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2015. Hi, I'm Dr. Teresa Seavers. Dr. Teresa Seavers was due at work and she didn't arrive. Teresa Seavers is found on her kitchen floor dead. A pool of blood surrounds her head. She is cold to the touch.
This is Dr. Theresa Sievers, high profile doctor, did a lot of holistic medicine and people said that she was just a little spitfire, just a short little thing and always wearing four inch heels, clocking around. So let's get started, we got a lot of stuff to talk about. Ladies, remember when walking into a room meant turning heads? When I got into work that day, we were getting word that this 46 year old doctor was dead.
This beloved woman in our community had been brutally killed inside her own house. Mark and Teresa have been a couple since 2003 when they got married in a beachside ceremony in St. Petersburg. She was sort of the breadwinner and he was the office manager at her practice and he helped raise the kids. They had a trip planned to New York and Teresa would fly home that Sunday night to be at work Monday morning.
So on Sunday night, she comes back here to the Southwest Florida International Airport. She calls Mark, tells him she's safe, and then gets in her car and heads back to their house.
911, what is your emergency? I'm at a friend's house. Mark had a friend come and check up on her. He's out of town, and she's dead on the floor. And there's a hammer at the side, and she's bashed in the back of the head. It will later be determined that there are 17 impact wounds to her skull. Who would possibly want this feisty Florida doctor dead?
That question led investigators on a wild chase that ended more than a thousand miles away with a shocking arrest of three people. A break in the case came from all places from the state of Missouri. There were electronic footprints. When you step outside your home, folks, you're always being observed.
Once you started to unwrap it a little bit, it was nutty, it was weird, and it was hard to keep track of it all. This is a case in which 21st century technology became vital. I've been told we have a verdict. Aaron Moriarty reports the plot to kill Dr. Seavers.
I think anytime there is a beautiful, successful woman who is murdered, that's sort of what society pays attention to, for better or for worse. The shocking murder of Dr. Theresa Seavers in Bonita Springs, Florida, was a huge story, especially for Jessica Lipscomb, who covered crime for the Naples Daily News.
To think of this mother of two who was killed brutally inside her home was horrifying to people. The doctor had cut short a family vacation in upstate New York and had flown home alone on Sunday night, June 28, 2015, so she could see patients the next morning. You kind of put yourself in her shoes, rolling your suitcase through the door, and then to be attacked by someone from behind, it's hard to imagine.
Investigators believe that as soon as Dr. Sievers walked into her kitchen, she was killed, struck repeatedly with a hammer. The next morning, her office staff got in. It's now 9:00. Now it's 9:05. Now it's 9:15. I said, "Where's doctor?" Sandra Hoskins was Teresa Sievers' longtime medical assistant.
I was texting back and forth trying to see if, you know, where are you at? And no response called, no answer. Mark's out of town. He says, I can't get a hold of her either. How unusual was it for Dr. Seavers not to show up? Even if it was 9 o'clock and 3 seconds after, you would hear her heels coming in.
It was just so unbelievable. When Connie Reese heard the tragic news, she contacted her stepbrother, Mark Seavers, the doctor's husband. How did he react to the death of his wife? He couldn't speak. He's not the kind of guy that's been overly emotional on the outside, but he couldn't. Connie and Mark became family when her mother married his father. I asked him what happened to Teresa. And what did he say?
No idea. Mark met his future wife in 2003 when he was visiting St. Petersburg, Florida. Pretty much love at first sight? Well, I think by the time that he introduced her to
I think he was pretty much done. He was off the market officially. Yeah, really. He was working as a nurse while she was a recently divorced physician. Teresa hung the moon. She was a remarkable human being and very special, and that's the way Mark treated it from the beginning. You could hear it in his voice.
They were married on the beach, surrounded by friends and family, including stepmother Jenny Weckelman. It was a sunset wedding, and she had a beautiful gown. It was very nice. Was he happy on that day? Oh, my gosh. He was very happy.
Six months later, their first daughter was born. The Sievers built a large house in Bonita Springs and in 2007 welcomed another daughter. How did Mark feel about being a dad? It was everything to him. They were his reason for being, but he was also all about Teresa and her mission.
