310. The Suspicious Death of Lois McMillen

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Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast.

This is murder with my husband.

I'm Peyton Moreland.

And I'm Garrett Moreland.

And he's the husband.

And I'm the husband.

Welcome back.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you for watching.

We appreciate you.

Another week.

Another podcast.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

Can you tell we're tired?

A little tired.

I don't know, Gary.

Your hair is like blown in the wind.

Hair is getting long.

Hair is getting crazy.

I don't have too much of a 10 seconds this week.

I'm going to be honest.

I've been sitting here while we're recording trying to think.

And I can't think.

I've just been working a lot.

So I don't have too much for you guys.

I'm sorry, but I will say thank you to everyone who conversed in DM me and commented.

Talking about last week's criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors.

I'm a pretty open book in general.

I like to hear other people's opinions and hear other people have to say.

So thanks for the conversations.

Yeah.

Kind of all I got.

Something Peyton and I are trying to figure out.

I feel like this might be a good 10 seconds is it is extremely.

And when I say extremely, I mean extremely dry in our room at night.

Like to the point where Peyton and I fall asleep and then we both wake up and it feels like

there is someone's hand over our faces.

Like it feels like I have a sore throat every time I wake up.

And we both have humidifiers.

We've tried everything.

I don't know.

Maybe we need better humidifiers, but we have big humidifiers.

I don't know.

Honestly, at this point, like I would pay for you know those air conditioning units.

People put in third like those single units.

I would pay for one of those.

Someone could hook a water line up to it and then constantly just push steam into my room.

You want a steam shower bedroom?

Yeah, I just, it was like 19% humidity in our room the other night.

And that might not seem dry to people, but...

Well, it doesn't help that we have like the worst air quality ever as well.

Like tacked on to that.

High elevation.

It's just all the things.

It's really bad.

I'm probably just complaining for no reason.

But if anyone has any ideas or thoughts, please let us know.

On top of that, thanks again for listening.

Thank you for being here.

And we are going to hop into today's episode.

Our sources for this episode are Murder and Paradise by Lisa Pulitzer.

ABCNews.go.com, Newsweek.com, NewYorkPost.com, CNN.com, L.A. Times.com, CaseMind.com, CBSNews.com, and AlexKrista.com.

I want everyone to imagine this, including you, Gary.

Your friend invites you to come stay at their vacation home on a tropical island for a week.

So you're beyond excited because your accommodations are practically free.

Plus, they know all of the hot spots in the area, all of the great restaurants to eat at,

all of the private beaches to go to, and all of the most interesting locals to hang out with.

So you pack your bags and you take off for what will surely be a trip to remember.

And it is, but not in the way you hope.

One night out changes everything.

And the next thing you know, you're trapped on this island,

spending the next few years in a cold jail cell, wondering,

how did things go so wrong so fast?

Now, this was the story of not one, but four, American men in 2000,

after a young woman was found dead where they were vacationing.

These four men insisted they were innocent,

but the question remains to this day.

If they didn't do it, then who did?

So today, we are turning back the clock to the year 1999, okay?

We are hopping on a plane to the exotic island of Tortilla in the British Virgin Islands.

To basically what the local tourist board calls nature's little secret,

it's just 60 miles east of Puerto Rico,

and the island was a hot spot for wealthy British and American families

to stay during the winter months of the year.

So just a vacation island, not only was it beautiful and a great place to surf and sail,

it also had a practically non-existent crime rate,

and only about a total of 19,000 residents at the time.

So definitely a little secret hidden spot,

which is probably why the McMillan family thought in 1999,

it was the perfect spot to escape to each winter.

Now, Russell and Josephine McMillan had been coming to Tortilla for the last 20 years,

now with their 34-year-old daughter, Lois.

They had been living in Connecticut the rest of the time,

ever since Lois was born in 1965.

Now, Russell did have children from another marriage,

but Lois was his only child with his second wife, Josephine,

and because Lois was the baby of the family,

she was given an upbringing most children only dream of,

and this is on top of having a vacation home in a tropical island in the winter.

She had horseback riding lessons, trips to summer sleepaway camps,

school abroad in Switzerland,

and obviously her annual vacation to their beach house.

Now, over the years, the family got to know the other snowbirds

who wintered in the island.

Lois looked forward to going to the island every year, growing up.

Not only was it quality time with her family,

it was a break from school, which honestly, she wasn't very good at.

Plus, it was a chance to paint until her heart was content.

