Texas Wine and True Crime
We review Texas wines and discuss Texas true crime.
Texas Wine and True Crime
The Tragic Murder of Craig Nail: The Fatal Cost of Desperation
What if a heated custody battle could lead to murder? Join us as we unravel the gripping tale of Craig Nail, whose promising life as a cybersecurity expert was tragically cut short in Frisco, Texas. Craig's journey from New York to Oregon, and eventually to Texas, was driven by his desire to be close to his daughter, a move that intertwined his fate with Elizabeth Guthrie. Their relationship, kindled in the early days of chatting over work computers, took a dark turn as legal battles over their child escalated into a deadly confrontation.
As tensions from a bitter custody dispute reached a boiling point, the aftermath left Elizabeth without her child and home, sparking a chain of events that culminated in Craig's murder on December 26th, 2007. We piece together that fateful night when Craig's girlfriend Teresa barely survived a brutal attack, and the ensuing police investigation that led to a chilling discovery. Elizabeth's alleged involvement in a murder plot with Mark Lyle Bell, whose DNA linked him to the crime scene, paints a complex picture of desperation, betrayal, and revenge.
The chaos that followed Craig's death unraveled swiftly, culminating in a capital murder trial that exposed the depths of Elizabeth's desperation. Through chilling accounts and law enforcement efforts, we explore the heartbreaking impact on Craig's daughters and the broader implications of unchecked anger. This episode offers a poignant reminder of the severe consequences of desperate choices, leaving their families forever altered.
www.texaswineandtruecrime.com
Chris, there are two things I know for certain the holidays can be stressful, and boy do I love massages and we know that to be true.
Speaker 1:Put those presents down and do something for yourself and book a massage with Ashley Palos. Ashley is a licensed massage therapist and medical assistant serving the DFW Metroplex. Ashley has a medical field background and realized while working in a surgery setting that she wanted to do more in hands-on healing for their patients. Ashley became a licensed massage therapist and decided to open her own business in 2019. She specializes in medical massages, trauma healing and so much more. After dealing with her own trauma as a domestic violence survivor, she found herself attracting clients with similar experiences and traumas. Her motto helping others helps me. Ashley's office is located in Garland, texas, but she is also mobile. Whether you need to decompress or feel that pain go away in your body, that needs the power of those healing hands. Book your appointment now with Ashley. You can learn more on Facebook at All Around Self-Care Specialist of DFW. You can find her on Instagram at allaround underscore self-care specialist, or contact her at 214-469-6047. Don't wait. Book your appointment today. Welcome all of you, wine and true crime lovers. I'm Brandi.
Speaker 2:And I'm Chris.
Speaker 1:And this is Texas Wine and True Crime. Thank you for being here, friends, for this week's episode, the Murder of Craig Nail hey Chris.
Speaker 2:Hey Brandi.
Speaker 1:We are in December. We just had our last live show of the year at Henry's last live show of the year.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's been a great year there.
Speaker 1:It's been a great year there. A big thank you again to Henry's majestic for having us out.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. That's a great place Great people, great food. Um, just I. I enjoy going there and just to hang out as well.
Speaker 1:Um, we took a big group picture at the end of our last show. Just a big thank you to Henry's again and thank you to everyone that came out to see us.
Speaker 2:It was a great time that was a great, probably one of our better shows. We had a great turnout. We did, you know weather was great, we were inside, it was all great. I just said great like 10 times in a row. It is great. It was an awesome time there. For sure it was.
Speaker 1:All right, honey. Well, are you ready to jump into this week's case I?
Speaker 2:believe we shall.
Speaker 1:All right, friends, let's sip some wine and talk some crime. All right, Chris. So tonight's case we are going to be talking about the murder of Craig Nail out of Frisco, Texas.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Now this is December 26th, christmastime, holiday season. People are sort of winding down. I would say December 26th I would describe as like a winding down day.
Speaker 2:One could hope to wind down yes, after.
Speaker 1:Christmas. After Christmas, you've been with family. You know a lot of people are going out to dinner, going on dates. I always feel like it's kind of like the day after Thanksgiving. People are still in town and visiting, but they're done with family, they're going to go see friends.