We talk about our physical health, mental health. That mission was to open a holistic practice where she could heal patients by blending traditional and alternative medicine. She also spread her message in speeches and videos. There's our spiritual and energetic health. We would have patients from all over the world. They would come to us after they failed everything else. She wouldn't take no for an answer.
Talking about the doctor still makes Sandra emotional. And as a patient, she wouldn't allow you to say, "I'm never going to get better." While patients love the doctor, Sandra and her husband, Frank Pays, who also worked at the practice, admit it wasn't always easy working for Sievers. She had a short fuse.
I would hear doctors screaming and yelling in back office. Dr. Severs would yell at the patients? She was there to help you get better. Didn't have what they called a bedside manner. Would she yell at you?
- Yes. - Yeah, a wrist is a problem. - She expected perfection. And if it wasn't perfect, she would get upset. - Because I need to maintain my mental sharpness. - She was a big presence, and sometimes that meant that she got really feisty with people. She was the biggest figure in the room.
While Teresa took care of her patients, Mark managed her office and took care of their daughters. The girls were his pride and joy. And according to her sister, Annie Lisa, Teresa was equally devoted to Mark. Teresa always said, "I'll never leave Mark. I won't ever do that to my girls." Nevertheless, within weeks, Mark Seavers became a person of interest.
Did he cooperate initially? Oh, yes. I think he thought he was doing the right thing. Mark spoke to investigators without a lawyer present and even handed over his cell phone and allowed them to download the contents. Was he worried he might be arrested? He thought, why would they? What kind of evidence could they possibly have? Because I didn't do anything. In fact, Mark Seavers had an airtight alibi
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Eight days after Dr. Theresa Seavers was murdered, friends and family came together for her funeral, including Mark's stepmother, Jenny Weckelman. There were a lot of people. Yes. Yeah. And it was sad, of course. Almost all her patients were there. I was numb.
Mark Seavers reportedly had a gun strapped to his waist at his wife's funeral. Strange? Well, perhaps. But her killer hadn't yet been arrested. And according to stepsister Connie Reese, Mark was on edge. He was very much in protective mode. When you say protective mode, what do you mean? Well, I think, you know, he always keeps an eye and an ear to the ground, so to speak, and is aware of his surroundings and...
You know, he was concerned for their safety. I think it was in the back of his mind that there might be some danger to his daughters because of what happened to their mother. It just didn't make any sense. Who would want the vibrant and dedicated Dr. Theresa Seavers dead? And why kill her with such anger and force? Could have been anybody. I really thought maybe it was just somebody
that was in the area and broke in or something. There were signs of a forced entry, pry marks on a side door. But Mark's extensive gun collection and $40,000 in cash discovered inside the Seavers' home hadn't been touched. So when this happened, everyone wanted to know what happened with the alarm. And as it turns out, it hadn't been activated.
While the family was on vacation, Mark had asked his mother, Bonnie Severs, to feed the family pets. She had trouble setting the alarm that Sunday and told detectives her son Mark said not to worry about it. Monday morning, Dr. Severs was discovered dead on her kitchen floor. This is Mark's mother speaking to investigators. So I really feel that it's my fault. You cannot blame yourself.
Around the time of Dr. Seavers' murder, the internet was buzzing with reports about the suspicious deaths of other alternative doctors in the U.S. Did Mark think that her death might be connected with that? Yes, yes, he did.
But with no real evidence to make that connection, investigators turned their attention to the people who might have had an ax to grime with the energetic, often abrasive, Dr. Sievers. I think the theory that I heard was that maybe it was a patient. Obviously, they were interviewing all of her friends and family members. So it was pretty much like a wide open field of suspects at that point.
Then a surprising name emerged. In her police interview, Dr. Seavers' sister, Annie Lisa, said she heard Sandra Hoskins was a disgruntled employee. That's the same Sandra who seemed so upset by Dr. Seavers' death. You may not like your boss, but you don't badmouth them to patients that are coming in the doors like Dr. Seavers. You know, she's a bitch. I'm like, oh my God, they think I did it.
Sandra, who claims she had been treated harshly by Dr. Severs in the past, had planned to hand in a resignation that very Monday the doctor was found dead. According to Sandra, the doctor told her she was bringing bad energy to the office. Now I know why I was not received very well at her memorial. Why would anyone think that you did this?
