Women Behind Bars in HD - Season 3, Episode 12 - Roberta, Donna, and Evelyn - Full Episode | Forensic Files

NARRATOR: On this episode of "Women Behind Bars," sisters Donna Duggins and Jeannie Moore were convicted
of attempting to have Donna's husband beaten to death with a hammer. LT. TIM LEONARD: After going in and seeing the crime scene,
the amount of blood, the way the scene looked, I remember telling the officers, we don't have a missing person,
we have a homicide. NARRATOR: Then Evelyn Jackson tells her story. She and two friends pled guilty to torturing
and drowning an acquaintance. LT. TOM DIFIORI: The whole thing was brought up by jealousy.
Two women in love with the same man. EVELYN JACKSON: The original plan was just to fight her, get her in the car, go to the back docks,
and leave here there. Never was our motives to kill this girl. NARRATOR: Three women, two brutal crimes.
These are the stories of sisters Donna Duggins and Jeannie Moore, and Evelyn Jackson.
[THEME MUSIC] Around 11 PM on May 30th, 1996, 32-year-old Donna Duggins claims she came home from picking up fast food to find
her husband missing and a gruesome trail of blood leading outside. DONNA DUGGINS: There was blood all over the house.
And I grabbed the phone and went outside, and got in my car, and stayed there until the police got there.
NARRATOR: The following morning, Donna's husband, Dean, was found dumped 30 feet off a dirt road.
DEAN DUGGINS: The policeman told me he heard something grunting like a dog and he looked down and saw me trying to get up.
NARRATOR: Dean had been bludgeoned with a hammer and left for dead. LT. TIM LEONARD: He was in his briefs and maybe a T-shirt.
He was covered in blood and crawling around in the field. NARRATOR: After a six week investigation,
35-year-old Eddie Morgan turned himself in and confessed to attempted murder. He claimed Donna and her sister, Jeannie, hired him for $1,000.
But the sisters say they knew nothing about the attack. JEANNIE MOORE: I never talked to Eddie
about doing anything to Dean. They cut a deal with him that if he put us in to helping him
that they would cut his time. LT. TIM LEONARD: We thought it was Donna's idea to kill Dean.
Donna was involved in the background of it, and getting Jeannie to do this and do this.
NARRATOR: Did Donna Duggins and her sister, Jeannie Moore, plot the murder of Dean Duggins?
Or were they implicated in a crime they did not commit? JEANNIE MOORE: My family was blessed with two of the best
parents any kids could have. That was the happiest years of my life. NARRATOR: Jeannie Moore was one of five children.
Her sister, Donna, the youngest, came along in 1964. DONNA DUGGINS: I had a great childhood.
I have no complaints. I went skating every night. And played softball. I always was doing something positive.
NARRATOR: Neither sister flourished academically. They both dropped out of high school
and were married with kids by the age of 18. JEANNIE MOORE: My first husband, he beat on me, and so I left.
I traded him my car for my kid. For my child. Then I got married again, to a drunk.
He beat me for five years. And, finally, I'd just had enough of it. All I ever wanted to do, you know,
was have somebody to love me. I took my kids and I left. DONNA DUGGINS: I wanted to get out on my own.
I think at that time I just wanted to be married and have a family. NARRATOR: In the mid 80s, Donna and Jeannie's father, Gene,
opened his own ink company in Kernersville, North Carolina, and brought the family with him.
Donna began to prosper and bought a home. But Jeannie turned to smoking pot and continued her streak of hooking up with abusive men.
RONNIE BREWER: Jeannie couldn't find a good one if she was hunting one. Every one she found was bad.
NARRATOR: One of those men, according to Ronnie, was Eddie Morgan. The 35-year-old had been arrested
several times on drug charges. RONNIE BREWER: Jeannie introduced me to him and I told her he was bad news.
You could look at him and tell he was. NARRATOR: In 1993, Donna met Dean Duggins, a handsome construction worker
in the throes of a divorce. DONNA DUGGINS: When I got with Dean we both were so amazed, because everything he liked to do,
I loved to do. And I ended up leaving my husband. He moved in with me for a year and then we got married.
And he came to work for my father. NARRATOR: But according to Donna, the marriage had its rough moments.
DONNA DUGGINS: When he was straight, he was as good as gold. He was the best person you could ever meet.
Merry Christmas! Ho-ho-ho! DONNA DUGGINS: And Happy New Year! And Happy New Year!
DONNA DUGGINS: Then, when Dean was drinking a lot, it made him a bad person. HOLLY BERRIOS: He seemed like a nice guy in the beginning.
As things kind of progressed he had a very bad temper. And when he would drink and stuff he would just get crazy.
