- 2 days ago
Amber Halford breaks her silence about a deadly robbery and her capital murder conviction in a gripping new episode of Interview With a Killer.
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00:00A terrifying home invasion leaves the owner dead, and the burglar too.
00:29Police discover a conspiracy, and one common denominator, a teenage girl with close ties
00:35to both men.
00:40Now, she's a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without parole, even though she
00:48was never at the scene of the crime.
00:51I'm labeled a killer, and at the time I felt guilty.
00:55You feel less guilty now?
00:56Yes.
00:57I was in a different town at my mom's house asleep when everything took place.
01:02By law, as a co-conspirator, she's equally guilty as the trigger man.
01:07It doesn't matter that you weren't present, or whether you were the lookout, or the driver,
01:12or just the person that teed up the target.
01:15She claims she's a scapegoat for a robbery turned double homicide, even though she's the one
01:20who brought the victim and the burglar together, and set the stage for murder.
01:26Don't you have the blood of both these men on your hands?
01:29Differently Sheen
01:31......
01:33...
01:42U H communicate with .
01:43What is the disappointing thing you see?
01:44I don't know where it is everolo.
01:45Differently Sheen
02:45The burglar and the homeowner opened fire on each other simultaneously and fatally.
02:51Can I get your name quick?
02:53Dougie Dougarce.
02:55I need help right now. I'm dying.
02:57Where did they shoot you at, sir?
02:58It's in the stomach.
03:00I shot back. I think I might have hit one of them.
03:03Did you have any idea who they were?
03:05I don't know, man. I need a helmet right now. I'm dying.
03:07But this attack was not random.
03:12There's one link between the burglar and the homeowner.
03:15The victim's niece was the burglar's girlfriend, 19-year-old Amber Halford.
03:20Police found she conspired with her boyfriend to rob her uncle.
03:24After the two men shot and killed each other that night, Halford was charged along with two other suspects with capital murder.
03:33She opted to go to trial, even though a conviction carried a mandatory sentence.
03:38Life without the possibility of parole.
03:40Now 30 years old, she's serving her time in a Texas women's prison and protesting her punishment.
03:57We're here, Amber, to try and understand the mindset and motivation behind your actions in this case.
04:05Does that all make sense?
04:06Yes, sir.
04:08Why did you want to talk to us today?
04:09To get my side of the story out, you know, because, like, they made it seem like I am, like I'm some mastermind and stuff, and I'm really not.
04:21They got it, they twisted everything, you know?
04:24I'm labeled a killer, and at the time I felt guilty, but, like, over the years and how everything is, I'm not.
04:31It's like self-guilt.
04:33So I felt like I deserved to be in trouble.
04:35You no longer feel that way?
04:36No.
04:37You feel less guilty now?
04:38Yes.
04:39At the time, Halford was 19 and admitted her guilt in a police interview.
04:44I feel like this is my fault.
04:47She says with the passage of time, she's come to believe she's not responsible for her uncle's murder and that her punishment is unjust.
04:54I think it's a good point in time to have this conversation, because now you're a full-grown adult, right?
05:01Mm-hmm.
05:01Hopefully older and wiser than that teenage girl that got you into all this trouble.
05:07Yes.
05:08Yeah?
05:08Mm-hmm.
05:09I want to ask you to help me understand the Hearst family.
05:13Okay.
05:13You come from a big, blended family.
05:16Yes.
05:17Right?
05:17And I'm still trying to map it out in my head.
05:21My mom's real dad was Russell Varner, and he wasn't in my mom's life.
05:26But she was still a toddler whenever my grandma got with her stepdad, so he raised her.
05:32And so that was my, my Paul is what we called him, Paul.
05:36So my Paul was Doug's brother.
05:39Doug Hurst also had a sister named Rhonda Hurst.
05:43Her son, Dustin Sonoha, is Amber Halford's cousin.
05:46So Doug is actually Dustin's uncle, but my great uncle.
05:52Halford would betray the family with a teenage boyfriend her parents rejected, 18-year-old J.D. Mulkey.
05:59How did you and J.D. meet?
06:01Oh, we, we went to high school together.
06:05He was a junior and I was a senior, and so we had some classes together, and we just became best friends, and that was it.
06:12After that, we were inseparable.
06:15There must have been a powerful bond, right?
06:18You said there's just something about him.
06:21Yeah.
06:21How do you explain it?
06:22He was my best friend.
06:24Just, I don't know, whenever we were together, it was just me and him, like, even though it was bad, it was good.
06:31There's, even to this day, I don't think there's going to be anybody that I love as much as I loved him.
06:37It sounds like your parents didn't prove.
06:40Not at all.
06:41Why not?
06:42Oh, because he was trouble.
06:43He was trouble.
