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were dedicated partners in life
1:53
and love. She wanted them
1:55
to be financially solvent. She wanted them to
1:57
be successful. It was work hard,
1:59
play harder. I think he was pulling in
2:01
over 600,000 a year. They
2:04
did everything right. However,
2:08
on a December evening in
2:10
2011, an unnerving discovery brings
2:12
an abrupt end to a
2:15
more than decade-long union. I
2:17
heard the most just horrific
2:20
shrill of a scream. Uh-oh.
2:24
He definitely has a lot of blood. I
2:26
gotta get him on his back. We gotta roll him over. Your
2:29
husband has a gunshot to the back. No!
2:31
No! Oftentimes
2:34
they will literally remove the gun from
2:36
the scene and hide it, because they
2:38
don't want people to realize that their
2:40
loved ones have committed suicide. Had
2:43
this successful Ohio businessman harbored
2:45
hidden demons? Or
2:47
did he make a few enemies in his way
2:50
to the top? He's so sorry,
2:52
but this is my house. This is gonna be
2:54
my house. They made the comment
2:56
that, you know, I gotta find a way to
2:58
off Randy Sheffield. They
3:00
just pure greed. December
3:19
27, 2011.
3:21
It's the first snowfall of the season in
3:24
Newberry Township, Ohio. Before
3:27
starting his evening route, snowplow
3:29
driver 36-year-old Jason Tibbs stopped
3:32
by the home of his
3:34
boss, 53-year-old Randy Sheffield. I
3:37
wanted to see how long they had already been
3:39
out, because they should have already been out plowing.
3:44
When Jason arrives at the
3:46
Sheffield lawns garage, he finds
3:48
Randy's wife, Doretta, Randy's stepson,
3:51
David Tig rolls, and Tig's
3:53
girlfriend Gina, along with other
3:55
employees gathered inside. As
3:58
for Randy Sheffield, he is a man of his own. still
4:00
unaccounted for. Doretta said
4:02
that he was in the house sleeping.
4:04
He'd been sleeping all day and felt
4:06
good. More often than not, Randy would
4:08
take a nap. He would sleep because
4:11
he was going to be up all night
4:13
long calling the guys on the road. By
4:17
9 30 p.m. there's still
4:19
no sign of Randy. Outside
4:21
the garage, the snowfall is beginning
4:24
to pile up. Doretta
4:26
said, you know, the snow's coming down.
4:28
I should figure out where Randy is. So
4:30
she goes into the house? I
4:32
heard the most just
4:35
horrific shrill of a
4:37
scream. She
4:43
comes running out of the house and I could hear
4:46
her screaming. I can't wake him up.
4:48
Tiggy, he won't get up. Tig
4:50
went running towards the house screaming for me to
4:53
come with him. The heart rate just jumps about
4:55
100 beats a minute instantly and I was entering
4:57
the house and going to the second floor. Saw
5:01
my friend sleeping. Looked
5:03
peaceful. You know, laying
5:05
on his side and I started
5:07
screaming. Randy, get up. Randy,
5:10
get up. No, he didn't move. Tig
5:13
immediately dialed 911. What
5:16
is the problem, sir? He's unconscious. There
5:19
was a little bit of blood coming out, you know,
5:21
on the side of his head where the pillow was. He's a
5:24
keen nervous partner. Do you want to try CPR?
5:26
Yeah, we gotta get a last man. We're gonna
5:28
try CPR. As soon as I
5:30
put my hands on him, I got like
5:32
a lightning bolt of shock. You know, the
5:35
coldness that I felt was just, you could
5:37
see like a bluish purple tint across his
5:39
back like halfway and I was in shock.
5:41
I was absolutely in shock. I knew
5:43
my friend, it was gone. And
5:45
from the sounds of Doretta's screams coming
5:47
from the nearby garage, Jason
5:50
realizes that Randy's wife knows
5:52
it too. She was
5:54
in absolutely hysterical, falling, wailing,
5:57
unbelievably distraught. It was just...
6:00
one of the most horrible things I've ever been through in my
6:02
life. Randy
6:12
Sheffield was born and raised in
6:15
Russell Township, Ohio, east of Cleveland,
6:17
and attended college at the University
6:19
of Akron. He was
6:22
working in the landscaping job to,
6:24
you know, to make money, and then
6:27
when he got out of college, I think
6:29
he just decided that, you know, I could
6:31
do this, I can have my own business, because
6:34
he just wasn't the kind of guy who's going to sit in
6:36
an office all day. My mother became the
6:39
bookkeeper. He had a van and
6:41
a trailer and a lawn mower, and
6:44
from there he built a
6:47
very reputable landscape business, and it was in
6:49
a very affluent part of our county. Along
6:55
the way, Randy had gotten married, but
6:57
by 1988 that
6:59
marriage was over. It didn't last
7:02
more than two or three years, and that that ended
7:04
abruptly and not well. Randy
7:11
was ready to move on and meet
7:14
someone new, but in a place as
7:16
small as Newberry Township, Randy's options were
7:18
slim. In need of a
7:21
change of scenery, he started frequenting
7:23
a nearby town called Chagrin Falls.
