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About this Episode
Why did a man eat pages from a notebook when facing questions about the murder of a third grade teacher?
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I don't know, I can't go in there.
This victim resided at an apartment inside the building.
Uniform officers had already been there.
The first thing we do is we're going to go in and we're going to see where our victim is.
My name is Mark Beyondalino, I'm a retired homicide detective from the City of St. Louis,
and I investigated the murder of Jocelyn Peters from March 24, 2016.
This isn't a subway who would accidentally leave a door open.
She was responsible, one of the most responsible people.
I knew it just didn't make sense.
She was a strong force.
Fear's advocate for children, loved them dearly, and everyone was going to succeed in her classroom.
She always wanted to do the next best thing.
In her free time, she was always checking out what she could do differently to meet the kids' needs.
What programs there were out there.
There are only three to four full-time arts teachers at the middle school level.
She'd bust into my office, hey, I need you to come to my classroom today.
I've got some magic going on, and you need to come and see it.
The kids were learning, and she cared about each one of them, and whatever they needed, she gave that to them.
The first person that we're going to speak to is the person that discovered her.
And this is Cornelia's Green.
Correct.
She truly, truly fell in love with them, honestly, and we all did.
He was a principal, he was kind, he was generous.
I mean, he was very attentive to her needs.
He voluntarily goes down to the police headquarters.
You were in Chicago since Tuesday, and then you come back today at 2.57 p.m.
That's my guy, to the Amtrak at 2.57.
How did you get today, a train station?
My brother drove me over there.
You were, fell up.
The identified Philip Cutler, his brother, was the person who was transporting Mr. Green to the Amtrak station.
Picking him up when he arrived back in town.
Other investigators from the homicide unit were able to go out and pick up Mr. Cutler
to conduct an interview.
Detective Hersberg advised him we're going to speak to you regarding this homicide that occurred today.
After hearing the word homicide, he stands up, he lets out a big sigh,
and then he reaches into his back pocket and retrieves a notebook.
He thumbs through several pages, tears out a piece of paper,
and then he immediately puts it into his mouth and begins chewing it.
Whatever was on those two sheets of paper, he immediately wanted to get rid of.
There's another sort of loose end in this case, too.
Yes.
We identified immediately organic materials,
blattered about in the headboard and around her pillow and then along the floor.
What did that turn out to be?
We identified that as being fragments from a potato, like what you think like a baked potato.
This case is baffling.
My name is Tiffany Becker.
I'm a retired assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.
I couldn't believe the depravity of the crime itself.
Hey, do you ever been involved in a case like this before?
Nothing like this.
And Marie Green reports Jocelyn Peters in the notebook.
Lead homicide detective Mark Beyondalino began the investigation into Jocelyn Peters' murder on March 24, 2016.
Since then, he has remained connected to the case, even though he's now retired from the St. Louis Missouri Police Department.
I think you have a responsibility to do that.
He wanted to see it to the end.
You got to see it to the end.
If you're working on homicide or if you're not, you're just going to let it fall by the wayside.
We took a drive to the city's central West End neighborhood.
The vessel, among the historic homes, is Jocelyn Peters' apartment building.
Her apartment's right up there.
Yeah, it's the second floor balcony you see that's directly in front of us.
Is it easy to access that apartment?
From the outside, absolutely not.
I mean, it's a tremendous distance from the ground up to that balcony.
Jocelyn Peters lived in apartment 201.
A 30-year-old third-grade teacher had been murdered in the middle of the night
while she was sleeping in her bed.
Authorities believed she was killed between 3am and 3.40am.
How do you get inside the building?
So this is the front-for-year entryway to the apartment complex.
You'd have to use your key to get in through that front-for-year
and then go up the stairs directly at the top of the banister or the staircase.
Jocelyn's boyfriend Cornelia Screen had been in Chicago for three days.
When he returned to St. Louis on Thursday, March 24,
he told investigators he drove his car, a white Kia Optima, straight to her place.
Jocelyn's mother, Lacey Peters, says she received an alarming call from Cornelius soon after.
