How often do you think about that tragic day?

Every day. Every day, I even have nightmares about it.

What's your full name?

Laura.

Mm-hmm. Me. Dave.

How Laura would come off to people was from the old sitcom, Therese Company as Chrissy, the bubbly, bleach blonde. She had told me for her it was love at first sight.

We met each at a time in our life where our marriages were falling apart.

What is it with her marrying all these men?

She wanted it to just be us.

We're going to be together forever, and you're not going to be with anyone else ever.

I was so wrapped up in I was tangled up in all of this that so many red flags escaped me.

I blame him. I do blame him. He knew about her past.

This case involves a love triangle. There's anger, there's resentment. It is no surprise that somebody wind up dead.

Okay.

This is the first interview you've done, right?

On this case? Yes. And now is the right time to do it.

This is Laura Day, once a soccer mom and a wife, now behind bars, accused of an unthinkable crime that she says she did not commit. How would you describe your life before you got here?

I lived in paradise.

And then it all came crashing down. Correct.

Yes.

Corpus Christi, South Texas. It's the hometown of Selena, the Queen of Tejano music. And just across the water from her statue, is North Padre Island. What's this island like?

Well, as you can see, it's not a bad place to live at all. Corpus is a nice town. It's a fairly good-size town, but everybody knows everyone.

Well, it's probably the biggest little small town there is.

I could not live anywhere else. When you cross that bridge from your long day at work, you feel like you just naturally take a deep breath and you're on vacation. I worked hard for everything. Palm trees, sunsets. It was beautiful.

It's the whole island life. The flip flops, the shorts, the shirt, just pretty casual. It's just a whole different lifestyle over here.

Who was this woman?

That's me. Way back in the '90s, in good old days, I was a bikini model. Laura was a very visible character on the island because she just stood out a bit. Did a lot of bikini contests and also worked for an agency, but I gave it all up and decided to settle down and fell in love with the Englishman.

Laura moved to Corpus Christi in 1997 with British-born Phil Day. The The next year, they marry and their son, Cameron, is born.

I got to meet Laura through a Mom & Todd's group for Stay at Home Island Mommies at the time, which I was. She just had a very, very commanding presence. I think that's the best way to describe it. She was going to be noticed in the group.

She was very friendly, very demonstrative. She was an attractive lady, very personable. She was a good mother.

She was very devoted to Cameron. I would see them with their son, she and her husband, Phil, and just very devoted. Did not miss soccer practice, did not miss games, and just basically a happy suburban couple.

Lara wasn't your typical soccer mom. She and her family were enjoying the high life in their palatial mansion, reachable by boat. That's the house right there, huh? That's it right there. What's it like inside? It was pretty impressive, if you like Greek pillars and marble and that thing. Did she have any close women friends?

No. I often thought she was lonely. I think it was difficult for her to make connections with other women. She would want to become your friend very, very quickly. Sometimes that can be a little off-putting.

You said that you didn't know whether she was being friendly or flirting with you. You know, maybe it was a little bit of both. She didn't get along with a lot of women, you say, but how about the men?

Men being visual creatures, I'm sure, didn't necessarily have a problem with Laura.

Laura would soon cross paths with another family, the Searings. David, wife Kelly, her son, Sebastian, and five-year-old Taylor.

Life was pretty good. Kelly, she had a son already that was Sebastian. He was a good little boy, and it was like being a dad to him.

Tell me about Taylor.

He was big. Big personality.

Fearless.brave?brave. Not afraid of water at all. He loved the water.

The first time we took him to a big pool, his expression was, Big bathtub.

We were at my sister's house running a bath for his cousin, and the next thing you know.

He's fully clothed, sitting in the water. It's like, okay.

Taylor was David's mimic. When he was with his dad, whatever his dad was doing, that's what he wanted to be doing.

David was driving a fuel truck, putting him on the road for long stretches of time.

I was gone quite a bit, especially in the early years. I'd be gone for a week or two, sometimes at a time. Kelly and I had moments where things were good, and then we would have long periods of things where I was unhappy.

In 2010, he starts driving for a new company with better hours.

They offered me home every night, two days off, and I was like, Man, that's perfect. But then things with Kelly and I got worse again. And that was about the time that I met Laura.

I did tell my ex, Don't bring everybody around Taylor that you're dating.

For her, it was love at first sight, and I was definitely attracted to her.

And And his first weekend to pick Taylor up, he brought that woman.

David Searing has been with his new company for just over a year when a new sales rep joins the team, Laura Day.

My opinion of how Laura had come off to people or how she came off to me, was from the old sitcom, Therese Company as Chrissy, the bubbly, bleach blonde. Is he gone?

Yeah, everything's all right. No, it isn't. What do you mean?

You ate all my cake.

That's the stereotype she came off to me as. She was attractive. I mean, everybody noticed her. She did good as a sales rep, just with her personality.

And then you met David Searing.

Yeah, we We met each other at a time in our life where our marriages were falling apart. And so we just fell in love.

I was going through a rough patch with Kelly, and Laura was very friendly. She was married, too. She would explain to me the issues that she had in her marriage, and it seemed as though neither one of us were really happy with our spouse.

What did attracted you to David in the first place?

He was kind. He was fun. We had a lot in common.

What was the attraction?

She didn't act her age. She acted, if anything, probably younger than me.

She was 10 years older than you?

12 years, actually. When David and Laura started dating, I was worried that David was Giving up something for something that may not really be what it was.

How did it become a full-blown affair?

I don't know. Things just happened so fast. It was one thing led to another. I thought Laura was more about making sure that she was getting what she wanted, that it was more about her than about him. It's how I thought personally about her. You give somebody some attention that's not used to getting attention, and they will bend over backwards to do whatever you want them to do. And I always felt Laura was that type of person.