06:44Trouble.
06:44You described him to police as gang-affiliated and, air quotes, gangster.
06:51Cops called him a wannabe.
06:52Yeah.
06:53Yeah.
06:54Is that accurate?
06:55Yes.
06:56Now that I look back, yes.
06:58Sometimes good girls are drawn to bad boys.
07:02Is that fair?
07:03Is that true?
07:03Yeah.
07:04Is that what was going on, or were you both about that thug lifestyle?
07:09No, not me.
07:10That, I was just...
07:12Not you?
07:12No, I was, I was raised better than that.
07:15Like, I was in, like, 4-H, FFA, stuff like that.
07:19Do you think J.D. was dragging you down, Amber?
07:22Yes, now that I look at, look back at it, yes.
07:25You consider yourself a essentially good girl dragged down by a bad boy?
07:31Yes.
07:32Halford appears almost meek and seizes the good girl led astray narrative.
07:37But is that just spin?
07:39Are you exaggerating the extent to which you were a good girl?
07:44No, I mean, I...
07:46Even though I did drugs and I partied and stuff, I was just, I guess, a little wild.
07:52But as much as robbing people and all that, I've never done that.
07:56This was the first time.
07:58Did you have a criminal record at that point?
08:00I had got arrested for assault, family violence, whenever I was 17.
08:04Family violence?
08:05Mm-hmm.
08:06What happened there?
08:07Me and my sister got in a fight, and she attacked me, and I was defending myself,
08:12but they arrested me.
08:14But that's whenever I was being hard-headed and wild and wasn't trying to listen to anybody.
08:19Mm, did they arrest her?
08:20No.
08:21And what about J.D.?
08:22He had already been on probation.
08:24You told police at one point that you tried and tried to keep J.D. out of trouble.
08:29I did try.
08:29Is that really true?
08:30Yes, I did try, but by the time my mom got sick again and I just hit rock bottom, it was just too much.
08:36At the time, Halford's mother was battling a terminal case of breast cancer.
08:41Stage four breast cancer?
08:43Yes, sir.
08:44Mm-hmm.
08:45She was a relatively young woman?
08:46She was in her 40s when this happened.
08:50Oh, my condolences.
08:51Amber.
08:52Um, were you spending a lot of your time helping her?
08:56I lived with them at that time, so if I wasn't at work, I would, I was there helping her.
09:01Or she was with J.D., planning a life together and scheming for ways to finance it, because
09:08another life-changing event was quietly taking place.
09:11At the time of these crimes, um, is it true that you believed that you were pregnant?
09:17Yes.
09:18Mm-hmm.
09:18And that J.D. would be the father of your future son or daughter?
09:23Yes, sir.
09:23For the teenage mother-to-be and her baby's father, a motive comes into focus.
09:30Neither of you were exactly equipped for parenthood.
09:33No.
09:33Is that fair?
09:34Very fair.
09:35Yeah.
09:36J.D. had no job, and waiting tables at Cookies wasn't going to cut it, right?
09:42So money was an issue.
09:43It sounds like you didn't have a long-term plan, but you came across a certain opportunity
09:49J.D. involving a certain home owned by a distant relative.
09:55Mm-hmm.
09:55When did you first mention Big Doug's house to J.D.?
09:59We were driving around town, because we always just rode back roads and smoked and stuff like
10:04that.
10:04So I was just showing him, like, hey, this is my uncle's house.
10:07My grandparents live on the other side.
10:08We used to own a trailer park that's right there.
10:11I was just, you know, telling him, like, it all just was in the family.
10:15It was all just in the family, and all fair game to Amber Halford.
10:21Soon, the young couple began plotting to break into her uncle's house and rob him.
10:26There's a term that comes up over and over again in the case record I want to ask you
10:31about.
10:31For people that don't know, what does it mean to hit a lick?
10:35It means to go and make some quick money, you know, rob somebody, or do what you can to
10:41get the money.
10:41It's slang, basically, for fast money, easy money, usually by questionable or criminal
10:48means.
10:49Mm-hmm.
10:49Halford and her boyfriend had the means and the motive, and were about to get the opportunity.
10:54I found out that they weren't going to be there that weekend.
10:57We were in an argument, and I was like, hey, look, there's this.
11:01They're not going to be there.
11:02Do you want to go and do it?
11:04Amber Halford was about to hit a lick on her own uncle and set in motion his murder.
11:09Tell me what happened on the night of the first robbery.
11:19Back in March of 2015, Doug Hurst married his longtime girlfriend, Joy Handsome.
11:25They planned a trip to the beach to celebrate with some friends and family.
11:29Meanwhile, Amber Halford, her boyfriend JD, and her cousin Dustin were making plans of their
11:35own to break in and rob her uncle's home.