So, yes, growing up through high school,

Lois was a great painter, and as she grew into a young adult,

she actually tried to find her way through a series of different colleges

and potential career paths,

from dropping out of Boston University in 1985,

to modeling classes in Connecticut, to voice and acting classes,

and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City,

she tried it all.

She actually even moved across the country to Los Angeles

for some time to try and pursue startup there,

but after meeting one too many directors and producers

looking to cast her in exchange for a date,

Lois got fed up with the entertainment industry

and the constant disappointment,

and that's when she finally went back to her roots

and decided art and painting were just her real calling.

So, in the early 90s, she attended the Parsons School of Design in New York,

and when Lois wasn't studying or painting,

she was volunteering her time with organizations

like the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Greenpeace, or the Humane Society.

But as of 1999, the time of our story,

Lois was back under her parents' roof in Connecticut,

trying to get some gallery shows going.

She already had quite a bit of success

after her first showing made her close to $10,000,

and ironically, year before she had actually made a painting called

The World Is Killing Women.

It was a piece so powerful,

her parents hung it on the walls of their home in their beach house.

Place where Lois had always felt safe,

it was consistent, the spot she knew they would go

and slow down for the winter,

and a place where she had actually met some people

she thought would be lifelong friends

in this little vacation place,

like a guy named Michael Spicer.

I've always found art really interesting,

partly because I don't really understand it,

mainly because the only artist

I've ever really looked into is Banksy.

I think it's interesting how some pieces

can go for so much money,

just have so much more value than other pieces.

I think it's definitely one of those worlds you have to be into.

Yeah, and I don't really understand you.

Appreciate fashion, right?

There's white t-shirts.

Like funky fashion.

I think it's similar to that.

Yeah.

Now, the Spicer family was another wealthy

snow bird family on the island

that had a home just up the hill from the McMillans,

and at the time 36-year-old Michael

was a law student in Virginia.

Now, he and Lois had known each other for quite a while now,

basically from kind of growing up on the island together,

but the relationship was fairly casual.

They would now go to the bars together,

go swimming together in the Spicer's pool,

but when they were back to their real lives,

it's not like they kept in touch.

It was more just this life they had

when they went to the island.

But Michael had introduced her to someone else

a few winters before.

It was a friend of his named Alex Benedetto.

Now, Alex was the son of a wealthy publisher

and now worked at his father's company back in New York.

And he had come out with Michael

a few times with his family to Tortola.

And he and Lois actually did have a brief summer romance

seemingly ended on good terms.

Because come 1999,

Lois was willing to spend time with him again

when he came out to visit that winter with his friend.

In fact, Michael had brought a couple of friends

with him that winter,

since his parents decided to stay back in the state.

So he's in his 30s,

he's going to his parents' house,

and they have it to themselves.

I'll tell you who they are.

35-year-old Alex,

which is her old fling,

as well as 23-year-old construction worker,

Evan George,

and 36-year-old William Labrador

who owned his own PR and modeling agency

in New York City.

Now, the reason that Michael Spicer,

who is the friend with the family home there,

knew some of the other boys

was William and Alex had grown up together,

which was how he was introduced to Michael.

And Evan seemed to be dating Michael Spicer

at the time of that vacation.

So it's maybe his boyfriend,

his friend and his friend's friend.

Either way, the four of them were excited

about spending the holidays on the island that year.

They'd spend their days lounging around the pool

or beach hiking, hitting the bars,

hanging out a bit with Lois McMillan,

the other girl whose family had the place

and had grown up there.

So on the night of January 13th,

Michael and his friends invited Lois out to dinner with them.

Now, Lois had a car and they didn't.

So they actually offered to pay for her meal

if she drove.

So she left her house at around 5.30 that night

and then was back home later that evening.

But then the following afternoon,

she told her mother,

she was just planning to go out alone that night.

She wanted to listen to some music

at a venue on the other side of the island

called the Jolly Roger Inn.

So that night, January 14th,

Lois left her family's home around 9 p.m.

But by 12.30, 1 a.m.

No, gosh.

Lois's parents were getting worried.

I mean, yes, she's in her 30s.

But when Lois still wasn't back by 10 a.m. the next morning,

her parents raised down to the local police station

to report their daughter, Lois missing.

But let's rewind a bit.

Two, three hours before the parents drove down

and made that report.

In the same area, a woman named

Winsome Manning left her home on the island

for a morning stroll.