It's around the beginning of the new year when David reveals to his wife, Kelly, that he's been having an affair. And by May 2012, their marriage is over. How acrimonious was the divorce between you and David?

It was not easy. I was still very much in love with him. He was very angry.

How was Taylor affected by the divorce?

He was heartbroken.

What would he say?

He just started crying. He just sat in my lap. And we tried to reassure him that, We both love you very much. That's never going to change.

At the time Laura begins dating David Searing, her son, Cameron, is very much in the picture. And at a certain point, Laura's relationship with Cameron becomes strained.

She says that you're going to live with your father, Philip Day, who really didn't live very far away. But it left her with David alone in the house.

Bare a few months after their divorces are finalized, David and Laura visit the wedding capital of the world, Las Vegas. Got married in Vegas. What was that like?

It was fun. It was like, let's just go to Vegas and get married.

You got divorced and then married pretty quickly. Divorced in May of 2012. Correct. And then married in August 2012, three months later.

Yes. Now, part of that was in my divorce decree. Kelly had wanted it to be put in there that there was to be no overnight guests I wasn't married to around Taylor.

He had a morality clause in his divorce. That meant that Taylor couldn't spend the night if I was in the house, which rushed our marriage along. Taylor was at a very, very sensitive age of six So it's perfectly understandable that Kelly would say, Look, not until you're ready to introduce a woman who's actually your wife, I do not want to confuse my son further.

I mean, we felt like we wanted to get married. Maybe not quite that soon, but I wanted Taylor to be able to be around Laura and Laura to be around him.

What was Taylor like?

Oh, very adventurous, and he had no fear. Okay, go. We had a big pool in the backyard. Awesome.

I guess he was learning to swim.

He knew how to swim. We taught him, and he was a pretty good swimmer. Say, Hi, everybody. Hi, everybody.

He was learning to swim a little too quick for my taste.

I recorded it so your mommy can see it, your grandpa, everybody.

He loved the water, and it was a little scary how fast he was going with it.

You want to do another one? Yeah. Okay, one minute.

I always made sure that he had a life jacket on. What did he like? He loved the water and he loved the pool. One, two, three, four.

It is a beautiful house. Where do you think Laura got the money?

She told me of some Internet businesses selling images and whatnot.

Well, there were stories in this neighborhood of filming going on, of of adult-oriented productions.

Looking back, the theatrical elements to their home lends itself to the movie set, right? But it was a rumor that was always around.

I've heard that some adult films were made?

Not by us, but I did own an adult content business, and I purchased images and some films from professional photographers, and we sold it on the Internet and made a really good living at it.

But you weren't in those pictures?

No.

You met her, said hello? No.

I never met her in person.

Never did? Mm-mm. You were the mother of his baby. I know.

I didn't handle things properly with the way our relationship ended. But there was issues because it seemed like Kelly wanted to make it hard, especially for Laura. Kelly did not want Laura picking Taylor up from school. And Laura was fighting and saying that, Hey, you need to let her know that I am going to be picking him up from school.

What did you think of his wife, Kelly?

I really didn't get a chance or an opportunity to get to know her better. I wanted to.

You were caught in the middle.

Yes. Laura was afraid that given my close bondments to Taylor, that I would eventually, one day, maybe go back to Kelly.

You weren't worried that Taylor would his parents back together again?

No, absolutely not. As a matter of fact, David hired an attorney, we both did, to get full custody of Taylor.

David claims that there was a dispute over his medical care that prompted David and Laura to try to get full custody over Taylor. We had been instructed that it was going to be hard to try to get grounds that were serious enough to get custody. Laura knew I knew that Taylor was David's world. Regardless of what else happened, Taylor was David's world.

I was very secure in my relationship with David at the time. I was not jealous of anybody. Do you love me more than you loved Kelly?

I love you.

I'm on a heart's seashell. Despite me telling her over and over that I was there with her. I never loved like I love you. She wanted it to just be us.

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This was his chance to answer directly whether he will continue his re-election bid. Incredibly high-stake stuff. An audio version of this interview just dropped on Start Here. You can listen right now to search for Start Here wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, go. David and Laura have been married for two months and are adjusting to life as a new family, with little Taylor visiting on the weekends.

It almost seemed perfect at first. We both cared for each other We're making sure that each other was happy.

As a stepmom, what was Laura like with Taylor?

She seemed to care for him like he was her own. They would bake cookies together. She was always trying to think of things to do as a family.

We went everywhere together. Movies, Chuck E. Cheese. I mean, I took him to Taekwondo, and just we did everything.

We talked of what we would do for Taylor to give him a better life.

I had a bright future for him. We even talked about saving money and putting away for college like I did my own son. So we had high hopes.

You loved this little boy? Yes. Tell me about that tragic day, October fifth, 2012.

Right.

How did it begin? What happened?

It began on a Friday, and I picked Taylor up from school, and we didn't have any set plans as to what to do. Because we got Friday. Daddy's still at work. What would you like to do? He said he wanted to have a picnic on the beach.

It was to be my weekend with Taylor. Laura, from my understanding, was going to pick him up.

I had sole custody. He got him every other weekend.

Normally, under their divorce agreement, David would pick up Taylor on Saturday mornings. But in this particular occasion, Kelly agreed to allow him to pick up Taylor on a Friday.

He wasn't supposed to have him that day, but I started thinking Taylor would be upset with me. He knew his dad wanted to pick him up, so I agreed that he could have him that Friday.

So Laura picked him up from school. They would maybe stop to get one of their regular fruit smoothie drinks and head to the house.