Speaker 2:That's a good time to start kicking people out, though. Yes, that's a good time.
Speaker 1:So Craig Nail's got some plans with his girlfriend Teresa that night. So we're going to talk about that in just a minute. But let's give a little bit of background about Craig Nail that would be best and where he comes from, who he is and what happened to him on this December 26th date. So back in let's go back. So back in 1991, craig has a daughter. He ends up having a daughter with his then-girlfriend. He's from New York State, he's not from Texas, even though this happened in Texas.
Speaker 1:Moved to Oregon correct, moved to Oregon to be closer to his daughter. Now he wasn't actually with the mother anymore. She didn't want to get married, they were just co-parenting, raising the daughter. But he was able to find work in Oregon and he moves to Oregon.
Speaker 2:He works as an electrical engineer correct.
Speaker 1:Yes, I believe like cybersecurity more specifically, but yes, so five years later, in 1996, craig is working via chat room, right? So you have different offices.
Speaker 2:Like inter-office communication.
Speaker 1:Yeah, inter-office communication. So you start getting in these rooms and talking to other colleagues around the world and he ends up meeting a woman named Elizabeth Guthrie. He meets Elizabeth Guthrie in one of the chat rooms.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I believe their companies were working together.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's how they were developing this chatting. Yeah, he sort of became like a mentor to her and they were just they would kind of find themselves communicating daily almost in these rooms Easy to access, right, Because you both are working and have access to this but then the ability to sort of start building this friendship outside of work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and mind you, let's clarify, these are not like public chat rooms.
Speaker 1:That's right. These are not.
Speaker 2:It's just a way to kind of in lieu of email. If somebody's got to get a message, they would usually have the box open on their desktop.
Speaker 1:This is very common so like an instant chat. I would kind of say right Like instant message.
Speaker 2:It common so like an instant chat, I would kind of say right like instant message, the equivalent in fact. I I want to say that's what it was used to be called instant messenger. Yeah, instant message, that's what I kind of like now people use, like microsoft teams or his email. You can either do one-to-one collaborative or whatnot so this was predating that, I would assume um, yeah, so within.
Speaker 1:Okay, chris, this is 1996. 1997. Craig moves to te, moves to Texas. So Elizabeth Guthrie is like from about two hours outside of Frisco, so I would say maybe even two or three hours, so up near the Waco area, and she convinces him and he's ready to sort of pick up out of Oregon and move to Texas in 1997. So he does that and they end up settling down in Frisco and Craig gets a job at McAfee, so that's where he was working back in 1997. Very quickly after that, december 31st of 1997.
Speaker 2:Before McAfee turned into the McAfee as we know now.
Speaker 1:That's correct. December 31st of the same year, chris, they get married and then in 2003, years later, she has a baby. She announces she's pregnant and then in 2001, the baby's born. So you have this couple who meets quickly, moves quickly, marries quickly I wouldn't say have a baby quickly. Three years went by, so I guess they got to know each other a little bit as they're starting their new life together. But now you have a child in the mix and what started to show was basically their differences in parenting styles. They disagreed a lot on how to raise their child. Now think, about this.
Speaker 2:She wasn't much into being a parent, from my understanding and reading.
Speaker 1:Yes, and he was already a dad.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So not only just a dad, but a dad to another daughter.
Speaker 2:They're young, but since he was already a father, he kind of made that transition from kind of being a young knucklehead to, we'd say, responsible working towards adulthood.
Speaker 1:That's right. I mean, I think around this time he was about 27, 28 years old.
Speaker 2:She was very new to that game.
Speaker 1:That's right. So I think he and he was excited to be a dad again and I think things were okay. I think they were trying to build a life together. Things were okay. I think they were trying to build a life together. But just three years after the daughter is born, there is a huge blow up at the house. There's an argument, there's a fight, and it got so heated that she became physical with him and physically attacked him. So she was punching him, scratching him and it, you know, it was a full on fight between these two. So police are called, they come out to the house, they see Craig's injuries and they were going, they were ready to arrest her.