I wasn't abusive, I did drink some. Of course, she drank some too. I wouldn't say we drank too much.
NARRATOR: The couple separated for six months, but on Valentine's Day, 1996, Dean moved back in with Donna.
DONNA DUGGINS: He said he'd settled down, and he had settled down. We both wanted to make it work.
The day that it happened, he worked late. He had asked me to go and get him something from Burger King.
He was watching a ball game. DEAN DUGGINS: Donna says she was going to Burger King.
She said, here, take this pill, you'll sleep better. And I went to bed, and the next thing I remember,
I wake up in the hospital. DONNA DUGGINS: When I came back in the house all I seen
was blood all over the kitchen floor. I didn't see Dean, I didn't see my daughter.
I ran up the stairs and went in the bedroom and there was blood everywhere. So I ran back downstairs and called the police.
It was the worse nightmare in my entire life. I called my mom's house. They thought it was my sister on the phone, Jeannie,
so they said they went to her house. LT. TIM LEONARD: I arrived on the scene about 11:15.
After going in and seeing the crime scene, the amount of blood, the way the scene looked,
I remember telling the officers, we don't have a missing person, we have a homicide.
NARRATOR: Police spent about 12 hours processing the crime scene. There was a skull fragment found on the bed and a trail of blood
from the bed to the front door and throughout the house. RONNIE BREWER: Donna was real upset about it.
She was scared because, as far as I know, she had no idea what was happening. She had a receipt from Burger King where she had went
and got their hamburgers in the kitchen, on the bar, still in the sack. NARRATOR: At about 2 AM, Detective Leonard
and other law enforcement officers questioned Donna and her family. LT. TIM LEONARD: Everybody was interviewed,
including the wife's mother. At that point, we didn't know if he had been hit with something
or if he'd even been shot. NARRATOR: Detective Leonard believed if there was foul play, Donna would be a suspect.
LT. TIM LEONARD: Based on what I saw and the time she gets up to go get something to eat, she's gone 20 minutes
and comes back to this. The fact that she called her mom before calling 911 I found suspicious also.
NARRATOR: When "Women Behind Bars" continues-- LT. TIM LEONARD: I could actually see his brain.
He has a hole in his skull where he's been hit. NARRATOR: On the night of May 30th, 1996,
32-year-old Donna Duggins came home to find her husband, Dean, missing and a house covered in blood.
Police immediately suspected a possible homicide. The next day, they interviewed the family,
including Donna and her older sister, Jeannie Moore. LT. TIM LEONARD: It was 8:00, 8:30 in the morning.
The police department gets a call from a bus driver who had seen the car sitting
on the side of the road. The officers get there. The passenger door's open but Dean's not there.
They start hearing a moaning noise and they find Dean over in a brushy field. It appeared that he was left inside the car.
At some point comes to, gets out of the car, and then just gets out into this field, falls down,
and you can see where he was just rolling around and crawling. NARRATOR: Detective Leonard arrived at the scene.
LT. TIM LEONARD: I could actually see his brain. He has a hole in his skull where he's been hit.
I couldn't believe he was still alive. The cold night is, what the doctor says, probably saved him.
NARRATOR: Dean was airlifted to the hospital in Winston-Salem. LT. TIM LEONARD: A couple of the detectives
tried to talk to him, but he couldn't talk. He was just barely conscience. There was a claw hammer, laying at the rear
of the car, which did turn out to be the weapon used. And a lot of blood in the car.
NARRATOR: Doctors believed Dean had a slim chance of surviving. DEAN DUGGINS: I lost 30% of my brain matter.
I guess it was hanging out. I broke my jaw. I lost all these bottom teeth on my left side.
NARRATOR: When Donna first saw her husband she says she was shocked. DONNA DUGGINS: His face was all swollen.
His hands were swollen. He just mumbled it. You know, kept saying, I love you. I love you.
So then I signed the papers and they did surgery on him. DEAN DUGGINS: I was in a coma for a day or two, I think.
My back was the biggest thing that bothered me. From when I was drug across the concrete.
Had to have a plate put in my head. Had to keep going back. I guess I had probably a half a dozen surgeries.
NARRATOR: But Dean had other worries besides his injuries. He says that police told him that they considered his wife,
Donna, a possible suspect. DEAN DUGGINS: I didn't want to believe it. She would come to the hospital every day
and stay there right by my side. And telling me how much she loved me. And how much she wanted me to get better and get back home.
Get back to work. DONNA DUGGINS: If I didn't want Dean he would've left. We had broke up six months before and we worked every day
and we were fine with each other. It would have been no benefit to me. I mean, there was no reason for that to happen to him.
