To Love and to Kill (23 page)

CHAPTER 68

DETECTIVES DONALD BUIE
and Brian Spivey were now greatly concerned for their undercover confidential informant (CI) after hearing Emilia ask if she was being recorded. A touch of paranoia had crept into Emilia's voice. She sounded worried, greatly troubled and concerned. She was giving Michelle the goods here. What was Michelle's purpose again? Just to know the facts? Maybe Emilia wasn't buying that any longer?

“I'm not ... I'm . . . no . . . huh,” Michelle said nervously in response to Emilia's questioning her about wearing a wire.

Spivey and Buie stared at the listening device.

“I'm just trying to understand,” Michelle said. “Now, I mean, it's about ... kids in the middle.”

That was smart: Michelle was bringing the kids into it and making it personal for Emilia. She might react emotionally to that.

“Yeah, I know . . . ,” Emilia said as Michelle, Buie and Spivey took a breath of their own and felt a bit better.

Michelle explained that Josh had taken his pants and had tied them around his neck, after Emilia pressed her for details about his supposed suicide attempt. Then Emilia went back to her “James and his buddy” argument, insisting how they needed to stick to that. From where Emilia viewed things, the MCSO was about to sign off on it and believe them.

“Yeah . . . if he can keep his mouth shut,” Emilia said.

Michelle wanted to clarify something. She said she heard Josh talking to Emilia one day before the murder and that she figured out later, after Josh explained to her what they had done, that the conversation she heard was part of them planning the murder. It was a brilliant move on Michelle's part. Murder was one thing—however, premeditated, planned murder was entirely different. In the state of Florida, premeditated murder was not taken lightly. If a jury convicted you of premeditated murder in the first degree, you could be staring down the barrel of a death sentence.

“We had joked about it,” Emilia said. “We were not really serious. I thought he was full of shit.... He never really follows through with nothing.”

Emilia spoke about the baby she was carrying and how it would ultimately be “connected” by blood to her kids and Josh's other children; and that once the baby was born, Michelle could step in and possibly get Emilia's kids out of foster care because she would be a “blood aunt.”

Michelle ignored that comment and asked, “When you-all talked, did you plan on just confronting her?”

Emilia said she didn't think Josh was serious. Then she talked about how the MCSO could not connect Josh or her to the crime because their DNA was supposed to be inside “that shed” anyway, and there were “strips of duct tape hanging out there all the time. . . .”

The more she talked, the deeper the hole Emilia dug herself into by alluding to pieces of evidence in the case never yet discussed publicly or with her or Josh during their interviews. She kept returning to James and his buddy, but Michelle tweaked the focus of the conversation back to Emilia's role and what she knew.

The feeling here was that Emilia believed she was safeguarded from arrest and prosecution because she had talked her way out of it all by submitting to those interviews with the MCSO. Josh might have mentioned her name, she said, but there was no way the MCSO was going to believe him.

They soon got on the subject of the backyard behind Emilia's mother's house. Michelle wanted to know why they chose the backyard, of all places, to kill and then bury Heather.

Emilia actually yawned, then answered: “Because your brother just wanted her in there for a little while and he was gonna move her. I cannot believe he led them back there. Had he not led them back there, they could have questioned him all they wanted—without a body, they cannot do nothing.”

Family came up and discussions of their situation ended things for several minutes: Who knew what? Where were all the kids living? Who said what to whom? Michelle was impressed by how strong and unyielding Emilia came across, as if none of this bothered her. The fact that she could talk about life and death with such a stoic, straight face—no tears, zero emotions and no worries—said something to Michelle about who Emilia was on the inside. Through her manner of speaking and demeanor, Emilia came across as cold and callous, as if she didn't care about anything or anyone else but herself.

By this point, Michelle was unable to control her raw emotions. She was shaking and crying. She said, “You're like a rock. I need a nerve pill [and] I want to puke, and you're—”

“It's because,” Emilia said, interrupting, “I've already cried. . . .” Then Emilia said how she didn't want to send her body into early labor by becoming emotional.

“I hate to ask this question,” Michelle said a bit later, “but I
need
to know, 'cause this has been the thing that's kept me up. . . . Did—did Heather go peacefully, or did she—”

Emilia interrupted again: “Did she fight him?”

“Yeah.”

“She
fought
him,” Emilia said proudly.

“Did you help at any point during all that, or just . . .”

Emilia breathed deeply. “Yeah . . . I helped him tape her to the chair. . . .”