And about an hour into that journey,

she was looking down at the water along the rocky shoreline

when she noticed there was a body based up.

The waves were crashing against it

and it appeared to her that this body

was no longer moving.

Now, when some didn't bother to get a closer look,

instead she ran to the police station

that was less than a mile away

and reported the body to the officers on duty.

Detectives obviously rushed over

and immediately confirmed what Winsome had seen.

There was a body of a young woman

whose face had been bloated by sea water

to the point that she was unrecognizable.

They start investigating.

She had no ID, no pocketbook,

and her shirt and bra were pulled up.

So her breasts were exposed.

Now, the detectives got instinct

was that this woman had drowned, perhaps hit her head,

maybe slipped.

But nearby, there were other clues that suggested

maybe there was more to the story.

So as they scanned the path from the street to her body,

they found things like a gold necklace,

a can of mace, a hair clip, and a single shoe along the path.

I mean, this is kind of some random discarded things

that the can of mace alone was enough

to signal the victim might have been running

from an attacker.

She loses a shoe, jewelry,

a police sergeant also noticed some blood stains

on the rocks along the seawall

with some tiny red spots leading down to the water,

indicating that before this victim had even made it

to the water, they were probably injured

and bleeding on their way there.

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Now at that point, the police were worried

that identifying the victim might be difficult

considering there was no missing persons reported in the area.

But then 10 AM rolls around.

And Mr. and Mrs. McMillan go down to the station

and say, hey, our adult daughter lowest didn't make it.

I just I just can't like that would just be so sad

and it happens in a lot of our cases.

And how do you receive that information?

Like how do you take that in when someone,

when the police, I mean,

even if you're like in the armed services, anything, right?

When they have to tell you, hey,

like your loved one is dead.

Well, and I mean,

I think whoever they talked to,

whether it was the front desk person first

or whoever they, hey, we need to report our daughter missing, right?

Before they've even gotten to the report.

Yeah.

Everyone in that small local police station

knows there was a body found that morning.

Oh, for sure.

You know what I mean?

So because that doesn't happen that often here.

And now there's a girl missing.

Everyone's immediately connecting the dots

and these parents have no idea.

Yeah, which is just.

It's sad.

It is so devastating.

So they are like, hey,

she didn't make it home from a night out.

At first, they suspected that Lois had gotten into

a car accident the night before.

I mean,

the roads along Tertola were pretty dangerous,

winding, not well lit.

Many of them didn't even have guard rails

to prevent a car from veering off a cliff

into the water below.

I mean, it's an island.

Yeah.

And foul play was probably the last thing

on the McMillan's mind

since violent crime is basically unheard of.

And they know a lot of people around the area.

However,

once the McMillan stepped foot into that police station

looking for Lois,

the officers put two and two together

34-year-old missing Lois McMillan

was their victim.

By that afternoon,

with the McMillan's help,

police also located Lois's car.

But when they find it,

it isn't perfect condition.

There's no signs of an accident

or anything of that sort.

It was actually discovered

less than a mile away from her body,

just parked at a fairy dock.

Now inside,

they discovered a single gold earring

and a brass-colored heart pendant

that actually matched the necklace

they had found earlier near her body,

which basically just confirms

the necklace had fallen off.

Police also noticed the floor

on the driver's side of the vehicle

was wet in Sandy.

Not that rare for an island.

Yeah.

But it's...

Something.

I don't know.

I mean, it's the driver's side is wet in Sandy,

so that means that maybe she was wet in Sandy.

So detectives tried to gather

some fingerprints from the vehicle,

thinking,

okay, maybe it wasn't her,

who was wet and got in here.

Maybe someone chased her down

and then got in her car and parked it here.

But there were barely any fingerprints

not on the steering wheel,

gear shift, or handles,

which means someone had likely

wiped the vehicle down.

So it was most likely parked here,

which does answer a question for them,

but doesn't really get them

any closer to finding out who.

The only thing of note was a shoe print

found on the rear door panel of the car.

So the next step for detectives

is to try to retrace

Lois' steps from the night before.

Her parents tell police,

you know, we had dinner with her

at our beach house after a long day of shopping.

They say Lois seemed to be in good spirits.

She was excited about going to the bar

at the Jolly Roger Inn to listen to some music.

She had put on a new outfit she had bought

with her mother shopping that day

and then left around 9 p.m.

The officers check and a bartender said

Lois did come in by herself that night

and ordered a drink.