7:26
There was like a pub bar
7:28
where the local people would hang
7:30
out, so after he got
7:32
divorced, he was
7:34
going there with some of his friends. And
7:37
one fateful night at the pub called
7:40
the Greenville Inn, he met 40-year-old
7:43
Doretta Boyce. Like
7:46
Randy, Doretta grew up in a
7:48
blue-collar neighborhood on the east side
7:50
of Cleveland, Collinwood, Ohio, just
7:52
a half hour from Randy's hometown.
7:56
Doretta was small but mighty. She was
7:58
a force. She was outgoing. She was
8:00
a strong woman. Doretta
8:03
and her first husband, David
8:06
Roles, senior, had three children,
8:08
Jennifer Bethann and David Tig,
8:10
Jr. She was
8:12
the mom that all of us would want to have.
8:15
You can pick up the phone call Doretta virtually
8:17
at any time. Say, I'm in a bind, I
8:19
need this. Doretta would drop everything and go out
8:21
of her way to try to make that happen
8:24
for you. Doretta would split
8:26
her time between caring for the children
8:28
and working with David, Sr. They
8:31
had a remodeling business together.
8:34
So that's sort of where she got into
8:36
the painting and wallpapering because that
8:38
was their business. However,
8:41
Doretta's picture perfect life eventually
8:43
fell apart when she found
8:45
out that David, Sr. had
8:48
run off. Pretty much
8:50
he abandoned the family. In
8:52
the aftermath of her divorce, Doretta
8:54
and her three children were forced
8:56
to move into a nearby housing
8:58
project to make ends meet. She
9:00
did have her own landscaping painting
9:02
company at that time, but she
9:04
needed help. She tried her
9:07
hardest, but you know, being a single parent
9:09
for anyone is a difficult task. Doretta's
9:12
only escape was a weekly trip to
9:14
the bar at the Greenville Inn. So
9:17
when Randy and Doretta met that night in
9:19
1992, it felt
9:22
like a breath of fresh air for both of
9:24
them. They both just recently
9:26
gone through a divorce and maybe
9:28
they just needed some companionship. After
9:30
a few drinks at the bar, Randy invited
9:33
Doretta to come out to the track with
9:35
him. Randy likes no-mobiling,
9:37
Randy liked dirt bike riding.
9:39
So Doretta came on board
9:41
also and started snowmobiling and
9:43
started dirt bike riding. She
9:49
would hop on the back of any snowmobile or
9:51
motorcycle we had, you know, if not ride her
9:53
own. She went to the races,
9:55
she did all these things, but a lot of women, you
9:57
know, they might go along with for a while, but. She
10:01
just got into it full
10:03
force. Doretta was Modo
10:05
Mom. I mean, I can't even tell you
10:07
how many times the woman washed my
10:09
gear, cleaned my goggles, or made me a
10:11
sandwich. She was great to me, to all
10:13
of us. A
10:16
few months later, Doretta and Randy
10:18
moved in together, along with two
10:20
of Doretta's three children, including 11-year-old
10:22
Tig. During
10:24
the early years, he took him under his wing,
10:27
Tiggy. We taught him how to ride. We'd take
10:29
him camping with us. Randy really kind
10:31
of took him in as his own son. Randy
10:34
was absolutely full-time dad. No question
10:36
about that. Randy was everything to
10:38
the kids, especially Tig.
10:44
Then, in 2002, not long after a health scare, Randy
10:48
and Doretta decided to finally tie
10:51
the knot after 10 years together.
10:54
He became diabetic later in life, and Randy
10:56
just decided he wanted to take care of
10:58
Doretta, make sure she was taken care of.
11:00
So they did get married, and they just
11:02
ran off to the justice of the peace.
11:08
After making things official, Doretta
11:10
closed her wallpaper business and
11:12
joined Randy at Sheffield Lawns.
11:15
Randy liked Doretta to take over the books.
11:18
She was very loyal to him, and seemed
11:20
like she enjoyed being with him and helped
11:22
him keep everything in chip shape.
11:25
And the company became even more
11:27
of a family affair when Randy
11:29
hired on his now-grown stepson, Tig.
11:32
He was one of the crew leaders, pretty
11:35
much the main guy for the company. Randy
11:38
wasn't easy on Tig. He didn't
11:40
just hand him things. Randy actually
11:42
taught that boy everything. For
11:46
years, Randy, Doretta, and Tig lived
11:49
and worked together in the home
11:51
and garage that housed Sheffield Lawns.
11:54
Then, in 2010, Tig brought someone
11:57
new into the mix, his
11:59
girlfriend. 27-year-old hairdresser
12:02
Gina Bataglia. Gina
12:04
Bataglia adored Tig Riles. She just thought
12:06
he was, you know, all that in
12:08
a bag of chips. Gina
12:11
quickly moved in. She was
12:13
pregnant within four months. After Gina
12:15
and Tig's son was born, the couple
12:17
moved out of the Sheffield home. By
12:21
2011, after nearly 20 years together, Randy
12:25
and Doretta were looking forward to an early
12:27
retirement. I think he was pulling in over
12:29
600,000 gross a year. In
12:33
the very near future, Tig can take
12:35
it over, and Doretta and Randy would
12:37
simply go play for a while, right?