That is shocking to me. A lot of the patients didn't know the way she treated me. And so people thought maybe you just had enough. Sandra Hoskins was cleared when nearly two months after Dr. Sievers was murdered, there was a stunning break in the case. Police made arrests and the suspects were not from Florida. So we showed up to a press conference, I believe that August, and
The sheriff gets up there and tells us simply the name of the first suspect, Jimmy Rogers, and he says he's from Missouri and he's been booked for the murder of Teresa Sievers. Never heard of him. So I thought, "Oh, well, who is he? And what's he got to do with this?" And then about an hour later, he calls us in again and says, "We've now picked up a second suspect, Curtis Wayne Wright, also from Missouri." It was so shocking.
To solve this murder, investigators would travel more than 1,000 miles, and they were in for a wild ride. They would soon discover this case had as many twists and turns as the Missouri River. Teresa Seavers was bludgeoned to death with a hammer. Neighbors are still waiting for answers.
The two arrests for Teresa Seavers' murder, made 1,100 miles away in Missouri, seem to come out of the blue.
Mark's stepmother, Jenny Weckelman. Why? You know, what's going on? Just seemed like such a disconnect. No one had ever heard of the suspect, Jimmy Ray Rogers, but it was the mugshot of the other suspect, Wayne Wright, that struck everyone. He had an uncanny resemblance to the victim's husband, Mark Seavers. They look alike, yeah. At least in pictures, they look like twins. And that's in, that's,
That's when I started to believe, you know, that definitely there is not something right with Curtis Wayne Wright. As it turns out, Curtis Wayne Wright, he goes by Wayne, was no stranger to Mark's family. He was Mark's very good friend from ages and ages. So I didn't believe it. I didn't.
It just didn't make sense. Wayne and Mark had grown up together in Missouri. Wayne was at Teresa's funeral. He had celebrated Mark and Teresa's wedding with them. And just two months before the murder, Mark had been Wayne's best man at his wedding. Wayne was also a familiar face around the office.
Did you two know Wayne Wright? How did you know him? He was the computer guy that looked just like Mark. Wayne would travel from Missouri to Florida to work on the computers in Dr. Seaver's office. How would you describe Wayne? He was geeky. All he wanted to do was get the computers up and running, focused. But to me, he just seemed like a very geeky guy.
Creepster. Did he make you nervous? A little bit. I can't explain it. It's just a woman's intuition. How would you describe Mark and Wayne's relationship? They appear to be close friends? Yeah. He always said he's my brother from another mother. Yeah, that was his lingo.
Back in Hillsboro, Missouri, Greg Bolin knew both Mark and Wayne when they both had hair. This here is Hillsboro Elementary School. This is where me and Wayne met for the very first time in third grade. Greg Bolin remembers his high school classmate Wayne as a tech whiz, the kid voted most dependable, and as a fun guy to hang around with. He actually ran for and became our class president. Smart.
Very smart. Quite honestly, he was one of the smartest people with computers that I ever met. But it wasn't long before Greg suspected Wainwright had a dark side. In 1996, Greg's brother, Ronnie Boland, a preacher, mysteriously disappeared. His body has never been found. And according to police, Ronnie was last seen with Wayne. Do you believe Wainwright killed your brother? Yes, I do.
You have no question about that? I have no doubt in my mind. Greg believes the motive was money that Wayne owed Ronnie, reporter Jessica Lipscomb. They found his car with the car keys still in the ignition in a car wash in St. Louis. Wayne has never been charged in Ronnie's disappearance, but he is listed in a police report as a person of interest.
And Wayne's no stranger to the criminal justice system. In 2011, he was serving time for drug possession when he befriended the other suspect in Dr. Seavers' murder, a young inmate named Jimmy Ray Rogers, who was doing time on a weapons charge. You could just tell he needed a job. He wanted a job, you know? Jimmy was released from jail. I'll show you.
Tyler Juliet and Jeff Conway hired him to work at a contracting company. He liked to tell a lot of stories. A lot of things he told at the time, nobody really believed Jimmy. He liked to brag a little bit about the things he had done in the past. A colorful criminal past. He says Jimmy would brag about con jobs ranging from stolen merchandise to counterfeit money.