NARRATOR: A month later, Dean was finally released from the hospital. His parents insisted that he move back home.
DONNA DUGGINS: Dean asked me, Donna, will you go to their house? I said, whatever you want to do.
So we went to his parents' house and stayed. And his daddy be sitting there on that lawn with a gun.
And he'd be jumping up and looking out the window. And while Donna was staying here
my parents slept in shifts to make sure she didn't do anything. [INAUDIBLE] NARRATOR: In June, authorities got the break
they had been waiting for. A witness told them that Jeannie's daughter bought a bus ticket for 35-year-old Eddie Morgan.
Jeannie's on-again, off-again boyfriend. LT. TIM LEONARD: Jeannie tells the witness that he's
coming up here to beat Dean up. NARRATOR: Police also learn that Jeannie took Eddie back to South Carolina
the day after the attempted murder. In light of this new information Detective Leonard
picked Jeannie up at work for further questioning. LT. TIM LEONARD: We asked her about the bus ticket
and she denied giving anybody a bus ticket. JEANNIE MOORE: They questioned me 12 hours straight.
And I kept telling them, I can't tell you what I don't know. NARRATOR: Jeannie finally admitted to purchasing
the ticket for Eddie, but she still claimed she never asked him to hurt Dean and that she took him home the day before the attack.
LT. TIM LEONARD: And she tells us nothing about what the witness had told us. That on the day after the incident, at their request,
he drove in his car. And they all took Eddie back. And come back home. NARRATOR: Six weeks after the murder attempt
and an intensive manhunt Eddie Morgan finally turned himself in to authorities. He confessed to assaulting Dean and named
Jeannie and her sister, Donna, as his accomplices. LT. TIM LEONARD: We go to the Sheriff's Department
and Eddie was there sitting on the bench, smoking a cigarette. I remember him saying, I'm ready to tell you everything I know.
I'm tired of running. I'm ready to get this over with. NARRATOR: Eddie admitted that Jeannie got him the bus ticket
and that he spent the night with her. The next morning, when Jeannie first broached the subject of attacking Dean,
Morgan said his first reaction was no. Jeannie then brought Eddie some beer for breakfast.
And vodka for lunch. LT. TIM LEONARD: By the time she gets home from work he said he's pretty drunk.
She starts telling him that Dean had been pushing Donna around at work. And Jeannie had told him, when this
is over with we'll get married. He was in love with Jeannie. I think Eddie's words were, let's go kick his ass.
DONNA DUGGINS: My sister, she might have made comments on what he was doing to me, but I do not believe she come out
and asked him. JEANNIE MOORE: I never talked to Eddie about doing anything to Dean because I didn't even know he was even
planning anything like this. NARRATOR: According to Eddie, Jeannie proceeded to drop him
off near the Duggins's house. He walked up to the residence and entered through the rear doors.
LT. TIM LEONARD: Donna's at the pool table. And, in his words, he asked, where's the [BLEEP] at?
She tells him, he's upstairs in the bed. Eddie says that he was drunk but he does remember
going into the bedroom. He's standing over Dean and hits him in the head with a hammer.
Hits him two or three times, maybe four. So him and Donna, they get Dean out of the bed,
drag him down the hall, out the back door, around to Dean's vehicle, put him in the passenger seat.
She tells Eddie, take Dean in the car and get him outta here. She says, follow Jeannie.
So he follows Jeannie to a dirt road. NARRATOR: Eddie went on to say that he abandoned the car and the two returned
to Jeannie's apartment. Detective Leonard felt that Eddie was telling the truth.
LT. TIM LEONARD: He knew what the crime scene looked like. He knew stuff that only someone there would have known.
NARRATOR: Donna and Jeannie's family say there was no evidence to support the sister's arrest.
RONNIE BREWER: They'd done a blood test on Jeannie's car because Eddie said that he had rode in Jeannie's car.
I took the car up there. There was no blood in the car. None whatsoever. LT. TIM LEONARD: I don't know how
much blood Eddie had on him. Maybe they did just get lucky. Or they cleaned it up enough that we couldn't find anything.
But we didn't find any blood evidence in her vehicle. Donna denied any involvement or anything to do with it.
We told her that Jeannie was also a suspect. And she said, I hope not but she is a liar.
And Jeannie never changed her statement. They pleaded not guilty. I never offered nobody nothing.
Or asked nobody to do harm to nobody for me. I remember seeing my mom being arrested at my grandma's house.
Walking away in handcuffs. That's a bad feeling. NARRATOR: When "Women Behind Bars" continues--
RONNIE BREWER: There was no evidence at all. No fingerprints in the car, in the house.
