This is Jeffrey Roberts with 2020. For more than four decades, 2020 has brought you an incredible variety of compelling stories. Well, now we're going to bring you back to some of the most heart stopping ones from the 2020 true crime vault. And we're going to give you updates on what happened to the people involved. Thanks for listening.

Coming up, you.

Why would you want your husband killed?

I didn't wake up one day and just say, hey, I want to kill my ex husband.

A prominent, successful vet and single mom recording her most private thoughts. Her handsome boyfriend, MD, a ladies man with a pass.

Without sounding pompous. I've always understood women really well, and they've always liked me together.

Did this a list couple decide to.

Kill instead of heal, accused of hiring.

A hitman to kill their respective exes.

I'm not some monster that wanted my ex girlfriend killed.

And her ex husband did.

They cook up a plot at the Olive Garden. And I asked her, are you sure you want to do this? Police are on the trail, and we take you inside their elaborate sting. Why are you arresting the actual body cam footage of the arrest?

What was it like to see your best friend go from wearing doctor's scrubs to an orange jumpsuit?

His jailhouse interview.

I really wouldn't hurt a fly.

And the biggest shocker of all, their exes aren't dead. But someone else will be. I'm John Quinones. It was a whirlwind romance that spun into a murderous plot fueled by revenge, secrets, and obsession. Two lovers whose scheme came crashing down, undone by staged events and hidden identities. In the aftermath, one of them would leave her side of the story on tape. An audio diary. But as Matt Gutman first reported in 2017, would it be just a love story gone wrong or a confession to a crime?

Hi, it's Valerie McDaniel. It's March 15, 2017. I'm sitting outside. I wanted to take time and tell my story from beginning. Try not to judge me.

It's been said that memory is the diary we carry with us. Well, 48 year old Valerie McDaniel put her memories into an audio diary she recorded on her iPad. Thoughts about her daughter. She's so much precious.

Thank you.

Her adventures as a new divorcee 48.

Year old woman trying to start to date, not a good thing.

And also in that diary, it sounds as if she's harboring a bone chilling secret.

I never wanted to hurt anyone. I hate the idea that everybody thinks I'm a monster.

A monster. That's not a word her friends would ever use to describe her.

Valerie was an amazing human being. She had a light within her.

I felt honored to have her as my friend. She was so successful and so beautiful and funny and intelligent.

She seemed to have it all. A veterinarian with a practice so successful, she was able to live in River Oaks, the Beverly hills of Houston, and spend her weekends in a $700,000 beach home where she often invited her friends for parties.

We always karaoke. We can learn to love again. It was a lot of fun. We swam. We just enjoyed each other's company.

She would always prepare these amazing dinners for us.

Now, when you guys had these dinners, there was one thing that was always missing, and that is Valerie's husband. What did she tell you about her marriage?

She did not feel loved. Her husband was never around.

Valerie complained to those friends that Mac, her husband and business partner at the pet clinic, was always out doing his own thing, like hunting. But Valerie later confided to them she thought he was really out hunting other women. She says a woman called the clinic one day, claiming to have proof of that.

She gave me lists of women that he had slept with. She knew that there had been some adultery. I knew that because she talked to me about it. It's hard to watch someone in that much pain.

So much pain. She filed for divorce after 17 years, citing conflict of personalities and adultery. It was a bitter split, but they did agree on the shared custody of their now nine year old daughter.

She was just unhappy.

There was a void that wasn't being filled there. Until, that is, she meets this man, Leon Jacob, a brash Doctor eight years her junior.

Valerie is one of the most amazing human beings that I've ever met. She was nice and kind and giving and educated and a great mother.

They met by happenstance when Valerie, still miserable in her marriage, lived next door to Leon's mother. The sight of Leon hardly swept her off her feet.

He ran up to me and introduced himself, the cockiest ever met in my life. And I was completely turned off immediately by his attitude. And I was drawn to him, but disgusted at the same time.

Just describe the moment you really noticed being attracted to her.

I saw her in a bathing suit. If you want me to be very open about it. That's when I first noticed that she was a knockout and that I was.

Attracted to her and eventually she to him.

I got through that exterior and realized he was a nice person, that he was actually not all that, but he tried to portray himself as. And I really like what was underneath it.

Underneath was a man raised with privilege he attended the best private schools. Winter breaks were spent skiing in Vale, summers in Maine.

I'm an avid golfer and skier, and I work out a lot.