Speaker 1:However, he decides that he's not going to press charges and claims that it's his fault. Like maybe I should have just, I don't know maybe done what she had asked me to do. Is that how it works? Well, it's not the first time we've seen a man not press charges against someone that physically assaults him, and I think we always say this Chris, it's a man, right? You guys? You know there is this image of men that they're not affected by women beating on them, and I think it's an illusion and I think it's. We do a disservice saying that it doesn't matter if a woman puts their hands on a man. It does matter and it should be reported, because we can be just as physical as men can. Yeah, I think it matters it absolutely matters.
Speaker 1:So you know, I don't know, If the tables were turned, would she have?
Speaker 2:dropped these charges. Usually a woman will hit a man because she thinks that the man won't dare respond. Of course, that's right.
Speaker 1:And then we see it escalate and then worse things happen, right, including what happens in this case. All right, well, he does not press charges and she ends up coming home Now, between that, 2004 and 2006,. About summer of 2006,. Chris, things are not going well, they're not meant, they're still fighting, they're not really mending or fixing anything that they're dealing with in this marriage and she is ready to pull the plug. So she actually files for divorce in May of 2006. He moves out and he gets an apartment. They're sharing custody of their daughter. She stays in the home but he quickly moves on. In fact, I would say within like a month or two of leaving and getting his own apartment, he meets a woman by the name of Teresa. He meets her in a divorce support group at church.
Speaker 2:Good place to look for single women.
Speaker 1:Well, yes, and this guy is described as just a big teddy bear.
Speaker 2:You know, I think he was honestly trying to get some support.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. Of course he was.
Speaker 2:They met.
Speaker 1:Yes, and he was absolutely there. They had lots of conversations. Definitely, you know he had the two girls. He, you know he had his first relationship, you know, woman still living in Oregon, and he's going through what he's going through here in Texas. Now Teresa, she's just sort of a friendly ear right and they start having really great conversations and it kind of goes to another level and they end up dating up until he is killed. But they really were really trying to start a relationship. She had met the girls but Elizabeth didn't like this. I mean, this is very soon after she's filing for divorce and I think when people separate and say you know, and and and again go file for divorce, I don't think they always think about you know getting in another relation.
Speaker 1:Chris, within, like I would say I, within a 60 day period he had met another.
Speaker 2:He's already letting her meet the girls.
Speaker 1:No, I wouldn't say then, but later on yeah. But I mean he then, but later on yeah. But I mean he had met her within 60 days. Doesn't really matter when she met the girls, that's up to him. What matters is that he's moving on.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, I'm just saying from a standpoint of her being upset because he's I think she's just upset because she's dating. He's dating. She doesn't have anything to do with the one child but their child between the two of them. I mean that can anger somebody a little bit more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that she knew early on, after she was going to, when she said I'm divorcing, you get out, that he moved on and I just we always see the tensions run high when you have that kind of separation. It's very fresh and it's still hurtful. So my guess is that she didn't want him dating anyone else and he, well, is going on with his life. So in June of 2006, Chris Elizabeth, so this is what I'm saying. This happened so quickly between June, july August. So this is what I'm saying. This happens so quickly between June, July August. She's basically trying to convince a psychiatrist and therapist because she is going with her daughter. She's basically trying to convince them that there is some physical abuse happening between Craig and their daughter.
Speaker 2:In an effort to get back at him.
Speaker 1:In an effort to get back at him and they end up doing a full investigation on this. She's making false claims. What we now know are false claims. So they looked at this between, I would say, when she started talking about this in the summer of 2006. Now we go all the way into the summer of 2007. 2006. Now we go all the way into the summer of 2007. And that summer, going into summer of 2007, chris, a judge grants Craig temporary custody of the child. And not only that. The judge tells her you got to get out of the house. He's getting the house back and he's getting the child. So Elizabeth ends up moving out and she I mean, that's that. I mean, think about that. Court systems don't like this. They don't like when you make false accusations, especially about child abuse, and you're trying to convince a therapist. And they basically said there is no viable information, there is no viable evidence that this guy did anything wrong. So the judge says you know what? You're out. He's not only getting the house, he's getting the child.