But some witnesses saw her talking

to an unidentified man at the bar.

And another witness claimed

they saw Lois leave the bar around 10.30 p.m.

They say she got into her car

and she did drive off alone

and they didn't see anyone follow her.

Now after that,

no one admitted to seeing

or speaking to Lois again

until the following morning

when her body was discovered

on those rocks along the surf.

Now news of this is going to spread fast.

So a lot of the McMillan's friends

and neighbors reach out

to express how sorry they are for their loss.

But there's one group

that hasn't reached out to Lois' mother, Josephine.

The she finds really strange.

Michael Spicer and his friends.

She knows that these two know each other.

They were, you know, friends on this island

and she knows they were just hanging out

together the night before.

So why wouldn't he at least

be especially upset over Lois' death

and then you also have Alex,

her old summer fling?

Why wouldn't he be upset?

Why wouldn't he have reached out?

In fact, she thinks it's suspicious.

And so she has no problem telling police.

A lot of people have reached out.

I know she hung out with this group of boys

the night before.

And this is suspicious

because they have not said anything to me

and these two were pretty good friends.

So police waste no time.

Racing up to the Spicer home

to talk to the four guys.

Because here is the thing.

You're in a small town on an island.

There's not many suspects.

And there's even less snowbirds

who know each other.

There's only a handful of suspects

that could be like,

I'm hoping it's open and shut.

I'm hoping they find out who it is.

If there's lack of evidence,

it's going to be hard,

but there can't be that many people.

So they get to the Spicer home

and they actually find the boys

sleeping off a hangover

from the night before,

which could explain why they hadn't reached out

because they weren't even up for the day

and had heard the news.

So police break the news

to Michael Spicer on why they're there

and he does come off totally blindsided.

Like the news of Lois's death

was shocking.

It wasn't even really reaching them.

Now, when detectives asked Michael

when he last saw Lois,

he says it was Thursday around 11 p.m.

She dropped off Michael

in his friend Evan before heading home.

But as they start questioning Michael,

one of the detectives notices something.

There's a few pairs of wet sandy sneakers

lined up near the pool area of the home.

Obviously, they're in a beach town.

So this might not seem that weird,

but police do have to make the connection

that there was wet sandy spots in Lois's car

and they do believe

whoever had done this move the car.

I mean,

this really does seem to set off

on alarm bells for detectives,

but it doesn't seem that out of place for me.

Eventually,

the other guys start to come out of the house

to speak with police,

each appearing just as shocked as the last

to find out why the police were there,

to find out the news about Lois,

the girl they had just gone to dinner with.

So the detectives start asking them some questions,

including what clothes they were wearing last night.

Now, the four guys go inside,

they grab the items of clothing

and happily ham them over to police.

But there's one thing on Michael Spicer's shirt

that immediately does look worrisome to them.

It's a small red stain

about the size of a quarter,

just above the breast pocket.

I mean, I get it.

It makes sense,

but I don't think walking around,

I would ever think of that.

Like, if I saw a stain on someone's shirt,

yeah, but if you're a cop,

yeah, if you're a cop shirt.

Investigating homicide.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, it's spaghetti.

Okay.

You know what I'm saying?

Not sentenced.

I mean, if it was you,

probably you do love spills spaghetti.

All the time.

Oh, major spaghetti spilling.

So, of course,

they're like, thank you.

Thank you for this clothing.

Uh, Michael,

you just handed us clothing

with a red stain on it.

What is this?

He tells the police,

um, I don't know what that is,

but you're more than likely to take it

and figure it out.

Mm-hmm.

So, police are like,

it feels like, yes,

nothing to hide.

In fact,

all of the boys deny having anything

to do with Lois' death.

Still,

the police are thinking

these four guys are their best lead at the moment.

So, they tell them

they'll come back later that day

with an official search warrant

and they do.

And keep in mind,

her mom has said,

this is suspicious.

She was with these four boys

two nights earlier.

So, I mean,

police are working on a hunch,

but from the outside looking in,

it seems abrupt.

Yeah, it doesn't seem like

there's anything.

This is, it's hard.

But as they're searching the house

and collecting potential evidence,

police noticed that Alex,

the one who used to date Lois,

is acting a bit strange

as police are there.

He blocks the door to the room

he's staying in.

And sort of goes on about,

I don't want you going in here.

This is an infringement

of my rights.

Can't do anything wrong.

Michael,

who is also there,

says,

this is actually

typical Alex.

