Annie Elise

Month after month, their statements just grew bigger and scarier, and they were completely drowning in credit card debt.

There's no clear record of just how deep they were in, but based on what friends and investigators later described, it was bad.

And remember, Keith had just taken that pay cut so that he could be home more.

Meanwhile, Darlene was just spending as if he had gotten this massive raise.

He was working harder than ever, but the bills, they just kept climbing.

So it's no wonder that he was frustrated, which again, anyone who's ever dealt with like credit card debt or any sort of debt, you know, that kind of financial stress can eat away at you.

Your mood, your relationship, your sleep, even your sense of security.

It really does eat away at somebody.

So Keith tried to talk with her about it.

And he tried over and over.

He wanted to fix things, and he wanted to fix things together.

He wanted to pay down the debt, rebuild their marriage, move forward together as a team.

But the thing about that is teamwork only works when both people are actually on the same team.

And from the outside looking in, it didn't really seem like Darlene was interested in playing that role anymore.

And eventually, she admitted that the night before Keith was murdered, things had boiled over once again.

She had gone out with her friends, and when she came back home, the newest credit card bill was right there waiting for them.

Keith saw it, and he lost it.

The amount that they owed had gone up once again, and this time he had had enough.

He was pissed.

According to Darlene, the argument got so heated that she actually left the house so that she could go for a drive and cool off.