There was none nowhere. There was only Eddie's testimony. NARRATOR: And later-- I want every young person to look at me and say,
I don't want to end up like that. NARRATOR: On July 18th, 1997, Donna Duggins and her sister,
Jeannie Moore, were arrested for participating in the attempted murder of Donna's husband, Dean.
The third codefendant was Eddie Morgan, Jeannie's occasional boyfriend. Morgan had confessed to police and claimed the sisters
put him up to the crime. DANNY: The girls sat very quiet and motionless. It was unbelievable to think that they
were charged with this crime. JEANNIE MOORE: I didn't eat for seven days. I didn't sleep.
I didn't weigh but 95 pounds. And then, when I got up on the stand, I felt like I was going to have a stroke.
NARRATOR: The prosecution's star witness was Eddie Morgan. RONNIE BREWER: Eddie told on the stand he went in the house
and hit Dean in the head 14 times with a claw hammer. Using the claw part. DANNY: He told the whole court that he was solicited.
You could tell his story didn't have any flaws in it. He was very incriminating to the two sisters.
NARRATOR: The state maintained that Donna was the brains behind the scheme. She wanted Dean dead so that she could be with her boyfriend
and collect on a $10,000 life insurance policy. LT. TIM LEONARD: Donna had several boyfriends.
Her and Dean got separated and she had a couple of boyfriends in between that time.
DONNA DUGGINS: They showed phone records with a guy friend. I dated him when me and Dean was broke up.
He'd become a good friend to me. I didn't see him like that. NARRATOR: But the Brewer family insists
that Donna knew that she was not the beneficiary of the life insurance policy. GENE BREWER: Donna did the book work for us
and she knew that Dean had insurance. And the insurance was payable to his daddy, not to her.
NARRATOR: The prosecution also questioned Donna about the $1,000 she allegedly offered Eddie to kill Dean.
DONNA DUGGINS: They showed my bank statement which showed $1,000 taken out of my checking.
But if they would have showed my two canceled checks, they would have showed it was my house
payment and my electric bill. NARRATOR: Jeannie tried to refute testimony of the witnesses who said they drove Eddie back to South
Carolina after the assault. She admitted buying Eddie a bus ticket to restart their sporadic romance,
but she stuck to her story that she drove him back the day before Dean was hurt.
JEANNIE MOORE: I took him back Wednesday night because my kid said that he was acting crazy.
And that they didn't want him there no more. So when I got home from work I took him to his mama's
and dropped him off in front of her house. And that's the last I saw of him or talked to him.
NARRATOR: But the prosecution exhibited phone records with calls made from her home that Wednesday
evening. Jeannie countered that her niece often let herself in and used the phone.
Records also showed phone activity between the sisters. LT. TIM LEONARD: Part of the evidence that was used
was the frequent phone calls back and forth when Jeannie was telling us that they
hadn't talked on the phone. RONNIE BREWER: There was a bunch of them. But that was normal.
They might make a thousand phone calls to each other. NARRATOR: It took the jury one hour and 20 minutes
to come to a verdict. DONNA DUGGINS: The only thing I can really remember is my daughter screaming out, oh god, no.
I was shocked. RONNIE BREWER: There was no evidence at all. No fingerprints in the car.
None in the house. There was one footstep, but you couldn't tell nothing about it.
There was nothing in Jeannie's car to prove that she was even involved in it. There was only Eddie's testimony.
DEAN DUGGINS: As far as I'm concerned, she got what she deserved. You might as well say she about got life.
Cause she going to be 60-some years old when she gets out. LT. TIM LEONARD: I think Eddie should
still be in prison for what he did and his role in it. He's out after 13 years and the two girls are still locked up.
They all three should be locked up. NARRATOR: Donna and Jeannie are serving their time in
the same North Carolina prison. DONNA DUGGINS: We keep our own distance. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love her.
I have to kind of stay on her to be strong because we can't let this get us. I have a beautiful daughter waiting on me.
JEANNIE MOORE: I have to look out for both of us. Because she looks out for other people before she does herself.
NARRATOR: Their incarceration has been rough on the family. HOLLY BERRIOS: I was 14 when my mom got locked up.
I was like a lost puppy. I have a two-year-old and a 7-year-old and this is hard that she can't be there.
GENE BREWER: I've had a heart attack and three strokes in the last six or seven years.
I had to close the plants down. People quit buying from me. We spent well over $100,000 trying to get help.
JEANNIE MOORE: I've always been afraid that my daddy's going to die, you know, and I'm not going
to get to be with him again. And nobody'll know that what we was accused of, what we got
sentenced for, we didn't do. NARRATOR: Dean Duggins is still fighting to gain back all of his faculties.
