Betrayed (Nathan Paet)
38:32 Share

Hi there. I'm a PBM. I'm also an insurance company. We middlemen are often owned by the same company. So, hard to tell apart. We control what medicines you get and what you pay at the pharmacy. That's why today, more than half of every dollar spent on medicines goes to middlemen like us. Middlemen are driving medicine costs, and you don't know the half of it. Get the whole story at phrma.org slash middlemen. Paid for by Pharma.

This episode is brought to you by Progressive, where drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average. Plus, auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Quote now at Progressive.com to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, national average 12-month savings

of $744 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. When your schedule is packed, it's easy to let things slip, but self-care shouldn't be one of them. Whether it's hitting the gym, therapy, or a walk on the beach, those just-for-you things are often more important than ever.

If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient and flexible. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash AOM today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash A-O-M. He had come home from Iraq where he had done a tour. The irony of Ben losing his life there

in the safety of his own home was not lost on anyone. I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff. I'm Anastasia Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction. And this is Anatomy of Murders.

Before we get started today, I just want to give you a reminder that you can follow Anasiga and I at AnasigaNegolazzi and at Weinberger Media on Instagram and all our social to find out really what we're doing with AOM and everything else that's surrounding our world. Now on to the show.

Some people spend their whole lives looking for love. Others find it in their homeroom class. That lucky bunch, the high school sweethearts, as they're called, are often romanticized in movies and TV shows.

How special to grow up and grow old with someone that you've known for most of your life. To go from being kids yourselves to then raising your own. That type of relationship, that long-term partnership, is built on more than love. It's also built necessarily on trust.

Today's case challenges that theory. Air Force Staff Sergeant Nathan Payette was living his best life, or so he thought, before December 1st, 2010, when he was gunned down, murdered in his own home.

So by all accounts, Nathan Payette was a wonderful, hardworking family man. That's the voice of Michelle Fleck, chief deputy district attorney in Clark County, Nevada. He was so young when his life was taken. He was only 28 years old. Nathan was born in the South Pacific island of Guam to a tight-knit Chamorro family. The Chamorro are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, which includes Guam.

But in 2007, he bravely left home to go serve in the United States Air Force. Guam, remember, is a U.S. territory. He was stationed at Nellis Air Base in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bright lights of the strip were nothing like the sandy beaches he had grown up with. But Nathan hadn't arrived alone. He was there with his wife, also named Michelle. The two had met as teenagers and had their first child when they were still very young themselves.

By 2010, the couple had four children, all under the age of 10. Nathan had recently returned from deployment in Iraq. He was back on the base working nights as a supply technician, while Michelle, who also worked, was still attending school.

Four young kids, full-time jobs, and school to boot. Things in the Pi at home were busy, but they still made family time a priority. And on the evening of December 1st, 2010, they had all fallen asleep together on the couch before Nathan woke up, kissed his family goodnight, and headed off to begin his night shift.

But he never made it to work. Around 11 p.m., police received calls that gunshots were heard in the Payette's quiet suburban neighborhood. One of those calls was from Michelle Payette, Nathan's wife. She was frantic. She called the police to say her husband had been in the garage, had been on the way to work, that he was shot in the garage and that he came into the house bleeding and dying there with her children in the house.

911 operators talked the panicked Michelle through the steps of CPR until the ambulance and the first responders arrived. Nathan was rushed to the hospital, but it was too late. He was pronounced dead.

From almost the beginning, police suspected that the killing was not random. Having someone gunned down in their own home is rare. Obviously, that would tell police from the very beginning that they should consider this person being targeted. His wallet wasn't taken. His house was not ransacked. Nobody came into the house to do anything to his wife or to his kids. So the sole purpose of somebody coming to his home that night was to murder him.

At the time of Nathan's killing, Michelle Fleck had only been working with the district attorney's office for a few years. It's a path that spanned well over a decade and became part of her core. The bulk of my career has either been homicides or sex crimes. She's always been especially drawn to cases where children are impacted. On that December night in 2010, in an instant, the lives of Nathan's children were forever changed.

