This story beforehand aired on Sept. 23, 2017.
Produced by Lisa Freed and Michelle Feuer
On the time of her homicide, Kay Wenal was married to actual property developer Hal Wenal – her fourth husband. He was smitten from the second he first set eyes on Kay in a Reno airport.
“She said she’d bent over to get luggage off the rack and that’s when Hal noticed her,” Kay’s sister, Pam Sleeper, advised “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty. “How could you not?” she laughed.
Pam Sleeper says her sister was putting and vivacious. “Hal was proud of her,” she mentioned.
“He used to love to walk into restaurants — she was arm candy,” personal investigator John Insogna mentioned. “‘Oh, look at that woman! Wow!’”
Pam Sleeper
And on the age of 60, Kay was nonetheless turning heads and everybody appeared to like her, which made her homicide in Could 2008 all of the extra surprising — and troublesome to resolve.
What’s extra, there’s little bodily proof: crime scene investigators recorded video which reveals no fingerprints, footprints, defensive wounds, hairs or fibers. And all the blood examined was Kay’s.
So three weeks after his spouse’s loss of life, Hal Wenal provided a reward that might develop to 1 / 4 of one million {dollars}.
“He wanted to try to find out … who murdered Kay and he was willin’ to pay dearly to do it,” mentioned Sleeper.
However when months glided by with no actual lead, the pissed off multimillionaire employed his personal group of personal investigators led by Ned Timmons.
“We want this guy. We want this solved,” mentioned Timmons.
Timmons, a retired FBI agent, recruited former colleagues — his personal ex-wife, Kathleen, and John Insogna.
“You know, when you get involved in this kinda work, you wanna have closure. You wanna bring ’em to — an end,” mentioned Insogna.
“48 Hours” introduced the personal investigators along with retired Gwinnett County Police Lieutenant Charlie Bishop, who additionally labored on this case, to reexamine a homicide that continues to hang-out all of them.
“You wanna right the wrong. Somebody is out there that took this lady’s life. And it’s our job to try and find him,” Insogna mentioned of the case he described as “puzzling and “frustrating.”
“So can this be solved?” Moriarty requested the group.
“Oh, I think it can,” Ned Timmons replied.
“We need that lucky break,” mentioned Insogna.
Usually, “48 Hours” follows a homicide case after an arrest has been made; not on this case. This report is a real whodunit. Possibly you know one thing that may clear up this case.
Could 1, 2008, wasn’t a typical day for Kay Wenal.
“She woke up that morning with all the intentions of going to work,” mentioned Insogna.
Normally, she was out discovering tenants to fill her husband’s procuring facilities.
“Then she changed her mind, says, ‘I don’t feel well,’” Insogna defined. “So whoever did this knew she was home.”
There aren’t any indicators of pressured entry. So John Insogna believes Kay let her killer inside and was instantly assaulted on the entrance door. The proof, says Ned Timmons, is all that blood.
“And you can see by the — the way the blood droplets hit, her back had to be there and he had to hit her with a very, very powerful blow back that stunned her,” Ned Timmons defined.
A punch that despatched her glasses flying throughout the room.
“She probably realized, ‘I’m in trouble.’ And then … tried to escape,” Insogna reasoned.
“She flees to the kitchen, perhaps to get the phone,” Charlie Bishop defined. “There, he gets her. And that’s where he takes control of her and kills her.”
The killer slashed her throat. What occurred subsequent shocked even veteran investigators.
“Then he decided to do what we call an insurance cut … a second cut,” mentioned Ned Timmons.
… to make it possible for she was gonna die,” Insogna added.
“I mean, that’s a cold-blooded killer,” Moriarty famous.
“Exactly right, yeah. It really is,” mentioned Insogna.
And Kay’s killer appeared to have rigorously deliberate his assault.
“Nobody saw him coming in,” Insogna mentioned. “Nobody saw him leave.”
Which makes what the killer left behind so puzzling: a towel with smudges of Kay’s blood was present in her closet, off the grasp toilet.
“Why is he in there?” mentioned Kathleen Timmons.
“It’s her closet. Maybe he takes one final trophy,” mentioned Ned Timmons.