He's the kind of guy

who is not going to let

cop searches room

just because

it is an infringement

of his rights.

And he's going to be honest about it.

I mean, he,

but they have a search warrant.

He's also a lawyer.

Oh, okay.

I mean, he's in his 30s.

He's a lawyer.

So,

even if he has nothing to hide,

there is something about like

sticking it to the man.

For sure.

And, and Michael,

his friend is like,

yeah, this is totally

something he would do.

He's the guy and a guy

would make a scene.

But the police find it suspicious.

Now, eventually,

they move past him.

They collect a bunch of items

from the room he's staying in,

pillows, bedding, clothing.

By the end of the search,

they've taken more than 85 items

from the beach house,

including fingernail clippings,

and tampons that they found

in a waste basket inside

Alex's bathroom.

Okay.

Which obviously the police

find particularly strange

because the men

had told them lowest

was never inside the house

the night they hung out.

But police also know

she was on her period

when she died.

Oh, that's actually

really interesting.

Okay.

And she did have

the exact brand of tampons.

They found in Alex's

waste basket in his bathroom

inside her purse.

Yeah.

So they're going to test them

for DNA, see if they match.

I mean, almost most girls

do get a period.

So if he had any other girl,

but it is weird, I will say.

Yep.

So by later that afternoon,

all four men are being called

down to the station

to give more formal statements

to the police.

And all of the men

give the same story they initially

did.

They say they saw lowest

the night before.

She was last seen

on January 13th.

But not the final night

of her life.

January 14th.

They said the night she did

die.

They had dinner at the

Spicer's home and then

went out around 11 p.m.

to a club called

Kitos.

But William Labrador

actually did stay home

that night.

He said he was tired

since they were up

at 730 that morning,

hiking.

Now, well, the other guys

were out partying

till 3 a.m.,

which other witnesses

at the club do confirm?

Okay.

William was home

at the Spicer's home.

He just watched

some TV and then went

to bed around 12 p.m.

But there was one thing

that raised red flags

for detectives.

William Labrador did have

a small cut on his nose.

He said, oh, I got it

earlier in the day, hiking.

And apparently,

Alex also had a few

scratches on him,

which he said, no,

that was from the hike

as well.

But there was

something else

the police found suspicious.

All of the men

had recently cut

their fingernails,

like very short,

to the point

where it was hard

for detectives

to cut them again

for samples.

I mean, I'd be scared,

I bought my nails

every single day.

Okay.

They figure.

Yep.

Between the lack

of reaching out

to Lois' family,

which the boys claim

they were asleep,

the wet sandy shoes

out of beach house,

the stained shirt,

Alex's reaction

when they searched his room,

the tampon,

the cuts

and the scratches

on two of the men,

the cut fingernails,

they believe

someone here is guilty.

This is hard

because it's very

circumstantial.

Right.

Like, from the outside

looking in right now,

it's extremely difficult.

Like, I don't think

you, there's no way

this gets

pass a jury

like this.

It's all circumstantial.

It's all kind of

random stuff, too.

Like, oh, these guys

cut their nails short.

Okay.

It feels definitely

like there's

what shoes

K, you're by a beach house.

A lot of coincidences

but also

not saying they didn't do it

because I don't know

what's going to happen yet

in the case,

but

difficult.

On the flip side,

the mom's gut

thought it was suspicious.

She was just

with these boys.

She had dated

one of them,

so there's an ex-boyfriend.

Yes.

They do find a tampon

in the bathroom

of that ex-boyfriend's

bathroom.

The same tampon she was

wearing.

So there are like,

you understand why

they're suspicious,

but it doesn't feel

like enough to

arrest them.

Now, despite that,

that day,

January 15th,

this is literally

the next day.

They arrest

all four of them

on suspicion of murder.

Now,

Keep in mind,

we're in the British

Virgin Islands.

Yeah.

They can hold people

for days or weeks

without officially charging

them with a crime,

which is why they probably

just make the arrest.

I'm sure America

would do that, too,

if you weren't on a time

crunch.

So that is basically

what ends up happening here.

Now, after confiscating

the men's wallets,

they find something

interesting in

Alex's.

It is an ATM receipt

from that night.

Money was taken out

around 11.15pm

in an area super

close to where

Lois was last seen

by the Jolly Roger.

In.

But the three men

who went out

never even

mentioned to police

that they were

in that part of town

that night,

which only bolsters

their case

against them further.