It's a level of trauma and a level of pain that you have to have a certain demeanor to be able to deal with and then compartmentalize for your own life. To be able to provide comfort in one area of their healing process has always been a source of strength for me. And then to be able to advocate for people who can't advocate for themselves, it comes with a lot of extra stress in your own life.

But the rewards far outweigh that. This was the type of case Michelle Fleck was built for. As to the where it occurred, every city is different and presents its own challenges. But few places play into their reputation quite like Las Vegas, nicknamed Sin City.

Las Vegas is obviously very unique in the types of crimes that we see. People can come, they can do things they may not do in their everyday life. In my work, we see the other side of Sin City. These crimes happen all over the country. I do think that it is unique here because

You may have a different element of people that will come to Las Vegas. You have a lot of people that are coming in and out of Vegas that may be committing crimes because they don't have roots here yet. We kind of accept a lot of things that you may not in other cities. So I do think that you see different types of crimes and different elements of crimes and more unique characteristics of, in particular, homicides in Las Vegas.

But when the police responded to the Payette residence, it was a scene far different from the glitz of the Las Vegas Strip. They found a suburban garage covered in blood. It was known that when Nathan would leave for work, he would put his shoes on in the garage, then get into his car and leave. So the garage door was open, there was blood in the garage, and then there was a blood trail that led from the garage into the house.

Police helped calm Michelle down so she could walk them through the day, right up to the moments when the shots had rang out. Michelle told investigators that although she usually had school, she hadn't gone that day because she wasn't feeling well. Instead, she and Nathan spent the evening with their kids, and the entire family had eventually fallen asleep on the couch.

She went on to say that she had woken Nathan up at a bit after 11 p.m., worried that he was going to be late for his shift at the base. He had rushed to get ready and then run out the door. Within seconds, she heard gunfire. Nathan staggered back inside, shot and bleeding. Investigators asked Michelle if Nathan was having any issues at work, any financial issues like a gambling debt, or did she suspect that he could be having an extramarital affair?

Michelle said there was no issues in Nathan's life that she was aware of, nor anyone that would want to cause him harm. But she then went on to share something unexpected, not about her husband, but about herself. Interestingly, she told detectives immediately that there were rumors at her work that she was having an affair. She said that there was a man named Michael Rodriguez that was at her work who owned a black Cadillac.

So this is the first Anastasia of a few unusual twists coming up in this case. That statement was a bit odd, a sort of an off-the-cuff reaction to investigators. She just watched her husband die in their home and yet she's already jumping to things that police might soon learn about her. Really, the question would be for investigators, as you would imagine, why would she say these things?

She denied that she had a relationship with Michael Rodriguez in any way. But it was interesting that in the first, you know, 10 minutes of law enforcement being involved, she had already outed Michael Rodriguez as a person who was at least in some way a part of her life. It was odd to say the least. And when police spoke to the neighbors about the shooting, they received a very specific new piece of information.

The one important clue that was learned from the neighborhood canvas is that somebody was fleeing in what was described as a black sedan, possibly a Cadillac. A black Cadillac, the very same car Michelle had described to police as belonging to her co-worker, Michael Rodriguez.

Michelle was cooperative well beyond just the conversation. As soon as she was asked to let investigators look through her cell phone, she agreed. And what they found, though, raised more than a few eyebrows. So detectives see in her phone that there are texts about a half an hour before she had called 911 from someone named Michael to her talking about a contract.

The co-worker. Why was Michelle Pyatt texting with him so late at night? Was it about work or was it about something else? The late hour alone was suspicious. The actual exchange, even more bizarre. The contract is a real pain in the ass. Michael then immediately texts her again saying, if you don't feel up to it, just let me know.

