Ep 18 | Calvin Pettey Transcript

Ep 18 | Calvin Pettey 

Transcript

Before we begin this podcast, please be advised that the following episode contains language that some listeners may find offensive and inappropriate. The opinions expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not reflect the views of the podcast producers. Listener discretion is advised.

What was the date of the wedding supposed to be? It was supposed to be on April 17th of 2010. How was she killed? She was shot. She was murdered in the morning, the time of death was never pinned down directly. Most people don't know who they can turn to to get somebody whacked. She had a guy who would do almost anything for her, he was head over heels for her. Do you have an idea who? I thought I did, but they said he had an alibi.I was crying, I was crying of course I was just, some of it I don't even remember who, and I just went crazy. As they said, I went crazy trying to get into the house. So I got, if I could go back and change everything, Toby, I would. You know, it's just, I feel horrible.

You are now listening to the podcast Voices of a Killer. I'm bringing you the stories from the perspective of the people that have taken the life of another human and their current situation thereafter in prison. You will see that although these are the folks that we have been programmed to hate, they all have something in common.

They are all humans like us that admit that they made a mistake. Will you forgive them or will you condemn them? They are currently serving time for their murders and they give us an inside glimpse of what took place when they killed and their feelings on the matter now. Here are the voices of those who have killed.

On this episode of Voices of a Killer, we speak to Calvin Duane Pettey from Bowling Green, Missouri. Calvin was involved in a tragic story that reads like a modern day tragedy, finding love, building a family, but haunted by personal demons and infidelities that cast a shadow over his relationships. In a chilling tale of love and betrayal, his fiance, Sandra Fugate's life was cut short just two days before she was set to walk down the aisle.

Once deeply in love and excited to begin a new chapter of life, she became the victim of a crime that shattered her family and community. But how was it that Calvin ended up behind bars? The circumstances surrounding this murder led investigators on a complex journey, sifting through puzzling evidence and navigating conflicting alibis, and eventually, Calvin was betrayed.

The betrayal didn't come from a random stranger, it was someone he knew and trusted, and to this day Calvin maintains his innocence. Join us now as we interview Calvin and explore this complex, dark and tragic tale on Voices of a Killer.

So, Calvin, where are you from? Uh, I was born and raised in Bowling Green Missouri.

Bowling Green, Missouri. Did you, uh, grow up there all your life? Yes. I grew, I was, I was born there. Uh, I grew up there until, I think I left there in my late teens, early twenties. Did you have a rough upbringing or how was your childhood? My childhood was good. My mom and my biological father divorced when I was three.

I really wasn't close to my biological father. My mom remarried when I was five. And my stepdad he was my dad. He's the one that was there for me all the time. He died when I was sixteen which was rough on me, but as far as I was concerned, my stepdad was my dad. Yeah. What happened to your dad? He passed away. He had several health problems. He had diabetes. He had several heart attacks.

He actually ended up dying of pneumonia, but it was just from

over eating. Were you close to him? Oh yes. Yes I was very close. Was that rough on you? Oh yeah I started drinking when I was 13, which was just kinda here and there, but after he died I started drinking pretty heavy.

How old were you whenever he died? I was sixteen. Yeah. That'd probably be a tough time. Yeah. Your mom was already divorced from him? Oh, no. She, she was with him at the time. That was my stepdad. My biological father, she divorced him when I was three. Yeah, that's who I was talking about your, your biological father. Did you have a relationship with him?

Oh no, I knew it. I mean, I called him by his first name or called him called him Gene. That's what his name was. It was not a close relationship at all.

What did you do after you grew up? Get out of your parents house? What did you do for a living? I went in the army for a little while and that was just a time of my life that I wish I could just forget. I mean, I don't talk about it much. After I got out of that I married, I got with, my ex-wife, Kim.

She already had two kids when we got together and I loved them as if they were my own, I mean I still do.

We dated for. Three, four years, then we finally got married in 94. How old were you?

26, I believe, yeah, 25, 26 years old when we got married, we was together a couple years before

that. Okay.We had a son together in 98. Uh, and then we divorced in 2003. And then, like I said, we really don't get along very well anymore. Of course, you know, ex-wife.

So Calvin's story reads like a ballad tinged with love loss and the harshest lessons of reality. As a child, he witnessed the breakup of his biological parents at the tender age of three, a parting that left a void, but life threw him a lifeline in the form of a stepdad, his real dad in every sense, but this rock in Calvin's life crumbled abruptly when he died of pneumonia, that loss led Calvin to an early acquaintance with alcohol, a coping mechanism that started when he was just 13 and spiraled after his stepdad's death.

Calvin's later years seemed almost scripted for heartbreak and turbulence. He enlisted in the army and married in 94 to a woman who brought along two children from a previous relationship. Calvin embraced them as his own, a ready made family he cherished. They even added a son to the mix in 1998, a glimmer of fresh beginnings.

But fate had other plans. The couple divorced in 2003, meaning Calvin was left heartbroken once again. But as he moved forward with his life, Calvin found love in a new relationship, six years later, with the introduction of the victim in this case, Sandra Fugate.

After y'all got a divorce, did you meet Sandra Fugate somewhere? No I actually met her, it was several years later, it was in 2009.

How did y'all meet? We worked together. We worked at the same place in Hannibal, General Mills. What kind of work? It's a food manufacturing facility. How long did it take for y'all to have an attraction for each other? Oh, I mean, it was, uh, we just hooked up a couple of times. And then after that, we started dating. It happened pretty quick, we moved in together in 2009 and then in 2010 we planned on getting married.