He and Donna have had no contact. I had to learn how to write. Had to learn how to walk again.
And then I was having seizures but I've got a new neurologist. I think he's got me on some good medicine.
The only problem is it makes me incoherent. NARRATOR: Donna and Jeanie continue to maintain their innocence.
They wish the events of that night could have been different. DONNA DUGGINS: I'm not saying what
happened to him was right because by no means, you know, it wasn't right. And probably coming to prison saved my life.
Could you sit down and say, why? I wasn't the one doing wrong, why did it happen to me?
But, in other words, you look at it and say, well, you know, if you would have been out
there today with him, what would he have eventually done to you? NARRATOR: Next up on "Women Behind Bars," when
three girlfriends abduct a woman, it ends with a fatal beating and a drowning. When she initially hit her with the hammer
the blood shot up on my foot. And I didn't know whether to run, to scream, to help.
I was just stuck. NARRATOR: For more information about "Women Behind Bars," go to WETV.com
On December 31, 1999, the body of 20-year-old Lois Thomas was dredged up from the Little Calumet River.
Lois worked as an assistant at a day care center and had been missing for 11 days.
LT. TOM DIFIORI: She had a green cord tied around her neck. The water was so cold that it preserved her.
She looked like you were looking at her sleeping. Cause of death was determined to be strangulation and drowning.
NARRATOR: Three days before, 18-year-old Evelyn Jackson and her friends, 22-year-old Mary
Ann Arnold and 16-year-old Kathryn Amos, confessed to police. Evelyn said she was just helping Mary Ann settle
a score over a boyfriend. EVELYN JACKSON: Originally she said we were going to fight Lois because of her shooting
at her and the kids. And it was like, you're threatening this lady's kids. LT. TOM DIFIORI: Based on the fact that they
had a gun with them you could argue that they planned to kill Lois. DEBBIE BOYD: She said, if someone asked me to fight,
that's one thing she would do. She said, but killing somebody, she said, I had no idea.
LT. TOM DIFIORI: Evelyn started feeling like she'd made a big mistake and she should have never listened
to her in the first place but by then, obviously, it was too late. NARRATOR: Was the murder of Lois Thomas
a premeditated event by Mary Ann, Evelyn, and Kathryn? Or was it a fight that got out of hand?
The main thing that stands out with when I was a kid was the relationship I have with my brothers.
We had to lean on each other for everything. She was spoiled. She was very spoiled.
I couldn't move. I literally could not move without her on my heels. I want my mommy.
NARRATOR: At age 5, Evelyn says she accidentally started a house fire by burning
a string of her new coat. Her older sister was trapped and could not be rescued.
The tragedy would plague Evelyn for the rest of her life. EVELYN JACKSON: My sister died from smoke inhalation.
And over the years I have blamed myself for her death. NARRATOR: Evelyn's parents later separated
and she became the caretaker for her younger brother. EVELYN JACKSON: Even though I was so young
I was the protector. I feel it's my responsibility to take care of the dirty work.
I feel it's just in me to do that. NARRATOR: Still, Evelyn hungered for a greater
sense of belonging. EVELYN JACKSON: The first time that I actually got involved with a gang I was 13 years old.
I think maybe I was looking for a tight-knit family. It's the respect that you get from the other gang members.
NARRATOR: The teenager continued to grieve for her older sister. EVELYN JACKSON: I believe that's what kinda
triggered me to start using drugs and drinking to numb that pain. Once I started smoking marijuana I didn't stop until the day
I got arrested. I started selling marijuana at 15. And then I started selling cocaine.
NARRATOR: Evelyn's hard-and-fast lifestyle led to a pregnancy by 17. We both were crying.
I didn't understand. You know, why would you do this to yourself? I say, you knew that this is the same road I took.
And I didn't want this to happen to you. NARRATOR: The expectant mother gave up the drug trade.
But after her son was born she went back to using. DEBBIE BOYD: She felt like my mom always taught me, it's
no more Evelyn, it's the baby. So basically she got her own place. EVELYN JACKSON: Not only was I taking care of my youngest
brother but now I have a son. So my natural instinct was to go back and start selling drugs again.
I think I probably had made a good $1500 a week. The money was more addictive than anything.
NARRATOR: Evelyn and her baby would sometimes share the apartment with 16-year-old Kathryn Amos.
EVELYN JACKSON: Kathryn, she stayed with me off and on. We shopped together. We got our hair done together.
Things that sisters would do. And I kind of protected her in some ways too. We did everything side by side.
We was like Bonnie and Clyde. NARRATOR: The two would also spend time with 22-year-old Mary Ann Arnold.
According to a police report, the single mother of three was receiving public assistance and served food
at a nursing home. EVELYN JACKSON: In a way, Mary Ann did step in to be that big sister that I didn't have.