He likes to try different ones all the time. So he tried some Blueberry, I think it was. And I didn't want it chicken nuggets. So we got the chicken nuggets and we cruised on home. And I said, well, if we're going to have a picnic on the beach, I got to get all the beach gear.

So was this an impromptu visit to the beach with Taylor, or was it planned?

No, it was a spur of the moment decision.

You had spoken to Laura on the phone. Had she mentioned that she might take him to the beach?

She had mentioned going to McDonald's and getting him a happy meal, but never to the beach.

We went home, got the beach gear, and we just went I walked across the street to the beach in my car, and I couldn't believe it. The beach was so packed for a Friday. My first thought was, Don't these people work? So I went down quite a ways.

You went far away just so there to be less people?

To less people because it was really crowded and to get our own space on the beach. It's When we stopped, even though there were people over to my left that were fishing a couple, they had a dog, and the dog wasn't on the leash. So I said, Let's go down a little further.

Did you plan to put him in the water?

Or did you get him to-He wanted to go swimming. He wanted to go? Yes. He wanted to go to the beach. That was his idea. Because I personally never saw him swim on the beach. I made him wear a life jacket. And when I did that, he complained about it rubbing on the back of his neck. It was giving him a rash, clearly. I said, If you can show me that you're okay and you feel safe enough to dive under the waves and you feel comfortable, then I'll let you swim and play in the beach in the shallow water without your life jacket. So I went in the water with him the first time, and to make sure that he was okay. And he was squiling, having a good time, going diving under the waves like kids do. Anyway, so as soon as I felt comfortable with him being alone. I went back right to the water's edge.

How far out did he go?

I don't know exactly, but you can go out far before the water gets deep. And just a few minutes later, something pulled him out and sucked him under. At first, I didn't understand. I thought maybe he dived under the wave and he was swimming. But then I realized he didn't surface. And I ran in the water to where he was, and he was gone. And And then I saw him floating face down. He came up again? Yes, he was floating face down a ways away from me, where I was, and I ran out to him.

Were you yelling crying, calling for help?

I screamed his name, and I turned him over, and there was no life in him. He wasn't breathing. And all I thought was that I had to give him air. So I gave him air in the water while I had him in my arms. And he was life helpless. So I took him back to the beach, and I panicked. And I tried to get the water out of his lungs, and it just wasn't coming out. I didn't know why.

But you knew CPR.

Why not do I panicked, and I was disoriented. I wasn't thinking clearly.

And that panic caused you to take off?

Go straight to the hospital. Yes.

I was born and raised in South Texas, and I remember coming here as a child, and I remember being warned about the undertows and the power of the riptite. You see the power of those waves. Anything could happen.

I was headed home, and I hadn't heard from Laura in a while, and that was unusual. And so I tried calling her, and several phone calls, no answer. Finally, a nurse answers to the phone, and I heard the frightening words, It's Taylor.

It's early fall in Corpus Quiste, and a trip to the beach appears to have gone terribly wrong. Describe that drive to the hospital.

Just going very fast. Just trying to get there as quickly as possible.

My first call was to Kelly to let her know to get to the hospital immediately.

After about 20 minutes, Laura arrives at the hospital with Taylor. She came in screaming that she needed help, and then everybody went and tried to get the patient inside, and we immediately started to try to resuscitate. He did not have a pulse, and he did not have spontaneous respirations.

We got the breathing tube in as quickly as possible and put IV access to give medications.

When I walked into the hospital, I could clearly see the doctors trying to resuscitate him.

Doing everything you can and knowing that you're not going to have a good outcome is It's a very sad situation. What happened at the hospital?

What happened to the hospital is they tried to revive him, but he was already gone. Laying there, lifeless, blue, grayish blue. As soon as I saw him, I knew he was gone.

In the back of my head, I may have known, but my mind would not let me believe that I had just lost my boy.

And what is Laura doing?

She was standing there just not doing anything, not crying, nothing. Just standing there as if she had the right to be there.

Didn't try to comfort you?

No. It's probably a good thing she didn't. And all I could do I was just cry. Just lay my head on my son's... And just cry.

He was gone? Mm-hmm. And she just stood there? Mm-hmm. I don't remember exactly where Ms. Day was. I know I talked to her at one point to get a history of what happened.

And I was still very confused, disoriented, and still very hysterical and upset not thinking clearly.

She told me just that he drowned, and she found him and put him in the car and drove him in. She didn't have a lot of emotion on her face, but sometimes people can be reacting to horrible news or horrible situation, and that's the way they react.

We had a little get-together of family members. I don't recall her being involved in it. She was pretty well trying to stay away from Kelly because Kelly was screaming and yelling at Laura from across the lobby area. When I got to the hospital, I thought that Taylor had been with Kelly Kelly. And I asked Laura, I said, Where were Kelly and Taylor at? And she goes, Oh, no, Paul, he was with me. And before I even said anything, the police officer that was standing there told me that I shouldn't have any conversation. So I went back across the parking lot, and I noticed that they had another police officer in Laura's vehicle taking pictures and video inside of her Toyota. I started thinking, Okay, This is weird. If it's an accident, why would I not be able to console or talk to some friends of mine? And why are they taking all these pictures and videos? And why is that cop continuously just standing there?

I remember it so well because I don't remember a drowning patient coming in that way. They always came in by EMS. That hospital you took him to, though, was 12 miles away.

It was the closest hospital to the beach.

There was a firehouse nearby with EMS technicians, and maybe they could have revived him or tried to.

Perhaps, possibly, but when it comes to saving somebody's life, do you really think of a fire department? Do you?