Did you propose to her? Yes, I did. Tell me about how you proposed to her. Well, it's weird because she wanted to play a joke on somebody. So, we had a, she borrowed a wedding ring, an engagement ring from one of hers, she started wearing it, she, one day she just happened to wear it to work, and everybody started talking about it, she wanted it as a joke, and one night I looked at her, I said, you know what, I said, let's just not make this up, I said, would you marry me?

She was shocked, and just looked at me for a second, then she said yes, it was, it wasn't really nothing real romantic about it, it wasn't romantic, but it was cute though? Oh yeah, I mean, it was cute. You know, she said yes, so we planned to get married. Okay, it was kind of weird. Did you live together? Yeah. So that night after you proposed, y'all are probably at home and the discussion is probably, what are we going to do for the wedding.

What was that discussion like? What were y'all planning for the wedding? I wanted an outdoor wedding. She wanted an indoor wedding, so of course, you know, she won. Because I was, I was going to give into her no matter what she wanted, whatever she wanted. We already had the church picked out, she wanted to wear a white dress with red, but she had already bought that, there were times that we discussed, having a, that we were going to do it, I wanted a big limousine.

Go around town and holler and and honking. And of course she wanted to do that too. We already had the reception hall booked out. There was gonna be food we was making, she was making our own, making the music for the reception on her own. She was doing the CDs and everything. Because I said we was trying to keep the cost down so we was gonna do just CDs and let people DJ for us.

I was just, I was pretty much just gave into whatever she wanted. It really didn't matter to me as long as she was happy with it. That's all that mattered to me. How would you describe your relationship? Did you guys have friction? Was there turbulence? Was there like big fights, cops called, anything like that ever?

Oh no, we never had the cops called or nothing, we had arguments, but nothing out of the ordinary, there was a little crazy crap, but nothing major. Did y'all do drugs together? No, we, neither one of us, like I said, as far as I know, she never, she drank, she never did, really did drugs, so shortly after my dad died and my stepdad died I tried marijuana and speed and didn't like even one of them. So I just stuck with drinking and I never did drugs again.

Yeah. Were y'all pretty heavily in love or do you think you were just going through the motions or what? We were definitely in love, you know, we were supposed to get married. Yeah. We were even talking about having a baby and we discussed it, it wasn't, you know, the final thing, that we were actually going to do it.

We were just talking about having a child together, because she already had a daughter by her first marriage, Hannah. But we had discussed a baby of our own. Yeah. How would you describe your fiancée, I guess, at the time, Sandra Fugate, how would you describe her? Oh, she had a heart of gold. She was doing she would try help anybody out if she could, she was was fun to be around, she was just an all around good person, she was a great mother she got along with her ex-husband real good, she got along with her in laws. She still got along with her in laws. I didn't know anybody that didn't like her, she was adorable. Anybody in her family that didn't approve of you, you know, before she passed away?

Not that I'm aware of. Yeah. If Sandra was still here today and I asked her that same question, but asking about you, Calvin, what do you think she would say? She would say that I'm a nice guy, that I was not a helpful person, but not helpful to a certain extent. I always had trust issues I wasn't outgoing as she was. She socialized a lot. She brought me out of that shell a lot, she had a lot of friends that she liked going out with. When you say trust issues, do you mean like you would get jealous of her? Oh no, I wasn't jealous. I mean, it was just, it was trust. As far as like people around us, like her, I trusted her fully. People that got with her, some of 'em that I didn't trust. I didn't trust them. That was my issue. I wasn't gonna try to stop her being their friend.

Yeah, it was just something I just had trust got burned by my ex-wife her cheating on me, and of course I cheated on her too to get revenge, but. Did you ever cheat on Sandra? Yeah I was cheating on Sandra when it happened.

Calvin and Sandra's chemistry was immediate and magnetic sparking so quickly that they moved in together the same year they met 2009. Now, coworkers and housemates, they were with each other all the time and Calvin popped the question in a spontaneous proposal that began as a joke and ended in an earnest I do's. They weren't the stuff of fairy tales, but they were a match. In dreaming of wedding bells, white dresses trimmed in red, and stretch limousine to celebrate their love, Sandra already had a daughter, Hannah, and the possibility of extending their family was discussed earnestly.

According to friends and family, this made Sandra so happy she would even post the countdown to how much time she led left until big day on her facebook timeline. They planned their wedding together with every decision underscored by Calvin's simple mantra as long as she was happy with it that's all that mattered to me. When they were putting the list together Calvin decided to reach out to people from his past; his ex wife old school friends to add to the list. A few weeks after proposing Calvin left Town for a bowling competition and on his return his enthusiasm dimmed. Mary Patterson, Sandra's mother, said in an interview that Sandra knew he was getting cold feet at this point.

This was the first warning sign of a rocky relationship. Calvin, still battling trust issues born from a past tainted by infidelity, would ironically become the unfaithful one in this relationship. "Yes, I was cheating on Sandra when it happened," he admits. A confession that hangs in the air like a discordant note.

While he spoke highly of Sandra's unwavering trustworthiness, He himself could not offer the same loyalty. Calvin attributes his inability to trust to past experiences, yet that explanation feels insufficient, almost like a flimsy excuse for his actions. So who was the person that Calvin met while pretending to be away bowling?

So Calvin, sometime during your relationship with Sandra you actually formed another relationship with a Rebecca Kirk. Whenever you proposed to Sandra, were you seeing Rebecca at the time? No I wasn't. Where did you meet Rebecca? I actually know Rebecca, from years back in highschool, we went to high school together and I was on Facebook one night and I found her on Facebook.