“What are you looking for in that room? It’s a big question,” mentioned Kathleen.
That is what investigators do know:
THE WEAPON: AN EXTREMELY SHARP INSTRUMENT; HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND
“I think it might’ve been a scalpel or something like that,” mentioned Insogna.
“It could’ve been a hunting or fishing knife,” Ned Timmons defined. “Whatever it was, it was extremely sharp. It did not cause any jagged lacerations.”
THE ASSAILANT: A RIGHT-HANDED MAN
“You all use ‘he.’ You believe a man did this?” Moriarty requested the group of investigators.
“Because of the strength that it took,” Ned Timmons replied. “I don’t see a woman cutting another woman’s throat like that. I don’t … are there women that could do this? Sure. …I don’t think it’s likely. I think this was a man.”
A person John Insogna believes is right-handed.
“…because I think he hit her with his right and I think the way they — the cuts were on her neck, they started from here to here,” he advised Moriarty, mimicking his throat being slashed from left to proper .”If he was left-handed, I believe he would begin right here and go this fashion.”
And he was most likely carrying gloves. Items of a latex glove have been discovered inside the home and on the again deck that didn’t match ones utilized by first responders.
“That also is confirmation that whoever did this came prepared. I mean, who walks around with rubber gloves in their pocket?” Insogna reasoned.
THE MOTIVE: UNKNOWN
Everybody agrees this was not a theft.
“She had plenty of rings on,” mentioned Ned Timmons.
Kay’s pockets and bank cards have been out within the open. Jewellery value a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} was locked in a protected upstairs.
“If this was some guy that came to rob her … wouldn’t he take the rings? Wouldn’t he take somethin’?” Ned Timmons requested.
“The impressions that I got were that someone was very comfortable in that home, knew their way around that home,” Kathleen Timmons defined. “…and this person has no concern that anyone is going to walk in and catch him. …and then walks out the back door and departs.”
Investigators consider the killer made his escape via the woods behind the Wenal dwelling.
“He clearly knew where he was going, too, when he left,” Kathleen Timmons mentioned. “And that takes an awful lot of prior planning.”
However did he make a mistake?
MYSTERY MAN
Six days after Kay Wenal was murdered, her household and pals gathered to say goodbye.
“It was packed … lots of people,” Pam Sleeper mentioned of her sister’s funeral. “There was a lot of policemen there.”
Gwinnett County police took surveillance footage, looking out the faces for suspects. Pam Sleeper was looking for solutions.
“Do you think Kay had enemies?” Moriarty requested.
“I didn’t think she did, but apparently she did,” mentioned Sleeper.
“Did she ever talk about having any fears?”
“No.”
“Anybody threatening her?” Moriarty continued.
“No,” mentioned Sleeper
“You had to wonder about Hal, didn’t you?” mentioned Moriarty.
“No,” Sleeper replied. “It just never crossed my mind, ever.”
However it definitely occurred to police to take a look at Kay’s husband.
“Hal was a suspect from day one,” mentioned Ned Timmons.
Hal Wenal, nevertheless, appeared desirous to cooperate, agreeing to a police interview in 2008, with out his lawyer current.
Hal Wenal to investigator: To the perfect of my data I’ll inform you every thing I do know.
As investigators found, he had an ironclad alibi.
“We knew Hal physically wasn’t there,” mentioned Insogna.
“We have video of him leaving his office. We have video of him going to a fast food restaurant,” Bishop defined. “All within the time we believe the murder took place.”
There was additionally no proof Hal Wenal had employed anybody. What’s extra, he appeared grief laid low with Kay’s loss of life:
Hal Wenal to investigator: There are nights I get up crying my coronary heart out. Nighttime, like a toddler …it’s horrible. It’s actually horrible. And particularly in the event you don’t know why.
“Hal wasn’t a part of this, in my opinion,” mentioned Charlie Bishop.
“So you don’t believe he was involved,” mentioned Moriarty.
“No,” he replied.
“But I think Hal was protecting the memory of Kay,” Insogna mentioned. “The secret stuff, and he didn’t wanna divulge that, because it would reflect poorly — on Kay.”