12:39
There's snowmobiles and go travel. I
12:41
think he was happy in that sense,
12:43
that he felt he'd accomplished the things
12:46
that he wanted to. Not
12:50
long after, on December 27, 2011, tragedy
12:55
started. Despite the help
12:57
of 911 dispatchers, Randy
12:59
Sheffield's steps on Tig Riles and
13:02
family friend Jason Tibbs are
13:04
unable to rouse him. His chest
13:06
isn't rising at all? No, no,
13:08
there's no pulse. Oh,
13:10
buddy, I'm sorry. But
13:14
how did this giant in the community end up
13:17
dead at just 53 you hate? Coming
13:22
up, a crime scene
13:24
discovery changes the course of the investigation.
13:28
She saw a wound in the back of his head. They
13:31
asked us if, you know, we thought
13:33
Randy would have possibly taken his own
13:35
life, or
13:37
is attempting even more sinister. Somebody said
13:39
there was a changed man in a
13:42
red shirt walking up to his throat.
13:52
On December 27, 2011, friends,
13:56
family, paramedics, and Geauga
13:58
County Sheriff's deputy... converged
14:00
on the home of
14:02
local business owner, 53-year-old
14:04
Randy Sheffield, and his
14:07
wife, 60-year-old Doretta Sheffield.
14:09
Upstairs, paramedics find Randy
14:12
cold to the touch with no
14:14
pulse. He was found laying inside
14:16
the bed. There was a
14:18
little bit of blood on the mattress. Not
14:21
a large amount, but there was blood on the
14:23
mattress. One of his hands was up
14:25
on the bedpost. It was a point of mid-afters trying
14:27
to pry off. The reward is definitely set down. Downstairs,
14:34
in the garage that served as
14:36
the headquarters of Randy and Doretta's
14:38
lawn care company, Doretta is inconsolable.
14:41
Doretta was, I don't even know how
14:43
to explain it properly. She was sobbing
14:45
so bad that mucus was coming out
14:47
of her nose, her mouth, and her
14:49
eyes all at the same time. I
14:52
couldn't even ask her a question. She was rocking
14:55
incessantly back and forth, and
14:58
wasn't saying a word. When
15:00
investigators speak to the friends and family
15:02
gathered at the scene, though, they
15:05
don't seem as stunned as Doretta. He
15:07
was in his fifties, so there's a
15:09
possibility of heart attack. He was diabetic.
15:12
He had health issues from that. For
15:14
all intents and purposes, you know, it looked like he had
15:17
an aneurysm and blood out his ear
15:19
or something. Thought my friend died
15:21
of natural causes. However,
15:24
as EMT deputy Heather Bilisek
15:27
examines Randy's body upstairs, she notices
15:29
something strange. She saw a wound
15:31
in the back of his head,
15:34
and that the wound in the back of the head
15:36
is not consistent with that of an aneurysm, nor
15:39
a heart attack. So she started looking about
15:41
what did he hit his head on, and
15:43
while she was looking for that is
15:45
when she discovered an empty gun lock in
15:47
the dresser. So she started asking
15:51
questions of Doretta Sheffield. Where's the gun that belongs in this
15:53
gun box? And she says, I don't even know.
15:56
I hate guns. I
16:00
don't touch cuts. With a
16:02
dead man and a missing
16:04
gun, Deputy Heather Bilosec realizes
16:07
that this is no heart
16:09
attack. So,
16:11
she sends Doretta and the rest
16:13
of the family and friends to
16:15
the home of Doretta's son, 30-year-old
16:17
Tig Roles and his girlfriend, 28-year-old
16:19
Gina Bataglia. The
16:22
officers on scene, they knew something was
16:24
wrong. Randy was taken to the hospital.
16:26
They did an X-ray and in the
16:28
X-ray they revealed that there was a
16:30
small caliber round in the back. I'm
16:38
thinking, am I dealing with a suicide here? I've
16:41
had many suspicious amounts that I've investigated. The
16:44
family is very sensitive to
16:46
the issue of suicide and oftentimes they
16:48
will literally remove the gun from the
16:51
scene and hide it because they don't
16:53
want people to realize that their loved
16:55
ones have committed suicide. At
16:59
4 a.m., Geauga County deputies ask
17:02
Doretta to come to the station
17:04
for an interview. She's
17:06
very polite, very stoic.
17:08
First thing, you know, I was talking about
17:10
is go through the day. Talk
17:13
to me about what did you do today, what did
17:15
you do yesterday. Doretta
17:17
woke up about 6.30. Randy went to
17:19
McDonald's, got breakfast, it was about 7
17:21
o'clock in the morning. Randy came home,
17:24
started watching TV. He
17:26
said, what's your plan for today? And I told him I
17:28
have to go to your mother's, I have
17:30
to make a deposit. I want to go grocery
17:32
shopping before death comes because I want my pork
17:34
roast in New Year's. Do you want to go
17:37
with me? Good luck. She
17:39
said, no, I don't want to go with you. She
17:41
said that Randy was sitting on the couch
17:43
when she left. From there she did some
17:45
errands, she went to the bank, she went
17:47
to Walmart to pick up some items. She
17:49
went to Gina Bataglia's to get a haircut.