I never felt Jimmy was a dangerous guy. I just felt like he was a blowhard, honestly. You know, I really felt like he was just a talker. Comway recalls that he had asked Jimmy to work on Monday, June 29th. But Jimmy texted him back and said he wasn't available. All it said was, I can't do that. I'm still in Florida. It was on June 29th that Dr. Teresa Seavers was discovered bludgeoned to death with a hammer inside her Florida home.
And it didn't go unnoticed to investigators that Jimmy Ray Rogers had a unique nickname. Supposedly, Jimmy Rogers' nickname was "The Hammer," but I think that was more of like a self-given nickname. If you talk to some of his friends from high school, they say nobody really called him that. But I think maybe going to jail for the first time, you know, trying to make a name for himself, maybe that's something he sort of assigned himself to fit in.
Why was Jimmy "The Hammer" Rogers in Florida that fateful weekend? Was Wainwright with him? And what led authorities to believe they were involved in a doctor's murder? Why would Wayne try to look like Mark? See more evidence from the case on Facebook at 48 hours.
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He let it slip to lots of people that he was going down to Florida, told some people he was even going to visit the Severs. And it wasn't long before police got a tip that Wayne had been in Florida at the time of Dr. Severs' murder. And he hadn't gone there alone. He went with his jailhouse pal, Jimmy "The Hammer" Rogers. Jimmy's boss, Jeff Conway.
He told me a story that his brother had graduated from law school and that he had invited Jimmy down to Florida for the weekend, all expenses paid. But he told his pregnant girlfriend, Taylor Showmaker, another story. He was going out of town for a few days to work with Wayne. He had told her that he was going down to Florida to make some money.
Weeks after Jimmy and Wayne returned, detectives from Florida showed up in Hillsboro, Missouri. They confronted Wayne about that tip placing him in Florida, but he refused to talk. He didn't need to. A rental car GPS gave the cops what they needed to know.
On the morning of June 27, 2015, Wainwright got into a rental car here in Hillsborough, Missouri, and then went to pick up Jimmy Ray Rogers. At some point, this address was put into the GPS, and then the two men took off for the 1,100-mile ride to Bonita Springs, Florida.
After driving all day and all night on Sunday, June 28th, Wayne and Jimmy arrived at the Seavers' home, the Bonita Springs address. It's all right there in the GPS, a digital footprint for investigators. When Jimmy and Wayne arrived around 6:00 a.m., authorities believe they turned off the house alarm. That may explain why Mark's mother, Bonnie, was so confused about the alarm system.
Then, according to the GPS, Jimmy and Wayne left the Seavers home and typed in another address for a Walmart to do some shopping. Obviously, looking at that security footage from the Walmart, they're able to pretty quickly determine that that's who was with Wayne.
They made no effort to cover their faces, disguise themselves. They just waltzed through like they were anyone else.
They bought, among other things, trash bags, flushable wet wipes, black towels, black shoes, and a lock-picking kit. They paid cash for their purchase with a $100 bill. After shopping at Walmart, Jimmy and Wayne continued using the navigation system, even to find the beach and soak up some sun.
Does it make any sense that this guy who was so good with computers would have left such a trail? It does, but it doesn't. To a lot of people looking at it, it kind of makes it look like, you know, these guys were just dumb and dumber. But
That's a lot of how he operated. After their beach trip, according to police affidavits, Wayne and Jimmy returned to the Seavers' home, where they hung out for hours in the garage, waiting for an unsuspecting Dr. Seavers to arrive.
In the early morning hours of Monday, June 29th, the GPS again shows Jimmy and Wayne on the highway, headed northbound for the 17-hour drive back to Missouri. The electronic trail would eventually lead detectives to Jimmy Ray Rogers' door. But like Wayne, he denied he had anything to do with the murder.
But when police brought in Jimmy's girlfriend, Taylor Showmaker... What a story she had to tell. Jimmy Ray Rogers took his girlfriend, Taylor, for a ride right along here, Route 47 in rural Missouri. And along this road, he asked her to throw out parts of his cell phone, which he had smashed earlier, some gloves, and a jumpsuit.
