Women Behind Bars - Season 1, Episode 5 - Delpha and Carmen - Full Episode | Forensic Files

on this episode of women behind bars one woman was convicted of ruthlessly murdering her husband
there's some rope cord and they put it around mr sponaugle's neck and they each take
one end of the rope to begin to pull didn't have anything to do with it i was a bystander then carmen ortiz
tells her story she was an accomplice in a senseless killing for drugs he was like oh my god i think i you know
killed somebody the next thing i know he's lungering at me trying to cut my my face or stab me in
the neck with a knife two women two brutal crimes these are the stories of delfa spunago
and carmen ortiz [Music] [Music] on august 20th 1993 police discovered the badly decomposed body of 40 year old
dennis bounagle in a creek bed 50 feet from county line [Music] road it looked like the body was moving and
boiling it was so covered with insect and maggots to kill somebody is bad enough
but to torture that poor man for for four hours or so the way he was tortured was was unforgivable
[Music] investigators arrested two people including 44 year old delfa spoonagle dennis's wife and accused her of
orchestrating his murder there's no way she could have helped assist in killing anybody she just
well she she couldn't have was delphas bunagal forced to participate in the gruesome murder of
her husband or did she scheme to have him killed for money [Music] delfa bond grew up in southeastern
oklahoma as the youngest of four sisters had a very supportive family and a a normal normal childhood
[Music] all four girls would be in the kitchen and they would be laughing and and you know it's just the happiest
atmosphere that you could you want to be around i was the baby family and i was spoiled by my sisters and my parents
in fact delfa became the apple of her father's eye he cared so much for her because
he was proud of her at school she was smart and got everything and well she was just always a loving caring kid
by the time delpha reached high school she had blossomed into an attractive and popular young lady
she was a beautician the boys in her class they all just loved her one of those boyfriends became delpha's
first love i was a junior in high school his name was gary he was very good looking
charming everything that you want in the high school sweetheart after graduating as valedictorian of her
high school class delpha enrolled in cosmetology school and married gary i was rather spoiled so i i was used to
having things my way of course when you get married things change but i didn't change with it
at age 21 after just three years of marriage delpha filed for divorce i couldn't have
children and that just pretty well set this home for the marriage i asked him to move out delfa married
two more times and eventually had two children a boy and a girl after eight years of
marriage to her third husband she divorced again i loaded up my car baby bed and all and took off
went and moved to another town everywhere i moved my dad would build me a beauty shop
so i wouldn't have to get out of the house i think she was looking for someone like her dad you know a
father-like figure and you know someone that loved kids and and worked hard and was concerned about
family and none of those fit the spot so my life went on just like it was had more responsibility with two kids
but it was worth it she hated the fact that she was married as many times as she was
she felt embarrassed she was still hunting for the right person that would compliment her life then
when delpha was 36 years old she met 32 year old dennis bonago he was good-looking he was quiet
he was hard-working he was everything that i was looking for at the time in 1986
the couple married he just told me that she said i'm going to make this work no matter what i don't
ever want to think that i'm just jumped from marriage to marriage to marriage and never satisfied
he was just the perfect husband he was real good to my family and he was just a good man i thought
the couple started a silk screening business and bought a home in edmond but when her father died in 1988 delpha
says dennis started drinking heavily and physically abusing her he had gotten drunk
several times before that but had never done anything i think he was afraid of my father so he
never did never delay hand on me until after my dad had died delpha recalls the first time dennis
allegedly hit her he came home dry one evening and he proceeded to start hitting on me i was
in shock when it happened to add insult to injury delpha says dennis was also having an
affair with a barmaid i went to the bar one time with her to see if she was really in there and and
where she was and with this girl and she said let's just leave him alone so there's nothing to do about it
but according to the police rather than walk away from another failing marriage delpha hatched a deadly plan to get rid
of her fourth husband with a man named charles holy cross mr holocaust was a friend of both