When he called me, he told me that he went to go check on her and she was on the floor.
Deirdre Peters, Jocelyn's aunt, says she had heard something was wrong with her niece.
She immediately began driving towards her apartment, but before she could get there.
Lacey had called and she said Deirdre pulled over.
And I don't remember anything that happened at that point because I lost it.
Police had given Lacey news no mother wants to hear.
Jocelyn, her eldest daughter, was dead.
I just remember just crying and just screaming. This couldn't be true.
Authorities say there were no signs of forced entry at Jocelyn's apartment.
The wood door at the main entrance appeared secure and sturdy.
The landlord was hyper, secure over who had keys and what type of keys are used to get into that building.
The keys were non-deplicatable. They're unable to be duplicated.
If you took it to a locksmith, they're not allowed to make a copy for you or they could lose their certification.
It was no surprise to investigators that Cornelius had keys to Jocelyn's place.
While they didn't live together, they had been in an intimate relationship for five years.
Jocelyn was seven months pregnant and Cornelius was the father.
Jocelyn felt that he'd make a wonderful father.
In Jocelyn's home, investigators discovered a guest list as well as invitations inspired by Alice in Wonderland for her upcoming baby shower.
Beyond Alino and his team had a lot of questions about the crime scene.
Had the apartment been ransacked? Had it looked like there'd been a struggle?
Do you see any of that?
Absolutely not. It didn't even remotely look disturbed.
Jocelyn's cell phone was missing. A single shell casing from a 380 caliber semi-automatic pistol was discovered on the floor near the nightstand.
From my investigative standpoint, we saw that she was laying on her side, head facing the headboard. She had a apparent wound to her eye.
And there was something investigators had never seen before. Potato fragments splattered in the bedroom.
Splattered about in the headboard, pieces of it on the victim around her head and around her pillow and around behind where her head was.
They soon had a theory.
We believe the potato was used as a makeshift suppression silencer to silence the sound of the firearm being fired.
Beyond Alino showed us how authorities believe the killer used it.
I would imagine that the shooter would have the gun. I'm right-handed, so he'd be holding the gun in his right hand.
And he'd have to put that potato out over the barrel of the gun.
What's the risk? How dangerous is that?
I think I'm no gun expert by any means, but I think that falls in that category of extremely dangerous and extremely risky.
Can a potato work as a silencer?
I believe it did in this scenario, and I say that because when we did our canvas, when we looked for calls for service in the area around the time of this murder, nobody ever indicated or made a call that they'd heard a gunshot.
Whoever killed Jocelyn Peters may have silenced the gunshot in her apartment, but outside surveillance cameras on the street were recording.
Shortly after 3 a.m. on the day of the murder, one of the cameras captured an image of a white sedan.
The vehicle was eerily similar to Cornelius Green's car, a white Kia Optima.
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When Jocelyn Peters graduated from college, she knew she wanted to be a teacher.
We were going to be both teaching third grade and so there were things that we had to figure out.
Dearest Tucker first met Jocelyn when they started teaching at Man Elementary.
Why do you think teaching was so important to her?
Jocelyn, I think that she felt the sense of urgency to make sure that she was giving back to students.
Jocelyn knew a quality education would be a game changer for kids.
And she wasn't afraid to tackle thorny issues facing St. Louis Public Schools.
80% of elementary schools do not employ full-time art, music, or physical education teachers.
She was always checking out what she could do differently to meet the kids' needs.
Nicole Conaway, the former principal at Man Elementary School, had met Cornelius Green, a middle school principal at a work retreat.
She had been looking to hire a third grade teacher and Cornelius recommended Jocelyn.
She called me and said, I have a candidate for you. She is great.
At the time, she had no idea Cornelius was in a relationship with Jocelyn.
I brought her in and interviewed her and about 15, 20 minutes in.
I said, could you please step in the hallway while we talk about you?
So I brought her back in and I offered her the job in that moment.
15 minutes in.
She was a bright light. She always has been.
She talked about how she wanted to be invested in care for children and she wanted to teach them.
In 2014, Jocelyn Peters received one of the most prestigious honors for educators in St. Louis.
