Fatal Affairs S01E04 Deadly Desert Secrets
When a woman meets a marine, they fall in love and start a life together. This perfect façade hides a dirty double life of drugs and deceit.
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00:00I
00:09Remember him telling me I think I found the perfect woman
00:13The romance was fast and furious
00:17This woman was willing to give him sex all night long
00:22Once that happened it was on
00:30This
00:35Relationship was wholeheartedly a toxic relationship
00:39She's so manipulative. It was unbelievable
00:43It was at that point that paranoia started to set in
00:48He actually was worried about his life
00:51All three of them are delusional and it could be a recipe for disaster
00:57He knew how to use his guns he knew how to kill
01:03It ended up being more serious than I thought it was going to be
01:09I can't see my life without you
01:14My god
01:19The scene was who would have a motive who is the killer if she loved you enough to kill him
01:26In stories like these
01:29Fairy-tales rarely come true
01:46The town of 29 palms was literally founded as an oasis in the desert
01:51It was one of those stopover points for the gold rush era
01:57And it's also home to the country's largest US military installation for the Marine Corps
02:05The town is a very small tight-knit community where the Marines interface with the regular public
02:12They go to the local bars the local pubs
02:15Where there were a lot of fit young people as you might imagine there were a lot of opportunities for romance
02:22You know choosing your lover can be a thrilling but risky business
02:27What if you can't decide?
02:28Well a lot of times when affairs begin keeping secrets just becomes a new way of life
02:33The danger around the lies and the stories you tell for some people becomes addictive
02:38And when those cravings for that forbidden love become a habit those secrets can become deadly
02:52Curtis Krueger is one of those that the military loves to have because he is right out of central casting
02:58This guy has got the chiseled features that everybody wants. He's an all-american boy
03:05Curtis met Ashley Stapp
03:08sometime in 2017
03:10She worked at a jamba juice, which is a smoothie establishment
03:17She had this really bright smile very bubbly personality
03:21Ashley worked with Angeline and Angeline is Curtis's cousin and the two of them became fast friends
03:31Ashley and Curtis met
03:35And they ended up dating and it was a fast and furious romance
03:41Curtis was very excited about
03:43Curtis was very excited about his new girlfriend. She's blonde. He's the marine. They just made a good couple
03:54There's not much to do in the tiny town of 29 palms
03:57But they were both outdoors people and there's a lot of hiking opportunities in Joshua tree national park
04:03They were able to venture out a little bit and they had a lot of fun together
04:06On one of their hiking adventures the two then stumble on this abandoned house off of one of the trails
04:13And they have how should you say a very intense passionate moment in this house?
04:20And that became sort of their secret lair
04:23The place that only the two of them knew about and that's where they met
04:29Angeline and Angeline
04:31And then they met
04:34Joshua
04:35And then they met
04:38Angeline and then they met
04:40Joshua and then they met
04:42Joshua and then they met
04:44Secret lair
04:46The place that only the two of them knew about and they would say it days at a time
04:52They had no running water. Essentially. They were sleeping in the elements of 29 palms, which can be extremely drastic at times
05:02He had told one of his friends that if ashley could put up with this that he knew she was the one
05:09Ashley and curtis were getting more and more serious
05:14On the other hand there were some oddities and concerns about ashley's behavior
05:21There was definitely some warnings from angeline to curtis
05:26She told curtis that ashley had several incidences
05:30Where her drinking got her into trouble
05:32incidents of blacking out drunk on ashley's part
05:37One time she got so drunk that she passed out in her car in the desert
05:43And she absolutely had no idea where she was at how she got there
05:48Angeline actually warned curtis to stay away from her
05:54And curtis didn't listen
05:57Curtis decided that positives outweigh the negatives with ashley
06:01So
06:10After ashley was found passed out in the middle of the desert
06:14Curtis requested that she always provide him with her physical location
06:19Curtis insisted that he have a tracking app put on her phone so he could keep track of her every movement
06:25And
06:27Ashley really saw curtis as a way to a better life and she was willing to go to any length to get that
06:34If it was showing her location to curtis and that's what she would do
06:39And by january of 2018 curtis was actively tracking ashley seeing where she was going
06:48You know ashley and curtis had a great honeymoon period but over time they started to get a reality check
06:53Once baggage started to come out you have to decide what are you going to admit to?