spinals and told him that basically made the comment in to mr spanon if you ever heard delphi
i'll hurt you back it was a comment just made off the cuff according to mr holy cross
delphi then contacted holy cross later and said are you serious about that would you you know would you kill the
dentist for a thousand dollars she had told mr holy cross at that point that she had already paid another man
five hundred dollars to kill sponaugle but that man had just ran off with her money
mr holy cross told her no he doesn't want any part of this she contacted him a second time and
offered him a cut of the life insurance money if he would kill mr spinach no i'm not interested i'm not going to
do that leave me alone delfa denies approaching charles holy cross i had made up my mind that i was going
to make this one work regardless of what but i endured because i was into things we had a real
nice house we had a swimming pool and a motor home so i thought well maybe it was time that i
took a little bit of the bad stuff in with the good but the cracks in the marriage were
becoming increasingly visible to outsiders and so was the alleged physical abuse i
just begged her to leave him but she was scared of him she said he threatened her for if she
ever did it he'd look her up anywhere she went when women behind bars continues she
tells him dennis has to die we have to do this he got out of hand and he ended up
killing me by august of 1993 delphas bounagle's fourth marriage to dennis bounagle was rapidly
deteriorating delpha was in a marriage she didn't want to be in the business the family business was
struggling she wanted to be rid of dennis and start anew there was a 150 000 insurance
life insurance on dentist and there's also evidence to indicate that there was a stormy marriage
she described dennis as being an abuser but my opinion was she was doing it to collect life insurance
she knew exactly what she wanted to do she knew the people that she could use to get this done she
had tried on two times prior to have dennis killed police say a determined alpha made plans
for a third attempt to get rid of her husband this time she approached edwin woodward
an acquaintance who called himself david my husband met him at a bar and he didn't have a place to stay so he
brought him home and let him stay in our motor home for a couple of days until he found a
place to live mr woodward worked for the spinaugles in their t-shirt business he was
in a relationship with delpha sponaugle they were quite close there's some indication that there's some
romantic time between the two defendants well we're best friends [Music] with stays in this room we have happy
moments [Music] i don't think she was in love with woodward but she knew she had a
flunky that would do whatever she told him to do delfa denies any romantic involvement
with edwin woodward also known as david he was the town drunk woodward at this point in his life
was an alcoholic [Music] and he basically did whatever delfa told him to do she tells him to go
wait in the motorhome she later then comes back out ask him to come in the house
tells him you know dennis has to die we have to do this you know i want you to kill him we'll be together
you know plays on his emotions there was a door that was left unlocked or there was a
a method by which mr woodward would be able to enter the house spinaugh is asleep in the master bedroom
woodward then strikes sponaugle in the head with a baseball bat practically severing the ear offside
his head mr spanego lost consciousness for a brief period of time but he didn't die mr sponaugle
gets up in a fight then ensues between woodward and smanova mr spanago's fighting for his life at this point and
he is able to gain control of woodward who drops the bat delpha then comes around picks the bat
up herself and hits mr spinagle on the back of the head woodward then obtains a knife and begins
to stab mr spinach the medical examiner's report revealed multiple stab wounds none of them lethal it is estimated the
attack went on for four torturous hours he knows what he's doing but his heart's not really in to
stabbing mr sponaugle but mr spanogle still won't die at this point mr sponaugle makes it out
of bed and is crawling on his hands knees out in the hallway according to woodward delfa finally
ordered him to retrieve a piece of rope from the garage he brings some rope in they put it
around mr sponaugle's neck and they each take one end of the rope and begin to pull
at that point mr spinal dies delpha tells a very different story one that begins with her husband coming home
at 2 a.m on a night when the children were away with family delpha says dennis was drunk and forgot
to lock the front door soon after he passed out after we went to bed i heard this loud noise and david
hit dennis in the head with the bad and he had told me prior to this that he was going to teach dennis a lesson
for abusing me he got out of hand and he ended up killing me but authorities believe