Speaker 2:I applaud that judge.
Speaker 1:He's not only getting the house, he's getting the child. I applaud that judge, yeah. And so now we see this sort of, I would say, stewing Boy. Was she mad before trying to convince a therapist that he was abusing their daughter? But now she's real mad.
Speaker 2:I can only imagine.
Speaker 1:She lost everything and now she's alone. So from about May to December of 2007,. This is now brewing and stirring. She is childless and kicked out of her home.
Speaker 2:She's kind of lucky they didn't bring up, you know, have charges of her making a false accusation. I mean, it's a lot to take away from someone you know because it very well that he he I don't know that he was arrested or not, but I mean certainly police have to be involved if you're making accusations.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh Of molesting their child. So yeah, I think I'm sure he was under supervised visitation.
Speaker 2:I'm sure there was a lot of other things. If you reported something that was false and knowingly did it, you could go to jail? Well, I mean think about it, but you know you could go to jail.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, think about it. The charges started almost in the fall of 2006. And this decision did not come until May of 2007. So you know that this was a months and months and months long investigation and court battle and really like the resources that were used for this false allegation. They don't like it, they weren't happy about it, they took everything away from her and now she's alone, chris. She ends up moving with a relative to Dallas and she starts bar hopping, she starts meeting different people. She's sort of creating this new lifestyle, I guess about herself, kind of going into this biker world, I don't know, maybe just trying to move on. I think she at this time probably had supervised visitation. I don't think at this point she was seeing the child and keeping her alone and by herself, and keeping her alone and by herself. So you see Elizabeth Guthrie sort of trying to live this new life but still trying to be in her daughter's life.
Speaker 1:So this is now December, leading up to December of 2017. Now Craig is killed on December 26th, december 25th and December 24th, a few days before, teresa and Craig are celebrating their Christmas with Craig's daughter Kristen. Now before that, I believe on December 23rd, craig had decided to send his oldest daughter back to Oregon. So, chris, she was here. He decided to send her back, spend Christmas with her mother, and then Teresa and him spent Christmas Eve basically had their Christmas with his other daughter, and then Elizabeth picks Kristen up from Craig and takes her to visit Elizabeth's mother, sherry Guthrie and Chris. This is so now Craig Nell's alone. Okay, he's going to be at the house alone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think leading up to this probably had supervised visits, so you know if he had full custody.
Speaker 1:Yes, I don't know that she had. I mean, you have to wonder how the court he did this out of the goodness of his heart.
Speaker 2:That's what I mean. But as far as her, there had to have been some sort of scenario that she's seen her before this right.
Speaker 1:What do you mean she's?
Speaker 2:seen her before. Well, if he has full custody, that means it's not typical visitation, so it always has to be his choice when she goes and stays with him.
Speaker 1:That's right. He decided that he. Elizabeth asked him if I can keep her right and have her for.
Speaker 2:Christmas.
Speaker 1:And that's why they celebrated December 24th, because out of the goodness of his heart, that's still the mother and he wanted to give her an opportunity to spend Christmas with her at the mom's. And it was going to be at her mother's house, and so maybe a piece of him thought I don't want to deprive my child of her mom and the family, and so it's Christmas, I'm going to let her go. So that's what he does, and this is December 26. Now, around 7.30 pm, Teresa arrives at Craig's house and they're ready to go out for a date. So we talked about this Day after Christmas. Kids are gone. Family, you're finished, You're ready to. You know, you're ready to go have a night out. So this is what they're going to do.
Speaker 1:Teresa walks into the garage, goes into the garage door and then to the door that leads into the home. So she will say that she left the garage door open because they were leaving. She was only going to be in there a few minutes. She walks into the kitchen and there she meets Craig Nail in the kitchen. So they're talking, just having a brief, brief discussion. When he opens the pantry and we know this because this is what she ends up telling police that Craig is like in the pantry. So he has the door open, so she can't see his face at this point. She can only see the door. His face is inside.