17:52
She tried to try calling us
17:54
home a couple of times, trying to get a hold of him, but
17:56
ended up getting voiced. Loretta
18:00
says that when she returned home around 4
18:02
p.m., she found Randy's
18:04
bedroom door shut tight. I was down
18:06
in the hall in Randy's
18:09
hall, okay? With the
18:11
bedroom door and the bathroom door
18:13
closed. I'm
18:16
sleeping, don't wake me up. She
18:19
thought Randy was in bed probably
18:22
getting rest because he knew what
18:24
the weather was forecasting for that
18:26
day. He knew there was snow coming. What
18:29
do you think, Pam? I
18:32
didn't know. I don't think I had where I...
18:35
I thought he was sleeping. That's
18:37
when investigators disclose the truth
18:40
to Loretta. Your husband has
18:42
a gunshot point to the back of his
18:44
head. No, no. I
18:46
personally thought it was a suicide. I said, if
18:48
your family has the gun, let's just get
18:50
this out in the open now. Could
18:53
he have done this himself? No,
18:55
he wouldn't have hurt himself. That's
18:58
when she becomes hysterical to
19:00
the point where I can't even get her
19:02
back. No. Hours
19:09
after investigators returned Loretta to
19:11
her family, the coroner calls
19:13
detectives with the results of
19:15
Randy's autopsy. In addition
19:17
to examining Randy's stomach contents and
19:20
other standard procedures, the medical examiner
19:22
says that she has also studied
19:24
the location and trajectory of the
19:27
bullet that entered
19:29
Randy's brain. Her determination? This
19:32
was no suicide. We
19:34
have a homicide. On
19:38
the morning of December 28th, Geauga
19:41
County deputies canvassed Randy's neighborhood
19:44
looking for leads. Brenda Brown is
19:46
a neighbor, lives across the street from
19:48
the Sheffields. Brenda
19:51
Brown says she was doing dishes and sees
19:53
a man walking down the street sometime in
19:55
the morning hours. He
19:57
was on the site of him as he was approaching the Sheffield
19:59
residence. And then about 20
20:01
minutes later, she saw the same individual
20:04
going northbound. She said she thought it
20:06
was kind of odd because he seemed
20:08
to be going at a faster rate
20:10
of speed with a distinctive
20:12
limp. The
20:15
limp is important to me. If he was
20:17
involved in this, was he on the property? Did
20:19
he trip over a piece of barbed wire that's
20:21
in the woods as he was running through the
20:23
woods to get away? Did he
20:25
fall coming off the back steps? I
20:29
guess the conclusion would be that it was a burglary that
20:31
had gone bad. Maybe the person had been detected, and for
20:33
that reason, they ended up killing the
20:35
only witness. I know investigators
20:37
went right away to the gas stations
20:39
and the mini-marts in
20:41
the area to pull footage to find
20:43
out who is this guy. Can we
20:46
identify him? When we were
20:48
gathering videos, the BP
20:50
station faces the Sheffield
20:52
residence, and sure enough, we see him trucking
20:54
down the road just like Brenda Brown said,
20:57
walking down 44 South right in front of
20:59
the Sheffield house and goes to the marathon
21:01
station. You know, he buys some candy and
21:03
a pop and looks up at
21:05
the camera in his red flannel shirt and
21:07
proceeds to leave and let's
21:09
walk in the opposite way. We
21:12
sent out flyers. We contact the
21:14
radio stations, TV
21:16
stations, asking for assistance in identifying
21:18
red shirt men. Coming
21:23
up, is this mysterious man
21:25
Randy's killer, or will a
21:27
new interview point investigators toward
21:29
someone much closer to their
21:31
victim? He felt entitled that
21:33
this is my company. This is going to be my
21:35
house. And another
21:38
suspect emerges. She made
21:40
the comment that, you know, I got to find a
21:42
way to off Randy's Sheffield. Hey,
21:51
love listers, with the weather getting warmer, it's
21:53
time to swap out those jackets and thick
21:55
sweaters and say hello to shorts and tees. I
21:58
wanted to update my capsule wardrobe with class. well-made
22:00
staples without breaking the bank. Luckily
22:03
I found Quince.
22:06
They offer a wide range of timeless
22:08
pieces that will look chic and last.
22:10
I of course went straight to the
22:12
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24:01
than 48 hours after Randy
24:03
Sheffield's death was determined to be
24:06
a homicide, police in
24:08
Geauga County, Ohio, are doing everything in
24:10
their power to find and identify a
24:13
man that had been seen in the
24:15
vicinity of the Sheffield's home on the
24:17
day of Randy's murder. We
24:19
jumped right on it. We interviewed
24:21
everybody within a mile perimeter of the
24:24
Sheffield's house in any direction. The
24:29
idea was he had a drifter, somebody
24:31
that was bouncing around different locations. After
24:34
that morning, he was gone and
24:36
he like kind of disappeared. We talked to
24:38
a number of people. We thought it might be him,
24:40
but never were able to
24:42
identify who Red Shirt Man is. On
24:47
December 29, 2011, detectives decide to try one more
24:49
possible source of information. They
24:55
call Randy's stepson, 30-year-old Tig
24:57
Rose, to the station. Tig
25:00
got to the house about one, was in
25:02
that front garage all day. He said
25:04
there was nothing unusual. While he was there,
25:06
nobody unusual came to the house. We really
25:09
harped on the business. Did Randy have
25:11
any enemies in this? Did he fire anybody?