Secrets and techniques Kay didn’t even share along with her sister.
“There was a whole lot, apparently, she didn’t talk to me about,” mentioned Sleeper.
“And do you think somewhere in there is the clue to her killer?” Moriarty requested.
“Uh-huh,” she affirmed. “I sure do.”
“We have found … people have … three lives. They have a public life, a private life, and a secret life,” mentioned Insogna.
“Do you believe Kay Wenal had a secret life?” Moriarty requested.
“I believe she did, yes,” Insogna replied. “And that’s where I believe the answer lies.”
Kay had a colourful previous. As investigators found, she not solely married quite a bit, she additionally had affairs.
“She needed to be loved. And she needed to feel that she could attract any man,” Ned Timmons defined. “She was obsessed with this.”
The truth is, Ned Timmons theorizes she might have been seeing somebody on the time of her loss of life.
“Hal knew her secret life,” he mentioned.
“Hal was involved in the secret life, in my opinion,” Bishop concurred.
“Do you think he put up with her, then, having affairs just to keep her — on his arm?” Moriarty requested.
“Absolutely,” Ned Timmons replied. “Absolutely. Yeah.”
In a homicide investigation, nothing is personal. So the Wenal home was searched, and, in accordance with John Insogna, extra attainable proof of Kay’s secret life was uncovered.
“…material we found in the house, which would– would not be normal,” mentioned Insogna.
“In what way?” Moriarty requested.
“It was unusual. Almost perverted,” he replied.
“Kinky?” Moriarty requested.
“Kinky. Yes, kinky’s a good word,” mentioned Insogna.
They discovered outfits detectives described as “fetish wear.”
“And when we talked to Hal about it, first he said, ‘No, I don’t know anything about that stuff.’ ‘Oh,’ and then the next time, ‘Oh, yeah, we went to a — a masquerade party and she dressed like a French maid,’” mentioned Insogna.
Pam Sleeper
However the Halloween costume is tame in comparison with what else was in Kay’s closet. The checklist in police studies is X-rated.
“These outfits were not something a French maid would wear,” Insogna advised Moriarty. “… and if she’s not wearin’ them for Hal, then who’s she wearin’ ’em for?
Hal Wenal to investigator: Kay was a good looking girl. …in the event you got here out and I’d line up 30 guys I do know, they’d all inform you an identical factor. Any man would fall in love with Kay in a minute.
Requested if she believes Kay knew her killer, Pam Sleeper mentioned, “I think she probably did.”
And cops do have one attainable clue to his id: a stranger seen within the neighborhood the very afternoon Kay was killed.
Gwinnett County Police Dept
A sketch was made with assist from one of many Wenal’s neighbors, who advised police he truly noticed the identical man twice: on the day of the homicide and the day earlier than.
“And he had a — flyer for a house that was for sale in the subdivision,” Insogna mentioned. “And the neighbor said, ‘Oh it’s way on the other side’ … and he just turned around and he walked away out of sight.”
The primary encounter stood out to the neighbor as a result of the stranger didn’t appear to have a automotive.
“Now, this is an area, you just don’t walk around in that neighborhood. You– you have to drive. Nobody– nobody walks,” Insogna defined.
Police later found that the “house for sale” flyer was solely given to individuals who had been inside that home and there had been no showings on the day the stranger first appeared.
The next day, the identical neighbor was searching his toilet window.
“And he sees the same guy, walking toward the Wenal’s house, right about the time they believe that the homicide occurred,” mentioned Insogna.
“Do you think this person could be the killer?” Moriarty requested Gwinnett County Police Sergeant John Richter.
“I think it’s a strong possibility,” he replied. “However, clearly, we will’t say for 100% till we establish that particular person he noticed.
And for greater than eight years, that’s precisely what Gwinnett County police have been attempting to do. Sergeant Richter took over the investigation in 2011. Lieutenant Steven Shaw is his supervisor.
“It’s a standard, you know, white male with wire-rimmed glasses that’s aging and starting to bald. … there are probably hundreds and hundreds of males walking around that look something like this,” Lt. Shaw mentioned. “And we’ve, you know, obviously, explored Kay’s inner circle and — and Hal’s circle and — and all of their friends and acquaintances.”