She was awarded the Pettis Excellence Award for the District.
What is that recognizing?
It's recognizing excellence in the classroom, but we were very proud of her.
By the spring of 2016, she was also fulfilling some personal dreams.
She surprised her mother Lacey with the news.
Jocelyn was expecting a baby girl and had named her Micah Lee.
We were all very excited for her.
And the father-to-be Cornelius Green appeared to be a good match for Jocelyn.
Cornelius was in a fraternity and she was active in her sorority.
And like Jocelyn, he was an award-winning educator.
According to her family, he seemed smitten from the start.
He actively pursued her.
He started giving her flowers and gifts and was very persistent.
Jocelyn's friend, Tierra, also noticed how attentive he was.
Jocelyn and I, we ran a 5K a couple of times and he was at the 5K.
So he seemed really supportive in that way.
How did she talk about the relationship?
What were her hopes and dreams for it?
I know that Jocelyn wanted to be married and that she wanted a family.
And I recall her and him going to go look at houses.
But Jocelyn, she says, had grown frustrated with Cornelius during the process.
He didn't like any of the houses.
Now, Tierra picked up on Jocelyn's annoyance as well.
How come he's not actively looking like I'm looking?
How come he's not wanting this as much as I'm wanting this?
Jocelyn was ready to be a homeowner.
After all, her career was thriving.
She was expecting a baby.
And in January, she had turned 30 years old.
She booked a belated birthday cruise to the Bahamas
to celebrate during spring break and invited her family and Cornelius.
I think when we started to see little changes is when we were on our vacation.
Jocelyn's mother, Lacey and her aunt, Diedra, say Cornelius,
who was usually the life of the party, seemed different.
He was just distant.
I mean, he was not a ten of to her needs.
I mean, she's pregnant.
She's just looking very uncomfortable.
He's not trying to ensure that she's eating.
He's not trying to help her walking even to look him in his face.
He looked empty the whole time on the cruise.
We're saying the world is going on with him.
A week after the cruise, Jocelyn Peters was dead.
Investigators knew the crime scene held some intriguing clues.
In addition to the potato fragments discovered in her bedroom,
authorities found a bag of potatoes on the dining room table.
She's seven months pregnant.
She has a menu, you know, like a chalk menu, a weekly menu.
Yeah, she was being very careful with her diet.
Very careful with her diet and her refrigerator, fruits, vegetables.
It wasn't junk food.
It was wholesome.
All of the menus, lunch, breakfast, dinner that she had lined up.
There wasn't potato listed in there, you know, ever.
So it just was odd.
They would soon learn that Jocelyn had planned to go to the supermarket
two days before Cornelius traveled to Chicago.
She's telling him she's going grocery shopping.
He's adamant.
Wait for me.
I'll meet you there at the grocery store.
Cornelius Green told investigators at the crime scene
that he had been in Chicago when Jocelyn was murdered
and that he could prove it to investigators.
He was, I wasn't here.
I just came here straight from the Amtrak station,
shows him an Amtrak ticket almost immediately.
Lead investigator Mark Beyondalino.
And then he was very oddly specific on what time he got off the Amtrak.
In fact, this security footage from the St. Louis train station
shows Cornelius Green, with luggage in tow,
returning on Thursday, March 24, 2016.
Approximately 12 hours after Jocelyn was murdered.
Cornelius told authorities his train had arrived at 257 pm
and he had driven to her apartment.
He called 911 at like 319 pm.
He had it down to the minute.
To the minute.
Yeah, it was inherently obvious that he wanted detectives to know
I wasn't anywhere around here when this happened.
Detectives drove him from the crime scene to headquarters
to answer more questions.
So before you walk into that interview room with Cornelius Green,
what is your plan?
There's no smoking gun piece of information.
We want to lay out a timeline for him.
Where he was at prior to discovering mispeeders.
I have to sit right there.
We want to get into the weeds with him.
When you said you were calling this morning,
you didn't get in contact with her.
The phone kept going straight to the boys and that's herself.
Beyond Alino says Cornelius was respectful
but standoffish in the interview room.
