A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
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Let's go. So this is a story we've talked about before.
You're listening in to Dateline's morning meeting in 30 Rockefeller Center.
She is married to Diddy's lawyer. Wow, really? Yeah, the one who represented the Nixxiom guy.
Our editorial team is catching up on breaking crime news around the country.
I think only four charges stuck, right? Breaking her silence, actually. He offers an inmate $15,000 to go kill somebody else.
Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's December 19th, and here's what's on our docket. The Wisconsin kayaker who made headlines around the world when he faked his own death and fled the country is back in the U.S. to answer to a judge and his family.
This was a very meticulously planned out staged death, or so he thought.
In Dateline Roundup, a big development in the case of the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer. And finally, a verdict in the trial of the man accused of murdering tech mogul Bob Lee.
According to the sketch artist, Momeni wiped away a few tears after the verdict was read.
Plus, NBC News senior consumer investigative correspondent Vicky Nguyen will be here with some tips on how to keep your home safe if you're traveling over the holiday.
You don't want to actually close all of your curtains. That is a surefire sign to signal to burglars, hey, nobody's home.
But first, we're heading to a college town in Mississippi where a case without a body made its way to trial more than two years after the victim disappeared. On July 8th, 2022, Stephanie Lee woke up to a text from her 20-year-old son, Jay. The University of Mississippi student wished her a happy birthday. I gave him a text back with a smiley face. That's Stephanie testifying two weeks ago at the trial of the man accused of murdering her son. The prosecutor asked her what she was expecting after sending the text.
I was suspecting his call at that point. Hey, mama, it's your birthday. Happy birthday. I love you. And did you get a response? No, I did not.
Stephanie never heard from her son again, and his body was never found. But just a few weeks after he went missing, police in Oxford, Mississippi arrested Sheldon Timothy Harrington for Jay Lee's murder. They say Harrington, who pleaded not guilty, killed Lee to cover up their secret sexual relationship. His defense team, meanwhile, said there was no proof.
No evidence.
Last week, the blockbuster trial came to a stunning and abrupt conclusion. Dateline producer Isar Harpaz was in Mississippi for the trial. He joins us now to tell us what happened. Isar, welcome to the podcast.
Glad to be here.
To start, what can you tell us about Jay Lee? Who was he?
Jay Lee had graduated with honors from the University of Mississippi, was about to enter grad school. He was a community activist. He was also out and proud. You know, somebody who performed in local drag shows. He was unapologetically who he was. Nice. He also was a family person. You know, his mom and him literally talked every day of his entire life since he had been born, sometimes two, three times a day.
Isar, what do we know about the relationship between Jay Lee and Timothy Harrington?
What trial testimony has revealed. Unlike Jay Lee, Tim Harrington was hiding his sexuality. He was not out. His parents didn't know anything about it. His best friends didn't know anything about that. The grandfather was a bishop at the church that he founded for 42 years. And so his relationship with Jay Lee was fairly secretive.
Okay, so a big part of the prosecution's case was that Harrington was the last known person to see Jay Lee alive. The prosecutor told the jury that the men met up on July 8th in the early morning hours and then Lee left after an argument. And at trial, the prosecution presented evidence of a Snapchat conversation between the two that helped them sort of piece together what might have happened next.
It took the police a while to trace this Snapchat account to Tim Harrington, but they were able to do it. Tim Harrington says, come back. And Jay Lee says, are you luring me in? Are you going to beat me up or something? And Tim says, why would I do that? Come by now.
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