but his new love, lonnie lancto, told the jury about that change in j.j. as soon as he left cara. his relationship with his daughter was so much better because he didn t have to answer to why he was talking to her, what was it about, what did she want? wait a minute. he had to answer for what he how he talked to his daughter? oh, absolutely. that was a big deal. j.j., she said, loved his newly found freedom. he was so excited. he was so happy to not have to answer to someone for every single thing he did or said. and lonnie also told the jury that all hell broke loose after j.j. cut off his financial ties to cara. the week he died, i helped him get bank accounts away from her. that was the first week the money didn t hit the account. and she had a fit. it was about money with her. then the night j.j. died, the prosecutor said, cara
Was i mean, an affair or something? i suspected. i left and went to my sister s house that night and i said, he needs space, have your space, i ll leave. but when i came back the next day, he had packed almost everything, which was totally out of character because we had worked on our problems. in fact, j.j. had met someone. a police sergeant named lonnie lancto. they d been friends for years, but became closer when j.j. s relationship with cara seemed, to him anyway, to hit a dead end. how was he feeling about all this? he was nervous about how she was going to react. he knew that she d be upset and and angry and but at the same time, he was so excited. anyway, cara seemed to be moving on, too. with another police officer. a steamy relationship. march 2015, three weeks after j.j. moved out is when it happened. the night of panic and terror. and now cara was sitting in a police car. what was she thinking?
Him. in self-defense, she said. and now she set about telling the detectives about the real j.j. same thing she told us. not a pretty picture, she said. right after we got married, the compulsive gambling became the big issue. and there were days where he could go from sundown to sunup. and there s no windows in the casino, so, he would just lose all track of time. did you go with him? i did, and i didn t like it. cara was a school teacher, remember. and one day, she said, she got a nasty letter from the florida department of education. the state was going to pull my teaching certificate, because he hadn t paid my student loans. he paid the bills in the early days of their marriage, she said. so, i started looking at the accounts, thinking, what s going on here? i don t understand. what was going on, cara said, was they were broke. i felt really betrayed and lied to and hurt.
who do you jay. i m sorry. what do you call him? jay. jay? j.j. okay. it s j.j. rush. i call him jay. that s right, her ex-husband, j.j. rush. small world. detective syers knew j.j. had run into him at crime scenes. jj was a medical examiners investigator. but why would cara shoot him? her answer was right there in the 911 call. my ex-husband came in and he raped me. he raped you? uh-huh. i shot him. rape? but that s all she said on the topic until about two hours later, when she told the deputy she needed medical attention. i need to see a doctor. i ve been hurt. it was detective syers job to sort through it all and he began by showing cara a bit of kindness. i went over and took the handcuffs off of her. she must have been relieved to have that happen. um i mean, her demeanor at that time was just questioning, i guess. i didn t take her as being under duress or relieved or anything like that.
there were definitely people that he was more likely to gamble with and people that just didn t understand the addiction. right. and they thought i was being mean or controlling. controlling or manipulating. secrets. to the world outside the family, cara was, as she herself said, a like the time meghan wanted to apply for a job as a police dispatcher, and felt she needed a new dress for the interview. cara got wind of it. she said, oh, well, you ll never make it through that anyway.