The Murder of Marc Despain
For this case I watched an episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered on Oxygen. The episode is titled ‘The Root of All Evil,’ and it aired on March 25, 2o21.
A young dad is killed in his own home, and the investigation reveals dark family secrets.
Background
Marc Despain
Marc and Michelle
Marc Despain met his wife Michelle when he was 19, and she was 18. She got pregnant quickly after they started dating, so they also got married pretty quickly. Michelle had a daughter from a previous relationship, but Marc treated her like his own. They went on to have two other kids together, and everything seemed great.
Marc wanted to be in real estate and started working as an appraiser at the family business. He eventually bought several trailers in a trailer park and flipped them. Once he was making money, he moved his family to an upper class neighborhood, and the family was going on vacations too. However, Marc’s relationship with his parents was crumbling.
Family Feud
Marc was really excited to go into business with his family originally, however it realized it was a mistake when it caused tension between him and his dad Jack.
Marc had wanted a higher stake in the business and didn’t want to be pushed around. He split away from the family business, and started to do business on his own. He hired Michelle as his bookkeeper, and he worked from home.
Marc ended up cutting ties with his mom Tana, and sister Jackie, after Marc and Michelle’s daughter had said that Jack asked her to take nude photos of herself. She was thirteen years old at the time. Jack denied this, and said that he had caught her taking photos of herself and sending them to people. Michelle and Marc took their daughter’s side, and Jackie and Tana took Jack’s side. There was also an investigation into the allegations, but they were later dropped.
The Murder
On August 24, 2011, Michelle called 911. She said she had gotten home, saw that the house was dark, went inside and found Marc on the kitchen floor. She said she ran outside to call the police, and she seemed frantic on the call. She also called her mom Kathy, and Kathy arrived to find Michelle sitting on the curb.
The Jonesboro, Arkansas police arrived soon after. Detective Vic Brooks was the main investigator, and he said he walked in to a staged scene. He said there was broken glass everywhere, drawers were pulled out, clothes were on the floor and a jewelry case was toppled over. Marc was found on the floor, he had died from multiple gun shot wounds.
The police asked neighbors if they had seen anything suspicious, and a few of them said yes. They said they saw a African-American male, and a blue Mercedes circling the neighborhood.
Detective Brooks didn’t think it was a robbery. He said that Marc was ambushed, and that it seemed like someone he knew had done this. Detective Brooks was about to uncover several suspects, sadly all from the same family.
A New Suspect
While the police interviewed several people about Marc and Michelle’s life, many people pointed the finger at Jack, Marc’s dad. They said money had come between the father and son, and that Jack had always cared more about money.
Jack was brought in for questioning. He broke down in the interrogation room and said ‘I was too late,’ and he meant that he was too late to repair their relationship. Det. Brooks also asked him about the sexual abuse allegations, and he said that it almost destroyed him. He said people thought he would do that to his granddaughter, and that he drank to cope with it.
Jack said that he wasn’t near his son’s home at the time of the murder, and said he was miles away at home fixing the roof. Detective Brooks later cleared Jack, and said that the break down that he had in the interrogation room didn’t seem fake.
The Manipulative Wife
While the case stalled, Det. Brooks attended Marc’s visitation, and he said that it was the strangest and coldest visitation he had ever been to. Michelle had called the police on Marc’s family. They said they believed right from the beginning that Michelle had something to do with Marc’s death.
A few days after the visitation, a tip came into the police. The man that they had seen in the neighborhood was apparently bragging about killing Marc. He wasn’t that hard to track down, and he was brought in for questioning.
His name was Terrance ‘Qualow’ Barker. When the police asked him about the murder, he denied it. However, it wasn’t long until Qualow was spilling the beans. He said that he was driven by a man named Johnny Hubbard, the man with the blue Mercedes, and met with a man in a church parking lot. He said the man had hired him money for a job he wanted done. They asked him who the man was and he identified him as Carl Kelley, Michelle’s dad.
Carl was arrested, Michelle was stunned, but Kathy wasn’t. She said Carl would threaten her all the time during their marriage. Marc’s family believed that Michelle was the mastermind of this crime, and that without her, Carl wouldn’t have done it. They said Michelle had plotted to kill Marc, just like she had plotted the abuse allegations and had turned Marc against them. They said she was a psychopath.
A Disturbing Plot
Detective Brooks now believed that Michelle had planned this whole thing. He said that when she was questioned the first time, he never saw any tears. He also said that neighbors told him that Michelle had acted calm at the crime scene, despite her frantic 911 call. Jackie, Marc’s sister, also said that Michelle was “too clean,” and expected her to have blood on her since she was the one who found Marc.
Michelle was brought in for questioning. Det. Brooks asked her if she had anything to do with Marc’s death. She said no, but she did admit to having an affair and dipping into the family finances to help pay for her new man’s apartment and groceries.
There was no evidence at the time Michelle was questioned again, so she was let go. In the months after Marc died, the investigation continued and Michelle was out living her life. She had collected two life insurance policies and had a new boyfriend. Marc’s family begged the police to keep digging into Michelle, and they created a billboard asking for help.
When the police first looked into Michelle and Carl, they obtained their cell phone records. There had been a lot of phone calls and texts between them, but there were quite a few messages that had been deleted. A data analyst was able to recover a few of those messages. On the day of the murder, Michelle had texted her dad, “has to be today.” Carl told Michelle to take Marc out for lunch, while he had the hitman go into the house and wait to kill Marc.
Terrance Barker also said that Carl was texting Michelle the “play by plays” of the murder.
Michelle was arrested and charged with capital murder.
A Plea Deal
Michelle was given a plea deal, and she pled guilty to hindering apprehension. She was sentenced to 3o years, with the chance of parole after 5 years. She was released in 2018.
Michelle’s mugshot
Carl Kelley and Terrance Brooks pleaded guilty to first degree murder. They were both sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Carl Kelley
The hitman, Terrance ‘Qualow’ Barker
Johnny Hubbard pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension. He was sentenced to 18 years, plus 30 years for violation of his parole.
Johnny Hubbard
Clips of Michelle and Jack’s interrogations
Other
Marc’s family said they could live with the plea deal, and believed that if they went to trial, a jury may have been sympathetic to Michelle.
Marc’s parents created Marc’s Place, to help victims of domestic crimes. Jack said he regrets not reconciling with his son sooner.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I have a lot of thoughts. I do think Michelle and Marc had a horrible relationship, and I can’t believe she took him out to lunch knowing he was going to be killed. It is horrible, and not something a loving wife would do. I think Carl is a piece of shit, and I believe he did it over money. He chose money over family, even thought it seems like they didn’t have a good relationship to begin with.
I feel bad for Marc’s parents and his children. I didn’t like Jack in the beginning, but I think he was blamed for everything. I also agreed with Det. Brooks, his breakdown didn’t seem fake.
I think the right people were in prison for this crime, and I can’t believe Michelle was released. I think she is manipulative and she could easily do this again to get what she wants.
Sources