If he was lifeless when she pulled him from the water, you can't waste all that time driving when you could be doing resuscitation. If the brain is not receiving oxygen after about 4 to six minutes, then you have brain death. So there was no way that the child was going to survive after that drive.

So on Friday, October fifth, I received a call from Detective Penya She reached out to me to say, I'm here at Bay Area Hospital. There's a young boy who's drowned, and I just don't have a good feeling about this. And she said, I want to take Laura Day and David Searing to the main station, and I want to interview them. And I said, If you have a bad feeling, then do what you need to do.

I still remember that drive. I prayed to God. I was praying.

I hope no one brains me for this.

No, we're not going to ask for that, right?

And I said, I don't care, be it God or the devil. I don't care what happens to me, my eternal soul. Maybe I should call 911. Please don't let this be reality. Well, as far as I know, it was an accident.

On the night when David Searing was interviewed.

There's no question in your mind that she would do anything to hurt him at all, right?

He said several things.

I'm a doubtful person. You're doubtful.

During the interview, they were interesting.

She can't hear me, can't she?

Tragedy has hit the close-knit community of Corpus Christi with the death of six-year-old Taylor Searing. He was brave?

Brave, humble, caring, full of life. When I dropped him off at school, I would play a game with him. Give me a hug and kiss, and then I would go, Oh, wait, I need my hug and kiss. And the last day, he did it to me because I need my hug and kiss, Mom. Okay. Come, Mom. I need my hug and kiss.

On October fifth? Mm-hmm. And that was the last you saw of him? Mm-hmm. That evening, David, Kelly, and Laura are interviewed by the police. My name is Detective Binya. This is my partner, Detective Mike Felsy, and this is normal procedure. I'll start off, I'm very sorry for what you're having to go through.

I just assumed that this was just routine, and I wanted to be able to help any way I could just to make sure that they had all the information that they needed.

It is not unusual for the parents to be brought in for questioning. You have a six-year-old who is dead, and they need to understand the circumstances of his death.

Sitting off camera, Taylor's mother, Kelly, is distraught. Do you have any questions for me?

Yeah.

How do you plan a funeral for a six-year-old? He was sweet. How many children do you have? One. You have one? And what's his name?

I don't know. He's a boy.

Did anybody tell you you were in custody?

No, but I felt like I was.

And what about David? How many children for David? I don't know. I'm sorry. I can barely hear you. He doesn't have any, now.

There were crying type noises, but no evidence that there were any tears. And she had to be asked to repeat herself quite a bit when answering questions.

At one point, the detective had to say, Look at me. Look at me. She had long blonde hair, and it's covering her face. And it's like, Wait a second. We got to get through this. We got to push through this for Taylor's sake.

If the police thought you weren't crying, what are you telling The nerve of them. How many children did he have?

One.

Is his child's name? He's four.

They knew I was crying. David knew I was crying.

And the reason I'm asking some of this stuff is I want to get an idea of the family dynamics and what's going on in you all's lives.

I told them the difficulties we were having with Laura and Kelly and trying to get custody of Taylor.

How's the relationship between you and Kelly? Not good.

She wouldn't even speak to me tonight or before. Ever since the divorce. Ever since the divorce.

He said he wanted to have a picnic on the beach. And I said, Well, that sounds like fun. We can do that. I don't know the woman. I don't know anything about her, but I think she is a manipulator.

Has he ever done that before? Not with me.

But he did mention that he was at the to reach with his mother. I think she's responsible for my son's death because she wasn't there.

How do CPR?

I did CPR for the time I'm CPR certified. I'm also a diver.

Okay, so can you tell me how you did CPR on Taylor? I didn't press on his chest. That's what we're doing right now.

And you didn't do chest compressions because you thought...

I don't want to hurt him. I panicked.

If she was trained in CPR, she would have known that she had to start ventilations and compressions immediately.

And you also want somebody to call 911.

When he was in the water, do you remember how deep the water was on him, they start moving back or ?

Well, because he's not very tall, so probably to his chest. About his chest. His shoulders, maybe. Okay.

I would say overall, I didn't have any specific red flags from her interview. But nonetheless, it was interesting because when Detective Ilsey would ask questions, you would see that she would look up and make eye contact with him when she answered. But she wasn't doing that for Detective Penya.

I don't know how he got so far away.

Water and waste will drag and take you quick. I think that's what happened.

However, when David Searing was interviewed at the police station, he said several things during the interview that were interesting.

Taylor and Laura.

Taylor got along with everybody.

Got along with everybody. And she got along with him. There's no question in your mind that she would do anything on purpose to hurt him at all, right?

I'm a doubtful person. You're doubtful.

You told the police, I believe it was an accident, but I want to know the truth.

Yes. I said, If you find out anything, if you find out otherwise, if it's not an accident, I want to know. The reason I say this is because I want to know for certain. I know that Laura was extremely jealous of Kevin. And she was afraid that one day I would try to get back with her, even though there was no chance that I would... She was fearful of that, too.

He made it very clear in that interview that Laura Day was extremely jealous of Taylor's mother. And they had discussed getting custody of Taylor and moving far, far away.

And she wanted Once we did get Taylor, if she wanted we would just leave Corpus and move away from everybody.

Maybe I should call her one more.

I don't know what you might be in a panicky situation. Okay. Is there anything else, any other concerns that you need to know about?

No. She can't hear me, can't she? I told the police what I had found because it had just been that week. I did an Internet search and typed in her as her name. It wasn't that I was really searching for something on Laura. I was just curious to see what it would say. Her name was Laura Feist. It's her birth name. When all these charges popped up, I was just like, Wow, what is this? 17-year-old Laura Feist shot and killed her boyfriend on May 11, 1982. It said that she had a previous murder charge. I was shocked. I was like, This can't be. The Laura that I know.