11:39You've taken credit for that idea.
11:41For the burglary, yes, sir.
11:42Halford admits the burglary was her idea, but also claims she was being coerced by a controlling
11:48boyfriend.
11:49It's a contradiction she struggles to explain.
11:52Amber, would you say in that period that you were more leading or being led into these
11:58crimes?
11:58I was being led.
11:59Even though the idea to rob that house was yours, how do you reconcile those two things?
12:08I don't know how to really explain it.
12:12Like, I know that's something that he likes, so maybe if I could just let him do something
12:16that he likes, it would be okay.
12:18Even if it was criminal?
12:19Yes.
12:20Even if it was your family?
12:21I wasn't thinking of the repercussions.
12:24Word spread through the family that Big Doug's house would be unattended for the weekend.
12:29Halford sees the moment.
12:31Big Doug and Joy were together for years, but married only four days before the first
12:37break-in, right?
12:39So that was not a coincidence, right?
12:41No.
12:42So JD and Dustin pair up to do this first burglary, which was originally your idea, you admit
12:48to that.
12:48Yes, sir.
12:49Did you plan on going into the house at any point?
12:52I was just the driver.
12:53Were they carrying out the plan that you made with JD?
12:57Um, I just knew that they were going to go in there and take whatever they could and
13:01come out.
13:02Right.
13:02But were they carrying out the plan that you and JD had concocted?
13:08Mm-hmm.
13:08They were.
13:09Okay.
13:10You drive JD and Dustin to the drop point.
13:14Were they armed that night?
13:16No.
13:16You know that for sure?
13:18Yes, for sure.
13:19And while they broke in, you just waited for word to come and pick them up?
13:24While they were in there, I was driving around making sure nothing suspicious was going on
13:28and they called me when they were ready and I went and picked them up.
13:30Something suspicious?
13:31Yes.
13:32Other than you all?
13:33Yes.
13:34You all were the suspicious ones, right?
13:35Yeah.
13:36And then did they call you when they were ready to come out?
13:40JD called me and told me that they were ready and so I came over there and parked and
13:45How did he sound?
13:47Like he was like anxious, adrenaline running and stuff.
13:51You know, he was out of breath from running with the bags.
13:54I seen them running towards me and they were telling me to pop the trunk.
13:57Right.
13:58And they're running with bags and guns in their hands?
14:00Mm-hmm.
14:01Okay.
14:02Pop the trunk and go.
14:04Mm-hmm.
14:04Right.
14:05How did you feel afterwards?
14:07That was your first robbery.
14:08I was nervous.
14:09I wasn't, I'm not going to lie, I was very nervous.
14:12Dustin was nervous too.
14:13He was telling us to hurry up to get back to our grandma's house.
14:17Did you feel conflicted at all at that point for robbing your relatives?
14:21Um, no, not, no.
14:26The robbery yielded four firearms, two laptops and some costume jewelry.
14:31But it also revealed a tantalizing discovery in Big Doug's locked bedroom.
14:37Did they describe the treasure trove of guns that they walked into?
14:41No, not really.
14:42And I didn't know anything about the safe.
14:44Halford's uncle Doug was hiding a fortune in firearms.
14:47He had a big safe, but it didn't hold all of his guns, which, according to his son, numbered
14:54somewhere between 100 and 160.
14:57Mm-hmm.
14:57So there were rifles leaning up against the wall.
15:01There were handguns in the sock drawer and the closet and dozens and dozens of guns in plain sight.
15:08Mm-hmm.
15:09The three teenagers divided the loot, and Amber and J.D. set out to sell their share.
15:15Dustin kept two guns, and I believe he got a, you know, we kept two computers and two guns and the jewelry.
15:25J.D. was adamant on keeping the little handgun because he liked it, and I was telling him, you know, I don't think that's a good idea.
15:30And who would be in charge of selling?
15:32Well, he told me to see what I could do.
15:35You end up talking to a contact that you had, Michael Hargraves, about selling guns, right?
15:41Mm-hmm.
15:42I was talking to Michael, and I was like, well, I don't know.
15:45I said I could probably get more, but I'm not sure.
15:47Of course, Halford knew just where to get more guns, her uncle Doug's bedroom arsenal.
15:53And for the second night in a row, she turned to her boyfriend.
15:56I told J.D., well, if you can get it, then, you know, there's someone that wants to buy it.
16:02Now, J.D. has seen this gold mine with his own eyes.
16:07Mm-hmm.
16:07Right?
16:08And according to you, he's an aspiring gangster, so he must have been itching to go back for more.
16:14Mm-hmm.
16:14Is that fair?
16:14Yes, it's fair to say.
16:16Mm-hmm.
16:16Did the first score wet your appetite for more?