So it was like I was getting the big sister role from Mary Ann and a little sister role from Kathy.
NARRATOR: Evelyn finally seemed to have found her chosen family but everything would soon fall apart.
In the late fall of 1999, Evelyn's new sister, Mary Ann, and Mary Ann's boyfriend, Al Covington,
were in the process of breaking up. AL COVINGTON: Me and Mary Ann, we were separated
for a couple of months. I had decided to move back to the house with my parents and left her the house with the kids.
NARRATOR: And there was another bone of contention between Mary Ann and Al Covington,
20-year-old Lois Thomas. One of Mary Ann's cousins had told Mary Ann that they seen
me at the movies with Lois. Lois was someone that everyone wanted to be around. She was very beautiful.
She was just a close friend and everything. NARRATOR: Lois was studying for a degree in childhood education
and worked at a day care center. ERICA WHITEHEAD: She's a pretty girl. That's what I called her.
She's a pretty girl. Couldn't ask for a better assistant. She worked very well with everybody.
LT. TOM DIFIORI: Lois Thomas had a job. No criminal record. Very good relationship with her mother and her family.
And seemed to be a really good kid. NARRATOR: According to Evelyn, Mary Ann complained
that Lois was harassing her. She didn't say exactly why, she just said that it has something to do with Al.
Mary Ann told me she had an altercation with this lady at the gas station and that this lady had actually
shot at her and her kids. And then she tells me like a week after that that Lois and her friends were outside of her apartment
threatening her and throwing bottles at her apartment and stuff. So it's like, you're threatening these kids again.
LT. TOM DIFIORI: I believe that Lois Thomas may have been dating Albert. I don't think that they had a serious relationship,
but I think they had some contact with each other. And I think that threw Mary over the edge.
EVELYN JACKSON: She said that Lois has tried to hurt her kids. And when you threaten kids somebody has to defend them.
Because Mary Ann is so little and she's so scared. And she's not used to the street life.
She felt that I could protect her. The night before the incident happened I stayed up all night selling drugs trying to get
the money together for my rent. And while I'm up, I'm constantly smoking weed. I'm constantly drinking.
NARRATOR: The following morning, Evelyn says she awoke to Mary Ann's frantic pleas for help.
EVELYN JACKSON: She was telling me like, we can go catch her right now before she goes to work and fight
her in the back of her house. But don't forget your gun because she had a gun the last time.
NARRATOR: Evelyn claimed she was punchy from lack of sleep and alcohol and wasn't
thinking things through. EVELYN JACKSON: Automatically, I go and grab my gun. Myself, Mary Ann, and Kathryn, we got in her car
and we went to the girl's house. And we sat there for maybe 20 minutes and she came out.
LT. TOM DIFIORI: We were told that Lois Thomas walked out to her vehicle to warm up the car
before she went to work. At that point, Mary Arnold, Evelyn Jackson, and Kathryn Amos approached Lois Thomas's vehicle at gunpoint.
And took her out and put her into the back seat of Mary Arnold's vehicle. They drove around and made their way to the boat launch
in Chicago. NARRATOR: When "Women Behind Bars" continues-- LT. TOM DIFIORI: Mary Arnold was using an electrical cord
to choke Lois Thomas while at the same time using a hammer to strike her on her head.
EVELYN JACKSON: I had to keep going with this because this is a lifestyle that I would portray,
so I have to-- I have to stick to it. NARRATOR: On the morning of December 20th, 1999,
22-year-old Mary Ann Arnold rounded up 16-year-old Kathryn Amos and 18-year-old Evelyn Jackson.
According to Evelyn, Mary Ann wanted help to rough up Lois Thomas, the woman she considered a rival for her boyfriend, Al Covington.
LT. TOM DIFIORI: The whole thing was brought up by jealousy. Two women in love with the same man.
NARRATOR: Evelyn says she took her gun along to protect her friend, Mary Ann. Me and Mary Ann were not the best of friends
but we were good friends. We hung out almost every day. All I wanted to do was help Mary Ann to defend herself.
And they were just going to scare her. That's all it was supposed to be. NARRATOR: A little before 7:00 AM,
the three arrived at the victim's apartment and waited to jump her. LT. TOM DIFIORI: Lois was warming up her car.
This is where they took her at gunpoint and put her in the back seat of their vehicle
and drove around, beating her. Mary Arnold was driving. And in the back seat was Lois Thomas.
On each side of her was Evelyn Jackson and Kathryn Amos. Lois tried to grab the gun from me.
And when she grabbed the gun it went off. Shot the driver's side window out. Then that's when Mary Ann pulled behind a church.