How would you describe your life before you got here?

I lived in paradise.

It almost seemed perfect at first. Laura was more about getting what she wanted. She knew that I would never leave Taylor. She knew that that bond was there.

Tell me about that tragic day.

It was like you got sucked under or something. It was very strange. There was no life in him.

But you knew CPR. Why not do that?

I panicked. I was going to blame you for this.

Well, it was an actual, right? Yeah. The woman I thought I knew would not have been capable of something like that.

I don't care, be it God or the devil. Don't let this be reality, that my son is not here.

This is partly his fault. He knew about her past.

Laura's name was connected to a series of crimes, including theft, fraud, and murder. I had discovered it that week, and by the weekend, my son was dead.

Corpus Christi, it's a beautiful place. Bob Hall Pier is a very popular area.

Waterways, put your boat in the water, go fishing.

A lot of things going for Corpus Christi. I see other parents out here with other children, and they're all very close. I just can't imagine letting a shell wander off that far. It's like the third wave out there coming in. That's how far the little boy, Taylor, was from Laura. Tragically for David and Kelly Searing, this stretch of beach, south of Bob Hall Pier, has become a place of nightmares.

That was always one of my biggest fears of him drowning. I couldn't explain it. I just I always had that fear, and I was always extra cautious anytime he was around the water.

David, Kelly, and Laura are interviewed at the Corpus Christi Police Department before returning to their homes later that night.

At this point, no charges have been filed.

It was an interview to figure out what happened because Laura really, in essence, was the only witness that they were aware of at the time.

It was just a tragic accident.

That night, I lost what was most important to me, and I wasn't really in the mood to be talking. My life just didn't seem to matter anymore without the thought of going on without Taylor.

As soon as I saw him, I knew he was gone.

But Taylor's tragic death is not David's only concern.

Did an Internet search after we were married and typed in her name. Her name was Laura Feist. It's her birth name. A week before Taylor dies, David is doing an Internet search looking for information that might be helpful concerning the custody dispute with Kelly when he comes across information concerning Laura.

Laura's name was connected to a series of crimes and murder.

I had discovered it that week while I was working, and by the weekend, my son was dead. I told her what I found. I said, murder? She goes, I don't know. That's not me. She assured me that this was not her. And there were things in there that I knew were obviously wrong because it said that she was Middle Eastern. So I took her word for it. Laura did ask me what I had told the police, and when I had told the police what I had discovered about her past, she just was just like, I can't believe you would tell them that. And I told them, I said, I had nothing to hide, and I didn't think that you did either. And she gave me an explanation as to these circumstances and gave me explanations that seemed believable and plausible. And I believed her.

Maybe he just didn't want to know too much, but he does confront her with that, and she denied it.

But it turns out it was her. Thirty years ago, Laura was living in another paradise, this one in California, Laguna Beach.

Laguna Beach is one of the most beautiful places in California. Really cool mixture of surfers, surf community. You've got a lot of artists. Everybody's hanging out together.

It's hard to complain about anything when you have the ocean at your doorstep.

In May 1982, Laura was 17 years old, and she was named Laura Feist at the time.

That was her maiden name. Laura has already left home and is dating 20 21-year-old College student, James Kendall. James, also known as Jim, is a local boy from a well-respected family.

Now, if things started off pretty good, it would end tragically.

I'm Jason Kravitz. I'm a retired police captain with the Laguna Beach Police Department. Laura and Jim spent the night at Jim Kendall's house in Laguna Beach. Jim had told her the night before that he, quote, didn't want to go steady anymore and wanted to break up and see other women. But when he tells Laura he wants out, things go horribly wrong. He, the next morning, drives her to her home to get a change of clothes so she can go to high school. So Laura got out of the truck, and she's walking this direction across Legion Street, and she goes over to where she lived. Her landlord kept a handgun inside of his home. She knew that She steals the handgun. She goes back over to the truck where Jim is inside smoking and listening to the radio. The passenger doors open. He must have seen the gun at the last minute. But she fires, shoots him. After she fired the gun, he says, You shot me, and she responded back to him, Yeah, I did. She apparently decided that she didn't want him to go on living without her. She didn't want to live without him.

That's when she fired the round into her own chest.

This would not be the last time that Laura's passionate self-interest would her and other people's lives upside down.

I have loved her my whole life. What is it with marrying all these men?

It's a long story.

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Laura was 17 years old, and she had a boyfriend, James Kendall. Well, James was breaking up with her, and she was not happy about it. And how did she deal with this? She shot him. She has maybe a warped sense of relationships.

It's 1982, Orange County, California. Officers have arrived at the scene of a shooting. The male victim was already in grave condition. He had suffered a gun-shot wound through the middle of the chest and wasn't speaking. She was Rather than shooting herself in the chest or shooting herself in the head, she ends up shooting herself in the shoulder. So it's really almost like a superficial wound. We found a card inside the car from a local jeweler She wrote on the card that she wanted Jim and herself buried together and that everything she owned should go to her mother. She told the investigators that while he was driving her to this location from his house that morning, she was writing that note. Essentially, she's writing a murder-suicide note with a man that's driving her where he thinks to change and go to school while she's planning out this whole attack and assault on him.

But this This is how despondent, apparently, or angry she was at the idea that her boyfriend would break up with her.

But as things settled down and she realizes that she's going to survive this gunshot wound, she's in jeopardy of potentially spending the rest of her life in California State Prison, her story begins to change, and the story turns into her effectively being a victim of abuse.

She told us that he claimed he was going to kill himself.

And it reached a point where every time she opened her mouth, the story changed significantly.