- He said there was in the river and it took me a minute to click in. And then I threw the gloves out and waited a minute and then I threw out the choke suit. - Did you ask why or you just did it? - No, I just did it. I was scared. - Okay. - Taylor told police that's when she pushed Jimmy to tell her exactly what happened in Florida. - And he told me about using a hammer on her. - Okay, and he said that he killed Teresa Siever, Mark's wife, with a hammer? - Yes.
Florida detectives now thought they knew who killed Teresa Seavers, but they still didn't know the why. Why would Wayne Wright want to kill his best friend's wife? Did everyone then say, oh my gosh, Mark had to be involved? Definitely. I mean, there was really no putting Wayne in Florida in Bonita Springs inside their house without Mark knowing about it.
Did it occur to either one of you that Mark might be involved? No. Not even a thought in the back of your mind? No, no, absolutely not.
But when investigators downloaded Mark's cell phone, they discovered the Seavers' marriage was more troubled than anyone guessed. Despite having $40,000 in cash around the house, they had serious financial problems. And when investigators discovered five insurance policies on Teresa, totaling more than $4 million, it was a big red flag.
Jimmy's girlfriend had told police that Teresa's death was a murder for hire and that Jimmy was supposed to be paid $10,000.
And then asked him how he was going to make money and it was murdering Mark's wife. He said that Mark hired Wayne. Yes, and Wayne hired him. Mark didn't know anything about Jimmy being hired. Where's the money supposed to come from? Insurance from her death. Okay, and did he ever get paid? No.
Then, almost eight months after Teresa Seavers' murder, Wainwright, Mark's lookalike best friend, suddenly turned on him and took a deal. Mr. Wright, why are you pleading guilty today to second-degree murder? Wainwright admitted killing Teresa. I'm pleading guilty because of my role in the planning and participating of the murders of Teresa Seavers.
He said the murder was all Mark's idea, and that's what police needed. Mark, did you hire Wainwright to kill your wife? Mark Seavers was charged with the murder of his wife. Did you hire anyone to kill your wife? But Seavers' stepsister says he would never risk losing his children. She believes Wainwright had long envied his best friend's life, and he's the one who killed Teresa on his own. Why would Wayne...
killed Teresa? Because he's a sick man. Do you think Wayne was jealous of Mark? I think it's possible. Whether he's jealous of Mark or
wanted to be Mark, I don't have any clue. Family and friends point to how Wainwright began to model himself after Seavers, even shaving his own head when Seavers started to go bald. Greg Boland. They didn't look alike when we were younger. How much they morphed into each other over the years, if it was by chance or by their plan, I don't know.
More than four years after Curtis Wainwright cut that deal to testify against Mark Seavers and ex-con Jimmy Rogers, the two men go on trial, but separately. Rogers' case went first, October 2019. Teresa Seavers' mother and siblings were in the courtroom. This case was about the perfect marriage, the perfect friendship, the perfect alibi, the perfect murder.
Assistant State Attorney Hamid Hunter told the jury that Teresa Seavers' death was a classic case of murder for hire. Mark Seavers was miles away while Curtis Wayne Wright and Jimmy Ray Rogers killed his wife. Mr. Wright hit her with the hammer and hit her again. Mr. Rogers came out of nowhere. Mr. Rogers engages with his hammer and he starts hitting her, hitting her, hitting her.
Rogers defense attorney Kathleen Fitzgeorge. What you heard from the state attorney is what they believe or expect or hope the evidence will show. But it's a bumpy road because they haven't told you everything.
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The state actually believes Teresa Sievers was killed with two hammers, but only one was discovered on the Sievers kitchen floor. They showed the jury that weapon and the damaging video evidence of the two men near the crime scene. Is this how you found this jumpsuit when you took it into your custody on the side of the road in Cadet, Missouri? Yes.
A fiber from the jumpsuit worn by Rogers was found on Teresa's body. This time the state calls Taylor Showmaker. Rogers' former girlfriend, Taylor Showmaker, appeared shaken when she entered the courtroom. She identified that blue jumpsuit. It says jumpsuit. And told the jury Rogers confessed to her. And then asked them how, well, how, and he said with a hammer.
Then the state called their star witness. Next witness. The state calls Curtis Wright. In exchange for his testimony at both trials, Wright was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and will spend 25 years in prison. Mr. Wright, who killed Dr. Teresa Seavers? I did. And Jimmy Rogers.