06:58What do you think you should hide?
07:00And what might look like a perfect picture can really start to show cracks before too long
07:13The truth is that ashley was upset at being tracked she didn't want any of that
07:20So
07:22Ashley decided she would shut off the gps on her phone to kind of thwart curtis's abilities to track her
07:33What was going on in reality is that ashley was keeping a second life a secret life from him
07:42One of the biggest secrets happened back in 2016 way before ashley and curtis met
07:49When she went on craigslist, which is a notorious site to find almost anything you desire
07:55She was going on craigslist to find a man
08:00And met henry stange
08:02And they started a relationship
08:05In the tiny town of murrieta about an hour away from 29 palms
08:12And in fact the relationship between henry and ashley was still very much a regular thing
08:19Even though she was dating curtis
08:23Henry was 54. She was 27 28 and madly in love with him
08:31For someone her age, I didn't understand the attraction she would have
08:37He did profess that he loved her
08:41I told him you've only known her for a few months reel it back a little bit
08:49So
08:55When we get the call that there's a homicide we could not believe what they were talking about
09:00they discovered a
09:02Unidentified body put in a very shallow grave
09:06It was definitely a violent crime scene
09:10They weren't just shot and killed they were given a prolonged beating
09:15There were numerous skull fractures
09:18The person died from blunt force trauma to the head
09:29Curtis and ashley developed this big burning desire and passion for each other
09:34On the surface you had what was the most perfect looking couple?
09:38but
09:39Curtis doesn't know anything about henry
09:42And henry absolutely had no idea about curtis
09:48So
09:59Let's try and have a pleasant evening
10:01It's up to you guys. I will get what you give and I will give what you get
10:06My brother henry. He was never an introvert
10:10Lord have mercy
10:13Oh
10:15He was loud and he was proud of being loud
10:19Fan mail here
10:21Sir, you have kept me in tears laughing for days on end. Thank you. Please continue your fine work. Henry
10:28Henry was the howard stern of ham radio
10:33you either
10:35Loved him
10:36Or you hated him because he was controversial
10:39He was still tough enough to get the best of you and I already proved it
10:44and
10:45Henry liked that
10:47He liked to be the show
10:49He was the show
10:52Even my fans were saying good show, but I need to dial it down a little bit
10:57Ham radio is also considered amateur radio
11:01You have to have your own transmitter. Once you have your call sign provides a great connection to the world
11:09Ashley was out here. She's talking to people
11:11i've got
11:12Pitches us at the grocery store
11:15Henry henry, dude, dude, slow down. We all know there's no ashley
11:20No, ashley, you're a fool
11:24He had sent me this text message and this picture of him
11:28with this girl who looked
11:30younger
11:31But she was his new love interest
11:36She was
11:3727 and he would have been 54
11:42So the age gap was
11:45massive
11:47I was happy for him because he was so lonely
11:53His ex-wife had left
11:56He was alone for
11:58About six months or so and then here comes this little hottie
12:03I
12:06Remember him telling me I think I found the perfect woman
12:10She doesn't want to get fancy and go out to dinner and do all that
12:14She wants to hike with me just sit by the campfire
12:18cuddle
12:20I was trying to teach her how to play the guitar
12:26Henry was very proud of the relationship with ashley, but he did some stuff that wasn't that normal
12:31Some of the ham radio guys had indicated henry had broadcast a sex act with ashley, uh over the ham radio
12:41This woman was willing to
12:43Give him sex all night long. Have a good time. Not a care in the world
12:50He told me he was in love with her
12:52I said, I know you probably haven't had a lot of sex lately, but
12:56I know you probably haven't had a lot of sex lately, but just reel it back a little
13:02He was falling way too hard way too fast
13:06I figured it was a passing thing and I just felt that it wouldn't last
13:16We never went out of our way to meet her or know who she was or anything like that
13:21And
13:24Certainly we had no reason to suspect ashley was dating someone else
13:31Maybe ashley thinks her secret lover is just a little innocent flirtation
13:34But what she doesn't appreciate is that she has created a potentially deadly love triangle and when this truth comes out
13:42Someone could get seriously hurt
13:45A lot of things Henry was unemployed. He was kind of an eccentric guy
13:54And he lived at the home alone
13:58A couple years prior his ex-wife left the house
14:02My brother had a really bad motorcycle accident