They checked out everybody from Kay’s physician to a restaurant supervisor and even a clerk on the native Passion Foyer retailer who had a crush on Kay.
“She said, ‘That’s the strangest thing he calls me and wants me to go for a drink with him,” mentioned Sleeper.
Investigators have cleared and eradicated all three males.
They’re nonetheless looking for the person pictured with Kay in a photograph taken years earlier in Las Vegas, who appeared to resemble the sketch.
“Do you suppose that particular person is that this particular person?’ Moriarty requested Sgt. Richter of the person within the photograph and the person within the sketch.
“Well, I think it’s a possibility … that person — seated next to Kay and with another female it — it, for sure, could be him,” he replied.
“You don’t know whether he’s a suspect or not. You just—” Moriarty famous to Charlie Bishop.
“I never could identify him,” the retired Gwinnett County Police lieutenant replied. “Nobody seemed to know who he was.”
As investigators have been looking for the person within the sketch, Hal Wenal advised that they need to additionally take a look at a person in Kay’s previous:
Hal Wenal to investigator: [Takes a deep breath] I’ve one thing at the back of my thoughts, I don’t even wish to say it but, however that was years and years in the past. The weirdest factor was – and I don’t even actually like saying it’s – her ex-husband.
Kay’s third husband, Jeff Gilbert:
Investigator: Was she nonetheless married to him while you two met?
Hal Wenal: After we met. Completely. Sure, she was.
Gilbert was operating Bally’s On line casino, the place Kay was modeling, when Hal Wenal swept in and “stole” her away:
Hal Wenal: He threatened her when she was attempting to depart. I do know that.
Investigator: He beloved her…
Hal Wenal: However that’s what she advised me, so.
“You don’t think that would make Jeff angry enough to wanna kill her?” Moriarty requested Sleeper.
“No,” she mentioned. “No, never.”
However just some months earlier than Kay was killed, Jeff Gilbert known as. He was touring to Atlanta, and wished to see her and Hal:
Hal Wenal to investigator: …and I mentioned, “Well, what are you going to do?” And she or he mentioned, “I told him we’re not going.” She mentioned, “He’s livid about it.”
“We looked at him. Because an ex-husband is — is, of course, on our suspect list. But no indication that he was involved,” mentioned Sgt. Richter.
“We don’t have any — evidence, through airlines or phone records, and we looked into it, to indicate that he was in the Atlanta area,” he defined.
Then, almost three months after Kay was killed, out of the blue, got here probably the most tantalizing and perplexing clue of all.
“I was in shock. I — I didn’t know what to think,” mentioned Sleeper.
ANOTHER CLUE
Hal Wenal: I stand on that bridge on the second ground – I look down at that entrance door. I say, “Kay, what occurred right here? What actually occurred?
Investigator: Whoever did this … did this due to one in all two causes – they’re very indignant along with her or they’re very indignant with you.
Hal Wenal: I’ve been on this sport for 40 years. Who the hell kills your spouse? Not even the Mafia does that.
Pam Sleeper
Regardless of what Hal Wenal believed, chilly case investigators Lt. Steven Shaw and Sgt. John Richter marvel if the killer could possibly be linked in a roundabout way to Wenal’s enterprise.
“We have to look at every option and every possibility … ’til we figure out who did it,” mentioned Sgt. Richter.
Again in 2008, Hal Wenal was the image of wealth and success.
“He was the ultimate salesman,” mentioned David Hughes, a contractor who constructed lots of Hal’s procuring facilities.
“He was all the time lookin’ for another deal,” Hughes mentioned. “When he got one goin’, he was looking for another one.”
Like so many threat takers, Hal Wenal made and misplaced hundreds of thousands.
“At the time of Kay’s death, what kinda shape was his business in?” Moriarty requested Sgt. Richter.
“It’s hard to tell. …on the face, it looks like they had a lotta money … However, after diggin’ into the case … it appears that it was maybe smoke and mirrors,” Sgt. John Richter defined. “We find out that maybe there was some fraud or some stuff that wasn’t always on the up and up.”