She tells investigators that she was acting in self defense. One of them had to do with possibly being battered by him. These various claims were all dismissed pretty quickly.

There was no indication that he was anything other than a very nice young man who picked the wrong person to date.

Laura pleads guilty to second-degree murder in the death of James Kendall. When you were just 17 years old in California, you were convicted of shooting your boyfriend and killing your boyfriend, James Kendall.

I'm not supposed to talk about that. My attorney told me not to.

And then the judge made the decision that it would be appropriate to sentence her to the California Youth Authority rather than to prison. An opportunity not given to many people to demonstrate I can't really illustrate that she could change and that she could salvage her life. But while in jail at just 18 years old, Laura meets another inmate, two years younger than her, and falls in love Love Again. We were in the Youth Authority together, probably two and a half years. I fell in love with her the way only a teenage boy can fall in love with a woman who would eventually become a serious model. She was so beautiful, so far outside of my idea of the girl that I was going to get, that I was just completely immersed in love with her.

In 1987, Laura came up for parole, and after serving only five years of her sentence, was released from the California Youth Authority.

Laura and I got married in Tijuana, Mexico. It was crazy, but it was awesome. Every thought I had included Laura Lee. She dazed me. When she would just come over and hold my hand with her soft little fingers, oh, my gosh. I couldn't think for an hour. However, she could see that I was messed up. And to her credit, Laura said, I can't be with you. You're going to bring me down. You're ruining your life. You're not ruining mine, too. I have loved her my whole life.

And then she heads east and continues a life of crime.

In the years leading up to her meeting David Searing, Laura would change her name several times, and she would also remarry three crimes.

She accumulates this laundry list of various accusations and various convictions over the years.

Including theft, fraud, burglary, bigamy. In 1993, you were convicted of bigamy. I know. What is it with marrying all these men? How many times have you been married?

Several.

Five?

Yeah. Well, if you You're not supposed to count the annulment, right?

Yeah. It wasn't all.

And then the one in Mexico, it didn't really count because I was told we needed to register it here in the United States, and we never did.

For more than a decade, between husbands four and five, Laura manages to stay out of trouble with the law. But now, in October 2012, all that is about to change again.

You came today for what reason?

When a witness comes forward saying he was on the beach with Laura on the day the Taylor drowned.

Tell me exactly what you thought.

Our smile was from year to year.

Six-year-old Taylor Searing has drowned after spending an afternoon on the beach with a stepmom, Laura Day. You have this loving mother who just lost her six-year-old child.

All I could do was just lay my head on my son's and just cry.

He was gone? Mm-hmm. It's etched in my mind very vividly. It haunted me and continues to. My name I'm Detective Binya, and I'm with the Corpus Christi Police Department, and I work with the Crimes Against Children Unit. Laura has been interviewed by the Corpus Christi police, but despite being allowed to return home, the investigators still have suspicions about her.

We went through Laura Day's statements. The detail that first really caught my attention and concerned me was the location where she chose to take a six-year-old boy for a picnic on the beach.

She says when she gets to the beach, she sees that it's crowded.

So she went south. It gets pretty desolate out there. It made no sense to me at all that she would take a young boy for a picnic in an area where no one else is around, especially when the spot at which she entered the beach, there were actually several picnic tables. She did not administer CPR to the child after he had drowned. She did not call 911. She did not ask for anyone around her on the beach to help.

She just takes Taylor and puts him in the car, and then she drives essentially 12 miles to a hospital.

That is a textbook example of child in the danger of criminal negligence.

Detective Penya sought a warrant for Laura Day's arrest on those charges.

They had asked Laura to come to the police to apartment. I was going to go with her, and she said no. She had given me a few pieces of her jewelry that she didn't want to take with her. And I remember thinking that was a little odd.

And Laura Day was arrested on that day.

You did nothing wrong.

No, I didn't. I mean, it's sad that I panicked. A tragic accident happened. I tried to save him.

I figured that the police may have had some questions or doubts. I couldn't see it as anything other than an accident, especially the way she described the events.

It was shocking. Nothing that she exhibited indicated that there was anything other than this suburban mom.

Bond is set at $50,000, and Laura posts it. In less than 24 hours after her arrest, she's back at home with David.

Laura was just trying to get back to life as usual, trying to figure out whatever it would take to keep me happy, talking about the possibility of us packing up and moving and going to Florida, trying to get me to get past my feelings, trying trying to get me back to acting normal, which seemed a little strange to me. I mean, just so sudden.

Local Copper's Christie news station, KEEI, continues to cover the story. If it helps trigger your memory, Police say the stepmother and the child were in a white Toyota FJ Cruiser that night. Did our best to cover it as best we could. From both the standpoint of Kelly and the police Department, they wanted anyone who saw anything, who knew anything to come forward. The news shout out for witnesses pays off.

The man made contact with the Corpus Christi Police Department saying that he had information about this case.

You came today for what reason?

Here's that little boy.

What little boy are we talking about?

The one that got drowned out.

Tell me exactly what you're talking about.

Rene Ruiz coming forward was a huge get for the prosecution because he is really their only witness.

I'm walking to the back of my truck and she's real high.

It's like, you know?

And I'm like, why? I don't remember me seeing the little boy, period.

But I do remember clearly that when she left, she left a little bit faster than normal.

The most upsetting, troubling, telling thing that Renee Ruiz said is that when she ultimately left the beach. Now, remember, according to her, she has a dying boy in the back of her car. She waved and smiled at him as she drove off the beach.

It's November 2012, and Laura has been living at home under strict bond conditions for nearly a month.

Part of her bond requirements was that she was not allowed to be around young children, churches, malls.