14:07A car plowed into him. There were many broken bones
14:15When they gave him oxycontin that did the job he was back he was
14:20Completely back to normal
14:22He was feeling so much better. It also kind of amped him up
14:28But he always wanted more so that's when he became addicted to oxycontin
14:38The nature of the relationship between ashley and henry was very simple
14:43The fact was that ashley was also addicted to pain medication
14:50So she was getting the drugs from where she could and henry was a source of getting those drugs
14:57He kept his things going on in his life that weren't quite so
15:02Normal he would keep a lot of that quiet
15:07That's not the henry we knew
15:13So
15:23Ashley realized that instead of paying money for drugs. She could exchange sex for drugs. That's exactly what ashley was doing with henry
15:32She knew how to use her feminine wiles to reel him in and once that happened it was on
15:40The
15:42Once he fell in love with somebody they could do no wrong
15:47To keep her drug addiction secret from curtis she was turning off the phone when she was going to henry's house
15:55So, of course curtis had no idea where she was at
16:04And it really freaked him out
16:07So
16:09Did I pick the wrong woman is this someone I can really trust
16:15Curtis's cousin also warned curtis that one of her issues was drug addiction
16:20until that night curtis thought it was under control, but
16:25There was eventually an admission from ashley. She was still addicted
16:37It was really at that point that paranoia started to set in on the part of curtis
16:42His surveillance of ashley really sort of escalated
16:49I mean he started to get into her emails
16:53Curtis finds an email from henry
16:56At that point curtis didn't know who henry was
17:00He was shocked to see that ashley would have meetings with henry and potentially use drugs
17:07Curtis was furious
17:10Curtis emailed henry and told him that he needed to leave ashley alone or he would regret it
17:18Henry told me that he had gotten this message from this guy
17:23And he asked ashley about it
17:27And ashley told him
17:29That it's just one of these guys. I used to date
17:33And he's a stalker that's what he told me she told henry that this guy was nothing
17:42Henry immediately sent him a message
17:47Henry told him, you know, i'm gonna date her as long as she wants to see me i'm gonna see her
17:54So if you have a problem with that, you need to speak to ashley not me
17:58Henry basically blew off any threat toward him by curtis
18:03This is a messy situation getting even messier
18:07Curtis shows no faith in the relationship with ashley. So he started substituting control for care
18:14Meanwhile, ashley's addiction to drugs means that she only lives in the moment and her driving force is getting her hands on her drugs
18:22And then henry's relationship with ashley is
18:24Really just transactional which he thinks actually makes their relationship simple and honest
18:29All three of them are delusional. They see the world in black and white and it could be a recipe for disaster
18:38The relationship between ashley and curtis wholeheartedly was a toxic relationship
18:43You had somebody that had a lot of insecurities
18:47Matched with somebody who was willing to do anything to keep you safe
18:51Matched with somebody who was willing to do anything to get loaded or get drunk
19:00Curtis would send her messages like I hope you're having fun with henry
19:05The crazy thing is that curtis was actually replying to a lot of different emails to a lot of different men that were reaching out
19:11to ashley
19:13He started actually making notes to himself
19:18Keeping a log of her behaviors
19:21Curtis started tracking people. He thought she might be getting drugs from such as ex-boyfriends
19:27Or basketball players that were attending the copper canyon college out at 29 palms
19:39Curtis used the protection of ashley as the excuse for his jealous stalking behavior
19:50Both of them had things about their past and about their present that were starting to leak out in the relationship
19:56That the relationship was starting to bring out in them and it wasn't good stuff
20:07When ashley was with curtis she was all his she was his girlfriend
20:14And that's what she portrayed I am curtis's girlfriend
20:18However, ashley was having sex with another man out at 29 palms
20:24I mean while henry keeps thinking that she's his steady girlfriend
20:29Right now ashley appears very agreeable and compliant
20:33But really this is her way of controlling these men because she wants something from both of them
20:38She wants to stay with curtis because he represents a stable future
20:43But she's got to stay with henry because he's the one who gets her drugs
20:48If the balance of power breaks down the question is
20:51Which lover will survive?