Speaker 1:So she looks up and she sees a man standing there. She hears something, she turns around. She has her purse on her shoulder, she is looking at this man and she just freezes and she's watching him. She will tell police there was something in his hand and she thought it was a bat, but she wasn't really sure. So she just kind of froze and didn't say anything. And the next thing, you know, the guy raises his hand up and says bang, Shoots her once, hits her between the eyes, shoots her in the head. Craig Nell clearly hears this, you know peeks his head out, you know whatever, jumps out and then immediately the gun is turned on him and Craig Nail is shot. So the assailant then points the gun back at Teresa, fires again, hits her in the arm. And then that's when Craig Nail is going to go upstairs because he has fully loaded weapons in his closet. So, Chris, at this point there's a person in the house shooting them and he is trying to get to his weapons.
Speaker 2:Well, and we believe the reason his weapon looked like a bat was that he had wrapped cloth or something.
Speaker 1:I mean it was, put it in a plastic water bottle and then taped the water bottle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it was a very small caliber gun with a 22. Very much lower report. So to try to, I'll say, silence it, but suppress a very loud report by doing that.
Speaker 1:And we know Teresa actually survives this encounter and you thought that maybe the reason possibly of Because she shot in the head I mean that's a, that's typically a fatal wound it was a small caliber, but he was far away.
Speaker 2:It was. It is a small bullet. Usually it's a great choice of assassins because it doesn't make a lot of noise, but usually it's something that's up close. You know, the front part of your cranium is rather dense and thick, and so it is possible why it kind of you know, I won't say ricocheted but didn't penetrate bounced off a little more or less.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he does use something on the end of his gun. After he shoots Teresa for the second time, craig Nail's. Headed upstairs A salient follows Craig Nail. At this point Teresa knows she has to get out of the house. So she runs out of the front door, gets to a neighbor's house and that neighbor is the one that calls 911. Now the neighbor is saying to you know, I have someone over here. They're bleeding. She says her boyfriend is still in the home. Teresa, will you know she hears gunshots. She doesn't know if Craignell's alive, dead.
Speaker 1:So at this point police know they're reporting. You know they are going to a home with an intruder who has been, who is shooting people. So they are taking precaution. They don't know if the person is still in there, they don't know what they're going to find. So they arrive, they are treating Teresa. She's immediately airlifted to Parkland for emergency surgery. She will end up spending 10 days in the hospital, um after um, to treat her injuries. Police go into the home. They find the cotton that had. Well, they weren't sure what it was, but they're.
Speaker 2:What it looked like was just cotton kind of thrown everywhere in the kitchen area just stuff, cotton and I guess enough like so plastic, yeah, a plastic bottle on the barrel so you know this, this is Christmas time.
Speaker 1:They don't know if there's been a party here and something's gone wrong. They know that. You know, at this point Craig Nail is still upstairs, so they haven't found him yet. There's bullet casings found in the kitchen. There is more evidence that they actually find leaving out of the back door and into the alley, there's a beer can that they will end up using for evidence. Um, there's also, you know, they can just tell someone has been there and then left the premises. Um, they find blood leading out the door which they know belonged to Teresa now, but then they see blood going up the stairs and that is when, um, they find Craig Nail in his closet with two weapons near him. He's been shot 10 times and those were his weapons, so he was trying to get to them, got to them, but he was killed.
Speaker 1:Okay, so after this, teresa is taken to Parkland Hospital where she has surgery, and they are wanting to know what happened. You know what happened here. Who was going to do this? Well, they end up finding out that Elizabeth is with her mother and their daughter. So police contact her and tell her about what happened to Craig Nail. And you know she's visibly upset. She doesn't know who would do this.
Speaker 1:Well, chris, just two days later a guy— and she has an alibi. She has an alibi, yep, she has an alibi. But two days later someone walks into the police department saying that he needs to talk to them. So this has been now on the news, right, and it's being reported on. So this guy shows up. He's an ex-boyfriend of Elizabeth Guthrie Nail, and he basically tells the police that Elizabeth had approached him about killing Craig. He tells detectives that Elizabeth had this big elaborate plan to lure him out of the garage, had this big elaborate plan to lure him out of the garage. There would be no alarm. You know, she would make sure that. You know that it was all ready for him. So there was a warrant put out for Elizabeth and issued for solicitation of murder. So this is pretty quick.