16:20I didn't want to do it again.
16:21She now says she didn't want to rob her uncle again, but it was Halford who found a buyer and told her boyfriend about it.
16:29When you and J.D. were discussing going back into the house, right, as tempting as it was,
16:37did it occur to you and him that hitting a lick at the same place twice on consecutive nights was a bad idea?
16:45Um, I learned that from them, that you didn't do that, you didn't go back to back, because it's too risky.
16:52It's part of the code, right?
16:53Yes.
16:54But Amber and her boyfriend were about to break that code, and this time, there would be a surprise waiting.
17:02Amber, tell me what happened the night of the murder.
17:06I don't know if I'm done.
17:15Nineteen-year-old Amber Halford and her boyfriend had successfully pulled off a gun heist at her Uncle Doug's house.
17:23Now, a buyer was telling her he would pay for more guns, and the teenage couple began discussing a second hit the very next night.
17:31According to your statements, J.D. tells you, if your relatives are still away, I'll go back for more.
17:38And he wants you to call and find out, right?
17:40Yes.
17:41Did you make any effort to find out when your family was coming back?
17:44No, not at all.
17:46Instead, Halford instructed her boyfriend to drive by the Target house and scope it out for any signs the family had returned.
17:53You just told him, go back, go around there, and basically do some recon, see if there's any signs of life.
17:59Mm-hmm.
17:59Right?
18:00I said, just drive by, see if the lights are on. That's really what I meant.
18:04And take somebody who won't hit licks on him.
18:07Mm-hmm.
18:08And that's just what J.D. Mulkey did.
18:10Armed with a stolen handgun from the first robbery, he and two teenage friends, Lawson Abram and O.J. McLennan, cased the house and found it in pitch darkness, just as it had been the night of the first robbery.
18:23The house might have been dark, but it wasn't empty.
18:27Halford's uncle Doug had been alerted to the first robbery and rushed back to secure the house, and if need be, to defend it.
18:35The stage was now set for a late-night armed confrontation between the two men, tied together only by Amber Halford.
18:42Let's talk about the night of the murder, March 9th, right, 2015.
18:51I know you weren't there. Where were you, in fact?
18:54I was in a different town, in Fairfield, at my mom's house, asleep when everything took place.
18:59Amber, tell me what happened that night.
19:02You've heard all the versions and all the facts that were established.
19:07Can you talk me through what you understand happened the night of the murder?
19:11From my understanding, they went through the same doors that J.D. and Dustin went through.
19:17The night before?
19:18The night before, yes. And there was a store with the glass on it, so when they kicked the doors in, the glass fell over.
19:25It was booby-trapped?
19:26Yes. Lawson had told me that whenever they got in the house, all you could hear is,
19:31got you, mother f***er, and they started shooting at each other.
19:35Okay. J.D. creeps up to the door. He's armed with the .357 that you guys had stolen the previous night, right?
19:43Mm-hmm.
19:43Followed by a voice. Some say, the voice says, who's in my house?
19:50Big Doug later told his son that he said, get out of my house.
19:56Big Doug is armed, of course, and he moves into position to defend his home, right?
20:01Mm-hmm.
20:02This is Texas, after all.
20:03Yeah.
20:04Right? You know, going to somebody's house not expecting them to be armed and ready to defend.
20:11Mm-hmm.
20:11Right? Did you guys think about that?
20:13No.
20:14J.D. must have been surprised when he sprung the trap. He's not a very experienced burglar, it sounds like. And now he's in way over his head.
20:24Mm-hmm.
20:25His only advantage, frankly, was his girlfriend's inside track. You helped him identify the target and obtain the gun that he was now probably gripping with white knuckles.
20:38Right?
20:38Mm-hmm.
20:39What do you think happens next?
20:41I don't, I'm guessing they ran out of the house.
20:43Well, no, for before that, right, Doug puts J.D. in his sights.
20:48Mm-hmm.
20:49He says, got you.
20:52And that might have been the last words J.D. ever heard.
20:56Mm-hmm.
20:57And then the shooting starts.
21:01According to the forensics, only the first shot from each gun hit its target.
21:08Two mortal wounds.
21:10J.D.'s accomplices, his friends, take off right away, right?
21:17And he staggers out of the house behind them through the doors with a .40 caliber bullet in his gut from Doug.
21:29He falls face down in that field in the soaking rain, 19-year-old boy.
21:35And the life drains from his teenage body.
21:39I'm sure you've imagined that scene a thousand times.
21:44Is that how you imagine it?
21:46Yeah.
21:50Inside the house, Big Doug is also bleeding out.
21:54Right?
21:55Have you heard the 911 call?
21:57I need help, man.
22:00I need, I need ambulance, man.
22:01I've been bleeding everywhere.