25:14
He said that three black males that
25:16
Randy Sheffield had
25:18
employed were fired, I
25:20
believe, right around Thanksgiving. He
25:23
said that the individuals were
25:25
upset because now they're not
25:27
going to have money for Christmas gifts. To
25:33
get more information about these
25:35
workers, investigators bring 36-year-old Jason
25:38
Tibbs, a
25:40
family friend and former employee at
25:43
Sheffield Lawns, in for an interview.
25:45
I was over there every day. I knew every single
25:48
employee they had at work for him. A lot of
25:50
them had been there for years. There were no three
25:52
black guys. It never happened. I
26:00
don't want to show up on a job anymore. I know
26:02
that he wanted Randy gone. Jason
26:04
says that although Randy and Tig
26:07
were close as father and son,
26:09
they had serious disagreements about the
26:11
direction of the family business. There
26:13
was all this talk about, you
26:16
know, going from just being a
26:18
landscaping, grass cutting, clean up company
26:20
to now we're gonna do hardscapes,
26:22
patios, big construction projects. Randy.
26:25
He wasn't comfortable with it. He was the
26:27
maintenance part of the cutting the grass. Everything
26:29
was done in Randy's way, you know, and
26:31
that's why it was successful. In
26:34
fact, Jason tells investigators that Randy
26:36
had become so successful that he
26:38
had stepped back from most of
26:40
the hard labor of the company,
26:42
leaving Tig to pick up the
26:45
slack. Tig always had this sense
26:47
of entitlement, like he worked
26:49
so hard, he should deserve more than what he
26:51
got. Tigging them with bitch bottom,
26:53
you know, when's he gonna get off his fat ass and help
26:55
us? We didn't have to. You know, his name is on the
26:57
side of the truck. That's his mower.
27:00
However, Jason says that Tig would
27:03
often mention that one day it
27:05
would be Tig's truck and mower. He
27:08
was eager to inherit the business
27:10
and that there was
27:12
some mounting frustration in that he had not
27:14
yet inherited it. He had
27:17
this sense of entitlement that I never understood.
27:19
You know, he felt entitled that this is
27:21
my company. This is gonna be my house.
27:24
According to Jason, that may have been
27:26
a pipe dream. I thought that Randy
27:28
didn't trust any of them to handle
27:30
it. Randy was never going to give
27:33
a business. To Tig, he was never going to
27:35
inherit it. Had Tig found out
27:37
that Randy was going to pass him
27:39
over? He'd lose everything,
27:41
everything. Jason says
27:44
others in Randy's circle believe
27:46
the killer may be someone
27:48
close to home. Another
27:50
mutual friend of ours started saying something like,
27:52
it had to be an inside job. That
27:54
theory becomes even more compelling when...
28:00
Detectives receive a call from
28:02
the best friend of 28-year-old
28:04
Gina Bataglia, Tig's girlfriend. She
28:07
revealed that in November of 2011, Gina
28:12
and her were walking on the square
28:14
in Burton. Gina was
28:16
just raised in a
28:19
storm about how lazy Randy had gotten,
28:22
and he doesn't even get out of the
28:24
air conditioning of his truck anymore. It's really
28:26
Tig's business, and he's the one making all
28:28
the money. That money should be ours. She
28:30
said Gina is always complaining. However,
28:33
the caller alleges that on
28:35
that day in November, Gina went
28:37
too far. She made the comment that,
28:39
you know, I gotta find a way to off Randy
28:42
Sheffield. She
28:44
says that in November, and Randy Sheffield in December
28:47
was found dead in his bed with a gunshot
28:49
to the back of his head. We
28:51
suspected that Gina definitely had some part in
28:53
it. Again, what her
28:55
role was, not 100% sure,
28:58
but we definitely suspected that Gina was
29:00
definitely involved. When
29:04
investigators interviewed Gina Bataglia, they pressed
29:07
her about her whereabouts on the
29:09
day of the murder. Gina
29:11
maintains she didn't arrive at Randy's
29:13
home until late that afternoon, long
29:16
after other employees had arrived at
29:18
the scene. Gina Bataglia maintained that
29:20
she had woken up that morning in
29:22
the apartment, spent time at home, and
29:25
was then visited in the early afternoon by
29:28
Doretta. She came over so that
29:30
she could cut her hair. She said that
29:32
she didn't leave the house until 4.30 when there
29:35
was pizza brought over to the garage. Detectives
29:38
tell Gina that they think that she
29:40
knows more about Randy's murder than she's
29:43
admitting. They confront her and ask her
29:45
about what happened, and Gina kind of loses it
29:47
and says, what are you talking about? At
29:50
one point, Gina literally said, you're
29:52
out of your effing mind. I
29:54
don't know anything about anybody committing
29:57
this crime. What
29:59
was the truth? Following Gina's
30:01
interview, investigators subpoena her cellphone
30:03
records for December Twenty Seventh.
30:06
Two thousand and Eleven. So
30:08
cellphone towers and like a circular
30:10
range. And if you
30:13
put on your cell phone
30:15
tower nearest to your physical
30:17
location. And where the
30:19
Sheffield House is situated. It. It.
30:22
Landed kind of between two of these circles.
