321. The Murder of Makayla Maeve

you're listening to an ono media podcast hey everyone welcome back to the podcast this is murder with my husband I'm Peyton Moreland I'm Garrett Moreland and he's the husband I'm the husband happy Monday welcome back happy Monday thank you for being here thank you for listening thank you for watching thank you for showing up thank you for subscribing all of it thank you thank you thank you here we are recording ready for a true crime episode what do you guys do this weekend anything fun what did we do work oh yeah we work we worked our anniversary is soon oh yeah Tuesday Tuesday I think gosh 27 years married that's insane crazy no it's nine years married yeah nine years married only smokes that means we're getting old I know nine years married is the long time dude you know what I was looking at our wedding pictures the other day yeah we were so small oh we were baby oh baby we got married when we were like babies who who in their right mind agreed to that who in their right mind said yeah let's let these two children get married since you turn 18 I guess you can technically do whatever you want these and we said hey let's go get married we sure did yep nine year anniversary that's about it I'd daisy daisy sick I'm not sure what but she hasn't been feeling good so she's just chilling but she'll be okay she slept like in my neck broke of my neck last night that's how I knew she was sick or girl I'm gonna get right into 10 seconds I need a hot take for my 10 seconds today yeah take my hand yeah do it I'll show you I'm your hot take there's those good you're done you're cute babe I thought you were gonna like do something like pull your finger yeah okay all right I have a hot take I don't know if it's a hot take it might make some people mad I want to start with saying that the city my bagel shop is amazing they've been great like I'd everything done really really fast and I appreciate it like when I say fast like fast like permits were approved within weeks that's unheard of I feel like I think oh man I want to make some people max I know some of you probably work for a city I think anything that has to do with permits and building oh I don't think I can say it out loud I'm gonna get canceled what I think I think it should all I think it should just not exist like I think they should all be I want to say fired there's other jobs in the city but anything to do with like cities getting permits approved to build something yada yada yada I think that it should all be done just via software like automatic like you upload and there's this parameters and intelligence that automatically knows what needs to be approved and not approved and it's done like that if it's rejected it comes back to you you fix we need to fix upload again and within like 24 hours the systems can automatically detect what needs to be done and not done instead of I mean look there's some cities out there where you submit a permit you don't hear back for like six months I'm sure every contractor anyone that builds anything is like yes like this is ridiculous I think so I just think it's ridiculous it's 2026 we have the technology and we have the ability I know the software exists I just know majority of it is cities don't want to adopt it because I'm gonna get some people lose jobs but it's also hard because you have people literally waiting months and months for a permit sorry this one kind of makes me mad because luckily the city I went they were amazing and they were super helpful and again it happened within weeks but I have multiple friends I have people that you're waiting I mean there's some places where it takes like a year to get a permit anyways that's my hot take if you have something you want to say to me about it let me know I'm open to it yeah two things yes if a job is not efficient yeah for everyone around them the job deserves to be changed correct number one yeah so I don't think that that's that hot of a take okay number two I don't think like you work for the government you work on a different timeline if you work for a state you work on a different timeline yes all the way down if you work with a city you're working on a different timeline than everyone else in America for sure and I think people people probably disagree with this but just true I don't I don't think that that is like necessarily a bad thing there there's probably parameters and things that have made it that way yeah but I think we can all agree that most entities that belong to are inefficient yes like it's already they haven't progressed yeah the way the rest of the world has on the timeline the rest of the world has like like as far as business everything moves super quick super fast it's always about efficiency and we have some really outdated yeah a lot of it I guess probably does have to do with the government and cities and just parameters and yada yada yada but I mean it's like a running joke when you go to a DMV right right and I mean some DMVs now in states are actually really well run and like they have online technology and that's what I'm saying there's so many places that are