After college, he went to medical school in the Caribbean.

I'm a very driven type. A, alpha personality male. But I have a heart of gold.

I was lonely and he kept me company. He listened to me. It was everything I needed.

The now single mom finally finding love again. And it looked as if they're both finally free for one another. After Leon and his girlfriend split up.

One night, we were laying on our balcony, and she looked at me and she goes, do I have you? And I said, yes.

Soon after, Leon officially moves into that luxury condo.

She was very much in love with him. She said it multiple times. I'm completely in love with him.

But Valerie's friend Maggie had some misgivings about Leon. What didn't you like about him?

Very arrogant and full of himself. I've just never seen anything quite like that. And I've got a pretty strong intuition about people. And I did not feel good about it, and I let her know that.

But Valerie wouldn't hear it. Seemingly so much in common.

We talked science together. We both loved astronomy. We had a telescope in our apartment. We used to look at the constellations.

It sounds like 57 days of bliss, right? Isn't that the number you put on it?

Yes.

But you know what they say. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Prince Charming was not so charming. Turns out the good doctor's medical background was hardly professional. Fired from two different residency programs, one where supervisors found him a threat to patient safety, Leon sues, but a judge rules against him writing. The likelihood of harm to the hospital's patients is significant. If Dr. Jacob is restored to his previous employment, it's not in the public's interest to return Dr. Jacob to the residency program.

I understand that by reason of his.

Deficiencies and apparent inability to acknowledge or.

Correct, these know, these are statements from people that wanted me out. Wanted me out pretty badly.

When I hear he has a medical degree, I immediately think, oh, well, where is he practicing medicine? Nowhere.

And by the time he met Valerie, the only surgery he was doing was cutting himself off from creditors by filing for bankruptcy. And in the romance department, a checkered history as well. For example, his first wife, Annie.

We would fight and love, love, fight, love. It was one of those relationships that people were like, God, they're crazy, but they're there. Crazy. And we love that.

But after eleven years, Annie must have had enough crazy. She filed for divorce and would later press charges for aggravated stalking and intimidation. Court documents say he made calls, sent texts and emails threatening to inflict bodily harm, hurt you. I'm going to hurt your parents right.

In front of you.

Do you understand me?

Attempted cyber harassment is what I pled guilty to, yes. She went a little overboard with her.

Complaints about me, perhaps, but the complaints became a problematic pattern. He was about to start dating an attractive woman named Megan Varicus, and Leon had troubles with her, too. According to the police report, you busted her lip when you put a hand on her.

I never put any hand on her. We were fighting. I shouldn't have put my hand even near her face. I didn't touch her in any way. I was simply trying to calm. But she bit my hand. And at that time, she bit her own lip. And subsequently, that charge has been dropped because there was no evidence.

Charges dropped?

Yes.

But Leon won't let Meghan drop off his radar. But you kept on pursuing her despite the fact that she told you not to.

I kept on pursuing her for a little bit, yeah.

But cops do charge Leon with stalking.

The ex girlfriend says that he hides in the bushes and waits outside.

Her know they caught you in the bushes outside.

There are no bushes. There are no bushes outside.

They caught you loitering outside her office, waiting. Says in the bushes.

She says that people can claim a lot of things, right. You can know Superman came down, took me to Krypton for the weekend. Doesn't make it true.

What is surely true, though, is that apart from the stalking charge, Leon was also courting. And the newfound romance between Leon and Valerie would soon bloom into something very dark, very disturbing. Are you a person who's capable of murder?

No. I really wouldn't hurt a fly if I didn't have to.

That's quite a qualifier. Stay with.

It'S 2024. And in case you haven't heard, there's a presidential election this fall. Americans will head to the polls to make their voices heard. But between now and then, there's going to be a lot of news and a lot of noise. I'm Galen Druke, and every Monday and Thursday on the 538 Politics podcast, we cut through the noise with data and research to get a clearer picture of the race for the White House. What do voters really think? And which game changers will actually change the game? That's 538 politics every Monday and Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.

HOUSTON, Texas, affectionately nicknamed the big Heart, the perfect backdrop for Leon Jacob, a wannabe surgeon whose LinkedIn page would have you believe he's transplanting hearts by day, all while capturing hearts by night? You know how to talk to women.

Yeah, I do. I respect them very much, and most men don't treat them that way.