She responds about five minutes later saying, you know, sorry, my husband just woke up and he's trying to rush out the door. So that was 1119 that she sent that. And the 911 call was at 1131. So just about 10 minutes before. And then she says, I guess he's late. LOL. Sorry that the contract is a pain at 1124. Yeah.

Michelle texts Michael and says, I got woken up from a man screaming, I'm late. He's rushing to get out the door. LOL.

So this is how digital forensics can change a whole direction of an investigation. You know, the question for investigators at this point is, were they talking in code? And if so, what about the timing seems too perfect to be a coincidence? The back and forth went right up until the time Nathan walked out the door, right up until the time that he was murdered.

Could this code be the two of them talking, plotting a murder? And if so, how off that it would then be filled with LOLs, which most of you know is slang for laugh out loud. The only thing very clear cut up to this point was that Nathan's wife, Michelle, was sending these lighthearted texts to a co-worker, the very same person she had just put on police radar.

And we should add right here, that was the man she told police drove a black Cadillac. What witnesses described seeing Fleene is seen right after the gunfire, yet Michelle Piot had been nothing but cooperative with police. Remember, she's giving up information right off the top. She was an open book, but maybe too open. They were certainly suspicious.

But you have to understand, of course, at that point in time, she's not a suspect. She's not under arrest. So they're real careful at that point in time with what they're asking her, how they're asking it. They're still in an information gathering mode.

From the autopsy, the medical examiner painted an awful picture of Nathan's final moments. The autopsy showed that there were five gunshots to Nathan Payette's body, that he had one to the top left shoulder, to the left side of his torso, to the right lower back, to his lower right buttock, and then above the knee. Those pattern of gunshot wounds would indicate that

that the victim turned in the middle of an attack, that he likely saw his assailant from the front and then turned and ran

On his way to report for duty, someone had hidden in Nathan's garage and then surprised him, shooting him five times. Police decided that their next step should be finding out more about Michelle's co-worker. Michael Rodriguez was a multiple-time felon. He had been in and out of the criminal justice system much of his life. He had a violent history.

But in December of 2010, Michael Rodriguez had a standard office job at a telemarketing credit company. It was there that he met Michelle Pyatt, and the two struck up a friendship. Police wanted to figure out if it had gone further than just friends.

And if so, did Nathan know about this friendship? There was nothing to indicate that he believed his wife to be having an affair, at least nothing that he had confided to anyone. There was one but. Some of Nathan's family members had said that about a month before the murder, there had been tension between this couple. That was unusual for the two of them because they usually seemed so happy.

It was time to find Michael Rodriguez, and it was only one day after the shooting when police did locate him. They went to his house, and lo and behold, they saw a black Cadillac matching the description of the car fleeing, the scene, and the same make and model of the vehicle that Michelle described Michael driving. He agreed at that time that he would go down to headquarters where detectives were waiting for him.

He spoke with investigators and he too was open. He freely admitted that yes, he had a criminal past, but he told police that he had turned his life around. He did acknowledge that he and Michelle were friends, but said that was it. And that on the night Nathan was killed, he and Michelle had been texting each other about work. He went on to add that at the time of the murder, he was nowhere near the Pyatt residence. Instead, he said he was out with another woman.

He said that he'd gone to Walmart. He then said that he met up with a girl at a casino in town called Sunset Station and that he left at around 4 a.m. to go home. They spoke to the woman and she somewhat confirmed she had been with Michael from 9 p.m. until 4 a.m. Digital forensics, as we've always spoke about, really can help investigators lay down a timeline of events.

but it also can give suspects a way to shore up their own alibi. So obviously, in this case, it helps them develop a timeline that they want investigators to believe actually occurred. But as an investigator, you always have to look at these images or videos as just one piece of the story.

And certainly here, if we're looking at the person of interest, which at this point is Rodriguez, well, he did. He left this digital footprint all over Las Vegas. But here, rather than help him, what it seemed to do was allow police to catch Rodriguez in a lie.

