"Could you kill someone with horse tranquilizer?"
March 23, 1993. Haylei Jordan is 8 when her mom asks her if she wants to leave everything behind. The little girl doesn't realize that her mother has just cut off her ankle monitor and wants to take her daughter on the run.
March 18, 2002. Almost a decade later, Haylei is faced with another terrible decision after years of turbulence and uncertainty: she has to protect her mother even if it means calling the cops on her for what she has just confessed to her.
March 23, 1993. Haylei Jordan is 8 when her mom asks her if she wants to leave everything behind. The little girl doesn't realize that her mother has just cut off her ankle monitor and wants to take her daughter on the run.
March 18, 2002. Almost a decade later, Haylei is faced with another terrible decision after years of turbulence and uncertainty: she has to protect her mother even if it means calling the cops on her for what she has just confessed to her.
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FunTranscript
00:00It seemed like a good idea at the time, but oh my god."
00:04This footage hides the most disturbing secret.
00:07The woman being interrogated is called Elisa McNabney.
00:10At first glance, investigators appear to be taking her seriously, giving Elisa their full
00:15attention.
00:16But something is not what it seems.
00:19The truth is, Elisa McNabney doesn't exist.
00:23On February 5th, 2002, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office receives a call after a
00:28man says he's found a dead body on his property.
00:32As police examine the scene, they identify the remains as 53-year-old Larry McNabney,
00:37Elisa's husband.
00:39When police try to locate Elisa and bring her in for questioning, Elisa is nowhere to
00:43be found.
00:44For the last 10 years, a woman who calls herself Elisa has outsmarted the cops at every turn,
00:50using over 38 different aliases, vanishing into thin air.
00:54And still, police have no idea who she really is.
00:58This mystery woman might have escaped police forever if it wasn't for the courage of one
01:02young girl, Elisa's own daughter, Haley.
01:06The FBI is asking for help in finding a woman they say is a cold-blooded killer.
01:11Super intelligent, just amazingly smart.
01:13She managed to live her life without ever using her real name.
01:17She always had a sixth sense, knowing that the law by this time is really right on her
01:21heels.
01:22But she is still one step ahead of them.
01:24She said, could you kill somebody with this?
01:27I said, do you mean a horse?
01:29She says, no, a person.
01:31Linden, California, February 5th, 2002.
01:35A horrible crime shatters the peace of this quiet village, located just one hour outside
01:40of Sacramento.
01:42The address?
01:43A vineyard at the corner of Clements and Frazier.
01:45In the early hours of the morning, the sheriff's office answers a call after a man says he's
01:50made a disturbing discovery on his property.
01:53As soon as I got out of the car, I could see what appeared to be a piece of a human
01:59body sticking out of the ground.
02:02As we remove dirt off progressively, we can see that it's not just a foot, it's not just
02:11a leg, but we have the entirety of a body.
02:18The big question is, who was this person?
02:23It flashed on the news, on the TV, that a male body had been found.
02:30And I called my wife at work and I said, I just have this terrible feeling that that's
02:34Larry.
02:35Larry is Larry McNabney, the Sacramento lawyer famous for his TV commercials.
02:41If you've been hurt in an accident, the smart thing to do is to hire a lawyer who can take
02:48care of business.
02:49I can do that.
02:50If you've been injured, you deserve competent legal help.
02:52You deserve and should demand experience.
02:56Why you need an experienced lawyer when you've been injured?
02:58Don't you think you should know your legal rights?
03:00I've been a trial lawyer so long, I can barely remember doing anything else, and I love what
03:04I do.
03:05If you've been injured in an accident, call me.
03:07If you've been injured, call me.
03:09Call me.
03:10Call me.
03:11Call me.
03:12Larry McNabney is the face of legal actions against insurance companies.
03:15His reputation has made him a celebrity.
03:18His ability to win in court has made him rich.
03:21Larry McNabney cut a striking figure, six foot tall, about 200 pounds, but very fit.
03:27And women loved him.
03:28He was handsome, he was charismatic and funny and had a lot of money and he threw his money
03:33around.