By now, he's in the loving arms of a new woman, successful single mom Valerie McDaniel. But this couple has some obstacles before they can get to that happily ever after part. First of all, Leon's ex girlfriend Megan may be gone, but her stalking charge still dogs him.

I am not 100% sure to this day why she ran away like she did.

And you can't get a medical license in Texas with a felony. Could there be a prescription to cure that problem? And according to prosecutors, the way that he's going to eliminate that problem is by eliminating her. That's right. The man who took an oath to do no harm is allegedly trying to do in his ex girlfriend, Megan. Investigators say that's what leads Leon to this guy. His name is Zach. A former army sergeant, he swears he can complete the mission in exchange for $5,000 in cash, two Cartier watches, and a laptop as a down payment. But here's the thing. The prosecutor said that Zack was much more of a con man than a hitman. According to investigators, Zack takes the money and runs without ever firing a single shot. That was Zach's story. He said that he was never going to go through with the murders feeling swindled. The cops say Leon tries to hunt down Zack and begins his search with a guy who has seen his share of shady characters. How does a nice fella like you get involved in something like this?

Well, I bonded somebody out of jail, and his name happened to be Leon.

Jacob, meet bail bondsman Michael Kubosh. His life is putting up cash to get people out of jail and then tracking them down if they don't pay him back. Kubosh says when he bonded Leon out of the slammer for allegedly stalking Megan, Leon asked him if he could chase down Zack.

And I said, well, why do you need Zack? He said, I've paid him a lot of money to take care of this matter. And I said, to take care of what? He said, I want her out of the picture. And the way he talked to me, I felt like I was talking to Satan himself.

Kubosh is ratled enough to call the cops, and they contact Megan and get her to a safe house. And then they haul in the would be hitman, Zach and turn up the heat on him. He agrees to help investigators set a trap.

So Zach tells us that Mr. Jacob has hired him to kill the victim.

In this case, but now Zach is working with the cops, and that's a game changer. Prosecutors say that with police secretly listening in, Zach calls and informs Leon he's outsourced the job.

They have Zach call Leon and say, hey, I got a guy. He's going to do the hit for us.

But that new guy is actually an undercover cop named Javier. We've been asked not to show his face.

Once I am involved in the murder plot, then we are able to control the situation.

Javier says that as the call continues, everything is going according to plan until Leon poses a jaw dropping question.

We're taking care of both problems. What both problems? Both of the individuals that we're talking about.

Did he just say both issues?

So HPD is learning. Oh, there's a second person they're trying to take care of. Upon hearing that, I was shocked that Leon wanted two people killed.

And that second victim, none other than Valerie's ex husband, Mac. Turns out the other obstacle in the budding, very dark romance was on Valerie's side, and she and Leon were both in on the scheme.

Leon did tell me that he also wanted to have Valerie's ex husband removed from the picture. At that point, they decide to meet at the olive garden.

The olive garden with its family friendly ambiance. Not really the kind of place you'd expect a murder for hire strategy session to go down with an otherwise normal looking, amorous couple.

It was very obvious to me during that first meeting that Leon was serious about killing Megan and Mac.

So they were sitting at this table? Yes, at this very table. Somewhere between the breadsticks and the bolognese, sits one strange quartet. The vet, Valerie, Bo, Leon, Jacob, Zach, and undercover officer Javier posing as a contract killer. What did they look like when they came in here?

So Valerie had actually come from work. So she was literally wearing scrubs from the vet clinic, along with Dr. McDaniel. Monogrammed on the scrub jacket.

Wow. So, again, not trying to hide her identity.

No, not trying to hide her identity at all.

Cops say Leon has made his target clear. The good doctor even suggests a method, injecting Megan with potassium chloride to stop her heart.

He told me on more than one occasion that his survival is more important than hers, that he was a lot more important than her.

As Leon and Zach take a cigarette break, cops say the undercover, Javier and Valerie are left alone to discuss intended target number two, Valerie's ex, Mac.

He tells her, look, we can make it look like an accident. I can shoot him in the head. It'll look like a carjacking.

And I asked her, are you sure you want to do this? And she said, I have no other choice. He's going to take my baby from me. She was worried about him taking full custody of the girl.

She actually turns over what kind of car he drives, where he can be found, where he lives, and gives some pretty personal details. And he finally gets her to say that she does, in fact, want him to be killed.

And that's when he said, well, if you want that done, it's going to be another $10,000. And Valerie said, okay, I have to pay you installments of it, but I'll pay you $10,000.

