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00:002007 frisco texas craig nail is getting ready for a christmas to remember he was the all-american
00:16dad working a good job loved his kids then his features viciously ripped away when he's murdered
00:26in his own home he suffered 10 gunshot wounds to the body and a close range shot to the head
00:32you know that that was personal craig nail was essentially executed police uncover a trail of
00:41surprising suspects it was like a villain from a wild wild west movie they told him to kill everyone
00:49in the house this holiday horror show gets even scarier as police zero in on the killer
00:56this was pure evil we were totally blown away christmas will never be the same for this family
01:19christmas is always such a magical and wonderful time of the year especially in a place like frisco texas
01:39frisco's known for hosting christmas in the square it's christmas time
01:45it's the largest holiday lights and music show in north texas the whole city's covered in holiday
01:52cheer but on december 26 2007 all that yuletide joys replaced with tragedy
02:01it's a unique 9-1-1 call because it was a neighbor calling who had no idea what was going on
02:23and just knew that there was a lady in her suburban neighborhood screaming somebody was trying to kill
02:29her when we arrived at the scene we were told that we had a female who had been shot
02:47she's been shot once in the arm twice in the head she's losing a lot of blood she's losing consciousness
02:53she is airlifted to parkland hospital the crime scene is pure chaos police treat it as an active
03:04shooter situation because they don't know if there are any other victims in the house
03:10we didn't know where the suspect was who the suspect was is there a robbery happening is there
03:17a hostage situation at that point they don't know if the perpetrator is still there or not but they know
03:22that it's time to enter and find out what's going on in that home
03:28when you entered the house you entered through the garage
03:34i traveled down to the kitchen which is where we started to find the physical evidence
03:40it was a somber walkthrough of the crime scene
03:50the shell casings and the blood on the floor
03:56it was eerie because the blood it was trailed throughout the house almost like a path
04:03that you could easily follow
04:08you could see blood smears on the walls at every light switch
04:17the house was decorated for christmas
04:22there was a christmas tree there was there was lights on the tree
04:26but the weirdest thing about this crime scene and it it didn't make any sense was all this white fluff
04:38it was like white fluffy cloudy material
04:42we thought well that might be possible decorations from christmas
04:50and it was scattered all about
04:57the shell casings recovered are from a 22 caliber gun
05:02investigators follow the trail of blood from the kitchen and make their way up the stairs
05:08it was on the walls it was on the light switches you could follow it all the way up the stairs
05:17they see the blood leading from the stairs into the master bedroom
05:23and then they see two feet sticking out of the master bedroom closet
05:28as we entered i observed a white male slumped over a duffel bag with multiple gunshot wounds
05:47the bag was partially unzipped and he was over the top of it when he was executed
05:52the duffel bag contains guns and ammunition when you looked at the crime scene you actually could see and feel the desperation
06:06that the victim had to have been enduring
06:11he was doing everything he could do to get to a weapon to fight
06:16and you realized that all of the blood on the light switches all of the smears on the walls
06:28they were from the victim who was scrambling to get to that closet because that's where he stored his guns
06:37we identified the victim of this horrendous crime to be craig now who was the homeowner
06:50craig nail is a 36 year old software engineer who works in cyber security his neighbors tell detectives
06:58craig is someone everyone likes they can't believe he has enemies
07:03craig was just a wholesome guy just the regular salt of the earth kind of people
07:14he was the all-american dad living in a suburb working a good job loved his kids craig's life revolves
07:24around his two children one a 16 year old daughter who lives with her mom in oregon
07:29his other daughter is six she lives with her mother elizabeth guthrie nail in nearby dallas craig and
07:38elizabeth are legally married but separated after the separation craig moves out he ends up going to a
07:45support group at his local church for people going through separation and divorce he ends up meeting a
07:51woman in that group by the name of theresa the other shooting victim is craig's girlfriend theresa
08:00johnson theresa was a lot like craig just a good wholesome person on the way to the hospital even though
08:11she is bleeding and losing consciousness she's still asking where is craig is craig okay a forensic unit
08:19arrives at the crime scene meanwhile officers canvass the neighborhood for witnesses we had detectives
08:27out knocking on doors going door to door to talk to all the neighbors and it's weird that
08:36all of this turmoil that you see inside the house but outside the house in the neighborhood it was just