03:34I mean, you had a great time with Larry.
03:36Larry had a great expression.
03:38You can't put a price on a good time.
03:40He was so instantly likable.
03:43Larry McNabney lived in a gated community on the outskirts of Stockton with his wife,
03:48Elisa, and her 12-year-old daughter, Haley.
03:50At one point, Elisa and Larry had matching Corvettes.
03:54They had a corporate jet.
03:56They had offices in Las Vegas and Reno.
03:59These were good people.
04:00We enjoyed them.
04:01They enjoyed us.
04:03Everybody that met them enjoyed them.
04:05They were always just a loving couple.
04:09But things took a turn for the worse in early September, 2001, when Larry McNabney mysteriously
04:15disappeared.
04:16The body was found buried in a shallow grave in eastern San Joaquin County near Linda.
04:20A couple of days later, the body was identified by fingerprints as Larry McNabney.
04:26We can't have justice.
04:27We can't let everything go with our dad.
04:30We just ask for your help.
04:32Larry McNabney's body was found five months after he first went missing, but as investigators
04:36try to figure out what happened to him, they are left with more questions than answers.
04:41As a defense attorney, Larry McNabney met a lot of unseemly people.
04:46He had worked with mob figures in Las Vegas, which obviously brings to mind gambling and
04:51associates of that nature.
04:53And you have to wonder whether one of his business contacts could have been responsible
04:58for what happened.
04:59After performing the autopsy, I had no idea what his cause of death was.
05:04There was no blunt force injury, no projectiles.
05:07There were no bullet holes, there were no knife wounds, no strangulation marks.
05:13So why is this man dead?
05:15A sample of Larry's blood is screened for all known poisons, and after a few days of
05:20waiting, the results from the toxicology report return.
05:23Every single test comes back negative, showing no signs of any poison in his body.
05:28Upon further examination, experts notice even more irregularities.
05:32Psychic experts determine Larry died only days after he went missing.
05:36But strangely, six months later, his body is almost perfectly preserved.
05:42Body that's been missing for six months, and here it is in a state of preservation
05:47that is totally inconsistent.
05:49The body had not decomposed consistent with the time frame that we were looking at, meaning
05:54that it was preserved, kept cold.
05:57Where has he been from September until he was found in February?
06:02Looking for answers, detectives first turned to the person closest to Larry, his wife Elisa.
06:07But they quickly discover she and her young daughter Haley have also been missing for
06:11more than a month.
06:13It occurred to me that she also could be a victim.
06:18Perhaps something larger is going on here.
06:20We weren't able to make any contact.
06:22Is she okay at this point?
06:23We have no idea.
06:25As time passes, investigators are no closer to understanding what happened and start fearing
06:30the worst.
06:31They look for any possible leads and interview anyone who might have answers on where Elisa
06:35and Haley have gone, and they start to get worried about what kind of danger they might
06:39be in.
06:40After talking with friends and co-workers, detectives learn about a very close friend
06:44of Elisa, someone who has been a trusted employee of the McNabney's law office over the past
06:50year, and who might know where the mother and her teenage daughter might be, 21-year-old
06:55Sarah Dutra.
06:56And your last name?
06:57Dutra.
06:59Okay, D-U-T-R-A, and your first name is Sarah.
07:02During the interview, Sarah, who came with her dog, Ralph, shares details about her close
07:07bond with Elisa, recounting their frequent trips together.
07:11Detectives quickly realize that Sarah might be one of the last individuals to have seen
07:15Elisa and Haley before they disappeared.
07:18When is the last time you saw or talked to Elisa?
07:22She was living with Erickson, and I was going to find out the next day.
07:29And then you called her cell phone number, and what did you get?
07:32Nothing.
07:33This number is no longer in use.
07:35Following Sarah's interview, detectives look more closely at Elisa's past, uncovering that
07:40she met her husband, Larry McNabney, in June 1995, when he posted an ad in the newspaper
07:45for a receptionist job in his law office.