And when Cornelius was questioned about his car,
a 2013 white Kia Optima,
he appeared agitated.
Would you like to give us consent to looking your car so we can just roll out?
There's anything in there.
Do we need to get a search warrant?
I just don't understand why.
Put yourself in our shoes.
You know what I mean?
If you don't have anything to hide.
My problem is that I don't like to be like a criminal.
Why would you get a search warrant?
He was adamant that he didn't want us to have anything to do
with seeing whatever was in his car
or having access to that car.
Cornelius explained to investigators
that he had loaned his car
while he was away to a man named Philip Cutler
who had been visiting from Oklahoma.
He identifies Philip Cutler as an individual who came into town.
First he says it's his brother.
Later identifies him as a close childhood friend.
Cutler was originally from St. Louis.
There was obvious amount of trust going on
between those two individuals.
Cutler was identified as the person
who was transporting Mr. Green to the Amtrak station,
picking him up from the Amtrak station
when he arrived back in town.
Investigators say once Cutler dropped the car off with Cornelius,
the two went their separate ways.
Cornelius was questioned for two hours.
Before he left the police station,
he made a call to Philip Cutler.
It seems Cornelius didn't realize
the camera was still rolling
and the microphone was caught.
I'm not a police department.
Go get my car from the address. I'm about to text you too.
I need that to happen right now.
Thank you.
Then Cornelius called a woman named Stephanie
about his car keys.
And what does he say to her?
He indicates to her that he needs her
to go meet Phil, Mr. Cutler.
He's going to meet up with you.
He doesn't go into details as to why he identifies a place
where she can go to meet Philip Cutler.
There's a huge Amaco sign by a gas station
that's a well-known marker.
Uniform police officers stopped Stephanie
to follow Philip Cutler near the Amaco station
and took them to police headquarters for questioning.
As it turns out,
Stephanie had known Cutler for years.
He was a groomsman in her wedding
to Cornelius Green.
When did you all find out
that he indeed had a wife?
Jocelyn told me.
Early on?
She did, but they were divorced.
Well, not divorced, but they were separated.
That's a nice tone.
Stephanie and Cornelius had a young daughter
but had not been living together for several years.
Stephanie was questioned briefly and released,
but investigators wanted to know more from Philip Cutler.
Minutes before his interview started,
Cutler, alone in the interview room,
had done something completely bizarre.
Authorities had not witnessed Cutler's odd behavior
in real time,
so beyond Lino and his partner,
unaware of what had just happened
began questioning Cutler,
who claimed he'd never met Cornelius' girlfriend, Jocelyn.
Do you know where his girlfriend was at?
Had no idea.
And you've never met her.
Never getting together with him
or never been over anywhere where she was.
There's a whole slew of things
that we can move forward with
after interviewing Philip Cutler.
Investigators didn't have enough evidence
to arrest Cutler.
He was free to leave.
But before he left the interview room,
Cutler gave investigators
an important piece of information.
He gives us his phone number.
What's your phone number?
Cutler allowed investigators
to glance at some of his text messages,
but he didn't give them consent
to examine his phone.
Five days after Jocelyn's murder,
Cornelius went to police headquarters
and gave investigators access to his phone.
He also provided them with a written statement.
He basically started from,
he went over to Jocelyn's house on the 20th.
They went grocery shopping.
And he specifically mentions
that they had baked potato for dinner.
It was very vague,
but it was very specific to mention potatoes.
It raised the hairs on my neck when I read it.
Investigators had learned
Jocelyn and Cornelius went
to an Aldi supermarket on Sunday March 20th.
Four days before her murder.
And we go to that Aldi's
and we obtain the surveillance video.
The camera had captured video
of a couple with a grocery cart.
Perched prominently on top of it
was a big bag of potatoes.
Authorities say that couple
is Jocelyn and Cornelius.
And we see Cornelius and Jocelyn
out at cart of groceries
with a 10 pound bag of russet potatoes on it
days before she's murdered.
It stands out.
The potato shopping was curious
but not strong evidence.
That would come soon.