30:24
The loves confirm that several of
30:26
Gene as cause that day had
30:29
connected to the tower closest to
30:31
her home, but they also revealed
30:33
something else. On two occasions
30:35
during them morning and afternoon per
30:37
cell phone was bouncing off of
30:39
or another tower face one that
30:41
was over closer to the chef
30:43
your house. Could
30:46
the early morning pain? Confirm that
30:49
Gina was lying if her phone
30:51
and off the town. Close
30:54
to the Sheffield House isn't a
30:56
race for the their. It certainly
30:58
was. However,
31:01
a hunch doesn't quite add up
31:03
to probable cause to make an
31:05
arrest. So investigators turn
31:08
back to the surveillance footage they
31:10
had already gathered from. Area
31:12
gas stations. One of the
31:14
things I did was read.
31:17
Watch those video surveillance
31:19
footage. I believe I
31:21
can't. Say. Hundred
31:23
percent. But I believe that
31:26
I located Gina's registered vehicles
31:28
traveling. Northbound through
31:30
that intersection roughly around
31:33
Seven Twenty Addition Morning.
31:35
About an hour later,
31:38
Rough week the vehicle
31:40
is observed. Traveling.
31:44
I can't see a license plate. I can
31:46
see who's in the vehicle is it. Gina
31:50
visited is g the
31:52
to we don't know
31:54
before detectors can. present their
31:56
findings to a prosecutor they get
31:58
another call A call
32:01
that suggests that this purported
32:03
conspiracy to kill Randy Sheffield
32:05
could be much bigger than
32:07
authorities suspect. I just kind of
32:09
stopped and couldn't
32:12
believe it. Coming
32:15
up, investigators uncover a
32:17
powerful motive for murder. The
32:20
state wanted their money. There's a lien placed
32:22
on the company. But will it all add
32:24
up to an arrest? It's just terrific
32:26
to me. His mother told me at one
32:28
point, I don't know. I'll ever live long
32:30
enough to find out what happened to Randy.
32:41
Investigators in Geneva County, Ohio
32:44
have reason to suspect that Randy
32:46
Sheffield's murder was an inside
32:48
job. Two individuals on
32:51
their suspect list, Randy's
32:53
30-year-old stepson, Tig Roles,
32:55
and Tig's 28-year-old
32:57
girlfriend, Gina Bataglia.
33:01
Now, investigators have received
33:03
a phone call from Rebecca Sheffield,
33:05
Randy's mother. Rebecca is so, so
33:08
sweet. She just said, I want
33:10
to talk to you about a
33:12
visit that I had with Beretta
33:14
that I thought was very unusual.
33:18
According to Rebecca, their discussion
33:20
that day centered on Randy's
33:22
business. In 2003,
33:24
when Randy married Doretta,
33:27
Randy asked his
33:29
mom to let Doretta take care of the
33:31
books. Rebecca didn't necessarily agree with
33:33
that, but she was like, it's what my
33:35
son wanted, it's his business, so I did
33:37
that. Rebecca was
33:39
always quasi-involved, at least in some degree,
33:41
because Randy appreciated the fact
33:44
that she had a sugar and false
33:46
address, which was more desirable than his
33:48
own. She always had received the mail, and so as
33:50
a part of their routine, Doretta would then go and
33:52
collect the mail for the business. her
34:00
son died, she noticed more and
34:02
more letters coming from the Ohio
34:04
Department of Taxation. One day,
34:07
her curiosity got the better of her. She
34:09
opens it up and it shows that there,
34:12
I believe, is a lien placed on the company because
34:14
the company has not been paying
34:16
its taxes. Pended up
34:18
accumulating $100,000 and the state
34:21
wanted their money. Rebecca
34:23
confronts Loretta about this. And
34:25
Loretta says, ah, you know, I know about that. I
34:28
messed up. Please don't tell Randi. Rebecca
34:31
says that Loretta assured her that she
34:33
would have the back taxes paid off
34:35
in a few weeks. Rebecca's not
34:37
okay. I'm not going to make sure there's need
34:39
to be any. She's got to work out. According
34:42
to Rebecca Sheffield, in early December 2011,
34:44
just weeks before Randi's death, her son
34:49
approached her privately at a family
34:51
party. He said, Mom, I'd like
34:53
you to take over your
34:56
previous role as bookkeeper. He just
34:58
said that Loretta's made a mess of the books.
35:00
She's run the business into the ground. That
35:03
raises some red flags to us. In
35:06
light of this new information, investigators
35:08
decide to take a closer look
35:11
at Randi's grieving widow. They
35:13
begin by issuing subpoenas for both
35:15
her and Randi's phone records from
35:18
December 27th. When
35:20
we plugged in the passcode into her cell
35:22
phone, the voicemails came up. And
35:25
there were four from Loretta all on
35:27
the day of the murder, starting at
35:29
10.30 in the morning, telling
35:31
Randi where she's going, what she's
35:33
doing. I'm going to
35:35
see Gina and my grandson. I'm
35:37
going to be there for X
35:39
amount of time. They watch the movie. Here's the name of
35:42
the movie. Details that nobody would
35:44
really, you know, concern themselves about normally.