08:42another night people were in their houses they were having their holiday and no one saw anything or heard anything
08:55while we were searching the house we noticed that there was a motion detector light on the driveway
09:03but it was odd because it didn't have any light bulbs in it but when we stepped around the corner of the
09:08garage we found both the light bulbs just sitting there it seems the killer removed the light bulbs
09:16police believe he or she lay in wait under the cover of darkness
09:23craig nail and his girlfriend theresa johnson are the victims of an ambush
09:28there was no obvious fingerprints there was no footprints we didn't have a murder weapon
09:44we just didn't have a lot to work with at that point as an investigator you don't know whether this
09:51is a completely random act of violence is this a home invasion or is there something more to this
10:00and it just it didn't add up
10:04in a detective's mind that's one of the worst cases in the world to get a hold of is a whodunit
10:10christmas is taken very seriously in the dallas suburb of frisco texas it's a time to be with family and
10:22focus on joy peace goodwill but christmas in 2007 is very different a well-liked software engineer craig
10:32nail is found shot dead execution style in his own home his girlfriend theresa johnson also shot she
10:41survives detectives baffled by the crime scene then they speak to a neighbor this person said that they'd
10:50seen a suspicious vehicle at a house that was caddy corner from the alley of where craignail was murdered
10:57they hadn't seen it in the neighborhood before it was described to us as a as a
11:07black truck with blue on it almost like flames and this truck struck one of the neighbors as odd and stood
11:15out the truck had a line of sight to his driveway we immediately noticed that there were beer cans
11:24at the back of the fence like furthest away from the house this does not make any sense why would you
11:31have beer all the way back here unless you were watching the alley which was a good vantage point
11:40to see who was coming and going from craignail's house police convinced the black truck with blue flames
11:47belongs to the killer they suspect he or she lay in wait while drinking beer the cans still had some
11:55liquid in them so we packaged those up for evidence and send them to our crime scene unit for them to to
12:01process it's surprising and tragic that a family man craig nail is targeted in a premeditated execution the
12:13very day after christmas he had been looking forward to sharing christmas with his new girlfriend
12:20teresa and they seem very much in love their relationship develops quickly after they meet
12:28they start talking leaning on one another and this becomes a more romantic thing and they end up having
12:34this relationship christmas is approaching and craig makes the decision to send his 16 year old
12:43daughter back to oregon to spend the holiday with her mother craig spends christmas with his youngest
12:49daughter the day after christmas that morning elizabeth picks their daughter up and heads to waco
12:55to spend time with her family for the holiday craig and teresa were planning to be together the day after
13:03christmas now teresa is suffering from three gunshot wounds detectives head to the hospital to see
13:10if she can help them miraculously teresa is still alive she was our only witness she was the only person
13:23who knows what happened when teresa became stable enough for us to actually talk to her her recollection
13:33sounded surreal she tells police that it's the day after christmas and they're gonna go enjoy a nice
13:42dinner together so as planned teresa arrives at craig's house approximately 7 30. she hasn't even sat her
13:52purse down yet the next thing you know she turns around and sees a man standing there with something in
13:58his hand staring right at her he then lifts the weapon points it at teresa and says bang
14:07and shoots her in the head he then points his weapon to craig and craig immediately starts heading for the
14:14stairs craig just started screaming and ran away from me but then at that moment the perpetrator turns the gun
14:22back to teresa shoots her in the arm and then again in the head i shot something at me and it was hard
14:29i thought this is serious it's crazy teresa then says the perpetrator starts to chase craig continuing to
14:38shoot at him and that is when she is able to escape the house get to a neighbor and they're able to call 911
14:53at that point police have to break the tragic news to teresa
14:56that craig nail did not survive theresa i need to tell you that crime did not make it okay
15:03cry dead oh my god
15:09she is devastated she's been shot in the head twice she's been through so much trauma but there's a
15:16killer on the loose so police are asking teresa who did this to you and she's telling them she
15:22doesn't know she's never seen this person before we didn't know who that person was why they picked
15:30that location why they picked those people all of those unanswered questions is what we started with
15:36so we had to start looking at everything possible we had no basis to start with other than
15:46one person was dead and one person was wounded