Hal Wenal made his fortune shopping for land, constructing procuring facilities after which promoting the department stores — absolutely leased — for a revenue. However in accordance with Marie Lundquist, Wenal would typically prepare dinner the books.
“He wasn’t the most honest person in the world,” mentioned Lundquist, who started working for Wenal in 2007, as his administrative assistant.
“We sold a shopping center in Lawrenceville … and the whole deal was bad,” she defined. “He was paying tenants’ rent … so when — that when the new owners bought it — the books looked like — they were paying rent every month, when, in fact, Hal was paying their rent. Some of ’em.”
Hal Wenal to investigator: I can say to you with out reservation that I can’t even consider anyone. We now have tenants sometimes who fall out, however they don’t blame me.
But “48 Hours” discovered six lawsuits filed towards Hal Wenal and his numerous firms from individuals who did blame him, claiming fraud. However Wenal brushed it off.
Hal Wenal to investigator: When you don’t make any cash, you by no means get sued for something. The minute you make a buck, individuals come after you.
“Do you think there’s any possibility that Kay’s death might have something to do with someone angry with Hal?” Moriarty requested Pam Sleeper.
“Yeah … because apparently, he — owed a lot of people money,” she replied. “… and he didn’t make a lot of friends … It could be a revenge thing.”
Kay’s sister wonders if an investor was indignant sufficient to rent an expert killer, which might clarify the shortage of proof on the crime scene.
“There was a lot of blood there. And how this guy got away without a footprint, a hand mark on the wall or anything, it’s just amazing,” mentioned Sleeper.
However the thought of an expert hit doesn’t make sense to the investigators who’ve examined the case over time.
“I think if it was [a] hired killer, it would’ve been — with a gun. No physical contact. Just boom, boom,” John Insogna mentioned. “Out the door, ‘see ya later, that’s it, I’m done.’”
“A gun — yeah, a .22 or somethin’ to the back of the head,” Charlie Bishop agreed.
And what makes a success man much more unlikely, they are saying, is what occurred almost three months after Kay was murdered. A peculiar letter arrived on the Gwinnett County places of work of The Atlanta Journal Structure. The letter wasn’t revealed again then, nevertheless it was given to the police.
“The police department wanted to meet with us,” Sleeper mentioned. “…they showed us this letter. …cut out in little bitty individual different letters outta different magazines and … all glued into this page. And it was shocking.”
The envelope, postmarked July 21, 2008, had been mailed from Augusta, Ga., some 140 miles away from the place Kay was murdered.
“Wow,” Insogna laughed. “It– it– I mean, it was bizarre, odd.”
The letter and envelope taken aside and thoroughly examined by the crime lab, however no DNA or different helpful forensics have been discovered.
“Whoever did this did it with — with gloves on,” Insogna mentioned. “I mean, they cut each individual letters out and then glued ’em. So it was very time consuming to do that.”
“Do you know how hard that would be, to stick these things all on here with plastic gloves on?” mentioned Kathleen Timmons.
“Oh, these are — oh it’s incredible,” Insogna mentioned. “I mean, this is really… I mean, just to go through the magazine—”
The letter is surprising, stuffed with expletives:
Gwinnett County Police Dept.
I guess Kay Wenal by no means advised anybody what she actually was
It seems she was only a $ grubbing w—-e!
I beloved her She mentioned we could possibly be collectively
She advised me she hated her home and
That fats Depressing mendacity mom f-ing husband
She mentioned She beloved me However that was a lie too
I advised her this may occur if she didn’t
Preserve her goddamned guarantees to me
her F—ing household screwed The whole lot up These white trash
assh—s His cash was extra necessary than our love.
We might have been so completely happy collectively however
They f—ed every thing up
On its face, it sounds likes the phrases of a jilted lover.
“If you look at the letter … if we’re gonna go with the jilted lover theory — that this person– she finally told him … ‘No. I’m stayin’ with Hal,’” mentioned Bishop.
“In other words, did the family talk her into staying with Hal that irritated the actual perpetrator,” mentioned Ned Timmons.