delfa was in charge every step of the way even organizing the disposal of her husband's
body they wrap dennis's body in the blanket they drive west till they get to this location to
this low water bridge and delphi basically tells him stop here she tells him then to dump the body
detectives also theorized that delpha wanted the body to be found without it there would be no insurance
money delpha had planned ahead of time she knew that she was going to have to report him missing
and that's when delphi directed him to go back down and reposition the body because it couldn't be seen
very easily from the edge of the bridge after they dump the body they'd drive back they're going to go
back to the house he later tells us delphi gave him a 20 bill to go in buy a 12 pack of beer and
let him keep the change that was all he ever gained out of the homicide itself delphi described herself as powerless
and terrified that she might be next he drives back tells me that if i tell anyone that he'll kill me and my kids
so i didn't tell anyone police point to evidence showing that delpha went to great lengths to cover up the crime
in the days that followed the blood-spattered hallway and bedroom were repainted
and the carpets professionally cleaned delpha also filed a false missing persons
report i want them to know that he's missing he's out there i couldn't say hey he's under a bridge
dead because i feared for my kid's life [Music] friday afternoon at four o'clock we got
a call from the our kansas city police department or kansas city kansas they had received information from an
informant that edwin woodward had been up there and he made statements how he'd been
involved in a killing in edmond so we begin searching missing persons sunday afternoon when the news reports
that the county sheriff's office has located a body it's unidentified and it's rest of our city
the amount of insect activity on this body was horrendous he'd been here for a while in august
and he was he was being totally consumed it wouldn't have been too much longer with all we would have had would been a
skeletal remains woodward had to work his way down pull him back and the medallion fell
off and that's where the good lord intervened and made sure there was a clue left for us
woodward was brought in for questioning [Music] if you're gonna be honest at that point woodward broke down and
then began to tell us how at her suggestion planning carried out the homicide of mr
spanaugle [Music] and at that point everything just went totally authorities wasted no time in contacting
delpha spoonagle they called to ask me if i would come to the police station talk to him and they said they'd found
dennis's body so i was relieved so i go in and they start telling me that dave they had
arrested him and he confessed to killing dennis and he told him that i had asked him to do it
i was shocked at his interpretation i didn't have anything to do with it i was a bystander
and a victim as far as it all goes both delpha and woodward were arrested on charges of first-degree murder
and conspiracy to commit murder delpha was also charged with solicitation to commit murder
this was such a horrendous crime right they beat him with baseball bats they stabbed him they
strangled him and then took him out and dumped his body out and borrowed ditch where it would not be
found for several days i couldn't i think any punishment that would be adequate in a case like this
other than the death penalty mr macy was known as a law order a district attorney
no frills no thrills he's in his opinion from the public interest he sought justice in this case he felt justice was
putting both individuals on death row i also wanted to send a message out to other women in oklahoma county
but if you want to get rid of your husband the proper place is in the divorce courts
when women behind bars continues it was a big shock i came back with the death penalty
and later in the program a robbery turns to murder he was like oh my god i think i killed
somebody yeah he was shaking and i'm like oh my god and we was both scared so we started
doing more drugs in february of 1995 delfa spoonagle was on trial for the murder of her husband
dennis bounagle based on the evidence presented and prosecutors argument the delpha's motive
was to collect the proceeds from dennis's life insurance the jury convicted delfa and her
co-defendant edward woodward of first-degree murder the case was well put together
well investigated all the questions that had been asked been answered the evidence was just
overwhelming that these two people had committed this horrible murder and my response was
to go ahead and try to get the most severe punishment i can woodward was given life without parole
delva received the death penalty and became the seventh woman ever on oklahoma's death row
they never gave her a chance to tell her story she never got on up on the stand the
lawyer would he wouldn't even hardly ask questions she had a large amount of family they
thought that she would go home they actually had brought a change of clothes for her