In Vegas, there's nothing that's not on video. There's hardly a corner of this city that's not recorded in some way, shape or form. The problem for Michael Rodriguez is that the timeline doesn't work out. So yes, it's true. He went to the places he said that he went to. However, he doesn't go to Sunset Station until after the murder, clearly in

indicating to detectives, well, he would have had time to do this murder and then get to Sunset Station. There was footage of Rodriguez with this other woman, but the actual timeline left gaps for Rodriguez to have driven his black Cadillac to the Payette house. So as detectives looked deeper into his alibi, those text messages seemed even stranger. If he's out with another woman for a night on the town, why is he texting Michelle Payette about supposed work?

And here's an even bigger red flag. A vehicle that sounded a lot like this was seen driving away from the Payette house right after the murder. Police sat back down with Michelle Payette, and this time she would admit to an affair with Michael Rodriguez and that they had both planned her husband's murder. Want to connect with more family and friends and their native language is in English?

then Rosetta Stone, the most trusted language learning program, is for you. Rosetta Stone teaches through immersion, like matching audio from native speakers to visuals, reading stories, participating in dialogues, and more. The True Accent feature even provides feedback on your pronunciation. Learn on the go with convenient, flexible, and customizable lessons as short as 10 minutes. From my own personal experience,

I could see the benefits of Rosetta Stone becoming more familiar with the local language when I'm traveling. Something as simple as understanding direction from the locals, but it also can help you stay safe, becoming even more aware of your surroundings. On my recent trip to Italy, I found Rosetta Stone so helpful. For a very limited time, our listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off.

That's 50% off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com slash anatomy. That's rosettastone.com slash N-A-T-O-M-Y.

It feels great to receive a gift from a loved one. It's the thought that counts, and there's of course that element of surprise. But when you're shopping for something as personal as jewelry, it can be really satisfying to buy the exact piece you know you'll love. There's no better place to find that perfect something than BlueNile.com.

Blue Nile offers thousands of independently graded diamonds and fine jewelry at prices significantly below traditional retail. Whether you're looking for a bit of sparkle for yourself or the best gift of all time, Blue Nile offers some of the highest quality standards in the industry. I'm a big fan of shopping from home. Blue Nile's website is easy to navigate and I always get new ideas.

I've been really into layering necklaces this summer, and Blue Nile has a great selection with quality I know I can count on. If you have questions, Blue Nile's jewelry experts are on hand day and night via phone or chat. You can't beat the ease or convenience of shopping at Blue Nile. Go to BlueNile.com to find the perfect piece today. That's BlueNile.com. BlueNile.com.

Six days after 28-year-old Nathan Payette's murder, police again called Michelle, his wife, to say they had a few more questions. It was the same day as Nathan's memorial service. His family had flown in all the way from Guam to be there. They were desperate to understand why the father of four had been gunned down.

Police were determined to get answers as they re-questioned Michelle Payette and asked her again about the relationship she had with co-worker Michael Rodriguez. And then they got much more than they expected.

She now admitted to a relationship with Rodriguez beyond being just co-workers. It had gotten physical some time ago, she said. And then she implicated Rodriguez in her husband's murder and also implicated herself. She, at that point, confessed that she planned the murder with a co-worker of hers for the insurance proceeds. Nathan had two life insurance policies, one personal and one through his military service.

Michelle Payette stood to gain $650,000 from his death. She said that Michael had reached out to a friend to help him to do it. She said that this had occurred over several months and that they had a number of different plans to execute the murder. She explained that she and Rodriguez had become more than friends after she and Nathan, at least in her mind, lost their spark.

Michelle had a repeated kind of theme about her marriage wanting more attention or being lonely or being kind of aroused by this idea that Michael Rodriguez was giving her attention. But prosecutor Michelle Fleck doesn't think Michelle Pyatt ever planned on running away with Rodriguez and living out their days together. She thinks that Michelle Pyatt didn't just set up her husband, but was trying to set up Rodriguez too.