She tells David, I want to go to the mall. And David says, We can't go to the mall. You're on bond. This is a condition of your bond.

She decides to thumb her nose at that. She puts on a wig and is an incognito and heads to the mall.

Why would anyone in the world risk breaking the bond conditions?

She figured she could get away with it.

Well, it was not her lucky day.

Detective Directive Penia is working off-duty at the mall. She sees a woman who is consistent with Laura Day's body type next to David Searing, realizes it's David and Laura, and Laura is wearing a wig like a Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction.

I mean, it's just, you can't make this stuff up.

On December fourth of 2012, her bond was revoked.

Laura was back in jail.

If things are starting to look pretty bad for Laura, they're about to get worse.

We're going to be together forever, and you're not going to be with anyone else ever.

We start listening to calls.

I'm glad everybody's gone. It's just you and me now. What? She wanted Taylor out.

Laura was awaiting trial and was now back in jail because she violated her bond order. It certainly was a very big news story. As a news reporter, you cover tragedies all the time, every day. But when it does involve a child, it affects people on a whole different level. I saw one newspaper headline that called you the Evil Stepmom. Why?

Isn't that horrible? Can they do that? I mean, is it legal for them to do that?

This was so out of character, so different from what you would expect of someone who was in your home, and we were in their home.

Do you love me more than you loved Kelly?

I love you.

I'm more than she had. I never loved like I loved you.

We were in the middle of a full-on investigation, trying to learn everything that we could.

So he said he wanted to have a picnic on the beach.

So according to Laura Day, she took Taylor to the McDonald's, got him a happy meal, and they were headed to the beach, but they had to stop off at her home first because this was Taylor's idea, so she needed to get towels. One of the things that bothered us both very much were the contents of the vehicle.

They found Taylor's underwear inside of his pants, which means Taylor changed into his bathing suit in the car.

So why would Taylor change in the back of the car? She didn't change in the car. Why wouldn't he go into the home and put on a swimsuit?

Laura's attorney would later argue that Taylor simply stayed in the car and finished his happy meal while Laura went inside the house.

Laura Day had told Detective Penya and Ilsy that it was Taylor's idea to go to the beach that day. And that was very important to her story, that it was never her idea. It was always Taylor's idea.

I remember the first thing I grabbed was some shoes, maybe.

We start listening to personal calls that she was making from the Nuesas County Jail. And she says something like, We never even went to the house that day.

We never even went to the house.

And it just clicked. It clicked at that moment. That matched the evidence. That was huge because at that point, we knew that almost every bit of the story that she initially told to anyone who would listen was a lie. This was always her idea. It was never Taylor's idea.

In January 2013, Laura is charged with capital murder in addition to child endanger. It suggests to me that in order to be charged with a camp of murder, Laura would have had to plan what happened at the beach that day. For me, it was hard to accept that this wasn't just an act of desperation that came about in the moment, but that was me. While the prosecution continues to build their case, investigators are contacted by a drowning expert. So since In '89, I've been looking at body found in water cases and have reviewed well over 3,000 cases. All right, keep going back. Wendy will tell you when to stop. The cases I've worked, well over half of them started off as accidents, suicides, or undetermined.

Detectives and myself and Andrea Zafaris all went out to the area in order to check the conditions and just look at the beach and wanted Andrea Zafaris to have seen it in person because she was going to testify a trial.

She looked at Noah's information regarding the water conditions that day. There was a longshore current because that's the currents that pull you sideways, a longshore current.

It was like he got sucked under or something.

How far do you think he got?

Fifty yards.

That's half of the full field. Fifty yards? That's 150 feet.

When Laura Day stated that Taylor Steering's body sunk and then popped up 50 yards to the right, the problem was that was the wrong direction. Based on the conditions and the wind and everything else that day, it would have gone left and not right.

She said things that just, how did that happen? It didn't make sense they happened at all. I can see we have slowly the back with the children. The medical examiner said that children don't float, that they sink.

It is highly improbable that she would have been able to locate him quickly unless she was right next to him. Everything was all lies.

A trial date is set for June fifth, 2013, and then she finally goes on trial for murdering your son. Yes. What was that like?

I was just so caught up. Everything that we had going on to really stop and think.

I remember putting all my faith in God. Let God deal with it.

Walking into a trial in a case like this, it's nerve-wracking. Knowing how dangerous she was. It was important to go into that courtroom and make sure that she didn't kill a third person.

The case against Laura Day isn't just about what happened to Taylor Searing back in October. It's about whether any reasonable person would have done more to save him or not allowed him to be in the water by himself in the first place.

She left him there while she decided she was going to lay out on towel on the beach. And the evidence will show that any reasonable person would have expected Taylor Searing's life to be an imminent danger at that moment, left approximately 100 feet from the shore by himself in the Gulf of Mexico.

While her attorney acknowledged in his opening statements that mistakes were made, he said she pulled him out of the water, did what she could at the beach, then went straight to the emergency room. So we had a six-day trial.

This teeny-tiny little wet life jacket. I wanted to make sure that this jury understood this was not an accident.

The evidence was the Senate.

This was an intentional act, and the jury needed to see that. The jury needed to see what really happened here.

Jury considered it, and she was convicted of first first-degree capital murder in the state of Texas.

I can see panicking and not Dindy Bart. But you had a cell phone. Why didn't you call 911? Every minute that she didn't do a CPR, didn't call 911, didn't get help to that child, made him die.

Say, Hi, everybody.

Hi, everybody. Laura is now serving life in prison for murdering his son. But what does David do?

The next step was to focus on the appeal.

He finds a new expert to help free her.

It was obviously an accident.

He was smart, outgoing.