well i just thought i wasn't going to live i just thought i was just going to pass out there right then when i heard
it so it was a big shock and i came back with the death penalty i never dreamed i could end up in
something like that even if dennis was not a good husband he didn't deserve to be beaten stabbed
and choked to death and tossed off a bridge on april 10th 1995 delfa was transferred
to the maximum security prison mabel bassett correctional center in mcleod oklahoma
where she began serving her sentence on death row death draw was the most frightening
thing i'd ever been through when i got there two women had been there nine years one had been there six
one had been there fourteen so i just knew that all i had looked forward to was death there was nothing
to do except sit and think about everything we reached out to her family even more her kids
we stick together even through the rough stuff we'll stand by and continue to love her
more not less of what happened and i had turned against god because i thought how did he let this happen to me
you know and i realized he was all that could help me and i turned my life over to him
two years after the original verdict the state court of criminal appeals overturned delpha's conviction
the court gave delpha the opportunity to again stand trial i wanted to go back to trial so that my
side of the story could come out because i never was able to take the stand before it had been five years since i
had touched my kids and there was hope you know then i've been able to hug and love them
again but in october 1998 delphi chose not to stand trial my attorney advised me not to she said
you've got the same d.a and the same judge there were the chances of getting the death penalty again
instead she pled guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a life sentence without parole
so she talked me into taking a plea bargain and i i didn't realize how long life that was
delphi got life without parole and she would be in prison the rest of her life but i still wanted
her held accountable seriously accountable for the crime she committed i still think death was the appropriate
punishment however she's going to be she's got life without parole so she should never be paroled
and she's locked up with the meanest women in the world after 14 years behind bars delpha says
she's used to the routine start my day get dressed in the morning clean my room go out and help clean the pod spend the
afternoon either reading or listening to my radio in the evenings i watch tv weekly visits at the prison with her
extended family and her children provide a solid support system we're closer than we ever have been
i have a three-year-old granddaughter she's a light of my life still delpha's incarceration has taken
its toll on her family it's hard to know that she's not with her kids she's not able to be in her
granddaughter's life she's not here to help her mother i hope and pray someday that she will get out of there
she don't deserve to even be in there and everybody practically knows that i regret not not reporting it
i should have done that the day it happened that's my biggest regret delfa still proclaims her innocence and
scoffs at the notion that she killed her husband for insurance money i thought it's ridiculous cause a
hundred thousand dollars in much money not for the debts that we had i think she made a cold-blooded decision to burn
her husband to get the insurance she gambled she lost i think she ought to be in the river
today the rest of her life in the penitentiary the one thing i'd like to say is that
you never can tell when you'll be the one behind the bars so live your life as if it's the last
day live it to the fullest when women behind bars continues i didn't think about the family anything
about my god or anything but nobody you know just i want to get high for more information
about women behind bars go to www.wetv.com on march 23 1998 a polish immigrant anthony rafalo was robbed and stabbed to
death on a street corner at 2 30 a.m somewhat close to the scene they found a large 14 inch knife
in the days that followed a rash of similar armed robberies terrorized the neighborhood
when police finally arrested eswaldo gonzalez for the crimes they learned he had an accomplice carmen
ortiz a 26 year old mother and heroin addict who denied taking part in the killings
she knew that he had a knife she knew that he was going to do an armed robbery and she agreed to act as a lookout she's
just as guilty of the murder as volvo was carmen a desperate junkie who simply witnessed the crime
or did she knowingly help commit a senseless murder [Music] yeah i was too happy growing up i was
um just wow you know once i got to age 12 i was just running wild she was hanging out with
her boyfriend and you know just doing the wrong things at that age carmen ortiz's family lived on the north
side of chicago in a diverse area known as logan square the neighborhood had a very unique mix