The conversation digressed back to James and his buddy. Emilia kept beating that drum, over and over. If only they could all stick to that story, the end result would be in their favor.

Without being prompted, Emilia talked about how angry Josh had been with Heather, before mentioning (again) that James Acome was the perfect scapegoat. The cops would buy it eventually.

Then Emilia gave Michelle some insight into Josh's mind-set on the night of the murder. She said he wasn't “of his right mind ... not emotionally there. He had gone to another place ... because when he went to bury the body, he couldn't even look at it. He would cry . . . [and] he almost threw up.”

But not Emilia. She looked on as they packaged, dragged and then buried Heather. Emilia had no feelings whatsoever.

Nothing.

“Really?” Michelle asked.

Emilia said she thought Josh felt remorse later, but when it was going on, he “was glazed over ... and it wasn't Josh—he
wasn't
there.”

Emilia was under the belief that had the MCSO developed any significant evidence against her, they'd have her in handcuffs already. She wasn't worried because they had not arrested her yet. She also believed Josh was going to be, at some point, released. They couldn't hold him.

It was close to 4:30
P.M.
, and Michelle wondered if she should head back home. Near the end of the conversation, Michelle asked Emilia if she “strangled” Heather, adding, “You just tried to snap her neck... ?”

“Uh-huh,” Emilia said, agreeing.

“And then you-all put a bag over her head? So there's no marks around . . .”

“I don't think so.”

As Michelle began to say something else, she spotted a person, a man, walking toward the vehicle. “Uh . . . who is that? Emilia, who is that?” Michelle asked hurriedly.

The guy walked closer.

Michelle didn't recognize him.

Emilia looked, but she couldn't get a clear view. “I don't know,” she said. Then, as he stepped into view, Emilia said, “Holy shit!”

CHAPTER 69

INSIDE THAT WAREHOUSE,
listening to the conversation, Buie and Spivey decided that they'd heard enough. As it stood, it seemed they had nothing short of a confession from Emilia on tape. There was no reason to put Michelle in any more danger. Before they had wired Michelle up, Buie and Spivey devised a plan to approach the car when the time called for it. But their tactic wasn't to roll in with lights blaring, gold badges out, accusations and Miranda warnings flying. It was to continue the dance with Emilia.

Take things one step at a time.

And not blow Michelle's cover now.

“It's a freaking detective!” Michelle squawked, staring at Spivey as he got closer to the window. Buie was right behind him.

“Oh, crap,” Emilia said.

“Uh-oh,” Michelle added, sounding scared—yet actually quite relieved to see these two guys.

Emilia whispered, “Tell them we are talking about the baby.”

Michelle rolled down her window.

Buie addressed Emilia: “Hey, your momma told us you were up here.”

“Okay,” Emilia said.

“Can we talk to you for a sec?” Buie asked.

Buie and Spivey wanted to get Emilia downtown and question her once again based on what they had just learned.

Emilia opened the car door and stepped away from the vehicle with Buie so they could talk on their own. Spivey stayed with Michelle, who was beginning to flip out a bit.

Buie asked Emilia, “Can you come down and talk to us some more? We just have a few more follow-up questions.”

Emilia wasn't thrilled. She said she had to go to the toilet, but she said she would go.

Buie walked back to the car with Emilia and addressed Michelle, who was still sitting in the car. “She's gonna ride with you back to her house so she can use the restroom.”

“Okay.”

“And then she's gonna come talk with us.”

Buie said a few things to Michelle to throw off any scent that Emilia might have picked up on. He asked Michelle if she had been drinking and if she had a valid driver's license.

Everyone seemed content for right now. Michelle started the car and she and Emilia took off. The wire was still on; Buie and Spivey, following behind, were still monitoring the conversation.

Emilia explained again as they drove that Michelle needed to make a point to tell them they were discussing the baby, nothing else. Sounding defeated, Emilia then explained how, when she got to her house, she was going to change into “gray sweats in case they arrest me.”

Instinct doesn't lie. Emilia could sense something was up.

Michelle panicked. She started to breathe heavily, sweat and hyperventilate.

“You okay?” Emilia asked, staring at her.

“I feel like I'm having a heart attack.” Michelle was crying.

“For what?” Emilia wondered. “Your license is good, right?”

Michelle couldn't talk. She had difficulty catching her breath. Her chest felt tight, heavy. It felt as if it would explode.