The week Facebook. We started talking through Facebook. Then we met up one night and one thing led to another. How long after she first gets on Facebook, are y'all meeting up? How long did that take? I think it And this two or three weeks, where did that sit in reference to when you proposed? How long after that? I proposed to Sandra back in summer of 2009, and this was in like February of 2010. What was that like, hiding that from Sandra, knowing that you're fixing to marry her?

I felt so guilty. I've had a history of cheating on every woman that I've ever cared about. I finally told Rebecca when I get married, I said, this is over. And Rebecca said, we'll see. How often would y'all meet up to have s*x? Oh maybe once a week, twice a week. Sometimes, there would be times when we would go two or three weeks without it.

Did you still work with Sandra at the time? Yes. How would you get away with that because you're working together and you go home together, how would you slip away like that? We worked at the same place, we didn't actually work together because I worked day shift and she worked night shift. Okay, so while she was working, okay, I get it, so y'all didn't actually work the same.

We both worked in the same, department and I worked, she worked 6 at night 'til 6 in the morning. Would you have Rebecca over to your house whenever she was working? She came over to the house I think twice. Wow. Otherwise, we just met somewhere else. Yeah. So how did Rebecca feel about Sandra? Was she really jealous of her? No, she had never met her, but she definitely wanted me to leave Sandra be with her.

I told her that wasn't gonna happen. Did you ever tell Rebecca that you loved her? I think I I did a couple of times, I told her I loved her yeah. I think it was mainly in the heat of the moment, because I was definitely in love with Sandra.

Yeah, for sure. Sure. Did Rebecca ever say anything about harming Sandra at all? She made comments, but she never really said about harming her, because I never really put it together, but I know one time she said something about this would be a lot easier if Sandra was out of the way, and then I told her that when me and Sandra get married there'll be no more of this, and she made a comment we'll see what happens and I never even put that together either.

Through reaching out to old contacts via Facebook, Calvin reconnected with his high-school girlfriend Rebecca Kirk. A couple of weeks of chatting led to a real world rendezvous, opening a Pandora's box of secrets and guilt. In spite of this guilt, he continued his clandestine relationship with Rebecca, even as he planned a future with Sandra.

Before the wedding, Calvin hurt his leg on a rafting trip, which meant a lot of doctor's trips. He was barely at work, and he was given medical leave that was approved by Sandra due to her position as a supervisor. This made co workers jealous of Sandra due to her favoritism to Calvin. Sandra also worked night shifts at the company, which meant that Rebecca and Calvin could continue their illicit meetups undisturbed.

Rebecca, aware of his engagement to Sandra, was insistent she wanted Calvin to leave Sandra for her. To this, Calvin could only say, it wasn't going to happen. Calvin's narrative gives us a complex portrayal of a man torn between two worlds. On one hand, there's his relationship with Sandra, a relationship he describes as one filled with love and potential for a shared future.

On the other hand, he has other life, one filled with secrecy, betrayal, and an almost pathological need for something else, something that perhaps he doesn't even understand. In Rebecca, Calvin found an escape, a way to exorcise the ghosts of his past infidelities, but it was an escape that came at a high cost, and one has to wonder whether Calvin was perhaps subconsciously seeking a way out of this commitment he was about to make with Sandra.

One comment loomed large in his mind. Rebecca mentioned how things would be a lot easier if Sandra was out of the way, and it was this comment that would come back to haunt him sooner than he could imagine. You never said this could be you or what's going on? You just left that out there? At the time I wasn't even thinking that. All I could think about was trying to get back to the house. That and more after the break.

 What was the date of the wedding supposed to be? It was supposed to be on April 17th of 2010. Y'all had planned that date together? So, the beginning of April, you and Rebecca are still seeing each other as much as possible? I was as much as possible. I said it was still probably once a week maybe. Yeah. My wife wasn't as frequent because I was doing the wedding.

Yeah. And Sandra was taken days off, I was with her a lot. And then you said that the day that Sandra was murdered, you had a doctor's appointment? I had a dr's appointment in Columbia, which is like 90 like 95 miles away from Hannibal. What time was your doctor's appointment? It was at 11am, I believe. What time of day was Sandra murdered?

She was, she was murdered in the morning, they never had the time pinned down directly. So, is your alibi basically saying that you're the doctor? Yep. Did they have any kind of records of you being there like at the doctor?

Yeah they had me on video going in and out. At what time?10 10 31 and walked out of 1201. But they think the murder occurred before that? They think it occurred around 8 am. Yeah, what the prosecutor said. How was she killed? No, she was shot. So where was Rebecca the day that this murder occurred? She was with me. She went with you to the doctor and she's on video at the doctor with you?

She went to the doctor with me and I told her that morning, I said, this will be the last day. Because after this it was, it was over that day. So who do you think killed Sandra? I dunno who I have no idea who, I'm pretty sure she had somebody do it. I can't, I can't prove that. No way of proving that. Do you and Rebecca still have a relationship right now? Oh no,

I haven't talked to her since that day. You haven't talked to Rebecca since the day of the murder? You said Sandra was killed. Where was she shot? Okay. She was at our house in the basement, she was shot. What's in the basement? There's a little small living room area we never use hardly, you got the washer and dryers down there also. What do you think she was doing down there? I assume she was doing the laundry?

Because the police said, that during the search there was damp clothing down there, so I assume she was probably doing laundry.

Was she shot in the head? She was shot three times in the head and once in the upper torso. So like underneath the, I believe underneath the left arm. They said that right there was what they called the kill. That's funny because I've been shot in the armpit before. Yeah, it was like in the middle ribcage areas they said actually the bullet went in at like a upward angle.