15:48detectives hope craig's family may have answers craig's oldest daughter has to come back to frisco and
15:58talk to police they ask her does she know who would have done this to her dad she is heartbroken
16:05devastated and complete shock about the loss of her father she says he's a good man and doesn't have
16:13any known enemies another person they have to tell is his soon-to-be ex-wife elizabeth
16:24even though craig was estranged from his wife legally he was still married so we had to make legal
16:34notification to the wife she's visibly upset visibly shaken and has no idea who would have done this to
16:44craig
16:47so as investigation progressed we spent a lot of time looking at tips that were received information
16:54that people called in we chased down a lot of leads that did not develop any suspects
17:02the autopsy report comes back craignail suffers 10 gunshot wounds
17:14this tells us there's a lot of passion and whoever did this wanted craignail dead
17:20craignail was essentially executed you know that that was personal you know that that was up close
17:27it means something ten days after the vicious attack craig's girlfriend theresa johnson is released
17:35from the hospital detectives ask her to work with a sketch artist teresa described the assailant to us
17:44as a average height heavy set white male very rugged rough look in the face with a beard
17:54she kept going back to and referring to the eyes and she described it in her words as a lazy eye
18:07when we got the sketch back from the forensic artist it wasn't helping us find who did this
18:14an average height white guy with a dad bod it was one of those pieces of evidence that didn't tell us
18:23who had done it at first the sketch appears to be much too generic to help investigators but it suddenly
18:32triggers a memory for teresa after teresa takes a look at what the sketch artist has put together she
18:38realizes that she might know who this perpetrator is it kind of looks like someone she's never met
18:44but seen a picture of it looks very similar to elizabeth's brother johnny elizabeth's brother
18:53is the first thing that popped elizabeth's brother have you ever seen her brother no
18:57other only pictures at that moment teresa thinks this killer might be a lot closer to home than we
19:04thought frisco texas 2007 craignail set to spend christmas holidays with his girlfriend teresa johnson
19:17instead he's murdered and she barely survives a targeted killing teresa works with police and a sketch
19:26artist and that leads to the shooter's possible identity he's known as johnny and he is a spitting
19:34image of wife elizabeth's brother as an investigator you are excited when you have something that provides
19:43you with some hope and with this picture we got excited because we might be on to something here
19:51detectives put teresa in protective custody under a different name if the suspect named johnny is
20:01the shooter police worry he could still come after her we traveled all the way to china springs texas
20:10to talk with this person and see what they were doing at the time and see if they have an alibi
20:17he had an outstanding old warrant that was pending on him and we arrested johnny on some unrelated
20:28charges and placed him in jail and he just stayed with his story that he had nothing to do with it
20:38detectives check johnny's cell phone records and the alibi they confirm he's two hours away at the time of
20:46the killing it just wasn't that guy we're days and days into this investigation and we've met a dead end
21:01but sometimes miracles happen
21:06we received a phone call from crime stoppers telling us that they had information about the homicide
21:16we identified the person as carol and carol come to find out was craig nails soon to be ex-wife's best friend
21:31detectives know the shooter's a man and therefore the shooter cannot be craig nails estranged wife elizabeth
21:38but they still believe she has a motive for murder elizabeth guthrie and craig nail meet in 1996
21:47in an online chat room he's living in oregon she's living in texas they both work for technology companies
21:56it just starts as mild conversation but then quickly turns into a relationship more than that
22:02and then next thing you know he's deciding to move back to texas to be with her they marry in 1997
22:10four years later they welcome a baby girl the couple settles in the affluent community of frisco
22:17but elizabeth never feels comfortable there you think of frisco and you think of soccer mom
22:24you think of luxury and she wasn't that type of person she was from the country out of her element
22:35rough around the edges and it's hard to fit in you have to keep up with the joneses in frisco
22:41and that's a lot of pressure elizabeth becomes increasingly unhappy and blames husband craig
22:48in may 2006 she files for divorce and it turns ugly she doesn't want craig to have custody of their
22:57daughter she wants control of not only how this divorce goes down but she wants her daughter and
23:04she wants craig to have nothing to do with her life she accuses him of physically abusing their daughter
23:11in 2007 they start to look into these accusations but the court finds no basis for this and she ends up