35:47
For investigators, the level of
35:49
detail looks suspicious, especially when
35:51
they realized that Loretta hadn't
35:53
left her husband a voicemail
35:55
before December 27th. November
36:00
5th and there was
36:03
nothing after that until December
36:05
27th and the first one
36:07
was a friend of his and there was
36:09
nothing in between and then there were four
36:12
from Doretta all on the day of the
36:14
murder. When
36:17
investigators asked Randy's friend Jason
36:19
Tibbs about the voicemails he
36:22
gives a candid response. This
36:30
is a person who doesn't use his phone. The voicemail is a
36:32
useless tool to this person. Why would you suddenly leave
36:34
these? Doesn't that make any sense? Unless
36:37
Doretta wasn't leaving the messages
36:39
for Randy. They stand out
36:42
like a sore thumb. They
36:44
are left there for one purpose,
36:47
one purpose only and it's to
36:49
build Doretta's alibi. It is an indicator
36:51
that this was something that she planned. While
36:55
investigators believe the circumstantial evidence is
36:57
pointing them in the right direction,
36:59
they still need to place their
37:01
suspects at the scene. That
37:04
requires nailing down Randy's time of
37:06
death. When investigators look at
37:08
the autopsy results, they get their
37:11
answer. When you
37:13
die, digestion, Eric
37:15
Armstrong, when she opened up the stomach
37:18
contents, it was still in a perfect
37:20
state. She
37:22
is able to describe the food that
37:24
is in the stomach because digestion had
37:26
stopped. Randy ate
37:29
between 7 and 7.30 and with
37:31
that Eric goes, okay, then he went from 7.30 to 9.30 is
37:33
when he died. And with
37:35
that we have Doretta at home. That
37:41
timeframe though is important for another
37:43
reason. If Gina's car was indeed
37:46
the vehicle seen on the gas
37:48
station surveillance footage, it put her
37:50
squarely in the area of the crime
37:53
around the time of the murder. I
37:55
was like, oh my God, I think this is it. Investigators
37:58
approach the... County prosecutor with
38:01
their evidence against Randy's family. We thought
38:03
we had a case, but because it
38:05
was circumstantial, we could not get the
38:07
prosecutor to go with it. He was
38:09
like, we got one shot at this.
38:12
I just want it to be a better case. We
38:14
need to tighten it up. However,
38:17
before detectives can gather more
38:20
evidence, tragedy strikes. Two
38:22
months to the day, on February 27th, Chardon
38:26
schools have a shooter
38:30
at the school district. Unfortunately, these
38:33
kids are killed, and it is a
38:36
national tragedy. So Randy's case is sort
38:38
of like, OK, but we've
38:40
got to tend to this now. Months
38:43
later, when the school shooting
38:45
investigation is winding down, there
38:47
is a shake up at the department,
38:49
and Randy's case gets filed away. The
38:51
prosecutor announced that he was going to
38:53
be resigning, and he was
38:55
running for Congress, and that
38:58
nothing would be done on this case until a new
39:00
prosecutor came in. It's just horrific
39:02
to me, because I don't understand
39:04
what really happened. His mother told
39:06
me at one point that I don't know if
39:09
I'll ever live long enough to find out what
39:11
happened to Randy. Meanwhile,
39:14
Doretta, Tig, and Gina have
39:16
problems of their own. The
39:18
company started going on again with, of course,
39:20
Randy out of the picture. I
39:24
really thought Tiggy would jump right into his shoes
39:26
and take it over. The business,
39:29
all of a sudden, is taken over by Tig's
39:31
sister, and they changed the
39:33
name. And we were
39:35
told, basically, that Doretta came in and
39:37
just fired Tig and everybody else. Tig
39:40
and Gina were absolutely cut out of
39:42
the business altogether. Doretta and her other
39:45
daughter were supposed to be running this
39:47
company, and really, it just
39:49
ran into the ground. Then,
39:52
in 2013, two years after Randy's death,
39:57
a new prosecutor is finally
39:59
elected. We got a
40:01
grand jury and presents where we
40:03
have to the grand jury and
40:06
they give us the indictments to
40:08
make arrests. All three of
40:10
them a to growls gene of the
40:12
tag Leah Andretti chef know we're all
40:15
charged with. Conspiracy. To commit
40:17
aggravated murder and aggravated. The
40:24
read as Gina and kid
40:26
tastes like increases She was
40:28
trying to think she could
40:30
win, but will a major
40:32
setback for the prosecution jeopardize
40:35
all three cases, the evidence
40:37
or the heirs. We couldn't
40:39
say some there. In
40:48
March two thousand and sixteen four
40:50
years as the Randy Sheffield was
40:52
found murdered in his bed. The
40:54
Red is just feels his stepson
40:57
take roles and tix girlfriend Chino
40:59
the Togliatti are charged with his
41:01
murder. The.
41:04
Fact that rarely found out the business wasn't
41:06
doing good financially because of the back taxes,
41:09
Music, the books away from to read a
41:11
rarely was just to cut them all out.
41:13
she. Was losing everything. Nine was
41:15
she lose and everything but her
41:17
son was losing everything. I think
41:19
the motherly instinct dinners like I'm
41:21
going to protect my family and
41:24
she snaps. Their
41:27
first chance to. Prove their series com
41:29
since September two thousand and sixteen
41:32
when to read as case goes
41:34
to trial. It is a very
41:36
circumstantial case and we don't have a confession.