22:02I'm dying.
22:03I need help right now.
22:04Oh, my God.
22:06I'm dead.
22:07Where'd they shoot you at, sir?
22:10In the stomach.
22:11Any idea who they were?
22:13I don't know.
22:14I need an ambulance right now.
22:16I'm dying.
22:16Oh, my God.
22:17When J.D. made it clear he wanted to go back, if no one was home, according to the record, you're giving him encouragement and help.
22:30Go by there to see if the lights are on and all that.
22:36Well, go by there tonight.
22:37Just be careful and take somebody who won't hit licks on him.
22:41Mm-hmm.
22:42Doesn't sound like you're trying to talk him out of it.
22:44Does it sound like you're trying to persuade him not to do it?
22:49No, but at that point, I was tired of him asking me about it.
22:52So I was like, just go, do what you want, because he's going to do it anyway, regardless if I said yes or no.
22:59Why didn't you tell him, don't be stupid?
23:02You told me you never hit a lick in the same place twice, baby gangster.
23:07Or just tell him that the family's on its way back, and so somebody's going to be at the house.
23:11Because it seems like there's a lot more you could have done to send this plot off the tracks, if you'd wanted to.
23:20Mm-hmm.
23:21But did you really want to?
23:23I didn't want it to go back.
23:25But there's no J.D.
23:29When it came to him, once he had something in his mind, that's what he was going to do.
23:32Did you think about all the bad things that could, that were probably going to happen?
23:40No.
23:42Do you have issues thinking through the consequences of your actions, Amber?
23:46Yes.
23:47Still?
23:48Mm-hmm.
23:49How do you account for that?
23:50Why do you think that is?
23:52I'm very impulsive.
23:53Still?
23:54Yeah.
23:55Mm-hmm.
23:56More so as a teenager?
23:57Mm-hmm.
23:57Very much.
23:58Even at that point, right, after the first robbery, you betrayed your own family.
24:02Somebody finds out, you could go to jail.
24:06Mm-hmm.
24:06Putting your parents and your sisters in a terrible position with respect to the rest of the family, right?
24:12They're going to have to live with that.
24:14And now you have J.D. running around the streets with a powerful handgun that you guys stole.
24:21And now he's emboldened, and he's seen the golden goose.
24:25So of course he's going to want to go back.
24:28Did any of those probabilities not cross your mind, Amber?
24:33No, I wasn't.
24:34I didn't think anything about it.
24:36You get word in the middle of the night, right?
24:39It's gone bad.
24:40And J.D. was shot.
24:42Right?
24:44And you were, you said, asleep at the time?
24:46Mm-hmm.
24:46You start frantically calling and texting people to find out details.
24:51Mm-hmm.
24:52Talk to Lawson.
24:53Text with him, right?
24:55He was one of the men that went into the house.
24:57He said that J.D. got shot, that he left him there, and they were, they didn't know what was going on.
25:04They didn't know if he was still alive or what.
25:07There was all kinds of police over there and ambulance, and he didn't know.
25:11And, I mean, he told me, like, what happened whenever they went in there and stuff, but I was just trying to figure out if J.D. was okay.
25:21Hoping J.D. Mulkey survive the break-in, Halford sends him a frenzy of late-night text messages.
25:28She reveals a very different persona from the good girl image she's presenting today.
25:33You text him, Doug, the type of s*** that would run up on someone and shoot them.
25:39Is that how you talked back then?
25:40Yeah.
25:41Who is that girl?
25:43I don't know.
25:44You don't?
25:45That's just who I was back then, who I was, you know, turning into.
25:50Her messages to the accomplice Lawson Abram further incriminated her.
25:55Did Lawson also ask you not to name him to police?
25:58Yes.
25:59And you said, I'm not saying s***.
26:01I am not a snitch, dude.
26:03My ass finna go to jail, too.
26:06Mm-hmm.
26:06You're all finna see this white girl lose her mind and kill the mother s***.
26:12You're talking about your uncle.
26:15Who you set up and who J.D. murdered.
26:19What's your state of mind at that point in time?
26:24Well, clearly not good.
26:26It's not, I don't, I'm not thinking right.
26:30All I'm worried about is if J.D. is okay.
26:32I'm not worried about anybody else but J.D.
26:34Clinging to life, Halford's Uncle Doug was airlifted to a hospital, but she was busy pouring her heart out to her dead boyfriend.
26:43You say, I'm not going to forgive myself for this s***.
26:47He shouldn't have gone back.
26:49You don't hit a lick on the same place two times in a row.
26:53There it is, right?
26:54Straight from the gangster rule book.
26:56Look, in these texts, you're not sounding like a good girl who's trying to reform her bad boy, are you?
27:05No.
27:06You're sounding very guilty.