Yeah interesting. Which is strange, because she's only 5'6" and I'm 6'4". So let me ask you, your fiancé, soon to be wife in two days, is shot in the basement of your home while you're at the doctor with the woman you're cheating on her with. When y'all get back home, do y'all discover the body? Or do you discover the body? No, uh,her mother actually discovered the body because I called because I didn't try to call Sandra because she had been having trouble with her phone. I had been trying to call her to find out if

She's got a hold of tuxedos, because she was supposed to, she stayed at home, because she was supposed to go get tuxeos for my son. So while you're at the doctor, you're basically calling her about this and she's not answering. Yes. Are you leaving voicemails? I think I started around nine 30, somewhere along in there. 9:30, 10 o'clock and I was trying to call her to see if she got a tuxedo yet and I wasn't getting an answer, which I assume was just her phone messing up. Because her phone was acting crazy anyway, so I called

her mom. To find out if She'd heard from her and she said no, and she said do you want me to go and check on her. And I said If you wanna, you can. I said just when you see her just let her, uh, tell her she's had the tuxedo tonight. That's all I need to know. Just so I know whether to call my kids, to let him know whether he needs to go get a fitting for them and then pretty soon her mom called back and the only thing I could understand was blood because she was corresponding your daughter dead. I'm gonna do that to you. Your soon to be mother in law called you to tell you the news? Yes. Were you sitting with Rebecca at that time? We were in the car on the way home when she called. I told her, I said, I told her I'd get there as soon as I could, you know heard her. I mean, I flew home, dropped Rebecca off at Frankfurt, flew right up 61, tried to get there as fast as I could. You have a good relationship with your soon to be mother in law? Yeah, I mean, I got along. She worked at the same place we did. What was the discussion like with you and Rebecca after you just got the news of your soon to be wife's dead and you're hanging up the phone with your mother in law, you're driving to drop her off?

What's that discussion like? I just told her, I said Sandra's been shot, and she said, "oh really?" and that's all she said. And I looked at her, and after that I didn't really talk to her I was just more worried about trying to get back to the house I wasn't anything I, matter of fact, when I pulled up in her driveway, she got out I didn't say bye or nothing I just backed up and took off. On that drive you never said anything like this, better not be you or did, are you up to this or what's going on? Or you just left that out of there. Yeah I don't even know, because I wasn't even at the time I wasn't even thinking that, at the time the only thing I was thinking about was trying to get back to the house.

Murdered two days just before her wedding to Calvin, Sandra Fugate met a shocking and tragic fate. While Calvin denies any involvement in the murder, the entire narrative feels like a house of cards, teetering on the edge of collapse. Surely it can't be this straightforward. On the day Sandra was murdered, Calvin maintains that he was at a doctor's appointment in Colombia, a location nearly 100 miles away from where the crime took place.

The alibi seems to absolve him, at least in his view, since he and Rebecca were both seen at the clinic's video footage. When asked about his thoughts on who killed Sandra, he hesitates, but then suggests, I don't know who, I don't, I'm pretty sure she, Rebecca, had something to do with it. Even though the timelines could potentially clear him of direct involvement, Questions persist.

The tragic news of Sandra's death was delivered by her own frantic mother over the phone. At that moment, Calvin was in the car with Rebecca. The conversation that followed between Calvin and Rebecca was chilligly succinct. I just told her, I said, Sandra's been shot, Calvin recalls. And she said, oh yeah, really?

And that's all she said. Calvin's account paints a complex and troubling picture. On one hand, he seems to be building a case against Rebecca. Subtly suggesting that she might have had a role in Sandra's murder, he distanced himself from Rebecca, emphasizing he hasn't talked to her since that gruesome day.

On the other hand, his own actions, his infidelity, his deception, and his inability to provide a straightforward alibi, leaves room for doubt. I wanted to know how he reacted when he eventually arrived at the crime scene.

So, you drop her off, you get back to the house, is there police there yet? Oh yeah there's Police, there were several police officers I believe and I don't think there was an ambulance they must have left, I don't remember seeing an ambulance. What's your soon-to-be mother In law doing? Is she being talked to by the police? Is she being consoled? She was sitting in the front seat of her car, on the passenger side and there was a police officer in there talking to her and I just went in there and grabbed her, hugged her and they said they wouldn't let nobody in the house. That's when I tried to get into the house, because I just wanted to see Sandra and of course, they stopped me, cause it's a crime scne, they're not going to let me in there. But I just wanted to see Sandra. Were you pretty upset? Yeah, I was crying. I just didn't remember because I just went crazy. They said I went crazy trying to get into the house. And so how long did y'all stay at the house with the police all there?

Did y'all just wait outside the entire time till they, you know, did all the crime scene stuff or did somebody approach and say, Hey, let's go have a talk. Walk me through that. I was sitting there because, I tried to get into the house several times, then I sat down beside a vehicle. I'm not even sure which vehicle it was. And one of the police officers, come up to me they wanted to do a GSR, a gun shot residue test, so they did that. And then another took across the street into the neighbors, into the neighbors driveway and was taking my statement.

How did the gunshot residue test come out? It was negative. Okay, so he took you across the street and what happened? He just took my statement about where I've been and what I was doing that morning. Did he ask if anybody was with you? Did you say that Rebecca was with you? No I just kept it short and sweet, I mean, I was just...

He asked me what I was doing that morning, I told him I got up around 7 or so to get ready to go to the doctor, make sure Hannah left for school, and then I left for the doctor's appointment. Whenever this detective was interviewing you, do you feel like he was suspicious of you, the way he was looking and interacting with you? I don't really recall.