She got in the backseat and I got in the front seat. NARRATOR: With Evelyn at the wheel,
the group then headed to a nearby forest. EVELYN JACKSON: The original plan was just
to fight her, get her in the car, go to the back docks of the Little Calumet River,
and leave her there. Never was our motives to kill this girl. LT. TOM DIFIORI: Once they get to the boat launch
I think Mary Arnold has some idea of what she plans on doing. Evelyn understands that it's probably not going
to be a good outcome for Lois. This is the Little Calumet River where it passes the Beaubien woods.
It's also known for the boat launch that's here. It can be secluded, especially this time of year
when it's so cold. You can see the ice is probably anywhere from five to six inches thick.
NARRATOR: When they reached the docks the three girls forced Lois out of the car and down
into the icy river. LT. TOM DIFIORI: They would have gone down into the rocks and made Lois walk through the boulders and the glass,
with no shoes on, until they got far enough down. Mary, holding a cane, ordered Lois into the water.
EVELYN JACKSON: The water was only knee deep. It wasn't even that deep of water.
Mary Ann and Lois are arguing. And me and Kathy are sitting there like, man, it's cold out here.
Let's go. [INAUDIBLE] arguing because I don't even remember exactly what was being said.
Mary Ann jumps in the water with her. And they're kind of tussling a little bit and then Lois gets away.
And she walks down farther. NARRATOR: Mary Ann began beating Lois with the cane.
According to court documents the three women returned to the vehicle. EVELYN JACKSON: So I'm like, man, forget it.
Let's just leave this girl here. Let's go I've got to get back home to my son. NARRATOR: Evelyn claims Mary Ann had other ideas.
She says her friend pulled out a bag containing a hammer, knife, cord, and a string
of Christmas lights. Kathryn's testimony states that Evelyn and Mary Ann then walked back to the bank of the river
where Lois was attempting to escape. I wanted to help that girl so bad. I really did.
I helped Lois out of the water. Then Mary Ann jumps up and grabs her from behind.
Pulls her down to the ground. Lois is holding on to me so I'm almost falling. So I let go.
Then Mary Ann pulls the Christmas string lights out of her pocket and she was like, tie this in a knot.
I didn't know what she was going to do with it. I didn't know if she was going tie her hands.
I didn't know if she was going tie her feet. Because she was kicking and screaming trying to fight back.
So I tied it and I gave it to her. I didn't know she was going to put it around her neck.
I have to speculate that the main reason Evelyn didn't stop Mary was because whatever that friend wants you to do
you basically do it because you have that tight of a relationship. EVELYN JACKSON: I didn't stop Mary Ann
because I didn't know exactly what she might do to me. And I didn't want to feel like I was being a snitch.
It was like I had to keep going with this because this is a lifestyle that I portray.
LT. TOM DIFIORI: Mary Arnold was using the electrical cord to choke Lois Thomas while at the same time
using a hammer to strike her on her head. When she initially hit her with the hammer,
the blood shot up on my foot. And it creeped me out. And I didn't know whether to run, to scream, to help.
I was just stuck. NARRATOR: Lois fell into the water. According to court documents Mary Ann followed
continuing to attack her. Finally, she grabbed a rock and dropped it on Lois's head.
LT. TOM DIFIORI: I think Mary Arnold's anger just sort of festers as she's dealing with Lois.
And, ultimately, kills her. NARRATOR: The victim lay motionless in the water with the cord around her neck.
EVELYN JACKSON: It was never discussed that this lady was going to lose her life.
If Mary Ann had said, well, I want to go kill this girl. You do it by yourself 'cause I ain't going.
NARRATOR: Evelyn and Mary Ann returned to the car and the three friends drove away.
That morning of the 20th of December we had a field trip. And Lois wasn't at work.
There was a phone call placed and her mom went to go see if her car had left. And that's when she found the car was running.
And one of the doors were open. LT. TOM DIFIORI: I think Lois Thomas's brother made the 911 call.
We were told by the family that there was an argument between Mary Arnold and Lois Thomas.
We'd spoke with Mary Arnold she really sort of gave us the impression that they were
actually pretty good friends. That threw us off the trail of her being a suspect.
NARRATOR: Police continued their search for Lois. A few days later they received a confidential tip
that the three friends had been talking about the murder. LT. TOM DIFIORI: It was sort of a domino effect
where Kathryn Amos broke down, and then Evelyn Jackson broke down, and then we used that to go
pick up Mary Ann Arnold. Mary Ann Arnold was definitely the brains of the outfit.
I mean, she was the big sister figure for the other two. And when I initially admitted to my involvement in everything
it was like a release. Because that entire week I would be sitting and I would see Lois's face in my closet.