However Pam Sleeper says Kay by no means talked about any plans to depart Hal, though she admits elements of the letter have a hoop of fact — particularly about the home they have been renting.
“I know that she didn’t like her house. I mean, that was the first thing that stood out to me, was – wow,” Sleeper mentioned. “I know she was kinda unhappy with Hal about that.”
“So it was someone who knew her?” Moriarty requested.
“Oh, yeah, apparently,” Sleeper replied.
Who would go to such bother? Is the letter actually what it seems to be?
“How many of you believe this was actually written by a spurned lover?” Moriarty requested the group of investigators.
“Based on the reading of it, yes, yes,” mentioned Insogna.
“I don’t,” Kathleen Timmons replied.
“I do, because of the reference to the family, the house … things that wouldn’t be known to everybody,” mentioned Ned Timmons.
“But those are exactly why it wouldn’t be a spurned lover. A spurned lover doesn’t give a care about her house. A spurned lover doesn’t give a care about her family,” Kathleen Timmons reasoned.
“It’s not a jilted lover. That’s a red herring,” mentioned Bishop.
MORE QUESTIONS
The investigation into Kay Wenal’s loss of life obtained new life when the letter arrived in July of 2008. It felt like one thing dreamed up by a Hollywood screenwriter.
“It’s what the author thinks threat letters should look like,” former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole defined. “This is almost scripted. …So you have to say, ‘What’s the purpose?’”
Mary Ellen O’Toole, who now heads the forensic science program at George Mason College, agreed to look at the letter for “48 Hours.”
“This is someone I think that’s pretending to be the killer,” she mentioned, “…to create this boogeyman suspect and to push the police away from the precise motive within the case.
The author will not be a jilted lover in any respect.
“From working cases like this, if this was a spurned lover, then this would not be the first note,” O’Toole defined. “A spurned lover is going to have notes preceding this one, where Kay is the most wonderful thing in the world, ‘I love you, we’re perfect together.’ Even if it’s a delusional stalker, initially they love their victims. They’re beautiful. They’re gonna spend their life together. It’s only after a few– letters that you see that transition to, ‘You are now this horrible human being. I hate you.’”
What’s extra, the investigation hasn’t revealed some other males in Kay’s life, which is strictly what Hal Wenal advised detectives in 2008:
Hal Wenal to investigator: As God is my decide, I don’t suppose Kay was having an affair or she needed to be the perfect rattling actress on this planet.
Pam Sleeper
It seems that whereas Kay was attractive and flirtatious, investigators might have been wanting within the mistaken course. They didn’t discover any proof of an affair on the time of her homicide and, Kathleen Timmons says, neither did the health worker.
“… and this letter that implies that she’s got yet an — very active current lover,” she mentioned. “And yet, when … they did the autopsy … she had no indication that — that there had been recent sexual activity. …no indication that she’s involved with anybody, including her husband.”
“Do you believe that the person who sent this letter is actually the person who went into the home and killed her?” Moriarty requested O’Toole.
“Not necessarily,” she replied.
O’Toole suspects the killer might have had assist.
“I think it’s possible that there are — two people that could be involved. You could have somebody that wrote the letter and then someone that came into the home,” she mentioned.
Mary Ellen O’Toole says writers of cut-and-paste notes are likely to have one factor in frequent: they’re girls.
“I can tell you that that’s my experience,” she mentioned. “I’ve seen them written by teenage girls. I’ve seen them written by middle-aged women. …But the behavior at the scene, just that kind of violence, certainly suggests to me a male offender.”
If the profiler is correct, which means a person and a girl could possibly be concerned in Kay’s loss of life – with the lady creating the word to throw police off the path.
“Someone may have been interviewed and they felt like they could’ve been considered a suspect, didn’t want that, and produced this note,” mentioned O’Toole.
“I mean, isn’t this a very risky thing?” Moriarty requested.
“A terribly risky thing to do,” O’Toole replied.
O’Toole suggests taking one other take a look at the individuals interviewed by police again in 2008. A type of individuals was a pal of Kay’s and Hal’s: Karen Scott.