The fact that she told detectives that Michael Rodriguez drove the exact car he did drive to and from the murder, that tells me that she did not plan on having a life with him, that she planned on getting the money and having a life for herself and having independence that maybe she'd been craving. You know, I can only think that there was some greater plan in why she would have told detectives about Michael Rodriguez.

It turns out that the contract that Rodriguez had been texting Michelle about was their coded language about their planned execution of Michelle's husband, Nathan. As she sat on the couch with their young kids, Michelle Pyatt was texting Rodriguez updates about what Nathan was doing and when he was going to leave.

He's rushing to get out the door, LOL. So that was the text that she wrote as she watched her husband as he left, knowing that he would be murdered the minute that door closed. A few hours after her husband had been shot to death, Michelle even texted Rodriguez a smiley face. And there were other revelations that Michelle Pyatt may have been even more calculating and cruel than anyone thought.

She admitted that this was not a one-time plan, that this is something that they had contemplated over the course of several months, and that they had planned a number of different scenarios. One idea was to stage it as a robbery gone wrong, a home invasion gone wrong. One of the plans was that Michael would wait inside Nathan Payette's car,

that he would then surprise him, which would obviously induce an extreme amount of terror in a victim, that he would kidnap him, bind him, kill him. But in the end, Michelle Pyatt and Rodriguez decided the plan was to shoot Nathan on his way to work. It was a stunning admission from the woman who had been Nathan's high school sweetheart and was now the mother of their four young children.

beyond just the devastation of taking your kid's father from them and this family man from everyone, that she was willing to allow him to be the victim of such a horrifying demise. That was, for me, a startling insight into Michelle Payette. But how had Payette gone from the premeditated killer to now admitting being part of this plan in just a matter of days?

Michelle Fleck has her thoughts. People commit these crimes long before any eyes are on them, before they're even

before law enforcement is on them, before any suspicion is on them. And they have a false sense of security that they're going to get away with it. Once eyes are on them and the walls start closing in, when she's having to face Nathan's family, her own family, the siblings, the cousins, and look at her own children, there must have been conversations that Michelle had within herself to say, "I can't pretend anymore. I have to come clean."

Sometimes for a criminal, the most challenging part of the offense isn't actually the act of committing a crime, but living in the aftermath of what they've done. And that can definitely come into play if they've harmed someone that they've once loved. I think that there were things that Michelle was doing, her affect, her demeanor, ways that she was interacting with the family that caused suspicion.

I don't know in their wildest dreams that they could have imagined that she could have or would have orchestrated this kind of a killing, doing this not only to her husband, but to her kids. Although she admitted to being part of the murderous plot, Michelle Pyatt did not take full responsibility for the crime. She claimed that Rodriguez was the leader and that she had gotten caught up in more than she'd bargained for.

She tried to present herself as a victim. You know, she was on a runaway train. Like, she didn't really know how to put the genie back in the bottle. That she didn't really think that this was going to happen. That she didn't really know how to stop it. That she didn't really think that he would do this.

But by this point, to investigators, it was clear that Michelle was just as complicit as the man who ended up pulling the trigger. The text messages, the information that they had about her relationship with Michael, the ultimate confession that she had all of these different plans in place, that all flied in the face of what she was telling the detectives and who she was trying to present herself as. She absolutely confesses to the fact that when

He leaves that house. She knows he is going out to meet his demise. Then police did something you likely might not expect. They let her go. Well, so even after they have the confession from her, they tell her that she is still free to leave.

So I'm sure everyone who's listening right now, you guys all have this collective head tilt questioning why police would allow Michelle to walk out after admitting that she was part of this chilling murder plot. And that answer was that it all came down to corroboration. Police believe they were dealing with more than just a love triangle gone bad. Michelle had also told police that there was someone else who helped Rodriguez and

Investigators were aware that Rodriguez did have a woman who helped him build a false alibi.