So by January 19th,

all four men

are officially

charged with murder,

but their families

and many locals

alike say,

these boys didn't do this.

Like, these four

snowbirds did not

do this.

They are four

professionals

with careers.

They have no history

of violence.

They come from good

families who have lived

here, like they

haven't established

life here.

There was no motive

for all four of them

to want to kill

or harm Lois.

Which is interesting

that I feel like this

happens a lot.

People say there's

no way this person

could have done this.

That happens

like every single case

we have,

unless it's the

serial killer.

And it just comes

down to,

you don't really know

something.

We understand

gang mentality,

but also all four

men agreeing to murder

does seem odd.

For sure.

Yeah.

But maybe one.

I mean, there's

so many things.

So a lot of people

are like this just

doesn't make sense.

And it starts to spread

around some locals

believe that because

Lois's car was found

by the docs,

that the person

who drove it there,

probably drove it there,

got out and hopped

on the first

ferry out of town

that morning.

Which does make sense

because that's how

you get off the island.

The car that they believe

was driven by a suspect

is found at the

ferry dock that you use

to leave the island.

So they're like,

whoever did this,

obviously parked

the car in the left.

It's not these boys

who were asleep.

Okay.

The locals are like,

this person was long gone

by the time police

were looking for suspects.

They think it seems

more likely

that the local police

aren't used to dealing

with a homicide case

like this.

And B, they want to

wrap it up quickly

and place blame on someone.

So it doesn't affect

their tourism,

which is a major source

of income for the island.

They can have this

unsolved murder

on the island.

So regardless,

a preliminary hearing

is scheduled

for the four men

in March of 2000.

But that gets pushed

to July as the prosecution

waits for DNA results

to come back.

So are they just

sitting in prison

this entire time?

Yeah.

I mean, you're not

in the British

Virgin Islands.

That sucks.

And when it does,

it sucks if they didn't

do it.

The DNA is not

exactly a smoking gun.

This stain

on Michael's shirt

did test positive

for blood,

versus spaghetti.

It didn't

belong to any

of the guys.

Now, the results

show it could have come

from Lois,

but it also could have

come from tens

of thousands

of other people.

I mean, it wasn't

like a solid hit.

What few prints

they were able

to find on the vehicle

were also not

a match to any

of the four suspects.

And when those wet

sandy shoes were tested,

only 15% of the sand

on them matched

the sand found

where Lois's body

was discovered.

Wow.

They were obviously

worn in other beach areas.

And that shoe print

that was found

in the back of Lois's car

wasn't a match either.

In fact, 90 items

in total were tested

from clothes

to shoes to hair samples

found in Lois's vehicle.

And all of it

told the same story.

None of it connected

to any of these four men.

So, the case is

purely circumstantial.

That was,

until a man

named Jeffrey Plant

came into the picture.

Jeffrey Plant

was a businessman

from Texas

who had been caught

trying to pass

bad checks.

He happened to be

in jail,

awaiting trial,

at the same time

with the other defendants.

And he told police

and prosecutors

he had seen

and heard some stuff

from the suspects

that might be of interest

to their murder case.

Apparently,

Jeffrey had witnessed

Alex and William argue

on more than one occasion

in jail.

And at one point

he claimed Alex

pointed the finger

at William accusing

him of being guilty.

Jeffrey also claimed

that William asked him

once if he thought

God would forgive him,

if he had had

something to do

with Lois' murder.

How do you trust this?

I don't know.

How do you trust that?

This is even true information.

Jeffrey said

during this conversation

with William, he was like,

well, were you involved

and William told him,

yes.

Apparently,

William confessed to Jeffrey

that on the evening

of Lois' death,

he was in her car.

They got into an argument

over money she owed him.

She tried to pull

into the police station,

but he chased her down

to the water

and drowned her

by putting his foot

on the back of her neck.

And so in his story,

the other guys

weren't there

because they were

out partying.

Remember?

Yeah.

He was the only one

who was supposedly

home alone watching TV.

Yeah.

Now, when the prosecutors

hear this, they find

the statement interesting

because Lois did die

by drowning,

not by any other

manner like strangulation.

And that was something

that wasn't exactly

public knowledge

at this point,

but she was found

in water,

so it's not that big

thing that she drowned.

William tells his lawyer,

this is complete nonsense.

He never said

anything like this

to Jeffrey in prison.

In fact,

Jeffrey had a history

of being a prison

snitch because he did

the exact same thing

when he was in jail

back in 1995.