because we had gang activity as well as we had family living here polish immigrants hispanics all within
the same area we grew up very poor but we were close the oldest of six children carmen always had a special
bond with her younger sister evelyn it's like me and her best friends you know she
would tell me everything i would tell her everything we would never judge each other
i kind of wanted to be like her at one point because i thought she was so cool outgoing very spontaneous she's
she was the leader of the pack in high school carmen learned she was pregnant and had to face grown-up realities at
age 15 when i got pregnant it was hard for me i was i was a little girl she dropped
out of school to raise her daughter jasmine with long-time boyfriend carlos my sister was so
loving to her daughter well i remember since i was little she was a very very good mom we did
everything together we talked and she was affectionate very affectionate with me
but carmen admits she juggled the demands of motherhood with a partying lifestyle
in which she acquired new bad habits i started using drugs and i just didn't know how to stop i
smoke weed and snoring pain at that age when her drug use graduated to heroin carmen's life began a rapid downward
spiral i really got hooked to heroin when i was 24 and that's when my life changed
[Music] she became addicted as hard as anybody i've ever seen i was trying to get high to forget the
problems and i was like happy and then once the word off i'd be sad again and you know the heroin
addiction put a strain on carmen's relationship with jasmine's father they argued a lot my father he wanted
her so you know to stop using drugs you couldn't take it anymore so he just left
other friends and family became alarmed at the drastic change in carmen you know i was scared i was scared you
know because i didn't understand it i was like you know she's a whole different person so you
looked at her you could not even recognize her and she was real thin her face was
sunken in and she had broken out she was itching everywhere wasn't talking straight it wasn't her
carmen states that her drug habit became all-consuming and she pulled away from everyone we
just kind of judged carmen at the time and you know we accused her you're not taking care of your daughter
what the heck is going on in your apartment you know what you know why don't you clean this place
i didn't think about the family anything about my daughter i didn't think about nobody you know just i want to get
high i want to do this i was angry at her because [Music] i knew that wasn't her
[Music] she was a different person and i just felt it carmen met oswaldo gonzalez at a party
in january of 1998. he was a former gang member and also addicted to drugs just you know hanging out
and stuff getting high morning moon at night yeah i knew right away that he was he was going to bring my mom to a lot of
trouble espalda was a heroin addict he had no compunction about using force to get
what he wanted to feed his heroin addiction carmen's daughter says her mother routinely disappeared for hours with
oswaldo i used to be scared for her i used to think that that she would be dead at night
jasmine's father finally took full custody of the 10 year old and jasmine moved in with him
carmen regrets that not even losing her daughter could break the stranglehold drugs had on her
i was just i don't know i was just lost i didn't i wasn't thinking right you know my mind was just gone
carmen's sister evelyn didn't know how far gone her sister was until she came face to face with her in
front of a local restaurant i'm sitting in my car and i see someone trying to approach me but it's kind of
common in logan square where people would do stuff like that they want to come up to you and ask you
for spare change i was walking and i was trying to get some drugs you know this person is coming up to me with a hoodie
and i don't see this person's face but when it gets close to my car i noticed that it was my sister
carmen asking me for change i see my sister and just like my heart dropped i was like
man i said carmen what are you doing and it you know i started crying there and she
cried and i got out of my car and i just wanted to hug her and and so i knew i know it was time
for me to stop judging her like she wanted to help me and hug me and i didn't want her to see me like that so
i was just like trying to brush her off you know she says i'm sorry emily i love
you i'm sorry and she walked away so fast [Music] over the next few days evelyn says she
drove up and down logan square until she found her sister again so i took carmen in
to my apartment i gave her clean clothes and a clean towel and i cooked her favorite dish i made
her bed i did go to her house but then i left because i just wanted to go and get him
carmen returned to the streets where she and oswaldo needed quick cash to buy drugs
we started um doing robberies i mean the usual robbery back then 70 bucks 50 bucks 100 bucks i mean
