighting to get House Bill 1203 passed in honor of Randy.
NARRATOR: Alison is now in the custody of relatives. Angela has had no contact with her since starting
her sentence at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor. She has had counseling, I think she
now is finally sorry and finally understands what she did. She always tells me she's sorry, that she loves me,
and that she's sorry for involving me and Lisa into all this stuff. I love her because she's my mom, but I really don't really
have much respect for her.

Virginia was convicted of second degree murder in the 1993 stabbing death of 81-year-old housekeeper Clarizetta Standen. In 2006, Angela was arrested for fatally shooting her husband. She pled guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to 26 years and eight months in prison.

Brief Summary

Virginia Warden stabs her employer over a forged check; Angela Ferguson shoots her husband during a fight, involving her children in the cover-up.

Key points

Virginia Warden's Crime. Virginia Warden fatally stabs her 81-year-old employer, Clara Standen, over a forged check.
Virginia's Life After Prison. After 16 years, Virginia is released from prison and reflects on her future.
Angela Ferguson's Tragic Incident. Angela Ferguson pulls the trigger on her husband during a fight over their daughter.
Angela's Confession. Angela confessed to shooting her husband Randy, claiming it was an accident.
The Discovery of Randy's Body. Randy's body was found in the trunk of his car, leading to a police investigation.
Angela's Children Arrested. Angela's children were arrested for helping her move Randy's body after the murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I was terrified of him.

Virginia describes her fear of her son Chris.

6:22WatchSep 23, 2014

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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