so far behind like it should not be taking this long to get a permit it should not be taking this long to do different things and again I'm an exception because I didn't happen to my city but I know so many people yeah but it's not like we live in that small of a city so if it's capable in our city to get it done fast it should be capable in most cities to get on that place is in California it literally will take you 18 months which again just goes back to your program is not efficient like come on like you're not being as efficient as possible clearly and I'm not I think different cities different counties like we're obviously not in a huge city but it's a pretty large city with a lot going on yeah and they got it done yeah anyways that's my hot take kind of I don't know maybe you guys don't even care about that but you've ever built something or how to deal with the city I'm sure you care about it though I also don't think efficiency is all technology I think that programs themselves with human beings running them could be more efficient oh 100% yeah yeah like I don't think technology is always the answer yeah it doesn't need to replace it just needs to speed up things yeah anyway that's what I got before we hop into today's episode I want to say real quick that thank you to anyone who listens and watches the podcast who comes into the bagel shop thanks for saying hi I have a problem okay I remember everyone's name as soon as you tell me and I'm talking to you and I remember your name and I'm engaged in the conversation as soon as you leave that name is gone and multiple people were like don't forget my name so you can shout it out in the next episode well guess what I forgot your name but also in my defense I'm also hearing names from 300 other people a day at the same time anyways literally I had multiple people I'm like oh I'm gonna remember your name and shout you out nope any names of my mind is your names the only name of my mind right now is Peyton no other name so anyway sorry that's it I love you thank you for coming in thank you for saying hi if you came in and I was busy I'm also really sorry but I love you and let's hop into today's case our sources for this episode are oxygen a CBS news cocoa com K2 U L dot com okay see Fox dot com medium dot com New York post dot com people dot com K F O R dot com Mama Mia dot com news 9 dot com the sin amaholic and Wilson little dot com I think one of the most powerful extra sensory skills that I've ever seen is a mother's blind intuition everyone talks about it it's like moms have this divine spiritual entanglement to their children they always seem to know when something is off when your energy has shifted sometimes they call right at the second you need the most other times it's like they can predict when something is about to go wrong and I know that's not the case for every mother but it is enough case that has become a stereotype but it's also not every day that a mother's intuition solves a disappearance after Michaela may of a went missing in two thousand and twenty three her mother decided she wasn't gonna sleep until she found her daughter and thanks to that motherly intuition or her divine connection to her daughter Michaela she knew exactly where to find her and not only was she right she helped bring justice to a case that might have otherwise gone cold I'm sure many of our listeners come from small towns so you understand what it's like when everyone knows everyone where gossip spreads faster than a virus and everybody's in each other's business but I think the location of today's case might have most places beat because we're headed to McComb Oklahoma where in the year two thousand and twenty three when our case takes place the population is about twenty or people oh my gosh okay and thirty year old Michaela may of a is one of them Michaela was a teachers assistant at Macomb Public Schools and was working towards getting her teaching degree at the time. She was also very actively involved with the schools after care program, but Michaela always knew she wanted this to be her path. Her mother actually ran a daycare when she was growing up. She understood the power of education and nurturing, and it was what she wanted to do with her life. So it must have been devastating when Michaela learned back in her 20s that she couldn't have children of her own. So instead, as she got older, she fostered and then adopted two teenage kids, a brother and a sister, and she did everything she could to give these kids a loving upbringing. Plus, she shared with them all of the things that always brought her joy, music, singing, religion, her passion for animals. Michaela treated her students with the same kind of love and compassion that she treated her two adopted kids. Friends and co-workers said that if a child ever came to school hungry or wearing dirty clothes, Michaela would be the one to help fix it, make things better. And luckily, Michaela wasn't alone in her journey. She was extremely close with her mother and two sisters who helped her raise her kids along the way. But then, an old acquaintance actually came back