Examination of the data on green
and cutler's phones
would expose a text conversation between them.
Almost a month before Jocelyn's murder.
When you coming here,
when do you want me to come there?
Week of March 20th.
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Investigators hoped a closer look at Cornelius Green's phone
and Philip Cutler's phone number
would provide new leads and they were not disappointed.
We dumped the phone for lack of a better term
and tell me what you find out.
There was quite a lot in Cornelius' phone.
An examination of Cornelius Green's digital history
had revealed a curious text message chain with Philip Cutler.
When you coming here, when do you want me to come there?
Spring break, March 18th to the 22nd, week of March 20th.
Okay, that'll work.
You're gonna be sending the package?
The conversation was cryptic,
but the word spoke volumes to Beyond Alino.
To us as investigators, we're looking at this
after the murder of Jocelyn Peters.
That's a quid pro quo to us,
an agreement that looks like has been made
between Cutler and Green.
That text was written less than a month
before Jocelyn was murdered.
He's getting something from Cornelius
for coming into town.
You don't know what that is?
We don't know what it is.
So we look into how did he get it?
We know Cutler is in a Muscogee, Oklahoma,
and Green is from St. Louis.
I reach out to contacts, the United States Postal Service,
FedEx, UPS, we have contacts we can reach out to them.
His contacts delivered.
Well, sure enough, UPS package was mailed
from Cornelius Green, from here in St. Louis
to Philip Cutler's address in Muscogee, Oklahoma.
What's in the package?
We don't know what's in the package.
It's an envelope, it's several ounces,
and it is $48 charged to be shipped there overnight
and had to be signed for.
Philip Cutler had signed for the package
a few weeks before Jocelyn's murder.
Authorities didn't find Cutler's DNA
or fingerprints inside her apartment,
but the circumstantial evidence against him was mounting.
In June, 2016, Vyondalino got a warrant for Cutler's arrest.
Who responded to Muscogee, Oklahoma,
where he was taken into custody.
You have the right to have a lawyer and have him
a room with you while you're being questioned.
Do you understand that?
Yes.
Tell me about him being taken into custody and then questioned.
Yeah, it's laid out on the table to him.
We advised him that he's under arrest,
and he is going to be charged with the murder of Jocelyn
Peters and her unborn child.
Investigators confirmed the car scene on the security video
around the time of Jocelyn Peters' murder
was indeed Cornelius Greene's white Kia Optima.
Greene, who was out of town, had loaned Cutler the car.
But Cutler claimed he wasn't driving it that night.
OK, nobody had access to that car.
Yeah, that's somebody could have stolen it then.
Nobody stole it.
Hey, they stole it and then gave it back up and put it in the
car.
Hold on, hold on, hold on a second.
I was just using the car to do what I needed to do while I was
now. We know you were using it to do what that was in.
OK, we're in the car.
All right.
After his police interview, Cutler was transported from
Muscogee, Oklahoma back to St. Louis, where he was held
in custody in the city jail.
Investigators also secured a search warrant for Cutler's
Google account and his phone.
And you get a whole lot of information from that phone.
Absolutely.
We get a tremendous amount of very specific location data
as in relation to Philip Cutler.
It had provided a digital path to Jocelyn's address on the
day she was murdered.
The Google location history showed he was actually on that
street.
And at some point during that evening, between the 259 and 348
AM, there was a ping that shows directly in that apartment.
And we believe at that time in Jocelyn Peter's apartment.
When you see his phone pinging inside her apartment, I mean,
as an investigator, does it get any better than that?
No, I think as far as with what we have here, that is for lack
of a better term.
That's our electronic eyewitness.
That's it right there.
That Google location data delivered yet another clue.
A few hours after the murder, Cutler's phone was on the move.
Authorities say it ended up here at North Riverfront Park.
It's a stone throw from the banks of the Mississippi River
and 10 miles from Jocelyn's building.
What leads you down towards this way?
Well, the reason we thought he came out here was to discard
evidence from the murder.
Specifically, we believe this is where he would have
discarded this murder weapon.