So there were multiple possibilities that police needed to consider. Was Michelle Pyatt being truthful? Was there someone else out there involved? And if so, to what degree? Investigators needed to dig deeper to try and get to the truth before they made any next moves. Even on a confession, you want to be able to corroborate as much as you can. But there were other things that detectives wanted to corroborate and wanted to shore up.

So investigators have to make an assessment right here on the spot. What was the risk that she was going to flee before they were able to corroborate that evidence? She has no criminal history and four children at home. And those two factors probably played into the decision to wait and build their case and then make their move.

But when Michelle Pyatt left the station, she did not run away. She then actually checked herself into the hospital because she was in a mental health crisis at that point in time. Perhaps this was a preview of what her potential defense would be. But in the meantime, investigators would push forward building their case and pouring back over statements. Police were trying to dig as deeply as they could to better figure out the movements of Rodriguez on the night of the crime.

And in a break for investigators, Rodriguez's supposed alibi, the woman he said he was sleeping with the night of the murder, she was now ready to turn against him.

Detectives then went on to talk with the alibi again, Michael Rodriguez's alibi. The woman told police that while she had been with Rodriguez that night, it wasn't all night that another friend, a woman, had called her to ask her to lie for Rodriguez and the other woman's boyfriend. We believed she was not aware that a murder had taken place. They had told her that they were going to rob a drug dealer.

And so that was why they needed an alibi. They all met in an apartment after what the woman was led to believe was a robbery. The alibi's friend had brought logs to start a fire and the men burned their clothes. Robbery or murder, destroying evidence is a crime. Whether that was the extent of her involvement would remain to be seen. They start throwing the clothes into the fire and then Michael says to the alibi, come on, we got to go, like we're out of here now.

The alibi woman seemed startled when it was homicide detectives who were now questioning her. She'd agreed to lie when she thought it was about stealing from a narcotics dealer, but not being part of the cover-up to a murder.

She then confronts Michael. They meet. He pats her down. He smashes her phone. He then tells her, hey, I killed Nathan. I killed a co-worker's husband. When it comes to prosecuting cases like this, where there is a conspiracy to commit a murder, everyone involved is considered responsible. And with charges against her now looming, this woman, the supposed alibi witness, became more than willing to help police make cases against the rest.

She actually takes them to this apartment where they burn the clothes and where they had all met up. So they had a lot more information then with which they could go back to Michael's. On the same day of Nathan's memorial, while Nathan's family and friends gathered to share stories about what an amazing father, friend and patriot he was, police began to arrest the people responsible for his murder.

Every day is a great day when you're not worrying about your appliances and home systems, and that's what you get with an American Home Shield warranty. Unexpected breakdowns like a leaky faucet or a faulty water heater won't break the bank with an American Home Shield warranty because covered repairs and replacements are taken care of just like that. Choose a plan that works for you and your budget, and then it's simple.

When a covered item in your home breaks, contact American Home Shield and their trusted and qualified pros will fix or replace it based on the coverage limits in your agreement. Don't worry. Be warranty. Right now, you can take 20% off. Go to AHS.com slash AOM now to save 20%.

That's AHS.com slash AOM for 20% off any plan. American Home Shield. Don't worry, be warranty. See AHS.com slash contracts for coverage limits, including limit amounts, fees, limitations, and exclusions. Make today the day you kickstart a new healthy routine. Fuel up with Factor.

It's a great way to meet your wellness goals this summer thanks to the menu of chef-crafted meals with options like Calorie Smart, Protein Plus, and Keto. And with Factor's no-prep, no-mess meals, you'll give yourself more time to enjoy your summer too.

Factors fresh, never frozen meals are dietitian approved and ready to eat in just two minutes. So no matter how busy you are, you'll always have time to enjoy nutritious, great tasting meals. I'm always looking for new ways to eat smart and save on time. And when I saw Factors meal variety and the quality of their food choices, I knew this would be my new summer try. I've ordered a week's worth of meals and I'm excited for them to arrive.