20:55Once a month ashley'd stop by have sex with henry and pick up her oxy and that would be that
21:02The rest of the time henry was immersed in the world of ham radio
21:12I'm much tougher than a queen of the latrine marine like you
21:16Are you still out here lying henry they got their thrills by being mean to each other
21:23got them in
21:25Of a five-year-old henry
21:27They got pretty ugly sometimes
21:30I'll reset I got jammed
21:32moron
21:34Henry liked to say things to rile people up
21:37And he really developed some hatred from some of the other ham radio operators
21:42And a piece of shit that deserves to be shot
21:52They talk a big game on the ham radio, but he just couldn't imagine someone might actually try to kill him
21:58Shut the f up and die die die
22:02Die
22:11Ashley came to see henry
22:16There was blood everywhere
22:20Henry called me on the phone and told me that someone broke into his house and attacked him with a hammer
22:33And he saw some people running away and he thought he saw a woman
22:40That's all he really knew
22:44It made no sense to me
22:47My family thought it was kind of a stretch of a story it just seemed so unbelievable, but I believed him
22:57They should have killed me
22:59How could anybody survive one or more blows from a hammer
23:07Henry himself believed
23:09That it was people from this ham radio organization who attacked him
23:15And he talked about all of that on the ham radio
23:19Just if the police don't get him i'm going to
23:23Go get him henry
23:29He was a big one for his guns
23:32He had lived with guns his whole life
23:35He knew the laws and if ham radio people would threaten him. He knew if they walked into his house he could shoot him
23:43So he had guns
23:44And he knew how to kill
23:50He ended up putting up quite a few surveillance cameras because he actually was worried about his life
23:57After the hammer attack ashley stayed with him for a few days
24:02My brother told us that she was taking care of him and he loved her more and more
24:10I think he could see a future in her
24:15Henry's really invested emotionally in ashley you combine that with his volatile personality
24:20And having access to firearms. There's
24:23Certainly potential for violence here if he feels like his connection to ashley is being threatened in any kind of way
24:30maybe he was friendly with his family and friends, but
24:35Henry had a reputation
24:38The last thing you do with henry is to threaten him. He would get his back up on it
24:46Thing is he always pushed things to the edge
24:53So
24:57Ashley was kind of a master manipulator
25:01Somebody who was willing to do anything to get what she wanted
25:05She played many parts
25:09As the months went by henry had a realization that kruger was not just a stalker trying to get her back
25:17There was something much more going on
25:24It was around this time that ashley thought that she was pregnant
25:28Ashley told curtis that it was going to be his kid that he'd be a new dad that they were going to live that
25:34happily ever after
25:37And she told henry that it was going to be his kid
25:40And that they could live a life
25:43But henry was beginning to suspect that ashley saw henry as being a way out of curtis didn't come through
25:51At the time henry was very upset with ashley so he emailed ashley
26:06He was very odd frankly speaking
26:13This relationship between ashley and henry was really fractured
26:20And
26:24Spring of 2018 was was probably the best time in their relationship of ashley and curtis
26:32Ashley had not only agreed to
26:35Stop using drugs curtis was going to receive orders to rotate out of 209 palms and ashley was going to go with them to this
26:43new area and new life
26:46Ashley and curtis got engaged in april of 2018
26:52In the marines they really want you to have a stable home life he could see having that perfect marine family with ashley
27:00But what you saw on the surface was not at all what was going on behind the scenes
27:06And they had no idea that this complicated love triangle was about to end
27:16Memorial day is one of the most important days of the year for any military installation
27:21I mean, this is the day that they honor their fallen
27:24brethren
27:27Curtis was very big about appearances and family and so it would be expected that ashley would come to the memorial day service
27:37But she didn't
27:40Do
27:43She told curtis that she needed to go home to her mother's house to get luggage
27:48This was something that didn't make any sense to curtis
28:01Curtis was furious. He lost his mind
28:06He called her multiple times she never answers her phone
28:11Curtis told his commanding officer that he believed that ashley had some mental health issues and that he didn't know where she was