How many times did you hit Dr. Seavers with that hammer? Three. Mr. Rogers came from somewhere and he started hitting her. What did he do? Just started hitting her over and over. How would you describe how he was hitting her? In a frenzy.
Curtis Wright's the only one who ever hit that woman. And he's lying to you to save his own worthless skin. Jimmy didn't have a hammer.
The jury was out nearly two days, and then... I've been told we have a verdict. Is the state ready? Yes, Your Honor. The defendant is guilty of second-degree murder. Rogers showed no emotion. He was sentenced to life in prison.
And then in November 2019, Mark Seavers went on trial for the murder of his wife. He spent much of the prior three years in jail, still denying he had any involvement. And his family was still behind him. I just haven't seen any evidence that makes any sense as far as Mark being involved.
Both his stepmother, Jenny, and stepsister, Connie, vowed to support him through the trial. I will do everything that I can to be there. Are you nervous about it? Yeah. Yeah. Please be seated.
Mark Seavers, charged with first-degree murder of his wife, appeared unfazed even though he faced the death penalty. The same prosecutors who tried Jimmy Rogers will use much of the same evidence in front of a different jury. This is a case in which 21st century technology became vital. Cell towers, cell tower dumps, call detail records.
that allowed massive amounts of data to be sorted, organized, and searched. But Seavers' defense attorney, Michael Mummert, says all that evidence only points to Curtis Wright and Jimmy Rogers as the killers. Curtis swings that hammer right in the side of the head, followed by another one across the bridge of the nose. Curtis says, "I struck Teresa three times in the head with a hammer."
But Jimmy did the rest. Testifying again is Jimmy Rogers' former girlfriend, Taylor Showmaker, now with a new look. She says her ex was promised a payday, but she can't connect Seavers to it. And did he tell you how much money he expected to be making from this? Yes. And what did he tell you? I think it was $10,000.
The case again comes down to that star witness, Curtis Wayne Wright, who will now come face to face with his mirror image and once closest friend. Mr. Wright, who killed Dr. Theresa Severs? Jimmy Rogers and I physically did it, but Mark Severs was also involved in the planning.
For several hours, Wright testified against Seavers, the man he affectionately called his "brother from another mother." Why did you do it? I was asked to do it. By whom? Mr. Seavers.
Wright told the jury that Severs and his wife were having marital and money problems, and that Severs believed Teresa was planning to leave him and take the kids. The only option that he had was for her to die, and he said that he needed to have her killed. When the judge asked Mark Severs if he wanted to testify... I'm not going to testify. Okay. But I'd like to go home.
This time, the jury was out just four hours. The families gathered in the court for the verdict. The jury find as follows as to the defendant in this case. Count one first-degree murder. The defendant is guilty of first-degree murder. Seavers, stoic at first, began to cry. In addition to the guilty verdict, the jury asked the judge to sentence Seavers to death.
This is how former employee Frank Pace felt before the trial. What should happen to Mark Seavers? He's facing the death penalty. I think the death penalty is the easy way out. The pain and torture that he deserves is to sit in jail for the rest of his life, thinking about his two pride and joy daughters. That should be his punishment.
On January 3rd, 2020, Mark Seavers, now a convicted killer, returned to court to find out if he will get life in prison or be sentenced to death. Is it okay if I refer to my notes? Yes, sir. Absolutely. This time, he agreed to speak to plead for his life. Although a jury found me guilty, I am innocent of all charges, as I've maintained since this heinous crime took place.
Our girls have tragically lost their mommy, and now they're about to lose their daddy as well. It didn't take long for the judge to rule. I judge people's actions. I don't judge people's souls. That's for somebody else to do. Sir, I'm going to go ahead and adjudicate you guilty on each count. On the first count, first degree murder. It's the order of the court that you be sentenced to death, sir.
For Teresa's family, it's the end of an agonizing nearly five-year wait for justice. This has been an incredible nightmare from the beginning. Teresa took down three guys that took her from us. She was my modern-day Mother Teresa. I always called her that because she always was trying to help people. Our focus now is to go on to take care of the girls.
And give them the love and support that they need. And we're glad that it's over. Justice has been served. Mark Seavers remains on death row. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.
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