Make your day delicious from breakfast to dessert. Stay fueled with easy, nutritious options. Head to factormeals.com slash anatomy50 and use code anatomy50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month. That's code anatomy50 at factormeals.com slash anatomy50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month while your subscription is active.

Michelle Pyatt and her co-worker slash paramour Michael Rodriguez had spent months plotting to murder Michelle's husband, Nathan, for his insurance money. But in less than a week, pressure from the authorities led Nathan's wife to crumble and admit the whole thing. Michelle and Rodriguez were taken into custody.

In total, four people were arrested. Michael Rodriguez and Michelle Pyatt, the woman who had come to help destroy evidence, and her boyfriend, a man by the name of Corey Hawkins, who ultimately was believed to be the actual shooter.

They were all charged in the beginning with conspiracy murder, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, and murder with a deadly weapon. And then I know at least Corey, maybe Corey and Michael, also with an ex-felon in possession of a firearm charge. Now that Michelle has confessed and he has been exposed for his fake alibi, Rodriguez was finally ready to talk about how Nathan really died.

Rodriguez said that he and the other man, whose name was Corey Hawkins, had waited for Nathan to come into his garage while Michelle Pyatt texted them about Nathan's movements and that once Nathan had walked in, Corey Hawkins had shot him. Prosecutors contend it was a cowardly execution of a loving father and a decorated member of the military. Prosecutors would seek the harshest possible punishment.

The office filed the death penalty against Michelle, against Michael, and against Corey. Ultimately, they were severed because there were too many issues with regard to what people said that other people had said or done. Instead of trying all the defendants together, each would get their own trial. A severance is usually requested by the defense because they think their client has a much better shot on their own.

Cases can be split for a variety of reasons. You could have conflicting defenses where basically the jury can't believe one version without disbelieving the other, right? So that is not fair to that other defendant. But more often than not, it has to do with the statements. Because if two people are on trial together, a jury cannot use what one defendant says against another. In September of 2015, nearly five years after Nathan's murder, and trials began, Rodriguez was up first.

He got all the way through trial and he got all the way to verdict where he was convicted of all of the counts. At that point in time, he chose to take a negotiation after trial where he would agree that he would do life without the possibility of parole.

Next, it was time for Michelle Pyatt to stand trial. By this time, her children were being raised back in Guam by Nathan's family. They had already had their lives uprooted after losing their father, and now their mother was on trial for her actions. Michelle Pyatt's demeanor in court was very different than the person texting with Rodriguez the night of Nathan's murder. No longer light and bubbly, now Michelle Pyatt wept in the courtroom.

Perhaps it was the mountain of evidence which had been developed against Michelle Pyatt that gave her and her defense team some pause. There appeared to be a shift in the proceedings. Was a potential plea deal in the works? And who knows the reason why? It could have been the fear of what had just happened at Rodriguez's trial, or maybe she was just wracked with guilt. There are multiple possibilities.

Ultimately, just before the trial began, the prosecution and the defense reached a deal. Our prosecutor, Michelle Flecht, kept the victim's family at the center of her focus, and it was what was best for them and for justice for the victim that guided her and her decisions.

They were involved in our negotiation discussions from the very beginning about whether or not there would even be an offer, what the offer would be. We, of course, always take their feelings into consideration when we're determining what to do with cases with regard to resolutions. They were not proponents of the death penalty, so that was not something that they felt strongly about going to trial in order to seek the ultimate penalty.

They were comfortable with life without the possibility of parole. That was what they wanted. While they were against the death penalty, Nathan's family had no problem with the idea of Michelle Pyatt spending the rest of her days in prison, hopefully reflecting on what she had done. As part of the deal, Michelle Pyatt would plead guilty to first-degree murder and conspiracy charges. There would be no trial, just a sentencing.