Money is tight for Valerie. Thanks to that divorce settlement, she agreed to pay her ex over a million dollars for his share of the vet clinic.

She had just gotten divorced and taken a loan out of $1.2 million to pay Mac McDaniel as part of that divorce. So liquidity may have been an issue for them.

So she had to pay 1.25 in the divorce.

She had to take a loan out.

It may not have been on the menu, but the cops say two murders were ordered here. Coming up, cops make a house call. As cameras roll. The elaborate charade by police to smoke out the alleged conspirators is caught on tape. Why are we being arrested? Next time for the check at this Olive Garden restaurant and picking up the tab for that delicious, affordable, and conspiratorial lunch is Dr. Leon Jacob and his girlfriend, Dr. Valerie McDaniel.

I believe Leon and Valerie paid for the bill.

That was very nice of them. Now, remember, the cops say Leon and Val thought they'd been dining with a hitman, but Javier was really an undercover cop. So police spring into action immediately, reaching out to Valerie's ex husband, Mac, to tip him off. And what they get Mack to do next is right out of a John Grisham novel.

They do a series of pictures of him dead.

He agrees to pose for these photos, staging his own death, complete with a bullet wound to the head.

We wanted to make it look like he'd been killed in a robbery. We took a series of them. One slumped over the steering wheel and shot in the head, and the other one laying on the ground, shot in the head.

Cops have also gotten to Leon's other target, his ex, Megan. Does she express any surprise that Leon Jacob, the man who loved her so much and then stalked her, allegedly would want this to happen to her?

She is in no way surprised that this happened. She knew that he had a temper. He would explode. And now that she was denying him access to herself, like, he became obsessed with her.

Meghan also agrees, staging her own set of pictures to make it look like she's been kidnapped.

Leon kept using the word disappear, or he would say, I want her gone. I want her to go away forever. And I took that to understand that he wanted her dead.

But Javier says, in the middle of depicting the harrowing scene, it's suddenly all a little too real for Meghan. She breaks down.

Megan became hysterical. She was very scared for her life, and she actually began to cry, and she began to tremble.

The doomsday photo shoots are done, and the cops are ready to take their next step in their elaborate sting operation, informing Leon and Valerie that Mac has been killed. Still posing as that hitman, Javier says he breaks the news in person.

At the condo, I began to tell Valerie and Leon that Mac was gone, that it was done. I then asked Leon if he wanted to see a picture, and he told me that he did not want to see anything.

If this was a mistake, if they weren't supposed to go kill the person, kidnap the person, the response would be, oh, my goodness. What have you done? Instead, cops say Leon produces the blood money.

Leon gives me the cash, and I count out one. $800.

Javier now has the cash for evidence, but says he nearly has his cover blown during the exchange. Is there any suspicion on Valerie and Leon Jacobs'part that this guy might be a mean.

There's a little suspicion. Leon, at one point asks Javier, hey, are you a cop? You're not a police officer, are you? And Javier says, no. Are you kind of turning it back on Leon? And Leon goes to search him. And Javier panics a little bit because he's wired up, and he knows that if Leon puts hands on him, he's going to feel this wire. So luckily, he, in quick thinking, pulled the shirt up before Leon could so that he could grab the shirt and the wire before Leon would see that he was actually wired up.

According to the cops in Leon and Valerie's minds, with Mac dead, Megan is next. And later that same day, Javier says he informs Leon that job, too, is done. Megan is now a memory.

She's dead. She's gone. You already took care of it.

Yeah.

I know you had concerns about the body and everything. We'll take care of the body. So at that point, we've closed both cases, but we decided we wanted to go an extra step. And so that extra step was a.

Death notice, a death notice. Now, that's what cops call it when they have to notify a family member or next of kin that a loved one has passed. So now it's these police officers who have to give a performance. Just days after that Olive garden meeting, Sergeant Frank Quinn and other officers show up at that apartment to break what should be shocking, tragic news for Valerie. Now, remember, it's all a ruse to get Valerie's reaction, and it's all being recorded as potential evidence on police body cameras.

I'm afraid we have some bad news.

Valerie's response doesn't seem particularly appropriate. According to Sergeant Quinn, it was not.

What you would expect in reality. And you want to know, are you sure it's my ex husband? How do you know this? You definitely have a lot of questions, a lot of grief.

In the video, Valerie sits quietly, putting her head in her hands.