41:38
We don't have the murder weapon. We'll have
41:40
any witnesses to the murder. And
41:43
the defense takes particular issue
41:45
with a key piece of
41:47
the prosecution's case, the time
41:49
of Randy Sas. Trial
41:52
sense. Very. Focused on
41:54
the fact that there was no
41:56
meat town and. Mcconnell
42:01
things can tell me that was digested
42:03
Sweet sweet. Six thirty in say seven
42:05
thirty eight hours for the to digest.
42:07
There was no meat and stuff we
42:09
can all the time of death in
42:11
the afternoon of which to read his
42:13
whereabouts were to play. we know. And
42:15
there's Fleet Alibi. So
42:17
she had been involved with us. Instead,
42:20
the rid of different directors
42:22
defense team points to someone
42:24
else. The mysterious red man
42:27
seen in the vicinity of the
42:29
Sheffield home on the day as a.
42:31
Merger They harped. On red
42:33
shirt man they said we missed the
42:35
boat because the french or man that
42:37
he was in reality the though man
42:39
who broke into the house and shot
42:41
me and. However,
42:45
when prosecutors present their forensic evidence
42:47
to jurors, they point out what
42:49
they consider a critical detail. The
42:52
bullet went in out similar height
42:54
is Randy was late so they
42:56
weren't standing above Randy. The bullet
42:59
came in at an angle where
43:01
they had to have knelt down
43:03
and been at the same level
43:05
as his head. The shoes. That.
43:10
Fit the burglar. There's a confrontation they're going
43:12
to shoot from a standing position. Whoever
43:17
did this literally had to squat
43:19
down. In the global with his have
43:22
within three feet. On
43:34
September twenty ninth, two thousand
43:37
and Fifteen. After two weeks
43:39
of testimony and twelve hours
43:41
of deliberation, the judge asked
43:43
each individual jury member. For
43:45
their verdict, Guilty Guilty guilty
43:48
guilty. Was.
43:50
Passed by in a world she had a here
43:52
at times. He
43:55
called for jury. They were unanimous.
43:57
I was astonished. When I
43:59
heard that. Really?
44:02
Half mile that feelings of
44:04
my life. On Nov. Source
44:06
director is sentenced to twenty
44:08
seven and a half years
44:10
in prison. With one victory
44:13
under their belt. Prosecutors turn
44:15
their attention to randy step
44:17
son take roles. We. Strongly
44:19
believed at that time that he was
44:21
a part of this conspiracy. However, the
44:23
evidence wasn't there. We couldn't play some
44:25
there. We realize that what
44:27
we had collectively while suspicious of his
44:30
involvement we were not prepared than to
44:32
have him face. Life in
44:34
prison because weeks so that when
44:36
we may the serration. In
44:40
January two thousand and sixteen,
44:43
the last of the alleged
44:45
coconspirators, gene of the tag
44:47
Leah, prepares for trial. Her
44:49
defense plans to contest the
44:51
surveillance footage that allegedly put
44:53
genus. Car near the scene on
44:55
the morning of the murder. she
44:57
had two thousand and one Tmz
44:59
Jimmy I believe. Damn I went
45:01
to Ah a Gmc dealership spoke
45:03
with no less than ten individual
45:06
technicians the are certified Sergio and
45:08
I ask them what the car
45:10
was and they all came up
45:12
with two thousand, seven to eleven
45:14
occasional. Every one of them said
45:16
there's no way that the Gmc
45:18
true. However, even though
45:21
Gene as lawyer is ready to
45:23
sites. Gina
45:25
had talked to. Want to learn? detective. With
45:34
that we were in is
45:36
reached. Between. The to address.
45:41
In my opinion talking directly with
45:43
Venus she made the best decision
45:45
for her family. Her child plead
45:47
out and not roll the dice
45:49
and vote in front of the
45:51
same juri that convicted or else
45:53
for Gina. Director and their supporters,
45:55
the sentences or a grave.
45:57
Injustice we can never.
46:00
Replace Randy Sheffield. But if we
46:02
can't put the right person behind
46:04
bars, we've done him no justice
46:06
either. It's very likely that there
46:08
is still. The. Person out the
46:11
committed this crime is still out there
46:13
in. Could be committing other
46:15
friends. For those close to
46:17
Randy though, the sentences seal like a
46:19
slap on the wrist. Especially
46:22
for a man who gave his
46:24
family. Everything they're really for
46:26
me is no closer. The
46:28
whole incident rip my heart out and
46:30
broke my spirit. after everything that Randy
46:32
did for for her and her shoulder
46:35
and dried is exactly where she should
46:37
be. And she's just stay there
46:39
for the rest of her life. To.
46:46
Reddit has appealed her conviction. She will be
46:48
eligible for. Parole and twenty forty two,
46:50
she will be ninety years old after
46:52
serving. One here. In three months of
46:54
her sentence, Gina Battaglia was released from
46:56
prison on April thirteen. Twenty Second Team.
46:59
Take Roles maintains his innocence.
47:01
His previous indictment was dismissed
47:03
without prejudice. Therefore, Ohio authorities
47:05
can we filed charges against
47:07
him. Said evidence against Take
47:09
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