27:07Mm-hmm.
27:08Incriminating.
27:09Mm-hmm.
27:10It's all my fault.
27:12It's my fault this happened.
27:14I shouldn't have said go back.
27:15I shouldn't even let the first lick happen.
27:19What does that all sound like to you now at 30?
27:23Craziness.
27:2410 out of 10 people, Amber, would read that and think you were fully involved, or should I say 12 out of 12.
27:33How do you account for that?
27:34I felt guilty at the time because if he wouldn't have went to the, when, then it's the first night, then he wouldn't have known anything to go back.
27:42So I made, like, I felt guilty for that.
27:46And so I put a lot of blame on myself for everything that happened.
27:49But rightly so.
27:50Yeah.
27:51Right?
27:51I mean, you felt guilty because, frankly, you were guilty.
27:55Mm-hmm.
27:56Within hours, you're sitting in a police station being interviewed by detectives.
28:019.15 a.m. on the 9th of March.
28:06You're Amber Halford?
28:08I can tell by your emotional state that you know why we want to talk to you, right?
28:12It's not about that J.D.
28:14Right.
28:15I don't know nothing.
28:17While Doug Hurst was fighting for his life in the hospital, Amber Halford was about to play dumb with detectives.
28:23I have nothing to do with this, like.
28:29Can we agree that you lied through your teeth?
28:31My dad was an amazing dad to specifically his stepchildren.
28:47He loved his stepchildren and his children, of course.
28:50But it just shows someone's character when they love their stepchildren as much as they love their own children.
28:57We have a very, very, very supportive family.
29:01You walk into our home and you could feel the love.
29:04Pam Hurst's father, Doug, worked the rails to take care of his big, blended family.
29:10My father worked for the railroad for as far back as I can remember, at least 25 years, I'd say.
29:15My dad would come and stop the train behind our house and wave.
29:19And we would all go outside to see my father, even my little stepbrothers.
29:23He would do a special honk.
29:24And all of us kids would run outside as fast as we could just to see the train go by.
29:28And it's really special to us.
29:31It was, for Pam and the Hurst family, a time of joy.
29:34A beach vacation celebration of her father's new marriage.
29:38But it would be cut short.
29:41The last time I saw him, we were in Galveston on his honeymoon.
29:44And he gave me the biggest hug I've ever had in my life from anyone.
29:48He didn't want to let go.
29:50But, I mean, no one knew what was going to happen that night.
29:53No one.
29:54The merriment ended when Doug Hurst got word that the family home had been robbed.
29:58And decided to return to secure it.
30:01I can recall him not really in a hurry to go back, but being pissed.
30:07Being very, very upset.
30:10Just shaking his head.
30:12Saying, I can't believe this, Pam.
30:13I cannot believe this.
30:14I cannot believe this.
30:15Why?
30:16Why?
30:17Why are they doing this?
30:19I need help right now.
30:20I'm dying.
30:21Okay.
30:22Oh, my God.
30:23I can't say.
30:26All right.
30:26I'm...
30:26All right.
30:30When Joy received the call, my dad was shot.
30:33They kept saying, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad.
30:35And she wouldn't give me the phone.
30:36So I took it.
30:37And he's like, I just want to tell you that I love you, baby girl.
30:40I love you.
30:40I've been shot.
30:41That's all he said.
30:43With a bullet wound in his gut, Doug was rushed to the hospital.
30:47Pam was not far behind.
30:48Had my truck maxed out as fast as it would go the entire way.
30:52Straight to the hospital.
30:54Oh, no, no.
30:55Meanwhile, another member of the family came under suspicion by police.
30:59When we first found out that Amber was involved, I don't remember where I was, but I do know
31:05I was thinking, why?
31:09Not family.
31:10I'm sorry, man.
31:11Do not hurt your family.
31:13Family first.
31:14It had nothing to do with this life.
31:19I don't know.
31:21That's my boyfriend.
31:22They just got shot.
31:23We know a lot more than you're thinking of him.
31:25I've gone through his phone.
31:26I've seen your checks.
31:27I was the first of three police interrogations.
31:31Can we agree that you lied through your teeth?
31:35The first time, yes.
31:37I didn't have nothing to do with this.
31:40Throwing up your hands.
31:41You're just lying.
31:42I saw a text where you said, ride by and see if the lights are on.
31:46Okay?
31:47Yeah, I said, that's what I said.
31:48That was up to him.
31:49Ride by and see if the lights are on.
31:51That's yours.
31:51That's not me.
31:52That's your decision.
31:54I told J.D. Michael wanted more guns.
31:57And he was talking about going back.
32:00And I said, well, just go by and see if the lights are on.
32:03That was the end of it.
32:05I didn't know he was going to go back or not.