23:20losing the house craig moves back in the court not only awards him the home back but they also give him
23:27temporary custody of their child up to this point she has everything she wants and now it's all being
23:39taken away from her by 2007 craig moves on he's dating theresa johnson meanwhile elizabeth's lifestyle
23:48takes a complete u-turn after elizabeth moves out of the house she ends up moving in with a friend in
23:54dallas she starts to meet new people she had gotten involved in things like riding motorcycles and hanging
24:04out at clubs and bars at biker establishments so now she's not in frisco keeping up with the joneses
24:12and the soccer moms she is in dallas hanging out with biker gangs hanging out with possible nefarious
24:19people and how is this going to look in the courts when you're trying to get your daughter back
24:24frisco detectives suspect craig's custody battle with his estranged wife elizabeth leads to craig's
24:33murder they head to waco texas to talk with elizabeth's best friend carol carol tells police
24:41that she called her friend elizabeth because she saw that craig had passed away she actually found
24:47this in the obituary and so she immediately reached out to elizabeth to give her condolences
24:58and elizabeth invited her to come over and talk to her and when she gets there she describes to
25:06us the most bizarre behavior she tells us that she's been best friends with this woman forever and then
25:15all of a sudden it's almost mafia style elizabeth's patting her down and carol said i don't understand
25:25what are you doing then elizabeth said i'm looking for wires you're not wearing a wire are you and she's
25:32like no why would i what what what is the deal what's going on she said her behavior was odd and strange
25:40and that it wasn't like the elizabeth that she was friends with it was a different type of person
25:49nothing prepares investigators for what carol says next elizabeth confessed to her that she
25:57essentially was the mastermind behind a plot to have craig killed and that she had done it
26:06because of the child custody issues involved in their relationship they were coming down on the
26:13final resolution and these proceedings were not necessarily looking favorable for her elizabeth also
26:24tells carol the reason she had craig killed was because he was abusing their daughter so she
26:30decided to take matters into her own hands and have him assassinated we were totally blown away
26:49police want to know from carol what other evidence do you have to go with this story how can we really
26:54prove this is true we ask her if there was a chance that elizabeth had ever given her anything or told
27:01her anything you know as we were looking for physical evidence carol told us that elizabeth had given her
27:11a plastic grocery bag that contained 22 caliber shells
27:16we were elated by this because we knew that the murder weapon was a 22 we immediately asked what did
27:27you do with them where are they only to find out that she gave them back to her
27:35the 22 caliber shells are not the only important piece of incriminating evidence carol indicated
27:42to us that at one point during their conversation elizabeth reached down into the seat cushions of the
27:51couch she was sitting on and pulled out a cheap cell phone out of there and told carol this is how i
27:59have communications with the killer and she kept referring to the killer to carol as her guardian angel
28:07she told carol she kept that phone at her mom's house she goes my mom is under strict instructions
28:19to destroy it in case the police ever come after it carol's statement to police kicks this investigation
28:28into overdrive and we knew at that point that that phone was going to be one of the best pieces of
28:36evidence that we could possibly have and we wanted to find it while people in frisco texas enjoy the
28:49christmas spirit in 2007 someone's plotting the murder of a software engineer and father craig nail
28:57police suspect it may be his estranged wife elizabeth frisco detectives head to waco texas to interview her
29:12we wanted to know if she had an alibi where she was what she was doing during that time
29:19i gotta ask this question where were you here was anybody here with you my daughter she provided us
29:30with evidence of an alibi she had receipts from dollar stores gas stations all of these things she produced
29:44willingly and provided to us by the time i got out there it was 803 she was not at the scene of the
29:57homicide when it occurred she was in waco almost two hours away estranged wife elizabeth has an alibi but
30:06she's also the only person that hated husband craig frisco police believe she's the mastermind behind
30:15craig's murder but now they've got to get solid evidence we all drive down to waco where elizabeth
30:23guthrie nails mom and family lived and we executed a search warrant on the premises i happened to walk in
30:32to the kitchen area and happened to glance over and see the same blue phone that carol had described to me
30:46that phone had a text message displayed on it when i picked it up and to paraphrase it
30:53it said i hope you and the little ones have a very merry christmas love your ga
31:03i knew instantly that ga had to have stood for guardian angel