Investigators believe Philip Cutler, who was here for
approximately eight minutes, also tossed Jocelyn's missing
cell phone in this area.
So if you want to get rid of something, this is the place to throw it.
Oh, an ideal place.
100%.
Yeah.
Philip Cutler, who had been down on his luck
before Jocelyn's murder, revealed a lot more after his arrest.
When we interviewed Mr. Cutler, we questioned him
about a package that Cornia's screen had sent him via the UPS.
And Philip Cutler indicated to us that he
was sent $2,500 in US currency from Cornia's screen.
In early March 2016, a police report
was filed by Carlane Middle School.
There had been a theft of cash raised by students on the dance
team.
And according to investigators, Cornelia
Screen, who was the principal, had access to those funds.
There was approximately three separate thefts that ended up
totaling $2,700.
Beyond Alino, believe the evidence was adding up
and Cornelia Screen was the common denominator.
We're fairly conclusive that this money taken from the dance
team is the same cash that was mailed to Philip Cutler
to murder Jocelyn Peters.
He's stealing from his school to give money to a hit man
to kill his girlfriend.
Correct.
$2,500.
$2,500, yeah.
And how cheap is a life?
It tells you what he thinks about a human life's worth.
And it's pretty disgusting.
In August 2016, Cornelia Screen was arrested for theft.
He was visibly more upset than I think
he'd been throughout this entire investigation
that he was being arrested for theft.
Green posted bail and was removed from his position
as school principal.
Jocelyn's former principal, Nicole Conaway,
to hear that somebody I knew, especially a fellow principal,
could take advantage of children like that.
It's disgusting.
That's absolutely disgusting.
Two months later, in October 2016, Cornelia Screen
was arrested and charged with the murders
of his girlfriend, Jocelyn Peters,
and the baby they were expecting.
Shortly after that, Green's wife filed for divorce.
Investigators say she was not involved in Jocelyn's murder.
Do you remember your reaction when you heard
you'd been arrested?
I was happy, but I had to say somewhere else.
I don't think I could say on TV.
How about you, Deja?
It was better sweet.
Didn't feel like it was justice only because it took so long.
That's because the homicide docket
at the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office was backlogged,
and the Jocelyn Peters murder case
slowed to a crawl for years.
Then, in 2022, the US Attorney's Office
reviewed the evidence.
We looked at it because it is a classic federal case.
It's a murder for higher case.
Assistant US Attorney Tiffany Becker,
now retired, prosecuted the case.
Here, we had the interstate nexus of Philip Cutler
coming down to St. Louis to commit the murder.
But not only that, we had Cornelia's mailing
a package to Oklahoma filled with money.
That was the four higher prong of the crime.
School friends, Cornelia Screen and Philip Cutler
would be co-defendants in a federal courtroom.
But a surprise twist two weeks before their murder trial
would change the direction of this case.
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When Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Becker
was preparing for trial,
she wanted the jury to hear about Cornelius Green
and Jocelyn Peters' relationship before the murder.
I think it had increasingly been tense
between the two of them.
With the sore spot in the relationship being the fact
that Cornelius had not gotten the divorce he had promised Jocelyn,
he would.
I think Jocelyn finally was realizing
maybe this was never going to happen.
Jocelyn, who was seven months pregnant, didn't know it,
but Cornelius Green had searched the internet
for ways to terminate a pregnancy.
Through his searches, he's looking at how to obtain medications,
how to conceal that within oatmeal or yogurt or juice,
how to make your own capsules.
Those searches continue and appear to be fruitless for him
because Jocelyn is still pregnant.
There's no concrete evidence Cornelius Green
put those internet searches into motion,
but Becker believes Cornelius wanted out.
I believe he wanted to not be involved with Jocelyn anymore
and didn't want a financial obligation
that Michael Lee represented him.
The investigation also revealed
Green had purchased a 380 semi-automatic pistol
a few years before the murder.
That weapon has never been found,
but it was the same caliber as the shell casing
discovered in Jocelyn Peter's bedroom.
Bill and I are federal attorneys
in a way we act as special public defenders in the matter.