32:07That's really what I meant.
32:10Because that's not what it looks like.
32:11It looks like you're plotting with him.
32:13And in the end, guess what?
32:16He listens to you.
32:17He actually followed your instructions.
32:20The lights are out.
32:21So we must be good.
32:23When somebody reads a text like that, it looks like what?
32:28It looks like, go do it.
32:29Yeah, but I...
32:30My point is, you're sitting there saying you don't know nothing about it.
32:35I don't believe that.
32:37Interrogation number two, right?
32:38The next day, you're back on the hot seat.
32:41I have to say, you're remarkably composed for somebody who's, at that point, basically a murder suspect.
32:49I don't want to get in trouble for none of this.
32:51You're in trouble.
32:52Yeah, I know.
32:53You're in trouble.
32:53Your life hanging in the balance, and you're cool as a cucumber, just trying to save yourself
33:00at everyone else's expense.
33:02I wanted them guns.
33:03Yeah.
33:04That's how JD wanted them guns.
33:06Dustin did this.
33:08JD did that.
33:09Yeah, but I was telling the truth.
33:12They asked you, who are you trying to protect?
33:13You said...
33:14I'm not saying I was.
33:15You ain't protecting yourself?
33:17No.
33:17You're already here.
33:18You called.
33:19I know.
33:23You wasn't supposed to go there.
33:32I know.
33:33I'm sitting here, pitching this out of you.
33:35Because I'm scared, because I feel like this is my fault.
33:39And everybody's saying it's my fault, but it's not.
33:41Man, you...
33:42Poor pitiful me.
33:44That's what we're seeing.
33:45She's ashamed that she got caught.
33:47That's what this is.
33:49Scott Rouse is a body language analyst and co-host of the popular web series,
33:53the behavior panel.
33:55He trains law enforcement in interrogation and sees in Amber Halford, then and now,
34:01signs of deception and deflection.
34:03This face she has on is not one of sadness.
34:07There should be a gathering of the glabella up here, these little muscles here.
34:12If she was actually feeling sad, they should actually be pushing inward and upward.
34:16They're not.
34:17She's showing us the expression she thinks sad looks like.
34:21And that's not it.
34:22And this is a person who is a manipulator.
34:27She's very...
34:28She tries to manipulate David.
34:30Sometimes good girls are drawn to bad boys.
34:34Is that fair?
34:35Is that true?
34:36Yeah.
34:36Is that what was going on?
34:38Or were you both about that thug lifestyle?
34:41No.
34:42Not me.
34:43That...
34:43I was just...
34:44Not you.
34:45No.
34:45I was...
34:46I was raised better than that.
34:48Like, I was in, like, 4-H, FFA, stuff like that growing up.
34:52But once I got into the drugs and stuff like that, it just...
34:55See, that's a resume statement.
34:57She's telling how wonderful she was.
34:58That wasn't me.
34:59I wasn't doing that kind of thing.
35:00I'm a good person.
35:01But it's because of drugs.
35:02You understand how drugs are.
35:04They ruin you.
35:05So that's really manipulative.
35:06While they were in there, I was driving around, making sure nothing suspicious was going on.
35:12Something suspicious.
35:14Yes.
35:14Other than you all.
35:15Yes.
35:16You all were the suspicious ones.
35:17Yeah.
35:18Yeah.
35:18We call it acting like a girl to a guy because she tries to smile and laugh, even when the questions aren't funny.
35:25She's reacting to him as, look, I like you.
35:27This is great.
35:28Don't you like me?
35:29This is the manipulative personality type.
35:33And we're seeing in a very short little window here how she does it.
35:38Finally, in a moment that was probably never supposed to be part of that police interrogation,
35:45you pretty much confessed to your mother on the phone.
35:49You remember that?
35:52Mama, I told you the truth.
35:59Mama, Mama, Mama, listen.
36:03That this is my fault.
36:06Mama, I know.
36:07J.D.'s dead.
36:08I learned my lesson.
36:10After four days in the hospital, Halford learned that her uncle Doug had also died from the gunshot.
36:16So I'm being charged on Saturday and Sunday.
36:19Eventually, Halford admitted being behind the break-in on Saturday, but denied guilt in the Sunday murder.
36:25It's a fine line she's tried to walk ever since, including in our interview.
36:30When you were on the phone with your mother, adamantly declaring, this is my fault, that sounds like a real moment of truth, of reckoning.
36:43I felt guilty.
36:44Because you were.
36:46In most jurisdictions, an accessory to murder can be charged with the same degree of the crime as the principal offender.
36:55And therefore, you, Lawson, O.J., we're all culpable.
37:01Under the law, I'm guilty, but everybody blaming me is what made me feel guilty.