07:48Elisa, at the time, was 28 years old and made a striking first impression to the 46-year-old
07:53lawyer.
07:54She put her best foot forward and really swept Larry off his feet.
08:00And they ended up romantically involved shortly after she became employed.
08:06Detectives search for more information about Elisa McNabney, looking at her files and documentation,
08:11but shockingly, she has no social security number, no driver's license, and there is
08:15no paper trail connecting to her identity whatsoever.
08:19Looking for any evidence at the McNabney's home and law office, they discover a locked
08:23trailer, used for transporting horses, with dozens of sealed boxes.
08:28Inside, detectives find many papers and documents with photo identification that appear to be
08:33Elisa's, but they all have many different names.
08:36We realized that Elisa has used at least 38 other aliases in the past.
08:41She managed to live her life without ever using her real name, without ever producing
08:47anything that would positively identify her.
08:51One thing became immediately apparent about Elisa McNabney is that she did not exist.
08:57Detectives now realize that Elisa might not be another potential victim, as they once
09:02thought, but their prime suspect.
09:04And what's even more alarming, cops have no leads on her missing daughter, Haley.
09:09It's clear that through witness testimonies from friends and co-workers that during her
09:12initial interview, Sarah Dutra downplayed the extent of her relationship with the prime
09:17suspect.
09:18Elisa and Sarah have much more than just an employee-employer relationship.
09:22The dynamic is very personal, going on vacations and trips, shopping and partying together,
09:28and spending a lot of time with each other outside of work.
09:31They're laughing together, they're shopping together, they're eating together, just living
09:35at her house, they're sleeping in the same bed together, they bought matching underwear
09:40together, they were best friends.
09:43Their relationship caused problems in Larry and Elisa's marriage, as Elisa would often
09:47spend more time with Sarah, sleeping with her instead of her husband, Larry.
09:51There's also clear evidence that Sarah was forging checks, signing Larry McNabney's name
09:56without him knowing, and might be responsible for the over half a million dollars that is
10:00missing from the law office.
10:03This testimony also indicates that Sarah, Elisa, and Larry were together on the day
10:07he was last seen alive.
10:09Now that investigators know Sarah might be linked to the disappearance of Larry, detectives
10:14bring her back to the police station, not for an interview, but for an interrogation.
10:34At this moment, the detectives need to find Elisa and her 17-year-old daughter at all
10:40costs.
10:41The mother has all the missing pieces to the puzzle, but she is still nowhere to be found.
10:56The search for Elisa and her missing daughter turns into a nationwide manhunt.
11:00Elisa's face, as the prime suspect, is posted all across the country.
11:05We can't find her, there's not a trace of her.
11:07The FBI is asking for help in finding a woman they say is a cold-blooded killer.
11:12There's information that she may have gone to Denver, she might have been to Vegas.
11:17Her activities had been tracked through three different states.
11:22We kept getting closer and closer to the point to where we were just a few days behind her.
11:26The FBI attempts to track Elisa's movements across the country, but so far, they seem
11:31to always be one step behind her as she's constantly changing identities and locations.
11:36However, on March 18, 2002, one month after Larry's body was found, police in Destin,
11:42Florida, receive an intriguing 911 call from a panicked young girl.
11:47She claims that her mom is the one the FBI has been looking for and that she might be
11:51in Fort Walton Beach.
11:53The young girl is Elisa's daughter, 17-year-old Haley Jordan.
11:57After years of being on the run, the teenager finally tells her story and reveals the truth
12:01about her mother.
12:031989, six years prior to meeting McNabney, Haley is five years old and has a turbulent
12:10childhood, growing up with her unstable single mother in Florida.
12:14Elisa loves her daughter and tries to be the best mom she can, but struggles with mental
12:18health, and quickly, life at home becomes chaotic.
12:21She was, in her own way, a good mother for Haley, but on the other hand, she was a very
12:26fragile person who had very little self-confidence, and Haley felt many times that the mother-daughter
12:33relationship was reversed.
12:36Haley's mom cannot keep a consistent job and always has problems with money and paying
12:41bills.