into Michaela's perfect little life. It was someone named Frank Byers. Now, Michaela and Frank had actually gone to high school together back in the day. And sometime before 2022, he sent Michaela a Facebook message and the two of them reconnected. Now, by then, Frank was working for an environmental cleanup company, which meant he spent a lot of time on the road. But when he wasn't working, he was actually still living in the Macomb area. Frank now had four kids of his own, all young daughters, and ever since his divorce from their mother, he had primary custody. But this wasn't something that deterred Michaela. If anything, it made her fall for Frank even more, especially because Frank told Michaela his girls had had a rough time in life so far. He said that his most recent girlfriend had been abusing his daughters when he wasn't around. And he was just looking to get out of that situation. So that was when Michaela offered to open her home to Frank and his four kids. The two start dating. So Michaela and Frank start dating in 2022. And her family of three, her and her adopted two kids now grows to eight. Now, people who knew Michaela said she seemed happier than ever. This wasn't something everyone would do, but it was something that really worked for her. She loved Frank's kids like they were her own. So it wasn't a surprise in June of 2022 when Michaela and Frank tied the knot. So for the next year, they lived together on Michaela's 10 acre property. But on September 15th, 2023, their worlds turned upside down. So that morning began like most days in Macomb. Michaela woke up and called her sister Andrea at 7am. The two were best friends. Not only did they speak every day. They basically knew every detail of each other's lives. Or so Andrea thought. It was a Friday. So she and Michaela might have discussed their plans for the weekend. Michaela went to work that morning and came home around her usual time. But she and her sister Andrea didn't speak again for the rest of that night. When Andrea's phone rang the following morning, though, on September 16th, she expected to hear Michaela on the other end of the line again. Only this time, it was Frank, her boyfriend. And he was wondering if Andrea had seen or spoken to her sister since the night before. And according to Andrea, Frank seemed seriously worried. He was hysterical. She could hardly make out what he was saying at first. Eventually, she got him to calm down enough to spit it out. And that's when he said that Michaela had gone on a date the night before, but hadn't made it home yet. Now, this isn't a total shock to Andrea because despite the fact they're still living together with their kids, she knew Michaela and Frank had recently decided to take a little break from their romance. Things hadn't been going super well between them lately. So Andrea's first thought was, well, good, I hope my sister went out and had some fun last night. Maybe she had a little too much fun. Maybe she stayed over at a guy's house. But Frank seems to think it's a lot worse than Michaela just staying out for the night. He tells her sister the last time he saw Michaela was around 5.30 pm last night that the guy she'd went out with was bald. He had a dark beard. He showed up in a white Chevrolet pickup truck with tinted windows. And Frank says he didn't speak to the guy himself, but he saw Michaela get into the truck with him and then they drove off into the sunset. But now Michaela wasn't answering her phone. She still hadn't made it home like all of the kids are home. So Andrea at this point assumes Frank is just being jealous, like a little jealous and dramatic, which is why after she hangs up, she decides to call her sister herself. But Frank was right. Michaela wasn't answering her phone. In fact, her calls were going straight to voicemail. So the hours begin to tick pass that morning. It's noon, then it's 1 pm and still no one's been able to reach Michaela. And now her family is starting to get worried, especially because Michaela had promised to help out a restaurant their family owned that day. But she didn't show up and this is something that was completely unlike her. So by that afternoon, her husband Frank called 911. And I'm calling him husband, but they're on a break apparently, but they're still living in the same home with the kids. My wife's been missing since the late last night. She left at 5'30" and last time that anyone I've heard from her has been at 8 p.m. In your name? My name is Frank Vars, Vyora Eora. What's her name? Her name is Michaela Vars. Now it's about 4 p.m. on the afternoon of the 16th when police arrive at Michaela's home where Frank and Michaela are living. And with his body cam rolling, the deputy asks 32 year old Frank to repeat the details he gave the dispatcher over the phone. Now Frank also gives them more description of the guy he says he saw Michaela leaving with the night before. He was 6 feet tall, maybe 200 pounds or so. Now what's interesting is when Frank is explaining the situation to the deputy, he doesn't exactly tell the deputy that he and Michaela were on a break. Instead, he says we had