31:08i made the inference that it was the message from the killer the quote unquote guardian angel
31:20that the job was done y'all can rest easy now in the trailer we also found two gum boxes for 22 caliber
31:29handguns once we found those pieces we had to figure out who guardian angel was
31:36we automatically got the phone number associated with the person who sent that text message
31:43unfortunately this was a store-bought burner phone that no one puts a name to
31:50there's nothing to identify who that person is yet they want to know is this burner phone still
31:59being used by the perpetrator they have the phone company keep a lookout for it and if there's any
32:05activity to let them know well they get a break the phone company calls them tells them that minutes
32:13were just added to this phone the minutes were purchased at a walmart in mckinney
32:20which is the next city over from frisco where the murder occurred we were able to quickly go to that
32:28store and they had surveillance footage which gave us our first glimpse at who the person on the other
32:38end of that line was they can see from the cameras on the register that there is a suspicious character
32:44we're adding minutes to this phone you could definitely make out that this individual was unique
32:52he wore a cowboy hat and he had a weathery face and a beard it was almost like a villain from a wild
33:01wild west movie moments later detectives see something in the footage that confirms their suspicions
33:08we were able to see this person get into a truck which was a black truck with blue flames on it
33:21that truck description then immediately fed back to that night during a canvas of the neighborhood
33:29where they saw a black truck with blue flames now you have reason to believe that that person is the same
33:39person that was in that alley that day after christmas
33:49working in conjunction with the phone company we were able to employ some investigative tactics
33:56like pinging that cell phone the cell tower data that we had showed that that phone was staying in a
34:05neighborhood close to the walmart in mckinney as well we were able to narrow down an area in which we could
34:14search and we physically had detectives driving up and down streets looking for that black truck with blue flames on it
34:26and we were lucky enough one of our detectives was driving through and saw the truck at a house
34:35you have an address now and from that we were able to start pulling together information and actually
34:43identify the owner of that vehicle as mark lyle bell we were able to match him with the surveillance
34:51footage that tied it to the same person who had the phone who had re-upped the minutes on it
34:59mark lyle bell is a biker and an ex-con he was not a good guy he had spent more time in jail than he had
35:08spent free they know he has a criminal history based on the information they have in their records
35:16and they decide this guy needs to get off the streets we were able to locate that he had some
35:23old outstanding traffic tickets so we were able to get him arrested on those outstanding warrants
35:29investigators noticed mark lyle bell has the same features and lazy eye consistent with theresa's
35:37description we got mark bell into an interview room and sat down with him and we handed him a picture of
35:46of elizabeth nail and i'll never forget this he looked at me and he said i don't have any idea who that
35:53scooter tramp is it instantly set off bells and whistles to us and my partner and i looked at each other
36:01we're like how does he know that she rides motorcycles if he's never met her
36:13they ask him how do you know elizabeth how do you know craig he denies everything
36:18i don't even know this son of a bitch i'm sorry to hear that he's gone gone they only did something
36:25he deserved i don't know but i know what the thing investigators get a search warrant for mark lyle
36:35bell's truck we were lucky enough to find a 22 casing in the center console of that pickup
36:45almost as if it was a souvenir and that 22 casing forensically matched to the shell casings from the
36:55murder scene we found a beer can and it just so happened to be the same kind of beer that was found
37:05across the alley from the murder scene i don't know you just don't have coincidences like that occur
37:15it's hard for me to describe the elation that was in my in my soul at the moment you have that emotional
37:27reckoning that you have found the right person
37:33they immediately charge mark lyle bell with capital murder which carries the death penalty here in the
37:38state of texas i'm telling you right now what we've got to make it look pretty bad for you
37:43before the left but i'm being blamed for killing this man well the guy who pulls the trigger
37:51gets clean frisco texas 2008 investigators note they got to get a confession for mark lyle bell for the
38:15execution style christmas killing of craig nail he's continuing to maintain his innocence in this crime
38:27so police they collect his dna and what do they find out his dna matches the dna found on the beer cans
38:36at the crime scene so he knows he's caught red-handed
38:40he tells police i will tell you everything you need to know if you take the death penalty off the
38:47table he accepted a plea deal and so i asked mark bell did you kill craig now the man leaned forward