12:42Her mother routinely shoplifts and commits petty theft, constantly in and out of trouble
12:46with the law.
12:47She frequently changes her identity and regularly moves with Haley to avoid getting caught and
12:51sent to prison.
12:53This made it extremely difficult for a young child to feel safe, and Haley, at only five
12:57years old, already begins worrying about her mom, feeling like she's the one who has to
13:02protect her and make sure nothing bad would happen to them.
13:04You know, waking up in the middle of the night and saying, hey, we have to leave because
13:08rent hadn't been paid or she was being evicted.
13:13I think, to her, that was normal.
13:17This is what mom and I do.
13:19We move once a year, every six months.
13:21For her, it was about fun, until it was not.
13:26Everything changes when Haley's mom is arrested and charged with burglary of a dwelling, petty
13:30theft, and dealing in stolen property.
13:32She's taken into custody and sentenced to nine months in prison.
13:36Haley is sent to live with her grandparents, but, now eight years old, all Haley wants
13:40is to be with her mother.
13:42After serving nine months in prison, Haley's mom is released on parole and is finally able
13:46to reunite with her young daughter, even if she's now forced to wear an ankle monitor.
13:51But once again, instead of abiding by the rules of her probation and the law, Haley's
13:56mom cuts off her ankle monitor, assumes the new identity of Elisa, and has a new plan
14:01in mind.
14:02She said, Haley, I have to go away and I'm not coming back.
14:06I can leave you here with grandma and grandpa or you can come with me, but I want it to
14:13be your choice.
14:14I was eight.
14:15I didn't even hesitate, I just said, I'm going with you.
14:19It felt like life or death.
14:21I didn't know what was chasing us, but something bad was chasing us.
14:24Leaving that very same day, Haley and her mother head for the highway.
14:28Elisa drives from Florida, making stops across the country and supporting her daughter by
14:32continuing to commit petty crimes.
14:35After over a year being on the road, they finally stop and settle down in Las Vegas,
14:40Nevada.
14:41Elisa decides to get a job, responding to an ad in the paper for Larry McNabney's
14:44law office.
14:46She had been there maybe a month before the lawyer that she worked for wanted to take
14:51her to dinner.
14:52When Larry meets Elisa, he is immediately drawn to her.
14:56The relationship quickly advances from being co-workers at his business to romantically
15:00involved, moving in together within two months.
15:03And when Haley arrives at his house for the first time and meets Larry, she can immediately
15:07feel something is wrong.
15:08I met him and he's trying to hug me and I could tell he was drunk.
15:13I could smell it.
15:14I was very uncomfortable.
15:16Larry struggles with alcoholism, drinking ever since he was a teenager and has a history
15:21of being abusive to women.
15:22He has been married and divorced four times and two of his ex-wives have restraining orders
15:27against him.
15:28It's now 1996, less than two years after first meeting and without telling her daughter,
15:33Elisa gets married to Larry behind closed doors.
15:36When Haley finds out, she's in a state of shock.
15:39Larry never cares to show love for Haley, failing to provide a safe environment.
15:43He's been verbally abusing the young girl.
15:46Elisa knows Larry is not a perfect person, but has become used to the way things are
15:50and values the financial security he brings after years of uncertainty.
15:55Two years go by.
15:56It's now 1998 in Sacramento, California.
16:00Larry opens a new law office in the area, moving in with Elisa and Haley and hires all
16:05new staff, including a young college student by the name of Sarah Dutra.
16:10Sarah was very, very competent and very capable.
16:14I kept thinking, this girl's only 21 years old and she's going to go far.
16:18At the same time, Larry's alcohol use is increasing to an all-time high.
16:23His drinking and drug use had reached a different stage.
16:27He often never shows up to work and disappears for weeks.
16:30When he returns home, drunk, unable to walk properly, his violent, drug-induced outbursts
16:35have become out of control.
16:37He was going off the rails.
16:39He was losing control of himself.
16:42One night, I heard Larry tell her, I'm going to kill Haley in front of you, and then I'm
16:46going to tell the police that you did.