And Michelle Pyatt was sentenced to life without parole. The defense still tried to get Michelle leniency. They claimed that she never thought Rodriguez would actually kill Nathan. They really tried to paint Michelle as the victim to Michael Rodriguez. She was just excited by the attention of Michael Rodriguez and excited by this fantasy that he provided her. Pyatt frequently wept breaking down in court. I certainly think that

She came to understand the gravity of what she did, how much she had changed her kid's life and this seismic shift that they would have by losing not only their father, but then losing their mother by having to move from Las Vegas to be in Guam. The reality of spending the rest of her life in prison, being separated from her four children, seemed to really sink in.

But the coldness of what had occurred was forever preserved in those text messages littered with LOLs and smiley faces. Pyatt was given the maximum sentence of life without parole. When she received her sentence, Nathan's family spoke in court.

I don't know that there was a dry eye in the room, to be honest. The ripple effect, the loss, the financial aspects of things, the guardianship of children, the explanation to future friends and family of what happened to their lives, and then reliving that over and over and over again. It's a trauma that is so multifaceted and so nuanced. Of course, we felt that in the courtroom.

The victim impact statement by Nathan's mother as she spoke about her son is still remembered by Michelle Fleck. He had been in Iraq. He had served his country. And then, you know, the irony of Ben losing his life here in the safety of his own home by his own wife. In the courtroom, Payette begged for forgiveness.

Nathan's family lost him forever and knew that his wife was responsible. Yet they found mercy in their hearts. Maybe it's that act of forgiveness from the Payette family that made this case so memorable for Michelle Fleck.

victims and their families and what people have to deal with is so moving and profound for how they then go on to interact in society. There's a ripple effect in that as well, right? So it's not just that they were affected, but then how did they go on with their relationships and how did they treat people and how did they see the world?

In this line of work, as Michelle Fleck said, you see people at their absolute worst and their lowest. You encounter people who have done unthinkable things to one another. But you also meet people like the Payette family who had been able to find forgiveness. That sort of strength and humanity will always be more incredible than evil.

Nathan Pyatt was on his way to work to provide for his family when he was shot to death. Murder is the ultimate cruelty, no matter the reason or who commits the crime. But there is an added level of inhumanity when it is at the hands of someone trusted. Here, his own wife.

Nathan's children lost both their father and mother that day, their father to a cemetery and their mother to the walls of a prison. Today, we remember Nathan all the years he should have had ahead of him, and our hearts and minds go out to his children, and we hope that the four of them are doing well.

Nathan Payette served his country in the most honorable way, surviving a tour of duty only to lose his life in his own garage, unarmed not only with his duty weapon, but the knowledge that his own wife, the mother of his children, was the one who wanted him dead. Divorce, though emotionally difficult, seems a pale option compared to the finality and horror of murder.

It's a stark contrast, a legal process separating lives versus a violent act leaving devastation. This dichotomy exposes a deep well of anger and despair that could fester in a failing marriage. A chilling reminder that emotional turmoil can lead down a tragically irreversible path.

Tune in next week for another new episode of Anatomy of Murder. Anatomy of Murder is an AudioChuck original produced and created by Weinberger Media and Frasetti Media. Ashley Flowers is executive producer. This episode was written and produced by Walker Lamond, researched by Kate Cooper, edited by Ali Sirwa, Megan Hayward, and Philjean Grande. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?

Hi there. I'm a PBM. I'm also an insurance company. We middlemen are often owned by the same company. So, hard to tell apart.

We control what medicines you get and what you pay at the pharmacy. That's why today, more than half of every dollar spent on medicines goes to middlemen like us. Middlemen are driving medicine costs, and you don't know the half of it. Get the whole story at phrma.org slash middlemen. Paid for by Pharma.

The national sales event is on at your Toyota dealer, making now the perfect time to get a great deal on a dependable new car like a legendary Camry. Built for performance and available with all-wheel drive, you can count on your new Camry to get anywhere you need to go. Or check out an affordable and reliable Corolla with a trim for every lifestyle.

From the hip sedan to the sporty hatchback, there's a Corolla built just for you. Check out more national sales event deals when you visit buyatoyota.com. Toyota, let's go places.