28:18He finally says listen. I think my fiancee is suicidal. I have to attend this
28:26Curtis went off base and started to look for his fiancee
28:30And
28:31By telling his commanding officer that ashley is suicidal
28:34It seems like curtis might be trying to sow the seed that she might end up dead
28:39In my experience, it is usually women who pay the price for infidelity
28:45Curtis tracks ashley's phone to the location of her mother's home
28:51There's no ashley
28:55He searches the premises
28:58And he finds ashley's phone outside in a planter
29:04Well, he immediately thinks that ashley's kind of playing him as a fool
29:09Leaves the phone there to sort of get him off the scent if you will
29:14But he also realizes that henry stange's house is only 20 minutes from her mother's home
29:22How dare she make me look like an idiot
29:28So
29:32That morning ashley got an email from henry
29:37That he is filled a prescription for oxycontin and that there's an oxy party that she's invited to
29:45Ashley blew off curtis
29:47So that she could have sex with henry and pick up her oxy and that would satisfy her craving
29:57So
30:01Henry was sitting there with a guitar writing a wonderful song for ashley
30:23Henry must have thought what in the hell?
30:28Is
30:40So a hiker was in the joshua tree national park and he sees this group of vultures over this
30:47kind of this carcass
30:50And he takes a few pictures
30:53And after looking at the photos they believe what the bird was digging and eating was actually human remains
31:02The riverside county sheriff's department came out and discovered a body in a very shallow grave
31:10And really bad shape
31:15The autopsy revealed that the person died from blunt force trauma to the head
31:21They were able to rehydrate some of the skin on the skeleton and they were able to get a match of the fingerprint
31:33My sister called me
31:36and
31:39She said are you sitting down and you never want to hear that, you know, it's going to be bad
31:46I had to tell her
31:49That henry had been murdered
31:55It just it was unbelievable
32:04He wasn't just shot and killed he was given a prolonged beating
32:12Then that was rage
32:14So
32:17Henry's home in murrieta is two and a half hours away from the joshua tree national park
32:24In the garage of the home. There was a trail of blood
32:27All the way towards the roll-up door of the garage
32:32And what stood out to me was
32:35Henry's cell phone was not in the home and we noticed that all the video surveillance was missing
32:41So we thought that maybe henry knew who came in his home that day
32:47At this point we discovered that henry actually had a girlfriend
32:54Was she involved in the crime
32:59A simple google search of ashley's staff revealed that she lived in 29 palms and we found photographs of her
33:06With the marine whose name was curtis kruger
33:09And one of the photographs the captions said that she was a fiance
33:14It looks on the surface as some sort of love triangle
33:20We decided that we would attempt to wiretap ashley and curtis's phone
33:27Most people aren't generally going to talk about crimes they committed even even in private
33:33So we have to do something to stimulate that conversation
33:37My partner and I actually went to ashley's brother's apartment
33:44And we asked if he recognized the man in the photo
33:49Yeah, that's my sister ashley, but I don't know who the guy is
33:52And we were hoping that her brother would
33:55Contact ashley to let her know that hey, the police were just at my house
34:00So
34:02Sure enough that started this domino effect of phone calls
34:09They mentioned your black truck seriously, yeah, well that changes everything yeah
34:18It just makes me wonder if a neighbor or something like said, yeah, I saw a black truck leaving
34:25It was a dumb girl that waved hi to us when we were leaving. I'm sure
34:29Somebody waved bye. Yeah
34:32And they said we took all the video surveillance we took all the cables
34:37He like put up his own cameras, that's how I knew where all of them were
34:43they actually talk about
34:45Loading henry's body into the back of curtis's truck
34:50We pulled in close enough. I guarantee you by the lip of the roof that they wouldn't have showed
34:55He was loaded into the back of my truck
34:58and
35:00That was it that that was the moment that was the evidence that we needed
35:06I remember it was august 29th
35:08One of the detectives told me that they were arresting curtis and ashley. I was thrilled. It was actually my birthday
35:16I
35:17Never suspected her
35:20never
35:23We interviewed ashley and she denied any involvement
35:49It was denied denied denied
35:52Until we told ashley that we had recorded conversations of their phone calls
35:59Is that shocking?
