sprayed on him. and that is hands were burning and itching. then an expert on cell phone tracking told the jury, tony had both melissa s phone, and his own personal phone with him the night of the murder. and the next day, when he was driving his train. they moved north and then back south. along the rail word. but now, prosecutors had to tackle the head-scratching question of motive. why would tony kill melissa in the first place? debra villegas testified that tony became very jealous and angry with melissa because she virtually replaced him in the household. was melissa helping you through this difficult time in your life now through this divorce? yes ma am. and that was the theory in order to get back at debora, he would kill her best friend. you have these domestic homicides all the time. but this had a twist to it. because he didn t kill debra. then tony and debra s 23 year old son, caleb, were called to testify, against his
friends marriage had come undone and ended in a messy divorce. that divorce just devastated her. after melissa s divorce, she took on a second full-time job. best aunt ever! carrie is her sister. she did not have children herself? no. she did not want to have children. she had a career. and when her best friend, debra, has only marriage was on the rosc. separation. melissa was there for her to. playing sister and aunt for her two kids. they became set probable outside the office. she s cooking for me and the kids. and we have movie nights on saturdays. after her divorce, a still shaky melissa started dating a little. but work, not modulation ships, would occupy her front and center. eventually, her diligence paid off. in 2008, after seven years at the firm. the former intern was made for the first female partner. she shared with me early on
too far. debbie was scared of tony. but didn t raise any suspicions as to why he would want to ever harm melissa. she couldn t connect the dots and put him in that garage with her friend. absolutely not. maybe senseless to the wife, but those dots were starting to connect for detectives. they eventually share their suspicions with debra. and now the evidence of the traveling iphone pointed to tony. i remember that i couldn t stand up. wasn t able to stand on my feet. melissa s murder was devastating and frightening for everyone at the law firm. especially it seems, for scott rothstein. only the week before, roth scene was toasting melissa after making her a partner. now he was helping her family with funeral arrangements. melissa s aunt lynn habre spoke at the church memorial. i could look out from the podium and see a sea of lawyers out there. including scott rothstein. including scott rothstein. who actually pay for the. service he paid, and he came to the fun
detectives did learn one new thing about melissa and scott. some dish. she had an inappropriate relationship with scott. melissa had a very, very brief relationship playing with scott. and i said god melissa, this is so doesn t matter. but it had been years before when melissa was first hired at a law school, detectives discounted it. saying it had nothing to do with melissa s murder, and was not relevant. and of course rothstein himself was grilled about melissa lewis s murder. during depositions in civil suits brought by the investors. we asked him directly whether or not he was involved in any way in the homicide and he denied it. how did he take? it he was indignant. but he was also a great actor. because he was a sociopath. in the, and neither the police or the fbi could connect melissa s murder to rothstein and his ponzi scheme. so what happened to his loyal aide debra? she pleaded guilty to money laundering, and the judge came down hard.
lewis. the missing persons case was now a murder investigation. it s still a who done it. we have no idea. discovered her body floating in this plantation canal. the news media quickly picked up on the story. my husband told me. he cites on the news. how did he tell you? what was it? he came to my work and told me. and i just broke down. i couldn t believe it. police called the victims best friend debra. when they told me, that they had found her body, i just collapse of the ground. your friend melissa was dumped into a drainage canal. this beautiful, wonderful person, who was nothing but kind. when the medical examiner report was completed, it showed she had been strangled. that is such a personal thing to do to somebody. to have to look them in the eyes and do that. an up close and personal killing, no question.