I mean, I don't think so, I mean a lot of it was really a blur, because I mean I was just. Sure coz this early in the stage, literally, the mom, you, everybody's a suspect until they can rule everybody out. So, with that being said, detective Finishes questioning you. Where do you go after this? Do you stick around to see how everything turns out? When do you actually leave? I stayed there for a little while and then they said something about trying to get me down to the police station and then a friend of mine, Ed, we jumped in his truck and went in to the police station and that's when I was interviewed by the actual detectives, because the ones at the crime scene that was just a police officer there that took my statement not a detective. Okay.

And then then we went to the police station. The reason they got me out of there then because that's when they were getting ready to bring the body out and they didn't want me there when that happened.

According to court documents, four shell casings were found on the floor of the basement of Sandra and Calvin's house.

Sandra was shot twice in the head and twice in the chest with a .22 rifle, which suggested the result of a break in gone wrong. However, the rest of the house was undisturbed, which suggested that the break-in was not real. Investigators tested everyone for evidence of gun power residue, including Sandra's mom, Sandra's ex, and Calvin. Sandra's mom explained she was watching her grandkids and Sandra's ex claims he was at work while Calvin gave his alibi about being at the doctor's. Each seemed like a good alibi, but each needed to be closely examined to find the truth.

So what was it like at the police station? Did the detectives like sit you down and really corner you and ask you a bunch of questions? Actually I had a panic attack at the police station, so they took me to the hospital, before I was questioned, they took me to the hospital and then they got me to calm down at the hospital and thenI went back to the police station. Did they give you any drugs at the hospital? Yeah I don't know what they gave me, I just know they gave me something to calm me down. Was it a shot? Yeah I believe so. From there, you went to the talk to the detective. Yes. Did you feel like you were intoxicated? I don't know if I was intoxicated, it felt good, but I don't know if I was actually intoxicated.

So what was it like being interviewed? Do you feel like now that when they were interviewing you they were... Ready to place the blame? Well, it seemed like maybe a little bit they were a situation like that. I mean, I was expecting it because Sandra got murdered in our house. I mean I know I'm gonna be the number one suspect. Who else are they gonna look at?

They're always gonna look at the, the, the closest person to you and Sure. And I was it. So at the time that they're interviewing you now at the police station, do they know about Rebecca yet? No they do not. Okay, so tell me a little bit about the interview with they they just wanted to know where you were and how things were with you and Sandra? Yeah they were just asking me some basic questions. What time did I get ready? I got ready at about 7am, then I took Hannah to schoool, then I came back to get ready and then Sandra was laying on the couch and then I kissed her good bye and that was the last time I seen her alive.

 So how long did that interview with the officers take the detectives? it wasn't very long maybe about half an hour, 45 minutes maybe.

Yeah, it's not very long Where did you go once you left there? They just say, Hey, we're gonna keep in touch, and Where'd you go? I went to my cousin's house. He wanted me because I wasn't, I wasn't gonna go back to the house not after what happened there. Did you call Rebecca yet? No. So you go to your cousin's, what happens then? I went there. They got a spare bedroom ready for me, just trying to get me to go to sleep and I think maybe I slept maybe an hour the whole night, and actually in the middle of the night I went into the living room and sitting on the recliner and then my cousin got up the next morning. He asked me how much sleep I got and I said maybe an hour.

During formal questioning with the police, Calvin collapsed, consumed with grief or perhaps guilt. He had a panic attack at the police station and was taken to a hospital. Doctors even prevented investigators from questioning him while he was there.

Several hours later, Calvin was released from the hospital and could finally speak to detectives. They asked him who would have wanted to harm her. Could it have been one of her jealous co workers? He had no leads for the police at the time, but little did he know that detectives had begun to dig deeper into the couple's history before the murder.

The day after the murder, police received the new tip saying police needed to speak to Rebecca Kirk, the High School Girlfriend of Calvin. According to police documents, she was interrogated by detectives, at first denying everything. The more she talked, the more she stumbled and soon investigators found she was hiding something.

Finally, she broke down and confessed that her and Calvin had been having an affair about the same time that Sandra and Calvin had gotten engaged. She said Calvin told her that he had shot Sandra and told Rebecca to get rid of the gun for him. Rebecca still had the case with the gun and Calvin's fingerprints were all over it.

At this point in time, when you're at your cousin's house, what is going through your head on who you think would've done this? 'cause that's a pretty crazy act for somebody to go into someone else's house and and gun them down. So personally with multiple shots to the head. The body.

Yeah. What are, what are you thinking at this point as to, wow, somebody really came into my home and did this to my soon to be wife? Yeah, at that moment in time is when I kinda started thinking about Rebecca. The only thing that was even me, was that I knew that she was with me, so thinking about Rebecca it couldn't have been her because she was

with me. I didn't think about the whole thing about her having someone do it to her until much later. So Calvin, right now you're sitting in prison for the murder of Sandra Fugate and there are such thing as people that are innocent that are put in prison. Why would you meet that criteria? There's so many things that don't add up, like the coroner arrived at the crime scene at around 2:40 PM, according to her coroner's report, she said rigor mortis was just beginning at 2:40 PM and rigor mortis usually kicks in two to four hours after death.

Of course, a lot of that depends on the temperature. And that day, I think it was in the 70s it wasn't that bad of a day. You take two, two to four hours off of the 2:40, you're talking between 10:40, and 12:40 that day. 10:40 AM to 12:40 PM and that whole time I'm on video, 90, 95, a hundred miles away in Columbia. And then she actually had an interview with a reporter from the Quincy Herald Wig, and she told him, because I got a copy of the newspaper article, that she said a time of death was approximately one hour before police emergency personnel were called to the scene.

That call was made at 11:47 AM. So an hour before that, at about 10:45 AM, I walk into the doctor's office at 10:31 in Columbia, about 100 miles away. There's no way, it was me. There's a coroner. She testified at trial. She said she had no opinion on time of death. After she'd already told this reporter that I brought it up to my lawyer about contacting this reporter, getting him to testify, and he never even talked to him, never.