actually recently decided to agree to open up their marriage and stay together while also seeing other people. So they were still living in Michaela's home on the 10 acres in this very, very small town, but they had an open relationship so that each would go on dates with other people, but we're still at home raising the kids together. So this is what he tells the officer. He says to the officer that Michaela met this particular person that she went on a date with on Facebook, but that's all he really knew about the guy outside of what he looked like and what car he drove. Frank also says that he doesn't really like the arrangement like the open marriage. It was Michaela's idea. He was just willing to do whatever it took to make her happy to keep her by his side to keep their marriage intact. Frank admits though that right before she left, he and Michaela had gotten into a tiff. According to him, she claimed it was not of his business where she was going or who she went with. So that's why he never got a name or more details on where her date was that night, but he also offers to show the deputy some messages. Michaela had sent him the night before after she left the house on the date. It was messages sent from her phone that read quote, I'm fine and back off. Okay. Now to this point, the deputy decides it's worth driving around the tiny town to see if he spots Michaela. And one of the first stops he makes is at the school where she works, but there's nothing. Meanwhile, back at Frank and Michaela's house, the family is actually starting to gather her mother and sister show up. And one of the first things her mom Barbara does is she gets down on her hands and knees and starts crawling inch by inch over the huge property looking for any sign of her daughter. And I'm saying any sign as in foul play, clues, anything she can see. Now later that evening, deputies are back on the property joining the family in their search of the property, but they're more interested in the inside of Frank and Michaela's home, particularly they seem to kind of check out this little shed outback because the police learned that while they were going through this open marriage, maybe break, maybe trying to figure things out depends on who you ask. Apparently Michaela had moved into this tiny shed in the back. Now Frank had told them earlier in the day, but when they asked him to open it, he was like it's locked and I don't have a key. Like that's her first space. But when police return, he smashes open the lock in this time, he lets police look inside. And right away, police see something alarming. Shell casings belonging to a 22 caliber. But Frank immediately tells them it's not weird. Michaela often sat back here and shot at wild animals from her shed. But that's not even the most alarming detail. I don't, I mean, they're in a small town. I don't know if I find that that weird. 22 is usually not something. I mean, yeah, I don't know. There's some reason I don't find that that weird. Knowing what, like, knowing what a 22 is, knowing it's a small town, like, casual Saturday activity. Yeah, honestly, like, it wouldn't surprise me if she was out her window, like, hooting birds or string squirrels, not saying you should do that. I'm just saying that. Yeah. That wouldn't spark instant red flags. We shouldn't be like, what is it? Yeah, exactly. Now, this isn't even the most alarming detail because there also appears to be some blood drops on the floor and on the sheets of the bed. Now, of course, the next thing police ask is, where's the gun? Like, where is the 22 that those shell casings come from? And Frank says, Oh, that's actually back in the main house where I'm staying. They're like, okay, you just said she uses it out here, but I mean, it's possible. It's possible. It could've been moved. I guess. So he leads them back shows them the gun and they realize this gun has been fired recently. There is gun shot residue on the barrel and the breach of the gun, where the ammunition is loaded. And it's at this point, the deputies are like, Hey, we're going to call for more backup because interesting while this is still a missing person's case, they have blood, they have shell casings, they have a gun that's recently been fired. And so they're like, maybe this is a missing person's case, but also a potential homicide. And they need their criminal investigation team out there for more support. So that is where lieutenant Dakota black comes in. She is a trained tracker with the Potta Watame County Sheriff's Office nearby in Shawnee, Oklahoma. So basically, she's the one you call if there's like a man hunt, her male colleagues at the sheriff's office admit, even they're intimidated by lieutenant black skill set and just overall bad A like she can track someone. She knows her way around the wild around the forest, whether she's on the shooting ranger out in the field. She's just kind of someone you don't want to bet against. And my favorite part about her might be her trained therapy dog that she brings with her on these investigations because she knows how calming and helpful it can be to the families who