Attorneys Nick Williams and Bill Marsh
would represent Cornelius Green at trial.
What was he like when you met him?
Cornelius Green.
He's an intelligent person.
He's got family support.
He is someone who listens to what you have to say.
Bill, you're nodding along, you agree?
Yeah, he was very respectful.
A lot of times when there are high stakes
in a criminal case, there can be friction with your client.
There really wasn't any with Cornelius.
Cornelius had maintained his innocence
throughout his eight years in custody.
When we get involved in a case,
part of our job is to identify the strengths
and the weaknesses of the prosecution.
This is a case that involved a lot of circumstantial evidence.
But the defense faced a big challenge.
Before the US attorney's office decided to take the case,
state prosecutors had charged both men with murder
and were seeking the death penalty.
There's a phrase in the world of capital litigation,
death is different.
And when we're advising someone at any time,
it's a capital case.
It's going to be different advice than it might be
if it were not a death penalty case.
On February 28th, 2024, eight years
after Jocelyn Peter's murder and two weeks before his trial,
Green pleaded guilty to federal charges.
Green, pled guilty as part of a plea agreement.
He's pleading guilty to the two counts
that he was charged with on the federal level.
Again, conspiracy to commit murder and the murder itself.
That he paid Mr. Cutler to kill his pregnant girlfriend?
It was part of the factual basis made, yes.
It was a difficult day, but at the end of the day,
I think he knew that it was in his best interest to do that.
And I think he also knew it was in the family's best interest,
both his and Jocelyn's family.
After Green pleaded guilty,
the state dismissed its murder case
along with the theft charges,
but his co-defendant, Philip Cutler, wanted his day in court.
He faced the same federal charges.
You know, his defense sort of tried to argue that,
really, Philip Cutler was nothing more than upon
in Cornelius Green's elaborate chess game.
That Cornelius Green is a master manipulator,
and he's the victim.
Well, that was clearly false.
He met with Cornelius.
The text messages do not lie.
Philip's location information and the vehicle being there
at the time of the crime do not lie.
You don't think he was manipulated by Cornelius into this?
No, I think he wanted money desperately
because he was in such dire straits,
and he had loyalty to his friend.
Investigator Mark Biondalino was in the courtroom.
There were no cameras permitted at trial.
What was his demeanor like at the trial?
It ranged from sleeping at times.
He showed a lack of remorse and a lack of credibility.
Cutler took the stand in his own defense,
and he told the jury what he claims
was written on those notepad pages he swallowed.
He said it was a person's name and number
that he was buying weed from.
The jury didn't seem to buy Cutler's testimony.
They're verdict guilty.
Philip Cutler and Cornelius Green
were sentenced to two consecutive life terms
for the murders of Jocelyn Peters
and the baby she was expecting, Michael Lee.
Tiffany Becker says she was relieved for the Peters family.
So happy that the closure that they deserved came to be
and so happy that Jocelyn's death was avenged and minkas.
Jocelyn's friend, Tearest Tucker,
still has a lot of unanswered questions.
What would you say to Cornelius
if you had an opportunity to speak to him?
Part of me wants to know why.
Like, just why?
He's a monster, and he is the worst kind of monster
because he presents to be something else.
Jocelyn's family will always remember her
as the third great teacher with a vibrant spirit.
I know Jocelyn is living everlasting life.
Her and Micah are growing together
and they're with other loved ones.
God had a bigger plan, so maybe she was called on
to teach the other angels to educate, to inspire.
Jocelyn Peters students dedicated a bench at the school
to honor her memory.
I'm back.
I'm really back.
School spirits returns.
Why am I here not dead, right?
This place is an absolute death trap.
We need to get out of here now.
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It is my great honor to welcome you all to Starfleet Academy.
There's never been a better time to enroll in Star Trek.
It's our job to prepare you for the unimaginable talent cadet.
And high-pressure situations of positive enforcement
is crucial to one's success.
You're doing a great job.
This is what we train for.
These friends of mine?
They all live for something bigger than themselves.
And that's Starfleet.
Starfleet Academy new series now streaming on Paramount Plus.