Speaker 2:We had discussed too, like why didn't he say anything, um, which I kind of felt like I think a lot of people don't want to go to the police, something like that, a lot of people are not super big fans of them, and so does that also implicate him into some sort of you know, if something were to happen, is then he going to be looked at or whatnot? But I guess, since he saw that it had already occurred, maybe he felt like it's um, he knew he was kind of in the free and clear to bring this up to police attention, although it is kind of crappy that he said nothing about it until after the fact.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I think that's probably one of the big reasons just doesn't want to get involved doesn't want to get involved.
Speaker 1:And you don't, you know, I don't know you most people who we've either seen testify in court or say that someone approached them about killing someone and then that person ends up dead. They end up saying well, you know what. It was mentioned to me and the reason they give typically of why they didn't go to police with that information right away is that they didn't think they were serious. That's typically the answer. Well, they asked me. But who really would go through with something like that? And that's typically why people don't go and say anything.
Speaker 2:But you should go and say something. I think she did have a little bit deeper plan. You know, I mean, I think that meant to me. I mean it gives more indication that she's something that she really wants to follow through with, versus somebody just uttering. I wish that person was dead, you know. Yeah, I don't know when you go as far as asking somebody if they'd be willing to kill somebody for you, I would say that's you've already crossed the line of whether or not you want it to happen or not.
Speaker 2:Or just being some sort of something you say.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think at this point too, it's like I don't even know if police are thinking that. I think they're, I think they really, early on, know that Craig was the intended target, right, because why follow him upstairs if you're there for Teresa, true? So I think that's why they believed this so quickly and I think this is why they were onto her so fast is for that reason because there was no forced entry, right. He walks into the garage and into the house. So they were kind of puzzled on who would just come in and do this to a couple the day after Christmas. And so when they come, when you have someone come forward and say you know, they have to investigate it. But they were pretty certain that they have their person and their motive.
Speaker 2:I would think too, based on her previous history with him too, that she would be somebody that would be a person of interest, just based on the motive in and of itself that you know, she went from having the child to losing custody, accusing him of this wrongdoing that was turned out to be completely false. And so I imagine, you know, even if this guy had not showed up at the police station, she would have been looked at pretty quickly, pretty quickly.
Speaker 1:Neighbors. They are pretty good witnesses to some of this stuff because they are asked some questions about what was? You know, anything in the neighborhood you noticed was off. It's holidays. Sometimes the neighborhoods are kind of quiet. Did you notice anyone out of place? Well, a few of the reports from the neighbors said that they saw kind of some strange vehicles that were kind of going in and out. However, there was one vehicle that stuck out to them and that was a black pickup truck with blue flames drawn on it. That's very distinct description. They, you know it's probably not hard to find this vehicle. It ends up not being very hard to find this vehicle, but they don't have a person where. Why, how?
Speaker 2:and where to look, but all they have is a car description that doesn't go on your registration. But yeah when you're just kind of driving around, a blue flame truck sticks out much easier than a white Camry.
Speaker 1:Yes, so this is all. Police are investigating Teresa. They want to talk to Teresa, but she is. She has not been released at this point for surgery. So when Elizabeth is arrested, she actually makes bail, she actually makes bail and they are looking and investigating her, but for right now she actually makes bail. She actually makes bail and they are looking and investigating her, but for right now she's out.
Speaker 1:But they end up looking a little bit further into this and here comes another person that calls the police department and says they have some information. This woman's name is Carol and she is a friend of Elizabeth's and she basically tells them that Elizabeth confessed to her, that she did this to Craig. She told. Well, what she actually says is that she knows basically who did it, but that she didn't plan it. It wasn't her that actually planned it, it was another group of people, but she had some evidence and that Craig was abusing their daughter. And so she's telling Carol all of these things and she actually wants her to hide some evidence. So she ends up confiding in this woman.