are in the midst of an investigation like this. So she literally brings her dog who is trained to like ease the tension. I love animals. I got love pets. I mean, all animals, but right love them when lieutenant black is called out to look for Makayla that September night. This case hits differently than usual, not only was she and Makayla born one day apart. So they're the same age lieutenant black admits that she's been in situations of intimate partner abuse before. So when she shows up and it's like, you know, this boyfriend who's apparently on a break open marriage husband, she kind of just fills this like connection to Makayla, maybe more than she cares to admit, but that doesn't mean the police has stopped following other leads. Every single white pickup truck matching the description Frank gave is being called down to the station to be rolled out. And that might seem extremely bit again. We're in a very small town. The family is putting up flyers all over town. Makayla's face is being plastered all over social media drones are actually scouring the wooded areas around the area and kayaks traverse the nearby waters, looking for signs of a body. And during all of this like this pretty intense search for a small town Frank buyers husband doesn't do a thing. Lieutenant black says he never went out with any of the search parties. Okay. He didn't really show any motion at all towards the fact that his wife was still missing. The few things he did do seemed completely performative to her. And mostly all of this was from the comfort of his own couch. Like he says, no, I'm still texting and calling Makayla's phone daily, praying she'll pick up. Nice. I'm talking about good job, dude. Also like, I don't know, just like pat yourself on the back for continuing to call when that's like a very normal thing. People go through your wife's missing. I'm glad you're calling her intense and like bragging about it. We got and he posts on Facebook claiming quote. She means the world to me. She literally is the backbone of our family. I love her deeply. She's a good woman and a great mom, which is why on day three of the search effort. Lieutenant black calls Frank in for additional questioning, playing the good cop. She caters to his filling say, I know how upset you must be. And the story does stay pretty consistent. Makayla left on the state. She never made it home. So without enough evidence, Lieutenant black is forced to let him go for now. Though it's around this same time that the police get some information back on Makayla's cell phone data. The report shows her phone last pinged a tower within a three mile radius of her home, meaning wherever she went with this phone, it likely wasn't far or at least her cell phone didn't travel far. Now, unfortunately, clues were proving really hard to come by in this case. There really wasn't a shred of evidence showing where Makayla had gone or who she left with during those first few days of the investigation. Until her mom, Barbara shared some pretty shocking details with police. Barbara claims she was crawling through the brush on the property around day three of the search. When according to her, she had a premonition. She claims it was like Makayla's voice had appeared in her head and whispered something to her quote, mama, I'm in a tin horn. Now Barbara could sense that whatever this experience was, it was critical to the investigation. It wasn't just a thought or a theory. She claims this is mother's intuition. This is divine messaging. A mother's intuition telling her that's where they needed to search. Now, if you don't know, tin horns are those metal or plastic culvert pipes that you see directing water to flow underneath roads to keep them from flooding. Those are called tin horns. Tin horns. And it seemed like there were quite a few of these in the area. So from that point on, Barbara begins checking every single one that she comes across. She tells the police, but she's also like, I'm just going to start checking all of the ones in town, specifically waiting through creek beds and canals to see if there's any sign of her daughter. Unfortunately, there isn't until day five of the investigation. Oh, we crap. Right. Let's hear this. Now that afternoon, September 20th, 2023, Michaela's cousin is out searching for her along with basically the rest of the town. She and a friend are about a half a mile away from Michaela's house when they are just hit with this horrible smell. And they kind of keep following the scent down a trail, which eventually brings them right to a tin horn. And there along the opening, they see a human hand sticking out of a rolled up piece of carpet. So they're searching for a body at this point. So they immediately call 911 to say, Hey, we're pretty sure we just found Michaela. I always wonder, like putting a body somewhere where it's eventually going to be found. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's not like, it was in the bottom of the ocean. Like, are they trying to hide it? Like, they put it somewhere where like rolled up in a carpet. Also like, what? I'm just going to speak broadly here. If you are the killer, and you hear the Barbara, the mom goes to police and says she's in a tin horn, that you think you move it. Like, well, just imagine the like, how did she know that? Yeah, I know 100% yeah. Within minutes, police are there to confirm inside that rolled up carpet is in fact, the deceased body of 30 year old Michaela. She is wearing a red t-shirt, which had intentionally been pulled up over her head to conceal her face. She isn't wearing any pants or underwear, but she still has on one sock with little teddy bears on it. Oh my god. She sees little details that just go to show like, hate it. So sad. You're just a normal human. You're just a normal good human. It's so sad. And it's clear that she has been shot at least twice in the head before her killer wrapped her up and left her there. And the bullet was there's more to the story than the bullet. Let me get there. We obviously know there's no denying that Michaela's cause of death is the two gunshot wounds her head, but the autopsy reveals more. One in the front and one on the left side, including a third, which had grazed her head. And from what I could gather, if It didn't appear as though they found evidence of sexual assault, despite the fact she was dressed that way. But at this point, Lieutenant Blackfield's pretty sure that she knows who is responsible, not only did police find the gun in the home that matched the bullet wounds. It was a 22. Yes. Dang, I'm wrong. You didn't think it was. But I just find it unlikely with that type of gun, I mean, obviously possible with any gun. What's the 22? It's like here, I'll show you a picture real quick. I mean, I should after doing this many cases, probably know what a 22 looks like. I feel like it's like small. Yeah, but so here's like a 22. It's like a lot of times 22s can be. Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's like a long rifle, which I mean, yeah, it's possible, just like out of all things it surprises me. I'm pretty sure there is 22s in like certain types of handguns. It's the most positive, but I've always known it to be like a rifle. I think if we were like in a city, a 22 would seem a little more unlikely to me, but I think because we are in country and a lot of people might have rifles in their homes. Maybe it's not that weird as a murder weapon. Yeah, they're just usually, I'm trying to figure out how to use the right words. Like it's because it's just the caliber bullet, right? Yeah, but like a lot of people use it for like, like multiple guns can be 22. Two caliber, because it's just the type of ammo. Correct. No, it's just like usually like a rifle that's 22 is like, like they're obviously dangerous because it's a gun, but like a lot of kids or people who are younger will learn to like shoot rifles with the 22. What did he want on a Christmas story? Well, he had a BB gun. You wanted a BB gun and they made it that big of a deal. Yeah, it was a BB gun and I'm pretty sure it's a BB gun. Probably. Yeah, I remember he's like, you'll shoot your eye out. But I'm just like a BB gun. In my hometown, there were four year olds carrying BB guns around all day long. It's crazy. I had a paint, I had a paintball gun. Really? Yeah. That's crazy. So the bullet wounds match that caliber of gun. And Lieutenant Black has also been speaking to the family a little bit more, just trying to learn more about Makayla in the last, you know, five-ish days. And the family of all kind of told her a lot of what Frank has been saying to the police when like the family learns what he's been saying seems like a lie. Turns out, according to her family, there was no open relationship between Frank and Makayla. Makayla, they think never would have agreed to do something like that, especially because they said it was actually Frank's affairs that led to this break or separation in the first place. In fact, Makayla had already spoken to Frank about getting divorced, according to her family. They don't want to stay with him and keep their arrangement flexible. She wanted out. And the one thing that kept her on the same property as Frank were his daughters who she loved and cared for. And also this infidelity was nothing new, by the way. Makayla had learned that Frank started cheating on her almost right after they moved in together. Whenever he would go out of town for work, he would fire up the old dating apps and meet some locals. So about three months before her death, according to her family, Makayla finally packed a bag and went to her sister's house for a week. But she felt she needed to go back to the house eventually for Frank's girls. And that's when she decided to move to the shed. So she could still be a part of the family, maybe see if they could like work on things after this week break, but according to her, Frank kept cheating. And then about two days before Makayla went missing, she confronted Frank. You know, it's kind of funny, the amount of people who will be like, Oh, yeah, we're in an open relationship. And then you learn more about it. And it's like, no, yeah, no, we never were in an open relationship. Yeah. Anyways, now she actually recorded