Did you have a public defender? Yes I did. So what did the prosecutors say that you did? What evidence do they have? The physical evidence that ties me to it, was fingerprints on the box that they say the murder weapon was carried in. It was a long box and I actually bought a steering column for a car. It was a real long cardboard box, and they said that they found two fingerprints of mine on that box, so the box was mine. So of course my fingerprints are going to be on it. Also found two palm prints on the box that they never identified. And to this day, as far as I know, it's still never been identified yet. They don't ever mention that. I don't really understand how the box has anything to. Unless it said gun label or something. No, I mean, she was shot by a 22 rifle. Okay. Now the, yeah, but still, uh, it was not a handgun it was a rifle. Yeah. Did you own any 22 rifles? I owned a 22 rifle, but it was not in my possession at the time it was actually, it was actually tested, well I assume they tested it I don't know whether they went to my cousin's house and got it.

Here's some other stuff that seems to be crucial that I read and you can tell me your thoughts, but Rebecca Kirk, the girl that you were having an affair with, actually got prosecuted for evidence tampering. She supposedly destroyed a rifle, ammunition and clothing of yours. Yeah. So, what's up with that? She told the police that I gave her a bag full of clothes, gloves, and a towel, I believe it was.

And she told me, she told them that I then instructed her to burn them. She told them that I instructed her to tear the gun apart, to burn the stock, to get rid of the barrel. And then... Like I said, she burn. She burned the clothing with whatever it was. Of course they can't tell because all it was burnt fabric at the trial that's all they had evidence of.. Yeah, they, she burned the gun, the gun stock.

She threw the gun barrel in some river down by Frankfurt somewhere and then she threw these, this ammunition stuff into a creek or something. Somewhere near where she lived on there. Where, where it was at. I know it was down near where she lived in somewhere. I said, I think it is if you, you're gonna go through all that trouble. Why not burn the box too?

Did you ever give her anything to destroy? Anything at all? No. No, nothing though. Did the prosecutors ever present any kind of communication like text messages between you and Rebecca? Talking about Sandra? I don't think they had any text messages. I think they had some, but they could only go back like three days or something. They had some , I think there was a text message to me from Rebecca telling me about something like she had something to do and I texted her and I asked her if she had something to take care of or something like that and they made a big deal about that, they was thinking that was me trying to get around asking her to see if she had destroyed everything that I wanted her to. That was after the murder occurred? Yeah. Yeah, after that I don't think they could only go back , I believe it was three days and I think by the time they pulled the records it was already like the 18th or something like that and they couldn't go back very far and I wish they could've so then I was thinking like there's only like three days, they didn't have a whole lot of communication between us.

While Calvin stands by his alibi and questions the validity of the coroner's statements, the eyes of the law saw things differently. According to court documents, on April 15, 2010, Calvin lured Sandra into the basement of their home. In a moment of terror, Calvin shot her with his 22 rifle. After the murder, he picked up Rebecca and drove to his doctor's appointment to establish an alibi, giving Rebecca orders to get rid of the gun.

He then called Sandra's mother and made her find her daughter. The emotional turmoil experienced by Sandra's mother was truly traumatic, and it shows the sociopathic behavior in Calvin's choice that day. Eventually, Calvin was charged with first degree murder. The news of his arrest was a complete shock to Sandra's family.

They could never believe that he would be able to commit something like this. During Calvin's trial, Rebecca became the star witness. She testified that they began their relationship in February of 2010. And Calvin wanted to break off his relationship with Sandra. However, Calvin was worried he would lose his job or even worse.

Sandra would string him up on s*xual harassment charges. They then tried to scare off Sandra by writing and sending threatening notes, which she received in the mail. When that didn't work, Calvin decided the only safe way to get out of marrying her, and to keep his job, was to kill her. The plan was for him to shoot her and make it look like a botched robbery, and they even tried once earlier than the actual date of the murder.

On Easter morning 2010, they waited for Sandra to come home. The plan was for Calvin to shoot and kill Sandra, and for Rebecca to shoot Calvin in the leg to make it look like a robbery. But when the plan became too real for Rebecca, she stopped Calvin from going ahead with it. Despite all of this, Calvin maintains his innocence.

I wanted to know if he thought he had been wrongly convicted. We'll find out more about that after the break.

A lot of stuff does point to you and do you think that there's enough for you to be charged or you think they just got it completely wrong? I just think they got it completely wrong and I'm biased because I'm the one in here.

Sure and I'll always admit there's definitely people out there that are wrongly convicted. I think that there's not like hardcore evidence on you, but I think you could see that there are a lot of stuff that points to you, especially with Rebecca being involved, like did she take the stand against you?

Yes, she did. Did she say that you killed her? Yeah, she told them that I told her that I did it. So Rebecca even said that you told her that you had killed your own wife or your own future wife? Yes. And I'm assuming that you didn't tell Rebecca that? No. Why would Rebecca say that? Because she was vindictive, that's the only thing I can come up with because I for one thing, if I were gonna do something like that, the last thing I would do is tell anybody, because that's the worst thing you can do.

If you ever gonna do something, I mean, she didn't tell anybody nothing. Sure. You know that. That's just crazy. But unless you're doing it with some, you know, and it's, you know, involved with somebody else like Rebecca, then people usually do kind of inform and they talk about it and stuff. But, um, yeah there's no way I would have told anybody something like that.

Did you go to a jury trial? Yes I did. So there's 12 people on the jury. And what does that feel like to know that they're your peers, they're the people in your community that basically heard everything out and decided that, yes, you killed someone? I can't blame them because they can only go by what was presented.