Speaker 1:And not only that. I think, if I read the reports correctly, when she went to carol's house she like patted her down just in case she was wired. So it's like she, I don't know. Did she just want to get it off her chest? Was she just trying to? I don't know. But she ends up telling this woman everything and the woman ends up just calling police and telling them everything you know you women like to talk.
Speaker 1:We do, but I guess you should just remember who you're talking to, because Carol was not going to keep the secret for her. So, chris, this is in January.
Speaker 2:We learned a lot of things that probably should have been discarded, that she still clung to in this case.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean this is like happening so quickly. I mean this murder happens the December 26th, you know she early on, I mean within the month of January. They already have, you know, elizabeth arrested and out on bail. They've already had two people come into police and tell them that they know that she was involved and then they end up in January of 2008,. They OK, let me back up for a second. When Elizabeth Guthrie was arrested, they, when she made bail, this basically opened up the door for them to get more search warrants and find out more information about to pin this on her. Ok, so they end up uncovering several cell phones at her mother's house where she was staying. One of those cell phones ends up being a cell phone they traced to a Walmart in McKinney. So when they got that ping Like a pay-per-minute phone.
Speaker 1:Pay-per-minute phone where you can add minutes, right? Yes, so they put some surveillance footage on this Walmart once they figured out where the phone came from and then so any if someone were to go back in and reload this phone they would get. The police would be notified, and that's exactly what happens. So someone goes in to the same Walmart and they on surveillance, you see a black pickup truck with blue flames. So at this point they know, and four days later they arrest Mark Lyle Bell. Mark Lyle Bell is picked up and brought in for questioning.
Speaker 2:Now he admits to knowing Elizabeth but never had met Cragnail. Well, for the record, a burner phone is meant to be burned.
Speaker 1:Yes, not reloaded. You use it and get rid of it, and that's that. Yes.
Speaker 2:So this could start to fall under the category of world's dumbest criminals? Yes, however, this could start to fall into the category of world's dumbest criminals.
Speaker 1:However, we will proceed. So basically, they met because he helped change attire for her while she was living in Frisco. Okay, this is how they meet.
Speaker 2:Broken down the side of the road.
Speaker 1:I don't know, but that's how they meet. They end up keeping in touch. This is not an affair. This is not any sort of relationship between these two. He's much older than her. He's older than her. Yep, there was nothing sexual going on here that I'm aware of. It just seemed like she was telling him that this man was abusing their daughter and he needed to help her get rid of him, and I think that that's what convinced him to kill Craig Nail. Mark Lyle Bell would not have killed him any other, otherwise right.
Speaker 2:You would have had to have done some convincing and really convinced him to that the father was really a bad guy. Yeah, yeah, and in fact he wasn't. But yes, for somebody to go to those extremes, to kind of be her savior.
Speaker 1:And speaking of savior.
Speaker 1:When the police found the phone then and the reason that they were suspicious is because it had the initials GA and then guardian angel is what they ended up finding that the person was being called a guardian angel and not using the real name.
Speaker 1:So at the end of all of this interrogation, chris, they put him under arrest for the murder of Craig Nail. Sherry Guthrie, elizabeth's mother, will tell police some information within just a few days of this arrest. So she basically tells police that she's kind of afraid of her daughter and believes that she was involved in the plot and murder of Craig Nail. Her mother tells police Mark Lyle Bell had driven her and Elizabeth to their cabin, to a cabin outside of Denton, and this was right after Elizabeth was out on bail and they were talking about Craig's murder. Elizabeth was upset that Teresa did not die and she had wished that Mark was a better shot. Now I said thank goodness he sent his older daughter back to Oregon. When he did, maybe who knows what told him to do this because he ended up just making the decision to send her back to Oregon because the direct order from Elizabeth Guthrie was Probably to spend time with her mom too.
Speaker 1:I know, but I mean, that's the thing. It's like, thank God he did. That's not two hours away, that's states away. He put her on a plane, she went home, but the order from Elizabeth Guthrie was to kill everyone in the house. So if his older daughter would have been there, the order was also to take her life.