“Michelle!” Emilia said. “Calm down!”

“I'm trying. . . .”

Buie hit the lights, indicating that he wanted to pull them over. This was by design. When Emilia and Michelle were talking back at the park, they were actually in another county. Sensing Michelle needed to be relieved here, Buie wanted to wait until they entered Marion County before actually grabbing Emilia and taking her to her house and then downtown by himself.

Michelle stopped her car. Looked down at the floorboard. Took several deep breaths and continued to cry.

Emilia stared at her.

Buie walked up to the window. “You okay?”

Emilia had a worried look about her. She sensed trouble.

“I'm just taking her home . . . ,” Michelle said to Buie. “And then I'm gonna go home.”

Buie told Michelle to sit tight while he went and spoke to Spivey.

“It's nothing.... It's nothing she done,” Michelle said, looking at Emilia, who had gone church silent. “I just think I'm having a heart attack.”

Buie returned quickly. He asked Emilia to step out of the car, indicating that he and Spivey would take her to her mom's and then downtown.

Emilia did not resist.

CHAPTER 70

JOSH EXPLAINED TO
me what happened on the day of his arrest on charges of threatening Heather with a gun. That day seemed to be a turning point for Josh Fulgham—a line in the sand that Heather had crossed. They had just been married in December. And here it was, a few weeks later, and Heather was having him tossed in jail for something he didn't do.

Josh was waiting at work for Heather to come and pick him up. As he stood by the roadside, “two cops pulled up,” Josh revealed. One asked if he was Joshua Fulgham.

“What's up?” Josh wondered.

The cop explained that his wife had reported him pulling a gun on her, and Ben McCollum had reported witnessing the same thing. But it was a day after Josh had done this, allegedly, so Josh was curious as to why they had waited.

Josh said the cop agreed; the charges were likely bogus, but Josh needed to answer to them, nonetheless.

It was at that exact moment that Josh realized there would never be a relationship between him and Heather again. It was over—for good. He never had any intention to kill her, Josh insisted. But while in jail, once he started talking to Emilia, and then when he got out, he discovered that the thought to get rid of Heather was something they could not let go of. It was as though once they put the plan out into the universe, it needed to take place. At least that was how they felt.

Three people knew what happened inside that trailer when Heather was murdered—one of them is dead. According to Josh, he and Emilia were equally responsible. He claimed the situation escalated while they were inside the trailer. When Heather went for the door to get out, Josh, Emilia and Heather “wrestled around on the floor,” Josh informed me. And it was at that time when Josh told himself,
Screw it.
He got up off the ground and decided to let Heather go.

But Emilia said, “Hell no!” So I made Heather get in that chair. She kept trying to get up, so I [sat] down on her and let Emilia tape her to the chair so she could not get up,
Josh wrote.

Josh was clear that it was at this moment that he began to question Heather about her alleged infidelities. Heather didn't want to answer at first, Josh said. She was terrified.

Josh recalled Heather saying, “You'll kill me,” as she sat there, strapped to the chair. Emilia was right in her face, screaming at her to come clean, and Josh was behind Emilia, doing the same.

“Tell him what you told me while he was in jail,” Emilia said to Heather.

“Answer the damn questions, Heather!” Josh yelled.

“No, no . . . you will kill me.”

“Tell him!” Emilia yelled.

And then Heather mentioned sleeping with Josh's “best friend,” which sent him off into a place of frenzy and rage to the point where he began striking her.

“I hit her,” Josh told me. He didn't know how many times he hit her, “but it was a lot.”

Heather would not stop pleading with them to stop. She was scared for her life. The situation became chaotic and seemed to build on its own. Josh became angrier as each moment passed and each blow struck Heather somewhere on her body. And because Heather would not stop talking, Josh said, he had “Emilia tape her mouth up. . . .”

What happened next, Josh wrote:
Emilia tryed
[sic]
to break her neck and that did not work so she decided to suffocate her with a bag over her face.

What's troubling and terrifying about this scenario is that Heather Strong, for perhaps as long as twenty minutes or more, knew she was going to die. In that context, Heather suffered twice: the emotional agony of thinking about leaving her children motherless, missing their smiles, their sweet smells, their laughter; and second, the actual pain of being tortured and then executed by two people who she knew and thought would never take things as far as they did.

And therein lies the greatest tragedy: The same man Heather loved and married—and to whom she'd borne three children—stood in front of her playing God, promising her that she was not leaving that trailer alive.