16:48It's now 2001.
16:50After years of living under threats and fear of Larry's alcoholism, one day, it hits a
16:54breaking point.
16:56It's late at night, and Elisa is at home with Haley when Larry opens the front door, more
17:01drunk than ever before.
17:02There's anger in his eyes as the 200-pound man towers over his teenage stepdaughter and
17:07suddenly grabs hold of her neck, choking her.
17:11He grabbed me like this.
17:13He just kept squeezing.
17:16I had never had anyone try to hurt me before.
17:19Larry is too strong, and there's no way young Haley can push him off her to free herself.
17:24He keeps holding on to Haley until Elisa, in a state of panic, rushes to protect her
17:29young daughter, pleading with him to stop.
17:32After a moment, he releases Haley's neck.
17:34In the past, Larry has been verbally abusive and threatening, but never physically violent
17:39towards a teenager.
17:41Now, Elisa knows something needs to change.
17:44That day, the mother runs to a motel with Haley, away from Larry.
17:48As time passes, Haley seems to believe they are finally safe from Larry, not seeing him
17:53for weeks.
17:54But then, one day, Haley's mom rushes to her in a panic.
17:57I said, Mom, are you okay, what's going on, where's Larry?
18:03Larry said, we need to go, we're gonna get divorced.
18:06And me, I was just happy that he was gone.
18:10After six years of living with Larry, Elisa tells her daughter that once again, they need
18:14to go on the run, for their own safety.
18:17Haley is used to suddenly leaving and driving from place to place, but this time, something
18:21feels different.
18:23Growing up, Haley has always felt the pressure that something bad was going to happen, but
18:27now, it only seemed like a matter of time.
18:30They drive through many different states, always trying to blend in, avoiding law enforcement
18:34at all costs.
18:35We went from Colorado, I think, to Kansas, and from Kansas down through the southern
18:40states into Alabama and Mississippi.
18:43On the road, Elisa gets odd jobs and resorts again to committing petty crimes to provide
18:48for her daughter.
18:49Although Haley is used to the instability of their living conditions, she has never
18:52felt her mom's stress more than this.
18:55Though the teenager wants to stay strong for her, despite being only 17, Haley feels responsible
19:00for her mom's well-being, but doesn't know how to protect her.
19:04Months pass.
19:05The duo still lives on the run.
19:06The weight on the teenager's shoulders is becoming heavier and heavier.
19:10Haley sees her mom go back to her habits of conning people to survive, but still, she
19:15avoids answering what they're really running away from this time.
19:18With Larry being out of the picture for months, Haley knows it must be somehow linked to this,
19:23but she has no idea how terrible the truth really is.
19:26Then, one day, the teenager dares to confront her mom.
19:30I said, I can't do this anymore.
19:32I cannot continue running like this.
19:36She was visibly shaken.
19:38She was starting to get more anxious than I had ever seen her.
19:42Her mom stays quiet.
19:44She then proceeds to get off the highway and parks the car on the side of the road, putting
19:48her head down, not looking at her daughter.
19:50After a long moment, Elisa lifts her head off the steering wheel and turns to face her
19:55daughter.
19:56And she said, all right, but before I take you back, I need to tell you everything because
20:00you need to be prepared.
20:02She said, I need to tell you this, but I need you to not freak out.
20:08I said, okay.
20:10And she said, we killed him.
20:14It kind of felt like everything just white noise.
20:18Haley is in a state of shock and can't believe what her mom just revealed to her.
20:22After over 37 different fake identities, fraud, stealing, and a life on the run, everything
20:28she's been through with her mom starts to make sense, and the 17-year-old girl slowly
20:33realizes that the confession is true.
20:35Her mother killed Larry.
20:38That night, Haley's mom takes them to a hotel nearby.
20:41Haley doesn't know it yet, but it will be the last moment they'll spend just the two
20:45of them.
20:46The next morning, Elisa wakes up Haley and says they are going for a drive.
20:50As they drive down the interstate, in a long car ride, tension fills the air.