He lied about another

inmate to try

and lessen his own

sentence.

We talked about this,

I think last podcast,

last episode.

You can,

trusting an informant

seems extremely difficult.

Especially one

who has a history

of lying,

like knowingly lying.

Yeah, I get

out of here now.

But the prosecution uses

it to bolster their case

and in the spring

of 2001,

all four men are

in the courtroom

being tried together.

And I just say

you are innocent.

Say you are innocent.

You go out with this girl,

you're just on vacation

with your friends

and police show up,

wake you up out of sleep,

tell you this girl died

and the next day

you're arrested,

you've been in jail

since and now you're a trial.

Yeah.

Like that's low-key

wild if you're

100% guilty.

Yeah.

I don't know what to expect.

I don't know how

this is going to go.

Also, it's kind of a

an example of

last time we're talking

about criminal defense

attorneys,

how now prosecutor,

prosecutors will

take stuff

and run it with it.

It's interesting.

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So there is basically

a month's worth

of testimony that the

judge hears against

all four men.

And after a month,

he decides

there simply isn't

enough evidence

to uphold the charges

against

Michael Spicer,

Evan George,

or Alex Benedetto.

All three of them

are acquitted immediately

and freed.

The judges

like you have no

evidence on these three men.

And that probably

would have been the case

for William as well,

except for Jeffrey,

the jailhouse snitch.

I- this is wild.

If he goes to prison,

I mean, I don't know

who did this,

but I don't think

you can put someone

in prison for a life.

If you get to this

base off of an informant,

that was a liar previously.

That's not fair.

Okay. And say

William's innocent.

He decided to stay home

because he was tired

and not go out with his friends.

Yes. Yes.

You know what I'm saying?

Yes.

But maybe he's not.

So unfortunately

for William,

the trial continues.

So they paint a very

similar picture

that after a heated argument,

William was actually

with lowest that night.

And he chased her

down to the water and drowned her.

So with hardly

any concrete evidence,

the jury's decision

comes down to one thing.

Remember,

there is no DNA.

There's no nothing.

I mean, the tampon

in Alex's room now

has nothing to do with this

because they're saying

it was William

who just wasn't

with his friends that night.

The jury has to decide,

do they find Jeffrey plant

a reliable witness

or not?

That's all this case

basically boils down to.

William's lawyer tells

the jury about Jeffrey's past.

How he had been married

ten times.

He was a proven con man.

He was currently in prison

for Grand Larceny.

What wasn't mentioned

in the courtroom was how

after Jeffrey had told police

about William's confession,

he was released from jail,

his charges were dropped,

and he was put up

in a sea front villa

with a nice little stipend

from the government waiting

to testify.

This is nuts.

This is nuts.

I will say six months later,

he was back in jail.

This time in Texas,

with 34 new counts of fraud

and theft.

Still,

Jeffrey's story is enough

to send jurors away

for seven and a half hours

of deliberation.

I mean, this is all they've got.

Come on.

We've got to have smarter jurors.

Despite his inconsistent

account on the stand,

the jury sides with him.

They find 37-year-old

William Labrador guilty

of murder.

Oh, leak wrap.

And in the British Virgin Islands,

that means an automatic

sentence of life behind bars.

Now, there's no way.

He doesn't stop here.

The story does not end here.

There's no way.

There's no way.

William obviously continues

to maintain his innocence

filing appeal after appeal.

I mean, even if he's guilty,

this trial was not enough

to put him away.

So finally,

on April 7, 2003,

the British court

overturns William's conviction

due to what they call

judicial errors.

They point to the fact

that the prosecution's

key witness was a proven,

quote, habitual liar.

Yeah, that's ridiculous.

And they were like,

you, the prosecution made

some improper comments

during the trial.

100%.

Their ruling also comes

with another win for William Labrador.

It bars a retrial,

which means after nearly three

years behind bars

in the British Virgin Islands

for murder,

he's finally allowed to return

to the States,

get back to his life

without fear of being retried.

Now, one of the first things

he does before getting

on the plane to go home

is actually take a swim

in the ocean.

Keep in mind,

his parents didn't even

have this place.

He was here with friends,

was in jail for three years,

gets out and is like,

well, now I have to go home.

Somewhere I haven't been

in three years.

He tells Good Morning America

quote,

that's when I finally felt

my freedom,

being able to do that

without someone turning

a key on me.