“Karen worked for Hal and she promoted herself as Hal’s right-hand man,” Sgt. Richter mentioned. “…and Karen was an obvious suspect of ours. Because she was close with Hal, both Hal and Kay. …And in any investigation, you’re gonna start with who’s closest to them.”
So shut, that when Scott remarried, it was Kay who gave the marriage bathe and was matron of honor. Marie Lundquist was there.
“Oh, my gosh. It was a gorgeous wedding,” Lundquist recalled. “Hal walked her down the aisle.”
And the day Kay was killed, investigators found Hal Wenal and a colleague had introduced breakfast to Karen Scott, who was dwelling recovering from surgical procedure. And later, when Hal found Kay’s physique, Scott was his first name.
Hal Wenal to investigator: She was destroyed as a result of she and Kay have been like very, very tight. I imply, extraordinarily shut.
Karen Scott could be seen on police surveillance tape at Kay’s funeral.
“You know, things change. Back then, we thought she was a good source,” mentioned Bishop.
“She would email me … wantin’ to be kept up on what was going on, you know,” mentioned Insogna.
“All seemingly innocent that may not be,” mentioned Bishop.
Paperwork present Scott had ongoing monetary issues, however Hal Wenal was a beneficiant boss.
“The money was great. I don’t think she coulda made that kinda money elsewhere,” mentioned Lundquist.
And she or he was formidable.
“We looked into Karen. We looked into every other person at work– who was closest to Kay, Hal, what they could gain if — if Kay was outta the picture,” mentioned Sgt. Richter.
In accordance with a police report, Scott admitted to detectives that “with Kay’s death she possibly gained the opportunity to operate the company.” However she additionally “denied that she would have had any motivation to bring harm to Kay over those facts” and she or he described herself as “Kay’s best friend.”
“And when I heard that, I was like, ‘Really?’ I mean, that surprised me,” Kay’s sister and finest pal, Pam Sleeper, mentioned. “You know? I know a best friend … And their relationship was not like my best friends.”
Some work colleagues additionally query how shut they actually have been.
“Was Karen Scott close with Kay?” Moriarty requested contractor David Hughes.
“Absolutely. When Kay was around, she was — wanted everybody to think she was Kay’s friend,” he replied.
“So it was more giving the appearance of that?” Moriarty requested.
“That’s my opinion,” mentioned Hughes.
“They were not best friends. Maybe to her face, but that’s not what she was saying behind Kay’s back,” mentioned Lundquist.
“48 Hours” reached out to Karen Scott and she or he despatched a letter, stating, “I lost my best friend to a brutal attack” — however she declined our request for an interview.
Scott has been questioned by investigators about Kay Wenal’s loss of life and in accordance with police studies, she “adamantly denied any and all involvement…”
What’s extra, police say cellular phone data again Scott’s alibi – that she was dwelling across the time of the homicide. And Sgt. Richter says he’s unable to attach her to the letter.
“We investigated that thoroughly and quite frankly, we’re still investigating it. But we can’t find anything to suggest that Karen was responsible for the letter or that … anybody in particular is responsible for that letter,” mentioned Richter.
With an unknown assailant nonetheless on the unfastened, Pam Sleeper says her willpower to seek out her sister’s killer comes with dangers.
“I do walk around kinda scared sometimes. I wonder if he’s gonna be after me next ’cause I don’t give it up,” she mentioned.
“You suppose since you hold her title alive and you retain this case alive, that anyone
may come after you?” Moriarty requested.
“Uh-huh,” Sleeper affirmed. “Yeah.”
CAN YOU HELP SOLVE THIS CASE?
Pam Sleeper says after Kay’s homicide, Hal Wenal was by no means the identical.
“He called me every day. He was just lost … He missed her so much,” she advised Moriarty. “He would say, ‘Who? Why?’ … I was like, ‘I—I don’t know, Hal, that’s what we’re trying to find out.’”
Hal Wenal to investigator: I attempt to keep busy morning, midday, evening. I hate the mornings going to work ’trigger I do know I’m coming dwelling to that home at evening. …Weekends, I despise.
Hal Wenal might have hated being in the home, however he refused to depart it.