20:54And Haley grows more and more concerned for her mother's well-being.
20:58They eventually arrive in Destin, Florida, and Elisa slows the car to a stop near the
21:02beach.
21:03She looks at her daughter as if this is the last time she will ever see her.
21:07In this moment, Haley doesn't want to exit the car.
21:10Her mom insists.
21:11The teenager reluctantly steps out, and as she turns around, she watches the car slowly
21:16drive away.
21:1717-year-old Haley, on the side of the road, is left alone near a friend's place in Fort
21:22Walton Beach.
21:24Despite having been raised on the run, Haley still has a strong knowledge of right and
21:27wrong and struggles with her sense of responsibility.
21:30On one hand, she's always wanted to take care of her mom.
21:33On the other hand, a man has been killed.
21:35But above all, she wonders if her mom is strong enough to keep going with the weight of this
21:40secret.
21:41Time has run out.
21:42Guided by her will to protect her, she walks to a nearby public telephone and calls 911.
21:48On March 18, 2002, 41 days after the discovery of Larry's body, Elisa was found walking
21:54along Fort Walton Beach in Florida.
21:57I was both incredibly relieved that she was okay and horrified that I had contributed
22:10to her worst nightmare happening.
22:13Elisa is arrested and brought to the police station for an interrogation.
22:17The mother doesn't resist, as if this time, she was waiting for them to come find her
22:21and ready to finally stop running, ready for the truth to come out.
22:25We were really kind of surprised because she just opened up.
22:28She wanted to talk.
22:29What I'm going to start out with is just getting background information to confirm who you
22:30are.
22:31My full name is Lauren.
22:32L-A-R-E-N.
22:34Elisa tells investigators about her marriage with Larry and his increasing levels of drug
22:46and alcohol use.
22:50The drug was on him.
22:53I was freaked out and scared.
22:56Elisa had confided in her close friend Sarah about the abuse she was facing and the concerns
23:10for her daughter, and that's when they came up with the idea to end the problems with
23:14Larry forever.
23:15September 2001, seven months earlier, while Hayley was sent away for a few days, Larry,
23:39Elisa, and Sarah traveled to a horse show near Los Angeles, California.
23:43Larry loved animals and traveled with many of his horses, tons of equipment, and personal
23:48trainers.
23:49A fellow enthusiast and friend of McNabney's recalls that Elisa asked him a strange question.
23:53Could you kill somebody with horse tranquilizer?
23:57And I said, you mean a horse?
23:59And she said, no, a person.
24:23Late at night, after the horse show competition, Larry goes back to the hotel room.
24:30Elisa takes a syringe filled with horse tranquilizer, puts the deadly liquid into two glasses of
24:34red wine, and brings them to him.
24:43The six-foot-tall man quickly passed out in the room.
24:46According to Elisa, Sarah decided to give him even more tranquilizer by putting drops
24:50directly into his mouth while he was unconscious.
24:53The next morning, by coincidence, is September 11, 2001.
24:58Everyone in the hotel is distracted by the news as the chaos of 9-11 unfolds on live
25:02television.
25:03Elisa and Sarah use this opportunity to rent a wheelchair and sneak Larry McNabney out
25:08of the hotel room right out of the front door without anyone noticing.
25:12Elisa and Sarah drive back to Sacramento with Larry in the back seat.
25:17As they arrive at the McNabney's home, they grab a bedsheet to bring him inside.
25:22And we wrapped it around him, and then we took that tape and wrapped it around him,
25:27and he was like in a crouched position, and then I put it in my garage.
25:32He had his wine refrigerator.
25:34Larry's body was in really good condition.
25:37The reason was because Elisa put him in a refrigerator.
25:42Elisa eventually decided she needed to find a place to bury his body, and drove him to
25:47a wine vineyard just outside of Sacramento.
25:50Did I kill my husband?
25:51Yes, I killed my husband.
25:52Well, I know I'm going to spend the rest of my life in prison when I go to a wheelchair,
25:56or whatever they do with people.
25:58I mean, I know that.