But I still feel guilty because I should have told something. LT. TOM DIFIORI: During the days of the rescue efforts
there would have been law enforcement vehicles from one end to the other. ERICA WHITEHEAD: A group of us, coworkers, some family members,
we actually went to the scene. We were just looking for any type of clues. Even Lois's mom went out to the riverside.
She held her composure very well. Her mission that day was to find her daughter.
LT. TOM DIFIORI: The weather was extremely cold. Near below zero. And the divers were using saws, pick axes, and scuba equipment
to break through the ice. They were literally submerged in the icy water. We really felt that there was more of an importance
to recover this body for the family so they could finally have some peace. NARRATOR: 11 days after Lois was killed a team of divers pulled
her frozen body from the river. The autopsy findings showed that she died of strangulation with drowning
as a significant factor. ERICA WHITEHEAD: Lois's mom was devastated. She was heartbroken.
KEVIN CUNNINGHAM: Initially, all three of the girls pled not guilty. However, very early on in the case,
Kathryn Amos was able to negotiate a deal because most of the violence occurred down at the riverside
and the facts did support her side of the story, which was that she stayed up by the car
at that time. The state had enough evidence to prove the murder charges and the aggravated kidnapping charges
against all three girls. But the state wanted to solidify their position against Evelyn
and against Mary Ann. And, in order to do that, they were interested in the testimony of Kathryn Amos.
NARRATOR: According to state's evidence, Kathryn corroborated the story that Mary
Ann strangled and beat Lois while Evelyn was nearby. Faced with Kathryn's damaging statement,
Mary Ann Arnold pled guilty. She was sentenced to 80 years without the possibility
of parole. Evelyn Jackson also pled guilty. The judge ordered her to serve 45 years.
KEVIN CUNNINGHAM: The plea agreement on Evelyn's case was done to avoid the possibility
of a more harsh sentence. Two things make her, in the judge's eyes, more culpable than Kathryn.
Evelyn introduced the gun into the equation. And Evelyn, also, is alleged to have
been the one who tied the Christmas lights into a knot. EVELYN JACKSON: My heart fell in my shoe
when they told me I was being in prison for 45 years. Because I had faith that I was going home.
Because I knew that my actions had not caused this girl's life. KEVIN CUNNINGHAM: Evelyn always maintained
that she did not know it was a murder and that she did not want to participate anymore when it seemed that Mary was escalating the violence.
It would have been different if she was sitting out in the vehicle not having any involvement
with what took place there. She may have gotten a better break. But she was right there at the scene
where the murder took place so she was definitely culpable. NARRATOR: Evelyn is serving her 45 years
at Dwight Correctional Center. EVELYN JACKSON: I got my GED within the first eight
months I was here. I've gotten my certificate in advanced computer technology, and business management.
I started beauty school because I love to do hair. NARRATOR: The 28-year-old is currently appealing her case.
EVELYN JACKSON: My son, he's only 11 years old. He's my strength to keep trying to find different avenues
to get out of here. NARRATOR: Evelyn now believes that Lois never pulled a gun on Mary Ann.
She has a message for young girls everywhere. EVELYN JACKSON: I had to do this show
and speak out so those that may see theyself going down the line of life that I lived.
Please stop. I want every young person to look at me and say, I don't want to end up like that.
I have to apologize to my family. I have to apologize to Lois's family for putting them through that.
I don't want nobody to end up like me. And I will never stop fighting.

Roberta and Donna along with Roberta's on-again/off-again boyfriend were convicted for the 1996 attempted murder of Donna's husband. In 1999, Evelyn with two friends kidnapped, tortured and murdered a woman. She was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Brief Summary

Sisters Donna Duggins and Jeannie Moore plotted to murder Donna's husband, while Evelyn Jackson was involved in the murder of Lois Thomas over jealousy.

Key points

Brutal Crime Scene Discovery. Donna Duggins finds her home covered in blood and her husband missing.
Confession of Eddie Morgan. Eddie Morgan confesses to the attack and implicates the sisters.
Trial and Testimony. Eddie's testimony becomes crucial in the sisters' trial, leading to their conviction.
The Murder of Lois Thomas. Lois Thomas, a beloved daycare worker, was found dead after a brutal attack by three women.
Evelyn's Tragic Past. Evelyn Jackson reflects on the tragic fire that claimed her sister's life, haunting her ever since.
The Turning Point. Evelyn and her friends planned to confront Lois, but things escalated to violence.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I never talked to Eddie about doing anything to Dean.

Jeannie Moore denies involvement in the plot against Dean.

2:27WatchSep 23, 2014

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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