relatively low amount of money but it was enough to buy six bags of heroin that carmen claims was her daily habit
a lot of their robberies happen in a two to four block radius from their apartment which is directly
behind us over on sawyer police files state that oswaldo armed himself with a butcher knife
hidden up his sleeve he also preferred to target polish or hispanic immigrants along milwaukee avenue in the chicago
neighborhood they won't complain to the police they're robbed because they're afraid of
getting deported carmen recalls that at 10 p.m on march 22nd oswaldo accosted a man outside of a
blockbuster while she stood nearby but the victim ran away the pair grew more desperate as they
walked up and down the strip around 2 30 in the morning carmen says oswaldo pointed out their next victim
he seen this man standing at the corner store i'm so i think he was drunk a little bit
what she was supposed to do was stand on the corner look out for the police if she spots the police or someone coming
to yell to mosfaldo i was waiting across the street he told me to wait and i looked over
there and um he was fighting with ozzie and i'm looking around the streets you know
for cops so you know people i was wallow stab this guy in the stomach and he dies there right in the
sidewalk the guy fell on the floor so i was like oh my god well what happened what you do
to him he's like nothing nothing come on let's go let's go when women behind bars continues
carmen's partner assaults a judge the next thing i know he's flunk he's lungering at me
trying to cut my my face or stab me in the neck with a knife the knife was a long knife
[Music] in march of 1998 two heroin junkies carmen ortiz and oswaldo gonzalez went on an armed robbery spree to pay
for their drugs on the streets of chicago one of the robberies went terribly wrong
and ended in the murder of a family man who had recently immigrated to america from poland
as wallow stab this guy in the stomach i mean that's painful injury and he dies there right in the sidewalk
it stayed in my mind that he was on the floor this image right there just stayed in my mind
police records show that oswaldo discarded the butcher knife and both he and carmen fled back to her
apartment he was like oh my god i think i killed somebody yeah he was shaking and i'm like oh my
god and we was both scared so we started doing more drugs detectives arrived on the scene they
cordoned off the area and in a wastebasket somewhat close to the scene they found a
large 14 inch knife i'm guessing a blade i'd be a good nine inch blade police had the murder weapon but no
other leads to who committed the killing carmen says she wanted nothing more to do with oswaldo after the incident
i was so scared i thought he was going to kill me you know i said something i was just so
scared despite her fear carmen admits she met up with oswaldo the next day to feed her daily drug habit they held
up a small grocery store on belmont avenue this was a store in her neighborhood close to where she lived they had done
robberies together before they knew what part they're going to play he held a knife on
on the store owner or manager and said open the cash register they got away with some money but the uh
the store person knew her because she had shopped there carmen says that within hours the two are out
of drugs again and prowling the streets for someone else to rob this lady was coming out from work
and um i was with i was while he told me to wait here i'm gonna you know rob this lady i took the purse
then we both went in all the robberies appeared to be related due to the fact that
they were all occurring around the same time the same area the same methods ortiz claims she finally stopped taking
part in the crimes while oswaldo continued his knife-wielding attacks over the next
several days on the morning of april 10 1998 luck ran out for carmen's partner when he
attacked a circuit court judge on his way to work i was on my way to the logan square
station that's where i catch my subway in the mornings approximately at this location is where
ozzie had accosted him and robbed them and stabbed the judge the next thing i know he's flunk he's
lungering at me trying to cut my my face or stab me in the neck with a knife the knife was a
long knife it's a carving knife he punctured my lung he stabbed me right through the
back right to allow a neighbor in her car witnessed the crime and bravely intervened
she starts honking the horn she rolled the window down and she said leave him alone leave him alone and then she honks
the horn oswaldo took off running leaving judge delgado seriously wounded we got the message that the offender was
running southbound from the location where the robbery happened gonzalez comes out of the
alley running and he proceeds towards the street he stumbled about here when he saw us he dropped the knife
right about where the curb is we were able to detain him right there police knew oswaldo gonzalez had
attacked the judge but they didn't yet realize he was also the killer of anthony rafalla