38:56on the table and looked me square in the eye and he said you're damn right i did i shot him to death and
39:03i'd do it again it was at that moment in time when i knew that he was pure evil mart lyle bell tells
39:15investigators what happens that fateful night he had entered the house shot teresa he then saw craig run
39:27he gave chase to him was continuously shooting him the whole way until they ended up in the bedroom closet
39:35where he executed him
39:41he told us that those were his beer cans he drank the beer to get the courage to commit the murder
39:46and then he took the murder weapon and he threw it in the lake
39:50mark lyle bell also explains one of the mysteries that baffles police
40:00inside the initial crime scene it looked like there was like fake snow all over the house
40:06it turns out that mark lyle bell had made a homemade silencer
40:10with a water bottle stuffed with cotton that he attached to the end of the barrel of the gun
40:14it turns out that all that it did is as he was firing rounds it just blew cotton out of the holes
40:21with the bullets as he was firing
40:26after telling police this information he tells them that even though he was the killer he's not the
40:33mastermind behind this elizabeth wanted her soon-to-be ex-husband murdered
40:38that's not the only revelation mark lyle bell tells police elizabeth told him to kill everyone in
40:48the house
40:52and you're like what god
40:57her order to kill everyone in this house just adds an extra layer of evil to this crime
41:02mark lyle bell tells investigators he meets elizabeth through the biker community then another bombshell
41:10falls into the laps of investigators elizabeth's mother shirley guthrie goes to frisco police with
41:17a story that incriminates her own daughter elizabeth's own mother walks into the police station
41:25and tells them a bombshell she is terrified of her own daughter she tells police that she overhears
41:33this conversation with her daughter elizabeth and mark lyle bell they are discussing the murder of craig
41:40nail and elizabeth was irate that teresa was still alive and she was telling mark that he should
41:47have been a better shot elizabeth guthrie nails arrested january 29 just over a month after the
41:55murder she denies the charges and says she's innocent the case goes to trial september 10 2012
42:03mark lyle bell the star witness mark lyle bell gets on that stand and he tells the court exactly what
42:11happened that elizabeth wanted craig nail dead because he was abusive he was an abusive father he
42:17wasn't a good husband and mark lyle bell thought he was really doing a good thing
42:22he thought this man has to go and he was doing it for her
42:30he was easily manipulated by elizabeth and her story and when i say story i mean fable
42:40mark bell had been told by elizabeth that her daughter was being sexually assaulted
42:48by craig things of this nature which had been cleared by child protective services and courts
42:56several times it was fabricated it was concocted and she just happened to stumble upon somebody who was
43:05weak enough to believe her fable all the steps that she took in preparation for this to happen
43:14is nothing but evil she was going to get her way at all costs the evidence is stacked against elizabeth
43:21guthrie nail just two days after the trial begins she changes her plea to guilty
43:30at the end of the trial they find elizabeth guilty of conspiracy to commit capital murder
43:36she is sentenced to 50 years in prison because of his cooperation at the trial the death penalty was
43:43taken off the table and mark lyle bell will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility
43:49of parole elizabeth and craig were married on december 31st there was once a time when this season was
44:02joyous for them but with the looming divorce the custody battle and all of the things going wrong
44:10elizabeth's life at the time she used christmas time as an opportunity to put this evil act into place
44:21elizabeth guthrie nail had their daughter for the holidays the day after christmas so she wouldn't
44:26be in harm's way and it was the perfect day to execute the plan because elizabeth didn't care about
44:33anybody else but their daughter elizabeth was a person who just during the holiest and best times of
44:43the year just perpetuated some of the most horrendous evil that this community has ever faced
44:53the holidays are supposed to be a joyous time but christmas will never be the same for this family
44:59craig nail will never get to spend another christmas with his daughters these girls are
45:03going to miss their dad the rest of their lives i know christmas time must be hard for craig's daughters
45:09but hope that at least the job that we did gives them a little bit of peace during the holidays
45:20what once was love turns into hate and deadly rage for elizabeth guthrie nail
45:29but now she's got up to 50 years behind bars to decide was it all worth it and from now on two young
45:38girls will remember christmas as the time daddy was murdered i'm nancy grace thank you for joining us
45:47this is here on the christmas killings
45:56so
45:58so
46:00so
46:02so
46:04so
46:08so
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