their conversation. And so we have like actual quotes of this. She said, I've never once been dead set for divorce until today. I'm just saying that you have officially lost me. I'm stating to you right now that you have officially broke the last string that was holding me to you. And you have nobody to blame, but yourself for doing it. And then by the weekend, Makayla was dead. That's insane, dude. What an absolute monster, which sounds a lot different than we had in open relationship. It's just such an ego. It's just if I can't have you no one can I hate that I hate when that happens now. You know what? Frank didn't miss a beat. He texted one of the women. He was talking to almost immediately after Makayla went missing. He even sent a picture to a woman in his tux saying this is one that he had gotten for Makayla's funeral. Keep in mind, this was like before her body was found. So this gets Lieutenant Black and her colleagues wondering, what was the relationship really like with this woman that he's talking to? This is his ex girlfriend, if you remember, this is the one he said was abusive toward him and his younger girls, the one he told Makayla he needed to escape from when they first got together and that was like part of the reason he moved in so fast. They look her up. Her name is Crystal. And the more she talks to police, the more they realize, wow, Frank is a pretty manipulative guy because Crystal said Frank was abusive towards her, not the other way around. She said one time she woke up from a deep sleep to find Frank standing over her with handcuffs. There was another time when he was choking her in her sleep and he controlled her every move, tried to cut her off from her own friends and family. It was just kind of textbook behavior. Now shockingly, she said early on in their relationship, he used the same, whoa, is me story to get her in his clutches. He told Crystal the woman he was currently seeing was abusing him and his daughters and he needed to get out for safety. Apparently this is like his pattern. She never reported the incident but she was able to walk away from the situation with her life. But Makayla never seemed to tell anyone her full experience either. Her mother Barbara really appeared to beat herself up over this. She admitted there were times when she did see bruises on Makayla or maybe since there was some manipulation happening in the marriage that was kind of toxic, but Makayla never admitted to it and she would just say things like she was rough housing with the kids. It wasn't until later, looking back on the situation, she's now dead that her family was like maybe there's more to the story here. But now that the entire town knew the unspoken truth that Frank buyers was basically suspect number one, everyone was turning against him. When Makayla's school that she worked for held a vigil for her, Frank was banned from attending, people even blocked his view with their trucks to make sure he couldn't like view from afar. But Frank couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut about this case. He kept going on social media, defending himself and assisting his innocent, truth would reveal itself in time. He went on the local news at one point and said this quote. And today I called her, I mean, I know she's not here, but it's just the fact that I have her number still in her phone still on somewares and it would have been nice to say her voice. He's just like real, he thinks a call, a weird guy. The most sacrificial thing a man can do for a woman is call her phone. Okay. So he says it's just it would have been nice to hear her voice. So as you can imagine, there were a lot of people close to the case who were getting frustrated with the lack of progress. So like, hey, everyone knows who did it, like everyone knows he's out there living his life. No, I mean, actually, yeah, I mean, if the bullet matches the gun, like what else or matches what else to, I mean, okay. So to be fair, Lieutenant Black was annoyed by this too. The problem was even though everyone felt like Frank was guilty, they just didn't feel like they had enough to make an arrest. I mean, it's not even a match. It's a match of the like the type of, you know, so that was a bullet, yeah. That wasn't until detectives uncovered something inside Frank and Michaela's home while executing a search warrant that October. So the first thing they find was some security footage that was also saved on an app on Frank's phone. Now police think Frank tried to delete the footage, but didn't realize that he was unsuccessful because on that tape, you can see Michaela coming home from work that last day, Friday, September 15, you know, around her usual time, she comes through the front door. She stays for 14 minutes during this. It looks like she and Frank are arguing and then Michaela leaves and Frank is seen standing at the door like he's going to follow her. Now the police think this wasn't the moment Michaela got in the car on a date with another man, instead they believe Frank actually followed her out back to the shed, or she was staying so she didn't even go on and then killed