36:01So I don't want to start over and tell me what happened so there's no secrets there once she knew that she became
36:10more honest
36:16She basically said she didn't witness the murder of henry
36:20But when I was in the bathroom, I just heard screaming and I knew it was henry screaming because I knew his voice
36:27And so when your friend comes into the bathroom, what happens?
36:31Curtis said I did something terrible. We need to go
36:35What you see
36:37I saw a body like that
36:41Okay
36:43Is he still alive?
36:45How do you know he was breathing?
36:48You can hear him gasping for air
36:51Ashley didn't seem remorseful for the crime. She talked about what happened like it was any other day in in her life
37:06We drove to joshua tree
37:13Um, he started digging a hole
37:16And then he was covering it up and then he was like help me so then I was like helping him cover it
37:27At that point we had a ton of evidence we thought we had enough for prosecution
37:34The murrieta police department presented what they had to the district attorney's office, but they started to
37:41Question some of the evidence and they said well, here's the deal
37:45Ashley's not that much of a reliable witness because she's got a documented past of drug abuse
37:52Maybe she's been lying a lot
37:54All they have is a lot of hearsay and a lot of circumstantial evidence and not enough to actually charge them with any crime
38:02That was a big blow to investigators because they knew they had their culprits
38:09And then from out of nowhere we get a random phone call from curtis's cousin
38:16She had information related to an attack at henry's house prior to the murder
38:26She tells us that back in february
38:29Curtis had told her that he had crept into the residence
38:35found henry sleeping
38:38And hit him in the head with a hammer
38:40And
38:42At the time of the hammer attack henry believed that it was
38:46Somebody from this ham radio organization
38:50So this is new information
38:53This was a break in the case
38:55Not only had kruger killed henry, but had previously attempted to kill henry
39:01After presenting ashley with those facts she began to be more honest
39:08Ashley tells us that she was present when kruger hit henry over the head with the hammer
39:13She threw it
39:15out in the desert
39:17off of that property
39:19The abandoned property that we were staying at she just chucked it far out to the distance
39:26We started searching the expanse of the desert
39:30Describe that hammer the whole thing was bad
39:33Yeah
39:35It was shocking that we actually found it this was a eureka moment because we could show that ashley was telling the truth
39:45The da's office are now believed that we had a good witness inside the garage
39:50We were certain that we had enough evidence to file
39:53the homicide charges
40:03So
40:12Because of ashley's statement and her cooperation ashley was basically let off in a really light sentence
40:33The center of henry's brutal murder is the terrible truth that love and deception often go hand in hand
40:40Sadly henry was a tragic victim of passions ignited by lies
40:45And carried out by people for whom love is nothing more than a means to an end
40:53He trusted her he just couldn't imagine someone being so cruel as to just be using him
40:59I find her the most evil
41:12Everybody in town knew about this affair. He had to either completely leave his wife or be with her
41:19He might be about to lose everything
41:21That's where everything turned
41:25It still haunts that community to this day
41:29You