He was my tiny little man. What you have taken from us, I don't think you even comprehend it.

Laura is found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole.

I will say that based on the evidence that has been presented, I do believe she is guilty. And what happened to little Taylor was just, I mean, evil. Taylor's mom, I mean, broken.

They come back with a guilty verdict. How did you feel? Relieved.

Just because she won't ever say the light today.

I've heard it said that she's the most hated woman next to the woman who killed Selena on Corpus Christi.

Well, it sucks to be her.

I was shocked then, too. You I mean, I guess I was seeing something different in the courtroom than what everybody else was seeing.

She did everything wrong. She did nothing right. And the only thing that lets me be okay with it is because she can never hurt another child because she's in prison.

I'm a victim against the justice system shouldn't have charged me in the first place. I mean, you go around charging every parent for when their child drowns in a drowning accident. I mean, come on.

My next thought was what we had to do next. She was concerned that I was going to leave her. The next step was to focus on the appeal.

To cover legal fees, they'd sell that waterfront mansion. And still convinced of her innocence, David finds Laura a new attorney.

Immediately, I'm thinking, How is that a capital murder case? What intent could the prosecution show?

You can't keep your eyes on your children every minute, wherever you are.

It was obviously an accident.

To counter testimony given by Andrea Safari's, Angela Moore finds Drowning Prevention Expert, John Fleedermier. Depending on the direction the waves are coming, the long-shore drift can go in either direction.

That's a common factor or feature on most beaches. Certainly could explain why the little boy was 50 yards down the beach.

What about her testimony stuck out? Were very simple concepts. I'm not how anyone could disagree with them.

If Angela Moore is successful, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals could order Laura a new trial. But for now, all she can do is sit and wait.

David, you said to me that you blame me for letting him die, possibly. You cannot blame me for that. Why? You will never find another Laura. I will never find another David. I know if I were home, I could turn you around and snap you out of it. It's just typical Laura. She doesn't take responsibility for what she's done. And only sees that she's the victim. She has never apologized. She has never said sorry for what she's done. I feel so stupid to have been this naive and to have stuck by her as long as I did.

How do you feel about Laura now?

I believe she's where she belongs. I believe that this is probably the worst punishment for her, to be in prison.

David and Laura are now divorced. David supported you. He defended you.

Yes, he knew because he knew what happened. Yes.

And now David Searing, your ex-husband, feels you're guilty.

Does he? Who says?

The David you knew didn't feel that way. No. And he never showed that to you.

No. He stood by me for years. And I mean, no.

Any message for Laura? No. Nothing to say to her.

I have nothing to say to her.

Despite losing David's support, Laura Day may be down. She's not out. There's a new man on the seat. I certainly plan on being there for her when she gets out.

This is where Taylor is at. I come every year to put flowers. We have Valentine's Day set up, fourth of I, sometimes a little Christmas tree. Come out here periodically and just to spend a little bit of time.

How often do you think you come out here?

I pass by on the road almost daily, and I I can always spot his flowers. I always look by and give a hello. Okay, go.

It's been more than 10 years since Taylor Searing drowned after a trip to the beach on Padre Island. Is it possible to forgive your ex-husband, David, and Laura?

Well, I have forgiven Laura. That doesn't mean she needs to come out of jail. Look at that. Why should she get so off so easy? She could spend the rest of her life in a jail cell. Miserable. And as far as my ex-husband? Yeah, I think that's going to take a miracle, too.

I was so wrapped up and tangled up in all of this that so many things, so many red flags, escaped me. I don't I don't know if it was just the trauma of losing my son. I don't know if it was her being a great manipulator. I can't explain it.

I blame him, too. I do blame him. This is partly his fault. He knew about her past. I would have never have let him go with her, ever, if I'd known.

Can you ever move forward from something like this?

Life will never be the same. You can only try to make the best of what you have. Just try to move on.

How do you commemorate What was it like, Taylor's life?

This last year for his birthday, I went and camped out in the National Forest in Colorado with some friends. I knew Taylor. And I had a great time. Had an awesome time, actually.

You do things that Taylor would have liked to do.

I'm going to celebrate his life. I'm not going to mourn it. Because as I said, he was a big personality. Big life.

Laura continued to write David until 2019, but when he stopped writing back, she found someone else who would. I hear there may be a new man in your life, William Irwin?

Yes.

What is that all about?

He's great.

How did you meet?

We met through a PenPal website.

Our relationship has evolved quite a bit since we first met. We talked two or three times a day. I really care about Laura a lot. She's a wonderful person, and the more I get to know her and her story, I realize and fully believe in her complete innocence and that she was wrongfully convicted.

It's not all an attraction or a sexual relationship. It's all about personality and things that you have in common.

I'll be right there to pick her up as soon as she walks out of there. We're going to figure out where we want to live. We've pretty much decided on Salt Lake City or Florida. Would you dare to think you might marry him? Who knows? After all your difficulty with all these other men? I really would like to see how things go for a while.

Now, I'm in no rush. To this day, I have a picture of Taylor steering on a shelf directly across from my desk.

I see him every day while I'm working. I do that because the justice that the case team and I were able to get for him was one of the more incredible things I think I'll ever do in my career.

I know it was tough for you to decide to sit down with us. Why did you finally agree to talk to us?

Because if it'll keep Laura in prison, then what wouldn't you do for your kids?

Hi, everybody. One, two, three, four. Go for it. Taylor's parents, David and Kelly, have not spoken to each other since their son's funeral back in 2012. Laura Day is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. That our program for tonight. Thank you for watching. I'm David Muir. And I'm Deborah Roberts. From all of us here at 2020 and ABC News, good night.