Now, your boyfriend, you might want to let him know what's going on. I'm sorry.

Soon enough, Leon emerges from the bedroom.

Oh, my God. Looks like might have been a robbery gone wrong. If anybody knows anything. No. We might be able to help us.

Now, listen carefully to what Leon says next, because cops say it's sounding like he's establishing his whereabouts.

Are you okay, baby? We've been here all night. We're here all day with their daughter.

We were watching movies.

What he wants to do is establish an alibi, let you know right away it's not him. And then, feigning that surprise, it was all rehearsed. In my opinion.

Is it strange for a man who hasn't been yet accused of anything to immediately offer an alibi unsolicited?

Absolutely. I think right there, that's great evidence for us.

More than enough, police now believe, to end the masquerade.

All right, well, I'll tell you, we'll need you to come with us. And also, I guess I'll say right now, we're going to read you your rights. Both of you have been arrested. Solicitation, captain? Murder. Murder?

Why are we being arrested?

Just put your palms together.

Oh, and there's yet another surprise in store for Valerie as she's being hauled off to jail. Someone's waiting outside her front door. It's her ex husband Mac, back from the dead, waiting to take custody of their young daughter.

He stays at the threshold of the apartment. They allowed her go get her daughter. She brings the daughter to the threshold and then hands the daughter off to Mac.

And that was the last time that she saw her daughter.

It was.

I wonder what was going through her mind at that moment that she handed her over to the man she tried to murder, knowing that it was all over.

Her child, her career, her freedom. But Valerie's love for Leon indoors. For one final kiss, they were both on their way to face justice. But only one of them will make it to the trial. Stay with us.

Valerie McDaniel and her boyfriend, Leon Jacob, have been arrested for solicitation of murder. Now the two lovers, once inseparable, are about to be torn apart in the most shocking way. Once again, here's Matt Gutman.

Ordinarily, doctors wear scrubs, but not these two, at least not today. Led into court wearing orange jumpsuits, charged with allegedly hiring a hitman to kill both of their exes.

Enough of this. Patron?

No, judge. Thank you. Four days after the arrest, Valerie was released on a $50,000 bond. After a couple of days in the cooler, she says she needs to chill out and goes to see her friends. Why would you want your husband killed?

She really did not talk about it at all. I think she knew that it was an uncomfortable situation for everyone.

We were all trying to be upbeat and positive and, like, it's going to be fine. We can work through this. We'll help you out for you. But she seemed a little resigned, maybe a little defeated. It was a look in her eyes that I hadn't quite ever seen before. A haunting look that becomes a final moment between friends. And then, in hindsight, I immediately realized she came there to say goodbye. Just two days later, in a move that stuns those friends and the community, Valerie leaps to her death from her 7th floor balcony.

The death of a murder for hire suspect who jumped from her own condo balcony today. People fell to their knees crying. I was completely, just completely shocking.

I don't know what. I got a call, and I didn't want to believe it.

And in one final loving gesture to her friend Maggie, she pins this letter just before jumping to her death. Can you read it?

Dear Maggie, I'm so very sorry for what I have done, but I'm just not strong enough to fight all the battles ahead. I'm tired and so scared and so weak. Be well and stay safe. All my love.

Valerie losing her career and her reputation. I just think she just didn't want to live like that anymore. Mostly, losing her daughter was the biggest thing.

It was just as much a shock to me as it was to everybody else around her.

Did you hold yourself responsible for her suicide?

No. That was a decision she made on her own.

So you never thought for a minute that maybe you'd put her in a position that she just couldn't handle and that it drove her to commit suicide? No.

She had so much pressure on her, and I wasn't there to help support her.

Leon, who was never released on bond, asked the judge to allow him to attend Valerie's funeral, but his request was denied. Valerie McDaniel left a note detailing her final wishes before apparently jumping to her death from that condo. She also left behind that audio diary. She recorded a suicide note in her own voice from beyond the grave.

I didn't wake up one day and just say, hey, I want to kill my ex husband. Things just gradually happened.

However it happened, prosecutors say there's no question Valerie wanted her ex husband dead and actually confessed to it. After her arrest, on that video outside.

Her apartment, they keep having her tell her to speak up, and she says things know, so you wanted your husband know? You can't nod. You have to say, yes. Be like, yes. That's what I wanted.

No matter how educated she was, no matter how brilliant or loving she was, seemingly fell under the spell of Leon Jacob.