“If your wife or significant other was murdered in that house, wouldn’t you wanna get outta that house?” personal investigator Ned Timmons requested. “Do you wanna walk in the kitchen every day … and have this vision of all this blood and her lying there with her throat cut? You know, it just didn’t make sense.”
Nonetheless extra perplexing to investigators was that Wenal stored the home precisely because it was the day Kay was killed: her sneakers subsequent to the lounge sofa, her ebook open to the web page she was studying, and drops of her blood on the staircase.
“It was never cleaned up,” personal investigator Ned Timmons mentioned of the Wenal dwelling.
“Even when our team showed up months and months later, the house was — exactly the way it was,” he continued.
“Which is very strange,” famous Kathleen Timmons.
“You think he’d have a cleaning crew come in and cleanse that place … but there was still the blood splatters [sic],” mentioned Ned Timmons.
Hal Wenal to investigator: I would like nothing extra on God’s earth than to seek out the man who did this. …and I’d give every thing I’ve to get Kay’s killer.
Even when it meant spending his fortune to do it.
“The Gwinnett County Police Department was having their financial difficulties,” Insogna defined. “So it was really a bad time for law enforcement.”
“As I remember, you guys were havin’ trouble gettin’ money for gas when I first got on this. They — they couldn’t run their cars. They were that low on fuel,” mentioned Ned Timmons.
“Is that part of the problem here, that they’re—” Moriarty requested.
“It’s a problem everywhere,” Bishop replied. “There was just no money there. Again, another reason Hal contacted these folks, ’cause they had so much more resources available to ’em than we did.”
Ned Timmons says it was Hal Wenal who paid for a lot wanted lab work to be performed.
“I was dealing with a private laboratory weekly. And we sent a lotta fibers, we sent a lotta — fluids for DNA sampling. And Hal would have to approve every time,” Ned Timmons defined. “These samplings are $5,000, $6,000 a hit.”
“We had people in Las Vegas, we had … leads in California, we had leads all over the country,” he continued.
“I mean, it was costin’ him a lotta money,” mentioned Insogna.
Wenal’s quest got here to an abrupt finish in 2010, after he died of a coronary heart assault; his property lower off the $250,000 reward cash and fired his personal investigators.
“There were — things that we wanted to do, other leads that we wanted to follow up on,” Insogna mentioned. “And then all of a sudden, you know, the — the executor says … ‘ You guys are all finished.’ … We weren’t happy about it; I’ll tell you that.”
“As FBI agents, we don’t ever wanna quit,” Ned Timmons careworn. “We never wanted to stop. But we couldn’t afford to finance it ourselves.”
Pam Sleeper
The present chilly case detectives appear to have made no headway and their investigation seems stalled.
“This case, on the face of it, looks like it would be solvable,” Moriarty commented to Sgt. Richter. “Why is it still open?”
“Well, from the amount of time put into it and different the investigators involved, I — I really don’t have an answer for that. And that’s the most frustrating part. And I think that’s probably why we’re here today is … that we’ll get someone’s attention. And someone who knows somethin’ will call us,” he replied.
“I know there’s somebody out there that knows,” Sleeper mentioned, “and I think they just need to come forward and let us know … it will just help so much. We’d be so grateful.”
As they’ve performed so many instances, Pam Sleeper, her mom – and their husbands – made an emotional go to to Kay’s grave.
“If it was me, Kay would not give up, and I’m not gonna give up,” mentioned Sleeper.
Investigators are asking on your assist to resolve Kay Wenal’s homicide.
WHAT WE KNOW
- Kay was dwelling in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Could 1, 2008 when she was viciously attacked
- Investigators consider her assailant was a right-handed man, carrying gloves, who used a really sharp weapon
- An unidentified man seen close to the Wenal dwelling the day of the homicide might have been concerned
- After which, there’s the cut-and-paste letter despatched almost three months later
“People who think they get away with murder sigh a big sigh of relief when years go by,” profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole mentioned. “But this program is going to make them very nervous.”
HOW TO HELP
Anybody with data is requested to name:
· Gwinnett County Police Division’s Legal Investigation Division Nameless Tip line at 770-513-5390
· Crime Stoppers Larger Atlanta: 404-577-TIPS (8477)