Unfortunately,

for the Macmillan family,

this means

justice hasn't really

been served,

because in the eye of the law,

no one,

no one has been charged

officially now

with her murder.

And there are still plenty

of theories about

who might actually be

responsible for Lois's death,

because she,

she was murdered.

One of the names

thrown around

was Lois's

former boyfriend

at the time,

Luigi Lungorini.

Luigi was an architect,

who was pretty well known

on the island.

Apparently, the two began

dating in the spring

of 1998,

two years before her death,

they even

were engaged at one point.

But people who knew

Lois and Luigi

said the relationship

was really toxic,

hot and heavy

one minute,

and then they were

screaming at each other

in public the next.

One source even claimed

that after her parents

told her to break things

off with Luigi,

Lois listened.

But he continued to

stalk her,

refusing to accept things

were over.

Luigi also did have

a history of domestic

violence with his ex-wife

and previous

girlfriends,

and Lois had tried to

get a restraining order

against him in the past.

There were also sources

who claimed she approached

Luigi a few times

since their breakup,

to ask him about a death

that he needed to

repay her father.

So we have someone

in prison with no

motive.

Why?

Why wasn't this guy

talked to before?

And we have an ex-boyfriend

who has domestic

violence, has a record,

had motive, owed her money.

And he wasn't a witness,

or he wasn't a suspect

at all.

Right.

I do want to mention

what is strange here

is during the investigation

like Garrett said,

police never took any DNA

or fingerprints from

Luigi.

In fact, they never

even reached out to him.

They didn't even take

a statement.

I don't know.

I mean, it could be

multiple things.

It could be lack

of experience.

It could be.

We're protecting

their quote-unquote

own people that were

part of the British

Highlands, and not some

Americans that are visiting.

I mean, it could be

so many different things.

Or I mean,

or it could still be them.

I don't know.

Yeah, I want to say,

I don't know.

I have no idea.

This is a legit.

We're obviously discussing

potential suspects

at this point.

No idea.

I'm not trying to drag

Luigi's name through the mud

because this is a legit

but we do also have to

point out every suspect

in a case that is

unsolved.

Yeah.

Police do answer

or why they never reached

out to him.

They claim they had evidence

he was on his boat

during the time of the murder.

And Lois's family

didn't suspect him.

It's pretty apparent

they trusted.

Okay.

I mean, if you had an

I'll buy them.

Okay.

I guess.

I don't know.

Now, there's a ton of

other loose ends

regarding Lois's case,

like the fact that

it was proven she had

in her course within

48 hours of her death.

But she didn't

appear to be sexually

assaulted.

And Siemens tests

were not a match

for any of the

four men suspected

of murder.

There's just no way.

I mean, I just,

I don't think it's them,

but I could be totally wrong.

There was also some indication

that she had fish bites

on her body, which

would suggest she drowned

further out from the

shoreline and then her body

washed up in more shallow

water.

So maybe she was on a

boat.

And then her body

washed up.

There was also never

an ID made on the man

that she was talking

to at the Jolly Roger

Inn, the night she died.

Remember, she was

talking to a man.

But there is one

terrifying truth

in this case.

What began as a dream

getaway turned into a

walking nightmare

for a lot of people.

And sometimes it

doesn't matter how

friendly an invitation

seems or how safe you

think you are.

One single night can

change everything,

whether victim

or suspect.

One wrong reaction.

One sandy shoe.

One drop of blood is

all it takes to turn

paradise into hell.

And that is the murder

of Louis McMillan

and the attempted

trials.

That's crazy.

So it's just never

been solved.

They'll never know.

Nope.

That sucks

for her family.

That's horrible.

I mean, who else could

it?

I mean, if here's a

thing, there isn't

enough evidence for me

to think it was them.

There's no other suspects.

Like, how does that happen?

Just a cold case.

Gone.

Just nothing.

And I will say sometimes

we see unsolved cases

that the investigation has

been like pounded

into the dirt, right?

Like they have attempted

and attempted and

attempted.

And they just don't

know where to go.

But there's so much

investigation done.

I do feel like

this investigation was

just handled

improperly from the beginning.

Yeah.

And got so skewed

whether it was the men

or an ex-boyfriend

or a random stranger

whoever it was.

The investigation was

just not done in a proper way.

For sure.

Yeah.

We have DNA.

We have evidence.

And it feels like

we have nothing.

Yeah.

All right, you guys.

That was our episode

this week.

And we will see you

next time with another one.

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