her. She went out back to the shed, he followed her and killed her in her shed in cold blood. Now from there, the evidence kept mounting because police discovered that Michaela's cell phone, the missing cell phone that he keeps calling was actually still inside the family home hidden in a drawer. Oh god, you're lying. Also the SIM card had been removed. This random man who took her on a date broke back into the home, removed the SIM card. Honestly, it just goes to show how dumb this guy is. Also, it's like an absolute just this idiot, an idiot, an idiot. So the SIM card was removed and put into a different phone and the reason for this was you could then get into it without a passcode. - Yeah. - Then he was using it to fake the conversation he allegedly had with Michaela the night she disappeared when she went on her date. - Got it. - The one where she messaged him saying, "I'm fine back off." By the way, around the same time might I add that these texts were coming in from the phone that's in a different sim, from the sim card that's now in a different phone in the house. Frank was texting another woman with his own phone saying, quote, "I'm not getting back with Michaela. I'm willing to do anything and everything I possibly can to make sure you are secure in this." He's sending a text to a woman. - After he just killed his wife? - Wow, faking these messages. - Yeah. - But there's more. We have a Walmart receipt that is found from a purchase made the day Michaela went missing, a mop, bleach, ammonia. Everything you would need to clean up a crime scene. And Frank was caught on security footage at the Walmart making this purchase. And then you have the carpet. The one Michaela's body was found in. - You can always kind of Walmart for security footage. - The police asked around about this carpet. A neighbor comes forward, they say, "That's the same one I gave to Michaela and Frank for their dogs eight or five months ago." - Oh my God. - So we know it was in their property. But let's talk about the bullet, the one that grazed Michaela's head. That was actually found in the wall of the shed. Michaela was staying and still wrapped in her hair, which basically confirms that the shooting happened and they're not on a date with a random guy. They weren't able to get DNA confirmation on the hair, but they did find their smoking gun somewhere else. Frank's work boots had been collected as evidence the night he filed the missing persons report. Initially, they spotted something on them, they believed could be blood, but they also knew that Frank worked with chemicals. 38 days after Michaela was last seen alive, police got results back. The substance on the boots was blood and it was Michaela's DNA. On October 24th, 2023, 39 days after Michaela was last seen, a SWAT team surrounded Frank's home. He was placed under arrest and later charged with first degree murder, unauthorized removal of a dead body and desecration of a human corpse. The district attorney really wanted the death penalty for Frank, but the defense proposed a deal, plead guilty and serve life without parole instead. And that is what 34 year old Frank did. On January 31st, 2025, he pleaded guilty to his crimes. But Michaela's family was far from satisfied with this outcome. Her mother, Barbara, said she thought the deal was a total cop out and justice hadn't been served. Because she and others think Frank didn't do this alone. Barbara does not believe that Frank had the strength to move the body into his truck by himself. In fact, she's going to go to her grave saying there was an accomplice. I mean, I don't, I don't doubt that at all. And as for Lieutenant Black, she's not ruling it out either. She's like, yes, moving this body would have been pretty tough. But people do pretty incredible things when they're scared and they have adrenaline. Yeah, that hurts true too. But if there's one thing we've learned from this story, it's that Barbara's instincts have been right before. So they could be right about this too. If you have any tips or information regarding Michaela's case, you can contact the Sheriff's Office at 405-273-1727. And in the meantime, Barbara's chosen to reframe the way Michaela's remembered. She has since started a foundation in her daughter's name called Michaela's Purple Butterfly to help people get out of situations with intimate partner abuse. And if you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, you can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. And that is the story of Michaela Maeve. Once again, I feel like this just happened last week. You never know somebody. The fact that you can be married to someone who would kill someone. And like be texting a woman at the same time. Sorry, not kill someone, kill you. It's the weirdest cognitive dissonance. People really not show signs or is it just that, I don't know. I mean, he seemed to kind of have a pattern like this. - Yeah. - Behavior. - That's horrible. - Horrible. All right, you guys, thank you for listening to this week's episode or watching. And we will see you next time with another one. I love it. - And I hate it. - Bye-bye.