Val's friends blame Leon. Do you think he's responsible for her death?

She wouldn't be where she is now if it wasn't for him. How does Valerie get from well respected bets to hiring a hitman to suicide? I think that you're going to find this linchpin of that is Leon Jacob.

I do want people to understand this was not something that she wanted to happen. It's something that happened to her. I truly believe that this was not something that she would have ever done.

Maggie points out in the short eight week period Leon and Valerie were together, she saw her friend only once.

She wouldn't hang out with her friends anymore, which is all classic stalker method of operation. You cut them off from their friends, you seclude them.

Leon denies keeping Valerie from her friends.

You know, when you're first in a new relationship, you kind of isolate yourselves with each other.

But despite everything that's happened in her recorded suicide note, Valerie never turns on Leon. She may have loved him, but she also left him to stand trial alone. But Leon says prosecutors got them all wrong.

I am innocent of these charges. I still maintain that throughout. I find them to be atrocious in manner because I'm not some monster that wanted my ex girlfriend killed and her ex husband. I'm a healer by nature.

When we come back, prosecutors tell a jury, Leon's not a healer. He's a hirer of hitmen. Leon Jacobs does not stop until he gets what he wants. What I'm trying to understand is, are you Dr. Jekyll or are you Mr. Hyde? And for the first time, meet the would be victims, the people behind those gruesome and fake photos.

They have tied my hands and my feet and put duct tape around my mouth to make me look as if I had been kidnapped.

Stay with us. March 2018. Leon Jacob walks into a packed Houston courtroom ready to face down charges that he masterminded the planning of a double murder.

Jaw dropping testimony and riveting photos, how.

They wanted their exes to be, quote, taken care of.

Jacob's attorney says it would be a, quote, quantum leap to believe that Jacob wanted dead the ex girlfriend he once so loved. Our ABC station, KTRK, there every step of the way. All right, good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. We're ready to proceed with that. Is estate ready? One of the things you'll learn about Leon Jacobs is he has to be in control. Leon Jacobs does not stop until he gets what he wants. Prosecutors tell jurors that what Leon wanted was a new life with a new wife, Valerie. There were two obstacles to the defendant's new life with Valerie McDaniel. It was Mac and it was Meg. Like many of us here today, Leon.

Made some mistakes in life.

Leon's defense starts with that classic refrain, there's no perfect man, but does not make him guilty of solicitation of capital murder. Instead, they point the finger squarely at the police, saying their undercover hitman entrapped Leon for their own purposes. They realized this could be the case that makes their career. They would try to force these people into making their decisions that they did not want to make. Prosecutors waste no time in calling the two people who were never supposed to testify because they weren't supposed to be alive. All right, we're ready to continue. And with that, will the state call your first witness?

Thank you. So the state of Texas calls Megan varicus.

First up, Leon's ex girlfriend, Megan Varicus, who tells jurors about the abuse she suffered that ended their relationship.

And ultimately, did the police file charges in that case? Yes. Assault against the family member.

She then characterized his continuing efforts to contact her as a man who was desperate, and she said certainly she was beyond frightened.

He was calling, texting, emailing. He actually showed up at my place of work. Did you seek further protection from the defendant? I did everything I could to stay away from.

Prosecutors say Leon didn't just want to see Megan, he wanted to see her dead. And that's where those staged pictures come in.

Do you know why they wanted to take photos of you? Because somebody had been paid to kill me.

Valerie's ex husband, Mac McDaniel, also tells jurors about his gruesome headshots.

Did the officers ask you to do something for them?

Stage my own death.

Is that you laying face down in the grass with that pig blood all over you?

Yes, ma'am.

He said the entire time, in the back of his mind were thoughts of his young daughter.

If they would have been successful, Natalie would have not had any parents.

And that thought upset you?

Unimaginable.

But the centerpiece of the prosecution's case will be the audio secretly recorded by that undercover hitman.

That cool is petrified.

Clearly, the strongest evidence against Leon Jacob were his own words. She's gone.

All this goes away. At least you start. I'll need the $2,500 payment. Just get it done.

You'll get the payment.

Okay. The potassium injection. Whatever you said it was. You think I can do it myself?

Yeah, it's easy.

You got injected in the groin.

In the groin, not in the heart.

Oh, hell no.

You can't have a needle mark.

But even his own damning words can't dissuade a guy like Leon Jacob from doing what we rarely see. Take the stand in his own defense. State your name for the latest gentleman of this jury.