Speaker 2:So, thankfully, there were no children in there, because you wonder, why too? Why would Craig not have been the only target? If he was the bad guy and there was this convincing that he was the bad guy why on earth would he go as far as to kill or attempt to kill Teresa, as well as the daughter, the older daughter?
Speaker 1:Well, Elizabeth did not want any witnesses. She didn't want anybody left in the house to tell any story.
Speaker 2:Did not want any witnesses she didn't want anybody left in the house to tell any story. I'm just saying, though, from the killer's standpoint, like you know, why consider them in the equation?
Speaker 1:Who Him.
Speaker 2:Not Craig. He probably thought that he was a bad guy. I'm just saying he needed to go. But I'm just saying like I understand the whole no witnesses thing, but killing two other people, that's a whole nother level too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I mean you're walking into a house at 730 pm, I know Not on sleeping people, you could be disguised and still I mean that's, if you're disguised, the witness will only tell of your disguise.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying, though, like that's pretty cold blooded. That's my point.
Speaker 1:Very cold blooded, cold-blooded and when, actually when Teresa got out of the hospital and was able to talk to police, they actually looked at Elizabeth Guthrie's brother, because that's exactly who Teresa told police. The guy looked like well, they end up realizing that he has warrants, so they end up looking into him. He ends up not being the one who pulled the trigger. But you know, teresa thought it even though she had never met Elizabeth Guthrie's brother. She had seen pictures. It ends up not being him. But you just see like Teresa she's staring at him, thinks that, but she ends up naming the wrong person. Um, but she was so distraught and you know, I don't know, I think I think it's Elizabeth just not wanting and I and I don't know, I think it's Elizabeth just not wanting, and I don't know why he agreed to take them all out, because it's not like he walked in there and looked for Craig Nail and went after him first. It's not like he could have just shot him dead in front of Teresa and run out the door, because he could have, but he didn't. He shot her first, and so that just tells me that there was just no remorse or thought of keeping anyone alive in that house. All right. So this is what the mother tells police, in that they were basically fighting because Teresa was still alive and she was not happy about that On the morning of January 29th. So, chris, very, very shortly, within just like a month after this murder, a month and a half after this murder, they arrest Elizabeth a second time. Her charges are then upgraded to capital murder. They end up taking the death penalty off the table for Mark Lyle Bell because he pleads guilty to first degree murder, sentenced to life in prison in July of 2011. But then he agrees to testify against Elizabeth Guthrie and provides prosecutors you know with with a full confession.
Speaker 1:Elizabeth's trial starts in 2012. He gets on the stand and Mark Lyle Bell sort of like retracts a little bit. Even the judge has to tell him like get it together, man, like we're not going to be dealing with this. He just starts to mind, you know like, just starts to play with the lawyers with this questioning and he's not coming outright and saying what he basically had told police about being hired and what. You know, elizabeth, why she wanted Craig Nail dead. But the reason she wanted him dead was because she was mad he was going out with Teresa. She was mad. He got the house. It's Christmas time, you know, she basically has to, probably feels like she has to beg him to see her child and she's lost everything. And when you are, you know I always say desperation does very. You know that that can cause people to do very scary, drastic things. When people are desperate and I think she was in, she was in desperation fight mode and this was her way to get everything back.
Speaker 1:You know, um, so her trial starts. He is just not being fully cooperative on the stand, so they end up actually taking. They're done with this guy. She ends up actually taking a plea. She pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit capital murder for the death of her husband, craig nail, and she is sentenced to 50 years in prison. Um, chris, this is a sad case. We see these two girls that have to grow up without their dad. Craig now was 36 years old.
Speaker 2:The daughter of Kristen went to live with his parents, correct?
Speaker 1:That's correct. His parents ended up raising her. They found Mark Liobell's DNA all over. They found that beer can. They ended up finding it on the shell casings. The 22 casings was also found in his truck, which they identified as the same caliber that took the life of Craig Nell, the same caliber that you know that took the life of Craig Nail. So, and you know the black truck with the blue flames, which is really really hard to hide. But this was great police work really honed in quickly on getting some answers. Thankfully, the people responsible for this crime are in prison and hopefully will not see the light of day anytime soon. Thank you.