37:06There's still that part of me that I don't feel guilty of what he did, because he made the choice.
37:13He could have said no.
37:14He didn't have to, you know.
37:16That was his choice.
37:18It still feels like you're hedging on taking responsibility.
37:24Don't you have the blood of both these men on your hands?
37:27When Doug Hurst died of the gunshot inflicted by his niece's boyfriend, the teenage girl was charged with capital murder for helping set up the late-night home invasion.
37:51I'm going to be charged with what, O.J. and also being charged with capital murder for that.
37:58It's called the felony murder rule.
38:01Anyone involved in certain serious felonies that result in death is as liable as the actual killer.
38:11Halford then faced a dire choice.
38:14Admit guilt and take a plea deal, or go to trial and risk a mandatory maximum sentence.
38:19Life in prison without parole.
38:22I remember my lawyer saying that once it's life without parole, there's hardly any chance of coming out of prison.
38:31Halford was lucky to get a choice at all.
38:34The victim's family, her own relatives, approved not one plea deal, but three, each with a reduced sentence.
38:41All she had to do was admit her role in the crime.
38:43As long as she takes responsibility for what she did and owns up to it, we'll give her the least amount we can.
38:52She never admitted it.
38:54Why not take a plea deal?
38:56Because they were offering me murder.
38:57They wouldn't do anything else.
38:59The judge herself, from the bench, urged you to reconsider going to trial.
39:08And then you decide to take the stand in your own defense.
39:11How did that come about?
39:13I was just rolling the dice, I guess you could say.
39:16Like, I just...
39:17Either y'all are going to find me guilty or y'all aren't.
39:20And they did find me guilty.
39:23Ten years after her conviction, Halford still hasn't acknowledged her role in the murder.
39:28In fact, she says she feels less guilty today than when it happened.
39:32But even now, you're pointing the blame elsewhere.
39:36You know?
39:38To reduce your share of the responsibility.
39:43Or to condemn the law whose hand you forced by going to trial.
39:49I really don't feel like I should have murder in a way.
39:55Like, I guess because I really didn't know that they were going to go back.
40:02And that all this was going to happen.
40:04You can try and debate, but one thing is undeniably clear.
40:07It was you who set in motion the chain of events that led to J.D. and Big Doug shooting each other in the dark of night.
40:17You can't deny that, right?
40:18You are the common denominator.
40:21Is that not enough responsibility to justify the punishment?
40:29It is.
40:31Don't you have the blood of both these men on your hands?
40:37Yes.
40:38What does that feel like?
40:40It's not good.
40:41It hurts.
40:44I don't want to acknowledge it, so I don't...
40:47I just kind of don't think about it that much anymore.
40:50But, you know, I'm sorry that they both lost their lives.
40:56It shouldn't have happened.
40:58And I know that's not going to fix anything.
41:01I'm sorry I can't fix it, you know, but I am remorseful and I do have regrets that it happened.
41:08But, I can't change it.
41:12What's your life inside like?
41:15Same thing, every day.
41:16At 30, Halford faces a grim reality.
41:21Life without parole means the state has little incentive to provide her with education or job training.
41:27Cancer took her mother's life soon after her arrest.
41:30And she has little support from the family she betrayed.
41:33She wears her mistakes on her sleeve.
41:37Mama tried, Daddy cried.
41:39It's a song.
41:40It says, I turned 21 in prison doing life without parole.
41:45It talks about how all his Sunday learning, you know, his mama tried to keep him from being a rebel,
41:49but he just did what he wanted and so my mama tried and now my daddy's crying because I'm in here.
41:57This tore the family apart.
41:59No one wanted to take a side, but everyone was hurt.
42:02My brother and I have had a conversation on whether or not we've forgiven her, and we have, 100%.
42:08She was young.
42:09She made a mistake, but take responsibility.
42:13Stop trying to say you're innocent.
42:16We know you're not.
42:17You know you're not.
42:19The people that were with you know you're not.
42:21We forgive you, though.
42:22We definitely forgive you.
42:23And we love you.
42:24We'll love you forever.
42:25You're family.
42:27Two of the victim's children have extended extraordinary grace to Halford.
42:31Even as they mourn their father and remember him to the next generation.
42:36She took a life.
42:38Someone very, very important to the community and loved her.
42:43Absolutely loved her.
42:45She took his life.
42:47So she got what she deserved.
42:48I'm sorry.
42:49She got what she deserved.
42:50So if my dad was still around today, he would still be driving his train, probably going behind the house, honking his horn.
42:58His grandkids would be his life.
42:59I can tell you right now.
43:01I can tell you right now.
43:02He would love his grandkids more than life itself.
43:06But I don't know.
43:07I feel like he's still with this.
43:09His spirit is very strong.
43:10I don't know.
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