retrial. steve to testify, but then, another surprise. the day the testimony was meant to begin, morgan stopped the trial and changed her plea. she admitted to first degree, premeditated murder. even her own attorney was stunned. i believe morgan saw the handwriting on the wall. she realizes that whatever actions she took, resulted in his death, and resulted in chappelle killing him. steve was sentenced to 40, to 80 years. and morgan, life without parole. for the mengel family who are raising kevin s children, there is finally some justice in knowing morgan would remain behind bars, forever. i want her to be in jail for the rest of her life. i want her to know that i will be there for when her daughter walks down the aisle. i ll be there when her daughter has a baby. i ll be there when her sons
he was always with that girl. yes, kevin was very committed to making sure that he stayed in a relationship and he gave it his all. kevin was 20 when he met the one, his forever girl. morgan from a few towns away, where she graduated from an exclusive catholic girls school. morgan was very, very charming. i mean, she was very sweet and very attentive to me. always came over to the house just to hang out with me. outgoing and charismatic, morgan made an effort to win over karen s friends to like mike and noelle. very nice, very upbeat, very friendly. always smiling. and kevin, well, he fell hard for s s charm. he just loved her. he was head over heels for her. so, kevin was about to get what he had always wanted, a wife and kids. but just not in that order. morgan gave birth to their first child a few months before they got married.
noticed morgan, the bosses wife, flirting with a 21-year-old employee named steve chappelle. she said steve knows what color under where i have on, he said yeah pink and black stripes. right off the bat. steve s their steve is answering her phone. why was this kid who mowed lawns and it was barely old enough to buy beer suddenly acting like the new man in charge? kevin sister michelle remembered him as a quiet, unassuming young guy who had done some work on her yard just weeks earlier. this kid steve could not have been more polite to us. so what would kevin think now of his employee spending the workday at the pool with his wife and kids as michelle observed when she took a drive-by? i drove by the development and she was sitting by the pool with steve. you see steve sitting with our new think?
closed doors? she laughed and said, you know, there s no fear. someone was keeping secrets. and even police couldn t wrap their heads around this one until they found it, a trail of texts. we were like, holy smokes, it s right there. it sure was. every, stunning detail. snap all ice tea seemed like the perfect tool to put poison inside of it. was this a loving spouse or a lethal one? police were in for a killer surprise. i feel like the gates of hell are opening. i don t know what they were thinking. hello and welcome to dateline. kevin and morgan mengel had their share of ups and downs. but through it all they seem to make it work. then one of them disappeared. it would take a families relentless pursuit of the truth to jump-start the investigation.
at a cheque cash place, where morgan and kevin lived and the only check catching place was familiar with kevin and hugh saw across the street. so that landed some credibility that kevin was in the area. he was close to home sending texts to his wife and mother, just refusing to see or speak to his family. and he did finally respond to his father. i just need time away. and kevin sister received this message. he s says, i m fine, worried about morgan, she s the one you should be worried about. but morgan, it appeared, was doing just fine. the couple owns a landscaping business. and monday morning, morgan showed up to meet the crews and said she was now in charge. employee said that the garage was spotless. there is always oil spots on the floor, this time you could eat off. it his landscaping jobs, he