that s what a friend would do, stand beside him no matter what. these two friends talked on the phone a lot but a single call may be the key to all of this. tom called kelli from pictured rocks on his cell phone on june 21st, 2006, the night before juanita s death. they spoke for 13 minutes. what did you guys talk about in that call? nothing, if i remember right, i was in bed sleeping, and i just listened. i don t know if he was plotting something. i don t know, i don t know anything. all i just know is that he told me what he wanted me to know. and i believed him. shortly after juanita died, tom showed up at kelli s house with another gift, a plant from juanita s memorial service. he didn t tell you why he was giving you the plant? no. but it meant something to you, didn t it. that plant. no, not really. juanita s sister jeannette
and you got some guy that you feel is trying to brainwash you into the fact that your wife s just committed suicide or possibly committed suicide. and what about kelli brophy, tom s so-called prayer pal that the prosecutor branded as his amber frey? so people who think that you were envisioning some possible relationship with kelli after your wife died just overly suspicious? just wrong. i was not planning on killing my wife. my wife and i were getting along as good as we ever got along, and there was no plan. they ve tried to paint that into this plan i had, you know, he planned on killing his wife. he planned on having a relationship with kelli, blah, blah, blah. none of that s true. so what is true? is tom richardson a cold-hearted killer or just a broken-hearted husband?
so if you want me to feel emotionally fulfilled, if you want my emotional gas tank to be full, you need to touch me, hug me, kiss me. tom also told the undercover trooper about juanita s accident at pictured rocks. and as she turned, she just fell and i heard her scream on the way down. maybe i ll catch him next time but i m glad you checked your message. i d have been thinking she just blew me off. bye. holy [ bleep ]. by itself, that tape didn t incriminate tom but with it, police felt they now had enough for a case, including the mysterious relationship with kelli brophy, the life insurance, and tom richardson s three different tales of how juanita died. we had three uniformed troopers approach him first to arrest him. it came on february 6th, 2007. the charge? first-degree murder. but with only circumstantial
vows for better or worse, that is what she meant, til death do us part, and she was the one talking about trying to reconcile. and within a year, the couple did reconcile. tom had told investigators they had been happy together ever since. but detective herweyer learned otherwise. tom told people he wished he hadn t reconciled? right. so this wonderful sort of indian summer of their marriage, fantasy? major fantasy. i didn t buy it. but even if tom were unhappy, what motive could he have for killing juanita? for one thing, money. we learned juanita s insurance policies would net tom nearly a quarter of a million dollars. that wouldn t make him rich, but it would free him from the pile of debt they d wracked up building that expensive new home. and a tip led investigators to another possible motive. her name, kelli brophy. she worked at a convenience store on tom s fedex route.
thinks it means a lot. what kind of a girl if she knew where it came from would accept a gift like that? i think that is a disgrace to my sister. whatever had been going on between tom and kelli ended after that visit. with juanita dead only a month, tom started asking friends to fix him up. we always said tom was pretty much our best witness throughout this whole investigation. tom could not keep his mouth shut. so herweyer had an idea. he d arrange to set tom up with a new woman who also happened to be a michigan state trooper. that worked. tom was quite taken with her. yes, he did. he bit big-time on her. and investigators got one of their meetings on videotape. my primary love language is personal touch.