two days later detectives arrested carmen separately for the belmont store robbery
where she had been identified they arrested her and didn't question her for about 24
hours because she was so strung out on drugs carmen claims she was suffering badly
from heroin withdrawal while in custody she was vomiting she had chills she had the shakes
all the withdrawal symptoms that you're going to get from coming off of a heroin jones it was terrible
i was sick so sick when she finally sat down with police carmen confessed to the store robbery
and then surprised detectives by admitting she was an accomplice in the rafallo murder as well
what she told us was that his father spotted this guy walking down the street accosted him
tried to get money from him when the guy resisted us follow stabbed him gradually
she said that she actually participated in it and in fact acted as a lookout both carmen ortiz and oswaldo gonzalez
were charged with murder and armed robbery and sent to cook county jail to await trial
i was at home it was in the evening my friend calls me and says please don't tell me that that's carmen
on tv what are you talking about carmen's defense attorney tried to get the confession thrown out
he argued that carmen was under the influence of drugs when police questioned her
i totally believe it was a coarse confession i don't believe that was given knowingly
the judge denied the motion carmen's confession was a hurdle the defense could not get past
once the judge ruled that that statement could be evidence in the trial there was no defense at that point she
knew that he had a knife she knew that he was going to do an armed robbery and she agreed to act as a lookout once
she agreed that was her purpose there was to be a lookout for police and of course she was
culpable in the crime she's just as guilty of the murder as osvaldo if you're there and you in any way aid a
bet further the criminal designer intent or participate in the proceeds you're in it up to your neck okay you're
in for the penny you rent for the pound literally i was like oh my god i'm never gonna see
you know the outside no more when my sister was sentenced we cried a lot because
i didn't think it was fair but when i heard the other family speak i mean there was a murder you know and
it was a family man he had children if they hadn't been involved with heroin either one of them
would this occurred i i don't think so i you know it's not an excuse because they both knew what they're
getting into but that habit became all-consuming for both of them carmen was incarcerated at the lincoln
correctional center in illinois we left 20 females in a dorm bunk bass i got the bottom i got my tv
and my radio and my bible so i'm okay with that evelyn took in her sister's daughter
jasmine and helped raise her i'm so close to her because she's just been so great to me and she
looks exactly like my mom so it's like looking at my mom both evelyn and jasmine visit carmen as
often as they can but carmen says it is painful not being there for her daughter's life
i always fight her and encourage her i always did that since the day i got locked up it was hard for
me knowing that my mom wasn't there for me for my graduation but i knew that she was proud i never got to
graduate from once because i was she made me proud and i was like man my baby's doing it you know in prison
carmen has overcome her addiction to drugs and says her life is now under the influence of god still
carmen says she lives every day with regret for her part in anthony rafallo's murder
i feel really terrible about it now that i look at it you know it was wrong when i did so
[Music] just gotta go my time carmen will be released from prison in two and a half
years she looks forward to being reunited with her daughter and family i would call it my big celebration they
my sister comes out she's paying for what she did and she found forgiveness in her heart
there's so much i miss you know with her so and my family you know so i just want to do the right
thing this time and be more into my family you know good friends [Music]

Brief Summary

Delfa Sponaugle and Carmen Ortiz recount their roles in brutal murders tied to abuse and addiction.

Key points

Murder for Insurance Money. Delpha Spoonagle orchestrated her husband's murder to collect life insurance.
The Gruesome Murder. Dennis Sponaugle was tortured for hours before his death.
Death Penalty Shock. Delpha Spoonagle received the death penalty, shocking her family.
Carmen's Downward Spiral. Carmen's life spirals out of control as she battles addiction and motherhood.
The Fatal Robbery. A robbery goes horribly wrong, leading to the murder of an innocent man.
Carmen's Confession. Carmen confesses to her role in the murder, revealing the depth of her involvement.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I was a bystander then.

Carmen Ortiz reflects on her involvement.

0:24WatchJan 12, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Files

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.