The Murder of Lindsey Lee
For this case, I watched an episode of American Monster. It’s season 5 episode 4, titled ‘Body Type.’
A 31 year old woman is murdered in her own home by someone she trusted.
Background
Lindsey Lee
Lindsey Pilkington was born in September of 1985, she was the oldest daughter of Steve and Debbie. The Pilkington family moved around a lot after Steve got a job in the military. They first lived in Heber Springs, Arkansas, then in California and to Germany.
In 1990, Lindsey’s younger sister, Karista was born. Karista was interviewed in this episode, and she said she and Lindsey weren’t close at first, but then they became close because she wanted to be like her older sister.
Lindsey was described as very silly, she loved the camera whenever Steve was filming them. Lindsey was also an A student, and she always made friends easily. However, Lindsey struggled with her weight in school and sometimes it really messed with her self esteem. This would go on until Lindsey made a change in her life.
Jason Lee
In 2008, Lindsey met Jason Lee. She was working at a bank in Columbus, South Carolina at the time, and Jason came in. They agreed to go on a date, and fell for each other very quickly.
Lindsey’s family said they loved him, and he fit in very well. They got engaged, and got married on September 25, 2010.
They seemed happy for awhile. By 2012, they moved into a new house, Jason’s locksmith business was booming and Lindsey got a new job at the Lexington police department in the IT department.
Lindsey and Jason were both struggling with their weight at this point, and Jason decided to start training sessions at the gym and wanted Lindsey to go with him. She agreed because she wanted to spend time with Jason, but she ended up loving it.
Training Sessions
Jason and Lindsey both trained together, with a trainer named Graham. Graham was described as being a "cocky British, karate dude.” Aside from regular workouts, Graham got the couple into Judo martial arts. Lindsey fell in love with it, and her transformation was amazing.
The gym featured Lindsey in a before and after story, and Lindsey’s mom said she lost about 100 pounds. Lindsey would always call her whenever she went down a size, and her family said her light and self esteem was coming back.
Lindsey became Graham’s “prodigy,” and she was very involved in Judo events. Jason didn’t like their relationship and was suspicious that there was more to their relationship, however it was never even implied that Lindsey had an affair.
While Lindsey was loving her life at the gym, the same couldn’t be said for her relationship with Jason. Jason stopped going to the gym, and wanted kids. Lindsey decided she didn’t want kids, and Jason didn’t seem to accept her decision. Six years after their wedding, they decided to get a divorce.
Jason seemed to accept it, he moved two hours away to a new apartment. He also told Lindsey she could have their house if she wanted it. She didn’t, but she wanted to fix it up and sell it. Jason agreed to help her with that, and it seemed like they could at least be friendly to each other.
Their divorce was finalized in March 2017, but things weren’t about to get better for Lindsey.
The Murder
On March 14, 2017, Lindsey’s colleagues at the police station were surprised when they came to work and Lindsey wasn’t there. Her colleague, Lt. Olyn Sexton, said she was always the first one there. They decided to do a welfare check on her after she wasn’t answering her phone.
The police went to Lindsey’s, they knocked on her door and there no was answer. They walked around to the back door, and found the door splintered. The police called for backup and then went inside.
Lindsey’s groceries were all over the floor, like she had been surprised by her killer. Next, the police went upstairs and heard water running. Lindsey was found dead in her bathtub. Her cause of death was an incision to her neck, her autopsy also said she had been strangled and had multiple bruises. She died by from the blood loss.
The police called in the State Law Enforcement, since Lindsey was one of their own.
Investigation
The first person that the police wanted to talk to was Jason. Jason was asked to come the station for an interview. Jason said he was asleep the whole night, after taking medication for a foot injury, and didn’t wake up until the next morning. Jason also said his car was missing when he woke up, and couldn’t have traveled two hours without a car. Jason also consented to a DNA sample.
There was still an investigation at Lindsey’s house, the police had found pieces of blue latex gloves mixed in with the spilled groceries. The police wanted to track Lindsey’s last movements before she died.
First, Lindsey had a training session with Graham. He was questioned, since he was the last person to see her. However, he was ruled out because he was at home at the time. They found this out after finding Lindsey on surveillance footage at Walmart thirty minutes before she was killed.
Jason is once again the prime suspect. Another officer said that on the morning of Lindsey’s murder, a man, later to be identified as Jason, asked the officer why he was near his car. The officer said Jason had scratches on his face. Jason said that he cut himself shaving.
The police also found surveillance footage of Jason moving his two vehicles in a parking lot near his apartment. The police believe he was getting rid of the murder weapon. After finding this evidence, the police obtained a search warrant for Jason’s apartment. Inside his apartment, the police found blue latex gloves and after testing the pieces at the crime scene, Jason’s DNA matched.
Arrest and Conviction
On March 17, three days after Lindsey’s death, Jason was arrested and charged with first degree murder.
In 2019, at Jason’s trial, he pleaded not guilty. The prosecution’s theory was that Jason was angry about their divorce, he was in debt, his car was about to be repossessed and he was about to be evicted, so he took his anger out on Lindsey. Jason also told a woman that he was dating at the time, that he was upset that Lindsey was going to sell their home, and that he owed her about $1,300.
After the jury deliberated for just over an hour, Jason Lee was found guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. He still claims that he’s innocent.
Jason Lee
FINAL THOUGHTS
Cases like this make me so sad and so angry. Jason blamed Lindsey for everything bad that was happening to him, and instead of moving on with his life and trying to better himself, he killed her. Lindsey was just starting to love herself and seemed happier than she’d ever been, and that was taken away by someone that she thought would never hurt her.
Lindsey’s dad broke my heart at the end of this episode, he said he never thought Jason would hurt Lindsey, and now they don’t have her in their lives. He broke down in tears, and I feel so bad for Lindsey’s family. Jason needs to own up to what he did, because hopefully he’s never getting out of prison.
Sources