If there was semen found on the body and that evidence was never collected, if they don't collect it, you can't tell. And it wouldn't have been my own. They actually found four hairs in Sandra's hand that was never compare to my DNA. There's two pieces of evidence right there that are huge. 1 of them was never collected. The other one was never even compared to my DNA. The State didn't do it. My own attorney didn't do it.

And I wanted it tested. I told my attorney I want that compared to my DNA. Have you exhausted all your appeals? No. I have one appeal left and habbeas corpus. How do you feel about that? Then there are no words. How I feel about that is just, it's so depressing. You probably know the statistics on how much that works and how much it doesn't.

Is probably why. Yeah. And it's very low. It's not in my favor. Yeah. Because especially in the state of Missouri, once, you are convicted it's so hard even once, because I know people that's gotten out of prison that have been found that have had their cases be reversed. Sure. 30 and 40 years. That is insane. This system is so broken. Even after they, that they've proved that they're innocent. They still fight to keep them in prison. I agree, our system is definitely broken in more ways than one. Like I said, I put myself in a position to look guilty. I was having an affair, strike one. In our home, for one thing, I already know where else I could go.

If you're going to do something like that, don't do it in your own home. That's just stupid, because automatically, that's right on me. Right off the get go. I know that. I've seen enough shows to know because I've watched a lot of crime shows. The number one suspect is always gonna be either the husband or the wife or whoever you're living with. Especially when that murder happens in your own home. That's just the way it is. And I don't blame 'em. You should look at it first and I can see that. Do you take a particular liking into any specific crime shows?

Oh, I mean, like, what's it 48 hours? I like watching Dateline. Any shows on cases in the past like that. I watch those as well, and I can ask you this, you'll probably understand. A lot of times, there's same scenarios as you, where the husband is blamed, they have some circumstantial evidence, he gets convicted and he too says no I'm innocent. Do you ever watch those shows and say I believe he is innocent or nah he just seems guilty? I fall on both sides of the fence. I watch those shows and sometimes I do think he is innocent and other times I think yeah he did do it.

It's interesting that Calvin mentions his love of crime shows. In fact, the story was featured in a Discovery Channel show called Happily Never After. If you're interested in viewing the show, there is a link to it in the show notes below this episode. It's also interesting that he said he's seen enough of these shows to know the rules of the game.

The spouse is almost always the first suspect, especially when the crime occurs in the home. The evidence that Calvin mentions is intriguing and paints a picture of a judicial system that might have failed him, or at least failed to be as thorough as one would hope. According to him, semen found on Sandra's body was never collected for analysis and hairs discovered in her hand were never compared to his DNA. These potentially key pieces of evidence were not considered, raising questions about the integrity of the investigation. While Calvin remained steadfast in his denial, pointing fingers at Rebecca, it's interesting to note that Rebecca was convicted of evidence tampering.

Despite being with Calvin at the time of the murder, her own testimony claiming that Calvin had admitted to the crime was one of the aspects that cast suspicion on him. During Rebecca's trial, she insisted that she deeply regretted the choices she made and blamed it on being blinded by love. She was eventually sentenced to four years in prison.

One of the most intriguing elements I would like to explore further is Calvin's relationship with Sandra's mother. Given that she was the one to discover Sandra's body and break the devastating news to Calvin, their dynamic is undoubtedly fraught with tension and emotion. It begs the question... What would Calvin say to her and the rest of Sandra's family if given the chance?

Would he continue to maintain his innocence or offer some form of closure, a plea for understanding, or even an apology for the circumstances, however innocent he claims to be?

So you said that whenever you got to the house where Sandra's body was, you gave your mother in law a hug. How's that relationship now?

No she hasn't talked to me ever since. Did she Do you think you did it? Not since the police said, you know, tell her all about the affair. Have you ever gotten any kind of hate mail? No, no, not in here, I haven't, I've never received anything. There were some threatening letters that I got when I was before the murder, but, no that really had anything to do with it or not, it was brought up during the trial.

Would it be against DOC policy for you to reach out to the mother in law? I think there's rules about reaching out to the victims that, yeah, the family victims victim. There are rules against that, I think you can do it, but you have to be able to contact, I think. I guess the warden or the front of administration write a letter and then they, I guess they'll contact them, and say that you want a letter sent to them or never checked into, I know there's some kind of rules. Yeah. So to done. Yeah. So if your future almost mother-in-law, however you wanna put it, was listening to this. What would you wanna tell her?

That I am very sorry for what happened to Sandra. She, she had a little nine year old daughter. I would never do anything to take a mother away from her child, never. Sandra was, she was a good woman. I feel responsible for it, because I had the affair that I believe caused had the affair that caused Sandra her life. You think Rebecca knew someone to be able to get that done for her?

I'm almost hundred percent positive. I just dunno who I wish I did. Do you have an idea? Who, I thought I had an idea, but they said he had an alibi. Most people don't know who they can just turn to, to get somebody whacked, but you know what I mean? Yeah. It's it's pretty, uh, she, she had a guy that would almost do anything for, he, he was head over heels for, and his name was, Alan Efferson I believe, I believe but from what they said he had a, uh, an alibi.

It's interesting that Calvin mentions the possibility of Rebecca paying someone to kill Sandra.

While his accusations are complete speculation, there was one other individual investigated as part of this case, Roger Boyle, a man that Sandra was flirting with before she met Calvin. Sandra let him know that she had to end things when she met Calvin, and in response, Roger proposed to her. Sandra told him to leave her alone, but he kept on trying to get in contact with her.