25:59I know that I did this, and I know that I'm guilty, and I'm prepared to deal with repercussions.
26:06With Elisa's full confession, Sarah Dutra, her accomplice, is also arrested and charged
26:11with homicide.
26:12We've received a written confession from Elisa, and I'm sorry, but as of this morning,
26:18but as of this minute, you are no longer free to leave.
26:24Both women are charged with first-degree murder, and remain in prison awaiting trial.
26:29Haley is sent back to her hometown in Brooksville, Florida, staying with her family while her
26:33mother is in custody.
26:35I came home to the town that I was born and raised in, but I hadn't seen my family in
26:40almost a decade, and I didn't know what to do, because the only thing I had ever done
26:47was make sure that my mom was okay.
26:49But on March 31, 2002, Easter Sunday, a tragic turn of events will change Haley's life
26:55forever.
26:56Twelve days after confessing to her husband's murder, Elisa, while in Florida State Prison,
27:01takes a pen and paper and writes a final letter to her daughter, before ending her own life
27:06inside her prison cell.
27:08My world ended with her.
27:12I didn't know what to do.
27:13What do you do when your whole life has revolved around protecting this person, and you can't
27:16protect them anymore, and you couldn't even protect them from themselves?
27:24She has just lost the person closest to her, one of the only people by her side for her
27:28whole life, is now gone.
27:30After the death of Elisa, Sarah Dutra is now the only one on trial for the murder of Larry
27:35McNabney.
27:36Sarah Dutra, is that your correct name?
27:38Yes.
27:39I was charged on February 11th of last year with murder.
27:44The maximum penalty is death.
27:47Even though Haley is heartbroken about the loss of her mom, at only 18 years old, she
27:51finds the strength to testify against Sarah and tell her story again in court.
27:56Although there is a lot of incriminating evidence, fingerprints, and records of Sarah's involvement
28:00in the planning and murder, she is only convicted of voluntary manslaughter and accomplice to
28:05murder with a maximum of 11 years in state prison.
28:08As the years go by, Haley struggles to build a normal life for herself, grieving the loss
28:13of her mother and dealing with the traumatic events of her life.
28:16But one thing that keeps Haley going and gives her the courage to move forward are the words
28:21of her mother in the letters she left her.
28:23Elisa writes,
28:24Dear Haley, I am so sorry for dragging you through the life I took you through.
28:29You can open your heart now and not be afraid you will have to run.
28:32The running is over.
28:34I am so proud of you.
28:35You are so smart and so beautiful.
28:37And your heart is so good.
28:39In the years that come, if you feel like you can't handle your life, get help.
28:43Keep asking.
28:44Go to a hospital.
28:45Go to social services.
28:47Ask my parents.
28:48Just get the help you need.
28:50You must promise to tell the truth no matter what someone asks you.
28:53If you can try to hang on to my love for you, you will always have it.
28:57Don't be ashamed of your past.
28:58You can be ashamed of me.
29:00I deserve that.
29:01I hope one day you can forgive me.
29:03You will be a fabulous mother.
29:05Your children will be so lucky.
29:07You have made my life worth living.
29:09Go to your new life with my blessing and my deepest hope for health and happiness.
29:13I will always be in your heart.
29:15Love, Mom.
29:17Haley Jordan has been on a long journey of healing with the help of her mother's final words.
29:21Over the years, she was able to better her life, going to school and becoming a critical care nurse,
29:27helping those in need and even starting a family of her own.
29:31I didn't want them to grow up with the kind of fear and anxiety that I had.
29:37I think that I came out on the other side and everything I thought I would never have,
29:43a career, an education, kids, I have.
29:47While holding on to some of her memories of her mom, Haley refuses to let her past define her
29:52and now provides a supporting and loving home to her children.
29:56She's living proof that even through tragedy and loss, you can come out stronger.
30:00You have the power to redefine your legacy.
30:03You never have to stay in a situation that you don't feel safe or in a situation that you question.
30:08You have a right to feel safe and you have a right to whatever future you're willing to make.