Leon Jacob. I never asked to have anybody hurt, killed, harmed, kidnapped.

But what about his words on those recordings? Jacob says he was just following the lead of the people he was talking to.

I felt a lot of pressure from them to sort of commit to this idea of killing people, and that was never my intent. And so I think that I took a much more aggressive tone with them.

We're taking care of both problems. What both problems? Her and him.

But when prosecutors get their shot at Jacob, it doesn't take long to ruffle his feathers. When they bring up how quickly he moved on from Meghan to Valerie, that.

Would have put you sleeping with Valerie McDaniel just seven days after you and Meghan broke up, correct?

If the math is correct, yes.

Okay, so when you tell the members of this jury that you're heartsick over Megan, that's not really true, is it?

I have no problem sitting here and saying that I slept with Valerie seven days after Megan and I broke up. But I'm not on trial for being a womanizer. I'm on trial for solicitation of capital murder. So you can assassinate my character all you want up here. It doesn't make me guilty of what you've charged me with.

Prosecutors say. What does make him guilty of that? Are those recorded conversations they have?

Megan will be taken care of, too.

This week.

Yeah, I was just having a conversation about possible scenarios. I wasn't giving him any directions.

Did you not want anybody hurt? When you said, inject her with potassium chloride, stop. Her heart untraceable.

I said that was something you could do. I didn't say that for him to do that.

I'm going to show you what's been entered into evidence of state's exhibit number 22.

And when confronted with that picture of Megan, tied up and terrified, Leon acknowledges he saw it and thought it was real.

And in seeing this picture, you'd agree with me that no time did you tell officer WHOOP, timeout. Stop. This has gone too far. I don't want any part of this. You never said that, did you?

Not those exact words. I did not remember.

Your admonished us not to discuss the case. And we'll see you back at 930 in the morning. With Leon Jacobs testimony wrapped up, both sides rest their cases. And now the only words anyone is waiting to hear are from the jury, even before the verdict is in. Leon, ever the optimist, ever the planner, seems eager in this jailhouse call.

Hello?

Hey, Pensacola, how are you doing?

To capitalize on his newfound notoriety in.

The Leon Jacob trial.

It's a good story.

It's something.

You want to read a book about Bradley Cooper?

To play me in the tv movie.

Oh, that's not me.

No. Back in this downtown Houston courtroom, it takes the jury barely an hour to come to a decision. I think that spoke volumes in this case. We, the jury, find the defendant, Leon Philip Jacob, guilty of solicitation of capital murder as charged in the indictment. You did not see a physical outward change in emotion.

You may be seated on his face.

Or in his body. And now the jury will determine if he should go to prison and for how long. To help them do that, prosecutors call a bombshell witness Annie Morrison.

Do you know an individual by the name of Leon Jacobs?

Yes.

How do you know him?

He's my ex husband.

If there was any doubt for jurors about what Leon Jacob is capable of, his ex wife and the mother of his two children puts all that to rest.

There was a time that we got into a fight, and he pulled a knife on me. He would push me, grab my arms or my shoulders, kick me, push me against the wall. He threatened that if I ever left, that he would kill me. He said that nobody would ever find my body because he was a doctor and he had access to chemicals that would dissolve my body.

This defendant cannot be trusted to live among us. He's terrorized too many people for too long. The only appropriate punishment in this case is life.

Please go with the bail.

And the prosecutors, in their wish, was sentenced to life in prison. The man of so many words suddenly at a loss for them.

Do you have anything to say?

No, sir.

And it's Megan Varicus, the woman he wanted dead, who gets the last word. Addressing Leon directly, I believe everything happens for a reason.

You took away my sense of security, but you can do that no more.

You're a guy with some of the best pedigree around. How does a guy like you end up in a place like this?

That's a really good question. I don't necessarily have an answer for you. I've been knocked down a bunch of my life, and I always got back up.

But it seems that this time, it'll be tougher to do that while you sit in jail.

I hope you think of me because it's because of me. You will be in prison for life. Enjoy life in prison.

This is Deborah Roberts. As of 2023, Leon Jacobs has been unsuccessful in appealing his conviction. He will be eligible for parole in 2048. Thanks for listening to this episode of the 2020 true Crime Vault. We hope to see you on Friday nights at 09:00 p.m. For all new broadcast episodes of 2020 on ABC. We'll be back next week. Our.