Could he have been the one who tried to rip Sandy away from Calvin? Roger was questioned by police, but was found to be working during the time of the murder, an alibi that was confirmed by his co workers. Calvin was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing his fiancée. His perception of this was that he had no voice or no ability to stop this wedding, but he could have done this.

In some strange way, he decided to kill her to get his freedom. A very tragic ending. On April 20th, 2010, Sandra was buried in her hometown of Hannibal, Missouri. Sandra will forever be remembered as full of life, and part of her will always live on in her daughter, Hannah. Sandra's family and friends surround her with protection and will always remind her how much of a good mom she was. Before we said goodbye, I wanted to know how he was dealing with his life sentence and considering his stance on his innocence, I wanted to know if Calvin had anything to say to the one person who could exonerate him, Rebecca Kirk.

You got life without parole. Yeah. How do you feel about the fact that you're going to die in prison? I got kids out there, I got grandkids out there. They took my life away from me. I want to be able to watch my kids grow up. I'm not able to watch my grandkids grow up. Of course, my two older ones, my stepkids, they were already pretty much grown when this happened.

My youngest son, the one that me and my ex wife had together. He was 11 at the time. Just hurt everybody involved. They lost their daughter, her mother, I mean, her daughter lost her mother. Yeah. Uh, she's just, if I could go back and change everything, Toby, I would man, it's, I feel horrible. I had an affair that cost a woman her life, and I absolutely feel horrible about that.

But in the same breath, there's a difference between being an adulterer and a murderer. I have never in my life ever thought about murdering somebody. That is a huge thing to do. Taking away something never, ever brought back. So after this, Habeas is done, and the probability of it just not going through, how are you gonna resolve yourself to the rest of your life in prison?

I'm just gonna have to deal with it the best I can, until something comes up that can exonerate me or I'm justgoing to have to try and make the best of whatever situation I'm in. And how is that situation now for you in there? It's I guess as far as prison goes, it's all right. I got a job, I make over 100 a month, which I mean, for people, I don't agree to hear that. Yeah, I 100 a month, it stops me from having my family or what family I talk to. or what few friends I have out there that are on my side, it stops me from that, and that's the one thing I don't want to do, is be a burden on somebody on the outside, so I have a job, I take care of myself as best I can. Sure.

So how would you feel if you saw your story on the ID channel, Discovery, or whatever? I guess it would be, it can work both ways, it can be good and bad, it just depends on what light they put you in. I know they can edit it to where they can make it look any way they want. I know they can do that with shows, I'm not stupid. Sure. They can edit it way they want, but I guess publicity would be good in some extent. It might help me get an attorney or maybe somebody might say, well, that, that doesn't sound right. Or Sure if some people may see somebody say the same thing. Yeah, I think you did do it. But some people, might come to my defense. Yeah. Do you feel like you stay pretty safe in there, in prison? Oh yeah. I don't, I don't have any problems with, anybody, and I feel like I'm a pretty good sized fella so nobody messes with me and then of course I treat everybody with respect. How big are you? I'm 6'4" and 310 lbs.

And if you know this, it's all about respect. As long as you respect people and you stay debt free, and you don't want to go on a motion to try to get in debt with anybody. Because if that causes a lot of trouble, I don't get in debt with nobody. Just have to make my own way. And that's it. I don't borrow from nobody.

I don't say, hey, can I get this until store day or what have I. I may do that occasionally. I'll box your kicks or something, but I give it right back to them. I give it right back to them right away. And I'm not into drugs. I don't have to worry about that in here. I don't mess around with nothing illegal in here. I just, I do what I gotta do. I stay to myself most of the time. And when I talk to people, I'm respectful.

If Rebecca Kirk heard this podcast, what would you wanna tell her if you could tell her? I would tell her to tell the truth, but she ain't gonna do that because then that's gonna put her right back in here again if they didn't make a deal with her, which I'm pretty sure that's why I'm here, but I would just tell her, you know, I hope she's happy with what the way, way everything's turned out that you know.

She knows the truth. I know the truth. I know I didn't do it, and the bottom line when it comes down to it. That's the reason I'm perfectly at peace with wherever I'm at because I know I didn't do it. If I had to spend the rest of my life in prison, then so be it. But I know I'm in here for a crime I did not commit. Yeah.

And there is nothing ever against, Hey, if they told me I could walk out tomorrow, if I just admitted that I did it, I wouldn't go because I'm not gonna admit to something I didn't do for no reason, not gonna do it. I will stay in here and die in here before I tell them I did it. Calvin, I hope that whatever the truth is, I hope that's what gets revealed.

Me too. Hopefully before 30, 40 years is up. I can get it. Yeah. I appreciate you giving me your time. I hope everything works out the way it should. All right, man. Talk to you later. All right. Thank you. Yep. See you. Bye bye. Bye bye.

On the next episode of Voices of a Killer.

That's a wrap on this episode of Voices of a Killer. I want to thank Calvin for sharing his story with us today. His ability to be open and honest is what makes this podcast so special. If you would like to listen to the raw recordings of these interviews, you can visit patreon. com slash Voices of a Killer.

By becoming a patron, you can access not only this, but hours of bonus recordings, correspondence, and you can contribute to the way the show is produced. A big shout out to Sonic Futures who handled the production. Action, audio editing, music licensing, and promotion of this podcast. If you want to hear more episodes like this one, make sure to visit our website at Voices of a Killer.com.

There you can find previous episodes, transcripts, and additional information about the podcast. Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a review on Spotify, apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Your feedback helps us improve and reach new listeners. Thank you for your support and we can't wait to share more stories with you in the future.

Thank you for tuning in. I'm your host, Toby, and we'll see you next time on Voices of a Killer.